Got back from the campout today. The weather was typical, cold, wet, rainy. Taught a fire safety class, and got a new flashlight. I also borrowed a book to review.

Campout

Going on another scout campout this weekend.

Guest Post and Garden Stuff

Today I bought a 7 gallon water container, a hoe, and 4 cans of soup. We now have 9 tomato plants in the ground. There are eight bean plants, seven pumpkins, and seven cucumbers. We have a bunch of peas, squash, cantaloupe, jalepeno peppers and to many onions to count. I also made another guest post over at SurvivalCache reviewing the Back To Basics book I purchased a little while ago, you can see the review here.

Food Preps and New Knife

So, for the past month or so I have been trying to put in place what other people call five dollar preps. I am unable to put this into practice on a regular basis due to my income or lack there of. So as part of my food preps I purchased some more canned goods. I also found what appears to be a good deal on a small fixed blade knife, I might talk more about it later.

Miscelanious

Lot of veggies up today, probably going to have to thin the beds out in a couple weeks. Chickens doing well. I was asked to be the new ASPL at scouts tonight.
Who says mondays are bad?
Josh

Link of the Week

Ok, so I decided to share the best survival related links that I have found while brousing other peoples blogs and websites.
1. M.D. Creekmore at The Survivalist Blog has compiled the ultimate collection of survival resources.

2. Erich over at Tactical Intelligence Wrote an article about how to make a small area candle heater.

3. "The survival mom" published an article asking you if you have the skills to survive a depression. I found it useful in helping me figure out what I need to work on.

I hope you find these useful,
Josh

Potatoes

Ok, I must have done something wrong when I planted the potatoes. It had been almost two weeks and they hadn't started to come up so I dug up one of the potatoes and it hadn't even started to sprout. Other plants are doing well though.

Miscelany

Chickens are doing well. Started to break-in the new hatchet by using it to split some kindling. The Back to Basics, how to learn and enjoy traditional American skills book got here today about a week early! The plants are thriving, new bean sprout popped up today. Strawberries not looking good. Finished the gate for the chicken yard. Acquired a craftsman lawnmower. The local squirrels are becoming a problem, lost a lot of sprouts to them.
It is shaping up to be a good week.
Josh

Chickens

Built chicken yard and started on a gate. We went to Atwoods and bought half a dozen chicks (all hens) which are now living in the mud room. I also bought my first hatchet and a mill file (Yay!!!!). Plants are doing well.
Josh

Chicken Hutch

Built chicken hutch from scrap lumber today. When I say today, I mean ALL DAY LONG! bought a hand saw, some basic hardware and a staple gun today for use in building coop, and for my "pioneering tool kit".
I am exhausted.
Josh

Edible Wild Plants

We went hiking as a family today at the wildlife refuge. We saw a lot of wildlife including a herd of buffalo, a weird lizard and an elk. We climbed/hiked to the top of Elk Mountain. And I was able to identify ten sources of wild edible plants:
Dandelion
Barrel Cactus
Prickly Pear Cactus
Wild Onion (harvested a lot)
Common Juniper (made almost iced tea)
Pine
Cattails
Long Grasses
Oak (acorn flour)
Hickory

I also ordered a copy of the Reader's Digest - Back to Basics book today, I really look forward to its arrival in the next 7-10 days.

Food Preps

I started my immediate food preps today. I purchased some canned Beeferoni, Fruit cocktail, and Pork and Beans. I also bought three Bic lighters. Looking forward to the weekend.