Woooow!!! I worked on this as part of the construction crew (in pic at 6:22) and afterwards as the hired hand for Richard. This just made me so happy to watch, now living in Hawaii, as I haven't seen this project since I moved away in 2015! Thank you so much for documenting this amazing project... Way to go Richard! You're doing it! ♥️♥️
Love how some people will complain about growing food. Like come on - its beautiful and its something everyone needs. Farmers also get a lot of complains from locals about their farms (smell, noise, etc), so ridiculous.
When we bought a tract of land, which was destined for development (literally zoned as a neighborhood, in 1-2 acre plots), I had a neighbor stop by, and ask about what we were going to be doing with the land, well, were creating a farm, so I said this...she went into a speil about the lake association, not allowing horses, etc., etc...I proceeded to tell them we're agricultural zoned, the neighborhood zoning was nullified, and we are not part of their lake association...it felt SO GOOD! We moved from Long Island, NY(the worst place ever), to rural Virginia, hoping to avoid this, but Smith Mountain Lake has attracted lots of this attitude. Why would someone prefer a neighborhood, to a small farm? Imagine 1 family with vehicles, vs. a NEIGHBORHOOD with 15 families, and their vehicles? People make no sense...
@@didntknoicouldchangethis People make no sense!!! I know I'm just a stranger but I am soooooooo happy for you!!!!! So very happy you're living such a lovely experience, and I hope the very very best for you!!!
I started planting edibles as a landscape at my house. It looks like a yard with trees and shrubs, but the trees are peaches, persimmons, and plums, and the shrubs are blueberries and currants. I have a couple grapes on trellises, and flowers that attract pollinators. Out back I have 64 square feet of raised beds around the perimeter of the yard and a 120 square foot shade house set up on the patio for potted annuals and perennials on a shelf around the edges with a nice patio table and chairs in the middle. No one minds, because it looks nice, and I get a lot of productivity out of a suburban space. I give surplus tomatoes and melons to the neighbors, which also gets them excited to see what new things I plant each year. I 100% believe that the more we can do to make our yards both productive and enjoyable, the more others will want to join in the movement towards home food gardening.
@@cristiaolson7327 I have a neighbor who did this! We do have an HOA and I hope they didn't bother her because it's gorgeous and anyway it's smart! My little starter garden is a MESS, but it's out of sight of the street.
Kirsten, you and your crew did a phenomenal job displaying Richard’s operation. I’m so grateful that you were able to get his pioneering brilliance in front of so many eyes. Yes, anyone can watch hours of UA-cam and read dozens of books. But to follow through and create a true self-run, bonded tribe community gives merit to the drive, passion, and patience required to produce such fruits.
it just is too cool how the unseated greenhouse wraps around the home, insulating it. It is a very well thought out system and it seems that he took a lot of ideas from the earthship systems. The owner is a visionary and is setting a wonderful example for that valley.
Yes, I live in an earthship in Texas in the winter months. Built it in the 2000s during the winter. You can see it here transitiontownbozeman.weebly.com/building-the-earthship-and-electric-vehicles.html
So glad to see the comfrey info. I've been using it for years not only for aiding compost build, but for breaking up poor clay/rock soil. It's so easy to grow and versatile. And now I have a term for what I've done forever: lop and drop.
Kirsten, you produce the BEST content on youtube. Im not a hippie or even a big gardener, I certainly want to be however. Your videos and the amazing people featured within them are the unmatched in our society, instead of the constant news cycle of fear and the whining that follows. You could listen to zealots and politicians all day, but the TRUE answer lays in the sentiment your content promotes. Self sufficiency means personal responsibility. Personal responsibility means stronger community. Thank you for what you do. BEST CHANNEL EVER. And again, youre my absolute favourite. I hope you and youre family are safe an content.
Such a great idea, home owners linking up with urban farmers to produce food on their property and sharing the crop. I love the sunken greenhouse too. You can quite easily distribute the heat created in the greenhouse to the living quarters using fans to 'suck' the air where it's needed.
@@kirstendirksen I love how you include your children in your videos in a natural way. You must have such fun as a family travelling around the world. I echo the other commenters. I would love for you to branch out to include more alternative growing videos.
This channel is SO relevant right now... Knowing how to be self-reliant makes communities and people resilient. Resources and goodwill are available anywhere. Use it!
Richard has a firm grasp on the best solutions for urban ag. I love what he has done! Bravo! Goji's and Goose berries... yummy! My dream is to build something like this in Wisconsin. People might has gotten the wrong idea when Richard said excess crops are thrown away. I'm sure any produce that is not used is composted so in reality it is never wasted.
Thank you Kirsten and Team for doing such great work and interviewing the coolest people on the planet - great inspiration and education for our times - I love your stuff keep up the good work!
10:37 having lost a cousin to a septic tank on my families farm with the children around I would definitely secure the cistern lid. apart from that well done and a wonderful inspiring video many thanks
Great video for greenhousers wanting to go partly underground. The automated top vents and outdoor low intake air vents are simple and perfect. Thanks, Richard for letting Kirsten film your super greenhouse setup.
This should be viral. This should be the way our neighborhoods work. I'm not allowed to have chickens and would be in serious trouble if I had a beautiful garden that showed from the road. How did this happen to people? Where are their heads? Obviously in Bozeman.
The reason most places don't allow chickens is noise. Chickens are annoying as hell, they are the avian version of yappy little dogs. Raise rabbits, the only thing you miss out on is eggs; but you get more meat.
@Truth ConvoyI assume you mean the gasoline two-stroke blowers? There are many communities that ban them, in fact. Even without bans, within a decade they will be gone in favor of electric ones simply due to the economic advantages of electric blowers over gas ones; at least on the commercial side of things.
@Truth Convoy I've had chicken on our old place (10 acres) and hens make a most wonderful sound and when they lay an egg, everyone hears about it. I found them NOT noisy but the roosters crowing is loud to people that don't like them. I just want a few hens for eggs. BUT--rules.
@@aprisia I think the lawn tractors, leaf blowers and all the gas powered devices are so much more noisy than a few hens. But we aren't allowed to have anything but a couple dogs or cats. I have a chinchilla inside that no one knows about and the waste is valuable fertilizer. I have a bird inside and the music is better than TV. I would love to have rabbits but not allowed. WHY? They want to control the land use so property values don't go down. The only ones that have things that make the value decrease are the landscaper guy that parks his heavy equipment in the yard, the man that removed every single tree as an eyesore and the owners that don't mow making waste high yards that look horrible. I think a garden with some chickens and lots of edible landscape is gorgeous but that is what I get for getting in an HOA. Was so much better off on the 10 acres.
