For gardening g books I recommend Square-foot gardening. It has great charts for planting seeds based on frost dates. The other is lasagna gardening for how to start a garden bed from scratch.
Saving seeds (which I primarily learned to do from Jess's videos) has been such a game changer! Not only do I spend significantly less on seeds every year, but the varieties that I have been saving for a few years now are more resilient than the varieties that come from a new package. They stand up to my specific local pest/disease pressures because their plant ancestors have learned how to combat those things and passed that information on through the seeds.
Another note on seed saving and the dates on the package: there is a farmer in Israel that found pots of seeds of a variety of fig tree that is currently extinct. They have germinated some of them and are trying to bring it back. So far they only have male trees, so they can't reproduce them yet, but these pots of seeds are dated to be from around the time of Christ. Kind of mind blowing.
I love this!. Similar story, there were pots of beans found in Native American caves in south western US that were planted and germinated. Being beans not trees, they have been able to reproduce them faster and I think you can purchase and grow them now.
My mom once planted seeds from a huge tomato. I'd say about a beefsteak size tomato and grown a CRAZY AMOUNT...........of cherry tomatoes. We'd laughed everytime she voiced her disappointment. God I miss that lady.
It’s so refreshing to see someone encouraging thriving not just surviving, and not giving into the fear that so many other channels are creating. You have such a level headed approach to life, and I so appreciate you sharing it with us. Thank you!
So true! Allot of videos popping up are headlining "prep now" or "stock up" like chill if everyone ran out to stock up for a year it will CAUSE a shortage lol so silly
Thank you so much for teaching the message of thriving instead of "the sky is falling!". Fear leaves us no time to enjoy the life we have been given-taking time to feel the dirt below our feet, the breezes on our cheeks-finding the happiness and joy in each day. Cheers!
As a seasoned gardener I appreciate hearing the “more basic stuff” over and over. It affirms I’m doing it right and that’s food for this grower’s soul. Makes taking chances on new methods or new crops that much easier with some boosted confidence from Jess😁🌱
I have taken the bags of dried beans (Lima, Northern, Pinto, etc) from the grocery store, planted them, watched them grow, and eaten their bounty. They were some of the most delicious beans I've ever tasted.
I take the beans and sprout fpr a few days. I put them in a wet paper towel and on 2nd day put them in a bowl and with a wet towel around them in the oven and keep on wetting the towel till they sprout then I grow them.
I've even heard of people doing this with spices: celery seed, dill seed, fennel seed, poppy seeds - think of how many seeds you have in your spice cabinet right now. ~ Lisa
@@LB-vl3qn I tried it with celery seeds in a spice jar. I wasn’t expecting much but hopefully and now I have celery. I also bought a bag of beans intended for “15 bean soup” and every single one germinated.
@@karensterling5246 Every time I buy anything in seed form now, I can't help but think about cooking some and growing the rest. Next on my list to try is quinoa. Bon appetit! ~ Lisa
My Dad passed away unexpectedly last year and I found a couple old seed packets that I kept because of listening to you. I only have 2 pumpkin seeds in one pack, but I'm praying at least one will germinate and produce so I can save more next year. I also found ground cherries growing in the middle of his garden that I hadn't walked through until this month. He hadn't gardened in several years. It's overgrown with weeds and even a few small trees, but those ground cherries have been growing and self-seeding during these years. I was so excited to find a few still in the husks to bring home and save. ❤️
A great way to germinate your special pumpkin seeds is on a moist paper towel inside a ziplock bag in a warm place. Fold a paper towel in half, wet it and gently squeeze out any excess water. Place the seeds on one end of the flattened 1/2 paper towel (so there are 2 layers of wet paper towel) then fold the other half over top. Place your paper towel 'seed sandwich' in a ziplock bag, trying to keep a bunch of air in it. Label and date. Put it in a warm place like a hot water cupboard or on top of the fridge. Check it in two days and then every day since they can grow roots quite fast. Once they have grown roots about 1cm or 1/2 in long you can pot them up, just under the soil level or with some of the seed visible. Hope that helps with your Dad's precious seeds. 🙂
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN 🥰 I AM STILL GROWING FROM SEEDS I PURCHASED 10 YEARS AGO FROM OUR LOCAL FEED & SEED IN A TEA TINY TOWN IN ALABAMA 🥰 IT'S ALL ABOUT HOW YOU STORE THEM IN THE MEANTIME ❤ HAPPY GROWING 😍 EDIT: OMG 😱 CORRECTION 😬 20 YEARS!!! 🤦♀️🥺 I'm getting old 🙈🙈🙈 they were purchased 2002 corn, beans, okra, zucchini & yellow crookneck squash. It was like $1 a scoop & that's ALOT of seeds 😊
Oh yeah I believe that seeds never go bad if they are kept in even the bare minimum of decent condition. I've grown seeds that were really not kept very well and they still grew fruit just fine!
A few years back I had decorative pumpkins my grandkids bought. They started to rot so I tossed them over the hill. A few grew the next year. Now it's intentionally Nana's pumpkin patch and they get to pick their own to take home. Watch nature. It knows what works.
Let your garden be your seed bank . I let almost everything go to seed so whenever there is bare soil a volunteer pops up. An unexpected benefit is that it extends season on both ends. My garden in zone 6a is still full and green after several frosts due to volunteer herbs and greens.
Good luck.. Ive been gardening for years and learn something new with each season! Its so satisfying. And a win win for health and exercise! Im always reminded of Marlin brando puttering around his garden in the Godfather.. in fact i think he drops dead of a ripe old age in his tomato garden! 😂I hope i go that way!
If you check out. Gary Pilarchik The Rusted Garden. Here on youtube. He just released a video on frugal ways to start your seeds indoors to get a good jump with healthy seedlings when the weather warms.
@@debbietampasheher3682 I have been super successful using Gary's lighting methods. He's the one who gave be the courage to do it at home without a greenhouse and fancy lights. For sure check him out as I have watched him for many years and his simple solutions to expensive lighting really works amazing
I just want to say that I have watched yall for years. I have watched your whole lifestyle "elevate" and your information get better and better. So happy to see yall being blessed for your efforts! UA-cam has evolved and with that evolution has come a lot of self serving or just plain ridiculous content providers but I am so thankful for this platform because of shows like yours.
I can attest to growing food from store bought foods. We absolutely LOVE the cherry tomatoes on the vine from our Aldi grocery store. We saved seeds last year from one tomato. We planted them and had a great amount from them. Some were much tinier than the store bought ones...but they were just as delicious if not more delicious. ♥️
Let my carrots go to seed last year (pollinators love the flowers and I didn't catch them in time before seed set). Many, many volunteers this spring that we are still eating. Pulled one that was actually half orange and half light yellow - like someone painted the top and bottom halves different colors. Very cool and unexpected. Had mostly orange, but a few yellow in there, so the genetics were there to produce some hybrids or a hybrid could have produced seeds reflecting one of the original parents. They all tasted good, so that's the important part.
I'll probably have that issue. My carrot flowers attracted sooooo many flies. They were constantly covered with them. So much so that I actively avoided that area of the garden. By the time I went back to look they had dropped seeds every where. My yard will be filled with lettuce, black nebula and red keyota carrots and a variety of sweet potatoes. All of which will be outside my raised beds.
I sometimes allow a bean, squash or tomato fall to the soil in hopes that some will come up the next year. If they come up in clumps, they are more recognizable.
It is possible that you had hybrid seed which in carrots does not come true (that means produces offspring like the parents). Or you may have a true variety that produced a reversion to the original color of wild carrots. Orange is not the natural color of carrots in the wild. They are yellow. The orange color that we now accept as normal was bred in Holland hundreds of years ago. It would be interesting to see what you get from the next batch of seed from theses carrots.
Carrots are so hard here in Tennessee. I just can't seem to get them in the ground the right time of the year. Winter is so unpredictable It always seems like I'm just flying by the seat my pants.
@@thistlemoon1 When Covid hit I started peppers and tomatoes from seeds that were from 2000, lol. I expected maybe a quarter of them to germinate, I got 100% with the tomatoes and 80% with the peppers.
Thank you for the invitation to share, Jess! I have quite a seed story!! We had a fire last April, everything was deemed a total loss. My seed stash was less than a dad (6ft 😉) away from the powerful electrical surge and with encouragement from Jess to just try I thought, why not! Almost everything I planted from the fire germinated!!!! Plant on, lovely gardeners!
Friends of mine were married this past summer, and my gift to them was a seed collection! Seeds from my garden, or seeds from away that I've grown with clear instructions on when where and how to plant them, and ideas of what to do with them. I created three sets, as it was easier to do three of than to start again each set.
