HumblevilleUSA

Welcome to Humbleville, USA!! August has presented us a normal summer thus far, with high heat and enough rain. Finally the front lawn is green again. The purple plastic snakes we have placed in our Square Foot Garden appear to keep the deer away, but the deer has still struck in other areas (he ate my pumpkin! he ate my pumpkin!). We will be considering putting up fencing at some point if this continues to be an issue. Yes, that is 10 full yards of FREE wood chips you see. Although it'll take quite a bit of human energy to get them placed where we desire, you can't beat the price. The project will include us laying down cardboard from reclaimed cardboard boxes to kill any weeds or grass, and then heaping a minimum of six inches of mulch on top. Not only will this help us keep the weeds and grass from growing in our gardening area, but as these wood chips break down over time it will actually recondition the soil beneath it, potentially increasing our usable and viable garden space! Here are some thoughts on wood chips from our blog: http://www.humblevilleusa.com/?p=162 Speaking of the blog ... we also have a new blog at www.HumblevilleUSA.com!! Have a look and see! Please continue to join us on our journey by SUBSCRIBING to this channel. It really helps. Thank you and God Bless !! Psalm 107:9 For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, And the hungry soul He has filled with what is good.

Welcome back to HumblevilleUSA! We are NOT experts in wild edibles, so please do NOT use this video and text as your sole source of information on identifying and eating purslane !! It is important to know what the poisonous look alike, spurge, looks like and how to identify that as well. They can grow in close proximity, so do NOT assume that if one plant is purslane that something that looks similar is also purslane. Use several sources of information to help you identify these plants and their look alikes, and definitely DO NOT EAT ANYTHING that you cannot 100% identify. It is not worth the risk!! That being said, purslane is prolific and ubiquitous (meaning it grows great and you can find it everywhere!). It is also quite delicious in our opinion. It has a crunchy texture and a mild flavor devoid of bitterness. It may also have a slight lemon flavor, and I've read that picking it in the morning tends to increase this pleasant sour flavor. Additionally this wild edible is very nutritious. See the table below for in depth analysis of nutrients: Purslane (Portulaca oleracea), raw, fresh, Nutritive value per 100 g. (Source: USDA National Nutrient data base) Principle Nutrient Value Percentage of RDA Energy 16 Kcal 1.5% Carbohydrates 3.4 g 3% Protein 1.30 g 2% Total Fat 0.1 g 0.5% Cholesterol 0 mg 0% Vitamins Folates 12 µg 3% Niacin 0.480 mg 3% Pantothenic acid 0.036 mg 1% Pyridoxine 0.073 mg 5.5% Riboflavin 0.112 mg 8.5% Thiamin 0.047 mg 4% Vitamin A 1320 IU 44% Vitamin C 21 mg 35% Electrolytes Sodium 45 mg 3% Potassium 494 mg 10.5% Minerals Calcium 65 mg 6.5% Copper 0.113 mg 12.5% Iron 1.99 mg 25% Magnesium 68 mg 17% Manganese 0.303 mg 13% Phosphorus 44 mg 6% Selenium 0.9 µg 2% Zinc 0.17 mg 1.5% Please feel free to visit us and check out our other past projects at www.HumblevilleUSA.com Like - Share - Subscribe Hosea 10:4 They speak mere words, With worthless oaths they make covenants; And judgment sprouts like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.

Welcome to Humbleville, USA!! Well, we got a late start on the garden this year because early spring was so cold for so long, and then June was extremely dry (only one half inch of rain for the whole month). I really feel a bit behind. The late start was exacerbated by "Munchie" the deer eating the tops off most of my beans, some of the peas, and several tomatoes and pepper plants. Urrggh. We are hoping the fake snakes we put into the garden might help deter Munchie. We shall see! We also have a blog at www.HumblevilleUSA.com!! Have a look and see! Please continue to join us on our journey by SUBSCRIBING to this channel. It really helps. Thank you and God Bless !!

