How I Feed My Family for 1 Year -- What Does It Take?

[@Robert-lz5nv]

Good Morning Again, (I just can't get enough of Y'all's videos), but I wanted to say that for the first time in my life, I have finally found 'total-peace-of-mind' when I retired and moved to N.E. Oklahoma on a 20+ acre homestead.The land is loaded with White, Red and Black Oak trees, with some being every bit of 6ft in diameter, along with beautiful Pines. After getting most of the required farming tools, I've tilled & cleared a 2400 sq.ft. garden plot, and I'm starting all of the seeds indoors today to get a jump-start on the last frost date here in zone 7. As the sun goes down, with a glass of wine and sitting on my deck, I look out at my Deer feeder and watch them eat. (some of the Bucks are up to ten-points and the Does are the biggest I've ever seen, too), as the Squirrels and Rabbits play all over the place, and hearing groves of Turkeys as they prepare to roost, and birds of every species...it actually brings tears to my eyes as I feel the grace of God smiling down upon me.

[@theycallmebacon5692]

Am I the only one that wishes I had neighbors like these two.

[@jerbear7952]

They call me Bacon be those neighbors for someone else

[@theycallmebacon5692]

@@jerbear7952 my current neighbors....... They need a lot of prayers from time to time. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't have found this KZbin channel, their bondsman suggested it.

[@talktalk4401]

They call me Bacon they seem like lovely people.

[@catherinestazzoni2292]

I am s thrived to make your acquaintance 🥰 I am so enjoying and learning through your gentle way of sharing your wisdom and knowledge 🙏🏻

[@back40bandit98]

I'm putting in a garden and everyone keeps telling me that it's gonna be too big and too much work. I tell them that I would like to be able to feed my family and extended families if needed. If I grow too much and have to give some away, then that means the lord is blessing us and providing for us and our neighbors.

[@nicolehenshaw3930]

You can’t have enough! We’re facing a food shortage. Everyone should be growing food!

[@bohemianbookworm9361]

I feel the exact same and this is my dream lifestyle as well

[@SwatchMeCrochet]

It's never big enough...lol...always more plants and varieties to grow.

[@ChasingDestinyBand]

Hope it's going well, it's usually better to start small because people don't realize how difficult gardening is.

[@back40bandit98]

@@ChasingDestinyBand - Yes, It is difficult and the groundhogs like to eat too. Yesterday I saw eight deer eating my green beans.

[@angelacollier9256]

I strongly believe there's going to be move back to the family farm and self reliance. People are getting sick of the corporations shenanigans!

[@timivey5790]

I know I am...

[@tiffanikay93]

Yup! Can’t wait to get back to the homesteading ways my family used to lead back in the day. Have to get out of Illinois first!

[@georgeelmerdenbrough6906]

The food chain was exposed as very vulnerable to pandemics .

[@RhinoDNA]

I would lead the charge but for the means to buy land and the equipment necessary.

[@Ariessunfairy81]

You don't have to have loads of land, if you look back at the small towns and neighborhoods of yesteryear, they would keep gardens, trade with neighbors if the neighbors grew something they didn't. They used to have people who kept chickens or had the chicken man "butcher" delivery or pick up at the butcher. So if you look around for a farmers co-op around you. Look for local small farms to buy your meat from if you can and grow what you can and find a local garden group to trade with and learn from.

[@JipseeGirl]

My sister keeps looking at my stock and saying I could live for a year or two on it but I keep saying no way. Just do the numbers. I think this video is your most eye opening yet. Thank you for educating the masses! You are making a difference!

[@laurenandreas5950]

Rustie Salazar ...I totally agree! Between the breakfast video and this one, my eyes are wide open. I thought I had food storage covered but now I need to re-evaluate!

[@s.leemccauley7302]

People just have no idea how much food it takes per person per year.

[@theayegerlehner7793]

Rustie Salazar True! My son said the same thing. I informed that we had figured we need 10 quarts of food per week and add to that homemade bread and cornbread! Two canners a week for me!

[@margaretharris65]

Oh how I knew what to do first while living ONLY on my social security check.

[@sherrytucker7102]

Up until I was 9, I lived with my great-grandmother on a small farm in TN...we grew almost ALL of our food and put it up either in the freezer or in jars. She had 4 canners (IIRC) and they were practically non-stop during harvest. Fond memories!

[@aprilarmijo6967]

Beautiful memories

[@espressonut]

Going through your guys old videos, really enjoying them. People dont realize how much food is actually needed to feed a family a year. Now im just feeding me and hubby (kids are moved out). I do put up extra for when kuds visit, grandchildren visit, help out kids. I plan out what we need the same way you guys do. Not out of the ordinary for me to have over 700 jars in our pantry. Since no refrigeration, i can all our meats, so lots of added jars to pantry.

[@sandrahamilton5158]

I didn't know that I could get so much pleasure from watching a husband and wife sitting there shelling peas and just talking about food and life, how wonderful. Cheers from Australia and God bless you.

[@donnaocasio45]

Growing up ,we had beans and potatoes and cornbread or biscuits EVERYDAY. My dad said it wasn’t a complete meal without them. I can remember helping my grandma shell peas when I was a kid , I miss those days.

