Never Stop Improving | Homestead Vlog | February 14, 2024 

Dreaming of spring? Check out our garden tour from last summer! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zgt9Jys6RuI.html Why we had to put in pipes ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ifQA-NO5GHM.html More recent work around the homestead ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7Clg1gMtm0A.html If you enjoyed this video you may also like these playlists! ⬇ Day in the Life ru-vid.com/group/PLnKpaj6ZJDIql8TRMHa9SDnLenAu5C27o Farm ru-vid.com/group/PLnKpaj6ZJDIpq-1DgHxz_-ZOsk7MWaOxA From Log to Lumber ru-vid.com/group/PLnKpaj6ZJDIqam5nCgtPmgqaeieWqNABC

So fun watching you and your husband work together. You both are so real and down to earth. I am addicted to your channel.

Happy Valentines Day ya'll!

I’m an old man from NJ and I have to tell you how impressed I am with the work ethic of you and your children. Great parenting.

❤ All this work now will definitely pay out later. I love the to see the kids wanting to pitch in and the excitement they get being in the mix of it all. ❤ Keep on keeping it real. 💯 Much love from Missouri!❤

I love how you show the intricacies of homesteading. 🙏

We hate the netting also for several reasons, i started keeping my chickens in a permanent pen and i just add wood chips and leaves as needed to keep a deep layer of ground cover. Planted mulberry trees in there as well and they seem very happy and healthy in that pen. In a year the mulberry was already tall enough to give cover from hawks

Hope y’all have a great week and day!! Love the farm family!!!

Warped planters in the garden create feng shui. 😊

Andy's a little wound up on this one 😀, started with the "fence and the egg mobile". Thanks for the chuckles this mornin, really helped out my grumpy mood i woke up in. looks like it was a productive day. Bless Yall!!

Andy! 👊 on hating the netting! When it's up and working, I love it. Moving it and having it short? Yeah...nah. ha!!

Love watching!

Enjoyed the video, you guys are doing a good job getting things ready for spring and rain. And about the chicken, I don't think you will ever break even because feed is so expensive. I bought 2 bags of layer pellets and 2 bags of scratch 5 way and it was @55.00$ . I have cut back.now we have 15 chicken. Good luck and God bless.

You need to downsize your chicken coop build a big gun up just so you can move it around with one of your quads let the kids move it around

Your kiddies are so great at helping out around the farm. As always, thanks for another great video. 😊

Love the look of that terraced hillside. Also love the new raised beds. Makes you want to starts some tomatoes 🍅. In upstate SC I’ve just started my pepper plants . Going to wait a couple of weeks for tomatoes though.

Y’all doing great! 💙I’d love to live on a place like that. Keep your head up.

Happy Valentines Day Megan I hope you’re having a great day

I love how you all work together.❤❤ Andy gets Jacob to help that's awsome.....Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine’s Day, Lawson family! Love your videos!

I’ve got to build me a new coop and I’m gonna build mine on sliders so I can come out with my tractor and move it around. Building it with a run on it.

Deep bedding stationary coops work well for us.

Wish I was closer I'd buy some turnips...love them raw

Andy, yes! We tried premier 1 and it was a pain in our keister! It sagged like a dirty diaper and the chickens flew over it. Last Saturday my husband and I replaced ours with some permanent wire fence and even though I got soaked and frozen doing it, lol, it made my day!

We keep about 10 hens, between house scrapes and fermentation of seed it’s keeps us in just enough eggs and helps with cost, I start water glassing eggs towards the first of fall to hold us over and give my hens a rest for the winter

We sold beef,pork,eggs and produce from the truck patch after a few years I realized it wasn’t worth it. I loved going to the farmers market and meeting people. We live in a small rural area and the folks here just are not going to pay what we need to make it work. Andy don’t feel bad about that fence netting I hate that stuff as well. We need to replace ours this year but I sure don’t want to.l would like to figure out something else.l retired a few years ago in hopes to farm and sell our products to supplement my retirement income found out it very hard in this area. Everyone says they want our stuff as long as it’s cheaper than Walmart 😂.enjoy the video

I've always got lots of tomatoes off the tomato plants that face the sunrise and it helps to have a black wall behind them but nowadays it gets so hot you don't really need the black wall

You talking about making tomato juice reminded me of when my grandmother use to make it and she knew that I loved it I wish I had a jar of her juice it was so good

Lots of good jobs done. You had some great helpers too. They're learning a lot. Food looks delicious.

