Early Summer Garden HARVEST (So much food!) | VLOG

Hey ya'll, I'm Jess from Roots & Refuge Farm
Welcome to a place that feels like home. A small farm with a big family. We hope you'll pull up a chair, grab some coffee and visit awhile.
There was a time that all I wanted in the world was a little farm where I could raise my family and grow our food. Now, that is exactly what exists outside my door. In watching it unfold, a new dream was formed in my heart - to share this beautiful life with others and teach them the lessons we've learned along the way. Welcome to our journey, friend. I am so glad you're here.
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[@marissashelley2362]

Jess...Don't know if it matters but my Gramps was a farmer who fed 16 people for over 80 years. He agreed with you that you MUST leave some stem on the cukes so they will last a bit longer after harvesting. The smaller kids weren't allowed to harvest because we didn't do it properly!!! He also insisted on adding some ice to the water they were soaking in because he believed that helped to bring out the crispy for longer. 😊 Thanks for the memories!!! ❤

[@evalinawarne1337]

My mom did too add ice. Specially, when she prepared our dinner salad ahead of time. A couple ice cubes in the bag. Nice and crispy. Fond memories. Thank you for sharing. It is Important. GOD BLESS YOU.

[@barbaramix1683]

Gardening is such great cheap entertainment. It is great exercise. I lost 20 pounds last year without changing anything else. Having fresh food without the trip to the grocery store is so awesome. It cuts the cost of my grocery store visits too. My husband can pick strawberries every morning for his breakfast. I had tried to get him to eat more fruit for 18 years. Fresh fruit just tastes better. I can't believe that three year ago, I didn't even garden. Thanks for introducing me to gardening. I bless you.

[@rachelt761]

I agree for the most part except I gained with after gardening haha That was the goal for me, though. I learned to cook delicious food with great ingredients

[@v8v83838]

Hi Jess, thought I’d share my favorite recipe for using most of the veggies that you harvested today. It’s called Mediterranean Pie and it’s super easy if you a have 2 pre made or store bought pie crust. Sauté eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, onion, and bell pepper in butter til tender. Add minced garlic, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Slice 2 medium/large tomatoes about 1/4 inch thick and grate mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. In bottom pie crust layer sautéed veggies, tomatoes, and cheeses and repeat. Top with another crust , this can be lattice or solid crust with vents sliced into it, to make a kind of pot pie. Bake 1 hr @ 350°. I promise it will be a hit that even your carnivores will enjoy 😊

[@katherineb6102]

A garden also can teach us how to accept "failure", learn from it and try again.

[@noonespecial5517]

Basil tea is a huge win at our house. Can’t keep enough made. Kids and adults all love it! Thanks for showing how to make it. Now none of our clippings ever go to waste. After we make the tea the strained basil leaves go to the pigs in their feed.

[@misstrcarter]

When you make your ratatouille, the best thing you can ever make to accompany it (besides a nice crusty bread) is an Afghani cilantro chutney to drizzle over top of the individual bowls. It takes that dish to 5 star levels. There are tons of recipes out there, but I typically use cilantro, jalapeno, walnuts, garlic cloves, pepper, salt and vinegar. It is bright, acidic and spicy if you use a lot of jalapeno and makes you wonder how you have ever eaten ratatouille without it before. I don't measure but it should be the consistency of pesto or chimichurri and I make it to taste. It stores for a long time so I make it when cilantro is in season and it is waiting for us when the ratatouille ingredients are ready to harvest.

[@Silver-el8ev]

Your basil plants are so wonderful and it made me smile to see the eggplants

[@pamelab.4731]

Awesome 👏🏻 PLEASE include some of your squash recipes, that you’re making for dinner, on the Farmers Table. THANKS!! 🙏🏻

[@gwenbush6184]

My mom swears by this so maybe give it a try - slice squash into decent thickness size - like if you were going to sauté them. Lay them out on a cookie sheet on wax paper and freeze them. Then pull them out and put them in ziplocks after frozen. Then when ready to cook them, pull them out and don’t let them thaw, just cook them from frozen to pan. She swears it’s like eating them fresh. I’ll be trying it whenever I can get some squash before the pickle worms take them all.

[@lindajeanhouse6443]

I agree, I grew up with a family farm and that's how my grandmother did it. We had fresh vegetables year round.

[@Lolo-lq8iz]

Do you blanch them before freezing them?

[@WS-by5cl]

Im also curious if you blanch? 🤔

[@lindajeanhouse6443]

@@Lolo-lq8iz yes, we did blanch them first.

