Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: September 25 ~ October 1, 2022

What's with this October stuff in the title?!! How the heck did THAT happen?! September is just flying by!

Didn't get as much done as I'd hoped yesterday so I've got plenty to do today. The heat while I was sitting out on the soccer field sapped a lot of my energy, and the mosquitos were horrible in the early evening - but it was mostly because I hid in my room with the door shut to block out the younger grandson practicing on his new trombone - I'm going to have to send the band instructor a nice gift certificate to the bar; err, the Mexican restaurant. Grandson didn't know I was hiding in my room, because he had the door to his room shut as well - the grand-dog would howl when he would start playing. Now I know why my Mama - and especially my Pop - didn't get too upset when I dropped band; my excuse was that I had extra activities already with the load of projects I was doing in 4-H, but the truth was that I hated that hand-me-down clarinet!

So, prep plans for the rest of this weekend include getting all those darn walnuts picked up out of the side yard, and pulling out the sweet corn - I figure that is all I will be able to get done if I want to keep up with the housework as well.

Looks like I'm going to be riding herd on the grandkids the last few days of my October vacation while daughter does a favor for a friend by driving their vehicle to them to their other home in a different state. Since Hubby hasn't come up with any plans for the rest of the vacation, I might take off with one of my cousins to visit another cousin who lives in Kentucky.

Well, the grandson has reminded me about five times in the last five minutes that he's starving and needs - NEEDS! - French toast; reckon I'd better get to it before the poor child withers away from starvation

Take care all; have a great week!

Finally getting our solar pump installed in the upper well.

Had a more stressful morning than I had planned on. Husband finally mowed the grass last night. I didn't realize that he had hit a sapling and cut it off like a spear until this morning. I couldn't leave it for the livestock to gut themselves on. I couldn't get an angle to cut it with the ax, so I wrestled it back and forth until I could get to the thread of bark that was holding it together, and cut it multiple times with the loppers. After twenty minutes of wrestling with the thing I finally got it loose. Then I had to go sit down.
My car died the first of the summer and my mechanic couldn't get parts for it, so he cobbled it back together and made it run anyway. He told me that he hoped it could get me thru the summer so I could have AC, but after that, all bets were off. I went down to the sand bar to get my normal load, and the car wouldn't start back. Hard walk back up the big hill. Had to sit down again for awhile. Hoping that husband will help me try and get it started after lunch. It may be toast. I hate the thought of trying to find another Jeep...
It's supposed to rain the next two days and I need to get out and plant rye grass, but I'm kind of worn out.

Putting back potato flakes after hearing that there may be a real shortage, and seeing the shelves and crates at my WM, I believe it.

Hubby put new struts on the Carolla as well as new tires on the HHR. We have quite the collection of boxes from Rock Auto on our porch waiting to be installed on various vehicles in our "fleet." One of these days...

A predator got in my quail aviary last evening. It killed 6 of my birds - 2 roos and 4 hens. I found it right after it happened. One bird was still alive. She died in my hands. The good news is that I still had hot water on the stove from a small WB canning and I caught the situation soon enough. 5 of the 6 birds were salvageable, so they are butchered and in my fridge. The 6th one was apparently older by a bit, so I chucked it. It had a distended belly, fly eggs, and most of its head missing. Yeah, no. Eww. It's a part of life, and although I am angry about losing the birds, I am not going to stop raising quail. I just need to make my aviary into more of a Ft Knox.

Cag3db1rd said:

Putting back potato flakes after hearing that there may be a real shortage, and seeing the shelves and crates at my WM, I believe it.

Hubby put new struts on the Carolla as well as new tires on the HHR. We have quite the collection of boxes from Rock Auto on our porch waiting to be installed on various vehicles in our "fleet." One of these days...

A predator got in my quail aviary last evening. It killed 6 of my birds - 2 roos and 4 hens. I found it right after it happened. One bird was still alive. She died in my hands. The good news is that I still had hot water on the stove from a small WB canning and I caught the situation soon enough. 5 of the 6 birds were salvageable, so they are butchered and in my fridge. The 6th one was apparently older by a bit, so I chucked it. It had a distended belly, fly eggs, and most of its head missing. Yeah, no. Eww. It's a part of life, and although I am angry about losing the birds, I am not going to stop raising quail. I just need to make my aviary into more of a Ft Knox.

