General Archives – Marie's Preps

Global Concerns

I haven’t posted for a year. My apologies. My family and I have spent the past fourteen months creating the new farm. Here’s what it looks like!

This is what took so long. Because of the heavy clay and the rocks in this area, we went up with raised beds. we had 38 cubic yards of top soil and compost delivered that got dumped into the beds wheelbarrow load after wheelbarrow load. You can see the barn on the left and the greenhouse inside the garden fence. The fence and gate posts are 10 foot 4×4 posts sunk into 120 lbs. of cement each. My daughter and I put all those posts in by ourselves.

I haven’t been getting any writing done because I am always so tired by the end of the day that I usually fall asleep on the couch, and while I’m eager to get back to writing more about creating and maintaining a homestead, there is so much going on in the world I need to comment on that first.

You Really Need to be Paying Attention

If you haven’t been reading the news recently, you need to start. Seek out alternative media since they don’t parrot the official stories. There is a looming global food shortage for many reasons, including that it is being encouraged by the global elites, even as supply lines continue to be unreliable. Joe Biden and Justin Trudeau just announced the food shortage last week. What they didn’t tell you is what to do about it. Justin said, basically, that Canadians are all in this together. Not very helpful. Joe’s spokesman said, essentially, that they’ll get back to us. Yup. No suggestions, like maybe stock up on food, medicine, and other essentials; or start a garden; or if you live in a city, get out if at all possible. Like that. Just “We’ll get back to you.” So not helpful.

The Next Steps

Number One: If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord, now is a good time to come to the cross, ask His forgiveness for your sins, and accept Him into your heart as your savior. It really is that simple. Do not fool yourself into thinking that because you’ve done some good deeds in your life, those good deeds somehow cancel out the bad ones. If being good is all it takes, then Jesus didn’t have to die. He died because, listen carefully, THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN TO TO EARN OUR WAY TO HEAVEN. Nothing. His blood on the cross, His death, paid for your sins. You need to accept it.

“Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:10-12

I cannot imagine going through what’s coming to this world without Christ by my side. Things are sliding into a very bad place, and while I prepare, I look to Him for wisdom and guidance.

Number Two: Start a garden. Now. Today. Tomorrow if necessary. Read my back posts for more information. If you think you don’t have the space, if you live in an apartment, for example, find people in your area who do have some space, like a backyard, and make plans to work together to plant a garden. You could also get involved with a community garden. Start planning to grow your own food.

Number Three: Think ahead about things you need that might not be available because of supply line difficulties. Toilet paper? Dog food? Cat litter? Diapers? Dish soap? What would make your life difficult if you ran out? Stock up now.

Number Four: Start connecting with your neighbors. You will need support to survive what is coming. Make connections with people who will have your back and not stab you in the back when the collapse comes.

What’s Next

The global elites don’t care about you. They really don’t. Only you can take care of you and your family. Do NOT rely on the government to meet your needs. Stock up, make connections, live as if the only help you will receive is what you provide for yourself. Get busy. You can do this!

The New Farm

Things are degrading quickly. Whatever your political persuasion may be, you must have noticed the steep increase in gasoline prices across the nation. Prices at the pump by me have gone from $2.69 to $2.99 in two months, from late December to the end of February. Such increases aren’t going to stop what with the new administration insisting that we drop carbon emissions to levels that WILL mean our way of life must change. Be prepared to give up things you have always taken for granted. I am.

For example, air conditioning, a way of life in the warmer areas of the US, will get more expensive as electric rates go up with the push for green energy, as has happened in Europe. 25% of households in the UK and 15% in Germany now live in what is called energy poverty; they must choose between heating and eating. No joke. As for air conditioning, the rule in my house is that the A/C goes on once the temperature reaches 90 degrees INSIDE the house. Yes. So we can do without it, but depending on where you live, it will be a very different, very expensive existence.

I thought time was short when I put my place on the market last August. But after the November election, it’s very short now. There’s a great deal to do and not much time left to do it in, and I’m not talking just about me and my farm. Any of you who are thinking of getting a garden started, of getting some chickens or other animals, of beginning a home-based business, do it now. Do not wait one more week. Time is short.

Planning the Garden

Once I had a contract on my old place, so I knew for sure I would be moving, I ordered seeds and some bedding plants to start fresh at the new farm. Why not bring mature perennials with me? The soil at my old place has several pathogens that I was constantly fighting, in particular pythium, which is a genus of oomycetes that lives in soil, and root nematodes. After consulting with two plant experts, one at Territorial Seeds and one at Nourse Farms, two of my main go-to seed and plant supply companies, I decided that I would leave all of my plants behind rather than run the risk of bringing any diseases or pests with me.

