Well, the goal of getting everything in the greenhouse and grow areas ready for replantin is finally beginning to pay off for us. Good night a livin…I sure had a mess.

Time had been in short supply and I was “learnin the ropes” in how to be…a housewife! If I ever state that I’ve started “paintin up my toenails” some, please call 911 for me. I’d be in DESPERATE need of serious professional help! LOL!

You take into consideration my normal duties and chores, put into the equation the added chores of housecleanin, washin clothes and dishes, not to mention “secretarian” as well, and dad-gum, my dern plate got full in a hurry.

I already knew it before, but now I fully understand…that dern Deb was a workin Trojan!

As I’ve said prior, I was havin a hard time regulatin my time. I was busy as a “13 petered weasel” (sorry, I couldn’t resist the expression), but for the life of me I just wasn’t getting anything accomplished. I had 40-11 projects in progress yet couldn’t seem to finish even one.

Once more, thanks to two of our grandsons…I’m ahead of the game now. For how long remains to be seen? LOL!

The greenhouse is ready for plantin. Matter of fact I believe I have about 140 beets or so in the ground, some radishes, only 4 pepper plants (they’ll cover me up for my own use), and a few herbs. These are stevia, lemon basil, basil, oregano, and cilantro.

Gave up on my “white horehound.” Yep, it really is a herb, and that really is its name. When I purchased the seeds Deb thought I was crazy. Actually the only reason I bought them was it is supposed to be good for coughs.

Okay, okay, I’m lyin. I REALLY bought the seeds to just aggravate Deb. Still though, they are supposed to be good for coughs.

Deb used to tell me… “Dub, if they took your brain and put it on the sharp edge of a razor blade, it’d look like a BB rollin down a four-lane highway.” As you can see, she was always so full of compliments in my regard! LOL!

My tomato plants should be ready to set out the first of next week. I might even jump the gun and set the ones I’m putting in the greenhouse this weekend. We’ll see.

We’ve got squash, eggplants, and peppers, all getting close to being able to set them out. I’ll also set out okra and peas as well, but most, if not all of these two veggies will go into our garden out in front of the house…IF I get that dern thing cleaned up??

I think I will, but we’ll just have to see about that. I will definitely plant some more Japanese cucumbers for sure. Those things were actually very good and the size they grow to was amazing the first time around. Even when very large they stayed tender and had very few seeds.

Anyway, tomorrow we’ll take up our irrigation lines and till the grow area up pretty well. I’ve herbicided the weeds and grass on 3 different occasions so I’ve gotten a good kill on it prior to tillin. I”ve sprayed it so much on account of these areas being thrown away for so long while tending to my Deb. I wouldn’t have done it any other way.

Our irrigation is unhooked and moved around very quickly so this won’t be any type of problem. As quick as we till the soil then lay out the beds we’ll chunk the irrigation back down and set everything back out.

Red and Corey will be here to help out and I’m lookin forward to their help. I’ve learned through the years that if you really need their help, just have them here on a Friday. The reasoning is very simple…they want their paycheck! Works out good for all of us! LOL!

In all honesty I’m lookin forward to getting everything back in the ground and startin up again. To me it is almost like therapy. It is very rewarding to watch all those little fellers grow off and the flavor of your own homegrown vegetables is second to none. Store-bought just cannot compare.

It’s something I really enjoy doin and I’m half good at doing it so, why not?

Ole Deb loved it too. My only regret is her not bein here to help out this go round, but, in regards to bein here with me, versus where she is now, I have to concede…that’s a no-brainer.

She’s missed by all that knew her, but I take consolation in the fact we’ll be together again one day…in the presence of God…

Man, I’ve pulled a couple things since her departure she would have been all over me about. The last of these was comin up to check my e-mails while heatin up a pot of coffee water. Now you have to understand, I drink instant, always have and probably always will.

Anyway, I had my water heatin and was gonna be upstairs for just a few seconds, at least that was my intent. With this bein the case, I was heatin up the water…ON HIGH! Got sidetracked, forgot I even had the water boilin…until I smelled a peculiar odor.

I lit off downstairs, ran to the stove and here sat the pot…on high, with not a drop of water in it. Looked like it had been that way…for AWHILE!

I snatched that scoundrel off the stove, ran it under some water in the sink…and blew the bottom off the pot! I swear…the bottom blew off the dern thing. I guess it was SO hot that once the cold water hit it…something had to give! LOL!

Well, I now boil coffee water while I’m down stairs with it…at least for now, anyway. LOL!

I’ll throw up a little video for you guys to take a look at if you’d like. There ain’t much too it besides just a little update, and maybe me jerkin your chain a time or two. Check it out if you’d like, if not, ta heck with ya. LOL!

You guys have a great day and God bless you and yours. As always, please keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

I’ve taken a little time here lately and I’m trying to get the green house and the grow areas beside it established once more. Man, they were a mess, but little by little it’s beginning to come around.

I’ve got the tomato stakes and twine down, I’ve herbicided the weeds that were so prominent in the grow areas, and will be tilling these areas up here in the next week or so. I’m waiting to insure a good kill.

We’ll then take up the watering system prior to tilling. This is simple enough by only taking off one hose clamp from the main line on each run. We’ll set the lines outside the areas to be tilled, then replace them once we’re done.

