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at shopify.com/The Beat. Our

1:00

kids have said to us since we moved to Minnesota,

1:02

we are far more active than we've ever been than

1:04

anywhere else we've ever lived. Moving

1:07

to Minnesota opened up a lot of doors for

1:09

us. Just this overall sense

1:11

of community, and of the values

1:13

that, you know, Minnesotans have. It's

1:15

a real accepting, loving community, especially

1:17

with two young kids. CY

1:19

CNBC ranks Minnesota number four best state

1:21

to live and work. A

1:23

great place to work and even better place to

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live. exploreminnesota.com/live.

1:32

["The Beat"] Welcome,

1:44

my friends, to The Beat podcast with

1:46

the garden hermit, Jacques himself. We're actually

1:48

hanging out in my backyard at the

1:50

Epic Gardening headquarters right next to the

1:52

greenhouse, June Bloom, Jacques. Oh yeah, it's

1:54

fully here. Not the best vibe, but I have

1:56

to say the light's nice here in the garden.

1:58

It is nice, and it's. Overnight to be

2:00

an experimental patch. yeah were real Over half

2:02

and half year the standard guy did an

2:05

experiment them foot into world's putting heroes or

2:07

why don't we talk about that has started?

2:09

This was the biggest evolution and are. Gardening

2:11

experience A thing I think this year is

2:14

setting up this test guard and yes, where

2:16

we're testing all these different common wisdom that

2:18

you're here. And so the way that you

2:20

guys actually built as human Paul. Dot.

2:22

The test garden in the backyard here is.

2:25

About. Sixteen feet by sixteen feet.

2:28

And we divided that into a four

2:30

by four grid. Yep! Have.

2:32

This more confusing of before by for

2:34

plots you look at your sixteen four

2:36

by four plus. Which. Saves us the

2:39

ability we can have divided it was him.

2:41

Lanyard gives us the ability to create very

2:43

specific areas where we're measuring and monitoring certain

2:45

experiments. So you're actually just wrapped on one

2:47

of the coolest when I think we've ever

2:49

done. So are you just time about? The

2:51

other one was really fine if actually right

2:53

behind me. And it's where we tested fourteen

2:55

different brands of bag soil. So. I

2:57

went to big box store I went to

3:00

nursery. I said what do they have available

3:02

and potting mix first was sought. By.

3:04

The actual flexor? yeah because it's like you

3:06

know you go by your regular thing but

3:08

when you're actually looking like I was able

3:10

to financing twenty and someone were to close

3:12

as like had a down but there's a

3:14

lot of like another. It's hard to say

3:17

which one is actually best for your garden,

3:19

which ones I skimmed perform well. that's what

3:21

we tested. Got five gonna go bags exact

3:23

same pepper. The. Only thing that really changed

3:25

with the soil in. Decisive. I

3:27

start in some cases a it was Star Community.

3:29

If you're watching the beat up podcast video channel

3:31

you might see a little glimpse of them. but

3:34

on our main channel. You. Should see

3:36

this video out pretty soon here. and

3:38

it was honestly fascinating to me because

3:40

like you said, fourteen different potting mix

3:42

is reporting soils. Some. Very premium,

3:44

very high end. There some dirt cheap,

3:46

some from brands that people love, some

3:49

from brands frankly that a lot of

3:51

you guys listening right now probably would

3:53

hate and. I just

3:55

really surprising we had no bias, is going in

3:57

wasn't sponsored thing or anything and yasbeck there are

3:59

signs like is it perfect know but we control

4:02

as much as we could control. And.

4:04

I don't know To me what

4:06

was striking was the power of

4:08

synthetic fertilizers. Yeah, Outweighs everything

4:10

else. So even if you have this

4:12

fully organic bland super expensive. if you

4:14

put synthetics that are like time release

4:16

in your soil mix, you're gonna win

4:18

at least for that first grow. Yeah

4:21

I know the really curious thing for

4:23

me would be to replicates experiment but

4:25

with like an organic fist. Fertilizer,

4:27

By like organics? Yeah, but it does often

4:30

either. Breakdowns: It's hard to say whether law

4:32

perform that well. Yeah, but I was actually

4:34

really surprised by from my favorite thing in

4:36

the middle. And. I don't

4:38

get love to watch to see the full results

4:40

here, but it was pretty interesting to see that

4:42

synthetic fertilizers think and containers. Make. Sense

4:44

most new can the you're not going a

4:46

long term sort of biosphere underground. yeah like

4:49

a paradise and thanks to my garden and

4:51

ground I'd be telling a lot of life

4:53

whereas maybe in the container. Does.

4:55

Not that much to kill anyway. So. I could

4:57

see that are not. I saw practice or

4:59

get a guiding but. I can

5:01

see how that works best and a container world

5:03

why can see why? I mean think about it

5:05

like route rewind time to when you first started

5:07

growing. I wasn't even that longer. Know five years

5:10

ago? yeah, I recall. grab the blue stuff. He

5:12

had miracle grow with a little blue dots in

5:14

it and. You. Know we'd have to research like. Is.

5:16

That like a micro plastic I got sign are

5:19

great. You know I'm very you know not not

5:21

on that train. my body and. But.

5:23

I'm. You think about him and

5:26

you're a beginner. You want some success. To.

