A Tiny Homestead

Louis De Jaeger - SOS: Save Our Soils

Today I'm talking with Louis De Jaeger author of SOS: Save Our Soils.
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00:00You'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. Today I'm talking with Louis de Jaeger in Belgium.
00:29and he's an author of a book called S.O.S. Saving Our Soils. Good. I don't know what time it is in Belgium. Good day, Louis. How are you? No, very happy to be here on your podcast. It's so nice. What time is it in Belgium? It's 10, 12 here in Minnesota. Well, it's 5 p.m. 5, 12 here. So almost time for dinner. OK, so good afternoon to you, Thanks. Good morning.
00:58Thank you.  So I was very surprised when you reached out to ask about being a guest on the podcast. And then I saw what you do.  And all my surprise went away because you are trying to save the earth by teaching people about soil. Exactly. And so I would love to know what your background is and why you got involved in this in the first place. Yes. So
01:25I actually  have two grandmothers that grew up on farms  and they had to  move from the countryside to the city because there was actually no future anymore  for farming.  that actually  influenced me  until a point that when I was 18 years old, I actually wanted to become a farmer.  The only
01:48problem was is that I didn't have land anymore in the family and land is like super expensive in Belgium. It's around 100k per hectare or  like, let's say 40k per acre.  And  so  that wasn't really an option for me. And I was  kind of curious about why that is, how things are going.  And also was thinking about what kind of farmer would I like to become.
02:16For that, really was  looking for answers and the more I kept looking for answers, the more I realized that the farming system worldwide is actually pretty screwed. that the way we farm today is a  lot of the reasons we farm today as we farm today is because of governments,  of lobbyists pushing us in certain directions. actually  nobody's winning,  only big corporations and not the farmers themselves and certainly not
02:46not the consumers. So  yeah, we need to do something about that urgently.  Okay, that explains the drive for you to write this book and do all the other things you've done over the last, I don't know, 12 years.  And you're only 31. Yeah, correct. You're baby.  My daughter's 35 and she's the oldest of four. So yeah,  you could be my kid.
03:16So  what I want to know is in all your travels, because I know you've traveled a lot looking at your website,  who is doing it the best out of the worst? Well, the good news actually is that I've traveled to like half of the states in the United States. I really love America. I've also traveled to Canada, to Central America, South America.
03:41And  every country that I visited, there are farmers that are really showing that it's possible to  grow crops,  very high  yields and taking care of the planet at the same time. And also not unimportantly having more profits than their neighbors.  So that's actually the good news that there's no one country doing better.  are just like a lot of pioneers
04:09spread across the world, spread across the United States as well.  if more people would know about them,  if more farmers would see that,  like a farmer living only 50 miles away is like, gone by one Porsche car every year because of the savings and pesticides, then more people will  make a transition to a more natural way of farming.  Well, I'm glad that America doesn't
04:39fall way down at the bottom because I live in America. And my husband is a gardener. He does a farm to table garden. It's 100 feet by 150 feet. It's a little garden. We're not a farm. We're a homestead. And he uses no pesticides, no herbicides, no chemical fertilizers. As close as we get to chemical fertilizers is our chickens manure.
05:08And it works. mean,  when we don't get rain for six weeks from May to the middle of June, like we did last year,  we have a really beautiful, productive garden to the point where we have too much and we sell it. Wow, that's great. So it can be done on a small scale. For sure, we're doing it.  But  how do farmers who are doing it big scale handle this? Because
05:37For a long time in America, it has been all about weed control and  pushing bigger yields and using things that aren't good for the earth to make that happen.  how can bigger farmers do this without doing it in a bad way? Yeah, that's really an issue we need to tackle. And a lot of the time people think, well, or you go very small scale and you go regenerative.
06:05or you go very large scale and then you can't to regenerate. Well, the good news again is that you can also do it on large scale. example, let's say  a farmer that really don't live too far from me.  He has about, let's say 20 acres of land  where he grows vegetables, which is not small for like really having a lot of different vegetables.
06:33And  he has  not given any irrigation for the last 20 years.  He has  very high yields  and  the same with another farmer in  the United Kingdom in England.  Also, I think it's even bigger than that.  Every year his yields are getting bigger and he doesn't irrigate and he doesn't even use animal manure or chemical manure whatsoever.
07:01just by using wood chips that grow for free next to his  farm.  He spreads it very thinly on his fields.  He activates the microbial life, the fungi and the bacteria. And these actually create the fertilizers from the rocks. They extract it from the rocks that are in the soil and  make them accessible to the plants.  that's like vegetable growing, but  you have large scale.
07:29growers of wheat, cereals on thousands of acres,  who are showing that it's perfectly possible with high-tech machines  to sometimes even do polycultures, mix different crops together and harvest them at the same time. then  mechanically, separate the different seeds they harvest. And it's just amazing  the results they're having. And also, yeah.
07:58the bottom line, the profits they're making. It's really incredible.  Okay. So  I happened to catch your Facebook post about changing things in five years. I can't remember what exactly the title of it was.  Do you remember by any chance the name of the video that you put up about that? That you can make a transition in five years? Or  you mean with restoring water cycles and cooling down
08:27your microclimates. That one. Yeah. People think that it's too late. They think that that Earth is doomed. And I  want to make it clear in talking with you that the Earth does not need to be doomed. We are human beings and we are ingenious  and we are creative and there are ways  to still make a change so  the Earth is not doomed.
08:54and your video kind of explains some of that. So could you talk about that? Yeah, no, definitely. And that's a nice thing is that if you watch the news and we watch the news too often, in my opinion, then  you think that we're living in an apocalypse. You see  wars, see terrorism, you see shootings, you see whatever. But  the news is actually click bait.  The writers of articles are baited by
09:23how many people watch their news articles or  television shows or whatever. they actually,  the more scared they make you, the more they get paid. So step one is to  watch a little bit less news  and then try to  look at stories of  get good things going on because there are so many good things going on. And  one of these things is  the regeneration of landscapes and  also even the
09:52manipulating of the weather and most of the time when you speak about weather manipulation or climate manipulation, you think about cloud seeding.  But you can actually cloud seed by planting more trees on your property.  And that's like a relatively new theory that scientists have discovered. And it's,  it's called the biotic pump theory.  It's  the small water cycle.  What they found out is that
10:22Just like us, we humans, we sweat,  it's actually water that becomes vapor. And because of this, actually have  your warm, sweaty vapor that rises. We all have learned in schools that warm air rises, right?  It's like an air balloon, it rises  because you warm up the air. And because you have like planted trees on your property,
10:50all this sweating of the trees because trees sweat all the time.  Like hot air balloons, you have this upward motion  and the air is going upwards. And because the air is going upwards, you create a low pressure zone because everything is going upwards. And you actually pull the clouds towards you. And if  you can do that  on a large enough scale, can literally  attract the rain clouds  to make it rain.
11:18in your  region.  people have been doing this  around the world and literally being able to create more rain because it's not only  the clouds that you attract, it's also the  sweaty sweat that goes into the atmosphere when it  becomes high enough in the atmosphere, it actually transforms in rain again.  And they, for example, did some experiments, they checked
11:47the rainfall and they checked like the isotopes of  the raindrops and they found out that  sometimes up  to 50 % of the rain that's falling on earth is actually created by a tree and doesn't come from the ocean, for example. So if you want more rain, if you want more  steady climate, we actually have to integrate more trees in our landscapes and you can do this like having hedge rows or having riparian buffers or creating
12:16a food forest or agroforestry having  between your rows of annual crops, can have bushes or trees and that's also a win-win for a farmer because then you  bet on different horses at the same time.  Yes, exactly. And I wanted you to explain it because you understand it far better than I do.  So  let's get to your book for a second. Your book, S.O.S. Saving Our Soils.
12:45is coming out June 24th, is that right? Yeah, correct. Yeah. Okay.  And  is it, I  don't want to say this, it's to sound snotty.  Is it very sciency or is it where someone who has no science background can read it and go, yeah, that makes sense. I want to try this.  Very good question.  Well, actually to
13:09To give a funny answer to your question, I sometimes get attacked by scientists because I try to explain things too simple.  And that's exactly what I've done with the book.  try to  have a very scientific, difficult stuff, try to explain it with as simple as possible that even a 10 year old can understand it.  Because science is great, of course, but if you  read a scientific paper, it's
13:38almost impossible to read. You need to explain things  as simple as possible. And that's why I make a lot of comparisons  with things that are super easy, understandable.  Good, because  in my experience, I'm a reader. I really, really do love to read and I have been getting into like historical stuff lately.  written, I've read.
14:06two books on President Lincoln's  presidency lately, just because they came through as something that I could get my hands on. And I've never been interested in President Lincoln in my whole life, other than the fact that he's on the penny.  And these books were fabulous. Like I learned so  much, so many things that I didn't know about  the Civil War, the part Lincoln played in that, blah, blah. And you're not from America, so I don't know how much you know about this, but.
14:36Either way, sometimes a book hits you when you need it the most.  And so what I want for this one for you is that it hits people  now  when they don't even know they need it so that it can sit in the back of their brain and percolate. Yeah, definitely. And  that's so true. We need to touch people with emotions and not facts and figures.  It's important, of course, to that these facts and figures are some place and  scientists use
15:05these facts and figures. Otherwise, I wouldn't dare sit in an airplane, for example.  We need numbers, otherwise our airplanes would crash.  But  like you say, we have to emotionally  connect with people. And the best way to do that is via stories, is to tell stories about how farmers have overcome their struggles, how farmers have really thought out of the box. And also by understanding very simple concepts,
15:35For example, that's why the title I think everybody knows  SOS save our souls.  That's, that's  something you learn from a very early age. A lot of people even know the Morse code for it.  And  that's why I chose the title SOS save our soils,  because it's actually the same.  And that's  if that's  concept if I only like have one concept that sticks in the people
16:05minds that saving our soils is saving our souls.  That is  actually exactly the same thing than I'm already a super happy guy.  Yes,  and I'm glad you said it that way because  most people do not understand that our soil is where everything springs from.  Water, food, animals, everything.
16:32And if our soil dies, we're  dead. Yeah, that's so true.  It's the air we breathe, it's  everything. Yeah. And so if you want to explain why that's all true, because I know, but I'm terrible explaining it.  Yeah, no, of course.  Well, it's even just the reason that life became to exist on planet Earth.
16:59You know, at the very beginning, the earth was just one giant rock was all rocky, there was no soil. And when there is no soil, no plants can live. And if there's there are no plants, it's hard to have even oxygen on this planet, you have some oxygen from the plants living in the sea from the plankton.  But  you need you need soil. And it's actually the plants that that created the soil by
17:27by working together with fungi and bacteria, by grinding the rocks.  And when the plants died,  it's like organic materials,  very rich in carbon. They mixed together with these  grinded stones and that's how soils were formed.  And because of that, there are larger and larger animals that could be supported. If  there was never soil, there would maybe only be ants on this planet or like little creatures, but it's because
17:57these plants kept on grinding the rocks together with all the microorganisms  and kept on dying too,  together with animals dying as well and kept on mixing to create richer and richer soils, permitting bigger plants like bushes and trees to form.  And then the animals could become larger and larger. And one day the monkeys  started to develop and these monkeys turned into humans.
18:27And that made sure that we humans actually are what we are. If we  didn't have soil, we wouldn't have trees.  And if we wouldn't have trees, we wouldn't have hands. Because the reason we have hands is because monkeys like to climb in trees.  That's actually how our hands were formed. So no soil, no tree, no human. And today, the air we breathe comes from the plants that live in the soil and the food we eat, of course.
18:56come from the soil. But it's more than just the food we eat, because the problem is with us humans is that we don't have microscope eyes, we can only see big things, we can only see the apple we're eating. But we don't realize that if you go in the  nature and you pick a wild apple or a wild pow pow,  or another wild vegetable or fruit, if you would have a microscope with you, you would see that this apple is full with
19:26microorganisms full with little creatures living on that apple. And the first time people hear this, they are often very shocked because they're afraid of these little animals.  And then I always tell them a very shocking truth that a lot of people are very shocked to hear for the first time.  And that is that we actually are no humans. We actually exist of  more non-human cells.
19:56than human cells.  And that's a crazy thing to wrap your head around. We're like  vehicles of little creatures living inside of us.  And they're actually the ones that keep us healthy. Imagine you have the  humanity and  our ancestors and the primates before us. For the last hundreds of thousands of years, they've been putting all kinds of things in their mouths from leaves to
20:24little eggs to worms to  whatever and and all these plants or things they put in their mouth was full of  of these little microorganisms, these little creatures and they said, Hey, Mary, if I can stay in your body, I will take more iron out of your broccoli. Can I stay in your body? What do you say? Yeah.  And then then that's type of creature installs themselves in your body and now is
20:53responsible for more iron uptake and you're very happy that little creature is happy.  And then another one comes in and says, Oh, I can protect your guts against intruders. Can I stay, Mary? Uh huh.  And before you knew it, hundreds of thousand years passed, a lot of negotiations happened.  And our guts now are like brimming of these little creatures.  an important fact is our guts are
21:21It's actually perforated. It has these little holes inside of it.  And it needs to have a lining of bacteria  that actually stop the bad guys from coming in. And because we live so  sterile nowadays, we use too many hand gels, we use pesticides on our food. We don't get all these loads of microorganisms of bacteria  inside of us. So they're going away. And that makes our
21:51gut unprotected. So these little  perforations in our guts actually are now  unprotected than are these little holes now that can leak stuff. And then you get a leaky gut, for example. And before you know it,  you get a chronicle disease. Why? Just because you don't have this microorganisms, this connection with the soil. And the thing is, of course, these microorganisms, they all live in the soil. So if you go and do
22:19chemical warfare and you start nuking the soil, then yeah, they all will run away and they won't be on your food anymore. So if you put an apple in your mouth that has been sprayed 25 times with pesticides, no organism is left on it. And then our guts are becoming more more empty of these beneficial little creatures and we all get sick basically. Yeah.
22:46Absolutely. And you did a fabulous job of explaining that as a story because you could have done that in very scientific terms and people would have zoned out after one minute. So  I appreciate the fact that you, that you made it a story and you made it actually kind of cute.  Yeah. People don't,  I don't want to say all people cause that's not true, but
23:10So many people don't understand the system that nature put in place in the beginning.  And they don't understand that scientists have tried to thwart that system  for a very long time. And my theory is if it isn't broken, don't fix it.  know, nature knows what she's doing.  We  used to go camping at this very rustic campground. Like it had  the two sets of bathrooms, you  know.
23:40Two for  dudes, two for girls  on opposite sides of the campground.  And there was like a fire pit so you could  cook over an open fire. And there was a pad to put your tent on. And I loved this place.  And they ran out of money. It's a state run campground. And it closed down.  And I drive by there now and then and nature has taken it back over. You would never know there had been campsites there.
24:10And the other thing is, if you go hiking, you know,  I'm sure that you've been hiking in the woods.  If you go to woods that are not traveled very often,  mostly the only places that things don't grow is where the animals have made trails through like deer,  deer trails, because nature abhors a vacuum. She wants to fill in everything  with
24:35little lives. It doesn't matter if it's bugs or plants or animals.  She's going to fill that gap. Yeah, definitely. So I don't know where I was going with that, but I thought I was thinking about it this morning. I missed that campground so much. It was so much fun to go there.  Camping is just the most magical thing ever, sleeping under the stars  and being in  nature during the evenings because we tend to spend so much time inside of boxes.
25:05Sometimes we have forget their connection with nature. We need to go more camping.  Yeah, even if it's not camping, just go for a day trip and go hiking.  Be out in trees and grass and air that's open.  It's really important because
25:29Not only is it important for your soul, but it's important for your body because if you're outside hiking, you're probably going to be in the sun for a little bit.  And the sun provides vitamin D, which is really good for your body. They're portuting the sun as something dangerous  and everything in  big doses is dangerous. Even if you drink too much water, you will die.  We need sunlight to be healthy. have been nurses who actually put their patients
25:58in the sun  for a while  to treat their ailments and they actually have  a higher rate of getting better and they get better faster.  nature is actually one of the biggest  healers out there. Well, very interesting thing as well is  if you go into the forest, you have this phytoncides, it's these  chemical substances that trees emit and they actually are very good for your health.
26:28And so  doctors should prescribe more forests.  Yes, I agree. I think you're right. And in Japan, they're doing it. So it's  there. The doctors literally prescribe and say, hey, guy,  you need to go more to the forest here than forest first visits.  Get outside.  exactly.  Before we moved here, we moved to our new house like almost five years ago.
26:57And when we were looking at where we wanted to move to buy a new house,  my husband floated Alaska.  And, I said, absolutely not because I can't spend four months in darkness.  I can't, I will die.  And he was like, people do it all the time. People live in Alaska. I was like, no,  no,  I don't want to live where I don't see the sunshine for more than an hour and a half a day,  four months out of the year. This is not a cool thing with me.
27:26So we ended up staying here.  I really love bright  sun, shiny days. There we go.  I also love a good soft rain day where it's just kind of sprinkly all day.  Yeah.  Cause we need that too. It has been dry for three months now here and we finally had our first days of rain after three months and we were so happy  for all the plants. It's crazy.
27:56Yeah. Also, that actually leads me to a good question and a good way to wrap up the interview.  Why  do you think that the weather patterns have been  so insane over the last couple of years? Because you were just saying you guys haven't had rain for three months.  Well, it's all about land management. Of course,  we have changing weather patterns because of the climate is literally warming up.
28:25But also because  the land management,  when I was traveling to the United States, first of all, I was  so impressed by the beauty everywhere.  But I was also impressed by the history,  more specifically the Dust Bowl.  That was really a story that shocked me and that really that I felt that that is a very big trauma for a lot of families and
28:55One of the stories I heard was that if you would cut down a tree,  you would be sent to jail.  One guy told me because they all knew that the trees actually  would keep the soil together and would prevent these dustballs. But  we are humans sometimes have a very short term memory and kind of forgot about the dustball. I have the feeling because like only a couple of days ago I was talking to a
29:23to an American and she said that  her home village just had a very severe dust storm,  very, very severe. And she was saying that,  look,  this is the dust bowl happening all over again.  We're just waiting for it to happen. But it doesn't have to be that way. We can  really influence the climate by turning our soils into sponges.
29:52And one of the easiest things  to do that is  to have different farming methods to stop ploughing the soil or ploughing less to using more cover crops to having hedgerows to planting trees in between  row crops.  these actually slow down the wind. even stop disease from flying in your fields. For example, the potato disease, fitoptera,  it stops the
30:21the spores of the bad fungi  so it doesn't  get in your fields and kills your potatoes. So you don't have to  use chemicals anymore. once you  save your soil,  it becomes a sponge. All these little  soil microorganisms, they come again, they reproduce, they become bigger in numbers and they will have the plants to grow higher.
30:51a big aha moment for me was when I learned more about how fungi  work together with plant roots. Like I'm sitting here right now on my desk and I want to have a  glass of water, but I can't get it because it's like the other side of the house. So imagine if I could make my arm 100 times longer and I could just reach for that glass. Wouldn't that be fantastic?  Plant root, it can just do that. It can make  roots.
31:19100 times longer just by working together, collaborating with this fungi.  So these fungal spores, make like this tiny roots to get water from huge depths to  suck the water up. And that already  puts the plants in touch with much deeper water layers. And because of this connection, these plants will be able to grow bigger, will be able to sweat more.
31:47And like what we talked about just before, when they sweat more, they'll have more sweaty air going like air balloons in the air and will attract more rain.  by that, we can actually stabilize the climate. should have this, like  a lot of people actually are  sometimes discussing about climate change. met farmers in the US who say, it's all a hoax and  other farmers swear that it's changing. to be honest,
32:16I don't even care what people think. We all agree on that we want clean air. We all agree on that we want a healthy soil. We all agree on that we want clean water.  We all agree on that we don't want any droughts.  So we have to just focus on the solution, no matter what we believe. And it all actually comes together with something that I really love  from my time in the United States is  the striving for freedom.
32:46I think it's a very universal thing, correct me if I'm wrong, that in America, freedom is like something very important to most of us. And it all comes down to freedom. Me too. Again, that's why I love America and the American people. I  want freedom. And if you look at, what does it mean, freedom? It means that I can do whatever I want.  And one of the  prerequisites to do whatever you want is
33:15to be healthy. If you're not healthy, if you have to lay in bed or can't move or are have to sit on the toilet all day, you're not free. That's the opposite of freedom. Then you can say, woohoo, freedom, but I have to stay in my bed. No, that doesn't work that way.  Or, oh my God, I just had a  giant flood that destroyed my entire house.  like almost my all my savings  are now gone because I have to replace all my furniture and appliances and I have to
33:45put a new windows, there goes my freedom.  Or, or my harvest just there are like, there was a hail storm as big as giant tennis balls and, and destroyed my harvest. Well, where is your freedom? It's gone.  like, treating the soil in a better way  is the only way to really achieve this freedom. Because if our souls turn into sponges, we'll have
34:14we  have a better resistance against droughts and we have more freedom. If we stop using pesticides and  herbicides and we have less disease, have less Alzheimer's and less Parkinson's and even less miscarriages because if you're a woman and you're pregnant and you're exposed to pesticides, the chances to have a miscarriage  or a child with autism or with another,  even with brain damage.
34:42It's so much bigger if you live near  places where they use pesticides. It's crazy.  And then where is your freedom if you have a child  and you have to go into hospitals every three months  by freedom? And  it's all these things, human health, climate,  regulation, it all  goes back to a healthy soil. And  in order to create a world where freedom is a possibility, then...
35:11Having a good soil is like the most important thing there is. It's step one. Yes.  All right, Louis, thank you so much for your time. can people find you?  Well, can find me on LinkedIn or go to my website, very easy, louisdj.com. I'm not a real DJ. It's just my last  name. Or they can find the book SOS, Save Our Soils on Amazon.  yeah, just say hello on social media or via my website.
35:41Yeah, and I'm assuming you're cool with answering questions if someone wants to reach out. Yeah, definitely.  Yeah. Great. Thank you.  All right. I appreciate your time so much, Louis. As always, people can find me at atinyhomesteadpodcast.com.  Have a great evening. Yes, well, very nice to meet you, Mary. You too. All right. Bye-bye.
 

