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Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without! This saying from the Great Depression shows the way to true frugality.

Provident Planning
This has been restated in more recent years, the phrase "refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, and then recycle" might be familiar to some, though I'm more used to hearing "reuse, repurpose, recycle," which leaves out a key feature of the original; don't buy the damn thing in the first place! In the face of my own words to the contrary, I sometimes still end up buying based more on initial price than on lifecycle costs, as was true of the plethora of cheap plastic fuel containers I've purchased over the years. Buy the best quality you can afford, that's the lesson that I too often have to relearn.
"Buy once, cry once," as another old saying goes

Primal Woods

Looking back at my calendar the week was almost totally dominated by preparing for milling, milling, and the follow-up to milling jobs. I did manage to maintain my "Sharpen the Saw" routine, but just barely.
Trailers at the ready for Tom's lumber haul
Portable Sawmill Services A couple of sawmill jobs this week, the first for Tom in Niles, MI, and the second for Joe, my third trip to Joe's new homesite this year. The trailers are on Tom's job where we milled almost 2,300 bd ft from just 12 logs. And as usual, this is my third time out to Tom's since 2016, Tom is very well prepared on all fronts. A new metric I've been working on, which I call "Milling Process Efficiency," indicates that two factors are of key importance; 1) size matters, i.e. size of the logs, and 2) keeping the mill running, i.e. not starved for logs and milled lumber not preventing further cutting or loading of the next log. Tom got it right, and the result was a low cost per bd ft of $0.41; Mach Hrs:Clock Hrs was 79%; I'm thinking 75% is a solid target, when I've felt best about the job the number has been over 75%, when I felt like we left something on the table it was under 75%. In the portable milling context high Milling Process Efficiency definitely requires a collaborative effort between customer and supplier of the service.
Site overview at Tom's
Next up was Joe. What can I say, other than that we have together milled A LOT of lumber this year; I just did the math and we have produced over 10,000 bd ft of lumber from the trees taken down to make room for is home site. That's gotta be a record. The wood is going into decking, a pole barn, kitchen cabinets, etc. Waste not, want not.
As mentioned last week and the week before, we are doing much better in 2021 than in 2020; up 26% now on last year. The amount of work might itself be a "problem," even if a it's a good problem to have. I'm noticing more and more often that I need help to maintain the quality of our service offering and to build out the Homestead at the same time.
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A Blueberry Pure Maple Syrup process improvement; 70 Quart stock pot, 2 ea.
Pure Maple Syrup The "new equipment" I mentioned last week is pictured above. First time out we used a 24 in. x 33 in. pan with "drop flues;" let's just say that was less than ideal, and it literally took me all of a long day to make and bottle the first batch of Blueberry Pure Maple Syrup, and clean up after myself. I bought two of these 7 gallon plus stock pots, one as a new "pre-filtering" tank, and one for making the BB MS.
Drop flue evaporating pan showing the flues in the bottom
Two problems with 24 in. x 33 in. "drop flue" pan in this decidedly inappropriate application; 1) with a single, albeit large propane burner, it was impossible to heat the pan evenly, and 2) those drop flues caught a lot of blueberries. Anyway, lessons learned, problems solved, Batch #2 promises to progress much more quickly and effectively with the stock pots.
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Kindasorta what our High Tunnel will look like
Homesteading & Health 
Yes, the High Tunnel is going to be a game-changer! The quote came in From Keeler-Glasgow at ~$6.50/sq ft, you can't get weather-tight space much less expensively; a pole barn with concrete floor would probably be at least $35/sq ft, AND, the High Tunnel is not a "building" for property tax purposes, it is "equipment," both portable and relatively low cost. Gotta love it when a plan comes together. The animals, Goats, Pigs, and Chickens, are really going to enjoy this space. As well, mentioned last week, it will free up the Barn for Tractor and Implement storage, among other things. We'll be pulling the trigger on this soon.
I moved both the She-Goats and He-Goats yesterday, and a couple of things came to mind: 1) the Goats will be done clearing the Low Pasture before the growing season ends, and 2) it takes too long, 3 hrs 20 min, to move the goats. Both of those "problems" can be solved, but we'll have to put our minds to developing the detailed solutions.
In closing...  
I've been thinking a lot about "Homestead Economics" lately. "In the last published brief from the American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences in 2013, the number of students enrolled in a home economics class was a little over 3.4 million, which were taught by more than 27,800 teachers -- a 38 percent decline from 2003." That from Cortney Moore at FoxBusiness. The first thing that strikes me is the whole notion that there is such a thing as the "consumer sciences?!" So of course I DuckDuckGo'd it; "Family and consumer sciences education serves as a foundation for life literacy education. One curriculum goal is to improve students’ ability to be successful in today’s world. As outlined by National Standards for Family and Consumer Sciences (NASAFACS, 2008-2018) content such as nutrition and wellness; interpersonal relationships; child development; parenting; consumer, personal and family finance; goal setting; problem solving; communication, and conflict resolution are instrumental to an individual’s development as a successful career-life manager." Yada, yada, yada. "Life literacy?" "Career-Life manager?" Is there a role for the family here? If obesity and divorce rates are any indication the education in "family and consumer science" is not having the desired effect. But I digress, big time. Bit of a diatribe there, my apologies.
But let's say this Homesteading thing is something that interests you. How do you approach that transition? I know for us economics had a lot to do with what came first, second, etc.; perhaps economics was only eclipsed by health, it's hard to say. Let's say you're interested in Homesteading but live in an urban or sub-urban environment? What can be done? A lot as it turns out, it's how we started as sub-urbanites, with rain water collection and a raised beds garden. But the point is I guess, it depends on your circumstance, your financial situation, your pressure points, etc. The Blog post ideas are piling up...I'll get to that soon, I promise, I've already got the first one drafted, though it's not specifically on the Homestead Economics topic. Stay tuned.
All the best, and God bless,
John & Geri
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