Close the Gate

[Slippy]

What I need more than anything right now is time. We have plenty of "stuff" (shop tools, cooking tools, equipment for caring for our land, etc.). We have plenty of backup supplies to repair our tools. In short, pretty much everything important that we can prepare with a checkbook has been done. But...

We have only been living at M.T. Acres for about 5 years and the first 2 years of that was spent building a house. So most of the fruit and nut trees we planted are not yet bearing enough fruit to sustain us. The gardens are getting better each year, but we are still a couple years away from having the soil as rich as we would like it for producing everything we need. The steer pasture is getting better but we are still a few years away from being able to grow enough grass to get by without buying hay. This year, we are bringing turkeys and pigs into the mix and that will pretty much complete what we plan to raise for meat. But a couple years to work out the kinks on how to raise them the easiest way would be very helpful.

In short, I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished in a short period of time. But we sill have a way to go to get where we want to be if our lives depend on it. However, there is nothing we can buy to move us the rest of the way. Only experience and trial and error can take us on the last leg of our journey.

Your and Mrs I's "Journey To Preparedness at MT Acres" has been enjoyable and an inspiration to follow!

[Slippy]

I prep for when My close the gate supplies run out.... 3 year grid down, much of those things will be useless. be the only one with electricity after 1 year is like a beacon to the moths.. my main concern is hiding the smoke from wood fire cooking/heat. my goal= live like a pioneer with many luxuries!

water- stocked, filters, & a still
food- stocked, snares,traps, ammo, reload supplies/equipment
Heat- wood stocked, bunch around me, chainsaws, hand saws, axes

No gates to close here... just wide open space..

Would be nice to have a thermal scope for the first yr or so!!

Thermal Scope investigation and reviews pending from your old pal Slippy!

Been looking at some of them for a while, but dang! Mucho Dinero as my lawn guy Pancho would say!

[MountainGirl]

What I need more than anything right now is time. We have plenty of "stuff" (shop tools, cooking tools, equipment for caring for our land, etc.). We have plenty of backup supplies to repair our tools. In short, pretty much everything important that we can prepare with a checkbook has been done. But...

We have only been living at M.T. Acres for about 5 years and the first 2 years of that was spent building a house. So most of the fruit and nut trees we planted are not yet bearing enough fruit to sustain us. The gardens are getting better each year, but we are still a couple years away from having the soil as rich as we would like it for producing everything we need. The steer pasture is getting better but we are still a few years away from being able to grow enough grass to get by without buying hay. This year, we are bringing turkeys and pigs into the mix and that will pretty much complete what we plan to raise for meat. But a couple years to work out the kinks on how to raise them the easiest way would be very helpful.

In short, I am extremely proud of what we have accomplished in a short period of time. But we sill have a way to go to get where we want to be if our lives depend on it. However, there is nothing we can buy to move us the rest of the way. Only experience and trial and error can take us on the last leg of our journey.

Time. Yeah. Same here, only differently.
So many of our conversations include the phrase 'If we were 30 it'd be different...'
I'm really impressed by everything you & Mrs. Inor have done, you should be proud. Damn proud.
And I'm grateful beyond words that I had the chance to do a tiny bit of that on the mountain - but now?
Chasing 70, I'm getting tired of having so much fun LOL Thankfully I'm married to a young pup; city-boy marksman that he is.

[Chiefster23]

Thermal Scope investigation and reviews pending from your old pal Slippy!

Been looking at some of them for a while, but dang! Mucho Dinero as my lawn guy Pancho would say!

Thermal scope has been on my wish list for a long time. But too much $!!! I did get an infrared scope. A poor substitute, but at least it does give me some limited nite vision capability.

[Chiefster23]

And MG. Concerning your canner….. All American Pressure Canner. The only way to go!

[MountainGirl]

And MG. Concerning your canner….. All American Pressure Canner. The only way to go!

