Alright! This is John Kohler with GrowingYourGreens.com!
Had a question lately, the other day—and I get it a lot actually so I’m making a
video for the first time about this subject. “Hey John, what do you do about that’s
stealing you food?” Well let me tell ya! If you’re gonna steal
my food, you’re gonna get the pitchfork!! And this is a fiberglass handle so it’s
not gonna break when I’m hitting you over the head!
Okay, all joking aside, you know, I really don’t have an issue with people stealing
any of the food here. I live in nice, middle-class neighborhood here in suburbia in Northern
California, so I’m not like in downtown LA or in New York City or anything. And the
other thing, you know, there is some traffic walking up and down my street—it’s not
a busy street buy any means—but the other thing is, you know, most people don’t even
think about food growing in the front yard. “That’s ridiculous! You grow a lawn in
your front yard, you don’t grow food in your front yard! This isn’t stuff to eat!
This is all stuff to look at to make it look pretty! You know, food doesn’t come from
the ground! It comes from McDonald’s, and Burger King, and all the fast food and restaurants—wait,
maybe it even comes from the supermarket… But it doesn’t come from the front yard!
That’s ridiculous!” So most people it’s just out of their consciousness,
unfortunately, that all this is edible, organic, and actually really high quality. So on the
occasional person that comes by and that’s admiring my garden and I happen to be out
here—and I’m out here a lot, you know tending it, walking around, hanging out, I
was out eating lunch today—and they’ll make comments on my garden and say “Wow,
what’s that?” and in many cases, I’ll offer people walking by free food to bring
home. I really like to introduce people to new tastes and new varieties, you know. Last
year, I gave some red Russian kale and some dino kale to different people and told them
that they can eat it raw and they were absolutely amazed! Like “I could eat this raw?” and
I’m like “Yeah! Just cut it up into small bits and put it in a salad and it tastes really
good.” And that’s because the kale at the store, it’s been picked a week, a week
and a half, two weeks ago and it’s shipped to you and then it starts to taste bitter.
And that’s when it starts to go bad. But fresh kale grown organically in the right
soil, and soil amendments, and rock dust minerals, tastes really good.
But yeah, I mean, I have flowers here and most people would never think that you could
eat flowers, they’re just something that you give at weddings or put on a table for
decorations, but all my flowers are edible. And even these flowers are edible. Arugula
flowers. And so I have arugula here in the front if people think they could eat this.
They can certainly try. Most people might not love the taste, I like the taste of fresh
arugula. And it’s all edible. Now, if I did have some issues, if I did—I
generally believe people are good—and you know I have had a couple of instances where
I have seen people pick tomatoes and that’s where you’re gonna get into some challenges.
When you grow some more common crops, like tomatoes or even peppers I think I’ve had
some issues with, corn, where people know what the hell they are. Other people, they
don’t know what arugula is. They probably never seen spinach growing in the ground!
Or dino kale, man, that thing’s really weird and it’s all crinkled leaves! Yeah, so most
people don’t know… But if I did have some issues and I’ve had friends—talked to
some friends that live on a busy street or maybe lower income areas that people actually
eat vegetables in those areas because they don’t have a lot of money to buy the expensive
stuff. I would use something like this that I put on my arbor here. This is basically
hog fencing. It’s galvanized, or I would use hurricane fencing around the perimeter
of my lot and then I would actually grow things up that, so I actually have the community
garden—I’ve actually had some issues where some of my food disappears because it’s
basically a walkthrough, a cut-through area and some of my cucumbers have disappeared
but it’s not like they’re stripped. So I tend to plant things that are less desirable,
that I don’t particularly care for, on the boundaries where there’s a lot of traffic
so things like green beans, not too into… Fava beans, actually this season I’m planting
against the fence and toward the fences that you can’t get to, that’s where I’ll
plant snow peas and other things that I really like. So plant things that’ll vine up, that’ll
fill in, so people can’t see. And actually this place in the summertime, I have a big
melon trellis here that you couldn’t really even see what I was growing in my yard cause
it’s great privacy. But I would do hurricane fencing or something
like this around the perimeter of your yard so the literally can’t reach in or they
could reach in this far and, you know, plant tomatoes and things out of reach. But plant
