The Peak Of Freshness || Picking to Preserving

[@APB113]

Have you considered the supreme education your kids are receiving on a daily basis and whats amazing is they receive it and enjoy it with open arms. No educational establishment could even hope to come close in teaching them these life skills, so well done you deserve to be congratulated.

[@TheHollarHomestead]

Thank you! That is one of our biggest driving forces. We thinks it’s really important they learn these skills!

[@alisonshanahan9529]

@@TheHollarHomestead Life skills are underrated, schools today teach so much rubbish, learning to live, work, feed yourself, build things, make things, animal husbandry, all are things we should know how to do. The majority never learn, they stagnate. Your children will have wonderful lives, they will find life easier to live with all they do and experience. Great parenting 👍.

[@littletownhomestead]

Love how you guys made a home and homestead at the same time. The way you guys do from garden to preserving and to the table makes me proud of people your age.

[@pinkythechihuahua3156]

Wow. I never thought of how old Meg and Ben are. I have 4, 44, 42, 41 and 37. I kinda see them as still KIDS. Yeah, they are doing themselves proud. Kinda...KEEPER OF THE OLD WAYS!

[@littletownhomestead]

@@pinkythechihuahua3156 That is the truth only wish more young people would see that.

[@kebergify]

"I GOTTA ROCK!" Miss Buggie is just a busy lil bee. I adore her spirit & hearing her talk, you just are hearing her personality shine. Just a joy to watch.

[@milkandcookyz]

This is actually the first channel ever that I give a thumbs up before even watching the video

[@charlenefoster6779]

Nothing better than fresh from the garden food. Canned and preserved for freshness. During the winter you are always grateful you did this.

[@tinakarp3996]

Meg... it is so hard to believe you are the mother of teenage boys! You look so adorable in that dress. You guys are just rocking the garden and getting things done!! Love it. 😊

[@maggieschuttler1726]

Buggies little voice saying “too many” is so adorable!!

[@OurIntrovertedHomestead]

My heart truly enjoys watching the kids growing up before our eyes, especially Miss. Buggie! She is truly her mother's daughter, as she's going to be a force in the kitchen! Love and prayers from Southern California 🙏 ❤️!

[@Cherie5353]

She is going to be canning green beans by herself at 5 years old. Beautiful family! So proud for you all. ❤️❤️❤️

[@sandyc6569]

😊👍

[@normacoplin4102]

I firmly believe that the good feeling you get from 'picking, canning/preserving' your own foods is EXACTLY how we are supposed to feel. It is our reward for our labor....and a blessing from God. ❤️

[@sharonbrown2352]

Meg, love your dress. I wear the maxi length dresses a lot- they are cooler in the summer. It's potato palooza here. Been canning them all week long. All of your children are amazing. I love seeing them all helping.

[@materesa8008]

I agree! 💯

[@simoneconsciousobserver3105]

I watch every video. I love seeing the kids and parents barefoot and mamma's wearing dresses, working in the garden.

[@momofjstk]

One year I had great bean plants, but no beans until the days got cooler, and then WHAM I had them coming out my ears. So just keep checking in September!

[@kimberlyscrivner9373]

I love you allowing Buggy to help you. She will never remember learning how to do those things. They will just always be second nature for her.

[@esthers9140]

Buggie sounds like my 20 month old grandson...he is EVERYWHERE 😍..I try to take him.a few times a week but he sure wears his 60 year old Nana out. Your harvest is beautiful!

[@lanyrogers5707]

My favorite couple. I missed you yesterday but I love that you enjoyed a day with friends. Your hard work pays off, the garden has been a blessing.

Wow, Buggy is just talking up a storm! Nearly full sentences too. It's like when she started walking... one day, suddenly she was off running! Like magic. 🙂

[@Bex-rg8pj]

I remember helping my mom can at Buggy’s age. My mom has passed now and it brings me fond memories to see you passing it on❤️

[@marieparks5674]

My grandkids all remember sitting on the porch swing and snapping beans

[@sharoncochran8508]

Loved watching the kids help you "put up" green beans! Buggie is adorable! Brings back memories!

