I get so excited when I see that there is a new Becky episode uploaded. I thought when baby Acre was born there would be less new episodes. Your time management, self motivation mixed with your sweet nature and no nonsense approach is so uplifting and inspirational. I love watching your journey in the garden, house, shopping hauls and now into motherhood. Thank you for glimpses into your beautiful part of the world and your loving family. Blessings from the Adelaide Hills, South Australia 🇦🇺
Becky, my sister makes cocoa chocolate cakes. She dissolves the cocoa in the hot water,, then creams the butter and brown sugar, adds the eggs and flour then she adds the cocoa mix to the creamed mix. The hot water is added to the recipe to bloom the cocoa and by adding it directly to the boiling water you get a much richer, far more rounded chocolate flavour.
@sheila diebel Me too! Boil water add cocoa and a large marshmallow in brown sugar. Your starts look so healthy. Hope your lucky sister in-law had a great birthday.
With the rosemary, if your finding it difficult to germinate. It’s very easy to propagate them. If someone you know has it, cut a handful of new growth cuttings about 2 inches, strip off most the leaves (about 2/3) and stick them in soil. There would be plenty of videos on TH-cam on how to do it.
A trick I discovered for bottom watering - I leave one cell empty in each tray (maybe two on opposite sides in a really large tray of like 72 cells) and that way I can water through those cells and also do a quick check of the water level through them.
Baker’s tips: when baking a large sheet cake, 1) lower temp 25 degrees, 2) place cake pan in a “water bath” which is a larger pan filled with water to the height of cake pan ( this keeps the edges from over cooking) and 3) you can also use what is called metal baking nails in the center of cake to transfer heat into center ( available in the Wilton baking supplies )
Just a efficiency tip, if you work on the pots further away from your body first, you will not have to fight with the leaves of the ones you just potted up because you are working toward yourself. :) Your plants look beautiful!
Hi Becky! What I absolutely love about your videos is that it feels like I’m reliving my younger days through you. I’ve lived some very happy and adventuresome years fully off grid. Many of those years were in Alaska. I’m severely disabled now but, push to keep a small garden and 5 hens tended. It’s so encouraging to see generations continue to nurture homesteading as a beautiful way of life. I’m thoroughly enjoying every minute of every video. Gentle hugs 🤗
Donna, I could almost hear your voice when you were describing the wonderful adventuresome experiences that you went on. Sorry you challenges, but happy the hear that you are enjoying your garden and chickens. Becky’s video’s do bring comfort to our spirit. The best to you ❤️
I've made this cake for years, with one exception....instead of hot water, I use hot black coffee. It's makes it even more chocolate-y. Thanks for the video today, much needed
Hi Becky! Thanks for the idea of processing block cheese by shredding and freezing. In your recent organization video you said you didn’t use sandwich size ziplock bags? This may help …since recipes usually list 1-2 cups shredded cheese. I pre measure, store and label my sandwich bags with 1-2 cups shredded cheeses and freeze the sandwich size all in gallon sizes. I just pull out what I need for a recipe. Saves me time and money.
My teacher Ms. Purdy made this frosting ❤ she asked me what I wanted for passing my coding exams and I said vanilla cupcakes with your special frosting. THE BEST. She passed away a little after that and it still hurts my heart.
I was so happy to watch your video today. I just got out of the hospital after having major surgery, and girl, let me tell ya, you have a healing nature about you. I am so thankful you posted a new video for all of us to enjoy . Thank you so much Becky!!
One tip that always helps my baking is, you can mix the cr*p out of the batter UNTIL you add the flour, unless you are making bread, you don't want much gluten development. Mix the absolute minimum once you add the flour. You will have a tender cake, muffin, cookie etc
How you whipped your butter for the frosting is how my great aunt taught me to do this for every cake and cookie batter. She was the cook for the Pillsbury family of the Pillsbury Flour Co. She also sifted her flour before measuring. I do not always do the sifting except when using einkorn flour I found that works better
I’m so proud for you for your new labeling habit🥰 An idea- make a diagram of all your gardening beds outside. Use excel or something so you can easily copy it for each new season. Then take a copy with you when you plant, and record the varieties right on your diagram. I used to have a numbered list of the varieties for that year, and I would right just the numbers on my bed diagram, not the whole variety name. Maybe someone has given you this idea before. It’s so fun seeing you get to start a whole new garden!
Becky Josh Little Sprout and my fellow commentators. Whenever I make anything chocolate I use the 5 friends rule Chocolate-orange-cinnamon-almond-coffee. These 5 flavorings go together in any combination. So every chocolate dessert (cake) I make has coffee in, It doesn't mask the chocolate in fact it enhances it. I have in my repetoire a wonderful roast chicken from Pakistan if anyone is interested. you take off all the skin and replace it with a mix of nuts onions and spices...If anyone is interested I'll be happy to share the recipe. All the Best Jim Oaxaca Mexico
Just started the video and just wanted to say I have cherished watching your videos since I found you. You are so wholesome and genuinely kind and helpful and always give advice and motivational comments without feeling like it’s just for the camera. I would love to know you in real life I feel like everyone would love to meet you 😂
😊”storebought” brown sugar needs to be kept in an airtight container. A soft bread slice or several marshmallows included can help. When I was a child (in the 1950’s) my mom would keepseveral apple slices in the airtight container with the brown sugar. Those slices made a great snack after a few days!