[@s.leemccauley7302]

Your dad was right!

[@mamashanshan2772]

I would put a few in my mouth, a few in the bowl!! 😁

[@aatsista]

Same. Hard or Soft Boiled Eggs, Oatmeal, Toast & sometimes bacon. Rarely hashbrowns/fried potatoes or spam. Soup/stew/ and sandwich or bannock at lunch (or "teatime" like my Partners scottish side of his family calls it. As the Young Master takes it.) supper/or "dinner" is meat & potatoes/side veg ("Dinner" as my Partner also says) then midnight snack! I really want to try can the locally grown harvest this spring/summer!! Thanks for this! 😊

[@culinarygurly987]

I love that memory os shelling peas with grandma... I am 32 and love my memories of shelling peas or picking berries with my grandpa who was the farm boy went military (that was the only way of having a career that was not on the farm for him) and when he retired he started a few things by the time I was toddling he just had a huge yard full of trees and his garden. My brother was the lucky 1 that doesn't know how lucky he was. Grandpa had a small farm with him and he was given a small/ mini horse and all (so not in any way shape or form a country boy)

[@charitytanel8107]

Thankyou, I think people don't realise how little or much they eat, ESPECIALLY, if they buy it from the supermarket each week. This shows how much preparation goes into getting our basic meals on the table. May God strengthen and bless the labour of our hands, and you are truly thankful when you've gone to all that work and you sit down to taste it.

[@cr3062]

I had 4 tomato plants last summer and canned 89 pints out of those 4 plants!

[@r.r.a.6466]

This is awesome. I'm planting out 8 sauce tomato plants and 8 cherry this year for the first time. Hoping to have a good harvest, but after seeing how much you had from 4 plants I might need to think of other ways to store all that sauce 😆.

[@tamarabrown8787]

That is awesome, I had 5 or 6 plants but with homemade spaghetti sauce and all the fresh tomatoes we use, I only canned two jars

[@sandyamaral111]

Praise God!

[@mydailyreward2090]

Holy moly!!!

[@Kre8iviT27]

Nice! What kind of tomatoes did you grow?

[@familybroich3073]

We live in the city. 6yrs ago when we bought our house we took out the whole backyard. We have chickens ducks and a pig. We garden and I can too. Neither of our parents gardened or raised meat, we learned from books and KZbin 😂. We’re in our early 30s. It’s nice to see ppl more into homesteading the last few years. So many of our family and friends called us crazy.. now they’ve started gardening because of covid19 😂. Blessing to you gardening friends ❤️

[@julieweaver2285]

It's just me. I am 57 and my Family (Mother, and siblings) give me flack about how much I can. 1. I love to can. 2. I love to eat. Lol 3. I share my food with my daughter and her husband and children when I have excess. Plus, you just never know what the future holds. God bless and keep sharing your knowledge. ❤

[@stalstonestacy4316]

I live in town on a tiny lot but I still plant a garden every year. I definitely get enough tomatoes, squash and beans for the two of us and enough of other things like potatoes and corn to eat fresh or nearly fresh until Christmas. We also manage a small flock of chickens for eggs and meat. It doesn't seem like much but it definitely helps. Hopefully and prayerfully we will soon have some acreage for our permanent homestead. Our goal is to eat about 98% of our total food from our own land.

[@Countrygirl2010]

My grandpa had 4 huge gardens and I remember watching my grandma can & freeze so much food. I loved going in their pantry and looking at all those jars. I think you two are wonderful & I love watching y’all. ❤️

[@elainegranzow9755]

It was so much fun to just sit and visit with the two of you.

[@roberttombrella6764]

Debbie-Texas. I remember coming home from school in the fall and winter and mama always had sweet potatoes in a pan on the back of the stove. Wed change out of our school clothes grab a sweet tater peel back the skin pat of butter and off to do chores. Great memories great food! Thank you!!!enjoying pateron.

[@shirleydrake1602]

You two are surely in sinc with each other. People would think y’all had been together for a lifetime instead of just six or seven years. Thanks for the video. People have no idea just how much food is needed to be food independent even for a month much less for a year. We all need to be learning to put it back, put it up, and plan ahead.

[@victorialg1270]

@18:30 you talk about number of jars per year. 2300 just lunch and supper is over 6 jars per day. 3000 jars to include breakfast is over 8 jars per day. Maybe if you showed us opening those many jars for one day, it could make more sense. My husband and I share a pint of vegetable and each have a palm size piece of meat for our evening meal. So I put up 52 pints of vegetable per year max because we also eat fresh. Your channel is one of my favorites. Thanks for discussing this Wanda and Danny.

[@hermithillfarm1123]

They put alot out so they have to put alot back in

[@DeepSouthHomestead]

We can extra so we have extra for years thing's don't produce well. Like now we are still eating 2015 green beans. But we are still canning them for the future.

[@pokeyjo61]

The title of the video does not accurately indicate the video content. If it did, this would have been a much more informative and interesting video

[@fourdayhomestead2839]

Thank you for this info. I counted emptied jars for the last 3 months & realized I need to step up my game to 'put by' my 5yr pantry. Daily canning has been a blessing. I've got to get more jars & lids.

