Mother

MM, love your Christmas garden.  I’d have to have a bit of greenery if I had that garden,,,,for salads you know  but those bright ‘fruits’ and ‘veggies’ are sooooo much fun!  I bet people smile each time they see your “garden”! I know I do. Food for the soul.  
 

Ambergris, that is quite the inventory.  Do you have an estimate of percentage of food you produce ( or could) with those ‘livestock’?  You don’t always get a high percentage the first year with them but the cuy seem to be prolific and the chickens are starting to multiply.  Always a good sign.  

Not a lot of billionaires are like that.  If more were we wouldn’t all be so concerned about those who held the wealth.  
 

Thanks for that info, Jeepers.  👍

You say you need to have a Lot of overgrowth taken out but it looks very bare to me.  Of course, I live in the timber.  
 

Check with the city (or county) web site if they have one or with city hall if there is one of them.  While you are. He king be sure to find out if chickens or ? Are allowed. Also out buildings, garden sheds, greenhouses and even pools.  Most places you are required to fence pools. Most towns have web sites. Start there. 

How does the baby corn grow?  Like regular corn or on smaller plants with more prolific produce?

    I soooo needed these laughs today.  
 

We have a 2008 converted Ford 12 passenger van we made into a nice camper van.  It’s sat for two years now with us unable to travel nd it has the usual Ford motor issues.  I just found out it has mice in it. DGS is getting us poison but there is no way I can clean it.  It will go up for sale soon.  We also have a 1987 VW Vangon.  Two owner, my Dad and Mom and us.  Always garaged and also going to have to be sold.  It’s not a camper but we have camped in it and a LOT of other vehicles.  Love camping. 
 

Years go I had a 1967 Camaro, Cadillac blue with baby blue racing stripes, mag wheels and an engine from hell.  LOVED that car.  Had to sell it to get a refrigerator.  The kid who’s father bought it for him as a graduation gift took it out the very next day and wrapped it around telephone pole.  The kid lived but was lucky.  Our kids and their friends were all teens at the time and made dire threats.  They loved riding in that car with me squealing the tires just to show off.  I cried for a week.  Hard to let go of loves like that. 
 

Jeepers, my daughter is also a Jeeper.  She has had several.  

Our Granddog, a six year old,  hundred pound, Chocolate Lab, still loves chewing on large bones. His favorite chew toy though is a big chunk of fire wood.  It can be messy because he doesn’t swallow it but it gives him great joy.  Beside, he will help carry firewood to the house as he knows he gets his choice when the box is full. 

Strange dog. LOL.  Do you suppose she has a deficiency?  At lest she keeps your life interesting. 

Nice.  Why potatoes though.  Potato vines are poisonous. 

Winter weather has hit here already.  Possible snow tonight.
 

Outside: making sure the beds are all cleaned out and some covered, not much.  

Inside: the winter garden is just starting. Normally I would have brought in numerous plants to overwinter and to continue to harvest. Due to aphids, and other infestations last year I have only brought in a few, all well washed and encased in isolation plastic. I do have a sweet potato vine (for greens), two or three celery ends (root bases) producing great leaves and a few stalks, a couple kale stems rooting to plant, some sprouting fennel roots to plant, and some ginger root from my own plants planted. 
 

I’m cleaning my aquarium, readying it for a few aquaponic plants (cucumbers?, tomatoes?) I have the wire shelves near the windows cleaned and am setting up the flats for growing microgreens, and shoots.  Already have sprouts started growing in a jar near the kitchen sink. They will be ready in a week, the microgreens in about two, the shoots maybe a bit longer. Depending on how soon I get them seeded.  I always like to have fresh stuff for Christmas.  Especially Sunnies. Love them.  

We had a small gathering, too.  Just five of us but we had Turkey Breast, green bean casserole, corn pudding, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, apple crisp, banana bread, sweet potato casserole, crackers, cheese, and pickles.    It was just enough fun for the two of us with lots of laughter and very little clean up.  Kept just enough leftovers for a couple of meals.  

