Farm Where You Live Event: https://farmwhereyoulive.com/festivals/
Hey ya’ll, I’m Jess from Roots & Refuge Farm
Welcome to a place that feels like home. A small farm with a big family. We hope you’ll pull up a chair, grab some coffee and visit awhile.
There was a time that all I wanted in the world was a little farm where I could raise my family and grow our food. Now, that is exactly what exists outside my door. In watching it unfold, a new dream was formed in my heart – to share this beautiful life with others and teach them the lessons we’ve learned along the way. Welcome to our journey, friend. I am so glad you’re here.
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WHERE TO FIND US (Some of the links here are affiliate links. If you purchase through our links we’ll receive a small commission but the price remains the same – OR BETTER – for you! Be sure to check for any mentioned discount codes.)
– Our Website: https://rootsandrefuge.com
– Sign up for our newsletter: https://rootsandrefuge.com/yt-signup
– Join our Patreon to get early access to podcasts and other information, plus monthly LIVES with me and Miah: https://patreon.com/rootsandrefuge
– Abundance+ (Grab a FREE 7-day trial): https://rootsandrefuge.com/yt-wilder-still
– Shop our Stickers & Shirts: https://rootsandrefuge.com/yt-shop
– Order my first book, “First Time Gardener”: https://rootsandrefuge.com/yt-ftgbook
– Order my second book, “First Time Homesteader”: https://rootsandrefuge.com/first-time-homesteader-yt
– Instagram: www.instagram.com/roots_and_refuge
– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rootsandrefugefarm
– Email Us: rootsandrefuge@yahoo.com
– To drop us a line:
PO Box 4239
Leesville SC 29070
– To have a gift sent to our house from our Amazon wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/SFA0IZHZRCOZ?ref_=wl_share
– To support us through PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/jessicasowards
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PRODUCTS WE LOVE – You’ve probably heard me talk about these things a million times, so here’s where you can order them (and get a discount with my code!):
– Greenstalk Vertical Gardens (Use code “ROOTS10” for $10 off your order): https://rootsandrefuge.com/yt-greenstalk
– Squizito Tasting Room (Use code “ROOTS” for 10% off your order): https://rootsandrefuge.com/yt-squizito
– ButcherBox: https://rootsandrefuge.com/butcherbox
– Growers Solution: https://rootsandrefuge.com/growers-solution
– Neptune’s Harvest Fertilizer: https://rootsandrefuge.com/neptunes-harvest-fertilizer
#rootsandrefuge
33 Comments
Bless you Jess !
Jess, I spent many years not thinking of how lucky I was to be able to be out in the sun all day, every day. I was a landscaper for my "day job", and gardened in the evenings, no problem. THEN, I developed an allergy to the sun, my dermatologist said it was a reaction to my anti-seizure meds, and it looked like lupus on my skin. I have scars all over my arms, back , and upper chest. But the past few years have been better for me for some reason–nothing has changed in the weather here in VT, except it's gotten hotter and sunnier, so it's definitely something adjusting in my body, at the age of 73, after almost 20 years of long sleeves and long pants! Your body may at some point decide the sun is more acceptable, and I most certainly pray for that for you! Until that hopefully happens, you are loving yourself by caring for yourself. I know over 600,000 viewers who are so glad you are, as we care about you too!
Jess it is so lovely and wonderful to see you truly feeling well these days. You got that sparkle back in your eyes and when you feel such joy and passion for your garden as you walk through it and take us with you, you fill us with joy. It’s contagious watching you appreciate and value even the little things in life that many take for granted, but you don’t and I really enjoy that, and it makes me smile❣️🥰😘
I live in the desert of Arizona, we are finally below 100 degrees. I’m just starting. The heat destroyed my entire garden. Praying I can get tomatoes my seeds to germinate
Here in Nth Canterbury, New Zealand we have just jetted into full spring, no gentle transition this year. This will be our 3rd summer here and the first "typical" spring/summer season weatherwise, we've been a bit spoiled up to now with atypical regularish rainfall. Add El Nino to that and for us this means really dry and super windy – this last week has been a wakeup call. Sadly contemplating abandoning my still developing kitchen garden this summer as it is more exposed to the hot dry nor'westerlies than my other patch which is not as conveniently situated but in a hollow and nicely sheltered.
