Moving towards Self-sufficiency

For discussion related to emergency preparedness, survival, self-sufficiency, food and water storage, guns, heat, light, building, gardening, etc.
RaVaN
captain of 100
Posts: 657

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by RaVaN »

So butter making was a complete success. These pygoras do have a high butterfat content as advertised. From 1 pint of milk semi fresh you get two tablespoons of butter, and it only takes 15 minutes to make. You get 2-3 times that if you wait a week for the cream to separate and use mostly cream. I went through a lot of thought processes on how to make this, and for our purposes the tried and true method of skimming cream from older milk works just fine.

The issue with goat's milk and cream is the fact that goat's milk is naturally homogenized. It takes a lot longer than with cow's milk for the fat to float to the top as cream. Once it separates, you skim with a spoon the cream from the top. While chilled, this cream is placed into a quart mason jar and filled halfway. Then the shaking commences. You shake the milk for 15 minutes and for the first five it seems like nothing is happening besides foam. The reason for filling the jar only halfway is that the foam will fill up the whole jar and will slow down the process. After about 10 minutes, the foam will have dissipated and you will start hearing a thunk thunk thunk of butter gathering. I usually let it sit for 5 minutes in cold water after the first 15 minutes and shake it 5 minutes more.

I then filter the contents of the jar through a cotton dishtowel(you know, like your grandma used to have) collecting the buttermilk for use later. Then the rinsing of the butter commences, which at present is just balling and flattening the butter repeatedly while rinsing until the water that runs off is clear. I need a better method for this.

Brining the salt is basically just making a salt solution and soaking the butterball into it for a while(still experimenting with this). This makes it a bit more tasty and preserves it for longer.

The result is the absolute best butter I have ever had...

Some might think this is a lot of work for a little butter, but think about it...butter makes everything good. Of course, I have spare time while making cheese so it just fills the time waiting for the milk to heat up to make cheese.

As to the cheese making, some things I found out yesterday. Red wine vinegar does not cause coagulation proper. As well, the whey from the lemon cheese or the red wine vinegar queso blanco cheese will not make ricotta for some reason.


As an aside, in an earlier post I said I wasn't milking one of our goats. "Little Honey just because of a "feeling" I have about her that it's not a good idea." We decided to ease her into it. We kept her milk separate from the others. When I tasted it the first day, it just has such a strong sour taste with a hint of goat. I thought maybe she hadn't been getting enough good feed, so she got put into the rotation and we kept her milk separate with no change in taste...still unpalatable. I thought maybe it was just psycho-somatic so we staged two blind taste tests...and the result was in, she has bad milk. So she is getting culled once her baby is weaned. If a goat has bad milk, and you have no other reason to keep it you should get rid of it. So that "feeling" I had, was accurate.

Anyhow, God has really blessed our labors and it is great to be able to enjoy the fruits of our labors.

RaVaN
captain of 100
Posts: 657

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by RaVaN »

dlbww wrote:Nice work RaVaN. I have recently been contemplating the increased cost of electricity and fuel. I've mentioned that we heat with wood cut off our property and therefore have no heating bill (unless you include the labor in cutting and splitting which I write off as exercise). I've also been using our Pacific Energy Super 27 wood stove to cook on/in; I figure if I'm heating the house why not use it for cooking as well. However we do have an electric hot water tank which in my estimation is costing us over $50/month. So I recently picked up a majority of the plumbing parts that will enable us to connect the Tarm (a wood gasification boiler) which resides in the basement utility room. And plan to add a stainless steel hot water storage tank (besides the regular thermal storage tanks) that will eliminate the electric HW tank. That should further reduce our power consumption and allow us to consider alternate energy sources for our electrical needs in the future; wind, solar, magic beans, etc.
My Companion used a wood cookstove when she was a kid, I used one a couple of times myself. They are pretty nice once you know how to work them. We need to get one for outside and inside cooking/canning/other things. Our main priority is to get wood heat in the house at present. It's a big expense but well worth it and will pay for itself in a few years, just a matter of getting the funds to do it proper.

We are still building ground infrastructure at present, and would like to have enough time to work on, " wind, solar, magic beans, etc" ourselves but our major are three things right now before we play with luxuries...Chimney/woodstove, barn addition finished, root cellar with shed on top.