IMPORTANT... many in town areas do not allow chickens however... there are no rules against quail. get yourself 6-8 female coturnix quail and a rabbit hutch. You now have small, quiet birds who can provide protein (eggs) year round.
The only thing I'd like to add, based off of questions and discussions online, is get seeds for food your family likes to eat. I know that seems obvious but it comes up often. There's little point in growing food your family won't eat. And if you don't enjoy what is produced you're far less likely to keep going.
Yes! I grew okra this year and we use some but not a lot. We couldn't keep up with the amount of okra coming out. I really wish we had planted 1 okra and some other stuff there.
Exactly! I mean, some things just look cool, or are beautiful temporary filler ... I grow rubarb not because I like to eat tons of it, but because of how fast they grow, and how well they fill in space before other things grow. Eat it, look at it, and one other thing - TRADE IT! If you don't eat it but you are awesome at growing herbs in your teeny back yard, trade for corn which you don't have room to grow (or variations on that theory).
I like to grow new things to try & luckily my daughter will try new veggies. However my husband doesn't like a lot of the stuff I can grow since he didn't grow up eating many of the things I've ate/grown, so I grow extra to learn to preserve my harvests. My second kiddo will be born in February & my husband wants me to continue to grow & preserve so our new little one will be like my daughter & like to try all the things I grow.
@@stacywallen5245 oh I totally love growing new things as well. Strictly under the context of growing for survival or in an emergency situation putting the effort into growing food the family will actually eat may be a higher priority. What's something new you are growing next year?
My granddaughter and I are starting a city garden in our backyard. We actually have garlic, green beans, romaine and other lettuces growing and we tell God thank you for our little vegetables. We also have our strawberries sprouting in the back room in a little tray and we are so stinking excited about our garden. Thank you for the inspiration and telling me about the greenstalk.
I love your comment. Anyone can grow anywhere...they might have to get more creative about it, but it can be done. So glad that you are making it happen. Have a great day.
At the beginning of the year I had to throw out some cherry tomato's I didn't eat them fast enough. So I dumped them over the railing of my porch this summer I had tons of cherry tomato's growing . kept both myself and my daughter's family in cherry tomato's. Due to my health I can't have a garden but plant some crops every year in my containers. May not be much but it helps for sure :) just love your channel
I had a packet of Roma tomatoes since 2009 poor seeds went from heat and cold at a storage to a garage to under a sink, for some reason I didn't throw them away, this summer I planted 4 seeds just to see what could happen for my surprise they sprout and they grow giving me many tomatoes, and now I save new seeds. This is my second year having a garden. Thank you for all the good information 🌱
I hope I’m ready for this because we are going to be living off grid in 15 days from now. We will be building our home and making ourselves self sufficient. I’m excited for it but also terrified.
There is comfort in the knowledge that God is with us when we include Him in all our decisions. Welcoming and honoring that aspect of our spiritual relationship is highly beneficial! 💛🙏
Good luck, don't be scared. Just remember people used to live off grid all the time. It was normal to grow their own food and depend on themselves for most things.
If you think you can't, you are probably right. My advice off the top? Believe you can. Lower your standards! Trust what feels right. Buy the old folks at the pub a tray of draft, then sit down and ask them questions! Ditto at church picnics, but bring cookies instead!
Just a tip for the newer gardeners that some plants flower (then give seeds) the second year - especially plants that don't fruit. There may be exceptions if you have a long enough growing season for them to bolt the same year, but normally things like carrots, onions, parsley, beets (and more...) will flower and go to seed quickly the second season. Because I want to save seeds, I always leave about a dozen plants each of carrots, onions, and others in the ground over winter (I'm in zone 5A) and get seeds for the whole neighborhood the next year. :-) And it's worth repeating...your seeds MUST BE absolutely bone dry when you store them.
I have seeds I've been growing from that are over 50 years old, some even older and have no problem with germination. The keys are 1 keep them stored in relatively dry place 2 soak at least overnight in water before planting. This allows them to rehydrate and also allows them germination to activate. Heck they found seeds in the great pyramids that they were able to grow successfully and those were thousands of years old
I had a hard time finding popcorn seeds in Germany but I still had a bag of unpoped orville R about 10 yrs old so I took a few and tried to germinate them got about 70 percent germination. I planted them and got a good harvest so now we have enough popcorn for the winter
Little Girl, your passion pours from your heart. Gift of sharing & teaching from God shows. I’m an old school gardener. My daddy said I had dirt in my blood. I once had a wonderful garden here in low desert suberbs of Arizona. Cancer slowed me down (God’s call) however even though I couldn’t go dig, everything I ate or saw on the street became my lab of trying to sprout. My friends would even bring me seeds they picked from salads & such. I’m slowly healing & even though I’ve got citrus, guava, pomegranate, lemon grass, I’ve planted garlic for the first time & THEY’RE coming up. I’M BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN! God wants us to serve & You are doing his work. Much love ❤️ & Blessings 🥰😘👏👩🌾
I'm in AZ (South of Tucson) and started five 18-gal raised totes in my small villa patio. One is dedicated to compost and worms. It's challenging with our hot summers but I keep trying because gardening has given me something to do and something to care about.
The Sart Roloise tomato kicked major butt in my garden this year. It took a late frost, produced big and prolific and nonstop, not only survived the horn worms but acted like they were just a casual pruning and grew and produced even more! I was overwhelmed by the tomatoes from just 2 of those bushes.
So true. I get excited every time I see new person starting to grow a garden for the first time. It's so heartwarming to see ppl learning. Plus, it's so peaceful to spend time in the garden.
As you talked about saving a seed from a restaurant and growing old seeds, I've done them both. My son bought a sandwich from a organic grocery & deli and the tomato was the best he ever had. I saved some of the seeds and grew 2 plants for him. I found some flower seeds in a drawer that were very old. I planted them just in case. A few grew. You just never know what can happen if you don't try!
Very encouraging! Thanks for sharing! I can totally see me doing the same thing w saving seeds from my own sons tomato in a sandwich. Things like this make me smile!
I save seeds from all my fruit and vegetables from the grocery store and I have some trees in pots that have been growing 3 years now. No apple yet but still hopeful. Patience is the name of the game. This year I saved a stock of acorn squash for when I get to homestead in AK I will have plenty.
Thank you 🙏🏼 for teaching me the importance & beauty of legacy & stewardship. My great Uncle Pete was an amazing man from Italy who was an excellent representation of selflessness & kindness. He was like my grandfather & was very precious to me. He sadly passed away in 2003 when I was about 14 years old. My stepmother recently showed me some seeds he gave her from his garden in New Jersey where he grew basil & tomatoes. She said she wasn’t able to make them grow but with all my learning & all the videos (your class & your videos on UA-cam) she gave them to me to try. I thought wow this would be so epic & inspiring if I could pull this off. I remembered your words from your videos & I knew I had a pretty good chance, so I sowed the seeds very heavily & waited. Fast forward to today, I officially planted 3 different areas with Pete’s Basil in my garden. I will grow them in his memory, save the seeds & continue the legacy. Thank you for what you do.
Thank you Jess for these classroom style videos! I don’t know if I’ll ever get to meet you in person (although I’d love to) but without ever having a conversation with you, you and your family have blessed my life. I’m an aspiring homesteader and had really found myself discouraged in this season regarding if I would ever see that dream come to life. These videos have been so helpful because they remind me that I can still work toward this dream in faith and have also given me plenty of tips that are going to help my current balcony garden situation and my future homestead! I hardly ever leave long comments lol but I just had to let you know what a tremendous blessing you have been to me personally on my journey. Thank you.
I have located one hundred and twenty five year old tobacco seed, now in the hands of BC. Has a great story behind them. lovvvved this video. We cant say enough about seeds without them we would starve. They are a God given blessing. We truly need to be stewards of those gifts.I have been called a friend of BC.
If you're trying to save money or if you don't want to spend much money try your local library; they may have seeds. Many public libraries are now developing seed collections and your local library may be one of them.
Your small garden center or nursery can’t sell “expired seeds” but often sell them 1/2 price in January. Box stores often throw them out by October. Check out local and small in January. Quite a hunt and find for fun varieties at a good price.
I appreciate your mention of growing microgreens indoors. As a midwest US gardener with very cold winters and no greenhouse, I have found microgreens to be one way I can have fresh home-grown produce in the winter.
