Book Reviews and Stocking Up

You know when you are starting out or adding to your long term storage supplies for Emergencies please don't forget the obvious things like toilet paper, dish soap, laundry detergent and light bulbs. We all know or can get list of medications and what food to store but the above mentioned items are often forgotten.

Well today I made a trip to our local Grocery Outlet store to get some of those things. I try to shop for groceries just like I do everything else. Outlets, Dent and Dings, Warehouse stores and any other local wholesale places like Aldi's. I remembered to take my farm bags to load my groceries in too and for me that is awesome because I sometimes forget them.

You can find some great deals as long as you do your research. For instance I got 8 boxes of Rosemary crackers for 50 cents! I also got bleach for 39 cents a bottle. A lot of different canned goods for 40 cents to 69 cents.

After getting home and unloading everything in the rain, yes it's finally raining here thank goodness, I checked the mail and found one book I'd ordered called Prepper's Long-Term Survival Guide by Jim Cobb. I just got started reading it but I like the way it is laid out so far. I'll let you know more after I'm finished with it.

As I started on it I heard a truck out at the gate so I went to look. It was Fed-ex with another book that I've been waiting to get called Butchering by Adam Danforth. This book is a must have for all homesteaders. It is all about how to butcher small animals including rabbits. It is well written in simple language with tons of pictures.

Here are some great links to find food in bulk which is another great way to save money while stocking up on what you need.

1. Little House Living has a good list.
2. Bulk Apothecary is another good place to check.

Have you added to your stash lately?

Books You Need To Have

Three more arrived in the mail. I am a certified book-a-holic and especially love ones that help you learn new skills or brush up on the ones you already have. I was very happy to get these three because they are all excellent. I've learned you could dehydrate peaches and finished one whole load of them.

There is banana chips, carrots and onions working as I write this. The best book about dehydrating that I've found is called Preserve It Naturally from Excalibur. You can get more information about it and order it HERE.

Next is a book called Herbally Yours by Penny C. Royal. I am starting to grow quite a few herbs and plan to have a lot more. One whole bed in the garden is filled with them. I figured if I'm growing medicinal ones that I should learn how to use them properly and this book is a great beginning. You can get your own copy HERE. 

The third book is called So Easy To Preserve. I went to a Fall Festival with a friend and met some wonderful ladies from the UT Extension service. They told us about this book from the University of Georgia. They extolled it's virtues for about 10 minutes and they weren't wrong. It is very detailed and has a ton of information. I don't make any affiliate money from this book. I just love it. Get your copy HERE.

What books do you recommend? 

Tennessee Football, Rabbits and Gas Cans

Yes I am now the proud owner or four beautiful Champagne D' Argent rabbits. The road trip went well today Jane, Judy, Rosie and George the new rabbits are all settled in the barn. One is a two year old then there is a one year old, a baby from May and George is about three months old so it will be a little while before I breed them. If you are in our area and want kits later this year please let me know so I can add you to the list. 

If you are old enough to know what those names mean or where they came from please leave a comment.

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After getting them into their new home we met up with some friends to head over to our boat.

We have been in Tennessee for about a year and a half now and haven't seen the Tennessee Vols stadium from the water yet. It was on our to do list forever so today was the day we finally made it happen.

We loaded up the boat after pouring in two full cans of gas using plastic cans! I hate them but cannot find metal ones anywhere. People either keep them or want crazy prices. I have looked at most of the antique places, yard sales and even thought about new. Any ideas would be very much appreciated.

That gas just brought us up to over a quarter of a tank so after leaving our dock we stopped at a local marina and filled it up. It's quite a ways to Neyland Stadium from where we keep the boat. It was a wonderful day. Great weather, swimming and lots of laughter.

Road Trip for Rabbits

Well after yesterday I decided to take it easy today and just did a little gardening, cleaned out my rabbit barn for the new arrivals and then chilled on our boat while hubby cruised the lake.

Do you raise rabbits? This is a new breed for me and I can't wait to start my breeding program. These are pedigreed Champagne D'Argent's so I may show them at some point. I have been wanting to get this breed for a while. We are driving about an hour and a half to pick them up. How far have you gone for the right animals?

I do this a lot. I'm willing to travel quite a distance for the right breed or bloodlines and besides, who doesn't love a road trip! I like to see where they come from and how they were kept. It says a lot about the person you are buying from and you can see the quality.