By then, the seedlings I’ve gotten started should be big enough to start setting out.

Last week we set over 400 tomatoes in seed trays and they’re all doing well. We planted Rutgers, homesteads, green pineapples, which I thought were very good from the ones we got. They have a good old tomato flavor, but taste much less acidic than other varieties, although I have yet to smell a pineapple aroma when slicing them.

This was supposed to be the case, which again I haven’t noticed, but who knows, at my age maybe my ole sniffer just ain’t what it used to be??

We also set a few of the black or purple varieties such as Southern nights, carbon, and the Sara Black’s. These types were the last I set out the first go round, but then when Deb took a turn for the worse I neglected them, along with everything else.

The end result was I didn’t get the opportunity to try these baby’s out. Hopefully this time around I’ll change that. Then I’ll make the decision to keep these in the garden or not. I’ve got a neighbor that has grown the Southern nights before and he says they’re great.

I believe him, but ole Willie is a lot like me….you call it food, and I call it GOOD! So, with this being said…I better wait and decide for myself. LOL!

I haven’t set any beefsteaks yet, but I will. Good night they produced some very, very large tomatoes, but I was having a bit of a problem with disease.

I can’t put this all off on this variety because honestly, they, like everything else didn’t get a fair shake from a care standpoint simply on account of our situation. I will plant some more of these, but will get the others established first.

As far as the cherry tomatoes go we reseeded the black cherry, I liked these, the mini-orange which produced abundantly, the fox cherry, another good producer, and the Reisentraube, which is a German tomato.

I think the name has something to do with grapes, and that’s just what the tomatoes look like when producing…bunches of grapes. These tomatoes are prolific producers as well, and as far as their taste…I love them. They have an EXCELLENT taste!

I’ve never been a big, big fan of cherry tomatoes in the past and our reasoning for planting the different varieties was to eat them of course, but also to give us a blend of several different tomato flavors, if you will, in using them for straight tomato juice or soups, and from what we did get to do this way, we loved it.

I’ve continued to juice daily, and I swap out with the juice Deb and I use to share which is a multiple variety of different fruits and vegetables. I drink a 44 oz. glass of this each morning, then throughout the day I might have a 16 oz. glass of tomato juice. I’ll usually drink a couple of these…

One variety of cherry tomato I did not replant was the Isis candy. I was really, really looking forward to trying out these because I’d heard so much about their taste. The problem we had with these were they produced hardly any tomatoes.

We were very disappointed in this tomato and again, I refused to set any more out. I might try them once more later, just not right now. They grew big, beautiful bushes, but no tomatoes. That’s kinda like your wife fixing fried chicken and mashed potatoes…with NO gravy. We just can’t set back and abide such as that! LOL!

We also set seeds for beets and radishes and both are doing extremely well. Them muthas are shooting up everywhere. We planted the Detroit dark red beet, the Lutz, the Bulls blood and, are ya ready for this Judi and Brian…Golden beets.

The germination of these has been fantastic, and for all you that have never grown them before…you have a nice little surprise.

The seeds are actually like little capsules, or there’s more than one seed per seed, if you get what I mean, so each seed holder you plant in, usually provides you with two, to three, or maybe even possibly four little plants. I like that.

Beets are very beneficial for you, and Deb and I kinda got started using beets a little late in the game.

First, we’d never grown them before, shoot, we’d never seen ANYBODY grow them before, plus, down here, finding them in your supermarket is like…pulling teeth. It almost never happens.

We did grow over a hundred of them and the dern things turned out nice. I still have MAYBE a half a dozen left. So, even though I’ve replanted them, I’m going to have a lull between what I’ve got left and when the new beets start coming in. Once in a GREAT while, you can find them at Wal-Mart, but that’s few and far between, and the ONLY place down here that Deb did find some.

I just seeded eggplants and peppers too, but they’ve not started germinating yet.

For peppers we planted sweet chocolate, emerald giant, tequila sunrise, sigaretta de bagamo, and corbachi. These are all sweet peppers. For hot peppers I only planted Anaheim, and corne de chevre. I’m considering possibly a few more hot peppers…we’ll see.

Last night I saved the seeds, actually quite a few, from several corne de chevre’s, sweet chocolates, and the tequila sunrise. Today or tomorrow I’ll save seeds from the others. It’s very easy to do. You guys are probably thinking to yourselves…if Dub’s doing it, it HAS to be uncomplicated!

For eggplants, we planted Florida Market, Ukrainian Beauty, and the Listada de Gandia. All three did very well for us the first go round, which is exactly why all three are going in the ground this time as well. If it ain’t broke…don’t fix it!

Well, there’s my update on what’s happenin here at this place. We’ve been very busy, but not a lot of it in the garden.

There’s been way too much closure to deal with, but it’s almost been done now. I’ll be very glad to get it all behind me, but thinking now that it’ll be kinda sad too, after all…it is closure.

Mentally now I’m much, much better, but still have moments from time to time. Getting fewer though. It’s amazing sometimes what triggers them. I may be just walkin around the yard, maybe mowing even, and BAM, I think about Deb and that’s all it took.

I’m staying much too busy in the house to suit me as well…I like it outside! But, I’ve had to create a new filing system, etc. so this takes time as well. Getting closer on the house end to though.

Anyway, I guess I’m just saying sorry for not posting more, but this all has been one big adjustment. Again though…I’m seein daylight now, and that’s a good thing.

