It never ceases to surprise me that there are people expending energy to criticize and diminish rather than celebrate and seek abundance. I'm happy to see you let that slide right off of you. Their negativity is not your burden to carry.
Daniel’s music is such a huge part of this channel for me. I’m struck by it continually. Sometimes if I’m looking through my own seeds or weeding I go to his channel and listen. It’s like a much loved garden tool. ☺️
This year, my pear tree, that usually gives me hundreds of pounds of fruit, lost its blossoms to a storm. I was already feeling the overwhelm of all of our apples and plums, and I remember thinking, "oh, thank God, I won't have to deal with all those pears this year." We just do what we can, with the time and energy that we have.
Last our very old, very large apple tree gave us about 100lbs of fruit. Friends and neighbors knew, if the apple picker is propped up by the fence and bags are hung on the wash line, please help yourself! This year we got nothing. It needs pruned back hard but we just didn't find the time last fall. You're right. We just do what we can. ❤
I imagine when your kids start to approach adulthood, it feels a lot like a September garden. You’ve spent all this time cultivating this life and now you get to watch it do what it’s going to do all its own. ❤
The fact that ALL farms have so much food that does not get eaten by people is something lots of people don’t know about. Since I have TikTok I have noticed that happens. I see lots of fallen fruits and those are the natural fertilizer the ground needs. 😊❤
Forget the criticisms !! You are a blessing to us all, we are lucky that you choose to share as much as you do with us! Negative Nancies can be composted :)
Another way to look at the late summer abundance is nature providing next year's volunteers. I know you celebrate volunteers in the garden and that doesn't seem wasteful at all. Enjoy the change of seasons ❤
Jess, you don't know me but you've held my hand through some of the most horendous times in my life just by showing up and being you! I'm working hard to be able to pay that forward. Love ya!
So so glad you did this video! Just yesterday - when I was exhausted and overwhelmed (and thankful) by the abundance my garden has produced this year - I caught myself trying to pick every single cherry tomato that was ripe and I realized, wait! The bugs and birds and compost can benefit by those fruits that fell and split and didn't get picked and processed by me! There is no such thing as "wasted" in the garden :)
Garden food waste doesn’t exist! Yessss 8:30 about garden “food waste”. It gets cycled back into compost. Maybe slightly unpopular opinion but I’d rather compost most of my “extra” produce. When I give the produce away it becomes extra “labor”, plus that’s food scraps that I don’t receive back for my compost.
Jess, I think it's this video I meant to leave a comment on a week or so ago. I gardened in SW Colorado at 7,000 ft in a fairly small space (due to deer pressure - fencing was critical and we couldn't afford a lot of it) for 10 years while working full time. I then moved to SE Washington, with an increase of about 70 days of growing season and a larger area and way less deer pressure, and I started out growing ALL OF THE THINGS 12 years ago, and turned it into a small business. And sold at farmers markets, and had a commercial kitchen to offer value added products. And for a while, I kept growing all of the things. It took me a while to finally realize that my squirrel tendencies had left us with about a years worth of dried, canned and frozen foods, that I was mostly eating fresh seasonally, and so we weren't really getting through the preserved stuff all that fast. I also hit a wall with the business where I realized I either needed to go bigger (invest in a much larger space, and get employees) or scale back, because I'm 58, and I now knew exactly what I can grow and process on my own, if I go full tilt all season. I was EXHAUSTED and honestly, not making that much $ for the amount of work I was doing. I've now scaled back considerably. I don't regret exploring that MORE looked like. But I am choosing (and have the financial luxury) to slow down at this point. Downsized away from our sheep, our rabbits, reduced poultry flock size by about half, planted a MUCH smaller garden. I think when you've wanted more space for a long time, you can't really conceive of what "enough" looks like. But you've reached the same conclusion as I have. It's a new season. And there's nothing wrong with that!
@@stormienotstormy 😂😂 yea I thought it was a leaf or something but when it fluttered around I thought “she’s about to notice the little guy!” 😂 too funny lol, I was surprised no one else commented about that!
Time for all of us to let go of shame and should. The earth is very abundant. Not getting pressured into picking every last thing has always been part of the joy of doing it for me.
Jess my mom and dad used to get us to gather blkeyed and purple hull and cowpeas and we would shell them and put them in a big pillowcase, tie it up, and put it in the freezer. Then mom would send me to the freezer to untie the pillowcase, and dip what we would fix for supper. Dont know if yall put up peas in a cotton pillowcase without washing them til you were about to cook them but we did. Harvest time was just so busy!
Jess, there's always be the naysayers. There's so many of us that enjoy ALL that YOU share with us always looking forward for the next episode. Keeping ALL of in prayer
The garden tour videos are my favorite regardless of the season or state of the garden. I especially love seeing how you guys handle problems and issues. I have learned so much from how you overcame those challenges.
Honestly, it's a total pleasure to see your beautiful, productive mess of a garden. Our garden was a total fail this year and I'm feeling pretty bummed about it all, so seeing your incredibly productive mess is really uplifting to me. Thank you for sharing it with us. I'm looking forward to seeing how you regroup and change things up for the spring. Should be really interesting. You're so appreciated!
