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Peach or Perish
I have immensely enjoyed the position as Steve's webmaster, but so many things demand our time, and there is simply not enough "body" to go around the work circle. Even with getting up at 4 a.m., it is impossible. So the problem solved itself.
Never in this lifetime did I think we would be in the circumstance in which we find ourselves both as a Nation and globally. Life was too good, too normal. Government has now become the adversary, not our advocate. Things are upside down. Sideways. Every single day the Lord grants you is a gift. Believe it! Sunday Stan and I spent the Sunday harvesting peaches. These are first fruits this tree ever produced and it did do so in astonishing abundance! One tree alone produced over 300 peaches! Today we begin canning, making preserves and pie fillings. The cream of the crop will be sliced in half and frozen – those that aren't munched on the spot! This is a young orchard, just 4 years old, consisting of different varieties of 15 dwarf apples, pears, peaches, plum and cherry trees. Despite a constant battle with birds, wind, hail, heatwaves and bugs, (Psalm 23:5) these trees produced a tremendous crop. Instead of perishing, these fruits chose to thrive! Some folks put their bird nets on at the beginning of the season, but we leave ours off till just before it gets tempting for birds. As trees continue to grow throughout the summer their branches can get really tangled in that fine mesh, which makes it a pain to pick fruit. Even with delaying putting on these nets, we had such wild winds here, the branches still got snared. Some trees experience "growing spurts" and push through the nets anyway, like they did on the plum. We lost some fruit, but they must have super-glued themselves to the branches as most survived. You can see how the peach leaves (above right) really took a beating in vicious winds. Underscoring this, a girlfriend from Montana and her husband visited a few weeks ago. Thankfully they are REAL friends, don't have to be entertained and understand what "real life" has been like. She took one look at both flower gardens and the veggie beds and went to work. They even stacked the woodpile. Linda drafted her husband, Darrell, and what they accomplished in 2 days... well, let's say we owe them a big debt. She whacked and chopped flowers that threatened to take over nearly everything. She transplanted an entire bed of lettuce, planted another one with onion sets, yanked out native grass that thought Super Soil was a gift from God, and generally put everything to right that desperately needed it. All this happened right when it became apparent we had to put down our first dog, Seismo. Not exactly what you want to do when you have company, even if they are nearly family. To say the least, the last few months have been beyond stress-filled... While much of our Nation is in extreme drought and worse, God blessed us with a bountiful harvest. And, as I type this, He is showering us with the most magnificent rain – an amazing gift in these dry times! Colorado is one of the driest areas with drought conditions in the 2 worst categories covering most of the state. It is surprising that water restrictions have not been implemented.
Be sure you have plenty of canning jars, and tons of replacement rings and lids. Remember, you can always can meat and butter, as dairy is another item set to kiss the stars. Click each image below for a birds-eye (ooh, bad choice of words) er, uh, bigger view of the harvest that would not be stopped! |
Right now, every one of you reading this message should look to your own preps, see where deficits pop up, understand how to plug these holes, seek a bugout location, make friends with those who "have" if you "have not" and see if trades can be made. Skills and knowledge can always be bartered for commodities.
With drought hitting grain crops, cattle, hogs and chickens, soon there will be a meat glut on the market – BEFORE prices head skyward. This would be a great opportunity to stock up on fresh beef and poultry as hundreds of thousands of animals must be culled before their time. It's that or starve as feed comes at great cost. As you read from 
