Only two minutes in and I just know that this is what my heart needs today...This morning I told my husband (as I was leaving for another 3am-3pm shift at work) that I think I'm heart sick for something that I know is not possible to have right now. So I wait, learn and pray and steward what is in my hands. 🙏
Sorry to comment again but this content is so nourishing and helpful. I made my little yard and dumpy old trailer my classroom and have learned to preserve herbs, pickle things, make my own soap, lip balms, make my own homemade pizza sauce and can it from my own tomatoes (which started with store tomatoes because I didn’t have a garden at first!).. turning your space into a classroom is SO true. Do what you can with what you have!! It makes the wait so fruitful ❤
Keep commenting!!!!! Seriously!!!!!!!! She has never discouraged multiple comments. I hope we don't discourage it either. Marvelous numerous enormous blessings everyone everywhere.
You are not alone at all. I have a small garden area & I also live in an old dumpy trailer. I just canned for the first time this year. With my very own tomatoes, peppers and onions. 🥰
@@kailesancez WOW I'm the first to see this!!! I'm so proud of you, because I grew up in that trailer, but I still remember canning from before then. 🥰🙋🥰🙋🥰👍👍😨🎉🎉🎉🌺🌴🌷🌴🌺🍀🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂
The biggest skill my parents passed down was how to put a daily meal on the table from figuring out who would cook each night (from the time we were 8 we were required to cook one dinner a week) and then coming up with a menu sitting at the dinner table on Thursday nights. Then who would be on the grocery store team (on Sat morning) for the week and who would be on the put it all away team. It was so amazing to me when I moved out that none of my roommates knew how to do any of this stuff. I still have friends who are amazed that my dad and brother cooked once a week as well as the girls - everyone took turns doing dishes. Living in our household was a team effort.
Sadly life skills are not being taught. My family did team work too even our 3rd child that is disabled. You can teach everyone. Some take longer to caught on. By the time she was in high-school & now vocational skills program, the teachers are amazed that my child can do for herself & doesn't really fit in with the other kids that are way behind. My child is a Mama hen so she teaches her classmates too along with the teacher.
I was diagnosed with MS in December, so this garden season has looked very different this year. Some days I have constant tremors and dizziness to the point I can’t walk out to tend to the plants I planted. But that makes the “good days” so much more fulfilling! Your channel has been such an inspiration to me! Thank you for your ever positive outlook and giving us all a pep talk 🫶
Changing my viewpoint on cooking from running to the store and buying what I need for a recipe to looking at my harvest and deciding what to how to use and preserve it all was a huge shift for me. The internet makes this SO much easier when I can just search on a recipe by listing the ingredients I have on hand to make something delicious. And I just have a suburban backyard garden, but right now I'm getting a pound of green beans every morning. And the satisfaction of making a dinner and thinking "Wow, that's my garlic and tomatoes and parsley and potatoes and basil in that dish!", that is priceless.💚 My lightbulb moment book was Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food". Mind blown.
Every single suggestion you make in this video is so valuable. We started what is now called 'homesteading' in the mid 70's. No electricity, no money, no equipment, (no internet!), no telephone, just 30 bare acres of douglas fir. A gas refrigerator and a freezer locker in town. 250 gallon water trailer to get water from town before we could afford a well and a generator to pump water from it to the gravity tank above the house, which we built by hand with a gas generator and a skill saw, from wood we salvaged from barns we tore down for free.... A 1947 Willys pickup truck. A husband that can fix things. I found Carly Emery's book before we bought the property and still have a first edition printed on mimeographed colored paper stock. I had a subscription to Jerry Belanger's Countryside magazine, and a few old books from the turn of the century on fixing farm equipment, cooking, raising livestock, etc. I learned to butcher animals by just doing it. I learned to tan leather and sheepskins, make soap, cheese, etc. from our own animals. Fortunately I was raised by a mom who food gardened and canned. Through much of this I also had a town job, and in winter hiked 3/4 of a mile down hill and back to get to my truck to drive to work, since we couldn't maintain our dirt road in the snow/mud season. I milked 50 dairy goats twice a day, and fed the milk to butcher pigs. We packed what supplies we still needed (like chicken/goat feed) up in winter on a donkey. Made water bagels and tortillas and canned on my grandmother's wood cook stove, which I still have. We did OK. An acquaintance suggested I write a book about it. I didn't think anyone would read it ;). We worked VERY HARD. We left that place after 15 years, when we realized we had no social security to speak of, no insurance, no savings, and cutting down 100 ft tall fir trees could get dangerous. We thought we needed to move back to the suburbs while we still had marketable skills. Hardest thing I ever had to do. After working for another 15 years in 'civilization' we were able to retire. Now we have 12 acres of property, a lot of dairy goats, some sheep, and the usual living flotsom like chickens, dogs, cats, horses, etc., and a donkey, though this one is a freeloader. A pretty large garden that I no longer need to depend on for food but still grow because I am a chronic gardener and do love a decent tomato, and three tractors. We are 30 miles from the nearest grocery store. I do buy most of our non-veg food now, including many tons of hay each year. We quit raising our own meat a couple of years ago, as since we are getting older, we don't eat as much red meat and getting through a cow and a couple of lambs/pigs takes too long with only two people. We still have 3 freezers though. I still cook from scratch. Old habits. And I have a manual can opener (the same one I had 40 years ago.) Now we have neighbors, much younger, some of whom are excited to be able and wanting to be like you, and watching how to videos and making mistakes, naming their chickens, and getting discouraged and bailing after a couple of years. There are also a few that stick. I hope there will be more. I only noticed/bothered with UA-cam videos a couple of years ago during Covid. Your channel was one of the few I found interesting, since I could relate to your early desire, and calling. My advice to any readers is to listen to what Jess is saying here, and practice before you make the move, because while failure is an option for most people now, it is not fun. Real 'homesteading' is hard. Really hard. Getting livestock because you saw a youtube video and lambs are cute and you 'need' some, only to find out that you don't know how to take care of them and they get sick and die - or you find out it's tedious and takes 'too much' time and so you dump them on someone else. You find out you can't go on vacation because you can't find someone to feed for you, or milk. That is the part of 'homesteading' you won't see on youtube. Veterinarians now are sometimes difficult or impossible to find, or you cannot afford them. You will have animals that are going to die, no matter what you do. If you have dairy animals you need to milk them usually twice a day. Every. Single. Day. No matter what else is going on. Milking in the dark by kerosene lantern in 20 degree weather with a blinding headache while throwing up is not fun and not something you will see on youtube. Ask me how I know. Be prepared. Go slow. Start with vegetables. Get shelter for your livestock first, before you get the stock. And not everyone needs a livestock guardian dog. This comment is too long, so I will stop here.
Listening after milking the goats while straining clabber cheese into cream cheese/ricotta substitutes, setting up rabbit in the crockpot, while smelling the bread cooking the bread maker. You inspired all of this for me, thank you so much! ❤❤
Like you, I was forced into action when my husband got sick. I realized that food is medicine, and I began to learn all I could to help him and my family. I increased the garden that I had, and we began a whole food based diet.I will never have a farm (age and money), but I am doing what I can where I am. Your videos are a big part of my classroom. You are a great teacher for those of us waiting and those of us working with what we have.
@18:32 “Learning to embrace, slower, harder, handmade from scratch” this brought tears to my eyes as I replayed this part several times! Thank you Jess because I really need to hear that, I absolutely love these kind of videos! ❤ It’s funny because sometimes I think of you as not only my garden Teacher, but as my garden therapist and/or counselor! Thank you for all that you do and may the Lord bless you and your family always and forever!
I have always loved your phrase “turn your waiting room into yo ur classroom.” I follow it, even though I’m 62, or rather it’s kind of what I’ve been doing for years. Now here’s the funny part, I really don’t want a farm! 😂. However, I do want to homestead, only right here on my 1/2 acre plot. As I near retirement I want to grown more of my own food. So I’ve been adding more and more to my backyard and over the last 5 years I have added laying hens, many raised beds and perennials like berries and asparagus. I now forage, and made an amazing rose hip jelly a few days ago. I Live on the coast in Massachusetts so I go dig clams and rake oysters and go crabbing. So at this point in my life I have chosen to bloom where I grow but I am still manifesting my dreams and abundance. Thank you Jess for inspiring me to do just that.
I don't think I will ever find it boring for you to repeat yourself, Jess. Because each time is a reminder that I'm doing what my heart has desires for so long, and it makes me proud of myself and of all that comes from my garden, my kitchen, my hands, my mind. ❤. Keep talking, lady!
