Meg, you work so hard to make sure the family is fed well, I swear you are squeezing every bit of goodness out of what you all produce. I would have never thought to make vegetable powder. Great idea! I love to see what you and Ben do. You both are amazing!❤️
You guys great children amazing !! Great that everything worked out you as a couple!! This world is hardcore!! May the lord keep blessing you with great knowledge because you are young!!
Can you give the TH-cam channel of the woman you were talking about that has the cow and dairy recipes so I can check out their homesteading channel on TH-cam I don't know how to find it in the comments
I LOVED it when the family held hands before giving thanks for dinner, sweet little buggie bowed her head too, she’s such a pretty child, Meg, I don’t know where you get your energy, your family is beautiful!
Thank you for NOT filming a time-lapse at meal time. Today, just a few seconds of you sitting together as a family to eat was a beautiful & peaceful scene.
What a great family. Your sons are such a joy to watch how they pitch in and help the homestead work. My son raised his four kids reiterating often, "this is our home" we work, we play, we love, and that is the definition of a "family".
1) YES!!! - so glad to see someone dehydrating the tomato skins for use in rubs, soups, stew, and BBQ sauce. Entered mine into the Fair this year and got a Blue Ribbon! 2) We got lucky with wood chips. The arborists in our area actually followed through and delivered three loads. You are correct - you can never have too many chips! 3) Yours sons sure are a big help! Best wishes from Kate in Olympia, WA - 8/2/2022.
Meg I just wanted to share a family secret with you all the way from the Middle East from my lovely grandma. If you sauté the onions and peppers and garlic first and get some color or canalizations on them and add tomatoes last then your sauce has this huge burst of flavor ❤️
CARMELIZATION is the word you mean in English, yes? good point but she probably knows but had to get so much done in one day including making this video for us while taking care of the youngest blessing of the Hollar Clan too in between muffins!!!
You are a natural momma !, I love the way you teach your young ones, great job ! Also, after watching your home-steading journey...., I feel like you have become one of the best homesteaders out there; brave, real, thankful , energetic and free-spirited and focus-driven in getting the job/quest done. I appreciate your diversity in subjects and your family connection in making the home-stead awesome. You are both tough as steel and wise in your skills of many , thanks for teaching us want-to-be's )
Poor Meg. You looked like someone stepped on your last nerve! I have those days during harvest and preserving time too. You have a beautiful family. I love how patiently you let Buggie help.
Ben and Meg I must say that I remember how you shared the starting of your journey on this property and having little to no infrastructure I'm so impressed with where you are currently and the direction which you plan on going for continued improvement on the property. Thanks for sharing 👍
Corbin and Brett are such hard workers. Watching them cut down trees, chip the wood, load the tractor and get the heap ready for the next load, I'm impressed with their work ethic. Buggy sweeping up her mess was so sweet, she is learning fast. Meg, the way you stopped and helped her was so loving ❤.
I think your daughter would ENJOY a broom her size. My daughter's loved them with their little aprons. Oh, so cute. When she prays with you for dinner, she bends her way over. She is growing up so fast. Maybe another little sister for her. She'll be playing with the FIT FARMER'S baby very soon. When I had two little sister's playing. They had each other to play with. As you know with twin son's. I think it was easier than one child. Love and PRAYING with you FROM S E MICHIGAN 🇺🇸
I love it when Buggy peeks up from Grace to make sure she is on the same page as everyone else. She will quickly lift her head, open her eyes, then just as quickly bow her head and continue with Grace. Soooo cute!
So nice to see the boys working with Ben, learning what projects can help grow the homestead. These are priceless lessons that they will take with as they venture out into the world - learning how to learn and chipping in to help. Working together is the answer to success.
The sigh Meg let out during the blessing said it all. Hang in their Momma. Believe it or not some day you’ll miss this. That being said, can you hook up a battery operated drill to your food mill? 🤣
My brother set up our strainer with a drill for me last year after a particularly trying long day of preserving, and I am never going back to hand-operated. It saved me hours, possibly days, of work, and I'll definitely be doing it again this year.
@@e.c.5994 Can you share a link to plans or pictures to Ben and the older kids to help Meg out ?? I think their email is in the ’about’ section on their channel page
Was watching some of your first videos. You have accomplished what you set out to do. Having time with your children is amazing. Looking at a moth is time well spent! Letting your little girl help is time well spent. All your children are already helping your homestead grow. Each time I see them help It just makes my day. The long-term results will be wonderful. Not perfect but there will be plenty of joy in the years to come. Tears too but for the most part the joy wins out every time! Love your woodchips! Love every bit of your cooking. Take care! Prayer and love!
Meg, you are truly super woman! I hope your family knows how fortunate they are to have you…you are always in the kitchen cooking amazing meals! Ben works so hard also… y’all are an awesome family and we love your channel… God bless y’all!
