Bits and pieces

Gardening-
I just dug up the last of my overwintered Yukon Golds, they sure were tasty baked with a olive oil and sea salt rub. The onions that overwintered sprouted some great green onions, they just needed a little clean up from last years onions. I had planned to let them seed this year but decided to relocate things.
If you're near Yamhill County join us at the Master Gardeners plant sale at the fairgrounds. Many other counties have similar events this weekend and coming up soon.
I've been prepping my raised beds for planting this weekend, a few beds have already sprouted and growing but my big push is just starting.

Wild goodies-
This is a great time of the year to get out into the field for spring goodies; cattail shoots, nettles, dandelion greens and buds, truffles and fiddleheads. It's also a great time to harvest pine needles for tea, the young needles just seem to taste better to me.

Unemployment is up 3%-
Yamhill county numbers jumped this month, personally I think they finally got realistic, I've seen way more than 10% looking for a job and it's getting worse. The local newspaper has 5 job offerings, the fewest I have seen in my 40+ years.

Got a GPS?
If you're near McMinnville I have tough 5 point gps course you can play with. 5 colored clothes pins hidden by dense vegetation, but still in plain site. I didn't set it up but I passed the test this week, you can expect 2 hours. If you want to play send me an email and I'll send you the coords.

Rick

The Oregon Prepper

Oregonians are a fairly moderate set of Americans, and I try to express this with our blog. (if you wish to comment or join this blog let me know, I appreciate altered content and different opinions)

Prepper's are people that want to prepare for themselves and their families and even their neighbors; some are militant, many have other agendas or opinions, all are welcome on this blog. If you wish to join in posting you can.

I don't want to prepare Oregon all alone. Other's have valid thoughts about their part of the state, Hell, the Willamette Valley is like living in a rain forest, share your portion of the state.

Rick

It's just a simple rocket.

A few hours ago North Korea decided to test their metal and the resolve of the US and the UN. They launched a rocket they claimed was for hoisting a satellite, perhaps it put a benign payload in orbit, but do you honestly believe that? It really doesn't matter though, they weren't allowed to launch a device like this, and yet we let them to just see what they were doing. They told us what they were doing just so they could push the envelope, knowing that we wouldn't touch them for something claiming to be benign. You don't kill the known bully when he's carrying an axe to go cut wood. You have to wait until he use the axe on an innocent. But why can't you take away the axe?
We, the US had the ability to remove that axe and prevent it's first chop before it was swung, but we let it fly, I ask you WHY? Sure the repercussions would have been bad, but you could give them 10 minutes to remove people.
This rocket is no less than an ICBM, sure the range is expected to be only as far as Alaska, Hawaii or the west coast of the US, guess what; the US is their target. Not that they need to actually launch against us, they just need to make us nervous. Now we and they know their rocket works and can hit a domestic target. If we had shown the strength and resolve to cut that thing in half before the launch... well it would be another story.

North Korea now has it's own nuclear delivery system, even if they don't push their abilities they know they can sell it and money is what they need.

Welcome to the new cold war.

Rick

Springtime planting in Oregon

Today is probably your day to get started due to our first days in the 60 degree range, I could have given you 3-4 days worth of notice but I've been working in the yard and getting some equipment ready. If you don't have the first set of peas in, it's time to set them (they were due last month, but I'm lazy too). Don't get carried away with the post frost items yet, we still have a month or so left.

Dig out those old weeds, mix in some compost or peat moss and then make holes for what you plant or intend to plant in the few months. This actually allows the soil to regrow many of the beneficial strands of soil.It's a permaculture thing I don't have down yet but it's valid, the soil needs to attach to itself. The idea is to just prep the soil even if you don't plant it, leave it high on one side to brush over your future plantings.

You don't have to put in supports for pole crops today, you have 3-6 weeks before they can reach the first 12 inches. If you're planting bush peas/beans just plan to give them a 4' post to give them something to play with and it keeps them from getting too tight, a nail and some string gives them something to play on. Corn is a valid pole for many crops, just make sure you track things as you weed or you might remove the poles or the trailers.The 'three sisters' figure in here if you haven't noticed, once you have a place for the vines to grow make sure you have a ground plant to keep the moisture down. Squash is the traditional method, but cucumbers work well.

Onion sets are pretty good to plant now based on the temperature(definitely time for walla wallas), if you don't have garlic in it's still safe to plant green cloves, or even dry cloves at about 2" apart, kill off the ones that come up too close (2"). If you have raised beds it's a little cool but tomatoes and peppers should start easily. If you have plants from the local (outdoor) home and garden store let them sit outside for a week and then plant them in your yard.

Get out there and grow food for your family. Anything you grow will taste better than what you find in the store, You have the option of choosing when it's ripe for you, and it can live for a few weeks when you're not ready for it. Home grown food is like short term canning, it's live food that can be used everyday to fill your belt or more importantly supplement flavor and nutrients.

Rick