Sown 👍
Hi Jess , Your evening garden tour was so enjoyable , you have so much lovely food coming in. My fall garden have zucchini which has delivered 2 zukes and a round of yellow beans which are flowering ,snow peas that are still growing and a bunch of beets that are still growing and carrots and a few cabbages .. Oh yes , a round of cucumbers that are flowering now. My Tomatoes are flowing in every day , so I am almost ready for another round of tomato sauce that I am going to roast first.I saw this production on Acre H stead and it looked like another good way to try. I hope that you find your peace in your healing and your body will be much more healed in months to come. We understand your pain , I myself have gone through a bad year , I also have an auto ammune disease which has been a nightmare this entire summer … I thank God every day for my wonderful husband who helps me through the hard parts ,and is listening to my direction and doing all the gardening.
Potatoes,onions, tomatoes, corn, and melons are put up. Still have sweet potatoes, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, beans and peppers going in northern Ohio. I’m ready for a break. It’s been a plentiful, rainy summer. Winter is the necessary sleep to make spring and summer so vibrant.
It’s so obvious even back in Arkansas, and here that people are drawn to you and your family and once they spend any time with you and any time out on your farm your circle just grows and it’s beautiful. I still can’t believe that Daniel and his beautiful family family have moved there and that Daniel is your coffee roaster, and that your businesses are expanding and flourishing, and contributing to your community and bringing jobs. It’s just a beautiful thing. By the way, I would really like to see more of Daniel and his beautiful family. Hey, did your dad ever make it to move out there with you? I know he was delayed because of the medical issues he was battling at the time. It’s great how Noah and his new wife move there to work for you and the family grew with a beautiful little girl. And now well, and Taylor are part of your extended family of friends and like-minded people. That Wes and Papa T and his wife. Oh, and let’s not forget your hubby‘s sister came along with you and plays a big part of the business and family and more. The list just goes on and on and the best part for us is that via technology we get to be a part of it all. Thank you Jess and your family. things would not be this beautiful balance without precious, sweet, sweet Miah😍. The tour of you are such an incredible beautiful, loving team, full of mutual respect.
Right there with you Jess. The last 3 years as soon as the heat picks up and I spend one good day out in it gardening I ended up having diverticulitis attacks. It's frustrating to get a garden up to a certain point and then having to abandon it. But I did get some harvest so all wasn't lost. I am really looking forward to fall gardening
Hey Jess! Love your tours! I am almost throwing in the towel. Nursing along my last 2 tomato plants with blight – waiting for the last tomatoes to ripen. Drying the last of my herbs. Slowly getting the garden ready for winter in Ohio.
Jess! Thank you for praying for me! I'm still no nearer getting my house, but this summer I've been rekindering old friendships, and that too is bringing me closer to the goal, and I feel more safe and connected to actual life, as I'm less lonely and more loved. However, I'm still focused on the goal of making a garden, that is easy to manage, and suitable for someone with PTSD and other mental problems such as me. And I still want to get a house in the country, and document for others how to do it, where I struggle with it and what the solutions are as I find them. And I've come to learn, that people I've known in the past has managed to do it with a kind of Danish allotment, that has a house on it, where you can live in the summer. – I loved the vid you recently did, where you talked about being open and not afraid to let yourself be seen. I believe in that. We should all tell our truths and listen to each other to create dialog, rather than trying to pull our own views over each others heads. Dialog is three-dimentional. — Your garden looks lovely!
"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird, I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns" George Eliot
Still growing—both end of summer and fall vegetables . Ending soon: tomatoes and ground cherries and peppers, a few eggplant plants, a few more cukes, red noodle beans, celery, celeriac, and tromboncino squash…still going strong. Also fall plants flowering and getting closer to harvest: red cabbage, onion, carrots, beets, rutabaga, spinach, radishes… more beans, broccoli raab, baby book choy, and patty pan squash. A bay leaf plant that is growing beautifully and of course many herbs…. 🌱 So much joy and food to be had ❤
I took my twilight tour to plant a mess of cabbage, Brussels sprouts and fennel starts I got at the farmer’s market for a song. I was thrilled to not have to start them from seed and may get more next weekend.
Thanks for the tour! I’m in NW Ohio way up by MI. My tomatoes are still going strong but a little slower to ripen, smaller basketfuls coming into the house. A nice crop of fall carrots and beets growing. Shelling beans still green. Harvesting lots of herbs. Some butternut squash and pumpkins in, some still ripening. I’ve lost interest in the lettuces but they’re still there for the taking. Still getting peppers here and there and they’re full of flowers. I love my fall garden too and I think a lot of people, including me, have a harder time handling the heat as they age (not that you’re getting old or anything haha). Garden on!
Mine is a small container garden, with just four tomatoe plants,four bell pepper plants,& my fall garden is several, Dragon Tongue beans!
