The best gardening & homesteading channels on Youtube
Today I talk about poop, lol. I hear about debates on the merits of using composting toilets, but to me it doesn’t seem too crazy because Kelowna gathers the solids out of our sewage and composts them, to create a mulch product that people love. Talk about upcycling, lol. For day 3 of #wastereductionweek we…
This week we are doing something a little bit different, and talking about the different themes of Canada’s Waste Reduction Week. Sustainable living is important to us, and we believe that part of that, is being aware of the footprint that you have, and being open to making improvements and changes. We are definitely not…
The chard had to come out of the ground, so I processed it up for the freezer. We mainly use swiss chard as a spinach substitute, so I like to freeze it into small blocks just like what you can purchase at the grocery store, to make it easy to defrost and use. Serina also…
Snow in the forecast means that I need to move my kumquat and fig tree into the garage to hibernate over the winter. These trees would not be able to survive the cold weather that we get, but do okay with the insulation of my garage. To slow them down, I only water them occasionally.…
Wondering how to make yogurt? Join Serina for Fermentation Friday, as she shows you her first attempt at making her own yogurt with really simple home tools – which was actually a success! I was a little intimidated by making yogurt because no one wants to mess around with stinky dairy, but this recipe was…
💛 📖 See the GrowVeg book here: https://www.growveg.com/growveg-the-beginners-guide-to-easy-gardening.aspx. It’s all too easy to overlook the edges of your garden as a place to grow food. But a garden’s boundary can be every bit as fruitful as its heart. From wall-trained fruits and scrambling vines to an edible hedgerow brimming with berries and nuts, the options…
It is getting cold, and I’m losing faith in it warming up again, so the leeks need to get out of the garden and into the freezer before I lose them to bad weather. Join Serina as she pulls the leeks and talks about how she grows them, and the satisfaction that comes from growing…
It is time to plant the garlic. We plant a hardneck variety called Red Russian, that goes into the ground now for a summer harvest. Garlic is especially fun to grow because you get to replant some of your harvest. Every year our garlic gets happier growing in our yard, and we always get a…
💛 📖 See the GrowVeg book here: https://www.growveg.com/growveg-the-beginners-guide-to-easy-gardening.aspx. Training beans to grow up supports yields bigger harvests from a relatively small patch of ground. Climbing vegetables are easier to harvest, require less weeding and can be used to create a windbreak to protect other plants from harsh weather. If you love growing your own food,…
Fermented pickles seem like magic to me, but ideally I would like to be able to preserve pickles over the winter in my cold storage, and I’m not quite there yet. Serina shares how her summer pickles are doing for fermentation Friday. Some have gone moldy, but the sauerkraut is still going strong. With improved…
Sunflowers – my favorite weed in the garden. They add so much drama with all their height and colour that we can spot our yard from a block away. But the season is over, and since it was a nice day, I decided to start in on the clean up. Join Serina and the kids…
Ian is home from Alberta for 24 hours, lol. But we sat down and had a quick chat about something that we truly believe in: compromise. It’s common advice to say “never settle” but I think there is more practical value in “prioritizing value”. In the balance of time vs money, Ian and Serina lean…
💛 📖 See the GrowVeg book here: https://www.growveg.com/growveg-the-beginners-guide-to-easy-gardening.aspx. Raspberries are among the easiest fruits to grow and, for the space they occupy, produce even more fruit than strawberries. Isn’t it time you gave them a go? Raspberries deserve a place in any fruit garden. With minimal care, they’ll reward you with heavy crops of sweet,…
MAKE CHANGE… tomorrow? When the goal is to keep moving forward, and to make positive sustainable changes to your life and your community, it can leave you feeling like a failure when you hit a setback. Life can be stressful, and it is important to find ways to deal with that stress. And simple living…
“Look at that cute deer” is words I haven’t said since I started gardening at my current home, where deer will wander into our GATED URBAN backyard! Our local deer are so tame, that I worry about them attacking my small children, because they will stand their ground even against cars, lol. Our main garden…
Gardening is so regional and specific, that trying to follow any one system in the exact same way that a garden guru does it will lead to disappointment. If you don’t find ways to adapt advice to your specific garden, then those “tips and tricks” might be big failures. There is great value in learning…
Join Serina for a quick update on how the garden is doing now that we have officially entered fall. Things are still growing well, but the weather has changed, and there is only a few weeks of strong growth left.
Serina and Lia are picking herbs to stock up for tea in the winter. It won’t be long before the fall frost comes and kills all the tender leaves, so you have to be prepared and harvest while you still can. Lia is clearly due for a nap, and is full of her own ideas,…
💛 📖 See the GrowVeg book here: https://www.growveg.com/growveg-the-beginners-guide-to-easy-gardening.aspx. When it comes to finding space to grow your own fruits and vegetables it pays to look beyond the obvious. There are many quirky places to raise your homegrown produce – and more than a few will raise an eyebrow or two! In this short video we’ll…
I don’t care what the calendar says, it can’t possibly be fall yet. I’m not ready to give up on summer, so I’m insisting that summer isn’t over. To celebrate that it is still summer, Serina and the kids go on a massive harvest, and attempt to create the perfect harvest picture. We are on…
The second round of grapes are ready, but the concords aren’t as nice of a eating grape as what Lia is used to. So her and Serina pick a bucket to make some grape juice instead. It’s a super simple recipe with tasty results! At least Lia thinks so, lol. There is nothing like using…
Ian is off to work. He got the call, and is leaving to start his winter season. Whenever he goes off for his shift work, we don’t have a solid date for when he will come back. We are hoping to see him home before Christmas, but if he works straight to Christmas, we will…
We LOVE pesto, and grow basil every year specifically to stock our freezer with a year long supply. It is such a delicious and easy way to preserve our basil harvest. Join us as we make up a big batch, and show you how we do it and our “recipe”, as well as our trick…
Ian, Serina, and Sam pull up the onion crop. Sam is still better at eating onions that harvesting them, but he gets a few tips. Ian tries out a new technique for drying the onions after harvest. Join us as we make space in the garden.
I always say that it only takes an hour a day. Here’s some video proof that I found, that sometimes your hour doesn’t have to be that hard, lol. The tomatoes in the greenhouse are going crazy, so Serina had to get out and do some picking and trellising. The tomatoes have reached the very…
Those sunflowers are sure pretty, but did you know you could eat them too? I quickly show you how long you need to leave them on the plant, and how to beat the birds to a great harvest.
Wondering how to pick basil to keep the plant bushy and productive, and to keep it from going to seed? I quickly let you know. I talk about some general basil care, and then show you with clear close video where exactly you should be picking your basil from.
Have a hard time getting anything done with the baby and toddler in tow, out in the garden. I share a couple of my tricks on how to deal with the destructive force of children in the veggie patch. Most of all, it is important to adjust your mind set on what you will be…
Ian and Serina open their new package of fall seeds. They purchased a variety of different mustard, spinach and choy to try in the greenhouse and in the garden. With the beginning of September here, it is now or never when it comes to planting the fall garden. Check out what they got and their…
It’s all happening here on our lifestyle acreage homestead property! In this video, I show you guys a bunch of stuff that’s been going on such as growing tomatoes, eggplant, asparagus, the citrus orchard flowering, pruning, zucchini, and even ducks sitting on her nest of eggs. Lots to get through and plenty of action to…
