New freezer, more garden soil, seed starts, grape vine cleanup and moving a raised bed

Clearance sale on a small 5.4 cubic foot chest freezer at the local Bi- Mart for $170.00.  I have wanted a small chest freezer for the garden harvest this year. The freezer can hold veggies until I can store them long term via canning, drying or just freezing the veggies. While eating stuff fresh out of the garden is great, storing food long term is something I have to get better at doing.  I need a hot bath canner to my prep though I have a pressure canner. I have a couple of months before I need the hot bath canner and having the “veggie” freezer will stretch my canning time.

I was at Bi-Mart to pick up more bags of soil to recharge my raised bed soil. I ad compost/manure to my raised beds every year but adding a good raised bed soil seems to keep the beds productive growing veggies. My biggest problem has been Mama nature being a bit silly about how wet the spring is and how fast it gets hot in summer. The soil in my garden beds is usually good especially after adding some peat moss.

I have terrible results using the small 72-144 seed starting pots. I think it is me because I can start seeds in small individual pots and the plants do great. So I’m starting more seeds but in larger pots on my seed starting table. I have tried using these seed starting flats a few times and it has never worked out well for me. I’ll chuck all the soil from the seed flats into the compost pile and the plastic flats into the trash. I’ll use slightly lager individual pots for starting my seeds. Don’t be afraid to experiment but if some thing fails and another way works go with what works for you. In the Army we always say if it is stupid but it works. It is not stupid!

Cleaning up the the very ugly and dense overgrown grape vines in the garden. The area of cleanup is so bad that I’m working a 2 foot section at a time and filling a 65 gallon garbage bin. It will be worth all the work as the grape vines will be healthier, put on more fruit and I will gain more garden space. The last week in April the trash people will pick up extra bagged or bundles of yard water for no extra cost. Getting as much of the out of control grape vines debris by the end of April is critical to garden clean up. I don’t want to my grape vines as the seem to help keep squash bugs away from my plants. So getting the grape vines under control is a big project in the garden. It is a big job but it is much easier to cut back grape vines in the Spring before all on the leaves and canes start growing.

I think I have found the spot for the green house and I will have to move one raised bed to make room for it. I have been trying to find the optimal spot for the greenhouse. I’m setting it up with a east/west orientation rater than a north/south. Honestly it will probably take me until fall to get the greenhouse set up with all the other projects I have going but that is okay. I’d rather invest more time getting it right, rather than getting it done fast.

It does not matter what project you are working building a good foundation is always a good investment and it is funny the harder you work the “luckier” you seem to be. I’m a big on failure being a good thing as you learn faster from failure than anything else.

Embrace failure and don’t try to be perfect just proactive.

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Potato Towers

I made two of the wire potato towers today. I used 3 foot tall galvanized wire cut so it made an 18 inch diameter tower and used a 3 foot T-post to stabilize the tower. The galvanized wire has 3 inch x 2 inch openings and does a good job holding the straw in place in the tower.  It takes about 3 cubic feet of soil to fill the tower. That amount of soil surprised me so be ready with lots of dirt to make your tower. I used about a quarter of a bale of straw for both towers.

I laid down some landscape fabric first and then made a small circle of straw and mound of dirt the same size as the wire cage, then placed the cage over the mound with the t-post supporting the cage. After that I built up a layer of straw against the wire cage and then added the dirt. You can push the dirt up against the straw to hold the straw in place. Build up a layer 10-12 inches thick of dirt and plant about 6 potatoes around about 2 inches from the straw wall with the eyes pointed toward the straw. I topped the potatoes in a couple of inches of compost and then it was building up the layers of soil and potatoes. I got 4 layers of seed potatoes planted which took about 2 pounds of seed potatoes per tower.

One site recommended adding a pvc pipe  with holes in the center to water the bottom of the tower and adding some marigold seeds at the top of the tower for pest control and pretty flowers.  I added  the 4 foot pvc pipe after I finished the 1st layer so the dirt would support the pipe.