Next spring when your lawn in flush with yellow dandelions, consider using this wild edible plant as a food source. Seriously! The flower heads taste nice and look pretty in a salad. I'll share how we make dandelion coffee with you sometime on this channel (so don't forget to Subscribe). But for this project, we will show you from start to finish how to make your own homemade dandelion wine with just a few ingredients. Stay tuned to the end to see several friends and family taste this wild concoction. If you'd like the recipe we used, you can find it here: http://www.humblevilleusa.com/?p=131 Proverbs 24:30-34 I passed by the field of the sluggard And by the vineyard of the man lacking sense, And behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles; Its surface was covered with nettles, And its stone wall was broken down. When I saw, I reflected upon it; I looked, and received instruction. "A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest," Then your poverty will come as a robber And your want like an armed man.

Welcome to HumblevilleUSA! Please visit our blog at www.HumblevilleUSA.com and share your ideas with us! How did the 2017 SFG season go in HumblevilleUSA? How successful were we in keeping the deer, bunnies and bugs away from our fresh homegrown vegetables? Did our drip irrigation on a time work well? Did we ever get those 10 yards of woodchips spread around the garden from last year? These answers and more in this garden update edition on HumblevilleUSA !! Do you have any inexpensive fence ideas to share with us? Please do so below. GOD BLESS !!!!

Welcome to Humbleville, USA!! Want an easy, inexpensive and tasty snack for children? Look no further than Banana Chips!! Super easy to make. Super easy to store. Super easy to take this snack on the go with you! The dehydration process concentrates the natural sugars and intensifies the sweetness and banana flavor. Don't pay grocery store prices for banana chips when it is so easy to dehydrate your own. Our young daughters can show you how to make your own banana chips and healthy snacks! If you like this video, you may also enjoy our other dehydrator and food storage videos. We also have a new blog at www.HumblevilleUSA.com!! Have a look and see! Please continue to join us on our journey by SUBSCRIBING to this channel. It really helps. Thank you and God Bless !!

Welcome back to HumblevilleUSA! There are a bunch of good Youtube videos on how to can meat, so I won't get too much into that today. But what I have found lacking are taste testing videos. The ones I have seen are taste tests right after the canning process. But what does it taste like after it has been sitting on the shelf at room temperature for a couple of years? Well, it just so happens that I have canned chicken legs and thighs two years and three months ago, and I'm in the mood for some tasty chicken salad sandwiches. Please join me on this Humbleville adventure as we taste test two year old chicken. Please share this video with your friends, and don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to the Humbleville channel to see if I survive the taste test long enough to produce additional videos. God Bless!

We have had our NewAgePet EcoFlex Fontana Chicken Barn for over a year now! Join us to see how it has held up over this past season, and how we clean it out. We built a walk-in pen for the hens, too, this year! I'm rather pleased with how this turned out relative to the low cost. While we love having the hens free-range in our backyard, we were not so pleased with how the hens ate up all of our hostas and other flowers, not to mention the indiscriminate pooping all over our patio and patio furniture. If we are going to keep these hens and have any hope of future hens, we need to get that under control or Mrs. Humbleville will crush these dreams as the WAF (Wife Acceptability Factor) plummets. But the walk-in pen is installed and working very well for us. Since the 2015 season, we have also secured the web site of www.HumblevilleUSA.com so feel free to check out our collection of videos, short posts and articles. Your comments below and comments on the blog are GREATLY appreciated. Notice something we are doing wrong? PLEASE let us know! It keeps us humble and learning. Please like the video, share it with your friends and do us the honor of subscribing to our humble channel. God Bless!!

Welcome to HumblevilleUSA! Please visit our blog at www.HumblevilleUSA.com and share your ideas with us! What lessons did we learn in 2016? What projects to do the girls and I have in store for 2017? What can we do to get more produce into the house and on the dinner table? The big (for us) pumpkin was our crowning glory. Deer enjoyed more of the squash than we did. Mint is almost impossible to not grow and is at least as robust as our chive patch. The girls often times come in from playing outside with their breath smelling of the odd combination of mint and chive. The broccoli was absolutely delicious, and those eating it were shocked to find out that I served it steamed and plain! They would have bet there was butter and seasoning on it. Nope. Straight up broccoli. We had success in growing tomatoes and peppers in buckets in other parts of the yard where the deer were more hesitant to go. Expanding on this sounds like a good idea to us! Do you have any inexpensive fence ideas to share with us? Please do so below. GOD BLESS !!!!

