Eat now

0:00Guys, my garden is a complete disaster,

0:04but there's a reason for that. I'm

0:05actually letting it go to pot on

0:07purpose. So, I'm going to be taking you

0:09today to all three of my gardens and

0:11showing you the complete disasters that

0:13that is and the secret to why I'm

0:16actually leaving it look like this. So,

0:18let's go. Hey guys. So, the garden has

0:22completely changed jobs. I'm not only

0:25harvesting this year's produce, I'm

0:27actually going to be seed saving for

0:30next year. So, the garden is going to

0:33pot on purpose because I'm going to go

0:36around and seed save everything so that

0:38the garden is actually producing all

0:40ready for next year. Mindblowing, right?

0:44So, we're going to go around to all the

0:46all the stuff that's growing and show

0:47exactly how to seed safe because I need

0:50to reiterate this. This garden is not

0:52only producing for this year's amazing

0:55abundance, but it's actually producing

0:57already for next year. This is how

1:00you're going to get two years worth of

1:01food because it's not only this year, we

1:04are seed saving for next year. That is

1:07money in the bank. And I'm going to

1:10explain that to all of three gardens.

1:12So, let's go. So, let's give us some

1:15context about what I mean by money in

1:17the bank. Money in the bank. It's every

1:19time you learn a skill, it's money in

1:21the bank. I'm gonna specifically show

1:23you about my famous purple potted pole

1:24beans and how that has been money in the

1:27bank over and over, which is really

1:29exciting. So, every time you learn how

1:30to seed save and you plant next year's

1:33garden because it's already in this year

1:34garden, money in the bank. And that's

1:36what is so exciting. And that's what I

1:38really want to show you guys today

1:40because that is your right to be able to

1:43seed save. Nobody can shut an aisle down

1:46on you if you know how to seed save and

1:48if you seed save from last year. You can

1:51plant next year's garden. That's what is

1:52so exciting. So behind me, what we're

1:55looking at here specifically is part of

1:57my chaos garden. This is my hillbilly

1:59fencing between the the back garden and

2:02the chaos garden. The chaos garden is

2:04really fun where you literally just take

2:06all your old seeds and throw the stuff

2:08out and you just let it go chaotic. You

2:10don't go in there and weed it. You don't

2:12go in there and worry about watering.

2:13You don't do nothing. you actually get

2:15to see how really old seeds can still

2:17perform and you can find the ones that

2:19really work for your environment because

2:21they're the ones that are going to

2:22perform in um really really poor

2:24conditions, right? I didn't take care of

2:26it at all. So, we've got along this line

2:28here. I did plant high pumpkins. So,

2:31they have grown over into there. We

2:33planted a whole bunch of sunflowers and

2:34tomatoes and lettuce and mushrooms from

2:39last year are in there. We've got all

2:41kinds of stuff, different kinds of

2:43squashes, all kinds of I don't even know

2:45what's in there to be honest because

2:46it's a complete disaster. That's why

2:48it's called the chaos garden on purpose.

2:50I can't even get in there because

2:51there's so much stuff in there, all the

2:52vines and everything like that and weeds

2:54and everything back. But I know because

2:56I've done this for several years that

2:58when the fall really hits and we get a

3:00frost and everything dies back, it's

3:02like going on a treasure hunt. That is

3:05so fun. So some of the stuff that we are

3:07able to eat and whatever is extra can go

3:09to the animals. And that's the biggest

3:11part of why I do it. Two reasons

3:13actually. We can use up old seeds and

3:16let the kids just have a fun time.

3:17Instead of strategically trying to place

3:19everything anywhere, we just go in there

3:21and scatter and stomp on it and say,

3:22"Good luck. We'll see you in the fall."

3:24Second, everything gets to be fed then

3:26to the animals and that helps offset the

3:29costs of all the feed that you have to

3:31buy, especially organic feed. Oh, check

3:34mark. Money in the bank. Okay, we're

3:36back here in the famous purple potted

3:38pole beans. And I'm going to explain how

3:40this is money in the bank. Because one

3:42seed grown vertically because they're

3:44pole beans will be planted down there

3:46and then be very prolific. It'll grow up

3:48here. It'll wrap around, maybe grow back

3:49down, maybe go to this side. It will

3:51produce a ton of different beans for me

3:54that then I can then preserve. So when

3:57God provides, I'm going to preserve.

