Deb and I were sitting outside talking the other day, last weekend to be exact, and she mentioned possibly adding on to the food storage room. It won’t be for food storage per say, but actually more room for other things as well.
First off, we try to keep some motor oils, and some tube grease put up. We started off keeping this in our original room, but the produce from our gardens quickly prevented us continuing to keep our oil in there too…not enough room.
So, these products had to go back out to our tool shed, which is fine but for one thing…the heat. Our tube grease literally melts down from time to time during the summer months as it’s a metal shed with only a fan to stir the air. Tire repair kits, such as patches, plugs, etc., can’t take the heat either, so her idea for an addition actually sounded good to me as well, so, we’ve gotten it started.
Her reasoning for the additional room is for more space freed up in our food storage for us to continue to can, and put up more of our vegetables, number one, plus she’d like a place to put her extra cast iron cookware. Along with this, she can put up her extra cleaning supplies, paper towels, TP, aluminum foil, medicines, our lanterns and their rebuild kits, etc.
It’s kinda’ like the old sayin’…it doesn’t matter how large you build a barn…you always wished you’d have built it a little bigger. You turn around good, and the dern thing is full! This sure describes our situation here at our place.
MY main two reasons for going ahead and building it are both very simple, BUT both are very good reasons as you’ll soon see…
First, it’ll make Deb happy, which makes my life SO much easier! The second reason is that it’ll make Deb happy, AND this makes my life so much easier! How simple is that guys?? Mama’s happy…EVERYONE is happy!
We are extending the room by an additional 12’x10’. This added on to the original, and it being a 12’x12’. This makes it a 22’x12’, and honestly I don’t know why I didn’t make it that size to begin with? Actually I do, and it’s called…a shortage of Benjamin Franklin’s!
To that statement Deb only stated that our President claims you can SPEND your way out of debt, and I explained to her that no, in reality that doesn’t happen, you cannot spend your way out of debt, but only spend your way into complete bankruptcy. She said that, “YOU CAN, if you print your own money,” but I had to tell her that no, this doesn’t even work, but only prolongs the pain.
Her remark? “Are YOU the President of the United States? So the addition is being built…any of you guys mind redistributing some of YOUR wealth down towards Central Florida way? If so, please just send cash.
One thing we are doing with the addition is build it exactly as we built the first room. 2×6 studs as are our floor and ceiling joists. This enables us to double insulate the floors, walls and ceiling. We use 2” fiberboard insulation, then come behind that with an R-19 rated rollout insulation. Plywood walls, pressure treated on the outside and interior grade on the inside.
By doing this in our original room, it worked absolutely great. Even during the very hottest days, the little 110 air conditioner holds 68 degrees and runs very, very little. It works great!
The additional cost to us during the hottest times…about 25 bucks a month. Money well spent.
That’s what Gus told Jake about Laurie in Lonesome Dove wasn’t it? “Money well spent…both times!
This same 110 unit will keep the additional room cooled as well, but we will install another small 110 unit as a backup…you never know.
We should have it built in another 2-3 days, lights and all. We cut in for a door, but decided after we cut and framed the door space out, that no, we’ll not add another door, but simply use the door on the original room, and cut out a walkway to pass through into the new room. Then we have only one door, period.
By having the door hole cut though, it sure helped out by allowing us some light where we could see well while working inside the room. Once we run the power we’ll frame out the door space, close it back in, then plywood and insulate it and that’ll finish us up…all but moving around what ole’ Deb wants moved around. That’ll be an experience by itself.
Hmmm…I might be gone somewhere that day, and let Dale and Bob handle it. I can see it now, Deb pointing that finger and saying, “Just put it right here…no, no, I think it’ll be better if we move it here…no, I like it where it WAS at to begin with.”
I’ve been around her too long, and know her like a book! I have complete faith that Dale and Bob can handle it though. If I had any doubts at all that they couldn’t, I’d be right there with them. Hahaha! You believe that, right?
Basically Deb and I do believe our economy will continue to get tougher. Food storage is one way that we feel may be a help to us down the road.
As grocery prices continue to rise, gas prices…who knows where they may get to, the inability evidently by our government to come to grips with excessive, to put it very mildly, spending, and our un-employment rate as high as it is, all point to tougher times down the road.
We’ve seen flooding in some areas, drought in others, and who knows how much effect these things will have on food production in the near future? It may behoove us all to think along these same lines…a little extra can’t hurt, huh?
We find canning our preference in the storage of vegetables, fruits, stews, soups, and meats, although we also freeze all these as well. With these two rooms to help us out with storage space, it also allows us to keep a pretty good stock of food in a spot that if power is lost, then we can still keep it safe even with a small generator.
In 2004, we were hit by three hurricanes in about a month’s time. All three eyes of these storms were very close to us, and when power was lost for over a week after the first storm, we lost all the food in our freezers…no generator.
By canning so much of our food, this helps to insure this not taking place again. Not only this, but canning makes meals so very simple, if you’ve had a long day. Put on a pot of rice, heat up a jar or two of stew, throw some cornbread in the oven, and very quickly, you’re eating a good hot meal…and no refrigeration needed. It works well for us anyway…
Also, if you haven’t invested in a food saver system, then why don’t you at least check them out, and see what benefits they offer that might just be, “the ticket,” in regards to your own family needs?
This is the 2” fiberboard insulation we’re using in the room
The new room addition you see built on to the original. It will be a 22x10 when finished
This is the R-19 insulation we use behind the fiberboard insulation. Double insulated throughout. You can see the ceiling has been completed.
Some of the peas in the raised beds.
More peas and the cownhorn okra. We’ll be transplanting these okra this next week and give them more room to grow.
Cheyenne “on patrol.” She was barking to beat the band the other night and Deb and I got outside just in time to see a coyote outside the fence taking off. They’re really becoming established here now. This is bad news for the turkey and baby deer.
You guys have a great day, and God Bless you all. Deb says to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!
Dub and Deb
Not too shabby as they say. I probably would have seen how much it would be to get the addition spray foam; that stuff is really great for creating a complete seal as well as insulation.
I pressure bottle some things. However, freezing is often the best way to preserve flavour and sometimes texture. Plus, with pressure bottling you often have the vegetables sitting in water which robs the nutrients. Some foods just have too low an acid content and to pressure bottle and be safe you have to process for long times. For example, corn has to stay in the pressure bottler for 85 minutes.
We love your food storage building. Right now we are using a back room in our basement. We sold our house, to save money on taxes, insurance, and upkeep expenses. We rent now so we cannot build a building outside, but have been giving thought to one inside our 3-car garage in one corner. A window air unit could be added also. I’d like a way to save garden crop seeds also, any ideas? We have 5 adult kids with families so we are going to ask them to contribute to garden expenses so we can put up enough for all of us with their help of course. My canner pan is starting to rust so will be replacing it this fall. I have even put up some dry dog food in canning jars for our pups. I vacuum-sealed dog food in bags, put it in canning jars to use if we need to for our 3 pups. Got a 6 month supply so far, our dogs are toy breeds and only eat 1/4- 1/2 cup of dry kibble at a time. Made up 12 quarts of an easy low calorie gravy to mix in 1/2 tsp. in each dish to make it somewhat softer for them. They are part of our family. Some friends think we are off the deep end a bit, but we shall see.
Thanks for you insulation ideas.