The last thing on the agenda today was planting a Weeping Willow tree to harvest in the future for the bunnies. I feed all naturally and this fits right in with the menu for them.

Ours is not this big yet but will be in a couple of years.

To Do List

Trail Riding-Check
No new clothes either. After my 80 pound loss since last year nothing fits me but I try very hard to never get new things. I shop resale stores and use apps like Poshmark to find what I need. I need new riding pants and half chaps. If you have any ideas please leave a comment.

Canning-Check

With the help of a friend I got another 11 quarts of apples put up. I got 6 done yesterday and will hopefully finish the rest of the box tomorrow. I also have the dehydrator full of them for apple chips. 

Tomorrows list is long. This is a busy time of year. More canning using the peels and cores from today. I'm going to try making apple jelly with them then laundry in my wringer washer using cold water only. Baking homemade dog treats and maybe horse treats too. I don't buy store bought for a number of reasons but the big one is all the additives and chemicals in them. Lastly I have to resupply the fresh grass and herbs for our rabbits. I go out and pick that right out of the pasture and garden beds. 

Garden-Check

I planted some more fall crops. Broccoli, onions, lettuce and peas. Had to water tonight because it's back up into the high 80's here. It's supposed to be 90 tomorrow! I thought fall was here. I went and checked on the Comfrey that I planted under some of our apple trees. Two of the crowns are coming up already. This is a great plant to have in your garden. You can use it for many things! Feed for the rabbits, medicinal use and it's great in your compost. Never take it internally as it is toxic!! Find more information  over at Mother Earth HERE.

What is on your list at this time of year? Are you a gardener? 

Are You Prepared?

Today is a Prepper day. We aren't hard core survivalists or Preppers but we do try to have everything we need for most situations. No not the Zombies or the Apocalypse but the everyday emergencies. Power outage, bad weather, vehicle problems, sickness or livestock health problems so today I'm working on having more of what we need for those kinds of events.

I have been working on a quilt and got the third block started. It is the cutest baby lamb. The first was a rabbit that you can see HERE. The second block is a duck with her babies.

Quilts are something everyone should have especially with fall getting here. Winter is not far behind.

After finishing the lamb block I started on a basket of fresh peaches we got at a farmers market the other day. I'm going to can this bunch. They were still pretty hard so I waited until they softened up so the skins will come off easily when scolded in boiling water then dropped in an ice water bath.

I went to a garden festival that you can read about in my last post and while there I found an awesome canning book that every preppers kitchen should have. You can find information about it and order HERE.  More great kitchen self sufficiency ideas are over at Pantry Paratus. You can find all kinds of goodies there as well and they have FREE shipping for Military!

Overseas Military (with an APO or FPO address) always get free shipping. Please use the coupon code "apo-fpo" to apply that discount. It's our way of saying "thanks."

If you raise rabbits I have found an awesome product that can save your arms from scratches when moving them around. They are used by welders all the time and work great in your rabbit barn.



If you don't have a building to house your rabbits or supplies you should check out this post on how to buy shipping containers.

Books are a very good idea for your survival preparedness homestead. I have quite a few and try to add to our stash all the time. I've found some I think you might be able to use. I personally own all of these or plan to buy ASAP.



What do you do to add to your stash? I personally think you need to learn skills first then add lots of real books not electronic ones to your library. Most electronics won't be working in emergencies. After that medical supplies then water and food. If you need an idea of where to start or what kinds of food to get please leave a comment below and I'll do my best to help you.

Gardening Festival

Today was a wonderful day to be outside. A friend and I decided to go to the Master Gardener Fall Festival at our local college extension research center. They had a list of free classes all day including a one called Cooking with Grains that turned out to be very good because we got to eat the results.

We had three dishes that were all made with mostly fresh ingredients to try. They all turned out very well and I learned how to make Quinoa. I've tried before without much success but now I feel like I can do it. This is my friend Jessica and I enjoying that class.

I also got some great ideas for reusing different things in your garden plan. We have a few acres and try not to buy new things to use. When they dug our well and put in the septic, they found lots of rocks I can reuse to do something like the photo below. I also bought some medicinal herbs to add to my collection.

I mostly do raised beds but have wanted to try this square foot gardening and plan on it near our cabin with herbs. How do you garden, in beds, rows or containers?