Cold Room Tour, How to Build Your Cold-room, Why we DON’t have a FREEZE DRYER.
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- Опубліковано 13 жов 2023
- Cold room size 8’x10’
Watch these channels for more pantry/cold room tours this weekend!!
Declerq Homestead: youtube.com/@thedeclercqhomes...
Three Rivers Homestead: youtube.com/@threerivershomes...
Absent Acers Homestead: youtube.com/@absentacresmn?si...
My preserving the Harvest playlist that includes all the canning recipes:
• Preserving the Harvest
Apple peeler: amzn.to/3M0GhOr
I am a 69 year old farm wife who has just found your channel. I cannot tell you how much I enjoy your videos! My husband has farmed his entire life (he is 74 years young) in South Dakota. Yes he still works everyday and it keeps him young. Now back to you and your family! You and your husband are doing an incredible job rearing your children! I love your philosophy on child rearing. I wanted to make sure and let you know that because I have heard you speak about comments left by some who disapprove of your philosophy. From one woman and mother to another I am so proud of you!
I concur! I was raised during the 60’s and 70’s on a rural farm just like this. It was fantastic! What a blessed and beautiful experience! Swimming in irrigation canals with snakes, picking leaches off of our legs afterwards. Milking cows, slopping pigs, riding horses, hoeing row after row, in the garden, before we could play. My father would dig holes in our front yard, FRONT YARD, and fill it with water. We would play in it for days. My mother never complained about her muddy, messy children. Boy, were we happy! I’m so grateful that we didn’t have cell phones or television. Our television broke and dad never fixed it. What a gift! We don’t give our children the gift of boredom these days. They need to exercise their imaginations!
As I am proud too. To live this life is truly a gift. My mom always said that my grandmother was poor. When we visited they had amazing meals fried cornbread I won't ever forget.
And they may not had money but they had different riches. Mom can teach them have time for them showing them how to bake preserve create foods from field to table.
Some say that's a hard life well working for others is hard I don't think there's to many easy jobs.
Another thing I like to add is by the time mom works for someone she can earn much more doing what she does at home n being with family. I grew up poor in the city. So when I grew up I thought working hard outside the home was best and I have to say I failed my children. I wasn't there to teach them anything. I worked doubles thought giving my child a video game are a trip was more important. NO BEING WITH MY KIDS WAS MOST IMPORTANT.
I for sometimes had a big garden I grew everything that I would buy but I bought meats.
Anyway if u have a family spend time with them that's a gift you can't buy them. Have a garden even in a small yard everything is possible..
By the way unfortunately my adult children are not in my life I didn't form a motherly bond that IS THE BIGGEST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE. You won't have anything better than your children.
I love watching your UA-cam channel Great recipes and ideas Thank you so much 💗 You have a wonderful family . God bless you and yours😊
Isn’t this site wonderful? I found Ruthann a few weeks ago. I am 75 and like your husband still working hard every day. She has i spired me to become even more disciplined. I ordered the Mennonite cookbook from Amazon yesterday and am looking s9 forward to receiving it next week. Have a great day.
I have 2 freeze dryers . I have friends, church members and patients who are poor and not prepared for anything. I have emergency food should someone need it. I have about 3 years of my garden and favorite foods put back. I think the world is getting bad with food shortages on the way. Jesus is coming
God commanded Joseph to put seven years of grain in storage for the calamity to come. Just saying! God Bless.
@@miephoex It IS totally fascinating that the example is one person (well he organized it, sure the workers were many ) saving for a whole nation (not himself) and that God used the government to administer that food. God is so Good to warn, and bring the seven years of abundance! Think how simple prepping could be if people just stored grains like the example was! No jars, canners, supplies, no fancy, equipment, pressure canners, dehydrators, freezedryers. God's example was pretty simple. We've totally complicated it.
Yes but Jesus feed the birds of the earth. Therefore he will provide us with food.
I do agree with you.. I have a whole closet full of food and two freezers.. I live alone but have four kids who will benefit if anything happens..
@@marilyndekker1541 There sure are many examples of God miraculously feeding people for sure! Christian preppers never include those and rarely speak of them. Like the loaves and fishes. The widow's oil and the biggie 40 years manna...I don't think we should ever exclude God's provision!
Ruthann,
My wife stumbled on your video with the amish cinnamon rolls recently, and have not stopped watching since! We have both been binge watching your videos since we came across them. We are city dwellers with dreams of being able to live a life like you have with your family. You are an incredible woman with a solid and envious work ethic. How you are able to fit all you do in a day and still have time to film and edit your videos are impressive indeed.We are both so impressed with your skills and how you are teaching your kids that lifestyle. Really good kids. We subscribed to your channel because you have so much to teach and we have so much to learn from you, in hopes that some day we can start living that lifestyle as well. Its a Joy to know of your faith in Christ as well!