Meg, you've been working your fingers to the bone. Cabbage rolls, tomato sauce, cucumber chips, muffins....oh my. I must say, today I made your Zuchinni Bread. I waited 10 minutes, then cut a piece for myself. OMG, thank you for the recipe. I will be throwing my old recipe in the trash, and adding yours to my notebook. I made a quick instagram post about using your recipe, and referred everyone to your Saturday's vlog post. Ben, wood chips come in handy for just about anything. It's great getting the big trucks to drop their loads....when you can get them. We have a Troy Built wood chipper, it works just like yours but doesn't provide the quantity you'd get from a large truck. The trash your uncovering, be careful snakes sure like that stuff to use to bed around or in.
God love you Meg, you looked so tired cranking away at the squeezo, but just think about opening jars of sauce in the winter! You seem to be such a hard working gentle sweet Mama to your kiddos!! You are doing fantastic job!!!!
Oh no, I was wanting to see how Meg makes her sauce! I do declare that Meg lives by the "use it up" she talks about. She should write a cookbook!! I LOVE how your family all works together. I really appreciate and admire you guys. You are living my dream life!! I bet your family is proud of you. Your parents did a good job raising you guys and you guys are doing an awesome job as well. I look forward to your videos and just remember "this too shall pass" Buggy will be grown before you know it and so will your other boys (helpers). Savor the moments! They're gone too fast!
Love how the baby puts her head down in prayer before eating. She does what she sees and it’s beautiful. Meg is at her kingdom when she cooks and I love it. Blessed you and your children for the lovely examples they have.
Oh and Ben offering Meg a hug was so sweet. Hope you took him up on the offer at a later time. My husband's hugs are one of the things I miss most since he passed.
Meg do you ever get any time for yourself ???? You are amazing.. Do you do anything beside cooking and preserving? I don't know how you do all you do ! .. Buggy is so adorable when she bows her head to pray ! Your boys are really good brothers to her .. I bet they adore her ! They are super helpers too !!!! Ben is pretty amazing too ! You guys work so hard !!!
Meg is working in her kitchen all day every day! Even though she loves the preserving of food that she does, she gets tired. She also has a little toddler that’s a full time job, too! Yet she continues to do all the canning and preserving of food she must, as she knows the season will be over soon! Also, she prepares meals for her family. Ben stays busy, too, and, wow, he is adding to his outdoor equipment! Great job, Megan! My mother did gardening, canning and preserving of food, along with helping my dad, a farmer, any time she could. I admire these people!
Watching your family grow and GROW over the years, and now Buggie into a mommy helper makes me wish I could start all over and follow my heart. I pray for God's continuous blessings on yoy all.
Meg and Ben, you both are an inspiration to us. You both have so many talents that we get to see. I just wanted to ask, How do your boys all feel about living where you are as compared to California? Maybe you could answer this on one of you vlogs. Thank you
Oh Biggie ❣️❣️❣️. When she came walking in with the broom to clean up her mess, and did a great job sweeping, oh my heart! Then when you say down to dinner and she put her head almost on the table for prayer, again, too, too sweet! You know that baby is well loved!! 😍😍😍😍😍❣️
Those tomatoes look incredible. Nice job Meg in making the spaghetti sauce and cutting, seasoning, and dehydrating the cucumbers. Too bad the wood chipper blade got dulled by the dead trees. It looks a lot better from what you have already done Ben. You guys have had to work hard to clean up the land. Wow, those cabbage rolls look fantastic Meg! You are so good at providing food for your family Meg. That's great that you make tomato powder too. That wood chip/compost building with the chickens is a great idea. Thanks for this Hollars!
Ohh Meg..I know some days have to be exhausting for you! You do so so much for your family and you do it all well with a smile. You look like you could use a day just to yourself -(Ben, help a lady out on this lol). Your food always looks so amazing. I know I sure would enjoy having a meal at your table! The homestead looks absolutely fantastic guys! Blessings from your biggest fan💖🙏🙏
It’s the little things that makes one happy right? Last week the local power company was by to trim back some of our trees from the lines running down the drive. I mentioned to the guy that I’d take any mulch he may have to get rid of. He didn’t get enough off our trees to dump for me. Well surprise, surprise! Today they showed up with a 3/4 truck load and I got some beautiful mulch for free! I’m so excited to spread some in the chicken run and onto the garden beds this fall! (I tried Chip Drop for a couple of years but never heard from them. We’re too far out from the metro area 🤷♀️.)
I am 74 and have just spent a very enjoyable 2 days using my new mini 4 inch chainsaw pruner and chipper giving my orchard the pruning it has not had for a couple of years. Could not have managed pruning with manual pruning saw. Best time is to be had outdoors with family can't beat the life
Whee! A Wisconsin expression at high summertime is that we got the harvest "comin' out our ears!" You've got tomatoes comin' outta your ears, Meg. Good thing your ears know how to preserve food. I love your idea for Magic Tomato Dust.
Saw that deep breath and sigh as you sat down for dinner mom :) You are doing a very good job being patient and teaching the little one. However it is very clear who rules the roost in your house :)
I think I understand now….wood chips are something close to gold on the homestead. The boys were really helping you a lot🤗🤗. Meg, that look when Ben asked you the question was like “please help I’ve almost reached the end of my rope!” Next thing you know Buggy was up from her nap and Ben was holding her🥰🥰! You gotta love your teamwork….it’s the best guys💜💜!!