I love saving seeds. At the end of the 2020 growing season I decided I wanted beet seeds. I gently pulled it up and put it in a pot and waited. And waited. Long about July 1st of 2021 my long wait was over. I picked off the seeds and set aside to make sure they were dry. On August 15th I planted some of those seeds. I am currently picking the greens tho they are growing to slow for many up here in western WA. I am so dang proud of my baby beets lol. The garden went through a very laborious over haul at the end of summer. It was situated in a way that didn’t allow for optimal sunlight. Now done, I can’t wait to get to planting again, saving seeds and spreading the love of gardening with my friends and family.
When we first bought our house in 2012 in CT, zone 6a, we started a small garden and planted "some random" plum tomato plants. They were prolific right up until a hard freeze. We never staked the plants, just let them lay on the ground. The fruit hardly ever got any disease. Well in 2021 this tomato continues to volunteer in our compost piles and in our meadows and raised beds. It's plants sometimes produce 3 chamber paste tomatoes and sometimes 4 chamber. I have found fruit completely buried, with no rot. This is our survival tomato!
If it's of any interest to you, in past gardens I have managed to very carefully dig up a big bunch of volunteer tomato seedlings, then transplant them into the garden where I wanted them to grow. I used a big shovel to dig out a large plug of soil, including the entire cluster, then very gently separated them using lots of water and lots of patience. I filled red SOLO cups with soil and gently potted each seedling in one cup. Later, I used a bulb-planter (the hinged kind, cuz I'm fancy like that) to dig a perfect red-SOLO-cup-size hole and popped each of those little toms into the soil. I actually grew a "hedge" of tomato vines in a row along the sidewalk in my front yard... and every single one of those vines was a volunteer. (In future gardens I'll do this in the back-yard, cuz last time I witnessed somebody walk up to my tomato vines with a HUGE cooking-pot and they start loading up on my tomatoes... until I confronted them. If you ever try the front-yard gardening... consider the tomato hedge idea as a diversionary tactic so people will go for those toms, while leaving the rest of your garden alone. Grow the Good Stuff in the back yard.) If things ever Go Bad... you can grow more toms in front and and offer them to people... and you could advise people to save the seeds from them and grow as many of those seeds as they possibly can. I gave one of my neighbors some of my dried ripe corn and taught her how to grow it. I gave some tomato seedlings to a couple of neighbors. Pardon my preaching, but I've discovered that I enjoy sharing the Survival. Always teach about planting those seeds!
I also live in CT and planted some sunflowers the year my grandmother died in 2014, from some of the sunflowers in her garden. Every year since those sunflowers have come back from the seeds that have dropped. I've planted other sunflowers, but they're the only ones that have come up each year. Not sure if they'll come back next year though... A neighbor informed me that her neighbors chickens enjoyed my yard while we were on vacation. 🤦
@@mylittlemisspompom8300 I have a similar story. The summer my mother was dying a friend gave her some forget me not seeds. We planted them in a pot for her on the deck. It was already late June. The seedlings struggled and just weren't doing well. When she was in the hospital at the end of July I planted them in the front yard and really forgot about them. My mother died that September. I came home from the hospital and was walking out in the garden and I couldn't believe it. All those struggling seedlings were in bloom, they were beautiful. late summer instead of early spring. Those forget me nots are all over my yard now and half the neighborhood has some. It has been almost twenty years and they are beautiful every year. When we move II am taking a clump with me.
If you live in a place where you can’t have a garden, and there is no community garden option, I have a suggestion. Consider reaching out via what ever community forum app is popular in your community. There might be an older couple, who used to garden, who can no longer do so. They may let you use the space in their yard to garden. You could share the yield, or they might just joy mentoring you in gardening. Ever underestimate the kindness of people in your community. Just treat them right….
There is so much to be gained by helping elders in their yards. Both sides receive devoted attention. Both sides are exposed to new information and resources. The elders enjoy having a garden with less work on their properties. You get to garden without actually having your own garden space! And, it is a much shorter commitment to restarting or continuing someone else's garden than it is to start from scratch - literally!
that's a great idea! You can also contact your parks department about starting a community garden. I contacted mine last year and they told me someone had already agreed to be the 'lead' for the garden and they dug plots that spring in my park (and a bunch of others)!! With more people interested in gardening it is a great time for starting one! 😁
One piece of advice I always give people is that its ok to change your mind about your gardening ethics. When I first got into gardening I was 100% passionate about growing heirloom and organic without exception. At this point in my life, I have changed my out look a little and value feeding my family the most. I now grow several varieties of hybrid plants since they usually have really good vigor and production. The more you learn your opinions and priorities can change and thats ok
Fantastic video Jess!!! God has used your knowledge for me supply vegetables to the seniors in my community. Everyone who sees my vertical garden says it’s very beautiful.
I have never been able to sit through a 45 minute video on anything (except maybe one other UA-camr) but I can listen to you for hours. You are relatable, genuine, informative and have a ton of knowledge without being preachy. Well done
Love love love love this conversation Jes!! So needed. Appreciate you so much. You’re an incredible soul. Truly. God has used you to bless so many. Can’t wait to chill with you in heaven and see your true reach. What a beautiful moment that will be
I was planning my garden in 2019 for the first time for 2020 and when covid hit, I realized that is one of the most important skills to have. I came across your channel spring 2020 and you and Luke from migardener gave me the confidence as a beginner gardener to start seeds. I appreciate your channel and all the knowledge you give along with learning from the comments as well ❤️
I just started saving seeds a few years ago and enjoy seeing the subsequent generations thrive. I have a plastic bread box I store seeds in, and keep that box in my spare fridge in the garage. Works well for me.
Gardener’s like quilters….you always need to add to your stash…well, just because. I am both gardener and quilter and my stashes are plump…but there is always room for more. Love you Jess!
I get scraps from local shops and cafes for my chickens but I save seeds from the fruit like pumpkin, I plant onions that are sprouting to save the seeds and then if I miss seeds my chicken composting system will usually grow them.
I have learned so much from you today. I Love that not only are you interested in growing food. But you also love to grow unusual an pretty things also. I'm that gardener too. You are such a wonderful teacher I could listen to you talk about gardening all day. You can tell you have a love of growing things.
Two years ago I sprouted some 8-yr old tomato seeds. Some sprouted, but germination wasn't as good as with fresh seeds. I hadn't stored them in any particular way, though, and the plants I got were really nice!
Love your wisdom and cheerfully sincere presentation! ❤ I know wisdom is important but our faith in Christ is our real survival equipment! Praying for all needs to be supplied even when mtg those needs is impossible without help, I have seen all needs met as a result of faith in God and committed tythe & offerings. I love that your channel encourages faith and hard work!
IDEA; When purchasing seeds for food security, I concentrated on those seeds that are not easy to save from the vegetable garden, i.e. carrots, lettuce, radish, spinach, kohlrabi, cabbage, cauliflower, etc. I vacuum sealed them and put them in the back of my hydrator drawer. I plan to rotate them every couple of years as I can purchase more, to keep them as fresh as possible.
Absolutely great video. I love your channel Jess. I found you in 2018 and have followed you religiously and learned so much from you. I never thought at 69 years old that I would be so excited about gardening and growing beautiful things.
Great talk. Jess, in 1935, the national % of working farm families was about 40%. Today it is LESS than 1%. We need to get back to family farms and family homesteads. Our working farm is run by three family members. We are all 70-something. Our large farm will got out with our passing. It was placed in a trust over ten years ago, to protect the open land. Keep on sharing the value of living off the land. It is a wonderful lifestyle.
As I sit here and eat my dinner of fingerling potatoes and yellow oxheart tomatoes ripened in my garage and blue Tokyo squash and grass feed/&finished beef my heart is full of love for you and this video. It takes just little steps in all our lives to make our food better. The spinach on my plate is the only thing bought at grocery store and that is solely because of poor planning on my part. This is so fantastic Thank you so much for sharing this with us all. Blessings to you all.
Awe, finally YT suggested my old friends (in my own heart) Roots and Refuge Farm. I have missed so much from after the move. :/ So sorry, your family and you Jess are an inspiration and encouragement to so many. ❤️
you know I hear so much negative like “people not wanting to work anymore” instead of the reality that people are finding their own way in life because people like you have decided to invest in making your life something more and bringing countless others along. thanks for being a great example of what you can do for yourself!
I love that you said this. My husband just lost his desk job although at this point it doesn’t feel like much of a loss. He has been helping people process deer and making sausage. While we grow our little homestead.
Bingo! That is so true. It is proven that people have only become more and more productive, just they don't get the same rewards for their hard work, when they are working for wealthy corporations. So why work so hard for inconsiderate and ungrateful millionaires and billionaires, and when we can work for ourselves, enjoying a simpler, happier, lifestyle.
