Have you started yet?

     I would think by now even the most clueless person has started to notice the way the costs of everything has gone up.  Lumber, gas, food, taxes.   Another lady and I were talking at the grocery store about how expensive it is for groceries now especially on a fixed income and forget meat, way higher then I can afford.   I love fish but it is insane what that costs.   When they have a sale I always buy more and then store it.  You have to be prepared.

     The doctor released me from my weight restrictions so I have been going to the gym and working out again.  It feels so good to use my muscles.   Being healthy is also a way to be prepared.  

    My only real medical problem besides breaking a lot is asthma.   I have been reading about gumweed and how it is beneficial for respiratory issues.   I bought some to try it out since I have had this nagging cough for 2 months since I was sick.  I suspect it might have been covid due to my symptoms but anyway I always feel so conjested.  So I got the tincture and tried it.  A lot of times with herbal medicine you don't feel the effects right away but with this I did.   Wow, I finally coughed up some crud and my airway felt better then it had it a long time. My inhaler never gave me these results.  I also bought some gumweed so I could make my own because it is always cheaper to make it yourself and I am going to try and find some wild gumweed this summer and make my own.

   To make a tincture is easy.   With dried herbs like I used I fill a jar 2/3 of the way up and with tincture I used everclear since you need a higher alcohol to extract the gum.  Usually I use vodka.   Shake it  every few days and it is best if you wait about 6 weeks before you strain it and even better if I wait until the fall.  I will use the boughten stuff until then unless I run out. 

  As you can see I reuse my jars, everything is recycled if possible and I sterilize the jars also.  As you can see in the photo I have some clove oil I made and some muscle balm I also made. 

 

Spring, love it.

 

    I love Spring.   The spring flowers, planting, warmth.   It was a long winter.   

   Yesterday I put my seedlings out.  I planted some herbs and potatoes and cleaned up the yard.  It was lovely being out.

   Also yesterday I put my onions in jars since they were dehydrated.  5 pounds of onions make on quart jar plus a little.  I didn't powder any of it since I have plenty of onion powder from my last batch.

    I have these in my spare bedroom since it is alway so cool in there.   I also have my essential oils I am making and some tinctures and my pasta and rice along with my mustards.   I have to put them in small jars today or tomorrow because I have about 6 people wanting some of the horseradish mustard.  It is going over really well.

     Today is Easter, Christ arose.  I am just going to enjoy the beauty of the day and had church this morning.   Also as usual I was out shooting some birds.   Happy Easter everyone.

    

 

Covid Passport, no thanks

     In Nazi Germany they made the Jews have a large red J printed on their passports thus not only identifying them but limiting them.   It was a us against them.  This passport is eerily similar to what was going on then.

   We do not make TB patients have a app telling people they have TB.  We do not make Hepatitis C patients, MRSA patients, or anyone other people who have far more contagious diseases do this.   This is strictly a bill to see who is or isn't complainant.   It is a control measure on our freedoms of travel and it is wrong.  I know there are some Karin's who would love to see it.  Good little comrades.   Well here is my opinion.

    I am not going to get this vaccine right now.   It is an experimental vaccine still in the clinical trial period.  In the 4th stage of a clinical trial is where they test it on humans.  That is what they are doing now.  Testing it on the population without them even being informed they are participating in a clinical trial.  But they are.   The vaccine is having more and more adverse affects popping up.  Blood clotting disorders, spontaneous abortions, Guillain-Barre among some.

    There is a possibility with the way this vaccine has been engineered that when you get some other infection your bodies new artificial defense will go into hyperdrive and could cause fatalities.  So I am waiting along with several of my other medical friends to see what happens this fall.  We shouldn't be punished for refusing to take part in this research study.  They aren't even giving you real informed consent because they have no idea what this will do in the long run.  Once you have the vaccine already and these deadly complications turn up it is too late.  So I will wait.  I am healthy and know they have a very effective treatment now for it.   Which I don't understand why they aren't pushing instead of this untried vaccine.   I feel like we are in the middle of living 1984 or reliving history from Nazi times.  Those who don't study history, those who don't do research are bound to repeat it.  

    So I am ranting today.   Taxing you on how far you drive.  This passport.  Our government is overreaching their authority and our very freedom is being taken from us.  If that doesn't worry you that worries me, the passive will be the end of our country.

Mustards and yard work

    Yesterday it was nice and in the 70's, today cold in the 30's.   However, yesterday I got my planters ready to go.   I do mostly container gardening and this year I am going to try potatoes in a bucket.  I hear you get a huge yield.   I did plant my seeds, mostly tomatoes and have them in the greenhouse since it is suppose to be cold for 2 more days, then sunshine, glorious sunshine.  I am so ready for it.   The deer are also.

