Making Compost Tea for Healthy Soil & Healthy Plants

Come hang out with us as Wil and I make compost tea! As Wil says, it's basically a probiotic for your soil and your plants. And when we have healthy soil, we get healthy plants!

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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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- To drop us a line:
PO Box 4239
Leesville SC 29070

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#rootsandrefuge #homesteading #gardening

[a.chandler]

Jess, please pass this on to Will. Most municipal water treatment systems use chloramine, not chlorine. Chlorine will offgas, but chloramine will not. However, you can easily neutralize both with a very simple thing - Vitamin C. A 1000mg caplet will neutralize an entire bathtub full. It's cheap, easy, and very fast. You can even buy Vit C filters for your shower or garden hose. But for his teaching purposes, he can counsel people on city water.

[ciaohoney]

Jess, plant semi deep huge old buckets drill or cut holes in old pots put in the middle of your garden boxes, ADD WORMS feed the worms with scraps n paper. The worms will go on n out on their own... it WORKS and saves tons of time. Great old school ideas WORK.... i put a clay pot saucer on top to keep critters out, with a rock on top.

[thisismyname]

I would actually appreciate (if its applicable to you) an entire blog post about your contamination journey - a place where all the knowledge you've acquired over this year can be easily accessible. I don't know about you, but I believe contaminated soils could become a more regular problem, and I'd find the information more readily available in a blog, rather than across multiple videos. As always, thanks for the hard work, for allowing us nosey strangers into your life, and for being a positive source of regular and reasonable content. Much appreciated!

[charlotteseden]

Thank you Will for caring about the earthworms. It always bothers me when people don't care and put the worms in the bags as well.

[donnacochran]

Steve with Nature Is Always Right is where Natalie from Hey It's a Good Life got her worm farm setup. Nature Is Always Right is in Tennessee now so not too far away. Maybe Natalie will be on the East Coast soon 😊 Natalie is such a great encouraging person. Highly recommend going to check out her channel! Her Instagram is informative also and you get to see her sweet family. I'm really enjoying Will and Taylor on their channel. Basil tea...OH WHERE HAS THAT BEEN ALL MY LIFE!! So delicious!! Thank you Jessica for teaching us and sending us to other channels to learn too. It takes a village to feed a village. We're all on the same team on this journey of life. Thank you.

[elainechristensen]

Love you guys! FYI - city water systems now use CHLORAMINE (chlorine and ammonia) this will NOT dissipate no matter how long you let it sit!

[MarsieInTX]

I know from having an aquarium that my city water is terribly high in chloramines (it's so bad I have to fill up 5 gallon bottles at a water purification station for aquarium water changes), so what I do before making compost/worm teas is use aquarium dechlorinators and vitamin C and let it sit for about 10-15 minutes before adding my worm castings.

[ebrown]

PILLOW CASES... When I was in working in California as a prison guard the inmates made 50 gallon steam pots of coffee using new pillow cases. They made a small hole to thread a shoe string through to tie it off. I think it would work great for the large scale compost tea production.

[ziggy]

Nylon stockings (I get mine at the dollar tree) also work really well as bags for castings, particularly for smaller amounts.

[TheNakidGardeners]

We brew either actively aerated compost/worm tea once a quarter. When we are aerating, we brew it up to 72 hrs.

[jolene]

This is how I fertilized my food garden when I lived in the California desert. I used aquarium bubbler and 3, 5 gallon buckets. It works !

[deanebrownfield]

I always test the ph of the soil because if it is too acid, it will kill the microbes you are putting into it. If it is too acid then I add some sourdough starter to the tea with some brown sugar for it to feed on, Yeast is a fungi that loves poor soil and it is bred to be acid resistant. Another important thing about SD is that it has 10 times more lactobacillus (Labs) in it than yeast which is even better for the soil. Fungal teas are best for bloom, flower and fruit stages but I do a combination of bacteria and fungi teas to kill all birds with one stone. It is amazing how fast soil remediation can be when done right.

[slh]

How great that you have a mad scientist working with you allow your gardens be the best they can be.

[artiearte]

I love that you're giving him the ability to push this scale for your garden, but I also truly love his channel also. Thank you for introducing us to him. I have found joy in both of your channels videos. 🥰💞

[aplaceofstones]

Great video folks. You can also aerate without a bubbler, just put a strainer over your drum and pour buckets of tea through it until you’ve gone through the entire batch. Do this 2-3 times a day. On another note, would love to see urine be talked about more as a nitrate fertilizer. Inoculate your biochar and wood chips, add it to your compost, don’t be scared of your own waste, lol
Maybe I’ve said too much🤭

[barbaramix]

A rolling boil is the look you want to have for your water when it is bubbling.

[citybarbs]

Vitamin C dechlorinates water instantly. Aquarists' trick. Powdered C is fairly cheap and it doesn't take much to do the job.

[elizabethlink]

💚 I'm making homegrown Fermented Zucchini Relish as I watch you and Will on this Vlog! Thanks so much for this detailed information, my soil needs this compost tea! 💚

[debsenritchedrefuge]

Looking great there Jess!!! What a gorgeous fall we are all having! It has been incredible here in North Central Washington state! Enjoying watermelons, still on the vines, lots of volunteer tomatoes and variety of pole beans!!
Thanks for your amazing teachings.

[Happyhippy]

I'm schooled, Thank you Will for making me and my husband smarter. I have forwarded the vid to him. I'm sure I'd have this if he knew, lol. God bless all, XXXO