Mother

There is an update in Streams on MtR's DD. It is absolutely amazing what prayers can do. Keep them up for her continued recovery and for MtR as well.

This morning several of us managed to get the garden weeded and what seemed like bushels of produce harvested but I know is only a little of this and a little of that. Any excess has to be preserved for winter. We are processing under less than ideal situations though and it takes more attention to details. The big adobe oven is adding a helpful dimension as we can place vegetables or fruit into it at night after the oven has been used for other things and have them dry by morning. We’ve rigged up extra shelves to hang inside and it allows us even more drying power. With the solar dehydrator that DH built and the racks in the screen house it looks like a factory but we are dehydrating as much as we possibly can. We have found that slicing zucchini and yellow summer squash very thin and drying it with heat gives an almost chip like product that is great with a dip made with sour cream, chives, and other seasonings. Keeping the ‘chips’ dry is another story. They pick up moisture quickly so we almost have to store them in glass jars. The kids love them though and are willing to help with their making so we are drying dozens. We are also canning the summer type squashes with a variety of peppers, onions, okra, carrots, and tomatoes to make a sort of medley that we all enjoy. It stretches the meager tomato harvest some. I’ve been putting some of the sparse looking celery into it as well because it is not crisp and tender and is much better cooked than raw. We are pressure canning this mix and it is taking a lot of effort to make sure the pressure stays even. We’ve used both the cook stove and the outside steel plate and find that if the wind isn’t blowing the outside fire is actually easier to control. We also canned tomato sauce today to use later for making into catsup and BBQ sauce this winter. We can make them with dried tomatoes too but the pureed tomatoes serve in a variety of ways. We are processing the tomatoes with my time honored shortcut. The blender. I brought along two hand-operated blenders and have used them for everything from yogurt/fruit smoothies to mayonnaise, to garden produce. In the case of the tomatoes we just wash them good and remove the stem. Then we cut them in large chunks and blend them, skin and all, to a puree, which we then strain to remove the seeds and some of the skin. We stir it until the foam is incorporated and then, because these are heirloom, high acid tomatoes we water bath can them. We also use a couple of cone shaped strainers with wooden pestles to mash the tomatoes or soft fruit through but it gives a different texture. We won’t cook any of this down until winter when we need the heat in the house anyway. We’ll be doing the same thing with jams and jellies. We will just can the juice or fruit and make the finished product later. That reminds me that I want to check the plum thickets to see how the plums are doing. They aren’t ready yet, of course, but I want to make sure they aren’t dropping too many fruit on the ground that we might be able to salvage for fresh eating. In a couple of weeks we might see some starting to ripen on the tree. All of the root crops are doing okay but just okay. They will stay in the ground until needed or until the cold weather makes it imperative we bring them in for storage and even then, we may leave some under stacks of hay stored in the garden area and only harvest them when the hay has been fed. Some of the onions are doing really well but some already have their tops turning brown even though the bulb is not that big. Once the tops are dead we will braid them together and hang the onions to finish drying. We will do the same with the garlic though it looks to be a lot smaller than I’d hoped for. We will leave them both until they have to be brought in. I’m hoping to replant some of the larger garlic bulbs right away so they can get a start for next year. Maybe they would do well under hay too. While half of us were working on the canning the other half was gathering wood in the timber. Periodically we could hear the oxen dragging in trees, mostly dead wood for fuel. They will be doing the same across the river tomorrow. If we can take one day a week for wood and one day a week for hay we might have enough for winter before it hits. IF it’s not too early that is. Some of the wood will go to build corrals on the homestead plateau both here and across the river. Some of the smaller animals will be held there when the snow is too deep for their safety elsewhere. Some of the wood will go for building shelters for them near the rock face, under the ledge similar to the barn but not as closed in. If need be we can lead them into the cave during the worst of the weather. Well, I guess I better get out and help with chores. We’ve sent the river homestead family home. L and her Cousin went by sleigh as neither of them looked like they would be able to walk. We have not let them do much besides set and maybe peel something. L’s cousin worked on the spinning wheel for quite a while but L was doing good even to set still. I suggested that DH have a couple of horses and their tack, head lamps for seeing in the dark, and guns, ready to go just in case we need to send someone for help in the night. I hope not as that would be possibly a three-hour round trip or more depending on whom we have come. I know that C has done the same over there but they will be coming here first to take the better-known trail for speed and safety. The sleigh is back and setting ready to go as well, in case they need me over there. They already have everything they might need and we have gone over the possibilities again and again until we feel we have covered most things that could need attention. I had to laugh as they were leaving the yard today. C was betting L’s cousins’ husband a week of chores that his baby would be the first born in the valley. The women were just looking at each other with that look that says “men”!

For those of you who haven't seen the post by Darlene in Streams, our beloved MtR and her DD are in great need of prayers. Her Dd has taken ill and is in ICU and MtR is going to be going to her side. Please join me in a and prayers. In the mean time, I will again be attempting to moderate the Wagons Ho thread until she is back with us. Please, please pray, I am very worried abut her and her DD both. As most of you know, MtR is just coming back from a hard winter herself. (((((((Mt_Rider)))))) ((((HUGS EVERYONE)))))