*EATING SEASONALLY* Omg! YES!!!!!!!!! This is the human body and the environment it lives in co-evolving through eons of cultivation. It is a beautiful symbiotic relationship of time and space. As we move into fall as the days get shorter, all of the beta carotene veg go to harvest. Its not a coincidence, it is sharing space and time and life goals. LOL We love eating that tomato because just like “Chef’s Choice”, it is Gardener’s Choice, and that juicy bite leads to next year’s amazing Garden Volunteer. 😂🎉❤
I keep hoping that you will take us along to one of Kaylee's apothecary classes! She credits you with pushing her to start her UA-cam channel. Both your channels are my most watched favorites.
Adding animals to my urban homestead was a great encouragement to start cooking from scratch. Not only does an abundance of eggs encourage me to eat eggs for breakfast, but also bake quiche in the busy season, and make mayonnaise from scratch. And when you are burdened with the abundance of homemade fertilizer, suddenly there's a ton of motivation to garden with veggies and the cycle continues... This year I've been practicing a lot of fermentation, because I've been experimenting with growing cabbage and brassica varieties with great success. One major way I have turned my waiting room into a classroom is focusing practicing growing big batches of a certain type of vegetable each season. I have limited space, but there's always a star veggie taking up a larger space that I can hone my skills on.
These chats are extremely valuable Jess 😍. Four years ago now I came across your garden tours while I lived in the city and you really sparked my love for gardening ❤. I started off with a 5x40 garden plot in my back yard. The next year bumped it up to 30x35 by the third year we moved onto 15 acres of land and because you told me to make my waiting room my class room and shared your big dreams showing me the possibilities out there I successfully took care of a 500x80 garden plot. Now I’m in my fourth year with a quarter of an acre garden chickens and a dairy cow 😍. Stewart what you have well and you’ll absolutely be blessed to hold more of a capacity. thank you for your big inspiring dreams and showing me what was possible. Watching your garden tours I prayed that one day I’d have a garden like yours.. well three years after that God blessed me with our now property and on it was cattle panels for trellises and t posts!😍
I started watching Jess in 2017 and feeling so inspired and wanting to grow and harvest. Since then my garden has grown from a patch to 10 beds and 5 fruit trees and 7 laying hens. Everyone giggled when I started but now that I garden throughout the year and my chickens are laying eggs they realize I was serious and I would like to do more to share with family and friends. ❤ it feels good to grow and nurture but also to provide veggies that are organic with others!
Listening as I shell my kidney beans ❤️ We live in a mobile home community but I am blessed that my family still owns a dairy farm just outside of town so I have access to a garden plot I share with my mom and aunt.
Barbara Kingsolver book was great & then I found you, I live in suburbia & have 10 raised beds & fruit trees & having so much fun, growing produce from seeds, canning my little haul & just enjoying the bounty from my little garden. I do a little dance when the seeds sprout & sing happy birthday too. So much fun, the basil teas, dehydrating herbs, canning, pressure cooking, Just have fun! Thanks Jess for sharing all your knowledge.
I found The Honeystead when I was randomly searching for info on medicinal herbs & was so happy when on one episode she happened to mention her friend, Jess, from Roots and Refuge! There is so much different information out there that her mentioning you sort of validated her site - hopefully, that does not sound off - & kind of brought her into the trusted circle. And that is meant in a very good way. 😊
Now living on the Oregon Coast and I love the sounds of your evening. Who'da thunk the sound of bugs when it's hot would be so comforting, lol. We're finally having days in the 70's.
I hope you know how much you move people. Especially with these little sit down videos you do. This is one I really need today more deeply than words could ever express and I thank you.
My daughter Taylor was fussy, and as soon as I put your vlog on the big screen, she stopped being "whah", and had the sweetest smile on her face. If only I can take a pic of her attentiveness and calmness while listening to your angelic and sweet voice. She is now talking to you as I type. We look forward to your weekly vlogs, for your ora and loving spirit warms our hearts.
We make bread, laundry soap, dishwasher tablets, hand and body soap, lotions, room sprays, disinfectant sprays, disinfectant wipes, perfumes, cuticle oil, etc. along with cooking from scratch with whole recipes
Jess, your expression “Turn your waiting room into a classroom” has made a huge shift in my mindset. For years, people have told me I was in God’s waiting room, and I thought all I was supposed to do was wait and pray. Now I understand there is so much more I can do while waiting! Thank you!
I will always need these reminders ❤ "Turning your waiting room into a classroom" is now an every day mantra for me and I am trying to find the balance between growing my Homestead skills, working my side business, and working full time in a warehouse. A busy and hard and beautiful season in my life but I have Jess on my shoulder always encouraging me to keeping going, it's worth it 😊
My husband became a master mechanic in his classroom. He has rebuilt motors and transmissions in numerous vehicles. He just replaced a steering column in my daughter's classic 87 Ford Stepside!
During the years of waiting, I did all these things and now that we finally have land and a garden and some chickens (basically a homestead, right?) all the skills learned are so helpful!! Even though I finally have my garden, it kind of failed this year. Some my fault, some out of my control. So I’m still having to use some of the skills you mentioned, especially resources. This year, I was able to visit a local Amish farm and buy 50lbs of tomatoes for $28 from a lady I’ve been regularly buying veggies from for the last three years. And 30 very large peppers for $12. That was a huge blessing!! We were able to enjoy some fresh and then canned the rest. If anyone is still in their “waiting room” stage (or not) and has an Amish community near by, make the drive. They are a wonderful resource of knowledge in vegetables, animals and herbal medicine.
The Encyclopedia of Country Living is another great book to add to your “classroom waiting room”. The 1960s back to the land movement inspired Carla Emery to collect the wisdom of the old timers before it was lost. While not a homesteading book, The Wahls Protocol written by a doctor struggling with MS has helped me zero in on what foods to raise and eat as part of my autoimmune disease (RA) management. I appreciate the science behind the choices she makes.
Hi JESS I saved this video so I could relax and watch, it's Sunday here in BC Salmon Arm, squat in the middle of the fires NO we are not on fire but they are close about 30 to 40 miles away but lots of friends and family are so my attention has been mentally focused on them, but I love to be in back yard usually on the patio as planting my herbs and flowers, this year my son has done all the gardening for veggies my sister and I have helped with picking and watering and using and putting up but he has, mowed and hilled and rototilled the raised bed and garden in ground beds, it has been a really challenging year we keep getting chem trails here for about the last two years, so the sun light has been obstructed but if we get a real rain and some sun shine the plant spring up like, jack in the bean stalks magic beans 2 to 3 days and my babies where poking their little heads up...thanks Jessyou have been a god sent blessing for my mental health because i love gardening but at this time health issues interfer with my passion for, if i had stayed on the farm as a single parent... I could not have supported my kids on a trailer lot because I didn't know how, and I racked my brain so off to the city I went for more education as an electronics tech, but to much debt to put me and my kids in, so I took a secretarial course with lots of computer and accounting and first aid all great skills and got place as a receptionist at a crisis and counselling center for a year before being laid off do to funding cuts, so off i go and find a job at a hotel cleaning rooms, and making beds and washing toilets of the rich and famous lol mostly ordinary folks who pretty ok some messier than most lol and i hurt my back, nothing they could do it was a twist at the waist and my knees were shot from scrubbing floors and toilets on my knees because im tall i got down and did them properly as my mama taught me... I also once stood/walked around at stampede ground entrance to get people parked for the stampede grounds for 8hrs and found out I still have my stamina and I can push pretty hard (my back was so painful but I did it, and I healed up) and then after cooking(through out all of this) oddly cooking since I learned how to cook in truck stop restaurant at age 16yrs, husky house restaurant three times one was a gas station deli, and it was straight graveyards so clean up and stocking and lottery, quit when my cousin was murdered and left for dead in a empty lot in kamloops to be closer to my grand kids and daughter in Williaams Lake, they are a good company and the station is owned by the owner not oil company, and A&W, but listening to myself about my abilities and got a job at corner store (deli making, stocking, post office, gas station, fishing and hunting permits, stocking and cleaning bathrooms for a small little place with a everything in one place, for the the hwy which most take in the caribou to get to the northern places even alaska, and some idiot came in and grabbed co-worker and hold them with machete and it's been over 10 yrs and I only hear her voice... Now I'm trying to get healthy again, lose weight and I've been even trying laser treatments on back, stop smoking and get off meds for PTSD, and watch you videos to learn new things and skills I'm 62, and my son who I live with 43yrs old, have talked about buying a place and together so I could help him get his own place he's fabulous at building and fixing things, he is a skilled person whom works for a company that supplies disabled persons with everything from elevators to scooters and goes all over the province of BC making sure they have the aids they needs even the set of beds and lift chairs, poles and other safety supplies for bathrooms, and knowing the regulations(he never graduated) but he has taught himself all of this and the skills needed to do this hes amazing and im very proud of him🥰 and my greatest wish is to some day help him get his own piece of land, because he wants it 😉👍 he is also a awesome cook and likes good food 🥰 the fresher the better🙏💕🥰 thank you Jess for the video i so enjoy all of your teaching i even quote you now when talking 🙏💕🥰 God Bless Roots and Refuge and you Jess and Miah for making this planet and the gardening world a better place to live in... have a awesome week 🥰💕
As I said before on another video of yours Jess I wish I was emigrated at young age to the USA or second best I can travel to see all of you and learn. I do a bit on my own learning on youtube probably too late but better than nothing. Age is against me which is a shame. Your generation has so much opportunities who does not take advance of that is a fool. I just purchased my first 6 seedling of corn. Hardly can wait to plant them. I am very determent to make it better this summer and grow more than before of everything. I only hope we will have enough rain so I can water the garden. If it is a drought that would be very sad for everybody. Jess please keep teaching me giving me ideas. You are the daughter I have never had and I do appreciate you big time. ❤❤❤
Great chat. It’s kind of ironic but I can’t say that homesteading has been my goal, yet I have been doing some of these things for a few years now. Learning to preserve, diy things, grow things. I have just been gravitating towards this out of a desire to live better and depend less on outside sources. So the other day, I asked for a day off work and signed up for a homesteading workshop given by my local cooperative extension. Maybe I will get tthere, maybe I won’t. Maybe one day I will be thrown into it with no choice at all, but any progression in that direction is a win.