I like this idea of because if someone is not used to gardening or doesn't know much about gardening can learn as you go with your own hands and get support which is really great and it does give us a sense of togetherness which online does not
@Mariyeen Acheege As far as I could see, they're not growing any one thing in there in big enough numbers to be a large harvest, but instead I think it was more of a "pick and mix" style of planting.
I always grew my plants mixed together in my garden. I felt plants don’t like being isolated like most humans. They are alive. Thank you for the info on what the concept is called. Enjoy it.
It looks like Richard has done an amazing transformation with the inheritance over the past couple of decades! He did an amazing job and most definitely has the mindset of living off the grid, but also helping the environment overall! It's fascinating to see how people adapt to such extreme climates and still find ways to grow plants. (Potentially -35F° outside in winter; say whaaat?!)
Richard Weaver you are genius ! Nothing worse to look at than perfect grass in place of crops, trees and bushes. Kirsten & Family, thanks for sharing this video and the awesome place and some great tips. Sharpen them knives ! Time to cook !
Kirsten, do more videos on earthships, permaculture, geothermal greenhouses, "self-sufficiency" and so on. It seems that there is an interest in this direction. It would be a great resource if you do it in great detail, and include references in the video description. Thank you.
I would agree these are topics I'd like to cover more. I have been doing a lot more homes for the past few years, but it seems there are plenty of other channels covering those, so I'd like to do more of a mix going forard. And yes, permaculture and geothermal, etc are on that list. We'll see what I can find :)
@@annoyingchannel8812 I well. I am preparing to sell our house and start. I'll be documenting everything, and very likely start a UA-cam channel to post everything I learn in the process. It'll be on the science of it all. There is so much to learn on so many topics. It'll be an awesome life long adventure. See you guys on the way :)
i wish some developer had the guts to try this in a whole subdivision. And then compare the housing values to the 'Traditional' suburban subdivisions around them.
I don't think its simply the developer, its really the apathy of the individual that suburbia mass produces. Suburbia is a cringe contrivance that we created due to our own selfishness. Also, apparently farming is hard, and suburbia doesn't like things hard.
When you buy a house in my county garden spots are advertised. My 2nd to youngest sister has a condo. Some of the condo owners wanted gardens. They were given pax a 10×10 plot to plant. The HOA will water with the grass but owners have to plant and take care of. Gardens are small but bigger than most condos allow which is nothing that can't be grown on patio
I think a subdivision designed like this would go up in value, especially in todays political climate. What amount of money could you get to leave a food providing home and enter a world where there may be shortages and contaminated food?
We just bought a townhouses in a new development. I was r to telling the builder’s realtor - who will be a neighbor- that it would be great if the builder could take an odd shape parcel that sits next to the future dog park and fence it off for a community garden for everyone. The realtor said she never heard of that around here but thought it was a good idea We’ll see if we can pull that together. I actually told her that in areas I saw it up north it helped bring the community together I’ve see one where it had 2 picnic tables set up inside the area so people could work on them and use them at the end of the day to sit around and drink wine with their fellow gardeners.
Austin, TX has a new subdivision where they do the passive heating and cooling thing for their homes but in a centralized way (forget what it is called). It's a shame they didn't extend into greenhouses and food production part as that seemed like the logical next step or have it as a custom option.
@@pauljohn3230 I think "indoor" will mean "control" in the near future. Might be interesting if the next step for agriculture is survival even if the conditions change.
@@pauljohn3230 Not impractical in warm climates because the earth can cool greenhouses that will other than be roasted at 140+ temps. Being able to protect crops from hail and heavy weather is key. It would also protect plants for the unusual low temps. Protecting crops is practical in any climate.
I live in NW Montana (I went to MT State in the late 70's-2yrs) and rant all the time about the ridiculous development up here in the Flathead, ripping out farmland and replacing with very dense subdivisions, with GRASS. Oh how I hate it so thank-you so much for what you are doing, I whole heartedly agree that all should be growing food and those that don't will come to regret. And ... subdivisions are so ugly!!! One house after another with no creativity in the architecture and design, all the same, I do not understand. We think alike.
I’m from Montana. A few things he didn’t tell you that make this more impressive. It can freeze and often does throughout the summer months tomatoes will never ripen before the first frost in the best years. And the ground is full of arsenic from the copper smelters. I tip my hat to him
Great Video! More people need to get going with food growing projects whether big or small. It is rewarding to garden, and even more so to eat the best food around. We do not need big AG with all the poisons, and destroyed soil & water sources. Seriously lawns over a food garden....upside down thinking there. So much info available these days on Permaculture, companion planting, square foot gardening, raised beds, etc. Very inspiring.
This is literally my dream home. I dont need much..just a greenhouse wrapped around my bed. Who else wants one to wake up to? Love it! All houses should consider attaching these structures to help heat the home in the winter as well that sunshine could prevent suicides that go up because of the darkness.
I absolutely love it! My In-laws live in Bozeman. I live in TN and have all my life. We here in TN, have big gardens because we have long, slow Summers! I love the Southeast!
Could you please tell me the open space beautiful places to set up a homestead? I’m planning to come see. Any suggestions? Coming from Chas and PREVIOUSLY NY.
@@lindacianchetti3599 I live in Kingsport but grew up in Church Hill which is in the county. Some people love it here, some people can't wait to leave. You've got your good and bad anywhere you go but I love TN! You don't here about people getting crazy around here too much on the news and stuff, they know better! Come on down and get ya a big glass of sweet tea!
So wonderful project and to do in climate where one would not expect possible. Wish I could volunteer. Have planted so many trees bushes flowering plants and a garden. On week ends got lost in my parklike yard recovered from huge vines of blackberries and neighbor grey water running like a stream across it. Would start at 10 a.m. and work til dusk. Amazing how fast time goes and how much time to keep it up. Loved it. To create from the products God gave us and care for them is really quite an honor.
You pissed away HOW MUCH MONEY on this greenhouse? Boy what are you going to leave your grand kids? What did I leave you and what have you done with it ?