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Any idea what got into your aviary??

I have been making inventory of LTS freeze dried meats . I have a question about using freeze dried vs dehydrated foods. I seem to over cook FD so for instance if its meat it disappears into what ever I add it to. Should it be reconstituted and added at last minute. I guess I am used to dehydrated having to cook longer to hydrate.
I think i prefer dehydrated.
Also any anyone use black bean burger mix. Can I be used in any recipe in place of burger?

As vor black bean burger mix, I have dehydrated black beans that I plan to make burger with for myself, DH would starve before he'd eat black beans.

As for the things that DH won't eat, I'm powdering some things to add to what I'm cooking, whenever I get around to cooking. I bought two large cheese burgers yesterday from the local cafe, they have delicious burgers. DH wasn't feeling well so he only ate his fries and ate the burger for lunch today after church. I can't buy out very often, but after the loss of our dear Buddy, the goat, I wasn't interested in doing anything. He loved to have his head scrached between his horns so I did that and one ear. Poor baby.

Church was good, it was on being a watchman. There weren't that many in church today, maybe they were taking a last vaca in September. Either that or they don't want to hear the truth. I'm up for hearing the truth, it makes me a better person.

I bought 6 pieces of garlic from the USA. I've separated one pod and there were a lot of garlic pieces. DH is digging some dirt from the pig pen since there are no pigs in there right now. He's going to add that dirt to a couple of our raised beds for the garlic. I didn't tend to the garlic the last couple of years so I had to get new to plant.

DH didn't feel well the last couple of days, but better today. He stays out in the heat too long for his own good.

I have to get back in the kitchen this afternoon and prepare a decent meal for later. No clue what I'll cook.

The weather is supposed to be cooler tomorrow, so I'll be back dehydrating frozen vegetables.

It's a nice, cool day here, today. Temp right now is 83 and breezy. 59 for our low, tonight. Still no rain.

Other than our home fellowship, we're taking a "lazy day". Cary is getting carry out pizzas for our supper tonight, so no cooking for me. I'll probably blow my diet, tonight, cause pizza is my favorite food. I can't pass up pizza. Oh, well. I'm not being too strict with my diet, anyway.

After doing nothing, today, we'll hit the floor running, tomorrow.

It's definitely cooling off here and when I get some energy I'd like to get my front beds cleaned out and some winter greens in. I just put a big Sams order in for some stuff I can get delivered but can't pickup. DD and I both like the larabars and they have them online only for a good price. I'm also moving some of my empty canning jars to storage. I didn't do anywhere near the canning this year that I normally do so I've got empty jars everywhere. If they go to the attic for storage then I can fill those shelves with usable canned goods. That's probably all I can hope for this week and right now it seems like a lot lol.

Eureka! I use liquid Cascade for the dishwasher and Dawn for hand washing. They used to advertise long-lasting suds with Dawn but I haven't seen that commercial in a while and I haven't seen any long-lasting suds either.

Anyhow after leaving the near-empty Cascade bottle upside down to get everything out of it I could get for the dishwasher, I put a little water in the bottle and poured the remains into a small half-empty bottle of Dawn.

It didn't mix together easily at first but once it did the stuff is great and had long-lasting suds in the dishpan.

I bet that addition would boost a cheaper dish liquid into a better deal.

Dawn may not have much in the way of suds, but it definitely cuts the grease.

ETA: Its a beautiful sunny day, high to be mid 80's.

Last night I went to a revival at one of the local Baptist churches. The pastor at my church was the speaker, which is why I went. There were several people there for the sister churches in the area, but all in all the church was not filled. Same thing on Sunday morning, the church is not filled. Dh and I both are glad we started going back to church. Its so easy to stop going but not so easy to get started going again. I went with a friend and she picked me up. And I walked down to the mail box to save time instead of her having to drive all the way back to the house. Being able to walk that far without my knee giving out is such a blessing, I feel normal, whatever normal is.

