I think green is the tread starter usually---mine may be in green because I started part two and then canceled it so freedom could start #2
retired, living self sufficently in Alabama (Part 2)
omg did i just spend the afternoon reading a thread or a mini novel? i've been humored, depressed, and inspired all at the same time. so many memories of the older ways, when being self sufficient wasn't a choice. how i wish i had learned to make mom's wild grape jelly and granny's biscuits. how i wish i could get off this asphalt jungle and back in the country again. i miss the rabbitts, chickens, and hogs and fresh veggies, being outside by the fire at night in the fall, clearing new ground. listening to the owls and black (yes black) panthers at night. i'd given up on ever being able to live that way again but the way things are going it looks like once again we may not have a choice. i'm so glad i found this thread. so freedom, mind if i pick your brain since you apparently had enough sense to pay attetion to what your elders were doing? how do you make wild grape syrup? how do you salt your meat? fresh, smoked and salted mullett were a staple at our house (still are) but for some reason the salted fish never come out right. seems no matter how much salt i use i wind up with fish in a crock full of water that gets a scum on top. moms were always dry. you had to scrape the salt off and soak em overnight. what am i doing wrong? thanks to all for a great afternoon.
flsusie--
you are not alone--I think we are all living that long lost dream vicariously thru freedom's posts-
methinks this thread will have many parts in the future.
flsusie,
if making wild grape suryp is like makin muskidine suryp .. i never add water . just sugar it up like you would makin jelly .. an cook it down till the consitency gets kinda thick but not so thick to make jelly .. thats the only way ive ever made it .. if you want it tangy'r less sugar .. it'll taste like fresh fruit then. different taste for different folks ....
as far as the salted meats go .. i usualy smoke mine, wrap it in cheese cloth an store it in the salt box covered with lots of salt .. after makin sure its as dry as possible before covering it with salt. an yes .. dry'n out the meat before store'n it makes alot of difference on it lasting and being dry when ready to use. the salt will actualy finish cure'n the meat an pulling all the mosture from it.
maybe that'll help you out some .. an glad your enjoy'n the thread :-)
also i'd like to mention .. due to some phone line issues .. an my dsl .. i may come up MIA for a few days ... kinda like they wont move a line that i told em not to put there beside one of my two bridges on my driveway in, that im gonna have to work on, an somehow da line is gonna get 'cut' or 'broken' or just ripped out hehee .. but it'll take em a few days to get it repaired as always .. some people just never listen ... so yawl dont worry bout me .. ill be back as soon as 'they' fix it right .. LOL
Freedom ~ when you cut it, you should be able to match the ends back together and rewire. DH has done it and kept it working till they can get out and do a permanent repair or move it for you.
Vortreker I don't see your name in green. Isn't it always green for you?
Sorry - totally off topic but something that I've wondered about for a long time.
The name is green when one has accessed that members' information page and then, only on your own computer. Not all of ours.
I don't know--I really have a lot of other things to do besides worry about whose name is "green"
Sorry - just curious, thanks Podster.
Green is Good ... LOL ..
yeah i could tie the ends back in an emergency ... but then i wont get to "bless them out" like they need for not listening in the first place .. hahaa
yeah i know i go along way to prove a point .. hehee so ill be repair'n a bridge this week ..
Got some plastic up on the porch - North and South ends, the East side (longest run @ 22 feet) will wait until the weather starts to turn cold for the winter, late November or early December. Have not gotten back to the truck starter, but I am taking the last part of the week off work, so I guess it will hold until Wednesday.
sounds like you got a grip on it Dyson.... like me i like to look back over the day an see if what i did has been or was productive an that i can smile about it before goin to bed..
i was always taught to do whats right .. be happy for every day .. make every day count and never do anything that you cant look into the mirror at the end of the day an face yourself .. leads to a very peacefull life. do what you have to do .. but harm none ....
freedom, thanks for the info. perhaps adding the water is where i,ve been doing it wrong. do you brine your meats before you smoke them? i think i'm gonna try and salt some mullett after they're smoked but they're pretty oily this time of the year. would that make a difference? good luck w/ the phone line. the idiots wanted to run mine straight through my garden till i asked where to send the bill for getting the cable out of the tines of my tiller.
yeah i'd leave off the water, an i always soak my meats in brine then dry em off as much as possible before smoking them. altho i never smoked fish.. mostly beef, pork, deer an the ocasional goat .. hehee .
also today i worked on forming the raceway for my waterwheel generator .. hopefully work on the mount tomorrow if it dont rain, finaly some rain in the forecast .. wooo hooooooooo
so if it does it'll be ok too. dang im easy to please ..