@@agnidas5816 Uh... have you SEEN the state of the world? This man has vision and he understands the importance of COMMUNITY. He hasn't pissed anything away. He has invested in the future.
@@andreaandrea6716 I believe Mr Agni Das was creating a hypothetical situation in which the man's father stated: "You pissed away HOW MUCH MONEY on this greenhouse?"
@@RavenPHD Yes. I agree that it was prob hypothetical or joking (?) ... but still, what he did with his father's money is rather extraordinary: It isn't all about himself. He has created BEYOND himself. He HASN'T pissed his money away by building a greenhouse; in fact, he has built something LARGER; a COMMUNITY. You can't BUY that. (I'm guessing Mr Das was attempting a joke ... but jokes are actually meant to be funny, not lame. THUS my referencing the state of the planet). But thank you for trying to explain. Sometimes, because we're writing and not sitting around a table, where one can hear TONE, meaning gets lost. I now feel like I'm over-reacting. Blessings on everyone; @Agni Das & RavenPHD. !
I just watched your schist village video and had NO IDEA you’re the same creator of this video that I watched last week. Zero idea, you’re the same creator. I love it when the UA-cam algorithm gets is right and sends me something hypnotic and engaging to watch Subscribed !
This family needs to meet the family in Lincoln Nebraska, the guy with the under ground heating and cooling. He could use that technology and grow just about anything. I believe that Nebraska place was called, '' Greenhouse in the Snow''. What an amazing combo these two guys could be.
When I was growing up, everybody had a garden in the summer. People usually grew tomatoes, green beans, peas, onions, cucumbers, carrots, and squash depending on the size of the garden plot. My parents would cram as many veggies as possible into our backyard garden, and they always had enough to preserve. People really need to get back to gardening.
I wish I were younger. I have the land and would have built one of these sunken greenhouses. Much like the bank barns here. We have a steel barn which came with the property. It fries in summer and offers no warmth in winter, but the bank barns I have been in in winter have a little warmth even though only one side is underground. Same basis as our geothermal heat pump. Maybe, though, we will try this in miniature.
He should contact the disabled in their community and give the extra food to them, instead of throwing it away. I'm disabled, I love fresh vegetables but I'm unable to tend a garden, it would be nice to get some fresh vegetables, since I can't afford much fresh food.
I agree. Most trans people can volunteer to help at the farm and then get a share of the food. I'm referring to disabled people that can't physically help out and receive a share that way. The food that is wasted because of them not being able to use all the food could be donated to the disabled, or a soup kitchen and things like that. If there is a group that helps out trans teens that have been thrown out of their family home, could be another way to use the left over food at the end of the season.
@Armageddon Sinew its isnt a competition on who is more oppressed. disabled people may strughle to use the garden hence it being suggested that they get given the spares
I agree. When I heard that I thought, "Why don't they preserve the food?" There are also all the neighbors around and there may well be a food bank in town. Where I teach, we started a garden a couple years ago and the food goes to the local food bank.
Urban agriculture. Like he said and i agree. This is the direction i've been moving towards. Thank you for another terrific video, they always inspire.
This is the same concept as a "Walpini garden" (which I just recently discovered info about). And the Walpini garden method, goes back centuries. Used in many cultures. Some Walpini gardens even line the floor of the sink garden with black colored stones, to draw more heat into the air for the plants. Look it up online, there's photo galleries with many examples of a Walpini garden. This sunken garden in this video is amazing. I never thought of the possibility of growing the trees, like he shows here! That's just amazing and exciting, to think of all the different types of fruit bearing trees you can try growing in a Walpini! Wow!
Love Bozeman but my son sold so I don't visit anymore 😕 We're on the west slope and have some similar plans for our acreage. Thanks for sharing this, love it, it's the future!
Wonderful greenhouse! Wonderful initiative! I live in Brittany, France and we are lucky to have a weather where we can plant many of the plants you have in our sunken greenhouse. But we have also thought about creating a sunken green-house. About the KIWI's - to have fruit, you have to have a male and a female kiwi. You can have 5 female kiwis for 1 male kiwi. You can learn from the flowers to see if your kiwis are female or male. If you have female kiwis, you can bring a bouquet of male flowering kiwi-branches and your female kiwis will give you fruit. If the opposite, you have to buy female kiwi plants to have kiwis.
This is great. It's great to see such ingenuity alive and well in America. It has always been our strength, I think. Homeowner associations, and other real estate controls are all about aesthetics and not substance. They stifle creativity with cookie cutter blandness. If you don't like what your neighbor is doing, sell and move, or get used to it. Most housing regulations are for safety, but many of them should be recommendations rather than requirements. Especially for folks that don't want to build something to resell for profit, but rather live in for a fuller life. That is what I call..."the pursuit of happiness."
I was quite sadden to hear that they throw food away and he seemed quite proud of that. Soup kitchens, food banks etc. would be very grateful for this abundance of food. By doing this they may get extra help or spread the word of growing your own food
Agreed. Bozeman is an affluent community where housing prices are astronomical. They have a worker shortage because workers can’t afford to live there or even nearby. They have a good “co op” but you won’t find as much need for food banks and soup kitchens as in a big city with economic diversity. The fact that they were forced to spend 5-10 times on that greenhouse due to local codes is an example of the ridiculousness of Bozeman. The gorgeous farm land to the south of Bozeman will soon be infiltrated by subdivisions with wells and septic systems despite a fragile water table in the name of progress. So sad.
This is so cool. Living in a community of like-minded neighbors. Sharing the bounty and ideas on how to use or preserve the produce. Too bad there aren't more places with similar ideas. Great job 👏 Perhaps adding a woodstove would be nice to provide heat and can be used to cook if necessary. Just a wonderful use of an existing building and the greenhouse addition. Best of all, worlds.
The people in the HOA communities around us go nuts if their grass isn't watered/mowed regularly and with precision. They have no willingness to explore a more natural surrounding with native plants and trees-- very difficult for them to grasp the concept.
I'm existing in the path of such a community, behind my house where they busted through our once-quiet little cul-de-sac where a beautiful, thriving field once stood. It's heart-wrenching.
Absolutely Fantastic, what a wonderful thought out design & build. Can't get enough of this great American know how love of being resourceful ! Glad there still are smart loving people that give a crap without being over the top "into themselves" narcissist's !!!
