The Beginnings of a Garden

As a kid, my mom had a backyard garden with lettuce, peppers, carrot, onion, and I think maybe strawberries. Through the years I have never lived anywhere long enough or had the space for a real garden. Since Dave and I have been in the Washington house, I had only planted in pots because we knew we were not going to be there permanently. But over the course of the last 6 - 7 months we have realized we will be there for at least another 2 years so I have decided to ground plant my veggies. 

So far from last year I still have a few of my bell pepper plants that I transplanted a few weeks ago. I also have my jalapeno plants but they are stunted from the pots. With this wild hair of wanting to can, I went to the local nursery to check out what they had for veggie plants. I picked up cherry toms, celebrity toms, and cucumbers.

I looked into growing garlic but I will need to wait til October/November to plant that. Onions would be another one I would want to try to grow because we use them like crazy. 

On my last HEB grocery run I picked up more tomatoes and cucumbers. They were actually cheaper than the nursery and in better condition. This past Saturday was the perfect day to get the garden completed! Friday afternoon I was able to pick up two more additions - chive plants from the Amish community! Saturday morning I snagged two eggplant seedlings and added them to the mix as well.

My in laws helping me get the little patch of earth ready after we got home from the farmers market. The tiller was small but man, if you aren't careful it can really get away from you!

In total, I have green bell peppers, jalapenos, three types of tomatoes, cucumbers, chive, eggplant, and I finally planted my rosemary bush as well.

The toms

The cucumbers are closest to my pallet (recycled from our wedding) so they can vine and the chive plants are in front

(since I originally posted this, I have planted four green onion tips in between the chives and the cucumbers)

The rosemary bush and the eggplants to the right

The whole garden (well minus the bell peppers)

 
The small building behind behind the fence is Pop's old shop that Dave now uses.

I know this isn't much but I am using what I got. I seriously cannot wait to move out to our 1.5 acres so that I can have some serious gardens but until then, this is my little piece of heaven!

Prayers

Finished work yesterday with the news splattered across the internet here about a rig explosion in Upton County. Upton county sits just south of Odessa and Midland out in West Texas. As of this morning the family has informed news outlets that the three men who died in the accident were all related. They were working for a pulling unit company on a small rig. I absolutely hate hearing stories like these and can only think about the families that are left behind. I just pray for their peace and comfort. And as always I am glad that Dave doesn't work on the rigs. 

Its things like this that make me stop and remember to make the time to talk when he is gone no matter how busy either one of us is as well as keep our oilfield men in our prayers for a good hitch and safe return home.

Smokin'

This weekend was days off for Dave so we had to get our sausage processing and smoking completed. In total we processed around 300 pounds of meat. Dave started Saturday morning solo while I was running our garage sale for the second weekend in a row. 

This year we were able to afford to pitch in with Dave's parents on a 1.5 HP grinder which was such a much faster and easier way to process in comparison to the hand grinder we used last year. Pretty sure if we didn't have it we would have been grinding meat for two days! 

This was just ground and stuffed into 1 or 1.5 pound chubs. That is Dave's
icehole cooler he loves. We prefer that brand over the Yeti's or any others because
the space inside the cooler is actually what they advertise.

Pork anyone? Thanks to Dan's Processing here in Alice.

The boys grinding while the girls were garage selling.
The house we live in has this great enclosed patio that we always use. 

This is the Digger recipe. We made three different seasoning types this year.
Digger was Pop's recipe, we made Herschaps, and a spicy garlic. 

Our little smoke house that Dave built last year to keep in our backyard.
Once we move to Orange Grove we will have a bigger one. 

Saturday night Kai came to help us stuff the last two batches.

Trying out the breakfast sausage recipe....AWESOME! Dave took my advice
and backed off the sage this year and it is amazing!

After Sunday morning breakfast we thanked the Lord for his resources and being
able to smoked another two batches of sausage. Dave and I hung meat in the rain but we had
to get it in there. 

Even though we didn't have a guaranteed place to hunt this year we managed to get by with the help of friends and family. We are truly blessed to be able to put as much meat in our freezer as we have this weekend. IT is gonna be a long day for Dave as later tonight he still has to wrap the two batches in the smoker and smoke the salami.....our first time trying it so hoping it comes out pretty good!

Trying my hand....fingers crossed!

With the uncertainty of the oilfield right now and having to really tighten our belts and stick to a very rigid budget, I have had a few ideas of how to try to save money. 

For Christmas Dave received a Brewdemon Signature Series home brew kit from his parents. It had just been sitting in out front room for the last two months. Last Sunday I decided we needed to try it out. Beer and wine will forever be a part of our home so in an effort to help cut some costs of it, I thought it would be fun to try our hand at making our own beer. Dave has done it before but this was my first time. The kit came with a pilsner which was awesome since I am not a dark beer fan.

So far it has just been sitting in the crap corner until Dave says it is ready.

