He is Risen !
Come Unto Him !
In today’s world burning all around us, it is more important than ever to trust in Him. We don’t know all the details, but we can trust in His plan. He does win in the end.
April 1, 2026 Originally written & edited January 10th - 17th, 2026. I didn't publish this series then because it was not finished and current events overrode this project, or at least I thought they did. I am resurrecting the series due to its timeliness and applicability. If you want to read the article that motivated me to bring this series back to life you can < click here >.
January 17th, 2026…
I was thinking this past week about this coming year, 2026. So much came to mind. Last month my wife and I reviewed our emergency fund and where that money was and how it was performing. We made huge changes based on our vision of the future. Going forward here on the glamstead I have been refining my “To Do” list for 2026, paying particular attention to the first 4 months. Lot’s going on to say the least.
Last Thursday was very rewarding…I pruned the peach trees and the cherry trees. Oh, and my “fruit cocktail” tree. The fig tree won’t need pruning, so all that is left are the 5 apple trees. Bummer is, 3 of the 5 are showing no signs of producing. They were given to us by a neighbor in 2021. They were planting an orchard and had the trees left over; they thought we would appreciate them. Funny part…we have no idea what variety they are. If they don’t produce blossoms this year, they get replaced next year.
Last week I moved the blackberry bushes. They had gone absolutely bonkers! They were taking over the area where we also have raspberries. And my wife didn’t like all the “clutter” of the bushes…safe haven for snakes. On top of all that…they grew so tall that they started shading one of our solar arrays. We now have 13 blackberry bushes in a much better area…and a few starts to give away to neighbors.
Sorry, I got sidetracked. What is Project ‘26?
As I mentioned earlier…I have been doing a lot of thinking over the last couple of months about everything going on. Multiple times I’ve written about people/nations and what they were doing just before there were serious problems in their countries (i.e. Germans in the early 1930’s). Kinda like…if they had known, what would they have done to prepare for it, or what would they have done differently? So the idea popped into my head…Project ‘26.
But, to properly carry out Project ‘26 I had to come up with a “problem” to correctly come up with the “solution”. So here is the imaginary problem we are going to use, the fantasy scenario. Yes, somehow we magically know what is going to
happen. Could be reading Book of Revelation, having a dream, listening to a Prophet leading your church, visiting a great website, or whatever else you want to come up with…you just know the following will happen in 2026:

So here is what we’re going to do…We are asking ourselves three questions:
What this project ISN’T is an actual “to do” list…unless you feel prompted to do so. Meaning, this isn’t really a project to make you buy, build, move, or perform any task other than answer the questions. Now, that being said, if you feel inspired or prompted to do anything on the list, or all of the list, then by all means do so.
I will be doing the exercise as well. And, just to make it interesting, I will post my responses on-line as I work through it. You can follow along for a good laugh or use it as a guide for your own exercise.
2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved No reproduction or other use of this content without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed. I may receive compensation from advertised/mentioned products on this website. See Content Use Policy for more information.
Woke up this morning to Day #2 of rain…YEA!!! About noon yesterday it started raining, rained off and on the rest of the day and into the evening. We sure needed that rain! This morning it started up again about 4am; little after 8am now and still raining. I can’t begin to tell you how badly we need it around here. My wife and I couldn’t remember the last time it rained or snowed…sad. Since I can’t get any outside work done I figured I would write a bit…maybe give you an update on the glamstead. Yesterday afternoon I worked some on “Project ‘26”…I will post the first installment tomorrow if all goes well.
When I got up and moving around this morning it was 66degrees in the house…a bit chilly, especially for my wife. Time to build a fire in the wood burner. Oh, wait…didn’t have to build a fire…just turned on the mini-split and poof…heat came on. Nice! What a tremendous improvement to our lives here on the glamstead. Did I mention that for 10 days we used the AC function of the mini-split? Dang, you can hang meat in the great room when running the air conditioning. Sweet!
If you’ve been around awhile you know a little about me and strawberries. First off, I love ‘em! Second, I’ve had a terrible time growing them. Well, not exactly true…I’ve grown wonderful plants…virtually no strawberries. All my fault. I simply didn’t know enough to do it right in this high desert environment. Here I am about 4, maybe 5, years into it and I think I have finally figured it out.