[@fourdayhomestead2839]

Update: I took notes, made my need list & over this past year, have managed to put by 3yrs supply.

[@laurenandreas5950]

I have learned so much from your videos, you are wonderful teachers! I guess I’ve just been hobby gardening, canning and dehydrating all these years! I had no idea that we consume that much food. I did always wonder why your gardens were so large but it never dawned on me that it’s because we eat that much! God Bless you both, you are a Blessing to us!

[@georgeelmerdenbrough6906]

My mom left the farm when she got married at 18 . I am a city kid of 51 years old now, but I remember picking up bushels of produce to can . Basically we shelled a lot of peas and husked a lot of corn just like you two. It was kind of fun to sit and chew the fat with cousins and elders .

[@Laydera]

oh my heavens! that would be 10000 jars to feed my family allowing 1000 for items i didnt hear on your list that we can and eat if i did can everything. That is truly mind blowing.

[@suemar63]

I don't know how I got here............but sure am glad I found this video. WOW--you guys are really impressive. Congrats on being so self reliant.

[@ReapWhatYouSeauxLeJeune]

Wow! I haven’t set down to figure out how much it takes for a year of food. I struggle canning due to my health. I am amazed at all the energy you to have 🤗. Thank you for taking the time to let us know how much food it takes for a year! Y’all are awesome.... love y’all

[@sallyintucson]

Freeze drying is another option if you can afford a machine.

[@alaskahomesteading6568]

We have thousands of jars of broth, jams, applesauce, vegetables of all kinds, sweet potatoes, squash, potatoes, meat, fish, butter, cheese, and so much more that I can't think of off the top of my head. What we're most concerned about doing right now is raising the food to feed our livestock. After last year's flooding and terrible harvest season, prices of feed and hay have jumped so we are planting mangel beets, fodder carrots, fodder turnips, fodder peas along with making hay and silage.

[@margaretharris65]

I worry about when the government comes to take your cattle. “For the good of all of the people” as they will say.

[@firehorsewoman414]

@Alaska Homesteading. So glad you posted. We get so caught up in numbers to feed ourselves that it is easy to forget to account for the livestock being raised if one is new to this. No cows to slaughter or milk if no hay etc.

[@sallyintucson]

The fodder is a fantastic idea! I read somewhere that carrots (originally white) were grown for winter livestock fodder in Europe.

[@alaskahomesteading6568]

@@sallyintucson Look up mangel beets. They're still grown in parts of Europe for animal feed. Carrots are also grown. There's a particular variety that is huge. Also fodder turnips which are huge and white.

[@amandaparadis5069]

I am glad you are doing this video!! I have seen other channels recently saying that they have say 60 pints (not completely sure what the exact #was but it was small) of green beans for a year for a family of 4, and they claim to raise about 50? 75?% of their fruit/veggies for the year. They had me really thinking I was crazy for having all the food I do, my figures on how many jars I would have to put up. I decided they were not correct and couldn't possibly be feeding their families at least dinner and supper off of that. It's good to see people who are, I believe, being very honest about the amount of food needed

[@simpleman2627]

I also love to can meat. I am not much of a sandwich eater. When your having a hectic day, you can prepare some canned meat and veggies in the time it takes to make sandwiches. It also saves on freezer space and if there is a problem with electric or the freezer, you would not lose all your meat. Great videos guys.

[@rnupnorthbrrrsm6123]

Me too !! After thanksgiving and Christmas last year ham and turkey was really cheap, I canned A Lot of meat !

[@hermithillfarm1123]

Don't forget your coffee Mrs. Wanda. Thanks for sharing this really opens the eyes.

[@A2G999]

I could listen to this information forever! It’s pretty soothing as well as educational! Thank you for sharing and showing all your hard work for your family and the world! Much appreciated!🙏🏼

[@Angie-ci1lp]

I’m preparing for the past couple years, No fear just faith and remember how it use to be and it’s OK! I’m gardening now and love it, now is the time because fresh food is going to be $$$$$$! Get ready!

[@sallyintucson]

I started making homemade soups from 20 year old dried beans this year. (I keep a wide variety of dried beans in half gallon jars.) I like to add loads of vegetables like carrots, onions and celery. Much to my surprise, my calcium level was so good at my annual check up that I no longer need to take calcium supplements.

[@backyardhomestead2230]

We have been keeping accurate records of our food expense since 2012. Our average cost for food is $80.94 per month for a family of two. This includes all food items purchased from any source. Our homestead provides the rest of our food. -Lea

[@naplescajun]

We are working on getting to that point!!

[@s.leemccauley7302]

When I was growing up the only store bought supplies were salt, sugar, flour, pinto beans and potatoes, spices and vinegar.. All the milk and dairy all the meat as well as fruit and vegetables we raised and preserved. That wasn't all that long ago either. Took a lot of hard work but, it tasted so good. A full storeroom , pantry and cellars there was a good secure feeling.

