2017 Suburban Steader Update – Week 16

I feel like I’m cheating a little bit as I wrote the last weekly wrap-up only five days ago. That being said, I want to get these back on track for Friday publish dates. The last few days have been somewhat busy and exciting. Let’s check into the going-ons at the Suburban Steader Homestead for Week 16 of 2017!

This Week’s Milestones

Uninvited Visitors At the Suburban Steader Homestead

I’ve begun daily walks through the garden after work now that I have actually placed crops into the beds. It’s a moment of relaxation for me every day after work. We also benefit from the walk because I’m checking the garden daily and noticing any changes (good or bad) as they occur.

A few days ago, I was doing my walk and had quite a scare. A mama rabbit came running out of the straw mulch. I took a look and noticed a little burrow in the straw and there were a few kits in it.

Needless to say, this discovery will cause my planting goals to be delayed a week or so as they mature. I stopped by yesterday and it didn’t look like they were there. I’m hoping Mama took them out and found a new home.

Tis The Season

I love being outdoors. I grew up on a lake and, while we didn’t have much money, we found tons of ways to have fun. One of those ways to have fun was fishing. My father is an avid largemouth bass fisherman and that apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree. To that end, I went and got my fishing license this week and am looking forward to getting my line wet this year. I’d love to learn how to fish for trout as well since there’s a pretty good stocking here on Long Island.

Note that Mike over at The Backyard Pioneer correctly pointed out that I’m missing a few endorsements on my license. Gotta get that Hunter’s Safety Course done so I can go deer hunting with him this fall!

Next Week’s Goals

Gardening

There’s a lot of tasks that need to be taken in the garden. I have to spend some time with my blueberry bushes and give them some nutrients. In addition, I have a lot of items that need direct sowing. I think that will all occur this coming weekend.

Workshop

I haven’t spent much time in my workshop. There’s a lot that needs to be done in there. First and foremost, I need to get it cleaned up – again. It seems like I always need to clean up my workshop. But, it’s an important task and makes it easier to start projects.

Once I get the shop cleaned up, the next tasks will be taking my grandfather’s old wooden toolbox and reworking it. I’m looking forward to seeing how nice that box can be after it’s restored.

Blog

The blog will be back with an article next week. Most likely I will be reviewing a book next week. I have a few in the queue as well as some other post ideas. We shall see – I always like to keep it a surprise for you guys!

Family Time

Saturday is looking to be an adventure day for the family. We’re planning to head up to Bear Mountain in Harriman State Park to hike up Bear Mountain. It’s not a terribly difficult climb, but it’s a great view at the top. In addition, my daughters are so excited that, on the return from the peak, we’ll be hiking on the Appalachian Trail. They seem to be infatuated with that trail – for good reason – and I’m happy they are so excited!

That’s it folks – Week 16 is in the books! How was your week?

Thanks for reading!

2017 Suburban Steader Update – Week 15

Spring has sprung on the Suburban Steader Homestead! The weather has turned to the warmer weather and the gardens are starting to grow! There was so much that happened this week that I need to get into it right now!

This Week’s Milestones

Back On Track!

After what seems like weeks and weeks of complaining, I feel like my health is back on track! I feel a hell of a lot better than I did in the last few weeks. I felt so good that I even started back to the gym.

It felt so good to push some weight and feel like I was exerting myself again! I guess that doctor’s appointment my wife set up for me last week really paid off! I’m back baby!

Project Completion

I am very happy to report that the gas storage project is 100% complete. The shelving unit is built and all twelve cans are bought, filled and stored appropriately. This project was a huge accomplishment for me. I do a lot of project management at work and this project is the first one I planned out completely at home and then executed to plan. Very proud of the product and the execution.

Next up is planning for water storage.

Spring Has Sprung

Finally…Spring has come back to…The Suburban Steader Homestead (extra points if you know what that’s a paraphrase from)! I cannot begin to tell you how awesome it feels to have warmer weather back here.

I transplanted all my lettuce, onions and broccoli. Some are taking better than others but we’re moving in the right direction. Being that it was a very busy week away from the Suburban Steader Homestead, I was not able to get all my direct sow stuff started. I did, however, get the beds all prepped. I utilize the Square Foot Gardening methodology in my beds and make sure that every year, my beds are mapped out prior to planting.

All this means that we’re full bore ahead on planting this season and should have a hell of a garden waiting for us in a few months!

