At the end of April, I had posted about my planning for the new garden bed. Then it got hot. And I had so much else to do after our move.
However, with less than a month left before school starts again and a week with lower humidity/temperatures (mid-80s), I decided we needed to get moving on it. So that by early fall, I could work on this on my own terms.
First, I marked out the perimeter of the new garden. It will become bigger, but I wanted to see what 40 by 4o feet looked like. I took it almost to the edge, where the lawn drops off (down below is the septic drainfield).There is also a tree that needs to be cut and taken to the ground.
To start, I had Kirk mow this side of the house. He cuts to about 5″ in height. Then I went in and mowed it with Ol’ Crappy to about 2″ or less. I went as low as that heap could do it. It finally had a break in the rain this week, but the lawn was still soaked. Last week, we experienced multiple days of heavy rain. And while it might be warm, it can take forever to dry out.
I will keep using this mower till it finally dies. It is being held together with duct tape.
Working with heavy-duty farm fabric. The first roll was 5 feet 5″ wide. We cut it into 40 foot long sections.
First strip down. You want to be sure to peg down the edges well.
Three rows down. We overlapped by about 4 to 5″ on each section, so grass cannot easily push up between it.
Four rows in we ran out of the first roll of fabric, 160 feet used.
I had to wait for the new roll of fabric to ship overnight, so I had them bring out the two raised beds Alistaire had built for me. The raised beds are 8 feet long by 4 feet wide. I plan to give them three feet from the fence, so I can walk around and work.
At least get an idea of what we are doing—four more sections to lay down.
When we moved, I left behind a couple of essential items in the greenhouse at the old place. A bonus for the new owners, I suppose. One was a roll of farm fabric (one got packed. The other didn’t). I also left behind a nearly full box of fabric pins. So I had to buy a new box, but what I got was better in some ways. The FEED brand comes with plastic disks that you insert the galvanized landscape fabric pin/staple into, and then use a plastic or rubber mallet to drive into the ground. This helps prevent the staples from bending and getting bent as you pound in. It also helps with the fabric not tearing around the staple. A win for me.
Part 3 is already happening, and I will write more later.
I saw this recipe in an email from a Mennonite nursery/farm in Maryland, located across the river from us.
I didn’t do the final step, which was to dip the warm muffins in butter. I am not working that hard on a farm for that luxury. They are not overly sweet, but still quite a treat. Fresh summer blueberries shine in this recipe.
Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients:
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup granulated sugar
2½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp fine sea salt
1 large egg
¾ cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil, such as avocado
1 cup fresh blueberries, dry
1-2 Tbsp granulated sugar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400. Line a 12-count muffin tin with parchment liners.
In a mixing bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk egg, milk, and oil.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing until just combined.
Gently stir in the blueberries.
Divide equally between the tin.
Sprinkle a bit of the remaining sugar on top.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, ours took 21 minutes.’Let cool on a rack.
I don’t try to get too political here, but there are times you start noticing a trend. This year, it is Prepping for Liberals. Traditionally, preppers have often been libertarian or conservative folks, but now it is popping up on the internet that they should be preparing for a long 3.5 years of bleakness.
I have long been financially conservative with a side of Agorist/leave me alone. Prepping isn’t a hobby. It’s how we live our lives, to be less dependent on the system. I don’t belong to a political system, I’d rather just be left alone. With a smaller government.
This might deserve this meme….
They have taken their TDS and at least funneled that energy into something. I won’t criticize them for that. At least they are trying to cope, to work for something.
The problem is that they haven’t quite figured out that the prepper life is lonely. It’s not a community thing. They are still at the point where they think they have woken, and so has their community. But in reality, most of the community is ok with the status quo, until they can’t leave their house, the grocery store is empty, they are broke, and they are facing homelessness. That’s when the glazed over majority starts panicking. And being fearful of the government isn’t really a big issue. They should be more concerned with natural disasters, wild fires, earthquakes, job loss, sickness.
