Strawberry plant peaking up through the dirt

If you have read this blog for awhile you know my luck at growing strawberries has been very bad. So I have to say I was very excited to see a little strawberry plant start to break through the dirt of the big party bucket I have sitting on the front porch.  This is one of the bunches of strawberry plants we dug up last fall for free.  I can’t tell you how excited I am to see that new growth.  One of the best things about gardening is seeing a plant poke up it’s head in spring and know you helped with that rebirth.  I’m buying more of the tomato trellis type cages so I can go a bit more vertical in my growing. A bit more expensive than the regular tomato cages but a lot more flexible to use.  I need to get some more of the “party buckets” for planting because I want to try out Kate’s idea of a year round tomato plant.  Since it will moved either to the greenhouse or the house over the winter anyway I might as well get it in the “bucket” to start this spring and see how it works out.

The next few days have rain in the forecast so I can see how well my trench filling works out and how much the soil settles. I think I can use some of the excess soil from the trench to build good soil for planting.  I would use my store bought garbage cans to store the soil since the city now requires us to use the big bin type cans to make garbage collection more efficient.  It’s a bit annoying but garbage cans are great multi-taskers so finding a use for them is not very hard.  Besides I need to eliminate all those humps and get some grass seed planted in those areas.

I am getting the last few parts I found I needed for the solar generator and the RV’s solar set up.  I ordered the small battery powered chainsaw for the RV and I’m starting up my yard sale list for spring. I need to get a couple of axes as well as a splitting maul and sledge for the wood. While I can’t do a lot of physical work by hand I can do some and if the SHTF I’m sure my neighbors would help out in return for some wood or a place by the fire on a cold day. I’m getting stocked up on the coffee while it is cheap and I finished up the meat for the freezer and still have room for more if a good sale comes up.

I know the news isn’t good, in fact it is downright awful but don’t get into panic mode or let your brain lock up. If you knew the SHTF next month what would you get first to help you survive?  It could be a book, a canner or a pocket knife it does not have to be expensive.  Next ask yourself how you could get “whatever” without going into debt or if there is a substitute that would work short term? Just today Mom broke a nail “Oh, great now that nail can annoy me all day”.  I handed her my Leatherman with a fine file that sort of cleaned up the jagged edges of the nail. Nothing big but that small thing made life a little less annoying. Start with taking care of the small things and it will help to take care of the big things.