❤❤❤The chocolate cake with vanilla frosting was DELICIOUS🎉🎉🎉 I put mine in three 7x11 pans. Frosted one up…the other two are in the freezer for later. Hands down THE BEST CAKE I have ever tasted…let alone made lol! Same for the frosting. Thanks for sharing your family’s recipe😊😊😊
Hi Becky! Your lavendar needs to be cold stratified before planting. Put the seeds in the freezer for a couple weeks and you'll probably have better germination rates.
I've tried to tell her the same thing in every single video she's talked about them, including when she was planting. Sage is supposed to do better with cold stratification too. My heart was breaking all while watching her plant knowing that. MI gardener even made a FB post about lavender cold stratification right around when that video was posted. It was so painful
@@YasuTaniinathese videos are filmed around 3 or 4 weeks ago (she occasionally says the date) so all comments that are advice won't be applied for a while, if it is still applicable.
I planted plenty to share too! Being disabled I can contribute my time growing plants and sharing with family and friends and they really appreciate it! They are all working so I'm happy to ''spoil'' them with fresh veges and plants! Have a great week everyone!
When you were topping or pinching out your pepper plants, I was silently wishing that, just for an experiment, that you put some of the heads in water to see if they would root. You strike me as a gal who loves to think outside the box, so maybe try it sometime for us to see if it works or if you end up with a slimy mess. Your seedlings are epic and it is so weird how some germinate and others don't. Seems no logical reason for the failures. Your tomato seedlings are very impressive and you should have a bumper crop. You have a numerous amount to plant out so much kudos to you.
Beautiful to see you in your element in your growing room you share so beautifully and I really enjoy your comment of how to you are teaching an old lady more skills thank you for brining sunshine into my days.
Ive been gardening for years nothing fancy any more because of poor health but watching You sure takes Me back a few years. I still enjoy growing and preserving My own foods so rewarding to know You have healthy foods to eat. I just recently found Your channel on You tube. Im totally enjoying Your videos.
Hi! Becky, I really enjoy your plat form. I love what you do in general. I would like you to show us how to make butter and laundry detergent soon only if you made it before. I watch you every time you upload a new video. You do inspire me. Love from Corner Texas:) Blessings, Alicia
Hey ladybug! Been away for a bit because of work. Wanted to say, you're looking fantastic! I know the early days of motherhood can be really challenging, but you have been facing it head-on with grace and love! What an inspiration for the rest of us!
Strawflower seeds need light to germinate so you should surface sow and not cover. I even put mine under the grow lights to germinate, but not on a heat mat. Also, misting the surface gently helps to prevent displacing the starting mix and accidentally covering the seeds. Hope this helps!
Here's a tip for the day: For long term storage, seeds should be stored in a cold environment 32-41degrees (like a refrigerator) with a silica based desiccant to absorb moisture. My grandpa kept all his seeds in the refrigerator, but the silica desiccant was not available back in the day. During his retirement, he had enviable gardens by today's standards. He bred and created his own hybrids.
Modern homestead Alaska was at Trader Joe’s today and she mentioned you as she brought the shelf stable cream. All your peppers are looking amazing! I’ve only germinated 1 here in the UK so I’m off to buy some starts at the weekend. Thanks for the video.
When doing butter cream icing on cake, you can smooth it by getting it as smooth as possible with your cake spatula, then use a viva paper towel and an icing/fondant smoother on the top and sides of the iced cake, lifting the paper towel and moving it to different areas to be smoothed over the cake. I ran a bakery for many years and have done cake decorating for decades. All the little tricks of the trade always help.
@@cynthiafisher9907 they’re putting the paper towel on top of the icing. Then with a fondant smoother or offset spatula you’re smoothing over the paper towel, then when lifting it up the icing underneath is smooth too. That way your tool doesn’t get gummed up with frosting if you’re going for a very smooth even surface I think I’m understanding Pamela correctly, although I’ve never tried it before. And I’m assuming it has to be with the VIVA brand paper towels she mentioned
@@cynthiafisher9907 The VIVA brand is recommended because it has no textured designs on the paper towel. (no ripples, dips or dots). Yep, dry paper towel. It sounds weird but totally works.
@Cynthia Fisher after you get the icing as smooth as you can on the cake, you then place a paper towel on the side of the cake and use a fondant/ icing smoother to go over the paper towel to smooth the icing on the sides , and top. The fondant smoother looks like a small front rounded and back straight edge. You use the paper towel between the smoother and cake moving it from area to area. Hope that helps. I wish I could show you. It is so easy, and you really get a smooth surface. Also, the fondant/ smoother reminds me of a very small plastic iron with a small handle on the back side.
@Isabel J. also, the spatulas she is using, like the long and off set one, do not do well on when you ice cakes, they have wide plastic flat ones ,like a fan, that do much better at crumb coating and getting your base coat on.
Sorry for the second comment, but with plants that bear fruit such as peppers, you’ll get more fruit if you don’t consistently fertilize to the harvest. When you fertilize, the plant itself gets lush and greener, nut all energy is going into the plant and not the fruit😊
Hi Becky. You might want to add a note to the tape on your snipped plants (peppers and I forget what the flowers were) to note the date of beheadings so you can guage the regrowth and branching.
I've always hated frosting too until I started making Italian buttercream. I will never in a million years touch american buttercream again. Italian buttercream is more flavorful and less sickeningly sweet. Best thing is is I usually make enough for 2 cakes at once. I freeze the extra for the next cake
Somehow i lost you for a year so i have been binge watching your past year catching up. It is so exciting watching your journey in your new homestead and motherhood. So happy to follow your new garden space development! Thank you for being so gracious to bring us along!
