Are we dependent on countries like Guatemala?

It seems the likely answer is we are dependent on China right?  China makes almost everything we touch and our government owes them mass amounts of money. But do we really get any of our needs from China?  In my opinion china provides us with wants, products that are fun to have and most of us in America believe are needs but if it came down to it we just do not need them.
Now Guatemala on the other hand a country with more than 75 percent of its people living below the poverty line how could we ever be dependent on them?  Look around, in the United States we have drove out farming and small gardens alike and have replaced them with office buildings and busy life styles that do not allow people time to garden.  Cutting fresh fruits and vegetables today I realized tags on almost every single one saying "A PRODUCT OF GUATEMALA".  Now this does not extremely concern me I believe the food is safe I would like all foods to be organic but I can not control that or afford that.  I do however believe that Guatemala provides with a need most Americans can not live with out.
This is why I would like to grow as much produce as I can at my home and not be dependent on other countries.  The food I grow I know where it came from, I know there is no chemicals on it and I know how fresh it is.  Now I will continue to buy bananas and other fruits that I will never be able to produce in the Pittsburgh area but if for any reason I could not get these things I would still have great fresh foods to eat.

New Years Resolutions

So many people will tell you people are more successful at staying on track of their goals if they share them so that is what I am going to do.  This year I have allot I would like to accomplish and I will be planning on checking back one year from today and letting you know what I have succeeded at and where I have failed.  You can watch me accomplish these goals through the year on YouTube or continue to read my blog.  So here comes my goals!
1 - Change my life style to a healthy living life style.  I want to cut out processed foods from my families diet. Use common sense when it comes to portion control and try not to over indulge.  Being more active picking family activities such as going hiking or biking.  Most of all I would like to loose 20lbs and be more healthy!
2 - Plan more.  I would like to stop flying by the seat of my pants and plan dinners, plan out my gardens, plan projects I will be taking on and so on.  I know planning makes people more efficient and I feel like I will accomplish more and save money if I can put this in place.
3 - Stay organized.  I have spent allot of time cleaning and organizing my basement and garage over the last couple weeks and I have allot more to go but boy do I wish I would have done this years ago.  Once again I believe this save you time and money by being able to find what you need in a timely fashion.
4 - Teach and Share. I have always loved talking and helping people with their projects so this year I will be sharing my work on YouTube and right here on Blogger.  Hopefully through out the year I learn more about doing this and improve my blogs and YouTube videos.
5 - And last of all Love more!  I want more quality family time even if it is digging in the yard or taking a walk I want to make more time for my son, daughter, and especially my wife.
So follow along this year do not be shy about helping me stay on track or improve what I am doing!

Watch me make some hard tack candy below :)

Self sufficient and self reliant what does this mean?

One of my top goals is to become and teach my family and others to become self sufficient or maybe self reliant.  I always get lost and can not choose if I want to say self sufficient or self reliant.  During a planning session today trying to figure out yields and how many plants I need I found a man who says self reliance is impossible to reach and self sufficient is also an unobtainable goal.  So with this I did some more researching thinking maybe I misunderstood what I was trying to say.

I went to http://www.merriam-webster.com to pull up some definitions.

Self sufficient 1. able to maintain oneself or itself without outside aid :  capable of providing for one's own needs <a self–sufficientfarm> 2. having an extreme confidence in one's own ability or worth:  haughty, overbearing

Self reliant confident in your own abilities and able to do things for yourself : not needing help from other people

So with those definitions I do believe a self reliant or a self sufficient life style is obtainable.  I do not necessarily believe in a dooms day scenario but I do want to learn and teach the skills that are going by the waste side because I do believe Americans need them.  Being able to grow all your own vegetables, preserve and cook food, repair and make things is what has made the world turn for thousands of years and I do not want my children to not learn these things.  And I do believe if you learn how to do these things you will be confident in your own abilities and able to do things for yourself. And if there was ever an emergency you would not need help from other people to survive.  Hmm that's the definition of self reliant and go figure they are self reliant and self sufficient are synonyms!

Hard Tack Candy Making

Here it is Hard tack cany making on youtube!

Hard Tack Candy Family Traditions

Growing up I always remember the hard tack candy in my grandmothers candy dishes at Christmas time.  Although I can not remember how it got to those candy dishes I do have some family members who have told me about the great times they had making it and how it was a great family tradition. So last year with so many other things I started doing I decided it was time to go into the candy making business.  We made batch after batch of hard tack gave it to coworker, friends, and family and boy was it a hit!  One of my nieces asked uncle Denis how did you make this candy?  So with that one little question I decided it was time to get the family tradition going again and teach this next generation how to make some candy.  Tomorrow we will be gathering and hopefully start a tradition that will last for years.  Tonight I did a trial batch to make sure I did not forget anything from last year and it turned out just right.  I thought I would share my recipe and maybe in a few days a video on how we do this.  Get out there and spend quality time with your family make some new traditions.

 
Hard Tack Candy
Ingredients
1 cup water
1 cup light corn syrup (I use Bob White Crystal White)
2 cups sugar
1 small jar flavoring (3.7ml)
Food coloring
Powder sugar (for dusting)
Butter (for cooling dish/pan)

Butter cookie sheet and lightly and coat with powder sugar, set aside. Combine water, corn syrup, and sugar in pot over medium heat.  Slowly stir mixture dissolving contents.  Mixture will come to a rapid boil watch candy thermometer closely and to prevent burning.  When mixture reaches 300 degrees or "Hard Crack" remove from heat, add flavoring, and coloring.  Mix well and poor onto prepared cookie sheet.  As this is cooling use scissors to cut into small pieces and toss with more powder sugar if needed.