What did you do today to prep...

[Redman]

Canned 18 pint jars of carrots this morning. I sliced them in strips using a food processor. Won't do that again it makes the jars too difficult to fill and made a lot of pieces that look like grated carrots. I'll slice them in rounds in the future just as I have in the past.

[Stwood]

Got another 3 month subscription supply of Augason, trash bags, bandages etc. from Amazon the other day, and got that marked and stowed away.

Been working out, making cash for the stash.
Stash seems to evaporate at times. 

[Redman]

Told wife I was thinking about getting an Amazon subscription for Farro and Quinoa, ship every 3 months. I'd like to get a 5 gallon bucket full of each on hand. Both relatively expensive, Quinoa more so. 10lb. bundle cuts the cost noticeably.

[Stwood]

I find it kinda handy. Good way to stock up, a little at a time. Plus the more items you have the more you save.

Big dark cloud opened up here......... . Wanut pickin has shut down.

[Redman]

I find it kinda handy. Good way to stock up, a little at a time. Plus the more items you have the more you save.

Big dark cloud opened up here......... . Wanut pickin has shut down.

Yeah it is though what I'm looking at runs about $40 for the both. 10 lb. Quinoa, 3 lb. Farro. Got to check out the Farro a little more, might be able to get a bundle for less per pound.

Cloudy here but no rain, yet.

[Knecht]

Officially became owner of our new house. Hope to move there during November and start prepping the place for winter.
Reloaded some ammo. I realized I'll rather be moving complete ammunition, not bags of range pick-up brass and other loose components. Also, it might take a while before I set up my reloading bench at the new place again.
The upcoming moving made me think of how huch stuff I actually have, how much of that is really necessary for living, for work etc. Useful experience. Now need to estimate the final amount of banana boxes and army crates that will hold most of my belongings, to see whether I'll move it by my car and trailer, or should I hire a van or rather a truck. Will see about that.

[Redman]

You got it going on there Knecht.

[antsyaunt]

Over the weekend we harvested honey—almost 400 pounds! 

[antsyaunt]

Yeah it is though what I'm looking at runs about $40 for the both. 10 lb. Quinoa, 3 lb. Farro. Got to check out the Farro a little more, might be able to get a bundle for less per pound.

Cloudy here but no rain, yet.

How do you cook your farro?  And do you make it often?

[Stwood]

Well oops, wrong thread.  . It's been a long day.

Another cash for the stash day.

[Knecht]

Over the weekend we harvested honey—almost 400 pounds!

Sweet! 

[Alan Georges]

Sweet! 

Good one, Knecht.

[Knecht]

Good one, Knecht.

Now imagine what I could do with my native language 

[Stwood]

Sweet! 

 

[mountainmoma]

Congrats on the house Knecht !

Lately here :

Food preservation :  Put up another double batch, 13 pint jars of tomatoes.  That is the 3rd batch, so means 1 jar a week for 9 months (non-tomato season)  I hope it stays warm enough to do at least one more double batch.

Community building :  Gave away alot of tomatoes,and some brocolli, to a new-to-the-neighborhood family where the dad came over with his wood splitter and we did 2 and a bit hours of splitting, this is the standing dead pine tree I had taken down in the spring.  I had him take home a truck load of rounds too, and he has expressed interest in persimmons when they get ripe. 

Other harvesting:  The squirrels have been taking most, as I wasnt paying attention, but my second chestnut tree must be finally flowering enough as I actually have chestnuts this year.  They are way less work than acorns, so I would like more chestnut trees, and less squirrels.  I did bring in maybe a pound of chestnuts, this is a seedling chinese chestnut tree and we are drought so the chesnuts are the size of large hazelnuts, but I tried one raw, and the flavor is good.  I also brought in a bunch of windfall apples.

[Knecht]

Thanks! And congratz to you on the chestnuts. I have one young chestnut that I planted 4 ears ago. Some chestnuts on it this year, but they seem to be not ripe yet. I really like roasted chestnuts....you can also find some interesting Hungarian recipes for them.

[antsyaunt]

Now imagine what I could do with my native language 

I can only imagine!  It was a good one.   

[Knecht]

Having rangekeeping shift this weekend, so I used the opportunity to practice with some muzzleloaders that I haven't shot much yet.

[ChEng]

Today, I *FINALLY* got my BOB (clothing and toiletries) out into the car. There were a couple things that I did not have around the house, and so I bought them and put them in the trunk with my BOB.
Funny thing - Mrs. ChEng had been complaining about missing a pair of pants ever since I put her clothes into the BOB. She finally demanded that I open her clothing bag, and show her the pants. I insisted that she give me some pair of pants to replace into the BOB. She took a look at the pants that I had stolen stored and said that those were not the pants that she was missing. She went to her dresser, looked in the drawer and found the pants that had been missing (no I didn't take them  , just the ones that were in the BOB.) Neither of us knows where her pants had gone to. 
The temps around here vary a bit, from the teens, and single digits (F) to upper 80s and 90s. I decided that storing food (even LTS foods) in the trunk with those extremes would not be good for the food. So, I am packing a "to go" bag of food, which will stay next to the front door (only exit from the house.) That will be taken in the event of a "bug out" situation.
After that, I need to put a tool bag (shelter, fire, etc) out in the trunk.