There is another side of the story, of course. 9 out of 10 people keep their yards in good order, but the 10th one has weeds, pigs, and 33 junked cars sitting on cinder blocks.
@@claytonlynch6288 It is not their property. Regardless of any other factor, that is primary. HOAs are incredibly regressive in most cases, even stopping people from gardening, installing solar and wind, or even painting your house the color you want to paint. The fact that they have any legal authority, outside contract law, is ludicrous. This is why I will never, ever purchase any property connected to an HOA.
We met Diana and Richard in their Texas abode during a wwoof stay. It is good to see them still experimenting and moving forward with their visions and learning how to heal the Earth, community, and themselves through food and some principals of permaculture. We are glad they have been featured here. Good luck guys.
Yes, I kind of cringed when he said that (we wind up throwing some away). Why not donate to a food bank? But - Fabulous things they are doing there! Especially the communal garden. Another thing he mentioned that made me think the greenhouse would be inaccessible to the average person - it cost "$100,000" ?.
Dave W yes. I say I hat every time my earnings went to organic costs that rotted before ripening! That’s not being most efficient or highest consciousness, though. We can be better minded.
That was one thing I found wrong with his whole approach. There are good places for overproduction to help. BUT his idea of local production workers would provide jobs for informed and good workers to earn a living as well as the locals to share in the production by work hours. This is such a good neighborhood idea.
Well done !This is exactly what is needed right now fresh ways of taking back food security and creating community ! Thank you so much for all your hard work , innovative forward thinking we need lots more of this kind of thing everywhere.
Wow, I'm surprised to find the tree Gumi here. I'm originally from Japan and grew up eating those fruits from my parents' garden. I want to find that tree for my garden.
If you have kiwis, you absolutely need at the few least one male and one female. I'd recommend at least double that. That might be why he's not getting any fruits.
Every body saying that " food" that goes to compost pile is wasted doesn't know zip about gardening. I am disabled, used to be a gardener..so if I lived in his area...maybe I could supply him with worm castings. Or set up a a worm farm there and separate worms,wisps and eggs from castings...there is always things that can be done to contribute labor for crops.
Everything you need for an autonomous living of the whole family. (Which turns out to be very important in light of recent events) But above all, this is daily work! Respect!
They could donate the extras that they say go to waste to needy families especially disabled who cant work in the garden or to homeless shelters or nursing homes. Better than it going to waste. Super interesting though.
Awesome stuff thanks for the video! Question - what if instead of a single layer of matte/semi-opaque plastic you had two layers of clear plastic separated by an air layer? Would that buffer the temperature even more while letting even more sun through?
Wonder how that green house deals with any kind of snow load. Can't imagine that solex is terribly strong. Have been giving some thought to building a bermed greenhouse
Woooow!!! I worked on this as part of the construction crew (in pic at 6:22) and afterwards as the hired hand for Richard. This just made me so happy to watch, now living in Hawaii, as I haven't seen this project since I moved away in 2015! Thank you so much for documenting this amazing project... Way to go Richard! You're doing it! ♥️♥️
Iuiuuiuuuujj eh
Awesome!!
What year was the walipini built?
Love how some people will complain about growing food. Like come on - its beautiful and its something everyone needs. Farmers also get a lot of complains from locals about their farms (smell, noise, etc), so ridiculous.
👏👍
When we bought a tract of land, which was destined for development (literally zoned as a neighborhood, in 1-2 acre plots), I had a neighbor stop by, and ask about what we were going to be doing with the land, well, were creating a farm, so I said this...she went into a speil about the lake association, not allowing horses, etc., etc...I proceeded to tell them we're agricultural zoned, the neighborhood zoning was nullified, and we are not part of their lake association...it felt SO GOOD! We moved from Long Island, NY(the worst place ever), to rural Virginia, hoping to avoid this, but Smith Mountain Lake has attracted lots of this attitude.
Why would someone prefer a neighborhood, to a small farm? Imagine 1 family with vehicles, vs. a NEIGHBORHOOD with 15 families, and their vehicles? People make no sense...
@@didntknoicouldchangethis
People make no sense!!!
I know I'm just a stranger but I am soooooooo happy for you!!!!! So very happy you're living such a lovely experience, and I hope the very very best for you!!!
I started planting edibles as a landscape at my house. It looks like a yard with trees and shrubs, but the trees are peaches, persimmons, and plums, and the shrubs are blueberries and currants. I have a couple grapes on trellises, and flowers that attract pollinators. Out back I have 64 square feet of raised beds around the perimeter of the yard and a 120 square foot shade house set up on the patio for potted annuals and perennials on a shelf around the edges with a nice patio table and chairs in the middle.
No one minds, because it looks nice, and I get a lot of productivity out of a suburban space. I give surplus tomatoes and melons to the neighbors, which also gets them excited to see what new things I plant each year. I 100% believe that the more we can do to make our yards both productive and enjoyable, the more others will want to join in the movement towards home food gardening.
@@cristiaolson7327 I have a neighbor who did this! We do have an HOA and I hope they didn't bother her because it's gorgeous and anyway it's smart! My little starter garden is a MESS, but it's out of sight of the street.
I've only just discovered this channel, like a miner hitting a rich seam, a treasure trove revealed itself, absolutely brilliant!
Thank you!
I second this sentiment. I hope someday to have something that Kirsten finds vid-worthy.
Kirsten, you and your crew did a phenomenal job displaying Richard’s operation. I’m so grateful that you were able to get his pioneering brilliance in front of so many eyes. Yes, anyone can watch hours of UA-cam and read dozens of books. But to follow through and create a true self-run, bonded tribe community gives merit to the drive, passion, and patience required to produce such fruits.
it just is too cool how the unseated greenhouse wraps around the home, insulating it. It is a very well thought out system and it seems that he took a lot of ideas from the earthship systems.
The owner is a visionary and is setting a wonderful example for that valley.
Yes, I live in an earthship in Texas in the winter months. Built it in the 2000s during the winter. You can see it here transitiontownbozeman.weebly.com/building-the-earthship-and-electric-vehicles.html
Great ideas and living . Permaculture is key to taking weapon out of food. Peace be upon you. Thank you for sharing.
Except that no one lives in the house and it is dark and unheated by the sun
@@tzenophile also he did say that the heat does not transfer to the house ....he said the house is cold ...