I want to make one more tower and add 3 of the large 18 gallon party buckets to grow more potatoes. The area of ground I’m using is about 10 feet long and 2 feet wide. That is dense potato growth in a small footprint if the towers work this year. Three foot tall was about as tall as I would go with the towers as I could reach nearly the full length of the tower as I was adding the straw and dirt. Building and filling the towers takes some time and is not the fastest way to plant potatoes but if the towers work, I should not have to worry about mounding/earthing, weeds or chores other than watering the towers though out the growing season.

A couple of years of a long firewood season and comfrey

We have had 2 long years of firewood heating. I started back in September starting a fire just to warm up the house. Now it is April and I’m doing the same thing. Now I don’t need an all day fire as it is not that cold but the time line for using firewood to heat seems longer compared to shorter but colder winters. The climate is changing but not in the way the “experts” have predicted. Did any expert predict that 50 + feet of snow would fall in the Sierra Mountains of California this year or Cities like Portland OR and Seattle WA being shutdown by Snowfall?  I did not anticipate using my woodstove for  heat for over 6 months even if I don’t need the wood stove everyday. I filled another box of kindling today as you tend to use more kindling in spring and fall as you start a couple fires a day rather than one fire per day or use the coals from the last fire to start a new fire in the morning.  About 2-3 cords of good fire wood is about what you need on average in my area. Two cords as a minimum for each year and 3 cords to build up a stockpile of dry/seasoned wood.

I cleaned up my comfrey bed that is a kiddie pool. It was looking ugly with old dead leaves and a few weeds in the pool. I pulled the the dead comfrey and underneath lots of green shoots were sprouting up! I read that comfrey plants make a great high protien supplement for egg laying chicken. High in proteins and low in fiber. Boosts the egg yolk color and just a good addition to most chicken feed though not good for 8 weeks or younger chicks. Comfrey is super easy to grow. It is considered an invasive weed in many parts of the USA. I use a kiddie pool to grow my comfrey rather than let it free range. I cleaned out the dead plant matter and added more dirt to the comfrey planter. I can say comfrey leaves will super charge your compost pile breaking down into good compost. Comfrey also has medicinal properties and is called “boneknit”. It seems a comfrey salve helps heal bruises and broken bones. You don’t want to use comfrey on open wounds as it will seal  a wound but keep the infection in the body rather than draining.

Comfrey also seems to super charge compost tea but smells vile as it breaks down in the “Tea” I added Comfrey leaves to my compost last summer and the pile seemed to break down faster.  I would recommend adding Comfrey to your garden in pots unless you have a large garden/acreage. This is a plant that will spread but does great if cut back and used. Or it can take over a garden.

All plants have a purpose in nature though we may not know it. The trick is to work with nature and make things better rather than go for a short term solution. It takes time to build good soil. With enough chemical additive the lawn might be green but that does not mean it is healthy!

Still cutting up wood for the wood stove and more yard/garden clean up

This has been a long firewood heating season for my area. By March we start warming up into the 60’s during the day but not this year. So I was out cutting some wood for kindling and the in-between starting wood for the wood stove. I thought I would be done with firewood for heat by March.  Because this was such a long winter I will be adding two cords of wood to my wood pile rather than trying to get by with my current stack of wood. I have to make more firestarters because of the long winter. I have used up most of my wood chips and have to add buying a bagged wood chips and a lot more of the little paper cups to make the fire starters. It might be possible to sell, barter or trade fire starters so building up a stockpile is on my todo list.  Mom took a tumble and bonked her ribs and is very sore so I cut up a box of kindling for her and some small chunks of wood for her woodstove.  Mom has some local help moving the heavy stuff around so she doesn’t have to try and move feed bags for the critters herself.  Hopefully this will be the last blast of winter this weekend and Spring will finally start here in Idaho. The 10 day weather forecast has days moving up into the mid-high 60s around Easter.

It looks like using the holidays of Easter and Mother’s day work well for planting the garden. Easter for Cole crops and Mother’s Day for the summer crops like peppers, tomatoes.etc. I have had some issues with my starter plants and I think I might have water to much early, then I did not water enough and the soil dried out. I’m not worried as I started early enough I can add more seeds to the pots that did not germinate the first time. When I first tried starting seeds and they failed I would just give up until the next year. Now I just add more seeds as I learn how to start seeds  The plants still  have plenty of time before Mother’s day garden planting. I can buy plants at the store and I can do succession planting. So if your seed starts don’t do well keep working at it and learning .If you have extra plants you can always set out the extras, give the plants away to family and neighbors or sell them at the local farmer’s market. Having extra plants is not a bad thing.