These have been such busy days I’ve not had time to write but I thought I’d take a few minutes this morning to do so before I start my day. The beds in the greenhouse are all filled with a soil and leaf mold mixture from the surrounding woods. I have the seedlings all moved into permanent beds there. They have to be at harvest size before winter hits, as they won’t grow much after that time with the low light levels. It’s been my experience at home that even lights won’t help a lot unless they are special grow lights. I do intend to experiment with lights but I’m not willing to stake the whole winter crop on them when it’s just as easy to get them growing ahead of time. Almost everything I put in the winter gardens outside I have managed to put at least some inside: Beet, kale, chard, Chinese Napa cabbage, turnip, munsted mustard, and collards. The collards seedlings are already huge. We will have a lot of meals from them. We probably will use the beets and turnips mostly for greens from the greenhouse. I did put in some cauliflower, broccoli, and even some good-sized celery, in the greenhouse but they don’t produce as much for the space they take up. I hope to put radishes in their places once pulled but I don’t have a lot of hope for even those growing in the winter. But nothing ventured, nothing gained and we like radishes. Onion seed for green onions are in and I hope they have time to grow enough for winter. Of course the salad crops like lettuces, spinach, and etc have been given a prominent space but as these are shorter season crops they will be successive planted along with radishes a bit later in the season. The timing will be tricky with those however as I’m not sure what we will be dealing with for light with the surrounding mountains. I think we are high enough in the valley to grab a few extra minutes of the warming evening sun but that remains to be seen. When I planted the herbs outside I started many of them in sections of hollow split logs. Now all we will have to do to have herbs all winter is have the guys pick up the logs and bring a full herb garden inside with very little disturbance of the plants. I will especially appreciate the lemon balm, fennel, and French tarragon. They all go very nicely with fish and we hope to be having a lot of that in the future. I also planted some of our tomatoes and peppers into containers when I planted them outside this spring. I will bring them into the greenhouse for winter but they will probably only give us what fruit is already set. I’ve had peppers that I’ve kept from year to year before though and they start producing very early in the spring when kept over. The tomatoes, if my experience with them is the same here as home, will most likely die back long before then. I won’t bother to plant beans in the greenhouse as they just plain take up too much room for the amount of fresh produce I might get but I have put quite a few cucumber plants inside in the hopes we can have fresh a ways into the winter at least. I consider that a luxury plant but at least it climbs up and so takes up less space. I also put in climbing spinach, which I know will do great in there. Strangely enough, back home, even if those winter hardy plants like beets, kale and etc freeze I could still harvest them after they thawed as long as I didn’t try to touch them frozen. When you do that the leaves just break. One thing I left room for is wild greens. Lambs quarter does excellently in the greenhouse and if left to go to seed next summer will self sow for fall/winter. Nettles almost always have very little time when they don’t grow and they make a great fertilizer for the plants if they do get larger than we like. I’ve left one small bed for them, away from the other plants, as their roots are so pervasive that they take over most things. I will transplant dandelion roots and several other wild plants into the greenhouse as well, just for their greens. Anyway, at least the greenhouse is mostly planted and I’m counting on the rock face and floor to hold enough heat to help moderate the cold at night and we will at least have our fresh vitamin and minerals throughout most of the winter. I’ve dried a lot of greens for late winter though when I know we most likely won’t be getting enough from the greenhouse to supply our needs and I have plenty of seeds for sprouting which we will be doing all winter. But I’m hoping that we will have only a few weeks in between the greenhouse producing and the earliest spring greens coming up in the snow. I’m hoping, but I’m not counting on it. We been having fish once or twice a week since we came but I’ve been thinking that we should be canning some of it. We won’t really make a concerted effort at smoking any meat until about the first frost but we like canned salmon and tuna and I would like to see if the bones get soft like the salmon when canned. We have more jars now, thanks to C and L, but still not nearly enough to can all that I have done in the past and certainly not enough to feed this many people but I don’t know how much fishing we’ll be able to do in the winter and I’m not sure about the crossover time between being able to fish for large supplies and the cave behind the falls getting cold enough to keep them frozen. We have two new calves; one from C’s cows and one from our belted cows, both bull calves. We also have a new litter of bunnies. They are some sort of angora rabbit, called a lion head if I have figured out the list correctly, and must have been bred just before DGD got them. We are getting more prolific with the spinning wheel so perhaps we can use the fiber and if not, we’ll use them as meat though they are really small rabbits. We also have another clutch of chicks hatched out, this one a bantam which had been setting on a mixed set of eggs that the old man we got the other miniature and unusual animals from had given DGD. She had babied them in their special cartons all the way to the valley but I really hadn’t expected them to hatch after the all that time on the trail and the bouncing they’d gotten but it seems that at least ten of them did. We have no clue what they are but DGD said she thought the old man had said there was a chicken book in the boxes he sent. I know they are a colorful mixture and we’re going to have to separate them, as some are really tiny and some huge. I’m afraid we’ll lose the little ones otherwise. I didn’t go into the Lodge Sunday but DD went and talked with some of the B’s group that live in the settlement and have only small acreages. They are interested in some of our smaller breeds of animals. As I suspected they feel they would be easier to keep yet still give them some produce. She’s already arranged to barter some of the bantams and some of the Dutch rabbits that should be kindling soon. Several showed interest in the Nigerian goats. She told them they could be bred at about seven months and five months later would be producing babies and milk but most would rather have already milking animals so we are going to consider keeping the young and letting a couple of the adults go. We have plenty of milk with the cows and the bigger goats to keep us. The family has cut more hay and has three big stacks on one of the lower plateaus. I haven’t been over but I understand they have two across the river as well. I know that it is hard work for them but we are going to need all we can get though I’m pretty sure we will be butchering a lot of the animals once we need to start supplementing their feed. So far most things have done extremely well on just grass, bugs, weeds and weed seeds. The grass fed livestock looks better than some I’ve seen in feedlots for sure. The chickens, ducks, and geese are doing quite well finding their own bugs and feed and the garden is even big enough now we can let the poultry run among the plants occasionally. The geese and ducks make great weeders but the chickens tend to peck at any little red spot that appears on the tomatoes or anywhere else. The dairy animals are getting a handful of grain at each milking but just enough to keep them coming easily. They probably aren’t giving quite as much milk as when fed more grain but it’s certainly not appreciably less and with so many milking now we certainly aren’t having a shortage of milk. Almost daily someone makes cheese. We are milking 1 Guernsey, three Jerseys though one will be dried soon to calve in the fall, 2 Nigerian goats with another possible when we wean the babies plus another to kid any minute and two due in the fall, two Saanens with another due eventually. On top of that the new belted Galloway mom has tons of milk and she seems quite comfortable with me handling her so might have to add her or try to get her to take a couple of the other calves to raise. I haven’t tried to milk the new miniature Panda mom but she also lets me handle her with no problem. C also has another Guernsey to calf eventually and several of his other cows will be having calves before long though he most likely won’t be milking them. We have two more Panda’s to calf yet as well as the zebu cow and who knows if the highland’s are bred. I would venture to say they are. I somehow don’t believe we are going to have a problem with not having milk. Our problem is getting some of that milk distributed to those who don’t have milk. DD brought milk into the Settlement on Sunday to give away and now it seems we might be bringing some in each week. We’ve been souring some of it to feed to the poultry and pigs. Speaking of pigs, we now have two litters born in the last couple of days, nine in one and seven in the other, and it looks like the last mom will farrow soon too. As near as I can tell these are called Guinea hogs. All that is on the paper is they are an American breed, need to have nothing done to them at birth, like teeth trimming and etc, yield 50 to a 100 pounds of meat, and have high lard content. They are adorable now being only about the size of a soda pop can and it’s hard to imagine them ever being big enough to produce even that much meat though the mom’s are probably 200 pounds. At least they will be small enough to butcher almost any time and be able to use the meat in enough time not to have it spoil. There may be some real benefits to some of these animals. Well I need to get busy. I have taken too long of a break as it is though I have been stirring cheese curd between writing. I will be attempting to make a cheddar cheese later just for something different than a farmer’s cheese type, which we’ve been making. It is a lengthy process of cutting and heating but as it’s drizzly today it’s a good time to work on one. If it turns out well we’ll be making more of them before winter or perhaps during the winter when we have more time but probably less milk. It seems there’s always something different to do but never enough time to do it all.

((((((MT3B))))))) We'll be here when you get settled.

Hello everyone, writers and readers alike....Have we got you all rethinking things? .....Is a new reality starting to hit ! Q and Leah are both right. It's fun to think of fantastic 'scenes' to go along with our "story" but this whole thread, as interesting as it gets on occassions, is meant to help us all learn how to get along WITHOUT what could be brought in by airplane, helicopter, or bus. We must remember that the ranch is almost three weeks away by wagon train, almost that or more by pack mule and if it had been accessible to airlifting things in Mr. Smith would have done it years ago as they have owned this property for 20 years according to previous posts. The world as we knew it is falling apart and there just ISN'T the resources out there that was. The whole idea of this thread was to help us learn if what we brought with us, both goods and knowledge, would be sufficient to survival. We have now had several chances to correct any defeciencies and it's easy to see what each of us felt we couldn't live without. We also have or will have an extremely large amount of people in the valley and as Q said, it's unrealistic that you would be able to get 200 or 250 people together without some sort of crime or at least jealousy of someone else having more or better than another. Can we manage to keep the peace; and how? That many people moves us from a small survival team to another situation all together. Daylily is coming in fully knowing that she is going to be late and will need to supply accordingly. It will be extremely interesting to see how she handles it. Can we count on the other "fictitional" people to do the same? MtR's family has her frantically trying to get enough food to feed the new members coming in AND to keep them through the winter...Can she do it realistically? Our family is the same. CAN we figure out a way to save them all? Realistically? Within the limit's of probability? Not possiblility. That will be quite a challenge, one we willingly took on. We'll see. That brings up another of Q's points we need to now consider. What is all this doing to the wildlife/game in the valley. This valley is, supposedly 10 by 20 mile of valley floor with more space above on plateaus and etc but it is totally contained within mountains and those mountains are surrounded by National forest. It is inconcievable that the wildlife in the area will stand for us to move this many people into their habitat and expect them to stay with all their quiet and solitude disturbed. Winter is coming and they are now in competiton with humans for their food supply except for the wolves and cougars, and bears, and coyotes, and fox, etc. who look on our domestic animals as a convenient food source. We will have X number of people for this valley to support. (I'll try to give us a definite number soon). If we cut off our nose to spite our face, as my mother used to say, who are we helping? Did you know that it takes almost 90 tree to make just one 16' by 20' cabin? How many buildings have we put up recently? How many trees is that? Add fencing, fire wood which we are cooking with daily and amassing for winter heat. Add boats and barrels and gadgets and doors and shelves and etc??? How many acres of land have we put under cultivation? How many of those acres will need to go to feed animals, let alone people? Okay, time for realities...... This last wagon train isn't bringing in nearly what we'd hoped simply because the supplies are just not there and even if they were, there is just not enough wagons for it all and those oxen have made that trip coming and going a lot of times and we'll have to be careful how we load those wagons. The people coming in HAVE to have priority to bring in what THEY need if they are to have even a small chance at survival. We certainly cannot begrudge them that nor can we afford to feed them all if they don't. Not that we would allow anyone in the valley to suffer if we could help it. The Rocks and Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones will be trying to help as much as they can but it's even gotten out of their hands. The last of the people are coming in and the valley is being closed to immigration but how are we going to get a balance between the need to save everyone yet not do ourself out of hearth and home by living too heavily on the land? With these new people we will need to not only concentrate on our own homesteads but we need to ask ourselves this... ,,,,Are we creating a NEW and BETTER community with what we are doing? And if not, what can we, individually, do differently? What, as a group, might we do? Okay, now that we've got you ALL thinking, readers and writers alike, we can get back to work on this new twist AND with maybe a different perspective. Okay, now you can start throwing shoes at me ( I will need new ones before winter is over)