3:59That is money in the bank for that

4:01reason. Then beans are such a great way

4:04to seed save from these specific seeds

4:07right here. I bought back in 2014.

4:12You do the math how many years ago that

4:14was, right? 2014. I have never bought

4:16any more purple potted pole bean seeds

4:18because I learned how to seed save beans

4:21long ago. And I have all of this every

4:25single year. I have also given away a

4:28boatload of purple potted pole beans to

4:30Northern Michigan to the events I've

4:32spoke at to anybody who stops by the

4:34house who has a garden tour. All my

4:36friends, you literally cannot walk away

4:38without me giving you my purple beans.

4:40They are all over the place and everyone

4:42absolutely loves them. But one, they're

4:43cool. They're purple, right? Two, they

4:46are stringless and they have a really

4:48great taste to them. So these right now

4:50are looking super super ugly. I'm going

4:53to pull this one even though it's not

4:55ready to be seed safe from. But look at

4:57this. It's not It's not You want to You

5:01want to have something that's a little

5:02bit bigger than this guy right here.

5:04Look at there's no seeds inside this

5:06one. Look at what's inside of here.

5:08These seeds are right now maturing

5:10inside of here. And this is exactly how

5:12you seed save from. These are not ready

5:14yet. What I want to see, look at that.

5:16That's all the seeds right in there.

5:18What I want to do, and why this is ugly

5:20looking, and why this is a disaster

5:22looking, is I'm purposely leaving these

5:24all on here to dry out. They're going to

5:27become brown and brittle, and I'm going

5:29to eventually pull them off at some

5:30point. I'm not in a hurry, which is

5:32amazing. Then I can take my time with so

5:34many other things that are going on,

5:36right? Busy life. And then I will seed

5:38save these guys just like this. You can

5:40literally just save them in the pod like

5:42this, let them completely dry out, and

5:44then come back and plant them the next

5:46year. And you will never have to buy

5:49beans again.

5:52Isn't that amazing? I am in my jungle of

5:55brascas. Literally, they are is, you

5:57know, almost as tall as me. I absolutely

5:59love them. People always comment how big

6:01they are. I'm going to say it's just a

6:03lot of poop. A lot of animal poop, a lot

6:05of fertilizer, a lot of nitrogen. It

6:07makes things grow, but you also want to

6:09make sure that you don't just have a lot

6:10of green leaves. So, you're actually

6:11getting some of the stuff that you can

6:13eat. So, there's a fine balance. But

6:15animal poop is the key. Absolutely. So

6:17that's money in the bank as well. This

6:19all these right here that are doing this

6:21right here, I don't seed save from them.

6:24Now you could, but they easily

6:25cross-pollinate with your other brasa um

6:28your other brasa seeds and stuff like

6:29that. But money in the bank is this is a

6:32broccoli

6:33and in the you always get that broccoli

6:35head that's you know could be this size,

6:36this size. They come in different sizes.

6:39That when you originally cut off, you're

6:41like thinking my plant's done. Oh no,

6:43I'm done. and then you pull it out and

6:44you give it to you compost it or

6:46whatever. But that's not true. People,

6:48look at all these. These are called

6:50broccoli sprouts. I call them little

6:52dippers because they are perfect coming

6:55out here, grabbing them, dipping them in

6:58your favorite branch or whatever you

6:59want or just eat them plain, which is

7:00amazing, right? So, this is extra stuff

7:04besides that one head. That is another

7:07reason why I let this stuff go to crazy

7:10chaot. Okay. All right. This right here,

7:12you guys, this was a cabbage head that I

7:15already picked off a nice, beautiful, I

7:18think it's Verona D Verona that I really

7:20enjoy. Look what's coming back because I

7:23left it here to look all ugly. Little

7:25baby cabbages that I can go ahead and

7:28still harvest from and make some amazing

7:31type of sloth for maybe fish or co-law

7:35if I can get enough. That right there is

7:37pretty cool. So, even if your cabbages

7:40um you planted that one and you

7:42harvested that one, leave them there and

7:44it's going to keep giving you more keep

7:46giving you more food. Guys, I want to

7:50read.

