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We’ll be in Fitzwilliam next weekend for our granddaughter’s hs graduation, so I’ll be waving to you and Metmom from the top of Mt. Monadnock. :)

We’ve had a wet and rather cool spring, but the garden is finally planted, except for a few more marigolds. The usda map says we’re in zone 6b, but just barely, so I use 6a as my guide.:) This week is supposed to be rainy, so I figure that it will be time to start weeding and thinning the corn, when we get back.

Love this list and read it daily, just not much of a poster. Will try to post every now and again since there doesn’t seem to be anybody else from my neck of the woods on here. :) (southeast part of north central WV)

I don’t get a chance to post often, but do want to thank you and all the posters, especially the ones who post pictures. This yearI wished I new how, but will have to wait until the grandchildren visit to learn, as I had never seen anything like how my potato patch bloomed . It looked like I was growing flowers. In fact, the whole garden is looking pretty good, although we could use a nice soaking rain, about now.

Except my peppers, which obviously don’t like where I put them this year. :). Lesson learned.

I did pick my first ripe tomato today. The rest are still green as grass, although I have a good number so far.

Right now, I’m canning beans, 50 pts. so far and lots more to go. :)

I save reading this list as a “treat” at the end of the day.

“Last week I had over two dozen green plum tomatoes blasting
away on the plants.
Thursday morning I went out - and they were all GONE. “

Many years ago, when we were still living in the mts. of western PA, I went out one morning to start picking my tomatoes to can. As I got closer, I was shocked to see that my entire patch, about 40 plants was - gone! On closer inspection, the wood stakes were laying around haphazardly, either pulled from the ground or broken off at ground level and about an inch of stalk left. The vines and all- GONE! The rest of the garden was untouched.???

In talking with the neighbors,we figured out we had a bear with selective taste. He got my tomatoes, another’s bean patch and another’s sweet corn. LOL!

But if the police had been there they could have put her in handcuffs while the want-to-be murdered had kept on killing.”

Actually, IIRC, she was commended for “ quick thinking”. WV is a constitutional carry state, aka, “ this ain’t New York City”. ;)

As for police officers, there are and always have been good ones and bad ones.

“It has been a crazy year for gardens, just when we need them with looming food shortages.”

We’ve been blessed this year, in that the garden is looking good so far, in spite of the weather, which has been very up and down :) The last two days were cold and rainy, to be followed by the next four days with temps going into the low 90’s. All that is left to go in are the pumpkins, which down here don’t get planted till July.

As always, I pray for the best, while trying to prepare for the worst, although I’m a far cry from where I’d like to be. There’s still lots I’d like to learn, which is why I’m on this list.

“Anybody got a recommendation for a processor to make sauce for canning?”

I’m sure others have answered by now, but will give a testimonial for the Victorio
strainer. I’ve been using mine for 40+ years now and it’s still working fine. The only part I’ve had to replace was the wing nut which attaches the turning handle, but that was because it got lost in one of the moves.

I use it for tomatoes and apples and have a larger screen for pumpkin.

“Speaking of buying plants, I checked a couple places for pepper plants, like Lowe’s and some garden centers. What ridiculous prices. Lowe’s didn’t even have the 6 packs. They had individual plants for $4 each!!!!!! $4 for one tomato, one cucumber, one squash, whatever. And they were pathetic looking things.”

I lucked out that my local Southern States co-op plant prices were about the same as last year and nice looking plants too. Our Lowes seems to be the last stop for the plant truck. ;)

Got the tomatoes and peppers all planted today. It seems to work best for me if I plant a variety, so I put in some Early Girl, German Johnson, Mortgage Lifter, Red Brandywine and Romas.

Beans and corn are coming up. Potatoes are hilled. Now, I’ll have a couple of weeks to play with flowers and herbs before I have to start weeding.

“ What’s wrong with Salena Zito is the question.”

Indeed. In fact, as someone who has read her articles for many years, I found this article to be so odd that I scrolled back up to check the byline and even clicked on the article. This article is certainly not written in her usual “style”.

