[Homesteadingfamily] RE: Coming up the road

We have been looking for a way to improve our homestead with an eye to the
possible problems ahead be it man made or us personally falling on harder
times. Our home is too large to heat with one or two simple wood stoves.
We are looking into fire place setups where there is a fire started once or
twice a day and the heat is stored in the mass of the fire place and
released over the rest of the day. I think you can find something like it
googling Russian or Finnish stoves. I also have looked into which rooms
would we be able to heat with solar set ups. Thinking of putting a rocket
style home stove in one of the ends of the house. I have found some items
on YouTube, insturctables, etc that show were people use screening, cans,
and or other products that can be put together to help heat up rooms from
windows and other simple set ups for out door barns etc. I have some
shelters we are putting up to make greenhouse with to extend our growing
season. One shelter is along the barn to add extra heat to the barn area.
We have sought out solar lights for the barns, outbuildings, and even on our
front walk way and the door. We have some solar lights on the 4x4 posts so
they give out light to walk the walk ways even in winter most nights. We
are going to dig our pond deeper to expand it to a year round pond as
currently it is a seasonal pond then stock. We purchase more groceries each
month than we use then store what we can. I go to a seconds store to
purchase canned items like fish, clams, salmon, tuna, vegetables, and other
canned goods. We raise not only chickens, but turkey, Guinna fowl, quail,
ducks, geese, pheasants, and other poultry as I can find them that are able
to free range feed themselves. We get eggs as well as meat sources. We
have goats we are learning to raise. I have made arrangements with a gal to
teach me how to Milk and make cheeses, and some other goat milk products.
We know we can eat the llama and other out of US normal food supply if need
be. I have arranged with my brothers who both live in larger cities to meet
with us here if they can if something happens and to bring along their
family family as well as my own grown children. We have the room if need be
to keep everyone on our place. I have books not just video games for the age
groups we may have here. We have crank radios, flashlights, cook stoves,
propane, and other camping style equipment. We also are building a fire pit
to warm ourselves out side by plus a brick oven/stove set up we found the
plans to which costs less than $200 for materials for all. We have been
hunting ads, CL, and other outlets for supplies we may need. I have a
master list of items I want to get like a nice hand grain mill, a
replacement butter churn, and so on. I read and learn more each week. I
garden what I can, store what I grow, we are looking into getting pigs to
raise on pasture so we can have a continued source of another protein. I
have ordered mushroom kits and let them go wild also I have started the
mushrooms in the back rooms as well as the garden. Learning what I like and
do not like. I have on my list nut trees to help make oil from if I need
it. Grapes planted for eating, dried, and grape seed oil. We are expanding
our flower beds to include figs, elderberries, herbs, Berry plots are up
and going-strawberry, blue berries, raspberries, blackberries, as well as
perennials like sunchokes, rhubarb, walking onions, and asparagus beds are
started or up and going. I have practiced growing short season potatoes,
both summer and spring and hope to overwinter the tubs for an early start
for next years potatoes. I have started ordering my garlic, shallots, and
winter onions. I have gardened year round in the past. Hubby and I have
made plans to make a fall-winter garden this year. We have made a list,
checked it twice and looked for not only what we like but what we will eat
even if we do not like it a great deal. Hubby likes split pea soup so we
have peas drying right now for winter use. Teas and coffee will be my
hardest items to grow here along with citrus. We have a wet land area were
we have been trying to find rice seed to plant to see if we can grow some
here in our area. Oats-wheat-grains my neighbor grows and we will trade if
something happens. We are looking for horse drawn farm equipment as well as
draft animals. Finding like minded people sometimes is the best plan to
being prepared as then you can work on more than one front at a time. I
said my family, friends, and neigbors are involved and they will bring their
stores, skills, livestock, and any other items we have or need to trade with
them when they leave. The near melt down of the Japanese power plant show
us just how quick something can change from everyday to disaster. We talk
around the need, how scared we are, and what we are doing but plans are
being made by more and more people each week on how to make it if something
goes astray.
Robin

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