http://sonlitacres.com/Sonlit AcresVivitiCMS2023-04-21T16:18:00-04:00Sonlit Acrestag:sonlitacres.com,2023-04-21:/entries/3144861IT'S NOT GETTING BETTER.2023-04-21T16:18:00-04:002023-04-21T16:18:55-04:00<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Some of you have been following us for some time now and yes, I know we don’t post here a whole lot nor do we post in our Facebook group much, however there is allot of information both here and there. So please browse through our pages here and if you do Facebook dig up our old posts for gardening and livestock information we posted there. In all honesty you’ll find it here so if you don’t want to go through all the older posts there you will find them here.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I can’t emphasize enough that you get your seeds if you haven’t, if you have ordered them be bold and order a couple of more years’ worth. Then get a book on seed saving and begin learning to save your own, it’s another way to independence. We for the first time have started hatching our own chicks on the homestead from our own eggs. We started out with ten eggs since I was only going to see how successful I would be, two ended not being fertile and eight hatched. The next hatching gave us 17 chicks. All said and done we have twenty-one new chicks in the brooder. Five are going to our daughter because she would like some chickens. We will soon be collecting eggs again to hatch a bigger brood as soon as the weather gets a little warmer and we can hatch them in the barn.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">We have all been watching inflation for the last couple of years and I’m going to touch a little on it. Folks it is past time to make the move to being a producer instead of a consumer. Hyper inflation is coming, I can’t say when but Germany in 1923, Zimbabwe, and Venezuela come to mind. Yes, it can happen here and it will! It’s in my personal opinion being done by design. We have evil forces in high places in America and no one seems to want to stop them. I don’t believe it can be voted out because our political system is corrupt and the Fed continues to print money like no tomorrow will lead to hyperinflation. The aspect of digital currency should scare anyone to no end. This would give the few total control over what you buy, and they will watch you all like a hawk. No government should have that kind of power.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">The other area that should give us all much concern are the number of food processing plants that have burned down, millions of egg producing hens have been euthanized because of bird flu, train derailments and now a Texas dairy farm that exploded killing 18,000 cows and destroying the barns as well. Just too much coincidence.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Our move to hatching our own eggs is a move that helps us not only save money but to also make us less dependent on the system. We are also going to cut back again on the number of cows we keep, we will have two milk cows as soon as Dazy has her calf in June. Molly had her calf a couple of weeks ago and we are in milk again. Hope our other heifer is just a we small to breed but she will be at the proper weight soon. Then she will be going to a new home. The new baby bull will be banded soon and kept for meat. The coming calf will more than likely be placed in a new home, we are hoping on of our kids would like to raise it for their own meat. Our chickens have been crossed with a meat variety and we are in hopes of getting a dual-purpose bird out of them, if not we will be switching to a breed that is. We are considering getting back into meat rabbits again, it has been years since we have raised rabbits and I don’t think we will need to many breeders to see to our needs. I have also been thinking about raising some quail, I have no real reason other than I would love to try them out. If anyone here has them maybe you can let me know something about them in the comments.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">The garden will be ready to start working on soon and I have it covered with manure right now. We have started a huge pile of compost near the lower garden and I have also found a source for free woodchips from a local firewood dealer. These chips will be used around the plants and in the garden and if we get more than we can use at one time they will be mixed into the compose pile. Nothing on a homestead should go to waste and homesteads should produce very little waste. This year our second youngest son and his wife will be planting the lower garden for themselves. I look forward to working with them and giving any help that I can. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Because we live where we do, many folks get to plant a few weeks before we can. Last year I bought the last eighteen pounds of potato seed our feed store had, this year I got smart and paid for a fifty-pound bag in advance, we won’t let that happen again. I know it is more than I will be able to plant this year but it will insure we have enough and what we don’t use we can eat. We are in hopes of putting a plastic drum in the ground where it won’t float out and see if we can cellar them that way over the winter. If it works, we’ll have seed potatoes next year and we will be able to bury another to hold our needs through winter, though canning them has worked well for us for many years now.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">It is so easy to be distracted by the world events we are seeing; it can cause anxiety and depression in us if we let it. I for one only listen to a select few for my news and I only check in a couple times a week. Instead of letting it distract you let it lead you to become more motivated in reaching your homestead goals. Set your sights high and produce all that you can possibly produce. If you are set and ready with stores enough you have no reason to worry about disruptions.</span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
tag:sonlitacres.com,2023-02-15:/entries/3123838IT'S HERE2023-02-15T11:43:00-05:002023-02-15T11:44:59-05:00<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">There is so much going on in our Country right now I don’t think I could cover it all. I guess what we should be able to agree on is it seems like we are paralleling Rome during the fall. Or maybe the next balloon over the country will detonate causing an EMP and killing our power grid. The elected in DC are not protecting the nation as they are supposed to be. They have their interest everywhere but America.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Inflation is hurting us and now we are seeing an egg shortage and millions of hens have been destroyed either by culling or mystery fires taking hundreds of thousands of laying hens. The latest propaganda telling us it is dangerous to raise back yard birds or even eat their eggs. This folks’ is all being done by design. Control the food control the people, and it isn’t just here, it’s a worldwide move. If you have chickens and a rooster now’s the time to get an incubator and start learning to hatch your own chicks. I have our dual-purpose birds ordered, and they aren’t going to ship until Aug. I have also found that some hatcheries have stopped taking orders for some chicks. We won’t be raising just layers and just meat birds any longer we are going straight dual purpose. We’ll hatch our own and save the roosters for broilers and a few breeders.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">If you own a couple acres and a garden along with some chickens and other livestock, you can grow your own and that isn’t what the powers that be want. They want use all crunched into the cities and the corporation’s growing food in the country so they can control you and your movements. This isn’t living folks this is imprisonment, you will only become one of the cogs that makes the system work and feeds the wealthy and makes them wealthier. Then when you’re too old to produce you’ll be put in a nursing home because your kids won’t have the time to care for you. Oh wait, that’s what’s happening now, just not all of us yet. It’s a far cry from our grandparent’s generation, in those days you aged out and were cared for at home and allowed to die with dignity. I will not be a slave to the system!</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">It’s time we get serious about our food production at home, no you won’t ever grow or produce 100% of what you eat or need even in the pioneering era they couldn’t. So never be discouraged that you aren’t. It will take a community to make things work. Right now, is the time to plan the garden and know what you are going to plant. Get your seeds early and get the book <strong><u>Saving Seeds</u></strong> so you can begin practicing that art. It may very well come to that. Seeds will also make a good bartering tool if the need should arise. If you haven’t been gardening or you have no place to then now is the time to put something away, just a few canned goods extra a week will make a difference.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Starting a garden at home when it is planting time is wise, just remember first year gardens are not as productive. That’s no reason not to plant one, because the second year gets better and in the second year you have more experience. It takes years to become a good gardener and in time you will be as good as any and you will be able to plan on most of what you grow. Also be aware some things do better in a year than something else. There are always crops that do well and other that will in another year. Just keep working at it, I know several people that have raised gardens so they don’t have to bend down any longer so they can weed and harvest. These little gardens seem to do very well and I am giving thought to trying one to see haw well it works. They grow their potatoes in five-gallon buckets with holes in the bottom and just dump them out when it’s time to harvest. They keep their used dirt in a pile and mix it well with compost and let it winter. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19); font-family:times new roman,times,serif; font-size:18px">These are the times we have talked about for many years now! I pray you are all-ready. I know no one can be 100% ready for everything, it’s the basics I am talking about.</span></p>
tag:sonlitacres.com,2023-01-12:/entries/3115960THE TIME HAS COME.2023-01-12T14:24:00-05:002023-01-12T14:27:50-05:00<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">The time has come to question yourself as to whether you are ready or not. Some of the latest news has the Government preparing to ban gas stoves nationwide. They have been after wood stoves for years imposing emission standards on them that are near impossible to meet. Your wood fire cooking range has been a target as well. The manufacture of new stoves both gas and wood will be outlawed if they get away with it. Those of us that already have them will be grandfathered in for a time but they won’t stop until they have your stove and force you to replace them with electric. When the time comes, they will cancel your homeowner’s insurance to try to force you to comply. They seem to use what ever leverage they can to get people to do their bidding. Not me! I’m keeping my stoves. If you want to get one, now would be a good time. Personally, I would look for a thick steeled stove, nothing cheap because they won’t last. We have a Kitchen Queen cook range that is built tough, it has ¼ steel anywhere the fire touches. I also have a couple of heating stove I built and they are good heavy stoves and were built about 35 years and they have stood the test of use and time. If you have access to a welder and a cutting torch you have what you need to build your own.</span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I have a hard time understanding where the ideas come from for all this regulation. It seems the few have gained power and keep trying to cram their foolishness down our throats, it wasn’t long ago it was the fight about a new experimental vaccine came out and the Government forced employers to force employees to take the shot or be fired. Then if you weren’t vaccinated they wanted to limit your movement and maybe even deny you medical care if you weren’t vaccinated. With what appears to be problems with the vaccine coming to light it is still being pushed by the medical society, and they want you to vaccinate. I think in time we will find allot is being covered up, when the vaccine came out I remember some in the medical field that were labelled deniers were saying it wasn’t safe and in five years we would see people dying from it or young people becoming sterile.</span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Now we come to the vaccinating of livestock: I know the vaccination of animals has been discussed over the years, but the new idea is to vaccinate them with a R m n a vaccine. It was tried in Europe a couple years ago and within hours the cattle started dropping dead. This was heavily denied at the time but turned out to be true. The main focus on livestock vaccine seems to be having the vaccine present in the meat product so that when consumed the consumer has now been vaccinated without their knowledge or consent.</span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">How do we get around all this madness? Grow and produce your own, or get to know someone that does. Start a food community with other farmers or homesteaders and grow things you can swap with one another. Food purchased in the grocery stores will not be safe, I question how safe it is right now, but soon it could be down right deadly for some of us. I’m watching the shortages grow, just a little at a time, but right now it seems to be eggs. So, you understand the Government slaughtered millions of chickens this summer because of the bird flu. Whether it was or wasn’t we will never know. The time has come for each and every one of us to be responsible for our own food security, we can no longer depend on the corporate system. All you have to do is go to the FDA / USDA food recall page. There is a link on our Articles of Interest page.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Another thing one must prepare for is being able to live without electricity I believe in time it will go down. There have already been attacks on substations around the country and I feel it’s only a matter of time before it gets interrupted. A generator or even solar will buy you time, but if things are down long enough those system will in time fail, don’t get me wrong, we have them. But when the batteries fail you may not be able to replace them. Same goes with a failure of a generator. These systems are well and fine and should help transition us toward living without it. Kerosene lamps are a good bet for lighting, I believe if things fell completely apart Kerosene will be one of the first things they begin to produce again.</span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I’m not even saying a collapse of that magnitude is coming now, but this country sure has a pile of debt, debt that will never be paid because the Fed won’t stop printing it and the Congress won’t stop spending it. Yes, I believe a financial collapse will come but I have no idea when, but America is currently over 31 trillion dollars in debt and we have a falling economy.</span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Prepare yourself to eat what you grow and be sure you work at growing what you eat. To many homesteads are being operated by one person in their family and from what I gather it’s mainly the women folk that are homesteading. Folks we need to line ourselves up and be a team because one person operating the homestead isn’t going to produce enough. United we stand and divided we fall it’s been proven time and time again. If you’re going to eat on the homestead you need to participate. Stock up on what you need, don’t forget the seeds and learn to save your own seed for the future. With the USDA wanting us to register our garden, if not enough do they will hit on the seed stores to see who is buying seed.</span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">If you are hearing or seeing things, please let me know in the comments so I can look into it as well. And please if you have a friend that you think will be interested have them sign up to our mailing list.</span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Praying you have a blessed and prosperous 2023.</span></span></span></p>
