A Tiny Homestead podcast

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State Secrets: Inside The Making Of The Electric State

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Family Secrets: Chris Pratt & Millie Bobby Brown Share Stories From Set 22:08

16 päivää sitten22:08

Toista Myöhemmin

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Tykkää

Tykätty

22:08

Host Francesca Amiker sits down with directors Joe and Anthony Russo, producer Angela Russo-Otstot, stars Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt, and more to uncover how family was the key to building the emotional core of The Electric State . From the Russos’ own experiences growing up in a large Italian family to the film’s central relationship between Michelle and her robot brother Kid Cosmo, family relationships both on and off of the set were the key to bringing The Electric State to life. Listen to more from Netflix Podcasts . State Secrets: Inside the Making of The Electric State is produced by Netflix and Treefort Media.…

A Tiny Homestead

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Sarjan koti•Feed

We became homesteaders three years ago when we moved to our new home on a little over three acres. But, we were learning and practicing homesteading skills long before that. This podcast is about all kinds of homesteaders, and farmers, and bakers - what they do and why they do it. I’ll be interviewing people from all walks of life, different ages and stages, about their passion for doing old fashioned things in a newfangled way. https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes

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#Society #Entrepreneur #Business #Mary E Lewis

A Tiny Homestead

updated 2 päivää sitten

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Sarjan koti•Feed

254 jaksoa

#Society #Entrepreneur #Business #Mary E Lewis

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A Tiny Homestead

1
Fun Farm Studios 30:20

2 päivää sitten30:20

30:20

Today I'm talking with Troy, author of Fun Farm Studios . You can follow on Facebook as well. A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Homegrowncollective.org . If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. A Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Homegrown Collective, a free-to-use farm-to-table platform emphasizing local connections with ability to sell online, buy, sell, trade in local garden groups, and help us grow a new food system. You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe. 00:29 share it with a friend or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Troy at Fun Farm Studios and I don't know where you are Troy. What state are you in? We are in New Haven, Indiana. Okay, well in New Haven, Indiana. What's the weather like there today? Oh, it's beautiful. I love Northeast Indiana. We get all the seasons. We have nine seasons in this part of the state. Oh really? Yeah, the joke is if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes. 00:57 Yeah, my dad used to say that I grew up in Maine and it would be beautiful and then it be boring. We'd come run in the house and be like, what happened? He'd be like, if you don't like it, wait five minutes. That's right. It lives true here. So I'm used to that. I'm in Minnesota and it is incredibly gray and windy. And yesterday they were saying we're going to get six inches of snow. And then when I got up this morning, the storm had taken us 01:25 of more southerly tracks, so we're probably going see some flurries and that's it. Oh no. It's fine. I really wasn't looking forward to six inches of snow on the day before the first day of spring, so we're good. Minnesota only has two seasons, right? Winter's near and winter's here. Minnesota has two seasons and winter and allergy. That's great. 01:55 Yeah, no, we have spring, summer, fall and winter. And the joke here is that we suffer through the winters because the spring, summer and fall are so beautiful. That's true. So, OK, so we've talked about the weather because I try to talk about the weather at beginning of every single episode because it's a good way to keep track of it. So tell me about yourself and what you do. My my inner child is on the outside. I am what I wanted to be when I grew up. 02:24 and I've known since I was seven. And it's been art. They are an artist and entertainer has been the wonderful evolution of the dream since I was in second grade. And it has come to fruition in a big way with this beautiful homestead that we purchased about 11 years ago in New Haven. It's a historical property, although it doesn't quite. 02:48 Meet the standards of the registry. You can't paint that. You can't change that window. The windows 143 here, so we gotta change the window so but it's rich with history on this property. There are Johnny Apple seed trees on our property. We have everything Indiana has on our property except a cave, so it's just beautiful everywhere you look. There's something to see. And it's been a wonderful fruition. We started our company tag our company on the. 03:17 turn of the millennium, Y2K, when we realized the computers weren't taking over. Three, two, one, okay, we're fine, all right, all right, so let's start a business. 26th year in business now. And it has just grown organically from customer needs with a focus on making good memories and family-friendly fun. And the property that we are stewarding now that we've been delivered to is just a huge blessing that has the fruition of 03:47 offering people an option to come to us. We always have gone to them, but they've never been able to come to us. So we have a village that we have built on the property that represents the variety, the versatility of services that we possess and can provide. And we call it the fun farm. So the fun farm is kind of a cart before the horse because we have a TV show on YouTube now, Fun Farm Studios, which is 04:13 I guess the Disney movie and then we built Disneyland or he built Disneyland. We've built Disneyland and now we built the show. So it's just whatever, it's all happening. And the, village is inspired by playhouse design. So we have a giant UFO and castle and pirate ship and, uh, an A-frame for the dinosaurs. And it's just a, like we bought a park and it doesn't disrupt the land. It's a wonderful flow. So people can, can look it up and see it. 04:41 Google Earth is just an amazing aerial view of the property from what the previous owners did and what we have continued to enhance it with never destroying anything that we that wasn't a dangerous thing I mean some things fall over some things rot but whatever we could preserve we have so it's been a wonderful blend from their efforts which were primarily history and horticulture they wanted to build an arboretum out here and then ours was the entertainment so 05:10 It was like meeting ourselves 30 years into the future. They just loved meeting us. It was kindred. so he was, we, well, I should restart. We are the first non-family to ever own this place since it was plotted in the 1800s. So his great grandfather bought it from the guy who sells the land for the government and blah, blah. So he was born on the porch. And so just amazing stories out here. And it just declared him call of stewardship. 05:41 which it's surreal. I wake up to my life. I joke that if there was a movie made to tell my story, it would be the opposite of it's a wonderful life. It would be a reverse Clarence. I wouldn't need someone to tell me what the world, love things. Everything's great. It's fine. I'd have a demon Clarence, know, like, no, every time a baby cries, the devil gets its horns. Like, no Clarence, I'm fine, stop it. So it's, it's a beautiful existence. So get busy living. 06:08 and it's just a real purpose-driven life, and it is infectious in a good way, the things that their passions have infected us. So to date, we have planted over 9,000 trees on the property, and so continuing their arboretum focus, we are well past the halfway point of every state tree here, which some... 06:32 It might be a real uphill battle like ash trees, know, the emerald ash borer some just get in the stock getting it started and getting them growing It might be a never so I don't know that we'll ever achieve that arboretum, but it's real impressive the things that are prevalent here and then what the land does and what it shows you and the topography the The whirlings were the family that we bought it from and his relative is Jen's Jensen 07:00 Who was a landscape architect, famous landscape architect. So his influence on what has done out here. It's just a wonderful hybrid Jordan with the club. wonderful hybrid of. All these focus points and all these homages to history and horticulture and stewardship and family and and now entertainment. So. 07:27 It is really something I love to share. There's an arresting peace out here everywhere. You look, there's something to see, including the stars in the sky. We don't even have light pollution. It's awesome. It's all the vastness of space. It calls me up to prayer. It is just awesome. And we overuse that word, don't we? Yeah, know, this oatmeal is awesome. No, it's not. This is awesome. So awe inspiring. Yes, that's 07:54 That's a really good distinction right there. You are so passionate about what you're doing that you would talk for two hours straight. Awesome is there's two awesomes. That's awesome or that's full of awe. So you're talking about full of awesome. Indeed, indeed. We love to share. We've had people come out and have date nights out here and just wander around. Let the peace overwhelm you, overcome you. 08:22 and decompress. is what life was meant to be. Slow down, observe, enjoy, savor, like good cooking. Good food takes time. It simmers, it stews, and you really bring out the flavors and you enjoy the process. And everybody wants bigger, faster, stronger, but some things need to be slower, more purposeful, more intimate. 08:45 Our relationships, they need to be a little bit more purposeful and get to know each other and let things evolve and take time. We can't speed date and speed friendship everybody, you know? It's not, hey, I like you, let's meet, no, no, no. You can't, it just doesn't work that way. And with our efforts, with our show, with our cause, our mission, all of these things are being the change that we wanna see in the world, which it goes back to our primal nature. We're a herd, we're a pack animal, we're a social creature. 09:14 the opinions, the vastness, the speed, the overwhelming, the overstimulating trends that are happening right now. They're just making us dumber. It's against our grain. So, yeah, put up or shut up. So I'm fighting, I'm fighting. Uh-huh, and I agree with everything you just said because one of the things I love about this podcast is that I get to just sit down and ask questions and really listen. 09:43 to what people are saying when they answer them. I love it. I really do. Okay. So after that, I don't know, 10 minute introduction, which was great. Thank you. So tell me about this kids show because I've watched like five minutes, if it was five minutes of one of them, it's very cute. And it's certainly better than the freaking Teletubbies. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I have. 10:10 watching like what just happened? Why is the baby a son? What's that robot thing? What just it is a rerun in the same show. Yeah, my my youngest is 23 and Teletubbies was one of his favorite things to watch when he was a toddler and I was just like, okay, it keeps you focused for 20 minutes so I can get dishes done really quick. So it's probably harmless. It's not really gonna do any damage. I don't think you can watch it. 10:37 but I couldn't sit and watch it with him, it drove me crazy. So having said that, your show, I could probably sit down and watch with a toddler grand kid if I had any toddler grand kids. So tell me about how that came to be because that's what I'm really interested in. Well, thank you and I appreciate your interest. And it's another be the change you wanna see in the world. I enjoy relaxing and watching something and go on and whatever streaming service. And I'm sorry, but half of it is just 11:07 And you're wondering who made this. I mean, there were people in a room who had lots of money and thought it was a brilliant idea and push forward and created this. And then there's a bunch of this and you can insert whatever position you have. But if I want to sit and be entertained, I don't want to be preached to. I don't want to be told my opinion. I don't want something force fed. It's like the awkward relative at Thanksgiving who says the stuff like, can we just eat and be relaxed and just be friendly? 11:36 And so I see that there's this very sad lack of a human role model for kids. I mean, you tell me who is the human role model for kids. And we think about people who formulated our examples. You got Fred, Mr. Rogers and Walt Disney and Steve Irwin and Bob Ross and Jim Henson. They're all dead. They were standing on the shoulders of giants. Who's doing it now? There's cartoons. 12:04 And the cartoons keep getting bigger, faster, stronger, more intense, bright colors and fast moving and shouting. And it's like Vegas. And kids are developing psychological issues. They're getting ADHD, their brain drain, their gray matter issues. There's articles written on it and they're naming names. I'm not trying to disparage, but there are people who are only perpetuating this escalation of just shove it in your face and babysit the kids. And what did I learn? 12:33 Maybe one, two, three, maybe ABC with some public domain content that we, if I hear the wheels on the bus go round and round in some iteration again, eh. So yeah, please know. I know Mary had a little lamb. I know jingle bells. Thank you. We don't need another version of this with some CGI mass produce nonsense that does nothing for the kids. They're getting that in schools. They're going to learn their ABCs and one, two, threes, but who's talking about emotional. 13:03 boundaries and and emotional strength and growth and getting along with each other and being friends and the things that we enjoyed you and I when we were young watching PBS and and people just sitting and having a conversational conversation not hey what what oh ha fast moving but what just happened here there was no lesson and so the show is all of the things that we wanted to see it's conversational in pace it's muted colors 13:32 It's quieter, it's gentler. TJ the turtle is the perpetual child. He's 85, but in turtle years, that's more like 8.5. And Mr. G is the caretaker. He's not TJ's dad. TJ has a family. He's just another good role model. And they discuss things and TJ will have an issue, a concern, a problem, a question. And Mr. G is more of a mentor. And so between the two of them, they do have things and they instill certain values that are folded in and not overt. 14:02 such as do a good job, or we've got to do some things, some work, some chores, some efforts, some responsibilities. There still can be fun, very Mary Poppins, know, spoonful of sugar. And there are original concepts as well as some things that we're taking an homage to that I think a lot of people say they want, but I don't see a lot of people giving that option. You know, it's nice to know, and we hope to really get on people's screens. 14:32 and tell, hey, here's exactly what you're talking about. Please support us. And I know it is something that we are bootstrapping. We have put our money where our mouth is. We have spent a lot of money on having these things produced. And we do have a lot of things to share, season two, three, four, et cetera. So the impetus is, I want to be Mr. Rogers. We cannot have too many good, kind, scandal-free. 15:00 You know, I grew up with Bill Cosby thought he was America's dad. Bill Cosby did what? And how sad, how sad. And Mr. Rogers is a great, he is exactly what you saw. He was a great father, a great husband. There was no scandals. He didn't have tattoos. He wasn't a secret sniper. He was just Mr. Rogers and he was unapologetic, but it wasn't that he had delusions of grandeur either. And these are all things that I tried to instill in my character when we're doing the show. 15:29 This is not the me show. This is not me having a secret delusion of grandeur or my ego or I want to be on Broadway or the red carpet. I don't care. This is a mission that we are called to do. And I really want to see what God can create. I want to stand back, do our best, then let just, just go with it. Just show us what you got planned for us. Spirit led. And so we can, we have enormous potential. And and I love that 15:59 We are consistently getting feedback such as yours and nobody is doing the oh, that's nice You know that that placating kind of response like your mom might go. Oh, that's nice and just to get you. Okay? They're wow that is really good and kids are following along and they're enjoying it and they they like the kazoo part and they are interested in seeing more and you don't have this look on their face afterwards like what the overwhelmed look like their eyes wide open and just the 16:29 their brain freeze. So we're checking the boxes. We're having conversations. We want to partner with other organizations with like minds and kindred spirits and like values and like missions. So again, no egos. It's a humble effort. And there's a lot of room for potential. There's a lot of room for growth. So it's enormous. I'm excited. We're excited about it. We have some good talented people involved. 16:58 from Michael the puppeteer for TJ to Rod the producer director to Jesse the animator. We're small and mighty, but look at what we're creating. Uh-huh. Absolutely. So the thing that I noticed when I watched the couple minutes is that most of it is animation, but you're not an animation. You're a human being in it. Right? Yes. Correct. Are you the only non animation in it? So far. 17:28 So far, there's, yes, there's a little, and it is kind of fighting fire with fire. Like, okay, kids, you're going to go online. get it. You're going to scroll or you're going to search. But if we can do a shepherd hook and like, but come over and look at this. Yes, you want to be entertained. We've got the, the, the entertainment aspect and the educational aspect. And maybe we start to call the impact and call the direction and break some habits. So. 17:53 Sure, a little bit of puppetry, a little bit of role model, human role model, a little bit of animation, not denying it, not trying to be like, clowns are cool. Well, yeah, maybe in the seventies, they have their place, but we've got to embrace change. We've got to evolve with the technologies. We've got to kind of compromise a bit. And it's just like anything, I suppose, where you're not trying to proselytize. You're not trying to force a mission or a voice or a perspective. It's a... 18:22 a friendship. It's establishing friendships with the viewers. And as you establish those friendships, as you provide that role model and that mentorship, then people want to learn more about you. And just like you wouldn't force feed anybody, as they discover more about you, maybe it becomes a greater impact, a deeper impact. And then that ripples into their impacts on their friends and those that they mentor and disciple and steward. And it's beautiful. It really can be. 18:51 But the way it should be, if you're gonna share something, you're gonna make change. You can't just shout it and yell at somebody and be angry and hit them over the head with stuff. It's gotta be kind. It's gotta be human. It's gotta be special. So, yeah, you're building the no like trust bond. Yes. Yes. So our why is big and deep and rich and driven and purposeful and overdue and so much. 19:22 so much example of why what we need. There's a show here that was from the 80s in Fort Wayne. It's called Happy's Place, Happy the Hobo. People still talk about that. I wasn't, I grew up in South Bend, but there were three Happys. The original Happy went down to Indy, had a fortune cookie factory. He's long since passed, but people want that. People, we need more of that. We need more of the real, the in your face in a good way, the special, the kind, the human. 19:52 That's what we need. We're just not getting it. Yes, absolutely. You also have the perfect voice for this kind of thing. Thank you. Your voice is so... I don't know, if I was a little kid and you were saying something, it would get my attention. Well, thank you. And maybe that's that background in education. I mean, you don't want to be the guy from Ferris Bureau like, Fry... 20:20 Yeah, was one of the things that we taught early on in classes like vary your tone a little bit because if you talk like this and nobody's gonna realize what you just said and then what is that two plus two? you listening? Yeah, you can't you can't be flat monotone. My my dad is My dad has the most beautiful voice and he also sings and he's a tenor and he hasn't saying you know He doesn't sing for money or anything. He just has a really pretty voice and he loves to sing and he 20:50 would listen to certain singers in country music back in the day and I'm not going to mention them because I don't want to disparage them. But he would be like, I can't listen to them. They're monotone. They don't have any feeling or inflection in their voice. They're singing the right notes. There's just nothing there. Right. So I think that's what you're talking about. Exactly. It's almost painful. Like the feeling. That's a brilliant observation that there's no heart, there's no soul. just 21:21 phoning it in. Exactly. Okay. So what's the future look like for for the show? Well, we're going to keep spreading the word and promoting it and looking for people who want to be involved and making it not a best kept secret. And the goal is to do this. This could be my opus, if you will, if I look back on my life and I want to be able to say, I can't believe I did that instead of I wish I would have done that. 21:51 So my life is regret free. It's just been fantastic. And I credit that seven year old version where you know and you're wired that way and you just keep going forward. And for anybody listening, there's nothing superhuman or alien or trust fund baby about me. All of this has been bootstrapped from absolute nothing with no basis for comparison. This is pre internet. There were no YouTube tutorials that taught us any of this stuff. 22:21 And so I hope to role model, guess, any anybody who has a dream, a drive, the entrepreneurial seed in them that you can achieve things. You just got to keep moving forward. And I think that's a Disney quote too, but it can be done. You can't achieve it. And you're to have people who tell you, nah, I've had people tell me I'm not good enough, strong enough, smart enough, talented enough. 22:46 I guess in the end, kind of all loved those stories, right? Where they overcame great odds and they became the Spice Girls or I don't know, but. The underdog story. The underdog story. We love the underdog story. You don't want it to be a Rocky movie and Rocky throws one punch in the end, but that's it. That's all you got to do. I mean, we a little bit of struggle. So there is struggle, but it's good. It's good work. It's good, hard work like going to the gym afterwards. You're glad you did that. Yeah, you suffered, but it's good suffering. So. 23:16 There are the fleas that come with the dog and I even have a t-shirt on right now that says that. Nice. Yeah, and it's not always a money struggle or an equipment struggle. It can just be your own struggle inside your head about, I have what it takes to do the thing that I'm dreaming of doing? Absolutely. Because I've told this story a couple of times now on the podcast. I did not like 23:46 Number one, I do not like being on video. I barely like being in front, you know, having my picture taken. And when I was a kid, I learned to sing before I could talk and I sang all the time. And I got told to be quiet in not so not such a nice way for, you know, quite a few times. And it wasn't that I was off key. It's just that I was always singing the last thing I heard. And so I felt like my voice wasn't good and that I didn't really need to be. 24:15 heard. when I decided to do this podcast thing, I was like, well, I'm going to give it a shot, but we'll see. And a year and a half, I, and the thing is, I am starting to believe that because you're not the first person to say that since I started the podcast, but I figured I would give it a shot and it would probably go nowhere. And a year and a half later, this is where I am and I really enjoy it. And I'm, I'm now 24:42 able to sit down and listen to the episodes back and not cringe every time I hear my voice. So this podcast had a really good chance of never having been started. I just had to get over that that block. So it can just be your own mental block. Oh, you're so you're so right. And I would liken your voice in the same category as Delilah, the radio show host. I mean, it's very soothing and comforting. And people respond to that. I don't know who Delilah is. 25:11 I think she's got an evening program. I imagine you could Google her, but she has a little bit of a here's your your dedication to your friend and here's a little help helpful and Landers kind of advice. OK, yeah, so it's it's an evening program, but it's not like you know Venus flytrap on WKRP. Children and this is the evening hour, but it's it's a soothing voice. 25:39 And so it's a warm motherly kind of a voice. You could check it out. You might find like, ah, all right. I'll have to go find her, yes. Yeah. So good for you for not listening to that. Because I think if it's meant to pull you forward and achieve more, it's from God. And if it's the other one, it's the devil. wonderful, great examples, not necessarily from celebrities. But I have never met somebody who was successful by their own definition. 26:06 who did not have great adversity, who had those dark nights of the souls. But there are great examples. Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper for not being creative enough. Walt Disney? Clint Eastwood's girlfriend dragged him into acting. Elvis Presley, I mean, he could go on. are people who, Van Damme made it as an actor because the guy missed out on Schwarzenegger and he's like, you don't want to be the next, you know. 26:31 And so that's how he got his break. This guy's got an accent. He's got muscles. Let's give him a shot. So it's funny, just the things that people are like, I'm going to do this and you're going to find your audience. Yeah. Funnily enough, that's what happens. And I'm so glad that we do because otherwise I wouldn't be talking to you today because I wouldn't have a podcast to be talking to you on. I think that you and I have kind of the same, I don't know, 27:01 passion and it's it's to make the world a better place. Amen. And I have been trying so hard to find people like you and people like everybody else I've talked to over the last year and a half who are doing good things with their talents to either help their community or teach or share things that are really important right now. Well, those people are quiet. 27:27 And they're focused on their they're minding their own business. They're doing their job and the world gets out of the way for the person who knows where they're going. But they're also focused on others. They're not the me me me. Look at me. Look what I'm doing. I need my praise and my accolades and stuff. They just aren't the reward is in what they're doing that it's a German thing where the work is its own reward. There are other cultures, of course, but you may have a dirt hovel, but it will be the neatest. 27:55 cleanest dirt hovel you've ever seen. And so there's that ethic where it doesn't matter what other people thinking you're doing right because it's right. so that you might have trouble finding them because they're too busy doing the thing just as so many other species on this planet are just growing and sharing and living and we're the only species on the planet that is burdened with this crippling self doubt. And what will my mother think of me and am I my best tiger self? 28:24 The only species that pays to live on the planet. mean, what's our problem? We have free will and we can plan for the future. That's our problem. Right. Well, I'm not having I'm not having trouble finding people. It's just certain seasons of the year are very busy for people who are growing things or raising animals. Right. So right now, I believe this coming week I have to get on it and find some crafters and some people who bake. 28:52 to talk to you because everybody who's planting things or birthing goats and calves right now are busy. That's right. It's all good. I mean, I'm tickled that I found you. I saw I found you on Facebook and I was like, oh, I have to talk to this guy. He's doing great things. And it's a pleasure and I'd be happy to come back. Yeah. Let's get together like in November. Good. 29:20 That's a time. Yeah. Busy season is May through October. Yeah. When it's not so crazy and then we can see where you're at. And Troy, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and keep doing the good work because we need it. Absolutely. Will do. And I'm enjoying it. I'm loving it. And it's exciting to see what the future will bring. And I really appreciate your support. 29:45 Oh yeah, I want parents everywhere to have their kids watch your show. think that the I think it would be good for the parents and the kids. Right on, yes. And I joke with the parents like you won't feel you won't feel dumber after watching and I promise you and there's there's no hidden agenda. You're not gonna be like, oh, now I have some parenting to do. What does that mean, Mommy? I don't know. Google it. Why? That's too many syllables. 30:13 All right, Troy, you have a fantastic day and I look forward to talking with you again. Thank you. You too. Thanks. Bye.…

A Tiny Homestead

1
Turn Here, Sweet Corn - Atina Diffley 36:50

3 päivää sitten36:50

36:50

Today I'm talking with Atina Diffley, author of Turn Here, Sweet Corn . You can follow on Facebook as well. A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Homegrowncollective.org . If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. A Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Homegrown Collective, a free-to-use farm-to-table platform emphasizing local connections with ability to sell online, buy, sell, trade in local garden groups, and help us grow a new food system. You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe. 00:29 share it with a friend or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Atina Diffley, the author of Turn Here Sweet Corn. Good afternoon, Atina. How are you? Hello. It's really a treat to be here. Thanks for inviting me. Oh, I'm so thrilled you had time. I reviewed Turn Here Sweet Corn on my book blog years ago and I haven't read it since and it's been a while, but I remember just being smitten with your writing. 00:57 Thank you. was really fun to write it and really healing. Yeah. Yeah. I imagine it would be. was so like, it was so comforting to read it and know that I'm not crazy to love everything about the lifestyle. Uh huh. Yeah. Yeah. The good, the bad, the ugly, the aberrant, the fantastic. It's all there. Exactly. So because not everybody knows about the book. 01:25 Asina, will you tell me about yourself and what the book and what you're doing now? Sure. The book is a memoir. And when I started writing it, really all I knew is that I wanted to write a memoir about my experience as a farmer. our farm started in 1972. My husband, Martin, started it in Eagan, Minnesota. So for those of you who are familiar with Minnesota, Eagan is now 100 % developed as a suburban. 01:53 area, it's 20 minutes downtown Minneapolis. So he grew up there at Fifth Generation Family Farm and saw all that change happen. And that in and of itself is so much what this book is about because he knew that land through his ancestors and their experience as settlers, as Fifth Generation on land that had been in that family since it was taken from the Indians. 02:23 And that was rolling land. It was diverse. It was never farmed industrial style because of the topography of the land. wasn't flat and possible to put big equipment in it. So it was small fields settled into a diverse landscape that still had an intact biological system from pre-colonial days. 02:53 fields that he grew there were small vegetable plots, settled into this extreme diversity. And as a certified organic vegetable farmer, before anyone knew what organic was, he was really utilizing that diversity of that land. So that right there is a great place to pause and to really just sort of celebrate this word biological diversity that has now become somewhat of a 03:20 buzzword and a catchword and it's now being greenwashed, but it really is that the essence of all life on the planet. Well, yeah, because different is good and same is not good. It's boring. And from a health perspective, the more diverse any system is, whether it's a living natural ecosystem or a relationship, and you talk about any system, diversity is healthy. 03:50 and creates reduced disease transmission, reduced disease issues. When you think about it from an agricultural perspective, as long as we had a diverse landscape around our fields, we really didn't have disease or pest issues. And I was really naive when I joined Martin in the 80s. I was young and 04:17 There wasn't really a lot of science and research and conversation at that point in time yet about this and how it works. And so really, I organic farming was really easy. I mean, it was hard physically. We worked our butts off. But the management of our fertility and our pest-centered disease and our water needs was done through the diversity of the landscape and didn't take a lot of effort. But I didn't know that at the time. 04:46 I just was doing the task of planting and harvesting and I didn't really understand the impact that diversity had on it until the sky fell out and that land was developed. Yeah. It's, I, okay, I'm sitting here thinking about how to say this next. We lived in Jordan for 20 years, Jordan, Minnesota, and we moved to our little piece of heaven like a little over four years ago. 05:14 Our little piece of heaven is in the middle of the corn fields right now. And it's a 3.1 acre lot and our nearest neighbor is a quarter mile away. And part of the reason that we chose to leave Jordan is because stuff was starting to get built up. There were a whole bunch of housing developments that went in. And when housing developments go in, population expands and then big box stores come in and they want to 05:43 They want to buy up land to put their stores in. And I didn't want to watch this town that I had lived in for 20 years become what Egan has become. You know, it's really hard because I'm all for progress, but I'm not all for destruction, if that makes any sense at all. No, it's really complex societal issue and there are positive ways to go about it. And I think one thing that's really critical to point out here, 06:12 is that the destruction that happens when a suburban development happens, it's really obvious because they come in and American style, they take every tree, every bush, every blade of grass, they scrape off the living soil and they sell it. And then they build the houses. But it is not development that is a leading cost of ecosystem loss and species extinction and diversity habitat loss. It's actually agriculture. Agriculture uses 70 % 06:42 of the planet's water. It is the leading impact on natural diversity habitat. creating dense urban settings actually is a smart way to deal with housing. And the fact that we have a lot of humans that do need housing and do need, you know, don't want to have to buy everything on Amazon, at least I don't. So it's a human need that we have to work with and we can do it in a way that's concentrated. 07:11 and that incorporates diversity into it. Once those developments happen, there actually is a lot of diversity that can happen in a housing development. And it can be a diversity reservoir. But when we get into America's agricultural systems, which are monocultures, the whole system is based on, we don't want anything but one plant species in that field. 07:37 you know, the cash crop that we're aiming after, whether it's corn or soybeans or whatever it is, we want that one species. We don't want any other plants. We don't want any animals. We don't want any insects. We don't want any diseases. We don't want any funguses. And so it is a vast monoculture and that is an absolute biological diversity desert. Yep, it is because there's nothing else. And 08:04 And I'm telling you, I hope that the people that farm the fields around us switch back to alfalfa in a couple of years, because this cornfield thing is driving me insane. Hey, refresh me. Do we have an hour or half an hour? Um, half an hour, 40 minutes. Okay. So, you know, going back to my book and how that relates to all this, when that farm was developed, we experienced an ecological collapse. We were renting land. 08:32 from the developer actually, because they developed over a three year period. the fields, the land around our fields that we were still running were bulldozed and we couldn't pull a crop out of those fields. We were overrun by pests and disease. And that's when I started to really understand how much biological diversity is doing for us was as I experienced that extreme loss. And it's a really powerful part of my book because 09:02 The reader experiences it through my children's loss. young. And children at that age, they just connect with nature. It doesn't have to be a big environment. They can connect with one rock or a little tree or a bush or sitting under a plant. And it's really quite spiritual for them. And when that was bulldozed, they really went through the loss of innocence. They experienced it as a rape victim would, that their parents 09:30 these caretakers that are supposed to keep them safe cannot protect them from everything. And they're really not supposed to figure that out till they're, you know, teenagers, rebellious teenagers. So that was a profound moment in my life and in my book. The reader really goes through that process and has the opportunity to really grieve whatever losses they have had in their own life, whether it's land or relationships or people, it doesn't really matter. 10:00 The emotion is the same. It's grieving those losses and recognizing how complex and valuable they are. And then we bought a new farm just south of Lakeville. It had been conventionally farmed. was 100 acres. They plowed it from one end to the other. And the first thing we did was walk that land in a heavy rainstorm and understand how the water was moving. We staked that out and we planted those to waterways so that we wouldn't have so much erosion. 10:30 And then we laid out fields to the contour of the land, 45 smaller fields on a hundred acre farm. And between the fields, we planted biological diversity habitat, diverse flowers, plants, bushes, bunch grasses for dung beetles and various beneficial insects. And we had to restore a diverse habitat on land that had been destroyed. And that was a lot of work. 10:59 You know, we just had that need because it hadn't yet been destroyed from how it had been colonial. And here it had been destroyed at our new farm, but we had to create that. that's another really great part of the book is the reader starts to realize, yeah, destruction has happened. You're experiencing that with your cornfields, but it can be recovered. And life is inherently resilient. Every time people make an effort to 11:29 do biological diversity recovery or water cleanup. They're always astonished at how quickly systems can recover. That happened big time with the river when they cleaned up the river and how quickly fish returned in a river that was dead on the Mississippi. Yeah, I have a question. How long did it take you with your new land to get it healthy again? Well, we were certified organic and in a certified organic process, 11:58 you cannot use prohibited substances for 36 months. So we couldn't take a cash crop off of our new farm for 36 months. So we didn't try to, we just spent 30. 12:15 through soil building crops and getting these systems in place. So was very intensive and not everybody can do it that way. 12:25 We were ready. 12:28 that were certifiable. They hadn't had chemicals on it. We were renting 18 different properties with a 32 mile radius to grow our cash crops at the same time that we were rebuilding this hundred acre farm. So it was a very intense period of our lives to be managing cash crops on so many different properties and build this farm up. But we got through it. I would say it took 12:57 three to five years for things to start really being solid systems at our new farm. You were saying that your kids went through grieving the loss. The only story I really have about that kind of thing is my husband and my son and I used to really love and go hike and check out the public land in Minnesota. And if my listeners don't know, in Minnesota, 13:22 You can harvest things on public land. You just can't dig anything up. So if there are wild plums growing, you can pick the wild plums. It's totally fine and take them out of the state lands. there was an old like homestead out in towards St. Patrick and it became public land. State bought the land. 13:48 And there were two absolutely gorgeous ancient apple trees on that land. No one has touched these trees in forever. And we happened to find them just before it was apple picking season. And we checked out the apples and they were not buggy. They looked like they had been taken care of and no one had been taken care of these trees, I guarantee you. So when we knew it was time, 14:14 We enlisted a friend and her daughter and we went and picked apples till we couldn't pick apples anymore. That was amazing. Did it two years in a row. Third year went back, trees had been cut. And I cried, I'm not kidding you. I sobbed. That was like our special secret trees and they were gone. And I cried. sat in my car with my husband and I cried like 14:42 big ugly tears. And he was like, they weren't our trees. And I said, no, I said, no, they felt like my trees and now they're gone. And he just, he was so like, he felt for me, but I think he was more amused at how destroyed I was that they cut those trees. 15:05 Oh, that's actually how I met Martin. I see my book, but I, had been an orange and apple picker professionally as a young person, as a migrant. And I lived in Minneapolis and I was so missing the country. I was a real person at heart and dying in the city. I knew he had a cider press. Someone had told me, I'm, you're not there. What it take to get you back? 15:36 Oh, there you are. My phone said you weren't. Somebody told me he had a press and I called him up and asked him if I could borrow it. And I just drove from Minneapolis to Eagan and stopped any time I saw a fruit tree and asked if I could pick it and arrived at his place at like 20 bushels. And he accused me of stealing them. So we started to have a little spat, which fits for us. That was how we met. But that that relationship is so critical and 16:04 We all want that. And it's a beautiful thing for people that are homesteading or, you know, even if you live in a city, you can plant a tree in your yard. You can plant a garden in a pot on your apartment building patio deck. You know, it doesn't have to be a lot of space, but just having something growing in our lives is huge and really a spiritual healing process. 16:29 I always think of growing plants as being responsible for something. And I think it's why, I think it's why people have pets if they don't have plants, because there's something really good for the soul in taking care of something else. 16:47 Yeah, I'm pretty attached to my house plants. To finish the story on my book, after we got our new farm put together and became the main supplier of organic produce to the Twin Cities co-ops, and we're pretty well known as a farm. In 2006, we got a letter from a crude oil pipeline owned by the Koch brothers. 17:16 And Boya Hearts just stopped. They wanted to eminent domain our new farm for crude oil pumping station and a pipeline. And we already knew what that meant as far as development. We knew that it would be the end of our farm, that we wouldn't continue here. And it was just heartbroken. So I decided to start learning about the legal process. And what really caught me was as I... 17:44 reading the court documents, there was a document called an agricultural mitigation impact plan. And what it is is the agreement that the pipeline company has to fulfill when they cross a farmer's land, basically says they're going to put this pipeline through there and then put everything back the same way it was. So it's the detail of how they're going to do that. And it said that they would not knowingly allow more than 12 inches of topsoil erosion. 18:15 Not knowingly. And that was the moment I got mad. I got really mad. Because that is not putting things back the way they found it. And do they know how long it took for that 12 inches of top-celled abortion to be created? So we intervened in the legal proceeding. And this was an absolutely brilliant move on the part of my attorney, Paula McAbee, because it meant that we were part of the actual routing permit process. 18:41 They couldn't get their route permit. They could not build anything on their pipeline until the three parties, the Gardens of Eagan, was our intervention, the Pipeline Company and the Department of Commerce, which represents all people impacted by the pipeline. We all had to stay at the table. So, you know, in a lot of these cases, if it's just a one-on-one lawsuit, you could win the lawsuit, but then the company appeals it and the person ends up losing because they can't afford the appeals. 19:10 It goes on and on forever. But in our case, they couldn't just keep appealing it because then it would have held up their pipeline process. So we intervened in the legal proceeding and our goal was to establish that organic farms are a valuable natural resource like a wetland that should be avoided when feasible and when they cannot be avoided to be protected through specific mitigations. 19:39 And we wrote a specific mitigation plan that addressed all of these issues on an organic farm. Went through the legal process and we accomplished that goal of writing a mitigation plan, an organic mitigation plan that is now standard procedure for any public utility in the state of Minnesota. A number of other states have copied it and a number of utility companies have just taken it on on their own because they see it's 20:09 it's going to make life better for them. And I don't want to go into a great deal of detail on that simply because we don't have the time. But I think what's really critical here and what the reader really gets in the book is to kind of get a grasp on how as citizens we can really engage in lawmaking and in things that are going that are not good. In this particular case, when 20:36 I had this problem facing me. felt like I don't know anything about public utilities. How in the world could I fight this? But I realized that what I do know about is organic farming. was an expert on organic farming. It's what I'd done my whole life and I was good at it. So that is really what I had to speak to. And as we were a direct market farm, we went to our customers and we said to people, would you write a letter to the judge and tell them how you will be differently impacted by this? 21:06 pipeline because it's not just us the farmer that would be impacted. It's our customers. And that's how we differed from a corn and soybean field. And you can just go up there all commodity crops. You can buy a hundred bushes of corn. doesn't matter if it's from Bill's farm or Mary's farm, but we were not a commodity crop. so 4,600 people wrote a letter to the judge. was really astonishing to read these letters. They were so personal and they talked about 21:35 how they would be impacted. They too did not have to understand anything about pipeline law to write this letter or pipeline issues. They really just had to say how they would be impacted. And people talked about the fact that they were chemically sensitive and that they really counted on food from this particular farm for their health. Other people said every single year we have our family reunion in the middle of August when the garden's vegan sweet corn is ripe and the watermelon. 22:03 people talked about having eaten from this farm for four generations. They were really phenomenal letters. And I really want people to know that they don't have to feel voiceless. There's so much stuff going on in the world that may be of concern to people, certainly is to me. And I know that I'm not voiceless, that it's really important for me to engage as a citizen and that we do have an impact. And I think it's what 22:32 people really get when they close that book. And when you read the last page is really understanding that role as a citizen to be engaged. You don't agree with what is going on in the world. You have the right to say so. You have the right to contact your senators or your representatives or your congresspeople or whoever by letter or by email or by phone and say, this is how I feel about this thing that's happening. And 23:01 It's their job to listen and to try to try to do something about it. 23:09 And I encourage people when they write those letters to go beyond feelings and talk about how they're impacted. Because a lot of our laws are actually based on impact. Ecuador passed a law that gave nature a right in court as an entity. It's the only country in the world to my knowledge that has a law like this. In the United States, we have to prove how humans will be affected if the river is damaged or the land is damaged. 23:39 in Ecuador, that river itself has a right to exist. That sounds very, very much like the Native American beliefs. 23:49 Well, that is why it passed because they have a majority of native voters there. How they passed that law there. Um, I doubt that we will ever pass that law in my lifetime in the United States. Um, but that's why I tell people, if you write a letter or talk to a Senator to talk about impact to you, to the human being, because that's what our laws are based on is impact to the human being. And a lot of times my attorney said a great thing to me at the start of our case. 24:17 Because I wanted to do all these great things and I wanted to get at the things that were unjust. And she said, Atina, right now, if you want to change those laws, that's really great. But right now, you don't have time to do that before you deal with the issue at hand. So you deal with the issue at hand. And then if you want, you can come back and change the law, work on changing the law. And I thought that was just a really valuable thing for her to have said to me that. 24:44 Sometimes you have to pick your battle. It's like raising children. You pick your battle, right? And that was a really important lesson that I got from her. I have a question about those 4,600 letters. Did you read every single one of them? 25:00 It was great in middle of the night when I couldn't read, when I couldn't sleep. did, but I also felt really supported. I would have had to have read every single one no matter whether my face was completely swollen for a week because I cried so much. Because that's really important. And as you were telling your story in my brain, all I could see was a full auditorium of people stomping their feet and applauding you. 25:32 because that's a big thing that you did. That's a huge thing. 25:38 You know, I would have never been able to accomplish it. Well, not only without the support of the community that wrote those letters, but without having had the experience of the loss in Egan, that that was just so educational to me on a spiritual level and on a scientific level of really understanding the loss of biodiversity. So to bring this, kind of home, I think you told me you're, you're a lot of your audience are homesteaders. 26:09 And it's such a beautiful thing to realize that in a sense what they're creating is biological reservoirs. 26:19 And we see the loss you can look out your field your windows and you said you have cornfields out there and that breaks your heart And the fact that even if your land is just a little three acre plot You can make us such a diverse little three acre plot and that is keeping those species safe there so research on what insects are on your 26:43 your little three kerplot and the birds and the animals that come in there and the plant species, it's actually making a difference. When we were, we're not running our farm as a vegetable farm anymore. We retired from that and now it's got pasture and animals on it. But when we were running a vegetable farm, the University of Minnesota would often come out and do research here. And they came out one time and they just went into a field and they were looking for a pie. 27:12 My new pirate beetles. It's an insect that parasites, um, cabbage lopers. 27:22 And they came in, I couldn't even see them. I'd never heard of them, I'd never seen one on the farm. When they first asked if they could come, they asked me if I'd ever seen one. I didn't know what they were and I said I never saw one. And then they showed me one and you needed a mag to find glass to see them. Our fields were full of them. We didn't bring them in there. They weren't in the neighboring fields. They asked our neighbor who had a corn soybean field. 27:47 if they could go in there and look, they went in 10 feet, 15 feet, 20 feet into them, there was none. They were on our farm and they'd come there because the plant species that they needed to survive and that habitat was there for them to survive. And the researchers were blown away by this as I was, because they thought they had to be brought in. And they really walked away from that day on our farm, understanding that when the habitat is created, 28:17 If there's a reservoir of the species within a reasonable distance, they can come in and settle in there. So to homesteaders who, you know, just really look at your little plot, you might wish you had bigger land or feel like has to be bigger. Every little bit really does matter and it's a reservoir that's really critical. On that subject, we have so many butterflies, different kinds of butterflies and moths here in the spring and the summer. 28:46 There are these little light blue tiny moths or butterflies. do not know what they are, but they are, they look like little, very pale blue fairies when they're flying. And I don't know what they are, but I love them. I, I, something here, they, really like it because I have not seen these guys anywhere else. And 29:11 We have all kinds of dragonflies all summer long, all different colors, all different sizes. So I think that our little homestead gives a lot of creatures a place to be. 29:26 I think so too. isn't everywhere. Have you ever read descriptions written by the earliest Europeans to come into Minnesota? They are mind blowing. They're describing like these hordes of various birds and butterflies and all these insects and there's so many of them and they're talking about how many of them there are. And I often have dreams where I'm in that period of time and 29:56 it's phenomenal to actually be immersed in that kind of an intact ecosystem all at one time that you know is going beyond that three acre plot you're on. know, like imagine if that was 100 acres what you're seeing on your little three acres or imagine if it was a thousand acres imagine was the entire state of Minnesota. That would be fantastic. The other thing that grows here is yarrow. Y-A-R-R-O-W. It's a plant. 30:26 And I didn't know what Yara was until we moved here. And we have like a yellow and we have a white that's tinged with pink. And they are so beautiful. And I have not figured out yet how to actually use them. But where they grow, my husband does not cut any grass or any weeds or anything. And he was like, should I cut those? And I was like, no, leave that alone. 30:55 Yarrow is really a favorite of pollinator species and it's a very strong medicinal plant. It actually is a fever inducer to bring on fever as a burning off of disease. It's a plant that I think should be used by skilled and I am not a skilled herbalist. So I will have to do my research and find someone who is a skilled herbalist before I do anything with it. 31:20 Either way, it's really beautiful and I want to leave it alone because I really love it. 31:27 When I was young, I was very idealistic. I still am, hopefully, but I was also very ignorant and I would, you I was just in love with plants and I thought of them as all these great healers and I would just sort of plunge into like utilizing them for medicine and I've had a number of pretty funny stories now. Like one time I slept in a poison ivy patch and had poison ivy all over my body and I looked in an herb book and it said to use sumac and 31:57 So I went out and picked sumac leaves and put them through a champion juicer and painted that on my whole body. I used poisonous sumac. Yeah, like I was bad before the coca. I was really a mess after that. And I could tell you about 50 stories like that. I was not as quick learner before I realized how powerful these plants are. They're very powerful and that's really beautiful. So I'm a much wiser plant user now. 32:25 We've had a few experiences. So I have two things. Number one, is Martin still with us? 32:33 Yep, Martin is alive and well and happy man down in his fix-it-all shop. He likes to fix things. Good. what are you doing now? What's your life now? 32:48 We actually spent our summers now in Glacier Park. And what attracted us there is that it is the most intact ecosystem in the lower 48 states. So I do feel like, you know, as I was saying earlier, imagine if you could walk into Minnesota, pre-colonial, and really experience the ecosystem here. I feel like that's what I'm experiencing in Glacier Park. And we volunteer as citizen scientists. So we get to like go to the back country and 33:18 count how many loons there are on a lake or lose binoculars and count how many rams there are, how intact a system is. Sometimes we get to collect seeds because when they do biodiversity rehabilitation in areas, they use seeds that are within 10 feet of the area that they're inhabiting with plants. They're really specific because you could get echinacea from the park, but if it's from 33:47 The side of the rocky, you know, the, the divide or, you know, even a mile away, it's a big park. It's not quite the same. So that's just really where to be immersed in that. I still write. Okay, Where is glacier park? Cause I'm blinking. 34:06 It's in Montana and it's the Northern Rockies. just, it's right next to Canada. In fact, it crosses the border into Canada. It's an international park. you said you're still writing. Are you writing articles? Are you working on another book or what's up? 34:26 I work on a couple books, but I don't have the same need to get a published book out of it. So whether I will or not is not my driving source. the good news is it doesn't have to be. You just have to express how you feel in words and that's what you want to do. 34:46 I find it helps me stay very balanced to have writing in my life on regular You are a beautiful writer, so keep doing that. 34:58 And it helps me be a better talker. I find when I write about things I access words that I wouldn't normally access in language and speaking. 35:10 and then it ends up becoming, it comes into my articulation. It's like transfers over. It's so interesting that you say that because I have friends, I've had friends, have friends in my life where I talk with them and I pull words out of my brain that I haven't thought about in years. And I use them correctly. And they're like, where'd that one come from? And don't know. It was just inspired. 35:38 My theory on that is that I learned those words when I was reading and that's why they come out when I'm writing. And when I was writing Turn Here Sweetcorn, I'd often use a word and then I'd stop and go, I don't even know what that word means. And I'd look it up and I every time had used it correctly. So that was really fun. We are almost out of time, ma'am, but I really did love Turn Here Sweetcorn. Like I said, it's been years since I've read it. Anybody who hasn't read it and loves to read, 36:07 should go buy a copy. came out when? How long ago? Yeah, so it's been a bit. A 2012. But it's beautifully written and it's really, really educational. educational seems really boring. It is not boring. It's beautiful. 36:26 That was my goal. wanted someone who didn't care about organic farming to read it as a story. it reads like a novel. But yes, I freaking love it, which is why I asked you to come talk to me today. So, um, I appreciate your time and thank you and you have a wonderful afternoon. Thank you. And thanks to all your readers for me listeners. Thank you. Bye. Bye.…

A Tiny Homestead

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Rural Route Bulbs 35:48

4 päivää sitten35:48

35:48

Today I'm talking with Jodi at Rural Route Bulbs . A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Homegrowncollective.org . If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. A Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Homegrown Collective, a free-to-use farm-to-table platform emphasizing local connections with ability to sell online, buy, sell, trade in local garden groups, and help us grow a new food system. You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe. 00:29 Share it with a friend or leave a comment. Thank you. This Homestead Holler Shoutout is to our friends over at Freedom Reign Farm in Buffalo, Minnesota. Their new little farm shop is the perfect spot for seasonal fresh goat milk products if you're local to the Buffalo area. While their online shop makes it super easy to order shippable items right to your door. From natural handcrafted goat milk and tallow soaps to grass-fed tallow skin care and beautifully arranged gift boxes. Each product is crafted with care and love. Check them out at freedomreignfarm.com or follow their Facebook page to stay in the loop. 00:58 Let freedom reign. Today I'm talking with Jody at Rural Route Bulbs in Wisconsin. Good afternoon, Jodi. How are you? Hi, I'm good. How are you? I'm great. How's the weather in Wisconsin? Well, it's probably about the same as Le Sueur. It's windy. It's warm, which is nice. It's like 62, but we have a pretty good south wind. think we're gusting to like 40. 01:21 Oh, it's not too bad here, actually. They were saying this morning that it was going to be windy and it was, but I think it's died down and it's sunny and I think it's 50 degrees maybe. Yeah, it's beautiful. And I was just telling someone else this morning that I interviewed at 10 a.m. that they are predicting real measurable heavy snow for Wednesday. And I'm like, of course they are because it's the day before spring. Yep. We were supposed to get that same snow. 01:48 So we'll see how much we get. We're kind of on the line between rain and snow, which we ride the line like all winter between rain and snow, it seems like. are you in Wisconsin? Uh, we're by Eau Claire. So we're just east of Eau Claire. So about an hour and a half east of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Yeah. Eau Claire is really pretty. I have been through there. So. It is. Go ahead. It is. It is. It's, it's so pretty in the fall. Um, I'm from Southern Minnesota. 02:18 by where you're from. And I've been combining in some areas with previous jobs. And sometimes I just stop and I'm like, it's so beautiful here when the leaves are changing. And so yes, you're right. It's, it's wonderful area. town are you from in Minnesota? Janesville, Minnesota. Yes. Yes. I've heard of Janesville. My, my husband actually has family in Janesville, Wisconsin. So, okay. Yeah. I get confused. 02:46 A lot of clinking things going on here this morning or this afternoon. Sorry. keep thinking it's morning. It's not. It's one o'clock. Okay. So anyway, I'm very excited to talk with you because I've been talking a lot on the podcast with people about eggs, chickens, cows and pigs. And I really do love flowers. So tell me about yourself and rural route. I can't say it rural route bulbs. Yeah. So, um, 03:15 Roll route bulbs was just an idea that, well, my husband and I, we were trying to think of a crop to diversify into that was local. So we farm, we're pretty conventional farmers. know, we have a combine, we do corn, soybeans, rye. We're trying to rotate into a couple of different things right now, but we were really looking for a local market that we could diversify into. 03:44 We happened to be on a trip in Washington state for baptism for my sister and my husband was like, we should think about tulips. So we looked into them. We planted 5,000 one year just to see if they would grow well. And they did. then planting, I planted 5,000 tulips with COVID when it was new and I got very sick afterwards. And then we planted another 12,000, I think the next year and I. 04:14 planted those when I was pregnant. So I would like to plant tulips when I'm not in an otherly state. Your property must be gorgeous in what, May, June? May, yep. It is. 16,000 tulips didn't take up quite as much space as I thought it was going to, but yes, I often find myself, I go out to the garden just to 04:42 to take notes on my tulips, which ones are coming back, you know, but sometimes it's kind of a lie. I'm just out there because it's just so nice. Yeah. I feel like people who grow flowers do it partly because it's a good thing to grow, but because there's such joy when they bloom. Yeah. So my trade is in agronomy. So I generally work with crops. Um, but I've 05:09 I've had flowers for a long time and while it was something local to diversify into, it's just, it's a totally different aesthetic than, you know, what your corn and your soybeans and your alfalfa are. So it's really been, it's been a fun thing to diversify into. Yeah, absolutely. I've tried growing tulips here at our place and they do not do well. I don't know why. I don't know enough about it to know why. 05:38 We grow peonies and they're my favorite flower and they're basically a bulb flower too. Oh, go ahead. Sorry. Yeah. We don't grow them to sell. We don't grow thousands. We grow maybe, I think we have 40 plants right now. Oh. And so we mostly grow them because I love them and they're pretty and we do sell stems when they're blooming at the farmer's market, but that's about it. I bet they are pretty. 06:07 I bet they're very pretty. so for the tulip thing that you mentioned, they're hard to grow. There's a couple things. Some tulip varieties don't do very well this far north, which I think you're probably in, I think you're probably in like zone five. I'm zone four B. We're right between the two. yeah. Okay. So I have noticed that some, I've planted a whole bunch of varieties just to see what was going to work here and what wasn't going to work here. 06:35 Um, and some varieties do a lot better than other varieties. Surprisingly, some of the tulip pair pair, some of the tool parrot tulips, um, they're a little bit more irregular shaped in the leaves. They do fairly well here. Um, but some of them, like the triumphs that are just like completely gone. Um, so I think the Darwin's do really well here. I have some really good luck with some of the late doubles. Um, so you kind of have to find ones that. 07:05 to some degree are regionally appropriate. Okay. I have no idea what the varieties were. We just bought some bulbs and put them in and we're like, grow. And they did okay the first spring and they did less than okay the second spring. And then this past spring, and it might've been weather related too because it just rained and rained and rained here last spring. But they didn't do very well that third spring. 07:33 I really love the double bloom ones, the double, I don't what they're called, the ones where it's not just the outside petals, but there's like petals in the middle too. Yeah, they call those doubles. Yeah, that's all those doubles. Yep. Love those. I didn't even know they existed until about 10 years ago. Our neighbor had some coming up by his front step and I was like, those are not peonies. And I went and looked, I was like, I'll be damned. Those are tulips. I didn't know they made them, made them that way. 08:03 Yep. They do look like peonies. I agree. They're so pretty. And I do know what your weather conditions were like last year. I was out looking at some crops with my mom and you guys got so socked with weather. Tulips need a lot of drainage and you guys have heavier soils. And so I bet they just practically rotted in the ground. mean, you were so excessively wet. Yeah, it was bad. Like 08:29 I have talked about this so much. shouldn't even say it again, but our garden, our hundred foot by 150 foot garden was soup. Like my husband had to plant tomatoes three times last year just for us to can like, I think 20 pint jars of tomato sauce. Yeah. In our area, you could not find tomatoes that people grew on their farms. 08:56 We have a huge Hmong community in the area and a lot of them grow vegetables. And when you would ask, we have some people right next to us. Our farm is in town and we have a park in front of our house and I usually get my vegetables from there in the summer. they were like, nobody has tomatoes because they just all drowned out. Every tomato that we took to the farmer's market sold out in the first half an hour. 09:25 gone. And my husband came home from the first farmers market. We had tomatoes in August, not July, August. And he said, I sold out of the, I think he took maybe 50 tomatoes. He said they were gone in the first 10 minutes they were open. Well, I'm glad somebody else can relate to how wet the weather was in the Midwest last year, because it was just deplorable. 09:53 It was freaking miserable. And that's the F word I have to use on the podcast. Yeah, that's okay. In 2023, it so dry. In 2024, it was so wet. And we saw so many crop issues and we saw issues with soil microbial populations and we had slugs and they wouldn't go away because it didn't get warm. The last two years have just been the most crazy growing conditions. I think I've 10:22 almost ever experienced like back to back. Yeah, it was insanity. And honestly, the summer before 2024, we had the most beautiful garden. did great. So yeah, we were very, very sad last summer. And then I applied for a grant and got it and we put up a hard sided greenhouse in May of 2024. 10:53 Yeah, May of 2024. And didn't do a lot with it that last summer because it was hot. So, you know, a hard side of greenhouse doesn't do you a lot of good when it's really hot out. But we did manage to get some stuff put in there last fall. And we have actually managed to overwinter rosemary in that greenhouse this year or this winter. Oh, that's cool. Is rosemary a hard one to overwinter? 11:22 It does not overwinter outside. Okay. It will not. It dies. So excited that the greenhouse stayed warm enough that we could overwinter rosemary in it. And we also had strawberry plants in pots, hanging pots out there. They survived the winter too. well that's cool. So the one saving grace of last year is that I applied for this grant and we got that greenhouse built. 11:49 and extended our growing season by about two months in the fall. And growing season can now start like now in the greenhouse. without the greenhouse, we can't do anything. That's so nice because in the upper Midwest, if you don't have a greenhouse, the weather's getting nice in Tennessee and we're just sitting here like waiting. Like I have some crocuses I found that were coming up this weekend. otherwise. 12:17 That's kind of it, maybe a little bit of grass greening up, but we were 77 degrees last Friday, which I think was pretty helpful. But okay, so I'll get a little bit back to tulips. I have a master's degree that I just finished in agronomy and I'm somebody who just likes to know. I like to learn. So I dug up some, I meant to dig up crocuses. 12:44 two weeks ago and I ended up in my daffodil row and I dug up some daffodils and the ground was still frozen. Like I had to go get a real shovel and stand on it to get it into the ground. Yeah. And I had daffodil shoots that were pushing up through the frozen ground. So, um, from somebody who goes grows usual, usually annual crops, it was pretty excited to see like how hardy daffodils are in the area. And when we planted them, 13:13 So we bought a trencher to plant with. so I crawl on the ground and I just pop the bulbs in the trench. And then my father-in-law, who is very, very nice, he, he fills the trenches in and walks on them for me. So I just planted one daffodil, you know, one bulb. And when I put the shovel in, I had like four or five bulbs that had daughter bulbs that had grown there. So that was pretty exciting to see that in this area, like my crop was. 13:43 flourishing and that they can push out through conditions that not plant great. That's been really fun. I dug some crocus bulbs up the other day too and I just planted one of those and man, I had a little cluster of them. The first year I had them, thought, these aren't that great. I just have one flower and now I have a whole bunch of flowers to one little clump. 14:11 That's been really fun to see the expansion of some of the naturalizing bulbs that I've grown. Yes, that's the joy of bulb plants because when somebody says to me, have peonies, I need split. Will your husband come over and split them for me? You can take half of them home. I'm on my phone texting him immediately. Can you make time on this day, on this weekend to go split peony plants? And he's like, yes. 14:41 Because the more more times you do that They do the same thing they spread as well So you start with like one clump of peony roots and they're not bulb there. I think they're a rhizome Yep, but either way rhizomes and bulbs propagate on their own and so we'll get one clump of a special peony that somebody has in their yard and Three years later. There's like a hedge Yep 15:11 Yeah, yeah. mean, plants are just... The more I look into plants, the more I am amazed by the things that they can do. So this is just a little off topic, but I was looking into the nitrogen fixing process for legumes, so alfalfa, peas, soybeans. And in those nodules, the step before they make usable nitrogen for the plant, they actually make rocket fuel. 15:41 And I just thought it was like the most amazing thing. And I'm really a plant nerd, but I was like, those tiny little nodules with some iron, malignum, and sulfur make rocket fuel. And it just blew my mind. So, had no idea. I learned something incredibly new today. Yep. Yep. It's I've told a lot of people and they look at me like, 16:10 whatever, Jodi. And I'm like, that's amazing. It's just amazing that bacteria with some nutrients can do that. So it's very exciting. if we get back to tulips, so this year is our first year in the you pick. We're going to do some you pick with the tulips we have growing right now. I haven't really done anything with them for the last 16:36 five years because I've been trying to finish my degree and I was having babies and got to be a little bit too much. So this year will be our first spring with you pick. So I'm really excited about that. And then next year we're going to do an actual tulip display garden. because I don't have a big stock yet, I just ordered like 50,000 bulbs to put my display garden together. I am actually really excited about that because how many people get to 17:05 just have like a huge garden. It's going to be a lot of work. I'm not super excited about all the hand planting, but I think the results will just be stunning. Hopefully. I'm going to tell you the same thing I tell everybody else who's like, I'm going to do this huge project and it's going to suck at the beginning, but it's going to be amazing when it's doing the thing. I always say that big projects suck when you're beginning it. 17:34 but it will be so worth it in the end. Yes, yes, yes. I'm very excited to see the product next spring. should be, mean, it's a lot of flowers. It should be really, really pretty. So I don't know if my husband's gonna be able to get me to do my normal job next spring. Oh no, whatever will he do? He'll be fine. 18:03 I'll have to just get it done real early. So all my other farmers have their fertilizer plans ready to go before May. exactly. So do you sell tulips? Like the cut flowers? Yeah, so we're just starting this year. I feel like I'm a little bit of like a plant purist sometimes. I know that if I don't cut my flowers and bring them in the house, they're going to last longer. 18:31 Yep. In the ground than they are in my house. So I haven't picked a lot. I let a couple people last year come pick them, but I usually don't pick them. And I've had a couple people stop and I think they've picked them, but we're pretty close to a highway so people can see them. And they're like, what are you going to do with all those tulips? So it's been really good advertising. So all the years before I didn't do much, I deadheaded them. 19:01 pretty much. And so this year we're going to do a you pick where we sell the cut flowers and in the future we might do some bulb sales this year, but in the future it'll be a you pick. We'll sell bulbs. I have some potted plants and you know, so it'll be more of an agritourism type thing where we have some food, you know, maybe some music on the weekends. We'll kind of see how everything shakes out. So it is like an incredibly 19:30 new business. Do you have any idea how to make tulips last once you cut them and put them in a vase with water? Well, now I don't know the particulars on that right this second. I have them in a notebook, but I do have a friend who also has a flower farm in Fall Creek and she gave me some tips on that. 19:55 but I would have to look through my notebook to find what they were since I haven't been cutting them. Okay, well, do me a favor. When you do find out, send me a message and let me know just the basics because I had some really pretty double tulip flowers come up two or three springs ago, like I was talking about. And I cut some of them because they were so pretty and I put them in a mason jar with water and they were good for about three days. 20:24 and then they started to wilt. I thought three days was great. So one of the things with tulips is if you harvest them, longer they've been bloomed, they won't last as long. So the best thing you can do is cut them before they bloom. However, that's kind of a double-edged sword I found because the tulips seem to get taller and bigger. The actual flowers do. The longer they've been bloomed. 20:53 Um, so like some of the store ones you see in the store, they're smaller, but they've been picked pre bloom. Um, so the earlier you can pick them, the longer they last in the vase. And I think like daffodils, you have to let the goop come out of them before you put them in the vase with the other flowers or the goop will kill the other flowers faster. All right. And you, you grow daffodils too. Yes. 21:23 Yes, I, and I had daffodils. So our farm is on the edge of a town and I have just terrible trouble with deer. Um, so I do, I, I did grow daffodils as well because I heard they naturalize in Wisconsin a lot better than tulips will, which, um, is pretty much the truth. All my daffodils come back and the deer don't touch them, which is really nice. I spray this stuff on my tulips called liquid fence and it kind of smells like. 21:53 It smells like hog manure and pee, just for a little while. then humans can't smell it later, but the deer really just stay away after that because they like to eat them like right before they bloom. so I'm always like really excited to see the blooms. And if I forget to spray them, they're all eaten off the next day. Yep. Damn those deer. 22:22 We have a doe that showed up here two years ago. Two springs ago. I don't think she's still alive. I think she got hit by a car. But the first year she showed up by herself and she nibbled a bunch of stuff that was growing in the garden. She didn't tear it down, but she definitely took some, some snacks. And my husband was like, um, we have a deer. I said, He said she's, she's helping herself. And I was like, okay. 22:51 So like two days later, I was up early and I had my coffee and my husband came out on the porch and he happened to look out the door and he was like, stand up really slowly and look to your left. And I could see her out in the garden. I was like, oh my God, she's so beautiful. And he's like, yeah, and she's a thief. And I said, Last year she showed up in May when there was really nothing in the garden and she had a fawn with her. So we get to see her and the fawn. 23:21 And then my husband was driving to work about a week later and there was a dead doe on the side of the road, no fawn to be seen. And he said, I think our deer is done. And I said, okay, well then your garden might be okay if we actually get it in. And then it rained all summer basically, so it didn't matter. So I'm really torn about do I want to see a deer or do I want the deer to not show up and not eat my stuff? 23:49 So it's a double edged sword, know? It's beautiful to know that she's around, but it's also going to cut into our production. Yep. Yep. That's exactly how I feel about it. My husband got a picture of them like last spring and they actually paw through the snow to eat my tulip vegetation if it knows after they emerge. they're... 24:15 Well, I mean, we live in the upper Midwest, so there's just not a lot of food at the end of spring, or, you know, at the beginning of spring. So I feel for them, but I wish they would go for just somewhere else. And my friend in the country, she's like, oh, I don't have trouble with tulips with my, or deer with my tulips. And I'm like, oh, you're so lucky. Cause I spend a lot of time spraying stinky stuff on my tulips. So the deer don't eat them. I think that the deer just know. 24:44 when it's just tulips that somebody put in because they're pretty and there's only a few. And then there's people like you who are trying to make a business out of it and they're like, let's eat the business place first because there's so many more of them. maybe they just taste better. It's a fancier restaurant. They just know, yeah. It's slightly far afield, but I don't care. We put in peach trees two falls ago now and we actually had peaches last fall. Really? 25:13 There were 12 peaches on one tree and my husband brought in six. And I had one and my husband and my son ate the rest of the six. And he was going to go out the next day and pick the other six. They were gone. We think that a deer got the last six peaches, which is really sad because it was the first year we've ever had peaches and ever had put in peach trees. 25:39 And he said that he's going to try to put up some cattle panels like around the trees so that the deer can't get to them. that, oh, go ahead. Sorry. What most people don't know is that deer will jump a fence as long as they can see how much distance they have. So if you put like a small fence around a tree and then another fence around that fence, it confuses the deer. don't know how much clearance they have, so they won't jump the fence. 26:09 Oh, that's cool. I didn't know that. Yeah. So he's going to do that this year and see if maybe we can actually eat our own peaches and not feed them to the deer. Yeah. Well, I've actually done some research on fences for, um, fields, uh, cause we're in Wisconsin and there's a lot of deer. Um, and fencing does help protect yield when it comes to deer feeding. So I think. 26:34 I think you're on a really good path. And also, I guess I didn't realize you could grow peach trees in southern Minnesota. They're a winter hardy tree. And I don't remember the variety and I don't have the tag that was on them when we bought them. all you have to do is go to Google because Google knows everything and type in winter hardy peach. And I think they were developed in Canada, if that makes any sense at all. Yeah, no, that's cool. 27:03 So yeah, and oh my, these peaches were like softball sized peaches. They were so good. Oh, well maybe we'll have to try some. Maybe it'll have to be a peach tulip garden that we put in. Well, if you love peaches, I would suggest getting this variety because they're really good. Okay, I'll have to Google it. My husband loves them. 27:28 So you said crocuses, tulips, and daffodils. there any other bulb flowers that you grow? Are there any other bulb flowers? I have some hyacinths in there and then I have some allium and allium is kind of okay. I think it's varietal. I have some Everest ones and I think I only have two or three of the six that I planted that came back. And then I have an ornamental purple one. 27:57 And those tend to come back pretty well. The hyacinths are okay. They smell really nice, but the longer that they grow, so the first year after I planted them, the first spring, they came back really nicely and they looked like hyacinths. And then since then they have less flowers on them every time that they come up. hyacinths are okay. They're definitely something that you have to plant every year. 28:28 You know, I feel kind of meh about the hyacinths, but I didn't think I'd like crocuses as much as I do, but they're just, they're just such a wind, a little winter hardy bulb that I just, I really love their fortitude because they're not planted very deep. So they freeze hard and they're like the first guys out of the ground. So they have antifreeze in their bulbs. They do. They're just. 28:58 It's amazing. so the longer I've been, as I've been looking into bulb physiology and what happens when it's cold and what initiates like flower formation in the bulbs, it's really interesting. And I know even some companies in the Netherlands, they'll MRI their bulbs to see if they have flower that's been initiated in the bulbs. 29:26 I can't remember if it's MRI or ultrasound. They take some picture of them. I think it's MRI where they could see if there's going to be a flower that comes out of the bulb. Wow. Okay. They really have it down to a science. All right. Well, I have a couple of things about things you just said and then we'll probably be at 30 minutes. The hyacinths. When I was little, I used to call them the grape plants. 29:54 the purple hyacinths because they looked like grape Kool-Aid to me. That makes sense. And the crocuses. We put in crocus bulbs the first fall we were here, so four falls ago. And I'd never grown crocuses. I just thought that they were very pretty. seen pictures and I was like, let's try and see what happens. I had no idea the bulbs, the blooms were so tiny. Yeah. 30:23 My husband came in and he said, there's these little yellow and purple flowers out there. And I said, did you take a picture with your phone? And he said, I knew you'd asked. So I did. And I looked and I said, those are crocuses. said, how big are they? And he used his thumb and his finger to show me how big the bloom was. I was like, are you kidding? He said, no, they're tiny. He said, they're gorgeous, but they're small. I was like, oh no. 30:52 He said, did you think they were like a lily size? I said, yeah. He said, no, they're tiny. I said, oh, okay. So we still, we left them and they've come up every spring since we put them in. There's not very many, there's maybe 20. Okay. And they haven't really naturalized. So there's not a whole lot of spread, but he comes in that part of the driveway where they're planted on the right-hand side. pulls them driveway. You can see them when they come up. And 31:20 As soon as he sees the yellow or the purple, when he gets home from work, he comes in the door and he's like, you're going to be happy. The crocuses are blooming. And he's not wrong. I'm very happy because it means spring is officially here. first vestiges of spring is what I think every year when they start blooming. Yep, absolutely. And I don't know if you are a nature watcher beyond plants, but I saw a big flock of geese flying north the other day. 31:49 I heard my first red wing blackbird this past weekend. think it was Saturday. And our maple tree is sending out the little flower thingies right now. Oh, okay. I don't know what they're called. I'm not a plant person by science. I'm just a plant person by, oh, that's pretty. But you know how the maple trees send out the little spiky flowery looking things that they're happening now. Yes. Well, that's exciting. Hopefully they don't get froze off on Wednesday. 32:19 Which is not, it's not going to be that cold. It's going to be not cold enough to snow, but I don't think it's going to be bad. So, Whatever the, the maple tree is going to do what it does. Cause it's been there for at least 50 years. I'm sure it'll probably be okay. Yes. Yes. They nature does what nature does, no matter what the weather does or what we try and make it do. Yeah. It started budding back. Um, 32:49 I don't know, a month and a half ago when we had some really warm days. And I was like, go back to sleep. It is not time to wake up yet. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That's the tricky part about the Midwest is those real warm days early, everybody and all the plants, everything gets excited for spring. Yeah, and so do we. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to be through this second really weird winter in a row. 33:18 And I said this the other day to somebody on one of the other episodes. said I have looked at the long-range forecast. I have looked at the old farmers almanac Forecast and it doesn't look like we're gonna need to build an arc this year. So that's good news Yeah, yeah, I guess all we can do is wait and see uh-huh. I I am I've got everything crossed I I'm gonna braid every piece of my hair to keep that cross too cuz 33:45 I can't live through another summer like last year. My husband will be so upset. So we're going to just hope that it's all going to be good this year. Normal amounts of rain. Healthy amounts of rain. Yes. And in our case, even if we do have a drought here, the thing we learned last year is it's a lot easier to deal with a drought because we have a well and we can water. But you can't suck water back out of the ground. 34:14 Nope. not where it rains like that. So it's easier for us if there's too little rain, if that makes sense. You guys have such beautiful soil down there, but you got a lot of water holding capacity and they don't always go well together. No, no. And the worst part for our garden is that we have like 12 inches of really good black dirt. And then you get down after that 12 inches and we've got clay. 34:44 So when it rains real bad, it just holds that water even more because it's got nowhere to go. Yeah, you something with a real long penetrating root to punch some root holes through that clay. Yeah, well, it was a hay field and weed field for 40 years because no one had grown anything on it for that long. it still is just, it's clay under there. 35:15 I hope it doesn't rain that much this year. I'm praying. I'm not a praying girl, but I am sending up every message to the universe to maybe not cry so much this year. That would be great. anyway, Jodi, I really appreciate your time and I actually learned some stuff about bulb flower plants that I didn't know about. So I'm very excited. I got a chance to talk with you. Oh, great. Well, thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it. 35:44 Yeah, thank you so much. Have a great day. You too. Alright, bye.…

A Tiny Homestead

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Minnesota Farm Living 39:55

5 päivää sitten39:55

39:55

Today I'm talking with Wanda at Minnesota Farm Living . You can follow on Facebook as well. A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Homegrowncollective.org . If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. A Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Homegrown Collective, a free-to-use farm-to-table platform emphasizing local connections with ability to sell online, buy, sell, trade in local garden groups, and help us grow a new food system. You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe. 00:29 share it with a friend or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Wanda at Minnesota Farm Living and by the name of the farm, you know it's Minnesota. So good afternoon, Wanda. How are you? Good, good. I'm glad to be here. I'm happy to have you. And I'm really glad you're in Minnesota because when I ask you about the weather, we can just grin because it's sunny and it's warm. Oh, know. It's crazy. And it sounds like this next week. I mean, the next like seven days is going to be like a roller coaster. And I mean that literally almost. 00:58 Highs near 70 and it will be down to lows in about the 30s by the end of the weekend and probably snow again. Yeah, but not much not much snow and will melt next week. Yeah, exactly. can't Considering the winter we've had and how little snow we've had I would be very happy to not have three feet dumped on us. That would be great. I'm in Lasur. Where are you? I am in Welcome, Minnesota. So I'm actually right along the I-90 01:25 In fact, I can actually see I-90 from my house and yeah, just south central Minnesota. Okay. I have no idea how far away that is from me in Lesor, like an hour. I'm going to guess an hour and a half. Okay. Cause I think St. Peter for us is like an hour and 15 minutes. So you're a little bit north of that. So yeah, we're about 10 minutes due north of St. Peter. Yep. We go to St. Peter all the time. It is such a cute town. Oh my city, I guess. I think it's a town. 01:52 But I think every town is a town other than Minneapolis. So yes, I had a daughter that actually went to school there for a year. So it gets Davis. So familiar with that. So yeah, my son and I, a couple of springs ago went down to the campus and there's this really pretty like park area and they have some walking trails and it's really, really gorgeous. So we, we enjoyed that cause we moved to Lusore. 02:18 little over four years ago and we really busy getting things set up in our new home and getting a garden plotted out and getting a chicken coop set up and you know things you do when you buy 3.1 acres in the middle of cornfields and so there's hadn't been a lot of time to go familiarize familiarize there we go ourselves with the area and we went down to St. Peter and I was like I want to live in St. Peter this is so pretty and then I got home 02:46 Then I got home and went, no, I want to live in the middle of I hear you. So anyway, yeah, the weather is going to be a little nutty starting Friday and be nutty into Sunday. And then I think we might be through the worst of this winter. think we might be on our way to spring. I would be okay with that for sure. Me too. So Wanda does a whole bunch of stuff, but I think the biggest thing is, that you guys grow. 03:16 pigs to supply Hormel, is that correct? That is correct. we've been- Okay, tell me about that. Yeah. So we've been raising pigs for 47 years. So that's how long we've been living on our home site. And so we've always raised pigs. We started off with actually having sows and boars and they would feral, which is another name for giving birth. had 24 farrowing stalls. 03:44 And so we could have 24 cells actually giving birth at the same time. And so then at first we just started raising them up just a feeder pig weight, which is about 40 or 50 pounds, because we didn't have any room for them to grow up to like 280 pounds, which is what we do now. And then we would sell them, we'd go to Windom, Minnesota, and we sold them on a feeder pig auction. So that was how it started. And then eventually we got into, we actually, 04:12 built what we call gestation barn, which is where our cells actually were housed. And the reason we did that, if anybody really knows much about pigs, they can be pretty aggressive towards each other because what they have to do is they have to figure out their pecking order, you know, who is going to be king sow. And so the way they do that is they can kind of fight with each other. And that was kind of hard to see at times. I mean, we actually had a sow die because another sow attacked it because they were just trying to figure out 04:41 Who's going to be King Sal? So we built a gestation barn so they could all have their own individual areas. And I tell you, was like night and day difference. They were awesome. They were calm, you know? And so we could take much better care of them. So we brought them indoors and then eventually we built some barns that we could fill them, you know, to actually grow them out to market weight. And we have always sold to Hormel. So Hormel is located in Austin, Minnesota. 05:08 It's about an hour and 15 minutes from where we live. yeah, I sometimes I call myself a grocery store farmer because if you go into the grocery store and you go to the meat counter and if you see the Hormel label, those pigs could have came from our farm. So. All right. Well, the next time I buy Hormel pepperonis, I'll know where maybe some of that came from. Absolutely. Because we do occasionally buy those for making homemade pizza. 05:37 And honestly, we actually take our pigs locally to a locker. I have three freezers in my basement and it's just my husband and I here. But we have three freezers, but we have three daughters too that are grown, but we have lots of pork and beef on hand. And the pork is from the pigs that we raise. Nice. It's really funny we're talking about pork because guess what's on the menu for dinner tonight? 06:00 Ooh, hopefully pork, huh? Pork chops and tater tots and green beans. That's dinner tonight. lunch, we had pork patties. yep. So we eat a lot of pork. Yeah. I was never really a pork fan until I got sick of beef. bought a couple halves a while back. Like we bought a half. We ate most of that, bought another half of beef. And I've said this a bunch of times, my husband and my son would eat beef 06:30 breakfast, lunch and dinner if they could. And I'm just over it. I'm so over it. And I was like, okay, I kind of like pork chops. I guess we could put that in the lineup. And then my other son, all my kids are grown. They're all adults. One of my adult sons who doesn't live here came to visit and I said this not three episodes ago, but he made sausage, gravy and biscuits for us. 06:58 Okay. And he made it super black peppery. You know, he put a lot of black pepper in it and it was so peppery. I couldn't eat it. And so I was like, I think I actually would like it if it just wasn't so peppery. So I made some last winter, not this one, but last year. And I put the smokehouse maple seasoning that we get at the store. don't know what brand it is. 07:24 And I put that in the, in the gravy and some salt and a little bit of black pepper. And it was fabulous. So right now the only pork stuff I really, really like is pork chops and sausage and gravy biscuits. I'm, I'm good with those things. And honestly, if I could get away with it, I would probably be vegetarian because I'm just so sick of every dinner having, having to have meat with it. My husband is a big meat and potatoes kind of guy, but 07:50 I do like what I just said, so I'm glad that you provide pork to people. Okay. So can I give you a hint? Sure. Um, so we actually use the seasoning. It's very popular in our County kind of South central Minnesota. In fact, I think they even use some of the seasoning up at the twin stadium. Um, so it's called Martin County magic seasoning and everybody just raves about it. So that's what we use when we grill pork chops or do anything with pork. 08:19 again, Martin County Magic Seasoning and you can guess where I'm from, Martin County. So yeah, so it's a very, very popular seasoning. People can get it into their local grocery stores. You can order it online. I think it's like martincountypork.com. So yeah, so that's very popular around here. I will have to look that up and see if I can find it because that might help my case about meat. I just, didn't grow up having meat at every dinner. 08:49 And so for me, it's weird. I'm just like, aren't you sick of meat yet? And my husband's like, I will never not want a steak. And I'm like, okay, babe, that's fine. okay. So I do not want to put you on the spot, but I do want to talk about factory farming because I've talked to one lady, she's a rancher in Nebraska. 09:18 I've interviewed her, love her, she's fantastic. And she had kind of a not great reaction when I used the term factory farms. And she was telling me that they have many, many, many cattle steers and that they take really good care of their steers. They love their steers. They're not best buddies with their steers because steers aren't friends like that. 09:46 I'm paraphrasing badly. Please Leah. Don't be mad at me. Um, but basically that factory farms have gotten a bad reputation and that That factory farms are not evil. Yeah, and I believe I believe her. So what is your take on that? Okay. All right. So let me just let me go back a little ways here So I started my blog over 12 years ago 10:11 and the in Minnesota farm living. And the reason I started it was because I was so frustrated as being a farmer, but all the misinformation that was out there in the media, you know, and one of the terms of course was factory farming. And I'm like, and to this day, I don't even know what a factory farm is. And the reason I say that is because when I think about factory farm, I'm thinking about massive producing, you know, whether it's, 10:38 crops or specifically livestock and that you don't have that connection with them, that you don't care about them, I can tell you that that is the exact opposite. So we have one employee, so between my husband and our employee, they're out in those barns multiple times a day checking on those pigs, making sure that everything is working fine, making sure they've got water, making sure they have feed, making sure no one is sick, no one is injured. 11:06 They're constantly monitoring them. Yes, there's quite a few in a barn, but there's really not part of the factory part of it. And I'll just give another example of how we're so connected to our animals. This was a number of years ago, and not in a personal sense, but just knowing that this is our job to take care of these animals. This happened quite a few years ago. 11:33 And this was when we had the sows and the sows would feral give birth. Well, there was a virus that was going around. It's called TGE. Nowadays we don't have it. They have eradicated it. But at the time, what would happen is when the pigs were born, they were healthy, but then they would have this virus and they would almost immediately die for about three weeks, 100 % pig mortality. Nothing to do. 11:59 what would happen is that the salus would build up a natural immunity to it and then actually pass it down to the pigs. So after three weeks, then the pigs were fine. So anyway, it happened to be Thanksgiving and had the girls, we were all going to go to my mom and dad's for Thanksgiving because this is what we do. And he said to me, he said, you know what? He said, I'm going to stay back because I am bound to determine that I'm going to keep these pigs alive. And I said, okay. 12:27 For one thing, this isn't something you do. My mom and dad is like, no, you come to our house for Thanksgiving. This is a holiday, you know? And I said, okay, you do your thing. So he stayed back. You know, the girls and I went to my mom and dad's had Thanksgiving dinner. But like I said, he was bound to determine, I'm going to prove the veterinarian wrong. I'm going to stay with those pigs and I'm going to keep them alive. Do you know what happened? You know what I mean? I mean, that just shows you just the connection that we have as farmers to our animals. 12:57 Yes, we don't have a personal name for them because there's too many, but we are completely 100 % committed. Our animals are actually, you know, have a higher priority a lot of times than what our family is, unfortunately. But, you know, we just are just so committed to, you know, to raising those healthy animals. So. Thank you so much for answering my question because I get real twitchy when I ask questions like that because I'm afraid I'm going to make people angry. And I feel like I gave you an open door. 13:27 to talk about it. Yes, yes. And that's one of the reasons, like I said, that I decided to blog because what I want to do is I want to create that connection between agriculture and consumers. And hopefully if they have any questions or, like, why do you do this? And why are you doing this? And what about this? I can just have that open line of communication to explain, OK, here's what we do. And this is why we do what we do. Another example, just to kind of, you know, not the factory farm, but 13:55 We have volunteered at the Minnesota State Fair a number of times in the swine barn. And if you've ever been there, you go in there and there's a sow in a fair ring stall with the baby piglets. So we, my husband and I, we would get in the crate with them. And then people would come and take a look at the sow and see how big the sow was and how little the pigs were. And then they could ask us questions. I love that because the questions were wonderful. 14:23 What I found is that, for example, someone might say, why do you cut their tails? They kind of say it really kind of a negative aspect, like, why are you doing this? But once you explain why you do what you do, 90 plus percent of the people go, oh, yeah, that makes sense. It's just that they don't know. So I love that kind of communication. Yes, absolutely. since you brought up cutting their tails, 14:52 We have an Australian shepherd dog and she's been really well behaved lately. She has been barking in the background, but she has a docked tail. Okay. And I, because I didn't know anything about this breed, didn't know that they aren't born with docked tails. I thought she was just a naturally short tailed dog. Okay. And then I was talking with our friends that have the mom and dad dog and they were like, Oh no, no. 15:22 No, she hurt, she had a tail, but we dock their tails when they're like a day or two old. Yup. Yup. And I said, but why? And I wasn't mad. I just didn't know. Yeah. And she said, because most of our puppies are going to be adopted out to be working farm dogs. Okay. And they really like to wag their tails. And if they wag their tail too hard, they can smack it on something in the barn or in the barnyard. Okay. They can break their tail. 15:50 She said, and she said they are the dogs that get up real close and personal with the livestock and they can get their tails stepped on and broken. It's just a thing that's in the way. So we dock all the puppies' tails unless we're asked not to by the potential new owner. Okay. And I didn't know we were getting Maggie until she was like, oh man, I think I met her when she was two weeks old. 16:19 It was way too far past to not have her tail dock. So my lovely, beautiful, classic Australian shepherd girl has a nubbin and we call her a nubbin wagger because when dad gets home, she is wagging that tail, that non-existent tail like it's a full length tail. So there are reasons for the way that things are done with animals. And if you don't ask, you don't know. 16:47 Exactly, that is absolutely correct. So again, the reason that I do the advocacy work I do for agriculture is just really to open that communication and answer people's questions. So, yeah. When I started doing this podcast, I really thought that it was going to be more of, okay, so tell me about pigs, tell me the lifestyle, life cycle of pigs, tell me about how many babies they have, na na. It's really not. It's become this overview of what you do. 17:16 And then all these philosophies and lifestyle things that come up and I really love it because if it was just about a life cycle of a pig, it would be one episode about pigs because why would I do more? So it's great that I get to talk to people like you and find out your take on how you do things and your perspective out into the world on how other people do things. Uh huh. Yes. Okay. 17:44 So I was looking at your website literally when you signed on to talk to me. Okay. And you have recipes on your website and you have gorgeous photos to go with those recipes. So I didn't have a chance to really dig into it. Is it just one recipe per photo or is it like if you click on that, there's a bunch of recipes under it? There should be a bunch there. I put recipes on there even though it's probably not my main focus. 18:14 of my website, but I do put some out there. And again, pork related, you know, recipes and you know, when people, for example, I know one that I've got out there is like, well, what happens if you go into the grocery store and you buy this 13, you know, 10, what, 11 to 13 pound pork loin? What do I do with it? You know, I mean, you know, unless you're going to have a huge crowd at your home, what do you, what do you do with it? And just kind of give some suggestions. Here's how you cut it up. And then you can. 18:41 actually freeze it up and use it for pork chops or, you know, just other, you know, things in your recipes. And, you know, that's just one example of something I have out there because I was in the same situation. What do I do with this big, long piece of pork loin? You know, so, And we do that. We buy a pork loin from Sam's like once a month and we, and we cut it up and we use it for pork chops. We used to do pork roast, but we're kind of not. 19:09 into that right now so we haven't done one in a while. And the end pieces where they're not the same thickness, we will chop those up and do pork stir fry with them. Oh sure, that'd be perfect. Yes. And it's way less money if you do it that way. You know, if you're trying to save a buck on groceries, it's a really good way to do it. Yeah. And some of the other recipes I have out there are just family favorites. I mean, these are things that my mom's recipes, they'll go pretty special to me. 19:38 I actually have, she had the best handwriting. I have the worst handwriting. I will tell you straight up, that is nothing I inherited from her, but she had the most beautiful handwriting. So I have all of these recipe cards with her handwriting. And of course, a lot of things were made from scratch. And so I like to duplicate that and follow her recipes. And I still make a lot of the food that she used to make when I was young. So, and those are some things I shared on there too. Nice. I love that. 20:07 Did you happen to put a photo of one of her recipe cards up so we can see her handwriting? That's actually a good question. I'm not sure if I have one out there or not, but I definitely have them in my house. I think you should take a photo of one of them and put it on there because handwriting is so distinct. Oh, it is. And when you have really beautiful handwriting, people really love seeing that. Yes, yes. It's good idea. I'm going to take your suggestion and do that. 20:35 Yes. Yeah. My grandmother on my mom's side had the most beautiful loopy handwriting, but it was small. So, know, consistently rounded, beautiful handwriting. And I was digging through my, my keepsake box when we moved here four and a half years ago. I'd go through stuff and rearrange and I found a card from her and it said, it said, love you, Mary Evelyn, grandma on it. Okay. Oh, and I'm going to tear up. didn't think I was going do that. Um, 21:04 Anyway, I was looking at it I was like, I need to take a photo of that. Yes. need to get a necklace made with that on it. Fantastic idea. I haven't done it yet, but I still have the card and I keep saving it thinking that I'm going to do it. Yes, absolutely. Yes. Those things are very special. Yeah. And her, her grandma, you know, her written grandma is just so pretty. Okay, sure. So yeah. 21:33 handwriting is really special and it is absolutely a representation of the person that wrote it. Yeah, part of my side interest that I have right now that I really want to start getting into is the genealogy. So when you mention that story, those are the stories that you need to keep, you know what I mean? In saying those for future for other family members or just for yourself, you know? And so, you know, we talked about the recipes that my mom did. 22:01 that will definitely go into my family history and I will definitely share those. But I think those are very special because, you know, if we don't share them or save them, they're just gonna go by, you know, gonna go away, you know, and I don't think that should happen. Yeah, and it's so easy to just not see how important it is. I live like five miles from this really beautiful cemetery. it's one of 22:30 the two oldest cemeteries in Minnesota, supposedly. Oh, really? Okay. There are Civil War soldiers buried there. Oh my, yes. And it's up a hill and it's in an oak grove, basically, and it's just beautiful. And some of those gravestones are super duper old. Oh. And there's kids, you know, there's kid gravestones up there from 1800s. 22:55 And I went up there and I wandered around because I'm weird. love cemeteries. They're quiet. They're usually very pretty. They're calming. And I was looking at these headstones and I was like, man, I wonder what their story was. I know. That's exactly what I was just thinking. I mean, each one of those has a story and you wonder what is that story? Yeah. And unless they were famous, nobody knows about what they did. Yes. Yes. So yeah, history is really important. you know, I mean, 23:25 There's a saying about if you don't learn from history, you're doomed to repeat it. And it's a terrible saying. mean, it's true, but it's very negative. But history is also full of life and brilliance and fun. Oh, yeah. And you just, don't know, I just feel like people are so focused on moving forward. Yes. That they don't entertain what came before. Yes. No, I agree completely. I love history. Actually, I might 23:55 My college degree is in secondary education social studies. So history falls underneath that. And so I hear exactly what you're saying. There's so many great stories that I would just love to write about all of them, you know, so. Yeah, exactly. OK, so agritourism, you were telling me something about you're starting a new blog or you did start a new blog. Yeah, I have a new blog. It's not been out a real long time. It's called the Minnesota Traveler. 24:25 Basically kind of focusing on Minnesota travel, road trips, solo trips, that sort of thing. But I also go beyond Minnesota if there's some things in the Upper Midwest. That's really what I'm going to focus on. And I love agritourism because again, that connection with the farm. I think it makes a lot of sense. So I will write about that and share those stories. I guess the first one that comes up to my mind is like the Spam Museum that's in Austin. 24:53 And I love that because this Hormel and that's where I sell our pigs, you know, so there's a special connection there, you know, and just kind of kind of really just really focusing on some of the small towns right along the I-90 like Fairmont. So if you're into pigs, if you ever go to Fairmont, Minnesota, they have over 100 pig statues placed around town and around the community. Please stop and check them out. You know, so I've got that, you know. 25:21 best things to do in Fairmont, Minnesota. It's a town of 10,000 people, but there's five lakes and it's just, you know, it's kind of these places that nobody thinks about, you know, like, why would I go there? But there's a lot of really cool things there. I did one on Blue Earth and one did one on Albert Lee in Austin and you know, working my way to the West and doing something with Jackson. On my bucket list is Laverne, Minnesota, because I guess they have a Nutcracker Museum there and I want to check that out. 25:49 So yeah, so just small towns, agritourism. In Iowa, there's actually going to be a, I don't know, celebration in Clear Lake, Iowa. It's called Evolution of the Heartland, and they really focus on agritourism and really what's, you know, how these small towns were created based on the, you know, farming backgrounds of the area. So that interests me. so, so. Fine, you should come to Lasur. 26:17 And I will tell you why the Jolly Green Giant thing got started here. Oh, yes. Yes. And you can see that in Blue Earth, right? To the statue or no, that's the Jolly Green Giant. Yes. But yes, yes. Uh huh. Yeah. We have a big billboard coming into town that has a Jolly Green Giant and Sprout. Sprout. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. They just repaired it like last summer or the summer before, like it was torn apart and then they redid it because it was falling apart. So. 26:47 I need one. There's a brand new billboard up for that. Yep. And, the Mayo M A Y O house is here and it's, I have not been in it. I have not figured out a time to get down there, but they have tours that they do. You can go in that little house and see where the guy that started the clinic stuff live. Okay. Way back when. Yes. That'd be very interesting. 27:15 And I live like four miles out of town. So if you decide you're going to visit LaSalle, we'll have to set up a coffee date. All right. That sounds like a deal. That would be fun. Yeah. It's really kind of fun because I grew up in New England. I grew up in Maine. Okay. And moved to Minnesota back over 30 years ago, kicking and screaming. Did not want to go. And it took me probably 15 years to realize that I actually love Minnesota. 27:44 It's not that different from Maine. Okay. Okay. It is and it's not. I call it a lateral move. Okay. And I saw like a baby when I realized that I actually loved Minnesota because I had been fighting it for 15 years. I felt like a traitor if I embraced where I lived, you know? Minnesota has so much going for it. It's so beautiful. 28:14 And there are so many different quirky little things about every single city in town. Yes. It seems like every town, no matter how small, has some kind of little festival they do every year. Absolutely. Yep. They do. They're all different. I haven't spent hardly any time up north. I think the furthest north I've been is Duluth. Okay. Yeah. So I know nothing about northern Minnesota. 28:41 I keep being told that I should take a road trip. Oh, yes. That is one of my favorite, favorite places to go is Duluth and up to harbors and Grand Marais. We go up there fairly often or when we can kind of get away because that is one of our favorite. I love Lake Superior. So yeah, it's a beautiful, beautiful area. Yes. The one thing I can say is I had never seen a lake that 29:09 big in my entire life in Maine. Yes, that's for sure. There are some beautiful lakes in the state of Maine and there are some beautiful rivers, but I don't think any of them are as big as Lake Superior. it's taken me a while to embrace my situation of living in Minnesota, but we had the choice four and a half years ago to move, to leave our house in Jordan and move. 29:39 And we debated moving back to Maine. And Maine is expensive because of the tourist state. sure. Sure. And they have really good lobster, right? Yeah. Yeah. Much better than what we can get here. Yes. The problem is land and houses are fairly, or they were at the time, fairly reasonable. Uh-huh. But the cost of living is really expensive. Ah, okay. 30:07 All right. And so for about a month, I was convinced that we were going to move back. And then I looked into it and I was like, no, we're staying in Minnesota. The cost of living here is way less money. Okay. So I made a choice when I had the choice to stay in Minnesota. That's how much I have decided that I love it. Okay. It's a hard choice, but that's where I'm at. Yes. Well, I think it's a good choice. So I do too. 30:35 I really do. It's a lovely place to live. Yeah. Yeah. I have no story to compare that to. I've only lived in Minnesota. In fact, I tell people and I know this sounds very unusual, but I've only lived in two houses my entire life. Wow. I was born and raised in Fairmont and I stayed in that house until I was 18 after I graduated. Shortly after I graduated, I got married. 31:00 And we moved out to the farm about eight miles northwest of Fairmont and I have been here ever since. So I have a pretty boring life. you're happy. can hear that. Yes. Absolutely. So I've got one more thing because I was thinking the other day that I needed to find someone who was older than me. Not old, but older. I'm 55. Yep. And talk to them about what it was like when they were teenagers because I was a teenager in the eighties. 31:30 Yep. And the 80s was a really silly time. No, no one's going to argue with me about that. Uh huh. When, what, what decade were you a teenager in? Yeah. So I would have been in the seventies. Yep. So I'm about 10 years older than you are. Um, so yeah, I mean, the things that we, I don't know, trying to think you're in, that's like a long time ago. Um, but I know that we had definitely, whether this is good or bad, but we had a lot more freedom. mean, 32:00 Like parents weren't worried about where you were at. I mean, you would have to have a curfew. You would need to be home at a certain time. Um, but there was no, course, definitely no cell phones, nothing like that. You know, it's just, you just said, well, I think I'm going here to one friend's house and okay, sounds good. But they would never, you know, they would never know if you changed your mind or not, you know? Um, but one, one story when I think about when I was young, you know, especially with the farm and everything. So, um, 32:29 And I laugh about this yet today. So my best friend actually lived on a farm right outside of Fairmont and they had pigs. They had a few pigs on the farm. And so like best friends do, we would stay overnight at each other's house. And so this one night, Friday night, I stayed overnight at her house. Saturday morning came and her dad said, you need to go out and clean the pig pens. You've to go do pig chores. So I told her, I said, you know, I said, I'll come out, I'll watch. 32:56 I'm not going to help. I'll come watch you." So we went out and did that. So she did her chores. And when she got done, I looked at her and I said, I will never marry a hog farmer. So we laugh and we laugh. it's like, I bet you God was just rolling on the floor when he heard me say that. like, you have no idea, Wanda. So we laugh about it. So this is kind of funny how that was. But a lot of time we spent as a teenager, 33:26 We did have like a place that we would have dances that we would go to. We would do a lot of just driving. know, that was back when you had that kind of the hot rods. My husband to be at the time had a 1969 yellow Roadrunner. You know, the back end was jacked up and you'd go up and down the main street of Fairmont and hang out at the mall parking lot. And that's kind of where you would talk with friends and other people. And you know, that was kind of what we did. You know, it wasn't. 33:54 Drive-in theater was in Fairmont. We could go there. So yeah, was nothing too exciting beyond that. But it seemed exciting at the time. Oh, definitely. definitely. Yep, absolutely. I wonder if hanging out at the mall is still a thing for teenagers. Yeah, I don't know. know in Fairmont it's not. I don't even know where they even hang out, be honest with you. They just go to... 34:20 each other's homes and kind of hang out there, but it's not like it used to be, you know? So yeah, that's actually good question. But I know I have been at the mall like on a Friday or Saturday night and it's not a thing locally, but maybe some other places it is. I'm not sure. Yeah. I have no idea. My kids, my youngest is 23 and my oldest 35, so they don't know either. Yep. And you wouldn't catch me dead in a mall these days. I haven't been to a mall in years. 34:49 years and years. I see no reason to go. They're a dying breed. mean, it makes me sad because the Fair Mall was like, it was the place to go when I was young. mean, they had restaurants, had grocery stores, all the stores were full. And now you go in there and there's maybe two retail stores left. I mean, it's so sad. You you go in there, it's like, this is not what it used to be, you know? So it's just kind of a change in times, you know? 35:20 Yes, it is astounding to me how things have changed since my dad was a teenager. I mean, he's 81. Uh-huh. And he's so like with it. He's so up to date on stuff and he's in great health. He's in great shape. He's smart. Oh my God, this man is so smart. Awesome. And I asked him what it was like when he was a teenager. And he has this story about his foster mother because his mother died when he was two. 35:50 Okay. And his dad, his dad worked for the state of Maine fixing roads. That was his job. Okay. And, uh, my dad tells this story. He can't stand corn. My dad will not eat corn to save his life. Okay. Part of it is that when he was growing up and spending his time with the foster mom, when dad was, was working, she made a lot of corn recipes because they grew corn. Oh, sure. Yep. And, 36:19 He can't handle it. And I'm not a big fan of corn either, but that's just, I don't like it. I don't like too much of it. And I'm like, there's gotta be other stories. And he's like, well, he said, I spent a lot of time fishing in the creek behind the house and watching the eagles come in and lay their eggs. You know, they had nests in the trees and in the, um, the rock walls, going up the side of the creek. And he said, I just spent a lot of time out in the woods doing boy stuff. 36:49 He said, and if a girl wanted to hang out with me, she had to like do him buy it boy stuff too. Sure. Yes. And I just he's so far removed from that that talking about it is weird for him, think. Uh huh. What a great life, though. What a great life. You mentioned that. And I think about back when I was young, too, I used to climb a lot of trees. I mean, that's what we did as kids. You know, you'd go to the neighbors or friends or whatever. Let's go crime. Climb a tree. 37:18 I don't even see that happen anymore, you know, but you know, we don't have phones in front of our faces and that sort of thing. So that's what you did. But that just sounds like a wonderful life of your dad. Yeah. And us kids kind of followed in his footsteps because we lived quite, I mean, we lived a good half an hour away from a lot of our good friends. So we spent a lot of time playing in the woods that were behind our house when we were growing up and going out. 37:46 the creek and catching brook trout and I don't know, just the stuff you do hanging out in the woods as a kid. I don't know that a lot of kids have that experience right now. Yes, I know. It kind of makes you sad really when you think about it. Yes. But I was just curious, I'm trying to find somebody who's like 90, who is still in good health and still capable of having this kind of conversation with me. 38:13 Just have a nostalgic conversation about what it was like when they were growing up So if you know anybody, let me know I will definitely do that. Yes, because a lot of what we farmers and homesteaders and ranchers are doing It's based on what those people did too. Uh-huh. Yep So that's of where I'm trying to go with that But either way I grew up in the 80s the 80s all I can think of is Madonna and Prince I listen to a ton of music 38:43 And back in the eighties, that's when MTV came around. Sure. Sure. And if I wasn't out in the woods screwing around or riding my bike, I was in front of the TV watching MTV and all the lyrics to music. That's what I was doing. Yeah. I'm a huge music fan too, especially live music. Sticks is my favorite band. So anytime I get a chance to go see them, I love that. So classic rock, that's kind of, that's my thing. So that makes sense for the seventies. Yep. 39:12 Absolutely. Yeah. And I grew up on all the weird overtly sexual strange music. The stuff you couldn't get away with in the seventies, you could get away with in the eighties. So, all right. Thank you for entertaining me on that question. It's really not necessarily homesteading, but it's sort of within the realm of history. So thank you so much for your time today, Wanda. I really appreciate it. 39:40 Absolutely, I loved it. So thank you for asking me. Oh, absolutely. And you'll have to come back and visit me in a year and we'll see what you're doing and where you're at. good. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good afternoon. Yep, you too. Bye.…