other edibles to grow up the fence. The other thing I’ll do is often times I’ll
go around to my neighbors and share food so when I have bountiful harvest, especially
in the summertime, they all—who doesn’t love cherry tomatoes? So I’ll go around
door to door and give all my neighbors cherry tomatoes. I’ll also ask them “Hey, what’s
your favorite fruit or vegetable?” and I’ll grow a couple plants for them. The lady over
here liked eggplants and things like that. So I don’t really have an issue with people
stealing my food maybe because I don’t really even think about it, but someone asks or somebody’s
admiring and I’ll be happy to share as long as I have bountiful harvests as I do with
many things. Want to just point out one last thing, let’s
come over to this side…and actually, you know, you could work with your neighbors too,
so if they’re admiring your food or there’s a problem, you could actually offer to farm
their land. So let’s come over here…and this is my property line over here. This is
where it ends, this raised bed that has the edging on it, and then if you just go over
a little bit further, this section right here is my neighbor’s yard. So I talked to my
neighbors and every year, they loved tomatoes. So it started out with me having about twenty
extra tomato plants, or ten extra tomato plants, and one year I offered “Can I plant these
tomato plants on your property? You can harvest all the tomatoes from them you want and I’ll
maintain them and I’ll even water them.” They said sure, so I’m gonna do that again
this year, we’re getting ready for planting the tomatoes out on their property again so
they could have lots of tomatoes. But in the off season, I planted more arugula.
Arugula grows really well, we try to keep this nice and maintained and looking nice
and it’s less that my neighbor basically has to grow or weed whack, because this is
all basically crabgrass over here. We do need to clean this up a little bit, the arugula’s
gone to bolt and flower… So this is John Kohler with GrowingYourGreens.com.
Hope you’ve learned a little bit on how I deal with people stealing my produce, which
doesn’t really happen. So we’ll see you next time.
Wow you are so lucky to be in an area where you can grow a garden in your fron yard. I am hope to start a pot garden on my patio.
But remember, the economy is going to be a LOT worse someday soon; you will have to deal with that.
Hopefully you can start your neighbors into gardening- then trade amongst yourselves- but it won't stop everyone.
Also, be aware that your local gov't might go squirrely on ya. It makes no sense, but sometimes they restrict fronyard gardens.
Your garden is gorgeous, one way or another.
Do those beds contain earth, all the way down? Or is it half pebbles, (or something else?), half earth?
This is a bad ass channel.
That is the coolest front yard dude. Glad i found your channel.
I want to be your neighbor. promise i won't steal your produce
great depression
i always share my extra tomatoes with my community too. 🙂 ussally all i have extra of. anyways one QUESTION FOR YOU! in a SHTF situation… and our nation semi-colapsed for weeks or months, how would you really protect your property from starving people when you could probably barely feed yourself. besids your galvanized fense? Sudjest some razor wire maby?
this is what the world looks like in the future as well. the food system we have today with corporate farms is UNSUSTAINABLE!
Ever wonder who records the videos? That silent person in the background with whom we share our view…
You DO realize that youtube is for the general public to share their personal chosen videos for others to watch, right? Why do you expect perfection? Why do you expect people to act as if they were trained in public speaking etc like professional reporters? I think you are being way too picky!
Make a sign that says " I have injected poison in 5 tomatos and only I know which ones"
Love the videos keep up the good work!!!
Guy is a bit of a dork….but in a great way.
Thanks for the video. We live in alow income area and we had people come onto our property all the time. The sherrif suggested I get a gun but instead we got german shepards. We haven't had a problem with people since.
Lol food doesn't come from the ground!
I didn't realize you had to be a professional talk show host to post videos on YouTube.
You need to have a large garden in a friendly neighbourhood to do this. This takes money. A world without money ? Long time ago !
But then he would wake up to a new sign that someone placed saying "Now there are 10 poisoned tomatoes. Have a nice day!"
>:)
Wow so glad I found your channel. Love it!
Impossile d'avoir des commentaires en français ?
he was definitely chewing on that arugula leaf the entire time.
Simple solution… place a sign in front of each plant that says "Radioactive Fertilizer Test 8675309" or some other random number… with one of those radioactivity symbols. Betcha nobody will touch 'em.
Two words……LAND MINES!
Love the Christmas lights on the neighbor's house!