User avatar
dlbww
captain of 100
Posts: 729

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by dlbww »

.
Attachments
scan1_0011.jpg
scan1_0011.jpg (61.17 KiB) Viewed 6016 times
Last edited by dlbww on September 26th, 2015, 11:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

RaVaN
captain of 100
Posts: 657

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by RaVaN »

I think we are probably just the most vocal about it. There's also many that would like to move towards self-sufficiency that haven't seen the path to it yet. There's also a good deal of people of the "I just need my food storage and that's all" mindset. I really got jaded about helping other people move towards self-sufficiency in my area. It seems like you can lay things out for them, show them how simple it is, offer to help with everything, and people still think the work is too hard. I wrote in an earlier post about a young couple moving in nearby who seemed pretty gung-ho about moving towards self-sufficiency. After one *self-imposed* set-back after another and ignoring advice, refusing help, and so forth they pulled anchor and headed south after only a couple of weeks of the winter. They were too wedded to the romance of living a more self-sufficient life than actually doing the work. The romance is there, but it takes a lot of work to get to that point and without a well-thought out plan you will have a much harder time. Anyhow, kind of sickens me to see someone handed a silver spoon and complain about it not being gold and throwing it away.

I personally find the work to be fun and exciting and of late, delicious. The work keeps a body young and the mind sharp. The blessings a person gets while doing the Lord's will is astounding. As you said, the freedom you gain from living this life and the general sense of well-being and health is just awesome. It is even more true when you are debt free.

I would like to get back to my wood carving as well. We just have too much work piling up for this year for me to have time to focus on art. This cold keeps setting me back on work right now. It's been a long winter, and still not over yet but now it really starting to put me behind in what I need to be doing. We got another 6 inches of snow and 0f yesterday. In 2012 the cherries were blossoming by now...just crazy the difference.

The woodstove/chimney is just a matter of getting the funds together for it right now. I can do all the work myself so cost really is just in stove/piping. Since it has to go through 2 stories, it's a bit more expensive. I like those style stoves you have, issue is heat output. We will be heating a total of 1400 square feet(700square feet per floor), with the ground floor being a two door garage so we are going with something a bit more substantial that will be have a long burning time and heat output for our -30f to -40f days. I debated a wood boiler for a year or so, but then when I found out you need electricity to keep the circulator pump going, I tossed that idea.

User avatar
blondenblueeyed
captain of 100
Posts: 286
Location: Mountain valley of central Utah
Contact:

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by blondenblueeyed »

We bought two Jersey milk cows...the best a commercial dairy had (Don't ask how much we paid. Suffice it to say my bankroll looked like an elephant sat on it) Anyhow, they are giving about 8-9 gallons a day. We sell nearly every gallon and put it all in glass bottles. (it is sold as "PET" food only) We had 70 chickens that are laying quite regularly. Just picked up 40 more baby chicks. YUP...we sell eggs too. Have a couple of lambs named Lamb Chop and Rack of Lamb...guess you all have that one figured out. We have an artesian well that produces prodigious amount of cold, clean, pure sweet water. We will be building a log home later this summer WITHOUT a mortgage...thank you very much. We will have solar system with a hydrogen backup so we will be completely OFF the grid without batteries. Green houses will be next project to tackle. Also have about 35 head of horses....good horses with several different stallions so we won't be bred into a corner in a few years. They come in small, medium and large including draft ponies and riding horses. All this will be on about 67 acres of pasture in a high mountain valley. Hopefully we can be of service to provide a safe haven when the wheels come off and you can write this on the granite walls....the wheels are going to come off. Anyhow...I have learned to cook from scratch...been sewing since high school so I think we are headed in the same direction as other who are preparing. Most of our food storage is 'on the hoof' if you know what I mean. Transportation won't be a problem either. Last but not least we have heritage seeds that we plant, harvest and save every year. It has become quite the family thing to cooperate so we all have our assignments. I love the Lord and I would like to see this winding up of the end times. In other words let's get this show on the road. One last item...I have learned to make quilts, LOTS of them. It just seems to make sense and I love to do it. :ymhug:

Mala_Suerte
captain of 100
Posts: 204
Location: Western Slope

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by Mala_Suerte »

blondenblueeyed wrote:. . . We will be building a log home later this summer WITHOUT a mortgage...thank you very much. We will have solar system with a hydrogen backup so we will be completely OFF the grid without batteries. . . .
I would be interested in hearing more about your planned energy setup. I have seen/read about many, but all w/ batteries, I'm interested to hear about how things will work w/o batteries.

