Major Detour, Not Effected As Much As If I Wasn't Self Sufficient

Now with all the changes and big companies making folks buy what they want you to, and giving you food that is modified beyond what it once was. I understand like things in the test of time, man made items will fall to the earth if not dealt with.
A bridge which leads straight into the hub of the city center will be closed over the next 4 months. Depending on which part of town I need to get to, it will be a longer trip and several miles out of the way.
I suspect that my little country lane will become a hub and raceway to get to those back roads. On a busy day we might get 6 cars outside of the small handful of folks that live back here in the valley.
I have been hearing all kinds of folks angry that it is going to take so long and how much they will be effected by it. I myself like always, will continue to plan my trips into town as I always have. I also know of a old logging road that I could follow in my Hummer through the woods to get to the other side if I ever needed to. So for now my trips into town will be a few miles longer, as it is spring I will enjoy the view more than if it were winter. I do love springtime as the earth comes back to life!!!

Cold Frame Veggies Are Coming Up!!!

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So as you can see just in 9 days with night temps in the mid 20's to mid 30's and day time temps in the mid 40 to lower 50's we have food growing!!! My total cost for this project was about 32 dollars, I expect this will keep growing my veggies for a few more years without repairs, and may need to do some repairs then. I am excited!!!!!

Fish Farming For Self Sufficiency In My Pond?

Considering I have a pond, deepest is 18 feet, about 140 feet long, on average 30 feet wide. I have large mouth bass that I sport fish for and release back into the pond. So why not put and feed some fish that I can harvest later on? I am considering crappie, yellow perch and catfish. I am also looking into some lake trout as well. Its just a new way I never considered in quest to being self sufficient.

Food Revolution What Are We Feeding Our Children? What's That?

My wife and I have been watching Food Revolution, and I am not only shocked by the "lunch ladies" ( as if I wasn't scared enough as a child ) but when they asked the first graders what the veggies were that Jamie was holding up they didn't know... I wonder how that could be, I mean kids didn't know what a tomato was, but they knew what a chicken nugget was.
When he made the "homemade" chicken nuggets, and the kids watched him as he ground up cartilage, fat, and scraps of meat, they agreed to eat it.
The second point being made was the children didn't know how to use knives and forks properly. Now my wife had a hay day with that as the lunch lady needed to proof the children in Europe learn to eat with knives and forks while they are very young. What parent doesn't teach their children how to use these items to eat with?

I love seeing the color of the grass coming back, some of the trees are start to come out now as well. I have started some of my veggies indoors this week. My tractor broke down yesterday, I doubt its serous and I think it is the starter as I added alfalfa meal to the soil for some early added nitrogen.  I will need to use some funds from my SS to pay for the repairs.


I also have decided that planning my garden this year is the most serous than ever before. I often wonder about the real pioneers and as well as what made my mom be like she was. I remember she had so much knowledge about animals and plants. She could spot leeks, wild mushrooms and other good eats while driving along the side of the road.

Self Sufficient Living Get To Know Me, Making Ends Meet. Part 2

Tickled that I now own these stakes, along with the different types of hammers I have, I should be able to make all different things I have drawn in my sketch book. I am sure that there is going to be a learning curve, and things will start out a little rusty, but to me that is like taking on an adventure.

I have been really think of my next piece of work, a set of table candle sticks, the solid copper set I designed first, I also designed a set of oak and copper. Simplistic in style with lots of traditional Craftsman bells and whistles. I am thinking maybe using tray/bottom of the candle to be a Aspen leaf, hop to have time in the next few weeks to get those done!

I am excited about my recent burst of creativity, I don't know what copper forms/things are going to come from it, but I feel like there will be some of my best work to date.!!

Self Sufficient Living Get To Know Me, Making Ends Meet. Part 1

So if your just joining me and if your interested, I want to tell you a little more about me. If you didn't know, I am self employed and I am a Coppersmith/Master Craftsman. I have never been sure how those titles should fit together, so they are just there on their own. Some of you might be scratching your heads wondering what a Coppersmith is and whats that all about. I am a tradesman/crafter who works the metal copper, making many different things. If you want to visit my site you will see all the wonderful items I have made through the years.
In the beginning, times were pretty lean/tough, but I just kept coming up with ideas and my work was getting out there. My work is all around the world, and has been in magazines many times.
Currently as I expand into a new level of my work, the artistic side, ideas and designs have begun to flow from me. Some years ago the creative side kinda got left behind when I got caught up with so much going on at once, and it wasn't until I visited Charles Rohlfs traveling exhibit did it come back to me.
I designed a rain chain some years ago, and saw that others were coping my design and ideas. Today if you google the metal peddler, a company is paying to advertise under my name. It did make me mad at first, and my wife reminded me it was a sign of success.
As I continue to read about Rohlfs, I find that we have some common interest as well as ideas and insight. I happened upon a man named Sam some years ago, a metal worker as well, industrial type stuff, who had in his shop what I would say was a gem to a Coppersmith of these days.
Covered in dust/rust in the back corner of his shop was a metal working stand that had all sorts of metal forming stakes on it. I asked if it was for sale, he said 800 dollars and I could have it. I didn't have the money at the time, however would return later over the last couple years to see if I could buy it. My guess is that he found out how much it was worth and decided not to sell it to me.
The wife asked what I wanted for my 40th birthday, I told her that I wanted that stake set. She said that was fine, she has always supported my ideas and works of art and such. So finally, I went down and told Sam I was turning 40 y/o this year and he had my present. I suppose he has fallen on hard times by the looks of his shop, and maybe he just knows I would/could use them.

