A Tiny Homestead

Farmer Brown's Produce

Today I'm talking with Keelan and Rachel at Farmer Brown's produce.
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00:00listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Keelan and Rachel at Farmer Brown's produce in Tennessee. Good afternoon, you guys. How are you? Good. How are you? I'm good. How's the weather there? Hot and humid.  Same, darling. Same. In Minnesota, it is disgusting.
00:27It is too soon in the season for this kind of hot, sticky weather. Absolutely. We've gotten a lot of rain lately, which has been a blessing and bad at the same time. Oh, yes. Yes, yes. We've had a lot of rain too. But as I've said a billion times in the last two years on this podcast, we had really horrible weather the last two springs. It rained every day, May through the middle of June, the last two springs.
00:56And that is not the case this year. So we're crossing our fingers that our farm to market garden does really well this year.
01:07The weather here, we had a very, very mild end of winter going into spring. uh It warmed up a lot quicker. Our normal  last frost date is April 20th.  And we, our last frost was actually like, I don't know. March. Yeah. End of March. Nice. So it, with us being prepared,
01:37for that April 20th, we were actually kind of behind a couple of weeks, but we were able to catch up pretty quick with as warm as it got. Well, that's helpful. What do you got? Well, tell me about yourself and what you guys do. So we originally started Farmer Browns in 2013 in Wayland Springs, Tennessee. And we were we were the first CSA in the area.
02:06And we just did, I mean, just your staple, you know, peppers and tomatoes and squashes and watermelons and corn. uh But  a big thing that we did, because we were certified nationally grown at the time, was to educate people about the quality of their food, food miles. uh
02:31why it's better to grow without pesticides and herbicides and synthetic fertilizers and all that. And  the education thing  for us was great and we really did reach a lot of people that way.  And then we got really overwhelmed because we more customers than we were ready for and then we scaled it back up until the last two years where we were just doing  eggs and a few things for certain people.
03:00And then the last two years, we've really been putting 110 % into it. We've actually done pretty good.
03:11Thank you for doing what you're doing because it's what everybody in this is trying to do. We're trying  to educate the average American on food nutrition, nutrient density in homegrown produce,  and that nature really needs our help. I think that's what we're all trying to do. So thank you for doing it. Absolutely.
03:38Um, so tell me again when you started what year? 2013. So you've been doing this for a while. Yes, ma'am. Did you have a background in it before you started? Uh, working in your grandmother's garden. Yeah, that was about the extent. I've always had a passion for for growing. Uh, just garden crops, because I love to eat a tomato out of the garden. I love.
04:08I love raw vegetables and  that was like the easiest source, I guess.  But  I had just gotten out of the military,  had really just gotten off of deployment too.  And  we had talked about it a little bit before.  And I'll tell you uh kind of a funny aside, Rachel's from California. That was my last duty station.
04:38And she came out here  for a family reunion when  I was deployed and she decided that this is where we were going to live, you know, and she packed up everything we owned and drove cross country with an infant and moved to Tennessee while I was still deployed. is a hell of a woman, Rachel. Good job.  Thank you.  It was not easy, but made it work.
05:09You will do what you have to do to get to where you want to be and to who you want to be with. What branch of the service were you in, Kailin? I was in the Navy.  Thank you for your service. My son, my son was in the Marines for eight years. Wow. And he is alive and kicking and happy and married, has a daughter and lives in Nebraska and they are growing gardens as well because they've learned.
05:38really well from their parents like me and my husband and her parents. So we're raising them up right. Amen. I think it's important, especially in today's society, there's a lot of economic uncertainty. There's a lot of food uncertainty. you know, I hate to say it, but they're killing us with chemicals and, you know, processed foods and whatnot. So I think it's really important to teach this next generation how to grow.
06:08It is of paramount importance. Yes, it is. And I don't know if you caught the headline earlier, because most people who are farmers or homesteaders or ranchers don't necessarily see the TV very often.  Apparently inflation went up 4. something percent in the month of May. Wow.  Yeah, that's a lot. And no wonder we're all having so much trouble feeding ourselves.
06:35So yes, I encourage  everybody.  Listener, if you  are an American, and I mean, if you aren't an American, if you live somewhere else, that's cool too. But if you are in America right now,  you should really start a Victory Garden. Look it up on Google. Victory Gardens were a big thing during World War II, I think.  everybody grew a small Victory Garden to have extra food because people were on rations back then.
07:05So please, please learn to grow food and  cook because  things are not going to get better soon. No, unfortunately they're not.  Yep. It's so disheartening.  And again, if you don't have a place to grow a victory garden or a kitchen garden, a small garden,  yet to know your local growers and put your money  with  them, buy from them because
07:33they will be the people who save you when everything goes to hell. Yeah, I mean, I know it's been a blessing for a lot of our neighbors and stuff too for what we do because we are really well priced for the area for what we provide. And so um it's definitely helped some of them. And it's also been, you know, most CSAs you pay upfront for the whole season. And for us, we do it on a weekly basis. So if it's a harder week than usual, they can skip if they want to.
08:02That's awesome. know, helps with the flexibility of that for budgeting. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for doing that too.  You guys are really good. I like it a lot. ah So do you just do produce or do you guys have some chickens  hanging around there too? Well, we got a lot of chickens hanging around.  Do you sell the eggs? We do. And we also have some ducks too. got a few customers that enjoy duck eggs. So  I am unfortunately allergic to duck eggs.
08:32but ah which is what I had got them for originally. But thankfully there are a people that actually do enjoy them. are you allergic to chicken eggs too? I am not. It's just duck eggs.  Huh? It's usually the opposite, isn't it? they're fully cooked, I can eat them so I can scramble them and I can bake them into stuff, but I can't have slightly undercooked eggs if I have duck eggs.  Yeah. It's usually the opposite. People will get duck eggs because they're usually allergic to chicken eggs, right? Yep.
09:01Yeah. first duck egg customer was, she was allergic to chicken eggs. That's all she could eat. And she was buying a dozen a week. And we didn't have that kind of duck power at the time. I do now. You didn't have super ducks at the time, but now you have super ducks who produce really well. Yes. We sell duck eggs in our farm stand. Our friend has ducks and they don't have a place for a farm stand. It just would not work very well.
09:30And she asked me last summer or spring, two springs ago, she said, could we sell our duck eggs in your farm stand? And I was like, of course you can. And  people were,  what most people don't know is that ducks don't lay in the fall and the winter typically.  And we had people asking for duck eggs in November and I was like, there won't be duck eggs until at least May.  And so- And then like turkey and stuff like that too, they're very seasonal.
09:59Yeah. so for the listener,  ducks, duck eggs are not available typically at farm stands from about September through about end of April, first part of May,  because the ducks are not laying eggs in those months.  And it has to do with the number of light uh out, light. I can't talk  hours of daylight, just like it is with chickens. If you don't put a light in your chicken coop, they're not going to lay as much either. No, no.
10:28People don't know this stuff. We've gotten so far removed from seasonal stuff and  nature cycles. People just don't know. I've seen a lot of on that topic. I've seen a lot of Facebook videos  where people are like, I'm doing this new thing. I'm doing this new thing. And it's like something that we did 20, 30 years ago. But because people are so disconnected, they're just finding out about this.
10:58is wild to me. Well, that is like understanding seasonal produce in itself. Like  they're so used to the grocery store where you can get anything any time of year.  And so to be like, hey, we won't have this certain product until this month because that's when it'll be available. You know, that's when it's available in season.  Yes. um We go through that every spring here because we have a huge asparagus patch that we put in. Oh, lovely. But the farmer's market doesn't start until June.
11:28The asparagus is done by June, for Saturday in June. So this year we finally got to sell four bundles of asparagus in the farm stands. We actually had enough to sell. We were so excited, you guys. It sounds so stupid, but oh. No, not at all. It took four years  to be able to sell four bundles of asparagus this year. And then the other thing too, like for us is we like getting people to try new things.
11:56I have a lot of customers are like, I don't like this. And I'll say, you know, we'll give them something and we'll like, try this. Here's a recipe. Um, but you have to at least try it once. And if you really don't like it after that, then I won't include, you know, whatever in your, in your bag. Um, but yeah, there's a lot of people who've only eaten certain vegetables or haven't tried anything new. And that's fun too, for me.
12:26And the same thing with accomplished growing, like what we can grow that most people don't have. Yes, exactly. And honestly, I can't blame people, especially on tomatoes. People will tell me they don't like tomatoes. oh I say, have you ever had a homegrown tomato, like a fresh out of the garden, sun-warmed tomato? And they're like, no,  I get my, you know, the tomatoes I've had have been from the grocery store.
12:53And I'm just like, need to get a real tomato because real tomatoes taste nothing like what the grocery store has because the grocery store tomatoes cannot possibly taste as fresh or as nutrient dense as the tomato you get from down the road or from your own garden. And I've seen people be converted from one tomato from a garden.
13:18Yeah, I love tomatoes.  this year, we're last year we grew Brad's atomic grape tomatoes because they're so beautiful.  And  I actually like the taste. They're kind of sweet and tangy at the same time.  We got a lot of really positive feedback on those. So we're growing those again, but we try to grow one new variety every year.  And this year we've added uh the queen of the night, which is another aesthetic tomato.
13:49um I like,  you eat with your eyes first. So I like really pretty produce.  And heirloom tomatoes are pretty.  I'm guessing that heirloom tomatoes probably grow better in Tennessee because we've tried  so hard to grow heirloom tomatoes here and they just don't do well.  And I don't know why we tried growing um brandy wines  and
14:18They just, got so big so fast that they split all over them. Not  just because that's what Brandywines do. I mean, they were splitting big. And it happened like three years in a row. And my husband finally said,  I don't think we should try to grow them anymore because we never get any that we can eat. And I said, it's your baby, it's your garden. You grow what you want to grow.  But we've tried other ones and we tried the zebra ones.
14:47I don't know if there's a word before zebra. There's a zebra tomato. Yeah, they like really stripe either. I can't remember what they're called either, but they're really cool looking.  Yeah. And they didn't do well.  And  I said to my husband, I'll try to find out through Google what we can do to amend the soil. And I tried to find information. I couldn't find anything about what we could do to make these heirloom tomatoes not go to crap on us. So I don't know, but congratulations on having really good soil to be able to grow heirlooms because we can't do it here.
15:17ah We make a lot of our own compost, uh which I think is, I think that's one of the most important steps. uh Healthy living soil produces nutrient dense crops.  you're reducing waste, you're adding to  nature. So that's like the first step for me and probably number one on importance levels.
15:45But here we're also blessed with a really good growing season. oh It'll stay hot until October  and  it's warm and it's humid. We get a lot of We get a lot of rain. I can't remember what it's called, the  days of sun that you get. uh our sun doesn't go down until nine o'clock at night and it's up at...
16:14five o'clock in the morning. So we get a really long grow day as well.  Nice. Do you guys grow cucumbers? We do.  I bet they're wonderful too, aren't they?  love cucumbers. I need to learn how to make pickles this year, I think. I can, I can send you my recipe for refrigerator pickles if you want it.  Oh, please do. They only last for about a month in the fridge, but they taste so good. They're gone before that month. They probably only last about a day with all of our kids, but.
16:44Yeah, and you can make sweet or you can make garlic. So totally up to you how you do it. Yeah, pickles for sure. I got a kid over here nodding because she's listening. She's like, yes, make pickles. Oh, OK. I will try to find it and I will try to email it to you. Thank you. Do you guys grow squash? Mm What kinds? So this this time of year, it's just.
17:11We have straight neck and crook neck yellow and then zucchini, but I've already got um butternut squash coming up. We'll probably do  patty pan next and then um we'll do an acorn squash.
17:28closer to fall.  huh. I don't know a lot of people don't know what patty pans are. I do because we discovered them a few years ago. Patty pans are the craziest looking little squashes you'll ever see  but they're like they are summer squash. So like a zucchini or a yellow crook neck or straight neck or whatever squash and if you slice them into thin slices and fry them up, they're like chips. They're so good.
17:58That's gonna be the first year we've grown those. We grew them one time ago. And remember we had the ornamental gourd patch? I I lost you guys. I do remember that. We had gotten uh some mixed squash seeds a few, well, several years ago.  And we planted them out. And what was wild was we got these gourds that we had never seen before, like squash.  And, uh...
18:26Just on the fluke entered them in the fair in one first place because like nobody else had seen them either. Not sure what happened. I lost you. Yeah, we just got kicked out for some reason. Weird. Riverside does not do well in the afternoon is why probably. Anyway, I was saying that patty pans are fantastic. If you fry them up in thin slices in a frying pan, they are like chips. Yeah. I thought about that doing like squash chips.
18:55Yeah. We, uh, we had gotten a packet of mixed squash seeds one year  and their patty pan was in there and there were some other like gourd type squashes  and they grew into the wildest looking gourds and we had never seen them before. And on a fluke, we just entered them into the fair  and we got first place in decorative gourds off
19:23something that they had never seen either. was, think we'd replanted those seeds though.  then they come up. Yeah. Huh? Well, very nice on, on winning  a ribbon for your unknown gourds.  That was the first and only time we've ever entered anything in the fair. oh So, well, beginner's luck, or maybe it was, they were just that fabulous. They were just neat looking.  I don't know how to explain it. They were  really cool looking.
19:53I feel like part of being a farmer or a homestead or a rancher is those kinds of wins, those kinds of surprises.  Because  when it's your world and your property and your skills, you can do whatever you want. You can try anything you want.  if it fails, you learn from it. And if it succeeds, you have so much pride in that success. Yeah, that's true.
20:22So you said there's a little person listening. How many little people or young people do you have? We have four that live at home and one that's an adult. And so how old are the kids? Let's see. Kalina just turned 30. And then we've got 17, 14, 12, and 10. Wow, that's a heck of a span. Yeah. My oldest is 36. My youngest is 25 this December. So we had a 12 year span.
20:53It's a and there's and then there's two in between them.  So so are the kids into this? Some of them are. I got about two that are into it and two that are not. OK, well,  half is not bad.  I saw a neat  quote the other day about farming and homesteading that said, just want to do this long enough for my kids to say, I got it from here. So.
21:22Yes.  Yes, absolutely. And I don't want to beat a dead horse. And that sounds like a pun, but it's not.  Um, we need our kids to step up and take over because  a lot of people are aging out of farming and ranching and farmers and ranchers are the ones who grow and produce the food that we should be eating. So  encourage the two who are into it to stay with it because
21:51We need them desperately to love it and move on with it. Yeah, and just be good stewards of the land. Mm-hmm.  That too. The other thing that we really need, and I don't if you guys hunt or if anybody  around you and your family hunts,  but we need dads and grandpas and moms and grandmas who hunt to teach their kids and grandkids. And  not necessarily because we need venison, but here in Minnesota,
22:20Every fall they have special hunts for deer because there are so many deer here that they've become a nuisance. They have become a problem to towns and cities and they've also become a problem to themselves because they're running out of food.  Yeah, we're starting to get that way here in Tennessee too. Yep. So if you've got kids that are interested in learning to hunt or fish, I fully encourage that to happen. My mom and dad both hunted.  I am not a hunter.
22:50I don't like guns. don't like the noise of them. I hear everything. have a hard time filtering noise. So gunshots are very hard on me. The sound  really hurts my head, but I am an advocate for learning to hunt. think it is an incredible skill to have. Now y'all have mule deer up there, correct? No, no, we have white mule deer. Huh? Yep. And apparently there's some elk in northern Minnesota as well.
23:19Oh wow, I didn't know that. I'd like to that. We're having some issues with moose in northern Minnesota though for the same reason that their food sources are not as available as they used to be.  Oh wow. There's migrating? I guess so. So yeah.  Yeah, and I'm not an expert on any of this, but because I was raised with a dad and a mom who hunt, I just, it's such a great skill to have.
23:49And honestly, venison is an incredibly good for you source of protein. It is. Yes. It's pretty tasty too.  I'm not a fan. I don't love it. I ate a lot of it when I was growing up, but don't love it. That's why you are a duck, right? Well, yeah, because my grandfather hunted a lot. So we had quail, duck, deer.  What else? I like I'm missing something. Not that I don't think you ever go hunting.
24:17beer and eat the heck out of some flails a kid. And I'm going to be real honest, I'm not a huge fan of meat with every dinner. I  try really hard to do two or three meals a week that are just meatless. Yeah.  I don't love it anymore. I used to, but in the last probably eight, 10 years, I've been kind of like,  chicken is kind of not my thing and beef is kind of not my thing.
24:45Huh, maybe meat isn't my thing anymore. I'll eat. Recipes out now for vegetarian dishes and stuff too. Yeah, I was going to say I'll eat the hell out of a dish of pasta with, you know, steamed veggies in it. That's all good, but I don't want meat with every meal. And my husband would eat meat breakfast, lunch and dinner. we're having a bit of a transition. I'm kind of like that too.
25:15I enjoy, I enjoy steak.  I'm not really big on ground beef, but like I enjoy like steak or that kind of cut of meat. Yeah.  We have a cousin that has a cattle farm and we bought half a cow from him this year. And I'm like, I'm excited because you know, that means I can have steak once a week if I want to, or, you know, something like that. But we do, eat a lot of chicken and we do,  we do vegetarian meals probably twice a week.
25:46This variety is a spice of life. it sure is. And the thing that I love about the fact that we cook from scratch here is there are so many herbs and spices that most people don't even know about. We change the flavor profile. So if we were eating meat every night of the week, we could change it up with spices and herbs.
26:15So  anyway, eh I try to keep these to half an hour, we're at 27 minutes. Is there anything that you guys would like to share before I let you go?
26:28I'd to echo your sentiments as far as like everyone learning how to at least grow  one thing, even if it's just a tomato plant. But  it's easy to do and it's easy to do even in small spaces. My sister had a whole little container garden on her balcony for her apartment for a long time. So there's ways to
26:58accommodate smaller spaces or larger spaces for anybody. It's very, very important to  grow your own, not just for the health of the food and the flavor, but just it'll offset your bills significantly. You do have to go to the store for everything.  Definitely.  And again, if you aren't capable of growing stuff at your place,  definitely look into the people in your area who can.
27:26Oh yeah, there's farm stands popping up everywhere. It is kind of scary. It is.  I'm happy for it though, because  it's a lot of people getting back to their roots of making their own things and most people make them cleaner than you would get from the grocery store. So I'm happy to buy a bar of soap from up the road.
27:45Definitely and That's it's really funny. You said that because I just wrapped soaps for the farmers market last week for Saturday's farmers market and We do a coffee soap a coffee scented soap Yeah, and When my husband got home from the farmers market I said did you sell any soaps and he said yeah, he said I said I sold a few and I said what sent and he said
28:12Oh, people want more coffee. said, well, good. We've got about 30 more bars to wrap.  Oh yeah. But that smells amazing. It's so good. We got some goats that'll hopefully be in milk next year. So my plan is to home make some goat milk soap.  Oh, it's so fun. And there are two frames of mind about this, Rachel.  People who make homemade soap. I have done a study, you know, just
28:41on my own of people I know who make it. if someone has never made it before, they have one of two reactions. I'm never doing this again or I'm making this my life's purpose.  So you're going to have to let me know which you think is your case.  Absolutely. I'm notorious for adding too much on my plate. So if it's too much, I'll probably push through it.
29:08Okay. Well, let me know because I'll be really curious to add you to the tally of which side you're on. Pro homemade soap or anti homemade soap. All right. Where can people find you guys? We're on Facebook at Farmer Brown's Produce, Instagram under the Farmer Brown's CSA. that's really well, that's it. We don't have a website yet.
29:38or anything like that, but um social media has been a huge, huge thing for us. Yes. Yes. And I'm telling you, any  way to market without spending money is a fabulous way to do it.  Yes. Before I let you go, can people still sign up for your CSA or is it closed for the season? So  we have a limited number of spots and we offer those January to February. um
30:08And, we start  in May, mid May.  um, we have a wait list and we're, you know, we're constantly adding people because inevitably you lose customers mid season, either, you know, moving or  travel can't, can't afford it. And we've even done like where somebody has said, Hey, I'm going to be out of town for these two weeks. We've added somebody.
30:37for just that two week period.  So, I mean. As far as like a full season thing. Yeah, we're booked for the year. But wait list is growing.  Okay. That is so great. You guys are the most accommodating produce growers I've ever met. uh right. As always, people can find me at atinyhomesteadpodcast.com. Cannot talk today. Geez.  Thank you for your time. I appreciate it. Thank you for having us. All right.
 

