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. 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.
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 manufacturers can can get a handle on production and get on track with demand. Now that we have seen canning supplies become in short supply, it is time to learn other ways such as Freezing, dehydrating as well as lacto-fermentation.( Here is a PDF 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.
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.
This summer we plan to give making silage on a small scale a try. I will be using grass clippings from mowing our lawn, and packing 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. 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. we intend to can as much as we can as well as trying some older methods of preservation.
We have finally gotten 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. But for now we are cutting and hauling wood out and getting it split and putting it in the shed.
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.
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