Moon Ridge Acres - Becca Hammon

Today I'm talking with Becca at Moon Ridge Acres. You can follow on Facebook as well.
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00:00You'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.
00:25Today I'm talking with Becca at Moon Ridge Acres in Alberta, Canada? Yes,  that's right. Yes, okay.  Good afternoon, Becca. How are you?  I'm great. How are you? I'm good. It's a gray, drizzly kind of day here in Minnesota. What's it doing in Alberta? It is actually sun, shiny, and beautiful. After a mega thunderstorm last night,  it's actually quite lovely. The birds are chirping. Everyone is.
00:53Seemingly good the calm after the storm, I Yeah, the weather has been absolutely insane everywhere  this past weekend was Memorial Day weekend here in the States and In Minnesota where I am Friday and Saturday and Sunday were absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous days Right that doesn't usually happen. Usually one day of Memorial Day weekend is a washout and it didn't happen
01:21That's impressive. Our, our May Long was like last weekend and it was  absolutely frozen. It was so cold. It was like,  it was terrible. We couldn't do anything.  Oh, God, mother, mother nature.  didn't get snow though, which is,  you know,  it is normal for us to get snow on May Long. We say we don't plant our gardens until after May Long  and we didn't get snow, but it was like in the, in the single digit.
01:50So it felt very cold, but today it is, oh, it's got to be close to 20 degrees already. Which is what in Fahrenheit? Because I'm really bad at it. I'm really bad at it too. I would say that's like 45, 50, I think. Warmish. It's warmish there. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Wait.
02:16Yeah,  I could be wrong on the conversion. I'm sure someone will correct me. I can always look it up and put it in the show notes and be like, here's the chart that says what's it actually is.  When I went to the US, my car had this really handy feature that it just converted it automatically for me, which was so handy. And it's funny how quickly I was able to go from Celsius into
02:46um, the Imperial system and then,  and then back and it just felt totally normal with that, you know, system in my car. But like, if you asked me to convert it like right now,  there's no way.  Yeah. And one of my best friends is from Canada and you would, I've known her for over 20 years. You would think that I would have made a point of learning this, but I still haven't. It's terrible.
03:09And my parents are old enough that they still use the Imperial system for like 90 % of things. Like the metric system was kind of imposed upon them  like after they were out of school. So they're still very much on the Imperial system. They're always talking in Fahrenheit and I'm like, what?  And you'd think I would pick up on it, you know, but no, like I'm, I got Celsius on the brain, but I use inches though, which is a very Canadian thing to do.
03:39Yeah, I feel like whatever you're first introduced to, like I am not a Macintosh computer kind of girl. I really do like Windows. Right. And I tried using a Macintosh Apple as they were known when I was in school and that was a very long time ago. I'm 55, you can do the math. And I can do it.
04:06but it's like retraining my brain to find where files are if I use that. So yeah, it's what you're introduced to as a brand new thing, what you tend to gravitate towards. So, okay, so got the weather covered, got the small talk covered. You have been going through some fits and issues with Facebook lately. Did you want to vent for a couple of minutes about that? Oh, absolutely. I would love to.
04:36So as a Canadian, when it comes to content creation across social media, we are very limited in what we can access for monetization. We don't get paid for TikTok. And then we have Facebook and YouTube.
04:57I believe Instagram also monetizes, but I don't think Instagram pays very well. think Instagram is very much targeted for  like attracting brands to do brand deals.  And for me,  as a millennial where Facebook was like the OG platform, actually like just be like, we were just saying, I love creating on Facebook. I love that there's multiple different,  um,
05:25like ways, like I can do text, can do photo, I can do groups, I love Facebook. So that is where I've put a ton of my effort. I'm also on TikTok and TikTok is fantastic for like discoverability. The algorithm is absolutely great for getting you in front of new people. But again, I can't monetize my TikTok and TikTok is also really great for like filming face to camera videos.
05:55It's just very user friendly and  I'm  old enough that I struggle with technology, but like young enough to have a general grasp. um,  so I, I  often repost my TikToks over to Facebook and I bring all of my content over to Facebook, but Facebook is where I've put my heart and soul  because I genuinely really liked the platform  and YouTube is a whole other beast  of,  you know,
06:23needing to be prepared and having to  really, um, just like pre-plan your content and doing this long form stuff and like the editing and the amount of work that goes into a YouTube video is like at least five times more than what goes into a TikTok.  Absolutely. Yes. Yes, it is. It's, it's, it's a lot.  So  as a one person show who has two kids, who has like also running the farm on the side of things,
06:53I've really put my heart and soul into Facebook and I got monetized on Facebook last year. I think it was around March where I made my first like $5. I was like, oh my gosh, it's working. And of course you can't get paid out until you reach a certain threshold, which I think is $100. And I finally had a viral video on Facebook in June of last year.
07:23and I got like $125 and I thought I was a rock star.  And  that's 125 USD.  So in Canada, I really was a rock star. That was like 200 bucks.  And so I was doing, was  like, things were good. And after that point,  I started seeing fairly consistent income. Again, it was not like life-changing money by any means,  but it was,  you know, okay, like now I can buy.
07:51Uh, you know, that covers my feed store trip or that covers whatever. And the job that I had been working at previously, um, I was school bus driving and as someone with ADHD, the like school bus driving, was waking up in the morning. think that was really the hardest part. Um, I am a night owl. stay up till two in the morning.
08:18whether I want to or not.  waking up at five in the morning every day, getting two kids into the bus and like they were coming with me  and it just,  it made me kind of like,  hate my life. I was miserable.  I was tired all the time. I wasn't enjoying the horses anymore. And it was around this time when I like started considering purchasing George  and I was like, what if, you know,
08:47I could get this really amazing little horse  and  also potentially boost my social media enough that I don't have to continue bus driving.  That's all I wanted. I just wanted to replace that income.  And  sure enough, I ended up saying,  let's do it. Let's invest in this little horse that could be a great asset to my breeding program,  but also be an investment in my social media business.
09:17And it worked. It was exactly as I hoped it would be.  I started really seeing  that replacement income  in around September, October.  Like, again, it wasn't a full replacement, but it was enough to say like, okay, this is possible. Sure.  And like clockwork, those every month that those funds would would come into my account as  as they were supposed to and never had a hitch.
09:46So  December rolled around, same thing. Everything was going great. At this point, George had almost paid for himself.  And I was gearing up to like go pick him up in Tennessee from Katie Van Syke.  so  January,  so the way Facebook works, I'm not sure if you're familiar, but you get paid for the month prior.
10:15on the  21st  of the month. So on January  21st, I would be getting paid for December. Right, yep.  And  December was my first like  very, like very good payment, like over four figures. is,  know, yeah, right? Like it was good money.  And I was like super excited.  And  I  was met with  an error from
10:44from Facebook and said the payment didn't go through.  You need to update your payment method, which is  odd because I hadn't changed my payout method. Everything had remained the same. So  I  contacted support  and they were like, oh, just update it. Like maybe it's a glitch and you know, like it just needs you to like reenter it. Okay, cool. So I do that.  And then they're like, well, now you have to wait until February.
11:13because we only process payments once a month.  Oh, man.  Which at this time, so I'm gearing up to go get George. have this big trip to Tennessee. In my head, I'm like, all right, well, that's a great way for me to not spend that money, right? Like, sure, it's in the bank  and I'll save it for the trip. That's no problem.  And so February rolls around, same problem.  And  I'm like, okay.  So at this point,  I
11:43subscribe to MetaVerified, which is the little blue check mark, which is like a stupid amount of money every month.  And the reason I did this was because they say enhance support, like you get to actually talk to a person instead of a robot. So I was like, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to go ahead and do that.  And I did that, filed the new support team  and they looked into it and they were like, Oh yeah, like it looks like there was like some kind of error.  So
12:11just re-enter your information again and it looks like that problem is fixed. Which sounds a lot like the first story, right?  But again, I'm like, okay, well this is a real person this time because I was not sure the first time.  And so I did as they instructed and then again, oh, now you're gonna have to wait until March.  And.
12:33So that was very frustrating considering I was leaving to get Georgian March and I would be in Tennessee when that payment was supposed to come into my account. Yeah. And so that was stressful in itself being like, am I going to get this money while I'm down there? Because I had  hoped to do some shopping in the US and  have a really fun trip.
13:02Um, so I was, I, you know, just made sure that if it didn't come through, that I was going to be okay to get home and whatever.  But I said, let's, let's go. If I end up not being able to shop down there, I guess that's, that's the worst worst case scenario. Right.  And so  sure enough, March  21st, same error.  And at this point I'm like, well, that's disappointing. Like I just did.
13:30all of these miles, like I had so many things I wanted to buy in the US because you guys just have so much more accessibility to  everything.  Like  I went into tractor supply and I probably could have filled my horse trailer with just stuff that we don't even have available here. Yep.  And  so I again contacted support  and they this time they were like, Oh, this has been happening.
13:59You know, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna pass you on to a specialized team  and we're gonna get this sorted out. Okay, great. So  I  go,  like I'm continuing on my trip to go get George. I  just carry on.  And I think it was a week and a half  before  they  finally reached back out to me because mind you,
14:24They have you on this chat. say they've passed you to a specialized unit  and then they mute your conversation. So you can't even like say, hey, like just wanting to follow  up, just, you know,  you know, there's none of that. No, it's muted. It's like, this is an automated message. We'll get back to you when we're ready. And it's like, cool, cool, It's like, hurry up and wait. So  I  carry on the trip  and I can't even remember when they finally got back to me.
14:52I think I was already back in Canada and  they said, okay,  we're not sure why this isn't working with your PayPal. So  can, you have a bank account you can use? Try that.  Okay,  sure. So I open up a USD bank account because we can only receive  payments  in  U S dollar. I opened that up with my bank.
15:18and I put all the information in  and  set it all up and sure enough, wait till April 21st.  So.  Becca,  this is getting real long.  So you still haven't been paid yet, yes or no? No, no. Okay. I did some research yesterday after I saw the other posts you shared from the other creator that hasn't been paid. Really? And I looked up.
15:45Why is Facebook not paying creators? And if you look it up, there's a party line on a couple different results that say that Facebook is looking into changing how they're doing this. Why I wanted you to share is because this is why it's never a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket to be a homestead quote here. you're not doing that.
16:12proud of you for realizing that you can't necessarily always count the chickens before they hatch.  Right. But what a freaking mess. I'm sorry you're going through it.  Yeah. And  I just got to the point where I can receive stars on my Facebook page. Right.  And I looked it up and  oh, you have to actually, as someone who wants to give stars to a creator, you have to buy the stars. Oh yes. Great. Fantastic.
16:42So,  if you are a Facebook creator who just got the ability to receive stars and haven't received any, that's probably why, because people are probably pretty stingy with who they give stars to.  Oh, absolutely.  Another thing, I just wanted to throw it out there.  When you mentioned that they were switching how they were doing things, they switched from the performance bonus program  to content monetization.
17:11If I remember correctly, I joined the content monetization program last December. So I am almost certain that this is a content monetization problem,  specifically with amounts over four figures.  probably. So I think I think there's something there.  And unfortunately,  we're it's just a waiting game until they figure out what the heck's going on.  I do think I'll get it. I'm not I'm not worried about that. I'm just like how
17:40You know, like right now I'm prepping for horse shows  and I'm like, well,  that was kind of the money that I was going to use for my entry fees and all of that stuff. So now I'm having to pivot and do a whole bunch of other things that  to try and generate enough money to  continue on doing what I wanted to do with my money that I should have.  Yes, exactly. So  17 minutes in,  I'm going to back us both up a little bit.
18:08I thought- So sorry. No, that's okay. That's okay. I gave you the floor and you took it and  people should know. People should said you wanted to vent and I'm like, I will tell you the whole story. Yeah. People should know that being a content creator is not all candy and hearts and roses. It's work and you should be paid for your work.  So, I'm to back us up to the beginning. You and I spoke back in January of this year, first time we'd ever spoken. So this is a catch up episode.
18:37Becca's had a lot going on.  mentioned Katie Van Slyke back in the first episode because I'm a fan of Katie and so is Becca.  Becca basically told me that Katie Van Slyke was her  inspiration for getting into raising mini horses. So that's what Becca does. Becca raises mini horses and now we're caught up. So you went  in March to buy
19:05George, a baby mini horse from Katie van Slyke.  And it was an adventure from what I saw on Facebook. So, so go ahead and take another 10 minutes and tell me about that trip.  All right. Well, I'll try to be a little bit more, more concise with it.  Um,  it was, it was a fantastic trip. We left Alberta and I was traveling alone with my two kids,  um,  pulling the horse trailer and I traveled,  uh,
19:34all the way down to Oklahoma with another miniature stallion that a friend had sold to someone in Oklahoma.  So that helped cover  most of the cost of the trip down,  which was really, really nice. But traveling with kids, we ended up not being able to do quite as many miles as I had anticipated. So we did have like a little bit more,  like I think there was an extra stop from what I had originally planned, which just
20:04because  instead of driving 12 hours, we were driving nine,  right? so  we got into Montana. Montana is absolutely beautiful. We didn't have any crazy weather.  And then  as we're leaving Montana to get to,  our goal was to get down to Colorado that second day, but we got stopped in Sheridan, Wyoming. There was a freak blizzard  and  the roads were closed.
20:34because apparently in the US you guys close roads.  We sure do.  And we find it so funny because like I understand that  the wind  is a large factor in a lot of these spaces, but like here I don't think I've ever seen a road closed unless there was a major accident.  And  like we drive in like absolutely crazy weather all the time, but that's just normal to us.  So.
21:03That  was an interesting thing, but I'm glad that it happened where it did because Sheridan actually ended up being probably one of my favorite stops.  I just really enjoyed that little town. was like very cowpoke country. Like it feels like you could ride your horse down the street in the middle of the day in the summer and it would be totally normal.  I  loved it. So  after that,  we...
21:30Um, we went down to Colorado. There was some major like wind issues, but we never actually hit any of the wind issues. We darted across, uh, Kansas and down to, um, is that, is it Oklahoma? That's right below Kansas. I think so. Right. I am. I think so. It's been a long time. I've taught a geography, but I think so. Yeah.
21:56Okay, so from Kansas down to Oklahoma, we dropped Titan off  and then we took a little little side quest to Texas,  which is where my friend  Nicole.  Um, Pierce all lives.  So if you don't know Nicole,  she is DVM miniatures. She's  just got like, she's got some freaky horses. Like they are so unbelievably gorgeous.
22:26Um,  I know last year, I think  her horses were  like winning the grand champions at both,  um,  the  AMHR nationals and the AMHA worlds. Like she had quite a lot  of, uh, grand champion wins  and she's got this  like elite breeding farm down in Texas and miniature horses. was like, of course.
22:53I need to go see her and she does like TikTok and Facebook as well.  So  we stopped there. I got to like learn all about  her breeding program and just like finally meet her. Cause we've been friends on social media for a while.  And  honestly, that was incredible. I got to snuggle all the cute little babies  and  just spend a couple of days there with them.  And  then we had to  rush to get to Tennessee because there was like
23:23800 million tornado warnings.  Yes. Yes. I remember reading about that. Yes. was so many tornadoes and like somehow I made it through  all of them  and we got to Tennessee. We picked up George.  I  didn't spend a whole lot of time at Katie's.  She strikes me as a very, very busy woman.  I feel like she's got a lot going on even with the help that she does have.
23:53a lot going on all the time.  Absolutely. Like she's,  she is busy and I could just feel that vibe when I was like, I think I'm busy.  And so we picked up George  and George was very nervous. That was his first time on the trailer. So  we could have made it a little bit further that night, but I decided, you know what, we're just going to find a hotel in the area  and let George be in the trailer  and have a minute.
24:23because  he was just vibrating in his boots. He had no idea what was happening.  he  was, how old was he? So he was born in July of last year. So in March, he would have been, what is that, eight months? Yeah, about. Yeah. So still a baby, but you know, like he grew up there  and he'd never been off the farm. So hopping into a trailer with people you don't know, like that's a lot.  And so we just parked it and
24:52you know, tried to get to know him for the night  and  whatever. So after that we  carried  on, um, driving  north. headed straight north because I had a mayor in Niagara falls that I have wanted for three years. I am absolutely in love with this mayor. She is the mother to  my, um, my other stallion, Max.
25:20she's just, she's stunning, she's gorgeous and I've wanted her forever. So I said, you know what, I'm going to go up through Canada because at this time we were also concerned about the tariffs.  yes, yes, I remember. remember you, I,  uh,  I can't talk.  messaged you and said, you buying George from Katie van Slyke? And you said yes. And you had said something to me, I think about wanting to get him before the tariff situation went into effect.
25:49Right. Because at that time, I think they were set to go in  on April 2nd and no one knew  what it was going to mean for like livestock.  Right? Like it was very up in the air. No one had any idea. Whatever. So I was like, you know, let's just dart across the border, get back into Canada. I don't want to pay tariffs on him.  And  that's what I did. So I got into Canada and then we were met with some serious weather.
26:18Because Canada.  And we were, I think we were parked  for a full week, basically just kind of hanging out in Ontario  and,  you know, doing our thing in the hotel. was honestly so relaxing. I,  I enjoyed it. I'm not going to lie. It was, it was nice breakfast made out for dinner. Like  I spent all of my money in Canada.  You, you had a, you had a mini vacation.
26:47I did. was, you know, in the States, I was being so frugal because I was like, we need to get home. And then by time I got to Canada, I was just like, whatever, let's go out to eat. Let's,  let's just enjoy this.  And we stayed there for quite some time. had an ice storm that had like  half an inch of ice on the side of my car. was absolutely crazy.  Um, and then after we got through Ontario, which is where all the nasty weather happened, then it was.
27:17pretty smooth sailing and we got home and  George is, George took no time at all to settle in. He's just  out here living his best life.  Like he was here his whole life. Like he's my best buddy. He's an absolute pocket pony. He just wants to be my best friend  and I love that. That's  exactly what I was hoping he would be.
27:40And I love that for you. And that's not the snarky. love that for you. That's the I actually love that for you. That's fantastic.  I have a question about George.  His registered name is RS King of the North. Is that right? It's RS Ruler of the North. Ruler of the North. Sorry. Ruler of the North. Yes, because his sire  is  Oak Bay Salsa's Cardinal Rule. Yeah. And his bar name is Ruler.
28:09His sire is  the main reason that I really  wanted George is his sire is pretty spectacular.  And  we thought it was fitting to have ruler of the North because  Katie kept referring to him as, you're to go be king of the North, you know, and  I thought it was cute. was like, cause I had no idea what to call them.  And that one just kind of fit and I love it.  So my question is,
28:36How come I know RS stands for running Springs. So how come it's RS and not whatever your  your thing is. Because it was he was bred by Katie. Okay.  So and I think I think with the minis she's going with  running Springs ruler of the north as opposed to RS because  in miniature horses with naming them we have like 36 characters as opposed to quarter horses who only have like 20.
29:04So we can be a lot more outlandish with our names. And I am almost certain that I've seen names longer than the 36 characters. So I don't, I'm not even sure if the registries care. Okay. Okay. And sorry, sorry if I screw up names and things. I follow you. I follow Katie. I just started following the one you mentioned in Texas. just started following Nicole. Yes. Yes.
29:28And it's only because you guys are so freaking entertaining and the babies are so cute that I follow you because I don't have any interest in getting mini horses. I'm good.  Right. But those baby horses are the sweetest freaking things I've ever seen when they're  on another level. And Nicole and I, we might be slightly biased, but we did agree that miniature horses  are cuter than big coals  any, any day of the week. are so stinking cute.  And the,
29:57Like now, like I used to love big foals, but now I see them and they just don't do it quite the same for me. To me, the mini foals  look kind of goofy, like stuffed animals. Yeah, yeah, like they're almost like cartoonish. Yeah, and the regular size foals look like deer to me.  And so I think it's the cartoonish stuffed animal thing with the minis that gets me. they are just...
30:25They're so beautiful, but they're so goofy looking. Yeah, yeah.  Yeah, no, I am a huge fan of  my mini babies.  Yeah. And I don't want to make you sad, but I also don't want people to think this is all starlight and roses and candy.  You also had a  pretty serious loss a month or so ago.  Yeah, it was, oh, that was honestly...
30:50I've dealt with a lot of loss in my life, but that one was especially hard because that...  So for those that don't know,  our mayor, Angie,  she was, know, due any day, I was right outside. I had just checked on her  and,  you know, not a hair out of place, nothing looking abnormal. And  I  was  putting eye drops in our other fool's eye because she had an eye ulcer.
31:19You know, that takes a few minutes because we needed to  do the drop separately.  So we were kind of  doing that  and I look over  and  Andrew's having this dang thing. And I race over to her  and  this thing is limp.  It's  just, it's not responding. my best guess is that it was a red bag delivery. And with red bags, you can be there in the room and still have it not.
31:49end up good.  But it just kills me that I was right there.  And maybe I could have made a difference. Maybe I couldn't have. It's hard to say.  But  the icing on the cake was that foal  was our  only foal that we were able to get this year from  our late stallion SRF Premier who  was this
32:14gorgeous, gorgeous little buckskin stallion. was 28 inches tall and he passed away last fall due to complications with Cushing's disease  or equine PPID.  And it just killed me because he got one pregnant and it was that one that we lost. that  is  just heartbreaking.  Heartbreaking is the best way to put it.
32:42That one messed me up.  I'm so glad that my next two falls after that  were completely smooth without a hitch,  not a single problem. Like they  were beautiful and textbook.  And I'm grateful for that because I had some serious anxiety after, after Angie, because  again, I'm one person doing this. I don't have a team.  I do need to sleep at some point.  Um,  and
33:11You know, it just,  I was right there and that sucks. will haunt me for a very long time knowing that I was  right there and maybe could have made a difference. But  the coulda, shoulda, woulda's don't bring anything back. And unfortunately life goes on very quickly on the farm.
33:33Okay, so I'm just one person. I need to sleep at some point, but trying to be there for these mayors when they foal and all of the things that go along with foaling, it's ideal if you can be there 24-7. And one day I hope that I will be able to hire foal monitors and...
34:00all of those things that can like better enable me to  be there  like right as things start to progress. But unfortunately, the reality is like you can only do what you can with what you have.  And  when you're  starting from the ground up,  kind of like I am, like  I have a lot of support and I'm very blessed in that way,  but  I'm not someone who was given
34:28you know, all of these alerts and systems to get started with. So it's something that we have to build up to and it'll haunt me forever knowing that  I was  quite literally right there  and this still happened and that we lost that beautiful baby.  And  it is what it is. Unfortunately, life goes on very, very quickly on the farm and you just have to learn to cry your tears  and  wipe them away and get on with your day.
34:58And that's one of the hardest things about this life  is.  Yeah. And except that you didn't necessarily do anything wrong.  Right. You have no idea why that baby died. Exactly. It could have been something completely genetic. We will never know.  And  it's unfortunate  trying to separate yourself because it's so easy to blame yourself and so easy to
35:26think of the woulda, coulda, shoulda's,  but unfortunately all you can do  is learn  and  hope to  hell next time you look over a minute sooner. It's  just sad. Yeah. Well, just so you know, I saw the video you posted about that and you were crying and I was crying with you. Oh.  And I am like a really soft heart. I've said this on the podcast a bunch of times.
35:55When our first barn cat got hit by a car and died, I cried for hours.  And there was nothing I could do about that, obviously. And so for the people that have these beautiful,  expensive animals that they love and they have sunk money into and vet costs into and  hoping to have them show someday, I can't imagine how hard that is.
36:23I'm such a dork that I sobbed for six hours over the first barn cat we lost.  I would have been destroyed for a week if I had a  full. Yeah.  And I  think you,  I don't want to say you get used to it, but like you get better at  processing things.  because our, you know, first loss was the same thing. Like I was devastated for days and days and days.
36:53And like that, think that was like with a rabbit, like, and rabbits are notorious for  being terrible mothers.  Um,  so,  you know, and then to move it up to,  oh, that was my first foal that we've ever lost.  And unfortunately  it's,  it's just part of it.  And you do get  better at  dealing with the pain.  doesn't,  it doesn't get easier when it's happening. You're.
37:22still  devastated. It's just you process it better and faster, I guess.  Yep. And I didn't want to make you relive the story, but I also want people who listen to this podcast to know that just because you have a place that's big enough to have animals  and just because you have what it takes to get the animals,  it's not always perfect. There are things that go wrong.  There are also things that go really, really right.
37:52Yep.  So, well, I mean, if you look at Katie's a great example of someone who,  like,  I don't think I know anyone who does as much  vet care as she does.  Um,  and you know, she's got vets right there all the time and she still has stuff go wrong.  And, you know, like, of course she's doing everything in her power to prevent those things.  Um,  and it absolutely.
38:20destroys me when I hear people like, you know, hate on her for  whatever, because like she's clearly doing everything she possibly can to prevent tragedy.  I  can't think of anything that she could do  differently.  And, you know, to see that and then to know that her reality is also not the reality for 99 % of farmers or people in the industry.
38:49Like, it's, her reality is beautiful and it's so nice to see, you know, the level of care that she provides her animals. But that is not the norm for 99.9 % of people because 99.9 % of people don't have an unlimited budget. They don't, you know, make money from views and stuff like that. So at some point you always have to
39:18say, okay, like at this point, we're gonna have to pull the plug or we're gonna have to make that hard choice because we can't justify spending that, right?  And I think  that's  one of the like dangers  of Katie's content and not her specifically, just  her like how privileged her life really truly is.  And
39:44like how unrelatable it is for so many other people that have animals. And it's not because  she's doing anything wrong. She's amazing.  But it is  really, really challenging to not compare yourself to  someone with all of these means.  And I don't want anyone to ever think that just because you can't provide what Katie provides,  that you shouldn't own animals  because
40:14The vast majority of people can't provide the level of care that she does. And when wildly she still gets hated on for not providing enough, which is insanity to me. people have fans, they also have haters. It's just how it goes. Hey, I have my own Reddit page now. So I think I've made it. think I'm doing great. Very nice.
40:40And the other thing that I would throw in here is that we as humans are all  one  unknown step away from falling off a cliff. Absolutely. Absolutely.  You don't know. You just don't know what's coming next and you do everything you can  to do the right things and plan for things and hope with everything you've got that everything turns out the way you would like it to.  But a friend of mine's husband just passed away unexpectedly like a month and a half ago.
41:09Oh man.  she had no idea that that was going to be her last day with him.  Oh, that's so, yeah. it's, life is just insane when you think about it. It's just crazy.  And all you can do is live the day that you're given and hope for the next one. But just do, do what you can with what you have right now. And, always strive to be better, you know, like  I,  I, I don't want anyone to ever feel like they need to.
41:37or they shouldn't own animals because they're not willing to spend, you know, $200,000 on a horse, right? In vet bills, right? Because I think animals bring so much joy to people and like we just had a serious vet bill with our Pomeranian puppy. He broke his leg and it was, I think it was like $5,500 once it was all said and done.
42:01Um, and there were so many people that were like, Oh, I would never be able to do that. And like feeling guilty. And I, I hate that it's like, there are other options. We chose the expensive option, but there, there was another option and don't ever feel like, you know,  like that's a good, good case for getting pet insurance sort of thing. Like I think, you know, there's a fine line between being cognizant of what you can afford. Um, but also.
42:27being too hard on yourself because you don't need an unlimited budget to enjoy the love of animals, right? You don't. And I think I mentioned Maggie to you when we talked before, but our dog is a mini Australian Shepherd. She is way too fancy a dog for us, I swear to you. She is beautiful. She is a classic black tri mini Australian Shepherd. And she cost us $500. And when we got her,
42:57Five years ago  in October, I think, is the anniversary of when we picked her up.  had the funds to spend $500 on a puppy. And at the time I thought, Jesus, that's a lot of money for a farm dog, basically. She's got a dog and that's it.  But I was in love and it was the first time we'd had space to have a dog and I really wanted a puppy. So we got Maggie.  Maggie has been the biggest blessing of my life.
43:25I love her. She lets me know when people pull in the driveway and I can tell from her barks whether it's somebody that we know or if it's a stranger. And that lets me know whether I should be on alert or just be happy that somebody I know has come to visit. But we have spent money on her well visits. We spent money to get her
43:47spayed because we did not want her to have puppies and she's absolutely she's been spayed. She will never be a mama but boy is she a mama to the barn kittens when we have them. I love that. I love that. And there were a couple months this winter where money was very very tight and I was like I gotta make some more money so I can keep my beautiful too fancy for me dog fed you know. Yeah absolutely and I mean
44:14Right now, it's such a trying time too, because things are so volatile  with pricing and like there's no way to have a budget because all of a sudden my groceries cost $100 more than it should have last month, you know?  Like it's so  hard to  be living in this  absolutely chaotic,  like just pricing, tariff, everything, all of the things  making life more expensive.
44:42And like, I just want to sit out here and watch my ponies eat grass. Like that's, that's what I want in my life. I, you know, like the shows are great. Um, if I have to not show this year because  of the whole Facebook drama thing,  um,  that's okay. I'll be, I'll be all right. I can show next year. That's not the end of the world,  but as long as  I can feed them  and,  know, keep them happy and contained and  just love on them, that's, that's what it's all about. That's what it's all about.
45:11Yeah, absolutely. And there's only so much we can control. I  groceries are pretty goddamn spendy here in the US too.  It's terrible. When I was down there, there was something I noticed actually that  in Canada, we always have this  perception that everything is so much cheaper in the United States.  It's not, especially if you factor in the exchange rate because our dollar is so terrible.
45:41Yeah.  I didn't find like we want we went through a few grocery stores and I didn't find anything  like cheaper at all. I found some things to be quite a bit more expensive actually. And I think that was like  a perception that we had from  from a long time ago because things used to be a lot cheaper there. And there were some things for sure that were cheaper.  But  like groceries and food. No, not really.
46:10I didn't find that. Yeah, we're so very thankful that we're rolling into June  this weekend.  Yeah. Because the farmers markets really start kicking here in June. Right.  And we benefit from that because we buy stuff from the farmers market, but we also benefit from it because we sell at the farmers market. Right. Right. And I am a big, I love salads. I love lettuce. I love radishes. I love cucumbers and tomatoes.  Right.
46:40it'll be a lot less expensive to eat over the summer. It always is because we eat really late in the summertime. Right. Yeah.  I, um,  I unfortunately am a big meat fan.  that is just not, it's not cheap at all.  Um,  it's just gone up and up and up and up.  And if you try and buy direct from a farmer, it's more expensive for some reason.  And you'd think that it wouldn't be, but it is.  Um,
47:10And  yeah, but I like, would rather buy direct from a farmer because  I'm sick and tired of these big billion dollar corporations  getting all the, all the profit while the farmers suffer and then the consumers suffer.  And  you know, they,  there's one store here in Canada,  so going off on too much of a tangent, they hiked up  a  very  like
47:36quite a lot of prices over the pandemic and beyond.  And  they  renovated all of their stores to be like so much more bougie.  And it was like, you guys, like, you could have like,  not done that and just let us have our groceries at a better price.  no, you renovated, like they renovated our local store, I think three separate times.  And just,  and I could see that it's just  because they wanted a write off, right?
48:06But it kills me. It kills me. think farmers really need to band together and create some kind of like  stick it to the man supermarket of some kind, which is like a farmer's market, but more accessible. I don't know. Good business idea for somebody who has the time.  Yeah. So she's not you right now.  No, it's not.
48:28I was talking with my husband about this a week or so ago and I said, did we just happen to be born at the right time, be born in the golden age of growing up? And he said, what you talking about? And my husband is like five and a half months older than I am. I was born in 1969. Right. And he was born five and a half months before me  in 1969. Wow.  And  he said, you know,  he says, we were teenagers during the cold war. It was still the cold war. It was before the Berlin Wall.
48:58was taken down. Right. I'm like, thank you for pointing out to me how freaking ancient I am. And he's like, yes, I know, honey. He says the eighties and the nineties were very easy for us  as young adults. And I said, I think so too. said, I can't imagine being in my twenties right now. I wouldn't know. I would not be able to afford to live. I wouldn't be able to afford to eat or live in a home.
49:27And most of them can't, unfortunately. Like even, even the young bucks here who are up in the oil field grinding it away are struggling. And it's, it's terrible. And I mean, this is why I said, you know what, I'm pursuing this social media thing because to me as someone who
49:51You know, this has been my dream since I was a little kid is owning horses and just being in the country and  living a quiet, peaceful life.  I  like this kind of life is extremely expensive  and  I  truly  feel that social media is was and is my only ticket  to being able to live that life and build that life  so that my kids can have it too.
50:18when they're old, if they want it, you know?  Because I feel like I've missed my mark for going to law school  or med school.  And  those jobs still require you to be so busy.  like, don't get me wrong, I'm  so busy with social media and doing all of the things, but  I'm here talking to you watching my horse eat her mash.  And  that to me is  like,
50:46the most blessed life I could possibly live. And if I could,  you know, make enough to  support my dreams, I don't need to be, you know, a millionaire. I don't need to live lavish. I just want to support exactly what I'm doing right now.  And,  you know, hopefully I can help benefit others in the process.  think going back to Katie, again, that's something she does so beautifully is
51:12bringing people into her circle and letting everyone have a piece of her  pie that she created for herself.  And it's just,  it's,  I truly think it's the only way because if I go out and get any  kind of, you know, even a decent paying job,  like my husband has a decent paying job and he's just noticed that prices go up, but his wage stays the same and he's getting,  you know, you.
51:40All this inflation happens, but it doesn't happen to the wages.  And so he's being bumped down,  you know, 20 years ago in his industry, he was considered like a high income earner and now he's like  considered a very like medium to low income earner. And like, to me, that's just not right.  And  so many people are dealing with that and  it's the real tragedy  of our existence, I think.  Right now, yeah.
52:10It's terrible. There is a word for people who do tourism on their farms. It's agritourism. Yes. Yes.  So do you think that all this social media that is promoting farms and ranches and homesteads and stuff, do think we should call it agri-content? I mean, you could, or I mean,  like there's farm talk, there's horse talk, there's, yeah, like you could definitely call it that.  And I think
52:39The  the whole idea of it is the agritourism but minus all of the insane insurance costs, right?  So digital agritourism. Yeah, exactly because like I mean I would have I would have loved to have a petting zoo  I don't have the space for it right now But like I've looked into like even like a mobile petting zoo and the insurance. Oh, it's just  Insane because animals are unpredictable. Unfortunately
53:07And insurance is just insane.  Our place is registered as an LLC.  And we looked into getting LLC insurance because people do come to  the farm as it were  and buy stuff from the farm stand and they want to see the chickens and they want to see the barn kittens when we have them.  And our insurance guy who we love, he's no longer our insurance guy. retired. We are very sad about this.  He was great.
53:35And we told him what we were doing and he said, you really should have insurance for the LLC.  Because if anything happens to people on your farm, homestead, whatever you're calling it,  you could get sued and that would be really bad. the  LLC insurance is expensive. And  my husband, said, is it worth it? Is it worth it to pay this? And he's like,
54:00Do you like being able to sell eggs and produce in the farm stand all summer? And I was like, yes. He said, then it's worth it.  Oh, that's a good husband right there.  But insurance, matter what kind it is, is always expensive. And  what makes me insane about it is that  I have health insurance, you know, through my husband's work.  I  rarely  ever need to use it.  And yet we're paying out like,
54:30hundreds of dollars at a very paycheck for health insurance.  Yeah. I'm like, is this a racket or is it really worth it? You know?  Right. I mean, it's not worth it until you need it. And then it's worth every penny. Right.  And that's the like, here's another crazy business idea for some insurance company who might be listening.  Like group pet insurance. I would love to have pet insurance  on the pom poms  and the dogs and all of those animals. Because like I said, we just had like this huge vet bill.
54:59Um, but try to have pet insurance on the amount of animals that I have.  Like it's crazy. Um,  but I would love to see like some kind of pet insurance that's like  shaped like a life insurance policy where, know, if your pet never needs anything, you get a portion back or something, you know?  Yeah. I,  so just putting that out into the universe again for someone who has time.  Uh huh. Exactly.
55:28Well, I wanted to get caught up with you. I wanted to hear the story about George. Thank you for sharing it.  I  really wanted you to tell a story about Angie's baby because people need to know this is not all sunshine and bubblegum. It sure is not.  It's work. It's good work and it will hurt your heart, but it will also make your heart sing at the same time. So absolutely.  And I wanted to give you some room to talk about Facebook because I think that people who are not content creators have no understanding of
55:57of how it works or why we do it. Right, right. Yeah. And a lot of people, you know, maybe don't see the value in it.  Um, but I think  quite a few studies show that people are watching TikTok or Facebook reels or whatever YouTube  more than they're watching TV and like these pre-produced Hollywood things. And when you think about it,
56:21That means that we're taking a little bit of  the money out of Hollywood's pocket and putting it into real people's pocket. And I think that's freaking awesome because  we don't need any more Kim K's.  No, we do not. You are correct. No,  I'm not going to sit here and throw shade at the Kardashians.  They're doing their thing. They're living their life the way they want to live it.  I  say you do you and like I'm inspired by you,  but
56:51you have too much money.  It's not fair for the rest of us. I will never know what it's like to have too much money and I am okay with that. I'm perfectly fine with that.  All right, Becca, where can people find you?  So  my Facebook name is Becca Hammond. It has a little blue check mark now. So  that's it's the one with the blue check mark.  The username is at Becca Bia Moon.
57:18Uh, that's for Instagram and Facebook. And then over on TikTok,  am  at moonridgeacres as well as YouTube as well. So I really need to like make those all the same at some point. I haven't got there yet.  Okay. Well, I would highly suggest if people are interested in mini horses and everything that goes into having them,  raising them and crying over them,  you should go out, go and check Becca's Facebook page for sure.
57:46And as always, guys can find me at atinyhomesteadpodcast.com. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you, See you next time. Bye. Bye-bye.
 

