Newbie

Hello, I found this forum in a roundabout way through the survivalblog. I've read through the threads for about an hour and it appears to be a friendly site to share information without so much emphasis on your arsenal. Although protection can't be ignored, there is a lot more to preparedness than guns. And yes, we have several.
We got the preparedness bug in Jan. 08 when we went to the grocery store and I noticed some of the packaging had shrunk but the price hadn't. I decided that night that we were going to need a BIG garden. We've always grown a few tomatoes and peppers but this year was different. I tilled up 2 - 2200 sf plots and grew lots of stuff. I learned how to can and we put up about 100 qts of "stuff". We bought 2 dehydrators and dried apples, peaches, and pears when they came in season.
In June we got 9 chickens from a friend who was overrun. Along with the birds we also have 5 horses, 4 donkeys, 2 mules, 4 goats (3 more coming in a couple weeks), 5 dogs, and 3 barn cats. 2 of the new goats are nanny's and one is pregnant so I may cry out for help to other goat owners in the spring. We plan on milking when the kid(s) are done and then move on to cheese making. Meat will come from hunting and the goats. We hope to only make one trip to the store in Dec. and then make it through the winter. This is our grand experiment. Wish us luck.
Anyway, I hope to make a few friends here to share and gleen information.

Joe