Tuesday, October 31, 2023

October 31 - DIY Homestead

October 31, 2023

Day 760 of the Adventure

The final day of October has arrived and we are expecting a very unseasonable low of 19 degrees tonight. It happens, I know, but I'm not going to like it. Here in SW Missouri, I expect a 19 degree night occasionally somewhere between late December and late February. October is just too early for that kind of nonsense here! (Even if it is the last day of October) Many of the trees are still desperately trying to hang on to their greenery. I suppose that will come to an end now. No matter. It has to come to an end sooner or later. The good news about it is that we're as ready as I suppose we need to be for winter to arrive. Even though we'll be back to Fall by a day after tomorrow. Life in the Ozarks suites me better than life did further up north where snow could be common by now. Several days of rain has kept us cooped up in the cabin. I've been collecting light fixtures that have been waiting for either a cold day or a rainy day to get installed. I'm not sure I'm much in the mood for that though. We'll have to see how that goes. For now, it's coffee next to the wood stove. Warm inside, cold outside. 

Carry On

Adventure Quote:  “Autumn...the year's last, loveliest smile."   [Indian Summer]” ― John Howard Bryant

Base Camp Coffee of the Day: Lost on the Trail (Guatemala)

Please Consider Subscribing to our monthly "How-To", Do-It-Yourself" newsletter in the upper right corner of this page.   AND........

Click any of the following Video links to start your own adventure with us on our YouTube Channel:  

Creating a "Roadmap" Back to the Land


Our 30 Day "Back to the Land" Playlist
Mountain Craft
Making Wooden Buckets (Cooper Craft)
Sassafras Tea Making (Chicks in the Sticks video)

DIY Construction Basics Videos
Shelley Painting Trim (Chicks in the Sticks video)

Sunday Morning Outdoor Breakfast Videos
August 28 Breakfast - Campfire Corned Beef Hash
August 7 Breakfast - Chorizo Burritos 
September 4 Breakfast - Outdoor French Toast
September 11 Breakfast - Run-AmuckMuffins
September 18 Breakfast - Dutch Oven Breakfast Frittata
November 27 Breakfast - Corned Beef Hash and Eggs

Fun Videos
Run Amuck Road Trip - Thunder Muffins
Run-Amuck Road Trip - Roaring River State Park

Earning Income with Our Camp and Cabin Rentals
(How We Did It)

Treasured Times Crew to the Rescue Cabin Building (Treasured Times Video)
 

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October 30 - DIY Homestead

October 30, 2023

Day 759 of the Adventure

Signs of Fall are everywhere now and there's one in particular that means a lot to me. It's the temporary woodshed and firewood splitting area we have set up not too far from the cabin. This tiny space represents a lot of work to be done. Yet it has it's Fall charm. The air is cool. The sights and sounds of leaves rustling are everywhere. We keep a small fire going to burn the tree bark that comes loose while we're splitting, so the aroma of wood smoke is present. At our age, we take frequent breaks and sip coffee while looking off into the deeper woods around us. So far, we're still searching for our first Bigfoot sighting. I'm sure he has already achieved a Martin and Shelley sighting (but nobody believes him) 

As we get further into the cold season, we still have plans to build a permanent woodshed and even have the start of the construction lumber pile in the back of the truck. Autumn is a favorite season for many and we're no exception. I'll always be partial to Summer but the change to cooler weather, color in the trees and campfires with coffee brings a welcome break from the heat of Summer. It also gives us the opportunity to enjoy a new complexion to life in the backwoods and the in cabin which resides there. 

Carry On

Adventure Quote:  “I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” ― L. M. Montgomery

Base Camp Coffee of the Day: Lost in the Woods (Costa Rica/Colombia blend)

Please Consider Subscribing to our monthly "How-To", Do-It-Yourself" newsletter in the upper right corner of this page.   AND........

Click any of the following Video links to start your own adventure with us on our YouTube Channel:  

Creating a "Roadmap" Back to the Land


Our 30 Day "Back to the Land" Playlist
Mountain Craft
Making Wooden Buckets (Cooper Craft)
Sassafras Tea Making (Chicks in the Sticks video)

DIY Construction Basics Videos
Shelley Painting Trim (Chicks in the Sticks video)

Sunday Morning Outdoor Breakfast Videos
August 28 Breakfast - Campfire Corned Beef Hash
August 7 Breakfast - Chorizo Burritos 
September 4 Breakfast - Outdoor French Toast
September 11 Breakfast - Run-AmuckMuffins
September 18 Breakfast - Dutch Oven Breakfast Frittata
November 27 Breakfast - Corned Beef Hash and Eggs

Fun Videos
Run Amuck Road Trip - Thunder Muffins
Run-Amuck Road Trip - Roaring River State Park

Earning Income with Our Camp and Cabin Rentals
(How We Did It)

Treasured Times Crew to the Rescue Cabin Building (Treasured Times Video)
 

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Sunday, October 29, 2023

October 29 - DIY Homestead ($7 Butter)

October 29, 2023

Day 758 of the Adventure

There are those who say that inflation is not a "thing" right now. And even if it were, it's not as bad as everybody is saying. I've also been lead to believe that groceries and fuel are not factored into official inflation figures. Not sure what the logic of that would be. Especially since the cost of food and fuel are two of the unavoidable expenses we deal with literally every day. Some time back I snapped a picture of a box of cereal at our local grocery store. It was over seven dollars for 16 ounces ($7.15 to be exact). That's seven dollars per pound for cereal. Here's a picture of some seven dollar butter. Also seven dollars per pound. Besides that, I had to stop for some diesel for my truck and tractor the other day and that had risen once again to five dollars per gallon. 