    I made 3 different mustards.   A beer mustard made with a porter, a horseradish mustard which turned out amazing and a herb mustard I need to work on.  I am not happy with it so doctored it today and will see how it tastes tomorrow.  I then started mustard seeds soaking in a pineapple jalapeno IPA.  Sweet and hot.  Should taste good in a mustard.  I brought a sample of the horseradish to where I am going to sell them and have orders already so I might need to make another batch of that.

   I organized my spare room into a larger pantry.  My herbs, tinctures and stored pasta and flower are in there where it is cool. 

   Here is another site I find really informative for preparing.  She has the same mindset as do.  Better to be prepared especially the way things are going.   There is a lot of great information on this site so check it out if anyone reads this.  My counter says people are reading but no one ever comments.  Drop a comment.  https://prepschooldaily.blogspot.com/

   So that is all I have been up to in the last few days.  You can also see some of my infused oils and tinctures I have made.

      Today my peppers were done so they are in a jar with a desiccant and in the pantry.  I also made my mustard today, one beer mustard and one herb mustard which is really good.  Tomorrow I am making horseradish mustard and a honey mustard.

      I went to lunch with my old co-workers today.  I am so happy to be retired.   I also started a huge pot of diet cabbage soup.    I have gained back 13 pounds and this is a fairly easy way to lose 10 pounds.  It gets old eating it twice again but it won't kill me and hopefully will kickstart my weight loss again.  After keeping that 100 pounds off for over a year these last 2 surgeries and not exercising regularly I back slid.  Won't last long since I know I can get it off.   So thats all today.

Prep of the day

 

   Today I diced 5 pounds of assorted bell peppers and have them in the dehydrator.    I was seriously low and they had them on sale.    I also worked on my garden soil mixing in some compost and getting my barrels ready for when I can start planting.  I am itching to get my plants in the ground.

   Tonight I have camera club.  I am going to be made the secretary/treasurer which I didn't want but got pressured into.   Should be an interesting class though.  My mustard never arrived so didn't make my mustard.

   I hate when I order something and they say it will be there on a certain day and it isn't.   Since it is going to be a beer mustard we went and tasted some small samples of beer to see which would be better.  Going to do a nice porter and I am thinking a pale ale would be good in one.  

   Well that's all.   Next I have to bulk buy some onions and get them in the dehydrator as we are almost out.   I would like to do about 10 pounds.

   No particular reason for the bird shot except I took that last year and won some awards for it.    The bird is the Lesser Yellowlegs.

   So I got my potatoes and strawberries finished but not the oatmeal.   Instead of making up bags today we went to one of our local breweries.  On Sunday a bunch of brewers get together and share their latest drinks and critique them.  I brought one of my 3 year old meads called a methleglin.  I had cinnamon, clove and madagasgar bourbon vanilla beans in it.   Now I tried it when it was a year old and although it was pretty good when I tried some Sunday it had aged to perfection so I decided it was time to get the experts opinion on it since it was the 2nd mead I made.   Everyone loved it.  One guy whose opinion I really respect said it was the best thing he had tasted that day.  So I feel pretty good about that.  When you put a lot of thought and work into a product it is great when it turns out.  

   Then I went to another brewery in town to talk to the brewer about the mustard I am making for the bock fest.  I am going to make a beer mustard and wanted to see if he had any beer he wanted me to use but I would like a porter so I guess I will just buy one.   I am going to make a hot mustard, a herb mustard and horseradish mustard.

   Today so far I have only made another Echinacea tincture since I am low.  Echinacea is good for colds and also just to boost the immune system.   I am going to start another purple cone flower bed this year since my old one got choked out by the wild orange lilies and my catnip.  Word of warning.  Plant your catnip somewhere where you can contain it.  It is hard to get rid of.   I also made a Calendula tincture.   Here is good video on the benefits of it and it is a great plant to put in your garden for pest control https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALeT9mLuJ7o

   We are expected rain for most of the week.  I really wanted some warmer weather for my composter.  I have duel barrel composter and one side is close to being ready to add to my planting soil but some warm weather would help finish it off.   Can't hurry mother nature though.   It is now officially Spring.   Soon I be hitting the woods in search of moral mushrooms and hope no one has found my favorite spots to gather them. Today I really need the old guy to clean out on of our gutters is blocked.  So that is my plan today except getting our pork loin ready to be cooked for supper.

     Remember, being prepared is the smartest thing you can do.