Many blessing to you and your family
You encapsulated my exact thoughts! Wouldn't it be lovely to be able to stay with the family fir a week to learn some of her skills!
Me too
It is possible! We left the city behind, so glad we did.
I’m an Alvin fan! Nothing more admirable than a man who loves God, loves his wife, loves his family, works hard, and shares valuable information with his neighbors (on UA-cam).
Amen!
Just came across your channel. I instantly wanted to subscribe. I look forward to watching your other videos too. 😊
Indeed, but even extremely busy people have to think about their health, and Elvin needs to dedicate some of his mental bandwidth to dealing with that belly. Not saying he needs a sixpack, just get it down to healthy. We all need to preserve OURSELVES as well. Those boys are going to need him for many years to come.
Sorry to be a downer, but belly fat is the most dangerous, and that waist size is a health emergency. I hate to see it happen to a family man. Put it on the to-do list, Elvin!
Thank you Elvin for showing us what you did to make the cold room!
I love how much information and wisdom your videos contain. We are older with grown children. We are starting to homestead so that we can provide nutritious food for our 2 (as of now) grandkids. God has given us a vision to provide a place and a way to show our grandkids the importance of faithfully raising and growing our food. We want to give them the skills we don’t currently have so they can know how to provide for their families in the future. My husband of 42 years was a city boy, so we raised our kids in a neighborhood. Most of the older generation of our family are gone now, and we didn’t learn what we could from them. We will dedicate these remaining years to learning all we can to pass to our kids and grandkids so they will be prepared. Your channel has helped me and my daughter learn to can, which we’ve been doing for the last couple of years. Next year will be the first large garden on our land. I’m so grateful that you’ve given your precious time helping us learn new skills even in our 60s! Thank you and God bless you and your family!
Loved your post, it happens too often where children, grandchildren don't learn these skills. We are seniors 67 and 69 and grow as much as we have space for and freeze and can.
Oh my gosh, you're doing what we've done. 10 yrs ago my husband 71 and myself 61 moved from Mn to Tn. So I could start our homestead and raise our 2 grandkids!! Boy, what a ride!
God bless you for using common sense and trying to live a simple life, not keeping up with the Jone’s and having a materialistic type of lifestyle.
Let’s pray the young ones see what you’re teaching them and give it real value also.
@@maggiedoor6093 We’ve had small gardens in our backyard, but never have we tried to grow a garden in order to preserve nutritious food for our family instead of buying it. It’s daunting. I’m so glad there is a community of folks who have wisdom to share. We are blessed!
@@smadden911 that’s awesome! We are not raising our grandkids but we want to have a place for them to have a simple life. We want them to see how with work and faith, God provides all we need! We don’t know what the future holds, but we know that learning how to take care of our family is a priority. Thanks for the encouragement!
Your husband is very sweet and the love abounds in your life!!
Thankyou for sharing and helping and educating all of us ! The haters and bullies and negative folks can go elsewhere! ❤ you are a rare treasure
Great cold room. I really appreciate Elvin explaining how to build the cold room. It has been done in a way that anyone can do it. Thank you
That is what I like about it too. It is not fussy, just straight forward and highly effective. Tell Elvin he did an amazing job for his UA-cam debut! I would have been standing there like a deer in the headlights trying to remember my name! 😂
What a sweet smile Elvin has! Thank him for doing this for us. I absolutely love all your videos and learn so much from you. I garden, have chickens, and multiple bee hives. You are a great inspiration! 😊
He does have a sweet smile, and a great sense of humor!
I'm late commenting here. I have had many say that a freeze dryer is worth it. Yet, when I look at its cost and at what I'm currently doing to preserve food my household likes, I can't justify the price tag. Plus I don't have a space I can dedicate for it. I have enjoyed dehydrated foods that were several years old by the time I finished eating them.
We don't have a large household like yours, so a bumper crop fruit year means it will take us a while to go through the dried fruit. Ideally, it keeps us supplied until the next harvest or next big harvest.
I love your cold room. Our cellar can run a bit damp, and things rust there with alacrity because we don't empty the dehumidifier as often as we should.
Thank you to Mr Elvin for his first appearance! Thanks to you for sharing so much informations, this beautiful cold room and family moments. I also put zinc with my green beans bc of your advice. 👍
Thank you all for sharing your home with us. So happy to meet your husband, Elvin. I love canning as well. Lv and Prayers all.