Becky, you are such a positive inspiration, you have no idea how much you are helping, I thought I knew most things about gardening but you are teaching me more, it is so lovely the way you speak to us as if we are there with you, 'you'll be so proud of me...' 😊 we certainly are my dear, I love the way you put the scissors in the drawer after saying 'mustn't forget to take them into the kitchen!' 😁 lovely xx
Our peppers are stuck on the growing shelves, here in BC Canada, until June. I start them in February 02nd. Peppers will grow roots to fill the soil space, then put on leaf growth!! They are slow growers as are celery and onions. Your peppers look shockingly the same as mine. They are all so beautiful!! I have been fertilizing with fish emulsion once there are true leaves. As Jacque In The Garden says, I will just give them a 1/2 teaspoon of fish emulsion in a gallon of water, once a week. I have 3 4foot shelves filled with seedlings. I have only 1 shelf. I planted 5 purple echinacea, and 5 Cheyenne Spirit echinacea and there are 3 purple coming up and 4 Cheyenne Spirit! I am most excited. I am excited to see your new gardens get filled with beautiful seedlings! I have my first over-wintered Dahliah growing!! I am very excited about this too. I love this time of year!! I have room only for 2 types of tomatoes, bush romas and a couple beefsteak called Matchless. I have alot of very big Calabrese broccoli, Gusto brussel sprouts, and Trevi cauliflower that I need to share around to my neighbours and friends. I only have enough space for 2 broccoli, 2 cauliflower and 1 brussel spout. I love getting new hacks and tricks from Erik and Jacque. Those trays look amazing!! You may need to germinate your strawplants on the floor under your shelf. I had 100% germination with Lupin this year only!! They also need cool temperatures but good light. I now have to find garden space for 10 Lupin in my 8 gardens! There are worse problems!! Oh, I have one huge Lupin that has climatized to our 5B-6A zone. It was -38°C here for more that a week last winter and they survived! Oh your tomatoes are awesome!! Mine grow faster here so I only planted them a few weeks ago, but they still cannot be planted out until June. Burying them up to true leaves helps them to put on so many new roots!
The last scan thru your room with all your starts filled MY heart for you. I can't imagine your joy of what's to come with, well, absolutely everything ....a new home, a new baby and an incredible new garden. What happiness!! 💝 PS, MUST ADD, and Josh, what an amazing support, partner, Dad!
Consider changing your apron when you go from your kitchen to your grow room. Like have 1 apron for gardening and 1 apron for your kitchen...Maybe you did and I missed it. Anyway, I love your videos. I really find them relaxing in the evenings. Keep up the good work! Praying for you and your family. 🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿
THAT CHOCOLATE CAKE looks delicious! WOW, what crazy progress in the grow room! This year's garden is going to be so fun to watch & learn from! Thank you for sharing your successes & failures, we all learn so much! Love your channel!
I bet the chocolate cake recipe of your Mom's would make an excellent sheet cake (like the old fashion Texas sheet cakes). The cake you made looks delicious!!!
I make a cake on the back of Hershey coco powder container and it's the easiest and moist. It calls for boiling water also which is weird but it's amazing. I like the addition of sour cream and definitely into the fluffy frosting!
Would love to see your planning diagram for your new raised beds. Meaning, what you’re going to be planting in each one of those beds sort of like a blue print.
Love how your garden and yard is turning out! It’s very inspirational and I can’t wait to do similar things in my garden and yard. Also, super random, but thank you for staying true to your content and not doing a bunch of shorts. ❤ You are my favorite TH-camr.
I always gets so excited to see a new video is up! My 4 year old grandson ADORES you! I keep a slice of bread in my brown sugar container. It always stays soft.
Like you, I just used whatever pots and trays that I either got from plant starts or what was given to me by others after they planted out their plants. I have since started investing in some better equipment for my starts and even grow bags to plant in. I have a small area to grow in thanks to our wonderful landlords and I’m trying to make the best of what I have to grow as much as I can in it. I now have a setup that really works well for me and I will continue to upgrade what I can a little at a time until I get to where I want to be. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us and everything you do in the kitchen as well. You’re so awesome ❣️🤗❣️
Wisconsin 55 is now considered an heirloom, since it has been around for many years, so the seeds should be true. This is my first year growing them and will try saving some seeds. Good luck with yours!
I would winter sow the strawflowers and blackened Susans in milk jugs. I did a lot of winter sowing the winter before last. I had tremendous success with the black eyed Susans. They self sow and I have even more this year.
To any gardeners: you don't top large peppers (bell peppers, for example). It will make for less peppers overall. Topping peppers is recommended for small peppers.
I've been asking myself why I keep watching your gardening content. I'm afraid of fire ants, my back yard is shady, and the HoA won't let me grow food in the front yard so I really doubt I'll ever start gardening. I think I keep watching your heavy gardening content videos because I really enjoy the joy-filled info-dumps. There's also something about your voice that I find soothing.
If you don’t watch Laura with Garden Answer, she’s a wealth of knowledge for all kinds of gardening. Even though I’m in NY and in Zone 4a (not far from Nicole w/ Flower Hill Farm), I’ve learned so much from her. I’m new to your channel and hooked. I love your bravery to do such a big life change to dedicate to your homestead. Inspiring!
Oh, Becky, your little garden looks so beautiful & green! Also your outside garden is looking great! I am going to try your cake recipe, which sounds yummy to me! You've got so much energy that it's awesome! I hope Baby A is doing well! I can't wait to see how your garden will look all planted & producing! You take care! Thanks for sharing! ❤️🌷🍄☺️
Hi Becky! I just ordered 8 bags of Vermont Compost. I am really excited to get some. It had been out of stock every time I checked, so thtnk you for saying it was in stock. I quickly went on theri site and ordered it! This is my 2nd year on this property, and each year has been it's differen't challenge. My seedlings, are doing AMAZING too, but We just got 4 inches of Snow yesterday, so i am going to have to pot mine up
I'm so glad you mentioned that you planted those peppers on feb 21. I was feeling really discouraged when I compared my plants to yours but I only planted about three weeks ago.
