Freedom Forest Life | Self-Sufficiency

We are so excited to share this weeks video ...

We're harvesting fresh vegetables from our summer garden and cooking one of the first meals from scratch in our NEW outdoor kitchen - using almost entirely homegrown ingredients.

For us, growing food and self-sufficiency is about reconnecting with seasonal eating and fresh, nourishing food - creating a lifestyle that feels meaningful and wholesome.

We hope it inspires you to grow something, cook from scratch, or simply spend a little more time outdoors

🎥 Watch here: https://youtu.be/W38SaySaNcA

What's one thing from your garden (or local market) that you're enjoying eating right now? 💭👇

We look forward to seeing you in the comments 💚✌️🌿

22 hours ago | [YT] | 47

Freedom Forest Life | Self-Sufficiency

Is a food forest really worth the wait - with all its ups and downs?

Seven years ago we were looking at an area thick with brambles and gorse, with just the dream of a food forest...
Today, we're harvesting Figs, Apples, Wineberries, Aronia berries, Cherry plums and more, but building a food forest is about far more than simply growing fruit!

This weeks video is an early summer food forest tour and we share how our forest garden has evolved over the last seven years, the harvests we're enjoying, and how it interacts with nature too 👉 https://youtu.be/kP6ZTtLaaCk

We also revisit the area where we've recently lost several mature fruit trees, share our plans for its regeneration, and explain why we're choosing to see this setback as the beginning of a new chapter rather than the end of the story.

We hope you enjoy this weeks video and would love to hear what your growing spaces have taught you? Let us know in the video comments 💭
We'll see you there 💚✌️🌿

1 week ago | [YT] | 99

Freedom Forest Life | Self-Sufficiency

Hi Folks, just wanted to say thanks HEAPS for all the comments and shares on our last video about watering 💦 🙏
🎥 Its here, if you haven't seen it yet 👉 https://youtu.be/Xts_jRTZc0U

I've been finding it difficult to reply to all of them, (as I normally do) because of spending less time on the computer with the glorious hot sunny weather atm, but we are reading ALL of them and we LOVE hearing from you all and reading your ideas, suggestions and shared experiences.

Growing varies so much from place to place depending on soil type, climate, surrounding landscape etc, and I appreciate that what we do may not work for everyone, but hopefully what we share may give you ideas for how you can read, work with and adapt to your own growing space - there is no one size fits all or right or wrong, its about finding what works for you I feel... and ultimately this comes from learning the land - something I talk more about in our NEW VIDEO out on Sunday too!

So if your looking for more ingenuitive garden ideas I highly recommend reading some of the comments from our super gardening community too.

Happy Gardening All 💚✌️🌿

1 week ago | [YT] | 81

Freedom Forest Life | Self-Sufficiency

Can you really grow food without constantly watering?

In this video we're sharing what we've learnt after 10 years of growing food in an off-grid set up, why we garden this way, and whether it's really possible to grow food with far less water than most people think 🎥 👉 https://youtu.be/Xts_jRTZc0U

Being off-grid means every drop of water matters - we rely on harvested rainwater, a shallow well and a small stream (that both run dry), which means we simply can't water our gardens as we please like many conventional growing systems.

In fact, many of the vegetables in our garden haven't been watered since they were first planted out.

No irrigation system.
No daily watering.
No hose running all summer
And currently NO rain for a month!

Instead, we focus on building soil health, encouraging biodiversity, growing resilient crops and creating a system that works with our environment, surrounding and what we have available - and this will look different for everyone!

This isn't necessarily the most productive way to garden, but after 10 years of growing food, we've found it creates a system that is resilient, manageable (just about) and works for our lifestyle.

Could you leave your garden unwatered for weeks at a time?

Feel free to share how you are managing your garden - see you in the comments 💚✌️🌿

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 93

Freedom Forest Life | Self-Sufficiency

What's thriving in your garden right now and what's causing you headaches?