[@backyardhomestead2230]

@@s.leemccauley7302 We're working hard toward that! We grow and preserve all our vegetables. For meat, we have quail and fish that we raise here on our urban homestead. We have the eggs from the chickens. We want to find more land so we can have cows for milk, butter, cheese and beef. For now we just do without the beef except on special occasions. Thanks for the comment! It really does make you feel good to open up your pantry and see it full of good homegrown vegetables you preserved yourself!! Thanks again!! -Lea

[@djina3141]

@@s.leemccauley7302 i pray for that soon!🙏🏼

[@djina3141]

@@backyardhomestead2230 sounds like your own slice of heaven on earth! I am working towards the same! Hope your dreams come true soon!! Love your videos--you got a new subscriber♥️🌱😊

[@onedazinn998]

yep, not surprised because you guys are eating whole foods not processed anything. It's why you guys are always working so hard. It was pretty interesting describing what you can & use for meals...this didn't even cover the meat processing. It makes me realize your cook book is probably priceless and I better get me one. o.-

[@cathytaylor5437]

Wow, hope I can get up to that again. When I was young I raised and canned or froze 80% at least. Now in my late 60s, growing more and more with the world we are in and hope to do it again. Thanks for sharing.

[@wandaturner3618]

Yes and save your seeds. I hear in some states they aren't allowing the sell of seeds or any garden supplies. We are living in changing times and need this way of living to survive.

[@FairieChele]

Fabulous video, Danny and Ms Wanda! It's amazing how many people don't know how much they truly eat. I am chomping at the bit to get my garden in, but we still aren't out of frost danger. Just had some snow the end of last week. I'll be upping my canning game, but also dehydrate a lot of veggies and fruits. Hope y'all meet your harvest goals this year! Much love and blessings!

[@blancamateo6787]

WANDA YOU HAVE THE GREATEST MAN ALIVE AND YOU ARE THE HUMBLEST PERSON EVER,I ABSOLUTELY ADORE YOU GUYS!! KEEP THE VIDEOS COMING!!🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@elizabetht5327]

I like these two. Refreshing. I remember my young days picking peas with my mother. Those days are long gone. People moved away from the family gardening but I am going to start my own.

[@Flippin_Crazy]

My grandson showed me your channel. I just watched the video about that herbicide that farmers are putting on the hay! You actually made my day. Now I know it wasn’t me! Thank you! ❤️

[@homesteadtotable2921]

Thank you for taking the time to make a video to talk about this. It's very helpful even for those of us who are well on our way into our own homesteading journey. I grew up in another country and canning really wasn't a thing like it is in the U.S. I'm used to relying more on a root cellar (my grandparents used an old Russian military bunker as an ice house and root cellar when I was small, still seems ingenious to me!), and dry goods, and freezer, and so my gardening tends towards storing food in a cellar, too. Getting such a simple and plain rundown means I can with fair certainty know how many jars and lids to add to my canning supplies shopping list (I'm going to buy wholesale from a vendor that supplies small businesses, since I think I can get away with "a pallet of jars"). A lot of my crop planning these days is veering towards dry pantry staple foods, that do need grinding, soaking, fermenting, and baking or boiling to make edible, but they're keeping us supplied in bread and rice (I am growing my first rice this year to see how it turns out!), and dehydrating a lot of fruit and vegetables for the same reason. They have less bulk, and suit my cooking style. I started rice seed this spring as an experiment, we grew wheat last year, I am going to add barley, rye, and oats, as time and space become available, maybe not all this year, though, because life is busy and an old dog can only learn so many new tricks in a season... 😊 My potato harvest last year was just 136 pounds, but it was with a small experimental drought-tolerant swale system, so I can declare it a success. This year, I wouldn't be surprised to get 1000 pounds or more. I went a bit overboard with the tiller and my seed potatoes. 😅 Just as a side note from the number crunching nerd, if you turn your calorific intake/burn per day into a calorie sum, you hit anywhere from 650,000 calories per year for a sedentary office worker, while my fitness tracker tells me I burn about 2800-3500 calories per day, with the weekly average adding up to burning 1,040,000 calories in 365 days. I have a husband and a growing gaggle of kids, and a revolving cast of extended family and guests at the table, and do like to gift some of my produce or preserves to friends and neighbors, so it's not unrealistic of me to aim to store 6 MILLION calories just for human consumption per year (a gallon of olive oil would be 30,259 calories, btw. A pound of solid fat is 3500-4000 calories). Another large amount I still need to do math on, is what should go to feed the animals that feed us. To finish, here's one for the pub trivia people... American colloquial "calories" are actually "kcal", short for "kilocalories", i.e. one American "calorie" = 1000 scientifically determined calories, so the true nerdy nerd total is 6 BILLION calories for a family of 5+ (especially if you have a gaggle of busy farmboys that grow like weeds).

