Dear David, I loved my home canned food supply, especially meat, but my family had hard times and it's gone... but in the meantime, my food forest is maturing and my kitchen garden is fabulous. I love your knowledge, your personality. You bring comfort during a time of information overload of worrisome happenings. Your community is full of knowledgeable members. I am grateful.

So I want to store my potatoes on my porch or in my basement and im very scared the critters will get them. Tips???

Not sure why it bugs me that the handle on your cart is on the wrong side. 🙈

The farther north you go, the more important a large pantry is.

Realized that this year, lost everything to a tornado and quarter size hail.

We lost 3/4 of our garden to grasshoppers thus year.

Agreed!

Oh, but doesn't a good peach cobbler hot out of the oven sound good on those cold winter days?? 😊 I don't bake when it's 96° outside. I preserve some things that don't keep but give us joy in the winter months.

In my case the flies were the first clue. 😔

Yep, Exactly. I learned that lesson when I lost my job due to a health problem. Half my pantry was foods I ate regularly, half was what I thought of at the time as long term survival foods. Until I had to live off it... Then I learned that if you don't eat it regularly, it doesn't do you any good. You won`t eat it anyway. When was the last time you just ate a pot of beans? No meat, rice, salt, stock, seasoning, nothing... just beans? You eat that regularly? Maybe you just eat a pot of rice? How `bout boiled wheat? Yummy, am I right? Stock up on what you eat, and make sure to rotate your food stuffs... I.e. You actually need to live on it, on a regular basis. It needs to be a part of your regular diet, or the whole pantry thing wont work. You like Chili? Great, can a bunch of Chili. Stew, Pot Roast, Pork chops, Veggies like Potatoes and Carrots, Salsa, Scrambled eggs, maybe even cheese or butter. Yes you can Can both cheese and butter if you know how to do it... Neither is hard. Heck, you can Can spices... Little things liked canned dried garlic and dried onions, to Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and All Spice(great general spice flavor). Marjoram is a great general herb to replace flavor wise Things Like (Oregano, Thyme, Basil, etc...). Random observations as someone who works in a grocery store. Our Deli roast beef costs 16.99 a pound. Our assorted pot roast costs anywhere from 5.99 per lb, to 10.99 a lb, Depending on type. Pork roasts cost from 1.99 a pound to 3.99 a pound. Even at today's super inflated prices... In other words, you can save a tremendous amount of money by shopping smart, and canning it.

@@anonymouse2675 ​ I learned that lesson after I fed several meals to the pets. Heck, I didn't want to eat it either. THEN, after my husband retired and started helping in the kitchen, he had to learn it as well because some foods are so darned CHEAP!!!!!! I did, eventually, learn how to cook black beans and we enjoy them now. I simmer them with salt and add it to ground beef and taco seasoning. DH LIKES it as the filling for soft shell tacos!

@@kansasterri5977 Hey, I learned how to finally enjoy things like Spinach and Kale! I came up with a generic soup recipe. Basically its kinda like either a Minestrone or a vegetable beef and barley only I use a random meat in it, usually chicken as the base. You can use beef or pork as well. Start with onions, carrots, celery and a stock. Add whatever other random veggies that happen to be over growing your garden. For me that tends to be zucchini and green beans, but it works with pretty much anything. I like to throw in some chopped potatoes and a bit of barley and some beans, though if you do add either beans or barley add them towards the beginning. What makes the whole thing work though is some diced tomatoes. As near as I can tell, its the acidity that pulls all the other flavors together. I usually just use two to three, any more and it just ends up being tomato soup, or gross... About halfway through, add some random small pasta, and near the end chop up some leafy greens and throw those in as well. This is the point I season it and add salt. Gives it time to simmer. Very important note: Use a small amount of each ingredient, They add up fast and you are adding a lot so you might end up eating this for DAYS if you overdo it... I don't typically use measurements. It`s either one, two or three, or its A handful or two. The reason I like this "recipe" is that it uses stuff from the garden AND stuff from the pantry. Also its cheap, and makes the food last a long time. That and you can change it on the fly.

