Good morning Precious Ones!!! I hope and pray that this blog post finds y'all doing well and joyful in service to the Lord where ever you are. Joy comes from knowing the Lord. Happiness comes from our circumstances. The Lord never changes. Our circumstances can change with each breath. So, I will say again that I pray y'all are joyful in your service to Lord today, whatever your circumstances may be. I know for a fact that a lot of people are hurting today. You know people who are hurting. How can we be a light or a lifeline to those who are hurting? Sometimes they just need a smile, or friendly word, maybe a hug. Other times they may just need an ear to hear them out. They may also need some sound advice, rooted in the word of the Lord. Always let our advice be rooted in the word of the Lord. The world is good at throwing a lot of advice that's evil and wicked at it's core. Our advice, any words we may offer to someone always need to be seasoned well with scripture. We may not know everything about the Word, but we know enough to say "let's see what God has to say about that". If you need to get help, get help. I've had to get back with people on things that I couldn't help them with. We all should have a person or two that can help us with digging thru scripture. And we need to leave our opinions out of it. The only opinion that ever matters is Gods opinion. If mine doesn't line up with His, then someone is wrong, and I can assure you, it isn't God. So as we go joyfully about serving the Lord, lets be on the lookout for those who are hurting and see if we can be a source of truth and encouragement for them.
Here it Sept. 6th and the weather in my neck of the woods is finally taking a turn towards cooler temps. I don't know if anyone else is ready for it, but I sure am. Sadly, winter will be here before we know it and I'll wishing for some of these abnormally warmer temps. I just know I will. hahaha I'm not crazy about heat or cold. I told someone here back, in the summer, that I would be happy with about 5 months of Spring and 7 months of Fall. hahaha Yes, that would be my ideal temps. I love the awakening that we have in the Spring with all the lush green coming back and I love the turning of Fall and all the beautiful colors that go with it. I know that we can't have the reawakening of Spring without having first gone thru the long Winters night. But also....the sad part is, in reality, Winter is what's best for my outdoor, seasonal allergies. So, after the first frost, I'll be able to get back out and enjoy taking our walks again and enjoy just being outside. That's what I really miss in the late Spring, Summer and early Fall, just being outside and loving it.
I still do a little gardening, even with all my allergies, I just have to wear a mask and limit my time outside. Back in the summer, I was out for about 3 hours on one of those exceptionally HOT days with the temps at or above 100* and it almost done me in. I didn't hydrate at all. I was sweating profusely, but taking in nothing. I didn't even realize it till it was too late. By the time I got in, I knew I had overdone it big time. It took me about a month to recover from that and that's when I had to stop walking with my husband. We would go to the greenway and walk, but I just couldn't do it any more and I'm really praying that when it gets a little cooler, I can get back to walking. Lord knows my body needs it. I've done quite a bit of house walking, but it's not like walking the greenway or walking outside in general. So, I am looking forward to walking again.
Speaking of gardening, hahaha, I sure do enjoy that now. I'm not a good gardener at all. I'm really not. But I am open to learning bits and pieces at a time. And I learn by doing. I can't explain anything to you that would make sense of anything I have learned. I couldn't put it down on paper if I had too. But it seems each year, I learn a little more and a little more. I guess it's like cooking, I can't explain the science behind cooking either, but I know it works and the more you cook, the better you get. hahahaha "Hopefully, maybe, kinda, sorta." hahaha That's how my husband gets himself out of a pickle, by using those non-definite words. hahahaha He's wearing off on me.
I do a lot of dehydrating. I don't like waste of any kind. So, if it's produce, I'll dehydrate it to preserve it to use later. I do take lots of pictures. I can't remember how much I have shared on here in the past, so I may share the same pictures. At some point in time, a lot of it starts looking almost alike. Because it's mostly the same things that I dehydrate. I keep a lot of fresh produce in the fridge and before it even starts going bad, I dehydrate it. A lot of onions, peppers of all kinds, celery, carrots, green onions, leeks, potatoes, squashes and tomatoes to name a few. It's fun and it's very worth while.