We only have about 20 chickens to stay sustainable for our family but it keeps cost down bc we had 40. We did the farmers market thing for one yr selling my jam. It was fun for us to experience and talk to local vendors and farmers but it was so time consuming. I would make jam thru the week and then sell on sat.😂 it was definitely a commitment that took our week days and weekends 😂 Also, i dont know if you all have autumn olive trees but planted they help with soil erosion 😊

If you advertise your eggs on fb and set a pickup day, people from towns and cities will come to your farm and buy five dz at the time. Egg prices in the grocery store has gone through the roof and most people prefer farm raised eggs. I sold over $500 in chickens I hatched out by advertising on fb and got a lot more egg customers.

Andy do you have a forklift attachment for your tractor, if so you can pick up a pallet and get on it to cut the higher branches this has a little lady pick you up a little bit

I've watched a few youtube channels and what they do is after the garden is done they let their chickens and their animals into the garden and let them clean it up

Y'all make me want to get outside and do something, love your videos , looking forward to spring 🌱

Hi Meagan, I love your shirt - Women at Work. I need me one of those. Watching you two work together just reminds me of my husband and I. We’ve been together 45 years and have always worked at chores together just like you and Andy. Blessings to you all.

Loved this one, spontaneous stuff just getting done. That's the way stuff kinda happens in my own garden :) Thanks for sharing. I'm excited for a new growing season too! God bless your beautiful wee family. Love & best wishes from Ireland.

Vent away 😊 chicken life's not all fried eggs and cheese sometimes 😊 appreciate y'all telling the truth and sharing

Thanks for sharing. Fun video

Its a lot of work on the front end, but you could place short stubs of PVC piping in the ground at the correct spacing intervals for the netting. The idea is that you’ll cycle through each area more than once, and it will be easy to put the netting up each subsequent time. The stubs could be short enough for mowing and even capped if needed.

I move my chickens around Spring thru fall. Mid to late December, I leave their coop in 1 spot close to the house and remove the fence to let them free range during the day. I'll add a few pine shavings under their roost to cover their manure every week are so. This helps them stay warm during cold spells and makes it easier to haul feed and water over the winter. Also keeps grass from getting torn up by the tractor during muddy winter time. When it's time to start moving them again, the chickens will scratch up where the manure has piled up, so the grass recovers in a few weeks. My raised beds and in- ground garden spot have fewer weeds and grubs/ants/bugs, because they have been scratching it up and munching all winter. Because it's close to the house, there is less chance for preditors.(as long as I close them up before it gets too dark). It's nice to have a break from moving fence and the charger, and my hens get to find treats all winter. Just an idea fir you. Thanks for what you do. I enjoy your videos very much.

A few predator attacks has been my only problem with our coops. I've thought about running a single strand of hot wire around the outside bottom but it makes me nervous with little little kids of mine running around. That may wait until my kids are a little older. Motion sensor lights seem to help too if I can find some that are reliable.

I sure enjoy how you involve your children .My Dad did the same with us .We as girls can do just about anything as our brothers can do .We raised tobacco and could climb the barn just like they could .Can't be afraid to get dirty ! We built houses just like they could . Memories of days past make you wonder what the new generation is going to do when times get rough, and it sure looks like it's going to get worse before it gets better in a very short time soon ! Love your channel.