@@anonymouse2675 I will try it. I SHOULD eat more kale because it is "good for me", but I do not really enjoy it. But I do eat minestroni so if I just add tomatos and kale..... Yup I will try it

I have a 25 lb bag of sprouting lentils in a freezer, other beans, lots of rice, grits, oatmeal, creamy wheat, potato flakes, powdered milk & butter, a half gallon of olive and coconut oil, tuna, salmon and sardines, lots of fruit trees and a garden always growing in Louisiana and several things growing indoors in winter like tomatoes, ground cherries, herbs and purslane. Plus I have enough solar to run my freezer, fridge, rice cookers, fans and a window ac during the day and while I sleep if another hurricane comes. My sister says this is "crazy" but I can`t go to a hotel when the power fails like she does.

I do some canning because stuff won't fit in my small freezer, dry other stuff.....mostly to not waste anything. I just gave my neighbor my last 3 pumpkins to feed to her chickens because they were going bad. I get gifted eggs once in awhile in return.

Found it. Subscribed. Ready to try some Latvian recipes

Whatever gets 'er done.

''It's electric'' 🕺💃

I love mine ! So much bought another one !Have a lot of fun with it .

@@NoNORADon911 woogie woogie woogie

​@davidthegood I wanted to give you an update first year gardener I successfully grew tomatoes in the Gainesville/ Ocala area shade cloth was probably the only reason it was successful

Yes, I agree

I recommend the book Landrace Gardening by Joseph Lofthouse (which I learned about from David the Good). He has a ridiculously short growing season yet manages to grow things that most people wouldn't even try in his climate. Where I live, I have a nice, long growing season, but I still found the concepts in the book highly inspirational.

Close to planting time in nw Nevada desert. I love to can & it gets eaten or gifted 👵🏻👩‍🌾❣️

Me too. Trying to take advantage of microclimates....

Yes lol pumpkin trebuchet was the highlight of my day. Hilarious. Brother David is a genius.

Thank you, you too.

Have you considered rabbits? Most HOA’s and municipalities consider them to be “pets”. Plus they are quiet and take up very little square footage. In addition, they are very prolific and are delicious & versatile.

Hubby has been hospitalized several times in the last twelve years. I had food storage before we were married. It came in handy. Plus, his job is weather dependent. Our lights just came on a little over an hour ago from Beryl. He's not working lol Our storage is low on some things but we had a good corn and purple Hull pea year so we have a lot of those at the moment. None of the squash in our family did well this year. Nobody planted green beans and now I realize I don't have very many left from the last time I canned them a few years ago. I can a lot of something and then just grow to eat fresh for the next year and then grow enough to can again. None of our tomatoes did well enough to can, nor did the peppers. I'm going to have to buy them if I don't have a good Fall crop. I was hoping to can Rotel tomatoes this year as I've run out and have been buying them. I'm for fresh eating and a pantry, too!

Millipede soufflé in a chipmunk lard and smilax reduction.

🤣

The vegans are probably cleaner meat although less protein overall

​@@Dirt-Fermer we will all shop for our meat in the whole foods parking lot.

​@@Dirt-Fermer😂😂😂

Good luck!

The book of Proverbs is marvelously practical.

Prudence goes both ways, " for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

The weather in Houston this year is crazy. We had a ton of rain and no sun and the a derecho. It wiped out everything except my peppers. Just replanted beans and we had the hurricane.

That is why I can, when I can!

Do you think they would grow well in NW Arizona 8b with 110 degrees in July?

@@WildOrchardOasisFarm Give them a try. If they don't work in the intense heat; try them in a different season.

@@WildOrchardOasisFarm David lives in 8b and his grow abundantly. Our temps get that high sometimes, but most of July our heat index is over 110.

That is wise. The further north you go, the more you must rely on storage. Or hunting.

Yes, for sure!

Rachel has a video on how she cooks their pumpkins.

Miss Cleo???

That is awesome. We have some native ones I planted in the garden but they aren’t producing yet.

The porch is closed in, fortunately.