We've just shared our first Summer Polytunnel Tour of the year and honestly, it's been a season of highs and lows so far!
🎥 👉 https://youtu.be/gAWOIIJMSdA

Our tomatoes are finally setting fruit at the right time after making a big change to the polytunnel (or at least they were until the latest heat wave)!
We've lost nearly all of our watermelons - Moles and voles have been causing havoc, but we've still got plenty of plants growing strongly.

Every year is different when it comes to growing food and working with the seasons - we're yet to have a perfect year (or garden)! Some crops exceed our expectations, and others teach us lessons each year!

We'd love to hear what's your biggest success in the garden so far this year? And what's been your biggest challenge?Look forward to seeing you in the comments.

💚✌️🌿

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 84

Freedom Forest Life | Self-Sufficiency

In our latest harvest, nearly half of our Elephant Garlic came out as 'rounds'! 🧄 What do you think is the biggest culprit for bulbs not splitting into cloves?

If you haven't seen the vid showing our harvest and thoughts - Check it out here 👉 https://youtu.be/cbRTQi2TxDU

💚🧄✌️🌿

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 13

Freedom Forest Life | Self-Sufficiency

🌞 Happy Summer Solstice! 🌞

Traditionally, the Summer Solstice has long been considered one of the key times to harvest garlic. By this point, the plants have put most of their energy into growing their bulbs, making it a popular time for gardeners to lift and cure their crop for storage.

To celebrate the Solstice we're releasing this weeks video a day early - as its all about our Elephant Garlic harvest this year... and the results were definitely mixed!
🎥 👉 https://youtu.be/cbRTQi2TxDU

Some of our bulbs grew beautifully, while others never split into cloves at all - So in this video we share our harvest results, discuss what may have caused the problems, and looking at some of the unusual growing conditions many gardeners have experienced this year.

Did your garlic perform well this season, or have you had some strange results too?

As always, we'd love to hear about your own garlic successes, failures and theories in the comments. Every season teaches us something new!

See you in the comments 💚✌️🌿

#GarlicHarvest #ElephantGarlic #Summersolstice #GrowYourOwn #VegetableGarden #SelfSufficiency #HomesteadLife #GardeningUK #FreedomForestLife

1 month ago | [YT] | 116

Freedom Forest Life | Self-Sufficiency

You guys have shared some great natural mite remedies and tips on our latest chicken video! 🐓
The 'Freedom Forest Family' wisdom is awesome 🙌

Which of these option is your favourite?

If you haven't seen the video yet, catch up on our quick & full routine here 👉 https://youtu.be/XVXmpkbFOkk

1 month ago | [YT] | 13

Freedom Forest Life | Self-Sufficiency

The lovely Nic from ‪@CabinCaban‬ visited us at Freedom Forest back in early Spring.

This is what Nic said about the mutually invigorating time we spent together ...

"We spent hours talking about resilience, food security and the future of self-sufficient living in Britain. It was one of those places that leaves you feeling energised, inspired and for me, excited about what's possible"

You can drop in on some of our conversations here in this interview that Nic just shared 👉 https://youtu.be/RLJvO9dfXhE?si=LF3ia...

Check out the amazing efforts Nic and her partner Sam are making to bring small scale self-sufficiency into reality too 🙌

💚✌️🌿

1 month ago | [YT] | 55

Freedom Forest Life | Self-Sufficiency

In this weeks video we shared our simple, FAST daily Chicken maintenance routine that allows us to STOP cleaning our coop in the traditional way and manage it in just 2 minutes a day!

Watch here 👉 https://youtu.be/XVXmpkbFOkk

By adopting simple, nature approaches, we keep our hens incredibly healthy, prevent mites, and maintain a fresh-smelling coop year-round with mininal effort, giving us more time to enjoy a bit of Chicken therapy 🐓

Share you top chicken keeping tips or dreams in the comments - We'll see you there 💚✌️🌿

1 month ago | [YT] | 58