Thank you guys all once more for all your prayers and support in Deb’s regard. They all meant so much to us both.

Please take care, God Bless, and always, always…keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

Anyway…

Our garden or what’s left from our garden… ain’t much! It was thrown away as you all know, but that’s fixing to change. I shot a video of it this morning and once I took a look at it I was like, “MAN, it’s going to be awhile before you can relax again!” LOL!

I bet ole Deb’s crackin up…dern her time!

I tell you though, our friends have been eatin pretty good, but now even they have evidently had their fill. Honestly though, you’re scrapping for what you’re getting. But thankfully, very little has gone to waste, and then the cows got that. Things find a way of working themselves out.

We’ve got some peppers we’re drying on the bush. Our grandson Devin is coming back this coming weekend and he wants to take the seeds and replant them. I’m just happy to know that he’s taken an interest in gardening and will help him all I can.

I figure 10-15 minutes with me, he’ll bout know everything I can offer him. I never did say I was very bright, huh?

I’ve got a meeting to attend tomorrow, then will be going to pick out a headstone for Debbie Wed. or Thurs. I wanted to make sure I got it right. I think I have.

After that, we’ll be planting seeds once more to get started again. They’ll be tomatoes, beets, radishes, peppers, and probably some more cucumbers.

We’ll be starting okra for sure and some onion sets. Then prior to the full moon in August, we’ll plant our peas. Deb and I came to the conclusion that our peas always did better in the fall. We found there to be less bugs, and our pea crop ALWAYS just seemed to make more peas than they did in the spring.

Another project I’d like to do is plant about a quarter to half an acre of some different varieties of blueberries. We’ve always wanted to do this, but just never seemed to get around to it.

One other thing I’d like to plant, is again, about a quarter to a half acre of peaches. There’s a couple new varieties that are supposed to do very well here in Florida now, and I’d love to try some. The Florida peach was always SO small that people seldom tried growing them. That is supposed to have changed. I’ll look into that a little more.

Most of you guys know that Deb and I had purchased two more greenhouses and had put them under our equipment shed. I’d like to get those up and running as well, but in time. Both these houses are 30 feet wide by 72 feet long, so they’re considerably larger than the one we’ve been using. It is 18 feet wide by 60 feet long.

I’d like to get these set up as you come through our gate, but back against the wood line. This way you’ll be able to see them from the road, but they’ll be back about 300 feet off the road.

I’d really like to retail sell our vegetables and fruit right here on the place. That would work out great for me. It’d give me a ton of things to do, plus generate income for me right here. Deb and I had talked about keeping our paving business for about 3 more years, then letting our son Mark buy it out.

That’s still in my plan…we’ll see.

I do believe though, that our land here will sustain myself easily once I can get this all off the ground. All it takes is time…and money. Time’s not a problem, the flipside to time…IS! LOL!!

This will work though. The few times that Deb and I opened the gate to sell a few plants, the produce wasn’t coming in yet, was actually a surprise to us. People responded. Then, we just couldn’t keep things going with Deb’s ordeal, but the people were calling, “We’re coming by, plus, we’ve told all our friends, BUT, the gate’s never open.”

I had to tell them that Deb was having a few problems, but eventually we’d be open again. They all were very understanding, and promised to keep checking back with us, and some still are.
So, I know this will work for me, but just take a little time. I love doing it, and Deb did too. It was going to be our little niche together.

We had been raised around farming, and agriculture in general, as children growing up, and as we’d grown older, we realized that we’d like to be doing some of the very same things when we… “check-out” from this world! Deb did…I’d like to do the same thing when it’s my time!

You guys take care, and God Bless! Please…keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

As you see by today’s title, Deb’s Garden, then it has to be obvious to you all just exactly who wears the britches in this household…and it ain’t me! Basically I’m just “the hired help,” and also she claims on her tax return that I’m…sub-contract labor.

By this she has no tax liability on my account, but this in itself, ALMOST throws me in another tax bracket in regards to my taxes. But by her only paying me $3.50 a day, no not per hour, but a day, I just barely stay under going into another tax bracket.

Her philosophy to me is simply, “Look Dub, I’m really doin you a favor here. If I paid you more, you’d end up paying more taxes, right? On top of this, I keep a roof over your head, let you borrow my vehicle IF, you need to go to town, and I cook your meals and wash your dern clothes. Ya got a pretty good thing going on here, so my advice to you is very simple…DON”T MESS UP A GOOD THING! Comprende?? I thought you might…cause I KNOW the judge would!”

Hence…IT IS, Deb’s garden, on top of everything else around here too! Marriage…isn’t it grand?? LOL!

The garden is doing very well, and my only complaint so far is…where’s the dern rain? Good night it’s been dry. Our pond is about 8 feet below where it should be, and may possibly be 10 feet. I believe it’s the lowest I’ve seen it before.

You know, I just got to thinkin, everything else around here is Deb’s to hear her tell it, so I wonder if she’s gone and took the water outta the pond too? I sure wouldn’t put it past her!

No, the greenhouse is doing great, the grow areas around the greenhouse are doing fine, and in our garden out in front of the house, what we’ve got in there so far, is doing good too! We’re blessed in all sorts of ways. The Good Lord does provide!

