Stacy Witscher

So I was able to get out to my property today and feed the animals and pick up supplies. My house is well stocked and we are evacuated to a small town that is running out of supplies so I grabbed enough to share. My property is pretty much out of danger but the firefighters are using it and our neighbors place for staging so I am trying to stay out of their way. I’m feeling much better knowing that our animals are okay. Hope everyone is safe.

We have been evacuated as the Obenchain fire has increased in size. We don’t know if will have anything to go back to.

Interesting that you are having trouble finding it in stores. Do you mean they don’t carry it or they are sold out? Because we have most definitely been having trouble with things being sold out. I keep it and other things, like canning lids, on my shopping list to pick up anytime I see some available because it’s become an issue. While you can get these things shipped, shipping costs can be prohibitive.

It’s too hot for starting seeds in the garden. It is too difficult to keep things moist. I have much better luck starting seeds in trays and transplanting after a month or longer for perennials. When I lived in the suburbs, I used grow lights but here being off grid that’s not a good option.

I use hardware cloth in my chicken coop and run, and for the coop, I buried it a couple feet.  It's working so far.

I am hoping to get away with gopher wire (chicken wire that is double dipped and galvanized) for my ground squirrel proof annual garden area, it is somewhat cheaper and easier to work with. Does anyone has experience with this?

So, living off grid in a new climate is proving to be challenging. Back in suburbia, I started seeds in my garage under grow lights, with heating mats. This isn't really feasible where I am now. I do have porches, on the west and east sides of my house. At this time of year, starting seeds on one of the porches seems viable. Currently,I have them on the east porch. Does anyone have any experience with which porch would work better?

Cats are an endless bit of amusement. We had a siamese that was so prideful that when she fell down a trellis, she looked around with an attitude that implied "I meant to do that".

Thanks John,
I expected as much. We have cougars, bobcats and some wolves in the area, so I'm thinking definitely the barn overnight. Our barn doesn't have a door, so I'm going to have to figure that bit out first. And still planning on having LGDs.

So, I'm in a similar situation. We are off-grid with periods of cloudiness, so electric fencing isn't really a reasonable year-round solution. My idea is rotational grazing, but bringing them back to our barn every night. Does anyone else have experience with this?

Most of my zucchini is perfectly edible when large, as long as you remove the seeds. I have occasionally come across a variety or two where the skin is too hard, but that's unusual. So anything from pasta with fried zucchini (stick shaped), or grated and cooked down to a paste for preserving, or grating for freezing are all good ways to utilize large zucchini.