Last year I finally gave up on the Sequoia variety…just not the right variety for our area. With some research on my own and talking with the wonderful folks at Grow Your Own Food Nursery (Modesto, CA) I think I am dialed in. I found them on Etsy and do business with them through that website. On Etsy they are Grow Your Own Food Shop (GrowYourOwnFoodShop). Last year I tried a few plants each of Eversweet and Albion varieties from them…both did
excellent. Here is the fun part…
Last week I ordered 25 bare root plants of each, and 20 live plants of Eversweet!! I also changed my plans for my strawberry patch.
Originally, about 5 years ago, we tried planting in the ground…FAIL! (bad soil) Then I witch to raised beds for the patch…FAIL! (improper fertilizing and wrong plant variety) Then, last year when our test plants did well I planned on 3 beds for the patch. Then early this spring I decided on 4 beds; 2 beds for each variety. Well, a couple days ago when I was doing my chores…5 beds…1/2 of our south garden. Why a patch so big? Because we love strawberries and once established, they are relatively low maintenance. They also produce fruit rich in Vitamin C…important in a prepper food scenario.
The beds are prepared, soil worked & fertilized, and pH tested. I am going a little more acidic, down to the 6.5 point. I just added a little pelleted sulfur product and a water soluble acidfier product. Bingo!…the right pH. I also added a generous amount of a 4-4-4 organic fertilizer as well. Beds are ready!
Here is where I kinda failed again…
Live strawberry plants aren’t cheap…could be as much as $5 per plant ordered online. I wanted about – 30 – 40 plants total. Simply too much money in these tough economic times in my opinion. I decided to go “bare root”, took that cost down to about $1.25 per plant. Nice! I did my research, found a fair price from what appeared to be a reputable vendor on Etsy. Before I ordered I asked them about shipping times…”2 – 3 days max, usually ship immediately” was their response. It took them 8 days to ship. Along the way they said they shipped, when they didn’t. And I contacted them kinda sternly…their response was terrible…it was my fault…my expectations were off. Ah, no. But, too late to cancel I had already ordered 20 bare root of each and they finally shipped before I was ready to cancel.
In the mean time I went back to the original company I had worked with last year, GrowYourOwnFoodShop, and asked them if they still had plants…they did…at $5 per plant. I apologized to them but I just didn’t have the extra money for the plants. Within 2 hours then sent me a private offer that was amazing in price for 20 live Eversweet plants. I couldn’t say no. They are quality people with high quality plants, and super great to work with. I highly recommend them!!
So it looks as if we will have 150sq’ of raised bed strawberry patch…with 8 plants from last year, 20 live plants this year, and 50 bare root plants (20 of each variety) as well. Nearly 80 plants pumping out incredible strawberries!!!
I am also not going to cultivate any sister plants from runners this year. I will snip all the runners this year letting all the energy go to the plants. I will also pinch blossoms off the new plants for a couple of weeks to let the plants get really well established. Yes, they are “everbearing” plants…yum!
If it wasn’t raining I would include a picture of what the beds look like now. I will keep you updated.
The orchard looks amazing! The blossoms have come and gone…we now have leaves and some tiny fruit forming. The apricots are the size of marbles, the rest…tiny BB’s.
The 3 “gifted” apple trees that I’ve mentioned before show no sign of blossoms at all. Next season they will be replaced with either “fruit cocktail” trees or apricots. We have enough cherry trees (4) and enough peach trees (3) and enough multi-variety apple trees (2). I might do another Desert King Fig, but we’ll see how the one from last year does this year before making my final decision.
I finished all the pine straw (pine needles and pine cones) ground cover in the orchard. Now there is no exposed dirt in the orchard. Should keep the ground cooler, a little more moist, and control the weeds a bit. All of which will be better for the trees.
If the peach trees produce fruit like the blossoms indicate…oh BOY!!! We will be in peach city this year.
All the trees are now set-up on irrigation with timers…saves me a huge amount of time & attention. We water the trees twice a week, about 60 gallons each tree over 90 minutes, each watering. One of the problems around here are folks whose fruit trees don’t do well or simply die. When I talk with them they just aren’t watering their tree right. The main mistakes:
Dang!! If you would have told me that the transplanted lilacs would be doing this well…I would not have believed you. Out of the 20 transplants…18 are doing great, 2 look dead. But, I still have some down at the old mobile home, I will transplant some replacements next winter.