[@Sara-gz7fm]

Well now I definitely need to try this!

[@bhavens9149]

woo hoo! thank you for posting today, needed a garden vid.

[@dawnwilliams8766]

Me too! Yay!

[@johnhansen8272]

By the way, thanks for returning to producing videos! I try to watch all of your videos because I still pick up interesting things even after gardening for many years myself. We can all always learn something right? Today I learned my peppers have completely failed, and that my fanatic soaking of my harvest has been the right thing to do and I have probably been harvesting my cucumbers wrong. So thanks again! We are in it now!

[@mrs.lady.bird2]

I am a relatively new gardener and Jess's talk about buying it verses growing it and the cost difference reminds me of something I say every year as I plant. I'm doing it even if it isn't perfect and as long as I get 1 piece of food from a plant, I call it a win!

[@cindybohl9593]

I just harvested around a gallon of different types of green beans. I spent last evening blanching them and putting them into freezer bags for eating this fall or winter. Gardening is a lot of work! But so worth while!

[@stephanieganas6872]

What a harvest! I love to make squash pancakes with yellow or zucchini squash, I grate the squash, add one egg per squash grated, some salt and a little pepper and about 1/4 cup flour and mix. Fry in a combo of a pat of butter and some oil. My grandma would eat them on buttered toast. In Greece they add feta cheese to the mix . They are so yummy, enjoy.

[@RootsandRefugeFarm]

Mmmm yum! We do something similar but call them fritters

[@Sara-gz7fm]

Yes! Zucchini fritters are delicious. My kids love them too!

[@gardenstatesowandsew]

Beautiful and I’m glad you can share too ❤ nothing beats home grown. Nothing beats the peaceful feeling of the garden

[@shamancarmichael5305]

So nice to see the abundance flowing from the garden once again! 🌱🍆🌶🍓

[@jackcsaffell5641]

Hi Ms. Jessica. Leaving the tails on the Silver Slicers totally makes sense to me. As a crazy rose person it's popular to re-cut a rose stem under water to prevent an air bubble in the stem. We do this especially when we are showing our roses and need them to keep their form throughout the day. So keeping the cut tails on the slicers and giving the water a "straw" to get back into the cucumber sounds, to me, brilliant. God bless this homestead.

[@karincope3019]

I add a fresh grape leaf in my pickles and they help keep them crunchy, I also nip off the blossom end . I put up 100 plus pound of Dills and 50 pound of sweet mixed . I just pickled 11 pints of Asparagus this am and last night put up 30:jars of Strawberry jam .

[@Apothikerry]

Wow! You’re a machine… that’s amazing! 👏🏻

[@cindy-ki8ex]

I am gardening this year but am having a knee replacement so it is slow going. I put in 6 raise beds 3 years ago and i have 3 greenstocks. I put a chair in the garden this year so i could take brakes and stay there longer. Should have green beans soon. One of my gerrnstalks has nothing but green beans and i can sit on my chair to pick them. Thanks for your gardening videos. They keep me wanting to garden.

[@vmiller811]

Yes! I garden for ALL of those reasons--my husband calls it my outdoor artist's canvas! And thank you for the Farmer's Table to help me know what to do with my harvest!

[@msdebbiep]

Today, up here in Canada, we just shared our first ripe tomato of the season - it mess a dwarf tomato, so tiny, but was so good. (I started the plants in a hydroponic system way back in March and planted them out in the GreenStalk last month after our last frost.) I will definitely be repeating this process next year.

[@pedepy]

When you’re wondering if new roots and refuge has dropped

[@elizabethlink3993]

💚 What a beautiful harvest, Jess! The garden looks so lush. 💚

[@debsenritchedrefuge603]

Always such a joy to hang out with you in your glorious garden, Jess! Looking forward to special time with you this coming week!

[@judygillespie3242]

My favorite cucumber is the muncher. Really crispy and flavorful.

[@deliciouscolours]

Looove the harvest videos!❤

[@AHomesteadingHustle]

Harvest day already!! Nice! I harvested radishes this week and was so pumped about it!!

[@HorseyGal4ever]

Your farm and gardens are so beautiful, you guy's have done a phenomenal job at building it up. Impressive, dear Jess and Miah!😍

[@TerrieAllred2023]

So happy for you that you are getting cukes this year. my struggle has been yellow squash. i love it, but I haven't been able to grow it in 3 years, and it's usually my most prolific veg. So crazy how that works.