Jess, I would love a video on The Farmer’s Table of ways to eat Jerusalem Artichokes! I have never grown them, simply because I’ve only really eaten them as canned. Much love from Spartanburg! ❤
Seeing your garden jungle helps me to feel less discouraged and overwhelmed. I'm try not to do a little something after work every night because the weather isn't cooperating on my days off
I'm glad you did this video. I'd usually be obsessing over my own garden, but life intervened. Our baby came 3 months early, and we've been living in a Ronald Mcdonald House every since. This does soothe the ache of no garden 💚
Jess.... can I please just take a moment to say how much I appreciate your channel being about what you do, even in the quiet parts where we just hear you driving the land, the cows mooing, the roosters crowing. Today I have finally unsubbed from 2 channels that fill all of the parts in between with LOUD, BLARING LOUD, music that is not even music I can stand to listen to. Constantly regulating the volume button while trying to watch a video and having to mute and go back because I missed where the talking started again.. UGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH. Your channel is so pleasant, calming, and positive. I feel better off for having watched you, every time. You have taught me so much about gardening, canning, cooking, and living a peaceful life. ~~Thank you!!!
OMGoodness. Just started watching your channel…. Thanks Ben and Meg. Your garden is beautiful. I really appreciate your sharing and hard work. Going to binge watch the past ones you have posted. Can’t wait to follow your story, nice to find a real person, interesting, intelligent, kind. I am picky about those I share my time with. Just wanted to say thanks to you and your family for the time you share. I am just beginning to understand the time spent for the family’s to post content and open up to the negative things that people dump just to be mean. This was up lifting to watch in the wake of the horrific storm Helene. Thanks
You feed many many people and bless those around you with food as well. And when the plants and their fruits leave the garden beds, they’ll bless the animals and soil. I’m grateful to see you share the realities of an abundant if imperfect garden…we’re all imperfect people. And that’s wonderful too.
Love you standing up for yourself to people complaining about you wasting your own vegetables. People that have that much time on their hands, has no clue. This is my first huge pepper year. I can not possibly use them all. Having said that, many years I planted Alot, but had a low harvest. So we have no clue on what kind of harvest on what vegetables we are going to have. Don't listen to mean people. You can walk through your loaded garden and feel great. I want to see your loaded plants.
Bc of a video you posted years ago I feel allowed to let my garden to go wild to appreciate it in late August and it’s now my favorite time in the garden! ❤
Jess- I’ve been watching since that first garden tour so many years ago. Thank you for showing things you don’t get done. This year my health has made gardening challenging and often not an option, but God is gracious. When I do plant or harvest, it’s a gift. Anyway, living in freedom and grace encourages others to do the same (and sometimes it’s a battle and we need the encouragement.) Also, kudos on prioritizing family always. Eggplants may not keep, but goodness knows our young children don’t keep either, so prioritizing them is a gift we give them and ourselves. As always, you inspire me. Thanks for letting your light shine from a sister in Christ. I bless you!💜🙏🏼
Love the wild garden. I only get a few weeks of harvests due to short season, and I can get overwhelmed with what comes in. I can't imagine the volume and the burnout from a few months worth of harvest. At least any fruit left in the garden has a good chance of becoming next years volunteers. We have had one light frost already and the killing one will happen by the end of Sept, so I will take a deep breath and keep enjoying the garden full of food and wildness until it is gone for another year.
Jess, you are such a blessing to me. You have given me the confidence to be an imperfect gardener, mother and child of God. From my ADHD people pleasing heart, I thank you. ❤️❤️❤️
No matter how hard you try to pick, you can never not lose some. My compost bin appreciate it. I can only do so much. Don't let people criticize you, your kids are the most important thing. The rest is just stuff
One thing that I like about this video that people can see how many vines and foliage exist st the end of gardening season. There will be a MASSIVE amount of work just getting the garden out! I wish that some channel would show that:)
There will always be those who criticize! That is the worst type of waste, not your garden. There is nothing as beautiful as the first fruits of the spring and summer garden, but that fruit that survives the harshness of summer and waits to be found is the most rewarding when at last it is found and its purpose is fulfilled. Oh the saddest are those who sit and criticize others undone missions, for their lack of zest to embark even the slightest of task lends no reward at all; here on earth or in the hereafter.
What an amazingly good problem to have, more abundance than you know what to do with/ have the energy to do anything with! I always love your videos, seeing the abundance you have been able to cultivate and you always have the best attitude about everything!! I absolutely love to see it, you are an inspiration to me and my gardening aspirations!!
My husband asked me if I watch you so I don’t get discouraged. I have been gardening for almost 15 years here in SW Florida. Although people say we can’t garden here in the summer, I have found your videos to be inspiring. You can grow in the summer. It’s just a wild mess. I do get discouraged, but somehow, you always make me feel better about my garden mess. Thanks for your videos. They truly inspire me (year after year).
Hi Jess,l don't comment very often sorry 😊 but lve followed you for about 12years.lve had lots of good tips and information from you about gardening and life over the years thankyou.Just wanted to say hello ,you are such a beautiful person inside and out and your videos bring me so much joy and happiness thankyou again ❤ Joyce uk England.