As I have been battling cancer for 2 years now, is all I can handle. But boy does it help with therapy of positive energy to battling & win this war. God has & is my main energy & healer,& I love him so!
Keep on living & enjoying your great way of life ,it is so inspiring to me in many ways, God bless! Southwest Missouri! Ozarks
We are starting to put some of raised beds to bed. Just finished canning the tomato’s, and peppers. Still getting the yellow summer squash and wondering what to make with them. I planted carrots to mulch and just planted our garlic to harvest next spring. I got carrots all winter last year. MIchigan is getting into fall and winter. Is just around the corner. Looking forward to the down time. Tired of weeding. Lol.
I am in deep south Mississippi here and my summer garden has pretty much been over since mid July due to the major heat wave this year. So I have been enjoying your garden until I could get my fall garden planted. It is now sown and planted and I am so eager to be back out in the garden on a regular basis. I have to say I am another that never really looked forward to fall until I started planting a fall garden 2 yrs or so ago. Now I look forward to this time of year and a little slower pace in the garden. I just want to say thank you for sharing your lovely space as it really keeps me from being quite so bummed when my summer garden fizzles out. ❤
Oh yay!! I’ll definitely be getting my crew tickets! Super excited you’re coming to Clemson. Hopefully I’ll get to meet & chat with you guys ❤
Over here in the Valley of the Eternal Sun (Phoenix) we are just getting our fall/winter gardens underway. It's our best growing season because we don't get cold enough to kill lettuces, brassicas, ect. but it's when we start our gardens again after our brutal summers. We take the summer off and consider it our 'winter' season. So we now grow from September through May/June.
Loved this Video.
I still get excited for Tomatoes and Peppers, but once July comes, I'm so ready for October. I much prefer the Fall, Winter and Spring garden. Usually only have 4-5 days 28 degrees or below with 23-25 degrees being the lowest temp of the year here in Charleston, except for last year when we had that once a decade hard hard freeze in the mid teens. Still everything survived it being well mulched and covered. Just some burnt leaves was all.
I’m in 8b in south GA, not too far from you. I’m prepping for brassicas in a raised, covered bed. Is your outdoor pantry climate controlled? I am getting a bit crowded in my home for storing the preserved harvest, but our shed is not insulated nor is it heated/cooled. It is, however, waterproof. Since we do get over 100 in summer and have days here and there below freezing in winter, I’ve not stored anything out there.
Happy to hear you coming to Clemson S.C. hope to meet you .
I am planning to grow some lettuces and herbs. I have a small area I planted some sweet potato slips . And potatoes to see if it will be a ideal area for growing. I have a second round of squash growing. And I am also planning to grow herbs in my house as a back up. (Snow)
Green beans fall crop producing, jalapeños still going, green peppers, banana peppers, and tomatoes are slowing down. Zinnias are still doing great. In southeast Nebraska. It is a good year.
My garden is on its last legs. I have had surgeries over the last couple years and wasn't able to keep up with the bindweed! Then this year I started a PT job (and I'm over 60 and post open-heart surgery!!) and the weeds competed with the veg and fruit. Less of everything, but plenty for me to process and put up for the winter.
Unfortunately I missed the entire growing season this year. 😢 I bought what ended up being a bigger fixer upper than planned and still haven't been able to move in. I'm really missing my garden at my previous home. Hopefully next year I'll be all set to start growing again. 🙏
ive planted my first fall garden. i replanted crook neck squash. Not sure how that will go. But i also planted cabbage (not going great) and I planted collard greens. Those are doing well. Im not sure when exactly to harvest them. My big garden is during the summer. so this is all new to me. I planted more crookneck squash because mine didnt do so well this summer. They are growing well if the weather will stay behavived. Im in zone 7B alabama. I love watching your videos!!!!!
We are doing a fall garden as well, plus adding more raised beds this winter. We’re hoping to cut down a couple trees to make room for sheep, and build a new chicken coop. We live in the south as well and try to do our bigger projects when it’s cooler out.
Looking forward to seeing you at the Farm Where You Live event! We’ll be there!
Yay for the happy sound of free-range roosters ! Sweet horsie herd ! I love Cucumbers, but mine are done, sadly. Nice kitty-garden time. Wowza Pumpkin field ! It is potato time, yay !! Nice green garden rambling free. Yay for the jubilant party inside of you for the joy of gardening !!
Was that powdery mildew on the zucchini? I just had to cut mine way back. I sprayed them with milk water suggested by some you tuber.