Rosewyn Urban Regenerative Farm

Today I'm talking with Chelsie at Rosewyn Urban Regenerative Farm.
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00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters.  I'm your host, Mary Lewis. A Tiny Homestead is sponsored by the Homegrown Collective, the best option for organizing a responsible and regional food system for America.  You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. Today I'm talking with Chelsie at Rosewyn Urban Regenerative Farm. Almost forgot the name of your place is Chelsie, sorry.  Good morning, are you?
00:29I am doing phenomenal and yourself? I'm good. It is a gorgeous day in Minnesota again, two days in a row. Yes, we're finally  hitting steady seventies over here. So it is optimal outside time.  Yes. Springtime is wonderful.  Um, my favorite is fall, but spring is my second favorite season. So,  and, uh, I know you're in Montana because  I talked to Morgan yesterday.
00:56and she recommended that I talk with you and Morgan is in Montana as well. tell me all about what you're doing because urban regenerative farm is not something I hear very often.  No, no. I mean, the optimal idea was to get a big plot of land, but then I just figured I need to do something where I am to show other people it's possible to do it wherever you are. So  I focus a lot on small footprints.
01:24Growing options that way if someone's in an apartment or in a trailer, they realize that they have an option as well. Um, I really, really am an advocate for food and medicinal security as a community. And if we can all grow something in our yards and trade, then our community will be a lot more sustainable, uh, as a whole. And no one, it will, it will equalize kind of the deficit or the difference between income levels.
01:56So essentially  sovereignty for everyone  and burning down the gates on the way.  Good, good. I  don't advocate burning anything, but I understand the phrasing, burning down the gates to keeping people out from doing what they want to do. Yeah, gatekeeping, know, just those  gates.  So I collect knowledge so people have access to it.
02:23and can check out books or whatever they need to check out. Yeah, absolutely. The reason that I kind of jumped on that phrasing is because this is the five year anniversary of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis and I live an hour southwest of Minneapolis. And at the time that that happened, my husband worked not a mile and a half from all the destruction from the fires that were set. So
02:50I'm a little twitchy about anything on fire right now.  I understand and I apologize about any triggers that happened. No, that's okay. I just remember him coming home from work when he was actually allowed to go back to work because the place that he worked at was on lockdown for three days.  So it was a hospital  and  he was, he looked pretty shell shocked when he walked in the door and  we are both very white people. And I said, why do you look so sick? And he said, honey, he said, if you could see.
03:20the road I drive on to get to the hospital. He said  every building has plywood up on the windows or it's burned.  it to affect him in that way when he had nothing, I don't know, at stake as it were in it,  it was a big deal here. So I don't want to bring the discussion down, but I'm just making people aware that  we all really need to respect each other.
03:49And we really, really need to be careful of how we live our lives because everyone deserves a life that's good and everyone deserves respect. So that's all I have on it.  Absolutely. No,  I fully understand that. So anyway,  so do you teach about the urban regenerative stuff?  So  I am definitely more a one-on-one person because everyone
04:17and everyone's situation is so individual and unique.  So what I do,  I'm also a shamanic healer. So  in all areas, I create like a sacred space for people to find their own power, you know?  And so I do give tours  and answer questions, but on a whole, have not done like classes at this point yet. I'm sure it will evolve into that at some point, but right now,
04:47It's just trying to figure out how one, each person can implement something where they are. Okay. Yeah. Um, we have a bunch of plants, like bedding plants that we grew on purpose to sell to people this year, because I want everyone to be growing something if they have the space, if they can make the space because our, our supply chain stuff might go a little wonky this year again. And I'm really concerned about people having food.
05:17And the best thing you can do for yourself is grow your own produce. if it's just herbs. Herbs have medicinal properties.  They are also really nutritional and they make crappy food taste better.  Absolutely. Yeah, I have had  people come over and get cuttings off some of my plants and I get a lot of volunteer trees on my plot. So  I will pull those and give those away as well.
05:46People can give donations if they want, at this point I really am just trying to get stuff in people's hands. Yeah, we have stuff for sale, but after this episode, I'm going to chat with my husband about putting out on Facebook that  if people would like one or two plants for free, they're welcome to come get them. Yeah, after  almost all, everyone that's come and got it had a tour. They leave with something, whether it's  a tree start,  a start of a plant cuttings.
06:14Even sourdough starts have gone.  Yeah, we just grew so many that we are overrun and we're not going to have enough room in the garden to actually plant all of it.  And I realized that those plants that don't get planted are going to die. And I hate that. I hate it a plant dies. Absolutely.  So I'm going to put out a notice later today and be like, if you would like to just come grab one or two,  it's not going to cost you anything. Just please take my plants and give them a home.
06:43Yeah, one of my biggest plans for more space is, so  we just recently got married this month and we're going to celebrate with everyone in July. But after that, I'm shutting down my pool  and I'm converting it into an in-ground greenhouse. So I have a lot more space.  Awesome. And congratulations on getting married. Thank you. That's fantastic.  would you, would you, uh, I don't know, put like a
07:13a framework above the pool and put shade cloth over it and then put dirt in the pool. How are you doing this? So the plan  is  doing just like a greenhouse top on the pool since it's already in ground.  And then I'm going to line the walls with pallets and fill them with soil so I can do some vertical growing as well in there. And probably like a raised bed on one side and some like
07:41Pable tops on the other for seeds and stuff and then towards the deep end I did bring back  a fruit cocktail tree from Arizona on our wedding trip  and  It has six different types of stone fruits on it and that will be the centerpiece in there And then at that point we'll acquire ducks  as well since they need a lot more space than the chickens do  Please post photos of your progress on Facebook and Instagram if you're on Instagram because I want to see how this goes
08:11Absolutely. I'm not on Instagram at this moment, but I will propose photos of any updates in progress. I have a nice little list of volunteers and I've been bartering Skillshare's with people. So it will be kind of a community effort too. What a fantastic idea. I had never thought about turning a pool into a greenhouse. That is amazing. I mean, it's just copying like a wall of peenie, you know, but using what I have where I have to implement it.
08:38Yeah, no, that's fantastic.  We don't have a pool. And even if we had a pool, I would probably want to swim in it.  I really like I did. That's how you got me to Montana. I grew up over in the Pacific Northwest in Washington. So getting me away from the ocean required the pool here.  But now that I'm here and I see how often I actually get to use it in Montana, I'm like, I can use the greenhouse so much more.  Yeah, absolutely.
09:07You have you said you have chickens. How many chickens do you have?  I have four chickens. I just acquired them. I want to say a little over a week ago. So they're about three weeks old right now.  I did have chickens before I left Washington. When we moved here to the city and not having like a  backyard, everything was covered in turf when I moved to this house.  Um, so I've been slowly removing that as well. So they will go out.
09:34Probably in another six to eight weeks. Okay. How big is your property? Just because I'm trying to get a picture of how much room you're working with here.  Oh man. I have like a really narrow shotgun property.  It is so everything is divided into different areas. Like I have the front food meadow that I just did and I probably want to say that that's probably
10:03an eight by 20 area. And then there's an area between our main house, which they're both, we have a main house and a pool house. And in between there is an area where this lady put in a whole bunch of snow on the mountain, but that is edible. So I just threw a whole bunch of red clover and shade loving wildflowers in there as well to kind of combat.
10:32that since it wants to grow like men.  And  then there's a raised area and that area is probably what? Maybe four by eight feet. Okay. And then I have four raised beds  up on  a rocky raised area that she, the lady before us had put in where I do most of my annuals. Everything else here is pretty much perennials. That way it just keeps growing.
11:01And then  there is the food forest area that I did that's probably about four by 16 feet long. And that's the first area I converted. I started with a dwarf apple tree  and a grapevine and a bunch of herbs and shrubs.  have like currants  and service berries in there.  And it just kind of, and I let it go wild. Like I don't pluck any of the weeds.
11:30because those are medicinal.  And  then  on the side of the pool is where all my raspberry blackberries and mint are duking it out for space. And that's probably three by 12 feet. So you have like, we call them fairy gardens here. We screwed up  a couple of years ago when one of our greenhouses went over  and  there were a lot of seedlings in the greenhouse. And of course, when the greenhouse got blown over, everything got mixed up.
12:00And so my husband just like planted a bunch of little, I don't know, four foot by five foot plots with whatever it was and we just let it grow.  we ended up with some great squashes out of the deal.  Yeah, I will plot. So when I actually at the top yesterday, they had some heirloom type of winter squashes  and so  they were handing out seeds and I just popped three of them in there in my food forest area yesterday. So we'll see those and how they.
12:30out. Yeah, um, just a hint for anybody listening. When you plant squashes, even like summer squash, if you mound up the dirt and then you put the seed in the middle of the mound, however deep it's supposed to be, supposedly that helps them grow. I don't know if it's true, but that's what my husband does and they do really well. Nice, good to know. I do a lot of electroculture over here too.
12:56with copper rods and in  the front,  I have wrapped the whole  little gated area with the copper wire as well.  And I've seen some great results  in the areas before that one. So in the food forest and the raised beds. I had never heard of that before. I do a lot of like indigenous type practices.
13:25Rather than trying to control nature, just want to work within. So I might suggest an area, but nature does what she wants, right?  Yep. She sure does. Like blowing over a greenhouse that you spent months getting things growing. yes,  yes, that was one of the saddest things that's happened here in the almost five years we've been living here. I watched it go over  and I stood there and cried. Chelsea, honest to God.
13:51I can imagine one of the places that I like to frequent for my growing materials lost their whole greenhouse from the snow this year.  So,  it can be devastating. bet. Yup. And then I realized I was crying over something that I couldn't fix. And I was like, okay, there's going to be an upshot here somewhere. I know it's going to be silver lining to this disaster. And there was, it all worked out fine. food forest.
14:18I've heard that a lot lately with people I've been talking to and we are also in the process of getting ours really going  because we have ash trees in our tree line and the ash beetles, know, the emerald ash borers, whatever they're called,  they have found our ash trees. So  my husband and my son are in the process of taking down the ones that they can get to safely.  And then we have a dude who brings us firewood. He is an arborist, woodcutter person.
14:48and we'll hire him to take down the scary, dangerous trees by the pole barn. this has become an opportunity as well because we now have spaces where we can put in new trees.  So we're in the process of getting as cheaply as possible  more apple trees, more plum trees, more peach trees  so that we can have a food forest that is basically fruit. And  it's been so fun researching what will grow in Minnesota.
15:16Like we have two peach trees that produced peaches last fall. I didn't think you could grow peaches in Minnesota. And that's why I'm so excited with the greenhouse because the stone fruit tree has six, so it has two peaches, two apricots, a plum and a nectarine on it that are grafted on. I really like grafted trees. So I also have an apple tree that has four types of apples grafted on and then a lemon and lime tree. But that little girl stays inside until.
15:46And then she rolls right back outside.  But yeah, they're great small fruit options for the grafted trees.  Yeah. And I, because we've been doing all this research, I didn't know that you could graft different fruits onto one root stock. And my husband did a whole bunch of research on it.  And he said, did you know we could grow cherries, plums, apples, peaches, and like two other things on one root stock? And I said,
16:16No. And he said, I want to try this. I was like, I think you should. I think we should do that. We'll have a Frankenstein fruit tree. Absolutely. It's so cool. And it came that one actually, we, so we did a two week road trip for our wedding and this man, don't know why he takes me to nurseries and things. I'm gonna leave without something, but it's very adorable. And I saw that and she rode back in the shower of the trailer the whole way. She had like her own little greenhouse.
16:45Well, she's got a good start then. Yes.  Very nice.  And then  you were talking about your chickens.  people, probably people listening to podcast know this, but most people don't realize that  it takes a good four to six months before laying hens will start laying eggs. so  I'm telling stories today. I'm sorry. I'm going tell this one and then we'll ask you more questions.
17:14My husband and I posted on Facebook this morning about the fact that my husband and I had an impromptu discussion this morning at eight o'clock in the morning  on Sunday on Memorial Day weekend about an idea that we both have had percolating in our brains for a week  and come to find out it was the same idea for a new thing for the farm.  I guess, I guess that great minds do think alike. And when you've been together for over 25 years or whatever it's been, um,
17:43We start thinking alike, it's really weird.  But anyway, I had seen a video Monday about somebody who was incubating chicken eggs. And I was like, that's so cute when they hatch. And we don't really need a new project. We really, really don't. But it's been in the back of my head since Monday. And  my husband says to me this morning, he says, can you ask our chicken dealer, our friend who sells us the laying hens we buy.
18:12where she orders her chicks from. And so I did, and I said, I said, she gets them from one of the hatcheries, blah, blah, blah. I said, but I said, I would really like to look into getting fertilized eggs and an incubator and actually incubating the chickens ourselves, because it will cost us less money and we can do them whenever we're ready to. And he was like, we could do that. I said, yeah, not right now, but in, know, this fall maybe.
18:42Mm-hmm. And so we had this whole discussion out of the blue neither one of us planning on having this discussion this morning  All because we both had the same idea and open our mouth to share it at the same time  And so I am primarily the one over here coming up with the ideas, but my husband bless his heart helps me Execute them  That's what husbands are for. It's also what wives are for because he's gonna come to you with an idea at some point
19:11Be like, I was thinking about doing it. you're like, let me look it up. Let me research it. How can I help? Yes. So, but my husband's idea is that we have been selling out of our chicken eggs in our farm stand every day. Like we have 12 chickens. That's a dozen a day. We can't even keep eggs in our house for ourselves because we're selling them all. And so we got 14 more chickens. They are just starting to lay.
19:40But that again, that's only two dozen a day and they will be gone because people want good eggs right now.  And so my husband's idea was that we should get some baby chickens and raise them ourselves. And I said, you realize they won't be laying for five to six months from the day they arrive, right? And he said, oh, I thought it was like four months. I said, typically it's five to six months. I said, they have to grow, honey.  And he said, oh, and I said,
20:08I don't have a problem with doing this. I said, but we need to make sure that there's a market for us to do this.  said, I would hate to buy a hundred chicks, grow them out, and then we're stuck with tons of eggs. can't move.  I said,  if you want to consider it, I said we could do selling the eggs as a CSA model, community supported agriculture model, and people could sign up in the spring for a share for six months.
20:38And he was like, oh yeah, because then they would come get their eggs. said, yes, because they will pay for them. And it's such a great option for small farmers because then you get the funds up front for the season. Yes, which would pay for the chicks or the incubator to hatch the eggs. So basically, we're kind of we're tabling it for now because we have a lot of stuff going on here at the homestead this weekend. But we're going to revisit it in two weeks. And I'm going to do some research and see what's involved and how much money it would cost us to get set up.
21:08And I'm kind  of excited about this.  When a new idea presents and it's not an immediate that will never work, I'm always lit up about it.  Oh, absolutely. At one point I told my husband, I'm so thankful for you because sometimes you'll be like, no, that won't work. And I will be like, my brain will just start going,  but these are how it can. And I was like, you just make me think of how it can work.
21:36Don't tell me what I can't do.  I will show you how it's possible. Like, and that's what again, that's what I do is I just everything is possible. You just might have to look at it from a different angle, you know, apply a different system to it  or just step back for a moment  or get someone else's perspective.
22:00One of the ideas that I have is, you know, finding elderly people who have backyards and turning it into a little farm for them, providing them everything that they need, but then also delivering the rest to a food bank or having a community feed or even doing  a CSA with the remainder, leftovers. Yeah,  and can I throw an idea at you? Absolutely.  Okay, if you're going to do that, if you're entertaining that idea,
22:30There are kids  in middle school and high school,  or they used to call it junior high school, I guess the middle school now,  who are interested in learning how to garden,  but they don't really have anybody to learn from. How cool would it be for you to put out the word to your community that you're going to be doing this and that you would love it if there were some young people with strong backs to help volunteer to help work on these gardens?
22:56Absolutely. And that's another reason why I have my, I have volunteer sheets at like three sustainable businesses in town for people to sign up for tours and information and volunteering. But another thing that I wanted to do was even, um, like Eaglemont here works with, uh, disabled children and they do all kinds of outings and recreational things, but allowing them to come and, and farm and forage for tactile input and.
23:26with nature. So I just I have a lot of things but I want to get everyone excited about growing stuff and get them  more connected because we're so disconnected  and seeing where the food comes from, seeing the chickens  and  just how they interact, know, watching them forage or being in the garden while they forage.  Yeah, that's one of the things that
23:53I find when I talk with people on the podcast that they love the most is that they get to see  the process of their work from literally beginning to literally end result. And so many people have jobs where they're doing a piece of the job and they never see the result.
24:11Yeah, it's like the story of the four blind men with the elephant, you know, and when they're asked to describe it, they all describe something else because they're touching a different part, whether they're saying, oh, it feels like a treat  because they're touching the leg or, know, whatever. They all described something different. We just need to get together and talk to each other so we can put the pieces together. Yeah. Which is why I started this podcast over 18 months ago. I was like, people have stories to tell and it's going to connect everybody.
24:41Yes.  And I love it. I love it so much. Morgan said some very, very nice things to me yesterday on her episode made me cry.  So  because of connections that have been made because of my podcast and I didn't know anything about it, I was so excited when I got done talking with her that I ran downstairs and said, honey, I have a story for you and told my husband the story.
25:08That is amazing. I can't wait to listen tomorrow. That's when it's coming out, right? Yep. Tomorrow morning at seven. Can't wait to listen. Yeah. And for people don't know Morgan at Groovy Grazers in Montana. She's the one that I talked to yesterday.  She has goats.  So yeah,  I think that what you're doing is amazing. And especially since you're in an urban setting because
25:31We have three acres here and we've spent four and a half years trying to figure out what the heck we're doing with it, how we're going to make it  go and how it's going to benefit not just us, but our community. And we're finally starting to get a handle on it.  Finally.  And you know, when I started out, wanted the big plot. I wanted to do an eco village with a healing center. But again,  like
25:58So we've converted a shuttle bus. So we  live in that for the most part. Like that's where our room is. And the main house is my farm office and jam  and my healing office. So it's, it's a very micro version of what I wanted, but it still exists. And,  anyone who needs help or needs to research how to heal themselves, they can come here. Anyone who wants to garden or learn about gardening or
26:28whatever.  I want this to be a very community oriented social place. I'm going to be doing circles like I have a little activity we're doing here next month,  making  little lanterns out of upcycled jars and dried flowers and little push lights,  but just to get people exposed. Nice and I should have asked you back at the beginning of this.  Are you tying in your
26:57urban regenerative farming with your healing practice? Yes,  absolutely. And everything in life is interconnected. So why not? Okay. Cause some people don't, some people have, have that kind of business and then they have the farm as their thing that they do.  So I feel like if you connect them, then you're also adding all that nature and having hands in the dirt and breathing in really good oxygen from the plants. That's all healing too.
27:26Absolutely, but then also  if I want to make a tea blend for someone I don't want to order it.  Right. I want to know that there's no chemicals on it. want so it just makes you go down the rabbit. Like  you have to take charge of all these things if you want to know for sure that they're going to be healing and beneficial. Plus it's the energy.  I know that I'm growing everything here with love. So there's love inside those plants because
27:55I hold a reverence for them. I know that each blade of grass or  each stem, they all have their own spirit, right? So  by being kind and  living  symbiotically with them and stewarding over them,  the medicine that people then use themselves has that intention in it as well. Yes. And people will say that's woo woo.  W O O  W O O.
28:25It's not woo woo. It is real. It's a for real thing that happens because I'm going to tell one more story and then we're probably going to wrap it You are absolutely right. got all the stories. My mother and one of my mother's in law, okay, she passed away in 2014. She hated cooking. She did not enjoy cooking at all. Like she did it and she did her best, but she didn't love it. And you could tell that she didn't love it. Right. know?
28:55And she invited me and my husband to make Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. can't remember which now,  because I love to cook and she knew I loved to cook.  everybody in the family who ate dinner that day with us at my mother-in-law and my father-in-law's house  took home containers of leftovers. I cooked for like 40 people. There were only 15 there, I think.
29:22I raised two boys by myself, so I cook a lot when I cook too, I understand. Yeah, and my sister-in-law either posted on my Facebook page or messaged me, I can't remember now, it was a while ago. She said, I came home on purpose today to eat your leftovers for lunch. Thank you for what you did for my mom for Christmas. Yeah, that's beautiful. And it's not that my mother-in-law wasn't willing to cook, she just did.
29:52No, enjoy it. And I feel like when you really love what you're doing,  all of that love energy goes into whatever it is that you are producing. So it's a real thing. is not woo woo.  No, honestly, I'm going to tell you this. This really all started because during COVID, I got to sit with myself and I realized there's just some things about myself that are not  what the doctors are telling me.  I was very overweight.
30:20Uh, at my highest, I was over 400 pounds. Wow.  Um,  about three years ago, I mean, I got,  I started suspecting that I was neurodivergent during COVID. And I finally, once I moved here, I got that confirmation  and then I was like, well, what else have they missed?  Lots of epigenetic conditions.  And I've lost over 200 pounds and I am out of pain and off all medications by just taking everything into my own hands.
30:50I don't know what the correct response to that is. I want to say congratulations because that's a lot of hard I can trust my body. So that is it is the congratulations because I was falling and I was I was dying. All my organs were shutting down.  The stress of life, you know that  stress is what 90 % of most doctor visits  and that correlation is not taught. We're not taught about like our lymphatic system, which is our sewage system.
31:19We need that to drain movement and deep breathing does that.  Um, it doesn't have a pump. Right.  I had to learn to heal myself. And now that I know that I could heal myself with, you know, whole foods and intention  and self care, like, just want that for everyone. So that was the purpose of this  and realizing I have a privilege that I don't have to go work a regular job anymore.  This is now.
31:49my life's purpose is just helping people wake up to their own power. Okay, so I have a couple things on that. Number one,  what you did was really brave.  Having that time where you could self-reflect and sit  in silence and think through  and realize that you needed to make some changes, that's really brave of you. And making the changes is really amazing.  So I'm proud of you. Thank you.
32:18And number two, what a wonderful gift you are giving everyone you come into contact with.
32:26I mean, they all have it there though. I think we're just been taught that we don't. That's part of that disconnect I was speaking of earlier,  we're disconnected from ourselves. And I think oftentimes we have a narcissistic relationship with ourselves and we'll trust someone else just because they have a diploma or a white coat. Yes.  Yes, I could talk about that for hours, but I'm not going to.
32:50Let's just say I've raised four kids and I have been their advocate the entire time when it came to doctor's appointments. So yeah, never, I never was like, okay, yeah, we're going to do exactly what the doctor said because they said it. If I had a question I asked. Yeah, I was gaslit so long. mean, one of the things, I mean, they always just told me lose weight, you know, one of the things I suffer.
33:15from is lipidema. All of the weight is not just coming off however they want it to. But another thing is that, you know, I have Ehlers-Danlos. I also have mast cell activation syndrome. So I have a histamine intolerance.  I can't eat beef and tomatoes.  Like red meat is super high in histamine and tomatoes cause almost an allergic reaction in my system, even though I'm not allergic to them. They just
33:44release so many mast cells into my system, it looks like I'm having them. So  most of my life I was in chronic anaphylaxis. Yeah, that's not any good way to live.  Please tell me that you can eat blueberries. Oh yeah, I have blueberries. have actually am growing honey berries outside and  because they're more cold resistant. Okay, because tomatoes are excellent antioxidant providers and blueberries are too.
34:13And so are honey berries. I'm, I was just like, Oh no, she's not getting her antibiotic oxidants. That's not good.  No, I am. I make sure that I have a very diverse diet. So I try and make,  they say you need to eat at least 30 plants a week for a diverse microbiome, but I probably eat that in a day. Nice. Good.  All right, Chelsea, I really appreciate your time. Where can people find you? Well,
34:40Right now, mainly it's on Facebook with Rosen Urban Regenerative Farm or ROOF for short. Otherwise, it's the same at gmail.com if they want to email directly. Okay, awesome. Thank you so much. as always, people can find me at atinyhomesteadpodcast.com. Thank you again, Chelsie. I really appreciate your time. Have a great weekend. You too. All right. Bye.
 