I dehydrated herbs in my husband truck in windshield placed a silver sun screen under pans works perfect
I appreciate Elvin showing how he built your cold room. I also enjoy seeing jars of canned foods. About freeze dryers, I get overwhelmed by “ sales pitches “ for them on so many channels. I am 74 and raising all the food I can in my backyard, and I am so grateful to raise as much as I do. it’s my reality a costly freeze dryer isn’t. I love your kind approach that seems to reach so many.
I'm 71 and agree. I just added on to my garden space. Its only me and my husband so the cost of a freeze dryer isnt in our budget either.
Exactly. A freeze dryer is a LUXURY, not a necessity!
Heidi on RainCountry here on UA-cam, has DOZENS of regular dehydrator and air drying videos. Shes pushing the boundries of what she has previously dehydrated, and has successfully preserved raw eggs, whole milk & meats. She uses an air brake bleeder to remove oxygen and create a vacuum seal for her dried goods. Hope this helps someone, take care.❤
@@americaneden3090 Love Heidi’s videos too. She does a lot of natural remedies on her rumble channel as well (ones not allowed on other platforms).
@@missouribroad978 thanks for the info! I’m a Missouri broad too.😊
All I can say is wow! You’ve got a store in your basement!!! All that hard work pays off in more ways than you can see with your eyes!! I LOVE your channel!!!
I have been wanting to jump on the freeze dryer ban wagon for a minute now. After hearing your reasons for not having one. That also makes sense for me. Especially since I am canning a lot more. I am now okay with not getting a freeze dryer and I no longer feel inadequate for not having one. Thank you Ruthhann for giving me another perspective on this.
For the price of a freeze dryer, you can buy a year's supply of already canned FD foods -- no muss, no fuss, no repairs!
I love my freeze dryer. The main things I dry are raw milk, bone broth, egg, and herbs. I still store it in jars, but it takes less space for me to do that. I actually don’t do much freeze dried fruit because of your reasons. My kids eat it just because it is good. I prefer to can or ferment my veggies too. What I do really love about my freeze dried is that I can freeze dry organ meats and sprinkle the powder into soups or taco/chili meat and my family never knows.
Thank you for the advice on freeze dryers. The Harvest Right medium freeze dryer right now is $4,390 with the oil free pump. I can’t justify that. Plus the electricity to run it. Instead I could purchase so much organic freeze dried food from reputable companies and put away food for the future. You are a breath of fresh air. ❤️
You don’t have to have the oil free pump. You will save well over a $1000.00 if you choose a different oil pump option.
I agree, and the the comment about less expensive pump. The cost of electricity for a 24 hour cycle of a freeze dryer is between $2 and $3 depending on your price of electricity
Ok$2895, and $3.00 a day times 30 days equals $90. Not in my budget. Fine if you want to but nope!
So so much cheaper to make your own. Mine has paid for itself already.
Like I said I can’t justify.
Thank you for always having a common sense approach to canning, drying, storing. I can a certain way but had never put a name to it. I can most everything the way that you do so now I know, at age 70, where my basic concepts came from. I absolutely adore watching your channel and have integrated new foods into my supply. I always open a new food jar the next day to try it and make notes if I need them. Thank you for showing us your family’s life, I know you have made a difference!
First video I see of yours and Im already in love. You bring realistic inspiration for us all, plus great learnings for everyday. Wish everyone had the opportunity to learn from someone with your level of knowledge
I think solar panels make more sense than a freeze dryer especially with your skill set. Thank you so much for sharing all of your experience and knowledge for managing garden harvests. Very helpful and encouraging.
Hope you and your family have a great day!
Thanks for this video i am a new preserver that's almost an empty nester. I Thank you for not pushing the freeze dryer as so many ppl tend to do. I love my dehydrator and I'm getting more into canning, fermentation etc. Love your channel Ruth Ann ❤
Glad it was helpful!
Me too!
I agree. I can't justify the cost and we'd have to have an electrician put in a dedicated outlet which is another expense. I use my dehydrator constantly.😊
Thank you for sharing! I love watching your channel! I have to say... I've wanted to start canning for 2 years. But after watching your 2 videos on taking the fear out of canning I took the leap and water bath canned applesauce. I didn't feel scared! Lol And I'm ready to water bath some more! Truly THANK YOU! ❤
I’m so glad!!!!
Always a joy watching one of your videos. Im 74 & only back into canning for 4 or 5 years now. Am already getting myself geared up to canning for this growing season. Blessing to you & Yours!
If someone gifted me a freezedryer i would be thrilled
I entertained the idea of buying one once I started to see all the channels who were raving about them. THEN I figured out these channels didn't pay for them. I'll stick with my dehydrator
Thank you so much for bringing us into your home and giving us ideas and inspiration. You are loved!
