WINTER ON THE HOMESTEAD | Regenerating Off Grid Abandoned Land

Рет қаралды 5,784

7 ай бұрын

Winter on the homestead has quickly crept up on us, and there are plenty of winter jobs on the land to be getting on with.
Join us this week as we prune olive trees, begin to prepare our future vegetable garden and add carbon back into the soil with wood chippings as mulch.
Thank you for following our journey.
¡Un gran abrazo desde Smithsdale Farm!
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[ABOUT US]
We're Danny and Kate. In 2015 we moved from the UK to Barcelona, and after 8 years enjoying the busy city and sunny beaches we moved to the mountains to start a new adventure. We'll be renovating a town house, building an off grid cabin, restoring an old stone house and farming 12.5 acres of land with regenerative agriculture and permaculture practices in Catalunya, Spain.
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Пікірлер: 54

@gardenfork 7 ай бұрын

Siphon, don’t pump… connect a valve to the IBC end of hose. Close valve. Fill up hose with a bucket and funnel up at the cisterna quickly plunge the hose into the cisterna. You can also put a valve on the cisterna end and open it after putting the water filled hose under the water in the cisterna. Then open up valve in IBC to start siphon. You’ll get a feel for doing this after a while. 😀 Eric.

@gardenfork 7 ай бұрын

Never thought about below grade beds before smart. Some people love hugelkultur … burying logs - tree debris under your garden beds for water retention. 😀 Eric.

@SmithsdaleFarm 7 ай бұрын

Yes we have done this previously, but the flow is incredibly slow - almost 2 hours per IBC. And some of the IBCs will be positioned uphill from the cisterna. When we’re not expecting imminent rain, we can do it that way, but wanted to quickly get out as much as possible this time - hence the pump. 4 IBCs in just over 1 hour. And free energy from the solar power bank.

@mnstmnst910 7 ай бұрын

Congratulations for the baby and on the move to the new home. I wish you guys the best!!! I've been watching your videos from Canada since the time you were looking for the land, then your weeding in the U.K... until you stopped for a while. I'm happy to see you're back! Last October I visited the area where you are, looking for my own spot, but things didn't work out and I had to fly back home with a broken heart. Next year I will try again, but I would love your input

@SmithsdaleFarm 7 ай бұрын

Thanks a lot. Glad you’re enjoying the videos again. We’re excited to share more. It’s a shame you I weren’t successful finding anything yet. But it’s an exciting adventure looking! Good luck finding your dream place soon Any questions, fee free to drop us a message on Instagram 😁💚

@reallynotpc 7 ай бұрын

Instant chopsticks - neat!

@SmithsdaleFarm 7 ай бұрын

Thanks. Did the trick! 👌🏻

@vanessagray8604 7 ай бұрын

I missed you both! Love these new vlogs

@SmithsdaleFarm 7 ай бұрын

Ah thanks 🥰

@nathanalbert205 7 ай бұрын

I can't wait to see a walk through video of your village house. From the glimpses in the background it looks to have a lot of charm and character. Such a beautiful area you live in! Thank you for being so positive and creating these videos for us!

@SmithsdaleFarm 7 ай бұрын

Thank you. Yes it has tons of character and original features that we want to preserve and enhance. We’ll film a tour soon 👌🏻

@rosemaryjasper1121 5 ай бұрын

Great looking Christmas tree! Worked a treat. ❤

@101life9 7 ай бұрын

Good morning!! I just woke up 9am Sunday here in the States. Good to see you guys already busy with work in the farm.😊 New life? New priorities? New experiences? Woo-hoo....exciting 🎉🎉❤! Lots of work.....❤❤😅

@SmithsdaleFarm 7 ай бұрын

Thanks so much. Glad you’re enjoying the new videos 😃

@101life9 7 ай бұрын

@@SmithsdaleFarm 💗💗

@joannesmith7889 7 ай бұрын

Lovely to see another video so soon… it’s really obvious that you’re not in Barcelona now, you’re getting so much more done 🎉

@SmithsdaleFarm 7 ай бұрын

Yes it feels like we’re able to get so much more done without so many hours back and forth on the road!! 🙌🏻

@phqneste75 7 ай бұрын

Si inspiring. We just bought a piece of land near Ametlla and looking forward to live the same adventure

@SmithsdaleFarm 7 ай бұрын

Fantastic. Congratulations on starting your own exciting adventure! 😁💚

@holgerhahn1823 7 ай бұрын

thx 👍

@SmithsdaleFarm 7 ай бұрын

😁💚

@luluelme 7 ай бұрын

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode - well I've always enjoyed them but this one really shows how wonderfully your little family is adapting to country life. Chopsticks and the Christmas tree are brilliant! 👌🏼🎄 Looking forward to see how your veggie patch will start growing and learning from you, our finca is at the border of Aragón and Catalonia so the climate is pretty much the same 😊

@SmithsdaleFarm 7 ай бұрын

Thanks so much. We’re really looking forward to sharing a lot more. Oh lovely, what kind of finca do you have? Fruit trees? Olives?