A Tiny Homestead

1
The Cottage Foodie 36:13

6 päivää sitten36:13

36:13

Today I'm talking with Matt at The Cottage Foodie . You can follow on Facebook as well. A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Homegrowncollective.org . If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. A Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Homegrown Collective, a free-to-use farm-to-table platform emphasizing local connections with ability to sell online, buy, sell, trade in local garden groups, and help us grow a new food system. You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe. 00:29 share it with a friend or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Matt Rosen, also known as Sergeant Shortbread at the Cottage Foodie, because he has a new thing going on. Good afternoon, Matt. How are you? I'm doing fantastic, Mary. Thanks for having me on. I'm looking forward to it. Yeah. Just to catch people up, Matt and I talked quite a while ago about his business, Sergeant Shortbread. He makes fabulous shortbread, I have heard. 00:54 And then he decided he wanted to do this new thing called the cottage foodie. So this is kind of a catch up and to talk about that. So tell me about yourself and what you're doing now. Yeah. So like you said, I started out in the cottage food community or the cottage food industry as Sergeant Shortbread. I still am a cottage food producer here in Minnesota. Yeah, I love it. I don't know if I'll ever quit. 01:23 Physically, that might be the only way that I stop, but we'll have to see. Only time will tell, I guess. But yeah, I've been a cottage food producer here in Minnesota for, seven years now. Yeah, seven years in April 2018 I started. yeah, like I said, been a cottage food producer since then and about a year and a half ago or so just had a... 01:50 I don't know, a revelation if you want to call it. I'm not sure what exactly you'd call it, but I just felt like there was a need for a directory of cottage food producers. for those of us who remember the yellow pages, maybe I'm dating myself here a bit, but. I remember them. Yeah. There's no digital yellow pages for cottage food producers. look for. 02:19 for this and I saw there are some out there but it didn't look like they were really being managed or maintained and I wasn't sure if they were still being used and so I thought well I'm gonna do a new upgraded version of this and so yeah, joined up with a social media, a digital marketing company and we created a platform for cottage food producers to become members and have profiles on 02:48 the cottage foodie and then in return, what I do is I do some of their digital marketing forum. I don't take over their digital marketing and so I tell them, keep doing what you're doing. This is just gonna be in addition to what you're doing. So I run Facebook ads for them. Anywhere we have members, I run paid advertising in their areas. So for example, I think 03:17 in Minnesota here alone, we're close to 70 members. so essentially I just run it in the entire state of Minnesota, just because I'm not going to pick and choose little communities. Once I do that, I'm going to be covering the whole state practically anyway. But take for example, California, I think we have four or five in California. Two or three of them are in kind of the Los Angeles area and that surrounding area. And then two or three of them are up in like the San Jose Sacramento area. So 03:47 So I just run specific ads within those areas. I'm not running in the entire state of California. I mainly just want to highlight the cottage food producers within their areas. So for example, I might put San Jose in the Facebook when I'm doing a targeted audience, I'll put San Jose plus 20 miles. And so it'll be San Jose and then 20 miles from downtown San Jose, it'll cover that. 04:16 So yeah, that's what the cottage foodie is all about. I grew my business, my cottage food business from being a cottage food producer to moving into a commercial kitchen. So I do have a wholesale food manufacturing license on top of my cottage food producer registration. So I just wanted to help other cottage food producers grow their businesses if that's what they wanna do. If their goal is to... 04:46 move into a commercial kitchen and sell in grocery stores and coffee shops and things like that, then I just want to be able to help them achieve that. And I know that one of the hardest things that we as cottage food producers will run into is, and I hear it all the time, how do I get my name out there? Nobody knows I exist. I can't hire somebody to do my marketing and I can't afford. 05:14 all this paid advertising on Facebook and social media. And so, so that's where the cottage foodie steps in is I just want to be, I want to help out in that way. If as much as I can. Next step should be starting a podcast, Matt. Oh gosh, don't even get me started by my wife. She will not be happy that you mentioned that because she's she, she had, matter of fact, she told me once I started the cottage foodie, she's like, 05:44 please promise me no more businesses. Please don't start any more businesses. So, you never know, who knows? Maybe you and I can team up to do a podcast together. We could be co-hosts or something. That would be really fun. I have not done a co-hosting thing. The closest I've come is guests, because you guys are basically my co-hosts for each episode. Yeah. So a different co-host every day. It's amazing. Yeah. When I started the podcast, it was about 06:13 exactly what you're talking about. was about getting people a platform to be able to talk about what they do. And it's worked really, really well, actually. So I love it. And I keep saying that I'm sure people are sick of hearing me say I love my podcast, but I do. Well, yeah. And I know you love what you're doing. So it's it's kind of great when you find something that I don't know, get you up out of bed in the morning with a smile, I guess. Yeah. And and the thing is that 06:40 people like your listeners and the people who buy my cookies, they can feel that when someone like you and I are passionate about what we do and we're excited about what we do, people feel that and they just, they gravitate to that. So it's just a lot of fun to be within that community where people are just as excited as you are about what you're doing and what they're doing. And so it's just, it's a lot of fun. And so it's just fun to be part of. Yeah. Who knew good vibes were attractive. 07:10 Weird, right? Okay, so I thought that the cottage foodie was just from Minnesota, but it's not. It's nationwide. It is. Yeah. So, funny story. It, my whole goal when I thought of it and when I started it was I wanted this to be a nationwide platform or a nationwide directory. 07:35 But the initial thought was, okay, let's start in Minnesota because obviously that's where I'm from. And this is where I have my roots and this is where I know like a lot of the cottage food producers in the state. And so it was just natural, let's start in Minnesota. Let's just see if this works. Let's just see if people are even interested in, know, cottage food producers are interested in joining. Will consumers come and actually know that this exists? Will they come and search? You know, can we get traffic to the site? And... 08:04 Yeah, so I went live May 1st of last year, so 2024. And in August, I happened to have a conversation with a national business platform for cottage food producers. I don't want to, it's not mainly in the sugar cookie, the decorated sugar cookie community, but predominantly that's who a lot of their customers are. It's called My Custom Bakes. 08:32 And they are, it's an online business platform for cottage food producers to when consumers come, they can, it's a great way for them to customize their order so they can do very specific. Like for me, there's no customization. You're going to order a dozen blueberry lemon shortbread cookies or you're not. I mean, it's not going to be, I'm going to have like three blueberry lemon and then I'll have seven dark chocolate sea salt. You know, you can't customize that through, you know, the 09:01 the platform that I'm on, but with My Custom Bakes, it's very detailed about what a consumer is ordering. so the person who founded My Custom Bakes also founded Borderlands Bakery, which is an online bakery supply store. So any kind of bakery supplies. And I had a conversation with them and they actually said, 09:29 We'd literally have been talking about this for months about wanting to create something exactly what you've done. And now you did it and we don't have to. So what do you say we partner up and how can we like join forces? And so, yeah, from that point on, that was August of 2024, I said, well, I guess we're going national a little quicker than I anticipated. And so just because they have a... 09:58 I think, you know, they're in the thousands of members in their, in their My Custom Bakes platform and, and then Borderlands Bakery, uh, just on Instagram alone, they have, gosh, I think it's 180,000 Instagram followers. And so, so I thought this is just a great way to, um, get our name out there, um, on a national, on a national scale. And so I don't want to miss this opportunity to just really grow. 10:28 the cottage foodie nationwide. so we jumped right in. We said, okay, let's do it. It's a little quicker than we wanted to, but let's go. And as of today, we have, I believe, about 120, a little over 120 members and 110 of them have actual profiles in the directory. And we are in 22 different states covering 22 states. 10:58 with our cottage food producer membership. That's amazing. And I'm actually one of your members, but I just haven't done anything with it yet. When, when ingredients went up in price sharply was about the time I was like, I am not getting into this right now. Yeah. It's tough. Yeah, it is. And the other thing I wanted to bring up is I got an email the other day from somebody. 11:26 who wanted to know if I was available for a cookie pickup on March 27th, because supposedly there's a big corporate event that's gonna happen in LaSore, Minnesota. And I read this and I was like, I don't think there's a big corporate event happening in LaSore, Minnesota on March 27th. That sounds like bullshit to me. So I wrote back and I said, have a couple of questions. How many cookies are you looking for? 11:54 And something else, I remember what the other question was. And the person wrote back and said something like, like, I just need to know if you're available and then we can talk details. And I thought, yeah, that's got scam written all over it. And so the reason I bring this up is if you are a new cottage food producer, do your research when people approach you about making something for them, because that, would have been a really weird 12:24 thing, you know, and I didn't say yes when they asked if I was available because when you say yes to something on the phone or in an email, you might be saying something, saying yes to something you aren't actually prepared to say yes to. Yeah. So be careful people. And the other question I have for you, because you were a college food producer is like, God forbid this happens, but let's say somebody says I need 12:52 50 shortbread cookies two months from now and you know, they pay half upfront. And then for some reason when you make them last minute, because lots of people do that, they burn and you don't have time to make the rest of them. You don't have time to redo it. Do you like consider that that payment that half down a deposit and if something goes wrong? 13:18 you refund them that money and pray they don't bad mouth you or how does that work? You know, if I ever ran into a situation like that, I would refund it all. I would give it back. And that's just who I am. I would feel right. I would just have to eat the cost of my time, my ingredients. I'm the one who burned them. It's not their fault. And so, you know, think about it from their standpoint. Okay, so I burned these cookies and I 13:48 email them the night before, oh, by the way, you're not going to have your 50 cookies for your event tomorrow. Yeah. You know, know, look at, look at the, the position you're putting them in. And then for me to say, Oh, by the way, that half down, I'm keeping that because that was just your deposit and that's non-refundable. So, um, yeah, I, I just, I would not, I would not feel right. Yeah. Hanging onto that deposit. I would just have to say, I have to own it. I, I messed up. 14:18 I'm not gonna be able to fulfill the order that they requested. So here's your money back. I'm so sorry this happened. I sincerely hope that you'll give me another chance. Exactly, yeah. No, it's just, I know things go wrong with businesses and it could be as simple as burning the cookies or as bad as your house burning down. And that definitely burned the cookies. It's just one of those things. 14:46 When we used to do a CSA, people would pay us for the season ahead of time to the tune of 500 bucks for the biggest share we had. And we would put that money in the bank and we would leave it until the end of June because that way the people that were coming to get their stuff during June, if they weren't happy, we could return their money. If they didn't say anything by the end of June, that 15:11 then they were out of luck. were getting what they were getting for the rest of the season and that was in the contract for the CSA. So, yeah, I was just curious about how people handle that because I have not really sold anything yet. Well, I've sold granola at the farmer's market with my cottage food registration, but other than that, I haven't really done a whole lot with it yet. Yeah, yeah, that's and you know, I guess each 15:38 to each his own, everyone can run their business how they want, but I just, I wouldn't feel right. I'm the one who messed it up. Now, if the consumer comes and says, you know, I've already made the cookies and they come back and say, oh, you know what, nevermind, cancel the order. Then in that case, like, okay, that's fine. know, good luck finding somebody else and that your deposit, I've already made the cookies, so your deposit is. 16:06 is non-refundable. I would definitely not refund it then. Yep. And then what you do is you turn around and find somebody who wants those cookies and you sell them. Yep. Yep. You sell them. And if you're feeling generous, just take them to, you donate them to a local shelter or a hospital or take them down to the police station or somewhere. You donate them to somebody. That's what I would do. mean, normally what I would do is 16:34 If I have extra cookies from an event or something, I go on Facebook on, I live at Eden Prairie, so on the local Eden Prairie Facebook groups and I say flash sale. I couldn't sell these cookies yesterday. They're half price. so rarely, I don't think I've ever not sold them when I put them on Facebook for half price. They go pretty quick. Oh yeah. I also hear that assisted living facilities really like donated cookies. 17:04 Yeah, yeah. Oh, absolutely. I didn't even think about that. I will keep that in mind for sure. That's an amazing idea. Yep. They, it's really funny because a lot of the older folks, I don't want to say old, just older than me, certain cookies really bring back memories for them. And shortbread, I would bet would do that. So. Yeah. Oh, I would guess the same thing. 17:33 Food is such an amazing thing. mean, again, food can be really hard for people who have issues with it. But for people who don't have issues with food, food is one of the best things in life. And it's about the sense, it's about texture, it's about the memories it brings back. And baked goods for sure are a huge trigger. Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely. So, okay, the cottage foodie thing. It is only for people that 18:04 do cottage food, is that right? That's correct. Okay, so like canned goods are okay, baked goods are okay. I know in Minnesota we can't use cream cheese, frosting, and there's water restrictions in the food, things like that. But basically anything shelf stable, right? Correct. Okay. All right, cool. And we still can't ship in Minnesota. 18:34 Still can't do it. You can ship pet treats, but, and this is funny, I've had numerous conversations with the cottage, Minnesota Cottage Food Association, and we chuckle about this when we think about it. Pet treats, and I don't make pet treats, but I think that they have to be essentially for human consumption. They've got to be made with ingredients that are for human consumption. Yes. So we can ship. 19:03 these dog treats that we could eat, but we can't ship cookies that we could eat because it's not a pet treat. So maybe we just need to label everything dog treats. Only for doggos. But if you take a bite to make sure it's okay, that's cool. I actually had a brain thing, I don't know what you call it, inspiration, talking with someone months ago on one of the podcast episodes. 19:32 And it occurred to me that if we're going to ship, you know, baked goods, we're going to make the stuff in our kitchen. We're going to package it, package it up in our kitchen. We're going to hike our cute little butts down the post office and get a tracking number when we ship the treats. And then they end up exactly where they were meant to go to the person that ordered them. Where is the problem with this? It is tracked. 20:01 all the way through. Yeah. Yeah. I do not understand. Oh, this is a passion project of mine too, because like I mentioned, I've got a wholesale food manufacturing license and a cottage food registration. So I make these my cookies in the commercial kitchen. Okay. I take them to the post office. I ship them because then from a commercial kitchen, as long as they're made there, I can ship all I want. Yeah. 20:31 I'm taking these cookies to the exact same, the exact same people would be handling these cookies, my boxes, whether it's coming from my home kitchen or from a commercial kitchen. And the reason, from what I understand, the reason that the legislature is not approving us shipping is because they're worried about food safety and us not handing it direct to the consumer. Well, I mean, that just doesn't make any sense to me. The same people are handling it, whether I make it in my home kitchen. 21:00 or in a commercial kitchen. And if the box is opened, when it gets to the consumer, they're probably not going to eat it. They're like, they're going to send it back to me they're going to call me and say, Matt, this is damaged. It was opened. it just, there's just, I just don't see the, the food safety, quote unquote, scare of shipping something in the mail. There, there isn't one. And the only thing I can think of is that the people, the powers that be as it were, 21:30 Don't quite understand this. Yeah, that's that's all I can think of and 21:39 I'm not going to say what company, because I do not want to start a flame war on my podcast, but we, we ordered some tomato seeds from a company, um, a month ago. Um, there would, we ordered four packages of 125 seeds each and they came in the mail and my husband was planting them. And because he has ADD, he counted each seed as he planted it. One pack was like, 22:07 80 seeds, one was 91 seeds, so far short of 125 each. Oh yeah. And I emailed the company and I was like, um, just so you know, there's not 125 seeds in these packages. And the person that wrote me back was super nice. And they were like, um, would you like us to replace the two that you've opened or would you, know, how do you want to make this right? And I said, well, ideally I'd like four new packages because the other two are probably short as well. They were totally cool with that. 22:36 We're going to put former packages in the mail. Should you marry? Here you go. It'll be here. It'll be there in a week or so. What they didn't know is that once those packages got mailed out in the little paper mailer that they sent it in, it got mangled in one of the machines at the post office. We got two packages out of the four. And my husband was like, you've got to be kidding me. And I said, it's not the company's fault. It's the mail. 23:04 And I said, I am not emailing them and being like, so this time this is what happened. he says, yeah, he said, we're going to save seeds from our tomatoes this year and that way we'll just have them for next spring. said, that's a great plan. Let's do that. so yeah, there's no accounting for what happens when it goes into the mail system. And if you ship a box of cookies and they get, the box gets ruined in the mail, that is not your fault. It's the mail's fault. 23:35 Yeah. So, yeah, yeah. Unless that, you know, unless they open up the box and they see that I didn't like package it at all. Just like random cookies laying around in a box that then it's, yeah, then it would 100 % be my fault. But the way that it, when I'm shipping from the commercial kitchen, the way that I, the way that I package those, it's like, unless the post office is using my boxes for a football or a basketball, 24:03 There should be no reason why the cookies don't get to where they need to go unharmed. And knock on wood, had one person say that the cookies didn't arrive in perfect shape, but they also in the same breath, were like, yeah, but the box was not, it was intact, but they could see that it was mishandled. was not, they could tell that it wasn't my fault. So they didn't ask for a refund. They're just like, 24:33 Just want to let you know that this is what happened. So if you hear anything else, you might want to check with the post office to see what's going on. Yeah, for sure. Back to the powers that be that won't let us ship our goods. The other thing that I wonder about is if maybe our people in our local government have bigger fish to fry. 24:57 Yeah, yeah, it, who knows, I just, I do, agree with you that I think it's just a lack of knowledge. And, you know, that's, that's a big thing. And so they don't, if they don't really know a lot about it, yes, they're going to move on to like you put it, the bigger fish to fry, we have other things to worry about. I don't really know exactly what this is. So let's just 25:24 you know, let's just move on from that because I don't know exactly what that is. So let's just move on to, yeah, as you put it, you know, bigger fish to fry with budgets and things like that. So yeah, I would agree. Yeah. And the other thing that I laugh about is most cookies have so much sugar in them, their half life is forever. Like they wouldn't be rotten even 150 years from now. They'd be hard as a rock, but they wouldn't poison you. Yep. Yeah. 25:54 Yeah, like my shortbread cookies. I will, I've like date tested them or I don't know what the actual term is, but you know, I just, I'll have them sit and they'll actually be sitting out on my counter. I won't even have them in anything. And even sitting like that, I'll come back to it. You know, I'll keep testing them and like two weeks after they have been made and they're still good. They're still good. They're 26:21 They're drier, of course. You can taste the difference. They're not fresh. But yeah, they're still good. Nothing in a shortbread cookie or any other cookie, a chocolate chip cookie or sugar cookie, nothing in those cookies is going to be harmful to you if you ate a cookie six months from now that you found in your freezer or on a shelf somewhere. In the cabinet because you put them there thinking you'd get to them and didn't. Yeah. Yeah. 26:50 Because truth be told, you can forget about cookies in the cabinet and not remember them for a year. Oh, it is definitely possible. I had some in my freezer, some frozen cookie dough, and kind of forgot about it. It just kind of gets pushed to the back. yeah, was in there for, gosh, it was in there for, I hate to say it, but almost two years. Pulled it out, made it, baked it. It was delicious. 27:18 Yeah, it's still just fine. Yeah. And if you live at my parents' house in Maine, they have a border collie who will not let them forget that they have snickerdoodles for her. My mom makes snickerdoodle cookies. She does them as a bar. So she just spreads the batter in a pan and bakes it. And they give it to their dog as a treat. I keep trying to tell them that giving dogs sugar and cinnamon probably isn't the best plan. 27:48 Every time I tell them my dad says well Mary Evelyn and I hear that and I'm like, uh-huh This dog runs like ten miles a day on the property. She's just burning that sugar. So it's okay. I'm like, all right Okay So that dog gets the best treats on the planet as far as I'm concerned. Oh, yeah 28:12 I would agree 100 % with that. Yeah. Our Australian shepherd does not get snickerdoodles because I want the snickerdoodles. Well, that's the other thing. And I don't know how many people really know what a snickerdoodle cookie is supposed to be because there are stores in Minnesota that sell them and they're weird. they don't even compare to a homemade snickerdoodle. 28:42 Oh yeah. Yeah, I don't make snickerdoodles, but I should make that into a shortbread now that you mention that. I should see if I can get that flavor into a shortbread cookie somehow. It's just butter and cinnamon and sugar. I'm guessing you probably could do it super easy. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, I don't, so I don't know exactly what goes into a snickerdoodle, but yeah, I mean, a homemade is 29:12 is always, it's not even gonna compare to, or a store bought cookie is not even gonna compare to a homemade cookie. There's just no way. Yeah, I found the recipe for those cookies you get. I don't even know what they're called. They're like a sour cream cookie that all of Minnesota stores sell. And they're the ones that are just a white cookie that have like a buttercream frosting on top with sprinkles. Oh yeah. 29:40 And I don't love those. They're super dry and I won't buy them because I'm not going to eat them. I found a recipe for them. I'm going to try making them and see if they're better than the ones you can buy. I will be shocked if they're not. And I swear to you, my husband made huge, God, they must've been five inches across, maybe six inches across chocolate cookies a couple of weeks ago. 30:09 He just wanted to make them. I was like, okay. And they came out really flat and they were crispy on the outside and really like gooey, chewy on the inside. It's the recipe that his mom used to make. And I bit into one of these cookies and I was like, you didn't really use the recipe that I have. You made them the way your mom made them. And he said, I hadn't thought about it, but yeah, these are exactly like my mom's. And I was like, I'll TV proud. 30:37 And he passed away like five years ago. And I'm telling you, I bit into that cookie and all I could see was his mom handing me one of these cookies. It was crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Well, like you mentioned earlier, that's what food does. You know, it brings you back. It reminds you of something, especially baked goods, you know, like a cookie or a loaf of bread or, you know, anything like that. 31:07 It takes us back to memories of growing up nine times out of ten. Yeah, my kids are always going to be reminded of me when they get a really good brownie, because I make a killer brownie. And they would ask for them for their birthday instead of birthday cake. Yeah. So I can just imagine when I'm gone, my kids are going to be like, oh my God, this is just like the brownies mom used to make, you know? Yeah. So. 31:37 Anyway, the cottage foodie thing, what's in the works? Is there anything happening with that or just keep growing it? Yeah, just keep growing. Ideally, we get to all 50 states because, well, take that back. I wonder. 31:59 Don't have to spot check me on my facts here, but we might only have cottage food laws in 48 out of the 50 states. But yeah, just keep growing. That's my ultimate goal is just to keep growing and keep helping cottage food producers quote unquote, get their name out there. So, and we'll see where it takes us. You know what I think would be super fun? I mean, you don't have to do it, but I was just thinking about it. 32:29 You need merch, you need like baseball caps and t-shirts and stuff. Oh, again, I go back to my wife is not going to appreciate that we had this call right now. So I think that's a great idea. Like, I'm and for me, the very first thing I would do, and it's probably more for me than an apron. No, no quarter zips. I'm like pull over. 32:58 quarter zip. Not really a switcher, but yeah, I'm addicted to quarter zips. I've got a closet. My closet is half full of just different quarter zip. So if I could throw some logos on there, I'd be in seventh heaven. But I think an apron would be great. That would be cool. That would be cool. And I'm forgetting, do you have an actual logo for the cottage foodie? You do, right? I do. Yeah. Yep. It's 33:29 It's basically like the shape of a house and then almost like a stamp of approval in the middle and it has the word homemade and then there's a check mark in the middle of the stamp of approval. Yeah, I want an apron with that logo on it right now. Well, I mean, now that you've mentioned it, I'm thinking that, you know, the logo right smack dab in the middle of the apron. Yeah, that would be pretty cool. Yeah, it'd be really fun. But your wife said no more businesses, so you got to figure out a way to loop it underneath the cottage foodie business. 33:58 Yeah, see, well, yeah, this is I'm not starting a new business. I'm just expanding the current one. It's just promotion, honey. That's all. Yes, exactly. This podcast is actually under our A Tiny Homestead LLC business. And I got paid for something the other day and my husband was like, I'm going to need that number. And I said, what number? And he said, the number of dollars that you received. And I was like, for what? And he's like, 34:27 taxes. And I went, ah crap. Yep, okay fine, I will get you that number. And I was so excited when this happened because I was like, I made money finally off the podcast. And then I was like, I gotta pay Uncle Sam some of that money. Yeah, that's definitely the downside to making money. Yep, it's There's always a handout. 34:51 It's not much but it's just kind of sad when you have a number in your head and then you're like Oh, I only get to keep this much of it. Yeah But still very excited because I really was working on this for a while and I'm like I just needed to make some money to show that it's worth it. That's Yeah, well, that's awesome. So anyway 35:12 I can't think of any more questions. I'm really glad you took the time to catch up with me today and very excited about the Cottage Foodie Directory. I think it's brilliant. Oh, well, thank you. And thank you so much for having me back on again. was thrilled that you messaged me a couple of days ago and say, hey, want to come back on? Well, yes. When do you want to talk? I'm ready. So thank you so much for having me back on. It's just blast to be able to chit chat with you. So I had a lot of fun. Well, you're welcome. 35:42 And I wanted to wait a while before I had you back so that we could talk about what was happening with it. Yeah, perfect timing. Good. All right. So you have a great weekend. It's Friday. Who knew? And enjoy it. It's supposed to be nice tomorrow and then kind of not nice Sunday, I think. So enjoy tomorrow. That's what I hear. That's what I hear. So, yep, you have a great weekend, too. All right. Thank you so much, Matt. 36:11 Thanks, Mary. Bye. Bye.…

A Tiny Homestead

1
Cotton Cupcakes, LLC 31:20

9 päivää sitten31:20

31:20

Today I'm talking with Nikki at Cotton Cupcakes, LLC . You can follow on Facebook as well. A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Homegrowncollective.org . If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. A Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Homegrown Collective, a free-to-use farm-to-table platform emphasizing local connections with ability to sell online, buy, sell, trade in local garden groups, and help us grow a new food system. You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe. 00:29 share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Nikki at Cotton Cupcakes LLC. Good afternoon, Nikki. How are you? Good afternoon, Maryam. Great, thank you. Good. I always, I swear like one out of three intros that I do, I screw it up somehow and I'm like, ah, it's all right. It's okay. We got it covered. Those are the ones people remember, so that's good. I'm sorry, say it again. 00:54 And those, think those maybe help people remember the names. So it's good if you mess it up, then maybe someone will remember the name more so than not. Or they just giggle and go, yeah, that's Mary again. Okay. So you're in, where are you in New Hampshire? So I'm in a small, very rural town called Alexandria, New Hampshire. What's it near? So we're near Newfound Lake, which is a stunning, gorgeous, pristine lake. We're very, very fortunate to be beside it. 01:23 And we're also close to Plymouth. So we're close to PSU, which is the university up there, Plymouth State University. Okay, that doesn't actually help me because when I think of Plymouth, I think Massachusetts. So what's the next biggest town or city? We have Laconia, which is pretty close. We do a huge annual pumpkin festival at Laconia Pumpkin Festival. you know, I probably haven't heard of that. Maybe you have, I don't know. I actually grew up in Maine, so I do know where Laconia is. 01:53 fantastic. All of my family's from Maine. Yeah, and now I live in Minnesota of all places. Oh my goodness, that's quite a ways away. Yes, yes, I've told the story a few times. I'm not gonna repeat it. It's just sickening to keep saying it over and over again. If you really want to know, I'll explain when we're done recording. So your business name is Cotton Cupcakes LLC, but you don't do cupcakes, right? I do not make, I mean, I make cupcakes for 02:20 for joy, you know, for my family and for neighbors and whatnot. But cupcakes, I do not produce cupcakes as a business, no. No. So tell me about yourself and what you do do at Cupcakes, LLC. Okay, so Cotton Cupcakes came about because I have wanted to own my own t-shirt company for about 20 years. So 20 years ago, my husband and I said, we're going to do this thing, we're going to start a t-shirt company. Then we went down to our state house and we applied for our name. 02:49 And one thing led to another and we never got to do it. So 20 years later, my children, I've been a homeschool parent for forever. And about a year ago, about a year and a half ago, my littlest said, I've decided that I don't want to be homeschooled anymore. I want to go to public school. And I was devastated. I went, I was just almost in mourning for a little while, but I've always told my children that if they wanted to go in public school, they could, the option was there that we're homeschooling. 03:19 because we have the pleasure of being able to do so. So I said, okay. So she went in and then my eldest who's going to be starting high school, just after a year, I said, you you should take some courses so that you can get ready for high school. So I went through a bit of a little emptiness syndrome with one in school full time and one starting to take courses. And I started to freak out like, oh no, I've got to be something because I've been a homeschool parent for years. And I made a picture. 03:47 I was painting a picture and I put it between two pieces of plastic and I pressed on it. And then I pulled the plastic off and I looked at it it was a squished cupcake. And I was like, oh my gosh, I love this squished cupcake. I want to do something like this because I went to school for design and I've used it in various elements of my life, but I haven't really been able to do anything for quite a few years with it. And I sent it to my husband, I took a picture and I sent it over the phone and I said, 04:15 you know, do you think if I start my t-shirt business now?" And he just responded, that's it. That's it. He just said, that's it, as the words. And I went, I knew it. I was like, okay, because he and I are very in sync and we believe in a lot of the same things and feel a lot of the same ways. And he said, this is it. This is what you're supposed to do. So I took my squished cupcake. I call it pressed art. Some of my art is called pressed art. I'll paint a picture. 04:43 and I'll either leave it as is or I take like a plastic covering and I press it and then pull it off and see what I have. And if I love it, I send it away to a digital transfer company and they put it on a gang sheet for me and send it back in duplicate. And then we have pressing machines and I press all of my own stuff. So it's all original artwork and it's right out of my home for now. Our goal is to hopefully 05:13 be able to have an open shop someday. But yeah, so that's how Cotton Cupcakes came about. That is such a fun story. I love that. So you're one of the few people that I've had on the podcast who is actually a crafter because the painting part is the craft. Yes. And I do all of it. do. 05:38 99 % of it is all just painting. And then when I do download it onto the computer, I'll digitally enhance some of it or do some of the work with it. But for the most part, it's all just painting. It's all just paintings. some of them are actually some of them are really, really old pictures that I had done 20 and 30 years ago. used to, when I went to college, I was very, very homesick and I used to paint little pictures for my mother all the time and send them in the mail. 06:06 and she saved every single one of them. She had them all and she passed away a few years ago and she always would save ephemera. She had all of her papers everywhere. And I started to go through them and I found all of these illustrations that I had done for years. So I'm doing a line of little characters that are in my mom's memory of all of these little things that I had sent over the years and she had every single one of them. So it's fun. Some of my stuff is sentimental and 06:37 It's just, it's definitely from the heart, that's for sure. 06:42 That's really special, Nikki. That's amazing. Okay, so I have a question about the transfers. These t-shirts aren't silkscreen. They're like the sticky plastic kind that goes on a t-shirt, yes? So that's like a vinyl. So there's vinyl and there's silkscreen and there's digital, it's called DTF, digital to film transfers. So that's kind of a relatively new technology. I mean, I wouldn't say it's totally new. It's been around for a few years, but. 07:13 It's getting very, very popular. In fact, it'll make the t-shirt company industry supposedly go up by 11 % from now until 2030. So t-shirts will boom a lot more simply because people who do artwork now can do their artwork, take a picture of it, send it to these companies, and then you get your artwork literally back and compress it within moments. So it's not... 07:38 Like when I go to press something, simply cut it off of the plastic gang sheet. set it on my shirt and I press away and there you go. 25 seconds later, you have your first press and then you tear off the plastic sheet. You do another 25 second press and you have a viable item for sale, which is so cool. It just opens up a whole world to people. You know, so that's, that's one of the reasons I was intrigued by it is because I did a lot of studying on it before I did it. And, um, 08:09 I was most impressed with this because it would allow me the most flexibility with my artwork. 08:16 Okay, so I'm not trying to be nitpicky, but the vinyl ones, after like a year or so of wearing and washing, that vinyl starts to lift up off the t-shirt material. Does the way that you're doing it not do that? So what they say is, and I have to go by obviously the company, the digital transfer film company, supposedly the digital transfer film that's on your shirt will outlast the life of your shirt. Okay, cool. So that's how they sell it. 08:44 Now I'm not a digital transfer film company and I've only been in this company myself for nine months. I started nine months ago. So, so far in the nine months that I've been doing it with the shirts that I've been using, we've seen fantastic success. I mean, you press and it's just like a silk screen. It's like a vinyl. It's the same concept, it's you still have to press them. 09:10 at like 325 degrees or whatever degree you need for wherever you're living because sometimes it can range from environment to environment. But for the most part, it's exactly the same thing. It's kind of the same like if you go to Old Navy or if you go to some of those commercial based t-shirt companies, they have a lot of DTF transfers as well. That's what a lot of those shirts are. So it's just it's a mainstream item, but it's very, very popular. And now it's kind of it's an industry that's open to the general public now. 09:40 So that's why it's so accessible whereas before I don't think it was very accessible and it is still newer than Vinyl Transfers, Sublimation and what was the other one we were talking about? Can you remember? But anyway, it's relatively newer but it has been around for a few years. Okay, the reason that I asked is my youngest son had a t-shirt that he loved and it was the vinyl kind. 10:09 you know, picture on the t-shirt was the vinyl kind. And after a couple years of wearing that over and over again, the design started to peel off and he was little and he was heartbroken. And I didn't think to buy two of them because he was going to grow. know what size to get for a second one. So I just didn't. I should have. He grieved that t-shirt. I'm not kidding you. You know what's sad is he probably could have had that 10:38 Because vinyl is the same thing. They're pressing vinyl onto fabric. It could have been repressed. I bet you anything that could have been brought to a press shop and pressed and you probably would have, it might have had minor cracks in it where the vinyl cracked, but I bet you it could have been pressed again. Yeah. Well, it's way too late now. He's 23 now. 11:05 That's the thing with like with DTF transfers. Yeah. Yeah. You probably could have had it repressed. I mean, even these in the future, I'm sure that if you overdry a DTF transfer, if you put it in the dryer and you leave it for extended periods, like maybe you overdry your clothes after hundreds of drying cycles, you will see cracking and peeling just like any shirt, you know, after wear and tear. But the interesting thing about these DTF transfers is you can put them right back on your platen. 11:35 on your pressing unit and you can repress and it looks exactly the same as it did when you first pressed it, which is pretty crazy. So it's really neat. It's a very intriguing world. Like when I started into it, I knew very little and it's just fascinating to me. It's fascinating to me that I can paint something on a piece of paper. I can take a picture of it. And then three days later, cause I work with a company that does like rush orders. 12:02 Three days later, it's on a shirt and I'm looking at my daughter run across the lawn with it. It's crazy. So I saw on your Facebook page that you have little Easter egg t-shirts right now and they're very, very cute. I do. The question I have is if somebody, I don't know, if somebody had like a favorite pet who passed away or a signature from someone they loved who's passed away, 12:31 Could you do a custom t-shirt for them? Is that something you would consider? Well, it's kind of like, so a few people have actually, not a few people, many people have asked me, many people have said, you know, can you do something for my kids soccer team? you do, so primarily I'm kind of like life is good t-shirts. Like I'm starting my own brand. So I'm trying to brand my own style. 13:00 And my style, sadly, because a lot of people have asked me this, does not include words. People have said, oh, well, you put words on it. I specifically say that's not the style of my brand because when I started out with it, you have to differentiate yourself because I'm up against millions of t-shirt companies. There's so many t-shirt companies out there. And a lot of people starting just like I am because of DTF transfers that you have to, they say, don't even bother getting into it unless you can think about how to be different. 13:30 So originally I said, okay, first of all, it's my own original artwork, so that's different. It's not like computer generated, it's paint. Like you can actually see the strokes on my shirt. It's my artwork. So I said, all right, I'll do that. And then if I put words on it, unfortunately, you can't really dress up the t-shirt. And one of the main things about my shirts that I try to impress on people is you can actually wear one of my shirts with like a tool skirt, a blazer, slacks. 13:59 and you can actually dress it up because it doesn't have any words on it. So it was fun. went down to TD Bank, which is our local bank down here, and they're wonderful to businesses and TD Bank said, you know, you can come into our lobby for a month and we'll put a whole display of your business because I have a check-in account with them. And they said, we'll help advertise you for the month, which they do for all local businesses. And I said, oh, this is fantastic. So I brought my stuff down and I explained to the women, 14:28 that were the tellers that my shirts could be worn dressy or they could be worn with a pair of jeans. It's whatever you choose. So the bank manager said, I would never have thought, I don't think that you can wear a t-shirt and dress up. And I said, Barbara, try it. Go try it. Go home and put on something and wear the shirt that's a pop of color and see how it turns out for you. And she did it. She went out and bought a pair of slacks and she got a blazer and she came in with, you know, all the ladies got one of my t-shirts. 14:55 And she came in and she looked, she goes, I never would have thought about this. Like I never would have thought that I could wear a t-shirt and feel like I could pull this off. And I said, well, that's the difference between my shirt and somebody else's. I don't have way to go underneath my words. I don't have something to try to enhance the painting. The painting itself enhances itself. So I don't try to add anything on to umph it up. I just say, this is it. And it's pretty funny. I did a whole blog about it. 15:25 and saying how you can feel elegant in a t-shirt. And it's amazing how many people resonated with that blog. Like they said, oh my gosh, like this is me. Like I want to wear a t-shirt and a skirt and feel dressy. And I said, well, that's me. I don't like to dress up. I don't like to feel like something that I'm not. And I can wear one of these t-shirts and I can wear a dress and I can wear a nice pair of flats or even a pair of heels if I have to. And I feel like myself, but a little classier, a little dressier and it works. 15:55 That's why I don't often put words on. So if people say, oh, I want my kid's name or whatnot, said, well, that's not really my brand. That's not really how I go. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. And the other thing is that people are wearing art if they're wearing your shirt. That's right. Yeah, they're wearing original artwork, which is totally fun. And some of them are wearing artwork from 20 years ago. one that you saw with the Easter eggs. 16:20 On my Facebook page, I explained that when they get those, they're going to see cracks in the Easter eggs. And I said, don't be alarmed. That's not your DTF transfer. I painted those little eggs 20 years ago for my husband when we first got married on barrel slats. And the beauty of a DTF transfer is I took a picture of my artwork on the barrel slats. And when you delete the background and you have just the eggs left, have eggs painted on wooden barrel slats. 16:47 So it's neat, it gives you a textural feel. It just allows you to do so many things. You can paint on anything, remove the background, and put it on a t-shirt. Yeah, and what you're talking about is the wood grain showing through the paint on the eggs. It absolutely does. It's so cool. So it gives an antiquey feel to a painting that I did 20 years ago, and now people are wearing it. And actually, that little series of Easter shirts, inside the shirt, I've hidden a teeny, teeny, tiny Easter egg. 17:16 They have to go find it. It's either pressed inside the shirt or under the arm or some random place and it's tiny. It's like the size of like the eraser at the top of your pencil. And they have to go find it. And when they find it, they go into my Facebook page and say, I found it. And then I enter them into a Easter package surprise that they can win before Easter. So it's really fun. they get to go on an Easter egg hunt with us when I go send out their shirts. It's a virtual Easter egg hunt. I love it. That's the whole point. 17:44 Fantastic. You're brilliant. You are very good at this. I'm trying. I'm trying. I'm still fairly new to it, but I'm trying. And it's a full family affair. And one of the reasons that we did the business was to not only it wasn't only just to start a new business, we actually sold our business of 12 years last fall. And then it was my turn. You know, my husband said, it's your turn. Let's do it. Let's do what you've wanted to do. But I also wanted to make it completely. 18:12 completely interactive for my children and my family. I wanted it to be a full family affair. And it truly is a full family affair. Like my kids have been the models for me. My husband has helped me try to market it. Like all four of us are involved. it really is, it's been creating a future for my family and we're doing it together, which is just, it's a blessing. It's awesome. It is a blessing when you can work with your family. I'm gonna tell a story. My dad, 18:41 worked in the medical field. He wasn't a doctor or anything. He actually repaired like the EKG machines and the ventilators and things like that. So he was a bio med tech is the term. And when we were younger, he worked a lot. And so when he was home, it was an event. If dad was home, we wanted to be with dad. And when I had my kids with my husband, when dad walked through the door, my husband, 19:10 The kids were like, daddy and run and jump and just be all over him all evening until they went to bed. And he was like, why do they love me so much? I said, because you're gone five days a week for 12 hours a day. And he was like, oh, and I said, I said, now you could be on the flip side. You could be the mom who's home with them all day and they want nothing to do with me. He was like, no, I like my role better. I said, good. 19:38 You be the good time dad, I'll be the kiss the hours and help with homework mom. He's like, okay, good. So it's really great when you guys can all be together and be working. I know it's a really amazing. mean, for 12 years we've dreamed about this. Like we've really dreamed about being able to spend more time with my husband because the business that we created was, it got extremely busy and he was on the road all the time. And, and 20:07 We just seldom get to see him. So when he finally retired from that job, he's not retired, obviously, because we're going to do this business. But when he retired from his business, was like the kids were like, they were shocked. They get up in the morning and dad said, I'm taking you to school today. And the kids were going, oh my gosh, dad's taking us to school. Because even my homeschooler has a couple of classes in the morning. And obviously, my little one is full time now. 20:34 He just, was, it's the coolest thing. now, and then he comes home and we press together, you know, he's pressing the neck presses and I'm pressing the front press. And, it's so we've just always worked very well together. I know that doesn't happen with all spouses, but for us, we started out as EMTs together on an ambulance and we just loved working together. And over the years, you know, altered and we started this business instead. And we really wanted to get back to being able to spend time together. And I can't believe that. 21:03 you know, it's happening that he's here and we're doing a whole new venture and we're going for it. And the girls are included too. So it's really, really fantastic. I'm so happy for you. You sound so tickled with this. I am. I'm shocked actually. Like I get up every morning and I'm like, I'm so excited for the day. Like I'm so excited. And I think, you know what? I'm going to tell a story and it's, I'll tell it quick, but I was in a grocery store. 21:32 I was in a grocery store yesterday and this is, I would say like my seventh experience that I've had in the past two weeks. And I'm not kidding. Like it's gone over and over again. having the same experience. Went into the grocery store. There's a woman who is a cashier, known her forever, known her since my little kids were little. And I could tell something was off and I said, what's going on with you today? And she just kind of mumbled and I'm like, you're not yourself. And come to find out as we were speaking, I said, how many... 21:59 How many years have you been here?" And she said, I've been here 23 years. And she looks all of 23. So I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. And she said, no, I'm 39 years old and I've been here for 23 years. And I said, oh my gosh, you're not happy. You don't want to be here. And all of a sudden she looked at me and she started to sob. And thank goodness there was no one behind us. So she came out from around the counter and I'm holding her and I'm rubbing her back and I'm saying, oh my gosh. I said, what was happening? And she basically ended up saying, 22:28 I really want to do something else. want to go be a nurse, but I don't feel like I have a support network to help me. And this is what I want to do. And she's the seventh person within a two week period that I've spoken to that is absolutely miserable. you know what, the only thing I can say, Mary, is we have one life that we're going to remember. We have this life and it's so sad to waste it. And I know life can be daunting and I know it can be intimidating. 22:58 But if you stay in a job that you do not like and you lose all those years of your life, there has got to be something more. It's just, it's not the right choice for you. It's not the right choice for your family members. And if you don't have that support network, you've got to find it. You've got to find the people that would support you. And it's just devastating because, you know, I want to teach my children that 23:21 they can't be complacent about the job that they have in their life, that they've got to be in love with it. Yeah, they'll have some jobs that are kind of like a means to an end, but it's the end that matters. You know, like, are you happy? Are you gratified? Are you excited? Because it just makes life so rich and otherwise, what are we doing? Like literally, what are we doing? Yeah, exactly. And I'm gonna say something about my podcast yet again. I had no idea that I would love 23:50 doing this podcast as much as I do. If you had asked me five years ago if I would be good doing a podcast, I would have been like, no, I hate being on video. I hate listening to my own voice recorded. No, I don't want to do a podcast. And then I was like, but people keep telling me I have a voice or a face for radio. They joke because I'm not ugly or anything, but you know, they're like, you have a face or voice for radio. And I never did anything with it because I was raising kids. 24:20 And when I started thinking about what I wanted to do when the youngest moved out and that was short lived, he's back. I was like, what am I going to do? And I thought and thought and thought, and I was like, I'm going to do a podcast. It's like the most out of character thing I can think of. It's a challenge. I'm going to do it. And I thought I'd do a couple of episodes and it would fail. would just be like, nobody listened. Oh, well, whatever. tried it and I freaking love it. 24:49 I love the people I talk to. Some of them become friends. Some of them become acquaintances. I'm okay with either. It doesn't matter to me. People are people. And I just, get up in the morning when I know I have interviews to do and I get my coffee and I go look at the pages that I found the people on and I'm like, oh, they do this thing. Oh, they do this thing. And I'm just so energized when I sit down to talk to you guys. I'm so happy with it. So I get it. 25:18 But the one thing I will say is that it's a privilege. know, a lot of people are not in a position to go after the thing that they love. Number one, because they may not have the support system. Number two, they may not have the seed money to get it going. And number three, they just may not have the confidence to jump off the cliff. Yeah. I know. And it's devastating. So I get what you're saying. And yes, I wish that everybody could go do 25:48 the thing that they love and make money from it and support themselves. But not everybody can and it's a huge bummer. Yeah, it is. truly is. That's all I have to say on that part. I agree. I agree. But I'm very excited for you that you are having a ball and you're putting out some really cool, uplifting things for people. Thank you. I'm trying. mean, I think the really 26:18 wonderful thing is your t-shirts are adorable. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, the people that have been following the Facebook page. I said to my husband, I never expected to get to know some of these folks. And it's amazing how they have become part of our world. You know, like we'll put something like now I'll ask opinions. Now I'll say, what do you guys think? Which design do you like the most? need to know. 26:46 or I'll show them a line of sweatshirts. Like this week I found sweatshirts for kiddos. And I said, what do you guys think? Do you like these? Do you think this is something I should add on to the website? Because every article of clothing that I choose to add on is a financial investment. So I like their thoughts. If they're into it and they think it's great, then I know it's something I should do. And they respond, which is amazing. I can put something on and there'll be 22 or 23 comments within an hour. And I'll go, oh my gosh. 27:16 So I can really get my finger on the pulse of what a much larger mass of people is thinking. And they know that I value their opinion. And some of them I genuinely hope to meet someday, which is kind of crazy. Like some of them have become friends and it's a gift. It's really cool. 27:39 So our hope for Cotton Cupcakes is, mean, primarily we're an online store right now and we've started to go into some different retail shops locally. But the goal is actually to have our own storefronts and you know how far we go. I don't know. I'm excited about just my first one. In June we're going to be opening up just a small shop that's off of our barn. 28:02 where people can come in and they can actually choose the transfers that they want pressed on the shirts. They can even choose the location where they want the transfers put. If they don't want to them squarely in the middle of the chest, can choose where they want them to go so we can give them a more personalized experience. But the goal is to have some shops and to have people be able to walk in the door and try those shirts on because 28:25 As much as I really appreciate things that are online, I'm also a tactile person. I want to touch things. I want to feel things. I want to see what they look like on me. And I'd like to give those experiences to the people that are enjoying our designs. It reminds me of a tattoo shop, but there's no needles involved. There's no needles. Yeah. It's much friendlier. Less painful. Yeah, absolutely. My daughter has tattoos. 28:51 She sends me photos because she lives in Florida and I live in Minnesota and she sends me photos of her newest tattoos and I'm a really cool mom. I'm like, that's gorgeous. What inspired that one? And I get the story and yay. But man, every time I think about that body that I grew covering the tattoos, it kind of hurts my heart a little bit. My husband is a big tattoo guy. He loves the tattoos. I have none. 29:16 And I don't know what direction my children will go because they have one versus the other, which is pretty funny. And we just say, whatever you're going to do, you're going to do. So we'll be prepared for anything. Yeah. just, when she got her first one, I don't even remember what it was now. It was, it was important to her. It was lovely. It looks good on her. And she was like, so what do you think? And I was like, do you want the cool mom answer or do you want the heartfelt mom answer? And she said both. And I said, the cool mom answer is it's gorgeous. I love it. 29:45 and I'm really glad that you can handle the owie of that. I said, the genuine mom answer is, I grew you. I grew that perfect skin and you just had needles with ink poked into it. And she's like, yeah, but, and I'm like, I'm not telling you not to get tattoos. It's fine. It's your body. It's your choice with what you do with it. But it hurts my heart just a little bit. 30:11 that that skin is not the skin I grew. And she's like, well, honestly, body cells regenerate every however many years and it's not the same skin you grew anyway. And I'm like, enough, yes. Oh man, that's a very intelligent response. Yeah, well, she's a smart ass and she's smart. So I had to accept it. And she's 35 now. I mean, she got her first tattoo in her early 20s, I think. But either way. 30:38 I don't know how we got on tattoos. Oh, because you're letting people choose where they have the design on the t-shirt. yeah, definitely. But yeah, being a mom's hard. I'm just going to leave it at that. It's one of the most wonderful and thankless jobs on earth. I think we all know that if we have kids. So absolutely. Absolutely. All right, Nikki, I try to keep these to half an hour and we're at 31 minutes and 26 seconds. So I'm going to cut you loose. Thank you for being like the third. 31:05 Genuine crafter I've talked to you in over a year and half on the podcast. I'm like, thank you for having me It was wonderful. Yeah, it was really fun and keep keep making those t-shirts are awful. I'm gonna do it I'm gonna do it. Thank you, Mary. All right…

A Tiny Homestead

1
Heirloom Garden Studio 38:08

10 päivää sitten38:08

38:08

Today I'm talking with Josie at Heirloom Garden Studio . A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Home Grown Collective . If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. A Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Homegrown Collective, a free-to-use farm-to-table platform emphasizing local connections with ability to sell online, buy, sell, trade in local garden groups, and help us grow a new food system. You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe. 00:29 share it with a friend or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Josie at Heirloom Garden Studio. Good morning Josie, how are you? Good morning. I'm great. How are you? I'm good. You're in Texas, yes? Yes, I'm in Houston. Okay, how's the weather? The weather is great. Spring has sprung here. It's going to be close to 90 degrees today. 00:56 So we're getting some warm weather, but you know, Texas does this little two-step thing where we kind of stutter into spring and then we'll have some cold weather again and then warm. So it's kind of all over the place for a while until it gets hot. Yeah, we've been going through that in Minnesota. It hit 70 here yesterday. Oh, that's wonderful. That's great. It was kind of really refreshing to step out on my porch. 01:25 and the window was open and I was like, oh, it's beautiful. It's not gonna freeze my face. This is great. I can't imagine. I could never live someplace where it gets cold like that. I love the heat. Yeah, I love it when people are like, I'm never gonna live somewhere where the air hurts my face. And I'm like, well, you're also missing out on spring, summer and fall here. that's really great. true. And I understand. I can't imagine living somewhere without the season. 01:54 So we're kind of on opposite ends here, but I do get it. All right. So tell me about yourself in Heirloom Garden Studio. Okay. Yeah. So my name is Josie Haley with Heirloom Garden Studio. As you mentioned, I design and install kitchen gardens or backyard gardens, whatever you prefer to call them. 02:19 in and around the greater Houston area and I also provide gardening services and I teach gardening classes and workshops. Awesome, I love you already. Great. We also have a small urban homestead which is funny to say. I never thought I would hear myself say that but here we are. Well, what do you do on your urban homestead because I'm always trying to make the point that you can homestead anywhere. 02:48 Correct, yes. we live very close to downtown, about four miles in kind of an urban area. We have about an 8,000 square foot lot, so not big. And we have three chickens right now, which give us plenty of eggs, but we also have five baby chicks that my kids just love. And we're hoping to introduce them to the flock. 03:16 in a few weeks here and get some more eggs going for this year. And then of course I have my beloved kitchen garden, which is where it all started. So that's what we have here. Nice. What do you plant in your kitchen garden? Do you have herbs or is it just veggies? my. Herbs and veggies, yes. 03:43 Houston actually I know everyone thinks oh my goodness it's so hot here you can't grow much but believe it or not we can grow year-round so I have four raised beds about a little over a hundred square feet of growing space and I love to pack in as much as I can and right now we're starting to plant all of our tomatoes and peppers and cucumbers and squash and 04:12 Just everything spring and it's just it's probably my favorite time of the year. Anytime I can put a tomato plant in the ground, I'm as happy as I can be. So we're also harvesting all of our what we call winter vegetables here. Our cool season vegetables like lettuces, snap peas, brassicas and all of that. So. 04:42 So what you're telling me is that you're never without fresh produce during the year to use in your house. That is true. And that's what I really love. And I love teaching it to people here locally because, you know, in Houston, it's cyclical, right? Gardening. You should never have an empty garden bed. You can be growing something and constantly adding to it and taking things out. So 05:10 You know, even if you just have a few minutes every day to go out and grab a handful of snap peas, you should do that. And then you should also plant something. Uh huh. I'm right there with you, sister. I agree completely. Um, what I, what I try to tell people when they're like, I want to start a garden, but I don't know how to do it. And I want to start small is I tell them to start with herbs, like chives and thyme, because chives and thyme are really hard to screw up. They really are chives. I would say are a beginner. 05:40 a gateway to gardening for sure. and they're easy and they taste good and you can dry them. So you can use them in sour cream dip things. Oh yeah. And they're really pretty when they bloom. You can actually stick them in a bottle and they look like a bouquet. They're really beautiful. Yes. Yes. I love bringing in fresh herbs into the kitchen and my husband, he doesn't like dill. 06:07 But I love a big bouquet of dill whenever it's going to seed and blooming and it just smells so amazing. absolutely. My husband plants the mammoth dill every school. If I go out to the garden, the first place I go is over to the dill and I run my hands through it. And then I can smell my hands for hours afterwards. I'm like, pickles, pickles, yes. 06:29 Pickles, yes, yes, for sure. and thyme is great here because it will continue to grow through the winter under the snow as long as it's not like minus 30 for days on end. Right, right. Yeah, that's true. Yeah, we get basil here that I can plant now and will grow through the spring and into the fall. And that's like our go-to herb. 06:56 keep saying it, I freaking love basil and basil loves heat. When we have a hot summer, our basil does amazing. Right. Exactly. Yes. And people like assume that basil is only good in spaghetti sauce, but it's actually good in salads. It's good in soups. It's good with fish. We've tried it with fish. Okay. You can use it in a lot of things other than spaghetti sauce. Absolutely. Yes. So. 07:25 Okay, so now we've raved about all the great things about those. I also suggest to people that if they want to start small, don't want to do herbs. Do lettuces because lettuces you can put in a bowl of dirt in your kitchen by a sunny window and they will grow and you can eat it and they continue to grow. That is true. Yeah. Lettuce has a shallow root system. So easy to grow. You know, you bring up a good point. Starting small. 07:55 Actually, in my garden classes, I like to teach people that, you know, sometimes starting small is not the best way to go. think people get discouraged easily. They'll say, oh, I had a garden last year and I had a couple of this or that. And then they say, oh, but I didn't get much and it's not worth it. You know, it's not worth it to me. And they get discouraged. So my goal is really just to 08:23 keep people encouraged and I want people to continue to garden. So I like to offer raised beds in my packages. And I think, you know, this is a common pitfall for beginners is just to start too small. And there's a lot of reasons why you shouldn't do that. And I think, you know, there's nothing like going out to your garden and getting a whole bowl full of cherry tomatoes, you know. 08:52 That's encouraging, that's exciting and fun. And yummy. Yes, for sure. Yes. And the only reason I said that I tell people when they say they want to start small, is because it's usually people who have a small apartment and they're like, I don't really have any space. So I try to find things that they could start on their table or their windowsill in the sunlight from the window. Absolutely. And I think herb containers are wonderful. 09:19 But if you have room to put in a raised bed, yes, do that. Definitely. Okay. So how do people, this sounds like I'm ending the podcast, but I'm not. How do people find you to get help from you? Sure. Well, for right now, messaging me, DMing me on Instagram or Facebook. My handle for both is heirloom garden studio. 09:46 and they can reach out that way. I have my phone number on both pages and my email address. Okay, cool. Yeah, I noticed you didn't have a website and I'm like, why does she not have a website? Well, you know what? I don't have a website yet, but I mean, I'm a millennial, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but I feel like a lot of people just use their Instagram account now, right? 10:15 Yes, yes, they do. But if you're like me, who's 55, and if you're like my mom and dad, who are 78 and 81, They want a website. Websites are fun, you know, we get to find out your story or why you're about, you know, and it's just a really fun billboard. I get that. Okay. It's super easy to do. I just went to a different 10:43 website host for my podcast, my designated podcast page. And it's, I can't think of it right now. Webador is the name that I click on to get to it, but that wasn't it. I think it was Weebly, W-E-E-B-L-Y. And it's really user friendly. I feel like my mom who's not tech savvy at all. 11:07 would be able to get a free page website in about two hours if she tried it. Okay, well I'll look into that. Yeah, and it's not that expensive. And that's the other thing is websites aren't that expensive these days. You buy the domain name for about 13 bucks, you pay maybe $10 a month for hosting and you're set for a year. I have a domain name actually, but my business is new so I'm still working on a lot of it. 11:37 I feel like you have a really cool story because I was looking at stuff earlier on your Instagram page and your photo. you. There's got to be a story here. There has to be a story. There is a story. Yeah. So tell me the story. Okay. Well, so I wasn't always a gardener before I started gardening or getting into it as a hobby. 12:04 You know, I have a degree in architecture from Texas A &M University. I worked in the high-end kitchen design industry for 10 years before I had children. And also, I guess maybe one thing that kind of developed my interest in gardening was that I have some creativity in my blood. My mom... 12:31 is an artist and my dad is a master carpenter and he always taught us like to appreciate quality craftsmanship and to build something right the first time. And then of course my mom taught us how to appreciate beautiful things and arts. And so I kind of feel like gardening is my canvas to be honest and I enjoy it. 13:00 so much. know, let's see. Also, you know, Houston is just a really huge city, as you know, it's chaotic, it's stressful, it's a rat race. And I feel like I what kind of led me to gardening was that I needed something beautiful in my life. I needed an outlet for relaxation and peace. And I just found so much fulfillment. 13:29 through growing my own produce and realizing just how incredible it tastes and how the stuff from the store just doesn't even compare. And I just really want to share that with my clients. Nice. I usually jump onto the food from the store doesn't taste the same as stuff from the garden. Yeah. I'm going to go a different direction today. Okay, great. Carrots. Carrots are so 13:58 good when you grow them in your own garden. It's true. The carrots at the store taste like cardboard to me. Yes. carrots in our garden are so sweet. Yes. My kids love harvesting any root vegetable really, but carrots, I don't know why. They just love pulling them out of the ground and seeing how much is grown underneath. And my daughter will eat them just like crazy. She loves carrots and the ones from your garden. It's true. 14:28 They are so much better. Yeah. And the other thing is celery. Celery is supposed to have like a peppery bite. I never get that from the celery store, but my God, I cut all the tops off my celery two summers ago when we had it and I dried it. And if you put that in a soup or a soup, oh sweet Jesus. 14:54 The leaf celery grows really well here. And I actually have some of that right now. Yeah. You can just use the leaves to create that flavor. So, yeah, it's fantastic. Yeah. But I think tomatoes, that was like my aha moment. My neighbor across the street, he, he's since passed, but maybe about eight years ago, maybe 10 years ago, he brought us some big slicer tomatoes. There were probably like a 15:22 beef steak, if I'm guessing, but he brought us some one day and I tried it and I just thought, you know, what have I been eating from the grocery store my whole life? This does not make any sense. And how can I recreate this? Like that was my light bulb went off. Just like, what am I eating in the grocery store? So. Yeah, we actually went through that with eggs for the last four months too. Just got chickens. I don't want to go too far because 15:53 Eggs are a big subject right now everywhere. That's for sure. So I don't want four people, but we were buying eggs from the store and they were not great. And our chickens just started laying there 24 weeks old. Oh yeah. Yay. That's fun. Oh my God. I had scrambled eggs with three other little eggs the other day. The baby ones. Yes. And I was like, I'm not crazy. These are, these are fantastic. They do taste different. They actually taste like something. And 16:22 the texture of these eggs was like creamy and the Sorobot eggs not so much. Yes, and it's true. And you can really see that in the yolk color. You know, if you have like that rich dark yolk from your backyard chickens, it's just, it's incredible. Yeah. And I mean, I hate to keep riding the subject, but you eat first with your eyeballs. So if the food looks appealing, 16:49 It tricks your brain into thinking it's going to be yummy. And usually it is. It's true. mean, um, anything where you know the source of your food supply, I think makes it taste better. Yes. The more you know, the more you infer, the more you enjoy it. Right. Right. Yep. Yep. Okay. You were saying that you designed kitchens before. 17:14 Were these like restaurant kitchens or were they home kitchens? yes. So residential, worked actually in the, excuse me, high end kitchens. know, multi-million dollar homes. We designed these dream kitchens. so kitchens are really important to me. And I, you know, learned a lot about the functionality of a kitchen. 17:42 So I mean, I think in also design, so that's kind of has inspired me and led me to incorporate the garden, your backyard garden or your kitchen garden into your everyday life. It should be as functional as your refrigerator or your pantry. Yep. OK. Well, I want to get back to the gardening stuff, but I also want to talk about kitchens for a minute. OK, go ahead. When? 18:13 There are so many people who do not cook these days, okay? When you design these kitchens, were they designed for actually cooking or were they designed for entertaining? That's a good question. I would say it was about 50-50. We get a lot of people that would come in to our office and they had personal chefs basically most of the time or... 18:39 They didn't cook. Yes, that was a common denominator. But then they have these beautiful appliances and beautiful cabinetry. But some people did say, oh, I love to cook. So we saw about half and half. Yeah. It's a minor bone of contention with me because I love to cook. really do. 19:04 Yes. I only learned in my 20s. It's not like I grew up cooking with my mom. I think I've watched what she did and I took it in my head, but I didn't really cook. the kitchen in the old house that we had, that my husband and I had, had a galley style kitchen. And I swear to you, everything was within arm's reach in that kitchen other than the refrigerator. And I made some of the most fabulous food in that kitchen. 19:31 Yeah. And then we moved to our new house a little over four years ago and it has a huge kitchen. I have to walk steps to get to the sink from the stove or the refrigerator from the stove or whatever. My triangle is very big. Okay. And I find myself frustrated sometimes because that little galley style kitchen was so convenient. Right. Yeah. 19:57 Yeah, it has to be designed correctly and functional to make you want to use it. Yeah. the one thing that saves me is that in the middle of our kitchen, there's a big island. And underneath that island is storage for pans and bowls and stuff, which is fantastic. But the island is situated so that I just bring everything out and put it on the island, measure everything out, put stuff away, and then I'm set to just do the thing. That's nice. And so that's really great. 20:27 And the other thing that's really great is that my husband and my son, who my son's 23, he still lives here. Um, we all love to cook together. And so when we all want to really cook, that island is great because we can all stand on one side of it, you know, one on one end, one on the other and one on the middle. And we're just chopping veggies and talking and there's music on and we're throwing stuff in a bowl or a pan. And it's just so fun. That's nice. That sounds wonderful. 20:55 So the reason I even asked about the kitchen design is because for me, kitchens are made for cooking. They're also made for getting other people involved in the cooking. Yes. Yes, I agree with that 100%. I love the idea of having a big island with no appliances or sink in it and where you can just have like a complete work surface to just chop and nothing's in your way. 21:24 Yeah, it's great. And the other thing that's great about it is I have a friend that comes over about once a month for coffee and we get caught up. And there's two bar stools that go underneath the side where you sit, you can put the island. And when she comes over, I heat up the kettle because she does tea. And we sit down and she's got the pot, the tea kettle pot, and I've got my coffee. And we're just sitting there in my pretty kitchen talking. That's wonderful. 21:52 And there was no place in the old house to do that. So I love the fact that my kitchen is so livable. Does that make sense? Of course. Absolutely. Yes. I'm so I'm a huge fan of kitchens, but I'm not a huge fan of kitchens that no one cooks in. Cause I think that it's sad when nobody cooks in the kitchen. It is sad. I, um, I kind of, um, swiped an appliance from our showroom years ago when we remodeled our house and I have a 22:22 48 inch range top, a wolf with a big griddle in the middle. And I tell you what, if I ever move, I think I'm gonna like take it, take it with me, because I love it so much. And of course with the garden, it comes in super handy. I love being able, my garden is actually right outside. I have these two big glass doors in my kitchen and my garden is right outside. 22:51 I can literally step out barefoot and grab some herbs or whatever I need to cook with and bring it into my kitchen and get to work. is so awesome. I love to cook also. Yep. I do. And I get full on the smells from cooking. I sit down to eat and I eat three bites and I'm like, I'm done. I'm already full because I smell like the whole time we're cooking. I end up snacking while I'm cooking, just tasting everything, you know? Oh yeah. 23:20 Yeah, you got to taste it because you won't know if it's any good if you don't. Right, exactly. Yeah. And I'm so jealous of your kitchen garden because our garden is like a good 200 feet away from our house. I think that's also a big misconception. I hear people say, oh, I want to put my kitchen garden behind my garage or in this space on the side of my house. And I almost start shaking my head immediately. No, no, don't do that. You want it to be 23:48 right outside your kitchen window or as close as you can get maybe alongside your driveway when you pull up, you can see everything that needs to be harvested and it's a reminder. just again, being so close that it's almost like a pantry is pretty fantastic. kitchen gardens, they're meant to be beautiful. And I think it's wonderful to see it from your house. 24:16 Oh, I can see the garden from my living room windows, but it's 100 feet by 150 feet. Okay. It's a big old garden. Okay. That's incredible. Yep. And I keep trying to figure out how to put an herb garden near my house because that's what I would go out and grab is herbs. Yeah, absolutely. We have the most wonderful dog named Maggie and her lead. 24:42 you know, she's on, so she can't run wild on our property because the road out front is way busy with semi trucks and I'm scared to death she'll get hit. Sure. And that would ruin my life, not just my day. So her lead, she can get to everywhere around the house except the front of the house. And there's no door to the front of the house. We have one door in and out of our house. That's it. So we're not set up to have a kitchen garden at all. 25:11 unless we don't have the dog and I am not giving up my dog. love her. So if we didn't have the dog, I have a perfect spot for a kitchen garden right outside my kitchen window above my sink and I would do that. But we have the dog. Yeah. And in Houston, you know, everyone, it's so urban. know, I think part of the challenge is trying to figure out where the garden should go. And that's enjoyable for me. 25:41 Yeah, I love that you do what you do because people do have a hard time envisioning a place for growing things. And that's an innate talent for you. So they're like, this is my property. Where do I put a raised bed? And you're like, right there. Exactly. Most of the time I go in and I automatically know exactly where to put it. I just have to listen to the client first. Yep, exactly. 26:10 I just, I've talked to a couple of people who do stuff like you're doing. And it's always amazing to me because I talked to a couple, like they're married to each other and they do, they help people set up raised bed systems and gardens and stuff. And they're just so into it. They're so excited. Right. And the husband said that they actually help people for free at first. 26:40 that it was frustrating because he would run into the person that he helped and he'd be like, how are the gardens going? And they would be like, eh, we didn't do it. Oh no. But a minute they made it a business and started charging for their services, then the people that are paying for the services have skin in the game. Right. Absolutely. And they actually do it. Yes. I've never thought about it that way. Yes. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I think I got a lot of 27:09 You know, over the years, people know you as you know, that's your hobby, your gardening. Yeah. And they ask you tons of questions. But then when you ask them to pay for advice, well, then they, you know, they they take it more seriously for sure. So, yeah, it was just funny the way he said it, because he sounded he was trying really hard not to sound mad, but he definitely was frustrated with the fact that he had spent all his time trying to help. then, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. 27:38 And he was, he sounded very, I don't know, amused and excited at the same time that when they started charging, people would actually do the thing. Yes. Yeah. They take you seriously for sure. Yeah. And I love people like you because I am not a good teacher. I do not have the patience and I talk too fast when I'm trying to teach somebody something, cause I know the thing. Yes. 28:05 And so when I meet people who teach and who are good at it and who enjoy it, I'm just like, I bow down to you. You have skills I do not possess. Well, I think teaching is really the big picture. The whole point is setting your customer up for success. I don't want them to give up like I mentioned earlier. I want them to have all the tools. I want them to learn from 28:33 my mistakes. And I think that's important because as a gardener, especially in the beginning, you really, you don't know what you're doing. And it's all one giant experiment, right, that you're learning from. It's trial and error. And I think having them skip that part and me leading them and guiding them is important to their success. It is. It absolutely is. 29:02 And I just love that there are people in the world who can do that for other people. Because I had some fabulous teachers when I was in high school. they were friends. Most high school students don't consider their teachers to be their friends. But if I was after school for something, not because I got in trouble because I had to stay after for something, help or a volunteer thing or whatever. I saw one of my teachers in the hallway. I would be like, hi, mister or missus, whatever. 29:31 And they would come over and be like, how are you? didn't get a chance to talk to you in class today. What have you been up to at home with your folks? And it was so great knowing that I had adult friends at school who were supportive of me almost to the same point that my parents were supportive of me. That's great. That's wonderful. Yeah, I have a mentor actually in the neighborhood that lives across the street. 29:59 She's amazing. She grows everything, landscape, vegetables, flowers, everything. And I'm constantly like, as soon as I see her out, I'm like, hey, I have a question for you. So she's great. She loves it. But she's helped me a lot. So. Yeah. And when I think about that, if someone calls me or messages me or is here and sees something I'm doing and says, how does that work or how do do that? 30:29 I'm real good at being like, oh, this is how you do it. But I don't consider that teaching. I consider that sharing my information. I think of teaching as more hands on sitting down with someone and trying to show them how to do something. Right, right, right. Yeah. Well, yeah, you know, that's true. Sometimes I have to back up. 30:58 and explain it like I'm explaining something to my kids. Like, oh, they don't know any of this. And I know it, so I have to sort of start at the beginning. Yeah, I have reeled off my recipe for bruschetta a bunch of times on the podcast episode. And when I do, it's to someone who knows how to cook, so they kind of get it. And I realize after I do it that just because I say, oh, you just chop up these things, 31:27 You put it in a bowl, you add some olive oil and some balsamic vinegar, and then you toast up some bread and you put stuff on top of the toast and you eat it. That's not all there is to it, clearly. And I keep forgetting that if you've never cooked in your life, there's a whole lot of questions that come from that description. Exactly. Yes, yes, for sure. So it's funny to me. And I remember not knowing how to cook. I remember not knowing how to... 31:54 put dirt in a container and plant seeds and do things to make seeds grow. remember. Yeah, it's so true. And you know, people come to me all the time and they say, well, I try to grow tomatoes and, you know, I always hear this like the same. It's a pattern. People have an interest and a passion, but they don't know how to do something and they make a common mistake like growing tomatoes in like a 10 gallon container. 32:23 And I think just giving them the tools they need and giving them the knowledge, I think it's just so encouraging. Absolutely. And again, really glad that you are in the world to encourage people to grow things because right now I think everybody should be growing food. Oh, yes, I agree. 32:51 I'm really into organic gardening and that's important to me and I think that's becoming more important to a lot of people and just knowing what kind of soil was my vegetable grown in or what kind of pesticides or hopefully lack of pesticides were used in this produce. think it's really important. People should know how to grow their own food because they're really missing out if they don't know how to grow their own food. 33:21 Yes, and we're going to get done here in a minute because I tried to keep this half an hour more past that. But the other thing that I would suggest people try growing because it's quick, it's a quick turnaround and it's really yummy is radishes. For sure. Radishes. I love growing those. Again, my kids love to pull them out of the ground, maybe too early. But yeah, there certain vegetables that you can grow with a quick turnaround and it's a lot of fun. 33:51 It's a lot of fun for sure. Yes. And there are people in the world who don't like radishes. I'm not one of them. I don't like beets, but I love radishes. I love beets. I love beets. Can't do it Josie. They taste like dirt to me. My mom gets so frustrated with me. She'd harvest the beets and she'd be like, I'm going to slice some of these up. Do you want a slice? And I'm like, no, no. Yeah, they're so good. And they're so pretty. But radishes are beautiful too. And I like them raw, but 34:20 I started roasting them. Have you done that? They're great. have not, but I have pickled radishes. Okay. have with dinner. That sounds good. That's lovely. And it takes like 10 minutes. Yeah. Yeah. Pickling thing. I'm not a pickler. My husband is the chemist in the family. He loves anything like that. So he always does the pickling. Yep. Well, I call it a pickle, but it's really more like a marinade. 34:49 Right, with some vinegar. Yeah, vinegar and whatever oil you want to use, whatever oil choice you like to have. And some honey. Okay. Oh, that sounds good. And I think it takes mirin, which is an ingredient most people don't know about. It's like an alcoholic cooking wine, but it's called mirin. And you just kind of put a little bit of on the sliced up radishes and you let it sit in a bowl for about 10-15 minutes. 35:17 And it's like a pickle, but it isn't a canned pickle. Do you ever add any lemon juice or anything like that to it? No, you could. OK. You could, but I don't. Sounds good. The vinegar has enough acid in it to do the thing. Yeah. Sounds yummy. But radishes, literally from planting the seed to pulling them out and eating them is like four weeks. Yes. It really is cool to watch them grow so fast. Yeah. And the quick turnaround is great because you can 35:47 You can start them in February in your house if you wanted to because they don't need to be pollinated. They don't need any bees to do the job. Absolutely. The funny thing is this year, since we have chickens, this is our first year to have them. I had to figure out how to keep them out of the garden and then also let pollinators in. But all of the cool season vegetables are brassicas, leafy lettuce, radishes, root vegetables. 36:17 I can grow those under ag fabric and I have just like tinted my raised beds, which is great. And the chickens can't get in there to destroy everything. So that's been really great. Yes. And I was just going to add, it has kept the caterpillars out. So I'm getting like the most wonderful harvest this year. Good. Yes. And chickens will decimate a garden. 36:45 They will completely destroy it. do. And even if they're not eating whatever it is that's growing, they just get in there and they scratch and they kick stuff around and they destroy your seedlings. so yeah, you have to keep them out. Yeah. We have chickens right now and they are going to be not free-ranged when my husband puts the garden in. Right now they're allowed to run of the property, but they won't be in May. That's smart. Very smart. 37:14 We learned the hard way the first summer we were here, they ate some of the seedlings he put in and he came in from the garden and said, where my seedlings disappeared. And I said, um, were the chickens out? no. I I made that same mistake. had some corn. I had started some corn seedlings and I was going to plant them a few days ago and I forgot I had left them out and I went out there. Of course they had like. 37:42 knocked all of the pots over and taken them all out and now I have to start over. Yep, there's lots of good to be said about chickens, but if you give them free reign, they're going to take it. For sure. All right, Josie, thank you so much for your time this morning. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much, Mary. This was a wonderful opportunity. It was really fun. Thank you. Have a good day. Okay, thank you. Bye.…

