[Mud]

Grow some Miyashige Daikon radishes. Mine survived last years winter at 15 F and 6 inches of snow on top of them. They produce greens you can eat although they are kinda rough for a salad, and the carrots get 2-6 lbs big.

[Mud]

Yep, crows and ravens do not like light reflective moving objects like pinwheels, CDs hanging off fishing line works well also, i think the open center mimics a predators eye?

I had a raven the size of a bald eagle steal potato seeds out of my garden the 1st year. I made a deal with him and started giving him hard boiled eggs. Now he tells me when heavy rain is coming the day before, and protects my chickens from other birds of prey. I think he’s the leader of the local group and none of the other ravens have attempted to take food from my garden after we made friends.

But I doubt this strategy would work for a fruit tree orchard. I remember watching a large walnut tree get absolutely emptied of nuts within 2 days time by crows. Maybe adding some sticky aluminum tape to parts of the tree would also be discouraging…

[Mud]

I got dots on my tomatoes on the side they face the sun. At first I thought it was blight attacking the tomatoes directly first but usually blight hits the leaves the worst and they were fine. The tomatoes sat on my counter top for 2 weeks and the little yellow dots never grew in size. It wasnt blight or a disease.

I think these heat waves / heat bubbles are extra cosmic radiation hitting the earth. Expect to see unusual results for the next decade. We will probably end up with some really delicious mutants so try to grow anything new that seems like a worth while fruit.

[Mud]

I’m going to say this 1x here and here only.

If you want Mad Max knowledge from an incredible Sci-Fi author…… here it is.

Almost no 1 knows of this series but it is a storehouse of knowledge on the subject.

Enjoy reeding thru it if you choose to do so.

“Death Lands” by James Axler

[Mud]

I think unanticipated injury will be the prepper gardener’s undoing more than likely.

Most gardeners, that actually garden worth their salt, are not lazy.

But blisters, thorns, splinters, cuts, bruises, scrapes, sprains, jungle rot, and broken bones……..If you can’t handle the pain like our fore-fathers could, that is what I think will be the undoing of this generation of gardening preppers.

Almost got my head kicked off by a steer one time, didn’t anticipate that but never made the same mistake again. Lucky the hoof got caught in the fence or I would have finished the race early.

I’ve lifted 100 lbs of metal chunks while on crutches (broken ankle in a boot from Goodwill) in a basement that flooded with raw sewage. Picking weeds bent over on crutches playing the long game (season to season) is much more mentally and physically draining, especially knowing your sustenance depends on it.

Slow and steady wins the race, unless you want to finish the life race early.

[Mud]

I got a Venazolan in NYC that shared his story with me on his traveling from country to country in South America, then made the pilgrimage from Peru to NYC on foot, by bus, etc etc.

He said garden plants would be stolen before they even would produce fruit.

He’s working 2 jobs now, living in a shelter, and I’m encouraging him to do community service on Sundays as a small help to pay back what America will give him. Hopefully he will understand what Ellis Island is all about and embrace the American Spirit that takes the worlds tattered humans and turns them into the best and brightest.

Right now we have an open border crisis and the only thing that seems beneficial is to encourage the decent human beings to come and for the trash to stay away. It’s amazing to me the USA didn’t have enough migrant workers this year to pick crops with all the illegal immigrant crossing the border.

[Mud]

cute type of chicken

• This reply was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by  Mud.

[Mud]

You want IRL experience intel on an almost beans and rice diet…..Well here it is from an American.

Mind you we were too poor at the time to afford decent food + bills. Things are better now but only due to enacting a long plan over time to make things better……Like reducing cost of living and bills.

Me and my brother lived off almost only pinto beans and white rice for over a year. We ate them in flour tortilla burritos, plain in a bowl with butter and salt. I had coffee for breakfast with a little milk.

Short story is this, YOU WILL GET PALETTE FATIGUE NO MATTER WHAT. Somehow my brother managed to choke down nearly 2x as much as me during mealtimes after the 1st 6th months.

I myself started losing weight, had a hard time eating, my energy level was not bad but still I was easily fatigued, sleeping was ok because we ate and then went directly to bed so belly full made sleeping easier.

What most people won’t realize without experiencing this 1st hand is the vitamin and mineral deficiencies that occur over a long time period.

Trying to find a decent position to sleep was difficult at the end of the limited diet because my RIB CAGE GOT SOFT AND STARTED TO FLEX, so It became noticeable and partially painful to roll around in bed for a time, also curly ingrown hairs started to pop up all over my body (potentially a sign of scurvy).

Those symptoms went away after a proper diet but took around 6 months to relieve them all….Meanwhile my brother was fine and didn’t complain at all about any issues……What can I say? He’s a champ for sure.

So……..This is my personal advice from personal experience…..If you decide to “beans and rice til the end of time”, Buy multivitamins and Calcium supplements at the minimum.

My best advice is get more than just beans and rice to live off, learn to forage if you can where you live, foraging is amazing because the nutrients come from the land that is not usually tainted by mankind’s industry.

[Mud]

What about shiny Christmas tree ornaments???

[Mud]

You must choose plants that bear new positive qualities, if too many seeds is an issue….Then try to find one plant that does not produce so many seeds in the fruit. It’s a simple selection process of keeping the good qualities and weeding out the bad qualities. Keep up the good work.

[Mud]

This year we had beefsteak tomatoes grow no larger than cherry tomatoes and had the signature sungold flavor and coloration. My spinach seeded out to over 6 feet tall and my purple Russian fingerlings now have white eyes.

Most of my plants did something odd this year.

[Mud]

Intelligence is a gift, too much intelligence is misery. It’s the best I could think of in such short notice.

[Mud]

Yep, Harbor Freight 14 ft ratchet straps with 2 ft of bailing twine or dollar store paracord.

The shelves are 4 ft wide so it is 16 ft total needed and I had some spare old ratchet straps that sat outside for a few years holding up an old telephone pole until the utility company could get there.

I tapped in temporary posts to hold up the sides while i filled the center with wood rounds and debris. Then used the ratchet strap to hold it up against the 1st layer of rounds. The soil is only 6 inches thick and I used mostly ground up leaf dropping and plant debris. There’s almost no peat moss or potting soil in the mix.

Recently as a test of willpower I did not eat for 2 days and cooked chili for my brother and gardened winter veggies. I still had coffee and tea but it was a nice reminder of what it was like to work and not eat.

Most people in the USA don’t know what it’s like to truly go to bed hungry. It’s just a phrase to them.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  Mud.

[Mud]

I use epsom salt to help the tomatoes turn red. It makes them swell with water but they never burst for me. I also use diatomaceous earth and molasses as mineral supplements.

[Mud]

I appreciate that. Although, I think over time antifa will try to become more organized and trained.

They dress in all black and rarely speak…..Who knows? Are they filled with a foreign legion?

Maybe the armed ones are Russian operatives under Biden’s control since he protects them.

The point is they are not a predictable bunch because you cannot anticipate what insanity will do.

I would say that antifa is a worse threat to the common American than Russia or nuclear war.

Weighing the fact that I’m not already nuked into oblivion and we are in a proxy war that mimics a cold war v2.0…..It’s the violence in the cities getting out of hand I’m most worried about.