Just wanted to share some things I have noticed this year since using KNF inputs on my garden. I think part of the fascination with KNF is the 'mystery' or mythos around it. 1. I had a large amount of volunteer tomatoes pop up. Even in places where I didn't plant tomatoes. I let some of them grow and gave them the same things I have everything else and they produced a high volume of tomatoes. Something I have never heard of with volunteers. 2. Once my summer squash and zucchini fizzled out in the past couple of weeks, they have both begun a whole new round of leaf growth and are putting on more fruit. Also something I've never seen before. These could just be coincidences or from my relatively short time gardening all on my own. But interesting none the less!

Finally, but better late than never, I get to give a litte impression of our garden. I hope the audio on that cell phone vid is okay. Many greetings from the other side of the Atlantic where many are closely observing what is happening in the U.S. and how they are going to look like after four years under the current administration. I was lucky to be a teaching assistant for the small German Department at Whitman College in Walla Walla back in 2004/5. Filled with great experiences and encounters with lovely folks I returned to Germany hoping to return to the U.S. one day. Unfortunately my memories don't quite match up with what I see on the news these days. So yeah, as Taylor pointed out, gardening is not only a question of subsistence, resilience, self-reliance, health and climate protection but, at times, also a good distraction from the crude attempts of undermining democracies not just in the U.S. but in Germany as well.

Like Taylor mentioned in his post, we’re launching our farm this next season. We bought our house back in 2019, but at the time we weren’t gardeners or farmers at all. I had a few potted plants—that was it. During COVID, with all the extra time at home, we finally started exploring our yard. It’s funny now to think about how unaware we were of the space around us. That first season, I started seeds and Taylor dug out one garden bed and built two raised beds. We grew some great tomatoes, and that was the spark. Around that same time we discovered JADAM and Floret, and a dream started forming—to combine natural farming with flower farming. In 2022, we had to move away for work and rented out the house (the pictures are from that 2022 season). Since then, we’ve been gardening as renters while also running our YouTube channel. But now we’re finally moving back home in November, and I couldn’t be more excited to restore the soil and start growing again. Before we left, we applied JMS, JLF, and cover crops, so I’m really curious to see what shape the soil is in after three years of rest. I also have so many questions about sustainable flower farming that I’m looking forward to exploring this coming year. Flower farmers often rely heavily on bleach and chemicals to keep blooms fresh. I’m eager to experiment with natural alternatives like LAB, OHN, and FPJ. This past season, I started all our seeds using a soak solution of LAB, OHN, FPJ, and BRV—and the germination rates were incredible. From now on, that’s the only way I’ll be starting seeds. Excited for this group!

Does anybody recommend a particular compost thermometer? I haven’t ever used one. Thx!

A couple shots of my traditional no-dig row garden and permaculture areas. My land was clear cut 40 years ago and then lots of earthworks was done with machinery. Which means land that's seen a lot of trauma and soil moved around. Much restoration to do!