A Tiny Homestead

1
BLB Farms 35:57

11 päivää sitten35:57

35:57

Today I'm talking with Bobbi at BLB Farms . You can follow on Facebook as well. If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. A Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Homegrown Collective, a free-to-use farm-to-table platform emphasizing local connections with ability to sell online, buy, sell, trade in local garden groups, and help us grow a new food system. You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe. 00:29 share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. A tiny homestead podcast is sponsored by Homegrown Collective, a free to use farm to table platform, emphasizing local connections with ability to sell online, buy, sell, trade in local garden groups and help us grow a new food system. You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. Today I'm talking with Bobby at BLB Farms. And Bobby, what does BLB stand for? 00:53 Butcher's lazy bee farm and depending on who you talk to myself or my husband is who the lazy bee is. Oh Okay, I get it Yeah, we don't swear on the podcast so lazy be is perfect Thank you for explaining that you're in Texas and What's the weather like in Texas right now? Well, we just got over having two tornadoes come through 01:21 One was three miles and one was about eight miles from us. So it's nice and beautiful and sunshiny right now, so we'll take it. Yeah, I'm really glad it was three miles and 10 miles away because I would be very sad if I wasn't talking to you right now. Thank you. We would be very sad too. We lucked out. We didn't have any damage this time around. Last couple of years, we have really bad straight line winds here. So it makes farming very difficult. 01:50 Yeah, I'm in Minnesota. We have tornadoes here too. Luckily, I've never actually seen one in the over... Oh my God. I don't know how many years I've been here since 1991. So over 30 years, I think? Never seen a tornado, but I have seen the sky look really scary and like it could turn and I don't love it. So, and for those who don't know, I talk about the weather at beginning of the episodes because it's my way of expressing my esteem for the person I'm talking to. 02:20 So the weather in Minnesota today is sunny and it's supposed to hit 70 degrees this afternoon. Yay. And no tornadoes that I know of. we're set. So all right, Bobby, tell me about yourself and what you guys do at BLB Farms. I am a 47 year old housewife and farmer, chief cook and bottle wash. And I have three children. My youngest is 18. 02:49 oldest is 27. So we kind of spread them out there a little bit. But I found out very early that I wanted to do farming. was raised with farmers. So I already had a good background. And we just kind of, you know, rolled with it from there. Okay. So have you always been farming? 03:18 Yes, we were raised, we grew all of our produce. My mother, we did chickens. We processed our own chickens. We had friends that done their own meat chickens. So that was the extent of the animals that I grew up with. But as far as vegetables, fruits, anything like that, that we could grow, we did so. And my mother preserved them. 03:47 via freezing or dehydrating or even canning, pressure canning or water bath. I think that's a beautiful way to grow up. It was. I took it for granted. And then when, because I was raised between my mother and my father had gotten a divorce and we had moved to Alaska when I was three. So up there things were very expensive. 04:16 So if you have a good ground somewhere where you can actually do some of your own produce, it's best to do that. And so when we moved back to Texas, I was lost because that's what we done. And it was cheaper down here, so we got the routine of just going to the store. So I had to come kind of full circle back to the way I was raised. 04:44 I feel like that happens to a lot of us. When I was growing up, I grew up in Maine. My parents had an acre of land on a block. So you would drive down a mile into the woods and there was a block. You drive down, hang a left, come back out around on that same one mile lane again. my dad put in a garden, oh my goodness, I think the first year that we lived there in 05:14 Oh, moved in the summer of 76, so must've been 77. He put in a big garden and he had a garden every year until I moved out and I was six when we moved in there and I moved out at almost 19. And so I watched my dad and my mom garden. And then when I moved out, I moved into the city and lived in cities or suburbs until, oh, can't think. 05:42 1999 maybe? And then moved in with my husband and we were in a little tiny town and we didn't have a big lot. We had a tenth of an acre lot with a house and a four car garage on it. And my husband hadn't thought of doing any gardening at all. And then we got some hand-me-down plants from his mom, some irises and lilies. Nice. We put those in and they did great. And I was like, hey, we have the backyard that's just gross. 06:11 weeds and grass, we could dig that up and put in some topsoil loam, and we could have food producing plants back there. And he was all for it. And that's where the bug started. That's when he loves gardening. And then a little over four years ago, we moved to a 3.1 acre homestead with a house and a pole barn and a useless garage and a woodshed. And he now has a 100 by 150 foot 06:38 farm to market garden every summer. Nice. So I really wasn't into any of this until his mom gave us those plants. And then I was like, hey, gardening is kind of fun. Yeah, it is. It's the best therapy you can ever have. Sunshine and dirt underneath your feet. You can be grounded. And it's very good for the soul and the body. 07:08 Yes, and one of the best smells on earth is fresh turned good dirt. Yes, yes it is. That and shucking corn. Oh my god, I love the smell of shucking corn. Yes. And it's amazing. I made some dilly beans yesterday. I was canning and the smell of fresh green beans. I was remembering all the times we snapped 07:36 beans to get ready to can them for my mom. It just brought back so many memories and you forget about those smells and then something will just trigger them and you're like, oh, that's the best smell right there. That's how you know you're doing good again. absolutely. Now, how long is Texas's growing season? Because here in Minnesota, we don't put anything in the ground until May 15th and we're pretty much done with outside growing. 08:05 by end of September if we're lucky? Well, last year we went from March to November, middle of November, which is very unusual. Usually we've done had a good heart frost that shut everything down. But we were still shelling peas in the pea sheller the second week of November. It was very mild and we took advantage of 08:32 every day we could possibly get out of it. So we do have some wild weather. So we kind of just play with whatever we can. I'll start indoor seeds sometimes November, December to get them ready for the greenhouse for the following January, February, depending on what I need to be growing, what's being requested. 09:01 Um, sometimes it's not until January or February that I start the seeds. So, um, if you have a greenhouse, you can go all year. Um, but if you don't and you strictly are doing in-ground, then you know, March for the cold weather stuff, um, to probably October is usually when our shutoff is. Okay. So you've got three months more. 09:30 than we do basically. And my husband, I'm lucky if I get him to wait until February 15th to start seedlings in the house. Oh, I know it's hard. It's so hard. Uh huh. Yeah, we've got, he just repotted yesterday. 09:48 Let me think Swiss chard and kale and romaine lettuce and butter crunch lettuce that was in the little tiny seedling trays. Nice. He just repotted those and took them out to our hard sided greenhouse because he looked at the forecast and he said they're cold weather crops. said it would have to get to minus 20 to kill them. And I was like, okay. And he had, he has a whole bunch of tomato seedlings and basil seedlings. said, do not go to the greenhouse. 10:18 He also has peppers. would be surprised how hearty tomatoes and petunias are. They can take some pretty good cold and it'll keep them from bolting and just growing super fast and getting really leggy. It kind of controls them. If you kind of use the weather, the cool weather to help you grow, sometimes it's beneficial. Yeah, I'm scared. 10:47 But they're only like two week old seedlings. They're only about an inch tall. Oh yeah. No, no, not that young. So I basically, he's the gardener and I try to defer to him on what he wants to do. But I said, I said, please do not take the tomatoes, the peppers or the basil babies out. I said, because I will literally sob for a week if they die. And he said, I don't want to see you cry for a week. said, no, you don't. really don't. So they stayed inside. They're all safe on the table. 11:17 They're going to keep growing inside for another at least two weeks, maybe a month. And then the water greenhouse and then May 15th, God willing the creek don't rise. They'll be in the garden itself. we're very excited about this because I don't know if you've listened to any of the episodes of my podcast, but all I've done for the last six months is bitch about the summer last summer. Cause we had a terrible growing season here. Really? See ours surprised us because we did have that. 11:45 110 degree weather there in July and August and it was short-lived though. So we didn't suffer unduly. So we got a break in it and we, my okra, I had to replant it because the spring started out really bad. We had torrential rains, it was washing everything out and then it went straight into the heat. 12:10 Yeah, it was, it was not a good year here last year. We probably lost about $5,000 on produce that we could have been selling. Had our art not been soup for too long. So yeah, it was, uh, it was painful and sad. And, uh, we're really looking forward to this year because we've looked at the long range forecast. We have looked at the farmer's almanac long range forecast, and it doesn't look like we're going to need to build an art in May. that's Thank goodness. 12:38 I'm telling you it was bad and the baby plants look good. So we're we're really kind of we're kind of doing the rain dance But only the grow dance for the plants. I don't want rain. No rain dancing here, right? Not like last year. It was insane See that was the way we had last year for last is what done it to us I was in the same boat you were in it was miserable. We had a snowstorm. It was just awful 13:08 Yeah, it was nuts. I don't know what Mother Nature was thinking last year, but I hope that she's thinking something much better this year. Okay, so I saw that you have chicks for sale. Yes, yes. Are those laying hen chicks? Yes. We take their eggs and we incubate them. We have everybody segregated, so we have... 13:35 the roosters that are supposed to be with the hens that are like, you know, Brahma's light, the lights with the lights and the buffs with the buffs. And we have some Jersey Giants, which we did get some crosses with them, but I don't think the eggs are going to hatch because we had lost electricity for three days with that spasm. I think we've lost those, but it's part of farming. happens. 14:05 It does. It really does. You're not, preaching to the choir. Everybody who's listening to this podcast, who's in the homesteading, farming, ranching realm understands exactly what you're saying. Yeah. It can be so amazing and it can be so heartbreaking sometimes. Yes. I always say heartbreaking. But there's a balance and if you can find the balance, you're doing okay. Yes. Some years are better than others. It's just kind of the 14:35 you know, to Mother Nature, really. mean, there's some things we can control and there's some things we cannot. Yeah. All we can do is set up the best, I want a word and it's not there, the best growing situation we can, whether it's an animal or a plant, and then just pray that everything else works. Yes. So what else do you have on your farm? We started doing wholesale growing first. 15:05 And we were doing vegetables and hanging baskets. And then I started meeting a bunch of farmers and everybody was talking about having problems selling their produce. They were having masses amounts left over that they were just dumping because they couldn't find good farmers markets or people to buy their. 15:34 you know, bigger than a farmer's market normally, but they're not big enough to attract Walmart or Albertsons or Safeway or some, you know, one of these big places to sell. So we started a farmer's market here on our property because we were having problems getting approval in town for one. had tried for years and then I tried and it just wasn't working. So, 16:03 We started the farmers market and we are doing amazing with it. We keep the emission free to set up or just enough to cover the porter potties, know, something like that. So everybody, we're coming together in a group and attracting people to come shop with us. And we're doing better as a group than we would singly. So we added that. 16:32 We're adding a, we added the farm store this year. Almost got the interior of it done. It's a little 16 by 40 building. We'll have electricity and coolers that we can, in the freezer, we can keep produce longer. Cause I've been running with ice chests in the back of my little GMC train to and from other farmers and the farmers markets and trying to keep things cooled off and. 17:02 I think I need to buy an ice machine too because I've been supporting Dollar General in their ice. Uh huh. Yup. So, but we just kind of let everything fall into place where it calls us to. I mean, we see a need and we just kind of go with it. Um, and kind of come together as a group to help others. Um, a middle gentleman that he was farming peas. 17:30 And just, he's an older gentleman and just couldn't get the peas sold. And so when I met him, he was like, can you, are you interested in buying some peas? And I was like, absolutely. So he stumbled on a miracle because he grows some old fashioned stuff that I didn't think anybody grew anymore. Some little lady cream peas and they're so good. And so we just started. 17:59 making friends and networking together and just adding stuff here and there. It's amazing what happens when a group of comes together and has a plan, huh? Yes. I mean, you just about be able to move mountain. It's really been something to watch and see how everybody blooms together. Not just one person. It's not just one person being greedy or 18:26 suffering, you know, we all come in and pitch in and then we can all get raised up. We can all, you know, make our living at a decent rate. You know, it's not, don't know how else to explain it. It's just, it's really nice to see other people enjoying what they do and being able to make a living at it. Yeah. 18:53 It's too bad that not everybody in the world could do that because it would be a much happier world, I think. And I'm not being a smart ass. I really do wish that people would find their calling and be able to make it support them for their whole life, you know? Yes. Yes. A lot less stress, lot less bickering. People just doing what they love and just being happy. Yeah. 19:19 And happy goes a long freaking way. really does for me. I am, I'm going to say this. am an oldest, oldest child. am the oldest of my three siblings and I was raised to be really independent, almost too independent. My parents outdid themselves, I think. And I think that they were sorry about that when I hit about 12 years old, but that's another story. 19:46 The hardest thing for me is to ask for help because I don't want to bother anybody. I don't want to put anybody out. I don't want to take from someone if they don't have something to give freely. And I've been having a hard time with the podcast because I really would like the podcast to be more than a hobby. And so I've been trying to figure out how to make the podcast make a little bit of money. 20:12 I finally realized that people don't quite understand what sponsorship means, but they understand advertising. And so I've been offering like a little shout out at the beginning of every episode. When I can talk, it's really good. And, you know, for a little bit of money, I just say, here's a shout out to whatever business is what they do. You can find them on Facebook and at their website, whatever that is. And I felt really weird about. 20:41 Asking people if they wanted to do it and I've made $30 in the last five days because people were like yes I want to do that and I was like, whoa, really? Really? Okay, cool. And I felt so I don't know just anxious about asking I'm having I'm doing the same thing with the porta potties on the farmers markets because I was trying to keep it free but 21:09 $140 for two porta potties coming out of the store account. It hurts. It doesn't sound like much, but it hurts. That's every month. So yes, I can feel exactly where you're coming from. It's, it's so dumb because you are providing your land as a place to have the, the farmer's market. And that's commendable. That is amazing. 21:39 And like, I don't see any reason why the people who want to sell at the farmers market can't kick in five bucks. You know? mean, right. It's not a big ask and you're providing a service that I know the one of the big farmers markets here in Minnesota. Just to be there. It's like a thousand dollars for the summer. That's a lot of money. Yeah, it is. It's a crazy amount of money. 22:08 So I'm not saying that I should be asking, you know, $2,000 for a 15 second, hi, this is who these people are, go visit their stuff. I'm saying that sometimes you can ask and sometimes you will get a yes. I just always expect a no. I got you. So I was very excited to know that people like the podcast and want to be featured and enjoy it and want to support it. It was very... 22:37 I don't know, it was very satisfying to know that people actually like it. It was good to find that out. 22:44 So, and you're finding out that people want to be at your farmer's market. I don't know what is wrong with me. cannot get words to come out today. So anyway, yeah, if you have a dream and you're afraid of pursuing it, don't be afraid. Just try. I mean, the worst that's going to happen is people say no. even if they do. 23:10 It might just not be, it might be a not right now kind of deal. But there's somebody out there that'll say yes. Yeah, and it's gotta be the right situation. know, if I messaged, I don't know, a jewelry store and said, you wanna have me shout out your business for five bucks? They would be like, no, because jewelry has nothing to do with homesteading. And they would be absolutely right. Right. 23:39 So it has to be the right circumstances, the right people, the right timing. 23:45 And always do your research. I always tell, we always have some new people that are starting. They love to come to ours. Cause we're so laid back. We don't have a lot of rules. So I tell them, I'm like, talk to your customers. If there's somebody in front of you, that's your potential customer. Use your time wisely with that person. Talk to them, find out what they enjoy, what they love. 24:14 Don't just sit there and look at them. Greet them. They're people. They want to talk to you. They want to know about you. They want to know about your story. don't use your time wisely. Always learn. Be ready to evolve. Add things. Take things away. Some things will work perfectly and other things is just a little bit too no. So you just need to work it. 24:42 Absolutely. And this is why my husband does the farmer's market and I do a podcast because he's so good at just getting people to laugh and I'm, you're going to think this is really dumb. I'm actually really shy. I have no problem with the podcast format because I don't have to be in a room with somebody. I'm good. I'm good this way. get that. My husband is quiet. He's not a people talker. 25:12 I am, I have ADHD. I'm severe at a time where we didn't, I grew up with, we didn't know what that was. I was just the chase the boys and talk too much in class and stayed in trouble and that was me. So he's always like, no, you can sit there at the farmer's market. You got it. You're good. Yeah. And honestly, I think it's a talent. 25:37 I listen to the stories when my husband comes home from the farmers market about what went on and what was said and who said what, about our stuff or the vendors are chatting with each other. He's so energized. He's so high on it. I listen and I laugh and I make notes on things that we could do or not do. When he's done, like, I'm so glad you do the farmers market. It's so good for you. 26:04 And he's like, I'm so glad I do the farmer's market. It's so good for the community. And I'm like, yeah, it is. It is. And I understand exactly your, your take on him because that's, I do the same thing. He does the same thing for me as well. Um, and it's, I do, it's wonderful seeing your friends, new customers, um, somebody that's been sick that you've 26:31 prayed for and they're out walking around, you know, and you're happy to see them. It's a genuine feeling of getting to know everybody and meet new people and seeing the new babies and grand babies and it's just a ray of sunshine. I mean, it's just wonderful. It's good for the soul. 26:57 Well, the way it feels to me is like the town socials back in the 1800s. Oh yeah. When people used to come and bring food and they'd have a dance and they'd all just hang out and talk and drink whatever they had to drink and eat some food and the teenagers would go out and dance and then sneak off to make out and you know, stuff. To cook up recipes and... Yeah. And I feel like the... 27:22 The farmer's market these days is about as close to that as you get unless you're a part of a church. Yes. Absolutely. And you get fresh vegetables too. Well, sure. And craft stuff and goodies like cookies and cakes and things. And I'm a big fan of brownies. So my husband brings home a brownie. He's good for a week. He's in my good graces for a week. And then he comes home with another one and I'm like, okay, we're good for another week. 27:53 We had a new vendor, this first farmers market opening. He's a young autistic gentleman and young teenager and he makes some amazing cookies. Oh, and his parents are supporting him and letting him live his best life. And it was great to see him. He'll come up, shake your hand and talk to you. 28:21 tell you his ideas of what he's wanting to plan and it was really refreshing to have him. We always get excited when we have young people that get involved with the farmers markets and we love seeing the 4-8 and the ag, rabbits and chickens and goats and you name it. We want to know. We follow him on Facebook. 28:50 We cheer them on when they're winning or if they don't win, we still cheer them on. So it's just a huge community. mean, we just, they need support and I'm glad these kids, young kids are getting involved with this. And it's really something to see. I was really proud to have him out. Awesome. I love that. Our son goes to the farmers market with his dad. He's 23 now. 29:20 And he went almost every time two summers ago now. And then he was like, I got stuff to do. I can go, you know, to every one out of four. And my husband was like, that's okay. And that last, that was last summer, summer before when our kid decided he didn't want to go to every single Saturday. people would come up to my husband and be like, where's your kid? Yeah. 29:47 because the kid's really good at talking to people too and he's very polite, he's very kind. So I get what you're saying. It's actually really good for kids to be involved in that stuff because they learn how to function in a way. Because our schools aren't teaching them anything like that anymore. Unless they do have an ag. I'm not sure they ever did. We, well in the south, 30:14 Um, we had Ag programs. Um, we would show the animals. Um, they taught you how to butcher, um, all that good stuff. But also we had growing programs where they would show you how to raise your tomatoes, plant them, and eventually harvest. Um, we had the home ec that taught us how to cook and quilt and all that good stuff. um, my kids didn't have that. 30:44 I'm so jealous. I'm a Yankee girl. grew up in Maine and the North and we didn't have that kind of stuff. We had a home ec, but it was not, it was not in depth. It was a very surfacey kind of home ec class. Oh, wow. Um, we even used to get our hunter's education, um, as part of a school program, um, where we would have youth, um, hunting trips that we could go on, but they've since discontinued that now as well. Huh. 31:13 Okay. Well, you had many more resources at your fingertips than I did in school. And I'm really glad that you did. I would have jumped on a lot of that stuff if we'd had it. Um, so the one thing I want to say before I cut you loose, try to keep these to half an hour is if you're going to be part of a farmer's market, like you're going to be a vendor. One of the things that we did is we made business cards and business cards are kind of old fashioned, but 31:40 people take business cards off the table because they want to know if they need something that they like that you make, if they can get hold of you. And the other thing I've done is I've made a QR code and I've blown it up and my husband tapes it to the table and people can use the QR code on, you know, user phones and that goes directly to our website. So those are the two ways that we get it so that people can find us. I love that. 32:08 I haven't done the QR codes, but we do the business cards, which we're in a small community. They usually just message, hey, I'm on my way. I'm okay. So that's usually how we get a heads up. that, and that's fine with us. We don't mind. I'm here all the time, just about, unless I'm out doing deliveries. So. 32:30 Yeah. And the other thing that's really good at a farmer's market, if you can afford the cost of it, is to have a banner that has the name of your business on it. Because if people see it enough times, it sticks in their head. Yes. So, hint. The banners. And another thing I would add to that is make sure that your banner and your card, your logos, they all match. Yes. Because it'll get confusing to them. They think they've seen three different 32:59 businesses when it's only just one. And sometimes that's hard. It's just something, a goal to work towards. Yeah, it is really hard to come up with a logo. It's always going to be difficult unless it just pops into your head and you're like, that's it. That's the one. And then you got to figure out how you're going to create the logo because do you have somebody create it for you? Do you draw it? Do you do it on the computer? How do you do it if you're not an artist? 33:28 Right. A lot of times there's programs that will allow you, like a Pies app is an app and there's a free side to it. And then there is also a pay to use it by the year. If you get really in depth with it, cause I do all my own advertising for the posters on the farmer's market. And I do not, they don't pay me to say that. That's just the one. 33:57 I know people use Canva. There's others, but they have little programs in there you can actually design your own for free. mean, so you don't have to spend a lot. Yeah. And the other thing, my friend that I worked for for like six years, she was in PR and marketing. She was always telling me that I was too, I don't remember what the word was, but I want to say esoteric when I would think of naming names for things. 34:23 Because I would, I have a really weird brain. have all kinds of associations when I think of a word, like there's all kinds of words that go with it. Like if I think apple, there's the apple we eat, there's the apple computer, there's all kinds of things you can do with apple. And she would be like, it needs to be obvious. It can't be 16 layers down, Mary. Yes. Right. Oh yeah. So when I was trying to come up with a logo for a tiny homestead, 34:53 for our place, I was like, I just need a little farmhouse with two little potted plants on the sides of the steps that go up the door of the farmhouse and a couple of chickens. And I ran that by my husband and he said, that's perfect. That's not 16 layers deep. And I went, uh-huh. Thanks, honey. It's kind of making fun of me, but either way, keep it simple, you know, and, and keep it the same. Don't, don't change it every year because people do get confused. 35:22 Yes, they will. All right, Bobby, I have loved this conversation. didn't know it was going to be about the farmers market, so I'm kind of glad it was. Well, thank you for having us. This is the first one we've ever done. So I was excited. I was like, yay, somebody asked me to be on their podcast. I love talking to people like you because you're so bubbly and full of information and all you want to do is chat. And that's what I need. I love these conversations. 35:52 Thank you so much for your time, Bobbi. Have a great day. Thank you, you too. Bye-bye.…

A Tiny Homestead

1
VT Blodgett Family Farm 40:49

12 päivää sitten40:49

40:49

Today I'm talking with Dawn at VT Blodgett Family Farm . A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Homegrown Collective . Log in using the app or your computer. If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. A Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Homegrown Collective, a free-to-use farm-to-table platform emphasizing local connections with ability to sell online, buy, sell, trade in local garden groups, and help us grow a new food system. You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe. 00:29 share it with a friend or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Dawn at Vermont Blodgett Family Farm. Good morning, Dawn. How are you? Good morning. I'm doing good and you? I'm great. Tell me I pronounced Blodgett correctly. You did. Okay. Cause I was like, could it be Blodgett or is it just Blodgett? Blodgett. Awesome. Good. I always hate like slaughtering people's names. I feel really bad about it. What is the weather like in Vermont this morning? 00:55 This morning we've actually had a warmer day. It's up in the 30s. We got about an inch and half of snow in an hour this morning when we were milking. So the roads are nice and slushy and we're all white again. Well, it's pretty. I'm sure that you're like a lot of Northern Tier State people. You're probably looking forward to spring. Yes. Yes, us too. 01:22 just to do my usual thing that I do at the beginning of every episode. Here in Minnesota this morning, it's bright and sunny and it's warm. And we're supposed to hit 70 degrees today for the high. I'm jealous. Yeah, me too. I'm gonna be real happy to see that hit this afternoon. The problem that we're having with this though is that it's really bouncing up and down. And today it's to be, it's supposed to hit 70. 01:51 And then it's supposed to go back down to like the fifties and then Friday they're saying that it's going to be over 70 and we're, might get, um, severe thunderstorms in March. Wow. Yeah. I'm like, you know, this is not great. I don't, I don't really love the, uh, the zigzagging and the up and down that we're going through right now, but hopefully by May it will have worked it all out and it'll be okay. Saturday. was negative five with the wind chill. 02:21 Oh, all day long. Yeah, a week and a half ago, two weeks ago here, we were in like minus 20 real temperature weather for a week. So yeah, it's really hard to know how to dress for the day. I'll tell you that. Layers and it all then can come off. Exactly. All right. So tell me about what you guys do at your farm and about yourself. 02:51 So we are classified as a dairy farm. So we have 45 milking jerseys. So we ship to Organic Valley. so that is what we actually do. Like our whole farm is set up as a dairy farm. We've been here for almost 10 years now. are high. 03:20 What is it? High rotational grazing or intense. That's it. Intense. Great rotational grazing. We have about 50 acres of land that we we pasture. We have about 100 acres of land that we hay and then we have beef cows. But we only have 15 of them. That's more for the farm stand that we have. 03:48 And about three years ago, four years ago, my husband built the stand, the farm stand, and I have been increasing my egg sales since. So I'm up to 670 chickens. Wow. But we are a dairy farm. OK. I understand that you're a dairy farm, but 670 chickens lay a lot of eggs. Yes. 04:17 You must be very popular right now with egg sales. Very. I right now because I have various ages of birds. I have about 250 that are laying consistently. So I get about 21 dozen eggs a day and I sell out within an hour. Well, I was impressed that our chickens just started laying a week ago. They're starting to be consistent and we've been getting 10 eggs a day. So 21 dozen a day seems like a wonderful thing. Yes. 04:47 It is a lot of eggs. I'll be happy when we have a dozen a day because we have 12 chickens. So if they're all laying the way it was supposed to, we will have seven dozen a week, which would be really nice right now. Yes. Yes. And I don't really want to talk too much about eggs and chickens because it's all over the news. And I saw your post on Facebook that you did about your chickens and what it costs to take care of them. 05:13 And I'm going to share that on my page and my tiny homestead podcast page because people don't quite understand that that that first outlay for the chickens is expensive. 05:27 So it definitely can be. As you said, I posted it. But for the first four months of a chicken's life, it actually only cost about $10 for four months to feed them. But what's going to cost you the money is starting up. So you need a housing place to put them. 05:53 Yep. So you need the waterer, you need a feeder, you need a place to keep them warm. When I first started, actually kept them in my bathtub with a heat lamp, right? my, you know, because I could shut the door and my dogs, you know, and my cat couldn't get to them. And so, I mean, you can do it cheaply. 06:21 You know, if you have a place to put them in a place to do things, but it's not really the first four months that becomes an issue. It's when they start laying that they that they'll start costing you because it takes a lot for them to lay an egg. Uh huh. So you have to, you know, make sure that they have. 06:49 the right amount of feed and the right amount of temperature. As you know, you have chickens. In the wintertime, they're cold. They don't lay eggs. Their energy goes to body heat instead of producing an egg. A lot of people forget that chickens are seasonal. The only time they're not seasonal is that first winter because they're still technically considered a pullet. A pullet is anything under a year old bird. 07:19 Yeah. So yeah, it costs a lot of time too. Yes, they do. And I mean, it's not hours and hours a day, but you, do spend time with your chickens. You do spend time cleaning out the coop. You do spend time gathering the eggs and making sure the chickens are okay and all that. Yes. Like I said, I don't want to get too far down the rabbit hole because I've talked about this a lot on the podcast lately because it's the topic of the month basically. 07:46 But what I want to say is if you're fortunate enough to have the funds to go get chickens and raise them and have the means to make a home for them and you have the time, it is well worth it. But if you don't, find somebody who does have chickens, know, a local grower, local farmer and buy from them because you're supporting them and you're going to get great eggs from them. Correct. 08:13 And it's going to cost you less than the grocery store, probably from the farmer that, know, because I'm not going to be charging $10 a dozen for our eggs. I'm looking at probably $5 a dozen when they, when we have enough to sell. So. Correct. Cause we have less people touching the eggs. So less people to pay. Yes, exactly. So support your local farmer or your local homestead or your local grower. If you can't be any of those things, I guess is what I'm saying. So, okay. So you said you have 45. 08:43 dairy cows. Yes. That's a small herd for a dairy farm. how did you get into this? So actually my husband, I grew up in a dairy farm background. My father and his family were big into dairy farming from 09:10 You know, the early, I would say, I think they bought their farm in the late sixties, early seventies. And so they made it big in the eighties when you could actually make money farming. Yes. So then they bought a lot of land and they were, they had 300 cows back in the eighties, which is, you know, milking cows, which was a large, you know, industrial farm back then. And for Vermont. 09:39 I mean, other places may not have been, but for Vermont, that was a pretty substantial amount. so I was with it when I was at my dad's every weekend and being part of the farming, not really farming community, because I wasn't big into it. But I was always out in the barn with my dad helping and learning how to take care of animals and dealing with stuff like that. 10:09 I'm actually, my children are ninth generation Vermonters. Oh wow. Yep. And so farming actually kind of goes back on my grandmother's side, you know, all the way to the 1700s. So that's kind of a cool little history background. And they all lived, we all lived in the same area. I was the first one to move away. 10:37 So my husband, his family had a farm and his grandparents had a farm and his parents lived a couple houses down, which in Brookfield is probably, I think it was like a mile away. they had sold all the cows by the time I met my husband, but he had farmed with, bought a farm with his brother-in-law and sister and were farming and they had different views. 11:06 So my husband got out of it. And in 2011, he's like, I want to start again. So the new adventure started. So we've been farming together for 14 years. Moved here almost 10 years ago. OK, I don't want to be nosy, but I have to ask, is this your job or is this your job outside of your job? This is our job. OK. 11:36 So I quit my job. I was a nurse. I worked with a podiatrist. And I quit my job in 2000 of November of 2012 to do it full time because we had two small children at the time. One was in just started school and the other one was, you know, still technically, I guess a toddler. But the school district was not in the farm district. 12:05 So he would have to stop what he was doing and go pick up our son, either from the house where the bus dropped him off or picked him up at school, and then find either his parents or my parents to watch them while he went down and farmed. financially, it was a little difficult taking that income out. 12:34 But time wise, it was the only thing we could do. He could not be a stay at home dad and a full time farmer. No, because that does not go hand in hand. No. And see, the thing that a lot of people forget about farmers versus homesteaders or people who have a few animals is this is 24 seven, right? Like he gets up at four o'clock in the morning. 13:04 and he goes until six o'clock at night. And that is an everyday thing. And if then there's haying or calving or something breaks or something like that, he literally is gone longer out of the house. We have no workers other than me and him and then our 16 year old son helps. But as we know, what 16 year olds, they like to do other things. 13:33 It's a very time consuming thing. So when I got done my job, it was mainly to be a stay at home mom helping on the farm because our kids just took so much time away from him. then when we moved here 10 years ago, because now we lived on the farm that we actually have before we rented the farm that was about five miles away. 14:03 it became, this became my full-time job also. Okay, cool. The reason I asked is because a lot of people, even full-time farmers, they're full-time farming as much as they can, which means every hour they're not at their jobby job. And it's a really, really hard balance from what I've been told. I haven't had to do it. Thank God. I would not have the energy or the patience for it. But you were saying in messages that 14:33 that was I sure that I wanted you to be on the podcast because you're farmers, not homesteaders. And Dawn, there's a lot of overlap between homesteaders and farmers. There's a lot of skill involved that are the same skills. And I feel like there's some homesteaders that consider themselves to farmers and farmers that consider themselves to be homesteaders as well. So 14:59 It's all under the same umbrella for what I'm trying to get to on the podcast. That makes sense. So I think, to be honest, that is true to some extent. I think the thing that does separate a homesteader versus a farmer, and what I classify as a farmer, I know that's kind of a loose term. 15:28 is most homesteaders do it for themselves. A farmer does it to feed the community. And I think that is something that just plays a part in it. So like when I was talking about I was more of a stay at home mom, and I helped on the farm. So at that point, I would classify myself as more of a homesteader because I used 15:57 the materials, right? I had my garden. you know, I cooked from everything from scratch because I had more time to do it. So I did more of the homesteading and I use quotation marks on that one because, know, labels just aren't very nice anyway. They sound horrible. But I had more time to be able to do some of those things. When we became 16:25 farmers up here or when I became a farmer, should say. I could not do a garden anymore. I pay for my vegetables. I have a friend who that's what he does full time. we barter meat for vegetables because I do the meat, he does the veggies. I do not have time in my day to do a garden. 16:52 I have to literally pencil in enough time if I want to can my chicken broth just because I have so many, you know, frozen chicken in my freezer that I've got to get out of. Right. So I'm staying up late at night to to be able to do that because there just isn't enough time. So I think that is a big difference between homesteaders is it's just they're they're doing things to feed themselves. 17:22 And then making money with the things like that versus farming is like our full-time job. Yep. Okay. I see the distinction now, but, but again, I thought I was trying to, I know it sounds horrible trying to get it out, but there is a distinction and there's not, it's not a bad thing. Yep. Right. I'm not trying to say homesteaders are lease, you know, less than farmers. It's just different. yeah, absolutely. And 17:49 Again, going to stick by there's a lot of overlap in what you guys do regarding skills because, because homesteaders, a lot of them definitely have a of dairy cows and they milk them and they do the thing, but it's not like what you're doing. You are an operation as it were. So the skill set is the exact same, right? The difference is, like you said, we're doing it as an operation. have 48 milking cows versus they have one. Right. So my cows, you know, 18:19 Myles and I were actually just talking about that this morning where somebody was saying how I read somewhere about washing the udder and brushing down their cow before the milking procedure. I went, could you imagine if we did that for every cow we had before we brought them into milk? And we would be milking for 12 hours every day, like sitting there brushing our cows. 18:47 Because it's an, so we, you know, we just do things differently. Yeah. Right. But it's still the end result is getting milk out of the cow and healthy milk and clean milk. Exactly. So if you have that many cows, do you actually have babies in the, in the, during the year or not? So we are seasonal. Um, because, um, I growing up in, in a farm, 19:15 household, my father was never available. He was always out milking or doing chores or doing something. So Christmas, we had to wait until he came in to do, you know, Christmas presents. And we never got to take vacations. And we never got to do anything. Yeah. So for my family, I told my husband when we started farming, we were going to still be a family first, no matter what. 19:44 So we were taking vacations. We were going to basketball games. We were doing all of the things that my kids needed to do to be, you know, children. So we became seasonal in 2017. So everything got dried off, everything capped within six weeks to two months. Sometimes there's a little, you know, tail-enders there that got pregnant a little bit late. The prices. Yep. 20:13 So we dry everything. We go down to once a day normally in the beginning of July. And then by August 1st, we dry everything off at once. So we are not milking anything. And we have our first cow, Cavon, in mid September. Okay. And then because you already have so many milking cows, do you keep some of those babies or do you sell them? 20:42 So I keep 10 babies a year and then I sell everything else. Okay, cool. So you're keeping your herd fresh and in rotation, I guess is what I'm trying to get to. Awesome. And you get the joy of dealing with calves. Right. And I say that with kind of a weird tone to my voice because I love calves, but I don't have any, you know, to me a calf is something. 21:12 calf is something I go to visit and pet and be entertained by and then I get to leave it with its parents. But for you, this is this work. So so do you still get to enjoy the calves or are they just a means to an end? I enjoy my calves. Okay. I think we look at it definitely different where yes, they are means, right? We have to have them on the farm to 21:40 bring in new life to the farm because cows get old, cows get sick, right? So we do look at them very different, but every one of my calves are loved on, they're played with. We have kids that come over that love playing with them and desensitize them, because having a spazzy calf is not fun. But they're fed. 22:09 They're bottle fed, they're, you know, they're named, they're loved. We love our cows just like we do our dogs. Every one of them has a personality where we're just like, you're just like your mother. Like coming out, you look at them and you're like, wow, you're just like your mother. But they, and I think that that's where the small dairy farm comes in versus some of the larger ones. 22:38 is we do, because we are small, we have time to get to know our animals, right? We're touching them, we're playing with them, we're part of their community versus like them being part of our community. Right, yeah. So what kind of farm dogs do you have? Because everybody has a favorite. I mean, we have friends that have two Pyrenees, so. So we have three golden retrievers that are our mascots. 23:07 and they are not allowed in the barn. Uh huh. Because they have the longest, most beautiful golden hair and they would love to be on my bed being covered in cow crap. So our dogs are babies. Yes. Versus, you know, when we were a Thai stall, when we first moved here, Thai stalls have a lot different atmosphere because the cows are tied to, you know, where they're supposed to be. Yeah. 23:37 So they only poop in one spot. So having the dogs out there wasn't a big deal because they just knew not to go in the gutter. But now that we're in a free stall, there's poop everywhere. Yep. And cow poop is amazing for manure, for fertilizer, for a garden, but it's not amazing if you're wearing it. Yep. That's exactly. I actually have a really funny story about wearing poop. So we had just moved here. 24:07 And so a manure pond is where all of our liquid manure sits until we can get it spread on the field. Yes. So there is a special little tool that can be backed in and it has a propeller on it to agitate the pit. Yeah. And it's got a spray hose on it. Well, my husband, I had to talk to my husband about something and I was walking out and I went. 24:35 That would really suck if somebody got sprayed with that. Oh, no. And it was in the spring, by the way. So the manure had sat in there for all winter. And then, of course, we had just moved here and the previous owner hadn't emptied the pit. So that poop in there was ripe. Right. So I went over and I was standing there waiting for my husband to see me and pay attention. Well, he put the hose on the bottom part underneath me. 25:04 to try to get the poop to move away from where it was. And literally a wave of poop covered me. Oh no. My silhouette was on the wall behind me. Ugh. His face was, he didn't know if he should laugh. 25:29 Or run. Yes. Yes, run fast away because she's probably really mad right now. I actually could do nothing but laugh. It was just the funniest thing because I had just said that would really suck if somebody got sprayed with that because it did it stunk so bad. For like a week it was in my nose. Oh yeah. That smell. Even after you showered and put deodorant on and perfume, you still have it stuck in your nose. 25:58 I had to throw away all of my clothes because I could not get the smell out. And if I could have taken my skin off, I would have been thrown that away. It smells so bad. Oh yeah, absolutely. I don't have a Kalmanor story, but I have a skunk story. When I was a teenager, when I was in high school, our Samoyed dog, the big white fluffy dogs, got sprayed by a skunk and he took a direct hit. 26:26 My parents had to bring him in the house and, you know, get him in the bathtub with tomato sauce or whatever they used to try to cut some of that smell because it is really intense. And because they brought him in the house, that smell was all through anything that was cloth in the house, including my clothes. And I don't know how high school was for you, but I was not popular and I got teased a lot. You can just imagine. 26:51 the two weeks or three weeks after that happened me going to school because I couldn't go buy new clothes and even if I did the house still had that smell in it. yeah. Yeah. It was not fun. Three weeks to a month after that happened being in high school smelling like a slug. It was really bad. So yeah, I've had my experiences with stinky things too, but not, not calminor. The only time, the only story I have about calminor is we went to visit my folks in Maine. 27:20 back in 2014 and they have a hay field that they basically let a friend of theirs cut and and in exchange my parents get venison from them I think or be foreign the other and So when we went to visit it was right around the time that a guy was gonna put manure on the hay field and my mom was just crossing everything that he wouldn't come until after we had left because it's stinky and 27:47 That morning that I got up and heard my mom swearing like pirate as I was coming down the stairs at their house was the morning that he brought the the shit spreader as my parents call it. oh, my mom was mad. I have not seen her that upset about anything in a long time. And she used words that I've never heard her used before. 28:12 And I basically had to give her a big hug and be like, it's okay. I know what cow poop smells like. It's fine. She's like, he could have just waited another day. And I'm like, mom, when it needs to be done, it needs to be done. She's like, you're taking this much better than I thought you would. I said, I remember driving through this area when we were kids and the windows would be down and we would smell cow poop. 28:38 And we would be like, oh, it stinks. And you'd be like, that's mother nature's gold right there. I said, we're not immune. This is not a new thing for me or my husband or our kids. It's time. So yeah, she was mad, really, really mad. I have so many words I'm not using right now. yeah, mean, a lot of this lifestyle, whether it's farming or homesteading or ranching, 29:05 There's a lot of messy things about it, but it is so incredibly worth it, I think. So it is a lifestyle, right? It is. And if you don't like the lifestyle, then it's it's miserable. Right. And actually, I grew growing up because of how my father was. I kept saying to my mom, I was like, I'm never marrying a farmer. 29:33 I hate Vermont. I'm moving away and I did move away, right? I moved away to Virginia Beach when I was 21. So, and then I moved back and I met my husband. It was fate. We actually had gone to kindergarten together all through school. Our paths have, you know, intertwined. It was meant to be. And I found where I belong, right? It took forever, but this is where I belong. This is, even though it's frustrating. 30:03 Like I did a post the other day about how tired I am, but it's not the fact that I'm tired of the nonsense. I'm tired of how things work in our society. They shouldn't be so hard for farmers or for homesteaders or people to be able to make a living doing what they enjoy. a bunch of people said on my post, they were like, oh, well, but it's so rewarding. 30:32 That doesn't make it less tiring. No, no, it does not. That actually makes it more because our job is so demanding on all of our time. I say it, my husband's not just married to me. He's married to 48 other women. Yes. And, he treats them better than me sometimes. I'm sure he doesn't mean to. Oh no, he does. He says it all the time. They get everything, but it's okay. Most of the time it's okay. 31:03 But the thing is, it's all the other stuff that makes a tiring job even more tiring. Like, why are we fighting our government, right? To be able to provide good food for our community. Why are we fighting people because they don't understand and believe in what we do? Yeah. You know? And I think that's the hard part is that's what makes it so tiring is 31:33 all the other. 31:36 Yes. And if you love what you do, it makes it a little easier to deal with that. But man, if you don't love what you do and you're having to deal with all that stuff, you're going to get out. You're just not staying in it. And so I think another part that people forget is, you know, farming, again, like homesteading is a lifestyle, right? It is a profession. 32:04 But, and this is where it kind of overlaps, you were saying, is once you get to a point where that farm is no longer making enough money to sustain itself, you have to make choices of either getting out or passing it on and finding something else to do. Farmers don't know what else to do. And they will hold on to their lifestyle longer than they really should. 32:34 But they don't know any different. They don't know what else to do. Yeah. It's so hard. Like I'm talking to you and I'm like, oh, it's so hard and it's so, I don't know, negative sometimes. And then I talked to other people who are farmers, like actual farmers, and they're so high on it because everything is going well. So I think it's an any given day thing. 33:03 where you're at with how you feel about it? Yes. I have had, and I'm not trying to put down farming in any way. This is an emotional week for us. Last week was the anniversary of us losing my husband's brother. It's been three years. And so we had that huge emotional, you know, that's when his accident was. He didn't pass away until March 24th. 33:33 Right. And so there's a lot of emotional baggage still, you know, with with all of that. And then last week was a big week because we had a lot of vet checks, right. We had a lot of extra. So. For for me right now, I'm just I mean, tired, right, is is what I keep saying is I just need to be recharged. So. 34:01 That's why I take vacation every year, why we go on vacation and do the seasonal thing. And so we can recharge and bring that energy back in the next season. Yeah. And, you know, it's really hard with a winter, right? The way we have, it's just draining. It's just tiring. I know I say that word a lot, but, you know, right now we're at the end of that season. Well, Dawn, I'm going to tell you, I 34:31 appreciate what you do. And I'm not sure you hear that enough, but right now I've got about a third of a gallon of milk in my fridge because my husband was supposed to go and get milk yesterday and didn't get it at the store. He said he's going to and they got sidetracked. And I was like, did you ever go to the store? He's like, no, it was past time to go. So I love milk. I drink it in my coffee. I have it with cookies when we have cookies because I can't eat a cookie without milk. That's not happening. 34:59 And I also have really gotten into making sausage gravy and biscuits this winter because it's really filling and it's not it ain't good for you, but it's yummy and It's great for you. Yeah It just depends on you. It's great for the soul. Yes, exactly And it was really freaking cold here a couple weeks ago Sausage gravy and biscuits was very warming and I was very happy to have it, but it takes like three cups of milk. So 35:28 I really appreciate what you do. really appreciate what dairy farmers do because it is a lot of work. And I know that sometimes you can have a bad batch of milk that you can't sell and you lose that money and that's not good. So I appreciate you. Thank you for doing what you do. Thank you. And it actually, it's nice to hear when people appreciate you because, and I, you know, I feel very fortunate. 35:58 my Facebook page that we have has a lot of supportive people, right? Like I love my people. But every once in a while we get one, you know, where they're just like, oh my gosh, I hate dairy. And it's like, well, come learn, right? And you wouldn't hate it. I mean, yes, it's like any industry. There's parts of it that are not, that aren't pretty, that are, that's hard. 36:28 We make hard decisions every day. Like there's a cow that's not producing and isn't pregnant. What do you do? Do you lose money? So, you know, that's the difference. You know, sometimes is people just don't see it as a business. They put their emotions in it. Well, I'm going to say something that's probably not very popular to my, well, to my listeners, probably fine, but to anybody else, probably not. I feel like. 36:58 people are not very good at considering the other person's life and perspective. You know, the walk a mile in my shoes thing. And I have been trying to do that for a very long time because I used to be very sharp with my tongue when I was young and I used to not really understand that the world didn't revolve around me because teenagers are like that. And after I had my daughter, 37:26 when I was 20, my whole worldview changed. I wanted things to be good for her. And I started doing, I read a lot before that, but I started reading a lot more things about other people and other ways of living and really tried to pull in what I learned into my, my own paradigm of just because I do it this way, doesn't mean it can't be done successfully in a different way. And so 37:57 My big thing is please just consider other people's viewpoints. You don't have to borrow them. You don't have to embrace them, but at least consider them. Yep. That's all I really want because I feel like the world would be such a better place if maybe people had a little more patience and consideration. Yep. I agree with you 100%. I always sound very Pollyanna-ish, like very idealistic with that, but I don't think it's a big ask. 38:27 I feel like every human being is capable of listening to someone's story, processing it and going, I've never done it that way, but huh, it worked. Yep. Well, so like I feel very strongly going off from that. I feel very strongly that there's enough room for everybody. Yeah. Right. I'm not competing with the person next door. Right. 38:54 I am there to support the person next door. if we are both selling hamburger, I don't care where you go, just go. I tell people all the time on my farm page, right? Hey, go here, go here. Support this person, support this farm. To be honest, I'm not in competition with anybody and they shouldn't be in competition with me. 39:25 It's a let's help everybody grow. There is enough business just like I am not one for almond juice, coconut juice. I personally find them so sugary. I can't stand them. Right. So that's why I drink real milk. know, but I understand why more people why there's people that drink those. My best friend's allergic to milk. Yeah. She can't have any dairy. she's like, 39:54 I'm so sorry. like, why? It's not your fault. Right. It's like, even if you don't just don't like it and fine with it, but you know, so she doesn't bash me for it. She's like, well, you know, she just she supports the farm. But it's like, I don't know. I feel very strongly where it doesn't matter what you want. Like. 40:20 There's enough people in the world that we all can support each other. Yes, and we should. So I'm going end the podcast episode with that because we should all support each other. I think that that is a really good way to end it. Everybody try to support each other. Try to be encouraging. Try to help because it's so important. Dawn, I really appreciate your time today. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. All right. You have a great day. You too. Bye.…

A Tiny Homestead

1
Valor + Harvest 35:14

13 päivää sitten35:14

35:14

Today I'm talking with Daniel at Valor + Harvest . You can follow on Facebook as well. If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Daniel at Valor and Harvest. Good afternoon, Daniel. How are you? Doing well. Thank you for having me. Oh, absolutely. I live for you people to talk to me. This is what I... 00:27 I spend my life doing lately, so thank you for being here. So tell me about yourself. Well, actually first, tell me what the weather's like, where you are, where are you? So we are located just north of Cincinnati, Ohio, behind Kings Island Amusement Park, if you're familiar with that. Well, I'm not, but that's pretty cool. And what's the weather like there today? The weather is, we'll say mixed, so we have partly cloudy. 00:54 and sunshine mix between the two. It's very windy out there, probably right above freezing. Could be wrong. Ohio weather is very hit or miss this time of year. So it was snowing last night. I think it's supposed to be 60 or something tomorrow. So it kind of gives you a overview of what we have around here. We're in that spring crazy weather pattern right now. Yeah. I'm in Minnesota, but I grew up in Maine. 01:22 And my dad used to say, if you don't like the weather, wait a minute. And, and Minnesota is like that too. And honestly, I think every state is like that. So, okay. So we've done the weather report from Ohio. Yeah. Ohio you said, and Minnesota this morning. tell me about yourself and what you guys do. Yeah, absolutely. So we started Valor Plus Harvest back in October. We are a bath and body company. 01:50 We initially started with candles. We have soap coming, also beard oils and other items. So the very basics, that's what our company is. We're a veteran owned small business. So I'm a Marine Corps veteran. I served in OIF 1 and 2, straight out of high school. What's unique about our company is first and foremost, our products are made with, we try our hardest to get all locally sourced ingredients. 02:18 and Made in America products. It's very hard, but that's what we're going for. And what's really interesting about our company in totality is the end of the day, we give back 10 % to veteran organizations. So I know you're not familiar with Cincinnati, Ohio, but we're very close to the Disabled American Veterans Headquarters. That's our organization that we donated to last year. That's the national headquarters for all disabled American veterans. you know, 02:48 Not only do we create a good product and what we're striving for in our space, we also like to give back and that's at very high level, that's our company. Fan, I would use the F word, I-N, tastic, but I'm not going to do that because I don't do that on my podcast. My son was a, well, he says that once a Marine, always a Marine. So he's a Marine, but he hasn't been in service for a bit. He served for eight years actually. 03:17 duty. Nice. Thank you for his service. Well, I don't know if I'm saying this right because I don't know a lot about how this works, but he was in the Marines for eight years. I don't know if active duty means like fighting with guns or it just means being in. Yeah, same eight year contract for myself as well. So once a Marine, always a Marine. Still live by that motto, created really good work ethics and self-discipline. Yeah. 03:46 I always joke that I started the process of growing him up and the Marines finished him. There you go. That's a very good way. I like that. Yeah. And he came back like a year after he enlisted to visit me specifically before the kids got home from school. And we had a slightly rough parting of the ways when he moved out and he showed up at the door to the house that he grew up in. 04:14 knocked and I was like you don't have to knock just come in to your house and sat down and first thing he said was I need you to listen and I need you not to say anything and I was like okay he said first off I'm sorry I said for what he said for being such a pain in your ass and I was like oh well that's that's okay I said I love you and he said I love you too and then we just kept talking 04:41 It was the most beautiful moment of my life with that kid, swear to you. That's good. I'm glad you have that relationship. That's really important. Yep. And I don't talk about it a lot because it's very, it's very personal, but I was scared to death that he would get killed when he enlisted. And I, I'm not a praying girl, but I, I said a lot of messages to the universe saying, please keep them safe in that eight years. And so. 05:08 when he came out and he was okay. I was very grateful. Awesome. That's amazing. Yeah. Very tickled that he survived his eight year stint in a situation that could have gotten him maimed or killed. I was very happy to have him not in that situation anymore. So I don't want to keep talking about this. So you started this in October, you said? Correct. Yeah. October of 2024. So I mean, to give you some color about, 05:37 background. I'm right around 20 years of in my career outside of the military. I have a bachelor's degree in finance, a master's degree in business. I've worked for some of the largest corporations, global, national, more so specifically in the financial services space. I spent some time in Washington, DC, working with the US Treasury. I do have a day job. know, entrepreneurship is a big thing right now. 06:05 And, you know, I think that I was steered like a lot of the early state millennials in my category. It was go to college or else. And so I'm from that generation and I did comply with that. And it's not by any means a sense that I'm trying to bash college. I have a lot to show for my career, but there's something to be said about entrepreneurship and building your own brand. And so that at its core foundation is also another 06:31 very important part of Valor Plus Harvest and just everything that I'm going for. And it is a subset of college. And I'll tell you, we send our youth to college and we learn all of these great skills. And I feel that I've used my more so my master's degree more in the last six months than I have over the last entire 15 plus years of my career. it's been a really interesting process, learning experience. 07:00 You you're so used to going to a job interview and you know, they have a sentiment of the type candidate that they're looking for And another thing that's so unique about entrepreneurship is there is no interview. It's you You are the you are the CEO if you will and so it's been very unique for me and it's a different road if you will Now keep in mind, you know, it's very hard to replace a salary overnight, but it's it's just something 07:29 through this process that's been very, you know, it's all ownership, it's all you. You have your support network and your friends and family, right, to your point of talking about your son. But what's really cool about this chapter and this company is it's just me, myself, my wife, and my family. And so that's what's been really neat for me as a new entrepreneur over the last, we'll say, four or five months. Yeah, have you had that moment of, oh my God, I did it, it worked? 07:58 Yes, I will. You know, there's been a lot of milestones, you know, classic Marine Corps in me, just like your son, you know, we're trained to do execute, get the job mission completed at all costs. Right. And so usually at the end of the top of the hill, any type of mission objective or success milestones in the in the civilian career, you get this sense of accomplishment. Right. And I'll never forget right around. 08:27 Actually, it was right on Halloween to be exact as I got my first order. And so I use Shopify. I love Shopify for its integration. It'll give an entrepreneur get from A to B with very little startup costs. And I'll never forget that first feeling, that feeling that I had. And it was so funny because the order, my first order was $52. And I said to myself, my goodness, this is the first time. 08:55 in my entire life and I'm in my early forties now that I ever just made money for myself, for my own brand. And that feeling is something that I hope, you know, that, you know, no matter if there's other entrepreneurs that listen to this, regardless of generation, I hope more people get to experience that because it is a sense of feeling of self-pride. And, you know, you're taking all that school and all those things that society in America 09:23 told you that you must do and you must have to perform whatever job. And now you just kind of flipped out on its top and it's like, no, this is my route. And so it's been a lot of fun so far this journey. Yeah, I do understand because I have made things myself and sold them to people and there was no middleman. It was just I made the thing, person bought the thing, I made money. It was amazing. 09:52 But I have my first experience with me doing the job and getting paid for it back when I was 12. my, principal of my elementary school, if you can believe it, wanted me to babysit her infant grandchild. I was 12 and this was a baby, like maybe, maybe a month and a half old. And she called my mom, she knew my mom. And she said, do you think that 10:22 that Lynn, my nickname's Lynn, would want to babysit my grandbaby. And my mom was like, do you really think you want to have Lynn babysit your grandbaby? And my principal's name was Mrs. Mosley. I don't think she's with us anymore. I'm 55. I'm pretty sure she's not. And she said, well, yes, she's so responsible and she's so helpful and she's a good student, da da da. My mom said she's never babysat any kids except her younger sister and brother. 10:51 Mrs. Mosley was like, all she has to do is come and be in the house for like four hours and the baby will be asleep. And if it cries, all she has to do is see if it's got a wet diaper and give it a bottle. I had never changed a diaper in my life. luckily this, this baby was perfect. Slept the whole time, never even cooed. And they came home and they paid me like $40. I was 12 years old. 11:21 I was so excited. It started my babysitting career. Like I was never without pocket money from the time I was 12 until I graduated high school. Great. So I totally get what you're saying, but I was a lot younger than you are. So it's really cool when something that you do, just you, gives you some form of satisfaction in that way. Yes. Yep. So you said you're 11:49 You have been doing candles, but you said soap is coming. Yes. Yeah. So another big important part is, you know, the military connection. So both my wife and I travel a lot. We've been to a lot of countries in our lifetime. And so, you know, what's unique about our products is we try to make them with the least amount of gradients possible. So I could go on a whole rabbit hole of what's in most of the candles that you get at the store. So. 12:17 Way too many things. Way too many things. A lot of, you'd have to be a chemist to basically understand or maybe even pronounce in totality the word that's in there that makes the scent. So our candles are all Clean Scent certified. We use organic products sourced in America. 12:37 But yes, we have soap coming, but it's the same song and dance from an ingredient standpoint. usually like to use an analogy for people of comparing it to a TV dinner instead of going to your local produce section in your local grocer. So our products would be from the produce section in comparison to the large cap companies that create TV dinners. If that gives you a good analogy of where we're going. 13:04 We have soaps that are coming. They take six weeks to cure. sure do. Yes, they do. We went through two months of trial. We also have beard oil. So I have a couple of partnerships. have a very large selection of that. There's already a couple on my store existing and a couple in the pipeline. And then at the local level here, when we get doing some of our booths later this spring, we'll be selling locally. 13:34 sourced honey. So it's not something that I'm going to have ship nationally, but for my local booths, I will have that. So that kind of gives you the realm of my products, if you will, and where we're going. it's very, it's, you know, and back to the travel piece that I mentioned. So last year we went to France and I'll never forget the lotion that was in our hotel. 13:57 And I looked at the ingredient, I'm like, my goodness, this smells so good. And I'm not usually big on hand lotion. I'm a guy, right? I'm considered a sitter. And I started saying, well, man, why does it smell so good? There's three ingredients on it. Right. And so I started doing this compare and contrast. And so that was really last year was when I really started to see how a lot of products in this country, you know, I don't want to talk politics, but 14:23 There's just not a lot of regulation, no matter if you're talking food or you're talking any other form of consumables. So, you know, up the road here, we have an old school that was vacated, a lot of towns, and they repurposed it into a small business shop. And in there, you'll actually find a lot of similar companies that are similar to ours that all make locally sourced products. There's a big market right now for 14:50 detergents that you wash your clothing in. You can go down a rabbit hole with that. So every industry with time kind of ebbs and flows. And I think that, you know, from a consumer standpoint, more so in the millennial population and Gen Z, not to say baby boomers or not, but I really think people are paying attention to the sourcing of their products, the ingredients of their products. 15:16 And kind of looking at that from a sustainability issue and saying, do I want all of this in my product? It smells really good, but is that right for me? And so that's really where a lot of this is going when we started to create our business is we've seen the trend, we support the trend and we want to kind of be produce a good product that's good for consumers. And so we've had 15:43 pretty good success. actually been extremely surprised even to be sitting here on a podcast in the month of March with being started in October. did an interview with the Jar Store, so we're going to be featured on our supplier of our American-made vessels for our candle line. And it's been a good experience this far. Fun. I'm really glad that it has been. 16:09 because sometimes you start a business and it seems like nothing but roadblocks and doorways shut in your face. And I'm not, I'm not saying that happens to everybody, but it can, and it can be really, really discouraging. Now I have a couple things to go back to here. I don't want to talk politics either, but anybody who's in America right now might want to really look at where they can get things locally. 16:36 Correct. Because of the terrorist situation. That's all I'm going say about that. Plus if you're shopping locally, you're supporting your neighbors and your community. So do that. It's good for everybody. Yes. Number two, beard oil. I don't like beard oil because I have really sensitive skin and if my husband has it on his beard, it makes my face get all red and blotchy. Yeah. If he kisses me and I really like it when my husband kisses me. So he doesn't use beard oil. But 17:05 But if he needed to use some kind of beard oil, because for whatever reason, one of the things that I have found is coconut oil is really good for beard oil. Like the most basic beard oil ever, and I don't have any reaction to that. So that's all good. But I know that there are people who absolutely love beard oil because it smells good. Yes. Yes. And then the third thing I was going to say, because I was going to say at the beginning of the podcast episode, and I forgot to mention it, 17:35 I have been doing a sort of every other episode update with our chickens that we just got four weekends ago this coming weekend. They are just starting to lay. My husband, my sorry, my son who still lives here brought in 10 eggs from 12 chickens this morning. Nice. Yeah. So anyone who's been following along with the, many eggs did we get today? It's 10 out of 12 chickens today. I am so excited. I cannot tell you. 18:04 Nice. Yeah, that's a good thing to have. Right now it sure is. It's like gold. Yeah. Yeah. We've seen a lot of chickens too. That's one thing for international travel. you know, chickens are to any of your listeners, sustainable source of protein for multiple reasons. They're a good thing to have. I do. tell you on the downside, they, are a lot to clean up after sometimes. You also have to watch out for predators. grew up in the outskirts of the big city. So. 18:32 You got to watch out for the fox and the coyote for Mr. Chicken, but they're really good to have. And we're really lucky. The coyote is like our neighbor's property far more than ours because they have more animals than we do. So when I hear the coyotes early in the morning, they're always sounding like they're over by the neighbor's property, which is like half a mile from us. And I'm like, I'm so sorry if they're losing critters, but at least they're over there and not over here. 19:02 Yeah, it's something to pay attention to. probably a matter of time. Yeah. And our chickens get locked into their coop every night and they have a chicken mansion. have one of those, uh, those sheds that you can get at like Home Depot or Lowe's. It's the vinyl stuff. And, and they actually have a lot of room right now. Cause we had, I think 30 chickens at one point that all went in there at night and now we only have 12. So they have. 19:30 They have more room than they can possibly use and they seem to be very happy. So we're, we're tickled to have eggs again. had chickens until last fall and then we got rid of them because they were getting old and not giving us very many eggs and we screwed up because you're supposed to stagger the new chickens every two years. You're supposed to get new, chickens. We didn't. So they were all the same age and my husband didn't want to feed them through the winter. And he said, do you mind if I just call them? And I was like, no, that's fine. And then chicken. 19:58 the eggs prices went up and I was like, God damn it. So we now have new chickens and they're beautiful and they're producing and I'm so excited because like I keep saying on the podcast, store-bought eggs are not great. I've actually said store-bought eggs suck. So very excited, meant to mention at the beginning, didn't do it so I'm saying it now halfway through. Do you guys, where do you guys live? Do you live in a house or an apartment or on land or what? Yeah, we have a very big house. 20:28 Yep. And we're on a half acre. do live in a subdivision, but we have a lot of space. There's three of us. So we have a pretty big house, a house that we're going to own for a long time. Very fortunate. So I think I mentioned at the start that we, you know, we've spent time in Washington, DC. We both used to work there. We backtracked here to Southern Ohio and we wanted to start a family and just be not in the limelight 24 seven. 20:57 I'm very, very fortunate. But on the house front, I'll tell you, my first house was built in 1901. So it's just that classic thing. Very similar to a car, if you will. Think about back to your first car and just kind of teeter totter with time in your life. Yep, for sure. And do you mind if I mention the third person in your household? No, no, absolutely. Yeah. So we're new parents. baby, yeah. 21:27 new baby. And you know what's funny is we've started this venture. I think that's a really good thing to bring up. So right before our baby was born is when all of the stars aligned for our business. Time management is very important. So I'm a basement dweller. I'm the type person, I'm not sure if you've heard of the analogy, but I know what your nine to five is, but what's your six to 10. And so 21:55 To answer that, it's twofold. One is parenting and second is growing this business. And so I do it in the wee hours of the night, whenever the feeding's done. I've even came down here at 3 a.m. just because I have a new idea for a new scent or product. so we're currently in our basement and we're scaling fast and it's been, you know, it's been extremely hard. So I've been told no more times that I've been tied. 22:24 told yes, but each no is one step closer to a yes. And so that's kind of how I look at things from a business standpoint. And, you know, it's been a good journey this far and a long way to go. Uh huh. Yup. Exactly. And honestly, you're in the new high of having your first baby. So that energy that you have is fake. It's fake energy, but it works. Yeah. 22:52 I mean, I look at it a sense of I have another excuse to get out of bed each day. And so, you know, I've been very driven from a career standpoint and, know, it's always, you know, you start from the ground up like most people I think do. And so it's nice to have another reason to get out of bed and be somebody in the United States right now. So it's a good source of motivation. I know it's challenging, but I've loved, it's kind of like the poke the bear analogy. Each day I'm like, yeah, you 23:22 don't have an option to not get up now, you're getting up. So it's been great. really am an advocate of parenting. And where I was going into it initially, I was not as excited as what I actually am and have been. So it's been great. Uh-huh. have three. I have four children, three of my body. One is a stepson, but he's the child of my heart. He's the one that was the Marine. Okay. 23:50 When they put my daughter, my firstborn, in my arms in 1989, I thought to myself, wow, 18 years is a damn long time. And I was brand new. I had no idea what I was doing. I was 10 days past turning 20. And my husband was older than I was and he already had a daughter. So he was a huge help at the time because he had already been through this thing. 24:18 When the day she turned 18, I was like, oh my God, 18 is a blink of an eye. And it's so funny how your perspective changes. So what I'm going to tell you, even though you're near your 40s, or over or under 40, but what I'm going to tell you at 15 years older than you are is enjoy every single moment with that baby and then that toddler and that preschooler and then that elementary school kid and then that preteen and then the teen. 24:47 And then the young adult, because you don't get them back. Yup. So, so soak it all up dad, cause, cause you gotta take it while you have it. Absolutely. Time is of the essence, right? Can't replace time. No, no. And take all the pictures you can, you can possibly store in your hard drive on your computer or in your phone and keep them. Absolutely. Because that little baby they put in my hands and in 1989 is now 35 years old. 25:15 And she is a full-grown, fully-fledged, gorgeous woman. And every time I see her, I'm like, how did this happen? Yeah. That's good. And I don't want to make podcasts into parenting advice because I get into this a few times every few months with people on the podcast, but it's important. If you want to be fulfilled as a dad, you got to do the work and you got to be in it and you've got to... 25:43 value every moment as far as I am concerned. yep, absolutely. Just like a career, right? You get out what you put in. Yeah, absolutely. My youngest son still lives with us and I still, he does things and I just like make a bookmark in my head of this is one of those moments where it's new for him, which means that it's new for me to watch him do something new. And I just take like a snapshot in my brain so I can remember it. 26:14 And he's 23. You know, would think I would be past this, but I'm not. He's still discovering new things, which is fantastic. So anyway, how's your wife doing? Is the baby a girl or a boy? A girl. Yes, my wife is doing very well. She started going back to work. yeah, very blessed. Looking forward to, we haven't... 26:37 gone on a... so my wife does a lot of travel. She's gearing up for her first back-to-work travel, which is going to be interesting, but I'll tell you what, FaceTime is a very big friend of ours in a lot of households, I think. I mean, I can't tell you how many times... back to the formula, I forgot what formula she wanted me to get and just pull up FaceTime in the store and there you go. But yeah. 27:04 Everything has been really good in that, in that sense. know, back to Valor plus Harvest and everything, it's just gives us a new reason to get up each day and get out there and press it our goals. Yeah, absolutely. You have all the reason in the world to do that. You were saying back in the beginning, how awesome it is to be working for yourself. Yeah. The other thing that is involved in working for yourself is remembering that you are the face of your brand. 27:34 You are it. whenever somebody tells me they started a business, I usually very gently say, just remember that from now on, every interaction you have with another human being is the impression they have of you, which means it's the impression they have of what you do, which means that if they talk about you, that you want it to be good. That's right. And so I'm not being nearly as gentle with you because I don't have to be. You are the brand. 28:01 That's right. You are the brand. I think that from a responsibility standpoint, that is one another thing, you know, I don't want to bash corporate America. Like I said, it's been a good experience for me, but a lot of times, you know, we have so many filters to go through to get from A to B, rightfully so to protect the brand, right? You think of big corporations that there's filters there for a reason. you know, back to, think, what are we, what I talked about the early state, you know, I've always 28:30 been in that realm of, know, there's a pass through, need to go, you know, to get to B, you have to unlock these codes and go through these approvals. And so it's really been a wake up call. And I've used my degrees that I went to school for more so now than ever. And it's really something. I also do a lot of speaking. I'll keep the organization private, but I'm a part of a professional organization where I serve in the president's role. And one of the parts of our 29:00 engagement is community outreach and also next generation training. So I talked to a lot of college students and entrepreneurship is a big topic right now. Brand equity is a big topic. A lot of parents that, excuse me, a lot of students that watch their parents dedicate 20 plus years to XYZ company missed a lot of birthdays, things of that notion. You can't, back to what we talked about, you can't replace that time. 29:30 And at the end of the road, come up short of the company or there's a mass layoff and their parent dedicated their entire life to this company. Right. So I guess that's another point I'm trying to stress about entrepreneurship and what's neat. It's like, yeah, we all can fail. But you really have more, I guess, opportunity from an entrepreneurial standpoint to, to pave the way for the next road. 29:57 Where at the large cap companies don't necessarily have that option You're absolutely right and I will tell you why I say that My husband worked for a rather large company for almost 30 years And he had had it back two years ago this month actually and he came home from work on Friday and he was very cranky and Saturday morning he got up and he was still very cranky 30:26 And we were sitting outside on our porch and I said, um, what's up? He says, I need to quit my job. And I said, okay. I said, I've been saying that for five years. So are you actually going to, are you actually going to quit your job? And he said, I think I am. I said, no, that's not good enough. I said, are you going to quit your job? And he said, yeah. I said, okay, what's plan? He said, we're going to make this place go now. 30:53 This place is a tiny homestead, where we live, it's a three acre hobby farm basically. Nice. And uh, we had a... 31:05 We had a farm to market garden going. You know, that was what we've been doing. We had done a CSA for a couple of years. We had chickens and he was like, I can sell stuff at the farmer's market and we have, can sell eggs and we can make, we can make our soaps and our candles and our lip balms and stuff in more quantity and we sell those. And I'm not going to lie. My first thought was that is not going to be enough money and come to find out it wasn't. He actually got a job that. 31:36 that same year in October, but he took six or seven months to get his head straight and to take a mental break and do what he loved to do. Yeah. And it really helped him. So just because he's no longer just an entrepreneur doesn't mean that it didn't help. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, it's such a 32:01 important topic, know, mental health, you know, when I first started my career, it was all about composite. And if you came to me and said that you're going to pay me $20,000 more to join your company, I wouldn't even before you could even tell me that I would already respond to you with a yes. throughout my career, I've learned that, you know, think shift. Money is not the only thing. Your purpose in life is also 32:29 different as well. example, back to the DC analogy, I worked extremely hard, made a lot more money, but my quality of life was the worst it's ever been. actually am a pretty fit person, always been into the gym, athletic community. I started to acquire high blood pressure and gained weight. And it's like, is your XYZ salary worth what it's doing to you from a physical standpoint on your life? And so it's so hard and it's, 32:58 It's going to continue to be hard. don't want to sugar coat things because, you know, I could talk for hours about global competition, but it's true. It's like the playing field. Yeah. I was used to, I like to use the analogy of the Olympics. The rest of the world is catching up. Rightfully so. And so it's going to continue to be a constant challenge. But you just really have to dig deep and, and then follow your North star and do what's right for you. 33:26 But it's very hard for a lot of people right now. Yeah. You have to want it. Whatever it is, whatever your it is, you have to really want it. Yeah. And do what it takes. Yeah, exactly. And like with this podcast, this podcast started out as a placeholder because my youngest was going to be moving out and I didn't want to go through empty nest syndrome without something to focus on. Yeah. 33:56 And I was like, yeah, I'll do a couple of episodes and see how it goes. And it probably won't do anything. And a year and a half later, it is the thing that I love to do. is my favorite thing during the week to line up interviews and talk to people because there's people like you. There's people who are coaches. There are people who are just growing food. There are people who are raising cattle. It's never the same. It may fall under the same umbrella, but it's never the same conversation. Awesome. 34:26 So I kind of really love it. I want to keep doing it. So this is my it. My husband's it is the growing plants and growing chickens and getting eggs. I'm not as into it as he is. I will cook any of that stuff, but he can grow it. It's all good. So anyway, Daniel, I try to keep these to half an hour and I'm sure you have a baby you'd like to go snuggle. So I'm going to catch you loose. But thank you so much for your time today. 34:53 Thank you so much for having me. encourage people to check out valorharvest.com and be on the lookout for our future products. And thank you for having me and you know where to find me if I can add value for you long-term, maybe follow up with me in a couple of years, see where I land. Oh, I would love to do that. All right. You have a great afternoon. You too. Bye. Bye.…

A Tiny Homestead

1
Tee’s Kitchen 35:45

16 päivää sitten35:45

35:45

Today I'm talking with Christi at Tee’s Kitchen . If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Christy at Tee's Kitchen in Louisiana. Good morning. How are you? Good morning. I'm doing well. Good. So what's the weather like in Louisiana this morning? Oh, it's... 00:29 Actually, it's raining. It's raining here, kind of humid, muggy, the typical Louisiana weather. Okay, well, it's like 35 degrees, I think, here in Minnesota and the sun is just pouring through the window. Oh, wow. I'm a little jealous. Yeah, so we're kind of on opposite ends of the spectrum, but that makes sense considering how far north I am and how far south you are. 00:56 Okay, so did the obligatory weather report. This is a thing now. I do this on every episode and tell me about yourself and what you do. Well, my name is Christy. I'm from South Louisiana, as far South as you can get. I'm married to my high school sweetheart and we've been married for 20, 25 years. And we have two, I'm a boy mom. We have two boys, an 18 year old and a 10 year old. 01:24 I'm an elementary teacher, so I currently teach third grade in the charter school system. And I also have, I guess you could call it a business, T's Kitchen, which kind of started out as a, I would bake from my home. slowly kind of got away from that lately because I've been so busy, but now I mostly do, like as my side gig, I do social media. And so I do cooking videos and. 01:52 Sometimes I work with brands and so I enjoy that social media aspect of my life, which is more of a hobby, but sometimes I wish it would be my full-time job because I just love it so much. Yeah, I'm discovering that media content production is really fun. Who knew? It's so much fun. Yeah, I mean, I'm not doing videos, but I'm definitely sharing my voice and other people's voices. And when I started it, 02:18 I was really nervous and now I just sit down and like, hi, how the hell are you? Let's chat. Right. Me too. I was so nervous at first too. I wouldn't even show my face. Like I would just show my the food, you know, and then slowly I started showing myself and becoming more vulnerable and I feel like people really connect to that, you know. Well, I think your face is adorable. I watched a couple of your videos and you're really good at it. Well, thank you. Yeah. Okay. 02:45 So we need to stretch this to half an hour about what you do. We're going to talk about your videos first. Your videos are really good. Like your diction when you talk, you are so clear, which is really helpful if there's actually like something you're trying to get across on how to do something. That's helpful. And you're always smiling. Whether you want to be or not, you're always smiling. I think it's beautiful. And some of your videos are funny, but 03:14 a lot of them are just really interesting. thanks. Wow, what a compliment. you know, we're always our own worst critic, you know, so I don't sometimes it's funny to see how other people's people, not people's other people perceive you, you know, so that's such a compliment. Thank you. You're welcome. And believe me, I am always my worst critic. I listened to the podcast back before I released them, obviously, to edit them. 03:42 Some of them I'm like, I don't know about that one. I'm not sure I want to put that one out. And I wait, I wait like a couple of days and I sleep on it then I listen to it again. I'm like, I don't know why I thought that was bad. It's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. I know, I know. And sometimes, you know, whenever you think something is terrible, other people really connect to it. And I don't know if it's cause it's, you're a little more vulnerable. I don't know, but some of the videos that I release and I'm like, the next day I'm thinking, Oh, I shouldn't have posted that. 04:11 I get the most comments or the most private messages from people that were like, I'm so glad you shared that. I'm going through that too. yeah. Yeah. The episodes I really get tweaked about when I'm doing this is if somebody says something that makes me tear up and you can hear it in my voice, and I don't like hearing my voice like that. Yeah. I'm like, that's a real reaction. It's important that people realize that 04:41 I'm human too, so. Right, right. Yeah. I've done my fair share of crying on social media. I'm really glad that it's not video from mine because I have the worst ugly cry face you've ever seen. no, that's not going to ever be seen on a video on the internet if I can avoid it. Okay. So are you in gumbo country? We are. We are. 05:10 So where I am, I'm actually located in Vermillion Parish. We have parishes here. And it's referred to as the most Cajun place on earth. So and the food here is, I mean, everybody thinks of New Orleans and I love New Orleans. But when you think of Louisiana, you think of New Orleans and the food is just different here. It's I think the food is much better here personally. I don't know. That's just the. 05:38 The people around here know how to cook and men and women equally that we, they all cook, you know? Yeah. Is, is barbecue a big thing in Louisiana? Uh, not, I mean, we do barbecue. love it on Sun. Usually people will do it on Sundays, you know, when the weather's nice in the summertime, um, not as much as we cook rice and gravy around here. Um, so yeah, barbecue. I mean, people do it, but it's not. 06:08 the most common thing here. Okay. And I would say we do it, but we don't do it as well as other like Texas does it a little better, I think. Okay, cool. Um, you said, you said rice and gravy. Um, my, one of my sons, uh, came to visit like, I don't know, a year or so ago and he made sausage, gravy and biscuits. Ooh, yeah. And that's, I hadn't ever really had it before. 06:36 He put a metric ton of black pepper in it and I'm not a fan. And so I really wanted to love it and I just couldn't get past the black pepper. And I ate like two bites and he was like, you don't like it. And I said, I think I do like it. I just think I would like it better if there wasn't as much black pepper in it. And he was like, oh, that's eight years in the military for you. And I was like, yes, I'm sure you a lot of black pepper. So like, I don't know, six months ago. 07:05 I said, you know, I'd like to maybe try making my own sausage gravy and biscuits. there's this sausage we get from a local store and I love it's breakfast sausage and it's really good. It's not peppery. It's not super sagey. It's just this really nice blend of seasonings. Right. So we had a pound of that in freezer. was like, I'm going to try my hand at sausage gravy and biscuits. Yeah. That is my number one like favorite breakfast sausage. Yeah. I love that. like it. I like it for dinner. 07:35 But anyway, made some and I used this this smokehouse maple seasoning in the gravy and some salt. And oh my God, I loved it. And my husband loved it. And the kid who still lives here loved it. And we just had that the other night for dinner. And I was like, I don't know why we don't have this more often. And then sweet and savory sounds good too, you know, love sweet and savory. 08:00 And then after I ate dinner, I was sitting there on my phone doing something for the podcast and I was like, Oh, I know why we don't do this more often. Cause it's really heavy. Right. I was like once a month, every two months in the winter time. Awesome. And the summer, maybe not so much. So yeah, food is, I am so glad I'm talking with you this morning because food is such a gift and it's such a, it's such a thing that brings people together and everybody can relate to it. 08:30 So when I saw your videos and what you do, was like, yeah, I to talk about food on Saturday morning. know. And that's why I think that's why I love to cook and I love to bake. And I think that's why. it does. It brings people together. I guess it's, and I always say this, like my husband and I laugh and we're like, food is our love language. It's how I show my love. Like that's instantly, if I want to make someone feel better, I cook for them. That's my way of showing I love them, you know? 08:59 And I've lost most of my family, you know, now. And so when I make their dishes or I make their recipe or certain things that I'll eat, it just takes me back and it reminds me of them. You know, so I think it does. It connects so many people together. Yeah, absolutely. I actually told the story that is a representation of that for me back months ago on the episode, but I will, I will shorten it and share it with you. My mom's mom used to make. 09:27 what she called Christmas candy every year. And she would make like peanut brittle and divinity and buckeye candy and fudge and just stuff that she would make. And she would send us like a 30 pound box of Christmas candy for Christmas. And she had Alzheimer's or whatever dementia, whatever they called it. And she was no longer with us by the time I was, oh, 09:57 30? Might have been before I was 30. And I adored her. She was this little tiny lady and she loved everybody and she was a fantastic cook and she was fun. And she loved flowers, she loved peonies and like she was just this sweet little lady. And so back about 15 years ago, I was like, I want to make grandma's candies and I want to send some to my family for Christmas. 10:22 Yeah, and I made grandma's candies. I didn't make all of them I didn't do peanut brittle because peanut burles kind of a pain in the butt Yeah, I didn't do divinity divinity is also a pain in the butt to me. did I did her little chocolate bonbon candies and I did Potato stick candy. I don't know if you know what that is. Yes Yeah, did that and some fudge and a couple other things and I sent my parents like a 40 pound box of candy 10:48 and said, divide this up between you two and my sister and my brother and your friends. And they still had candy in the freezer that following November. Oh, wow. But it was really, really neat using What a special thing. Yeah. So I think that if you're raised in a family where someone in the family before you makes a certain thing, 11:15 It's really kind of fun and really kind of important to try making it. Yeah, I agree. I agree because like I said, most of my family, they were great cooks. Both of my grandmothers were amazing cooks. My mom was a great cook. My dad didn't as my dad worked, you know, away a lot. So he didn't cook as much as my mom, but he had like the best fried chicken. And to this day, and that's 11:40 kind of how T's Kitchen, like more the cooking side developed was because I wanted to preserve those memories. But, you know, once he passed away, it was kind of sudden and kind of traumatic. And I just, we realized like, none of us actually watched him fry the chicken because I was inside helping my mom with the mashed potatoes or whatever. And he was outside frying chicken and none of it, he never wrote his recipe down and it just, we don't have it. And so I said, you know what, I'm gonna 12:09 I'm going to video myself. I'm going to make sure like my husband and I have been loosely working on a family cookbook for a couple of years. And I'm like, I want my boys to have that. I want them to have those memories because, you know, I wish that I still had that. still like my mom recently passed away of dementia in October, excuse me, September. And, you know, there's things that I'm like, I wish I wish I knew how she made this or 12:39 recipes that I can't find, you know, because it's true. Like, and I guess that's why I love food and cooking so much. It involves all your senses, you know? So it's like the most vivid memories revolve around food. So take, you know, once, when I have things that my mom made or my dad or my grandparents, it reminds me so much of them. So I want my boys to have those memories, you know? Yeah. 13:04 Have you ever tried making something that you hadn't tried making before that really brought back memories and you're just standing there chopping vegetables crying? Oh, yeah It happens to me often especially recently, know, cuz cuz both my parents are gone, but Yeah, so many things like and you know, I was scrolling through Facebook yesterday or day before and I was scrolling and I came across a 13:32 I don't know you've ever had this, but it's like an apple salad. So it has apples, raisins, and maybe just mayonnaise, I think. my mom, I have not had that in, my mom used to make it when we were kids. And when I saw it, I'm like, I haven't had that in over almost 30 years. And it just instantly took me back, you know? And I'm like, okay, I have to make that. Yeah. I think it's called Waldorf salad. I Yeah. Okay. What I've had. But yeah, it has, and it has walnuts in it. 14:02 Oh, okay. See, mom never put walnuts, probably because we didn't like nuts as kids. And it was so good. And I guess the sweet and savory, I'm a big fan of sweet and savory, like I said, but I was like, okay, I have to make that. But it instantly just took me back to my childhood. Yeah. And you were saying you want to make sure that you have a family cookbook put together for your boys. I've done that. I have actually made, I've done the little binders with the pages and put the recipes in them. 14:30 for my boys. I have a daughter, she's the oldest and I have three boys after her. And my oldest boy kept saying, kept calling or messaging or emailing and saying, how do you make this? How do you make that? Cause he remembers me making it. And I finally was just like screw it. And I literally put together a binder with the recipes that I have and sent them, sent it to him for Christmas one year. Oh, how nice. 14:56 And he sort of kind of knew it was coming because I asked him what recipes he really liked from when he was growing up. And he got it and he called and he was like, thank you. Now I don't have to keep asking you all the time. Like, exactly. it's just, it's a, it's a really simple thing you can do for your kids. Yes. And they do appreciate it. Whether, whether they're like really excited and 15:23 Yay, thank you. This is amazing. Or if they're just like, thanks, you know, they appreciate it. Right. Yeah. So, um, I was at my mom's funeral and my, call them parent. It's my godfather. So my godfather, he's really shy and reserved. And he came sit next to me and he said, you know, I have some, uh, he's probably trying to make me feel better. He said, I have some recipes, uh, from my mom, from my grandmother. And he said, would you like those? 15:52 And I'm like, of course, I mean, that's like gold to me. I'm like, yes. And he's like, I need to get those to you. I'm going to get those to you. But I have a, think he said recipe cards or whatever, and I'm going to get those recipes to you. We really still haven't connected to do it, but I mean, it was like, okay, instant, like my heart just burst, you know, like that was his way of trying to comfort me. And he knew that I loved food. And so I can't wait to get those recipes and, and start 16:21 digging into that, which I'm kind of curious to get because my grandmother was actually legally blind. someone else must have written those recipes for her. So I'm kind of anxious to get them and see what it's like, because most of the things that she cooked and are baked, she would just feel. would, know, and she didn't measure really well. She used the coffee cup to measure. So it should be interesting. so this brought up, I need to see about that. 16:49 Yeah. when you, if and when you get them, make sure that you scan them and save them in your computer. Oh yeah. In case something happens, the actual hard copies, cause that would be terrible to lose those. Right. I know that's true. The other thing I was going to say for you and for the listeners is that people don't live forever. We know this. So if you have, if you have things like you want to know what your grandma's recipe for brownies is or 17:19 family history or any of that. Ask now while they're still here. Yes, yes. I know. So on my dad's side of the family, his only living sibling is he has a sister. And I was telling my cousin the other day, said, you know, we really need to one day I sat down with her and we had coffee and I'll do we'll do that every now and then. And she was just telling me all kind of information that I never knew about my my my family, you know, and 17:45 I'm like, I need to go back though, because now I'm like, I'm 45. So my memory is not great. Um, and it's been a rough year for me. So I think that's having that's a little bit having to do with the memory loss, but I need to sit down with her. And she was like, of course I said, I'm going to bring a notebook and I'm going to write down all these facts because she just has, she's getting up in age though, and her health is not great. So I really need to do it soon, but, um, she is a wealth of information and she has a great memory. So. 18:15 I I need to make it a point to sit and write all that down because now I mean once your family starts passing away, it's like I'm almost in a panic, you know, I do know because my dad's mom passed away when he was two. He never knew his mom. Oh, and my grandpa was so madly in love with my grandma that it just it just killed him that she died so young and he never really talked about her. 18:44 He just couldn't. And then he remarried. And my mom, when my grandpa passed away, my mom went up and helped clean out his house and she found a box of cards that had been sent to my dad's mom when my dad was a baby. And little notes about what a pretty baby Calvin was. Things like that. That were so precious to have. So I do understand that 19:13 you gotta ask the questions now. And we didn't have the opportunity to do that because she was long gone by the time I was born. But yeah, there's just, I mean, I have a whole extended family on that side of the family out there somewhere and I don't know how to get hold of any of them. It's hard. It's really hard when you know there's that potential but there's just no way to make that connection. Right. Right. 19:41 It's so important though, because that's, you memories are, you know, you have to preserve those memories, especially, you know, as you now I appreciate things that, you know, at the time I thought were so insignificant. And now I just, I really, and I'll talk about this sometimes on, on my stories on Instagram and Facebook, like just little things will just, you think they were insignificant at the time, but it just triggers an instant memory, you know? Yeah. 20:09 My youngest likes to make baked beans and my mom used to make Boston baked beans. And so when my youngest, who's 23 now, when he gets the beans out and he actually, he gets the bags of beans and he soaks the beans overnight and boils the beans to soften them and they make baked beans. And when he makes it, he puts that molasses in there and all I can see is my mom in her kitchen making Boston baked beans. Right. Yes. It's like, dude. 20:39 I'm so glad and so not glad that you like making these. Exactly. So, and the other thing that I really want to say is you guys cooking is not as hard as you might think it is. No. And I feel like the first step in cooking for anybody is learning how to boil water because there are people who have burned a pan boiling water. Oh, wow. 21:07 Yeah. Because they don't know. They don't know that they have to, you know, watch for it to boil. Right. once it boils and you know, you know, sort of where that mark is, you know, it takes about this many minutes for this big a pan. And then you can move forward to like boiling eggs. So you have hard boiled eggs. And the easiest way to make hard boiled eggs for me is I put five eggs in a small saucepan and I cover them about an inch over the top of the eggs with water. 21:36 And I bring that to a boil and then I let it boil for 10 minutes and then I shut it off. Oh yeah. That's how I do it. And if you can boil an egg to hard boiled for egg salad or deviled eggs or whatever, you have officially cooked something. Right. Right. So it's, not that hard. is, it is being able to follow directions, pay attention and then eat what you made. Yeah. And I think, you know, a lot of people are intimidated, but you just have to get started and 22:06 you know, some of them, when I receive compliments from people that say, oh, I didn't realize you make it look so easy. That's just like, that means the world to me because I want people, I want it to look easy. want, I don't want people to be intimidated. You know, you nowadays, it's like, we have to, you have to learn how to cook for your family. You know, um, it's, what brings people together. So you have to learn how to cook for your family. And like you said, it doesn't have to be complicated. It can be so simple. Um, 22:36 But you just have to kind of take that first step, I guess, you know? Yes. And the most simple cooking is not any harder than reading the back of a microwave dinner box that says, that says peel the plastic back, put it in the microwave, set the timer for two minutes or whatever, take it out, take the plastic off, put it back in for a minute. You have food. If you can do that, you can cook. Right. Right. 23:03 And I'm not trying to be snotty about this because I know that a lot of people just literally think they don't have time to cook. there are some people who may not have time to cook. They may have a full-time job that's 60 hours a week and have four kids at home who want to eat the minute you walk in the door. I get it. But you got to make time for yourself. And one of the most pleasurable things that I do for myself is cooking from scratch. Yeah, me too. 23:32 I love it. And I think it's because it's for me and I always say that it's sort of like therapy for me. You know, when I'm cooking, I'm not, you know, worried about anything else. It's kind of relaxing. I know it's not like that for everyone, but it is for me. It's like therapy. Yeah. It puts you in this zone where you are focused on one task. And when you're focused on one task, it's really hard to worry about other things. Yes. 23:59 I love that part. really do. love the cooking zone. Okay, so you're an elementary school teacher. Yes. Yes. So do you talk about cooking and food with your students? Not so much. I don't, um, some of my kids, like they'll note it, they'll, they'll figure out, I guess that I'm on social media, but I don't really advertise it. You know, I don't say too much about it. 24:24 But that is something that I would like to somehow figure out how to incorporate more of. Like every now and then for years I've done, like for Mardi Gras, we'll do homemade king cakes and I use, know, Pillsbury, just the cinnamon rolls out of the can and I show them how to make a king cake and we've done that. 24:44 You know, little things like that. Last year, I was, they asked me to be on the local news and I did like a cooking segment. And so I had to miss school for that. And when I came back, I guess the other teachers were talking about it and the kids were just like, Ms. Christy, show us, you know, show us the videos. And so I did show them those, but, and they were so excited to see their teacher on TV, you know? But I really, I don't, kind of, I've been, I've kept that. 25:10 part of my life a little more private, you know, but I do want to figure out a way to kind of incorporate more of that into the classroom if I can. Because it is an important skill and I don't think, you know, don't think nowadays I don't think they teach enough life skills at school. They do not. I guarantee you they do not. I I know that we don't, we just don't, you know. Yeah, it would be nice if they did, but they don't. So you were on TV. How was that for you? It was 25:39 It was amazing and it was live TV. So I was very nervous at first, but the host was just so he was great. so I just did, I'm trying to think of what it was. Oh, it was Valentine's Day treats for mom. was like a mother's day special. And so I had to come, you know, and I would sort of prepare the food. I mean, it was quick things. They didn't have a kitchen. So I would just kind of show it was showing kids how to make little treats for their mom for Valentine's Day. 26:08 And was so much fun. That sounds like a ball. I would have been nervous as a long-tailed cat in room full of rocking chairs. I hate being on camera. But yeah, that does sound like a lot of fun. And you are so bubbly and so personable. I'm sure that it came across really great. Well, thank you. OK. Well, what's on the horizon for your cooking stuff in your social media? 26:38 Content creation thing you got going on. Oh gosh, I don't know, you know I'm just I'm at a point like I said, I've kind of I wasn't as consistent this year just because of the hard year we had with social media, but I'm kind of in a good place where I'm just I guess I'm a little bit more vulnerable and Just being more authentic on social media. That's kind of my thing. Like I'm not one to 27:05 follow the trends and that's probably why I don't grow as fast as other people. just not, don't want to force anything. So if it's something that I'm not comfortable with, I don't really do it. So I just kind of go off of, and most of the stuff that I film, it's truly what we're having for dinner. Like I film what we are cooking. And so it's not, don't plan content, I don't do any of that. But I would like to expand it. 27:33 My goal, one of my goals is to teach a cooking class, whether it be online or in person. I'd really love to do a kids cooking class. And I've been talking about this for a year and I just have not been able to make it happen because of location and all of that. So that is probably one of my goals that I really want to work on is starting that, like doing some kind of cooking class. Um, and I really would like to, you know, collaborate with more local Cajun. 28:01 brands or businesses. love promoting local businesses. there's actually it hasn't been announced and we haven't really figured out all the details, but I do have a collaboration and working opportunity with a new local business that kind of like encompasses all of what Cajun food is all about. So I'm excited and I really hope that it pans out. So I have that going on and I don't know. just 28:29 I'm just kind of, I've been praying about it and you know, cause I was stuck for the longest time and I've just been praying and saying, you know, just I trust in you and show me what I need to do. What is your purpose for me? know? yeah. Okay. So I, I try to keep these to half an hour, but you just gave me another question to ask you. Um, so I know very little about Cajun cooking. I, I know about, um, 28:56 uh, Cajun blackened chicken and I'm not a fan, but that's because I've had it in Northern States. Who knows how it is when it's cooked the way it's supposed to be cooked. So what makes Cajun food Cajun food? Is it a specific set of seasonings? What, what makes it Cajun? Well, most Cajun dishes we, do have our own, um, they have cayenne pepper bits. Most people think that Cajun food is spicy and I would say it's really not. It's just got such a good. 29:25 I don't know. It's got a good, it has a little bit of a spice, but it's, it's a great flavor. Um, so I think first and foremost, if it's Cajun, it's gotta have the Cajun seasoning, which is usually like salt, cayenne. We don't use a ton of black pepper, but some, some Cajun seasonings do have it. Garlic. cook with a lot of garlic and most dishes start with onions, bell pepper, celery, and people call it the Cajun Trinity. know? Miraflour, yes. 29:54 So it starts with that, but Cajun food is, I would describe it as more country. Like people in this area were just poor and they lived off the land. know, like my family, like my boys hunt, like we, hunt and they fish and it's, you know, we have a lot of seafood and you know, we boil seafood, we boil crawfish, we boil crabs. Like I said, most around here, everybody cooks rice and gravy. 30:24 And that's basically like Cajun people would take their tough cuts of meat. They would brown it and they would throw in onions, bell pepper, celery, you know, or what really whatever they would have in their garden is what it would, they would use. And you just braise it. You cook it low and slow for a long time and they serve it over rice because in this area, rice is a major crop and we have tons of rice farmers. um, you know, it was a cheap way to just, okay, whatever cut of meat they had or seafood or whatever. 30:54 you would just cook it in a gravy and it stretches the meal and it really, you you can just kind of cook it while you're cleaning or doing whatever, let it just cook on low and serve it over rice and it stretches the meal and it just feeds a lot of people. So I would say Cajun food is just humble country. We eat a lot of rice, a lot of seafood just because we have it available, a lot of wild game. We even eat alligator like. 31:21 Just whatever is available. Like in my freezer currently, it's, I don't normally buy a whole lot of meat from the store, maybe chicken, sometimes pork, but it's mostly a lot of wild game and a lot of seafood is what we have. Very nice. I'm so jealous. spice is just, oh, it's amazing. Like there is nothing like it. And if it's done well, it's, you know, it's really, really good. 31:46 I'm so jealous of the seafood. grew up in Maine. I could eat seafood whenever I wanted to and I didn't like it. And now I'm an adult. I like it, but I can't get my hands on good seafood in Minnesota. Gee, I wonder know, we're so spoiled. We're spoiled. And now I see people eating like the imitation crab meat and I'm thinking, don't get it. Like, why would you eat that when you have crabs available? but. Because it's the same thing as people who eat Miracle Whip versus people who eat real mayo. 32:16 Right. Yeah. think it's the same thing, but it is not the same thing. It's not. It's not. And I guess we're spoiled. We're so spoiled because we're used to having crabs. I mean, we went and we caught crabs a couple of weekends ago and we had that. That's what we had. And it's like, most people would be so jealous of that. know. Me? Yes, me. I would be jealous of that. I am jealous of that. So is gumbo like... 32:43 I haven't really had it. it's kind of like a stew over rice. you serve it over rice, but it's a little thinner than a stew. So it starts off with a roux, you just, but you brown the roux really, really dark. Okay. And then you add the onions, bell pepper, celery, and then you add enough water and your meat. Like around here, we do different, like everybody thinks that 33:11 um you need okra and gumbo. Around here it's a little bit different. So we'll have a chicken and sausage gumbo or we'll have a shrimp and okra gumbo or we'll have a seafood gumbo. You know sometimes we have okra in it sometimes we don't. So yeah it's like the same flavor of a stew but it's a little more watery I would say. Okay. And you just serve it with rice and then we always have potato salad with it. 33:39 Oh man, you just got me. love potato salad. too. Summer's coming. Potato salad is our thing in the summer. So I'm looking forward to that first. Yeah. Brat and burger and potato salad and fresh cucumber from our garden. That'll happen in I know. I can't wait for the fresh vegetables. Oh, I can't wait. My husband usually... I have a brown thumb. 34:02 But I love when he's got the green thumb and his garden is always amazing and I cannot wait for those fresh cucumbers and tomatoes. Me either. I got four months to go, ma'am. Oh my God. Yeah, tomato. Good tomatoes in Minnesota in the wintertime. Real hard to find. I would think so, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, there's a company I keep mentioning them and I need to let them know I keep mentioning them. 34:30 But they have hot house tomatoes that they grow here in Minnesota in the big greenhouses. And usually hot house tomatoes are not great. These tomatoes are fantastic. They actually taste almost like the ones we pull out of our garden in July and August. And I love this place. And so if I'm going to do like a bruschetta thing with the basil and the, can't talk, the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, 34:59 tomato, garlic, basil leaves, and mozzarella chopped up in it on toast. I'm going to get tomatoes from that company from the store because they are the best ones. yeah, you definitely need to mention them. Like you said, let them know you mentioned them. Wow. Yeah, I talk about them a lot because they're the only game in town for a decent tomato in Minnesota right now. All right, Kristy. 35:25 Thank you so much for your time today. I pushed it to 35 minutes. I'm okay with that though. Thank you. you again. This was so much fun. I'm so, I'm so honored that you invited me. This was so much fun. I'm so glad you had time to chat with me. You have a great weekend. Thank you. Same to you. All right. Bye. Bye.…

