Shortage Updates

[SavedByGrace3]

We also order a couple hundred bucks worth of #10 cans from LDS store. Carrots, Dried Milk. Onions. White beans. 6 cans of each. Not as cheap as it used to be, but better than it will be. About 55 bucks for each 6 can box.
Seriously, get it now while it is there to get.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

Fires at Food Processing Facilities

I don't want to be paranoid... but all this is pretty fishy. Kind of the perfect storm to bring about food and fuel shortages. These cascade to more dangerous things. Praying.

 

[Aldebaran]

I don't want to be paranoid... but all this is pretty fishy. Kind of the perfect storm to bring about food and fuel shortages. These cascade to more dangerous things. Praying.

Could be environmentalist "activists".
'Environmental extremist, arsonist and former fugitive' pleads guilty to arson in Pacific Northwest - CNN

 

[SavedByGrace3]

War on Food Gets Hot

Yes, and this was 2020. Today, I have to say... it looks intentional.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

I think its best to finalize purchases. Anything you’ve put off or didn’t get around to. There’s too many balls in play.

We purchased a few more cases of #10 cans from LDS. Carrots, onions, dried milk, beans.
We are Antioch Christian Preppers! We are planning on helping those Judean Christian - non- Preppers who, for whatever reason, chose not to see the skies and prepare.

 

[HARK!]

Have you tried egg glassing?

I found out about water glassing here:

I have learned a lot of valuable information from this Christian, home schooling, homesteading , family.

 

[HARK!]

Budget DIY Water Filter

I might have found a solution to my water problem.:

It surely is worth a try.

 

[tturt]

Oh my goodness

Trying to think of essential things besides food - getting car repaired, meds refilled. What else?

 

[tturt]

Thank you Seems like the entire pending list is now on the priority list

 

[Servant78]

Create the problem and provide the solution.

Could you kindly explain what kind of "solution" ?

 

[HARK!]

Drought

I planted 40,000 tomato seeds this spring. I planted them right before a rain. I got the timing perfect; but the ground was already so dry, that the rain didn't give them enough moisture to germinate. I haven't had any real rain to speak of this spring. My tank (pond) is going dry. It looks like this crop is a total loss. Next spring I think that I'm going with sorghum. All of my grass is drying up as I'm expanding my chicken flock. I pray that I get some more rain before the chickens eat all of the grass. It's tough in the SW.

 

[HARK!]

I’d give serious consideration to hydroponics. You can grow year round and aren’t reliant on rain.

I'm working on a greenhouse. Sliding bay doors contain 4 panes of tempered glass. If they get a leak, mold grows between the panes. The answer is to replace the doors. I take those doors as a see them. I take the glass out, and recycle the metal. The glass cleans up like new. I've been collecting them, as I find them, for years. I might have to expedite the process, and go to a company that installs them; and tell them that I will pick up their waste. The plan is to build a two story greenhouse, by planting 8 utility poles, as the main frame; and then pump my water from my tank (pond).

 

[HARK!]

I would have it finished professionally and create an alternative water source in the structure. Hydro or aquaponic tanks are an option. If the pond is going dry they can’t be fed. You need a recirculating water source.

The prepping window is nearly closed. I wouldn’t put things off.

I can't recirculate what evaporates. I've been considering turning the tank (pond) into a cistern; but that would be quite an undertaking. If it goes completely dry this year; I plan to dig it twice as wide, and 50% deeper. I plotted the topography of my land before I placed it; and I dug a trench to the tank to capture what would have otherwise flowed away from the tank. When I get a good rain; it overflows. I just need to hold more, or better protect what I capture. A cistern is not conducive to farming fish. I'm also planting fruit and nut trees around the tank. If expanding the tank doesn't work; I can always turn it into a cistern; but that would require a lot of concrete; and I would lose my little oasis.

 

[tturt]

Raise fish in the bottom of the hydroponics or barrel?

