A Few Days Eating From and Tending to our Garden 🥕

Hi, we are Harriet and Mauro and in February 2021 we bought an abandoned smallholding in Castellón, Spain.
In this video I wanted to show you a few typical days for us at the moment of garden work, and also what we’re eating from the garden. Our garden is pretty new and we are still beginners at growing our own food. We really only started the garden a few months ago, so you are seeing mostly the ends of the winter things and a few fast-growing veggies which are already ready to eat this season.
I hope you enjoy the video and let me know if you'd like to see more like this from different times of the year, and as we learn how to grow, preserve and cook even more things!
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Music in this video:
I'm Gonna Let The Sunshine In Today - Loving Caliber
Onthou - Ever So Blue
Our Secret Place - Daniel Kaede
All from Epidemic Sound

[@snowbel09able]

Love your videos. I'm 73 and still learning. Love watching you cook what you are growing and your presentation is perfect. Looking forward for your future vids. Thank you so much for sharing with us.

[@terrif.3126]

I enjoy watching you go out and pick your lunch or dinner. It's truly living your best life. Please rest on days that you feel tied. You do so much.

[@tracytanasiychuk8253]

You are such a lovely hard working person. Thank you for sharing your food prep. Blessings from Canada 🇨🇦

[@debbiepalmer1094]

Tofu asking for cuddles at the breakfast table is too cute! I like seeing what food you make from what you grow. x

[@dorothyallen3614]

👍❤️

[@meeshelle1397]

Such a pleasure to watch, thanks for sharing, I’d definitely enjoy seeing another “a few days eating from the garden” with what you are growing 🌟TC 😊

[@dorothyallen3614]

❤👍

[@alexseaford4029]

You appear to be carving out a really good life on your own terms which is a neat trick. Congrats!

[@padraigbeag]

hi folks....love your videos. The side shoots that grow in the axil are generally just called side shoots, I always called them axil shoots, my neighbour a retired market gardener used to call them that👍

[@LittleSpanishFarmstead]

ah thanks! Axil shoots.. never heard that term, now I'll know what it means if I hear it :)

[@howard922]

Tomato leaves that curl up is normal, not a problem. Leaves are like (intelligent) solar panels they reduce their surface area to minimise exposure to sun and to reduce transpiration.

[@Sam.Willis657]

Hi Harriet. We are a British couple who moved to a house with land in February 2020 so this is our third summer here. Obviously 2020 was a bit of a non starter as we were unable to go anywhere or get deliveries where we live because of COVID-19 but we are doing really well now. We probably have a similar climate to you but even hotter and drier here in Seville province but you can make it work . We also eat stuff from our garden every day tonight we had our own garlic, onions, courgettes and peppers

[@sherierodriguez7708]

Thanks for sharing your week with us Harriet. You are an amazing young woman and I admire you. I see that you are taking care of the homestead all by yourself and doing an amazing job of it. Stay cool. God bless

[@helenvwalker7919]

I would love to see the next season's food produce. I am so impressed with the way you are using up so much of what you grow.

[@vietus1040]

A Few Days Eating From and Tending to our Garden . The video has impressive details and is very realistic. Watched the video on June 28, 2022 very like. Thank you very much

[@SuhailiMalik]

Hello Harriet. It's so lovely to see the meals u put together from the harvests. Also love to watch u pottering around the garden. The garden is coming together very well. and to be able to watch some part of valley around your land is pretty amazing. Thanks so much to let us into ur world. It must have been great to be able to provide for yourself too. Take good care Harriet! Ps. Little kitties looking good and big now. Will probably start roaming around the house in a week time.

[@rickardenstedt]

Wow Harriet, you look so tanned and healthy now in the midst of the summer. Great garden! I'll pop in when i pass by in October...if i may...😅🇸🇪🚐

[@ninemoonplanet]

One thing I recently learned is to add enough water to a soil before planting anything larger than seedlings. It takes about an hour with at least 20 litres to completely get the moisture high enough to sustain the transplants. Worm compost extraction also helps bring transplants into overcoming shock. Every day it seems I need to learn more about dealing with the gardens and plants. For someone who is just beginning, you've done extremely well. 👍

[@Acidsophy]

I love winter tomatoes (tomaquet de penjar also in catalan). We discovered them living in cataluña, they make a tomato toast for tipical breakfast and i was amazed with it. We have grown them a couple of years living there.... It actually last from one summer all year long being stored properly, we usted a cardboard box (shoes box) with some paper on the bottom. Store them in a cool and shady place, the kitchen was perfect. Take a look every week and turn them around. Some people hang them too!!! Love the garden, love your experiments, love to see how you are learning from all of it (black plastic sucks, yeah!!) It is not failure, it is KNOWLEGE!!! Yaiiiii the chicks have arrived 🤪🤪🤪🤪 one big hug Harriet. Keep it uuup!