The world without money looks more like his initial scene- people looting, killing, stealing to get what they want. People are NOT genuinely good. YOU are not genuinely good. You can just go through comments on any one random youtube video and deduce the nature of humanity. Might be a facade put up behind the mask of the internet but that there just goes further to show the very nature of mankind. Especially these days with everyone trained to only care about feelings and not the tangible.
Loved it dude.I avent seen your videos in like 2 days and got some seperation anxiety hehe. Im so excited I'm gonna have over 6 acres of land to play with in a few months!!!
I'm laughing through most ofthis video right now. Love your spunky sense of humor and know-how.
I "NEVER!" eat vegetables right out of the garden. You never know when you would eat that tomato or whatever with the parasite hanging on. "ALWAYS" wash your produce first! "NO EXCEPTIONS!!!".
You were talking so loudly that everyone in your neighborhood is afraid of you.
Why not put a sign in your garden: "Fertilized with Human Urine, Take all you like!"
hey cutie…nice vid.. i'm subscribing….i want to learn MORE! Thanks!!
you can plant lots of cactus around your perimeter. That will keep neighbors out.
I hired an NFL lineman to guard my vegtables
I have to meet you one day. I want to learn more about wild edibles. I live in Hollister CA. Do you have any books?
Another beautiful garden. Beautiful in the functional and organized sense.
Oregon Grape is a large evergreen shrub mostly found in the Northwest. It has a leaf like a holly, but produces small blossoms in the spring. In the summer, the berries resemble small concord grapes. Oregon Grape is one of the few plants that seem to do well beneath pine trees and in areas of little shade. This shrub grows to 4-6 feet in height, with a spread of up to 10 feet. These are excellent perimeter shrubs as well and practically impossible to crawl through.
I hired JESUS to protect my garden.
Your garden is an inspiration. I'm starting small with a 3 x 3 garden in the front yard. I'm kind of waiting to see what develops. Start a dialogue.
what a great yard
First time I plants something and the next thing I know it gets stollen!! It was an oriental lily flower!! Nice video by the way!!
This is great. And just think, this is all on 1 10th of an acre. It's interesting seeing what one tenth looks like and how much you can do there. It makes you realize that if you wanted to just buy one acre or half an acre somewhere you could probably do really well. I can tell you've really been working hard on this. Much respect.
I thought this video was going to be about how to set up a claymore mine.
Wonder how he handles stray dogs and cats?
Had me worried with the pitch fork. I wish I had started growing in my front yard sooner before health issues. Mine started as a (my secret garden) a section of my front yard is where my kids an I usually sat yakking while their kids played on the sides and this spot gave us view of them. I started with 3 small shade trees and Grape vine & flowers. I bought top soil and tilled it into the rock & clay (the clay ate it up) I bucket gardened the next year and enjoyed it until the insects ate them.
Because some people wouldn't care lol
I love your videos. Thank you so much.
Gosh…never even thought about people stealing stuff from the garden.
IT'S SO SAD THAT YOU HOOK YOUR NEIGHBORS UP AND YET THEY GAVE FALSE INFORMATION TO THE POLICE THAT HAD YOUR HOUSE RAIDED AND INTIMIDATED YOUR SPOUSE…FUCKING PEOPLE…
Seeing your TDI and pickup reminds me, I miss my diesels. Looking for a tdi now, had to give up mine as I moved north and my Jetta didn't like November thru March.
Lolz! That intro was AWESOME!
Wait! John! You've got a spouse? My heart is broken 🙁 , hehe, just kidding :), thanks for another great video. It makes since to plant the 'less-known' varieties close to the front and the tomatoes and such farther away from their 'hungry eyes!' 🙂
I'M STILL AVAILABLE… I GROW THAT GREEN ALL DAY, GIRL, WHAT'S UP?
sorry, I'm talking about John Kohler 🙂 , he's the warm hearted cutie of these videos, hehe. Besides, first time you used the 'F' bomb in front of me, you would be tomato fertilizer, no offense 🙂 , well, unless it was something REALLY bad happened like 'a big green worm ate the tomatoes'!!! hehe. Thanks for all you hard work John (Kohler)!