The first time I heard you say “turn your waiting room into a classroom” years ago when I came across your channel, impacted me so much!! It’s largely been the lens through which I’ve viewed things as we’ve been in the waiting for more land. Stewarding the garden I do have well. Stewarding the chickens we can have in city limits well! And then learning things we can’t do here by reading, UA-cam channels and through friend’s. We want pigs someday so we bought a half pig from a friend and learned how to render lard and cook each cut well. Keep speaking this message! It’s such a great one!!😂
Love this. I will say I love the Rhodes family but "you can build this" when he isn't building it. He is Blessed to be able to hire others. Some of us aren't as Blessed and can't afford to buy the plans. Thank you for helping me turn my waiting room into a classroom. ❤
Here’s a tip from my grandmother that I adopted. On Sunday she’d make a big batch of ground meat and rice. We ate it with stewed tomatoes on the side. That was the 1st meal. Then the rest of the week it became the stuffing in peppers or cabbage. Then she save some for chilli. Or even stuffed pepper soup. A lot of times I just browned up the ground meat. And then I’d break it down into pasta sauce. Sloppy joes. And hamburger helper. I hope this info helps someone out there. O I’m 63 and we always bought in season growing up. My mom always looked for sales. Shes 91 and still buys the day old bread / pastries.
Oh my goodness..."I love tomatoes too much to cheat on them like that..." this is such a truth! It also applies to so many other good things...bread, eggs, milk, any fresh veggie or fruit...I am definitely gonna be borrowing that Jess-ism! I can just imagine a picture book for adults with your lovely photos or sketches with your crazy, spot on, one liners! I love your thoughts on seasonal eating, and again, this applies to other homestead-related things, like chores and projects. Seasonal activity just ties us more closely to the creation and all of its facets! Blessings, Marie
I am 56 years old and for a short time I wish I felt like I do now many years ago about homesteading and growing/raising my own food. My waiting room is full of skills I want to learn as when I retire I want to homestead at whatever scale that I can. It took me a bit to realize I needed/could learn so much now. Even at my age! I grew up in the world of convenience. Learning that scratch made can be just as fast and better was a game changer, and learning that the grocery store was killing us made me look hard at what we eat.
I’m 56 too, a very late-blooming gardener. I started this year with two GreenStalks to stop procrastinating and just jump in! I’m so glad I did, have enjoyed many fresh greens, herbs, tomatoes and peppers from a very modest start. Wishing you the best as you start!🌱☀️💚
My husband and I are those people who could finally buy land and we are living in our camper! It is the most wonderful and frustrating endeavor, but watching you and listening to your words of encouragement and wisdom has helped me to focus on the positive when I get frustrated and want to burn it all down. Do I have the proper stove to can here? Not by a longshot. Can I use my 2x2 foot counter to make homemade bread? I'm going to do my damnedest! You've shown me to use what I have and learn skills I can obtain with the 'ingredients' I have here. So thank you 💚 and keep shining your light!
Jess is right, I have heard this content several times, but there's something she said this time that made me think of a resource I've discovered that may be of interest to y'all. There's an organization called Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) and this is an excellent way to turn your waiting room into a classroom. You can choose from hundreds of farms in your country to volunteer at and learn from their style of farming/homesteading. I volunteered on a flower farm this past spring in Arizona and loved learning all of the regenerative techniques the host was using on her small plot of land and seeing just how far a small start can take you. 💚
I learned cooking first by asking my mom how to do it and i was about 10 years old and then there was time when i was home with my own kids. I learned to love doing things like making Marmelade! Now my children are adults and i changed my garden ! No front yard in green. But lush tomatoes , cucumbers beans sunflowers, aubergines a d ... So.e flowers. And every day when i come home from work... I so much enjoy the view of my garden. It is a miracle and i appreciate it all the time.
Beautiful video Jess! I love and agree with your view. We are finally in the transitional part of our own journey, where we are preparing to buy property. So grateful that we have spent the last ten years preparing for this next step!
Was listening while shucking my own black eyed peas. Thanks Jess because these are things I wish I knew 10 years ago. You are correct, homesteading used to be very lonely at times. Blessings!
Turning my waiting room into a classroom. Wow, that was a phrase that I wasn’t expecting to hit me so hard today. I’m new-ish to the channel, just living vicariously through your garden tour videos. I’m in a really busy season of life right now with work, school, and kids, but so desperately want to move towards a homesteading lifestyle. I’m hoping to finally get a garden started next year🤞🏻but WOW I needed to hear you say that today. Thank you for always being so positive and offering your thoughts, advice, and wisdom ❤
Always love your videos Jess! Interesting because I did not grow up with these ideas. Grew up in a very troubled household which I won’t go into detail but I left home and married a man from Mexico. He planted a garden and I had to figure out what to do with basically no income (we worked on a tobacco farm for $3/hr) and there was no internet. We didn’t even have a phone! His mom taught me how to “can” peppers (pickled peppers really). So I tried doing the same with tomatoes lol …logical right? Well it’s a wonder I didn’t kill us all smh. One jar exploded in the cabinet so I’m like well that’s not good. FF 30 years and I’m canning and preserving the right way. Wish I would’ve had a teacher back then. So happy that people like you exist! Thank you! 💜
These videos really bring me joy because I remember living in my apartment watching one of your videos similar to this while learning how to can jam with fruit I got from the grocery store. It’s funny how much growth I’ve had since that moment thank you for the great advice it really helped me prepare for what I would be actively doing on my farm. This really inspires me especially because I still haven’t found my people IRL.
You saying "turn your waiting room into a classroom" combined with the idea of the "5 year" plan has been a staple in our journey. To be honest, you're the reason we started documenting the journey. We started watching you and your family a few years ago, and though we're currently behind, we still love watching and learning from you. Thank you and God bless!
I totally just finished that animal, vegetable miracle book (because I saw it suggested here years ago) and man is it good. It felt like connecting with someone who GETS this life, who gets the schedule and the pressures and time line. It was like visiting with a friend that I needed so badly. Thanks for all you do.
