I’ve followed Roots N Refuge for years now. Remembering the stories of how you and Jeremiah started, now watching this new farm develop, I’ve noticed you are putting your new community to work. I am so proud to be a subscriber of a channel, that not just shares content, but teaches self sustainability, using the fruits of success to share with locals willing to work. May God continue blessing those who bless others.
The soil is liberty is a great motto! My son took his cousins out into our garden to pick kale and carrots. The boys had never eaten straight from the garden before and one of my nephews said "this tastes like freedom!".
Great message because most gardeners are unaware of the necessity for soil life diversity. Many of us already have the resources-fallen leaves, yard waste, kitchen waste, …. The knowledge of how to collect and use them is what is lacking. Show them they way! It is so rewarding and an easy win once you get started. After 15 years of organic gardening and 10 years of making my own compost, my soil is fabulous. Lead on!
I have just moved from out of state to an acre and have lots of leaves and grass clippings BUT. the area under my big 2 trees is just dirt, like a dried up river bed that’s cracked, how in the world do I fix this ??? I’m planting a new no till small garden now, because of the times, with purchased mulch, it’s way to expensive to do what I originally wanted.
Is there a t-shirt or sticker coming with this??? Liberty lies within every piece of ground. There's no bad soil. Another great informative and encouraging video!
What a great way of explaining soil life! I started a garden and a compost pile when covid began and my landlady had a change of heart to allow me this freedom. I gathered all the leaves and debris from the yard and piled it on the decomposed granite back 'yard' (private desert). I just kept adding to it, kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, leftover potting soil, etc. This year I started a new pile thinking I could now potentially use the old pile in my mostly container garden. I dug up a hay fork full of 'finished' compost to inoculate my new pile, and joyfully found it FULL of earthworms and other life, IN THE DECOMPOSED GRANITE! I have my (blind) landlady growing and loving sugar peas and tomatoes in her formerly unused half barrels, and I just purchased two new metal raised garden beds. Now to get the gophers to move out!
Please don’t say your channel is mostly aimed at new gardeners. You have lots to teach old gardeners, too. This explanation of soil structure and health was very informative. I am a 75 year old gardener and hope I never stop learning something new. I always enjoy your videos.
Every gardener out there already has the ruby slippers! Use you lawn clippings, your dead leaves, your prunings, and your kitchen waste. It's all biology and it should go into your soil! Thanks, Jess, for diving into this.
Exactly! And I have found that burying kitchen waste directly into the garden soil during the growing season , helps it decompose more quickly than using the composter. We use the composter during the fall and winter, but during the spring/summer, we bury directly into the garden soil.
@@marygrott8095 I do that too. In my house it is practically a cardinal sin to throw anything compostable into the trash can. I shred paper and compost it too. All of that junk mail, rip the plastic parts out of the envelopes and compost the rest.
Grow Comfrey. Beautiful low hedge around gardens. Bees absolutely love it, it crowds out weeds on the perimeter, can be used for chop and drop mulch/fertilizer, compost booster, comfrey tea, etc.
Ive been gardening for 30+ years and I thought I knew lots about growing things and I do but, I never knew about the types of clay. I thought clay was clay. Never too late to teach an old dog new tricks. Thanks for the great video and God Bless!
As a nutritionist and garden coach this is fantastic. Soil health is the root of our health. Love seeing this from you! Would love an update on how your permaculture course has been. 🌱
While you were talking to Will about bringing some of those minerals to the surface without actually tilling he mentioned some plants have a deep taproot and do that. Jason over at Cog Hill Farm planted a ' mixture ' cover crop in his future pasture/garden beds. In that mixture of those planted was a deep rooting radish ( He called them daikons- also edible ) which also break up the soil-does double duty. He said he will turn over that crop back into the soil as one means of amending the soil. As Will was explaining that means the minerals in those tap root plants will now be usable in your topsoil for growing.
I love this Jess. After 3 years I can now grow my garden all year long in the AZ Desert at the base of a mountain. When I started I didn't even have worms in my backyard.
Been watching you awhile and I think this vlog was probably one of if not THE most important ones you’ve done. You’re a natural born teacher! Thanks for doing what you do so well…keep it coming.
Thank you Jess. Once again you have “grounded” me. Meaning that you brought me back from the “fear” emotion that was making me worry about how do we prepare for WW3? Bottom line is we trust in our Lord and plant a garden and praise the miracles of a simple seed planted that ends up feeding our family. You and your channel are such a blessing. Thank you!
Hey Jess, I love your channel and the info you’re getting out there. I will say, please be mindful of generalizing large ag as not being mindful of their soil. Many farmers are smart to the fact that their livelihood depends on their soil health and that is translating more and more to their processes to take care of the land they see as their legacy to pass to the next generation. As someone who farms row crops in Idaho on a few hundred acres and has a home garden I thought I’d offer that perspective up. Thanks for all the information and passion for cultivating life!
Plant some comfrey all the way around the tap roots gets all the mineral up in the leaves and theb you use the leaves around plants under the mulch and you noirish both, plant and soil.
That's it! Adding life to the soil and not disturbing it! I wish I knew that from the beginning but better late than never! I bless you! Thanks Jess!🤗🤗❤🤗🤗
My first compost pile wasn’t as intimidating to me bc I started on the off season. I just piled up yard waste until i ran out of stuff. Then it just sat through the winter doing much of nothing, but once the weather turned, I started adding my spent coffee and coffee grounds and those trips out there every few days to dump I started seeing changes in it!, then I had the confidence to start turning it around April, by June it stopped being “hot” and by July it was done And wow, did I have a killer load of compost for my summer and fall garden! So my advice is if your gonna start a compost pile, do it with the long term in mind. Whenever I felt “rushed” it felt very overwhelming. Bc I needed organic material NOW in the midst of a gardening season. I often overlooked starting a compost pile. But the moment I started one knowing it was gonna just have to be a while till I could use it, that’s when it kinda just happened on its own and then sucked me into the process by way of nature taking course and once u begin to see it start breaking down on its own without your intervention, That’s when u develop the confidence to start doing things like turning it and keeping it HOT. Just through I’d share that in case someone’s been intimidated by composting.