Tip for those working busy folks, let stuff that you don’t have time to process or cook go to seed! My lazy gardener method works awesome. I planted celery one time 3 years ago. Those seeds a small and blow. I haven’t planted any since. Nor bought any! I found dill growing in the cracks of my pavers. I had a water line break and couldn’t get to it for weeks. All my strawberry towers died. But the runners all around the base growing in my wood chips will be there when I’m ready to redo them. Give yourself grace! It’s amazing watching what happens!!!!
I have a funny story … I had a package of spinach seeds and somehow it ended up in the washer and went through the entire cycle. I opened the package and let them dry and I planted them anyway just to see what would happen and guess what ?! They came up and are doing just fine lol . Thanks Jess I did it because of you , you said worse case would be they won’t grow and what do you know ! I’m calling them Popeye 💪spinach 🌻
Next year will be my first REAL GARDEN. I am so very excited and I don't have ANY seeds yet except 4 packs! January is my first month to BUY. I LEARNED SO MUCH FROM THIS VIDEO. I did grow great herbs on my patio. I was so proud so I want to learn everything. I got so much value from you. Thank you so very very much.
I’ve followed you for a few years, since we got a community garden plot just north of Boston MA to dabble a bit. My husband and I (both originally from AR) now love to garden. I credit your channel a lot! We just bought 2.3 acres and I absolutely can’t wait for next year. I’m anxiously awaiting the video where you grab a cup of tea and sit down with your notebook and boxes of seeds to plan out your garden!
I'm preparing. Especially love learning how to do more. Going to try water glassing eggs. Thank you Jess and Miah for sharing your knowledge and experiences with us. God bless you and your family 👪
Very informative Jess. Thank you SO much for recording this series. I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this but when you are growing food in a survival situation, make sure that you grow veggies/fruits that store well and that are nutrient/calorie dense like potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams (true yams, not the "Thanksgiving" yams,) winter squashes, kale, cassava, etc. Radishes and lettuces grow quick and are great but you really can't live off of them. Your viewers may want to subscribe to The Survival Gardening Channel with David The Good. He has great survival gardening information that can be of help.
I love to save seeds from lettuce because they are so easy to save and you get so many seeds and they are so versatile and useful I use lettuce for greens for my chickens as well as my family, and I love them because they will grow in small and shallow spaces as long as you water them.
Excellent video, Jess. I'm imagining you've encouraged a whole lot of folks with this one and the timing is perfect, going into the time of year when so many of us are thinking and planning our next season's efforts.
🥳Can we all just agree that these classroom sessions in the kitchen are awesome! I found some old radish seeds cleaning out the mud room the other day. I thought what the heck, it’s winter outside.. I will sprinkle them in a pot in my sunny kitchen window. see if they grow… We are well on our way to radishes with a foot of snow on the ground! Super exciting❤️❤️❤️ thank you for the inspiration Jess.
I see you sister waiting in YOUR classroom! My husband is adjunct faculty and often before a semester starts, I will often notice him putting on his prof hat and our discussions tend to feel like we’re back in the classroom (he’s a soil scientist and geologist, bonus!). I hear you practicing your teacher voice for the learning center you wish to establish, good on you for using this platform to develop your voice.
Im Nickie from Ruby Homestead I really appreciate these videos more often than not I don't really watch the videos but I listen to virtually all of them while I'm feeding animals or cleaning pens or doing house chores etc so I apprciate these sitdown videos once in a while 😊😊 thanks !!! And thanks for all the knowledge!!!
I live in NYC and last year was my first year learning to garden. I grew in grow bags in the backyard of my apartment building and had some successes and some failures but learned a lot. This year I'm in a new apartment and I only have windowsills and a fire escape. I'm planning on growing 1determinate tomato plant, 1 bean plant, and several herbs/spinach/green onions/flowers for my summer garden. It's super small but I'll still get some learning experience and I'll get to see growing things every time I look out my window.
I started saving seeds last year and it's so much fun. I also order heirloom seeds from a local to us place, that way I know those plants do well in our area. I've had great success with those seeds every year. I'm glad to hear that you save seeds without worry of cross-pollination.
I have watched you for quite a while now. I just wanted to say thank you! Just from your content that you put into the world you can tell how much you care about others and are so passionate about what you do. I am so excited to watch these "classroom" lessons and pray that we all learn from you and each other. ❤️
THANK YOU! I have successfully grown plenty of food from 12 year old seed. Keep them clean and dry and at a relatively stable temperature. I would NEVER throw away seed, ever. Let nature decide. Either the birds will eat it or they will rot in place but I will always give them a chance.
Yes. The plague (particularly in the UK) during the late 16th/early 17th century caused multiple lockdowns during which time the “learnéd” gentry left London for their second homes in the country and bided their time gardening etc. Growing food and learning about medicinal herbs…. Tudor/Stewart family houses were also encouraged to grow herbs by the town doctor. Shakespeare grew up in such times and understood well the the qualities (and dangers) of plants/herbs. He most certainly would’ve known how good at his trade his future son-in-law was when he gave permission to the Dr’s request to marry his daughter.
“If you’ve been with me very long, your seed collection may have grown..”😂🤣😂 Full snort laugh on that one! Understatement of the year!!
I resemble this remark! 😂
Have mercy that comment when she said it I was like "Oops Jessica is talking bout me" 😆
@@gardeningwithdiane me too👍
Laughs in 20 different tomato varieties in my collection 😂
Right!!??❤❤❤
Please do a lesson on books to have in the homesteading library!
Yes! Would love this
For gardening g books I recommend Square-foot gardening. It has great charts for planting seeds based on frost dates. The other is lasagna gardening for how to start a garden bed from scratch.
Great idea!!
"This isn't yogurt." 🤣🤣🤣 That needs to be a sticker ASAP. 🙌
Saving seeds (which I primarily learned to do from Jess's videos) has been such a game changer! Not only do I spend significantly less on seeds every year, but the varieties that I have been saving for a few years now are more resilient than the varieties that come from a new package. They stand up to my specific local pest/disease pressures because their plant ancestors have learned how to combat those things and passed that information on through the seeds.
Another note on seed saving and the dates on the package: there is a farmer in Israel that found pots of seeds of a variety of fig tree that is currently extinct. They have germinated some of them and are trying to bring it back. So far they only have male trees, so they can't reproduce them yet, but these pots of seeds are dated to be from around the time of Christ. Kind of mind blowing.
Wow, I hope they get a harvest someday.
I love this!.
Similar story, there were pots of beans found in Native American caves in south western US that were planted and germinated. Being beans not trees, they have been able to reproduce them faster and I think you can purchase and grow them now.
I saw that! Amazing!
That's amazing 🙏💕
It was actually ancient date palm seeds. They named the first tree that is actually growing (they’re still quite young so not producing fruit yet
My mom once planted seeds from a huge tomato. I'd say about a beefsteak size tomato and grown a CRAZY AMOUNT...........of cherry tomatoes. We'd laughed everytime she voiced her disappointment. God I miss that lady.
It’s so refreshing to see someone encouraging thriving not just surviving, and not giving into the fear that so many other channels are creating. You have such a level headed approach to life, and I so appreciate you sharing it with us. Thank you!
So true! Allot of videos popping up are headlining "prep now" or "stock up" like chill if everyone ran out to stock up for a year it will CAUSE a shortage lol so silly
You just said it all. About other channels and about Jess. She is just awesome and SO level headed. Has helped keep me grounded during this time!
Can’t stand hearing the Fear Trust In Jesus not Man 🙏
Will said and so true!💜
Perfectly said! I completely agree.
Thank you so much for teaching the message of thriving instead of "the sky is falling!". Fear leaves us no time to enjoy the life we have been given-taking time to feel the dirt below our feet, the breezes on our cheeks-finding the happiness and joy in each day. Cheers!
Amen!!!
beautiful!
Well said!!
Amen!!✝️
As a seasoned gardener I appreciate hearing the “more basic stuff” over and over. It affirms I’m doing it right and that’s food for this grower’s soul. Makes taking chances on new methods or new crops that much easier with some boosted confidence from Jess😁🌱
Yes! I 100% agree.
I have taken the bags of dried beans (Lima, Northern, Pinto, etc) from the grocery store, planted them, watched them grow, and eaten their bounty. They were some of the most delicious beans I've ever tasted.
I take the beans and sprout fpr a few days. I put them in a wet paper towel and on 2nd day put them in a bowl and with a wet towel around them in the oven and keep on wetting the towel till they sprout then I grow them.
