Normally, along with our daily work of feeding chickens, watering cows, making hay, and pulling weeds in our gardens, we get occasional visits from folks wanting to buy seeds, take a tour of our homestead and visit with us for a while. Today, our visitor was Brad from PBS North. He came to do a story on us and our little homestead seed business, Seed Treasures. It was fun!
We got to show him our tomato patch, and, luckily, there were ripe tomatoes coming on. Brad got to sample many of them, enjoying their various and unique flavors. Then we went to the Sand and Main Gardens, checking out the corn, peppers, melons, and beans there. He was very interested in all the stories about the history of the various crops, which is one of our favorite subjects. All the while, he was filming, and I tried to make sense! Doing a filmed interview on the front porch capped it off, then I showed him how we save tomato seeds from our first Bill Bean tomato that was ripe. Sharing these stories is so much fun and I hope others enjoy seeing out homestead too. We sure enjoyed the visit, and I’ll let you know when it’s scheduled to air.
Today, it’s back to “normal.” Will’s out in the hay, seeing if it’s ready to bale yet and I’m back to picking potato bugs and weeding. Everything but the corn is coming along nicely. I may or may not get corn to can this year. We’ll see. Our last planting is just up, and I am hopeful for a late frost this fall. This afternoon, our friends Sheri and Dara are planning to come out and pick more Dragon Tongue and Provider beans to can. Boy do those beans ever produce. (This is the third picking, and they are loaded.)
— Jackie
Jackie , congratulations on you and Wills hard work, sharing experiences and offering others the chance of your seeds. way to go!!!!! my sweet corn,cornmeal varity are all preforming great. sorry you have had such adverse weather conditions. my popcorn not so good. just now starting to form ears! hope i get them to maturity. thanks for sharing your good news!!!
I’ve read that horseradish plants will deter potato bugs. The only problem is horseradish plants spread like mad. I enjoy your column, your seeds and hope to be able to see the PBS show!
Those horseradish plants may deter potato bugs but soon take over the whole garden. I’ll stick to picking bugs!! And I do love horseradish.
wow! Thanks Susan. I’ve fought tater bugs for years,. But a few years back, running outa of space, i moved my horseradish to the side of garden that I rotate potatoes around. no potato bugs for awhile. i think you answered my question why. thank you
How exciting to have PBS come and see all you and Will do! I will be very interested to see the episode to hear the history of the seeds. I find those things fascinating. We are getting a little rain now. My brother had a hydrant dug to the barn last week and the dirt was bone dry down to 3 feet, so the rain is very welcome. My garden has produced a lot of cucumbers for relish and those provider beans just kept coming on, even though conditions haven’t been ideal. I am letting they dry on the vine now to can for hull beans. My butternut squash have gone crazy and have taken over the garden now, lol. Tomato’s are very slow to ripen, and a rascal possum has been helping himself to ones that are beginning to ripen. He’s stiff competition, lol. Sending prayers for a blessed week.
Thank you Marilyn! Yep, those ‘possums sure enjoy garden produce!! We are getting rain today and are happy about that, especially because Will got a big field of very nice hay all baled yesterday in the sunshine. It was so dry our first cucumbers were bitter. Yuck! I picked them anyway. The ones that formed after rain started coming are very sweet and nice. We had a big cucumber, bacon and tomato salad last night. Much better!!
I’ll let everyone know when the PBS episode is due to show.
So many are saying their gardens are burned up. I didnt have one this year, but in town our coastal redwoods, used in landscaping around businesses, are dying so quickly. I used a good amount of sunscreen on my face as usual, going out to weed in my row garden, and surprisingly sunburned. Very unusual. It’s the effects of CMEs with more gamma rays, making the sunshine more intense. Along w/a lack of rain. Jackie, you and Will sure deserve the attention. With world influencers burning down our food industries, closing public lands from grazing and calling it conservancy, shutting off farmers/ranchers irrigation, burning cattle pastures, etc., etc., we need a happy homestead story!
There’s such crazy weather this year!! Everywhere, it seems. I hope our little story does influence some folks happily. We’re such a low-key place, compared to most seed businesses, it’s kind of funny, in a way. We’re finally getting periodic, “normal” rain, and are very glad of that!
congratulations on the interview…Like others, I look forward to seeing it.
Raining here again in Western MN…garden is almost done. Take care.
I just wanted to not appear to have dementia!! We love our seeds and the stories behind them and think others would like to hear some of them.