Wildflour Crumb Company

Today I'm talking with Ashley at Wildflour Crumb Company.
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00:00listening to a tiny homestead. The podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters.  I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Ashley at Wildflower Crumb Company in Jordan, Minnesota where I used to live. Good morning, Ashley. How are you? Good morning. I'm fantastic. How are you? I'm good. How's Jordan doing this morning? It is slow and sunny  and beautiful.
00:26Just how I like it. Mm-hmm.  I am half an hour southwest of you in Le Sueur, Minnesota,  and it is sunny and it is not freaking hotter than the Hades this morning, which is really nice. Right. It is beautiful. The windows are open. have my oven on while it's been on the past two days.  But having the cooler weather has really helped my house not get  so hot.
00:52Yeah, it's been miserable up until yesterday. It's been pretty gross for the second week of June. Yeah, just a little bit. We should not have weather like this this soon in the season. I'm very, very disappointed in Mother Nature this week. Okay, so I, this is going to seem really weird. You are hyper local to me. I used to live in Jordan. I lived there for 20 years.
01:17And part of the reason that we moved is because we knew that a whole bunch of things were going to be happening. Like 169 was no longer to have the scary stoplight where people get in car accidents all the time. We knew that they were going to put in a bunch of roundabouts and we just knew all this stuff was coming down the pike. How is it any better than it was?
01:42I mean, the construction sucks.  That's, you know, nine months out of the year, sometimes 11 if we don't have snow. ah But I think that once  the 169 area is done, I think it's going to  be fantastic just because of it's going to reduce  all of the accidents that occur at that stoplight. ah But as far as all of
02:12the extra roundabouts going on. I'm not a fan of roundabouts, ah only because,  and it might just be because it was Jordan. It's a small town, but for quite a while with the roundabout that was by Radamachers, a lot of ah the older generation were, they were going the wrong way.  Oh no. ah But that, that has stopped for the most part. Now you just have, you know, your typical teenage driving.
02:41of being crazy, not being safe. But for me personally, I'm not a fan of the ones by the schools, only during school time, just because those two separate times from like 7.45 to 8.15 and then you're all about, again, 2.45 to 3.15 ish, it backs up bad.
03:09just because of how they have things set up  with pickups, drop-offs. ah The high school, it used to be before the roundabout was there, that if you were coming out of the high school, you were only supposed to take a right,  which that helped dramatically. Just  so you didn't have to worry about kids crossing, ah waiting to turn left,  all that stuff, it made it easier.  But now with the buses,
03:37The buses get stuck  in all of that traffic because of  the pickup lines that are long for the elementary school and  things like that. So, I mean, I'm not a fan of those during school time,  but summertime  they're just fine as far as there's no backups, things like that.  It does get people to slow down a little bit more than they used to,  not a whole lot. So in terms of speed wise, there wasn't much change. ah
04:07And one thing that I was furious with by the elementary school,  there used to be a crosswalk that would go from the school side to  a street called Timber Ridge Court. And they took that away.  I had tried talking to the city, know, hey, why did you take this away?  First, they wouldn't respond. And finally, somebody had said because it's a mid cross.
04:35side cross and I was like well I don't understand because you have lots of other crosswalks throughout the city that go from a mid-block meaning that it's in the middle of  a city block versus having it be end to end  so lots of them from mid-block to  another street and they couldn't respond to that they just said nope just go all the way down to the roundabout and then come back and I'm like well I'm not gonna do that
05:04There's, know, I'm not,  that's ridiculous. The crosswalk never should have been taken away.  Um, but it all had to do with a little girl got hit,  uh, because somebody wasn't paying attention. And I had asked for, you know, those blinking yellow lights by sidewalks. Yep.  I asked for one of those. said, Nope, city turned it down. It was too expensive.  Um, but then, uh
05:32But then they spent all the money for the roundabouts. Yes.  So that's the only part that's made me mad. Otherwise, the rest of it will be fine. think 169 is actually going to be a lot better. um But it's just, you know, waiting the three years for all of it to get done. That's the sucky part.  Sure is. And I have I have one thing to say about roundabouts. I grew up in New England.
05:58Roundabouts are an important part of traffic in New England because there are lots of places where five or six roads will intersect. That's what roundabouts are actually for. And I feel like Minnesota has seen it as a trend, a fashion trend for traffic. uh Yes, I can see that.  And just a PSA for anybody who doesn't understand about roundabouts. Roundabouts
06:27you come into them slowly, you make sure you're paying attention to the other cars coming into them, and you follow the directions. And I think I remember in the driver's manual for Minnesota for the test, there's a section on roundabouts.  If you have kids going for their driver's licenses and you live in Minnesota, make sure they read that and they learn how to do it.  That's my PSA about roundabouts.  now  after all that,
06:54I would love to hear about you and what you do. Perfect. So I, let's see, I've been in Minnesota since, oh, let's see, when did I leave Wisconsin? Go Pat, go. I thought I heard some Skonsy in there. Oh yeah, you did. Let's see, since 2006, I came here for school.
07:20And a funny story with my husband is that I had told one of my really good friends I had told her is like if this date doesn't work out. I'm moving to Texas  I'm gonna be a police officer and that's gonna be it. We're gonna be good Well, apparently the date worked out because I'm still here 20 years later ah But no, it's been it's been great. um I started
07:45with school. I have always wanted to be a police officer. did the crossing guard in third grade. ah just everything about it screamed. Yes, that's what I want to do. I wanted to help people. wanted to protect people.  And I went to school to try and do that. And then as things went  on, I became more interested in forensic science.
08:09And I was one of, you know, the few before CSI came out to do their wonderful effect on people. knew you couldn't swipe screens in midair. ah But how cool would it be if you could?  Oh, my God, that fantastic things would go so much faster. Things would be so much smoother.  But I think we're quite a few years away from, you know, having screens in midair like Iron Man and all of that. It'd be great. Oh.
08:39man, would it be great, even just for life in general. ah But, you I  went to do all of that, started with, you know, security positions that I would do either in the city for an apartment complex. And then I went to work for  the Federal Bureau of Prisons.  And I absolutely loved my job.  I loved  that.
09:06People  felt comfortable enough to come to me with questions. They wanted advice. I loved being able to  do all of that.  And I had one incident when  I was pregnant and  I wasn't protected by the people I worked for. And I said, nope,  I'm done. I'm not going to put my...
09:31baby's life in danger anymore and I looked for a new job. I tried to stay with the federal government and I went to do federal background investigations. So anytime somebody who's going to enter the federal workforce, you have to get a background check done of 10 years or your 18th birthday, whichever one is there first. And so I did that for about 10 years. And when we were told that
10:00Everybody needed to go back to the office five days a week, no more remote unless it was, you know, something came up and you could work a half day, whatever the case may be. And I cried. I got excited. I got scared. All of the emotions going through because I have a son who has type one diabetes and I needed to
10:30think about him  before  me,  being that he is younger. And I was like, nope, I'm going to take this package that they're offering. I'm going to resign from my position so I can be home.  Because, you know, it's two kids for two grandparents is way too much. It's, you know, it's not their responsibility to raise my kids. That's my job. Right. So  I...
11:00resigned from my position and I was like, you know what, I'm,  I'm going to do something.  Um, so I took a couple of months, you know, of my quote unquote vacation, uh, to be with my kids, do stuff after school, do things with them on the weekend. felt  grateful that I was able to be able to do that.  And I was like, I'm going to start a bakery. I, you know, have celiac. I've had celiac for 13 years now and.
11:29What I was finding, whether it was other bakers or stuff in the grocery store, the freezer section,  it was not  anywhere  near what I wanted to eat. Yeah, I've heard that from lots of people. Yep. When I was first diagnosed, the one thing that I remember is the doctor had said to me, know, you are going to waste a lot of money in the beginning.
11:58you are going to be throwing away a lot of food in the beginning until you find what works for you.  And that was  100 % true. And I hated it. I hated that I wasted so much.  I got frustrated over things that I tried to make that didn't turn out.  I got frustrated at paying so much for one product to get something so tiny in return. A good example is bread.
12:27So they've gotten better with bread now as far as size wise ah for some companies,  but you would buy that bread, you take a couple slices out and you have this egg size hole right in the middle through the rest of the pieces. And you're like, well, I just paid all of this money for this tiny one tiny piece of bread.
12:54and then to have a huge hole that probably takes away half the bread. was like, I can't, no, no, this isn't,  this isn't working. So I stopped buying a lot of stuff. It's unacceptable. Yes. Yes. Yes. And I mean, you could contact the company  and they would say, Oh, I'm sorry. Here's a coupon for another one. You buy that other one. It happens again. You're like, you know what? Don't send me another coupon. I'm just done buying it.  And so
13:22May of last year, I came up with a name. I was sitting in my computer room. I had a couple glasses of wine. I won't lie. I was scared. This is a huge move.  And bouncing names off of my husband and I was like, you know what? I was like, I want my items to be good.
13:45down to the last crumb. I don't want people to leave half of it and be like, well, that was okay. That was good for gluten-free.  I wanted it to be damn, that was good. And a take with wildflower is that it's not wheat. These are, have, there's so many different mixtures to make one thing, to make it even close to being like it was full of gluten.
14:13And I was like, this is wild. I was like, I'm going to do flour because I have to use so many flowers instead of the plant version. So I was like wildflower crumco. And of course, with names, you got to look up to see, there anybody else that has it? If so, where are they located? How many people have it? And I found maybe a wildflower bakery or nothing. That was what I wanted. You were nothing that was gluten free.
14:43Um, nothing that had to do with crumb co things like that. And I was like, this is it. I'm doing it. I, you know, I put it in, I started my Facebook page and I was like, this is it. I did it. I hit submit. I was like, I can't take it back now. Cause people are going to see it. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. That was it. And here we are today. That is a fabulous story. And I'm to tell you right now, I am so proud of you.
15:12for trying  to  pursue being a police officer. Because not only is it a uh difficult profession for any human being, but it's really hard for women to get into it. So I'm really proud of you.  I'm also really proud of you for knowing who you are and thinking through your decisions and making the right decisions for you. Because that's also something that's hard for women to do.
15:43No, tears. All right. Yes.  I'm  sorry.  No, you're good. There's  so much that's expected of  mothers that it's hard when we  want to do something for ourselves, we end up feeling, you know, there's a slight guilt of, well, shoot, I could have did this instead, or
16:08We're expected to do the job, to do the kids, to do the housework, to do the cooking. And I've been lucky that my husband helps with all of that. But it's just, those expectations that are  put in your mind that every decision you make, it's like, well, am I doing this for me? Am I doing this for my kids? Am I doing this for my husband? What can I do?
16:38for me that I'm also going to benefit other people and trying to make all those decisions at once, it's no wonder we're all exhausted. And insane most of the time.  Yeah. So I just, every time I hear a story like yours, I just want to say I'm proud of you guys or you gals as it were, because  it's  hard. And I
17:05I have so many things I could have been, but the thing that I really wanted to be was a mom.  Now I'm going to cry. And I didn't want my kids to be in daycare. I wanted to raise them.  So I raised four kids and they're all functioning adults who are good people. Proudest dad in his life. And then the youngest one decided he was going to move out and I was like, oh my God, I need a project because I can't do...
17:35Empty nest without a project. I will just be miserable and I started a podcast so worked out Well, I'm proud of you for doing that. That is amazing work.  I Freaking love it. It's so fun And I don't know if you're talking about raising the four functional adults or the podcast or both, but I love I loved Raising the kids and I love the podcast. So
18:00I don't know how intentional any of it was except for starting the podcast because I needed a project. But  just please keep doing what you're doing in the way that you're doing it because you are being intentional about your decisions  and your life and your family and that's so important. Okay, so let's stop psychology 101 now and switch to you.  You do gluten free exclusively.
18:26I do because I have celiac. So that is the autoimmune disorder where  if I ingest any size of gluten, it could be the size of a pinhead, um my intestines will be like, hey, that's foreign. And they start to attack itself.  And when that happens, the villi that are in your small intestine,  it's the finger-like extensions that
18:54grab onto vitamins, minerals, things like that for your body, ah they die.  And so there's nothing to grab a hold  of  what your body needs to  put it where it needs to go.  And so you end up with deficiencies in vitamins. You can have  the dry skin, the gut issues, bruises, brain fog. mean, you know, every
19:23a symptom that goes along with every other existing issue in the world. uh So  trying to nail down, well, when do I feel this?  And it happened every time I ate. So  going to the doctor, first we did a blood test, which is what you can do. And because my levels, I believe it's the IGA, my levels were so high.
19:52that my doctor had said if you would like to do an endoscopy to confirm, you can. Otherwise, you don't have to because of how high your number is. And I was like, well,  I'll just skip that. Thank you. I don't want to stick a tube down my throat. Yeah. So no, I skipped all of that.  And so trying to be gluten free, at least for sure in my house. uh
20:18The only gluten that's in my house, there's a few snacks for my kids, but they stay in the garage just because I don't want,  I don't want to have that issue one for me because it sucks. And two, I don't want, you know, say my kids had a snack on the counter where I bake.  I don't want that to end up in somebody else's food and then they get sick because I couldn't see that crumb because it was so small. I mean, that's all it takes for.
20:48a lot of people to get sick.  I, know, gluten, gluten free, that's it. When you mix something, a lot of that flour goes into the air. So a lot of the times like for people who have celiac, we can't go into bakeries. Well, we shouldn't at least, at least the back part. um People that make their own pizza dough, because that flour
21:15raises up in the air and then it lands everywhere.  It doesn't just land, it doesn't just go straight up and straight down because you've got people moving, ah ovens with their air, fans, breathing, and it goes everywhere and then it lands and it stays there for 24 hours. Yeah. Yeah, you don't want to cross contaminate. Yeah. So that's, know, and for some reason,
21:41why I still don't understand even in a 700 degree pizza oven, that gluten does not get burned off. does not die. It just stays and it can fall onto that. Say I order a pizza, that gluten can fall onto my pizza and then that's it. Then I'm done. like, well, that's great. Next.  I have a pretty good understanding of some of this because I have
22:10I get migraines and one of the triggers for migraines for me is MSG.  I have to read every freaking label on every freaking pre-made thing that I debate eating because if I eat two Doritos chips, my head pounds for two days. Doritos have been off the menu for over 15,  maybe 20 years now and I loved Doritos.  Cannot eat them. And so I get it.
22:39It's a real thing if you know that if you ingest something and you know the results of that and they're bad, it is such a hard shift to make. So again, proud of you. 100%. 100%. To mend you for knowing your limits, but also trying to help other people who have the same thing. Yeah, and reading labels is such...
23:05pain because you could read one product, you go to the grocery store, read one product, they go, okay, I can have this. But you go to the store again, they could change their entire ingredient list. They don't have to say anything. You go buy it, you get sick, you're like, well, I had this last time. Why can't I have it now? And you look at the ingredient list again, you're like, oh, they changed it. That's why.  but you find out the hard way before you realize that's the part that sucks.
23:31Okay, so do you make just breads or do you make cakes and cookies or what do you make? What are the goodies you make? Everything. ah I have bread right now in the oven.  I've made chocolate chip cookies. I've made a pistachio cake. I make a great,  amazing,  and dare I say it, moist chocolate cake. If you hear moist and chocolate cake and gluten-free all in the same sentence.
24:01Normally it's like a hockey puck or it's dry, but not mine. I don't like chocolate cake. I don't like chocolate ice cream. I'm really strange, but I love chocolate chip cookies. I scarfed down a chocolate cupcake that I had made because I made an extra. have to batch test, of course. Of course. Yes. It's one of the benefits of the job. Right. And no, I scarfed it down. was like, I hate chocolate, but that was amazing.
24:31cinnamon rolls, ah you name it, brownies, lemon bars. um I've done Twix bars, well, quote unquote Twix bars.  Brownie cookies, I've did rocky road brownie cookies.  Anything that is in a normal bakery, a normal recipe book, you want it, I can make it. That is
24:59Fabulous. So tell me again how long you've been you've been doing this So baking for business since last May so May of 2025 Otherwise making all of my stuff  for 13 years  So you've been perfecting this for quite a while  it  it's so gluten-free baking is 100 % Science and not art like a lot of baking is with wheat flour  because you have to have
25:28the correct amount of between your fats, your liquids and your dries. You can't be like, oh, I'm just going to toss in a little extra sugar or take out sugar because I don't want so much. And what a lot of people don't get is that reaction between the sugars and the fats  are what make your gluten free item taste  amazing, taste like, you know, you would think you're eating gluten.  I've had some people
25:58message me after they've had something and be like, are you sure this was gluten free?  And I'm like, 100%.  You are a magician too. It's it is 100 % magic. It's  you could do  the recipe  one day, it turns out just how it's supposed to.  And you try it again the next day and you  miss 20 grams of flour, it's gonna flop. And it's
26:26You have to be precise each and every time with gluten-free baking.  Yes. And I'm going to tell you, I tried making gluten-free bread maybe three, four years ago  and it tasted really good. And I don't remember the recipe, so don't ask me. I have no idea how I did it,  but it was so  dense.  Yes.  And I was like, yeah, gluten, gluten-free bakery.
26:56stuff is probably not going to be my thing. I'm going to leave it to the experts.  Yeah, with my bread, you can leave it on the counter for up to four days and just like fresh bakery bread, that's when it's going to start to get stale and then start to mold because I don't use any preservatives in my food. But for somebody to have a soft sandwich without toasting the bread first is what I wanted people to experience.
27:24because that's what I missed was, know, growing up, I would have  the bologna cheese and Doritos sandwich or the  ham and Lay's chip sandwich. So I wanted people to be able to have that memory again, that soft sandwich that they've been craving because that's what I liked to eat. And I know I can't be the only one. So I wanted, you know, that soft bread. um
27:51So it's trying different things to see, okay, well, what can I use instead of this? Can I sub this for this in case somebody can't have that? It's trying the different things back and forth and then be like, holy crap, that worked.  It's a beautiful thing when a plan comes together. uh So do you sell at farmers markets? Do you sell online? Where do you sell your goods?
28:18through my house, if somebody sends a message or there's a referral and I get an email, a text, a phone call.  I also, at least right now, I am at the All Wheel Wednesdays in Belle Plaine. um Every Wednesday except for July 15th because of their barbecue days. ah That's so far right now. I know I have  an event in Chaska. It's,  oh.
28:47what is it called? Let's see, I have it on my calendar. At least I hope I do.  Let Freedom Ride. ah It's a car show in Chaska on July 25th.  And  it's  somebody that organizes these to um get  donations and things like that for women who have gone through stillbirths and miscarriages and things like that.
29:14And they're doing a special one for America's 250th.  So I will be there.  And then there's just, you know, a few things that pop up along the way that are like, Oh, do you have a gluten free vendor? um Or, you know, I've had, there's an art show, not an art show, but like an art class that's actually in Lesour. um I'm doing some things for that, which is
29:44Tomorrow? No, today's Friday. Yes, tomorrow. ah So I mean, it's just, it's little things like that that you can,  if you're participating in that and signed up, get to, you know, try some of my goodies through there. Otherwise, a lot of it is the word of mouth, posting on Facebook, ah doing things like that and hoping that the one person that did try it tells their friend.
30:12ah or says, hey, I know this person will be here. I know you're gluten-free, things like that. But I want it to be more than just people who need to be gluten-free to find me because my food, and I hate tooting my own horn,  but I keep getting told that I need to because of how good my stuff is. That I don't want it just to be gluten-free people that find me. want anybody who wants something delicious to find me. ah
30:41And I think that's really important for  me to be able to  help people like that that want something good that has, you know, good ingredients in it  and that they can feel good about eating and not be like, oh, I just, you know, I ate all of this crap. ah I don't, I don't want any of that. want to be like, oh, that was really good. I feel good about that. She has, you know, quality ingredients, things like that. Yes.
31:11Reframe it from tooting your own horn to telling your own truth. Yes Because telling your own truth is is a much more positive framework for your brain to accept Yes So so people can find you a wildflower crumb company on Facebook any anywhere else they can find you online Gmail added to that if they want to email otherwise finding me in Belle Plaine on Wednesdays or
31:40Uh, other random events I've,  I've tried making a website and I've been out of the, apparently I've been out of the computer game like that for way too long because even with help like frames and you know,  Oh, here's a, you know, take this and you can, you know, just change the wording.  I am not having any luck getting that finished in the slightest.
32:10Do you own your domain name? I do not. Okay. I don't even know how to do that. Okay. Well, I know a little bit about websites. So if you want to pick my brain, you are welcome to do that when we're done recording. I would love to. Okay. So it's wildflower. It's W-I-L-D-F-L-O-U-R. Yep. Chrome, C-R-U-M-B.
32:35company, C-O-M-P-A-N-Y on Facebook. I want people to be able to find you and find out where you're gonna be this summer. So that's why I said it that way.  Ashley, so proud of you. So glad you're doing what you're doing. And number one, you helped yourself, which is really cool. And then you took all that knowledge and you're helping other people, which is, uh I'm applauding you. Thank you. I appreciate it.  It's nice to hear, you know, feedback.
33:05Um, like that just because you don't hear it a lot if at all, um, you know, getting the feedback of man, that was really good or that's the best cake I've had. You know, those are all awesome to hear. And it makes me  smile bigger than anybody, you know, could see or know, but just to, you know, have somebody say, I'm proud of you. Like that's a totally different.
33:34phrase that has a different effect  on your heart. Yes,  absolutely.  And that's why I say it to people I'm proud of because you guys need to hear it because I don't hear it very often either. And when I hear it, I'm like,  aw,  So I get it. All right. So thank you so much for your time today. I appreciate it and keep doing the good work. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. All right. Thank you. Have a good day. You too.
 

