Health Update: I appreciate all the well-wishes. The latest update is I’m getting stronger and feeling better. I still have the drain on my side which severely limits my activities and is impeding my recovery. I have an appointment with the surgeon on Thursday to review the results of my last CT scan(taken on Tuesday) and to review whether or not the drain will be removed or left in for another week or so.
I have no health insurance and with 6 days spent in the hospital, the medical bills are going to be huge. I’ve had a few people reach out and suggest I start a GoFundMe page. Originally I said no. I absolutely hate asking anyone for anything. Now – I’m always willing to help others and go out of my way for someone in need. Me asking for help? I’ve never been comfortable with that. Just the way I am.
I decided to go ahead and do it. I’ll post a link to the GoFundMe page soon. It’s tough out there and many of us are on tight budgets. With that in mind, any donations are very much appreciated. If someone can’t donate sharing the GoFundMe page with family and friends on social media would be fantastic and very helpful.
Oh – something important: Many of you already know or suspect John Rourke is not my real name. This is true. John Rourke has been a “pen name” for well over 12 years. My real name is Keith Wilkins. What’s interesting is I’ve made friends with several readers of this and my previous site and they continued to call me “John” even after learning my real name. I’m good either way.
As GoFundMe requires you to use your real name I thought this would be a good time to come clean. Now – moving forward I will continue to use my pen name – John Rourke.
Again – thanks for the prayers and well-wishes.
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
Maine Prepper Girl has been out working on the garden while I have been a bit hobbled. I love these galvanized raised beds, It’s still too early to plant here in Maine, but, a few weeks from now we should be good to go.
We bought a chicken coop and a large cage to put it in. Hopefully, by the end of this weekend, we’ll have the coop put together.
We have some “Supersoil” being delivered to fill the raised beds. This will get us off to a good start.
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
Look at these numbers. There’s a reason behind this and it’s not good.
I think I’ll go watch Red Dawn…….
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
Maine Prepper Girl(aka Kass) has been on a kick making things leaning towards the all-natural. Above she made some all-natural real vanilla extract. I’m going to ask her to write up how she did it. These are freshly bottled and haven’t started changing color yet.
She just completed some Almond Extract as well!
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
Stay safe all and please…..keep preparing.
Rourke
Initially self-published 20 years ago, The Encyclopedia of Country Living has become the trusted guidebook to sustainable, self-sufficient living. Filled with memorable anecdotes, crucial advice, and a generous helping of good humor, this compendium provides detailed information about food production — growing, processing, cooking, and preserving — together with hundreds of illustrations and recipes.
With updates of over 1,100 mail order sources, including websites and email addresses, this revised edition is the definitive classic text for living off the land. “Carla Emery is certifiably one of the craziest, warmest, ... funniest, wisest, most lovable, and idealistic zanies now walking the earth.” — Mother Earth News
Only $2.99 for the digital version. Fully printable and searchable.
Immediate Digital Download.
🙏🙏🙏🙏
Glad things are looking up all around! I tried the raised beds a few years ago, and once you get the initial dirt in them they work well. I took last year off, but I have my seedlings all ready to go as soon as we stop having these cold nights.
I wasn’t as smart as you and didn’t put plastic under mine. The weeds growing around them are a nightmare.
hey bro, get well soon!