Used coffee grounds, crumpled egg shells, and used tea leaves are great. When we are really into it, all coffee and tea dregs or leftmover get poured onto of the compost pile and poured on acid loving plants. While it can attract winged and other pests, left over beer and soda pop works well too.
It's hard here in SC not to get gnats and flies from saving food scraps so I save them in a storage container in the freezer and every so often I have to bust up the frozen scraps to make room for more. The smaller the scraps are the quicker they break down and freezing them first jump starts the process for you. Hope you find this tip helpful.
@@amandaburgess7316 to help eliminate flies and gnats, consider veggie pitting, or inground composting your frozen blocks. Dig a hole, dump your scraps in, cover with dirt. How deep and how many inches in top you ask? As shallow with as little extra work as possible of course. This is likely to very by the season of the year but fir gnats often 2"-3" of dirt coverage is good in theimarea; for flies 3"-6". In the fall here, we have to look for yellow jackets looking for fluid, food, and new in-griund nesting spots; they can smell a food scrap from quite a ways. Assuming there has been no spilling on the surface dirt or along the holes edges then you need closer to 6" of dirt coverage fir yellow jackets; and again generally Aug-Oct, or in the fall.
Big N Alfalfa has deep thready roots. Tillage radishes and turnips and mustards are also awesome, and they can also add to your forage for your cattle and goats in the winter, as they like cool weather.
Soil Biology! I am SO glad to hear someone else talking about this! I’ve got 1/2 acre in suburban central NC…..it’s sand….lots and lots of sand here. Organic matter as a top dressing changed the soil quickly and I have a (still growing) layer of rich soil just filled with all kinds of critters. As my lil piece of “liberty” has moved into natural balance, insect pests are just at a minimum. Weeds…..well, THAT is still a problem! Happy planting everyone 😃
Just Wonderful Jess,as your classroom audience grows over the seas 🌍 and your massage spreads wide across the lands, beneath your ever expanding wings, and sharing knowledge and your hope, to create a better world together 🌍 we bless you right back ❤️
You seem to be full of new life and hope and enthusiasm since you guys moved…..especially now that we are all moving into a new Spring…..it’s wonderful to see the brilliant smile on your face!
This is all interesting to me. As an archaeologist, we have to know about soils, so I know your typical O, A, and B soil layers. But my knowledge ends once I hit “sterile” (meaning untouched by humans) subsoil. And I can tell you whether you soil is a silt loam or a clay loam and what percentage of gravel it is. But what grows things is beyond my knowledge. I currently garden exclusively in grow bags because I rent. But one day I will need to know this stuff.
I am an old gardner. And I love what you are doing and planning for! Found you 3 years ago and love going along on your journey and still learning new things from you!!
I am so encouraged by this information. I started my garden last year, with bags and bags of not so good growing medium. I had no idea it was barely composted wood chips. I couldn't grow anything, not even a zucchini. I just got done adding everything I could get my hands on, cow manure, mushroom compost, worm castings, bags of "good" soil, and as a recommendation of a video by MIGardener, reconstituted alfalfa pellets and cedar chip begging as mulch. Fingers crossed I added enough life back into the wood chips to grow some good veggies this year.
So, the issue with wood chips is that they soak up nitrogen. My rule of thumb is that I need equal parts Carbon (Wood chips, etc) and Nitrogen (Urea, Chicken Litter, etc) What ends up happening is that the wood chips will soak up the excess nitrogen, and as they break down will be slow release fertilizer. We mixed saw dust and chicken litter. The litter was really hot, but the saw dust just soaks it up and it breaks down. Mushroom compost usually has either horse manure or chicken litter in it, so its good for adding that necessary nitrogen. But I think the high, 100,000 ft view is.. mix carbon and nitrogen and let them break down and the worms and other organisms will come.
@@kimg5784 Note: I feel bad even saying this because this is overanalyzing it. The bigger thing is, if you're not having problems, I wouldn't change a thing :) Wood chips as mulch is not as bad as wood chips as growing medium, soil amendments because they arent directly mixed in the soil (actively soaking up the nitrogen in the soil) I dont mean to say wood chips are bad though, but just that you have to understand that they soak up nitrogen and nutrients as part of the breaking down process. So, if you say have wood chips in the soil, you will have to add excess nitrogen to feed not only your plant, but the unknown amount for the wood chips to "absorb". In one sense this is a , lets say "waste" of fertilizer and you also risk adding too much nitrogen to compensate and burning your plants. Wood mulch will break down over time and will compost into good soil as it does all of this. But it takes time, and a lot of chemistry/biology. Composting does this, at an accelerated rate.
When God spoke to me to grow food, to feed people. He told me to grow the soil. So I have growing soil for ten years. Keep it going. I had to do a lot of research and practice, composting, compost tea, etc. Loving what you do. Thanks for what you do. You remind me of me. A much younger version. May God continue to bless you and all of your efforts.
Such a great message! I was freaking out about needing. SO MUCH too soil for my new beds, then I realized I have 4 acres of woods! I can skim a light layer off in the woods and add to my garden and that would be the best thing for it, and the woods will replenish all that in no time! We can be creative and find what we need in nature.
God Bless your Family so much for living and teaching us our roots given by Father God! You inspire so many people to live off the land like we should. God Bless and God Speed!
Thanks for always giving us great content. Spring is still a couple of months away from me but watching your videos helps me dream! I started watching you 2 years ago when we all started living in our homes 24/7. I really thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge. I absolutely NOW know the importance of feeding my soil. I now mulch all my leaves and save in a pallet rectangle my hubs made and this past November I took my first year's worth of mulched leaves and added it to the tops of all my garden boxes. It has been sitting there all this past winter and I can't help it but go out there and dig down a bit and smell the dirt and feel how healthy it seems. My husband thinks I've gone bonkers! HA HA. BUT, I have converted my neighbor into trying to protect her own garden box soil better and feeding it with biology instead of store bought fertilizers. I'm still learning to compost, and I'll get there with it eventually. Thanks again for sharing your skills.
