Tag: canning

Seeds

I’m so excited. I have gotten a few vegetable seeds planted this past week and am waiting on the sprouts to start. I love growing things.

I have decided this year that I will be planting a small herb garden. I’ve only grown a few herbs here and there in the past so this will be a first for me. A new adventure that I can’t wait to have.

I’ve been reading and researching a lot on herbal concoctions that have been used for some of the same health issues that I have and I’m going to try some of them. I’m hoping to have success with them like other people have had.

I’ll be getting the space ready for the herb garden over the next month or so. Some of them will be grown in pots indoors as I’ve read that’s how a few of them grow the best. I’ll post at a later date which are in the garden and which are in pots as I’m still getting that all worked out.

As daylight starts being longer and warmer days start coming I get more excited and anxious about my planting and seeing the beauty of it all. Being able to grow my own fruits and vegetables is so very rewarding for me. I have a passion for it.

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Growing Season Coming

As winter is getting ready to leave I’m starting to get the sunroom ready to start planting seeds for spring and summer garden transplanting. I have to get all my pots and tables where I want them and then I can start filling them with dirt.

This year I’ll be growing broccoli, corn, green beans, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, pumpkins, cucumbers, green peppers, jalapeno peppers, potatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, carrots, greens, peas, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, onions, green onion, blackberries, lettuce, cabbage and strawberries. Some of these I’ll be growing in buckets and the rest will go in the gardenbed.

I get so excited this time of year. I love growing things and being able to can it to enjoy whenever i want. That way it doesn’t matter if it’s in season or not. I make sauces and jellies and soups to can too. It saves quite a bit off the grocery bill as well.

Once I finish getting the sunroom prepared I’ll start planting my seeds and babying them until they go in the ground. I save coffee and creamer cans and the cat litter buckets to plant in. No need to buy planters when I’m constantly using things that can be recycled.

I’ll be adding another shelf on top of the white table in the corner.
My pots are calling my name
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Never Give Up

I started life having health problems. My parents said from the time I was born I was at the hospital every week. I stayed sick. When I was 5 I landed in Children’s Hospital in Columbus Ohio with pneumonia for a 3 week stay which I literally almost died from. I also received a diagnosis of asthma which they said I probably had been born with.

During my grade school years I was diagnosed with many allergies and had to get 2 shots a week to keep them under control. I couldn’t have carpet in my bedroom. My mattress had to be wrapped in plastic and I had to sleep on down pillows or have them wrapped too. Any stuffed animal I had had to be in a plastic bag as well. I wasn’t supposed to be around any animals which was the worst for me because I’m an animal lover. I couldn’t go without my pets though.

By the time I was 9 I was diagnosed with scoliosis and loradosis of my back and was supposed to have a brace. I never got one because we were poor and insurance wouldn’t cover it. I’ve struggled with back pain my whole life.

My asthma left as I got into my teen years but came back full force during my second pregnancy. I’ll never forget I was walking down some railroad tracks to go fishing. All of sudden I thought my water broke. I was only about 5 or 6 months so I was terrified I was gonna lose my baby. By the time I got back to civilization and could get medical care I couldn’t breathe and I was turning blue. I was at the hospital a few days and there it was… asthma. Ugh! I was able to get it for the most part controlled for a few years.

In my early to mid 20s I started having problems again. Well this time I was diagnosed with sarcoidosis on top of the asthma. There wasn’t much known about it then and at first they said I had lung cancer. Thank God they were wrong. So now I have 2 lung diseases and I’m not even 30 years old yet.

Fast forward a few years and here’s another smack in the face. In my early 30s I was diagnosed with COPD. As if 2 problems with my lungs wasn’t enough. There are other health issues diagnosed during this time but I may go into that in a later post.

And now several years later in my late 40s add emphysema on top of the other 3 and that COPD has moved to stage 2. None of these has a cure and none will get any better. My lungs are in the state of 60+ year old.

I have inhalers I take regularly and ones for emergencies plus I have a nebulizer machine at home. The next thing that will be added is oxygen. I’m not giving up though. I’ll fight it until it takes me out. I have too much to live for. My babies. My grandbabies. My mom and sisters. And my hubby. Plus all my furbabies.

I have to keep pushing on and making myself do things everyday to try to strengthen my lungs and at least keep them where they are now if at all possible without getting any worse too soon. If I have my way I’ll still be pushing when I’m 100 years old. Yes I may have to take more breaks than most and yes it’s very hard and painful. But I’m still here and still breathing.

Don’t ever give up and use your health as an excuse that you can’t do things. Improvise to make things you want to do fit in with what you can do. If people can’t accept that then you don’t need them in your life anyway.

I have days that I can barely get out of bed or off the couch. It’s not because I’m lazy like some would say. I have animals that I take care of and I grow a garden during summer months and can my vegetables. Yes I have to have help. That’s not a bad thing. Point is never give up and always trust the Almighty upstairs. He’ll see you through.

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A Little About Me

Hello. My name is Barbara and I live in a small town in northern West Virginia on top of a mountain. I love it here. I’m only 30 minutes from Ohio and 45 minutes from Pennsylvania. One thing I love most is the Ohio River is at the bottom of my mountain.

We regularly fish as much as possible. I’d go more often if time would allow it. We’ve caught flathead catfish, blue cats, carp, turtles, gar, bluegill, channel cats, and walleye out of there.

At home we have 4 pygmy goats, 5 dogs, and 4 orange tabby cats. The dogs are one boxer, one red nose pit, two blue nose pits, and one mix breed boxer/ blue pit. I put food out to draw in the wildlife to eat in the yard as well.

We have two big gardens and grow everything we can to provide for the winter. Everything is either canned or froze and the extras go to anyone that needs or wants it. We also have two edible flower gardens and one herb/medicinal bed.

That’s a little about me and more will follow in the days to come.

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