Transitions and an uplifting story about some neighbors

 

Source (1:30 run time)

16" barrel, AR pattern rifle. 55 grain, commercially loaded .223 ammo with a listed velocity of 3240 fps. Actual, measured velocity of 2800 fps. That slower velocity is actually an advantage with conventional soft-point bullets. It is a disadvantage with FMJ bullets with a cannellure which depend on +3000 fps to fragment.

Ripples

Southern Belle is going through an adjustment in her job situation. Nothing bad, just different. The adjustment required many hours to transition. I expect Quicksilver to be cranky and out-of-sorts today. 

The end is near...

Fifty more feet of potatoes to dig.

I "gifted" one of my nephews with the potatoes from a row-and-a-half and the weight averaged out at 1.5 pounds of potatoes per foot of row. It is very good soil but I didn't add any nitrogen fertilizer this year.

A neighbor

A neighbor has been cheering me up with updates from his family's garden. As the Iranian conflict evolved through the spring and the Ukes started blowing up Russian refineries and plants that made fertilizer, my neighbor's wife decided to plant potatoes in addition to their usual vegetables.

Let me simply note that she has great instincts. First for marrying my neighbor, secondly for planting potatoes, third...for doing a better job than I did.

According to my neighbor, the total harvest amounted to 1300 pounds. A third of it was given to one of the missions that is supported by their church. Additional potatoes were shared with people who had participated in the planting, care and digging of those potatoes. 

The spuds that remain will be eaten by four adults, three teenagers and two toddlers.

But that's not all, folks!!!

They hosted a butchering party.

A small stream runs through their property and EHD flattened the local deer population this year. So they decided to slaughter and process some of their excess domestic animals instead of sending them to auction.

The one picture from my neighbor that I am comfortable sharing.

My neighbor sent me many pictures which I do not have permission to publish, but I counted eight separate young people (i.e. younger than 20) helping in the meat processing.

They were cutting meat, feeding a meat grinder, running a vacuum sealer, standing around socializing, watching younger siblings and so on. They "typical" kid was probably 13 years-old. Three families other than my neighbor's appear to have been involved in the project.

My neighbor and his wife are intentionally raising God-centered, resilient children. Those kids know the amount of work that every bite of food represents, if not by them then by somebody else. They are not snow-flakes who are freaked-out by barbarians who actually eat meat with bones in it (not joking, it is a thing).

I know/knew young people lived entirely on one brand of frozen, cheese pizza. I knew other teens who refused to eat meat that had a bone in it...it was McD chicken nuggets or nothing. Their imagined fragilities were a core part of how they identified themselves as human beings. They saw those fragilities as markers of elitism and refinement.

My neighbors are also intentionally and deliberately building community. I am blessed that they trust me enough to share their struggles and successes. People who keep their noses to the grindstone rarely ask for attention so it is difficult to get a tally on how many kindred spirits are out there.

Stress reliever

This is from one of the Dacha video channels I watch.

A granny wearing a babuska is stripping leaves from a cane pruned from a grapevine. She then feeds the leaves to domesticated rabbits.

This might be a Continental Giant rabbit.

Most of the rabbits look like California White type meat rabbits but she also feeds one "novelty" breed with enormously large ears. She may be following the "Breeding herd" and "Terminal sire" plan where moderate sized maternal animals are bred to a large-framed, muscular sire. Most of the cost of running meat animals is in the base metabolic load of the maternal animals and that directly scales from their body-weight.

The entire rabbit feeding sequence is about 2:30 seconds long.