Thank you so much just for being here. I woke up early this morning from a horrible night terror and I turned on you too quickly said a little prayer card. Please let there be some thing that’ll make me feel better right now on UA-cam. And in the back of my mind, I was thinking like roots and refuge that would be great, and UA-cam clicked on and there you were😃😍. So thank you very much, and I can just imagine how satisfying and how much you never ever take it for granted, being able to sit on your very own porch, watch your kids, play, watch Maya, working with the animals, and gazing upon the view of your farm, and beyond as you sit, there, shelling peas that you grew. To me, there’s nothing that could feel more content, at peace, blessed and full of pure joy. You deserve nothing less and the same goes for your family❣️❣️❣️ I think you so very much for everything you shared in this video with all of us. It’s good to even share things you’ve shared before in order to remind us and or inspire us. You had some wonderful tips in this message today. One of them being all the different ways you discovered to buy bulk produce to preserve when you weren’t able to grow it yourself. Your video as always, and especially sometimes even more than others was therapeutic medicine for me. I am feeling much better after that horrible night terror. And I know you can relate what it must’ve been like for me when I tell you, one of my five kids was part of it😬💔. So I’m sure you know yet how extremely much I needed rescuing from just waking up from there😉. You and your family and friends are always in my thoughts and prayers and heart too❣️🥰😘🌻 Oh, one last thing lol… You’ve worked so incredibly hard and sacrificed and dreamed for so long, you and Maya, and the rest deserve absolutely every joyous moment you have plus the people in things that you have in your life. We know that and you know that And I hope the rest of us never forget how hard you fall work for it!!!! Plus you and Maya don’t take what you have for granted and you give God your gratitude every day. I can only imagine how he smiles when he watches over all of you to see what you’ve done with your blessings and how you share them with others🙏🏼
I started gardening a few years ago in my small garden by building raised beds and it was not too bad a season and the next but then end 2019 diagnosed with cancer, so 2020 was the 3C year for me, Cancer, Chemo and Covid and my gardening fell apart mostly through lack of energy and enthusiasm. But through this all I had my UA-cam Homesteaders who kept me going and I have learned so much. My classroom skills are now actually pretty good. I can waterbath can, ferment, make jams/chutneys/sauces and mostly cook from scratch with in season veggies. We are giving my Townhouse a complete rehaul as well as the garden, so will see if I have enough time for any summer veggies, but we do have a long growing season. Replanning the garden for more produce is a big part of the garden do-over and if all else fails, I will have an awesome winter garden next year. I have always done my own sewing/knitting and maintenance, so save a lot of money on those expenses. I am ready for a farm, butnt really to old to start anew, but can still have a lovely, productive urban garden and who knows, maybe a farmer out there looking for a handy wife lol
I was lucky enough to grow up on a small 12 acre farm. And my mom had a Big garden! She cooked from scratch too. So I did also when possible. And when I couldnt work anymote I went back to cooking from scraych almost totally. I feel better not eating the boxed stuff! I also eat mainly seasonly. But I can alot of my food for winter so have some fruits then too. But fresh from my garden is always best!! I love gardening and have since a kid! I dont buy tomatoes, cucumbers and that from the store as they just dont tasye good. Grow some things inside too during winter! Lettuc and othets do fine!
I am learning about medicinal herbs right now. I am also growing many different ones. I am on a small scale. I am renting and am "container gardening" for the moment. I figure since I can't do a full garden, I should be educating myself right now. Create a plan for the future. I have many ideas and am sorting through my mind. Even though I have been gardening all my life your channel has taught me to think bigger. Mom was an avid gardener and she taught me a lot through our time together. I also studied Horticulture and Landscape design (for awhile). I have volunteered at the local "Grow Dome" too. I have always preferred natural medicines to Pharma. I prefer the term Farmaceuticals. It's been 15 years since I have been to a pharmacy, Thanks for what you do. Wish I was closer. I would love to work with you. Keep smiling!
I loved this podcast. I have been a backyard Gardner for years. Last year I bought pineapple cheap and made jam, it didn’t set up, but I didn’t realize it was too thin until I defrosted a jar,. Well now we have pineapple topping for our ice cream. I don’t have a cow, so cheese and making butter is not an option that’s economically feasible for me,but I buy butter on sale and make my own ghee so much cheaper than the jars in the store. Thanks for your caring and encouragement.
I love these talk videos. Great video. I love the Honeystead channel. I have learned so much from that channel. I love growing my own herbs. I have really been getting into foraging. Til I watched that channel, I only have foraged dandelion, fiddleheads, leeks, blackberries, and certain mushrooms. This is my first year to make my own salve, next it tentures. It is a challenge to work full time and come home to working things around the house. Miah is so right about learning to build things or repair. I love to watch Ana White. My newest thing for me to try to learn is plumbing.
The US Foods Chef Stores (formerly called Cash & Carry around here) are such a great resource for homesteaders! Not just for bulk foods, but for larger commercial kitchen equipment! When you start cooking and preserving more of your own food, you'll quickly realize that most kitchen equipment sold for home use doesn't last very long when you use it as much as we do. We started buying most of our kitchen tools and storage vessels (like that Cambro you're putting peas in, Jess) at those stores because they're less expensive and last much longer under heavy use!
@RootsandRefugeFarm I figured! 😁 Our pantry is full of Cambros! Buckets and Gamma lids are great if you've got more space, but we still live in a tiny 1920s bungalow, so the stackable square Cambro bins work best for us for now.
You have the cutes names for your cats lol. Someday we will have a farm, and hopefully farm cats, and I’m going to name them after my favorite plants haha. Lemon, oregano, rosemary, mint 😂 tommy (tomato).
I planted my first garden with seedlings i started in my kitchen this winter. Not everything was a success, but most of it was! Thanks to you i went confidently into this venture and weve been eating organic vegetables that we grew from seeds! Its like magic and we have learned so much. Next year i will have so much more knowledge abd i an so excited to plan for it all! God Bless you for passing on your knowledge to us.
Jeremiah is absolutely correct. All of those skills the plumber, the carpenter, the roofer the electrician all of those skills are going away none of the kids today want to learn anything about those they want to make 1 million bucks sitting on the butts at home and it’s really sad. But yes, just all we all need to learn life skills that were taught by our grandparents and their grandparents. It is a way that we should be doing life. I’m just glad that I learned a lot of those skills from my grandmother and I still do most of those skills today.
I feel this so much. I'm renting a room in someone else's house (moved in during 2020... from horrible apartment complex to at least someone I knew and worked with). Can't stretch out or do much of anything in rest of the house, it's not my house and their lifestyle doesn't match homesteading mindset. I have helped with gathering (mostly tomatoes) from a couple very small raised beds they started but basically abandoned. I feel the need for some acreage, even with a shack lol, but the finances are just not quite there with my current bills/debt situation. So I watch and watch and try to learn about all the things, and take notes, gather a few good books for homesteading (canning, fermenting, gardening), etc. Planning for the future.
Thank you for sharing your journey. You inspire me to slow down my monkey mind, suspend my self criticisms. Enjoy the doing, try new things. This is good for me ❣
Love this! That’s exalt what I’ve been doing the last 2yrs. We can’t homestead until my youngest step son turns 18 and we’ve got 5yrs to go. Who out there is an off gird homesteader with off grid advice?
This is such an awesome advise, I am planning on homesteading and I am realising I should learn food preservations for all the crop farming I am planning on
A couple of things I have learned about myself over the years. I really like digging in the dirt and creating a gardenscape with a shovel and wheelbarrow and have no interest in buying a tractor. On the other hand, I don't really enjoy kitchen work all that much so I grow lots of things that don't need processing to store, like squash and potatoes and love my automatic bread maker.
Ms. Jessica, maybe you showed us those peas but are they the ones that look like tiny penguins? Love these chats. Maybe you didn't notice but a MAN walked behind you during this chat. It's just amazing how fast our kids grow. Seriously, Jack is a definitely a man now. WOW! God bless you guys.
My first baby, was REALLY young, was 'allergic' to my breastmilk, according to my local health department. We switched to formula, a few different brands, and he ended up on soy milk! I know now he had a milk allergy. LOVE you lady!
I sat and listened to your newest podcast - I wrote an entire overview for myself and doodled as I went and just wept as you talked because I related to it so so much in this stage of my life. Young twenty something mama, scared to death of this world and for my babies to be in this world. Wanting to have a farm so so badly, but being ever so grateful for my flock of chickens and my tiny garden that just keeps on giving us harvests 🩵 Thank you for your words, Jess! You are a true Gem!
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"Don't wait for the Fulfillment. Prepare yourself to receive it. "
Love it
Only two minutes in and I just know that this is what my heart needs today...This morning I told my husband (as I was leaving for another 3am-3pm shift at work) that I think I'm heart sick for something that I know is not possible to have right now. So I wait, learn and pray and steward what is in my hands. 🙏
Amen❤
I'm in the same boat, but without the husband. Keep going, we can get there!
@@shamancarmichael5305 Yes we can!!
@@shamancarmichael5305same!
Same here! We are in the same boat. Trying to stay positive.
Sorry to comment again but this content is so nourishing and helpful. I made my little yard and dumpy old trailer my classroom and have learned to preserve herbs, pickle things, make my own soap, lip balms, make my own homemade pizza sauce and can it from my own tomatoes (which started with store tomatoes because I didn’t have a garden at first!).. turning your space into a classroom is SO true. Do what you can with what you have!! It makes the wait so fruitful ❤
Oh yes, I mirror that so much. We can google stuff, but its Jess’s teachability. Love the daily dose.
Keep commenting!!!!! Seriously!!!!!!!!
She has never discouraged multiple comments. I hope we don't discourage it either. Marvelous numerous enormous blessings everyone everywhere.
Comment your heart out it only helps the channel! ✌🏻🙏🏼❤️
You are not alone at all. I have a small garden area & I also live in an old dumpy trailer. I just canned for the first time this year. With my very own tomatoes, peppers and onions. 🥰
@@kailesancez WOW I'm the first to see this!!!