Groovy Grazers - Big Changes

Today I'm talking with Morgan at Groovy Grazers.
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00:00You'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.
00:25Today I'm talking with Morgan at Groovy Grazers in Montana. Good morning, Morgan. How are you? Good morning. It's a wonderful morning. How are you today? I'm really good. It's a wonderful morning in Minnesota too. It's a little nippy for May. I think it's only like 45 degrees out. Wow. You guys are colder than us. We're like in the 60s. It's hot already in the morning.  Yeah. A week or so ago we had some really high temps for May and then it dropped back off.
00:54And I think the high for today is supposed to be 69, I think. Oh, wow. Yeah,  that's pretty nice. I mean, it's easier to do things when you're able to be outside, you know, so colder almost is a little better, but not for planting season, you know, so it kind of depends on what you're doing here with the heat. It just  it weighs on the animals because we'll we'll get snow and then all of a sudden it'll be, you know, like super hot.
01:24So  we're bouncing back and forth like a bouncing ball. Yeah, it's been that way here too. And honestly, I'm not, I can't complain about where we're at here because  last summer was terrible with rain for all of May and into June. So we haven't had that this year, thank God, because our gardens are actually planted other than basil. We can't put basil in yet because it hasn't been warm enough overnight to not kill them. Yeah. So this year I actually decided to not do a garden.
01:52Even though I took my master gardening course, so I did go  to it's called Carbon County as the county I did it in  and I was gonna take the test and it's an open book test which so if anyone's interested in Master Gardening most of them I guess level one is open book.  But I just found out a lot about my soil being too alkaline-y which we kind of knew but it's so hard to amend it that it's not even worth.
02:18trying to plant in it right away. So I learned so much in master gardening that I was like, whoa, pump the brakes.  I don't want to spend a bunch of money, you know, because it's trial and error for a lot of us.  And the more things we try, the more it costs. So the more failure, you know, so I've learned that sometimes it's better to do a lot of research, almost what seems overkill, such as going to a master gardening class to make sure that I'm able to do. Yeah, so I'm able to do.
02:46you know, the multiple things that I want to do and not spend the money on it. Yep, absolutely. Okay, so now that we've gotten the weather report out of the way and the gardening report out of the way.  Morgan was a guest on the show back last July and she was gracious enough to come back and visit with me and give me an update because you're doing a lot of new things. So  where is Groovy Grazer is at now?
03:12Yeah, so thank you for having us again, because I think having an update yearly is really helpful for some people. Because man, has the farm changed in a year? I might get a little emotional. Our first year of farming was really hard. You I came on the episode and I talked about worms. Yep. And that was just the biggest hurdle we had all summer long was trying
03:39to overcome these worms, which were Barbara pole worms. A lot of farmers that have goats deal with them. Goats, yes, you have goats. Yes. Worms with goats, yes. Yep, worms with goats. So we have goats and sheep. We added sheep in and sheep kind of have the same cycle too. And I did buy a horse. Horses  don't get Barbara pole worms. So we end up  using land of Havala. I might be saying that wrong.
04:06Um, but she's a master herbalist. has dairy goats also, and she creates her own blend of herbs. So we were doing like a worm tea.  And this year I had 10 babies in one week. So I had three does drop triplets a piece.  So nine babies in 48 hours. And what that talks to is like that we were able to get their health in control and they were able to  produce. We had a lot of miscarriages last fall. I only had one baby.
04:35born or not one baby one doe that gave three babies but like you know one birth last fall so we were kind of behind track so I kind of fell down you know and I was like man  the worms are really kind of kicking our butt we got to figure it out so we made a lot of changes I changed feed we went to a locally  like milled feed  owned by a woman also which is awesome  and then we  added in oregano oil to their water
05:04And that's something that seemed to really help. So we just made a lot of different changes. So the goats, they gave birth right this morning before I came to talk to you, I milked my goats.  And it's really,  that is the cycle that makes it worth it for me, right? So I have one goat, Honeybee, which you go and look on Facebook or, know, grooviegrazers.com or website, I'll be posting photos of her. But even with triplets, she produced three cups of milk. Awesome.
05:32Yeah, and it's super exciting because  the direction of the farm. So last year we were doing potentially grazing. We ended up doing parties, right? So we're still doing the goat petting zoo parties, which me personally, I would like to encourage farmers find different  ways for revenue to come in. Yes. So go to a petting zoo. If you have questions, please contact me. I want other people to do this because
06:00The joy that it brings to the children and even the retirement homes that we go to is worth it for a farmer. It makes you feel good because there are lots of highs and lows when you're breeding and you're milking and you're bringing new animals in and trying to learn, right? So my biggest thing with  kind of our business and how we're moving as a farm, because it is a business at the end of the day, is we're going to cut back on doing some of the parties.  We're not gardening this season.
06:30because Andy's bringing in pack goats. So that's like our big thing this year is we went from doing all dairy to  realizing that in Montana, because it's so rugged out here, that if you go hunting, it's really beneficial to have pack goats. And goats are cheaper to feed than horses. I have never heard of a pack goat. Explain this haven't? No. Oh man, then we're about to have so much fun. Okay. Okay.
06:56So pack goats, my husband's obsessed with it. This is kind of his thing. So the pack goats are Nubian boar crosses that we have coming in,  a Lamacha full-sized  and  two Nubian females. And we're using Nubian and some people don't like using them. They use alpines. There's a bunch of different breeds,  but we're just starting out and Andy kind of picked what he wanted to start with based off of his research.
07:23So packgoating is huge up north over here by Montana. So what they do is they take out a string of packgoats. You can have like five, 10, however many you think you can handle  as their, you know, I guess leader essentially, right? You're their herd master. So they'll take them out hunting and goats don't shy away from you. So like when guns go off because you shoot an elk or you shoot, you know, a deer, they run towards you where a horse runs away. Oh yeah.
07:53And they can go without water for four days, I guess. So  it makes it really an essential piece for people that are elk hunting, because elks you have to quarter out, you know, and multiple people have to carry it while out here, some of the hunters will each get their own elk and then they spend three days back and forth with the meat trying to get it home. Yeah.
08:15You know, so you have goats instead, they can hold up to 30 % of their body weight. 30 to 50 % was what we were reading. It depends on the goat and what their ability is. So if you have a 100 plus plus pound goat, know, 150 pound  Nubian boar cross, it can hold up to 30 to 50 pounds. What a great idea. I didn't even know this was something people did. Yeah, you know, and it's so big up here. Everyone is obsessed with pack goats like
08:41seriously obsessed with it, but I don't think it's a very common thing that's talked about outside of like a Montana or very wilderness experience. The other thing you can use them for is camping.  if you want to go camping or like, you know, very like far out, hard to reach spot, which we all want to, I don't know about you, but I want to, when I to get away from society, I want to go as far away as I can go. Right. And so for me,
09:10If I can have goats carry me out 30 miles, not carry me, I wish they could, a horse could, but you know, if I can go out 30 miles and then have somebody drop off all my gear,  leave and come back a week later when we're ready to leave, that would be more convenient for me because I can't carry enough supplies for a week 30 miles in.  but if you have five goats with you, you sure can. You sure can. And what if a goat's a milk? Think about getting fresh milk every single day on your camping trip.
09:40Man, this is brilliant. I love this. Yeah. And more people should do it. Seriously. Cause then the goats are in these wilderness areas and they're going to groom it naturally. Goats don't go for grass first. Everyone thinks they'll eat tin cans and stuff. Mine won't. You know, they're really even picky about treats, but they will eat the weed. So if we take them out into a very wilderness location,
10:06And we say, sweet, we're going to drop you guys off. We'll leave these three goats here because they're in milk. You want milk or you know,  you, might want to have goats take you around while you're exploring. If they're foraging for like mushrooms or,  um, you know, really anything you're foraging for in the wilderness, you can take the goats and they can help you carry it back and forth. Rock hounders. This whole conversation started with our friend that rock hounds in Missoula. Okay.
10:33He was like, man, cause Andy wants to go, my husband wants to go  and rock hound with him.  And  he's like, yeah, man, the only crappy thing is, is sometimes we have to carry 30, 40 pounds of rocks out 20 miles by hand.  And that's really hard cause you're carrying axes in. So they're carrying big old metal axes and all this stuff. So it's not like  they're just going in with one item. They're already packed down.  And he was joking around about how like,
11:03could my goats carry it? My husband was like, yeah, actually that's a thing. And then this is how it all kind of evolved. So we have six pack goats coming to us in four weeks. So we're gonna be super busy with that on top of milk season.  Exciting. Yeah, it's super is exciting and it kind of changes the direction of the farm. So what I found is like,
11:27I mean, some people can, I can't, but I can't write down like a solid plan of what the farmer is going to be and then say like, okay, in a year, this is exactly what it's going to do. We hit a lot of those big milestones that we want on there, you know, for the farm, but then we find something new that adds value.  I mean, talking about packing, I saw a video of little tiny mules packing yesterday,  like tiny dwarf mules, right?  Packing along and I was like, can we just...
11:56buy those also, you know, right? So it changes so often for us, but the main goal for us is always just milk, meat providing. I have to shear my sheep. I've never sheared sheep. So that'll be fun. I ordered my shears. coming in.  And then  I was able to explore at another farm. And it's so important that us farmers talk to each other and like interact and try different things. So I would have never thought that I could spin.
12:26wool, right? But I went to a farm that spins wool and we're big fans of them and they're big fans of us. They do sheep only and we essentially kind of do go only even though I have a few sheep. So their daughter was like, hey, jump on this wheel, try it out. And she was like, wow, you're naturally really good at this. And I was like, all right,  never did I think I was going to want to spin wool, but I crochet and I'm going to get into knitting the boys like wool, my husband and son, they're wool fanatics, right?
12:55And so if I can knit and do stuff with my own wool, then it's just more the farm brings in, but then I can also sell yarn. So when I talk about different incomes and streams of revenue, it's really important for farms to not just focus on one thing, because then you're able to maximize and grow. Because most farms, I mean, we've got 50 projects we want to do and $20 on the bank account after we pay our feed bill. Uh-huh. Yes. Yes.
13:24And I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to take this a step off from what you're saying. We can't keep eggs in our farm stand right now. We have a dozen chickens and they give us 12 eggs a day, you know, on a good day. And we have been putting them in the farm stand for $5 a dozen because here it's like eight to $10 a dozen at store. And we can't keep them in stock. So we did spend the money and we bought 14 more laying hens and they won't actually be laying.
13:54until probably the second week in June, because they're young. Yeah. And I said to my husband the other day, said, you know, I said,  if we could make enough money at the first farmers market, we could get some more chickens.  Yeah. That way we would have some eggs for ourselves too, because we're literally not keeping any eggs for ourselves right now. They're going directly to the community. And he was like, I have to think about this.
14:20And then my friend Tracy, Tracy listens to podcasts all the time. So I have to say, hi Tracy, brought me some sourdough starter. I had not wanted to actually get into this because I didn't think that it was worth my time. I'm a bad homesteader. I should have been doing sourdough a long time ago and I'm keeping it alive. And I started my own cause I was like, Oh, I can do this. I can do this. And so right now I have the starter. She brought me, I have to feed it when I get done talking with you.
14:50And I have the one I started, which I need to feed.  And  I have been finding all kinds of recipes for things that aren't just sourdough bread. You can make sourdough chocolate chip cookies. You can make sourdough doughnuts if you want to.  And I was like, you know, if I can get my starter really good too, I will have more than enough to make goodies to put in the farm stand and to sell at the farmer's market. And that might make the money for the new chickens to keep us in eggs.  So
15:19Why I'm telling these stories is because there are so many ways to diversify your farm business. There's a lady who I'm going to try to get hold of. I haven't gotten her booked yet.  And she does weddings at her farm. And I think that's it. don't think she has any,  I don't think she has animals and I don't think she grows anything. I think she just uses her farm as a wedding venue. So you don't even have to do animals or produce.  You can offer it as an event center.
15:48Yep. Offer space, you know, and it's funny you talk about sourdough. So I'm gluten free.  And I don't have an oven. Well, I do have an oven now, but we live in a very unconventional house. So we had to get my friend over who's an electrician to put in the socket for it  on the side that we need the oven. Cause my husband, when he built this, just was air fryer status. Right? Sure.  And so, excuse me, the weather is so bad here with the pine. They're blowing all their pollen.
16:18So with the stove, I was like, okay, once we get the house clean, because we've been doing a lot of construction,  I want to get a shed, but I'm practicing all my sourdough items. So I've focaccia, I've made pizza dough, I've made cookies, I've made cake, all sorts of stuff with a gluten-free sourdough starter. And your idea of a stand, Andy and I have been talking about doing a stand, not with a goat milk so much because I'm very
16:48um, like retentive about how the milk is handled from having a milk machine and everything. So that's where one of those were like,  I want to deliver it straight to the person and talk to them. And if they haven't, you know, but we have a few chickens. So we, we talked about doing the eggs, like you're, you're doing in the sand too. We also talked about doing frozen,  um, like goodies, like once I'm able frozen and baked,  excuse me, I'm sorry.
17:17No,  I'm just having a lot of coughing issues today. We can do the goodies that are frozen also. So you could make ready  to bake frozen cookie dough from your sourdough starter. So it doesn't just have to be baked. You could essentially make it a frozen item and then just have one of those little, saw one where they had a split mini fridge or they put dry ice in  a metal like bin essentially.
17:43and then had a cooler sitting in it so it stayed cold. So there were a bunch of ideas I saw, but the idea of selling baked goods is definitely something I would recommend. I don't know about your guys' laws. Every state has different laws. Like SB 199 is the cottage laws. It's the freedom food act for Montana. It states what you can and cannot sell under a cottage law and how it has to be labeled. So doing those farm stands are smart.
18:12and to fund your chickens is even smarter, right? Because everything should work for each other. So like, you know, the goats, their hay money comes from selling babies.  And then the compost, we sell compost even, that money goes back into feed for them or goes into vet care  or extending the herd. Like as I milk, I realize who is taking up too much of the feed bill that doesn't. So also sometimes sitting back in like,
18:41assessing because the world changes so quickly economically here that every six months you should kind of reevaluate because you might find  six months down the road that it's way too expensive to feed your hens compared to what you're getting for eggs. Right. Yep. So then you just cut back on some hens, right? You know, you cut back on the ones that maybe are older, don't lay as much, have more issues, right? Like they molt worse or they're having mites or they get
19:10the bubble foot, you know, like some of that can be genetic with just not being a hardy bird. So it's really important having the different revenues. Like you're saying like the sourdough starter, I encourage you to do that. But also go walk your local cottage, like your farmer's market, the cottage farmer's market  and see what people are selling. Because I was shocked that people sell shampoo bars. I mean, we all know that, but shampoo bars.
19:40Whoa, wait. There's so many things and  I love your idea about the frozen stuff in a cooler in the farm stand. We are unfortunately not allowed to do that in Minnesota. Okay. So you're guys at Sea Look, the laws, Montana versus Minnesota. Montana, as long as it doesn't have meat, I can. Yep. Nope. Here, nope. That would never fly. We would get,  I don't know what we'd get.
20:06I don't know what the punishments are because it's not a license here. It's a registration. I think it's a ticket. I think that they would just be like, no, you cannot do that. Don't do that anymore. I think you get a warning and then a ticket in most states. I have no idea. Well, I mean, I'm not trying to get in trouble. So I try to read, right? You know, the laws and make sure I follow them, especially with raw milk. Yes. Um,
20:34you know, that's something and in Montana you can sell it cause SB 199 gave that power back to us, but you have to have recommended, there's recommended testing, which means like you should do, you hear tuberculosis from goat milk. Yeah, you,  you can get really sick if you don't do the things you're supposed to do. And  again,  I've said this a bunch of times on the podcast, Morgan, I'm going say it again.
21:03We have government and laws for a reason.  Sometimes government makes us trip over our feet more than we need to, but sometimes it's actually really important. Correct, yes. like that's the biggest thing is like,  you're, okay, so everyone, I sell raw milk for 30 a gallon or 30 a quart.  That's expensive  compared to a lot of people,  or sorry, 30 a gallon, I apologize.
21:31I sell a quart typically of my milk at a time. won't sell a gallon because it's 4.5 % or higher milk fat with the Nigerian dwarfs. So most of the time people are like, oh, I don't go through this milk as quick as the other people I get from. And I'm like, well, they probably have Nubians. So one thing I also encourage is to like, if in your state you're allowed to buy raw milk, you should ask the person, can you visit their farm? Because if they tell you no, you do not want to buy raw milk from them.
22:01Absolutely not. right. Like, please come out. Look at what we do. Look at the facility we have. Look at the goats. Look at everything. Like, I also want to stress, I'm a cottage farmer. And when people tell me I'm a small dairy, I say, no, my law states. So read your law. Mine is 10 does lactating. That doesn't mean I can't have more than 10 does. It just means only 10 can be lactating for milk.  For my usage.
22:29And so that's one of the things, like I encourage people to come out and see how the goats are kept. Look at my milk practices. Look at my cleanliness and stuff, because that also builds reputation.  So when we talk about being a farmer, it is definitely still the good old boy reputation club. Like who has a good reputation? You must have a really good reputation if your eggs are constantly being sold out.  I am so  like from last year to now, both of our farms have changed a lot and I'm really proud of you.
22:58for doing the farm stand because it's working out really well and you're doing the  ads for people.  You're pulling in revenue from different streams. I know we talked about this last year, different revenues. So that's always my biggest thing that I like to talk about and you're doing it. You're making me cry, Morgan, thank you. Thank you for saying you're proud of me. I appreciate that. We all need to say that to other farmers because like...
23:24I'm not gonna lie, had a doe die last year because she had a baby stuck in her.  Oh no.  And we couldn't save her. And she was my, I'm gonna cry a little bit, she was my favorite goat. Yep. And it's so hard as a farmer. You put your life into this and when somebody else that does this looks at you and says, I'm proud of you, you're doing really well. It just hits a little different, right?  Uh, yeah.
23:52Very different because the minute you said it, my eyes filled up with tears. Yeah, because we're struggling, right? We're not just doing this to make money. I've been called a backyard breeder by people that I, you know, my neighbors aren't as happy. They listen to the podcast too. They're not as happy when I'm on the show. They don't like the goats, right? Cause  it's not what they want. So you get a lot of hate sometimes as being a farmer because people around you are judging what you do. Right.  And so there is backlash sometimes as being a farmer.
24:22But then when another farmer says, I'm proud of you or somebody else says, I'm proud of you, it reinforces that you're doing the right thing because we're going against the grain. I did career day and I could cry because you ask these kids how many of you guys want to be a farmer.  You're lucky if one kid raises their hand. Oh, yeah. And you're like, where I the next question I asked them, said, guys, where's our food going to come from?  they all look at me.
24:53and they look around at each other  and then it hits them. And then I ask them, how many of you guys come from a farm, especially in Montana, right? And a lot of them raised their hands and I said, I get it. You don't like feeding the cows in the morning. You don't like going out in the winter. We had four feet of basically from January to the beginning of February constantly. We just had snow everywhere. And I was like, I get it guys. It sucks, but where's your food gonna come from?
25:21And I think that's what people don't realize is you and I and the other farmers, we're all going against the grain in the world. Everyone else just, you know, goes to their daily job and that's all they do. They go home and they disconnect from the world and they just rely on the government. We've all made this stand that we're not going to rely on the government and we're going to provide for ourselves. And that's hard and expensive. Well, for ourselves and for the community around us with any luck.  Yes.
25:51And that's part of it too. We have so much overage that we're able to share with people like today I get to go talk we're doing pet sitting right because I love the parties Don't get me wrong, but it is so it takes a lot of spoons, right? Yeah, when you own a farm and you work too, right? Don't you have a full-time job?  I do not but my husband does That's right. I remember one of you guys did so you guys were like us Andy quit his job
26:20Andy works on the farm and freelance works for everyone too because it was that much work and we were making enough money for that to happen, right? On the farm, we do the parties, but there's a lot of spoons that get taken away when you're doing that a lot of hours off the farm. So we want to be on the farm more. So we're doing, um, pet sitting with a local lady and it helps out her company. Well, I'm going to go see her today. She had twins and she's also going to get some goat milk from me. She  was testing it and helping us last year.
26:48And so it's really cool to see how these farm connections work because we're making friends with our community. So you talk about feeding them, you feed the community, they also will feed you. Yep. giving you work and helping you.  we're able to do the pet sitting so we can expand the farm.  Yeah, it should be a circle. It should be a symbiotic relationship between the community and the people  that grow food or raise animals or whatever the farming thing is.
27:18Correct. Yes, exactly. And like we all have to remember that. So remember farmers.  Remember cottage farmers. Remember city folk, whoever's listening to this podcast. Go find your local cottage farmer, support them, buy a few items from them. I promise you, your strawberries from that local farmer aren't gonna mold the same day. You put them in your fridge.  No,  no they are not.
27:45Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. We actually had strawberries over winter in our heated greenhouse this year Oh my goodness, heated greenhouse. You have so much expansion that we haven't even talked about you and I are gonna have to talk after the podcast about all the expansions Yeah, tell me about the strawberries. Did you sell them? No, we didn't have enough. We had we had like five baskets hanging baskets in there Yeah, yeah and come to find out pollinator bugs actually survived the winter in the heated greenhouse, too
28:15So my son brought in like a small bowl of red strawberries three weeks ago and it was still April.  So it have been four weeks ago. And he's like, I have something for you. And he pulled it up behind his back and showed me. And I was like, oh my God.  He said, you have to try one. He said, they are so good. These are hot house strawberries, really.
28:40I grabbed one and I rinsed it off. He's like, you probably didn't even need to wash it. I said, I know, have it. I rinsed it off and I just picked, I held it by the  hull and just bit into it.  Oh my sweet everlovin'. Jesus, it was  wonderful to have a homegrown strawberry in April. Yeah. So we had a lady that brought terries, cause my son's homeschooled. so Friday we had, it's called Barefoot Academy. They do it all over the world. Please support them. They're nonprofit. It helps out homeschoolers.
29:09that learn forestry stuff. So I gotta give them a shout out because they taught my son a lot. So he learned about cherries from cherry trees.  And he goes, mom, that's the best cherry I've ever had.  But people don't know that. They're scared to try items like what you're doing, like a hot house. A lot of people can make a hot house. My goal is to eventually teach people how to urban farm on their patios and stuff. Like that's my goal. Cause I lived in an apartment for a long time.
29:39But having a hot house is really smart and you can peppers. Let's talk about hot peppers real quick. Cause you have a hot house people there's like  a niche for different types of rare peppers, right? And you can get a lot of seeds. Like the peach Carolina Reaper is very common now that used to be rare, right?  If you cut those bushes like an inch above the soil, just completely down your pepper plants, you can put them in the hot house.
30:06And they'll winter all winter and next year when you grow them, can grow them just in the same pot and they produce peppers way quicker and way more. So hot peppers can be wintered. A lot of people don't know that. I didn't know that actually until I came to Montana and a farmer told me.  Yeah. And the other thing that I'll throw in here is that you've been told your whole life, certain things like,  um, I don't know, Rosemary can't overwinter in Minnesota. Yeah.
30:34Rosemary can't winter over in Minnesota outside because it's too cold. But we had one winter over in the heated greenhouse. Yeah.  I didn't think it would make it because we're not talking a hot house, Morgan. We're talking  it maintained about 30 degrees at the coldest this winter in the greenhouse. That's pretty good though. But see, like listeners can hear 30 degrees, guys.
30:59That's not very hot. You can put a mr. Buddy propane heater in there and heat that bad boy up to 30 degrees We did it with the goat bar, you know exactly so so you  I am I am a big proponent for trying things out even if it goes against what you've been told  If it doesn't if it isn't gonna kill you make you sick or maim you  try it. See what happens We call that the no. you bite in our house
31:29The no thank you bite. I'm like, you can take a no thank you bite, but you have to try it, you know, and,  um, raw milk, right?  I, you'll laugh. I milked my goats for like three weeks and my son and husband drank it, but I just wouldn't drink the milk. I'm not a milk drinker anyways. Like to be completely honest, I drink, my son calls it whooping cream. It's whipping cream, but he calls it whooping cream just because he did. And we all laughed about it, you know? And so he's like, all right, I'm to make the whooping cream coffee.
31:58So I didn't drink a lot of cream. didn't drink a lot of milk before just because I'm not a milk drinker. And when I finally tried the goat milk, it was so weird because in my brain, I was like, this is gonna make me sick and taste awful, right? Because I had learned raw milk was bad growing up.  Only pasteurized, like,  know, nobody would buy raw milk. I had never had raw milk until I milked my own goats at 30.  And so I tried it and I was like, holy smokes, this
32:25better than the store bought milk. So my friend Kayla, she'll listen. Hey, Kayla.  She listened to this podcast episode because she tried it. And she was like, I don't like milk normally. And this milk is good. And she was very hesitant to try goat milk. And she was like, I don't know why it was so hard for me to try it. It took her like four months of everyone drinking it but her. And she was like, fine, I'll try it. And she tried a little glass just a little like
32:54shot of it and then she was like, I have a full glass of that? And I was like, yeah, absolutely you can, gave her a full glass. And like, she's a picky eater, won't even have like, she's, she's in meat on her tacos. Like that's the type of person she is.  so she's a very picky person. So I think like talking about that is you should try things. Like if it makes you nervous and it's not gonna kill you, right? And it's within reason, like try it because you may find something you actually really like.
33:22Yeah. And it can be food. can be beverage. It can be projects. can be if you want to try raising a certain animal, whatever it is. So yeah,  I,  I am so glad I got a chance to talk with you today, Morgan.  really am.  I'm so glad that we met up after a year, right? Or almost a year. think it's been like a little shy of a year, but the changes, right? Good job to you on expansion. I'm proud of you.  I'm proud of you too. Yeah, we've, we've been kicking butt.
33:51doing the damn thing as I like to say. And whatever that is, so whatever you're doing, just do the damn thing.  I'm gonna do the damn sourdough thing for a little bit so I can actually get good at it because  I am reading all kinds of things because this is the new thing, you know how that goes. And I'm saying you don't have to be really nitpicky with it, oh you have to be really nitpicky with it, and I'm like there's gotta be a balance here somewhere.
34:17Yeah, and let me know and like keep us updated. I'm definitely going to start listening more to the podcast because I've been getting away from watching TV all together and been like plugging into podcasts more because the TV is just a mind numbing machine and podcasts have information  and I can't wait to talk to you again. Like I  am just so excited and I encourage everyone to reach out if you want to do a mini like petting zoo.
34:45You could even do it with ducks. could do it with a bearded dragon like I have one that's a reptile. You can do it with a lot of things. Just please reach out to me because if we can all help each other, then that makes this farming thing worth it. So if I can teach other people how to bring revenue in by doing parties, then I would love to speak to you about it. If you have questions about milk or farming or you want to just chit chat and have a farming buddy that you can like cry over the lows and then tear on the highs like
35:13That's what this is about is growing a community and I'm glad that you're a part of my community. You are here for it, Morgan. Yes. Um, where can people find you? Groovy Grazers on Facebook? Yeah. So there's two pages. It's a little confusing right now. Facebook made me a profile. Don't make a profile guys. Make a page if you're a business owner, because then it can plug into like Wix, your websites. So you can find me Groovy Grazers on Facebook.
35:40Instagram is Groovy Grazers and you can find us. own our domain now  www.groovygrazors.com.  Yay. Congratulations. I knew you were working on that. So good job. Yeah. Yeah. So I'll talk to you, I guess in another year then on this show and we'll see all the new changes, huh? Maybe this fall actually. Maybe we'll do six months. Yeah. Let's do a six month checkup. I think that would be really cool if you started doing that with some of the other
36:07people you've interviewed so then we can all see progression. But thank you so much for giving me a place to speak, giving me your time, and most of all, interacting with us again, because it does help the farm out. We appreciate you giving us a platform last year and  letting the word out. I actually have a follower from Florida that ended up getting goats because she listened to your podcast. Oh my god, really? Yeah, yeah, it was really cool. I hope she listens to this one. I know her farm name. It's just kind of blanking me right now.
36:36But yeah, I had two followers from  different parts of the country reach out to me because they wanted to do the farming thing. So just know that like, guys, when you speak on this platform, you're getting to speak to people you wouldn't normally speak to. And that can connect some dots and help you guys out. So Mary, you're doing the damn thing for us farmers and us cottage farmers and helping us get our platforms out there, giving us a place to speak. So we appreciate you and you have a wonderful weekend.  now I'm seriously tearing up. Thank you, Morgan.
37:05Yeah, mean, seriously, just know that like, last year, you gave us such a good platform and it helped me get on other podcasts that were local and stuff. so like, people,  it is, it is worth it to make 3040 minutes for Mary to talk to you, because it's going to change your farm in ways that you never expected and podcasts are good. Like other people are going to listen to your, your lows and highs. You know, last year was really vulnerable and talked about worms.
37:34and how it was like destroying my farm literally and I was trying to get a hold on of it. You know, and I did get some backlash. Oh, well, you have worms. Yeah, but not really not worms that can transfer to humans. That's why I don't worry about when I was going to the parties, you know, but  it is that platform that you're giving. So just know that like from the bottom of my heart, I appreciate what you do and this helps and I've connected with people. So I hope this year I connect with more farmers like I do. I hope from this podcast.
38:01people reach out again because that's what it's about. Because one of the ladies taught me a lot about horses I didn't know about.  And that's something that's really valuable. So yeah, I will totally talk to you in the fall. I'll have more babies then, we'll have the pack goats going, the horse will be saddled and ridden by then. We'll have a lot to talk about. Hopefully the glass blowing studio, I know we talked about that last time, it's still in the works. That's why we're doing the extra things to fund that, like you're funding your chickens. So it will all come out in the wash as they say,
38:31in Louisiana. It all come out.  Yup.  All right, Morgan. Thank you so much. And as always, people can find me at atinyhomesteadpodcast.com. Thanks so much for your time. Thank you. Bye.
 