I don’t think the USA banking crisis has been solved. At best the problem has been “papered over” and the fundamental problem of to much debt and not enough liquidity still exists. The advice for protecting your self is still the same financial common sense.

1. Buy what you need to survive: That might be getting a stash of a couple weeks supply of food, water, a way to stay warm and cook your food to start with but you need to build up a supply of your basic needs to have on hand. Besides this winter has shown everyone needs to have a couple of weeks of food water and heat in a disaster. This does not have to be expensive freeze dried food. 10 pounds of Flour ($5.00)  a pound of yeast ($6.00) and a pound of salt ($2.00) and you can make 10 one pound loaves of bread at home. Sure beats the heck out of paying $2.00-$5.00 + for a loaf of bread in the local mega-mart.
2. Get out of debt: Especially pay off high interest credit card debt. Debt is getting expensive again. People with good credit ratings are seeing 20% interest rates with credit cards.
3. Cash on hand to live for at least a month. In a perfect world you could build up an emergency cash fund of 3-6 months. We don’t live in a perfect world!  This is just cash on hand for the basics you must have, Food, Utilities and probably gas/transportation funds for work. After you have that basic amount of cash on hand you can add rent/Mortgage payment as you can slide a month or two on housing. I don’t recommend ignoring those housing payments but you have to eat everyday and rent/mortgage is once a month.
4. Don’t buy silver or gold before getting your basics in food,water,heat.or cash on hand. I see gold/silver as insurance/barter good and not as an investment. I would trade a real silver dime for a loaf of home made bread. I probably would not sell a bread loaf for $3.00. Value always depends on the buyer. I could dig holes in the ground on my property all day and no one would pay me a dime for my work because my work has no value. All the sweat and sore muscles don’t matter because no one values the work. This is where Marxism goes wrong. Not all work is of value to all people. That is not to knock folks that dig ditches. In the right place and the right time the work is valuable. Me digging random holes in my backyard is not valuable and could be a bad thing. I don’t know of a real-estate listing touting the owner dug random hole in the yard being a selling point.
5. Think small and doing little things first! Much like eating an elephant you need to do these things one bite at a time. Fill your freezer section of your fridge with good first before you think about buying another freezer. Your garden can start as a container garden of herbs. Your shopping can start at a local farmer’s market. You don’t have go big buying a freezer and a side of beef. In my area beef and pork sampler packs at local ranches/farms can be bought for around $100.00. That might seem expensive but compared to most grocery bills it is not.

Almost everything is simple, that does not mean it is easy. It is doable by anyone if they want to put forth the effort. You can’t sit at home and expect some wonderful creature will land on your door step and make all wishes come true.

I know most incels want women in 8/10 range and above yet they are not the type men women want. You want women, boys learn to dance. I mean take classes on dance. Play a musical instrument and or learn to sing. I don’t know why young women like this stuff but they do. Become economically secure so you can an attractive partner. Some of the most unattractive men attract women because they are economically secure.

Your K/D ratio in COD is not  attractive to most women. Most women want security, financial, home and a man that stands up for protection of home and family. It isn’t about fair or what people say. The reality is most women want a male protector and still go out and earn a living.  I’m just saying to the boys if you want women, you have to go where women are and show then something of value. Ironically most guys would be impressed by my K?D ratio because I’m female. It’s a game and not real life. Play the game and have fun but the silly crap associated with games is silly.

Dirt Therapy, Cleared more vines and bed and pot prep for potatoes/root crops

I was feeling a bit sore and punky after my big work day last week. The blustery weather did not help with my attitude or aches and pains. I went over my seed starts and added more seeds to some of the little pots that had not germinated. I also added some small individual pots for some of the tomatoes as my Napadeno peppers have done outstanding in those little pots. I finally have some of the mini-bell peppers coming up. I’m not sure it is me, my set up or if the mini-bells have a low germination rate but I’m excited to see to little plants starting to grow. Overall I think doing the follow up on the seed starts and seeing more plants come up really helped my attitude. Plus the Christmas cactus is loving it’s new pot so much it is trying to put on some flowers!

