Blog Posts Archives - SelfSufficientPath

In the Jaws of a Dilemma

January 17, 2017 Joe Blog Posts Leave a comment

Okay, hypothetical question here. Of course this has NOTHING whatsoever to do with me or any real-life scenario. 🙂 Let’s say you’re hunting on the last day of archery season. You already have two deer in the freezer, but of course there’s no such thing as having too much venison. Now, let’s say you have to leave the house at 4:00 for a family obligation. You’re planning to stop hunting at 2:00 to accommodate that. At 1:30 a group of mature does walk out at 30 yards. Do you shoot, knowing that tracking, gutting, and transporting the deer to the processor could make you late to the family event? Or do you let them walk? I made my call. Um, I mean,

A Hard Day

November 29, 2016 Joe Blog Posts

Yesterday was a tough day for me. I’ve been hunting hard all through the archery season, and have passed on lots of does and a few small bucks. Having seen more deer on the property, and a higher buck /doe ratio than I have ever seen on this farm, I was excited for the start of rifle season. And then . . . disaster. Shortly after first light I heard a deer coming in from behind me. Watching and waiting I saw a medium sized eight point come in from about 80 yards. He was probably a 3 1/2 year old with a mid-sized rack, but a pretty big body for his age. This is a deer I might have passed

Cider from Store-Bought Juice

April 11, 2016 Joe Blog Posts

I’ve done some things on this channel about wine-making. But what I’m really most interested in are meads and ciders. My first attempt at mead was a complete flop, not because I made it wrong, but because the recipe was, um questionable (note to self, basil probably doesn’t belong in mead). But that’s another story. So I wanted to move into ciders in 2016, but there really aren’t a lot of fresh, locally-sourced apples available in January. So, based on some posts by Jack Spirko at #TheSurvivalPodcast, I started looking at juices available at the grocery store. Based on the results I can tell you this can be done quickly, easily, and inexpensively, and it can produce fantastic results. You’re

Apiary Tour

August 24, 2015 Joe Blog Posts

The Children of the American Revolution group Amanda belongs to arranged for a tour of Burgh Bees, an apiary located near downtown Pittsburgh, with a mission of education and the promotion of beekeeping. Amanda and Abby were so excited to visit the apiary. They (and we) learned a lot, got to experience what it’s like with literally thousands of bees flying around, and even got to taste to honey freshly-dripped out of the hive through our veils. It was fantastic. Not sure if me or the girls had the most fun. The staff at Burgh Bees couldn’t have been nicer, and I even got a lead on their Fall Beekeeping 101 course in October. Wild horses (or swarming bees)

Trip to the Bee Farm

August 14, 2015 Joe Blog Posts

Thanks to the Children of the American Revolution our family had the opportunity to take a tour of Burgh Bees, located in Pittsburgh, PA. Burgh Bees is a community group with a mission of promoting bee culture, and educating future bee keepers. After donning veils and making sure we all had long sleeve shirts, we proceeded into the bee yard. The staff showed us the differences between langstroth and top bar hives, explained the roles of the different bees in the hive, and gave us all a high-level primer on bee keeping. We even got to suck some honey through our veils that had dripped on the bars of the top bar hive (the girls’ favorite part). Probably the biggest benefit we got from this

A Productive Day

July 12, 2015 Joe Blog Posts

While the girls are off visiting family, I’m getting some work done. Yesterday I changed the thermostat and bypass hose on the truck, did the yard work, weeded the garden, and maybe most importantly, got the first real harvest (aside from an earlier bean pick) from the garden. Not too shabby for a day’s work.

Mmmmmmm, crabs

June 27, 2015 Joe Blog Posts

My family and I vacation in Hilton Head, South Carolina every couple of years. It’s your typical family vacation with sun, and sand, and a whole lot of doing nothing. This year, while visiting the pier at Harbor Town, we saw a couple of guys watching a couple of thin ropes trailing down into the water. When I asked what they were doing they said they were crabbing, and opened a cooler to show me half a dozen or so large blue crabs. Mind . . . blown! You mean I can go out on a public pier and catch my own seafood dinner??? That night I went back to the house and started Googling everything I could find about

New BK-9 Upgrades

March 22, 2015 Joe Blog Posts

I bought a Kay-Bar Becker BK-9 last year mostly for prep work for deer season, but also as a big-duty camp knife. I love the functionality of the knife itself, but the sheath was pretty much a joke. It’s made of nylon webbing and, while it has some okay features (a pocket for sharpener, molle attachments, etc.), it really isn’t ideal. Also, the blade coating makes striking a ferrocerium rod unworkable. So, I decided to make some changes. I first ground off the blade coating, then, then fashioned new handle scales out of Cocobolo, an oily, water-resistant exotic hardwood. Then it was time to address the sheath. There are after-market sheaths for the BK-9, but they’re either made of kydex,

Today’s Harvest

August 1, 2014 Joe Blog Posts Leave a comment

Just a shot of some of today’s harvest. Tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, and lots, and lots of beans. There was more than this, but my lens is only so wide. Anyway, check back late this weekend for one (or more) new video(s).

This week

July 26, 2014 Joe Blog Posts Leave a comment

No video until late this week / early next week. We’ll be going back to the garden to see what effect the tomato pruning had. Will also be working on rehabbing some of my old traps, checking out the rather comical result of the water collection “big tank” project, and talking about whatever else comes up from now until then. Have a great week!