Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: May 17 ~ 23, 2020

Good Afternoon, All

Late start on the Prep thread again - what a slacker I am!

We're not getting much done on the prep front as far as the gardens are concerned, thanks to the rainy weather - I'm just about ready to jump in the truck and head for Home Depot to pick up some lumber for raised beds so that I can plant my strawberries at least. I could probably reach far enough in from the edges of the garden to ring it with tomato plants but that would be a mess to till around once it does finally dry up.

I'm buying enough groceries to replace what I'm using from the pantries, but not doing much extra buying - we haven't needed to get in to anything in the long term pantry so I am mostly just letting it ride for now. When I'm in Wal Mart to pick up certain things for the family that Aldi doesn't carry (or to be able to get enough eggs for everyone - Aldi was limiting to 2 doz), I do cruise the baking aisles but have only really stocked up on dry milk, black cherry jello, Kool-Aid, and muffin mixes so far. The dry milk can be used for cocoa mix this winter if we don't need it for when the grands are here, the black cherry jello will be used to make my favorite homemade popsicles, the Kool-aid to make homemade Gatorade/rehydration beverage; and the muffin mixes are to keep me away from the giant fancy muffins at the store lol!

I hadn't been up to the nearby Amish store recently, but the neighbor went the other day and said they are well stocked - you can buy 50# bags of wheat berries, assorted flours, sugar, etc... at this store, as well as smaller bagged quantities of basic groceries. I may try to make a trip up there later in the week - I have to work Mon/Tue/Wed nights so it will likely be Thursday afternoon before I am able to go. They save their boxes to use in place of grocery bags, so I am usually able to pick up several boxes that will fit canning jars when I am there - I am finding more jars hidden in the nooks and crannies of the machine shed as we clear out 60+ years worth of accumulation. We don't can very many things in quarts any longer since it's just the two of us at home, so I am storing most of the ones I find in our old cold storage unit in the shed - hanging on to them just in case.

Well, the clouds are starting to move in again - looks like I'd better hurry and get the swill carried out to the compost pile before I get soaked doing so! You folks all take care out there; stay safe please - I'd miss you!

Would you share your black cherry jello homemade popsicle recipe?

ReneeT said:

.... the Kool-aid to make homemade Gatorade/rehydration beverage...

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Sounds good.

Maybe a problem for anyone lactose intolerant. Haven't checked Kool-aids ingredients lately. One summer I was beginning to think a relative was allergic to young kids. Turned out to be the lactose in the Kool-aid. We only served it when the extended family got together.

Canned chili for the first time. Did half pints and full pints. We are find that we need to switch from quarts to pints to minimize waste when we eat. Not that it really goes to waste, I eat it. So I guess it would be better to say in order to lose weight I needs to start canning pints and half pints instead of quarts.......lol

Make Jello per box directions, pour into popsicle molds, freeze. If you have smaller kids, you can decrease the amount of cold water by half to make them melt slightly slower when clutched in little hands. You can also make your own pudding pops with instant pudding mix - kid or adult versions. (Pina Colada ice pops - yumm! Be sure to hide 'em in a riced cauliflower bag to keep the kids out of them lol!) I bought ice pop zipper bags on Amazon last year; those are handy dandy little things! Kind of a pain to fill - you need a funnel and a tall glass to hold them upright; and a straw to poke the pudding into the bag if you're doing that version. If you make the adult version be sure to lay them down flat to freeze, otherwise all the booze will be at the top.

OGM, here are the ingredients on the pack of black cherry Kool-Aid I had in the cabinet:
Citric Acid
Salt
Calcium Phosphate
Red 40
Artificial flavor
Ascorbic Acid
Blue 1

thanks, Renee!! It's not quite hot enough here for popsicles, but I'm sure about July that will be pretty good. DH and I got almost all the rest of the garden planted yesterday - cukes, winter squash (butternut and spaghetti), watermelon (orange and pink), other melons (Crenshaw, green river - yum - , Casaba, crispy yellow (new thing), green nutmeg), and pumpkins. We still need to get peppers and greens out - maybe do that today. I've had most of the week off, so I've seen a couple clients, sold some plants and been working at home. I teach tomorrow, then back to work on Thursday. I have a 'date' with a co-worker - she needs some time away from all the boys at home - we're going to go out on the paddleboat on our pond! Lovely lady and I love spending time with her.

I"m hoping to get more house cleaning done since the baby chicks are finally out of the house and the woodstove is done for the season. We'll see how far I get. Oh, I also transplanted sweet potatoes, lemon balm, and salvia yesterday - still have licorice in the greenhouse to get out.