Thank you so much for helping me feel better about the “wasted” food. It’s really been weighing on me lately to the point where I’m like ready to not garden at all. I need to hear this. Although I do my best to use up everything I can, I now feel better about not being able to use it ALL all the time. ❤
This very well could be, my ALL TIME FAVORITE Roots & Refuge - Garden Tour video ever!!! I love the wilderness of a late summer garden. Its a beautiful fruitful jungle in there Jess!!! 😂🙌💯
❤️Just because we watch and learn thru your eyes does not give anyone the right to pass judgement. Judgey does not lend to growth to our soul in a productive way…I love your show and look forward to our walks❤
The surplus is never too much. In nature there is no waste. Everything is recycled and rotten surplus is compost and food for the microbes. Even at this time of the year your food abundance is awsome. I am just envious.😊
I’m hoping we have a better fall garden than our summer garden this year. We had a ton of pest pressure and hardly grew any food. It’s awesome to be able to see the possibilities through your channel and keeps us from giving up 👍
What a beautiful garden!! What an amazing bounty. I can tell summer produce must have been glorious. I love your approach to the garden and the excess. Thank you for sharing!
When you are talking and the guineas walk by, it reminds me of that old vaudeville gag where some stage hand walks by in the background with a potted plant randomly. cracks me up. what can I say, I'm easily amused. :)
My garden is such a mess, but your mom is so right - there is so much harvest when we just go look for it. I see your garden as beautiful, even in its crazy!
Thanks for sharing your wild and beautiful garden, fruit and vegetables left on the plants are how we get seeds and mother nature in all her glory will send the wildlife to enjoy the fruits of your labour and that's where the volunteers come from. ❤
I feel better. My garden looks like yours and was feeling overwhelm and sad about it. It’s ok. I got a lot out of it and will make it bigger next year knowing it’s ok when it gets wild. Thanks for showing this beautiful mess. Love.
Always a pleasure! The forest does not scale back its growth and I'll never forget hiking. It just hit me that only God knows and sees much of the wild places. I think he must enjoy those peaceful, wild places. Maybe we should too. Thank you Jess!❤
Loved the tour, Jess...and your dress. That color is so flattering for your skin tone and hair color! Everything's so lush and yet nearing the end of most of their growth cycle. How nice to see what Jerusalem Artichokes look like when grown in tubs. I didn't know they grew so tall. Those tubs must be packed with 'chokes! They are so invasive if not contained. I think you might do better in bigger pots, though, so you'll get larger tubers. Re: leaving the shade cloth up over winter, it might degrade, becoming more likely to get torn or strain the structure that holds them up, if you get several inches of snow a few times over winter. I don't know this from experience - or how those panels are held up, but it just seems like it might cause less potential grief if removed before burdened by snow. OK, "now back to the show." Seeing & hearing the line of Ginnea hens making a bee line to somewhere in the background as you wrapped up was a real treat. 😊
I do not feel bad at all about the disaster my garden is or food I did not pick. I planted it, I work full time, I’m old and slow and live in the south. Arkansas. It’s hot and humid. Health, children and other obligations happen every year and sometimes you just don’t feel well. I also had blight really bad this year and squirrels take a tomatoes. Keep it real. We love your wild chaotic garden and love you.
Thank you, Jess! I really appreciate whenever you show us what, where, and why you planted what you did. I'm still learning container gardening. I'm trying to decide what to plant for the fall, winter and early spring with a frost date of mid December. There's a lot of choices, however, I only plant what we eat due to sensitivities to nightshades. Again, thank you! Your garden tours are a wealth of information!
I am so grateful for how you validate my feelings about my garden. I love it so very much, but have had some years of great overwhelm because of things like blight, powdery mildew and aggressively wild plants. I am learning to just accept that in our climate in Hawaii where fungal diseases never get killed off, and the humidity and warm weather are year round, my plants will succumb to the diseases and it is okay. I am learning to stop trying to keep diseased plants limping along and pull them out to make room for new plants.
I enjoy seeing the chaos after the pristine beginning. It lets me know that it’s ok for it not to be perfect because it’s naturally supposed to look that way. God bless! ❤
Loved this video. You have more growing now than my garden did this entire year. We have been over 100 + for the full summer so not much produced other than squash. Just about 2-3 cherry tomatoes every week. Not a good year for this one but really love watering and watching how things grow/don’t grow. Flowers and hearts coming your way. 💐❤️
Hey Jess, I don't know if you've ever seen or tried it, but I put mint in my salsa and its DELICIOUS! I roast my tomatoes along with onion and jalepeno. Then blend them with salt, cilantro and mint. It's so refreshing and I'm so excited to be growing the ingredients at home now 😊
My garden looks just like yours! And I always kind of love it. My husband and boys recently surprised me and weeded the 3 ft weeds while i was on a trip. Now it’s all ready for fall planting.
I love your garden. I really love your style, casual and dedicated. You continue to inspire me for many years. I hope you continue this awesome channel. ❤ God bless you and your family Jess.
OMG😂 I laughed so hard when you brought up Peppergate! I bought only 2 pepper seed packets; Carnival Bell, and lunchbox snackers, and grew banana peppers that sadly ( for me) weren’t sweet they were HOT! I was so baffled, thanks for solving that mystery!!!!
I bought purple bell seeds and got the hot peppers, too. They weren't just hot....they were HOTTTTTTTT!!! I can't do hot, and it's just me, so rather than waste the space and the water, I ripped the plants out at the end of June.
I bought what I thought were sweet banana peppers, intending to pickle them, and ended up with some unholy cross with Hot Hungarian Wax, which I found out when I gave one to a friend's child, who took a bite, paused, and gave me the dirtiest look as she said, "Excuse me, that is NOT a sweet pepper." Thankfully the rest of my peppers were what I intended to grow.