I've even heard of people doing this with spices: celery seed, dill seed, fennel seed, poppy seeds - think of how many seeds you have in your spice cabinet right now. ~ Lisa
@@LB-vl3qn I tried it with celery seeds in a spice jar. I wasn’t expecting much but hopefully and now I have celery. I also bought a bag of beans intended for “15 bean soup” and every single one germinated.
@@karensterling5246 Every time I buy anything in seed form now, I can't help but think about cooking some and growing the rest. Next on my list to try is quinoa. Bon appetit! ~ Lisa
My Dad passed away unexpectedly last year and I found a couple old seed packets that I kept because of listening to you. I only have 2 pumpkin seeds in one pack, but I'm praying at least one will germinate and produce so I can save more next year.
I also found ground cherries growing in the middle of his garden that I hadn't walked through until this month. He hadn't gardened in several years. It's overgrown with weeds and even a few small trees, but those ground cherries have been growing and self-seeding during these years. I was so excited to find a few still in the husks to bring home and save. ❤️
My condolences but what a precious story 🥰 thanks for sharing!
@@tdamron4185 thank you.
What a special gift you have received from your dad.
A great way to germinate your special pumpkin seeds is on a moist paper towel inside a ziplock bag in a warm place. Fold a paper towel in half, wet it and gently squeeze out any excess water. Place the seeds on one end of the flattened 1/2 paper towel (so there are 2 layers of wet paper towel) then fold the other half over top. Place your paper towel 'seed sandwich' in a ziplock bag, trying to keep a bunch of air in it. Label and date. Put it in a warm place like a hot water cupboard or on top of the fridge. Check it in two days and then every day since they can grow roots quite fast. Once they have grown roots about 1cm or 1/2 in long you can pot them up, just under the soil level or with some of the seed visible. Hope that helps with your Dad's precious seeds. 🙂
@@wildhopehomestead1716 thank you ☺️
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN 🥰
I AM STILL GROWING FROM SEEDS I PURCHASED 10 YEARS AGO FROM OUR LOCAL FEED & SEED IN A TEA TINY TOWN IN ALABAMA 🥰 IT'S ALL ABOUT HOW YOU STORE THEM IN THE MEANTIME ❤ HAPPY GROWING 😍
EDIT: OMG 😱 CORRECTION 😬 20 YEARS!!! 🤦♀️🥺 I'm getting old 🙈🙈🙈 they were purchased 2002 corn, beans, okra, zucchini & yellow crookneck squash. It was like $1 a scoop & that's ALOT of seeds 😊
💚
Oh yeah I believe that seeds never go bad if they are kept in even the bare minimum of decent condition. I've grown seeds that were really not kept very well and they still grew fruit just fine!
A few years back I had decorative pumpkins my grandkids bought. They started to rot so I tossed them over the hill. A few grew the next year. Now it's intentionally Nana's pumpkin patch and they get to pick their own to take home. Watch nature. It knows what works.
Let your garden be your seed bank . I let almost everything go to seed so whenever there is bare soil a volunteer pops up. An unexpected benefit is that it extends season on both ends. My garden in zone 6a is still full and green after several frosts due to volunteer herbs and greens.
My seeds arrived today. This will be my first year with a veggie garden. Just got to get through our Ontario winter
Good luck.. Ive been gardening for years and learn something new with each season! Its so satisfying. And a win win for health and exercise! Im always reminded of Marlin brando puttering around his garden in the Godfather.. in fact i think he drops dead of a ripe old age in his tomato garden! 😂I hope i go that way!
How exciting! Good luck.
If you check out. Gary Pilarchik The Rusted Garden. Here on youtube. He just released a video on frugal ways to start your seeds indoors to get a good jump with healthy seedlings when the weather warms.
@@debbietampasheher3682 I have been super successful using Gary's lighting methods. He's the one who gave be the courage to do it at home without a greenhouse and fancy lights. For sure check him out as I have watched him for many years and his simple solutions to expensive lighting really works amazing
What Jess says: “repetition is good for us as learners”
What I hear: “it’s totally ok for you to watch this video 5 times!” 🤣
Why only five!?!? 😉😂
I just want to say that I have watched yall for years. I have watched your whole lifestyle "elevate" and your information get better and better. So happy to see yall being blessed for your efforts! UA-cam has evolved and with that evolution has come a lot of self serving or just plain ridiculous content providers but I am so thankful for this platform because of shows like yours.
I can attest to growing food from store bought foods. We absolutely LOVE the cherry tomatoes on the vine from our Aldi grocery store. We saved seeds last year from one tomato. We planted them and had a great amount from them. Some were much tinier than the store bought ones...but they were just as delicious if not more delicious. ♥️
Those are my fave too!
Let my carrots go to seed last year (pollinators love the flowers and I didn't catch them in time before seed set). Many, many volunteers this spring that we are still eating. Pulled one that was actually half orange and half light yellow - like someone painted the top and bottom halves different colors. Very cool and unexpected. Had mostly orange, but a few yellow in there, so the genetics were there to produce some hybrids or a hybrid could have produced seeds reflecting one of the original parents. They all tasted good, so that's the important part.
I'll probably have that issue. My carrot flowers attracted sooooo many flies. They were constantly covered with them. So much so that I actively avoided that area of the garden. By the time I went back to look they had dropped seeds every where. My yard will be filled with lettuce, black nebula and red keyota carrots and a variety of sweet potatoes. All of which will be outside my raised beds.
l
I sometimes allow a bean, squash or tomato fall to the soil in hopes that some will come up the next year. If they come up in clumps, they are more recognizable.
It is possible that you had hybrid seed which in carrots does not come true (that means produces offspring like the parents). Or you may have a true variety that produced a reversion to the original color of wild carrots. Orange is not the natural color of carrots in the wild. They are yellow. The orange color that we now accept as normal was bred in Holland hundreds of years ago. It would be interesting to see what you get from the next batch of seed from theses carrots.
Carrots are so hard here in Tennessee. I just can't seem to get them in the ground the right time of the year. Winter is so unpredictable It always seems like I'm just flying by the seat my pants.
I spread some onion seeds in a bed they were 8 years old I think, not thinking anything would grow. Every seed germinated.😳 I was completely amazed.
👏👏👏
@@RootsandRefugeFarm if I knew how I did it I’d plant everything that way but it’s like my cooking, nothing is ever the same way twice.
@@thistlemoon1 When Covid hit I started peppers and tomatoes from seeds that were from 2000, lol. I expected maybe a quarter of them to germinate, I got 100% with the tomatoes and 80% with the peppers.
Thank you for the invitation to share, Jess! I have quite a seed story!! We had a fire last April, everything was deemed a total loss. My seed stash was less than a dad (6ft 😉) away from the powerful electrical surge and with encouragement from Jess to just try I thought, why not! Almost everything I planted from the fire germinated!!!! Plant on, lovely gardeners!
I am loving these long informational videos
More to come!
I do too!
Me too.
Friends of mine were married this past summer, and my gift to them was a seed collection! Seeds from my garden, or seeds from away that I've grown with clear instructions on when where and how to plant them, and ideas of what to do with them. I created three sets, as it was easier to do three of than to start again each set.
IMPORTANT... many in town areas do not allow chickens however... there are no rules against quail. get yourself 6-8 female coturnix quail and a rabbit hutch. You now have small, quiet birds who can provide protein (eggs) year round.
Brea - how often do they lay?
What do they taste like?
@@blippitydar mine started at 6 weeks and laid daily.
@@mikewilson7457 I personally think they are the closest to chicken eggs.
Thank you!
This kind of video is exactly what people need. Keep up these teaching vlogs!
The only thing I'd like to add, based off of questions and discussions online, is get seeds for food your family likes to eat. I know that seems obvious but it comes up often. There's little point in growing food your family won't eat. And if you don't enjoy what is produced you're far less likely to keep going.
SO true. If you aren't going to eat it, no sense in wasting the time and space with it. Grow what you eat. Great comment Brittni.
Yes! I grew okra this year and we use some but not a lot. We couldn't keep up with the amount of okra coming out. I really wish we had planted 1 okra and some other stuff there.
Exactly! I mean, some things just look cool, or are beautiful temporary filler ... I grow rubarb not because I like to eat tons of it, but because of how fast they grow, and how well they fill in space before other things grow. Eat it, look at it, and one other thing - TRADE IT! If you don't eat it but you are awesome at growing herbs in your teeny back yard, trade for corn which you don't have room to grow (or variations on that theory).