You have a GREAT start Daylily. SUPER. Set's the scene beautifully. As for gardening, I can speak for zone 5 here but we need to remember that it really is going to be variable for the zone five on that valley. We are all having problems with the weather pattern changes and if you do a search, the zones have actually changed over the years already. That said, You might have 60- 75 days growing season left if you are lucky. Some cold hardy plants might give you more time as they would withstand the early frosts and etc. I plan to try some experiments (in the story AND in real life) with preparing the ground before winter really hits and planting potatoes to come up very early in the spring. If you plant potatoes in July, chances are that you might get some small potatoes before frost if you use certain late season varieties. Might want to do some research on that just to check. MtR has told us the elevation of the valley and the surrounding mountains but I've totally misplaced it in my mind. Perhaps she will be here soon to let us know again. Black plastic DOES give one an edge, so does red plastic for some plants, notably tomatoes, as do the wall of water type planters. The questions might be, how heavy is it and how long wil it hold up? It would be a boost to get some crops producing this year at least. I thought of bringing it but because of it's weight I opted for more plexiglas for greenhouse and solar gain but of course, we got here earlier too. You might want to consider light weight row covers as they would extend/protec the growing season perhaps. It will be fun to see what you decide. Pilot missing,,,well, there goes THAT idea Now you have me curious about THAT too. All part of what makes these posts so interesting.

Thanks for the praise Okiecountrygirl. Pilot,,,, Helicopter maybe.......hmmmmmm.......would that be too noticeable? Would "they" know where we were then? Don't they have to file flight plans? Why didn't Mr. Smith think of that to begin with and bring in tons of stuff for supplies? Or just drop us all off that way to begin with? (That would have been much easier on us but then we wouldn’t have learned what we did on the trail either!) Turbulence maybe? Remember Annarchy already found one plane in a small lake. Hmmmmm I love these interesting ideas that add new dimensions to our thinking. THANKS! Anyone else have any ideas about this possibility and why it hasn't been used or couldn't be used? (besides the obvious that we didn't "let" you have it )

Wow, Super list of people and skills. They should be a great help on the homestead. We all had trouble with our packing lists. I must have added and taken away dozens of times and just before we left I was throwing things into odd corners and nooks and crannies because I kept thinking of things we might need... Welll, I do that same thing in real life as we are getting the Motor Home ready for a trip. Good start Daylily!

Nice to have you back Q. We missed you too.

I received this in a pm this morning from a long standing Mrs. S member who knows the area where the valley might be located. I won't mention her name as I will leave that up to her if she wants to identify herself but she has given me permission to post it here so that we might all get a big dose of reality to make our learning experience more appropriate. She had missed that we had chosen to make our valley zone 5 to ease our ability to produce enough food before winter but we are even getting ahead of zone 5 and probably should reconsider what is probable not just what is possible so we can all help each other leran. What she says is a real eye opener to the fact that IF we really DID move to this area our survival would be much more harsh and unforgiving. (her words) She has a few comments in another pm that I will include also. They are NOT criticism as she is sincerely enjoying the threads. She is just hoping to help us to see what life MIGHT have really been like. "Thought I'd best drop a hint about the gardens. You'all are used to warm with humidity boosting the garden growth day and night. That plain doesn't happen in Montana. It is not uncommon to have a passing snow storm on the 4th of July. The night wind, is cold, hindering plant growth as much as the plant was able to grow during the day. Very seldom will night temps be above 40 to 45 degrees Only in the most sheltered of south facing exposures will any tomato ripen by the mid to end of August. I would guess that the 'valley' gardens are ahead of reality by at least a month, or more. Any plant needing heat and humidity, will only grow in a greenhouse. Actually, nowhere in Montana are gardens far enough from the snow covered mountains, for the snow freshened wind not to affect them. The same with planting a second crop, say like beans. If lucky, the first crop will mature about the middle of Aug. and be viable for maybe 2-3-4 pickings. Expect a killing frost anytime after the 15 of Sept. I understand the valley would have a more protected micro climate, but frost settles in the valleys sooner than later. Veggies like peppers, okra, corn only grow in small specialized pockets of calm. I sort of understood this valley was somewhere near Billings, and the wind around there will sometimes blow plants right out of the ground. Zucchini will grow, but it is really a fight to get ANY past 80 day winter squash mature enough to use. Think cold weather crops. Carrots, beets, ruta., parsnips, potatoes, turnips, cabbage, think short season maturity. A lot of the grain crops were cut, shocked and then they froze dry. Even oats have a difficult time ripening. I only mention this, cause there are some veggies growing in the story that just arn't gonna happen in Montana. It is not uncommon to loose entire fields to 'frost in the bloom' killing temps in June or July. Ya'all are thinking too warm. The majority of summers will have 2 weeks of above 80 degree temps. and then it is back down to the 50 & 60's. daytime, and at least 20 degrees colder at night. ........ The amounts of food that is maturing & being harvested in the story are way above what is possible. The soil is a thin, gravely ashy light colored soil with few nutrients. Most rivers in Mt. are a milky light turquoise color with all the dissolved mineral sedement, and glacial melt. High water runoff will peak in the middle of June, and tighten up 30 days later as the peaks start getting snow again. The biting insects hatch about the first of May and the deer flies, [so named because they will cause animals to run them selves to death, trying to escape the torment] and black flies are everywhere, ALL the time. And they bite....worse when rain is expected. It is a wonder that this part was ever settled, it is harsh and unforgiving. .........The map can say zone 5 all it wants too. The wind creates a wind chill that is not measured. Plants do not respond well, they are stunted, spindly and do produce, but not in good quanitity. With the origional people, the valley most likely had all the people it can feed. The second train, would put it over the top. Hunting and trapping would be the most certain source of food, followed by gardens growing greens. In the West, ANY disturbed ground grows thistles. The seed stays in the ground 30+ years. These are bull, Canadian, & Scotch thistles. There is also star thistle, the worst scourge to ever grow in soil. It sticks in the tongues of grazing animals, they swell, and choke to death. Montana also has Lupine, Poison Hemlock in large amounts. Most of the time stock would not eat these, however, in the spring when the poisons are the most concentrated, they are the only green showing. So, stock death happens often......... Mountain thunderstorms dump rain in 1 to2 inch amounts accompanied by high winds at least once a month. Beats gardens down to the ground. Keep working to make it realistic. The story has been good. A good learning experience. Keep up the good work. I am enjoying the story very much." Okay writers. We've been wanting this kind of comment so we could get some direction to help us write. While we won't go back to it being zone 4 or lower in our thread, we DO need to realize that the location does give us some limitations. I want to also mention that even in a Zone 5, the winters can be very severe and with the global warming, almost anything could happen. Think harsh and perhaps early winter and prepare accordingly in your 'scene'. If it turns out to be wonderful we won't be disappointed. (Thanks for the input, dear friend.)