Evil Gray Squirrel

I Will Bite You Hard One Day

Until Then I Wait

Ok, this got me to post. (After I stopped laughing)

Your Lucy looks so much like our Ruby and she’s just that way about squirrels. :)
She’s half Norwegian elkhound and half lab mix(We’re convinced the “mix” is greyhound and kangaroo:) and would like to sit on my lap, but at 65 lbs., she won’t fit anymore.

Anyway, the taters are up and looking good. Got them planted on Easter Saturday, then the cold and rain came back. It finally warmed up and dried out enough, that I got the beans and corn planted on Thursday, before the rains came again. If it drys out enough, the tomatoes and peppers will go in later this week.

Tomatoes are a”labor of love”, which entail’s spreading of landscape fabric, digging hole and adding a handful of crushed eggshells, planting plant with a good soaking, pulling fabric up as close as possible, and when planting is done,spreading a good layer of straw. Followed by putting tomato cages around them, with a stake to keep the cages from falling over.

After that, it’s a matter of tying them up as they grow, keeping the blossom knocked off the bottom of the fruit, wearing gloves and washing my hands and arms up to my elbows as soon as I finish, as I’m allergic to the plants. :)

But oh my, it’s so worth it when I can grab a jar of home canned sauce in January. :)

Well, my daffodils ont west side of the house were in full bloom yesterday, when it was sunny and in the low 60’s. Woke up this morning to 5 inches of snow, blizzard conditions and temps in the low 20’s, ;). And so it goes-early springtime in the mts. :)
And if I’m not on the ping list, would you please include me? Thanks.

Thanks for the ping. Was wondering how everyone was doing. :) Read through 123 posts so as not to be redundant, and see if there was anything I could add.

We “bugged out” and started over 12 years ago. And here in the hills of West Virginny, is where we will stay. :). We are blessed with good neighbors, and by that I mean that we all live our own lives, but if some one of us needs help, rare, but it occasionally happens, the neighbors will show up.

We also learned a long time ago, the importance of building a network of local resources. I don’t know the lady who sold us the grass-fed beef we’re eating, but she’s a friend of a friend who split one with us, since we’ve had to admit that we’re past the raising our own stage of life. :)

We still garden and preserve and that’s a good subject to discuss, but I’ve also been stocking up on tools and supplies we’ll need if the “supply chain” shuts down.

I enjoy reading these threads because I can’t think of everything and ofttimes someone mentions something I hadn’t thought of. :)

Blue laws in the south also. We had 3 drugstores and 2 gas stations. They took turns. One of each would be open on Sunday. Unheard of to be “open” on Thanksgiving or Christmas. “Christmas parade” was the Saturday *after* Thanksgiving. And the first day of deer hunting season was and still is an “unofficial” holiday. ;)

Decades of experience, earned the hard way ;)

Two wood stoves and plenty of wood if need be. :). We put the garden “ to bed” just the other day.. I still have to can the smaller potatoes, but that will be a weekend chore, as I’m still working full time. :) I’d still like a decent root cellar, but that’s a project for next year. :)

“ I’ve been meaning to put some sort of list together based on order of importance and/or length of shtf event.”

Just peeking in between beans, corn and tomatoes. Lots of good info to which I’ll add: batteries :)

“Things seem to be continuing to come apart at the seams at an ever increasing rate.”

Indeed, which is why, after several years of shrinking the garden, we’ve expanded it again. I’ll be canning beans this week, along with sharing some with the neighbors.

The one good thing about all this mess is that it shut down the snarky remarks, such as “Do you think you got enough? “ , from my dh. :)

Well, Texas was a pretty glaring omission. :). Omitting my little state is pretty standard stuff and fine by me. It helps to keep the riff-raff out. ;)

Oh, Texas isn’t the only “missing” state, and that’s ok. Ya’ll just keep right on forgetting about us. ;)

“But I have to say it’s dispicable that those who choose to protect themselves are being mocked and made fun of here on FR. that needs to stop.”

It could be worse: Imagine that your “given” name is Karen :(

One of my favorite hymns :)