New small holder

[Mortblanc]

Hello, I made a comment in one of the open forums and decided I needed to post an intro. I have been lurking for some time.

I am in the States, in a place called Kentucky, which is much like your Scottish Highlands. Rolling hills to rocky crags, lots of pasture with some farm land. I often have problems keeping my tractor from tipping while working my plots. Summers see 100F and winters get down to -20F. We have both true blizzards and tornadoes, sometimes at the same time!

You would consider me a "smallholder". I own a little plot of land, house, sheds and the tools for maintaining life.

I am an old geezer (65) and have been "prepping" since birth. My parents were children of the Great Depression and the rationing of WW2. They were still in that mindset while I was growing up in the 1950s-60s and I was raised with a strong work ethic and knowledge that I was responsible for my own decisions and the consequences they brought, as well as needing to make preparations for the effects of other people's bad decisions.

I was blessed with the availability of a good education, then did my 4 years in the US Army as an officer in a combat unit during the Viet Namn War, then taught history at University and other varied classroom situations, for 35 years. I am now retired.

After all these years I am pretty well set up with both equipment and experience, but I find I am still learning, and there is new technology available daily, which is why I am here.

And yes, I am part of the "American gun culture", thank God! But I will try to keep those references to a minimum. However, I do own about one of everything, and reload my ammo, so if you need information just ask.

I have the beans and bullets, but also have skills as a blacksmith, farmer, teacher and general handyman. I built the house I live in and it was my third built with my own hands. I have built and lived in off grid homes for several decades, but with age I have tied to the utilities for convenience.

I am also fortunate to live in a situation where I can hunt and fish daily. I have a lake on one side and a public game preserve on the other side. I can walk to either.

I will attempt to keep my comments in a general survival and prepping mode due to the slight variation in cultures and climate. Some things are specific to each of us, but some things are common to the human condition.

Thanks for being here,
Mortblanc

[pseudonym]

Hello and welcome to the Forum.

[Briggs 2.0]

Hello, there and welcome along.

[filsgreen]

Hi there Montblanc and welcome to the forum. It sounds like your life has been varied and interesting; I'd love to have a beer with you and listen to your Vietnam experiences. How big is your small holding, do you keep any live stock? A few pictures of the Kentucky countryside would be most welcome.

Phil

[Deep Thinker]

Hi Mortblanc,sounds like you have a nice environment. Get the bit about the depression ,I grew up on learning stories from Grandparents about it all and how
thrifty they learned to be as well as skills they needed. Hope you get a lot from the forum.
DT

[Arzosah]

Hello Mortblanc, welcome! You sound really well established in your smallholding - and you've been a history professor too? My word

As far as the gun culture is concerned, I'm not part of it, but most actual farmers and smallholders are - in their hands, a gun is a tool against four-legged pests - we've had lots of articles in the papers recently about huge rats, for instance, though a couple of our members haven't seen the huge ones described.

Anyway, welcome! Pix of your land (anonymised for safety etc) as filsgreen said would be great. Do you have any space given over to orchards? Not sure if fruit trees could survive that temperature range, actually. Interesting!

[Deeps]

Good intro mate, it sounds like you've got a great set up, I fancied moving out of town and getting a bit of land but I was overruled.

[Decaff]

Welcome to the forum I find it fascinating when US peppers post on here, its almost like a different world. I do think that many more older skills are still alive and kicking over the pond, food preserving like pressure canning is the norm and not seen as weird, most homes seem to have cellars however big the house. The only hummm thing to me is the gun culture, that I find very scary. I do however envy your shopping coupon systems we don't have seem to have that so much here.

[whenfires]

Welcome to the forum Mortblanc. Great intro to you background and lifestyle. I think you will have plenty to share with us in the UK.

[Brambles]

Well it's about time! Took you long enough to get here.