[Redman]

Weekly grocery run this morning turned out to be mostly replenishment items for the stash. Had a coupon for a dozen eggs free with $20 purchase. We had to buy several items we really didn't need just to make the $20. They will get used eventually. All things considered we probably didn't save any money on the deal today, break even maybe.

[Knecht]

Scored an awesome price on a CAA Micro Roni carbine conversion kit for fullsize Glocks. I wouldn't buy it for full price ever, but this was an incredible deal (less than 1/3 regular price), even came with pretty much all the additional accessories (flashlight, thumb rest, folding sights, sling mount, sling...). New, maybe used as a showpiece in a gunshop or maybe the dealer got it as sample piece, I don't know. I have a mix feelings about carbine conversions, but they certainly have their place and use. I just generally find them too expensive for what they are. This deal was so good it was a no-brainer. So, that's another piece for the armory. Need to buy some more extended mags to play with this thing. Luckily ETS makes 30round mags for .40cal Glocks and they are available here in CZ.
Also ordered some .40 and 9mm bullets for reloading.

[Redman]

Canned potatoes yesterday. About half the time I forget to wipe the mouth of the jars, never had a failure to seal until this last batch that I forgot to wipe. One jar didn't seal. I was planning a potato dish for supper today so I'll just use that jar of potatoes.

[Knecht]

Did some minor gunsmithing and reloading. Zeroed sights on the new Roni carbine conversion as well. That thing is sweet to shoot for sure! Makes a .40 Glock with my juicy reloads feel like a .22

[Frugal Upstate]

For the last week:

Taught meat canning class for the cooperative extension on Thursday.  They had about 15 flats (each containing roughly12 lbs) of niagra grapes that had been donated that they were giving away as they were starting to go bad.  I took 3 flats-ran the steam juicer on the burner out in the deck yesterday Andi made over 3 gallons of concentrated white grape juice.  It’s all in the spare fridge right now-still need to be reheated & canned.  I think I’ll try white grape jelly with some of it too.

Finally had our first frost (really late this year) so I got the end of the tender things out of the garden & herb gardens.  Made 2 batches of jam from the end of the rhubarb.  Dehydrated mint, lemon balm, parsley, oregano and sage.  Froze greens and the end of the beans.  Made chimichurri sauce to freeze. Made paisley butter and cilantro butter to freeze.  Finally braided my garlic that’s been drying in the shed forever.

Had bought Apple seconds from the local farm/vegetable stand.  Made several batches of apple slices (dehydrated) and a couple batches of Dutch apple pie jam-some of which will be my moms Christmas gift.

Fall.  The preserving work never ends

[mountainmoma]

I managed canning my 4th double batch of diced tomatoes, between plumbing drama.  14 pint jars, 2 did not seal and are in the fridge waiting for me to have time soon.  It has been very warm, which means if I can keep up on the watering I should keep getting tomatoes, and more of the butternut squash, which was planted so late, will ripen. 

[Redman]

Grocery run was mostly a few items for the stash. Only a little meat for immediate consumption. I discovered after the last batch of chicken and stock that I had about 9 gallons of homemade stock and 2 1/2 gallons commercial chicken stock on hand. I noticed this morning that the grocery store had tomatillos which I need for a soup recipe I want to make with some of the stock. Looks like that will be coming up soon.

[Stwood]

Sounds like ya'll are doing good on your stocking up, and finding some great deals. Frugal that's a load of grapes. 

We haven't done much lately as my part time work has taken over.
But yesterday the wife prepared and dried the last of the jalapeno and ancho peppers. She also prepped the red jalapenos so I could smoke them on the grill while grilling burgers. Those are now smoked and today I'll put them in the drier, preparing them for grinding into chipolata powder.

[Bradbn4]

I just ordered some seeds to plant some indoor herbs this winter along with growing my own tomato curtain over the bay window.

I guess I always pick the wrong time to order, about 1/2 of what I wanted was out of stock. 

[Knecht]

Making a list of my possessions for the upcoming moving. Not like I was such an organized person, but I need to find out how many cartrips should we expect. This is a great chance to exercise my memory and find out what I forgot I even had. Plus it's a good to see how (un?)realistic would be to bugout with a car and take all necessary stuff. Looks like most of my stuff are tools and machines (forge, anvil, belt grinder, lathe, woodtools etc.), guns + ammo and reloading tools, books, reenactment gear. Found out I have much more clothes for 9th to 18th century than I have for 21st century. And most of the modern stuff is camo, anyway. Oh yes, I also own couple crates of outdoors/tactical gear, a barrel of rice and bunch ox boxes filled with cans. Couple old laptops and my current one. Is it funny that I could likely fit all of our clothes and household items in one car, while I'll have to make at least four more trips (with a trailer) to move my tools, books, guns, reenactment and prep gear? Not mentioning couple tons of carving wood stash, which I'll move over the next year, couple pieces at every visit.

[mountainmoma]

I went to action pistol, I hadnt been to teh range in 2 months, which showed.  We practiced type 1, 2 and 3 jams today.  I was doing alright at the line with clearing jams and hitting targets alright for me   --- until I ran the scenario, by then I was tired and concentrating on the jams ( someone else packed my mags with rounds and fake bullets, to cause failure to fire unexpectedly) and moving safe, so I literally didnt hit anything , severe flinch, but I did move safely in and out of cover and cleared my jams