Two old souls with agriculture in our roots working to restore our homesteading heritage in the foothills of South Carolina. Join us on this journey to sustainably cultivate the earth, grow a vegetable garden, raise farm animals, and preserve food.
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Chickens love Japanese beetles. :)
Our flock oddly doesn't love them! I emptied an entire bucket from them to eat and they ate a few and allowed the rest to escape. Silly birds!
Thanks for the tour. It's nice to know we're not the only ones having to fight the Japanese beetles this year. If you don't mind my asking, what varieties of carrots and potatoes are you growing this year? We're just up the road in Belton and I've not been having great luck with them.
Beautiful garden and beautiful flowers! Here in Oregon , we mostly have slugs and snails to contend with! Not squash bugs! I think every gardener across the states has their different bug problems! Just different species, from North to South and East to West!
Lila Lu Sang and New Kuroda were the 2 carrot varieties I ordered from Baker Creek this year. Oxheart has grown well for us in the past too, especially in clay soils. I also planted some sample packets we had of nantes (I think?) and the other was a random one I can’t remember the name of. Was just trying to use up old seed! Key thing with carrots is super consistent moisture when they are germinating and getting started. I spent about 3 weeks hand watering that patch earlier in the season and then we relied on the drip irrigation daily during the drought we had in June. Carrots definitely take some work and consistency to grow well here in the hot south! For the potatoes, we grow kennebec (small russet). We usually just grab a bag or two of seed potatoes from Griff’s in Pendleton. Nothing fancy! We planted them back in March as they do not like the weather too hot. We harvested them in mid-June after they started dying off. :-) Hope this helps!
@@tammyr2966 Indeed! No bug-free or weed-free gardens for anyone! 😂 We have slugs here too that nibble our transplants in the spring, but nothing like the monsters y'all have!
Deeper is probably better; but drilling companies get paid by the foot. Therefore the deeper they go; the more money for them. Not very reliable for the correct answer to the dowsing rods. I haven't used them. My dad did have a well dowsed about 40 years ago. Don't know much else about it. Thanks
I'm so glad I found this video. I've heard about the dangers of botulism and garlic and it's always made me nervous. Do you taste the citric acid at all? Thanks.
Not at all! The citric solution is drained off towards the end of the process. 😊 It’s the same ingredient that is used in the minced garlic jars at the store.
@@cottagefarmstead Thank you!
We just finished doing the same thing with our onions. I bought a chopper this year so we didn't have to do it by hand.
Definitely thought about a chopper! What style chopper did you get?
Great info thanks for sharing
Why can’t I just take the leaves off and put them in a hot cup of water?? you’re like the third video to have all these different ideas about trying to do different things and I just want to drink it right now
Can totally have it fresh! Just showing how we preserve it for winter (and sniffles season) in this video
Was with you until you started asking it questions
Everyone shitting on this method have never tried. You’ll fuck around and find out the hard way like me. Just try it or shut the fuck up
Unless you are selling seeds. You have nothing to worry about.
This is very useful information and a fun video. Thank you!
Just cross breed it with another. Now its no longer "illegal"
The more I think in this issue the more I realize these patents are along the similar lines of jay walking or other low enforced offenses. While yes it’s technically illegal, the urgency in enforcement is non existent for the most part. So as long as you either A. Have the bank account and balls to take on a Seed company(wouldn’t be hard with social media) or B. Just don’t use the patented name by legal terminology and you’ll be fine. The plant police will never come a knockin 😅
i hope so, those laws are evil
As I witness private farm co-ops getting harassed and shutdown by the government, I would not put it passed the government to use any angle to shut down even home gardens. If you recall there were governors during the lock down that forbid the selling of garden supplies in box stores just a few years back.