I have guilt wasting food (Jess is helping me work on that) even if it’s inedible to me! One son-in-law likes hot so made him some hot pepper relish. Dang though, nasty surprise!
@georgianamcglinchey573 if it wasn't what I planted AND I can't eat it, I don't feel guilty. I am a senior and have spent years feeling bad about things that weren't even my doing. I be darned if I am going to spent one single second feeling guilty about 4 pepper plants being ripped up so that I could plant something I could enjoy in its place. There's lots to be concerned about in this world, and lots to be thankful for and enjoy. I prefer to do more enjoying with the time I have left.
It is a sad thing,in this day and time, that it has to be explained to people how that food is part of a cycle that keeps your farm regenerating.In short,it turns into eggs and bacon and meat that feeds other people as well as your own family.Do not,Jess,feel as you need to explain or justify yourself,most get it.Those people who negate such things need to spend time educating themselves on such things instead of instantly judging on things they do not understand. I do the same things as you,I find other ways to use things if I can't,and my hens love everything they get gifted.
Re this time of year, I totally do the same thing - harvest what I need and leave 😒 the mess. Re bitter gourd. The way we use it is- cut into small chunks, sprinkle salt and turmeric on it. The was and drain and sauté or fry - they taste quite yummy and are v good for you. Especially with control of sugar.
Hey there Jess, I’m new to gardening, just started in the spring, and came across your page while researching how to harden off seedlings, anyway I just want to say thanks for sharing what your garden looks like at the end of the season, it is helping me plan what I want to try to plant next season and how much room I may need. Also I love your casual approach, I fee like I have the same attitude towards gardening, if I get something great, and if not that’s ok too. Hopefully in a few years I will get an abundance of fruits and be able to give some away or just let them go to “waste”. Blessing to you!
Wow so interesting Jess as we here in Sub-Tropical Queensland Australia we let our garden rest sort of, we can grow some things but the heat is so extreme- I luckily have a large shade sail over main garden but still they suffer. Great Video Jess Thank you cheers Denise- Australia
I'm letting chaos reign in a lot of my garden-harvesting what I can, getting ready for the Fall stuff. It still fills me up to bring food into my kitchen that I grew. I love your cottage garden. The Sunchokes are so tasty, great sub for taters for a diabetic
Love to see.your garden❤ I gave up weeding, its too hot. Using heat and drought to ripen my tomatoes so I can pull and start Autumn crops and cover.crop.
I’m still getting tons of shishito’s off of two pepper plants! I have several tomatoes on a plant that I am probably going to bring in and let them turn. There is basil everywhere. And these terrible grasshoppers. I can’t stand them. They’re loud and they’re huge. I always love walking through the garden with you. Have a wonderful week.
I love the wild! Thank you for sharing. Note: if you haven’t tried Jerusalem artichoke make sure you taste it before you plant it! Acquired taste, for sure.
It never ceases to surprise me that there are people expending energy to criticize and diminish rather than celebrate and seek abundance. I'm happy to see you let that slide right off of you. Their negativity is not your burden to carry.
@karenl7786 how true 👍
I'm sure they don't have gardens because if they were gardening they would know how hard it is to keep up with the harvest.
Beautifully said, thanks Karen ❤❤❤
Daniel’s music is such a huge part of this channel for me. I’m struck by it continually. Sometimes if I’m looking through my own seeds or weeding I go to his channel and listen. It’s like a much loved garden tool. ☺️
Perhaps if more people approached their gardens casually, they would grow joyfully ❤
Preach!
@@RootsandRefugeFarm Thanks for the reminder of your shade cloth Jess. I'm heading over to Miah's channel for an updated product review 😃
Found it, lol, and left a comment.
This year, my pear tree, that usually gives me hundreds of pounds of fruit, lost its blossoms to a storm. I was already feeling the overwhelm of all of our apples and plums, and I remember thinking, "oh, thank God, I won't have to deal with all those pears this year." We just do what we can, with the time and energy that we have.
I lost my peach tree to a wind storm this year. Had several trees uprooted. But I will miss the peaches.
Last our very old, very large apple tree gave us about 100lbs of fruit. Friends and neighbors knew, if the apple picker is propped up by the fence and bags are hung on the wash line, please help yourself! This year we got nothing. It needs pruned back hard but we just didn't find the time last fall. You're right. We just do what we can. ❤
Amen
You always get what you deserve. Sounds like you’ve been not nice to others. Hm.
@@d.w.9394what is wrong with you?
I love how validated I become myself when I listen to you.
Every single video I hear you say something that makes me feel more human.
Yes! ❤
Me too.
This! 💜
@@jamiewhittle6300 l love it when Jess calls us her Darlings,makes me feel good and loved.
Yep yep yep. She has saved my butt spent times
I imagine when your kids start to approach adulthood, it feels a lot like a September garden. You’ve spent all this time cultivating this life and now you get to watch it do what it’s going to do all its own. ❤
The fact that ALL farms have so much food that does not get eaten by people is something lots of people don’t know about. Since I have TikTok I have noticed that happens. I see lots of fallen fruits and those are the natural fertilizer the ground needs. 😊❤
Forget the criticisms !! You are a blessing to us all, we are lucky that you choose to share as much as you do with us! Negative Nancies can be composted :)
How do people expect to nourish their soil if they never let anything rot?
