A Day in the Life: Part 1

Sunrise over my mountain

5:00 a.m. - No alarm clock goes off~the baaing of the sheep and the crowing of the rooster is all we need

Bill starts the coffee...becoming a prepper one must understand that coffee is something that you may not have in a crisis. Perhaps a situation will arise that you will have to adapt and create something new. For us, we reduced appliances(uses too much electricity) and use this coffee potFunny thing about learning to use a coffee pot like this every day ~ is that this will work over a campfire, a woodstove or even on the stovetop. We live near a pecan orchard and so I have played around with different styles of coffee if I cannot have the "real thing". I crushed the pecans and we add this to our base for the daily coffee.(we trade labor for pecans by the way~ we rake the orchard of the leaves(which we keep for the goats) and then any pecans on the ground are ours...and they are still edible- last year we harvested three large plastic outdoor trash cans full of pecans which we supplement feed for the animals and for us)
The tablespoon is coffee and the bottom of the plate has the crushed pecans. The flavor is lovely in case you are wondering. We call our coffee three day coffee because each morn Bill adds 1/2 tbsp of coffee to the grinds left in the pot and water is added. So we stretch the coffee two ways, one by adding the pecan grinds and two by using the coffee grinds for three days.(we then toss the grinds into a bucket to add to our garden...compost). By the way one can make a Mesquite bean coffee as Mesquite is native to my region- I have not made it yet, but here is a blogger that has)

Living the life of prepping is making do. A definition of a prepper is not in concrete, but for me this a pretty accurate. If you lose power can you still have your coffee? If the situation changes in the world and buying coffee becomes impossible, can you stretch your current stockpile?

5:30 a.m. morning feeding is finished- all the teens take care of thisBlack Spanish turkeys are some of the critters around the farm-this guy is Krut(Turk spelled backwards). Be careful with Toms...sometimes if you turn your back to them they jump you. It is pretty intimidating the first time! The turkey is an incredible bird to watch. If you have never been around a male, you will be very impressed. They have a deep vibrating rumbling sound that they make as they perform their "dance" for the gals!

We also raise Navajo Churro Sheep. They are native to the southwest and thrive off the vegetation here. This was a selling point for us, as a prepper must think long term about how to secure feed for their livestock in addition to themselves. In climates where it rains you have grasses etc, this may not be a concern. But we get minimal rain here so animals native to the region only make sense. Each year, we gather Mesquite beans for us and to supplement the sheep.(Mesquite beans come off the Mesquite tree and grow wild here) An excellent book for you if you are beginning to raise sheep is Sheep and Goat Medicine, by D.G Pugh.

In addition to feeding the sheep and turkeys, the goats, chickens, ducks, geese, and cats have been fed.(we started our herd of sheep the same way as we started the turkeys~ ranchers and farmers are always looking for hands- ones that will work hard- and to trade an animal instead of money can always be suggested- believe me...work hard and do your best and you will be rewarded)

All the waters are checked and then everyone comes inside and gathers in the family room. I have begun breakfast. We eat one of three things every day. Egg burritos, oatmeal, or arroz con leche(rice with milk). The egg burritos are 100% farm product. The flour tortillas have been made fresh-usually on Tuesday. The eggs are from our birds. The favorite egg for breakfast is a turkey egg...just our preference. Oatmeal and arroz con leche are just low cost and easy to make. We stopped buying the typical breakfast foods a few years ago(nutritionally this was a wonderful thing for us to remove from our diets).

While breakfast cooks Bill reads three chapters from the Bible. It is a simple time that unites us all. Even if your family does not do this, you should not minimize the time set aside for you as a unit. Being connected and strong in each other is vital in my opinion. It lets those around you know that the day begins with time for another-

7:00 a.m. I iron Bill's clothes for the day, and he showers and heads to work...while I iron Bill and I visit. This is borrowed time in my book, and every moment I have with him I maximize. I believe that a prepper should understand that sometimes in the best of prepping that loved ones die...so we should appreciate everything and everyone while we have them.

So far this is my morning and it is only a bit past 7....here are some pictures below of some of our farm -A few of the goats last spring with my third son...we call him Third in blogland!

Here are Otto and Gretchen- they are Turkens...but are not turkeys at all. They are chickens that have no feathers on their necks. The kids raise these birds to sell...kind of weird to look at but the novelty is big!! I think that they look like vultures.

This is Daphne she is a La Mancha mix goat and she is a great milking goat...we get 1/2 -3/4 of a gallon of milk a day from her.

Here are some of our mixed flock of birds. We raise chickens that are dual purpose birds- this means that they are heavier birds(more meat) and lay good eggs...it just takes a few weeks longer for the hen to begin laying eggs. That is George the goose in the picture. He is a great barnyard watchdog and he sounds the alarm if the coyotes come to close to the pen. Dogs are great, but a goose is equally good as an alarm.

This is a typical morn thus far in the life of this New Mexico Prepper...
(c) Double Nickel Farm
Jennifer