Strawflowers and Rudbeckia have to be surface sown. Strawflowers also like a heat mat to germinate. I have found that most flowers have to be surface sown unlike the twice the depth as the size of the seed like vegetable seeds. Plants also grow from the top and not the bottom so the tomato plants won’t grow in a way that you can add more soil unless you end up removing more leaves once there is more top growth. Good luck!
Becky Im right there with you on labeling and keeping track of plants! This is the first year Im really keeping up with labels, doing tape like you and made hunderds of plants tags from a few solo cups works great!
To keep brown sugar soft put a 1/2 heal of bread in the top of your container, the bread will become hard and stail and the sugar will stay soft. Or you can buy a brown sugar clay softener, you soak in water and place it in your container. The bread is what my mom used for years before they came out with the clay softeners It works great. 👍🏼
When I bake cakes, I always let them cool on a cooling rack so the bottom of the cake is never wet or sticky, and they cool faster because the air can circulate all around and under the cake pan
So excited for all of this! Every garden update is my favorite, not that I don't like the cooking videos too. I am just living vicariously through you while stuck in an apartment with no good sunshine for growing veggies or the space to grow indoors. Also, not a huge frosting fan but whipped cream kinds or like the one you made I actually love!!!! Looked so good!
I lost a lot of plants because I started too soon. I was told to transplant them on Good Friday. Well, a cold snap came and yeah. Like you said il, it's a learning process
That cake looks delicious. I love a denser cake as well. I'll try it as you posted but I may try using some hot coffee the next time like I do for my brownies. You don't really taste the coffee but it gives the chocolate a boost.
Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa, says to always add coffee to any chocolate baked item. She says it will make your chocolate have more depth of flavor. She has added espresso powder, instant coffee granules, or regular brewed coffee. I love her show and her food is always good!
or even part of the water....I have a son who hates coffee, but he never notices when I put a tiny bit in brownies etc....Mom's "secret" ingredient, lol
Your seedlings look beautiful!! I had 100% germination on my moneymakers but only about 85% on all the other peppers and tomatoes- now to keep them alive. I started way too early. Herbs are really hard to start!
If you will put a piece of sandwich bread in our container of brown sugar it will absorb the moisture and keep your brown sugar in perfect condition. If the bread becomes really hard just throw it out and put in another piece of bread. Keeps the brown sugar in perfect condition.
I get so excited when I see that there is a new Becky episode uploaded. I thought when baby Acre was born there would be less new episodes. Your time management, self motivation mixed with your sweet nature and no nonsense approach is so uplifting and inspirational. I love watching your journey in the garden, house, shopping hauls and now into motherhood. Thank you for glimpses into your beautiful part of the world and your loving family. Blessings from the Adelaide Hills, South Australia 🇦🇺
Becky, my sister makes cocoa chocolate cakes. She dissolves the cocoa in the hot water,, then creams the butter and brown sugar, adds the eggs and flour then she adds the cocoa mix to the creamed mix. The hot water is added to the recipe to bloom the cocoa and by adding it directly to the boiling water you get a much richer, far more rounded chocolate flavour.
Thank you for this tip. I'm going to make this recipe using your technique. Happy baking and cooking, Debbie
Adding brewed coffee or espresso powder to chocolate cake mix enhances the chocolate flavor.
Great tips,n thanks ladies!
@sheila diebel Me too! Boil water add cocoa and a large marshmallow in brown sugar. Your starts look so healthy. Hope your lucky sister in-law had a great birthday.
never baked a cake with boiling water thank you for these tips.
With the rosemary, if your finding it difficult to germinate. It’s very easy to propagate them. If someone you know has it, cut a handful of new growth cuttings about 2 inches, strip off most the leaves (about 2/3) and stick them in soil. There would be plenty of videos on TH-cam on how to do it.
A trick I discovered for bottom watering - I leave one cell empty in each tray (maybe two on opposite sides in a really large tray of like 72 cells) and that way I can water through those cells and also do a quick check of the water level through them.
excellent tip!
@@jenniferl6553 thanks!
Very smart
awesome
Baker’s tips: when baking a large sheet cake, 1) lower temp 25 degrees, 2) place cake pan in a “water bath” which is a larger pan filled with water to the height of cake pan ( this keeps the edges from over cooking) and 3) you can also use what is called metal baking nails in the center of cake to transfer heat into center ( available in the Wilton baking supplies )
I’m so glad I read replies and comments. I have never heard of metal baking nails.. I need some for sure.
Thanks for this comment!!
Just a efficiency tip, if you work on the pots further away from your body first, you will not have to fight with the leaves of the ones you just potted up because you are working toward yourself. :) Your plants look beautiful!
Hi Becky!
What I absolutely love about your videos is that it feels like I’m reliving my younger days through you.
I’ve lived some very happy and adventuresome years fully off grid. Many of those years were in Alaska.
I’m severely disabled now but, push to keep a small garden and 5 hens tended.
It’s so encouraging to see generations continue to nurture homesteading as a beautiful way of life.
I’m thoroughly enjoying every minute of every video.
Gentle hugs 🤗
Donna, loved reading this comment. We live in interior alaska. ❤ hope you have a wonderful day
Donna, I could almost hear your voice when you were describing the wonderful adventuresome experiences that you went on.