Now, am I hoping for too much to see them blossoms this year?
Had a large bare spot out next to the new lilacs…got it planted. I actually laid down seed at the end of February after having worked the ground with the rotor-tiller and adding in some soil conditioner, some compost/mulch, a bit of gypsum, a little fertilizer, and some cow patties. Normally the grass seed would have just laid dormant until it warmed up. But we had a very warm spring so not only did it come up…it looks great!
And for the record…I love to mow grass with a walk-behind mower. My sister-in-law says it is the mid-west boy in me coming out.
Ooooopppppssssss…I didn’t know to cut back the lavender when it went dormant last winter. A month ago when everything else started coming alive, the lavender looked gray and dead. Well, I trimmed it back and green is now coming on. Next winter it gets cut back properly.
Last year we had a friend give us some gorgeous orange lilies. They looked fragile but were supposed to be perennials. Got em in the ground and the bright orange was an incredible splash of color here in the high desert. They died over the winter…I mean DIED back to dead, dead gray plant matter. Well, the plants are now green, 4” tall, and double the bunch size of last year!
The salvia didn’t make it. Don’t know why. I have my eye on a replacement plant that is tall, strange looking, and very colorful. I’ll keep you posted.
Blackberries got transplanted…13 plants of them. I had my doubts about how well they would survive…rather, if they would survive. All 13 are showing green!!! And a great thing…I was able to give away about 10 blackberry starts to 3 different families. Yup, in addition to about 30 raspberry starter plants given away when I was done thinning them.
I am trying very hard this year to help neighbors improve their ability to grow their own food.
Okay, maybe not a “forest”. But as you come up our 750’ driveway, you get just about to the house there are pine trees on both sides of the drive for about 150’. Some of the trees are only about 12” tall…but about 7 are 3’ tall (+/-).
I am running waterline now to set them up on irrigation and timers. That is a huge and backbreaking project. But, it will be worth it in the long run. I have before/after pictures…I will get them posted. After the irrigation is in, I will spread a couple of inches of pine straw over the ground to improve the soil and make it look way prettier as well. There is even some buffalo grass that is thriving among the trees. I will make sure it also gets watered regularly.
That’s about it for now. I gotta get back to working on the “Project ‘26” series. Look for it, I think you will like it and maybe get some good info out of it…maybe even some motivation.
As I talk with friends and neighbors…none of them are liking what they are seeing in the US or the world right now. All of them are hurting financially to some degree. Some are really hurting like the elderly couple I spoke about in an earlier article. Debi, here on the website, also shared how she is coping. We too are impacted. But, we keep working our plan the best we can, preparing for the future…preparing for different potential options.
It could be easy to get very depressed concerned about where we are headed as a country, as a people…I get that. At the same time we still have each other, we have Christ, we have hope regardless of what man is doing.
An elderly neighbor lost his wife of 68 years last Friday. It has devastated him…to the breaking point. He and I have had several long deep conversations about the gospel and the future. There is a future…whatever it may bring. We can prepare ourselves mentally, physically, and spiritually to the best of our ability…then place the rest in God’s hands…let Jesus carry the rest of the burden after all we can do.
Folks, in my lifetime of 7 decades I’ve never seen our country or the world in such terrible circumstances. And I don’t know how much worse it will get. But I can tell you this…we can make it through it, whatever it is. God wins in the end…and we are His children. He lives, He loves us, He will not abandon us. He knows what He is doing and what is happening. We just have to work at bending our will to His…and then trusting Him with the final outcome. I guess I am just asking for us to have faith. I honestly love you guys…it may sound like a cliché, but I mean it.
2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved No reproduction or other use of this content without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed. I may receive compensation from advertised/mentioned products on this website. See Content Use Policy for more information.
This is a new format post as I described yesterday < Changing the website format ! >. The article below is more current events / opinion article as it applies to prepping vs a solely prepper article. Do not read the article if you are not interested in my view/opinion of current events and how they apply to prepping.
Click the above link to view the current events / opinion article.