Over the course of time I have changed my temperature setting to accommodate an idea I had and to prove a theory for myself. All manuals and most people will say that you have to use a certain temp for certain categories of food preservation. That's true. There are things that you will NEVER see me dehydrate because of the dangers involved. Meats, eggs, dairy are the 3 main food groups that you'll NEVER see me doing. These, if not done right, are deadly. You may not live to tell someone to not do that. So, if you are looking for info about any of those, here on my blog, you'll not find it. Avocadoes and anything that has oil in it or on it can't be dehydrated. You should NEVE put anything on your dehydrator that has oil in it or on, because it will go rancid, more then likely, even before it comes off the dehydrator. Honey is another one of those odd things that you just can't dehydrate. Honey is hydrophobic. It's always looking for water. You can never get the honey dehydrated, because it will always be pulling moisture from the environment into it. If anyone tells you did, they are telling an untruth. There is "honey powder" on that market, BUT, that's not even honey. It's a sugar product with honey flavor in it. I honestly don't even know if honey could be freeze dried because as soon as it comes from the machine, it would start pulling moisture form the air and get sticky long before you could get it packaged. There is no reason to want to dehydrate honey in the first place because it never goes bad. Enough about honey and stuff that I don't/won't dehydrate.
Back to produce, I have learned that lower and slower is much better. Why is that? Most produce has natural sugars and starches in them. When a manual tells you to dehydrate tomatoes at 130 - 135* for a certain amt of hours; #1, they're not taking in to account the level of humidity in your personal area and #2, they're not taking into account the level of moisture in your produce. Those are just 2 factors that can't be known. No manual, or people that wrote the manual can tell you down to the very minute how long it will take to dehydrate something. That's why you'll never hear me say to dehydrate something for so many hours. I will always say to dehydrate at such and suh temp till it is cracker crisp. Cracker Crisp is goal, always!!!! So, I have learned to dehydrate all of my produce; veggies and fruit; at 115* for the length of time t takes to get everything cracker crisp. If your produce is not cracker crisp, you risk mold in your long term storage. I've seen it happen way too often and it doesn't have to happen. If it takes 96 hours for your dehydrator full of tomatoes to dehydrate at 115*, then that's how long it will take. You won't risk burning the natural sugars in the tomatoes, therefore, they will maintain their beautiful color for 5 years or more in storage. The same with every other type of produce you can mention. Before I found the "sweet" temperature for me, I was always having foods loose their beautiful colors. Now, this is my opinion, but I also believe that the lower temps will help preserve more of the nutrients. A lot of the produce that I dehydrate will and can be eaten as snacks. And I can tell you that a few pieces of dehydrated apple and banana is better for you than that candy bar, and will taste amazing.
This is just a few pictures I want to share with you today. I'll try to explain a little about what they are.
This is a half gallon jar almost full of diced onions. That jar smells so wonderfully divine. hahaha The next jar is sweet bell peppers. They are pretty awesome too. And the last jar is potato cubes. I want to get more of these done. Maybe in the winter I can add to thses.
This next row of jars is carrots. These were an excess of canned carrots and I had about 15 cans that I ended up with and they was taking up a lot of room. When I got them all done, that jar was almost full. The next little jar has Chinese 5 color peppers in it. They are HOT. The next jar is potatoes, think bought boxed for scalloped potatoes. I think that's just about the most satisfying jar I have because it's so beautiful. Potatoes can be hard to work with and it takes a lot of time and effort. The last little jar is of my lemon squash from last year. These are good as a snack with a good dip.
This picture is looking down in my potato jar. I think it's such a beautiful sight. These potatoes are almost "see-thru" and that's exactly what you want. Anyway, this is just a few pics that I have and will hopefully share more later on. Don't hesitate to ask me a question if you need to. I'll be happy to help in any way I can.
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What was you doing 43 years ago today? Can you remember what you was doing? Any other day of my life, no, I can't remember. But this day, 43 years ago, I remember very well. I was getting ready to walk down the aisle with my best friend and the love of my life.
This is just a little something that I wrote for our anniversary a few years ago and it is still true!!
So, I just want to thank God for all the ways He has worked in and thru our lives as individuals and as one with Him in our marriage. I pray that God will continue to bless us. I pray that we will continue to have thankful hearts that are full of love for God and for each other. And I pray that God will give us new adventures each day and that He continues to be the guiding factor in our story together.
Who are those kids?
