Feel free to write me at crystal_brook_farm@yahoo.com. We could do a work trade, if you two would like to come out and help on a farm I could teach you some of the things you would like to know. Glad to see you are trying to be self suffient. Do not give up and keep searching for info at your library, on the net, and your local farms. Most farmers are happy to share their info and manure for a better growing environment for you fruits and vegetables.
Sounds like you need a broadfork to break up that soil. Its a tool that kind of looks like a supped up pitch fork with two handles. Its a great tool, even better than a rototiller because you can work the soil deeper. This tool is also known by these other names as well. U-bar digger, grelinette, garden digger, deep digger and two-handed fork.
add raine catching drums to your guter down spoutes for free water for garden i have them on three out of 4 sides of my house even put one in the grouned and morterd rockes around it and made it a well i have gold fish in there and they have survived three years in there i thought they would all be dead after thise winter but they were stil alive i started with 12 after 3 years im down to 8 but some were black so i just might not be abul to see them sorry for ramblen on by good luck
Good luck guys! when i'm out of college i want to homestead like you guys. I think it's important.
I ate some acorn squash recently. I baked it to make it soft, then added lots of salt and pepper and made acorn squash ravioli with those wonton wrappers you get at the store. I ended up putting them in tortilla soup which was pretty good.
you guys should look into raised gardens or square foot gardens and even aquaponics, these are very good techniques to grow food in hard soil or bad soil, they are very cheap to make and maintain and yield awesome amounts of food. Leave the land for walking!!! and your compost will go great distance in growing in the raised gardens.
Peace to you Kristin and Ben you are a good looking couple and I hope you go far in this lifestyle, REMEMBER YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN THIS!!
Try raised beds too. 4 x 4 is a great size. If you make more, put them 2 feet apart and put woodchips or whatever on the path between them. It's easier than fooling with nasty rock-hard soil. You can put cardboard in the bottom right over the grass then fill it with your compost and garden soil.
the soil where I live is like dirt too. What I have done is made square foot garden and have the soild trucked in, also I have a compost going. Maybe you could put your water on a timer so it dosent get "fried"
I come to answer to your calls for advice. 1st exactly like what you are doing now.Irrigation whether soaker hose or not, still got plenty ways to choose from.You are doing great, really great.
Not having a camera is not a problem. You are doing great. Use your laptop like a stationary tri pod. You'll be fine. Nice picture and sound - by the way. We get leaves off peoples curbs, in the city. They are just throwing them away. I bring them to my house in the country, and compost them. Last years leaves made some great compost!
The best advise I could give would be to improve your soil and this winter you should read a lot about gardening!!! You really need to know what you are gardening and how to do it well and be knowlegable about everthing that you can!! Don't go into next spring blind! You should be planning your garden for early spring already.
I live in NJ. We take advantage of the area cow farms. Some will give manure to people with small gardens, especially if they don't garden as well. Fish make GREAT compost!!!! Get in good with the fish market. Also, check out the fishermen when they come back from long trips, check out the fishing seasons.
you guys look like you doin an awesome job & it'll just get better as you learn. i didn't get too much from my garden this yr...i need to plan it out better over the winter & i'm makin it bigger
Two words. Fall Garden. You can grow lettuce, onions, and turnips (just to name a few) in the fall. Don't miss out on that second season. Usually most is planted in Sept-Oct.
I agree raised beds are awesome! Even if you don't have material to support the edges you can mound the soil into raised beds and plant the edges with low-growing perrenial herbs and insectary plants whose roots will help prevent the soil from eroding. I don't have any squash recipes ,but I do have some other recipes on my channel. Good luck with the homesteading watching your vids is making me miss my old garden :o)
RAISED BEDS!!! find old wood or bricks and build raised beds. you can always find old wood at demolition or remodeling sites in the neighborhood. just beware of painted boards, for intoxicating soil. good luck.
i'm glad you're looking forward to many more, because many more there will be! thank you so much for the book suggestion... the next time i'm at the library, i'll look it up.
Although I imagine that you want to eventually have a low- input, self sustaining garden, if you want good soil next year you may have to bring in a lot of soil amendment. What you are doing with composting will produce wonderful soil in a few years, but for next year it might be best to buy a few hundred pounds of manure. It's $3.50 for a 40 pound bag at Home Depot, I'm sure that a real farm store would offer higher volume for a cheaper price.
I work at a university known for its extension work. The coop ext. offers free soil testing and they can give advice for free i think. NY State has a state school system. You might want to get advice from the coop extension division on urban gardening.
wow, i'd really be curious to hear more about that... like, what is the coop extension division? sounds cool. we do have a very large state school system in ny. thanks for the tip!