The days are too busy to even find a chance to write. Yesterday we moved animals to new pasture. That wasn’t easy, as we had to move some of the fence to enlarge an area to make sure we didn’t have to move them again. The rest of the day was spent in cutting the long grass around the edges of the fields for hay. We didn’t want any tall grass for the wolves or coyotes to get close to the fences or to encourage the animals to try to get to the greener grass on the other side. Cutting it served several purposes that way. L’s Mom, Karen, and I took the kids out to pick more berries yesterday afternoon and most of the evening was spent on cleaning and laying berries out to dry. I noticed that the hawthorn berries are just starting to show color so I’ll have to keep an eye on them. We need them to use as heart meds replacements. We discovered something just as important though. We had filled the buckets and returned them to the kitchen but then decided we’d take a few empty ones and go get more clay. It was cool under the trees along the stream and after we had filled the buckets we decided to follow the stream a bit further down. We had decided that the clay deposit was within our property and wanted to see where the stream went. We followed it deeper into the woods where it wandered a bit south and appeared to be headed towards the wooded area right below our fields. We were just barely able to hear the guys calling to each other while cutting hay when we came to a wide area that was sort of swampy but bright with sun. We started to walk around it and because I wasn’t looking for it, I almost missed the wild rice that was growing thickly throughout the whole area, beautiful heads of wild rice heads bobbing in the slight breeze. I was so excited because it is one of my favorite foods and though I’d planted some near our other rice it didn’t look as if it would do well. I studied the rice for a while. It was just starting to flower good and if my memory served me right, we would have about four weeks before it would be ready and after that we’d have to harvest every week or so to get the most out of the stand. As I was trying to figure out how it came to be growing here I suddenly realized that we’d need to figure out how to harvest it. The natives used canoes. We walked out of the woods near where the cutting was going on and surprised those working there but soon we were all back looking at the rice. Our son has some experience building scull boats and thinks he will be able to come up with some sort of flat bottomed boat that we can use but it’s a good thing we found the rice now so we have time to get it done. DD tells us that they had seen the swampy area when they were exploring the land before we came but never gave a thought to it containing anything edible. It is a wonderful find. As big as that stand is I wouldn’t doubt we could harvest 500 pounds if we are lucky. There will be a lot of work with the rice what with harvest and then winnowing, parching, and cleaning, but it will be worth it. Thankfully, a couple of the guys agreed to go back up the stream to get the buckets of clay we’d left behind as they hoped to get in a bit of hunting on the way. The rest of us headed up to start the chores so that C and L’s family could get home to their own animals and supper. Today, the crew turned the newly cut grass to dry more and then went to C and L’s to cut grass hay there. Mom and I were left to watch the homestead but we kept busy working in the garden. Neither Mom nor I was up to doing a lot of weeding but we managed to get a big pan of fresh peas picked and shelled and all the beans picked again. We will pick them a few more times but then they will come out as by then they will have slowed down enough that replanting with another crop would be more advantageous. We will treat the plants like hay and dry it for winter use. We already have another crop of beans growing and hopefully they will be ready long before winter hits. While Mom worked on the beans I went to the greenhouse to make sure the seedlings were not getting dry. We had the solar chimney open and it was pulling fresh almost cool air in the lower vents in the greenhouse and it felt nice to just stand there a while. I ran my hand through the growing plants, gently moving them back and forth to help strengthen the stems. I would be transplanting them into beds as soon as we got them filled with dirt. Before I went to help Mom I watered the avocados and the herbs and other larger plants that would be wintered over. Everything was growing beautifully. We didn’t have room for beans on the trays because they were all full of berries so Mom and I sat and laced them onto strings. I was unusually weary today and I ached all over but managed to get through taking care of the beans and shelling peas but I just wasn’t up to doing chores. For once I left it all up to the others and stayed in the kitchen, helping Mom with supper and taking care what little milk we hadn’t sent across the river. I knew the family was all tired too but as soon as dishes were done I came to our room and crawled into bed where I’m writing this now. I can hear the others chatting in the kitchen and the Anna and YGS still playing a game outside so it feels a bit lonely but I am just too tired to join them tonight. I can hear Mom getting ready for bed in the next room though and I know she’s as tired as I am. Tomorrow we’ll have to try to take it a bit easier or we will both be sick.

Thanks for the tip Leah. Good one to know. For those who are interested in watching Oats be cut and shocked, here's a good video. I've heled do this several times in the past and the only thing I can see that I would do different is the guy cutting is doing more work than he needs to. He could be sweeping the scythe back and forth. I prefer a scythe with a cradle as it puts the grains down straight and makes it easier to bundle. They also don't show that the blade should be wetted (sharpened) often to keep it sharp or the job is really tough. Wheat and other grains are harvested mostly the same way. I've seen shocks like that only with another bundle laid across on top to help shed water as the grain matures. http://minktoast.net/2009/08/26/harvesting...-cork-csa-oats/

I just wanted to mention that some of us are still haveing to deal with various things.... Stay tuned though, I believe there's more coming soon. Just picture us doing all that sweaty haying, and weeding and canning and dehydrating and picking berries and etc etc.....

Aboard DayLily.... It will be just fine for you to join us in the valley when the wagon train comes in. It is my understanding that the wagon train will have already left the Ranch so you are ON YOU WAY. You don't have to write about the trip if you don't feel like it. We are waiting for Mt_Rider to post that the wagon train is at the valley and then we will make sure there are wagons there to help everyone in. After that you will be able to post YOUR version of how we got you in, where you went (to the lodge first, etc) and etc. Then you can just post as you can about what you are doing. Post your list either here or perhaps even in the preparing thread if you like where the rest of the lists are posted. Either is fine. I suspect that you have a couple of weeks "In Real Life" before MtR will have the train reach the valley. That gives you a bit of time to figure out a few things...First of course your list. You get one wagon furnished for a family of four which will not be coming down into the valley. It is the same with the teams except that I'm not sure if the teams will be going back to the ranch again or staying in the valley. You may, however, if you can afford it and find them, buy your own wagon or even an extra wagon and teams and we WILL help you get them into the valley just like our wagons came in. Riding horses and livestock will be up to you to bring along. Because this is a late train you are coming in with, you most likely got to the ranch by vehicle, probably in a caravan for safety, or even flying in but you would have had what you could bring along that way or had shipped to the ranch ahead of time and it would have been transferred to a wagon at the ranch for the wilderness journey. It's up to you to decided how you got there as that is your story. If you DID provide your own or an extra wagon and team, you would have to figure out how you got them to the ranch and from where. All part of the exercise and part of the fun too. LOL You may have been able to bring in fruit trees and etc. but at this time of year they would not have been dormant and they wouldn't give you any fruit this year at any rate. You might have had other vegetable plants though, just remember, you only have at that the most three months to grow anything before winter hits us in the valley. Some plants like cole crops would be hardier for fall compared to tomatoes etc unless you have a greenhouse and a way to heat it. I guess what I'm saying is be aware of your limitations this late in the year and plan accordingly for it. Mr. Smith has a small orchard behind the lodge and is willing to share it's fruit with those in the valley. Remember though, there are going to be a lot of us after this last train so we aren't sure how far it will stretch. There are, however, still blackberries and various and sundry other wild fruits available in the valley. Some wild apple trees, at least crab apples type anyway, and a host of other fruits and wild foods mentioned here and there througout the thread. (Mosstly using what would be indigenous to Glacier National Park area with a twist of Zone 5 added in which gives us a bit of leeway) If you are ambitious you will be able to gather and process a lot of that to help see you through. I really am glad to have you join us Daylily. Hopefully it will encourage others to try their had at it too. If you need any help don't hesitate to pm me. Hey, Leah, haven't you learned to handle those big kids yet???

