Four years ago we were searching for a homestead. Two years ago, we found a piece of land that really spoke to us. And now is the time to reflect on what we’ve been able to accomplish in the last 730 days of being here. For those of you who have not been following our group’s journey—this is a perfect video to catch you up on everything! Let’s call it a “highlight reel” or a “year in review,” or in this case—two years in review, including all those gardening and renovation projects! Enjoy the video.
0:00:00 — Overview
0:01:00 — Recap
0:00:45 — Why we don’t have animals (yet)
0:02:28 — How many acres we’re working on
0:03:32 — Renovating or building?
0:05:25 — Meadow home renovation
0:06:17 — Mapping the land for land use plan
0:06:54 — Removing old raised beds, building stone raised bed / community garden & gazebo
0:12:24 — Removing 1000s of invasive honeysuckle and multiflora rose
0:14:30 — Cleaning up the old nursery area and future meadow
0:19:02 — Seeding a native “insect” meadow
0:20:47 — Planting 3,000 Alliums in meadow
0:20:55 — Planting an orchard
0:21:35 — Handling the spongy moth invasion
0:21:53 — Establishing a 12-acre deer exclusion fence
0:25:50 — Removing 100-200 dying trees
0:26:43 — Planting diverse group of trees in the forest
0:27:49 — Pruning the ornamental trees on the land / cleaning up beds
0:28:50 — Put in our first flower bed / shade garden / restructure pathway
0:30:00 — Finding septic
0:30:38 — Establishing new planting beds (killing the lawn!)
0:33:26 — Planting 80,000 bulbs and establishing pollinator garden
0:35:23 — Native lawn seeding
0:35:45 — Adding a “shrubbery” garden in the front of the Common House
0:37:00 — Creating a Memorial Garden
0:38:12 — Establishing a Stropharia bed
0:38:40 — Renovating the Common House & considering energy-efficiency
0:43:04 — More renovations: Meadow House & Barn
0:44:52 — Clay walls & new floors in Chicken Coop
0:46:56 — Laying a 1000 foot internet cable and digging trench
0:49:56 — Planted the 1-acre interstitial area with 96 shrubs, 54 trees
0:51:13 — Building and planting 2 raised beds
0:51:47 — Landscaping the Meadow House
0:52:40 – Our professional work and how we manage the homestead
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32 Comments
Wow, i enjoyed every minute of this video! I envy you all having such good relationship with one another and that clearly results in a beautiful well designed property!! I'm looking forward to the next two years to come! 🌻 Greetings from the Netherlands.
That's man's boys are cold!!!!!
Awesome synopsis! Would be cool to hear from Sander his perspective on learning all the new skills we've seen displayed in terms of building and landscaping etc. How do you justify the tools you buy and those that you don't/what you hire out and what you don't.
You guys have accomplished so much, you should be proud of yourselves. I would love for you to visit a property that cares about conservation and biodiversity but also needs the land for a small amount of livestock (horses and goats for instance). I recently purchased 10 acres of corn field and am trying to make it wildlife friendly and appropriate for my horses. Thank you and love your channels.
I am so interested to know from Sander in order, which projects did he find the most physical work and which ones were the most mental work for him?
Thank you for your honest reflections and summary of all of your accomplishments over the past 2 years. I have been following your incredibly inspiring journey on this amazing property since your first video. You have been nothing but uplifting and inspiring to all of us.
Thank you for sharing, and I can't wait for your next one.
Greetings from ON Canada.
It's amazing how much work young people can accomplish in two years. I'm incredibly impressed, and what I've seen has inspired an interest in finding a plot of land for a house in that area.
your videos are my favorite. I cant put into words the peace they bring me. im stuck in a big city, so i dont get to experience much nature in my day to day, but i can be happy knowing somewhere in new york a little bit of the earth is being restored to its full potential through the hard work of a dedicated community. I wish I could close my eyes and let five years pass by to see the fruits of your labor, but for now I will happily follow along. thank you!
This is love for life, congratulations for all your efforts to create this little paradise that you will pass on to the next generations. I wish all people had the same zeal as you to create. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!
What a great summary of all the hard work you've put in. Can't wait to see everything grow, bloom and evolve in the next year.
I’ve enjoyed watching the progress and have been inspired!
You folks are machines! You’ve done so much in a short time. It all look wonderful.
Homesteading is the simple life, but never easy.
Loved this,, inspiring and interesting as always!!!
Love the whole thing, the relationships, the energy ,vibe and creativity.. Everything flows beautifully🌱🌿🌾
Amazing progress
I've been watching your adventures at Flock since you started this channel and look forward to each new episode, and so it was really fun to look back with you at all the projects you've worked on and all the things you've accomplished. Here's to another year of chipping away at projects big and small, and seeing all the plantings you've made begin to settle in and mature.
You should think about registering that big tree in your forest with the NY Big Tree Registry.
At around 23:00 there is a discussion around the deer fence quote and not pulling the trigger. In lean manufacturing the saying we use is paralysis by analysis". Where "fail fast fail often" moto needs to be more of the direction.
This recap is inspiring, seeing how much you have done in a short time. Sorry, however, because I can't help focusing more on how much you both have matured, maybe because you have taken on so much responsibility for the land and what you want to achieve with it. Saunder looks so manly now, than before when he started filming episodes of Plant one on me.😉 And Summer is so relaxed and cool, as always.🥰
Thanks guys! This was so fascinating! Y’all have done so much work!
The Love that you two have for one another is really beautiful.
I can’t even articulate the admiration and respect that I have for each of you. Even though I’ve been faithfully witnessing your progress, I’m completely awestruck with just the highlights of all you’ve accomplished in in the last two years. It’s been a fabulous journey and I’m grateful for all the knowledge and inspiration. Looking forward to 2023!
genuinely didn't fully realize the monumental amount of work you've done there, i followed before you made videos on this channel because i was so excited to learn from it. and BOY have i learned so many things, gone on month long tangents of research, and unearthed an abundance of information of nature around me that i didn't even know i didn't know, and so much stuff that i'll be thinking about long into the future for my own goals. this channel is such a gift, thank you.
(also i hafta say i did chuckle at the bit about the trenches becoming water filled canals, like hmm Dutch person vs water? where have i heard that before?)
Nice conversation of Recap. Merry Christmas and looking forward to 2023!
Dont you let deers enter at flock? Have you put a fence? 😢
Beautiful
This was a great episode showing how all your planning and hard work is starting to take shape.
I only hope you can preserve this place after it's all said and done..
For future generations. And protect from development.. thanks for inviting us along …great work keep it up
Thank you both for filming the recap of your two years thus far. Very exciting and great progress in that time frame.I so agree that some work must be contracted out and I also feel many ruminate too long whilst missing opportunities. But this is how we learn , especially when trying to keep a lower cost profile. Do you have a sugar bush on your land ? Also have you declared tree farm status as this greatly helps with taxation. Well I feel you are moving beautifully through your bioregion and taking time as mentioned before is wise. Thank you again for a very well presented overview of your newfound land stewardship. Keep well and stay toasty! K from the sea
Thoroughly enjoyed this recap. I have enjoyed the individual episodes immensely. I love how you utilize your plant knowledge to create incredible scenes/vistas. I imagine special strategically placed benches throughout your landscape for reflection, meditation and just enjoying the beauty of it all!
Amazing what you’ve done so far congratulations!! 👏 👏 👏
Your progress video gives me so much inspiration to do something similar 💚I'm also an upstate New Yorker that dreams of building a homestead one day. I'm sorry if this was mentioned in previous videos, but how did you acquire the land: loans, grants, and/or bringing together the funds of your flock of 3?