I'm so proud of you, because I grew up in that trailer, but I still remember canning from before then. 🥰🙋🥰🙋🥰👍👍😨🎉🎉🎉🌺🌴🌷🌴🌺🍀🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂
The biggest skill my parents passed down was how to put a daily meal on the table from figuring out who would cook each night (from the time we were 8 we were required to cook one dinner a week) and then coming up with a menu sitting at the dinner table on Thursday nights. Then who would be on the grocery store team (on Sat morning) for the week and who would be on the put it all away team. It was so amazing to me when I moved out that none of my roommates knew how to do any of this stuff. I still have friends who are amazed that my dad and brother cooked once a week as well as the girls - everyone took turns doing dishes. Living in our household was a team effort.
Sadly life skills are not being taught. My family did team work too even our 3rd child that is disabled. You can teach everyone. Some take longer to caught on. By the time she was in high-school & now vocational skills program, the teachers are amazed that my child can do for herself & doesn't really fit in with the other kids that are way behind. My child is a Mama hen so she teaches her classmates too along with the teacher.
@@angelaraum1545 beautiful!🥰
I was diagnosed with MS in December, so this garden season has looked very different this year. Some days I have constant tremors and dizziness to the point I can’t walk out to tend to the plants I planted. But that makes the “good days” so much more fulfilling! Your channel has been such an inspiration to me! Thank you for your ever positive outlook and giving us all a pep talk 🫶
Changing my viewpoint on cooking from running to the store and buying what I need for a recipe to looking at my harvest and deciding what to how to use and preserve it all was a huge shift for me. The internet makes this SO much easier when I can just search on a recipe by listing the ingredients I have on hand to make something delicious. And I just have a suburban backyard garden, but right now I'm getting a pound of green beans every morning. And the satisfaction of making a dinner and thinking "Wow, that's my garlic and tomatoes and parsley and potatoes and basil in that dish!", that is priceless.💚
My lightbulb moment book was Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food". Mind blown.
Every single suggestion you make in this video is so valuable. We started what is now called 'homesteading' in the mid 70's. No electricity, no money, no equipment, (no internet!), no telephone, just 30 bare acres of douglas fir. A gas refrigerator and a freezer locker in town. 250 gallon water trailer to get water from town before we could afford a well and a generator to pump water from it to the gravity tank above the house, which we built by hand with a gas generator and a skill saw, from wood we salvaged from barns we tore down for free.... A 1947 Willys pickup truck. A husband that can fix things.
I found Carly Emery's book before we bought the property and still have a first edition printed on mimeographed colored paper stock. I had a subscription to Jerry Belanger's Countryside magazine, and a few old books from the turn of the century on fixing farm equipment, cooking, raising livestock, etc.
I learned to butcher animals by just doing it. I learned to tan leather and sheepskins, make soap, cheese, etc. from our own animals. Fortunately I was raised by a mom who food gardened and canned.
Through much of this I also had a town job, and in winter hiked 3/4 of a mile down hill and back to get to my truck to drive to work, since we couldn't maintain our dirt road in the snow/mud season. I milked 50 dairy goats twice a day, and fed the milk to butcher pigs. We packed what supplies we still needed (like chicken/goat feed) up in winter on a donkey.
Made water bagels and tortillas and canned on my grandmother's wood cook stove, which I still have.
We did OK. An acquaintance suggested I write a book about it. I didn't think anyone would read it ;). We worked VERY HARD.
We left that place after 15 years, when we realized we had no social security to speak of, no insurance, no savings, and cutting down 100 ft tall fir trees could get dangerous. We thought we needed to move back to the suburbs while we still had marketable skills. Hardest thing I ever had to do.
After working for another 15 years in 'civilization' we were able to retire. Now we have 12 acres of property, a lot of dairy goats, some sheep, and the usual living flotsom like chickens, dogs, cats, horses, etc., and a donkey, though this one is a freeloader. A pretty large garden that I no longer need to depend on for food but still grow because I am a chronic gardener and do love a decent tomato, and three tractors. We are 30 miles from the nearest grocery store.
I do buy most of our non-veg food now, including many tons of hay each year. We quit raising our own meat a couple of years ago, as since we are getting older, we don't eat as much red meat and getting through a cow and a couple of lambs/pigs takes too long with only two people. We still have 3 freezers though.
I still cook from scratch. Old habits. And I have a manual can opener (the same one I had 40 years ago.)
Now we have neighbors, much younger, some of whom are excited to be able and wanting to be like you, and watching how to videos and making mistakes, naming their chickens, and getting discouraged and bailing after a couple of years. There are also a few that stick. I hope there will be more.
I only noticed/bothered with UA-cam videos a couple of years ago during Covid. Your channel was one of the few I found interesting, since I could relate to your early desire, and calling.
My advice to any readers is to listen to what Jess is saying here, and practice before you make the move, because while failure is an option for most people now, it is not fun. Real 'homesteading' is hard. Really hard.
Getting livestock because you saw a youtube video and lambs are cute and you 'need' some, only to find out that you don't know how to take care of them and they get sick and die - or you find out it's tedious and takes 'too much' time and so you dump them on someone else. You find out you can't go on vacation because you can't find someone to feed for you, or milk. That is the part of 'homesteading' you won't see on youtube. Veterinarians now are sometimes difficult or impossible to find, or you cannot afford them. You will have animals that are going to die, no matter what you do. If you have dairy animals you need to milk them usually twice a day. Every. Single. Day. No matter what else is going on. Milking in the dark by kerosene lantern in 20 degree weather with a blinding headache while throwing up is not fun and not something you will see on youtube. Ask me how I know.
Be prepared. Go slow. Start with vegetables. Get shelter for your livestock first, before you get the stock. And not everyone needs a livestock guardian dog.
This comment is too long, so I will stop here.
Listening after milking the goats while straining clabber cheese into cream cheese/ricotta substitutes, setting up rabbit in the crockpot, while smelling the bread cooking the bread maker. You inspired all of this for me, thank you so much! ❤❤
Like you, I was forced into action when my husband got sick. I realized that food is medicine, and I began to learn all I could to help him and my family. I increased the garden that I had, and we began a whole food based diet.I will never have a farm (age and money), but I am doing what I can where I am. Your videos are a big part of my classroom. You are a great teacher for those of us waiting and those of us working with what we have.
I love Kaylee @ honeystead! Herbal remedies, bees/honey, gardens, homesteading with extended family. So happy you ladies know eachother. BEAUTIFUL
@18:32 “Learning to embrace, slower, harder, handmade from scratch” this brought tears to my eyes as I replayed this part several times!
Thank you Jess because I really need to hear that, I absolutely love these kind of videos! ❤
It’s funny because sometimes I think of you as not only my garden Teacher, but as my garden therapist and/or counselor!
Thank you for all that you do and may the Lord bless you and your family always and forever!
I absolutely love the cat moments! Bless them! ❤❤❤
I have always loved your phrase “turn your waiting room into yo ur classroom.” I follow it, even though I’m 62, or rather it’s kind of what I’ve been doing for years. Now here’s the funny part, I really don’t want a farm! 😂. However, I do want to homestead, only right here on my 1/2 acre plot. As I near retirement I want to grown more of my own food. So I’ve been adding more and more to my backyard and over the last 5 years I have added laying hens, many raised beds and perennials like berries and asparagus. I now forage, and made an amazing rose hip jelly a few days ago. I Live on the coast in Massachusetts so I go dig clams and rake oysters and go crabbing. So at this point in my life I have chosen to bloom where I grow but I am still manifesting my dreams and abundance. Thank you Jess for inspiring me to do just that.
I don't think I will ever find it boring for you to repeat yourself, Jess. Because each time is a reminder that I'm doing what my heart has desires for so long, and it makes me proud of myself and of all that comes from my garden, my kitchen, my hands, my mind. ❤. Keep talking, lady!
Yes!!!! Same here! ❤
*EATING SEASONALLY* Omg! YES!!!!!!!!! This is the human body and the environment it lives in co-evolving through eons of cultivation. It is a beautiful symbiotic relationship of time and space.
As we move into fall as the days get shorter, all of the beta carotene veg go to harvest. Its not a coincidence, it is sharing space and time and life goals. LOL
We love eating that tomato because just like “Chef’s Choice”, it is Gardener’s Choice, and that juicy bite leads to next year’s amazing Garden Volunteer. 😂🎉❤
I Bless you Jes ❤❤❤
Something you just said made me think of something I recently heard.
PREPARATION IS THE PROOF OF EXPECTATION
I keep hoping that you will take us along to one of Kaylee's apothecary classes! She credits you with pushing her to start her UA-cam channel. Both your channels are my most watched favorites.
The cicadas in the background are such a southern thing...love it!
Adding animals to my urban homestead was a great encouragement to start cooking from scratch. Not only does an abundance of eggs encourage me to eat eggs for breakfast, but also bake quiche in the busy season, and make mayonnaise from scratch.
And when you are burdened with the abundance of homemade fertilizer, suddenly there's a ton of motivation to garden with veggies and the cycle continues...
