Harvesting an accidental crop - A week in the garden

This week we are finishing the harvest for two crops, one of which we did not plan on growing. Our potato harvest was a bit of a bust, but from our mulch we grew some barley (thank you for the correction) that turned into a nice little haul.
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Lea van der Eems
Apartado 001144
EC Zona Industrial Castelo Branco
6001 - 901 Castelo Branco
Portugal
Music: Epidemic Sound
New here? My name is Lea and I live with my partner Maarten and our toddler Puck on our land in Central Portugal. We left the rat race in the Netherlands in 2018 and moved south in our old campervan. Two years ago we bought land in Portugal that had been abandoned for several decades. After lots of hard work we now live in a beautiful yurt and keep ourselves busy growing our own vegetables as well as producing olive oil, wine and honey on a small scale. This channel documents all the different jobs we have to do, and sometimes some nice footage of this beautiful country we now call home. Want to see more updates? Don't forget to subscribe!
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[@gulsumdave5711]

I’m no expert, and I’m sure that you have done your research, but those grains look more like barley or wheat rather than oats.

[@ingeleonora-denouden6222]

That's what I wanted to say too. Barley, not Oats.

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

You're right! Upon further inspection I think it's barley.

[@timeflysintheshop]

It goes well in soup!

[@gulsumdave5711]

@@ourportuguesehomestead So perhaps rather than eating it you could make beer😉

[@evelinebronsveld1559]

@@ourportuguesehomestead I think it also could be rye, Rogge as barley is a rounder kernel and lighter of colour

[@jennyjohnson9012]

Puck is like a little fairy, so cute. I love the way she helps. Love your videos x

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

In the food today, very simple: Potato Onion Tomatoes Oregano Lots of olive oil! I promise to write a cookbook sometime in the future ;)

[@carmenrichardson1419]

Hello from So. Florida, It's such a pleasure watching Puk growing into a curious and mindful child as she trys to help and you show her how lovenly and patiently. These beautiful childhood memories and lessons, she will never forgot. Love and blessings to this family who are working so hard carving out a living. Much success in all your endeavors.

[@ChristineKelly1000]

Puck looks like such an expert rubbing the earth from the potatoes. She is going to be such a hard worker just like her parents.

[@maureen8930]

I-love watching your channel it’s so nice to see how you do things and your two little sweethearts are so very precious 👍👍💕💕❤️

[@julibeswick-valentine3690]

That is barley you have harvested there. I am in the middle of harvesting 25 acres on my farm. Oats do not have a dense sead head, they hang on their own narrow stalk off the main stalk. It is good in soups etc.

[@brigidw9712]

To get the grain out, I'd try putting the harvest in a bag (like a potato or rice bag) then you lay it on the ground and hit it over and over again with a stick (about baseball bat size or a bit smaller). Remember to turn the bag over to get all the grain released. To separate the chaff from the grains, have 2 baskets/ buckets/ tubs, find a good place with wind and pour from one container into another. Lift the grain high enough before you pour for the wind to blow the chaff away. I hope this helps.

[@sa9861]

From a “neglected” patch of the garden you sure got a great crop of tatties 🥔🥔🥔 Your vids are always a pleasure ~ Bo sure came with a full crop of hair, and what a beautiful smile he has. Puk doing her bit for the world - she is a joy. Best wishes to you all, from Tasmania Australia 🐨🦘

[@lancedaniels]

Thanks for posting and sharing.

[@tlc1718]

They say you must put potatoes up for week to 10 days .please read about. Luv you're little big homested hard work without children, yall are fabulously doing this with little ones (; thanks for sharing with all of us 🤟🙏👍👌👣👣i was watching again, oh yall got this ,they been resting in the ground lol (: im sorry i keep me thinking to me self lol just an old grandmother here send big xxoo's for all of you 🙏👌👍🤟👣👣👣👣

[@johnsonr9]

If you can turn the chickens in there they can clean up any barley you missed.