7:53This garden is looking pretty ugly, am I

7:56right? It's lot all the potatoes have

7:58died back. The sunflower heads have

8:00drooped over. Everything has gone

8:02literally to pot. This is my front

8:04garden which gets full sun as you can

8:06tell. We absolutely love this garden.

8:08It's large. It's in charge.

8:11But I want to remind everybody that not

8:13all gardens need to be pretty. Not all

8:16gardens need to be perfectly manicured

8:19because here in the northern Michigan

8:23above the 45th parallel, we have a very

8:25very short window frame to get stuff

8:28done. We have the first frost that

8:30happens about the first week of June,

8:32maybe in the uh end of May. Generally

8:34speaking, every year is a little bit

8:35different. Then we have something that

8:37usually happens in the beginning of

8:38September. Um, so you have three months

8:41to jam-pack all your food in. But here's

8:45the thing. I do that every single year

8:49for many years. So I know that you can

8:52do it as well. Here is some sad looking

8:56sunflower, right? I swear it's a

8:57sunflower. It is already did this

8:59beautiful bloom, which I always love to

9:01see. But I'm leaving them here on

9:04purpose just like I do I'm doing with a

9:06lot of other stuff because this will

9:08this has a lot of seeds. They're not

9:09dried out yet. But what I like to do is

9:11go ahead and cut these parts off when

9:13this starts to get a little more dry

9:15underneath here. And then I will let

9:17them dry out and I will give these to

9:18the chickens throughout the winter for

9:20some food, for some scratching, for some

9:22fun because we have, you know, average

9:25150 200 inches of snow. They need

9:27something to do besides just be stuck in

9:29their coupe, right? I mean, I need

9:31something to do instead of being stuck

9:32inside the house, right? So, I like to

9:35save these as well. Plus, I get there's

9:38a mammoth heads that are as as big as

9:40this. And I'm not kidding. They're

9:41called mammoth sunflowers. Again, bought

9:44them one time and I'm not buying them

9:46again because I can seed save all these.

9:49Just inside this one that's about the

9:51size of my hand, there's about a couple

9:53hundred seeds right there that you can

9:56seed save from and then plant the next

9:58year. So you can give them to your

9:59chickens. Obviously, you can roast them

10:01yourself. You can just have them for

10:03beauty and spread them everywhere. The

10:05the bumblebees absolutely love them in

10:07the fall time. So this is another way to

10:09have money in the bank by seed saving.

10:10Just one head of sunflower will give you

10:13a couple sunflowers for next year. Now,

10:17let's talk about this complete disaster

10:19right here. Potatoes going already,

10:22right? We need to dig these up. What I'm

10:24going to do when we dig these up is I'm

10:27going to seed save all the small ones

10:29that I don't want to mess with. That's a

10:31pain in the butt. I want to use the big

10:32ones or I can use my apple peeler, get

10:34rid of the peels or I can use my other

10:36peeler. Get rid of the peels if you need

10:38to. Um because I don't want to mess with

10:41all those little small ones. We have

10:42something called black scurf on ours.

10:44So, we have to peel them. But if you

10:46don't, you eat the peels, right? Extra

10:48nutrition in there. But here's where the

10:49money in the bank situation happens with

10:51this and why I'm letting them go bad is

10:53because I'm waiting for everything to

10:54dry. I'm not ready to put them in

10:56storage yet. It's still too hot to put

10:58them in storage. I'm using the ground to

11:00keep them as my storage. So that right

11:02there is saving. Right. Then like I

11:04said, you're going to seed save all

11:06those little small ones that are bad and

11:07just keep them in a um dark cool spot

11:10with some ventilation um some a fan on

11:12or something like that and that's what

11:14you will plant next year. I haven't

11:15bought potatoes for years.

11:18And last year we grew at least 1,500 lb

11:21of potatoes. And I bet I'm growing this

11:24as much for this year as well.

