Quote

“We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we will always be free.” – Ronald Wilson Reagan

Awesome quote from and an awesome man. Found it on the blog I read daily survivalblog.com.

Dream Home

A cabin in the mountains is my dream home. It doesn’t have to be fancy or new. I don’t want it to be big (less to clean) Preferably with a space and light for a garden. Here is an example.

A Cabin in the Mountains

Buy guns , store food and live where there is everlasting peace (thank you JCP).

Antique Fair 2

I went to the Antique Fair on the first of November. I stayed out in the sun so long I my neck was sunburned. I bought a few things. I found a small Lodge cast iron skillet. It cost $5.00. One of the venders saw me with it and said how she had one and cooked eggs in it every day. I found 2 Ruger 10/22 magazines for $5.00. Can’t beat that price. At a gun show they would have been double or more for one. I also found a 14 inch “F” wrench. It was labeled $10.00 but I offered $8.00 and he took it. I asked the antique tool guy if $10.00 was a good price and he said it was worth it. I didn’t tell him I got it for less. Got to keep some things secret. The guy that sold me the wrench had an axe for $8.00 I wish I would have bought.
To top the afternoon off I had a pulled pork sandwich. It was spicy and delicious. No cole slaw though. Would have been better Memphis style.
Things I saw at the fair I am interested in: coffee grinder (I don’t drink coffee more for show), bushel basket, well pulley wheel (I’ve talked to the guy a couple of times now. He always tells me the story about living on a ranch and as they were leaving for the last time asking his dad to go get the big well pulley wheel above their well and his dad saying no. He wishes he had it. He had a collection of smaller ones and the one I have been looking at is the last and only $20.00), glass kerosene lamps and various kitchen dishes and utensils.

Veteran’s Day

Happy Veteran’s Day,
Serving in the military was a great job. I felt like I was doing something different that most people would not. The road less traveled. Most of the people I worked with were dedicated and easy to work with. Our jobs whether putting on a gas mask in 9 seconds and then wearing it for 8 hours, working the weekend so the plane would be ready to fly on Monday or leaving our new born babes to fight a war were in service of something bigger than us. Our job was to uphold the traditions and values of the ones who went before us. I think we were all proud to be there doing just that. I know I was. Sounds like a bunch of cliches. They are my cliches and I hold them dear.

Two roads diverged in a wood and I,
I took the one less traveled by
and that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost

Tomato gardening notes

These are notes from a lady named Jane. She was the speaker at the October meeting of the Local Organic Gardeners. She grows 250 tomato plants for herself and restaurants.

Where do you get your seeds?
Food Co-Op has tomato seedlings in March
Places to get seeds: Tomato Fest, Baker Seed, Johnnies Seeds, Tomato growers supply.
Order your seed in December.

What varieties do you buy?
Another local tomato grower grows Celebrity tomatoes which she made sound bad.
For the heat of the southwest she said to get the quick maturing variety. A quick maturing variety will mature in 65 to 75 day instead of 90 days.
She had a list of different types of quick maturing varieties. Black Cherry is a cherry tomato that has great flavor. Galinas Cherry is a yellow cherry tomato. Puntabanda is a native southwestern tomato that is good for cooking. Flamme is a fist sized yellow tomato that is prolific and has a great flavor. She said if she was only limited to grow one tomato it would be the Flamme. Porter Improved is a good pinkish red tomato. She emphasized to get the Porter Improved because it tastes better than the Porter. She said Mule team is a good tomato. Sue tomatoes tolerate the heat. If you want tomatoes that have lots of meat two yellow varieties are Doc Wyches and Kellog’s Breakfast.
She said if you are not going to grow 250 plants like she does, grow at least a minimum of 6 to 10 plants.

How do you prepare the garden’s soil?
Choose a spot that has full day sun. The soil amendments she uses are coir which is ground up coconut hulls and steer manure. Coir can be found at local nurseries. Other soil amendments are Kellogg’s garden soil amendment, chicken manure (must be composted first) and bat guano. Mine grew just fine with just some mulch on top. Now, knowing what I know, I will add what the organic gardeners suggest to add which is cottonseed meal or fish meal for nitrogen, green sand for potassium, rock phosphate for phosphorus and calcium, and Dis-persul for sulfur to raise the soil’s ph (People back east won’t have to do that). Whats cool about those amendments are that it only takes a little and our organic gardeners group buys it in bulk, repackages and sells it in small amounts. I will make my own compost now and also add it to my garden soil.

How do you start the seeds?
She starts the seeds in a 3 inch container. She sows on the surface and covers with pumice or cactus mix. She puts the containers in a homemade “greenhouse” of plastic and sticks. It keeps the containers in high humidity and warmth. She said you should be able to see the water droplets on the inside of the plastic. If not you are not watering it enough. She said it takes about two weeks to germinate. When they are ½ inch tall to open the “greenhouse” so there is not so much moisture.
Once the plants have 1 to 3 pairs of true leaves transplant individuals to their own 2 ½ inch pot. Put them in strong light in a window. They need good light and water after transplant.

How to plant
Plant after worry of the last frost is gone. The last frost on average here is March 15. Take off the two bottom leaves. Plant the plant up to the next set of leaves. More roots will form on the part of the stem that was buried. You want the root ball as deep as possible to keep it cool.
Plant tomatoes 18 inches apart on center with a three foot aisle. Tie tomatoes up. She uses shredded t-shirts as ties. Her plants grow up to six feet tall and two feet wide. Place four inches of mulch around bottom of plants after planting. She suggested using alfalfa hay as mulch. Alfalfa hay has nitrogen. Good Alfalfa hay will not have seeds.