Good Friday Wasn’t So Good

Good Friday was an interesting day for me. I went to work and my company did a great thing for us. Rather than work in the afternoon, we all went to one of those Escape Rooms and had a little competition. We split into three teams and I’m happy to announce that my team was the only one to escape successfully within the time limit. Apparently, there will be some kind of prize (of the cash variety from what I’m told) waiting for us on Monday morning! They also bought us lunch, which was great.

I obviously came home in a great mood…until I walked into the basement. When I sat down at my computer to write this article, I got about ten words in and heard a weird sound. I turned around and noticed that the ceiling was leaking directly onto my wife’s desk! Our basement is brand new – just finished it off in late summer 2016!

Needless to say, everything got dropped and we immediately began moving all the critical electronics and then the furniture. I contemplated fixing it myself but didn’t trust my torch skills in such an enclosed area so I called a professional. He was great and now the leak is fixed, but I have a lot of drywall work and painting to do. Such is the life of a homeowner!

Great Weekend Of Food

In terms of food, Easter is second only to Thanksgiving in my top food holidays. I do love me a nice ham with some mashed potatoes, gravy, and vegetables. The only thing that beats a nice ham is a turkey. As I write this article, the ham is in the oven and we’re waiting on guests to arrive. I’m truly drooling at my keyboard.

The best part is that I started the day off with a great breakfast – tasty omelet, crisp up croissant and some bacon. Tack on a hot, strong cup of coffee and my morning was terrific.

I have to mention, however, that I’m still a little upset at my buddy Mike over at The Backyard Pioneer. He’s been posting amazing pictures of meat he’s smoking for the holiday weekend and I haven’t gotten a single call or text to come try it out. With friends like that 😉

Blog Work

I got back to my roots and published a self-written, non-review article this week on why preppers should be backpackers. It’s a great read if I do say so myself. The article speaks to how backpacking is not only a great exercise but also a terrific skill builder!

Have you had a chance to check out the site since I did a little spring cleaning? If not, please do and let me know what you think!

Next week, I expect to have another review (authors love sending me books) but I’m looking to get back into direct articles that really provide some guidance. What topics would you like me to address?

Next Week’s Goals

Gardening! Getting the veggies growing is goal number one for the next week and beyond. I have a lot of direct sowing to do as well as starting some stuff in the house. I’m thinking that the next few weeks should really determine where the garden is going for this year.

The blog is also getting some attention as articles should become more consistent (I apologize for how late this article is going up) and the content should get a little deeper. I’ve had a lot of stuff outside of work/home that has taken a lot of time lately. That all should be dying down and I’ll be able to concentrate more on the site.

Week 15 of 2017 is in the books and what a busy one it was! Things are heading in the right direction and the Suburban Steader Homestead is starting to really crank. How’s your property doing? Are you getting everything done that you want to do?

Thanks for reading!

2017 Suburban Steader Update – Week 14

We are in the lull of the homesteading season here in the Northeast. It’s not quite warm enough to plant outside and, honestly, my home is fairly up-to-date so there’s not a lot of work that needs to occur. That being said, I kept busy this week on the Suburban Steader Homestead so come see what’s going on.

This Week’s Milestones

Make The Ick Stop!

Last week I complained of still being sick and, unfortunately, there’s no positive update this week. My cough has lingered and it doesn’t seem like the inhaler I’m using is doing much good. The good news is that my wife was able to get me an appointment with my real doctor (none of that walk-in clinic stuff we talked about last week) on Saturday. Hopefully, I’ll get some positive results from that appointment and I can stop whining to you every week!

It’s Sports Season

Spring is always a big season in our house for sports. It used to be that my twin girls played soccer. Now one of my daughters (we’ll call her J) doesn’t do any organized sports in the spring (she’s a cheerleader for the youth football program in the fall). My other daughter, M, is playing both lacrosse and soccer. She’s busy which means I’m busy – especially since I’m an assistant coach on the lacrosse team. Last week was the first weekend with games for us and I’m proud to say M scored a goal and had a few assists in an awesome lacrosse game which we won 6-2! This weekend is the first dual weekend game with both lacrosse and soccer on the same day. We’ll see how M shows up.

While she doesn’t do sports in the fall, that’s not to say J isn’t an athlete in her own right. We had Game Nights at the girls’ school last night and I got to see J smoke the rock wall in their gym. Awesome times!