Another fence section of grape vines, rose canes and other volunteer plants has been cleaned up. I have to take my time based on how much physical energy I have and how full I can fill my trash bins. When you have almost 2 foot thick sections of old grape vines to cleanup you will fill a big trash container quickly. My town has a “Spring Cleanup” week at the end of April. The Trash guys will pick up bundles/bags of yard debris if you keep it relatively light(60 pounds) and less than 4 feet in length. Construction grade trash bags make hitting this bundle size easy and the trash guys don’t have to deal with stickers and thorns attacking them when they pick up the trash.

I’m not planting the seed potatoes until second week in April as we have had a wet and cold spring. Now the rain/snow has been great for the drought but the cold weather sucks for planting stuff. I’m still ahead on my planting so I’m not worried about being late for planting cold weather crops. We in the USA and the EU should try and match Russia in growing 50% food on small garden plots rather than Big Agri-corps control our food supply in the west. The USA and the EU claim to want small sustainable farms yet they give tax breaks, contracts to big agri-corps for school lunches full of of processed food. You noticed junk food like soda pop, chips have not been excluded from the food stamp program in the USA. Even though there is an obesity crisis in the west.

A city less than 7 miles from me had a boil order for water because of a glitch in the water supply. Philadelphia PA had a do not drink the water because of a chemical spill and then restricted people to only 3 bottles of water.  I think the idea of storing 1 gallon of water per day per person is flawed. You really need to store 3-5 gallons per day per person to keep your household going with cooking, cleaning and drinking water. Now not all of that water has to be safe to drink. You can wash clothes or take a bath in water that is not safe to drink. I think rain barrels are great but a tarp and 5 gallon bucket is workable in a pinch. I amazed that city governments that ban rain barrels as if people won’t water grass or gardens from the barrel. All a rain barrel does is store some water from the wet season and put it on a garden or yard during the dry season. All of the water still goes into the ground in time.

Actually rain barrels can help with soil erosion and drought by saving water short -term and watering plants long term. If your City bans rain barrels they are idiots and should be replaced ASAP.

Re-potting garden plants, Spring time yard work and moving the green house again…?

I was told not to plant my seed potatoes after April 1st The first week in April seems to be the earliest time to plant most of the cold crops in my area that is Zone 7b. My raised bed soil is about 50 degrees F. and easy to work but since I’m actually on time or a little ahead this year for Spring planting. Waiting till the first week in April makes a lot of sense so the Spring weather can settle down and there is still a lot of clean up work to be down around the place and getting the lawn some TLC after last year’s hot summer.  I bought a pony pack of Quinault Strawberries to add another berry bucket/big planter of strawberries to the garden. I had to get the berries into bigger pots so I got a chance to try out the new skinny garden trowel to move plants. I’d say this tool worked  okay for my first time using it. I think there is a method to using it and I need more practice using the tool. I can see the benefits of using the tool for small spaces or moving plants so overall I’m pleased with the tool.  I moved the Christmas Cactus mom gave me to a larger pot as it is doing surprising well considering I usually kill most house plants!

I dumped the old soil from my potato “party tubs” to add new soil to grow potatoes. I did not know that using the same soil even if it is amended for potatoes could cause some nasty diseases in your potatoes. So starting with new soil is the thing for this years potato crop. Besides the big potato tubs I am trying the cage method of growing potatoes. You build a wire cage and use a mix of dirt and straw to keep building dirt around the potato plants as they grow. At harvest time you knock over the cage and pick out the potatoes. At least that is how it is supposed to work.  I’m hopeful as this would be a great way to grow a lot of potatoes with a small foot print in my garden.

Cutting back the grape vines even more compared to what I did last year has been a big job this spring. Last year my grape vines I cut back put on at least double the fruit if not more compared to the years I did not cut back the canes in the spring. Cutting back to the main plant stalk and opening up the mess of grape cane snarl really improved the fruit production. If you have an ungly snarl of grape vines get in there and prune those canes back in late fall and early spring and I bet you will see better fruit production!

