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Description:
We’re Derrick and Paula from Ontario, Canada. After getting married in the summer of 2014, we decided to give up our apartment, move into a camper van, and travel across this magnificent country of ours for our honeymoon. Upon our return, we decided to keep it up a little longer to save money and continue living a more simple life… Then, fast forward 2 years, and full-time van life helped us save up for a little house and a piece of land to call our own. And now, our focus has shifted to building a self-sustainable lifestyle, where we grow our own food, get back to nature, back to basics, and Back To Reality. And we sure hope you’ll join us! :)
Location: Canada
People are usually surprised to hear that we use hay as mulch on our garden, and ask if we actually mean straw. You see, unlike straw, hay often contains a lot of weed seeds that can sprout up amongst your veggies. But in our experience, this has never actually been a problem, as long as…
When you grow your own food, spring time is a busy time. It feels like everything has to happen all at once. So anything that can spread out some of those garden chores, is a welcome opportunity. And garlic is a perfect example. Because rather than planting it right now along with everything else. Instead,…
After trying 3 different types of Winter Sowing over the past month, we’ve finally got some early results to share with you!
As part of our seed-starting comparison, in this video we tried starting our seeds directly in the garden, both under plastic domes, and under snow. Table of contents: Recap (Sowing in Containers) – 0:00 Direct Sowing under Plastic Domes – 1:17 Direct Sowing under SNOW – 2:22 What about mulch? – 4:30 Other Youtubers on…
We typically start our vegetable seedlings in our unfinished basement, but what if you can’t afford grow lights, and none of your windows have enough sunlight? Or what if you don’t have that kind of space? Or don’t have the time to make paper pots? Maybe you always forget to water them, or find the…
Have you ever wondered if/how the Windchill Factor effects your outdoor garden plants? Let’s find out! Windchill Calculators: Canada: https://weather.gc.ca/windchill/wind_chill_e.html USA: https://www.weather.gov/safety/cold-wind-chill-chart
What is crop rotation, why is it typically recommended, and is it necessary in a Ruth Stout garden? Let’s find out! OTHER YOUTUBERS ON CROP ROTATION: Charles Dowding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXQNnJOBQJc Gardener Scott: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjCCGen5NF0 MIGardener: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki2Xc8s44sI Huw Richards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSd-G_o3NGI Simplify Gardening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS0ELo626fE Scott Head: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYNLi6ZBQaQ ABOUT THE RUTH STOUT METHOD: The Ruth Stout Method https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfi-n0Oq38E Where We…
Despite several years of success with our Ruth Stout style potato beds (growing potatoes directly under hay mulch), during the past two years, we’ve been invaded by hungry voles. So this year, we decided to try a simple method of deterring them them, with companion planting. RELATED VIDEOS The Ruth Stout Method https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfi-n0Oq38E 337 lbs…
This video is an update on our quackgrass situation. As many of you know, we’ve been dealing with this rhizomatous grass in our garden for several years at this point. So last year we decided to cover some of our growing area with silage tarps. Now, after a full year, let’s see if it worked.…
Unfortunately, the T50 staples we used to fasten our fencing onto our posts have just not held up as well as we’d hoped they would. So in this video, we’ll0 test and rank the best replacements. Table of Contents: 0:00 – Introduction 1:20 – The problem with T50 staples 4:35 – Alternatives to T50 staples…
Just a quick spring update about our asparagus and strawberries that we companion-planted in a single Ruth Stout style (hay only) garden bed. We originally planted the asparagus and strawberry crowns in 2019, but replaced the strawberries with transplants in 2020. Previous videos: Companion Planting Asparagus and Strawberries (No-till, Ruth Stout) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc92S7UQD5k “No-till” Asparagus and…
Now that spring has officially sprung, we’ve once again begun hearing from a number of you, and many are asking the same question: How do we actually plant into a Ruth Stout garden? And more specifically, how do we direct sow our seeds, how do we transplant our seedlings, and how do we plant clones,…
Earlier this winter, I was out for a walk in our forest when I stumbled upon some blue pee in the snow. In this video, we find out why rabbit pee is blue in the winter. For more information about Fred and Aleta: http://www.doingnaturalhistory.com https://aletakarstad.com
In part 3 of our garden fence series we’ll cover our attempt at keeping the deer and other large animals out of our garden. Table of Contents: 0:00 – Introduction 0:41 – Recap and Overview 2:05 – Dealing with deer 3:58 – Chicken wire 6:08 – I’d rather have no fence 6:38 – Fence height…
How to braid hardneck or softneck garlic (and the difference between the two). Table of Contents: 0:00 – Introduction 1:02 – What you’ll need 1:20 – Curing garlic 1:45 – Cleaning the garlic 2:16 – Leaves are protective layers 3:19 – Hardneck vs Softneck 4:37 – Preparing hardneck 5:21 – Standard braid (3 string) 6:38…
Our resident groundhog (who we’ve affectionately named “Gordon”) turned out to be a female AND NOW a mom. So in this video, let’s explore groundhog lifecycles, hibernation, and plenty of adorable pups learning how to make their own way in the world.
