Friday Farm Blog – Nov. 1

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By Daisy Luther

This week’s Friday farm blog is brought to you a day late and a dollar short.

Okay, maybe two days late and not really a dollar short. This whole once-a-month shopping thing has been incredibly good for my budget.  I am working on my list for the next grocery trip and already did a run to an outlet store for some supplies that are always way cheaper there. I’ll give you totals next week, but I’m very very pleased with this so far.  I think the biggest savings comes from the lack of impulse purchases. I have trouble going into a place with all of this glorious food and not bringing some of it home with me.

Last week was rather challenging. I did lots of canning because it’s that time of year. I made more tomato-basil soup, some canned tomatoes, and a huge batch of barbecue sauce with the last of the tomatoes. After my tomato canning fest, I went to clean up the kitchen and – whoops – no water!  It turned out that my well pump bit the dust. We went a couple of days without running water and got to test out our preps. What we learned is that we have dramatically underestimated how much water we use with our livestock. I had thought we had enough stored for about a month before tapping into our secondary sources, but in reality, we would have enough for about a week based on our usage those two days.  I strongly advise running a surprise drill at your place. Don’t go out and buy extra supplies for it – start wherever you’re at, with what you normally keep on hand. Let us know what YOU learn.

Our trenches have been dug, so bring on the rain. Unless something really unusual happens, our little valley should be safe from flooding. We are officially set for fall.

Happy fall yall

In the week ahead, I have apples and pumpkins to can. Fall is crazy busy, but I love the productiveness of it. Slowly, my pantry is getting loaded up for the winter. The smell of apples and cinnamon is in the air today, as the dehydrator runs with a full load of apple chips. Speaking of which, the top of the dehydrator is my older kitty’s favorite cozy warm spot now. I’m not sure how I feel about this.

Cat on the dehydrator

All of the livestock are pretty happy about the canning. They get delicious scraps daily from the previous day’s food prep. I had a lot of trouble with the ducks when they were smaller. They’re extremely skittish and not at all friendly like the chickens, even though I raised them the same way. So, since there was no bond, I decided to eat them…but then, it’s like they knew, because now they do this when I walk in the coop, which makes it harder. Sigh.

Hungry birds

Last night, (Halloween) I went up to the barn late because I couldn’t remember if I’d given the goats water when I put them away. Since I’m a wuss and I think a mountain lion is going to eat me, I took my 150-pound guard dog, Thor, with me. When I walked out of the barn, before I turned the flashlight on, I saw a truck slow, then stop, in front of our gate. I watched in astonishment as a guy jumped out of the passenger side and hopped my fence. I felt that the best course of action was to “release the hound” so I unclipped Thor’s leash. He tore down to the fence, with his scary deep bark. Never have I seen someone try to leap over a fence backward so frantically. I think the guy might have peed a little. I turned on my spotlight and watched him get back in the truck, where they peeled out in a big hurry.

Good doggie.  He has a sweet face but probably not so much when he’s running at you snarling.

Thor sitting

This week my plan is to finish the food preservation, then spend some time organizing my pantry. I love the look of all of those jars of food. How was your week? Did you do anything to get your preps and farm set for the fall?  Are you still getting stuff out of your garden?

Daisy Luther

Daisy Luther

Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, globe-trotting blogger. She is the founder and publisher of three websites.  1) The Organic Prepper, which is about current events, preparedness, self-reliance, and the pursuit of liberty on her website, 2)  The Frugalite, a website with thrifty tips and solutions to help people get a handle on their personal finances without feeling deprived, and 3) PreppersDailyNews.com, an aggregate site where you can find links to all the most important news for those who wish to be prepared. She is widely republished across alternative media and  Daisy is the best-selling author of 5 traditionally published books and runs a small digital publishing company with PDF guides, printables, and courses. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Gab, MeWe, Parler, Instagram, and Twitter.

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  • We try to limit shopping trips but once a month doesn’t always work out. My monthly check came last week and I would have picked up the month’s worth of chicken feed when I went to fill the portable propane tanks. The local country store hauls their own inventory and they were out. The closest full service grocery store is forty miles away so you don’t run down for meat for supper because you forgot to thaw something.
    We watch out for bears instead of mountain lions and the dogs let us know if any are around. Also they bark visitors so no one can surprise us.
    We smoked the bacon from the hog we butchered a couple weeks ago and canned 47 pints of saurkraut.
    I have no idea how to start a blog.

  • ……I think I’d get another dog! Two is one , one is none….unless you already have two! Or a husband? …….
    Be careful!

  • So Daisy you are getting ready for fall are you . Well we on the Canadian Prairies are getting ready for winter. We already had snow that lasted almost a week but an all day rain took that away but now we are expecting more snow Tue.night & Wed. morn. New studded winter tires go on before that.

    All my canning is done & yes the shelves of canning look so good. I know that even if we got 6 feet of snow & couldn’t get out until spring we’d be OK food wise. Med wise not so good as you can’t stock up on that. We also burn wood so as long as we can get to the wood shed there is 3yrs. wood in there. The only veg. I have left to do will be the winter squash & it will keep for several more month. We will eat a bunch before then & then I will cook & freeze the rest.

    My immagination went wild about your night time visiters & it gave me a good laugh. Stay safe

    • We have had snow for a couple of weeks! Only a couple inches on the ground.
      Worked on topping up the wood shed today. Still have carrots to can.

  • Daisy,

    I have a question. I have read several places that you can’t can pumpkin. So, in the past I have frozen it.

    Fill me in on the safe way to can it.

    Thanks.

    • Hi TC! It’s absolutely true that you can’t can pumpkin puree. However, you are able to can pumpkin safely in cubes. Place the cubes (uncooked) in the jars. Top with water, then pressure can at 10 pounds (adjusting for altitude) for 90 minutes.

      When you open the jar at serving time, drain the liquid off, reserving it for some other use. You’ll only need to mash it with a fork to get a pureed texture.

  • Daisy, You have had some excitement around your homestead! You were blessed being prompted to go to the barn when you did…with your dog and gun! The guy was probably casing your property to steal something. Maybe now he’ll go pick an easier target! My 4 big dogs would wake the dead should someone jump the fence; they look mean but only one is really capable of biting an intruder. But I think the rest might join in if Bandit went into attack mode. Just goes to show us that even out in the country, we are not completely safe!

    I’m still canning; I have at least another 4 or 6 weeks before the first hard freeze. Even then, I’ll just cover up the cabbages, cauliflower, collards and broccoli until the freeze passes. I’ve been thinking about building a hoop house but haven’t made the commitment yet. There are so many things on my to-do list! Friday I pick up 40 pds of chicken breasts so I’ll be canning chicken for a couple of days.

    Glad you got your ditches dug; if nothing else you have peace of mind. Have a safe week!

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