Cottage On Cross

Today I'm talking with Karen at Cottage On Cross.
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00:00You'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. Today I'm talking with Karen at Cottage On Cross
00:28Good morning, Karen. How are you? Good morning. Thank you for having me. You're in Pennsylvania, right?  I am, yes. Okay. I'm in Minnesota. It's beautiful here for the first time in four days.  We've had clouds and rain  since, I think, mid-afternoon on Monday. So it's been really nice to get up this morning and see the sun shining. So how are things in Pennsylvania?  Well, we probably got your weather. Oh,  We're in the midst of that rain, but it's spring and it's needed, so I'm not complaining.
00:58Yeah, the weather people here were saying on Monday, they were giving us the heads up that this drenching was coming and they were all like, we need the rain. And I'm like, we don't need 17 inches guys. Oh gosh, no. Yeah. I think we've all, I think we've all ended up with five inches total. Well, that's better. Yes. You don't want your garden to flood.  No, that happened last year. I don't want it to happen this year. So,  all right. So you  tell me why it's called Cottage on Cross.
01:28That's a fun story.  It's purposeful,  but it's also out of desperation. This is not my first online business. And I learned accidentally with my  last one that  your name matters  in Google searches.  If people don't even know what they're looking for, but type in a keyword,  you'll come up.  know, cottage  core,  was super trendy when I started it.
01:56And that's a lot of what I make. So I wanted that name somewhere.  And the first  maybe 28 names I chose  weren't available either on Etsy or on Instagram.  And  I needed the availability on both of those.  So  I ended up with Cottage on Cross because we live on Crossroad.  okay.  Okay. So for people who don't know what Cottage Core is, can you explain that?
02:24Um, well right now, grandma core is trending, which is pretty much the same, just another term for it. It's just kind of a, uh, a back to basics,  um, aesthetic  where, uh, if your grandma had it, you're gonna like it, but, but that's the grandma core. Cottage core is,  uh, well, kind of the same thing. It's like little house on the prairie, um, vibe going on.  Um, it's, it's a more, uh, old fashioned vibe maybe.
02:54Uh huh. Okay.  Um, what I find interesting about Cottage Core is that I grew up with Cottage Core because we spent time with my grandmas, obviously,  and,  my mom was very influenced by her mother, who was my grandma.  And so we always had old fashioned things in our house. And to this day, I really, really hate sleek, shiny glass metal furniture.  want,  I want wood furniture. want cast iron.
03:23hooks for my coats. want the old fashioned stuff.  I am the same. I am the same. And I think we probably grew up similarly then. Yeah, just in touch with family and the generations  back through and all their things that they brought with them and they didn't have the new shiny,  partly because they couldn't afford it.  And partly because it was cherished memories for them  from the generations. And yeah, so you just grow up loving that stuff and
03:52No, I shunned. I shunned all that too. So this is not a going back for me. This is a celebrating that they've caught up with us. exactly. And I feel like I'm going to sound really dumb. I feel like shiny glass and metal is very cold. And I feel like quilts and cast iron and wood are very warm. I agree. So I really like the cozy warm feeling in my house. I don't want it to be, you know, austere and cold. Yes, I agree.
04:21So before we get into what you do with quilts, because I've seen the pictures and what you do is really beautiful. Thank you. Do you live on a farm? I grew up on a dairy farm.  I had almost all the animals growing up and it was a fantastic way  to live.  We have land off my family's farm now. We are right across from the farm. I see it every day. It's beautiful.
04:46I do not have a farm. I have a working knowledge of what a farm is and how much work it is. So I've chosen very carefully what I want. We have chickens. They are easy to care for. I can walk away from them for a day and bank up on their food and they're going to be okay versus a milk cow. can't do that. The goats are really hard to contain. So no, I do not have a farm.
05:12I live on four acres with a lot of chickens, guineas,  dogs.  So it's a almost farm, we'll call it. Almost, yes.  And you have the best of both worlds because the family farm is across the way. Right.  Very convenient, very nice. I love that.  Okay, so  let's talk about what you do with quilts.
05:38When I looked at the pictures, I thought that you were making the quilts and then making things out of the quilts. Then I read further and you're not. You're actually buying or acquiring quilts and then repurposing them. So tell me the story. Yes,  I wish I could quilt.  And if I did, I probably would never cut them up because I am very aware of how much work goes into them.  I did not come from a family of quilters and I'm a little bit saddened by that. A family of seamstresses, yes. So that's where I acquired my love of.
06:08sewing and I learned from my mom and  who learned from her mom and  so  From there we've had quilts in the family that had been passed down, but they're cherished heirlooms I wouldn't cut those up  but  I was inspired by others online who had been making things out of quilts  and thought oh I can do that. So I started picking them up at Salvation Army and Goodwill and places like that and now they are hard to find there
06:36But when I started, I was able to, and  a lot of people don't like it, that people like me cut up quilts, but  my theory is they're there because nobody wanted them.  And somebody could find them to give them a loving home, but I'm giving them a loving purpose. it's, know, kind of, kind of one in the same as how I'm looking at it.  But I,  if it's a quilt that's in really good shape, I do not cut it. I will, you know, find a new home for it.
07:04I use what they're called cutter quilts.  They're  very badly damaged.  They're so stained you can't see  what the pattern is underneath some of the stains you cut around those.  They have holes in them that just can't be repaired. The batting is out of them.  I use those in projects and a lot of my projects reflect those. You can see the fading of some of the colors.  I use the best parts that I can, but you can still sometimes see that they are old quilts.
07:33I do give them new life.  like to extend their life that way in a way that can be useful. Okay. So what do you make out of the old quilts?  Right now I'm making handbags mostly. I've  always had a love of purses. So this is like combining all my passions right here.  I make tote bags, purses, handbags,  but some home goods,  banners. I'm working on banners now. I have like five or six cuts, some for the patriotic season coming up.
08:03And some just for fun.  We have a birthday banner in our home that our kids love to put up in their all adults. So when they come home for birthdays, I still have it hanging.  Banners are just fun. And a quilt banner just adds some color and  some of that old fashioned charm that we talked about.  Just some things like that.  Okay. So if you're making handbags out of old quilts, does that mean the handbags or the purses or whatever are washable?
08:33Hmm.  It really depends. That would probably be based on the quilt in particular.  Some really are and some  really are not.  And I  probably need to send washing recommendations with them. That's a good idea.  Some are, some are not. Spot cleaning would be better  for some. Okay. The reason I ask is because I never ever have bought a cloth
09:02purse or handbag  because I'm terrible. put my bags down wherever and I don't really look what I'm doing and they always get dirty.  Whatever it is. And I'm not even talking about a like a handbag, I'm talking about like a duffel bag.  And  I've always bought leather bags because leather you can clean pretty easily as long as you know what you're doing. Right, right.  So.
09:25That's why I ask, because I'm terrible. I would ruin one of your beautiful quilt bags within 24 hours of owning it. I would. I know I would. really am the same. I have washed mine, and it's washed well. And I can attest to the washability of that one. But some of the oldest quilts where the fabric is thin, I try not to use those as much because they do not wash well.
09:53And it kind of is, if it's dirty, you've got to use it like that. And nobody likes that. It feels dingy.  But most of them can be washed, whether it's just with  a cloth  or you can throw it in the washer. I do try to make them usable and durable because why have something if you can't really use it to its fullest? Right. Yeah, exactly.  Do you travel places to find quilts or are you just finding them in Pennsylvania?  Both.
10:22I am always looking,  sometimes even just on eBay.  But  when I'm traveling, I am looking.  I'm always looking. I'm sourcing, whether it's on Marketplace or at flea markets there, or  even just a pop into a Goodwill if I'm somewhere out and about. But yes, every time I'm away from home, I'm always looking. Okay. And is there a certain kind of quilt that's better for this or can you use any kind? Hmm. That's a good question. That's an interesting question.
10:51Any quilt can be used. I have preferences on what I like. I actually prefer to use quilt tops versus quilts, mostly because they're going to be in a lot better condition because they're unfinished quilts. It's the quilt that has been completely assembled, but it's not had the batting and the backing added. So it's just the thin top. And then it's been stored.
11:21because nobody's finished it. So it's in very good condition, but nobody knows how to finish them.  Few people know how to finish them nowadays  and don't have the desire to do so. So I can pick those up for a little less money and they're in very good shape.  So  they're gonna be the washable ones. They're gonna be more durable.  And then  I put interfacing, heavy interfacing behind them to make them stiff. So I look for those  first and foremost.
11:49And after that, just anything  with pretty colors or patterns. I stay away from anything with polyester in it. I like all cottons.  That goes along with the cottage core and the grandma core.  It's staying away from the new  vibe. Yeah, and polyester doesn't biodegrade very easily and cotton does. I don't even like the feel of it. It's gross. I'm going to be on your team. It's gross. I don't like polyester either.
12:17I also don't like how polyester smells. Polyester has a scent and I don't like it. You are correct.  And I agree. It's gross. I don't like it. So I avoid polyester like the plague. I  honestly I avoid plastic like the plague as much as I possibly can.  Okay. So  if you are  sourcing old quilts or new quilts, I guess, if there's a cotton new quilt that you really like, you might get that too. Who knows?
12:47I'm assuming the cost is anywhere from  zero to hundreds of dollars.  I'm  pretty particular in my price point.  I have to be able to make a profit.  So far, I've not spent over 150 on a quilt and to me that was astronomical, but I know a good quilt can go for far more than that. But those are the ones that I wouldn't want to cut anyway. yeah,  I try and keep my price point low so that I can
13:17keep my bag price points lower. I know there  are those who sell for a lot more than I do,  but I like to be able to help people more like me who are on a budget.  Yeah, yeah. And really you're doing it because you love it and you just happen to be making  a small profit on it, I think. Yes. Yes. Okay.  Um, let me see.  I want to tell you a story. My mom  loves to quilt. Like she's got into it.
13:45I think when I was probably in my early  20s and she kept clothes from my sister and I and she made us each blanket. And I don't even know what happened to that blanket because I'm a horrible daughter and I don't know what happened to it.  But it's for a twin bed and I didn't have any twin beds and I'm sure that it got stuck in a box somewhere and the box got lost in a move. I don't know.  But it didn't stop my mom. She still quills. And she took
14:14A quilt that she had made from my dad's dad, so my grandpa. And she tore it apart when he passed away and she made a new quilt for my mom and dad's bed.  the new quilt was actually better than the old quilt because she was more practiced.  But she still loves to do it and she's 78 years old. Good for her. Yeah. And I'm just like, how in the world do you have what it takes in your hands to do all that fine work?
14:43And she says she's lucky and she has good genes. Okay. Good for her. No, that's  I love that. I love that she still keeps up with her passion  that way. I hope I can still that age. That'd be fantastic.  Yeah. And she made me a pillow when we moved into the new house, which is not the new house anymore. It's we've been here almost five years,  um, with, uh, lady slippers and chickadees and pine tassels. Cause those are all mean things. grew up in Maine. Oh, I love Maine.
15:11And she sent it to me and I was like, I love what you did.  said, I think that  the puppy will love what you did. Cause Maggie, our dog was a puppy then and she basically adopted the pillow. She would lay on it on the couch and my mom had this kind of irritated note in her voice. And she said,  you know, she said, I made that for you because I know that you read before you go to sleep. And I thought you could prop up your tablet against it.  Oh, I love that.  And I said,
15:40I'm sorry, Sid, I didn't know you'd tell me.  And she was like, I guess, I guess Maggie can have it. I guess the grand dog can have it. And I was like, okay, she's not ripping it up. She just puts her head on it.  So I sent my mom a photo of Maggie curled up on a pillow and everything was fine. So,  so just because you make something for somebody doesn't mean it's necessarily going to do the thing you intended it to do.  That's correct. That's correct.
16:08In fact, that kind of reminds me of that someone just sent me  their father had passed away  within the past year  and she asked me if I would be willing to make a bag from the pants of a suit coat of a suit that he had.  She thought it would make a nice and it did. I just finished it yesterday.  It's pinstripe, it's navy pinstripe and she sent
16:34contrast band for the bottom. It's like the clamshell style bag that I make,  leather handles. Oh my gosh.  I am so honored that I was able to be entrusted with such memories for her.  These are reasons why I love to sew, why I love what I do.  You're just making something  that people can treasure as long as they want it.  It was so fun.  Yeah. There's a lady I saw on Facebook who takes flannel shirts that
17:04husbands or dads have worn and makes pillows out of them and it still looks like the shirt.  the front with the buttons is still the front with the buttons in the pocket. Oh, that's interesting. And I thought that was really adorable. So yeah, there's so much sentimentality in  textiles. Yes.  Very much.  Weird, but there is. is. In fact, I still have my security blankie from when I was five.
17:34because I can't,  that textile, it's  the feel and the color, it's, yeah, there's memories wrapped up in that. And I thought at one point, oh,  I'd love to make a teddy bear and give to my first grandchild, but then I couldn't bring myself to cut it up and it'd probably  fall apart, it's so old.  But yes, there are memories wrapped up in fabric.  Yeah, I had a stuffed panda, flat panda pillow that my mom had either made or gotten
18:03me  when I was like a toddler. And I had that thing until I was at least 30. Like  I brought that into my third marriage. Well.  And it was beat up and it was dirty and it was gross. And my daughter who was, don't know, 12, 13 at the time,  she said, are you going to keep your panda? And I said, um, why? And she said, because I would like to have your panda.  Oh, I love that.
18:32I said, why do want it? And she said, well, number one, she said, I'm going to give him a bath. She said, I was reading up on this the other day. She said, I think I can get him really clean.  I said, OK, what's secret? She said, I'm not telling you. If you're this old and you don't know yet, I'm not telling you.  I was like, oh, OK, fine. Take it. Have it.  So she did her magic. don't know, something to do with lemon juice and vinegar and baking soda. I don't know what it was.  And she did that experiment. And she got him half clean.
19:00And then she stuck him on her bed during the day when she was at school. And I was just like, I don't know why this kid wants his panda, but if it's going to make her happy, she can have the panda. Right. And I think she may still have it and she's 35 now. So that's awesome. I love it. Yeah. So there's just something about, again, textiles, you know, we love a doll. We love a teddy bear. We love a good blanket. You know, a good blanket is hard to come by.
19:29It is. It is.  okay. So tell me,  have you gotten any, I don't know, stories, responses, reviews on  your work? All the reviews have been  positive.  I've  been very happy  with my customers and it seems like they've been very happy with the bags.  And a lot of it goes back to what we're saying. They're saying that
19:59You know, they love the quilts too, and they love that they can carry a piece of  history with them. They're loving,  of course they talk about the quality and the design, but  I  think they love the fact that they're able to carry something  old with them,  some history,  besides just going to, know, Marshalls and buying something new.  There's memories with it, and that's important to people nowadays.  I think it's...
20:28It's a valuable thing that they know that can't be reproduced. I think that's important to some people as well. Well, I'm assuming your bags are one of a kind. Yeah, so that makes them really special too. It is, yes. Because even if I can make from the same quilt, it's, know, quilts aren't... Wherever you cut, it's going to be a different pattern. Which I love. I love that. So if you see it and you like it, you probably should get it because...
20:57I can't make another exactly the same, which I like too.  My other business that I have on Etsy, I make dog collars and  bandanas and that's going to be 10 years old next month.  the reason I started Cottage on Cross is because I make the same things over and over there. And it's starting to feel, I mean, it's handmade, everything's handmade, but
21:21They, I have X patterns on the site and they purchase and then I make it and it's starting to me to feel very cookie cutter. There's no creativity left there.  So I love cottage on cross where I can just create anything I want.  And it doesn't have to be  a box pattern. It doesn't have to be the same old, same old that I did last month or last week or yesterday.  I love the creativity. It's been very freeing for me.
21:50Yes, part of the reason I love my podcast so much is because I talk to somebody different every single time  and everyone has a different story. It doesn't matter if they have a five acre homestead, just like the other 10 people I've talked to who have a five acre homestead,  they're going to be doing something different with their five acre homestead. And that's a beautiful thing.  I love it. It makes me  so excited  when I hop on to talk to people.
22:17And the podcast is not just about homesteads. It's about crafters like you and it's about cottage food producers. So not only am I not just talking homestead every time I get to talk about baking, I get to talk about sourdough bread, I get to talk about quilting or basket making. was a lady I talked to while ago who does the actual,  I can't think of the name of them, the baskets that fishermen take fishing with them, the fishermen take. Creel  maybe.
22:46Maybe. That's fun. Yeah, she makes the most beautiful hand-woven I bet she does. Yeah. Well, that's  fun. So it's always really interesting to me when people are doing stuff like you're doing because  no one does this stuff anymore.  Not as many, but I've always been  a little more creative in what I do.  We have four kids and our youngest was born with Down syndrome.
23:13So when I was, I homeschooled until he was born and it was just kind of turned upside down. He had, he's healthy. We are incredibly blessed that way. has no heart issues, no other issues, but the testing and the doctor appointments, the first couple months of his life, we were at the doctor like twice a week. Yeah. All the time for months on end. We didn't finish school that year. He was born in March. Yeah.
23:41The authorities don't know this. My kids are adults now, it's okay to say. But because of him, I need to be a stay-at-home mom. I need to be able to take him to the doctor's appointments, which are non-existent now. But now that he's 22, he's an adult also. He is still living at home. He always will. But he doesn't like to be left alone. I trust him. Clearly, he doesn't trust himself. He doesn't like to be alone. So...
24:09He has to have somebody with him all the time and  we don't trust him  with just anyone. I'm  still a mama bear.  So I need to be home. so being able to make money while being at home,  you have to be creative. So I've, I've always looked for ways and things that I can do  to supplement the income while being available  to the family.  I just, I loved being able to sew  that has opened up worlds of opportunity for me.
24:40I have a question. If he's with you all the time, has he learned any of the quilting stuff? Oh gosh, no. If mom is doing it, he's... Of all our kids, he is the most normal in the aspect of, my parents embarrass me. It cracks us up. Like we go to church and the kids sit with us. They always have like when they're younger, not him. From the time he was like 13, he's like, oh, I'm sitting on the other side of the church. I can't be seen with you. It's embarrassing.
25:08So no, if I'm doing it, he wants nothing to do with it, which is a little sad to me because I have an online friend whose daughter has downs and she quilts. And I think, oh my gosh, the meticulous aspects they could bring to the table. She is an amazing quilter, this friend's daughter. Our son, he could probably do something well, but he chooses not to do anything that we want him to do because that's his stubborn gene. So no, he did not pick any of this up.
25:38have him take out the trash in my shop and that's all I can get him to do. Okay well I just I was hoping that I could have... Yeah me too. I was I could hear a story about a young man who quilts because that would be really cool. Or makes bags out of quilts, whatever. No, no. Okay so I have another question for you. Have you found any really unusual quilts in your you're acquiring them? Hmm let me think about that for a minute. Unusual quilts.
26:07I did find one that had, and it's not unusual, was just  really cool,  it was dated 1870, I  think. It was hand-stitched with the date on.  I got it at an auction.  It was like a bulk sale,  and I could not, I ended up selling that. There was no way I was gonna cut into that one.  Yeah, other than that, I haven't really come across any unusual.  There was one I did buy, I was cutting into it, which is,
26:35which is more common than people realize, but they don't cut into them so they don't know. But when you cut into it, you realize there was a quilt inside it that had gone bad. And so somebody made a quilt top and put over it to extend the life of it. So it's like a quilt in a quilt.  I swear I read something in  a  historical fiction book about that the slaves used to hide things and like sew things into their quilts.  Oh, that's interesting.
27:05That's interesting. they  could bring a quilt with them when they were traveling in the Underground Railroad,  they would put stuff inside the quilt. So if you ever cut into one and find something really special, that might be where that came from. That would be, yeah. No, the only thing I found that's a little unusual,  the ones made with old feed sacks, you're aware of those, for  the  podcast listeners that might not know,  I'll explain a little bit.
27:32Back during the Depression when things were so hard to get food was scarce  and in clothing and  everything was was a struggle  the the grain companies  would print Like a floral pattern on their grain sacks  so that the women could reuse them for clothing  And a lot of those were reused were used also for quilts  And a feed sack quilt is a really fun thing to find the patterns are just beautiful
28:00But a lot of those still have  grains in them. When I cut into them, there will be like oats that fall out.  Funny. That is fun.  Yeah. Again, I'm a big reader, so I read all kinds of stuff. And I saw an article online about the FeedZaxx from then,  and they had pictures of them.  And the prints that they used, some of them were so adorable. Yes.
28:28Yep. A lot of them were kids patterns so that they could make kids clothing out of them. And I feel like they were wearing mom's old dress. So it was fun. Yeah. And weren't the feed sacks made out of cotton? Yes. 100 % cotton, which I love. Yeah. So they were soft too. So if you made a skirt, wasn't itchy. Right. Correct. Yeah. And wasn't burlap. was not. You think of a feed sack and you think burlap, but no, these were cotton. Well, these days, probably plastic.
28:56It is, yes.  We're so crazy here. We use those to keep the weeds down in the greenhouse. Same!  We're the same.  Yeah, they work great because  the sun can't get through them and the weeds die and then you've just got dirt again, which is great.  All right. Well, can you  start a new game for the end of the podcast? The new game is...
29:23Can you tell me one word that describes how you feel about your business?  One word that describes how I feel about my business.  I'd say joy. It just brings me joy to be able to create every day and  joy to be able to offer something to someone that brings them joy. So it's, it's literally happy, happy, joy. It really is. Yes. Good. I'm glad because  really you don't throw your whole self into something like this, Karen, if you don't want to be doing it. That's true.
29:53That's true. Now I love, love my job.  Everyone says, oh, it's Monday. And I'm like, yes, that's my actually work seven days a week because  I can't not. I work in my basement and that's also storage for, you know, extra things in the house. You know, we keep  Sam's club stacks of toilet paper down there and I'll go down to get a paper towel roll. And you know, three hours later I'll come back and I'm like, look at this bag I made.  My husband's like, we needed the paper towels.  I just love it. I can't not work.
30:23Yeah, and it's so easy to get distracted by things that you love.  I sat down yesterday to find who I was talking to in the afternoon yesterday on my phone.  And of course it was on Facebook and found three other people to message about if they'd be a guest on the podcast. it's...  That's how it works. Yes. It's just how it works. Yeah, exactly. When you love your job, you never work a day. It's just what you get to do. Yeah.
30:53My husband asked me how many hours I put in on the podcast. And  at this point, if he asks me, just say all of them.  That's the right answer.  Because I never stopped thinking about it. I'm always okay. What can I do? Who should I talk to? What else do I need to get done to get that episode ready to go out? Blah, blah, blah. And he said, you don't put in all the hours. He said, you sleep, you do dishes, you take a shower. I'm like, I'm dreaming about the podcast. And he's like, you are obsessed. I said, yes, I am.
31:22Yes, agreed.  Nope, that's how you know you love what you're doing. Yeah, and I'm guessing you're probably in the same boat and that's  wonderful. Everybody should have something that makes them this happy. I agree. I wish everyone loved their job this much. Wouldn't that be great? Yes, the world would be happier.  Yes, my dog is not happy that I love my job though. She's sitting outside my bedroom door whistling. She's like, are you coming out yet?
31:50All right, Karen, I try to keep you to half an hour and we're there. Thank you so much for your time. Where can people find you? We are cottage on cross on Instagram. And that's it? That's it.  Or Etsy. Cottage on cross on Etsy. That's where I sell.  Yeah, that's the important part. We want people to go see your thing.  Okay. And as always, you can find me and my podcast at atinyhomesteadpodcast.com.  Thank you, Karen. I really appreciate your time. Thank you so much for having me.
32:19Have a good day. You too.
 

A Farmish Kind Of Life

Today I'm talking with Amy at A Farmish Kind Of Life. You can follow on Facebook as well.
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00:00listening 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.
00:25Today I'm talking with Amy at A Farmish Kind Of Life in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Good afternoon, Amy. How are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm good.  Amy is who I want to be when I grow up. don't even know who I want to be when I grow up. That's funny.  Amy is an author. She's a podcaster. She's a blogger. She  falls under the homesteading umbrella.
00:55but it's more of a farm, right? I mean, what is a homesteader? know, isn't that what we're always trying to figure out? What is the definition of a homesteader, I suppose? I still We do have a farm. Yep. We do have a farm. I'm here. I have five acres in central Minnesota with, you know, a ton of different animals. We've been through, you know, all the different animals and we got all the gardens and we've got space. So yeah, it is farming, although...
01:23there are people around here that have such huge farms that they think we're just kind of playing farm. So, you know, our little five acres is just kind of a little thing.  But it's not. It's a big thing. It's a big thing.  So tell me what brought you to this whole farmish kind of life, Amy.  What brought me to the farmish kind of life?  You know, when my husband and I were first married, we lived right in town  and  he had always lived in town. When I grew up, I grew up at
01:53I grew up out in the country, but we didn't have a farm. We were more like in the woods and we had a creek and you know, all of that didn't grow up with, you know, the farm animals or anything. And we got married, we lived right in town and knew that was going to be a temporary thing.  But  we just we really wanted to be out in the country and have space, you know, to just kind of breathe. And I don't know if ever intentionally in the beginning, it was going to be we're going to have all these animals, we're going to can all this food and all this stuff. just
02:22You just kind of  morphed into that,  suppose. think part of it was when we were first married, you we were,  you know, you're trying to make ends meet and stretch the dollars and then you have the babies, you know, and things get crazy. And  I think frugal living and just trying to figure out, you know, can we make this from scratch? What can we substitute? How can we do without this? How can we do something different? That and various other things just led us to whatever you want to call this.
02:52this life, this farmish thing or this homesteading thing.  Right there with you. That's how we got found ourselves in this, this, uh, this quagmire of trying new things all the time. Oh yes. Yeah. There's always something new to try. Yep. I, uh, front of mine brought me sourdough starter Monday night.  Thank  you Tracy.  And, uh,  it's fine. The starter she, she brought me, I,
03:22got up this morning and I have water on top of it. And I was like, that doesn't look good.  So I had to go Google it and find out if it was still alive. And apparently it's doing really well. So I threw some more flour in there. It's good.  And then I realized,  yeah. And then I realized I didn't know anything about sourdough starter. And I've been doing home studying stuff for a long time. So I went back to Google and,  and, when looked in Wikipedia  and I Oh,
03:49this is not as hard as I think it is. I'm going to start my own starter too and see if I can make it go from scratch. So that now has water on top of it. And I'm like, okay, this, don't know what to do with it. So. I feel like, you know, like home setting is such a big thing. there's, there's, there's so much to learn. think for us this year, it was, I mean, we've been at the farm for 14 years now and just this past winter. you know, like not that many months ago, we finally tapped our maple tree.
04:19And we've been here 14 years and we're like, wait a second, we have maple trees. Why are we not tapping these and trying to do this whole maple syrup thing? And it went way better than I thought it would. it's just, you know, I think there's just only so much you can have on your plate and process at once. And then you're like, wait a second, we could do this thing. We could do this thing. So there's always something new to get into. Well, yeah, I've been dragging my feet on the sourdough thing for six months. And she texted me about selling duck eggs in our farm stand. And she said, when I bring the duck eggs over,
04:47Do you want me to bring some sourdough started? It's already started because I think the reason that you're not doing it is because you don't want to start it. I was like, sure, I'll give it a shot. Why not? And the dumbest thing is I don't even like sourdough bread. So we'll see how this goes.  You'll have to make it for someone else, I guess. Yeah, I it. took the discard yesterday from hers and made  sourdough crackers. And my son was like, these are good. These would be really good in dip or in soup. And I was like, OK.
05:17I can keep going. Winning, winning.  Yeah. So how much rain did you guys get in St. Cloud yesterday? You know, I was at a meeting last night and people were saying two inches, but I was just on Snapchat and a friend  sent me a picture and their rain gauge said three and a half inches. So our rain gauge is not out yet. So I don't actually know, but man, that rain was something else. That was epic.
05:45Yeah, my son went out to feed the new chickens and they are in a low spot, the coop's in a low spot. And he came in and his feet were wet up to his ankles, his sneakers were soaked.  So yeah, we got a lot of rain yesterday here in Minnesota. It was not welcome. mean, everybody says we need the rain, but  I don't know that we needed that much right now. I think  the problem of it coming all at once was maybe the, yeah, we definitely needed it. have, you know, everybody's
06:15The fields around us are planted and we already have corn coming up.  But man, it was just driving around. It was so dusty and it was just crazy. so I think it was all the people saying, hey, we need rain. And then it all just came in one giant go.  So apparently everybody's saying we need rain is  equivalent to the rain dance and we need to stop doing that for a little bit.  Maybe for a little bit. Yeah. Okay. So.
06:42I was looking at your Facebook page, that's kind of how I found you. think we have a mutual acquaintance on Facebook, but I don't remember who it is. And you have a book that just came out called, don't say it, I wrote it down. It is Peace, Love and Bacon. Is that about your farm? It is about my farm. And the funniest thing is that it's actually the 10th book that I've published, but it is the first book that I've published about homesteading, which is so crazy because most people know me as a homesteader.
07:12So I finally, know, 10 books into this process, wrote a book about homesteading and it is not a how-to book. It is not instructional. It is more, here's been our experiences on the farm, laugh at them, learn from them.  You know, just, it feels very much like you're sitting down with your friend having coffee and  talking about the homesteading life. So there's funny stuff, there's sad stuff, there's, you know, oh my gosh, that actually happened stuff. So yeah.
07:41So it's like a homesteading memoir. Yeah. Nice. Very nice. And the cover is adorable. There's a little piggy on the cover, I saw it. That little piggy. How long did it take you to write the book from idea to published?
08:00You know,  I'd had pieces of that book written for many, many, many years. And so when I finally sat down and thought, what am I doing? I just need to put this book together. It really came together in probably two months.  And it's self-published. so, you know, once you decide that's what you're going to do, you just, you know, do the process. And yeah,  it's really nice to finally have it out because I was just, you know, it was fun to go through all the different files and reread the stories, you know, that I'd already written.
08:28or maybe the things that I thought when I wrote this one part five years ago and I'm like, well, that's completely different or now I've learned this. And so was this, it was fun to put it together because I think when you're doing the home sitting thing and that's your life and it's your normal, you kind of forget, wow, we're actually doing this and this is how far we've come and this is what it used to be in here. we've, know, here's the progress that we've seen. It's  kind of Yeah. Where can people get it and can they get it?
08:55as a paperback, a hardcover or an ebook or all three? Yep, you can get it  on Amazon. It is available as a paperbook. It is available for Kindle. It's also in the Kindle Unlimited program, which means if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited, you actually can read it for free. And yes, I still get paid for that. So don't feel bad.  I'm in the process right now of finishing up recording it as an audiobook.
09:21I'm assuming next month sometime, maybe the end of June, maybe that will be out. We'll see. you recording it? Your voice? Yes. How's that? How is it? You know, it's really funny. When you write a book and like you're looking at it and you're reading it in your head, it's totally different than reading it out loud. And you realize how many like tongue twisters you put in there and like phrases you
09:47skip over and you have to say them six times before they come out right and it's just, yeah. I have the podcast and so, you know, recording the audiobook is, you know,  it's nothing. It's just like doing a really long podcast. But yeah, it's fun to be able to have the equipment and the ability to do that myself and not have to hire that out. So. You are a freaking Renaissance woman. I love you. You're great. Oh, This is funny.
10:16It's funny though, because when you do it all the time, like this is just your normal, you forget, like, you know, maybe it's not what everybody does. I don't know. You just get caught up in your own world and that's just your thing. yeah. I'm pretty sure not everybody has written 10 books, does a podcast, does a blog, does social media and has a farm. That's me. It sounds a little weird now that you say it, okay. I love it. I think it's great.
10:45I think you should just keep doing all your dreams in public  and let the whole world applaud. That's what I think.  I'll do that. I'll consider it. Okay.  So, I  wanna, I want to hear about your farm and then I want to ask you about your podcast cause  I'm fairly new to podcasting. So I wanna, I want to talk to you about yours too, but let's talk about your farm.  What do you do on your farm when you're not doing all this other stuff? What do I do on my farm?  mean,
11:14What do we have? have, let's see, what do we have right now? We chickens, have ducks, we have rabbits. We should be getting pigs here shortly. We've had all sorts of animals. We've had goats, we've had horses, we've had pheasants, we've had turkeys, we've had all the different animals. And it's fun to, like the animals, you move to the farm thinking we're gonna be awesome and we're gonna be your favorite. And then they weren't your favorite. Now you don't have them anymore.
11:42When we moved to the farm, wanted, or I,  I wanted goats. That was my whole thing. I mean, we already had chickens, so, you know, they came with us, but I was like, oh, we're going to have a barn. We're going have all this space. We're going to get goats. And my husband was all going home about getting horses and we got goats. And  they weren't my favorite. And then  we got the horses and they weren't what he thought it was going to be. So it's just funny. Like that was our whole thing. We were going to get to the farm and do these things. And then that wasn't...
12:12It didn't start out, you know, like we thought it would. So, um, what else?  Oh yeah. Yeah. We have big gardens, big vegetable gardens.  Um, we've got the raspberries and strawberries and blueberries and fruit trees and grapevines. And I just started garlic last year, asparagus.  Um, yeah.
12:36Lots of different stuff. I walk all over the yard and I'm like, oh yeah, there's one more thing I can do.  It's good because it keeps me busy and I'm one of those people who really need to stay super super busy. So it's just my personality. So a farm is a really good thing to have if you want to stay busy, right?  Oh, absolutely.  So do  you sell your  produce or does the farm generate an income for the farm?
13:07No, no. mean, we have, I'm one of those people where, you know, I could sell stuff, I almost like we have enough extra that we just end up, we give it to people that we know, like we're passing it along the neighbors, or I bring it to church, or my husband will bring it to work. And it's just, I don't know, I've never, I've never gotten too into the selling thing. And I think that's maybe because I just feel like it would be more work.
13:36You know, like, I don't know, I feel like there's a certain thing that comes along with that. I feel like if I, you maybe we got to be a little bigger or I did a little more stuff, maybe I would sell, I don't know. That's just not where the drive is for me. I would rather the farm do the food and do the things. And then, you know, I work on my books and do all that stuff for the income. Okay. Well, that's  fine. You don't have to sell anything off of a farm. You can just grow it for the hell of it.
14:06Right, right. Well, then the other thing is like, you when we first worked out, it's like, oh, we have all these chicken eggs and we can sell them. Well, the problem is when you live out in the middle of the country and everybody's got chickens, everybody has eggs for a sale, you know, so then it can get a little bit tricky to find customers who, you know, are there all the time that you can depend on that make it, you know, kind of worth it. It's so funny you said that because we got 12 chickens back a couple months ago and we
14:35We have a farm stand that we open in usually June. We opened it in beginning of May this year.  And  we got 12 chickens. That's a dozen eggs a day if they all lay.  we can't keep  eggs in stock in the farm stand.  my husband just picked up 14 more laying hens on Saturday. They're not laying yet. We have to wait three weeks. Right, right.
15:02That is so awesome though that you can do that. You know, that you have  the community that will support that. That's so awesome. Yeah,  I thought maybe we'd sell a dozen every couple of days. No, we put them out there and they're gone within an hour and a half usually. That is awesome. To the point that we didn't have any fresh eggs for us.  So that was the other reason that he picked up 14 more chickens on Saturday.
15:29You gotta have eggs for the farmer. Yup. So, so very excited that we are able to provide our community with really good eggs at $5 a dozen instead of really crappy eggs from the store at $8 to $10 a dozen right now. That is awesome. You're doing good stuff. Yeah. And our gardens are doing really well so far. They've been being put in over the last three weeks because we did it early.
15:57Don't tell Mother Nature we put stuff in early. will ruin us.  But yeah, think,  fingers crossed, I probably shouldn't say this out loud on a podcast, but we think we might have our first tomato by the end of June.  Because we started them in the house and then we moved them to the heated greenhouse and then put them in the garden. So they have like a  month or so head start. Yeah. And then are you going to sell that as well?
16:26At the farmer's market, yeah. And in the farm stand. The farm stand ends up with the produce that doesn't get sold at the farmer's market.  is so cool. We  have this really old,  what is it? It's not a, oh, a really old corn crib. Okay. And so we moved it out  to our, like close to our dirt road.
16:50And that's just where we moved it when we moved in. So it's been sitting there for 14 years. And last year I was looking at it going, we could do that. And that would be such a cute farm stand. Like that did go through my mind. You know, like I could fix that up. That could be a farm stand. We could sell our stuff out of there. And then I, I lose the ambitions for that. We live on a dead end dirt road that nobody goes on.  So it's that whole thing. Like we don't have a like a good spot for it. And then  I don't know. I don't know. That was an option, but.
17:21We live off of a two-lane highway that connects Lasur to  Arlington. I think it's going to count over, I think. So you've got some traffic then. Constant, constant traffic. Wow, that's perfect. And lots of semi-trucks, is, wow,  but it's okay.  It's okay. It's better than the church bells and the train that went through town in Jordan where we used to live.
17:50Yeah, yeah. Anyway, very excited about all of this stuff this season because last year was rough with all the rain. I don't know how it was for you guys in St. Cloud, but it was really hard to grow anything here last summer.  we're trying to keep the enthusiasm tamped down because we're afraid if we say anything  that will set off the universe, nothing will go right. So. It happened.
18:18Uh huh. Yeah. Don't, don't jinx it. Tell God, play your plans and he laughs. So, yeah. All right. So we're 18 minutes and I want to know how you got into the podcasting part of this because not everybody starts a podcast. Oh my God. How did I get into podcasting? So I think I started my podcast back in 2018. Why did I start a podcast? I think I was just one of those things I've been starting to listen to podcasts and I thought,
18:48Maybe that's something I could try and then I decided that'd be cool and then my husband and my boy, know who are now adults You know, they were like, oh we're gonna set this up for you mom. It's gonna be so awesome And then I was like, well crap now they now they set it up for me. No, I You know, like they set up this whole office and all this system, you know, they're like, alright mom go and then I was like, okay, so we're gonna do this So, um, I don't know like I've always liked this
19:16I grew up in theater, in musical theater. was in competitive speech when I was in high school. So I was like speaking to people. And so I think when I started listening to podcasts, I was like, oh, that's another way that, you know, I can get the message out about homesteading, not just, you know, writing, you know, and having the blog, because the blog and the website was, you know, big back in the day. And then I feel like things kind of shifted to podcasting and YouTube and all that. So this is another way for me to be able to talk.
19:44And let me ask you a question. So when you started your podcast, did you, when you hear yourself, are you like, who is that? Like, cause it doesn't sound like you. you know that it's doing? I hated it for the first six episodes. I would listen to it back and be like, I hate listening to my voice. And then I got into like the 20th, 21st one and I was like, it's fine. Yeah.
20:08Isn't that crazy? just like listening to yourself.  It doesn't sound like you, know, because obviously you're hearing yourself in your head and now 307 episodes in so it doesn't even bother me anymore. But that was so weird to get my head around. And here's the other question I have for you. Do you realize, have you always lived in Minnesota? No. Okay.  Where did you live before? I grew up in Maine. Okay. Okay. Cause I was going to say you don't have a super sick Minnesota accent.
20:36No, I  don't have any as far as I know. Nope. So when I started my podcast, and I started listening back to when I would say certain words, I was like, oh, there's the Minnesota accent that I literally have never heard out of myself until I started podcasting and listening back to myself. There it is. There's a long, oh, there's almost a boot when I say about, you know, it's, it's pretty crazy.  yeah, it's not bad now.
21:04If I didn't know, I would really have to listen for it. So really? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was, yeah. You learn things when you listen back to yourself. So, well, I have a question for you since you started doing the podcast. When you listen to people talk on TV or on the radio, are you way more aware of how they say things now? Oh yeah. Yeah. It's interesting how it just changes.
21:32like how you listen to that. And that's the same with like when I do YouTube videos now, like I pay attention to how people film things, you know, and like how they put videos together. I never, I never would have done that before. Like I was just watching the thing on TV. Not anymore. No, that's a whole filming thing. It's a whole speaking thing. It's crazy how you get into these new things in your life and then it just makes you pay attention to other things.  See, yeah. See, this is why I'm really glad I never learned to read music.
22:02Because if I learned to read music, my brain would have been translating every sound I heard into a note on a piece of paper. Yeah, that's true. That's true. your podcast is really good. Like,  I listened to two episodes and I thought, huh, I really like this. This is really, really good. Oh, thanks. I like doing it.  I've been a little...
22:31I've been a little lax on my recording lately just because of life stuff that's been going on. But I love to sit down and do it. I love talking to people. I love hearing from people. you know, my podcast episodes are pretty short. They're usually 20-ish minutes long. And I hear from a lot of people that they really appreciate that they're not hours and hours long. know, because there's some people that do some podcast episodes that are pretty long. And I'm like, oh, it's fun to listen to that. I want a little bite size.
23:01Okay, let's go. Right? Yes. For the record, I had never listened to a Joe Rogan episode because people are always talking about Joe Rogan being the dude in podcasting. So I finally, finally went out and looked him up and I pulled up the Jeremy Renner interview. Okay. From the guy that got run over by the  snow cat or whatever it was a year or so ago.  And
23:28I was like,  I don't understand why he's such a big deal. Like I'm not saying he's a bad podcaster, but I do not get it. Yeah. So I have officially listened to one episode. got about half an hour into it and went, yeah, I'm good. I now know what Joe Rogan podcast is. I'm good. Yeah.  I feel like I need the quick notes, you know, of.
23:52Am I dating myself there by using the term cliff notes? probably am. know, there a thing with cliff notes anymore? don't even know. Spark notes? Maybe. I don't know what they're called now. I don't know. I don't know. It doesn't matter whether you're dating yourself or not. You are as old as you are and you have earned every day of it. I like the perception. Well.
24:13The other option is not being alive. I think that living is a really wonderful privilege and everyone should think that too. Okay, so with the podcast, how long have you been doing it? 2018, I believe. The year that I started it, right at the beginning of the year. Wow. So seven years. I say things like that and then I'm like, oh my gosh, I've had a podcast for...
24:42That's why I have to talk to people, you know, like you, to be like, hey, you're actually doing something. This is good. This is good for my, this is good for my mental health. Thank you. You're welcome. And I'm sorry, eight years, really, if you started it to a 2018, it's almost eight years, right? I can't do math on the fly. It's been at least seven, been at least seven years. Um, I've only been doing mine. I've done my, mine will be two years old in August. Yeah. Yeah.
25:12And I've done over 250 episodes and I still freaking love it. Yeah. Oh my gosh. So how often do  you do an episode? Well, right now, not as often as I should be.  Everybody I talk to right now, the people I'm trying to get hold of right now are all farmers and farmers are busy right now. Oh yeah. Yeah. So I have to really dig tomorrow and Friday and Saturday and Sunday to get some
25:42interviews lined up for next week or I'm not going to have a podcast Amy it won't be good. Do you  ever run out of content doing it that often or you just  talk to other people? Around Christmas time it gets real dicey  and May and June get hard because like I said  everybody's busy in May and June so  if I have to  I will
26:11to a solo episode and it'll be 10 minutes.  I don't want to do that. I haven't done that yet and I really don't want to.  But either way,  your podcast is about your experiences on your farm, right?  much. Everybody should go listen to Amy's podcast. It's really good. It's a far. The podcast is the same thing. It's a farmer's kind of life podcast, right?
26:38podcast. it know, it started off being very I'm going to teach people about homesteading and then like COVID hit and all of that craziness. And I started talking about other stuff and I kind of branched out into more,  just kind of life stuff. And I've had a lot of people say,  what they like about my podcast is that I don't just talk about homesteading. It's homesteading, but it's like it applies to a lot of different things. And so sometimes I'm doing the deep thought sometimes I'm
27:07I'm talking a lot about homesteading now because it's that time of year and people are getting excited about homesteading and gardening and animals and all of that. So yeah. Yeah. And the thing is homesteading is life stuff. Oh yeah. I mean, you're, you're building a life, you know, it's, it's not just, you're building a homestead. it branches out into everything. So yeah. interviewed a lady the other day and she
27:36She has four kids and two of them were adopted. Two of them were embryos when they were adopted, as in she carried them. And I so wanted to like ask a billion questions and I didn't, I was going to only ask two. It only took like five minutes of the whole thing. And I said, ma'am, said, if this was a podcast about adoption, we would be talking for six hours straight because I think it's so interesting the things that people can do now to have.
28:06kids. Yeah. And so I didn't, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't fall off the adoption cliff that day. was like, okay, no, we're not going to do this.  But, uh, but yeah, I mean, I find myself getting into these philosophical, psychological discussions with people because that's where they're at with their, their experience with homesteading. Right.
28:31Yeah. So it's just like, Oh my God, why am I talking about marriage counseling and adoption and  my dog, you know, all part of it. And I think that's, that's kind of the fun thing is that sometimes with the internet and with social media and with all of this, you get into the thing where we're homesteaders and we're doing the homesteading thing. And then we forget, like everybody has a life and everybody's deal. You everybody has a favorite TV show and everybody has a
28:58know, stuff that they like to do after the chores are done. And they have a favorite restaurant they like to go to. And they have family stuff they're dealing with and, you know, like junk in their life. And so when you start bringing that in, it's like it reminds everybody that everybody's people and we're all just here doing our thing. And so I think, you know, that's really important to celebrate. Yes. And not forget. And yeah. Yeah. We all put our pants on the same way, one leg at a time.
29:26This is true. just depends on whether your label says Gucci or if it says Levi's. That's  right. Okay. tell me  one word that describes a farmer's kind of life.
29:43Honest. Honest? That's what I would say. Honest or real. I Yeah. I love that. That's great. Honest sounds good to me because we need more of that right now. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Yep. So where can people find you, Amy? You can find me at my website, afarmishkindoflife.com. You can find just about anything you need to know about where to find me. Otherwise on that.
30:11website, but I'm on social media. Facebook is mostly where I hang out. yeah, FarmishKindOfLife.com is pretty much going to tell you what you need to know, I guess. Awesome. you need to be found. I love everything that you're doing. The books, the podcast, the blogging, the gardening, the animals, the everything. You are a fabulous person. I love it. Oh, thanks.
30:39And everybody can find me as usual at atinyhomesteadpodcast.com.  And  if you would like to be a guest on the podcast, let me know, because I'm looking for people to talk to right now. Perfect.  All right, Amy, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Have a great day.
 