In part 2 of our garden fence series will cover our attempt at keeping the smaller digging animals out of our garden. And we’ll throw in some personalized protection against pesky plants as well. Table of Contents: 0:00 – Introduction 1:45 – Why do we need a fence? 3:00 – The plan for this video…
Just a really quick update about some of the new seed starting options we’re trying this, and it’s all because of you guys! So thanks (as always) for the tips, advice, feedback, and support!
In a previous video, we quickly showed off our square DIY Paper Seedling Pots, and a number of you asked for a tutorial. So today, we’re going to do just that! 🙂
In our previous video, we explored the claimed edibility of quackgrass, and then made some rhizome herbal tea. But this time around, thanks to your questions and suggestions in the comments, we’d like to make a couple quick clarifications and then roast our left over rhizomes to see if it improves the flavour! Previous video…
Earlier this year, we posted a video all about the worst weed we’ve encountered in our deep mulch garden: Quackgrass (AKA couch grass, twitch grass, witch grass, devil’s grass, etc.) In this video, we decided to test out it’s claimed edibility, and made some quackgrass rhizome tea. Original Quackgrass video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwUw_Bq2p1Y&t=443s
This video is not about planting fruit trees. Because, truth be told, we’ve never actually planted a fruit tree before. And so, we don’t yet have any tips, because we don’t yet have any experience. Which is why instead, this video, is about something we do know. Something, as it turns out, we’re very good…
Last spring we planted some asparagus and strawberries in a new Ruth Stout bed. And since then, we’ve posted a few mini updates, tacked on to the end of other videos. But, since a number of you have asked for it, we figured it was about time we posted a quick standalone video as well.…
We’ve talked a lot about the benefits of the Ruth Stout method on this channel. But just because it does most things really well, doesn’t mean it does everything perfectly. And while it can sometimes seem like a magic bullet, as it turns out, it’s not completely without it’s flaws. So in this video, I…
TRANSCRIPT:http://backtoreality.org/2020/08/03/coming-back-from-frost-kills-mid-summer-garden-update-2020/ In our previous video, I mentioned that earlier this spring we lost over half of them to an unexpected June frost. But after a few weeks, many of them looked as though they might actually make it. So we decided to leave them be, and see how they’d turn out. Well, now a few…
TRANSCRIPT: http://backtoreality.org/2020/07/10/dealing-with-disappointment-and-an-early-summer-garden-update/ Despite our best intentions, sometimes things just don’t go the way we had hoped. That was the case in our garden this spring, in a big way. So in this video, I want to discuss how we dealt with that set back. But to be clear, I don’t mean how we solved the…
TRANSCRIPT: http://backtoreality.org/2020/06/22/faq-deep-mulch-vegetable-gardening-ruth-stout-method/ In this video I’d like to answer some of your most frequently asked questions about the Ruth Stout method, and about growing no-dig vegetables under mulch. Questions: 1. (1:00) Where are you located? 2. (1:34) When you say “hay”, do you actually mean “straw”? 3. (4:02) What do you mean by “spoiled hay”?…
TRANSCRIPT: http://backtoreality.org/2020/05/23/mid-spring-garden-update-may-2020/ According to the calendar, we’re now over half way through spring, and so a number of you have been asking for a garden update. But unfortunately, because we’re located in Ontario, Canada, there’s just hasn’t been much going on, yet. You see, this is still pretty early for us, and we won’t even…
A few years ago, we posted a video about our first attempt at making maple syrup, and ever since then, we’ve received a number of questions about the process. But one question stuck with me ever since. So in this video, we figured it was about time we got to the bottom of it. Does…
Three years ago we decided to rename this channel, and declared that we were now on a mission to explore a more sustainable future, get back to basics and back to nature. Or as we like to put it, back to reality. And over the past few years, that’s mostly entailed learning to grow and…