 

[SavedByGrace3]

I'm working on a greenhouse. Sliding bay doors contain 4 panes of tempered glass. If they get a leak, mold grows between the panes. The answer is to replace the doors. I take those doors as a see them. I take the glass out, and recycle the metal. The glass cleans up like new. I've been collecting them, as I find them, for years. I might have to expedite the process, and go to a company that installs them; and tell them that I will pick up their waste. The plan is to build a two story greenhouse, by planting 8 utility poles, as the main frame; and then pump my water from my tank (pond).

Very ambitious.
Best to you.
I have an old portable auto garage that came covered with heavy tarp material. The tarp is wearing out and so I am thinking of taking it off the frame (made from 2-inch steel piping) and covering the whole thing (10 feet by 17 feet) with 6 ply plastic sheeting. Should serve well as a greenhouse.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

Reality Check and The Price of Distraction

Yeah... I watch some of the claims about how many people a square acre can feed. The estimate is WAY over reality. Plant twice as much and expect half as much. We have about 1000 square feet of usable garden space. We have harvested as much as a ton of food from this in a single year season. Over 700 pounds of tomatoes alone. We practice a food jungle theory and use heavy fertilizer. The weather has hurt us the last couple of years. We will have nice warm days in the spring and get a good start in Feb and March, only to have a couple of 20-degree nights that force us to start from scratch. We also have days in the 50s and 60s, only to have nights down into the 30s and 40s. Poor little plants just don't know what to do!

 

[HARK!]

Very ambitious.
Best to you.
I have an old portable auto garage that came covered with heavy tarp material. The tarp is wearing out and so I am thinking of taking it off the frame (made from 2-inch steel piping) and covering the whole thing (10 feet by 17 feet) with 6 ply plastic sheeting. Should serve well as a greenhouse.

I built one out of combination 3/4' gas line and PVCpipe, about 12'X20' Then I went out and spent about $100 to buy a roll of 7 mil plastic to cover it. What seems like a few days later i found it laying in two pieces. one on the right of the structure, one on the left. I checked for sharp edges on the frame, and re-covered it. A few days later, the same deal. This was a rather large structure. I had enough plastic to do this one more time. I had tossed the first covering off to the side on the ground. I decided to take my time and clean up all the mess before my final attempt. I;m glad that I did. When I went to pick up the first sheet; it crumbled in my fingers.

There were no sharp edges in the frame. That plastic just won't hold up to the UV of the SW. I looked into professional greenhouse plastic. It's very expensive; and it doesn't hold up well in the SW either. That is why I decided to go with glass.

It wasn't a total loss. I ended up making a hanger out of that structure, by covering the frame with roofing metal.

 

[HARK!]

Raise fish in the bottom of the hydroponics or barrel?

I'm well familiar with those systems; but they way I'm setting up should be more practical for me. The plan is to build this greenhouse big enough for tropical trees. That's why I want it to be at least 20' tall. I'm thinking of even going as high as 25-30'; so that I can use it as an observation tower. All of that glass will be pretty when I light it up at night. I'm thinking lots of LED rope lights. There is less water pumping needed, so it requires fewer solar panels, and batteries, to supply the energy to the pumps. I also don't have to feed the fish that are in the tank (pond). Nature will do that for me.

 

[tturt]

Is food jungle theory when gardening plants are grown randomly?

 

[SavedByGrace3]

Is food jungle theory when gardening plants are grown randomLarge portions of our garden are just volunteer plants sprouting up. They just sprout up where they sprout. We have tomato plants in with the cucumbers and Sunchokes. We somehow got a tomato in with the Strawberries. ?? We do transplant some when they are small. Most of our squash and half of our tomatoes this year are volunteers. If the original plants were hybrid, you really cannot tell what you are getting. We have a strange mix of Italian Zucchini and original green Zucchini. A few tomato plants are what we mystery tomatoes. Kind of fun to see what they will be. We have to feed this garden heavily because many plants are less than a foot apart. We are planning on adding a few hundred square feet this summer.ly?