Another great video that was really a good one 👍🏼

Great job on the drainage on the hillsides. Pa Mac used a lot of logs and limbs that would take a little longer to rot and turn to compost and would remain in place a little better. You did a good job too on your wash outs just something to think about when you do more for the washouts around there. The little limbs can get stuck in the holes like a beaver would do and hold the debris better when it washes down the hill. I have been enjoying his channel for years and always pick up some great tips too and enjoy his humor a lot. Hope you didn't have any wash outs with the rains, great job getting those limbs down and hope the opportunity comes to get those other limbs and tree down without any damage. Stay safe. Fred.

I would personally love to see how you make your enchiladas if you could make a video next time you cook them that would be great... I love watching all your videos.

I’m thinking the same with my chickens I still sell mine for two dollars a dozen I have a friend that loves them I give some to my kids that are grown make it easy on yourselfs

I somehow missed this video in Feb. It's interesting to listen to your thoughts then knowing what y'all have done since.

That looks awesome. I need to make some chicken enchiladas

Good vidio you guys. I'm looking forward to seeing how your terrain works out

Good he's got it

I know what you're saying about your chickens I had the same thing too many eggs not able to make profit let alone Break Even it was expensive to raise them with the prices going up on feed

Look at the holler homestead how they do chickens

Make some fried squash fritters and you’ll plant the whole garden with them, especially if you put some diced onions in them👍

My coop is stationary, a chain link box, two courses up.. Roof is half solid and half chain link. Been too complaisant, have 26 hens and lucky to get 12 eggs. Time to change out the chickens. 12 Australopes. 10 hens & 2 Roos, They are teenagers in a temporary cage on my patio. Have 20 Lavender orpington chicks, 1-3 weeks old, in the bathtub. The orpingtons will replace the buffs. The australopes will replace the Black Copper Marans. Thats my crazyness for this summer. I'm selling to a middle lady, that goes to the farmers market. Hope to be getting more than a dozen a day.

OMG those enchiladas look GOOOD!!!!!! Hope you can find some time to do a recipe video on those!!! Couldn't find one on the channel list. Water diversion plan lookin REAL good Andy!!

Love y’all’s content we love you guys in Alabama!❤

I was a cool video I always thought if you took a old pop-up camper tore it down to the frame put down wooden slats build your walls off a it. Somewhere I seen a guy use the chicken netting but he put t-post in each corner and I'm pretty sure you some kind of rope to pull tension on the netting to make sure it didn't short out I don't see why you couldn't put PVC pipe over the t-post thank you for the video

I love your place. I'm in East Texas quite a ways from yall. I live on the edge of town. I have 16 raised beds and I have them filled with all kinds of vegetables. I can, dehydrate and freeze-dry my vegetables. It is just me but I share with my neighbors.

We have 6 chickens they lay 1 egg each 42 eggs a week is a lot

Love your channel.

I enjoy your channell. Boy I wish I had a farm.I got 3 acres thats not near my house. And I had back surgery when it snowed and my mom had to hire somebody to come and get me and he had a 4 wheel drive Ford. wow what a week and its still going on! On the good side I got to binge watch all the videos I missed. If you ever have to have back surgery it really changes life. I used to do housing construction and you name it and I've probably done it. So take care of your back It's the only one the good lord gave us. I like the Road you made you done a great job especially having them coverts in it.That should take care of the water. I also like the idea of having raised beds. what kind of compost or is it dirt your putting in? If I'm able I'm going to make me a raised bed.Probably have to get some young boys to help. I just hate being not able to do all the things I need to do. Hopefully I'll be able to do something this year. Pray for me I need all the prayers I can get! Hope you guys have a nice day!

We are new to the channel and are enjoying watching what y’all do! We’re from Mississippi!

Hi!! Spring is in the air here in Alabama daffodils are blooming

Good job Folks😀

If you don’t need egg money just have enough chickens for yourself and friends or helping others. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Lazydog farm puts a small chicken tractor on covercrop plot no til. They stay out there all the time rotating on two plots i think. But they don’t get snow in Georgia. You don’t have to haul fertilizer out there, chickens terminate most of cover crop, very little feed given and he’s had great crops except higher nitrogen plants like corn and doesn’t work on sweet potatoes because they don’t like the nitrogen. Worked great on cole crops, peppers, melons, squash. Just an idea

You have plenty of rock have you considered putting in a french drain....just buried rock with filter fabric or salt hay over them then soil ...the water will run through the rock to a pond or outlet down hill... just a thought a old fashioned dewatering idea used by farmers up here in ny to drain their fields.