As one who has dealt with a lot of small children (family members, friends children, day care provider, and preschool teacher), I have seen so many parents get upset when children make a mess, especially after a tough day. It was so refreshing to see Buggy tell Meg she made a mess, and Meg, harried as she may be, quietly and calmly helps her clean it up. It may not seem like much to some, but it teaches such a wonderful message to the child. Thank you, on your children's behalf, for being such a great, loving and caring Mom. God bless.
My hat is off to you Meg!! I think that you are one of the hardest working women when it comes to cooking and preserving food for your family!!! I’m from a family of 11 kids and we worked hard growing up. My mom canned all kind of stuff!😊 My husband & I have been married for 45 years and we’ve had a garden for many years! I do some canning & I love working outside! We love keeping up with your homestead progress! Your kids are truly growing up!! I pray that God will continue to bless & watch over you, Ben & the children!!🙏🏻 Now go rest a little!!😜🥰
My Mother was Polish. The stuffed cabbage filling was ground beef, cooked rice, onion & egg. The sauce was tomato, vinegar & sugar. Served with mashed potatoes and that tomato sauce as gravy. YUMMY!
Cabbage rolls is one of the most famous polish dish. We call them "gołąbki" - pigeons 😃😃😃 Mince meat - mixed pork, beef and chicken (truth is - whatever you have got), mixed with fried veggies, onions and carrot, then mixt with cooked rice and then wrapped with big cooked cabbage leaves, like a Chinese spring rolls, and then broil in big sauce pan with big chunk of bacon and tomato sauce. Girls all over the world!!! If you want to steal polish guy heart, learn how to do this!!! Gołąbki!!
Love to see your abundance. Here in Texas most gardens produced nothing due to heat and water. Gardeners can count on nothing and be grateful for everything they get.
I just love seeing buggie doing all the things. She is the cutest little thing ever! We need more footage of Meg in the kitchen. That tired mom sigh at the dinner table, a mom's work is never done.
Oh, sweet Buggy, on both sides of the spectrum: from the ultimate fun sweeping to almost exhaustion after the day of her "help"!!!!OMG, the chipper and the tractor, if only you could have had them when you started...but thank God for having them now, such a blessing!
Super family! I love the way you both take time to show your kids how to do things and allow them to help. They will be light years ahead of city kids in life skills and common sense. God bless your little homestead.
Glad the chipper is working out for you! It did struggle with dry wood and the blade would dull quickly. There are cheap blades you can get on amazon but there are a couple of companies that supposedly make good blades for the tomahawk. One is "The Sharp Tool Co., Inc" - Mike
I see Ms. Buggy has graduated to big girl status and sits at the table on this episode. She is getting so big and it's been such a joy to see her grow up along side her brothers. Children are a blessing of the Lord and yours are wonderful!!!!!
Meg you are my hero!! The magic you work in your quaint kitchen inspires me. I too have a small kitchen and get overwhelmed trying to cook in it and then think about all the food you serve and preserve and it humbles me.
Great to see your boys hard at work right alongside you. Love to see little Buggie help mom in the kitchen... anyway she can... tasting and sampling at times :) Those are the hard days of summer but Meg, you work hard in that hot kitchen and put your heart into preserving every ounce of food for the cold days of winter. Hats off to you Hollars for showing us what homesteading is all about!
Great wood chip compost pile. Love the boys helping out so well. Meg , you are a kitchen work horse. You get so much done and in a small space. I bow to you my dear. 💜💕💜
Meg - thank you for showing reality. You are an amazing mom, and extremely patient with Buggie wanting to “help”, but toddlers are exhausting as well as wonderful. 🙄🤣. All parents have moments when they want their beloved child to just GO AWAY. 😆
Meg, I feel your arm pain as you turn that handle! My brother (a lazy engineer-in-training) had a genius idea last year as I was on my third day of straining tomatoes for soup. He wandered outside, got a drill, took off the strainer's hand crank, fitted the drill onto it, and thus was born the drill-powered Victorio strainer. It worked like a dream, and I am never going back to human-powered squeezo-ing if I can help it. Not only was that setup so much easier on my arms and back, it also took less than half the time to turn those tomatoes into puree - a wonderful time savings when one has a half-acre garden in full production and three canning projects lined up for the day.
We duct taped pieces of 6", heat ducting pipe to the chipper chute, ran a vertical of the same, and then an adjustable corner on the very end until we got the configuration and design that worked for us; then we pop riveted the pieces. The chipper shredder could sit on the ground and shoot chips into a trailer; or off into the woods. The trailer we used was one of those little, (black in our area), metal, light weight, quarter yard sized trailers designed to be towed by a riding lawn mower or lawn tractor. We assembled a 6 sided, cube out of 1/2" PVC which fit snuggly in the trailer on its small end and stood above the trailer on its tall end; about yard and a half size. To the PVC, we attached black, plastic-type, window screening with an opening to capture what came out of the chipper shredder. In hind sight, we would have used the metal metal window screening; except a pretty big roll of the black, plastic type came to us for free. - We used the same trailer with its own ducting as a basket replacement for the riding lawn mower.
