[Life-with-Mike-and-Jenn]

What does this have to do with homesteading, gardening , food preservation, ect? Genuinely asking.

[Life-with-Mike-and-Jenn]

Welcome aboard. Should you choose to subscribe to different boards, be aware that there are spammers that post the exact same thing on multiple boards or discussion groups and it fills up your notifications and email. I had to unsubscribe to four because of the spammers. Drives me crazy!

Had to turn off notifications as well which defeats the purpose. SMH

[Life-with-Mike-and-Jenn]

I would suggest you research reverse osmosis and how it removes the essential minerals as well as the bad stuff. So many people are on the RO kick with little to no knowledge of what it actually does. I’ve seen videos and suggestions to use an RO system and they show no way to remineralize their drinking water, or even make suggestions to do so. Mother Nature doesn’t like a vacuum, so if one removes necessary minerals from their drinking water, the way God intended it, then your body will leach the minerals necessary for digestion and absorption via your digestive system from your bones. Be aware and be mindful, folks touting “lowering PPM” and such are perhaps not so educated on what PPM actually means and consists of. Also note that typical RO systems take three gallons of “untreated” water to make one gallon of drinking water, so there is a significant amount of waste. This is just our experience in 30+ years of plumbing and water treatment installation. Please do your own research. Not trying to sound mean or rude but there is a slew of very bad and uneducated information out there. Be blessed and have a beautiful day.

[Life-with-Mike-and-Jenn]

If they are yellowing and falling off, they may be suffering from overwatering and soggy roots. Also if the leaves are cupped. If they are yellow and mottled, could be a sign of nutrient deficiency, may need some nitrogen and micros like manganese, zinc or iron. I’m not an expert but I grew multiple varieties from Meyer and Eureka to pumelo and mandarins. Be blessed ❤️🌿

[Life-with-Mike-and-Jenn]

any chicken with a genetic disposition for protoporphyrin IX can lay a purple egg. The shade of purple will depend on how thick the bloom is. The thicker the bloom, the darker the purple, it occurs in chickens that lay brown eggs. Hope this helps. It is safe ❤️🌿

[Life-with-Mike-and-Jenn]

I personally don’t have a dream to live off grid, I thoroughly enjoy flipping a switch without having to worry about draining batteries and if I can get replacements when they go bad, if the well pump will kick on, ect. As a kid in the 70s and early 80s we lived grid. No electric, we used kerosene lamps, wood to cook and heat along with kerosene, gravity fed hot water from black tanks on the roof that were hand pumped to fill, no air conditioning and hand water gardens. It was brutal. An old 454 engine ran the well. Temporarily it is ok to go out to the property (I inherited it) but not for long term in my opinion. Perhaps someone can explain the desire, I can do it if required but why make it hard on yourself if not absolutely necessary? Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Be blessed ❤️🌿

[Life-with-Mike-and-Jenn]

Look at Stephen Sobkowiak, The Permaculture Orchard. He has great info. I did no spray for 8 years before we moved to bare land recently.

[Life-with-Mike-and-Jenn]

I recently relocated from the desert SW back home to Arkansas, I grew in 10x10x2 keyhole raised beds with cattle panels and shade cloth. I added vermiculite for water retention, mushroom compost for aeration, buried ollas with drip irrigation to water at the roots for less evaporation and heavy mulch on top.

I would also caution about the use of spent hay. I made that mistake in 2014. Called the guy that delivered it to get the phone number for the horse ranch, then the hay supplier, then the grower to find out if it was sprayed. It took weeks for responses between calls and ultimately had to empty most of the soil and then remediation with mushroom compost. Then there was the orchard… over sixty fruit and nut trees. Thankful that we only lost about 11 trees. What shocked me was that the horse breeder raised $100k plus horses. They went to the Middle East and such. I’d have thought they would feed them better. Be blessed ❤️🌿

[Life-with-Mike-and-Jenn]

You might check with Heidi at Rain Country, I believe she did a video 5 years or so ago. She is a wealth of knowledge with sewing

[Life-with-Mike-and-Jenn]

Heading to a celebration of life party. Our dear friend passed from pancreatic cancer and she wanted a party on her birthday not a funeral service so that’s what we are doing. Slept in until 6:30 and it was glorious!

[Life-with-Mike-and-Jenn]

I’ve seen people move to a remote area and their delusions of grandeur crumble. Thinking they were going to carve out a homestead in the wilderness. I applaud them for trying but when the rubber meets the road, it’s freaking hard. Supplies are expensive and difficult to attain, loneliness and accidents or health issues requiring medical care are absolutely considerations.

I had a severe attack of pancreatitis and was hospitalized for a week last year, never had an overnight stay in the hospital in my half century, even giving birth. Three months later and another ambulance, a flight and another week recovering from surgery for an abdominal bleed that nearly killed me. Again, never had anything like that and twice in a matter of months was just not on my Bingo card.

[Life-with-Mike-and-Jenn]

My father told me years ago that I was born in the wrong century. My response was that he had more to do with it than I did

. Not leaving the property for a couple weeks at a time doesn’t bother me at all. There is something to having what I need and most of what I want already at home.

[Life-with-Mike-and-Jenn]

I agree on those points, we see every day that dependence, on pharmaceuticals, alcohol, welfare and even social security as a means of retirement instead of a supplemental plan as it was intended. Failure to plan is planning to fail. That dependence on others for employment is exactly why we were the employer for 30 years and not employees. We have the ability to be off the grid, should it become necessary, but not necessarily a desire to at present. Growing up rough has it’s benefits. Hand crank wringer washer, canning over fire, and making everything from scratch is in my wheelhouse but not on my desired wishlist. I was just interested as to why one would want to do it now, that’s all. I’m sure there are a lot of people that have no experience in this arena. Thank you for your response. Be blessed ❤️🌿

[Life-with-Mike-and-Jenn]

Have tried their rings?