[@marcoandmaria2023]

You could reuse the black plastic around the garden bed as a weed barrier... Also when you strim you can use it as a mulch, great on top of a layer of newspaper on the garden bed

[@MBoville]

Regarding roads or paths and non-arable areas, if you collect enough pine needles, a good layer prevents the growth of weeds, by turning the soil where it falls acidic.

[@jorgedanielenriquez2191]

Verduras frescas, frutas recién cortadas, sin contaminantes. Muy bueno!

[@ruthquinn6229]

love your garden and all your ideas. you are such a sweet gentle inspiration. love your meals and the animals are such cutie pies. so glad you're getting more time to grow your farmstead. bless you sweet Harriet. xx

[@FrankieOffGrid]

Your garden is looking amazing! Those tomatoes that you can preserve sound amazing and everything your eating looks so beautiful ☺️

[@trishwalton6628]

I love gardening so I am really taken with your videos! Thank you so much 💓

[@theedengarden9728]

The growth 'side shoots ' are called suckers.....👍

[@colleen2386]

I've never seen carrot tops used for pesto thats great. I really like that you upload on Sunday. It gives me something to watch on my day off thats so enjoyable! I can see how beautiful that counrty side is. Its amazing. Your garden beds will give you so much joy when they look pleasing, I completely agree. Have a great week. Thx for the video💃

[@nataliaghidirim1655]

So so so beautiful happy picture

[@Streleny]

Pesto, Strudel,Lasagne,Curry, rakott krumpli, mousaka, bake well, lettuce soup, omelett

[@virtualfather4117]

Wood chips are the best! Around here we have tree workers who cut and chip trees. They have to pay to take to recycle center so i asked if they could dump a truck load in my driveway for free. I cover all my walk ways. We have a lot of clay soil here and in the summer it gets like concrete, where I have put wood chips after 3 years I can now push my fringes way down into the new soil.

[@joseusolestomas8453]

Si tocas las tomateras a pleno sol se te van a secar, solo se pueden tocar al amanecer o al atardecer. La tomatera es una planta muy delicada, ni se te ocurra tampoco regarla mojando la planta. Saludos!!

[@susanyates4233]

You have some wonderful ideas with food from your garden!

[@detectivemikevarnado7515]

You could make yard weeds look delicious on a plate! Love your videos and your accent. I'm from the deep south in the USA. Maybe it's me that has an accent since you guys spoke English hundreds of years before we adopted it. ! LOL

[@dvidgonzales8376]

Down. The center of California there is a large canal that comes south from the rivers and the Sierra mountains which supposedly can hold as much snow as any place in the world.

[@SmithsdaleFarm]

Great new video Harriet! Tasty fresh food from the garden… is there anything better?! Delish! 😋

[@dvidgonzales8376]

I grew brocalli once and I noticed that it really helped my well being. I've often thought that many of my health isuesvhad to do with diet. I had an enlarged prostate and my last doctor visit declared that it was normal, I think I've had a blockage in that area since young adult hood. I attribute the improvement do to extensive bicycle which strenghted my stomach muscles and dropped my blood pressure to 110/70 from 120/90.

[@Onubense-zu4ei]

Bonito video, deciros que la comida cuando la trabaja uno mismo sabe mejor y lo más importante solo fertilizante natural, agua, sol y tú cuidado. Saludos y muchas gracias...

[@countrylife9519]

I would love to see the next food products. I am very impressed with how you are using so much of what you develop.💖💖💖💖💖

[@deborahlee8135]

I love woodchip paths! 💚 a wonderful way to build compost in situ. Depending on how quickly they break down, each year's old path can be put straight on the garden next to it and then the chips renewed in the path for the following year. A great labour saving system. I love seeing how you are learning by observation, your notebooks will be so valuable in coming years, also enjoying seeing what you are harvesting and preserving. I must try your pancake as I have a sourdough starter. Great work Harriet.

