We must persist

In my last post I suggested that we must persist. What does that mean? We must continue to live and eek out an existence in these trying time we face. Shelter, heat, food, move ability etc. are all necessities. We must continue and gather and prepare. Get the soil ready. Stockpile essentials, gather bartering items etc. and learn.. Your homestead is a laboratory. Use it to its full advantage. Don't be afraid to experiment. Don't be afraid to fail. Success is 99percent failure..
Garden, DIY, etc. are all necessary endeavors. The www is a useful tool. Learn and experiment.

a new year

Well the holidays are over and its time to start dealing with 2013.  My son and grandson paid a visit this past week and I was able to spend an afternoon with them. Catching up.. It has been a long 2 years since I last saw him. Trash is getting older but not necessarily wiser.
I see alot of things going on in the world that I just cant grab onto. MOre and more nanny state politics. More and more intrusion on our basic civil liberties. Less and less freedom. Is that what America has become? Do we really need mommy to take care of us? Have we become that codependent? The answers are quite shocking. For the most part the answer is yes..
What has happened? This is what the masses want? And they are getting it..
Anyhow for some of us life goes on undaunted.. The daily struggles continue. Work, prepare, and live on the fringes of the freedoms we still have. For how long. Who knows? But we must persist..

leftovers

Here at the stead Mrs T does alot of cookin and the kids aint in favor of too many leftovers. Typical yuppie kids. However ol dad has no problem. For most of this past week I have been eatin turkey day side dish leftovers. The stuffed roasted pumpkin has been my fav along with the pumpernickle stuffing. yumyum . Granted I did sneak away to Taco bell once this week for a fix but I have thoroughly enjoyed that roasted pumpkin concoction. I wonder what has happened to the leftover turkey legs and the dark meat. Prob in the freezer by now for later winter delicacies. Leftovers come in all shapes and sizes. And they are not only food. Dumpster diving and trashdigging yields lots of good leftover clothes and homestead materials. All on the free. As for what to do with the unneeded leftovers. Give em away, feed the compost beast or feed the animals. NOthing should go to waste. Old coffee grinds, veggie scraps, leftover chili beans,fish guts and bones can all go into the compost. Heck even my old pipe tobacco and cigarette butts can decompose in there. Overripe banana and peels, leftover fruit, crumbled bread and stale tortillas can all be left for the birds, squirrels and the coons. Heck I put the old turkey carcass on a plate out in the yard and withing 2 nights one of the coons carried it away for food. As I said nuthin goes to waste. As for unused items around the house pay it forward by puttin them on your driveway and place a free ad on CL and somebody will come and gettem. One mans trash is anothers treasure. This way we can keep the landfills from over crowding and keep the cycle of life going on.

new video blogpost

Old Trash is back with a new video. Hopefully I will be able to get back to doing these regularly again. Comments always welcome.

turkey day rehab

AS you can see Mrs T and the kids really outdid themselves this year. And everything was made from scratch. Lots of fresh veggie dishes, carrots turnips and kale side dishes. mashed taters, sweet potato pie and a roasted stuffed pumpkin with veggies, bread crumbs and cream soup. And of course  dads buttermilk biscuits. For dessert it was homemade pumpkin cheescake, bourbon pecan pie and a pumpkin tart. yum yum. So much homemade food and now lots of leftovers.
For Black Friday Mrs T and I began the removal of Turkey day stuff and began to make the Xmas transition.. The only thing I went to the store for was smokes and some scouring pads and of course the cheetos.
As for the scraps and such I took them all out to the compost bin and placed them in there along with stirring in a few shovels of dirt and stirred.  I also scavenged  the seeds from the 2 pumpkins we used and begun the process of drying them forn next springs planting. Waste not want now.
We also took care of our animal friends by making plates for the coons, the birds ant the squirrels.   Happy Happy Happy..

almost turkey day

One more day until the gluttony begins.
The assemblage of culinary delights are in place for manana. Yet my little scavenger in training was so proud of himself yesterday as he came home from a school gathering with an almost complete spiral cut ham and veggie tray that was left over from his schools holiday gathering. Waste not want not.
I made a bowl of ham and veggies and some leftover homemade green chili  for supper, the chili a gift from a coworker who knows how ol Trash loves chili and brought me a 1 quart sampler. yumyum.
Now the kids are off for a few days and after today I will be also.
On a serious side how many of y'all keep working on your soil and preps during the winter months. Compost making and soil amending are an important prep and should not be ignored. Potato peels, coffee grinds, veggie cuttings, stale bread all can add to the compost bin. And in the next day or so i bet at least a coffee can ful will appear at your home and can be added quite easily.
ON the garden front I still have collard green plants, chives and green onions growing outside that I am still able to use. Begun as an experiment last MAy/ June with the green onion bulbs being transplanted from scrap I have not had to buy green onions all summer and am still enjoying them .

living off excess

It really helps to have friends in low places. One of my compadres down at the lab had recently stocked their freezer with lots of hunt meat and etc and asked me if I would like the meat and stuff that they werent going to use . Of course old Trash  said ok. Yesterday she brought me a cooler filled with steaks, chicken, a pork loin,  pork chops and some elk steaks.. yumyum. Along with that are a bout a half a dozen frozen dinners, some prepped chicken wings, prepped chicken cordon blu and some apple desserts. more yum yum. Brought them home on the public transport and stocked up my freezer some more.  Adding to the 50 pounds of turkeys, meats and assorted frozen veggies already in the deep freeze.  yumyum.
This on top of last week where me and the Mrs went and stocked up on winter stuff from the thriftymart and the grocery store. All in all a good fall thus far.