Bear Country Blooms & Bakery

Today I'm talking with Carrie  at Bear Country Blooms & Bakery.
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00:00listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Carrie at Bear Country Blooms and Bakery in Young America, Minnesota.  Good afternoon. Carrie, how are you? I'm great. Thanks for asking. I was like, am I saying Young America right? I hope I am.
00:22Well, technically it's Norwood, Young America. But since I live on the Young America side, I try not to draw any more attention to our crazy town name than I have to. And so I just  stick with Young America. Oh, I thought Norwood  and  Young America were like just side by side, but it's actually one town. It is.  Back in the  90s, they decided that it would be more fiscally responsible to combine the two towns. But em
00:50As the story goes, because I didn't live here then, uh the old German  blood did not  allow them to compromise with a new name. So Norwood and Young America combined to become Norwood Young America.  had no idea again. Love my podcast because I learned something new every time I talk to somebody.
01:14And you might not even see Norwood Young America written because it's too long to fit on most things. So  my driver's license might even say NYA. So  I'm giving it a couple of generations  and will probably just be known as NAYA because  that's what people say when they see NYA and don't know about our town. Wow.
01:41I have lived here for over 30 years in Minnesota and did not know that about Norwood Young America. I am so glad I got to talk to you today. Yeah, fun facts. I would say how's the weather, but since you're only about an hour north of me, I'm assuming that's been kind of gray and then the sun peeked out and it's kind of gray and the sun peeked out. yep. Humid.
02:01The humidity has kicked in. um I did learn that a friend that lives  only  two and a half miles from here got significantly less rain than we got. um So that was an interesting fact.  Overnight, she had mentioned that her rain gauge had 0.0 something and mine was 0.8.  Well, Lasur, where I live, in my little tiny
02:28plot of land in the cornfields and the soybean fields.  Got 1.8 inches of rain yesterday  between 2.30 and 5 o'clock in the afternoon. oh And so yeah, that's it really varies. I mean, we need it. So oh yeah, um I'm really, really thankful that this spring has not been like the past two though.  Yes. Past two, you know, has just been.
02:58rain all of May and halfway into June. Yes. And you live on the other side of the river. So  I can relate to that.  Yeah, it was. is not fun to cross anyway and throw in a flood and it just got more complicated. Yes. Luckily my husband could get to work,  but we had a terrible growing season last year and the year before, because our garden was so wet. It took so long to get it It was like soup. Yeah.
03:27Yeah, I heard that a lot. were,  you know, people come to the farmers markets looking for vegetables.  like, sorry, it's too cold. It's too wet. There's you got to wait an extra, I don't know, four or five weeks  for the second set of seeds or whatever the plant was that they were hoping to see fruit from.
03:49It was bad. It was very, very bad. So we're happy this year with our farm to market garden. Yes, for sure. wasn't soup in May. Thank God. So all right. So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do. Well, as you can probably guess, I am a gardener. I call myself a market gardener because I don't know many people that grow 80 tomato plants or
04:1770 pepper plants just for fun just for themselves  Although if you can or you really like salsa, which is why we grow ours You could just be growing those for yourselves, but we grow to sell at farmers markets We used to grow onions and zucchini um And  as my other side of my business took off I had something had to give  And so some of the vegetables got cut from the list um
04:46but I also grow flowers. So that's where the bear country blooms comes from. I do cut flowers that thrive here. people have to wait after peony season, they have to wait until about July before we're drowning in flowers. But it is worth the wait to grow flowers that are fresh, long lasting and aren't imported, which I think it's like 70 % of the flowers.
05:16are imported.  our carbon footprint is a lot smaller  because of that. that's a positive there. um And then my bakery side of my business, um I've been a cottage baker for I think this is my sixth year.  But last summer I started  selling sourdough um and now  a year into selling, um it's gotten to the point where
05:44My husband wishes I would give up the flowers, but I love it too much to do that.  But it's  pretty much an all-consuming  job in that sourdough doesn't give you a day off. It's got to be fed.  It does not. It needs attention. Yes. Yes. So yeah, we do farmers markets. have a
06:10bakery trailer that's new for us this season. So we have a, we call her Poppy because our most popular muffin that we sell is a poppy seed muffin. And then we also have poppies in our garden. So Poppy is our bakery trailer that we sell from at markets and events. We average around 45 events in a year or so. We're out a lot.
06:38Yeah, that's a lot of running around to sell things. Yes, yes. And we do have a farm stand. So  after that crazy season is over, about mid-October, then we dial it back  and people order their bread and they pick it up at the farm stand instead. Or  I do a delivery run  on Fridays as well. So  it's  a nice um way for someone who
07:06likes to do a variety of things. I'm never bored and I'm never doing the same thing  two days in a row. Sure.  I have a question about your panties this season. Yes.  Did it seem like the panty season was one week? Because that's what it felt like here for our panties.  Sarah Bernhardt's, I think, opened  in maybe 72 hours, every single one of them.  Yeah. I do try to plant mine for the most part.
07:36um We like to incorporate our perennials into our landscaping.  We do have a few rows of them, but they are contained in our flower beds.  And so I put some in the shade and I put some in the full sun to try to spread that out a little bit. But yeah, I did notice that too, that uh my need to look out the window to see if any peonies are starting to pop.  That window is really short.
08:05as far as time goes. So  yeah,  I couldn't believe it. Last year our peonies bloomed for like a three week window. This year. This year, I swear to you, it seems like they just started maybe 10 days ago and they're pretty much done. Yeah, I,  I maybe have,  um, so I have two plants that are
08:30in a different location by themselves. so they're still, they maybe have 10 more blooms, but otherwise everything else has either been  taken to the farmers market or is wrapped in um Saran wrap and in my refrigerator until, and then they'll get doled out into bouquets probably for the next four weeks.  But then that's it.  For anyone who doesn't know the Sarah Bernhardt, Bernhardt? Yeah. um
08:59peonies are the light, light, light pink. They're like white with a blush of pink. And they're my favorite. I love those. They're wonderful. And for anyone else who does,  and also for some, anyone who doesn't know, that was really bad, sorry. ah What Carrie's talking about with them being in the refrigerator and Saran wrap is that if you pick the  blooms, when the buds feel like a marshmallow, if you gently squeeze them, they feel like a marshmallow.
09:27you can wrap them, wrap the buds in Saran wrap and put them in your fridge and they will stay good for a while. How long,  do you think they'll stay good? Oh, I've heard people doing it for months, but um I don't have the patience to give up the refrigerator space. Yeah. So,  and then by July,  I have, um I think, 1,200 seedlings  of annual flowers in my yard right now, plus
09:55you know, 40 by 80 of perennials.  I don't need them after  four weeks. So. Right. Exactly. Cause nothing really blooms  until the end of June versus July around here. Yeah.  Not for focal flowers at least.  No, mean, can use, um, you can use herb flowers. You can use sage and basil. Yes. can grow those, but it's just not the same. Correct. Yep. And I, we have, um,
10:25uh large plot of flocks that becomes my filler and then as soon as things are  Ready, then we've got  zinnias. I'm not a Dahlia grower I don't think I know a sourdough baker who's also a Dahlia grower Those things are too high maintenance to do together Yes, yes. Yes, you're right. I tried growing Dahlia's two summers ago and they did fine but
10:54I'm not in love with them. I think there's two kinds of women in the world. There are women who love to grow dahlias  and there are women who don't love to grow dahlias and I'm on the ladder. And I'm with you on that.  just  there is a  the payoff isn't there. I need a I need a two week  vase life before that beautiful bloom that only lasts three days is worth it. Yes. And I grew gladiola is the same year and  again really pretty  lovely.
11:23Glad I tried it. I'm not growing them again. Yeah, no. No, I'm  by the time the garden is done, I'm ready to put it to bed  and not think about it again until January. So digging up Dahlia tubers is  not on my bingo card. Yes. And then you have to make sure you store them correctly so they don't get all gross. And it's just a thing. And kudos to the people who love to do it, who are obsessed with it.
11:53Please do it, enjoy it. For sure, don't, admire people who do it. I know that this is not my, not in my skill set or my, not one of my gifts. And not your passion. For sure. For sure. Don't use. that all the time about bread. I can't, I don't know how you do it. Well, I enjoy it, so it isn't work to me. So I think that's how other Dahlia growers, or Dahlia growers feel that they enjoy it.
12:23Yes, life is too short to put your time into something you don't really enjoy. That's a hobby. For sure.  Absolutely. The other thing that I really noticed this particular spring is that the tulips seemed to last forever. they did. Good observation. We had tulip blooms that bloomed and they were still nice a week later.  I still had color on a bloom um a week and a half ago.
12:52Which is insane because it's, what, I  don't even know the date. It's the 8th of June. So yeah, that's crazy to have tulips. Considering how warm it was for those days, they should have just  blown out and been done.  yeah, it's been an interesting year.  has. Do you  have any crocuses that come up in the spring?  I would have if the weeds hadn't choked them out.  Okay.  We have a few. We have a couple left that come up.
13:22And we only had like two or three blooms. That was it.  My hyacinths were that way. And I thought maybe it was weed pressure, but they tend to bloom around the same time as the crocus, if I remember correctly. Yeah.  I don't know. It was a bizarre spring for spring flowers. And I talk about peonies a lot on the podcast because they're my favorite flower.
13:50So basically mid-May to mid-June is my favorite time of year because peonies.  And I made the mistake of saying to my husband last week, I said, don't cut any peonies yet because I don't want them to come in the house until some, you know, a bunch of them have bloomed.  And then they were already done. I was like, well, I guess I'll have peonies next year.  Oh, shoot. Well, you're not too far from me. I've got some in the fridge.  Yeah, no, it's OK.
14:20I will live and they were beautiful. Like I could see them from the house and they were gorgeous. So how many plants do you have? I don't know.  Maybe 40. Okay.  Do you do uh the early, the mid and the late season? I don't know because I'm not an expert. I can tell you what I have. Well, I don't know what I have. even know what I have.  I just know that I have the uh
14:50Okay. Yeah, I don't I don't know. I have the standard standard Bernhards. I have Sarah, whatever it is. I was screwed up.  I have the festival Maximus ones, the big white ones. Pretty. I have the I have coral ones. have the typical burgundy ones.  And I have at least one yellow. And I have  I have what I call  I have what I call Hello Kitty pink, but I don't know what the variety is.
15:19Yeah, I don't. I know what you're talking about. I don't have that either.  There is a peony farm in Howard Lake. Have you ever been there?  Yes. Yes. They're not doing their peony days this year um because they're  doing some  dividing and replanting. But yes, that is one of our the highlights of our summer is going there and dreaming about having.
15:46more. We only have, I think we might have 60 plants, but my long-term plan is to double that.
15:55Yeah, we went there,  God, it's got to be at least 10 years ago, at least. okay.  Yeah.  And I  was just so excited. And my husband does not have the same peony addiction that I do. He does not care. So we went and he was a trooper and he wandered around with me as I wooed and awed over the firework display of peonies that were blooming. Yes.
16:22We didn't buy any plants. We didn't buy anything because it's the wrong time of year. You have to order them to get them in Nepal. And he was like, are we going to do this every year? And he did not say it in a mean tone of voice. And I looked at him and I said, if I said yes, would you do it? And he said, maybe every other year. And I said, I don't ever have to come back again. It was worth it just to come once. Yep. Yeah.
16:50And we haven't been back since, because I just was like, whatever peony um roots people want to give me, I will take, and I will just grow a whole field for myself. Yep, yep. It's only 45 minutes from our house, so  it's not. We make a day of it. My oldest daughter is an artist, and she sits off in a field by herself and  draws. And my younger daughter and I go and take his  notes as furiously as we can while we were taking pictures. oh
17:20because we love it. Alrighty. So we talked a lot about blooms, but we haven't talked about the bakery part of your situation. So  do you do sourdough? Do you do yeast breads? What do you do, Carrie? Well, I started with um quick breads.  So  banana, pumpkin, zucchini.  We grew  our own vegetables for those things.  But then I wanted to learn sourdough. So I spent about six months.
17:49figuring that out um and then  started selling that. So now I don't do any yeast breads at all. um Everything is sourdough um and  it's really taken off, completely changed our lives.
18:07So are you using sourdough for like cookies and cakes too, or is it just sourdough bread? We have  a  chocolate chip cookie recipe that has sourdough in it.  And then we also do uh a sourdough muffin, which  tastes like a bakery style muffin, the big jumbo with the dome tops and all the crumble on top. uh And those actually ferment longer than my bread does. uh
18:36we mix the batter um up to three days ahead of time. the  sourdough will, or the discard, I should say,  will mix with the flour that's added in the recipe. So they're gut friendly as well. Nice. Okay. I gotta know, did you get a sourdough starter when you started this from a friend or did you try making it yourself? Oh, this is a great question.
19:04So we had been gluten-free for many years and that's  one of the main reasons why we started sourdough so we could  eat better tasting bread.  And I tried to do  a gluten-free starter,  which I was successful in making the starter. I made both starters at the same time,  one with um regular flour and then one with gluten-free flour. um But  because I was so new to sourdough, I wasn't good at either one of them.
19:33and gluten-free  ingredients are so expensive.  I kind of let that one  fade away.  because  we were able to eat the regular sourdough,  we just kept that one alive. yes, I have been,  I started from scratch, my own  start.  And it's been,  it'll be three years in October that we've managed to keep it alive.  Nice. Yeah. um
20:02I was trying to avoid sourdough.  I've told the story at least once on the podcast at some point.  I was trying to avoid it because I didn't want to have to deal with it. And a friend of mine brought me some sourdough starter.  And I kept it alive for like two weeks. And I went to move the jar and it slipped out of my hands and hit the floor and the jar broke.  Oh, shoot. There was no recovering it. Yeah, don't want let it start.
20:31Yeah, no, that would be really awful. So she gave me recipe cards with, you know, how she made the starter and she gave me a starter recipe for something. And I looked at the recipe for how to start sourdough starter. Well, that's a lot of start words in there. Yeah. And I was like, well, I could try making some of my own and I did. And it worked. First time worked. I was like, oh, it's doing the thing crazy. And
21:01I got it to the point where I could actually make bread with it and I made a loaf and it turned out very bagel-ish. The loaf was like bagel texture. Yeah, and I loved it.  Loved it. Like if I could do exactly the same thing again, I would do it that way because I really like bagel texture.  And I happened to have cream cheese in the refrigerator. Yum.
21:25It was bagel bread. I was so excited. I didn't care that I would never use it for sandwiches. I was just like, okay, I just learned a way to make bagels without having to make bagels. Right.  And as people say in Minnesota, as people in Minnesota say bagels, it's not bagels, it's bagels.  And a bag is a bag. Who knew? Right. So  I ended up loving it. And then about a week later I made another loaf and it was, it was not quite as undercooked, but it was still really good.
21:55And I was like, huh, this is too easy. And I kept doing the thing with the sourdough starter because I didn't realize that I could just put it in the fridge when I didn't need to do anything with it. And it was fall and we were bringing produce in from the garden. And as anyone knows who brings in fresh produce into their kitchen, fruit flies absolutely know when you have produce sitting on your counter.
22:26And I had the lid on the sourdough jar, starter jar, and those little, I would say a bad word, but I'm not going to. Those little buggers managed to get under the rim of the jar and get into the sourdough. And I didn't know. And I came downstairs like two days later and the sourdough had the orangey pinky color to it. And I was like, I'm done. I'm done for now. So I made another starter.
22:56uh, three months ago  and it has been sitting in my refrigerator. It's been sitting in my  refrigerator for a month now because I was like, oh, I can just put it in the fridge because I'm not going to do anything with  it Um, but the thing that was heartbreaking about the fruit fly situation is just before that happened,  I took a spoon and it was,  I don't know what possessed me, but I was like, I just drug it through the sourdough starter in the jar.
23:25And it made that crackly noise because of all the bubbles.  Oh, so it's And I was like, oh, it's perfect. It's perfect. And then it was dead two days later.  Yeah, gosh, those fruit flies  are  rough. We keep, we end up just putting produce straight to the fridge so the fruit flies don't even know that it's there. But yeah, it's, it's its own season for sure  when you're bringing in produce.
23:55oh It is and you really can't put tomatoes in the refrigerator because they get all mealy. Yes. So that was part of the problem. We freeze our tomatoes. So we'll core them and then freeze them immediately so we can process them as we bring them in without having to have  so many pounds to make a batch of something. So I can process four, I can process 40. It doesn't matter. They can get... Yep.
24:25put in right away because yes, fruit flies are such little devils.
24:32They are little effers. I wouldn't say the actual word, but they are little effers.  So I learned my lesson the hard way. It was heartbreaking. I was very sad. My husband got home from work and I was still mad about it. And he looked at my face and he said, somebody pissed you off today. said, my sourdough starter  was invaded by fruit flies and I had to throw it out because it got pink mold in it. Yeah, you don't want to risk like your baby.
25:00He said, you're a baby. You've been tending for months. And I was like, yep, it's dead. It's in the trash.  He was like, do you want to talk about it? I was like, no, I want to forget about it. And he was like, OK, never happened. I'm like, OK, good. So yeah, it will break your heart. And it's so dumb. If you ever want to make one again, um you can let some of it,  you can take a piece of parchment paper and smear some on that. Let it completely dry.
25:29And then I have probably in three different places in my kitchen bags of emergency sourdough starter. Kind of back up. learned that after, Carrie. I learned it after that. However, I have a question. when I, when I do that, there's no question. It's not an if, it's a when. When I do this again, can I take some of the starter smear it on parchment paper?
25:56and put it in my oven at the lowest temperature and dry it or does it have to dry, you know, in the air? people use, in Minnesota, if you actually want to sell your sourdough starter, it has to be dehydrated. So um oven on low or an actual dehydrator either or um is a very common and  best practice for  saving starter.  Okay, good to know because we use the
26:24We use our gas range to dry herbs on the lowest temperature. So I was guessing that the sourdough could be done the same way. Yep, for sure. Perfect. Awesome.  So I'm assuming that you have gotten feedback or reviews on your sourdough breads. What do people think of it? Well,  those reviews are the reason why I keep doing what I do. um Just hearing people say it's the only bread they can eat. It's the
26:52um only sourdough that they will buy, the best they've ever had. um And that's the beauty of  sourdough is that you can find your audience and your customers.  And that doesn't mean there can't be other bakers in the area because everybody has different preferences. um So we have quite a few sourdough bakers  in our area, um but we all have our own customers  and  it all works out.
27:22um And it keeps me motivated to uh keep my standards high so people  get what they're expecting. I was actually  unaware that  I should probably be using bread flour um because it's got a higher protein content.  But because I started with all purpose flour,  I  don't want to change because  I don't want to mess with my recipe.
27:51I, that's the one part of business  that hasn't changed.  If it isn't broken, don't fix it. Right. There are a million other things that I have changed and streamlined  or dropped because  they weren't  worth it  time or energy wise or resources. um But that recipe that  I  had from the very beginning, um once I perfected that, I just stuck with that.
28:22Fantastic. Yeah, my dad used to say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. So yeah, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.  Right. And even though every recipe comes, always have, so one loaf of bread, I'll always have, you know, a quarter cup extra, which is like 50 grams. Um, and then I multiply  one recipe for me now, one batch  is 25 loaves. And so I always end up with extra, but I don't dare, I'm not changing it. I know how long it takes to ferment.
28:52And so, yep, it's not broke. I'm not gonna fix it. Good, don't make it exactly the way you've been making it because it works and it's great.  All right, so Carrie, where can people find you online? um I am on Instagram at Bear Country Blooms, um Facebook  under Bear Country Blooms and Bakery. And then I have a website,  just my first and last name. So Carrie Pauly.
29:23at or KariPauley.com. So C-A-R-R-I-E-P-A-U-L-Y.com. That's where awesome. So if people want to order bread from you, they can? Yes, we bake all year long and we have a pre-order system so people can let me know what they want and then not have to stand in line at the market. They can just come right up to the pre-order window and
29:52pick up their order.
29:56Fabulous. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me, Carrie. I appreciate it. As always, people can find me at atinyhomesteadpodcast.com.  Have a great day. Yes, you too.
 

