Follow the Bell Family and their trusty companion, Ada, as they transform their three acre homestead into an elderberry farm. Forever Foods Farm, 3F for short, is located near Richmond, Virginia in beautiful Hanover County. Our mission is to use permaculture techniques to create a humble, simple, restorative way of life.
@@Kavias We miss everyone too! It has been a busy harvest summer and absolutely the right decision for us. Some of our harvests have doubled since last year! Excited for the September market season start. See you soon!
We put mulch near the base of the vine put not really touching it. That is the only thing because I don’t want to encourage fungus since we get a good amount of rain. They seem to be doing fine on their own without any babying.
My 1st machine had a defect. I'm now having issues with the 2nd machine heating. It's frustrating to spend thousands & literally have NO TECHNICAL support. When you call Harvest they scheduled a call for days later & then send you yoytube videos to fix it yourself. Harvest needs to do a lot better. I don't recommend the machine for the issues & lack of Customer support.
Freeze drying does not kill bacteria but removing the water keeps bacteria from growing and holds it in a safe state until using it. If the elderflower is exposed to water then it should be consumed right away or thermally treated in a recipe. Excellent question!
I tell you what. This is so hard for the little guy to navigate. I am working towards my acidified certification and it is amazing the hoops you have to go through. I'm sad to hear that California is worse.
You can eat the berries. You still want to avoid the stems as much as possible. Raw berries can cause digestive stress in some people. We haven’t had any issues.
I think they would be too seedy for a pie. I definitely think using the pulp for syrups or jellies would be good but you should definitely strain and maybe combine with a more standard berry like blue berry.
One in a raccoon trap in a creek killed my dog. I`m not sure how the snake got in the trap because I use water sets only. When I was running my traps my dog followed me. When I made it up the creek to the trap with the snake my dog was dead on the bank 5 feet away. My sister`s neighbor in Texas was picking up trash along a fence and his wife saw him on the ground. There was a copperhead right beside where he lay dead. I`ve been bitten on my right hand and twice on my right foot but recovered. Two were pretty bad but I didn`t go to the hospital. My shoulder muscles were paralized for about 6 weeks but the rest of my arm worked. I hallucinated some for a few days and my hand swelled and was bruised the next morning. I`ve never had issues with other snakes in Louisiana but copperheads are vicious.
Those are terrifying stories. I’m so sorry for your loss. I imagine you run into a whole host of interesting things where you are. Water moccasins seem pretty scary. Stories of them dropping out of trees and all! Stay safe out there!
@@foreverfoodsfarm I`ve had water moccasins fall in the boat. I`ve seen hundreds of thousands of them. As long as you don`t start a fight with one they`re very pushy but they won`t attack you. If you mess with one he will come after you especially at night and once that line is crossed the fight is on and you`ll be forced to kill the snake or flee. You just have to know how to treat them because they have no fear of people fishing and will always approach boats. Never hit one with a fishing rod or boat paddle. They can see you and know you did it. Give them a fish and they`ll go away.
@@foreverfoodsfarm People don`t realize that Louisiana has populations of the giant eastern diamondback rattlesnake. I`ve seen those and they were never aggressive. They are gigantic and almost look fake. Alligators are everywhere in the state now...every pond. My friend didn`t believe one came after me in his pond. It took nearly a week of looking with binoculars to spot it. This is in central Louisiana and nobody knows how they`re getting in these random ponds far from rivers.
I wonder if birds are doing it. I know that is a way for some fish like bluegill to show up. That is crazy about the moccasins! The copperheads here seem to be very still and won’t move until you are right on top of them. I was scything a grassy area and a huge one popped out and went right past my feet to get away. Took a few years of my life as I screamed like a newborn child and ran. Not proud. The bite incident happened wearing flip flops moving wood under a shelter during when hurricane Isabel was dumping rain before her arrival. Got the person in the toe. That just elevated a very stressful situation ten fold. I’ve seen on a wet night after a really hot day like five or six just crossing the yard probably out for a hunt. Ours don’t chase you or come after you.
@@foreverfoodsfarm I haven`t seen any venomous snakes on this rural lot since moving here in 2022. The mistake many people make is they kill the harmless snakes that eat mice and frogs and bugs then the venomous snakes move in. The bad snakes stay more hidden and can become overpopulated before you know it but they will avoid areas with lots of friendly snakes. My dumb nephew killed a king snake and a grass snake and put rat poison everywhere which killed more of them plus the stray cats, owls and other predators. He thinks he`s so smart and refuses to listen to anything I tell him. Now rats and mice are taking over there and the owl family I used to hear up there have gone silent. His mom, my half sister, grew up in a different home and knows nothing about any of this stuff and has never even grown a tomato plant. I grew up on a farm. My nephew loves bell peppers but refused to eat the ones I grew when I told him I grew them organically with no pesticides. He threw them away because "bugs might be on them." His grandmother once lived on this lot I`m on and ruined it. Just to have a garden here I`ve had to haul in forest soil in a wagon. All the topsoil was removed and gravel was put everywhere. I have the worst yard in Louisiana for growing food and it will take years to undo the damage.
Is that bed filled all the way from the bottom? I filled mine with branches and wood chips with the last foot being soil last year. It sunk about a foot over the year.
We have a great Bay Tree at the back garden which we planted about 8 years ago. I use these leaves for cooking, concoction, hair care, cold-process soap, face spray, bay leaves infusion.. It is an amazing herb! I love it! We are in England, UK x
We are in the UK and we have one Mahonia at the front garden. I didn't realise that the berries are edible. How about the leaves? Are they any good as tea or concoction? Thanks btw for sharing the info x