[@liesbethvissia8878]

Hallo… Jullie pas ontdekt op KZbin en ga op een regenachtige dag alles terug kijken… Respect voor jullie 💜

[@josemanueldacostadiogo5574]

Nice, it's life taking what was oferd, carry on with the good job happy rest of this week all the best for all of you.

[@moniquekessel4379]

Whole oats are super healthy food❤😀

[@axelSixtySix]

Hey there ! I love your channel. You were so close to the traditional way ! Prior to remove the straw chips, you wand to thresh the wheat ears with a grain flail (two pieces of wood linked by a rope, like a nunchaku but with a longer piece of wood at one end which preserve your back). Then let's two people take the sheet by the corners and toss the seeds in the air. The straws are blowing in the wind and the heavy seeds fall down on the sheet mostly free of straw chips. It was the traditional way in western Europe. In Africa women use the same gesture but use large trays - which can be operate by one single person - instead of a sheet.

[@seriouslyjoking2]

What wonderful information. Thank you for sharing. Have a blessed day!

[@jenniferbringman9054]

Yes, I used a large tray for my cosmos seed gathering. Threshing the seeds from the shafts. It came out very clean and ready for storage after I let it dry in the sun.

[@metamud8686]

15:45 now you now why winnowing should really be called wind-owing ;-)

[@KnittingEmporiumDesigns]

You could find more potatoes if you use a large gardening fork to lift the soil.

[@kelvinleonidas7547]

Hello Knitting, how are you?

[@fava7753]

Hence the old saying . . Sorting the wheat from the chaff . This is how it was done in , olde england . It was thrown into the air by hand with hay forks . Have fun . .

[@filipar949]

Puck is gonna be a chef 👩‍🍳

[@radmilamiljanic5977]

Oh, yes, dried tomatoes, preserved in pure olive oil:))) p.s. Pipi is still fascinating!!!!

[@milcotto4153]

That was cool to see. Oat is very healthy to eat. I use oat as cereal, as porridge and I use oatmeall in my breads. Maks 10 percent since oatmeal is gluten free. I think it gives the bread a good taste and it is like you get full faster. Your little girl is so eager to help. Nice to see. She is going to learn a lot from this.

[@jvis6712]

Lea try frying potatoes with onions and grated carrots. When ready, mix in parsley chopped with garlic. Very tasty ;)

[@VietnamWalkingTV]

Great share. I love your garden. Thanks my friend. Have a nice day!

[@sgrvtl7183]

I love putting barley in my soups!

[@iefkevanschaick1548]

beautyfull family,you are living like we all should.

[@victorgoncalves2442]

Well done. Looks wheat . You did like the old people use to do .They used to pick an area of the hill , that was windy , flattened a bit ( called 'eira' ) and smash with a wooden tool (malho) , to separate the seeds (oat , beans, wheat , etc), then you allow the wind to do the rest , like you did with the bag . I still remember my grandparents doing that , and we still have the place where they used to do it . Stay cool and well .

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

I was just thinking would be nice to get our hands on a malho, maybe we can find one at the second hand market sometime. Cindy has a beautiful stone where they clearly used to do this job, I'm not sure if they ever did it here.

[@nancilycett9360]

How amazing to watch your family threshing grain in the same place and manner that ancient people did thousands of years ago! Do you still have two kitties? Personally, I love the chicken and kitty cat footage!

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

We have another that will make an appearance soon :)

[@kelvinleonidas7547]

Hello, how are you?

[@klalthazuala7458]

Lovely family 🥰

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

Thank you 😊

[@tomduane1960]

just a suggestion if next time you grow wheat or barley cut it at the bottom then place the cover on the ground and beat the grain with a branch its easier to separate the grain

[@RuralSpanishRetirement]

I think the old-fashioned way to winnow is to put the wheat/barley on a taut sheet, each take a corner and bounce it 😃 the wind takes the chaff and the grain falls back on to the sheet. If you ever do it again 👍 fun project.

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

That was our first attempt but we found that we lost a lot of grain because it is hard to aim the launch consistently. I.e. it requires more practice than this method 😂.

