Farmer Nick

Farmer Nick Gardener, Landscaper Environmentalist stanwith.me/farmernick
(1)

09/07/2026

Poorly Plated Ep4: High Protein 5 Layer Dip 🌮⁣
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I’m hosting a vegan Super Bowl party tomorrow and although this is certainly not the prettiest dish in the world, this five layer dip was tooo easy to put together. Traditional five layer dip isn’t too different, but I swapped the lettuce / diced tomato option with the spiced lentils instead. Soy Bros like my need extra protein ya know? 🤪⁣
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Anyway, here’s how it all went down:⁣
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BEANS⁣
1 cup of black beans⁣
1-2 cloves of garlic⁣
1/2 jalapeño⁣
1/2 shallot⁣
Spices (cumin, chili powder, paprika, salt, pepper, cayenne optional)⁣
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GUAC⁣
4 avocados⁣
1-2 limes⁣
1 glove garlic⁣
1/4 cup red onion⁣
Handful of cilantro (technically optional since you may have weird friends that have the dish soap gene)⁣
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes ⁣
Spices (when I say spices, it’s similar to the above combo)⁣
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LENTILS⁣
1 cup black beluga lentils⁣
1 clove garlic⁣
2 TB oil of your choosing⁣
Spices⁣
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CREMA⁣
mayo (can sub for sour cream too)⁣
1/2 lime⁣
1/4 cup hot sauce (optional)⁣
Spices⁣
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CHEESE⁣
1 cup shredded cheese (there are lots of vegan cheese options out there but I went with because it doesn’t have nuts)⁣
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I pushed these tortilla chips to their limit, but I was worth it in the end. Super fun dish to put together that even your non vegan friends would enjoy 😊 ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

09/06/2026

Would you play the ⁣
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As a landscaper and garden designer, I don’t have much time for video games, but Garden Joy helps me decompress AND learn about plants at the same time. I love being able to passively practice my design skills and get new inspiration, and honestly these designs don’t look much different than the renderings I make for my clients. Here are some of my favorite features:⁣
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The entire plant library is powered by comprehensive growing information from so the plant learning doesn’t stop 🤓 ⁣
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Each design you make gets voted on by the Garden Joy community so you have metrics for how each design scored 🏆⁣
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You can design landscapes from around the world and it’s a great way to discover new plants from different climates 🌱 ⁣
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If you want to give it a try, hit the link to download 👆

09/05/2026

My new frog sanctuary 🐸🥹

This wildlife pond might be my favorite project on the so far, and being able to see frogs every day brings me so much joy. It’s not just the frogs though. Plenty of birds, deer + insects visit the pond too and it is an essential element to any habitat.

Here’s how I did it:

Dig it out. This took a while as there were lots of rocks in this abandoned bed, but after the rocks were out, I used a shovel and tamp to carve out and solidify leveled terraces. It goes down ~22 inches 🪏

Add your liner and membrane. The originally membrane I got was woefully small, so I went to my local pond store to buy a felt liner and rubber membrane. The liner protects the membrane from getting cut and the liner is what you tuck into the terraces and rocks 🪨

Filling it up! I used hose and rainwater to fill it initially but quickly realized I made my first BIG mistake. The slope of the yard sent most of the water to the far side, so the water level wasn’t even. I had to reinforce that side and redo the membrane and rock border. Ugh 😩

Preventing mosquitos. Of course wildlife like frogs and mosquito fish can eat the larvae, but I didn’t want to buy mosquito fish so I used mosquito dunks and a solar powered aerator instead. So far it has worked great 🦟

Adding wildlife elements! This was my favorite part, and I wanted to use as many natural materials as I could find to create sunbathing spots, entry points and hides from predators. The mossy log and cinderblock I found in the woods were excellent finds that the frogs love 🪵

Aquatic plants! It was late in the season to source most aquatic plants, but my buddy detroitwildflowers gave me this iris and bran_bran_andrews hooked me up with a few rush species that are thriving 🌱

And then the frogs arrived! After just 10 days the frogs started showing up, and they came in abundance. Apparently frogs can travel 1/3 of a mile looking for water, and now we have TEN frogs living in the pond. I’m not sure if they’ll overwinter there too, but fingers crossed🤞