tag:sonlitacres.com,2022-12-20:/entries/3110112IT'S GETTING CRAZY.2022-12-20T15:02:00-05:002022-12-20T15:12:57-05:00<p align="center"> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> <img alt="Free vector graphics of Merry christmas" src="https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2013/07/12/17/40/merry-christmas-152193_960_720.png" style="height:194px; width:387px"></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Are things in the world crazy or is it my imagination? I personally can’t remember a time in my life when so many things were going wrong at the same time as they are today. I can only come to the conclusion that it is all by design and it would take allot to get me to change my mind. High inflation is taking its toll on many, the higher cost in food, and fuel. Even the homestead is feeling the pinch, feed prices are up as well as anything to do with raising animals. I fear that anyone that hasn’t done anything in the area of being ready are going to be in trouble and dependent on others. Which could put them in grave danger. In my thinking, now is pretty late, but any time is a good time to get ready.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">As winter weather has come and I’m still not ready for it I’m finding that aging on the homestead has its downfalls. One being the kids have grown and are raising their own families now and some have even moved to other states. Leaving dear old dad without extra help. Also, the worn-out knees aren’t very cooperative with some of the chores. It may be time to lighten the load. I know I have said that before, but saying and doing isn’t that easy. My knee replacement surgery has been put on hold because I have whatever it is that’s going around. I have the cows in the barn now for the winter. I have built new stalls, and have found some of the wood flooring needs to be replaced, and will be sawing out some new lumber to do that while everything for sawing is out. I’ll take and post photos of when I have it complete. We have our new bull home which is a Jersey / Devin mix. I’m thinking this is the last bull I will bring to the homestead; I’m figuring I’ll just keep him and not try to impose my will to hard with him until I decide to stop keeping cows, if I ever make that decision.</span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I should have two cows bred, I am really sure about one of them but not to sure with old Dazy, the bull seemed to keep missing her or she may not have been able to hold him up. She is 13 so I’m saying if she calves again this will be her last and Molly who will have her first calf in the spring will be her replacement. Unless we find that two cows are needed to keep the family in milk. We have spent so many years producing for our family we feel we need to help as their families grow. If the need isn’t there to keep two, we will make adjustments as we go along. I did get garlic planted this fall and we will see how it. Last fall was a flop with wet weather to plant it. I was watching a news article about milk being produced without the cow in a lab. I see no reason to get rid of cows as some would think. No way in my mind that cows are the problem for the changes in climate. I also believe global warming to be a hoax.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">What isn’t a hoax is the current state of our supply chain and the shortages that are being incurred all over the country. yes, I know allot is being blamed on covid, but in my thinking, this all happening by design. Always remember He who controls the food controls the people. We have the USDA wanting us to register our gardens. It never seems to end, years back it was NAIS so they could track everything from your cows to your chickens. It was finally laid to rest when States stop trying to implement it after farmers and homesteaders made their voices heard. Everything they try is a new form of control and it will never stop until the people put a stop to it.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I saw on the news they are now producing nondairy milk, something made in a laboratory that is supposed to replace milk from the cow, yes this is going to save the climate because “we can produce milk without a cow.” No thank you, I will keep my cows as long as I feel fit to. The globalist will point the finger any place they can except at themselves. Vermont banned the plastic grocery bag, yet everything we buy is wrapped in or packaged in plastic. It just doesn’t make sense. I think we could go on about this forever.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Now that December is here it’s time to start thinking about next springs garden, take stock in what you planted and how much you got this past fall and adjust accordingly. The garden isn’t something we can just haphazardly plant anymore; the times are too critical not to have a garden plain. Preservation is very important and with the treat of produce shortages in 2023 it is so important to have what you need to preserve what you harvest. Most all of our meat will be going into canning jars next fall I see no need to keep so much meat frozen only to can it later so it doesn’t freezer burn because we can’t eat it fast enough. We find canning meat to be more convenient for us, not everyone will but one must do what works for them.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"> Right now, isn’t a good time to ignore your surroundings, there is trouble everywhere and those you thought you could trust may not be very trustworthy. When spring comes this season, we need to hit the ground with our feet running and go, go, go. If we aren’t diligent in our homestead work, Hard times may very well come. `</span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Please everyone, have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.</span></span></span></p>
tag:sonlitacres.com,2022-10-09:/entries/3081307IT'S FALL ON THE HOMESTEAD.2022-10-20T08:08:00-04:002022-10-20T08:33:09-04:00<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Hello Everyone, </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I got a question the other day about why my homestead wasn't as fancy as others they see on You Tube. I honestly got a kick out of the question until I realized you do see allot of homesteads there that look pretty fancy for someone living on a homestead. There are plenty of reasons for the tricked-up kitchens and perfect looking yards, but I have decided I don’t want to get into how someone else lives and what they spend their time and resources on, it just isn’t my business, and I certainly don’t want to be put into a position to put anyone down based on the beauty of their home and property or to measure myself up to the Joneses.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"> </span></span></span><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19); font-family:times new roman,times,serif; font-size:20px">What I would like to say is <u><strong>don't think your homestead needs to look like or </strong></u></span><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19); font-family:times new roman,times,serif; font-size:20px"><u><strong>measure up to what you see on You Tube</strong></u>, you’re only getting the view of the best, you aren’t seeing the mess and every homestead has its mess. Some of these folks have also spent allot of their money on it and if they can afford it, great for them. We just never hide ours. Our homestead isn’t the perfect property, our house is as plan as can be and we still hand pump water into the house. Our field where the cows graze is filled with stone, in fact if you try to drive a fence post you will have allot of fun finding a place it will sink in. We have piles of rocks from where we have picked them or dug them out.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I have always lived by the old saying, “If you’re trying to make it pretty, you’re wasting time.” As I have gotten older, I have also found that I don’t move as well or as fast as I used to. I have arthritis in my hands, back, knees and feet. So, some of the things I did all day in the time just doesn’t happen anymore. Just a few hours of cutting up that big tree is almost a sentence of bed rest because near every part of my body hurts. I haven’t let that stop me yet, but it sure has slowed me down and I’m not worried about pretty, functional works for me.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"> Fall is upon us and we are pushing forward with the last-minute outdoor jobs that have to be done. Right now, I am drawing some wood from a few very large trees that a friend had cut down and gave me the wood if I removed it. I’m not going to say no to about 3 cords of wood. It’s time to get the barn ready to bring in the cows, my barn serves as work shop in the summer so it’s time for the tools and equipment to be put in their winter spot.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">We have a couple of fall piglets coming this weekend and we have to get the shed cleaned out and I’ll be putting up a corral as well so they can go in and out as they please. We don’t intend to grow them all that big because as I have said before we raise for quality not quantity. And young makes for tender meat. Other little projects are getting the garlic planted and moving two solar panels from the old phone pole to the mount the other two are on, this should only take a few hours to move and hooked back up. And of course, a pile of yard projects to get done.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Our journey has been a fulfilling one, since we started our first garden in 1990, The homestead moved to its current location in 1998 and our dream of raising our children and seeing grandchildren come and play in the yard as their parents did has come to fruition. The enjoyment of playing with them brings back the memories when ours we so young and having their adventures on the homestead. I personally couldn't have asked for a better life than the one I am living right now.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" src="http://sonlitacres.com/files/resized/583831/216;288;72499984dbd3083a85041ab28ae263c34669755a.jpg" style="border:none; height:330.99px; width:247.986px"> <img alt="" src="http://sonlitacres.com/files/resized/583835/319;425;64bb3dd4d2ec2b42320a88429d0c3fc614dd61c2.jpg" style="border:none; height:330.99px; width:247.969px"> <img alt="" src="http://sonlitacres.com/files/resized/583836/303;404;e047ce6166c66e69eaae9dc0b807f916e2d17507.jpg" style="border:none; height:330.99px; width:247.969px"></p>
tag:sonlitacres.com,2022-08-22:/entries/3061789KEEPING ON2022-09-16T16:01:00-04:002022-09-16T16:03:29-04:00<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="color:#8B4513">I wish I knew how many times I have sat at this keyboard and started to type something and wonder where to go with it. Today is another one of those days, I have written about many things over the years about the homestead, gardening, animals, heating and cooking with wood along with economic hardship on the horizon. As we go about our lives here on the homestead getting ready for winter (which seems to be moving in at lightning speed.) I wonder where summer went, it seemed as if it just got here. This summer produced good in some things and mediocre in others, but all in all I won't complain because I am always grateful for what we have been provided.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="color:#8B4513">As far as reasons to homestead we have covered that extensively, as well as why we should. It appears since covid struck we have been dealing with supply chain issues. Folks it's been two years! And they can't seem to get a handle on it, we are also seeing the price of food and fuel go threw the roof, as well as animal feed. Many ranchers and farmers have sold off their livestock, which may be OK in the short term as far a beef pricing goes, because there should be allot of it hitting store shelves soon. If that happens, it will temporarily come down in price and that would be the time to stock up. With Europe reporting a drop in wheat production by 47 million tons and the United States producing 7.2% less than normal this year, we will see shortages of wheat in 2023 as we are still running on last years harvest.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="color:#8B4513">I pray you all have been preparing at least something for yourselves. We have been busy canning beets beans and greens this year and with so much zucchini it looks like we will be canning some of that as well. Our potatoes are looking good and we have dug them because the mice were digging in and eating them, they too will be canned with the exception of a half bushel so we can eat some fresh. We will be doing more pickles this year than normal only because yours truly decided to plant all the left over cucumber seed he had from previous years, of coarse all of them sprouted and grew into producing plants. Who would have figured? Once done with the garden I will be pulling the meats out of the freezer and canning all of it, the plan is to also can what we slaughter this year. The idea is to shut the large chest freezer down and only use our small one, the kids are all grown and there is no need to put that much meat up anymore.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Coming to the subject of things that seem to be coming, I don't have all the answers, I have no idea where it will go. All I know is it is getting more expensive to shop, cut hay, buy feed or go anywhere. Will shortages come? There is no doubt in my mind there will be severe shortages on many things. We are hearing of crop failures all over the world, with drought, shortages of fertilizer as well as the cost of fertilizer. We as a nation have become too dependent on other countries for many things, and if you’ll pay close attention, you’ll see these items are imported.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">American’s have become polarized in their thinking, everyone wants everyone else to think and act as they do, independent thinking has been brushed aside. No one tolerates the other because of this great divide that is sweeping our country. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I keep hearing whose fault it is but I don’t see anyone looking in the mirror and saying I need to stop going with the flow and stand up for myself and family and stop watching everything my neighbor does. Trust me those yahoos in D.C. wants us divided so we can be occupied with each other instead of them, and they can keep passing stupid laws and fill their pockets at our expense. All that is happening now in my opinion is planned and is going to get worse. </span></span></span><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19); font-family:times new roman,times,serif; font-size:20px">This situation didn't start today, it's been in the planning </span><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19); font-family:times new roman,times,serif; font-size:20px">for a long time.