I don’t want to get rid of all my grape vines as they seem to help my squash plants not have a squash bug problem. I don’t know why but I grow my squash plants close to my grapes and I don’t have a squash bug problem. Everyone in the neighborhood has squash bugs except me. I don’t have a problem of my grape leaves being eating by bugs so I don’t know why it works but grapes and squash plants seem to love each other and bugs hate the combo.

I have not placed my greenhouse as I am trying to find a good place for it. The greenhouse dimensions are smaller than I prepped for, 6.5 feet by 8 ft.. I want to maximize solar but have the option of adding some lights/heat.  I really like this new spot as it full of sun and leaves most of the garden free of the greenhouse blocking sun. This is the place I wanted to place the green house and now it looks doable.

You don’t have to do anything but die. The government can require many things but the only thing humans will do after being born is die.  Pick tour poison and your line but if you are born you will die.  How you lived becomes important.

Seed potatoes bought, soil temps 50 degrees and more garden planning.

I bought some red pontiac, yukon and russet seed potatoes for the garden. S few days are needed to cut and let the seed potatoes dry a bit before planting.  My ground soil is over 50 degrees F. and most hard frosts should be gone after this weekend. Average March temps. should be hitting at least 60 degrees F. during the day. We are hitting mid 50’s at best. The rain/snow moisture is great but it’s getting close to planting season and farmers need some dry weather to plow. Even with Idaho’s irrigation method of farming the farmers need dry fields to plant. 

I checked the soil temp of my planters and raised beds and the temp. is 50 degrees F. That is good enough for planting potatoes but I need to cut the seed potatoes before planting. This weekend is forecasted to get cold so no planting outside is recommended. My grape vines are a mess but I’m slowly cutting back the canes for more are for garden plants. 

I don’t know why I thought my green house was 8 ft. x 8 ft. when it it is 6.5 ft. x 8 ft. . This is great news as the smaller size gives me more options. The foundation material cost will be less and that is all to the good. 

Don’t freak out , panic or try and time the market. You can’t time the market as the house always wins. The house is the FED and the treasury of the USA. Do you think they ( the PTBs)  will announce the market is a sham and you are on your own? 

What can you do? 

1. Get independent of the cooperate food system. Grow a garden even if it is an herb garden to start.
2. Get local with food suppliers and energy suppliers. Don’t rely on your gas or electric system from the local utilities. 
3. Vote no all bonds and tax levies from the PTBS unless you get a good out come as an individual.  Don’t buy into the propaganda that most bond levies are for the greater good. 
4. Find a local food supplier that is not the local Mega mart. 

You have to choose how you prep. I can tell you what worked for me. You have to decide how to spend your money and what you choose to to do. You should never let anyone tell you how to live your life. I might disagree with your outlook but it is your life too live as you wish. 

It may come as a bit of a shock to most liberals, progressive, Marxists, Alphabet people. Most conservatives really don’t care how you live your life.  Just don’t mess with our kids! 

Not stressing about the USA economy.

When I became disabled I got knocked down about as low as you can and not declare bankruptcy. I had things repo’d and if it wasn’t for my parents helping me out I would have lost everything. I was the “good” consumer. I had credit cards, carried some debt, and as long as I could make the payments I was living the DREAM. If you become disabled and can’t work for 8-12 months and you don’t have disability insurance you are screwed as Social security won’t start for at least 6 months if you get a 1st time approval and most people don’t get a first time approval and 6 months is tacked on unless you get back paid. That be nice a year or 18 months from now but you need to eat and pay bills TODAY!

This is big reason you need to have 3-6 months of cash on hand to pay your bills if you lose your job get disabled or what ever reason. That cash on hand buys you time to do what you have to do without the stress of not paying your bills biting you on the ass.

Have 3-6 months food you want to eat on hand. Not having to buy food for several months can bail you out if hard times hit. I had an unexpected vet bill of $700.00 for my dog a few months after I started prepping and that food plus a vet that was willing to work with me timing treatments with my checks made everything possible by paying cash. Plus in a disaster having all you need on hand saves you fighting crowds, price gouging. You can sit at home and watch the idiots that did not prep on youtube. The reason you work is to buy the stuff you need to live. If you have the stuff you need to live you can put that money you worked for toward other stuff.

