What did you do to prep this week?

I got three of our raised beds ready for garlic. They all have good organic soil and are tamped down and ready to plant. I’m pre-soaking the garlic buds tonight, and tomorrow I’ll have the kids help me plant. I also picked up and crushed a bunch of leaves and put them in a fourth bed. Hopefully it will turn into compost… Besides that, I finally got around to clearing out the dead bean and tomato plants.

Permaculture Meetup

On Saturday I went to a work bee hosted by the local Permaculture Meetup group and learned how to make low tunnel hoop houses. They’re basically mini greenhouses that let you grow some things over the winter. The key idea is “some” things, not “every” thing. Where I live, “some” means plants that can live through almost freezing temperatures. In my case, that means spinach and broccoli.

More Tools

The last thing I did to prep this week was buy a compressor. Home Depot had a 30 gallon model on sale for $279 so my wife agreed to let me get it. When we went to buy it, I changed my mind and (amazingly) talked her into letting me get a Dewalt 15 gallon for $100 more than the Husky. What? $100 more for a tank that’s only half the size? I can explain…

First, I don’t have a problem with Husky tools, but Dewalt tools have never failed me. Also, the Dewalt is light enough that I can load it into my truck by myself. The Husky is too heavy. I’m not painting cars or running an air driven belt sander, so 15 gallon air capacity should be fine for my needs.

That’s it for me this time. What did you do to prep this week?

Peace out,
porcupine

What did you do to prep this week?

I finished my CERT training and got my certificate. Also filled out the request to join the county CERT organization. Assuming I pass my background check, I’ll get fingerprinted and get my “official” CERT card from the sheriff’s office. Once I have the card I’ll join one of the local CRT teams. Other than that, not too much. We’re finishing up a rental property (new tenants moving in in a week) and starting renovations on another rental my wife bought in August. I guess that counts as prepping since I “get” to be the handyman. Never thought I’d learn things like basic plumbing and carpentry, but here I am… We also bought a compressor this week, maybe that counts as a prep too? Oh, and I got my wife to go to church with the rest of the family today.

I have a few things planned for the coming week. Finishing my garlic beds is the most important thing. Next Saturday I’m going to a work bee on winter gardening techniques. Finally, since Friday is a holiday I hope to make homemade bread with my mom.

What did you do to prep this week?

Peace out,
porcupine

What did you do to prep this week?

garlic for my back yardThe past week was pretty busy for me. I have a final exam this Wed and my garlic order showed up. We started work on a new rental. I started my Citizen Emergency Response Team (CERT) class. More on that coming soon. I started working towards a 2 week food supply for a family of 5. Besides all that, my wife decided she wanted to be in “high maintenance mode”, so I had to deal with that as well. So to flesh it out a little, here goes…

Garlic

Since my garlic order showed up, I figured I’d better (finally) get the planting beds ready. I pulled all the dead squash plants from 3 beds and dug out all the dirt. Went to the local nursery and bought 15 bags of Kick garden soil. Mixed it with the dirt from the beds, shoveled it back in, leveled and tamped with a rake. I’d say the mix in each bed is 20% dirt and 80% Kick. I’ll get the garlic planted in the next 2 weeks and hope for an awesome harvest next summer. I have too much garlic so I’ll give the extra to some people in my prepping group if they want to plant it. If not, I’ll just eat it. It is after all organic…

CERT

I took my first week of CERT classes. So far they’ve talked about emergency preparedness, CERT organization (BORing….), basic triage of disaster victims, and basic fire suppression and prevention. I’m really glad I took this class. I love the emphasis on community (the ‘C’ after all stands for Community) and the skills they teach are really useful IMO. Besides that the networking opportunities are great, and I even found a little intel opportunity.

Permaculture

I didn’t mention it in the intro, but I also went to my second Permaculture meetup. Got to meet a few new people which was awesome. One of the new people was hosting a work-bee on butchering rabbits this Saturday. I had to miss it because of my CERT class but he said I could call him any time and he’d help me get set up for raising rabbits and let my come over next time he’s processing some.

