I know you all can't see it but it's raining. Not very hard, just a drizzle but still moisture. This will probably make it horrible humid once the sun comes back out and it's not enough to even knock the dust down. Still, very refreshing and I joined the critters to stand in it with my eyes closed. Cloud cover, damp skin and a nice, light breeze is a nice combination!
So, our meet up yesterday was very nice! Even with the extreme heat, folks truly interested in being more self reliant braved mother natures worst to join us. The Thunder 5 is farther along than I am with a working solar power system and much more in depth animal production. One of the highlights there is the wood mill. A log got milled and turned into a picnic table that was then given away to a participant of the meet up. There was also an entertaining and informative tutorial on making and canning pickles. I especially enjoyed that because I make lousy pickles! I got to be the Chef for the day. I had forgotten how much I hate charcoal cooking, LOL Even tho I fried the heck out of the pork shoulder roasts first thing, a quick, occasional spray with the hose gave me a wonderful, juicy end result on the ham. I also managed to not burn the hamburgers, LOL
Now, the Thunder 5 and the Double M (me) will be working on building up a southern Illinois homesteaders alliance. Built with and around locally grown foods using real homesteading techniques (old fashioned, no chemicals, no feedlot/confinement etc). We will be working to bring as many small farms and homesteads together to provide the clean and healthy foods everyone needs as well as encouraging and promoting a more self sustaining and self reliant lifestyle.
Woohooo! It's sprinkling more rain!
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There was some rain in our area (Missouri) last night but it wasn't much and missed our homestead all together. I was up early this morning watering my garden with the water hose. I can't wait to see my next water bill. My husband will have to work over time or a Saturday to pay for it. I've been looking into how to drill a well. I think it would pay for itself pretty quick. What do you think?
ReplyDeletewells can be expensive to drill and most wells need electricity to be operable as well as oil...haave you tried collecting rain water? i wish that my county had more interest in learning self reliant ways. our homemakers club and extension office/agri.agent do their best but somehow we all come up short..one good thing is more farmers in our county are raising veggies for farmers market/truck farming but we still do not have any coop or group that is willing to do things the old and better way. i could have used a class in pickle making myself-my pickles always turn out tasting like aunt bee's of mayberry rfd (tasting like kerosene). we got a sprinkle here in mississippi a couple hours ago while i was out watering the gardens- it felt good such as it was..big drops of cool wet stuff-just not enough of it. i wish there were still men available who can dig a well by hand and install gravity fed wells...
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you hooked up with a good group MM.They will probably help you get your mind off the stuff that's been bumming you out and help you be even more self sufficient as well. Good luck
ReplyDeleteThere has been no rain here for a month. The grass by the side door is dying. However, the St. Augustine is flourishing. It looked like rain clouds were to the east and west of me, maybe 5 miles away.
ReplyDeleteAt first read, I thought you soaked yourself with the water hose because of the horrid heat from the charcoal fire.
Maybe the people in your group have idea for you. Did you mention your situation?
I need to learn to make pickles even though I don't like them. I do put them in potato and tuna salad. Plus, I do serve pickles at dinners as one more dish that is no trouble at all.
Hey Rhino! Yep, it's a great base group, good folks!
ReplyDeletePP, yep, we've got lots of ideas in the works to make it better not just for me but others who want to be involved too. it takes time to build but it's coming together. With the new ideas, it shouldn't be too long before i can cover the expenses here and still keep feeding myself etc.
Cooking over Charcoal is something not everyone can do. The smoke gets into the eyes all the time.
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