[@maitemaitechu1685]

Estava esperando tu video! Gracias por compartir,me gustan mucho todo lo que explicas en videos💪👍🐕🐈🐱🙋🙏🙏🌻✨😘😘😘

[@huertoyflores1439]

Hola harriet muy bueno por más videos así!! Hermoso el paisaje por donde sales a correr saluditos p los 2 🤗🇦🇷💪👏🌱💚

[@MBoville]

Hello, Harriet and Mauro. There are several ways to manage a vegetable garden; one of them is to use nature in your favor. I mean that depending on the epic of the year, plants of different sizes can be mixed in the same bed once developed, and different growth rates. So, when you go from spring to summer, you are interested in putting growing plants next to already developed plants, which mitigate the sun with their shade to those that are growing, knowing that they will compete for sunlight, which encourages its growth. On the other hand, I have seen in some garden suppliers a black plastic that is already perforated on a regular basis, to allow planting, watering and aerating the soil, but I do not have the name where they sell it. The important thing is to observe how some species can be combined with others, so that they protect each other and compete, making the garden and orchard more alive.

[@LittleSpanishFarmstead]

Yes, so much I still need to learn and figure out! And to try to find the way to do it all with minimum labour. Not that I mind the labour, buf if we want to be able to scale to produce some surplus. 💚

[@Acidsophy]

It is called malla antihierbas, but it is also plastic. It is usted a lot by "lazy gardeners", that dont want to work a lot. The problem is that it will breakdown with the time and sun exposure and you end up with lots of little plastics around impossible to pick up, you know what i mean. The garden is a hard work but if you enjoy it and use things properly (i rather mulching with straw or dry leaves, for example. Choped branches from the pruned trees will work too) you end up working less and taking good care of nature. Kisses and hugs!!!!!

[@dorothyallen3614]

@@LittleSpanishFarmstead I believe you’ll like the type of permeable matting for the garden bed if your able to get the right kind, American farmers have used it for years without it shredding or tarring. They usually burn a hole in the matting with a small propane fire starter, plant their seeds or starter plants and they use drip line for each hole or plant. I’m not sure what kind of matting that Spain has, but Hoss Seeds in America has the product, they’ll mail you a catalog and they have all kinds of gardening cultivation implements also. You definitely need an easier way to handle weed invasion, I believe it would help you, but plastic is the way to kill out weeds and compost them back into the soil but never use it to go around your plants. Love you making meals with your beautiful plants.

[@cinthiaramos1174]

Hola Harriet, como estas, me encanta ver todos tus videos, te admiro mucho, eres muy trabajadora, y las recetas que muestras con todo lo que produces en la huerta son muy interesantes, me parece muy buena idea ya que muchos muestran lo que producen pero no todos dan ideas de como prepararlos, te feñicito, muy linda va quedando la finca , sigue ade!ante, mucha fuerza.

[@LittleSpanishFarmstead]

Muchas gracias!

[@BRING619]

Really enjoying watching your videos Harriet, I too have been trying to eat at least one thing each day from my garden this year. Theres nothing quite like growing your own food and eating it just after its been picked. Much love to you both, and all the animals, from sunny Surrey, UK

[@marcoandmaria2023]

Cutting up old compost bags etc into strips make great ties for tomatoes etc

[@MoonyMystery]

i really like these vlog videos; a day in the life!

[@annabelmacrae5256]

Love the meals too!

[@luisfernandooquendo913]

every meal you made in this video made my mouth water!

[@sherierodriguez7708]

Its such a blessing to be able to grow your own foods

[@bangkoklifebynuningpratiwi6557]

Hello new friend here. İ love style of your video and your garden is amazing!!! İt is really healthy life style. İ appreciate your great share.

[@borntomay1]

I really enjoy watching your videos Harriet. I'm in wintery New Zealand . We eat from our tiny garden every day, mainly leafy salads at the moment. A tip that may work for your tomatoes etc is to bury plastic plant pots, or small drink bottles pushed in tip first with the blunt end cut out, to pour water directly into the ground where the roots are- a bit like Olla. And I always put a rock or brick over the mulch by each plant, as it keeps the earth cooler and more moist underneath. Even heat loving plants seem to like cool earth to grow in. Your food is amazing! I get inspired watching your meals.