2 years ago I found that I can just put my sauces in my vitamix and grind it all down to nice sauce. I even got rid of my crank thing you are using. Made ketchup, spaghetti sauces etc. Took the tomatoes and other veggies and it grinds seeds, peel and it's done ready to can so fast. Will never peel tomatoes again. No more cranking for me. Been canning for 44 years now. Wish I'd learned this years ago. Now I don't dread doing tomato sauces anymore.
Buggy dropped her little head and prayed so cute. You are prospering. Everything looks good. I know canning is hard. Everyone used to go to bed and I was still watching canners
I hate pine trees. I would get rid of everyone of them if I could. Nothing but needles and pitch all over the place and the biggest but collector on the place, ya did I mention that I would be getting rid of all of them LOL. I have the same problem finding wood chips but if you have a lot of them you could lay cardboard down where you want a new garden bed and pile some on should be able to plant it next year. Thanks for all you share and teach
Hang in there with the wood chips, Ben. If any of those trucks have a name on it, call them...or any other tree service you can find.... even the County you live in or one nearby. The Fit Farmer gets a lot of them from the trees along the County Roads and I remember Art and Bri used to get some too. Art also knew where he could get Bamboo...i don't know how they break down. He use to make a teepee like set up for tomatoes and other climbing things. You can always learn from neighbors. You can make beautiful flooring out of Bamboo. Again you can use that creativity and come up with a lot of things. I love your family. Good Luck with everything you do.
You were not joking about that shredder being a beast! It deals with whole trees! And your lads are really organised. They do their jobs so efficiently.
Never get tired of seeing what y’all are up to awesome family praying together staying together y’all are raising young Americans that’s going to be our future great job parents !
I empathize with Meg’s deep sigh when she sat down to dinner. She’s such a hard worker… you all are.
I noticed that too! ♥ She is amazing! My heart goes out to mamas with small children. The days are long but the years are short. It goes by so fast.
Yes! I came here to say I felt that deep sigh to my core, Meg. 💕💕 we all have days like that.
Meg, you work so hard to make sure the family is fed well, I swear you are squeezing every bit of goodness out of what you all produce. I would have never thought to make vegetable powder. Great idea! I love to see what you and Ben do. You both are amazing!❤️
You guys great children amazing !! Great that everything worked out you as a couple!! This world is hardcore!! May the lord keep blessing you with great knowledge because you are young!!
I do agree! Meg works so hard in that kitchen!!! Love what you and Ben do on your acreage!!!
Can you give the TH-cam channel of the woman you were talking about that has the cow and dairy recipes so I can check out their homesteading channel on TH-cam I don't know how to find it in the comments
Laughing at Buggie and Meg.... Evidently that girl can eat! Your boys are amazing helpers. Your family is great!
I LOVED it when the family held hands before giving thanks for dinner, sweet little buggie bowed her head too, she’s such a pretty child, Meg, I don’t know where you get your energy, your family is beautiful!
They always do this before each meal! So nice!
@@janh519 I know, I love that they do that, I thought it was so sweet when Buggie bowed he little head too!
Buggie is so smart and just soaking in all mom is showing. Meg is a great multi tasker. Love it great video👍🏽
Thank you for NOT filming a
time-lapse at meal time.
Today, just a few seconds of you sitting together as a family to eat was a beautiful & peaceful scene.
Meg your exhale at the dinner table when you begin to pray. Such a loving mother and wife. So evident that you do it all with your whole heart❤️
What a beautiful family you have! Love when Buggie bows her head for the blessing. 🙏🏻🥰
that part always caught me when its dinner time 😂
What a great family. Your sons are such a joy to watch how they pitch in and help the homestead work. My son raised his four kids reiterating often, "this is our home" we work, we play, we love, and that is the definition of a "family".
I love that saying!
My husband and I raised three sons! Nothing sweeter than watching all my guys work together, mostly in harmony.
Blessings
1) YES!!! - so glad to see someone dehydrating the tomato skins for use in rubs, soups, stew, and BBQ sauce. Entered mine into the Fair this year and got a Blue Ribbon!
2) We got lucky with wood chips. The arborists in our area actually followed through and delivered three loads. You are correct - you can never have too many chips!
3) Yours sons sure are a big help!
Best wishes from Kate in Olympia, WA - 8/2/2022.
Meg I just wanted to share a family secret with you all the way from the Middle East from my lovely grandma. If you sauté the onions and peppers and garlic first and get some color or canalizations on them and add tomatoes last then your sauce has this huge burst of flavor ❤️
CARMELIZATION is the word you mean in English, yes? good point but she probably knows but had to get so much done in one day including making this video for us while taking care of the youngest blessing of the Hollar Clan too in between muffins!!!