The Cottage Foodie Con and A Big Announcement

Today I'm talking with Matt at The Cottage Foodie. You can also follow on Facebook.
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00:00listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Matt, at The Cottage Foodie in  Minnesota. I think it's Eden Prairie.  Good morning, Matt. How are you? I'm fantastic, Mary. Fantastic. How are you? I'm good. Are you in Eden Prairie? Yes. Yeah, you got that right. Good. I've talked to a lot of people in Minnesota lately and I was like, I...
00:27Don't remember where the heck he is. know the conference wasn't even very so.  All right. So Matt's been on the podcast, I think three times already. Might only be two. This might be the third. I'm not sure.  And typically I would ask how the weather is, but I'm guessing you have the same kind of overcast gray, drizzly day we've got going in  Lasur. Yep. Exact same thing.  I think the rain has passed over us and, but yeah, it's,
00:55It's just kind of a dreary, dreary day so far. So hopefully the sun can break through by this afternoon.  Yeah, we got 1.8 tenths of an inch, 1.8 inches  of rain yesterday between 2.30 and 5 o'clock. Oh wow. That's more than we got here. I  looked at the rain gauge and from uh my front window, I can't see  that anything is in there. So I know I did not get an inch.  Yeah.
01:22It was sheets of rain coming down yesterday at about 2 40. Um, my husband had gone to have lunch with his dad for his birthday and he drove in just as it started raining sheets of rain. came and he was soaked and we need the rain. You know, I hate to sound like a typical homesteader, but as a homesteader, we need the rain. Yeah, but that's a lot in just a few hours. That is, yeah.
01:51That is a lot. Luckily, the ground is probably dry enough that it soaked it all up. if that would have been where even the ground was  partially wet, could have been, eh you know, that could cause flooding and things like that. So it's good that we needed it and we got it. Yeah, we have a useless garage and there's a cement pad in front of it. Like we don't use the garage because the doors are broken. It was that way when we moved in  and we were told that it's not even worth fixing it.  And  it's a low spot.
02:21And every time it rains like that, we say, oh, Lake Lewis is back because that's our last name.  So anyhow, that's the weather report from Minnesota today.  Yes.  And it's going to be super freaking hot tomorrow and Wednesday. So for those of our friends who live in Minnesota, definitely stay hydrated because otherwise you're going to feel like crap tomorrow and Wednesday.
02:49Yeah. And what are they describing the humidity level? They call it, it's going to be tropical.  So yeah, that with the heat, you're absolutely right.  Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. In the second week of June, it's not supposed to do this until at least the last week of July, as far as I'm concerned. I don't love this at all. This is not my favorite weather. oh So,  um,  you,  I met you because of your Facebook page, Sergeant Shortbread.
03:19Yes.  Are you still doing shortbread? Yes. Yes, I am. um Sergeant shortbread, much like Matt Rosine, is he's not completely retired like Matt Rosine is. yeah, just slowly.  I don't do a whole lot of posting on my  Sergeant shortbread  social media accounts anymore, a little bit here and there. But uh and I do some uh some some events, farmers markets and things like that here and there. But
03:48For the most part,  my focus is mainly turned towards um what can I do for the cottage food industry as a whole. So that's kind where my  focus has turned, but I do still take orders. I just did an order  in February, which is my largest order ever.  A company in Chaska, Minnesota ordered 187 dozen cookies and they wanted them  packaged in packs of three cookies per pack.
04:17Oh my god.  So yeah, that was a big order.  So yep, still doing it, but I think most of the people either know me or they find me through Google now because I just don't do a whole lot on my certain short put  social media like I mentioned. Okay, I gotta know.  187 dozen.  How do you do that? Do  you make a few batches and freeze them and then you'll just keep adding or how do you get that done?
04:48So  the nice thing with shortbread, course, you can make the dough ahead of time. um You know, they're icebox cookies. So I made the dough the week before  and it just sat in my fridge. And then when it was time to bake,  I  baked, think for three days,  three days straight. It was just nothing but baking and packaging and then delivered them on day four. Cause shortbread cookies,  you know, they stay good for, you know, two, three, four weeks. um
05:17So yeah, it, yeah, I baked, literally did nothing but baked and packaged for, I think it was two, three days, three days straight, and then delivered them on that fourth day. You must have been so happy to be done with it and have them off your plate. Yes. Yes. And to be honest, one of the worst things, and I've said this from the beginning, one of the worst things that I hate the most about the, I don't want to say,
05:45you know, doing the shortbread cookies. It's the packaging, putting all the stickers on. You got to put a sticker on the front. You got to put an ingredient label on the back. And so it just seems like it takes forever. And if I was to ever hire somebody, it would be to put the stickers on my packaging and do my dishes. Those would be the two people. So if anybody out there is looking for a job to put stickers on and wash dishes in my home, just let me know. Right there with you. I had to label some soaps last week at the farmers market for this weekend.
06:15And it was only a few. And the thing that I hate about putting stickers on is I have this thing where I want the stickers to look perfect.  And they're round. They're like  one and a half inch diameter stickers.  And I want them to be centered and I want them to be straight. And it's really hard to do that by hand.  And I was like, nevermind. We are a rustic homestead. They don't have to be perfect.  I agree.
06:42It sounds like I have the exact same sticker. I think it's a one and a half or between one and a half and two inch round sticker. Oh I gave up on that a long time ago. I'm like, can't. These just have to get on there, make them at least 90 % straight and we're good. Yeah, having OCD with stickering is not a good plan and I don't have it. So that's good. But I do definitely lean toward perfectionism. And if it isn't perfect, it drives me a little nutty.
07:08So yeah, I get it. Stickering things and not only the process of doing that but the cost of labeling things is just ridiculous. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I order all my, I order my, my, I do my own ingredient labels. I print those myself, but the, the logo sticker that goes on the front that um I just order that pre-printed and yeah, that, that adds up quickly.
07:33but you can't not do it because that's how you have marketing right on your product. you've got  to do it. It's so frustrating and so important at the same time. It's just the way it is. okay, now we've got all that.  don't think I ever asked you what prompted your interest in  furthering the cottage food  registration or law.
08:02thing. Yeah.  So mean, when as I was doing Sergeant Shortbread  and this,  I believe we talked about this last time maybe, but I'll just kind of, this is kind of how part of the whole story, guess, went from Sergeant Shortbread to the directory,  the Cottage Foodie directory, which then of course, led to  Cottage Foodie Con, the conference. um So  the directory, I mean, that's, I thought I saw a need or I found a need. um
08:32where people were cottage food producers were looking for uh visibility. And so I thought, well, I'm going to create a directory. They can put a profile on there and then I will just do paid Facebook ads for them driving customers to the directory, not necessarily to individual  cottage food producers, but to the directory itself where the consumer could then start shopping for somebody in their local area, for the product that they're looking for and so forth. And so once I
09:01Once I started that in order to create visibility for myself in front of cottage food producers, I went to Cookie Con in Reno a year ago. So was March of 2025. I went to Cookie Con and had great response at Cookie Con. I had people come up, ranged everywhere from, they came up to me and they're like, I have never heard of you and I have no idea what you do, but tell me what it is that you do.
09:29I'm interested in  hearing about it. And so I would tell them. And then I had all the way to the other end of the spectrum, people will come up and say, we came here just for you. How do I sign up? And they would sign up right on the spot.  And  so while I was there, I'm like, oh my gosh, this is great. This is just really great visibility, whether they sign up or not. This is just incredible visibility. uh so  then as I was there, I was like, okay, but I need to add, is cookie con is for just decorated sugar cookies.
09:58And so then I realized, well,  I need to get in front of all of the cottage food producers, regardless of what product. And so that's where I came up with the idea to do the cottage food conference, which  I Googled it and  in-person national in-person cottage food conference had never been done before. The last uh national cottage food conference was a hundred percent virtual and it was in 2023, I believe was the last year. uh
10:26but it was  100 % virtual.  anybody who knows me knows that  I  am a in-person, I'm a very outgoing type of guy. So I need to see people in person. And so that's why I decided, well, this has to be in person. So let's try to figure this out. uh But yeah, that's how  everything built. But yeah, I guess my passion for just helping grow the cottage food industry is just, I've just been an entrepreneur, I believe, all my life.
10:55For part of my life, was hidden,  I just always have been an entrepreneur. so I've got a real soft spot for entrepreneurs who are just trying to  do their own thing. And it just so happens that I found a passion for  baking and the food industry. so that's  kind of where the passion for helping grow the cottage food industry came from. Okay. That catches everybody up to right now.  cottage foodie comp.
11:24The Cottage Foodie Con was back in April and I want to hear how it went. It went fantastic. It was incredible. It was just, I mean, it's almost hard for me to talk about because it just was so great. I can't even figure out words to describe it. yeah, so overall we ended up with 143
11:52individuals physically walked through the door at the conference and they ranged from 18 different states were in attendance  and even two countries. we had  friends from Canada come down,  cottage foodie friends from Canada wanted to attend. And so uh we had 160 registration, but 143 of them actually showed up.  So it was just, it was amazing. It was two and a half days of just networking.
12:21and breakout sessions,  a couple of keynote speakers.  And it just the biggest takeaway that  that people were giving us as far as feedback goes, is they couldn't get over how it just felt like almost like they were in their home kitchen with with people all around them. I mean, it was just everybody was there for the same reason. There was no like competitions. There was nobody trying to outdo each other. It literally was just a huge community.
12:50of like-minded people all in the same building and learning at the same time and sharing stories and networking. it just, yeah, it went fantastic. We're beyond excited how the first one went and of course, how year number two, 2027 is it going to go. Awesome. So my next question is how many of the attendees did you actually get to talk to as the person who was hosting this?
13:20So  funny thing is, that was my job, was to talk to everybody. So I bet I probably talked to oh probably three-fourths of them. oh that was, uh we knew going into it,  all of my co-organizers, were like, man, you have one job and one job only during this conference. And that is to take your personality and your  outgoing  attitude and you need to just talk to everybody.
13:48So yeah, think I got to talk to, gosh, probably three fourths of them.
13:55Awesome. When it was over, did you need two days  to have some quiet and regroup?  I did. I didn't get it, but I did.  after it was all over and we had everything cleaned up from the venue and  we left, four of my co-organizers, they're all from out of state. And so they all had flights to catch and then none of them
14:21I mean, the earliest one was like four or five in the afternoon. So they were, and we were done by like 1230, one o'clock, I think on Saturday. And so they were like, Hey, you know, we're to go grab lunch. Matt, you want to come with? Absolutely. So we went and grabbed lunch. And while we were there, we all made the commitment. We're like, okay, we were going to take a week off. We're, not going to, we're just going to re just think about everything. We're going to kind of gather our thoughts. We're going to catch our breath. We're going to rejuvenate and then we'll come back a week from Monday and
14:50jump on our regular column or start we'll start planning 2027. Well, Sunday morning at 8am I got a an email, Matt, what do think of this idea? Super long email about here's an idea for next year. I was like, and I'm available right now if you if you want to hop on the phone. So and that was that was David Crabill who does the the forger podcast emailed me Sunday morning. So so yeah, I got probably about I don't know.
15:2016 hours to gather my thoughts and catch my breath. it's great. It's awesome. were all, we were just riding high from the whole experience. And then once we started getting feedback, that just threw fuel on the fire because we got great feedback. It was good and bad. There were some things that people want to see different, which that's what we wanted. I would have been
15:46pretty upset if everybody would just said everything was great don't change anything because that's not true. We have to change something there's no way that it went perfect because we know that it didn't go perfect so um yeah  it's it's exciting we're  ready we're ready to uh we're ready for  for year two.  I am so glad that it was pretty much everything you hoped it would be from what I knew you hoped it would be. um
16:15I said before we started recording, had two questions.  One was  how many people who attended were brand new  to the cottage food concept? And the second question is how many people were already in cottage food production, but just wanted to learn more?  Yeah. So we  had it broken down to  when they registered, they had to  kind of tell us where they were at in their journey. And so I'd have to
16:45dig the exact numbers out, but I broke it down by percentage. And I think I remember correctly, it was probably 60 to 70 % were at either three or more years of experience. And then one to three years of experience was another, I think 20%. And then there was maybe a dozen to 15 individuals who hadn't even started yet or.
17:13for less than one year. yeah, was, the good majority of it was  people who have been doing this for  three or more years. And so  next year, we really want to,  we wanna expand  on um those demographics. So next year, we're gonna be a little bit more um intentional about having specific classes for brand new.
17:40people who either are looking at the cottage food industry or know they want to do it, but just don't know where to start. So we're going to be more intentional about having a broader variety of classes geared specifically towards the zero experience up to a year of experience. That's awesome. Cause that'll draw new people in. And it's also kind of hard because I'm going to say this, I shouldn't, but I'm going to anyway.  We have had so many,  um,
18:10little cottage food stands popping up around here, around LaSore.  And I'm really tickled for the people who are doing it. There's one young woman, I don't think she's even 25 yet, and she lives right in town in LaSore, Minnesota. And she has a little shed where she sells her cottage food baked goods.  And she has really good success because she's in town.  People know she's there and they just stop by on their way home from work and pick up goodies or bread for dinner or whatever.
18:40And that's fabulous. But  I,  my husband and I had this conversation this weekend because he was at the farmer's market  and  it was okay. He sold some things, but it wasn't like a big killer weekend for  money coming in.  And  I said, it because it was so sticky out? Cause it was so muggy this weekend. It was hot. And  he said, I don't know. He said, I think maybe.
19:09He said, but he said, do you know there's like at least 10 farm stands within a five mile radius of Lesor? Oh my gosh. And I said, no.  And he said, yeah. He said, it's great. He said, I'm glad that people are doing it. He said, but he said, that's a lot. He said, Lesor only has like 6,000 people.  said, our market share is going to be split.
19:39more this year than it was last year. And I laughed and I said, well, good, my podcast is doing its job, encouraging people to grow their own things and sell it. But it's also bad because other people are growing their own things and selling them. And he just laughed. I guess it's that be careful what you wish for, Adij. You there? Yep. You're kind of cut out.
20:06I say, guess is that be careful what you wish for adage that we all hear.  exactly. Exactly. Yeah. It's yeah. I mean, I think the latest count uh for cottage food producers in Minnesota is fourteen thousand.  And so,  yeah, it's  they're starting to pop up everywhere. And so, yeah,  I just hope that it doesn't end up being like uh like we're seeing with with breweries in Minnesota. There are so many breweries.
20:35you in the last 10 years or so. now it just seems like every time once a week, I see here's a brewery closing, here's a brewery closing. And so, um so yeah, it's, uh you know, you just you hope that that's not the case in the cottage food world. but um yeah, that's where the cottage food producers in these farm stands, you just you need to figure out a way to differentiate yourself from the next person. Even if you're selling the same products, you got to figure out a way to differentiate, differentiate. eh
21:04differentiate,  you know, that word. ah You need to stand out.  Yeah, need your stand to stand out.  Yeah, exactly. Okay, so I was looking at your Facebook page today and I saw that there's something very new on the horizon that you weren't at Liberty to talk about a month ago, but you are now. So what is the new thing? ah Well, we just, mean,  with the, what we believed
21:32as you know, the success of Cottage Food Econ, we wanted to create something and actually  myself and my co-founder, we've been thinking about this for a few months now. It wasn't just like, Cottage Food Econ went great, so let's do this. But we've been actually talking about it for a few months, but just kind of like, okay, let's just focus on Cottage Food Econ right now. Let's get this off the ground and let's get the first one in the books and then we can uh think about  this new venture. um
22:00So yeah, it's the National Cottage Food Alliance, which it's a nonprofit organization and it's going to be dedicated to uh empowering cottage food producers through education, resources, uh advocacy,  and  just a sense of community, a place for cottage food producers to find that community that they find at Cottage Food Econ, but they're going to be able to have that throughout the year.
22:28It's a non-profit, so it's going to be set up. We're going to be applying for a 501c6 status, which means we're going to be set up almost identical to a trade association. So it'll be identical to a chamber of commerce. cottage food producers will be able to sign up for memberships. we're in talks with vendors who
22:56partners and vendors who will offer discounts to our members through whether it's packaging or um online or you know digital marketing  or  Ingredients I'm drawing a blank, you know anything that a cottage food producer that needs as a resource uh So packaging things like that. We're we're in talks with different providers that are going to be willing to partner with us and give discounts to our members so
23:26Yeah, that's, that is what is,  is, uh is on the horizon. Well, it's not even on the horizon. It's, it started. have, we have incorporated as a nonprofit here in Minnesota. We have our, our board members and  we've already had our first board meeting. So, so yeah, things are moving forward for the Alliance.  So this is your baby. You, you came up with this? Yes.  Good God.
23:55Yep. Yeah, it's that that was that was my wife's reaction to.  Yeah, it it just I don't know. mean, it just it it just goes to the the passion that I found for the cottage food industry. I'm just looking around like what else can I do? How else can I help? You  know, being retired military, I have the time to  put into this. And so I just keep looking around like what else can I do? How else can I help? What?
24:25What else do  they need in the cottage food world? I can't do everything. ah But if there is something that I can do, which is, you know, plan a conference where we all can come and learn and network, and then also do a nonprofit where we can help cottage food producers grow in their business through financial resources, you know, education, things like that, then I'm going to do it.  So,  so yeah, it's, it's myself and Lisa He from
24:52My Custom Bakes and she also owns Borderlands Bakery. She was also one of the uh co-organizers, one of the main co-organizers for Cottage Food Econ. Fabulous. um I have a couple things you can do. You can  educate our state representatives  and senators about it's not going to kill anybody if we're allowed to make buttercream frosting and sell it as cottage food producers.
25:20And it's probably not going to kill anybody if they let us do cheesecake because I'd really love to sell cheesecake and we can't do that. We're not allowed. And be able to ship outside of Minnesota because apparently it's next year we're going to be able to ship our cottage food goods in Minnesota, but not outside of Minnesota. Yeah. I believe August of 2027 is when that is scheduled to go into effect. yeah.
25:49It's just in Minnesota. So that's great. That's a great first step. And we're thankful for that first step because, you know, we can't we just sometimes it takes baby steps, but it just I don't know in my in my brain in my mind, it doesn't if we can ship in Minnesota, why can't we ship to South Dakota and California? What's the difference? Uh huh. I know I've talked about it like seven times in the last year. Yeah. On the podcast, because it's so frustrating to me. I'm like, it's all about knowing
26:19where the food leaves from  the cottage food producer to where it ends up so that it can be tracked if someone does by some chance come down sick.  Well, if we're shipping,  that's why the US Postal Service has tracking numbers. oh It drives me insane. And I was talking to somebody about this. It might have been Stephanie.  Can't think of her name, her last name.
26:49She has a radio show. think she was one of the people at your college. Yep. Stephanie Hansen. Yeah. I was talking with her and we were talking about it. And I said, it's so unbelievably frustrating that two years ago someone said, I'd like to buy your granola, but I am up in Detroit lakes or wherever. And I said, that's not, I mean, thank you, but I can't ship.
27:17And she said, what? And I said, I  can't legally ship it to you. oh I said, I can ship it to you as a gift.  said, but I can't sell it to you that way. oh she was like, why? I said, ask our legislature because they're the ones that say so. And she was like, oh, my friend brought me some from the farmer's market, from your booth. And I loved it. And I said, I can give you the recipe. It's really simple. I know you can make it.  And she said,
27:47I'm not a cook. And that was pretty much the end of the story. That was it. Yeah. Yeah. I just had an order. um A company in St. Louis Park ordered cookies for their office here in St. Louis Park. But also they  said, you know, can you ship three dozen? I think it was three to two or three dozen to our office in Thief River Falls, Minnesota.  for sure. A, I'm definitely not going to deliver that. So  just.
28:15But I said, and I can't, I can't ship I don't have because I don't have my wholesale license anymore. I let that expire and I'm not in the commercial kitchen anymore. So I'm totally out of my home. And so said, I can't do that. But what I did is so then I, I said, you know, I can do one or two things, I can either refund you for, you know, that part of the order, or I can bring those and give those, you know, I can include them on the order that's going to your office in St. Louis Park. She's like, yeah, just included in the order that's going to St. Louis Park.
28:43And um then I'll ship them from here up to Thief River Falls. So oh what I did was I brought them the box that I would use because it  was a standard size box that  I would ship those if I was shipping, when I was shipping. I brought the box, I brought the packing material,  and  I brought it to them. It was still, it was unopened. said,
29:08If you want to ship these to Thief River Falls, here's the box and here's the packing material that I would use if I was going to be shipping them.  But I can't legally ship it or box it up for you. But here's the box and the packing material. And so just that little, that little extra customer service is going to go a long way. They're going to remember that I  went above and beyond like that and  brought that to them. So then all they to do was drop the box in there, slap a label on it, and then they could deliver to the post office.
29:37YouTube found a great workaround. Yeah.  Oh,  it's so maddening.  I just, I do not know when  people are going to learn that when they're in positions of power and they're making a decision for the rest of the people, they might want to research how things work  and define  why  it's not unsafe to do the thing that we want to do. Yeah.
30:08But that requires research and time.  I actually talked with um Brad Tabke back a month or so ago. He's  the rep for Shakopee Area.  And it was  just  after  all the stuff had gone down with ICE in Minneapolis. I talked with him  off record.
30:35And I'm not going to go into big detail because it was off the record. Yeah. He was so tired. He and all of our representatives were just so tired because they've been dealing with all of this for over a month, over two months, think.  And I just told him, said, Brad, said,  I refuse to identify as Republican or Democrat. I'm just a person. I said, and  I appreciate all the work you guys do.
31:04So thank you. And there was this very long pause. And I was like, Oh God, did I offend him? know, he was like, Mary, thank you. He said, we're doing the absolute best we can in a really terrible situation. And I was like, I know you are. Thank you. So, so I don't want to, I don't want to bad mouth our government, but
31:29I feel like so many people are so far removed from the basic life skills of like, you know, cooking, or growing a plant,  or keeping a chicken, that they don't understand  what it is they're saying has to be true. Yeah. Yes. It's hard.  But anyway, I'm so thrilled that you came to talk with me about the Cottage FoodieCon experience.
31:57and this new alliance that you're developing as we speak. And I will keep my eyes open on Facebook so I can see what's happening there. is the information for the alliance going to be on the Cottage Foodie website or is it going to be a website of its own? It's going to be a website all itself, all its own. So yeah, it's completely separate. It's not...
32:23associated in any way really with the Cottage Foodie the directory. This is completely separate. mean the Cottage Foodie is for profit. The  Alliance, the National Cottage Food Alliance is a non-profit so they are completely 100 % separate. uh And so yeah, so the website and it's still in development. I think we just have a home page right now just doing newsletter  sign up and things.  It's  ncf-alliance.org.
32:53Okay. Awesome.  And where else can people find you online, Matt? Social media, of course, uh Facebook and Instagram. It's Cottage FoodieCon on both uh Instagram and Facebook.  Now, NCF Alliance  is on uh Instagram and Facebook as well.  yeah, the Cottage Foodie is on both. Sergeant Shortbread is on both. So yeah, if you can't find me, then...
33:23You're not looking in the right place.  Then you're, then you're looking on, um, Twitter cause I'm not on Twitter.  so you won't find me on Twitter. So anybody's on Twitter slash X anymore. Oh yeah, that's right. It's X now. See, that's, that's how much I, that's how much I follow up with that. I know, I know about that, but yeah, that's,  I would say the best, the best place to reach me is either  through the new NCF Alliance on Facebook and Instagram or, uh, cottage food icon  on Facebook and,  um,
33:53Instagram. Okay, fantastic.  Again,  so thrilled we got to talk about this. I've been thinking about it since you said yes.  Yes, well thank you for having me and  I'm sorry that it took so long but I was kind of uh pushing it off a little bit because I really wanted to  be able to tell you about this and we'll do a big announcement. I I  did put it on  social media but this is another great way to kind of do the big reveal.
34:21kind of pushing you off just a little bit. And plus I was in Texas for a while to see our son before he deployed overseas. So there was a few things going on, but thank you so much for having me. Always, always a pleasure and always have fun visiting with you, Mary. So thank you so much for having me on again.  Absolutely. And I will have you back again, I'm sure, because we're really fun to talk to and listen to.  As always, people can find me at AtinyHolmsteadPodcast.com.  Have a great day, Matt. Thanks, Mary. You too.
 