I’ve decided to change the format of this website. Awhile back I got this comment from yardmaster : “How is this related to emergency preparedness information for disasters and grid-down ???” It got me to thinking. My immediate response was “Situational Awareness”, which it is. However, yardmaster made a point…people are expecting preparedness information and I gave them an earful of current events with some politics mixed it…all of which was my opinion containing clear facts. Hardly fair on my part.
Now, last evening I wrote an article that is 6 pages in a word document, 2700 words…and I am not done editing it yet. I was troubled when I was done, and it woke me up this morning about 4am. I wasn’t comfortable just posting the article…but yet, I thought I really needed to. Then it dawned on me…only a few people are going to read the entire thing and place value on what I had to say. I think the majority of the folks who come to the site wouldn’t even read it…most who did read some or all of it would object to my take on current events and their significance regardless of its facts and evidence.
I was working outside this morning, fixing a water line extension and patching in some grass in the yard, when it hit me…two categories…a major change in the website format.
First – there will be the main objective which won’t change…”Emergency preparedness information for disasters and grid-down | Serious emergency, disaster and grid-down preparedness and prepper information.”
Second – I will create a new category called “Patriot”. That category will be my opinion/view of current events and political issues facing preppers. However, they won’t be posted articles as in the past…not even a traditional post at all. I will simply create a post called something like “Patriot: 03/30/2026”. I will probably include some kind of meme and then only a link. The article will will actually be a PDF file and to read it you will have to click on the link to display and/or download the PDF file.
So I figure…people who only want to see articles on prepping, gardening, homesteading, etc. will see the article in their email and on the site. But, those who want a deep read on something important in the world such as a current event or a political issue AND want that info to come from me they can see it if they, and only if, they want to.
There will be an occasional exception…something so important, something with such potential impact on the US, the world, our families, or our safety I will post it in a very short format. Here is an example from my research last night:
To read “Patriot” articles you might have missed there will be a Patriot “Category” listed on the left-hand side of the screen.
Let me know what you think…I am hoping it makes the site more useful and palatable to more people. And still give me an opportunity to provide useful information to those who seek it plus an opportunity for me to vent.
2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved No reproduction or other use of this content without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed. I may receive compensation from advertised/mentioned products on this website. See Content Use Policy for more information.
So there I was Friday night…out to dinner with my wife celebrating 21 years together, wedded bliss. Yeah, hard to believe that someone would put up with me for 21 whole years. I guess she has weak points as well 😉
I made the comment how excited I was. She smiled sweetly…and I realized I had just stepped in it.
I quickly made a short, heartfelt comment about being with her for so long and still excited about it. Whew! Crisis averted.
Then I went on to mention for the third time that day that I was also excited about having ordered the 50 bare root strawberry plants earlier in the day and that they should be in by Friday. I was pumped!
Yup, we have 25 Eversweet and 25 Albion bare root strawberry plants headed our way (see picture above). I am so psyched ! ! ! The couple of plants we tried last year did really well, now I am ready for a patch of em. We really can’t afford buying that many potted plants (almost $150) so we are going bare root. They should do just fine….I will keep you updated.
But, there is more…it’s spring…
The purple plum is absolutely gorgeous this year! Last year we had 2 very windy days just as the blossoms hit and they were gone before we could enjoy them. Not this year…beautiful !
And then there are the fruit trees in the orchard going nuts…even this newest peach tree in its second year…
Then there is the oldest peach tree…it’s fourth year…
Here are the lilacs I mentioned that I transplanted from bushes I dug up that had been completely neglected for almost 25 years. Here is one of them…
And I am totally excited about all the seedlings coming along for the garden. Several varieties of tomatoes, butter nut squash, two varieties of cantaloupe, and watermelon. 60 pots of them, some 75 plants in total. Of course only about 1/3 for us, the rest are for others to enjoy in their own gardens growing their own food.
So yeah, I was excited Friday…and I am excited today walking around looking it all over and taking the pictures. I hope you too are excited about the new growing season that is upon us.
2009 - 2026 Copyright © AHTrimble.com ~ All rights reserved No reproduction or other use of this content without expressed written permission from AHTrimble.com No legal, economic, or financial advice is given, no expertise to be assumed. I may receive compensation from advertised/mentioned products on this website. See Content Use Policy for more information.