Thank you for sharing your family secret❣❣
You are a natural momma !, I love the way you teach your young ones, great job ! Also, after watching your home-steading journey...., I feel like you have become one of the best homesteaders out there; brave, real, thankful , energetic and free-spirited and focus-driven in getting the job/quest done. I appreciate your diversity in subjects and your family connection in making the home-stead awesome. You are both tough as steel and wise in your skills of many , thanks for teaching us want-to-be's )
Praying for piggies! Busy up to your eyeballs yet taking time to teach Buggie! You a a great mother Meg. I see it with all your kids.
Poor Meg. You looked like someone stepped on your last nerve! I have those days during harvest and preserving time too. You have a beautiful family. I love how patiently you let Buggie help.
Future HOMESTEADER here. Absolutely love watching you guys. You guys are LIVING A GOOD LIFE.....
Best of luck on your journey, working on mine too!😊
Meg, I love to watch you cook and have Buggy by your side in the kitchen!
Ben and Meg I must say that I remember how you shared the starting of your journey on this property and having little to no infrastructure I'm so impressed with where you are currently and the direction which you plan on going for continued improvement on the property. Thanks for sharing 👍
Corbin and Brett are such hard workers. Watching them cut down trees, chip the wood, load the tractor and get the heap ready for the next load, I'm impressed with their work ethic. Buggy sweeping up her mess was so sweet, she is learning fast. Meg, the way you stopped and helped her was so loving ❤.
I think your daughter would ENJOY a broom her size. My daughter's loved them with their little aprons. Oh, so cute. When she prays with you for dinner, she bends her way over. She is growing up so fast. Maybe another little sister for her. She'll
be playing with the FIT FARMER'S baby very soon.
When I had two little sister's playing. They had each other to play with. As you know with twin son's. I think it was easier than one child. Love and PRAYING with you FROM S E MICHIGAN 🇺🇸
I was think the same thing…lol
Buggy is so cute bowing her head for the blessings. Made my day.
I love it when Buggy peeks up from Grace to make sure she is on the same page as everyone else. She will quickly lift her head, open her eyes, then just as quickly bow her head and continue with Grace. Soooo cute!
Greetings from Costa Rica. Love how your farm is doing. You are an example of really hard working family. God bless.
So nice to see the boys working with Ben, learning what projects can help grow the homestead. These are priceless lessons that they will take with as they venture out into the world - learning how to learn and chipping in to help. Working together is the answer to success.
The sigh Meg let out during the blessing said it all. Hang in their Momma. Believe it or not some day you’ll miss this. That being said, can you hook up a battery operated drill to your food mill? 🤣
😳🤓🤣
The visual that gave me is hilarious🤣thanks!
My brother set up our strainer with a drill for me last year after a particularly trying long day of preserving, and I am never going back to hand-operated. It saved me hours, possibly days, of work, and I'll definitely be doing it again this year.
@@e.c.5994 Can you share a link to plans or pictures to Ben and the older kids to help Meg out ?? I think their email is in the ’about’ section on their channel page
Was watching some of your first videos. You have accomplished what you set out to do. Having time with your children is amazing. Looking at a moth is time well spent! Letting your little girl help is time well spent. All your children are already helping your homestead grow. Each time I see them help It just makes my day. The long-term results will be wonderful. Not perfect but there will be plenty of joy in the years to come. Tears too but for the most part the joy wins out every time! Love your woodchips! Love every bit of your cooking. Take care! Prayer and love!
Wow! Buggy has graduated from her tray to eat at the table! I remember those days with my kids! Now it’s great grand kids! You just blink!
Meg, you are truly super woman! I hope your family knows how fortunate they are to have you…you are always in the kitchen cooking amazing meals! Ben works so hard also… y’all are an awesome family and we love your channel… God bless y’all!
of course they do & so do we, and guess what? we get to watch the videos she makes too that make us so happy!
Oh Momma! How you manage to get anything done with a toddler around blows my mind. I struggle to make a cup of coffee with my one year old! Great job.
Baby girl is very smart. I love when she bows her head before dinner for prayer. So sweet
Meg, you've been working your fingers to the bone. Cabbage rolls, tomato sauce, cucumber chips, muffins....oh my. I must say, today I made your Zuchinni Bread. I waited 10 minutes, then cut a piece for myself. OMG, thank you for the recipe. I will be throwing my old recipe in the trash, and adding yours to my notebook. I made a quick instagram post about using your recipe, and referred everyone to your Saturday's vlog post.
Ben, wood chips come in handy for just about anything. It's great getting the big trucks to drop their loads....when you can get them. We have a Troy Built wood chipper, it works just like yours but doesn't provide the quantity you'd get from a large truck.
The trash your uncovering, be careful snakes sure like that stuff to use to bed around or in.
To me Meg has the hardest job to do just preparing the food. She needs all the praise and hugs she can get! One lucky man!
Sidetracked in the moment is awesome, those moments are what shows what type family you are, love that about you and Meg
It's really good to see the kids. Buggy is learning how to sweep, and the boys running the chipper. And Daddy playing with his new toy.
