Category: Videos

Videos posted about our travels, reviews and tips.

How did you get your name for your channel/homestead?

This is a group of videos where I will be answering questions passed around among YouTube creators. Mostly, the questions were asked of homesteader channels.


I talk about my YouTube channel name and my parents farm. I also mention a few other channels.

YouTube Channels mentioned

Other info

Brigadoon (1954) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046807/ Definition of Brigadoon : a place that is idyllic, unaffected by time, or remote from reality

Welcome to Leisurely Logan 2019

Gardens Update for 08 October, 2017

I haven’t done an update in a while, so this is the last for this harvest season. I may have another update, if I get around to preparing the gardens for next season.

I sort of neglected the gardens as they began producing less and I was getting busier with other things. However, the gardens were still trying to provide some surprises. Based on what went well and what didn’t, I have some ideas for next season. Of course, having ideas and getting them implemented is always the issue. I had initially planned to have a vertical garden wall this season, but I didn’t get it finished before the season started. I don’t plan on making a lot of huge changes next season, but I will at least try to be more organized with my planting.

The biggest surprise from the gardens were the raspberries fruit.  I pretty much stopped looking for any raspberries months ago, so it was a little bit of a surprise to see different plant with them.

The pepper plants were still growing and they even made some flowers.  I don’t think they will create any actual peppers, but it was interesting to see that they were still growing.  I guess I will have to start pepper plants much earlier next year and probably give them more sunlight.

I transplanted two fully grown tomato plants from the side garden to the potato containers. The potatoes, while looking promising at the start, turned out to be a disappointment. Since the bags were there and the tomato plants needed to move, I decided to replant them on top of the potato containers. I didn’t expect them to do much, but they did manage to produce flowers and some tomatoes.

The grilling porch grow bags suffered from the extra heat from the porch.  Even with all the rain we got in August, it wasn’t enough to make the carrots grow well. Next year, I will get the drip watering system setup so that they can get more to drink.  I would also like to build a table to hold the garden bags and I plan on getting larger garden bags.

The front garden did well, but probably could have done better with some better organization. The tomatoes were planted too close together and I probably didn’t dig deep enough for the roots of others. The wall of the house seems to increase the heat in that area, so things that barely grow in Zone 7b, probably don’t grow well in micro climate that is much warmer.  I plan on sticking to just 4-6 tomato plants next season and then add cucumbers, cantaloupe and pumpkins to grow along the ground and maybe a wire wall. Also, if I setup another drip system for the front, I should also be able to grow carrots again. The biggest issue with the front garden was pests of the weed, crawling and flying kind. I think I will switch back to the garden powder, which is what my parents use for the insect pests.  For the growing pest, I will just have to increase the size of the plastic area to prevent weeds and grass from growing into the vegetables.

This season was all about experimentation in the garden. Trying to see what would grow where. I did enjoy some rewards from the garden and I hope to enjoy even more next season.

And who knows, maybe my kids will be more helpful next season. My son helped plant flowers in his pre-school class, so he was apparently paying attention a little bit while I was working the gardens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKnLs6ALQpo

First Harvest: Cantaloupe

In my Front Micro-Garden I have a cantaloupe plant (or maybe plants) growing all over the place. With all the flowers that bloomed and with the help from a few bees, I have two cantaloupe growing and one of them was ready to pick. My wife read a tip on choosing cantaloupe, which was to pick them with a little bit of yellow, but not too much of a yellow spot. Well, about two days ago, the cantaloupe was mostly green and then it quickly changed to yellow. I was waiting for the webbing to grow all over, but I guess that is not going to happen with this variety of cantaloupe.

The result, as you will see, is a that the melon grew almost to the edge and the seed pocket wasn’t very deep. The taste was definitely cantaloupe, but not very strong. Possibly, having left it out for a couple of days longer put it in the “just a tad too ripe” category.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJvXDJrAugw

My first tomato harvest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYq5VPrizds

Easy Crescent Roll Meat Pie

 

The adult Jack-in-a-Box


Just by chance, I bought some Pillsbury Crescent Rolls because they were on sale. I didn’t have any plans on what I was going to do with them, so they sat in the refrigerator until one night, we needed something to eat. In the back of my head, I knew I saw some post that dealt with using the crescent rolls for a meat pie. I did a web search and found **Crescent Rolls Recipes** for a meat pie. There are many recipes on the site and I will probably take a longer look at them in the future. Also, I believe I have seen some of their recipes as little short movies on social networks. For those who have ever opened a can of Pillsbury rolls or biscuits, you know what the “Jack-in-a-Box” pop is all about.

