This week seemed like both the longest and shortest week yet in 2017.  Work, life and suburban homesteading events abounded here on the Suburban Steader Homestead.  Without further ado, here’s what happened in Week 09 of 2017!

This Week’s Milestones

Sickness Lingers Longer!

Last week I mentioned how the Suburban Steader Homestead was invaded by a major stomach bug.  Well, that illness wore out its welcome and was finally vanquished.  But, the sore throat that showed up afterwards still lingers.  I have two options at night – down some NyQuil or suffer through the night.  The downside to sucking down the NyQuil, above and beyond taking medication like that, is that I snore like a bear!  Mrs. Suburban Steader gets no sleep when I do that.  The alternative is that I get no sleep.  So, I’m alternating nights at this point so that at least one of us gets a good night sleep.  I have an appointment with the doctor on Monday so hopefully I’ll get this thing under control.

The DIY Projects Continues

My garage/workshop is in disarray right now.  I have two projects going on at the moment and I have tools and work pieces everywhere!  The two projects I have going on are the gas can shelf and restoring my grandfather’s Stanley Handyman Hand Plane.

Let’s start with the gas can shelf.  I redesigned the shelves themselves and decided to not use a 45-degree miter design underneath the plywood.  This decision was made for two reasons: 1) mitering stock 2×4’s is somewhat difficult with the tools I have and B) the butt end will be hidden by the vertical support so the end product will look the same regardless of design.  So, the shelves themselves are done.  Now I’m putting in the guide blocks which will spread the cans out evenly over the shelf and prevent me from sliding them too far back on the shelf.  I used the drill press to pre-drill some holes on the divider guide blocks and that really helped speed up production.  My plan is to finish up the shelving this weekend.

The second DIY project I have is restoring my grandfather’s Stanley Handyman Hand Plane.  It’s nothing special in terms of what the tool is worth.  But, from a sentimental value, this thing is priceless.

I’ve taken it completely apart, cleaned it up and sharpened the plane.  I used a wire wheel brush to remove rust from everything and coated it all in oil to prevent future rusting.  The painted parts were just cleaned up.  I didn’t strip the paint.

The front knob and handle were stripped down, sanded and treated with Boiled Linseed Oil.  The stain or paint on it didn’t come totally off, so I don’t think it looks great, but it does look and feel better.  I’m utilizing the old approach of applying the BLO once a day for a week, once a week for a month and then once a month for a year.  I’ve used that approach on some other tool handles and I can’t begin to explain how well it’s worked.  BLO is a great finish – it seems to get better with use!

One problem I’m having is that the plane doesn’t seem to be sharpening at a perfect right angle which makes the reassembly and setup skewed.  I might have to work on that some more.

Garden Is Growing!

Not much new here, but some great news! The broccolli sprouted and so did the garlic in my beds.  It’s still early in the year, but seeing some green in the garden beds is so motivating!

Blog Work

Back at it on the blog front this week with an article on bugging out when SHTF.  It is a guest post from Dan Sullivan at SurvivalSullivan.com.  It’s an interesting, practical article that I believe you’ll find useful.  I want to get back to more useful, actionable articles.

Next Week’s Goals

Planting resumes this weekend with sage and lettuce.  Both of which should be quick starts.  I can’t believe I will be hardening off lettuce and onions as early as next week.  Amazing that we’re getting to that point already.  I think I need to get some manure or fertilizer in the gardens this weekend so it works in before I start transplanting.

As mentioned, the gas can shelving should be finished this coming weekend and my plane upgrade should be complete as well.  Wow! Lots of stuff going on!

Long Term Plans

Nothing new here – shed, garage/shop upgrades and improvements, yard work, etc…  Thinking about dumping this section or, at most, talking about long term plan only when something new comes in.  What do you think?

Week 9 is officially over!  Can you believe we’ll be into double digit weeks in 2017 next week?  Amazing! I hope you all like what I’m doing here.  Let me know in the comments what you like or don’t like about the site!

Thanks for reading!

Dan

Founder/Owner at Suburban Steader

I am a middle-age guy with a wife, two young kids and a crazy dog. We live on Long Island, NY and had an interesting experience with Hurricane Sandy. That experience led me towards the self-sufficiency movement and eventually led to the founding of SuburbanSteader.com. I aim to provide suburbanites with the confidence and know-how to become more self-reliant by providing content on topics such as gardening, personal health, financial responsibility, cooking, self-preparedness and self-protection.