Now I get bees

I wondered all summer where the bees were.  I saw none.  Well, Friday afternoon they found me.  I saw my hummingbird feeder covered with them so I fixed a pie tin with a layer of pebbles and added sugar water.  Within minutes, it was covered with bees, so I fixed another one.  I have now gone through 5 pounds of sugar and am filling those pie tins about every 30-45 minutes and they are alive with bees.  Whoever owns the hive they come from owes me free honey.  But I am really glad to help them out.

Survival

In your food stash, don't forget to have plenty of oatmeal and white rice.  White rice because it will keep for years.  Brown rice will not.  Also you can make and store pemican.  It is a super food and easily made and stored.  Beef jerky is another one to make and keep on hand. 

This part is what you hope never to experience.  Suppose you have to cut and run.  You need to keep a go bag packed with essentials.  Medicines you need, wills, realestate papers, bith cirtificates, and cash.  Always keep a stash of cash.  If you have pets, please don't leave them behind.  It will be cumbersome, but keep dry pet food on hand.  Keep any meds they need in that go bag and add a change of clothing.  You can always wash out a set of clothing and let it dry.  Also, keep your vehicle full of gasoline.  Be ready to run at a moment's notice.  And it is not just civil unrest you may need to run from.  In Texas, when Bastrop Comples firs burned in 2011, the people had no warning.  The only warning was a deputy driving down the street with a bullhorn telling people to run now.  And the fire was closing in behind him.  One man left in his underwear, barefoot, but he took his dog.  His house burned.  So if you have that go bag near the door and your dog;s leash on it, you can run faster.  Granted you won't be taking any dog food with you, but at least you will get out and live.  No one died in that Bastrop Complex fire.  So always, always plan ahead.  We have people living in flood areas south of Houston that keep a jon boat at their house at all times.  If the floodwaters start, they leave.  They are prepared.  Always, always be prepared. Life is not easy and nothing is really safe.  Just accept that and be ready to jump when you have to. 

Survival

You have to make sure that you have a place to live.  So that means that you need to get whatever house you live in paid off as soon as possible.  If you rent, try to make sure you always have at least 6 months rent and utilities tucked away.  Learn to live on only what you need, not what you want.  If worst comes to worst, pitch a tent in a park.  You have to live somewhere  and you can't count on your government to take care of it's citizens.  We have seen what a lousy job is being done tat state and federal level.  So first order in survival is your living space and keeping it.  After you have that planed for, then you can move on to the supplies you will need. 

Backyards:  You can grow a  lot of food in your backyard.  Forget grass, make vegetable beds instead.  And if your soil is lousy, build raised beds.  I live in Texas so I have bad soil and plants drown in heavy rain.  I lost my garden in 2017 because of Harvey.  I learned.  I now have raised beds.  Also, shade cloths if you live in the hot south or southwest.  That is important to protect the plants from the scorching sun.  Study, learn and grow and preserve.  You can also grow fruit in your back yard.  Blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, figs.  And learn what wild plants you can eat as well.  You never know when you may have to rely on nature.  Never accept that life will always be civilized.  It may not be.  Just ask the Jewish people. They witnessed the collapse of their world and saw their people slaughtered.  And look close to home at what was done to the Native Americans.  Genocide was practiced against them for centuries. 

So on to what and how to grow and preserve the bounty. 

Acid and sweet fruits and vegetables need not be processed in a pressure cooker.  They can be processed in what we call a hot water bath and this is because of the acid and sugar.  It inhibits bacterial growth.  This includes pickles and condiment made with vinegar.  Get a Ball canning book for detailed directions.  Preserving food is easy and rewarding. 

Some advice for survival

I have never identified as a survivalist, but I do have a lot of knowledge of how to do it.  A little background:  I was raised in the mountains.  We were dirt poor, but we had a small farm.  Every summer my mother and grandmother raised an acre garden.  We canned everything.  Where we lived, we could  not get electricity because of the cost.  So it was raise, can, salt down.  And we also added in wild plants and animals as well.  Daddy was a hog farmer and back in the 1950's, you ran your stock on open range.  Rounded up in the fall and sold and that was the cash we had.  So, mom and my grandmother grew a garden.  It was planted as soon as the ground thawed.  And they planted potatoes, corn, beans, squash, onions, pumpkin, and tomatoes along with a lot of other stuff.  And we canned.  Kids were used to snap the green beans for canning, silking corn for canning, pellling and slicing cucumbers, squash and whatever else needed doing.  We were also sent out to pick wild blackberries, grapes, and strawberries.  All this was canned.  Mom would raise chickens and those were processed and canned.  Pork was in the fall and it was either smoked or salted.  Nothing was wasted.  What was not food went into my grandmothers big iron pot for making lye soap.  So yeah, I do know a little about survival. 

Pressure canner:  If you get one, follow the directions to the letter.  They can be dangerous.  I use mine outside on a commercial hotplate.  Mom made me very cautious about pressure canners and really impressed on me that they can blow and burn you horribly.  She would not let any of us kids be in the kitchen when she released the steam and took the lid off.  So caution is the key. 

Storing: Preferably in a cool dark place.  And check the jars regularly for failed seals.  You will know they are sealed because the center of the lid will be indented and no give.  If it is not and you can push down on the lid., then the seal is broken and you must discard the contents.  Botulism is a real threat and you do not want to eat food with it in there. 