[@JoJoDragonslayer]

Little hands learning life skills is a beautiful sight to see 🙂

[@theresaakin2284]

Your kids will be able to tell they actually helped prepping with mom to begin the process of canning/ preserving the bounty. Sweet Miss Itty Bitty can tell every one she started when she wasn't even two . Great job. Learning skills for your kids when they find themselves needing to fend for themselves for their own future families.

[@jeannettethorsby7085]

I enjoy watching all your videos so very much. Your living the dream of a healthy good life. Your children are so well behaved and eager to help when you need it. Sure I know that may change. Teenage years lol. But now their awesome. 😊 All that you grow gets stored for use in the winter or used as feed. I love the down to earth attitudes you both have. Thank you for being yourselves. I 🥰 love it!!!

[@dorisgrainger9692]

Nothing like going to the garden and eating a smorgasbord as you go. 😆

[@colliecoform4854]

Because my garden suffered a set back due to the heat, drought and critters I am now back in gardening mode. My garden has made a come back. The heat broke,a little fertilizer, some rain and it is now producing again with more on the way.

[@arlenejohnson3825]

Been watching you for the last couple of years, love your family! You have such a great one!

[@sandyc6569]

😊👍

[@dorriwaldera3081]

Being empty nesters now (used to have 5 kids home) I have to learn to down size what I grow. I still tend to grow and put up enough food for all 8 of us! And know that feeling of accomplishment, especially in winter when you have food to feed your family that you grew! Thanks for sharing your journey!

[@blueangelsfan4072]

Glad to see you guys taking time out and having a good time with your friends. Luv seeing your surprise visit from the kitty, hope they're earning their keep 😉. 🌻🍀🦋🕊🐾🐾♻️

[@pjmoody]

Great to see the kids helping, and wearing a hat! Thanks for sharing another fantastic episode.

[@lindal5303]

I'm glad Meg has Ben and the kids to help. I do it by myself, planting, mowing, weeding, harvesting and preserving. It's a lot of work, but worth it! I love getting started in spring...and mowing it down in fall, lol🥰

[@LastChanceTinyHouse]

Most days, I watch a pretty fair amount of creator's Vlogs and look for what I call, "Little Acts of Genius." I see so many video's that when one comes along that really stands out I just have to talk about it, and write it down for future use. In April my wife and I plan to go on the great rubber traps search for land that speaks to us and inspires us to create a homestead like so many others I've seen and follow, like yours. So when you coiled that square wire into a round box and filled it with wood chips, and all manor of compostable materials, and put it in the chicken coup to let your chickens do the work to create super rich mulch, I knew I was seeing an act of genius. So thanks for that. I watch so many video's and it's made me see that a creator can make 300 video's and in all of it only have one or two acts of genius and that makes it all worth the time. So when we finally find that land that speaks to us, I'll be featuring those same creators in my own youtube channel. And I'm thinking of calling it Little Acts of Genius. On a different note: Thanks Meg, for the detailed look at canning, I've never done it and the way it's videoed and discussed on y'all channel makes me feel like I'm learning a valuable skill.

[@loritanner4478]

Last year I had so many green and yellow and purple beans. That I was trying to find new ways to can them. So I started putting different spice/herb blends that I had in with the beans when I canned them. I would do 8 pints with 1 blend. Then 8 pints with a different blend. And I also canned some beans in chicken broth. And some in a brown sugar/vinegar water. So they are sweet and sour. Then when I open a jar. I add some real bacon bits to it. Yum! I also have a frencher tool. So I make frenched green beans. This year I don't need any canned beans. So I'm using my green and yellow beans and making 3 bean salad to can. I'm using my kidney beans that I canned to add to the green and yellow beans. Hubby likes 3 bean salad. And my ball canning book had a recipe. So I made 8 pints so far. Really pretty in the jar with the beans, kidney beans, red peppers, onions and celery. Will make more on the next picking of beans.

[@lisaclark361]

Sounds yummy!

[@loritanner4478]

@@lisaclark361 just give us more options for meals

[@bluelilly22222]

Cool...

[@krickette5569]

That sounds amazing!