You whole family seems so happy and content. You and Elvin are doing a great job of raising your kids to be responsible and loving adults.
A suggestion for those peels from the apples. Toss with a bit of sugar and cinnamon and then bake in a low oven until crispy. Such a great treat for kids. Thanks for sharing your hard work and success.
Aaah! One of the best parts of my mom making apple pie was the apple crispies she made with the peel. I definitely agree!
Aaah! One of the best parts of my mom making apple pie was the apple crispies she made with the peel. I definitely agree!
I don't peel my apples when making applesauce. It colors the sauce nicely and adds nutrients.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Loved seeing your storage of all your hard work. Everything raised and processed by you and your family. And you know the ingredients inside every single jar which is wonderful. No preservatives or anything artificial. That’s a wonderful way to raise a family.
Those are longneck butternut squash to me
I have heard the energy use for freeze dryers make its value iffy.
Your husband is so creative. That room looks really great!
Yes! Thank you!
Those two boys are just adorable!
I finally just opened a jar of apple juice to use as part of a smoothie last evening dated 2013. So it's been sitting in a quart jar for TEN years that had gotten "lost" in a cardboard box that Mom & I canned together for the first time way back then. GOD rest her soul, I miss her immensely. I didn't have a pantry back then and some of my jars were "lost" in the garage up until we flooded a year ago.
It's a bit bittersweet joy at times to come across the projects we enjoyed doing together 10 years ago. She taught me so much and I miss her immensely. But now it's time to focus on taking care of Dad
You have very good reasons for avoiding a freeze dryer but if you do find a place to keep one they are worth the effort. Freeze dried cheese is amazing. I freeze dry eggs when I get an abundance. I freeze dry milk. The downside is having to use oxygen absorbers. I love your cold storage!
Using those jar vacuum sealers work great for a year or so storage. I use the oxygen absorbers for Mylar if I’m storing for hunting or camping meals only.
I so enjoy watching your videos! It reminds me of years gone by, when I used to can LOTS of vegetables and fruits for my family. I loved the farming years! Thank you for all of the wonderful recipes and tips, and thank you for sharing your family with us! They are a delight!❤
Ive been binge watching your videos for 2 days !! 😂
Im convinced that your lifestyle is one of the healthiest Ive seen. Kids are well fed, they seem very happy and I love the fact that they are included in preparations in every aspect of the food process. From the earth to the table. The animals are well taken care of too. I personally hate videos that seem to make everything to do with canning etc seem so far out of reach or diffulcult. I love the way you keep it simple with a lot of commen sense. I was glad to see you're still sharing your knowledge and ways of doing things. I think Your mom & grandmother have truly given you a wonderful thing by showing you how to survive & feed your beautiful family. One of the things that you said in another video that I deeply resonated with you is knowing that the government as well as big box stores & big corporations need us to need them... you dont need them for survival..to me that is truly what freedom is about. I really appreciated the fact that you shared the extent of your education. However most people with a college degree cant do what you do for your family & I believe personally just because your educated doesnt make you a better person as a whole. There are truly terrible educated people in our world and there you are in your world with limited education rising above the ridicule & I appreciate the fact that you havent let that stop you from continuing to share your way of life. Its a beautiful thing..God is good. Thank you for sharing because you really are helping people who dont know how to live a better and healthier life style.
THANK YOU for being bold enough to not be afraid to go against the very popular trend of having a freeze dryer. Your reasoning is also very sound which I think many people don't take into consideration. They just see that it is popular and hop online and buy it whether they need it or not. Hi Alvin! Your harvest is beautiful as are the kids who are helping you! Blessing to you- have a great trip!
So nice to meet Elvin! Thank you for the explanation. Awesome cold room tour and what a harvest! Love seeing the animals. Blessings to you and your family. ❤️🙏🏻Val C
Thank you for the instruction on the cold room!! I have been considering one for several years but could not imagine how to build it. Now that Elvin has been so kind to show us how, I think I can do it!! You and your entire family are such a blessing.
This was so interesting and informative. It is amazing that you do all that you do! As far as an apocalypse goes, it is a normal human reaction to want to prepare for every eventuality. But it can drive you crazy if you let it, especially with everything going on in the world. I have prepared quite a bit, but when I start to worry that I don’t have enough, I have begun to tell myself I can do no more (because I physically and financially can’t) and I am trusting the Lord to supply what we need.
Trust and obey, there’s no other way, to be happy in Jesus!!
I appreciate your channel. You are a gifted teacher and I love how you explain the why and how of things. I grew up Mennonite and many of my questions were answered with “because” and “that’s the way it’s always been and will always be”. I’ve taught my kids to ask questions and to find answers and again you do this so well. Thank you.