Haha, I do the same thing! I bought myself a mulcher for our leaves, along with some wood mulch that we put through a large machine last spring added some manure and straw from our chickens to our beds last fall. Now, I wait! So excited to see what has become of my soil when this snow melts, come on spring!
I love your infomation! I raise rabbits for show, meat and fiber and I'm so happy to say that my compost has rabbit, horse, and chicken poo in it as well as kitchen scraps and weeds we've pulled, shavings and hay.
It is so valuable to have this simple and positive permaculture view. This down to earth approach can really help permaculture to be"bioavailabile"to many people!
I’m excited to see you expand! Once you have the gardening fever, a lot of people will want to continue expanding. It’s happening to me, so I’m sure it’s happening to lots of people!
I am so into this discussion! This is my first gardening year and I'm starting 12 4x8 raised beds. Since it's all new to me, I've been spending a lot of time on learning what soil composition and biodiversity I need to bring into those beds. Mono ag is making good soil dirt deserts, but it can bounce back to a rich soil if given the chance. I watched Kiss the Ground on Netflix and ever since then I've been trying to learn as much about permaculture and regenerative agriculture as possible. Thank you for the awesome discussion, Jess! I can't wait to hear more about this from you and Will!
LOVE this message! It is sooo important! I see/hear ppl complain so much about clay soil. We have THICK clay soil. There's SEVERAL advantages to having clay soil! Any soil can be ammended and certain methods can really level your garden up. Love this Jess!!!
Love this advice!! This will be our 3rd year of no till and it still feels so new even though we've been gardening for years. I love all the soil talk and feel like we never stop learning.
Fantastic show! As a “newbie”, I am so grateful for your channel! Starting a “patio garden” for the first time, at this home. Super excited! Blessings🙏🕊❤️
I love this video, I know soil doesn't sound very exciting to most people but I love learning about how the earth works and how we can better take care of it!
I have been gardening for many years and read a lot of things about growing plants. You are right this is the most simplistic explanation of the whole process. I watch a you tube channel of a young couple in remote Alaska. They grow the most amazing vegetables. Most of the food they eat comes from the land whether it’s vegetables or meat. They do cooking videos and the meals they prepare look delicious. They don’t have a tractor and do everything by hand. Thank you Jess.
Jess. I can't thank you enough for this. For 2 years I've been trying to "start" my garden, but have let fear and circumstances "renting vs. owning" stop me dead in my tracks. Not this year. I so needed to hear this. Thank you 😊
I think I could teach a class on how to “make dirt”. I lived for almost 4 decades in southwest Nevada. Always said God got here & said “I’m done!” 😁. We loved gardening, so there was nothing to do other than add, build & improve…. Used everything from manure (any kind from our farm critters), newspapers, straw, coffee grounds (saved from restaurants), making compost & purchased nutrients. . No internet or great videos back in those days. We just plodded along. We succeeded, slowly over many years. Will always feel proud about what we accomplished there. Then, we moved to Vermont…. Ba-boom💥! Jack & the Beanstalk soil here.🤩.
I've been educating myself more and more on tilling since it is always my dad's gut instinct when it comes to gardening. I've learned so much here on your channel, but I also learned a ton of information watching Kiss the Ground on Netflix. It really broke down what you were trying to convey and also with more heavy examples of what tilling has done to our climate.
I’m so glad you’re going to be sharing more about permaculture, soil improvement and the food web! It’s proven harder to find educational content about these things as it relates to your average hobby or homestead gardener. Thanks for sharing and please keep it coming 💗
I've been gardening for 23 years and I learn new things on your channel all the time. I was raised with traditional till methods and using pesticides and not so natural methods. I am loving learning all the things here!
The information given in this VLOG has eased my concerns about the soil on my property, especially where I have been gardening. We had the soil tested last year & it is in great need of biology. Last spring & fall I amended my soil before & after gardening season, so this VLOG gives me greater hope that this growing season will be better than last year & next year will be better than this year! I have a couple large worm bins, a compost pile, bovine manure, turkey manure & bags & bags of leaves we raked last fall from neighbors yards for this year's garden so I'll keep moving forward with amending with greater hope for better soil! Thank you for easing my concerns!
Soil education is so important. Our yard was part of a car junk yard years ago, so we have pockets of motor oil spills. Horse manure and composting are reviving my garden area now. It can be done. It takes patience and natural nutrients. Education is key!
I love the way you are breaking this down. I am fairly science literate, I love getting into the top few layers of the science of soil health (sorry bad pun not intended, but now that it's there, I am not taking it out lol). However, my anxiety will take over and if I can't do it perfect then why bother and that gains me and my ground nothing. I am working on the simple aspects of this and this video sums that balance up wonderfully.
Add biology to your geology- I love this. I’m in New Mexico. The land was overgrazed, the native grasses eaten by hungry cattle, then the topsoil washed away and invasive species took root. So I’m the proud owner of 29 acres of dead dusty dirt and rock covered with mesquite, creosote, and saltbush. But I believe I can bring it back, and I believe once I get the process started, Mother Nature will take over. The earth wants to heal, and as you say there is life everywhere. I just need to bring it back and help it get started.
Kudos to you! Biggest Little Farm documentary would be a good resource/encouragement for you as they developed/renewed health of their soil through worm casting tea spread through their irrigation systems....it was fascinating to see how much water their land was able to retain once they had healthy topsoil, grass and other things growing again. Biodiversity is a huge element of healthy soil.
AWESOME, AWESOME video Ms. Jessica. I agree whole heartedly with your soils teaching. I love the part about adding biology to geology. WOW! I have always loved to learn. I too compost. My cooking scraps are mostly banana peels, used coffee grounds, egg shells and vegetable peelings. I add all these to my grass clippings, old leaves, cow manure and with a lot of love, voila; compost! Thank you. God bless your family, oh, almost forgot, and the guys that work for you.
