AMarthaByHeart

Good to hear your ok, Mr. Rider. Will pray that everything soes smoothly tomorrow. We know you have been in good hands though. Take good care of that new baby and of course yourself. Stay safe.

Hey, Wormie, we want your chili recipe , too. It is getting close to cold weather (hopefully).

CN--thanks for the response. We all ate it before I found Violet. Never thought about it until neighbor just gave me a 5 gallon bucket of green tomatoes.

It sounds like it is already a blast. Have a great time and let us in on the fun with stories, pictures, etc. Darlene--WE need your chili recipe when you get a chance. From all of us to ya'll.

I am praying also for this 'bump' in the road as HE works this out.

This is a Violet question or anyone else who knows the answer. A friend of mine has an old Chow Chow recipe. She makes it every other year. She uses water bath to seal them. She used to just heat the lids and seals and put them on the hot jars of Chow Chow, but started water bathing them after we told her she needed to process them. The recipe is as followed. My questions are about the flour being in it (I didn't think you could use flour in anything canned), is it acidic enough with the apple cider vinegar, and do you water bath or pressure cook them? For how long? Would you use this recipe? It sure does taste good with red beans or black eye peas or as a dip by it itself. Chow Chow 5 large bell peppers 3 Tbs. black pepper 1 qt. onions 1 Tbs. drymustard 1 qt. green tomatoes 1 Tbs. turmeric 1 qt. cabbage 1 Tbs. flour 1 qt. apple cider vinegar 5 C sugar 2 Tbs. salt 2 qts. sour pickles Hot peppers - as many as you want. Grind all ingredients then measure except peppers and pickles. Let tomatoes drain. Grind peppers and pickles, add all ingredients together in a large pan. Cook slowly 1 hour. Seal in hot jars. Makes approximately 12 pints.

CGA, it amazes me the wisdom that you have. Recording it would help many people as we prepare to go through the days ahead.

Just read this. It is heartbreaking to see this ,knowing all to well that very soon it could be us. We live in a world where the politicians are more concerned with "party lines" and greed than the peoples' well being. They asked for her opinion, but did not listen. Why not start a soup kitchen at the schools or community. Offering to buy a chocolate bar is the answer. Ha! I bet none of the politicians or their children were hungry. She is working and stretching her budget as far as she can go. I am not talking about handouts. Community gardens, classes in surviving day to day living and bartering, with God's mercy and grace, may be the only way we will survive in what is coming. Being surrounded by like minded people is surmountable to our survival in this day and time. I have been reading the 'Deep Winter' series downloaded on my computer so this is where my mindset is coming from right now. This just confirms how fast and easy things will go south. No work or contribution means no food. Even if not physically able to do manual labor there are so many things we can do to be productive (reading to children, remembering what used to be done in the past (canning,food prep and storage, gardening, sewing, fishing, etc.) and helping those able to do a better job. I do remember Katrina. The people who came here and hit all of the food pantries in our small city. Quite a few were demanding, insulted that we would give them store brands of food--demanding name brand instead. We were told since we got some food from the local food bank, we had to service them. Most of our food and donations at church came from our people, a lot of them senior adults on limited income. We always gave several sacks of groceries, enought to sustain them for a few weeks. They would leave ours, and then go to another pantry. They would even tell us this. Admittedly, there were some that were very thankful and humble. They lost everything but the clothes on their backs. These are the ones who were already looking for jobs and trying to get their families settled. I had to pray many a prayer to get through this. A very wise older man, 84, told me that it was in God's hands what they did with the food. (We found out from the police later that some were trading the food for drugs.) We had done what we were commanded to do which was to feed the least of these and help when needed. The main thing is prayer, a closer walk with our heavenly Father, wisdom and discernment in the coming events. Other countries in the world desperately need our prayers now also. May God have mercy upon us all, even though it is not deserved. :pray:

Miki--don't stay gone too long. I do hope the move goes smoothly. Thanks Jori for volunteering. We really appreciate it. I don'e always respond to birthdays but do rememeber them when I see them.

Congratulations, homesteader. What a wonderful new adventure God has planned for you and DH. May HE bless your new home and make it a place of rest and peace.