None of what I am saying is new or groundbreaking. Many non-mainstream money people say the same thing. Live on less than you make. It is simple but that does not make it easy. Not all debt is bad and having credit card does not make you a bad person. It is just how you use debt/credit that can be bad. I  took out a small signature loan to buy my wood stove. I refi’d my house to get siding and new windows installed. But those are debts are saving me money long term as the wood stove keeps me warm and the windows and siding have reduced my electric bill. I took on some small debt buying a washing machine, a generator, and other odds an ends and it so easy until the bills came due. Sure I knew I had to pay the debt but those monthly credit card bills can wear you down especially if you only make the minimum payment. Go a couple of months without a credit card bill and you may find it liberating.

Persistence when you fail. I have failed many times with building an emergency fund. The envelope method via Dave Ramsey and my own twist of trying to make these systems work and I think it just takes trying and failing a few times before you succeed. At least that is how it worked for me. I think for me it was paying off the credit cards, but I started my envelope method of saving money before that after many years of trying a failing. I think failing was part of my process as I don’t see failure as a bad thing. I put the money in the envelope for a few years and took it out to spend it and suddenly I found I did not need to spend it. I know it might sound silly but is how it happened to me. Perhaps I became confident in my plans. Perhaps I broke the programming of using credit cards and debt. Perhaps I redefined what makes a person successful. I have no idea except saving some cash in an envelope suddenly became easy after years of trying.

I am not sitting on a stash of cash but I could cover my bills for 3 months if things go sideways. But I’m proud of myself getting to this point of covering 3 months of bills. When you read how many people could not cover an unexpected bill of $500.00 or people behind in power payments or rent a year after Covid and now people that got the bonus snap payments are ending and they can’t afford the inflated food costs it make’s it tough to say you screwed up and trusted the government.  But it is true.

Seeds are already sprouting and a little bit of garden cleanup.

Several of the seeds are sprouting and it has only been 4 days since I did the big planting! It is always a thrill to see those little green plants grow and know I helped make that happen. Speaking from using heating mats for 2 years. It seems the mats really help the growth of the seed starts even if you have a warm house the heat mats keep a constant heat under the plants. The lights are big help especially if you don’t have a place for your plants to get 6 + hours of sunlight.

For starting seeds I’m using a couple of tall but light weight seed starting kits. I think I spent under $10.00 a few years ago for the kits. I bought a couple of heavy duty and tall seed starting boxes that were more expensive but my seeds are sprouting in both the cheap and more expensive boxes. I would recommend you get a seed starting kit with a dome at least 6 inches tall to give your plants plenty of room to grow and develop before you put them in the garden. A huge bonus for me starting plants indoors is I can tell the difference between and the plants I want to grow.

I got one of those small pressure pump sprayers to water the seed trays and it looks like it will leak if you leave it under pressure. If you use one of these sprayers make sure you can catch any water leaks or open the cap so the water is no longer under pressure. I use one of those large plastic boot trays for dirty boots for extra pots and water jugs so the tray caught the water.

I started on some garden clean up and getting the grape vines cut back. I need to move a raised garden bed and some of my berry plants that are in large pots, to make a spot for the 9 ft.x 9 ft. green house. I want to try some more traditional garden mounds and rows in on section of my garden.  That is also the area with the overgrown grape vines. So getting the grape vines cut back and under control is a big project in the garden this year.

Besides having a very wet Spring it has also been cool. Normally we would be having at least a few 60 degree days and it is staying in the 50’s to high 40’s. The weather has been more annoying rather than cold or miserable. That is mother nature and you deal with what she gives you. I need to open up my water barrels to capture some of this rain. At the rate of rain we have been getting I figure the barrels will be filled in less than a week.

I got the swamp coolers and window fans for the summer experiment of reducing my electrical cooling costs. It seems that air flow through the house is critical to getting the most out of your swamp cooler.  The 2 window box fans that can be used to bring in outside air or exhaust air will make a difference on how well the swamp coolers work. I don’t expect the swamp coolers to work as good as an A/C unit but if it can keep the house comfortable for even part of the summer it will save me a lot of money on my electrical bill. At worse these units work outdoors so I can cool the patio or the chickens once I get the chicken run built. So the money won’t be wasted.