The starter is on the truck - and it actually starts. While installing it noticed some wiring that needs some attention but that can wait until Friday. Got to get the new tarp over the shed before it rains, and tomorrow a long time customer is dropping off a laptop. Good thing I took some time off work, I'll need to go back to recuperate,
sounds good Dyson .. glad everything worked out with the starter
Freedom we need pics of the raceway - please! That project is one that should be documented.
ill take some when i get it installed in the dam, right now its just a trough (sp?) made from sheet metal ... 21 inches cross the bottom .. with 8 in. sides .... 6 feet long.
This message was edited Oct 13, 2010 4:55 PM
its Sunday, my day of rest an relaxing, planning the weeks work an things that need to be done .. an walkin around my properity lookin at herbs n wildlife .. an giving Thanks for another day.
Good for you! That's something we (collectively) don't do enough: give Thanks... for the day, the herbs, the wildlife, the sun, moon, stars, air, leaves, grass... all that Nature provides, every moment of every day.
so very true, we were never given promise of tomorrow... so be Thankfull for every pass'n second we spend here. and always stop an smell the roses, see the the one solitary flower ... butterfly or bug .. all of nature is a wonder, a miracle within its self.
and WE are over see'rs of it all.
(Side Note: yes, people collect old computers. I am of the geeky persuation and know several of my counterparts who collect them. It is a weird badge of honor to say which was the oldest computer you ever worked on or owned...)
i still have an old Timex Sinclare 1000 ... LOL
Mine was a Commodore 64--or a Texas Instruments TRS80 but I have no idea what happened to them.
It is amazing to think that back then a Cray "super" computer was immersed in dry ice to keep it cool and cost over a million dollars. Now the $500 computer we use out performs the old Cray.
very true VORTREKER, now you can even carry a computer in your shirt pocket .. if not for my laptop i would never be able to run a pc here at the cabin, would be too much power useage ....
well hauled in a load of lumber today to build the mount for the waterwheel, hopefully get it all in an ready to set the wheel this weekend ... an yes there'll be pictures
da man who invented posthole diggers an the man who invented the weedeater.. musta been kin folks .. oh yes .. the slingblade too ..
Bet they were "simple" folks that needed to get a job done. And did it.
I like to use T posts whenever I can because that little post driver beats a set of post hole diggers all hollow. ( or hands down, if you prefer )
I have got to get the tarps up around the goat house today. It's getting to be really chilly in the mornings. I sure hate to see winter coming on.
Ditto on using the pole driver. .
i totaly agree on the pole drivers an steel post, only thing i was setting a 14 foot post 8 inches in dia. 4 feet deep into the ground for a support to mount my waterwheel on. no other way around it. LOL i paid for it tho with my back an shoulders.... luckly i already had blisters or calouses on my hands .. hehee, now to hang the cross brace an get my waterwheel in there and get ready for the fall n winter rains . which i hope is coming soon. kinda like Tim the Toolman Taylor .. argggggggggg MORE POWER hehee
Trouble is, I can't even LIFT the pole drivers, let alone pound a T-post into our rocky ground with it. Now if post-hole diggers had things you could step on, like on a shovel, so I could put my weight on them, that would help.
Heck, I don't even know what a pole driver is... I always used a sledge hammer.
Country wimmen are awesome!
Darius,
a pole driver is nothing more than a heavy peice of pipe a couple feet long with one end capped off with handles on each side .. slide it over the post raise it up and slam it down.... even in hard soil it works pretty well .. ..... rocks on the other hand .. totaly different story..
Azgrammie,, i totaly agree ... Country wimmen are awesome .. LOL
Cool... guess I've never even seen one, but then I have seldom bought T poles either. Like where AZgrammy lives, it's usually too rocky.
Pole driver
Plenty rocky here. Lots of times you have to pull up your pole and move it over. that's why nothing is straight here and it drives me nuts. i am a bit OCD about such things.