@@clarkclarke exactly
I absolutely love the idea of a greenhouse wrapping around most of the home. I can only imagine 💜💜💜💜
So glad to see the comfrey info. I've been using it for years not only for aiding compost build, but for breaking up poor clay/rock soil. It's so easy to grow and versatile. And now I have a term for what I've done forever: lop and drop.
Its called chop and drop in permaculture...
Kirsten, you produce the BEST content on youtube. Im not a hippie or even a big gardener, I certainly want to be however. Your videos and the amazing people featured within them are the unmatched in our society, instead of the constant news cycle of fear and the whining that follows. You could listen to zealots and politicians all day, but the TRUE answer lays in the sentiment your content promotes. Self sufficiency means personal responsibility. Personal responsibility means stronger community. Thank you for what you do. BEST CHANNEL EVER. And again, youre my absolute favourite. I hope you and youre family are safe an content.
Thank you for taking the time to write. I feel lucky some very creative and resourceful people have allowed me into their homes.
Now this would make me wake up every morning with a smile.
When he said sea buckthorn, elderberry, rhubarb, I said okay, this man really has Everything. Incredible! I love it
I"m a member of a urban community garden and it is great to grow your own food together with other people .
Community gardens are so much better than corporate ones, more love goes into the food.
And I bet really help new people with the learning curve
I would come home from work, get my puppy and we both go straight to the garden.
For some reason the soil help to cure my work stress. 🥰🥰🥰🥰
@@MichaelLee-nn9fo very cool
Such a great idea, home owners linking up with urban farmers to produce food on their property and sharing the crop. I love the sunken greenhouse too. You can quite easily distribute the heat created in the greenhouse to the living quarters using fans to 'suck' the air where it's needed.
I remember when you started your channel so unique. Impressive how the channel and children have grown it's awesome.
Thanks. I'm trying to get back to more of these types of stories which were more what we started with.
Kirsten Dirksen yeah. It feels like the older ones.
@@kirstendirksen I love how you include your children in your videos in a natural way. You must have such fun as a family travelling around the world. I echo the other commenters. I would love for you to branch out to include more alternative growing videos.
This channel is SO relevant right now... Knowing how to be self-reliant makes communities and people resilient. Resources and goodwill are available anywhere. Use it!
Richard has a firm grasp on the best solutions for urban ag. I love what he has done! Bravo! Goji's and Goose berries... yummy! My dream is to build something like this in Wisconsin.
People might has gotten the wrong idea when Richard said excess crops are thrown away. I'm sure any produce that is not used is composted so in reality it is never wasted.
Thank you Kirsten and Team for doing such great work and interviewing the coolest people on the planet - great inspiration and education for our times - I love your stuff keep up the good work!
OMG!! This is exactly what I want on my property. I would love to tour his property.
ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!
Love the way he out the responsibilities of the community garden into words 😃
10:37 having lost a cousin to a septic tank on my families farm with the children around I would definitely secure the cistern lid. apart from that well done and a wonderful inspiring video many thanks
The cistern hatch is in a separate small secure room. There's typically a padlock on the door.
Great video for greenhousers wanting to go partly underground. The automated top vents and outdoor low intake air vents are simple and perfect. Thanks, Richard for letting Kirsten film your super greenhouse setup.
This should be viral. This should be the way our neighborhoods work. I'm not allowed to have chickens and would be in serious trouble if I had a beautiful garden that showed from the road. How did this happen to people? Where are their heads? Obviously in Bozeman.
The reason most places don't allow chickens is noise. Chickens are annoying as hell, they are the avian version of yappy little dogs. Raise rabbits, the only thing you miss out on is eggs; but you get more meat.
@Truth ConvoyI assume you mean the gasoline two-stroke blowers? There are many communities that ban them, in fact. Even without bans, within a decade they will be gone in favor of electric ones simply due to the economic advantages of electric blowers over gas ones; at least on the commercial side of things.
Raise meat rabbits. Rabbit pellets make instafertilizer
@Truth Convoy I've had chicken on our old place (10 acres) and hens make a most wonderful sound and when they lay an egg, everyone hears about it. I found them NOT noisy but the roosters crowing is loud to people that don't like them. I just want a few hens for eggs. BUT--rules.
@@aprisia I think the lawn tractors, leaf blowers and all the gas powered devices are so much more noisy than a few hens. But we aren't allowed to have anything but a couple dogs or cats. I have a chinchilla inside that no one knows about and the waste is valuable fertilizer. I have a bird inside and the music is better than TV. I would love to have rabbits but not allowed. WHY? They want to control the land use so property values don't go down. The only ones that have things that make the value decrease are the landscaper guy that parks his heavy equipment in the yard, the man that removed every single tree as an eyesore and the owners that don't mow making waste high yards that look horrible. I think a garden with some chickens and lots of edible landscape is gorgeous but that is what I get for getting in an HOA. Was so much better off on the 10 acres.
I like this idea of because if someone is not used to gardening or doesn't know much about gardening can learn as you go with your own hands and get support which is really great and it does give us a sense of togetherness which online does not
what a fantastic collection of edibles in that sunken greenhouse, loved seeing this, thank you.
@Mariyeen Acheege As far as I could see, they're not growing any one thing in there in big enough numbers to be a large harvest, but instead I think it was more of a "pick and mix" style of planting.
Great idea, the community gardening, working together to feed the community. Well done
We need to encourage more Victory Gardens and more knowledge about Gardens in general
hi pamela
Pamela Homeyer Yes
I always grew my plants mixed together in my garden. I felt plants don’t like being isolated like most humans. They are alive. Thank you for the info on what the concept is called. Enjoy it.
Liked Richard, honest, knowledgeable and all around good guy!
wondeful soul he is Got it right !!! The Greenhouse was a delight !!! like a Magical food garden !! Bravo Sir!!!
It looks like Richard has done an amazing transformation with the inheritance over the past couple of decades! He did an amazing job and most definitely has the mindset of living off the grid, but also helping the environment overall! It's fascinating to see how people adapt to such extreme climates and still find ways to grow plants. (Potentially -35F° outside in winter; say whaaat?!)
Richard Weaver you are genius ! Nothing worse to look at than perfect grass in place of crops, trees and bushes. Kirsten & Family, thanks for sharing this video and the awesome place and some great tips. Sharpen them knives ! Time to cook !
