Now let me blow your mind on something God showed me years ago. Tissue cell salts. That's right, tissue cell salts. The most amazing thing that he designed to help heal our bodies of every possible ailment. People are scared of it because it's surrounded and zodiac mystery. I don't even mess with that. But the cell salts themselves have been incredible. It's the same concept of what you're using for the soil except it's for our bodies and we do come from the earth.
Geologist here 🙋🏻♀️ Langbeinite is potassium magnesium sulfate. It is commonly mined in evaporation deposits near sylvite and halite. Sylvite is potassium chloride, commonly used as a salt substitute for people who have high blood pressure. Halite is sodium chloride, or table salt. All 3 minerals are salts. Himalayan salt gets the pink color from the trace minerals like magnesium and potassium, so the langbeinite is essentially colored pink for same/similar reasons.
in a world of increasing insanity, your videos are a refuge of sanity. please never stop, y'all have no idea how important you are. bad times are here and only getting worse, keep your family SAFE and raise them right. - city guy bearing witness to what is utterly rage inducing societal unraveling on a daily basis
It’s a spiritual battle over worship. Specifically the day of rest. Biblically the seventh day sabbath is the fourth commandment KJV. Sabbath is not sun day. Jesus is our example. Not rome. 👍
We garden completely differently. I never have tested my soil. The less I do in the garden the better. I prefer to maximize my laziness. What I do do is to to add grass and weed clippings and leaves to the garden and fruit and nut trees from the rest of my acreage. I use a commercial mower with a blower catcher and hydraulic dump to do this. The only physical work involved is spreading this organic matter once it is dumped where I need it. I have compost piles but never turn them. I start a new one every year and only use the 3rd year pile on the garden. My neighbor dumps her horse manure on a pile on my property. I periodically move this manure to another pile with my back hoe loader until I get it as high as the loader will reach. I then let this big pile set for one or two years in which time it turns to compost and then use it in the garden. The most work I do in the garden is harvesting the food. Since I only eat whole plant food, if I weren't always getting hunger I wouldn't even do that.
Becky, you are so knowledgeable and I appreciate your advice and sharing with us that knowledge! I love your videos and look forward to each one! I love that your family helps you and they are learning so many life skills as they help at your homestead doing multiple chores and tasks! Great parenting!!!
Im 62 years old, Raised in northern Alberta. You remind you of My Mother & Grand Mother. We lived out of our garden. Lots of Work, In the fall it was all hand on deck. Love your Videos. ss&gb
This is great! I'm glad you shared this site, experience, and results! We, too, have gone to our extension office, and it's questionable. Your sunset was amazing! You're truly blessed, and we are because you shared! Thank you! ❤️
I listened to a chemist last night who turned gardener. He said he uses litmus paper and an aquarium PH test kit. I didnt hear him say anything about the amount of nutrients but if you have multiple sites that all need a PH test that might be a more economical and faster way to go. I just heard him last night so havent tried it yet but its way more affordable than sending in one sample after another.
@@crunchyenough1 he was a gust speaker on Hoss tools his name is donnie. It was on there sunday live show. This past sunday. ru-vid.comnup7L_2hi8I?feature=share
I’ve used litmus paper before too. It is cheap, but gives more of an estimation of PH, not an exact look, and like you mentioned doesn’t account for other nutrients.
Love the large garden and the passion for food growing. We have been growing here at our home since we built the house and moved in in 2014. It was hardwoods before and all the topsoil was scrapped off during clearing and construction. We have nasty, poor draining soil here so we built up on top of it for several years with wood chips. (I have a video showing our 9 year progression.) We have never done soil testing. Just yearly added natural ammendments: mushroom compost, wood ash, coffee grounds (hundreds of pounds from starbucks), alfalfa pellets, chicken manure, etc. We have a massive earthworm population in our soil. If the dirt bugs are happy and the plants are growing that tells us the soil is fine. It may be nice to see the scientific numbers, but I wouldnt say it's a necessity for growing food. How did humans survive for thousands of years before testing existed?