I love your chat about your channel and how it's helping scale everything you're after! I needed to hear this this morning.. being a Florida girl moved north. I was feeling pouty about not knowing the things like I did my whole life down south.. it's hard to start over! But darn it we did it for a reason! Thank you! 👏
Learned something new at 82. I always tilled my garden. I fully understood your explanation about not breaking down and mixing the layers of soil. Geology/biology. You and yours are so refreshing.❤️
I live in the Central Goldfields area of Victoria in Australia. 160 or so years ago, this land was stripped bare of trees and dug over and over in the pursuit of riches. The soils, if any, rocky and silty to the point where Indigenous folk have called it "upside down land" as a result of the content of mines having been brought to the surface and pounded to powder to release the gold within. The powdery residue was either washed into the creeks or left on the surface of the land, suffocating the biology. Since then it's taken generations of gardeners of all varieties to build soil life again. The land that my family steward was one of the pockets that wasn't turned upside down all those decades ago, and in fact was a market garden that grew food to sustain the miners and their families. The difference between turning the ground over and not here is clear when you see how things easily and quickly grow on our property. We had occasion to dig just this past weekend to install something in the yard and we still had loam, full of biology, two feet down. You can never do wrong by your soil by adding any type of organic material that becomes available to you. Thank you for this important video Jess.
You are just blessed my dear with wisdom! I’ve been watching you now solid for 2;years and I’m always like WOW you are a blessing to all of us Thank You always!!
This comes the morning after I layed in bed pondering how to improve a hydrophobic high tunnel- and came to the "revelation" that, duh- we need to add the good stuff to it !!!! So thankful to be on this journey of growing as a gardener- growing a garden, with you Jess.
I've been gardening for more than 10 years but still feel like a newbie in so many ways. Soil talk just makes my eyes glaze over. And anything sounding overly complicated has my brain checking out. I live by the KISS rule (keep it stupid simple). This video actually helped me so much because it has finally sunk in to just add in a variety of things and it'll improve over time. I wish someone had just said it to me that way 10 years ago! ...buy the leaf mulch and the mushroom compost and the cow manure and.... Just add in ALL the things. Now THAT I can do! Thank you!
I’m really looking forward to all the soil health content this year. All of that feeding the soil/making compost talk fascinates me. I’m in and ready to be educated. Thank you for all the knowledge 🙏😌
Bless you sweetheart sooo wonderful and beautiful, I love seeing your video, and seeing the way that you always express yourself💯♥️🙏🙏 I’m very motivated thank the Lord, Seeing your videos 💯🥰♥️🙏bless you and your beautiful family amen 💯♥️🙏 I’m from Puerto Rico 💯🙏🙏
I could listen to you for hours lil lady... thoroughly enjoy your teachings :) please keep up the incredible work you are sharing :) much love and hugs...and May God Richly Bless You and Your Family
The video and sound are both working fine for me. My dad would laugh at me with the different soils I purchase, but he did it the old method using a roto-tiller and plain old compost. He always had a great garden too. I'm "okay, what do I plant seedlings in"? "What about when I transfer them"? Thank you for always sharing such great information.
Great video regarding soil health. As a brand new gardener, simply knowing if you have acidic or basic soil is enough for your first growing season. Once you know that, just add any kind of organic matter to your soil you can start building your soil health. After you go through the inevitable failures of a first year gardener and learn the basics, then you can start geeking out soil science.
You can also take soil samples and send them for analysis to your state's land-grant universities. They'll usually give you an analysis and suggestions to improve the soil for what you want to grow for a minimal fee. I did this after several years of so-so gardens and that information helped me make big improvements at a manageable cost.
OH HOW EXCITING...I've had a strong interest in soil health...I've felt overwhelmed to think about learning about it. just as you said..you are making it much easier...thank thank thank you.
Every piece of land is liberty. Oh my gosh that's powerful.
"Every bit of soil is liberty" Those are some wise words!!
Always love a new video from you!!!
WISE WORDS!
Wise words and I would definitely buy the t shirt
@@Smacsek right? I was thinking the same thing!
MAGNETS anyone? Love the quote!
Sticker worthy
I’ve followed Roots N Refuge for years now. Remembering the stories of how you and Jeremiah started, now watching this new farm develop, I’ve noticed you are putting your new community to work. I am so proud to be a subscriber of a channel, that not just shares content, but teaches self sustainability, using the fruits of success to share with locals willing to work. May God continue blessing those who bless others.
"EVERY PIECE OF LAND IS LIBERTY" Sounds like a sticker to me!! lol I'd buy one Jess 💕
DEFINITELY
I was just thinking the same
This is so much truth right here.
The soil is liberty is a great motto! My son took his cousins out into our garden to pick kale and carrots. The boys had never eaten straight from the garden before and one of my nephews said "this tastes like freedom!".
❤️
As the great Ron Finley said "Growing your own food is like growing money"
@@rdred8693 love that Ron Finley!
You need a painted sign in your garden that says that!
Great message because most gardeners are unaware of the necessity for soil life diversity. Many of us already have the resources-fallen leaves, yard waste, kitchen waste, …. The knowledge of how to collect and use them is what is lacking. Show them they way! It is so rewarding and an easy win once you get started. After 15 years of organic gardening and 10 years of making my own compost, my soil is fabulous.
Lead on!
I have just moved from out of state to an acre and have lots of leaves and grass clippings BUT. the area under my big 2 trees is just dirt, like a dried up river bed that’s cracked, how in the world do I fix this ???
I’m planting a new no till small garden now, because of the times, with purchased mulch, it’s way to expensive to do what I originally wanted.
Is there a t-shirt or sticker coming with this??? Liberty lies within every piece of ground. There's no bad soil.
Another great informative and encouraging video!
And a word to new gardeners... Experiment!! You learn something new every time you try something new!!
