https://spectra.video/videos/watch/89722ff5-646f-408e-80de-e6039d54327d What does it actually look like to grow your own calories? Nine days of walking the land, fixing ponds, harvesting what grew, and figuring out what didn't. Ponds that leak. Corn that failed. A wattle fence made from rose of Sharon. Wildfire smoke so thick you wear a mask. And a storm that fills a swale you just dug and teaches you more about your water than months of planning ever could. This is what energy descent looks like on the ground: not a theory, not a pitch, just work. The kind of work that matters because someone has to do it, and because the systems that feed most of us are a lot more fragile than we pretend. I grow food, collect water, and build systems that work without permission from the people who own the grocery stores. If that sounds like something worth building, you're in the right place. Full guides and more at https://loopfarmstead.com Follow: https://mastodon.social/@theloopfarm Watch more on Spectra: https://spectra.video/c/the_loop_farmstead/videos 0:00 Wildlife Encounter 0:30 Why Bother? Energy Descent and Self-Reliance 3:35 Cleaning Ponds and Installing Pipes 5:44 The Case for Building Parallel Systems 10:02 Perennial Food Systems and Replication 11:24 Greenhouse Tour: Tomatoes, Peppers, Cucumbers 13:22 Wildfire Haze and Air Quality 14:50 Sorghum vs Field Corn 17:02 Bean Harvest and Drying 18:00 Power Outage and Duck Care 19:12 Wattle Fence Progress 22:08 Harvesting Sunflower Seed Heads 24:30 Companion Planting and Composting 25:06 The Value of Working Together 26:02 Bean Processing and Preservation 27:00 Ukrainian Friends' Canning Recipes 28:13 Bush Bean Tofu and Hummus Plans 29:00 Beet and Jerusalem Artichoke Check 30:05 Wandering and Foraging 31:37 Sealing Ponds with Clay and Silt 33:04 Saving Mallow Seed 34:05 Watermelon Beds and Mulching 35:01 Zucchini Harvest for Soup 36:11 Willow Cuttings for Living Fence Posts 38:02 More Zucchini and Pepper Harvest 39:16 Sweet Corn Harvest 41:10 Tomatoes and Self-Seeded Volunteers 42:17 Black Corn, Ghost Peppers, and Onions 44:02 Basil Harvest and Cucumber Pick 46:02 Feeding Peppers to the Ducks 47:14 Onion Harvest for Canning Soup 49:07 Grocery Stores and Why I Hate Them 50:55 Local Food Systems and Representation 52:48 Wage Slavery and the Real Difference 53:07 Corn Thinning and Bean Drying 54:15 Terrace Beds and Winter Mulching 55:14 Digging a New Pond 56:03 Swale Water Collection and Rockwork 57:20 Storm Incoming and Battery Death 58:10 Seedbed Transplants and Winter Crops 59:32 Pond Sealing Progress and Pipe Plans 1:00:09 Sunflower and Bean Harvest Continues 1:01:26 Seed Saving: Watermelon, Squash, Sorghum 1:02:03 Chick Tractor and Late Corn 1:03:05 Tomato and Pepper Daily Harvest 1:04:36 Late Season Harvest Roundup 1:05:25 Kale and Watermelon Vine Check 1:06:05 Water Tank and Pond Design Plans 1:07:13 Storm Preparation 1:08:00 Rain Break: Pond Fills Up 1:09:03 Walking the Ponds in the Rain 1:10:09 Swale Overflow Discovery 1:11:04 Two-Pond Design: Bluegill and Baitfish 1:12:03 Water Mystery: Where Is It Coming From? 1:13:22 Pond Drainage and 90-Degree Pipe Plans 1:15:02 Multi-Level Pond Design 1:15:40 Shasta Daisies and Long-Term Vision 1:16:33 Future Terraces: Hardy Kiwi, Grapes, Fruit Trees 1:17:37 Comparing to the New Hampshire Garden 1:18:20 Heavy Rain: Ponds Overflow 1:19:37 Dam Under Pressure 1:20:36 Water Runs Off: Soil Problems Revealed Tagshomesteading, permaculture, farm update, water systems, pond building, harvest, self-reliance, energy descent, food sovereignty, sustainable agriculture, agroecology, swale, terracing, seed saving, canning, wattle fence, willow, living fence, sorghum, sweet corn, sunflower seeds, watermelon, tomatoes, peppers, beans, cucumbers, zucchini, basil, onions, Jerusalem artichoke, mallow, greenhouse, compost, mulch, duck care, chicken tractor, soil building, local food, food systems, West Virginia, subsistence farming, off grid Wed, 12 Aug 2026 09:29:17 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://spectra.video https://spectra.video/lazy-static/avatars/71f5d173-eea9-47a7-b254-f7e91f9f5d25.png https://spectra.video/videos/watch/89722ff5-646f-408e-80de-e6039d54327d All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://spectra.video/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.