This year I've been practicing a lot of fermentation, because I've been experimenting with growing cabbage and brassica varieties with great success.
One major way I have turned my waiting room into a classroom is focusing practicing growing big batches of a certain type of vegetable each season. I have limited space, but there's always a star veggie taking up a larger space that I can hone my skills on.
These chats are extremely valuable Jess 😍. Four years ago now I came across your garden tours while I lived in the city and you really sparked my love for gardening ❤. I started off with a 5x40 garden plot in my back yard. The next year bumped it up to 30x35 by the third year we moved onto 15 acres of land and because you told me to make my waiting room my class room and shared your big dreams showing me the possibilities out there I successfully took care of a 500x80 garden plot. Now I’m in my fourth year with a quarter of an acre garden chickens and a dairy cow 😍. Stewart what you have well and you’ll absolutely be blessed to hold more of a capacity. thank you for your big inspiring dreams and showing me what was possible. Watching your garden tours I prayed that one day I’d have a garden like yours.. well three years after that God blessed me with our now property and on it was cattle panels for trellises and t posts!😍
I started watching Jess in 2017 and feeling so inspired and wanting to grow and harvest. Since then my garden has grown from a patch to 10 beds and 5 fruit trees and 7 laying hens. Everyone giggled when I started but now that I garden throughout the year and my chickens are laying eggs they realize I was serious and I would like to do more to share with family and friends. ❤ it feels good to grow and nurture but also to provide veggies that are organic with others!
Listening as I shell my kidney beans ❤️
We live in a mobile home community but I am blessed that my family still owns a dairy farm just outside of town so I have access to a garden plot I share with my mom and aunt.
Barbara Kingsolver book was great & then I found you, I live in suburbia & have 10 raised beds & fruit trees & having so much fun, growing produce from seeds, canning my little haul & just enjoying the bounty from my little garden. I do a little dance when the seeds sprout & sing happy birthday too. So much fun, the basil teas, dehydrating herbs, canning, pressure cooking, Just have fun! Thanks Jess for sharing all your knowledge.
I found The Honeystead when I was randomly searching for info on medicinal herbs & was so happy when on one episode she happened to mention her friend, Jess, from Roots and Refuge! There is so much different information out there that her mentioning you sort of validated her site - hopefully, that does not sound off - & kind of brought her into the trusted circle. And that is meant in a very good way. 😊
Now living on the Oregon Coast and I love the sounds of your evening. Who'da thunk the sound of bugs when it's hot would be so comforting, lol. We're finally having days in the 70's.
I hope you know how much you move people. Especially with these little sit down videos you do. This is one I really need today more deeply than words could ever express and I thank you.
My daughter Taylor was fussy, and as soon as I put your vlog on the big screen, she stopped being "whah", and had the sweetest smile on her face. If only I can take a pic of her attentiveness and calmness while listening to your angelic and sweet voice. She is now talking to you as I type. We look forward to your weekly vlogs, for your ora and loving spirit warms our hearts.
We make bread, laundry soap, dishwasher tablets, hand and body soap, lotions, room sprays, disinfectant sprays, disinfectant wipes, perfumes, cuticle oil, etc. along with cooking from scratch with whole recipes
I luv to just sit and listen to you every day. Please never stop! Never stop encouraging and sharing your heart and your knowledge xx
I just love pea shelling chats. 😊
Used to love shelling peas with my family. I was little at the time. Three generations sitting on the back porch at dusk. ❤️
Sweet memories.
Take a look back at this video! "17.36". It was so sweet to see the lovely hummingbird saying hello to you!!
Jess, your expression “Turn your waiting room into a classroom” has made a huge shift in my mindset. For years, people have told me I was in God’s waiting room, and I thought all I was supposed to do was wait and pray. Now I understand there is so much more I can do while waiting! Thank you!
I followed your lead and I have been loving toasted bread with mayo and thick slices of my own tomatoes.
I will always need these reminders ❤ "Turning your waiting room into a classroom" is now an every day mantra for me and I am trying to find the balance between growing my Homestead skills, working my side business, and working full time in a warehouse. A busy and hard and beautiful season in my life but I have Jess on my shoulder always encouraging me to keeping going, it's worth it 😊
My husband became a master mechanic in his classroom. He has rebuilt motors and transmissions in numerous vehicles. He just replaced a steering column in my daughter's classic 87 Ford Stepside!
During the years of waiting, I did all these things and now that we finally have land and a garden and some chickens (basically a homestead, right?) all the skills learned are so helpful!!
Even though I finally have my garden, it kind of failed this year. Some my fault, some out of my control. So I’m still having to use some of the skills you mentioned, especially resources. This year, I was able to visit a local Amish farm and buy 50lbs of tomatoes for $28 from a lady I’ve been regularly buying veggies from for the last three years. And 30 very large peppers for $12. That was a huge blessing!! We were able to enjoy some fresh and then canned the rest. If anyone is still in their “waiting room” stage (or not) and has an Amish community near by, make the drive. They are a wonderful resource of knowledge in vegetables, animals and herbal medicine.
I love a good pea shelling porch chat ❤️
I absolutely loved the podcast with Daniel. I can’t wait to try yalls love coffee. He is a special soul!
The Encyclopedia of Country Living is another great book to add to your “classroom waiting room”. The 1960s back to the land movement inspired Carla Emery to collect the wisdom of the old timers before it was lost.
While not a homesteading book, The Wahls Protocol written by a doctor struggling with MS has helped me zero in on what foods to raise and eat as part of my autoimmune disease (RA) management. I appreciate the science behind the choices she makes.
Hi JESS I saved this video so I could relax and watch, it's Sunday here in BC Salmon Arm, squat in the middle of the fires NO we are not on fire but they are close about 30 to 40 miles away but lots of friends and family are so my attention has been mentally focused on them, but I love to be in back yard usually on the patio as planting my herbs and flowers, this year my son has done all the gardening for veggies my sister and I have helped with picking and watering and using and putting up but he has, mowed and hilled and rototilled the raised bed and garden in ground beds, it has been a really challenging year we keep getting chem trails here for about the last two years, so the sun light has been obstructed but if we get a real rain and some sun shine the plant spring up like, jack in the bean stalks magic beans 2 to 3 days and my babies where poking their little heads up...thanks Jessyou have been a god sent blessing for my mental health because i love gardening but at this time health issues interfer with my passion for, if i had stayed on the farm as a single parent... I could not have supported my kids on a trailer lot because I didn't know how, and I racked my brain so off to the city I went for more education as an electronics tech, but to much debt to put me and my kids in, so I took a secretarial course with lots of computer and accounting and first aid all great skills and got place as a receptionist at a crisis and counselling center for a year before being laid off do to funding cuts, so off i go and find a job at a hotel cleaning rooms, and making beds and washing toilets of the rich and famous lol mostly ordinary folks who pretty ok some messier than most lol and i hurt my back, nothing they could do it was a twist at the waist and my knees were shot from scrubbing floors and toilets on my knees because im tall i got down and did them properly as my mama taught me... I also once stood/walked around at stampede ground entrance to get people parked for the stampede grounds for 8hrs and found out I still have my stamina and I can push pretty hard (my back was so painful but I did it, and I healed up) and then after cooking(through out all of this) oddly cooking since I learned how to cook in truck stop restaurant at age 16yrs, husky house restaurant three times one was a gas station deli, and it was straight graveyards so clean up and stocking and lottery, quit when my cousin was murdered and left for dead in a empty lot in kamloops to be closer to my grand kids and daughter in Williaams Lake, they are a good company and the station is owned by the owner not oil company, and A&W, but listening to myself about my abilities and got a job at corner store (deli making, stocking, post office, gas station, fishing and hunting permits, stocking and cleaning bathrooms for a small little place with a everything in one place, for the the hwy which most take in the caribou to get to the northern places even alaska, and some idiot came in and grabbed co-worker and hold them with machete and it's been over 10 yrs and I only hear her voice... Now I'm trying to get healthy again, lose weight and I've been even trying laser treatments on back, stop smoking and get off meds for PTSD, and watch you videos to learn new things and skills I'm 62, and my son who I live with 43yrs old, have talked about buying a place and together so I could help him get his own place he's fabulous at building and fixing things, he is a skilled person whom works for a company that supplies disabled persons with everything from elevators to scooters and goes all over the province of BC making sure they have the aids they needs even the set of beds and lift chairs, poles and other safety supplies for bathrooms, and knowing the regulations(he never graduated) but he has taught himself all of this and the skills needed to do this hes amazing and im very proud of him🥰 and my greatest wish is to some day help him get his own piece of land, because he wants it 😉👍 he is also a awesome cook and likes good food 🥰 the fresher the better🙏💕🥰 thank you Jess for the video i so enjoy all of your teaching i even quote you now when talking 🙏💕🥰 God Bless Roots and Refuge and you Jess and Miah for making this planet and the gardening world a better place to live in... have a awesome week 🥰💕
I listen to your podcast while milking, always look forward to it!