I'm 62 and my husband is 75. We are trying to grow as much of our food as possible. I just got chickens for the first time. I want to do things the old way so thank you for your channel.
I have an Excalibur dehydrator, it's 9 tray, it has a fan, it dehydrates so fast, I found it used for 50$, well worth buying , this one had something wrong with it but we you tubed it, ordered the part, fixed it for 9$, I have used it for three years now, we dehydrate vegetables, fruits, jerky, tomatoes, onions, going to be doing garlic soon
That’s the brand I’ve been looking at too
@@RuthannzimmI have a cosori and love it!
RuthAnn, I love how you teach. I'm a huge fan. Have been binge watching/ printing your recipes. I'm so in awe of your knowledge. Love your family😊
I see why it wouldn't be good for you to buy a freeze dryer. I have a dehydrator like you and it works for my fruits. But I do use the peelings and core from apples to make jelly and juice. My grandmother showed me how to make it the old fashioned way. Good to see your husband in the video. How smart to put the air outlet in the cold room. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Ruthann and Elvin for giving us a glimpse into your life of intentional living. And well done on your UA-cam debut, Elvin!
What a beautiful, and bountiful harvest. It makes me smile, and warms my heart to see such beautiful fruits, and vegetables. I used to have a large backyard garden in Iowa, growing food for ourselves, our children, and their families, along with food for the neighbors, and our coworkers. I canned everything I could get my hands on, and dehydrated tons of food. My coworkers used to tease me that they were coming over to our house if anything nuclear happened, and they needed food. We have retired to Mexico City, where there is no room for gardens such as that. I miss it terribly.
You can take the peelings and cores and cook them in water, drain the water into a saucepan. Make apple jelly with the juice as you would with regular apple juice. This leaves you with even less waste and uses more of the apples. The jelly will have a red color to it with red skinned apples. More food for the family and less waste. The leftovers can still be fed to the pigs.
Thanks RuthAnn for sharing what you know and Alvin your husband 10-16-2023❤
I have the same dehumidifier. It's great. People don't realise that as the blowing air gets hotter it is an indicator that the filter needs cleaning. But I'm not saying you don't know that. People, clean the filters regularly folks for cold air.
I didn’t know that!!!! Definitely checking my filter.
I had the same thoughts you did about my freeze dryer. Until I purchased one. I don’t buy extra food to freeze dry. I use it for my over abundance of eggs during the spring and summer. Extra garden produce. I love having eggs when our flocks are not producing and I don’t have to buy them. My purée of squash for pies is so much easier to store. I don’t have a root cellar or cold room to store squash. So it works amazing for me.
Great tip!
I love my freeze dryer! I use mine all the time. I agree with the eggs, I have a lot I need to get in my freeze dryer, we prefer freeze dried over dehydrating. I haven't seen a jump in our electric bill, we've done bell peppers, Watermelon, strawberries, bananas, onions for onion powder, green beans, corn, tomatoes and the list keeps growing. I'm glad I got mine. Well worth it.
I also purchased a freeze dryer in late 2022. My biggest motivation was to store my excess eggs (since we went about 6 months without fresh eggs last year). I currently have about 25 dozen eggs that I freeze dried, without impacting what we had available for fresh use. I also use my freeze dryer on herbs (cilantro, basil, oregano, etc.) and also to store tea herbs. I was able to blend my own tea mix this way and I will be able to enjoy it all winter. It is an expense but I have thoroughly enjoyed having it available.
Nope - after 6 years of having one, I preserve foods in the freeze dryer - big learning curve. You have awesome reasons for sure. But now there are only 2 of us now. We preserve the extra eggs and such that we couldn't do before - but your reasons are perfect. You could buy thousands of dollars of food to put away instead of buying a freeze dryer and it is VERY different to eat freeze dried food -
You are such an amazing woman. Your family is so lucky to have you!!
What an amazing video, Thanks Elvin for taking time out of your busy day to explain in detail how to do a cold room. You have such an amazing family❤❤
What a beautiful pantry! Thanks so much for sharing and introducing hubby to us, great job!
Thank you!!!
You all are amazing..this is when life was good...our country has fallen so far, heartbreaking to me
Grandma used to say we would have to "peel the peel". Good way to learn how to peel potatoes !
Hello Ruthann. Gosh what an inspiration you are! I just stumbled across your channel and have watched a few of your videos already. I so admire your ability and work ethic. I feel lazy just watching you. You have made me feel motivated to try harder to be more self sufficient and healthy. I live on a 15 acre life style block in New Zealand. Thank you for your inspiration.
Kindest regards, Beau Christine. 😊
Welcome!!!! So glad to have you!!!