I've got a new doctor's appt. today. I dread going. I hate having to break in a new doctor! So, afterwards, we're going to go to Cary's favorite reloading store to stock up on more reloading materials. He's really been busy with it lately. Can't have too much ammo!

Our little garden is coming along nicely. All the seeds have come up, except two cukes. After the rain shower they got yesterday, they should be up soon, too.

Another shopping trip for tomorrow. I need to restock my Spam if I can find any. The rest of my shopping will be to top off what we've eaten over the past two weeks. If there is any left, I want to still get 3 hanging pots of ferns for my back deck to go along with the hanging pots of begonias I already have. We live on our deck during the summer, and I always try to make it look nice. I see no harm in that.

SouthernBreeze said:

I've got a new doctor's appt. today. I dread going. I hate having to break in a new doctor! So, afterwards, we're going to go to Cary's favorite reloading store to stock up on more reloading materials. He's really been busy with it lately. Can't have too much ammo!

Our little garden is coming along nicely. All the seeds have come up, except two cukes. After the rain shower they got yesterday, they should be up soon, too.

Another shopping trip for tomorrow. I need to restock my Spam if I can find any. The rest of my shopping will be to top off what we've eaten over the past two weeks. If there is any left, I want to still get 3 hanging pots of ferns for my back deck to go along with the hanging pots of begonias I already have. We live on our deck during the summer, and I always try to make it look nice. I see no harm in that.

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this whole grocery stock situation should be easing up with the restaurants opening and people going back to work >> the hoarding frenzy should be stopping also - takes some sheeple confidence that the economy sabotage efforts are nothing but BS ....

Just got our new tax bill, we had planned on the same or slightly less. Nope!!!

The raised the value of the house and added $350 to the bill.

@#$%!@#$^@^@$%$$^# basta*ds!!!!

Illini Warrior said:

this whole grocery stock situation should be easing up with the restaurants opening and people going back to work >> the hoarding frenzy should be stopping also - takes some sheeple confidence that the economy sabotage efforts are nothing but BS ....

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Yeah. Two weeks ago when we went shopping, everything seemed back to normal. All the stores I went to were all fully stocked, except for Spam at Sam's. Not a single can! Since I lost most of mine, I really need to stock up on that. Hopefully, they will have it available this time. If not, I will try Walmart or Kroger.

20Gauge said:

Just got our new tax bill, we had planned on the same or slightly less. Nope!!!

The raised the value of the house and added $350 to the bill.

@#$%!@#$^@^@$%$$^# basta*ds!!!!

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Two words... Grievance Day.
If your town/county doesn't have a formal day, file a complaint at the assessors office. Generally, it won't reverse it completely, but you can often get some of the increase knocked down.

Summerthyme

summerthyme said:

Two words... Grievance Day.
If your town/county doesn't have a formal day, file a complaint at the assessors office. Generally, it won't reverse it completely, but you can often get some of the increase knocked down.

Summerthyme

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Not in this case. They are re-assessing and the home is worth much more than they say, it just irritates me that they don't have enough yet. If I protested, it would only go up more.

Looks like we are going to town on Thursday. DH is out of the orange drink he has become fond of and except for a few fresh things I don't really even need to replace anything. Maybe a few pizzas, which we eat one just about every week. The garden is coming along nicely. Four tomato plants that DH bought said Big Boy and they are all cherry. It looks like two of the creole plants I planted are going to make it, they are still small but thriving.

I've lined up several things that I've put in mylar to add o2's to and then heat seal and get them off the sofa into totes and out in the she shed. DH has been very patient about the sofa being piled up. Instead of giving away bags of rice that I get in commodities I've put it in mylars to store for us or to help people in bad times. We don't eat rice, but I would in a pinch.

Judy

Got the rest of the siding for the sugar shack. Scored some Class A chimney pipe on Craigslist for next to nothing. Going to pick up the windows and doors this weekend. Getting the shack finished is a huge prep item for us as it is going to be our main food prep area. Most of the canning, all the rabbit and chicken processing , honey and maple syrup processing will all be done out there.

Big one is I got the front axle of the truck replaced. It broke end of February. Much relieved to have that back!!

I picked up a couple of those solar lights that look like light bulbs. Going to see how they work.

Other than that it is getting the garden in and firewood stacked. Not much else right now.