[@RuralSpanishRetirement]

@@ourportuguesehomestead yes, I guess if you're doing an entire field by the end you'd be pretty good at it 😃🤣 enjoyed watching the video 👍

[@maxfella]

Puck is my hero, she already helps in the garden and kitchen!

[@margiesteininger3344]

to pollinate a flower, you only need to rub a flower over the other - you could use one flower to do more than one other flower. you can get more pumpkins that way. also, i would pitchfork an dig deep for potatoes in that patch, you may find more deep down you did not know you had. just a couple of suggestions - no criticism. my father was a farmer and my mother and excellent gardener

[@PxssyGalore]

Awesome video!! I like that you guys are real. I just assumed that you guys were American, until you started talking to your daughter. Then I was like, What did she say? That is so cool!!! Maybe in one of your upcoming videos you could teach us a few words? Like "Hello" and "Good Bye".

[@georgie4808]

That’s barley, not oats. Oats have drooping grains off the top of stem. You could pick the grain heads and Chuck them into the chickens for them to thresh and eat, save your time for other things. Check out some videos on syntropic agriculture, save water and effort, let the plants do the work. Mixing up taller plants with shorter ones so they look after each other and nourish one another, and generate moist mulch which will begin growing fungi by using wood chips. The fungi in the soil feeds nutrients to the plants. Worth planting a few poplar trees amongst the garden just for the shade, branches you can harvest for mulch and because they encourage growth of surrounding plants when pruned for mulch. Great to see the garden getting going and it providing food. It’s a long slow evolution. Little Puk is clearly a clever little cookie and getting the hang of it all.

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

It was a fun activity for us, so we didn't mind :) We'll be doing the perennial beds in a more food forest style of planting.

[@tamarahimmelstrand8985]

Anther time you might like to leave the peels on the potatoes when you make that dish. The peels have so much nutrients in them and it's just a matter of getting used to them.

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, depends on what I feel like :)

[@bobbybaldeagle702]

I always save my small potatoes to use as my seed potatoes next year. Last year all I had was a few small potatoes so I boxed them up and stuck them under a shelf in my garage and forgot all about them until my son came to help me get all my stuff together and he moved the small box and there was potato shoots growing out of it... LOL... So we planted them late just because I just physically couldn't get out there any sooner. Almost everything got in late but we've had such an unusual spring and summer everything is doing real good. Just my tomatoes are a few weeks behind my neighbors so she gives me her ripe ones now and I'll give her mine latter... LOL... As for the gain you were blessed with, my grandmother use to grind it into flour with a special stone and a stone shallow bowl past down for years no one knew where it came from and I sure wish I knew where it went. But no one in the family remembers what ever happen to it. But I'm sure someone out here can tell you just what to use... LOL... Great video thanks for sharing... You kids be blessed in Jesus name... BBE

[@Kelleena1on1]

What a nice life your children will have on this land many blessings

[@johnpierce2390]

You can use a Q-tip to do that works well👍

[@brianpetersen2364]

Looks fun, like a food treasure hunt 🤗

[@steveday4797]

My dad always used a feather to pollenate flowers, it worked

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

Interesting, never heard that before!

[@filomenamarques4012]

Looking forward to learning more about what you are planning for that perennial area.

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

I’m thinking lots of berries 🤔

[@filipar949]

OMG Bo is too cute 🥰

[@afrlala3593]

Amazing amount of corn for the little that was planted.💕🌷🙏

[@lisanowakow3688]

A large flat basket would help to toss it repeatedly up in the air and catch it in the basket.

[@nealchristensen1793]

The homestead is Flourishing this year loads of food ,fun ,family we love your video’s and your choice of music too !

[@moniquehuijskens1950]

Hopelijk komen er veel dikke pompoenen aan. Ben benieuwd naar de haver vlokken. De kindjes zijn schattig, maar ik zou mama af en toe toch een lieve oppas gunnen...