@luluelme 7 ай бұрын

@@SmithsdaleFarm we have both olives and almonds - but just like yours it's in need of lots of tender loving care (known as labour camp) 😅

@ClarrybellaBoobies 7 ай бұрын

Congrats you guys! I remember watching when you first started this channel, but as you didn't post often I forgot all about it! So happy to see you back at it and better than ever x

@SmithsdaleFarm 7 ай бұрын

Thank you ☺️💚

@fempowermentthisisfempower3552 7 ай бұрын

The Christmas tree looks great!! 🎄❤

@SmithsdaleFarm 7 ай бұрын

Thank you ☺️🎄

@joygrimes6135 7 ай бұрын

The chopsticks were a great idea Dan,...and your tree looks lovely. K ❤

@SmithsdaleFarm 7 ай бұрын

Thank you. Lovely to start feeling Christmassy in our new home 🥰❤️

@vanessagray8604 7 ай бұрын

It’s much easier to chip fresh branches, rather than dry.

@SmithsdaleFarm 7 ай бұрын

Absolutely. A few days old is optimum. Go through like butter 👌🏻

@alexborcau2 7 ай бұрын

I'm in Benifallet (up in the mountains) - I haven't started growing veg yet, but my neighbors do and their veg patches do very well!

@SmithsdaleFarm 7 ай бұрын

Ah so there’s hope yet! 🙏🏻 We’re sending a wave to you across the mountains 👋🏻😁

@alexborcau2 7 ай бұрын

Sending a wave back! 😊

@AnneHeyns 7 ай бұрын

Liked the variety of things.

@SmithsdaleFarm 7 ай бұрын

Thank you for taking the time to let us know, so we can continue to improve our videos 🥰

@jbaldwin3092 7 ай бұрын

alternative for a christmas tree, use a bay tree

@SmithsdaleFarm 7 ай бұрын

Nice idea!

@susanlecuirot1573 7 ай бұрын

❤

@SmithsdaleFarm 7 ай бұрын

😁💚

@victorsummers2283 7 ай бұрын

Just use the pump to start a siphon, then you can turn it off.

@AdamWilliams-my1qf 7 ай бұрын

I thought this also. Could it be siphoned without the pump.

@SmithsdaleFarm 7 ай бұрын

@AdamWilliams-my1qf 7 ай бұрын

@@SmithsdaleFarm fair point I am learning so much with investigation and information provided thanks.

@TheForceHungerGames 7 ай бұрын

Like others, research into real off-grid possibilities is left out. Collecting water in an IBC is also not optimal. Therefore, they are a little more expensive, but specially prepared tanks placed in the shake also keep the water fresh and direct, doing everything with power tools and on the grid seems to be the priority. No architect. No country father design. No help from locals for hard sheep or targets that require weeds and alternatively allow your property to be grazed without energy.

@SmithsdaleFarm 7 ай бұрын

Thanks for the comment. It’s not that we haven’t researched.. in fact, we’ve done loads over the years. But just because something is possible, doesn’t necessarily make it practical (at least not for everyone, or not necessarily at that point in time). Most measures are temporary until a better one is possible. Regarding animals - we’d love to have some grazing the land. But you can’t just stick animals on any old land you like - you need licensing, and proper registration, and animal grade fencing etc. Living in an area where hunting and rambling is allowed complicates things like fencing rules etc a bit too.. In the future we’d love to maintain the land more naturally, with livestock etc, but we’re just not there yet. We’ll get there, one day.

@roberthillyard4234 7 ай бұрын

why you need pump its down hill use gravaty no need pumpput tap at bottom of pipe so you dont hae to fill with water to start easy

@SmithsdaleFarm 7 ай бұрын

@VitaliiThe 7 ай бұрын

How you get permission to build on you land your tiny house? As I understand you could build buildings only if land more than 2000m2 and in any case you should receive writing permission from local council. Could you explain? I'm Interesting in buying 3000m2 rural(rustical) land but there is no any sense if it's not possible to build there some living area

@Rostha846 7 ай бұрын

La disculpa que has dado por la que no querer quemar la madera es absurda ya que la ceniza es un buen fertilixante

@carlvanmeerbeek7327 7 ай бұрын

T'equivoques. Quemando la leña pierdes todo el carbono. Mejor es hacer pirólisis. Encontrarás mucha información en internet. En muchos pueblos está prohibido quemar las ramas

@SmithsdaleFarm 7 ай бұрын

Es verdad que hay unas plantas que gustan la ceniza, pero en esto momento necesitamos añadir más carbón a la tierra para mejorarla. Querriamos probar haciendo “biochar” tambien, pero tenemos que pregutar por una licencia para quemar.

@Rostha846 7 ай бұрын

@@SmithsdaleFarm si OK entiendo lo de la licencia, pero tienes que entender que hay mucha gente que busca en youtube consejos, hubiera sido más honesto que dijeras el verdadero motivo de porqué no quemabas, no te criticó es solo una sugerencia para próximos videos🍀