</span><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"> Keep your eyes open, watch and listen and you will start to see what they are up to. Keep diligently working your land and livestock and always be prepared. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="font-size:20px">Today there are now 20 million families behind on their utility bills, yes 20 million families are 30 days away from having their power disconnected. Guess what time of year it is? Your right, it is now fall and cold weather is just around the corner with winter nipping at the heels. How many of you can make it if your power is out and you can't afford to get it back on? Having been on the homestead many years now I think we would be fine, our house is a hybrid, power to the outlets, and solar on the lighting. I believe we are in pretty good shape because of the years we were with no grid power. But my real concern is how are you going to do? </span></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="font-size:20px">The other problem is a weak grid, California is already limiting what times of the day you can charge your electric car because of a shortage of power. Which leaves allot to consider before buying one of those. I guess what we really need to be watching are all the things going wrong and are in desperate need of attention. No one seems able to fix them and that means allot of people are going to be in deep doo doo when the piper needs to be paid. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="font-size:20px">The government can't stay on the coarse of printing and the out of control spending of it. As well as debt forgiveness without the consequences of the hurt that will come with it. When hyper inflation hits it will bring everything crashing down as it did in Germany in the 1920's. </span></span><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="font-size:20px">Even if you're not conspiracy minded something deep down should be telling you something isn't right with all of this.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19); font-size:20px">Please take a moment to join our mailing list so you get an e mail when we post. If you have a friend you think might be interested please have them sign up as well.</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="color:#8B4513">.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"> </span></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
tag:sonlitacres.com,2022-08-15:/entries/3058970 AMERICAN HOUSEHOLDS.2022-08-20T12:41:00-04:002022-08-20T12:47:02-04:00<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Today's American households are non-producing households.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">The idea of a contained family economy is long forgotten as well as the skills to sustain that family economy. The average American household is now a consumer based closed economic system. This consumer-based system is not sustainable and is doomed to fail at any given time. It is desirable for the modern homesteading family to maintain the family-based economy in such a way, that when the consumer-based economy does fail we won't be crippled and just lay down and die because of a failure.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I know many folks that prep and set themselves up to survive for several years should the system fail. But many of those folks are preparing themselves to tough it out and survive until the system can return and right itself. My question many times to those folks is: Are you prepared to survive if the system never returns? I don't ask that in arrogance, but instead I ask out of concern for their wellbeing and that of their families.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">For our family the idea of prepping is to be in constant production of a bulk of our food supply, that it may carry from one harvest to the next and have some left over from the previous year maybe to make up any short fall. (We know there will be in something each season.)</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Having fresh meat in the field on the hoof will no doubt be the norm in an economic failure, as the power will have failed as well. No, we don't keep tons of candles or drums of lamp fuel around, (Though we do keep some.) those will eventually run out too. Instead, our plan is to go to bed when it gets dark like our forefathers did.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">What I do keep around is enough Fuel and Bar and chain oil around to get us by for a couple years of wood cutting while we get ourselves in shape to run the old cross cut saw. By then I'll have taken my grandfather’s old haying equipment out and cleaned up so we can hook them up to that team I always wanted and get our hay in the old way. We did it before but the old equipment was pulled with our old Farm-all tractor.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I guess all in all we don't need to call our life any new fancy modern word, I guess what we are really living as a normal old fashion traditional life. A life we should strive for whether the present system fails or not, it is a life we have loved for many years now and plan to continue to the end.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Let’s not live out our lives worrying about what will come or what might come and continue an strive to do it a little better this year or maybe next year so we are another step closer to our personal goal of living a normal traditional life.</span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Please Everyone have a blessed week.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"> </span></span></span></p>
tag:sonlitacres.com,2022-07-05:/entries/3042808RANT2022-07-05T10:37:00-04:002022-07-05T10:38:29-04:00<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">OK, this is no longer even funny nor is it debatable. The cost of food and fuel has gone through the roof and there is no end in sight. They claim an 8.7% inflation rate but let’s not be fooled most everything is doubled which makes a 100% increase and fuel is up some 400%. If everything averaged out it’s more like 60% inflation. Folks you have to be ready, get a garden in before it’s too late, start stocking up on canned goods as well as wheat, beans, rice and other things you eat of that nature when you buy it buy in bulk, you’ll need it.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"> One must realize it isn’t going to be fair to ask your homesteading neighbor to feed you more than a few times, they more than likely don’t have enough to give to much away. Being ready falls upon every individual, so please plan accordingly because the food shortages are going to last through 2023 and possibly beyond for some items. With the sever increases in the cost of fertilizer many farmers can’t afford to purchase it, and the cost to fuel the tractors going from roughly $250 a day is now $700 or more so farmers may not be planting as much as they used to. I know we will not be taking any chances on a tight window to dry hay at the price of fueling our tractors. We need to be sure we are getting the hay or we are wasting our money, no we aren’t in the mulch hay business so it is important that we get it for feed.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Which brings me to the dependence problem we have in America. We have lost the knowledge of our ancestors in how to live. Today we let others do the supplying while most relax and enjoy their easier life style and disregard the warnings of people and even the government when they claim there will be shortages, these are the folks that will suffer much when the shortages come. Yes, the shortages are already noticeable in the store and even at the pump, I am hearing that gasoline is being rationed in some places. We have all toiled in our secular jobs, because we were taught that was the way it was since we were toddlers. But in all honesty, we have been slaves to the system, we haven’t and aren’t living free. We are bound to servitude and are told it is voluntary. Looking back, I don’t remember volunteering to be a slave to the system, I just did what I was taught until I broke through the confines of the box.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Can we live free of the system? Not as long as they tax you on your land, you will have to turn an income somewhere to pay the taxes on your property, property you purchased and no doubt already paid tax on at the time of purchase. In my opinion I think property tax is the most unfair tax going and should be abolished. This will never change until enough people open their eyes to the reality that they have been enslaved to think within the box of our society. Once people see what is really going on they can start the renewing of their mind can begin. Once enough are awakened, they can demand the changes needed to fix the error that was forced upon our society. If you haven’t read the book Surviving Off Off Grid by Michael Bunker now would be a good time to get and read it. It’s not a how to book but a why you should book.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Has anyone noticed the lack of 18 wheelers on the highways? My wife and I drove50 miles up the interstate a few days ago and only saw two, when normally there would have been an easy 100 or more. I have heard trains aren’t running as many cars as they normally do, but I can’t say I know it for a fact. What I do know folks is that it’s coming, things in this country are coming apart and store shelves aren’t as full as they used to be. Inflation will take every spare dollar you have and leave you with little. My advice would be to buy goods that will last, dried or canned and stock up (Be sure you have a good water supply) if you haven’t been. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">At the rate the Fed is printing money I can’t believe that the dollar will continue to get worthless and send us into an economic recession or depression. Either is very possible at this time. I don’t know how long people will be able to continue paying their electric or internet cable and phone bills, if I were you, I would certainly get ready to do without those things. Along with getting as stocked up as you can now would be a good time to start printing all the information you have stored on your computer just in case.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I wouldn’t panic, many will have to do with what they have and take care of their families. Many of us have seen this coming for a long time now, and have been preparing. For those that believe the system and have done nothing to ready themselves will be the ones that begin to wander the countryside begging or taking what they need or even want. I believe it is going to get allot worse and by fall we’re going to see serious shortages in the supermarket.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Keep an eye out and please leave comments about what you are seeing or hearing so we can keep helping folks prepare.</span></span></span></p>
tag:sonlitacres.com,2022-05-15:/entries/3020515I THINK WE SAW THIS COMING.2022-05-18T09:06:00-04:002022-05-18T09:11:58-04:00<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I think we all knew that inflation was going to happen, our grocery money isn’t taking us as far as it used to. I know many times over the years I have warned folks about what I felt was to come, I honestly believe we have come to depend on cheap food without knowing the real cost behind it. With fuel prices sky rocketing it will only drive the prices of everything up. They claim inflation is a little over 8% but we all see that most everything has doubled and it is really more around 50%.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">We are now dealing with formula shortages and people with infants are struggling to find the formula they need to feed their infants. My strong advice here folks is if you are expecting you better really consider feeding your baby the old fashion way like your grandmother or great grandmother did. We used an Old Universal no. 2 food chopper we found in an antique store that was still in the box and used that to grind our baby’s food instead of buying regular baby food. It gave us the satisfaction of knowing our children were eating real food that we produced at home. Even a Universal No. 1 works well for this. E Bay has many listed there just watch out for the gougers.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Food shortages are coming, the prices have doubled and this is the time to get stocked up, canned goods, some wheat, rice and maybe some whole oats, if you can find these things in 50-pound bags that would be the way to go. Be sure you have a good water source and maybe a good seed supply and be prepared because it is coming folks. The claim is that auto parts may also be a problem, many things may very well be short or not available at all because of the China shut downs as well as Japan’s economic troubles.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I’m not even saying leave the cities anymore, because the ones that have come here have done nothing to see to their own sustainability. All I say now is prepare to hunker down where you are and be sure you have stored goods enough to see you through. And keep what you are doing to yourself.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"> The Fed continues to print money, and congress won’t stop spending it. This scenario can only bring a fall and we aren’t coming out of this. We are in the same place the Roman empire was before their fall and it isn’t going to be pretty. Be sure you’re prepared, have food preserved and stored, you have this season to get it done whether it’s the garden or dried and canned goods.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">We will be working on a few projects this summer we have been wanting to do for some time and I am in hopes to get some video of what we are up to this year. Our wood shed is near full and it will be topped off this week and there is more in the woods we will be moving home and it will have a whole year to dry. We are in hopes of building that long awaited summer kitchen, as well as some refrigeration powered by our wells overflow. Very similar to the old spring house from days gone by this will give us a place to chill our milk as well as giving us a place to age our cheese.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Many have said we are crazy for living like this over the years, but I believe the time is here when the homestead will do what it was intended to do. The garden was added to last year by our pigs and it looks as though the garden has grown instead of getting smaller. We are currently working the soil right now and are mixing in much manure and once done we will till it is ready to plant. Right now, I will be working on taking the dead falls out of the field so we can get the cows to some grass and get a bull here to breed the girls so we can start getting milk again.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">We have started planting the garden and are still waiting to plant the rest after our last frost date. I have scrapped the idea of a smaller garden; we feel the family has grown and when it all falls apart, we will be able to help them.</span></span></span></p>