I know this kind of conversation isn’t pertinent to the idea of homesteading, but remember that this site is dedicated to suburban homesteading. And raising your kids is definitely within that realm.

Plus, I’m a proud Papa!

Gardening Slowly Lurching Forward

The weather is – finally – turning! Next week should be in the 60’s here and I’m totally intent on getting some stuff in the ground. The lettuce, broccoli, and onions are doing great and will definitely benefit from moving to their final homes.

That means I can continue growing the peppers, sage, and eggplant. I’ll also be able to start additional plants like basil, cilantro, and cucumbers.

Oh, and I have garlic growing outside!!!

Blog Work

I got back to blog this work this week and boy, oh boy, did it feel good! I posted an article about Misty Marsh’s 72hr Kit Plan e-book. The e-book is great and, moreover, I feel like the article I wrote did it justice.

In addition, I did some maintenance on the site. The side column got cleaned up. A bunch of junk was removed and I added a list of the top ten articles on the site. My goal was to speed up the site with the removal of all the junk and to also provide a way for readers to find some of the great information on this site.

The resource page also got a little bit of a refresh with some new items. Most notably, I added a bunch of books. I want to do a review of all the tools I’ve listed and may even do something where I put together a toolbox for viewers to win. Is that a series idea you all would be interested in?

Next Week’s Goals

The underlying goal is to get better, but I’m finding more and more motivation. I’ve started to use a Bullet Journal and feel like I’m getting a little more organized.

The garden will see some traction this week and I will most definitely take pictures.

In addition, I’m going to review my 2016 Suburban Steader recap now that we’re a quarter way through 2017 and see how I’m living up to my goals.

So, that’s it for Week 14 of 2017! We’re moving in the right direction and just need Mother Nature to play her role. I also need to find time away from all the kids’ stuff. But, I love spending time with them, so it’s all good!

Thanks for reading!

2017 Suburban Steader Update – Week 12 & 13

I’m going to start right here by apologizing. I haven’t written an article that isn’t a wrap-up since Week 10 and I didn’t even get to a wrap-up article last week. There’s a reason for missing so much writing, but I’ll warn you that it’s not terribly exciting. All that being said, let’s see what’s been going on at the Suburban Steader Homestead.

This Week’s Milestones

This Has Been The Winter Of Illness

It feels like I’ve been telling you I’m sick for the last three or four weekly wrap-ups. Unfortunately, nothing has really changed. I felt good after our snowboard trip to New England and even during my folks visit the following weekend. After that, my health went downhill again. Last weekend, I woke up on Saturday with chills, cough, aches, pains, and a 102F fever. That lasted until mid-afternoon on Monday.

Yeah, that was fun. The good news is that the fever broke and the chills and sweats stopped with it. The aches and pains subsided and I felt halfway decent. Well, that is with the exception of a cough. Oh, the cough. This thing is so nasty that sometimes I can’t catch my breath and once I even started to see black come in from the sides because I was essentially passing out.

My doctor is great, but it’s virtually impossible to get into her office. I was able to go to a walk-in clinic this weekend. They ruled out walking pneumonia with a few chest x-rays and have prescribed me an inhaler for bronchitis. Hoping I’m on the road to recovery…

By the way, one of the only things that have helped me is good ole bourbon!

Gardening Has Slowed, But Not Stalled

The weather here has been really shitty – please excuse the language – and hasn’t allowed me to even harden off some of the stuff I’m growing. It’s caused me to delay planting other items due to how much room I’m consuming with material that should be planted in my beds outside at this point.

That being said, everything inside is growing well.

The broccoli, lettuce, and onions all need to be hardened off and planted outside. That should free up some room to plant additional plants like basil, cilantro, and cucumbers.

Oh, one quick update – I did get germination in some of my eggplant and sage. It seems like they just have a longer germination period than others. That makes me pretty happy!

Blog Work

As I alluded to previously, blog work has been quite slow. Between illness, work and home, I have had very limited time to write. I’m also an assistant coach on my daughter’s lacrosse team so I’m spending a lot of time there.

My goal is to get back to writing next week but, to be perfectly honest, I can’t guarantee it. I haven’t even found time to edit guest posts recently so I can’t guarantee anything at this point.

Next Week’s Goals

Next week’s goals are relatively simple. First and foremost, get better. I’m nothing without my health. Second, I want to get some of my crops planted outside. I think the weather should cooperate. Finally, I need to get the blog back in order with some articles. Fortunately, writing this article reminded me of just how quickly I can turn out an article if I actually just sit down and do it.