Catching Up With Christi At Tee's Kitchen

Today I'm talking with Christi at Tee’s Kitchen.
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00:00listening to a tiny homestead. The podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Christi at Tee's Kitchen in...  Oh no, I forget. Where are you Christi?  I am in South Louisiana. So I live just south of Lafayette. Yeah. was thinking for some reason, Missouri popped in. like, no, she's not that close to me. I know she's not.  If you were, would come see you.  I know, right?
00:29Yeah, Christi's been a guest on the podcast twice already and I absolutely love her voice and her accent. She is just the sweetest sounding woman I've ever heard. So welcome, Christi. How are you? Thank you so much. I'm doing great. How are you? I'm good. How's the weather in Louisiana? The weather is hot. It's getting hot. it's like the heat index is like 85, I believe.
00:57This week we're getting a lot of rain, but it doesn't really cool everything off. It just kind of steams things, if you know what I mean. I do. Minnesota has been very, very hot for, well, it's now June 2nd or 3rd. June 3rd. Something like that. Close enough. But the last two weeks of May were kind of a little warmer than we would like it to be. It's supposed to be 84 for the high today. Oh, really? But we don't have the humidity.
01:27Building yet. Thank God right right. It's the humidity that makes everything so  So gross yeah, so gross. Yeah, I don't even know so gross  Yeah, when you step outside and it feels like you're walking through a mist it's not a great feeling  No,  it's not Now if you're in Maine at the ocean and you get up in the morning with your warm cup of coffee and step outside And the air feels like mist  it's because it's mist coming off the ocean
01:54And that's a beautiful feeling, but that's a great thing. Sticky grossness is not okay.  Um, it is sunny here. My panties are blooming like crazy. My whole driveway, the edge of the side of my driveway looks just beautiful right now with all the pinks and corals  and burgundies and whites. It's my favorite time of year. How gorgeous. Oh, I'm going to have to go check out some pictures on that.  It is beautiful. I've posted a few.
02:22I will post I'm going to have to check that out. Oh, I bet it's so pretty. We have our summer garden going and like I'm friends with some people, you know, through TikTok and all that. And they'll message me and say, I cannot believe you already have cucumbers and tomatoes. And yeah, we've been in full swing for a while. So that's always nice. Those summer gardens, know? Yes. Yes. And you get them so much. You get produce so much earlier than we do up here in the North. Yeah.
02:49So when did you plant your tomatoes and cucumbers for this year, this season? Well, I say we. I am more like the supervisor. Yeah, me too. I'm a brown duck. So my husband planted, gosh, it pretty early March, I believe. We usually plant around Mardi Gras, but we planted a little later this year because for some reason it stayed cooler.
03:16a little bit longer. So I think it was March, maybe late March that he planted. Um, and yeah, that's his thing. I just reap the benefits from it. Yeah. My husband is the gardener too. And I never take credit for actually anything that's the gardening.  I take credit for cooking the things that he brings in from the garden.  Exactly.  And we are,  yeah, we're about two months behind you. My husband started planting, I think,
03:44the first weekend in May.  And our tomato plants are looking real sad. They've got the early blight. It's the first time this has ever happened to us.  Oh.  So he's trying to figure out what to do to  cure them. And  he hasn't quite figured it out yet. And I'm afraid that by the time he does figure out how to save them, there won't be anything safe or saving. I don't know yet.
04:08Oh, my no, my husband went and picked  a few tomatoes from the garden and he picked them early because they had holes in some of them.  So we just put them on the window sill. That's all you can do. And it's better than, you know, them just sitting there and  rotting, you know. Yes.  Yes. And we're used to the blight that comes at the end of the season. That's fine. Yeah. But we've never had early blight before. And the saddest part is that there's over 100 tomato plants in the garden that are sick with this. Yeah.
04:38So we don't know how that's going to go. Luckily he still had some plants in the greenhouse, so he planted those and he made sure that the bottom leaves were off of them, so not touching the ground. that's nice. So maybe we'll have some to eat. I hope so. Yeah, this gardening thing is a crapshoot. It is literally gambling. It is. Last year I feel like his garden didn't do as well and then this year it seems to be doing great, but
05:07Here it only lasts for a little while and then the bugs just completely take over, you know? Yeah. Gardening is like, it's so good for your soul, but when things don't go right, it's painful. Yeah. All that hard work and I really feel bad.  I feel for him, you know, because he puts so much work into it.
05:31But he did downsize a little bit.  Normally we do a much bigger garden and this year he was like, I'm only gonna plant.  I'm  not gonna do so much this year.  And it's working out good so far. Good, I am very happy for you and I'm very envious that you get to pick tomatoes and cucumbers right now. I  would  love some tomatoes mixed with garlic, some mozzarella cheese, and some basil, and some olive oil, and some...
06:00balsamic vinegar or toasted bread.  That would be lovely. I actually had that this morning, like right before we  came on. I fixed avocado toast and then I sliced some of those tomatoes on top and did, um like I put some garlic butter seasoning and what else did I put? Oh, I did a little salt and pepper and then I love hot honey. I'm into hot honey. And then I also put a little drizzle of balsamic glaze and man, it was so good.
06:28Yeah, I have to acquire some things to make the thing I just explained and I can't think of name of that this morning either. Bruschetta.  I'm getting to the point where I haven't had it in probably four or five months and I'm like, know, bruschetta sounds really good.  I posted a...  We always have an abundance of basil, so I make basil oil, which is, you know, most people comment and they say, that's pesto. It's really not because it doesn't have...
06:58pine nuts and it doesn't have the Parmesan cheese, but I make a basil oil and we just, I'll make homemade bread and we dip that in there, but I'll also make,  I use it for my caprese salad. So I'll do the fresh uh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and then that basil oil. then if I, sometimes I put balsamic vinegar and sometimes I don't, but I just did a video on it and made myself hungry again for it.
07:24When you make the basil oil, it olive oil and basil leaves or how do do it? Yeah, it's olive oil, basil leaves, you put a little bit of  garlic, a small amount of water. It's pretty simple, you know.  Do you crush the basil leaves so the oils come out? Yeah, I blend it all up. Okay. That sounds fabulous. We might have to do that. We have some really nice basil growing this year, so we're going to have enough to do some fun things with it.
07:53Yeah, always uh one year I gave it as like a gift and I made  homemade bread and I with a  little jar of the basil oil and  I gave it to some teacher friends and  they still request it, you know. Yeah, that's the danger of sharing your creations with people because  you think you're making it for them once and then they come back and they're like, do have any more of that? oh That's when you turn into a business. Yeah.
08:20Well, fun fact, I used to do that. used to run a little small bakery out of my home. Oh, okay. Yeah, but it just, got to be too much, you know, because we have a camp in Pecan Island and so people would request cakes and things on the weekends and I wanted to go to the camp. So we just cut that out, but maybe one day I'll get back into it again. You just reminded me, I was supposed to do this a week ago. I need to renew my
08:50cottage food registration because I live in Minnesota and uh I wanted to make granola for the farmers markets this year and I can't sell it without that registration.  Oh,  I need to get that done. I need to go look that up today because I forgot all about it completely because the world is a crazy place right now and it's really easy to get distracted. It's true.  Man, I love a good farmers market.  Yeah, the first one is this Saturday.
09:20And I don't go because I am really shy and I really hate sitting in the sun.  I do not love being hot. So my husband actually loves being social. He loves  selling stuff. So he'll be going on Saturdays to downtown Lesor, city of  six, seven thousand people maybe. Well, that works out that you can get him to do it. Yeah. He loves it. It just fills his cup so much and he's made such good friends.
09:48With the vendors that are there. It's so fun for him.  Oh nice,  but we should have some  Lettices for sale we'll have of lip balms and some candles and some  cold processed lye soap that we make  and  Maybe some peony blooms that that's all  for sale. So  I just I just love a good farmers market. That sounds fun
10:18I love a good farmer's market where they have food, but they also have things.  There's a guy at our farmer's market that makes jewelry  and he makes the most unusual things. And looking at them, I would be like, what would I wear that with? um And I don't ever buy any of it because I don't really go out, so I'm not going to buy jewelry.
10:45But it's just so interesting to see the creativity that people have and how they express it.  I know. I love that. I love helping  small businesses or just local, just people that make things with their hands. I'm so intrigued by that. And I always  say, I'm a sucker. I have to go with tons of money because I  fall in love with everything and I fall in love with their story and I just want to buy their stuff and I want to share it and help them.  Yeah. uh
11:14There's a lady that sells  baked goods and she makes these little silver dollar sized lemon cookies. ah And my husband brought them home to me last summer once and there were six little silver dollar cookies in a baggie. And I said, honey. And he said, what? And I said, can I just eat these? Can I just have these? Like, do you want one before they're gone? Because I love lemon, they're going to be gone. Right. Act now.
11:42And he said, well, yeah, you can have them. He said, I know you love lemon. That's why I got them for you. And I ate three right then and they were so good with a glass of cold milk. And I had to force myself to wait till the next day to eat the other three, because I really wanted to eat the other three right away. know I have zero self-control with sweets. I'm sorry.
12:08No, anything lemon I'm just done for. I love sweet lemon. um So refreshing in the summer too.  I was going to say they have a Formers Market here that's really popular and  it's in Delcum. It's right on the water. So um the shrimpers will come  and you can buy shrimp right off the boat.  It's the coolest thing. I love it. So  they call it the Delcum Seafood and Formers Market.
12:36So it's mostly like people just go with their ice chest and go meet the boats and they'll just load up on fresh shrimp or whatever, like crabs and just it's amazing. They have great, great things over there.  because I am terrible at geography,  your  ocean as it were,  is um the Gulf of Mexico ocean? Yes.  Yes. So is that Atlantic? Is that part of Atlantic or part of Pacific? Do you know?
13:06I don't know.  I don't know either.  I mean, I don't know. It's the Gulf of Mexico.  I don't  really know. I guess it would be Atlantic.  Now I feel really dumb.  I don't because there's just so much to know in the world. You can't know everything. um The reason I ask is because you guys, do they have like the little bitty shrimps up to the big prawns or is there a specific kind of shrimp that you get? They have different sizes.  I mean, they'll catch
13:36They'll catch,  you know, it just depends on what size you want. But, um, yeah, I mean,  there's all sizes.  Must be nice. I know, I know. I've worn loxanam. I don't get good seafood in Minnesota anywhere.  And we, um, my favorite is soft shell crabs.  Um, and so sometimes if you get lucky, they'll sell those.  Oh man, it's just, it's awesome. I love, I love,  and I enjoy peeling shrimp.
14:05Like some people just, it's like therapeutic for me. So I love just getting fresh shrimp off the boat and  coming home and peeling it and vacuum sealing it and putting it in the freezer, you know? You go into the zone of creativity.  Yes. Yes. You don't think about anything else.  That's the best part of  food prep and of actually cooking.  And we talked about that last time. um So  one of the things that's great about seafood
14:32And  people who live in the Midwest will not know this.  It's so easy. It's so easy to cook it because mostly you boil seafood. Yeah. And then you just peel the shell off and eat the meat. And it's so good just like that.  But there are so many things you can do with it too. And I just laugh because I used to hate seafood. I grew up in Maine. I hated seafood. I hated fish.
15:02The only fish I would eat, my dad used to go fishing and he would bring home these great big bass. Yeah. And he would cut the head off and he would scale it and  obviously take the egg out of the inside,  gut the fish. I don't know what they call it, clean the fish. Yeah. And then he would put um stove top stuffing  in like a Dutch oven pan. He put it around the edge.
15:29And then he put the fish right in the middle of the stuffing and he put salt and pepper on it and he'd bake it for however long it took to be done. And that was the  only fish I would eat. m just sitting here talking about it, my mouth is literally watering.  And we went home when my youngest was probably  10 and...
15:55youngest wanted to catch a bass because this was a big deal. He Grampy was going bass fishing. Yeah. And I said to my son, said, if you catch a bass, I said, talk Grampy and he'll let you bring it home and he'll cook it. And the reason I said, talk Grampy into keeping it is because my dad started doing the catch and release on bass when I was probably 25 and well moved out of my, parents' house. And my dad doesn't like to keep bass anymore. So, um, they get home and
16:25I said, do you have any luck? And Cameron says, I caught a five pound bass, mom. And looked at my dad and I said, is it in the cooler? And he said, sweetheart, it is. He said, and we're having big bass tonight. I almost cried. Like I had tears in my eyes because he does not do that anymore. So it was special just for me. And this is the thing about food that's so interesting because
16:55I'm sitting here thinking about this tearing up and food brings back so much to your feelings. I know it does. It does. And it's why I love talking to people like you who have the same experience.  I know it's  and that's you know kind of why I started like the Tea's Kitchen thing. It's because you know my dad had passed away and my mom was sick with  dementia and which she passed away last year but oh
17:25I have both of them are gone and my mom was an amazing cook. My grandmothers were amazing cooks. And it's like  that sort of, when I make things like that, it sort of brings part of them back, you know? And it, um it like stirs up memories in you. And sometimes when  I share certain recipes, I'll get people that'll say, um man, you know, this, haven't had this in years. This reminds me of my grandma.
17:50One of the nicest messages I ever got was from this lady and she said my husband and I used to cook together It was our thing and she's like we would watch your videos and we would make your recipes and we would you watch them together and then we would cook together and she said you know, he recently passed away and so it's when I watch your videos like it makes me think of him and it's keeping his memory alive and I just want to thank you and I Mean that just touched my heart. It's like something so
18:19that you think so simple as food can just really,  really do something special for people, you know? Yeah. Well, I feel like food is like music. You know, when you hear a song that you listen to with someone that you really cared about, it brings them back. If you make food that you shared with someone you love or they taught you to make it, it brings them back. Yep. So music and food are tied together. Right. Right.
18:50You know, and food is, it involves all five-year senses. So, you know, that's why it's, so strong. Like those food memories are so strong.  Um,  so, you know, it makes sense.  Yeah.  And I'm going to say it for the billionth time. I swear, if you don't know how to cook, you really need to learn how to cook for many, many, many reasons beyond being able to feed yourself. Yeah. There is so much.
19:18satisfaction in learning to make something from actual ingredients, not just sticking it, you taking the ingredients out of a box and putting it in the microwave. Yeah. Yeah. It just, I don't know. That's how  I always say that. That's how I show my love. I cook for people, you know? Yeah. And I'm not saying don't make something from a can if you're not feeling good and you need, if you need Campbell's soup and a can of ginger ale to not feel sick.
19:48go for it. Yeah. But if you make homemade chicken soup when you feel good and you have some in the freezer, that's probably going to make you feel way better than Campbell's soup from the start.  absolutely.  I know my husband had a bad cold a couple of weeks ago and  I was like, what do you want? Chicken noodle soup. I'm like, okay. So I made  homemade chicken noodle soup and he's like, man, it's just,  I mean, it's like the cure all, you know? um
20:15Someone's sick, someone passes away,  that's the thing you think to cook. oh My mother-in-law recently wrote, she was like,  I'm so hungry for eggplant dressing. And so  I made that for her and sent it over. um That's just how I show my love. Yes, and I think anyone who loves to cook probably does the same thing. I've done it all my life since I learned to cook in my mid-20s. Yeah. It's not for everybody. Some people say,
20:43I really hate cooking and understand that because there's things that I hate doing too, you know, so, but I just, can't relate to it because I just love it so much. Yeah. I was a late bloomer cooker. I, I just didn't, I didn't really cook until I hit 25, 26. Yeah. And then I was just like, I don't know. I kind of want to learn how to do some of this stuff. Mostly because I went, you know, when I would go to restaurants, I would try something new and I really liked it.
21:12But I knew that I wasn't going be able to afford to go to that restaurant all the time to get the thing I liked. And I was like, if they can make it, I can make it. That's probably what started it. Right. I know. And it's just, you know, you have to be nowadays, you have to be self-sufficient. You have to figure out how to take care of yourself, you know? Yeah. Especially with the cost of food. Oh my god. That too.
21:40You know, was telling my, we went on a little small vacation and I told my husband, I'm like,  and I'm not saying that like to brag or anything, but I just feel for some reason now that I'm, we cook so much at our house. And I mean, my husband and,  and the boys are, they hunt and they fish. So we have our own meat and all this, we grow our own garden.  And so now when we go  eat at a restaurant, I'm like, it's good, but I don't enjoy it as much as I do whenever I'm at home. I just prefer eating at home.
22:10I don't know why.  The first time I made something, the first time I made something that I had had at a restaurant and I did it right and I added the things I wanted to do to it and had it.  When I had that again at a restaurant, my first thought and I felt so snobby was I can, I've made this better. I can make this better than they do.  Yeah.
22:35I thought, man, how arrogant is that? And then I thought if it's not true, if it's true, it's probably not arrogant. know.  And I do. feel bad saying that, I'm just, I don't know.  They just can't get that home cooking right.  Nothing beats home cooking. And  I don't know if it's just because things are different.  I'm to the point now where we have deer meat and so  I don't really eat beef. And so now when we eat ground beef, I'm like,
23:05I feel like they're adding stuff to this because this doesn't  taste the same. don't know. just, it's just, I guess we've become accustomed to just eating at home and I just enjoy it so much more, you know? Yeah. And you're not wrong. Ground beef does taste different in the last year or two.  I don't. watery. Do you find that? I just don't like it. don't like how it tastes anymore. No, we went to the store and bought that. I don't know why. I think we didn't have time to defrost the deer.
23:33The deer ground beef that our deer ground meat that we had in the freezer  and I was like, it's really watery. I don't know Yeah, I'm adding filler to it or something. I don't know what they're doing. But I do know that if we have beef from  like If we were gonna buy a half or a quarter beef from a local farmer Mm-hmm, know butchered  that ground beef is fine.  Oh, yeah
24:00But the ground beef we buy at the store, I'm just like, God, how can you still eat this honey?  know.  When we were younger, my dad and my grandfather raised cattle. so we always just kind of growing up,  we would slaughter our own calf, you know, and  I grew up eating that until, you know, my dad was a deer hunter and my husband's a deer hunter. And now we have, we use that in place of the beef, you know, but I don't know, I guess we've just got, we're spoiled.
24:29Yes, you're fortunate. You're  fortunate.  So we were going to talk about uh cold foods for summer eating and you said you had a couple new ideas. So let's get those in. What were your new ideas for cold foods?  Well, I guess just, okay, so we were talking about, I know last time we talked about beating the heat and things just get, it gets so hot. And so to heat up your oven and your stove when it's really hot here is just unbearable.  But um I don't know if
24:58You have one like this, but I feel like for us,  I have this little electric griddle that we just plug in.  Do you have one like that?  I don't right now, but my mom had one when I was growing up. I know what you're talking about. And I feel like it just, it saves me so much. And I went thrifting the other day and cause my son, m oldest son just got a job and he travels a lot and he stays in hotels and stuff. And I bought one for him.
25:24And he's like, mom, it's so nice. I can just plug it in and grill burgers or whatever he wants, you know? But um I feel like that helps to not heat up the oven and stuff. also use my air fryer a lot. um But I was going to say, like, we do a lot of, I love like a cold pasta salad.  Me too. Yeah. And I mean, you can even get like a rotisserie chicken from
25:47from the store and  use that instead of heating up any. I mean, you can just make it completely that way and not have to heat up the stove or anything.  But yeah, pasta salads and um quick sheet pan meals. I know you have to heat up the oven, but you're only heating up the oven, you know? And it's quick. So we do a lot of sheet pan meals and um use a lot of the fresh vegetables and make salads. And I don't know, that just helps. um We also do this too.
26:16I don't know if you ever make this. call it spa water, but I think some people don't know what that means.  like, you know, if you go to a fancy spa to get a massage, they always have this fancy water or they have it in hotels.  The cucumber water. Yes. So we just slice up cucumbers  and mint from the garden if I have it, but you could leave that out. I do cucumbers, mint  and  lemon, like slices of lemon.  And I just put it in a pitcher, fill it up with water and we drink that throughout the summer and we all love it.
26:46And for some reason, I feel like it's a little more hydrating than just water, you know?  It's also really good if you just, if you have just a little bit left in the pitcher, not enough to get a glass,  pour it over your hands and splash it on your face. That's all good for your skin. Yeah, that's one. know  we, uh, the guys are,  we have a fishing tournament that we do every year. It's this weekend.
27:09It's fishing for memories and it's like to raise money for  Alzheimer's. And so the guys participate in it every year and they usually end up placing or whatever.  And so um I have a, we'll do ice chests and we'll put  Florida water in it  and those cooling towels and they'll bring it with them on the boat. And it just, it's so refreshing, but the lemon would be, the lemon and the cucumber would be a really good idea for them to do. Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. um
27:37Did you know you can do watermelon water? Watermelon? No, but I'm sure it's delicious. Yeah. All you gotta do is take some chunked up watermelon and put it in a food processor or a ninja or whatever thing you have and you spin it. And it makes like a chunky liquid. And that sounds disgusting, but just bear with me. If you want to put it through a strainer, you can, but you don't have to.
28:07You do half water, half that, half the smushed up watermelon, and  it's so good cold.  Yum. That's kind of how I make a watermelon martini.  I mean, that's not exactly hydrating, but you um Well, if you just hold the booze, it'll be very hydrating.  No, the guys sometimes they'll do that too. oh We make like watermelon balls.
28:34and put it in a Ziploc bag and they stick that in their ice chest and it's hydrating when they're out on the water like that, you know? Yeah, watermelon is the unsung hero  of the melon group because it's so good for you  and you can eat a whole one if you want. You'll probably be sorry the next day. Yeah. But you can eat as much watermelon as you want and you won't gain a pound. Wow. Yeah. Because it's sweet, but it's not it's not processed sugar. It's actually really good for you.
29:04Yeah, yeah.  So.  Yeah.  Yeah, I was so excited when I when I when you said you were going talk to me today, because I was like, yeah, we can talk about summer food. And then I went back and listened to the last episode and I was like,  we already talked about summer food last summer.  Damn it. It's OK. It's OK.  I just I get so caught up in what I'm thinking that I have to go back and listen if it's a guest I've had before.
29:31I'm like, I don't want to do the same episode twice because nobody's gonna listen to it again. Yeah. Well, I mean, there's different things you can come up with, you know, there's always something new to talk about.  I tell you what I've been loving is  my husband bought me a cooling pillow for Mother's Day. uh Oh, wow.  He knows me so well. You know, I'm in my late 40s, so I get hot.  I have a  cooling blanket on my bed and I use that every night and it's just amazing. um
30:00And so, yeah, that's what he bought me from, or one of the gifts that he bought me from Mother's Day was a cooling pillow. I'm like, this is genius. I love it. So does it, I don't know anything about these. Does it have a thing inside of it that keeps it cool? Is that how it works? um I'm assuming that's how it works. ah On this one, I don't know if they're all the same, but on this one, that one side of the pillow is cool. You can flip it to the other side and both sides are like really soft, but
30:28oh Yeah, the cooling side when you touch it, it feels really cool.  I May have to look into that because I am NOT in my mid 40s. I'm in my mid 50s  So I am I am over the hump as it were  But I do sometimes I wake up in the middle of night and I'm like god, it's so hot Mm-hmm. I hate this. So yeah, I'll have to look into that because that might help It's it's definitely worth it. And then now everybody wants the pillow. So
30:57We may have to order more. you have any idea of what price point they are?  Oh gosh, I don't even know. I have no clue  where he bought it or anything. I can maybe find out and I'll send it to you. Okay. worth it. And then this cooling blanket is worth it too. Now this,  it was a brand last year that reached out to me and said, hey, we want to send this to you  to try. And I was like, yes, absolutely. And it's  amazing.
31:25It's kind of thin and I mean over here, we, just can't have thick blankets. I love, I admire all the ladies that have the beautifully made beds with all the pillows and all the blankets. We can't do that here. No, you'll be a puddle in the morning. Yeah, no, we're not doing that. Yeah. Isn't it exciting when a brand reaches out to you? had that happen last week and I'm waiting on some, some deodorant samples from a company called Pretty Frank is the name of the company.
31:54Oh,  it's nice. I'm kind of picky about who, you know,  it just depends on what the terms are because some things I'm like,  if it's I'm not a beauty influencer and I'll get that all the time and I'm just like, this just doesn't fit with my audience. Nobody.  No, I mean, that's not my people, you know,  but are like sometimes they'll offer to send it and then it's like,  oh, and you also  have to give us all the rights to the video and you have to do all these crazy things. I'm like,
32:22ah No, thanks. That's not worth it for a  $20 product, you know? Yeah, no. about what it is, but if it's something really cool and it fits the brand, you know, fits what I'm all about, I'm like, oh yeah, I want to try that. Yeah, they emailed me and I thought it was, I'm going to  tell the truth here, I thought I was getting scammed because no one ever has emailed me out of the blue.
32:48It is. It's you have to be careful, you know? Yep. So I went and locked him up and I rolled back and I was like, um.
32:57Yeah.  And the person said, can we schedule a phone call? And I was like, okay, yes, a phone call would be great because then I can get a feel.  Right. And they were telling me all about this deodorant and it is all natural. They have, um, they have a baking soda recipe and a no baking soda recipe because some people have, they have a skin reaction to baking soda. Yeah.  And telling me all about this product. And I was like,
33:25Yeah, I would love to try this and yes, I would love to promote this. This is fantastic. Yeah. So, but I don't want to promote it, promote it. I want to say this is great until I try it. Right. But I the concept. That's usually what I'll tell them too. Like I'm happy, you know, they'll say, we'd love to send this for you to try. And if you feel like it's a good fit, you know, you can share and tag us or whatever. And I'm like, absolutely. But if they, you know,
33:51and I haven't even tried it, I just feel weird about sharing something with someone if I don't truly love it, you know? um And I tell that to people that, you know, like my little community, I'm like, if I share it, it's because I've tried it and I really like it. I'm not gonna share something that I don't like, you know? And if it's like local, even better. I love supporting like our little local community and all the Cajun products and stuff like that. That's like my thing, you know? Yeah.
34:20And the thing is in social media or digital marketing or whatever the heck they're calling it now, I swear what you and I do has had at least eight different names in the last five years.  The things that you start with are your voice and your integrity. Yeah.  And if you lose your integrity, you won't be  using your voice anymore because people won't listen. Exactly. Exactly. I know I have to be authentic to myself, you know.
34:48Yes, I did. don't know if you watched, I think since the last time we talked, I started this  Let's Rode series. Have you seen it on my  page? I don't know because I see you and I watch stuff, but I'm not necessarily like paying attention closely. So what is it? Well, I haven't shared it in it's been a while, but like that's something that I started. And man, has speaking of like authenticity and stuff. It just has brought me so much joy and it's so I think that's what connects.
35:18People is like whenever you share something that you really love or you're really passionate about and people can sense that, know? oh But like my following has grown so much since I started that. And what it was is just oh like when my grandmother, so my grandmother would always say, let's go Rode. And so it's like the Cajun French word for like just  going around town, riding around, going all over, you know? And she would say that, oh, let's go Rode. And so  I was on my stories one day and I said,
35:47I don't know if y'all have this, but this might sound cheesy, but I have a bucket list on my phone and it's all places like in Louisiana that I want to go to.  And if I find a place, I'll just put it on my phone. And I said, I want to start, I'd love to start a series where I just go to these places and people just flocked to it and they were like, yes, yes,  I love that idea. And so I came up with the name. I was like, how about we call it let's road eight. And so I started this series and that's what I'll do. I'll like,
36:15go to places on my Louisiana bucket list. So it's usually like I'll visit a town and I'll go to their coffee shop or their if they have a local thrift shop or antique store. um Like I'll try their a restaurant or if they have something that's like a museum or um I'll go to visit  if they have a grotto or something or a cool chapel. I'll go and I'll visit these places  and
36:42People have just loved it so much. Now, I mean, I'm a teacher. So once school is in, I don't have as much free time to do it.  But usually in the summer, you know, like this summer, I'll ramp it up again and start doing it. But that has just been such a cool thing. Like it's evolved so much and so many people and so many businesses have said, oh, wow, you brought so many people to our shop. And I don't know, it's just been so cool to do. It's something that has brought me so much joy. And it's, think the
37:11I've gained more followers just because it's who I am and it's a part of my culture and it just, think people enjoy that, you know? Yeah, it sounds like fun. And there's so little that is just pure fun once you get past 40. Yeah. Like kid feeling fun. Right. And that's the thing, I'll go to these places, most of the time I go by myself. I'll take the drive and most places are like an hour away and I'll just go visit and I just...
37:40I'll enjoy going to these places just by myself. Sometimes I'll bring my son, sometimes I'll bring my family. It just depends, you know, but,  and I've, there's so many places in your own backyard that you don't even know about. And  I'll get those messages from people that'll just say, I don't even realize we had this here. You know, you don't have to travel out of state. You can just go on these little day trips, you know? Yeah.  I meant to ask you last time and the time before that, and I didn't.
38:10You have kids. How many kids do you have? have two boys. So I have a 19 year old and an 11 year old.  So the 19 year old is uh off to college or off on his own now. He's off on his own. Yep. He went to, well, I mean, he still technically lives here, but he's never here cause he travels, but he went to electrical school and he works for this great company where he's doing like em industrial. So they go work on solar plants and stuff and he loves it. So.
38:40He'll be gone for  a few weeks and then he comes home a few days and he's back again.  Okay. And your youngest, um is he what, fourth grade, fifth grade? He is going to fifth grade.  Yeah. Does he help with cooking? Does he like cooking with you?  He does. He loves to cook. Yep. And sometimes he'll say, oh you know, let's do a video together. don't know, lately, yesterday I said...
39:05Why don't we do this video and he was like, no something can oh, I hope that doesn't Don't let it end if you can if you can gently nudge him keep it going Number one because it's so good for you guys to build those memories. But number two Boys men also need to know how to cook for themselves So if he keeps doing it with you, he is showing other males that it is totally cool to cook. Yeah
39:35And it's great too because my husband is a great cook and he cooks a lot.  he shows our boys and like my 19 year old, he'll call sometimes and say, hey, I'm making  whatever. know, mom, how do I do this? And I just kinda, or he'll send me a picture and say, is this look good? I'm like, yep.  Coming over, when's it ready?  Now, I mean, most of the time he's in a hotel room or  Airbnb. So it just depends on where he is and what he can cook.
40:03Yeah, he'll go to his girlfriend's house and he'll message me and be like, look what I made. And he's a great cook and he's only 19, but that's just from watching us and being around us, you know? Yeah, exactly.  All right. Well, I try to keep these to half an hour and we're good. 10 minutes over,  Christy. uh I adore you. Please keep doing what you're doing. is mutual. The feeling is mutual. Thank you so much. And people can find you at T's Kitchen on Facebook.
40:31Yep. I'm a Tease Kitchen on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.  You need to get on YouTube. I do. Well, I actually am on YouTube, but I haven't posted there in over a year just because  I don't understand it. I need to do some research on  the ins and outs of YouTube. I don't understand it as much as the other ones.  Okay. Well,  maybe one of your sons can  help you. Maybe.
40:57Yeah, because my youngest says that, Mom, you need to be on YouTube.  Well, yes, and he's not wrong. Again, you have the most beautiful speaking voice and you have a beautiful face  and you have a great attitude and you're talented.  Share it. Share it all over the place. Thank you. That means so much to me.  All right, Christy, thank you so much. As always, people can find me at a tinyhomesteadpodcast.com. ah
41:23I hope at some point we actually get to meet in person, Kristy. I think that would be so much fun. Me too. That would be awesome.  All right. You have a great rest of your day. Thank you. Same to you.
 