Another way to look at the late summer abundance is nature providing next year's volunteers. I know you celebrate volunteers in the garden and that doesn't seem wasteful at all. Enjoy the change of seasons ❤
Jess, you don't know me but you've held my hand through some of the most horendous times in my life just by showing up and being you! I'm working hard to be able to pay that forward. Love ya!
She really picks me up that's for sure.
I've seen the pinterest spots with very manicured gardens and would much rather have my sweet tea in your garden any day❤🎉😅😊😊😊😊❤❤
So so glad you did this video! Just yesterday - when I was exhausted and overwhelmed (and thankful) by the abundance my garden has produced this year - I caught myself trying to pick every single cherry tomato that was ripe and I realized, wait! The bugs and birds and compost can benefit by those fruits that fell and split and didn't get picked and processed by me! There is no such thing as "wasted" in the garden :)
Garden food waste doesn’t exist! Yessss 8:30 about garden “food waste”. It gets cycled back into compost. Maybe slightly unpopular opinion but I’d rather compost most of my “extra” produce. When I give the produce away it becomes extra “labor”, plus that’s food scraps that I don’t receive back for my compost.
Jess, I think it's this video I meant to leave a comment on a week or so ago. I gardened in SW Colorado at 7,000 ft in a fairly small space (due to deer pressure - fencing was critical and we couldn't afford a lot of it) for 10 years while working full time. I then moved to SE Washington, with an increase of about 70 days of growing season and a larger area and way less deer pressure, and I started out growing ALL OF THE THINGS 12 years ago, and turned it into a small business. And sold at farmers markets, and had a commercial kitchen to offer value added products. And for a while, I kept growing all of the things. It took me a while to finally realize that my squirrel tendencies had left us with about a years worth of dried, canned and frozen foods, that I was mostly eating fresh seasonally, and so we weren't really getting through the preserved stuff all that fast. I also hit a wall with the business where I realized I either needed to go bigger (invest in a much larger space, and get employees) or scale back, because I'm 58, and I now knew exactly what I can grow and process on my own, if I go full tilt all season. I was EXHAUSTED and honestly, not making that much $ for the amount of work I was doing. I've now scaled back considerably. I don't regret exploring that MORE looked like. But I am choosing (and have the financial luxury) to slow down at this point. Downsized away from our sheep, our rabbits, reduced poultry flock size by about half, planted a MUCH smaller garden. I think when you've wanted more space for a long time, you can't really conceive of what "enough" looks like. But you've reached the same conclusion as I have. It's a new season. And there's nothing wrong with that!
I absolutely love this wild overgrown side of your garden. It’s a testament to your hard work and I love seeing what you let go. We all do it! ❤🎉
How was that little moth on your chest not tickling you? 😂 I kept waiting on you to feel it, and he was still hanging out when the video ended ❤😂
Same! We were sitting on the edge of our seats waiting for it to fly away! We will never know the outcome 😂
@@stormienotstormy 😂😂 yea I thought it was a leaf or something but when it fluttered around I thought “she’s about to notice the little guy!” 😂 too funny lol, I was surprised no one else commented about that!
I was so distracted at the end there hahaha! So funny. I'm glad someone commented so I could giggle with them.
Time for all of us to let go of shame and should. The earth is very abundant. Not getting pressured into picking every last thing has always been part of the joy of doing it for me.
Great tour & wisdom! At 72 years, I’ve learned that others are not in the same situation & that we are all unique. Bless you🤗🇨🇦
Jess my mom and dad used to get us to gather blkeyed and purple hull and cowpeas and we would shell them and put them in a big pillowcase, tie it up, and put it in the freezer. Then mom would send me to the freezer to untie the pillowcase, and dip what we would fix for supper. Dont know if yall put up peas in a cotton pillowcase without washing them til you were about to cook them but we did. Harvest time was just so busy!
Great idea! Smart parents. Because yes, sometimes harvest season can get crazy..
Jess, there's always be the naysayers. There's so many of us that enjoy ALL that YOU share with us always looking forward for the next episode. Keeping ALL of in prayer
You’re making some very sensible choices for next season. Will be less overwhelming and more enjoyable to garden.
The garden tour videos are my favorite regardless of the season or state of the garden. I especially love seeing how you guys handle problems and issues. I have learned so much from how you overcame those challenges.
Honestly, it's a total pleasure to see your beautiful, productive mess of a garden. Our garden was a total fail this year and I'm feeling pretty bummed about it all, so seeing your incredibly productive mess is really uplifting to me. Thank you for sharing it with us. I'm looking forward to seeing how you regroup and change things up for the spring. Should be really interesting. You're so appreciated!
I had the same problem, so love to see Jess's garden to aspire for next year
I'm just laughing with joy! You have food just everywhere, often not something you even planted. It's just amazing!!!
I love your mother's wisdom. So simple, so profound. My mom is the same. Thank God for our wise mothers!
