Comment

Comment by Ragnarok on August 10, 2014 at 2:48am

Yes very interesting looking theyre almost like beefsteak tomatoes. Just found them on a swedish website. They call them tomato paprikas directly translated.

http://www.impecta.se/sv/artiklar/tomatpaprika.html 

It very dangerous visiting such sites a couple of pages and a lot of clicks and boom 200 bucks spent :-O

Comment by Anthony Kimbrough on August 10, 2014 at 2:27am

I may try some cabbage and broccoli, not sure. My wife wants to create raised beds and my knees tend to agree. :) No rain today but the humidity was high. My wife has had me in all day wall papering both bathrooms. Hopefully tomorrow that will be finished. 

That moon and star looks interesting. Something I've never tried to grow. I've been looking at Tn Cheese Pepper. This thing has gotten my attention.

Comment by Ragnarok on August 10, 2014 at 2:19am

Hoping to plant some late fast growing kale and leaks and should be no problem if the weather continues like this.

When fall really comes its time to gather some more rocks planning to use them for different growing experiments next year. 

Thinking of ordering some moon and stars melon seeds they look funny. :-) 

 

Comment by Anthony Kimbrough on August 10, 2014 at 1:44am

I know the feeling on school, I tried college in the 70s and it wasn't for me. I did end up after working for Pet Dairy as a driver and getting laid off twice, decide vocational school, so my degrees came from there. My wife was the college one who got 1 of her degrees at college, the other at vocational school. Went to a school, short though, for sales, tried selling insurance, which sucked. About 1/2 way through my electronics schooling I got on at UPS, stayed there almost 25 years, tore a neck and shoulder out, took an early retirement, but went into real estate. I already had my schooling and license, my mom (actually grandmother) was a top seller, so we opened our own. I done that until throat cancer hit in 08. 

  I grew up living between a few houses, raised by 8 family members, all of which are now gone. My grand parents (actually great grand parents) plus 2 uncles and aunts farmed and taught me. We done Dairy, Beef, and Pigs. We grew almost everything we ate. Not much money in farming so we learned to do most things ourselves. Dad (grandfather) was a truck driver but also a carpenter and plumber, biological dad was an electrician and plumber. Other than farm or train horses, I think both uncles could do anything. I worked 2 years in masonry, started out as a mud mixer and ended up with my own crew.

  Here things are going out of sight price wise, creeping up slowly. They want people to stay in debt, and dependent upon them for necessities. Solar is high here and geothermal is even more. I was 22 in 1982 when we built this house, stupid but poor, so I made the original part to be heated completely with wood or coal using a stove in the basement, plus in the summer being underground it stays about the same temp and cool. We've begun incorporating small skylights that provide us light underground and even in the house upstairs. The stove is an old one but we can cook on it as well as heat. 

Our gardens here are almost done for the year, we never plant a second crop. For me that is a positive note, time to bring in hay, finish the firewood rack, build a new shed to put stuff in. With Megan wanting the other house we have to repair some stuff my other daughter messed up. Plus catch and sell calves. It don't sound like much to do but I think my get up and go got up and went, lol. We're going to build a small greenhouse that I saw a guy TX Prepper built, have everything except the plastic. That is worth checking out.    

Comment by Ragnarok on August 9, 2014 at 8:22pm

Would be great to run only on solar/wind power or even better geothermal heat (if it wasnt so damn expensive). Everything here is extreme expensive from rents to food to water and electricity. The downside of living in a small country taken over by greedy corporate owned politicians. 

The most annoying thing is that often it doesnt pay to build your own stuff because of the high cost of the parts, wood, metal or whatever it might be because its so overtaxed and with the stores selling at high prices as it is does that even small simple builds gets costly fast (especially if you wanna do quality builds...hard woods for instance is the new gold)

I think its great your daughter has the intrest to learn useful skills nowadays many women cant even cook a chicken. At times ive been invited to eat with friends and ended up doing the whole thing. I get all nerves when i see people making a gravy that looks and has a consistancy of crude oil.

After school i went to business school a back then a education that took 3 years now it takes 4. But already after 2-3 days my brain was saying 'what are you doing here' and 'you know you are not dead right' i really tried to ignore it and kept on going for 7-8 weeks. I wrote silly senseless reports about corporations and did accounting listened to all sort of nonsense. ..... then i couldnt take it anymore.

After that doing different building jobs, road worker, also been working at a amusement park, warehouse, gardening just to name a few also took a few courses (danes love meaningless courses it makes them feel important lol). Working at the amusement park was like ultimate social experience with over 3.5 million visitors per season you quickly saw how indistinguisable and stereotype people are and mentally its really hard working such a place. Have in mind everyone can drink freely on the streets a lot of drugs are done on the side all a long their kids takes the rides and play videogames. Working such a place you pretty much see it all in a short time when it comes to primitive behavior. From sad social cases to the coked up delusional yuppie. 

Now to some positive news :-) Jerusalem artichokes ready to be harvested but wont yet. Potatoes is ready to be eaten now. Tomatoes are looking good but still green. 

Jack of all trades, master of none. Nice what of putting it add me to that category :-) 

Comment by Anthony Kimbrough on August 9, 2014 at 2:05am

1 daughter made her own path and became a teacher. 1 became a nurse, following her mom's tracks. Megan is more like me, jack of all trades, master of none. It amazes me how well she can track, now to get her to do that in the garden. :) Animals and her get along great. At her age I was building this house, kind of fitting that she will be working with me on the house she wants to move in to. I told my wife that if she remains as level headed as she is now we would deed it to her. She was the only 1 of the 3 that helped me when I was doing treatments, but in fairness to the oldest I don't think she knew what to do but cry. I raised her myself until I remarried.