[@danyoutube7491]

I just Googled, and it turns out you can preserve lettuce by pickling or fermenting! Maybe you could try that if the volume of lettuce starts getting too much to handle, not that it sounds as if you need more jobs to do :) Pickled radishes sounds nice, I might try doing that myself. Those evening meals look delicious! I shudder at the thought of 36 degrees of heat; I've been struggling with even the mid-twenties we've been having in the last week or so in northern England!

[@LittleSpanishFarmstead]

Ohhh interesting, didn't think picking lettuces was a thing, now I need to investigate!!

[@teedub1990]

I enjoyed this video. Your salad's looked appetizing as well as beautiful.

[@amparoalvarez9001]

In Arizona they use wood chips to keep the ground moist...Keep up the good work...Much Love from the USA...I am from León...

[@maryegerton6848]

Loved it!! 💚🥬🥦🫑

[@djazt.8053]

1:17 Thanks for sharing your sourdough flatbread recipe! I have been baking leavened flatbreads in a skillet with baking powder, soda and vinegar so far. But your technique seems preferable for a regular morning meal as it leaves zero dirty dishes 🙂

[@sandielefant8258]

I enjoyed seeing how you used what you grow in the garden, even when mixed with a few things not from the garden. I find you just inspiring and I feel so motivated to get my tasks done after watching you (from my couch on a lazy Sunday morning, haha :).

[@Strooisuiker]

You should write a cook book to give people inspiration to get creative with the things they can find in their garden! I do wonder how you get enough proteins though. I thought that was quite important, especially for future health...

[@robertamil]

Beautiful video, Blessings from Croatia

[@arjanvogel6444]

Thanks for your vid 😇💟💟💟 Love you guys.

[@deatraparks4739]

i like this video--and like your sourdough pancakes --you dont have to apologize for what you do---i admire you very much---thank you so much---i m going to try those pancakes----take care--be safe--deatra

[@debhosaflook7849]

Love seeing all the ways you put your veg together and make use of all that you and Mauro are growing. Your channel is so inspiring and your energy and hardwork is just amazing!!!!!! Sending love from Virginia in the USA.

[@janinecobb]

I really enjoyed this video and I’d like to see more like it. Your garden is producing wonderfully. I’m an Aussie and a always enjoy a bit of Vegemite, I have tried Marmite and think it’s pretty good too!

[@isabelherrera8647]

I really enjoy watching your videos, your harvesting, gardening etc but i would love to see if you are doing/building anything else in the house...love restoring!!!

[@jennyjohnson9012]

Love seeing your garden videos Harriet and what a good idea to eat something every day from the garden. Think I'm going to try this as well. We have lots of lettuce as well and we do use that most days. Love seeing your progress each time, and cant wait for the next one.

[@dvidgonzales8376]

Might want to cut small branches and put under tomatoes then you'll need to use less straw. The air circulation may give you an idea of how quickly the patch dries out.

[@soniahofmann4969]

Harriet if at any point in time you don't like our comments please feel free to put us in our place but I live in Florida and as you know it gets really hot here and I'm from the West Coast so I was used to planting my summer crop with 6 to 8 hours of full sun well in Florida it's not like that my tomatoes get full Morning Sun and afternoon semi shade peppers if it's that hot there Morning Sun afternoon shade I don't think they will do well in full shade but again put me in my place I could be wrong I just see you work so hard and I have a lot of experience in gardening I'm just trying to share it like other people share their experience with me and I really really appreciate it all the information I got from Friends and strangers good luck you're doing a great job

[@jenniferstone2975]

Really enjoying your videos, a serendipitous KZbin suggestion. Subscribed!

[@lisabarajas1269]

Fabulous!

[@paulchance7948]

Always a pleasure to watch your videos I'm looking forward to seeing more of the animals on your farm. Here in England I grow lots of raspberries, loganberries and strawberries and always get a good reliable harvest. I wonder do you grow berries or is it too hot for them where you are.