Jess, I would love a video on The Farmer’s Table of ways to eat Jerusalem Artichokes! I have never grown them, simply because I’ve only really eaten them as canned. Much love from Spartanburg! ❤
Seeing your garden jungle helps me to feel less discouraged and overwhelmed. I'm try not to do a little something after work every night because the weather isn't cooperating on my days off
I'm glad you did this video. I'd usually be obsessing over my own garden, but life intervened. Our baby came 3 months early, and we've been living in a Ronald Mcdonald House every since. This does soothe the ache of no garden 💚
Jess.... can I please just take a moment to say how much I appreciate your channel being about what you do, even in the quiet parts where we just hear you driving the land, the cows mooing, the roosters crowing. Today I have finally unsubbed from 2 channels that fill all of the parts in between with LOUD, BLARING LOUD, music that is not even music I can stand to listen to. Constantly regulating the volume button while trying to watch a video and having to mute and go back because I missed where the talking started again.. UGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH. Your channel is so pleasant, calming, and positive. I feel better off for having watched you, every time. You have taught me so much about gardening, canning, cooking, and living a peaceful life. ~~Thank you!!!
OMGoodness. Just started watching your channel…. Thanks Ben and Meg. Your garden is beautiful. I really appreciate your sharing and hard work. Going to binge watch the past ones you have posted. Can’t wait to follow your story, nice to find a real person, interesting, intelligent, kind. I am picky about those I share my time with. Just wanted to say thanks to you and your family for the time you share. I am just beginning to understand the time spent for the family’s to post content and open up to the negative things that people dump just to be mean. This was up lifting to watch in the wake of the horrific storm Helene. Thanks
Boy, those back seat drivers can make you crazy. People leave Jess alone she has a great heart.
Right !!!!
You feed many many people and bless those around you with food as well.
And when the plants and their fruits leave the garden beds, they’ll bless the animals and soil. I’m grateful to see you share the realities of an abundant if imperfect garden…we’re all imperfect people. And that’s wonderful too.
Love you standing up for yourself to people complaining about you wasting your own vegetables. People that have that much time on their hands, has no clue. This is my first huge pepper year. I can not possibly use them all. Having said that, many years I planted Alot, but had a low harvest. So we have no clue on what kind of harvest on what vegetables we are going to have. Don't listen to mean people. You can walk through your loaded garden and feel great. I want to see your loaded plants.
I agree 100% with you! I really hate when someone makes criticism on what isn't their business. I watch your show for the fun of you! Thank you!
Were those turkeys towards the end? It was blurry, I couldn't tell. Haha
I love the little moth feeling so comfortable with the ride you are providing. Your videos are always so relaxing, thank you for sharing.
Bc of a video you posted years ago I feel allowed to let my garden to go wild to appreciate it in late August and it’s now my favorite time in the garden! ❤
Jess- I’ve been watching since that first garden tour so many years ago. Thank you for showing things you don’t get done. This year my health has made gardening challenging and often not an option, but God is gracious. When I do plant or harvest, it’s a gift. Anyway, living in freedom and grace encourages others to do the same (and sometimes it’s a battle and we need the encouragement.) Also, kudos on prioritizing family always. Eggplants may not keep, but goodness knows our young children don’t keep either, so prioritizing them is a gift we give them and ourselves. As always, you inspire me. Thanks for letting your light shine from a sister in Christ. I bless you!💜🙏🏼
Love the wild garden. I only get a few weeks of harvests due to short season, and I can get overwhelmed with what comes in. I can't imagine the volume and the burnout from a few months worth of harvest. At least any fruit left in the garden has a good chance of becoming next years volunteers. We have had one light frost already and the killing one will happen by the end of Sept, so I will take a deep breath and keep enjoying the garden full of food and wildness until it is gone for another year.
8:05 The fruit/veggies that isn’t picked feeds the soil. It’s free compost.
Jess, you are such a blessing to me. You have given me the confidence to be an imperfect gardener, mother and child of God. From my ADHD people pleasing heart, I thank you. ❤️❤️❤️
No matter how hard you try to pick, you can never not lose some. My compost bin appreciate it. I can only do so much. Don't let people criticize you, your kids are the most important thing. The rest is just stuff
One thing that I like about this video that people can see how many vines and foliage exist st the end of gardening season. There will be a MASSIVE amount of work just getting the garden out! I wish that some channel would show that:)
There will always be those who criticize! That is the worst type of waste, not your garden. There is nothing as beautiful as the first fruits of the spring and summer garden, but that fruit that survives the harshness of summer and waits to be found is the most rewarding when at last it is found and its purpose is fulfilled. Oh the saddest are those who sit and criticize others undone missions, for their lack of zest to embark even the slightest of task lends no reward at all; here on earth or in the hereafter.
What an amazingly good problem to have, more abundance than you know what to do with/ have the energy to do anything with! I always love your videos, seeing the abundance you have been able to cultivate and you always have the best attitude about everything!! I absolutely love to see it, you are an inspiration to me and my gardening aspirations!!
My husband asked me if I watch you so I don’t get discouraged. I have been gardening for almost 15 years here in SW Florida. Although people say we can’t garden here in the summer, I have found your videos to be inspiring. You can grow in the summer. It’s just a wild mess. I do get discouraged, but somehow, you always make me feel better about my garden mess. Thanks for your videos. They truly inspire me (year after year).
Hi Jess,l don't comment very often sorry 😊 but lve followed you for about 12years.lve had lots of good tips and information from you about gardening and life over the years thankyou.Just wanted to say hello ,you are such a beautiful person inside and out and your videos bring me so much joy and happiness thankyou again ❤ Joyce uk England.
I love seeing your wild garden. We used to overplant certain things so we could feed chickens.