The kit came with those plastic bottles in the picture but we are actually using Grolsch bottles because they are glass and have a gasket pop top.

I am really hoping it comes out good because I would like to try to have one or two homebrew batches a month!

I have grown over the last year or two my own cherry tomatoes, jalapenos, and bell peppers but I really want to expand my garden this year. Since we are going to be staying at our current home for at least another two years I am going to ground plant my seedlings this year. So far I have my green bell peppers in the ground with the jalapenos, cherry toms, celebrity toms, and cucumbers awaiting the rain/mud to subside.

I plan on buying okra and whatever else the nursery might get in that will fit in with what I have so far. The plan with the garden is to start canning. Ideally I would like to be able to can my own pickles, jalapenos, okra, tomato sauce, and apple sauce to start. When we move out to our property after we build our house my gardens are going to be well thought out and much larger than what I have here. I am just starting this adventure so any ideas/tips/suggestions would be great!

Last on the list to try my hand at is bread making. Dave and I usually do not eat a lot of bread....maybe for toast with breakfast or for an occasional sandwich but I think it would be a great skill to have as we start to grow a family. Dave's mom lent me two glass loaf pans and two books full of recipes which I cannot wait to try. Unfortunately this weekend is jam packed full of stuff all ready so my adventures will have to wait. We are having another garage sale tomorrow because we were rained out last Saturday and Dave will be home all weekend processing over 300 lbs of venison/pork for our sausage. This year we actually have an electric grinder so that should help out a ton! 

With our budget being so tight we have been eating at home almost exclusively which means I pack both our lunches. It has been a lot of fun to be able to try some different recipes that make large servings as well as know that I am really eating much better food than what I get around Alice. On the menu for Sunday was a pork roast that I will turn into pulled pork.

Not to pat myself on the back or anything but I am pretty good at making pulled pork! The bonus is watching the money stay in our checking account! 

We made the cut

So Dave has been staying at the yard this week to help save money on fuel which means I didn't talk to him until around lunch time today. And the phone call was surprising. They laid off two crews and coordinator this morning. I didn't even know what to say to him when he told me except thank God he wasn't part of those crews. Our two friends were lucky as well. Us girls have been texting back and forth about how this one has hit a little too close to home for our comfort level. 

I also read that NABORS laid off 3,500 people today with the possibility of adding another 1,200 within the week even though they are going through with the merger to C & J. 

All I can say is for those of us oilfield families who still have jobs, continue to pray and count our blessings! For those oilfield families that have felt the effects of the layoffs, continue to pray too as I will for you. God only gives us what we can handle and this will only make us stronger in the end. 

Surviving

To survive - continue to live or exist, especially in spite of danger or hardship.

For those living under a rock or not having to pay for fuel, the oilfield is being hit hard with layoffs and lack of work because of the over supply and low price of oil per barrel. From drillers, fracers, coil tubers, production/completion, truck drivers, fleet repairs shops......we are all feeling the effects.

Dave is on the coil tubing side now. I was surprised at how quickly it affected us...to be honest. Luckily his company has not done any layoffs. Many people have quit and a few have been fired for good reasons but we have made it through this far. I work corporate so I haven't really felt the effects of the slow down. I work for a company who has survived slow downs before and prides themselves on taking care of their employees so everyone can make it through.

We have only been an oilfield family for the past three/four years so we obviously have never been through a downturn before. Lucky for us we do not have any kids just yet and we have been following the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace plan for a few months now so having to live off a tight budget is becoming second nature for us. I have started coupon clipping like a crazy person again and I am starting to research canning...what to can, how to can, how long it will keep and all that. I am really trying to find ways to help make us money or save us money right about now. Our ultimate goal is to get out of debt to build our house but it just seems like that dream is getting pushed back further and further.

I do feel like we will survive this downturn. We are young, smart, and determined to reach our goals. I would love to say that it won't last much longer but I truly do not know how long the price per barrel will stay down. Last I checked it was hovering around $60 per barrel but I read somewhere we need it around $65 for a while to start to see any sort of upswing for work.

Our light at the end of the tunnel this month...our "honeymoon" trip to San Diego. I am beyond excited to have a vacation. It almost didn't happen. We had to reschedule it once when they reassigned Dave to another crew and his whole schedule changed. I was ok with that as long as we could still go. We even got a $44 credit with Southwest because the flights were cheaper. But as part as adapting to the downturn, Dave's company sent out a letter stating that off days were now on call days. When he told me that maybe we should just cancel you would have thought my head exploded! After a few days and some clarification, we are still going on our trip without fear of him losing his job. 

I just keep praying for all of the oilfield families and keep reminding myself of one great verse:

No temptation has seized you that isn’t common for people. But God is faithful. He won’t allow you to be tempted beyond your abilities. Instead, with the temptation, God will also supply a way out so that you will be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13