11:25Mind-blowing. So seed save from

11:28potatoes. You never have to buy potatoes

11:31again. I mean, do you get the theme of

11:32this? It's amazing, right? This is your

11:34god-given right, y'all, to grow your own

11:36food. All right, here's another example.

11:39Tomatoes. I love these tomatoes. I love

11:42tomatoes. This This is ugly, right?

11:45That's just ugly. It's beat trying to

11:47beat me up because it doesn't like it

11:48that I'm saying ugly, but it's ugly. I

11:50have some blight. Guess what? I do every

11:53single year. I get a boatload of

11:54tomatoes. I just pulled in 12 gallons of

11:57tomatoes. I still have to make in the

11:58sauce. I've already done that several

12:00different times that I've been canning

12:01into sauce. You boil the crap out of

12:03that stuff and you get sauce. It's

12:05amazing, right? But inside this tomato

12:08is next year's sauce. So, you're going

12:11to seed save from this tomato using the

12:13fermenting style where you let things

12:15mold to mimic nature and you will have

12:17seeds for next year that you never have

12:19to buy. Here's the best part of seed

12:21saving, guys. I need you to listen to

12:23this. Seeds become smarter and adapt to

12:28your location. They adapt to your

12:30weather. They adapt to your climate, to

12:33your soil, to your microclimates, to all

12:36the different things. And they perform

12:37better for you each year. This is why

12:40you seed save your own stuff. If that's

12:42not money in the bank, I don't know what

12:44is. So, learn how to seed save from

12:46whatever you possibly can so that you

12:48too can be have food security, which is

12:51a huge thing, right? You got to have

12:53food security and you need to grow your

12:56guys. I'm hanging out in my corn right

12:57now because and I'm letting some of

12:59these go bad. Not really go bad. I'm

13:01letting them dry out here because I'm

13:04going to seed save from the corn as

13:06well. This specific variety is called

13:08Kiss Me Sweet corn and it's open or open

13:12pollinated which means it kind of

13:13doesn't cross with a lot of other it's

13:16like science stuff. I'm not into

13:17science. I just know that it works. This

13:19is all you need to know. You don't need

13:20to know the science stuff. You just need

13:21to know that it works. This specific

13:23variety works really well for your seed

13:26saving abilities because corn in general

13:29likes to cross-pollinate for miles. And

13:32guess what? There's a lot of farm fields

13:34around that have really bad corn and you

13:35don't want to cross with that or you'll

13:37get some kind of Frankenstein stuff. So,

13:38you want to make sure you're doing

13:40something I think it's called open

13:41pollinated. Kiss me sweet corn. What a

13:43sweet name, isn't it? Here's my peas.

13:46They're looking a little ugly, right?

13:48There's a lot of brown stuff here on the

13:51bottom, but this is exactly how you seed

13:53save from them as well. And so, you

13:56literally will leave get the ones that

13:57are nice and fat. And again, the same

14:01with the beans, you're going to go ahead

14:02and let these dry out on the vine for as

14:05long as possible. You're going to then

14:07crack them open. And each one of those

14:09in there will be one seed that you will

14:12plant in the ground. That will give you

14:13a vine like this. And you'll get

14:15whatever amount of peas there is.

14:19Easy.

14:21I should say those peas are easy peasy.

14:24Get it? All right. Here's another one.

14:26These are my cucumbers right here. Look

14:28at this guy right here. Here, I'm going

14:29to I'm going to pull them off the vine

14:31cuz I'm actually not going to seed savor

14:32them cuz I don't particularly like this

14:33variety, which is the muncher. Don't

14:35really like it. Maybe you do, which is

14:36cool. It's obvious supposed to be a

14:38muncher, like a small snacky thing. This

14:41thing is obviously not. It's quite

14:43large. It's getting funky looking.

14:45Eventually, it's going to turn yellow

14:47and it's going to turn um mushy, get

14:50mushy on you. And that's exactly when

14:52you want to seed save from this bad boy.

14:54You're going to scrape out the insides

14:56and learn how to seed from cucumbers.

14:58And then you have cucumbers for next

15:00year. Guys, here's another one for you.

