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

I don’t know about the rest of you guys, but I went to the grocery store for Deb last week and dad-gum, things sure are going up in price! I literally was astounded!

Whole chickens…anywhere from 9 to 11 bucks. I couldn’t even imagine this! Carnation canned milk…$1.85 PER can! I was like…WHOA!

These are exactly the reasons we started our food storage…availability, inflation, and concern over our own ability to purchase food, IF our business continued to experience such a dramatic slowdown, like we experienced in 08.

Back when our site was started, we talked a great deal about the state of our current economy. We explained that we are in the asphalt paving business, and what a hit we took in regards to our business back in 08.

It didn’t simply slow down…IT STOPPED! Plus, it stopped for 1-1/2 years. There was no gradual easing off, as once more, it was like you just slammed on the brakes in your car.

Well, Deb and I had seen this coming, and honestly we were already in “you better pay close attention mode,” in regards to the economy. We immediately started making, “lifestyle changes,” and today are so glad we’d done this.

We knew that without work, this could very well mean we didn’t eat as well. In our belief you can’t have one without the other. First off, our misfortune is not the fault of others, but is based upon the decisions and actions we made, not someone else!

With this being the case, after beginning to see the economic downturn, and shortly afterwards we DID see, once more, we were already doing everything in our power to become much more self-sufficient, and self-reliant than we’d ever been before in our entire lives!

Now, 2-1/2 to 3 years later, boy, are we ever glad we did the things we did!

Food storage was a big concern for us, and we started researching heavily the ways in which we could store food most effectively, as well as safely.

Our choices mainly were the home canning process, and a Food Saver system. Both fit nicely into our lifestyle, and I can’t say that we really prefer one more than the other.

From a storage standpoint we really like to home can, whether it be vegetables, fruits and jellies, or meats, soups or stews. Our big like in this regard is you CAN get by with no power, if this ever takes place.

As long as they’re stored in a fairly cool, dark spot, you really don’t HAVE to have power. This is a very big plus with the home canning process. I also have come to realize that not only is this type of storage very lenient if you were to undergo any extended period of power, but that Deb and I just really like putting food up in this fashion. We enjoy the process, for whatever that’s worth! LOL!

But let me be quite honest in another regard as well. The Food Saver system we like very well too, although we do prefer most of our food storage to be home canned.

In the Food Saver process, using vegetables or meats, it does one terrific job. We Food Saver those babies, and you have just increased the food life of whatever it was you “food savered.” I read up to 5 years, maybe even more, with no freezer burn.

Power though, to Deb and I, is really of little concern. When we built our house, we also bought a 45 KW generator that will run our entire household…electricity or not. So, in case of storms, or whatever the reasoning, we have the ability to keep all our freezers and refrigerators running, insuring no frozen food loss.

This too brings up a point…diesel fuel for our generator. We considered this too. We keep our generator topped off with fuel at all times, plus we have 425 gallons of diesel stored in a mobile tank. This can be pulled to wherever it’s needed.

Now, after letting you guys in on the fact we do have diesel stored, this indeed helps us out greatly, but without too much thought, it’s pretty obvious that if times REALLY got bad, we eventually WOULD run out of diesel.

With this in mind, WHAT IF, diesel wasn’t available after using up our supply? So as you can see, this too could present a very serious problem, and one you should not overlook…in our opinion.
Our plan, if any of this were to occur is simply…rationing our fuel. In other words, although our generator is capable of running our entire home…it would not be used in such a way.

We’d spend much more time outside, number one, and number two, we’d only run our generator, possibly two to three times a day, only for keeping our refrigerators and freezers cold enough to sustain what’s in them…that’s all.

In other words…you need to become very frugal. Now this is something Deb and I have always pretty much been, but we, unlike many others understand full well, we have the ability to continue to cut corners anyway we can.

Something else our Food Saver allows us to do, is to store complete meals in our freezers. This mainly for convenience.

If you’ll start cooking from time to time, meals that are heavy prep, heavy mess, and heavy time consuming…we make up more than we could possibly eat in just a sitting or two. This allows us to Food Saver up complete meals that only have to be taken out of the fridge, thawed, and then heated. In just a short period of time you have a complete nutritious meal! This is great for a household where both Mom and Pop are in the workplace.

Another thing we use our Food Saver for, is storing dried peas, beans, sugar, salt, corn meal, flour, pasta, and even grits.

We Food Saver these, and then we put them in food grade 5-gallon buckets with sealable lids. Each bucket we use for the storing of these items holds about 20 pounds of food. Each package we Food Saver holds about three cups of whatever item we’re storing at the time. This again is for…convenience and easy access.