👏👏👏
What a great way of explaining soil life! I started a garden and a compost pile when covid began and my landlady had a change of heart to allow me this freedom. I gathered all the leaves and debris from the yard and piled it on the decomposed granite back 'yard' (private desert). I just kept adding to it, kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, leftover potting soil, etc. This year I started a new pile thinking I could now potentially use the old pile in my mostly container garden. I dug up a hay fork full of 'finished' compost to inoculate my new pile, and joyfully found it FULL of earthworms and other life, IN THE DECOMPOSED GRANITE! I have my (blind) landlady growing and loving sugar peas and tomatoes in her formerly unused half barrels, and I just purchased two new metal raised garden beds. Now to get the gophers to move out!
Please don’t say your channel is mostly aimed at new gardeners. You have lots to teach old gardeners, too. This explanation of soil structure and health was very informative. I am a 75 year old gardener and hope I never stop learning something new. I always enjoy your videos.
Every gardener out there already has the ruby slippers! Use you lawn clippings, your dead leaves, your prunings, and your kitchen waste. It's all biology and it should go into your soil! Thanks, Jess, for diving into this.
Exactly! And I have found that burying kitchen waste directly into the garden soil during the growing season , helps it decompose more quickly than using the composter. We use the composter during the fall and winter, but during the spring/summer, we bury directly into the garden soil.
@@marygrott8095 I do that too. In my house it is practically a cardinal sin to throw anything compostable into the trash can. I shred paper and compost it too. All of that junk mail, rip the plastic parts out of the envelopes and compost the rest.
Grow Comfrey. Beautiful low hedge around gardens. Bees absolutely love it, it crowds out weeds on the perimeter, can be used for chop and drop mulch/fertilizer, compost booster, comfrey tea, etc.
Edible acres uses it as a rhizome barrier around some areas too. I started using it last year and find it fantastic.
Ive been gardening for 30+ years and I thought I knew lots about growing things and I do but, I never knew about the types of clay. I thought clay was clay. Never too late to teach an old dog new tricks. Thanks for the great video and God Bless!
As a nutritionist and garden coach this is fantastic. Soil health is the root of our health. Love seeing this from you! Would love an update on how your permaculture course has been. 🌱
While you were talking to Will about bringing some of those minerals to the surface without actually tilling he mentioned some plants have a deep taproot and do that. Jason over at Cog Hill Farm planted a ' mixture ' cover crop in his future pasture/garden beds. In that mixture of those planted was a deep rooting radish ( He called them daikons- also edible ) which also break up the soil-does double duty. He said he will turn over that crop back into the soil as one means of amending the soil. As Will was explaining that means the minerals in those tap root plants will now be usable in your topsoil for growing.
I love this Jess. After 3 years I can now grow my garden all year long in the AZ Desert at the base of a mountain. When I started I didn't even have worms in my backyard.
Been watching you awhile and I think this vlog was probably one of if not THE most important ones you’ve done. You’re a natural born teacher! Thanks for doing what you do so well…keep it coming.
Thank you Jess. Once again you have “grounded” me. Meaning that you brought me back from the “fear” emotion that was making me worry about how do we prepare for WW3? Bottom line is we trust in our Lord and plant a garden and praise the miracles of a simple seed planted that ends up feeding our family. You and your channel are such a blessing. Thank you!
Hey Jess, I love your channel and the info you’re getting out there. I will say, please be mindful of generalizing large ag as not being mindful of their soil. Many farmers are smart to the fact that their livelihood depends on their soil health and that is translating more and more to their processes to take care of the land they see as their legacy to pass to the next generation. As someone who farms row crops in Idaho on a few hundred acres and has a home garden I thought I’d offer that perspective up. Thanks for all the information and passion for cultivating life!
Plant some comfrey all the way around the tap roots gets all the mineral up in the leaves and theb you use the leaves around plants under the mulch and you noirish both, plant and soil.
That's it! Adding life to the soil and not disturbing it! I wish I knew that from the beginning but better late than never! I bless you! Thanks Jess!🤗🤗❤🤗🤗
My first compost pile wasn’t as intimidating to me bc I started on the off season. I just piled up yard waste until i ran out of stuff. Then it just sat through the winter doing much of nothing, but once the weather turned, I started adding my spent coffee and coffee grounds and those trips out there every few days to dump I started seeing changes in it!, then I had the confidence to start turning it around April, by June it stopped being “hot” and by July it was done
And wow, did I have a killer load of compost for my summer and fall garden!
So my advice is if your gonna start a compost pile, do it with the long term in mind.
Whenever I felt “rushed” it felt very overwhelming. Bc I needed organic material NOW in the midst of a gardening season. I often overlooked starting a compost pile. But the moment I started one knowing it was gonna just have to be a while till I could use it, that’s when it kinda just happened on its own and then sucked me into the process by way of nature taking course and once u begin to see it start breaking down on its own without your intervention, That’s when u develop the confidence to start doing things like turning it and keeping it HOT.
Just through I’d share that in case someone’s been intimidated by composting.
Used coffee grounds, crumpled egg shells, and used tea leaves are great. When we are really into it, all coffee and tea dregs or leftmover get poured onto of the compost pile and poured on acid loving plants. While it can attract winged and other pests, left over beer and soda pop works well too.
It's hard here in SC not to get gnats and flies from saving food scraps so I save them in a storage container in the freezer and every so often I have to bust up the frozen scraps to make room for more. The smaller the scraps are the quicker they break down and freezing them first jump starts the process for you. Hope you find this tip helpful.
@@amandaburgess7316 to help eliminate flies and gnats, consider veggie pitting, or inground composting your frozen blocks. Dig a hole, dump your scraps in, cover with dirt. How deep and how many inches in top you ask? As shallow with as little extra work as possible of course. This is likely to very by the season of the year but fir gnats often 2"-3" of dirt coverage is good in theimarea; for flies 3"-6". In the fall here, we have to look for yellow jackets looking for fluid, food, and new in-griund nesting spots; they can smell a food scrap from quite a ways. Assuming there has been no spilling on the surface dirt or along the holes edges then you need closer to 6" of dirt coverage fir yellow jackets; and again generally Aug-Oct, or in the fall.
Big N Alfalfa has deep thready roots. Tillage radishes and turnips and mustards are also awesome, and they can also add to your forage for your cattle and goats in the winter, as they like cool weather.