A Tiny Homestead

1
Country Roads Farm 36:36

17 päivää sitten36:36

36:36

Today I'm talking with Danielle at Country Roads Farm . You can follow on Facebook as well. If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 After listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Danielle at Country Roads Farm. That's it. Good morning, Danielle. How are you? Good morning. How are you, Mary? I'm good. I've got a really goopy voice. 00:26 Right now, I don't know why, hopefully it'll clear itself up as we keep talking. It's that weather. Yeah. We got some real weather last night. We were supposed to get six to seven inches of snow, supposedly, but we live in the plains area of Minnesota. So the wind just blew and blew and blew and there's maybe an inch and a half on the ground out there. But the wind was really, really bad. I mean, I had the fan on in my room and I could still hear the trees creaking outside. was like, oh. 00:55 50 mile barwind. No, have in, we are in the thumb of Michigan and it's been a winter. It's been a long time since Michigan has had a good winter. I don't want to say hard. It hasn't, but it's been a good solid winter and honestly we need it. But this week is finally 40s and today is almost 50 and it's definitely given spring fever. 01:25 You're having the week that we had last week. Last week was gorgeous here. 01:32 Yeah, we're supposed to have snow. Oh, I saw it in the forecast. I want to say it's in a couple of days. you know, lovely, lovely Michigan. Well, it is spring in a Northern tier state. You just never know what you're going to get to quote Forrest Gump. You just never know. Right. All right. So tell me about yourself and what you guys do. So. 01:56 We have country roads farms, which is last year was our first year being open for business. And we are a an agro tourism farm, I guess is the best description of it. We have a petting farm and we offer you picks. We do workshops, all sorts of fun stuff. We're open from May to December. 02:26 fun. And for anyone who doesn't know what agritourism is, it basically is a farm-ish place that offers entertainment through people going and experiencing the activities on the farm. Right? Yeah. So it's absolutely what it is. Okay. Good. Yeah. I was looking at your Facebook page. Your place looks like so much fun. I want to go. 02:55 It's definitely a lot of fun and we kind of, oh, so what started out originally as the idea for a Christmas tree farm quickly involved into being more of a multi-seasonal. And more so it was, know, financially it was driven just by not putting all of your eggs in one basket. 03:22 Christmas trees are a little bit of a risky business in that they take seven to 10 years to grow. during that time, you have to hope and pray that they make it, know, blights, know, drought, too much rain, you name it, everything in between doesn't wipe out your tree lots. So. 03:47 So yeah, we decided to just kind of open it up and then we were given the advice of several other farmers about agritourism and looking for ways to invite the public to your farm and kind of capitalizing on that. And we absolutely love that aspect of our farm. So I'm really glad that you do. I'm guessing you're not shy. No, I'm not shy. I'm. 04:14 I'm a mom of four kids and we're all outgoing and kinda, there's not much that holds us back, that's for sure. We're a spirited group. I love that. Spirited is such a great word. So you diversified your business is what you're telling me. What did you add in? 04:38 We open in May with Mother's Day flowers and flats of vegetables. And I'm sorry if you can hear that. That's my dog scratching at the door. I kicked him out so they wouldn't bark. are so many dog noises on every episode of my podcast. It's totally fine. So, but we, well, that's good. So I'm not the only one, but no, so we have the flowers and the plants and that kind of, and then we do hard dip ice cream. 05:09 in the petting farm. So all that opens up in May. And then come June, we start transitioning into cut flowers and dupix. And then as that goes, the vegetables start coming in. So then we start getting the produce for the farm market. And then that transitions into fall with the mums and pumpkins. 05:34 Apples, we are licensed to press their own cider. So we do that and do cider slushies and fresh donuts. And then we transition into Christmas with the pre-cut Christmas trees, wreaths, porch pots. And in between all of this, we're doing field trips. We do... 06:00 workshops and different classes and events and farm to table events. We also do fundraisers. So there's a lot that goes on on any given day, week, month. So. Wow. I don't, I don't want to know what your whiteboard looks like. It's, it's insane. We were actually, it's absolutely insane. I was looking at getting one of those digital calendars, wall calendars. 06:28 And maybe that'll help. I don't even know. Oh, and then we have, you know, the animals and the chickens and the eggs and all that stuff. So. Yeah, you're a busy lady. Holy cow. Or holy chicken, whatever. Right. It takes the whole family. My husband is amazing. So he's a huge, you know, he he's I couldn't do it without him. So. 06:55 Yeah, I've got one of those too. He could probably do it without me, but I couldn't do it without him. Yeah, that's about it. Okay, so two things. One's about dogs. My dog has been behaving herself admirably lately. She has not really barked in the background lately when I'm recording. And I'm very proud of her because her job is a watchdog. So on the days where she doesn't bark when I'm recording, I go downstairs and I pet her and I love on her and I'm like, thank you for not barking, Maggie. I appreciate it. 07:24 And then the ice cream thing. Do you guys make the ice cream from scratch? No. So we have, we just use all Michigan brands and, uh, and that's what we offer in our farm market. So, you know, it's a kind of a, you know, we're staying local and that we stay with the Michigan brands. I can't do that. I don't have enough time in the day to make my own ice cream. So. 07:50 I was just curious because I have had the experience of making ice cream from scratch with the old fashioned bucket that you turn the handle on and it takes a while and I have never used a modern day ice cream maker, but I'm guessing they're small. So that probably wouldn't help you. Yeah, we have, we actually have two, two of them. One attaches to my KitchenAid and then we have just a regular plugin one I think my kids got for Christmas one year. And we love, we used to make it all the time and the kids were little, the homemade ice cream, but. 08:20 You know, we haven't made it since adding it to the farm market. Now you just go and grab, grab some when you want some. Uh huh. Exactly. It's handy and it's already made. It is. I find I skip a lot of meals and you know, just kind of go quick, grab some ice cream. It's probably terrible to say, but. Well, milk is good for you. We'll go with that. Yeah. Well, I like the triple peanut butter. So I figure it's got the protein in it. So we're good. It's dairy, it's protein. 08:50 It's a frozen protein shake. It's good for you. Yep. That's what I go with. Yeah. I'm going to ride that train all the way to the end. That'll work. Okay. So what do you have for animals? So we have mini, they're all minis because of the putting farm, but we have the Shetland ponies. 09:13 Fainting silky goats. And then we have Highland cows and we bred those to a miniature breed. So this summer we're excited to be able to have the little mini cows. And then we have maybe 50 chickens. And we're getting ready to add meat birds. 09:40 to the mix and do meat, birds and turkeys for this fall, well summer and fall. Awesome. Awesome. That's great. And are you, are you doing the meat, chickens and stuff for yourself or are you going to sell some of them too? Both. Yeah. Both. So obviously we're going to keep some back, but we're also going to sell it through the farm market as well. So. Well, you have yourself a really fine enterprise going there. 10:10 Danielle. You know, sometimes I feel like I bit off way more than I can chew. then it comes, it's always the pre-work that's stressful. And then it starts coming together and then it's not so bad. But I feel like this time, which should be the slow time, I feel like is almost the busiest time, because you're hustling, trying to get all of, you know, like all my seeds and I'm starting to get all those going. 10:40 and trying to keep the lisianthus alive. you know, there's just so much going behind the scenes that I feel like once everything's planted and going, I can breathe easy. And, you know, then it's a matter of paying employees to help upkeep it. It's not solely on me. Yeah. Is January your month to maybe have a little breathing room? Yeah. So this year we closed 11:09 about a week, a week and a half before Christmas. Um, and then we all kind of, my husband and I just kind of plopped for two straight days on the couch and, uh, and you know, and from, from then on, we just kind of relaxed for a good six weeks. Good. Um, but yeah, ended January, you know, it all kind of starts up other than the Lizzy Anthus. Those got started early, but, um, other than that. 11:39 There was a lot of pre work to be done, a lot of pre planning, figuring out what I want to grow, getting those ordered, all of that. Now, and now I'm, you know, sewing every day. We're sewing stuff. Yep. Your kind of business is the kind of business that if you don't force yourself to take a break, you will burn out and you've only been doing this for a year, right? Yeah. Yeah. There, there definitely has been, um, last year being our first year open, 12:09 Um, I want to say it was kind of the learning year and there was definitely some burnout that we had to address very quickly. And I find like with my husband, I, when we both start getting burnt out is when you start arguing and squabbling over things that normally wouldn't, you know, you're sure you're just stressed out, you're tired. Um, and so we had to, cut back in our hours for the farm market. We, you know, 12:37 Um, we, we've just learned that you just can't be working non-stop 24 seven. We hired employees because at first we thought we could do it all ourselves. Um, that's just not feasible. Uh, so. Is, know, it's just kind of learning and then, you know, learning to let things go because not everything's always going to be perfect. So you just gotta let things go sometimes and, and let it work itself out. Cause it will. Absolutely. 13:06 Perfectness is silly. I've said this before, I'm going to say it again. It's okay to shoot for perfect, to have that be the goal, but sometimes good enough is good enough. You know, I learned last year that everybody was thrilled with good enough. They were thrilled. I mean, it was our first year, right? was nowhere we're still building and still growing and still expanding and 13:36 And I felt like last year, the best I could do was good enough. um, and everybody was thrilled. And so I think it kind of taught me that I need to lower my expectation and my bar just a little bit. It's okay. And, uh, you know, as long as my plants are growing and I have crops to deliver and, know, the animals are taken care of, I mean, it's a good day. So. 14:06 Yeah, what you thought was good enough, everybody else thought was just perfect. Right. I think part of it, this type A personality of mine, like, you know, it should be like this beautiful, pristine Martha Stewart type of farm. And that's just not reality. That is not a, and we are a working farm that, you know, we try our hardest to keep it beautiful and to make it an experience. But 14:33 There are times when, you know, it's going to be a muddy mess because it's a farm and, you know, there's going to be dead plants and there's going to be weeds, you know, and it is what it is. Yep. And when people come and see those baby cows this summer, they're not going to care about weeds. They're going to care about the baby cows. Yes, they are. I know my, was joking. Well, not really joking, but my husband and kids and I were all talking about it and they said, you know, 15:03 We could probably have like a little goat, like a goat channel. These people probably watch these fainting goats and all their shenanigans. You should. Probably all of those little animals, they're quite, quite humor, especially like the pony, because they're all together. The ponies and the goats and the, even the chickens will run in to the main, you know, pasture and. 15:30 They, it's funny because they all kind of play with each other and it's very humorous to watch it happen. Yeah, you should, you should do that. You should set up a YouTube channel. And if you don't already have one. No, I don't. It's only spare time. should find some teenager who wants to play and let them set it up and let them set up the cameras. And I guarantee you, you will have more subscribers than you can even guess at in a month and a half to watch the goat. 16:00 and the cows and the baby cows and whatever else. Chickens too, probably. Yeah, they do. And they all kind of play and it's quite funny, especially the one male pony Ben likes to play with the goats and chase them and kind of get them going. And then they'll pass out, over and faint, guess I should say, and fall over. And he'll just kind look at them like, what just happened? This was not the plan. You're not running. 16:30 And, but it really is funny cause he'll kind of chase them and he gets a little, he gets a little spirited, especially being winter and kind of cooped up. So. Yeah. Yep. He's going to be really happy here in about three weeks when it's not so yucky out anymore. Yeah, definitely. Well, you sound like you absolutely adore what you're doing. I do. I love it. It's been a dream of ours for a long time. 16:59 We, oh gosh, how long goes it out? About 10 years ago, I wanted to start a Christmas tree farm. And at the time we were kind of, so we flipped houses ever since the crash and we lived in it for two years and it literally was right on that two year mark. So you didn't get capital gains tax, but right on that two year mark, we would. 17:23 list the house and move on and buy a new one and renovate. And these were always, you know, farms. So we've always had a hobby farm of one sort or another, but this one particular property would have been a beautiful tree farm. And my husband being an engineer is a very black and white spreadsheet kind of guy. I, created a whole Excel spreadsheet color coordinated, created the cost analysis so we could kind of sit through it and 17:49 He looked at it and that's a great plan. said, yeah, this would be a perfect retirement. And, and shortly after that, our son had, was diagnosed with cancer and it just kind of put everything on hold and you know, and it stayed on in the back burner for years. And you know, he's, he's perfectly fine now. It was two years of chemo and crazy and scary and lots of prayers and 18:18 You know, now he's an 18 year old strapping young man that thinks he's, you know, invisible to everything. Like your typical 18 year old. Um, but last two years ago, we, um, we had just built a house on a lake. It was, you know, it was in the woods, um, on a lake and, it was our dream house. And, uh, very quickly we started realizing that. 18:46 We are not Lake people. the first time where we didn't have a farm or were in more of agricultural area. And it just wasn't us. And so we sold it and bought the farmhouse that we're in now and started our dream 10 years later. Which just goes to show that you can make a choice and if you're not happy with it, you can change your mind. It's okay. 19:13 You absolutely can. know, it was, was one of those. It was so, I mean, it was a beautiful, it was a dream house. We built our dream house, what we thought we would want. Um, and we planned on staying there forever. Cause you know, we were flipping houses and up until that point, we, know, we decided this is it. We're done. It's time to put in roots. We have moved our kids so many times that, and this whole time we stayed it within the same school district, but. 19:42 Every two years our kids were in a new house and it was time to stop and to be done and just to settle. And so we built it and I looked at, we had the discussion, said, we can, the housing market was insane. We could sell it now as a new build and sell it very quickly or we can wait till the kids are all graduated and hope and pray that the values are still there, the housing market's still there. 20:12 And, and, you know, and obviously we decided just to kind of rip the bandaid off and, we were, you know, I think a lot of it was pride. We just built this house and there was a lot of opinions on how, you know, our crazy, our craziness, our indecisiveness, I guess you could call it. But we knew that we weren't going to be there long-term. It just, we are not relaxed, sit down, lay back and stare at the lake kind of people. 20:42 So it's great for vacation, but it's just not us. So. Yeah. Yeah. And it's great that you knew that, you know, I mean, so many people think, Oh, I want to move to Italy and remodel a villa and, and eat tomatoes and basil all day long. And then they, go do something like that. And they're like, I hate this. I want to go do something else, but they're so, they're so caught up in that, that I don't know that choice that they can't step. 21:11 out of it. So I think it's great that you just knew that that was not going to be where you'd be happy. So I want go back to the Christmas tree thing. does your place already have Christmas trees growing? So we, last year, we planted our first set of trees. So we planted 3000 Christmas trees. 21:34 And then we have another 3,000 on order for this year. So every year our plan is to plant 3,000 tree blocks essentially. we have them, they're not ready to be cut yet, which is why we do pre-order trees for the Christmas season. Right now, yeah. For now. For now. For now. So we're hoping the trees will be done 22:04 So we spent a little more money, got a little bit of bigger trees and invested in what's called, oh gosh, it's either L-POTS or L-E-POTS, it's E-L-L-E. And basically these trees, their roots have never been disturbed throughout their lifetime. They stay in these biodegradable pots and they continuously just get potted up. 22:31 And so you have to hand plant all of them in. but their roots at these trees just have taken off and done amazing. It was worth every penny of our investment on these trees. But, um, so we're hoping in five to six years, uh, we'll be able to start offering, uh, our own trees. So I have five, six years to grow our farms by the time we're ready to open for that Christmas season. 23:01 I want our place well established and well known. So I my work cut out for me. I feel like that's a hefty goal, but we'll get there. are incredibly smart about this. I'm really impressed because most people don't understand that you got to have the people who know, trust and like you to come and visit you and spend their money in your establishment, you know? Right. 23:30 You're building your farm. You're making it as pretty as you can so that it's attractive for people to come. You are growing your animals for your petting zoo. Obviously they're going to keep growing. people are finding out about you every year. And so when you do have your own trees, people are going to be like, oh my God, they're finally ready. they're going to walk through. 23:55 That's the goal, you know, then one last year, a big pivot, one I never saw coming, never saw it coming. It kind of took me by surprise and I decided to roll with it. But in our area, so we're in, you know, the thumb of Michigan, it's very rural, very... 24:20 Uh, I don't want to say poor, but it, you know, it is a lot of rural America areas, um, have a much lower, you know, um, income ratio than, and so, um, but we were finding a lot of people coming to the farm still buying our produce, but wishing that we could accept, um, EBT snap benefits and WIC and, know, senior fresh and all that stuff. 24:50 And so last August, I started looking into it. And so I'm excited. So this year moving forward, we'll be accepting the SNAP and WIC benefits and hopefully the Senior Project Fresh and the various benefits that you can get for it. So I believe last year is the first year that they opened it up to 25:18 actual farm stands to be able to accept those benefits. That's amazing. I'm so glad you did that. My question on that is how hard was it to to make that happen? Was it a lot of paperwork or was it just filling out a couple forms? No, it's it's taken months and I'm still working on my approvals. 25:40 I started in August and I'm still going. And it's funny because I just did a webinar for MSU Extension about my journey. I told her, said, I am not doing a how-to because there is no rule book or instruction manual on how to do this. And WIC is state-based. 26:07 where SNAP is, you know, through the USDA, and they don't work with each other. The Senior Project Fresh is something different, and there's all different things in between. The Double Up Food Bucks, they all work not with each other. So you're having all these separate, different approval processes that you're going through, simultaneously. Well, I'm glad that you were 26:37 dealing with the hassle to make this happen because that's really important. So it's a need in our community. And I think, um, it's a much needed, you know, that it's tough to get good produce that, um, is, know, we, are not certified organic, but I do grow them organically, um, due to the Christmas trees, we will never be certified organic because, um, 27:06 Honestly, I refuse to go organic with them. takes, you know, seven, 10 years to grow them and I won't risk, you know, them getting wiped out from, you know, from bugs or, you know, blight or you name it. And so I do spray my trees and I'll always spray them because to me it's not worth the risk. But the flowers and the vegetables, you know, I grow very much organically. 27:35 And to be able to explain it and them, you know, them coming that, you know, the customers that come and buy the produce, they love that it's healthy. They know how it was grown. If they want, they can go do the you pigs and pick their own if that's what they want to do. So it's a fun experience. And it's it really like we grow here. We grow. I tend to grow at both like not at both things, but I like the colored carrots. 28:04 And you know, like there was a family that came in, we had purple green beans and the kids had never seen it. And they were begging their mom for these purple green beans. And she kind of laughed. goes, I don't think they've ever eaten a green bean in their life. But the fact that it was purple, you know, made it fun. And the kids were excited to go home and eat these purple beans. So I think it's different and it's fun. And you know that you're getting 28:31 the healthiest, freshest produce possible that you just don't get from a grocery store. Yeah. You heard it here first folks, colored, different colored green beans and carrots are the way to get your kids to want to eat vegetables. It really is something. It's just different. And I think when they're invested in it from the very get-go, when they pick it out and then they're going to help cook it. 28:53 And you're just instilling these values at a young age that hopefully carry on for future generations. So. Yeah. And I mean, people are bringing their kids to your place. Your place is an event. It's a memory that's being made with the kids and their parents. It is definitely an event. There's not many, you know, markets, grocery stores, whatever you want to call it that you're going to come. 29:21 and pick out some produce, know, get an ice cream, the goats, jump on the jumping pad, maybe do a barrel train ride. You're not going to get that at any other grocery store. No, no. And the thing is what you are providing is a place for families to make really good memories because they can, they can have the memories in their heads, but I'm sure that everybody has a cell phone with a camera. the picture's being taken and 29:50 you are encouraging these kids to know where their food comes from. Yep. I see nothing wrong with any of this at all, Danielle. I think it's fabulous. is. It's definitely been a fun journey and I can't wait to see what this grows into. And I was asked not too long ago about the long-term goals and I said, you know, I'm building a legacy for my children. 30:19 I want this farm to continue on with the children and I want them to grow it into something maybe I never even dreamed of, you know, and I'm setting these foundations for the future and we'll see. It's been a lot of fun and I think our, you know, our kids are young, but you know, they get fed up with the hard work like any farm kid does, but they also see the value. 30:48 in it. So which I think is important stuff. I love it. I'm so glad that I asked you to be on the show. This has been so much fun, Danielle. I was worried because I think it's a little bit different because we're not a homestead. I we've done homesteading in years past. We've done lots of that, but we're not a homesteader. But I definitely think, you know, a lot of homesteaders aspire to some of this. So 31:18 Yeah. And I just changed the intro on the podcast episodes and now it says and topics adjacent. Oh, there you go. You are a topic adjacent. Yes. So my newest thing was, so I do what's called companion planting for all my vegetables. And that's how I've been able to organically grow them for years. 31:44 Um, but last year was my first time with the massive, it's not rowcraft, but it's a lot bigger than a garden. And so, but I did my traditional rows and, uh, this in, we're kind of running out of space, so I can't expand it any bigger. Um, and I would like to try to bring it in a little bit smaller to help it be more manageable. So what I'm playing with this year, which I've never done before, um, there's a few terms, so it's called intercropping. 32:13 or inter planting. Another word is called relay, relay planting or relay cropping. So essentially you're having multiple crops growing in the same rows or the same containers at the same time with different harvest dates to save on space and to, you know, to quadruple what you could normally grow in normal rows or a normal garden. 32:42 Nice. it's been to me, it's a little stressful because I've never done it on such a big scale. So I'm hoping I'm going in a prayer that's going to work out. So I think there's a lot of praying going on right now on a lot of fronts regarding gardening this year. Everybody I talked to last year had something go wrong or they just didn't get a whole lot out of their garden because the weather was so weird almost everywhere. So 33:11 So I'm going to say a little prayer for you. can say a little prayer for me and maybe everything will at least be decent this year in the gardening front. How's that? Yeah, I will say I think this year is going to be a normal year, like a normal spring with normal timing. Last year, everything was at least a month early. Everything. It was crazy. 33:35 Um, I had roses blooming in May, like early May. I've never had that. That's insane. Um, you know, and typically we've always been zone five and for whatever reason, I was looking at it last year and we're now zone six. I don't know when that happened, but, uh, I don't know if I quite trust it, but, um, it's just, I don't know. The last year was definitely a really odd year, but I think. 34:04 I've been watching all my plants and my perennials and everything still, you know, sleeping how they should be. Last year, my roses never lost their leaves. And we're in Michigan, up in the thump. Yep. It was just a bizarre year. Yeah. My son sliced his thumb open or his finger or something. can't remember in October and he needed stitches. So I ran him up to the hospital. He's an adult. So he just went in and had them give him stitches for the cut. 34:34 And I was sitting in the parking lot waiting for him and the lilac bushes that were over on the edge of the parking lot were blooming in October. I was like, is just wrong. Yes. I heard that a couple of friends of mine said that their lilacs had bloomed. mean, it wasn't like your normal spring flush. said, yeah, they had had, cause we didn't have any in the spring because it was such a, we had such a 35:01 It wasn't even, I wouldn't even call it a winter. The ground never even froze last year. But I wanna say, I think there was just a late frost that kinda wiped out the blooms or the buds, but they did. They bloomed in the fall, which is crazy. I don't think I've ever seen that happen. Never heard of that happening. I've seen it once in my lifetime. I'm 55, so if that tells you anything. I've seen it once before. 35:30 The one thing that was really cool is it was very pretty. You know, it was, it was nice to see color because October is not a time when you're seeing flowers. it was kind of, was kind of special to see it. You know, I will say that and lilacs I think are one of those triggering flowers because they have such a potent smell. I think there's a lot of memories and a lot of good feelings that are tied to lilacs. So I think any time they're blooming, they're appreciated. 35:59 I think those are one of those flowers that are just, they're a well loved flower, but I've never met someone that says, hate lilacs. So my sister actually sneezes if she smells them. So she's not a fan, but she also thinks they're really pretty. So they are pretty. All right, Danielle, I need to get off the computer here because I have stuff I got to get done and I try to keep these to half an hour. So 36:26 I'm gonna let you go, but thank you so much for your time. appreciate it. Absolutely. Thank you. And it was great talking with you. You too. Have a great day. You too. Bye. Bye.…

A Tiny Homestead

1
Skylight Farm 30:27

18 päivää sitten30:27

30:27

Today I'm talking with Meg at Skylight Farm . You can follow on Facebook as well. If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 After listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Meg at Skylight Farm in Wisconsin. Good afternoon, Meg. How are you? Hi, I'm good. Good. I was just telling Meg before I hit record, the weather here in Minnesota right now is 00:29 Going from it to gross It was over 40 degrees this morning and now it's 33 degrees It's raining and I expected to shift to snow any minute. So we're kind of excited. They had said two to five inches They're now saying six to seven inches overnight 00:47 Wow, that's a lot. I think we will probably get dumped on here at least one more time this year, but I definitely would rather the frozen ground and the snow right now over the rain and the mud. Yes, me too, because we have a dog and I have a husband and an adult son who live here. And mud is always on my kitchen floor right now. For sure. Yep. This past week, it's been like May, you know, it's been like May mud. 01:14 and dirt and leaves from the lawn or the, we don't have a lawn from the yard. And it's been kind of messy and that's great because it means strings on its way, but it's kind of bad when you got to sweep it all up. Yeah. So Meg, I always talk about the weather at the beginning of the podcast, just to give people an idea of what's going on. And it's a record of what was going on at the time. And so tell me about yourself and tell me what you do at Skylight Farm. 01:42 We do a few things here at Skylight Farm. Originally, initially, I've been a full-time horse trainer since 2012, and we purchased the farm here in Wisconsin for boarding and training of dressage horses in 2019. Yeah. And, you know, since we've had this beautiful, wonderful place, things have... 02:07 evolved a little bit and we do a little bit more of the farmsteading homesteading sort of stuff in conjunction with what we do with the horses. So we have like, I think we have 25 raised beds, we have some really beautiful soft root that we, that's come to, it's come to be, you know, a really adult producing. 02:33 thing now. We have really beautiful raspberries and currants and soft fruit. And just, you know, kind of try to do everything that we do here with partnership with nature and more surrounded by nature preserve here and in the southern kettle marine. And it's just, it's beautiful here. It's like our little paradise. 02:54 Everybody says that about their places if they're a homestead or a farm. I can't tell you how many times I've heard my little piece of heaven or paradise or whatever. And I love it. I really, really do. So you're the first person that has mentioned dressage horses in over a year and a half of doing interviews and podcast episodes. Um, so do you, do you offer training or how does that work? 03:19 Yeah, I have been a full-time dressage trainer since I started my business and left pharmaceutical sales in 2012. So I offer board really top quality, top, top quality care, really comprehensive care board training lessons. And we actually are capable here and do a fair amount of what we call rehabilitative boards. 03:49 horses that come in here that have had major surgeries or major injuries and are able to help them rehab in that difficult time of their lives and provide that kind of care that they they need oftentimes it's intensive with bandage changing and hand walking and medications and you know some some pretty intensive requirements for those horses, but I have a wonderful team here and I'm 04:15 I'm really grateful that we can offer those services because it's actually really hard to find. 04:21 Okay, cool. I want to talk about this for a minute because I love horses. I don't have any. I wasn't a horse girl growing up, but I think that they're gorgeous. And dressage is to me, every time I hear dressage, I think dancing horses, but I don't think that's right. Yeah, that's absolutely right. It's like a dance together. When it's done well, it's really beautiful. And it's all about the partnership. 04:48 So how old are the horses when people start training them for this? Well, that's a good question, actually. So my philosophy on that is from day one. And I kind of specialize in starting young horses, actually. So we don't obviously ride them as babies, but all of their interactions with people and learning how to trust people and learning how to interact with people on the ground. 05:18 All of that happens every day, even when they're very, very young, and that sets them up for success in all of their training later on. We generally take our young horses between three and four years old and get them started under saddle. It's a really methodical kind of slow process for us because we really want it to be about that trust and partnership. Some horses hit the ground running a little faster and others just take a little bit more time. 05:48 Okay. Cool. I'm like, my whole brain is spinning now because I didn't know you did this. I didn't see anything on your Facebook page about it. And I was like, oh, okay. So my biggest question about the training the horses once you're riding them for Drusso is how many times have you hit the ground because the horse misunderstood a signal? Well, let's see. I have hit the ground. 06:17 Thankfully only a few times in my long career with horses actually, but I think that's probably a testament to How methodical we are in the training? Of course it is one of those things when you work with horses for a living that it it's not an if it's a if It's going to yeah But I think a lot of times it's more 06:43 So let's see, the last time I fell off or ended on the ground, it was totally a miscommunication. The horse spooked at something that was totally valid and then tripped at the same time. And he went right and I went left and we both got up and looked at each other and had no idea what happened. So, you know, for the most part, safety is really, really important to us here at the farm and we do everything we can to keep everybody safe. But inevitably, once in a while, things go. 07:13 a little bit haywire when you're working with animals. Yeah, and the reason I phrased it the way I did is because horses are really smart. And if you know the horse and the horse knows you, the only time that something, I feel like the only time something really goes wrong is if there's a miscommunication or if the horse gets pooped like you were saying. Horses, once they know you, they're like 07:42 Usually, right? Yes, very, very much. They're really connected and it's, I don't know, it's just a very cool thing with horses. I could geek out and go down the rabbit hole with that all day long, but they are, they really want to be connected with people. And I think the better listeners we can be, the better we have a chance to communicate with them. And, you know, other times there are things that once in a while go unnoticed that we'll 08:10 you know, will result in a not so good situation with the horse. And sometimes it's pain related. And of course, we of course, we do our very, very best to keep our team of, you know, vets and body workers and everybody involved. But like, for example, I, I got dumped a couple of years ago by a mare that had she must have done something out in the field. And this was a tried and true steady eddy. 08:36 super, super kind horse and she ended up doing something that she pinched a nerve in her back. And it was just, it was a pain situation. And once we were able to work the kinks out of that, there was, it was never an issue again. But, um, you know, most of the time they're, they're pretty darn wonderful. Yeah. I, I've said this before, but I'm gonna say it again. Had I had access to horses when I was 10, 09:04 I absolutely would have been a horse girl. I would have been begging my parents for horse riding lessons and being at the stable to help groom and take care of them. I would have been obsessed. It's a damn good thing I did not have access to horses because my parents would have disowned me. Yeah. Well, it's definitely, it's up there with things like sailing and other very, very expensive sports. It is definitely. 09:33 It's definitely an investment, but if you ask me, it's worth it. Oh, absolutely. But my, my parents were not wealthy and that's okay. And, uh, we wouldn't have been able to afford how deep I would have wanted to go down that rabbit hole with horses when I was 10, if I could have. So it's a good thing. It's all right. I'm good with it. I think horses are just so breathtakingly beautiful. 09:58 And I'm not around them very often. So I'm like sitting back being a spectator of what other people do with their horses. And I'm all good with that. So with you saying that it is an expensive thing to get into, I have a question about kids and horses and dress up. How old would you recommend a child be before they get involved in it? Well, I mean, it's probably. 10:25 probably similar to my answer with the baby horses. Like I think it's great for kids to be around horses very young as long as everything is kept, safety in mind of course. But I find that when I have kids that are actually starting to take lessons, that like body stability and awareness and a little bit of tension span. 10:52 I'm finding that a lot younger than like five or six is a little bit challenging. I mean, it's super fun to pop a little one up on top of a horse and hang out with them there for a few minutes while they get that experience and they have that joy and all of that fun. But really instruction and lessons and that kind of thing, I think it's a little bit challenging to do when they're a little less than five or six years old. It's just our attention 11:22 get the most out of it. Yeah. And I was thinking probably kindergarten age would be a good place to start. Yeah, about that. And then the last question I have about this, because I do want to get on to your homesteading stuff, is are there specific horse breeds that are good for dressage or is it just a horse-by-horse thing? Well, it's definitely something that I think almost every horse can benefit. 11:49 from dressage training. I mean, it's all about helping the horse find the best version of themselves. It's helping them maintain and find balance. It's helping them find confidence and posture and suppleness. And what we find is that all of our horses, even as they get into their golden years, I have 18, 19, 20, 21-year-old horses here that are still competing at the highest level of the sport. And 12:19 on a national level. And they're, in their late teens, the best version of themselves, where I think the downside of some other horse disciplines at times, I think, can degrade the horse's body and mind and spirit, where I think the goal of classical dressage is to build all of that up. So that being said, any breed really can benefit from it. What we have here is mainly 12:46 We have mainly warm bloods and I also import Iberian horses from Portugal. So those would be Lusitanos mostly. What else do we have here? We have a strafe region or two, but mostly warm bloods and Lusitanos. Okay. I don't know what a warm blood horse is. There's different types of warm bloods, like the German warm bloods and Dutch warm bloods is mostly what we have. So. 13:14 Those are like their sport horse bred horses. You can have sport horse warm bloods that are bred specifically for jumping too. But ours are generally more dressage purpose bred warm bloods. So German and Dutch warm bloods. Okay. Awesome. Thank you for entertaining me with my questions. I have what I call got to know itis and when somebody brings up something I know just a little bit about, I'm like, what's that? Tell me about it. 13:44 So if you are, if you have interest. Um, so the, the farm here, I, we have the, the farm is actually owned under Skylight farm, um, but my dressage training business is called dressage solutions, LLC, and I've been operating that since 2012 and, um, I have a, I have a separate Facebook page for that. Okay. Um, do me a favor and message me that later when we're done and then I can put it in the show notes too, for anybody who wants to get hold of you about. 14:14 maybe being involved in dressage training. Cool. Because I bet there's some people in Wisconsin who would love to learn. It's very fun. Yeah. All right, so tell me about the other stuff at the farm. Oh, you know, I think we just, we love to be, again, connected with nature. And I find that the, I've been bitten by the gardening bug since probably before I was born. And my dad's side of the family, 14:42 We're real farmer farmers here in Wisconsin, and my dad's the youngest of nine. And my mom is also my mom is the youngest of 14, I think 12 or 14. I'm horrible that I don't know that specifically. I should from Western Pennsylvania. And they were farmers to my mom's also a master gardener. So I just I've kind of been surrounded by it and have 15:13 Just been connected with it since very, very young. You were immersed in it. Yes, totally. Uh-huh, cool. Just, it's so connecting to be in the garden and digging in the dirt and connecting with nature and seeing how things evolve on a daily and a seasonal basis, it's really beautiful. 15:36 It is and I'm telling you, I am so happy that spring is coming. I mean, I'm looking out my window right now. You'd never know spring was coming. But it's March, ma'am. It's coming. I'm so excited to be outside. I'm so excited. I have everything ready. I got the grow lights ready last night and everything is ready to start our first batch of seeds and it feels like we've been delivered from yet another northern winter. 16:03 You know, we get to the actual calendar date for the first day of spring, not the meteorological first day of spring, which was March 1st. And that morning, my husband gets up and gets his coffee. And it's usually the 20th or the 21st. He gets his coffee, and I wait, and I wait till he's got his first couple sips of coffee in him, and I say, we made it through another winter, honey. And he just asks me, now we've been together for like 20 something years. And he's like, it must be. 16:32 spraying equinox and I'm like, yes, it is. And he just laughed. He's just like, honey, you know, it's going to come every year. And I'm like, well, there's no guarantee we're going to make it through another winter. And he's like, Oh God, here we go. He said, you're going to be higher than a kite for, for about a month and a half on all this stuff is showing you the leaves are going to, the trees are going to have leaves again, and then you're going to be even higher when we have seedlings to put in the garden. 17:01 And then you hit high summer and you're gonna be like, I hate high summer. Yes, I know that feeling. So my birthday is on the 20th of May and like growing up mostly in Wisconsin, I've lived in other places too actually, but you know, kind of having my roots here in Wisconsin, like that time period, the late May, around Memorial Day, my birthday, early June, that's when like, I feel like for me, that's the most. 17:29 heightened energy time of the entire year and we're just starting to ramp up to that now so I'm definitely feeling it. Yep. It's so funny because I love spring. Like April and May are my favorite months, warm months. I love fall. Oh my God, I love fall. October, November. Yes, I do too. Favorites again. Everything else, I could just skip. It would be fine. And you said that you have everything ready to go to plant seeds. 17:59 It's pretty. My husband beat you by two and a half weeks. I'm glad. That's wonderful. He started planting seeds two weekends ago, three weekends ago. We have inch and a half tall pepper seedlings right now on our table. And we have little basil seedlings coming up and we have romaine and we have tomatoes coming up. And I... 18:26 I've said this before, I feel like I repeat myself all the time on stuff I share with you guys, but I lose my kitchen table for eight weeks in the spring because that's where the grow lights go. And we have a hardsided greenhouse now that went up last May, but it's still too cold to start seeds in it right now. So my husband got stuff ready three, two, three weekends ago to plant. And I said, it's only February. 18:55 He's like, yeah, but in eight weeks, it will be warm enough to take him out to the greenhouse. And I was like, yeah. Oh yeah. Okay. That's fine. Yes. Yes. Yes. I've always been curious to try. I do not have a greenhouse here, but that's on my bucket list for sure. One of my gardening gurus that I follow, he, um, he starts a little warmer climate than what we have here, but he starts a lot of his seedlings and hotbed in his greenhouse in early spring. And I've always been curious about. 19:23 of about trying that method. And so if I ever am able to have a greenhouse in my life, then that will definitely be on the list. Well, are you talking about like a high tunnel style greenhouse? Are you talking about a hard sided greenhouse? He has a hard sided greenhouse and he does a like a four by four square raised hotbeds. So he uses like, it's 19:50 He uses fresh horseman orange straw and as it's composting hot for like the first two months of it composting, it creates a really warm environment and he starts a lot of his seedlings right on that. Yeah, my husband put a couple raised beds in that greenhouse. Oh cool. I don't know, a month or so ago. He as soon as that greenhouse went up, I knew I was going to lose him. I knew he was going to be out there all the time. That's great though. 20:19 He went out a couple months ago and built the boxes and put the compost in and a little bit of just dirt dirt on top. And he planted radishes. And he's been waiting for these radishes to pop. And he sent me pictures two days ago of the baby radishes starting to come up. And literally capital letters in the text, radishes and three exclamation points. I was like... 20:44 Oh my God, you're still a frustrated farmer. You should have been a farmer, not a gardener. But it's great. It's so fun and everything is looking good for this spring. And that's probably why I was talking so fast a minute ago, because we're so excited. Last year was awful here with the rain or the week and our gardens were so sad. Like the production level was terrible. 21:14 So we've been hanging in and planning and wishing and hoping that this year will be better and it's starting to look like maybe it'll be okay. Well, that's great. That's great. I'm hopeful here too. Last year, I decided that I was going to start gardening season on time and be ahead of the schedule and be really organized. 21:39 I was super on the ball, I think all of February, March, April, May, planting. Everything went in like without a hitch. And then we had, so at least another 30 acres to the south of us here, and we make hay. Our first crop hay was the most disastrous hay crop I've ever had in my life. And after what we lovingly refer to as haypocalypse that was late June, I never was able to catch up. So. 22:07 It was still a really successful growing season, but I felt like I was playing catch up from June on until the very end. Yes. One of the things I have really learned from this podcast and from doing our farm to market garden in the last four years is that this lifestyle will give you the highest highs and the lowest lows and you don't know when they're going to hit. 22:33 Yep. And I think you just have to give yourself some grace sometimes too and know that you just got to roll with those things. And you know, if a few things just don't get done, they just don't get done and the world isn't going to end. And if you have to feed a few things to the chickens, it's not the worst thing in the world. So I've tried to remember that this last year. Yeah. And the chickens very much appreciate it. So you're doing a good thing for them too. Yes, they do. 23:03 It's, I don't know, there's so many things that people do when they're in this lifestyle. Like you do hay and you have, you, you trained your massage horses and you rehabbed with massage horses. I never would have thought of that as a part of homesteading or having land or whatever. I don't know why I should have. And I talked to a lady the other day and she has taken her years and years of experience from ranching. 23:33 doing articles and she's doing public speaking. Sure. And part of the reason I love the podcast so much is because everybody is so creative and ingenious with their skillsets. It's so fun to know that just because you live on acreage, it doesn't mean that you're out there with a trowel and a shovel digging in the dirt. There are other things that you can do. Excuse me, yeah, and I think. 24:02 I think everybody that lives, excuse me, this lifestyle has such diverse backgrounds, such diverse stories. I feel like a lot of our hearts are in the same place or similar place, but just kind of understanding how everybody got to where they are is always really fascinating to me. I love to hear people's stories. 24:29 Yes, me too. That's why I chose this to talk about. I love it. I mean, I don't want to spend the next 10 minutes telling you how much I love doing this, but I really do. It has been such a gift to listen to people's stories and how they got to where they are and what they're doing currently and then what their future plans are. Because one lady had like 18 future plans. And 24:58 And I'll probably maybe get some of those done. Yeah, sure. Well, it's really fun to dream big, that's for sure. Yeah, and if you have 18 ideas, if you even get five of them in place and they work, you're doing great. Yes. So on that note, what's your future look like at your place? Well, I'm actively, I have building plans and permit, building permit. 25:26 to add on to our existing barn. So that will help us to maximize a little bit more hay storage space and just do things in general just more efficiently and all of those things. So not in not adding more horses to the mix, but adding just being able to help my team be more efficient and make life easier and just provide yet even a better higher level of service. 25:54 So the barn addition, I'm hoping that we're going to be able to do that here this year. Things are looking really positive for that. And beyond that, there's, I have a big dream to hopefully I can purchase the property here to the south of me that's really, really stunning, beautiful, cuttle marine land. It's surrounded by nature preserve like we are here on all three sides. 26:23 And I would love to kind of restore that. That's a little bit of what my dad does, things like that too. He was the president of a big environmental restoration company for years and a mining engineer by trade. And so again, just really, really connected with that nature piece. And I'd love to, the ag land has been really, it's been really abused. It's been really... 26:52 know, over-tilled, over- herbicided, over- is herbicided a word? I'm not sure if it is. You just made it a word, yes. It is now. So, you know, the ag land has been really, I don't know, abused and I'd love to restore that and help plant some prairie. And this area down here was once a really special bur oak savanna, like so prairie bur oak savanna. 27:19 And I'd love to restore some of the woods and there's some spring-fed wetland back there and just, you know, kind of bring things back to the natural glory that it was once. So, I, that's my, that's one of my big dreams, but. I love that. That's awesome. It's beautiful down here. Okay. I forgot one question about your horses and I want to end the podcast on this because it actually might be relevant. Do you breed any of your horses? 27:49 Currently, no. I have one breeding stallion here. I should have mentioned it earlier and I didn't think of it. I'm not sure why it didn't come to mind at the time, but I have a very special breed of horse here that has very, very long-standing classical roots in dressage and that's called the Lipizan. I have two breeding stallions here. 28:17 that one of them I own, he is not breeding. I was really lucky and blessed to have him come into my life when one of the largest breeders of the lipozons in the world here in Chicago closed last year. So his name is Batoasta. We call him lovingly Toast. He's a big goofball. So Toast is here. And then we have a really beautiful young breeding stallion that's owned by the 28:48 previous managers of Temple Farms. And he is actively breeding. And we'll see where that goes. It's a very small breed. It's really tight-knit bloodlines. He is very unique in his genetics. 29:11 we don't have any mares here that are having foals, but we do have some stallions that we stand here, if that's a clearer answer. Yep. Okay. And that breed, the Lipizan, is that Italian, German, it's from somewhere, right? Yeah, they came from a few places in the world now, but I think what most people would associate with the breed would be the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria. Okay. The dancing white horses. 29:41 Okay. Yeah. I was first, I was thinking Italian and I was like, no, that can't be right. And then I was like, I bet it's a Slavic country. I bet it's Germany or Austria or all those. Yeah. There's quite a few of them in Hungary now too. Okay. Cool. Thank you for that because I know just enough to trip over my own feet about this stuff. All right. I try to keep these to half an hour and we're almost there. Like five seconds left. So Meg. 30:10 Thank you for entertaining me and my questions because I know I can be a bit much when I'm like, what's that? But thank you for your time, I appreciate it. Yeah, of course, thank you for the call, it was really fun. All right, you have a great evening. Talk to you soon. Yep, bye. Bye.…

A Tiny Homestead

1
Millie’s Moonstone 42:49

19 päivää sitten42:49

42:49

Today I'm talking with Angela at Millie’s Moonstone . If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 After listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. This Homestead Holler is a shout out to North County Marketplace. North County Marketplace's mission is to partner with and provide local farmers and zero waste slash clean ingredient products. You can find them on Facebook at North County Marketplace or online at NoCoMarketplace.com. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe. 00:29 Share it with a friend or leave a comment. Thank you. Now I'm talking with Angela at Millie's Moonstone. I love that name so much. Good morning, Angela, how are you? Good morning, I'm fine, how are you? I'm good, how's the weather in where you are? It's actually a beautiful day today. Yeah, and I forget where you are, sorry. I'm in Southwestern PA, like close to Uniontown, Pittsburgh area. Okay, yep. You told me a message and then I closed it and I forgot to make an order in my brain, sorry. 00:59 That's all it is going to snow in Minnesota tonight. That's where I am. Well, I actually love snow. So I'm the, like the only weirdo around here that's like missing this thing. Yeah. Well, it wouldn't be unusual. I wouldn't be so excited except that last winter we got maybe six inches total for the season. And this winter we've gotten maybe six inches and they're saying three to five tonight. So. 01:24 It would be really nice to get the last hurrah done, have it be pretty, and then just roll into springtime. I would be so excited about that. Right. I love the changes of the season, but we just don't seem to have winters like we used to anymore. As you'll find out through this, I'm very old fashioned for my age, so I miss the old times and always having snow on the ground all winter. Yeah. Somebody called it Grandma Cor to me the other day. Yeah. 01:53 At first I was like, you know, I'm 55, I'm a grandma. I don't know how comfortable I am with grandma core, but it's okay. I decided it was very cute. Yeah, like I'm still like fun and immature in a sense, but like I just, when it comes to like the values and the gardening and you know, things like that, it just, that's always been like super important to me and stayed with me. 02:22 I'm kind of surprised nobody's called it nature core yet, but maybe they'll start doing that too. I dig that. Nature core. That way it's not grandma core, it's not kid core, it's not an age specific thing. It's just an everyday thing. Okay. So everybody stop calling it grandma core, call it nature core. We'll start again. All right. Millicore. Yes, exactly. Okay. So I'm assuming that your grandma had a lot to do with your... 02:49 take on all this. So you named your business after her. Yes. So growing up, she lived walking distance from me. So that was, you know, super nice. And we were super close. She she always just had a way of like how everything is just so busy now and everybody's on their phones and just, you know, like busy working for corporations and different things. But like when you were at grandma's house, it was like you were at a pot like you were almost on vacation. 03:19 Um, she did like Sunday dinners every Sunday. Um, she would make a soup we called Sunday soup, but it's actually like an old hunky soup recipe, um, that was passed down like generations. Um, you know, we didn't always have that. She had other things, but you know, everybody was always welcome at her house, um, a lot of homemade cooking and, you know, gatherings. So. 03:46 I always wanted to be like her and be that type of person. And, you know, there was, like I said, like that always sense of pausing and not to get your thoughts and, you know, identify with people and yourself versus just being so busy and on the go. So that's something I really miss about her. Yeah. My husband's grandma was Grandma Kyle. My husband's name is Kyle. 04:16 the family surname. So if Kyle has his family surname, he would be Kyle Kyle, which wouldn't work. But she was Grandma Kyle to everybody, but to people who actually spent time at her house and to people who spent time at her house, she was Ma. M-A. Ma. And my husband told me the story and I was like, that is so sweet. And everyone was welcome to come. 04:44 to her house and sit down and have a cup of something and talk. And I liken her to the town therapist because she would listen to anyone. Right. So I think your grandma and my husband's grandma probably have a lot in common. Yeah, sounds like it. And she had like a love for the earth and that kind of... 05:07 how I started all of this. So like we would do a lot of gardening and snapping beans. And when they say snapping beans is therapy, they're not kidding. I feel like that was some true therapy I had growing up. And she just thought at least taught me things from the earth are better, you know, like versus going to, like even her apricot filling at the store. She was like, if you just throw some apricots in a pan with sugar and boil it with water, you're gonna get that filling versus. 05:36 then she would read the label and like you can't even pronounce half the stuff on the label. Yeah. And her stuff always tasted so much better. Like she did catering for weddings, catering you know, cookies. And you know that her her bread was to die for. I'm getting close because the problem was every time she'd come into my house and try to teach me she would end up doing like I'd get busy with the kids and she's like, Oh, just let me do it. And she really wanted to do it. 06:06 And it's like everyone in the family is trying to match her bread recipe. But, um, but that's where I got a lot of my product ideas. So I started making a tattoo cream, um, cause my niece does tattoos. She has real ink in union town. She does beautiful work and, um, and I have a mental health piece on my arm. And so I started making a tattoo cream and then. 06:32 I was like, I feel like grandma adding the different recipes with the, you know, essential oils and coconut oil, because I didn't want to stick to the recipes. And then I was like, oh, then it all just kind of clicked. And then, you know, in addition to the recipe thing and grandma, I got the moonstone from just my love of the earthen and, you know, I'm into the gems, the stems, or oh my gosh, the stones and gems. 07:01 Just different things like that. So I kind of put it together to make the title. I love it. It's so pretty. Thank you. Okay, so I know that you make like, like Lutians and Sabs. Do you make jewelry too? I haven't got into the jewelry just yet. So like I said, it started out with tattoo cream and now it's over 50 products. A lot of soap, body wash. I do the whipped beef tallow. 07:31 And I get the tallow from the local butcher. So I cook it down myself, you know, and then I use, yeah, I use whatever's left, like the impurities. I use that to make the bird seed cakes. And I also sell those. You know, I do the better than Botox. The ladies love that. What? Tell me, tell me, tell me about that one. So it has about seven different ingredients, cucumber seed oil, carrot seed oil. 07:59 Different plant extracts that literally it has taken the fine lines and wrinkles like I Was about to go get Botox myself being 46, you know, and I I skipped it now Yeah, I always feel like I have baby skin is the way I describe it. Like it's reversing back to That's good stuff Yeah And then I sort of took that with the whipped beef tallow that everybody was getting into and I combined the two and I call that magic in a jar 08:29 So you're getting the whipped beef tallow, the honey, and the seven ingredients from the Botox. Can I ask a question? Is clove part of the ingredients? Not for that, actually. But I do have a soap called the Witch's Apple. And I have clove in that. OK. The reason I ask is we made a clove sweet orange and cinnamon soap a couple years ago. Oh, that sounds really good. 08:59 delicious smelling like I Well, I didn't even wait for it to cure the six weeks I pulled apart for a week and I stepped into a hot shower with that and lathered up and I was just like, oh my god I'm so awake. This smells so good But the surprise was that clove is actually really good to take fine lines out of your skin, too Oh, okay Yeah, I might have to add an ingredient and it smells really good. So yeah Okay, go ahead. Keep talking you were saying 09:28 And then I do like a men's line too. So I have the beard balm, the beard wash and surprisingly, I just was extremely shocked about the number of men that are into the organic products. You know, so they would message me and be like, hey, well my my place is far away, so I want to check your stuff out, you know, meaning they had already been into it. So I was happy to see that. 09:55 They sort of, you know, they respect like what I'm doing, like being a small business and using all natural stuff. And so it's been a really fun experience. And the reason I got into it as I did do mental health treatment for 20 years. And I hate to sound like it was a gel sentence, but I feel like that was a lot of time and energy out of my own mental health. Yeah. 10:22 Cause I kind of got away from the whole, when grandma passed away, you know, like I was literally working 5am to 8pm at night, you know, not getting to have family with the dinner or dinner with the family. Sort of living the lifestyle. I didn't really want to live the work life balance. Yeah. And I, I got to a point where, you know, I had to choose myself and my family and, and I chose to do this and, you know, it's been 10:52 I don't regret the work I did. I feel really good about helping people and everything I've done. It's just something I needed to take a step back from. Yeah, I was going to ask to clarify what you said because you worked in the mental health field. Yeah. Okay. So 20 years in the mental health field. Got it. Okay. And now you're doing other kind of health work. Yes. And this does end up kind of being like therapy, like you said. 11:21 You know, just talking, now I kind of advocate for people that are busy like that and, and just trying to help them and realize too, like, I think society has set it up to where we, they don't want us to know this stuff, you know, like they don't want us to be self-sufficient and, you know, it's amazing how you can, like, I can make a bar of soap or a thing of deodorant and still make a home-cook meal for my family. Yeah. I don't, I don't need to be. And 11:50 You know, I can even do like a time study. It does sound overwhelming, like it does. Like, oh, where do you have time to do all that? I just don't have the time. But if you took a Sunday, your day off, and you know, a few minutes, you're really done with all of that, you know? And you feel better, you feel more grounded. You feel like, I did this, you know, this stuff's homemade, it's coming from me. And it feels better to do that for your family. Yes. 12:18 And I'm gonna I'm gonna share a hint for people if you think that something is gonna take you a long time to do get a get an egg timer or one of the ones that you twist and it clicks backwards and Make it set it for what you think it's gonna take you time to do and then start doing the thing And the reason I'm saying this is back when I was younger. I really hated standing at the sink doing dishes And it always felt like it took or freaking ever 12:47 And I finally was like, how long is it actually taking me? Is this just me, you know, psyching myself out about it? And I grabbed a timer and I set it for five minutes and I filled the sink with water. And then I turned the timer on. It took me three minutes to wash the dishes. Literally three minutes. And there weren't a lot, but at least I had a gauge now for if there's this much on the counter, it's gonna take this many minutes. 13:14 And now I just stay on top of the dishes because I'm like, if I do them now, it's going to take me three minutes. If I wait until tomorrow, it's going to take me half an hour. So time is measurable and time is weird. I was talking to my folks yesterday and my mom is 78 and my dad is 81. And they were like, where does the time go? And it reminded me of that when I had my first baby. 13:43 They put her in my arms and I thought 18 years is a long time. And then she turned 18 and I was like, nope, it's the blink of an eye. It really is. So when people say, I don't have time, it's not, that's not really what they're saying. Yeah. So the framework needs to be, needs to be understood to understand what they're actually telling you when they say, I don't have time. 14:11 Right. And I feel like too, like our jobs want us, I mean, I had, I had very good experiences. Like I said, I love the work I did. I worked with schizophrenic bipolar addiction. I love the work I did, the people I helped. It was when I became a manager that I became like five years ago, that I began to see how corporations really don't care about, you know, like I actually had a 14:40 you know, write this nasty email, this is how you handle it with your staff, you know, and I felt pressured being in that position, like I had to do that, you know, like, or they were going to think bad of me. But my supervisor role to me was to coach and to show by example and to thrive in that way, you know, and I built really good relationships with the team I was on, certain ones, you know, that were open to that. But like you 15:10 I feel like you just can't be, especially with people working in mental health, you can't just be like uncaring toward them or their feelings or needs, you know, and expect them to go out and be caring and, you know, and do that stuff for the clients. So my style was a little different and that was hard on me to see their style, like firsthand being a manager. Well, yes. And you worked in the mental health. 15:39 field for 20 years. You probably gained some really good tools to encourage people in that 20 years. Right. And that's the thing too. Like I never went to college straight out of high school. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I had my kids when I was in my early 20s and I worked myself up, you know, from I worked one-on-one with an autistic kid and just felt like I really wanted to help and that's what I wanted to do. And I raised my kids, worked full time and went to school. 16:08 to get my degree. So when my staff came to me for help, then I wanted to be like, well, I did that before and this is how I handled it because I did have a lot of experience and I was where they were at. You're a giving spirit. I love that. Definitely. So are you out of that field now completely? I decided that since I did have a bad experience with that upper management, I just... 16:36 I felt the need to take a mental break and do this for a while. I'm definitely getting back into it. I just hooked up with a company in Morgantown, West Virginia. Something I let go of many, many years was getting my license as a psychologist because I just kept working my way up without it and being so busy, I never took the time to do the hours and the tests. 17:03 And they actually heard my story and want to help me with that. So I thought that was very awesome of them. So I'm, I'm taking another month off doing this, and then I'm going to slowly, you know, work on getting my license. Okay. Cool. That's amazing. And yeah. And I swear everybody has like six or seven things that they do for work in their lifetime these days. So you're right on the ball here. 17:31 So when did you start making all this stuff in your business? So when I stepped away from, you know, work in November, I'm into, I don't want to call it witchcraft in a dark way because Facebook and my, some family members were like, oh my gosh, that's devil worshiping, blah, blah, blah. You, like, you can't explain to people. And it's a book called the green witch. Of course I took over my grandma and we have a huge garden. I mean, you. 18:00 I can't even fit it all in one photo. And then we have since put in three more gardens. We have a cornfield. So I'm out in the garden, I'm doing a lot, and I got a book called The Green Witch. And I love it. I use a lot of it for my garden. I got into a lot of the manifestation and the prosperity oils, the love oils, more for self-love. 18:30 And I just, it's just something that clicked with me and it kind of helped me through that period. And, and it kind of inspired me in it, you know, in that book, then there's a lot of good recipes. You know, I also make the lip balm too, meditation balms, all the oils. So getting into that book then, and then sort of using grandma sort of way to, to change up the recipes is kind of where I got inspired. Nice. 18:58 Oh, I have no issue with you using the term witchcraft because I'm the same way. Okay, good. I am supposedly, again, I've mentioned this a couple of times on the podcast, supposedly I am descended from the first male accused, tried, and hung for witchcraft in the Salem Witchcraft Trials. Oh, wow. Wow. Supposedly. Yeah. I can't trace it back definitively because no one really can. 19:27 But yeah, and so I have done a lot of reading on the Salem witch trials, on the way things used to be done, on midwifery, on wise women, and honest to God, witches get such a bad rap because so much of it was so good. Right. You know, making soups was considered witchcraft. There was a lady who made soups and, you know, cured the little kids from colds. 19:57 You know, they looked at that as magic and she was actually helping. You know, there was nothing dark associated with that, but she's labeled as a witch. So, yeah, yeah, I sort of went through that, which was fine, because I just feel like I'm doing this for me, not other people. Nobody really has to understand. I mean, you know, it hurts your feelings when people are thinking a certain way. But in the end, I'm so healed right now that I'm in a very unbothered state right now. 20:26 I'm doing this for me and to spread the word and about my passion. Yeah, that's a fantastic place to be in your psyche. The other thing is that homesteading is all about doing things for yourself. And you're not necessarily a homesteader, I guess, but you are a crafter. And you're doing things for yourself and you're also sharing those things to help other people. I see nothing wrong with this plan. 20:56 Thank you Yeah, and and the thing that's funny is you are you are a very fancy crafter I was looking at the things that you make and they're beautiful and You put intention and you put really good ingredients in them and you make this wonderful thing or things And what's funny is people don't quite know that they have a lot of things that can help them in their house in cooking ingredients, right 21:25 we use coconut oil for things. And coconut oil is like magic. It is great for dry skin. It is great for healing wounds, especially if you mix a little honey in it. Great. It's great for lip gloss. It's gonna be slippery, but you just have some of it off and it's lip gloss. It's not that hard to get coconut oil at the store. And it comes in little tiny containers and great big containers. So. Right. 21:55 You could just use coconut oil for a lot of things. Right. Yeah. Like my witches apple soap, I mean, everything's out of the kitchen. Ginger, honey, cinnamon. People love that smell too. Like one of my customers bought it and said she sniffed it like driving. Like it was an addicting smell. Yeah, absolutely. 22:24 Any of those fall or autumn scents, people tend to really love them because they remind them of cozy and warm and good food and good company. Right. And that's a lot of things about this too. Like I find myself if I have a bad day, I'll just go over and sniff that mint soap or my essential oils. I have them in the diffuser. It really is a mood changer, you know, like for sure. Yeah. 22:54 You know, it's really funny because stores sell air fresheners all the time. They have all kinds of things in them that are not good for you. Right. And, and a lot of the time not good for your pets. If you have cats or dogs, air, the diffusers are not great because they can actually make your pets sick. And, and I had to actually look up a bunch of things when we started making candles because we have a dog we love. I haven't mentioned Maggie. 23:22 Well you probably hear mine snoring in the... I actually can't hear them but that's fine. Okay, good. But when we started making candles and soaps, I was like, before we open anything in this kitchen, we need to look up what effect that will have on our dog because I am not going to poison my dog. I spent a lot of money on my dog. I love my dog. I want her to be around for as long as she can be around. 23:52 is really bad for dogs. Like you shouldn't even have a bottle of it open anywhere because just breathing it can make them feel yucky. Right. So I also learned the other day that tea tree oil is really good for toenail fungus of all things. Yeah, it's like a natural healer. I've put it on. I had a belly ring piercing, you know, that just... Yeah. It did not want to cooperate. 24:21 I had lost weight a couple years ago to be, you know, my cousin's wedding. Um, and I was like, Oh, I'm going to read, you know, do that because I had that when I was younger and had to take it out. And I got that. It was just so like, it was fighting me every step of the way. 24:40 It was hurting so bad and I went and got antibiotics at the doctor, and I bought a cream in the past, nothing worked. And I was just about ready to take it out and I just put that pure tea tree oil on it and it healed it up like within two days. Yeah. Yep. So I found out that it was really good for toenail fungus and I was like, huh, well that's a good thing to keep in your back pocket of information, right? 25:04 And then I was like, great, if I ever have that happen to me, I'm going to want to put it on my toenails and my dog is going to smell it and then she's going to get sick. So teacher oil is probably not something that we're going to do a lot within our house, but it is a really good oil to have on hand if you don't have pets. There's just so many things that are so readily available to us that we don't know is a thing to have on hand. 25:33 Now, speaking of pets, I have Cooper. I rescued him three years ago now. He was a puppy. He was found under an old man's trailer, like abandoned with the mother dog. Aw. And his siblings, and all his siblings got adopted out. We did a DNA test and like, weirdly, we had this little group chat and all of them came back the same breed. So it's pretty accurate. Yeah. He's a great paranese, boxer, and foxhound mix. 26:00 He's 158 pounds. And he's kind of like Clifford, like every time someone sees him, they're like, how'd he get bigger? Like, isn't he supposed to be done growing? He gets bigger and bigger, but he had a severe allergy to the flea and tick meds. Um, so I took him several vets and they, you know, and I'm thinking, oh my gosh, he's going to get Lyme's disease from ticks. I can't put nothing on him. And. 26:26 I was at the dog park one day talking to a pharmacist and he said, well, if you think about it, we're literally putting pesticides on our dogs. Yep. So I was like, oh, you're right. So even before I started all of this, I, for him, I had to research natural, you know, ways and it's apple cider vinegar. So he gets a bath with that and the Castel soap. And then I 26:53 you know, I make a flea tick spray for him. And I would say he's had one tick on him of all this time. And that was due to just like once I was sick and I wasn't like spraying him regularly in the summer or I had a back injury. But other than that, he's, I mean, I feel like it's worked pretty good. I have never seen a flea on him. Yeah, fleas are weird. I'm gonna share a story real quick. 27:20 We have barn cats because we have a pole barn and we knew there were mice in there. We could see them running around when we turned the light on. And, uh, we got a couple of barn cats to, to deal with the problem because that's what barn cats do. They hunt mice. Right. And our barn cats have never had fleas in four years and we don't treat them with anything. We don't do anything with the barn cats except feed them and pet them when they want pets. That's pretty much it. 27:48 And we don't feed them a lot because they're getting the mice and the stuff. But we've never treated them for anything. And nature is no fleas on these animals. And we've had three or four batches of kittens. The kittens never got fleas. Wow. So I don't know if it's because of where we live. Maybe there's just aren't many fleas around or what the deal is, but fleas are weird. Like. 28:13 I can remember my mom flea bombing our house when we were growing up because the cats did get fleas in Maine where we live. I don't know what the deal is with that, but either way, yes, we're putting pesticides into our animals' bodies so that the bugs bite them and die. My dad actually has a border collie and he gives her the NextGuard Plus stuff or whatever it is because that's what's available. He said, honey, I hate doing it. He said, I just... 28:41 He said, these bugs bite her and fall right off dead. And I'm like, yeah. I was like, what is that doing to her? And I'm like, I don't know. I don't know. Well, if he's ever interested, Cooper has a line here. Uh-huh, yes. I do the paw, the paw ball, mean it, to help with the paw pads. I do the flea tick spray and the wash, the doggy wash. Yep, exactly. 29:08 Is Cooper on the picture on your label? Is that what he looks like? He is, yeah. That's him. Yeah, on your Facebook page. If anybody wants to see what Cooper looks like, very happy. He is the bearded guy that I guess the universe thought I needed because I'm single. And I'm like, I want this bearded tattoo guy, but I get Cooper and that's fine. Yeah. And since we've gotten onto the pet thing. Yeah. 29:35 I want people to buy things from makers, obviously. But the other thing is that if you can't spend the money to buy it from a maker, you could probably make a paw bomb yourself. Out of a little bit of beeswax, a little bit of coconut oil, and some honey, I guess. I put honey in everything. 29:59 That beef tallow is great too. It's good for everything. Anything that will stay harder at room temperature. It's not an oil, it's a, it's a, it's like a chapstick texture. And dried marigolds, I plant a lot of those in the garden to keep like, you know, the rabbits and stuff away and different bugs they keep away. But I brew a lot of that juice from, you know, cooking, you know, like brewing the, 30:28 the dried marigolds and that has a lot of healing powers too. Yeah, and in the winter time, man, if you're walking your dog and it's cold, their toe beans hurt. Right. And if you can put that stuff on them when you get back, you know, warm their feet up and put it on their pads, it really helps. And like I said, Maggie is the love of my life right now. I have four adult children. She's my fifth baby out of the children. And so I'm always like, what can I do for her if something is up? 30:57 you know, right. Right. So but there are so many things we can do for ourselves with ingredients we probably have in the house. And it doesn't take all that much time and it takes talent, but it doesn't take like, I don't know, brain surgery talent, it takes being able to follow directions. Right. And you the filling you'll get is indescribable. Like it's almost like a grounded filling. But I offer that to like, 31:24 A lot of my friends, because they're like, can I buy makeup wipes off of you? But I don't sell that kind of stuff, because I would just feel so bad selling, like my laundry softener, it's literally two ingredients. You know what I mean? Like you're taking white vinegar and you're mixing baking soda and then you just add whatever scent you want. 31:45 So I'd feel so bad selling that. So certain things that I am making myself, but not selling, I would have no problem sharing recipes or helping with that because, like I said, this is my passion and I wanna sell this stuff, but I also wanna help people see that they can do this stuff on their own. Yeah, exactly. And I'm not gonna lie, I used to have a favorite lip gloss that I would buy. 32:14 And then I started making my own lip balms and I haven't bought any any lip product in I know it's like it's a game-changer The lip balm is I've had like reviews where they're like, you know I've went to Walmart this winter and spent over three hundred dollars with this cracked lip, you know like on the corner and your your lip balm cured it in three days And in my recipe is so simple, you know, like it's probably four things Yep 32:43 Exactly. And it doesn't take long to make magic lip balm. A lady messaged me or emailed me, I can't remember, a couple years ago. And she was like, do you have any more of your, I think it was vanilla lip balm? And I said, sure. I said, how many do you want? And she said, like 10 or 15. And I said, are you buying them for stocking stuffers? And her answer made me cry. 33:11 It wasn't for stocking stuffers. She has had a reaction to every lip balm she's ever used, but not ours. Aw. That was awesome. She wanted to have a bunch on hand in storage so that every time she ran out, she could just grab another one. I almost sobbed my face off. So when we're making these things, we don't know the actual impact that they might have on somebody. Right. 33:38 My brother, I named one after him, it's called Freddy Free. Because he, he works out in the cold and I feel bad. Like I, you know, men that do that, it's just amazing to me to be out there doing that kind of work in the bitter cold and his lips are all chapped and cracked. And I was, he said he couldn't find one that worked. And, and then I said, well, what scent do you like? Cause I'll make you one. And then he said, well, that's the problem. I can't stand any. 34:08 any type of flavors or scent, you know. So I was like, oh, I'll just mix you up one and not add the essential oil. That's really easy. So that's why I named that one after him. He'll just text me one, you know, randomly, I'm out of lip balm. I'll just whip and whip another one. Yeah. And the thing is you never really think about lip balm other than when you're, I don't know, 13, 14 years old and a girl and you're not really allowed to wear makeup. You get to get that. 34:37 first lip balm of your life. It's like a luxury and a rite of passage thing. But lady, if you live in a northern tier state when the temperature can get to minus 30 real temperature, lip balm comes in really handy and it's actually important. Right. Well, that brings me into the makeup. 35:02 I wouldn't say like I'm super good at makeup, but I just always wore makeup, you know, and liked it and go to Ulta and all of the places. But like once I realized like I can make lip gloss out of beet powder from my own garden. Yeah, yeah. I feel like a million bucks putting that on and it lasts longer, you know, like it than anything I've ever bought. And the color, the color. The shade. Yes. It's very earthy. 35:32 Now I do eye shadow, you know, I do the regular lip balm and then the tinted stuff and the tinted lip gloss, but I pretty much can make all of my makeup now. Yeah, it's so fun. I mean, when we were busy two summers ago really working on lip balms and soaps and candles and stuff, after about two months I was like, I can't do this anymore. Every day we were making something. 36:02 And my husband was like, well, we kind of need to, we bought the ingredients and we need to sell this stuff. And I was like, I know, but my house always just smells so intently of whatever oil, you know, scented oil we're using. And he was like, which ones really hurt you? Because some of them would give me headaches. And I said, the lavender just kills me. It's supposed to, lavender is supposed to be really good for headaches, but not in that kind of intense sense. 36:30 He said, okay, we won't make any lavender for a while. I said, okay, that'd be great. Can we not make the lilac either? Cause that was a fragrance oil. And he was like, yep, nope, we don't have to do that. I said, mint is good, coffee. We had a multi-pea fragrance that was amazing. I said, you can make coffee scented flavored, anything you want every day of the week. It doesn't bother me at all. So. 36:54 So why I'm saying this is when you commit to having some kind of business where you're dealing with things that are scented, you really have to either suck it up and realize you're going to have a headache with some sense because it will bother you or you have to be strategic and be like, okay, which one are the ones I really love? Let's do those today. Exactly. Yeah. 37:17 And then my like the headache stuff I have it I called it feel better because literally I had the flu and I'm like I have to have all of this stuff like I made the soap the mad head relief it's like a natural Vicks and I put the lapis stone in that and then the shower steamers that I could smell like every day but you're right like the lavender sometimes it gets to me like I'm not a 37:47 And what's nice about today is somebody's allergic to it. Not that that's a nice thing, but that's the stuff I'm making today is lavender freeze. So you're right, like it's a nice time to like step away from it. Yeah, and the other thing is that when we make our stuff, we would make it in our kitchen. And if it was cold out, we didn't have our windows open. People, if you're gonna make anything that has a scent, try to do it when you have your windows open because that helps too. Yes. 38:17 Absolutely. My mom had passed away a few, well, I'd gone through a pretty bad breakup like four years ago and had to move back home. And my dad was in the process of remodeling and my mom was on hospice. So I look at it like a bad and a good time, but just because like coming home gave me that time with my mom that I can never replace, you know, like. Sure. Yeah. So. 38:45 which I do have some plans for her this summer. I know I named the business after grandma. I haven't really fully grieved my mom yet. I know that sounds crazy because we're going on year three, but for me to name something after her right now or do something is almost reliving her death to me. But she was Italian and she made the best spaghetti sauce you could ever imagine. Everyone in the whole family loves it. 39:13 Um, so my plan this year with my tomatoes we can is to start, you know, I'm going to get my license for selling the food and make her spaghetti sauce with her picture on it. Nice. So that's a little reveal I have for the summer. Um, but anyway, we quit remodeling at that time. We have like an upstairs and downstairs that's sort of, sort of like apartment style. 39:42 There's everything upstairs that there is downstairs. The only difference is the upstairs isn't fully remodeled. So that's the kitchen I'm working out of. I have one little burner that works still. And then I don't have to be around all the food either. You know what I mean? It's nice. It's kind of like a little workshop. And then most of the cooking I do is with my dad downstairs. Well, keep cooking with your dad because those are the things that are really important to have too. Yeah. He's a great guy. Like... 40:11 You know, I'm real fortunate to have a really good family, but he's just always been there for me. And I think that's hard for why I'm having a hard time dating right now is just, not that I compare to him, but like, just those values and stuff, you just don't see them anymore. Or like being a gentleman or, you know, you just don't, or making sure you're taken care of. And I'm like very independent, I'm self-sufficient obviously, but like. 40:40 It's that feeling that someone has your back, you know what I mean? Like that. 40:47 you know, like that comes from you have a partner that wants to make sure you're okay. Uh-huh. Yes, absolutely. And I have, I'm really lucky too. I have a great dad. My dad's the best guy I know and he's 81. And he is in great health right now and I hope he stays that way for another 30 years, but that's probably not true. So, but no, I get it. Having a dad who, when you call, he says, 41:14 He says, what's up, honey? Or how can I help? It's so priceless. Right, and people laugh. I'm not gonna lie, like from Southwest PA, we're not, you know, there's not always people into the organic stuff. So I had this vision and, you know, eventually I want to get a shop. Right now I'm just working off of Facebook and doing online orders and deliveries. But my end game is to get a shop and... 41:42 I was like, I want a soup and soap shacks. And everybody, everybody's laughing at me. And I'm like, I could even throw the joke in. It's not cooked in the same pot. And they're like laughing, but not at me, not with me. And, um, my dad says, you know, well, you could be like Cindy Crawford and you could build an empire. And I was like, I needed that dad statement. Everybody's laughing at me. You know, like, and he just has a way of. 42:12 That made me feel good, you know, like it's, yeah. My goals aren't a joke. Yeah. If you do the soup and soap shack, you should do a cauldron as the graphic. I know, right? I thought of that. Yep. That would be adorable. I think you should do it. I want you to do it. Okay. I'm definitely, that's my goal. I'm working on it. 42:35 All right, Angela, we are at 42 minutes and I tried to keep you to half an hour, so I'm going to let you go. But thank you so much for chatting with me today. I appreciate it. I really appreciate you. All right. Have a great day. You too.…