Front Forty Farm

Today I'm talking with Mary at Front Forty Farm.
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00:00listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking to a fellow Mary at Front Forty Farm in Missouri. Good morning, Mary. How are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm good. I don't talk to Mary's very often. I always think it's a very common name. Yes. think you're the second Mary I've talked to in over two and a half years on this podcast. Oh, really? I've always thought it's like a very boring square name.
00:30Yeah, I honestly, I was nicknamed Lynn when I was a couple weeks old because I'm named after both my grandmother's Mary Evelyn.  And my parents had a disagreement about which name should have come first. So they decided to nickname me Lynn.  And when I went to kindergarten, they did the roll call  and they were asked, you know, they were calling my given name.
00:57And I didn't know my name was Mary. I thought my name was Lynn. Oh, wow. And the teacher called my mom and she said, there's a girl in our class  and we don't know who she is. We think she's Mary. And my mom was like, uh okay, this is really weird.  And my mom's okay, describe the girl. And they described what I've been, what I was wearing and my hair color and that I was this tall, whatever.  And my mom said, well, yeah, that's Mary.  And
01:26They said she doesn't respond to Mary. And my mom laughed and she said,  of course she doesn't because she's never been called Mary. She's been called Lynn.  So there was a very big mix up the first day of kindergarten. then in high school, I switched back to Mary because I was like, it's my real name. I should use it.  my close friends for a long time would call me Lynn, but no one except my husband calls me Lynn now.
01:55Oh really? Interesting. Yeah, so names are crazy. Yeah. Okay, so the reason that I asked you to be on the podcast is because of your farm name Front 40. I'm assuming that is the opposite of Back 40. Exactly. My husband came up with it because he's like, well, you know, people are always saying out to the Back 40 or, know, whatever. And in the assessment plot, we are the front
02:24east 40 of the whole section. so there you go. Well, 47 actually, but yeah. Well, it got my attention. So I'm glad you called it front 40 arm. And it's three F's in a row. So that's cool too. So when did you, when did you start the farm? We moved out here in November of 22.
02:51Okay. And were you city folk or do you have? Oh yeah.  Um, yeah, we got married in October. He's a widower and I've been divorced for a very long time and we got married in October, bought the house in November and we lived in Independence, Missouri, which is, um, a suburb of Kansas city and the urban sprawl and all the crime and everything. So it wasn't a great place  and we wanted to be more self-sufficient. Yeah.
03:21I think COVID woke a lot of people up  and yeah,  so we did it. He sold his house, I sold my house  and me came out here. Did you guys have any farming or homesteading background before that? Not really. He was raised on more of like a farm.  They  had a milk cow and they butchered rabbits and things like that. And I grew up on Lake Michigan. uh
03:50So no, not really. had my first husband had to farm horses and  a few cattle. So I do a little bit  from that.  And we just kind of wing it.  We do a lot of praying for wisdom. Well, that's good because even when you've  been brought up in a homesteading or farming family,  you can't know everything. Rice can't.  So it's good that it's a learning process all the way through.  Yes. So you guys have highland cattle, you have sheep.
04:20You have chickens? They're angora goats.  Sorry, angora goats. They look like sheep. Oops. do.  You have chickens? Chickens and guineas and one turkey at the moment.  And am I missing an animal?  Dogs, cats, bees.  Bees, okay. Cool.  I think that's it.  Okay. I want to talk about the angora goats and your
04:46Your minis, but I said I wasn't going to ask about this, but I am going to ask about this because I'm a sucker.  Your dog,  dogs, both dogs?  have four altogether. Are two of the dogs the Wolfhound Australian Shepherd Crosses? Yes, they're a brother and sister. Okay. We were breeding Aussies and it was too  questionable how they would turn out, whether they would kill our
05:14chickens and we had two goats killed and  then we were like, okay, we're done with Aussies. They sold well, but it's like, yeah, we're not taking that chance anymore. we had one, it's hard to find a group of dogs that work well together, get along  and don't try to like chase the cattle or kill the chickens. And we had one.
05:40We had two Aussies and the one got hit by a car which only left one. So then I found on Frexlist the  Australian Shepherd slash Wolfhound cross, drove four hours over into Kansas  and got the female.  She's gray and white with blue eyes. And a week later went back and got her brother. Okay. The thing that I didn't ask you before we started recording about this  is was the cross
06:09an oopsie for the people that had them or did they breed them on purpose that way?  was an oops. Okay. That's probably why I've never heard of it before. Because I was like, that seems like a really interesting cross. Yeah, they're great dogs.  Yeah. They're big.  Like their head is twice the size of our Aussie just about. And the thing is, I have no idea what wolfhounds are like because I've never met one.
06:36I've seen pictures, but I've never actually been in contact with one. Are they, are they lovey?  they really good temperament? Oh yeah. They're  very lovable and have a great temperament. They're sight hunters  and you know, originally bred to fight wolves.  And so  we do have coyotes around, although we haven't really had any issues with them coming on our property,  but we thought it would be helpful to have  the great big dogs for that reason.  And, um,
07:07So yeah, they're pretty mellow, really. They're protective. We've had the female is more aggressive towards strangers than the male is. And so we have to be a little careful about that.  Yeah. And the other question I have is, this breed that you find yourself with,  are they as people focused as Aussies usually are? Because our Aussie is like,  she can't lay down without touching one of us.
07:34Yeah, they're not quite that bad.  If we do have an Aussie that's like that also, he's very needy.  but they are very,  um, yeah, people focused, I guess is the right phrase to use. They're happiest when they're with somebody. So if we're working out in the yard, they want to be where we are. If we're working in the barn, they want to be where we are. Yeah. Um, my husband was out cutting down ash trees yesterday in our tree line. Cause we got the emerald  ash borer bug.
08:04Oh, He cut down, I think, nine trees yesterday. Wow. And Maggie was outside and she was laying in the grass at the far end, as far as her lead could reach, laying in the grass, flat with her head on her front paws, just looking where he was. Like, I wish I could be over there with you. Right. Yeah. It's it's amazing to me how how much she wants to be with her
08:34people, her people. So and they all take a person like our female  Wolf on Ossie. My husband is her person. The male,  I'm his person.  Maggie's persons are whoever is home.  I have I've spent the majority of the time with her because I'm not I don't have an outside the house job. Oh, okay.
08:59So she doesn't listen to me as well as she listens to my husband because he's not here all the time. Right. It's typical kid behavior.  I think of her as like a three year old  kid. Right. And she's actually going to be six in August. So. But I said I wasn't going to bring this up because I would talk about Maggie the whole half an hour. I am not going to do that.  So tell me about the Angora goats first, please. Well, we were working on Fence Line.
09:29And we have a ton of poison ivy. And I was like, all right. And I am I'm horribly allergic to it.  And the cows eat some of it, but, you know, not all of it because they're fenced in and they can't get their heads through to to get the stuff. And I was like, all right, we got to do something about it. And we didn't want to spray with chemicals because of um floating in the air and getting the bees or we just try to be as chemical free on the farm as possible, no matter what animal we're talking about, including ourselves.
09:58Amen.  And uh they're like, OK, we can get sheep or goats, but they have to have a purpose besides just eating the poison ivy. And so we first got some Nubians that were given to us  and uh some Nigerian dwarves. And they were constantly getting their heads stuck in the fence, constantly getting their heads stuck, getting on stuff. And we were like,
10:28This is not,  these are not the goats for us.  So we sold those and then we're like, we saw a picture of Angora  and I've always been interested in learning to spin and weave and all of that kind of stuff. And so it's like, all right, well, let's, let's try Angora's. So we got them. I think we're down, we're down to five now. We were up to like 13 and we sold several this year. Um, and they're just very mellow.
10:58They're not like Nubians or Nigerian dwarfs. They don't get their head stuck. They're more like sheep. Their temperament and everything is more like a sheep. Yeah. And apparently they look like sheep because that's what I thought they were when I saw them on your Facebook page.  But you can milk them. We don't do that. I  did some milking of a Nigerian  before we sold them because the
11:25kid was only nursing on one side and we didn't want the other side to get infected. And I'm like, this is for the birds, milking these little tiny teeth. Not your jam, huh? No, no. I'd have to get like a milker or something. My hands aren't that strong after having carpal tunnel surgery on both of them. They're just not that strong to do that kind of stuff. So, so yeah, we shear them twice a year and we have yet to do anything with the, with the hair, with the fiber. So.
11:55oh Eventually, when we have time. When I have time, I guess I should say.  We'll get around to that. Do  you know if there's any market that you could sell it? There is around. It's like a niche market. There's actually a goat expo going on at the  state fairgrounds in Sedalia this week.  There's a whole bunch of fiber people that are going to be there.
12:22And we're hoping to get there. We're on vacation this week to get a whole bunch of projects done around the farm. And we're hoping to make it there one day to em kind of network with people. Yeah.  And so  there is a market for it, depending on if you sell it as is,  or if you're going to clean it  and  sending it off to get cleaned is very expensive. So that would be more cost effective to learn how to do it myself, but I have a full time job.
12:51And so does my husband. And so some of those  projects are kind of, they're gonna be down the road.  Well, at least you're learning a lot about it right now. Yes. Yep. Okay. And then you have Highland Cattle? Yes. Like a lot or a couple?  No, we only have, I think there's  13 or 14 out there. em And two that are cross.
13:20that we're going to  three calves, we're going to pick up two more calves this weekend to bring in some more bloodlines,  heifer calves. Nice.  I don't want you to answer me exactly, but I'm assuming those heifer calves were not inexpensive. No,  no.  No. Because no calf is inexpensive right now in 2026.  Especially Highlands.
13:50And so it's like, all right, some other projects we were wanting to get done are on the back burner now till probably next year because we're buying those two. And then, um, my husband's son who had purchased a couple of cows, cause he wanted to get into the raising his own beef. Um, but I don't think he realized Highlands grow slower than other cattle breeds. So you have to wait longer to butcher them. So you return it's not as quick. And so we're buying his cows also.
14:20from him. So do you, do you not breed your Highlands? No, we do. We have a really great bull.  Um, but we only have, we have different registrations like the ACA registration, American Highland Cattle Association  registration is cream of the crop.  And we only had two of those cows to breed to, to make that herd bigger.  Uh, which the two calves we're getting this weekend are the ACA.
14:50And then we have the  HHCA registration, is Heartland Highland Cattle Association registration. And we've got two of those cows. And then we have their calves. And then we sold a couple of um calves this spring, heifer calves. And we have a couple bull calves, but they're like a dime a dozen and they're hard to move right now. Yeah.
15:17So our Aca bowl is great. We have people bring their cows here  so he can breed them. Well, that's handy. Yeah.  Good job, buddy. Keep doing your job. Yeah, he's great. So I'm assuming that that brings in a little bit of income. A little bit. I mean, we don't charge a whole lot, but selling them definitely does. Yeah. Yeah. But we don't we don't gouge people.
15:46I mean, there's people out there that ask, you know, six, seven, $8,000 for an unregistered heifer, which I think is absurd. So we don't do that to people. That's some expensive milk. Yes. And you can milk Hyland's. We just don't. We are not that hands on with ours. Like we don't halter break them and we don't brush them. And we've had, we do have one that she's I think two and a half now.
16:16And my husband, there's videos on our Facebook page of him rubbing her down and giving her attention. And, but it got to the point where she didn't fear him. And so when he was done rubbing, she would horn him like, I want more.  And we were like, yeah, that's, yeah, that's not okay. And so we don't want that  much hands on to where they're too comfortable with us.  makes sense.
16:46Yeah. I mean, it's fine when they're calves, but once they're older and their horns grow, then it's a problem.  Yeah. Do you guys have kids?  You have a son  or he has a son. They're all grown and gone.  Yeah. So you're on daughter that still lives at home, but all the rest of them are grown and gone. So you're almost empty nesters. Yes.  Yeah, we are. And I was very afraid of it for a long time because I felt like I didn't know what I would do.
17:17once the kids were out. And honestly, I did my job and I did it right. And now my job is to figure out what I am doing. Right. What do you want to do now? Yeah, I want a podcast. I'm doing it. I it. you go. uh It's It's really fun. I feel like I feel like I'm doing it for me because I'm so curious about everything.
17:43But I've had so many people say to me, don't stop doing the podcast because we're learning so much from it. Oh, that's great. And I'm like, okay, well, I'm not going to stop it. We're good. Good. Good to hear. Yeah, it's been great. And I say this to everybody, whether I say it on the recording or not,  I appreciate everyone who takes the time to talk with me. Well, I'm flattered for the invite. yeah.  Good. Because
18:12I just, don't want people to think that I don't have any appreciation for the fact that you guys take time out of your busy lives to spend half an hour with me.  Oh no. Yeah. I'm honored to do it actually. Yeah.  Good. All right. So,  um, we talk about chickens a lot on this podcast. So I'm just going to say,  do you have chickens for eggs or do you  use them for meat? Do you use them for both? And do you sell the eggs? Both.
18:41All of the above. em Yes, we butchered our first batch of chickens last year  and we got the heritage  breeds to butcher instead of the crosses that grow faster.  And I don't think we would do that again just because  first of all, you have to wait like  16 weeks or whatever it was em for them to be  big enough to butcher.
19:09and move them around and fresh grass and everything. That was a pain in the butt for that long. I'd rather just do the eight weeks and be done with it.  Plus they didn't have nearly the amount of meat on them that the hybrids that you see in the store have. So that was a learning experience doing that. Our neighbors helped us because they used to do  butchering like hundreds and hundreds of chickens every year. And so they were gracious enough to help us and teach us how to do it.
19:38And so that was a good learning experience. And then yes, we do  sell eggs. I don't really market it much just to people we know or,  you know, whatever. Yeah, we have 14 chickens and we have a dozen eggs a day consistently. So we sell a dozen eggs when we have them in our farm stand right now. I think there's four dozen out there because we don't go through, we don't go through eggs fast in our house. Right.
20:08I really would love to sink the money into another 50 chickens because I know the eggs would sell. But egg prices are coming down at the store and we sell our eggs for $5 a dozen. I'm like, I don't know if it's smart. Not everybody wants to do that. Keith takes them to work and sells them to all of his guys at work. we have like, I think we're down to 42 chickens because the dogs have killed some.
20:36But we've got some baby chicks coming up. So we get,  when we can find them all, because ours free range,  we get about two and a half dozen a day, I think, something like that. And we charge $350.
20:51Nice. I am very much looking into buying an incubator because we buy an incubator when it's on sale, you know, like 12 egg incubator. And then we find someone who laying eggs, hatching eggs for sale. It would be way cheaper than buying already laying hens. Right. So I'm doing the research on that now. Yeah, that's a good idea. And that way if we do one.
21:19chickens we have a way to get them at like you know a buck and a half a chick instead of six dollars a chick or whatever they're selling right now. yeah definitely good idea. I was told by someone a couple weeks ago that the chickens the baby chicks  at  Tractor Supply you know chick days.  Some of them were up to ten dollars a chick and I was like that is bullshit that is not okay.
21:46That must be some of the fancier breeds, like maybe that lay the colorful eggs, I'm guessing. I don't know, but I am not. I can't imagine a circumstance where I would spend $10 for a three-day-old chick. Yeah, that is... I'm guessing it's a fancy breed. Yep. And I can remember, and I think it was more than a couple years ago, somebody pointed out that I was probably underestimating how long ago it was.
22:14But I can remember at least 10 years ago, you're going to tractor supply and they'd have chicks for like a buck and a half piece.  Oh yeah. They do that towards the end when they just want to get rid of them. Cause I bought a bunch at our local, it's not a tractor supply, it's bomb guards, but  they had them for a dollar each just to get rid of them. Yeah. And if I could get, you know, 50 of those at a buck a piece, I'd probably do it. Yeah. And you can, a lot of the, um, hatcheries, if you're wanting to get, um,
22:44Butcher chickens, they'll do that for like a dollar each or a dollar 50 each. I'll have to look into it. But I still think an incubator situation would be really fun because we've never done that before. there's an interest learning curve fun factor to getting an incubator. Oh, yeah, there definitely is. I did not want baby chicks this year. I wanted the hens to do it all. And so we had five hens.
23:12setting in this  nesting box my husband made that had like six slots in it.  And they were doing so great, stayed on there. The first hen, the baby chick hatched. She decides to get off. I guess motherhood was not for her. So I found the baby chick. It was cold by the time I got home from work, stuck him under a light and then put all the eggs in the incubator and hatched, hatched all those out.
23:42And then a week later, another hen does the exact same thing.  And it's like, oh, you chickens. It's so bizarre to me that these chickens get broody. And they get broody when you don't want them to. They don't get broody when you do want them to.  And then they're either the best moms ever. And you can put even other chickens, babies in there with them. Right.  They're right on it.
24:11Or they're like the one you're talking about and they're like, eh, this is more work than I thought it was going to be. Yeah. Yeah. We've had a couple that have been really broody in the barn and we keep taking their eggs out from under them and they've been there for weeks and they're laying together really, really close. And then I've had other ones that are broody and to the point where they must not be getting off and eating because their combs start getting really pale and they just start.
24:41looking bad. so I'll take them and I'll throw them outside, you know, to get them as far away from the nest as I can. So that maybe they forget about it for a minute and do some foraging and then they'll start looking healthy again.  Yeah, they're just just for anybody listening. Chickens are not the smartest animal on the planet.
25:04And silkies are the dumbest of the chicken breeds from what I've heard. They are.  But they're funny looking. They're beautiful, but they're dumb.  Turkeys are worse. think turkeys are worse. Yes. Okay.  We butchered turkeys last year too. Yeah, this  is going to sound really bad, but I'm going to say it anyway.  When we take animals from the wild and we spend years domesticating them, which is how we have
25:33turkeys that we raise on farms and chickens we raise on farms.  We breed out their smarts. Right. Because turkeys are not stupid animals in the wild. They manage to survive. Right.  All on their little own. And I don't, I don't think chickens are native to the States. I think they were brought over from Asia. Probably. Yeah.
25:57I'm assuming that the chickens in Asia were wild at one point too and they managed to survive or we wouldn't have them here. So  when you breed the wild out of an animal, think that you breed their smarts out of them too. Well, it's like that with everything  for bees, for example, we have tried to be hands off a little bit and let  nature take its course.
26:22We don't feed them sugar water every single week like  they tell you to in any class you go to. I had read somewhere that sugar water em actually lowers their immune system. And that's when mites  and  things like that can come in and get in the hive and start infecting the bees.  Yes. And so we try to be as hands off as possible with all of our animals because it's like, well, they survived.
26:49long before man started intervening and doing things and just kind of let's leave them a little bit more the way God intended them to be. So that's what we try to do with everything. I think that's smart.  And the other thing that people don't know about chickens is chickens don't have any self-regulation when it comes to eating because the way that they get food is they spend their days pecking at the ground for insects.
27:19and seeds  and bugs. I'm sorry, insects and bugs are the same thing. Whatever.  That's how they eat when they're left to their own devices. So when you fill up a chicken feeder with pellets or with the crumble,  they're going to eat all they can eat until it's time to go to sleep. Right.  And this drives me insane because my husband will fill the chicken feeder to the top. And then they won't go out and forage.
27:46And  it'll be gone in a day and a half. I'm like, dude, only fill it halfway. And then they'll go out and  pack for bugs and seeds. And he finally got it and he only filled it halfway. And about a week later, I said, how are the chickens doing with having half rations? And he said, they're fine. So  heads up, you don't have to fill a chicken feeder all the way up if they're outside, because they'll eat outside too. Right. Because you'll get...
28:14some chickens that they just want to stay in the coop. They don't want to go out and forage. And then you'll have the ones that are out at the crack of dawn because that's what they like to do is be out foraging and yeah. have two right now that keep escaping the run and they destroyed our raised bed of baby radishes. Oh bummer. I am  so pissed off about this because I was really looking forward to pickled radishes like a week from now.
28:43They destroyed the bed a week or so ago. Bummer. And my husband actually rigged a thing to keep them from flying over the fence. And they have figured out that if they just go to this one spot, they can still get out. And I'm like, OK, maybe they're not as dumb as I think they are. Right. Oh, but they won't. There's only two now that are getting out and they don't go after the garden. So we're OK. Right. Well, that's good. That's good. Yeah, animals aren't.
29:11uh anywhere near  as dumb as people think they are. We've learned a lot with the cattle. I had no idea that they're as intelligent as they are until we actually got them and started observing them. For example, when we butchered our first one a couple of years ago, um we had a person come to the farm and put him down and dress him out and everything and then haul him off. And as soon as he left,
29:39all the whole rest of the herd started bawling  because they knew something had happened.  And we have our own train station of sorts  in the back 40 of our front 40  and where we take remains and everything.  And they followed my husband and the tractor as he was hauling the remains out to that spot, moaning and bawling the entire way.
30:09and then stayed out there the whole rest of the day. Way to go making it harder on you guys, cows, jeez. Well, it reminded me a lot of how elephants are and how they  examine a corpse and bones when they find it and they touch it and they smell it. And that's exactly what they did with the remains of the first bull that we had butchered. And they mourned. And it was shocking, but
30:39awe-inspiring. It was just interesting. It's really interesting because I've heard exactly the opposite kind of stories too where somebody butchers a cow or a bull on the property and the other cows don't care. They don't even notice. Maybe it's a breed thing. I don't know. I no idea. Or maybe it's just a them thing. Maybe because they've done it with, we've only butchered two so far and they've done it both times. Yeah, I don't know.
31:08Maybe it's because our herd isn't enormous  and so they're a close-knit group. that's why. That could be, yeah. I don't know. would...  This sounds really strange. I would love to have a way to see how animals think  and we just will never know. Yeah. And to go back to Maggie, because why not end the episode where we started, um with my dog.  I can read her like a book,  you know, she...
31:38She has facial expressions that tell me what she needs. She has sounds that she makes that I know what they mean. It's no different than when you have a baby, anyone who's had a baby and nursed a baby. You know that there's a certain cry that they do that tells you that they are hungry. Right. And I used to call it the la la cry because it sounds like la la la la instead of wah wah wah wah.
32:05And the way I cry was when she was wet or poopy. And somebody said to me one time that they didn't understand when I just knew  that she didn't need to be changed, she needed to be fed.  And I was like, you can't hear the difference in her cries? And they were like, no. And it's a thing. It's a thing with moms. You recognize the different sounds that your child makes. an animal that you spend time with, you know what they're telling you.
32:34Right.  And they know,  I'm going to go back to cattle for a second. They know their names. All of ours have a name. They know their name when I say it. They know when the stranger's here because they won't come to the fence for treats. If there's a stranger, some of them will because they're too food, food focused. But we have other ones that they'll be like,  uh, we don't know who that person is. So we, we aren't coming.
32:59Yeah, we've got a barn cat who absolutely goes and hides when somebody pulls in the driveway.  And he's the oldest one. He's like  seven or eight years old and he's a big black fixed tomcat.  But he is just scared if it's somebody he doesn't know, he's like, nope, I'm out.  So  again, I wish that I could understand how  animals think and
33:29They do think, but they don't have any concept of the future. As far as we know. As far as we know. In everything that scientists have studied, which is not as much as I would like them to study, uh we think that they don't have any concept of the future. It's just, I'm here. The things I need to accomplish today are stay alive. And the way to stay alive is to eat food and drink water and get out of the weather.  And my second thing is to take
33:57the fact that I'm still alive and make more of me.  That's it. Yeah, I don't know.  It's hard to say. I'm sure there's  some thought process besides just instinct.  God created them for a purpose and they have a brain for a reason.  Yeah. So again, I'd love to know. I would love for just an hour to be inside of my dog's brain and be like, how does she think?
34:26And only an hour because I think it would be so foreign to me that it would ruin my own brain I don't think I could even handle an hour. Yeah, maybe just start with five minutes. I Don't know that five minutes would be enough for me because I would be too curious to know where that was gonna go. Mm-hmm. Yeah Anyway, this was really fun Mary where can find where can people find you on? Are you on face? You're on Facebook front 40 farm
34:52On Facebook, it's the big C with the F to the third power. That's the logo. Cause there is another front 40 farm. oh Um,  and we're in Holden, Missouri. Yeah. And I have, we do have a, also have a tick talk,  um, page where we post some videos, some fun videos and stuff. Okay. I have questions about tick tock, I will ask you after we stop recording. Okay.  All right.  Uh, as always people can find me at a tiny homestead podcast.com  Mary, thank you for taking the time to talk with.
35:21I really enjoyed it. did too. Thank you. Alright, bye. Bye.
 