I know all about them rocks

I have a permanent pen by the garden with a gate, and use premier 1 to expand their area. I also hate moving it all the time.

Beaucoup..Love it.

I wish you lived closer and 5 is not bad for Farm fresh Eggs raised on paster and you know they are better quality than store bought. I checked and we are about 3 hours drive apart. I Live in kinston NC.

I know it would be a risk, but as a farmer, you take risk all the time! My son stands in the bucket on the tractor and his wife raises the bucket up so he can cut limbs that he cannot reach.

I plant my Taters in the shade. They do great!! Carrots would do good in the shade too. Full sun is not good these days.

Really enjoyed hanging out with y'all on the homestead. Y'all have a beautiful piece of property. That new raised bed is lovely to me.

Man oh man, if my dad would have had that front-end loader attachment for his tractor back in the 70's I'd got to ride my bike and squirrel hunt a lot more. We had wood heat so dragging limbs was part of life. As always, thanks for letting us spend the day with you!

Nice video!

Beans, corn and taters. I like canned taters, try them. You don't have to worry about spoilage and they are always ready. A real plus is potato soup and tater salad.

I hate electric netting too. IN the heat of the summer it's impossible to move. Good idea, just not very practical.

Hey y’all. Yes I hate it too. 1. I think it looks ugly.2. It’s way overpriced because the fad of everyone thinking you need it as made the demand high. 3. Above all, it doesn’t last. Two years three years tops. You spend a couple grand and get no real re-turn in. Meagan couldn’t have put it better. The concept is great, but no where near economic; when you consider the cost and your time. I switched my eggs layers back to the stationary house and run with deep litter. Im going to do like my grandmother did and I used too. That is free range them about hour and a half before roost, or longer if I’m going to be working in the yard and can keep an eye on them. Also bring the green stuff and vegetables to the chickens. For the meat chickens I will still raise them on pasture but exclusively inside mobile chicken tractors and move the tractors. Not sure about turkeys yet. But I know one thing, No more freaking electric poultry netting.

Do everything since you both are young because at my age I couldn't do half of what Megan does.

I don’t know how people keep that netting untangled! I used mine one time, now it sits in a box while I find a new use for it. I think it will become trellis for my garden.

Throw it away? Oh my goodness! I have built shelters out of worse lumber. I never throw away a piece of wood! If it’s rotten I put it in the bottom of a hole before planting trees.

As much as I enjoy chickens, I gave them up as it's too much work dealing with them in WI winters and feed is too expensive; it's cheaper and easier to just buy eggs.

Mobile coop is good for your pasture.

That sounded funny when Andy called that coupe his egg mobil i just thought that was funnynot laughing at you but laughing with yull steve from ore

So much easier to have Chicken house and coop in one spot! Never understood why people wanna keep moving constantly, to much hassle. You'll find yourselves loving chickens again, go permanent structures!

What we call a level spreader.

Travis @lazydogfarm has a chicken tractor that may work.

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❤I am so addicted to your channel! I’m not sure how I found you but I’m so thankful I did. You two are the kind of hard working honest people this world needs much more of. I know I am watching this a few months late due to my being sick but I am wondering if you decided on an herbal garden? 🪴 Meagan, I don’t know how you spell or correctly pronounce your name so forgive me. Your chicken enchiladas look so good. Looks like they have the sour cream mixture over the top. That’s how I love them the best.,it is 3:36 am and I’m hungry…girl, you’re not helping me here! 😂😂 Have a good weekend and be safe and productive. Remember the Lord’s Day. Hugs from East Tennessee. 🙏🏻🙏🏻💜💜