I'm still trying to figure out exactly who is coming up with this "No Inflation" talk and tell them to JUST STOP IT! I don't care if food and fuel is not an official indicator of inflation or not. My wallet can't tell the difference! 

On one hand, it all feels very hopeless to do anything about. On the other hand, it's also a very motivating force to attempt to create some level of insulation from it whenever and however we can. As this began creeping into our lives a few years ago, Shelley and I had a long talk about how we would personally decide to deal with it. With the world trying to nickel and dime it's way through our check books and savings accounts, we decided to fight back with a move towards self-sufficiency. I'm happy to say that in many ways we taken our own bite out of the inflationary economy. Obviously, we cannot force anyone into changing their pricing policies. Including food and fuel suppliers, or government bureaucrats who implement idiotic policies. But we can fight back and have done so in small ways on our DIY Homestead project. Each project brings us a step closer to independence from the non-inflationary inflation.

Carry On

Adventure Quote: “Inflation is when you pay fifteen dollars for the ten-dollar haircut you used to get for five dollars when you had hair.”  ― Sam Ewing

Base Camp Coffee of the Day:  Lost up the Creek (Sumatra)

Please Consider Subscribing to our monthly "How-To", Do-It-Yourself" newsletter in the upper right corner of this page.   AND........

Click any of the following Video links to start your own adventure with us on our YouTube Channel:  

Creating a "Roadmap" Back to the Land


Our 30 Day "Back to the Land" Playlist
Mountain Craft
Making Wooden Buckets (Cooper Craft)
Sassafras Tea Making (Chicks in the Sticks video)

DIY Construction Basics Videos
Shelley Painting Trim (Chicks in the Sticks video)

Sunday Morning Outdoor Breakfast Videos
August 28 Breakfast - Campfire Corned Beef Hash
August 7 Breakfast - Chorizo Burritos 
September 4 Breakfast - Outdoor French Toast
September 11 Breakfast - Run-AmuckMuffins
September 18 Breakfast - Dutch Oven Breakfast Frittata
November 27 Breakfast - Corned Beef Hash and Eggs

Fun Videos
Run Amuck Road Trip - Thunder Muffins
Run-Amuck Road Trip - Roaring River State Park

Earning Income with Our Camp and Cabin Rentals
(How We Did It)

Treasured Times Crew to the Rescue Cabin Building (Treasured Times Video)


BOOKS by Martin and Shelley

Books by Shelley
Treasures of Life (90 days of devotionals) Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/3tSVWtb
Treasures of Life 2 (90 days of devotionals) Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/3tIPrsD

Books by Martin
Wealth Creation - Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/3tRCiO2
Back to the Land - Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/46PG3ST
 

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Saturday, October 28, 2023

October 28 - DIY Homestead

October 28, 2023

Day 757 of the Adventure

Fall has arrived with purpose today after giving us a very mild start this year. In addition to waking up to cooler temperatures, we also must endure a cold rain. Perfect Fall weather in my book! The picture to the right is the view from our back deck this morning as I stepped out to snap a couple of pics and grab a stick of firewood.

A lot has happened here since my last posting. What had been an every day discipline got put on hold for most of this year. Why? I could give a lot of reasons. Most would be legitimate, but the real reason was we simply had too many things to get done and had a hard time justifying the daily blog posts. January 26th was the last entry, as a matter of fact. That was a day we had just experienced a snow storm that had knocked out the grid power at the cabin. Fortunately, (as I described in that posting) our solar power system didn't even notice the grid power going down. It's the essence of the life we've chosen here for the past two plus years. Our journey of self-sufficiency is punctuated by an independent source of power. The mention of "grid power" reminds us that we still have a connection to them. Mostly, that's a fall-back insurance policy to us, giving me confidence that we are adequately learning what we need to know about our understanding of alternative power sources. So far, the experience has been a good one with few glitches. One that I'll talk about later was a component failure in the inverter which caused some issues. Thank goodness for the grid for that event. 

Anyway, we're back and I think I'm ready to pick up where we left off and get back to the daily routine. I'll spend a few days getting you all caught up on the progress this year from "Camp Run-Amuck". 

Carry On

Adventure Quote: “Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” ― Terry Pratchett

Base Camp Coffee of the Day:  B-52


Please Consider Subscribing to our monthly "How-To", Do-It-Yourself" newsletter in the upper right corner of this page.   AND........

Click any of the following Video links to start your own adventure with us on our YouTube Channel:  

Creating a "Roadmap" Back to the Land"


Our 30 Day "Back to the Land" Playlist
Mountain Craft
Making Wooden Buckets (Cooper Craft)
Sassafras Tea Making (Chicks in the Sticks video)

DIY Construction Basics Videos
Shelley Painting Trim (Chicks in the Sticks video)

Sunday Morning Outdoor Breakfast Videos
August 28 Breakfast - Campfire Corned Beef Hash
August 7 Breakfast - Chorizo Burritos 
September 4 Breakfast - Outdoor French Toast
September 11 Breakfast - Run-AmuckMuffins
September 18 Breakfast - Dutch Oven Breakfast Frittata
November 27 Breakfast - Corned Beef Hash and Eggs

Fun Videos
Run Amuck Road Trip - Thunder Muffins
Run-Amuck Road Trip - Roaring River State Park

Earning Income with Our Camp and Cabin Rentals
(How We Did It)

Treasured Times Crew to the Rescue Cabin Building (Treasured Times Video)
 
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