Cross pollination is not protected under intellectual property rights when seeds open pollinate you can save the seeds. You're mistaken about this one. Seeds are not protected in thus way
Open-pollinated seed breeders can claim intellectual property rights through either Utility Patents and Plant Variety Protections which is precisely why we made this video. We were surprised too! Here is an example of an organic-certified open-pollinated seed that is patent protected. Under hybrid status, it is listed as open-pollinated, but if you read the description you will find that is it utility patented: www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/lettuce/romaine-lettuce-cos/breen-organic-lettuce-seed-118G.html From Johnny’s Seed’s Intellectual Property Rights pamphlet: “A plant variety with a utility patent can only be used for crop production and cannot be used for seed saving to resell, give away, or replant. Under no circumstances can the variety be used in a breeding program except that of the patent holder.” Each time a farmer or gardener chooses a plant with desirable traits (such as flavor, color, etc.) from which to save seed, they are breeding that variety. Cross pollination counts as breeding. Pamphlet source: www.johnnyseeds.com/about-us/about-our-seed/understanding-utility-patents-and-pvp.html For more about intellectual property rights and seed saving protections, I would highly recommend checking out the Open Seed Source Initiative: osseeds.org/
@@cottagefarmsteadin court it can be argued that growing conditions such as soil and fertilizer, greenhouse or not, would create a different legal strain of said seed. However depends on the fine print of the patent but really depends on how bad a seed company would want to enforce by having to take legal action against an individual, which I’m sure would cause quite the backlash.
@@cottagefarmsteadalso would selling just a tomato plant. With no name as the variety fall under said patent? Maybe the said variety that’s sold by johnnys but wouldn’t be impossible for the to have a patent for just a “tomato” plant right? They have distinct varieties. So as long as the seller labels their product as simply the plant name which is not legally patented ( tomato) no specifications at all. Even then I wonder if theirs actually cases of legal action against this issue
Don't fear these companies. As long as you are not selling the seeds, do what you want with them and don't feel guilty or afraid for doing so. Someone can patent almost anything, enforcing it is another matter. They need deep pockets for that, and they are not deep enough to sniff out every backyard gardener who is saving their seeds for the next season. If you are selling them, you're on your own.
I tell myself everyday “the plant police don’t exist” 😅 but I don’t resell and no one cares about me so I don’t see myself running into these problems until food/crop shortages and restrictions occur. Not to mention plant origins are vague so as long as you sell as a no name product and not trying to market of the name it’d be hard to determine what plants or seeds came from patented packs after sowing and reharvesting. Still such an interesting topic though
Or even a compost pile volunteer weed hack. Could a court really follow through charges on someone who sold seeds from a plant that grew from a discard heap. At that point it’s not the same seed, plant, etc. seed companies use greenhouses mostly so any seeds created outside of their own wouldn’t be identical the same seed this being a completely different hybridized breeed of seed so in court it’d be very loosely gooey and really all about who your judge would be. Sorry the more I think of this the more ludicrous it would have to be to get to a court level of being arrested or fined.
Technically it says that "buyer agrees to disc up any plants..." So, how does one DISC up a plant?
Haven't been around farms or farmers too much, have you?
A disc harrow essentially rips up the top layer of plants of the soil and breaks up soil clods. Similar to a tiller.
@@swiftmaticmost of America hasn’t in the past 20 years or so… hence the disconnect in understanding the importance of where our food comes from and why many farmers face hardships and don’t receive their honest pays work.
so, another way for big business to stop people from being self sufficient.... open pollinated can mix genes from anywhere and if by SOME chance you get a patented "gene" in your seed you can be sued for damages etc., etc.... it's just another way to control farmers/gardeners. We have 2 much government and too many people have lost common sense!!!
Honestly I've seen crew members do this looking for utilities. Do I understand it. No. Can I make it work. No but. They keep doing it and it somehowb seems to work. Some how, some way. Not like shown, but. They some how find stuff that they shouldn't be able to find what the they seem to find
I love putting pumpkin seeds on my salad! And I always buy the Mother's Choice butter. We love it.
Pepitas are so good as a topping on so many things and just by themselves as a snack! 🙂
Hi Rebecca. Just dropping back in to say hi to you both. It has gotten so dry way too early here in Tennessee. We live next to a large Amish community and so many of their fields are wilting and suffering. Praying for them. We're going to need to drill a well out here on the Atwood farm. Hope y'all are well, no pun intended. 😁 Yall have a blessed week.
It is so dry and hot here too! 🥵 this was filmed about a month ago now when we were still getting regular rains. We’re hoping to add some rainwater collection here this year to help with the dry spells.
@@cottagefarmstead Yeah I've been looking into some barrels for that.
Regarding the soup, I see an addition of something after the cheese. I must have missed what this ingredient was. Can you tell us? BTW, I have made potato soup for decades (sad, I know). I'm genuinely interested in what you added toward the end.
I added some sour cream. I don’t have the recipe in front of me, but I think it is 8oz
I thought a dehydrator was not good for drying herbs as you lose the pungent flavor??