tag:sonlitacres.com,2022-05-07:/entries/3015310WE HAVE LOST OUR CONNECTION.2022-05-07T11:50:00-04:002022-05-07T11:52:52-04:00<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">We have lost our connection to the land and the know-how of our grandparents; we cannot in honesty remain separated from the land for long without disastrous results. We are a living organism and rely on other living organisms to survive. As our culture continues to distance itself from the natural world in short sighted and un natural ways, we have stopped living sustainably and abundantly by removing ourselves from the natural food chain and began consuming processed, chemical laden and genetically modified foods our health is suffered greatly from some very nasty diseases that to many have had disastrous results.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Our children are some of the sickest generations ever recorded, and the problems are so numerous they cannot be solved at once. What we need to do is make deliberate changes to radically improve our health or we will not find our way out of. Big Tech, Big Pharma and Big Agriculture will not do a thing to help us regain what we have lost. We need to find our own way back by re connecting to the land and methods used by our grandparents. The more we embrace this concept for ourselves the healthier we will be come.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">What we eat will impact our health our immune system is miraculously sophisticated and extremely able, but we need to feed it properly. Supplements and pills will never make us healthy again. Our bodies are designed to be nourished by complex food; science will never be able to synthesize that. GMO’s now make up the larger percentage of food we are buying in the store and to this day we have no idea whether it is really safe for consumption or even safe environmentally to grow. Yet our current society continues to trust science totally, not saying science is a bad thing, but saying science like everything else today can be and in many cases is bought. Science has flip flopped on findings so many times in just my life time it should keep us skeptical, and it’s our jobs to keep them honest. We vote with our grocery dollar three times each day; we need to start voting for fresh locally grow wholesome foods.</span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
tag:sonlitacres.com,2021-04-25:/entries/2682003WHERE TO NOW?2022-03-26T12:14:00-04:002022-03-26T12:18:53-04:00<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">It seems all we hear about these days are shortages and inflation, it is apparent to all of us as we shop that the store shelves have several empty spaces and the total at the register is over the top. Everything we buy is rising in price and it doesn’t look as if it will end any time soon. The prediction for 2022 isn’t looking good. Fertilizer has increased as much as 5 times the normal price the cost of fuel has more than doubled in the past year. Add to it the national debt hitting 30 trillion I wouldn’t expect anything to get better any time soon. Even Biden says we will be seeing food shortages as farmers rethink their production options. It looks as though the harvest season this year is going to be slim compared to most and I believe it will run right through next year. And with inflation rearing it's ugly head we have entered another dark era.</span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">We have allowed ourselves to fall for the big lie for too many years and we have all fallen to some degree for societies deception of what a better life is. I honestly believe the current economic system by design is to benefit the nations elites as they run those in power. We have allowed them to send production of almost everything to other countries. We import more of our food than is produced here, and the Government continues to allow China to purchase our farmlands. Control the food, water and energy and you control the people of the nation. It all started with making people think they were poor if they didn’t have certain things. Electricity was one of them, then along with that were all the cool new appliances that operated on it. The automobile was next, as was the farm tractor. The list is so long it would be near impossible to compile it all. Today we pay large power bills every month to power all these gadgets that 90 years ago didn’t exist. We as a society put out billions of dollars a month to an electric grid that could fail us at any opportunity. The appliances today don’t last and we are in a cycle of buy, use and replace. The amount of money spent on automobiles has increased so bad I don’t think the average working person can in all honesty afford a very used 1980’s automobile to get them back and forth to work. Just think of all the ways our hard-earned money is spoken for before we even get our paycheck! In all honesty we have only become the money middleman, we get it then we distribute it for this bill then that bill and on to the monthly loan payments, then of course we head to the grocery store to shop for the household and all too often we find we don’t have enough to get all we really need. For many the choice is pay the mortgage, the car payment, electric, phone or what have you and go hungry.</span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">How many of us are ready if the grid should fail us? How many of us could go on without electricity if it should go down? I think the answer is very few could make it if it ever went down for an extended time. What delivery systems would fail if a long-term disruption should occur? I think the answer is almost everything. It has been said if the power grid were to fail for a year that 80 to 90% of this Country’s population would die. I don’t know if it would be that high but I am sure it will be a large number.</span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Before the time of the second industrial revolution most people were agrarian, everyone had a garden and livestock and they tended their own needs from their land. If they need something they couldn’t produce on their own and didn’t have enough money they would barter for it. No not everyone was a farmer, there were businesses of many kinds but all those people had a cow or pig in their back yard as well as a garden that they ate from. Most businesses catered to the agrarian society because it was prevalent at the time. I know many people will disagree and tell me I am foolish, but remember this county fought two world wars as an agrarian based society. After World War 2 many changes came to America and industrialism wasn’t one of our greatest moves in my opinion. People left the farms and headed into the cities to make their fortunes; the problem was many didn’t make a fortune. But instead subjecting themselves to voluntary servitude. </span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I’m not going to go deeper into it, but will say if we look at where we are and were we have come in the last 80 or 90 years, some of you will at least see where I am coming from. It was 30 years ago that my wife and I moved from town and came to the homestead. In that time, we have seen and conversed with many people that took the same turn. Some made it over the years and some didn’t make it, or just decided it wasn’t the life for them. However, I have read there is another growing movement toward homesteading in the past couple of years. It always excites me to see the movements come and I always wish these folks well, and have always been open to answer any questions anyone has ever asked us. But all to often when times get better if they do, these same people turn the garden back into lawn and abandoned it, when what they should have been doing was continuing on and canning their produce and preserving it for times such as these.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"> </span></p>
<p><font color="#8b4513" face="times new roman, times, serif"><span style="font-size:20px"> </span></font></p>
tag:sonlitacres.com,2021-06-08:/entries/2771232THE PROMISED PHOTOS2021-06-15T07:50:00-04:002021-06-15T07:52:29-04:00<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Here are a few photos of our new calf shortly after she was born, we'll have more as time goes on.</span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><img alt="" src="http://sonlitacres.com/files/resized/545349/1170;878;e741f275bf964b5052226adab8d13e03b204f4c1.jpg" style="border:none; height:271.997px; width:362.986px"> <img alt="" src="http://sonlitacres.com/files/resized/544841/476;357;c251a93e1f2bd57c25329f83e6a816c86eefa8b8.jpg" style="border:none; height:271.997px; width:362.969px"> <img alt="" src="http://sonlitacres.com/files/resized/544844/461;347;c01d6226a81c0148cb2eba59e26b8e97061410b2.jpg" style="border:none; height:271.997px; width:362.969px"></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
tag:sonlitacres.com,2021-04-25:/entries/2682296NO EXPERT ON MONEY2021-05-25T21:15:00-04:002021-05-25T21:18:13-04:00<div style="font-family: inherit;">
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">
<div class="ecm0bbzt hv4rvrfc e5nlhep0 dati1w0a" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_258" style="padding: 4px 16px; font-family: inherit;">
<div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg" style="flex-direction: column; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px; display: flex; font-family: inherit;">
<div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d" style="margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 5px; font-family: inherit;">
<div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-family: inherit;">
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;">
<div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style='overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);'>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I for one am no expert on money, other than to use it as a means of trade. I do know basic things, like spend within your means and Make saving for a rainy day a habit. But the past couple of years has had many people wondering about their future, to include my family.</span></span></span></div>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"> </div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style='overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);'>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Never in the history of this country has there been so much money in circulation, the Fed continues to print more and more in an attempt to get the economy rolling. What I have always understood about the printing of money, was that if one prints to much we get inflation. With the hockey stick effect on the monetary charts we are already seeing some inflation. But from what I can understand about this subject is what all the so called experts say.</span></span></span></div>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"> </div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style='overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);'>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Who one listens to on the matter will depend on what they want to believe, I for one believe that taking what the Fed or the government agencies say is to believe you want to see a brighter picture. On the other hand there are those that don't get a paycheck from the tax payer and make their living much like the rest of us. They either work for someone else or for themselves and they paint a much different picture. What the Fed says and what they do are conflicting. So one is left to weigh in on the facts, and the only way one could do this is to look at history. In 1923 we see Germany trying to pay its war debts; they don't have the money, so they fire up the printing press and print it. Over the course of sometime the money becomes worth less, and finally to the point of being worthless.</span></span></span></div>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"> </div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style='overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);'>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Hyperinflation is what it is called, I have been hearing about this for quite a while now and the conclusion that I have come up with, is we are heading down that road. They have printed way too much and the value of the Greenback is declining. In Germany it took a wheelbarrow load of money to buy a loaf of bread! Can you imagine going to the store with a wheelbarrow full of money to buy a loaf of bread? Many economists are saying we will be seeing inflation rates of 20% to 30% over the next two or three years, and food prices are going to jump 10% in the new year. I believe them, we have been seeing it now for the past couple years and nothing leads me to believe it will stop any time soon.</span></span></span></div>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"> </div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style='overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);'>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">We have reached the point of big spending in this country and it is breaking us. We need to return to more conservative ways of living and stop looking at what the Jones’s have. We need to hold our elected to accountability, from our communities, our states and in Washington!</span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style='overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);'>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">But now that the damage is done, and we wait for what comes next. What do we do to be ready for the day we can't afford a loaf of bread? We again have to look back at history. We need to bring back what our Grandparents knew while they were raising their families during the depression.</span></span></span></div>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"> </div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style='overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);'>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Many people lived on farms during the Depression which softened the blow as far as food was concerned. They could grow the food they needed and didn't have to go to a grocery store for every single morsel to feed their families ate. How many people do you know today that can grow most of their own food including fruits, vegetables, eggs, chickens, milk, pigs, cows, etc.? The things that I remember my Grandmother saying was they conserved like it was gold, coffee, tea, sugar and salt. No one was a picky eater; the children ate what was put in front of them. The skills to acquire food were part of the fabric of life. Berry picking in the summer, foraging for nuts in the fall, growing food, processing food (i.e.: smoking meats, canning vegetables and fruit, making cheese), fishing, and hunting were skills that every kid learned from his parents and grandparents.</span></span></span></div>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"> </div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style='overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);'>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Skills in general were used to do a lot of work with very little material goods. Clothes were washed by hand; fertilizers were made at home (thanks to the cows, horses, pigs and chickens) and were not purchased. Work shops were on every farm, repairs to equipment were something everyone did for themselves or was bartered for. Bartering was quite common and thoroughly used.</span></span></span></div>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"> </div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style='overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);'>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">They didn't use much credit back then. Granted some people received credit for various purchases (house, car, farm machinery, etc.) but it was a BIG deal. You didn't sign a paper and wait for a shiny card to arrive in the mail. The banker had to know you, your parents, your grandparents, and practically receive the title to your first born before you would be given credit to purchase what you needed. With credit so easy to receive today, much of the population is up to their eyeballs in debt, setting themselves up and their lenders for bankruptcy at the slightest financial glitch. Easy credit plays the biggest roll in our current economy, I have said it before when you borrow money, you are borrowing against an uncertain future.