Another great video (and a kind reminder to test my soil as I get seedlings going this week!). 💗 We live on a 1/4 acre homestead in mid-MO and hope to settle in AR one day; we just love the Natural State! In case there are any brand-new homesteaders out there, or for folks who might be on a tight budget, some Universities local to you may offer free or "dirt cheap" (sorry, lol) soil testing through their Ag extension--especially if it's a Land Grant or A&M University. I really like this idea of soil testing for particular crops, like blueberries (an Ag extension will not do that, but will just do one basic pH test for you per year, from my experience). I will look into this Rx Test Kit link when I put my new beds in next month. Love your content Becky, and happy to see you and your family grow! Hugs, --Sister Kohrs
We use one of those traditional fertilizer spreaders to spread our wood ash. It was a random let’s just try this and it worked surprisingly well!! Going to grab a soil test! Thanks for the recommendation!
Thanks for this video - so much information and explains everything I need to know about soil testing. I did it once 3 years ago and just assumed nothing changed. Boy, I was really naive! I've been growing my tiny garden in-ground, in grow-bags, in greenstalks, and in plastic pots and tubs. I sure need to think about what I'm doing way more than I did before. The soil is so much better to me - a human, than it was, but I have no idea what it is for a plant. Thank you again for thinking of this for a video!
Your baby bump is so cute. Glad your children are helping with the garden. I can't do anything in the garden right now except winter sowing. I started my peppers already. Tomatoes soonish. Have an awesome weekend.
I can't express how much I hope you find a tree trimming contractor for the electric company to deliver ramial woodchips to you in large amounts (think 400 yards). I've gotten lucky enough twice over the past 5 years and it changed my farmstead. Multiple years later I have unlimited compost / garden mediums. You have the space to put large windrows of chips to sit for years... and it would improve your soil everywhere. I recommend developing an super easy dump spot for arborists and just calling around until you get lucky.
Thank you, I hope so too. We've had the electric company deliver wood chips, but they will only do it if they are in the area and after calling several times I gave up. I guess they aren't in our area much. We have a wood chipper too, but it's just faster and easier to get a big pile from someone with large operation. You've inspired me to try calling around again!
@@TheSeasonalHomestead you have to make it as easy as possible for the guys dumping (large dump site with no risk of getting stuck). Really you need to run into an out of town contractor that doesn’t already have a bunch of connections. I live in a mid sized town that contractors big projects out to major city contractors - I’ve gotten 95% from my friends telling me they saw them cutting and going to talk to them. I usually leave out a cooler of refreshments if they deliver regularly (3-5x a week).
I’m so glad you posted about this. I have been wanting to test an area. We are going to be doing a future Garden In but I wasn’t sure of a good test kit. I ordered before the video was even finished. Lol
This is really helpful, definitely going to check out Rx soil. I love that they give recommendations for amending the soil, because I don't know the first thing about amending soil. We use manure, but thats the extent of my knowledge. Some day I hope to have a large garden like yours and eat from it all year long. *sigh* goals!
Thank you so much, this is a very helpful to me as I am just about to start gardening this year. Thanks for the inspiration and sharing your lovely family on YT. Heavenly Father smiles upon you. 💕
Thank you so much for doing this video. It is so informative. Answered alot of my questions. We have tried to grow a garden for 3 years with no luck. I will be savings this video.
I'm always intrigued by regional soil conditions. Sulfur lowers pH but if you're low on it, you need it. And then have to balance it out with some lime, wood/ash. Just be careful the wood ash doesn't whack out your potassium levels. Such a complicated game!
I thoroughly enjoy your videos! love how you are incorporating help from your children. As they learn and grow, they are developing skill sets that will be so critical in future days.
Thanks for the info! We just ordered our soil kit using your promo code for our 500 sq foot backyard garden! I love watching your videos 😊 and congrats on baby #5 ❤️
I love it when we get another video from you ❤️ I feel that every year you are growing, learning and teaching more and more helpful information. Even though I know when you started the channel back in the spring of 2020 you were already an experienced gardener. That soil test looks nice and easy...user friendly. You look fantastic, by the way! I was told that if you let wood ash get wet and sit outside that the good nutrients would leach into the ground, therefore by the time you add it to your garden they aren't as helpful. Have you ever heard that? Any opinion on it? Love you, girl!!! It's that super exciting time of the year again! I also love reading your blog every week 🤗😁❤️
Yes, I believe that's true with all organic materials, the most benefit comes from keeping it covered. The wood ash will still have an effect though. Just based on what I saw in my other garden, I used a little lime and some wood ash and the soil went from ph 5.2 to a ph of 7.0! A good portion of benefit comes from the organic material breaking down and feeding the biology of the soil as well.