Sorry you challenges, but happy the hear that you are enjoying your garden and chickens.
Becky’s video’s do bring comfort to our spirit. The best to you ❤️
I would try adding coffee, or a decaf, which ever you enjoy drinking normally.....yum..... mocha! 😊
I've made this cake for years, with one exception....instead of hot water, I use hot black coffee. It's makes it even more chocolate-y. Thanks for the video today, much needed
I use chai tea instead of coffee. Yum!
Chocolate and coffee together is a magic combination. Great for brownies with a dash of cinnamon!
That sounds yummy
@@thomasapayne1 I usually use coffee, but chai sounds divine!
I was comin in to say the same thing!! Exchange the water with coffee and it will blow ur mind. 😊
29:00 I recommend that you take cuttings from you mother's rosemary instead of trying to start it from seed.
Not a homemaker, or a Gardner (yet), just a uni student from Toronto who receives so much motivation seeing your impeccable work ethic❤️thank you
The "old lady" from Iowa is also motivated!!!
Hi Becky! Thanks for the idea of processing block cheese by shredding and freezing.
In your recent organization video you said you didn’t use sandwich size ziplock bags? This may help …since recipes usually list 1-2 cups shredded cheese. I pre measure, store and label my sandwich bags with 1-2 cups shredded cheeses and freeze the sandwich size all in gallon sizes. I just pull out what I need for a recipe. Saves me time and money.
Thanks for sharing that tip! Definately gonna be usefull for me!
My teacher Ms. Purdy made this frosting ❤ she asked me what I wanted for passing my coding exams and I said vanilla cupcakes with your special frosting. THE BEST. She passed away a little after that and it still hurts my heart.
I was so happy to watch your video today. I just got out of the hospital after having major surgery, and girl, let me tell ya, you have a healing nature about you. I am so thankful you posted a new video for all of us to enjoy . Thank you so much Becky!!
If you replace 1/4 cup of the plain hot water with black coffee, you will get a deeper richer chocolate flavor without adding any coffee taste.
Black coffee is what i use . It really makes a difference.
One tip that always helps my baking is, you can mix the cr*p out of the batter UNTIL you add the flour, unless you are making bread, you don't want much gluten development. Mix the absolute minimum once you add the flour. You will have a tender cake, muffin, cookie etc
Becky your chicken is watching you as you move about the kitchen. So cute. She loves you 💗 😊
That's one of my favorite cakes. Instead of boiling water, I use strong coffee. It deepens the chocolate flavor.
How you whipped your butter for the frosting is how my great aunt taught me to do this for every cake and cookie batter. She was the cook for the Pillsbury family of the Pillsbury Flour Co. She also sifted her flour before measuring. I do not always do the sifting except when using einkorn flour I found that works better
I’m so proud for you for your new labeling habit🥰 An idea- make a diagram of all your gardening beds outside. Use excel or something so you can easily copy it for each new season. Then take a copy with you when you plant, and record the varieties right on your diagram. I used to have a numbered list of the varieties for that year, and I would right just the numbers on my bed diagram, not the whole variety name. Maybe someone has given you this idea before. It’s so fun seeing you get to start a whole new garden!
Becky Josh Little Sprout and my fellow commentators. Whenever I make anything chocolate I use the 5 friends rule Chocolate-orange-cinnamon-almond-coffee. These 5 flavorings go together in any combination. So every chocolate dessert (cake) I make has coffee in, It doesn't mask the chocolate in fact it enhances it.
I have in my repetoire a wonderful roast chicken from Pakistan if anyone is interested. you take off all the skin and replace it with a mix of nuts onions and spices...If anyone is interested I'll be happy to share the recipe. All the Best Jim Oaxaca Mexico
I’d lovvve the chicken recipe!
Just started the video and just wanted to say I have cherished watching your videos since I found you. You are so wholesome and genuinely kind and helpful and always give advice and motivational comments without feeling like it’s just for the camera. I would love to know you in real life I feel like everyone would love to meet you 😂
😊”storebought” brown sugar needs to be kept in an airtight container. A soft bread slice or several marshmallows included can help. When I was a child (in the 1950’s) my mom would keepseveral apple slices in the airtight container with the brown sugar. Those slices made a great snack after a few days!
Also a slip of potato peel in the container does the same as the apple slices.
Try a brown sugar bear… no chance of it being gross bits of random food in the sugar.
❤❤❤The chocolate cake with vanilla frosting was DELICIOUS🎉🎉🎉 I put mine in three 7x11 pans. Frosted one up…the other two are in the freezer for later. Hands down THE BEST CAKE I have ever tasted…let alone made lol! Same for the frosting. Thanks for sharing your family’s recipe😊😊😊
Hi Becky! Your lavendar needs to be cold stratified before planting. Put the seeds in the freezer for a couple weeks and you'll probably have better germination rates.
I've tried to tell her the same thing in every single video she's talked about them, including when she was planting. Sage is supposed to do better with cold stratification too. My heart was breaking all while watching her plant knowing that. MI gardener even made a FB post about lavender cold stratification right around when that video was posted. It was so painful
I learned the hard way last year on this
Send her an email. Or pm her on Facebook
Is this true for jalapeno seeds to freeze them before seed starting?
@@YasuTaniinathese videos are filmed around 3 or 4 weeks ago (she occasionally says the date) so all comments that are advice won't be applied for a while, if it is still applicable.
I planted plenty to share too! Being disabled I can contribute my time growing plants and sharing with family and friends and they really appreciate it! They are all working so I'm happy to ''spoil'' them with fresh veges and plants! Have a great week everyone!