[@homesteadtotable2921]

Finally getting to the end, after hours of chasing kids around and tending to chores on my homestead. I'm very impressed (3000 jars for two adults!) and daunted to think of what it will take to scale that up to my family of 5 and growing (plus all the grandparents and neighbors and special occasions that add temporary extra table settings at meal times at my house), with usually an extra or two at the table when quarantines aren't keeping us cooped up... This is where drying and fermenting a lot of food in stead helps save on space. I keep grains in 5 gallon food grade buckets, and cycle through them *Anyway*, in case someone is a crazy from-scratch experimenting cooking addict like me, there are many things you buy that you CAN make at home with what's quite possibly already on hand (not that you need to if the stores carry it at an affordable cost compared to waiting for like 12 months for a condiment to ferment and age); any fruit juice can be made into vinegar (you can even "jack" apple cider vinegar to concentrate it into something akin to white vinegar for pickling), corn starch, potato starch, ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise, sunflower seed oil, flaxseed oil, pumpkin seed oil, and rapeseed ("canola" is a brand name for the mostly GMO crop originating in Canada, "rape" is the plant name) oil. If you're zone 7-10+ you might be able to produce your own olive oil, and although coffee requires a tropical climate, tea can be grown in mild winter areas like mine. Honey from bees sweetens almost everything for me, but I am thinking of adding sugar beets to the crop rotation. I made soymilk and tofu I plan on using for stir fry this week, and bought enough raw milk for making kefir, yogurt, and maybe a small batch of fresh cheese. I make pasta from fresh eggs every week. And if you're really committed, soy sauce, hot sauce, all that stuff you're used to buy from the store, can be made at home.

[@divinegift6107]

Wow you guys are a blessing I am so happy I reached your channel thank you for all that you do 🙌🏼

[@PondRiverFarm]

I grow and sell at our local farmers market. Last year I canned close to 800 jars of pickles, salsa and jam/jelly for the market. I canned probably 100 jars or so of assorted vegetables for personal use. I'll do the same for the farmers market this year again but for our personal use I plan to bump that up substantially - so this video was very informative, thank you!

[@josephspratt2055]

Great show, I've done a little research on the subject for my bugout location in the mountains of WV. The average American consumes about 2,000# of food per year (all categories of food). The average pallet holds about 2,000#. In terms of land required that equates to about an acre per person per year to support the average annual diet. I use the pallet (stacked 5' high) as a visual cue for required storage space. 2 people, 2 pallets. If you have 2 acres and you buy a cow and some chickens then the amount of garden yield you need is less because of the milk, cheese and eggs. So to store food you need more conditioned space and to raise food you need more land. And don't forget hunting, that can make a huge difference. For most of us it's a combination of, raising, storing, hunting and bartering. Fascinating subject in this day and time.

[@GammaCharlotte]

I had already been thinking about how much food would I need to grow and can just for me. I was thinking like, if I ate 1 pint of green beans per week I would need 52 pints JUST FOR ME! If I then add up other veggies the same way I concluded I need a HUGE number of jars of food, plus freezer, dehydrated, fermented, and fresh. It's eye opening! And when I was first thinking about that I was wondering how many jars I needed to purchase. I concluded I can't buy too many jars or freezer space. If I went into a store and tried to purchase just the canned veggies I would need for a year people would think I was insane! Then, where would I store them?!? I would need an entire room just for canned goods! It takes a mind boggling amount of food just for 1 person and when you then think about how much for a growing family?!? And what kind of supplies you need to accomplish that? You better start buying canning supplies, freezers, dehydrators, and fermenting jars asap and build that root cellar too! Astounding! Thank you for the vudeo.

[@KC-zn1mg]

You might be able to do say a months worth of food storage and go up from there and build up to however much you can

[@homesteadtotable2921]

Just remember it's not just all canned goods. I store dry goods, have a root cellar, and actually try to dehydrate a lot of the foods that reconstitute well. I could consolidate homegrown 25-30 pound pumpkins that were about to go off into just a couple of quart jars of shredded or powdered pumpkin for baking or thickening stews.

[@maryannedeering1663]

Amen!! My relatives on my Mother's side were farmers. All of them. Their were 10 siblings. It was a lifestyle. It was an everyday thing. My uncles were up before the sun and so were my aunts and it was long days. My dad was in the Air Force and I would stay the summers on the farm. I was blessed to learn how to do what these good people do. I have put into practice some of what I learned but having room to do what my family did is impossible for me but I loved their Lifestyle so much.

[@loboalamo]

This is how it was explained to me here up North. They eat breakfast before going into the field, you bring lunch =sandwiches and bars, then we bring dinner about noon, then you bring lunch coffee or other beverage and some chips to eat till supper. Come in from the field hopefully chores are done get cleaned up kids homework is done everyone's cleaned up sit down to a hot meal and talking = supper. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, lunch, supper. I grew up with breakfast, lunch, supper, a small snack maybe of fruit and sweet tea.

[@larrymoore6640]

Really like the way you work as a team. The biggest problem I see the average family having is to learn the proper way of storage their food. As you have shown us it's not that hard but like anything experience helps. Thank you Wanda and Danny for sharing what it takes to survive.

[@glendabyford8074]

The one thing that gets on my last nerve is when I have that question asked of me.... what are you going to do with all that home canned foods?? Like you my answer is we eat it!! I don’t can food that we won’t eat!! I am working on having a pantry that will rotate every two to four years!! I keep my oldest jars up front and place all new in the back.... we eat three meals a day at our home all at home... for two people that’s a ton of food... with all this mess in the world today we have had family come and ask where do you get this or that... I bake all our sweets, and breads... it is a lot of work but honestly it has been a true blessing!!!

