I would like to take the time to thank everyone for your prayers and all of your concern in my regard. You will never know how much they mean to us, so again, thank you all and know that you are in our prayers also.

As for me, I am truly a blessed lady. God is walking with me each and every moment of my life.

I feel great, and I do whatever I want to do. Each morning I get up, and I know how truly blessed I am .

So keep the prayers coming, they’ve been a tremendous help to Dub and I both! You all have been so kind.

I tell you, it’s been a long and at times difficult journey, but life has been good, and actually very good! It took me what seemed like forever to get a routine down with my alternative treatment I do.

I start early, but have gotten it down so that now, by mid-morning, I can free myself up to do the things I need to, or like to do. Then I do a couple other things each evening and it’s getting close to bedtime. I have to admit that sometimes I MIGHT drag it out a little in the evenings. The reasoning? If I didn’t, that darn Dub would be in bed by 8 or 8:30 every night!

But, I have to admit he stays busy from about daylight almost every day, until 6:30 or 7 each night. MOST times fixing what he’s messed up! Not really, but I had a chance to give him a “little barb,” and I couldn’t resist!

Anyway, I’m doing great, feeling great, and Dub says I’m looking great, but you can’t believe everything that comes out of his mouth, as I’m sure most of you have already figured out by now. But even if that’s the case, two out of three ain’t bad, is it?

So, with that being said, I’m going to start popping in to visit with you all again. You’ve been wonderful to us, and it’s the least I can do is to drop by and say hello once in a while. Plus, it’ll give you a break from Dub some too. If you’re anything like me, I know you need it!

I know you all know about our little gardening escapades that take place around here. That Dub got of head of himself once again, but that doesn’t shock me…I’ve lived with that guy for quite a few years now and I’ve learned that’s how Dub is. He just jumps right in, and then figures, let’s see what happens next. Not that we might need to wait and think it through some.

But I must say in his defense that’s when he most times is at his best. He’s not “the reactor,” but “the attacker.” That’s his nature, and you all know the old saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” That’s Dub.

Same way with this compost we just put in. Let’s go, go, go! Now we’ll be adding a little more soil to mix in to the compost to cool it down a little. It’s really not a biggie, but it takes a little time. The problem is though that we have some young plants that are going to be needing a new home pretty quickly.

Or, as Dub describes it, “They’ll be root bound before we know it, if we don’t go on and get them into the ground.” I’m like, if you would just slow down, only a little, we might have added the soil before now, AND your plants wouldn’t be getting root bound, would they?

Then he’ll drop his head, and off in another direction he goes! Good thing too. He’s finally learned after all these years, who the boss really is! Yours truly!

Actually as well, the compost is only a minor problem. We’ve figured out through hearing from some of our friends that the first plants we set out in the garden from the greenhouse were sunburned. This was the main culprit of our initial set back.

What we didn’t realize, see I said we, but don’t tell Dub that’s what I said, that growing in the greenhouse was different than just sowing seeds in the garden. The sunlight is different, and they need to be set in the sun for a few hours each day to adjust.

After a week or so you can go ahead and plant them in the garden. By then they’ll have made the adjustment to full sun, so as you can see, we are learning as we go. Dub says this is called hardening, in both the plants AND our regard!

In reality though, we have really got the green house coming along nicely. I can’t wait for the veggies to start coming in! I’ll then be able to walk right outside, pick what I need, and go back inside and juice or fix a salad, just whatever we’d like.

We have so many kids of tomatoes. I had no earthly idea there were SO many varieties. It’s amazing to tell you the truth. Dub planted 5 different kinds in the greenhouse beds today. I can’t wait for all the different kinds to start producing. I think they’ll make a great tomato soup all blended in together! I’ll let you know about it when I make it, or I might just let Dub make it. If that happens, I WILL be sure to tell you about it!

Speaking of the fresh vegetables, we’ll know what’s on ours, whereas the ones your buy in the store, you never know what’s been applied to them, and the cost has gotten so high, plus they don’t seem to last no time!