Welcome to Humbleville! Please visit our blog at www.HumblevilleUSA.com and share your ideas with us! What lessons did we learn in 2016? What projects to do the girls and I have in store for 2017? What can we do to get more produce into the house and on the dinner table? Do you have any inexpensive fence ideas to share with us? Please do so below. GOD BLESS !!!!

Welcome to Humbleville!! Sure you could buy flower or vegetable starts to get your garden up and running, but why not save more money by starting them yourselves? It's amazing that everything needed to turn soil and nutrients into full grown plants is contained right in the humble seed. In order to get your starts big enough to transplant once the weather has improved, you'll want to get going indoors. And to do that, you will want to build your very own grow shelf.

Welcome to Humbleville, USA!! September has been beautiful in SE Michigan. The deer, however, has emphasized the HUMBLE in Humbleville. We will be considering putting up fencing at some point if this continues to be an issue. We have only spread about 7 of the 10 full yards of FREE wood chips we took delivery on a month ago. Although it'll take quite a bit of human energy to get them placed where we desire, you can't beat the price. The project will include us laying down cardboard from reclaimed cardboard boxes to kill any weeds or grass, and then heaping a minimum of six inches of mulch on top. Not only will this help us keep the weeds and grass from growing in our gardening area, but as these wood chips break down over time it will actually recondition the soil beneath it, potentially increasing our usable and viable garden space! The mint and chives are the crop of the season. Very easy to grow. We also harvested and ate the watermelon we grew which quit growing when it was under the size of a basketball. The crown jewel of the garden this year is the single pumpkin. Unfortunately the butternut squash we were looking forward to have been eaten by Muchie, the deer. The peas are done, but they were fun. And I'm not sure it mattered that we forgot to plan cucumbers this year as the deer have eaten nearly everything that we had growing on the trellis. Another success? Container gardening! We didn't do the container tomato update in this video, but we show you a couple of our "porch peppers". We will need to consider doing more container gardening along with some sort of fence project in 2017. Here are some thoughts on wood chips from our blog: http://www.humblevilleusa.com/?p=162 Speaking of the blog ... we also have a new blog at www.HumblevilleUSA.com!! Have a look and see! Please continue to join us on our journey by SUBSCRIBING to this channel. It really helps. Thank you and God Bless !! Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4:2 | NIV

Welcome to Humbleville, USA!! Here is a tasty and easy treat to make with the little ones ... homemade fruit leather!! Apple sauce with no sugar added is a great base to make not only apple flavor fruit leather, but you can also puree in other fruits to add variety to your dehydrated fruit leather choices (strawberry is Clare's second favorite flavor). If you like this video, you may also enjoy our other dehydrator and food storage videos. We also have a new blog at www.HumblevilleUSA.com!! Have a look and see! Please continue to join us on our journey by SUBSCRIBING to this channel. It really helps. Thank you and God Bless !!

The chicks are now pullets. The weather is warming up in SE Michigan. And the time to have the coop ready for the hens to start living outdoors is at hand. Join me and the girls as we play with our free range pullets and assemble a pre-fabricated chicken coop and pen. Ideally I would have wanted to design and build a coop from scratch to get it just the way I think I'd like. In speaking with my friends who have done this, they spent nearly what I did. Sure, they got a coop more suited to what they wanted and how they wanted to use it, but I decided that we have many other projects that we would like to get to this spring, and this was much easier than designing the coop, creating the materials list, shopping for the components, hauling them home (and who really gets a project done with a single trip to the store?) and building it from scratch. And in my humble opinion, a project done is much more desirable than a better project planned but unimplemented. In theory, I like the artificial wood-type product used in the construction of the coop. It is lighter in weight. It is supposed to be odor resistant. And once you open up access to the coop through the roof slats, we are supposedly able to hose out the coop for better cleaning and we don't have to worry about the rotting issue that comes with natural wood and moisture. We shall see. Also, I haven't played around enough with the pen to see if I can get the door on the other side. Ideally I would like it switched. The panels for the coop are all pre-drilled, so switching the door to the other side did not seem possible, at least initially. The floor to the pen is open. Now we need to determine how to protect our hens from critters digging under. Maybe I will use some hardware cloth and secure it to the bottom of the sides. Maybe I will use some footers and stones to place around the pen, digging into the ground for additional security. The girls were going to help out more in the assembly of this chicken coop build, but it was such a nice day and we had the pullets out running around in the backyard. It was just too much fun for the girls to play with the hens. No worries. This project was easy enough for one motivated, but skill challenged father. Since the 2015 season, we have also secured the web site of www.HumblevilleUSA.com so feel free to check out our collection of videos, short posts and articles. Your comments below and comments on the blog are GREATLY appreciated. Notice something we are doing wrong? PLEASE let us know! It keeps us humble and learning. Please like the video, share it with your friends and do us the honor of subscribing to our humble channel. God Bless!!