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

Die hebben we ook beschikbaar als we behoefte hebben aan een peuterloos dagje en na de zomer gaat ze lekker naar school ;)

[@sheilanichols3647]

Very interesting!

[@jonathanleonard1152]

Winnowing such a nice family activity.

[@karenzaller9659]

I eat steel cut oats. You could probably use a food processor to cut the oats then boil water pour over oats and let sit overnight. They are yummy!

[@mariobranco123]

Really like your videos :) PS: keep it clean near your house.... fire season !

[@sarapulford5957]

🇬🇧 Strip the leaves off the male flower first. And it might be easier to put your barley through sieve ?

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

Yes that's what I realized while doing it, as you could see ;)

[@sa9861]

ps: Loved your “recipe of the day”. Yes, a cook book would be great when you have the time …

[@missfitz5892]

We got potatoes the past 2 years even though we didn't plant them, they grow so well

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

We also have some volunteers from last year, I'm sure we will have some in this patch once it starts raining again.

[@emmamakuzva3028]

LOL I am from africa, get what is called a winnowing basket. Its handy at a farm like yours. Thank me later

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

Thanks, I'll see if we can find one here :)

[@strawberries1411]

Always nice to have new and unexpected extra's.. sure you will think of some smarter way to water the staple crops with less efforts.. maybe the gully system, you already have with the other bed but now with one entrance way and let it just run around all the beds? They use it a lot in the east, just redirect the water with some planks? Dutch people are smart with water management/engineering lol ...sure you will think of something

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

Usually potatoes are grown in spring here so that you don't have to water them much, but the first batch we put in for that time got flooded. We'll try again next year and see what might work better.

[@strawberries1411]

@@ourportuguesehomestead next year will be a very good year I'm sure.. you learn to understand the land and weather, the kids have grown bigger..I hope Maarten gets the pond going..et voilà

[@timeflysintheshop]

Your soil looks so dry. ☹️. We have had a very wet year so far in Ohio. It has been hard to keep up with the grass, but I did get a nice crop of garlic this year. We are also blessed with a volunteer crop of cherry tomatoes this year! They sprouted at the bottom of the porch stairs. Someone must have picked some tomatoes out of their dish and dropped them there. With the warm and wet weather, they are going to produce lots! The first ones are full size but not ripe yet.

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

Yes it gets very hot and dry here in summer, that's why we're working on our watermanagement. But it's a natural part of the climate here, olive trees actually need to be dry throughout summer otherwise the roots can start rotting. Congrats on the surprise tomato plant, I love when that happens :)

[@dannyray1950]

I used our old farm truck to dry tomatoes for several years. It didn't run, and sat in the sun. If your caravan is not being used, give it a try. It's easy to moderate the temperature with the windows. Just a thought.

[@mathithomson3516]

Daar verstaan ek toe sommer die Nederlands ook. Aaartappels groei nie goed by my nie. Te veel kleigrond.

[@LindaSchreiber]

Leah the bee ;) Also, I would suspect there are many more potatoes, deeper. Maybe it's a soil difference. But you probably will have a self-starting potato patch next year. Not a bad thing.... Pretty good barley haul! Pot barley, as we call it over here, is a great addition to stews, soups. And pre-cooked, you can include it in everything! One obnoxious granny question.... Why are you peeling those lovely potatoes? Never mind. It may be just a personal taste thing, or a way to get Pook happy to eat them :)

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

I don't think there will be.... The soil is really hard now so I think they won't be able to go down much. But if we have a bunch of volunteers this fall I wouldn't mind. Usually I don't bother peeling but with this I prefer the potatoes peeled :)

[@carlieamado6153]

Ohhh the cherry tomatoes reminded me of my 2019 harvest they just kept popping almost 100lbs of cherry tomatoes. I also got some potatoes by accident when I tried to propagate roses😁. Got an easy stress free recipe for y’all to try Chop 🥔 , 🍅 , 🧅 , 🍄 , pumpkin, 🍆 , 🧄 and 🫑 add olive oil and oregano, throw that in the oven and boom magic is done.