I like to grow new things to try & luckily my daughter will try new veggies. However my husband doesn't like a lot of the stuff I can grow since he didn't grow up eating many of the things I've ate/grown, so I grow extra to learn to preserve my harvests. My second kiddo will be born in February & my husband wants me to continue to grow & preserve so our new little one will be like my daughter & like to try all the things I grow.
@@stacywallen5245 oh I totally love growing new things as well. Strictly under the context of growing for survival or in an emergency situation putting the effort into growing food the family will actually eat may be a higher priority.
What's something new you are growing next year?
My granddaughter and I are starting a city garden in our backyard. We actually have garlic, green beans, romaine and other lettuces growing and we tell God thank you for our little vegetables. We also have our strawberries sprouting in the back room in a little tray and we are so stinking excited about our garden. Thank you for the inspiration and telling me about the greenstalk.
I love your comment. Anyone can grow anywhere...they might have to get more creative about it, but it can be done. So glad that you are making it happen. Have a great day.
Amazing!!! I love to hear of people who are growing in a city environment as I am!!!
At the beginning of the year I had to throw out some cherry tomato's I didn't eat them fast enough. So I dumped them over the railing of my porch this summer I had tons of cherry tomato's growing . kept both myself and my daughter's family in cherry tomato's. Due to my health I can't have a garden but plant some crops every year in my containers. May not be much but it helps for sure :) just love your channel
Any seed that you plant, in a cup, a bowl, a bucket, a crate, a paper bag, etc….is a garden! May your harvest be blessed 🙏🏿
I call what you have a micro garden :)
I had a packet of Roma tomatoes since 2009 poor seeds went from heat and cold at a storage to a garage to under a sink, for some reason I didn't throw them away, this summer I planted 4 seeds just to see what could happen for my surprise they sprout and they grow giving me many tomatoes, and now I save new seeds. This is my second year having a garden. Thank you for all the good information 🌱
Excellent😃
that’s absolutely incredible! … I had the opposite experience and mine were only four years lol
I hope I’m ready for this because we are going to be living off grid in 15 days from now. We will be building our home and making ourselves self sufficient. I’m excited for it but also terrified.
There is comfort in the knowledge that God is with us when we include Him in all our decisions. Welcoming and honoring that aspect of our spiritual relationship is highly beneficial! 💛🙏
Good luck, don't be scared. Just remember people used to live off grid all the time. It was normal to grow their own food and depend on themselves for most things.
Go for it! From the moment your boots hit your soil, you will be living, learning and making memories. Enjoy your new journey. Respect from UK. Dx
If you think you can't, you are probably right. My advice off the top? Believe you can. Lower your standards! Trust what feels right. Buy the old folks at the pub a tray of draft, then sit down and ask them questions! Ditto at church picnics, but bring cookies instead!
How’s it going now?
Just a tip for the newer gardeners that some plants flower (then give seeds) the second year - especially plants that don't fruit. There may be exceptions if you have a long enough growing season for them to bolt the same year, but normally things like carrots, onions, parsley, beets (and more...) will flower and go to seed quickly the second season. Because I want to save seeds, I always leave about a dozen plants each of carrots, onions, and others in the ground over winter (I'm in zone 5A) and get seeds for the whole neighborhood the next year. :-) And it's worth repeating...your seeds MUST BE absolutely bone dry when you store them.
I have seeds I've been growing from that are over 50 years old, some even older and have no problem with germination.
The keys are
1 keep them stored in relatively dry place
2 soak at least overnight in water before planting. This allows them to rehydrate and also allows them germination to activate.
Heck they found seeds in the great pyramids that they were able to grow successfully and those were thousands of years old
I had a hard time finding popcorn seeds in Germany but I still had a bag of unpoped orville R about 10 yrs old so I took a few and tried to germinate them got about 70 percent germination. I planted them and got a good harvest so now we have enough popcorn for the winter
Little Girl, your passion pours from your heart. Gift of sharing & teaching from God shows. I’m an old school gardener. My daddy said I had dirt in my blood. I once had a wonderful garden here in low desert suberbs of Arizona. Cancer slowed me down (God’s call) however even though I couldn’t go dig, everything I ate or saw on the street became my lab of trying to sprout. My friends would even bring me seeds they picked from salads & such. I’m slowly healing & even though I’ve got citrus, guava, pomegranate, lemon grass, I’ve planted garlic for the first time & THEY’RE coming up. I’M BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN! God wants us to serve & You are doing his work. Much love ❤️ & Blessings 🥰😘👏👩🌾
I'm in AZ (South of Tucson) and started five 18-gal raised totes in my small villa patio. One is dedicated to compost and worms. It's challenging with our hot summers but I keep trying because gardening has given me something to do and something to care about.
Love and healing prayers for you ❤️🙏🏼🙏🏼❤️
The Sart Roloise tomato kicked major butt in my garden this year. It took a late frost, produced big and prolific and nonstop, not only survived the horn worms but acted like they were just a casual pruning and grew and produced even more! I was overwhelmed by the tomatoes from just 2 of those bushes.
Where did you get it? Seeds you started?
Baker Creek lists them, but they re currently out of stock.
Following…. Where did you find your seeds, and what zone do you live in?
I found my seeds at bakers creek and I live in zone 7.
I wish I could "love" videos instead of just "liking" them!!! ❤❤❤
You are a humble beautiful soul!! We added sand to our mostly compost soil and had wonderful huge carrots this year!! Makes me so happy!
I love the classroom video idea! Perfect for cleaning or folding laundry. Thank you for everything you do!
I like to listen while making pottery.
Saving seeds it’s such a great asset to any homestead! And the bounty it provides to share is amazing
So true. I get excited every time I see new person starting to grow a garden for the first time. It's so heartwarming to see ppl learning. Plus, it's so peaceful to spend time in the garden.
Just remember hybrids r fine too. Heirlooms can sometimes get diseases that wipe out a whole crop. It's best to grow some of both just in case.
As you talked about saving a seed from a restaurant and growing old seeds, I've done them both. My son bought a sandwich from a organic grocery & deli and the tomato was the best he ever had. I saved some of the seeds and grew 2 plants for him. I found some flower seeds in a drawer that were very old. I planted them just in case. A few grew. You just never know what can happen if you don't try!
Very encouraging! Thanks for sharing! I can totally see me doing the same thing w saving seeds from my own sons tomato in a sandwich. Things like this make me smile!
I have saved seeds from California Wonder peppers that I bought at the grocery store. They produced really nice peppers.
I save seeds from all my fruit and vegetables from the grocery store and I have some trees in pots that have been growing 3 years now. No apple yet but still hopeful. Patience is the name of the game. This year I saved a stock of acorn squash for when I get to homestead in AK I will have plenty.
Thank you 🙏🏼 for teaching me the importance & beauty of legacy & stewardship. My great Uncle Pete was an amazing man from Italy who was an excellent representation of selflessness & kindness. He was like my grandfather & was very precious to me. He sadly passed away in 2003 when I was about 14 years old. My stepmother recently showed me some seeds he gave her from his garden in New Jersey where he grew basil & tomatoes. She said she wasn’t able to make them grow but with all my learning & all the videos (your class & your videos on UA-cam) she gave them to me to try. I thought wow this would be so epic & inspiring if I could pull this off. I remembered your words from your videos & I knew I had a pretty good chance, so I sowed the seeds very heavily & waited. Fast forward to today, I officially planted 3 different areas with Pete’s Basil in my garden. I will grow them in his memory, save the seeds & continue the legacy. Thank you for what you do.
Bio-Char for soil building, it makes a huge difference in soil fertility. When you guys were burning all that wood that you cleared, I could of cried.
Thank you Jess for these classroom style videos! I don’t know if I’ll ever get to meet you in person (although I’d love to) but without ever having a conversation with you, you and your family have blessed my life. I’m an aspiring homesteader and had really found myself discouraged in this season regarding if I would ever see that dream come to life. These videos have been so helpful because they remind me that I can still work toward this dream in faith and have also given me plenty of tips that are going to help my current balcony garden situation and my future homestead! I hardly ever leave long comments lol but I just had to let you know what a tremendous blessing you have been to me personally on my journey. Thank you.
I have located one hundred and twenty five year old tobacco seed, now in the hands of BC. Has a great story behind them. lovvvved this video. We cant say enough about seeds without them we would starve. They are a God given blessing. We truly need to be stewards of those gifts.I have been called a friend of BC.
Thank you Jess, for all you give back! I pray for God's abundant blessings for you and your family! You are the reason I grow flowers in my garden.