SMH…DON'T FLATTER YOURSELF, IT WAS A JOKE. I CAN BE CHILDISH, NONSENSICAL AND VACCOUS AS WELL, BUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN US IS THAT FOR ME IT'S AN OPTION.- ENJOY YOUR VIDEOS…LMAO/WTF/SMH
corporatejungles
I'm all for the German Shepherd. I also have two Akitas. No pesky people around here. 😉
what's, "hurricane fencing"-?
Watching this and just realised i missed the market yesterday! Have to go buy overpriced, unfresh fruit and veg this week 🙁
So sad, I would probably leave a basket out with extra harvest. They wouldn't steal if they weren't hungry. Or grow extra. I couldn't begrudge someone taking food, as long as they didn't trample or destroy the rest of the crop. I'd be happy to be putting food on their table.
Next harvest, bring them a basket…. maybe ask them if they;d like to help with the garden in exchange for planting extra for them???
Apparently people don't realize you are talking about raccoons.
What kind of fencing is that and where did you get it? I am thinking trellece for spring
sure beats the pitchfork. another awesome vid! thx
where is this.. davis?
I used to laugh at ppl growing organic by calling greenies with lame hybrid cars. Well I know am on youtube watching these videos to grow a garden for myself after moving out of California, now I can see how it can give a sense of satisfaction. Makes me a hypocrite I guess, im just too cheap to spend alot of money at a grocery store. Awesome videos keep them up
I like how you did all those boxes. I wish I could too but I can't afford the wood.
He is such a sweet guy!
This topic reminds me of the crazy rhubarb lady tough… remember that?
I wonder what John would do if she showed up in front of his house?
I'm coming to your house next holmes. Gonna dice up all your Dino Kale in my mouth. You ain't gonna get none homeboy.
Surprised in CA the regulation State you can have that in your front yard. I am in Ohio and we can not have gardens in the front yards.
I think what I love most about this video is your generous and giving attitude.
There's always this to consider; with few exceptions, if they were desperate enough to steal something like food (rather than computers and TVs and things), they must have needed it more than we did.
This is so interesting! Thanks John!
So m can you explain when starting a new garden what type of seeds to purchase? What does heirloom and hybrid what should I buy?
You're soo funny, I need to find one just like you:)
I wish you were my neighbor 🙂 What a great guy and very talented I see. Good work and thank you for being such a good person in that neighborhood.
don't you worry about something call "lead" when u grow food around the house?
You can also plant flowers and other non edibles, things that attract bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies around the perimeters. Some flowers, like lavender, marigolds, and tansies repel flies and mosquitoes as well, so are beneficial to your garden in other ways as well.
Thanks man love your garden hope to have a garden like yours one day ..
Lou Diamond Phillips!!! I Love what you do!
I love your video, i wish there was more people like yourself 🙂
get a bee box, problem solved lol.
Love your videos! You inspire me 🙂
spray pepper sauce of some kind for when they but into it and it will be hot.
I'm pretty sure he's just eating regular flowers
Someone just stole two of my Koji plants!
I put chocolate on the back side of my tomatoes so when you go to grab then it looks like sh!T ON your hand. They do not touch them any more.
Thats awesome. We live in the bay area and tried growing veggies a few years back, but our neighbors kept stealing them. Unfortunately these were the non-human kind of neighbor and You can't really tell the darn critters to be nice. LOL. We are stuck with growing herbs and strawberries.
Pitchfork is good, but razor wire is better. In the old days they would shoot rock salt at us.
Just grow the "weird" stuff in the front. I plan on growing mostly edible flowers and less obvious stuff in the front. Most people do not know what lettuce or grains look like. Its when you grow fruit that people will steal because they recognize it.
While you're lucky you don't live in New Berlin Wisconsin with all the Walmart trailer trash in my neighborhood
😃
Crispy kale 👍 to me it's like crispy green seaweed you get from the Chinese takeaway. Niiice!
People stealing food 😕 plant toxic things on the perimeter which looks edible. Grow McDonalds burger bush 😄
THOU SHALL NOT STEAL, come on grow up!
I caught a guy picking peas from my front bed. He was so embarased I just acted like it didn't happen.
Hi John, what type of footwear is that you're wearing?
People use to stolen my sister vegetables in her yard even her toothbrush …
Open a gun range in your backyard. Democraps that steal your food are cowards. They will then steal from Pelosi's garden.
Hahahaha
1:57 That's what she said.
Bear trap
😁