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

Nice! I'll try that sometime :)

[@anthonysaltwell719]

hi what do you do with things you grow ?????

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

@@anthonysaltwell719 we usually eat it :)

[@hubertwebb9869]

Have you thought about digging some swales to help with watering for those times when life keeps you too busy?

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

Swales don’t really do much when it doesn’t rain for a few months... Our channel system kind of works the same though.

[@prakashmallhotra6729]

these cherry tomatoes are really very nice and fresh

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

The taste is also excellent :)

[@pagegreer5081]

So you haven't shown us the grapes on the new puchasesd property. Just wondering. The nice simple potatoe tomatoes meal looked wonderful.⁰

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

Maarten has been doing the bee checks there but we haven't been able to film there much, hope to do so before the harvest in September

[@SamSung-ww3rp]

I see it as a win, win! You did what you could and as you say, life sometimes changes things. You got some potatoes.

[@seriouslyjoking2]

When I was learning to compost & use it in the garden, I would find a volunteer squash or tomato plant with my Roses. It was so fun finding & figuring out what the plant was. The grain was such a wonderful surprise! Btw, what a lovely way to learn you received what I sent you! You made my day. Happy that they are being used. Have a wonderful day!!!

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

I didn't realize they came from you! There's a man's name on the box, could that be right? I'm hoping to send out thank you cards this week so was going to use that address, if it's not right please send me an email :)

[@seriouslyjoking2]

@@ourportuguesehomestead My husband mailed it & it never occurred to me that he wrote his name on the box until after I saw the video! It took so long to get there. I think I got the Thank You on your video!

[@seriouslyjoking2]

@@ourportuguesehomestead It was precious to see Puck using her hand trowel. Now, she can feel like a grown-up cause she is using the same tool as mom.

[@AnneHeyns]

Dankie vir die tip om pampoene te pollunate! Geen bye hier nie so geen pampoene groei.

[@AnneHeyns]

Oh gosh! I'm so sorry I didn't even realize I wrote in my native language- Afrikaans - I hope you did understand though... don't know where was my mind... lol

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

@@AnneHeyns My parents used to speak Afrikaans to each other so I do :)

[@jan9562]

That was fun!

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

It really was!

[@adamadypopescu5318]

Hello there..... the "accidental grains" that you harvesting is a very good food for chickens :))

[@francesfritticci6212]

Could make some oat flour and then some bread oatmeal cookies

[@marlenebos6140]

Great you're sent some gifts. Do you have a public Amazon wish list? Then people can choose to buy something from it.

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

Yes we’re always very grateful :) We prefer to not support Amazon in any way, as their company does not align with our values. I have yet to find an alternative for the wishlist function. So for now we just let people decide they think we need. Seeds are always appreciated

[@marlenebos6140]

@@ourportuguesehomestead Thank you for the explanation. Trust you will find an alternative.

[@helenm4357]

you could add oats to stews like barley

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

Also a good idea :)

[@LordOneHoop]

Leuk zo'n meisje wat graag wil helpen.

[@adnanjaradat825]

Wonderful 🌹🌹🌹

[@nelliefarr1540]

if it is barley you can make soup with it there is also a drink they make from barley

[@prakashmallhotra6729]

climate and vegetation is quite same as india 🇮🇳 can mangoes grow here . papaya and oranges 🍊 can also be grown

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

We can do oranges, we have a tree in the vineyard and are trying to get a few growing on the land here. Mangoes and papaya don't like frost, which we do get here, so maybe once we can give them some more protection

[@roheelaayaz3990]

It luks like white.u have to grind it n than make a dough fr flat bread

[@rianabrand]

Maak jullie eigen ziften van kippen wire!

[@veronicabalfourpaul2288]

Sweet. It's an ongoing thing, growing food. I wonder if you have got used to using an enxada? such a useful tool. Eating potatoes fresh from the ground is not supposed to be good, but those had probably dried in situ.

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

Yeah Maarten wanted to use the enxada for this but couldn't find it...

