HomesteadOnAPrayer

Every gardener needs to decide whether to start their plants from seed or purchase started transplants. I start most of my vegetables from seed, and today I'm sharing the reasons why. I'll also share what I choose not to start from seed. If you're not sure what to grow, here are my go-to vegetable varieties for reliable harvest and amazing flavor: https://youtu.be/KqGlkJBJuL0 If it's time to start seeds now in your area, you can watch my seed starting 101 video from last year here: https://youtu.be/FnmpRB46Odo Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/

I'm sharing my Azure Standard haul for the month of January, 2024. I purchase a lot of my healthy and organic food through Azure Standard, and share my grocery trip with you so you can get ideas about what to order. If you're new to Azure Standard, you can sign up here (my channel will receive a small referral bonus if you sign up through this link - thank you for supporting my channel at no additional cost to you!): https://www.azurestandard.com/?a_aid=b5ef14ce4f Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/

My new seeds for the 2024 garden season are here! Today I'm sharing my seed hauls from three companies - Baker Creek, Pinetree Seeds, and Totally Tomatoes. I'll show you what I purchased, and share a little about my plans for these vegetables (and a few flowers). If you missed my first seed haul of 2024 (MIgardener seeds) you can catch it here: https://youtu.be/T9EKZbC9vgA I recently shared my must-grow veggie varieties - you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/KqGlkJBJuL0 Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/

Winter sowing seeds is so easy, and can save you lots of growing space in your house! Winter sown seedlings are often stronger, and as a bonus, you don't have to harden them off. Let's experiment by planting lots of seeds, both cool weather vegetables and flowers. We made potting soil together last year - you can watch here: https://youtu.be/0H82Z1qQ4Jw Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/

Deciding what plants to grow is one of the most important decisions the home vegetable gardener needs to make. Today I'm sharing my tried-and-true favorite varieties! These varieties are delicious, reliable, and prolific. I'll also share my picks for flowers to use as companion plants in the vegetable garden. For complete reviews of the tomatoes I've grown, you can watch here: 2023 varieties: https://youtu.be/XQ4INBgffD8 2022 varieties: https://youtu.be/G_PUP5_rMUU You can find my review of 2023 pepper varieties here: https://youtu.be/bNLfWGj7qCE Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/

Today we'll be baking one of my family's favorite cookie recipes - snickerdoodles! A couple weeks ago, we made some vanilla sugar together, and this snickerdoodle recipe is the perfect way to test out that vanilla sugar. Ingredients (we doubled this recipe in the video): 1/2 c. butter, softened 3/4 c. sugar 1 egg 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1 1/2 c. all purpose flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/4 tsp. salt 1-to-1 ratio of cinnamon to sugar (we used vanilla sugar, but regular works great too) for rolling cookies in We made this vanilla sugar (along with other delicious vanilla goodies) together here: https://youtu.be/t2lNyxA8OZE Thank you to Beater Blade for sending me this attachment to try! If you're interested in checking out Beater Blade for yourself, you can get one here: https://www.beaterblade.com/ Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/

Planning for the 2024 garden is in full swing, and my first seed order is here! Let's unbox my MIgardener seed haul together and dream about spring! Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com

Our little "homestead in progress" has grown in the last year. 2023 was a year of big changes for us as we work on building our homestead. Join me for a look back on the past year and all that we've learned and accomplished this year. We first introduced Belle in this video: https://youtu.be/2SCgE0FKUBw We first talked about expanding the garden, and starting the "side yard" garden, in this video: https://youtu.be/WDLlBpYXAE4 You can see how we picked up cattle panels for our new garden without a truck here: https://youtu.be/0TbULGnI-Yc We introduced our new chicks here: https://youtu.be/KBgIBCR7slA Watch our new garden build, start to finish, here: https://youtu.be/qHZBBp31GBQ Follow our garden as it grew over the 2023 garden season with this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7uzar6ExqEVECpC_3QcscWN7Ni2b2YwJ Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com

My big order of vanilla beans just arrived, and it's time to make everything vanilla! Hang out in my kitchen as we make vanilla extract, vanilla bean paste, and vanilla sugar. I'll show you how I get the most out of my vanilla beans, and all the delicious ways to use vanilla! For amazing quality, price, and selection of gourmet vanilla beans, join the Indri Vanilla Bean co-op here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/848812811970139 Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com

