In her informative YouTube channel, Liz who lives with her husband Mr J, shares her journey to becoming self-sufficient on their smallholding in Wales. It’s packed with practical videos on growing, harvesting and cooking her abundance of fruit and vegetables. And it’s especially inspiring considering that fact she started the project needing a walking stick, which she talks about in her book Grounded.
There are plenty of videos on growing potatoes and several good ones on perennial vegetables including Hablitzia tamnoides, a climbing spinach which she grows over an archway. Liz also grows a perennial bean Greek Gigantes which she uses as a mash when the potatoes have run out – and reminds us that runner beans can be treated as a perennial by leaving 20 cm to grow new shoots in late spring. Liz also loves her roses and shows you how to prune, propagate and use them to make rosehip jelly and wine.
Seed sowing for each month is comprehensively covered with a good one on what to sow in January such as shallots, brassicas and cauliflower, with flashback and flash-forward clips of Liz’s crops at various stages of growth. If you’re itching to get sowing, suggestions for February include summer cabbage ‘Filderkraut’, red cabbage, ‘Red Acre’, celeriac ‘Giant Prague’ and white beetroot.
There’s nothing showy about Liz, but her unassuming manner belies her knowledge which she generously shares – mistakes and all. She also invites other smallholders onto her Vlog to share their tips. Watch Byther Farm with a pen and paper at the ready!
https://www.youtube.com/c/LizZorab?app=desktop