Kirsten, do more videos on earthships, permaculture, geothermal greenhouses, "self-sufficiency" and so on. It seems that there is an interest in this direction. It would be a great resource if you do it in great detail, and include references in the video description.
Thank you.
I would agree these are topics I'd like to cover more. I have been doing a lot more homes for the past few years, but it seems there are plenty of other channels covering those, so I'd like to do more of a mix going forard. And yes, permaculture and geothermal, etc are on that list. We'll see what I can find :)
@@kirstendirksen Wonderful!
@@annoyingchannel8812 I well. I am preparing to sell our house and start. I'll be documenting everything, and very likely start a UA-cam channel to post everything I learn in the process. It'll be on the science of it all. There is so much to learn on so many topics. It'll be an awesome life long adventure. See you guys on the way :)
See Kristen, come to Texas and see our earthships and earthbag houses and the start of our permaculture here. Richard Weaver
@@KJ99otis 20 miles west of Abilene.
Having the kids running around enjoying the fruits and low ceiling room was a nice touch. You should hire them full time.
Thanks for the wonderful world
This is about 4.5 hrs drive from me. I have plans for building a walipini here in NW MT. This is my biggest dream. Absolutely love this! Thank you!
i wish some developer had the guts to try this in a whole subdivision. And then compare the housing values to the 'Traditional' suburban subdivisions around them.
I don't think its simply the developer, its really the apathy of the individual that suburbia mass produces. Suburbia is a cringe contrivance that we created due to our own selfishness. Also, apparently farming is hard, and suburbia doesn't like things hard.
When you buy a house in my county garden spots are advertised. My 2nd to youngest sister has a condo. Some of the condo owners wanted gardens. They were given pax a 10×10 plot to plant. The HOA will water with the grass but owners have to plant and take care of. Gardens are small but bigger than most condos allow which is nothing that can't be grown on patio
I think a subdivision designed like this would go up in value, especially in todays political climate. What amount of money could you get to leave a food providing home and enter a world where there may be shortages and contaminated food?
We just bought a townhouses in a new development. I was r to telling the builder’s realtor - who will be a neighbor- that it would be great if the builder could take an odd shape parcel that sits next to the future dog park and fence it off for a community garden for everyone. The realtor said she never heard of that around here but thought it was a good idea We’ll see if we can pull that together. I actually told her that in areas I saw it up north it helped bring the community together I’ve see one where it had 2 picnic tables set up inside the area so people could work on them and use them at the end of the day to sit around and drink wine with their fellow gardeners.
Austin, TX has a new subdivision where they do the passive heating and cooling thing for their homes but in a centralized way (forget what it is called). It's a shame they didn't extend into greenhouses and food production part as that seemed like the logical next step or have it as a custom option.
Farmers farming people's yards is such a great idea. So many people don't want to garden but don't use their yards either.
yes, every community should learn indoor farming methods.
Yes, we’ll need to learn these skills so we can live on Mars.
No, that would be unnecessary and impractical in places with a warm climate.
@@pauljohn3230 I think "indoor" will mean "control" in the near future.
Might be interesting if the next step for agriculture is survival even if the conditions change.
@@pauljohn3230 Not impractical in warm climates because the earth can cool greenhouses that will other than be roasted at 140+ temps. Being able to protect crops from hail and heavy weather is key. It would also protect plants for the unusual low temps. Protecting crops is practical in any climate.
No
I live in NW Montana (I went to MT State in the late 70's-2yrs) and rant all the time about the ridiculous development up here in the Flathead, ripping out farmland and replacing with very dense subdivisions, with GRASS. Oh how I hate it so thank-you so much for what you are doing, I whole heartedly agree that all should be growing food and those that don't will come to regret. And ... subdivisions are so ugly!!! One house after another with no creativity in the architecture and design, all the same, I do not understand. We think alike.
I’m from Montana. A few things he didn’t tell you that make this more impressive. It can freeze and often does throughout the summer months tomatoes will never ripen before the first frost in the best years. And the ground is full of arsenic from the copper smelters. I tip my hat to him
This area is beautiful, lots of green and that mountain in the background.
I love the new community garden tribe philosophy. Bonded tribe and potluck. Great! Sharing the crop and the potluck dinner is amazing.
Great Video! More people need to get going with food growing projects whether big or small. It is rewarding to garden, and even more so to eat the best food around. We do not need big AG with all the poisons, and destroyed soil & water sources. Seriously lawns over a food garden....upside down thinking there. So much info available these days on Permaculture, companion planting, square foot gardening, raised beds, etc. Very inspiring.
This is literally my dream home. I dont need much..just a greenhouse wrapped around my bed. Who else wants one to wake up to? Love it! All houses should consider attaching these structures to help heat the home in the winter as well that sunshine could prevent suicides that go up because of the darkness.
Amazing greenhouse, greetings from Russia
Richard weaver is pretty brilliant with his design for this garden !!
I absolutely love it! My In-laws live in Bozeman. I live in TN and have all my life. We here in TN, have big gardens because we have long, slow Summers! I love the Southeast!
Could you please tell me the open space beautiful places to set up a homestead? I’m planning to come see. Any suggestions? Coming from Chas and PREVIOUSLY NY.
@@lindacianchetti3599 I live in Kingsport but grew up in Church Hill which is in the county. Some people love it here, some people can't wait to leave. You've got your good and bad anywhere you go but I love TN! You don't here about people getting crazy around here too much on the news and stuff, they know better! Come on down and get ya a big glass of sweet tea!
So wonderful project and to do in climate where one would not expect possible. Wish I could volunteer. Have planted so many trees bushes flowering plants and a garden. On week ends got lost in my parklike yard recovered from huge vines of blackberries and neighbor grey water running like a stream across it. Would start at 10 a.m. and work til dusk. Amazing how fast time goes and how much time to keep it up. Loved it. To create from the products God gave us and care for them is really quite an honor.
Imagine living suburb and just going accross the street to pick up fresh fruits, amazing^^
Trying to set something like this up and I got the cops called on me.
We should all do this. Absolutely beautiful and so inspiring. Thank you 💕🌎🌿🙏🏻🌍👍❤️
I'll bet his father would be fascinated by what he's done and really proud.
