The best gardening & homesteading channels on Youtube
Description:
Serina and Ian are sharing their journey of starting a farm!
Located in Kelowna, BC, Canada, the farm was begun in 2019. We grow veggies and flowers for sale on our farm and at the farmers market. Our property is only 2.5 acres, and we have to deal with the short season of being in a zone 5, but we still think the farm can become a sustainable business – if we put the work in…
Our goal in sharing our experiences is to support local, sustainable, food systems. We want to help you learn how to grow your own food. Or to show you the labour that goes into the farm fresh food that farmers grow for you everyday. And to make sure, that you are thinking about how that food is grown – we don’t use pesticides, and we want to be an example that you don’t need to either.
With a little bit of laughter, and a little bit of love, this farm will just keep growing!
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Location: Canada
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The backyard orchard is overgrown! It was time to prune the espaliers six months ago, but better now then never. I’m no pruning expert, but I got out there and pruned the apple tree and pear tree on this warmer winters day. And that is one less job for the spring.
So when I try to grow moldy kombucha I fail, and then when I don’t try, I get mold. This fermenting thing is hard. But I have moldy kombucha now, so I can show you all the disgusting details. And I also speculate why this happened, and a way that I can prevent this from…
To finish off my mountain of quince fruit, I made a jam. But not just any jam. This is super decadent, extra special whiskey and black pepper quince jam! With some heat from the pepper and some burn from the whiskey, this goes perfectly with cheese and crackers. And I will definitely be making this…
The weather was nice and sunny, and that doesn’t happen very often here in Kelowna, BC, Canada over the winter, so we all headed outside for a play. There isn’t much going on in the winter garden, but come and check it out with us, as the kids play and look forward to the warm…
As I learn to make homemade cold process soap, my second lesson is to add color and scent to the soap batter. And it was a lot more simple than I guessed. DIY soap is so much fun. The recipes and directions to learn soap making are all in this book which I highly reccomend:…
I have been slacking on my kombucha brewing over the winter, but it is time to start it again. Come chat kombucha while I set up my continous brew vessel, and try to figure out what to do with 4 liters of vinegar.
So, I got high on St John’s Wort. And no, that’s not a thing, lol. Having had this crazy experience with St John’s Wort has lead to me taking seriously a lot of claims about the power of herbs, even though I wouldn’t normally be inclined to believe. And more importantly, it has me very…
Well, I rotted most of my spaghetti squash crop. Opps! That was a lot of garden space to devote to such a big fail. But, I’ve learned that I need to rethink how to store my squash for future years, and some tips for how I could have done it better. Come and learn from…
I love seeds! I love all seeds. But the seeds I like the best, are the ones that grow the easiest, and create the most productive plants, best suited to my growing conditions and my personal taste preference. For that reason I don’t want to also limit myself to only heirloom or a specific price…
I think I capture the first time soapmaking experience pretty well with all my confusion over what light trace is, and making big messes. I take you through all my steps, all my confusion, and complain about washing the dishes, lol. Want to soap along with me? I’m making the super simple first recipe in:…
All the cool fermenters talk about bone broth being a miracle for your health, and since I was sick for all of December, I figured I better get on this if I want to make it through the rest of the winter, lol. Apparently I have been kind of making this for my entire life,…
In an attempt to have a clear course for learning soapmaking, I bought this book to be my textbook and to follow along with her recipes and lessons. I really liked the book for its clear instructions, and great looks and layout. Get the book here: http://amzn.to/2mesWFw this is an affiliate link, shopping with it…
It’s time to order the seeds for the garden. The seed catalogs have shown up in the mail, and the fun is about to begin! But wait! Before you even think about buying anything, you need to have a plan for the garden, and take stock of the seeds that you already own and can…
Wondering what going crazy ordering supplies for natural cold process soap making looks like? Well, here it is, as I unbox some of the materials that have ordered from Voyaguer Soap and Candle Co. I was surprised at how much the raw materials for making a batch of natural cost, but can see the savings…
With too many berries, and not enough ways to preserve them, I started my journey into ferments with this rumtopf. And now with a few things under my belt, I am excited to pull this Christmas treat out and start enjoying it. Its a fairly simple recipe combining equal parts fruit and sugar in rum,…
Well, we sucked at making videos about things that we were doing around the house to make Christmas more sustainable. But we did try and be more conscious of the waste that we were creating over the holidays, and put effort into making some small positive changes.
Ian is home, and we sit down and have a chat about how he feels about trying to be more zero waste over the holidays and the rest of the time. We are focused on trying to live a more sustainable life overall, and reducing our waste, and plastic consumption seems like an important step,…
Having now been brewing kombucha for a little while I am finally happy with the supplies that I have to use. And I also want to pivot one the gear that I have been using to ferment pickles and other items, so if any husbands are listening (Ian), these would be some great gift ideas.…
I bought a fake tree a couple years back, but as I sit here and think about the way that I can make my Christmas more sustainable, it feels like committing to not purchasing a fake tree again would be a great way. I don’t mention it in the video, but the obvious best way…
I promised my grandpa that I would make quince liquor for Christmas when he gave me my quince. So 6 weeks ago I chopped up the quince, add sugar and alcohol. And because I need an excuse to try it because I am getting too impatient for Christmas, lol, I’m making a second one with…
I am loving the look of this simple Christmas garland made out of oranges and pinecones. And my favorite part is that when the season is over, I can throw it into the compost, making it a great zero waste Christmas decoration, and keeping me on track for my more sustainable Christmas theme. I was…
I need none breakable Christmas ornaments this year! And to make sure that things are a bit more sustainable, I am thinking about the different ways that I can have handmade ornaments so I don’t have to buy anything. Either DIYing ornaments out of things I found around the house, or crafting together something with…
Well, there really isn’t too much going on out there today. But both the garden and I have something in common, and that is that we are getting prepared for the new year and the garden that will grow in it! The perennials are getting prepared for their early spring debut, while all the annuals…
Well, that literally took 24 hours to make, but it is good enough to make up for all the stirring. If you have quince, then I highly recommend trying to make membrillo or quince paste. I had to do some trouble shooting to get this to work out, so if you are having any issues…
Over the holidays, I always end up with a few half or quarter bottles of wine that I have no plans to drink, so rather than pushing them into the back of the fridge, I decided to mix them all together into a jar of wine vinegar. Vinegar is an easy ferment, it just takes…
Who doesn’t like a fun and fizzy bath bomb? And when they are as simple to make as this, the whole family gets them for Christmas presents. This recipe really is simple enough that even a toddler could make it. The hardest part is finding the citric acid, but in my town it is very…
Don’t I look beet-utiful, lol. I’m making homemade beet root powder with some of the beet harvest, to be able to make some DIY lipstick for Christmas gifts, as well as having a natural food coloring on hand. It takes some time, but is really simple, and I am super happy with the results. You…
Thanks so much everyone for watching our videos and subscribing to us! It means so much to us (Serina and Ian) and we just want to say thank you. We are also going to be beginning to create some Christmas themed content, so we wanted to give you a heads up so we don’t freak…
The snow has melted and it has even got dry enough for the kids to be able to go and play in the leaves. Lia has been waiting impatiently for months for this moment – jumping in the leaf pile. She was less excited about the cleaning up of the leaves though, lol. Daily Beetle…
Step by step clips of my 2 months of trying to make this apple cider vinegar, leads to a funny ending, in this Fermentation Friday video. I grew a couple of great mother of vinegars that will be very helpful for the future, but I didn’t ferment the tastiest vinegar. But you can get a…