You are the best in the kitchen, Meg! Buggie bowing her little head….priceless ❤️
melts my heart every time🥰
God love you Meg, you looked so tired cranking away at the squeezo, but just think about opening jars of sauce in the winter! You seem to be such a hard working gentle sweet Mama to your kiddos!! You are doing fantastic job!!!!
Ben, those boys helping with those wood chips are such a big help! Great job boys! Great job Ben for teaching them homesteading!
Oh no, I was wanting to see how Meg makes her sauce! I do declare that Meg lives by the "use it up" she talks about. She should write a cookbook!! I LOVE how your family all works together. I really appreciate and admire you guys. You are living my dream life!! I bet your family is proud of you. Your parents did a good job raising you guys and you guys are doing an awesome job as well. I look forward to your videos and just remember "this too shall pass" Buggy will be grown before you know it and so will your other boys (helpers). Savor the moments! They're gone too fast!
Love how the baby puts her head down in prayer before eating. She does what she sees and it’s beautiful. Meg is at her kingdom when she cooks and I love it. Blessed you and your children for the lovely examples they have.
Awe Meg thought you were close to tears. Some days can be a test. God bless you all beautiful family.
Oh and Ben offering Meg a hug was so sweet. Hope you took him up on the offer at a later time. My husband's hugs are one of the things I miss most since he passed.
Meg do you ever get any time for yourself ???? You are amazing.. Do you do anything beside cooking and preserving? I don't know how you do all you do ! .. Buggy is so adorable when she bows her head to pray ! Your boys are really good brothers to her .. I bet they adore her ! They are super helpers too !!!! Ben is pretty amazing too ! You guys work so hard !!!
PAMELA YOU SAID IT!!! and she makes the videos we watch with the musical accents too, not just editing!!!
Produce preserving takes so much time but so worth it. Great job Meg!!
Meg is working in her kitchen all day every day! Even though she loves the preserving of food that she does, she gets tired. She also has a little toddler that’s a full time job, too! Yet she continues to do all the canning and preserving of food she must, as she knows the season will be over soon! Also, she prepares meals for her family. Ben stays busy, too, and, wow, he is adding to his outdoor equipment! Great job, Megan! My mother did gardening, canning and preserving of food, along with helping my dad, a farmer, any time she could. I admire these people!
Watching your family grow and GROW over the years, and now Buggie into a mommy helper makes me wish I could start all over and follow my heart. I pray for God's continuous blessings on yoy all.
Meg and Ben, you both are an inspiration to us. You both have so many talents that we get to see. I just wanted to ask, How do your boys all feel about living where you are as compared to California? Maybe you could answer this on one of you vlogs. Thank you
Love how your little girl bows her head for the blessing. Well trained!
Oh Biggie ❣️❣️❣️. When she came walking in with the broom to clean up her mess, and did a great job sweeping, oh my heart! Then when you say down to dinner and she put her head almost on the table for prayer, again, too, too sweet! You know that baby is well loved!! 😍😍😍😍😍❣️
Those tomatoes look incredible. Nice job Meg in making the spaghetti sauce and cutting, seasoning, and dehydrating the cucumbers. Too bad the wood chipper blade got dulled by the dead trees. It looks a lot better from what you have already done Ben. You guys have had to work hard to clean up the land. Wow, those cabbage rolls look fantastic Meg! You are so good at providing food for your family Meg. That's great that you make tomato powder too. That wood chip/compost building with the chickens is a great idea. Thanks for this Hollars!
SHARE them with your circles, they work hard on those videos!! They deserve a bigger audience!!
What a sweet baby girl she made a mess and sweeps it up. You are such a wonderful family.
Ohh Meg..I know some days have to be exhausting for you! You do so so much for your family and you do it all well with a smile. You look like you could use a day just to yourself -(Ben, help a lady out on this lol). Your food always looks so amazing. I know I sure would enjoy having a meal at your table! The homestead looks absolutely fantastic guys! Blessings from your biggest fan💖🙏🙏
The boys could help turn the mill for the tomato sauce and any canning.
Did I see zucchini slices go into the dehydrator?
Donna me too biggest fan, I think we all are, yeah?!!!!
Love your sweet family. That baby girl is so precious and serious about her food 😂
She knows good food🤣
It’s the little things that makes one happy right? Last week the local power company was by to trim back some of our trees from the lines running down the drive. I mentioned to the guy that I’d take any mulch he may have to get rid of. He didn’t get enough off our trees to dump for me. Well surprise, surprise! Today they showed up with a 3/4 truck load and I got some beautiful mulch for free! I’m so excited to spread some in the chicken run and onto the garden beds this fall! (I tried Chip Drop for a couple of years but never heard from them. We’re too far out from the metro area 🤷♀️.)
I am 74 and have just spent a very enjoyable 2 days using my new mini 4 inch chainsaw pruner and chipper giving my orchard the pruning it has not had for a couple of years. Could not have managed pruning with manual pruning saw. Best time is to be had outdoors with family can't beat the life
Whee! A Wisconsin expression at high summertime is that we got the harvest "comin' out our ears!" You've got tomatoes comin' outta your ears, Meg. Good thing your ears know how to preserve food. I love your idea for Magic Tomato Dust.