Thank you so much for helping me feel better about the “wasted” food. It’s really been weighing on me lately to the point where I’m like ready to not garden at all. I need to hear this. Although I do my best to use up everything I can, I now feel better about not being able to use it ALL all the time. ❤
I used to feel so bad for garden excess but, now I just give the overage to our chickens and ducks and they love it and me for sharing.
This very well could be, my ALL TIME FAVORITE Roots & Refuge - Garden Tour video ever!!! I love the wilderness of a late summer garden. Its a beautiful fruitful jungle in there Jess!!! 😂🙌💯
I love spending time with you Jess. Thanks for sharing.
❤️Just because we watch and learn thru your eyes does not give anyone the right to pass judgement. Judgey does not lend to growth to our soul in a productive way…I love your show and look forward to our walks❤
The surplus is never too much. In nature there is no waste. Everything is recycled and rotten surplus is compost and food for the microbes. Even at this time of the year your food abundance is awsome. I am just envious.😊
I’m hoping we have a better fall garden than our summer garden this year. We had a ton of pest pressure and hardly grew any food. It’s awesome to be able to see the possibilities through your channel and keeps us from giving up 👍
What a beautiful garden!! What an amazing bounty. I can tell summer produce must have been glorious.
I love your approach to the garden and the excess. Thank you for sharing!
When you are talking and the guineas walk by, it reminds me of that old vaudeville gag where some stage hand walks by in the background with a potted plant randomly. cracks me up. what can I say, I'm easily amused. :)
My garden is such a mess, but your mom is so right - there is so much harvest when we just go look for it. I see your garden as beautiful, even in its crazy!
Looks beautiful to me! My garden was done so early that this looks like a lot of fun to me! ❤
Bless you, Jess, and thank you for always being there for us. ❤
Thanks for sharing your wild and beautiful garden, fruit and vegetables left on the plants are how we get seeds and mother nature in all her glory will send the wildlife to enjoy the fruits of your labour and that's where the volunteers come from. ❤
I feel better. My garden looks like yours and was feeling overwhelm and sad about it. It’s ok. I got a lot out of it and will make it bigger next year knowing it’s ok when it gets wild. Thanks for showing this beautiful mess. Love.
Always a pleasure! The forest does not scale back its growth and I'll never forget hiking. It just hit me that only God knows and sees much of the wild places. I think he must enjoy those peaceful, wild places. Maybe we should too. Thank you Jess!❤
Loved the tour, Jess...and your dress. That color is so flattering for your skin tone and hair color!
Everything's so lush and yet nearing the end of most of their growth cycle. How nice to see what Jerusalem Artichokes look like when grown in tubs. I didn't know they grew so tall. Those tubs must be packed with 'chokes! They are so invasive if not contained. I think you might do better in bigger pots, though, so you'll get larger tubers.
Re: leaving the shade cloth up over winter, it might degrade, becoming more likely to get torn or strain the structure that holds them up, if you get several inches of snow a few times over winter.
I don't know this from experience - or how those panels are held up, but it just seems like it might cause less potential grief if removed before burdened by snow.
OK, "now back to the show." Seeing & hearing the line of Ginnea hens making a bee line to somewhere in the background as you wrapped up was a real treat. 😊
Wow! It’s gorgeous ❤️and to think it was just a blank slate a couple of years ago! Good job!😁💕😁
A few minutes in and I'm already like "Ooo, piece of nature! Ooo, piece of nature! Look at that and that!" And, you DO work hard! ❤❤❤
Thank you for showing normal garden tour. I have always loved everything about your gardens.
I do not feel bad at all about the disaster my garden is or food I did not pick. I planted it, I work full time, I’m old and slow and live in the south. Arkansas. It’s hot and humid. Health, children and other obligations happen every year and sometimes you just don’t feel well. I also had blight really bad this year and squirrels take a tomatoes. Keep it real. We love your wild chaotic garden and love you.
Thank you, Jess! I really appreciate whenever you show us what, where, and why you planted what you did. I'm still learning container gardening. I'm trying to decide what to plant for the fall, winter and early spring with a frost date of mid December. There's a lot of choices, however, I only plant what we eat due to sensitivities to nightshades. Again, thank you! Your garden tours are a wealth of information!
I always enjoy your videos, you helped me reignite my passion for gardening and always put a smile on my face
Sweetie don't let those people mess with your beautiful heart. ❤
I thoroughly enjoyed this video. It eases my mind about letting the garden go. I am in central Florida and the garden is done.
Jess, It is your garden you do with it what you will! Love your content : )
Beautiful garden. Gets me excited for fall and appreciating what I have out there now
I think it's so cool that my compost gets fueled and my chickens get extra goodies this time of year. Bless you efforts in ALL the ways!
Thank you for giving me permission to take the pressure off of myself in my wild garden ❤
I am so grateful for how you validate my feelings about my garden. I love it so very much, but have had some years of great overwhelm because of things like blight, powdery mildew and aggressively wild plants. I am learning to just accept that in our climate in Hawaii where fungal diseases never get killed off, and the humidity and warm weather are year round, my plants will succumb to the diseases and it is okay. I am learning to stop trying to keep diseased plants limping along and pull them out to make room for new plants.
Yay! Happy Birthday to me 🎉 a Jess garden tour to wrap up my 31st birthday 🎂 🥳
I greatly appreciate your garden tours no matter what season we are in!! 😊
I enjoy seeing the chaos after the pristine beginning. It lets me know that it’s ok for it not to be perfect because it’s naturally supposed to look that way. God bless! ❤
Great video and really I cannot imagine anyone making negative comments. I refer to my garden as a "jungle" at this time of year but love it!