Thanks! They are sweet, for sure.
I'll be using it on a propane burner outside - quickly canning up the meats, etc from the freezer.
(Which reminds me, I need more jars/lids on hand)

[Prepared One]

Like Inor, we are proud of what we have accomplished in the 14 months since we got Ten Oaks. We each brought our own skill set to the table and we each threw money at what we thought were critical upgrades to the property. I brought a lot of my preps from Houston and we added quite a lot after we got here. Food, Ammo, etc. She has been instrumental in doing research. Her canning and solar knowledge has been a huge benefit in the food department and getting us supplemental power and whole house gen capabilities.

And like Inor, we need time. Time to adjust and maybe expand our capabilities. Maybe a garden, getting fruit trees put in. Not sure about the critter thing tho. We discuss it often and who knows. This year I have Peppers and she has Black berries. Fortunately we can get fresh vegies from the farm out on the main hwy. He has a little stand were we get corn, peas, peppers, fresh eggs, taters, and such.

While being prepared is a never ending job, all and all, if we had to close the gate today and get the heavy fire power ready, I am pretty damn comfortable with how we are set up and our stores. It could always be better tho. The journey continues.

[Inor]

Like Inor, we are proud of what we have accomplished in the 14 months since we got Ten Oaks. We each brought our own skill set to the table and we each threw money at what we thought were critical upgrades to the property. I brought a lot of my preps from Houston and we added quite a lot after we got here. Food, Ammo, etc. She has been instrumental in doing research. Her canning and solar knowledge has been a huge benefit in the food department and getting us supplemental power and whole house gen capabilities.

And like Inor, we need time. Time to adjust and maybe expand our capabilities. Maybe a garden, getting fruit trees put in. Not sure about the critter thing tho. We discuss it often and who knows. This year I have Peppers and she has Black berries. Fortunately we can get fresh vegies from the farm out on the main hwy. He has a little stand were we get corn, peas, peppers, fresh eggs, taters, and such.

While being prepared is a never ending job, all and all, if we had to close the gate today and get the heavy fire power ready, I am pretty damn comfortable with how we are set up and our stores. It could always be better tho. The journey continues.

Just one thing that we have noticed...

Raising meat animals is a lot more efficient (time-wise) than raising a garden. Feeding animals is only about 10 minutes of work, twice per day. Working a garden is a butt-ton of work time-wise, planting, weeding etc. The down-side is: Getting setup to raise livestock is quite a bit more expensive in terms of the upfront costs whereas gardening is cheap to get started. (But then you are stuck having to eat shitty vegetables when you are done as opposed to eating good meat with the livestock.)

[Chiefster23]

For all you folks in a hurry to establish good soil in your gardens. 4 or 5 years ago I built all raised beds about 11 inches deep. I filled them with 100% mushroom mulch and had excellent production from these beds. The next year some of that old mulch had composed down so I topped up with more mushroom mulch. Again excellent production. Every year after I went thru the same procedure but the amount of top-up mulch became less and less. The beds were filling up with wonderful fully composted black gold dirt. This year I only require a small amount of top-up mulch, and a small amount of urea fertilizer. So in 4 to 5 years I went from no garden to a great garden soil. Of course your results may vary, but I’m real happy here with the time frame and results. If you are looking for a shorter time frame, consider getting a huge load of mulch and dumping it in one big pile. After a year you should have enough fully composed to fully supply your garden top-ups going forward. Instant garden in one year!

[Jester-ND]

My approach... prepare for the worst and anything short of that is easier!

no power/gas for 3 years....

means..
no mowing (tall grass brings cover for critters),
no gas garden tiller (have to break ground by hand),
no swather/baler to put up hay (livestock here can't graze all winter)
no electric water pumps (have to irrigate for garden or devote solar/wind/hydro power to it)
no freezer/fridge (stuff going to spoil fast unless can dehydrate it! luckily we have outdoor freezer 8 months out of the year)

To me, gardening is a must! labor of planting and maintaining a field of potatoes is minimal vs putting up hay by hand for livestock and having to consume each kill in a matter of days or having to turn it into jerky to prevent spoiling) simple math.... 1 potato can give me 4 eyes.... 1 eye can give me 5 potatoes.. 1 potato = 20 potatoes. 1 cow+ 1 bull= 1 calf.... feed bull,cow,and calf and next yr get 2 calves.... assuming you didn't eat any of them.. it is unsustainable.... way tastier!!!! but doesn't add up for decent sized group here!