Thank you for a very informative video. It was nice meeting Elvin. I sure appreciate both of you and your lovely family sharing your lives and all of the information that brings the rest of us confidence to tackle those projects we dream of doing, but fear failure so much we are seem to be frozen at the dream process. Again, thank you!
Amen. You're doing what God intended. My church family takes care also for those in physical as well as spiritual needs.❤❤
First timer & New subscribe. Impressive. Watching your children took me straight back to my own childhood as I grew up in a vegetable farm. Your husband strikes me as sweet and, if I may, quite handsome. Looking forward to watching more of your videos. God Bless
Thank you to you kind husband for his tutorial of your cold room ❤ from Missouri
It was so nice meeting Alvin! Your cold room is fantastic, Ruthanne. I understand your reasons for not getting a freeze drier right now. My husband surprised me with the medium sized Harvest Right Freeze Drier this year and it has been such a wonderful blessing to our family.
I love your videos, and your patience with the kids is wonderful. I continue to learn so much from you. I am a retired advance practice nurse. You should have the bump on your lip checked, biopsied. You need to keep yourself around for your wonderful family. I am so saddened by the American Homestead lady's passing from mouth cancer.
Your boys were so cute wrestling such beautiful smiles and such hard working boys ❤
We have a freeze dryer! Your reasons make a lot of sense. I found we loved doing peppers so much, I didn't like peppers out of the freezer, or dehydrator so that worked well. Camping meals we love it for, milk and eggs! We are a small family though and don't use everything we grow so it's great to preserve! I love being able to do broth and having powdered broth on hand. Cucumbers are so tasty! The texture and flavour is so vibrant and great, I don't do herbs because I'd rather just use my dehydrator for that. We had a crazy water melon crop and I pureed and Freeze Dried that, now we have a powder we can use. I wasn't sure we'd use ours enough but we really do, it's running almost non stop
Loved this, Ruthanne! So timely for me! We live in a very old farmhouse; our basement is a testament to how many times this house has been added onto, with some parts of the basement river stone, some parts shaped stones, and some parts concrete block...even have a couple of crawl spaces to make things even more crazy. In the southwest corner there is a little "room" closed in, well not very securely closed in...old wooden door with rusty hinges, plywood walls with lots of gaps, and insulation bats falling down willy nilly. There are some wooden shelves, and the floor is concrete. We have a lot of seasonal water seepage, too. So, all that to say...I think I have the makings for a decent cold room. Can't wait to show my husband the video part with Elvin explaining the closing in/insulating and ventilation. We may also need a dehumidifier...not true...we definitely need one! Always, always, love your Saturday morning videos! Hope you have a great trip to Virginia. We are actually heading there next week (Shenandoah National Park and New River Gorge in West Virginia) to celebrate our 51st anniversary. Blessings to you and your family, Marie
So enjoyed meeting you and your husband at HOA yesterday! We met at breakfast. I was the redhead with the long bearded husband, Angela and Ken Thacker. I love your channel! Great wholesome content. I gravitated to your channel because I grew up on a farm in North MO, not to far from IA....population 654. My Mother still lives on the farm in the house she was born. Its 125 acers and she manages it at 85 years young. Growing up we had most animals, cattle, sheep, chickens, gardens and show horses. Never kept dairy, but often helped and received milk from the neighbor's Jerseys cows. Would love to keep in touch, but I'm not too computer savvy.
Mrs. Zimmerman, I really like you. I have watched over a 1000 UA-cam over the years. I'm now a subscriber ❤
Ruth Ann, I much appreciate this video,and all the content you generously share. Can you tell us the temperature and humidity of your cold room, and of your basement? Many thanks to you and Elvin.
RuthAnn I am so happy for your family. You are such a joy. I love watching your channel. You are so blessed to have all the knowledge you have and the ability to grow and prepare and save all the food you have. I wish I knew how to even begin to do half of what you do.
Your parents have skills that my great grandparents had! There was a disconnect between my great grandparents and my grandparents. So , we did not learn them! Glad you learned! I am 65 and my great grandmother could kill a chicken, pluck it, and clean it and cook it! My mom watched her as a child.
I just got a freeze dryer last year. Most fruits, including tomatoes are so much better freeze dried than fresh or dehydrated. Apples, on the other hand, are better dehydrated (I dehydrate them until they are crisp)
I got the freeze dryer as an indulgence, so that I WOULD eat more healthy foods as treats. It's working well for me in that respect.
Sounds like what you're doing is working well for you.
So nice to see Elvin's debut! Very nice work you did on the storage areas - well planned out indeed!