Make our Christmas breakfast tradition with me - delicious sourdough cinnamon rolls! I love to make these for Christmas morning because I do all the work the day before, and just pop them in the oven on Christmas morning for a decadent and festive breakfast recipe. These would be wonderful to make all year for a special brunch or dessert as well. You can find the original recipe here: https://www.baking-sense.com/2019/02/12/sourdough-cinnamon-buns/ Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com

Looking for the perfect easy dessert that really hits the spot? Today I'm making my go-to, no-fail cheesecake recipe! We're going to make a delicious and easy strawberry sauce to top it with. Come hang out in my kitchen and I'll share the recipe with you as we bake this scrumptious cheesecake together! It looks like the exact version of my cookbook is out of print, but you can possibly find a used copy by searching for the 2002 edition of the Better Homes and Garden cookbook. Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com

I'm sharing my Azure Standard haul for the month of December, 2023. I purchase a lot of my healthy and organic food through Azure Standard, and share my grocery trip with you so you can get ideas about what to order. If you're new to Azure Standard, you can sign up here (my channel will receive a small referral bonus if you sign up through this link - thank you for supporting my channel at no additional cost to you!): https://www.azurestandard.com/?a_aid=b5ef14ce4f Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/

Let's talk peppers! Today I'll be sharing my experiences with the peppers that I grew in my 2023 vegetable garden. We'll talk about my favorite varieties, and which didn't do so well, and also what I'm planning to grow next year. My tomato variety reviews: 2023: https://youtu.be/XQ4INBgffD8 2022: https://youtu.be/G_PUP5_rMUU Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/

Soup is a classic warming comfort food to enjoy when the weather is cold and dreary. We love to eat soup all winter! Today I'm sharing 5 of my family's favorite soup recipes - come hang out with me in the kitchen as we cook up 5 delicious and easy soups together! My Betty Crocker cookbook is the 10th edition. The new one available now is the 13th edition, so there may be some changes to the version that I have - you can find it here: https://amzn.to/49KyIpr Recipe links: Tomato tortellini soup: https://www.cookingclassy.com/fresh-spinach-tomato-garlic-tortellini-soup/ Roasted cauliflower white cheddar soup: https://www.cookingclassy.com/roasted-cauliflower-white-cheddar-soup-homemade-bread-bowls/ Italian sausage soup: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/12942/italian-sausage-soup/ Chicken tortilla soup (I estimate ingredient amounts - add to taste): 1 jar salsa cooked, shredded chicken 1 can cannellini beans 3 cups chicken broth frozen corn 1 tbsp (+/-) ground cumin 1 tsp (+/-) chili powder Garnish with grated cheese, chopped scallions/green onions, sour cream, tortilla chips) (Links may be affiliate links - this means that my channel may earn a small commission if you purchase through these links. This is a great way to support my channel at no additional cost to you!)

It's getting cold, and that means it's time to winterize the chicken run! One of the biggest steps we take to make sure our chickens are happy and healthy all winter is to wrap our chicken run with plastic. This keeps out wind and snow, and helps the chickens maintain their warmth. To see how I winterized our chicken run last year, you can watch here: https://youtu.be/jzrlUA_l2ss This is the heated chicken waterer we use: https://amzn.to/46qusZh Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/

Let's prepare for cold and flu season now! Today I'm making both a tincture and a glycerite with my favorite blend of herbs for supporting someone dealing with a fever or viral infection. You can watch my recent video of my favorite herbalism books here: https://youtu.be/gGWhTJjMUG0 If you missed the video of our herbal medicine kitchen day, you can catch it here: https://youtu.be/5-QA_o9Ytus The recipe and instructions I'm using today is from this book (highly recommended for anyone interested in herbal medicine): https://amzn.to/46jOp3W This is the glycerin I used in this video: https://amzn.to/3QCaIMw (Some links may be affiliate links. This means that my channel could earn a small commission if you purchase through this link. This is a great way to support my channel at no additional cost to you - thank you!) Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/

Sourdough bread is delicious, but baking with sourdough can lead to having lots of sourdough starter to discard. Instead of wasting that starter, let's use it to bake some delicious bread! You can flavor this bread in many ways, or just leave it plain, but today we'll be adding some rosemary and parmesan cheese to make this bread extra special. You can find the original recipe here: https://www.pantrymama.com/the-easiest-sourdough-discard-bread-youll-ever-make/ Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/

