Backyard Homesteading and Self-Sufficiency

Have you tried growing jujube?

Yes we have one prolific jujube and they really are an excellent way to break the fast. They too are spreading under the mulch, in a different patch with pear trees, but we're going to let a couple shoots go and see how the fruit is. Advice is they may fruit, they may not. That patch has space to experiment. It's in the cattle field but protected with electric poly tape.

Anybody else growing goji?

I’ve resigned myself to the fact that no matter what we do we won’t keep the mice out of this place. It’s a hopeless pursuit. Foundation is done end joists all spray foamed… still mice everywhere come fall. When we put new cabinets in I’ll make sure tgey are sealed up against those bastards. But that’s all I’ll be able to do.

I’ve got probably 20 traps out I’ve declared war.

I’ve sprayed rodent repellent many times. It’s not working. Im pretty sure it’s tom cat.

Thornless Blackberries are actually Marion berries

A pregnant barn cat will soon have kittens to teach to hunt.

China can have them. Monocropping GMO seeds GUARANTEES famine. Furthermore, Frankenseeds guarantee health problems.

20 years ago, I feared China. Now I see looming demographic collapse there. Here too. Form tribes, recruit young Christians to have babies, stay married, relearn needed rural skills.

China is currently facing the most rapid demographic contraction in human history, a direct consequence of the thirty-five years it enforced the One Child Policy. The sustainability risks to the nation are systemic and likely irreversible. 1. The Death of the Pyramid China’s demographic profile is no longer a pyramid; it is an inverted, top-heavy pillar. The One Child Policy accelerated a transition that took centuries in the West and compressed it into decades. By 2050, the median age in China will be well over 50. The Dependency Ratio: The "4-2-1" problem—one child supporting two parents and four grandparents—is now a reality. This places an unsustainable tax burden on the shrinking youth population, who must fund pensions and social safety nets for a massive, elderly, non-productive class. 2. Labor Force Depletion and Wage Inflation For decades, China’s "comparative advantage" was an endless supply of cheap, young labor. That engine has broken. Manufacturing Migration: As the labor force shrinks, wages are forced upward. This makes China less competitive in low-end manufacturing, which is already migrating to Vietnam, India, or Mexico. The "Middle-Income Trap": A nation that grows old before it grows rich is a recipe for long-term stagnation. China is struggling to transition to a high-tech, high-consumption economy fast enough to offset the loss of its manufacturing labor force. 3. Social and Domestic Instability The Marriage Squeeze: The cultural preference for sons during the One Child Policy led to sex-selective abortion and infanticide, resulting in a massive gender imbalance (roughly 30 million "excess" men). This creates a permanent class of disenfranchised young men, which historically serves as a catalyst for social unrest and criminality. Caregiving Crisis: The traditional Chinese social model—where children care for their parents—is collapsing. With fewer young people, the state cannot physically or financially provide the level of geriatric care requi

Up at 6 made breakfast, tgen homeschooled kids, then left to work for a guy up north at 10:30, then after 3 hours said well that’s all I have (I’ve repeatedly told him 4: hours minimum) then went home and split 1/2 a cord of wood. Now finally sitting down.