My wife continues to practice her bread-making skills, as you can see in the photos above. After perfecting “artisan bread,” she is working on her sourdough. This makes a big hunk of bread in the Dutch oven that will feed the two of us for several days. And since 25 pounds of flour costs less than $9 at Sam’s Club or under $11 at Walmart, that’s a hell of a lot cheaper than buying a loaf of bread. And the flour stores much longer, too.
Her next step is to work on a whole-wheat version, followed by using our home-ground flour. Just so she knows what she is doing if we are forced to rely on our stored wheat.
If you are worried about the cost of food, consider making things from scratch. Not just bread, but other baked goods, soups (like pea or lentil soups), yogurt, meat pies, egg noodles or dumplings, chili, baked beans, and stews. And when your garden is producing, freeze or can produce, make zucchini bread, put up jellies and jams, and pickle cucumbers and other vegetables. If you have time and the raw materials, you can consider making cheese and fermented foods like sauerkraut. You will not only save money but eat healthier.
Fuel Prices
Gas fell 10 cents to $3.79 at both our local station and the next-closest. I had about 5/8ths of a tank, but I filled up anyhow. The way things are going in the Strait of Hormuz, I think prices will bounce back up before they drop further. No way to know, of course. I’m still keeping my trips to a minimum and mostly local.
The faucet handle on our shower broke, so I drove to the closest hardware store, but they didn’t have the part. Then I drove to the plumbing supply store, and they didn’t have the part. I kept going to one more hardware store. Nope. I could have gone all the way to the “city” and shopped at Lowe’s, but I just went home and ordered it online. I could not find the exact model, so I bought the closest-looking generic replacement. Until then, we’re using a pair of pliers to turn the faucet on and off.
This is the kind of thing it is difficult to prep for. What are the odds that your faucet is going to break? Should you stock a replacement faucet? I have plumbing parts, lengths of pipe, and fittings. I can swap out the hose to a washer or from the wall to the faucet or toilet. I can repair or replace the flushing mechanism in a toilet or replace the wax ring if it leaks, but I just didn’t think to stock a shower faucet handle. In all my life, I think this is the first one that ever broke.
We can use the pliers, or we can just shower in one of our other bathrooms. But I don’t have a spare shower faucet. Or a kitchen faucet. Which just goes to show what we have to look forward to if the supply chain collapses or TEOTWAWKI hits and there are no more hardware stores.
Chain Saw Issues
That isn’t the only thing that needed repair. During last week’s blast of warm weather, I split and sacked all the firewood rounds I had cut, so I took out my Stihl saw and started to cut more wood. The saw wasn’t cutting well, and then some smoke was coming out of the cut, so I stopped before I did it any damage and did a quick analysis:
- The sawdust was big, longish chunks, which told me the chain was sharp. Yes, the wood was hard maple, but a closer inspection showed the chain was indeed in good shape. I should have been cutting better than that.
- The bar was also dry. Aha! Oiler problem. When you use a chainsaw without bar oil, the heat builds up and you can damage the bar, the chain, or both.
It could be the bar, it could be a clog caused by dirt, or it could be some part of the oiler mechanism. I removed the chain and then the bar and started the engine. I gave it a little gas and no oil came out of the saw body where it would have been redirected to the bar. Darn! Replacing the bar would have been a quick fix, and I have two in stock.
Now, I faced a decision: Fix it myself, or take it to someone else to fix it? Hey, I’m a prepper and I have spare parts, so I decided to tackle it myself. I had to remove the clutch to check the oiler, but I did it, and the saw is back to cutting well.
But the real lesson is: have a second saw. My second saw is a small electric model, nowhere near big enough for the log I was cutting. I need to address that.
More Bee Work
I know I just published a full beekeeping article, so I will keep this report short.
After losing the swarm last week, I decided to pay close attention to the bees here at my home bee yard, which is at a higher elevation than the one that swarmed. Rain and cold weather were heading in, so I had little time to waste. I checked all seven, did some rebalancing to weaken strong hives and strengthen weak ones to help prevent a swarm. I also added a second hive body to a single-box hive and ended up splitting a strong hive to make a nuc. It was a walk-away split, so the nuc needs to produce its own queen.
I now have 14 hives. Nine are double-deeps and six of those have a super on them, just in case. Four are single-deeps and one is a nuc. I will probably sell the nuc, after the queen comes back, is mated, and starts laying. Of course, that assumes it survives this latest cold spell.
I am out of hive stands and only have one unpainted bottom board. If I hadn’t stopped feeding to put on supers, I would have run out of feeders. I also need to paint my equipment and build 80 or 100 frames, or I will run out before the honey harvest.
This year is a good example of why it pays to have more equipment than you think you will need.
Unusual Weather
We are having an unusually warm spring, with cold snaps that threaten frost every week or ten days. The temperature seems to be ahead of the plants, meaning it got warm before the plants were ready. They are racing to catch up. Our apple trees finished blooming and the wild cherries are in full bloom. The bees can make honey from the cherry blossoms, but it is not pleasant tasting unless you are a fan of cough syrup.
We could still have a frost, so we have not yet planted the garden, just some crops that like cooler weather, such as Swiss chard and peas. Some volunteer cucumbers have cropped up, and my wife is debating whether to let them live or not. She is worried they may not be from heirlooms so they won’t have bred true.
We have had some brief rain. Not enough to reverse the drought, but even a quarter of an inch is better than nothing.
It’s Been Busy
This is the time of year when it is finally warm enough to do all the things you need to do and not too hot to stop you. My neighbor mowed his lawn, reminding me I need to do the same, but that’s a low priority. I have weed-whacked both the bee yards. Weed whacking is my least favorite chore on the homestead.
I can tell I’m close to overdoing it because my back is feeling it. I’m looking forward to some rain because it means a day of indoor work. Building bee equipment in the shop is easier on my back than sawing firewood.
