I've picked up a load of books on wine/mead, livestock, growing medicinals, etc., some preserving mason jars, and crochet hooks, and tomorrow I'm getting some more demijohns and another solar shower bag. Really looking forward to my first batch of homebrew!
This weeks preps check-in
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Brent S
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I thought about predators too when I read this.
Brent S
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The mead is interesting but was just too sweet for me. The wine has been a really cool hobby, and gets easier with every batch you make. I’m sipping on a muscadine right now that’s better than 99% of any of the wines I’ve ever bought. I like to gift bottles to friends pretty frequently too. I’d rather give something that I made than just run to Walmart and buy a gift and card for someone.
Brent S
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I just came in from pouring the well house slab. I ended up making it a little larger, going with a 9’ by 6’ slab. I need to make it so the roof can come off over the well casing so the pump can be replaced or repaired down the road. I kind of have a design in mind but am kind of winging this as I go. As soon as I get the roof and sides in place I can install the filter! That’s my main goal right now, Orange free toilets again.....
I made some apple wine and it was great, I also made elderberry, tastes fruity but is has a lot of alcohol in it. I am considering putting it out to freeze when the weather gets real cold, scooping the ice off and having some jack to keep for medicinal purposes.
Yep, I tend to give home-made things, too. A few years back I made Yule cards for close friends, each one 2 hours' worth of hand-painted mediaeval hares and foliate borders. Great fun but very labour intensive! Easier are medjool dates stuffed with peanut butter and dipped in dark chocolate and candied orange peel with chilli chocolate.
Elderberry's one of my favourite wines, and very good for you, apparently.
Arcticdude
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"Homing cows". I like that. A lot of springs and water holes start drying up late in the summer so some of the cows start heading down out of the mountains looking for water or better feed.
Every rancher loses a few cows/calves to predators; wolves, mountain lions or bears. It's just part of doing business.
Later in the Fall the ranchers get together and round up all their cattle and drive them down to their winter range, usually at their home base, for feeding and calving. Calving around here is usually between December and March. Some guys leave their bulls with their cows year round so they could calve at any time.
Maverick
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When we were open range we would generally bring them in after general hunting season and before Late Season hunt that’s starts November 12th so between November 1 ~ 10
Because after the 10th it got too dangerous and we were losing cattle after the 10th from hunters.
Because after the 10th it got too dangerous and we were losing cattle after the 10th from hunters.
Brent S
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BlackBerry is one of my favorites. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an elderberry, but would try fermenting it in a second. If you were close I’d trade wine for candied dates in a heartbeat!
Arcticdude
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The wife and I took the day off yesterday to go metal detecting at an old mining and town site on the north part of our property. We've been wanting to go up there for quite awhile. We didn't find anything of real value, but we did find some old hand tools, parts of a wood cook stove and a lot of old bottles. Next time we go we'll dig through some of the old houses. There's also an old stage stop in the area.
I had a good test of my level 2 backup power supply, and I upgraded it a little. I needed to run some power tools to work on a chain link fence that had a tree fall on it, and it was too far out to use extension cords. I decided to palletize the power supply, and I used a small convertible hand truck which turned out to be just the right size. I built a platform to keep everything in place.
The inverter is a KISAE SW1220 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter (3000 watt surge). The batteries are two DieHard Gold Advanced AGM, 75 amp hours each. Harbor Freight just started carrying a 3 foot 2/0 AWG inverter cable, which is just the right size. I was using a 1/0 AWG cable that I got off of Amazon, but the connectors are getting loose on it, and it is not quite big enough for full power. The two batteries are connected by a short auto battery cable. I need to get a little bit beefier cable to connect the two, but I figured that the battery connected directly to the inverter could handle any surge. I'm probably going to order some cable lugs on Amazon and cut some of my longer cables into shorter cables. I have a 1/0 AWG cable that I was using to connect the batteries, but I have to coil it up on top of the batteries. I'd much rather just use a 1' or shorter cable.
First I needed to clear out vines and limbs with the hedge trimmer so I could get to the fence. Then I had to run a reciprocating saw with a carbide tipped bit to cut out the bent top poles. Then I used a drum sanding bit on my drill to smooth out the ragged edges of the poles I cut. When I finished working with the power tools, the voltage meter said 12.9 volts, so my batteries hardly broke a sweat.
Here is the Level 2 power supply, with my Level 3 power supply behind it. Level 2 is equivalent to one 20 amp home circuit. Level 3 is equivalent to three 20 amp home circuits. Level 1 is a 600 watt pure sine wave inverter powered by a 100 amp hour marine deep cycle battery. Level 4 is a propane generator.
Oh, and those are Schumacher SC-10030A 30 amp charger/maintainers that keep a 13.5 volt constant float voltage.
The inverter is a KISAE SW1220 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter (3000 watt surge). The batteries are two DieHard Gold Advanced AGM, 75 amp hours each. Harbor Freight just started carrying a 3 foot 2/0 AWG inverter cable, which is just the right size. I was using a 1/0 AWG cable that I got off of Amazon, but the connectors are getting loose on it, and it is not quite big enough for full power. The two batteries are connected by a short auto battery cable. I need to get a little bit beefier cable to connect the two, but I figured that the battery connected directly to the inverter could handle any surge. I'm probably going to order some cable lugs on Amazon and cut some of my longer cables into shorter cables. I have a 1/0 AWG cable that I was using to connect the batteries, but I have to coil it up on top of the batteries. I'd much rather just use a 1' or shorter cable.
First I needed to clear out vines and limbs with the hedge trimmer so I could get to the fence. Then I had to run a reciprocating saw with a carbide tipped bit to cut out the bent top poles. Then I used a drum sanding bit on my drill to smooth out the ragged edges of the poles I cut. When I finished working with the power tools, the voltage meter said 12.9 volts, so my batteries hardly broke a sweat.
Here is the Level 2 power supply, with my Level 3 power supply behind it. Level 2 is equivalent to one 20 amp home circuit. Level 3 is equivalent to three 20 amp home circuits. Level 1 is a 600 watt pure sine wave inverter powered by a 100 amp hour marine deep cycle battery. Level 4 is a propane generator.
Oh, and those are Schumacher SC-10030A 30 amp charger/maintainers that keep a 13.5 volt constant float voltage.
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Brent S
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With a couple solar panels and a charger that’s allready a good start to an off grid system. I hope they come up with a longer life battery sometime soon, I’d start building something right away.
Arcticdude
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I guess it's time to start getting ready for winter. Going to order a snow blower today. I'm going with a 3 stage track drive unit this time. Next I'm going to order a new snow blade for the tractor.
The trusses for the house should be here any day now, which are about two weeks behind. This weekend I'm going to try wiring the solar panels to the inverter, if I can figure out the wiring diagram.
The trusses for the house should be here any day now, which are about two weeks behind. This weekend I'm going to try wiring the solar panels to the inverter, if I can figure out the wiring diagram.
Arcticdude
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May try black berry next year, should be a decent crop.
I love an adventure and to explore. Sounds fantastic!
We've had a bumper blackberry crop this year, great luscious beauties along all the paths. Even better than candied dates (for me, at least), I just found this recipe: http://www.tasteofbeirut.com/candied-dates-with-cardamom/. Some of them with a spiced coffee and a good armagnac, sounds like heaven.
That sounds like a great way to spend a day!
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