[@helenlatimer9601]

Have you heard of Charles downing and the no dig method. It’s amazing. X

[@dvidgonzales8376]

We would can that a tostada in the southwest USA, can be flour with refried , lettuce, cheese, jalapeno and yes sour cream

[@shireencooper6209]

Love all your videos and watching your journey. I get loads of ideas from you xx

[@Yurei_Dokuro]

Esta muy bien lo de tener tomateras, pero si vas a ponerlas en un bancal, las plantas van en una línea central y contra los bordes puedes asociarlas con otras plantas de menor porte (como por ejemplo colinabos, nabos, rabanitos o lechugas). De esa manera las tomateras crecerán hacia arriba buscando el sol, y no hacia los lados como simples matas, que es lo que vi.

[@margaritamanresacapo2540]

Muchas gracias por compartir , estaba esperando tu video , feliz semana .

[@madhatter909]

loved your video!

[@CosmicGorilla]

Wonderful video: thanks both. Just an idea, maybe consider building swales around each growing bed by digging a trench around the bed and heaping up the soil to make a sort of mote and wall. If it is orientated properly it could catch rain runoff and it would provide a nice “depression” into which you could drop anything and everything you want to compost over winter. That’s what you could use the plastic for, use it to warm up the soil and promote decomposition and nutrient distribution over winter? Just a thought, but I’ve done this where the growing areas are absolutely heaped up at the end of a season and under the plastic at the beginning of the next season is wonderful loamy compost. Just an idea, you are doing such a fantastic job you know, it’s a blessing to be able to watch.

[@CosmicGorilla]

PS the best spuds are the ones you randomly find. 😎

[@LittleSpanishFarmstead]

Thank you! Yeah, that's one thing I haven't tried and could be interesting! Digging out the paths (kinda like swales if we got the contouring right) and heaping up the beds. I'd like to do a small test of how that works here!

[@CosmicGorilla]

@@LittleSpanishFarmstead I was t suggesting raised beds as such, just using the earth from the wales to build earthen banks (berms) around the beds instead of using bricks etc.

[@howard922]

Tinned kidney beans are about 16% carbohydrate, there are carbs in the veg too (I’m a diabetic carb counter!)

[@Brendanno100]

Love this channel 👍

[@ginacrusco234]

Hi Harriet! Sorry the black plastic weed barrier didn't pan out. Good thing you observe so closely every day and can intervene before things are too far gone. I appreciate your aesthetic concerns and agree that a nice neat garden bed relaxes the mind with its sense of order, as would the wood-chip paths if that's the way you go. Your dinner looks so nourishing and pleasurable! Just curious, do you have deer, rabbits or other critters that serve themselves from your garden?

[@LittleSpanishFarmstead]

Aw thank you! Currently we haven't had any sightings or issues with those kinds of animals. The biggest concern would be rabbits and wild boar, which bother our neighbours, and they may well find our garden too one of these days, in which case we'll have to think about fencing it I guess...

[@jomagosati1]

los riejos para ser mas eficaces hacerlos mejor a la puesta de sol así se aprovecha mejor el agua y evitamos que se evapore por el calor, las plantas absorven mejor el agua al permanecer mas tiempo en la tierra.

[@jomagosati1]

los brotes que salen en la cruz entre la hoja y el tallo se llaman chupones, hay que quitarlos con la mano o con tijeras, asi se controla que el crecimiento vaya a los tomates y al tallo principal.

[@louiseclarke4794]

Hello I love seeing your progress, I am in Tarragona just getting started , can you advise where to buy organic seeds and also composting worms? Louise.

[@spiritualhumanist]

Do you have Malabar spinach ? Excellent greens for summer and hot places.

[@punjabseth260]

nice look

[@Skooty68]

bit late for peppers now,,they need a long growing season,normally sown indoors in February,Aubergines too......if you get too many lettuce look up Lettuce soup,eat hot or cold

[@sarahsmith-iq6fn]

The flowers are the actual tomatoe fruit , you just need to snip the leaves at the bottom

[@peterarbet1447]

Hi. Are you maybe considering to plant some mushrooms, casue you seem to have woodchips and cardboard as well as maybe some wood that can be used for it? You can get spores or full starter kits. Cheers :)

[@LittleSpanishFarmstead]

Yeah, we have a great source of woodchip so mushrooms could be really interesting. Definitely on the very long "to learn about" list hehe

[@potagermalo]

Top😉😊😊

[@verjiggawich]

Hi Harriet, are you growing bamboo? Might be useful for bordering beds and for a whole lot of other stuff as well. And it grows so fast, of course. Haven't seen farther into the video so apologies if you had a better solution than the rocks :)

[@LittleSpanishFarmstead]

Ah we're not, but we have a lot of cane grass growing on our land which is related to bamboo so we did want to try and plant some bamboo as we think it might do well!