Wednesday July 21 Well, C, L, and family are moved. Neither the camper wagon nor the conestogas would fit through the waterfall cave as it isn’t opened up enough yet so they were loaded and sent down the river to cross at Cleft in the Rocks. Everything else was moved across on the low cart that the sleigh came on and in the sleigh. We didn’t have to move everything at once but it just seemed better, while we had the good weather, to get it all over there. We will be bringing the milk animals over when they are set up to care for the milk and the pigs and poultry will be going over as soon as they get an area for them. Thanks to some prior planning almost everything went well. Mom and I stayed behind and directed traffic from this end and L’s mom did the same at the other end. I don’t imagine it was an easy task over there with six areas and the storage cave to place items into. Lunch was just sandwiches with fresh veggies and dip. It had been put into two big totes and set in the spring room. We thought about putting it in the waterfall cave as it was much colder there but the area was not totally closed in yet for security. It turned out that most of the family was across the river at lunchtime so we sent it over on the second sleigh load. We had spaghetti, salad, and garlic bread planned for supper and once Mom and I had the greens fixed, the bread sliced and buttered ready to toast, and the spaghetti in the oven to keep warm we took a walk over to see how things were going. I had gotten used of being in the cave behind the waterfalls but I couldn’t help notice how noisy it was walking through. The family had gotten a lot of the big boulders rolled either to the back to form a wall there or to the front to form a sort of safety wall behind the falls but it would still be easy for someone to fall over if they were too close. We’d warned the kids repeatedly but still would not allow any of them to be on their own in the passage. I wondered how the horses had pulled the sleigh and cart across with out spooking. I could see that eventually we’d be able to get the bigger wagons across too but it was going to take more work and there was already enough to do. I was amazed at the work that had been done on the homestead since I’d last been across. The roof was all on and the window openings were all fitted with screens and Plexiglas but some still needed shutters. The cook stove was installed in the kitchen but the fireplace there was still not built. The other wood stoves were in place but had no chimneys yet. There wasn’t much for furniture because, like our family, C and L’s family had decided to forego it in place of more supplies knowing they could build most of what they needed. The areas had built-in bunks below for the adults and the children would be sleeping on the floor in the lofts. Some of the unpacked boxes would be used for seating until they were emptied but mostly, like us, they were using lawn chairs they’d used on the trail. I like the way they set up the kitchen. It’s obvious that someone had been watching carefully at the Hobbit Hole and had implemented some of the step saving techniques we have here and a few more. The cook stove is only a few steps from where the fireplace will be and there are shelving pegs already in the wall beside it to eventually hold shelves, floor to ceiling. There is a solar chimney built almost directly over the stove, not only to take away some of the heat in the summer but also to give natural light in the day time on the stove just like ours does. It would also most likely work to pull heat from the other areas if the doors were left open between them. A worktable was standing near the stove and I could see where eventually a dry sink of sorts might be built across the room from the cooking area. The whole cooking area sat at the back of the room and that left a large area for eating and relaxing yet still be out of the path of the outside door. I daydreamed a bit about our own eventual kitchen but not for long as it was time to get back and start chores before everyone came back for supper. The wagons were just heading back down river for the crossing when Mom, Karen, and I left on foot. It took us about fifteen minutes to walk the distance but it had gotten so hot and muggy that I was almost ‘glowing’ when we got back, a Victorian term for sweating mightily. It was even hotter in the kitchen with the stove still hot and I almost hated to stoke it back up again. I did though as we’d decided to stick in a cobbler to make the meal special. While Mom was making the cobbler, Karen and I went out to start the chores. She is getting really good at milking and seems eager to learn whatever she can about the animals. She is getting better at using sign but is still a bit shy about trying to get our attention when we aren’t looking at her. We headed first to the pasture to check on the animals there and found one of the fence wires down and several of the animals outside the fence, the dogs patiently keeping guard. We got the wire back up and managed with the help of the dogs to get all the animals back inside and accounted for but I couldn’t help but to think about how easily they got out in the short time we’d been gone. They could have probably gotten out back home too but there they would only be preyed upon by well fed coyotes, here it would be hungry wolves. Not to mention that they could roam for miles here without being seen by anyone. We will be moving them to fresh grass tomorrow so that should keep them content for a while. The current pasture really is taken too far down. With this latest heat, if it doesn’t rain, I’m concerned the grass will die. I stopped to check the pigs and give them a bit of grain. Just in the three weeks they’d been all together they’d managed to ‘pigorate’ the whole area we’d put them in. We’ll be moving them as well but not planting the area until spring for safety sake. The earlier pig areas will be planted soon to winter crops. With a heavy mulch they should be fine. I have been babying some seedlings in the greenhouse since they got it closed in and they have grown terrifically in there with all that sun. It’s been hard to keep them watered but I believe my work will pay off in cabbage, kale, chard, and dozens of other fall crops. I noticed the flax was doing really well and I looked forward to a big crop. Once it was cut we would be able to sew winter wheat into the stubble. That would ensure a good snow cover to keep the ground from freezing too hard. That is probably going to be the only way we’ll get a winter crop here. Karen and I were just finishing up the milking when we heard the wagons coming up the road. The rest would probably be here soon and I sent Karen in with the milk and to help Mom with supper while I went to feed the poultry and gather eggs. The others would take care of the larger animals. I was glad that we had the stream running through the pastures now as that meant we didn’t have to take the animals to the pond but there was still the bull to handle and though we had an ‘understanding’ I’m not sure he understood the same things I did. Supper was something of a short celebration. Everyone was tired and no one wanted to be traveling back across the river after dark even if they were in the sleigh which we encouraged them to use tonight. We’d had them leave one of the Conestoga’s at the homestead for their use and they’d have the small cart as well. I thought L and her cousin both looked worn out tonight but they both said they were doing fine. I believe they were looking forward to sleeping in their own homes again even if those homes were small. It was quiet tonight. Anna and YGS played a couple of games of checkers but the rest of us mostly just sat and made plans. Some of C’s family will be coming tomorrow to help move animals and help in the fields. Some of us will be weeding but the others will be cutting hay again. I spent the rest of the evening working on the loom. DGD and SO worked on the other loom and the spinning wheel while DD taught Karen how to Tat. The guys were working on the plans for bringing water from the fresh springs to the kitchen and maybe hot water from the hot springs as well. Just the thought of hot and cold running water to the kitchen brings a smile.

I'm really sorry you couldn't join us earlier Daylily but there IS one more wagon train coming in soon. You COULD be on that one if you'd like. I noticed that you are new to Mrs. S so you might not know that I, too, have so many allergies that it makes my head spin,,,welll actually literally sometimes. I also have a lot of other health issues. I have chosen to down play them in this thread so that I could focus on more of the general lifestyle of living in the wilderness in order to help others. I did addressed some of my health issues in Illinois Story (Fireside Forum) though and I have been preparing for years with my allergies and health issues in mind. Mt_Rider has MS; MT3B has a hearing loss; and Quilty has health problems as well. They have all chosen to share with us the issues they would have to face in the wilderness. It is one way we can 'write/think' through our situations. Why not join us and share your triumphs and troubles with your issues. What DID you bring along? How DO you handle life in this situation if you were suddenly,,,,,You choose the reason and the how,,,,thrown into our valley at the end of July with very little time to get prepared for a probable harsh winter, given your family's health problems. You can still get a fall garden in. What would you plant and would you be able to bring seedlings along to speed it along? Would you want to live in the 'country' or in the 'settlement' and if so, why and what will you be doing there, what would you be building to live in or would you find a place with a cave like some of us, perhaps be a family member of one of the 'B's' group? You don't have to be a great writer. Just change your reality, put yourself into a wagon with all you choose to bring along and give us a first person view of what it's like for you from that point on. Don't worry, someone will help you bring your things down "Mother's Little Hill" at that pass and get you to where you want to be. Now, if you feel that's asking too much, why not at least make a list of what you WOULD bring and post it here in the comments section. That might help me and many others in a similar situation to better cope with some of the same issues. I'm glad you have enjoyed the thread. I keep hoping that none of the readers, or the writers for that matter, are becoming bored with the day to day grind we are starting to face. It WOULD be that way in real life and it's a way to work through thoughts and ideas as we go along. We are grateful to have CeeGee back with us and we would welcome another 'survivalist' in our mists. (((((Daylily))))) Anyone else out there? I understand this will be the last wagon train coming in. If you would like to join us,,, get your story straight,(or even slanted ),, and line your wagon (or one of the Rocks') with the one in front and head for the valley. You should be here in a couple of weeks....and if you want, you could start with life on the trail so that you'd be able to work through some of that like we did. Just remember, you will be coming with MtR's family and some orphans and other famlies and will be following the same trail we took. Mr. Hughes will be your wagon master. MT3B's sons, N and P, will be there to help get you through so if you DO decide to write about your life on the trail,,,, don't be surprised if MT3B "writes" you into their story just to give you something to react to. Thanks for the continuing words of encouragement, everyone.

