I agree on buying most of the grains, but I would do it now, then continue to replace what I used during that year, when it is harvest time for that product. Dry packed wheat will last for years. If your storage place is dry and cool you can store dry packed oatmeal, corn, and rice for several years. Flour does not store for very long, so grind as you need it. I would buy while it is affordable and available rather than try to buy or barter in time of need. If I were planning for a survival situation, I would choose nothing larger than a goat. For the last several months, I have averaged about a dozen eggs a day from 17 hens, and 3 of those are a breed not noted for being good layers. I am sure that the number of eggs will reduce in winter and as the chicken age. Rabbits and quail may be something you want to consider. I live on a lake so I have access to fish. Growing your own food is something you need to learn to do. Decide what you would need to have to sustain life and work on learning to grow those crops. It doesn't matter how small a space you have, there is something that you can start learning to grow. If you have a small plot, start building up the soil. If you must grow in containers or raised beds then choose carefully and practice as many crops as you can. Each crop is unique, and you will learn if it is possible to grow it where you live, or if you even want to. You can save seeds from your own plants if you plant only open pollinated types. Some people call them heirloom, but not all open pollinated seeds are heirlooms. I will link one web site that sells only open pollinated seeds, but there are others. My best advice to anyone wanting to achieve a self sufficent lifestyle would be to START NOW. It will take you a long time to get there, so begin now and take a few baby steps as you dream. I planted a lot of peppers and tomatoes this year. We eat all we can fresh. The extra peppers, I clean, remove seeds, and cut into the size pieces that I use for cooking and freeze them. I do bags labeled 'peppers' that I might grab for an italian dish, and bags labeled 'spicy peppers' that have both sweet and hot that I might want for a mexican dish. I do quart freezer bags, but I just take out what I want each time and zip it back up. I rarely can tomatoes, but I do know how. Instead I make picante sauce. I would much rather have to buy a can of tomatoes to cook with that try to find an expensive jar of salsa that is as good as my own. Once I get the speciality items made, I might think about canning plain ole tomatoes. In the spring we had all the broccoli we could eat fresh but our season turned very hot very early. I didn't get as much broccoli as I would have like, but we ate a lot and I put 13 packages in the freezer. In the spring, I had lots of lettuce, and other green things, but we always seemed to choose in favor of the chinese cabbage, and it became our 'spring green of choice'. The addition of the fresh snow peas, just enhanced it. Soon I will start those things for fall, along with some brussel sprouts. I live in a hot climate so fall things are more difficult. I get free sweet corn from a farmer friend, so I don't grow it. I wanted to make sure that I knew how to grow dent corn, for grinding into grits or cornmeal, in the event that I ever needed to. I took a very small spot of my garden and planted about 40 stalks. It is heading up but I will never grow it in my garden again. So, from the experience I learned that I could do it, but that I needed to find a new place for it. I am not a big potato grower but by growing them this year, I learned a lot. Mostly I learned that I don't want to use my good garden space for growing a crop that would be in my garden a long time and be ugly the last half of that time. I will find an out of the way place to grow them from now on. I only planted enough to produce a few new potatoes to eat, and the space alloted to them could have been covered with far less than two sheets of plywood, for a size comparison. I had over a hundred medium size potatoes and many small ones and I would guess that it was roughly 60 pounds. I proved that I can do it. They were delish. Everytime I pull a plant from the garden, my chickens begin pacing and talking to me, because they know that some of it may be for them. They get the weeds, the spent plants, the broccoli leaves, the lettuce that goes to seed, etc. and they can't wait. They like most anything green. They also take care of most of the kitchen waste. In return, they give me fresh eggs, excellent fertilizer, and entertainment. I grow lettuce, spinach, etc in the fall and keep it going until mid December most years. If it is going to be really cold, I throw a blanket over it at night. If you had it under a hoop house, you could probably do that too. If you are still in the planning stages of buying, then I would suggest that buy as much as you can afford, but plant less than a quarter acre, and learn from that. For reading (and learning) I suggest the Eliot Coleman books. It is a lot of work, so be prepared. Good luck. Carol

