Yep, "they" decided to call it prepping, not me LOL Hi ArtPick from Woodward :welcomewagon:
My parents were the "buy it at the store" kind of folks, but I had the opportunity to grow up near a lake where we tent camped ALLL summer, and I was able to fish and bow hunt to my hearts desire
It really hit home when my mother commented to my adult self just how much I impacted the grocery bill with all my hunting/fishing. Of course, I also grew up listening to storys from my grands and great grands about surviving the depression ... g'grand mother and father raised 13 children on the farm through hard work and preserving EVERYTHING they could grow or gather ... and they had a full 1/2 acre garden until the year g'grandmother passed away.
I may only have 1/4 acre right now, but I am doing my darndest to produce as much on it as I can without the neighbors realizing how much I grow LOL I have 2 good sized vegetable gardens, one of which is between my stucco house and the neighbors' white painted garage, so can be pushed almost a whole USDA zone, a berry bed with strawberrys, black berries, and blue berries. Will try a grape arbor on the north side of that this year (I have managed to kill 100s of $ worth of grapes LOL). I have 2 peach trees that will be allowed to grow one fruit per branch this year, and the red cedar tree finally got too many large limbs broken in the blizzard this year, so it is in the process of being cut down to be replaced with 2 pear trees and a 3-in-1 apple tree. I would also like to try to get the fish tank in this year ... channel cat and bass and perch with minnows and true aquatic forage plants for them I also have plans to put up the privacy fence this summer and get my hens (I love raising chicks!!! LOL)
I currently produce enough vegetables on this property (except for potatoes which I am working on this year) to carry us through the year, and can and dehydrate (the canned is what is used, the dehydrated is vac sealed for emergencies) everything I produce that isn't eaten fresh.
I also raise pedigreed English Angoras for meat, wool and showing, pedigreed Silver Fox for meat, pelts and showing (in black and blue), and line from a Satin doe that I am crossing with my EAs I am learning how to spin with a drop spindle, and hope to build my own spinning wheel later this year. I also have a friend with alpacas, wool sheep, and goats that I will be learning how to shear with her, and will help her with processing the wool for sale. She is also going to teach me how to make cheese and soap from her goats milk.
My parents were the "buy it at the store" kind of folks, but I had the opportunity to grow up near a lake where we tent camped ALLL summer, and I was able to fish and bow hunt to my hearts desire
It really hit home when my mother commented to my adult self just how much I impacted the grocery bill with all my hunting/fishing. Of course, I also grew up listening to storys from my grands and great grands about surviving the depression ... g'grand mother and father raised 13 children on the farm through hard work and preserving EVERYTHING they could grow or gather ... and they had a full 1/2 acre garden until the year g'grandmother passed away.I may only have 1/4 acre right now, but I am doing my darndest to produce as much on it as I can without the neighbors realizing how much I grow LOL I have 2 good sized vegetable gardens, one of which is between my stucco house and the neighbors' white painted garage, so can be pushed almost a whole USDA zone, a berry bed with strawberrys, black berries, and blue berries. Will try a grape arbor on the north side of that this year (I have managed to kill 100s of $ worth of grapes LOL). I have 2 peach trees that will be allowed to grow one fruit per branch this year, and the red cedar tree finally got too many large limbs broken in the blizzard this year, so it is in the process of being cut down to be replaced with 2 pear trees and a 3-in-1 apple tree. I would also like to try to get the fish tank in this year ... channel cat and bass and perch with minnows and true aquatic forage plants for them
I also have plans to put up the privacy fence this summer and get my hens (I love raising chicks!!! LOL)I currently produce enough vegetables on this property (except for potatoes which I am working on this year) to carry us through the year, and can and dehydrate (the canned is what is used, the dehydrated is vac sealed for emergencies) everything I produce that isn't eaten fresh.
I also raise pedigreed English Angoras for meat, wool and showing, pedigreed Silver Fox for meat, pelts and showing (in black and blue), and line from a Satin doe that I am crossing with my EAs
I am learning how to spin with a drop spindle, and hope to build my own spinning wheel later this year. I also have a friend with alpacas, wool sheep, and goats that I will be learning how to shear with her, and will help her with processing the wool for sale. She is also going to teach me how to make cheese and soap from her goats milk.