Thanks for that. We're figuring out the logistics of a rainwater collection system, and we're hoping to irrigate with drip hoses from that, but we hadn't considered a timer. That might be very helpful.
a 6 min and 45 second video, and um, you said um 42 um times.
richard1948benz 2 months ago
What kind of dog is that? Very sweet
Fielderfarms 9 months ago
Feel free to write me at crystal_brook_farm@yahoo.com. We could do a work trade, if you two would like to come out and help on a farm I could teach you some of the things you would like to know. Glad to see you are trying to be self suffient. Do not give up and keep searching for info at your library, on the net, and your local farms. Most farmers are happy to share their info and manure for a better growing environment for you fruits and vegetables.
It is the journey that makes life good..
MsVikie 10 months ago
Kristen, you're so cute!
redfish365 11 months ago
Sounds like you need a broadfork to break up that soil. Its a tool that kind of looks like a supped up pitch fork with two handles. Its a great tool, even better than a rototiller because you can work the soil deeper. This tool is also known by these other names as well. U-bar digger, grelinette, garden digger, deep digger and two-handed fork.
HillbillyHomesteader 1 year ago
ever thought about foraging for food as well?
tigger8895 1 year ago
What a great mission; more power to you. Good luck in your endeavor, it is a very enviable one!
YourGardenShow 1 year ago
add raine catching drums to your guter down spoutes for free water for garden i have them on three out of 4 sides of my house even put one in the grouned and morterd rockes around it and made it a well i have gold fish in there and they have survived three years in there i thought they would all be dead after thise winter but they were stil alive i started with 12 after 3 years im down to 8 but some were black so i just might not be abul to see them sorry for ramblen on by good luck
zuseable 1 year ago
wow love what you are doing......... keep up the good I will keep watching
Thekozlowskis 2 years ago
Good luck guys! when i'm out of college i want to homestead like you guys. I think it's important.
I ate some acorn squash recently. I baked it to make it soft, then added lots of salt and pepper and made acorn squash ravioli with those wonton wrappers you get at the store. I ended up putting them in tortilla soup which was pretty good.
katirizzle 2 years ago
you guys should look into raised gardens or square foot gardens and even aquaponics, these are very good techniques to grow food in hard soil or bad soil, they are very cheap to make and maintain and yield awesome amounts of food. Leave the land for walking!!! and your compost will go great distance in growing in the raised gardens.
Peace to you Kristin and Ben you are a good looking couple and I hope you go far in this lifestyle, REMEMBER YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN THIS!!
TheDudeRulez09 2 years ago
sea water brings the soil back to life.
nerfbrothers1220 2 years ago
aww, i wish you guys had some new videos... :(
Nishiki83 2 years ago
baked acorn squash with cinn. and nutmug and butter mmmmmm.
Can you show how you start your seedlings and if you can will you grow berries=-)
This is a promising channel I already subscribed!
Good Luck!
aprilspl 2 years ago
Your videos are great. Similar to what we have been doing in London, England and on our YouTube channel.
GivingItAGo 2 years ago
Try raised beds too. 4 x 4 is a great size. If you make more, put them 2 feet apart and put woodchips or whatever on the path between them. It's easier than fooling with nasty rock-hard soil. You can put cardboard in the bottom right over the grass then fill it with your compost and garden soil.
CrystalKeeper 2 years ago
the soil where I live is like dirt too. What I have done is made square foot garden and have the soild trucked in, also I have a compost going. Maybe you could put your water on a timer so it dosent get "fried"
crewlla 3 years ago
I come to answer to your calls for advice. 1st exactly like what you are doing now.Irrigation whether soaker hose or not, still got plenty ways to choose from.You are doing great, really great.
ruanlian 3 years ago
Not having a camera is not a problem. You are doing great. Use your laptop like a stationary tri pod. You'll be fine. Nice picture and sound - by the way. We get leaves off peoples curbs, in the city. They are just throwing them away. I bring them to my house in the country, and compost them. Last years leaves made some great compost!
cwaj 3 years ago
Go to your local library, they have so many wonderful books on gardening! Remember our region has 3 growing seasons: spring, summer and fall!
babson53098 3 years ago
The best advise I could give would be to improve your soil and this winter you should read a lot about gardening!!! You really need to know what you are gardening and how to do it well and be knowlegable about everthing that you can!! Don't go into next spring blind! You should be planning your garden for early spring already.