A new sticker? Liberty lies within every piece of land...I love it and it truly. means so much.
Soil Biology! I am SO glad to hear someone else talking about this! I’ve got 1/2 acre in suburban central NC…..it’s sand….lots and lots of sand here. Organic matter as a top dressing changed the soil quickly and I have a (still growing) layer of rich soil just filled with all kinds of critters. As my lil piece of “liberty” has moved into natural balance, insect pests are just at a minimum. Weeds…..well, THAT is still a problem! Happy planting everyone 😃
Grass and leaf clippings breakdown into beautiful garden soil. Grass clippings in your garden beds through mowing season helps with weed control too.
Thanks for this Jess! I feel so much better making the Choices of manure, compost and other living matters into my garden. 🥰
Just Wonderful Jess,as your classroom audience grows over the seas 🌍 and your massage spreads wide across the lands, beneath your ever expanding wings, and sharing knowledge and your hope, to create a better world together 🌍 we bless you right back ❤️
You seem to be full of new life and hope and enthusiasm since you guys moved…..especially now that we are all moving into a new Spring…..it’s wonderful to see the brilliant smile on your face!
This is all interesting to me. As an archaeologist, we have to know about soils, so I know your typical O, A, and B soil layers. But my knowledge ends once I hit “sterile” (meaning untouched by humans) subsoil. And I can tell you whether you soil is a silt loam or a clay loam and what percentage of gravel it is. But what grows things is beyond my knowledge. I currently garden exclusively in grow bags because I rent. But one day I will need to know this stuff.
An archaeologist…what a fascinating career!
Sounds like you'll be able to use your current knowledge as a great starting point!
I am an old gardner. And I love what you are doing and planning for! Found you 3 years ago and love going along on your journey and still learning new things from you!!
Backwards hat Jess takin’ me back to the olden days 😄
I am so encouraged by this information. I started my garden last year, with bags and bags of not so good growing medium. I had no idea it was barely composted wood chips. I couldn't grow anything, not even a zucchini. I just got done adding everything I could get my hands on, cow manure, mushroom compost, worm castings, bags of "good" soil, and as a recommendation of a video by MIGardener, reconstituted alfalfa pellets and cedar chip begging as mulch. Fingers crossed I added enough life back into the wood chips to grow some good veggies this year.
So, the issue with wood chips is that they soak up nitrogen. My rule of thumb is that I need equal parts Carbon (Wood chips, etc) and Nitrogen (Urea, Chicken Litter, etc) What ends up happening is that the wood chips will soak up the excess nitrogen, and as they break down will be slow release fertilizer. We mixed saw dust and chicken litter. The litter was really hot, but the saw dust just soaks it up and it breaks down. Mushroom compost usually has either horse manure or chicken litter in it, so its good for adding that necessary nitrogen. But I think the high, 100,000 ft view is.. mix carbon and nitrogen and let them break down and the worms and other organisms will come.
@@HomesteadDNA I have been mulching some of my pepper plants with wood chips should i stop this then?
@@kimg5784 Note: I feel bad even saying this because this is overanalyzing it. The bigger thing is, if you're not having problems, I wouldn't change a thing :) Wood chips as mulch is not as bad as wood chips as growing medium, soil amendments because they arent directly mixed in the soil (actively soaking up the nitrogen in the soil) I dont mean to say wood chips are bad though, but just that you have to understand that they soak up nitrogen and nutrients as part of the breaking down process. So, if you say have wood chips in the soil, you will have to add excess nitrogen to feed not only your plant, but the unknown amount for the wood chips to "absorb". In one sense this is a , lets say "waste" of fertilizer and you also risk adding too much nitrogen to compensate and burning your plants. Wood mulch will break down over time and will compost into good soil as it does all of this. But it takes time, and a lot of chemistry/biology. Composting does this, at an accelerated rate.
So basically just compost your wood chips down with chicken litter/urea first.
Soil can be amended WAY easier than the weather! You can grow in the desert with irrigation, the soil aint the issue, it's the lack of rain.
I confirm, my nephew is growing sucvessfully a lot in the sand in Dubaï, Émirats arabes unis !!!
Yes!! Thank you for teaching more about regenerating soil and compost. I'm here for this! 🌱💚
When God spoke to me to grow food, to feed people. He told me to grow the soil. So I have growing soil for ten years. Keep it going. I had to do a lot of research and practice, composting, compost tea, etc. Loving what you do. Thanks for what you do. You remind me of me. A much younger version. May God continue to bless you and all of your efforts.
Hearing you talk about fear is really motivating. For me that’s what it all comes down to, and it inspires me to hear the simplicity of it all.
Such a great message! I was freaking out about needing. SO MUCH too soil for my new beds, then I realized I have 4 acres of woods! I can skim a light layer off in the woods and add to my garden and that would be the best thing for it, and the woods will replenish all that in no time! We can be creative and find what we need in nature.
This beginning gardener really appreciates you and your education - Thank you, thank you!
I think this is probably the most important vlog you've done to date. Thank you so much for this lesson. It's great to be a student in your classroom!
Oooooh more of these science videos please!! I always enjoy your videos, but this one was probably my favorite! 🤓😍
God Bless your Family so much for living and teaching us our roots given by Father God! You inspire so many people to live off the land like we should. God Bless and God Speed!
Thanks for always giving us great content. Spring is still a couple of months away from me but watching your videos helps me dream! I started watching you 2 years ago when we all started living in our homes 24/7. I really thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge. I absolutely NOW know the importance of feeding my soil. I now mulch all my leaves and save in a pallet rectangle my hubs made and this past November I took my first year's worth of mulched leaves and added it to the tops of all my garden boxes. It has been sitting there all this past winter and I can't help it but go out there and dig down a bit and smell the dirt and feel how healthy it seems. My husband thinks I've gone bonkers! HA HA. BUT, I have converted my neighbor into trying to protect her own garden box soil better and feeding it with biology instead of store bought fertilizers. I'm still learning to compost, and I'll get there with it eventually. Thanks again for sharing your skills.