I love how excited you get over your plants.. so cute.
When you were topping or pinching out your pepper plants, I was silently wishing that, just for an experiment, that you put some of the heads in water to see if they would root. You strike me as a gal who loves to think outside the box, so maybe try it sometime for us to see if it works or if you end up with a slimy mess. Your seedlings are epic and it is so weird how some germinate and others don't. Seems no logical reason for the failures. Your tomato seedlings are very impressive and you should have a bumper crop. You have a numerous amount to plant out so much kudos to you.
Beautiful to see you in your element in your growing room you share so beautifully and I really enjoy your comment of how to you are teaching an old lady more skills thank you for brining sunshine into my days.
Ive been gardening for years nothing fancy any more because of poor health but watching You sure takes Me back a few years. I still enjoy growing and preserving My own foods so rewarding to know You have healthy foods to eat. I just recently found Your channel on You tube. Im totally enjoying Your videos.
Hi!
Becky,
I really enjoy your plat form. I love what you do in general. I would like you to show us how to make butter and laundry detergent soon only if you made it before. I watch you every time you upload a new video. You do inspire me. Love from Corner Texas:)
Blessings,
Alicia
Hey ladybug! Been away for a bit because of work. Wanted to say, you're looking fantastic! I know the early days of motherhood can be really challenging, but you have been facing it head-on with grace and love! What an inspiration for the rest of us!
Strawflower seeds need light to germinate so you should surface sow and not cover. I even put mine under the grow lights to germinate, but not on a heat mat. Also, misting the surface gently helps to prevent displacing the starting mix and accidentally covering the seeds. Hope this helps!
oh wow thanks!
Here's a tip for the day: For long term storage, seeds should be stored in a cold environment 32-41degrees (like a refrigerator) with a silica based desiccant to absorb moisture. My grandpa kept all his seeds in the refrigerator, but the silica desiccant was not available back in the day. During his retirement, he had enviable gardens by today's standards. He bred and created his own hybrids.
Modern homestead Alaska was at Trader Joe’s today and she mentioned you as she brought the shelf stable cream. All your peppers are looking amazing! I’ve only germinated 1 here in the UK so I’m off to buy some starts at the weekend. Thanks for the video.
Same here! I bought some at Trader Joe’s I already used one
When doing butter cream icing on cake, you can smooth it by getting it as smooth as possible with your cake spatula, then use a viva paper towel and an icing/fondant smoother on the top and sides of the iced cake, lifting the paper towel and moving it to different areas to be smoothed over the cake. I ran a bakery for many years and have done cake decorating for decades. All the little tricks of the trade always help.
@@cynthiafisher9907 they’re putting the paper towel on top of the icing. Then with a fondant smoother or offset spatula you’re smoothing over the paper towel, then when lifting it up the icing underneath is smooth too. That way your tool doesn’t get gummed up with frosting if you’re going for a very smooth even surface
I think I’m understanding Pamela correctly, although I’ve never tried it before. And I’m assuming it has to be with the VIVA brand paper towels she mentioned
@@cynthiafisher9907 The VIVA brand is recommended because it has no textured designs on the paper towel. (no ripples, dips or dots). Yep, dry paper towel. It sounds weird but totally works.
@Cynthia Fisher after you get the icing as smooth as you can on the cake, you then place a paper towel on the side of the cake and use a fondant/ icing smoother to go over the paper towel to smooth the icing on the sides , and top. The fondant smoother looks like a small front rounded and back straight edge. You use the paper towel between the smoother and cake moving it from area to area. Hope that helps. I wish I could show you. It is so easy, and you really get a smooth surface. Also, the fondant/ smoother reminds me of a very small plastic iron with a small handle on the back side.
@@queenizzy01 that is correct.
@Isabel J. also, the spatulas she is using, like the long and off set one, do not do well on when you ice cakes, they have wide plastic flat ones ,like a fan, that do much better at crumb coating and getting your base coat on.
Sorry for the second comment, but with plants that bear fruit such as peppers, you’ll get more fruit if you don’t consistently fertilize to the harvest. When you fertilize, the plant itself gets lush and greener, nut all energy is going into the plant and not the fruit😊
Way to go Becky!!! You have come a ways with your gardening skills!!!
This house will be stunning with your new style of decorating! Love it!
Hi Becky. You might want to add a note to the tape on your snipped plants (peppers and I forget what the flowers were) to note the date of beheadings so you can guage the regrowth and branching.
Hi Becky, I love your channel!!! I am from Vermont. I'm glad to hear that you're loving our compost ❤
I've always hated frosting too until I started making Italian buttercream. I will never in a million years touch american buttercream again. Italian buttercream is more flavorful and less sickeningly sweet. Best thing is is I usually make enough for 2 cakes at once. I freeze the extra for the next cake
Put a slice of bread in the brown sugar, and it will be super soft again.
Somehow i lost you for a year so i have been binge watching your past year catching up. It is so exciting watching your journey in your new homestead and motherhood. So happy to follow your new garden space development! Thank you for being so gracious to bring us along!
I’ve been using boot trays to hold my plants. All of my plant trays had holes and would leak, so I bought a few boot trays and it works like a charm.