[@verjiggawich]

@@LittleSpanishFarmstead oh I didn't know that, but makes sense that they are. Love the vids!

[@belindacumberland5326]

As for the water , here in the US we have too many mosquitoes for big water holes 😞

[@LittleSpanishFarmstead]

Here we have mozzies too! The key is the fish - they eat the larvae :)

[@emmaholding8790]

Hello, can I ask what radishes you plant to get the seed pods as they look yummy Thank you 😊

[@LittleSpanishFarmstead]

Any radish will do! They all make seed pods 😊

[@brunnimercado5539]

Me gustaría que dieras la receta de masa madre nunca la hecho trate de hacer la pero o crecia

[@johnc3403]

It was hot as hell in Spain this June, you seem to handle the heat and the mossies well. I damn near suffered heatstroke and my legs were savaged by wave after wave of ravenous mosquitos. Made me think twice about my retirement plans to be honest.

[@LittleSpanishFarmstead]

Honestly I had the same issues last year. This year I seemed to have adapted better. It sounds crazy, but I think your body adapts to the mozzies in your area and they don't bother you after a while!

[@dvidgonzales8376]

Did you make that table white cement may not be as strong as grey-white cement which people. I have aluminum flower pot molds and used green, blue, pink white as an experiment and sold them immediately. I like to aquire molds .

[@LittleSpanishFarmstead]

That's awesome! And no I didn't know that, thank you

[@belindacumberland5326]

Carrot dirt should be half sand half dirt . That's so it can grow and get fatter. Just a thought ...

[@miriamgr88]

❤

[@101life9]

Feel satisfying to Harvest and eat from your own garden, isn't it ? Good job!! Would it be helpful to have some kind of shade cloth over the beds ..... By the way, have you heard of "the Dutch Farmer " channel? He makes gardening and watering system so easy😅🥰💖

[@LittleSpanishFarmstead]

Yeah we do have some shade cloth in a few places but it's something I'd definitely like to be able to add more of next year! I have seen the Dutch Farmer, very inspiring. He has some big machinery which isn't an option here due to access but I can still see a lot of inspiration in what he's doing.

[@101life9]

@@LittleSpanishFarmstead You're doing wonderful ❤

"La tomata de penjar" la cuelgan, de ahí su nombre, y puede durar todo el invierno. Riquísima para comer con pan y aceite kzbin.info/www/bejne/g6LNdn6uh6-Meqc

[@arturo95658]

creo segun mi opinion... que deberias poner el riego por goteo.. hazlo por gravedad,, desde las albercas.. perdon un saludo

[@LittleSpanishFarmstead]

Jeje estamos en ello... 😊

[@komorifarm9308]

you should be growing luffa :)

[@LittleSpanishFarmstead]

I have some planted but it's still very small. I'll show how it goes in a futute video!

[@mariamagdalena4576]

Where do you get the seeds from?

[@LittleSpanishFarmstead]

I buy a lot of seeds from Les Refardes in Catalunya. Check them out! 💚

[@mariamagdalena4576]

@@LittleSpanishFarmstead Thanks ☺️

[@foleyston]

I am trying to eat more veges but find most of the inrernet recipes too onerous/complicated. Your meals look really nice but relatively straight forward to make. I am particularly interested in how you treat your sour dough and your pickles ☺. However, I am on a low salt diet ☹

[@kitwhite9372]

I'm devouring all of your videos with relish! (puns intended!) What recipe would you use for the aubergine pickle/chutney?🍆

[@LittleSpanishFarmstead]

for any chutney I would just use any basic tomato chutney recipe and substitute some volume (or all) of the tomatoes with whatever other veggies or fruits I wanted to use. Chutney is very simple, if it has vinegar and sugar it will turn out yummy!