You can also invest in a good dehydrator.  Dehydrated food will last for years if not exposed to the elements.  So if you go this route, use jars with manageable amounts.  If you have a large family, use quart or half-gallon jars.  Remember you have to use it fairly quickly after you open the jars.  It can and will start to mold when the humidity hits it.  But this is a great way to store a lot of food.  Good dehydrators will cost you somewhere between $150-300 but it is what you want.  Also get food grade stainless steel.  This is the safest and do not get a $50 model  because they don't have the air flow you need to really dry the food.  If you don't get the moisture out of the food, it will mold and you have wasted your time and food.  The cheaper ones are good for drying herbs.  I don't have one of these dehydrators yet, but I am getting one along with the machine to suck the air out of the jars.  If you get the right set up, you can preserve a lot of food. 

My summer yard. I love it

Here are some photos from my yard.  I am getting it the way I want it and am doing it with no poisons.  Neighbors around me, however, spray for eveything.  They want no bugs or any life in their yard and they are getting their wish.  I have no bees,.  None,. 

The top one is of my post oak tree surrounded by turks cap shrubs.  They are native here and hummingbirds love them.  So do bees, but again I have none.  The second phot is under my water oak tree near the house.  My front yard is full shade.  I put out these airplane plants because nothing was growing here and I was losing dirt.  The airplane plants hold the soil in place, thrive in shade, and very few bugs bother them.  Yes they can be agressive, but if you cut off the stems that put out the blooms, you stop new ones from forming.

The bottom shot is my front yard.  I looks like I have great grass, but that grass is very sparse.  It is St Augustine and it takes lots of water and I do not water much.  Also the shade is too dense for it to really do good.  I will take the shade and trees to grass any day.  And overwatering will kill my trees.

Forgot this one.

Forgot this one.  It is one of our wildflowers and always comes up in my front flower bed.  If I had any bees, they would love it, but my neighborhood has managed to kill off all the bees.  Everyone in this neighborhood sprays their yards, so no bees.  I have seen 5 honeybees this spring and one sad bumblebee dying from poison on my back deck.  I hate people.  Maybe this virus is God giving us a well-deserved smack down.  And if so, he really needs to apply that smackdown to the rich.  And the politicians. 

Notice the yellow pollen in the center.  They are beautiful little flowers. 

Some of my plants

The top picture is of a begonia I found around Christmas time at Martha's Bloomers in Navasota.  The middle picture is one of my rose, do not know the name of it.  And the bottom picture is of my Caldwell Pink rose.  Back up in the Ozarks, we call it a Hasty rose because it grows in the Hasty cemetery.  My yard and my animals keep me sane.

Seed catalogs for vegetables and herbs

Some of my favorite seed catalogs are as follows. 
Seed Saver's Exchange www.seedsavers.org.  You can order online or call in an order or by mail.  The sell heirloom seed and non-GMO seeds. 

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, www.rareseeds.com This is also a great source for heirloom seeds. 

Johnny's Selected Seeds www.johnnyseeds.com.  They don't specialize in heirlooms but they are  an employee-owned company.

Burpee's seeds, www.burpee.com.  This is an old company and reliable. 

Don't forget to add in some flowers.  Bees will thank you.  So will butterflies.  And they will cheer you up.  A lot are also edible.  And always add sunflowers. 

Have fun.  And become your own food source. 

Time to pull up our big girl or boys pants and start a garden.

With the collapse of the world economy, I think it is very apparent that it is time for everyone to have their very own food source.  If you have a yard, dig it up and plant food.  Plant vegetables, herbs and fruit trees.  Never gardened before.  Well you have a wealth of information at your keyboard.  Google.  And you can order your vegetable seed.  We got too confident and to far removed from the Great Depression.  And this is not the last pandemic we will see.  So use this as a guide and always be prepared.  I am getting into my garden today. 
If you live in an apartment and all you have is a balcony or small patio, no worried.  Garden soil and pots.  You will have to water them more frequently, but you can grow a good amount of vegetable in pots.  think green beans, tomatoes, lettuce, squash.  And herbs.  You can grow herbs.  And when this is over, start a stash.  Doesn't have to be huge, but keep a few months food on hand like oatmeal, rice, pasta, dry beans, canned vegetables and fruit.  We will get through this.  We will come out stronger.  But we have to plan ahead.  Be racking your brain on how to make some money when this ends.  Do whatever it takes.  But learn to grow your own food. 

Bees

I don't have much blooming in  my yard yet.  My redbud tree is blooming and the bees are all over it.  I am scrambling to get out plants for the bees.  I have butterfly weed for the monarchs and one was on the butterfly weed.  But bees don't use these weeds.  So I will head to Lowes tomorrow and see what they have in.  In the meantime, I am starting Zinnias, Coneflower.  I do have yarrow growing in the back, but it is not blooming yet.  I also put out Queen Ann's Lace in the front.  Hopefully, it will bloom soon. 

Not much gardening going on.

We aren't getting much gardening done here in my part of Texas.  Lots and lots of rain.  I am not complaining and will never complain about rain.  I have done a few thing in the yard.  I have the front flower bed full of purple dianthus.  I also added some snapdragons and phlox.  And I have it full of white narcissus.  And the bee balm I started about 3 years ago is going nuts.  Also my butterfly weed is blooming.  I have lots of that.  And I have narcissus, paperwhites and snowdrops all over the yard.  I just planted them at random.  My yard looks very unkempt but it has character.  I am waiting until it dries up a little to plant more roses.  I have a few day lillies left to put in the ground.  I had to move all of them from the back flower bed.  Roxie likes to dig and I was afraid she would eat them and they are toxic.  My Peggy Martin rose is blooming as well. 

The top photo is of my dianthus.  they multiply like crazy.  They will be a real show this summer.  The bottome photo is of the only part of my back yard I can use.  The rest is fenced off for the dogs.  This is the neighbor's bradford pear tree.  I hope it dies soon.  It makes my yard a mess.