[@MsBellsandy]

I don't seem to do too well with zucchini either. Dunno why. The vining squash variety worked better for me than the standard. I've gotten one lemon squash and one postal cucumber squash so far this year.

[@huertamipequenoeden9425]

All I could Say is woooow.

[@doinacampean9132]

Cut zucchini slices with the peeler and stick them in the dehydrator. Or maybe sun dry them (I never tried that)? OMG. Super delish. No oil, no salt, no nothing. Just pure zuke goodness. (Same goes for radishes, but I had to slice them with the knife, couldn't use the peeler, they're too small). I wish I had a wall sized dehydrator.

[@belieftransformation]

Great harvest & knowledge shared! Blessings to all 🤗🇨🇦

[@perfectlyimperfect2023]

Woke up from a nap and saw a new r&r video! Win! 🎉❤

[@jaclynfrank]

Loved this harvest!

[@julie-annepineau4022]

I love eating fresh from the garden, it just feels so much more nourishing knowing how clean and fresh it is. I hope my basil bush out soon. Cool, then hot and dry have left them a bit slow to take off. My scapes are coming in and scape pesto is amazing.

[@karenm5681]

Thanks for this,Jess. I enjoyed it.

[@CultivationWithChristy]

Looks great! My basil is finally taking off now that I've been able to prune it at least once.

[@growjoyfullyhomestead]

Bless you Jess❤

[@WelcometomyCapeCodlife]

A beautiful harvest!❤

[@heidiDonato]

nice never seen the silver cucumber i plant a small cucumber to do refrigerator pickles mine just are flowering.

[@janetsherman4589]

We are sweltering here in SE TN. My tomatoes are struggling. Hopefully the shape cloth will help.

[@mariezafonte6473]

Jess, we stuff the baby eggplants with garlic and pieces of cheese and cook in a tomato sauce. I picked my first basil today and am enjoying how devine it smells.

[@cathykillion6544]

Love watching your harvest your beautiful produce. Can’t wait for berry harvest

[@anasimental9791]

The light green zucchini is very popular in the north of Mexico 🇲🇽, I grew those every year here in central Kansas and I like to pick them up when they are small , they are delicious.

[@karincope3019]

My mom would grate and freeze zucchini on sheet trays then bag up , it went into everything to help bulk it up, make a pound of burger feed our family of 6, went j to cakes/squats and cookies we never knew , could you Grate squash and either freeze or freeze dry and add to everything ?

[@msmaddox2918]

Hi Jess! What an amazing harvest! Now I wish I had grown some eggplant this year! I love Spicy Laotian Eggplant with sticky rice or jasmine rice. It is so good!

[@deannarooff6031]

After your basil tea video I made a jar of basil mint tea. I have never done this and it is so wonderful!

[@deewinston5651]

Great harvest! Thank you for sharing Jess.❤️✝️🙏

[@salenakeyes300]

Dice your squash or zucchini, toss in flour and then freeze. Yes it is still "mushy" but think more hash browns or morels. Oven roast or oil in a saute pan, delicious!

[@WillowsDream]

Eggplant is great in ratatouille and you can also make fritters with them.

[@janenichols3880]

I’m in awe of your harvest! Wish I had such success here in Tucson! I will do better in my fall garden season. 110 degrees is challenging!❤Blessings!❤

[@user-zo9ph3px9q]

Lov your harvest. I’m curing onions, potatoes & garlic. Plus my volunteer salad tomatoes & peppers r growing up a storm🤗. Cukes & slicers , watermelons & gourds r starting to take off. Oh my gosh the peaches🫠

[@kathystarnes6744]

Awesome! Its so wonderful to be in the garden again!💚💚💚

[@LuvBritTV]

Love this video, in Canada we have a fairly short growing season, and basil is an annual. I am new to gardening, last year only did sweet peppers and green beans, but they were a success. Learned how to make pesto, it was great but I tried to grow it inside as it got colder and brought in these white flies I think you call them... what a disaster trying to get rid. So this year is my experiment year, learning that radishes don't like rich soil, and no you can't let your carrots go un-thinned! Also found out onions can stunt a bean's growth if grown too close... what a learning curve! Got beets and parsnips going too, and lettuce, Three or four Roma tomato plants and a dwarf Tiny Tim but I planted 3 of them in a window box type container, so far they look good, but I hope they'll survive this way!? Got some hot peppers started but not sure with our cold then hot then cool, then hot weather of late if they'll just never produce fruit. But I'm loving it and I'm 70 and alone so it keeps me moving! I plan to try learning to can with the tomatoes, bought the jars and kit and pray for me I don't give myself botulism! I did buy a book on it, and will follow the rules. Going to look at your other channel which I didn't know you had... you are an amazing young woman, and I love your accent! ♥

[@robingreany899]

Love watching you in your garden. ❤️

[@BuckHillFarm]

yeah your basil is awesome!! So glad your garden is so abundant, nice work!