A Tiny Homestead

1
Self Sufficient and Homesteading Community Forum 42:30

20 päivää sitten42:30

42:30

Today I'm talking with Susan and Jasmine and Sean and Teresa at Self Sufficient and Homesteading Community Forum . You can follow on Facebook as well. If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 After listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. This Homestead Holler Shoutout is to our friends over at Freedom Rain Farm in Buffalo, Minnesota. Their new little farm shop is the perfect spot for seasonal fresh goat milk products if you're local to the Buffalo area, while their online shop makes it super easy to order shippable items right to your door. From natural handcrafted goat milk and talo sauce to grass-fed talo skin care and beautifully arranged gift boxes. 00:29 Each product is crafted with care and love. Check them out at redomarinefarm.com or follow their Facebook page to stay in the loop. Let freedom reign. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I am talking with Susan and Jasmine and Sean and Teresa at Self-Sufficiency and Homesteading Community Forum is the name of their Facebook page. That was a lot to say. 00:56 Good afternoon, everybody. How are you? Great. Awesome, we're doing good. Good. I don't, where is everybody located? 01:09 Um, Sean and I are located between Bloomfield and Ottumwa, Iowa. Okay. Um, I'm not far away. I'm over by Drakeville. So I'm about nine miles away from them. This is Susan. Okay. I'm about 160 miles from them. I'm located north of Ames, Iowa. So very much central Iowa. Okay. So you guys are all my Southern neighbors in Iowa, cause I'm in Minnesota. Is it really sunny in Iowa right now? 01:39 Yes. Yeah, here too. It's, it's just gorgeous and it's supposed to hit 50 again today for the third, third day in a row, fourth day in a row. So that's a nice change from last week. I assume it was very cold in Iowa too. Yes. Yeah. I think, I think we might be rolling into spring, you guys. I think it might be happening. I'm going to hope it is anyway. I hope so. Now if we can just get rid of all the mud, that would be wonderful. 02:08 Yeah, wouldn't it be nice if mud season was like the next couple of weeks and then the end of March and April and May when we all need to get in our gardens was dry? Yes. Well, not too dry, but not muddy. That would be great. Yes. Okay. So tell me about, well, I don't know how to do this. Whoever wants to go first, tell me about yourself and then the next person can and the next person can and then you guys can tell me about what you do. Well, kind of what information do you want to know? 02:38 Um, just do you guys have gardens and stuff at your places too, or not? 02:49 I'll go if nobody else is jumping that way we can get it. My name is Sean. I'm the husband of Teresa. Daniel is my oldest son. Matthew is my youngest that lives at home, our sons. And we've been interested in home studying for quite some time. We've got a goal to be off the grid within the next, no. 03:19 year, year and a half, possibly even sooner. The good Lord blesses us. I am the camp manager of Forest Lake Baptist Camp outside of Atoma. I'm also a pastor for Cedar Community Church in Cedar, Iowa. We are avid outdoorsmen, my entire family. In the wintertime, we trap. In the summertime, we... 03:48 We do a lot of foraging. I would say close to maybe 90% of our food comes from what I call God's grocery store. The woods, we have gardens, chickens. Our next goal is to get a milk goat. And just working towards becoming off the grid and... 04:13 going and doing whatever is, you know, God wants us to do and requires us to do, but He'll also meet our needs and give us the desires of our heart. Yep, go ahead. But as John said, you know, we do want to become full-time, well, somewhat full-time homesteaders. Obviously, you know, we still have a job, but as well as all that, you know, we homeschool our two sons, they're 16 and 18. 04:42 You know, I, I am in charge of the kitchen here at the camp. I'm like the program director. So we have a lot of things going on, but I think our biggest goal is we just want a simpler life. And so right now in this time of, of waiting, I would call it waiting. Um, we're learning skills. We're trying to learn as many skills as we can from other people, from other homes setters, from other self-sufficient people, and, um, just build a network of people. 05:12 they can help each other. Awesome. Okay, Susan, do you want to go next? Sure. So my husband and I actually farm. We grew up, both of us grew up on farms. He grew up on a dairy farm up by Oskaloosa. I grew up down here by Drake'sville. So we have actually the agriculture side of it where we row crop and do hay. And then we have two herds of cattle. We have Angus and we have Highlands. And we actually 05:41 call our business Hall Highlands. We are just getting into direct to consumer meat. We are, we're not organic, but we try to stay as natural as possible. So we use Dr. Paul's products. You know, we don't vax, we don't have hormones, we don't use antibiotics unless absolutely necessary. So that's, we do that on the ag side. And then I also homeschool. 06:06 our son and then we have an extra kid that showed up here a few years ago and she loves the farm and she never went away. So she actually works for us. And I am a big proponent of natural health and so I am a certified herbalist. I have, I'm certified in multiple other modalities for natural health. So we do a lot of herbs, of course canning. I mean, that's, you kind of grew up with that being on the farm, gardening, you know, all those sorts of things. Which just slides right into homesteading. We have one milk cow. 06:36 So we just, because we're already ag, a lot of the stuff is still encompassed within home studying. And yeah, we just really enjoy being out here and doing those sorts of things. Fantastic. And that leaves us with Jasmine. So Jasmine, go ahead. Thank you. So I'm from central Iowa. I was raised on a farm over in Grundy County, and now I live one county over in Hardin County. 07:07 Again, really raised in that traditional self-sufficient model of my great grandparents, their homesteading efforts gave me the foundation with the food preservation and the gardening and the natural medicine to carry that knowledge with me into my adult life. 07:37 It's an unpoisoned lifestyle. My husband is a chiropractor. I am an alternative health practitioner. A lot of people in Iowa don't know what that is. It's very similar to what Susan said. I'm a certified herbalist and my modalities are natural health, nutrition, massage therapy, 08:05 The things that make the body do what the body was designed to do, which is live healthy. We can develop resistance to disease through nutrition and exercise and quality self-care. So that's the primary source of income for our household. My husband and I share a practice in Story City, Iowa. And we try to practice what we preach. I grow a lot of our food. 08:33 We have an orchard and chickens. I co-op with my best friend who lives about a mile and a half down the road for some beef cattle. So we are really picking Susan's brain this year on natural cattle care because this is new territory for us. And I really think that, like Teresa said, our mission as a group is building that networking 08:59 learning skills from people who are well practiced in the homesteading arts and the natural living craft and really trying to fulfill God's purpose as a community. Even though we're so far apart, with modern technology, that's becoming easier. Like you're demonstrating today with your broadcast. So that's where we're all coming from, is just building that holistic lifestyle and the community to... 09:28 teach each other, share with each other, network, and build self-sufficiency. Okay, so you guys are all in the homesteading community realm here in your own lives, so that's great. I don't have any livestock here except for chickens. I'd love to have a cow, but we don't have room for a cow, so we don't have one. But I wanted to get this in before we get into the community forum stuff. 09:57 We had our first egg this morning from our 20 week old chickens that we just got two Saturdays ago. So we're very excited. They're beginning to lay. They're excited. They're beginning to lay and we've had chickens before. This is just a brand new bunch because we culled our older chickens in the fall. So it's a bunch of it's a it's a flock of 12 and they're the ISA brown variety. They used to be called ISA reds, I think. 10:27 I looked it up and they were supposed to start laying between 18 and 22 weeks and they're 20 weeks old. So dead center, 20 weeks old and first egg. And it was really funny. My husband went out to feed the chickens this morning. When he comes in from feeding the chickens and giving the barn cats food and water, because you have to feed your barn cats a little bit in the morning and get them going. Most people don't realize that, but you really should give them some food. Usually when he comes in, I say, is everybody okay? And he didn't answer me. 10:55 and he walked in the living room and held out his hand and he had this pretty little egg in his hand. My heart literally thumped, you guys. No joke. So we're going to have eggs again. Thank God. Because I don't, I assume you have seen the price of eggs at the grocery store right now and I don't want to pay that. I would rather have our own chickens and pay for the feed. Oh yes. Yes, yes. So that's our nod to homesteading here. 11:23 And they're better eggs too. Yeah. The quality is better. They taste much better. Yes, they do. Um, we've been buying eggs for three and a half, four months at the store. And I had really been just avoiding eating them because I didn't, I'm not a big egg eater anyway. And I made a, a, uh, can't think. Egg salad sandwich, like three weeks ago from the store, bought eggs. And. 11:53 I threw away half the sandwich. It just didn't taste right. I was like, this is not what I want. And so I am so looking forward to the first egg salad sandwich, you know, week and a half, when there's enough of our chicken eggs to do it with. Yep. So anyway, little silly thing from our homestead. So tell me about this community forum. And I saw that you have an event coming. So tell me all about that. Anybody. I don't care who. 12:25 Well, can I add something to this about the community thing? Oh yeah. This group. Sure. We have other members that are not here. And, uh, but the neat thing is how we all came together and we just started networking and working really as a great big family and you know, it is a, it's a godsend to us that, you know, we have such a huge family. 12:53 that wants to network and come together and share our knowledge with others and learn their knowledge and make it, that's what homesteading is all about. Not one person can ever get all of this and keep it in their head. Right. And I am just really thankful for each and every one of our board members that is on this committee to make this work. Because without them, 13:23 this would not work and we're a team. And it is very, very, um, re encourage is encouraging to me watching how this team has worked together in the last year. And so, yeah, I just want to say that about our group. Yeah. Many hands make light work as a, as a saying for a reason. Mm hmm. Right. 13:50 Well, I'm really glad that you are expressing your appreciation for the group because sometimes people in the group, some people don't really get told that they're doing a good job and they leave. So it's really good to let people know that you value their work. Well, and I think that as a group, we're really blessed because I feel like we all genuinely really like each other. I mean, we really genuinely all like each other. We all have very similar mindsets. 14:20 sure we all have different skills, but we genuinely like each other as people. Even if we weren't part of this group doing this together, I think we would still like each other. We would still be involved in each other's lives. Yeah, definitely. Nice. So, you've built a family around this group or the group, the family, however it worked. So tell me, tell me about the community that you've started, the forums. 14:49 Well, self-efficially during 2020, when COVID hit, supply chain issues happened all over. And I kind of got to thinking, you know, we have this technology to network with people. And having met Sean and Teresa previously and attended a Homesteaders oriented event 15:20 They have skills that I don't have. I have skills that they can learn from. There's got to be more people in Iowa with this mindset that I can learn from or that are producing things that I need. And then I came across this meme on Facebook that was a picture of an elderly woman smack in the middle of her garden, in front of her barn, and it said, 15:46 Grandma survived the depression because she knew how to do things and her supply chain was local. And I thought, Eureka, if I can create a page on Facebook to make a local supply chain where local producers and Iowa homesteaders can meet, so to speak, then we can all do business with each other. 16:14 and we can create a local supply chain. And Sean and Teresa and obviously Susan have the same ideas. So being that we were like-minded and technology gives us the advantage of being able to get together even long distance, you know, we came together and now we have Facebook pages with thousands of members. And... 16:40 Other groups have created expos and events. And so we're playing off of their model a little bit as far as creating the event that we're working on. But we've decided that our mission is going to be different because our mission is not profit oriented. Our mission is basically the biblical version of community drawing together. 17:10 And together we can stand as a self-sufficient network. And so that idea of fellowship, that idea of community, that's why we called it a forum. We want to invite people with knowledge and interest and the products they create to come and share their skills, teach what they know, learn from others. 17:37 And that was really the direction that we wanted our event to go. And, you know, and, and with that said, you know, none of our speakers are getting paid. They, the only thing they're getting out of it is we're not charging them to attend the event. They get to come share their knowledge and then learn from other people, other skills. And, you know, we want to keep it very. 18:06 reasonably priced for people so that it's not hard for them to come. We want to be able to make it affordable and just about the community of helping each other. Obviously, we have to charge something because, you know, where we're going to have the event, we have to pay a usage fee for the facilities there. So we do have to make a little bit of money to cover those costs. But none of us 18:33 about money at all. It's all about community and helping people learn from people. Yeah, and whatever you're charging for people to come to the event, it gains them education and it gives them an entree into a different community they may not be part of yet. So I think it's worth it. So what's the event entail? What are you guys going to be doing? 19:06 So I have just been finishing and finalizing our current schedule. The lineup as is right now. We have a lot of different classes we're going to be doing. Them about an hour apiece. We have a lot of different things that we're going to have. We've got rope making, 19:36 Rendering fat. We're going to do some round tables, especially for things like canning and dehydrating. Because we know that there's a lot of people out there who are kind of rebel canners, if you will. And if you do the official classes, everything has to be just so. And this is going to give people to actually jump in and share what they do also. Cast iron care. 20:06 Beekeeping, sourdough, soap making, a couple of different animal nutrition, cattle care and animal nutrition, herbal remedies, gardening. 20:26 and have more knowledge than others. And so for that reason, you know, we brought in a lot of different people who are gonna share just the things that they know. And then we're also gonna have vendors that are gonna be in our main area. And I do believe we're going to have buckskinners there to show what the buckskinners do. And then on Saturday, we're also gonna have like a Dutch oven contest. Nice. 20:56 So it's basically an expansive homesteading crash course. Nice, that's exciting. Have you done this before or is this the first time? 21:12 Well, yeah, we did this before prior to this. We belong to another group and we've actually had this be Teresa and I's third year of doing this. But we all decided to do our own this with this group of people because 21:40 We are, this group of people is like-minded. And I'm not going to say much more than that, but we've been in this three years. And, you know, you can, it's more of a community networking and sharing our skills with each other. Yeah. The reason I asked is because when it's a first time event kind of thing, there's always jitters and there's always. 22:10 I don't know, kinks to work out. And I feel like after you've done an event like this, it's a lot easier the second year and then the fifth year is like a cakewalk. Well, and I think that, you know, as we have, you know, two of the members that aren't here today were part of the original group with us as well. Um, but I think that, well, that was a great thing that, um, this group. 22:38 that we've created now or that we've all come together and created, we all have a very much like-minded mindset. We're all about community and helping people help each other and I feel like that God has really blessed this event for us and is blessing this event because it feels like this event is coming together easier and faster than the previous ones we've done. 23:09 And I mean, it's just like we're having people reaching out from all over the place. We had to turn people away to do classes because we ran out of space and time. We had to say, you know what? We can put you on the list for next year, but we don't have a space because we had so many people that wanted to be part of it. And that's not a bad problem to have. But we just feel like it's been very blessed by God because we feel like. 23:37 we're doing it for the right reason. And he's gonna honor that for us to have a good event to help people. Yeah. And none of us about any of us or what we're doing and our skills. And obviously it's taken all of us to put it together, but none of it's really about us. It's about helping other people. Okay, so is your attendance completely full now? Well. 24:03 We're not gonna sell tickets ahead. They're just gonna pay at the gate. So we really don't know how many people. We feel like we'll have several people, but we really don't know. But we do know that who's supposed to be there, God will bring there. And when is the event? I thought I saw May 2nd and 3rd, but I could be wrong. Yes. Okay. So May 2nd and 3rd, you guys are gonna be very busy. 24:32 It's I'm guessing that's a Saturday and Sunday. It's a Friday, Saturday. Okay. Cool. I I'm so I'm not even envious and jealous is the wrong or the wrong words, but I'm excited for you guys that you're doing this because it sounds absolutely wonderful. And the people who attend are going to gain so much everything just by going. 24:59 And that's our goal, to be honest with you, is to share knowledge and learn from them. Mm-hmm. Yup. So I don't even know if you guys know the answer to my question here. How much time do you think you have sunk into making this happen? 25:21 A lot. That's a lot. Yeah. I mean, I spent a lot of time, a lot of legwork, a lot of calling people, talking with people, a lot of, you know, passing out flyers, putting it on different groups to advertise it, just a lot of things. But you know, Jasmine and Susan spent a lot of hours working on the schedule. And I mean, Jasmine did like. 25:49 hours of work trying to get it all just right for us because that's a skill she has scheduling. That's not something I have. I would have been like, oh my gosh. But you know, just, but you know, and that's the good thing about our group too is we all have different skills. So it's been good that way, you know? Mm hmm. Okay. Yeah, that's been great because while I am able to put a schedule together, I do not have the skills to create it. 26:18 in a readable format that can be advertised on a computer. So Susan totally took what I put together and magically changed it into something that's actually usable. So that's one of the blessings about our group. We are like-minded and like Teresa said, we all have different skills. So what one person can take and mold a little bit into something useful 26:48 the next person on our committee can mold it a little more into something even more usable. And I think God knew that we were going to need that. So He put us together. And like Teresa said, He's given us a mission. And that mission is to develop a homesteading, self-sufficient community. And I think our committee itself really shows no one person can do it all. 27:17 you need different skill sets. So I'm really grateful to have spent time with this committee and learned from them. And I think that's such a appropriate foundation for the event that we're doing. Yeah, I just want to jump in and say that I am so impressed with how complimentary you guys are of each other and both words, C-O-M-P-L-I and C-O-M-P-L-E. 27:46 because you're very good about giving compliments to each other, but I feel like all of your skills compliment each other. 27:57 Well, it's all of us together, working together. And God brought us all in each other's paths and for a purpose. And to be quite frank, I encourage everybody to come, give it a try. For $10, what do you got? What do you have to get in the gate? And you're going to walk away with a ton of knowledge. A ton of knowledge. 28:24 You can't, you can't YouTube these kinds of things. Um, you know, and what you're going to walk away with is a network and a group of people that, you know, six months down the road, you find something that happens to you, you can call and say, Hey, I don't know what this is, but Hey, Teresa knows how to do this or Susan knows how to do this or Terry and Tonya know how to do this, she always say in that networking. And getting quick answers. 28:54 You know, and shoot, I do that to Jasmine anyway. I mean, if I got something, I need a question about something. I call her up, hey, what do you think about this? She gives me her, her knowledge, you know, and, and someday I'll repay that to her when she calls me and says, what kind of mushroom is this? Don't need it. Absolutely. Um, I think the best thing. 29:22 in the world about being human is that we all have some form of community. I have very few close friends and it's partly because we moved four years ago and all of my friends have jobs where they live and it's half an hour away from where we moved. So I don't see my old group of friends very often but we still talk through messages or on the phone. And if I know that somebody that I moved away from knows something, 29:51 You can bet your butt I'm going to call her and say, how do I fix the zipper on my brand new coat that broke? Because she's, she's good at that. And I'm probably not going to fix it. I'm probably going to run it up to her and have her fix it. But, but if I could, if I can fix it and she can tell him, talk me through it, I'm going to ask her, of course. But the thing that we've gotten away from is community. I mean, there's all of these McMansion. 30:19 quote unquote communities and no one knows anybody in those communities. No. And I- Most people do. Yeah. I hate it. Yeah. And one of the areas that, I mean, I love that about this group. Everybody's got their niche. I can, we can ask each other, talk to each other, share with each other. And it's so amazing. But even in my own life, you know, one of the places that I see so many people struggling right now is like- 30:48 young mothers. You know, back years ago, you had such a community where, you know, grandmas and aunts and neighbors and everybody was willing to come and help. You know, they had tricks up their sleeve with the kids, you know, young families, all these different things. And we don't have that anymore. And I would love to see, you know, besides just home studying at large, just community to start to grow and find roots again. And I'm hopeful that we're seeing a move back towards that. 31:18 direction. But that was the other reason that we wanted to keep the prices low on this. And then anybody under 15 was free was because we want to see these young families. We want to see these kids coming in and trying things, you know, making ropes or watching because these were things that we got from grandmas and grandpas or neighbors that used to do stuff like this. And there's not that much out there anymore. 31:45 I'm going to jump in. The other thing is, is that I'm old enough to be a grandma. I have a step-grandchild right now. She's 11. And I feel like a lot of people my age, I'm 55, did not like, I mean, they may have seen their grandparents do stuff, but they didn't actually learn it. And so it's really hard to pass on what you don't know how to do. 32:12 So I love that you're inviting kids in to learn these things. Well, exactly. Cause Susan and I have talked about it many times. I'm 51 and Susan obviously is younger than I am, but we talked about it many times that there are, most of the people our age and younger don't know how to can. They don't know how to do any of those things because they either didn't get taught or they weren't paying attention, you know? And so... 32:40 And it's such an amazing skill. And, and you know, I find it rewarding because, you know, to be able to walk in my canning room and see all this stuff that I did that, you know, that that's. And, you know, and I, and I know what's in that jar. I don't like, I don't have to worry about what's in it. I know what's in it because I put it there. The only thing you have to worry about is if it's got spots on the lid that are going to kill you. And I'm sure that you know what to look for. 33:07 Yeah, but you know, I mean, but most people wouldn't have a clue how to do it, or they'd be terrified to even begin to figure out how to do it. So, you know, if we can help them even just a little bit get over that, that fear of trying it, and, you know, give them that little push forward to give it a try, you know? Yeah. I mean, it's worth it. Yes, there's a reason that it worked for hundreds of years, and it still works. 33:37 Um, it's really funny. We had a little girl who would come to with her mom to our CSA thing here a couple of summers ago and her little girl was like five, I think. And she wanted to taste something right out of the garden. And the mom said, is that okay? And I was like, yes, even if it has dirt on it, it's probably not going to kill her. I said, we don't spray, we don't spray anything. 34:05 on our plants, it's fine. And just wipe it off. And her little girl just picked, I don't know what it was, I think it might have been a green bean or something. So clearly something you can just pick and eat. And she bit into it and she was like, that's not like the canned ones. And I said, no, because it hasn't been canned. And she said, it's crispy, chewy. And I said, yeah. She says, I want to grow these. I said, good. 34:34 Talk to your mom and dad about growing those. And I was just so excited to see that light come on in her eyes of, oh, this is what it tastes like before anything happens to it. So it's- Building off of what you said about the McMansions, there are so, so many housing developments and places where people don't grow anything. 35:03 Uh-huh. And that part of our movement is to teach, maybe plant the seed of the self-sufficient mindset. You cannot grow everything you're going to need yourself, but you should start growing something. Like you said, Mary, these skills were grandma skills. And fortunately for me, my gram and great gram raised me. So that's where I learned. 35:32 didn't have a choice but to learn. It was expected of me that I would be helping in every aspect, from the planting and sowing to the harvesting and then the canning and preserving. So these skills haven't been taught and we want people to learn these skills. We want to plant that self-sufficient mindset. Like Teresa said, when you open that jar, 35:58 you know exactly what's in it because you put that in it and there's nothing in there that you can't pronounce. So that's part of our mission is to create that movement toward the self-sufficiency, the homestead minded, doing it for yourself in a very pure way and networking with people who can contribute to that holistic life. 36:26 The more I'm picturing both of my grandma's kitchens when I was growing up, and both grandma's, one was in Maine, one was in Illinois. Both grandma's kitchens had all of their tools kind of out and displayed all the time, everything they used all the time. And the juxtaposition between their kitchens and the kitchens that we have now, it's crazy. 36:50 The chasm of disparity between what their kitchens look like and what people expect a kitchen to look like now is so different. Yeah. And I'm totally into like grandma core anyway, so like my kitchen has stuff everywhere. Yeah, you should see. But we use it, so it goes both ways. You should see mine right now. We've got jackets on the back of chairs around the table because it had been cold. That haven't been hung up yet. 37:18 We've got a table full of seedlings started for the spring planting. And there's little baby basil plants sprouting and there's peppers and we have tomatoes planted, but they haven't started yet. And, um, my counter is almost clean of dirty dishes. Cause I've already done dishes once this morning, but I always feel bad because when we bought the house, clearly it was empty and that kitchen, our whole house was remodeled before we even saw it. 37:48 So the kitchen is just gorgeous. It's like a modernized country kitchen. So the cabinets look like old cabinets, but they're brand new. But they did keep the original cabinets over by where the kitchen table is. And those are just the flat faced made out of wood cabinet doors. They're not fancy. I love my kitchen. Like I could rave about my kitchen for days and you would tell me to shut the hell up after two minutes. But. 38:17 But I always feel bad because my kitchen is always a mess because that's the room we do everything in, you know? And I got up this morning, came downstairs, looked at my kitchen and went, oh my God, I need like two days straight to get this thing looking like it did when we moved in. And then I stopped myself and said, but it's not supposed to look like when we moved in, we live here now. And that made me feel a little bit better. So I am going to stick with the grandma core thing. 38:46 and it's okay to have a clean colander sitting on the counter. I'm okay with that. Absolutely. Those kitchens are the healthiest kitchens because they have realistic expectations. My kitchen's always a mess too because I'm always doing stuff. With everything else we have going on, sometimes the kitchen table doesn't get cleared off, so there's mail. We have jackets on the back of our chairs too. 39:15 But I think there's a quiet comfort that comes in a home with a busy kitchen. The centrifugal meeting place for a family. When we were raising our kids, we ate supper at the supper table because sometimes that's the only quality time you spend with each other. I'm with you. I've frequently said I need three of me to clean the house, keep up with everything else, and go to work. 39:46 I really agree that that messy kitchen is a cozy, safe, comfortable, healthy place where your family actually likes to be. Because if they didn't like to be there, it wouldn't be messy. Well, my- Well, yeah, exactly. And you know, if a kitchen is like, in my opinion, like if a kitchen's neat and perfect all the time, is it really being used? No. You know? 40:14 No, it's not. And my favorite thing about our kitchen is that it's the size of a, I don't know, it's probably the size of a small great room, a living room. So it's bigger than a galley kitchen by probably four times. And we have an island in our kitchen because it has very little counter space on the outside walls. 40:37 And that island is the most wonderful thing on earth because my husband and I and our adult son who still lives with us all love to cook. So if we're gonna make a big meal, like it requires chopping vegetables and doing prep and stuff, we can all stand around the island and work together and talk. And it's my favorite thing about my kitchen. Yep. Those memories will last the rest of your life. Mm-hmm. Oh yeah. 41:06 I have a son who is currently in culinary school because from the time he was a little tiny kid, he wanted to help in the kitchen. And now he's creating a legacy for himself with those skills because he was, well, he was expected to help out, but his own interest in it really grew. And so now I'm thinking back to when he was a little tiny kid and here he is in college going to be a professional, you know? Yeah. 41:36 Yep. Good job, mom. You did great. All right, guys, I try to keep those to half an hour. I would love to make it two hours, but that probably won't go very far with my listeners. So I'm gonna let you guys go, but thank you so much for the discussion today and your time. I appreciate it. Now, so we leave this up? Yes. Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you for having us. Yeah, thank you. 42:06 Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. Now, would you like us to send you a flyer or like online? Do you want me to like send you a flyer or anything like that? Yeah, yeah, actually, yeah, if you could, that'd be great. So I can share it in the show notes thing. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you guys. Have a great day. All right. Thank you.…

A Tiny Homestead

1
Morning Song Orchard 30:10

8 weeks sitten30:10

30:10

Today I'm talking with Roy at Morning Song Orchard . You can follow on Facebook as well. If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Roy at Morning Song Orchard. Good afternoon, Roy. How are you? Good afternoon. How are you? I'm good. You're in Oklahoma? Yes, ma'am, I am. I'm in Minnesota. It is very, very cold here today. How is it where you are? 00:28 I woke up this morning fed the chickens at two degrees. Oh, well, I've got you beat. I think it's probably still minus 10 here. Well, you can keep it. Yeah, yeah, we're going to keep it for another couple of months. And then as we say in Minnesota, we live in Minnesota and put up with the winter because spring, summer and fall are so beautiful. So let me ask you a question. We just got done watching. 00:56 Fargo wasn't that supposedly filmed up in that area? Yes, supposedly yes. And yes, that's what Minnesotans sound like I'm not from I'm not from Minnesota originally. So I you probably won't hear it from me. Oh, okay. I I've tried really hard to dump the main accent that I had 01:21 grown up with and not adopt the Minnesota accent. I try really hard not to have any accent. Yeah, similarly, that's the same as myself. I'm actually from New York originally. So I've been around Southerners all my life. Yeah, and honestly, the Southern accents are so lovely and so sweet that if you talk with a Southerner, all people are going to be thrilled to listen to you. 01:50 the New England and the Northeast states, not as much. I don't know what it is, but maybe we just sound rude if we live there, I don't know. No, there is an allure with the Southern accent, I have to admit. It's very, very sweet. It's like sweet tea and lemons, it's good. Okay, so tell me about what you do at the orchards. What do you grow? 02:18 Well, we actually started out here growing chestnut trees. And there was a reason behind that. I stopped working in my construction company when we built our house. And I was like, you know, we should actually start doing something here that's totally different than what the mainstream is used to in Oklahoma. 02:48 Excuse me, the nut industry out here is pecans. And I was like, well, why don't we introduce chestnuts and hazelnuts? I did the research. My background is in horticulture academically. And I was like, well, I think we can do it in this particular zone. So we tried it. And we wanted to bring an old culture. 03:16 to an area that's never seen it before because America grew up on this, especially on the East Coast, right, with chestnuts until the blight hit and wiped out the American chestnut. So long story short, we started getting into those. We planted 3000 blackberry plants. So we started getting into that. Just got our hands into a lot of things. 03:44 Now we're doing blackberries, elderberries, chestnuts, hazelnuts, and some grapes. Nice. That's a very eclectic group of things to grow. It is. Yeah, that's great. So do the hazelnuts and the chestnuts do really well? They do excellent down here. Now these are hybrids because... 04:12 We can't grow American chestnuts to this day. Nobody can, not even the American Chestnut Foundation. Okay. We're trying, so we have hybrids, and the ones that I grow on my property are trademarked under the name Dunstan, D-U-N-S-T-A-N, and they do really well, exceptionally well out here. We get some really large nuts, 04:42 Interestingly enough, the deer have never seen a chestnut out here. And chestnuts are probably the healthiest nut for humans and animals that, that there is other than macadamia. Okay. 04:59 Okay, so what other than chestnuts roasting on an open fire from the Christmas song, what are chestnuts used for? 05:10 Good question. I've not really had that question before. The chestnut tree used to be used for lots of things. And, and because it's been out of use for well over a hundred years, um, it's kind of gotten, gotten away and going more towards oak trees. So the, the use. 05:37 of chestnut seeds from an industrial standpoint, I would say there's absolutely nothing unlike hazelnuts where you get Nutella from hazelnuts. But chestnuts are, they're so high in carbohydrates that if it were to become a market again, they'd be excellent crops for feed for pigs, for instance. 06:05 Because the high carbohydrates, they can keep animals warm for the wintertime. The wood itself from the tree is beautiful. If you look at any antique furniture made out of chestnut. But other than that, I really don't think there's a market for the chestnut itself at this point. 06:29 Okay. I was just looking at Google while you were talking and, uh, basically. They'd roasted chestnuts on open fire really for the nuts themselves. That's what I'm saying. And I guess they can be milled into flour. Yes. 06:49 They can be eaten candied, boiled, steamed, deep-fried, grilled, or roasted in sweet or savory recipes. They can be used to stuff vegetables, poultry, fowl, and other edibles. They're available fresh, dried, ground, or canned. So there you go. There's your answer. Well, thank you. Yeah. I love Google. Google makes me so happy. Google knows everything I don't know and everything no one else knows. So we now know what it can be used for. You know what? I've actually been getting into chat GPT. 07:18 Uh-huh. That is interesting. Yeah, I don't trust it yet. I need a little more time. Chat GPT is like the older brother of Google. Okay. Well, I got to try it out some more and see if I like it. Okay, so we've talked about chestnuts and I love hazelnuts. Hazelnuts are one of my favorite, favorite things to snack on. 07:49 They're spendy, but they're worth it. Yeah, yeah. The American hazelnuts are a lot smaller than the ones that you see out in retail or in the market. The ones you see out there are like Barcelona's. They're probably twice the size of American hazelnuts. OK. We tried planting a couple hazelnut trees here. And 08:15 I think it was three summers ago or three falls ago and they have done nothing. So I don't think they're ever going to grow. And I don't know what we're doing wrong. It may just be that our soil isn't correct or our temperatures or our water levels or whatever but they're just not doing anything. What variety do you remember? I have no idea. I do not know. 08:42 Yeah, I've had some challenges with them. They don't like wet feet at all. So they have to be planted somewhere a little bit higher than they seem to be. They grow better if they're on like a hill of some sort with some slight decline, sandy loamy soil. That might be the problem considering that our lot is flat and we have very dense, clay-ish. 09:10 soil so that might be why they're not happy. Yes, they do not like that. Okay, well maybe we don't try to grow hazelnut trees here then because I don't really want to try to put a hill in where it's all flat. We live in flatlands right now. We live in the land with corn fields and soybeans. So there you go. So if we want to grow corn or soybeans we're good but everyone has that covered around here so we're just going to keep growing our our farm-to-market garden and call it good. 09:40 How many acres of blackberries do you grow? Three acres. That's a lot of blackberries. It is. It's an awful lot of blackberries. And these are thornless blackberries. So it makes it easier. Nice. Do you sell them to stores? Do you sell them to people in the area? How do you move them? So I think we're going to get into a part of the conversation that 10:09 Um, you're probably unaware of, or maybe you are. When we started doing blackberries was when, um, I, I lost both of my sisters to cancer, um, within the last five years. And my first sister, Lynette, who passed away, that's when we started planting the blackberries and we were doing farmers markets out here. 10:33 And we would take our plants, we would take the berries, and we would do farmers markets and all that. But in the interim, as my other sister became more ill, she was diagnosed with multiple cancers. We started to transition a little bit and I started to sell herbal teas at the farmers market. 11:03 Um, we were doing so well with our herbal teas that Morning Song Orchard and Nursery, uh, we retained the same name and transitioned, uh, into an herbal store. Oh, neat. Okay. Yeah. So we sell now, um, we still sell these products, the, the farm products we sell at our store, we're just bringing, uh, sourdough bread into the store. We sell the eggs, that type thing. 11:33 Um, but our herbal products do the pet do the best. So we sell about 200 different herbal products. Um, I blend about 85 teas. Wow. Yeah, it's, it's quite amazing. And it's, it's just such a cool journey because, um, I've met a lot of neat people that, um, unfortunately a lot of them are ill and, um, 12:01 like stage four prostate cancer or something of that nature. And it's just, it's a really great feeling for instance, having somebody come in and give you a testimonial of how they've are no longer diabetic because they used the Jimnema Silvestri and they've lost 15 pounds and they feel happier and you can just see the smile on their face. So anyway. 12:28 We have morphed since the blackberries. I don't know if you were aware of that or not. I didn't know if you were doing both. Yes, yes, we are doing both. If I were to break it down into a percentage, I would say that my herbal business is probably 85% of our business now. Okay, so did you always want to get into doing what you're doing or was this just a pivot? 12:58 It was a, it was a come to Jesus pivot, if you will, because I put both my sisters into hospice and I got to see a side of the medical industry that I hadn't seen before. And when you're real up close and personal with it, you can see that there is some deception in there and it just really started to make me 13:28 reflect on how things are and look at the reality of our pharmaceutical system. So I just went head first into herbals and that's where we're at now. In fact, this Saturday I'm teaching a class at Indian Capital Technology Center on how to make tinctures. That's fantastic. You took two very sad tragedy moments. 13:57 and turned it into inspiration. Yeah, yeah. Good job, Roy. Good job, because that had to have been really, really hard. And I'm sorry you lost your sisters. Well, thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. You're welcome. I haven't lost any siblings. They are still around, but I can't imagine how that went. And the pain that comes from losing people either puts you into a hole of depression or 14:24 it wakes you up to the fact that life is short and you should probably do something with your own. Yeah, and I experienced both and the latter was the more get up and fight situation, you know. 14:42 Well, I'm glad. I'm glad it went that way because you are helping so many people now. That's my goal. Awesome. So do you do like regular basic herbal teas like raspberry leaf or anything like that? Or are they all very, um, I don't know what the word is. Not simple. Yeah, yeah. So I do have simple, simple teas. 15:08 Um, I call them our, our fun teas. Those are, um, the ones that are, you know, one, two ingredient type things that are great hot or cold. Um, but most of my teas are medicinally based. So the focus on doing blends is to assist in, uh, an ailment, whether it's cholesterol, bone pain. 15:35 PCOS, we do a lot of women's health teas here that are very popular. And the whole, the whole premise of this is so people can take a homeopathic approach to their healthcare. Yes. There are so many people out there that have been, I don't know, for lack of better words, disillusioned since, since the COVID epidemic, they've 16:05 have a broader knowledge of the way that our healthcare system is. I'll put it that way. Mm-hmm. Yep. Yeah, it's, it's, I understand what you're saying and I'm sure the listeners understand what you're saying and you're being very good about not being a jerk about what you're saying. So let me ask you a question. How, I don't know how to ask this correctly. 16:31 How are you marketing this? Because here in Minnesota, we're not really allowed to say, like if I decided to make an herb blend tea that helped with, I don't know, joint pain, we would not be allowed to put that on the label. Because- Yeah, absolutely. You can't say that. So how do you get around that? Right, so you are allowed to say, 17:00 that it may aid in the assistance of, you know, those type of words. You can't, like you said, you can't sit there and say, this will help with this or that type thing. Because then, yes, you will find yourself in a liable issue, but more so with the FDA because there are guidelines associated with it. So... 17:28 But you can market your product as a tea that may assist in doing this type of function. So that's totally legal. Okay. So there are very specific ways to word it so that you don't have the FDA come down on you. Correct. Okay, good. I make essential oil blends. Like I do a... 17:57 lemon grass, lavender, peppermint in sweet almond oil. And I use it from my migraines because those three herbs really, really help. If you can smell that blend, it takes the edge off of a migraine. Absolutely. And we sell it at the farmer's market and we cannot say anything about what it does. 18:24 Unless somebody asks us and we have to tell them verbally because I can't I Cannot figure out a way to word it without it getting me in trouble Even though even though I know damn well that it really does help So it's very frustrating to me that that a doctor would be like take two Tylenol and take a nap But I'm not allowed to say lavender peppermint and lemon actually do 18:50 kick things in the way that your brain works and makes your headache less painful. Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely. We've recently formulated a powder that can potentially help people that have ADD, ADHD. But I cannot say that on the product label. 19:20 You know, I can say those type of actions with it, but I can't be specific. But yeah, I totally empathize with you in regards to that. Um, we just started getting into, um, essential oils. I bought a still last summer, um, that we're going to start doing. One of my employees is currently going through classes. She's going to be our essential oils guru. 19:50 much fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah it really is. That's awesome. How do you keep all this straight, Roy? You've got a lot going on there. I do and honest to God, I told my wife two days ago that I think I'm going into information overload. Uh-huh. You know and I don't know there's a respiratory virus going around and 20:18 I don't know if that was part of it. I did get it. However, I decided to take a homeopathic approach to combating it. No, you? You chose that? Right? So, I had to try my own tinctures and all that. And they were very successful. But I think with that particular ailment, I didn't know if I had... 20:45 receive COVID again or what it was. The symptoms I had were very similar to COVID back in 2020. But anyway, so I don't know if my sensory overload, my memory overload is because of that illness or if it's just because of all the information. We do, we carry almost 500 inventory items. Wow. 21:16 Wow, and do you have them all stored in like a warehouse or how does that work? They're here at the store. Wow. Um, so it gets exceptionally difficult when, uh, for instance, we have a show coming up in March in prior Oklahoma and that's going to be an extremely populated event, so we have to get all of our product ready at the same time, having enough product for. 21:46 our web sales as well as our store sales. So it's just such a, it's like today, today's my day off. I'm here at work. So, you know, it is what it is. At least I'm giving you in half an hour to just talk about what you do. No, this is great. Yep. 22:08 Okay, like I have been saying in the last three episodes I've recorded because I get to 20 minutes and my brain goes flat because I've been sick the last two weeks too. Sorry about that. No problem. What? Is this what you're going to be doing for the next 20 years? Do you love this enough to keep it going? So 20 years, I don't know because that would put me well into my 80s. Okay. 22:35 I'm considerably older than my wife, so I'm waiting on her to retire. So I guess this is like our retirement gig. And when she's ready to give up the corporate lifestyle, then we'll both do this. And hopefully sales will be good enough that we can go and spend our summers in Maine and our winters in Florida. That's a great plan. 23:04 Yeah, summers in Maine are beautiful. And I don't know about Florida. I haven't been to Florida. So I can't, I can't attest to Florida, but I can attest to summers in Maine. They're beautiful. Yeah, Maine is fantastic. Yeah. If I hadn't, uh, married somebody who wanted to move to Minnesota a long time ago, I would probably still be in Maine, but instead I'm still in Minnesota with a third husband who I actually loved to pieces and he doesn't want to leave Minnesota, so we're staying in Minnesota. There you go. 23:33 I've only been to Minnesota once for a meeting and it was in the dead of January and it happened to be extremely cold. It must have been around the year 2000. And everyone's like, let's go to the Mall of America. Is that even still open? Yep. Isn't it really? Mm-hmm. Oh yeah. Yeah. It was cold and icy. That's what I remember. Have you been to Maine though, in the summer? Yes. 24:02 Okay, Minnesota is not a whole lot different than Maine when it comes to weather. It's just that Maine has the ocean and the mountains and Minnesota does not have the ocean and mountains. Oh, really? So, so Minnesota is flatland. Yeah, it kind of depends on where you are, but, but there are no mountains in Minnesota. There are hills and there's no glacial at one time. Yes. And there's no ocean, but there's tons of rivers. 24:31 and lakes. So we have lots of water. There's not oceans. Sure. Yeah. It's really pretty. And it makes it easier for me to live here instead of where I grew up. So you're not old. Oklahoma is very similar in the sense that in Oklahoma City where we used to live, it was very flat. The dirt is red. Um, and it's just, yeah, summer is well into the hundreds. Uh, but where we're at now. 25:01 is considered green country. So we're in the foothills of the Ozarks. So we have the rolling hills, we have the weather and precipitation differential, and it's just night and day compared to central Oklahoma. It's beautiful. Wow. Okay. Actually, I have a better answer for your question about whether it's flat or not. If you're toward the river valley of any 25:30 It's rolling hills down River Valley. Once you get out of the River Valley, it's kind of flat. So does that help? Yeah, absolutely. It's really beautiful. More, more farmland, like, uh, like you were saying previously with the, uh, uh, cornfields. Yes. Yeah. We literally are surrounded by cornfields, um, for the last two summers, our property. 25:59 And it's a great privacy fence, but if you have allergies to corn pollen, it is terrible for about three weeks. I bet it is. But it's lovely. But I think that summers in Maine and winters in Florida sounds like an excellent way to retire. I think that would be lovely. But don't retire too soon because you're helping so many people. We want you to keep doing that for a while. Well, thank you. I want to keep doing it for a while as well. Every day is a learning experience. 26:29 And people can order stuff from you on your website, is that right? Yes, yes. It's www. Okay. And why did you name it Morning Song? Because my wife wanted to. Oh, okay. Do you know what her story is about that? She grew up on the property where we currently are at. And it was just... 26:58 something she remembers so distinctly, the cardinals that were out there every morning, especially the male cardinals. That's why the male cardinal is on our logo. And she would just hear the birds out there singing. So I figured it might be something like that. Did you know that the birds sing in the morning for no other reason than to say I'm here? Oh, really? 27:25 That's what scientists have discovered supposedly. They sing in the morning because they wake up and they're like, oh, I'm here. And they all do some variation of call that says, I'm here. Well, you know, it's interesting because we have bluebirds. And I think it's the bluebirds that mimic other birds. I'm not sure. Somebody out there listening could probably correct me. But the. 27:53 The bluebirds that we have now have imitated a hawk and all of our chickens are free range. Oh no. Yeah, so they scare the garbage out of the chickens and they all run for cover every time these bluebirds are out there doing this hawk interpretation or imitation. Oh, that's so funny. Huh. 28:19 I didn't know bluebirds did that. We have bluebirds in Minnesota, but I don't see them very often. Yeah, it's quite interesting. Yeah, I know we have a cow bird or a cat bird here that will mimic other birds calls, and it will mimic other people's noises. My son does a whistle to get the dog to come in, and there's a bird that has learned his whistle. Ha ha ha ha. Oh, the poor dog. 28:49 And she doesn't care. She doesn't listen anyway. That's awesome. But my son was outside last summer and he heard that whistle. And my son's dad, my husband does that too. Does the same whistle and he was like, did dad just whistle? And I said, dad's in the house. He's like, I heard the whistle. And we listened and we heard it again. And I said, that's that stupid bird that mimics everything. He's like, a bird copied my whistle. Apparently. Oh Lord. 29:19 So yeah, there are birds that copy whistles and clearly parrots repeat what people say and I think macaws do and I think there's another one I can't think of it right now. So birds are very capable of reiterating sounds. Very intelligent. Yep, it's kind of great. All right, Roy. Well, it's been really interesting talking with you and I appreciate your time and we're almost a half an hour so I am going to let you go. 29:47 All right. Well, thank you so much for having us on there. Sorry Rachel couldn't make it, but she was just promoted and she had a Monday morning call. That's fine. It was lovely talking with you Roy and if you Rachel want to come talk again, let me know. All right. Well, thank you so much. All right. You have a great day. You too. Bye.…

A Tiny Homestead

1
Go Green With Alexa 30:39

9 weeks sitten30:39

30:39

Today I'm talking with Alexa at Go Green With Alexa . If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Alexa at Go Green with Alexa. Good morning, how are you? Good morning, I'm well, how are you? I'm good, you're in Florida? Yes, I am. I know it's a little colder than it should be there, but I bet you're not as cold as Minnesota this morning. Yeah, I bet I'm not. 00:30 It's, I think it's minus 13 and I think the real feel or the wind chill or whatever they're calling it now is minus 32. Oh, wow, quite the difference. Yeah, it's 65 here and it's raining, but otherwise can't complain. Okay, what's the nearest city to you? I would say Fort Lauderdale, about 20 minutes away, north. Okay, all right. My daughter's in St. Petersburg. Yeah. 00:57 So she's been like, it's kind of cold here. And I'm like, I don't want to hear it, kid. I was just there last week and it was freezing. Yeah. My definition of freezing. Yeah, I said, you grew up in Minnesota. You know what real freezing feels like. I don't want to hear it. Just stop. She's laughed. She's like, OK, fine. So tell me about yourself and what you do, ma'am. Yes. So I am a sustainability copywriter by trade. 01:26 And I also create sustainability content on my own for the world to see and really just to show people how fun and exciting and how you can get creative with sustainability in your daily life. Awesome. I'm going to pull a page out of my other podcaster friends. Podcast she actually does a podcast about sustainability. And then one question she asks on every episode is, 01:54 What does sustainability mean to you? So what does sustainability mean to you, Alexa? Yeah. So sustainability means to me is what it means is making the least amount of impact on the planet. And that means by, by, by the means of reducing our waste, reducing our purchases, reducing, or not even just reducing the purchases, but being more mindful of the purchase. 02:23 where we're purchasing from and what it's supporting. And really just thinking about the end of life of everything before we make that purchase. It's just being a conscious consumer and also an advocate for the environment. That is an excellent answer. I love that. Thank you. So how did you get into this, the copywriting and sustainability? Yeah, so for copywriting, basically it was a, out of, 02:52 2020 out of the pandemic. I just realized that I didn't want to do what I was doing. I was, I went to school to be, I was pre-med in school to eventually hopefully be a doctor. I decided at the end of my college career that I did not want to do that anymore. I had degrees in biomedical science and public health. And while those might seem 03:19 unrelated to sustainability, I would say that at least the biomedical science gave me a great foundation into science and the overall world of the chemical processes and biological processes of the natural world. And then also on the flip side, the public health degree gave me that foundation of understanding how our systems are currently in place and how they actually all work together. 03:47 health, it's also about community, it's also about the way we live our lives. And the environmental aspect is also a piece of that. So it's something that always fascinated me. I was lucky enough to grow up in a family that really values sustainability and conservation. My parents are both immigrants from Brazil and I grew up in the scuba diving industry down here in South Florida. They had a business for 23 years of my life. They sold it when I was 25 and I was very much part of the business. 04:17 and worked there most of my life. And just being part of that, it shaped me. We composted at home. We were very conscious about what we used and what we threw away. And my parents participated in a lot of conservation efforts as part of their business, because that was something that always was important to them. So just growing up in that environment always caused me to just, I think, view things a little differently than my peers. 04:46 And I didn't really notice that until I went to college, to be quite honest. I obviously knew that my parents were, you know, different, um, than my peers and the way they thought about things and, and approach things was different, but I didn't really realize how different it was until I went to college and, um, was put in the position of, you know, cooking for myself, fending for myself, and then realizing that, oh, wow, I'm throwing a lot of this organic material into the garbage. And I obviously didn't feel. 05:15 It didn't feel right by me. So that's when I started getting like a vermicomposter and making my own home, like body care products and things like that. So just to, that's a little backstory, but then 2020 came, I was working for my parents' business when they sold it right before 2020. And I stayed on with the business to just help with the transition and all that, and decided to keep working with the new owners for the. 05:44 next couple years and that's when I transitioned into copywriting. They knew I was interested in that and they needed help with marketing. So it was kind of like two birds, one stone. And yeah, so I took a copywriting course online and figured out how to start my own business because that was really the goal was to work for myself and to live a life of more freedom and flexibility. So they were my first client. And then I just transitioned. I just decided that instead of just focusing on 06:10 any business, I really wanted to focus only on sustainable clients and nonprofits. Wow. Okay. I was going to say back when you started answering my question, what a pivot that was. But really, I don't feel like it was a pivot. I feel like it was a sidestep into something that you already had some background to build on. Yeah. Yeah. I would say it's like coming back home because I... 06:36 I always felt that I was destined to do something with sustainability, but I always thought that it was an industry and a career that you needed to be in for 10, 20 years before you really could make a living in this industry just because it's smaller and I guess so niche. But I was clearly wrong. Uh-huh. Okay. So I don't want to get too far in the copywriting stuff because it's not really what my podcast is focused on. 07:04 But not everybody knows what a copywriter does. Do you have a simple explanation for what a copywriter does? Yes. So a copywriter is a professional that writes for businesses and organizations. Basically, all the words that you see associated with the business you interact with on a daily basis, any words on a website, captions on a social media post, voiceover scripts, or just scripts for video in general, blog posts, email campaigns, anything like that, that's what a copywriter writes. 07:34 So you're sort of like a ghostwriter for businesses. Absolutely. Okay, cool. All right, so tell me about how you're practicing sustainability. Cause I did look at your Instagram page and you have some beautiful photos of things that you're doing. Yeah, thank you. So like I said before, I think it's mostly focused on buying less and being very discerning as a consumer. But in addition to that, I also grow my own veggies and herbs and 08:04 That's just a few of the methods, but I also advocate for eliminating plastic in the day-to-day life. That's personally something that I've been on a journey to do. I wasn't always full of plastic in my life, but I've just realized that I don't want to contribute anymore to microplastics into our waterways, into our air. So I just try to minimize how I interact with plastic. And ocean conservation is a big part of my work, obviously. 08:32 growing up in the scuba diving industry. And I really just try to show people that there are fun ways to be sustainable. It's like any area in your life, you can make more sustainable. It really just matters like which one you're trying to appeal to like the other day I had posted about ways you can digitally help the environment and that's like one by deleting emails or not using generative AI or using a search engine that is eco-friendly like 09:01 and yeah, just like giving tips in ways that others can feel useful because I think for too long sustainability has felt like an ideal that you can never reach. And I just think that it's a journey more like getting healthy or anything else. Yes, absolutely. It's a process and a growth experience. Absolutely. 09:29 And speaking of trying to be more sustainable when you're dealing with them, with technology, my web host for our website, for our home, our place, our business, I can't talk this morning, sorry, is GreenGeeks and it's greengeeks.com. And they have a whole thing about how they're trying to give back to the earth on their website. So that's who we use. And I don't get any... 09:59 kickback for saying that either. I just like them. It's been great working with them. Yeah, that's how I feel. I don't get much kickback from anything and I just want to, I usually just spotlighting small businesses and things like that, but I'll definitely have to check Green Gigs out. Yeah. And it's just one word, Green Gigs. There's no space between. And also the way that you can cut back on the technology footprint that we all leave. 10:27 is try not to get the newest thing every time it comes out. Yes. This whole Apple iPhone thing drives me crazy because people are like, oh my God, the new iPhone's coming out. And they just got the newest iPhone a year and a half before. Mm-hmm, exactly. And trade-ins are just another way to convince us that we're doing something good for the planet, but it's not really helping. Buying the new thing is never, never going to help. 10:54 Right. I'm an Android fan, so I have never had an iPhone and I probably never will. And I beat my iPhone, my Android phones to death. Like they have to die before I will replace them. I love it. That's truly the best way to be sustainable is using what you have. Yep. And I'm not going to lie. I have a desktop computer that I do the podcast on and I have, I happen to have two laptops. One is dying. So that's why I have two right now. 11:23 But I refurbished the one that was the best one of the two laptops. I literally set it back to factory settings a month ago and did all of the freaking updates. It took like two hours. Because this laptop is at least four years old and I wasn't gonna spend another $300 to have a third laptop. That's crazy. So there are ways to cut down on the... 11:51 the technology clutter as well as everything else? Yeah, absolutely. And if you're looking, if you need something, because of course, like I don't want to ever put down somebody if they need something for their job or whatever. So if you need a new laptop or new device, check out refurbished sites like BackMark. I don't have any affiliation with them, but I just think it's great that they have certified refurbished options. Yep, absolutely. 12:20 It is not, you don't have to spend thousands of dollars on the newest thing to have a functional machine in front of you that you can use. Exactly. So, and I don't, I mean, I'm not telling anybody what to do. I'm just saying I reset my computer because it still worked fine. It just was slow and it was cluttered with photos and things that I've written that I never submitted, things like that. And I was like, this is dumb. I have the photos elsewhere. I can just... 12:47 dump this whole thing and start over and it will work just fine. And it does, it works great. So, okay. So is it hard growing vegetables and herbs in Florida or is it okay? No, it's so easy. We have a year round growing season and I don't have like, I live in an apartment so all my, anything that I grow is in containers, pots. So I, you know, I advocate for, you don't need much space, you don't need much time. 13:16 you really just need to do it. It's rather easy. I really just have pots all over my staircase leading down to my place. And it's really that simple. Florida is the best place to grow anything, I would say, from tropical fruits and veggies in the winter. That's the thing when everyone else is hunkered down for the winter where that's our growing season for all our great veggies and tomatoes and strawberries and things like that. 13:47 Is that because it's too hot and too muggy in the summer? Yes, exactly. Okay. Yeah, we don't have that problem here. It's too hot and muggy in the summer. It's too cold and dry in the winter. It's a trick growing things in the northern tier states and we do it, but sometimes we fail. I have been bitching for months about the fact that our summer garden this year, this past year was terrible because it rained and rained and rained. And my husband said to me the other day, he's like, 14:15 I'm gonna go start some radish and lettuce seeds in the greenhouse. I said, it's not even February. He said, yes, but in the greenhouse, it's fine for cold weather crops. Yep. And I said, I could have pickled radishes in a month. He said, you sure could. I said, please go plant radishes. That would be great. So he's very excited. The greenhouse is new. It went up in May of 2024. Oh, that's awesome. 14:42 So he's just dying to see how things are going to do in there with the sun pouring in the front where it's all, um, whatever he used, not glass, it's the polycarbonate sheets. Speaking of plastics, oops. So yeah, he, uh, he literally planted lettuce seeds and radish seeds yesterday afternoon when it was minus 32 windchill outside. 15:11 Wow. So that was interesting. Got to work with what you have, you know? I love it. Yes. And he was practically dancing when he came in and showed me the photo. He took up the little packages on the little stick that he stuck them in the raised beds, you know, to mark where they were. Oh, I love that. It's really fun watching your 55-year-old husband act like he's five. It's kind of amazing. I think that's a huge part of sustainability is keeping that childlike wonder. 15:40 I think if you don't have it, you're not going to do it. Yes, you're so right. It's motivation. Mm-hmm. Yes, you have to be curious. You have to have some courage and you have to be good with failure, I think, sometimes. Yes, absolutely. And that's the thing what I advocate for is imperfection. So there's going to be issues. There's going to be quote unquote failures, you know. But... 16:07 The thing is that we learn and we grow from it and we don't expect perfection ever. Right. Because if everything was perfect, it would be so incredibly boring. Right. Yeah. And number two, if everything was perfect, everybody would just do everything right. And there would be no need for us to have grocery stores because we would just be growing our own stuff all the time. 16:29 Hopefully eventually we get there, but even in the perfection of like policing each other and being like, well, you didn't do this and you're using a laptop right now and how could you be talking about sustainability when you're on an Apple laptop? Well, you know, that not everything is perfect. And I think that's, that is the beauty of it is understanding how it works in our modern world and not shaming people along the way. 16:55 Well, just in general, Alexa, not shaming people along the way is a good premise to have, I think. Yeah, I'd agree. Shame does nothing but lock people up and they just stop and they don't try anymore. Yeah. It's just something that I have seen in the past and even I guess I've received the criticism in the past that, oh, well, what does it matter if you're not doing everything right? And 17:23 I'm here to tell you that anything, any action you do does make a difference. Uh-huh. Absolutely. I have been sick for the last couple of weeks was with COVID. I might as well say it. And it's been hard getting over it. And one of the things that happened with it is that food didn't taste good at all. And I didn't lose my, my sense of taste or smell, but you know, you get sick, you don't want to eat and I knew I had to eat to get better. I knew I had to sleep to get better. And so I would. 17:52 I would dish up my food and sit down to eat it and I get halfway through and be like, I'm not going to finish this. I'm not hungry. It tastes like cardboard. This sucks. And I would of course throw it away. And I felt really bad about throwing food away. That's fair. But at the same time, you're sick. Yeah. It's not like I was going to eat it the next day and it wasn't like my husband could take it to... 18:16 work with him for lunch the next day because I don't know if COVID can get passed back to someone who's already had the same strain, but I sure as heck didn't want to find out. Right. So there are things that we do that we know are going to be successful and there are things that we do that they're not going to be successful. So you just have to find the offset and the balance I think. Absolutely. And yeah, just give yourself grace in the process. Yeah, exactly. 18:45 So what do you grow? I'm really curious about what you grow on your stairwell. Like I will say, it's mostly herbs, just because that's the easiest thing for me to grow and I don't have a lot of space. I would like to get into potatoes next growing season, but I'm gonna have to figure that out. I'm trying to see if I can finagle a raised bed in my apartment complex. But for now I have jalapeno peppers, dill, thyme, mint, 19:15 basil. I have a now a wild sweet basil variety that's like more for Florida. I have lemongrass, tomatoes, two different varieties of tomatoes that are popping right now, which is amazing. I have a cabbage that I don't think is actually going to produce, but we're watching it. Bok choy that I've been harvesting from. And then I also just got a Harwich product system. 19:42 from my husband for Christmas. So we've been starting that and we're trying to grow some lettuces inside. Nice. Bok choy is one of the prettiest little leafy greens ever. It really is. I love watching it come in and so fast. Yeah. And it's so weird because it's like a lettuce and a cabbage mixed together. That's so true. Yeah. I'd never had it before. My husband planted it when we moved to our place that we live at now. 20:08 We moved in four years ago and he put in bok choy and I was like, what's bok choy? And he said, it's like a, an Oriental, let us see thing. And I was like, I don't know that's the correct explanation, but I'm going to go with it. And, and he said, it's we'll use it in stir fry. And I said, okay. And he grew it and I tasted it raw after I'd watched some and I was like, Oh, this is amazing. It's crunchy. Yes. I love that. The texture is great. Yep. I had no idea. I had never had it before. 20:38 And I don't know why I just hadn't, but I love it. And he's going to grow some more in the greenhouse. Yay. So we'll have that again, too. Again, I'm hitting 20 minutes and losing my train of thought because I'm still not quite on top of getting past this sickness. So I was going to say, if you need room to grow other things, are there any community gardens in your area or anything? Yes, there are. There's one not. 21:05 far from me and I go there. I've gone there to volunteer and plant fruit trees. I do hope to spend more time there this year. And I think they I believe they rent out spots. And it's like very affordable for like a whole year and you can have a plot. But I just love having it accessible and next to me all the time. Me and my husband do share a car because we both work from home. So and also there's no need if we both work from home to have two cars. 21:34 I prefer to have things closer to home. I'm not opposed to it. My parents grow a lot of things and I have the luxury of getting a lot of their produce that they hope grow at home. So I'm patient for now and the future. I have hopes and aspirations of, you know, having a property that it can grow things on, but for now this works for us. Sure, absolutely. Do what you can. What you have where you are is a mantra we use all the time. 22:04 I will tell you if you get the chance to grow potatoes, it is so fun when it's time to harvest them because basically you pull the plant out of the ground and it doesn't bring the roots with it because they're heavy with potatoes. Right. And you take a shovel and you just lift the dirt and all these potatoes just roll out. It's so fun. Like I've seen it in person because we grow potatoes. 22:30 and I've seen videos of it and every time I see it I'm just astounded. It's like nature is so freaking cool. It is so cool and yeah I would love to do like some canvas bags and then I've seen people like pour them out and then all the potatoes come out and I think that's so so funny as well like I would love to do something like that just we can't grow them I mean we can grow sweet potatoes year-round but have to wait on the regular potatoes until next year probably. 22:57 Yeah, and we have trouble growing sweet potatoes here because the season just isn't quite long enough. Oh, that makes sense. Yeah, so we've got the flip side going here. We've got, we do. You can't do potatoes and I can't do sweet potatoes, so we'll figure. It's really funny how different regions support different foods. Oh yeah, and in Florida in general, we have like three different zones. So like if you just go a couple hours north, not even an hour north, and it's a different. 23:25 gardening zone and they can grow different things and can't grow certain things. So it's so fascinating. Yeah, my daughter is caretaking some avocado trees, bushes, whatever they are for her mother-in-law. And she can just go pick an avocado whenever she wants to when they're in season. And I'm like, I'm so jealous because we could never grow avocados here. We would have to have a room in our house designated for avocado plants. 23:54 that was at a certain temperature and had a certain amount of light all the time. And we just can't, we don't have that. Yeah, that's the one thing I'm obsessed with tropical fruits, obviously, because I grew up with it. So my parents always, they have this amazing avocado tree that the avocados are so big, it's a different variety than like the Haas avocado. But the avocado avocado gets so big, it's like a butternut squash bigger than a butternut squash at times. Wow. Yes, it's huge. And it's like bigger than my forearm. 24:21 and they're long and delicious, like creamy but firm. It's amazing. I'm jealous. Honestly, I didn't like avocado. I thought I didn't like avocado because I had guacamole when I was like 14. And when I was 14, I was really picky. So I didn't like anything anyway. And then I tried avocado like seven, eight years ago and had it in a salad. 24:48 And I was like, I don't know why I didn't like this. This is great. Right? Avocados are, they don't necessarily taste like anything. It's what you put them in that makes them taste good. Yes. Yeah. And I grew up in Brazil, they eat it sweet. They don't even eat it salty at all. And so like I grew up with my mom always making it sweet with like, you basically mash it up and add brown sugar to it. But here in the U.S. everyone eats it with salt. So like, it's a really versatile vegetable. Or I guess, fruit vegetable, I'm not even sure. 25:17 ehhhh fruit i think i can't remember it's kind of like lamb i don't know if you eat meat but lamb is one of the meats that takes the seasoning of anything you season it with takes the flavor and so you can cook it with mint jelly you can cook it with barbecue sauce you can cook it with salt and pepper and it's just going to absorb whatever the seasoning is that you use 25:41 And so I always kind of liken avocado to lamb because avocado is just gonna take in whatever you season it with. That's a great point. So, you said you have hopes of maybe having some land someday. Is that like a dream or is that like a goal? I would say why not both, but. 26:05 I guess a house is first and the house with like any amount of land would be enough for me. Like I said, I grow on steps right now in a garden so I can make any amount of land work. Yeah. And my parents have their own land so I don't feel like the need to get that unless it was .. I like living by the coast. I'll just say that and there's no coastal land near us. Yeah. That seems to be a problem on any coastal area right now. Right. 26:33 I grew up in Maine and I can remember being able to walk along Sabago Lake, like for miles, just along the lake shore. And I guarantee you that's not the truth now. I bet that's not possible now. And in Minnesota, there are very few, I mean, it's the land of 10,000 lakes, but there are very few lakes where you can just walk the shoreline for miles because everyone owns the shoreline. Right. 27:01 Yeah, and I'm not even talking about the shoreline because that's just not even, and I wouldn't want to do that anyway, but I live five minutes away from the beach right now and that's how I like it. So although it'd be nice to have land, I don't think I could give up the coastal lifestyle. Yeah, no. It was really hard leaving Maine and knowing that I would be so far from the ocean. But then I learned that there were so many lakes here that it was ridiculous, so that helped. And my father-in-law used to live on. 27:30 a lake here in Minnesota. So I would get out of the car, walk to his backyard before I would even go on the house and just smell the air because air, air smells different around water. Absolutely. And so I would just stand there and breathe in for like five minutes and he'd be like, are you going to come in the house? I'll be right there. I'm just meditating for a moment with your lake. And he's like, Oh, I keep forgetting you have a thing about that. 27:57 like, yes, yes, I do. Thank you for providing me a place to do this. He's like, I just need to get used to this. I said, uh-huh. Yes, if you could, that'd be great. And he said, you know, you could always just come in the house and go stand on the balcony out back and get the same fat. It's not the same. I said, but then I'm not rooted in the grass. And he's like, you're one of those. I'm like, yes, I am. I am absolutely one of those for sure. Have to ground. Yes. And I didn't even know it was called grounding bed. 28:27 but now I do so intuitively you knew yeah it's I don't know I grew up in the Maine woods like my my lullaby was the wind through the pine trees at night because the windows were open so my parents raised me to be a nature baby and when people aren't raised that way they don't have the same understanding of it as I do you're so right and then trying to educate people on it they're 28:56 I'm like, no, for real, you should try it. Yeah. And also they have to have their own experiences of nature to just realize how tremendous and amazing it really is. And then that's when I notice at least people become more catalyzed to be more sustainable and things like that. Yes. Yes, for sure. If I hadn't been raised the way that I was, I wouldn't be as interested and as practicing, I guess, as I am. No, same here. 29:23 It never would have occurred to me. I just would have been like, I'm going to go to the store and buy pop and chips and not worry about it. It'd be great. And I try not to do that. I try to eat good or well, sorry, eat well. And I tried to drink a lot of water because we're what 90% water, I think. And the more water you put in, the better you feel. So. Same here. Yep. More, more nature. 29:49 Yes, every day, every minute of every day, if at all possible, as I sit here and stare at my monitor. It's too cold to commune with nature today in Minnesota. I'm not going out there. I haven't been outside once today. That was more than enough for me. That's fair. Yeah. When your nose hairs freeze, when you step on your porch, you know it's cold. Yeah, that's enough. I'm over here and like I'm bundled up and it's just like in the 60s and just a little 30:17 rainy, dreary, but I'm obviously not equipped. That's cozy napping weather. That's not freezing weather. It depends who you ask. I know, exactly. All right, Alexa, I try to keep you to half an hour and we're at 30 minutes. So thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me. Have a great day. Thank you. You too.…

A Tiny Homestead

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Shades of Green Urban Farm 33:29

9 weeks sitten33:29

33:29

Today I'm talking with Kimberlee at Shades of Green Urban Farm . You can follow on Facebook as well. If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Kimberlee at Shades of Green Urban Farm. Good afternoon, Kimberlee. How are you? I'm good, Mary. Thanks. How are you? I'm doing. I'm still alive. I'm telling you, I'm really glad to be through this sickness. 00:27 My podcasts for the last three or four have just sounded like crap. I'm so sad about it. So you're in Phoenix? Yeah, I'm in Phoenix. Sunny, sunny Phoenix. Is it warm? It is warm. It's kind of well, I see that but it's been a little cool, cool for us. We've got down to like 30 degrees within the last few few days. But of course the 00:56 at night. But of course, the days get a little bit warmer, you know, pushing 60s and upwards to 70s. But for us, that's kind of cool. Sure. Sure. Well, I guess just a little bit of background about me. Like I said, we're here in sunny Phoenix and kind of just the way we got started, just kind of always having a passion for plants. 01:24 I love, love, love anything plants, mostly houseplants kind of a thing. Sustainability. Love the idea of building meaningful connections with the community and bringing the community together. And what kind of really started is this really kind of a small dream of mine of, you know, building this plant idea, the microgreens piece of things really kind of flourished into this. 01:50 of multifaceted business idea of mine, which really focuses on the microgreens piece of things, the business side, houseplants, and then our homemade home goods that we do. My daughter is an amazing artist. She does fantastic pottery. She throws amazing pieces of pottery and she makes 02:19 homemade rug, she's got this loom and she makes amazing rugs and she's just freaking incredible. With that, we just have this side business thing that we do with the home goods piece of that and the house plants that we do along with the microgreens, which is the side business type of thing. It's a broader aspect of things, but microgreens in and of itself I think is what you wanted me to talk about. 02:46 Well, sure, but everything you just said falls under the headings of my podcast topic. Yeah. So we can talk about it all if you want, but you're multifaceted is what you're saying. Multifaceted, yeah. But really for the microgreens piece of things, kind of what we do with that is in a nutshell, we really specialize in growing and delivering the freshest microgreens to 03:12 to people's homes, to restaurants, to local markets. We visit, as a matter of fact, I'm growing a crop right now for a farmer's market that I'm doing on Saturdays. We do a lot of farmer's markets. So our mission really is pretty simple. It's just to bring a touch of green into the lives of those that we're supporting. The community, we really wanna bring that touch of green into the community that we're here with. 03:41 We deliver within 24 hours after harvest. So we ensure that our customers are getting the highest quality and the freshest flavor that they can. So it's pretty simple. It's a pretty simple business model. Harvest within 24 hours or deliver within 24 hours of harvest. So it's pretty simple. Most of our greens we can grow within 10 days, just depending on which green it is or which 04:09 micro that they choose. We have a variety of different microgreens that we do grow. Our standard really can kind of grow within 10 days. So it's a pretty simple business model. Our customers love them. Sunflower is our biggest one. Pea is a big one. Broccoli, of course, is huge. Radish is huge. We have a really awesome variety 04:38 Oh my gosh, it's a super food variety. And then we also have a spicy salad that is one of our customer favorites. 04:51 Okay. So, so did you start out really small? Yeah, we did. Yeah. Started out pretty small. We're still pretty small, to be honest. The grow room that I have right now is probably, I mean, right now, I would say 600 square foot, maybe. Okay. Yeah. It's in our house. And so we've dedicated a spare room of the house. We kind of, you know, carved that out into this sterile little room that we 05:21 We keep with just for the grow room. So it's pretty small. We've got four grow racks in here, all with lights and everything. We'll keep everything pretty much in this room. Nice. Is it warm in that room? It's warm in here, yeah. We keep it at about 72 degrees. Yeah. Yeah, I would love to have a room like that in our house in Minnesota because that would be wonderful on days when it's minus 20 degrees outside. 05:48 Well, the beauty of this is you can grow microgreens year round. So when you're doing it in your house, you know, especially like, you know, with, with harsh climates, like Phoenix, like Arizona, we can grow year round. So in a harsh summer, we can still have fresh microgreens. And so we're delivering, you know, to customers, you know, year round, and we can do these, these, uh, farmers markets year round as well, because we're continuously growing them and within this 10 day span. 06:17 you know, we are always able to have fresh microgreens and you in Minnesota can do it as well. So if you can have a space in your house, you don't have to have a very big space. You can have, you know, one, two grow racks and still be able to do it. You can grow them in your kitchen and have amazing microgreens. Oh, they're super simple. Absolutely. Yes. Yes. And we have, we, we have a huge kitchen. Like we have the biggest kitchen ever known to man. I don't know why they did the house this way, but I'm so glad they did. And 06:46 They have a little eat-in area for a table and has three windows. And so up until last spring, we would start our seed starts, you know, our seedlings for the garden on that table. And you invariably have microgreens if you're starting seedlings. So we would have trays of seedlings, of lettuces and things, and I'd steal little leaves off of my husband's. Like they're never going to get big if you keep eating them. You keep snacking off them. 07:16 And I was like, I only take one little leaf a day. And he's like, that one little leaf could be a big leaf in a month. I'm like, yeah, I know. I know. Yeah. And I mean, we started, we started them in February, the first year we were here four years ago, and he was like, we're not going to have any plant if you keep eating it. I was like, it's green food, honey. It's good stuff in February. It's good stuff. Yeah. They're so healthy too. Yup. 07:45 And I just, I don't know, I really love the little baby lettuces and baby spinach leaves. They're delicious. So good. And the beads. I couldn't help myself. Couldn't stop. So good. I hear you. And so, I love it when we start seeds in the house because it's just so nice to have this tray of green on the table. Now the reason I said up until last spring is because we just built a hard-sided greenhouse this past May. 08:14 And hopefully we'll be able to be getting our seed starting things happening in the greenhouse this year. That's awesome. We're very excited about this. This has been in the works for, I think we, I think I applied for the grant in the summer of 2023 that allowed us to build it. So it's been, it's been literally a year and a half, almost two, that this has been a hope and a dream. 08:43 So the dream is going to come true in February. Oh, that's exciting. Oh, very nice. That's exciting, Mary. We're so tickled. My husband is losing his mind. He's like, we've got to get seeds ordered. We'll figure out what you want to grow. We'll order seeds, babe. It'll get done. Better get them now. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah, so he's just so excited. He's just bouncing. He's dying to get to that time frame. How cute. 09:09 Yes, and he's 55 years old a bouncing 55 year old man Who is acting like a five-year-old in a candy store is very entertaining to watch Yes, it's very fun so Here's what I want to know what you said what do sunflower microgreens taste like Well, they kind of taste they're they're like a nutty flavor kind of earthy nutty 09:38 What I really love to do with them, and it's kind of funny because people think, wow, that's kind of an interesting concept. But one of the best things that you can do with them, or one of my favorite things is put them in a guacamole. The sunflower guacamole, it's incredible. Take two avocados, add some lime juice, salt, pepper, roughly chop up these 10:06 put in some red onion, some jalapeno, and you've got an amazing sunflower guacamole dip. It's incredible. Nice, nice. Yeah. Yeah, that's great. Yeah, that's some crunch. Yeah, how big do the microgreens have to be before you can harvest them, how tall? Oh, they get about, it just depends on the microgreen. Sunflower gets about two inches, maybe an inch and a half, two inches. 10:36 Um, broccoli is not as tall. Some, you know, the, the superfoods gets a little bit taller. It just depends on what the green is. They don't, they don't get real big. They're tiny little guys. Okay. And then when you harvest them, how do you do that? Do you sell them with the roots still on them? How do you know? Nope. Um, I cut them and weigh them. I usually sell them by the ounce. So I package them in about like, uh, 11:05 three ounces, four ounces, depending on again, the green. It's about six, three ounces for $6, four ounces for $6 typically, and then just package them in a clam shell with my label on it and then deliver them that way. Okay, so how do you keep them from wilting? Again, they're delivered within 24 hours. So I've got a little fridge in here, just pop them in the fridge and then they go out the next day. 11:34 So stick them in the fridge and they're good for about 10 days, sometimes even a little bit longer. So they stay in your fridge and they stay in there for a good 10 days or longer. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah. Huh. I thought maybe you would put like a damp paper towel in the clamshell or something, but it doesn't sound like you're doing that. You don't really have to. Huh. Well, goodness sake, so we're going to have to do some microgreens in Minnesota this summer. There you go. 12:04 Now that I know they won't wilt in a day and a half. 12:09 Because we sell at the farmers market. No, they're tiny, but they're pretty hearty actually. Yeah, I'm sure there's probably a market for them here at our little town in LaSore at the farmers market. So I'm going to have to talk to my bouncy husband and be like, how do you feel about microgreens, honey? Try it out. Mm-hmm. I'm sure he'll be thrilled. He'll be like, oh, a new thing to research. And I said that very flat, but he'll be excited. He'll be excited about it. 12:36 Yeah, anything that he can grow that is a plant he's tickled with. So my kind of guy. Yeah, mine too. We've been together for over 20 years. I think he's a keeper. I think I'm pretty sure. Yeah, we have our moments because we're very different people, but for the most part, we're pretty aligned on the core values. So might as well. Yeah. Love that man a lot. Love the kid that we produced. I love the kids that came before the kid we produced and. 13:05 Basically the four kids we have, we consider to be ours even though they all have different sets of parents. So yeah, it's a pretty good family. We did pretty good. They're all adults now, but they're still our babies. Absolutely. They always will be. Oh yeah, forever and ever. Amen. Yeah. And sometimes they still act like it too. It's amazing. So, okay. So, 13:34 I don't want to be nosy, but I have a rather pointed question. Does the business support itself? It does because I have a variety of things that I do. And I say that because with the microgreens piece, what I really need to start doing and be able to do for that to sustain itself is to be able to scale. 14:02 So what I'm really trying to do is really focus on really marketing towards the restaurant side of things. Because delivering to homes and to customers that way is fantastic. It's great. I love doing it. I love air quoting going to farmers markets. It's fine. It's good. It's great to be able to be with the community and talk about it and educate and all that kind of stuff. 14:31 I think you can probably tell I'm kind of an extrovert and I kind of like doing that kind of stuff. I like networking. However, there's a lot of waste of product when I do that. I don't always know who's going to show up, who's going to be there. And so I've kind of got to play it by ear and like, okay, what we had, you know, this many people last week, you know, and it takes a minute because I've got a plan. I'm planning today for what's going to happen for next weekend. So it's a bit of a game. So 15:00 what I need to start doing is really, really focusing on restaurants. Because if I can really get more restaurants under my belt and in my portfolio, I can start to scale better and be able to really just focus on those customers and be able to start scaling up better, if that makes sense. Yes, you'll have more of a quote unquote guarantee of what's going to be to be bought from you. Yes. Yeah. 15:29 And that's the problem with this particular business model for anyone who grows produce. You end up with waste because you're not sure what's going to be bought. It's a gamble. And I've said this before on the podcast, but my husband wanted to do a CSA and he wanted to do the farmer's market. And he was like, so I'm going to plant this many of this and that many of that. 15:58 hopefully will make this much money. And I was like, you do understand how much I despise gambling, right? And he laughed and he said, it's not gambling. And I'm like, no, it is, it is gambling. I said, it's not gambling like going to a casino and dropping coins into a machine, but it is a gamble. I said, I hate this. He's like, it's not a gamble, it's a dream. There are different things. And I'm like, okay, I have to think about it as a dream because I can't think of it as gambling. Yeah. 16:28 And so it's really fun, but it's also really scary sometimes. It is. You have to get through that fear and be excited enough to fight through the fear, I think. Well, that's it. And you've got to think of it as, yes, it is a gamble, but it's a gamble in a way that you're continuing to put your name out there. You're continuing to 16:57 reach more people. You're putting your card out there, you're getting your name out there to more people. It's another way to market. The really awesome thing about the farmers market that I go to, and I'm going to plug them, it's the Prickly Bazaar. They're out here in the west side of Phoenix. They're amazing. They offer free space to anybody that does produce. 17:22 So it doesn't cost me anything to go there, so to speak. So I don't pay for any space, which is fantastic. So all it costs me is of course the greens that I take. Um, so it's fantastic in that. Yeah, they're amazing that way. So it's, it's just another opportunity for me to just network with people and, you know, take the product that I do. So what I'm doing, you know, again, for next weekend is like, okay, I'm looking through my seeds, looking through my product that I have the inventory of like, 17:52 All right, well, I have a lot of this. Let's throw some of that in a tray. We'll see what that does. I've got a lot of that left over. I'm okay, I've got a lot of this done, Pete. Let's soak some of this and maybe let's get some of this. Get rid of some of this so we can make room for some new stuff or whatever it is. Keep the rotation going through. Yeah. So tell me what microgreens are good used in. I know you can use them in smoothies. 18:21 Oh my gosh, you can use them just about in everything. Well, obviously they're great on a garnish. The restaurants really do is put them on a garnish, like fancy plated dishes have really awesome things in their garnish. In salads, I told you about the sunflower guacamole that I love to do. The spring salad, I have that spicy salad mix that I do, which is fantastic just in itself. You can have that just all by itself. 18:51 Let's think of what else you can do with them. You can make, oh my gosh, it's amazing. Could you do like a pesto like you would do with basil? You can do, absolutely. You can do pesto. Yeah. Okay. Yep. There's this grilled cheese. I've heard about this restaurant that does this grilled cheese, like this ham and cheese with brie. And they have. 19:19 these microgreens on it like this apple and Dijon mustard type of thing, it's supposed to be amazing. I haven't had it yet. They just throw a handful of microgreens on that and use it that way. My brother is an amazing cook. He doesn't do it for a living or anything. He just cooks here at the house. And he uses a lot of the greens that we don't sell. He uses a ton of the greens here, and he throws them in just about everything. And they turn out amazing. 19:48 If somebody were to buy, I don't know, 12 ounces of microgreens from you and they can't use them right away, could they do the same thing that you can do with herbs and could they put them in olive oil and freeze them for future use? That's a great question. 20:06 That's a great question. I don't know. I would assume so. Okay. I would assume so. I would assume like with broccoli, like just cutting just the, the tip of them off, just the, the floret off. I would assume so, but that's a great question. I'm going to research that. Yeah. Cause we, we make pesto and we freeze it because we make so much at a time. We're never going to eat all of it. And so we've learned to put it in ice cube trays and freeze it and then put it in the ziplock bags in the freezer. 20:36 And once it thaws out, the basil is notorious for going black if it's frozen and the oil keeps it from blackening as it were. And so the pesto is just as good when you thaw it out and warm it up as if it was made fresh if you put it in olive oil and stick it in the freezer. That's really interesting. I'm going to research that. 21:03 Honestly, we don't eat pesto often enough to have it be a problem because we don't love it enough to have it like every month. But man, when the basil is coming in from the garden in the summer, I want to use every bit of that basil we can keep. Yeah. Basil is not easy to grow. It grows great here. Does it? Yes. It does super well. And it only does super well for like two and a half months. So when it's coming in, I want to get it in. 21:32 pesto. I want to freeze that. I want to dry it and put it in jars and stick it in my pantry. I want to use every last living piece of that basil coming in from the garden because I know it won't come back until the following June. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you can have a... I have basil micro green seeds, so I'm going to try those. I haven't tried them yet. So I'm going to give those a shot within the next... 22:02 few go arounds here too to see how those work out for me. They'll probably taste exactly like regular old basil because I've kifed the leaves off of baby basils too to try them. So it'll just be little tiny basil. Little baby basils. Yeah. Little baby basils. You were talking about the clamshell containers that you put your microgreens in. 22:30 What a lot of people who don't grow and sell produce, they don't know about this is that it's not the growing the stuff that kills you on price. It's the packaging and the labeling that kill you. It is. And it kills me when I have to throw those out. Kills me. Yeah. Because the outlay to start something like what you're doing is pricey. 22:57 But I'm assuming that you can reuse your seed trays. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's an investment. It is. But the packaging and the labeling, it's an investment. But it's not a reasonable. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, one and done. And it kills me to see those go. Uh-huh. It's... 23:20 It's so funny because people are like, oh, that must be great. You must be raking in the money. And it's like, no, because there are unseen expenses in every business. That's right. Doing it. No one's going to know that it costs you a dollar and a half per clam shell to, to sell the things in. It sure does. Yep. So, you know, you've got a, anybody who starts a business. 23:47 that your accountant will tell you that your expenses are all of the things and that that cuts into your profit. Sure does. I think it takes a special kind of person and I don't mean that in derogatory way at all. It takes a really special person to start a business and have it succeed because it's so much to keep track of and understand. 24:14 what is actually profit and what is actually cost of doing business. 24:20 Right. 24:24 So, and that's why I like talking to people like you, because you help me lead people down that road of making them understand what goes into it. Well, it's a commitment for sure. And it's a lot of research and it's a lot of, you know, talking to people and to families and businesses that are doing it. And like I said, just the research in it, like is this a viable business for me to get into? 24:51 And after really looking at it and looking into the market here and the sustainability of it here, yes, I love it. I absolutely love what I do. But just because you love it. 25:06 Can you make money doing it? Is the other thing of it too. And you have to be able to support yourself. Yeah, you love it. Yeah, I love doing what I'm doing, but I also have to support myself. So there's that balance of it as well. And so being able to have that conversation with yourself, okay, Kim, the clamshells do cost that. They're six cents a piece and the labels that you're doing and the ink that goes into making those labels. 25:35 You know, and like I was saying earlier, you know, preparing for the farmers markets and the cost that goes into that and, you know, what waste that I might be doing and forgoing with within those farmers markets is like, does it make sense to do that? And so, you know, back to the restaurant side of things, you know, is it better to just not do those farmers markets? 26:03 and just stay within, you know, just continue marketing the restaurants and, you know, keeping your head to the grindstone and just, you know, keep hammering it and keep going in there and taking those samples to the restaurants and just, you know, just hammering it away and making sure that, you know, you're doing everything you can to win that business, which you can do both. Don't get me wrong. But, you know, you've got to be able to make that. 26:30 that decision of what is better for you as a business, what makes more sense to you as a business that's going to be for you for the long haul, what's going to make more sense for you. Yes, absolutely. You cannot do it any other way. It will fail. It will. You've got to be true to what you're trying to accomplish and what you're capable of doing. You mentioned labels. I... 26:57 I am so impressed when people have these beautiful labels that they have made for them. My husband and I were talking and he was like, I really would like to have some cute labels. I was like, cute labels cost money. He said, how much money? I said, more than you're going to want to pay. He said, like three or four dollars a label? I said, it could be. I said, what are you thinking? He sort of drew up this design for our... 27:27 our place for our labels. And I said, do you want it in black and white or color? And he said, well, color. And I said, color costs more. You work with printers, you know this. And he said, well, I work with the actual machines that print things. And I said, yeah. I said, doesn't the company that you work for charge more for colored documents than black and white documents? And he said, yeah. I said, so do label companies. And he was like, oh. And so. 27:55 What we realized very quickly is that black and white is the way to go. And simple design is the way to go. If you're not flush with cash. Right. And it's really sad. I saw the most beautiful Christmas labels because we sold them candles and soaps and things last year. Yeah. And they were so cute and I wanted them so bad and it would have cost us our house to get as many labels as we wanted to get. I was like, I am not trading my house for labels. 28:24 because they're cute. This is not happening. But you can get really, really creative with black and white, can get really simplistic and modern looking black and white. I kind of like black and white better sometimes. Yeah, ours is just a little farmhouse that I sort of, I sort of kife the drawing of the farmhouse and then added things to make it ours to embellish it. And it's got little potted plants and a couple chickens on it. 28:52 and it's black and white and that's our logo and that's what we use for everything and people like it's so cute and I'm like yeah we made a cute label this is awesome but yeah it's it's all the little accessories and pieces and parts around what you're actually producing that make it so difficult sometimes but it's also the thing that people remember. That's just it and you've got to be consistent with it and so with that logo that you have 29:20 Obviously that's why you have a logo so it's recognizable. You know so you've got to be consistent with it too and that's the challenge of it as well. Yep, I use it on everything. It's the logo for the podcast because everything that we do is under the tiny Homestead LLC umbrella. So everything. If we make a new product, it's under our umbrella. 29:47 And so that logo covers everything. And I'm so glad I sat down and made it when I did before, before we even moved in here. I had the idea for the logo for our business and my husband was like, we don't even have a business yet and you're already doing the logo. I said, well, yes, I am. He said, you're crazy. I said, no, I'm smart. I said, there's a difference between crazy and smart. They may go hand in hand sometimes, but I'm smart. We need to have. 30:14 We need to have the idea before we jump into the middle of this. And he was like, I'm so glad I married you. I was like, yeah, I know. Thanks honey. So yeah, so there's a lot that goes into doing any kind of business, but especially your business, because it is such a quick turnaround and you do only have a certain amount of time to get the product moved. Right. So I commend you. It's a lot to take on. 30:44 Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I love it. I really, really do. It is fun. I love being able to just, I love being able to talk to people about it because not everybody, you know, you know about them, you know about microgreens, you know about the health benefits of them. Not everybody does. And so when I'm able to talk to people about it, 31:11 That's what I love doing. I absolutely love growing them. Don't get me wrong. I love preparing the trays. It makes me happy. I love getting my hands dirty and being in the dirt and doing that kind of stuff. It just makes me happy. Being in my grow room makes me happy. I love doing it. And so it makes sense for me. This business makes sense to me. So it's just like I said, it's just the... 31:39 the way that I'm going to scale it is my challenge now. 31:45 So yeah, um, my ideas, I've got ideas. Yes, absolutely. My cook greens are really good for you. But why is it that they're so good for you? Well, they're so good for you because they pack so much in the little bit of package that they are, because they're like 40 times more nutritious, they pack 40 times more nutrients than their more mature counterpart. 32:15 because they're so dense, they're so nutritiously dense now as they grow. They have so much more, like I said, than their adult counterpart, if you will. They have everything that their adult counterpart has as well. 32:43 I just talked to a lady this morning. She has many horses. And I feel like I've spent the whole day thinking about many things because, you know, microgreens are many plants and many horses are micro horses. 33:00 It's been that kind of day, ma'am. All right, Kimberly, I try to... Huh? 33:09 No, I didn't say anything. Okay. I try to keep these to half an hour and we're at 36 minutes. So I'm going to cut you loose. Thank you so much for your time today. I appreciate it. Absolutely. Thank you for, for having me. I appreciate you. For sure. Absolutely. You have a great day, Kim. Thank you. I will. You too, Mary.…