Anyway, I took a quick look and realized that I could easily make my own version. Just by chance, we had a few hamburger patties, shredded cheese and diced tomatoes.

Always have a can of tomatoes on hand


As a side note, I always buy diced tomatoes when they are on sale, because they last a good long time and there are a lot of ways to make something better by adding a little flavored diced tomatoes to the mix. Del Monte has a few varities and the Zesty Chili version is exactly what the can says and is probably best to just throw in some chili mix to make life simple. But, there is nothing stopping you from using in other things that you want to give a little chili powder flavor to. My wife doesn’t like spicy food as much as I do, so I try not to go crazy with it unless I am cooking for just myself.

 

On Sale pays off big

One of the other things I bought on sales was peach and mango salsa. I admit, I love mango fruit and I wish I could have it more often. But, they are not cheap and a little bit of a pain to get much out of. I hear they are plentiful in Venezuela, but probably not as much now. And, I love peaches. I have tried fruit salsas before and thought they were great by themselves. Since I didn’t have any other salsa around, I decided to use this on the meat pie. I figured, at least I would like it and that would mean the wife would leave me plenty of meat pie for later. Welp, I was wrong on that guess, because it came out great! The salsa on top of the pie was just the right amount of sweet to go with the cheese and cooked beef. I couldn’t believe how good it was and the wife ate her share and got some more.

Make it your own


Since the first time I made the meat pie was such a great hit, I had to make it again. Well, my wife kept bugging me to make it immediately. I try not to make the same dish over again too close together, because then it gets old. So, I made her wait a couple of weeks. I did buy some of the ingredients that could sit around awhile and then finally I bought the beef, which made my choice to make it again much easier. This time, I also decided to add a little smoked beef sausage to the mix. As with my meatloaf, I believe that a meat pie needs to have more than one variety of meat. Going forward, I will probably just use ground sausage or another ground spiced meat combination. You really need to get all of the juices and grease out of the meat before putting it into the pie or you end up with a soggy mess. But, it was better the next day. Since this is supposed to be a like a taco pie, you can focus your attempts at making the best taco that you like, but in pie form.

As the title suggest, this is fairly easy and simple. Nothing really hard to do, unless you don’t know how to cut up sausage and mushrooms.

Ingrediants

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 375°F

Pop can of crescent rolls and place them on Baker’s Joy sprayed pie dish. You should be able to make a complete pie crust with the wedges by filling in with the odd shaped dough pieces. Make sure all edges are pinched together. Do not put the pie crust over the edge of the pie dish.
OPTIONAL: Brush on melted butter and sprinkle on garlic salt or your favorite bread seasoning.

Brown ground beef and drain grease. I seasoned mine before hand, but if you want to add extra seasoning, do that before adding the tomatoes.
Drain can of tomatoes and mix into brown beef. Mix in mushrooms and smoked sausage and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Drain liquids or use a slotted spoon to remove only the meat. Place meat mixture into prepared pie dish. Spread evenly.

Using a fork or draining extra juice from salsa, add a layer evenly of salsa across meat mixture.

Add a heavy layer of the shredded cheese.

Microwave one tortilla shell on a microwave safe plate and with the shell covered with a damp paper towel for 10 seconds. Cut shell into pie slices and then place on top of cheese to complete the pie top.

Cook for 15-17 minutes. If you put in more ingredients, you might want to give it a little more time to cook.

How to make the best homemade playdough ever

A follow-up video to the Best Homemade Playdough Ever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh6QyWetuHE

Crock Pot Pot Roast

Cooking pot roast is easier than you think. It really doesn’t take much effort and if started right, it is almost impossible to mess up.

Ingredients

Instructions

Brown roast on all sides. The side with the fat will be hot, so be careful when browning.
Place roast in crock pot and add slow cooker sauce.
Add half of potatoes, onions and carrots on top of roast. Cover and cook on high heat for 6-8 hours.
Every one to two hours, ladle the juice on top of the roast to keep it moist.
At 2 hours before serving, add the rest of the potatoes, onion, carrots, celery and mushrooms.

Gardens Update for 02-July-2017

It has been a couple of weeks since my last gardens update. Last weekend I was off making a short film for a competition. Between the last update and now, we have had hot weather and thunderstorms and clouds and cooler weather. Not all of the plants liked it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=665czz6QHXo

Garden Updates for 18-June2017

We had a couple of nights and days of thunderstorms. It was very humid this morning. The good thing about all the rain was the ability to pull up some unwanted plants. Of course, having a bunch of rain helps water the plants for free. The potato containers have been droopy during the heat, so I have been wondering if I should check to see if they are any potatoes ready for harvest. Watch until the end to find out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tSBFiRqfEA