Anyone can build a pond like this, and let me know yo

09/05/2026

Growth is never consistent 🤷‍♂️⁣
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My buddy has a beautiful plant collection, but I was particularly interested in the peculiar growth of his marbled pothos 🤨⁣
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It had ten leaves in a row on the left side of the vine, followed by five alternative leaves of larger size, and then five more left side leaves. A rather odd looking growth pattern 🤔⁣
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As suspected, the growth correlates directly to the season light shifts in his living room. The smaller leaves grew to the left in the winter months when light was less available from the front windows. The larger alternating leaves grew in summer when more sunlight was pouring in. And then the bottom left leaves started again this winter 😮 ⁣
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Plants will always follow the light. Case closed ✅⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

09/04/2026

Have you tried making paper pots? 📄⁣
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Making paper pots is one of the most eco-friendly AND kid friendly-gardening activities you can do. I do this demonstration in my kids workshops but it’s also a big hit at my adult workshops and they are amazed at this high tech piece of equipment 😂 (thanks
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The paper pot works best with a thicker piece of paper - brown paper packaging is preferred - and it holds up pretty well to watering. I only use these for germinating seeds because they won’t last forever (about 2 weeks or so) but you can pop them directly in the ground 🌱⁣
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PRO TIP! When watering, use a fine tipped watering can or spray bottle so as not to completely soak the paper pot. It will be ok if you water slowly and don’t completely satiate it 👌 ⁣
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09/03/2026

Your tomatoes are probably hungry 😂

My sister doubted me when I said we had grown over 100lbs of tomatoes this year, but we officially weighed our crop and are over the hundred mark already with more on the way!

Yes it’s September, but I’m still going to be harvesting into early October if the frost stays away because I’ve been feeding my plants all summer long. That’s where espomaorganic comes in

Their Tomato Tone is the only thing that I feed my plants with, and I apply twice a month. The boost of phosphorous is key for encouraging more blooms which will then lead to more tomatoes, and I apply along the drip line before watering or a rainstorm 🌧️

I’ve eaten three tomato sandwiches and four pots of sauce already this week so what else should I make with all these tomatoes?

09/03/2026

This kale trick actually worked 🤯⁣
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I’ve been seeing people online pulling their lacinato (dino) kale through the holes in tongs to remove the center stalk, and I thought I’d give it a try myself. I was honestly pretty skeptical, but I was always annoyed that I had to do it by hand, so I grabbed a lemon squeezer and gave it a shot 🤷‍♂️⁣
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And it worked like a charm 🤩 I was honestly shocked that it worked as well as it did and this will now be the only way I do it from now on⁣
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Although edible, the stalks are more fibrous and can be tough to eat, but you can use them for veggie broth or just throw them in the compost 👌⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

09/02/2026

No more plastic seed trays 🙅🏼‍♂️⁣
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People often doubt the effectiveness and structural integrity of soil block makers but they work well if you prep the soil and water correctly. ⁣
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Seed starting soil is best (I only use and wetting it ahead of time is ideal for packing it in and aiding germination 🌱⁣
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Once the block is ready, place your seed inside to the proper depth and put it in some kind of tray or waterproof surface (old baking sheets work well too) 🤓⁣
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When watering, you can mist the block or bottom water. A heavy watering from above may break it apart, but as the seedling grows, the roots will keep it together 💪🏼⁣
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Soil block maker is from 🔥⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣ ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

09/01/2026

My tomatoes are still growing 🤯

Tomatoes were the first crop is started growing back in 2014, and here are the three growing habits I recommend for massive tomatoes and giant yields:

Fertilizing twice a month. Tomatoes are heavy feeders and a healthy dose of espomaorganic tomato tone always does the trick. Will make a separate video on that later 🍅

Consistent, deep watering. My hoselinkusa hose reel is awesome for so many reasons, but watering my garden beds is number one. Tomatoes need a lot of water, and lugging around my 90ft hose was always a deterrent that ultimately slowed them down. With the retractable hose reel, watering and cleanup has never been easier 🚿

Pruning early and often! I don’t want my tomatoes focusing on foliage, so I cut back foliage on the bottom 1/3 of the plant along with anything growing inward. This encourages the plant to focus on flowering and fruiting and also increases air flow which can reduce the risk of disease 🦠

Apparently it’s been a rough year for tomato growers around the country, but you’d never know it here on our Michigan homestead 😜

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