Glad your back!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now you're here to stay.

Since I missed your birthday, go ahead and take the week off. Hope your day was great. Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am sorry to hear about your grandmother passing.

Happy Birthday Quiltys41 and Farmgirlwannabe!!! Hope you were treated like royalty all day. Enjoy while you can. :cakeslice: :balloons: :bdaycake: :bev:

I do hope you had a blessed day today for your birthday. Thanks for all you do and your encouragement you give in your devotions.

This sure made memories come back. 25 years ago, we went to a lumber yard and my 6 yr. old son and said for me, rather loudly, to come look at some thing he had never seen, know what it was or didn't know how to turn it on. There was a machine that had bottled cokes going up and down the side with a door on it. It would not do anything. The men there got a good laugh but he at least got a free coke. Then they took him over to the 'puzzle' coke box (where you had to pull it thru the maze.)--another free coke. When he goes back in a few weeks he wants to go show his little one. At high school where I was a secretary, we had an old fashioned black phone and an avocado phone later which was described as pukey. More than once, the kids didn't know what it was or how to use it and why there were no buttons on under the numbers. When they got hold of a parent , they told them all about it. I heard alot of cool and neato. How about kids being amazed about not having remotes for tvs. PS--I knew the strawberry was for sharpening needles, but I didn't know what was in it.

Tank has to be buried and so many feet from our house. There has to be an inspection before final approval. We have a small back yard so we know it wouldn't pass. I think I will stop my little projects next week and start canning again. I have pork chops, hamburger meat, chicken in freezer. I would like to can some red beans and black-eyed peas. CGA, I am like you. I would love to move to the country but it seems to be cost prohibitive right now. Thanks everyone, for the info. I was afraid of this. We live in West Texas where the wind usually blows most of the time. I would love to put a wood stove on back patio. DH thinks I have flipped. He had finally agreed to getting a generator. I am going to print this off for further use.

HELP, again!!!!!!!!!! I was wondering how to can if there is no electricity or gas (no gas on our street--cost prohibited to bring in here) or an EMP hits. I am not borrowing problems but how would I can outside, what on, and how to keep a steady and regulated temperature. I have 2 presto canners but neither have the temp dial--just the 10,15,20 weight gauge. I figured the canner would be too heavy to use on a barbecue grill. Could you make a firepit, and put a grill on it (using wood)? I don't have a wood stove. I know that there are several good canning experts on here, and I need help desperately. Never even thought about it until I started learning to make cheese, etc. If I can't figure it out, I guess we will have a giant cookout for neighborhood. The temperature is what concerns me.

Good job Kappydell! Maybe it was just practice for when th SHTF. Midwives will be in great demand. (Name the first girlie kitten after yourself.)

Miki, you are right. Maybe that is a hint for you to start writing stories since you are deversified in your areas of talents. CGA, when my oldest granddaughter was little she only wore dresses. I made them out of tee shirts and plaid material for the skirt. She loved them. Funny, though I never though of using a tee shirt with a design on it, but did use iron on decals or cut things out of same skirt material and zigzaged around it. I also brought chambray shirts and did the same thing for my sons and their friends. They wore them as light weight jackets. Miki, aprons are also on my list now. I used to sew all of the time but stopped when we moved. (Now Martin Chick, How is the book coming? I need to reread yours and write down suggestions of how to do things, too.)

Miki, I love the aprons. I am going to try my hand at them. Thanks for the idea. This looks like it could be a stress relieving project. (By the way, how is the new book coming? I am anxiously awaiting.)

I had also bought more dehydrated hash browns from Sam's--same price as before 4 months ago. Today I was putting them in mylar bags and did not get as many bags out of the last two. I checked and they had 4 ozs. less in each of them. I felt cheated. This is happening more and more.

Thank the Lord that your little "Buddy" is ok this morning. I know it was scary.

The wheel is beautiful and looks functional although I know absolutely nothing about spinning. With you spinning, painting (Wonderful picture), canning and everything else you do, you are a marvel. I will try and follow your example but I do seem to run out of energy. Have fun.