Haha, I do the same thing! I bought myself a mulcher for our leaves, along with some wood mulch that we put through a large machine last spring added some manure and straw from our chickens to our beds last fall. Now, I wait! So excited to see what has become of my soil when this snow melts, come on spring!
I love your infomation! I raise rabbits for show, meat and fiber and I'm so happy to say that my compost has rabbit, horse, and chicken poo in it as well as kitchen scraps and weeds we've pulled, shavings and hay.
Feeling so wealthy and abundant with the newly acquired info. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my R&R education 🙏❤️ Thank you! 🌎 🌱 ☀️ Xx
It is so valuable to have this simple and positive permaculture view. This down to earth approach can really help permaculture to be"bioavailabile"to many people!
Phenomenal video today, Jess, I learned so much! Thank you, please keep teaching us about growing our food, you're amazing:):):):)
Darlin, with Will around dirt can never be boring!!
I’m excited to see you expand! Once you have the gardening fever, a lot of people will want to continue expanding. It’s happening to me, so I’m sure it’s happening to lots of people!
Yep, I added 5 new raised beds last year (severe gopher problem, so everything has to be protected), and I'm adding at least 5 more this year.
@@christajennings3828 I added 6 new garden boxes and I'm confident this year is going to be better then last.
I am so into this discussion! This is my first gardening year and I'm starting 12 4x8 raised beds. Since it's all new to me, I've been spending a lot of time on learning what soil composition and biodiversity I need to bring into those beds. Mono ag is making good soil dirt deserts, but it can bounce back to a rich soil if given the chance. I watched Kiss the Ground on Netflix and ever since then I've been trying to learn as much about permaculture and regenerative agriculture as possible. Thank you for the awesome discussion, Jess! I can't wait to hear more about this from you and Will!
LOVE this message! It is sooo important! I see/hear ppl complain so much about clay soil. We have THICK clay soil. There's SEVERAL advantages to having clay soil! Any soil can be ammended and certain methods can really level your garden up. Love this Jess!!!
Love this advice!! This will be our 3rd year of no till and it still feels so new even though we've been gardening for years. I love all the soil talk and feel like we never stop learning.
I've been trying to make more compost every year for the past 3 years. Now that I have my chickens here it will go a little better.
Fantastic show!
As a “newbie”, I am so grateful for your channel!
Starting a “patio garden” for the first time, at this home.
Super excited!
Blessings🙏🕊❤️
Thank you and GOD BLESS YOU 🌹🌹🌹🛐🛐🛐🀄🀄🀄
Soooo good😃🌻💜you pulled all the things I already knew that was scattered in my brain and put it in a simple, easy to digest segment, thank you.
I love this video, I know soil doesn't sound very exciting to most people but I love learning about how the earth works and how we can better take care of it!
Why I love you, you find poetry in everything and it's beautiful!
I have been gardening for many years and read a lot of things about growing plants. You are right this is the most simplistic explanation of the whole process. I watch a you tube channel of a young couple in remote Alaska. They grow the most amazing vegetables. Most of the food they eat comes from the land whether it’s vegetables or meat. They do cooking videos and the meals they prepare look delicious. They don’t have a tractor and do everything by hand. Thank you Jess.
Well presented - thank you. I now always listen. If I’m interrupted, I go back . 🌟🌟🌟🤩
Thank you for making this FEEL as attainable as it is!
Jess. I can't thank you enough for this. For 2 years I've been trying to "start" my garden, but have let fear and circumstances "renting vs. owning" stop me dead in my tracks. Not this year. I so needed to hear this. Thank you 😊
"Every bit of soil is liberty" - new R&R t-shirt?
I think I could teach a class on how to “make dirt”. I lived for almost 4 decades in southwest Nevada. Always said God got here & said “I’m done!” 😁. We loved gardening, so there was nothing to do other than add, build & improve…. Used everything from manure (any kind from our farm critters), newspapers, straw, coffee grounds (saved from restaurants), making compost & purchased nutrients. . No internet or great videos back in those days. We just plodded along. We succeeded, slowly over many years. Will always feel proud about what we accomplished there. Then, we moved to Vermont…. Ba-boom💥! Jack & the Beanstalk soil here.🤩.
Always love learning from you! I was getting ready to throw out "old" soil, but now I've definitely changed my mind!
I've been educating myself more and more on tilling since it is always my dad's gut instinct when it comes to gardening. I've learned so much here on your channel, but I also learned a ton of information watching Kiss the Ground on Netflix. It really broke down what you were trying to convey and also with more heavy examples of what tilling has done to our climate.
I’m so glad you’re going to be sharing more about permaculture, soil improvement and the food web! It’s proven harder to find educational content about these things as it relates to your average hobby or homestead gardener. Thanks for sharing and please keep it coming 💗
FANTASTIC VID - NOT NERDING OUT AT ALL - FASCINATING AND IMPORTANT! Thanks so much!
Wow ... some nice clay!!! Pizza Ovens!
Consider mining and producing clay product; and creating aquaculture pond in depression from mining.
I've been gardening for 23 years and I learn new things on your channel all the time. I was raised with traditional till methods and using pesticides and not so natural methods. I am loving learning all the things here!
The information given in this VLOG has eased my concerns about the soil on my property, especially where I have been gardening. We had the soil tested last year & it is in great need of biology. Last spring & fall I amended my soil before & after gardening season, so this VLOG gives me greater hope that this growing season will be better than last year & next year will be better than this year! I have a couple large worm bins, a compost pile, bovine manure, turkey manure & bags & bags of leaves we raked last fall from neighbors yards for this year's garden so I'll keep moving forward with amending with greater hope for better soil! Thank you for easing my concerns!
Soil education is so important. Our yard was part of a car junk yard years ago, so we have pockets of motor oil spills. Horse manure and composting are reviving my garden area now. It can be done. It takes patience and natural nutrients. Education is key!