5 Acre Wood Homestead

Today I'm talking with Marissa at 5 Acre Wood Homestead.
A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Homegrowncollective.org.
 
Muck Boots 
Calendars.Com
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00:00Did you know that muck boots all started with a universal problem? Muck? And did you know that it's their 25th anniversary this year?  Neither did I. But I do know that when you buy boots that don't last, it's really frustrating to have to replace them every couple of months.  So check out muck boots. The link is in the show notes. The very first thing that got hung in my beautiful kitchen when we moved in here four and a half years ago was a calendars.com  Lang calendar.
00:26because I need something familiar in my new house. My mom loves them. We love them. Go check them out. The link is in the show notes. 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.
00:56You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. 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 Marissa at Five Acre Wood Homestead in Washington State.  Good evening, Marissa. How are you? I'm great. Thank you so much for having me.  I am so excited to talk with you because you have everything going on at your homestead. So tell me about yourself and what you do. Well, um...
01:27I, so  we weren't always, you know, Homesteader, Homestead life.  I really just stumbled into it as a lot of us do, right? But I did, I am from a very small, tiny town in Idaho.  And there was a lot of, you know, Homestead like things that went on there. And so I did have that very early  young childhood.
01:52experience of that. Like I have memories of the things my parents had to do to get us through winters and whatnot, you know. And my mother and my grandmother, you know, they  sewed and crocheted and canned and did all the things. And so I kind of always had that influence in my life.  But growing  up,  we were, I was, you know,  displaced to the city here in Tacoma.
02:21And that's where I spent 40 years was the middle of the city  and had my kids there.  And  at a certain point in my life, I was, I just decided that.  You know, we,  it's nice to talk about how we want to get back to the country and  the small town life and be self-sufficient and do all the things.  But at some point you just got to do it.  And that's really how this.
02:50how the homestead came about.  And we've been here six years now. Okay. And still no animals.  Still a work in progress, right? Because  our homestead was was vacant for five years before we got it. And so nature kind of just did what nature does and took over.  And so  it's been the last three years has been
03:18a lot of rebuilding and a lot of taking down and a lot of getting  the property back to where we need it to be so that we can incorporate the things that we want to have. It's been a lot of work.  Well, I'm going to jump in for one second. You don't have to have animals to be a homesteader. It's totally cool if you don't. I know. I know.  And  so many people have told me that because I feel
03:46you know, kind of some days like  we're not a real homestead because we don't have animals yet.  And you're right. That's not that's not true at all.
03:58Yeah, my friend, she's become a friend. didn't know her a year ago, but now I do because of the podcast.  My friend Amy Fagan at Grounded in Maine is her podcast. She asked me to be a guest and she  basically introduced me as  a homesteader who was bucking the system because we only have three acres and we don't have cows.  And it was kind of tongue in cheek. And for anybody listening.
04:23If you are doing something that's an old fashioned skill as a part of your everyday life, you are practicing homesteading. Yeah, that's true. That's absolutely true. And I do it on so many levels.  And I think the animals and the husbandry is probably the only thing that I don't do. And honestly, that's probably a good thing because we tried raising rabbits here and number one, they were dumb and didn't procreate the way they were supposed to.
04:52And number two, having to call or butcher those babies, not babies, I call them babies because they were my babies, but having to butcher those rabbits and put them in the freezer about killed me. I don't, don't want to do it again. really don't. It's that's a part that, um, you know, it's not everybody can handle that part. Now my dad, um, did have a family farm down in Corvallis, Oregon.
05:22It's not in our family anymore, but  my third great grandparents came over on the Oregon Trail.  And  so for many, many years there were, there was acreage  in my dad's line. And he was the last one, right? And at the time when he tried to pass it down to my brother and I, my brother did move on to the farm with his family and tried to do it and decided and realized that that wasn't the life for him.  He wasn't cut out for it.
05:51And  at the time I turned it down because I was in the middle of the city raising three little kids and I couldn't, you know, pick up my life and move to the country and become a farmer. Like I didn't think that was possible for me at all. And I didn't think that was where I was going in my life.  But now to be where I am now and look back on that, I'm really sad I missed that opportunity and that, you know, the family lost that piece of land, but I can remember  I have memories of yeah, the sheep and the, and the pigs and  it,
06:21It's hard. That's just a part of farming that, you know, it's not for everybody.  Yeah. I feel like when you take on livestock, you are taking on more children because that's how I feel the responsibility  level.  if you're gardening, it's not nearly as stressful. Yeah, no. I mean,  there's been years where, you know, I've lost whole crops and it's just like, well, this sucks, but what are you going to do? You just got to keep going.
06:50No, and we do. So it's funny because I say we don't have animals. Well,  Homestead has been adopted by Mr. Darcy, who everybody sees pictures of and talks about and loves. My neighbor's peacock.  And  peacocks are, I found out, they're free roaming birds. They just do what they want and go what they want. you know, he adopted us.  He ended up coming over three and a half, four years ago now, and he loves it over here.
07:20And he spends the majority of his time here. And last year,  his wife, Lucy,  five eggs in my garden bed and we had five baby peacocks. And then three days later they were killed in the backfield.  Oh no.  Yeah,  was heartbreaking. was so hard. And now I say that was the first homestead loss that I endured with animals, even though those animals were not mine, it didn't matter.
07:50It still hurt just as much.  And,  um, yeah, Mr. Darcy,  love him. He's, he's a staple on our homestead, even though he doesn't belong to me, I still claim him and he claims us. that's so funny. And,  and great story up until the baby peacocks died.  Yeah. Yeah. He has two new wives now though. We call them the sister wives. They are sisters, they're twins and they look identical.
08:21So we're hoping that there will be more babies this year.  Yes. And for anybody who doesn't know a female peacock is called a P hen, right? A P hen, yes. Yeah.  And they are called P fowl.  And aren't the females not as brightly colored? they like brown? right.  They are more, they don't have the long tail feathers and their heads are more greenish most of the time.
08:49Yeah, they are still very beautiful though. Yeah. Yep.  We had somebody who lived up the hill from us when we, before we bought this house at the old house, somebody lived up the hill from us and they had some peacocks  and the peacocks would come down the hill and it was basically a wooded hillside. The peacocks would come down the hill and walk down our street and just call.  And I didn't know about this at first and I had moved in with friend who became my husband.
09:19And I heard them yelling and I was like, what is that god awful noise? And he was like, oh, that's the neighborhood peacocks. Yep.  I said in town. He said,  yeah, it's really weird. was like, oh, okay. Good to know. go where they want and do what they want.  Yep. They're like great Pyrenees dogs. They come home, but they also go wander. Yep.  Yep.
09:46So did I see that you can see Mount Rainier, how do you say it, Rainier? From your house? Yeah, Mount Rainier.  We live about 30 minutes outside the Perk entrance, one of the Perk entrances.  Yeah, and we can't see her from the homestead because this is Washington and there's trees everywhere.  the trees block our view of her, but  we...
10:15can see her from the highway, is a half a mile down. So  when I go to town every day, I see her and I try to snap a picture coming up over the hill because it seems like everybody's favorite Rainier picture that I've posted so far is of that view. So there's been quite a lot of them.  It's really beautiful. Your photos are gorgeous. You know, John Mirror, who  was the famous hiker and explorer guy that  he  has said that
10:43Rainier was the most majestic  of  all the volcanics in this area. And he's not wrong. I mean, I love all of our mountains,  but that one  is, she's just  majestic and amazing. And every time you see her, you  just are awestruck. Yeah,  I live in Minnesota. There are no mountains anywhere near me.
11:12But I grew up in Maine. And I was right between the White Mountains and the ocean. Like my house was dead center between those two landmarks, geographical formations, whatever. And when people are like, why did you leave Maine? And I'm like, because I was married and I didn't think I was going to get divorced at the time.  If that had not happened, I would still be living in Maine, honestly. But I'm jealous that you
11:42I'm jealous that you have a big old mountain near you. Yeah.  This  part of the country is,  it's definitely not for everybody. mean, most people, when they think of Washington, all they think about is rain. our  rain is what makes it so beautiful all the time. And we're going to ever going to stay for a reason. I mean, we've got  just about everything and I can drive two hours and
12:10any direction and be in a different climate. Two hours and I'm at the ocean, two hours I'm at the mountain, two hours I'm in the desert and Eastern. Like it just is  everything you would  want to have.  It's all very close. Yeah, I have not been out that far yet.  I don't know if I'll ever get that far west in the United States, but I  have friends who have traveled to Oregon and Washington state and every time
12:39I hear about it. They're like, it's so beautiful. You have to go.  It is. It's absolutely amazingly beautiful.  Nice. Okay. So you don't have animals on your homestead, but I know that you have started a blog on Facebook and you're doing a series  of recipes and you grow plants, right? Yep. We have a huge garden.
13:07multiple gardens, I should say, because we've got the big vegetable garden and then I've got herbs just about everywhere and then we've got, you know, different flower gardens all over the place and we've got an orchard up in the front and we've got more trees out in the back.  Yeah, and we've been adding, so it's slowly growing. Okay, forgive my ignorance about the state of Washington, but like I said, never been there.
13:36When is your do you guys get snow number one? We don't get a lot of snow  on the you know  where we're at right here is.  It's  just a couple hundred feet above sea level. I mean, and it's really crazy this area.  I would say between you know Seattle, Tacoma area in general and.  Because we have this two huge mountain ranges, right? We have the.
14:05Cascades going one way and the Olympics going the other and this huge metropolis right between them.  But the valleys are really only a couple hundred feet above sea level.  And so  it takes  literally the perfect  storm to get snow where we are.  It rarely happens.  And when it does,  it shuts down the cities.
14:33like completely, get a half an inch of snow and people are losing their minds. Well, when you're not used to it, it is dangerous. Yeah, no, it is. It is. And I mean, I was born and raised in Idaho, in the mountains of Idaho. We got five and a half meters snow every winter over there. So, know, I
14:53It was just I'm used to the snow. It doesn't bother me and I know how to drive in it. And I still, even though I know how to drive in it, won't because the people around here don't know how to drive in it. And that makes it scary. Uh huh. Yep. Absolutely.  Um, it's always amazing to me here in Minnesota because the first snowfall we get where it actually builds up even a little bit on the highways,  you would think people who've lived in Minnesota would know how to drive on snow, right? Oh, absolutely. Nope. That first snowfall, there's a
15:23shit-ton of accidents  on the first snowfall and every time it happens unlike people, you know how to drive on this. on.  You should definitely know how to drive in snow and ice if you live in Minnesota.  You would think, yes.  I would have tried to not swear, but that was the perfectly appropriate. No, and I can completely relate to that because
15:50You know, everybody knows that it rains about eight months out of the year here. And when we get hard, steady rain up here, people don't know how to drive in that either. And you would think that, you know, the people that live in Washington state year round would know how to drive in the rain. No, no, not at all.  Okay. My, my 23 year old son would have some very choice things to say about this whole discussion and it would be very funny, but he's not here right now. So,  um,
16:17Okay, so how cold does it get in the winter like on average?  Um, I would say on average  it  I mean there's been years there was a year a couple years ago where it got down to like nine degrees  Um, and that was a first for me. I don't think i've ever felt temperature that low um, but usually normally it's you know, it can get down into the mid  20s  and When it's that low it's almost two two
16:46cold to snow.
16:49Yeah, so you have a fairly temperate climate, really. We do very temperate, yep.  And most of the time,  the winter weather,  it's 30, 35,  cloudy, freezing,  but not snowing.  Yeah. So does that mean that you can plant your  spring garden in like March?
17:17certain things yes, certain things no, because of the rain.  We don't plant out here  my tomatoes, my peppers,  all of those things I usually start in the greenhouse  in  March, first of March, and  I don't plant them out until Mother's Day weekend.  That's kind how we do it here too, only because we're afraid it's going to frost and kill everything. Yeah, no, it won't frost here, but
17:46Not that way usually, but it's the rain. It's just some years it's just so wet in the spring that it will wash everything out. Nothing will live. It will be a soggy mess. Yeah, that sounds about right. That's what happened to us last year. We are, I'm going to talk about this again. People are probably sick of hearing me talk about it. Last year from May until mid-June, it rained almost every day here.
18:15And our garden  was an absolute failure for the year. there was, yeah.  Yeah, we were so sad.  Oh, I know. The year that the garden went in here at the homestead,  I was so excited and we got those beds built  and  it was like just,  we happened to have a good weekend that it was not raining and we decided to, yep, we're going to do this. We're going to build the beds, get them ready. Right. So we did. And that was in.
18:45April, I want to say. And they sat there until 4th of July weekend when it finally quit raining. Yep. I don't know. There's much more frustrating than that for a gardener. It's  so maddening because you're like,  if it would just stop raining for a couple of days, maybe I could get something done. Yep.
19:12But I've learned  over the course of the last five years  that every year is different and you cannot judge from the year before how this year is going to go and it just it's going to go how it's going to go and you have no control over that.  You just kind of have to roll with the punches and do the best you can.  Yeah. And on that note,  we usually don't plant anything in the garden until May 15th. And my husband, my husband looked
19:41long-range forecast a couple, well, last week. And he said, you're not going to be happy. He said, but I'm going to put the tomato plants in this weekend. Don't do it. I said, And he said, oh yeah. He said, I'm doing it. And I said, what if they get frosted or what if it rains for two weeks after you put them in? He said, I can't stand it. He said, the weather has been beautiful. My garden is tilled and it's dry. I'm putting those in. like, I said, okay.
20:11And he put them in on Saturday, I think it was, maybe Sunday. And it has not rained, it has not frosted, it has not been cold, it has been beautiful. And they've grown like an inch and a half since you put them in the garden. We are so excited. So keep your fingers crossed for me. Yeah, I will. I definitely will. That's bravery because I never not.
20:36I'm not putting my tomatoes out for Mother's Day weekend. I'm just not doing it  because it's been beautiful here too. It was 77 degrees yesterday. Uh-huh. No, I know.  If I had had any say in the matter, those tomato plants would still be in the greenhouse. But  I couldn't break his heart. I was like, go ahead. It's beautiful. I'll go for it. But I did put my foot down on the basil plants because basil plants are a lot more thin. Oh yeah, and peppers.
21:07Yep. Yep.  This, this is the summer that we have been dreaming of since we moved here four and a half years ago. Yeah. Yep. The infrastructure is finally in.  Um, it looks like it's going to be a reasonable summer according to the farmer's almanac and I kind of trust them. And we just got our farm stand open so we could sell eggs and we have sold eggs every day. Yep.
21:37I'm hoping that we will get our farm stand built this year. That's one of my goals this year is to get that done.  In and amongst all the other things you do?  Yeah. Yeah. Because that's been a lot. It's because for us here,  a lot of this  general area.
21:59You know, there's a lot of small homesteads and there's a lot of small family businesses and we all kind of do that. We all kind of put up our farm stands  and we go by the honest system and it works. And that's also a place for pick up and drop off. So if you have something you're selling, you know, you're reselling from the thrift store or you're, know, you made a quilt and you're selling, you know, it's that's the place. So  I just know that that barn stand is another, um,
22:27It's another opportunity for me that I really need. Yes. And it's going to open doors. I'm going to give you a hint if you don't know about this yet. Do you use Venmo as a payment thing? I do. Did you know that Venmo provides you with a QR code for your account? Oh, do they? And you can print it I didn't know that. Yep. Ours is hanging in the...
22:54in the farm stand so that people can just scan the QR code and pay for their stuff. That's great. That's very handy. Yep. And we also have the little container for actual cash because we don't figure anybody's gonna.  If somebody steals money out of the cash thing, they need it more than we do.  Right. Yeah.  And  there's a few places around here that do, you know, just mason jars with lids.
23:22And there's other, you know, it's about half, would say half places do lock boxes with slits in them and the other half just do mason jars. And I've really only heard of a couple, you know, places that people aren't paying or have stolen or, you know, it doesn't happen very often, thankfully. We also have a sign out front that says under 24 hour surveillance. Right.
23:51If anybody steals money, we'll know who it is. It's fine. So not too worried about it, but I didn't realize that Venmo provided you with a QR code for your account. Yeah, that is very handy. Yep. And we've got two printed out to have at the farmers market this year, because I guess people were asking us if we had a Venmo account last year. My husband's the one that does  the farmers market. And I didn't have a Venmo account  last farmers market season, but I do now for the business.
24:20And so he's going to put the printed out Venmo QR codes on the tables so that people can use them.  So if for anybody who's listening, that's really handy to have if you're going to do a farm stand or a farmers market.
24:36So, do you  you quilt? you do quilts? What's that?  Do you do quilting? I do do quilting,  I  had got into sewing in high school back in the  90s, right?  When they still had home ec classes.
24:58Yep. And my mother had an old like 1950 singer at home and I hated that thing so much. I tried to eat my fingers every time I used it. And so I didn't use it. And for many, many years, I couldn't, I didn't have the room or the money to spend on a sewing machine. And so I didn't have one of my own. And then
25:26As it happened, my sister bought a new one and she had this little starter machine, this little brother, this little basic  brother machine.  And she handed it down to me when she got her new one. And so I jumped right in  and started sewing. And I actually made two quilts with that little machine  before my
25:52Mr. Homestead decided to surprise me and buy me a new singer. And he did that for Christmas or right after Christmas this past year. I do have a brand new sewing machine that I've made a couple of quilts with. And the last couple of months, it's been just sitting on my desk in my bedroom because I've had so many other things going on right with the garden and with the Homestead page and all this stuff.
26:21Um, haven't done a lot of sewing in the last few months, but yeah, I've made what four quilts I think in the last year  or since September.
26:33So yeah, I didn't think  I was gonna enjoy it as much as I did. And  I really did. The artistic  adventure of that is just,  I love it.  One of my friends just took a quilting class and she made the most beautiful quilt and she drove herself  crazy with it. But the quilt came out so gorgeous. Had to come out to my car because it was really the only quiet place.
27:03Okay.  All right. So,  we have like four, three and half minutes left. So let's see if we can make it work.  Your series on Facebook that you're doing with the recipes, tell me about that. So my Homestead  from Scratch series, I basically,  you know, I was trying to think of things to post on the page that  was...
27:28was,  you know, when I was trying to think of, okay, what am I going to post? How am I going to get interactions? How am going to?  And I think it was  Mr. Homestead that said, you know, just do you like, what are you good at? Do cooking? Do your from scratch stuff? Do your mixes? Do all that stuff? Like, and so I thought, you know, that's a good idea. And I did started posting them  and  it only took two or three days and it just exploded.  And now everybody is like  sharing and talking about this  and
27:58You know, and so I turned it, I actually did turn it into a series.  Um, and I post at least one or two things a day.  Um, and I'm just, I'm trying to start at the mixes  and the gravies and the bullions and the spice mixes and all that stuff, because, you know, that's like the basis of, of everything that we do from scratch.  Um, but slowly we'll get into.
28:27actual meals and maybe even meal planning.  And  I'm thinking maybe in the future videos.
28:35So I've got a bunch of stuff going around in my head that I want to do. Are you going to start a YouTube channel for the videos? You know what? I have a YouTube. I've had it for years  and it's the same name and I just don't use, I don't post as much as I should over there. And  that was one of the goals that I set for myself this year. Also, um, aside from the, from the homestead page on Facebook,  um, I really do need to start growing the YouTube channel and get over there and just start doing it.
29:06Okay. The other thing I was going to ask you is would you consider doing an actual blog, not just the posts on Facebook book, but would you start a blog for your  series? I think yeah, I probably, I'm a pretty good writer. I can, I, I've been told that, yeah, I can, I can do that.  I think that  this whole Facebook page really was just for me to dip my toes and get used to it.
29:35and get myself in the pace of, okay, now I'm trying to look at the homestead as a business and  grow it  and do all these things that I want to do. And I have a clear plan in my head of how I want that to go.  just, I need to take these baby steps to make that happen so that I don't overwhelm myself because I tend to do that. And then I just stop.  Anybody else? Yeah.  Yup. I've done it  many, many times.
30:04So I'm trying not  to do that.  only reason I'm asking if you would start an actual blog is because if something happens to Facebook, you lose those posts. Right. I know. I know. be sad. It would be sad. But I do,  all of my  posts that I put up, all my pictures of the recipes that I make, I do back those up on my computer so they wouldn't get lost. I do have them.
30:33Okay, good. Good. Good. I'm glad because what you're doing is actually going to help people. And part of the reason I started the podcast was to help people. And when I see other people doing things that actually help other people, it makes me really happy. So please keep doing it. Yeah, I will. Thank you for saying that because that's, you know, that's, think a really important, it should be a really important goal for, you know, all of us homesteaders, farmers is
31:02to help each other because we need to learn from each other and we need to support each other. And my thing is... yes. Yeah, you've got to teach. You have to keep the old ways alive. Yeah, because sometimes the new ways fail and we need the old ways. Exactly. Exactly. All right.
31:28All right, Marissa, thank you so much for your time. really appreciate it. And I really enjoyed talking with you. Thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed it too. And I will never forget it because this is my first podcast.  Well, you did great.  Thank you.  All right. You have a good night. You too.  Bye.
 

Hot Mess Ranch

Today I'm talking with Steven at Hot Mess Ranch. You can follow on Facebook as well.
A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Homegrowncollective.org.
 