I saw this one recently on Facebook. Got to love the weird algorithm it picks for me. I see these types of posts far too often now. Makes one ponder what exactly is Meta pushing.
These all started popping up about the time the Big Bill was going thru. Here’s a prime example:
You know I will tear this apart. I can’t help it. They are on the right track, but not quite to the train station.
*$20 isn’t enough. You need to sacrifice a lot more.
*Until you have invested enough in yourself, you can not foot others financially. It leaves you at risk. It’s not much different than saving a drowning victim, but you drown. Instead? Get your own house in order. Then you can help.
*It’s good to know your neighbors, but do not place your trust in them. They can easily turn on you or sell you out in a crisis. However, let’s say you are adapt in growing food? Then share with like-minded neighbors – once you are stable.
*Rice and beans are solid choices. However, it is better to have instant rice and precooked/dehydrated beans. They only need to be soaked. Power outages and lack of water are real prepping scenarios. 3 weeks of food storage isn’t enough. It is a start, however. Everything you do gets you to the goal. Don’t forget the seasoning, vegetables, and oil to make it palatable. And meat. You need energy. Vegan diets are for the easy years. You need to know how to cook food using minimal water and fuel, that is shelf-stable. You also need emergency water and a way to collect/treat it.
*Phone numbers and your SSN won’t be that important if we have a true emergency. However, if you’re an adult, you should have had your SSN memorized since you were a teen. It’s used for so much in modern life, even though it shouldn’t be.
*The conversation part…ooh, getting nervous about being wire tapped? No one cares about your fears. Even if they did, you are just a boring urbanite human. If you are talking revolutions and things you shouldn’t be ever typing out (hello Uncle Ted), then maybe meet in the woods naked with no phones or wearables on. I’m just saying. Or knock it off, and quit fantasizing so much.
*Subscriptions? They are right on that. Most of it is a waste of money. Unless it’s for publications that help you learn new skills. Even then, you only need it for a short time.
*Growing food is optimal, no matter where you live. It’s not always about the food either, but rather to control fear, by doing something productive…that gives you satisfaction. So yes, start a plant. Or a 100. See how it goes. Try again every season. It gets easier.
*Talking to your community? No. And no. Any seasoned prepper has gone thru this period knows this does zero good. Sure, you might get a few to listen, but almost none will actually continue on the path. I got bitter after the Covid years, when nearly all went back to their old lives. They missed the easy life. Then I got over it, abd paid more attention to myself and my family. Where it mattered.
*The skill set and books – yes, that is part of prepping. But it isn’t enough to have books – you must actually have experience in the skills. Books are heavy and must be left behind in emergencies. They get destroyed in floods. But what you’ve learned is stored away for life in your mind.
Maybe it sounds like mocking. It’s not, though. Any prepping will change you and your outlook on life. There’s a high risk that your liberal leftist leaning will become more Little Red Hen after a few years. Once you wake up and realize you have worked so hard…and no one else has. But they feel they deserve a share of your hard work. Entitled to it. Especially in bad economic times. And that is when you realize maybe you are not so free love food and shelter anymore.
The other day, I was in Ranson, West Virginia, and remembered the Ranson Community Gardens, and we poked around to find them. It is behind the local community center, on the edge of town.
This past week they had hosted an open house for the new Herb Garden they had put in, but I’ll be honest…going to an early evening event in 90* temps and a crowd is a turn off. So seeing it in the morning was a bonus.
Ranson Community Gardens. There are parking spots in front, with picnic tables to the left and in the shade.I loved these raised beds, made of fabric and metal. This one was growing beautifully. It’s lovely when people work hard at their spot.Lots of vibrancy.While not a fancy community garden, there is a heart in it.Each person leaves their own mark.The use of old trees, for example.The garden also has a large sized greenhouse, where the herb garden was planted.
Visiting community gardens and P Patches is a good thing. It can inspire you, give you ideas, and help understand a community.