Our procedure for these, are all simple, but with a few of these there are precautions to take. These mainly are your rice, flour, corn meal, and grits.

These we strongly suggest you freezing for 3-4 days. This kills any bugs, or eggs, that may have gotten into the items while they were being packaged, or even picked up through the shipping process while getting them to the stores.

I wouldn’t say that this is indeed mandatory, but it is something we practice at all times. We do freeze these before Food Savering, each and every time!

Let me give you a good example of the importance to try a pick up a little extra each week. This is pertaining to our family specifically, and shows the importance of what we’re discussing today.

Our oldest son Josh, and his family, have done really well in taking some of their income and putting up some food each week. Josh started storing extra about the same time that Deb and I did, and actually amazed Deb and I with the amount they put up in relatively a short period of time.

Josh works for a tire company, and was used to receiving bonuses on the number of new tires he sold monthly. Some of these checks were fairly considerable amounts, and supplemented their salary. His wife Shelly worked too during this time.

Well, the economy took a big hit, and all of a sudden the number of new tires being sold dropped off…A LOT! This had a big, big effect on his ability to supplement his income as he had been doing previously. Then Shelly became pregnant, and stopped working.

Suddenly they were faced with a big loss of income through no more or very little bonus, and the loss of Shelly’s income to boot. Things changed swiftly, and this had a huge consequence in their lives. BUT…they had food.

Again, those two had put up quite a bit, and what they couldn’t keep at their house, due to lack of room, the rest they brought down here to our place, and stored it in our food storage room we built.
As of today, their work has still not picked back up to anywhere near what it had been, people are now buying used tires mainly, again, this because of our economy, but Josh and family are still eating quite well.

Once more, they too had the best interests of their own family at heart, and took the initiative to do something about it. By doing so, they are weathering all this, pretty well. They did tell Deb that they had about eaten all they could store at their place, and before long they’d have to pick up some of their storage from here. This makes no matter at all, and we’re glad we had the room to store most of their food supply here for them.

But you see my point. Although they’re having it tough, they are still eating, and eating quite well to be honest. Only by having the foresight, and sacrificing many weeks I’m sure, to be able to put up some food, at this point today, they are very, very happy they had done so.

Through their own actions, they insured that they, and their three boys, had nutritious meals even though their income had dropped substantially.

So over the next few days, we’re going to drop back, and emphasis once again, the things that Deb and I have done in regards to our family and friends ability to survive, even in tough, tough economic times.

We hope that through this we may be able to help out others who aren’t sure of some of the things they need to be doing, or even why they need to be doing them. We don’t claim to know, by any means, everything you need to know, but we are pretty astute in many areas of this topic.

If you guys, during these next few conversations we’ll be having with you, have any ideas, suggestions, or experience in such as this, please feel free to express them. I know that what you have to contribute will be much appreciated by all!

In closing today, please know how grateful we are for your continuing to drop in a see us. We appreciate your doing so, and we wish each and every one of you the very best in all you do!

God Bless you guys, and Deb says to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

Shoot, even Brian of the Canada Free Press suggested my login name to be… “imadummee!” So, one sees pretty quickly ole Dub probably ain’t “the sharpest knife in the drawer!” Even this is an understatement of considerable truth, because in regards to many, many, things…I am a dummy!

But first…congratulations to all those LSU “Tiger” fans out there. You guys took my Gators to the toolshed. This followed up a visit to the toolshed the previous week applied by the “Crimson Tide” folks.
Two weeks…two big losses, with those dern Auburn Tigers up next. Woe is me?

Today we’ll talk about canning peas. Deb and I enjoy doing it, but when they start coming in, you have some work cut-out for you. You simply have to get em while the getting’s good! It is time consuming, but well worth the effort. Those little jewels taste so good anytime actually, but especially during the winter months when there is no fresh supply available.
In reality, I know of only two people that don’t like peas, and they’re both neighbors who live just down the road from us. I told Deb that we sure know how to pick a place to live, don’t we? Having neighbors who don’t eat peas is “right up my alley!” MORE FOR US!! LOL!!

Deb and I have been canning about 4 years now, but honestly, Deb wants NO part of the pressure cooker, and believe it or not, my Mother doesn’t either. They were both around pressure cookers blowing off the lids.

So, the pressure canning duty was handed to me. How is it that I’m always the “lucky one?”