So, thank you for your patience. I appreciate knowing that folks understand that this blog isn’t run as a full-time job but rather as a side-effort to help teach folks. Sometimes “life” gets in the way of what we want to be doing.

Thanks for reading!

2017 Suburban Steader Update – Week 11

I can’t believe I’m writing another weekly wrap-up post already. This week seemed to go by way too quick. There’s good reason for that – I had a lot of fun this week and was quite busy! Come along and see what I accomplished this week on the Suburban Steader Homestead.

This Week’s Milestones

Travelin’ Man, Travelin’ Man, Yes I Am

Haha! Do you have that Bob Seger song stuck in your head yet? If not, here you go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GsbmGctwls

OK, now that we’re done that with little pop culture sidetrack, let’s get down to business. Mrs. Suburban Steader and I took a much needed mini-vacation this weekend. We went up to a little cabin in New Hampshire. Every year we try to make this trip. It’s fun because we meet up with some friends. I get to snowboard, she gets to relax and we all get some time to hang out without kids. Good food and cold drinks are consumed. It’s a great time.

I love it because I get to explore a little bit of New England and, if you’ve paid any attention to me, you know that I love New England. The majority of our drive is spent on I-91 through Vermont but we end up at this little cabin affectionately called the Dumb Luck Lodge in NH.

It’s right near Attitash Ski Resort and that’s usually where I snowboard. This year was really fun because it was so cold. Yes, you read that right. It’s always a challenge to have fun in the cold, but I did. The day started out with base temps around -1oF and it didn’t warm up much. At one point, we reached the summit and it was -5oF with 15mph winds. The windchill was brutal. But, if you had the right clothing (which I do), you were fine.

See, prepping isn’t all about doom and gloom apocalypses!

Did I mention we came home to blizzard warnings? Yup, blizzard warnings…on Long Island…in March. That was no fun. We all ended up home – kids had school canceled, my work closed and the Mrs works out of the house. Fortunately, we all made it out alive and are here to tell the story. Oh, and we only got about 2” of ice and not really much snow. It turned to freezing rain in the middle of the storm and it really sucked to shovel.

Spring Is…Slowly…Coming

I didn’t plant much this week, but I’m seeing a lot of progress in the seed starting table since last week.

Everything has sprouted with the exception of the eggplant and the sage. I’m hoping those are both just longer germination times. I really should check. I’m always too busy.

The unfortunate thing is that I’m supposed to be hardening off the onions and lettuce. Yeah, well, with the storm last week and another one predicted for next week, I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

The garden will just be started a little bit late this year. No worries. I want to get this thing going as soon as possible; I’m finding patience in high demand and short supply.

Blog Work

There was no blog post this week. Lots of reasons for that, but it really came down to time. The mini-vacation last weekend took away my typical writing time. In addition, I’m in a little funk with what to write.

With that thought in mind, I’d greatly appreciate article ideas in the comments!

Next Week’s Goals

Next week’s goals are really weather-dependent. I’m at the point in the gardening season where I’d really like to start transplanting some crops and getting others started outside. Unfortunately, my beds are still under snow and we’re expecting more. The temperature isn’t expected to climb that much either which makes it not such a great scenario for seed sowing. I will probably push my plans back a week or two and let spring settle in a little more.

Outside of gardening, I have a few other things going on. My folks are coming for a visit this weekend and I usually find something to do with my old man, even if it’s just tinkering in the garage.

I also have to figure out my next garage project. I’m thinking about restoring my grandfather’s toolbox. It’s an old wooden one that I think he made. How’d you like to see some pictures of it over the next week?

Well, that’s a wrap, folks. Week 11 is in the books. To paraphrase Bill Belichick, the incredible coach of the New England Patriots, “We’re on to Week 12!”

Thanks for reading!

2017 Suburban Steader Update – Week 10

Wow! Double digit weeks already. Can you believe we’ve gone through ten weeks – seventy days – already in 2017? Tick, tock, tick, tock folks! Time marches on and you need to make sure you’re making the most of it. With that thought in mind, come along and see what I accomplished this week on the Suburban Steader Homestead.

This Week’s Milestones

Sickness Lingers Longer…Still!