Well, I broke in my new doctor, Tuesday. He seems to be very nice and understanding from my first visit. He's not demanding, and allows me to choose my own methods of treatment. He gave me two scripts, but told me that if they were too expensive, I could forego having them filled. I liked that about him, too. He told me that if I chose not to have them filled, he would see what else he could do with other medications, but they may not work as well. So, off to my pharmacy, and I almost fainted when I found the cost of only one of those scripts! For a 30 day supply....$850.00!!!!! That's the cost out of pocket to me after my insurance has paid!!! Needless to say, I declined both scripts. The other one, I couldn't take, because of the side effects. I've got another appt. in two weeks to have my bladder scoped. Maybe, we can figure out something else then.

Also, yesterday, we went on our bi-monthly shopping trip. All stores were open, and back to normal. All grocery stores and Walmart were fully stocked. The only shortages I saw was pork. There were still plenty of hams in all sizes and varieties. Beef was well stocked with a limit of two. Chicken was too, but there were no limits. Sam's was restocked with Spam, so I bought a case to replace what I lost. I'm not stocking as much as I did before. No need to buy too much, and lose it again.

While out and about, I bought for myself two more pair of jeans, and another pair for Cary. I bought two more nightshirts for myself as well. I sleep in some of Cary's older oversized t shirts, but they were beginning to get ragged. Cary's reloading supply store had all their t shirts on sale for $10 each. I had to pay full price for the Carhartt jeans, though. Ouch!

I've been working out in our gardens this morning. Everything looks good, and the cucumbers and squash that I planted late are all up. I had some soured milk in the fridge, and since Summerthyme said it was good fertilizer for tomato plants, I emptied the half gallon jug around each tomato plant. Just a tad around each one. I also have two loads of laundry hanging on the line to sun dry.

Froze very hard here last night. The large birdbath was frozen solid.

Had to stop by Walgreens to pick up a prescription so also bought 2 boxes of cereal, some vitamins, some laundry detergent, some kleenex and some salt (cheaper than the grocery store with my discount). Then across the street to Publix--iced tea, chocolate pudding mix, nuts, hand sanitizer (limit 1), some muffin mixes, some canned beans, some gingerbread mix (first time in a while I've seen it), a bag of rice (will add it to what I already have and mylar it up), some bread and some frozen fruit bars. Sounds like a weird trip, but I buy what is on sale, or what I am still stocking up on. Don't worry, we are having a t-bone steak and fresh corn on the cob for dinner

hiwall said:

Froze very hard here last night. The large birdbath was frozen solid.

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Looks like it froze the leaves on the apple trees, raspberries, and potatoes.

Hiwall, sorry about your garden. The weather has been a bit cooler the last couple springs. Ours has been wet too. My first corn rotted when we had a week of cool wet weather later than usual. Second planting is just popping out of the ground.

Hubby bought 25 pounds of pinto beans. The bean shelves are mostly still empty. We love beans. We are now stocked for awhile. We bought charcoal at Lowes today. We usually buy it a couple times a year. We bought 6 twin packs. We need 4 more to last us 12 months. They usually are on a good sale for Memorial Day, but the sale was not that good. It was better than normal though.

Our county had the first virus death. We also have 13 new cases. But Arkansas is testing more. I did not see many people in Lowes wearing mask except the employees. We wore our masks and were in the store a total of about 10 minutes at the most.

hiwall said:

Looks like it froze the leaves on the apple trees, raspberries, and potatoes.

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What USDA planting zone are you in, hiwall? We're in Zone 5 (B, I think now, but 30 years ago it would have been 5A, based on minimum winter lows) . For our early years here, Memorial Day (May 31st, not "the last Monday in May!) was always our last frost date. The past 10-15 years, most years we could plant (and sometimes did) by May 15th or even earlier. We've learned to plant according to "sentinel" plants... lilac, maples and grapevines, rather than the calendar.

Our first fall frost date has changed drastically, too. It used to be we could expect it anytime after the 15th of September, and we counted ourselves lucky if we didn't see one on the September full moon. And I remember covering tomato plants and other stuff like melons in August... hoping if they weren't frosted, we might still get some harvest.

We had a frost warning last night. Fortunately, if it got that cold, it was only in the lower valleys. Our thermometer showed a low of 40F. But the lilac still only has tiny purple buds, the grapevine is only now showing any hints that it's alive, and the Apple trees are *barely* showing the first pink on the tight buds.

Definitely a much later Spring for us. Thankfully, rainfall to this point has been nearly perfect. The next 7 days are for sunny and mid 70s, with 50s at night. We're praying for a good haying season!

Summerthyme

summerthyme said:

What USDA planting zone are you in, hiwall?

