Robin Writes

It’s been a busy week here on the farm. We’re finally (FINALLY!) getting rid of the remains of the old house that we had taken down a year and a half ago. Ahem. Long story. But we’ve spent the past few days burning what’s burnable (along with some extra brush we’d accumulated) and throwing the rest in the dumpster or burying it.

Here are a couple before pictures and an almost-after:

Also, over the last few days, we’ve picked up some manure from the neighbors and are working that into the garden, both existing and the part that we’ll plant in the spring. The greenhouse is waiting in the barn to be put together as soon as we finish leveling the site.

The pasture fence now has three sides of posts—the fourth side is waiting until 1) we get more posts, and 2) we finish the burn site, since that’s right next to it. Probably in the next few days we’ll order the extra posts and the lumber for the rails, and then pick up a few gates. I’m hoping to be finished in a couple weeks!

Aside from that, I’m still fighting the Battle of the Leaves, at least on the decks, and I need to mulch the ones in the yard areas. Still hanging laundry outside, but the dryer is hooked up now in anticipation of cold/rainy weather.

While we know the wood furnace draws, we haven’t used it yet. Just not cold enough, especially since I finally found the heated mattress pad . . . and it looks like the temps will hit 80 for a few days this weekend!

If you read last week’s post, you’ll know that SHTF is something that, in my opinion, could very well happen in two weeks.

Yes, the election. Politics aside, things could get bad. Or not.

The best way to be prepared is to actually do so—and if nothing happens, you have some extra stuff that you could use in a power outage or during a weather event.

So think about this: what if you couldn’t get to a store to buy what you need? What if what you need is not being made, or shipped, or stocked at the store? Now think of the worst-case scenario, and dial it down by about half. That still has some pretty serious potential.

Over the next two weeks, we’re rounding out our supply lists. Now, we certainly won’t starve, even if we eat some pretty unusual meals or even—heaven forbid—we have to use stuff from the “icky” shelf. That’s the food you seem to accumulate for no good reason, like sardines. Ick. Hence the name of the shelf.

But we’re adding to our first aid supplies, our OTC and prescription meds, gasoline and other fuel, batteries, pet food—although in a pinch, they could eat table scraps or the cats could forage; Arthur seems particularly adept at catching frogs—some food items that we can’t make from ingredients on hand, extra personal care items, stuff like that.

I know a lot of you don’t have the storage space that we do, but you can still find space for an extra tube or two of toothpaste, soap, detergent, batteries, propane tank for the grill, food items, or whatever you’re short on at the moment. Keep your car tank at least half full. Keep some cash on hand in case you can’t access the bank or use a debit/credit card. Ask your doc to change your scrip to 90 days or for an early refill; some will do this, some won’t.

And have a plan to meet up with family members if necessary. Go to the spot where you all can best manage to live if things get dicey. Plan for communications to be down, too, or at least slowed; much like the Internet outages this past week.

I don’t know what’s going to happen, but people who know more than I are warning everyone to be ready for an economic downturn, civil unrest, not-so-civil unrest, and power issues. Sure, some are doomsayers, but many are respected professionals.

Just be safe.