The limbs on the tree outside my office window are about half bare. And the leaves on the oak trees are drying out too. Looks kinda like they are going to skip the pretty colors and just go from green to dead.

I use Dawn diluted with water, and it still works great for me.

I got a big load of laundry hanging on the line to dry. Picked turnip greens. This is the largest picking, so far. My back is still aching from picking, washing, and chopping. I got another ripe tomato, but the plants are dying. Very few green ones left. I've done other household chores, too, and I'm taking a break right now to rest my aching back.

Cary started working on the fresh cut wood load he cut the other day, and this afternoon, once the leaves dry, we're going to be blowing all the leaves that have already fallen into a pile and dump them in the raised beds. This will be an ongoing project, until all the leaves have fallen. It's so dry that Cary hasn't had to mow in over two weeks. The grass is brown and crunchy.

High today, 84. Low tonight, 50.

Doing laundry and running errands today.
Dh is building decorative shutters for the house. I'm researching foundation repair places.
My sister is giving us dinner tonight so I don't have to worry about that. I'll saute some squash for a side.
Gotta go water.
Prayers for everyone!

It has been a couple of hours now and I left my tea cup soaking in the dish pan and there are still suds. It cuts grease and stains too. This is a good way to use up every drop and not waste anything.

I’m canning sauce from the last of the garden tomatoes. I only have a few things left in the garden, but I’m anxious for it all to be done. This was the best tomato year that I’ve had in a long time.
Today I went to the hardware store and ordered a dual fuel wall mount heater. If the electric gets too expensive, or goes out, I will have decent heat. I went for a week without heat last January when my furnace died, and my little Buddy heater used way too much propane for my budget, and the house was still cold.
I’m working on getting weatherstripping where it’s needing, and putting the plastic back up on the windows. It feels like we could have an early winter.

I won a book in a Goodreads Giveaway! Me who never wins anything. It's fiction, and totally unrelated to preps, but it made me happy, and state of mind is important.

Question......If you make a batch of jelly and it doesn't set like it's supposed to, what can you do to fix it? Mom used fresh peach juice that she had to make jelly this morning. One of her best friends made the juice for her, and kept the peaches for herself. The Sure-Jel that she uses didn't have a recipe for peach jelly, so she used the plum recipe. She just told me that it was still like soup.

Give it 24 hours at least to set.

I took last week off and went on a cruise. The itinerary got changed from the Caribbean to Mexico because of Hurricane Fiona, but that didn't matter. I had a great time anyway. One week with no phones and no computer gave me some time to decompress a bit and get away from all of the prep stuff for a bit.

Since the ship did two stops in Mexico I was able to hit the pharmacies and came back with more items for my medicine cabinet, and two more bottles of tequila for the trade cabinet.

Now that I am back home (north central Florida) we are apparently worried about Hurricane Ian. Long lines at the gas station--I filled up today, as did better half, and the gas cans that hold the lawnmower gas were refilled. Everybody was filling up and filling up gas cans. Stopped at Publix since I had been gone for a week-needed eggs (almost all out), milk (running very low), bread (getting hit hard), and a couple of other things. Water was walking out the door by cases and jugs. Peanut butter was almost wiped out. The chip aisle was pretty low and batteries were hard hit. We are fine on everything, so didn't walk the whole store.

Been doing laundry and the dryer just died. Might have to take the wet clothes to the laundrymat around the corner to get them dry. Way too humid around here for them to dry.

We are staying home the rest of the week, hurricane or not, but we are ready.

And if the peach jelly doesn't set, use it for pancake syrup or over ice cream.

I did make to it to the local Wally World yesterday and I am in shock. The only thing they have in any supply is clothes and Christmas. Out of a whole shelf of cat litter there were maybe 8 containers and 6 of those were the really $$ ones. Almost no bleach or cleaning supplies, lots of holes on the food shelves too. I haven't seen that store this bare since the height of the lockdown.

Yikes! Our stores have remained pretty well stocked though produce quality is not good. We even went to Costco in city a couple of hours away and it was stocked. Had items like flour sugar vinegar that other areas have rreported missing.