[@jessicacross4268]

Love your channel and fun garden. I'm in the Columbia area. Would love it if you did more "what to plant when" videos... Or seasonal garden task videos for this area.

[@teriharman566]

Such a beautiful garden. Love your harvest.

[@escapingtinman]

I love this ! So helpful as the abundance comes in 😍

[@francestaylor9156]

14:00 - I ALWAYS DO THAT TOO! XD I always try to calculate how much it would cost to buy everything I picked. And it's all organic too.

[@donnamays24]

I would be putting up pesto with all that gorgeous basil! Great haul!

[@sarahslovely08]

Beautiful garden. So full and wonderful ❤

[@dhansonranch]

Great harvest!!! I leave my zucchini get very large because they will keep on the shelf longer - and besides, you can do more baking with them...plus Zucchini Marmelade...so good and it's really good on vanilla ice cream too! LOL. I also pickled some zucchini spears last year and they turned out quite nice. Last year, I did a full monetary analysis of what I harvested from the garden - it confirmed what I thought - saves big money....added benefits aside. Great video Ma'am!

[@homesteadglamourlifestyle]

I mix all my basils together to dry too. 😊

[@claudiaschneider357]

Made your basil tea yesterday's. Amazingly cooling.. Can't thank you enough. Can't believe I never thought if that.

[@GrandmaSandy]

Oh my God it is so hot. I can bring Breeze here in Southern California. Get out of the car yet so far. I love watching you get out there and get it all done. You are amazing.

[@francestaylor9156]

Yah I gotta do that with my basil plants. Some of them are getting pretty tall. Picked a bunch of cucumbers today and yesterday. Mostly because I keep wanting the cucumber plant to produce. Been super busy with taking care of kids. I need to process the cucumbers asap.

[@deniseflick1355]

Thank you for the video Jess!! I am so over the top excited cuz I'm going to Iowa next weekend to see you!!! I'm a huge fan and have been for years!!! Love your channel!!!

[@WS-by5cl]

Wait wait wait… she’s coming to Iowa? Where? I live in Iowa. 🤩 I missed a few videos, apparently! 😬

[@karencoyle3011]

I used to love harvesting with my wheelbarrow or my 4-wheeled garden cart, even for relatively small amounts. Those darn baskets get so heavy!

[@thegrowinggardener]

Have you ever preserved your basil as pesto? That’s my favorite thing to use it for. I’ve made a years batch of pesto and frozen it in ice cubes to use when I need. We love it on chicken, fish, pasta, pizza, BLTs chicken sandwiches 😋

[@TraciesLocalLearnings]

Blessings

[@debbevasquez9945]

Just ordered your 2 books. I look forward to reading through them.

[@emilygardner]

love these videos!

[@samanthahoos9827]

❤ Great haul! I am dehydrating herbs daily for seasoning and tea blends, but a few weeks out from harvesting potatoes. I love your basil! I’m hopeful mine self seeds for next year, but doubt it cause chickens & wild birds are regular visitors in the off gardening season. 😊

[@zoeshorthouse7913]

Wow! A much better year for cucumbers than last year.

[@kristinem9171]

It wont be less pricey after dehydrated, a ounce dried go for around $5 in the spice aisle of the grocerys store! Spices and herbs really stack up when you cook all your own food and season everything!

[@hollyu48]

Jess try freeze drying grated squash it’s an easy add to baking , meatloaf, soup, chili etc. gets some extra nutrients into every day foods

[@Junkinsally]

Love the garden haul videos! I grew the long white eggplant a couple of years ago and made pickled eggplant and it’s fantastic. The recipe is on the Ball Canning recipe website.

[@TheCleverlibrarian]

I love ratatouille !!! I wait till the summer every year

[@JB-ks2wh]

Jess you are "out of this world" great, smart, sweet etc.... You hit right on que to what I need answers to & pretty much you always do and have 😊 be careful in this heat ❤️💜🙏

[@offmyrockerretreat]

I just went and watched your Basil Tea video you mentioned. I am going to make it now. Thank you.