So I wire brushed them and cleaned them up, these could not have come to me at a better time. My stuff will no longer just be drawings, I got to get it done. I can't express to you the level of joy I have to now own these. I will need to make Sam something at some point in the near future. I also have my wife to thank for letting me have such a present 3 months before my birthday!!

Pictures Of My Pantry And Root Cellar With Food Stores Left..

Sorry about the sizing of these photos, so its not going to be pretty, just keeping it real. So just short of April, harvesting season still 4-5 months away in the new garden, if I were living as a true pioneer, my veggie supply would be low. Back in those days, I am sure there were no hunting/fishing restrictions, and with that I would have planned accordingly. I also would have prepared better storage if I needed. So just for fun, I decided to let you see into my pantry.

I have read some interesting books about pantry construction and uses. Catherine Pond wrote a book a few years ago. It is informative, and show lots of pretty pictures of some of the most beautiful well used pantry's I have ever seen.

 

Presented here is Jams on top back (straw, black, rasp, straw-rhubarb) on top right is the last of my dried mushrooms. Hanging in a plastic basket are the last of my shallots, the dried plant were once filled with red chili peppers, on the second shelf are dried pumpkin seeds, stewed bell peppers, salsa, deer meat, ketchup, and a general sauce.











So my freezers are still half filled with other veggies, and if I didn't have a freezer, I would have canned more veggies. My freezers contain only the food I grew, hunted, caught. However I did purchase some Rainbow trout to add to the mess DS and I caught last spring. We still have 11 pounds of cat fish we caught last fall.

So as for being SS this past year, I think I would give myself a B- because I purchased some tomatoes because mine caught that blight, and I still bought new materials for some projects.

My goal is not to be 100% off grid, my goal of self sufficient is to provide more than 80% of my families needs within my level of living. I believe I have saved close to 5,000 to 6,000 dollars by providing for myself in ways that I can.

Dumpster Diving Waste Not Want Not

So guess what? Okay, I broke the law today. If you wanna get me in trouble, go ahead and call the Man.

So there I was minding my own business, driving the back way out of a shopping center, in the distance what do I see? Thats correct, some one throwing something useful away. It didn't take me but a split second to decide if this dive was going to happen. See I know the material quality, and what a awesome find to use for tarps!! These things are 10 times better than tarps, and useful for all kinds of things. So I waited, and when they shut the back door, I was faster than the duke boys flying over a bridge-less ravine. It was an all out snatch and grab, so as karma would have I said ten he!! marys while doing it just in case the big man up stairs didn't like it so much.

But for my troubles, lookie at what I got.... and they are 44 inch wide by 18 feet long, a total of 9 of these banners.

Cold Frame Mistake, Still Almost 80% Free Materials!!

I made a huge mistake when building the cold frame. I took out a sliding glass window, so I framed that in thinking it would be nice to have for a cold frame. I built it on a hard level surface, moved it to the location I decided would work the best. Then I started loading the dirt in, I filled one side pushed it over to be level. So as I went to move the window over, it was stuck, so thinking about it, the frame must have twisted while under all the weight.

I didn't want to loose the glass, after some prying and moving, I was able to remove the glass. So I had to do some back yard engineering and figure out how to hinge it. So I had some hinges I bought at a auction last year, and was able to fit/screw those to the window metal frame than back to the box. It needed some work on it now as well. I had to use my first piece of new lumber that I paid to use on this project.

I took the cost of dirt out of my SS fund and mixed it with some of my own dirt from the tater baskets last year. I have put the word out on some containers that I am going to paint black, fill with salt water to absorb heat during the day.

Somehow I thought this project was pretty straight forward, and through doing it I learned a few things I didn't expect to happen. I was a bit snuffed by how to mount the glass and in the end figure it out after thinking it over a couple days. I will also need to seal the edges a little better. Personally, I don't think I know it all, but I am always willing to learn from my mistakes. The frame tweaking never occurred to me, also the reason I need to put a small seal around the window.

You wouldn't believe how much I am learning on my way to being SS, its not everyday, but more often than if I just lived like most of the population.

Free Seeds Leave A Comment

I have 3 packs of Silver Queen corn to give away, leave me a comment and email me your snail mail address and I will send it to you for free!!!!

92 days to grow/harvest

The Big Melt Is Here!!

Yesterday with all the snow melting, I inspected the pond area where I was concerned about it possibly over flowing towards the house. I cleaned out the drain and placed a small pipe down it as the water was bouncing around the top rather than flowing down. That seemed to work well, as all the water coming down the mountain from both the rain and melting snow. I am pleased at the rate of the melt as I was worried as it might melt the same rate as it did a couple years age and we had big troubles that year and it washed out both of my driveways. This years big melt pics looking down the driveway to the shop.

 Here is a couple from when the big melt happen a few years ago.

Cold Frame Using Old Window Building Part One

After pulling out my old window, replaced it with a much greener one, I wasn't sure what I was going to due with it. Kicked around the idea of a cold frame, I learned a friend on-line was in zone 4 and uses theirs through the winter for winter hardy crops. I explored the idea further and remember one of my old Mother Earth magazine had a article in it some years ago about cold framing.

I would really like some ideas on things to use inside to gather heat during the day and keep it warm during the night? Do you have/use a cold frame? I am in zone 5a, what crops would you use?