We have really enjoyed working in the greenhouse. It is honestly a lot of fun. We’ve had a setback or two, but this will all level out and we’ll become old hands at it! It gets you outside to enjoy all of God’s work. You can hear the birds singing, and watch the plants grow. Many times, it’s almost like you can see them growing overnight.

I asked Dub what are you going to do if the squirrels get in here, because I’m sure they can do some damage in a very short time? He looked at me like, bite your tongue woman. Why do you ask such as that? Chalk another one up for me…I got under his skin again!

Again, thank you all for all of your prayers and blessing. Please keep them coming for all of the cancer victims out there who now have literally become part of my family. To those with cancer, keep up your fight…we will win! Stop and look up, and he will show you he is always with us.

Till next time keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart. Be sure and share a smile with someone. You may just make their day! God Bless.

Deb

You know, we’ve met so many people through our site, and by doing the You Tube videos we’ve made even more. We’re sharing a few more of these in the hopes that they may inspire you to plant a garden, or if nothing else, maybe even just planting a “few hills” of different vegetables.

The taste, fresh outta the garden, is hands down much better than you could ever get out of the grocery store. For those who don’t garden, you don’t have to have 3-4 acres, but your own backyard can produce all kinds of goodies for you.

Better yet, it’s something the kids may end up loving to help you with. You’d be amazed at the number of those little guys who would show interest if you’d only spend a few minutes each day with them. They too, are intrigued by watching the little plants pop up outta the ground.

Then they can see how each plant produces their own vegetables. This just astounds are granddaughter Shelby Lynn, and once they start coming in, she HAS to help you pick them. That little girl loves to be out in the garden, and boy this sure allows Deb and I to spend some good, sound, quality time with her.

She’ll be one who will enjoy us passing down to her some of the things Deb and I do, like home canning, or even how you cook each meal. I’m telling you, that girl just loves being out like that. She’s attentive and it shows how well she likes to piddle in this way.

But again, let’s get back to some videos. These friends of ours all like to garden, and it’s obvious. They have some much to share, and the best part is…they want to share with you. Once again, Deb and I are so glad of the opportunity Judi, Brian, and the Canada Free Press provided for us! It’s been really enjoyable!

Our first three videos today come from a couple friends out in Texas. They have nice gardens always, and it’s obvious they love messin around in their garden.

They’ll be showing how to make green tomato relish. They picked their green tomatoes in front of a hard freeze they had coming, so…better safe than sorry! Also, it looks as if ole Tim just might be…Chef Tim!

Look out buddy! If your wife is anything like ole Deb, you just might not want to show her just how much you CAN DO around the dern kitchen! LOL!! Good job Tim! Plus…we love your background music!

Doesn’t the relish look great? I tell you, if you have some room, the home canning products look so good to us in the jars. The colors are beautiful! The ability to share is so tremendous anymore! It just amazes Deb and I the info that’s out there…right at your fingertips!

The second video from Tim and his wife is giving you a heads up. We all know what kind of tough economic times we’re going through. With this being the case, we all are looking for ways to pinch a penny.

Today Tim and the “Boss lady” are showing you how to make your own laundry soap. According to Tim the cost per load when doing your laundry is a staggering…1-1/2 cents, again, PER LOAD!

Check them out…

Doesn’t their shed with the Dr. Pepper sign look great? Those chairs on the porch were almost hollerin out…Dub, oh Dub, don’t you want to come and sit a while? LOL!

The next video from Tim today is from right before Thanksgiving. He’s sitting out by a small fire sharing some of the things he’s thankful for.

Tim’s a great guy, and I felt you’d all like to hear what he has to say! He too talks about the great opportunity that You Tube presents for us all. It is a tremendous sharing experience! He also shares what’s going on in their garden this fall.

They’re having good success with the fall garden, but as Tim mentions, this summer was disastrous on account of drought! We’re glad to see things are better now!

Great video, huh? We think a lot of Tim, and he does a good job in regards to his videos!

Let’s close out today with a few more. I was going to share a couple of more friends videos, but I believe I’ll finish it up with Tim.

This next one is picking and canning some Jalapenos. There’s a freeze coming so he’s picking as much as they can from their garden. They also make some Jalapeno, carrot, and onion relish.