You pissed away HOW MUCH MONEY on this greenhouse? Boy what are you going to leave your grand kids? What did I leave you and what have you done with it ?
@@agnidas5816 Uh... have you SEEN the state of the world? This man has vision and he understands the importance of COMMUNITY. He hasn't pissed anything away. He has invested in the future.
@@andreaandrea6716 I believe Mr Agni Das was creating a hypothetical situation in which the man's father stated: "You pissed away HOW MUCH MONEY on this greenhouse?"
@@RavenPHD Yes. I agree that it was prob hypothetical or joking (?) ... but still, what he did with his father's money is rather extraordinary: It isn't all about himself. He has created BEYOND himself. He HASN'T pissed his money away by building a greenhouse; in fact, he has built something LARGER; a COMMUNITY. You can't BUY that. (I'm guessing Mr Das was attempting a joke ... but jokes are actually meant to be funny, not lame. THUS my referencing the state of the planet). But thank you for trying to explain. Sometimes, because we're writing and not sitting around a table, where one can hear TONE, meaning gets lost. I now feel like I'm over-reacting. Blessings on everyone; @Agni Das & RavenPHD. !
@@andreaandrea6716 You're absolutely correct! What he did is so amazing. Its a shame this isn't common everywhere, but hopefully that can change : )
Of all the structures I have seen using Solexx greenhouse material, this walipini is one of the most impressive! What an asset to the community!
I just watched your schist village video and had NO IDEA you’re the same creator of this video that I watched last week. Zero idea, you’re the same creator.
I love it when the UA-cam algorithm gets is right and sends me something hypnotic and engaging to watch
Subscribed !
Thank you!
Love this guy.... "moving from high tech to low tech" Thnaks!!
this is exactly how I want my house to turn out to be, year round growing and year round selling of what I grow. Amazingly awesome
I love what they are doing here, so much diversity in their garden. I would love to have something like this to work on.
Love it..."not typical HOA material." 🌻🌻🌻🌻
Just LOVE YOUR SHOWS! TY & GOD BLESS YOUR GOOD WORKS!
This family needs to meet the family in Lincoln Nebraska, the guy with the under ground heating and cooling. He could use that technology and grow just about anything. I believe that Nebraska place was called, '' Greenhouse in the Snow''. What an amazing combo these two guys could be.
Citrus in the Snow.
The name of the video you're talking about is "Nebraska retiree uses earths's heat to grow oranges in snow."
When I was growing up, everybody had a garden in the summer. People usually grew tomatoes, green beans, peas, onions, cucumbers, carrots, and squash depending on the size of the garden plot. My parents would cram as many veggies as possible into our backyard garden, and they always had enough to preserve. People really need to get back to gardening.
I wish I were younger. I have the land and would have built one of these sunken greenhouses. Much like the bank barns here. We have a steel barn which came with the property. It fries in summer and offers no warmth in winter, but the bank barns I have been in in winter have a little warmth even though only one side is underground. Same basis as our geothermal heat pump. Maybe, though, we will try this in miniature.
The idea of a community garden is absolutely wonderful!
He should contact the disabled in their community and give the extra food to them, instead of throwing it away. I'm disabled, I love fresh vegetables but I'm unable to tend a garden, it would be nice to get some fresh vegetables, since I can't afford much fresh food.
@Armageddon Sinew my son-in-law is trans, so I'm not even going to get into Trans rights with you.
I agree. Most trans people can volunteer to help at the farm and then get a share of the food. I'm referring to disabled people that can't physically help out and receive a share that way. The food that is wasted because of them not being able to use all the food could be donated to the disabled, or a soup kitchen and things like that. If there is a group that helps out trans teens that have been thrown out of their family home, could be another way to use the left over food at the end of the season.
@Armageddon Sinew its isnt a competition on who is more oppressed. disabled people may strughle to use the garden hence it being suggested that they get given the spares
@Armageddon Sinew Seriously? What are you? 10?
I agree. When I heard that I thought, "Why don't they preserve the food?" There are also all the neighbors around and there may well be a food bank in town. Where I teach, we started a garden a couple years ago and the food goes to the local food bank.
Urban agriculture. Like he said and i agree. This is the direction i've been moving towards.
Thank you for another terrific video, they always inspire.
as dire times are on the horizon i hope this kind living could be the future!
This is the same concept as a "Walpini garden" (which I just recently discovered info about). And the Walpini garden method, goes back centuries. Used in many cultures. Some Walpini gardens even line the floor of the sink garden with black colored stones, to draw more heat into the air for the plants. Look it up online, there's photo galleries with many examples of a Walpini garden.
This sunken garden in this video is amazing. I never thought of the possibility of growing the trees, like he shows here! That's just amazing and exciting, to think of all the different types of fruit bearing trees you can try growing in a Walpini! Wow!
Love Bozeman but my son sold so I don't visit anymore 😕
We're on the west slope and have some similar plans for our acreage.
Thanks for sharing this, love it, it's the future!
Wonderful greenhouse! Wonderful initiative! I live in Brittany, France and we are lucky to have a weather where we can plant many of the plants you have in our sunken greenhouse. But we have also thought about creating a sunken green-house.
About the KIWI's - to have fruit, you have to have a male and a female kiwi. You can have 5 female kiwis for 1 male kiwi. You can learn from the flowers to see if your kiwis are female or male. If you have female kiwis, you can bring a bouquet of male flowering kiwi-branches and your female kiwis will give you fruit. If the opposite, you have to buy female kiwi plants to have kiwis.
This is Wonderful! Really inspiring. Thanks.
The walls of the raised beds are so beautiful.
Looks amazing. Would love to build one some time in the future. My greenhouse is a bit sunken into the ground, but not so much as this one.
This is great. It's great to see such ingenuity alive and well in America. It has always been our strength, I think. Homeowner associations, and other real estate controls are all about aesthetics and not substance. They stifle creativity with cookie cutter blandness. If you don't like what your neighbor is doing, sell and move, or get used to it. Most housing regulations are for safety, but many of them should be recommendations rather than requirements. Especially for folks that don't want to build something to resell for profit, but rather live in for a fuller life. That is what I call..."the pursuit of happiness."