I am so happy you chose not to advertise the freeze dryer. I am tired of it . I don’t believe in them . We can never afford them . And it is harmful to some. But I feel like they don’t care. And why would I wast time watching some one freeze during candy and deserts. ….. The way to prepare for the second coming is to 🙏.so channels that I once watched and are now always talking about their harvest freeze dryer I no longer watch.
Just curious as to why it is harmful?
I love all the tidbits you give about your mom and grandma and how they did things
Thanks for not jumping on the freeze dryer band wagon!! Love your videoes!
Love the cold storage room. We are a family of four and our gardens did amazing this year so I canned at least if not more that 1200 jars, 4 freezers are packed. Time to rest and enjoy till spring.
Ruthann, I think most kids would likely need time to adjust to new foods/textures, etc. If what you’re doing works, I’d keep doing that too. I know our poor Mom knew that too. Our Mom, now 95, is blessed with a really good mind still. She wasn’t too fussy in the kitchen when it came to accommodating every picky eater of her 5 kids, (Mark was THE worst 🤣) for every meal. On the other hand, she wanted suppertime to be an enjoyable, peaceful time so she made the meals she knew we all liked. Who, after going to the trouble of cooking supper for 7, wants 5 kids crying over Daddy making them eat beets or brussel sprouts (the horror)?? She’s no dummy! So she made those beets or brussel sprouts for herself & Daddy & then always 1 other vegetable she knew us kids all liked. I assume now it was because it was a treat for her & Dad & b/c it was in season, but on Easter Sunday she always made asparagus for them. Fortunately, she always served mashed potatoes, + another green vegetable option, of course ham, her homemade yeast rolls, sweet pickles. One thing she always, always, always made for Sunday dinner after church, holiday or not, was orange jello salad with crushed pineapple & grated raw carrot. We lived for that jello salad. Born in 1928, Mom lived on a cherry & apple farm in Traverse City, MI. They lived in an old farmhouse with no electricity, insulation, or running water. The kitchen had a wood stove for cooking & the house was heated with a wood stove located in the living room. Her family + her maternal grandparents moved there as a result of the depression. It wasn’t a big house but 4 adults + 4 kids all lived together in that house for at least 10 years before her grandfather “retired” from farming. She went to a 1-room school house thru 7th grade, & grew up in a multi-generational German home. She always says her Mom was a great cook, but she also talks lots about how her Mom’s Mom did lots of the family’s baking. My main recollection is that although they never had much money they really ate like kings. As a farmer my Grandfather did better during WWII & life on the farm wasn’t quite so lean for them. We were blessed with many things from our parents but I am most grateful for their spiritual legacy & that we were taught not only the value hard work, we learned to work hard, & we learned to love it. All these things continue to serve my 4 brothers & I well.
Grew up in a large family, nine kids and my mom was the best baker and cook. If you didn't like what was for supper you ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Love the cold room simple enough anyone can build one. Great job Elvin!
I love this story. Thanks for sharing your generational life. God bless!
@@asmith8973 oh we would have loved a PB&J if we didn’t want what Mom had made for supper but Daddy wouldn’t have tolerated that. Fortunately, Mom could be relied on to make the things we loved. We had meat in some form at every meal & she made casseroles lots, probably cuz it was easy to stretch the meat & fill up hungry boys. Fortunately we loved them. We’d cheer when she’d announce she was making her homemade tuna casserole for supper. God bless her heart for making corn or peas on the nights she made beets. See, Daddy served the plates & if there was only 1 vegetable on the table, you were getting a serving of whatever it was, beets or not! 🤢
Praise God for the abundance of food for all your hard work. God bless 🙏
I guess we are inspired by each other! Thank you!
What a beautiful harvest! Alvin is so cute! Love how you both work to raise and feed your family together with intention. Ingenious approach to a quick and functional cold room build. TFS your cold room. Understand Your reasoning for not using a freeze dryer.
I really enjoy watching the togetherness, the love in your family. I find myself smiling throughout your videos. That is an amazing harvest, too. Wow, just wow.
Wow you are like a walking encyclopedia of information, thank you
My mother used to keep potatoes from the garden in the basement, inside clean, new metal garbage cans with lids. We ate the potatoes all the way to spring.
What a wonderful cold room/pantry! Elvin did a wonderful job on it! Thank you for showing us how to do this ourselves, Elvin! Your channel is one of my favorites; I love watching your family work together. Your 2 youngest boys are such hard workers & still having fun at the same time! Thank you for spending time with all of us!! God bless!