Both of the plant experts I spoke with also urged me to order early since they were anticipating selling out quickly, so I placed my orders late November. Now, in early March, seed companies are already sold out of many varieties. Some companies were already sold out in late January. If you haven’t purchased seeds yet, do so now. Get over to your local garden center or big box store, if necessary, and purchase seeds.

I have also already purchased most of the materials we will need to build the garden. Think about what you will need to build or improve your garden and purchase those materials now. NOW. As the price of fuel increases, so will the price of the goods being transported. Buy the things you need NOW because prices will be going up. They already are.

The new garden will be much the same as at the old one only larger, with raised beds and an eight-foot fence. I have, all ready to go once the snow melts, the deer netting, the chicken wire to go along the bottom (so I can’t cut holes in the deer netting when I weed whack), the 10 foot 4x4s for the supporting posts, the 12 foot 2x12s for the raised beds, and three-inch deck screws to screw the raised beds together. I still need U-posts that will go between the 4x4s and the hardware to make the gates.

The snow this winter has been off the charts, around 60 inches so far, a decent amount for the Northeast, and I’m waiting impatiently for the field to clear so we can begin the work. Because we are entering a grand solar minimum and the planet IS getting colder, take a cooling climate into consideration as you make your purchases, especially for perennials.

This is the field where the garden will be. While I love snow, I really do, I can’t wait for the snow to melt so we can begin construction.

A New Adventure

It is a little hard to believe that I haven’t posted since 10/31/2020. This is a side note, but when I think of October 31, I don’t think of Halloween, which is a pagan holiday. As a Christian, I don’t celebrate the holidays of other religions, so my recognition of October 31 comes from two other significant events that took place on that day.

The first is Reformation Day. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church in Wittenburg, Germany. He took issue with the Catholic Church’s sale of indulgences as a way to buy forgiveness of sin, which is found nowhere in the Bible, and thus began the Protestant break with the Catholic Church.

The second event was the Battle of Beersheba, October 31, 1917. The EEF, the British Egyptian Expeditionary Force, had been unsuccessful at capturing Jerusalem, which was key to bringing an end to the fighting in the Middle East during WWI. Sir Edmund Allenby had recently replaced General Archibald Murray as commander of the EEF. Trying to move north through Gaza along the Mediterranean Sea had proven too diffucult, so Allenby decided to go through Beersheba, which was held by thousands of German and Turkish troops, to reach Jerusalem. He sent in the 4th Light Horse Brigade of the Australian Mounted Division. Light Horse were mounted infantry, not cavalry. They would ride in, then dismount to fight.

On that 31st day of October, 1917, 800 men and horses rode into history. The Light Horse captured Beersheba with the wells intact, which meant men and horses had water in that desert battlefield. Those wells, by the way, dated back to Abraham, who swore an oath with local leaders concerning the wells. That victory opened the way to Jerusalem, ultimately bringing an end to the fighting in the Middle East.

Since October 31, 2020, I have spent untold hours moving to a new farm. I sold my house, which meant leaving behind gardens that had taken me eighteen years to create, and moved to my daughter and son-in-law’s place. I’m still in the Northeast, just farther out in a more rural area. More land for much less money. How is this a bad thing?

The next few posts will detail what we are doing to create a new farm, only larger and capable of producing more food. I hope to do in four or five months what took eighteen years to do before. What I hope most of all is that I have learned from my mistakes at the old place and will do a MUCH better job here.

Stay tuned!

This is a view of the barn where the chickens are currently housed and the field where the garden will be built this spring. The soil is fairly rocky, so we will be using raised beds as we did before. When the soil isn’t amenable to good growing, going up is an option for a small operation.

Getting Started with Prepping

To be prepared, you must have a way to survive no matter what happens.

I believe a catastrophe of some sort is coming. It might be a pandemic, or an EMP from a nuclear explosion in the low atmosphere, or a terrorist attack that shuts down the gird, or a declaration of martial law for whatever reason.

I lean toward a collapse of the food supply as the growing season gets shorter at each end and food shortages occur as we experience crop failures. The growing seasons are already getting shorter in the northern hemisphere, by the way, although we are not hearing about it from the main stream media. Our sun is sliding into a grand solar minimum as the sunspots disappear. The warming that occurred as the Little Ice Age ended is over, and we are heading back into a colder period that may last twenty or thirty or forty years. A colder planet means less food.

Over the next few months, I will be sharing what I have learned about being prepared. I’m going to start with gardening since that is a basic skill anyone can learn. There is no such thing as a green thumb (or a black thumb!) Some people can read plants. They know what’s making them happy; they notice when something’s not right. You can learn to do that if you choose to.

I am not afraid of whatever is coming because Almighty God, the creator and sovereign ruler of the universe, the Lord Jesus Christ, is my savior. And that is my most important preparation.