[@terriwhite6273]

My husband made a side dish of stir fry of beans with butter and basil then added cilantro at the very end. It was delicious. Had leftovers with salad the next day

[@jassybug8996]

Nothing sounds so good as when that jar seals and that lid pings! I love that sound! ❤

[@gkiferonhs]

Paprika is just dried, ground sweet peppers. Next time you're smoking, smoke some of them before you dry them. As absorbent as peppers are you can infuse them with other flavors before drying.

[@kimcwhite6509]

I didn't know that!

[@uptenmilecreek]

Glad to see everyone with a protective hat!

[@estellaknox9285]

Ben & Meg, your garden produce lots of healthy vegetable .

[@beckybox2596]

My friend, Pat and I canned 20 quarts of green beans. It was my first attempt! I found myself talking about you, Meg, she packs her jars like this, she added this amount of salt. My friend Meg has shown me so much so never doubt your influence on your followers. Thanks Meg🌻😉💕

[@elizabethdoucet1271]

So good to see how blessed your family is and how good to see all your hard work has paid off. Please , if you see Art and Bri please tell them they are in my prayers ❤️

[@agneszephyrin3937]

Hi from Barbados in Caribbean, I have been watching your vlogs every time you put out one.. any way thanks for sharing I look forward for your vlogs every day. Stay safe. 🇧🇧❤

[@joanneganon7157]

Awesome Haul straight to the shelf 🙌🐦. Dang 😨,you actually got those sticks to Break down 💥. I love the curls on Sweet Buggy's head😍. Great Little Helper ☺️. JO JO IN VT 😆💕

[@evalinawarne1337]

Meg, every meal you prepare is SPECIAL. You work hard all day long and evening. Pie looked good. GOD has BLESSED YOU. I have an idea for a cookbook. The NO RECIPE COOKBOOK, like when my mother in-law made. A pinch of salt or little bit of flour, etc. Many of us still do it. Some recipes help to have some kind of measurements. I appreciate you a lot, See you next time. Buggie is grand in the kitchen and outside. Thank you Ben and son's for so much. CHOW FROM S E MICHIGAN 🏵️👍🇺🇸🌹🥀❤️🥀🥀🌹❤️🀄🀄🀄🌼🌼🌸🌸💐💐🌻🌻🌻🀄❤️🥀

[@Jazzgirlaust]

I just love seeing Buggie in the kitchen helping her mummy cook, she's learning so much by just having fun with her mummy! In Australia where I live, we call that last hour or so before a toddlers bedtime the 'Witching Hour' they are magical creatures that have unbounded energy & are full of crazy mischief... they are so gorgeous & amazing, but oh so exhausting!

[@Onegoodyarn]

I love watching you all. I have five children also but they're all grown up. I miss the days of noise and the goings on of my kids. You all are a breath of fresh air in this momma's day.

[@kisarodgers9424]

I enjoy all of your videos, the canning, the cooking, the gardening, the outdoor chores, but I absolutely love love love watching y'all interact with your kiddos! Amazing!

[@majosa-mama6016]

I just love watching you and buggie in the Kitchen'

[@dorriwaldera3081]

OMG, I was just in my garden, and the grass/weeds around my beds is about a foot tall.. I need to deal with it, but it just is NOT a priority right now. I get you!

[@flyingpigpreserve8562]

Another Great Video. Wish I was your age. I used to do all the same things. Miss doing in a large scale. But at 63 and being disabled I do the best I can with what I have to work with. Can't wait to see you all soon. Peace from WV

[@eaccristo]

I had five children under 11..the youngest was a newborn. I was in charge of everything. I decided that we could wipe our feet when we LEFT our house. (made a sign saying that . Hung in our window)I had to decide what was more important. The animals. The garden and if I had that smooth going I could catch up on housework. We ate homegrown and hunted food. We slept on clean sheets which I still love to hang dry. Went to school in clean clothes and since I was a licensed hairdresser we had cool cuts and clean hair. Tried my best. Failed at some. Watching you guys makes me reminisce. Thank you.

[@kennethgibbons366]

So good to see your gardens still producing food. I'm really looking forward to the construction of the green house. Loved your description of Buggy. That girl is a 'made in heaven' tornado. Always good to see the boys pitching in. And finally I just have to say it again (and again) I love megs smile! God bless youall.

