Archive for June 29th, 2019

Buckwheat

29 June 2019

This is a picture of the buckwheat I planted on 6/22/2019:

buckwheat

I broadcast the seed at what I thought was a little heavier than normal rate; it turns out it was 4x what Johnny’s recommends. Another lesson learned.

I want to learn how to grow and harvest grain for people to eat. I was not successful last time I tried to grow buckwheat; I harvested too soon and there was no meat inside the husks of grain. This time around, I will let the plants die and go brown before I harvest.

If I fail to get grain again, I will till it in to increase the organic matter of the soil, and hopefully learn something. It’s not as if our surviving next winter depends on a successful grain harvest. Yet.

Posted in Food, Gardening | Leave a Comment »

Home Prep

29 June 2019

So I worry about basement flooding in a TEOTWAWKI scenario. If there’s no electricity to run a sump pump, you’re just going to have to wait for the water to naturally drain away.

But you wouldn’t have to worry about your furnace or your washer and drier if there’s no electricity to run them.

You would have to worry about food you have stored down there, but you can get that out when necessary. And there would be a lot of mold.

But still, you’d have a place to stay. And it may never flood again like it did in 2018. Our house has quite a few things going for it with regard to TEOTWAWKI.

Posted in Climate Change, Food, Housing, TEOTWAWKI, Water, Weather | Leave a Comment »

Pathos

29 June 2019

My dog killed a young raccoon in the back yard last night, and I was present for that awful moment when the racoon’s trills of anger and fighting changed to a please-don’t-kill-me whimper, and then silence.

Posted in Chickens, Wildlife | Leave a Comment »

Doing less, feeling the same

29 June 2019

As you get older, the weights get lighter and the threshold for aerobic workouts gets lower, but it doesn’t feel any different. You still feel as if you’re working out just as hard and just as effectively as you always have. You can’t do anything about it, so the bottom line is a big shoulder shrug.

Posted in Aging, Exercise | Leave a Comment »