Outlaw Farm Alpacas, LLC

Today I'm talking with Steve and Jennifer at Outlaw Farm Alpacas, LLC. You can also follow on Facebook.
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00:00listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Steve and Jennifer at Outlaw Farm, Alpacas, LLC in Ohio. Good morning, you guys. How are you? Good morning, everybody. Doing well.  I love that. No one has ever said good morning, everybody,  on any episode of my podcast so far. Thank you for doing that. I'm glad I'm the first.
00:29Uh, were you in radio by any chance? I'm a performer and I own a production company, so I'm pretty familiar with this kind of stuff. Yeah. I figured you had to have something in your background because most people would never have thought to have said that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So the first thing I always ask is how is the weather where you are and you're in Ohio. So how's the weather in Ohio this morning? Well, it's a little overcast today. It says it's 60, but it certainly doesn't feel like it.
00:58It is raining here in Minnesota this morning and it has been overcast for the whole week. I am praying that we get some sunshine tomorrow because  I am a, I'm a sunshine girlie. I really do like it when the sunshine is pouring in the windows. And this week I've gotten up every day and watch the sun come up, what little sun there was, and then it's been gray. So I am ready for it not be gray for a little bit. think we have a couple days of rain in store for us here then before we hit some sunshine again.
01:28Yes,  I this spring has been so weird and I don't dare to complain about it  because the last two springs here all it's done is rain all of May and into the first half of June and it really ruined our farm to market garden  So I'm not complaining I'm just saying it would be nice to see the Sun peek out a little bit this weekend. That's all I'm saying  Okay, so you guys how did you get your name number one?
01:57Well, let me tell you, um we bought this place um about eight years ago  and it's located on Law Road in Grafton, Ohio. um we were  brainstorming for a name and we're thinking of crazy different names we could name an alpaca farm. And I said, what about outlaw farm? And she says, what do mean? We're not outlaws. And I said, you know, but we're on Law Road. So that made a lot of sense and it stuck. we ran with it.
02:25And again, it's attention grabbing. of the reason I love this so much is because part of the way I find people to talk to is by you guys' names. And I saw Outlaw Farm, Alpacas, and went, oh yes, I must find out about them. Okay, so when did you get into this? Well, we got into it around 2018. We bought this place and...
02:52It was, it was really in need of some work. So we cleaned up the old barn, which was built in like, I say the late 1800s, a lot of cleanup. We cleaned it up, made it look nice. And we thought, yeah, let's get a couple of animals because it's such a nice barn. We could use some more pets because we have the land now. Well, my wife has a cousin that has alpacas as pets. So  she mentioned alpacas. She contacted her cousin and they said, you know, we'll sell you a couple.
03:22So we bought four pets,  two males, two females,  and  it just went from there. um She started researching alpacas and the fiber and the showing and  the breeding. And she just wanted to make it a business because  she was set to retire in a couple of years and she wanted something to do. So that's, that's basically how it started.  minor midlife crisis situation.  Small one.
03:50I just did the same thing almost three years ago because my youngest was going to be moving out,  youngest of four,  and I didn't want to face emptiness syndrome without a project. So I started this podcast. So I'm right there with you. Awesome.  I get it. It's really hard when your life changes in a big way and women tend to find projects and I won't say what men tend to find. And that would be a very terrible thing to say.
04:18I don't think that men necessarily find projects. I think that men find distractions. I'd have to disagree because I have a lot of projects. Because of the farm, he has a lot of  I mean the men who are enlightened. You're enlightened, Steve. We'll give you that today. You are an enlightened soul. Awesome. Thank you. So uh do you guys, I want to talk about the alpacas because I haven't really talked in depth with anybody about them.  But do you have other animals as well?
04:47Yes, we right now we're at 34 alpacas and we are expecting nine creas, which are the babies. Anytime I have our first one actually do now and they'll birth all the way through probably the end of September. But we also have five goats, just pets, all males, weathers and then 30. Oh, let me see where we at. We're at about 40 chickens, I think, and six ducks.
05:15aside from numerous dogs and barn cats and the like. Whatever else shows up on the property, know.  Yeah, I saw you have barn kittens right now.  Yes, we seem to have. had a mama kitty that kind of hung around and now her kids came seem to come here and live and.  Add more barn kittens to our farm, so I think we just have two. Those are the only two I have seen so far.
05:44But there could be more.  For everybody listening, if you want to see some really cute kittens, go to Alpaca's Farm,  the Facebook page, because there's a couple photos and they are very sweet. um I am a sucker for a barn kitten. We have two females right now who I suspect are pregnant.  And if they are, they're probably due at the very end of June versus July. And I am so looking forward to barn kittens again, because we haven't had any in a couple of years.
06:14They're lot of fun. They're cute. It's fun to watch them grow up. They keep the mice population down too.  Oh my God.  Yes.  When we bought this place back in 2020, it was August  and the big old pole barn that was on the property was empty except for all these little packets that were ripped open on the ground in the pole barn. And come to find out it was  rat poison basically because
06:44We had a pretty good mouse issue going on in that pole barn that we didn't know about.  And so  my husband was out puttering around in the fall and he had opened up one of the drawers on the old workbench in the pole barn. And he came in and he said, do you have a minute? And I said, yes, what? And he said, come with me. So I walk out to the pole barn and he's like, be quiet and just look, just look. And he opens this little drawer in the workbench.
07:11and there's four little tiny field mice babies all curled up sleeping in the drawer.  He says, uh we need to get some cats. He said, cause where there's that many babies, there's lots more mice.  So, okay. So we ended up getting like three cats and then we had a stray show up. She was a female. She had babies.  I think she had three or four litters in a couple of years. And one of her daughters had a litter and
07:39The thing with barn cats is that barn cats flake off or they get killed by cars. And so  every year we lose a couple. So I'm very excited that we have kittens coming, I hope.  We don't keep tons of cats, but  when there's new babies, it's fun  and everybody likes a kitten. So we usually find homes for them pretty easily.
08:03Yeah, we try to do. I mean, there's some people interested in the kitties and when they're old enough, I'm sure we can  we can get them some good homes. Yeah, I just I get real antsy when I talk about the barn cats because the big thing is they and neuter your pets and I agree completely stay and neuter your pets unless you intend to breed them as a business. But when it comes to barn cats, barn cats have a job. Yeah, yeah, it is not the same premise is not the same thing so.
08:33I try to walk a fine line between, yes, have millions of animals on your property that you can't afford  and that aren't being treated well. Don't do that. That's not a good plan. Have a plan.  So anyway, ah what kind of dogs do you have on the property? Well, we have four German Shepherds and we have a Dalmatian, which is the oddball.  Is it a girl or a boy? Girl.  What's her name? You'll never guess. Purdy?
09:02Yep. I love it. I have never seen a Dalmatian puppy in person. Wish I could say that I had because I bet they are freaking adorable as the They are the most adorable little puppies. As the spots start to pop out. Yeah. Yeah. Because Dalmatian puppies are white when they're born, right? Right. Yes. Yeah. And then their spots come in slowly.
09:29Right, about two, three weeks in, they start getting their spots. Yeah.  See, I'm such a freaking encyclopedia of worthless information.  I know that about Dalmatian dogs, never actually met a Dalmatian dog in person,  but I know nothing about alpacas. So, go fig. So tell me all about alpacas. Start from the beginning. Well,  I guess the main thing to know is they are actually quite
09:59shy but curious. They're not an animal that you can just always walk up to on pet unless they really get to know you and really trust you. But once they do, they are a super, super sweet, calming animal. um That's the one thing that I find attracts a lot of people to them is their calming nature. Just they're very gentle, they're very curious. um you know, once you get to once they get your trust, you know,
10:29They come up to you and approach you.  A lot of people use them, um obviously, for their fiber. Their  fiber is much  warmer, actually, than wool. um It doesn't have landlin in it, so it lacks that itchiness that you get when you wear wool. So a lot of people that are allergic to wool um can actually go ahead and wear alpaca-fibered products.
10:58It doesn't cause that itchiness or allergic reaction. Well, I didn't know that. Yeah. Um, their fibers are also hollow. So that's why they are able to stay, um, cool in the summer most of the time, unless it's a heat wave and then warm in the winter, traps that heat inside those hollow fibers and keeps them warm. Uh, their fibers also moisture wicking. So.
11:23You'll never see it. Well, you might see a soaking wet all pack of it stands out in a good thunderstorm. But most of the time it just rolls off it like it has a rain X on it. um, see what else they're pregnant for almost a year. Oh That's true. Um, let's say I'm trying to think. Um, as far as there, let's see, they're pregnant pregnancy. So we have nine girls that are pregnant now. Uh, they are pregnant for pretty close to a year.
11:53we start watching it about 340 days of pregnancy.  And  usually they deliver before that year is up. So usually about a good 11 and a half months.  They have one baby at a time. um Did they never have twins?  Rarely. They very rarely have twins. And usually  if they do happen to get pregnant with twins, they lose that pregnancy prior to  full term. Okay. Or uh
12:21If they do have two, they're extremely small and a lot of times don't survive. um There have been cases where they do and they're fine. But um for the most part, rarely do they have twins that do survive.  And the babies are called creas. C-R-I-A.  Do you know why, what, do you know anything about that word, where it comes from? I have no idea, honestly. Okay. I didn't know if it was Latin or Greek or something. So. Yeah, no idea. Okay.
12:52How big is a crea when they're born? Usually anywhere between about 15 pounds to generally about 20. We've had them as small as 10 pounds and as large as 22. So it can be varied, but usually generally I would say, you know, 15 to 20 pounds is about your average, at least for our farm. How much does an average mama alpaca weigh? Females generally are anywhere between
13:21140 to 160 pounds. So they're about the size of a deer. Yeah, they're not super large. They are, you know, they're part of the camelid family. so llamas would be like the next size up and they're generally like 250 to 350 pounds. Okay. Where most alpacas, you know, once they reach adulthood or anywhere between 140 and 175, 180, or take.
13:49Okay, I thought they were bigger than that for some reason. That is good to know because  I,  we don't have room for an alpaca. If we did, I would actually consider it now knowing that they don't get as big as llamas. No, they're not as large. They're definitely not as tall.  And, um, they're just, you know, once they look bigger, guess,  um, you know, especially we just had our short on Wednesday, but,  um, they look really large when they're all full fleeced.
14:18Cause some of them will have, you know, five or six inches of fiber on them. So it makes them look quite large. And then once they get shorn down, you actually see how small they actually are. mean, yeah, they're probably about the size. I would say probably about the size of a deer actually when they're shorn. Not real large. Yeah. Um, have a question about their fur hair, whatever you call it.  Um, if you were to walk up to an alpaca that you know really well,
14:47and lean in and sink your fingers into their fur on their shoulders. Do your fingers sink in or do they stay on top of that six inches of fur? Oh, they sink right in. So it's not real dense. It just depends on the alpaca. Some of them have much denser fiber. I do have some that are extremely dense, but you can get your fingers in there and wiggle them down to the skin.
15:16Some of them are just finer. you know, more, um, you know, they're, they're fibers finer, not quite as dense as others. So, you know, it varies. Okay. I, I've never actually pet an alpaca. I have pet llamas and I don't really enjoy it because the llama that I met, he was very friendly, but he was also very skittish. Like he really wanted you to talk to him and pet him. But the minute you moved, he would kind of startle.
15:44And it made me real nervous because I was like, you  going to spit at me or are going to bite me? Because I don't really want either. Yeah.  I think llamas are more prone to spitting than alpacas. Alpacas do spit,  but it's not generally at people. It's generally at each other. um The females tend to spit at each other,  you know, especially pregnant because, you know, they want the food. um
16:12So if you get spit at, you're probably just got to gotten the crossfire of it. Um, and boys, the males tend to spit each other, especially, um, this time of year when, um, it tends to be breeding season, um, for those that are not already currently pregnant. Um, they do spit a lot of each other just basically to, you know, fight for that position, so to speak. It's so gross. Oh my goodness. It's the best smelling stuff.
16:41And  I understand that the creator gave every animal a way to assert dominance and defend, but what a gross way to assert dominance and defend. Yeah, it's not real pleasant. you know, as far as Elpac is, that is pretty much their only defense.  They are a predatory animal, so they really don't have any natural defenses. So a of farms.
17:09you know, then have the guardian livestock animals, especially if they don't close theirs in, you know, at the night and during nighttime. So, but we do close ours and some farms don't, um, ours don't seem to mind it. They kind of just put themselves away most of the time when it starts to get dusk and then I just closed the gates. So, that's helpful. Yeah, very helpful. Okay. So tell me about the babies. Are the babies, um, like,
17:39like goat babies who are basically up and nursing within an hour or so, or does it take them a little longer? Generally, rule of thumb is they should be up, standing and nursing within about 30 minutes. Some do take a little bit longer, especially if the mama is, know, first time mamas, they're kind of a little unsure about what's going on. But you know, our season, season mamas do really well. They, they get those babies get up.
18:07We kind of do help get them standing up and help them find, you know, where to nurse. And once they tend to find that they're kind of pretty much on their own.  Um, one thing about alpacas, unlike,  um, dogs or some other livestock is they do not,  um, clean their babies.  Oh, so, um, I kind of, I like to be home and around when I know it's definitely going to be birthing time.
18:36Um, because for any particular reason, that generally, once they start the birthing process, you know, the placenta does break, but if for any particular reason it doesn't, that baby just basically suffocates because mom, unlike dogs or other cats or whatever, they don't clean that baby off and lift that placenta off. So, huh. Yeah. I had no idea. Yeah. That was a, that was something I really, I mean, I didn't know that either. And, um, but we've.
19:06Again, pretty good at  delivering them and,  um, taking a couple of classes at Ohio State University on ways to help if there seems to be a uh issue that arises. But, um, for the most part, it goes pretty well. And, know, they, they just like other livestock you want nose and toes. You want that Superman position coming out. Oh yeah.  And, um,  once that happens, then, you know,  baby is born and,
19:35We kind of just dried off real well  and try to get it up and standing and nursing usually within 30 minutes. Okay. Thank you for all that. Cause I just learned a couple of things I wouldn't have even thought to ask, let alone  knew the answer to. So I love my podcast so much because I learned so many new things from you guys. I'm so  thankful  and grateful that you spend the time to talk to me.  Um,
20:02So anyone who's listened to my podcast knows that I am a sucker for babies. So I must ask, do the babies let you handle them? Do they let you hold them and pet them or are they really skittish and all they want to do is be with their mom? It kind of depends. I have some babies that like the minute I walk in the barn, they walk right up to me and they want like little kisses on their noses.
20:28And you have other ones that are just like, take one look at you and they run the other way. So it just kind of depends.  Um,  but for the most part, we had, you let's say we had eight babies last year and I would say only two of them are probably, I don't want to say they're not people friendly because once you, once you grab them or get ahold of them, they're perfectly sweet and fine, but they're just not their personality is not to come up to you and initiate, you know, loving or whatever. But for the most part.
20:58Um, I,  it's hard because they're cute as can be.  I try not to be too handsy with them.  Um, especially males because they do have what's called berserk male syndrome. Okay. So as you know, if you over handle a, a male CREA, especially as they become like a yearling,  um, they
21:20can get this syndrome, is basically they've imprinted on you and they think you are an alpaca and then they have no problem trying to assert dominance over you. ah And it can be quite dangerous,  especially if you have a very large male. So I do try to make a very conscious effort not to be too hands on with them, but hands on enough that I can do what I need to do, give shots, weigh them, administer any medicines that they might need.
21:50Um, but for the most part, try really hard not to be too handsy with them.  So  I'm assuming that  you sell their fiber. So is there a market for their fiber?  Um, there is, I do have,  um, one particular farm in Tennessee that, um, she buys quite a bit of a certain color fibers  of our alpacas.  Um, the rest of it, honestly, I send to a fiber mill.
22:18And  we have yarn and rug yarn  made from it.  And then we turn around and make products from that or we sell the yarn in our our farm shop or online. OK, so can people find a way to order it from you on your website? Yes, you can.  Once you go on the website, it does have a link  on there for our Etsy store at the moment.  And then.
22:47If you're um in our area,  then we do have um a shop set up where you can come and take a look at our yarn and purchase if you'd like. Okay, awesome. I'm all over the place  today with questions because again, haven't really talked to anybody about all packets. um Ohio gets hot in the summertime.  I know it does  because I've driven through Ohio as a kid. Well, I driven, I've ridden in my parents' car.
23:17through Ohio as a kid, because my grandparents lived in Illinois and my parents and I lived in Maine.  And Ohio in July and August gets  hot.  Yes.  So how do the alpacas handle that with their fur? it because their fur is  hollow? Do they stay cool?  Sometimes it just depends. Some of them can, like the lighter color alpacas can  tolerate a little bit more. ah But we do run barn fans.
23:46And a lot of them,  uh,  in the summer, pretty much 24 seven, unless you get a nice cooler day. Yeah. But they'll go out in the morning and they'll hang out in the pastures in the morning and munch. And when they start to get warm, they come in and lay in front of the fans.  And then,  uh, evenings, when it starts to get a little bit cooler, they will.  Um, head back out to pasture. So, but, um,  you know, you can  sometimes I hose off their legs, their bellies, their necks. never want to hose off the.
24:16backs,  then that just kind of like traps the heat in their fibers. they do like the hose. um They do like to stand in their water buckets because the water is nice and cool. Oh, which I don't care for. um But, you know, it's not too bad.  Last summer was extremely hot and they spent most time inside than outside. um We haven't had too many days where it's been too warm yet, but
24:44we're getting there. But now that they're shorn, they'll stay outside a little bit longer. oh So is, is, is fall and winter  better for them?  Are they comfortable? Yeah. Yes. Okay. You they're from, you know, basically Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, their area and  in the Andes mountains. So they're used to that kind of climate, the cooler temperatures to snow. They don't mind the snow, honestly.  Um,
25:13they like that cool weather and  they'll lay outside when it's snowing.  And  again, I know lots of things about a few things and a few things about lots of things.  People worry, people who don't know anything about livestock worry about horses and cows being outside in the wintertime and they've got snow on their backs.  And that's good. If they have snow on their backs, it means that they're warm. Right. It means that they're insulated.
25:42And I assume it's the same thing with the Alpacas. Yes. Yeah. Their fiber is extremely warm. And we were shearing the other day and it was a cool day. It was what probably low, low in mid maybe mid fifties or something in there. Yeah. And I was freezing. uh Our shears were freezing and they were sweating. Like we pulled off, you we pull off you, you shear them in  sections.  they're basically from their shoulders.
26:12back to their bottoms and then pretty much mid sides that top area is where that's their prime blanket. That's where the yarn is made from.  And we pulled off and it was damp to the touch. They were like literally sweaty. So they were quite still warm as we were all bundled up in sweatshirts and jackets.  So.  Okay. So I got a couple more questions. try to keep this to half an hour, but I have two more questions.  How much on average does it cost to buy
26:41Young alpaca like not not ready to breed yet. Okay. Well Cause I never had  an average so  males are generally Less expensive than females because of course you can breed the females. Yeah, goes by color grays blacks Rones  are your most expensive whereas your least expensive or generally your white or beige alpacas um but you can
27:11You can get a good pet, for depending thousand dollars by a hundred to a thousand. Um, if you want something quite substantial, you can spend up to 30, 40,000. Um, so it just kind of depends on. You know what your purpose is with them. guess if you're, if you just want a pet, you can probably, you know, you can find them.
27:37quite inexpensively. If you want something that you want to breed and show, you're going to pay a little bit more. Yeah, I was, I was, my second question was going to be if you're looking for a female that is old enough and ready to be bred, is it exponentially more money? Not necessarily. Um, it kind of goes, but prices are go by color and fiber quality. So you're more dense animals. Um, you know, better fiber is going to go.
28:06more than one that just has, you know, maybe not a lot of crimp, but a lot of staple length to it. So there's a lot of variance in the pricing. We sell ours, tend not to, we're somewhere in between probably pet quality and, you know, mid range. I wouldn't say we, know, nobody, none of our passers is going to sell for like, you know, $30,000.
28:34Some farms definitely would have that because they have a larger quantity. You know, have more capital that they can put towards theirs. All right, well, if anybody listening wants to buy an alpaca,  you now have more than enough information to keep looking into it and seeing if you would like one because  Jennifer has filled me in on all kinds of things that I didn't even know about. uh Where can people find you guys? Well, our website is  www.
29:02outlawfarmlpakas.com  and there's links to our Etsy shop and our Facebook page on there. So pretty much all our information's on that webpage. And we are on Facebook, of course, Outlaw Farm L. Pakas  LLC.  And you can look us up there.  And we  post a lot of things on Facebook, a lot of photos of the farm and photos of the store and stuff like that. So you could see what's going on over here. Yes.  And  can I give you guys a little piece of
29:32I don't know, encouragement? Sure.  Can you post some more actual videos on your YouTube channel of the babies? Because I know you have the one the one video, but that's all I saw. Yeah, we just started the YouTube thing.  Yeah,  we're going to start targeting that more. Yeah, once the Koreas are born, we're going to do some shorts and we're going to put it on. We're just getting started on YouTube. So, yeah, definitely we're going to we're going to post some more content on there for sure.
30:01good because I will become an avid fan if you do that.  All right.  I love those babies. They're so cute.  All right, you guys. Thank you so much. always, people can find me at a tinyhomesteadpodcast.com.  Jennifer and Steve, I hope you have a wonderful day. You too, Mary. Thank you.
 