As I said before on another video of yours Jess I wish I was emigrated at young age to the USA or second best I can travel to see all of you and learn. I do a bit on my own learning on youtube probably too late but better than nothing. Age is against me which is a shame. Your generation has so much opportunities who does not take advance of that is a fool. I just purchased my first 6 seedling of corn. Hardly can wait to plant them. I am very determent to make it better this summer and grow more than before of everything. I only hope we will have enough rain so I can water the garden. If it is a drought that would be very sad for everybody. Jess please keep teaching me giving me ideas. You are the daughter I have never had and I do appreciate you big time. ❤❤❤
Great chat. It’s kind of ironic but I can’t say that homesteading has been my goal, yet I have been doing some of these things for a few years now. Learning to preserve, diy things, grow things. I have just been gravitating towards this out of a desire to live better and depend less on outside sources. So the other day, I asked for a day off work and signed up for a homesteading workshop given by my local cooperative extension. Maybe I will get tthere, maybe I won’t. Maybe one day I will be thrown into it with no choice at all, but any progression in that direction is a win.
This is beautiful! I might try it myself, particularly as a way to connect with like minded folks. Thanks for the great idea!
I love the farm cat cameos!
The first time I heard you say “turn your waiting room into a classroom” years ago when I came across your channel, impacted me so much!! It’s largely been the lens through which I’ve viewed things as we’ve been in the waiting for more land. Stewarding the garden I do have well. Stewarding the chickens we can have in city limits well! And then learning things we can’t do here by reading, UA-cam channels and through friend’s. We want pigs someday so we bought a half pig from a friend and learned how to render lard and cook each cut well.
Keep speaking this message! It’s such a great one!!😂
Definitely meant to put a ❤ and not a laughing face! Whoops!
just found Kaley on the Honeystead. love her great videos! I learned how to restore and protect all my garden tools with linseed oil on all the wood.
Love this. I will say I love the Rhodes family but "you can build this" when he isn't building it. He is Blessed to be able to hire others. Some of us aren't as Blessed and can't afford to buy the plans. Thank you for helping me turn my waiting room into a classroom. ❤
Here’s a tip from my grandmother that I adopted.
On Sunday she’d make a big batch of ground meat and rice. We ate it with stewed tomatoes on the side. That was the 1st meal. Then the rest of the week it became the stuffing in peppers or cabbage. Then she save some for chilli. Or even stuffed pepper soup.
A lot of times I just browned up the ground meat. And then I’d break it down into pasta sauce. Sloppy joes. And hamburger helper.
I hope this info helps someone out there.
O I’m 63 and we always bought in season growing up. My mom always looked for sales. Shes 91 and still buys the day old bread / pastries.
LOVE a good pea chat ❤
Oh my goodness..."I love tomatoes too much to cheat on them like that..." this is such a truth! It also applies to so many other good things...bread, eggs, milk, any fresh veggie or fruit...I am definitely gonna be borrowing that Jess-ism! I can just imagine a picture book for adults with your lovely photos or sketches with your crazy, spot on, one liners! I love your thoughts on seasonal eating, and again, this applies to other homestead-related things, like chores and projects. Seasonal activity just ties us more closely to the creation and all of its facets! Blessings, Marie
I am 56 years old and for a short time I wish I felt like I do now many years ago about homesteading and growing/raising my own food. My waiting room is full of skills I want to learn as when I retire I want to homestead at whatever scale that I can. It took me a bit to realize I needed/could learn so much now. Even at my age! I grew up in the world of convenience. Learning that scratch made can be just as fast and better was a game changer, and learning that the grocery store was killing us made me look hard at what we eat.
I’m 56 too, a very late-blooming gardener. I started this year with two GreenStalks to stop procrastinating and just jump in! I’m so glad I did, have enjoyed many fresh greens, herbs, tomatoes and peppers from a very modest start. Wishing you the best as you start!🌱☀️💚
I love the grace you give to everyone. I really appreciate you talking about your journey and the steps everyone can take.
My husband and I are those people who could finally buy land and we are living in our camper! It is the most wonderful and frustrating endeavor, but watching you and listening to your words of encouragement and wisdom has helped me to focus on the positive when I get frustrated and want to burn it all down. Do I have the proper stove to can here? Not by a longshot. Can I use my 2x2 foot counter to make homemade bread? I'm going to do my damnedest! You've shown me to use what I have and learn skills I can obtain with the 'ingredients' I have here. So thank you 💚 and keep shining your light!
Always love your chats :)
Love listening to Jess share her heart with us❤ she just make us feel better ❤
Just found your channel! What an encouragement to listen to you today!
Jess is right, I have heard this content several times, but there's something she said this time that made me think of a resource I've discovered that may be of interest to y'all. There's an organization called Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) and this is an excellent way to turn your waiting room into a classroom. You can choose from hundreds of farms in your country to volunteer at and learn from their style of farming/homesteading. I volunteered on a flower farm this past spring in Arizona and loved learning all of the regenerative techniques the host was using on her small plot of land and seeing just how far a small start can take you. 💚
I read that book several years ago. Long before i started raising my own chickens
We LOVE your videos! Hello from an Irish guy and German woman that are travelling and looking for a place to set up base and grow some stuff!
I learned cooking first by asking my mom how to do it and i was about 10 years old and then there was time when i was home with my own kids. I learned to love doing things like making Marmelade! Now my children are adults and i changed my garden ! No front yard in green. But lush tomatoes , cucumbers beans sunflowers, aubergines a d ... So.e flowers. And every day when i come home from work... I so much enjoy the view of my garden. It is a miracle and i appreciate it all the time.
Beautiful video Jess! I love and agree with your view. We are finally in the transitional part of our own journey, where we are preparing to buy property. So grateful that we have spent the last ten years preparing for this next step!
Was listening while shucking my own black eyed peas. Thanks Jess because these are things I wish I knew 10 years ago. You are correct, homesteading used to be very lonely at times.
Blessings!
Turning my waiting room into a classroom. Wow, that was a phrase that I wasn’t expecting to hit me so hard today. I’m new-ish to the channel, just living vicariously through your garden tour videos. I’m in a really busy season of life right now with work, school, and kids, but so desperately want to move towards a homesteading lifestyle. I’m hoping to finally get a garden started next year🤞🏻but WOW I needed to hear you say that today. Thank you for always being so positive and offering your thoughts, advice, and wisdom ❤
Repetition is wonderful
I can only read so much before I need to put it into practice. Doing turns learning into knowledge.
Always love your videos Jess! Interesting because I did not grow up with these ideas. Grew up in a very troubled household which I won’t go into detail but I left home and married a man from Mexico. He planted a garden and I had to figure out what to do with basically no income (we worked on a tobacco farm for $3/hr) and there was no internet. We didn’t even have a phone! His mom taught me how to “can” peppers (pickled peppers really). So I tried doing the same with tomatoes lol …logical right? Well it’s a wonder I didn’t kill us all smh. One jar exploded in the cabinet so I’m like well that’s not good. FF 30 years and I’m canning and preserving the right way. Wish I would’ve had a teacher back then. So happy that people like you exist! Thank you! 💜
Thank you woman sooooo much!!!!!
Thank you, Jess!
I love Barbara Kingsolver’s book. I need to pick it up again.
These videos really bring me joy because I remember living in my apartment watching one of your videos similar to this while learning how to can jam with fruit I got from the grocery store. It’s funny how much growth I’ve had since that moment thank you for the great advice it really helped me prepare for what I would be actively doing on my farm. This really inspires me especially because I still haven’t found my people IRL.
Wow, great video, Jess - gave me so much to think about! 😊
You saying "turn your waiting room into a classroom" combined with the idea of the "5 year" plan has been a staple in our journey. To be honest, you're the reason we started documenting the journey. We started watching you and your family a few years ago, and though we're currently behind, we still love watching and learning from you. Thank you and God bless!
You are not behind, you are where God wants you to be right now!!!
@@denisemouledous7352 Thank you! Amen!
Now, THAT is a REAL SNAPCHAT...😂
I totally just finished that animal, vegetable miracle book (because I saw it suggested here years ago) and man is it good. It felt like connecting with someone who GETS this life, who gets the schedule and the pressures and time line. It was like visiting with a friend that I needed so badly. Thanks for all you do.
These are all good starting places. One step at a time. Always learning. Make it a game. Thanks so much.
