What did you do to prep today?

[carol b]

I'd like to hear more about canning clementine oranges. Never thought of doing that. Hmmm....

[check]

I begin everyday by preparing for what is coming. This I do by speaking with my Father in prayer and by reading at least
two chapters from the Bible. Then if God directs me to do something else, I am better able to hear His voice.


http://stepstowardthemark.com

Yep, and for Him to protect us too in these troubled times,
Pastor Guest.

[grower]

I like Pastor Guest's "preps"!

I am dealing with venison today. In the past week, I put 2 deer in the freezer that were given to us by a friend that hunts. That's for us. Then, the meat man (taxidermist who also processes deer for hunters) gave us 2 barrels of venison scraps -- meat and bones -- for our dogs. It's probably close to a ton of meat and bones! I've got to go through that today, and put most of it in the freezer. What won't fit, the dogs can gorge on today!

I also have a hide processing from the larger of the two deer that were given to us. I scraped it several days ago. Then strained rain water through a bucket of wood ash from the fireplace to make lye. The hide has been soaking in the lye water for about 4-5 days. I'm going to check it today, to see if the hair layer is sliding off like it's supposed to. I intend to brain-tan the hide. I got the brain out myself! I tried cracking the skull with a hammer, but that skull was really HARD. There was a hole where the hunter had cut the rack off, so I cut on that with a hack saw until I got it opened up a bit, applied the hammer around the edges of the hole, to open it up more, then just scooped the brain out with a spoon. I found out deer are animals of very little brain....only about the size of a tennis ball, if that. Put the brain in a zip-loc bag and threw it in the fridge. My daughter-in-law laughed when I told her not to mess with my brain.

I started to prepare a deer hide once, years ago, but never finished it. This will be the first time I get all the way through the process. I hope to make a pair of moccasins.

Deer are plentiful where we live. In a shtf situation, they may quickly disappear, but for now they're an obvious resource, and I want to learn to utilize that resource to its fullest.

Btw, my son, who enjoys blacksmithing, was over with his family last weekend, and he made me a swing-out arm for hanging a pot over the fire in the fireplace! (I took a picture, but haven't uploaded it to the computer yet.) The first night, we cooked a venison roast. Monday night, I cooked some venison stew. Good eating, that! It cooked about the same rate as a crock pot, but made it taste slightly smoked. Really good!

[ChristieAcres]

Today, DH picked 6.75#s of Chanterelle shrooms and also caught 13 Crab. The shrooms will be sauteed and put in the fridge for canning. There were 12 Dungeness and 1 Red Rock, all will be shelled and frozen in whole milk.

After enjoying some of my canned Venison w/shrooms, I'll never freeze it again unless it is just for temporary storage until I can get it all canned!!! Yes, I have canned a deer, took two days, but could have done it in one. DH is sweet enough to help as most men can make short work of cutting the meat in cubes. I raw pack, easiest way, add organic beef broth, spices, dried or fresh onions, and shrooms.

[calfisher]

Love reading your posts Christie! Today I put ten large trash bags of leaves on the compost pile and covered it in chicken compost. It should fire off nicely!

[ChristieAcres]

Love reading your posts Christie! Today I put ten large trash bags of leaves on the compost pile and covered it in chicken compost. It should fire off nicely!

Thanks! Your post just reminded me to get lawn bags and gather the leaves... Also, time to get my compost going, too. Posting on this thread is great, allows me to both compete with myself and get ideas from others . If I feel the work is daunting, I just read what I have already done.

[Hungry Seagull]

I examined and evaluated a DPSM Recon model 5.56 with the ACOG and also the EOTech.

I found it to be more than satisfactory. The only thing left is to get the can and pay the tax stamp for it.

[ChristieAcres]

Today, caught 10 more Dungeness Crab. The way things are going, we'll have mostly Venison and Crab... I will be canning some crab two different ways, to determine which tastes better. Winter crabbing is open here until Dec 31st... I think I need to start bartering!!! Tom, a friend of ours, is paying for fuel everytime we go out. He said he wanted to contribute and will go every chance he gets...

Bartering would be trading Crab for other meats... We are already ringing up credit with our Massage Therapist. She loves crab, is putting it up, and is a very professional gal, and very strong! That is needed for DH, but lighter for me.

[ChristieAcres]

Getting there...46 minutes on Elliptical, speeding up the pace for greater stamina. Otherwise, T-Tapp on my 3 off days. So, every other day, for each (45 minutes/day six days/week)

Goal? Staying fit for who knows what... Also, for hiking, and finally just because I like to be in shape.

[burtw276]

put three deer in the freezer this weekend! a good hunt.