Becky, you are such a positive inspiration, you have no idea how much you are helping, I thought I knew most things about gardening but you are teaching me more, it is so lovely the way you speak to us as if we are there with you, 'you'll be so proud of me...' 😊 we certainly are my dear, I love the way you put the scissors in the drawer after saying 'mustn't forget to take them into the kitchen!' 😁 lovely xx
Our peppers are stuck on the growing shelves, here in BC Canada, until June. I start them in February 02nd. Peppers will grow roots to fill the soil space, then put on leaf growth!! They are slow growers as are celery and onions. Your peppers look shockingly the same as mine. They are all so beautiful!! I have been fertilizing with fish emulsion once there are true leaves. As Jacque In The Garden says, I will just give them a 1/2 teaspoon of fish emulsion in a gallon of water, once a week. I have 3 4foot shelves filled with seedlings. I have only 1 shelf. I planted 5 purple echinacea, and 5 Cheyenne Spirit echinacea and there are 3 purple coming up and 4 Cheyenne Spirit! I am most excited. I am excited to see your new gardens get filled with beautiful seedlings! I have my first over-wintered Dahliah growing!! I am very excited about this too. I love this time of year!! I have room only for 2 types of tomatoes, bush romas and a couple beefsteak called Matchless. I have alot of very big Calabrese broccoli, Gusto brussel sprouts, and Trevi cauliflower that I need to share around to my neighbours and friends. I only have enough space for 2 broccoli, 2 cauliflower and 1 brussel spout.
I love getting new hacks and tricks from Erik and Jacque. Those trays look amazing!!
You may need to germinate your strawplants on the floor under your shelf. I had 100% germination with Lupin this year only!! They also need cool temperatures but good light. I now have to find garden space for 10 Lupin in my 8 gardens! There are worse problems!! Oh, I have one huge Lupin that has climatized to our 5B-6A zone. It was -38°C here for more that a week last winter and they survived!
Oh your tomatoes are awesome!! Mine grow faster here so I only planted them a few weeks ago, but they still cannot be planted out until June. Burying them up to true leaves helps them to put on so many new roots!
So looking forward to seeing how your garden grows this summer!
The last scan thru your room with all your starts filled MY heart for you. I can't imagine your joy of what's to come with, well, absolutely everything ....a new home, a new baby and an incredible new garden. What happiness!! 💝 PS, MUST ADD, and Josh, what an amazing support, partner, Dad!
Consider changing your apron when you go from your kitchen to your grow room. Like have 1 apron for gardening and 1 apron for your kitchen...Maybe you did and I missed it.
Anyway, I love your videos. I really find them relaxing in the evenings. Keep up the good work! Praying for you and your family. 🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿
Can’t wait to see the abundance of fruits and vegetables you get from your 1st gardening season in your new garden ❤️🇬🇧🇬🇧❤️
THAT CHOCOLATE CAKE looks delicious!
WOW, what crazy progress in the grow room!
This year's garden is going to be so fun to watch & learn from!
Thank you for sharing your successes & failures, we all learn so much!
Love your channel!
Everything is looking really good your plants are coming along fabulously. So proud of you Becky.💚
I bet the chocolate cake recipe of your Mom's would make an excellent sheet cake (like the old fashion Texas sheet cakes). The cake you made looks delicious!!!
I love your videos! Thanks so much for taking the time to make and edit them for us! They make my day!
I make a cake on the back of Hershey coco powder container and it's the easiest and moist. It calls for boiling water also which is weird but it's amazing. I like the addition of sour cream and definitely into the fluffy frosting!
Adding sour cream to banana bread batter is amazing also
Would love to see your planning diagram for your new raised beds. Meaning, what you’re going to be planting in each one of those beds sort of like a blue print.
Always use a bowl twice as large as your sifter, you will not lose a drop of stifted ingredients. 😊
Seedlings 🌱 are looking amazing 🥰
Yeyyy another video💖
I think she doesn't imagine how happy she makes people!!!
While eating lunch this noon I thought, "I think it's a Becky Day today!" It just makes me happy.
Love how your garden and yard is turning out! It’s very inspirational and I can’t wait to do similar things in my garden and yard. Also, super random, but thank you for staying true to your content and not doing a bunch of shorts. ❤ You are my favorite TH-camr.
I always gets so excited to see a new video is up! My 4 year old grandson ADORES you! I keep a slice of bread in my brown sugar container. It always stays soft.
Than you for being you Becky. I am looking forward to watching your gardens grow this year. You are an inspiration to us all. 😂
Like you, I just used whatever pots and trays that I either got from plant starts or what was given to me by others after they planted out their plants. I have since started investing in some better equipment for my starts and even grow bags to plant in. I have a small area to grow in thanks to our wonderful landlords and I’m trying to make the best of what I have to grow as much as I can in it. I now have a setup that really works well for me and I will continue to upgrade what I can a little at a time until I get to where I want to be. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us and everything you do in the kitchen as well. You’re so awesome ❣️🤗❣️
Wisconsin 55 is now considered an heirloom, since it has been around for many years, so the seeds should be true. This is my first year growing them and will try saving some seeds. Good luck with yours!
I really enjoy our time together. I can't wait to see the garden in 30 days😅. Don't work too hard you will burn out. Remember when baby naps mom naps
I would winter sow the strawflowers and blackened Susans in milk jugs. I did a lot of winter sowing the winter before last. I had tremendous success with the black eyed Susans. They self sow and I have even more this year.
To any gardeners: you don't top large peppers (bell peppers, for example). It will make for less peppers overall. Topping peppers is recommended for small peppers.
I've been asking myself why I keep watching your gardening content. I'm afraid of fire ants, my back yard is shady, and the HoA won't let me grow food in the front yard so I really doubt I'll ever start gardening. I think I keep watching your heavy gardening content videos because I really enjoy the joy-filled info-dumps. There's also something about your voice that I find soothing.