Yesterday was lost in a blur of activity starting with three baby Nigerians born in the night, Sunday night, to the last of our original does, 1 doe, 2 bucks. Then we were up before dawn yesterday because one of C’s cows, one of the multi colored ones, calved in the night and the blood brought the wolves to the edge of the clearing spooking everything in the pasture. They are getting braver and it’s not even winter. They probably have young ones to feed. Thanks to the dogs they wouldn’t come out in the open and scattered with a few shots directed at them. It was quite a job to get the animals settled though. Almost everyone worked across the river yesterday trying to finish the fencing over there so we can move some of the animals across. Despite tying all the easily handled animals out on the surrounding grass and brush each day, our pastures badly needs to be rested. Today was spent sorting livestock and getting the larger animals and those who were not close to having babies moved over the river. We should have just herded them down river, crossed them at the Cleft in the Rock and than back up but that was such a long trek that we knew it would take us all day and we didn’t want to take a chance of them getting into a garden or field there. It wasn’t easy but once we had a few of them going into the cave behind the falls the others mostly followed. It helped that some of them were ours and had been in the cave before but some of those cows were downright ornery and sheep,,, well what can I say they are SO dumb. Our bull, two rams, the miniature/exotic animals, all the animals with babies and any that looked close to birthing, and the milk animals were all kept at the Hobbit Hole for now. C and L’s and family will be moving across tomorrow even though there is still work to be done on the ‘long house’. L’s brothers and SIL’s and Ben and Matt have already moved across. Some of the milk animals will go over after they have gotten settled. Karen and Anna have decided to stay with us. Anna was disappointed at first as she is friends with B but Karen held firm on this, convincing her sister that she would be seeing the rest of the kids almost daily anyway and they would have their own room here and not infringing on someone’s privacy. Karen has insisted that she will help out wherever she is needed most during the day but we have all decided that we will not allow her to do more than her fair share just because she feels a sense of obligation to us for taking them in. We are all in this together and will all share according to our ability. We have decided, when we start school with the kids, some subjects will be taught here, others across the river on alternate days. L is not happy about the kids not gong to a regular school but understands that it is too far for the kids to go to the settlement to attend something there. I suggested that we check with MtR about their kids to see what their schooling plans are. They are a lot closer to the settlement so they might be planning to have them attend there but if not, perhaps we can occasionally have sessions together, at least until winter. We spent today trying to figure out what food to send across the river, and what to keep here. We finally just set it at half and half for most items except for the baking supplies, as we’ll be doing a lot of that here. If they run out they come for more. We took stock of the salt we had on hand. With what we had left and what C brought with them and the five pounds per family we got with the mules we figure that we will be okay at least through the winter. If the fifty pounds I ordered comes with the wagons bringing MtR’s family we will be good for longer but I am not expecting it. One thing that will help is that C and his BIL found a salt lick above their property. It hasn’t been used for a while but he says it looks like it has been used for years by the wildlife, probably in the spring and early summer. We should be able to drive the livestock up there periodically so they can get the salt and save on ours. If there’s one here, there are probably others in the valley but we’re still going to need a source of edible salt for us and I fear that will have to come from ‘outside’. It’s one of the issues I plan to bring up at our next council meeting. I was so grateful to see material had come in on the mules for the use of the orphans. On Sunday, Karen and I chose some we thought would work for winter as we’d managed to clothe them and Matt and Ben with summer clothes already. I also chose some that we could make underclothing for them as well. Ben and Matt will be growing fast and we’re going to have trouble keeping up with them. I’m glad we will be having a clothing exchange at the Lodge. It will help us all to clothe our families with less work. Still, wilderness work is hard on clothing and if our family is any indication, we’re all going to have to be more cautious with it if we want it to last. We’re also going to have to replace some of it with skins and homespun soon if we want to augment what comes in from outside. That is, IF anything does come in. Well, it’s late and I need to get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a big day with all the moving. It’s sure going to seem quiet around here tomorrow night.

Welcome back MtR. We have missed you. Great posts too. It's nice to get caught up on your family.

It rained in the night and was still raining early this morning and I thought we would have to cancel our trip to the Lodge but DH had the guys help him put the surrey type top on the sleigh and said we would be fine. It was an ingenious affair that had a metal frame that set down in brackets around the outside of the box. The top was a heavy canvas that really did have a fringe around the edge but it also had heavy-duty clear plastic curtains that could hang down all the way round and snap into place to close the whole box of the sleigh in. It was too stuffy to have them on today but we folded it up under the front seat just in case as it was still threatening rain. I could tell that Karen was nervous but I just squeezed her hand to let her know it was okay. I had her keep an eye out for various herbs and plants that we might gather on the way back and that seemed to occupy her mind. We arrived in plenty of time to visit the library first and pick out books but I soon left Karen there with the promise I would be back to get her before the service and then went to find the women with the yarn for us. I was amazed at the amount of yarn they had been able to produce in a short time, certainly a lot more than wed be able to turn out on our wheel. They were pleased with the haunch of deer and the prairie chickens I had brought in with me. I didnt want to bring too much at a time to them for fear it would not keep in the heat. At least I knew they could dehydrate the deer if they wanted though I had to explain to them how to do it. They had been experimenting with various fibers and I was pleased with the mixture of Nettle and wool that turned out a bit like the flax mixture Id seen in the past. Last week I had brought some of the hair we brushed from the Saint Barnyards and they had that spun as well. It was a bit coarse but looked like it was sturdy and, if I worked it up tight enough, fairly waterproof. I couldnt wait to get started on several projects I had in mind. I met DH coming back from talking with the guys about the barrels and he said wed need to bring the bigger wagon in later this week or next Sunday to pick up at least one of the barrels hed ordered. I would have liked to see where they were making them but it was almost time for the service and I wanted to make sure that Chef didnt need help in the kitchen before lunch. I found Chef in the greenhouse choosing some herbs for a salad hed put together. I awed at the amount of plants he had in there. I knew that Id have to get mine going soon as well or we wouldnt have edible plants big enough to be usable come winter. We were still playing around with the venting on ours and I was interested to see that Chef had installed an automatic but non-electric thermostatically controlled vent in his. When I drooled over it and asked where hed gotten it he smiled and said it had been ordered a year ago and by the good graces of God had been at the ranch when hed gone back. It works with special waxes that expand when heated moving a cylinder that pushes open the vent. When the wax cools it contracts and the weight of the vent and a SS spring closes the vent. When I went back to the Library I almost missed seeing Karen. She was curled in a chair in a corner, supposedly reading but I could see her relief that Id come for her. She had a large stack of books, some Id chosen earlier and some shed chosen for herself and for others. We took them to the sleigh before going to find a seat near DH. As always, it was good to be among friends and to hear an uplifting message. There wasnt as many in attendance today as last week but then that was partly because our large crowd was missing and so was MT3Bs. I was overjoyed to see her there though and made a point of giving her a large hug. She seems tired but then I bet I do too. We all are working against time trying to get as much done as we can. The message today reminded me that we really are Gods creations and we need to remember that His love and faithfulness does last forever. He will not let us fail here. I believe that others got the message as well because the songs of praise were heartfelt and full of joy. I was still hearing the songs in my mind as we went to lunch. When the messenger had brought us our packet of letters from the mule train there had been one from Lois and I took time to read it to the group. It was so wonderful to hear from those we all loved and worried about. Im tucking Loiss letter in here to keep it safe with Leahs. Dear Mother, We are doing okay up on our Mountain with family and friends all around. Some great farmers around here. We also have the fields to raise the grains for man and beast, as well as the tools to do it. We are fortunate that so many of the farms have been here for many years, and kept most of the old farming implements. Dinners are usually for a large group so when cleaning a large batch of dandelion greens for cooking we wash them in my wringer washing machine. Daughters business is doing laundry. Our gardens are doing quite well. Berries are plentiful, fortunately the quince bush is doing well, so we wont miss the lemons for canning. We have enjoyed beet greens and the spinach and Swiss chard. Lois I gave CeeGee her comfrey roots before we left and she assured me that if we ran into trouble with the births we could send someone for help. I told her that when they got further with their stack wood home we were going to come to see it. Wed have gone today but it was already starting to thunder and we hurriedly got our packages and said a quick good bye and crawled into the sleigh. We were only just on the road outside of the settlement when we decided to stop to put on the plastic curtains in case it did rain. They werent too difficult as they just snapped on but it didnt take long to realize that it was too hot with them closed and we opened the bottoms enough to get some air. We did manage to stop on the way home to gather a large supply of Bearberry or Kinnikinik leaves. Better known to some as Uva Ursi. The leaves are used short term for all manner of urinary tract infections and disorders. The leaves are a tobacco substitute and the fruit, when just ripe can be used in a lot of ways, even as a type of wine. Well have to go back later in the summer to gather some. The rain started just before we got back to the homestead and we found people coming from various directions to help us unload and unhitch. Karen and I made our way to the kitchen and found the women making pizzas. They were fast becoming a favorite Sunday night meal. Someone had the adobe oven heated for them and a big pot of beans ready to be put into the oven after supper. We gathered chairs and went to the greenhouse to eat, watching the rain stream down the glass in sheets and listening to the thunder roll. Its nice setting here listening to the conversation around me as I write. Someone mentioned that one of the Nigerian does was restless tonight so Ill have to check her in bit. L said she was feeling restless too and we all laughed but I could see she really was uncomfortable. If the goat isnt doing anything that needs my attention tonight Id like to work a while on the floor loom. Im anxious to see how smooth it is to use. It looks like DS and DH did a good job with it and with the wall loom. I have a piece already started on the upright wall loom. Its not as automatic as I hope the floor one will be but it gives me a lot of versatility with hand weaving. Well, guess I better check that goat before it gets too late.