My family and I just, sadly, sold our hobby farm so I could take a dream job. At our peak, we had 17 goats, 70 chickens, 8 ducks, a goose, seven dogs and I can't number the cats. We moved from Oklahoma to Colorado and moved into the city for the time being. Much to our chagrin, property is horrendously priced here. It'll be a few more years until we get back on property.

hsb9
captain of 10
Posts: 26

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by hsb9 »

We've been living off the grid for the past 14 years. It's rewarding, but tiring and definitely a lifestyle choice. I would like to be more self-sufficient, but find that I don't have the time to do many things that would lead me there. However, this year we did tap maple trees, which was a lot of fun.

RaVaN
captain of 100
Posts: 657

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by RaVaN »

@blondenblueeyed

That's pretty awesome. If we had the pasture and proper land for it, I probably would have been more inclined towards some sort of cow. I am not a horse fan, but I don't disagree with having them at all. I agree with your dream in another thread that "horses will be worth their weight in gold". I do keep an eye out for people in the area who do have horses just in case. I think I would be more inclined towards getting a @#!!$#!%/burro over a horse(my Companion, when I suggested this said we didn't need one since she already had one...har har). That is mainly due to our specific area being more scrub than pasture and pretty much why we went with goats.

I think having food storage on our area "on the hoof" is hugely important as you might have read.
I love the Lord and I would like to see this winding up of the end times.
I used to think that people who thought in this manner were terrible people. With the way things are now spiritually and physically in the world...I understand the viewpoint and this year with the abominations that have and continue in our once great nation...I am concerned at how many will be lost if the "show" doesn't get on the road soon. It is a sad way to think, but merited. We are a wicked generation.

RaVaN
captain of 100
Posts: 657

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by RaVaN »

hsb9 wrote:We've been living off the grid for the past 14 years. It's rewarding, but tiring and definitely a lifestyle choice. I would like to be more self-sufficient, but find that I don't have the time to do many things that would lead me there. However, this year we did tap maple trees, which was a lot of fun.
If it's God's will you have time, he'll make you time or show you how. YES, by the way, it is a lifestyle choice and that is what is hard for many to understand and one of the first things I try to get people to see. Many people think that lifestyle choice is silly, but some days I get up to butter I made myself from milk from our animals on bread my Companion has made with blackberry jelly we made and picked with eggs that we got from our chickens seasoned with herbs fresh and dried that we grew ourselves with fried potatoes and onions that we grew ourselves...that doesn't sound silly to me.

I want to make maple syrup, and that is pretty high on my list of priorities to do. I just haven't got around to doing it yet...but next spring maybe! Can you give a bit of your process in how you did it or any tips?

hsb9
captain of 10
Posts: 26

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by hsb9 »

I know what you mean. I really love when I'm eating my own home-grown food.

As for the maple trees, be sure you go out in the fall and mark them with tape beforehand. We didn't do that last year and ended up tapping trees that weren't maple. You can collect sap from other trees, but maple is my favorite. Although the syrup still tasted good, this year's syrup was so much better. Also order some spiels that have tubes. They are not that expensive on Amazon. Once you have your trees picked out, then you just have to wait for the right weather conditions. For the best sap, you'll need days that are below freezing at night and above 40 during the day for good sap flow. Here in Tennessee, there is only a small window for that and it's usually a handful of days in February. We drill about 2 inches into a tree that is at least 12 inches in diameter or larger and tap the spiel into place with a rubber mallet. Once we collect sap, we strain the particulates out and cook it down on the wood stove. It takes a few days, but when it's about an inch deep, then we really have to watch it, checking it every 15-30 minutes until it gets down to a syrup state.

P.S. The first year we did this, we didn't use the spiels with tubes and just hooked empty buckets to the spiels. Of course, it rained and then we had a lot of water to boil out of the sap and a lot of bugs and leaf litter. The tubes hooked to empty milk jobs work best.

Man, I do love me some maple syrup!!!!

User avatar
dlbww
captain of 100
Posts: 729

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by dlbww »

.
Last edited by dlbww on September 26th, 2015, 11:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Kingdom of ZION
captain of 1,000
Posts: 1939

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by Kingdom of ZION »

I have live in two intentional communities, and have now been trying to get our own community off the ground for 6 years. It is called Shiloh Springs Ecovillage. We live in a beautiful, beautiful place, on the western slope of the San Juan Mountains, part of the Rocky Mountains. Lone Cone is the closest mountain, about 18 miles away. It reminds me of Lonely Mountain in the Hobbit. Very similar look. It too was once the home of a fire breathing dragon, until it blew the north by northeast slope away, and buried itself and sealed that dragon that lived within.