[@ladylight007]

Is canning hard? I keep hearing many ways to do it,and it became overwhelming where im not sure what way is best.

[@joannathesinger770]

@@ladylight007 Hard? No. It's been done for at least a century by the commonest of folks. Time-intensive? Absolutely!!! When you are canning everything, it consumes your life. It becomes your full-time job, so from that aspect, it can be. I recommend starting with water-bath canning, but you can only preserve high-acid foods that way...jams, jellies, preserves, pickles, tomatoes. However, it is "easier". For jams, jellies, and preserves, it takes a minimum of about an hour to prep your fruit. Then, it takes an hour minimum to cook the fruit into the "jam" phase, and you cannot be doing anything else during that hour except stirring. At that point, you have to ladle the jam into sterilized jars. It's HOT so you have to be careful. Then...the jars go into the water bath. I allow about an hour for the water--which has been coming to a boil through the previous two steps--to reach a boil again and process for the appropriate time. Then...remove the HOT jars carefully and let them cool for several hours. If you are canning tomatoes, allow at least an extra two hours to the "prepping fruit" time because you have to blanch the tomatoes to get the skins off and then pack the tomatoes in the jars with 2 T lemon juice (to make sure there's enough acid) and a T of salt (for quarts). It took me all day to can 14 quarts of tomatoes two years ago, so it's a commitment, for sure!!! You can only process however many quarts or pints as your water-bath or pressure canner can hold, about 7 quarts or 14 pints, so when you are doing hundreds of jars, you can see how it adds up!!!

[@tamarabrown8787]

LadyLight sometime I prep my preserves beforehand, that is not always convenient because it is best to can them while they are hot. Because I’m relatively busy, sometimes I break it up into sections ( no skipping or shortcuts, just moving parts around) for instance, I harvest a lot from my garden, so I wash and process a lot of fruit or vegetables daily. I wash, cut, peel, etc. and then either freeze or refrigerate depending on when I will have time to can. Those are steps out of the way. I can can another day already prepped.

[@sallyintucson]

@@ladylight007 Buy a Ball Blue Book and educate yourself. That’s how I learned how to can. Start with a simple jam recipe so you don’t overwhelm yourself.

[@802user]

I store my carrots and other roots in damp sawdust in the root cellar-much easier than canning :)

[@sallyintucson]

That’s great if you live in the right environment to do that.

[@deborahharvey854]

You can leave thenm in the field under piles of keaves Cannot rememberp think the piles are called clamps

[@sharonpack4696]

That is the most honest, truth, smart, profound, best video EVER made. Thank you. I will save this for ever and show it to Everyone I can.

[@curtisstickler9667]

Your Chanel is awesome, it’s like us that hunt and don’t go to the store to buy meat. We are a family of five and we eat a moose a caribou and usually a few deer a year and people just don’t get it. But we make different things with our meat to. As we don’t go buy much meat at all. But we are now starting to do vegetables and stuff now. This video really opened my wife’s and my eyes about how much it really would take. Thanks for the good educational videos.

[@tamarabrown8787]

Curtis Stickler We tried raising some of our meat. I would like to learn to hunt.

[@gailpeczkis5292]

Could listen to you two all day. Lord bless you.

[@KeithPierce1000]

3000 jars is a big investment in itself. Then the space to store them all. Great video guys thanks.

[@stevenbp101]

Thanks for sharing, y’all are an inspiration to others. God bless y’all. (Old guy from Arkansas)🇺🇸

[@TENDRIL77]

Thank you for sharing with us. Most people don't know how much time and effort it takes. You both are teaching others what they need to know to make things work in times like this. Please, keep up the good work. God bless.

[@Jomama02]

Arent you finding though that the older you get, the less you eat? This is a real eye opener. Can you imagine if we HAD to all go back to the old ways and feeding ourselves? Most of us would starve. Amazing. Progress isn't always good is it?

[@classicrocklover5615]

I don't think we'd starve, but the obesity epidemic would probably disappear

[@icecreamladydriver1606]

We won't have to imagine for much longer. We will be living it soon enough.

[@s.leemccauley7302]

That is what I keep telling the younger ones. There is great security in a full pantry and cellars but, it takes a lot of work and time. TV would have to go. And you would be too tired most nights to go online.

[@gudrunbender9080]

Jomama, I find we eat a lot less these days. We are both in our 60s, one whole chicken makes 3 plus meals (6 servings) and then broth/soup. We cut way back on carbs, and what most consider weeds makes the best spring salads. No deserts on a regular basis either.

[@TC-8789]

@@s.leemccauley7302 Young'uns are adaptable. Its the inflexible older folks that would have a hard time. We're talking baby boomers who haven't really faced a struggle like previous generations. But Gen Z wakes up every day expecting societal collapse- go ask them. To tired to go online? That's where folks go when they're too tired to do anything else.

[@franpaterno486]

I’ve watched this video again. I love it thanks y’all did a good job. Makes you stop and thank of what it takes for a year.