It has been such a busy week that we had decided not to go into the lodge until tomorrow to pick up packages and even then not all of us will be going this time. C and L’s family hope to be able to move into the new ‘longhouse’ next week but it will depend on if they get the sod roof on the building. They have been working some long hours over there. Everyone has been here for chores but the bulk of the laundry, cooking, and clean up has fallen to just a few of us. Mostly L’s Mom, my Mom, the two expecting mothers and myself have been trying to keep up. And even then the mothers have been sticking the two toddlers in strollers and going over at least once a day to check on progress while Baby T takes a nap and us three matriarchs take a rest under a shade tree. Well, rest might not be exactly the word as we are usually working on vegetables either for supper or for dehydrating. I am so grateful for the amount of produce starting to come from the garden. These long hot days have made things grow well but it’s been hard to keep up with it all. Most of the produce is being dehydrated but the cucumbers are starting to come in strongly and we’re starting to pickle them. For now we are just making a dill crock, using one of the totes. It’s a pretty effective use of our salt. With the coolness in the spring room the brine is keeping well. Later in the year we’ll be making mixed pickles using cauliflower, broccoli, onion, peppers, and cukes. I’ve been using wild grape leaves in the bottom of the tote to help crisp the pickles. With a little garlic and mustard seed and of course dill, they are turning out great and will be even better after they have sat a couple of months. The problem is that we are using salt and vinegar which we aren’t sure we can replace. I know that there are a couple of old apple trees in the woods above the house and they look like they are fruiting. Even if they are not the greatest for fresh eating or drying we should be able to make vinegar from them. There is a small orchard at the Lodge though and Mr. S assures me that the fruit will be distributed to everyone that needs or wants it. We can use them for dehydrating if need be and use the wild ones for the juice for vinegar. Grinding the apples won’t be a problem but pressing them in quantity might be. I’m hoping we’ll be able to come up with a homemade press before they are ready, another thing to put on that growing list of things to do. We’ve been working at getting an inventory going so we can divide the supplies between the two homesteads. Once C and L’s family get moved they say they are going to attempt to cook for themselves except perhaps to come here once or twice a week to make bread and other baked goods. They are trying to set up their hot springs for laundry as we have here but have had more difficulty with the drainage than we have. I worry about how they will make out over there with two new babies and moms who have already pushed themselves pretty far. Those babies should be here soon. Both mothers are due the end of July. They joke about racing each other but I can see that even though this is not the first for either of them, they are a bit nervous with no hospital and probably not even a nurse in attendance. I wish we at least had a midwife here in the valley but I guess we’ll have to do with what we have. We’ve put together a couple of ‘birthing’ kits so we’ll be ready when the time comes. We are all feeling a lot of frustration with trying to juggle between getting a place ready for the new comers and keeping up with the necessities of securing food for the year but I can understand the new mom’s wanting a place of their own for those babies to get settled in to. It can’t be easy living in the soddy with all the kids underfoot and with crowded conditions. We really need to do something to ease the sanitation situation too. Our sawdust/compost toilets seem to be working for now but we don’t want to get into a situation where we have to remove the sewage before it’s had a chance to compost. I was out looking at the fruit in the orchard today. There are quite a few strawberries on our plants but they are not quite ready yet. It looks like we will be able to take some of the rhubarb by fall too. We could probably take it now but I tasted it and it’s pretty tart. If we wait it will need very little sugar if we mix it with other fruit. The Red Heritage raspberries are almost ready too. I’m amazed at them having fruit the first year but they are advertised as doing that. We should have a lot of them. I’d like to try my hand at making vinegar out of other fruit besides apples and the raspberries might be good for that. We won’t have domestic grapes before next year, likewise for some of the other bush fruits, but the wild grapes are plentiful and some of those grapes are bigger than I expected. Usually they are about pea sized but some of those around the hot springs are almost marble sized. They aren’t ready yet of course but later we should have lots of grape juice. There are so many things I need to be out gathering. Soon the mustard, peppergrass, and shepherd purse will be going to seed and I want to be sure to gather some. The wild mustard seed can be used just like domestic mustard seed and the other two make a great pepper substitute. I also want to look for wild ginger. I believe that Karen would go with me if she were free to go. She seems very interested in the plants and animals. DH and I and L’s parents had a talk with her last night. Well we talked and she wrote or signed. She’s starting to learn a few of the basic ones and it makes communication easier. She’s been working very hard across the river but we told her we wanted her to have a choice. Her and Anna could live there with L’s parents and use the loft for a bedroom or they could stay with us, using one of the rooms in the ‘bunk house’ or in one of the cave rooms if they preferred. We could see she was undecided and we told her to talk it over with Anna, that there was no need to decide right now. I have talked her into coming with us to the Lodge tomorrow. I sort of bribed her by saying that she needed to choose some books from the library for her and Anna to read. She really does love to read. It will only be Dh, Mom, Karen, and I going tomorrow. The rest will be working either at the Hobbit Hole or across the river. I felt they all needed a rest but they say they have too much to do. I feel the same way. I really should be staying home and getting more done but I have a special letter I’d like to read to everyone and I am hoping that the spinners have our yarn ready. We have more game to bring them. Dh also is going to be talking to the guys who make the barrels. He’d asked about getting some for the cider and etc. He wants to check on their progress. I also have some comfrey root for CeeGee to plant. She can use the root in her healing salves. Because her plant won’t be big enough to harvest before late fall I’m bringing her extra to use now. I’m hoping she will give me “credit” for the possible future need of medical help. With two babies coming you never know. Tomorrow will come early enough, I should get into bed but it’s so nice setting here under the tarp in the yard, feeling the cool breeze that smells like rain. It’s been hot and dry and if it doesn’t rain soon we’re going to have to divert the stream to irrigate trees and bushes or carry water to each. So far the fields are holding up okay but the trees and vines are looking stressed. Maybe we’ll be able to do that Monday.

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up. Real life has stepped in to interfere with some of the posting lately but bear with us and we'll try to get back up to speed. A few of the writers could use your prayers if you will be so kind. At least we have the mule train in, thanks to Q in MT_Rider's absence, and now we all have to get our packages from the lodge. It will be fun to see what came in them. They will only be what a mule could carry in it's packs but it should be intersting to see what we 'needed'. In the mean time, don't forget you can leave a comment or two. It's been kind of quiet in here.

Dear MT3B, We have been having the same problem here with trying to decide how much is enough wood for winter. Not only how much but where will we stack that amount so that it will be within reach during the possibly long winter storms without having to carry it a great distance in blizzard conditions. I’m pretty sure we’ll be facing that often and possibly early. One of the problems we’re dealing with is the fact that we not only have to cut standing dead wood for use now for cooking but also for this coming winter as green wood needs to be cured for at the least six to eight months before use and preferably a year. That means we would have to cut two winters worth of wood for heating and also a whole years cooking wood if it’s green. Of course, in real life it doesn’t work that way and we’re just trying to get ahead far enough to keep us in wood now and to have enough for the coming winter. All wood will burn but some wood will give more heat for the work. If we use our past winters as a guide we used approximately 6 cord of good hard wood to heat our relatively small but not all that well insulated home each year with our older wood furnace. If we were using soft or junk wood it took a whole lot more. As the valley has a relatively small percentage of hard wood it would be safe to say that most of our firewood will be evergreen, or of the softer wood variety. If it is dead and dry, that gives one a nice hot fire but doesn’t hold as well. We are hoping to have a variety before winter but will take what we can get. The other consideration is whether the wood is green or cured. All green wood smokes and gives off a lot less heat. It takes at the very least six months to cure green wood and even dead wood will need to be dried if it has been laying on the ground where it could pick up moisture. That means that not all wood we cut will be as usable now. Of course, that amount doesn’t include cooking and that adds another dimension as well as cords. That will depend on what you are using to cook with and again the type of wood. Pine will give one a quick hot fire to cook fast but it will burn out easily. We call that biscuit wood because biscuits take a quick hot fire but don’t take long to bake. Dry corncobs are a type of biscuit fuel. Hot quick fires work well in heating the adobe ovens though and those will hold the heat longer. To have a fire that holds it’s heat longer you need to add hard wood once the fire is going well. Hardwood is what makes the coals so useful for cooking in an open fire. The cook stove takes smaller pieces that add to the work as well. One thing I’ve learned over the years of heating and cooking with wood is that you never have enough. We are planning on having ten cord stacked here and ten across at our son’s homestead but if we can get fifteen or more at each place we will. It sounds like a terrific amount, and it is, but that wood could prove to be a lifesaver if we have an early winter and a late spring. We are zone five in this small pocket of a valley but around us is zones four and below. We could easily be hit with an early or a late storm just as we had in our zone five at home occasionally. And if we don’t need that much, we’ll have good cured, dry wood for cooking next summer or perhaps a start on the following year’s winter fuel. Somehow though, I doubt it will be too much. We’ve been trying to calculate what we use for cooking here and it is amazing the amount we go through daily. I’m sure the new adobe oven and cook area we’ve set up will be beneficial as well the hay box cooker and solar ones in saving us fuel but wood is really our main source of fuel yet. We are counting on Solar gain in the winter from the greenhouse as well as the insulating value of the caves to help save on the amount of wood we use. The use of the hot springs for heating the caves and thus the cabins in front will help too. I only wish we’d had room to bring along our passive solar collectors but we are hoping to fashion some out of Plexiglas and other items we’ve brought with us for that purpose. We just have not had the time to do so yet. A solar collector would concentrate the suns heat and force it by convection to another area, like inside the caves or into some sort of heat sink (storage) like rocks. The warm air moving through the rocks would heat them and the rocks would in turn give off their heat at night when the sun was gone. There will have to be a way to stop the heat loss back into the collector at night but that would be easily done with draft controls. I keep thinking of the pioneer and how some of the modern things we can do now would have amazed them. Lightweight but almost invincible plastic would have been almost astonishing to them but the ability to use it to harvest the heat from the sun would have been magic. Please take great care of yourself in these busy times. Know that I am praying for you and your family daily. ((((((MT3B))))) Mother