We live on a 70 acres farm that has two springs and two ponds. We have 450 feet of fall to a year round flowing creek on the property, that is perfect for a micro power plant. Currently we are running irrigation piping from the lower pond to the pastures and greenhouses. We have 2500 sq. ft. of greenhouses so far.

As for animal, we have (*) or have had draft horses and horses*. Beef and dairy cows* (our Jersey cow is about to calve any day), pigs, pigmy goats*, geese*, ducks*, turkeys*, peacocks*, and chickens*. Almost a petting zoo...

Our first order of business is to grow all our own food, and sale the excess at the farmer market. GMO, hormones, insecticides, herbicides, and unwanted preservatives and chemicals has made it an absolute necessity that we expand until were as self-sufficient as possible. We can place a maximum of twenty three homes on the property as per the current zoning. We are a Christian based community, with Mormon leanings. Were not some religious enclave or church, some sovereign patriot group, or a bunch of tree huggers, yet through diversity, we embrace many of these beliefs. The key here is agency, with the understanding that unity breeds blessings and good works, for chaos serves no one. We understand, If we come out of Babylon, just to begin rebuilding it in our own image, then we might as well have just stayed there! The goal is to prepare all needful things for the coming hard times, yet live life to the fullest with joy, as we live the lifestyle we feel is the most pleasing unto G_d.

Shalom

User avatar
dlbww
captain of 100
Posts: 729

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by dlbww »

.
Last edited by dlbww on September 26th, 2015, 11:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
blondenblueeyed
captain of 100
Posts: 286
Location: Mountain valley of central Utah
Contact:

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by blondenblueeyed »

Sorry for dropping out of contact for the past few weeks. It is spring and breeding/foaling season and we are BUSY! New foals are arriving and the stallions are taking care of business if you know what I mean.

About the off the grid system....it is solar with a hydrogen backup. During the day the solar and a few gallons of water make and store hydrogen gas. When the sun goes to bed the stored hydrogen gas runs the fuel cell which runs the electricity and so there is no need for batteries or net metering. When the sun comes up the process starts all over again. Electrolysis....remember in chemistry class? It's that simple. That is a complete OFF the grid system. Expensive however one can pay it off in about 7-10 years depending on the size of house. Instead of paying utility bills you pay a fixed amount on a loan for your off the grid system. The system is good for about 25-30 years. I really believe the Lord will be here by then. Hopefully anyway. If you want to know more, send me a private message and we can talk further about it. I am putting one of these on the house we are building at our ranch this summer.

Mala_Suerte
captain of 100
Posts: 204
Location: Western Slope

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by Mala_Suerte »

blondenblueeyed wrote:Sorry for dropping out of contact for the past few weeks. It is spring and breeding/foaling season and we are BUSY! New foals are arriving and the stallions are taking care of business if you know what I mean.

About the off the grid system....it is solar with a hydrogen backup. During the day the solar and a few gallons of water make and store hydrogen gas. When the sun goes to bed the stored hydrogen gas runs the fuel cell which runs the electricity and so there is no need for batteries or net metering. When the sun comes up the process starts all over again. Electrolysis....remember in chemistry class? It's that simple. That is a complete OFF the grid system. Expensive however one can pay it off in about 7-10 years depending on the size of house. Instead of paying utility bills you pay a fixed amount on a loan for your off the grid system. The system is good for about 25-30 years. I really believe the Lord will be here by then. Hopefully anyway. If you want to know more, send me a private message and we can talk further about it. I am putting one of these on the house we are building at our ranch this summer.
Very cool. Thanks for the info. I'll do some googling and reading. If I have any questions, I'll PM you. My wife and I are a few years from buying, but we are making plans for off-grid living.

User avatar
dlbww
captain of 100
Posts: 729

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by dlbww »

.
Last edited by dlbww on September 26th, 2015, 10:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Teancum
captain of 100
Posts: 873

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by Teancum »

Looks like we're about the only two on this forum interested in self-sustainability.
Ah, not so. I have been interested in self sustainability since I helped my dad with alternative energy projects as a youngster.
I currently live off grid, and have built my own systems of solar PV, solar hot water, solar heating, windmills, and some hydrogen / HHO as well. My wife and I have a wood stove that we use as main heating and cooking, with solar as backup.