Honey, I'm a foodie and you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between fresh and Freeze dried meat. It's way better than canned meat and you don't need to worry about a freezer compressor going out. Home cooked freeze dried meals are da bomb during power outages and camping. Most fruit is a flavor bomb. Mushrooms are so much better than canned and makes great soup. I absolutely love my freeze dryer for almost everything. Taters, peas, carrots, squash and beans. Wish I had more than one freeze dryer! I would do much less canning because the quality difference is like night and day.
It's nice to see Alvin he seems very intelligent
What a great store room.....oh....I would love to have something like that. What a treasure....
My husband’s grandfather was a farmer in midwestern Minnesota and grew potatoes in the family garden. They would have a cleft in them like yours. He always said it was a combination of inconsistent watering and some type of mineral deficiency. I love your cold room! I appreciate your talk on your thoughts on the freeze drying and how it’s not a good fit for your family. I don’t hear UA-camrs talking about planing out their food like this. Your explanation regarding how much your family needs, how you know what you need and what limits your farm can produce is so important! And what could happen (buying more apples!) if you introduce a new thing.
You can make apple jelly out of your peellings.
You can also make apple cider vinegar. 😉
Wow! Thank you for sharing the garden and cold room! Also introducing your husband! The Lord God Almighty bless you and your family!🐏✝️💜🕊🐎🎗🦄🦁
Nice to meet you Mr. Zimmerman, thank you for showing us how you built your cold room. God bless ♥️
For the cold room and keeping the moisture down, instead of using electric and running a dehumidifier that puts off heat, there is a product called "DAMP RID".
It's a little plastic container that has a water collection chamber in the bottom half and an upper chamber where you put this bag of what I think of those little air absorbers you find in commercial beef jerky or shoes, and that packet draws in the moisture in the air, turns in back into liquid form, and it collects in the lower chamber.
When the liquid water chamber is full, you simply pour out the water (possibly give it a good cleaning depending how long it's been sitting), and insert a new packet in the upper chamber.
We live on the lower level of the house with a concrete floor and no matter what you do, there seems to always be excess air moisture. "I swear by "Damp Rid" to HELP keep my treadle and wooden furniture from becoming moldy. It's not perfect, but I only use 1 at the moment so maybe I need several of those units doing their job at the same time. And I'm talking about our bedroom and my kitchen with the laundry room on the other side of the wall so lots of potiential moisture needing "captured".
At least now you know of a non-electric method. I would love to find a way to not have to still continue to purchase the packets that go into the unit. As they do their job pulling moisture from the air, they become empty by shriveling up. Whatever chemical process takes place, it converts the packet into liquid but it DOES work.
We flooded with 3 feet of water a year ago and I haven't replaced our sole "Damp Rid" unit yet and like I mentioned, my treadle and furniture are starting to take a hit for my lack of addressing that.
Good luck! Thank you as always for your videos and wealth of information you can share with the rest of us. You teach us something and we teach you something! I love that idea!! ❤
I just found your channel in the last week or two and subscribed right off the bat. You and your family are living like we would’ve liked to. I’m older now and so are my kids., but it’s good to see you and your family raising your food. God bless you all, always. P.s. Tell Elvin he did a great job building and explaining the cold room.
This was a good video. Nice to meet your husband. It is so impressive that you gro enough food for 12 to 24 months for your big family. It was interesting to see what you can. I can a lot of the same type of things. This doesn't account for the eggs you harvest and the meat that you butcher. Your family is amazing. Love seeing the littlest boys helping you out. They do a lot of work. Of course there is some fun while there at it. Nice video!
Your hubby is adorable. How nice of him to come on camera. You two have a wonderful relationship. God bless.
Thank you so much for sharing. You and your family are awesome. God's blessing over you sweetie
💚 I love your wind chimes! Nice harvest of squash, apples and potatoes! Thanks to Elvin for the coldroom description, glad you have that space and a lovely full pantry! 💚
I appreciate hearing why you won't buy into the freeze dryer.
I commend you on being honest and not following just because it is on trend. Kudos to you!
Instant subscriber.
My name is Happy. I was watching your video on deep 0:25 cleaning and have watched 7 plus other videos. I wanted to say to YOU Mrs. Z....I live you so much. You are so down to earth and present on this earth. Your kindness and grace comes through from the Throne of Grace. I live watching anything you do. Your son, I wanted to tell you loves you dearly. I am praying for you. I wish I could come and spend a few days helping you because I have SUCH a heart for Dads earth and his animals and care alittle for you and your family. It would be my honor if Dad would let me do that. I'm a retired Chef and have learn much from you. Learned tricks I would say. The hand of God is with you and God will answer All your prayers because of your clean hands. That's what He said to Job. Such a pleasure being with you during the days. A Time of Refreshing for me. Love, Happy
@@DrChrisgray-ql5ud Rainy and cool.