Cooking the Thanksgiving meal can be stressful! Let's lower the stress by making our cranberry sauce ahead of time with this easy canning recipe. We'll be making traditional plain cranberry sauce, and also trying out an orange-cranberry variation. You can make this recipe as jellied, whole berry, or crushed cranberry sauce. Link to the original recipe: https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_02/cran_sauce.html Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/

I'm sharing my Azure Standard haul for the month of November, 2023. I purchase a lot of my healthy and organic food through Azure Standard, and share my grocery trip with you so you can get ideas about what to order. If you're new to Azure Standard, you can sign up here (my channel will receive a small referral bonus if you sign up through this link - thank you for supporting my channel at no additional cost to you!): https://www.azurestandard.com/?a_aid=b5ef14ce4f Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/

Join me in the kitchen as we create some herbal remedies to help us stay healthy this winter! Today we'll be making three of my favorite herbal recipes that are great for helping us get through cold and flu season. We'll be making elderberry syrup, fire cider, and my personal favorite - elderberry calendula cold an flu elixir (basically a grown-up elderberry syrup). Come hang out as we chat about some of my favorite herbs! Start-to-finish elderberry syrup video: https://youtu.be/KFmJhyRRNgo Start-to-finish fire cider video: https://youtu.be/zMeRv0oez0U Start-to-finish elderberry calendula elixir video: https://youtu.be/o_cpKcj2ZjY Find the original recipe for the elderberry calendula elixir here: https://theherbalacademy.com/elderberry-calendula-cold-and-flu-elixir/ Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/

Frost is coming, and it's time to say goodbye to the 2023 summer garden. Let's enjoy one last big harvest and a walk through the garden before the frost comes. If you missed my seed saving video, you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/uV3XwvwUPPo Watch the 2023 garden as it grows with this garden tour playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7uzar6ExqEVECpC_3QcscWN7Ni2b2YwJ Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/

Dessert can be easy and delicious! These luscious quick bread recipes make a decadent brunch or a tasty dessert. We made 5 easy sheet pan dinners together a few weeks ago, so now it's time to make 5 easy desserts! If you missed the 5 easy sheet pan dinner video, you can catch it here: https://youtu.be/FZ-s5OkuHEI You can find all the recipes we made here: Lemon loaf: https://www.averiecooks.com/best-lemon-loaf-better-starbucks-copycat/ Apple fritter bread: https://homeiswheretheboatis.net/2020/02/19/cinnamon-swirl-apple-fritter-bread/ Cinnamon swirl banana bread: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/cinnamon-swirl-banana-bread/ Double chocolate zucchini bread: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/double-chocolate-zucchini-bread/ Strawberry bread: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/glazed-strawberry-bread/

Come hang out with me in the garden, and I'll share all my tips for growing an abundant garlic harvest! Here in Connecticut, fall is the best time to plant garlic. Today we're going to plant two varieties of garlic. These will be ready to harvest next summer. I'm planting my tried and true variety (German white) and also planting a new variety for the first time (elephant garlic). Come hang out with me in the garden, and I'll share all my tips for growing an abundant garlic harvest! You can see this summer's garlic harvest here: https://youtu.be/mWmSisq08Ss For more info on garlic scapes (and what to do with them!) you can watch this video from last summer: https://youtu.be/FeQ4W8Opx5o Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/

Frost is coming soon, so it's time to harvest the sweet potatoes! Connecticut doesn't have the long hot summers that sweet potatoes love, but it's still possible to get a nice harvest. Today I'm harvesting sweet potatoes from one raised bed - come hang out with me in the garden to see what we get! You can watch last year's sweet potato harvest here: https://youtu.be/CeLfUWRJBlM Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com

I'm sharing my Azure Standard haul for the month of October, 2023. I purchase a lot of my healthy and organic food through Azure Standard, and share my grocery trip with you so you can get ideas about what to order. If you're new to Azure Standard, you can sign up here (my channel will receive a small referral bonus if you sign up through this link - thank you for supporting my channel at no additional cost to you!): https://www.azurestandard.com/?a_aid=b5ef14ce4f Music by Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/