</span></span></span></div>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"> </div>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">They didn't have the bills that we have today. Today's bills include: gas, electricity, water, garbage, sewer, cell phone, home phone, cable TV, and Internet (not to mention the housekeeper, yard guy, car wash, and all of those other "have to have" services that we take for granted). My grandparents never had electricity and didn't have a phone or TV, They cooked with Grandma's wood stove and heated the house with wood. Water was from the brook that ran past the house, garbage was processed on their land, burned, recycled, composted or tossed over a bank in an out of the way place. The sewer was an outhouse and there were no cell phones, DSL, or cable. Grandma was the housekeeper, grandpa was a farmer and worked for the rail road, and the kids were the farm hands and did allot to help out.</span></span></span></div>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"> </div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style='overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);'>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">They always ate at home and if they would be away from home at meal time, they packed up their food and took it with them. They also rarely went shopping unless it was for necessities. It normally involved a whole day to get to Rutland and back with the team and the wagon, the trip was made twice a year. Though Ludlow would be closer for simple things but that would take half a day round trip and the bulk purchased to get through summer or winter was available in Rutland. As it was told to me by my Father while I was growing up.</span></span></span></div>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"> </div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style='overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);'>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">They didn't spend their money unless it was necessary. A yard of fabric would be made into a dress, grandma would add ruffles to keep the dress wearable as the owner grew, the dress would then be passed down to the next sister and the next, when it grew threadbare in places it would then be cut up into quilt squares or used for rags or doll clothes. I wonder how many clothing items are in the average closet or burrow today that either are still hanging in the closet with the tags on or, worse, were worn once and since it wasn't liked it got tossed into the Goodwill bag? Next time you go shopping, consider whether the items in your basket are absolute necessities or just stuff you want.</span></span></span></div>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"> </div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style='overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);'>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Life revolved around community connections. If more work was needed than one man could do, friends and neighbors would show up and help, knowing they could expect the same help in return. Families were closer and friendships were lifelong. How many people do you know would welcome grandpa or grandma into their house to live with them for their final years? It's no secret that nursing homes and retirement communities are such big business. How many parents today would know how to deal with their children if the electricity was out for any length of time? Many parents rely on the TV, Internet, texting, and video games to keep their kids quiet, socialized, and entertained.</span></span></span></div>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"> </div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style='overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);'>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">They made money at anything possible. If they needed money, they didn't turn to credit, they turned to work; they had the skills and ingenuity that could be used to make money or would barter work for something. My grandpa worked three days with his team on the roads one year to pay off his tax bill of $4.00 as it is read in an old town report. Many men did the same thing. Why? Because money was tight and sometimes just wasn't there. How many towns would do that today?</span></span></span></div>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"> </div>
</div>
<div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style='overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(5, 5, 5); font-size: 15px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);'>
<div dir="auto" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Although we are so "advanced" technologically, economically, and socially compared to decades past, it is very important that we all re-develop the basic skills that our grandparents had. These skills will be necessary to survive should the economic infrastructure, which we have come to rely on should suddenly disappear. As the current economic situation looks turning back to these skills is more than likely going to happen for many, and it's only a matter of time.</span></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
tag:sonlitacres.com,2021-05-02:/entries/2696730LOVE THAT SPRING TIME OF THE YEAR2021-05-02T10:27:00-04:002021-05-03T21:35:24-04:00<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Good morning everyone,</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I love spring, the cows went out this morning in their small hold spots to graze while we wait for the pastured area to dry so we can put the fencing back up. Now that my animals are all tended to I have come in to have breakfast, then we'll move our chickens out to their summer pen. though the cows will come in at evening chores I will give their areas a good stripping. Dazy should have a calf soon, I can't say when she will because I didn't catch her being bred but I will assume in the next couple of weeks.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">We love watching as the animals come out of their winter pens and get the free run of the yard, the cows jumping around and spinning circles then run from one end to the next before settling down to eat grass. I could pull up a seat and watch the cows graze for hours, it is relaxing to watch them with their heads down and moving slow as they eat grass looking for what they like the most. The chickens will also enjoy being outside as they scratch around looking for what morsels they can find, mainly to see if they can escape and have the whole yard to run around . The only problem we have ever run into letting them do that was they always find a place for their nests and we don't always find them. So the egg layers get their own pen and we move it from time to time to give them a fresh area. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:20px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">The piglets are growing nicely and staying nice and round as well. We4'll be doing some work to their summer pen and that's where we will electric train them, once they have learned to respect the wire I have an area I would like for them to excavate for us for another future gardening spot. I am giving serious thought to a permanent greenhouse as well as different gardens on the property so any of the kids that want can have their own and Kelly and I can have ours to tend and not try to grow for everyone. She really wants me to cut the garden size down so we have a little less work. Yes we are beginning to feel it and it's one of the reasons I have always encouraged people to start their homestead adventure while you are young enough to do the physical work in starting it up. Once we age that energy seem to escape us and the work can be over whelming, but if the homestead is established allot of the work becomes routine and the bulk of the hardest work is done.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="font-size:20px">Breakfast is ready so I'll head to the table and once done I'll start in on moving those chickens. </span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="font-size:20px">Have a wonderful day.</span></span></p>
<p> </p>
tag:sonlitacres.com,2020-02-24:/entries/2025850THE HOMESTEAD IS MOVING AHEAD, BUT WE ARE WATCHING AND LISTENING2021-04-25T14:46:00-04:002021-04-25T14:46:11-04:00<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Hello Everyone, </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Things on the homestead are moving in the forward direction, our piglets are growing, the chickens continue to lay more eggs than we need and we are enjoying give some out to folks that can use some help. I bumped the cow yesterday and felt a little one in there, so we are anticipating a calf in May or June. I didn't catch her being bred so I'm guessing based on when we put her in with our bull. Our bull has been at a friends farm since September servicing his girls. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I have been cautiously watching the corona virus out break and it's kind of scary. I would recommend folks stock up on things they will need in case the CDC decides that schools and businesses should be forced to close, the world economy is beginning to feel the effects from the spread. Some news channels are reporting and the outlook depends on who is reporting. All we can do at this point is be ready, watch and listen. If it gets close to us, we will be keeping to the homestead and staying put. When they start saying pandemic it's time to have some concern. I never trust the authorities to tell anyone right up front about any real danger, for fear of causing panic. They won't just jump right up and tell you to head for the hills folks need to look see and listen to make their own determination.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="font-size:18px">I know our last post talked about good reasons to keep the homestead productive even in the good times and to store up your nuts just in case they will be needed. It seems now is the time as the U.S. brought home Americans from China and other places that has these people stranded. The last I knew we had 53 cases in the States, with many more countries reporting cases of the virus.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif">I am not in any way trying to scar anyone, I am trying to help keep your attention to the dangers out there, most are there every day and we as a society have learned to ignore them or not see them by choice. Just do what your gut tells you to do, call me a doomsayer if you like, but it certainly isn't my intention. Just keep an eye and an ear open, check the news or google it to see how close it is, because it is here. If you live in a resort area as we do and are exposed to allot of folks in a day from other places and cities be careful. This may not even get any worse here, but it is an example of why we have always said be prepared and keep that homestead producing and viable in the good times.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="font-size:18px">As for myself, I wonder why we are still importing food items or other products from China at this time. I would think the CDC would recommend that all imports from China be halted immediately. Of coarse we have all learned over time and heard it from politicians in the past when asked why. "It's the economy stupid." When it boils down to it, no one is responsible for your safety or the safety of your family but you. We must be accountable to ourselves and our families at all times. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="font-size:18px">If you should decide it is time to put up some supplies I would start easy and just do it as if you were doing your normal shopping. If you have a pantry and a freezer full from last harvest your in good shape and all you may need will be a few staple items like flour, salt, sugar, yeast and other baking items. Of coarse don't forget the kerosene lamps and extra oil to last a while, fuel for your generator and be sure your solar system is up to the job. These are things we normally have stocked and we are ready for what comes. It isn't unusual for us to get a big snow or ice storm and have the power go out for more than a week at times, so we keep things stocked. Folks who live up in the north country like we do are now in winter and refrigeration right isn't an issue. But in any event for any reason we are always ready to pull from the freezer and can what we have in it. </span></span></span><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19); font-family:times new roman,times,serif; font-size:18px">It</span><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="font-size:18px"> does pay to always be ready for an interruption of any kind. </span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
tag:sonlitacres.com,2021-04-03:/entries/2634363WHAT WE EAT COULD BE KILLING US.2021-04-14T09:50:00-04:002021-04-14T09:52:01-04:00<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">To many of us are eating ourselves to death and don't even know it. Every day the food we eat could very well be killing us at a slow pace, little by little without us even knowing we are doing it. It all starts with us believing the USDA, the FDA and the food industry have been protecting us from what grocery stores sell us under the guise of food.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Most of what grocery stores sell us today isn't safe for consumption, some 80% of what is in the modern grocery store is un-healthy for human consumption and are loaded with things that are taking our health away from us a little at a time, in fact so slowly that we don't even notice. Many of the ingredients in theses foods that make them taste so good like sugar, salt and corn syrup are dangerous to us in high amounts and most of us are un-aware that these foods are leaving us over weight tired and sick. As well as bringing us closer to death because we consume them every day. Unfortunately many of us have become unhealthy eaters thinking we are doing the right thing for our health. The USDA food pyramid is something many of us grew up with, but its recommended daily allowance is more a government advertisement to sell what the nations farmers ware producing. Science is coming to know that the idea of consuming lots of pasta, deep fried foods, pastries, white breads and pizza. Has done little for our health but added huge amounts of calories into our diets.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">The very nature of our modern diet hasn't done anything to rescue anyone from our number one killers, diabetes and heart disease. We know that something has to change. But do enough of us have the will to change the way we eat? Most of us know we have to do something regarding how we eat, not to be the barer of bad news but we need to really start reading the ingredients in the food we are buying. You may have never given thought to making yourself and your family spaghetti and meatballs as such a bad thing, but spaghetti is loaded with refined flours that are high in Carbs, yes I know you're topping it off with tomato sauce you bought in the store. Now, read the label on the sauce, it more than likely has high fructose corn syrup in it, one of the biggest contributors to obesity, diabetes, coronary artery disease and dental decay. Be sure to read your labels, you can buy tomato puree and paste without added sugars and with a few other ingredients to make a tomato sauce that has little sugar and salt which is much healthier. The best way would be to grow your own tomatoes or find a pick your own farm and put up your own sauce, our canned sauce has only tomatoes and a touch of vinegar in it, nothing more.