Dehydrating or air-drying herbs actually concentrates their flavor by reducing their water content, hence why recipes call for less dry herbs than fresh (usually a 1 tsp to 1tbsp ratio). When it comes to nutritional/medicinal value of herbs, the temperature can affect certain compounds. The lowest heat possible is recommended to preserve maximum nutrition. Some of the higher-moisture content herbs actually dry better in a dehydrator than just at room temperature, especially in climates like ours where the humidity levels are high. We can easily end up with moldy herbs before they fully dry at room-temp.
Obsessed with your channel! Super informative. Cant wait for more videos!!!
Welcome to the Farmstead! So glad you're here 🙂 Let us know if there is anything you'd love to learn more about!
"A bit of an IRRITANT" ? Yeah , think *LUNG CANCER* ! If you're STILL having WORMS _REPEATEDLY_ then DTE is NOT "curing" your problem . Best to revert to a PROFESSIONAL GRADE solution . Consult your Vet . *BUT* - *NO D.E.* - Not _even_ "Food Grade" . It's NOT *"SAFE"* just because its SAYS "Food Grade" and *"ORGANIC"* (!!) and the non-food grade is EVEN WORSE . *DTE also Raises SILICA DUST* when dry in feed or dry DUST baths , and this causes respiratory PROBLEMS in birds AND bird OWNERS . DTE KILLS HONEY BEES *HORRIBLY* and _PAINFULLY_ . DTE is NOT "Earth" - it's microbial *SKELETONS* . "Harmful to breathe" ?? Think SILICOSIS and *LUNG CANCER* . No short term symptoms ? Self-induced Silicosis and Lung Cancer take YEARS to develop . You probably have some on its way *NOW* . Sorry , but this is INESCAPABLE . The risk is * NOT* LOW . You are warned by the label to NOT BREATHE . Do NOT use ANY DTE with your chickens and ESPECIALLY _NOWHERE _*_NEAR_* your GARDEN , where - _you know_ - *HUMANS* FORAGE for Dinner !! Are you REALLY aware of the RISK ?? _SERIOUSLY_ ?? Doesn't SEEM so . YOU - TUBERS !! _SERIOUSLY !!_
HI Rebecca :) That peachy rose is beautiful and your garden is looking great!
Hello! Thanks! The roses have been gorgeous this year. 🙂 hope your garden is growing well!
Have you ever used red pepper flakes??
We have not! But I’ve heard others have used them
Im excited that i ran across this video.
New here and thank you for sharing this. Great info
Welcome to the farmstead! 🙂
lmao, not only do they make up shit for why it finds the location, they also talk to the fucking rods you're something else 🤣
One of my girls was acting strange and tired all the time. She had a poopy butt. I thought she might be egg bound but couldn’t feel an egg in her tummy which was bloated. I took a poop sample in to our vet and they found whip worms. Eww! I’m a bit stressed because I just cleaned out the coop and spread the natural bedding with dried poop around our fruit trees as fertilizer. Now I’m afraid I spread the whip worm around as I just learned they will live in soil and hatch! Our area rains a lot so DE may not work in the yard. Ahh what to do with the yard? The hen got prescribed Panacur. I also added garlic cloves in one waterer and drop of oregano oil in our other (gallon) waterer, and few drops ACV in a bowl with water. I will try your yogurt recipe. Thank you for sharing about cucumbers and melons. I’ll try that too!
So sorry to hear about your hen! Glad the vet was able to help her. The soil is loaded with parasites of all sorts, and a healthy flock with a good gut can usually handle them. So prevention and keeping the ladies healthy is usually the best bet! If you can spread DE on the poopy areas in your coop, that will kill off the parasites in their poop before your spread them around the yard or put in compost. If you're concerned you might have an imbalance of microbes in your soil, you could look into beneficial nematodes for your area/crops/trees to see if you can introduce more of the "good guys" :-) Hope this helps!
Beneficial Nematodes source: www.arbico-organics.com/category/beneficial-nematodes?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwu8uyBhC6ARIsAKwBGpSVBzJmf2dcdd37bDrYrk9sn_j0xTMcykBvT2wvzpK_IEAVRWS1uiYaAhSZEALw_wcB
Awesome video! Thank you!
This is super helpful!
So glad it helped! We're hoping to share numbers of how much it costs to raise meat birds soon! 🙂
Another video yay!!!
😊
I'm trying to get something like this going in our basement. Oh, I ended up turning the vegetable garden that I had rented the tiller for into a decorative vegetable garden. In my past life I was a landscape designer and that got the best of me. Y'all opened me up to a whole world I didn't know existed with Dowding and the wood chip guy. Haha Thanks again!