[@sandyc6569]

😊👍

[@strawberries1411]

that hair... buggy is a wild one😂, she will become a tremendous help just like her brothers. Harvest time is hard work but we get to rest in winter knowing our pantries are filled with treasures

[@stephaniewilson3955]

I am happy whenever you put out a video. Do not feel that you have to do it every day. I am glad to be given the peak into your life.

[@lisaclark361]

Buggie had the Best bedhead I've seen in awhile!🤣Thank you for another enjoyable afternoon🥰

[@vallynn5503]

that baby is precious and looks so happy

[@violetraal5383]

Buggy is gorgeous a d adorable. Love seeing how she helps in garden and in kitchen.

[@heatherd.9390]

What a beautiful harvest you had! I'm not quite at the canning phase in my life anymore, so often just wash and freeze (sometimes blanching it) it in portion sized bags. It's a blessing to have them. Think of how easy it will be this winter to make a lovely stew or soup. You can literally open a jar of beans, some can beef, some of your beef stock, one of your onions and some potatoes... it's making me hungry just thinking about it! Well done, Meg. As always, you are a star! Lillianna is such a beautiful little girl. It's lovely to watch her on your hip, Meg. She certainly likes to help her momma! It is always nice watching your boys participate in work outside AND inside. Such a great family. Heather🇨🇦

[@jeanineadele]

I'm telling myself the same thing, I'll be thankful this winter. I'm doing apple pie filling and apple juice cider today and tomorrow. Those are some amazing kids you have brought up.

[@pbonniejean]

Meg, that sweet cottage core dress is so pretty on you! You're always lovely, but today, you just looked amazing!

[@hugelpook]

We need more "kitchen choars with Buggy" in our lives!

[@LadyDewinter]

Wow so its not only me!!! Ive lost my gardening enthusiasum! Now I know its not only me...thank you!

[@BirdYoumans]

Little Meg already learning how to can food!

[@tammiemeadows5278]

Your chat at the end about picking and preserving your goods gave me both a happy and sad memory of my grandmother. I remember her and my mother doing all of this and then thinking of her near the end of her life when she could not longer do it. I wonder how she must have felt just sitting around being waited on. She was never one to sit still. 😭. Thanks for giving me fond memories. And thanks for working so hard. Y’all will definitely be thankful as you are so blessed. Hopefully your kids will carry on the legacy of gardening. I only wish now that I had. 💕

[@dorisgreenberg2811]

My moms mom would have been in a dress just like yours. I can nearly envision her picking beans and planning to can as well. Maybe her only other garb would have been as apron that had a bib effect with the ties around and tied in the back. Her black hair was always braided and long enough to encircle her head. Such wonderful memories of her gardens, her chickens and listening to her and mom visiting about the canning, head cheese they were going to make, and talking sometimes very low so us kids couldn’t hear. Giggles and knowing nods told me maybe they were talking about us nosy kids. We were all ears. So loved your video today, the dress gave me much to remember.

[@lauraihlefeld390]

I love watching all your kids working and helping. We just bought 4 a res and I’m so anxious to get the garden started and get chickens and everything!! We have literally lived here a week and I’m already sketching the garden. Your daughter sure is an adorable little thing!

[@janetwithers7427]

You guys are so good at follow through, from garden to canning or freezing. All the beans look so good . It is great you have your boys as built in helpers. And Buggy too 😊🌻💖🌻

[@irmibullinger1421]

If we looked up ideal homesteading family in the dictionary it would have your picture. All of you work so well together it is a pleasure to watch!

[@janiecehamblen933]

You all are so much better than TV. Entertaining, wholesome and educational! I got 3 raspberries from Starks. They put out a handful the very 1st year. Since then we get 4 to 5 gallons a year from them. This year, between the weather and the birds, they have been the only berries I have gotten a lot of this year.

[@sandyoklahomatransient8557]

Ben That truly is some really nice looking compost your making. You keep wood chipping, and collecting used manure your garden beds will be thanking you. Meg, the green beans your snapping in this video are they a bush bean variety? Wow, I remember when you planted the squash. It wasn't the long ago! They're coming along nicely.