Thank you so much just for being here. I woke up early this morning from a horrible night terror and I turned on you too quickly said a little prayer card. Please let there be some thing that’ll make me feel better right now on UA-cam. And in the back of my mind, I was thinking like roots and refuge that would be great, and UA-cam clicked on and there you were😃😍. So thank you very much, and I can just imagine how satisfying and how much you never ever take it for granted, being able to sit on your very own porch, watch your kids, play, watch Maya, working with the animals, and gazing upon the view of your farm, and beyond as you sit, there, shelling peas that you grew. To me, there’s nothing that could feel more content, at peace, blessed and full of pure joy. You deserve nothing less and the same goes for your family❣️❣️❣️
I think you so very much for everything you shared in this video with all of us. It’s good to even share things you’ve shared before in order to remind us and or inspire us. You had some wonderful tips in this message today. One of them being all the different ways you discovered to buy bulk produce to preserve when you weren’t able to grow it yourself. Your video as always, and especially sometimes even more than others was therapeutic medicine for me. I am feeling much better after that horrible night terror. And I know you can relate what it must’ve been like for me when I tell you, one of my five kids was part of it😬💔. So I’m sure you know yet how extremely much I needed rescuing from just waking up from there😉. You and your family and friends are always in my thoughts and prayers and heart too❣️🥰😘🌻
Oh, one last thing lol… You’ve worked so incredibly hard and sacrificed and dreamed for so long, you and Maya, and the rest deserve absolutely every joyous moment you have plus the people in things that you have in your life. We know that and you know that And I hope the rest of us never forget how hard you fall work for it!!!! Plus you and Maya don’t take what you have for granted and you give God your gratitude every day. I can only imagine how he smiles when he watches over all of you to see what you’ve done with your blessings and how you share them with others🙏🏼
I started gardening a few years ago in my small garden by building raised beds and it was not too bad a season and the next but then end 2019 diagnosed with cancer, so 2020 was the 3C year for me, Cancer, Chemo and Covid and my gardening fell apart mostly through lack of energy and enthusiasm. But through this all I had my UA-cam Homesteaders who kept me going and I have learned so much. My classroom skills are now actually pretty good. I can waterbath can, ferment, make jams/chutneys/sauces and mostly cook from scratch with in season veggies. We are giving my Townhouse a complete rehaul as well as the garden, so will see if I have enough time for any summer veggies, but we do have a long growing season. Replanning the garden for more produce is a big part of the garden do-over and if all else fails, I will have an awesome winter garden next year. I have always done my own sewing/knitting and maintenance, so save a lot of money on those expenses. I am ready for a farm, butnt really to old to start anew, but can still have a lovely, productive urban garden and who knows, maybe a farmer out there looking for a handy wife lol
Blessings
I was lucky enough to grow up on a small 12 acre farm. And my mom had a Big garden! She cooked from scratch too. So I did also when possible. And when I couldnt work anymote I went back to cooking from scraych almost totally. I feel better not eating the boxed stuff! I also eat mainly seasonly. But I can alot of my food for winter so have some fruits then too. But fresh from my garden is always best!! I love gardening and have since a kid! I dont buy tomatoes, cucumbers and that from the store as they just dont tasye good. Grow some things inside too during winter! Lettuc and othets do fine!
I am learning about medicinal herbs right now. I am also growing many different ones. I am on a small scale. I am renting and am "container gardening" for the moment. I figure since I can't do a full garden, I should be educating myself right now. Create a plan for the future. I have many ideas and am sorting through my mind. Even though I have been gardening all my life your channel has taught me to think bigger. Mom was an avid gardener and she taught me a lot through our time together. I also studied Horticulture and Landscape design (for awhile). I have volunteered at the local "Grow Dome" too. I have always preferred natural medicines to Pharma. I prefer the term Farmaceuticals. It's been 15 years since I have been to a pharmacy, Thanks for what you do. Wish I was closer. I would love to work with you. Keep smiling!
I loved this podcast. I have been a backyard Gardner for years. Last year I bought pineapple cheap and made jam, it didn’t set up, but I didn’t realize it was too thin until I defrosted a jar,. Well now we have pineapple topping for our ice cream. I don’t have a cow, so cheese and making butter is not an option that’s economically feasible for me,but I buy butter on sale and make my own ghee so much cheaper than the jars in the store. Thanks for your caring and encouragement.
Best podcast ever!!!! I often listen while doing my garden work ❤️❤️, the Daniel comes to Beulah episode made me bawl.
I love these talk videos. Great video. I love the Honeystead channel. I have learned so much from that channel. I love growing my own herbs. I have really been getting into foraging. Til I watched that channel, I only have foraged dandelion, fiddleheads, leeks, blackberries, and certain mushrooms. This is my first year to make my own salve, next it tentures.
It is a challenge to work full time and come home to working things around the house. Miah is so right about learning to build things or repair. I love to watch Ana White. My newest thing for me to try to learn is plumbing.
The US Foods Chef Stores (formerly called Cash & Carry around here) are such a great resource for homesteaders! Not just for bulk foods, but for larger commercial kitchen equipment! When you start cooking and preserving more of your own food, you'll quickly realize that most kitchen equipment sold for home use doesn't last very long when you use it as much as we do. We started buying most of our kitchen tools and storage vessels (like that Cambro you're putting peas in, Jess) at those stores because they're less expensive and last much longer under heavy use!
Haha that’s where I bought it! At the chef store!
@RootsandRefugeFarm I figured! 😁 Our pantry is full of Cambros! Buckets and Gamma lids are great if you've got more space, but we still live in a tiny 1920s bungalow, so the stackable square Cambro bins work best for us for now.
Funny I'm watching this video while I chop green beans to prepare for canning them 😂
You have the cutes names for your cats lol. Someday we will have a farm, and hopefully farm cats, and I’m going to name them after my favorite plants haha. Lemon, oregano, rosemary, mint 😂 tommy (tomato).
I planted my first garden with seedlings i started in my kitchen this winter. Not everything was a success, but most of it was! Thanks to you i went confidently into this venture and weve been eating organic vegetables that we grew from seeds! Its like magic and we have learned so much. Next year i will have so much more knowledge abd i an so excited to plan for it all! God Bless you for passing on your knowledge to us.
Jeremiah is absolutely correct. All of those skills the plumber, the carpenter, the roofer the electrician all of those skills are going away none of the kids today want to learn anything about those they want to make 1 million bucks sitting on the butts at home and it’s really sad. But yes, just all we all need to learn life skills that were taught by our grandparents and their grandparents. It is a way that we should be doing life. I’m just glad that I learned a lot of those skills from my grandmother and I still do most of those skills today.
Great ideas, Jess; thanks for sharing! Blessings to everyone 🤗💗🇨🇦
I feel this so much. I'm renting a room in someone else's house (moved in during 2020... from horrible apartment complex to at least someone I knew and worked with). Can't stretch out or do much of anything in rest of the house, it's not my house and their lifestyle doesn't match homesteading mindset. I have helped with gathering (mostly tomatoes) from a couple very small raised beds they started but basically abandoned. I feel the need for some acreage, even with a shack lol, but the finances are just not quite there with my current bills/debt situation. So I watch and watch and try to learn about all the things, and take notes, gather a few good books for homesteading (canning, fermenting, gardening), etc. Planning for the future.
Thank you for sharing your journey. You inspire me to slow down my monkey mind, suspend my self criticisms. Enjoy the doing, try new things. This is good for me ❣
Love this! That’s exalt what I’ve been doing the last 2yrs. We can’t homestead until my youngest step son turns 18 and we’ve got 5yrs to go. Who out there is an off gird homesteader with off grid advice?
Repetition is good 👍
This is such an awesome advise, I am planning on homesteading and I am realising I should learn food preservations for all the crop farming I am planning on
A couple of things I have learned about myself over the years. I really like digging in the dirt and creating a gardenscape with a shovel and wheelbarrow and have no interest in buying a tractor. On the other hand, I don't really enjoy kitchen work all that much so I grow lots of things that don't need processing to store, like squash and potatoes and love my automatic bread maker.
Thank you Jess.
Ms. Jessica, maybe you showed us those peas but are they the ones that look like tiny penguins? Love these chats. Maybe you didn't notice but a MAN walked behind you during this chat. It's just amazing how fast our kids grow. Seriously, Jack is a definitely a man now. WOW! God bless you guys.
Yes he is most certainly a man! 18 in a couple of months. It flies.
My first baby, was REALLY young, was 'allergic' to my breastmilk, according to my local health department. We switched to formula, a few different brands, and he ended up on soy milk! I know now he had a milk allergy. LOVE you lady!
I sat and listened to your newest podcast - I wrote an entire overview for myself and doodled as I went and just wept as you talked because I related to it so so much in this stage of my life. Young twenty something mama, scared to death of this world and for my babies to be in this world. Wanting to have a farm so so badly, but being ever so grateful for my flock of chickens and my tiny garden that just keeps on giving us harvests 🩵 Thank you for your words, Jess! You are a true Gem!
Good luck on following your dreams.
💜🙏