Last week I lamented over how I had a horrible and cold. NyQuil was useful in the sense that I was able to sleep but the poor Mrs basically ended up sleeping next to a bear. The snoring was amazingly loud (or so I’m told) and she was getting minimal sleep. Well, I do feel a little better about the situation. I went to the doctor on Monday and found out I had strep throat. At least there was a good reason for a cough, sore throat and grizzly bear snoring. I’m on some horse pill sized Amoxicillin now and have seen some pretty quick results. The snoring has been reduced to the occasional brown bear level, which I suppose is an improvement. Hopefully, this illness is the last one for the year. Our family has definitely paid the price this winter. We’re hoping for a happy, healthy spring season.

Keeping My Hands Busy

I’m so happy. I finally have my garage/workshop back into some semblance of order. The good news is that I have finally finished my gas can shelf. It didn’t come out exactly as I designed but I kind of like when that happens. My usual approach is to design it in full on SketchUp (or even on paper) and then modify the design as I’m building it. So, without further ado, here’s the final project:

Let me know if you want plans for this design. I might make them available on the site if there’s enough interest.

I also got my grandfather’s hand plane rebuilt. All the parts have been cleaned, the plane is sharpened and it’s all put back together. The plane needed a lot of regrinding as it was quite out of square. Right now, I’m in the process of treating my wooden handle and front knob with Boiled Linseed Oil. I’ve treated it every day for the last week and am now onto treating it once a week for a month. From there, I’ll move on to once a month for a year. After that, it should be fully treated.

I think that, once things get cleaned up a little, I’ll move on to restoring my grandfather’s toolbox. Pictures of that to come.

The Planting Season Is Upon Us!

This last week was probably the busiest I’ve been with planting so far in 2017. Parsley, Peppers, Sage and Lettuce were all started this week and I’m already seeing some sprouts. Hardening off the onions and lettuce should occur in the next week or two.

Blog Work

The post this week was about the ten best survival skills for natural calamities. It’s an interesting article that addresses skills at the 10,000-foot level. I think it provides a good place for the reader to dig in and decide where they want to grow their skills.

Next Week’s Goals

It’s that time of year where the gardening really takes off. We’ll take a little break this weekend since we’re heading out of town, but next week we’ll be hardening off the lettuce and onions. In addition, we’ll be planting cilantro and basil inside. And, weather permitting, we’ll sow peas and lettuce outside as well. I love this time of year because browns are replaced with green and that smell of spring – that smell of rejuvenation – starts to come back. It’s such an invigorating time of year and I’m really looking forward to getting back out into the yard and getting my hands dirty again!

In the words of Porky Pig “Ba-da-ba-da-ba-da, That’s All Folks!” Week 10 is officially over! Our homestead is really starting to gain traction and I’m excited to see how this growing season goes. In addition, we’ve got a lot of DIY projects that we’re contemplating so stick with us and see what happens!

Thanks for reading!

2017 Suburban Steader Update – Week 09

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!

2017 Suburban Steader Update – Week 08

If last week was lucky number 7, this week was unlucky number 8! We got a lot done around the Suburban Steader Homestead but there was also a lot of problems that needed to be overcome. Come along and find out what happened!

This Week’s Milestones

Sickness Invades!

I mentioned last week that sickness invaded the house. Well, little did I know that it was just the pre-emptive raid. Initially, it was just my kids getting sick. They both had vomiting incidents (into their beds, mind you) last Thursday night. But, they were both fine the next day. Unfortunately, the sickness was just finding our weak points and made its tactical advance on Friday when it took out the Mrs. The poor girl was out of commission starting Friday afternoon and wasn’t right until sometime Monday. I spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday night “camping” in the den.

We thought we had vanquished the enemy, but it did an end around and struck the final member of the family, yours truly, on Monday night. I was useless on Tuesday. To make matters worse, I had originally taken Tuesday off to spend time with the family since it’s winter recess for the girls. That didn’t happen. And then, to pile it on, I developed a killer sore throat Wednesday night which left me with zero sleep heading into work on Thursday.

Long story short – the Suburban Steaders are sick of being sick!

Gardening and DIY

Despite the plague that has been set upon our home, we did continue with some of our projects. I started peppers, parsley, eggplant, and broccoli in my hacked together seed starting system. I even made a small YouTube video about it.

[youtube_sc url=”rsZ888fehHc” width=”480″]

In addition, I began construction on the gas can holder that I talked about. I only had a few hours to work and got the platforms fabricated. I had originally designed it with mitered corners for the supporting 2×4’s but think I’m going to change it butt joints as I can’t get the dimensions right on the miters – they seem to overhang a bit where I know I can make butt joints perfect. Construction should resume this coming weekend.