Totally a fan of mixing in flowers to make veggie gardens even more beautiful!
@@cottagefarmstead Awesome. Same here. Got impatiens and marigolds. Looking into companion plantings also. So much to learn coming from the city and trying to start a self sustaining homestead. Overwhelming.
@@coachtim6188 A little at a time year after year adds up! 🙂
@@cottagefarmstead God is good!
Put this on a big monitor. You can watch this chode twisting the wire
There's literally an underground ocean below you. No matter where you walk there will be water there. This is entirely ideamotor reactions. Every single step he took there he would have hit water at the same depth. Asking the rods a question? Get real
Well done keep it up. Hope you will also grow like others!😊
I have tried this on my Dad's land. I could feel the pull and whenever I would walk around I would get drawn back to that spot.
Couldn’t you just sun dry the leaves?
Would have a lot to do with the local climate. At our old house, if we didn't speed drying with a dehydrator things would mold first due to high humidity. At our new homestead, the wind is always blowing, so things blow away easily. But if you've got the ideal climate for it, sun drying totally works!
Great video! I ended up having to purchase my scoby to get started. The instructions that came with it say 2 to 7 days for a second fermentation.... Do you find that you like your kombucha with a low amount of fizz? Is that the reason for only a day of second ferm?
It will probably have a lot to do with your climate and ambient home temperature. We live in a warmer climate and our home runs about 78-80F inside this time of year. It gets plenty fizzy for us about 24 hours this time of year. We let it go a little longer in the winter, but we've had a few bottles explode from trying to go too far beyond 36 hours!
Congratulations on your pregnancy 🎉 Since you divide your house into zones, does that mean you follow the Fly Lady’s cleaning method? Just curious because I’ve seen a lot of people using that method and finding it very helpful.
Thanks!☺ I'm not super familiar with the Fly Lady method, but I did get some inspiration from the book Sidetracked Home Executives ( amzn.to/49ZTOz4 ). A bit dated with using index cards for keeping track of chores, but it's adaptable for the 21st century. I wouldn't be surprised if Fly Lady has some crossover and a lot of the "looping" and "zone" systems have similarities. Mostly it's about figuring out what works best for your home after trial and error! I'm still learning our new farmhouse and how often certain spaces need cleaning versus others, where farmer Nathan tracks in the most dirt, and so on. 😂
@@cottagefarmstead Thank you for the recommendation. I had never heard of that book so I went and ordered myself a used copy off ebay 😂 I actually own the Fly Lady's book but something about her method just wasn't working for me. I'm curious to compare the two and then like you said, I'll figure out what works best for my home. As always I really enjoy your videos and find them to be motivating. God bless and have a great day.
@@jrlpz15 I have also loved the Complete Book of Home Organization (amzn.to/3wu2kZj) and the Complete Book of Clean (amzn.to/3wlMmk2) by Toni Hammersley for tips and tricks to incorporate into housekeeping. I don't follow her cleaning schedule, but really appreciated little tweaks here and there that have made maintenance easier! I found both available at our local library. Happy cleaning! :-)
@@cottagefarmstead Yay more recommendations! Thank you so much. I’ll definitely check these out too.
I actually really enjoyed your video. The music was fun. Not too loud. Your presentation was very nice and welcoming. I will be watching again 😊
The area that did you needs a lot of topsoil😅 my tiny garden is only about a hundred square feet and I've added at least 25 bags of top soil between last year and this year and it's still pretty red. But I'm also doing without a tiller and all by hand.
Red’s not bad as long as it has enough organic matter to not turn into a brick! 😂 this video is from 2 years ago, so the soil has only continued to improve as we’ve added compost each year..😊
Never ever use a microwave oven. Unless you want cancer
Howdy Rebecca and Nathan at Cottage Farmstead. New subscriber here. So glad I found y'all. Starting our own homestead here in TN. Yeah I know, at 50 years old y'all got a jump on me but I figure better late than never. haha This is so much better than all the perfect above ground built gardens that are all over KZread. Y'all got pretty much exactly what I got. Moved to this farm last year from the city where I lived 49 years. Need all the tips I can get. Going to be building a chicken coup here in a few weeks, but this weekend's project is starting a garden in the middle of the lawn. Renting a tiller first thing in the morning. I don't have access to that much perlite. But just trying to avoid big box store bags of compost and such. We've got 12 acres of pastures of cow poop, a lot that's been sitting there for years. Can I just go scoop that up for now to amend my garden? My starter garden is only going to be 20'X16'. I'll expand it later. I've got pretty decent topsoil in the yard. Clay is not nearly as bad as what y'all have. So what else do I need to grab tomorrow? I have nothing but a lawn tonight, hopefully a garden in the next 24 hours. 😂 Thank you! I've got 50K subs over on Rumble so I'll send y'all all the subs I can.