I will agree that this is definitly a lifestyle change. Maybe 14 years ago, I had the feeling to increase our garden production, and improve our sustainability. It was wise that I started then and not now, as health issues have placed a limit on what we now can do. If we had started now, Im sure we would have turned tail and ran back into Babylon. But at least the most dificult part is behind us, as we have transitioned to off grid living, and we can see that this really is doable and rewarding. I have found that when sharing this with others, it really is a romantic dream that is then shattered when they find there is actual work and changes to be made. Learning and practicing these skills is work, and many times changes are painful.

As much as I would like to know how to do everything and do it, I find that I am strong in some areas others may find as weaknesses, and vice versa. By struggling through building and maintaining my own systems, I have had to become knowledgeable about them and have come to the understanding that I need to share with others that knowledge. My wife and I are setting up online classes that give both overviews and detailed instruction on each of these systems, their strengths and limitations etc.

Mala_Suerte
captain of 100
Posts: 204
Location: Western Slope

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by Mala_Suerte »

Kingdom of ZION wrote:I have live in two intentional communities, and have now been trying to get our own community off the ground for 6 years. It is called Shiloh Springs Ecovillage. We live in a beautiful, beautiful place, on the western slope of the San Juan Mountains, part of the Rocky Mountains. Lone Cone is the closest mountain, about 18 miles away. It reminds me of Lonely Mountain in the Hobbit. Very similar look. It too was once the home of a fire breathing dragon, until it blew the north by northeast slope away, and buried itself and sealed that dragon that lived within.

We live on a 70 acres farm that has two springs and two ponds. We have 450 feet of fall to a year round flowing creek on the property, that is perfect for a micro power plant. Currently we are running irrigation piping from the lower pond to the pastures and greenhouses. We have 2500 sq. ft. of greenhouses so far.

As for animal, we have (*) or have had draft horses and horses*. Beef and dairy cows* (our Jersey cow is about to calve any day), pigs, pigmy goats*, geese*, ducks*, turkeys*, peacocks*, and chickens*. Almost a petting zoo...

Our first order of business is to grow all our own food, and sale the excess at the farmer market. GMO, hormones, insecticides, herbicides, and unwanted preservatives and chemicals has made it an absolute necessity that we expand until were as self-sufficient as possible. We can place a maximum of twenty three homes on the property as per the current zoning. We are a Christian based community, with Mormon leanings. Were not some religious enclave or church, some sovereign patriot group, or a bunch of tree huggers, yet through diversity, we embrace many of these beliefs. The key here is agency, with the understanding that unity breeds blessings and good works, for chaos serves no one. We understand, If we come out of Babylon, just to begin rebuilding it in our own image, then we might as well have just stayed there! The goal is to prepare all needful things for the coming hard times, yet live life to the fullest with joy, as we live the lifestyle we feel is the most pleasing unto G_d.

Shalom
interesting setup you have. We are not too far from you. We may have to come look at how you do things.

Your website is a lot thin.

RaVaN
captain of 100
Posts: 657

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by RaVaN »

Ahhh...Spring....After last week's last snowfall(hopefully), I believe Spring is truly here now. The nut orchard is now finished. It was a lot of hard work to get it ready for the 5 black walnut, 5 butternut, 4 hazelnut, and 4 hardy pecans we ordered since each tree will (hopefully) need 40' to 50' of space. I had thought that most of the area was pretty much open last year, but upon closer inspection I had to clear a lot more trees. I ended up dropping about 140 trees. My Companion's father was kind enough to pull all the stumps for us and clear the brush or we wouldn't have been ready for when the trees got here. I stacked the trees in the "holz hausen" fashion, which is something I decided to try since we won't need that wood for a few years. It looks nice and is a pretty sturdy woodpile compared with square methods. It takes about 1/3 more time to make than the typical 4x4x8 cord method but it makes for a much stable stack having been hit with a bobcat, tree, and me with a maul to make sure it would collapse and kill somebody. It kind of got away from me and ended up about 14' to 16' tall at the peak. Allegedly it dries faster and lasts longer without needing to be covered...we'll see.

The trees came before we were ready. We spent a day of hurrying to get the trees in the ground before it started raining. My companion is getting good with her father's Bobcat grapple. I was impressed. They ended up sending out 3 extra butternut trees. We scrambled to find space for them. Anyhow, that chore is done and now it's off to the next project...getting the garden in.