Muck Boots 
Calendars.Com
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00:00Did you know that muck boots all started with a universal problem? Muck? And did you know that it's their 25th anniversary this year?  Neither did I. But I do know that when you buy boots that don't last, it's really frustrating to have to replace them every couple of months.  So check out muck boots. The link is in the show notes. The very first thing that got hung in my beautiful kitchen when we moved in here four and a half years ago was a calendars.com  Lang calendar.
00:26because I need something familiar in my new house. My mom loves them. We love them. Go check them out. The link is in the show notes. 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.
00:56You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you.  Good morning, Steven. How are you?  I'm good. How are you?  I'm good. I'm really excited to chat with you because  I understand that you have a ranch, but I also understand that you  are all over social media. And I want to talk about that too. So  first off, why is it called Hot Mess Ranch?
01:26Well, when my wife and I started the ranch, uh, 2021, we thought for months on what to name the place. And one day when we were watching TV, one of my daughters walked through the living room, did something funny or whatever. My wife looked at her and said, Oh my word, you're such a hot mess. And then it was like a spark went off and instantly
01:53My wife and I looked at each other like, let's just name it Hot Mess Range.  Uh huh. And it was kind of a joke for a little bit. And then it just kind of stuck  and we named it the social media that and that it kind of, that that's how it got started. So it's named after my daughters being silly.  Well, I love that. And honestly, every time I see a hot mess before someone's name on any social media,
02:22channel I'm like hmm what kind of hot mess is that one? Right. So it's a good way to get attention too.  Yes. Okay so what what brought you to doing Hot Mess Wrench?
02:34My wife grew up on a Longhorn cattle ranch  for most of her life.  And we had kind of kicked around the idea of getting land for years and we had always looked at it and  coming out of COVID, we just,  we found some property and then kind of got serious about it. And I have a daughter with autism  and she was kind of having a rough time in the city and
03:04Um, you know, kids can be kind of cruel and,  and, um, we were like, let's just give this a go. Um, really my daughter is what kind of pushed it over the edge. And so we found this place and got out here and that  main reason for her, uh, being a, a, um,
03:29I'm a word I'm kind of brain farting here.  The main reason for moving out here with my daughter, uh, played out really well.  And, uh, she's  her  self-esteem is through the roof now and she's feeling great about herself and she's settled in with the animals. And so that's kind of really what it was all about. And then that's, that's why we came out here and got started.  I have a question about your daughter and if you don't want to answer it, just don't, and I will edit it out.
03:58Autism presents in a whole lot of different ways with kids. So how did you find out that she had autism?
04:08Um, my wife is a teacher and so she holds a, well, she does now she holds a doctorate in elementary education.  And so she's got a lot of experience with that, especially with kids in the,  in school. Right. And so we could tell, she could tell kind of an early age that there was a chance she was kind of on the spectrum. And then we went and got her diagnosed.
04:35Uh, early on, so we've, had known for quite some time. You can, you can generally tell they're not a,  they're not as  social  as a lot of people, you know, she gets a lot of anxiety and in heavy social situations, a lot of people around a lot of noise,  um,  uh, over, over stimulation happens pretty quick, but the noise is really kind of.
05:05you know, was a telltale sign. And she even to this day, if we go back into large gathering, you can tell she just kind of gets overstimulated pretty quickly. So that was one of the main signs that we noticed and she still has today. Okay. I was just wondering, don't want to make this about me, but I have a couple of things to say about this.
05:32I,  we moved to our homestead because we lived in town, like right off main street in a small town. And there was always  noise and there was always someone knocking on the door. And  I don't love it. I grew up in a very small town in Maine, surrounded by pine trees,  basically in the woods. And that was perfect for me because I really did not love being with people, like lots of people. And
06:01I've never been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, but I would assume I probably am.  And I feel like this was a thing a long time ago, but there just wasn't any science to define what it was. And  back in the old days, people would just say, oh, she's really shy or,  oh, her ears are really good and can't filter out things. So she hears everything  or she's crazy.
06:30And I don't know, like I think everybody has things that bother them and always have. So just because you're on the autism spectrum doesn't make you less or weaker than anybody else. It just makes you different. Right. So I just want to get that in because I feel like people get really weirded out about talking about things like this.
07:00And it shouldn't be weirding people out, it should be educating people.  The spectrum is very wide range too. So,  you know, with different levels of certain stimuli that, you know, can over stimulate  and  there's kind of a hyper focus to it too, where, you know,  my daughter's exceptional with the animals and it's something that she's gravitated towards, but she's also  really good at with art. And so,
07:29You know, she's got a heavy artistic side.  Wonderful because those are both Fantastic things for her  to be able to be interested in and then pursue later in life. So that's great. Awesome  Okay, so I don't make this about autism, but I did have a couple things I wanted to say about it So you are all over social media with your cows your steers your your horses. Do you have goats too?
07:59We do newbie and dairy goats.  Yeah. And so I'm guessing that that is  probably part of your income at this point. A little bit. Yeah.  Good. Good. And you're really good at it. So  my question is, do you,  do you just walk around with your phone and you're like, Oh, this would make a great video and just whip out your phone, hit record and just do it. Or do you actually set anything up?
08:28It's a little bit of mix of both. The whole thing was a little bit accidental. You know, it started out with just being a general person that  records stuff, just like you do if you're on your own Facebook page or whatever. You're just sharing with your friends, right? We didn't even mean to, well,  TikTok ended up being just  a thing that we did because my wife was on it for school.
08:58because they were trying, they had this big social media initiative for trying to get awareness out for some of the things that they were doing in education.  And that's the only reason she ended up on the app. And then we, I was watching some videos with her one day and I was like, it'd be funny if we just started the HMR TikTok account and posted some funny stuff of our horses and you know,  little, literally zero expectations.  And, um, people
09:28tend to gravitate towards a hot mess. And  we posted some videos and it didn't really do much for a long time until we got Rosie and we showed her at the, winning her at the auction and then just kind of general everyday life stuff. think people tend to  appreciate the reality  of  life isn't always
09:59perfect, know, a lot of, a lot of times on social media, you always see just the good stuff, but we try to share everyday stuff. And I think people can re it can relate to it. So good relatable content is, is kind of where it's the most. Engagement that we get on the platform. Yep, absolutely. And your horses are like dogs. They love you so much. They're like dogs.
10:30Yeah, they just live in our kind of our front yard. Um, you know, and they get a lot of interaction, which we started this whole thing with the horses. We, and I, I didn't have a lot of experience with horses and, uh, we, I got a few from sales. never knew the right way to pick them up. The horse industry can be kind of difficult to be a part of, especially if you're new.
10:59Uh, there's a lot of opinions on horses and everyone has a different one. And so trying to get any kind of idea of what to do or the best way to do things is can be challenging, especially if you're new. And so  I just kind of noticed that there was a lot of performance horses that once they were done with their performance career, they had kind of spent their life just doing that. And they weren't very personable.
11:27They had a tough time with kind of their second career in life, which is  usually a lot of times they end up being just a family horse.  And so they have to kind of learn how to be around people.  so that was one of the things that I wanted to do is just make them.
11:47very personable so that, you know, at some point, if they need to have their second career outside of doing performance, that they could adapt to that well.  And, those horses that adapted that well seem to have staying power in a family, right? Where if you have a horse that's kind of neurotic and, you know, can't adjust well to life outside of the arena, they tend to get into the sale pipeline a lot. So I just try to give them a lot of attention and hands on and
12:18Learning about horses and a horse herd has been really fun.  know, and it's just their dynamic and how they interact with each other and their body language.  They talk to you a lot. You just have to be able to know how they're communicating with you. And so it's kind of, it's been fascinating, but they're that way because I spend a lot of time trying to make them that way. You you ride kind of a fine line of them being
12:49too in your business sometimes, but it's like, they've got to have good manners, but  you want to, I try to let them be a horse and let their personality come out as much as we can. Yeah. We want them to be like a well-behaved 16 year old teenager, not a five year old who jumps in your lap and says, read me a story. Right. Right.  Although I do think some of my babies would like to get in my lap. just have to tell them.
13:18They don't understand that they weigh so much.  they will smush you. They will break you because they're so big.  Did I also see that you have, I know you have at least one donkey named Hank, right? We do have a donkey named Hank.  And we got him from us.  We got him just  randomly one night out of a sale.  found I was in there looking at horses and I was live and my wife saw him and his mama. We have Hank and pickles.
13:48He was just a tiny little fluff ball when he came here for the first time. Uh huh.  And, uh, that's how we ended up with the mini donkeys. And then we have a few others  after that.  have Daisy May, who's a regular size donkey and her baby, Mocha May. And then we have Sage, which is, she was a little bit feral when we got her, but she still doesn't really let you pet her too much.
14:17I think she's kind of permanently that way.  We've, we've tried, but she just, we can get her to get a treat out of her hand and that's about as close as she'll let anybody get.  Yeah. Um, the way that I found you is  your video with, um, Hank came through and I heard you mentioned Clutch of Colors, Hank, and I follow Clutch of Color because I follow Katie Vance likes page and I was like,
14:42I was like, why is he talking about Hank from Clutch of Color? And I watched the video and I was like, oh, I got to talk to this guy.  A different Hank.  Yep.  And Hank at, I can't think of her name right now. Alana's place. He's got a very  big, very beautiful bray. Does your Hank have a very beautiful bray? Hank doesn't really talk that much. It's, it's kind of, you know, they're all different personalities, but Hank's not a real big talker.
15:12Um, I don't know if it's cause I don't know. He's just not a very big talk. Now Mocha, who  is just a little bit younger than Hank, she talks a lot  and she's kind of very squeaky Bray.  It's kind of like feels very little kid  and she does what we call winding up. Like it starts real small and she kind of winds up and gets going. But we don't have. Yeah.
15:40Can you make the donkeys bray at you? Like if they're not making any noise, can you walk up and make a bray noise and then they start talking to you?  No, but if we walk anywhere close to where Mocha is at, she'll start talking to you.  That's the only way we can kind of, I could like get one to bray at me. Mocha will talk to you if you get, if she hasn't seen you for the day and you know, you get within about a hundred yards over, she'll start braying at you real slow and start walking towards you. Okay.
16:10The reason I ask is our dog, okay,  let me back up a step. A dog that my parents had back when I was a kid, his name was Otis, he was a Samoyed.  My dad would go, brrr, at him. And he would just start making all the talking noises that dogs do when they're trying to communicate with you, but they're not barking.  And our dog, who is a mini Australian Shepherd, she'd never done it before.  And she's four and a half now.
16:39and she was mad about something outside. She saw somebody pull over at the  end of our driveway  and she's barking at them. And you know when dogs whine down, they do that brrrr noise or that thing in their chest. And she was doing that and I mimicked her. And then she started talking to me the way that Otis used to talk to my dad.  And I was like, oh, I finally figured out how to get you to actually talk to me, not bark or whine at me. This is great.  So I just, love animals. I love
17:08I love the fact that you said that you've learned so much about how horses communicate and what they're indicating to you by how they act, because almost every animal will do that if you pay attention. um, yeah, I focused on it with horses because like I had rid horses, I had ridden horses as a kid, but, so my entire context for horses was
17:38You know, the horses that people put you on as a kid.  And then I haven't been around horses much since then until, you know, now that I'm older. And so when, when I got horses, my entire expectation was what they were like then. And, you know, having your own horses that are not in a lesson program or at a camp or your, you know, your uncle's super broke kid horse  is they're very different.  Um,  and.
18:08Like  what that I got from somebody.  just expected, I don't know what I expected, but I got, I was just going to get on and ride off into the sunset. Right.  That thing threw me into the side of a barn.  I was like,  that was my first moment of, huh,  this is, this is not what I expected.  But the reason I started looking into the herd dynamic and how horses behaved is because  I started riding horses and so.
18:35They were doing a lot of things like they had all these behaviors and all these things that they were doing. And so I'd go back to the person I was taking lessons from. And I was like, I don't understand why they're doing the things that they're doing. And,  it could be a training thing, of course, but sometimes it's not some, know, sometimes they're telling you that they've got an itch or something bothering them or, and I, I didn't know any of their language. I didn't understand any of things they're trying to tell me. And so  I just,
19:04I kind of doubled down on learning herd dynamic and horse behavior and why, why are they doing the things they're doing? And because I don't know at the time, I didn't know the difference between is this horse just kind of being a little bit stubborn and not wanting me to do something or is there actually something bothering them? Or, you know, I just, I just asked a truckload of questions on the why.
19:34And so I've spent  most of the last four years just really  in depth and trying to understand why they act the way they act. there, you know, that question will never be fully answered  from anybody in the world. Why horses do what they do. But I feel now that if I'm riding a horse, now I can at least get a little bit of an idea of is this is something going on or is, you know, are they just being a little bit.
20:03Like they don't want to ride today, which is fine. We can work through that, but you know, especially how they behave in a herd. It's very fascinating dynamic watches horses in a herd and the way they talk to each other and the way that there's a hierarchy and there's an alpha and beta mare and the mares usually lead the herd and,  and how they watch over each other. And  it,  they're, very fascinating  animal when you just kind of sit back and watch them.
20:33know, just be and watch lot of their natural instincts and stuff. Yeah, I feel like if horses weren't so big, horses would be man's best friend. Dogs wouldn't be. There's a lot of truth to that for sure. Although I think donkeys would be more. Donkeys are  donkeys are kind of a next level personable animal. You know, they really are.
21:01They're literally very close. Although there's a, you know, people think that donkeys are more stubborn than horses, but donkeys just have a higher sense of self-preservation than horses do. It just makes them appear as though they're more stubborn than horses, they're, yeah. Just maybe smarter a little bit than horses.  Um, I don't know. I don't know about smarter. think just different and just their higher sense of self-preservation and
21:32You know, they just some donkeys I think are a little bit just more confident. Like they just kind of know what they want and stick with it. They're not as easily redirected as horses are. They, they will replot, they will respond to pressure like horses do, but not as easily horses. Yeah. Okay. So I should have asked this back 20 minutes ago when we started this and I didn't, um,
22:00What is the purpose of Hot Mess Ranch? mean, are you breeding horses for sale? Are you breeding cattle for sale? What's the purpose?  So past us coming out here for my daughter, the core  of our ranch is registered black Angus cattle. Like that's the actual main part,  business of the ranch. So to say that's the agriculture full.
22:28you full agriculture side of the ranch. So they are, they're all registered, uh, black Angus grow in that cattle program  is, is the main thing that we're trying to do. The only other ag part of the business, I would say is the dairy goats, which,  um, has actually gotten pretty well.  And we're,  you know, we get some goat milk and we're  experimenting with maybe soap or some other stuff, but.
22:57Those are the two main agriculture part of the business. The horses is more. We, we are breeding horses. What we're trying to make in the horse program is something that can run, uh, barrels  and also do breakaway roping. so you kind of have to have a cow run cross mixed in that. But the horse program is really kind of more of, I love horses and it's,  you know, more of a hobby. It's not really  ag. I got them all tied together into one.
23:27just out of not having the knowledge of the separation of the different livestock programs. as I've,  the ranch has kind of matured, my knowledge level's kind of matured, I kind of see the differences.  Horses are more for fun, and the  real part of the business is the cattle and the goats. Okay, what is the breakaway roping thing? I don't know anything about it.  So I don't know if you, so you have different types of roping.
23:54Um, most of what I think people see as team roping, where you have two people on either side of the chute when the calf comes out of the chute at the rodeo, the head person will rope around the,  uh, usually around the horns and then the healer will come in from behind and rope the back legs. And then they have to kind of  stop. And when the calf stops and pulls tight, then the timer stops and breakaway roping, it's a little bit different. So it's one person that comes out when the
24:23calf  comes out of the chute. And as they're running forward, they rope the calf  around either the horns or the neck. And then the horse stops. And then the as the calf keeps running off, the calf runs off with the rope and the rope breaks away from the saddle. Okay. At the point where that breakaway occurs, the timer stops. And so a lot of there's a lot of people right now that are running barrels  and doing breakaway roping.
24:52But horses are expensive. So  they can have one horse that can do both competitively. Then that's a, we've gotten feedback that that would be a nice to have for, for a lot of people out there. Okay. Thank you. Cause  I know nothing about horses and rodeo. I was not brought up around it. I grew up in Maine. We don't do a whole lot of rodeo and rodeoing in Maine.  And, uh, Minnesota has some  of that.
25:22up in Hamel, it's like an hour north of us. They have a Hamel Rodeo every year, but I've just I've never been into it. So  when I see something new, I have to ask it's my got to know it is kicking in.  Okay, so what's the future look like for you guys?
25:42We're always learning that every day.
25:48It's real, it-
25:51It's kind of unknown at this point as we  have learned that in order to continue to grow through the cattle program, we're just going to physically need more land, which is a challenge to get these days. Uh, land's really expensive and even finding lease land these days is few and far between because the cost of land is so high. People are choosing to lease.  Um, and so it's, it tends to get taken up. We'd love to, we'd love to grow the cattle program to where it's,  you know, as it can be like a
26:21a full job instead of just a part-time kind of thing. But we're very much like a hobby ranch at this point, right? Like, I don't even know if we're a full, even a hobby ranch yet. It's a little less than hobby. We're getting, it's very beginning stages. Are you a dab, you're a dabbling ranch, not a hobby ranch. Yeah, there you go. We're dabbling in things and learning things.
26:51And at some point we hope to, I hope to have enough land that we can  grow into a hobby situation and then into a  cattle operation at some point. So we're, have the training wheels on at this point, just everything we're doing is, is learning.  so we'll see.  I, don't know.  I have hopes and dreams, right? Like that we can grow into.
27:19lack of a better term, real program  instead of a of a beginner program. But there's a long way to go to get there. yeah, we'll just kind of see as the future kind of unfolds and we'll have to kind of watch the real estate market and see how land prices do and see if the, I don't know if they'll ever come down again, but you know, maybe we can find something, you know, it's a decent price at some point, but.
27:48We are watching and waiting to see how the future goes. Uh-huh. Maybe you'll find a farmer who is trying to get out of his, his thing because he's aging out and you'll manage to strike a deal. I'll, I'll keep that in mind for you. I'll hope that for you. There you go. Thank you. Um, my dog must've just heard somebody pulling driveway cause she's barking. She's a really good watchdog. Um, I was going to say COVID was the thing that kicked us into looking for a new place.
28:18And I am so thankful that we started looking in 2020 because if we had waited till 2022, we  wouldn't be living where we're living now because we would not have been able to afford it. Yeah. Yeah. That's another big problem right now, right?  I think that the cheap interest, those 2 % interest rates, a lot of people got a really good deal on a mortgage, but I actually think there was a double edged sword.  It was, it was bad in general because now the
28:49interest rates are high and people aren't leaving. So it's just kind of, people are sitting on those 2 % rates. so just people aren't moving about the country, you know, because they're just kind of, some people are sitting on stuff and it's too expensive to get in stuff. If, if those, if that never would have happened and rates would have stayed at, you know, in the three or 4 % range and then current rates would be the,  in the same range, people just kind of keep moving around and stuff would keep flowing. But right now it's just.
29:16Stuck. Everything's kind of, everything's stuck. You know, I mean, like we're, we're same boat here, right? I think we got a two and a half percent rate on this place. It's just, I mean, it's wild. Yeah. I can't, I can't remember what we got in this place. I think it was actually lower than 2%, which is unheard of.  uh, the other thing that I said to my dad and my husband back during COVID when, when the government was  handing out all those rebate checks. Yeah.
29:46I said, last I checked when I was in school and we were learning about finance,  when you give people money,  money loses value. I said, this is gonna come back to bite us in the butt. And  my dad said, well, I don't run the government. And my husband said, well, I don't run the government. And I said, well, do we have a choice?  Can we not take this money? And my husband was like, why would you not wanna take money? And I said, no, I mean our country.
30:13Can we be like, no, this is a bad plan. And both my dad and my husband were like, no, that's not how it works. So I kind of knew back when that started happening that the cows were going to come home or the chickens were going to come home to roost on this. And I think it has hit every facet of our finances, everybody. Yeah. think hindsight's 20-20. I mean, you know, you're faced with a massive unknown.
30:43the effects of what COVID was going to do.  I mean, you look back on it  and it was a huge overcorrection for sure. was like, at the end of the day, it was a bunch of  funds and cheap interest rates that fueled an already good economy.  And there was a  certain  group of people like in the service industry that should have been the,  you know,  the main
31:13Um,  recipients to that kind of thing, because,  know, they're fully forced out, right? Like they can't do anything as restaurant worker. You're, you're sitting there. Absolutely. I mean,  absolutely would have been the right call. Everybody else,  especially in, uh, like high tech, for example, where  we all work from home anyways, all you did was fuel people that. And  low interest rates to people to be frank, that just didn't need it.
31:42But it's a hard thing, right? When you look at the Fed and the decisions that they were made, I mean,  how are they supposed to know? It's a pandemic that  easily could have gone sideways. I don't really know whether it would be kind of trying to predict that,  Yeah. Tough thing.  But that's what ended up happening. They  just poured gasoline on a blazing fire that was already hot, right? Like it just, and then it just.
32:11That's why it wrecked everything. And then supply chains were disrupted. had everybody bought everything. You know, when we started the ranch, that was one of the problems we had. Everything we bought had to be brand new because there was nothing used. Everything was gone. Yeah. You know, just getting a pickup truck for me, like that there wasn't any, there was literally nothing. think there was five trucks in the area. Like I had to go get something. And of course they're wildly overpriced. The only tractor that was available.
32:41They had  one left and it was new and it was one left in the region. And I just happened to walk in there and that was the last one. And it was like, you know, getting anything was just a challenge. so everything we had, we got a great rate on the property, but  everything we had was  overpriced and brand new.  I never liked to buy that way. I loved to buy, you know, get a deal on something used and I combed everywhere. And it was either.
33:10The only thing used you could find was just something that was rotten away in a field or brand new. Like there was like nothing in between and it was just really challenging. Now there's stuff now, but man, 2021, 2022, the inventory was just deleted. There's nothing there. It was a crazy, crazy time. I really do remember it because we moved here in August of 2020 and basically there was nothing here.
33:39We had a house, we had a pole barn, but no infrastructure, no tractor, no nothing. And we ended up buying a brand new  small Kubota tractor because we needed one.  Who knew when you buy three acres that you're going to have to actually  need  some kind of tractor to actually  mow because you can't use a push mower on three acres. And you're going to need something to pick up big old logs and trees and stuff.
34:08You you can't buy acreage without having some  form of tractor. So yeah,  I don't even want to get into this. There's so many things that we had to do when we moved here.  I actually try to keep these to half an hour, but I do have one last question for you.  If you had to choose one word to describe Hot Mess Ranch, what would it be?
34:33One word? mean two words. It's a hot mess.  Well, how do you feel about it? guess one word to describe how you feel about it.
34:46challenging.
34:49This depends on the day, think. Mm-hmm. Challenging, educational.
34:58watching my daughter sometimes it feels inspiring.  well, that's a whole lot of words. You're not playing. depends on the day. It's so hard to pick one, right? Because it's like this life. There's just so much that goes on that.
35:16And I don't want to say challenge. don't want the, you can use the word challenging and it,  that can sometimes carry a negative connotation to it, but I think it can also carry a positive connotation to it. Sometimes challenging can be a good thing. Uh huh. Um, I think challenging is a perfect word for you. Yeah.  So far I've gotten love, I've gotten dream, I've gotten prideful  of all words.
35:44And I think the person who said it meant proud, but used prideful instead.  So I just, wanted to come up with a question at the end of the podcast that, that let people know  that it's everything. This, this life when you're growing animals or growing produce is  everything. Like there are so many parts and facets of it. And I figured if I started asking  for a word that would more illustrate it.  So.
36:14All right, Stephen, I really appreciate your time today and I love what you're doing and you are clearly having a ball doing it. At least what you're showing on your videos, you look like you are just so tickled at your life. Yeah, it's fun. I mean, there's days that it's not fun, I would say it's like 80 % fun. Okay, where can people find you?
36:43All platforms, it's just Hot Mess Ranch. It's pretty easy to find. And you have a website too. What is it? We do. Hotmessranch.com.  We'll have our first little test run of goat milk soap soon. So I think we got 11 of them. So it's not very many, but we'll see what people think about it. I hope that goes well for you because it gets, it can be addicting once you get into making soap. We do it too.
37:11Really nice. Yeah. Yep. All right, so you guys can find me at a tiny homestead podcast calm  you can find Stephen and his  Hot mess ranch at hot mess ranch calm  and  I hope Stephen has a wonderful weekend and I hope my listeners do too. Thanks Stephen. Thank you. All right. Bye
 

Organic Urban Farm

Today I'm talking with Jesse at Organic Urban Farm.
A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Homegrowncollective.org.
 
Muck Boots 
Calendars.Com
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00:00Did you know that muck boots all started with a universal problem? Muck? And did you know that it's their 25th anniversary this year?  Neither did I. But I do know that when you buy boots that don't last, it's really frustrating to have to replace them every couple of months.  So check out muck boots. The link is in the show notes. The very first thing that got hung in my beautiful kitchen when we moved in here four and a half years ago was a calendars.com  Lang calendar.
00:26because I need something familiar in my new house. My mom loves them. We love them. Go check them out. The link is in the show notes. 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.
00:56You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. 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 Jesse at Organic Urban Farm. Good morning, Jesse. How are you? Good morning, Mary. How's everything?  It's good. If I lose you, it's because we have some really high winds happening here in Minnesota today. Not a problem.  Just a call away. Okay, cool. All right. So.
01:25I had to go look up Long Island, New York because  I never even wondered about where it is. I grew up in Maine, but never even wondered how  Long Island fit into the state of New York. And it is literally a Long Island.  Yes, it is. So is it very populated because that helps me raise my questions here?  Yeah. So I've lived on Long Island my whole life. I've lived in the town of Oceanside since  basically I was
01:54Around three years old, we moved over here.  The Oceanside is about 40 minutes from like New York City. So Manhattan and you you're very close to the boroughs. You're only a car ride away really from anywhere.  But for me, I grew up upstate a lot in upstate New York with my grandparents,  raising chickens and horses and other animals. With my papa was a big thing for me growing up.  And I spent most of my summers over there.
02:23I always loved it. So once my papa passed, I  decided to  do a little nice chicken coop in my backyard and start something small  just in  his memory and something that made me happy to do. But around us, we really don't have many chicken coops. I'm probably one of the few people in our neighborhood who has a chicken coop. So it is rare  to have this over here, but it was something I love and it was something that  I really wanted to do. But yeah, this is really more of like...
02:53Urban city. This is more of you know a fast-paced area. It's You know more of a city suburban life,  and it's a little bit different than  Then  what you would see on most forms I would say yeah, that was part of the reason that your Instagram page grabbed me because I was like organic and urban don't necessarily shake hands well unless you  work some magic Yep, absolutely so
03:21You know, we don't have our certifications and stuff like that, but we raise our chickens all organic when it comes to free-ranging them and then as well as feed. Right now, we use Scratch and Peck, which honestly is one of my favorite brands. It's a little pricey, but the chickens really do love it. And honestly, I haven't had any problems with it, even when they were babies with the coxodosis. you know, I was raising chickens, you guys know.
03:51that the babies tend to sometimes eat their poop and stuff like that, which will make them sick. But a lot of people use the medicated feed, but I don't see a need for it, honestly. I've noticed that the organic feed, as long as it's a quality feed, seem to be, you know, you don't seem to have any sicknesses or anything. But that also goes with how neat you keep your coop and how neat you keep the brooder. Because that's very important when it comes to that.
04:19When it comes to the health and the sickness in a small area like this, especially when you don't have a big farm, you really have to be neat. It's the most important part of it. Yep. Absolutely. Because those bacteria nasties will take any opportunity to get in and wreak havoc. Absolutely. Yep. So, um, so how big is your, uh, yep, go ahead. No, I'm sorry. That was, I was just getting, uh, in somewhere. Well, go ahead. What were you saying? How big is your, um,
04:48your  lot that  you have your chickens on? So  we have a very big backyard.  So like by us, depending on the area you live, you could have like a smaller backyard, like a city type backyard, or you could have like a nice amount of space, almost like an acre to two acres of space, depending on really where you are. So we're more like on the acre side. So it's, we have a very nice size backyard and  it's very
05:17open.  like we're able to, we do have neighbors that could like see right into our backyard and everything like that.  And they see the chickens, everything, but they don't bother them. Our chickens are very well behaved. don't really make a lot of noise. Honestly, I know the more chickens you have, the more noisy it becomes, we haven't had it really much of a problem.  We have very high hedges up around the whole area, so they can't fly over. They try to sometimes, but
05:45We haven't really had that issue yet. You know, it could always become an issue or something. So we're always ready to really  maneuver anything we have to and adjust, which is a big thing over here because I noticed when I did this on my grandfather's property, which was in upstate New York where there's acres and acres of property. It was a bit different. You had a lot  more room for error. Over here, you have to be very precise with the things you do or.
06:14Number one, the chickens won't be happy and healthy, which is our most important part of this because for us,  we started this as well, not just because of my grandfather, but we  had some health problems in my family.  So we really wanted to know where our food was coming from. And we wanted to know how it was being raised and if it was being raised correctly.
06:38So we really wanted to take that into our own hands. So before we even started this, that was like our main concern. So that is really why we chose to go with like the organic method. And we chose to spend a little extra money to get more benefits out of it. And for us in this area where we are, since there isn't a lot of people who do this over here and there's not a lot of people who...
07:05You know, it's a pretty far drive away if you want to go get organic, like healthy eggs, and you know where they're coming from in our area. You would have to drive at least either an hour and a half up north, or you would have to drive another hour and a half to like the Montauk area where there is farms over there, but it's a far drive for people. like over here, we don't have a problem getting, you know, seven to $10 a carton for organic eggs, which I know is crazy in certain areas.
07:33But over here, we tend to be able to sell them for a little more, but it also costs a lot more to do things over here. The shipping for the food and everything else, because there's no really tractor supply. mean, the closest tractor supply is about an hour and a half away. Then,  you know, the feed stores by us, they really don't have much because a lot of people over here don't follow the hobby as we do. Yeah. How many chickens do you have? Right now we have 15 chickens.
08:01But we also have some babies right now that are  We have around Another 20 babies right now and another five ducklings. So at the end of this we'll have around 35 ducks I mean chickens in about five ducks  okay, so so  I Know you said you used to spend time with your grandfather and you you missed having access to the chickens and livestock and stuff so
08:31Are you  raising these chickens so that you can have your own eggs and so that you can sell them too? Correct. Yeah. So we raise them right now just for like the first  group of chickens that we have.  We raised them just for us.  And then everybody kept asking us for eggs. They wanted eggs. They wanted organic, like healthy eggs. Because when people come in our backyard, they really love like our whole setup. People want to just sit back there and enjoy it.
09:00And  you know,  friends, family, they come over all the time just to like hang out and be around it and everything like that because it's something that you don't really get over here.  But  at this point, we needed to get more chickens. And honestly, that's actually our biggest problem  is I think that we've kind of created something where  we've maxed out our space, especially with the baby chicks  we have growing up right now, because they're about six, seven weeks old  now. So they're almost pullets.
09:29in a couple of weeks, I mean, to be honest with you, I think that our main goal is to actually start moving this operation to our house in Monticello, New York, which is about two and a half hours from here.  We have family who live over there, my dad,  my uncle and everybody. So  we're actually debating on moving and doing this as a whole  organic farm upstate and having like
09:59hundreds of chickens because we really enjoy this. It's honestly become our life. were working in offices and you know,  it's not really the greatest life. People,  you know,  who do it and enjoy the money and this and that, yeah, it's okay. But once you start doing something like this, it's very freeing. It's very exciting. It's a different way of living. And honestly, we all, my whole family, we just
10:29fell in love with it. And we're honestly on the cusp of  maybe moving over there and continuing this and growing it even bigger. But  that's within the next year. We have some planning to do before we could just start doing something like that up to over there. Well, that's exciting. I hope that whatever it is you want to come of this happens for you.  I also feel like if you've been working in an office for years and you get into this, it becomes addicting to you.
10:59in the best way. Oh yeah, oh yeah. Absolutely. For me, it's,  it's,  I'm not saying this in a bad way, it's like the best drug in the world. It's, you're, you're loving earth, you're loving  the creatures of earth. It's,  it's a beautiful marriage because this is like what we were supposed to do.  You're not supposed to be sitting in an office all the time and on your phone. So  what I've learned is like, you start to appreciate other things. You really start to.
11:27enjoy the more simple things in life instead of chasing things that don't matter. For me, I truly do not see myself doing anything else. Like for me,  we  did it from like the eggs in the incubator and started it from like scratch. So to see a life form like that and everything, you know, at a young age when I was doing that with my grandfather and
11:55him just teaching me everything about it. I always had this in my blood. So like some people don't get to experience this until later in life. I experienced that at a young age, but because of where I lived, I was limited. So I mean, now that I, you know, I am able to get out of this setting and I, I'm not saying I have a million dollars or anything like that, but I'm able to move upstate, which is actually a cheaper area to move to. And I think I'd enjoy life more personally. And
12:23You know, like people say, chicken math, right? You think you're get one chicken, two chickens, then you have four, six, know, 10, 20. That's how it goes. And it's funny, I'll show you a picture one day. I'll send it to you after we get off the phone. When I started this, bought this little $100 chicken coop. I put it together, I'm very handy. So I built the whole coop you could see on my page and everything like that. So, but when I first started doing it, I just bought a little chicken coop and a...
12:52I came and I was so small, I like, how are they supposed to live in this? And like, this isn't right. And then I was like, you know what, if I'm going to do this, let me do it the right way. I ended up building a whole coup, a whole operation out of it and everything like that, a whole run. And they love it. They're very happy. They're very healthy. They come out, they come right up to me. They want to be held. They want to be paid. Some of them, but you know, some, they all have different personalities, but.
13:20You know how you raise them to is important the more love and care you show them the more they want to be around you Yep, they're just like any other animal and honestly if you're nice to a baby alligator It's going to bond with you. So it's just the way that you treat them The chicken math thing. I thought I had it beat. I really did We um, we got 12 chickens back a couple months ago. They were 18 or 20 weeks old because
13:48We've been buying eggs at the store. We've had chickens before. got rid of the ones last fall that were done laying  and we're going to start again in May. Well, a couple of months ago, I said to my husband, said, can we please get chickens soon because the eggs from the store are terrible. And he was like, sure, let's, call our chicken dealer. And she's a really good friend. She's also the owner of my dog's parents.  And I said, uh, I said,  you got any chickens?
14:15And she was like, we do, they're not laying yet,  but you'll be getting the first eggs from them they've ever laid. And I was like, great.  So we got 12 chickens  and we opened up our farm stand two weekends ago  and we've been putting a couple dozen eggs in every day to be for sale.  And we've been selling out almost immediately within an hour of the farm stand being open. The eggs are gone. We haven't had eggs to eat for ourselves.
14:44for two weeks because we've been selling them. So my husband says to me on, I think it was Tuesday,  he says, do you think Gene might have any more laying hens available for sale?  And I said,  probably why? He says, cause we have people in our community that really want our eggs and we're going to end up not having any eggs for ourselves. And I was like, okay, let me check.  So I got hold of her.
15:11And she said, of course we do. And they're 18 weeks old. And I said, Oh, are you doing these on a rotating basis because everybody wants chickens? And she said, yes, I am. So we're actually getting 14 more chickens tomorrow. So we'll have 26 chickens by tomorrow afternoon instead of just 12. That's chicken myth. Yep. Right there. That's a perfect story to illustrate it. It's crazy. But I.
15:39I really would like to have some eggs to bake with. And right now I don't have any eggs because they're all going away to customers. And that's great. I appreciate the fact that the community is  supporting our little business, but we need eggs in our house too. That's the problem we ran into.  Yeah.  And regarding upstate New York, like I said, I grew up in Maine. I live in Minnesota now and I don't fly. So when we go home to visit family,  we drive through
16:08the long state of New York.  And upstate New York is beautiful. It is.  is. Holy God.  So upstate actually used to be like a very popular area before like flying became like a big thing.  And before there was more modes of transportation and people can get to all these islands and stuff like Monticello, New York and like the area we're in.
16:34That place was like a very popular area. Like you could look it up online. There was like, it was a, there was all hotels there and everything like that. was like almost like Montauk.  don't know.  Not everybody listening is going to know what Montauk is, but Montauk is like on the tip of Long Island and it's a very popular place. Not my type of place. It's like a very  richy rich area. And like a lot of people go up there and just spend money drinking and eating and this and that, but  it's.
17:04That's kind of what it was like over there, but now it's like very, it's back to its old ways where it's more just like the mountains and the trails. Like I'm a big  rider. Like I ride dirt bikes, quads, all stuff like that. So when I go upstate, we have a bunch of trails, hundreds of acres of trails up there like that. We go hunting and stuff up there. And  it's, it's a very different lifestyle than where I was explaining before in Long Island. It's more of like,
17:34of most people who have farms, that's probably the type of area they're living in.  it's, you know, obviously a little more hilly than certain areas, but it's way more rural and it has a lot of like, of the same qualities you get in more of the middle States. And that's kind of why I love the, you know, both worlds of it. It's very two different worlds, but  my dad and my grandparents, they...
18:00always were upstate and everything.  we had a couple different houses upstate, but the one in Monticello is the one we were most likely expand to because it's the closest because my wife, she probably wouldn't want to move full-time over there. So  I would probably have to do a lot of driving, but for me  it would be worth it because, and  also for me, I wouldn't have to be there every day because we do have other family members up there who are very into this as well. So.
18:30It would really be more about me putting in the time to go build structures for them to live in as well as also, like for example, right? When we have our backyard chickens, if you do it the right way, you're not really too worried about a crazy amount of predators depending on where you live. Like in Long Island, I'm really not worried about much other than raccoons.  The occasional, I guess,  you can get mice and rats in there, but like if you,
19:00Like build it the right way and you do it the right way. haven't had any problems, but in a Monticello it's different. have bears, have mountain cats, have cats and like this and that. So wolves, not wolves, I'm sorry, coyotes, stuff like that. And it's, it's a bit different, but when you have a bigger flock up there and you want to raise them organic, you really are going to have some losses. it's sad because you know, you don't want that to happen, but if you're raising them right and it's just nature taking its course, you
19:30really can't be too upset about that. But if you do it the right way where you have a couple of guard dogs, a couple of guard geese, and you do it the right way, you could really let them free roam. You could let them enjoy life the way they want to enjoy life. And you know how chickens are. They board themselves up every night by themselves. They're smart. So other than the cleaning aspect of hundreds of chickens, chickens really do take care of themselves if you build things the right way. Like a big thing for me, even with my small coop.
20:00Everything's automated. I set up a whole PVC watering system.  set up PVC feeding system.  I very rarely have to do those things, which gives me more time to spend time with the chickens and also, you know, make sure the coop's clean for them, make sure it's neat for them so they don't get sick.  And it's basically the same thing, just at a higher operation,  like in a place like Monticello.  I  think it's a great idea.
20:30I mean, you clearly love  doing this on a small scale. I think you would be really successful doing it on a big scale.  The only thing that we have automated in our chicken coop  is in the winter time, we have these little heating pucks that go in the water so the water doesn't freeze.  That's the only thing that we have quote unquote automated. those are very smart to have. Like it's great to have those, especially because, you know, in the winter, I know probably in Maine, it's a little cold.
20:59I mean,  it's probably nothing crazier than over here,  over here,  if you leave those waters out, they're gonna freeze, especially if it's a little bit of water, not a little bit, but you know how much those water things hold. It's not a huge barrel of water. It's gonna freeze quicker. So what I decided to do, and it's honestly very easy, and even if you're not,  I'm a handy person, but if you're not a handy person, this is a  thing I would recommend to everybody.
21:27It just makes your life easier and honestly keeps the water a lot cleaner and it's just, it's less of a worry.  If you could do it, try to set up a PVC watering system. It's very easy. All you need is a barrel and a few PVC pipes. There's a hundred videos on YouTube. There's all different, you know, kits. If you don't want to go to Home Depot and buy each part by yourself, cause you don't feel confident in that you could just get a kit online.  And I'm not a salesman for these things or anything. I just know how well they work.
21:56And I really would recommend it to anybody.  And also, you know, the feeding systems, the bigger feeding system you have, the less times you're going to have to change the food. But there's ways to take up less space too. You could, you know, use the PVC pipe feeding method, which is something I used in my coop.  And for me,  I just fill it up with a couple of, you know, 50 pound bags and I don't have to feed them for, you know, weeks at a time. It's,  it's very rewarding because you have more time to do the fun things and then you'll enjoy.
22:26you know, taking care of your chickens more. It doesn't become a chore. something you like to do. Yep, exactly. And there are so many ways to make things easier on a homestead like we have here. And I grew up in Maine. I live in Minnesota now. So on our homestead in Minnesota, we. Okay, okay. So it is colder up there. That's freezing over there.
22:46Oh yeah, mean Maine was cold too, but Minnesota has a couple weeks in the wintertime where it's minus 20 at night and it's just like, oh my God, those poor chickens.  chickens are really resilient, you know this.  As long as you don't,  we do not heat the coop in the wintertime because chickens get acclimated to the temperatures that are going on around them. If you heat the coop,
23:11and then the heat goes out, they will freeze to death because they're used to 70 degrees and it's minus 20 outside. That's a good point because  if you think about it even as a human being, right? Like if you go in from a Jacuzzi and then you get out and it's cold out, you're to be freezing cold. So you just adjust into the temperatures. It's a bit different. So  for me, I just like to keep everything,  you know,  like  obviously the wind's a big thing and
23:40temperature changes and this and that. But if you could keep everything at a constant, that's the most important thing. People, a lot of people worry because in the beginning, people have, don't always set up  the brooder the right way and  they lose chicks because of the heating situation and the lamps and things like that. And they think that they're not resilient, but as soon as they start getting feathers, they become very resilient. Like for example, one day before I put a top on one of my brooders,
24:08I had this one bird, it's actually my favorite bird, it's a speckled sausage. She's a beautiful bird, very beautiful looking bird, but she loves me. If I go up to the things she wants to be picked up, she's like a beautiful bird. They're very resilient and people don't realize. One day she flew out of the brooder and I was sleeping and I have dogs. My dogs are very calm, they're not gonna like...
24:36go out of their way to do something, but if there's a chick on the floor, like I'm sure my dog's gonna go after it. So I wake up and I count all the birds in the brooder and there was one missing and I'm looking all around the house.  She was hiding underneath the radiator  and I found her and she was, other than hiding from the dog, she was fine. She's in great shape. She's a bigger bird now. She's a beautiful bird.
24:59It's funny because I feel like she remembered me saving her that day and every after that day she always wanted me to pick her up and this and that. But going back to my main point, they are very resilient. You don't really need to spend a bunch of money in heating and this and that. They really just live well in the environments. Because  if you're,  then their nature's  pet. It's like they were born to live outside. So they could live in, you know.
25:27hotter temperatures and they can live in those negative 20 degrees of temperatures. you don't really have to do much. no. I mean, this is why they say that chickens are the gateway drug to homesteading and farming because they are. I completely agree with that. If I had more land, I'd have a million more animals. Oh yeah. And like we have three acres here and you would think we'd have more animals. We don't. We have like two barn cats, a dog and the 12 chickens right now. And part of it is that
25:57Some animals don't do really well in captivity. Some, we had rabbits, we don't do rabbits anymore because they didn't  procreate for some weird reason. I've actually talked to a couple people  who raise rabbits for meat about what happened with our rabbits and they're like, I have no idea what happened there. So,  they're known for that.  I've never had rabbits personally, so I really don't know much.
26:25don't know much about rabbits but yeah that's true so I wonder if some maybe that's weird I am surprised by that.  Yeah we were too and  the reason I've talked to a couple experts is because I feel like we did something wrong but these couple of experts I  they asked me really specific questions I answered them truthfully  and both of these women said I don't think it's anything that you did wrong I think that that maybe your male wasn't fertile.
26:53or you happen to be the lucky recipient of a couple of females who weren't fertile. And I'm like, great, of course we were.  So we don't do that anymore because it was a bad experience. And the best thing about this lifestyle is that if you're not getting  the results you want, you can change your mind. You can do something else. Absolutely. You can adjust. That's the biggest thing in life is being able to adjust. It's a hard thing to do, but  it's important. And like from talking to you and...
27:21You know, hearing you talk about all these things and how knowledgeable you are on them,  I doubt it was something you were doing. It must have just been something, you know, like they said,  either one of them being unfurred or something just rare like that. And it happens, but once you get a bad taste in your mouth,  sometimes you just want to move on to the next thing. And sometimes it's better. just certain things you're not, you're not made like you don't want to do as much as others. Right. And the podcast doesn't cost me feed money.
27:51and time with fuzzy bunnies that don't procreate.  honestly, my husband is big into gardening. So that's his thing here at the homestead.  And that's revving up beautifully this year. Last year sucked. It rained here a lot and our garden was a fail.  So  we're very excited about this season.  And so that's what he's spending his time on right now, other than his full time job too.
28:18That's funny to hear you say that. don't know where you guys are from, but we're Italian and  gardening is a very big thing. So we love that. But where we live, it's very hard to do that because it's just all, there's not a lot of place to grow. You have to have  pots and this and that, and  it just becomes a lot.
28:42But growing your own food like that,  it's awesome. And I wanted to actually touch on one of the things you said before. You said the store bought eggs taste different. And  if you've never had an  egg that was farm laid or from somebody that you knew  was coming from the right place, it's a completely different tasting thing. I don't even eat eggs from the store. I think they taste disgusting,  if you want my honest opinion. And I just, feel like
29:11If anyone's ever had that like or even just your own grown vegetables that don't have all the pesticides over them like you're talking about I think that's  something everybody needs to experience  I I do too  and I don't think that the store-bought eggs taste terrible. I think that they don't taste like anything Yeah, yeah. Yep. than what you season them with it's so true.  Mm-hmm.  And the other thing is is that
29:37Part of the reason that we think that our chickens lay the best eggs is because there's pride of ownership in that too. Absolutely. So, you know, it's all very subjective, but there's also studies that prove that chickens that are fed certain foods and not given antibiotics and stuff actually do produce a more nutritious egg. I couldn't see it being any more true because think about it, it's all what you put in your body.
30:07As a human, a chicken, it doesn't make a difference. Yes. If you eat chocolate candy bars  and Doritos every day of your life and that's it,  you're probably not going to live a very long life. you eat, I don't know, apples from the apple trees that your grandpa's farm  and cucumbers and tomatoes from your grandpa's garden when you're growing up,  you're probably going to live a longer life. Absolutely. It's very true.
30:35We're not  just blowing smoke here, listeners.  There's actual science behind all of this. It's very true. And honestly, I've seen it just in my family, just with health problems, and them just turning to a better alternative and not eating the junk. It really changed their lives, and for the better, obviously.  I mean,  especially for people who have the space  and  listen,  I really
31:03went through some hoops to have like the coop and everything else that I have like this in this little spot that I have. But if you have the acres and everything,  you really should be doing something like this. It's something you'll enjoy. It's something you'll love. And  I'm not going to say it's not work, but it's work that's rewarding.  Yeah. And just give it a try. If it doesn't work, you can pivot. You can change your mind. It's okay.
31:29So I had another question when you were talking and I of course just lost it right out the window.  So I try to keep these to half an hour and I have one question that I've been asking everybody at the end of the episodes.  Jesse, do you have one word that you could use to describe how you feel about your organic urban farm?
31:52One word.
31:56I think it would be prideful. Okay. I think prideful because for love, I think prideful would be better because for me it's not just about the chickens and raising them and giving them a great life. It's also about commemorating my grandfather and how much love and care I put into all this. So I do feel very prideful about it. And also, you know, the
32:23the product I'm giving to other people and their families. do feel like giving people the best possible quality food and everything like that to nourish their bodies, it's just a very rewarding thing.  It's  just something that will always  make you feel good about yourself. It's a nice thing.  Absolutely.  All right, Jesse, thank you so much for your time today. Where can people find you if they want to contact you for eggs?
32:52Thank you again, Mary. You guys can find me at Organic Urban Farms on TikTok, Instagram.  If you want to come get eggs from us,  we're very low right now, but as I said, we're going to be upping our operation pretty soon and we do have  some younger chicks growing up right now. But we sell right from our house, right in Oceanside. If you message us on our Instagram or TikTok, we'll be more than happy to give you all the information.  Come to us, get your first couple of eggs free on us as well.
33:22Also, we have duck eggs, great for baking and stuff as well. So come find us and more than happy to help you out. Answer any questions as well if you're interested in the topic.  Okay. And I'm going to repeat it. You can find Jesse at organic urban farm on Tik TOK and Instagram,  and you can find me at a tiny homestead podcast.com.  Jesse, thank you. Have a great day. Thank you. too. Bye. Bye.
 