It's a cool, crisp morning here, today. 49 was our low last night, and only 80, today. 76 for our high, tomorrow! Back into the 40's for lows. That temp will be good for Cary to go and cut another load of wood. He's been splitting and stacking this morning, already, plus watering everything. No rain in our foreseeable future, either.

I did laundry, and when I finished hanging them on the line, I got my clippers. I went all over our property cutting down old dead flowers, trimming shrubs, and cleaning up the yard for winter. I won't trim the roses, until December. We got loads of leaves, yesterday, to heavily mulch all of our raised beds. All the other leaves that fall will be spread out over the lower garden. These 7 huge oak trees in our yard produce a lot of leaves for mulch. We also have several pines in our yard, too, and the needles are already falling. I just don't know what to use them for. The cones we use for fire starters, so we collect them.

My back and knee are much better this morning. That TENS unit works wonders!

Ever since DIL's gasket went out on her electric canner, I've been trying to buy a replacement for mine. Check almost every day, and they are still out. This has been going on for months, now. I told Cary that I wanted to buy another canner just to be on the safe side. No money for that right now, though. We try to budget for everything.

SouthernBreeze said:

It's a cool, crisp morning here, today. 49 was our low last night, and only 80, today. 76 for our high, tomorrow! Back into the 40's for lows. That temp will be good for Cary to go and cut another load of wood. He's been splitting and stacking this morning, already, plus watering everything. No rain in our foreseeable future, either.

I did laundry, and when I finished hanging them on the line, I got my clippers. I went all over our property cutting down old dead flowers, trimming shrubs, and cleaning up the yard for winter. I won't trim the roses, until December. We got loads of leaves, yesterday, to heavily mulch all of our raised beds. All the other leaves that fall will be spread out over the lower garden. These 7 huge oak trees in our yard produce a lot of leaves for mulch. We also have several pines in our yard, too, and the needles are already falling. I just don't know what to use them for. The cones we use for fire starters, so we collect them.

My back and knee are much better this morning. That TENS unit works wonders!

Ever since DIL's gasket went out on her electric canner, I've been trying to buy a replacement for mine. Check almost every day, and they are still out. This has been going on for months, now. I told Cary that I wanted to buy another canner just to be on the safe side. No money for that right now, though. We try to budget for everything.

Click to expand...

without looking back 6 months - What kind of canner again for you and need what again???

Illini Warrior said:

without looking back 6 months - What kind of canner again for you and need what again???

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I bought the Presto electric pressure canner. I would like to have a replacement gasket for it, since my DIL's gasket failed soon after she bought hers. I'm sure it was defective, but it would be good to go ahead and get replacement parts.

Gas went up 60 cents a gallon between the time I came home from work yesterday morning and when I went in to work that evening. Y'all close your eyes for a minute 'cause I'm going to type some naughty words...

Southernbreeze, have you looked at gopresto.com? It's the Presto company site. It has parts listed and since your daughter's may have defective she might be able to get a replacement. Just a thought.

I think it has turned Fall, here! It's only 53 right now with our high today of only 76. Our low was 48. No rain, and we're not expected to get any from Ian. We are under red flag warnings.

Nothing going on, today, other than Cary cutting more firewood. He's gone now to do that. While he's out, he is filling all the empty gas cans. He never lets more than 2 be empty at a time. I wish we had a 55 gal barrel, so we could fill that up, too. That would go a long way in keeping our generator running if for nothing else, until I can get the freezers empty.

Speaking of freezers....I found several packs of ground beef in my freezer this morning as I was trying to find some to make supper with, tonight. I came across several 1lb packs that were dated 2020, stored in freezer storage bags. I let one sit out to defrost. Once it began to defrost, it smelled bad. So.......I put it all in a bag to use as dog food. I'll keep it separate from all the rest.

paxsim2 said:

Southernbreeze, have you looked at gopresto.com? It's the Presto company site. It has parts listed and since your daughter's may have defective she might be able to get a replacement. Just a thought.

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Yeah, we have been trying to order straight from the company. They are still out. DIL was able to order her replacement, but that was months ago.

