Surviving Off Off-Grid Book

I'm currently reading Michael Bunker's Surviving Off Off-Grid book. It has taken me WAY too long to read this book. Partially because it is a book that really makes you think and wonder. I end up reading a chapter, or even a partial chapter and putting the book down (or closing the Kindle app actually) and letting my mind absorb what I just read for a while. There are lots of great points in this book. I just finished chapter 7 which is called "Cool Stuff". Its about ways to maintain cooler temperatures in your home or food storage areas without electricity. Very interesting and has given me several things to think about. The last section of that chapter is quoted below. This paragraph really stood out to me and really sums up the book (of what I've read so far anyway). I pasted it here as partially a ad for the book to say you should go buy it, and partially so I could revisit it here when needed to be reminded of the things this book has taught me.

Old Paths

   Looking towards the old paths is not a melancholy dream, or some fantastical wish for a mythical bygone paradise. We don’t look to the past as if it was the perfect, idyllic, pastoral utopia. We know it wasn't perfect. We look to the past for a few great reasons: Because the Bible tells us to (Jer. 6:16); because there is wisdom and reason in learning these old and valued skills; and because the way the world has chosen, though it seems to be right for a time, has wrought nothing but damage, destruction, intellectual and spiritual entropy, and mental colonization. The product of the modern way of doing things is spiritual emptiness and sadness, is fraught with disappointment and unrealized expectations, and creates a crazed urge to fill the void with consumption and "stuff".

   May we all start looking backwards with hope and joy. Our political mottos might be "Building A Bridge To The Past, or, Agrarianism: Change We Can Believe In... Because it Worked Before."
-Michael Bunker, Surviving Off Off-Grid

May God bless,
-Matt

5/10/13 - Log

We've had a rainy spring so far. More than double the amount we had last year by this time. Due to the rain (and a few other things going on) I haven't been able to get more than two and a half raised beds ready for planting. So far in them I have sugar snap peas, red potatoes, broccoli and mustard greens. I picked up some tomatoes, peppers, a watermelon plant and four strawberry plants today at a roadside stand on the way home. Lord willing I will get them planted in the next week. After Sunday it is supposed to start drying off a bit.

Other happenings on the homestead, we had one of our chickens get killed by the neighbors' dog so we are down to one. I'm looking into building a cheap/quick fence for the chickens (we'll get more I'm sure) so they can have a little room to run without getting.. you know... eaten.

'til later, God bless
-Matt

Bees!

After years of research and putting it off I've finally moved into the world of beekeeping. My bees arrived this past Saturday the 13th. "Hiving" or installing them was a little bumpy. Normally the queen is located in a small cage inside the package. Her small cage's entrance is blocked with a piece of candy and a cork. You pull the cork out of the cage and affix it somewhere inside the hive. Well, I pull the cork out and bees came out of the queen cage. The candy had fallen down out of the hole and she was released at that point. Going forward on future packages I will have a small mini-marshmallow ready to plug the hole should this happen again. After that I had some issues with the feeder. I set it down over on the side of the Top Bar Hive that the bees weren't installed into, but could get over to if they needed to. I set the little quail feeder in there and turned it the wrong way. Its a gravity fed system and since my hive isn't exactly level all of the sugar water poured out. I *think* that has been fixed now and I've added more sugar water.

I've started documenting my beekeeping on my YouTube channel

Installing first package of bees - Top Bar Hive
First beehive inspection
Bees active at 7:30am

Thanks,
Matt