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">More and more studies have linked the low and zero calorie foods and drinks to high blood pressure, type two diabetes, weight gain and cardiovascular disease, even your artificial sweeteners are considered by science to be one the most dangerous things to put into your body. If you're type two diabetic and honey or maple syrup is out of the question then your best bet is stevia. Even if what you are buying is FDA approved doesn't mean it is safe for you or your family to consume. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">We have all heard the warning on trans fats or saturated hydrogenated oils. I understand they are plant based oils, but they have been so highly refined they aren't even a food any longer the reason being these fasts lead to the worse kind of cholesterol that can lead to heart problems and even stroke. Even nutritionists give the big thumbs down to highly refined hydrogenated oils as well as margarine because of their high trans fat content. You are better off using butter. Yes I know Doctors today still tell us to drop the butter and use margarine and I know this because I was recently told to do so by a doctor. One needs to remember doctors are not trained in nutrition nor are there many that practice preventive medicine, but instead treat illness as it comes. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">White breads, white rice, white pasta, pre-packaged chips and crackers, cookies, cakes, breakfast cereals, and every single snack food on the market all have one thing in common-enriched wheat flour. That’s why I watch the type of carbohydrates (complex carbs vs. starchy carbs) that largely make up your diet, and how your body metabolizes food and your level of energy.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Not only are modern refined grains stripped of most nutrients; they also digest quickly into simple sugars, causing blood-sugar levels to spike and come quickly crashing down in a wave of snack attacks. Ultimately, a starchy addition is linked to weight gain, inflammation (i.e., arthritis), type 2 diabetes, as well as cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure. Even fruit juices which many of us think as healthy are loaded with sugars and refined masking what was once a health carb into a simple carb also causing sugar spikes.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">In the last 100 years or so, people have increased their consumption of added fats. This consumption comes from the use of refined oils like vegetable oils, soybean oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil and canola oil. Health concerns related to these industrial vegetable oils which includes causing increased "oxidative stress" in the body and a link to increased risk of cancer.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">It is commonly known that fast food isn't good for us, all these deep fried foods are plunged into highly refined oil loaded with trans fats and cooked in it making these foods bad to consume, now if you are at home making a vegetable stir fry and you are using extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil there isn't anything wrong with that.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Now let's get to the; you have been diagnosed with a heart problem, your going to be told to stay away from butter, eggs, bacon, cheese, meat, dairy and basically anything that has saturated fats or cholesterol. That one notion has dominated the thinking of medical science for the past 60 plus years. This brings us to the ‘Diet-Heart Hypothesis’ an over-arching belief that has dictated Americans dietary recommendation for decades and delivered more bad facts and lies about fats. Avoid saturated fats and anything cholesterol because it plugs our arteries and chokes them off, this advice has been given for so long now that it is believed to be true. The old saying of if you tell the lie often enough for long enough people will accept it as the truth. In a nutshell, ditch your butter, lard, eggs, cream, bacon, red meat and switch to low-fat and vegetable oils if you want to maintain your health and live a longer life. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Now what if you're told that this is and has been a scientific error and you have been told wrong your whole life? What if you were told that saturated fats doesn't increase your chance of heart attack or stroke? What if the opposite of what you have been told your whole life is true? The American diet with it's pre processed foods is largely to blame for obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, and your doctor, nutritionist, cardiologist as well as your family and friends will all tell you that consuming saturated fat will clog you up. You would think that with the consumption of saturated fat at an all time low for several decades that these health problems would have gone away, but instead heart attacks are still the number one killer in America and still on the rise. It all started when a scientist at the university of Minnesota named Ancel Keys published a paper saying the consumption of saturated fats raised your cholesterol levels and lined your arteries with a layer of cholesterol and gave rise to heart disease. Thus the traditional heart healthy diet was born telling us to replace saturated fats with vegetable oils to lower cholesterol thus slowing the process of cholesterol accumulation in our arteries. The theory was lapped up by the governments health\authorities, the media as well as the public. Never to that point in mans history was the way we eat transformed in such a way. The sad part is it was all comprised and acted upon and the science was bad.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">We must understand the the heart diet model has never been proven in a random controlled trial. The relationship of saturated fats and heart disease has never been proven and overwhelming evidence says otherwise. The science that lowering our saturated fat intake may very well contributed to our heart problems. Newer studies show that saturated fats are protective, actually lower blood cholesterol levels and help with weight loss. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">A 2016 study showed that people that consumed corn oil had lower levels of cholesterol than people that had a diet rich in saturated fats but didn't improve survival, older people that had a lower serum cholesterol had a higher risk of death. <span style="line-height:107%">more shocking was the observation that people consuming lots of vegetable oil were more likely to show signs of a heart attack upon autopsy than those eating more saturated fat.</span> </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"> <strong>The Re-evaluation of the traditional diet-heart hypothesis: analysis of recovered data from Minnesota Coronary Experiment (1968-73)</strong> </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Concluded. “Available evidence from randomized controlled trials shows that replacement of saturated fat in the diet with linoleic acid effectively lowers serum cholesterol but does not support the hypothesis that this translates to a lower risk of death from coronary heart disease or all causes. Findings from the Minnesota Coronary Experiment add to growing evidence that incomplete publication has contributed to overestimation of the benefits of replacing saturated fat with vegetable oils rich in linoleic acid.”</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Despite the evidence the unproven theory of cutting saturated fat out of your diet has been aggressively pushed for more than 50 years and in all this time we have been assured it was the fat that the saturated fats that man has consumed for thousands of years is what was killing us. When all this time sugar and not fat that has been the culprit. A<span style="line-height:107%">ccording to the best science, we put ourselves at great risk for the health conditions that plague us today no matter what kind of carbohydrates we eat (even unrefined carbs.) Too much whole-grain oatmeal for breakfast and whole-grain pasta for dinner, with fruit snacks in between, add up to a less healthy diet than one of eggs and bacon, followed by fish. The reality is that fat doesn't make you fat or diabetic. Scientific going back to the 1950s suggest that actually, carbs do.”</span><em><span style="line-height:107%"> </span></em></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">When I had my esophagectomy in 2017 and was able to start eating again my Nutritionist told me that my meals would have to be small and eaten 6 times a day, She also said I was to eat no low fat foods because they were loaded with sugar. What I was to look for in food was fat, protein and calories. Sugar or anything in the refined carbohydrates would cause dumping syndrome. This Nutritionist knew what she was talking about and she was right, I'm not saying I don't eat some of those great deserts during the holidays or special occasions because I do, however I feel bloated with low energy for several days until my system returns to it's normal state after resuming my regular diet. I know there are so many diets that claim they are the one, but despite all the controversy I had to choose the diet that allows me to consume low carbs and supply me with the fuel I need to get the work done on the homestead. After a couple years of trying different approaches to eating I put myself on the Keto diet. Once a couple of weeks passed I felt great, I wasn't tired I was eating less often and I had the energy I hadn't had in a while. In three months my A1C went from 8.1 to 6.3, my cholesterol went from 180 to 136 and I lost 36 pounds. I know folks that have tried this diet and plan said they couldn't continue to afford it, I can't disagree with them because they grow nothing of their own. The homestead on the other hand grows so much of what the Keto diet allows I'm saying 85% with ease. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I remember watching my own Father struggle with heart disease when I was a teenager, My mother tried relentlessly to prepare meals and feed him just how the doctors told her to, she followed their guidelines to the letter and he struggled with weight from that point on and his health just went down hill. He died at the age of 55, and everyone thought he wasn't doing what he should have been, that was 41 years ago and to this day they recommend the same diet to me as they did to him. How many of us over the years have followed the nutrition guidelines recommended by the USDA and have fought with our weight and our energy levels? I know I have, and it just doesn't make sense to continue on a path that isn't working anymore.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="navigation_external_link" href="https://tubitv.com/movies/526849/fat-fiction" target="_blank"><span style="color:#0000CD"><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif">Fat Fiction the movie is well worth your time to watch. </span></span></span></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a class="navigation_external_link" href="https://perfectketo.com/high-fat-low-carb-foods/" target="_blank"><span style="color:#0000CD">The Ultimate High-Fat, Low-Carb Food List</span></a></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I realize many people will disagree with me on this, but I am now 61 years old have eaten the carb rich diet recommended by the USDA and have struggled with weight, type 2 diabetes and now coronary heart disease though my cardiologist doesn't feel I am even close to having a heart attack my last stress test showed a change so they went in to take a look at my request and ended up putting in a stent. So I am at the cross road and it's time to take a turn and commit to eating what I produce on our homestead and keep diligent in not partaking in the high carb diet the USDA keeps recommending. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Looking at the high fat low carb list we see most of what is there can be produced on your own homestead, why not return to the traditional life before the days of highly refined sugars, grains, and high fructose corn syrup. It seems the government food guidelines are an advertisement for the modern food industry instead of a guideline for health. Some 80% of the so called food in the grocery stores today wasn't even heard of or available 100 years ago. That alone should be a huge red flag for us when it honestly comes to healthy eating. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I hope this post has been informative enough for you to look for yourself and end the struggle. It's past time that we all look at what we eat because the diet high in grain and carbohydrate consumption just isn't working.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" src="http://sonlitacres.com/files/resized/537675/473;397;1bfc12ae3d7501c76779e9d3993da062fa263210.jpg" style="border:none; height:267.986px; width:320px"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