Home In The Pines

Today I'm talking with Lindsay at Home In The Pines.
A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Homegrowncollective.org.
 
Muck Boots 
Calendars.Com
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00:00Did you know that muck boots all started with a universal problem? Muck? And did you know that it's their 25th anniversary this year?  Neither did I. But I do know that when you buy boots that don't last, it's really frustrating to have to replace them every couple of months.  So check out muck boots. The link is in the show notes. The very first thing that got hung in my beautiful kitchen when we moved in here four and a half years ago was a calendars.com  Lang calendar.
00:26because I need something familiar in my new house. My mom loves them. We love them. Go check them out. The link is in the show notes. 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.
00:56You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. 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 Lindsay at Home in the Pines. Good morning, Lindsay. How are you? Good morning. I'm good. How are you doing? I'm good. Where are you located? We are in East Texas. Okay, cool. Is it sunny there? Because it's gray here in Minnesota. Same here. We've had a lot of rain lately. I mean, honestly, it's just the humidity. I feel like we're just one big
01:26ball of humidity. It's just like walking through steam all the time.  Yeah. Yeah. I keep waiting for the first really nice moderate spring day and it just hasn't happened yet, but we're supposed to have a gorgeous weekend here. I'm so excited. good.  Yeah. So tell me about yourself and what you do. And  I have one quick question. Your Instagram page shows you as home in the pines, but it also shows you as something else. What's that something else again?
01:57Um, Homestead Hustlers in Progress. Yes, that. So tell me, tell me about yourself and Homestead Hustlers in Progress. Okay. Um, well, my husband and I are actually originally from Minnesota. So we get through this stand. Yeah. We know what you're going through this time of year. Um, we both grew up in the city. My husband really inner city and I was, you know, more on the outskirts suburbs. And, um, when we first got married, I was teaching. He is a basketball coach, now teacher and.
02:27Um,  we were led to go to Iowa a couple of years after we were married  and, um, he was coaching at a Christian college there. We adopted our two older boys while we were there and we were in a neighborhood, but we had about an acre of land. It was a super big yard for, for the neighborhood. And we  absolutely loved it, especially both coming from the city.  Um, my husband will say like, I never want to live on top of anybody ever again. And, um, so we just really got like that.
02:58it to like, oh, this is nice. This is kind of nice having a little bit of space, you know.  After a few years, we moved to West Texas where we worked in a  facility for at-risk youth. We were both teachers, both coaches.  Again,  we had our two older boys and then we had a baby while we were there. And we lived  on,  was like a working ranch. We lived on the ranch there.
03:25but we also bought some property about 15 minutes away. So we would go there on the weekends. My husband liked doing projects, being out there, bringing the kids, you know, just having some freedom and fresh air, that kind of thing.  Excuse me.  So then just two years ago, we moved over here to East Texas where we purchased a major fixer upper. it  had been abandoned for a few years  besides all the critters.  And
03:55had another baby, so we four kids,  three boys and a little girl.  And  I work part time from home. My husband still teaches and coaches. And we just, we have about 13 acres here in the middle of the woods and  we love it. It's just, it's like been a gradual progression from like where we started to now kind of just like fully immersed in this like own land,  you know, work it, that kind of thing.
04:23Okay, that's a fabulous story. I have to know, was your husband living in Minneapolis? Is that the big city? Yes. Yep, right there in South Minneapolis. Okay, cool. Yeah, I had no idea that you were from Minnesota, but the minute you said no, no, I heard the big O and I was like, oh, I would have known either way. everyone's like, where are you from? What accent is that? I was like, I'm the one with the accent. But it's funny. Uh-huh. Yep.
04:50It's really interesting to me and I swear I should just start a podcast about people's accents and the way they talk because it's so  amazingly intriguing to me.  I grew up in Maine and I moved to Minnesota when I was 22, I think.  And I had a Maine accent. I didn't have the real thick down east accent, but I definitely had a Maine accent. It was not well received in Minnesota. Every time I would open my mouth, people were like, you're not from here, are you?
05:20No,  no, not.  And so I adopted a generic Southern drawl because apparently it's better to be from the South than the Northeast if you're moving to Minnesota.  And spent years just trying to eradicate any accent that I could possibly get out of the way I speak.  And when people ask me where I'm from, it's with that absolutely open faced dumbfounded look of I cannot figure out where you're from.  You got all of it.
05:49And I'm really proud of that because I've worked really hard to dump anything that would indicate where I'm from.  But  that big O in snow here,  it slips out all the time and I never had it before I moved to Minnesota. That's funny. People  usually get us on bag instead of bag. feel like, it right. We are bag.  That's the big one. My husband is born and bred Minnesotan and he says big.
06:19And he says bagel for bagel. And every time he does it, I just want to be like, it's not big, it's bag.  And I learned a long time ago to not do that because number one, it's how he grew up saying it and it's how he knows it to be said. I cannot change it. Also, it's really rude  to comment on people's accents as I learned moving here.
06:47So I try really hard to just appreciate all the different accents and they're beautiful. They're incredibly beautiful. That's fun. So that's my dissertation on accents for the morning. And typically I don't get too deep into it, but I just love it so much, you know?  So thank you for letting me get that off my chest.  For sure. That's great.  Okay. So what do you think of Texas? Do you love it? Yeah, we love Texas. We'll probably...
07:16We'll probably be here forever. So  we kind of have family all over the place now, like in Utah, Minnesota, still Minnesota. So  we really love it down here. Cool.  I think if I moved to Texas, the thing that I would love most coming from Northern tier States is that my growing season would be a little bit longer. That is true. I know I keep telling them, I loved the weather in West Texas, the dry heat.
07:42We would have snow like once a year just for a couple days and I'm like, okay, this is good. Two days, we're done. So I'm kind of struggling with the humidity, but you're right, like the growing season, I'm like, wow, we actually get to plant things in the fall too. That's cool.  Yeah.  And Minnesota gets really freaking humid these days too, just so you know.  That's  comforting. It's gross. Oh my God. The last two summers, we've had a couple of weeks in July.
08:11where you didn't want to go outside because it was over 90 degrees and it was tropical humidity. It was gross.  So  at this point, I'm not sure it matters where you live unless you live in  Australia  or one of the two  poles, the southern pole and the northern pole.  You're going to get everything. Yeah, it's just the way it is, right? Yeah, it's  so weird. I don't know what happened.  Okay, so
08:41Tell me  about what you actually do  at your place. I know you have chickens.  Yeah,  again, we're in progress, right? So we  were learning so much. We didn't grow up like learning any of these skills. So it's been fun, too, to think, OK, we can teach our kids this and this and that kind of thing.  We did have chickens. Unfortunately, something got in there.  So  yeah, so we're  working on.
09:10fixing that up.  And  then got the garden going. We're starting small this year and hopefully adding on, you know, each each season.  And yeah,  our dog had puppies. So that's been really fun for the little kids to play with those. And  like I said, we have we're in the woods. So my husband's created like a path so can like walk the circle, which is  really awesome.
09:38Yeah, like I said,  the home needed a lot of work. The land needed a lot of work. So we spent a lot of time, especially my husband, just outside cleaning up, fixing things,  you know,  making it nice.  Hence the in progress part of your name. Yes,  exactly.  Little steps. I knew that your dog had puppies. Is your dog a Pyrenees?  No,  the neighbor dog is. Okay, so what's your dog?
10:07It's Pepper Healer Mix. Oh my, that's a very high energy dog. Yes, yes she is. She owns the place.  Well the puppies are gorgeous. They are, they're precious. Yes, the thing I love about Instagram and Facebook is when I ask people to be a guest, I get to go see what they're up to and see all the photos.  And this time of year there's always babies, whether it's puppies or kittens or calves or kids or...
10:34Whatever, there's always babies. So I love this time of year because I'm just innately entertained by all the  pictures. Yeah. Our dog, her  mom just had a litter of eight babies  at a place where we got her  and her. I don't even know how to say it right.  I call the other set of puppies cousins because they're not actually related to Maggie. the other
11:02Australian Shepherd dog just had five or six, like a couple weeks ago. So I'm getting to see all those Australian Shepherd puppies on my friend's Facebook page. And I remember Maggie at that age because I met Maggie when she was two weeks old. So it's really fun. And I always mentioned to my parents when Maggie has new siblings or cousins, because my parents have a border colleague. And I told my dad that Maggie had new
11:31siblings and cousins and he said are you getting one and I said  absolutely not one dog is more than enough.  Australian Shepherds though they're cute.  Yeah she's a good looking dog. I swear to God I should just do an episode about Maggie like a solo episode just me raving about this dog because I talk about her all the time.  She is beautiful like you know the  Australian Shepherd you see on commercials on TV.
12:01how they're always the perfect specimen. She's like that. could  be an advertisement dog. model dog?  Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. And I'm so in love with her that it is sickening and I'm going to stop right now. Hopefully she won't bark because she's been really good lately about settling down when I'm recording.  All right. So you said you have four kids and you said that you
12:29You adopted two and then you had one  that's a boy and then you just had another one a little while ago. It's a girl.  And  younger two were adopted as embryos. Oh,  okay. Cool. Yeah. So I birthed them, but all four of our kids, Cam,  family of adoption. So it's really sweet. They have awesome stories. That is fantastic.  I  have a question. If I'm being nosy, just tell me and I will edit this out. Does it cost a lot?
12:58to do the embryo adoption?  And I'm an open book about it. no, that's totally fine.  It depends on the route you go.  A lot of adoption agencies now have an embryo adoption branch. And so that would tend to be more expensive just because you're working with an agency.  Some clinics do it here in the States. And then we actually went to Mexico, worked with an awesome clinic.
13:27Being out of country, was a little bit cheaper. yeah, it's just crazy, the cost of adoption in general. Okay.  I was just wondering, because I know nothing about it.  I'm one of those very fortunate women that get pregnant when somebody sneezes.  And I'm not a baby factory. I have four kids. One is  a stepchild.  And there's...
13:53Oh God, my daughter was born in 89, next son was born in 97, and next son was born in 2001. So it's not like I've had 10,000 children. But it's very hard for me when friends say that they're trying to get pregnant and they just can't. I have this weird guilt about the fact that I didn't have an issue with being pregnant. Yeah, you shouldn't.
14:23I mean, that is nice of you to like understand or feel empathy for people because, you know, some people if they don't understand  that pain, like, you know, but the fact that you  understand and can empathize with them or sympathize, it's  nice. Nothing to feel guilty about though. Yeah, one of the grandest joys of my life has been being a mom.
14:47And my kids would probably be like, bullshit. And no, is. They are the best things I have ever done. Totally agree. Produced, created, whatever word you want to use. Yeah. Okay. So what else can I ask you? Because I don't want to go too far down the rabbit hole on adoption. Because if this was an adoption podcast, we would spend two hours talking. Yes. There's lots. Yes. Congratulations though on being a mom of four.
15:17And you absolutely are a mom. I do not think that anyone has  any say in whether people have biological children or adopted children. I don't think it makes you any less of a mom if you adopt. Thank you.  Yeah, totally agree. Thank you. My stepson is the child of my heart.  He's the one that I didn't have to carry, but he still feels like I did. Yeah. Yeah, it's just a different  carry.
15:46Yep, exactly.  And I didn't meet him until he was six. I didn't get to see him as a baby. I didn't even know his dad when he was born.  yeah,  that's cool.  Yeah. Okay, so  off the mom  soap box, back onto the homesteading soap box.  How  are you feeling about all the work that you're doing? Are you excited? you at the frustration point? Both? I guess it depends on the day.
16:16I really try to focus  on  how far we come. I probably get more frustrated with just the home still needs a lot of work, you know,  and I'm home with the littles all day. And so sometimes I can get like, oh, we to do this, we got to do this, we got to do this. Oh, I feel like I'm living in a construction zone still. But then I just have to remind myself, you know what contentment we've come so far.  There's no rush. Like, this is not what what life is about the perfect home. It's it's it's the journey, you know, little steps.
16:45Um, and I'm just super thankful. Like I'm excited that my kids get to run through the woods free and they're not focused on the mess. They're not focused on, know,  if there's a baseboard that's not put in yet, you know, that kind of thing. So  really trying to, we're really trying to focus on their childhood, giving them the best that we possibly can and seeing it through their eyes.  And  you're right. They don't care as long as they have.
17:11good food in their bellies, a place to sleep at night and parents that love them, they're good. Yep, exactly. One thing that we've been trying to focus on too is, and shoot, I mean, I know a lot of people are probably since maybe COVID is, you know, our food. So like, I'm trying to learn more like skills like canning and, you know, like we had these flowers in our yard the other day. I was like, huh, I wonder if these can be used for anything. So I'm like Googling and I like.
17:38I'm out there with my little bucket collecting flowers and  drying them for tea. You know what mean? Like, I just love it. I love learning all these things.
17:49Yeah, absolutely. Do you guys have catnip? Do you have catnip that grows wild in Texas? I don't know. We might. I'm not sure I know what it looks like. It looks... I don't know how to explain it. Google it. You'll find pictures of it. But you can make tea out of catnip that is safe for humans. And apparently it has really good...
18:16There's a word, qualities. It's not the word I was looking for, but it's okay to make tea out of it. And I guess it tastes pretty good too. I have not done it, but I was reading the other day about it and I was like, I  hope our catnip comes back this year. We didn't have any last year because of the drought.  Oh yeah, I'll look it up.  Yeah.  And there's another thing that grows here called pineapple weed and it's wild chamomile basically.
18:44I want to make our whole yard that so when we mow the whole yard smells like chamomile. Oh, nice.  That's a great idea.  We're not going to do it because it would require taking everything out and putting that in.  I just, every time my husband mows the lawn, well,  the yard, we don't really have a lawn.  It smells really good because the people that lived here before put in some really nice grass in the yard part of the property.
19:12and he mows and it smells like sweet hay and I'm just like, you can mow every day if you want. He's like, I don't have enough diesel. He says, I don't have enough diesel. I can't afford the diesel to mow every day. I'm like, okay. Well, then you do. Yeah. Mow every day. That's fine. And I wish that people grew the sweet smelling hay here in Minnesota, but I don't think it's a thing anymore. I can remember growing up in Maine and we would drive up to see my grandparents about an hour and a half north of where we live.
19:41And we would drive by these fields where they'd been mowed and it was hay. And it just smelled so sweet. I don't think that people in Minnesota grow that kind of hay anymore. mean, I can't think of what the smell would be. So probably don't, right? Yeah, I wish they did because it smells amazing. And we are surrounded by corn fields here where I live.
20:07That's the last two summers. was alfalfa fields, but they changed over to corn. corn smells really weird when it's cut. Like when they harvest the corn, it smells strange outside. I can't quite put my finger on it. Yeah. think, I think I know what you mean living in Iowa. think  I know that smell.  Yeah. It's really weird. It's, it's,  I'm, this is going to sound really weird.  It's  wet. Like it smells wet. Like any cut plant smells,  but it's this.
20:36very specific scent and it's not sweet, it's not bitter, it's not sour, but I just know it when I smell it. It's weird. Yeah, the things you learn when you move to the country, who knew? The city, you know, different smells there, So are your kidlets into what you're doing, the ones who are old enough to be doing things? Our second son, they're both in high school.
21:05He definitely loves the garden. Well, one thing he's always been interested, probably since we moved to West Texas, was horses. He got to work at the horse barn there and he just, he loves it. yeah, he's really into the garden. He loves the animals. It's been good. Our oldest is such a hard worker. So anytime my husband needs like, here, help me carry this big old branch or tree around, he'll...
21:33And he's always barefoot.  We just laugh at him all the time. He's walking through the woods, just barefoot, carrying these heavy things around. Just, you he's definitely a man of the woods.  yeah. our littles, our littles love it because, you know, they get to run around with the puppies right now and hopefully chickens again and help dad out and you know, all that fun stuff. So they do. They seem to enjoy it.
21:59You love this so much. can hear it in your voice. I do. I do. It's just funny. I,  I told, I tell my husband when I was little, like I always wanted to live on a farm. I always wanted a cow. Like I, I would put, we lived in a neighborhood. Like I'd go in my backyard and put on like a long dress and pretend I was like Laura Ingalls Wilder  in the prairies.  So it's just, just, it's just cool to look back and see kind of like.
22:25the process of where we're at  now. Like I said, we have so much to learn, but we're just enjoying it while we do it.
22:34Nice.  Did you read the the Laura Ingalls Wilder books?  Yes.
22:42Okay. I I read all of them when
22:49Okay. I read all of them when I was growing up in Steep Falls, Maine. That's where I grew up with no inkling that I would end up living in Minnesota. Oh yeah. And when I ended up moving to Minnesota, I found out there are all these places that you can actually visit where Laurie Ingalls Wilder grew up. And would you believe I have not made it to a single one? I think I've only met a couple, but that is really cool. Especially if you like the book and the story and...
23:18and everything.  Yeah, I can remember reading about Mankato. I can remember reading about  Plum Creek. And in my head, you know, when I was 12, I was like, oh, that's really cool.  I'll never see that.  And I've been to Mankato at this point. You know, I know what Mankato looks like. It sure as hell doesn't look like it did when she was there. A  little different.
23:49Very different, yes. Mankato has been built up huge in the last 20 years, let alone the last 100 years.  It's been a while since I've been there. It's just weird when...
24:02Yeah, it's just weird when you're growing up as a kid and you read about places and you think you're going to stay in the same place your whole life that you are in then.  then life happens and you end up living in a place you read about and you're like, oh my God, this is so surreal. Yeah. And like you never would have thought back then, you know, here you are.
24:26No! I had no intention of ever leaving the state of Maine. I freaking loved Maine.  I still do. I just can't afford to live there. It's so very expensive.
24:38I will, yeah. of living. Go ahead. Oh no, you're okay. I've only been as out east as far as New York, but I was like, man, I would love to visit like way up, you know, Maine, all the way up there. It looks beautiful. It is unbelievably beautiful from about mid-May until about mid-October.
25:02The other months, nah, it's not so much. It's kind of like Minnesota. The weather kind of goes to crap and it stays cold and nasty for five months and then all the beauty happens again.
25:15worth it maybe those few months, right? Oh yeah, it's the same thing as Minnesota. I'm sure you heard growing up here that we suffer the winters to enjoy the spring, summer, and fall. Yes. I'm so excited. It's spring, Lindsay. I cannot. I don't have enough words. We had sleet more than snow. Okay.
25:44Yeah, this last these two but I cannot talk these last two winters we've gotten less than a foot of snow  Where I really use or yep. Yeah the whole winter. It's been the weirdest thing and we've had stretches of cold like I've never  Seen and I've lived here for lived in Minnesota for over 30 years. It's been  a week at a time of like minus 15 minus 20 over my goodness
26:15Yeah, I loved the snow. Like, I miss the snow,  yeah, just the like half the year of the cold, just not so much. The snow is beautiful though.  Well, while we're talking about different states, and  we're digressing, but we only have like four minutes to go. Yeah.  Was it weird for you when you moved to Texas, the different foods? Because I'm guessing that the food culture in Texas is different than the food culture in Minnesota.  Yeah.
26:44Yeah, it is.  I love it. Like the Tex-Mex. I mean, I would eat probably at a Mexican restaurant every day of the week if I could. And there's plenty to choose from. So  yeah,  not as much casserole based maybe.  Not as much like meat and potatoes, more like barbecue, Tex-Mex kind of thing, which I prefer.  Yeah. You said casserole. It's not a casserole in Minnesota. It's a hot dish.
27:14Oh, see, I've just been gone way too long. I'm just going to wrap it up because you're having connection issues and I really do want to get this in. Thank you so much for your time, Lindsay. I appreciate it. For sure. Thank you so much for having me. It's been fun. All right. Have a great day. You too. Bye. Bye.