On Sunday I was talking to a lady at church (she cans constantly) about freezer burn. I told her I am not afraid of freezer burn and she laughed and said she's not either, just add more seasoning. I found some deer steak in the freezer from 2016. It smelled fine but did have a lot of freezer burn. I breaded it, fried it and simmered it in gravy for awhile. I asked DH about it and he said it was good, I thought so too. However if it smells off I give it to the dog.

Dear hubby has been working on splitting and stacking fire wood and move rocks and soil to fill in a terrace he is making.

I was able to can up tomato sauce, smoke leek tomato soup, apple slices and sauce, pears.

I plan on canning Lemony Eggplant Caponata and pickles tomorrow. We need to harvest the two potato towers, amamranth, figs, and the last of the tomatoes. Our cabbage and peppers did poorly this year. So I will also pull up those plants this weekend.

Has anyone made jam from dehydrated blueberries, cherries or strawberries?

ioujc said:

Any idea what got into your aviary??

Click to expand...

I think it was a rat. Got some Rat-X.

ginnie6 said:

Almost no bleach or cleaning supplies, lots of holes on the food shelves too. I haven't seen that store this bare since the height of the lockdown.

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My WM is using bleach bottles to hide the empty shelves in the cleaning supplies.

New birds are out of the tractor. Newer birds are in. Tonight was the first night I let the older chicks out to graze a bit b4 putting them back in. They loved it.

I think I'm getting out of cavies. My menfolk have put their foot down that they won't eat them. Hubby is getting mad about the time spent cutting grass and taking care of them. It's beef, chicken, or pork, -- or else.

Completed the potato flake bucket. It took 240 oz of flakes to fill a 5 gallon bucket with a gamma lid.

Another coolish morning. I had to turn a bit of heat on while taking a shower this morning! We have a little electric space heater we use in the bathroom if we need it while taking showers just to knock the chill out.

Our gardens are almost finished, except for the peas. Cary picked more tomatoes this morning, but I don't think we'll get anymore. Bell peppers have stopped producing, even with watering. They are loaded with tiny peppers, but they are drying up, before getting large enough to pick.

Cary cut, split, and stacked more firewood yesterday afternoon. He only likes half a cord, and he'll be finished for the season. We try to keep at least a 3 year supply on hand. He keeps it in rotation.

I plan to go ahead and get a FoodSaver when I go to town shopping, probably, Monday. I don't want any more freezer burned meat, plus I can use it for other things, too. I'm excited to be getting it!

Today is doctor visit with my Rheumatologist. I'm nervous about going this time. I really don't want an injection in my knee, and I don't know what he's going to say about having more teeth taken out. He'll be pleased knowing that I'm back on my diet, and I've lost 6 pounds. I'm not being too strict with the diet. As long as I continue to lose, I'm satisfied. Also, since I started taking Trazodone, again, my BP has stabilized well within normal range. I've been keeping a record. I haven't had one bad night of sleep, either. I feel lots better, too.

We've got a cool morning too, my hands are cold.

Church last night was good, one couple has decided to provide a simple meal on Wednesday nights. Its nice but its also fattening, oh well, I'm still not on a diet, but I need to be.

The chickens had cut back on their laying but now with the cool weather they are laying more again. Most days we eat five or six eggs, more than that we share with other people. But I do like to keep 12 on hand if I decide to boil eggs or cook something the needs an egg.

The sinking ship of state is going down fast and it's going to leave a heck of a mess to clean up. DC can put all the verbal lipstick on that pig they want. It's not helping.

I'm getting long in the tooth but know there's going work to done and everyone will have to do a share. So I'm working on getting in better shape, physically and spiritually. So far I've managed to take off some weight and improved my stamina, not by much but noticeable. It's not anywhere close to easy or painless but is doable.

Home from Big Town, finally. Doctor's appt. went well enough. He wanted me to have the injection in my knee, but I refused. Then, he wanted me to consider physical therapy. Said no to that, too. He did make ex-rays of my back and knee. I won't get those results for about a week, since he is piled up with reading ex-rays right now. Put me in a knee brace and told me to wear it, unless I was in bed or bathing/showering. He thinks I have a spot of arthritis in my spine, between my shoulder blades, where it hurts so bad.