I am also in Colorado, so I know what kind of climate and soil you are likely dealing with. I am considering adding some more species to my bluegrass yard myself. My interest is keeping my lawn as green as possible while minimizing water and fertilizer use, while also increasing the carbon sequestering potential of my yard. I am also interested in creating better habitat and providing food for native pollinators and honeybees. However, I live in a neighborhood with a somewhat conservative HOA and I need whatever I do not to be too dramatic. I looked at Fluer de Lawn and it seems pretty, but my HOA would not be having it. I think I'm going to create my own blend. I'm looking at micro clover and maybe chamomile for the front yard, and I might go a little more wild with the back and do some larger clovers and maybe ornamental or wild strawberry as well. I'm also going to blend in tall fescue. Tall fescue is the deepest rooting cool season grass that grows here in Colorado, perhaps the deepest rooting cool season grass period, with a root system that grows up to 2 feet deep. This enables it to be very drought resistant and needs very little water, but it maintains a very nice, dark green color. Next to bluegrass it looks kind of like quack grass because of it's thick blade, but a lawn solely of tall fescue is very nice. I don't know what part of the state you are in, but the turf plots at Front Range Community College in Westminster have a nice (though horribly overwatered) tall fescue plot. Anyway, tall fescue, micro clover, and chamomile is my plan, but if you don't have to worry about an HOA, I would consider buffalo grass instead of tall fescue. It's a warm season grass so it will be brown half the year, but I think it's very pretty in season, and honestly don't mind the brown look. My HOA just wouldn't have it. Blue Gramma is also a very nice warm season grass, it has a very attractive flower/seed head. Both require very little water or mowing, and would look great in a blend with othe dicots like clover or chamomile. Dog Tuff is a cool choice too, but it is very aggressive, basically like Bermuda grass, so you probably don't want that around your flower beds. I see now I'm like seven years late in answering this question, lol. Your lawn is probably done by now. How is it?

This is the first time in a while I've had a chance to read through the more recent posts. I have to say my heart goes out to Melissa Stewart, who never did post again, sadly. My first impulse was to suggest putting a lock on the bedroom door! BTW, maifleur01's post of August 28, 2016 wasn't very clear to me. I think what she was saying was that AL facilities might be helpful to early/moderate dementia patients, but not all of them are willing to be moved there. This is very true. My MIL did not want to move. However, we did not give her a choice. She had lived with us for 7 yrs and it was stressing my DH's (her only child) health. The facility we found for her is a world away from the "just sitting in chairs" places. It is a 5-acre secure campus, complete with its own senior center and as mentioned before, a full schedule of activities every day. The regular routines and voluntary activities helped very much in slowing down the progression of her dementia. Her anxiety lessened, and she no longer needed the anti-depressants or BP bills either. She was the ideal candidate for a facility because she was very social but personally awkward at making friends (she felt it was being "pushy" and unladylike to be the instigator). The casual, regular social interactions enabled her to finally make new friends. This non-profit facility is the third-ranked of its type in the state. It has the lowest staff turnover percentage and one of the highest staff-to-resident ratios. The downside is, you need $$$ for this. Without exception we found the better quality full-care facilities did not take Medicaid patients. IF you passed the interview, had a signed evaluation of your mental/physical health from your doctor, and could claim sufficient financial assets for at least 5 yrs of rental expense, you could be accepted as a resident. In such case, as a current resident if you needed care in the future and ran out of funds, the facility can CHOOSE to apply for Medicaid on your behalf so you may continue to be a resident. Most non-profits will do this. Many for-profits, which unfortunately comprise the bulk of the industry and who are rapidly buying up existing non-profits when possible, do NOT do this. No funds = no residency. Always be sure, if you are looking for a facility for an elderly family member, that you make several visits, research their rankings (both federal and state inspections), and ask as many questions about "what if?" as you can. Just FYI, an article last week in the WS Journal on "We're running out of caregivers" said the average cost of a home health aide, full time (8 hr day) is now $49,000/yr. Remember if the aide is hired directly, you are also responsible for Social Security and other taxes, as an employer.

akshars-love those pics. What kind of flooring are you doing-have you already chosen it? I have read also about good quality and bad quality in both particle board and plywood. There is so much information out there that you don't even know exists until you have to start shopping for it. So - I can related to the can't really talk to my friends comment as well. All of my friends that have built somewhat recently went the custom route so yet again all pywood...I didn't have anyone's to look at to compare. A catalog and pictures just aren't enough to go from and many of the displays I saw were you guessed it - upgraded to plywood or the lower end that weren't great quality anyhow. It's frustrating and overwhelming. My mind tells me MDF would be okay but there is the nag of well what if it isn't and you spent all of this money on an unknown because we have no personal experience with it. Not helpful but that was my thought process. Good luck.