Our holidays used to be filled with all our family together, sometimes thirty or forty of us.  This year we will have our DD, DGS and DSIL here and are thankful for having that many out of our large large family.  More than that causes DH stress and the possibility of having more seizures so we keep holidays quiet.  
 

Momo,  you might be physically alone but know that many of us here will be with you in spirit and in prayers.

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Thanks for the correction, MM.  Always good to verify statements. 

Nice, very nice.  

I believe it was Benjamin Franklin (maybe) that wanted the Turkey as our national bird.  Having worked with both during rehab I’d say neither has the best dispositions.  

Happy birthday, UK Guy.  I hope your day will be especially wonderful!  

Necie, I also miss those you mention.  Some we won’t see again, some we hope, like you, they will return.  Fortunately they (including you) have all left a legacy of interesting, informative, and sometimes down right fun posts.  The current active members, fortunately, are leaving their legacy as well.  Mrs S seems to draw the BEST people!  
 

And I believe we all share your unease.  

Euphrasyne is right.  Hunted meat is NOT free.  For all the reason’s she lists with the exception of the beer in our family.  Not to mention the work and time involved to harvest it and process the deer yourself.  It is over a hundred dollars if you have it processed. No, it is not free but when all the necessities are prorated over several years it does become cheaper. Then there are the rewards of knowing they can provide a quality protein for their family and they are helping to support all wildlife.  
 

Virginia, thank you.  You all encourage me too. 
 

Ambergris, my DGD just took my whole set of Countryside, Back Home, and Back Woods Home magazines and seemed very happy to get them.  I, too, will miss them but I kept my extensive library of TMEN.  I have the first 90 or so and still find them motivational reading!   
 

Necie, I am SO glad you are back.  We are all enjoying the fresh burst of energy you bring to Mrs. S.  

Thank you Necie. I surprised myself when reading back through this thread to find at 76 and in a wheelchair  I still do live with the pioneer attitude and skills. I have adapted the life again and again as age and disability creep in (I have a few posts somewhere that tells of those adaptations if you are interested) but adaptation is what ‘preppers’ learn to do. It is what our pioneer and settler ancestors did.
 

Each day brings us another chance to ‘pioneer’.  It doesn’t have to be traveling a thousand miles across the wilderness with horses and wagons for transportation and a fire the only means of cooking our meager food.  Each time we take a step into self sufficiency we are pioneering. 
 

Ambergris, those look nothing like what I expected chocolate to come from!!! 

3 hours ago, Necie said:

Backstrap tomorrow. 🤤 

Oh yum.  We had that last week!!! 😋

Today we had a whole meal of older frozen foods.  Grilled sweet corn dated 2021, beets dated 2022, Bok Choy dated 2020 and chicken dated 2019.  All was good tasting with no freezer burn but they had been packed well.  The corn had been previously oven roasted and was a but chewy but still good.  
 

We are slowly trying to use up the old.  

3 hours ago, Necie said:

My boys hunt those and we look forward to them every year.

Here too. DGS took a deer today in fact. 
 

Little Sister, I can appreciate what your DD does. I was a Federal and State licensed wildlife rehabber for well over 25 years and was also licensed to keep unreleasable animals to use for educational purposes. We averaged over 300 rescues a year. We did not eat any of them.  We only ate what we legally hunted with the exception of road kill deer.  We worked closely with the DNR and were called for any downed animal in our area.  The injured we helped and released back into the wild, the dead food animals we processed and shared with various institutions and those in need.  

I have a similar recipe that makes enough mix for literally hundreds. (800-1000 cups mixed up) We served it at the museum I worked for at the annual Christmas Walk. They still do.  We used regular cocoa instead of the chocolate mix along with the other ingredients.   Much cheaper and makes it nice and rich. (So they tell me, I am terribly allergic to chocolate ). You can also buy dried mini marshmallows like comes in cereal and add that to the mix.  The colored ones look especially festive.  We used to get them in the bulk at Amish bulk food stores but I’ve seen them on Amazon. 
 

A tip. The mix makes a really nice gift.  I’ve pared it with a special mug with the directions tied on with a decorative ribbon. Great for a gift exchange too.