It was almost noon when a messenger rode up to the Hobbit Hole. I was outside working in the garden so sent one of the children to get a note I had written to MT3B. The messenger had several letters for us and told us that the mule train had arrived at the Lodge this morning. He said there were a few packages that he couldn’t bring with him waiting at the lodge for us too. He told us that one of the people with the mule train had come with him as far as MtR’s place to give them the good news that her family were all fine and would be coming to the valley as soon as the wagons got back and they could get them loaded. I could just imagine the joy and praise at Cleft in the Rocks today. I said a few prayers of thanksgiving myself when he also told us that Quiltys’ son Jerry was back safe and sound. Once he told us how serious the situation outside the valley was I was worried for Mt3b’s sons who had gone out with the empty wagons. I prayed they would be safe out there. I wished I could have taken time to write a bit more in that note to MT3B. I would have told her how much I was thinking about her and her family but the messenger didn’t want to stay long as he still had to stop at Annarchy and Big D’s place before heading across the river to AH. I didn’t even get a chance to read the mail the messenger brought but I’ll do that as soon as we have everything settled for the night and I have a few moments.

Today was spent working on a couple of special projects we’d been putting off but with the weather turning so hot we didn’t want to wait longer. When it had rained before the family found some leaks in the caves, a couple right over the ‘hall’ that leads from ‘room’ to ‘room’. When they did some investigating they found holes in the ‘roof’ and today they were making use of those holes. Each opening was cleared of dirt from above right down to the rocks underneath and a square log structure was built above them. One, right over the “hall” was big enough to make into a ‘doorway’ that could be used as an escape route with a ladder below. A couple of small ones were going to be used as chimneys for stoves for some of the rooms. Those would have stone and adobe surrounding them and the metal chimney’s would be pushed into them from below and sealed around. My favorites though were the two solar chimneys that would be used to pull hot air from the rooms in front of the cliff face causing a breeze to be drawn through. The solar chimneys were built of logs with a piece of clear Plexiglas set into the front of them. The structures would act as small solar collectors, heating by the sun shining through the front glass. Once heated, the hot air would escape through vents in the top, creating a draft that would pull air through them from below. One of these was almost right above the wood stove in the kitchen. It has been terribly hot in the kitchen with the long hours needed to prepare the food for so many and even raising the tarps on the side didn’t help. The chimney worked wonderfully with the exception that we’d have to keep the greenhouse closed off or it pulled heat from there into the kitchen. The second one of these was over the hall behind the barn area and once they got the solar chimney closed in and it started working it was amazing how it worked. By opening or closing doors or windows on the front of the caves it would start a suction that would pull air in from outside and vent the heat/damp from inside the cave and from the rooms in front of the caves. Again, we’d have to keep doors closed between areas we didn’t want vented, like the hot springs or the cold springs area but now we have a nice draft system that works with the power of the sun and maybe even with just the rising heat itself and we also have two escape routes from inside the caves. While most of the family was working above, several of us were working on an outside cooking area. The whole thing was built from stone and adobe and the steel plate we'd used on the trail. The structure looked a bit like a fireplace only with the sheet steel acting as the cook top and the opening was to the outside, away from where we stand. That would mean we’d have to feed the fire from the outside but it would be a lot cooler to stand nearby and cook. We built up two levels under the cook top for the fires so we could have more or less heat to the surface as we needed. Both fire ‘pits’ could be used for cooking directly in or over the fire or for grilling as well. The chimney for both fires was actually at the end towards the kitchen and was connected to a large adobe oven in such a way that we could either vent the smoke through the oven to use it for smoking meats or we could direct vent the smoke to the chimney without it going through the oven by flipping a metal flab forward or backwards with a lever. In turn, the oven, like the old-fashioned ‘bustle’ ovens, could have a fire built inside it and when the whole thing was hot, the ashes and coals would be raked out, and the door closed to make a heat holding oven. I’d used those types of ovens in the past and they were amazing in their baking power though it took some thought to use them. We had been able to make this one big enough for several shelves, made with rebar we’d brought along, and about three by five foot inside. We wanted it to be big enough to be a ‘community’ oven for both families most of the year if possible. Right after heating the oven would be very hot, though in this sized one it will most likely be hotter on the bottom shelf where the fire had been than the top one. We should be able to bake things like bread and biscuits first as the oven would be hottest then. After they come out we should still have enough heat to bake cookies or cakes or a roast or casserole. Later in the day, the oven might be used for a slow cooker throughout the night or if it’s too cool for that, to dehydrate foods. We had two solar ovens but hadn’t been using them as the stove was usually going anyway and they weren’t big enough to cook enough food for the crew we were feeding. Today, though, we dug them out of storage to use with smaller quantities of food. It was the same with the insulated cookers. They were big, but not big enough so today I worked on making a large hay-box cooker from a packing crate. I made it so our largest cast iron pot would fit in it by filling the outer area with dry grass and leaving only a depression big enough for the pot. We would be able to bring the contents to a boil for only a few minutes before putting the pot into the hay box and closing it up. The contents would stay hot just like in the insulated cookers and finish cooking. We'd have to keep an eye on it the first few times to make sure it kept the contents hot enough not to spoil and if it cooled then boil it for a few minutes again before sticking it back in. Tonight I worked on cutting an old quilt down to use above the pot for insulation under the lid on the box. It might not be as effective as the commercial ones with their Thinsulate material but I had used hay boxes before and know it will work. DH had been working on a dehydrating cabinet most of the day yesterday while the rest were across the river and I had him bring it to set near the kitchen. He’d used a couple of sheets of plywood, covering the slanted front with opaque Plexiglas we’d brought along. He still had to make the frames for the shelves so I could cover them with some of the nylon screen I’d brought but then it would be usable. The only problem we had was a way to waterproof the wood to make it last longer. I know that certain trees give off a resin that can be dissolved with alcohol and then used as a varnish and I'll have to look into that. All this was set up under the overhang to the south side of the kitchen and already I was contemplating how we could screen it in or at least give it more shade. When the cabin is built it will be part of, but separate from, the kitchen so we can still at least bake outside all year long. It would be nice if we could close it in during the winter but open it during the summer. Maybe some day. Tomorrow, we’ll be back to work in fields and across the river. C and L’s family should be ready to move across in a week or two at the most. I’m looking forward to trying out the new oven but as some of the adobe is new, we’ll have to let it dry good and then start with a small fire to cure it first. We’ve already tried the fireplace part to see how the smoke moved and it was okay but we think it could use a taller chimney to get the smoke up above the ledge so that a wind doesn't blow it into the cooking area. With the oven and chimney being near the kitchen we might be able to build a stone chimney all the way up and somehow connect the cook stove on the inside. That way we'd save pipe. All in all, it was a really productive day. Things are becoming more convenient and more comfortable and more homelike each day.