Hey Becky, I always use the whisk attachment when making cake batter and frosting. It's something I learned at cake decorating school.
If you don’t watch Laura with Garden Answer, she’s a wealth of knowledge for all kinds of gardening. Even though I’m in NY and in Zone 4a (not far from Nicole w/ Flower Hill Farm), I’ve learned so much from her. I’m new to your channel and hooked. I love your bravery to do such a big life change to dedicate to your homestead. Inspiring!
Oh, Becky, your little garden looks so beautiful & green! Also your outside garden is looking great! I am going to try your cake recipe, which sounds yummy to me! You've got so much energy that it's awesome! I hope Baby A is doing well! I can't wait to see how your garden will look all planted & producing! You take care! Thanks for sharing! ❤️🌷🍄☺️
Hi Becky! I just ordered 8 bags of Vermont Compost. I am really excited to get some. It had been out of stock every time I checked, so thtnk you for saying it was in stock. I quickly went on theri site and ordered it! This is my 2nd year on this property, and each year has been it's differen't challenge. My seedlings, are doing AMAZING too, but We just got 4 inches of Snow yesterday, so i am going to have to pot mine up
Wow, everything looks so good!!! 😊 and good job labeling Becky!!!
Becky your tree is beautiful. I love a tree with lots of lights
I'm so glad you mentioned that you planted those peppers on feb 21. I was feeling really discouraged when I compared my plants to yours but I only planted about three weeks ago.
I love when I see hour long videos. Keep them coming!!
Recipe for the frosting please! Thanks, 😊 Barbara
I love how your herb jars are in a rainbow on your shelf. Its so pretty.
Strawflowers and Rudbeckia have to be surface sown. Strawflowers also like a heat mat to germinate. I have found that most flowers have to be surface sown unlike the twice the depth as the size of the seed like vegetable seeds. Plants also grow from the top and not the bottom so the tomato plants won’t grow in a way that you can add more soil unless you end up removing more leaves once there is more top growth. Good luck!
Hi!!!! I finally have my little garden. My husband always tells me if I get all my ideas from you. 😂 and of course I do
I winter sowed sage in a milk jug three years ago. It's become a nice little perennial bush. I haven't tried to grow rosemary from seed.
I love how you say that you are so proud of your plants!
Becky Im right there with you on labeling and keeping track of plants! This is the first year Im really keeping up with labels, doing tape like you and made hunderds of plants tags from a few solo cups works great!
Rosemary takes a very long time to germinate. Please don't give up on the seeds. All your seedlings are beautiful, great job.
My favorite lazy frosting hack is to reserve a bit of the cake to crumble on top! Reminds me of those Entenmanns marshmallow cakes. So cute and yum.
To keep brown sugar soft put a 1/2 heal of bread in the top of your container, the bread will become hard and stail and the sugar will stay soft. Or you can buy a brown sugar clay softener, you soak in water and place it in your container. The bread is what my mom used for years before they came out with the clay softeners It works great. 👍🏼
I have used a brown sugar clay bear for 25 years. Worth every bit of cost.
I use bread. It’s great
I use bread as well
I don't keep mine wet. Just put it in.
Bear over bread any day.
When I bake cakes, I always let them cool on a cooling rack so the bottom of the cake is never wet or sticky, and they cool faster because the air can circulate all around and under the cake pan
So excited for all of this! Every garden update is my favorite, not that I don't like the cooking videos too. I am just living vicariously through you while stuck in an apartment with no good sunshine for growing veggies or the space to grow indoors. Also, not a huge frosting fan but whipped cream kinds or like the one you made I actually love!!!! Looked so good!
I lost a lot of plants because I started too soon. I was told to transplant them on Good Friday. Well, a cold snap came and yeah. Like you said il, it's a learning process
That cake looks delicious. I love a denser cake as well. I'll try it as you posted but I may try using some hot coffee the next time like I do for my brownies. You don't really taste the coffee but it gives the chocolate a boost.
Damn. That sounds good!
Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa, says to always add coffee to any chocolate baked item. She says it will make your chocolate have more depth of flavor. She has added espresso powder, instant coffee granules, or regular brewed coffee. I love her show and her food is always good!
@@Kathy-zx5bu Most likely Ina Garten is where I picked up that tip🙂 I learned so much from her.
or even part of the water....I have a son who hates coffee, but he never notices when I put a tiny bit in brownies etc....Mom's "secret" ingredient, lol
I'm sitting with my sister in the hospital waiting for her discharge. Your video is a very welcome reprieve! ❤
Best wishes to your sister!
@@aliciadupuy9228 thank you!
Much love to you, Josh and Baby Acre and thank you Becky for all that you share with this wonderful community of friends. 💖🥮🌻🥀
I needed an idea for dessert for a gather this Sat. I have everything I need to make this cake... Thank you, Beckie...
That cake looks delicious. I have to say your seedlings are looking fantastic!!
Your seedlings look beautiful!! I had 100% germination on my moneymakers but only about 85% on all the other peppers and tomatoes- now to keep them alive. I started way too early.
Herbs are really hard to start!
Put a slice of bread in your brown sugar container. It will keep the brown sugar moist.
What an exciting vid. I love the progress you are getting. I look forward to the weeks and months ahead with your new garden year!!!🫶🏻🌷🌷🌷🫶🏻🫶🏻💯💯
If you will put a piece of sandwich bread in our container of brown sugar it will absorb the moisture and keep your brown sugar in perfect condition. If the bread becomes really hard just throw it out and put in another piece of bread. Keeps the brown sugar in perfect condition.
Becky you are just a ray of sunshine thank you for being so positive.