Saw that deep breath and sigh as you sat down for dinner mom :) You are doing a very good job being patient and teaching the little one. However it is very clear who rules the roost in your house :)
and she makes videos for us to watch!!
I think I understand now….wood chips are something close to gold on the homestead. The boys were really helping you a lot🤗🤗. Meg, that look when Ben asked you the question was like “please help I’ve almost reached the end of my rope!” Next thing you know Buggy was up from her nap and Ben was holding her🥰🥰! You gotta love your teamwork….it’s the best guys💜💜!!
I love that you just have random watermelons in the living/kitchen area. LOL
The dehydrated tomato skin powder can be used to make red pasta!
Ben, your a raindrop...thanks for thinking about mother earth 🌍
As one who has dealt with a lot of small children (family members, friends children, day care provider, and preschool teacher), I have seen so many parents get upset when children make a mess, especially after a tough day. It was so refreshing to see Buggy tell Meg she made a mess, and Meg, harried as she may be, quietly and calmly helps her clean it up. It may not seem like much to some, but it teaches such a wonderful message to the child. Thank you, on your children's behalf, for being such a great, loving and caring Mom. God bless.
My hat is off to you Meg!!
I think that you are one of the hardest working women when it comes to cooking and preserving food for your family!!!
I’m from a family of 11 kids and we worked hard growing up. My mom canned all kind of stuff!😊
My husband & I have been married for 45 years and we’ve had a garden for many years! I do some canning & I love working outside!
We love keeping up with your homestead progress! Your kids are truly growing up!!
I pray that God will continue to bless & watch over you, Ben & the children!!🙏🏻
Now go rest a little!!😜🥰
My Mother was Polish. The stuffed cabbage filling was ground beef, cooked rice, onion & egg. The sauce was tomato, vinegar & sugar. Served with mashed potatoes and that tomato sauce as gravy. YUMMY!
That's exactly how we make and eat cabbage rolls here in PA.!
And we call them pig in a blankets
Cabbage rolls is one of the most famous polish dish. We call them "gołąbki" - pigeons 😃😃😃
Mince meat - mixed pork, beef and chicken (truth is - whatever you have got), mixed with fried veggies, onions and carrot, then mixt with cooked rice and then wrapped with big cooked cabbage leaves, like a Chinese spring rolls, and then broil in big sauce pan with big chunk of bacon and tomato sauce.
Girls all over the world!!! If you want to steal polish guy heart, learn how to do this!!!
Gołąbki!!
Thank You for making this video and sharing your day with us!
Love to see your abundance. Here in Texas most gardens produced nothing due to heat and water. Gardeners can count on nothing and be grateful for everything they get.
yeah!! they do it first with prayer to the One who blesses!!
I just love seeing buggie doing all the things. She is the cutest little thing ever! We need more footage of Meg in the kitchen. That tired mom sigh at the dinner table, a mom's work is never done.
Oh, sweet Buggy, on both sides of the spectrum: from the ultimate fun sweeping to almost exhaustion after the day of her "help"!!!!OMG, the chipper and the tractor, if only you could have had them when you started...but thank God for having them now, such a blessing!
Ben I'm a grandma of two beautiful little boys. It's so lovely to see that you have little helpers. They're just delightful.
Super family! I love the way you both take time to show your kids how to do things and allow them to help. They will be light years ahead of city kids in life skills and common sense. God bless your little homestead.
excellent comment!!
Glad the chipper is working out for you! It did struggle with dry wood and the blade would dull quickly. There are cheap blades you can get on amazon but there are a couple of companies that supposedly make good blades for the tomahawk. One is "The Sharp Tool Co., Inc" - Mike
I'M SO GLAD THE HOLLARS SAW THIS ADVICE!!!
I see Ms. Buggy has graduated to big girl status and sits at the table on this episode. She is getting so big and it's been such a joy to see her grow up along side her brothers. Children are a blessing of the Lord and yours are wonderful!!!!!
If you want more chips you have to give the drivers a gift like muffins,bag of vegetables,eggs etc.
BRILLIANT IDEA!!! seriously good idea...
Meg you are my hero!! The magic you work in your quaint kitchen inspires me. I too have a small kitchen and get overwhelmed trying to cook in it and then think about all the food you serve and preserve and it humbles me.
You guys are such hard workers! I 🙏 pray good wishes for your family. Love your videos.
Buggie The little house keeper. 😍
your daughter is such a quick learner! 👏 it tickles me, such a awesome family. have a good One 😗 blessings from VA
Great to see your boys hard at work right alongside you. Love to see little Buggie help mom in the kitchen... anyway she can... tasting and sampling at times :) Those are the hard days of summer but Meg, you work hard in that hot kitchen and put your heart into preserving every ounce of food for the cold days of winter. Hats off to you Hollars for showing us what homesteading is all about!