Well, here’s a few pictures for you guys to let you in on what’s going on…

Okay, this first picture is of, left to right, sweet peppers, squash (lemon and straight-neck), onions, and cucumbers. We’re getting squash pretty much daily now, and I’ll probably put up some squash pickles this weekend, or the first of the week. We’ve also been eatin some onions out of…Deb’s garden! LOL!

The next picture is of our tomatoes. If you notice, we cut the suckers and lower limbs off. Thanks for the tip Miz Sandy and Mr. Bill, from Mobile!

Inside the greenhouse now, check out our beets comin up between our okra sets. Beets are really, really good for you! Ours aren’t quite ready, but, they’re getting there! We planted Bulls Blood, Detroit Dark Red, Lutz Salad, and Golden.

Check out the height of those volunteer tomatoes. A couple are now bumpin the top of the greenhouse at the low end.

There’s the cucumbers. They’re the Japanese cucumbers. They get 22-26 inches long, but thin. We love the taste, and they’re supposed to be excellent pickling cucumbers…we’ll soon see! If you look closely, you can see some hanging off the vines. We’re fixing to have to tie more string across the rafters and let them run towards the center of the greenhouse.

There’s a close-up showing the cucumbers.

From left to right, watermelons, squash (crook and straight-neck) eggplants, and far left is hot peppers.

Another view of our tomatoes, again Sandy, we removed the suckers. And lower limbs. The cows ate good! I believe they’d of enjoyed us just pullin the whole dern plants up and chunkin em over the fence to them!

The missing spaces, a row and a half, will have black tomatoes planted in them by next week.

Here’s the garden out front, we’re planting a little as we go out there. Got irrigation to it too, now! YES!! The pictures out here were a little fuzzy, but you can see what we’ve done. Check out that water runnin!

This is a partial row of tomatoes, with eggplants finishing the row on the left, then squash and peppers in the right-hand row.

This is two full rows of tomatoes.

Last is a picture of the greenhouse from the other garden…

We hope you guys enjoyed the photos!

Please take care, and God Bless. I’m relaying a message from Deb for you to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

This is Dub…from Deb’s garden, out!

Dub and Deb

Well, the greenhouse and grow area are really beginning to take shape. I got everything hoed, fertilized, and really, it’s startin to look pretty good. I guess it does anyway. Deb hasn’t complained about anything yet, so that’s always a good thing, and a pretty good gauge that you’re sittin alright in her book.

Poor ole thing. She doesn’t like to offend anyone, her bein so shy and all! LOL! That woman ain’t much bigger than a full grown skeeter, but she’ll get on me like white on rice! Whoever said that dynamite comes in small packages nailed it when it comes to her!

She reminds me of a dern ant. You guys ever watched one? Those little things CAN WORK! Then to sit back and see what they can tote, is amazing! She’s the very same. If that woman weighed 150 pounds, I swear she could take over the world if she set her mind to it. I thank the Good Lord fairly often that he made her no bigger than he did.

Anyway, you guys don’t want to hear about my troubles, do you? LOL!

We staked a few tomato plants in the greenhouse today. This was a couple rows in the middle bed. We’d already staked the ones in the beds with the volunteer tomatoes 2-3 days ago. Next week, we’ll be staking a couple three rows in the grow area.

I believe I’ve bout got that “hardening thing” down pat. The bench we made to get them out in the sun is working great, and we ran micro-jet to it as well. Man…this micro-jet has really made watering a breeze!

We’ve got over a couple hundred plants hardened off, put into 6” pots and ready to sell. Most are different varieties of tomatoes, but there are some eggplants, squash, and peppers as well. Matter of fact, this afternoon I made Deb a sign…vegetable plants for sale.

We’ll set it out by the road tomorrow and let em come in and get a few. I caught the cows in the back pasture, so I shot down there and shut the gate. This allows us to leave the main gate open for traffic to get to the house and they don’t have to jack with opening or closing a dern gate.

Once I put the cows in the back pasture, I took the sign and set it out by the road just for the heck of it. Didn’t say anything to Deb. This was about 5 in the afternoon. It wasn’t 15 minutes I’d sold 20 bucks worth of plants.

About 6:30 I went and took the sign down, turned the cows back out and locked the gate for the night. I’ll move them back in the morning, then reset the sign, and we’re open for business once again. We’re havin a ball! Deb is anyway!

An example…Deb was in the house when I’d sold that lady the plants. By the way, this lady, Fran, was really an interesting lady to speak with. She was a nurse too, so we did have a few things to talk about. The juicing, and some of Deb’s alternatives she does (no Sandy and Mississippi, NOT that one, LOL!).

Anyway, after I’d made the sale, I went inside. Deb goes, “Dub honey, everything alright?” I’m like, “Yeah, why?” She goes, “Are you sure ya don’t have anything to tell me?” I’m like, “NO, why?”

She then says, “Well, I could be mistaken, but I really don’t think I am, BUT…didn’t I hear a distinct, Cha-Ching out there in the greenhouse?” So, I coughed up the 20 bucks! I swear, women can SMELL money, can’t they? LOL!

Maybe tomorrow I can send her up town and POSSIBLY pocket me a dollar or two, huh? I doubt it though!

Well guys, I’m tired, dirty, hungry, fixin to get a shower, eat some supper…AND BROKE! So I’ll close out for now!