It brings joy to my heart to see you folks get the recognition you deserve.
Your potatoes look like flowers instead of a vegetable plant. So pretty.
Yes, please let us know when the filming will be aired. I hope it will be on here in Oklahoma also. Congratulations!! I will save your autograph on books I have purchased from you. 😁
I’m not sure about the area the PBS interview will be aired in. Brad is with PBS North. I’ll be sure to let everyone know when we do.
I love potato flowers!! They even smell nice. The red potatoes have purple flowers where the russets have white ones. So, it looks like a flower garden out there when they’re all blooming.
Awesome about the interview. Looking forward to watching it, make sure to let us know when. I have a question for you. Are you a member of any of the canning or homesteading groups on facebook? I thought I saw a comment with the name Jackie Clay. It may be someone different, but it sure looks like you. I’m always telling people to check out your books because they are loaded with good information.
I hope I can see it.
I have fifty four pints of yellow squash canned. My Brother In law just brought in About ten more to be canned and my garden is full of them. We will be eating a lot of squash this year..
Wow Nancy, congratulations!! We love our squash, all kinds (but maybe not acorn). And they’re good for us too. I use them in so many different recipes. We’re just starting the main harvest. I’m starting to seed out the earliest tomatoes of each kind. And we eat the rest of the tomato. Yum!!
It would be great to see you being interviewed and touring around the farm. I’m sure you’re a natural – your warmth and engagement come through in your posts. Look forward to seeing it and here’s to a long hot fall!
I’ll be sure to let everyone know when it’s due to air. We had fun. Brad was very sweet and enjoyable to have visit. Yea!! I’m up for a very long fall!! And NO frost.
Yay for You!!!! Can’t wait to see the episode.
Thanks. I’m a little scared about looking like a fool. Lol
Wow on the PBS program! Might be hard for us to get it in other areas of the country (but, maybe not). If nothing else, maybe their will be an URL that you could share when the time is right???? PLEASE.
Right now, we don’t know when it will air or where. But I’ll be sure to let everyone know when we do.
I’ve always known you guys are celebrities, now the world will know!! How exciting!!
I think “celebrities” is stretching it… Maybe a couple of old guys, digging in the dirt?? We had fun though.
Oh fun! Let me know when it airs and we’ll be watching 😊
I’ll be sure to let everyone know when it’ll be on.
Hi Jackie, don’t know if PBS North will be broadcast in Georgia. I’ll get my computer engineer grandson to help me. Congratulations, now more people get to see the famous Jackie and Will. I am looking forward to seeing your homestead.
I’m not sure either, Sue. I will be sure to let everyone know when and where it will air when we know. It was a fun day for us.
May not get show here in Montana. I sure hope so, will be interesting to hear your voice talking. Only thing we are getting out of our garden is squash and zucchini. Having to buy everything to can this year.
Oh gee, I’m sorry. There was such crazy weather all over the country this year. We had a mix, between torrential and constant rain this spring to drought. Now it’s seeming to steady out a bit. I’m not even sure if we will be getting sweet corn to can. Luckily, most of our varieties we sell for seed are looking good. Here’s hoping….
Delighted for the Interview
Getting the word out and
Letting folks know about
Your Heirloom seeds. Just
Love my tasty goodies from
You.
We love the stories and history behind our seeds. Brad was surprised to hear some varieties were over 1,500 years old. They haven’t lasted that long by not tasting great, either!! It was a fun interview.
How cool is the PBS North story! I’m sure your interview/tour will result in more gardeners. Millennials and Gen Z ( as well as some Gen X) are not only into work/life balance but healthy eating and the environment as well.
Saw the 3rd cutting of hay recently and I think they’ll be one more. Makes me feel good to see the large bales wrapped nice and tidy, ready to be hauled to storage. One farm family we know makes a good living selling hay – the number of places they ship to is a bit mind boggling.
Do let us know when/how to to see the interview/tour.
I will let everyone know, for sure. Will’s finally getting our hay baled, between rains. He did a big field yesterday and it sure is pretty, with all those big round bales dotting the field thickly.
We thought it was cool to host PBS North this week.
I always do all I can to encourage more folks to garden and raise at least a portion of their own food. I love our lifestyle. Last night we had a salad made up out of everything from the homestead, cucumbers, onions, tomatoes of all sorts and bacon with a homemade dressing. I about foundered myself on it!! So good!
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