That deep exhale as mama sat down to supper said it all. Thanks to all the hard working mama's 💪
Your children are such good and willing workers. They will be so knowledgeable by the time they are marriage age. Well done faithful servants.
Good job gentlemen! I love how your sons coordinate their efforts to help you. ❤️
Hey I had a bunch of yellow squash and zucchini to do something with and I made a gallon of dill pickle mix, and man, we love them!!!!
Meg you need to get those guys to build an outside shower so they leave all that dirt outside. lol
okay, having "Fargo" flashbacks! Such a nice sturdy chipper, muahaha!
Love watching Buggie bow her head when you say Grace at the table. Precious!! ❤️
Great wood chip compost pile. Love the boys helping out so well. Meg , you are a kitchen work horse. You get so much done and in a small space. I bow to you my dear. 💜💕💜
Meg - thank you for showing reality. You are an amazing mom, and extremely patient with Buggie wanting to “help”, but toddlers are exhausting as well as wonderful. 🙄🤣. All parents have moments when they want their beloved child to just GO AWAY. 😆
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE watching your boys help you with chores and stuff outside and little Buggie inside helping too!! Great FaMiLy!!!
Dry wood is hard on a shipper's blades. Use it to make biochar instead and save the blades for chipping green wood.
Meg, I feel your arm pain as you turn that handle! My brother (a lazy engineer-in-training) had a genius idea last year as I was on my third day of straining tomatoes for soup.
He wandered outside, got a drill, took off the strainer's hand crank, fitted the drill onto it, and thus was born the drill-powered Victorio strainer.
It worked like a dream, and I am never going back to human-powered squeezo-ing if I can help it. Not only was that setup so much easier on my arms and back, it also took less than half the time to turn those tomatoes into puree - a wonderful time savings when one has a half-acre garden in full production and three canning projects lined up for the day.
If you get tired of chipping, you might look into hugelkultur as another way to use those trees. Or a junk pole fence
Great family! Well behaved, super helpful and sweet kids. 💜
We duct taped pieces of 6", heat ducting pipe to the chipper chute, ran a vertical of the same, and then an adjustable corner on the very end until we got the configuration and design that worked for us; then we pop riveted the pieces. The chipper shredder could sit on the ground and shoot chips into a trailer; or off into the woods. The trailer we used was one of those little, (black in our area), metal, light weight, quarter yard sized trailers designed to be towed by a riding lawn mower or lawn tractor. We assembled a 6 sided, cube out of 1/2" PVC which fit snuggly in the trailer on its small end and stood above the trailer on its tall end; about yard and a half size. To the PVC, we attached black, plastic-type, window screening with an opening to capture what came out of the chipper shredder. In hind sight, we would have used the metal metal window screening; except a pretty big roll of the black, plastic type came to us for free. - We used the same trailer with its own ducting as a basket replacement for the riding lawn mower.
Ben and Meg, you’re raising up such a beautiful family. God bless you always. Meg thank you for showing the cucumber chips. ❤️
that shot of you hauling woodchips with the tractor while the boys are piling it up is just awesome!
You guys are doing, some incredible stuff, there on the Homestead!!! Bravo 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏
2 years ago I found that I can just put my sauces in my vitamix and grind it all down to nice sauce. I even got rid of my crank thing you are using. Made ketchup, spaghetti sauces etc. Took the tomatoes and other veggies and it grinds seeds, peel and it's done ready to can so fast. Will never peel tomatoes again. No more cranking for me. Been canning for 44 years now. Wish I'd learned this years ago. Now I don't dread doing tomato sauces anymore.
Yes, my mother bought a vitamix Vick in the 70’s and that’s how we canned the tomatoes
💚 Glad to hear you got the Blessing several good inches of rain! Wonderful works going on, both in the kitchen, and in the wood-chipping department. 💚
Buggy dropped her little head and prayed so cute. You are prospering. Everything looks good. I know canning is hard. Everyone used to go to bed and I was still watching canners
I hate pine trees. I would get rid of everyone of them if I could. Nothing but needles and pitch all over the place and the biggest but collector on the place, ya did I mention that I would be getting rid of all of them LOL. I have the same problem finding wood chips but if you have a lot of them you could lay cardboard down where you want a new garden bed and pile some on should be able to plant it next year. Thanks for all you share and teach
I love pine trees besides the mess they make
Hang in there with the wood chips, Ben. If any of those trucks have a name on it, call them...or any other tree service you can find.... even the County you live in or one nearby. The Fit Farmer gets a lot of them from the trees along the County Roads and I remember Art and Bri used to get some too. Art also knew where he could get Bamboo...i don't know how they break down. He use to make a teepee like set up for tomatoes and other climbing things. You can always learn from neighbors. You can make beautiful flooring out of Bamboo. Again you can use that creativity and come up with a lot of things. I love your family. Good Luck with everything you do.
You were not joking about that shredder being a beast! It deals with whole trees! And your lads are really organised. They do their jobs so efficiently.
Never get tired of seeing what y’all are up to awesome family praying together staying together y’all are raising young Americans that’s going to be our future great job parents !