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6A. We are in Arizona but at about 7500 feet. Last year we had freezing temps off-and-on all through June. The year before it was warmer and we planted our whole garden before May 15th with no problems and a good harvest. Not a good spot for a prepper garden at this location. Wife and I have talked about getting a greenhouse but we are not sure where to put it or if we want to bother getting one anyway. To make up for it we have a large amount of LTS food.
We had a better garden when we were at our old place in MN that was in zone 3a

Interesting! And confirm my suspicions and feelings tgatvthe "hardiness zone map" is pretty dsmned useless!

Summerthyme

I almost hate to say, given the cold some are still experiencing...but tomatoes are coming in like gangbusters. Zone 8.

in other news, finally have all the pieces to finish the HF antenna on the truck.

We had an adventure yesterday. Hubby had an appointment with his pain management dr. We were stopped at the door for screening. Answered all their questions then they point their thermal scanner at my forehead-99.7. Hubby's is 99.6. We can't go in. But they fax one months prescription in and make an appointment for June. We have to quarantine for 2 weeks or get tested. Now we have to go back to our county and get tested. Hubby says to me, " You know we are sunburned don't you." So I call the nurse at our dr office. She doesn't know if a sunburn will make the thermal scanner read high or not, but gives me the number to the testing center. I call. They don't know about if sunburn will make a difference or not. They aren't busy so we go right there when we get back to town. They are real nice.My blood pressure is high cause I am stressing out. An oral thermometer shows no temperature in either of us. But they go ahead an test us anyway since the state is testing asymptomatic people now. So our quarantine will be over later next week if our test are negative. My BP returned to normal after we got home. It is always high at the drs office. I had a real bad experience with a dentist as a small child and that left me with a good case of white coat syndrome.

Thank goodness we did my contract work the day before but that is when we got sunburned.

Garden is doing good. Now if I can just keep it from washing away. There is rain in the forcast all week. It makes it very hard to cut hay. Ours is ready now but we need some dry weather.

Digger said:

We had an adventure yesterday. Hubby had an appointment with his pain management dr. We were stopped at the door for screening. Answered all their questions then they point their thermal scanner at my forehead-99.7. Hubby's is 99.6. We can't go in. But they fax one months prescription in and make an appointment for June. We have to quarantine for 2 weeks or get tested. Now we have to go back to our county and get tested. Hubby says to me, " You know we are sunburned don't you." So I call the nurse at our dr office. She doesn't know if a sunburn will make the thermal scanner read high or not, but gives me the number to the testing center. I call. They don't know about if sunburn will make a difference or not. They aren't busy so we go right there when we get back to town. They are real nice.My blood pressure is high cause I am stressing out. An oral thermometer shows no temperature in either of us. But they go ahead an test us anyway since the state is testing asymptomatic people now. So our quarantine will be over later next week if our test are negative. My BP returned to normal after we got home. It is always high at the drs office. I had a real bad experience with a dentist as a small child and that left me with a good case of white coat syndrome.

Thank goodness we did my contract work the day before but that is when we got sunburned.

Garden is doing good. Now if I can just keep it from washing away. There is rain in the forcast all week. It makes it very hard to cut hay. Ours is ready now but we need some dry weather.

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Digger, I don't know if the thermal scanners pick up on sunburns or not. But, when I get a sunburn, I do run a low grade temp such as yours. My normal body temp is around 97.6.

I had a wild experience at my doctor's appt., Tuesday. First, 2 days before my appt. date, the office called me to make sure I was keeping my appt. The nurse told me that I had to wear a mask, and I couldn't bring anyone with me. When I got there that morning, I walked into a reception area that was closed off. My temp was taken, and questions were asked. I had no temp, and she made me use hand sanitizer, before she let me through to the waiting room. Since, the office was limiting how many patients were allowed in the room, there were only about 6 people in there besides me. Each person had to sit 6ft. apart. All staff, doctors, and nurses had on masks and gloves.

I usually run a low grade temp if there is inflammation anywhere in my body. I was so thankful, I had no temp that day, or I would have been rescheduled. I had already had to reschedule once, because Cary and I were in lockdown at home.

Speaking of dentists. I had a bad experience with one, too. It left me with a fear of all dentists. I've been prone to have anxiety attacks when I'm approached by one. I have a good one, now, that understands me, and he always gives me a Valium to take right before my appt. time (30 mins). Works well for me and him both.

I have a good dentist now. I have used him for 30 years now. He used to have a chair waiting on me and gas ready. Now I rarely need gas to calm me, only he has to do major work. He is a great guy.