tag:sonlitacres.com,2021-03-27:/entries/2624177MUD SEASON IS HERE.2021-04-01T11:08:00-04:002021-04-14T10:44:21-04:00<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">The snow is almost gone and the mud has arrived, another mud season on the homestead marks the start of another season. We are still waiting on our new calf to be born, we have made arrangements to borrow a bull this summer since our new one was lost this past winter. What we can do around the yard is limited since even the grass areas will get mucked if we work them to much so we wait. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I did go to the lumber store, something I really don't like to do. but since I told my wife I would build her a new counter top I decided to wait for lumber to dry enough wouldn't get me to many brownie points so I decided I would use plywood. Now that was an experience I wasn't ready for, it appears the cost of lumber has gone threw the roof and wish now I would have waited for some lumber to dry. A friend that works at the yard told me the prices have been jumping every week since oil prices started to climb and they would be even higher at the end of the week. Now I may be a bit sheltered in some ways here, but I was even shocked to find that even 1/2 inch plywood was $41.00 for the cheap stuff. I certainly wouldn't want to be building a house right now. I guess I won't be building my new chick brooder from plywood in the coming weeks. It looks as though my band mill will get as busy as I can keep it this summer for some of the things I would like to finish and start.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Like most of you we are seeing fuel prices head toward $3.00 a gallon again. And that no doubt is driving prices up at the moment, with the green movement pushing so hard for more green energy and electric vehicles I'm afraid the price of fuel for those of us that can't afford these new electric machines or prefer our internal combustion engines are going to be in for a major expense. I don't want anyone to think that I am against green energy, my house is a hybrid, our lights are solar operated most of the time, I personally feel that's what should be happening with solar and wind, those panels and turbines should be charging your batteries for your own power consumption. To me using the grid to store my energy doesn't make sense, if the grid power goes down in the night time your power goes out as well, at least when the power is out for us, the lights work, yes I may have to run the gen set to power my freezer and fridge but we always do a 2 hours on and 2 hours off rotation during our warm seasons, in the winter it all goes outside. I am working on the concept of using our wells overflow as a way to keep food chilled. (More on that at a later time.) </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">High prices in many cases can be influenced to some degree, to combat fuel prices one must be on the road less so we're not driving demand, food prices seem to have been going up since covid came around and I can't say I know why the shortage that has caused such a rise. I don't believe it was all impulse buying as much as it could have been the shutting down of food production facilities because of the whole virus thing. I feel it has gotten a little out of hand and maybe those that stand to profit the most are the ones pushing the fear. The best way we have found around all of this is to be on the homestead and doing what homesteaders do, it was reported in the news that more people are growing garden than have in many decades. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">The winter machines are put up for the season, I started my band mill a couple of days ago and as soon as the mud is gone I'll be hauling logs to the mill a making as much lumber as I can. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Our piglets came and are comfortably settling into their starter shed and yes, they are cute and getting used to their new home, the snow around the homestead is near gone with the exception of a few places and the woods. Snow in the woods takes a bit longer our maples are about to bud which will mark and end to sugaring season. Though we haven't boiled our own in several years, instead we get it from my brother who has a sugaring operation which makes it easier for us, I would however like to do some of our own again and just may be able to as we get more area in the woods open to get through to have a good sugar line. We never used to do more than we could use and I have no desire to do more than that in the future. Now that I stand to loose my last full time helper to his summer job the chores here will take a little longer, in one way I look forward to it as it will keep me as busy, but offer some challenges where that extra pair of hands would be nice. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Like me, the homestead has matured, however the work of the homestead remains, I was telling my wife this morning how my parents came to homesteading, though it wasn't called that in those days. It has to be a little over 50 years ago, something my mother heard on the news I suppose got her worried she wouldn't be able to buy beef to put on the table, so she arranged through a friend that had a farm to purchase her first cow. It was a beautiful Holstein cow with one ear the flopped down, thus her name was droopy. Well Droopy never went to the freezer but instead went on to be the family milk cow, and meat producer, Then came the chickens and some pigs. And a large garden came out of that and the cellar pantry just like Topsy grew, until all the shelves were full along with the crocks of salt pork and eggs with water glass to store them. All this came out of a parents love because she feared she wouldn't be able to feed her children. I guess maybe that's why I am the same way, not being able to shrink the garden or raise less chickens or pigs, because I may still have a big family to provide for and even bigger, because we have Grandson number 2 on the way. Yes our dream of having the grandchildren coming and playing in the yard while we sit and watch them is coming true.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">The years of labor, raising and putting up so much has taken its toll, the knees are worn out, the hips and shoulders now hurt and the back is stiff every morning when we get out of bed. But we continue because it is still part of the adventure Kelly and I started 31 years ago as a young couple with our first baby girl and we wanted to be able to feed her at a time that all our manufacturing jobs had left and all that remained were jobs that wouldn't pay the bills. We eventually found our way here and the adventure began anew in a new place and it has been an adventure I wouldn't trade all the money in the world for anything else. Kelly and I have had the most amazing life here and as we get older it becomes more amazing with more challenges to add to an already exciting adventure.</span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
tag:sonlitacres.com,2021-03-18:/entries/2606074IT'S THAT SPRINGY TIME OF THE YEAR2021-03-23T10:45:00-04:002021-03-30T09:55:56-04:00<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I am a lover of winter and love everything about it with the exception of the winter rain storms that hit us every now and then. Early spring isn't my favorite, I dislike the wet days of rain and drizzle along with the mud of the melting snow. The snowmobiles that have been used for there winter work are being prepared for their summers sleep as are the the sleds we used to haul the wood. The wood shed is almost empty and the dry wood has been tossed to the front side to make room for next winters wood which we have already started splitting and stacking. Soon comes the anticipation of trees budding, grass sprouting and the garden becoming bare of snow and drying out that brings a new found excitement with the anticipation of getting our hands dirty with the warmer side of the season that will arrive in several more weeks. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">This years garden is all planned out, our piglets have been reserved and will be ready to pick on Friday, our chicks are ordered for a early June delivery has been placed. Our canning supplies have been purchased and we are set as far as the gardening end goes. Dazy should be calving soon and her fresh milk will be a welcomed gift that we have been missing for the past couple of months. Oh yes! The fresh milk, cream and butter is something to be excited about, as well as the homemade cheese curd that we all love. With just a few pounds of butter left in the freezer it looks as though we made it through this time around. Most years we miss in that area but we made the extra effort last milking cycle and it worked out. Our new bull died on us this winter and we are working on a new one as well as one to breed our girls for next year. We have no idea what happened to him, He was good and full of energy during evening chores, but gone by morning chores. It's something that happens when you raise animals, we also lost a few chickens and that has put our egg production down. This year we will bring more egg layers onto the homestead as we have had folks asking to buy eggs, we supply a couple of families with them as well as our own and selling those several dozen a week goes toward the grain bill. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="font-size:18px">The garden will once again be a large garden with about 8 feet added to one side as well as in length. The extra space will be planted with squash and cukes this year. We aren't sure where things will be going as a Nation and to be honest my gut says plant boldly. So I'll follow that gut feeling, I believe allot of folks are doing that in our area because allot of vegetable items like onion sets and berry plants are already gone and feed stores are saying they can't get more. This cries shortages and no doubt because many more people are planting gardens than have in a long time. I say this isn't a bad thing unless of coarse you are one getting caught needing something and the shortage has you in a pickle. The only seed I haven't got yet are our potato seed and we have them reserved this year. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="font-size:18px">This time of year gives me time to watch and ponder things, and sometime what I see concerns me, it is my feeling that planning boldly and maybe even raising a few extra chickens couldn't hurt. If any of you are like us and you have adult children and grandchildren, then we think about what we would do if things went South or life just gets too expensive, we have a family to care for. With fuel prices on the rise again the cost of food will rise as well, and it always seems when fuel goes up, so do the prices of everything else, but when fuel comes down those prices stay only to rise again when the cost of fuel rises. It's a never ending burden for many with families.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="font-size:18px">I believe homesteading is the career of the future and more and more families will take it up even if it's just to plant a garden or raise some chickens or rabbits, thus the name Hobby farmer. Personally I hate the phrase "Hobby farmer" I don't honestly know why, just hearing what we do called that makes me cringe. I have always told people that call us Hobby farmers, that we don't do it as a hobby, to us it's a way of life and the way we love to live.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="font-size:18px">I could go all doom and gloom but I know we can go other places on the web to get all of that one wants, it's that time of year for us, we are caught between seasons with snow that needs to melt and mud that needs to dry so we can get busy at doing what it is we love to do. I'm not sure what anyone's circumstances are right now, but I would like to say, plan boldly and put the effort into it so you can be ready for what may or may not come. Homesteading doesn't mean you're a prepper, (though peppers do homestead.) Homesteading is producing as much of what you need as you possibly can. Some aim high, others just do a little, however much you aim for do it with diligence and have a great time doing it. </span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="font-size:18px">God Bless.</span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
tag:sonlitacres.com,2021-02-17:/entries/2546450BEING PREPARRED. 2021-03-02T19:44:00-05:002021-03-02T20:11:20-05:00<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Being prepared for emergencies doesn't have to break the bank. Normally weather is predicted and one can prepare to some degree ahead of time, other times things hit us unexpectedly. This past December we had a prediction of 8 to 12 inches of snow coming of coarse most everyone went along business as usual and we all went to bed thinking no big deal, this happens here all the time. However we woke up around 6 AM and opened the door to let the dogs out and to our amazement we stared at three feet of snow, our cars are just big mounds of snow. When the storm was over we had four feet. Again and not making light of it because this too we have seen so many times in my lifetime. After all here in the North East we have the equipment to take care of things. On go the boots, coveralls, hat and gloves. I grab the snow shovel and dig my way to the tractor. Clean it off and start it to warm it up for the job ahead. Then the phone rings, our daughter is off the road just a few miles from here. I look toward the road and see it hasn't been plowed in a while, so it's off to the barn to get the snowmobile to go on a rescue. OK daughter rescued and is home safe and sound. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">By the time I get home the word is that the highways are bad and the State is saying if you don't have to be out to stay home because road crews can't keep up. Then the phone rings again. Dad, I'm in town and I can't get up the road at the mountain to get to work and I know I can't get home the highway has to much snow in it. OK, wait at the store until I get there, know that I am on the way. Now we clean the truck off. Start it and get ready to go, we ease it ahead and then back up then ease it ahead a little more opening a path out until we are on the road. We stop at the barn and get any empty gas cans we may have to fill since I'll be in town anyway. To make this short, I get to the store and pick up my son, we fill two of our 5 gas cans and head home, cars off the road everywhere and we stop at each one to be sure they are OK. Yes everyone had a tow truck coming and say they will be alright. An hour later we arrive home and my youngest is having at the driveway with the tractor. OK it isn't going well. I take over and teaspoon a spot to park the truck and park the tractor out of the way. I'll call a bucket loader for this one. Phone call made, he will come as soon as he can and I know the man is now up to his eyes in work. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Well we settle in just as the power goes out. No big deal the solar system is keeping us in lights and the fridge will be fine until we clear the path to the generator house. Again it isn't a big deal if we don't start the generator, after all it's 22 degrees out and we could put everything into a cooler. So why not just pull out a board game after we haul in enough wood to go until morning and let the storm pass us by and allow the road crews to do their jobs without us getting in their way, after all they have plenty of cars to plow around already.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">This storm is a very small piece of any kind of disruption, there are so many ways we can be put upon when it comes to a disruption, it could be storms of any magnitude, it could be extreme weather, political, maybe a terrorist attack, or the power grid going down for an extended period of time. Prepping for these things<span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255)"> can seem overwhelming. And to make matters worse, there’s a lot of crazy “loud minority” garbage that pollutes rational preparedness with extremism, dangerous info, or silly internet debates that don’t actually matter. The whole point of preparing is to reduce the chances of major life disruptions and to better recover from disruptions when they do happen. That’s it! No huge expense or going out of your way to raid the local super market of all the things you should have had in stock already. I'll almost bet you know someone that is prepping right now, but they aren't saying anything about it.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255)"> Until recently, emergency preparedness guides typically recommended having 72 hours worth of supplies. The Department of Homeland Security’s Ready.gov site currently says, “Being prepared means having your own food, water, and other supplies to last for at least 72 hours.” They of course are wrong, yes 72 hours is better than nothing, but one should have their home ready in my personal opinion for a month or two of being self reliant and cut off from other forms of help. Let's face it, emergency services can and will be overwhelmed and you may not be able to get help. Your well being is 100% up to you, it is your responsibility to see to the needs of your family and yourself. When I was growing up it was common place that most people had a years worth of food. The shelves in the cellar were full of canned goods and the freezers were full of meat. Today anyone with that much food is considered a hoarder or one of those crazy preppers / homesteaders. We as a society need to stop putting those kinds of labels on people! </span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255)">All in all we should all be preppers to some degree. We are almost into the 15 day flatten the covid 19 curve, this is another example of a disruption gone crazy. They could if they wanted close businesses up again and shut us down with thei5r new found power. Yes we need to keep an eye open for the newest variances of covid, and be ready for society to go mad if the vaccine they are giving now doesn't work for any of those. It will start all over again. All the more reason to make preparedness a priority. </span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255)">How do you prepare? </span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255)">One way is to be sure you stay as healthy as you can by keeping active.