Hey guys!!! I'm Megan from Wild Orchard Homestead.
So glad to have you here in this space. We live on a 20 acre farm in Travelers Rest, SC (gardening zone 8A) that we split with friends back in 2020, and we are first generation anything we are doing out here! We love to chat gardening, simple living, home-grown/home-raised food + flowers.

**************************************************************************
Have you ever heard of Lunar Gardening??

It's actually how most people have gardened for centuries. It's only recently that info has not been passed down to the next generation. I did not realize how impactful it could be to start paying attention to the moon phases, and how it affects so many things around us.

It's an age old tradition to plant your potatoes during a "new moon" when there is no moon present. To learn more about when the phases of the moon will change, I have found it helpful to download an app for my phone (here's a link for the one that I use! https://apps.apple.com/us/app/moon-ph... ). You can also look at a gardening calendar or a farmer's almanac.

Once you start paying attention to the moon phases, it will make more sense to you of when to plant things. For instance, with potatoes, they grow under the soil. You don't want to focus too much on how tall the foliage will be, you'll want that production to be happening under the ground. When you plant on a new moon, the energy is still going down into the ground and is "dark" so it is almost like the magical time to plant potatoes! If you miss the new moon, wait until AFTER a full moon when the moon is "waning". When the moon is waning, you'll want to plant things like carrots, potatoes, radishes, turnips, beets, parsnips and any other "root" vegetables. When the moon is waxing and getting bigger, you'll want to plant all of your crops that grow ABOVE the ground! It's really so simple, and I've seen a HUGE increase in my crops this year from being observant and planting this way.

For this potato planting, it just so happened that on the new moon, there was also a solar eclipse. How cool is that?! I'm not sure that it will change anything for my potatoes, but maybe that will taste extra crispy come summer. I think it's so beautiful how gardening always tells a story. We will remember that eclipse come this summer and remember so fondly how fun it was to quickly plant them all together as a family.

Gardening and growing food creates: memories! How beautiful is that?

Today's video is very much a vlog-style. Hardly edited, I had a cold so my voice was waning just like the moon. But something about these videos is so beautiful to me- the no makeup, unfiltered, real life stuff- I think we need more of that in the world. And, to be honest, farming is pretty messy. It's dirty and grimey, but also so beautiful and rich. I hope you feel right at home while you watch us plant potatoes!

And, let me know if you are going to try potatoes this year! if you've never had a fresh outta the ground potato- let me just say- you're missing out big time!!!! They are SO crispy and deliciously fresh- there's nothing quite like it.

And, you can grow potatoes in soooo many ways: in ground, in bags, in straw, in containers, in wire hoops, in raised beds- there's literally a way for whatever suits your current home/land situation. I love how flexible and fun they are to grow.

Here are a few links to my favorite places to shop seed potatoes! And a link to that Foxfire book, because guys this book is AMAZING and so full of history and interesting ways to look at life differently. Hope you enjoy!

Foxfire book: https://amzn.to/3TRG9nH
Sow True Seeds: https://sowtrueseed.com/collections/p...
Mythic Farm: https://mythicfarm.com/

***************************************************************************

Subscribe + follow along if you liked this video, I post videos every Monday (and sometimes during the week). Looking forward to connecting and growing together!

________________________________________________________________________

WHERE TO FIND US:

Website: www.wildorchardhomestead.com
Instagram: instagram.com/wildorchardhomestead
Facebook:   / wildorchardflowers  
Email: [email protected]

________________________________________________________________________