Loved this video, Jess! Thank you for all this wonderful information! 🌿🌻🌿🌷
Hello Will! Yay soil school. Also Miah I'm hearing you might have a kiln in the future lol
Best video you've done in awhile, education-wise! Thanks so much
I love the way you are breaking this down. I am fairly science literate, I love getting into the top few layers of the science of soil health (sorry bad pun not intended, but now that it's there, I am not taking it out lol). However, my anxiety will take over and if I can't do it perfect then why bother and that gains me and my ground nothing. I am working on the simple aspects of this and this video sums that balance up wonderfully.
Add biology to your geology- I love this. I’m in New Mexico. The land was overgrazed, the native grasses eaten by hungry cattle, then the topsoil washed away and invasive species took root. So I’m the proud owner of 29 acres of dead dusty dirt and rock covered with mesquite, creosote, and saltbush. But I believe I can bring it back, and I believe once I get the process started, Mother Nature will take over. The earth wants to heal, and as you say there is life everywhere. I just need to bring it back and help it get started.
Kudos to you! Biggest Little Farm documentary would be a good resource/encouragement for you as they developed/renewed health of their soil through worm casting tea spread through their irrigation systems....it was fascinating to see how much water their land was able to retain once they had healthy topsoil, grass and other things growing again. Biodiversity is a huge element of healthy soil.
AWESOME, AWESOME video Ms. Jessica. I agree whole heartedly with your soils teaching. I love the part about adding biology to geology. WOW! I have always loved to learn. I too compost. My cooking scraps are mostly banana peels, used coffee grounds, egg shells and vegetable peelings. I add all these to my grass clippings, old leaves, cow manure and with a lot of love, voila; compost! Thank you. God bless your family, oh, almost forgot, and the guys that work for you.
I love your chat about your channel and how it's helping scale everything you're after! I needed to hear this this morning.. being a Florida girl moved north. I was feeling pouty about not knowing the things like I did my whole life down south.. it's hard to start over! But darn it we did it for a reason! Thank you! 👏
I'm so glad you found yourself a fellow dirt nerd for your new homestead. 😉
Learned something new at 82. I always tilled my garden. I fully understood your explanation about not breaking down and mixing the layers of soil. Geology/biology. You and yours are so refreshing.❤️
🌱🌱🌱Yes! Yes! Yes!! 🌱🌱🌱🌱
Thank you for the encouragement! Healthy soil amen 🙏
You were right Jess, this video held so much on its own. I dreamed up my future property while watching this ❤️
I live in the Central Goldfields area of Victoria in Australia. 160 or so years ago, this land was stripped bare of trees and dug over and over in the pursuit of riches. The soils, if any, rocky and silty to the point where Indigenous folk have called it "upside down land" as a result of the content of mines having been brought to the surface and pounded to powder to release the gold within.
The powdery residue was either washed into the creeks or left on the surface of the land, suffocating the biology.
Since then it's taken generations of gardeners of all varieties to build soil life again. The land that my family steward was one of the pockets that wasn't turned upside down all those decades ago, and in fact was a market garden that grew food to sustain the miners and their families. The difference between turning the ground over and not here is clear when you see how things easily and quickly grow on our property.
We had occasion to dig just this past weekend to install something in the yard and we still had loam, full of biology, two feet down.
You can never do wrong by your soil by adding any type of organic material that becomes available to you.
Thank you for this important video Jess.
You are just blessed my dear with wisdom! I’ve been watching you now solid for 2;years and I’m always like WOW you are a blessing to all of us Thank You always!!
This comes the morning after I layed in bed pondering how to improve a hydrophobic high tunnel- and came to the "revelation" that, duh- we need to add the good stuff to it !!!! So thankful to be on this journey of growing as a gardener- growing a garden, with you Jess.
I've been gardening for more than 10 years but still feel like a newbie in so many ways. Soil talk just makes my eyes glaze over. And anything sounding overly complicated has my brain checking out. I live by the KISS rule (keep it stupid simple). This video actually helped me so much because it has finally sunk in to just add in a variety of things and it'll improve over time. I wish someone had just said it to me that way 10 years ago! ...buy the leaf mulch and the mushroom compost and the cow manure and.... Just add in ALL the things. Now THAT I can do! Thank you!
I'm glad you reigned me back in with "don't check out about soil" I started thinking of my plan for great soil. Thankyou
I’m really looking forward to all the soil health content this year. All of that feeding the soil/making compost talk fascinates me. I’m in and ready to be educated. Thank you for all the knowledge 🙏😌
Bless you sweetheart sooo wonderful and beautiful, I love seeing your video, and seeing the way that you always express yourself💯♥️🙏🙏 I’m very motivated thank the Lord, Seeing your videos 💯🥰♥️🙏bless you and your beautiful family amen 💯♥️🙏 I’m from Puerto Rico 💯🙏🙏
Thank you for this classroom of soil today. Definitely a video to watch again and take notes!
Thank you! Thank you! Can't wait to hear more!
Amen to that! There is life around us well said Jess
Great video and vital information for improving your garden yields and your physical health!
I could listen to you for hours lil lady... thoroughly enjoy your teachings :) please keep up the incredible work you are sharing :) much love and hugs...and May God Richly Bless You and Your Family
The video and sound are both working fine for me. My dad would laugh at me with the different soils I purchase, but he did it the old method using a roto-tiller and plain old compost. He always had a great garden too. I'm "okay, what do I plant seedlings in"? "What about when I transfer them"? Thank you for always sharing such great information.
Great video regarding soil health. As a brand new gardener, simply knowing if you have acidic or basic soil is enough for your first growing season. Once you know that, just add any kind of organic matter to your soil you can start building your soil health. After you go through the inevitable failures of a first year gardener and learn the basics, then you can start geeking out soil science.
You can also take soil samples and send them for analysis to your state's land-grant universities. They'll usually give you an analysis and suggestions to improve the soil for what you want to grow for a minimal fee. I did this after several years of so-so gardens and that information helped me make big improvements at a manageable cost.
OH HOW EXCITING...I've had a strong interest in soil health...I've felt overwhelmed to think about learning about it. just as you said..you are making it much easier...thank thank thank you.
Fantastic!
And, very interesting!
Thanks for bringing Will on board!