If you're trying to save money or if you don't want to spend much money try your local library; they may have seeds. Many public libraries are now developing seed collections and your local library may be one of them.
Thats good to know and also really cool
Cleveland public library in Ohio !
Your small garden center or nursery can’t sell “expired seeds” but often sell them 1/2 price in January. Box stores often throw them out by October. Check out local and small in January. Quite a hunt and find for fun varieties at a good price.
I got Baker Creek seeds this way at my garden center.
I appreciate your mention of growing microgreens indoors. As a midwest US gardener with very cold winters and no greenhouse, I have found microgreens to be one way I can have fresh home-grown produce in the winter.
And they're so quick growing and easy!
I live in Indiana. I’ll have to look into this.
Sprouts are great too and you have fresh food in less than a week! Gets me through the winter!
R Volovski What exactly do you do with them?
@@shannjill Salads, stir fry and on sandwiches.
Hello 👋 this series speaks to my heart 💜 love and prayers from Canada 🇨🇦 🙏
I love saving seeds. At the end of the 2020 growing season I decided I wanted beet seeds. I gently pulled it up and put it in a pot and waited. And waited. Long about July 1st of 2021 my long wait was over. I picked off the seeds and set aside to make sure they were dry. On August 15th I planted some of those seeds. I am currently picking the greens tho they are growing to slow for many up here in western WA. I am so dang proud of my baby beets lol. The garden went through a very laborious over haul at the end of summer. It was situated in a way that didn’t allow for optimal sunlight. Now done, I can’t wait to get to planting again, saving seeds and spreading the love of gardening with my friends and family.
When we first bought our house in 2012 in CT, zone 6a, we started a small garden and planted "some random" plum tomato plants. They were prolific right up until a hard freeze. We never staked the plants, just let them lay on the ground. The fruit hardly ever got any disease. Well in 2021 this tomato continues to volunteer in our compost piles and in our meadows and raised beds. It's plants sometimes produce 3 chamber paste tomatoes and sometimes 4 chamber. I have found fruit completely buried, with no rot. This is our survival tomato!
If it's of any interest to you, in past gardens I have managed to very carefully dig up a big bunch of volunteer tomato seedlings, then transplant them into the garden where I wanted them to grow.
I used a big shovel to dig out a large plug of soil, including the entire cluster, then very gently separated them using lots of water and lots of patience. I filled red SOLO cups with soil and gently potted each seedling in one cup. Later, I used a bulb-planter (the hinged kind, cuz I'm fancy like that) to dig a perfect red-SOLO-cup-size hole and popped each of those little toms into the soil. I actually grew a "hedge" of tomato vines in a row along the sidewalk in my front yard... and every single one of those vines was a volunteer.
(In future gardens I'll do this in the back-yard, cuz last time I witnessed somebody walk up to my tomato vines with a HUGE cooking-pot and they start loading up on my tomatoes... until I confronted them. If you ever try the front-yard gardening... consider the tomato hedge idea as a diversionary tactic so people will go for those toms, while leaving the rest of your garden alone. Grow the Good Stuff in the back yard.)
If things ever Go Bad... you can grow more toms in front and and offer them to people... and you could advise people to save the seeds from them and grow as many of those seeds as they possibly can. I gave one of my neighbors some of my dried ripe corn and taught her how to grow it. I gave some tomato seedlings to a couple of neighbors.
Pardon my preaching, but I've discovered that I enjoy sharing the Survival.
Always teach about planting those seeds!
I also live in CT and planted some sunflowers the year my grandmother died in 2014, from some of the sunflowers in her garden. Every year since those sunflowers have come back from the seeds that have dropped. I've planted other sunflowers, but they're the only ones that have come up each year. Not sure if they'll come back next year though... A neighbor informed me that her neighbors chickens enjoyed my yard while we were on vacation. 🤦
@@mylittlemisspompom8300 I have a similar story. The summer my mother was dying a friend gave her some forget me not seeds. We planted them in a pot for her on the deck. It was already late June. The seedlings struggled and just weren't doing well. When she was in the hospital at the end of July I planted them in the front yard and really forgot about them. My mother died that September. I came home from the hospital and was walking out in the garden and I couldn't believe it. All those struggling seedlings were in bloom, they were beautiful. late summer instead of early spring. Those forget me nots are all over my yard now and half the neighborhood has some. It has been almost twenty years and they are beautiful every year. When we move II am taking a clump with me.
Thank god I found mentors like you and your family throughout this unsettling time.
I so appreciate you taking time to show us loving viewers your wonderful advice. We love and appreciate you.
If you live in a place where you can’t have a garden, and there is no community garden option, I have a suggestion. Consider reaching out via what ever community forum app is popular in your community. There might be an older couple, who used to garden, who can no longer do so. They may let you use the space in their yard to garden. You could share the yield, or they might just joy mentoring you in gardening. Ever underestimate the kindness of people in your community. Just treat them right….
This is a wonderful idea.
There is so much to be gained by helping elders in their yards. Both sides receive devoted attention. Both sides are exposed to new information and resources. The elders enjoy having a garden with less work on their properties. You get to garden without actually having your own garden space!
And, it is a much shorter commitment to restarting or continuing someone else's garden than it is to start from scratch - literally!
that's a great idea! You can also contact your parks department about starting a community garden. I contacted mine last year and they told me someone had already agreed to be the 'lead' for the garden and they dug plots that spring in my park (and a bunch of others)!! With more people interested in gardening it is a great time for starting one! 😁
I love your perspective on preparedness and focusing on thriving not just surviving! Once again I thank you for your inspiration and encouragement! 💕
One piece of advice I always give people is that its ok to change your mind about your gardening ethics. When I first got into gardening I was 100% passionate about growing heirloom and organic without exception. At this point in my life, I have changed my out look a little and value feeding my family the most. I now grow several varieties of hybrid plants since they usually have really good vigor and production. The more you learn your opinions and priorities can change and thats ok
I just want to say thank you for all you do, Jess. May God continue to bless you & your family.
As always, you struck it out of the park, Jess. Thank you!
Thank you Rose! You are one of my most encouraging cheerleaders!
@@RootsandRefugeFarm you deserve it. I've told you before that you are special. I am not just saying that. You were made to do what you are doing.
Finally found a spare 45 mins to sit down and watch this. I do love your longer vids.
Fantastic video Jess!!! God has used your knowledge for me supply vegetables to the seniors in my community. Everyone who sees my vertical garden says it’s very beautiful.
This is a skill that will reduce so much fear! Thank you for your classroom talks 💜
I have never been able to sit through a 45 minute video on anything (except maybe one other UA-camr) but I can listen to you for hours. You are relatable, genuine, informative and have a ton of knowledge without being preachy. Well done
Wow, thank you!
Love love love love this conversation Jes!! So needed. Appreciate you so much. You’re an incredible soul. Truly. God has used you to bless so many. Can’t wait to chill with you in heaven and see your true reach. What a beautiful moment that will be
I absolutely love your videos! But my favorite part is when you bless us all. 😊. Thank you.
I was planning my garden in 2019 for the first time for 2020 and when covid hit, I realized that is one of the most important skills to have. I came across your channel spring 2020 and you and Luke from migardener gave me the confidence as a beginner gardener to start seeds. I appreciate your channel and all the knowledge you give along with learning from the comments as well ❤️
Same here and Robbie and Gary's gardening easy, Whispering Willow Farm, skinny boy Randy , Gary's Rusted Garden also great pages.
I just started saving seeds a few years ago and enjoy seeing the subsequent generations thrive. I have a plastic bread box I store seeds in, and keep that box in my spare fridge in the garage. Works well for me.
Gardener’s like quilters….you always need to add to your stash…well, just because. I am both gardener and quilter and my stashes are plump…but there is always room for more. Love you Jess!
I was so thrilled to have the moment, to have the thought to purchase my seeds early. Golly, it has been a huge relief to have this tucked away now
I get scraps from local shops and cafes for my chickens but I save seeds from the fruit like pumpkin, I plant onions that are sprouting to save the seeds and then if I miss seeds my chicken composting system will usually grow them.
I want to thank you for sharing with us. I love this life and am grateful for all the knowledge past down by all the channels I watch. Thank you! 💞
I have learned so much from you today. I Love that not only are you interested in growing food. But you also love to grow unusual an pretty things also. I'm that gardener too. You are such a wonderful teacher I could listen to you talk about gardening all day. You can tell you have a love of growing things.
I'm liking these "classroom" style videos. I usually just listen while I do something else. Keep it up!
Saving seeds like crazy now..even though they may not be true to mother plant IDK..