15:03This right here, these are those

15:05baseball bats that people send or drop

15:08off at you at the neighbors that you may

15:10or may not like. You're like, "Here, you

15:11want a zucchini?" No. No, you do not.

15:14Because this thing is literally full of

15:16seeds and not that fun and the flesh is

15:19kind of kind of gross to eat, right? So,

15:21these are not the ones that you want to

15:23give to the people that you like. Maybe

15:24the ones you don't like. But this is how

15:26you seed save from these guys. Now, they

15:27do cross-pollinate easily, so I can't

15:29guarantee anything like that. Um, so you

15:32won't actually know till next year's

15:33garden. Then that one is not money in

15:35the bank, but you can seed save from

15:37these, which does work. So, you can

15:38check into the crosspollination of their

15:40of the same family, which they are part

15:42of the squash. So, this is the same

15:44thing as a cucumber. You are going to go

15:45ahead and leave this out on the vine.

15:47It's going to get yellow. It's going to

15:49get soft. And that's exactly Woo, I

15:52don't fall over. How you want to seed

15:53save from that one. These bad boys here

15:56um will go to the pigs. I will seed save

15:58um a few of them just to kind of give

16:00some variety. But um this the pigs will

16:03absolutely love

16:06and I do like them so I still give it to

16:07them.

16:10Here comes the bride all dressed in

16:12lettuce seeds. Yes, these are lettuce

16:14seeds. They are going, they already went

16:16to flower and they have all these little

16:18puff balls on them and now the puff

16:20balls are literally turning into

16:23billions of seeds. Okay, maybe not

16:25billions. Look at this. There's all

16:27these little seeds

16:29that are in there. One, that was one

16:31little puff ball. Look at here's another

16:33little puff ball. Look at all those

16:34seeds that are in there. Isn't that

16:35amazing? So, what I like to do is make

16:37sure that this is nice and brown.

16:39Everything needs to dry out. This is

16:40called the dry method of seed saving.

16:42You literally can take this guy right

16:44here, put it inside of a paper bag.

16:46Shake the paper bag.

16:48Look at that.

16:51All the seeds come out. Money in the

16:53bank, y'all. Hey guys, I overgrew the

16:56crap out of peppers this year. I don't

16:58know why. I don't I have a billion sweet

17:01banana peppers. Probably a billion. Like

17:04literally, like I'd probably go to this,

17:05you know, the moon and back with them.

17:07But anyways, so here we are. I have

17:08green peppers. If I want to seed save

17:10from them, I'm going to pick the

17:12beautiful, perfect looking thing. That's

17:15a seed saving trick for all things. You

17:17want it to look good-looking. You don't

17:18want to wait till you get something ugly

17:20or that kind of got all funky or misin

17:24misformed. I was going to say

17:25misinformed. A lot of people are

17:26misinformed, but misformed. And you want

17:28to go ahead and seed save from those

17:30because that's the best of the best. And

17:32then that way it'll help be the best of

17:34the best for next year. You literally

17:36just cut that pepper open, pluck off the

17:39little seeds like you were going to

17:40throw them in the compost anyways, and

17:42those are your seeds for next year.

17:44Isn't this just amazing?

17:47Now, we are hanging out in the herb

17:48garden. Same concept. Everything has

17:51gone to flower originally cuz a lot of

17:54herbs go to flower and they are bolting

17:56or sending up shoots like this. This is

17:59some mint. Look at this. So on there,

18:02like mint spreads anyway, so you don't

18:03need to seed save from mint, but this is

18:05an example. So work with me, people. See

18:07how they're going to flower like that

18:09after it already went to mint? It's

18:10doing its thing. That has a bunch of

18:12seeds that you can then seed save from.

18:14Same with echanasia that is behind me.

18:16Beautiful healing. Absolutely love it.

18:19There will be lots of seeds inside each

18:20one of these heads here. So I've cut a

18:22lot off. I like to put one head in each

18:24of my tea along with lemon balm and mint

18:28and catnip. whatever else is full in my

18:31boat for that day. So, um I have cut a

18:33lot off, but I have saved some as well.