[@andyzumwalt3632]

What a great subject. Me and my wife are looking at our garden which is getting bigger every year and adjusting what we are growing. We are a family of 8. Garden was close to 50% last summer and 25% thru winter. Lots of people don't think how much from the garden your livestock can eat when you have abundance or past prime produce

[@sherryowings1117]

Our ground is still to wet to till up. My best friend gave us 6 30 gallon barrels and we cut them in half and we have planted tomatoes, carrots, onions and peppers in them. I love you guys . Thanks for sharing your experience with me!

[@simplycelest9397]

I am amazed at how much food you all are canning. I would love to see your process on this. I also would love to see your gardens throughout the year. This is just fascinating that you are able to do all of this. I use to shell with my Grandma when I was little. Thanks for sharing.

[@BonnyKate0624]

Great video! 💞 Thank you Wanda and Danny!

[@mecraig6291]

Appreciate the useful information. Sounds wild when one really thinks about it.

[@davemuse419]

I like you guys and what you are doing. You know some people see sports stars or movie stars and want to be like them. If I had a choice I'd want to be just like you guys. Keep up the great work.

[@Dutch779]

Lunch and Tea. Paul from Melbourne Australia, been busy for the last year, with home improvements. Good to see you're still in touch.

[@wyldhomestead246]

This is super helpful as I am planning our garden and preparing to have my little family get better and provide from our gardens, we eat average portions too and loads of folks always worry about us. Thank y’all for your no nonsense practical advice.

[@PinballPreparedness]

The average person eats nearly 2000 lbs of food per year. Most people are shocked when they hear that.

[@homesteadtotable2921]

If they are still shocked, you can make them count how many calories they would need on the "diet" they're on to subsist a year. The average calorie intake recommendation per person is 2000 calories per day. Some eat less (think desk jockeys in cities), and some eat more (soldiers easily eat 4000-6000 calories a day), to give an example, my fitness tracker averages my calorie expenditure on our acreage at about 2800-3000 per day, meaning I need more like 1,040,000 calories in a year if I don't want to gain or lose weight. One pound of potatoes is about 354 calories, one pound of butter is 3200 calories. Rice, wheat, and beans are all about 1500-1600 calories per pound for dry, uncooked grains and legumes. Lean beef is about 620 calories per pound. By selecting what to store, and how much of, you can play around with how much you can store in your available space. I also dry a lot of produce, because a lot of what makes up fresh vegetables is water, that takes up space. A nearly 30 pound pumpkin consolidated into just a couple of quart jars (depends on slices or shredded or powdered), that I can use for cooking and baking (or the kids steal for snacking. 😉)

[@pammieleger6659]

Ok love the video.....in the restaurant industry,when u make reservations...at night or evening...it’s call dinner...I say dinner my husband says..supper..my daughter always say just don’t call late ,I’ll eat whatever...lol...I can ...and I love it, beets...peas,figs,beans,bbq ...corn..sauce,tomatoes,peppers,pickles,,peaches,apples, never did carrots,but I want to try it....I would love to see your pantry...

[@carlabarnes6255]

That's alot of canning. My husband doesn't like to eat veggies, so he doesn't want anything to do with growing vegetables. I keep trying to encourage him to no avail. You guys are so encouraging. God bless you for showing people that you can still be active at your age. I'm 58 and you are why I don't give up.

[@glennarichards2933]

Thank you so much for your caring and help

[@dirtpatcheaven]

I love being inspired by you two. I keep you in mind when I decide the size of the garden for the year.

[@peggieemanuel8000]

I have a good

[@NoOne-iq7uu]

Thank you for sharing your light with the world ❤️

[@jawjagrrl]

Have to say that I am surprised that guests come and say they eat a lot more than you guys- I've seen meal plates on your live streams and I think it's quite a bit of food, but equal to the task of keeping two active people going throughout the day. I have learned to can since coming to our farm with help from Wanda and the Old Alabama Gardener (and lots of reading) :) I grew up in a "in town" family and didn't learn a lot of these things until doing it for myself. I hope to preserve more this year. I was pretty proud of my little inventory until you guys did the math! I'm gonna need more jars and more shelves, looks like.

[@mamashanshan2772]

You two are so incredible! Thank you for the info, and simply being such good souls.

[@thelazyj8658]

I think it is awesome to be as self sufficient as y’all are, y’all work very hard! Canning all of your food for a year is quite an accomplishment!

[@mckenzie8104]

You two brighten my day. Thank you!

[@wreathscraftsbylena]

That’s a lot of canning! I miss those days of canning, since it’s only me now don’t do as much! Would love to see your pantry or your storage area for all that canning! Would like to see your canning process for sweet potatoes! TFS

[@robloxisbest6415]

They have a lot of canning videos; good information 😀🌺

[@DeepSouthHomestead]

We have several videos on canning on this channel and Wanda's channel Crazy dazes.

[@judya.shroads8245]

They have a video on showing all their canned food, plus all the food on the shelves in the kitchen.

[@lindakiel9822]

I read an article years ago that the food bought in the store has no vitamins because most of the vitamins do not come into the plant until it is vine ripe and they pick it long before it's ripe.

[@tinnerste2507]

and vitamines degrade with time and supermarket food can be a week or more old depending. also fertilizer salts lack many micro nutrienst the food would have historically contained. also.. supermarket varieties are bred to be faster growing and larger and i suspect that simply means they are a higher procent water per pound which dilutes the nutrition further. you can see and taste the difference right away from gardening.