If you’d like to watch it, here’s a video of the greenhouse and grow area. Check it out, things are indeed movin right along!

Also, you were goin to send me some pictures last week of your garden Sandy…what’s up with that? LOL! We would love to see how its comin along though for sure!

Plus before I forget…Hey Mississippi, how’s Tennessee? We hope you, D-Lo, and all the rest of the gang are havin a great time! Enjoy yourself Sandra, you deserve it!

Here’s wishing you all the very best, and God Bless you and yours! “Ole Tightwad” says to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

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

As you can tell from the title of today’s post, we’re at it again. Deb and I talked about this for the past couple of weeks and then made our decision to go ahead and add grow space on both sides of our greenhouse.

This will benefit us in a couple ways. First off, since we’ll have water to the greenhouse down the road a little ways, we’ll have water already right there. It’s nothing to run a few more lines and have water in our new grow space as well.

It also gives us space to come right directly outside the house and go right into the ground with many of our new vegetable plants. This is a plus, although we’ll utilize our regular garden as well. We decided to use it exclusively for peas, corn, beans, etc…possibly tomatoes too.

As I said earlier, Deb would like to set up some type of little stand and maybe sell a little of her produce she’s growing off, as well as some of our vegetable plants. This is all fine and good with me. This enables her to interact with people through the contact this will provide for her.

This is all good. She’s loving the greenhouse, and now really sees the benefits it provides for us both. It was her idea to start with because of the rise in fruits and vegetable cost in regards to her juicing. Man…it has gotten pretty costly in the past year or so.

Again, I went to the grocery store a couple weeks back, and literally was amazed at the cost today. You don’t think they’ll continue to rise?? Well, think again my friends…you only have to look at the fuel prices, and the direction they’re headed! $4.15 a gallon here, and expected to keep on truckin!

Speaking of trucking…those guys run on fuel. Higher cost at the pump means higher cost at the store. Any type of store! Hang on to your britches my friends…it’s gonna get worse before it gets better! Quickly…GET OUT AND VOTE this year, our entire way of life is on very, very shaky ground!

This election is, and I personally believe it truly is, the most important election that Deb and I have ever been involved in. If we’re to keep the rights and freedoms bestowed upon us through our Constitution, and our Founding Fathers… you better get out and vote! Your children and grandchildren need our help…vote the fact…not the hype!

But, back to topic. Through Deb selling a little of our produce, it’ll offset our cost some as well, plus give her “a little funny money!” But once more our main purpose of the greenhouse is to provide us both with good fresh product to juice each and every day.

You can’t get any better than picking it right off the vine, and going straight into the house with it. On top of all this…the taste is incomparable to store bought! Hands down.

Our regular garden again will be used for the things we really love to can and put up. Fresh peas and beans sure taste good during the months we can’t grow them. We’ve stopped growing either during our hottest months…too much water needed, too hot, and too many bugs! Then during winter, you can’t grow them either.

We’ve found it much easier on the plants and ourselves to plant an early crop in spring, then in August, set out our fall crop. This has been really working out well for us, and the production from this we’ve been very pleased with.

Now okra is one that we will grow a couple rows of during the summer heat…it loves it. The dern stuff last year bout drove Deb crazy! It produced right up until almost the first frost, and probably would have, but I looked out one day…and Deb was pullin it outta the ground and givin it to the cows! Bye-bye okra! LOL!

Peas…that woman would rather shell peas than eat, and she is VERY good at it. You put em down in front of her and you can just walk off! You come back and she’s whipped em, or is about to! She amazes the guys that work with us…se can turn em out! She’s also fast in regards to pickin the dern things! I own up quick…that I married “above me!”

In the new grow area, I once again dug out existing soil to a depth of 8 to 10 inches, replaced that with compost material, and now will put up some sort of retaining wall of another 8 to 10 inches in height. Not quite sure how yet, maybe lumber, maybe block, as I’m still kicking that part around some??

We have some of each here on the place, but probably not enough of either, so it maybe a block-lumber combo?? Who knows? Money is entering into the equation some as well, so this will be a make it look best we can for now, then down the road we’ll fix it the way we want it. Ya do what ya gotta do!

To the ones who haven’t already…grow a garden. It is a very worthwhile project for your kids and yourself, number one. The freshness of your product is much fresher than you could hope to get from your neighborhood market. The taste is much better, and you know what you’re growing it in, and what you’re using in regards to pests or disease.

It doesn’t take a lot of room to grow a lot of vegetables. Google up lasagna gardens, square foot gardening, raised bed gardening, or even container gardening. It’s amazing what people are doing vegetable wise, in very little area.

So if you have a mental block that in order to grow your own produce, you NEED a lot of room, that’s simply not the case. Seeds cost very, very little. Sure, there’s some work involved, but the benefits of good quality family time, good nutritious food, good healthy outdoor activity, and the reward of simply watching your vegetables grow off are all positive! Simply put…it’s good for you!

One other BIG reason is cost. Once more, food prices are going to continue to rise. Fuel is but one example. Do in your heart what you feel you need to do in regards to your own family. We have.
Well, here’s a couple pictures in regards to our new grow space. We hope you enjoy them.

The first is of the compost material we’re using. We have a good friend who makes this. I had forgotten about David doing this when we put in our beds for the greenhouse. I was talking to Mom, and she asked, “Why didn’t you call David?” Thank God for Mama’s!