babson53098 3 years ago
I live in NJ. We take advantage of the area cow farms. Some will give manure to people with small gardens, especially if they don't garden as well. Fish make GREAT compost!!!! Get in good with the fish market. Also, check out the fishermen when they come back from long trips, check out the fishing seasons.
babson53098 3 years ago
you guys look like you doin an awesome job & it'll just get better as you learn. i didn't get too much from my garden this yr...i need to plan it out better over the winter & i'm makin it bigger
THREEFLOORSDOWN1 3 years ago
thx for the vid!! checkout my compost video...i grabbed leaves from neighbors too...lol
THREEFLOORSDOWN1 3 years ago
you could try using humanure for compost. It is amazing!
carlson879 3 years ago
How does your garden grow this year? All that compost must have made a huge difference.
myrnaukelele 3 years ago
Two words. Fall Garden. You can grow lettuce, onions, and turnips (just to name a few) in the fall. Don't miss out on that second season. Usually most is planted in Sept-Oct.
D7aaron 3 years ago
you need to build your own earthboxes .. look it up, that will solve your soil and water problems
stymye 3 years ago
Your an interesting couple who want to do right by yourselves and the planet. That's commendable. Keep up the good work.
ultrakool 3 years ago
perhaps you can start raising chickens and have their manure as organic fertilizer, to amend the soil
beivy19 3 years ago
Squash recipe. 1 squash, zucchini, spice, evoo, and half a jalapeno. Would love to see more of the gardening videos.
vonhismean 4 years ago
I agree raised beds are awesome! Even if you don't have material to support the edges you can mound the soil into raised beds and plant the edges with low-growing perrenial herbs and insectary plants whose roots will help prevent the soil from eroding. I don't have any squash recipes ,but I do have some other recipes on my channel. Good luck with the homesteading watching your vids is making me miss my old garden :o)
xmantidx 4 years ago
RAISED BEDS!!! find old wood or bricks and build raised beds. you can always find old wood at demolition or remodeling sites in the neighborhood. just beware of painted boards, for intoxicating soil. good luck.
sylvijawildflower 4 years ago
I use old truck tires for my raised beds.they retain moisture and solar heat the tomatoe plants.theyre also free and seemingly indestructable!
tomterahedrob 4 years ago
If you call the city of Rochester I am sure they would drop off leaves for you 428-5990.
You can always pick up compost and other materials at give back sites too.
Excellent work!
mlarock 4 years ago
I lived in Rochester for 13 years and moved to Miami Florida. Not a good change from a few thousand to about a few million people.
grahamid403 4 years ago
thanks for the links. p.s. cute user name. lol.
TheUrbanHomesteaders 4 years ago
Hey Kristin, really enjoyed your first vlog and look foreward to many more.
What excites me is you are city dwellers doing this which will inspire others!!!
Have you go this book, I recommend: The Edible Container Garden: Fresh food from tiny spaces, by Michael Guerra
ISBN 1-85675-220-8
zezt 4 years ago
i'm glad you're looking forward to many more, because many more there will be! thank you so much for the book suggestion... the next time i'm at the library, i'll look it up.
TheUrbanHomesteaders 4 years ago
Julian, check also profile "dervaes".
8rf 4 years ago
Husband(or boyfriend) is working and you are chilling. Cool. :)
8rf 4 years ago
isn't he such a nice guy? and such a hard worker. hehe... i always aspire to be more like him. : )
TheUrbanHomesteaders 4 years ago
Although I imagine that you want to eventually have a low- input, self sustaining garden, if you want good soil next year you may have to bring in a lot of soil amendment. What you are doing with composting will produce wonderful soil in a few years, but for next year it might be best to buy a few hundred pounds of manure. It's $3.50 for a 40 pound bag at Home Depot, I'm sure that a real farm store would offer higher volume for a cheaper price.
TreehornAbides 4 years ago
check out the followup to this video. we found a source of manure for free in the city! police horses! thanks so much for your valuable suggestions.
TheUrbanHomesteaders 4 years ago
I work at a university known for its extension work. The coop ext. offers free soil testing and they can give advice for free i think. NY State has a state school system. You might want to get advice from the coop extension division on urban gardening.
Foxblossom 4 years ago
wow, i'd really be curious to hear more about that... like, what is the coop extension division? sounds cool. we do have a very large state school system in ny. thanks for the tip!
TheUrbanHomesteaders 4 years ago
Soaker hoses with a timer would help when going out of town.
dionysusstar 4 years ago
Thanks for that. We're figuring out the logistics of a rainwater collection system, and we're hoping to irrigate with drip hoses from that, but we hadn't considered a timer. That might be very helpful.
TheUrbanHomesteaders 4 years ago