A Tiny Homestead

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Moon Ridge Acres 37:16

9 weeks sitten37:16

37:16

Today I'm talking with Becca at Moon Ridge Acres . You can follow on Facebook as well. If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Becca at Moon Ridge Acres. Good morning, Becca. How are you? Good. How are you? I'm good. You're in Alberta, Canada? Yes. Central Alberta, near Camrose. Is it super cold there? 00:28 Today not so much. It's actually around minus two But for the weekend, we're going down to minus 25 minus 30, which is a horrible jump real temperature Yeah, yeah, that's Celsius. Oh Yeah, I'm so sorry It's it's it's the jumping around that makes it really challenging because we get used to the cold we're used to these terrible colds, but 00:57 When you go from, you know, plus, in the plus degrees down to minus 30 within a weekend, it, it is hard on everybody. It's hard on the animals, it's hard on us. It's not fun. 01:12 Yeah, the last couple of days here in Minnesota, it's been really, really cold for us. And today it's supposed to hit 30. Tomorrow it's supposed to be 35, I think. I'm talking Fahrenheit. Right. And then, uh, today is Wednesday. So Friday is supposed to be warm again. 01:29 and then Saturday it's supposed to start to drop and then Sunday and Monday it's supposed to be super freaking cold again. I'm like, mother nature, could you stop with the basketball bouncing, Jesus. Yeah, exactly. It's these extremes. It's like, ease into it a little bit, you know? Or just level out for a while. I mean, if it's gonna be cold, stay cold for a while. If it's gonna be warm, stay warm for a while. That would be fine. Absolutely, and like. 01:55 Here with the melting and the freezing and the melting and the freezing, it just makes the roads absolutely horrific for driving. My husband is a full-time trucker, so it makes his job a lot harder to have to deal with ice on the roads. The counties are not always the best at getting out there and getting salt on the roads and taking care of them. It can be pretty treacherous. 02:24 And on the flip side, I bet summer is really beautiful where you are. Stunning, absolutely gorgeous. I was kind of laughing because I had made some videos about George and Katie Vanslake being in Tennessee and how right now they have two hours of daylight more than we have here in Alberta. But then come June, we actually end up with two hours more of daylight than them. 02:53 So it's just always flip-flopping in every way. 03:01 I'm so glad you brought up Katie. I love Miss Katie. I watch Miss Katie's videos every day and very excited that Kennedy just had her baby. Yes, I love it because Katie falls out right before my folding season. So she kind of like fills that gap and gets me super excited for when our babies start to come. And so yeah, watching new babies will never get old. 03:29 No, and she makes me happy because I don't have any animals like that. So I get to live vicariously through her videos, which I'm sure a lot of people do. Right. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. She's brought the joy of, you know, animal ownership to a lot of people. Yes. And she's so... Let's just rave about Katie Vance like for a minute here. Most people won't know who we're talking about. She's a young woman who does videos on... 03:59 Facebook and YouTube and she has mini horses and thoroughbreds and quarter horses and mini cows and goats and I don't even know and she has just been this shining light of How to learn how to take care of livestock and it's been a beautiful progression for her Yeah, if you're if you're interested in raising animals, she is very honest about not knowing everything 04:28 and learning as she goes and trying to share that. So I really like her. Okay, so this isn't about Katie Vance. Like I would love to talk to her, but she's a very busy lady. Absolutely, absolutely. So Becca, tell me about what you do. 04:44 So what do you do at your place? Oh, sorry. Yeah, I think we had a little internet connection there. So we raise miniature horses. So kind of when you asked me to be on the podcast and it was about homesteading, I kind of laughed because I consider myself a bit of a homesteader, but I'm like a really bad one because I do horses. No such thing. No such thing as a bad homesteader. 05:14 Yeah, we do miniature horses and we show them and we are kind of like working towards being on the upper level of that showing and having super high quality animals. I have raised rabbits for a few years now and I dabbled in the meat rabbits a little bit and my pride and joy were my Holland Lops which 05:42 not so great for the sustainability factor, but I love them. And then we have ducks and we have a couple pigs and most of them are honestly pets. Like I said, not so great in terms of homesteading, but I follow a lot of homesteading practices in order to kind of keep things going. We get really resourceful around here to be able to manage what we have. 06:10 And that is definitely a homesteading skill. Every homesteader I've talked to has done workarounds and created new ways to do things. Absolutely. I mean, I think especially when you're starting out and you don't, you know, the animals aren't sustaining themselves yet financially, you have to get creative unless you have, you know, someone funding you or, you know, you have a really great nine to five job that is sustaining that. 06:39 financial burden, at least for the beginning. Eventually, I do hope the horses will sustain themselves, but that initial upfront cost of getting going is astronomical. You have to be able to work around and use a futon as a hay feeder and make it work. Uh-huh. Yep, absolutely. We used... Someone had an old toddler bed and it had the spring part. 07:09 You know? Yep. And we use that as a trellis for our cucumbers one year. Oh, absolutely. We actually have a like a crib. A crib like I think it's like a frame, a crib frame as a gate right now. It's not the sturdiest gate, but it just needs to keep the goatees in. Yep. And it works. It works. Absolutely. I mean, if we can keep things out of the landfills. 07:37 and make them work for us, why not? Absolutely, that is something, I always laugh at my husband, but I admire him for doing it. Every time he goes to the dump, he goes around and he will pick, he will pick. And he's brought home some really good stuff. So it's amazing what people throw away. And one person's trash is another person's treasure. And we've really made a lot just from. 08:05 going to the landfill and taking what's still good. Yes, definitely. And I don't feel any shame about what you just said because my parents used to find stuff when they would take stuff to the dump too. And my dad would bring things home and I'm like, what's that for? And he's like, well, number one, it's clean. And I'm like, good. And he said, I can use it for, and he would list off all these different projects for all these different things he would bring home. And- 08:34 The first time he told me a story, I was like, oh, okay. And then like the 20th time he started telling me a story, I would just start to giggle because I thought that he was so ingenious with his plans. Yeah, yeah. I mean, we always laugh. We look through our yard and a lot of people will come over and be like, wow, like you have so much, you have all the energy. It's like we worked for it very hard. We broke our backs for it, but we didn't pay a lot of money. Yep. 09:03 Yeah, and honestly, I feel like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace have become the not so yucky idea of dumpster diving these days. Oh, absolutely. We have multiple dog houses. We have, at this point, seven dogs. We have big, big dog houses. I think the most we paid for one was $25, but most of them were free. 09:33 Like I have my goat shed, I went and picked that up for free, just people wanting to get rid of stuff. And I mean, you have to kind of be on the marketplace and paying attention for those when they come up. But the amount of money you can save just by being resourceful in that way and not having to do everything yourself is amazing. Yes, have pickup truck and trailer will travel. 09:58 Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. We've even considered putting up like an ad saying, hey, we'll come clean away your, clean up your yard for you if you want, if you have things that need to go to the dump or whatever, we'll come deal with it in exchange for us keeping what we want. Because there are treasures out there that are buried in some farmer's field, you know? Yeah. Yeah. 10:26 For sure, you're not wrong. And I love this. I love it because one of the things that I don't really pound on on the podcast is sustainability, but what you're talking about is sustainability. And it's really important as part of homesteading. So thank you for illustrating that. Yeah, yeah, I think that's one of our biggest fundamentals here, like despite the fact that I'm into horses and show rabbits and things that maybe don't feed us. 10:55 We are really, really big on the recycling and repurposing. And I mean, even just recently, we got approved for the Loop program here in Canada. Okay. So Loop is a program that connects grocery stores that have unsellable food. It's not sellable for human consumption. And typically, this would end up in a landfill. 11:26 farmers with the grocery stores, so we go and pick up a truck box full or a trailer load of like for the most part perfectly good food that the grocery stores can no longer sell because it's at its best before date or there's one moldy orange in a bag or there's a banana that's a little bit darker, whatever. 11:55 get to bring that home for our animals to enjoy. And that has been such an eye-opening experience, like just seeing the sheer amount of waste, because each one of these stores has this amount of food that they are giving us every single day. And that was all going into the landfill up until Loop started. 12:22 I think they're like seven years in now. Okay. And like we've gotten, like we've completely eliminated our dog food bill and that's with two large Great Danes, a pit bull, a Rottweiler, a Great Dane puppy. And the Pomeranians do not eat the loop because they are sensitive. But you know, for those big dogs, like we've gotten meat. 12:52 And like all of that would have ended up in the landfill. And so this has been such a game changer for our little homestead. Now we have more money to put into other projects. But it's been really just shocking to see the amount of food waste that's out there and to know that Loop has been working hard to get more grocery stores on board, but they're not all on board yet. So... 13:21 And you know, and you think, I don't know if there's a program like this in the US, but the amount of food that goes to waste is, it's bananas. It's bananas. It's crazy. And it might literally be bananas too. Who knows? They might be passing out bananas too. Before Christmas, we got an entire palette of bananas one day. My goats rejoiced. They were so happy. 13:51 It was crazy. And another one we had was that we had an entire palette of tomatoes. And we couldn't for the life of us figure out what was wrong with them. But I mean, sometimes it's just a matter of, oh, these ones weren't refrigerated properly or there was a surplus or, oh, the new truck came in and we hadn't sold those like it's crazy. 14:20 blows my mind and I really, really hope that, you know, especially here in Canada, if people are aware of the loop program, I think they could make their shopping choices based on a store that is contributing to the loop program because it kills me to know that there are many stores that would just rather throw it away. And 14:47 To me, I appreciate the stores that are at least doing this because I have friends on the Loop program that have raised pork for their family of seven for the last couple of years just feeding their pigs loop. I think that's beautiful. I think that's wonderful. It's fabulous, yes. Yeah. I really hope that Loop takes off and they go worldwide. 15:17 I'd like to see a little bit more of them being able to donate to starving humans, for sure, but the animals are a great start. Yes, and if you're raising animals to feed your family, you are feeding your humans, so that works out nicely too. I don't know if there's a program like Loop here in the States. There's probably something, but I'm not aware of it. Yeah. I know I've talked to a few. 15:46 people who have animals and they have talked to their local grocery stores and said if you're just going to throw that away, can I just take it to my critters and some grocery stores are fine with that. Yeah, it seems like a lot of the smaller local stores are really open to it. It's the big box chains that are, and I understand they're worried about insurance, they're worried about legality and all of that stuff. 16:16 the food being put to its highest use. Right, yes, exactly. Okay, so I'm really glad you talked about that because if I didn't know about it, I'm sure a lot of my listeners didn't know about it, so that was awesome. Absolutely. I have a question about the mini horses, and I'm genuinely not being a smart ass, I just need to ask, what are the mini horses good for besides being pets and being lovely to be around? So... 16:44 That's actually a really common question that we get because, yeah, like they kind of seem like they're just little glorified pets. But I think where they really shine is in the driving. And what I have really noticed just based on the community of miniature horse people that I have found is that for... 17:13 One reason or another, these people could not continue with the big horses. So my mom and I kind of joke that it's an old lady hobby. It's not exactly. There's lots of young folk in it too, but there's a lot of older ladies who maybe couldn't handle a big horse anymore. 17:43 Hanoverians for 30 plus years and she's in her 70s now and she just can't handle them and she didn't want to give up her horses. So now she's in a cart and she's doing the in-hand classes with the miniatures and she's still getting her horse fixed but it's in a much safer space than with a 18:11 giant 18 hand Hanoverian. Yeah, for sure. There's also a lot of people who have had injuries or maybe they're scared of big horses, but they love horses. So the minis kind of bridge that gap. And then for someone like me, I don't have enough land to support big horses. 18:41 So I really couldn't realistically have more than a couple big horses on my property. And if I wanted to get into a breeding program... 18:55 Sorry, did I cut out there? Nope, you're good, keep going. Oh, okay, sorry. So, yeah, it connects those smaller acreage people with a horse hobby. Like I live in an area where there's a lot of small acreages and most of these people wouldn't even have enough land to have one big horse, let alone two or three. 19:24 but they would have enough land to have a few minis. And I think it's a great way for someone starting out to learn. And then maybe they progress onto big horses, or it's the opposite, where they're coming from big horses, but the big horses aren't working for them anymore. That's kind of what I've noticed with the miniature horse community. 19:52 There are a few people out there who are just fanciers. They just love miniature horses and that's it. But yeah, then I think they're just kind of that gap filler. And then they drive as well. So you can do all of the same things that you can do on a horse riding, but with a cart. 20:22 And, um, oh, I'm so sorry. My child is interrupting here. That's okay. Hey honey, come down and go pee. Just be quiet. Okay, sweets. Sorry about that. It's okay. Like I tell everybody who has kids in the background on other episodes, I love kids. I love their little voices. So that's good. That's good. I was, I sent them upstairs and said, try and be quiet, but 20:52 When nature calls, we can only do so much. Absolutely, I guess. And I'm sure that mom hearing that somebody needs to use the bathroom on their own is a positive. Absolutely, absolutely. We're not complaining. OK, so. Yeah, so with the driving, I am very new to driving myself. 21:21 I'm still trying to learn it, but it looks like it's a lot of fun. A lot of people really enjoy it. I actually have friends who was competing in upper level dressage with a big warm blood stallion. She started driving a Mini and she's like, I think I'm going to sell my horse. I like this so much. It's so fun. 21:50 It's interesting. It's a different world for sure, but I don't discount the minis just in terms of pure enjoyment. They are great. They're great little animals. They're super easy to work with. They seem to be really smart too. Very smart. Very, very smart. And a lot of people, I think they get 22:19 because of the Shetland pony, like the UK Shetland pony, which is very different from the American Shetland pony. And the UK Shetland pony is kind of notorious for being stubborn. And a lot of people at first glance will associate the miniature horse with the Shetland pony and think that they are stubborn and hard to train. And that's just not the case at all. 22:49 The miniatures are so willing to learn. They are they're honestly Fantastic. I some one of mine my stallions I wish I could just multiply him and turn him into a big horse for me to ride because he's so well-minded So smart and just wants to please Just a really really great animal all around 23:14 From what I've seen of the many horses, they remind me of a really good cross between a very well-behaved dog and a very well-behaved horse. Yes, yes, absolutely. And I kind of, I think I've joked about it on my page a little bit of how they are, they're kind of like dogs, but you can leave them outside. And you know, they're like, I find them to be less work than dogs, personally. 23:43 and a lot of people are just shocked when I say that, but you know, and that's not keeping them up in a stall and turning them out every day. Like obviously you can make them as much work as you want them to be, but mine are out 24 seven. And they, you know, they have a hay bale and they have water and I don't really have to do a heck of a lot for them other than provide that and give them love and cookies and you know, work. 24:13 Sorry. Got to give them scritches, right? Absolutely. I mean, I am forced to have these pretty nails so that I can give them proper, proper scritches. For sure. So, so where did the mini horses come from? Are they, are they a specific, separate breed from a regular size horse or is it just the smallest horses that have been bred down to minis? 24:41 That is a really interesting question. So with the registries specifically, like they are considered a breed, but you can hardship into AMHA, which is the American Miniature Horse Association, you can hardship, which just means having a judge and an official measure them at the last hair of their withers. And if they're under 34 inches, 25:11 you can register them as a miniature horse. So that kind of lends me to consider them more as a height registry, because there would be nothing to say that you couldn't, let's say you had some random quarter horse that just didn't grow tall, you could register that as a miniature horse as long as it met the height requirement. So, 25:41 Yeah, I would say they're a height registry. And if that registry ends up closing and then becomes more of a bloodline registry, then that's kind of when I would consider them more to be a breed. But it depends on your definition of what a breed is. Because one thing I always say is that it's all made up. They just make up whatever they want with these registries. Like. 26:08 If you look at the quarter horse registry, you can breed in thoroughbred and then breed it back to a quarter horse and it's still a purebred quarter horse. And it is confusing, but it's all made up and technically they are their own. 26:29 My definition of breed says that it's a height registry until that hardshipping is no longer allowed. So, yeah. All right. Humans are nothing if we're not catalogers and labelers. We have to sort things into piles. You can watch babies start doing it when they start to sit up and play with blocks. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, there's... 26:56 We have to have a group for them to be in. And everybody's definition is going to be slightly different in terms of that. I just think of the Arabian Horse Association, which the Arabians are the longest standing breed registration, I believe. They're one of the oldest breeds that are still alive. And. 27:25 they don't allow any kind of cross breeding. So that's what my head says is a breed. But again, it's all made up. It's so vastly different from any other species. It's very interesting. The whole horse world, we could have a whole podcast dedicated just to... 27:51 the intricacies of the different breed registrations and how they work. You should start one, Becca. Oh, that would be fun. I have considered starting a podcast eventually. I think it would be very interesting. You would never run out of people to talk to. Never, ever, ever, ever. It would be a very fascinating topic to go on to. I think it is an idea. 28:21 Yeah, I can't do another one right now. This one takes all my time. And if I started a podcast with you about horse breeding, I would end up with a horse because I would fall in love with it. So I can't. I cannot do one. My husband would kill me. You need a mini. No, I do not. I need to watch other people with minis. I don't need one of my own. OK. So the reason I asked about the whole breed thing, 28:51 is because we have a mini Australian shepherd, or at least that's what we were told she is. Right. And I've talked to a couple of people who raise Australian shepherds. And they're like, there's no such thing as a mini or a toy. They're just all Australian shepherds. They're just different sizes. And it was really frustrating to me before, but now that I've talked with people who 29:19 breed Australian Shepherds and have done some research. I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter. We love our dog. She is like 35 pounds and she's shorter than my knee and I'm five foot nine. Wow. And she's gorgeous and she's a good girl and we love her. So she's a good girl. Australian Shepherd is what she is. Yeah. Then it really doesn't matter that. 29:44 the true thing of it all. Like we recently in our club shows, we started allowing grade classes for people who have miniatures that aren't registered. And I think that was one of the most important things that we could do as a club. Because what is it? What does it matter? Well, you know, sure, we want to have the sanctioned shows and promote our breed and all of that stuff. But 30:13 Why not welcome everyone to come and enjoy these little horses the way we do? And funny enough, after allowing these great horse classes into our show days, lots of these people went out and bought registered horses so they could do the whole thing. So how great is that, right? That's a beautiful thing. Yeah. Wow. 30:42 That's impressive, actually. Because the miniature horse community is truly one of the best communities I have ever been a part of. And with horse people tend to get a bad reputation of being nasty, and I have not seen that with the mini community at all. It's just everyone is so welcoming, eager to help show you the ropes. 31:10 Everyone is friendly at shows and you truly just feel like you're a part of a family. And that's what keeps you going back. The horses are wonderful, but it's the people at the shows that you're so excited to see and excited to go back and see how they've prepped their horses for the next year. And it's really about that community. And I think the more people we can get into it, the better. Yep. 31:38 Absolutely. I think that when you have something that is positive, that brings people together, you're all learning, you're all enjoying each other's company, you are raising an animal that you love and the other people are raising theirs and they love them too. You can't help but walk away from it feeling good and feeling happy. Exactly. Exactly. It's, you know, and 32:06 absolutely minimal. You know, I can do an entire show for a thousand dollars, whereas that could be an entry fee at a big horse show. So it's a really a lot smaller barrier to entry with the minis. So I think that's a really good thing. Cool. Okay. Well, Becca, I try to keep these to half an hour, but I have one more question. Sounds good. Do you have babies coming this spring? 32:35 I do. I have up to 10 potentially. Oh, yeah, we've got a few coming. So I bred hard last year because I, I had a new stallion that I really wanted to get babies on the ground for. And he was the 2024 Canadian national grand champion. And so we've got babies coming from him. And I, 33:04 I don't ultrasound to preg check my mares for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the only vet that will do it on a miniature is over an hour away. And then you're adding stress to your mares and all of that stuff. And then there's the cost associated with it. If I were to preg check 10 mares, I've basically given one of my foals away for free. Yes. 33:33 While I'm in this beginning stages of my breeding program, I need to be very cognizant of costs. I hope I get to a point where, you know, ultrasound becomes a no-brainer. But right now I didn't, so I kind of left a little bit of room for some of these mares to be left open. 34:00 And so I'm okay if they don't all end up pregnant, but I'm expecting at least eight for sure. If they're not pregnant, then they've been eating really, really well. Pretty round, huh? Yeah. So you have fancy babies coming. Not only do you have babies coming, you have fancy babies coming. Very fancy babies. The first one is the most anticipated. It is 34:29 probably my top mare and my top stallion so we're really looking forward to that one. But all of the rest are, they're no slouches either so it's going to be a good folding season and it's going to last for, it should be from April to June so we've got a good three months of baby love. 34:58 Are you going to post pictures on Facebook? Absolutely. Absolutely. We're, um, I'm actually hoping to kind of model my following season. Very similar to how Katie does. Nice. Um, yeah, because I mean, she's my, she's my inspiration, right? I started social media quite literally because of Katie. Um, I, I, I found her when she had just bought VS code red and I was, I saw so much of myself. 35:28 in her content, I was like, wow, that's something I could actually do that I could actually, that I would love forever. Like sharing my animals with people has always been something that I've enjoyed. And being able to share it in this capacity, it just, it inspired me. So I definitely have to give Katie the credit there. She was the inspiration. And 35:55 She's someone I really look up to in terms of social media. She's built an incredible platform of mostly wonderful people. And it's just really cool to see. And I just hope that I can find my community and we can all enjoy baby horses together. I think that's wonderful. And honestly, I started this podcast mostly because I needed a project. 36:25 I said to my husband, I said, there are people who watch YouTube videos of cats cleaning themselves. I think I can probably do a podcast that's worth more than that. I love that. And he said, I think you can too. You should do that. So that's why we're talking today a year and a half after I started. So, all right. So Becca, thank you so much for your time and don't leave when I stop recording because I need your file to upload from your side too. Okay? Absolutely. Sounds good. 36:53 All right, and I will be looking forward to videos of baby horses starting in April. Absolutely. Absolutely. I look forward to that as well. Thank you so much for having me. It was truly an honor to be asked to be on a podcast. Yeah, I really appreciate it. Oh, you are so welcome and thank you too. All right. Have a great day. Yeah, you too. Bye.…

A Tiny Homestead

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The Brickson Family Farm 34:06

10 weeks sitten34:06

34:06

Today I'm talking with Jim at The Brickson Family Farm . You can follow on Facebook as well. If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Jim at the Brickson Family Farm in Baudette, Minnesota, I think is how you say it. Good afternoon, Jim. Good afternoon. It is Baudette. Okay, cool. And you said it's right at the Canadian border? 00:27 Yeah, we're about three miles from the Canadian border. Actually, the town we live in is Pitt, but there's not too many people. The township isn't that big, so they attach us to Bidet. Oh, okay, yep, that makes sense. So you said it's terribly cold up there. It is, it comes with the territory, though. It's the price we pay for solitude, stay away from all the rat race of life sometimes. 00:51 Yes, I understand. We moved to outside of LaSore, Minnesota for exactly that reason because we lived in town, Jordan, Minnesota for 20 something years and we were done. So we moved out in the middle of soybean and cornfields and we love it. We've been here four years and it's so quiet. It's so wonderful. All right. So tell me all about yourself and what you do at your farm. Oh. 01:18 We do a lot of stuff. Right now we're trying to do not so much because it's been cold. But my wife and I are both Navy veterans and work for the Salvation Army after our Navy career for well, until retirement as pastors. So we went back to college at a late stage in our life, became ordained and we thought nothing better to do than start a farm when you're 60. So we bought this 01:46 little home set up here, 50 acres and a house and a few buildings and just kind of been feeling our way through and trying to find out what works for us and what doesn't work for us. And so right now what we're farming is Dexter beef cattle. We have a small herd of Jersey milk cows and I don't know, a couple pigs. I think the pigs are going to go this year. It's just too hard to maintain pigs in the wintertime. 02:15 So we're probably just going to do like a finishing operation. Same thing with chickens during the summer. Yeah, we stopped our chickens back a couple months ago because we didn't want to feed them through the winter because they don't give us a lot of eggs over the winter so they don't earn their keep very well. So I understand what you're saying. It's tough. And they're expensive to keep too. People, you know, they're easy to raise but the bird, I mean chicken feed is expensive and... 02:44 I think we were selling our eggs for like four bucks a dozen at the farmers market and people were kind of scoffing. I'm thinking, wow, that's cheaper than in the stores actually. But no, I think my wife said the other day, there's like 10 bucks a dozen because of this new H1N1 scare. So the price of eggs are going crazy up here. Yeah. My husband stopped at Hy-Vee on the way home yesterday and bought two 18-pack of eggs, two separate containers of 18 eggs. 03:11 and he said it was $9.99 for 18 eggs. Oh, I ate the most expensive egg salad sandwich of my life today for lunch. Right. Yeah. Well, she freeze dried quite a bit of eggs before before we downsize our chickens. Actually, it was the chickens we didn't really didn't really go until. Oh, November, I think was the last of our chickens left here. So we were collecting eggs up until that point. 03:38 Yeah, this inflation is no joke. I'm very worried about people who can't afford to eat right now. And there are people in the world who a year ago could afford to eat just fine. And I bet there's lots who cannot afford to eat right now. And it makes me really sad. We worked on this side of that for about 18 years, my wife and I, with the Salvation Army, trying to provide for those that can't or couldn't. 04:08 And we were surprised because the stereotype that comes with that is that they've always not been able to but I was so shocked as we're going through our time there the amount of new people that were coming because Because life has just gotten too expensive and how humbling that is to have to ask somebody to help them out Yeah. Yep. It's it's a rough time right now and I am 04:32 I am so glad that we moved when we did. We now have room to grow a garden. We canned tomatoes this year. So if nothing else, I will have spaghetti sauce and as long as I can afford pasta, we're good. But it's just crazy. Yeah, it rained up here so bad this year. We didn't really get much. Our garden really was kind of a fail. I don't think anybody's garden up here really did much because of the amount of moisture we had. 04:59 Let's just say if you live in Minnesota and you got a good return on your investment on your garden this past season, I'm real happy for you because ours did not do great. It was rough. But like I keep saying, we're into 2025. I have everything crossed that this will be a much better gardening season. I'm really hoping. So did you have background in... 05:26 farming or growing things before or was this a new thing for you? Well, kind of. We're from Mankato. My family and I, well, I grew up a little bit in Mankato and then in our younger years, we moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin and lived there. During the summers, I farmed with, there's always tobacco to be picked or corn to be detasseled. So I did a lot of that, a lot of milk cows during the summer times. So 05:52 That was about the extent of our farming or my farming. And I brought my wife here. I imported her from New York City. Oh, good job. She's from Manhattan. Yeah, we haven't been back in a long time. So she, the person I thought would be the hardest to fit into this lifestyle, she's grabbed onto it a lot harder than I have. Oh, awesome. She's done well, going from, you know, one of the largest cities in America 06:23 You know, what is, but at the whole county has 3000 people in the county, uh, Lake of the woods County. Um, and Pitt might have 20 people. I not maybe even not even that. In fact, they're the only county or the only, uh, you know, the only county in the state of Minnesota that does not have a stop and go light. Oh, really? Wow. Okay. So it's a little bitty town. Well, uh, the whole county is real small. Yeah. There's no. 06:51 There's no even, you know, the big attraction up here is walleyes. The Lake of the Woods is very touristy. And when the fishing is good, our population quadruples overnight. And then when the fishing is not so good, it's back to just us folks again. Yeah, it's actually really interesting to hear you say that because I grew up in Maine and Maine is a tourist state. And I feel like Minnesota has tourist counties, but Minnesota is not a tourist state. No. 07:20 So, but does your wife still have her accent from New York? No, she, uh, well, she does. If we go back to New York and she gets by her, her family and friends, she, it takes her about five minutes, but, uh, she sounds like she's from Minnesota. No, the extra O's and everything. Nice. I have tried really hard not to pick up any accent and dump every accent I ever had. 07:47 And it's worked. Everybody's like, where are you from? And I'm like, nowhere. I don't have any accent. It's gone. So, um, okay. So your dexter's are your your beef cattle. Is that right? Yeah, we do dexter beef. And we chose dexter beef because actually we got into beef before we were one of the lucky ones before the price of beef went through the roof. So we were able to 08:16 to start a small herd of beef cows and we went with dexters because we just plain couldn't afford to go the Angus route. The calves were way too expensive, maybe not so for the time. I mean they're a lot cheaper than they are now but we just didn't have that kind of money to invest into a herd so we bought a small herd of dexters and kind of based our herd on that. 08:46 So we've since bought a few more. I mean, we've bought a couple more. We're starting to look at registering our herd for nothing more than just the ability to be able to look back and find out what's working and what's not working. So and our milk cows, I mean, we just bought a milk cow. I swore after milking when I was a kid, I would never milk again ever in my life. And I'm really finding that being part of the 09:14 The nicest part of our farm right now is being able to milk. Yeah. Yeah. It's been, uh, it's a lot more calm if the, well, if the cows are behaving. So sometimes, sometimes the herd boss is not real happy and she makes everybody else not happy. Okay. And we chase them around a little bit. I mean, it's just, it's just a different life, I guess. But so that's probably pretty much our main thing. We do have some sheep too, but the sheep. 09:43 We bought the sheep to clean up the pasture. And now that that's done, we're probably going to move the sheep on too. But the farm we bought was deserted for 20-some years. There was nobody here. And so the pastures were all overgrown. The house was dilapidated. We had to do quite a bit of work. So we tried to see what worked and what didn't work. And 10:09 So far the beef cattle and the milk seem to be the thing to go do. Yeah, I'm surprised that your herd boss, as it were, is a pain in the butt, because I hear jerseys are actually really easy going cows. Oh, she is very easy going. But when she wants to be in charge, she lets everybody know. OK, so and I know it could be just something minor. We could change something in the barn. And when it set her off a little bit, so we try to milk every day at the same time. We were once a day milkers. We don't milk twice a day. 10:40 We found that that transition was easy enough. Our oldest cow was already once a day milking when we bought her. And the other cows that we've been getting, we've been getting out of the Rochester area from a dairy. And of course they're twice a day milkers. So there's a little bit of transition time there. Oh yeah. But it seems like they're coming along real well. Uh-huh. The twice a day milkers, when they're going through the transition, do they yell a lot? Are they like, hey, come milk me? No. No? 11:09 No, the Jerseys are pretty laid back. They really are a good cow. The cow, the other cow that we have right now, we got her, part of the reason we got her was we had a calf we needed to tie on her. Actually, it was the other way around. My wife will look at me funny if I say this wrong. Okay. We got the Jersey cow twice a day milking and we picked up a calf to put on her side to help us with the milk. Is that right? Yeah, I got the okay from that, yes. So we were like kind of. 11:38 calf sharing for the first month or so day milking her. Doesn't make the calf eat and he's a happy guy. can't talk, how many gallons of milk do So our oldest cow is a Jersey and she's 12:08 two and a half to three gallons a day. The other Jersey that we have right now is about at the same. We actually have another Jersey, but we only have one other one that we're milking. It's about the same. So we're bringing in almost five gallons a day, which has been okay. I mean, it does what we need it to do. And Minnesota gives us a good opportunity for selling raw milk too. So they're... 12:35 there are provisions in the state of Minnesota for us to be able to not be overwhelmed with too much milk. Yeah, that's what I was going to ask you is do you have a market for the extra because that's a lot of milk for a family to go through if you're not moving it on to other people. And it's just me and my wife and a couple dogs. We actually, our first thought was that we were going to feed the balance to the chickens and the pigs. 13:03 because it's supposed to finish the animals off really nice. But the demand for raw milk has been so high that we really haven't been able to make butter since like October. The milk goes pretty fast. So we also don't leave anything in the display refrigerator for more than three days. So if it's cold, it's got to be cold. I mean, it has to be cold and fresh or it just goes away. 13:32 I love raw milk. Oh my God. We don't have it very often for us. It's a treat and we maybe get a gallon once every couple of years just because we can. And we don't really use it to cook with. We just drink it or we have it in our coffee because we love it so much. Yeah. We just had one of our customers came and got milk and she's looking, trying to make sure that... 13:59 What's the fact, Ken? I mean, what are we looking at? Good butter. And I think our cream has really started to improve because we've been feeding our cows a little bit better. So this whole thought of, you know, the regenerative farming is what we really wanna do. Or it's just really tough, especially up here, to be able to just grass feed your dairy cows. And we tried, we really tried to just grass feed them. 14:27 And it just, it was the condition of our animals was really going downhill. So now our, our milk cows, the cows that are in the stanchion get, uh, they get about three pounds of, of, we call it their candy. They know exactly what the candy is and where it's at. So you have to get, and that's, that's really improved our milk quality too. So, um, and at the Jersey milk too, seems to be a little bit more golden or yellow. Um, which is. 14:54 I mean, if you think about that, the milk you buy in the store that's homogenized and pasteurized is pure white and you get raw milk and it's got some color to it and you're like, huh, that's different. So it was a little different to start out. That was one of the observations I got when we first started that it was just a different color milk. Yeah, but it tastes so good. Yeah. 15:23 And I think the taste comes from what you feed them too. We're feeding high quality alfalfa hay to the cows all the time. And I think that makes a big difference. Absolutely. And I'm just gonna say something. I don't think that grain is evil for cows. I mean, I know that there are a lot of people who want exclusively grass-fed cow's milk or grass-fed beef, I get it. But. 15:50 I'm not one of the people who's like, oh, if you feed your cows grain, you're doing it wrong. I don't think that's true at all. 15:59 Right. Well, to be clear about that, our beef cattle, our dexters are 100% grass-fed. We don't feed them any grain. We give them a mineral supplement that they can have at choice whenever they need it, and they have plenty of water. So there, we don't do any of that. The only reason we started doing the grain was because the condition of our animals was getting, it was really dragging them down, milking, or we had some that were on calves too. So it just was really hard on them. 16:29 The long and the short is we started trying to find a feed that was better, something that we can give them that was going to be digestible and not just be zero benefit for the animal. We tried to go the non-GMO route and we can go that way. You'll pay a lot of money for it. And I would if I could. We really don't, we'd have to ship it from someplace else. We're buying a lot of our minerals and stuff from Mankato from a big gain. 16:59 So, but we still can't get a full-time feed from them shipped up here. And if it was, it would cost us a lot of money. So, I was at the feed mill about a month ago and talking to the nutritionists up there saying, look, I just want to put together a non-GMO type of feed for our cows to where I can look at our customers and say, look, it's the best that you're going to get and we know that we're doing the best that we can. 17:24 And he said, that's fine. He says, we can get you a non-GMO. And he said, there are some farms out here that have non-GMO. But his statement was, is if you knew how much stuff they spray on their property before they plant that, you wouldn't think much of the non-GMO. So the herbicides and the rest of the stuff that they put on it. So we've gotten to where we're more selectively trying to find a better quality feed or a grain that comes from a farm that we can trust. 17:51 Yes, and in the meantime, you are doing the absolute best you can. I know you are. I can hear it in your voice. You are doing the best you can by your animals and by you and by your customers. So thank you. Yes, I it's so hard, Jim. I talk to so many people all the time with a podcast and every farmer, it doesn't matter whether they're raising livestock or produce or pecans. Everybody is doing. 18:20 the best they can with the knowledge they have to put out quality products. And the, I don't want to say pain, but the angst that I hear in people's voices all the time about feeling like they're not, you know, like they're coming up short on what they're trying to accomplish is so sad. And I want you to be proud of what you're doing because you're doing something that is important. 18:49 So you're doing the best you can. I'm proud of you. And we started a farm at 60, so we're now 62. There's a lot of great resources out there to start with. Going back to where Minnesota, the state of Minnesota is allowing farmers to sell raw milk from their property. That really, I mean, it really is a struggle, but it's a good deal in a sense. Now, if we bottled our... 19:18 our milk, we'd have to have a bottling license. We don't have that. Right. So right currently, if I sold you a gallon of milk, you'd have to come to our farm and draw it off our tap. And that takes responsibility, I think, off of our shoulders. But it's still that might sound all good and dandy, but it still makes it to where you're still responsible for giving out a good product. You know, you get a whole bunch of attaboys and it just takes one old craft to make it all go backwards. So 19:48 We really are very, we keep searching for a better way of doing things. Not that, and I think that's how me and you got together a little bit. There's got to be a better way to do it. The Facebook farmers that aren't farmers that have a lot of opinions and create so much controversy without having any education. Us raw milk producers have some great resources at our fingertips. 20:17 Institute out of California. I'm just now looking into that and there's so much training and so much good resources through that group that I don't It can only help you. It can only help you be good. So if the idea is to give the quality product the best you can do then I think that you don't quit learning you keep learning and keep teaching because somebody gave to you so you need to give it back. Absolutely. Yes, I am in complete agreement with you. 20:45 I am a big believer in people sharing what they know with the people who are coming up behind them because this has to continue. People who grow things are so important because without the growers, we're not going to eat. It makes me mildly crazy sometimes because people who don't know farmers don't know people who grow things. 21:11 They're like, oh, well, we'll just get whatever we need at the store, whichever store has the thing. And I'm like, do you not understand that the food that you eat has to come from actual food? It has to come from produce and animals. And now like, well, yeah. And I'm like, no, I don't think you understand the way that this works. And I do spend time talking to people and trying to explain the process. Because 21:40 We grow our food in our garden and I know the process. You have to do things a certain way to get a yield on what you put in the ground. So it's frustrating to me sometimes and that's part of the reason I started the podcast because I am not a farmer. I'm not, I just grow plants sometimes because I like tomatoes and cucumbers. I'm not a farmer. And spaghetti sauce. Yes, yes. 22:09 And I love to cook, so. You know, I've got to say some of the, and I'm not, my wife and I are not strangers to hard work. But I will tell you that farming is pre demanding and I don't think it matters what kind of farming you're doing. If you're dirt farming or animal farming, it really, it's all hard work and it all has to be done whether you want to or don't. Like we're married to our cows. Oh yeah. We can't go anywhere without them. And I don't think that when. 22:39 Somebody sits down, we're so used to like you said, going to the grocery store and getting a gallon of milk, sitting down and drinking a glass of milk and not thinking anything of that or how it got there. So we know firsthand how, what it takes to put it on our table. And sometimes it's not so glamorous like this morning when it was so doggone cold. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's hard work and. 23:05 everyone who does it needs to be commended for committing to it because you can't do this without being committed to what you've chosen. 23:15 And not without not without great failure you can't and even even those even us we've been very committed. How we could count the failures many times over of things that didn't go the way that we thought they would or the way that the textbook way of of having things happen. We just had two calves die this last week for no reason just died and. We had them in a barn they were well on their way that they were bottle calves so but that's quite a heartbreak. 23:44 You know, it really is a heartbreak when you you put a lot into an animal and they just kind of don't make it It's not like you just walk out there and say oh that one's gone. So we'll just find another one They're not that easy to find They're not that easy to find and it's expensive to replace them and not just money wise you you put energy into that that You're not gonna get back, right? So yeah, very true. Yeah, it's hard. It's I don't want to be a bummer but 24:13 this lifestyle is hard. You know when things go right they go really right but when things go wrong they go really really freaking wrong. Yeah you know the people you again YouTube is one of those things that we watch a lot of YouTube and have we didn't start the idea of a homestead because of YouTube but we found YouTube because we were trying to build a homestead and it was before oh gosh it was back 24:43 I don't know, it's probably been five or six years now that we've been kind of planning this, making this go forward. So you hear all the right way or how these people that have been so successful, Greg Judy is from Moora, Minnesota. I don't know if you knew that or even who Greg Judy is, but he's a very big regenerative farmer down in Missouri now. And to listen to him talk and the way he thinks that it's a piece of cake, but I will tell you what, you can't grab a whole armful like that. And that was one of the hardest things. 25:13 that I had to learn. My wife was like, you need to slow down, you need to slow down. And I was like, but you can't just do part without the other. And a lot of times I think humanists, we want to grab the whole pile and walk with it. And we end up dropping half the pile. So a lot of failure because of trying to not necessarily think too big, maybe dream too big, or misunderstand the way that it should be. So I'm glad they don't have room for a hundred milk cows. That's all I got to say about that. 25:41 I'm really glad we don't have room for any cows because my husband would want 10 and I'm like, no, one is more than enough. Thank you. We'll pass. The other thing that I have found in our four years of living here at our little homestead is if you're married, you got to be able to talk with your spouse about decisions on the farm without getting into fights. Because if you can't communicate with your spouse. 26:09 you're gonna break up over a living. All for sure. And I said, it's really difficult sometimes because my husband will come to me and be like, I was thinking I wanna do this. And I'm like, have you researched it yet? And he's like, no. And I say, okay, take some time. These are the answers I need from you to think about this. And then we can talk about it. And then he goes and finds me answers and then I go and look it up too. 26:38 And we end up having debates about whether the thing that he wants to do is a good idea or not. We've had more discussions and debates in the last four years than we had in 20 years before that. And it's not a fight. It's just that we both have our ideas about how things work and what makes sense and what doesn't. And we have to come to some kind of middle ground on it. You know? 27:04 Well, Lee and I had a little bit of a head start. We worked together in the same office building for, you know, 16 years, 17 years before and went to college together right next to each other for the two years to finish that off. So we've had a lot of experience. But even with that being said that if you both can't get your arms around it, it makes it very difficult. I'm not saying that it can't be done or that I haven't done things without Lee's blessing. But I'm saying when that happens. 27:31 When that happens, not that if it'll happen, but when that happens, it makes it very difficult to pull through the other side because it does take both of you to run the farm. There's no way I could do this by myself. Yeah. Yep. Exactly. And in our house, two yeses is a yes, one no is a no. That's on the big stuff. That's how we've decided to resolve things. You're tough. It has to be that way because my husband is stubborn and... 27:59 He digs his heels in and I try to explain things that I've looked up and found out about what he wants to do and how that plays out. And he doesn't, he can't hear it right then. So, so we do a lot of, have you considered? Have you heard what I said? Did you think about what I said? There's a lot of, of, um, repeating back to each other so that we know we're not just being mean and stubborn. We're actually considering the other person's opinion. 28:29 Right? Sometimes I just have to go through things. I got it. I got to go through it and either win or lose. And I don't always win and I don't always lose. So that wasn't meant to sound arrogant. I'm going to use the example of we bought red wattle hogs. And my plan was is to create our own little herd or, you know, sows and a couple boars to create our own, you know, heritage breed hogs up here in Minnesota. 28:59 And so we spent thousands of dollars, thousands, on getting the pens and everything we needed and the genetics from the boar. We drove to Michigan to pick up a boar, for goodness sakes, and he wasn't cheap. So we had probably, I don't know, $4,000 worth of animals that we went through trying to create that. This year, two of our three sows, we put in the freezer because they were with the boar all year. 29:28 and didn't get pregnant. So, and they were proven self. So we bought them as guilts and then had, they all both had a litter. Well, the next year they decided they were gonna take the year off. And you spend all that money and these, I have these ideas of how it's gonna work out in the end. And it just never seems to work that way. So I really don't, the two chores I hate during the winter most is the pigs and the... 29:57 chickens. I just don't like doing the extras on that. So we kind of got to, and my wife was happy I got to this point, but that we're going to just buy feeders and finish off whatever is whatever we have that our friends, families, customers would like to have. So if we sold six pigs, that's what we'll raise and not raise them during the winter. 30:25 because oh my goodness, it's just busting water up and you can't have an automatic drinker for a pig in the winter because they will tear it up. Anything that the pigs just have a way that's part of the pigness is they tear stuff apart. So pigs will be shortlisted on our farm just because of that because it's been so much, we've lost so much. And again, at our age, I'm 62 this year. So if... 30:54 If my children, one of my children, we have four of them, but if one of our children decided that they wanted to farm and came up here and farmed, that might change the outlook on it. But we have a son that's a chief in Hawaii in the Navy, and we have two daughters that have professional jobs down in southern Minnesota and northern Illinois, and none of them want to come up and farm. So it was kind of my dream. 31:24 that they would want to do that. My youngest daughter married a farm boy. So I was kind of hoping that they would think about that. And of course with the parents come the grandchildren, which is the best part, but they just don't want to leave what they have to come up here and go farming. So if the question that was before my wife and I was, do we want to invest another three or $4,000 in another set of... 31:51 of pigs and try to do something a little bit different. We learned a lot. And because we don't have anybody coming up, it turned out to be a big fat no. Because we already wasted three years on the ground with our pigs, we'd have to do it all over again. It would take us three years to get back to where we should start going in the black. And it just wasn't I just can't see myself doing that through the winter for three more years. 32:21 when it's so cold up there by Canada. Yeah. It makes sense. So, to end this on a really good note, what is your favorite thing about this choice that you've made for your life? You know, it keeps me busy. A lot of people say, man, you are crazy for doing that. And maybe so. It keeps me engaged in life. And I'm not so sure that I would be able to engage in life without something. 32:49 constructive to do with the responsibility. I'm a combat veteran and I don't want to wave that out there but sometimes life is a little bit difficult but through being able to farm for now it's helped me get through some of the things that I struggle with. So one of them is I would probably sleep all day long if I didn't have something to do outside. So I don't know, that's probably my favorite part. For now we're committed till we're 65. 33:18 And the next jump will be until we're 70, but I think at 70, I'm going to be done farming. God willing that we're still alive and we're going to find a nice little place to retire and that gives some of our grandchildren an opportunity to grow up and say, you know, I'd sure like to farm, right? I don't want to farm. So it really, we don't really care that we don't have anybody coming after us because it wasn't, we didn't buy the farm and start the farm so we'd have kids to have the farm. 33:48 When we started, we bought the farm to have the farm so that I could engage in life and be productive. 33:55 Awesome. Well Jim, thank you for your service and thank you for your time and talking to me today. I've really enjoyed it Thank you so much. Thank you. Have a great day. Yep, you too…

A Tiny Homestead

1
The Witch's Garden 32:16

10 weeks sitten32:16

32:16

Today I'm talking with Elm at The Witch's Garden . You can follow on Facebook as well. If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Elm at The Witch's Garden. Good morning, how are you? Good morning. Doing just fine. Glad to be with you. Glad to be with you too. You said Tennessee is where you are, right? That's right. The west end of the state. About an hour outside of Memphis. 00:29 Okay, and is it warm there today? It's warming up. We got incredible snow. I haven't seen it like this since we moved here, gosh, 16 years ago. We had a solid eight inches and it was beautiful. No ice, just, you know, felt like Christmas all over again. Well, I'm in Minnesota and you have gotten more snow this winter than we have, which is unheard of. I'm, I'm so confused by mother nature. 00:57 this winter and last winter. Last winter I think we got maybe a foot total for the entire season. So I don't know what's up with Mother Nature, but she's having a lot of fun with us I think. Personally, I think she's a little confused with us as well. Well, I think that's been true since humans started, but you know, it's a thing. All right. So tell me about yourself and what you do at The Witch's Garden. 01:23 Sure, we've been in business for about two years. The, uh... 01:29 The head of the business, shall we say, is Sanctuary Apothecary. So I have a little apothecary shop out here. And I'm beginning to do workshops and tours and that kind of thing. The Witch's Garden started as our flagship subscription service. So four times or eight times a year on a seasonal cycle, we send out boxes of ritual and inner work items. So I'm from a pagan tradition, European pagan background. And uh. 01:58 title it the witches garden but we're really at a point where we're working with energy healers we're working with with Yogi Yogi's and those with meditation backgrounds so you know I love our community it's really very party-colored and I wouldn't have it any other way awesome so I don't okay I wanted to talk to you because I tend to identify as pagan if anything 02:25 because I'm not Christian, although people who know me tell me I'm the most Christian, non-Christian person they know. I have a lot of that myself. And I take that as a huge compliment because I try really hard to be kind and helpful and do good in the world. And if that's what they're getting from me, that's what I'm going for. But I also am just, I feel like pagan is so much. 02:55 nature and being in the world and in the moment. And that's how I am with everything. So, Parla doesn't want to talk to you is because I saw that you grow a lot of the things that you use to make the things that you sell. And I'm all about growing things. So what do you grow? So for the last several years, we've been building out beds of herbs around the house in the garden. 03:23 and now across the landscape. So we started, gosh, close to 17 years ago, as a CSA. And we live in a home that's been in my husband's family for seven generations now. My daughter is number seven. And we started with a CSA. So we had the huge market garden and grew vegetables for several years and sold at local farmers markets and then also did a subscription service. 03:52 there that helped us, you know, understand what our costs were going to be for a whole growing season, understand what we could grow and know that we had an audience for it, know that we had families to deliver it to. And that was really satisfying, but it was an incredible amount of work for two people. We both, over the years, have taken on day jobs in other places because keeping up a house that was built in 1835 takes a lot of income. 04:20 So in my day job, I work in tech and it just became a little too much. Um, over the years, we've really started learning how to work with the landscape here. We both have a background in anthropology and are fascinated by those, I guess, intersections with people and culture that have existed for as long as we've walked upright, um, the landscape. 04:52 The landscape is a part of us to our core and that environment impacts every piece of who we are. This is the longest I've ever lived anywhere. And in that time, we've started a relationship with the land. We've really gotten to know it. Historically, the land in West Tennessee has changed so very much. We're at a point where... 05:18 big agriculture has caused a lot of environmental issues, but it's also changed the fauna and flora here. So we've, I guess, pivoted, we've shifted our focus, we've found our passion, and we're working hard to turn probably the 250 acres of this historic farm back into a native prairie and the landscape as it would have looked three, 400 years ago. 05:48 So, you know, there's trillium in the woods. There are. 05:55 heal all and hand it and dead nettle everywhere. Heal all and dead nettle are actually in my head, they're synonyms. Although some people say heal all is a different plant. So I've got to clarify myself. But now we're fully into herbs. We will probably four or five times a year will split and dig up and pot. 06:23 several things from across the landscape. We still have several things in containers that were growing out till they're a little larger. And we'll do plant sales just kind of to help us support that shift that we're trying to make on the land. And right now the larger family is still renting out the agricultural land to larger scale farmers. Our long term goal is to recover all that land to native prairie and pasture. 06:54 So in order to support that, we've been building beds. Oh gosh. 07:03 I'm so glad that we're moving away from the row crop style classic garden that we've gotten used to seeing because most of our land still really wants to be hayfield. So the herbs that we focus on are ground covers, are big, beautiful, bushy herbs that will keep the local. Some of the problems that we have are with... 07:31 grasses that have come in and taken over. So things like Bermuda grass sedge are everywhere and we're figuring out what can out-compete them. 07:41 So some of those are things like yarrow and rue have both done very well here and they're both excellent medicinal and magical herbs. We are overflowing with, I think we're up to 26 different kinds of mints, each of which can have their own purposes. We are... 08:06 in love with blackberries and strawberries. We've been building out strawberry beds for years. And again, those can be dried. So everything that we do is focused toward one, the native landscape and plants that we know will thrive here naturally and that are glad to be home. And two on... 08:32 items that have either medicinal or magical uses or both. And it's amazing what a large variety of those there are. So the landscape's becoming more and more varied over time and it's just incredibly satisfying. And honestly, so much easier to maintain. Yes, because you're working with nature, not against it. Exactly. Okay. You mentioned Roo. And every time I hear the word Roo. 09:02 I am reminded that I think that it's used for a blue colored dye. Is that correct? 09:10 Rue is not one that I know of in that capacity, maybe partly because the varieties that I have here are yellow flowered. There is also an African Rue, which is not the same plant. It's far more poisonous. That may be a plant dye, but I wouldn't know. What I use for blues are blue pea flower, which I can get locally. 09:38 It makes a lovely gorgeous blue dye that I use in inks. Okay, a friend of mine was asking me years ago about Roo and he was sure that it was used to make a blue dye and I was like I don't know. I don't know the answer to your question and Google probably knows more than I do so I'm gonna have to go look it up to find out again. I'm sorry I can't answer that one. No, that's okay. So here's the thing with with magic and 10:07 and quote unquote witches. I have a couple things about this. Number one, I have traced my ancestry back on my dad's mom's side to John Proctor, the first man who was accused, tried and hung for witchcraft in Salem during the Salem witch trials. And so I have a very special place in my heart regarding this whole witchcraft thing because I feel like I have a family line. 10:37 directly back to it. And someone asked me one time how I define magic. And number one, I had to find out from them if they meant like sleight of hand magic or if they meant magic magic. And they meant magic magic. And I said, honestly, I said, I think that magic is science and raised awareness and intent all blended together. And they were like, 11:07 is a supernatural thing and I said no I said it's all energy I said I said energy never dies it just changes form and so if you can if you can take what you know to be proven true and direct that energy to the result you want then that's magic and they were like oh oh 11:34 and they had a whole new concept of how to think about it. And so when people talk about witches and it's a derogatory term, I just have to giggle because I'm like, you know, really that's not correct. And I'm always saying that nature is magic. I have said the word magic more in the last year and a half doing this podcast than I think I have in my whole life. So what's your take on all of that? 12:05 I tend to agree with you completely, and I think that it is a capacity that every human has. I think it's largely driven by intent, and that intent is what creates the energy that you're talking about. So that comes with a regular practice, and part of what makes magic magic is 12:27 Ritual is a way to harness and guide our energies and to speak to parts of our brains and our hearts that aren't necessarily influenced by words, but by scents or emotions or, you know, general impressions. 12:51 When you... 12:55 put together, let's say you're working on an herb bag and I'm going to pick three different herbs that have to do with this particular intent. I'm doing the research, I'm spending time with each of those herbs picking and crafting, I'm spending time in a sacred candle-lit space that makes my inner self feel settled and connected. 13:25 and that all ties that intent to me and to the larger world around me. And it's also gonna make me pay more attention to that thing that I'm trying to draw into my life and do the work that comes with drawing that thing into my life. So it's not as woo-woo as people make it out to be, but it's also incredibly mysterious and beautiful. 13:53 in the way that it connects us to something that's so much greater than ourselves. Yes, and I'm going to even venture further. The surprise that comes with this, if you're trying to do something and you do the research and you pull everything together and the energy's right and it works, I'm always just astounded when something actually comes together and works the way I wanted it to work. 14:23 There is, there's always that delightful surprise. And then what is so powerful about that is the next time you do it, you have more faith and confidence in both yourself and in the universe. 14:40 that you are supported and held and you're going to find what you need. And the more you can live in that space, strangely, the more things seem to work out. I do think we kind of have a habit of living in a space that puts our attention on the things we don't have. 15:06 especially with the 24-hour news cycle where it is these days, the things that are scary in the world take up an incredible part of our brains. And magic helps us return to ourselves and to our space and to the present moment where we can kind of discover that right here, right now, things are pretty good. And that has power. 15:36 that the only moment I have is now. So what am I gonna do now? Because the next moment isn't guaranteed. I might die in the next 10 minutes and no one will even know that I'm gone yet. So you've got to be in the moment. You've got to plan for the future, but you've got to live in the moment, I think. That's very right. And another piece of that mindset that becomes so powerful. 16:04 And something that I try to talk about when I can is that 16:10 Death loses its power when you are comfortable with that assessment. The way that you just phrased things, you know, I'm not guaranteed my next moment, that becomes almost a companionable thing. You know, I'm aware of it, it's a thing that could happen. It doesn't have to scare me. And a lot of the pagan traditions... 16:40 are phenomenally good at helping us face those inner fears. And as we do, as we do that work on ourselves, our magic gets stronger and our comfort, our stability, our even happiness, our presence in the world changes. 17:00 and we become. 17:05 less fear-based. I do believe we live with less fear. We're in land that we love, we're in a home that we love, we have a strong family. And all of that is due in large part to the way we choose to live our lives. 17:30 Yes, exactly. I feel like every time I talk to someone who's not like specifically a homesteader or a cottage food producer or a crafter, I find myself very, very deep in the weeds and it makes me really, really think about what I'm saying. And I don't know, I'm really happy with my life. Like I'm 55, I've raised four kids, they're all great people. 17:59 We live in a home we love. We have like three acres that we love. We have a dog we love. We have barn cats we love. And our whole life in the last four years has just been this, this bubble of building the thing we want to build. And I feel like so many people are building lives that are about things, you know, about money or about the boat or the mansion or whatever. And. 18:28 It doesn't have to be that big. You, you can be exceedingly happy and not have all these big, huge dollar signs attached to it. You're very right. And I do think a steady practice of any kind that, that leads you back toward the natural world leads you to that understanding, you know, we're, we're made to be in. 18:57 a natural space. And in my husband's world, he's an anthropology professor, you know, there's a lot that's problematic about this divide between human space and quote unquote natural space. The whole world is... 19:18 The whole world is nature. We are a human animal. Trying to separate that. 19:25 I think that viewpoint has caused far more problems than it's helped. 19:31 Yes. And I actually that that what you just said has actually been on my mind a lot over the last six months that people are animals. We are mammals. We're no different than the dog or the horse. I mean, we are, but we're all mammals. And the prime directive for every mammal ever produced by nature is to survive long enough to procreate. That's it. And so, 20:01 The big difference between us and other mammals is that most mammals only know now. They're not planning for 20 years down the road like humans do. That's the big difference between us and the horse or the dog or the cat. And so in some ways that's really wonderful, in other ways it really holds us back as living beings. It can get in the way a little bit. 20:30 That consciousness though, that great mystery in the world is what makes us unique. There are so many animals that have consciousness and that may even have a concept of self-consciousness. 20:53 But I deeply believe that there is a spark in each of us that is divine. 21:05 I believe that two of basically everything in the world, but I think it's a matter of decree. 21:15 And I would say that we are. 21:20 far more than just animals, the greater self that's accessible to us. 21:27 I don't know that I would say is accessible to everyone. Every, every being. Uh-huh. The other piece that I wanted to kind of call out that I heard you say a few minutes ago was, um, talking to somebody who's not, not truly a homesteader. Yes. Where in, we're definitely in a middle space. You know, we're very, very connected to the modern world, but 21:58 I think the piece of our lives that's involved with homesteading, you know, I keep Angora rabbits. I spend for, I'm like a full-time crafter. I'm all in. That's the part that keeps me sane. So just for the folks out there listening who have that dream, you don't have to be off grid or have 2000 acres to find that connection. You can. 22:28 You can find it in the middle of the city. Oh, yes. Oh yes. I've talked to a lot of people about exactly that over the last year. Um, there was a person I talked to who has an apartment and, and she does all kinds of stuff that is homesteading skill. Stop. And, and I was like, I'm so happy that I'm talking to you because I'm trying to make the point that, that homesteading is not about having. 22:56 200 acres and pigs and cows, it's about being self-sufficient and being curious and wanting to be able to take care of yourself in a way that the store isn't the place you go to get the thing you need all the time. Yes. So thank you for saying that. Absolutely. But my point was that, you know, I am going to be very honest. 23:25 pagan stuff, witchcraft things, anything to do with witches, partly because of my family background but also just because it's part of it. It's very wrapped around nature. And Christmas time is very hard for me because everyone's all wound up about, you know, the birth of Jesus and da da da and the light of the world. And that's fine. If that is your paradigm, do it up. 23:51 I'm thrilled you have faith in something. Everyone needs to have faith in something. If that's yours, good. But a lot of people don't want to hear about Yule at all. And Yule is about the light of the world, but it's about the light, the sunlight coming back, not Jesus coming into the world. And there are so many tie-ins and so many parallels with both traditions. But 24:20 It's really hard to get someone who's Christian to listen to why the traditions of yule are important too. And I get so frustrated. Like I blew off Christmas completely this year. I didn't even put up my tree. I was just like, I'm not in the mood. I don't want to do this. I'm frustrated with the whole thing and just didn't. And we had the nicest, quietest Christmas day ever. It was lovely. 24:51 So sometimes I think you can just step away from all the trappings and just, I don't know, reevaluate your take on what you believe in and then maybe change how you express it. I think that's what we tried to do this year. Yes. We've definitely found our peace and it has, I mean, it's taken almost two decades. But we... 25:18 have a really lovely mix. You know, so many of the Christmas traditions are built on a pagan history. That's not new. That's not the first. You know, it happened with the Greeks and the Romans. It's... 25:35 has happened, this sort of continuation of ideas of God and goddess energy and the conflating of cultures across time. You know, even the ideas of shapeshifters, it's... 25:50 in a way it's all happened before. Yes. So I try to approach Christmas with that understanding. You know, it is, it's the... 26:02 It is the light in the darkness. It's the importance of family and community in the coldest part of the year. It's allowing ourselves to slow down into winter as a verb. We don't really hibernate, but we do need to slow down in this time. And the celebration of light and the big family meals, you know, it can be a lot and it can also bring us joy in the dark. You know, our tree is. 26:32 both Christian and pagan. And we have our own little Yule Log every year. And that ritual is just ours. Mm-hmm. Yep. I got into a very short and almost heated discussion with a relative at one point because they were like, I don't know why you're talking about Yule. Yule is not real. And Oh, I'm sorry. And I just took a breath and I said, okay. 27:03 You're clearly not interested in hearing about how I think about this. So I think we're done talking about this and I'm done talking about Christmas too. And my response and positions like that tends to be, well, you know, I'm interested in it historically, the historical facts in the time period. And, you know, this is the way cultures flow together and meet each other. And that fascinates me. And 27:34 Winter light festivals have been around far longer than Christianity. Yes. And it, it, the whole thing would have been fine, except that it was so clear that I was being shut down and shut up. When I am, anyone who knows me knows that I am terribly curious about everything. And that if I ask you something, I actually want to know. And so this person is the only way to be. 28:03 Yeah, and this person had asked me an open-ended question and I was all excited to talk about what I knew and what I felt and why it was important and they shut me down in the first two words. And I was hurt and I was frustrated. And so I guess the reason I even brought this up is that it's so important for humans to 28:32 each other and not be so short-sighted and so boxed that you can't entertain someone else's perspective. Yes. You know, and here's where all religions, I believe, somebody correct me if I'm missing something, tie together at this idea of deep listening and compassion. 29:02 Uh-huh. You know, our divinities are examples. They're ideas of our best selves and what we can be. And when we bring that into a daily practice, when we practice deep listening with somebody else who disagrees with us, sometimes we can still find a way to connect. Not always. It's got to be two ways. You've both got to be willing to converse. 29:30 But when it does happen, that really is magic. Mm-hmm. Yes, it is. And I've had it happen. And it is so amazing when you see the light bulb go on in someone's mind, when they've actually heard you, understood you, and processed it, and went, I've never thought of it that way. That's the part I love. Same. Absolutely the same. I read. 30:00 Tarot at events as well and those conversations where you know you've really reached somebody are always the most powerful and the most fascinating when they reach you in the same way. Uh huh. Yes. And I personally hate the word convert. I don't. I never try to convert anybody to my way of thinking or doing. 30:29 I just try to be a good example of the good that comes from whatever it is that I think or I'm doing. And if someone wants to pick that mantle up and run with it, that's up to them. And so it's really hard for me when people are like, you should come to my church every Sunday and become a devout whatever their church is. And I'm like, that's not really an invitation to. 30:56 to try that sets a mandate and I'm not into a mandate. If you're inviting me because you think there's some value there for me, that's lovely. But if you're asking me to come because you need more members for your church, that's not cool. So it's hard. And I feel like we're getting really far afield, but this is all relevant because a lot of the people who are doing... 31:25 Homesteading or cooking or crafting or whatever it is that they're doing They are throwing their energy into something they produced to benefit the people around them And so it does tie in to everything we've been talking about Absolutely, it's that whole concept of of bright living. I guess in the Buddhist sense that I think Would be a foundation we could say 31:55 Most of all, homesteaders really are attracted to and build a life on. Yes, exactly. All right, Elm, I try to keep these to half an hour. This was very deep for a Tuesday morning, but I appreciate your time. Thank you so much and keep doing the good work. Thank you. All right. And have a great day. You too. Bye.…

A Tiny Homestead

1
Promised Land Farms 30:26

10 weeks sitten30:26

30:26

Today I'm talking with Brian and Sarah at Promised Land Farms . If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 This is Mary Lewis at a tiny homestead. The podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Brian and Sarah at Promised Land Farms. Hi guys, how are you? Great, how are you? I'm okay. I'm starting to turn the corner on this being sick crap, so. 00:26 I had to cancel two interviews last week because of it. So I'm really happy to be talking new friends today. You guys are in Elko, is that right? Yes. Okay, so tell me about yourselves and what you do. So yeah, we're in Elko New Market, just south of the Twin Cities, and we've got a small farm, 37 acres, and we are raising grass-fed grass-finished beef, pastured pork. 00:54 laying hens, and then we're direct marketing all of our meat and eggs. Okay. What do you define direct marketing for me? So we are selling direct to customers. We had always, since we started doing this, we were, we were selling eggs before we even had a farm when we were living in the suburbs. And then, um, so we would just start, start it all with beef and selling quarters to friends, quarters and halves. 01:24 And then that just kind of turned into kind of selling everything. So cuts of beef, quarters, halves, whole steaks, hamburger, same with pigs and then eggs and some chickens. And we were just using Facebook and word of mouth. And in the last year, we signed up for Barn to Door and we're using that as our kind of our marketing tool and inventory tool. And what do you... 01:53 Think of Barnador. 01:57 It's really helped us streamline our business. It helps us cut down on human error. If somebody Venmo'd us a deposit and then there was an oversight and them getting the next cut of meat. This has helped everything just to funnel into one place. They have got a lot of really great training. I've been very impressed with their support. Yeah, it's been good. 02:27 It's helped us expand and get going with some email marketing and yeah, they've got a lot of great resources available. Awesome. I actually need to contact them and get them to talk to me because I'm hearing that they're a really good help and resource for people who are doing what you're doing. And they've contacted me, but I'm not a big enough place to need their services right now for what we do. 02:54 It hadn't occurred to me to see if anybody from their place would want to chat with me. So I'm going to have to email them and be like, hi, don't need your services, but I would love to promote your services. Sure. They have a podcast as well, which is super helpful. I listened to it. I don't know if Sarah does, but, um, all the resources that they have, they're kind of putting out on podcasts too, and it's just good stuff. They're interviewing farmers all the time and best practices and yeah. 03:22 Okay, I'll have to go look them up and see what they're up to. Okay, so how did you guys get into this? 03:31 Well, I caught the farming bug before we were married. So Sarah's dad had a small farm in central Iowa. And when we just started first started dating, we were going down there for a funeral. And I stepped foot on that farm and, you know, walked out in the pasture down to the creek and look at cows and just something inside of me came alive. And I'm like, wow, I could see myself doing this someday. And that just kept growing in me and became a passion. And, you know, then I was looking for. 04:00 the five or 10 acre fixer upper. And we were, we were doing a big garden in our, in, in the suburbs in our backyard and then doing backyard chickens and way too many chickens that we were supposed to have in our, in the city that we're living in. But, uh, yeah, just kept looking and then we just came, the Lord showed us a property that was amazing and we went for it. And so that's how we started farming. 04:25 I love that. I hear that story or some version of that story a lot. You have no idea. Okay. So here's what I want to get into with the beef and selling the beef. Most people don't know how it works. So if you could run me through how someone could acquire a whole or a half or a quarter or an eighth. Yeah. So it's kind of a... 04:53 It's kind of a clunky process actually. So if you're selling a quarter, half or whole of beef, the way it goes is we sell by the hanging weight. So somebody contacts us and says, hey, I would like to get a quarter of beef. And so we put them on our list for the next available. And I don't really know the weight of the animal until it's brought in to the butcher. And then we get the weight of the animal 05:23 pay based on that. Okay, I'm going to interject and give you the simplified version of this. I don't think it's a clunky process at all. I think especially since we started with Barn to Door, it has streamlined it and made it very simple. So, if somebody wanted to purchase a quarter or half, then all they would do is go to our online link and they would select quarter beef, put their deposit down online right there. 05:52 And then when the cow goes in to be processed, the processor will reach out and contact that customer and walk them through what cuts they would like to get. And then when it's ready, they will be contacted, they go pick it up, and their final payment is done through our website. We take care of it. So I think it's pretty simple. Yeah. And because you have barn to door, it is really simple. But there are lots of places that don't. 06:21 use barn to door to sell their beef. So I'm going to interject too. We bought our first half a few years ago. And when the butcher called me for me to tell them what cuts we want, I was very lost because I didn't know what the cuts meant. And I apologize all over the place. I was like, I'm really sorry. I'm not educated in this. I don't know what that means. 06:50 She was so great. She was like, Oh, okay. So tenderloin is this. Cube steak is that whatever. And she ran me through the whole thing. She spent a good half an hour on the phone with me, which I'm sure she was not planning on doing. So anyone who wants to do this, if you're, if you're lucky, and I think it's probably pretty common, the butcher will talk you through it. If you don't know what you want. Absolutely. 07:20 Absolutely. They're super helpful. They get new customers, first timers all the time. So they're used to that and prepared for that and absolutely will guide people through the process. Yeah. And you don't have to get fancy cuts. I mean, if you want half of the meat as ground beef, they'll do it for you. Yeah. Some people even get the whole thing as ground beef. So yeah, there are a lot of 07:50 that's tough. If you're going to buy beef in bulk, you probably should really learn how to cook it because it's so easy to screw up a steak if you don't know how to cook. Indeed. There's also a difference between cooking grass-fed versus corn-fed too. There sure is. You're absolutely right. The first half we got was grain finished. The 08:20 was grass-fed and I didn't really like the grass-fed. My husband and my son were fine with it. I didn't love it. So it can be very different. And if I had known that there would be such a big difference for my taste buds, I probably would have been more picky in who I went with because I would have been like, is it grain finished or is it grass-fed finished? So there are things to educate yourself on if you're gonna do it. 08:49 And the other thing is that right now, I'm sure you guys know, because you are in the business, buying beef in bulk is a lot more money than it was a couple of years ago. And that is not the farmer's fault at all. It is just the fact that everything has gone up in price. Exactly. Yep. Not just the beef, it's everything. Oh, yeah. Yeah. We were looking at 09:18 getting another quarter here at some point and I looked at the prices and said, we can't afford it right now. We literally cannot put out that money right now. We don't have that money right now. And it just blew me away. The cost of a quarter right now is more than a half cost as two years ago. Well, you know, and to that point, we like to offer options because not everybody 09:46 can afford to buy in bulk. And also not everybody has enough freezer storage. And so we do have individual cuts available that people can purchase online as well. So if you only want 10 pounds of ground beef or only want a few steaks, you can go ahead and go with that option too. That's awesome. Cause not everybody does it that way. I'm so glad you said that. Yay, you guys are great. 10:17 Okay. And do you also sell chicken meat too? We do. Okay. And eggs? Yeah. There's always an interesting tension of supply and demand with the eggs. But yes, we do sell eggs. Yeah. I had somebody message me yesterday asking if we had any eggs and we got rid of our chickens months ago because we weren't going to feed them through the winter time. I felt so bad telling that person, no, we got rid of our chickens for the winter. 10:46 Like I didn't answer them for two hours. I didn't want to tell them no. And I finally was like, I'm sorry. We don't, we got rid of our chickens for the winter. We'll be getting new chickens in the spring. And I didn't get any response back. And I'm like, Oh, I broke their heart. So yeah, it's, it's hard when you're, when you're trying to help your community and then you make a decision for your household that impacts your community. 11:16 I don't enjoy it. I really want to get back to being capable of meeting people's requests with a smile and a yes, you know? Absolutely. But that's not where we're at right now. So it's going to be better this year, I think, I hope. Well, last year's been straight. Yes. Last summer was rough. I don't know how it was in Elko New Market, but here in 11:48 We produced a lot of thistle last summer in our garden. That's for sure. Yeah. We, we had a lot of weeds too. We didn't even bother to weed anything because nothing was growing except weeds. We're like, okay, it's a great crop of weeds. What can we do with that? Oh, we can stare at it. Feed it to the pigs. If we had pigs, we would've gone. Yup. It was a rough year, but we're now into 2025. So everybody's got everything crossed that it's going to be a better season. Amen. 12:18 So do you guys have jobs outside of the farm? 12:24 Um, I work full time on the farm. I quit about four years ago. I was a carpenter and struggling to do both of them. We were just getting at the scale where I wasn't able to really do anything well between when I was at work, I was thinking about the farm and I wasn't getting enough farm work done and family life was struggling. So made the break about four years ago to focus on the farm and relying on Sarah's income right now for. 12:54 carrying the farm through. Yeah, I work full time doing pampered chef. Fun, that is a fun job. It's super fun, I love it. So when you say you work for them, does that mean that you are an independent contractor and you go and show off their products and sell them, or how does that work? Yep, I am an independent sales consultant. I've been with them for coming on 20 years in May. 13:21 And so yeah, I do parties for people. I do in-home, I do virtual. And my passion really lies in my team and training a team and helping them have success. So that's our bread and butter. That's my passion. And you're right, it is a ton of fun. So. Cool. So I have a question about that because so many people don't cook now, don't cook from scratch. 13:49 Do you find yourself creating converts when you show off the stuff? Yeah, we kind of get the whole gamut. We get people who don't cook at all, people who want to cook but don't have time. That's probably the biggest one we get. And then some people who are total foodies and do everything from scratch. And so what I appreciate about this job and about Payward Chef is 14:17 you know, showing people these tools and recipes that can make it doable to get a meal on the table with their families. And even with a busy schedule or even if they don't feel like they're great cooks, we can show them tips that make it easy and quick and doable. Because that's, you know, the meal time message is so important. That's where life happens is around the dinner table. And the more we can cultivate that, the better. 14:45 families will be in the better the world will be really. Yeah, I think that if you sit down at a table across from each other and have to look each other in the face, there's a word, I hate this. I'm always gonna say something profound and I lose the word. It helps communication, it helps people open up and start talking. Yeah. Facilitate. There's a lot of interesting statistics too about families that eat together a few times a week. There's like higher grades. 15:13 lower substance abuse, lower teenage pregnancies. It's really fascinating just by eating dinner together. Yeah, I think the kitchen table or the dining table is the touchstone for families. It's not the TV. It's the kitchen table. So the reason that I asked is because I was just talking to a guy. I haven't put the episode out yet. He started a magazine called Home Cooked Magazine. So nice. 15:40 And I kind of pressed him on why in the world he would start a magazine about cooking when so many people don't cook. And he had the best answer. Like I'm not going to paraphrase it because I will murder it. But he was just like, it's not just for people who cook, it's for people who are interested in cooking. It's for people who love to eat. It's for people who like to look at pretty pictures of food. It's for everybody. And I just, I loved that. It was like, okay, so you hit on everything. 16:10 Good job. You know, another thing with people who, you know, not everybody cooks is, you know, as you mentioned, the cost of everything has been going up so much that eating out typically is something that gets cut from people's budgets. And so sometimes they need to start to cook or eat at home just for budget sake. And so that's where we can come in and help too. 16:39 on both ends of providing some clean food and some recipes and tools to make it easier. Sure. I keep saying that I need to write a cookbook of like 25 recipes that are from start to finish half an hour to start cooking it to on the table. Because I always hear that people don't have time to cook, but I also think it's that they just don't have the energy when they walk in the door. And so the shorter cook time. 17:08 the shorter prep time. I'm not saying this right. The less time from starting to cook to eating it is the important thing there because the less time, the less energy expended. And so I really need to sit down for about three weeks and get my recipes that I've been doing for years into a book form and get it out on Amazon because I bet that it would sell. Absolutely. Absolutely. I think a big piece of that too is just 17:37 having a plan, like if you take 20 minutes to plan your meals for the week. Brian and I just sat in the parking lot at church yesterday and said, okay, let's map out our meals for the week so we're not stressed the day of, because that's half the thing is not knowing what to make for dinner. But if you do have that plan, right, then it's easier to get it on the table. And then with your cookbook coming out, then it'll be super easy for people. Yeah, it'll be at least a year before it's out. 18:05 I really should do it because I've had it down to a science for years because I've raised four kids and trying to keep those kids fed every evening, Monday through Friday was a trick and having dinner ready within 10 minutes of my husband walking in the door from work was like the goal for the day. Making sure everybody got something to eat that they liked and that food was on the table 10 minutes after he walked in the door from his job. 18:31 because his job was stressful and I felt like he worked his ass off. The least I could do for him was have something he wanted to eat in front of him in 10 minutes. You're a good wife and a good mom. I tried. I still try. Um, so there was something else in that whole food thing. Oh, the other thing is that once you learn to cook, you can cook ahead and you can put stuff that tastes good, pre-warmed in the freezer. And. 19:00 Then if you really don't have the energy or the time, all you have to do is pull it out, thaw it out and cook it. Like heat it up, it's all ready to go. Exactly. Yeah, we love leftovers. Yeah, we did that for years. Like I would cook for an army just so that I had stuff in the freezer so that I could be like, oh, you don't like what I'm making? In that freezer right there is something you like, take it out and nuke it and eat it. And that way everybody won. Everybody was eating something that was good for them that they enjoy. 19:30 Exactly. I called it feeding the freezer. My husband used to laugh at me. He'd be like, you're cooking for 20 people. And I was like, yes, I'm feeding the freezer for six weeks from now when somebody wants this. Hey, I think that there's a title for your second cookbook. Feeding the freezer? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I gotta, I gotta get on this. I'm telling you. I'm not getting any younger and the days don't get any longer. So. 20:00 But either way, cooking is really important. And cooking and the people that produce the food that we're gonna cook are even more important. So you guys are amazing. So we've got like 10 minutes. My brain is fried from being sick. I'm so sorry. I don't know what else to ask you. What would you guys like to tell me? Anything you can think of right now? I don't know if you wanna share about your... 20:28 your practices, your rotation raising or how you your pasture raise pork or anything like that? I think so many people are interested in doing this. Getting on land, starting to raise some food and I grew up in the suburbs. We lived in the suburbs before we had this and honestly it was reading some books and YouTube and we figured out how to do it. We made a lot of mistakes along the way and learned a lot of things just by trying and starting. 20:59 And now we're kind of getting into a pretty good rhythm with things where life is a lot easier just as far as animal husbandry and knowing what we're doing. So he mentioned that my dad was a farmer in central Iowa, but he passed away. And so it's not like Brian just learned from him. And additionally, 21:27 Brian had very different farm practices than what my dad did. So even though my dad was a farmer, I didn't grow up on that farm. And so essentially, Brian was learning everything from scratch, from YouTube, from podcasts, from vlogs and blogs. So I think your point is anyone can do it if you have the desire, right? Yeah, for sure. 21:55 If you have the desire and the physical capability. Yes, exactly. Yeah. Cause it's hard work. It don't, don't ever think that it's not hard work listeners because it is. It's, it's hard on your body and it can be hard on your brain. You know, you were saying that you guys had made mistakes. Well, that's where the learning happens, but it's hard on your brain and it's hard on your heart when you think you're doing it right. And then you find out that you screwed it up. 22:24 That happens for sure. Yeah. We, uh, I bought my son one of those, um, those mushroom kit thingies that you can grow mushrooms in your house. Okay. And it was a cute little wooden log with holes dug in it. And then they would put the plugs of the stores in and you spray it. You put it in a plastic bag and you spray water in there and then you tie it off and you let it kind of hang out and get all 22:53 rainy in there and we put it where it was warm because it said it needed to be somewhere warm. Well come to find out it was too warm and once the mushrooms started growing we pulled the plastic bag off of it because that's what it said to do. These beautiful little mushrooms dried out completely they were like petrified mushrooms. I know. Could not eat them. Prettiest little cedar log you've ever seen but they were useless as food. I was... 23:21 I was so bummed out. I took a photo of it because it was beautiful. That's the best thing that came out of it. So that was a mistake. We learned our lesson and we're trying it again but we're being smarter this time. So I'll have to get photos of it this time when we actually use the mushrooms that grow that are edible. It'll be great. But silly things like that happen all the time and that was a minor in extensive fail. I can't imagine what happens when you've sunk. 23:49 thousands of dollars into something and it doesn't go right. Yeah, it's definitely had punches to the gut for sure and you learn and you make it better moving forward. Yep. So do you guys, if you're doing beef cattle or beef cattle, do you also do dairy at all or is it just beef? 24:17 Uh, so we currently just do beef. Um, our first four cows that we bought were dairy cows from a local grass-based dairy, because we were buying raw milk. We thought, oh, we're going to have a farm. Let's go ahead and milk some cows. Um, so our first four original cows were, uh, Dutch belted and milking shorthorn from a dairy. But we never milked them. Um, I was still working full time, trying to figure out how to add this milking enterprise. 24:44 So ultimately, they just became good mamas and they could really great mamas with their milk supply. And through the year, in the last couple of years, I've really felt like I should add dairy to our farm. We have so many people asking us about if we do raw dairy. And I just know, you know, there's such a demand for it. And I just believe it's so beneficial that it's something we're going to add this year. 25:15 slowly, slowly jumping into it. So I still have some cows that have the capability that I could milk. And then we'd probably add a couple other cows to the mix. But yeah, that's something that's coming on our farm this year. 25:30 Well, that's exciting. I'm just slow to jump into it. Yeah. Um, the reason I ask is because I didn't know if you guys are breeding your, your cattle, or if you like go buy calves in the spring and raise them for a couple of years and then butcher them. I didn't know how that worked. Yeah. So we have a closed herd. We do. Um, we've, I've always had my own bulls. Um, and are basically almost all of our animals are born on this farm. And then. 26:00 You know, they, um, to the point of when we take them to the, to the butcher to be slaughtered. So I do, I will calf my cows in the last week in May through June and first week in July. Um, and so that's when I would probably start milking some of my cows once they freshen up. Yep. Um, but we might add a dairy cow before that, or just take one of mine and work out the kinks in the system to get her in the barn. 26:30 Yeah, and what breed do you guys have for your beef? Or do you have a beef? Beef is quite a mix. Our first four cows were Dutch belted and melting short horn. So Dutch belted is kind of the Oreo cookie cow, but it's the dairy breed. And then I bought belted Galway, which is the other Oreo cookie cow, but it's the beef breed. And then through the years I added some red Angus. 26:58 So we have quite a mixture. None of our cows really look the same. A lot of them have a white belt to them, but they're a mixture of milking shorthorn, Dutch belted, belted Galloway and red Angus. So kind of an interesting looking herd. Yeah, and some really good beef there, I bet. I bet it's really great. So in the winter time, I'm gonna ask a dumb question cause I don't know the answer. In the winter time. 27:26 Are your cattle in the barn or you guys have them out in the pasture? Ours are outside as much as possible. We do have some barn space that I can get them in. Um, you know, if we get this like freezing rain in the winter, that's probably the hardest thing on them. Snow is not that hard on them. As long as they can kind of get out of the wind, um, they're, they're better and they're healthier outside. So right now I'm actually, I feed my hay out on pasture whenever possible. So it just keeps them. 27:56 kind of outside, separated. The more they're together in close confinement, the more likely if you've got any kind of viruses going around, respiratory things, they all get it. So I really try to keep mine outside as much as possible. Okay, cool. And then are they, such a weird question. Are they friendly or are they not friendly? Mine are very friendly. And I just try to be around them a lot. I try to handle them. 28:25 peacefully. I try to never really get them too worked up. So I've got a lot of cows that I can just go up and you know, they'll come up to me to get their head scratched or get pet. Even my bull. My bulls have always been that way where they'll kind of come up and want to have their head scratched. So yeah, I just try to always be real calm and peaceful around them. I think that I think there's a couple things that go into that. One, the fact that your calves are all born and raised here, raised with you. 28:55 in knowing you and then to just cultivating that peaceful atmosphere because you're gentle with them you show affection to them and so it just has created them to be peaceful and Yeah, we'll go out. We'll do farm tours and We've brought children and adults out into the herd And of course you have to be careful you right now, but it yeah, we've got a good hurt. Yeah 29:23 There's a couple flighty ones, but just trying to be pretty calm and gentle around your animals just makes handling them so much easier. So even when I'm loading them, it's not stressful. And they just stay pretty calm. Wouldn't it be nice if people were calm and kind with other people like you are with your cows? Come on. That's right. Wouldn't that be amazing? I would love that. Okay. So. 29:51 You guys, I am so sorry that I lost my whole train 10 minutes back. I'm sorry. It's been a hell of a week, I'm telling you. I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me today and I wish you all the luck in your business, and I love what you're doing. Hey, yeah. Thanks for just giving us the honor of being on your podcast. We appreciate it. It's a pleasure to chat with you. You too. I just wish I had been more on my game. Maybe we'll talk again in the fall and you can tell me about how all the babies did. 30:21 That was good. That would be great. All right. Thank you so much. Thanks.…

A Tiny Homestead

1
Homecooked Magazine 30:42

11 weeks sitten30:42

30:42

Today I'm talking with Mike at Homecooked Magazine . You can follow on Facebook as well. Use discount code "tiny" to save 15 dollars for the first year when you subscribe to Homecooked Magazine. If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking to Mike McCormick at Homecooked Magazine. Good afternoon, Mike. How are you? Good afternoon. Doing great. Thanks for having me. Are you in Oregon? Is that right? 00:24 Yeah, our company is based in Oregon. I'm just south of Portland, our warehouse and a lot of our team is in Eugene, but primarily in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. Oh, I've heard it's beautiful there. It is. And, you know, we get a lot of grief about the rain, but honestly, you know, most of the year it's pretty, it's pretty tough to beat. I've been around lots of places and I keep coming back. So. Nice. 00:49 Okay, well, tell me about yourself and about the magazine. I see that it's very new. Yeah, so I've been in publishing for about eight years. We have three magazines. One we started in 2016 called Quilt Folk. And so I've been in the magazine space for a number of years, but Homecooked is really very new. In fact, we officially launched December 1st. So it's about, you know, 01:20 month and a half old, but we've been working on it for well over a year. Okay. And how did it come about? Whose brainchild was it? Yeah. So, like I said, I've been publishing for a while and had had the idea for Home Cooked for a number of years. And really, the idea was pretty simple. We just wanted to try to create a print magazine that sort of embodied everything we loved about. 01:48 home-cooked meals, we wanted to try to put that in print. So of course, the tastes that are familiar that we love, but also the faces and the people and the conversations, the plates, all the little things that go into making home-cooked meals feel warm and special. We said, well, can we recreate that in a print magazine? And so that was the simple kind of genesis of an idea. And then of course, it's just a lot of work to try to... 02:17 to make that happen and we've got a great team of people who love print. So our company is fully committed to print magazines, which I know is a little bit different in this sort of era. But that was the idea. And we felt like we've been doing this for a while. We had a business model that kind of made sense. And so I felt like the right time to kind of dive in. Okay. So here's the question that I was left with after I looked at your Facebook page and your website. And I'm... 02:46 I may be playing a little bit of devil's advocate here, but I don't think so. A lot of people these days don't cook anything from scratch. They don't use their beautiful kitchens for anything except a show place to have their friends come over and have a cup of tea or a drink of wine. And so why did you think there was a market for this magazine? 03:12 Yeah, I think that definitely what you said is true, but I think it's a big world and there are a lot of people who use their kitchens in pretty interesting ways. And if you just look at my family or my friend group, we've got people who kind of run the gamut. And so, you know, it's a big enough space. Everybody eats food is kind of a cultural touchstone for all of us in one way, shape, form. And so the idea with Home Cooked was... 03:41 It's not just for people who make everything from scratch or for people who maybe do it all the time, but it's for people who, like I said, appreciate a home-cooked meal, whether you're the person making it or enjoying it, all those kinds of things. And for that, I mean, there's just, I don't know, there's so many people who can resonate with that idea. And with home-cooked, it was kind of like, how can we create a big enough table where... 04:07 everybody feels sort of welcome here, whatever their relationship to cooking or food is, you know? Okay, that's a valid answer. I just was very curious because my kids are all grown. My oldest is 35, my youngest just turned 23. Oldest is a girl, the other three are boys. And one of the rules in my house, I've mentioned on the podcast before, is that they all had to know how to cook a dinner and a dessert that they would be proud to serve their friends. 04:36 before they moved out. And I cooked from scratch all the time with them growing up and they kicked in, they helped, they joined in. And every single one of them really does enjoy cooking from scratch. And I've been told that I was kind of weird making that a requirement. The other requirements were that they could do their own laundry and wash their own dishes because you know, being a human is important. 05:01 I can tell you from my experience a little bit, and this might surprise you or not, but I was really fortunate. I grew up on a 10-acre berry farm. For a long time, we lived in a teeny little house there until I was 14. We didn't run the farm the whole time, but we did on the second half of that. From the time I was about nine years old. My mom was a really good home cook, I would say. 05:31 didn't make fancy meals. They were simple, usually like protein, like mashed potatoes and green beans or something like that. But nine nights out of 10, there was something home cooked on the table and maybe that 10th night we would get takeout or something. But she was a great, great home cook. And so I was the benefactor of that. I enjoyed that, but I myself didn't pick up cooking and still to this day. 06:01 really don't. When I was 18, I had the great joy of chasing my dream as a professional baseball player. I was drafted in high school and the week of my last final exam, I left for West Virginia and spent the next five years traveling the East Coast playing baseball. So I left this farm and this life and this wonderful mother who… 06:29 made meals that I kind of took advantage of, or took for granted I should say, to a place where I was eating out basically 99% of the time. Whatever was open at night, it could be a waffle house or Applebee's or a gas station or something like that. So it made me really miss and appreciate what I had growing up and also later in life. It was one of the things that I kind of… 06:58 long for and missed during those years playing baseball. So I didn't pick it up, but I appreciate it in a totally different way. And then fast forward, I ended up meeting my wife a few years later who comes from a large Italian family. And every Sunday we do family dinners where big meals are made and there's crazy cousins and chaos and noise and all these things. But it's a really important tradition to them. And now I get to. 07:26 kind of benefit from that as well. So I'm embarrassed to say that I'm not a cook, but I'm somebody who appreciates food and what it means for families. And I've been very blessed to have a number of women in my life who make great food. Awesome. Italian food is the best. It's so versatile and you can make so much of it and feed so many people at once. I just, I think it's great. Okay. So food is... 07:56 Food is wonderful. I have been sick for the last week, and food has been very boring to me because it doesn't taste like much. And I'm very much looking forward to the first meal I have next week, where it tastes like food again. And it reminds me every time I come down with something that messes with my taste buds, that food is an event. It should be something that is honored and cherished as you eat it. And so food brings people together. 08:26 And when people ask me about why I wanted to cook from scratch, why I learned to cook, it was because if you eat out all the time, it's expensive. But if you learn to cook from scratch, it costs you less money to eat better food. And we had a family of six, my husband and I and the four kids. And trying to keep those little boogers fed was a trick. It's a lot of work to 08:55 meet everybody's desires on what they want to eat six nights a week, you know? For sure. And so when people are asking me questions about, you know, my husband lost his job or I lost my job, how can we cut corners? The first thing I tell people is learn to cook. And also, there's real satisfaction in making food from scratch yourself and sharing it with people you care about. Because 09:24 They're benefiting from what you made, but you're benefiting from the giving of it. And so when I saw your magazine, I was like, that is such a beautiful idea. And your magazine isn't just recipes, it's the stories of the people who are doing the cooking. And I looked at your description on your website of the different featured people and such great stories. I mean, you said, 09:52 I read something that you guys make sure that you send your writers and your photographers to the place to interview the people in person. And that must be so much fun for them. It totally is. And to your first point, I mean, food is definitely a love language for a lot of people. And it's the way that people express creativity. It's the way that they get to your point. There's a practicality to it too, whether you're feeding your family. 10:20 looting new skills or just seeing the joy on someone's face when they taste something for the first time. I mean, there are so many moments and powerful emotions wrapped up into, you know, great meals and great recipes and food. Um, and the thing is everybody has that experience to some degree, almost everybody. And so when we look at our magazine, you know, we're not just talking to people who are chefs or work professionally in food. Some of them do, but most of them are just kind of everyday people. 10:50 who have a great recipe that brings them joy, it brings their family joy. And now we're able to kind of share that with the world. But in doing so, rather than just sharing the measurements and the ingredients and the X's and O's, we're traveling to their home and we're sitting down with them for three, four, five, six hours, whatever it takes, and we're getting their story. We're shooting them in their space with their kitchen, with their family, oftentimes. 11:18 And so it's just trying to catalog that and document that and make it the most compelling, shareable recipe that we can for the rest of us to benefit from. And so yeah, the magazine's made up of all kinds of people. Each issue is 164 pages, zero advertisements, usually 15 or so recipes, give or take. And the other fun thing about it is... 11:46 We can do this because rather than sending our crew all over the country at once, we focus on a particular region. So issue one, which is available now, is the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts. So we'll spend 10, 12, 15 days with our crew there documenting that region and talking to 15 or so home cooks and then every issue at some place new. So issue two, which comes out in March, is Austin, Texas. 12:17 very different people, different kinds of food and recipes, and that kind of makes every year a little bit unique. How do you find the people that you're gonna go talk to? It's harder, it was harder at first because nobody knew who we were, and when you're dealing with home cooks, they're not always people who are posting and talking about food online, but there was some of that early on where we were just doing a lot of sort of internet sleuthing. 12:46 like the better term, a lot of research, a lot of word of mouth, and kind of getting a foothold at a place and then asking around and trying to find folks who had a story they wanted to share. So that was kind of early on. Now that we've started to establish a readership, we can start to get reader submissions, which is really helpful. And that's kind of how we see it growing ultimately is that as the community grows, people will 13:14 our next kind of stops in that way. Okay, that makes sense. Um, so do you have a certain meal that's a favorite of yours that your mom made for you? Yes, I have many. There's, there's one in particular. Very simple. She called it chicken Eden aisle, but it was like rice, chicken and like cream cheese sauce. 13:44 And I always had green beans with it. And then on the top, she would take like, um, dried beef, like that you get in a little jar at the store and she would like, uh, crumple that over the top. And. You know, I never had it anywhere else. I've just, she'd make it every month or so. And I was always excited as a kid. And so fast forward that first year that I was playing baseball in West Virginia and I was pretty homesick. My host mom. And. 14:13 For those who don't know, a lot of young professional baseball players are 18, 19, 20. So you'll get assigned a host mom or dad or host family who will kind of just look after you a little bit. I was still living in a Super 8 motel, so I was still on my own, but I had a host mom there. And we grew to become really, really good friends. And actually, my mother and my host mom still to this day, however many 15 years later, are still very close. 14:40 But that first summer when I was feeling homesick, she broke my mom. She said, hey, I wanna make Mike something that kind of reminds him of home. What would you suggest? And so she made that dish for me. And I remember after the game, coming out of the locker room and clubhouse and she had it in a little bag, keep it warm. And she opened it up and immediately it looked like my mom's, tasted just like my mom's. And it was just an experience I'll never forget because again, 15:10 I was 18, which is still pretty young, and I'd never been away from home for more than a couple nights. So that recipe always kind of holds a place in my heart, particularly just because I got to have that experience with my house mom. It was pretty cool. That is so sweet. I teared up while you were telling me the story. I have a story, but it's not mine. It's actually my husband's. My husband is the bread baker in the house. 15:37 He does the yeast threads because I kill yeast every time I try to do yeast threads. I don't know why. And there was this recipe, it's for Parker House Rolls. And he got the recipe from his mom who had gotten it from her mom. And he was like, I want to try making these, but they seem kind of fiddly. And I said, well, what's the worst that happens? They end up in the trash? Go ahead, try making them. And he made these rolls and they're basically like a 16:06 like a twist and they're pull apart rolls. And they're really yummy. They're really soft on the inside. And he made a batch for us and we tried them and we love them. And I said, is it the same as what your grandma used to make? And he said, it's the same as both my grandma's used to make. And I said, both your grandma's? And he said, yes. He said, the recipe actually came from dad's side of the family, but then it got put in the church cookbook. And. 16:36 my mom's side of the family adopted it. So both grandparents would make these rolls. And so my husband and I handled them dinner for Christmas dinner one year, and he made these rolls and brought them with everything else. And my husband's dad saw them and said, Are those the Parker house rolls? And my husband said, Yes. And 17:04 My father-in-law didn't even miss a beat. He didn't even wait. He just grabbed one and tried it. And his eyes filled up with tears. He was like, just like my mom made. And I just watched this happen and I teared up. I was like, I had nothing to do with making these roles and I'm teary. I can't imagine how my father-in-law is actually feeling on the inside right now. So that's an incredible story. And to me that those are the kinds of stories we want to try to tell with 17:33 you're getting the recipe, but you're getting that backstory. And, um, like if I, as an example, I had that recipe now and we shared that around the table and someone said, Hey, where do we get this recipe? We'd say, well, I got it from a home cook, but there's this woman and her family. And I would immediately dive into the story. And one of our beliefs at home cooked is that, um, recipes with a story just tastes better and I think that's true. I think it's true. And, um, 18:02 I think it'd be true about that. It's an incredible story. Yeah, I was blown away at my father-in-law's reaction because he's not the most effusive or emotional guy ever. I mean, he's very nice, but he's just not the kind to tear up at things. And I just remember watching his face just melt, you know? And it was so funny because he's also very... He's very... 18:31 proper, I guess is the word. And so when he just took one and tried it without even, there was no hesitation. It was just, I've got to do this now. And it was so out of character for him. I just, I was laughing and teared up at the same time. It was really funny. So yeah, food is, food is weird. Um, they say that, that memories are really tied to scent and sound, but 18:59 But scent has a lot to do with taste. If you can't smell, you can't taste. A thousand percent. Yeah. So it makes sense that food would be such a trigger for people. And I think that's why, you know, a magazine about food potentially has the opportunity to resonate as well because it's very much a sensory experience and you're kind of getting it from all directions. There's the kind of, even there's that emotional cerebral 19:27 thing that's going on within you. You're also smelling, you're seeing, you're tasting, obviously, all of these things. And it's not that unlike when you're experiencing that in print. I mean, our magazines have a very tactile, it's called a soft touch laminate cover. And the pages are this really high quality uncoated sheet of paper. And there's no ads, so you're going through it very uninterruptedly. 19:57 And it's an experience. That's the way we tried to do it. And there's even a smell and some people hate it. Some people like it, but just from the print and the ink and whatnot. And so, I don't know. I think that food, magazines, things you can sit down with, things that you could take your time with, things that trigger stories and emotions and things for you, those are all powerful. They're always going to have a place in our lives. 20:24 Absolutely. And we're so gadget focused these days that having an actual book or magazine in your hand where you're actually turning the page, you're not swiping the screen is, is a really nice experience now and then to have again. Um, the other thing that I was going to say is it's the same thing with cooking. If, if you're going to sit down and read an actual magazine in your hands, you can't be doing anything else. 20:54 And cooking, you can't be doing anything else. It's the most, it's one of the most focused activities that there are available to you is cooking. Yeah, we look for those opportunities. I mean, I mentioned we have a quilting publication that's been around for eight years. We're on issue 33. We do a lot of different things with that company, but quilts and cooking are not that unlike one another in the sense that people do it for themselves. They do it. 21:22 for artistic reasons, they do it for other people, they do it to show love. But it's also something that you can get a sense of mastery of, that you can get better over time. And to your point, you can do it and it's pretty consuming. It's like something that can sort of take you away from whatever else is going on in that day and get you in that sort of zone or in that flow state. And I think people obviously have things that help get them there, you know, individually. For some people it's different things. My brother, it's... 21:52 gardening and he's like a real small scale farmer to this day. That's something that he can do. And so we have these things, whether it's food, cooking, quilting, reading, writing, whatever it is. And again, those things are always going to have a place in our lives. And with the thing with screens, I mean, we obviously are all on screens all the time, now more than, more than ever. But we also consume things. 22:20 all day in different ways. It's not always online. We can listen to the radio, we're watching TV, we're talking to neighbors, we're reading a book, whatever it is. And so this idea that magazines, I've heard about print is dead or these kinds of things, it's just changing. And as publishers, we're trying to respond and make them almost like... 22:49 re-birthing them, I guess, for the new era a little bit. I mean, we have this great opportunity to figure out what do magazines do for us and why were they so important for so many years? And, you know, what can we do now to kind of usher in a new sort of time for print? Yes, and print isn't dead. It's just expensive. True. Well, paper is expensive. Printing is expensive. 23:18 And certainly the way that we gather stories is expensive. It'd be a lot easier to kind of phone it in, but expensive also is a little bit relative. I mean, it kind of depends on, is the reader getting the value that they, they feel like they're getting value and what does that mean for them? And what are they willing to kind of pay for that? So we just think about what's the best way 23:47 possible thing that we like that we can put out and we just hope that that resonates with enough people who find it valuable that they're willing to kind of pay what it takes to produce because that's really what it is. It just takes a certain amount of capital to be able to produce a high quality magazine these days. Yes, exactly and that's why I do a podcast because I'm curating people's stories too but it doesn't cost me hardly anything to do. 24:14 and I really enjoy doing it. And it's been really, I mean, we're not done yet, but it's been really wonderful talking with you about this because I really used to love magazines. And I think I have four subscriptions that come in right now. And I don't think I've looked at but one of them in months because I've been busy with other things. I have a whole stack that I need to get to. And you're reminding me that it might be smart to take a day and sit down and go through those and be like, oh yeah, this is why I like magazines. 24:43 Well, I should ask you, what do you think it is about that stack that you've got there? You said you've been busy. Why do you think they've sat there? Hardly because I tend to read underneath the rims of my glasses because I refuse to get bifocals. And so for me to sit down and read a magazine, I have to be committed to sitting for a while because I'm switching my eyesight thing. 25:12 is hard. Like, you know, if I'm going to read a magazine and I want to sit down and read it, and I want to read it quick, because I read fast anyway, and I will read like two articles and then stand up and walk around and look further away because otherwise I'm going to be blind. But I don't know, I just, I feel like it's a guilty pleasure to sit down and read a magazine for some reason. I think, I think you're not alone in that, you know. 25:40 It is true. I mean, there's so many things you could or should be doing throughout the day, that this idea that you're going to sit down, like you said, change your glasses or do what you're going to do, and then have this sort of indulgent moment where you get to just sit and, and, and read for a while does feel like one of the first things that can get sort of skipped. And I think that just comes back to like, just a little bit of habits, you know, like, um, I think that we're, we're trying to make the case that 26:10 whether it's our magazine or others or a book or whatever, that there are some of these things you can cultivate in your life that they've always been important, they're still important. I think we've abandoned them a little bit largely culturally and I think we're gonna find our way back to it. I mean, just because it's important for you to take some time during your week that is indulgent or that feels like some new time. And of course you have a lot of options to do that, but. 26:37 If you find a topic or a magazine or a writer who optimizes that time for you most, you walk away and you feel joyful or empowered or inspired and it stays with you. I mean, that's something you're going to do more and more of. Yes, because endorphins are a wonderful thing. The more that you get them, the more you want them. And magazines will do that. If you read a really good article, you'll feel better and then you want to read more good articles. 27:06 The other thing I wanted to say about your magazine is I obviously don't have a copy of it. I haven't gotten one. I haven't ordered one. But I was looking at the photos that you have of it and it's really pretty. And I'm guessing that it's going to be one of those magazines that people will have on their coffee tables when they have friends over as people used to do. That's definitely the idea. And I thank you for saying that. And that's not just big. 27:34 because it's beautiful, but it's the same reason why we make food beautiful or anything else. I think we are aesthetic creatures. We like that. It's inspiring. It's reflective of the way we would like to live. So I think something should be beautiful. That's the whole, the medium is the message thing a little bit. I think when you say, hey, this magazine is about something I care about. 28:01 It's beautiful, it's been created with joy, and I'm gonna put it on my coffee table. I think that says as much or more, more about you, the reader, than it does our magazine. I think people just want to be around that, whether we know it or not, and the more we can kind of connect to that in our lives, like the more joyful we can be. Yes, and I also noticed, I think, that it's sort of a sage green theme. The verse. 28:30 This issue, yeah. So that'll change every issue. And so, as I said, it's region to region. So we have Pioneer Valley and that's actually like an asparagus green because that part of the Pioneer Valley was like the asparagus capital of the world. And so it was kind of fitting. Okay, that makes sense. I just happen to love that color very, very much. My kitchen in the old house that we lived in was sage green. 28:58 I painted it sage green because I love that color so very much. So of course as soon as I saw the color of your magazine cover I was like, ooh, what is this? Nice. Yep. So you happened to hit one of the things I love the most and you had, you didn't even know I existed and you picked my favorite color. So I'm very impressed. Well, I think we need to get you a copy of the magazine then. Yeah, exactly. Okay. So we have like a minute left. Is there anything else you would like to share? 29:29 I just think if anyone wants to try Homecooked, we have a 100% money back guarantee with anything that we ship all the time. We want you to love it. And so if you give it a try, you can use, we actually create a coupon code just for this podcast. So if you just use Tiny, I think it gives you $15 off your first year. And it's an exciting time to do so. You'll get Pioneer Valley. 29:57 Issue one right now, it's shipping. Issue two, Austin will ship March 1st. And then we've got a great lineup for the rest of the year. So you're really getting five magazines for the price of four and saving 15 bucks with coupon code tiny. And just let us know if you love it. We'd love to hear from you. If you don't like it, we'd also like to hear from you. We hope you do. But I just super appreciate you having us on and hope people will check us out. I'm thrilled that you took the time to talk with me. I appreciate it so much. Is the code? 30:27 All small letters, all capital letters, what is it? You can use either. Capital, none, should all work. Awesome. All right, Mike, thank you again for your time today. I really do appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you so much. Have a great day.…