I was quite sadden to hear that they throw food away and he seemed quite proud of that. Soup kitchens, food banks etc. would be very grateful for this abundance of food. By doing this they may get extra help or spread the word of growing your own food
Agreed. Bozeman is an affluent community where housing prices are astronomical. They have a worker shortage because workers can’t afford to live there or even nearby. They have a good “co op” but you won’t find as much need for food banks and soup kitchens as in a big city with economic diversity. The fact that they were forced to spend 5-10 times on that greenhouse due to local codes is an example of the ridiculousness of Bozeman. The gorgeous farm land to the south of Bozeman will soon be infiltrated by subdivisions with wells and septic systems despite a fragile water table in the name of progress. So sad.
This is so cool. Living in a community of like-minded neighbors. Sharing the bounty and ideas on how to use or preserve the produce. Too bad there aren't more places with similar ideas. Great job 👏
Perhaps adding a woodstove would be nice to provide heat and can be used to cook if necessary. Just a wonderful use of an existing building and the greenhouse addition. Best of all, worlds.
I'm a huge fan of permaculture. every neighborhood should have have one.
Keep in mind this is a garden - not a permaculture forest. They are throwing the term around but not applying it.
racist
This is a excellent example of sustainability👍👍👍
Love This! Thank-You!! ☆☆☆☆☆♡☆☆☆☆☆
This was magnificent. Wish I could talk to this guy for hours.....
The people in the HOA communities around us go nuts if their grass isn't watered/mowed regularly and with precision. They have no willingness to explore a more natural surrounding with native plants and trees-- very difficult for them to grasp the concept.
That is how they put people inside of the box
I'm existing in the path of such a community, behind my house where they busted through our once-quiet little cul-de-sac where a beautiful, thriving field once stood. It's heart-wrenching.
They should not exist
They are always worried about their property value.
My HOA has gone so far as to require grass and NO natural landscaping.
Absolutely Fantastic, what a wonderful thought out design & build.
Can't get enough of this great American know how love of being resourceful !
Glad there still are smart loving people that give a crap without being over the top "into themselves" narcissist's !!!
I can't imagine someone telling me what I can or can't do on my own property, especially when it comes to gardening. HOA seems a weird idea to me
Exactly ....... They shouldn't exist
There is another side of the story, of course. 9 out of 10 people keep their yards in good order, but the 10th one has weeds, pigs, and 33 junked cars sitting on cinder blocks.
I hate them also, just another entity to tell you what to do. However they are a defense against property value decline
@@claytonlynch6288 It is not their property. Regardless of any other factor, that is primary. HOAs are incredibly regressive in most cases, even stopping people from gardening, installing solar and wind, or even painting your house the color you want to paint. The fact that they have any legal authority, outside contract law, is ludicrous.
This is why I will never, ever purchase any property connected to an HOA.
@@jeremynv89523 I would be happy to have neighbors with weeds and pigs.
Better the four legged pigs than the two legged ones that run HOAs.
What you are doing is fantastic !
Thank You !
EARTHSHIP IN TEXAS WHEW HOO! KEEP SPREADING THE MESSAGE, BROTHER!
AMEN 🙏🏽 👍 ❤️
I can only dream of living with that much green in my home.
Thank you for sharing.
The way of the future❣️
We met Diana and Richard in their Texas abode during a wwoof stay. It is good to see them still experimenting and moving forward with their visions and learning how to heal the Earth, community, and themselves through food and some principals of permaculture. We are glad they have been featured here. Good luck guys.
This is leading a nation. With the exception of, “we wind up throwing some away.”
........ but even stuff "thrown away" is actually fertiliser!
Yes, I kind of cringed when he said that (we wind up throwing some away). Why not donate to a food bank? But - Fabulous things they are doing there! Especially the communal garden. Another thing he mentioned that made me think the greenhouse would be inaccessible to the average person - it cost "$100,000" ?.
Dave W yes. I say I hat every time my earnings went to organic costs that rotted before ripening! That’s not being most efficient or highest consciousness, though. We can be better minded.
That was one thing I found wrong with his whole approach. There are good places for overproduction to help. BUT his idea of local production workers would provide jobs for informed and good workers to earn a living as well as the locals to share in the production by work hours. This is such a good neighborhood idea.
We throw it away to the food bank, compost bin or chickens, we do not have it go to the land fill.
Well done !This is exactly what is needed right now fresh ways of taking back food security and creating community ! Thank you so much for all your hard work , innovative forward thinking we need lots more of this kind of thing everywhere.
Wow, I'm surprised to find the tree Gumi here. I'm originally from Japan and grew up eating those fruits from my parents' garden. I want to find that tree for my garden.
I love watching this channel. its my daily dose of Internet 💕 ,learned a lot from you people. 👏
If you have kiwis, you absolutely need at the few least one male and one female. I'd recommend at least double that. That might be why he's not getting any fruits.
true!
A thinker. It's a reproduction error
Yes, in Vancouver this old neighbor who has plenty of kiwis fruitsss. We have only 2 short month of summer
Nice, passively watching/ listening to greenhouse videos. Always happy to hear my Hometown mentioned :)
Every body saying that " food" that goes to compost pile is wasted doesn't know zip about gardening. I am disabled, used to be a gardener..so if I lived in his area...maybe I could supply him with worm castings. Or set up a a worm farm there and separate worms,wisps and eggs from castings...there is always things that can be done to contribute labor for crops.
Everything you need for an autonomous living of the whole family. (Which turns out to be very important in light of recent events) But above all, this is daily work! Respect!
They could donate the extras that they say go to waste to needy families especially disabled who cant work in the garden or to homeless shelters or nursing homes. Better than it going to waste.
Super interesting though.
It's probably composted. Not wasted.
@@uol1051 well it could be put to use helping others as well....there is always plenty to compost
@A Dash Of Dana you are probably right...it is sad
Yes we donated some of the food to the local food bank this year. Rest goes in the compost bin.
@@ricardoweaver1287 that is wonderful
This is nothing short of AWESOME! So well kept too!
Awesome stuff thanks for the video! Question - what if instead of a single layer of matte/semi-opaque plastic you had two layers of clear plastic separated by an air layer? Would that buffer the temperature even more while letting even more sun through?
Excellent! Nice way to show how farming can be adapted to various climates.
Wonder how that green house deals with any kind of snow load. Can't imagine that solex is terribly strong. Have been giving some thought to building a bermed greenhouse
Thank you for this. What an amazing accomplishment.
No till permaculture, love it!