This next video we’ll be putting up of Tim’s today is showing his chickens cleaning up his garden some. This too is something Deb and I have to do, is get some chickens. We’ve got our coop built, but have yet to put the fence up. Sometime in the near future…

The thing I like so much about the video sharing with all our friends is that it’s shown to you…via video. This to me makes it so much simpler to understand, and breaks it down for the simpler minded folks…meaning, ME!

I get so much more out of something if I can watch the process while someone explains it at the same time. Again, this is such a great way to share knowledge!

Our last video is of Tim is showing something that they lacked plenty of this year…RAIN! It had been 51 days since their previous rainfall! So, don’t you know those guys were ecstatic over this!

Well, we hoped you enjoyed Tim’s videos, and we’ll start sharing more of these as they come our way. We enjoy them and I believe you guys , like Deb and I, will find them very entertaining, and helpful too.

We’ll start putting up other’s videos as well, and dern if we might notall learn a thing or two before it’s over with!

Before closing out, our buddy Roger sent us another joke. He claims this to be the FIRST Christmas joke of 2011. Whether or not that’s really the case, Deb and I both got tickled over this one!

Three good ole boys died on Christmas Eve and were met by Saint Peter at the pearly gates.

‘In honor of this holy season’ Saint Peter said, ‘You must each possess something that symbolizes Christmas to get into heaven.’

The cowboy from Texas fumbled through his pockets and pulled out a lighter. He flicked it on. ‘It represents a candle’, he said.

‘You may pass through the pearly gates’ Saint Peter said.

The logger from Minnesota reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He shook them and said, ‘They’re bells.’

Saint Peter said ‘You may pass through the pearly gates’.

The old Nebraska farmer started searching desperately through his pockets and finally pulled out a pair of women’s panties.

St. Peter looked at the man with a raised eyebrow and asked, ‘And just what do those symbolize?’

The Husker replied, ‘These are Carols.’

You guys have a great day and God Bless! Also, as Deb advises…keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Debbie

Well, let’s talk about what we’ve been up to this past week.

First off, we had a nice little surprise. Deb and I went out to the compost pile, and good night, at the little tomato plants. They are all volunteers, and they’ve shot up like weeds. We guess they’ve popped up from our juice scraps each day is the only thing we can figure.

So, yesterday Deb and I got out 10 5-gallon buckets, drilled holes in the bottom for them to drain good, and set those baby’s! That gives us 11 total as my Cuz had dropped us off a plant a little while back. He gave us a cherry tomato, which actually had 2 other plants, a nice bucket with basil, and a white eggplant.

We’ve never tried the white eggplant before so I’m looking forward to tasting one of those guys! The basil’s growing leaps and bounds, and we’ll be freezing some of this next week.

We didn’t know how to freeze it, but watched one of Diane Mumm’s video of her technique, and “a light came on!” Deb was like, “How simple is that?” So we’ll put her video up of how she does this.

Diane’s video of her pentas, we put up in our last post, and Diane does a great job with all her video’s. She’s a really nice lady and is a help to all who visit her video channel. She’s very knowledgeable, very informative, and as she likes to say…”is hands on.”

When you have people like Diane out there sharing her knowledge, this makes life so much easier for the rest of us. Check her out…

We love the way she froze it in ice cube trays, dumped them out, placed the frozen basil cubes in a ziplock bag, and there you go. You doing a roast…drop a couple “basil cubes” in the pot!

We might even do this today…I’m kinda lookin for something to get ole Deb busy on today anyway!! LOL! My theory behind this is simple. If you guys (meaning you menfolk at the moment), let your wives have too much idle time, lookout! This merely allows them more time to figure you out some… “honey-do’s!”

So, if possible, you want to line them out first, or, beat em to the punch! Live and learn guys…I have!

Since we started our You Tube channel, just like our website, the people we’ve met are all outstanding. They’re all so willing to take the time and answer questions, share their knowledge, and basically try to get you on the right track in regards to your own endeavors.

Networking today, although I have to admit Deb and I both are dinosaurs in this regard, is so handy, and with the touch of a finger you can link up to basically anything you can put your mind to. We’re learning though, just not very quickly, so hang in there, eventually we’ll get the knack for some of this “networking” I’m speaking of.