As for my teeth, he told me there wasn't anything he could give me that would make things better when I have these next teeth taken out. If he gives me a script for steroids, that will increase my chances of getting an infection when it's done. I'll just have to bear up under it, cause with me having Lupus and Sjogren's Syndrome, it will always take much longer to heal.

Went on to Aldi's, afterwards. Stocked up on German food, again. I was able to get cold and frozen foods this time that I was unable to get last time. I also picked up some other German foods that I didn't see last time. They didn't have much left. The rest of the store was fully stocked. I didn't see any shortages at all. Cary is going to be eating good for quite a while on foods that he grew up eating. Only, his was homemade from scratch.

I am waiting on the canner to cool down enough to open it. I have it full of jars of peas again. I also took a quart of shelled peas to our daughter when we picked up their kids today so daughter could work.

We did some errands before getting the kids. The first place we went was to the hardware store to buy a pea sheller. We should be able to try it out tomorrow. We also went to 10 Box grocery store. We stocked up on a couple of things. The stock was low in parts of the store but not like it was at the worst during the pandemic. Eggs had come down in price but they are higher than ever I think.

I have gotten a lot done today, even with a 5 year old and a baby to tend after. I hope I have figured a dosage that works for me with my over the counter Thyroid support. Seems like one every 3 or 4 days and I feel really good.

Got off work yesterday morning after my three inna row shifts, came home, fell asleep in the tub, crawled out and stumbled to bed, only to wake up with horrible leg cramps - on the FRONT of my leg! Anterior Tibialis is my best guess. First one leg, then the other; rinse and repeat. Lord have mercy; those were painful! Played the game 3 or 4 times - jump out of bed, lean forward with foot flat on the floor, say bad words, massage muscle till the cramp faded, face plant in bed, rinse and repeat. Finally woke up enough that at least a couple of brain cells were functional enough to engage and had the thought that I should maybe go to the med safe, find some magnesium, crush it and wash it down with some Gatorade since I figured dehydration might have played a part along with a possible shortage of the magnesium. That did the trick. I don't recall having had cramps in that area before; won't mind if I don't ever have them again!!

I'm fighting with the blasted laptop this morning; I've already gone in and turned the touch pad to 'off' twice, but the wretched thing turns it's self back on. Possessed - I tell you; this darn thing is possessed!!

I put in my three days at work - they weren't bad ones; most likely because I worked with the 'quiet' group of co-workers. I have to work Sunday evening with the LOUD! group, but then I am off on vacation for 10 or 12 days or so - looking forward to the peace and quiet for the first half; I'll have the grandsons for the last few as daughter is doing a favor for a friend which requires a trip, but the boys are pretty easy to take care of - as long as I don't have to help the youngest with his math homework again, that is....

Plans for today: Go to the bank and pick up my new debit card and do whatever it is I have to do to make it work - which includes slurping down enough coffee to make myself functional enough to come up with a new passcode (note to self: need more coffee). Then I'm going to go to the pool with the neighbor lady, come home and take a nap, and chill out.

The boys have soccer and football games this weekend, both home games, both on Saturday, but far enough apart that Daughter and I don't have to split up to go to one or the other, so that will be nice. The younger boy will likely come home with me again, but I have to work Sunday night, so I'll have to take him home by noon. Hopefully, that will be enough time for him to earn a little more cash picking up the walnuts in the side yard again - the cold weather made a bunch more of them fall.

Well, my coffee isn't doing the trick this morning, so I think I'm going to catch a quick cat nap before the neighbor lady comes to pick me up to go to the pool; maybe I'll be able to function after that...

Take care all; stay safe out there!

SouthernBreeze said:

...These 7 huge oak trees in our yard produce a lot of leaves for mulch. We also have several pines in our yard, too, and the needles are already falling. I just don't know what to use them for. The cones we use for fire starters, so we collect them.
...

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If the pine needles are the long ones, like 4 inches or so, you can make baskets/platters/etc. out of them. My sister-in-law's dad does that and has made some beautiful pieces. I've seen some youtube video showing the process. I'm sure a quick search would turn something up. If they're short...no idea. We would burn them in an outdoor firepit when I was kid. Not because they burned good or anything, but because we were little firebugs and burned anything we could. LOL