Good morning from SC! We’ve actually come to love a hybrid of Charles Dowding and Back-to-Eden methods for getting gardens started directly on pasture/lawn or red clay. Essentially, cut the grass super short, place down 2 layers of cardboard, cover the garden beds with compost/soil about 3-4 inches, and cover the paths with 3-4 inches wood chips. The cardboard works to kill off the grass and the worms LOVE it and break it down into wormy soil underneath pretty quickly. In your instance, it might be worth just tilling your garden beds to get the topsoil and compost mixed to get started a bit faster if planting this weekend is your goal. And then cardboard and mulch your paths. These days we don't till at all anymore. Just a thin layer of compost on top each year. :-) Hope this helps! Free Cardboard sources: Post office, local dump/recycling center, grocery store, etc. Free/cheap Wood chip sources: Power companies, tree trimming crews, getchipdrop.com/ Compost Sources: we usually have had to pay for a load of this from landscaping company but it sounds like you might have a well-decomposed pile of it on hand or to at least mix into other soil to make it go further with less $$$. A few glimpses of it early in 2023 garden season videos: kzread.info/dash/bejne/louHtrNto9yflso.html We’ll also have a video in a couple weeks that shows a look at the new garden zone we got started with this same method this year.
@@cottagefarmstead Glad I read this first thing. Thank you so much. I had about decided to just buy a tiller. Had never heard of no till gardening. That is awesome. I just rented one for this first time to get it started. I'll just add to it every year from now on. The ground is so hard I can't get it to till much deeper than 3 or 4 inches though. I did strip out the lawn and put it all in my compost bin. I bought a big truckload of compost to start with, have enough for probably 2-3 inches on top of the 3 inches tilling depth. Everything online says you need to be 10 to 12 inches deep of soft dirt for a garden. Am I about to waste my time planting with it only being 6 inches deep of soft soil and compost? Going to follow your methods after this first year for sure. It's 25X20.
@@cottagefarmstead oh and the cardboard. Great idea. Picking up a bunch of that Monday.
@@cottagefarmstead After studying Charles Dowding approach, I have zero to worry about with 6 inches of awesome soil. LOL Thanks for pointing me towards him.
@@coachtim6188 6 inches is plenty deep for pretty much all crops! That gives plenty of space for the roots to develop and then the plants will probably do the work of breaking up the clay underneath for you. Tilling has its place to help get solid packed clay broken up to get started, but no-till has continued to amaze us both in our own family gardens, but also at my husband's market farm business as well. Usually by year 3 you can stick your whole hand into the dirt without hitting packed clay. Happy growing! 🙂
ABSOLUTE nonsense! That a NON-conductor “ disrupts” the magnetic field in any way, or the presence of water (or any object, for that matter), affects the magnetic field of the Earth is such a farcical concept. It’s embarrassing to anyone with even a high school education or introduction to science. It’s patently FALSE, and pseudo-science.
Perhaps try consulting an older cookbook?
Very informative and well presented video especially for new chicken owners. I’ve had hens for years and never knew all this. I do feed them Pumpkin seeds. Also a few drops of Ivermectin on the back of their necks kills the worms and mites. Most feed stores sell liquid injectable IVM.
Curious how your chicks and gosling are getting along. We just got a gosling to bond and (hopefully) guard our chicks in the future. After about 4-5 days together in the brooder, we're noticing that the gosling is pecking feathers from some of the chicks. Looking for advice to help them bond and integrate.
Sorry to hear you’re having issues with bonding! Our gosling took just fine with the chickens. Goose gets into a few squabbles with our rooster during mating season, but usually they all get along just fine. Sometimes pulling feathers is simply a sign of boredom (chickens will do it to each other too). If your chicks have access to grit, maybe try putting in greens, grass and other goodies to entertain goose and chicks? When goose was a Gosling, we would also take him out to a trough of water to let him swim some energy off occasionally.
@@cottagefarmstead thank you so much! That’s helpful info 🙏🪿💛