Welcome to Humbleville, USA!! Well, we got a late start on the garden this year because early spring was so cold for so long. I really feel a bit behind. Due to my personal salsa consumption, we will try to step up our tomato and pepper production (sorry onion, we'll set our sites on you for next year). Also, I feel like the yield from our 2015 garden could be improved. We didn't do a great job of keeping up with the watering. I'm hoping the drip irrigation system I'm installing will help us out. In addition, I will be using wood chips and other organic material as mulch to help the moisture retention. I've run into an issue with our rain catchment system, but that's for another video. We also have a new blog at www.HumblevilleUSA.com!! Have a look and see! Please continue to join us on our journey by SUBSCRIBING to this channel. It really helps. Thank you and God Bless !!

So we've had chicks in our house for nearly a month, and we are amazed at how quickly these chicks grew from little chicken babies into teenagers! The girls of HumblevilleUSA are having a blast playing with and bonding with our five potential egg layers. See the three buff orpingtons, a rhode island red and a silver wyandotte entertain our three girls. Since the 2015 season, we have also secured the web site of www.HumblevilleUSA.com so feel free to check out our collection of videos, short posts and articles. Your comments below and comments on the blog are GREATLY appreciated. Notice something we are doing wrong? PLEASE let us know! It keeps us humble and learning. Please like the video, share it with your friends and do us the honor of subscribing to our humble channel. God Bless!!

Welcome back to Humbleville! We got tired of throwing out all of the empty egg shells our family generates and wanted to do something about it. We had been adding the crushed egg shells to our worm factory, but most of the egg shell fragments were still too big for the worms to properly digest. Thank you internet for some good ideas on what to do with our old egg shells! Now we process them into a course powder and the worms eat it up like there is no tomorrow. Grinding egg shells in your garbage disposal can lead to a massive clog. Why add them to the landfill when your worms can turn that, and other organic material, into the best organic fertilizer you can make at home. Check out our other videos on vermicomposting if you haven't already. Please like the video, share it with your friends and do us the honor of subscribing to our humble channel. God Bless!!

Welcome back to Humbleville, USA! This past Good Friday, the girls and I went to our local farm supply store and brought home three Buff Orpingtons, one Silver Wyandotte and one Rhode Island Red baby chicks! We are so looking forward to having our own farm fresh eggs in the convenience of our back yard. Yes, we've had dogs and cats and fish and even earthworms ... but this is our first foray into raising chickens in our backyard. The girls are really excited. Mrs Humbleville is less so, but she does love fresh eggs and her daughters. So chickens it is!! We aren't expecting them to be laying eggs until late summer or early Fall. We're setting our expectations to September. Keeping the chicks dry, clean, watered, fed, warm and safe are the primary considerations. In this video we have set up a small, temporary home. A friend of ours will lend us her larger cage unit so the chicks will be able to spread out and grow. Since the 2015 season, we have also secured the web site of www.HumblevilleUSA.com so feel free to check out our collection of videos, short posts and articles. Your comments below and comments on the blog are GREATLY appreciated. Notice something we are doing wrong? PLEASE let us know! It keeps us humble and learning. Please like the video, share it with your friends and do us the honor of subscribing to our humble channel. God Bless!!