The second and third pictures are of one side of the greenhouse, front and back. It shows the depth of the beds.

The next shows the two Cabbage Palms we dug up, and transplanted. They were on each side of the greenhouse, one on each side.

The last shows the backhoe. It is sitting where one of the palms used to be. I was concerned during high winds, one of the fronds blowing off…right through the vinyl top of the greenhouse!

You guys have a great day, and God Bless! Deb says to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

The ole greenhouse is coming along now. We still have to hang one curtain, and the two end doors. That will button up the outside, and then we’ll start worrying about a water system and power. Neither are big issues for the time being, but will need to be addressed before the “real heat” starts kickin in down the road.

I’ve about convinced myself to go with a drip system for water, but we’re still kickin around a mist system. We’d put these just outta the ground where the water will hit at the base of the plants. Keepin the water down low, will help to prevent blight. It is a little easier to control by keepin as much water as possible off the leaves, or that’s what I keep hearin…from people that know.

Deb and I will start our seed beds today and boy howdy…she’s rarin to get started! She’s doing absolutely fantastic, looks and feels great, and does any and everything she’s always done. She’s had no ill effects at all since her one chemo treatment knocked her for a loop, and since deciding to go with alternative treatments everything just seems to be responding terrifically! Thank you Lord!

Let me state this one more time though. It seems some think that Deb, or myself, are knocking chemo treatments…we aren’t by any stretch of the imagination. WE DO believe though, that what treatment you decide upon, whether it be chemo, alternative, whatever…is up to YOU! Not our government, not our friends or family, not to the spouse (in my case), but up to you…the victim of the disease.

IF you follow your own heart, and believe 100% that the treatment you decide upon is the right one for you, then by all means…follow your heart. Trust in God, trust in your treatment, STAY positive, and eat as nutritiously as you can. Get plenty of exercise and keep the faith…good things happen.

Deb read a statement from one of the books she’s been reading, and it was one of the first books that she read after her diagnosis. It has set very well with her and she tells others of it too. It is simply that, “Cancer is NOT a sentence…it is only a word.”

Anyway, that woman had me upstairs in the library last night. This wasn’t to kick back, read, relax, or just visit. Once I got up to where she was at, there was dern seed packets scattered all over the coffee table. I knew immediately she called me up…to educate me! Her and her ole “Farmer Brown” self! LOL!

In reality this makes me feel great. The greenhouse seems to be really inspiring her, and she can’t wait to see it in full production…me either for that matter. I’m as excited as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockers, but as we go along I can see Deb grabbing ahold and probably runnin this show! Amen to that!

This is goin to be so good for both of us, but really for her. Good outside work, plenty of sunshine, bendin and stoopin, and most of all…the good fresh nutrition this will provide for us. On top of that, it’ll allow us to have fresh vegetables…year round! Tomatoes…man I miss them when they’re not coming in here at our place, and dad-gum, I’ve bout gotten to the point I can’t stand to eat a “store bought” one. ZERO taste!

Plus, we stopped at Publix day before yesterday to pick up a few for a salad and she juices one a day. We got to the counter and I thought they were goin to have to put us both…in intensive care! Six dern tomatoes were $7.38!!! Can you believe that?? I couldn’t and I’m still in shock! $7.38…good night a livin! Then, they taste like waterlogged cardboard, both of which have no taste. Yep, I’ve tried cardboard before…you ain’t?

I don’t know what people are goin to do down the road with food prices goin up like they are. I do know that after watchin these grocery prices continue to rise…we’re sure glad we put in our food storage! Once more my friends…FOOD IS an investment.

We still have people that look at us like we’re crazy for doin this, but I’m here to tell you that the food we put up is a ton cheaper than what you could replace it for today. We ARE, happy campers! Don’t be concerned with what people think.

Just like Deb after finding out about the cancer…you do in your heart what you know works for you. If it works for you, that’s all that matters! Yours and your family’s wellbeing is much more important than what someone else thinks!

What’s that one sayin… “give a hoot, and don’t pollute?” Ours is, “Ta heck with Pete…we gonna eat!” LOL!

Well, we put up a little video of the greenhouse we’d like to share with you guys today. It shows a little more progress, and that we have gotten our seed tray benches built, and in.

I swore I wouldn’t use any wood in their construction after visitin a nursery last week, but I fudged a little. We ended up using one pressure treated 2 x 4 runner on the front side of each bench. Ya gotta watch me close guys. I’ll state something, look around after I’ve already said it, then…change my dern mind completely! LOL!

We hope you guys like the video…

Comin along, huh?

We’d like to share one other video this morning with you guys. For those who LOVE roller coaster rides…you gotta watch this! As for me…you couldn’t cut me up in little pieces and throw me on this dern thing!

Our buddy Wayne, in Alma, Ga. sent this to us. I CAN see ole Wayne on something like this for sure!

Was that crazy, or what??

You guys have a great day, and God Bless! Deb says to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

You know we’d pretty much finished the beds in our greenhouse and after doin so we left plenty of space to build a few tables to work our seedbeds on. Boy, this greenhouse thing is new to us, but man…it’s gonna be “right up our alley!”

There’s SO much to learn, and the ways of goin out and doin things are endless, or at least that’s how it seems to be?? Good night, I’m confused already and ain’t even got started yet! LOL!