[@michiganhighfiveliving]

Try Kousa Mahshi (Lebanese Stuffed Zucchini) those light colored small greenish gray zucchini are what the Middle eastern cuisine use to stuff with ground beef or ground lamb some spices and basamati rice. The sauce is tomato based with lemon and some seasoning. You love baba Ghonoush. This is from the same region. great way to use the zucchini. I slice, dice and shred zucchini and summer squash and then freezedry it. I use a lot of the shredded zucchini. It can be added to meatloaf, soup even burgers and no one knows there is a bit more nutrition . I use the shredded Zucchini to add to spaghetti sauce to thicken the sauce. I also add small cubes of freeze dried egglant to my sauce. Middle eastern food is fresh and interesting. We love it.

[@clucktowerarkansas8172]

My Armenian White cucumbers cross pollinated with my Japanese Climbing cucumbers and I got franken fruit. Next year...only one type at a time.

[@francestaylor9156]

Absolutely nothing beats the fresh tomato sauce I make from the garden. I thought the Italian certified San Marzano canned tomatoes were good.... Nah. The tomatoes I grow from my garden make the sweetest tastiest tomato sauce I've ever had. 100% organic. I know everything I put into the soil. I know how often I watered them. I grew the plants from seed. I don't know if it tastes better because I did all that but I think it's because it actually really does taste better fresh and fully ripe from the garden. My husband is really hoping we have a good haul this year so I can make more tomato sauce. We ran out earlier this year in late winter and it just hasn't been the same since haha.

[@tamarasteinmeier9272]

You should try making red curry eggplants with the little ones! It's so good over rice!

[@elisabethmellinger5106]

You can add the eggplants to your ratatouille as well 😊.

[@bridgetmcgowan4584]

I’ve got a small pot of beans and greens cooking. Even if it’s 500* outside doesn’t bother me in the slightest. Sometimes I’ll make polenta and plop some in the center of a bowl. Today I’m going to add cooked pasta to a bowl. Your cucumbers look so beautiful. Enjoy all deliciousness from your harvests.

[@susichristianson3395]

I love to hear about your simple meals. I watched 1/2 of this video of you talking about squash. I had nothing planned for dinner. So I went out, harvested a several perfect sized zucchini, sliced them and some very small red onions. Sautéed them in some good pastured raised butter with Celtic sea salt and semi-blackened them. Ate it while I finished watching you harvest goodies from the garden. I know that wouldn’t fly with your large family but for me it was delicious, fast and simple.😊Can you tell me the difference between zucchini and squash? 🤷🏼‍♀️I always thought it was all squash, zucchini, patty pan, yellow crookneck, spaghetti, acorn, butternut etc. But I constantly hear gardeners say they’re growing squash and zucchini. As always, from CA🏖️take care.

[@vvbbvvbb2595]

Harvest timeeee🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@KK7THK]

Beautiful garden! I was super slow getting ours plants this year so I don't have anything to harvest probably for another month- but we're headed to Idaho in a few days to see you, I can't wait!

[@katiea.584]

1 min 4 comments and almost 100 views. 💯 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽❣️

[@techs120project]

Hey!

[@gelwood99]

Girl, my favorite is Silver Slicer! The tree rats, and squirrels, dug up my cukes and left the Chinese Jade plants and only one silver slicer. I think I am going to pull up a few of the China Jade so I have room to plant more Silver Slicers!!!

[@lisamaria5867]

The light green zucchini is called Turkish zucchini here in Germany ❤

[@stevensmall3749]

I have found that french frying eggplant is wonderful.....just like potatoes.....

[@erikas974]

Jess love your idea🥒🥤😅 cucumber with a straw to suck up water🫂 you are a 💎❤

[@gypsygirl731]

Great video.I got Hudson valley seeds for Shanghai green baby bok choy, certified organic fun package they have. I I’ve in Hudson Valley. I might try silver slicers❤lovely purple eggplants.

[@Notable2Nikki]

I spiralize, blanch, and freeze my zuchinni and squash. I quickly sauté it from frozen and it doesn't get mushy. That's how I use the vast majority of my squash from my little garden.

[@growjoyfullyhomestead]

I'm so sad I'm not going to be able to see you in northern Idaho even though I will be in town up there! I just don't have the money! I was really looking forward to it but sometimes we don't get what we want.

[@shegrowshegrowswegrow8970]

Thunderstorms here in NY I would rather be in the garden