Because there are so many varieties, families, adaptions, biodiversity, etc etc etc that you can do yourself. Unless I were to say LOOKING at buying/gotten land I wouldn't personally be worrying about a specific soil testings, samples, etc and divert my efforts making "the best" outta what I got. I do get it though, you wanna make sure it's not say loaded with leaded paints so I get the point SOMETIMES you do need to run a test regardless.
This was very informative and something I’ve wondered about. Newer gardener here and soil testing didn’t cross my mind because everything is in raised beds that we fill with fresh composted soil. The two years we added fertilizer to those beds but this year we have a small space that we’re going to plant in ground. We are bringing in the same composted soil mix that we used successfully before but since it’s going on top of dirt that roots may be able to reach. The depth in some areas of the space will be 8” but probably not that much in other areas. I’m wondering if we should test this year or wait until next year? Great info, I always enjoy your videos!
Hi Cheryl, if you're gardening with native soil, even with compost over the top, I would definitely test it! Make sure you get a good amount of the actual soil in there. As a very new beginner, I soil tested a garden bed with 6 inches of compost over the top and the sample had so much organic matter and compost that they couldn't do an accurate soil test. It was because there wasn't hardly any actual soil actually in the sample. Rookie mistake, haha.
Thank you for this video! I sent in a soil sample this year and I am struggling to find information on how to use the results. This helps. Next year I might go through Rx soil since the extra cost is worth the specific recommendations you got. I also had to call a month after I sent in my results bc they forgot to email them to me! I assume the wood ash is from your outdoor woodstove?
Your daughter is adorable hanging on that broadfork. You look so cute with that belly. I remember those days. Love your channel. I would like to know more about cover crops if you get a chance. Thanks for everything you share with us. God bless.
I'm cracking up that there are places where the ground isn't frozen and you can do anything in your garden! I haven't seen the ground under the snow in over 4 months and, the moment the ground thaws, we have to start the garden immediately. So my best shot is doing any amendments before the freeze the year prior and hoping it has time to work into the soil after it unfreezes.
I’m making some new beds this year, was planning to till a good amount of compost into the ground, make raised beds, and then do no till from there. Should I test the soil before or after I till in the compost? Thanks!
Farmish is the best we've seen. This keeps it local as well. If we ever do start shipping our produce/meats, we will definitely let our RU-vid family know!!
Boy, am I glad I don't have to deal with all that, what a pain in the butt! I don't have time for all that, I just compost and plant. If I had the wood ash available I'd just add it to my compost (wish I had it- more compost). YMMV Is it possible that it might be a lot of hype from the vendors trying to sell something? It's amazing that every test recommends Nitrogen, what a surprise. What did they do two hundred years ago before all the marketing? And from what I've read back then they had far better gardens than we do now. I wish there was a definitive, accurate source for information, but probably not in my lifetime.
You’re adding nitrogen when you add compost, but in rather low levels. 200 years ago, people used mostly animal manure in the garden for nitrogen. Since horses were the main source of transport, their manure was plentiful. The blood meal recommended in the soil testing is dried animal blood, another source of nitrogen. This would gross many people out but after we butcher our chickens I add the blood mixed with water straight onto our bramble soil. It’s not the dried form of blood they sell in stores but has the same effect. Nitrogen may be lost from the soil by leaching, denitrification and volatilization. It doesn’t stick around long, and it’s incredibly important to plant growth, especially in comparison to other soil elements which is why adding it is recommended each year on a soil test.
@@TheSeasonalHomestead I get all that. My comment about the nitrogen was, like duh, most gardeners know that information without needing the soil test. The test just confirms common knowledge. That is why I use compost (and not just for nitrogen). BTW the nutrients don't leach out of compost like they do fertilizers (no matter what some of the books say). All the goodness is there until the soil has used/eaten all that is available. It is there all year long (or longer) Smart work with the chicken blood, what a great use of resources! After sleeping on my comment about two hundred years ago, I don't know that they really were better. They just needed to make things work because their lives actually depended on it. No Walmart close by "just in case". No poly tunnels, climate controlled greenhouses, etc. I don't know if that makes us better, but given all the modern conveniences we better be at least producing more. Either way, you have a great experiment going and not many are willing, or have the opportunity, to test different things throughout the years on the same garden to see what actually works for them. Might I suggest you do some trials, given the amount of property you have? Take a small section of each space and try a different method to see what the results are. Like not using the massive fork on the last ten feet of a row, but planting the same throughout the row (it will also save you some forking). You could do the same with fertilizers vs just compost, etc. It doesn't add any more time (actually less). Then you will have a full range of your own information to go on. Much more than you can read in books or from tests far away. I appreciate that you put thought into what you are doing, so many RU-vid presenters just copy/paste what they have heard from another uninformed presenter or from some other draconian source without having actual knowledge themself.
How does the cost of Rx soil nutrient test compare to similar service offered by the state university agriculture school or county extension agent? I have lost trust in all things government-related but just curious.🙄
So, had my soil tested and I am confused about one thing. My pH is correct at 6.3 but my iron is seriously high. Everything I read says to lower your pH to lower the iron. I don't want to lower the pH or I won't be growing any veggies. Any ideas on how to fix this? Even the recommendations I got are talking about raising iron with a couple of the products. HELP PLEASE. It also says my calcium level is optimal but I get blossom end rot on everything. Just to add that as a side note. Thanks for all you do.
Did you test at RXSoil? Send them an email with your questions, info@rxsoil.com They are definitely the experts. I will also tell you what I know: That is definitely NOT true that lowering the ph will lower the iron. Iron uptake is less available at a higher PH. So higher PH= lower iron. You could get your soil to 6.5-6.8 which is still in ideal range and it will help with your iron problem. Blossom end rot doesn't always come from low calcium, it's more likely a calcium imbalance and something inhibiting the calcium uptake from the plants. Things like inconsistent watering, too much magnesium, nitrogen, and potassium can throw off the balance. But really the most likely culprit is the watering. It can also made worse by the varieties you grow. For example, San Marzano tomatoes are very prone to blossom end rot, while other varieties aren't. Hope that helps!
@@TheSeasonalHomesteadthank you. I even had blossom end rot on watermelon and squash not just tomatoes. I gotta figure this out or I will never be able to grow enough for my family.
Hi Julia! As of today, the collected soil has must be from the US. We are almost finished with the Canadian version of our test offerings, and hope to have everything ready this April. If you'd like to send us a message or email, we'd be happy to notify you as soon as it is ready for order!
Please let us know how your blueberries do. I really want blueberries; but, I have failed three times. Maybe my plants were too small. Maybe the soil was not good. Maybe I didn’t water enough. Maybe all of these plus more failures. SMH
Yes i killed blueberries 3 times too. I finally figured out our soil isn't anywhere near the right ph. I have had success growing in pots and putting potting mix for azaleas or camelias in the pots as they also have similar ph requirements. Perhaps try this and have another go. Gardening is a big experiment.
Not yet… but the blueberry plants are still small and we haven’t had many for them to eat. At our last home we had blueberries and the birds did get them so had to use bird netting. I’m hoping we don’t have to do that again it was a pain!
No, they don’t and for a good reason. Nitrogen moves very quickly through the soil, and is washed away with each rain or converted to a gas. By the time you collect a soil sample, send, and get it analyzed, the level of nitrogen has changed so much that what ever the lab test tells you is meaningless. Instead, they do give recommendations of how much nitrogen fertilizer to add based based on what crop is being grown, garden size, and soil organic matter.
love your channel! I’ve watched almost every video, I was curious if you have tried using weeds to create a fertilizer? Different common weeds like nettles, dock and dandelion have minerals in them that when soaked in water for 6 months can be made into free soil amendments. I know you look to cut costs as much as possible, and we all know our gardens have weeds. Love you guys! Here’s the video I watched that explains it ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-c68N0vPJb0o.html