An example…you guys know that our good friend Billy found and helped us set up the greenhouse, at least in the construction of. That guy knows a lot about just about any possible subject you can throw at him, at least in regards to workin with your hands.

Gardening, building, furniture, welding, designing and laying out things to make life easier, and on top of all this…what a GREAT guy! The guy tells you something…he always makes sure it happens. HIS word…IS his bond!

Well, I was just talkin about all the different ways of goin about things, and yesterday was a good example of this statement.

Billy had picked us up a BUNCH of seed starter trays from his “buddies” in the nursery business…FREE. I’m like, “Man, that sounds great, and ya cain’t beat the price for sure, BUT, who’s gonna buy my gas to come pick the dern things up??” LOL!

Well, Deb and I went to Billy and Janie’s. Billy and I went to check out something down the road. What was it?? Two more greenhouses he’d run across…NICE mutha’s!!

These things were 30×100 each, and really good material all around. 12 foot working height, and boy was that impressive too. Very, very well constructed, and again, very impressive building all around. Dad-bern his time!! We were just lookin, but not buyin…

Anyway, I was checkin out their setup, and how they set up their benches for their seed trays. Here again I was seeing different things, and the how and why’s of doing things in certain ways. It was great. Now, I know for sure that Deb and I will take this whole basket of all these different ideas that we see and read on, and then tweak them to what best suits us. An ongoing, learnin experience.

Well, ole Dub in his mindset of “just wadin out there amongst something,” learnin as I go, then if that way don’t work out, shoot, I’ll just revamp it! As I’m getting a little older, I’ll be 27 my next birthday (Ha-ha-ha), I’m FINALLY beginning to figure out that slowin down some, lookin things over prior to deciding on my course of action, and thinkin a little more while jumpin a little less…shoot, it ain’t half bad!

To this last statement Deb’s goin, “See…I TOLD you so!”

But I was goin to build our seed benches out of wood…not no more! LOL! I got to checkin out their way of doing this, the WHOLE dern greenhouse was set up this way, and it was just too simple…AND so appropriate in regards to their use!

They used concrete blocks for their stands, then they’d ran pipe the length of their bench size, attachin this to the top of the blocks, and then cut and laid fiberglass across the piping as the seed tray supports. Now, how simple is that. No wood to rot out and replace. Once you set this system up…it’s there for the duration! I likes it!

So, once seein this, we’ll build ours this way. First off, when we built our house 4 years ago, there were two or more pallets of concrete blocks left over. The block mason came by one day and said he was going to pick up the extra blocks and take them to another site.

Well, with me bein my usual “shy-self,” I meekly said, “I don’t think so!” He told me that this was standard operating procedure, and to this I mentioned that, “Not here it ain’t!” I asked him if I in fact had bought these blocks, and he agreed that I had. That pretty much ended the conversation right there.

Adam is a great guy, and also one of our neighbors, so it really wasn’t an issue, but I still haven’t figured out if you had “footed the bill” for something, why it WASN’T yours?? That’s just my way of thinkin. I don’t want ONE thing that’s not mine, but if IT IS mine, then dern if I don’t want it!

The point I’m making is that we have the blocks already here at the house. We have the piping and the fiberglass here at the house. The last two bein left over from the greenhouse construction, so from an economical standpoint…our seed bed tables are free of charge. Plus, they’ll last and last from simply the materials used.

We’ll make the tables to a comfortable workin height, plus put a little pitch on the tables so this will allow water to drain away from the plants after waterin. Works for me! Deb’s like, “Can I take the savings from the benches and go to Wal-Mart?” I’m like, “Sure you can honey…when pigs fly!!” LOL!

As you are obviously aware from my last statement…Deb’s not close by while I’m penning this!! LOL!!

But, we now are goin to start putting seeds into the grow trays, and leave them under the porch until Friday. Then Mark and the crew will be here to finish out their week, get paid (I think I’m gonna cry), and we’ll build our benches. This weekend Deb and I’ll move them to the greenhouse.

Next week we’ll finally button up the exterior of the greenhouse. Hang the last curtain, and the two doors. We’ll run water and electric just a little further down the road, but it’s so close to the house, neither of these are an issue it all. We can get by if need be, with just a couple water hoses and electric cord.

Before we close out today, I’d like to share with you guys a video that one of our “YouTube buddies” sent to us. After seein our greenhouse construction takin place, he knew we’d need to start some seed beds.

With this bein the case in point, the video he sent was done by a couple who had been gardenin for, well, let’s just say a LONG time! They had made a seed jig for startin their seeds out in trays. It’s so simple, but for their application it works like a champ!

It’s just an example of how the human mind works, and by so doin improves your ways of doing things. I thought this was just…too neat! We also loved their story…check em out!

Wasn’t that great?? We loved the video! We also loved his sayin… “happiness is found along the way, not at the end of the road.” Listen to what he has to say about it, then give it a little thought…

Well, we hope you guys have a great day, and God Bless! Deb’s hollerin for ya’ll to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

Well…the beds are in the greenhouse! At least I believe they are. As of now this is what we’ve decided on, BUT, you know me…this could change at any minute! For example…

We started out going to have 4 beds…there are now 3?? We were going to have 4 three foot bed widths, with two of them 50 feet long, and two 40 feet long. Not anymore! LOL!

