Robin Tidwell's Blog, page 13

Prep Monday—Rain, Rain, Go Away!

For what seems like 40 days and 40 nights, it’s been raining. Actually, I think, it was more like a week or so. Every. Single. Day. And most nights. The charm of listening to rain on a metal roof was quickly quashed. Woke up this morning to silence (except the constant meow from the cat […]

Work Wednesday—The Reality

Everyone knows that living on a homestead or farm is constant work, right? Okay, a whole lot of people do NOT know that, and many expect to live some idyllic existence of, perhaps, rising with the sun, having coffee on the porch, chatting idly about the coming day, and then going about bread baking or […]

Prep Monday—Another Beat the Heat Post

It’s not too bad out there yet here in Missouri—mid to upper 80s so far, but since we’re just now heading into June, the temps at night are dropping into the 60s. So we haven’t yet put in the window AC unit. Surprisingly, my husband has yet to complain, even though we’re working on the […]

Work Wednesday—Good Grief

As you know, we’ve started and finished a lot of projects around here. And started a few more . . . We knew, moving in, and we still had the bathroom to finish—mainly the floor, but also replacing the shower. No, there’s nothing really wrong with it, but compared to the new vanity and linen […]

Prep Monday—How Much to Plant

For us, the goal is to grow everything we eat, enough for an entire year. Back in the old days, people did this without the benefit of power tools and grow lights, greenhouses, etc. I’m not opposed to using whatever tools you prefer, but it’s also good to know how to do things old school […]

Work Wednesday—Seek and Ye Shall Find

It’s no secret that I’d like to have more land; who wouldn’t? Even another 25 acres or so. And I’ve been wondering about the parcel next to us . . . Finally, I looked up the owners to see if they’d be interested in selling. The answer was apparently yes, as the taxes were delinquent […]

Prep Monday—Weather and the Little Things

As a homesteader, you’re going to be at the mercy of the weather more so than your city counterparts. There will be things that must be done, regardless or rain or snow or wind or extreme temperatures, and it could be the difference between life and death—at some point, if not immediately—instead of just an […]

Prep Monday—How Do You Know If You’re Done?

You’re never done prepping. You could have all the gadgets and tools, all the skills, all the food storage and everything else, but you still carry on. Why? First, because the work is never done. Oh, sure, you can store MREs and shelf-stable food for months or years, but you probably want better than that, […]

Work Wednesday—Flippin’ Rocks

No, no. We are not “flipping” rocks, although we certainly have enough that we could apply almost any meaning to that term and still have plenty of leftover rocks; we ordered gravel for our driveway. Talk about a fiasco. My insurance agent recommended we call this guy, so we did. He was supposed to come […]

Prep Monday—Road Trip!

I took a road trip this weekend to Kansas City. It was, yes, the 101st Missouri Writers Guild conference, and normally a four-hour trip, but it got me to thinking. Many, if not most, preppers have a BOB in their vehicles for those little emergencies, and a lot of “regular” people have at least a […]