Blog Work

Blog work took a hit this week as I just didn’t have the energy or the time to get an article up on Tuesday due to both playing the dual parent role while my wife was out of commission and being ill myself. I apologize for that and can assure you that articles will resume next week. I may even play catch up with two articles plus my weekly review.

Next Week’s Goals

Planting will go on hiatus next week. By the calendar, we shouldn’t need to start anything else until the following weekend. We’ll let everything grow and start getting ready to harden off some of the seedlings before growing them outside. The beds also need some TLC so maybe we’ll take care of that this weekend.

Outside of gardening tasks, the gas can holder build will continue this week. I’m looking to also make a few videos – an EDC overview and perhaps a garage/shop tour. Also thinking about a GHB overview. Would you like that?

Long Term Plans

Long term plans still include the shed and getting the garage/shop into some semblance of order. I think I need to review all my yard tools and see if any of them need any maintenance before the growing season is in full bloom.

OK, Week 8 is in the can! 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!

2017 Suburban Steader Update – Week 07

Lucky number 7! Week 7 of 2017 is already upon us and the Suburban Steader Homestead has been a busy one. Snow really hosed up our lives for a few days and illness ran rampant through the house. But, in the end, we made progress towards the end goals of growing our garden and getting stuff done!

This Week’s Milestones

Last week was a busy week and this past week was no different. Let’s dig in!

Oh, Hell Snow!

When I last left you, we were knee deep in a Long Island blizzard. Well, when it was all said and done, we received about 18-inches of snow. And not that light, fluffy “champagne” snow you folks out in the Rockies get. This snow was that wet, heavy crap that causes blown-out backs and heart attacks. I’m embarrassed to say that I am one of those suburbanites who hasn’t upgraded to a proper snowblower. My Toro Power Clearer does not like anything more than 6-8-inches of fluffy snow. If it’s heavy and wet, that thing wants to be outside less than I do. I think it’s time to upgrade to a two-stage auger style snowblower. Time to watch the sales as it’s the right time of year.

That being said, I did make sure to clean out the most important thing in my yard. What is that, you ask? The walkway? The stoop? Nope, the fire hydrant. The last thing I want is for my home – or my neighbors’ homes – to go up and flames and the firefighters have to dig out a fire hydrant before they can begin to fight the fire.

Designing My Next Project

Working with the snowblower got me thinking about fuel. I subscribe to the logic of having one five gallon gas tank for every month of the year. I’m slowly building my reserve and should be done in a few months. But, they’re taking up a lot of space in my garage. I spent some time with SketchUp this past week and designed a simple to build shelving unit. It will allow me to stack the jugs and save some floor space in my garage. It’ll also look nice. I’m very much looking forward to building this unit and might even get started this coming weekend. I’ll chronicle it when I start.

Blog Work

Articles continue to pump out at roughly one per week on the blog. I hope you all are heading over here to read them. This week, I wrote a review of Scott Finazzo’s book Prepper’s Survival Medicine Handbook. Overall, it was a great bookcase reference for when things go sideways. It’s definitely written with the thought of stabilizing the patient and getting them to advance medical care. If you’re looking for a TEOTWAWKI-type medical book, this one isn’t it. For me, there’s lot of great knowledge in there for long-trip backpacking, hunters and others who spend a lot of time in the outdoors.

Next Week’s Goals

So, my broccoli just came in this week, so I’ll be planting them this weekend. My onions are all popping up! I’m so interested in getting fresh veggies and getting away from the crap that we buy at the grocery store in the winter. That being said, my wife made a wonderful Valentine’s Day dinner with store bought broccoli. She nailed this Beef Wellington!

The blog post next week will center around some urban survival tips. I’m liking the way it’s coming out and hope you will too.

You’ll also see more involvement with me on Pinterest in the next few weeks. I’m hoping that I can take advantage of that social media platform to drive more viewers to the site!

Long Term Plans

My long-term plans haven’t changed much, although getting my shop (garage) into order is definitely on the list. I like to do some woodworking in there and also use it as a repair shop for small engine work and whatever else rears its ugly, broken head in the household. The shed is also in the cards. The more I look at it in this snow, the more I realize how much work I need to do to it. We’ll earn our keep this summer.

OK, Week 7 is in the can! 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!