A Tiny Homestead

1
Sunnyland Farms 32:46

11 weeks sitten32:46

32:46

Today I'm talking with Staci at Sunnyland Farms . You can follow on Facebook as well. If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Staci at Sunnyland Farms in Georgia. Good morning, Staci. How are you? Good morning. I'm great. Thank you. Good. Is it lovely in Georgia? Because it's really chilly here in Minnesota. You know, it's... 00:28 cold for Georgia actually, not normally this cold. So I'm kind of enjoying it actually. Well, I would be enjoying the cold and except for the fact that I've had some kind of upper respiratory things since Saturday. And when I go outside, I start coughing because the cold hits me and I'm like, Oh, okay. So sorry. Sorry. 00:51 Sorry listeners, people out there, my voice is not the best it could be today, but that's okay, because Staci's gonna tell us all about what she does and about Sunnyland Farms. Yeah. 01:02 Well, my name is Staci Wilson and I am from Sunnyland Farms, a Georgia pecan farm. We're way down here in southwest Georgia in the city of Albany. And we do say pecan many different ways down here. You will hear pecan, you will hear pecan, and it's truly tomato, tomato. 01:29 And our farm actually started and was planted in the 1920s. And my connection to the farm is actually my husband's great grandfather planted the farm, planted the groves and the trees. And then his grandparents started to mail the pecans to their friends. And then the catalog mail order business grew from there. 01:58 His dad began, moved back in the 70s to join the family. And I'll talk about him in a little while, but he had some pretty awesome innovations for the industry. And then Alex and I moved back about 10 and a half years ago. And I've been in the hospitality baking industry. So it really coincided with. 02:24 a desire to live a simpler life and also join the family business. So that's just a little rundown. I love it when there's co-ink-a-dinks when your background matches up with the thing you're doing now too. And I always kind of disliked pecan pie when I was a kid because it was so incredibly sweet. And then 02:52 I had some, um, couple of years back that someone made from scratch and they were like, you have to try it. It's not like the store bought super sweet kind. And I said, okay. And I took a bite and I was like, this is not pecan pie. And she said, well, yes, it is. And I said, no, no, no, you don't understand. This is wonderful. Right. So, so I'm a convert now as long as it's made in a way that's not super, super sticky, sweet. Just, that's the only, uh, 03:21 It's the only pecan story I have. Right. And that's interesting because the industry itself is known for the pecan pie. And it's tried in the last because pecans are indigenous and it's something that Americans can be very proud of that this is one of our native nuts and has more antioxidants than most nuts. So 03:50 The industry itself is really trying to get that nutritional information. Even the American Pecan Council, their marketing motto is beyond the pie, right? So anyway, using high quality pecans is always the key, in my opinion, especially for the pies. But anyway. 04:15 What else would you like to know about we I can get into the To the planting and the different varieties and and all of that Well, we can start there and then you can tell me a little bit about the the history of the farm Yeah, absolutely Yeah, it is fascinating and it's the history of it is just the the pecans themselves are indigenous to the southeast native and it was a 04:45 staple in Native American diets. Georgia actually is the top producer pretty much in the world. We are normally outproduced sometimes by Mexico. Pecans love heat and they love humidity. So, you know, Louisiana, Texas, all of those places, Georgia, obviously. But Georgia, I feel like, you know, just the 05:13 The growing conditions are even better because of our humidity. Pecans themselves love humidity and heat. So anyway, our particular farm sits on about, it's about 1,700 acres of groves. And the farm was planted in the 1920s. And what a lot of people aren't aware of is that pecans are more than just one variety and the different. 05:43 just like a, you know, a grape for wine or whatnot. And the different varieties have different oil contents and the higher the oil content, the better tasting the pecan. And just a little side note, because of the high oil content, you should definitely store your pecans or any nut really in your freezer. 06:09 A lot of people don't know that because you freeze that oil content, whereas if it's sitting at room temperature, the oils are evaporating. So there's a little tip for you and your listeners. So the original acreage was planted with three different varieties, which were Stewart, Slice, and Moors. So those were the original pecan variety that were planted in our orchards. 06:38 And when my husband's father moved back in the 70s, they pulled some of the moors out of the groves and replanted with a variety you might be familiar with, which is the desirable variety. And so if you see some of the larger pecan halves, not like the small ones, the very, pretty much the really large ones, it's most likely a desirable. 07:08 somewhat developed into what it was because it was somewhat disease resistant and also big. That's what differentiates a Georgia pecan really or even a Southeastern pecan versus its Western cousins grown in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico. Nothing wrong with those either. It's just that the different varieties of course, just like a wine variety. 07:38 you know, just develops better in different growing conditions. So our orchards are now mostly desirables. We do have some Elliot's and Elliot's are considered in the industry, they're considered junior halves. And they're really, really small and cute. That's what I love to make pecan pie with Elliot's because they're really small. You don't have to like cut them up into pieces. 08:06 And a little insider trick too, is if you can get your hand on junior halves, use those for your Thanksgiving pies because Elliot's have the highest oil content of any pecan. And of course, again, oil equals flavor. So they're kindy, but they're the best. So if you can ever get your hands on junior halves, they're the best. So most of our orchards now are desirable in Elliot's haves. 08:36 and something that a lot of people don't know about pecans is that of course they're trees and they're grown in orchards and how we harvest the pecan we harvest. Harvest normally starts from around in you know October, mid-October through pretty much Christmas we're harvesting and 08:59 We harvest by a machine called a shaker and it looks like a giant tractor with a claw on it. That's the only way I can describe it. And it really, it just gently, it holds the base of the pecan tree and shakes it gently. And there are videos of this online, of course, if anybody wants to look it up. It's pretty cool because you see just this gentle vibration at the base of the tree and the nuts. 09:29 just fall to the ground. And then we leave the nuts on the ground for just two or three days, just to let them rest for a minute, which is kind of a scary part of the harvesting process because of course squirrels and all other kinds of creatures love nuts. So anyway, so we, about two days into the process, we go through with what we call a sweeper and we sweep all of the pecans into nice little neat rows. 09:57 And then we come through and picks the nuts up and they go into a processing plant where we, you know, of course pick out the branches and things like that. And then one thing about Sunnyland that's a little different than other pecan farmers is that a lot of pecan farmers would stop in that process. Like once they get the whole nut, because a nut, you know, it's in shell. So you have two halves in a pecan. You get two halves out of a pecan. 10:27 But a lot of growers stop right there in the process and then shift their nuts off to be shelled because it's not a full product yet unless you wanna sell and shell. But Sunnyland actually has a shelling plant on site. And so our nuts go over to our shelling plant. And we just like that because, you know, we've always been extremely committed to high, high quality and we can keep our hands, we can truly say that, you know. 10:55 our pecans, we have our hands in the entire process from tree to table really, you know? And so when we go into the shelling plant, the nut is then cracked into a half and then sometimes we go into, we grade them down. Like, you know, if we wanna do halves with a particular lot, we break it down into large pieces, small pieces, the things you see that people buy for smoothies and shakes and things like that, all the way down to pecan meal. 11:24 which is also a very nutritious alternative to flour, if you wanna use it in baking and whatnot. But anyway, so that's a little bit of the process of how we move into just selling even our haves, which is our main business still. We sell a lot of baked goods now that we make in-house and handmade candies and things like that. And of course we sell other nuts as well now, but pecans are. 11:53 are what we, our original nuts. So that's a little bit about the growing portion. One thing I will say that we're proud of too is that pecans really only flourish and grow to standard when they have enough water and something that we learned in Georgia is they really need 40 to 50 inches of rain. 12:23 per year to fill out appropriately. And Alex's dad, Larry Wilson, I call him the farmer aficionado because he just knows everything about pecans, but he implemented one of the leading technologies for irrigation systems for the orchards. So he was one of the first farmers in the Southeast at least to implement that. 12:50 irrigation system to make sure those pecans were filling out properly and getting being able to get to market The way they they did in like the 80s. So anyway, that's a little bit a little bit of pecan growing history if you will Okay that that left me with a couple of questions When when you put a baby pecans? Sapling in the ground. Mm-hmm. How long till it produces nuts? 13:17 That's the hardest part. It normally will not produce until year five to seven. So five to seven is you might get a small harvest between year five and seven. You really probably aren't gonna be up until like top production to 10 years. Wow. Yeah. So when you lose the, we really suffered through Hurricane Michael. We lost a lot of trees. It was heartbreaking. 13:45 And it gave us an opportunity though, we tried to look at the silver lining and to replant with some of the newer varietals that are even more disease resistant that some of the scientists have been able to craft. But those trees, I mean, Michael wasn't that long ago, those trees aren't producing yet. And a lot of, unfortunately, a lot of Georgia farmers that were hit. 14:11 this past hurricane and in Hurricane Michael were really affected because we're very susceptible to weather because of that reason, because it takes so long for them to produce anything. Okay. And how big is a mature pecan tree? Oh gosh, it really varies. It really varies. But I mean, if you think of a very mature oak tree, that's probably a comparable size. 14:39 Holy crap, I didn't realize they got that big. Oh yeah, no they're huge. They're huge. They're very, very big. A very mature 100 year old. I mean they can, and they, we have some 100 year old trees. Yeah, we do have some, but yeah, they last, they will grow very, very large. Okay, and then the other question I have is, we have wild plum that grows here in Minnesota. Is there wild? 15:06 Are there wild pecan trees in the south? Yes, there are. Okay, and are they any good or are they just... Yeah, some people will say they are. I mean, some people definitely do, definitely still eat their, you know, in their yard pecans. I mean, they might not be particularly large or tasty, but yeah, I know a lot of people that collect in their yards, especially down here, and sit outside and crack their own pecans for sure. Okay, I was just curious because... 15:35 The wild plums here in Minnesota are about the size of, just full the size of a golf ball. And they're really yummy if you get them at the right time. They're super sweet. But if you don't get them at exactly the right point of ripeness, they're very sour. I was going to say, I was going to think they would be sour, but yeah. Or they've just tipped into the beginning of the fermenting process that happens with fruit. 16:05 And so if you don't get them right when they're perfect, you really don't want to eat them. They're kind of yucky. But they make fabulous jam. I bet. We have a mayhaw berry here in Georgia. I don't know if you've heard of mayhaw jelly. No. It's a very tart berry. It makes an excellent jelly. We actually sell some of it in our catalog as well. Just trying to keep it native to Georgia. Yeah. OK. So. 16:33 When this started, boy, I hate the way my voice sounds right now. When this started, you guys were giving Peekhands away and now you're a fully fledged business. Correct. So my husband's grandparents met post World War II. And of course, his father already had the farm down here and they lived in Atlanta. 17:03 And they moved down here and decided, they tried a couple of different things, to be honest with you. They tried to grow cattle, et cetera. And they started to ship some pecans as gifts and add to their college friends and whatnot in the Northeast. And they figured out, wait a second, a lot of people in the North and other parts of the country do not have access to these fresh pecans. And this was in 1948. 17:32 So they figured that out. Like their friends were like, these are amazing. So they started to mail order just pecans, just pecans, just Sunnyland pecans. And that's where Sunnyland Farms was born. And they started to, that's where the business started. And then they morphed into, you know, creating a catalog yearly. And in the catalog they sold, of course, I think originally they sold halves. 17:59 pieces and then in-shell. And we still do sell in-shell. A lot of people still like to crack their own. I prefer to buy them completely processed because it's like a tradition to sit around and crack pecans down here. But anyway, so then they started to, well, if they like pecans, then we're gonna start selling pecan pie. 18:22 and pecan brittle and pecan pralines and all of those wonderful old-fashioned candies. We're going to make them the candies that we make on the farm just as delicious as our pecans. We're going to use real butter and fresh eggs and all that. It just continued to flourish from there. They started to, like I said before, replanting the groves with better pecans. 18:50 really flushing out the shelling and keeping industry standard really. But yeah, they started to sell to my grandmother-in-law, her college buddies in New York. So that's really how it started. Okay. So now you guys, people can order pecans from you on your website, number one, right? Correct. 19:19 Are you like selling bagged pecans to grocery stores and stuff too? We tend to not sell to grocery stores and I'll tell you why. Grocery stores really tend to buy the, you know, because pecans are a commodity, like they tend to buy the cheapest of the cheap and they do not shelve them properly. They don't keep them at proper temperature. 19:47 And I mean, we would sell anything wholesale, like if you, you know, but even our wholesale is pretty high quality. So I just looked at the back of a Publix pecan bag and those Publix pecans, they're buying from Mexico. So they're trying to buy the, and there's nothing wrong with them. They're just not like the largest highest oil content and they haven't kept them at proper temperature again, which keeps the oil evaporates. So anyway. 20:16 We sell wholesale, if you think, we sell our wholesale pecans to other candy companies that want like the best of the best, other food providers. And we've even sold internationally. We've sold our latest. We used to sell a lot to China actually. And then now recently we've sold other places in Europe. 20:44 And so we've really fleshed out that wholesale side of the business as well. And especially people nowadays really want high quality things that, that, you know, are cared for from top to bottom. And that's how we sell our pecans. And we actually just opened, this is something that my husband and I've done, opened our first satellite retail store in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. 21:11 and introducing our pecans to a wider market. And really truly, if you try like a supermarket pecan and you try one of our pecans, you really will see the difference. Okay. That's what I was wondering about because I've bought pecans at grocery stores and I've bitten into them and been like, yeah. Yeah. 21:33 Well, they're rancid because they've most likely been, any pecan sitting out in like the fruit section that's not even being refrigerated, they have them by like the croutons really. Yeah. They're rancid because all of the oil is evaporated and they're stale and rancid. Yeah, this may be why I haven't ever been a fan of eating them. Right. Once in a while they're okay, but I'm not getting them all the time. Right. 21:58 And honestly, I can say the same thing about any nut. I really love honey roasted peanuts. And I think the only reason I love them is because of the honey roasting, not because of the peanut itself. So I need to get a better quality peanut and pecan, obviously. You have to send me some and you'll be sold for life. I'll be a converse. Not to mention, like pecans have more antioxidants than like a cup of pecans versus a cup of blueberries. 22:26 They have more antioxidants than even blueberries. Crazy. Yeah. I didn't know that. Yeah. So, so on this podcast, I talked to a lot of people who grow produce and we're always talking about how store-bought produce isn't as good as, as like, you know, the stuff that the neighbors grow in their gardens or I grow in my garden. And it hadn't occurred to me that peanuts or I'm sorry, any nut would fall under the same thing that you guys are putting your heart and soul into this. So. 22:56 course your product is better. Right. And I think that that is something that's missing, particularly on the American market. I think it's one of the last like really ingredient, farm-grown ingredients that you still just walk by, you know, the grocery store. They have like, you know, the nut plastic thing where you can get like a cup of nuts, you know? And like all of those nuts are like dark, like a real fresh pecan is going to be like light golden brown, not dark, not it's going to be really, really light. 23:26 Fresh looking and not like dried up at all. Yeah so it must be really pretty when you have like a bucket of Shell be of very much so very much so for sure Cool. Um, and the other thing I wanted to say is that you sound so I Don't know so warm immersed and so happy in what you're doing when you're talking about this there's a joy in your voice and 23:54 I don't think I'm misreading that. I think you're actually enjoying this thing that you're doing. Oh, absolutely. I mean, I grew up, you know, I grew up in mostly cities and my husband's down from here. And when I met him, I just really appreciated the roots that he spoke about this place. And I just think it kind of goes back to a simpler time. And 24:22 We're connected to the community in a way that I just, you know, you don't see that often, especially being multi-generational. You know, we're really connected to this community. We really try to give back and we really try to, I mean, usually when we have an employee, we have a really high employee tenure, you know, usually a lifetime employee. So we have, you know, we really are a family, a family business. 24:50 And we mean that like from employees to Wilson's whatever, and it's just a different lifestyle. And it is really fulfilling for sure, for sure. We're really glad. I'm really glad that we, and when I met my husband, he was actually in, he was often his 20s doing his own thing. And I asked him, he was in the financial business, and I asked him, will you ever go back? Will you ever move back to the farm? Will you ever? 25:19 And he could never say no. He could never say, absolutely not, I'm not going to do that. Like he always had this like look in his eye, like, you know what, you know, after, you know, I've kind of proven myself, because he wanted to get out there, of course, and you know, prove himself, but he would never rule it out. And one thing that he did say was, you know, there's just a connection to the land and the people. And I think that that's, you know, that route, you know, having those routes is so important, especially in this day and age, you know? So yeah, for sure. 25:49 Okay, good. I was afraid that I was hearing things, but I didn't think I was because you sounded so happy. Yeah. Okay. So I have probably two more questions. Okay. When do the pecan trees bloom? They bloom in the spring. Yeah. They bloom in the spring and they're beautiful blooms. They bloom in the spring, but then we don't harvest until October normally. And summer is such an important time. 26:18 you know, they desperately need that those 40 to 50 inches coming in, you know, of rain. And so if we have a dry summer, we pretty much know what the crop is going to look like. But again, like because of the irrigation that was that was placed, we can, you know, somewhat control it. But, you know, it's you can't control the weather. And, you know, fresh rain will, you know, outproduce irrigation any day. So in the summers when we're really like, we know what we're 26:47 we're getting into in the fall by July, normally. Yeah. So what month are you saying for spring that they bloom? Because spring is relative here. Very much so, yeah. I mean, probably like late March. Okay. Yeah. So it's coming. It's coming in a couple months for you guys. It's coming. It is. Okay. Yeah. Our apple trees don't bloom until, oh, at the earliest mid-May. Oh, yeah. And they can... 27:15 There's been years where apples don't bloom until June in Minnesota. So that's why I wanted to get an idea because it must be really nice to have spring hit in March. It is, but it means that summer comes so quickly and it's so hot quickly. Yeah. Which they love the pecans, love the heat, so I can't complain. I will say my favorite time in the pecan groves, and if you're ever down in this area of the country, please come because the groves are just beautiful. 27:44 Um, is winter. I love walking through the groves when the trees are resting, you know, they're resting and you can just, I don't know, there's just something very peaceful about it in the winter time. Do they lose their leaves at all? Or do they keep them? Okay. So it's just, you can see them, you can see the real mistletoes up in the, you know, the real mistletoes up in the trees. Oh, awesome. They're beautiful. I love that people like try to buy them from us. Can we go out in your groves and cut down some mistletoes in the winter time? You know, 28:14 Okay, and then what do the blooms smell like? I mean, clearly if you have 1700 acres, it must smell amazing when they bloom. Yeah, just really, really sweet and grassy, you know, really earthy. They don't smell like particularly fruity or perfumey, but they're very just earthy and grassy and a little bit mossy, I would say. Okay, and are they white? Are they white? Yes. 28:41 I know nothing about pecan trees. I know about almond trees a little bit, because I've read about it, but I don't know, pecan trees have been under the radar for me for some reason, probably because they don't grow here. Right. Okay, so what's the future look like for you guys? Are you just going to keep it on, or do you have a plan? Yeah, just really, we're really involved nationwide with the American Pecan Association, and really, like what you just said, 29:11 really educating Americans to this indigenous nut. It's one of, it's our pride and joy, and it's something that, just educating more Americans as to what a quality pecan looks like, and more awareness around, again, outside of the, using it as a snacking food, because it's such a healthy food. So it's just really increasing that awareness across the board, for sure. And then, 29:40 for us specifically, using that freshness to, you know, just really develop our product line of candies and cakes and things like that, that people are looking for, you know, that homegrown goodness, you know? So that's what we're focused on for the future. Nice. And my last question, which is gonna probably be six different answers for you, is what can pecans be used for? You said you could grind them for flour. What else? 30:06 Okay, so pecans can be used, pecans can be used. I love to use them in smoothies. They add just this nutty freshness and they actually really up the nutritional content in any smoothie. I love to use small pecan pieces on chicken. I like to bake chicken and crust it with like a nice pecan crust mixed with a little bit of flour. 30:34 And if you really want to up the ante, we use an indigenous gallberry honey, and I like to finish the pecan breasts, the pecan chicken breasts with a little drizzle of honey. So you have that crunch, that saltiness and that sweet. And then again, of course, in baking, I mean, who I just this morning, I'm developed, I develop a lot of our recipes. And just this morning, I'm making a pull apart, like breakfast bread with some pecan pieces. 31:02 um, pecans really are so versatile in baking in general. I mean, any kind of cookie or cake adding some pecans just adds like a really nice salty crunch. And one suggestion I would make, um, you know, a lot of people go too sweet in their pecan pies, just back to the, you know, back to the beginning. Um, just make sure you're using the freshest you can find. And also, um, my biggest thing is to make sure you're using salt in your baked goods because 31:29 It will, it just, I mean, your baked goods need that season as well. And we use, I just use salted butter in our pecan pie that we sell in our catalog. And people are just like, oh, this pecan pie is so good. And I always tell people it's because we use salted butter in our pecan pie, because you need that flavor contrast with the custard and the pie to make it, you know, if it's too sweet, it's only hitting one note on your palate, right? So. 31:55 That's my biggest. So yeah, we get we started with pecan pie. We're finishing with pecan pie, right? Yeah, absolutely. And what most people don't know is that salt tempers sugar, right? Sugar sugar isn't meant to be kick you in the face It's supposed to be a flavor and salt Salt brings out the flavor of sugar, but it kills the overkill right right interesting 32:24 Yeah, I don't know why it doesn't. That's why I like it then. Yeah, I don't know how it works. It's science. I know what it is. I just haven't. It just works. Yep. All right, Stacey. Thank you so much for your time tonight. Well, thank you so much. It was such a pleasure and we'll have to send you some of those fresh pecans. I would love that. Yes, ma'am. We'll get on it. All right. You have a great day. All right. Thanks. You too.…

A Tiny Homestead

1
Homegrown Show with Ben & Nicole 36:47

11 weeks sitten36:47

36:47

Today I'm talking with Ben at the Homegrown Show with Ben & Nicole . You can follow on Facebook as well. If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Ben at the Homegrown Show with Ben and Nicole. Good morning, Ben. How are you? Good morning. I'm doing great. Awesome. So we were just talking. You are in Canada. 00:25 And you are in New Brunswick, which is north of Maine, which I knew, but I didn't know for sure. And what do you do? Goodness, I do a lot of different things. I guess you could call us influencers, homesteaders, farmers. I don't like the term influencer, but we do a lot of different things with regards to education from farming content. And we just, in 2020, we decided we wanted to live and try a simpler life. So. 00:53 We've been documenting that journey and been able to share it with others ever since. Isn't it fun? Oh, we have, I never grew up on a farm and neither did Nicole. So it's been a crazy whirlwind of a journey. We were fortunate enough in 2020 to be picked up for a small TV show here locally. And it's been able to fund a lot of my antics to be able to buy things like a ton of chickens or goats before we're ready. So being able to document that and film our journey to 01:22 learning how to figure that all out has been just chaos and hilarious. Yeah, I'm sure you're entertained every moment of every single day. And I don't do videos because I don't, I don't, I'm not good at it. Number one, I don't like being on video. Number two, but, uh, my husband takes videos here and there of the barn kittens when they're little or the greenhouse construction, when that was happening and he sends them to me and I'm like, I don't know what to do with these. I like. 01:51 They're cute, but what do I do with them? So I commend you on your videos because it's hard work to make them. Yeah, it's been a lot of fun being able to document it properly. That's something I even spoke about in a recent YouTube video is just any type of documentation like what you're doing or writing it down is huge for being able to go back and reference because year over year, you don't really feel like you've done very much. But then when you can look back and see whether you've written it down or had a podcast about it. 02:17 It's cool to be able to see, oh, I did grow from last year. I did grow from two years ago. And seeing that is just more beneficial to us. Yes, I have to sit down sometime this afternoon and do our end of year recap. I try to do it and have it posted on the first of the year. But I got up yesterday morning to the terrible news from New Orleans about a guy who ran his truck into a crowd of people at a market. 02:44 New Year's celebration and I just lost all steam to say anything positive. So I apologized on my Facebook page and said, I'm just not in the right head space, maybe tomorrow. Understandably. So yeah, I just, I felt really weird about being like, so this is all the silly shit we did this year and this happened today, you know? So it was kind of a rough, quiet day here. I don't know why it hit me the way it did, but I'm just real tired of people getting hurt for no reason. It's really hard here in the United States sometimes. 03:14 So anyway, I don't want to be a bummer. So I looked at your Facebook page and you do tons of stuff. And if you're above Maine, how far above Maine are you? So we're pretty close to Holton, basically. It'd be about a half hour from our place here to Holton, Maine. Oh, so you're over the border, not by much. Okay. So your growing zone must be like what? Three B or four? I think it's 03:43 Four, Nicole is better. I'm more the animal guy. Nicole is better with the vegetables. I just do the labor for her. Oh, well, she's a very lucky woman. Okay, so is it easy? I mean, I know she's the one in charge of that, but is it pretty easy for you guys to keep yourselves stocked in produce? 04:03 Yeah, we've been very fortunate, like I said, over the last few years to learn how to do this stuff. So it's this past year, recognize the biggest downfall was our short season. So we built a couple of greenhouses. We were originally just going to build one, but we decided to build two to be able to have basically a seed house to be able to use in the spring. And then to be able to have a secondary tomato house because we've learned that the best thing for 04:28 for us is to have as much food as possible and to figure out what grows here as well. But to be able to can and preserve, you really need to have that longer growing season, especially for things like tomatoes and peppers, which don't really grow terribly well here. You can grow them, but to grow them great, you really need the greenhouse. So for us over the past few years, we've really recognized, okay, with our very short growing season, like our last frost is... 04:56 early June, generally. I think even last year, our last frost was like middle of June. So being able to recognize when we can actually plant things and get things out and figuring out this year, our biggest plan is to figure out our cropping system. So how to sow things to be able to sow on top of them later in the seasons, so growing peas and beans early, early to be able to have a second production of them as well. So it's just been quite 05:25 Difficult it sort of really is because this isn't our background We started back a number of years ago just because we want to know where our food comes from Nicole was a vegan for 10 years I back in college would have been 2016 2017 had a bad experience with some store-bought meat and from then my gut just can't handle it So we've really really just wanted to know where our food comes from. And so part of that is having to learn. Okay, how do we 05:52 grow these things ourselves? How do we learn from other people to be able to figure out, okay, in our local area, how easy is it and is it easy? And I tell a lot of people that growing food is pretty easy. Growing a lot of food can be difficult. So it's learning how to grow certain things and how long they take, but throwing seeds in the ground and watching lettuce grow or watching tomatoes and carrots can be relatively non-trivial. 06:19 It's when you want to grow a lot and be able to sustain yourself over the wintertime that it gets a little harder. Absolutely. When is the last frost date on average for you? Last? Our first frost in the fall is probably about... 06:37 October, first heavy frost, it'd probably be about the first of November. But October is when things would start to get a little bit of frost and that, that way you'd lose some of your more delicate greens and stuff. And some greenhouses. Yeah. Basil and tomatoes really don't like it on that first light frost. They're like, um, excuse me. No. And they try really hard to hang on, but they don't do well. So we are, I'm in Minnesota and we are zone trying to think. 07:07 five, might be five B now, I can't remember. And our last frost day is typically anywhere from May 1st to June 1st, it just depends on the season. And in the fall, it could be September for the first light frost, we never know. And so we put in a greenhouse this spring, a hard-sided greenhouse. And we would love to be able to heat it in the wintertime and 07:37 the least expensive, most, what's the word I want? Sun powered heating source and it's not necessarily solar panels. Right now we have six IBC totes that are painted black and they're full of water. We got them in too late this year for them to really do their job but they definitely extended our growing season in the greenhouse till November, till mid November which was great. And then 08:06 We're hoping to be able to get seeds started in mid February out there because it does get warm as long as it's sunny. So that was the objective, but I would love to be growing tomatoes in January in the greenhouse. I think that would be really cool. And what you were saying about trying to grow a lot of food to sustain yourself for the winter. 08:26 It is, it's a lot. It's a lot of work and a lot of planning and a lot of looking at the forecast for a month ahead of time and being like, okay, so what are we doing? And we've tried to do it too. And we did pretty well up until this year. This summer was bad here. And so we did not put away our 80 or 90 pints tomato sauce like we did the last two years. We put away maybe 30 because our tomatoes did not do well at all. So I understand what you're saying. 08:55 So tell me about your animals since you're the one that handles them. Oh goodness. Uh, we started with rabbits. Like we sort of went through all of the typical homesteadery animals that you kind of decide that it's super easy. You can be self-sufficient on rabbit meat and chickens with eggs. And we discovered that the rabbits weren't as fun or as easy to take care of. As we really thought, um, rabbits, if you're not terribly aware or anybody listening, they will die basically at the drop of a hat. 09:24 So we were pretty devastated our first year and we had, I think we had a weasel break in, but I was away for work and Nicole called me and said, you need to come home because there's a lot of dead rabbits. And it's just a lot of needless killing. We've dealt with predators over the past few years, but we've really tried to discover what works best for us and our land, because we don't have very much land here. We've got three quarters of an acre, but we're able to use about another quarter acre from my uncle across the street. 09:51 And that's largely where we keep our animals. So we've wished we could get into having a cow, having a dairy cow, and then maybe some beef. But for us, what we've been able to do is we have chickens and ducks. We have two goats now, and we have five sheep that I was supposed to butcher. And then we just decided that we kind of like them. So they've survived thus far. And we have four, five pigs. 10:20 that we got two, I don't know how this continues to happen to us, the sort of chaos that just we attract, but in the spring of last year, of 24, I guess, we got two female pigs and then three months, three weeks and three days later, we had one give birth and we were very confused because we got two female pigs and we had a litter of five figlets pop out. Come to find out she was pregnant, even though she was quite young. 10:47 And so we've been able to keep those over the last couple of months and we'll probably end up butchering those and selling off some of the meat, but it's been fun to learn about all of those animals. My, my favorite currently is probably our goat just for the possibility of having the milk and meat of being able to make cheese and yogurts and other dairy has been huge and really beneficial for us because the price of. 11:11 milk here has been outlandish. And so being able to have that for the boys for their smoothies and for other foods has just been such a huge blessing for us. How much is a gallon of milk in Canada? Oh, I haven't bought milk in ages. It is $8, $10 ish. Canadian dollars? Yeah. So that what the Canadian dollar is. 11:39 69 cents US so it would be almost half that but still it's been pretty ridiculous and especially the wages here Don't really keep up and then taxation and that's a whole other political issue. We could dive into but Uh-huh, we're not going to because I don't talk about politics on the podcast because it just makes things less crazy Here in in Minnesota our milk is going anywhere from five to seven dollars a gallon At the grocery store, that's about comparable then 12:08 Mm-hmm, which is ridiculous considering we could get it for about three dollars and fifty cents a year and a half ago Yeah I'm I'm so over it like I wish that things would just ease up a little bit on this inflation kick because it's killing everybody It doesn't matter where in the world you are 12:27 So, and that's about as far as I want to get on that topic because I have so many swear words that I'm not allowing myself to say on my podcast ever. And there's a whole lot wrapped around the inflation issue right now. Okay. So are you going to have baby goats? Are you just going to have the two and keep those? Yeah. We started originally with Nigerian dwarves. We started, oh goodness, last year, year before last with 12:54 four Nigerian dwarves. We butchered one that was the boy for meat and he impregnated three girls that we brought into the spring of 2024. They all had babies. One had triplets, one had twins, and one had a single. It was a new experience for us. Animal husbandry is not something that we're well versed in. It was really cool to be able to see the babies being born and experience that with those moms. Then we sold those girls and the babies 13:24 upgrade, I guess you could say, into some bigger goats. We wanted more milk for less work with one bigger goat. And then just having fewer animals around just made it easy. So we have a La Mancha right now that is our milk goat, and then a baby boar that was born this spring. And he, his mom unfortunately passed shortly after a childbirth due to some complications. So we've been keeping him sort of as breeding stock. He's a beautiful boy. And so we're hoping to have some babies pop out here in the next 13:54 month or two from the La Mancha potentially. And we'll see, depends on whether or not he was actually able to get the job done. Uh huh. Yes, it's always a crapshoot, isn't it? Whether the boy did his job or not. The reason I asked about the babies is because I don't know if you've listened to the podcast at all, but I love baby goats more than any animal on earth. And don't tell my dog because she thinks she's my favorite, but I love baby goats. 14:20 And we do not have any livestock here right now. We have two barn cats and a dog. That is it. We got rid of our chickens months ago because they were lazy and we were getting three eggs from nine chickens. And my husband said, I don't want to feed these chickens through the winter if they're not giving us eggs. And I said, that's fine. Cause I don't know what feed prices are like where you are, but they've gone up too. It's not great. So I would love to have goats, but my husband is not so into it. And he's like, 14:50 don't want to and I asked him why and he said honey I love your heart. He said but if we get goats you're gonna want to have baby goats from the mama goats and invariably some of those baby goats are gonna die and it's gonna break your heart and I can't watch it and I was like I love you too and you're right so we're not gonna have any goats we're done. 15:12 We're not ever going to have goats because he's right. I will lose my mind if a baby goat dies. I can't handle it. Yeah. Death has been one of the hardest parts that we've had to learn to deal with. Fortunately, Nicole and I are both versed in the reality of that now after the first couple of years. But I remember I even was talking about it recently that the first rooster I had to kill, which roosters are such a regular cull animal on a farm that I just remember how brutal that was. 15:42 a life for no reason. But yeah, when it comes to baby animals, they just, they pass so easily. We lost one baby this spring, but I think personally I'd be more apt to have baby lambs because they're so fuzzy as opposed to little goats. But you're right. Having those little guys running around and trotting around about four to six weeks is when they start to get the, the really the cutest. And they're a lot more mobile. 16:08 Yeah, my only real interaction with baby goats was within the first week of their life because my friend's parents raised goats. And she would call me and say, there's baby goats. Will your mom bring you over? And I'm like, yep. And we'd go over and they would be at that age where they're very small and you can just hold them in your arms like a baby and pet them. And they don't, they don't really fight you because they're not afraid. 16:31 I would just sit and hold a baby goat for an hour in my lap and just pet it and kiss its nose and talk to it and play with its ears. And my friend was used to having goats around all the time and she's like, why are you so in love? And I'm like, I can't explain it. I just am. 16:49 So that was my favorite thing to do in the spring from the time I was about 15 until I was about 18 was go see her baby goats. Yeah, there's really nothing better than seeing life be born. And we've been trying to be really strategic about us keeping animals because they can be, like that can be heartbreaking when you lose the babies, but then it's also the ability, like you say, for feed costs can get outlandish. And we've been fortunate that there's a program here called LOOP. 17:18 that they take salvaged food from the grocery stores that's gone off that they can't either give it to the food bank or they can't sell. And so there's a farm every day that goes up to our grocery store and collects all the produce and all the food scraps that's able to feed our animals. So they eat lettuce and pineapple and from goats to pigs to everybody gets a little piece of stuff from the grocery store. So it's been huge in being able to cut down on the feed bill. That's fantastic. I'm so glad that 17:46 that they do that. I'm sure that if we really wanted to dig and scrape and figure out how to make it cost, there's a word, make it worth spending the money to get animals, we probably could do it. But my husband has a full time job and I'm really not into mucking stalls and stuff. So we've just made the decision that we'll get chickens in the spring and we might try getting rabbits again. We tried rabbits. 18:15 the second year we were here. We've been in our new place for four years. And our rabbits didn't get the memo they were supposed to procreate. So we were feeding rabbits for no reason. And that was the end of that. We were like, no, we're not feeding animals that don't earn their keep. So we don't have rabbits anymore. But we will get chickens again, because I really missed the eggs. The store bought eggs are not great compared to the eggs we were getting from our chickens. So 18:43 So I'm stuck. What am I, what else can I ask you? Oh, so you said that you guys got into this because you had some, you had some health issues because of some bad meat. Is that right? Yeah. Uh, back in, what was I saying? It was 2016, 2015, 16, 17, somewhere in there. I bought meat from Walmart and it was just one of those simple things that you just. 19:07 Kind of, I was in college and bought a pack of hamburger and then I ate it and it just ruined my stomach. And I was like, that's weird. And I tried to eat some more and it's still like, it was cooked well. It was fine. Seasoned well, tasted good, but it sat like a rock in my gut. And then I tried again. And since then I have not been able to eat any store bought meat. Like it's been crazy that any store bought meat that I consume, uh, will just ruin my gut. 19:33 So we've started to go, whether it's our own meat or with a local butcher, to be able to get local meat because that just sits a lot better. And then it's just knowing where our food comes from. I think it's really no secret that our food system is kind of messed up. And we've really tried to take notice of how much we can grow, where we can grow it. And Nicole was vegan for 10 years, 20:03 over the last few years that she was vegan, that her body was starting to change and she was starting to have troubles too. So she wanted to change in her diet. And we just really wanted to discover where all of our food comes from. And for us, that is largely knowing that we can grow it and we can figure this out. Thankfully that given my job and what we're able to do, we're able to do this full time. But that is where we found that community really comes in handy. 20:32 people have only the grocery store to be able to go to. Like you say, there's really sub-par food, unfortunately, sub-par eggs and meat. And so we've really been keen on trying to educate people on knowing where your farmers are, knowing who your farmers are, and being able to have that community where you can either barter with somebody or you're able to find somebody that, hey, I don't have chickens anymore. Do you have eggs or do you have meat or do you have tomatoes? Because mine didn't do well. So whether it's you can't afford to grow something 21:02 able to, don't know how. It's being able to have an awesome community of people together that you don't have to be a one-man island or a one-family island. You can really rely on your community around you to be able to help you out. Yeah. And in them helping you out, you're helping them out too. It's such a beautiful exchange of support and resources. Oh, absolutely. And 21:28 As far as I really struggle to talk about sort of the factory farming grocery store thing versus your small scale family farms and stuff, because everybody kind of gets upset with regards to whenever you speak ill of a farmer. But I think it's really no secret that factory farming practices and modern agriculture is really detrimental to our ecosystems. It's really detrimental to our food systems. There's been a lot of studies that have come out over the last number of years that speak to the benefits of organic produce and, and how. 21:58 whether animals are raised different or whether your produce is raised different and grown differently. Um, you're getting less nutrition in your factory farmed food than you would in food that you're able to either grow yourself or grow organically, uh, just based on the different cultivars. And so the more that you're able to eat real and good food, and the more that you're able to, uh, eat locally, the better your 22:25 going to be off and the better you're going to feel as well. And I think that people really struggle because over the last 20 to 30 years, the grocery store has become so ubiquitous that that is where your food comes from. I'm working on a documentary right now called Eat Real Food. And I went out and interviewed a number of people just really quickly on the street to ask, do you know where your food comes from? And so many people either would say no, or would just say the store. And they don't know they're farmers anymore. There's that disconnect. 22:54 There's the middle men in the middle that, you got to be careful here to not to go political, but the middle men are making a ton of money and making a lot of profits while the farms are suffering and they're having to cut corners and they're having to use a lot of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides to be able to get the yields that they need to be able to pay their bills. If farmers had their say and the food was able to be sold at the price that it was valued at. 23:22 It would be much better off for our farmers, but I think that more and more people, if farmers were in charge, would be better off because they'd have the potential to actually create something and grow something that farmers really have a passion for rather being told by these multinational conglomerates that it's not being told what they need to do, if that makes sense. Yes, absolutely. Yes. And that's not political. It's just truth. It's just the way it is right now. 23:52 I think I missed something in the beginning or I didn't ask. Is this your job? Is what you're doing your job or do you have a job off farm as it were? Yeah, so I was very fortunate in 2020 to pitch our first television program. We were able to get a little bit of money for that. So I started out as a commercial videographer, did a lot of video work for TV programs and social media for some companies and over the past few years 24:21 We've been able to generate enough revenue via our social media and TV to be able to do really projects that I want to do. We've got a couple of TV shows that I work on that are still passion projects, but mostly the farm and our content that we produce on social media is paying our bills. We've really pared down what we do over the past few years and really, uh, taking our bills as low as they can be so that we're able to go forward with whatever we want to do. And this year it's trying to grow as much food for. 24:51 us and our community to be able to sell a little bit because we've discovered our passion for farming and gardening to be able to produce good high quality food for people. Awesome. So when you say TV shows, is that like local to Canada TV shows or is that TV shows that people everywhere can watch? There are a lot of TV shows that people can watch. 25:12 Local to Canada for one of them. So we've really tried to broad spectrum scatter shot, get as many people as we can. We've distributed through Justin Rhodes, Abundance Plus. We've distributed through Canada's Wild TV, which they have a streaming app now. So with the internet, you can basically get anything anywhere. But through television, the way we get paid is through 25:40 They don't have exclusive rights, so we're always looking to expand our knowledge and share with other people more places, whether it's Patreon or YouTube, a little bit where we share as well. And so for television specifically, it depends on what it means to some people because TV now means Netflix or Amazon to some people, whereas traditional television, which is largely what we're on with commercials and everything, is what pays the bills for now. Okay. That's what I was wondering about. 26:10 And Justin Rhodes is one person I've been trying to get hold of to see if he would talk to me on the podcast. And I cannot figure out how to get hold of him. I've emailed, I've Facebook messaged, I've everything and have not gotten a single response from any of it. He must be terribly busy in his life. Oh, he's got so much going on. And especially with the last year with what happened in North Carolina has just been crazy. Yeah. Didn't his place get hit real bad? 26:38 From the videos he shared, it looked like it pretty, not as terrible as some of the places, but definitely he lost quite a bit there. Yeah. Yeah, it's been a rough year in the States. I'm telling you, the weather's been insane. People have been doing crazy things. I don't know what's going on in the world right now. Okay, so I had no idea that you were so deep into the broadcasting of stuff. It's been a weird week here. 27:08 I had a terrible migraine over the weekend, so I was down for two days. Then got up this morning and my husband came down and I said, are you okay? Because he coughed and he said, no. In this really weird voice and I was like, are you okay? He said, I'm sick. He said, I've got a fever of 101. I was like, oh, okay. So I spent the morning making orange juice and figuring out like. 27:35 like chicken stock for him so that he has stuff to drink is even feel like eating. I was like, Well, there goes my time to dig into Ben and, and Nicole in Canada this morning. But either way, this has worked out great because I just was able to wing it and ask what I wanted to ask when I wanted to ask it. So what's your plan? Because we have like three minutes left. So what's your plan for the future? We really want to continue to 28:00 I mean, I think everybody's plan is they want to make as much money as they can doing what they love, which is what our goal really is rather than I have no ideas. I don't want to get rich. I want to be able to pay my bills and be able to grow a ton of food. People say to follow your passion and the money will follow. We've really tried to do that with what we grow and what we do here, whether it's entertaining or educating people, we love being able to share what we do and being able to share our food and the discovery of real good. 28:29 food. Like the peppers you buy at the grocery store don't taste anywhere near what our farms locally or what we're able to grow. So to be able to share that with people has been so incredible over the past few years. So we're hoping to be able to scale that up and do more of it and educate and teach more people. Nice. And I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who thinks the stuff we grow in our garden tastes better than what we buy at the store because at first I was just like, maybe it's just pride of ownership. 28:57 Maybe I'm just assuming and projecting that my lettuce tastes better than the lettuce from the store or my basil tastes better. But I bought basil from the store this summer because we didn't have any ready to pick yet and it tasted like pepper, like black pepper. And I was like, basil doesn't taste like black pepper. What is this? And then our basil finally was big enough to cut some and I was like, oh. 29:23 Yes, that's what basil is supposed to taste like. So I'm really glad that it's not just me thinking that the stuff that we grow tastes better. Well, there's some really interesting studies that have come out over the last couple of years. I have a bachelor's degree in biology too. And so I've been keen on researching why. I was one of those kids that would just say, why, why, why to every question or to every sort of response for people. And so I've... 29:47 just been so curious as to why those things are the way they do. The reason in large part is quantifiable is because the stuff that is grown from the store is largely, like I mentioned, a different cultivar. It's a different type of basil, maybe even just slightly genetically dissimilar. What it means is that the micronutrients and phytonutrients, those plants are being able to suck up, whether it's the fruit, whether it's your grapes or tomatoes, that they're able to suck up and be able to have in different amounts. 30:16 So one study I was looking at showed that the broccoli of years ago would have a, at least 40% reduction of the amount of nutrients, uh, then their counterparts that were grown on factory farms or large farms, like you could grow, or like you could buy in a grocery store. So similar for that, that basil, the stuff that you're able to grow yourself is likely not grown with artificial nitrogen or fertilizers, not grown with pesticide, not sprayed. Uh, and so you're able to have 30:44 Quantifiably better tasting, probably more sugars coming up from your soil because it hasn't been terribly used year after year. So there's a reason for those things. And it's really cool to be able to discover and like I've said, educate other people on why this really is. Why does food taste different than it used to? Because some people, if you're old enough to remember what actual food at the grocery store tasted like, it used to taste like real basil. That's why you remember what basil tastes like other than your homegrown stuff. 31:14 But it's just not the same anymore. And I feel bad for this next generation of people that have only tasted store-bought grocery store foods because that is truly not what tomatoes or peppers or basil tastes like at all. Yeah. They're going to be really confused when they get slammed in the face with what a tomato actually tastes like. I do want to say though, there is a place in Minnesota that grows tomatoes and they are the closest tasting tomato I can get. 31:43 tomatoes in the wintertime. And they do a fabulous job. And they are a big tomato growing company. They grow them in the winter? Yeah. Yeah. It's big boy or something. Can't remember the name of the place right now. But I actually am going to send them an email and be like, thank God for you because you're the only tomato place that sells tomatoes I can stand to eat in the wintertime. 32:11 They're really, really good. They taste like a tomato is supposed to taste because the tomato is supposed to have some sweet to it and some acid to it. And most Sorobot tomatoes, even in the summertime, suck. They don't taste like anything. And these guys that grow these at their greenhouses do a fabulous job. I don't know what kind of alchemy or magic they're working, but they do a great job. So there are some big companies 32:40 job and don't destroy things in the process. So I got to throw that in there. Yeah, absolutely. I'd be really curious to know what their process is for fertilization. I wonder if it's a lot of organic compost. It would not surprise me at all because compost is magic. Compost is wonderful. We have three compost bins at our place that are big. Like my husband can use our small tractor bucket to flip the compost, you know, to stir it. 33:10 And we use that in our garden every year and it just does amazingly well. And especially when we have the chicken poop thrown in the compost, because for anyone who doesn't know, chicken poop is the best fertilizer ever. It's great. High in nitrogen content. Have you thought about adding your compost to your greenhouse? I saw somebody recently that they were able to do a little bit of plumbing. 33:34 to bring the water like the water you'd have in your IBC totes to be able to bring the water through the compost pile as it's decomposing to be able to heat those totes for more heating mass. I don't know because like the veggies and stuff are your wife's thing, the greenhouse and the heating the greenhouse is my husband's thing, but I will mention that to him because he'll wanna think about it. 33:58 Because that's something we've noticed this year, just having the greenhouse with birds and stuff is we have one greenhouse that has the birds in them because, like you said, chicken poo is amazing for the garden. So we're going to scoop out most of that. Some of that latent nitrogen is still going to stay there, but we're going to take the birds out, put them in their chicken coop after that and plant the tomatoes there, but in our naked greenhouse without any chickens in it, it is about five to 10 degrees colder basically at all times than the one with the deep litter method. 34:28 chickens and that have their poo decomposing there sort of underneath. Which is really cool. Yeah. And you, it's so weird. Like I don't want to take too much of your time, but we had no idea that the fact that you have, um, wood shavings or straw or whatever in your, in your chicken coop and the chickens are going to the bathroom in it and then scrap, scratching it down into it. So it is decomposing. 34:54 and turning into compost, we didn't know that that would throw heat until we started doing the deep, deep litter or whatever you said method for the greenhouse. I can't talk. For the chicken coop in the wintertime. And yeah, it was a good 10 degrees warmer in the chicken coop than it was outside all the time in the wintertime. So it's a really good way to throw heat. I will mention that to him when he's not feeling like crap because he's not going to want to talk about it today. 35:21 But yes, I will definitely mention that to him because we're trying to figure out a way to do this so that we can have tomatoes in January in the greenhouse. This is very important to me. It's going to happen in the next five years if it kills us. So Ben, thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate it. No, thank you. This has been awesome. We'll have to do this again at the end of the season to see if you're gonna be able to carry those tomatoes through. Yes, I'm really... 35:49 From your lips to God's ears that this summer goes well because we did really bad this past summer. And I'm so happy that it's 2025 because we have hope for the next growing season. Farming is all about faith and hope, right? Oh yeah. You're beholden to a lot of the weather and the weather changes and the chaos that that entails. Yeah, I'm just hoping that chaos eases up this year because last year sucked. I'm so ready for it to not be bad. 36:19 I'm ready for like my herb garden to go in that didn't get put in last year. I'm ready for the first tomato at the end of June. I'm ready for good cucumbers. I think I had three cucumbers last year. That was it. So, yes, very excited. We're already looking at seed buying here in the next month. So, all right, Ben, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it and you have a great rest of your day. Thank you. You too.…

A Tiny Homestead

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Acres U.S.A. 34:03

12 weeks sitten34:03

34:03

Today I'm talking with Taylor at Acres U.S.A. You can follow on Facebook as well. If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Taylor at Acres USA. Good morning, Taylor. How are you? Good morning. I'm doing well. How are you doing? I'm great. You're in Wisconsin? Yes. Did Acres USA start in Wisconsin? No. It's... 00:28 It started in Kansas City and then moved to Austin, Texas. And then the company that acquired it from the founders had moved it to Colorado and that's where we ended up buying it from and then moved it to Wisconsin. Okay, cool. All right. So, tell me about yourself and Acres USA because no one who hasn't heard about it probably knows what it is. So, tell me all about it. 00:56 Yeah, well, Acres USA was founded back in 1971 and the founder was Charles Walters, who truly was a visionary and he was inspired by his youth when he was a farmer in Kansas and then he ended up becoming an economist. So he believed from early on that farming had become disconnected from nature and it was becoming destructive to the soil and human health and the environment. 01:25 So through Acres USA, he began to champion the principles of ecological agriculture and published some groundbreaking research by soil scientists, farmers, and thought leaders like Dr. William Albrecht. And then over the decades, Acres USA grew from just a magazine into a full movement. And we published books, host conferences, have digital resources. And the goal is to... 01:53 empower farmers to work with nature and also profit from it. So today we remain committed to Charles Walter's original mission and that's to prove that ecological farming is not only sustainable but also economically sound. And I think that's always kind of a key part of Acres USA is, you know, we talk about ecological principles but we also focus on the economics behind it. 02:23 Is that right? Correct. Okay. How did that happen? Well, that's kind of a long story. That's okay. We've owned it for just over a year now. I grew up in southwest Wisconsin and did not have much agricultural background at all. I always liked land though. My first introduction to land was through hunting. 02:51 And I kind of have a little bit of an obsessive personality. So I was kind of obsessed with hunting and interacting with the land. I became a police officer when I was 20 and that was the first career that I jumped into. I knew, you know, shortly into that, that it probably wasn't going to be able to get me into a position to actually buy my own farm or have my own land to manage myself. So. 03:21 I jumped into the entrepreneurship world, learned about business. When I was 25, I moved back in with my parents and said I was going to make a go of it in the business world. And then two years later, we were able to buy a farm. And while we had that farm under contract, the initial idea was still revolved around farming or revolved around hunting. And I knew I kind of wanted to create a. 03:49 a media company that talked about managing land and interacting with land because I did love – I've always loved just interacting with land and manipulating it and doing different things with it. I found Dirt to Soil by Gabe Brown and Restoration Agriculture by Mark Shepard and I got bit by the regenerative agriculture movement and I realized Mark was actually just 20 minutes from me. 04:19 So I started, I probably listened to his book that winter five different times and I would just drive by his farm and try to figure out what all he was talking about in that book. And finally, I just knocked on his door and Mark and I have been working together ever since and Mark is, you know, like I said, the author of Restoration Agriculture which is probably the highest selling book that Acres USA has. 04:49 So I got introduced to Acres USA, bought a ton of books, and that's how I began my journey into regenerative agriculture. My business world from the side had kind of morphed into marketing agencies and working with tech to help business owners create books and courses and events, but it was completely separated from agriculture. 05:17 COVID happened, that business kind of took a little bit of a hit just because the majority of our clients were pretty affected by COVID. So I jumped into real estate, took our agency and began doing more of a local type marketing services and then became a realtor specializing in working with land and helping people find regenerative. 05:46 or find conventional type farms with the plan of transitioning into organic or regenerative type practices. And Mark was always kind of in my ear because I had the experience with books and courses and different things that, you know, he kept pushing me towards this Acres USA idea. So it took about two years and of back and forth and negotiations and we finally acquired it last December. So we've been running it for about a year now. 06:16 And that's how we landed with Acres USA. Wow. That is a lot of pivoting going on there. And I'm assuming you're in your 30s? Yeah, I'm 31. Yeah. That's a lot of things in 10 years. Sorry, not 20 years. Yeah, it's kind of like every different little pivot has led to these different things and put me in a position to... 06:44 where I'm confident we can run a business like this. So every little thing throughout my life has given me either different experiences or perspective to be in a position to do this. Well, I think that's awesome. Not very many people your age have the, I don't know, luck, insight, brilliance to make those pivots to get to the situation that you're in. 07:14 My dog is yelling at me. She'll it doesn't matter. She's always in the background. Um, So I have questions about the actual magazine because as I'm sure you've heard Print is dead, but print is not actually dead. So how there is a print version of the magazine. Yes, correct. Yep, and 07:37 How is it doing? Because I looked at your website and I see that you share some of the articles on the website, but not everything. So how is the print magazine doing? Yeah, the first thing that we did last year was actually get the articles online. So anyone who has a print subscription gets access to the website. It's similar to newspapers that have articles and there is a paywall function. We release four to five articles a month that are free to anyone. 08:07 and then the rest of them are reserved for our subscribers. So we have a digital option along with the print option. If we weren't in this specific niche, I would probably be a little bit more concerned about the print just because yes, in general, the print magazine world is struggling. The paper world is struggling. All of our printers and folks that are in that world, they don't seem to be having a very fun time. 08:36 But we also have a little bit of a unique audience in the sense that our folks do tend to stay a little bit more disconnected from technology. And we have a plain community that is the fastest growing population in our country that only consumes information through print still. So that's part of our big plan to expand that audience. 09:04 while also then giving all the digital offers that come from the magazine. Because the magazine is really a content-making machine, and you're forced to, you know, find these articles, find these stories on a monthly basis. So our goal is just to make sure that we offer those on digital avenues, but then also continue to support the folks who consume things in print. Okay. And how do you find your writers? Are you... 09:33 Are you open to freelance writers or do you have staff writers or how does it work? We have a main editor who works with us, Paul Meyer. And he, well luckily that was a thing that we inherited that was actually moving pretty well. It's a good system. So we have a Rolodex of writers that have written for Acres USA for a long time. So we kind of rotate through them. 10:03 four to five writers that will put a monthly piece together in specific type of areas that we're talking about. But yeah, we have freelance writers that if you ever have an article idea or something you'd like to submit, you can submit it to Paul. His email is editor at acresusa.com. He sifts through those ideas, matches them into the specific months of what we're talking about in the magazine. And if it doesn't... 10:32 hit the actual print. That's also the good thing about the online articles is we end up publishing any type of overflow that doesn't hit the print online. Nice. You have just made every freelance writer's day in saying that because it's really difficult to break into writing for magazines. I have done it. I don't write right now, but I have written for some magazines and trying to get your foot in the door as a freelance writer. 11:00 is a lot of work and a lot of patience and a lot of sad. So I'm really happy that you shared that because one of the things I've learned this past year about homesteaders and farmers and ranchers is they have stories and experience to share. And they don't quite realize that they could share it in a magazine if they knew how to get to it. So hopefully... Yeah. And that's something that we're trying to bring. 11:30 a lot of just farmer type stories. I'd say right now we're publishing a lot more agronomy type columns and we do have a little bit of the high level science where a lot of these articles are even way over my head. But we do want to find those farmers that have a story and also if you mean if you're a freelance writer and you know some of these farmers too, a lot of the time they just need help getting their ideas out of their head and onto paper. 11:59 That's where our editing team comes in handy too, because myself included, I'm no special writer, but I will kind of throw up ideas on a paper and it turns into a nice article. That's because of our editing team. Editors are the miracle of every print, everywhere. Yes. I should have gone to school to be an editor. I am. 12:23 terrible about reading and just being thrown out of what I'm reading because there's something not right in what I'm reading. It drives me insane. Okay. So my podcast is about homesteaders and farmers and ranchers and people who grow things, whether it's plants or animals. And I try to throw in a topic that is adjacent to that now and then because I think it keeps it interesting. And I just, I don't know, I saw Acres USA and I was like, huh. 12:53 That's something I haven't really delved into is a magazine that puts out stories about this stuff that I'm hearing about every day. But it sounds like you're also a publishing company. So what books have been put out? Yeah, we have 127 books that we've published. Restoration Agriculture by Mark Shepard is probably one of the most widely known ones. We also published... 13:22 the Albrecht series, which Albrecht is kind of the first person that talked about mineral optimization in soil where if we optimize our minerals in the soil, you know, we can accomplish a lot of the same things that we end up doing with synthetic fertilizers without the chemicals. From that, people like Gary Zimmer, the biological farmer, is one of our books that we've published 13:52 a form that's easier for folks to consume in today's age. And we have a laundry list of them. Charles Walters, our founder, obviously was an exceptional writer. I think if anyone sees some clips from our conferences past year, you had Joel Salton breaking down into the tiers just talking about how moved he would be by Charles Walters writing. So his name is on... 14:21 I think 18 to 20 different book titles where he ended up just speaking with some of these farmers and people that were in the ag world doing these things and help them get a book written. So, we publish a broad spectrum of things. Most of it's evolved around ecological farming practices, but we're in the biodynamic world, radionic world, homesteading world. 14:51 you know, 350 titles from either self-published authors or other publications. So our Rolodex of books is pretty large on our site and it's all in the name of organic and ecological farming. Okay. You mentioned radio, radionomic, is that how you said that? Radionics. What is that? I have not heard that one yet. It's kind of a... 15:20 It's a parallel idea, similar to biodynamics. I'm not the person to give you the lowdown on it. We just have these subsets of practices. I think anybody in this world usually finds an avenue that they find themselves in. We try to carry all those different types of ideas. 15:49 Some people might call it a little bit of witchcraft, but I think it's important that if people are getting results from things to allow their ideas to flourish and allow the people who consume that information to try it for themselves, you never know what people can get results with. It's another sub-segment of it's similar to biodynamics. Okay. I'll have to Google it. That's what I'll do. 16:15 at later today. It was a rough weekend around here. I had a terrible migraine all weekend. So I'm just getting my brain back today because when that happens, I have no brain. I'm just like honey, honey, honey, don't talk to me. My husband, it's not going to go well. Just I'm going to go lay down, leave me alone. So later today or tomorrow, I will look up 16:41 It's amazing to me how often Joel Salatin's name comes up with people I talked to on this podcast. I interviewed him back months ago. Fantastic guy. He's, he's so kind, but he's also a wealth of knowledge. And it's so fun to hear other people say that he's been part of whatever they're doing. Yeah. I'm, I mean, he, Acres was the first place that Joel got a start. 17:09 So he was one of our keynotes at the conference. He talked about how the pinnacle for him was, I think it was in 1988, he finally got a chance to speak at an Acres conference. And that's kind of what Acres has been for a lot of these people. They're super well known. They took different paths. Like Joel self-published all of his books, but he always has been a big part of the Acres community. And we kind of brought him back into it once we purchased it. 17:39 Because Joel has a little bit of controversy that surrounds him and, you know, it's not always the worst thing in the world. But his experience and the things that he's done for this movement, you know, it's hard to find someone who's done more. So he's an important part of this movement and he has an important history. He sure does, more important than I think he even wants to claim. He's very humble in a lot of ways. 18:09 When I talked to him, I said, did you ever expect to become this famous? And there was this very self-deprecating chuckle out of him. And he was like, well, no, no, I did not. So I don't think, I don't think any of them did, you know, no one, because we are, we are in a time, you know, for me to have this company now it's easy because these topics are the cool topics to talk about. Well, when these guys came up, they were like the back room secretive type meetings that everyone sucked their nose up at and thought they were crazy. 18:39 So they weren't exactly like the cool thing to talk about all through the 70s, 80s and 90s. Yeah, they were rabble rousers. Yeah, yeah. So we have it easy and I don't think any of these guys thought they would become what they are, but they are. They're in the centerpiece of one of the most important movements we have as civilization. Yes, absolutely. And it's always... 19:04 Like I knew about a lot of this stuff before I started this podcast. I knew a little bit about a lot of this. And as I've talked to people and learned things from them, because it's the best part about having a podcast is I learned so much from everyone who talks with me, is it's so obvious to me that this all makes sense. Because if you work with nature and not against nature, nature is going to provide for you. And 19:31 How we got away from it is just beyond me. 19:36 Well, it was in the name of industrialization and efficiency. People went into the industrial movement in the 40s and 50s. As a society, we went to more of high production driving the economy. In order for us to feed the world without having a large percentage of the people making their own food, this is kind of what came of it. 20:05 And you, you know, if you look at it from the perspective of these farmers is when someone walks up to you after farming for 25 years and they hand you this bottle of magic potion that you pour over your land and all of a sudden your corn crop turns into, you know, double what it used to produce without any information on really the effects of what that is coming from that. You know, any person probably would be easily sucked into that. 20:35 And, you know, I think that's what happened is we pushed – we pushed – well, it became science. It became, you know, chemistry type farming. And, you know, we pushed more yields, more yields, more yields. Unfortunately, the profit thing never got drug with the yields thing. And that cut out a lot of small time farmers and it drove them away from the farm. And it's drove… 21:03 you know, just higher production, lower margin. And you have these giant corporations that are part of that, that are really the ones that are making a lot of the money. Yes, and one of the things that I've been told more than once is that if you wanna be a rich farmer, you need to start rich. Yeah, I... 21:30 Yeah, it's, I mean, that kind of is the way that things are going. But you know, you have to define rich, like what is rich, having a bunch of money in a bank account or actually being, you know, because I feel pretty rich every day when I go out and move my cattle and feel pretty connected to exactly, you know, how our foods are being produced. You know, our family consumes probably about 60% of the food, definitely 90% of the protein. 21:59 that we eat because we have cattle, hogs, and chickens. So I feel pretty rich when I crack open an egg from our chickens versus buying store bought eggs and seeing the difference. I mean, even the high end organic, so to speak, free range eggs, crack one of those open and then crack one that you have on your homestead and it's, you know, I feel pretty rich. 22:24 Yeah, we're feeling kind of poor right now. We got rid of our chickens a couple months ago because they were being lazy and they were getting old and the eggs were not coming in the way they should have been. And my husband was like, I don't want to feed the chickens through the winter if we're getting like three eggs from 12 birds. And I said, that's fine. It's fine. We just get more chickens in the spring. That's why you always have to plan a year ahead. So you get that new flock in the spring and then they start laying. 22:51 right about the right time when your older flock start taking vacation. Uh-huh. Yes. And we didn't do that. And I'm kind of regretting our choice, our life choice regarding the chickens because we hadn't bought store-bought eggs in forever. And I'm sure there are people who really think that store-bought eggs are fine and they're just as good as eggs from your own chickens, but they're not as good. And I'm kind of angry. Not once you get exposed to that. 23:19 Kind of angry about it. We bought four dozen brown eggs from the grocery store and I haven't eaten a single one. I'm just like, no, you guys can have them. I don't want them. I'll go without eggs for a little bit. It's okay. So yeah, eggs come up a lot. Chickens come up a lot on this podcast, clearly, obviously, because chickens are the gateway drug to everything else. 23:45 Chickens are really important. The other thing that's going on right now, as I'm sure you're well aware of, is the bird flu thing that's happening. And I can't believe how expensive eggs are at the grocery store right now too. Yeah, I think my wife had to buy some around Christmas too, just because our chickens weren't producing enough. I think she made some egg bakes. And yeah, I think what organic eggs right now are $6, $7. 24:15 or six dollars a dozen and conventional is like four. So we're not so crazy now asking the prices that the homestead type egg producers ask. Yes, and that's my other life choice regret right now is that we got rid of our chickens just when egg prices spiked. So that was kind of dumb too. But it's okay. We'll get more in the spring. Yeah. 24:44 Chickens are a tough thing to, I mean, you can see it. Chickens are the easiest thing to test out in a type of business model where then you see that you really do need scale to then get in the positive. So I, you know, we've reduced our flock as well just to make sure that we have eggs, but it is a difficult thing to actually create a profitable income from. 25:14 If you're buying all the feed. Yes. The feed was the other reason we got rid of them is because feed has gone up in price so much as well. I hadn't bought chicken food. I hadn't gone and actually bought it in over a year because my husband or my son had gotten it. And the last time I went in to get chicken feed, the guy was like, that'll be $30 for a bag. And I said, excuse me. And he looked at me like I was crazy. 25:40 And I said, the last time I bought a bag of this, it was $20. And he said, when was that? And I said, over a year ago. He said, oh, well, there's your answer. And he wasn't being smart ass. He was just like, things have really gone up in price over the last year. So yeah. Really makes sense because the people who grew that grain have not been having fun because grain prices have tanked in the last two years. So how, how those prices fluctuate. 26:08 That kind of comes back to the example that somebody is making money and unfortunately it's not the farmer. Yes, and that brings me to the dairy farmers who don't make any money compared to what milk costs either. Yeah. 26:28 Yeah, it's a... we're just talking about depressing stuff all this whole episode. That's okay because it's okay though because most people who aren't in the business don't know how all this works. So yeah, dairy is definitely an issue because you have conventional producers. And if you think about a dairy business, I have some firsthand knowledge 26:59 this thing that happens every two weeks or every month where you get paid for the milk. So you have this constant inflow of cash, which any farmer, you know, they're a little bit jealous of because most people who are, you know, if you do beef or hogs or chickens, you know, when you're in the protein world, a lot of the time you have big months of sales and then months without any income coming in. So I can see it from the dairy producer's perspective where it's difficult to give up that constant income that's coming in. 27:29 Even though every time they get paid, if they actually sat down and did the math, you probably paid yourself about $3 an hour. They have such an overhead involved with that, that it's so difficult to get out of that rat race because you've invested a ton of money into the infrastructure and it's not easy just to walk away from that. 27:57 Yes, exactly. And the thing that's, that just drives me baddie is without dairy farmers, without farmer farmers who grow produce without, without these people. We don't eat. And yet all these farmers are, are just getting by. I mean, if they're lucky, then yeah, they're making a profit and they're happy. But from the stories I've heard, that's not really the case all the time. And. 28:27 I suppose that my husband and I could continue growing our 100 foot by 150 foot garden and we could have 20 chickens and we could get a milk cow. I don't really want one, but we can get one and we would eat, but the variety of eating probably wouldn't be very diverse and we would be fine, but it would probably be boring. So it makes me, it makes me bothered that. 28:55 Most people don't understand what is happening behind the scenes of their food. And most people don't care. And that's part of the reason I started the podcast is because I want people to know the behind the scenes stories and how much work it is and how important farmers are. So that was part of the reason I wanted to talk to you because clearly Acres USA is very behind the scenes and very supportive of people who are trying to do this right. 29:26 Yeah, I think it comes down to this. A lot of the financial issues come from not having a say in what you're able to sell your product for. If you think about any other business in the world, it's unlikely that people are creating a business where they essentially have all of this operating type of overhead and then they are not able to name their price at the end to make sure that the business makes money. 29:54 You know, their prices are controlled by something that they have essentially no control over. And that's where Acres has always been in the position where if you do start farming more in the image of nature, then a lot of those things, a lot of that overhead cost then will be reduced. So if you can get 80% of the yield, but your overhead expenses are cut by 80%, you know, what is the actual... 30:23 main goal in the end of the day. It's actually having a profit versus having a yield without a profit. That's what we've always preached and I think that is the future. As fertilizer costs go up, as people become more aware of what that is doing, farming this way is a value-added thing. The more that consumers become educated on it and actually go out and seek and want that value. 30:52 It gives the farmers an opportunity then to start naming their prices and name them at a premium because they deserve a premium. But the cool thing about that is that they're unique in the sense that how they're raising it but they are also then able to charge more with having a little bit of less expenses if they farm within nature's image. So that at the end of the day, then they have bigger profit margins and may actually have successful farms. 31:23 Yes, exactly. Thank you for saying all that in a much better way than I ever could. So you were saying that we were kind of talking about depressing things. Tell me something fantastic about what you love, about what you do, and we'll end it on a really good note. Well, I think technology and consumer knowledge is moving in the right direction for our industry. We have people designing tools. 31:49 where I think in the next five years, people are gonna have an app on their smartphone where they can take pictures of produce and take pictures of meat and actually get a nutrient density profile sent back to them so you'd be able to tell the difference in the food before you actually eat it. And you'd be able to take that to the grocery store or take it on farm, wherever farm where you're buying stuff from, and actually see the difference. That's never been done before. I mean, that would be an enormous marketing. 32:18 tool for not only farmers, but then it's an amazing tool for consumers. So technology like that is, that gives me a lot of hope. And consumer education. So we've seen in the last year this type of agriculture and people talking about these topics actually enter the mainstream. People are talking about it in the biggest stages where that really hasn't ever happened before. 32:48 So I'm seeing it all the time. When people come out and buy meat or eggs from us, all you have to do is have a conversation with them and they're sold on it and they're willing to spend that extra money to do this. So I have to buy that food. So I think those are the positives. I think we're moving in the right direction as far as just societal information and education basis. I really hope so. And if that app comes out, I want it on my phone. 33:18 Well, I think everybody will. Yeah, absolutely. I think that that would be amazing, other than people who don't really care about what they're eating. People who don't care about what they're eating aren't going to care, but people who want to know will love it. So we're at 33 minutes and 25 seconds. Taylor, I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me today. And I am so looking forward to seeing what happens in the future for Acres USA. All right. Thank you a lot. 33:47 Thanks a lot, Mary. You can find all of our information at acresusa.com too. Yep. I will put the links to that and your Facebook page and your Instagram page and all the things in the show notes. All right? All right. Thanks, Mary. Thank you. Have a great day. You too.…

