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Cog Hill Farm
Traveling around Salem and Valley Grand, Alabama, Travis recently stopped by to see his good buddy Jason at Cog Hill Farm. Travis and Jason talk a little bit about his philosophy on homesteading and gardening. Jason began his homesteading on his current property around 14 to 15 years ago and the gardening just evolved from there. He now has livestock such as chickens, goats, geese, and even a peacock. However, his favorite homesteading activity is gardening because that's how it all began for him personally. When talking about the garden, one of Jason's favorite crops to grow at Cog Hill Farm it would probably be everybody's favorite crop which is tomatoes. Jason gave some advice for people potentially wanting to start a homesteading lifestyle that includes gardening and livestock. His biggest piece of advice is not to be scared and don't be scared of making mistakes. A lot of times when people are getting started in gardening, sometimes they are influenced by experienced gardeners to do everything a certain way. However, at the end of the day, everyone's gardening style is a little different and you should do the best you can with the resources you have available for your own vegetable garden. Jason's two favorite products that have really helped him out this past year within the garden was the
Wheel Hoe with the
plow set and
winged sweeps attachment. He has seen a significant decrease in his weed pressures since using both of these attachments in the garden. When discussing a little bit about Jason's future plans for
Cog Hill Farm, he hopes to expand his garden area and even dive into a little bit of market gardening within his community.
Show and Tell Segment
On the show and tell segment, Travis has some
Blue Knight Kale which is an improved variety of the curly leaf kale type. This is a productive variety that works great for making a kale salad in the kitchen. The guys discuss the cold weather and some vegetables that may not make it because of the weather conditions this year. If you have
drip irrigation, make sure to keep the soil nice and moist to insulate the garden soil during cold spells. They also have around 15 different varieties of figs rooting in the greenhouse and we will be coming soon to the site. The guys also mention that the new studio is coming along and hopefully will be ready to show off in next week's video.
Viewer Questions Segment
On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about the flavor profile of onions, growing onions from seeds, and Greg's cornbread recipe. Greg currently has multiplying onions, bunching onions, and regular onions all growing in the garden and will be doing a taste test later on to determine the differences of each. Travis mentions when growing onions and leeks, you can either transplant seeds or buy plants. However, you can do either it's just all based around timing. For example, growing leeks in the ground takes a longer time than it does in the
seed starting trays. When it comes to shallots you can plant them from seed, sets, or from plants. Greg mentions that the ideal way to grow onions, shallots, and leeks is in the seed starting trays or raised bed garden. When discussing he mentions that he always uses his cast-iron cornbread griddle to cook cornbread. However, he is still in the process of trying to perfect his cornbread recipe, but as soon as it does he will share it with everyone.
Products of the Week
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMz6PQMMJpo