2017 Suburban Steader Update – Week 06

Week 6 of 2017 was a critical week on the Suburban Steader Homestead. I finally planted my first seeds of the 2017 season and also did some work in the shop. The blog continues to grow as well with the latest article being a DIYer’s dream post about pallet projects.

Let’s get down to brass tacks and see what happened this past week.

This Week’s Milestones

Last week was a week of planning and this week was full of action. The ball slowly started rolling towards our 2017 garden. In addition, I started to improve my skills.

Let The Garden Begin!

I was so excited this week! The Suburban Steader Homestead garden was finally started. As I mentioned last week, I took the advice from Amy Stross’ new book The Suburban Micro-Farm and filled out all her supporting spreadsheets. I also placed all the critical dates into my calendar. All that planning indicated that last weekend was the perfect time for me to start my onion crop. Well, a few dirty hands a little bit time later, I had 108 onion plants started. I cannot wait to see the results!

Improving Your DIY Skills

I am the son of a plumber. He’s the son of a mechanic. My mother’s father was a career welder. Personally, I got my degree in mechanical engineering. To say that I like to build things is an understatement. So, when I get a chance to get my hands dirty on different things I jump at it.

The first thing I did in terms of DIY this week was visit my friend’s auto body shop. It’s always a good time to visit with him and see what kind of projects he’s got going on. On this particular trip, he had a new truck that he was putting a lift kit on, a mutual friend’s Mustang that he was fixing up (our mutual friend got hit and destroyed the entire front of his car – fortunately he was OK), and an older Corvette Stingray that he’s doing a full rebuild on. We tinkered with a few things and just caught up. Definitely one of the highlights of last weekend.

Some of you might have noticed that there was a football game last Sunday. Well, being a Massachusetts native, I am a huge New England Patriots fan (did I just hear half of you leave?). As you might imagine, I had a lot of nervous energy Sunday as we waited for kickoff. I used it to my advantage and got some shop time in. First, I tore out some old, crummy shelves that the previous owner had left and replaced them with nice steel wire shelves. I need to get another one to fit the whole area, but it sure does make the shop (otherwise known as the garage) look better.

I also experimented with some woodworking skills. I have definitely grown an affinity for working with wood in the last year and want to hone my joinery skills. Sunday was the perfect opportunity to work on my half-lap joints. In case you don’t know, a half-lap joint is a joint made with two pieces of material by halving the thickness of each member at the joint and fitting them together. I did a few by hand and also used a router for one. The router one (in the picture below) came out the best, but I learned that the whole process is more about muscle memory than anything. This skill will help in a trellis project I have in mind.

Blog Work

Blog work continues to go along at the same pace. My weekly article this week seemed to fit in nicely with my DIY theme. It’s all about pallet projects for the suburban homesteaders. There are eight great ideas there for you. Personally, I think the projects themselves are nice, but the crux of the article is to provide ideas for you to brainstorm from.

What do you think of the article?

Next Week’s Goals

Next up on the garden tasks is planting broccoli. Unfortunately, my broccoli seeds were back ordered, but I think they’re supposed to ship this coming week. Even if they don’t, I won’t be too far behind schedule. Still, it’ll be nice to have some more seeds started. The family is really looking forward to some fresh vegetables. Although, the thought of spring/summer harvests is tough to get our heads around with the blizzard we’re currently experiencing.

In addition, I want to start getting the garden in shape. I need to determine the best time to through compost and/or manure under the stray I have guarding the beds. I also want to provide nutrients to my blueberries to promote some growth this year.

My trellis project might start this weekend as well. I need to find the right raw material to get started.

I’m being diligent about the blog posts as well. I’m finishing up a book on survival medicine and should have a book review up on Tuesday.

I want to know if you guys like all the review posts. I have a lot of product to review and feel like that’s all I’ve been writing lately. Do you like them? Do you want more actionable posts?

Long Term Plans

Planting season is going to get here in a hurry. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m really excited to get outside and start doing work in the yard. This winter has been really bothersome to me, despite the relatively modest temperatures for our part of the world. We’ll be looking at fixing the shed, building up the compost area and a host of other projects that should make our land more manageable.

Week 6 is in the books, everyone! And, despite the snow flying, spring’s not far off. Keep doing your warm dance and we’ll be out there sweating in the garden before you know it!

What projects around the Suburban Steader Homestead would you like to see me tackle in 2017? Let me know in the comments!