18:35And I would probably take some of those

18:37heads and I might put them in areas um

18:39sprinkle them here in the middle. I

18:40might put them on the edge of the wood

18:42so I can get even more beautiful things

18:43because all the pollinators like it and

18:45I happen to like them as well. Okay, you

18:47see this right here? This is a zenia.

18:50This is my first time growing them. I'm

18:52so excited. But this I let them go to

18:53seed on purpose so I can have so many

18:55more beautiful zenyas next year. Man,

18:57they really last a long time. It is

18:59drying right now. I'm going to be able

19:01to go ahead and grab all these seeds.

19:04Look at that in there. Those are all the

19:06Zenia seeds for next year. I'm actually

19:08going to stash these in my pocket so I

19:09don't lose them. Look at all these in

19:11here. So, everything it already went to

19:12flower and then it's going to to seed

19:15and then I'm going to save that so I

19:16don't have to buy beautiful zenia

19:18flowers for next year. Money in the

19:20bank.

19:22All right, here we are. Oh, my beloveds.

19:25Can you guess what this is? Changula. I

19:27love colangula. I plant them in pots. I

19:29plant them I planted them in about five

19:31different places this year because last

19:33year they just weren't working out for

19:34me and I ended up getting some from my

19:36friend, but I'm like, "No, I want to do

19:37it myself. I've done this for years. My

19:39goodness, my land." So, I planted them

19:42everywhere and I've got a boatload. I

19:43like to put a couple of those in my tea

19:45as well. So good for you. Plus, they

19:46make great salves and everything like

19:47that. So good. So great and healing. But

19:50these are going to seed as well. So

19:52again, buy one pack of seeds. One pack

19:54for, you know, I mean, it ranges right

19:56$3 to $10. or Scott only knows where you

19:58can get these things from. And then you

20:00plant plant them once and then you never

20:01have to plant again. So they are

20:03currently going to seed right here. So

20:05here's the flower, right? And then they

20:08start they open and close. Open and

20:09close a bunch of different times

20:10actually. So the ones I'm specifically

20:13not picking some, letting them get ugly

20:15so that they can go ahead and seed save

20:17on here. And I'll show you up close

20:18here. This right here is it's going to

20:22seed. And each one of these little tiny

20:23spots that are brown, they're green

20:25right here. They're going to turn brown.

20:26And each one is going to be a seed. So

20:29this one like each petal basically. So

20:32that right there has I'm going to guess

20:3425 petals. That's going to be 25 seeds.

20:37That's like one seed packet give or take

20:40in one little petal. My gosh, guys. This

20:43is how amazing this stuff is.

20:46So guys, I hope you really understand

20:49how amazing the garden is and how it's

20:51really producing already next year's

20:53garden and how that is money in the

20:55bank. And this seed saving is a small

20:59yet simple way to be effective for cost

21:02effective to make the seeds smarter to

21:05your area so they grow and perform

21:07better for so many different reasons,

21:09right? I hope it really came across that

21:12that way because I've been doing that

21:13for years and it's just one of those

21:15things I think everybody should know

21:16about. So, I hope that you understood

21:18that letting the garden go ugly, having

21:21pure chaos is completely fine with that.

21:26If you guys would like to take a deep

21:28dive into any of the stuff that I yacked

21:30about today, there's always resources

21:32online. You can go to my website,

21:33foodfruit.com. You can also go to my

21:35academy where I deep dive very specific

21:37into lessons where there's workbooks and

21:39full-on videos that I explain everything

21:42step by step. That is my academy.

21:44It'sacademy.foodcpcrew.com.

21:45You can check that out or you can just

21:47Google it yourself. It's all good

21:49people. I want you to learn. I hope you

21:50learned today. Please leave a comment.

21:52What um inspired you today? Was are you

21:56already seed saving? Are you going to

21:59seed save this year? Which I hope is a

22:00yes and a yes. So, let me know. Let me

22:03interact with you. let me hang out with

22:05you. And so just really appreciate you

22:06guys being here today with me, being all

22:08silly and just letting the garden get

22:10ugly and stuff like that. It's all good.

22:12So let your garden get ugly, seed save

22:14for next year, and then you have money

22:15in the bank. God bless guys.