Welcome back to Humbleville! You had a bumper crop of zucchini and you dehydrated a bunch of it to use in the off season. But now what do you make with it (besides awesome zucchini bread, of course)? One of our family favorites is Zucchini Cheddar Pancakes served with a spaghetti sauce. Join us while we make this family favorite and perhaps add another vegetable recipe to your routine to use up your dehydrated zucchini stores. Please like the video, share it with your friends and do us the honor of subscribing to our humble channel. God Bless!!

Welcome to Humbleville !! In this video we will give you an update on the progress of our six 4x4 SFG raised bed gardens. The main growing season is all but over. The beans and peas are done. The tomatoes and peppers are in their last throws. For next year, I want to install a water irrigation system for the 6 beds and run it off a non-submersible pump from my water catchment system on a timer. I think then I can get enough water into the garden to increase the yield. The marigolds, I do believed, served their purposes of keeping critters away and also adding punches of color to the vegetable garden. And it is time to cut the pea vines from the vertical garden trellis. Speaking of vertical gardening, I think I'm going to borrow an idea from the mittleider gardening method. Have a look and see! Please continue to join us on our journey by SUBSCRIBING to this channel. It really helps. Thank you and God Bless !!

Welcome back to Humbleville! What do we do with a bumper crop of zucchini? Dehydrate it, store it in a vacuum sealed mason jar and put it on the self until winter. What do we do with dehydrated zucchini in the off season? Rehydrate it and us it in zucchini bread or zucchini pancakes with marinara. Delicious! Even the kids gobble up their veggies when prepared this way. Please share this video with your friends, and don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to the Humbleville channel (it's FREE) and share the video with all of your friends. It really helps. God Bless!

Welcome to Humbleville! A neighbor with a pear tree blessed us with brown paper bags full of pears. And what better way to use and preserve an abundance of pears than to make pear butter! The kids love it with all the sugar (a preservative) and pear sweetness. It does freeze for consumption later on in the year, but we'll just let you know that it is quite difficult not to eat the whole batch straight away. Please share this video with your friends, and don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to the Humbleville channel (it's FREE) and share the video with all of your friends. It really helps. God Bless!

Welcome back to Humbleville! We have taken down our crop of dill (three squares of it using the Square Foot Gardening SFG). What do we do with the dill now? How about we break out our solar oven and our NESCO dehydrator and a couple of large brown paper bags and we process the dill leaves, dill flowers and dill seeds for long term food storage? Yep, that's what we will do. Spices are so expensive to purchase and are of sub-quality compared to what you can easily grow in your very own herb garden. Please share this video with your friends, and don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to the Humbleville channel (it's FREE) and share the video with all of your friends. It really helps. God Bless!

Welcome back to Humbleville! So you've done a wonderful job in growing your own kale, and now you are looking for recipes that even your kids will love. Well look no further. In this episode we will share with you one of our kids' favorite kale recipes ... cinnamon kale chips! No oil or fat in this recipe, just a bit of sugar, water, cinnamon and some raw sunflower seeds for an element of flare plus some time in the dehydrator and you will have yourself a healthy, crunchy and slightly sweet snack. Let us know what you think, how you like them and especially if your kids gobble them up as quickly as the kids in Humbleville do! Please share this video with your friends, and don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to the Humbleville channel (it's FREE) and share the video with all of your friends. It really helps. God Bless!

Welcome back to Humbleville! In this video we will show you our simplest way to make your own scrumptious beef jerky at home in your dehydrator using lean ground beef (we used 80/20 but 90/10 is even better). Just add a package of jerky flavoring and one package of jerky cure per pound of ground beef and mix well. Easily make the ground beef mixture into jerky strips using the jerky extruder tool. Although we will add this video to the "long term food storage and usage" playlist, this homemade jerky does not last long term in our house. It is literally gone in days. Still, we will show you how to prepare it to give you the longest shelf life possible before it goes rancid. Please share this video with your friends, and don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to the Humbleville channel (it's FREE) and share the video with all of your friends. It really helps. God Bless!