5:28

Me: I'm a bit. Agnostic like? I

5:30

don't you synthetics either, You know that. But I

5:32

wouldn't judge someone if they did. Especially when they're

5:34

starting out like you just want to pepper you,

5:36

just want a tomato. Yeah, Like if that gets

5:39

you hooked in the new, make a switch. Like

5:41

literally. You and I both. Like

5:43

or how can I judge that If that's

5:45

how I started noticing. The most important thing

5:47

is to get people interested in going there

5:50

on food and gardening. And let them

5:52

to their dirty I think. Almost

5:54

every gardener will eventually find that path and

5:56

they want to support life which is or

5:58

gardening. My more he said the more things

6:01

around you, the ecosystem, the birds, the bees

6:03

in the bags and he started thinking like

6:05

actually. Would. Like to foster more that and

6:07

I think I is going to take the lead down the

6:09

path. Already. Just naturally become

6:11

a more organic and klein partner. There are

6:14

no, not at the beginning of my journey

6:16

I I would. I did the classic mistake

6:18

which you know honestly if we ever were

6:20

to start some soil company or something yeah

6:22

that I would delete this from from the

6:24

market if I can. Garden soil? Yeah that

6:26

the way I'd say you got a really

6:29

bad name is such a bad name because

6:31

garden soil does not imply you isn't Entirely

6:33

though, vegetables. and right? Are you what I

6:35

will say Going back to the pepper experiments.

6:38

If. We were to give you a bit of a nugget. You.

6:40

Watching and listening or before you watch the

6:42

video is. Try to avoid. Soil.

6:45

Mixes with a lot of wood products

6:47

mixed in because it's a cheap way

6:50

you feel bulk up. And you're

6:52

actually gonna get a bit of nitrogen lock

6:54

out and that's more or less what we

6:56

saw with some of those mixes. Absolutely. It's

6:58

when the only ingredient is forest products. Then

7:01

that's generally not gonna do that. In my experience,

7:03

I think there's probably a way for to do

7:05

well. But not the cheap were. So

7:07

that's the thing we talked about. Suicide We have.

7:09

We face this experiment. We're like cool. Without.

7:11

Some interesting winners. We found some like budget picks

7:14

that performed really well. We found some your

7:16

premium fix I didn't do that well and then

7:18

we ask ourselves. What? If you just.

7:21

Came. Up with some sort of amendment protocol for

7:23

a mix straight out of the bag. So no

7:25

matter what, before you grow something out of a

7:27

bag, mix your mending the bag. Can.

7:29

You normalize all that. Can. You just

7:32

get can you make a bad mix better

7:34

Write A I just adding some proprietary little

7:36

mix of your own into it. He just

7:38

made me want to do a different video

7:41

testing. Three different things are going so. If.

7:43

You either control for just the soil. yeah

7:46

then you would have actually for think that

7:48

the surface liquid fertilizer on a schedule. And.

7:51

Then you would have organic fertilizer and

7:53

one and then inorganic like synthetic of

7:55

medical granular. Yeah so then you have

7:58

the for next each other basic. soil,

8:01

liquid for organic for synthetic

8:03

for it. And then you let that run.

8:05

So you do it on a smaller scale. Maybe that

8:07

would be like the, yeah, the standouts. I

8:10

think that'd be super interesting. I mean,

8:12

to me, this experiment we just ran

8:14

kind of opens the door to a lot of fun

8:17

fertilizer container grow

8:19

experiments that we could do that I think

8:22

would, I would learn a lot from it. Because frankly, we're

8:24

all operating on assumptions. A lot of us are. Yeah. A

8:26

lot of us are. We just talked. I mean, yesterday I

8:28

put out this video on our Instagram, if you guys

8:30

don't follow us, but about the chicken

8:32

eggshell sort of man that you hear a lot where

8:34

it's like, you know, don't feed your chickens

8:36

raw eggshells because they can get sick and also because

8:39

they'll eat the eggshells and then they'll see their own

8:41

eggs and then they'll peck their eggs, break them and

8:43

eat their whole egg. Yeah. And you see

8:45

that repeated all the time. And when you hear it, you

8:48

go, Oh sure. Makes sense. Like whatever.

8:51

But the truth is that that just doesn't tend

8:53

to happen. And when you think about from a

8:55

biological perspective, as well as a behavioral perspective, it's

8:57

like, well, their, their feed gets cow.

8:59

There's calcium in the feed. Yeah. Right. Hopefully

9:02

you're feeding them a fortified feed

9:04

and they're not exposed to anything

9:06

in their own egg they produce daily that

9:08

would not already be in like the poopy

9:10

soil they're pecking around. That's a good point.

9:12

Like when you mentioned that, I was like,

9:15

I'm throwing stuff into the dirt, into their

9:17

poop all the time. A lot of

9:19

times it's like semi rotting food. Yeah. You know,

9:22

they're going to town. They're going for it. And

9:24

I've had popped eggshells in my actual nesting box.

9:27

And it's not like after that, they start pecking other

9:29

eggs. I think sometimes one breaks, they eat it and

9:31

they move on with their life. That's exactly what I

9:33

think happens. Because what I've noticed is I've had a

9:35

couple of broody hens lately and they

9:37

have been aggressive and excellent. That we

9:39

popped one of their own eggs. Yeah. All I noticed

9:42

is they just eat a little yolk and then they

9:44

just move on. Yeah. It just kind of so it

9:46

doesn't like trigger some addiction. No, they're not like cracking

9:48

eggs after that point. So anyways, there's

9:50

a lot of experiments we've been running in the test garden

9:52

this year. Stay tuned. We're going to talk

9:54

more with Jacques tomorrow. Good luck in the garden and keep

9:56

on growing. use

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Our kids have said to us since we moved to

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Minnesota, we are far more active than we've ever been

11:11

anywhere else we've ever lived. Moving

11:14

to Minnesota opens up a lot of doors for

11:16

us. Just this overall sense of

11:18

community that's values that you know Minnesota

11:20

has. It's a real

11:22

accepting, loving community, especially with two

11:24

young kids. CY CNBC ranks

11:27

Minnesota number four best state to live

11:29

and work. A great

11:31

place to work and even

11:34

better place to live. exploreminnesota.com/live.