Diane is by no means the only one, there’s literally hundreds, if not thousands out there like her, but she does have a really nice channel, and people are lovin it!

As we go along, we’ll share more and more of these, because sharing is probably the main reason for our site, and we’ll be passing more and more of our other friends videos and knowledge as well along to you guys!

I have told you earlier that our greenhouse startup has been delayed, probably, or more like HOPEFULLY, the week after Christmas. The main reason is that our work has taken off here at years end, although this time of the year really, no one wants us on their parking lots on account of customer interference.

You see, these malls are in their busiest time of the year as you all know. So this, along with our economy in such bad shape, I guess you’d have to consider, at least from these retail stores point of view, it’s their “make it, or break it, time period!”

Thus, if they can help it, they want no interference for ANY customer traffic, and we understand this. But we lucked out, and are making a little money that we normally don’t see coming in during this Thanksgiving through the New Year time frame.

By this, it makes not being able to get the greenhouse started not quite so disappointing, but I can still say that in reality we ARE bitin at the bit to get that mutha started! Patience Dub, patience…
Our garden is still chugging along, although in the next day or two we’ll be pullin up our okra, and feeding it to the cows. That stuff produced like a banshee, and we couldn’t have been more proud of what it produced for us. It did really, really well.

Boy the cows love it when a crop goes out, because they get it, whatever it may be…especially this time of the year. The grass has stopped growing pretty much, and they’ve began to drift out of our pastures, and getting out into the swampy areas, or heavily wooded areas.

Once the grass stops growing, we supplement heavily with range mineral, and this causes them to hunt roughage number one, and also supply’s them with the nutrients they need, but no longer get from the grass.

The mineral is also a little hot, so this makes them forage and eat many things they don’t normally eat during the spring and summer. These include tree leaves, palmettos, gall berry bushes, and cabbage palm fronds.

So, they’re just like we are…I ain’t got food on the table at my house, then shoot, I start looking other places, and they do the same. But the cows eat good here, we’re already putting out hay, just not heavy at this point. As the grass continues to go back, we begin to supplement them more and more.

Deb and I are both firm believers in the fact that if you have animals…feed em! Far too many times we see cows, horses, even dogs and cats that aren’t kept up as good as they should be, and we just don’t understand the reasoning behind such behavior?? Anyway…

Our mustard greens are coverin us up, and I don’t know how many bunches we’ve given away. They’re just now starting to come into their own, and I’m sure we’ll make a few families happy during this next week by droppin off a few more bunches for them to have during Christmas dinner.

I love those dern things and will eat em for breakfast from time to time…warmed up with a slice of cornbread and some of my Mama’s chili sauce. Wheaties cereal has already claimed the title of, but to me…greens, cornbread, and chili sauce are the real…”Breakfast of Champions!” LOL!

You know, we were talking about transplanting our tomato plants, and I know most of you already know, but for those who don’t, you can plant these in 5-gallon buckets and they’ll do well…even in winter. You just have to set them on your porch, or cover them during the cold nights. But they will keep you in some good, vine-ripe tomatoes in times you normally don’t have them.

Our broccoli and cabbage are starting to grow off now too. We don’t have any heads on either yet, but we’ll be seein them anytime now.

Also the orange season has started, and by this, it allows us to add oranges, grapefruit and tangerines to the juice Deb prepares for us each morning. This to me, really, really helps out the taste. We’re to the point anymore that our juice tastes good to us regardless, but again, to me this makes it much more flavorful, plus we’re getting mega doses of Vitamin C through their addition to our juice.

On top of this, I peeled probably 25 oranges, maybe 8 grapefruit, ruby red mind you, and probably a dozen tangerines. We then took out the seeds, cut them up in bite size pieces, added two jars of cherries, refrigerated this, and man…what a delicious fruit salad. We’ll eat what we made I’m sure for the rest of this coming week.

Well guys, that’ll bout do it for today, and we’ll close it out by wishing you all a Merry Christmas! God Bless you and yours, and Deb says to holler out to ya’ll to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb