Totally agreed. I came across their videos on their transitioning to homesteading two weeks ago. No idea with their sailing adventure videos lol. I'm sticking with this.
We tried doing five vids a month for all of 2022 and it almost killed us😂😅 we do everything in house so once a week is our max. It means alot to us that u like them
We rented a garden. And we put a bunch of compost and dirt in the garden bed. And then I covered it with a bunch of mulch. For a while after that I though "what did I do, I killed everything and nothing is growing". Then, at some point the plants started pushing through the mulch. A few weeks later that garden was growing non stop. Pretty much a harvest every few days. I think it was mostly mint. It was growing strong until the City came and took the garden back, and put a big cement train station in its place. Leave it to city planners to cement and pave over everything. One of the other gardeners (with two bright green thumbs) told me the wisest think I heard about gardening. "It is a process.There is a process of the plants breaking down into nutrients, and there is a proccess of the plants growing. The garden is always in various stages between those two."
I turned on my Tablet this morning and the first pop up was you pair. As a result, it's gonna be a great day. Property is starting to look like a plantation. ❤❤❤❤
It's looking good. Getting a tractor with a bucket and bushhog is a must. A small 4x4 tractor would be all you need. Without the tractor you will spend all your time trying to keep the area from growing up.
"The jungle will heal itself", you will soon be finding out just how quickly that happens! As long as you live there your primary task (once your house and infrastructure are completed) will be trying to stop the jungle from claiming your land back.
Matt, Get you a used 55 gallon drum; and burn your wood waste in it. After burning take the ache and layer them over your garden patch. Then work it in with a rack. This will add potassium to your soil; an ingredient in fertilizer. Also, you have chickens; scrape up the chicken crap and add it to the soil in the same manner as the ash. This will add nitrogen another component of fertilizer. You have all that you need to fertilize your garden patch. The way my mother taught me to plant is as follows. Always, add three seeds to each hole: one for the earth, one to harvest, and one for the LORD. The best on y'all's new venture. Cheers and Blue Skies. Faithfully, James
As someone who has built a house in a jungle you need to get loads of gravel on your road as soon as possible. you will need to be putting it down a few time over the next few years. other wise when it rains you won't be able to do any work. it will be to muddy. I have the same red soil and as someone from Canada, it will be slippery than ice. Also if the road is a hill you need to crown the road so that the rain water doesn't run down the road but off to the side. this will stop large ruts from forming.
I'm not sure what country they are in but here in Costa Rica there is not the rock like we can get in north america. they mine the rocks out of the rivers. We have to take care of the road ourselves. we didn't use big rock but it is important direct the water to stop erosion. we lined the road with cement half pipes. that makes all the difference.
I just had my land stolen in Belize. A year of trauma so I’m watching you guys with a tad of sadness as your journey was stolen from me. To make matters worse I hit the thief in a self defence situation and I ended up in jail then was brutally treated by the police. So, well done you two!
Absolutely the right move in hiring someone with the equipment to do that clearing. Not that Larry Laminate couldn’t do it but your time is better utilized with planning the layout. You can’t plan when your stuck in the weeds.
That red soil would be perfect for potatoes and carrots! Getting chicken Hatch rate over 50% is a success! I have 3 of 9 tweeting in my office right now.
Goats eat anything and you can rent them out to clear out properties like yours. We had a really famous case of renting goats here. There was this very historic cemetery that got over ran by poison ivy and other really hard to get rid of pesky plant. They didn't want to go through and rip out all the old rose bushes or trees and such. So they rented goats and they ate their way into clearing everything they wanted gone. It worked like a charm and the goats got to eat tons oh stuff.
You need to collect the guavas and make some jelly, you can Google to find out how to do it. You also need to cut the dry leaves from the banana trees. Whenever the banana is full you need to cut the entire tree down, don't cut off the fruit and leave the tree standing. The almond can be eaten when they are ripe, they will turn yellow or redistributed when ripe.
When you guys stopped sailing, i thought i would lose interest. I now enjoy your vids even more much to my surprise. Your doing what I wish I could. Keep on keeping on!!
Put a tractor/backhoe on your wish list. As your farm grows you will realize how practical and useful the equipment will be. Only have five acres in central New York but I use it daily for one chore or another. 👍
First he needs a professional to do most of the clearing. Tractors are really useful but also expensive. I also use mine daily, but he is not ready for one!
Soil conservation will pay big rewards going forward. Nothing worse than clearing out a section and have it wash away. A rolling chicken coop will make life easier in the the long run for you and the chickens.
Oh my oh my what glorious rich land you have!❤❤ This is getting exciting!! The baby chicks are too adorable❤ She's a good mama! And the kittens are hilarious! So stinking cute! You two are in paradise❤❤
more progress each week . the most important thing is you're having fun. Little by little , you'll get it done. Love the baby chicks. I guess the hardest thing with chickens is keeping the varmits away.
We always put a string down the middle of where we plant the seeds tied to a piece of rebar or stick on both ends. This year I also labeled what was planted at end of row with the seed packet.
I’m so excited about your little jungle, paradise, and all the things you are doing to transform it into a garden spot at home. I love all the good advice that people are giving you like get a tractor. You need some goats plant clover in your field to stop erosion and be sure to do drainage pipes around your house when you build.
Clearing limits are the most important task to keep all you can and see what you want to see. If the “pasture” drains well and doesn’t stay under water for weeks at a time, plant a clover. Just about any clover will spread fast, choke out weeds, and work to keep erosion to a minimum. The homestead is looking good. Bamboo, bamboo, bamboo.
Good on you for respecting the land and integrating instead of conquering. Respect! We have a sailboat in Puerto Real and look forward to our return in a month. It would be awesome to run into you! If you ever see S/V Juwannago PLEASE come say hi!
Your wife’s choice of music truly makes the videos seem so warm and heartfelt. All part of the little things that make a great RU-vidr stand out , great drone shots, great commentary , fab music in background and high quality resolution. All of this with your two personalities draw the viewer in. An interesting adventure your life has taken you on Kudos from canada
The thing that gives me hope you may survive this new chapter of your life is your ability to get along and learn from the locals. Will be interesting to see the learning process along the way.
Family friends successfully built on 5 acres of swampy land in rainy Louisiana. Their land was normally dry, but was part of a 100-year floodplain. It withstood 4' of fast-moving flood water from Hurricane Katrina. Here's what they did: - Graded up the center. Not much, but more than 1% and less than 5%. They also sloped it to the area's natural drainage. - Installed 5 French drains beneath the house and radiating away from the house, as well as two open storm culverts. - Pounded 16 pilings into the dirt and mud beneath their rather large, 3,600 square foot single story house: 4 at corners, 8 along the edges (2 at each side), and 4 in a center square. If you drew horizontal and vertical lines over the pilings, you'd have a Tic-Tac-Toe grid with a piling at each intersection. Note: I do not know whether they used creosote telephone poles (common back then), concrete-filled, very low-rust steel pipe (which I heard him mention one time), or they just drilled deep holes and filled it with concrete. The point is, they used pilings. - The tops of the pilings extended 5' above the ground, which is 1' higher than than all floods in recorded history for that area. - French drains were brought into the area beneath where the home would sit atop the pilings. - About a foot of pea gravel was placed around the pilings. - Rust-proofed steal I-beams rested on top of and were firmly attached to the pilings. - The home was built on top of and firmly attached to the I-beams. Like I said, it withstood Hurricane Katrina, both winds and flooding. Hey! Good luck with the land clearing and building!
Kristan, I don’t know if it’s because you’re not living in a washing machine anymore but this was by far your best editing in YEARS! Pat yourself on the back, I know how much time it takes to do this and you got skills woman…congrats on the new property. You have your own lil slice of paradise there AND still have the boat.
Hey Matt and Kristen 👋. Your little piece of heaven on earth is really shaping up. Quite a bit done since last week. Thanks for sharing. Y'all take care, be safe. See ya next week.
I was unsure at first if I’d like the transition from sailing to this homesteading. But after watching the last few episodes, I realized I do like this new material
Great progress! Somehow I just can't shake the idea of getting Pete Nelson of Treehouse Masters there but then hurricane season came to mind, never mind.
Starting your garden in starter pots makes everything easier, especially with the small scale that you are doing it on. That way you KNOW what you are planting. Than plant them when 3-5 inches tall chicken wire cage around to protect them from animals wanting to eat them. Hope this helps. As Always, May God Bless you and yours! 😇
I hired a forestry mulcher to clear 3 acres in the center of my 7 acres... Only took one day. Love what yall are doing with your land. Can't wait to see the house build. I'm planning to use 40 ft shipping containers x3.
Good decision on hiring a clearing machine. Don't forget to get a good plat of your property, preferably with a topo so you can make a good decision on home placement. Nothing like spending a little for professional expertise. It'll prevent regrets later. Y'all are so kind...loving animals.
No way! Those were Bristle nose Plecos in the stream! I breed them here in Michigan. I didn't realize they were in such fast moving water.... I guess I could give them more flow in their tanks
Tip for starting on new ground. Make your bed rows abs let them sit for about 2 weeks. Then use a flame torch and torch everything growing then plant your rows without disturbing the soil. This will reduce your weed competition. Also learn to plant in 1/4’s or 1/3’s about 10 -14 days apart to keep from getting an over whelming bounty then having nothing.
One way to weed the garden is to water and grow before planting. Kill off everything that pops up and then plant. Have the tractor dude build a ton of crown in the driveway and culvert any low spots You need a all weather road. You will need him for the leach lines and septic tank. Start to feed all them new chickens chick starter and fresh water. Build a chicken tractor and move it a few times a week.
Remember if you clear most of everything,it’s going to grow back very fast. Careful of exotic biting bugs . Snakes etc . I do miss your sailing adventures .
Great entertainment for me! Being a retired farmer, you are doing just fine. I observe what comes up in the row as it grows. Out side the row would be something else. Won’t be long and you will know. Love your videos!
Can’t wait to meet you guys !! God bless y’all on your journey on our beautiful island !! Thank you for truly getting the real island experience instead of the regular city life !!! Nothing is better then EL Campo ! La Vida En El Campo Es Mas Bonita ! 🙏🏽❤️🔥🇵🇷
Good move having some one who knows the terrain come and clear it for you. Clearing land with a backhoe is tricky and that fellow did a nice job. Working soft, muddy land is a challenge. Congrats on new chicks and I love kittens. Glad princess bear is doing well. Remember Matt, having grazing animals means lots of fencing so think hard on that one. They can be a real pain.
If you get goats, they will clear the land very quickly. You would have to section off the goat pasture with a fence and rotate their grazing area. Also, free-range chickens eat tons on insects and vegetation. That's how Disney keeps the mosquitoes in check without pesticides.
Goats only eat what they want not what you want, they need shelter and feed, hay, feet trimming, worming, minerals, and protection from vermin, please make sure about proper care, yes half starved goats will clear some brush but be ready for them to escape and eat your garden.
@jpennturner I have a piece of property in upstate New York. I allow my neighbor to let his goats graze on my property and I'm here to tell you there's not much a goat won't eat. Obviously you have to care for them but much of that work you can learn yourself. We also offset much of the other costs by selling goat milk and baby goats. Matt wants to be a homesteader and he seems like the kind of guy that would embrace the process and goats and cows are great farm animals to start with.
All those vines and various underbrush plants and trees grow back like crazy with so much rain in that area. You'll be battling it for many years to come. Should ask the man with the tractor to come back and reclear every couple of weeks.
I did wander about the mosquito's . Great news to hear the bats are eating them all . I'm really excited to see where you take us with this guys. Good Luck.
You have a jungle of "seed bank" in that soil. Look up solarizing the garden plot with black plastic. Then replant once you have the ground prepared. Mulch heavily
Good for you - I would be considering also but I'm 77 which is old for a project like this. 70 maybe in a stretch. After all it is the journey not the destination!@@grumpyjohntxredneckrc6346
