Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 677)
Hello Everyone!
Waking early, Filling the larder, High priced goods, Tiny potato bags & Kudzu harvesting thoughts!
It has been quite the long day and now that the sun is setting I better do some writing or else I will assuredly fail to get this entry done before the fatigue catches up to me. Although I have been successfully avoiding it the last few evenings... I brewed some espresso and hopefully it will do the trick to keep me focused here!
This morning I got up early (not long after sunrise) and yet again noticed that the pulled muscle in my leg had healed some during the night which honestly I was very relieved about. Later in the day I was even able to do some hiking and it never gave me a twinge of discomfort which made the hike much more enjoyable.
Basically it is 'so far so good' on avoiding taking the anti-inflammatories and just letting it heal on its own which is something that I have never been successful at with that particular injury. To be fair though, I have been staying off my feet a lot, limiting how much stuff I carry around and avoiding walking on inclines the best that I can... which has not always been possible in other scenarios.
On a different note. Earlier today I wound up going on a supply run and doing my routine stocking up on stuff and I have to admit that I had a good bit of sticker shock since the last time that I went to that same store. Aside from the absurdly high prices the other thing that really caught my eye was the limited supply of flour and how the only bags of potatoes were these super tiny ones!
As far as that last bit goes I have never seen tiny bags of potatoes like that before nor ever encountered a store that did not have any large (or even medium) sized bags of them. I gotta say that buying a quarter of the amount of potatoes at the same price as a large bag... was downright disconcerting for me and mainly because it is such a staple item in this country.
Most of my shopping required making some (okay a lot of) compromises either because of the prices or lack of availability but overall I got the basics for my 'fresh food' needs covered so no complaints there. Although I have continued my trend of keeping things basic with my buying habits... I did splurge a little on a bag of Sumatra coffee and some cheap cookies just for when my morale needs a boost!
Getting all the supplies packed away in the cabin sure took some effort because that food order that I did last week took up most of my 'pantry' space like I remarked up in a previous entry. I swear I have no idea how I can squirrel away so much stuff into such a tiny space but I sure figure it out every time that I am faced with that particular obstacle.
One thing that I absolutely need to do is get one or two more bag-style coolers and perhaps one more large traditional box cooler and use them for my 'weekly' needs so that the ones I currently have can be used exclusively for long-term storage. Basically I do not want to be opening and closing the 'long-term' coolers any more than I have to just to keep the chance of bugs and contamination to a minimum.
Anyway, while I was hiking earlier I once again gathered up a bundle of kudzu leaves for Bob Backwards and it got me to thinking that I should at least try to make a big harvest of it before it dies back for the year. I am still uncertain about how to store it (if I can dry it out to start with) but I am thinking that I might just stuff it into some empty chicken feed bags and see what happens.
Overall it would not amount to a whole lot of chicken feed because many of the vines are too high up for me to be pulling on and such a tangle (up near the treetops) that it would in no way be worth it to tussle with them. The ones that I would be harvesting the leaves from are the smaller vines on the lower branches that produce smaller leaves but alas are easy to reach.
The other idea that I have been entertaining for harvesting the kudzu is just waiting for it to start dropping its leaves for the year and afterwards literally walking around and collecting them all off the ground. Of course that would require some timing on my part (to catch it at the right time) but in theory it would be the easiest way to collect the most leaves... even if it would require way more time invested to do so.
Okay, I better derail myself off the kudzu topic and work towards wrapping this entry up. Having left the woods today on one of my infrequent trips to town has per usual left me feeling overloaded and yeah my little brain (even with this strong espresso that I am drinking) is struggling to string words together!
In short I am glad to be all stocked up and have my larder full once again because rationing or not... I just dislike running low on stuff and get nervous if the supplies drop 'too low' like they did a few weeks ago. Like I have said many times before there is a heck of a lot of peace of mind in having food security and it is assuredly not something that I take for granted... or treat lightly.
Well, I am going to call this entry 'good enough' and get on with the editing, proofreading and posting part of my evening so that I can eventually start unwinding for the night. I hope that everyone is doing well and has a nice day/night.
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Well, I am going to call this entry 'good enough'Yeah of course that's what it is... I enjoyed reading through. Keep up the good work dear friend.
Thanks and I am glad that you enjoyed it.