You can’t be afraid to try a new thing because it might fail. My summer electric bill is brutal so anything that might help is worth trying out. If there are summer brown outs/blackouts I can power a swamp cooler via my generator for a lot longer that an A/C unit and that maybe the difference in being comfortable. Never let perfect stop you from trying something that might be “Good Enough”.

Got the Steer manure/compost and onion sets on sale.

I really like the bagged steer manure Compost mix I get from D&B farm store.  It is local to Idaho and mixed with garden soil it makes a good raised bed garden soil. I like to add some Sphagnum peat moss just to help break up chunky soil and to retain water in the garden beds.

I have started onion seeds indoors but I added a couple of  white and purple onion  sets/bulbs as a back up to my onion plantings. Around the first week in April I can direct sow the onion bulbs in the garden as weather permits. I added the Napadeno peppers to my seed starting table as I missed planting these pepper seeds.  Napadeno peppers supposedly have the flavor of Jalapeno peppers without as much heat. I have to say since I have been buying  a local pico de gallo my tolerance to spicy heat has gone up.  But I Don’t want to grow a pepper just because it is hot.  I want flavor first and a little heat is okay. I can always add a jalapeno pepper starter plant to the garden from the local big box store if I want to add some heat to my cooking or canning.

D&B farm store had a big canning display which is unusual this early in the year as there is no products to can this time of year. Idaho has a big prepping community but most jars and canners don’t usually get displayed before July. D&B Supply now is selling a home Freeze dryer and the bags/tools for freeze drying food. I think freeze drying food is a great Idea but I can’t afford 3 grand to start freeze drying foods.  If you can afford that sort of investment for food preservation. Good on you! As the more people that adopt this method, the price should start to drop. I might be able to swing paying a grand but 3 grand + is out of my budget especially when  pressure canners and Foodsavers are available and do a good job preserving food for less than $500.00 if you splurge.

I’d love to say don’t panic or get crazy because things are going sideways. But things have been going “sideways’ for years even decades. I know people that prepped for year 2000 and all computers would crash, planes fall out of the sky and a Christian Rapture would arrive. 2012 The Aztec calendar forecasted Doom and Gloom and while unpleasant the housing crash did not destroy nations. Now it is Climate change that will destroy everyone! except only the West’s 1 billion care about climate change and the other 7 billion people on earth are working on having clean water to drink and enough electricity to run a fridge 24/7 consistently.

In Russia the literally grow 53% of all vegetables they need in home gardens. England is rationing produce in stores and Russian stores are full of produce this winter. The price is higher in Russia because it is winter/early spring but Russian stores have plenty of fresh produce. But the Russians have fresh produce and England has rationing. Thank God for the USA and EU sanctions that is hurting Russia so bad and not having any affect on the EU! LOL

The USA should be able to match Russia in home/local gardens providing food for people.  The FDA is asking people to dox their gardens. Only for the most benevolent reasons and the US government would never try anything underhanded to confiscate your food.

Who do you Trust? well you trust those that are worthy of trust. It may be family, neighbors, businesses that you work with regularly. I have no idea why any one trusts Wells Fargo bank or B of A that were literally fined because they screwed over customers with timed overdraft fees or late payment fees for loans being posted late. If you are using a TBTF bank after 2008 and today you are an idiot. It is not hard to move your money and bill paying to a local bank or credit union. You might be mildly inconvenienced setting up your bill pay.  But pretending that no one could see this happening is flying in the face of reality.

If you work a job you trade your time talent and physical effort doing the job. I think many people overestimate the value of their work and many underestimate the value of their work. The value of your work is worth exactly worth what some will pay for that work. Be you an uber eats driver or an artists making paintings. If you make youtube vids and you get millions of subscribers and make (bank) you are working a job. Is the job easy or hard is irrelevant. People pay for what they want.

It’s a lot of work/time to make vids on youtube. I don’t get the hate that some people show You tubers. If making money on a blog or doing vids on youtube is so easy why don’t the haters make money on youtube?  I think it always comes back to envy.  I will say I like seeing my sub account go up. That means people find value in my posts. That is good enough for me. It’s not a job just a hobby of what I do to prep. But certainly don’t dog a person that wants to make money.  You the consumer has the final vote if anyone has good content or not.

I have been blogging since 2010. Mind blowing that I still have something to say and some people read the blog.