We ended up having one three foot bed width, 50 feet long, one 5 foot width, 44 feet long, and one 4 foot bed width, 30 feet long. What made me change things around? I don’t know, just seemed like the thing to do? PLUS, it just aggravated ole Deb to no end! I love it!! LOL!

No, after getting in the greenhouse, and laying it out, it just made better sense to me, I know, I know, sense not being one of my stronger points… “GOOD sense, anyway!” So, we just fa-naggled things some. Is fanaggled even a word? If not…it is now!

Once I saw the 3 foot width of our first bed I got to thinkin, instead of havin 4 of these, why don’t we make just three beds, with the middle bein 5 foot wide, and the last bein 4 foot wide. You want to know my reasoning? You sure?

Okay then, by havin the middle bed 5 foot wide, we’ll have more room for the vegetables to grow off. Tomatoes come to mind as they are a larger plant. Although this is a wider bed, we do have a walkway on both sides of this particular row.

This bein the case, the walk on both sides allows us to set plants, work the soil, and harvest the veggies… from both sides. Ease of work, and we can reach the area from either side…only a 2-1/2 foot reach either way. So, to me, this made perfectly good sense. The “key words” here…to me. LOL!

But, this middle bed is where we’ll grow most of our tomatoes.

Now, the first bed we put in, the 3’x50’ is going to be used for mostly juice materials for us. Oh sure, we’ll eat them as well, but this will be insurin Deb plenty of juice vegetables. At this point in our lives, this is a priority.

We’ll be growin them ourselves, we’ll KNOW what has been put on them, they’ll be able to ripen on the vine to insure the good taste, and not harvested early to be shipped cross-country. It’ll be much more economical for us versus buying from the store, AND they’ll ALL be FRESH, right from the plant directly into our home!

We’ll still utilize our outdoor garden of course, but the greenhouse will allow us to grow more variety year round. This is JUST what the Doctor ordered…Dr. Deb! As usual, I’m stuck playin…second fiddle!

We also intended upon taking the existing soil down to a depth of 12 inches, then using 2×10’s as our containing wall, then filling this up with another 9-1/2 to 10 inches of good soil. This bein an average “good soil” depth of between 20 to 22 inches, but also utilizing some of the existing soil (maybe a third), along with the garden soil we’d be purchasing. WRONG!

Once more, if I decided to put in a fish farm…they drown! I don’t know what it is with me AND, my projects?? Somehow, someway, they just seem to…go over budget?? Sounds like the government, huh? Oh, BUT there is one BIG difference…it’s my dern money I’m spendin, NOT somebody else’s!!

Well, after digging the trench, removing the existin soil from the 3×50, takin a good look at the existing soil, which had a lot of rocks, blocks, and even glass, I decided to NOT use it. It made a great pad, but for gardening…it was the pits!

Live and learn, that’s my motto. Accordin to Deb though, in regards to my projects, she claims I’m doin an AWFUL lot of livin, but very little LEARNIN! To which I reply, “You know, you just might be on to something here, DEAR…how long we been married now??”

Once I say this I’ve learned to…DUCK!

Regardless of my not bein too bright in my “planning stages” of a project, it still is what it is. Cain’t stop now. So, once I realized I couldn’t, nor shouldn’t utilize ANY of the existing soil, I got to makin some changes pretty rapidly.

First off, bed number 2 and 3 immediately were excavated to a depth of 8 inches…not 12. Then, the use of 2×10’s became very quickly…2×6’s! LOL! If, I’d of continued with my original plan, we were “poor house” bound, NOW! So, being the “flexible guy” I am, we changed it around, but still used about 500 bags of material!

One reason for so many bags was we’d bought them out of the 2 cubic feet bags, and had to end up using 1 cubic foot bags. We mixed Miracle Grow Garden Soil along with Black Cow, I’m guessing about a 3 to 1 ratio.

We bought them out of the Miracle Grow Garden Soil, so in our last bed, we had to use Jungle Growth with the Black Cow. Honestly though, the store we bought the soil from did work with us pretty well, and worked with us on the price, which we appreciated very much.

I’ve got a video we’ll share with you guys today, that talks about the Jungle Growth Soil some. On the back of their bags is a picture of gorillas, and the need to save them. During the video I tell, and show this, but also add that if you guys buy any of the Jungle Growth for yourselves, you actually WON’T be savin the go-rillers…cause I already did!! LOL!

The last bed we built is a 4 footer in width, and this too allows a little more grow room for the plants, plus will still allow us to work the bed easily. This project is still learnin as we go, and I’m sure we’ll continue to tweak it from time to time. But eventually we’ll end up with a very nice greenhouse set up, that will wind up bein just what we anticipated it to be!

The 4 foot bed width as I mentioned earlier is only 30 feet long. This can allow us to grow some vegetables in front of this bed using bags or containers…just a thought we had. Also, we have to consider a few tables or benches to grow our seedlings off, storage, ect….

Once more, we’re still makin decisions on how best to do this, with the space available to us. Deb considers this on my part to be…dangerous! There she goes again! LOL!

Anyway, here’s the video… “We HAVE…Saved the Go-rillers!”

Well, this will bout wind us down for today, and we thank ya’ll for visitin with us once again! You guys are great! God Bless you and yours, and as Deb says, “Keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!”

Dub and Deb