As an aside, I really think God wants us to have quinces...absolutely no idea why that would be but check this out. We ordered 2 quinces 2 years ago. The nursery set us 3 instead. All three survived, but a tree fell on one and broke a limb off. My Companion decided to get the broken branch to root, which it did so we had 4 quinces. Winter before last, they got run over by a logging skidder clearing powerlines and broken off. They all came back but one. Then last summer the power company sprayed herbicide on them and last winter my Companion's father killed 2 with the snowplow. One looks like it might still come back. But my Dad brought back a bag of shrubs he dug up in Missouri last month. He wanted us to find out what kind of shrub they were because he wanted to order some. Turns out they are quinces and thriving right now after I put them in the ground! It's just amazing and represents a good deal of money to us we can spend on other things. Anyhow, God blesses us greatly.

User avatar
dlbww
captain of 100
Posts: 729

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by dlbww »

.
Last edited by dlbww on October 2nd, 2015, 12:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

RaVaN
captain of 100
Posts: 657

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by RaVaN »

As I stated in a different thread in another forum, I sustained a grievous injury to myself last week, but am now mostly okay so I missed one window for getting two of my gardens planted that I used for early cold weather crops. I did get one of them planted in which I planted the beets, turnips, onions, garlic,cabbage and 3 rows of peas(1 of bought seed and two of saved seed of the same variety). It's a start and I over exerted myself with just the one. I haven't even bothered to start seeds yet since with the way the weather is this year I doubt seriously we will be all done planting by June. It's just been cold and wet and sunless. We will be starting seeds this weekend though. We need the wet though, so I am not complaining...especially since we have been blessed with early seasons for three years now and the general rule of thumb is not to plant before Memorial Day which is the 26th of May.

As to what we are planting:

Roma Tomato
Contender Bush Beans
Royal Purple Burgundy Beans
Jacob Cattle Beans
Vermont Cranberry Beans
Early Wonder Beets
Danish Ballhead Cabbage
Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage
Autumn King Carrots
Boston Pickling Cucumbers
Early Cluster Russian Cucumbers
Perkins Mammoth Okra
Yellow Spanish Onions
Harris Model Parsnips
Italian Parsley
Corno De Toro Peppers
Jack O' Lantern Pumpkins
Table Queen Squash
Golden Bantam Corn
Purple Top White Globe Turnips
Red Pontiac Potatos
Super Sugersnap Peas
Cayenne Peppers
Dill
Cilantro
Oregano
Marjoram
Thyme

Plus a buncha other stuffs that will be whatever we pick up or seeds we have saved. I have specific reasons for most of the plants chosen here.

There's a reason for planting quinces and that is for using in jellies as pectin. This used to be a much bigger deal than it is today, but this is why people use quince shrubs as identifier plants for locating old homesteads. They are a pretty tough and durable shrubs that is beautiful and useful so they would be planted next to homesteads. Btw, at least one of the quinces that was broken, poisoned, and chopped off has survived...crazy tough plants.

User avatar
dlbww
captain of 100
Posts: 729

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by dlbww »

.
Last edited by dlbww on October 2nd, 2015, 12:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

RaVaN
captain of 100
Posts: 657

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by RaVaN »

To everyone who has read my Companion and mine's journey and shared their own, I would like to say thanks. This may be my last post for a while, due to needing to focus on other things, as well as a general dissatisfaction with the LDS Freedom Forum as a whole. I would exhort all to keep moving toward the plan God has for them, and to listen keenly to His Word for the hard times that will come. Knowledge will continue to be your best tool, but seek the best knowledge rather than the trends followed. God continues to be the best guide in all things. I have truly enjoyed the sharing of ideals and plans of all within this part of the forum. I hope to check in occasionally with updates on our status here, but I make no promises. I hope to see all of you in Zion one day so we might share together in the great work of our Lord, Jesus Christ. I love you all, and you have helped me along my path whether you realize it or not.

User avatar
Kingdom of ZION
captain of 1,000
Posts: 1939

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by Kingdom of ZION »

Sorry to see you drop out but I do understand... I know life in the real world demands much more. For only true Saints step up to the plate when duty calls. I will prophesy here but I will not declare who's words they are: We only have six years left to prepare before the start of the final week of Daniel. Make use of this time well, get really unattached to your possessions, gather people around you that you can trust with your life, or go it alone. If you have medical or dental needs, now is the time to get them resolved, find other natural remedies that may work, stock pile what you can. People think guns and bullets are all they need, but it is the little things, pain and cold medicines that are more useful. Everything with moderation!

And may El Elyon have mercy upon our souls and swiftly bring Zion, Aman!

User avatar
dlbww
captain of 100
Posts: 729

Re: Moving towards Self-sufficiency

Post by dlbww »

.
Last edited by dlbww on October 2nd, 2015, 12:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Post Reply