What have you done to prep this week?

[ladyhk13]

I am living in a sea of jam right now. All season long we store up all our berries as we harvest, freeze them then I jam them all over a couple weeks in this late fall. So far: huckleberry (both red and blue), apple butter, peach butter, blueberry and today working my way through so many strawberries I might be here all day, and then I still have raspberry and blackberry to do...will easily take a day a piece to process so many of them its daunting.

raven...I planted one huckleberry bush this year since I had never heard of it before and the ad said it was supposed to taste like blueberries once they were cooked but very bitter raw (yup...yuk). Since I only have one bush it's not producing enough to can but it's putting out some nice blue berries the first season. How big are your plants and how many should I have in order to make it worth canning? This year I'm going to just take the berries and harvest the seeds. Do they really taste like blueberries when cooked?

[izzyscout21]

I helped the local Sheriff's Dept conduct a patrol carbine class. Bout the closest thing I'll get to going to an actual class anytime soon. Anyway, gave me a good chance to get some GOOD rangetime and training in.

[ak474u]

Added a Maxpedition Vulture II for my 36th B-day, been needing a good quality 3 day + pack for a long time, I had a no-name bag for a long time, and while it was relatively durable, I needed the extra CU/IN. space for my gear. I can now dedicate a whole section of the pack to ammo and a MOLLE Chest rig with my 6 AK mags that go with my discreet ak case without intermingling the ammo with the main pouch gear which always stays there, since I switch between my mossberg folder, and my AK, I can swap out the pouches for each gun's ammo and head out.

[Dropy]

Check the weapons section for my weekly addition. =D

[bacpacker]

I picked our kidney beans tonight. I also picked the last of our green peppers and serranos. The wife picked the last of our green beans and okra. Everything but the beans are going in the freezer.

I also got to go to a gun show today. Picked up some reloading supplies which I'll get to in my reloading thread. Also got some various pic's, sissors, & hemostat's. Got a nice roll of trip wire to try my hand at making snares with. And a stocked Radid Response FAK for the truck. I'm gonna break it down with the one I currently have and make sure both have what I need in them, and try and pack them the exact same for ease of locating stuff quickly. The vendor threw in a trauma bandage with the case. It all came in a nice Condor bag.

[ravensgrove]

raven...I planted one huckleberry bush this year since I had never heard of it before and the ad said it was supposed to taste like blueberries once they were cooked but very bitter raw (yup...yuk). Since I only have one bush it's not producing enough to can but it's putting out some nice blue berries the first season. How big are your plants and how many should I have in order to make it worth canning? This year I'm going to just take the berries and harvest the seeds. Do they really taste like blueberries when cooked?

I am no help to you with cultivated huckleberrys. Here in WA three varieties: red, blue, purple grow rampant and wild. We left our place 1/2 forested and so they are everywhere. We have tons of blackberries as well...actually to the point they are a pain in the arse. The plants are huge, but its old growth Pacific Northwest forest...they could be hundreds of years old...clueless. The blue and purple ones taste just like blueberries but are tart, they make great pies and jam. The red ones are sweeter and taste like nothing else really, leaning more toward a raspberry. In my family we call the red ones huckleberries and the blue/purple ones shock berries. I do have cultivated blueberries: I would imagine being a similar plant you will get a larger yield each year until they are fully producing at 3-5 years. Most berries are this way. I wanted to add the tribe closest to me Squaxin...makes an amazing huckleberry honey.

[ravensgrove]

This week we are ripping all our carpet out to put in wood laminate floors...is this a prep? Gutted the squash plot, and then there is Halloween...which is in most families not a prep....but if zombie hoardes were roaming around we have oodles of amazing costumes from over the years....I have to use that expensive theatre degree atleast once a year.

[ladyhk13]

I am no help to you with cultivated huckleberrys. Here in WA three varieties: red, blue, purple grow rampant and wild. We left our place 1/2 forested and so they are everywhere. We have tons of blackberries as well...actually to the point they are a pain in the arse. The plants are huge, but its old growth Pacific Northwest forest...they could be hundreds of years old...clueless. The blue and purple ones taste just like blueberries but are tart, they make great pies and jam. The red ones are sweeter and taste like nothing else really, leaning more toward a raspberry. In my family we call the red ones huckleberries and the blue/purple ones shock berries. I do have cultivated blueberries: I would imagine being a similar plant you will get a larger yield each year until they are fully producing at 3-5 years. Most berries are this way. I wanted to add the tribe closest to me Squaxin...makes an amazing huckleberry honey.

Thanks for the info! I have wild blackberries too, as well as our 1000 apple trees...both of which we gladly share with the deer that come every day. Huckleberry honey, huh? Might have to look that one up. I hope I can protect the plant this winter. I have it in a pot now so I can cover it to keep the ice off of it. I have my rosemary, lavander and a crazy tomato plant that decided to grow all over again after I thought it had died (really, all leaves were gone and only stubs were left)...the thing has beautiful leaves just like you would see in spring! I guess I'll see if I can keep them all alive this winter.

[mollypup]

All I did this week was to bottle about 7 more gallons of water for storage.

[ladyhk13]

Got another Singer Treadle sewing machine. This one is for leather so now we have a regular one and a heavy duty one that can do leather jackets and even saddles! We won't have to worry about power with these puppies!!