[@kennithompson2398]

This reminds me of the first time I planted green beans. I thought they would never get ready!! Then one day I was at the end of the row and happened to glance down the row. Imagine my surprise when I saw ALL THOSE BEANS hanging under my plants!!! I had no idea they grew under the plants!! I canned green beans till I thought my hands would fall off!!! Love it!! I love to can, can it ALL! Ya'll be happy, and squeeze little Buggie!! I told one of my nieces she was frantic when she was Buggie's age. It stuck and after that she would walk up to her mother and say "I'm frantic." Got to love em!!

[@SuesSecretGarden3]

Yaa! Buggy knows how to can😃. I'm always impressed with you guys keep up the Great work 😊❤️

[@ciaobella8963]

You guys have really taken on the NC accent. I lived in NC for about a decade and even I, born in England, raised in Canada, took on y'all and other NC words and phrases. It's contagious haha. You should compare one of your earlier videos to one now. I bet you can hear the change too y'all haha. Hugs from Italy.

[@CityWideGardens]

Yes yes!!! I can hear it in Meg more than Ben but I soooo agree

[@highroad3580]

What Buggie is doing is what we used to call “burn out time.” Our children are now puppies and they also hit burn out just before bed. You will so enjoy all of the prepped garden food come winter. We did chicken breast’s today. We have canned or dehydrated something nearly ever day this season and I don’t think it will get us through winter. Have to try, though. What’s snappening!

[@PatrickPoet]

I always like to bring some successful compost to a new compost pile. I use it to top the pile, maybe and inch or two, and then water it in. That way, the microorganisms that successfully broke down one pile gives a quick start to the next. Through the years the mix of microorganisms shifts and adapts to your environment to do the perfect job. It's like a mother for kombucha or starter for sourdough. It inoculates the new compost pile with goodness. I can't claim the idea, I probably got it out of Organic Farming and Gardening in the 60s.

[@2L82Sk8Bye]

Great harvest! That compost method is going to produce an abundance of compost. Is it necessary to cover the finished compost so it doesn’t lose its potency? Look how happy the chickens are. It’s just hours and hours of entertainment for them. 🌻

[@ourwayfarm]

Love this. This is where I am in my heart & mindset. I need people like you around me. I look forward to your daily vlogs because I feel validated & a little more normal. Everyone in my life laughs at me, looks at me weird & smiles like I'm crazy. I see more people backing away because they don't understand our life & I have no association to their life. Justin Rhodes once said that it is a lonely life & boy he wasn't wrong.

[@jennifercullison]

I work in a plant and since my garden was awful this year I ve hit the local farmers market every weekend and can my tail off afterwards...folks think I'm nuts...I go pick up pork fat tomorrow to render into lard to can...my much older friend which doesn't work looked at me like i was nuts and she grew up on a dairy farm and definitely didnt take to farming..lol

[@jennifercullison]

But those few I have gifted some of my hard work are in love with the final product....

[@FSCHW]

Any meal Meg makes is special, even leftovers.

[@patriciahusk3428]

I love your great composting system…that wood chipper was such a great purchase! Nice harvest of produce and canning of the green beans🤗! Little Buggy is just hitting her stride into the “terrible twos.” She is such a precious little girl💜!

[@Kelleena1on1]

Because of last few weeks vlogs I now have a huge fall garden on the go Ty Jesus ty guys :-)

[@carlafawcett6494]

Such a great catch your son did with the bean haha. Nice work picking a canning. I admire your canning skills. I am so afraid of my pressure canner. I just look at it and go back to my water bath canner : )

[@heatherk8931]

A great day on the homestead. Meg, super cute dress! Everyone looks rested and the garden is popping! The green beans look wonderful 🥰

[@wadadotson8913]

I love it when you show your meals. They make my mouth water.

[@rosaking8488]

How precious to see Buggie helping momma in the kitchen. ❤️

[@redmapleleaf4617]

I love Buggy's cute little voice. She's a doll.

[@StoneKathryn]

Yes, I call July the "Jungle Month" because everything just explodes and grows like crazy. By August you can't keep up. Then September comes and things start to slow down. Every year I hope I'll do better. It's hard. Nice acorn squash. Nice green beans too! Nice harvest of peppers too. Beautiful eggplants too! Wow, thanks for showing the compost moving and rebuilding from the chicken area. I'm glad that the boys help you too. Cedar flakes are bad for chicks too. Do they hurt full grown chickens? I don't know. I've just been told never to use cedar flakes in a brooder because it's bad for the chicks. Cute to watch Buggie "help you" Meg. Pick it and preserve it! Thanks for this Hollar family!