Loved this video. You have more growing now than my garden did this entire year. We have been over 100 + for the full summer so not much produced other than squash. Just about 2-3 cherry tomatoes every week. Not a good year for this one but really love watering and watching how things grow/don’t grow. Flowers and hearts coming your way. 💐❤️
You just made me feel so much better about letting my garden go this last month❤
Hey Jess, I don't know if you've ever seen or tried it, but I put mint in my salsa and its DELICIOUS! I roast my tomatoes along with onion and jalepeno. Then blend them with salt, cilantro and mint. It's so refreshing and I'm so excited to be growing the ingredients at home now 😊
My garden looks just like yours! And I always kind of love it. My husband and boys recently surprised me and weeded the 3 ft weeds while i was on a trip. Now it’s all ready for fall planting.
I love your garden. I really love your style, casual and dedicated. You continue to inspire me for many years. I hope you continue this awesome channel. ❤ God bless you and your family Jess.
May you be blessed in the endeavors you are pursuing. May God give you the seasons to the fullest! May you rest.
OMG😂 I laughed so hard when you brought up Peppergate! I bought only 2 pepper seed packets; Carnival Bell, and lunchbox snackers, and grew banana peppers that sadly ( for me) weren’t sweet they were HOT! I was so baffled, thanks for solving that mystery!!!!
I bought purple bell seeds and got the hot peppers, too. They weren't just hot....they were HOTTTTTTTT!!! I can't do hot, and it's just me, so rather than waste the space and the water, I ripped the plants out at the end of June.
2nd year in a row...bell pepper seeds = HOT banana peppers.
I bought what I thought were sweet banana peppers, intending to pickle them, and ended up with some unholy cross with Hot Hungarian Wax, which I found out when I gave one to a friend's child, who took a bite, paused, and gave me the dirtiest look as she said, "Excuse me, that is NOT a sweet pepper." Thankfully the rest of my peppers were what I intended to grow.
I have guilt wasting food (Jess is helping me work on that) even if it’s inedible to me! One son-in-law likes hot so made him some hot pepper relish. Dang though, nasty surprise!
@georgianamcglinchey573 if it wasn't what I planted AND I can't eat it, I don't feel guilty. I am a senior and have spent years feeling bad about things that weren't even my doing. I be darned if I am going to spent one single second feeling guilty about 4 pepper plants being ripped up so that I could plant something I could enjoy in its place. There's lots to be concerned about in this world, and lots to be thankful for and enjoy. I prefer to do more enjoying with the time I have left.
It is a sad thing,in this day and time, that it has to be explained to people how that food is part of a cycle that keeps your farm regenerating.In short,it turns into eggs and bacon and meat that feeds other people as well as your own family.Do not,Jess,feel as you need to explain or justify yourself,most get it.Those people who negate such things need to spend time educating themselves on such things instead of instantly judging on things they do not understand. I do the same things as you,I find other ways to use things if I can't,and my hens love everything they get gifted.
Re this time of year, I totally do the same thing - harvest what I need and leave 😒 the mess.
Re bitter gourd. The way we use it is- cut into small chunks, sprinkle salt and turmeric on it. The was and drain and sauté or fry - they taste quite yummy and are v good for you. Especially with control of sugar.
Good for you letting friends glean. Also, some food back I’m into the soil is amending the soil.
Such a great tip about the Mexican sunflowers! Thanks Jess and Will! 😊
Hey there Jess, I’m new to gardening, just started in the spring, and came across your page while researching how to harden off seedlings, anyway I just want to say thanks for sharing what your garden looks like at the end of the season, it is helping me plan what I want to try to plant next season and how much room I may need. Also I love your casual approach, I fee like I have the same attitude towards gardening, if I get something great, and if not that’s ok too. Hopefully in a few years I will get an abundance of fruits and be able to give some away or just let them go to “waste”. Blessing to you!
I absolutely love the wildness filled with goodies amongst what seems like just a mess! Keep enjoying your blessings!
Wow so interesting Jess as we here in Sub-Tropical Queensland Australia we let our garden rest sort of, we can grow some things but the heat is so extreme- I luckily have a large shade sail over main garden but still they suffer. Great Video Jess Thank you cheers Denise- Australia
I'm letting chaos reign in a lot of my garden-harvesting what I can, getting ready for the Fall stuff. It still fills me up to bring food into my kitchen that I grew. I love your cottage garden. The Sunchokes are so tasty, great sub for taters for a diabetic
Love to see.your garden❤ I gave up weeding, its too hot. Using heat and drought to ripen my tomatoes so I can pull and start Autumn crops and cover.crop.
I’m still getting tons of shishito’s off of two pepper plants! I have several tomatoes on a plant that I am probably going to bring in and let them turn. There is basil everywhere. And these terrible grasshoppers. I can’t stand them. They’re loud and they’re huge.
I always love walking through the garden with you. Have a wonderful week.
Good for you. Its hard to keep up with this time of year. School is in full swing, activities, and canning. Its a lot!
I love the wild! Thank you for sharing.
Note: if you haven’t tried Jerusalem artichoke make sure you taste it before you plant it! Acquired taste, for sure.