Comment by Anthony Kimbrough on August 9, 2014 at 1:48am

Electricity is not my friend, lol. When all 3 girls were little and home we lived the "American Dream", the woke up, well, got woke up from a heart attack at 44. Unfortunately not quite in time to add to the house. Around us 100-150 electric bills, ours on this house is 400-500!!! Winter time though we went back to burning wood so the bill stays in the mid 200s. The building we've added lately and the ones to come will be 100% solar powered. We've slowly been incorporating the motion sensor lights to solar. Almost forgot, we cut no live trees, just use the dead ones.

  We ate Alligator a while back, cut into small strips and fried, breaded like Catfish. It was excellent. I'm not much on deer, too gamey tasting. I love fish but catching them from the lakes is a crap shoot these days, small, not many fish, and water is polluted. 

 I teach my daughter and the other 2 that everything is connected. These days that sounds funny being Christian and sounding like that, but in times past there was no conflict. I tell them never take what you cannot make or replace, or more than you need. Part Cherokee traditions, which back when I was young wasn't a conflict. We plant by the signs, love our trees and lands, and have respect for everybody. Though lazy, druggies, and drunks are at the limit, still, I don't know what or why the became that way. 

Megan's hearing prevents me from teaching her a few things so we've been bypassing things like hissing noises, etc and using a multimeter to troubleshoot. It seems to work well for her so far since she is visual. Sometimes I can't help but laugh. My wife said one day to "holler at Megan and tell her". I said I can't holler (throat cancer damage) and Megan can't hear, so what part of that makes sense. She laughed. We use sign when we are apart.

We got rain here today, not a lot but I'll take what we get. I think it is suppose to be for the next few days. That will make the banana Melons come on.

 We have a solar outfit that we've never installed plus 2 inverters to run our freezers (3) and 2 refrigerators in case of power failure, plus a generator. I haven't looked into converting to pure solar yet as a sole power feed, but considering it. I've got to brush up on my electronics, been a few years since schooling. :) I seldom work on anything, seems like it has all changed since my degree, except vehicles now use the old forms.     

 

Comment by Ragnarok on August 8, 2014 at 9:50am

I guess thats why the cops are so nice to ya :-) theyve heard the stories about you.

I looove meat but when in comes to fish im not the biggest fan or course if one brings a side of home smoked salmon or such i dont turn it down. 

Tasted croc a few years back it tasted like 'salted sewer'.

Its really sad that most people nowadays distance themselves with both family and nature. When actually they go hand-in-hand. A big family with many skills and talents is the way to go 100% self sufficient. But i guess its easier nowadays just to build a meth lab or work at mcdonalds :-) than doing hard labor and using ones head.

Good skill to master the ones youre teaching your daughter. Tell you the truth me and engines/machinery is not good friends...I refuse of personal reason to get a drivers license here and havent had a phone for about 8 years now. 

How do you manage electricity wise? Im very interested in off grid solutions so if you have any pointers please do tell. 

Its raining pretty good now and temperatures is finally falling so i will be walking out to my little patch. 

Comment by Anthony Kimbrough on August 8, 2014 at 2:25am

It is nice here though. The cops are nice and I'm sure would come if we ever needed them. We usually handle things ourselves. We're semi rural, too far rural and Meth Labs are everywhere. People close to them or in the city or outskirts of the city have a lot of theft. We are in that category, left one of the garages open the other night plus forgot to lock the door to the house. Nothing touched. I think in part because people know I will help if I can and in part because I have shot a few over the years. 

Comment by Anthony Kimbrough on August 8, 2014 at 2:18am

It is a sad state of affairs that we even allow people to go hungry or homeless, in the land of plenty. This should not be.

It is in a few places but very few. Where we are the same families have owned the land and newer ones seem to be the ones who lived there and bought it and preserved it, but only in a few spots. Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, plus surrounding areas are cramped with people. We're close to KY and Va and when we ride bikes we head that direction, still beautiful and less population. The lakes here locals fish but seldom eat what they catch, too much pollution. We live in what is called the lakeway area and between Cherokee Lake and Douglas Lake. 

  For some reason they are running what we call city water everywhere, public water is probably more accurate. We live on one of the last stretches of road without public water but between my cousin and us we own both sides of the road for almost a mile, with a few houses on an acre or two before you get where we are.

I have Megan taught that if you can't keep your seeds it don't count, means you are renting a garden, lol. An old man back in the 70s said that to me. We buy seeds though of stuff we want to raise and don't have. We don't kill any of the birds here, Megan would pitch a fit if we did, lol. Nothing dies here except the animals that kill our stuff, we even take livestock alive to the butcher to kill. I lost my nerve killing, but could before I go hungry. I love meat. MOst of what I grow I actually don't eat, but my wife and kids and neighbors love it. My parents did when they were alive and my wife's parents still do. I enjoy growing and seeing people enjoy eating it.

My grandkids moved to the city. They think we live in the woods, lol. Not very deep woods these days. When I was young me and Joe (cousin deceased) would have to go track hunters that got lost in the woods to bring them back, lol. They think we are backwards. Shocked them to find out my wife has 2 degrees and so do I, different ones though. They love dirt but as they get older they hate it. Megan I hope will carry on the tradition, I think she will. So far she has learned a lot, plumbing, carpentry, mechanics, bows, guns, cooking, tracking, gardening, livestock.

  We got a light drizzle here today, hot but a little cooler. We nest between the Smokies and the Blue Ridge mountains and when summer comes there are days with no wind and humidity that sticks to you.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• …
• 15
• Next ›
• Page