A Tiny Homestead

1
Aussie Rescue of Minnesota 37:00

12 weeks sitten37:00

37:00

Today I'm talking with Laura at Aussie Rescue of Minnesota . You can follow on Facebook as well. If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead. The podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Laura at Aussie Rescue of Minnesota. Good morning, Laura, how are you? Good morning, I'm good, how are you? I'm good, it's a really grody day in Minnesota this morning. It is. For anyone who doesn't live in our area, 00:29 It is very, very gray and the fog in LaSour is like pea soup. I don't know what it's like where you are, Laura. It's raining here, which is always miserable in the winter. 00:41 Yeah, it's really weird. I'm not loving this winter so far because it reminds me an awful lot of last year. Yup. All right, so tell me about yourself and about what you do. So I joined Aussie Rescue of Minnesota in 2012 because I had heard such great things about Nancy and the organization, Nancy Anderson, and the organization that she had started with another person like 30 years ago. 01:09 And so she had started, she saw the need for Aussies to find Aussie appropriate homes, because Australian Shepherds can be special. They can be high energy, definitely, but also they're very smart. So sometimes smart isn't easy to live with, because they find lots of things to get into and to do, and if you don't give them a job, they find their own job, which is generally something you didn't want them to do. 01:36 And so she saw a lot of Aussies being re-homed because of that. She saw a lot of Aussies being re-homed because people, maybe their lives had changed. The dog didn't get along with a new baby or they'd lost their home or, I mean, there's so many reasons that people's lives can kind of go topsy turvy. So she started rescuing and a few years later made it into a formal nonprofit. 02:04 and she's been sailing this ship ever since. And I was looking for a way I could help and had heard so many good things about the reputation of Aussie Rescue of Minnesota. So I got on board and kind of got sucked in pretty heavy. I went from just fostering one dog to fostering multiple dogs, to being on the board, to adding roles as I went. So... 02:34 Aussie Rescue of Minnesota has been around for a long time, 30 years. And they pride, we pride ourselves on good matches with people, not just finding a good home for the dog, but finding a dog that really fits that family. And then we are with our dogs for the rest of their lives. So if anything happens, they come back to us. If the new owners have 03:00 behavioral issues or, you know, vet issues or anything like that, we're there to help them or assist them in any way we can. So that's what we pride ourselves on is the long relationship and the quality of our adoptions. Wow. Okay. This is why I wanted to talk to you because I need to know more. Number one, 03:30 because sirens were the mermaids that would suck the sailors in to basically dying. And Aussies suck you in. There's something about her little faces that you're just like, oh, I am yours forever now. I am your human. You are not my dog. And I know this because we have one and we've had her for a little over four years and I love her to pieces. And I've talked about her endlessly on the podcast. So. 03:58 I may throw in a couple things about Maggie today, but I want to know more about the process here because as you said, Aussies are a very special breed and they will get into trouble and they do need a job. And they also bond really, really tightly with their owners. So it must be incredibly hard when they're surrendered to you guys. Yeah, it can be. Although, you know, dogs live in the moment. 04:26 So as much as we'd like to believe that our dogs would shine away for us forever, if given up, they do tend to just bond with the next person, unfortunately for our egos. They really live in the moment and they're looking for that bond, like you said. Having an Aussie is more like having a partnership than having a pet. And I work with my dogs a lot, my own personal dogs. 04:53 I do a lot of competitions with herding and agility and obedience. And so that bond becomes even stronger since we spend so much time training together. But even a dog coming in that's just met me within a couple days, they'll pick the person in the house and it might be myself, it might be my husband, it might be one of my kids. But they actually have an opinion on that. They don't, you know, you can't get an Aussie and say, well, this one's going to be my dog because it's really up to them. They pick their person. 05:23 and you can't change their minds. So yeah, that bond is very strong. Yes, and they will pick the person that is not at home all the time. I am at home all the time. My husband works seven days, well, not seven days a week, five days a week, and he leaves the house about 7.15 and he gets home anywhere between four and 5.30. And Maggie is very sad by four o'clock if he's not here yet. She thinks that he's her person, 05:53 when he's been out of town for more than a day or two, she pouts on the back of the couch looking out the window for him. And then within a day or two, she's right back, to mom, will you feed me? Mom, will you play with me? Mom, I love you. So, so yeah, they are very much, they very much want to be with a human, but as long as the human they're with is kind of them, they adapt pretty quick. Yeah, and the breed was bred to be very adaptable, right? The breed was developed in the Western United States. 06:23 and they were used for like everything you needed on a farm. So they were sheep dogs, they were cow dogs, they were, you know, the dog that was supposed to get rid of the rodents on the farm. They were playing with the kids, they were, you know, jumping in the truck to go to town to protect the trucks so nobody could approach it. So they were a little bit of guard dogs, so we see some of that guardy behavior in them sometimes. 06:49 They were really the all-purpose dog on the ranch out west. And so there's good things and bad things to that also. I mean, when a breed has been developed for certain tasks like that, sometimes putting them in suburbia doesn't work if they have some of those strong instincts. Sometimes it does. You know, the aloof with strangers is right in their breed standard. And we see a lot of that. 07:17 but we just adopted a dog named Boone up to a YMCA camp in Northern Minnesota where he's going to greet, you know, hundreds of people every summer. And he will love that because he was a little bit more golden retriever in an Aussie body type of dog, which isn't something we see a lot, but that was him. So he is adopted to a home that is perfect for him. 07:45 Yeah, they're incredibly smart. I just got Maggie to learn shake. I've been trying to get her to do shake, shake her paw for four years. And the other day she was trying to get me to pet her and I took her paw because she was pawing at me. And she let me hang onto her paw for the first time ever without pulling it away. And I was like, shake, good job. And she put her paw down and that was it. And the next day she came over to me and she wanted me to pet her 08:14 pawing at my arm and I didn't touch her, I just said shake and she picked her paw up and let me take it and I was like oh so it took four years for you to learn shake but you learned everything else really fast. Right. Had to be her idea. Yep and now if we can just find her off switch for barking when people pull in our driveway that would be great. Yeah yeah I'd love to give you that off switch but I don't have it myself. Yes and on that note these dogs. 08:43 I would love an Aussie that was actually friendly with strangers. We did not get one. She must make her opinion known that there is someone she does not know on the property or in our house for at least five minutes. And then all of a sudden she's like, well, maybe I'll go sniff them and see if they pass the sniff test. And then if they do, she's fine. She's their best friend the entire time they're here. And so... 09:11 One of the things that I would tell people who are considering getting one of these dogs, whether it's a toy or a mini or a standard or whatever size you want, you really have to commit to this. You do with any dog, but these dogs are really a lot. I mean, she's wonderful. We love our Aussie, but they have things that are also important to note, like they can be prone to epilepsy. 09:41 And the flea and tick and heart guard, or not heart guard, heartworm medicines can cause them to have seizures too. So there's a gene that these dogs can have that makes them prone to having seizures. And that's no fun. Our dog didn't get it, thank God, because I would be heartbroken. Yeah, and so it's called the MDR1 mutation. And so all dogs have the genes. There's two genes. 10:09 But Aussies tend to have a mutation that's passed down genetically in one or both of the genes. So if it's a fairly simple genetic transmission, so if one of the parents has both mutations on both, a mutation on both genes, then they will for sure pass one down to the puppy. And if the other parent is clear, we call it clear if they don't have the mutation, then 10:38 that puppy will have one mutation on the two genes. And so if they have one mutation, they can have reactions to certain drugs. And those are drugs that would enter, that would cross the blood brain barrier. So they get into the brain tissue. And the dog, because of the mutation, has trouble clearing that drug back out. So that same drug in a different dog, say a lab, would still cross the blood brain barrier. Sorry, that's hard to say. 11:06 And would, but then the dog would be able to clear that drug out of the brain easily because of those two genes. And in the Aussie, they can't, so it builds up. And that's why they have not necessarily seizures, but neurological issues when those certain drugs, ivermectin being a common one that we see a lot build up in that dog. It's... 11:30 Fairly easily managed. There's a list of drugs on the University of Washington State on their website and they were the ones that discovered it and described it and they have a list, very complete list of drugs that you would avoid with dogs that have that mutation. They also have a blood test. It also is in all the genetic testing that a good quality breeder would do anyway on a dog. 11:56 And so you know whether your dog has it or not if you buy from a quality breeder. Um, so, you know, cause oh, I have, um, you know, multiple Aussies in my house. They're clear. I can treat them like any other dog. They can have the same drugs as any other dog because they don't have those mutations. Yeah. Maggie does not either. Thank goodness. I swear to you, Laura, if anything was wrong with my dog, I would be heartbroken. Like she. 12:22 She was out playing frisbee with my husband yesterday, the day before, and she got a snoot full of snow. Like she must have inhaled a whole bunch. Yeah. And she was coughing and coughing and coughing. And I was like, please don't let her get pneumonia. Please don't let her get pneumonia because that happens when you inhale water or food into your lungs. It can make you sick. And so I watched her like a hawk all day yesterday. My husband got home. He was like, did she cough today? I was like, not a peep. She's good. He's like, you look... 12:50 He said, you look so relieved. I said, honey, I said, I'm telling you, anything happens to this dog, I'm gonna be a disaster for a month. I love her so much. So that's how sick I am about this dog. We never should have gotten her, it's terrible. Yeah, I hear that a lot. And I know, I've had other breeds too, but yeah, there's something about the bond between an Aussie and their owner that's just so strong. It's ridiculous. 13:17 If anyone had told me I would be this obsessed with her, I would have just laughed myself stupid. And now I just laugh myself stupid because I am this obsessed with her. So the other thing I was gonna say about getting any dog is that you can't just go get a dog and do nothing. You have to really want to take care of a dog to be a good dog owner. And right now, the care for dogs or cats or any animal is exceedingly expensive. 13:47 We just took her for her well checkup thing back in October and it ran us almost $260 just for the checkup and her shots. And I was like, it was $160 a year ago and the vet tech was like, yeah, inflation hit us too. And I was like, wow, okay. Everything is more expensive. And also, pet medicine has become more like human medicine and that we have access to 14:14 ultrasounds and MRI machines and all the, you know, which is all great. I mean, I've used some of that stuff, right? And when you have a dog that you're looking for what's wrong with them, to be able to have access to all those tools is awesome. But it's also increased the cost, just like human medicine, because they have access to all that stuff. So you have to pay for it. Yeah. So what I'm, what I'm getting at is that these days, if you want a pet, it's like adopting a child. 14:41 because you are going to have to do the things to take care of that pet. Almost like you are adopting a child. It's not cheap, guys. It's money. And if you're not in a position to have a kid, you're not in a position to have a pet, is my take on it. Yeah. Well, I see a lot of young couples getting a dog or something, you know. And you know, I love those adoptions because they have all the time in the world for that dog, right? They don't have... 15:09 kids to run to school or to soccer practice or whatever. And, you know, I mean, we can all look back in our early years and think, oh my gosh, look at all the free time I had and I didn't even realize it, you know. Yeah. So, yeah, I have a, you know, so we adopt two apartments. If the dog is suitable, obviously, if you have a big barker who doesn't like people walking by in the hallway outside, that might not be the best for that dog. 15:36 But if it's suitable for the dog that we're adapting, we adapt to apartments. We just make sure that, yeah, they're getting adequate physical exercise and even more so mental. So a lot of people when they have an Aussie who's out of control and crazy like this new little foster I just brought in last week, she's just exploding with energy. She's young, she's been in a kennel at an animal, local animal control, and she's just exploding with energy. 16:06 And she gets adequate exercise, but mostly what she needs is mental stimulation because that's what she's been missing. And so we're doing things like stuffing Kongs for her. So when she's in her crate, she has a Kong that she can, you know, unstuff and get all the goodies out of. We're letting her play with other dogs, which is great mental stimulation while they figure out the social aspect of it, which she's not that great at. So I've got her with one of my own dogs. 16:35 loose in the house together so that they can, she can learn a few social niceties and the other dog can teach her that they can play without her getting offended by, you know, whatever the dog just did. And so when we go on walks, I put her on a long line, she gets to sniff. So sniffing is a great mental stimulation. So instead of just, you know, if you're a runner, maybe running a dog miles. 17:00 They'll actually be more tired if you take a slower walk and let them sniff a lot because that uses so much of their brain. So anything you can do, like you were talking teaching tricks with your dog earlier, that's a great mental stimulation and it's fun for the dog and for the owner. Yes, and one of the things you can do is, my husband does this all the time in the evening for her dinner time. He will take her kibble and we have a blanket that is just hers. 17:30 and he will toss the kibble in the folds of the blanket, like crinkle it up. And then he just puts blanket on the floor and she has to figure out where her food is. She loves this game. She thinks this is great. So that makes her think about, oh, I still can smell it. Where is it? Yeah. And hunting for food is a very instinctual thing for them. So yeah, they enjoy that a lot. 17:54 Yep, and she's a sucker. She finds every piece, but there's always one that's buried in the middle somewhere. And she'll stand there and like paw at the blanket and cock her head like, I know it's in there. Where is it? Right. She finds it eventually, but it's very fun to watch her because you can just see the wheels turning in her head. Yeah, I always recommend to people who have wild and crazy, especially young dogs. 18:17 There's a couple toys that you can put kibble in and then they knock it around. The Buster Cube is one that I've had around for years and years. The Dog Pyramid, which is very similar to the Kong Wobbler. But the Kong Wobbler has a bigger hole, so it doesn't take them as long, where the Dog Pyramid has a smaller hole in it. It's like a, it's one of those Weeble Wobbles, like we had when we were kids, that you could put it and it'd pop back up. It's built like that. You put kibble in it. It's a little, you know. 18:46 eight inch tall little toy plastic and then they knock it around and the kibble comes out one or two pieces at a time and so it'll take them like 45 minutes to eat their supper or breakfast out of that instead of you know three and a half seconds to gulp it out of a bowl. So similar to your blanket trick it's just slowing them down making them work making their brain work and it just leads to a more contented dog. 19:12 Yes, and they sleep a lot better at night when their brain is not spinning constantly. Oh my God. Yep. When she was a puppy, she did not sleep well at all. And as she got older and her grown-up teeth came in, she wasn't teething on everything. And she grew into her crazy, I think is how I would put it. Yep. So, yeah. And we were warned. We were warned. Our friends are the owners of Maggie's parents. 19:41 Mrs. Bratz told me, she said, she said, she's a, they're Velcro dogs and your dog is a very licky puppy. And I thought, well, all puppies are licky. That's not news. Well, no, this dog is still a very licky puppy at four years old. So, right. Yeah. So I was warned, but I did not understand. I had no concept of what we were, we were stepping into and that's fine. We love her. We're not getting rid of her. 20:11 So how many dogs do you guys rescue a year do you think? Is it an average? Do you have an average number? Yeah, so 70 to 80. Um, and We're around there. We've done more we've gotten closer to a hundred in some years Um, it really depends on how many foster homes we have because we can only rescue as many as we can put into foster homes and um, I have four dogs of my own and then I try and limit myself to one or two fosters at a time But you know, that doesn't work so well. So right now I have three 20:40 Oh, wow. And so we try not to, you know, put too many, you just can't put too many dogs in one house. You can't take adequate care of them if you do that. So I get to seven and I'm still okay. I get to eight and I'm like, all right, this is too much. And I have acreage to walk the dogs on and I have ways to separate dogs in my house a little bit. Not everyone has that. So most of our foster homes, you know, have the one foster with their own dogs. 21:10 And so yeah, it just depends on how many foster homes. And then, you know, some dogs stay with us for a long time. I've got Marty here, he's on our Facebook and our website, and he has been with us for a year and a half. It'll be two years in March, actually. And, you know, he's just, he came from a hoarding situation. He's very skittish about being touched. And so I've slowly been able to touch him, pet him more and more. 21:38 And so now he's comfortable, very comfortable with me touching his head, his chest, his back. But I still, you know, can't like slide down his leg or, you know, trim his nails or that kind of stuff. It's just been a very slow process because he's just been very, very damaged by his fast. And he probably came out of a puppy mill. And then he went into a hoarding situation and it's, you know, sometimes it takes him a long time to recover from that. 22:08 Other dogs, we just had a dog last couple weeks ago named Mac, came in, delightful dog, friendly. The only reason he was being turned in was because his owner was moving out of his country home and into a small apartment in town. Physically, couldn't take care of the dog anymore. So we got him in and he was adopted. We had an approved application that was already waiting for a dog. 22:35 And we asked, are you interested in this dog? And they said, yes. And he was with us for only five days and then off he went to his new home. So it really depends on the dog and what kind of work they need, what kind of vet work they need. Some of them need a lot of recovery if they come in in poor condition before we even list them. So we have a couple of dogs sitting in foster right now that we don't even have listed yet because they need more training or more recovery time before they're listed. 23:05 Yeah, so last year we did 80 dogs. That's one of the things that I love about what you guys are doing is that you aren't just getting a dog in, getting them up to date on their vaccinations, making sure that they're physically okay and then sending them out the door. You are actually taking the time to get them prepared to go be with another family. Yes. Well, we want to get to know them. 23:31 We want to know that the family that we're placing them with is a good match, both for the dog and for the person in the family, because we don't believe that a family should, you know, change their entire life around a dog. You should place a dog in that family that fits with their lifestyle. So if the, you know, one of the people like to run marathons and they want to take the dog on a four or five mile run every day, we're not going to place, you know, a couch potato. 24:01 dog with them. And if we have a person that likes to come home from work and curl up on the couch and watch Netflix, then we're going to put the couch potato dog with them. So getting to know them is key so that we can make those good matches. Awesome. So we got all messed up on timing here because your phone got messed up. So we have like, I'd guess maybe eight more minutes to make this a 30 minute interview. So 24:29 I had questions and I just said all that and now they're gone. So does it have to be an Aussie breed dog for you guys to take it in or just have like part Aussie? So we do take Aussie mixes. People are very visual. We're a very visual species ourselves. So we try and get the dogs if they're an Aussie mix that look like an Aussie a little bit. 24:54 at least. Some of the times they come in and they probably do have some Aussie in them, but if they don't look Aussie, they tend to linger people. When people come looking to us, they're looking for something that looks like an Aussie. And so it's not that we don't take them. It's just that we recognize they're going to be with us longer because we're looking for that certain person that doesn't care what the dog looks like, which is more rare than you would think. And so... 25:20 Even though we try and tell everyone, you know, as you're living with the dog's temperament and the personality more than you are, what they look like, that's just a human trait, you know? So we do take, you know, obviously Aussies and then Aussie mixes. And that leads into, I know the minis and what people call the toys are getting more common. You know, we try and educate people that those are not Aussies. Some of them have a little bit of Aussie in them, but they're definitely mixes. 25:48 The breed doesn't have a size difference like, you know, like for instance, poodles. They have different size poodles and schnauzers, they have different size, but they actually don't in Aussies. The breed is an Aussie. And then when people are making the small ones, they're mixing them with small other breeds to make those. And so we would just list them as mixes, but we also take them. 26:13 But we do have a under 20 pound rule that I try and stand by. Once in a while, we get one that's smaller than that anyway. We're suckers. That's why we're in this business. And so we take the dog that needs help. But we've genetic tested enough of them to know that they generally don't even have any Aussie in them. We had one little guy. He was so cute. He was black tri. He had his tail docked just like an Aussie. 26:41 And he was a toy Aussie supposedly, he was like 16 pounds. And we had him genetic tested and he had like three different kinds of terrier and a couple spaniels in him. He was all little dog breeds and he didn't have any herding dogs in him at all, any breeds in him at all. So, you know, but you see a picture of him, you're like, oh yeah, he looks like an Aussie because his coloring was right and his tail was docked. So there's a lot of scamming going on by puppy mills, that kind of thing. So I guess, you know. 27:10 The big thing to tell people is get a puppy from a reputable breeder who does genetic testing, does hips, elbows, and eyes, and get a rescue dog from a reputable rescue that's willing to take their dog back if it doesn't work out. And that they're there for the purpose of placing dogs in good homes and helping the dogs and not there for the money because there are disreputable rescues just like there are 27:39 reputable breeders. And so yeah, we are also willing to help people with that aspect of it. If people are looking for a dog and we don't have the dog that they want, we refer them to other rescues that we trust and we work with. And we'll help them find a good breeder too. We are 100% supported by our breeders in the area. They do fundraisers for us. A couple of them do grooming 28:09 dog that needs to come in to rescue right now and we don't have a spot for it. We've used them and they don't even charge us. So yeah, we are very lucky that the local Aussie breeders are behind us and helping us and we're actually gonna have a big fundraiser put on by the Upper Midwest Australian Shepherd Club, which is a lot of breeders are part of that. They do a big raffle for us in March. That's one of our big fundraisers for the year. 28:38 We are very, very lucky how supported we are by the quality breeders we have in this area. That's fabulous. I love that. I didn't know that you guys were supported by the breeders too. Yup, yup. So if anyone wanted to donate to you guys, is there a thing on your website that they can just, I don't know, send money? They do, yeah. Yup, we have our address for if you have, we wanna send a check or else we have PayPal on our website and that's www.ossierescuemn, as in Minnesota,.com. 29:09 And then obviously our Facebook is pretty active. We try and share if someone's adopted from us We always encourage them to send in pictures and updates and we share that and we always have our adoption photos and our new dogs That are coming in that are available for adoption On our Facebook Yes, I was I was actually looking at your page yesterday evening And I showed my husband a couple pictures of the dogs that are available and he was like we are not getting another dog One is enough 29:39 I said, oh, but honey, honey, I want that one and I want that one and I want that one. And he said, no, no, no. And I'm like, okay, fine. But they are very- Aussies are like potato chips. You can't have just one. Yeah, we're trying to buck that. We really are good with one. She definitely takes up our time and our energy. The last thing that I would say regarding these dogs is that if you get one, be prepared to lose your heart. It'll be gone. 30:08 I swear to you, had no idea, but it will be gone. It's like having kids, you know, they say that having children is like taking your heart out of your chest and letting it walk around in the world without you. And I swear it's the same with these dogs too. Yeah. Like I said, they're more of a partnership than a pet ownership. Yeah. You don't own an Aussie and Aussie owns you. And I think that's pretty much it. I just... 30:37 The reason I wanted to talk to you is because Aussies tend to be farm dogs and my podcast is about homesteading and stuff. So I was like, there's a tie in there. It's okay. Yup. They're great dogs. They're great dogs for farms. They're great dogs as pets. They're just all around. They're a good dog. But like you said, they all have very different personalities. So if you... 31:01 If you want a couch potato, you kind of need to know that it's a couch potato. It can't be a dog that wants to go herd sheep and you don't have sheep. Yep. Yep. Exactly. Yeah. And, you know, I mean, mine are spend a lot of time with my, I have sheep and so I rotationally graze and so I move my sheep from spot to spot. And so I have two of my four that I own that are trained to move the sheep and put them where I want them. And they're very calm in the house, but they're emotionally. 31:30 mentally and physically satisfied dogs too. So that's always the difference. They have a job and they do their job. And then they come in and they're like, I'm tired. I'm gonna take a nap now. Yep. Uh-huh. And the other thing I was gonna mention is you were saying that you kind of like the dogs that you guys take in to look like Aussies. The biggest thing that I have seen with looking like an Aussie is a border collie. My parents have one. 31:59 And she's like four years older than our dog, I think. And she's a black tri border collie. She has the pretty brown markings. Yep, yep. That an Aussie would have, a classic black tri. And when we got our dog, my dad was like, you got the same dog as we have. And I said, no, yours is a border collie and mine's an Aussie. And he's like, they're the same damn dog. And I was like, I don't think they are. No, they're not. 32:29 And he said, okay, well, they look very much like they could be border litter mates. And I was like, yes, yes, they look a lot alike, but they're not the same breed. Yeah. We got into kind of a, I don't want to say piss and match about it, but we got into kind of a little debate about it. So, yeah. So, and they act different. I have a half border collie, half Aussie foster right now, Nico. I'm about to post him actually. He's been with me about a month and a half because he needed some. 32:57 needed some training before we could post him. Probably still need some more, but we're going to try and find the home that can help finish that training. And he, they act different. So when when they come in, even if they look like an Aussie, my husband will say that one acts really border collie. And I'll be like, yeah, he kind of does. And you start watching them move. So they move different definitely. When the two breeds heard, they heard very different. The Aussie is 33:27 So they don't do that direct border collie stare. Most of them, there is some of that in there. And that, you know, there's probably common ancestries, maybe some breeding of border collie into the Aussie at some point in their lineage. You know, we don't know for sure. Back then people were breeding the good cowdog to the good cowdog to get more good cowdogs, right? They weren't really concerned about papers or there weren't any papers back then when they were developing it. And so, 33:56 There's, you know, all breeds came from somewhere. But the, and the, you know, the border collie was developed over in northern Europe and the Australian shepherd's parentage, well, that's not the right word, ancestry came from like Spain and that area. So those aren't too far away. So there was probably some intersection back there somewhere also. 34:22 But definitely the border collie when they heard you can see the difference. They're more crouchy That's not the right term, but they crouch down and and they have this very intense lots of eye contact with the sheep Controlling with a lot of presence And then the Aussie is more up close and personal They'll go in and do more close-up work, and that's what they were bred to do Also, they were bred to be in the chutes and the corrals at the ranch 34:49 and do a lot of the close work where the border collie was bred to be out in big open fields with the sheep. And there's plenty of people that use border collies now on cattle also, but those are very different looking border collies than the ones you'll see working sheep. Even in the breed, you'll see the differences. So it's very interesting. Yeah. And I mean, this is going to sound dumb, but... 35:12 What you were just saying is all very accurate. I did some research. I believe everything you're saying. I sent the research to my dad and he was like, okay, fine. Yes, they're different. But the other thing I've really noticed is that with my parents' dog, when she barks, when she's on alert, she sounds like an 80 pound German shepherd. When my dog barks, she has that high pitch yipe that the Aussies have. Okay. And, and, um, 35:41 I was saying to my dad something a while ago about how big his dog is. And he's like, she only weighs like 35 pounds. I said, oh, I thought she weighed like 60. He said, no, she's not a German Shepherd. And I said, she's the same size as our dog. I said, and our dog goes, hi, hi. And your dog goes woof, woof. And he was like, yeah. He said, you said they're not the same dog. He said, I believe you now. They are not the same dog. 36:11 I was like, okay, good, and she's barking right now. God love you, Maggie, you're a good girl. All right, so anyway, I think we're good. Laura, thank you for talking with me about your rescue because, well, it's not your rescue, but the rescue, because I worry about my dog. If anything happened to us, I would want her to go to somebody like you. Yep, that's what we do. I hope we give people peace of mind. 36:39 when life goes horrible and they don't have any other choices because we get a lot of that. And I hope we give them peace of mind that we will, you know, we'll follow that dog for the rest of their lives and make sure that they're safe. I think you will. And I think you're doing a fabulous thing. Thank you so much, Laura. Have a great day. Thank you. All right. Bye.…

A Tiny Homestead

1
Brookhaven Mill Farm-North Carolina 31:32

12 weeks sitten31:32

31:32

Today I'm talking with Cheryl at Brookhaven Mill Farm-North Carolina . You can follow on Facebook as well. If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Cheryl at Brookhaven Mill Farm, North Carolina. Hello Cheryl, how are you? Hi, I'm doing well. How are you doing? I'm great. I was looking at your website and your story is so cool, so tell me about yourself and what you do. 00:29 Okay, so let's see, I'll just give you the brief rundown. At age 60, I purchased a farm, my first farm, and I am now 66. So I have been running this farm for the past five and a half, almost six years. I am in central North Carolina, right outside of Greensboro, and I diversify a bit as far as the farm model goes. Because I... 00:58 physically do not grow crops. I decided to grow livestock, and I am now centralized around growing sheep. I started with East Friesian sheep, and now I've diversified into a different breed that's a little more parasite resistant in this part of the country. And it's a Catawdin-Dorpor cross. Right now, I have about 30 head. But raising sheep is kind of boring. It's like golf. If you don't do it, it's kind of boring. 01:29 So what I do on the weekends is I open my farm for an agritourism destination. So I get locals from Greensboro and visiting to come out to the farm and not only see the sheep, but to see some of the other animals I've added. Sheep get along really well with goats. So I've added some goats and a couple of donkeys for a guardian, a couple of... 01:57 dogs, a lot of cats, and chickens, ducks, and geese. And it just makes for a wild menagerie of animals for people to feed and just get excited about learning. Awesome. I have two questions. I'm gonna forget one of them if I don't ask both at the same time. One is about the cross-breed of your sheep and one is about the fact that you started this at 60. So we'll start with the sheep one. The cross-breed that you have. Catodin is a hair sheep, right? 02:26 Yes, that's correct. Is the other one also a hair sheep? Yes, Dorpher is also a hair sheep. And you know, it's really just a bunch of mutts out there, but they have had four lambing seasons coming up on my fifth lambing season, Valentine's Day. We're expecting lambs. And each lambing season is getting more and more specific to the Katahdin look, the fine features, the sweet face, the little smile. 02:56 and just easy to handle, very docile, very good choice for meat. And not so much milk that I can tell. I'm going to try to milk some of my ewes in February. I morphed into this mutt breed of mostly Katahdin now, but some dorper, because the sire, the ram, is a dorper. But he's also a cross. 03:26 So he's a Dorper St. Roy cross. So these girls have all been lambing. 03:36 Some have been lambing for four years, some have been lambing for three. This year I've got a couple of first time moms, so it's gonna be interesting to see what they're offering exhibit as far as the traits that I'm trying to get to, which is worm resistant, hair, completely hair, because the original seven sheep I started with six years ago when I bought the farm were all German breed, East region, and they were wool. 04:04 So I've just about bred the wool out of the lands now. Okay, that was what I was gonna ask you about because I haven't actually talked to anybody who's bred a hair sheep and a wool sheep and how that works, because I have no idea. Is it just like any other animal that you breed with a different variety? That's why it's. 04:27 And then you get wool sheep or hair sheep or like maybe a wool hair sheep. I don't know. Yeah, you get a wool hair sheep and that's what's so funny is because it's taken a couple of generations now of lambing to get to the point where all the lambs are now starting to look like hair lambs. The first experiment, the first lambing when I crossed the dad with the, you know, the 04:57 lambs. Some of the lambs had the nubby, woolly texture. Some had sort of a half and half fill. And now they've been bred back to their father. And their offspring now exhibits very little wool nubby. But sometimes you'll get one that looks like it's... Where did this one come from? It's got almost like Velcro. 05:26 fleece, which is really hard to shear. So not only have I saved money for the farm by going to hair sheep, because it's quite expensive to shear, have a shearer come and shear 30 head of sheep. So this year, the shearer is only going to have to shear six sheep, which are the half and halves, but they still need that wool taken off. 05:55 how to be comfortable in the summertime. Okay, that's what I was wondering about. And the only experience I have with breeding anything, and it wasn't like on purpose because we're dumb, is our female barn cat wasn't spayed. And she was an incredibly long haired cat, like ridiculously long haired. We called her Floof because she was so long haired. And her last litter, she had seven babies, and three of them 06:24 were long haired and four of them were really short haired. Like, not hairless cats, but really short haired. And we capped one male from Malitter and he is a dilute orange. So he's like beige colored. And his hair is as long as his mama's. And he's gorgeous. And we adore him. And I call him fluffy butt because he's so fluffy. But. 06:52 I've never actually bred an animal on purpose because that's not my job. I don't do that. But it's weird how genetics work and it's always really interesting to see what happens when you do cross different lines. Yeah. And unfortunately, that's the adventurous and exciting part of breeding sheep is what am I going to come out with because you're putting some thought into it. It's not just willy-nilly. I keep one ram because I know he's proven. 07:21 I do sell my other ram lambs once they've been weaned from their mom. But the downside of it is you also have to be very conscientious not to keep sheep that are going to be genetically flawed. And like they get worms, they have prolapsed uteruses, they have toes that constantly have to be trimmed. 07:48 It's just me that runs this farm. And so I have learned, and it's been a very hard lesson, that I don't want those moms breeding again, because they're passing on a trait that's high maintenance for me. Yes, undesirable traits are called undesirable traits for a reason. Yeah, that's right. OK, so that leads me back to my second question five minutes ago. So you said you did this at 60, and now you're saying that it's just you. 08:17 You must be in fabulous shape. I'm not, my cardiologist will tell you that I am 60 pounds overweight. I'm morbidly obese according to the medical definition, but I feel great. I live a healthy lifestyle. I don't smoke. Of course I drink wine, but you know, I have a healthy outlook on life. I've been widowed for 18 years. My husband passed away unfortunately. 08:47 Um, three years into our marriage, he was my second husband. And so he would have loved this place. Um, but I just decided I've always been a risk taker. I've, I've grown up working in aerospace and department of defense, uh, as my career hat, and I just retired after 43 years of working, um, as a contractor for the government, I was in the Navy for a short time, but my, my day. 09:17 job for the last 43 years has been very technical. And I've always had a side hustle. And this farm allows me to let my creative juices and my business acumen come out because I also run a bed and breakfast. And so I get, and I have a farm store. So I get a chance to do a little retail, do a little hospitality, do some animal husbandry. And I just love it. 09:45 So it's taken me, I'm sorry that it took me so long to figure all this out. But I think everything happens for a reason and at 60, it just all fell together. I'm right there with you on, sorry that it took so long to figure it out because I have been doing this podcast for a little over a year and I love it. And I wish I had started it when I was in my forties, not when I was 54. I hear you. Or 53 or whatever it was. So yeah, but you never know. 10:13 all the things that you spend your life doing become the next thing you're going to do, I feel like. Absolutely. Dead straight on that Mary, dead straight. Yeah. So do you have a great perinase? Because I hear a dog in the background. Yeah, I have. So I've partnered with a food bank and so it's taken me time to do that. Let me see if I can shut him. Oh, no, no, it's fine. I don't mind. He's barking. I just hear him. 10:41 Well, I, so this food bank gives me, you know, we have a lot of food waste in our country. It's, it sounds like a good problem to have, but all this food goes into the landfill. And I've been able to partner with the local food bank that gives me boxes and boxes of food that is not for human consumption. Maybe it's gone past the expiration date at the grocery store. And so they, they give me a truckload of food and I just came in from my pickup. 11:11 I have a pickup every week at this food bank and I share it with my neighbors because a lot of this food is actually very good food. Like if you can imagine a bag of lemons and maybe one lemon is bad, they throw the whole bag into my pickup. And so it's ridiculous not to share that with my neighbors and that's a neighbor that's just pulled up, which is why my dog's barking. 11:36 Ah, I see. Okay. And was I right on the breed? Is he a great Pyrenees? No, I chose not to go with a great Pyrenees because they have a terrible habit of wandering. They sure do. Helps to find their boundaries. This is a Romanian sheep dog. He is bred to protect his flock from bears and wolves, which we don't luckily have a lot of here in North Carolina, but we do have coyotes. 12:06 Thankfully, I have not suffered any losses from coyotes or neighbors dogs with him around. Nice. Is he big? He's huge. He's 120 pounds and their breed will get up to 200 pounds. He won't reach his full weight limit because he had some challenges with his hips and bone structure when he was born. So, he has a bit of a handicap, but he's topping the scales at 120. 12:35 And he looks a lot like a St. Bernard, but if you're curious or anybody's out there curious, it's a bucovina shepherd dog. Okay. The reason I thought it was a great Pyrenees is because friends of ours, hi Tracy and Paul, Tracy listens to the podcast all the time. They have two great Pyrenees and the bark on your dog sounds very much like the bark on their dogs. So that's why I asked. Oh yeah. Well, I hope their Pyrenees stick close to home. I was just afraid to take a chance and have mine wandering. 13:03 Um, they've told me that they do wander, but they don't wander far because the neighbors send them home. They tell them go home and they do. So, okay. So it's, it's okay. I don't think the dogs have been lost for any real amount of time. So I think it's fine. I think that, I think that the dogs, um, Lagatha and I can't remember the male dog name, male dog's name. 13:28 But anyway, I think that they know where they belong and they find their way back pretty quick. And the other thing is that as I say all the time, we have a dog, but she's more like a person in a dog suit. She's a mini Australian shepherd. And so when she barks, it's this very arf noise, not the big woof noise that yours is doing. Interesting. I'm always curious because I am very sound driven and thank God I have a podcast because I get to hear all kinds of different tones and tenors. 13:58 voices all the time, but I also do it with animals. And it's always very interesting to me how you can recognize certain animals' sizes by the sounds that they make. You would have made a great sonar person on a nuclear sub because one of the traits they look for is someone who can identify a school of shrimp versus a ship. Oh, funny. Funny. Yeah, I have been told so many things that I missed my calling on. I could have been at least a hundred different things at this point in my life. 14:29 But this is where I've ended up. So, okay, so I can't believe it's just you doing all of this. You must have like a huge wall calendar that you have stuff on so you can keep track. Yeah, so one of the, in my professional life, part of my job was managing and organizing documents and software. And so I think that that is the skill that I put to use here at the farm. I do keep a calendar. 14:59 I have a lot of bookings for kids' birthday parties. I have to make sure, and my biggest fear is I'm going to overbook. That's just, you know, same with the B&B. I have to make sure that I'm managing these reservations very carefully and giving everybody the experience what they're looking for. So that's a lot of PR involved, but a lot of behind the scenes stuff as well. So I've had to wear a lot of hats, just like any entrepreneur out there, especially in agritourism. 15:28 You are the bookkeeper, the financier, the marketer, everything. You're the face the public sees. And, and so it's the biggest challenge I've had doing this for six years now is. Setting boundaries, you know, just now, right before this podcast, uh, earlier this morning, I had opened up our little snack bar and I have a set time on Tuesdays where people can come and pick up fresh milk and. 15:56 I have to adhere to these schedules very strictly because I've got other things on my plate to do, which was being this podcast. And so I closed up the snack bar at the time. And just before I came online with you, somebody pulled up and wanted some milk. Now they were 35 minutes late. And it's been the biggest challenge is when is the customer always dry and when is this is a farm and I have to keep a schedule. 16:26 And a lot of times I find the latter works better. If people really want the milk, they have to come when I'm available. And it's a terrible thing to say when you're dealing with the public, but it is just me and I can't, I can't be constantly stopping what I'm doing and running out and helping somebody because maybe they heard I had fresh eggs. So I do open just on the weekends to the public to come and shop for things at our farm store or at the snack bar. 16:57 or go into the petting zoo, but I absolutely keep the gates closed during the week, unless it is a private appointment, like a milk pickup. 17:08 Yes, and don't feel bad that you have a schedule that you need to keep because your time is as valuable as anyone else's. Yeah. That's been a hard lesson because I am now supported. The farm is supporting me now. I don't get a paycheck. So it is hard to remember that I am still an employee and ambassador of the farm. And it's just, it's going to be interesting at tax time. That's all I could say. 17:36 There is no W-2 to show my accountant, so it'll be fun. Yes, we actually had to do that last, well, this year in 2024 for 2023, because we had a CSA in 2023. We were selling things at the farmers market and just stuff. And my husband was like, I'm bringing our tax person this file folder of all my spreadsheets. Do you think it'll be right? And I'm like, I think that he will be very happy to see that. 18:06 And when we walked in and the guy was like, okay, so what's the deal? And he took my husband's W2 from the job that my husband had for like three months of 2023. And then he was like, what else you got? And my husband was like, well, here's what we've been doing. Here's all those spreadsheets and handed them to him. And the guy looked through them and he said, I am so impressed with you. You would not believe how many people start businesses and bring me every receipt from the year. 18:36 And it's like a box. Yeah. No, I go through my box and put it on a spreadsheet as well. I just don't have any W-2s. So how do you, maybe we can talk offline, but yeah, it's going to be a challenge because I don't pay myself. So this is going to be an interesting tax year. Yeah. Gotta love it. Taxes are hard. I think even if you are rich, taxes are hard. It's just how it is. 19:06 But anyway, I wish you all the luck in the world with that. And yes, we can talk about that afterward. We're done with the recording. Because I don't know if I can help you, but I will try. OK. So tell me about the history of the place that you own. Yeah, so this is my dream property. I thought my last property in Lake Lure, North Carolina was my dream property. My husband and I purchased that in 2004. And it was a vineyard. 19:36 He was from California. It was just an amazing piece of property. Lake Lure is such an amazing place. It's so sad, the devastation that it's just gone through with the storm. But we were living four miles from the lake and had 10 acres and a guest cottage. And it was gonna be our retirement home. And unfortunately he passed the following year. So I kept the home as a Verbo for 12 years while I worked on different contracts for the government around the country. And 20:04 And the Verbo was a great thing to have, tax-wise, but it kept me from feeling grounded. And so I finally came upon North Carolina, the central part of North Carolina, and saw a farm that was an 1800s historic farm. It was just incredibly beautiful. The house sits upon a hill and it's 23 acres and it had the barn. It had all the infrastructure. I wouldn't have to do anything. 20:34 because I'm winging it at this point. My husband's not here to build stuff and fix stuff for me. So I found that it was on the market for 200 days with nobody putting in an offer. I figured it was either haunted or it was just in such bad shape. Nobody wanted to deal with it. But when I took a tour of the house, there were renters living here. I was so impressed with how it was already set up where it would be a perfect B&B. It was just... 21:03 It was just the house of my dreams, two story, 1882. It's just incredible, the architecture inside, the original wood floors, everything was just beautiful. I just kept pinching myself. So I got it at the price I needed to have it at. And from that point on, it was just learning about the house. Old houses have noises in the night. It certainly is not haunted. 21:31 If anything, there are very good ghosts here. There's been a very long history of a family passing it on to its generation. And so I have some really good provenance with this house. Three doors down is a 93 year old lady who was born in this house. And she can tell me all sorts of stories about what her father and his father did growing up here. Both were born here. 21:58 So she was the third generation to be born here. And it's just so incredible to hear history coming from her lips. I mean, so I have a lot of provenance with the house. I've got a real spiritual connection to the house. And it's just so funny because I don't know any of these people. But I have their pictures in the hallways. It's like when you come in, everyone always asks, oh, are these your ancestors? And it's like, no, it's the ancestors who built this house. 22:28 So people who stay here really all seem to enjoy stepping back in the past because I do serve a traditional breakfast on China and the house is furnished in 1930s and before turn of the century type furniture. So it's just been like living in a doll house. I just love it. You sound like you just love it. The joy is coming through the headphones. 22:56 Yeah, it's really interesting when you buy a house that old, or property that old, because back when that house was built, it probably wasn't as big as it is right now. I'm sure that they added on to it. And back then, I'm pretty sure there wasn't electricity. Yeah, you are absolutely right in remnants of how life was back then. I discovered the outhouse my first year living here. Someone had parked it. 23:24 behind an old shed and it is certainly an outhouse. But yeah, you're right. It has become modern with each generation that has lived here. You know, it's funny that you bring up the outhouse. Back, oh my goodness, it's gotta be at least 10 years ago. My husband and my youngest son and I went for a hike and there's this beautiful hiking trail. 23:52 about at least half an hour from where we live now. But back then, we lived about 15 minutes from this trail. And there was an old, old, old brick house. And it was like a, I would call it a mansion for the time it was built, because it was probably built about the same time as your house. And red brick, and it had a brick outhouse. Oh, no kidding. 24:22 that horse or that bull is built like a brick shithouse. And I had never actually understood that they made those, that a brick outhouse actually existed. And we came around the corner of the house after wandering around the outside of the house and yep, brick outhouse. And I just laughed myself stupid for like 15 minutes. My husband's like, why are you so tickled? 24:48 And I said, because brick shit houses actually exist, honey. I had no idea. Oh my gosh. It, you know, I guess that was the way you could show your wealth back then, you know, because I've never heard of a brick, Johnny, Johnny house. That's what they call it here in North Carolina, Johnny house. Yeah. So it was just funny. And I was actually thinking about it the other day, cause I have photos from that, that hike and we took a picture of the brick outhouse. So. 25:18 But either way, very funny to me, probably no one else will giggle, but I thought it was a riot. And the other thing is that I'm assuming that your home went through the whole transition from hurricane oil lamps, whatever you want to call them, and candles, to gas lamps, to electricity, to where we're at now. And you write on about the original structure I learned, again, from my 93-year-old neighbor. 25:47 who learned from her father that the original structure was pre-1880s. It was just a two-room farmhouse that her grandfather grew up in. And you can feel the transition when you're walking from that part of the house into the addition that was built in the 1930s. When the family was expanding. 26:16 And they needed additional bedrooms and living quarters. And so that's what I love about this house is because, you know, you can put an egg on the floor and it'll roll. It's just crazy. Not very fun when you're trying to retile a kitchen though, because they did have to level my kitchen because it was so off kilter. Then, you know, so that's not fun when you're in that type of remodeling, but gosh, the 26:44 the little nooks and crannies where they put, they actually took the original house and attached another structure to it. And you know, nothing matches up perfectly, but that's what I love about it. Character. Absolutely. It oozes character. Yeah. Our home that we live in now, that we moved into a little over four years ago, was completely remodeled before we ever set foot in it. 27:14 And there used to be a bedroom downstairs and it was probably just a small bedroom. It was big enough for a twin bed and maybe a side table and possibly a small dresser, but I doubt it. And the house now is a two bedroom and both bedrooms are upstairs. And what they did is they opened up that bedroom and it's part of our living room. And then a side of that bedroom is a walk-in closet for coats and things. And. 27:42 At first I was like, this is great. It's, they set it up almost like open concept. It's really pretty. And now having lived here, I kind of wish they'd left that bedroom downstairs alone. Because number one, it would have been a great place to have as a guest room for my kids when they come home. 28:04 And number two, my husband snores and it would have been a great place for me to go at night if he's keeping me awake, but no, the bedroom is no longer downstairs. So it's interesting how people change the inside of a home, but the outside tends to look the same for a long time. Yeah, the parlor, what I use to serve breakfast in, it has the only working fireplace in the house. There were four fireplaces in the house. 28:33 four flues where a parlor stove might have been hooked up to it. And three are non-working and one downstairs is working. And I learned from my neighbor that that was her parents' bedroom, that they had the heat and they all used to gather in the parents' bedroom when they needed extra heat. But they had working fireplaces or working stoves. And she said that the fireplace was always the warmest spot in the house. 29:03 That is now my parlor. So the only thing you can tell that it could have been a bedroom at one time is there is a closet, which I'm turning into a powder room. I just need a place for guests to wash up when they're downstairs before I serve breakfast. Normally, they're upstairs in the bedroom, and that's where the bathroom is. But you're right. Every time a generation has been here, they've added something to it. Also, I learned that. 29:32 With their family, they only had one bathroom, which was an unusual back in the early days. But the bathroom was upstairs when she was growing up, which would have been in the thirties. And so they had indoor plumbing then by then she said she never used the outhouse. But in the thirties upstairs was the bathroom. They added a bathroom downstairs. So I actually have two bathrooms now, but I want to add a third, a half that just to have. 30:00 guests be able to go in and wash up downstairs. I love that we're talking about this because this isn't about growing plants or growing animals. This is about growing a house. I think that's amazing. You brought it up. No, I think it's great and and you're using that home as part of your agritourism business. So it fits. Yes, and I have to watch when people come out to the farm that they don't wander inside because they know it's a bed and 30:30 So sometimes, you know, there are strangers, complete strangers walking around, which is a little unnerving, but I guess it's to be expected when you come across a house like this. Yes. And I mean, there's a lot of history there. And I think that you probably are a history buff and so am I. And we are not the only ones on the earth that love historical buildings. So I'm not surprised to be like, I wonder if I can just go take a peek. 31:01 So, all right, well, Cheryl, we have been talking for 30 minutes and, oh, actually almost 31 minutes and I tried to keep this to half an hour. So I appreciate your time so much. Thank you. It's been very, very rewarding to be able to talk to you and share about not only the house but the farm as well. And I appreciate the exposure and the time you took as well, Mary. Thank you. Oh, for sure. I love doing this. You have a great day, Cheryl. 31:30 You too. Bye-bye. Thanks again.…

A Tiny Homestead

1
Hart Farmstead 29:54

13 weeks sitten29:54

29:54

Today I'm talking with Salina at Hart Farmstead . If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead. The podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Salina at Hart Farmstead LLC. Good morning, Salina, how are you? I'm good, how are you? I'm good, bet it's not snowing where you are. No ma'am, I think it's actually like in the low 50s so far. 00:29 Well, I'm mildly jealous but not really. It is snowing here in Minnesota this morning. Oh, I bet it's beautiful. It really is and I would be perturbed except that last winter we only got like maybe six inches total for the whole winter and we've probably gotten about four this morning. So I'm very excited to see white stuff falling from the sky. That is awesome. We haven't had snow here and 00:58 Almost three years until two weeks ago, we got like a little dusting. That's the first side of snow we've seen in three years. Wow. Okay. So you're in North Carolina. Where in North Carolina? We're in like the central area in North Carolina, just south of Winston-Salem. Okay. Cool. I just talked to a lady, uh, today's Thursday yesterday, who was from East North Carolina, and I don't remember where, but E-N-C is part of their. 01:28 their business name. Okay. So, I get to talk to two people from North Carolina in 24 hours, it's kind of great. That's awesome. Yeah, so tell me about yourself and what you guys do. So, we have been homesteading for over a decade now. I was raised by my grandparents who grew everything and or hunted everything for our food. 01:57 My Nana did a lot of preserving, whether it was dehydrating, pressure cannon or water bath cannon. So I got to kind of be hand in hand with that growing up as a kid. My dad and my grandfather both enjoyed hunting about anything that you could hunt. So I've eaten most different types of wild game. When I met my husband in 2009, he is a farmer. 02:26 He does a lot of small grains. And I moved here a couple counties away when we got married. It used to be a dairy farm that started back in 1947. And they sold the dairy cows when he was five years old and his dad changed over to run in strictly beef cows at that point. When we got together, being able to live on a farm kind of... 02:56 really pulled me to continue what I grew up doing, whether it was hunting or raising our food. So we have a really big garden, and I started with just that, but then over the years it has expelled to three really big gardens, multiple raised beds. We have a variety of animals. And about two years ago, we started milking our first dairy cow. It was supposed to... 03:24 only be like for our family's milk. And we had my best friend who was currently buying raw milk down in the central part of the county. And so she started coming and getting some from us. And now we have 10 dairy cows. We currently are milking six. So our biggest thing now is raw milk products. 03:52 and we still have beef cows. So I keep a lot of their beef fat and I render it into tallow and I make a variety of products and then some other organic clean products that I've used for years and people started asking me for them. And so we've just kind of continued to grow in that aspect. And then I've added, you know, I do the sourdough and the kombucha. 04:22 and all the good fermenting. My husband calls them my science experiments. They are spread out around our home. We joined the Homestead community with Homesteaders of America about five years ago and started going to their conferences in Virginia every year. And we really have enjoyed meeting new folks that have the same passion as we do. 04:52 And, you know, even though it's a state away, so many of my close friends and our family have grown to want to learn more, especially when COVID hit. When COVID hit, people started to reach out and they're like, hey, can you teach me how to can, can you teach me how to grow vegetables? And it's just continued to grow over the last few years. 05:20 people wanting that knowledge of knowing where their food comes from, what's in their products that their family has in their home. And it's just kind of always been my passion and it's really all that I've ever known. We do both work off of our farmstead though with goals to eventually at least have me home probably in the next year or so. 05:47 Um, running the, the farmstead with a little store. Um, you know, we, we have found our niche and we have found what truly brings us joy and, uh, the dairy cows are just a whole different level of happiness that I didn't even know that I had. Um, and so we just, uh, we continue to want to learn anything that we can. Um, not just 06:15 for offering what we have to folks, but for our family. So it's been a big reward to share what we know with people. And we butchered some chickens recently with some friends. I'm growing some more pasture chickens for my best friend who's never gotten to do this before. And she does more like a apothecary side of things. And I do more of the gardening and the livestock. 06:46 So that's kind of the quick gist about what we do. And with what we, our jobs off of the farmstead, I am a landscaper. I have a horticulture degree that I earn later in life. And so that really helps my job, but it also helps me what I do here in doing things more organic and safer for my family. 07:14 Yes. Okay. Wow. You are deep in the trenches of homesteading. I love it. And if we don't have, we don't have livestock because we don't have room to have them right now. We have three acres, but we don't have any place for critters to graze. So if we did, and if we had a dairy cow, my husband would have a hell of a time pulling me away from that critter because I love cows. 07:43 He would be coming to find me wherever the cow was and he would find me hugging the cow probably nine hours out of the day. Absolutely. I love cows. I think cows are beautiful and they're not beautiful in the same way as like a horse, but they're just, they're so pretty. Their eyes just, they make me happy. Yes. And we have a couple that... 08:09 All of our cows are super friendly. They love to be loved on. And they weren't all that way when they came here. So it's been a lot of time of many hours out there, loving on them, getting them used to being, because a lot of them came from like commercial dairies. One of them I raised from a bottle. So I'm all she knows. So she thinks she is like a dog and not a cow. But their personalities are just amazing and they are beautiful. 08:38 And their eyes, there's two of them, that when you look into their eyes, they're just like old souls. And you can just see their happiness and their passion. Like, it's hard to explain, but it's soothing, just to look deep into their eyes and see their personalities and their hearts. Yeah, and I think the only thing that is close to that feeling is when you have babies. Like when you have your first baby 09:08 They really look into your eyes and you just fall. You just fall in forever and that's it. And cows' eyes are like that too and it's a really weird analogy to make, but it's the closest I've come. It's pretty, you're pretty correct there. Yeah, I have three kids that I birthed and I have a stepson. And my last baby is a boy. He's... 09:35 He's not a baby anymore. He's only 23 at the end of this month. But he was born really, really fast. I got to the hospital at 10 minutes to seven and he was born at 712. So 22 minutes. Wow. And the doctor wasn't there. The nurse helped me birth him and she didn't even have time to break down the bed in the hospital. So basically he was born onto the bed. 10:02 I sat up immediately because it was so fast and so easy. I felt fine. And I sat up because he was laying between my knees. And he was wide awake, eyes wide open, and just looked at me. And I just, I have never had that experience in my life, even though I've had two other babies. The other two, they were taken away from me right away because they had swallowed the 10:32 but it was one of the most beautiful moments of my life and I always remember it. So there's something really important about connection with another being. Absolutely. So that's my story about my kid. So I have to tell you, I was looking at your Facebook page and your Instagram page and you have a video of one of your dogs. 11:01 And you have the background music as that's just my baby dog. I love that. I saw that like last year and I have a dog I love too. And my parents also have a dog they love. And I sent them the clip of whatever it was that had that background song. And my dad called me. He's like, that's the dumbest thing, but it's so funny. 11:27 I was like, yeah, he says, I'm gonna be singing that's just my baby dog for a month. I said, thank you so much for the earworm and I was like, you're welcome. So I knew we were gonna be fast buddies on the podcast because you had that as your background music for that video. Yes. And to think how fast from since I had video that she's grown and you know, she's full grown now. But when I'm playing with her out in the yard, sometimes I still sing that because 11:55 It is pretty catchy. But when she was a puppy, she was, she just had a hilarious personality from day one and she doesn't come in the house, but I wish she would because her personality, it's, it was amazing. She would walk herself with her leash and you know, that was supposed to be our son's oldest dog, but you know, every, every one of them ends up becoming mom's dog. 12:22 Yeah, I wish that that song had been out when we got our dog. She's a little over four years old now. And had that song been out when she was a puppy, oh my God, I would've been singing it to her all the time. Cause she was silly too. So it worked out great. But either way, I had a good giggle when I saw that you had it and I was like, Oh, I love her already. Um, okay. So you are. 12:49 You are like born and steeped in homesteading from the sounds of it. Yes ma'am. Is it weird to you when people aren't in homesteading? Yes, because some people that I meet that aren't into homesteading, I feel like they look at me like, what is this lady talking about? 13:18 I'm like, man, they'll start asking questions and they want to know more. And then a year later I received text messages with, we went down that rabbit hole. So I love it. I'll actually really do like meeting folks that don't have that background because they quickly get very intrigued by it. And I like being able to guide them and help them to grow into their own journey with it. And 13:44 probably 90% of them end up doing some scale, even if it's just backyard gardening, you know. Everybody has to start somewhere and that gives them their happiness and their feeling of they're producing their own food with what they have available to them. So it's quite rewarding. Yes, I understand. And the other thing that I have found in what I've learned about homesteading over the last... 14:12 20 years learning about it, doing it, is I know stuff that I don't realize that I know. A friend of mine has a very shady patch in her yard and she was like, I'm trying to figure out what I should put there because I want some kind of ground cover, but it's really shady. And I said, well, did you try hostas? And she's like, I'm so sick of hostas. And I said, okay. I said, what about wild violets? 14:39 And she said, wild violets will grow in the shade. And I said, yeah, they grow in the woods all over Minnesota. I said, and I'm sure somebody you know probably has a patch. They'd be happy to split. And they spread like wildfire. I said, do you want to walk over whatever the ground cover is? And she said, no. And I said, well, with violets, you can walk on them. They won't die. You know, you may crush the blooms, but they won't die. She was like, I'm going to do that. 15:08 I didn't even think about the fact that the reason I know this is because my husband's mother gave us some violets from her little patch of woods from her old house when she moved and we put them in and they just grow anywhere. Right. And I was like, wow, I know more than I think I know. This is kind of great. Oh, it is. I'm kind of like that with, my favorite one is Dandelions. 15:37 And that's where it comes into, it's like at work where with being a landscaper and I work on state grounds, you know, when we are, we have to spray out pre-emergent to keep weeds from coming through in the grass on campus. And it breaks my heart because, you know, you're getting rid of all the dandelions that I could go pick the blooms and go home and make me some jelly. But yeah. 16:04 Or, you know, I can make sabs with them. There's so many different things you can do with them. And people are like, how do you know this stuff? And I was like, it's just stuff that you learn over time. It's a weed. And I'm like, no, technically, you know, the, the definition of the term weed is anything planted where it's not supposed to be, I said, so grass is technically a weed as well, you know, so some people don't, they don't get that, but I love knowing little things like that. 16:30 Yeah, and I'm glad you brought up dandelions because I read in two different places. Don't quote me. I don't know if it's true. That some woman brought dandelions over from Britain to America. Dandelions are not native to America, apparently. And the reason she brought them is because they're considered flowers over there, and she really loved them, and she brought some with her. That's interesting. Supposedly. 16:58 I've read it in two different places. I need to read it in about three more before I believe it. But, but I kind of hope it's true because people are like dandelions suck. And I'm like, no, no, no. Dandelion leaves are great in salad if they're, you know, fresh brand new, almost baby dandelion leaves, they're yummy. You can eat them. You can make coffee, a coffee substitute out of the roots. And it's really good. Dandelion tea is really yummy. And like you said, you can make jellies out of it. So. 17:28 They're not, they're not like the scourge of plants or anything. 17:35 No, and I would probably, I would like to look more into where they came from like that because I could see that being true because over there, things that we consider weeds and stuff here are something they use every day in their life over there because they live, you know, over in Europe, they live a completely clean lifestyle. You know, there's stuff there. 18:01 foods cleaner, their products are cleaner, they don't have all the fillers and fake stuff and they love teas and using herbs and I think that's pretty cool. Me too and I'm one of those weird people who absolutely loves coffee but I also love herbal teas. And when people are like coffee or tea, I'm like, what do you mean? And they're like, what do you like better? And I'm like, I don't like either better. I like both. 18:30 Yeah. And I'm like, you're weird. And I'm like, yes, yes, I am. I'm very proud of being weird. Absolutely. And that is okay. Yep. My favorite tea on earth is mint chamomile with honey in it. That sounds good. Just thinking about it. It's really good if you're trying to get some sleep because the chamomile definitely will make you drowsy. It works great. So, okay. So you said you have animals. What do 19:00 We have meat chickens and we have lane hens. We have dairy goats. I have Nubians. I used to have Nigerian dwarfs, but I recently changed over to Nubians in the last year, year and a half. We have beef cows, dairy cows. Let's see, we have guineas. We did have ducks. We no longer have ducks. 19:30 They are messy, but I did love baking with their eggs. They would 100% make cornbread rise, your cakes rise better. We have pigs, we raise pigs. We normally grow out our hogs about four to six months at a time and butcher them for our family. And then we do offer it some to friends and other family members. 19:59 Um, we had quail. We recently got rid of our quail. Um, it just wasn't suitable. And that's one thing when you go down the homestead path, you know, there's some people that prefer chickens over quail or quail over chickens. Um, some prefer ducks and they all have a different reason for being on the homestead. Um, some people prefer sheep over goats. I prefer goats over sheep, you know. Um. 20:28 But we have a variety of things. We still have, we have donkeys and we still have a horse. We used to ride horses quite a bit before we started farming so heavily that we really just don't have the time to ride anymore. Um, and when our children were young, you know, they would ride some. And then, um, we just, we kept one. She's like 20 now. Um, but that's the variety. I don't think I missed anything. 20:56 We did have rabbits. We had some meat rabbits. That was a trial and error. One thing that we realized we would prefer chicken over the rabbits. Yes, us too. We did the same thing. And what I want to say about what you just said about all those animals is number one, when you have to say um, and stop and think, when you're listing off your animals, you have many, many animals. And number two, when, when you try something new, 21:24 on the homestead and it's not working for you, you don't have to keep doing it. You can change your mind. It is totally okay to be like, rabbits are not really working for us. Maybe we don't continue to raise rabbits. Absolutely. Or goats or sheep or whatever it is because all you're doing is shorting yourself and continuing to do something that isn't working. I agree 100%. 21:52 You know, and some folks are like, 100% it's gotta be rabbits. I'm like, hey, whatever works for your homestead or your farm and your family is the way that each individual needs to be able to go through. You know, and we tried these different things and some worked and some didn't. It was fun. You know, it was fun to learn because it gave us different experiences that when we have friends that ask us. 22:21 different questions or for guidance. You know, some, they actually raise quail to release into the wild for hunting purposes around here. And I think it's cool, you know, we'll be at the milk barn and they'll fly in and land on the ground and you know, that's cool and unique to watch. But it's what works for them. And so we've actually gone out there and butchered some quail with them and brought some home to eat. But it just wasn't something suitable for. 22:51 for our farms, Ted. So it's been fun to learn and try new things. Yes, for anyone who doesn't know, quail are really small little birds and they're really pretty. So if you ever, you're saying that they'll come in and visit basically. And they're adorable. I don't wanna raise them, because I've heard horror stories about what a pain in the butt they are to raise, but they're really pretty. 23:21 They're smaller than a chickadee, I think. And they have little peeps, right? You know, they just do a little tiny call. Yes. And it's a pretty cool sound too. Yeah. And it's, you know, when we actually, when we started with Quail, we had gotten some eggs from a friend and hatched them in our incubator. And it was more like an experiment for our boys. Yeah. And they are so tea tiny when they hatch. 23:48 I mean, probably the tiniest animal I think I've ever held. I mean, they are just like the size of a quarter. And to watch them grow through their stages and raise their own, you know, and start having the eggs for you. And it was quite interesting, but they are, they're really small. They're really pretty. And I think it's fun to see their different colors, their different markings. And for them to feel comfortable enough to come around is, it's pretty cool. We had a. 24:18 A white one, I think she was all white, that we released ours out whenever we realized, you know, this just wasn't working. We released ours out because we knew there was so many around here that they would be able to be on their own. And this white one continued to follow us in the yard. It was almost like a puppy and she didn't want to leave. Something eventually ate her because we never saw her again. 24:44 But every time you went outside, she would come within a foot of you and she'd follow you wherever you went. It was, it was a pretty cool experience. That's so cool. Um, okay. So we've got like about five more minutes where we hit 30 minutes and I try to keep these 30 minutes. So because you have been doing this kind of stuff basically your whole life, what would you tell somebody who is just looking into getting started in Homestead? 25:13 I would tell them to find somebody in there, if they aren't local to me, I would tell them to find somebody local to them and try to find a community where you can have your hands-on experience. But I would tell them to start small, start with one thing at a time. And resources such as books, YouTube videos, social media accounts. 25:42 That is how I continue to grow all these years. You know, I didn't do social media, especially like not Instagram, until a few years ago. And you know, that's how we stumbled upon several different homesteaders all across the world. And you get to learn different things, but the biggest thing is to start with one task. But continue to want to grow your knowledge. 26:10 and having somebody local to you to be a mentor, it's a big help because it does take community. I also feel like when you have a community and folks that have the same knowledge that you can help learn from one another, they bring different things to the table. Some may grow plants better, some may raise chickens better, you know, and in that if you can't do that on your home set at the 26:39 You can barter what you are doing with those people to still get those products that you need for your family, even if you can't raise them. So even if you live in an apartment, you can still raise your own things best you can and what you can't do there, find somebody local that you can trust and in your community support by buying their items and being able to still have that on your table. 27:09 Yes, and in doing that, you make connections with people who might become mentors. And mentors are so important. The thing that I have learned about having mentors is that it brings your frustration level down by 50% because you can always call them and be like, what am I doing wrong? Before it becomes, I don't want to do this because I suck at it. You know? Absolutely. You know, when you start something new, especially with the homestead. 27:39 You know, everybody's gonna have heirs, we're humans. You know, we're gonna try things and it doesn't work. And if you have somebody that can help you with that, you know, they have tips and tricks and you learn along the way so that you're still gaining your knowledge, not just from your hands-on experience, but having those folks that can help and guide you. And a lot of these homesteaders that I have met at like the conferences, for example, 28:07 and following them. I actually have reached out to a few of them if I learned something from one of their speeches or one of their posts and I have questions because we all live in different areas and everything's going to grow different or produce different. Even all the way to sourdough, how you keep your house, the humidity levels, everybody's places are different and there's so many different folks out there that can help you answer those questions to figure out. 28:35 why something isn't working properly to help you succeed, to be able to continue wanting what you do because if you fail, you're not gonna wanna continue to grow. So don't give up is the biggest thing. Exactly. And the other thing is that if you do get to the point where you are so frustrated that you want to stop, it's okay to stop. Stopping is not necessarily giving up. Stopping is taking a break. 29:02 But if it's something that you really, really wanted to learn how to do and you wanted to learn how to do it right, you can always come back to it and try it again. And stepping away from things gives your brain a chance to think without really thinking about thinking, if that makes sense. And so it's not giving up, it's taking a break. If you don't ever come back to it, then you've given it up. And if that's a conscious choice, that's way cool. 29:29 But if you're just giving up because you're frustrated, that's not, you don't have to be in that forever. Right, take a step back and regroup. Mm-hmm, exactly. All right, Selena, thank you so much for your time today. I really enjoyed our conversation. Yes ma'am, thank you so much for having me. Yeah, thank you so much, have a great day. You too. All right, bye. Bye.…

A Tiny Homestead

1
Heaven On Earth Homestead 45:13

13 weeks sitten45:13

45:13

Today I'm talking with Sami at Heaven On Earth Homestead . You can also follow on Facebook . If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Sammy at Heaven on Earth Homestead. Hi, Sammy, how are you? I'm good. Thank you. Thank you for having me. You're welcome. So I was, I found you on Instagram. 00:27 And I was looking at your Instagram page and your Facebook page and you and I could have been really good friends about 20 years ago. Oh, wow. Because, because 20 years ago, I was doing the same things that you're doing right now with all the preserving food and stuff. And I'm still doing it, but just not as heavily because my kids are grown and it's only a couple of people in the house now. Fair enough. So we could have gotten together and roasted squash and bagged it up and 00:57 homesteading and preserving, it would have been really fun. So tell me about what you do. So we are on just about an acre of land. It's actually quite small, but we try to utilize it the best we can. So we started this journey maybe about 12 years ago, when our oldest was almost eight years old. And we're having a... 01:25 They were having a bunch of health problems and we were seeing a ton of specialists and taking a ton of medicine. I work in healthcare. I'm a respiratory therapist by trade. And so I was just really concerned and we were at another gastroenterology appointment, I think, for reflux and all kinds of other things, autoimmune related. And I was just kind of airing my frustration and saying, you know, like, I don't understand why my eight-year-old is on eight medicines twice a day when... 01:54 You know, my 80 year old grandmother is not even on this much. And he's, he kind of said, you know, well, the only thing I can really offer as a physician is to add another medication for these problems. And I was just so disheartened, but I just wanted them to feel better. So I said, well, you know, is there any 02:16 anything non-traditional that we could try. And he said, well, I have a couple of patients who have Crohn's and IBS and other things that have tried an anti-inflammatory diet and they've seen great success with that. So he gave me the name of a book and we bought the book. I read it overnight and my husband went to work the next day when he came home. I had all the food in the house boxed up. He said, we're going to try this for 30 days. We're eating nothing. 02:46 that could cause inflammation in the body, we're going to reset all of our immune systems, I bought into it a thousand percent." And he was like, okay, how are we going to do this? And I said, we'll figure it out. I don't, you know, it'll be fine. We'll figure it out. And so we, for 30 days, we ate very strictly anti-inflammatory, no sugar, no dairy, no gluten, no grains, you know, it was no beans. It was all kinds of things that we couldn't have anything of. 03:13 And after 30 days, my child went from taking eight medications twice a day to taking an inhaler as needed for asthmatic symptoms. 03:23 Good job, mama. And I realized I was inadvertently poisoning my kid with just regular standard food and I was so frustrated. And then it kind of, that's kind of where this journey began and it kind of spiraled into all this. So it's been a long time coming, but we finally, we relocated so we could have some more land and be in a better climate. So we had a longer growing season. And so where we are now. 03:51 We have a very large garden. We have laying hens and we do meat birds in chicken tractors. And we have a very beautiful little community here where we live of friends that we've made who are kind of of like mindset. And so we have friends who do beef and friends who do pork and friends who do lamb and goat. And so we kind of all work together to make sure all of our families have what we need and support each other. And it's been just a... 04:20 beautiful journey. So it's nice to meet other people who are of like mine because sometimes you kind of get the hairy eye when you explain things in public. Yes, absolutely you do. And we've gotten it too and I just ignore it now. I'm like, you don't have to do what we're doing. You keep doing what you're doing. We're all good. Absolutely. So I'm really impressed that you asked the doc for 04:48 different solution and I'm really impressed that the doctor said hey you could you could look into this because a lot of our medical professionals don't don't give you answers like that. Absolutely. Absolutely. Which is why I said good job mama because you were a great advocate for your kid. I'm so proud of you because it takes a lot of guts and courage to stand up and say I am 05:15 not okay with the answers I'm getting, I need a different answer to the question I'm asking. Absolutely. And then, you know, once you're on something, you get side effects, and then you're going, is that a symptom or a side effect? And, you know, they just kept saying, well, we could add this medicine or we could do this thing. And really, the only thing that really did help long term were allergy shots. And that was just because they were allergic to everything, grass, trees, pollen, you know, just every single thing. 05:46 And we were just astounded when we got the allergy test back. So we did do that and that has seemed to help quite a bit. And so we're happy now they're at college. So it's a little, it's a little bit nerve wracking because we're trying to kind of, you know, we had to pick a college that had, um, you know, anti-allergen dining and you just kind of have to plan, but as long as you, you know, what you're up against, then you, you know, are just diligent about it. 06:15 you can make it work. And you know, they wanted to go away to college. So we made that happen. Awesome. Awesome. I love that you've worked this hard for your child. And there's a reason that I say that, um, my parents and I were talking yesterday about the shooting in Madison, Wisconsin. That happened. My dad, my dad is 81. My mom is 78. Okay. I'm 55. They raised me and my two siblings. I've raised four kids. 06:45 And we were talking about why this stuff keeps happening. And we came to the conclusion that a lot of parents don't parent, daycares parent. And my dad, he's a really smart man and he's very opinionated and I love him to pieces. And my mom is following in his footsteps. She was very shy when she was young, but she's gotten a lot more outspoken as she's gotten older. 07:13 And I said to my parents, I said, you know, I said, when I was a teenager, I didn't appreciate you guys watching every move I made. I said, but having been a parent, now I really appreciate the fact that you parented me. So, so I'm going on a limb here, but I feel like if you're going to have kids, maybe you want, might want to actually spend some time with them and, and care for them and not put them in daycare and spend, you know, maybe 12 hours a week with them. 07:42 And that may piss people off, but I'm sorry, it's how I feel. Well, I mean, I absolutely agree. I just feel like if you're going to have children, that's the biggest responsibility of your life is that's your legacy when you leave this earth. You know, and if you don't pour into them everything you can, you're you're missing the mark. 08:03 Yeah, and kids are amazing. Like the joy of my life was watching my children learn and become functioning humans, you know? It still is. Absolutely. It still is. Absolutely. And my daughter is the oldest and she's 35 and she called me the other day and she was like, I love my job. She just got a new job like a couple months ago. And it's not a fancy job, it's a job. And she is having a ball. 08:31 with this new job and her voice was ringing and she sounded so happy and she's learning new things that she's good at. She was already good at them, but now she's actually putting them into practice with her job. And I was just so filled with pride that she's really coming into her own, you know? Absolutely. And I think a big part of parenting, especially in today's climate is... 09:00 Teaching your kids that happiness isn't keeping up with Joneses, happiness is finding happiness where you are with what you have, and that having it all really isn't having it all anymore. No, and the thing is, they used to say, especially about women, you can have it all, you know, when women finally got jobs and had the right to get divorced and to drive and to vote and all this stuff. And the big thing was, you can have it all. You can do it all. No. 09:30 Not all at the same time. Not unless you want to be in an early grave from exhaustion and anxiety. Exactly. And I do think. So you're right. Absolutely. And I think that we find a lot of peace and joy in a slower lifestyle, in the homesteading lifestyle. Like I think if I didn't enjoy cooking and I didn't enjoy gardening as much as I do, this would be very difficult. 09:58 but I find peace in it. The reason we're called Heaven on Earth Homestead is because when we moved here, my husband is phenomenal at carpentry. It's just a hobby of his. But he built my garden, he built our chicken coops, and he's kind of engineered this, so I tell him he's the engineer of my dreams. But the reason we call it Heaven on Earth is because he would say, what are you doing out here? I'm just hanging out in my little slice of Heaven on Earth. 10:26 And that was just kind of our thing together, you know, and I find a deep connection religiously in the garden. Like when I'm struggling and I have questions, I go in there to kind of ruminate and it helps me really think and it gives me that kind of relaxing calm and I'm getting things done, but I, you know, when the beans aren't growing and I'm wondering why aren't the beans growing and I hear, you know, well, the beans aren't growing because you're not nurturing them. I'm like, one of my kids is struggling. I'm going, why is my kid struggling? Well, you're not. 10:56 It's kind of the same thing, you know, you kind of get answers through the little things. And so that's kind of where heaven on earth came from. I'm glad you told me that because I was going to ask. I didn't even have to ask the question. You just volunteered the answer. Thank you. So I have questions because I have been where you're at with this whole homesteading thing because we started homesteading on a tenth of an acre. Oh, wow. 11:25 over 20 years ago with a little garden and we had flowers and stuff and taught myself to crochet so I'd make my kids scarves and hats and things. And the first time I had something come out right that I did with my own brain and my own hands, I was so happy and high for like a week. And I told everybody, I told my mom, I told my kids, well my kids knew because they were there. I told my mom. 11:55 told my mother-in-law, told my neighbors about, you know, oh, we put away, I don't know, 25 gallon bags of butternut squash that we grew from seeds, da da da. And everybody was like, oh, that's really nice. That's cool. And that was it. Right. But I was so excited about it. So when you first did something like that, did you have that same feeling about it? Absolutely. 12:24 Absolutely. And I was so excited to talk about it. And I would go to work and at the hospital, and I'd be telling people, I got these seeds from the seed company, and they all germinated. And I was really worried because I wasn't sure if I got the seed mix right. And I would just start going off. And if somebody would ask a question, it was polite conversation. I would go off on a TG, you kind of see their eyes glaze over, like politely listening, but really not interested. And I would get so bummed out. So then when I found 12:50 You know, you find your people, the people who are really interested in it and you can geek out together. It's just so rewarding. That's why I started this podcast because I don't have a whole lot of people to geek out over things with right now. And luckily we made some friends who are doing kind of the same thing we're doing and they live five miles away. So, so when they come to visit, it's really fun because they're like we got piglets and we're like what kind and what do you do? 13:17 and what do they need and how big are they going to get? And they're like, oh, and they just talk and smile and laugh. And it's amazing. So yeah, having, I don't want to, I mean, I do want to use the word fellowship, but I'm not saying in a religious way, I'm saying in a commonality way is so important. 13:38 Absolutely. And it really has, especially where we are now, we moved five hours away from our closest family member to be where we are, so we could have land and be in the right climate and all the things. And it was really hard because we both have very large families to kind of make that jump and just do it. And so when we got down here, we knew nobody. And then we had a baby as soon as we got here. So it was like, we don't have any family, we don't know anybody. And it was so great. 14:08 to kind of have people come out of the woodwork and just cultivate a community of friends and kind of turn them into our local family here. And it's been a really cool journey to meet people of all different places in life, all different ages, all different backgrounds, and everyone's interested and we're all learning from each other. And did you see this and you should try this? And it's exciting and it's fun. I absolutely agree. It is. 14:35 I don't know about you, but when I get talking homesteading or podcasting, because podcasting is my new baby. I've only been doing it for a little over a year, so it's still new. And I get talking with people who are into those things. It's so fun. And like, my heart gets too big for my chest. You know, I just, I feel like I'm swallowed up with happiness because, oh, somebody gets it. Exactly. 15:03 So it's been really neat doing the podcast because I get to talk to people at least three times a week, if not five times a week for at least half an hour about things that I'm interested in, but to people who are doing it differently than I am, which was kind of the point of doing the podcast in the first place. Right. And I learned all kinds of things. And there are a million right ways. Uh-huh. 15:29 Yeah. And I learned so much from everybody because I don't necessarily do things the way everybody else does. So they're like, we, we do this. And I'm like, I need to do that that way and see how it works because we're doing it a different way and it's not working great. So Right. I definitely understand that. When we first started doing our laying hens, my husband built this beautiful mobile chicken tractor that had a great nesting spot and it had 15:58 like indoor perches and all these things. And we ran them on the grass, just thinking we really don't have enough space to put a stationary coop and, you know, just kind of making the most of what we had. And we realized very quickly that we were going to need chicken math. We were going to need way more. We were going to want way more chickens than we had. And that there was no way in a 32 square foot, two story, you know, mobile coop we were going to be able to get. 16:27 the volume that we wanted for what we wanted to do. You know, we have to make our own pasta and we have to make, because what we found out was that our child was allergic to basically all food dyes and all food preservatives. And so we kind of, that's kind of how it all started and kind of how we got to where we are was we had to learn very quickly how to do it all ourselves. Because in 2009, 16:58 2010, there was really not a ton on the market that you could get that was organic and didn't have food dyes. And that kind of became trendy later. And so we needed more eggs. And so after it painstakingly took months to engineer and build this, we used it for a year and realized, oh, we could better utilize these chickens in a stationary coop with deep bedding to make compost for our ever growing garden and alleviate the middleman. 17:29 We live in pine country, so we can get wood chips free at any point in time. They'll deliver them right to your driveway because they, you know, any of the leftovers when they're milling in an area, they just bring it to us. Nice. So it ended up working out, you know, for us to have a stationary coop. So we use the mobile tractors now for our meat birds. But so, you know, 17:51 And we thought at first all, we'll just have a couple on the grass and it'll be fine. They'll get fresh grass every day. And they're very happy, but we needed more chickens than it could sustain. So I definitely understand you kind of sometimes you have to work through it and find out what works for you and you don't make it work. Yeah. I feel like homesteading is an ever evolving process. Yes. It's never done. It's, it's a, it's a running document of ideas. They get tried out when they need to get tried out. Yes. 18:22 when it becomes a necessity to change the procedure, then you change the procedure. Yeah. Honestly, the way that you are doing your life is beautiful. I mean, we definitely don't eat the way that you eat because we're not in that situation. We don't have a child and we don't have any food aversions or allergies or reactions that would require us to do what you're doing. 18:50 We definitely utilize the stuff that comes out of our garden in the summer because it's really good food and we're going to use it. Absolutely. So, I was also going to ask you about the little wreath ornament that you have the picture of on your social media. I made those when I was younger in Girl Scouts and I saw it and I was like, oh, I've made those. So, where did you find out about that? 19:20 undiagnosed ADHD until I was 35. But hindsight is 2020. So I realized when I was about six years old, both sets of my grandparents, I spent a ton of time with both of them. I had two working parents and I was a latchkey kid. So I would, you know, my choice, I didn't want to be home alone. I'd spend a ton of time with my grandparents. And so I realized now that I'm older, I had so much energy and I was bouncing off the wall. So both of my 19:48 needle craft. So I learned embroidery, I learned knitting, I learned crocheting at a very early age and it's just kind of been a passion throughout my life, you know, and it's easy to pick up and put down as you need it and I enjoy doing it, especially in the winter when there's not a ton to do outside. But 20:06 Probably about the same time that we started doing all this, we started going on, I started going on medical missions trips with the church that we were at at the time. And so in order to fund that, I was making baby blankets anyway for the girls at work, but they said, you should make hats and scarves and fingerless gloves and all these things and sell them. So we started making hats and gloves and scarves and selling them. And that was how we would fund the missions trips. 20:34 And so it kind of became a thing amongst all the people that knew me was, Hey, if you need something as Sam, she can make you a baby blanket or a hat or a scarf or a gift for someone. And so when I started doing this, I was kind of going, okay, well, at certain times of year, I don't really have much to post. We're not really doing a ton because the preservation is over and we're not quite ready to seed anything and there's not a ton going on. So. 20:59 I was asking friends at work, you know, what do you want to see now? Like, because we started the page because especially during COVID, we had already been doing all of this. And so people were getting very nervous and scared and they were saying, you know, well, how do you do this and how do you do that? And how do you do this? And I was repeating myself at nauseam at work. And the one nurse practitioner at work was like, you should just start a YouTube page. And I was like, I don't know anything about YouTube. Like I watch YouTube, but I don't know how to. 21:26 I don't have a fancy camera and I don't know how to edit. It just seemed like so much of an undertaking. And she said, what about photographic posts on Instagram or Facebook where you could kind of say how you do things or put up a recipe or however, information. So if people are interested, they can kind of get a bite of information every day. And I was like, oh, that's a great idea. So we kind of hemmed and hauled over it a little bit. And finally I said, all right, I'm going to do it. And so that's kind of how it all started. So I was saying, well, what do you want to see now? And they were like... 21:55 You never post anything about your crochet. So I kind of take pictures of stuff as I do it. And on those days that I don't really have a ton to post, I'll pull one out and kind of put it out there. And so, um, one of my friends has a stall at a farmer's market. And, uh, she was saying, you know, this time of year, we don't, they don't have, they, they sell grains and beef and other things, but they don't really have a ton coming out either in their stall is year round. So she said, I know you make beautiful stuff. You know, if you have anything you want. 22:23 to put up, I'm making hodgepodge and craft stuff right now for Christmas. So she said, if you want to, you know, add anything, let me know. And so I just kind of got a huge inspiration and I was like, Oh, let me look online and see anything I could find. And so I've been making all kinds of different baubles and things for the tree. And I found a picture of that and I was like, I could do that. I have a ton of old rusty canny lids that I have no nothing to use them for, but I've been holding onto them. So I'm like, this is 22:52 a great way to utilize those and not waste them and then. 22:57 someone else can enjoy them. Yeah, we made them with the actual rubber seals that they used to have for the canning jars. Oh yeah. That's how we did it. And it made them kind of bendy, which was nice. And the other difference in how we did it from what I saw on yours is my mom was co-leader. So she picked up some of those little tiny jingle bells. Yes. And she had us sew three jingle bells on the wreath so that when they got knocked, when you walked by the tree, they would ring. 23:27 That's so cute. I love that idea. Yeah, and the minute I saw it I saw the picture. I was like, oh my god I remember making those I think I was 12 and It was the first time I'd held a crochet hook in my life was when we made those and girls to make those that's so neat Yeah, and they're so cute and they're so easy and yeah Grandparents love those kinds of ornaments Absolutely, absolutely 23:56 So they're very old fashioned and very homesteadish. So I think it's just great. I do. I love that aesthetic. So we kind of, we didn't really buy into it for a while, but now I've just owned it. There's mason jars everywhere and braided garlic and the whole nine. Yes. Mason jars are the best thing ever invented. I swear to God, I use them for my peony bouquets in the springtime. I use them for spruce vows at Christmas time. They're just, they're just the most 24:27 What's the word I want? I can't think of the word I want. Versatile. Versatile, yes. They are the most versatile container ever known to man. Absolutely. We just, well, my husband just canned 34 pint jars of tomato sauce from the tomatoes that we picked from our garden and froze. He just did that this weekend when I was working on podcast things. I was so impressed. I'm like... 24:55 I'm like, you know, if you could just wait till next weekend, I can help you. And he was like, I got it. Go do the thing you love to do. I was like, okay, perfect. I'm going to go do podcast stuff. And I came downstairs and he had 34 jars. Well, I had, he had the sauce cooked down for 34 pint jars. And I was just like, Oh my God, I love you. You're the sexiest thing ever. Right. And he just laughed. I love language. 25:20 He just laughed. He said, yeah, he said, we're both 55 years old and the sexy things are hard work. I'm like, yes, yes it is. That's exactly right. Absolutely. Absolutely. The other thing I was going to say about Christmas ornaments is one of the other things that we did in Girl Scouts, because I of course went down the memory train when I saw the wreath. We took Christmas cards and cut like a house shape out of the picture on the Christmas card. Oh yeah. 25:50 And then we took little toothpicks and made a little roof and little walls around the edges. And those were really cute too for Christmas. That sounds adorable. My kids would love that actually. Yep, and they're really cute on the tree. And if you get one of the Christmas cards that has the metallic stuff on it, the glitter or the paint that is shiny, when the light hits it, it glows. So they're really pretty. 26:18 That's cool. We're definitely gonna have to try that Yeah, and I swear we have lost so many neat things like that in the last I don't know 30 years I feel like it. Oh, I feel like kids don't get encouraged to be creative anymore No, they just sit in front of the TV and watch somebody else do it And it's so sad because I feel like 26:45 You know, we were made for creation. Like, I just feel like that's, I think that's why I enjoy this so much because it's so cool to, you know, plant a seed and see it grow and come to fruition and make something out of it. And, you know, it just, it's very rewarding, but at the same time, when you're eight or 10 or 12 or whatever, you know, something as little as making something, it gives you fulfillment. It gives you that happy, joyful fulfillment. And at the same time, it gives you great memories for later. 27:14 Your kids aren't going to remember watching YouTube or, you know, watching somebody else do something, but they're going to remember when you sat down and made shrinkadinks with them or, you know, made a wreath or something. Yeah, there's, I feel like kids are lacking a sense of personal accomplishment in the smallest ways these days. Absolutely. Like my youngest son still lives with us and he'll be 23 at the end of this month. 27:43 And he and his dad, well, his dad was building a greenhouse this year, hard side of greenhouses past May. And he asked for our son's help. And my son was like, sure, of course. And they basically built this greenhouse. It's like 40 by 20 feet. They built it. We had a friend come over and help one day. 28:08 And he was not very experienced. He was, the help was very much appreciated, but he was learning as he went. So he helped, but my son and my husband basically built this gorgeous greenhouse. And my son came in just smiling, you know, just like, wow, that was really hard work, but it was really great. Absolutely. And my husband came in and he was like, thank God we had that kid late in life because we need his back. I was like, yes, we do. 28:37 It's very helpful, that is for sure. So even when they're young adults, just being involved in getting their hands on actual work and doing it and seeing the result, there's such a thing that happens inside their brain and their heart. Absolutely. My mother's parents had a farm, and so I spent a ton of time on their farm as a kid. 29:06 primarily vegetable farming. And we would spend all day outside. We never went in the house. There was no air conditioning. And so you didn't wanna go in the stuffy house. And it was just an unconscious thing. You just went with them and did whatever they did. And you helped and you learned and you weren't in imposition. And at the end of the day, you were tired because you worked and you slept well and you woke up the next day refreshed and ready to go. And I feel like the... 29:35 kids today don't really get that. They get kind of parked in front of something so we can get something accomplished fast. Because I feel like today is about efficiency and productivity and all these things where before it was pouring your knowledge into the next generation. And so I think we kind of have, my husband and I kind of have a unique, maybe not unique, but less road, less traveled kind of background. Because my husband spent a ton of time on his. 30:04 sister's in-laws farm when he was a kid. He was a late baby in life too, so but his siblings are a lot older than him so he spent a ton of time with them. He was young doing work on the farm as well so I think we kind of both have that in common. Yes, and I realize that it sounds like we're trying to convert the world to doing it the way we're doing it and I don't necessarily think that. I just, I feel like if you have 30:33 the capability to maybe slow down and think about what you really want out of life and then make a plan to get that, then maybe you're inclined to do homesteading or gardening or baking or whatever and make that a thing. If you're not inclined that way, that's okay too. You know? Absolutely. If you want to be a double income family and you want to have your kids be in daycare, 31:02 and you want to try to give them things that you didn't have as a kid and you spend time with them on the weekends, that's fine. But that's not how we did it. It's not how you're doing it. And it's not how a lot of the people that I talked to on the podcast are doing it. So I don't want to alienate people, but I also want to be compassionate about everybody's place in their life, that they're doing things the way they do them. Absolutely. 31:32 And it doesn't have to be an all or nothing thing. You know, if you don't have any desire to garden and you don't like bugs or heat, you know, because the reality of gardening is it's beautiful in the spring and it's great in the fall. But in the summer, when it's a heat index of one hundred and eight, you don't want to be out there. You know, you have to want to do it. You know, if you just want to do some sourdough in the house or you just, you know, you just want to try something, it's it's rewarding. Try it. You know, baking or. 31:58 You know, whatever, you don't have to do it all. It's, you know, I have some friends at work who were talking this weekend and they were like, I just want to learn how to make butter. I'm like, okay, go to the store and buy some cream and here's the post. And here's how you can do it. It's so easy, you know, and they're like, wow, I didn't even realize that's how it was made or brown sugar or, you know, just something easy. It doesn't have to be an all or nothing thing, but it's very empowering to have that little bit of knowledge and just know I can do that if I wanted to. 32:27 Yes, and the thing is anybody can try anything. And even if it fails, there's value in the trying. Because you learn from your mistakes. Absolutely. I didn't walk out of the gate gardening of 2,500 square foot garden without some losses. You know, the first year I guarded, I put all of my eggplants like eight inches apart, and then I put my zucchini like a foot apart and they were 32:55 all over each other, they were riddled with disease. I couldn't find them. And then when I found the zucchini, they were like 10 pounds zucchini. You know, what if you do it? This, you know, it's just kind of, that's just life. And you kind of have to laugh at it and go, well, next year I'll play them further apart. There's always next year. That's the best part. There's always another try. So even if you fail, laugh at yourself and try again. You just, you just made me think of something. Back when I was in junior high and high school, 33:24 I was pushed real hard to be perfect on my tests and my homework. Like if I got A on a test, like if I got 100%, I would get the question, why wasn't it 110%? And I don't think I'm the only kid in my generation or the next couple that got that. I wonder if we have been programmed that if we can't do it right the first time, it shouldn't be done. 33:53 I feel like that is definitely a lesson I also learned later in life. I think there was a big shift in the 80s and 90s to, you know, where manual labor was kind of looked down upon and you have to go to college and you have to get a power job and you have to push yourself and, you know, kind of like you said, that was when women were two income families and everybody's working. And I feel like that was definitely a big, a big thing. Set yourself up for success. And you know, 34:22 start out strong and all the things. And I think a lot of people kind of are accepting the slow down now as a result of burnout from that. And realizing that there is value in working with your hands and creating something or learning a skill and it's okay to be proud of yourself for making a mistake and learning from it. 34:46 And I think that's just the symptom of society that I think a lot of people are finding joy in these simple things because they're tired of the difficult and the, I don't even know what the word would be, the competition. There was always competition. Everything was so much, you have to be the best and why aren't you the best or whatever it was. Even among my friends in high school, I remember it always kind of felt like a competition. 35:15 And it never had to be. And I think that was a big lesson I learned having kids and raising them in the way that I wanted them to know that it was okay not to have a competition. And you're just running your own race. And as long as you're happy with where you're at, that's all that really matters. Yeah, exactly. And again, you're pointing out something else that I hadn't really thought about until I talked to you today. I don't feel like there's a whole lot of competition 35:44 between people who are doing what we're doing. I think it's more lifting each other up and teaching each other and being there for each other. Absolutely. And the wonder of learning, you know, there's 25 ways to do every single thing that we do. And even more, if you think about all the different climates and the different places and altitudes, and you know, kind of all of that, there's so many different ways to do something. So there's always a cool, different way to see how someone does something and learn from them. 36:13 or just get excited for them. Like you said, you're doing what you were doing, what we're doing 20 years ago, and you can be excited for what we're doing now. And I can look at you and say, man, in 20 years, my husband and my son might be building me a 20 by 40 greenhouse. And that would be so cool. And that's a joy. That's a cool part of this. Yeah, it's amazing, because I look back at the things that we were doing. 36:40 20 something years ago and we were just doing them because it was interesting and because my husband's mother said, would you like some of the irises and the lilies from my yard because she was selling her house. And we didn't have a garden or anything at that point and we put them in the little area in front of our bedroom windows that run it on the sidewalk and they grew and they were beautiful and I was like, this gardening thing is kind of cool. Right? It is. 37:09 And I said, could we maybe try growing some tomatoes and cucumbers next spring? And he's like, where? And I said, in the backyard. And he said, but it's all grass. And I said, can't eat grass. And he laughed. Right. And we ended up tilling up that whole backyard and growing basically in every square inch of dirt we had so that we had tomatoes and cucumbers and carrots. And I don't even know green beans and rhubarb and herbs. 37:37 and stuff and we started out really small and really slow. But by the time we moved four years ago, we had enough food to give our neighbors garbage, not, not, not, grocery bags of produce because we had too much. Absolutely. So it's, it's really interesting how the things that we do are cumulative in impact. 38:05 You know, you learn to do one thing and you have some success and then you're like, huh, I did that. Maybe I could do more or different or bigger or whatever a year from now. And you just keep growing, just like plants keep growing. Exactly. And there's always something new to learn or try. So you stay fresh, you know, it stays exciting. Yeah. 38:39 I think that's one of the coolest, I just think that's one of the coolest things about it is that it stays exciting. You know, like I said, my grandparents had a vegetable farm. My other set of grandparents were first generation immigrants. My grandmother was from England and they met during World War II. And so she had a very unique way of doing things that seemed very alien to me when I was young. But I loved it. I thought it was super cool. You know, 39:07 she always harvested rainwater because they didn't always have a hose. And she always composted because England was a small island and they weren't bringing a lot of things in. So if you didn't compost, you couldn't grow your victory garden. And she always had a victory garden, but she had this beautiful stair step flower garden. 39:33 which was such a difference from my mother's parents who just had vegetable fields everywhere. There was no flowers in their yard. There was no, if you couldn't eat it, they couldn't grow it, which is what made me think of that. But my grandmother would grow, you know, she had berry bushes and she had, you know, she had a little greenhouse and all the things, but her primary joy was to flower garden and have just beautiful landscaping. And so it was cool, cause I kind of got both sides of it. My grandmother just did the things that she did 40:02 my father's mother did things that she learned growing up in England during that time because that was just her normal. That was her comfort. And so I learned a lot of that as a kid just because that's what she did. Whereas my mother's parents were growing more for production and sales. They had a roadside stand and we sold produce. And so it was kind of nice to get both sides of that and see it. 40:32 And so when I grew up, I, you know, we were in that Excel, Excel, Excel. I had no desire to garden or any of that. I was going to school and I was going to get a good job and I was going to work and I didn't have time for that. And I just kind of, we kind of hit that, that wall with our oldest. And I was like, you know what? I'm so stressed out and I feel like maybe if I just had a little bit of home with me, it would be cool. And I just put it in a little garden and that's kind of... 41:00 where the piece of the garden came from for me. But I, so I never vegetable garden or I never flower garden until we moved down here. And it kind of started for me as there was a few flowers and bulbs in the landscaping when we bought our house here. But I really wanted to encourage pollinators cause we grow organically and we don't use any pesticides or herbicides or anything like that. And so 41:28 I wanted to encourage pollinators. So I just started planning any, I would get wildflower mixes and I would get any kind of cheap seed packets I could find and just started throwing flowers all over the landscaping. And now the flowers are a must. Like if they, I might not have enough room to plant all the vegetables I want, but we're going to definitely have the flowers because they bring me so much joy and they're so nice to just have a little piece of them in your house and just smile at them when you walk by and you know, when the 41:57 Sunflowers are eight feet tall and staring at you in the evening. It's just very cool. And it wasn't something that I, I set out to do, but it was, it just kind of evolved with the process, but something that small could just start. You know, you could just, like you said, just throw some bulbs in and, and enjoy cut flowers from them or, or whatever. Yeah, absolutely. We didn't have any flowers here when we moved here four years ago. There were hostas. 42:25 And I keep saying this on the podcast episodes, but there were hostas here. I don't love hostas. They're fine, but they're not the prettiest flower I've ever seen. And as soon as, as soon as I realized that there were no flowers here, I was like, honey, we have got to get some kind of flowers here. We had brought peony roots from the old house. So I knew we would eventually have peonies. So we got those in and we got some, uh, lily bulbs from somebody for free. And we put those in and we bought tulip. 42:54 and daffodil bulbs and those came up the following spring which made it a lot easier. But the thing is in the springtime nothing's really growing yet you know and we bought crocus bulbs too because they're the first thing that really comes through in Minnesota because it's cold here until April. Oh yes! 43:16 And so when the crocuses came up, I had never seen a crocus in person. I thought that they were a bigger flower. They are the daintiest little flower I've ever seen. And my husband came in and like, I think it was the first part of May, very first part of May. And he was like, there's little tiny like lavender and yellow flowers out there. What did we put there? And I was like, I don't know. Did you take a picture with your phone? And he said, well, of course I did. And showed me, I said, those are the crocuses. 43:44 He said, they're this big. And he showed me with his fingers. He said, they're tiny. And I said, yeah. I didn't know they'd be that small, but how cool is it that we have flowers first? Right. And the other thing is that when you garden, I had no idea that potato plants have the most beautiful blooms. Yes. They're gorgeous. They look like flowers you would cut and put in a vase, except they're really short. 44:14 And the sunflowers. Oh my God, we planted sunflowers two summers ago. My son wanted to plant sunflowers. I was like, sure, we've got an acre of garden we can put in sunflowers. That's fine. And they are so joyful. Like people joke about, you know, sunflowers being happy. They are. They're a happy flower. They are. They really are. So I understand what you're saying about 44:41 you know, even if you don't have enough room for everything that you want to put in that you can eat, you're still going to put in flowers. I can't not have flowers on my property. I have to have something homey. So I get it. All right, Sammy, we've been talking for almost 45 minutes. I try to keep these to half an hour. So I'm going to let you know. And thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate it. Thank you. I've had so much fun talking to you. It's been great to meet you. You too. Have a great day. Thank you. You too. 45:11 Bye.…

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