Seriously though, I talked with my Aunt Ann who has been around canning all her life with no mishaps, and she convinced me there was no issue at all to canning, besides simply paying attention to what you’re doing. Her oldest son Danny grows a BIG garden every year and cans extensively too.
Yeah, if you’ve been reading us for very long, Danny IS the dern cousin of mine who used to bite me when we were just small children. It got to the point that guy would walk by me and smile, showing them dern canines of his, and I’d be headed the other way!
In my opinion, you need to start off canning something pretty simple, which after just a short period of time, canning as a whole is indeed pretty simple stuff. But peas are a good place to start, so here we go…
We can our peas mainly in quart mason jars. We do a few in pints, but most times if we run out of quarts, or doing some for a meal for just Deb and I. A pint is just about right for this.
First off we put the peas to be canned in a large pot, and bring them to a boil, turning the burner off after them coming to a boil. They sit in this hot water until ready to put them in a jar to can.
While this is taking place we put water in our pressure cooker to the first line nearest the bottom of the cooker and allow this water to start boiling too. We also boil a large pot of water that we “scald” our jars with. This by setting our 7 quart jars (the amount our pressure cooker holds) in the sink, and then pouring the hot water into them.
This disinfects our jars, plus has them hot when we’re ready to add our peas in them, as their water is hot as well.
We then pour out the water in our jars, and start filling them with peas with as little liquid as possible, to a level about 1 inch below where the lids sit. Once our jars are full of peas we add one teaspoon of salt per jar.
At this point we then dip out water from the pea pot, and fill our jars, but once more leaving about a 1 inch gap below where the lids sit. This also serves to breakdown the salt you’d just added, and distributes it throughout the peas.
We then wipe the rims down with a clean rag, add the rings (lids) and seals, and start putting them into the pressure cooker. Once this is done we put the cover on the pressure cooker and wait until steam starts streaming out of the vent pipe. This makes you aware to go ahead and place the **three-piece pressure regulator onto the vent pipe. Shortly after adding this, the air vent/cover lock, I call it the stem, will pop out of the pressure cooker cover letting you know…the cooker is now under pressure.
Once the regulator starts rocking hard, I call it jiggling, we then turn our burner down to about 5-1/2, or medium heat. The whole time prior to this taking place our burner is left on high. Again, once the regulator starts rocking, or jiggling hard, turn your burner down.
The cook time for fresh peas is 40 minutes. The time doesn’t start UNTIL the pressure jiggler is rocking hard. Then set your timer, and the canning process actually begins!
I then allow it to remain on this heat setting until the cooking time has been reached, and the pressure cooker is removed from the stove and set on several towels on the countertop.
At this point you just leave everything alone and wait for the pressure to bleed off. I’m guessing this takes anywhere from 40 to 50 minutes. Once you see the air vent has dropped down back into the cooker cover, you may take off the pressure regulator.
I do this as one more precaution prior to removing the cover of the cooker insuring there is NO more pressure in the cooker. THEN, and ONLY THEN, do you remove the cover.
We then remove the jars, set them on towels as well, and wait to hear the pinging noise of the jars sealing. Once they’ve “pinged,” you know the jars have vacuum sealed. Once they’re cooled, you test once more to make sure they have in fact sealed properly.
This is done by taking a finger and pressing down on the lids. If sealed properly, your finger will meet solid resistance, or they won’t give. If, in fact you do feel a give in the lid, this means the jar HAS NOT sealed as it should have…SO DON”T PUT IT AWAY AS FOOD STORAGE!! It will not keep…it WILL spoil! So, take that particular jar, and heat them back up for supper. Use it in the next day or two, and keep it refrigerated until you do use them.
That’s about it. ***The three-piece pressure regulator has weights. These are used to pressure cook in different elevations across the country. In Florida as an example, we pressure cook using ten pounds of pressure. But this varies as does the altitudes nationwide.
If you purchase a pressure cooker, it will come with a book telling you what weight to use on the regulator depending on your elevation in your area. Simple stuff…
I hope this helps you out some if you’ve never canned before. Deb and I both find it a good, safe way to put food up, and love the taste and convenience it provides us of having a good fresh meal that has already been cooked, and just needs to be warmed up a little to be ready to eat!
We’ll try and do you guys a step by step video of this process the first of the week, but today I have a couple for you to look at if you’d like. They just kinda touch base on this subject, but will at least allow you to “get your feet wet,” in the canning process.


Also, a video of the cows laid up under an oak by the house…life is good! They just ate a gator full of pea hulls.

Thank you for droppin by, and God Bless.
Once more Deb says to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!
Dub and Deb