[@schweizermadel3810]

Love your channel! Thanks for sharing! Please dont put your smartphone near your children. Since one can not see or sense it, one keeps forgetting, that these items produce a very strong electromagnetic field which is causing health and fertility problems, which worsen from generation to generation. Thanks for taking this into account.

[@davetrev4328]

Its awned wheat not barley or oats

[@hannahtheherb]

If your pumpkin plant already has a fruit isn't that an indication that pollination has occurred? Or do plants need continuous pollination even after they fruit? Thanks

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

No not yet, it still gets a flower that needs to be pollinated. If for some reason there is no pollination from a male flower to the female flower (the one on the pumpkin) then the pumpkin will die off. With enough bees around this is not really an issue usually. I watched this very good video on it this week: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYKlimh8a8ytqKc

[@hannahtheherb]

@@ourportuguesehomestead OK cool, thanks, :) I'll watch that video. 👍

[@stshnie]

@@ourportuguesehomestead I watched all of that video but I didn’t see him mention pollination. But what you say is correct: www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/squash/pollinate-squash-by-hand.htm I’ve never seen a tiny squash fail to grow but I guess it depends on whether there are bees around. Apparently it can take 12 visits (by bees) for the pollination to work so if you don’t want to take the risk, do it by hand - you learn something new every day! Thanks.

[@philipbutler6608]

Congratulations you have discovered what our ancestors did 10,000 years ago. Which enabled them to abandon Hunter Gathering and spread farming from Anatolia all the way to the British Isles.

[@marysemazeres1430]

its not oat, but wheat or barley, ? oat is more longuer and not the same colour. in the field too, I feel et was not oat, you can kep some to grow, this time, intentionnelly, in rows?

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

Maybe we’ll grow some more in the future. For grain I’m really liking sorghum

[@kazzicup]

The soil where the potatoes are seems dry.

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

It is because it hasn’t rained for quite some time now.

[@kazzicup]

@@ourportuguesehomestead I hope you get rain soon. It seems the soil needs rain.

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

@@kazzicup I would love some rain :) Probably won’t get any until September, maybe even October. But that’s normal here, the olive trees don’t like too much rain over summer.

[@gautamtumma7533]

How do you deal with snakes in your farm

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

We don't really have many snakes here, and none that are dangerous

[@rasputindasilva858]

The olive oil is from your trees or you bought it in the supermarket ?

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

From our trees :) So most of this meal was from our land, except the onions. But I just bought onion seeds so will be next year!

[@Jesuscger]

@@ourportuguesehomestead Or a soft tiny brush...

[@punjabseth260]

hermosa👌😍

[@evelinebronsveld1559]

Dat ziet er meer uit als gerst dan haver

[@ingeleonora-denouden6222]

Ja, gerst, in het Engels Barley

[@elisabethwieser8198]

Oats? - I think barley

[@ingeleonora-denouden6222]

I think so too

[@duartemonteiro7463]

😊💪💪💪

[@helenm4357]

no links today

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

They're in the description box, which link were you looking for?

[@tomduane1960]

thats not oats its wheat

[@edu-videos-rrn6998]

You people don't even know how to cut vegetable and cook.. Sorry for that..

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

You don't even know how to say something to really offend me...

[@wandakerlinlyngdoh4965]

You're peeling the potatoes way too much.

[@seriouslyjoking2]

The peels can go in the compost, though.

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

Matter of taste I think, usually I don't bother but for this dish I prefer peeled.

[@hjkayani1191]

in two year you didn't plan your land its very hearting you are ruining it

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

Why do you think we are ruining it?

[@hjkayani1191]

@@ourportuguesehomestead its beautiful like you sis but facts is that you dont plan it its just like uneven messy ground not farmhouse type even you dont clear the land from bushes even you didn't make fields

[@hjkayani1191]

@@ourportuguesehomestead your land is so beautiful plz make it more cozy like yourself

[@ourportuguesehomestead]

I suggest you watch some videos from the very beginning to see how we started.

[@hjkayani1191]

@@ourportuguesehomestead Oook its my pleasure