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255)"><strong>Water</strong> is next, if you don't have a source you should have no less than a gallon per day per person. If you can your own food, why not fill those unused jars and can some water. </span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"><strong>Food</strong>, you need to be sure you have enough to prepare meals for that two week period. This is where someone homesteading should shine. If you grow your own can everything, yes can meat as well instead of freezing it all. If the power goes out you could loose a pile of meat in the freezer, unless you are prepared to can it before it goes bad. If you don't preserve you own, then you need to have enough shelf stable food.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"><strong>Fir</strong>e is next, Bic lighters are good unless your in a sub zero environment because they won't light in extreme cold, Matches, fire starter. Electric stove? Get yourself a camping stove, I prefer the two burner ones that use white gas and keep several gallons of fuel so you can cook, they will burn unleaded gasoline as long as you drain the fuel from it when you are done.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"><strong>Light</strong> should be on your list, we use kerosene lamps when batteries are low. We have a 2 hours on 2 hours off policy here for the generator, in order to keep the fridge cold, during that time lights can be run and we have a battery charger hooked to the batteries to give them some charge while it's running. Candle work as well as battery powered lanterns. With battery lanterns, be sure you have plenty of batteries to keep them going. If the weather is cool enough we move our refrigerated items in coolers and set them outside and only use the generator to do laundry when it's time.</span></span></span><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19); font-family:times new roman,times,serif; font-size:18px"> </span><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19); font-family:times new roman,times,serif; font-size:18px">Be sure you have plenty of batteries. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"><strong>Heat</strong> If you have no other heat source than a furnace, you will have to have a back up that is safe to have inside, I say wood or coal stoves if you can have them and a supply of wood or coal to keep them going for more than your two week plan. If those can't be installed where you live then you will have to do your homework. Myself, if I lived in a place that didn't allow them I would come up with a plan to have one stored and have a way to easily hook it up and keep my family warm.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"><strong>Medications</strong>, If you need life saving medications you should have your Dr. prescribe a 90 day supply and keep them filled. A good first aid kit is also a must and keep that supplied as well.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"><strong>Hygiene</strong> is also a must, wipes work ok but maybe some spare water so one can take a wipe bath now and then. If a sever storm is predicted, fill the bath tub and any and all contains, large pots you won't need for cooking with water. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513"> </span></span></span><strong><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Communicati</span></span></span><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19); font-family:times new roman,times,serif; font-size:18px">on</span></strong><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19); font-family:times new roman,times,serif; font-size:18px">, a weather radio, a CB radio or even a ham radio if you can afford one. You never know if your cell will have service, a CB radio is good for communicating locally which is what we have, but a Ham radio can talk around the world. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">One should have basic hand tools as well as an axe or hatchet ands a bow saw with spare blades. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">In order to keep one sane, board games or some of the games we have listed in <a class="navigation_page_link" href="http://sonlitacres.com/simple-family-fun">Simple Family fun</a>. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">You should also have copies of all important papers from your deeds, insurance as well as birth certificates Ect.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Protection is another thought, I don't know where you stand, firearm, axe, knife or what have you. Just be sure what you choose you know how to use it. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">The list could go on and on, you must sit down and brainstorm for what your personal needs are. I would stick with canned and dry goods as well as some comfort food. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Then there are the items you should have while on the road, I prefer my pack basket with a few things so I can walk home if need be. The pack basket is carried like a back pack and leaves my hands free for use. Have a blanket, saw or hatchet, a weapon, food for a few days, fire, first aid kit and spare clothes. Always have heavy winter clothes in your car during cold months. A five mile walk in sub freezing temperatures is deadly, never think I'm not going far I'll be ok.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">With all that happened in Texas and other Southern States in February the idea that it couldn't happen to me is ignoring the fact that we aren't as self reliant as people were 100 years ago. So I say plan wisely and never be stuck in a situation where you need someone to depend on, because they are going to have enough to do to take care of themselves. As far as waiting on Government, they will be over whelmed, or slow to act and unable to help the majority.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Living on a working homestead isn't as crazy as many believe and those of us that have heard how crazy we are to live against the grain of society. But, when things go wrong and there is any kind of disruption that puts utilities down, believe me those very critics will come to you for help. Please if you can give aid, give it and you will be the better for it, I couldn't see myself turning someone away that was in real need. When we hear of people dying because they are un-prepared for the disaster at hand I find it disheartening. It is such a sad thing to see emergency services so overwhelmed that they can't respond. It is during these disasters we need to watch out for one another especially the elderly. </span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" src="http://sonlitacres.com/files/resized/530924/1170;878;ebf10e2307572211de56ab14ae1d5e196e8775d1.jpg" style="border:none; height:475.972px; width:633.993px"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="font-size:14px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif">The storm is half over and the road crews are un able to keep up. </span></span></span><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="font-size:14px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif">Four feet of snow fell before this storm was over.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Take the cold and snow that took place in Texas and start a list of what you would need to make it if something should cause a disruption or disaster, then talk to your neighbors and let them know what you are doing and encourage them to do the same, then think about any elderly that live close by and be prepared to help them if they need it.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">Never put yourself in the position of not being prepared and having to wait for emergency services to come to the rescue, because they may not be able to get to you., The homestead is the perfect place to be stranded if you're going to be, you should already have food stores as well as other basic needs. </span></span></span></p>
<p> </p>
tag:sonlitacres.com,2021-02-10:/entries/2533527MORE RAMBLING AND GOINGS ON.2021-02-17T06:35:00-05:002021-02-17T06:36:45-05:00<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">I have to admit, I have been ignoring the news since the elections. Politics kind of winds me up, but I do check in from time to time. Times are definitely changing. </span></span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">As far as a stimulus goes, I'm not sure any longer what to think, our country is around $28 trillion in debt now, another 1.9 trillion will have us at around 30 trillion. That's allot of money and I am not sure we will sustain an economy in the future to pay for this. I would think that the Governments total tax income will only be covering the interest on this debt since we have achieved a debt of 100% GDP, our country is stuck with debt and continues to live on credit. The part that should scare any of us is the fact that the central bank is printing money as it's borrowed and that will in time lead us to inflation. I have no idea where it will bring us other than down a very rough road. I know people have been saying that for a long time, but DC has been kicking the can down the road for to long now with no change in their spending. In my opinion the operation of our government has been unsustainable for a long time now. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">The pandemic seems to have given many the boost they needed to get the garden in and start canning as much as they could, I know I said it was a good thing before, and I have also noticed that canning supplies are still in short supply and the prices have gone through the roof for these supplies. I would hope that manufacture</span></span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:#8B4513">rs can can get a handle on production and get on track with demand. Now that we have seen canning supplies become in short supply</span></span></span><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19); font-family:times new roman,times,serif; font-size:18px">, it is</span><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19); font-family:times new roman,times,serif; font-size:18px"> time to learn other ways such as</span><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19); font-family:times new roman,times,serif; font-size:18px"> </span><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19); font-family:times new roman,times,serif; font-size:18px">Freezing, dehydrating</span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19)"> as well as</span></span></span><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19); font-family:times new roman,times,serif; font-size:18px"> </span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19)">lacto-fermentation.( Here is a</span></span></span> <strong><a class="navigation_external_link" href="http://www.fermentingclub.com/content/Nourished%20Essentials%20-%20Fermenting%20Club%20Recipebook.pdf" target="_blank">PDF</a> </strong><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19)">on fermentation.) I think we will try some of this out this season. People have been preserving their food long before canning came into the picture and I believe we should relearn those methods and practice them until we are good at it. The same should go toward preserving meats, I intend to study up on the salting and smoking to preserve rather than just add flavor . I have purchased a book on that subject and will be studying it and give some of those ways a try as well. It would pay any of us learn these old methods of preservation. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19)"> I am big on books when it comes to learning something new and encourage everyone to get the books about what it is you want to learn, keeping a small library is a good idea, it will always give you something to fall back on in the future if you should have a question. We have a small library pertaining to homesteading subjects and do refer back to them from time to time. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19)">This summer we plan to give making s</span></span></span><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif"><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19)">ilage on a small scale a try. I will be using grass clippings from mowing our lawn, and packing</span></span></span><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19); font-family:times new roman,times,serif; font-size:18px"> into doubled up garbage bags and tying the ends to keep air out and allowing it to ferment. I am looking forward to trying this to see if it works out. If it does work out well I will certainly let everyone know how it worked out and what we did top put it up. I am in hopes this works out and we will be able to share a simple feed making process. </span><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19); font-family:times new roman,times,serif; font-size:18px">Two of our sons will be buying pigs and meat chickens with us this year as well as helping out in the garden, which we have made a little over 500 square feet bigger. </span><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19); font-family:times new roman,times,serif; font-size:18px">we intend to can as much</span><span style="color:rgb(139, 69, 19); font-family:times new roman,times,serif; font-size:18px"> as we can as well as trying some older methods of preservation. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="font-family:times new roman,times,serif; font-size:18px">We have finally gotten </span><span style="font-size:18px">a snowmobile trail opened up around the property line of our wood lot, this gives us full access to the lot and gets us near more of the ash that is there. With the Emerald ash bore moving closer we have decided to cut the ash before they get here and kill them off. We will also be taking out the standing dead trees and over mature trees as well. the lot really needs to be thinned drastically and be given time to return to a healthy wood lot. Once that area is taken care of we will work down in the old lot thinning and removing dead and over mature trees again. In time we will get a bridge to cross our large brook and start on the property on the other side. </span></span><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="font-size:18px">But for now we are cutting and hauling wood out and getting it split and putting it in the shed. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#8B4513"><span style="font-size:18px">Spring will bring us to servicing the machines and getting them ready for a busy gardening and haying season, when the snow melts here and the last frost has come, everything comes due at once. The garden has to be planted and the first cutting of hay will be ready a couple of weeks later. So it is normally full speed ahead. I have always said the homestead is a busy place during the season and we are all plenty busy. When so much goes on is when you will notice I seem to disappear, it isn't that I don't want to get on and let everyone know what is going on, it's more like the day is done, we are all tired when we get in, and a tub full of water and a comfortable bed seems to be the best idea of the day. </span></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>