[@territn8871]

I got so tickled listening to you all talking about how Buggie can make so many messes!!! She's already learned how to "multitask"; starts one mess and goes on to her second mess!!🤣😆😂 Aww, I do remember those days back around 29 yrs ago when my son was Buggie's age! That was a pretty batch of green beans you canned, Meg! Beautiful peppers too.

[@batpherlangkharkrang7976]

Hi..... Meg and Ben, thank you for showing your video homestead 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋 🌱🏡🎥👍👍👍

[@cherylt8590]

Watching you guys in the garden and then going inside and canning all those beans brings back good memories of me growing up on are small dairy farm,with a huge garden and my mom canned everything,and also we had home made butter,had a butter churner and seems like it took forever to do lol, so we also had lots of different kinds of wild berries to pick in are woods,and yeap my mom canned them all,so had lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches lol,but anyways awesome video, and ty for sharing this 👍 😊...

[@marystoutenburgh3116]

You are a great mommy this child can talk, you talk all day long I suspect. She is intellegent sweet and always ready for what comes her way. And shes cute.

[@fiffihoneyblossom5891]

I have an announcement. Just because the people here will actually understand my excitement more than my family and friends ever will. I just got my first ever meat birds today. Quail, because our space is tiny. And I am jumping with joy. Yay! Sorry I NEED to celebrate, and only my oldest boy and I are sufficiently stoked at the new members of our yard.

[@alisonshanahan9529]

Congratulations, I have 8 quail, they lay heaps of eggs. We use sugarcane mulch in the aviary then put it on the garden beds as mulch once it's been fertilised! They have a large pottery saucer with sand in it for dust baths, another saucer for water baths plus a water bowl. They drink a lot!

[@yvettebennett6170]

Just love your family and how you all just work together. And ya'll work hard!

[@deannewilliams3321]

I think once the compost heats up you cover it, not wet it, let it cook all the germs and seeds, etc and let it cool down on its own when it’s finished. I love that dress Meg! Baby sister could be the star of her own canning video… so easy a 2 year old can do it lol. Sure would like to see yall plant a fall crop, my favorite.

[@afrlala3593]

Great seeing you in a beautiful dress Meg. What a tropy basket.

[@davidj.mackinney6568]

She is adorable and a great addition to the videos.

[@Masterclassonlife]

I love your videos. Great family fare. Your home really centers around the kitchen.

[@indianacryptid6020]

Your garden this year is beautiful, and bountiful. A small jungle if you will. ❤️🙏

[@GreenheartGal]

Those little hands are a perfect size for stuffing jars! So cute! Thanks for taking us along for some of your chores! ❤️ lol, hide the pie!

[@JustLiving2018]

Meg, I love your cute dress. That's a good mess of beans.

[@colleenj225]

Buggie is getting so good at talking! You are in for lots of fun with that 😍

[@donnalaughlinhogan3819]

You two do so good working together,Meg your an amazing woman in the kitchen and thank God you are with 5 boys to feed ,love watching miss Buggie she’s beautiful …I truly enjoy your videos 🇨🇦♥️

[@DebbieC624]

Those green beans looks so good. I didn’t get any green beans from the plants I grew. It was just to hot here in FL. There are a few dragon tongue beans growing but they don’t look good, so I don’t know. Will cut them off and let the roots give back to the soil. I will be in NC in a couple weeks to look at some properties, wish me luck and please send up some prayers that one of the properties will be what I’m looking for. Have a blessed day 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻💕👍

[@osmadchlo]

I hope you find what you're looking for!

[@DebbieC624]

@@osmadchlo sadly I won’t be making that trip. My daughter did some research and talked with a co-worker and found the properties/company was a scam. So I will continue to search for my place to move.

[@heatherannekennedy9368]

So many good things to eat!!! So yummy!!! Your compost creation is coming along so nicely - that chipper is a game changer for sure!!!