How to water
Water every other day. Water to push roots deep. She waters with a drip system for 8 minutes. She has 3 zones. When she finishes the third zone, she starts over with the first. She waters each zones twice, so that each zone gets 16 minutes of water every other day. The drip irrigation is under the mulch.

How to shade
Tomato plants can’t take our hot Southwestern sun. They need evening shade. If you use shade cloth use no more than 30% shade. My plants were stunted from the blazing sun until I covered them with shade cloth.

Tomato plant pests
Tomato Horn worms are the babies of the Hawk moth. They are big white grubs. The way to rid your garden of them is to physically pick the off the plants. Feed them to chickens or put them in a pan out in the open for birds.
Spider mites make a sheet of webbing on the plants. Spray both sides of the leaves with soapy water. She sprays in early morning or late afternoon. She uses regular Dawn liquid soap and a spray attachment on the end of the hose.
Nematodes are microscopic organisms. The way to avoid them is to rotate garden spaces. Marigolds deter nematodes.

Tomato plant diseases
Curly Top is a virus transferred by leaf hoppers. If your plants get curly top the only way to cure it is to pull up the plants before the leaf hoppers spread it to other plants..

What to do with all the tomatoes
She makes 52 jar of tomato sauce each year one for each week of the year.
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Recap
Order your seed in December. Sow your seeds January 1. Keep is a greenhouse style setting of high humidity and warmth and transplant the seedlings on 1 February (When they have 3 pairs of true leaves). Plant by March 15.

Good Article and quote

I was reading Survivalblog and followed a link to an article about the Swiss keeping their military guns at home.

Here’s the link: http://worldradio.ch/wrs/news/video/staring-down-the-barrel-of-switzerlands-gun-tradit.shtml?14430

Here’s the quote from MARC HEIM, “The key to freedom is the ability to be able to defend yourself, and if you don’t have the tools to do that then you are at the mercy of anyone who wants to put you away. And the tools for that are guns.”

Buy guns… nuff said.

Book Review

I finished Novella Carpenter’s Farm City. I’m jealous. She did what I would like to do. She probably went further than I would. She dumpster dives to feed her animals free fresh greens. I could probably do that but it would take a while to get used to it. I would have chickens and goats here if it was legal. I might try some rabbits. Great Book. 5 stars. I am adding her Ghost Town Farm blog’s link to my list of Farm blogs I read.

Buy guns, store food and let others inspire you.

Afghan War Journal (Rocket Attack 3)

This is from my notebook:

9 August 2009, 11:30 pm. 2 rockets – I heard the boom and it sounded close. Closer than Explosive Ordinance Disposal(EOD), but I didn’t hear the Zzzzzeeeeerrrrr before the boom. I thought the explosions were EOD.
People started yelling so I grabbed my helmet and vest and ran for the bunker.
11:45 pm red alert off.

Afghan War Journal (Rocket Attack 2)

From my notebook:

12 July 2009, 3:10 am. 2 rockets came screaming in together. Zzzzzzzeeeeerrrrrr boom. Zzzzzzzeeeeerrrrrr boom. right together. I grabbed my vest and helmet and ran for the bunker. On the way out I paused long enough to ring the emergency bell a couple of times. I was the first one in the bunker.
After the first attack I take my helmet and vest back and forth between home and work.
All clear at 3:45 am.

Afghan War Journal (Rocket Attack 1)

This is from my notebook:

10 Jul 2009, 1:30 am. Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan. I was sitting in the T.V. room in the clamshell at work reading a magazine. The T.V. was not on and I was alone. Thank God because I might not have heard the rocket. It’s a sound that sends chills to the bone. Zzzzzzzzeeeeeerrrrrr boom. Another flew over on as I ran to the bunker. Zzzzzzzzeeeeeerrrrrr boom. I joined the flow of people out the side of the clamshell and into the bunker. The bunkers are upside down U shaped concrete with squared corners stacked with sand bags on the side and top. The bunkers have wooden benches inside to sit on. The first bunker was filling so I went to the next. I was the first one in and went to the end so others had room to enter.
People started to drift out the ends after a few minutes. Smokers especially lit up. Zzzzzzzzeeeeeerrrrrr boom. People dashed back into the bunkers. I hadn’t moved. They said it came from the North side. The helicopters were up and patrolling looking for the attackers. The stucco of the propellers was loud in the sky. I hope they get those sons of bitches.
Some of the guys were saying other attacks happen about the same time every night. Accountability was horrible that first night. The Air Guard guys sharing the clamshell with us had their shit together calling names off a list. The regular Air Force my unit just kind of guessed at it. They were pretty sure they had everyone.
The “All Clear” was called at 2:10 am. I came in and wrote this.
Was I scared? Yes I don’t want to die. Did I panic? No, but the opportunity was there. My heart was racing. The last time I was this scared was the first “Red” alert during Operation Desert Storm. During that “Red” Alert my hands were shaking as I tried to rip open the bag with my chemical protection suit in it. We didn’t need chemical protection suits here, but I wished I had my Individual Body Armor and helmet. The body armor and helmet were in my B-Hut under my bed.
Up until this attack, this war and my part in it has been arm chair easy.