Preserving any way I can to be ready!
Two years ago I sprouted some 8-yr old tomato seeds. Some sprouted, but germination wasn't as good as with fresh seeds. I hadn't stored them in any particular way, though, and the plants I got were really nice!
Yaye😃
I did this with 8yr old store bought bag of blackbeans. With successful growth
Love your wisdom and cheerfully sincere presentation! ❤ I know wisdom is important but our faith in Christ is our real survival equipment!
Praying for all needs to be supplied even when mtg those needs is impossible without help, I have seen all needs met as a result of faith in God and committed tythe & offerings. I love that your channel encourages faith and hard work!
IDEA; When purchasing seeds for food security, I concentrated on those seeds that are not easy to save from the vegetable garden, i.e. carrots, lettuce, radish, spinach, kohlrabi, cabbage, cauliflower, etc. I vacuum sealed them and put them in the back of my hydrator drawer. I plan to rotate them every couple of years as I can purchase more, to keep them as fresh as possible.
Great idea! I always buy eggplant seeds because they are so hard for me to save.
Absolutely great video. I love your channel Jess. I found you in 2018 and have followed you religiously and learned so much from you. I never thought at 69 years old that I would be so excited about gardening and growing beautiful things.
Great talk. Jess, in 1935, the national % of working farm families was about 40%. Today it is LESS than 1%. We need to get back to family farms and family homesteads. Our working farm is run by three family members.
We are all 70-something. Our large farm will got out with our passing. It was placed in a trust over ten years ago, to protect the open land. Keep on sharing the value of living off the land. It is a wonderful lifestyle.
As I sit here and eat my dinner of fingerling potatoes and yellow oxheart tomatoes ripened in my garage and blue Tokyo squash and grass feed/&finished beef my heart is full of love for you and this video. It takes just little steps in all our lives to make our food better. The spinach on my plate is the only thing bought at grocery store and that is solely because of poor planning on my part. This is so fantastic Thank you so much for sharing this with us all. Blessings to you all.
Awe, finally YT suggested my old friends (in my own heart) Roots and Refuge Farm. I have missed so much from after the move. :/ So sorry, your family and you Jess are an inspiration and encouragement to so many. ❤️
I absolutely love gardening and raising my own meats. To me there’s nothing better than from farm to table meals. It’s an amazing feeling
you know I hear so much negative like “people not wanting to work anymore” instead of the reality that people are finding their own way in life because people like you have decided to invest in making your life something more and bringing countless others along. thanks for being a great example of what you can do for yourself!
I can either work to grow my own clean, healthy food, or work to pay someone else to grow toxic, chemical-laden, modified food. 🤔 Pretty easy choice!
I love that you said this. My husband just lost his desk job although at this point it doesn’t feel like much of a loss. He has been helping people process deer and making sausage. While we grow our little homestead.
People don't mind working they just want it to be for something meaningful and not just sending billionaires to space
Bingo! That is so true. It is proven that people have only become more and more productive, just they don't get the same rewards for their hard work, when they are working for wealthy corporations. So why work so hard for inconsiderate and ungrateful millionaires and billionaires, and when we can work for ourselves, enjoying a simpler, happier, lifestyle.
Tip for those working busy folks, let stuff that you don’t have time to process or cook go to seed! My lazy gardener method works awesome. I planted celery one time 3 years ago. Those seeds a small and blow. I haven’t planted any since. Nor bought any! I found dill growing in the cracks of my pavers. I had a water line break and couldn’t get to it for weeks. All my strawberry towers died. But the runners all around the base growing in my wood chips will be there when I’m ready to redo them. Give yourself grace! It’s amazing watching what happens!!!!
💚
I have a funny story … I had a package of spinach seeds and somehow it ended up in the washer and went through the entire cycle. I opened the package and let them dry and I planted them anyway just to see what would happen and guess what ?! They came up and are doing just fine lol . Thanks Jess I did it because of you , you said worse case would be they won’t grow and what do you know ! I’m calling them Popeye 💪spinach 🌻
Next year will be my first REAL GARDEN. I am so very excited and I don't have ANY seeds yet except 4 packs! January is my first month to BUY. I LEARNED SO MUCH FROM THIS VIDEO. I did grow great herbs on my patio. I was so proud so I want to learn everything. I got so much value from you. Thank you so very very much.
So well said! And if we can grow for beauty and for survival then we get joy from just being in the garden let alone reaping what is being grown!
I’ve followed you for a few years, since we got a community garden plot just north of Boston MA to dabble a bit. My husband and I (both originally from AR) now love to garden. I credit your channel a lot! We just bought 2.3 acres and I absolutely can’t wait for next year. I’m anxiously awaiting the video where you grab a cup of tea and sit down with your notebook and boxes of seeds to plan out your garden!
I'm preparing. Especially love learning how to do more. Going to try water glassing eggs. Thank you Jess and Miah for sharing your knowledge and experiences with us. God bless you and your family 👪
I recently watched a video about water glass eggs. I hope to one day have chickens! 💚
Very informative Jess. Thank you SO much for recording this series. I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this but when you are growing food in a survival situation, make sure that you grow veggies/fruits that store well and that are nutrient/calorie dense like potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams (true yams, not the "Thanksgiving" yams,) winter squashes, kale, cassava, etc. Radishes and lettuces grow quick and are great but you really can't live off of them. Your viewers may want to subscribe to The Survival Gardening Channel with David The Good. He has great survival gardening information that can be of help.
I love to save seeds from lettuce because they are so easy to save and you get so many seeds and they are so versatile and useful I use lettuce for greens for my chickens as well as my family, and I love them because they will grow in small and shallow spaces as long as you water them.
Excellent video, Jess. I'm imagining you've encouraged a whole lot of folks with this one and the timing is perfect, going into the time of year when so many of us are thinking and planning our next season's efforts.
🥳Can we all just agree that these classroom sessions in the kitchen are awesome!
I found some old radish seeds cleaning out the mud room the other day. I thought what the heck, it’s winter outside.. I will sprinkle them in a pot in my sunny kitchen window. see if they grow… We are well on our way to radishes with a foot of snow on the ground! Super exciting❤️❤️❤️ thank you for the inspiration Jess.
I see you sister waiting in YOUR classroom! My husband is adjunct faculty and often before a semester starts, I will often notice him putting on his prof hat and our discussions tend to feel like we’re back in the classroom (he’s a soil scientist and geologist, bonus!). I hear you practicing your teacher voice for the learning center you wish to establish, good on you for using this platform to develop your voice.
Im Nickie from Ruby Homestead I really appreciate these videos more often than not I don't really watch the videos but I listen to virtually all of them while I'm feeding animals or cleaning pens or doing house chores etc so I apprciate these sitdown videos once in a while 😊😊 thanks !!! And thanks for all the knowledge!!!
I live in NYC and last year was my first year learning to garden. I grew in grow bags in the backyard of my apartment building and had some successes and some failures but learned a lot. This year I'm in a new apartment and I only have windowsills and a fire escape. I'm planning on growing 1determinate tomato plant, 1 bean plant, and several herbs/spinach/green onions/flowers for my summer garden. It's super small but I'll still get some learning experience and I'll get to see growing things every time I look out my window.
I started saving seeds last year and it's so much fun. I also order heirloom seeds from a local to us place, that way I know those plants do well in our area. I've had great success with those seeds every year.
I'm glad to hear that you save seeds without worry of cross-pollination.
I have watched you for quite a while now. I just wanted to say thank you! Just from your content that you put into the world you can tell how much you care about others and are so passionate about what you do. I am so excited to watch these "classroom" lessons and pray that we all learn from you and each other. ❤️
THANK YOU! I have successfully grown plenty of food from 12 year old seed. Keep them clean and dry and at a relatively stable temperature. I would NEVER throw away seed, ever.
Let nature decide. Either the birds will eat it or they will rot in place but I will always give them a chance.
Hey Jess, your favorite brassica the Rutabaga is a hybrid from the 17th century. Its a wild cabbage and turnip. Wonderful flavor!!
Yes. The plague (particularly in the UK) during the late 16th/early 17th century caused multiple lockdowns during which time the “learnéd” gentry left London for their second homes in the country and bided their time gardening etc. Growing food and learning about medicinal herbs….
Tudor/Stewart family houses were also encouraged to grow herbs by the town doctor.
Shakespeare grew up in such times and understood well the the qualities (and dangers) of plants/herbs. He most certainly would’ve known how good at his trade his future son-in-law was when he gave permission to the Dr’s request to marry his daughter.