Misc…

My Prepper meetup was also last week, but I missed it because of the CERT class. The topic was situational awareness so I kind of wish I could have made it, but I really wanted needed to take the CERT class. That’s it for me this time. What did you do to prep this week?
Peace out,
porcupine

Random notes

Haven’t had time to update this lately, so here are some random notes…

Permaculture

Went to my second permaculture Meetup last night. They are having 2 work-bees this month, where members get together and help each other out and learn. Really a good idea for a Meetup group IMO. One is this weekend which I won’t be able to attend due to a previous commitment. Wish I could go though, because the topic is butchering and processing rabbits. I did talk to the guy running the work-bee and he said to contact him and he’ll help me get started with raising rabbits. The second work-bee will also be useful, helping one of the members put in some low-tunnel growing beds. That one is at the end of the month so I’ll be able to go.

Preppers

My monthly preppers Meetup is tonight, but I won’t be able to go because of a previous commitment. The topic is situational awareness so it should be interesting. I do have a couple of good books on the subject, notably Left of Bang.

CERT

The big deal for me for the next 2 weeks is CERT training. If you don’t know what CERT is, it means Community Emergency Response Team. The training is provided by county law enforcement under the guidance of FEMA. I figure it’s a good way to learn how FEMA operates, meet other like-minded people, and learn some helpful skills.

Kifaru

I’m still pissed at Kifaru about the missing pulls on my Urban Zippy. TWICE now I’ve requested they be sent to me, twice now I was promised they’ve been sent, and twice I’ve gotten stiffed. And yes, I verified both times that they have my correct mailing address. I could just get some paracord and make my own, but I want the side pulls to match the other pulls. Hell, they wouldn’t even bother to tell me what brand and color they use so I can match it myself. Maybe it shouldn’t be that big a deal to me, but we’re talking about a day pack that cost over $300.

I’ve been saving for an AMR or Mountain Warrior, but after my experience I’m looking at Eberlestock and Mystery Ranch too. So far I don’t see anything I like as much as the big Kifaru packs, but I’m not very happy with Kifaru’s customer service right now. Hopefully I’ll be over it by the time I have the money saved up.

Garden

My garlic order showed up last week, so I got a bunch of really good planting soil and set up 3 raised beds for the garlic. Hope to get it planted next week. I have 2 more beds I’m going to plant with brussel sprouts, lettuce, and spinach. From what I learned last night, they’ll grow over the winter (even in freezing weather) as long as I keep them under a low tunnel cover.

Peace out,
porcupine

Giving up on Kifaru customer service…

urban zippyI usually buy inexpensive stuff, but in June I sold some crap I wasn’t using and had enough money to buy a pack I’ve wanted for awhile – Kifaru’s Urban Zippy. I placed my order and waited. It was better than expected. I have a some low end and medium range packs, but this was my first high end (high dollar) pack. I was happy. The quality and styling was better than my other packs by a long shot. Looking closer though, I saw a problem… the side zippers were missing the pulls. OK, no big deal, right? It’s just paracord, and any self respecting backwoodsman should have plenty of cordage on hand. I know I do. But then I got to thinking that a $300 pack ought to have matching pulls. So I sent an email to Kifaru customer service…

Dear Kifaru Customer Service…

Hello,

About a month ago I ordered an Urban Zippy in Ranger Green (order #nnnnn). I really like the pack, but the 4 zippers on the side panels are missing the paracord pulls. I have some paracord, but it would be nice if all the zipper pulls matched. I don’t want to return the bag to have the pulls installed, so I was wondering if you could send me enough matching paracord to put the 4 zipper pulls on the side panel zippers.

Thanks, …

The next day I got a reply apologizing for the missing zipper pulls and a request for my address. I replied and waited – for over a month. I know their shipping times so I thought I’d give them some time. After about 2 months from first contact I started to think maybe they forgot. I sent another polite email explaining the situation. Their response was they’d already sent them, didn’t know what had happened, but would send out more. That was over a week ago. I’m starting to think I’m not going to get them. I guess I’ll give them a couple more days and try one more time. I love the pack, but disappointed with their (so far) lack of customer service…

Would I buy another Kifaru?

Yes, absolutely. As I said, the quality of the bag is great, and I’m not going to not buy good quality stuff over something as stupid as a missing zipper pull. However, I am disappointed in their lack of customer service. I mean we’re talking about a $300 bag. How hard would it be to send me 4 short pieces of paracord that matched the other zipper pulls? Or at least tell me what brand and color they use so I could just buy some and take care of it myself?