[@YairaSparkle]

All I can think about is ALL THOSE JARS!!! Could you show your root cellar again go over the basics of canning & dry canning. Hopefully we'll be eating fresh shell beans this year & I'd rather "dry can" than freeze. Do y'all have any tips on makeshift root cellars??? I've seen a couple of options. I'd love to hear your thoughts. I ask bc we live in a mobile home... I loved the video! So informative! Liked saved & shared!!! ❤❤❤

[@ScotttheCyborg]

I planted green beans. I had also planted sweet potatoes. The sweet potato vines grew through the fence and covered my green bean plants. So I got a small handful. New year I will definitely plant the sweet potatoes somewhere else.

[@dennisdubois4210]

Only need stored food for when fresh is not available (winterish months) or 1/2 year.

[@lisagarrett2920]

We eat an easy 300 pints of green beans a year.

[@jeffbee6090]

VERY INTERESTING... felt like I was shelling peas with you and we were just chatting.... I had never thought about the vast amount of canning needed...

[@joannethorburn3145]

Just want to say how much I enjoyed this video. Was very informative and loved shucking peas with you.

[@Zippy1wood.]

You two are hard working folks !

[@lynndora5046]

We put our potatoes in jar and we can a lot of meat hog ham and shoulder beef stew we make soups

[@MichaelSHartman]

A greater appreciation of my already much admired grandmother. I am lucky to get 7 quarts a day, at least when I pressure can. Your pantry must be enormous.

[@lynn4truth592]

Thank you for posting early, was so worried about you after storms. 🙏🏻❤️

[@DeepSouthHomestead]

It barely rained here we are fine.

[@mairelordan4539]

Love listening to Wanda! Reviewing my garden in light of this eye opening video. Thanks for consistently pleasant, educational, supportive videos

[@JudyE13]

The past 2 weeks the only thing we ate that had store bought ingredients was biscuits. We also have 4 freezers, since purple hull peas are not good to us canned we have to freeze at least 250 bags for just 2 people plus meat and a few other vegetables. We also can meat. Some people are always asking how could we possibly need that much freezer space or so much food. When u grow most of what u eat it takes a lot, we also can about 4,000 jars of food. Keep up the good work guys!!

[@tamarabrown8787]

Judy E I’m quickly realizing that I need another freezer.

[@HEARTOFMUSIC94]

You guys are GREAT‼️ I wish I lived near you, to learn all of your knowledge. TY for sharing everything with us. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@anetteolofsson4315]

My grand perents save the green "shell" . Mix them and made soup on them.

[@billhunt892]

Morning Y'all, wow , I sure have a lot of work to do! LOL! Not to this point yet but you all are sure inspiring, May God Bless !

[@rebccarae7669]

sounds like you're very well-stocked and I do understand how you can go through it quite quickly using it on a daily basis like you would so your trips to the stores are really minimal great job guys God bless and keep up the good work

[@royamberg9177]

It takes a lot of food per day. Hard to think it takes that much but calculate it out and it adds up fast

[@albanymtnlife]

Planting extra is also something to factor in for a couple of reasons, one crop may do better than another so planting double of everything just in case gives you better odds of having enough... factors include... bugs, and other vegetable loving animal, floods, straight line winds,

[@oldsoulmodernworld5320]

I started seeds inside but im direct sowing those same seeds outside as well after our last frost

[@hideawayhomestead3477]

Thank you for doing this summary. We use potatoes so many ways, also. We came up with way over a dozen ways, just off the top of our head. I hope we can have good harvest from our gardens this year with enough to preserve for later in the year.

[@beckykline2999]

All that great information about what you can. That is amazing. This gives me great insight what I can be canning this year. Thanks for sharing!!

[@danielleterry180]

Wow I need to buy more jars 😁 thank you for telling it how it is. This is my first year

[@janetwethepeople9390]

We had hard frost 2 days ago in NE Oklahoma. My poor potatoes in buckets look sick. My cauliflower, broccoli and brussel sprouts made it. Our growing time has changed by over a month now.

[@itsnotthesamething]

Green beans would be my biggest problem, since my 200 lb English Mastiff doesn't like his food without them. We just moved to our new home, with some acreage, but we weren't prepared to start growing food. No seeds. No pre-grown crops. No fruit trees or bushes. So I am struggling to get what we need to carry on, while we try to start a garden. Praying we won't get so bad we need it this year. It doesn't look like it's gonna happen.

[@cascadinglocks]

Enjoyed your video very much! Thankyou. I've been canning since the mid seventies. Serious canning over a thousand jars per year for the last twenty. People thought until recently, I was nuts! Helped feed my son and his family a few years when he was recouping from several surgeries. My health is very good because I eat healthy growing a lot of my own food. The smarter folks are seeing the benefits of food storage now. Bless you both and kind thoughts.

[@MarcoPolo-yt3ew]

My name is Kenny from northern Kentucky look up the history of biochar for gardening tell everyone you know passed it on it's good for bad clay soil ok for good soil barn wood to char douse it with water then dry it out then activate it with worm castings or compost