Rusted Gates Farm

Today I'm talking with Connie at Rusted Gates Farm.
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00:00listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters.  I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Connie at Rusted Gates,  uh, farm? Farm? think it's farm.  Yeah. Pennsylvania. Good afternoon, Connie. How are you? Good morning. I'm doing well. Good. How's the weather there? Rainy, but we need it. I think almost everybody in the United States needs some rain right now.
00:30Yep, they sure do. Other than us, we've had we had half an inch two days ago and it's been cloudy for the last three days. And I'm like, you know, sunshine, you could come back out any time now. There's baby plants in the garden that need you.  Yes, there are.  It's so cute. look out my living room window and there's a big old garden right out the window across the driveway and it's all good, rich, black dirt.
01:00And then there's these little green baby plants in there and I'm like, oh man, this is my favorite part. Watching everything just in finally after a long winter. Yep. When you finally, everything starts finally waking up.  Trees have their leaves and all the plants are flowering. It's a pretty time of year.  I freaking love spring. I love fall more than I love spring because fall  is the, uh
01:28the reaping of what we planted in the spring. So I like fall because we're eating squashes and the last of the tomatoes  and um pumpkin pie and all those good things that we associate with fall.  Okay. So your last name is Gates. So is that why it's rusted Gates farm? Yes,  it is. And why rusted Gates?  Well, ah
01:56We had a daughter and her nickname was Rusty. Cute. I love that. Yeah. So, yeah, so that's why we name it Rusty. Sweet. Very sweet. Okay. So your main thing that you do at Rusty Gates Farm is fainting goats. And I want to hear all about that. Yeah, about 15 years ago, I got started in it.
02:20Yeah, but what else is there anything else that you do on the farm as well as the goats?  We have an assortment of animals. To run down the list, we started with silky chickens. We got a couple of ceramas, chickens, couple of Polish chickens, a couple of golden phoenixes. We got ducks. We got bunnies.  We got a  we got a sepastra bull goose  and  a hubby.
02:50Sterling, we named him Sterling and uh and Hope is the other one and Hope's a little famous.  She  is used in this uh photographers  as a prop  and a lot of the kids put up pictures. So she's been a prop in a couple of uh the photo shoots. Hope is a goose? Yep, Hope is a goose. Okay.
03:18And she's almost 13 years old. So I'm not sure how long she's going to be around, but she's 13 now. So she's getting up there in age. That sounds like a very long life for poultry. Yeah, it is.  We have a couple of turkeys.  We have a zebu cow that originated over in Africa. How did you get that?
03:41Um, there was a breeder in Bedford County that we did. I wanted Highlands and I couldn't afford a Highland. I really wanted a miniature Highland, but like I said, that, was a no go for the price tag.  So  we settled on the Zeeboot because it was a much more reasonable price range for someone that's on social security.  Yeah. The Zeeboos are the ones with the hump.
04:06in their backs. Yes. They look like almost like the Brahmans, except they don't have the long ears and their hump's not quite as big and their miniature size.  Nice. All right.  And his name is Seb. We have two ponies, Louie  and Chunky Charlie.  And Louie I use for pony rides for his birthday parties. And we have a little donkey and he's kind of famous in our community too, because
04:34He goes to church with us quite a bit.  His name is Festus. um Festus has been in a couple Christmas plays at Celebration Community Church.  And then at Easter time, went and he was in,  they had a special program for the kids about, and they took each day of Jesus' life in the last week of him being on earth.  And they had a different station for that.
05:02Festus was of course the first one because Jesus rode on in on the back of a donkey into Jerusalem and kids lay pumped down and  pumps down in front of him and he walked over him.  Have fun.  Yeah, and an interesting fact about donkeys while we're on donkeys  is  Festus has a cross on his back. He has a dark stripe down his back and a dark stripe over his shoulders.  So it makes a
05:32cross. So that was kind of a blessing from Jesus for carrying him  on Palm Sunday. And pretty much all Mediterranean donkeys have that cross.  I was gonna say not all donkey breeds have that, but that specific breed does. the Mediterranean donkey stew. Funny.  So yes, so that's his claim to fame. And then we have all kinds of pigeons, all different breeds. um
06:00And I think that's about it. So why do you have pigeons?  That's my husband's hobby. OK. That's something that he's always been fascinated with. And  so that's what we have. We have homers and we have some that are called Birmingham rollers.  They're really cool because when they catch an airdrift that goes up, they roll in the sky.
06:26and then they catch another drift and they go way high and then they roll. It's really fun to watch them. Yeah, birds are so interesting. Like, I don't want one in my house. I never want a pet bird. And we have chickens and I really don't enjoy touching the chickens, but I absolutely enjoy having the eggs from the chickens. Of course, they're good and fresh that way.
06:53Yeah, I think that birds belong outside. I really enjoy watching them. I don't want to be up close. are kind of messy and dirty. Yeah, I don't want to be up close But not as dirty as ducks. Ducks are the worst.  So I hear. I don't have ducks. My friend does. And she's actually selling her duck eggs in our farm stand again this year for the second year. Oh, well, they're very good for you. Yeah. And I just, I'm like, I don't want ducks. I'm good. Chickens is more than enough.
07:23Well, you get more chickens for eggs.  Chickens lay eggs for a longer period of time than ducks do. Ducks have a very short laying cycle. They do.  And it was funny because her ducks stopped back last fall and we had a few people asking where the duck eggs were. And I was like, you clearly don't know anything about ducks. And I didn't say that because that would be rude.  And I was like, they don't lay past.
07:50Yeah, end of September 1st of October when the daylight gets short, they don't hmm. So and now they're back and everybody's like, yay, duck eggs are back. I'm like, yeah, because the sunlight is now back. Yeah, because all of agriculture is influenced by weather and daylight. That's right. We need to get people back into this. I swear, it's part of the reason I do this podcast and my other one, because people need to know.
08:19how the cycles work and how nature works and that eggs don't come from the store, they come from chicken butt.  Yes, yes,  it's interesting.  We're so far removed and it's so sad and it  took such a short amount of time.  One generation, it's all it took. Yeah, it's nuts.  I refuse to be removed.  I  will not be removed from where my food comes from.
08:48because I was raised by, well, I wasn't raised by grandparents, but I had grandparents who had gardens  and my parents had a big garden and my parents hunted. They heated their house with wood, with a wood stove. So I know a lot about gardening and I know a lot about hauling wood. And I refuse to let people remain in their little bubbles of the grocery store is where food originates and that's where we get it.
09:15Or you turn on the switch and you have heat.  That too. Yeah. Yeah. So what's still is a little bit more work.  Yes. If you do it right, your wood should warm you four times.  The saying is three, but it's actually four because you got to cut the tree when you sweat, when you cut a tree, you have to cut up the fallen tree.  You have to. You have to split the wood and then you have to move the wood to wherever it's going to be stored. So that's four times.
09:45Yep. then it heats you when you need it in your wood stove in the winter. Correct. So I guess it's five times. It might even be more than that. Who knows?  All right. So let's get down to fainting goats because I have not talked with anybody about fainting goats.  Why do they faint? It actually started out as a genetic mutation. So and of course, things that are interesting.
10:15man perpetuates.  So they started with the,  they're called MGRs or short hair  goats in Tennessee.  And  the
10:30they have a fading gene. And what happens with that is their muscles lock and it's from their neck down  and it's only about 15 seconds, but  the goat is fully awake, fully aware and is aware of its surroundings. It just can't move. It's just been  startled or scared and it just freezes.
11:00Sometimes they fall over and our goats, once they get about four weeks old, the babies start fainting, which is, and they completely fall over. But as they get older, around six months or so, they start to learn how to control that faint so that they just freeze in place for 10, 15 seconds.
11:27And then as they get older, it's just their back legs  that they can't move. So they can still move their front legs,  which is, they kind of look like the walking zombie at that point.  And that's pretty much what they do. But they took the  Tennessee uh fainting goat and mixed it with  a Nigerian dwarf. And that's how they came up with the mini silky.
11:53And the idea is that the  silky goats are to be looked like a miniature silky doll.  And  it took about 20 years, but  we're there.  Awesome. Okay. So  I was under the mistaken impression that when fainting goats faint, that it's a seizure, but it's not a seizure. It's just their muscles lock up. The muscles lock up. Yep.
12:21In a seizure, they're not aware what's going on, but these goats still know exactly what's going on. The thing I find most interesting about this is that most animals, when they're startled,  they run. They flee. But no, the fainting goats just stop. They can't move. Yeah. Well, the other part of the story about the Tennessee fainters is that they free ranged them on the side of a mountain.
12:50When a predator came, ah they would wipe out the whole herd because they get into a killing frenzy. But when you put one of these feinters  into a herd of goats, uh the rest of the herd can get away because it draws the attention of the predators  to that one that is freezing in place.  And since it only lasts about 10, 15 seconds, it does have a chance to get away.
13:20after that, but ah it was sort of like the sacrificial lamb that they would put one of these into the herds of uh goats  that they free range that way they don't lose the whole herd. They might lose the one. Yeah,  but it is like it is a genetic defect that they did. So we perpetuate.  the fainting goats were heroes. Yes, basically. Yeah, nice.  I love that. That is so fun. uh
13:50So do you keep them  as milkers? you keep them for me? They're just pets. They're just expensive pets.  And that's pretty much what I sell them for and I breed them for. I do go all over  the country and show them. oh my primary purpose is just they're just a fun little goat that's small  and very inquisitive  and smart  and happy-go-lucky and they make you happy.
14:19So I keep them as pets and like to sell them to other people for pets or breeding. When occasionally they go to show homes. Awesome. So how big does an adult fainting goat get? 23 inches at the shoulders for the boys. And the girls have to be under 22 inches right now. They're lowering the size limits on these guys.
14:49But so they're about knee-high or you know a little bit Depending on how tall you are. How much do they weigh? Anywhere from 40 to 70 pounds So they're they're about the same height as my Australian Shepherd dog because she's a small one But she's actually less she weighs less. She's 36 to 40 pounds on any given day. Yeah, she's there There's nice small goats
15:17But they do have the hair that has to be maintained. Yeah. Yep. You have to brush them or she or share them. I brush them. Okay. If you're showing them, you have to brush them because 30 % of the scorecard is on their coat. How long it is, how even it is, how silky soft it is, the texture of it. So that's what they're grading them on. Okay. And what's the temperament on these guys?
15:47They're extremely social, very  friendly.  A lot of them will come up and kind of nipple on the ends of your shirt if you're not paying attention to them.  What are the babies like? Well, you have some that will crawl up and sit in your lap,  and then you'll have others that will look at you and run the other direction.  So the same as any baby animal.  Yeah, pretty much.
16:17Are they bouncy  like every other goat? the baby goats? two days they find their little springings in their legs and they just bounce all over and kick their heels and do somersaults and they're bouncy and happy and  love to jump up on the things and  investigate their world. Best videos on YouTube are baby goats bouncing around like crazy children. Yes, that's what  draws people to them.
16:47But they don't stay that small for very long.  Yeah, I realized about two years ago after many years of thinking that I love goats.  I don't love goats. I love baby goats. I love them until they're about eight weeks old. And I'm like, yeah, you're a goat now. Go be a goat.  Yeah, there you go. Yeah, I've talked about goats a lot on this podcast and my  best friend in high school. Her parents raised goats.
17:16the Nubians and La Manchas, I think.  And every spring, my friend would call me and she would say,  can your mom drive you over? The goats had babies last night because she knew I would want to hold them before they were 24 hours old. uh I would go over and I'd go in the barn. I would sit down on a hay bale and I would sit there and just hold the baby goat for as long as that baby goat would let me hold it.  Yeah, that's what I...
17:45I opened the farm for snugg, we call them snuggle sessions. Yes. And people come in and uh sit for, I usually open it for two or three hours and they sit, some sit the whole three hours and some,  you know,  it's a half an hour and then they walk around and see all the other animals and then they leave.  Yeah. For me, it was like holding a baby deer because deer and goat are built kind of the same way. Yeah, they are.
18:13And baby goats are so soft and they smell so good. Yeah, they do.  And that's how the moms determine whose baby is who to. Yes. I sent. And by the bleat that they do, the bad noise. Yep. Yep. It's amazing. I highly recommend anyone who is stressed out in the months of April and May find somebody who's raising goats and has a bread goats and.
18:41make sure they call you when they have brand new baby goats because if you can sit with a baby goat for at least an hour,  your stress levels will come down. Yes, they do.
18:52That used to be when I was working, that was the first thing I did if I had an exceptionally hard day.  When I go right to the field with the goats, spend 15 minutes and then my stress level was down so then I can go in and greet the family and have a good time for the rest of the evening.  Yes, I don't know what it is about these baby goats, but it works. And  I've held a baby sheep before and the magic is just not the same. ah
19:21I don't know why, but something incredibly... just have such like really cute little sweet faces that you just want to just kiss. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You got to kiss their snoot. It's like, yeah, it's just calling you. You just got to give them a kiss. Yeah, there is just something incredibly magical about baby goats. And if you have never been around them, no, you won't understand it. You have to be around them to get it.
19:53Yeah, I just, have a lifelong friend now because that was on her bucket list was to see a baby goat be born. And I had to have farm open for a snuggle session and she came to a snuggle session. And it just so happened that one of my goats ended up going into labor during it. So  I'm trying to monitor the mom having goats and also manage my crowd  of people  with.
20:22snuggling goats on the other side of the  stall wall.  And she said, can I just watch? I said, sure. So I put her up to the stall door and just let her watch.  that was her thing. She said, now I can check that off my list.  And now about once a week, she comes over and just goes to the field and sits on the ground and just lets them.
20:51I'm over to her, nudge her, sit on her lap, run around her.  She says it's the best therapy. It is. It is. I was just thinking the same thing.  I have to say this because I keep meaning to say it to people and I forget.  I commend you on letting people come to your place and see your animals.  And I'm going to tell you why.  Having trust in the general public with animals that you love is a big, big deal. Yeah, it is.
21:20My husband and I went to our friend's place. have  cattle, have chickens, they have  sheep,  and they are the original breeders of my dog. ah She was from the very first litter that they ever bred. And she had a puppy day three, four years ago. And they actually had  great Pyrenees puppies as well.
21:48Somebody had let them take their mama dog until she had the babies and  hang out with mom and the puppies until the puppies were ready to be adopted. So she had a foster dog basically when the mama was pregnant. so we went  and  we know them very well. They're great people. We went thinking there'd be maybe five other people there to see the puppies.
22:12We walked into their shed where they had the pups and there were like 21 puppies between the Pyrenees puppies and  the Australian shepherd puppies.  There were at least 50 people there. Oh yeah. And she's totally fine with all these people holding  these little puppies. know, the great Pyrenees puppies were probably 10, 15 pounds, but the Australian shepherd puppies were under five pounds.
22:42Oh yeah. They're little.  I was just like, I'm so glad we got Maggie spayed when we did, because letting people hold those puppies would have scared me to death. It does at times.  I recently had an open house back in March and it wasn't a real nice day out, but um I had a chef come  and  offer food and I had an ice cream truck.
23:11come  as a center for people to come.  And uh we put out  a pen with the chickens and the bunnies for the people to look at  while they're waiting to come in. But I never expected the turnout that we had.  Oh my word. It was hundreds of people.  Yeah. I'm really glad that that's the case.
23:40Because again, we need people to come and see what this is But that was a one time thing. Usually it's not that big, but it was like, oh my goodness, it was very well attended. Yeah, and we need that. Yes, we do. But the owner of those animals, I can't imagine your stress levels. Oh, it was high. When all those people go home, you're probably like, give me a goat right now. I need snuggles.
24:09It was very stressful. Let me tell you. Yeah, I'm really shy. And what I didn't know is that our friends at that puppy snuggle party, I didn't know, but she came over to me and she was like, see that lady over there? And she very subtly directed my gaze to the person. And I said, yes. She said, she really wants to adopt the puppy that she has in her hands. And I said, uh-huh. She said,
24:38She really wants to know what it's like raising one of these. And I said, uh-huh.  She said, would you, if I send her over to you, would you tell her about your experience with Maggie? And I'm, I'm so shy. Like I just have a really hard time talking to people in, in person.  And I was like,  yes,  yes, I can do that.  So this woman comes over and she's got this little red tri puppy in her hands and she's like,
25:06Are you Maggie's mom?  And I was like, yes. And she said, how old is she now? And I was like, she's two, three, whatever she was. And she said, how was it? How old was she when you got her?  What was the experience like the first six months? When did you get her fixed? da da da da.  Asking me all these questions. The only thing that saved me, Connie, is that I love this dog more than life itself. And I have been with her pretty much every moment of her life.
25:36and I can speak to what it's like to raise an Australian shepherd. That's the only thing that saved me, because otherwise I would have just been stuttering and saying dumb answers, because I don't know. And afterwards, she went over and talked to my friend, and puppies were too young to adopt yet. They had another two weeks to go. So my friend comes over to me and she says, thank you for talking with her. And I said, you're welcome. And I said, is she going to adopt it? And she's like, yep, she'll be back in exactly two weeks to get this puppy.
26:06I said, what's she naming it? She said, red. This is a red tri. I said, all right. She said, I don't know why you think you're bad at peopling. She said, you were great. I kind of heard some of the conversation. She said, and you love Maggie so much it's written all over you. And it's like, oh yeah, I dread the day that she is no longer with us. Yeah. Well, that's the-
26:32Downside to having any kind of animal or farm or anything like that. It's That is the downside. Yes with that with birthers also comes full circle with death Yep, you just love them and take care of them the best you can while they're here.  That was the hardest thing for me to to manage  Was was that the end of it?  Was the end of things?
27:00Yeah, and you can't prepare for it no matter how much intellectually you know that a dog has a lifespan of anywhere from 8 to 20 years. 20 is way far out. That's probably an exaggeration. 8 to 15 years if you're lucky. If you're lucky.  Even if you intellectually know that, your heart does not accept it. That's true. And it's the same way with my goats.  Same way.
27:28If they live to be 15, that's a long life for a goat. We had this really cool billy goat, which we call bucks. He had horns. we bought him when we knew very little about goats. He was our first silky fainting goat. And he was a real beautiful brown color.
27:57Anyhow,  he liked to play soccer with the kids.  And when I had kids birthday parties, we would all play soccer with Viking. His name was Viking.  And he just loved the kids. just, his eyes would get real big and wide and he would get excited and he would headbutt the ball to the kids. So whichever one threw it to him, he could actually headbutt it back to that child.
28:25And it was the coolest thing. And anyhow, he liked to do that all the way up to when he turned 15 and a half and we had to help him euthanize because that was the best thing for him. It was hard for us. It was a real hard decision, but it was the best for him. And that's another thing that most people who don't have animals don't know.
28:55is that prolonging in their life because you don't want to lose them isn't the best course of action. Yeah. We love that boy. Like I said, he was one of a kind. I haven't been able to teach anybody else how to play soccer like that, but he did and he just loved it. So fun. Yeah. The last thing you want is an animal that you love to suffer. that's just it. there's like, there's a list of 10 things regarding dogs.
29:25that  as they get older, you want to keep an eye on. And it's something about they don't like any, they go off their food or they go off their water or they don't like to sit in your lap like they used to  or they don't want to run  after their favorite toy or they go for a walk with you and they sit down after 20 feet, know, obvious things that are not right.
29:52If they are not, if something is wrong on six of the 10 things on the list, it's probably time to consider letting them go. Yeah. That's a, that's a hard thing to let any animal go. It is. It's terrible. They're a part of your life and you know, it's part of your care routine and it's the way it is. Yep. And the thing, the thing that kicks my butt a little bit is we know this about our animals, you know, euthanasia for animals is fine.
30:22But when our elderly folks are miserable and off their food and not mobile and not having any quality of life, we can't do that for them. And I'm not saying that in a bad way.  just it makes me crazy when older people, you know, who are  have no quality of life. They're in a nursing home. They don't get to do anything. Yeah.
30:49They can't even read a book anymore, which is the joy of my life. I love reading.  I don't want to live like that. I want somebody to pull the plug on me.  But that's considered murder. And I'm like, why do we do it for our animals? But we won't do it for our loved humans.  Yep.  And that's a big swing. And people don't hate me for that. just...  Yes, it is a big swing.
31:17My grandpa was in hospice care for a good 10 days. And my parents were with him  every waking moment of those 10 days, basically on death watch. And  he was not coming back. The minute he was in hospice, he was not coming back.  And listening to my father grieve those 10 days and then after was hell.
31:46So yeah, I think that we need to think about that hard because it's not any better for our humans to suffer than it is for our animals to suffer. but I think we want one more day. One more day. Oh, every day, every time. Yes. And it's hard to say, well, today's the day. know, is God going to take him today? You know, why doesn't he take him? Yeah. You know, so it is.
32:15It is a tough, but you're right there. Sometimes you would think that, you know, we should be given that, that  if that's what that person wants  and has it in writing,  we should be able to let them go. Yeah. The closest thing to that is the do not resuscitate order that you can have. Right. That's it. That's the closest you can get.
32:40So sorry, I didn't mean to take such a down road, it just brought back memories. um So I try to keep these to half an hour. I  love what you're doing and you sound so happy with what you're doing. I do. I do thoroughly enjoy. I enjoy the people that come and I really enjoy doing the farm tours and with the grandparents and they have their grandkids and  letting the grandkids touch and feel and hold.
33:09And I do it at their level. If they're not willing to, then we back up.  But they actually get to see and oh, whatever they like that I have here, which is kind of cool. You know, and I do the same for the kids birthday parties,  but they get to release a pigeon at the end of the party. So most places don't have that or do that. Fun. It is fun for them. I love what you're doing because so many kids don't have an opportunity. That's right.
33:39to ever pet an animal beyond a guinea pig, a cat, cat or a dog. You're right. Yeah. So, yeah. So if they want to hold a chicken, they get to hold a chicken. If they want to hold a bunny, they get to hold a bunny. Yes. And you're planting seeds so that they know that they could maybe someday have these animals and raise them and love them and show them off to people too. Yeah. They sure can. All right, Connie, where can people find you? I'm in...
34:08Oh, on Facebook. at Rustic Gates Farms.  On Facebook.  As always, people can find me at tinyhomesteadpodcast.com.  Connie, thank you so much for your time. it's been a pleasure. All right. Have a great day. you so much. Bye.  Bye.
 

H&H Homestead

Today I'm talking with Ashley at H&H Homestead. You can also follow on Facebook.
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00:00I'm listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters.  I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Ashley at H &H Homestead in Texas. Good morning, Ashley. How are you? Good. How are you?  I'm good. I haven't actually recorded an episode for A Tiny Homestead  in over a week because people have been busy.  Oh, it is that time, especially down here. And we're planting everything.
00:28We've had some stuff going for weeks, so I can imagine everybody's kind of  really getting into it right now. Yeah, it's that time of year and I go through the same thing in the fall when everybody's harvesting  and I go through the same thing at Christmas and New Year's because everybody's busy with family. Oh, for sure. So I'm very happy you had time to talk with me today. Yeah, absolutely. How is the weather in Texas this morning?
00:53It is so sunny and nice. I went out and watered everything as early as I possibly could because I know we're supposed to get to 100 today. So I wanted to make sure, you know, I was out there before it got super hot. Oh, I was cringing at the fact that we're supposed to have like 84 for a high on Friday. 100 would kill me right now. See, you're in Minnesota, right? Yes. Yeah, I just I feel you just you just acclimate to where you are because I used to.
01:20I mean, I've been to Minnesota several times. I used to live in Alaska and I am such a warm weather person now. I just, I really don't like being cold. So it's like, you just get used to where you're at and then,  you know, go to somewhere opposite and it really throws you. Uh-huh. I would rather,  this is going to sound really stupid because I do not enjoy deep winter, but I would rather deal with cold because I can throw on more layers of clothes.  If it's hot, I can't get any more naked than naked.
01:50Just extra fans, extra fans. I have her, like not even just the cold. I have not had to shovel snow in years and I love that. Yep. One of the things I used to do when I was a kid, cause I grew up in Maine and Maine is very, very, very humid in July and August. And I would get, I would get headaches when it was hot. And so I would, I would literally come in the house,  go on the bathroom, strip down, get in a cold, cold, cold shower. Yeah. So that my hair was wet.
02:19And then I would dry my hair just enough so that it wasn't dripping. And that cold hair on my neck would keep me cooler. Yeah. Yeah, that's smart. But I just, hate being hot. Hot is my least favorite state of being. Well, see, there has to be, you know, opposites in people. Otherwise we'd all be in Minnesota or we'd all be in Texas. So it's a good thing that there's a mix. It would be a very boring world if everybody was the same. Yes. And my podcast would put people to sleep.
02:49So,  all right, so why is it H and H Homestead? Well, so our last name is Huff.  so  there's two of us, me my husband, but then our boys names are also both start with H. So either way you look at it, there's just H's all around. So we went with H and H. Oh, I love it. That's amazing. That's great. And like way to be original, mom.  Well, you know, I had to keep with the, you know, I don't know,  R being our last name.
03:18Hough or, you know, Hank and Hogan Hough. And then they have the same middle initial as well. So everyone's got the same, you know, just that way everything stays the same. You don't get one thing personalized. Technically it goes for everybody, you know. Fabulous. That's really great.  So what do you do at H &H Homestead? A little bit of everything. So we're kind of new to this. So
03:40And I blame my oldest son for getting us started in this because he brought home the chickens from his first grade class. And this is kind of what started the whole thing is, um, his first grade class hatched these chickens for, you know, studying the, life cycle of animals. Right. And they had these seven adorable little chickens and then summer rolled around and nobody necessarily wanted to take them. So of course I volunteered. So we started with chickens and then from there.
04:08I was like, well, my chickens need some neighbors out there. They look a little, they look a little sad. then, then we got quail and then I did a greenhouse and now I have dozens of raised garden beds and now we have bunnies and we just got chukkers.  And so I'll probably like everyone else's. Um, you're just always adding something and always doing the next thing on your homestead.  Yeah. It's one of the best things about it. I don't know what a chukker is. They're a little, little game birds. They're called chukker partridge. They're a little bit bigger than a quail.  Um,
04:37brown, they've got a little black ring around their neck.  My husband used to hunt them um growing up and now we're just going have an easier way to do that because we'll just walk out to the backyard.  Don't have to hunt, just have to acquire. Exactly.  So chicken math quickly led to homosteading math is what you're telling me. Yes it did. With of course a side of sourdough because that has to come with it too. Yeah  I wasn't going to talk about sourdough today but you brought it up.
05:06I have sourdough  starter in my fridge. It's been in my fridge for a month  because I made it and it was doing great and I was like, I'm not  going to make bread right now. So I stocked the jar in my fridge and I really haven't looked at it since. And because you said it, now when I go downstairs, I'm going to have to take it out and make sure it's not dead. I have never put mine in the fridge. I know people do that. I've just never...  I've always been afraid that that's going to kill it.
05:36So I probably, you know, I make as many discard recipes that I do actual bread, just because I'm like, I gotta do something to keep it going. Yeah. My husband, part of the reason I got stuck in the fridge is because my husband makes yeast breads and he's really good at it. Yeah. And therefore three or four weekends in a row, he had made four loaves of yeast bread every weekend. So we had bread that was already made in the freezer and I was like, eh.
06:03I'm not even going to attempt to make the third loaf of my life of sourdough right now.  So I put it in the fridge and I guess as long as it doesn't have orange or pink mold on it, it's still viable. think so. I think it just gets that layer of stuff on top and you pour it off and then... Yep. And just add some more stuff to it.  So I got to check that today  and I honestly don't want to because that means that... I didn't mean to just add to your to-do list.
06:31My to-do list today is basically the podcast recording with you, but  I really should check. really should. uh So do you have land or are you an urban homesteader? We have about an acre, just a little over an acre. And I mean, technically we're within city limits, here we're very, I mean, we could walk and we're outside of it. We're so close to the edge. So like we don't have a ton of space, but eh I feel like really maximize.
07:00the area that we have. have everything kind of right next to each other, not super spread out. Definitely still have room for more animals. I've been telling my husband I want goats or I want pigs or I want something else. And so far he is not super on board yet. Doesn't seem to have a problem if I add any type of birds that I want. But as soon as it has four legs, then it's more of a discussion. Is it because he's afraid he'll get more invested in a four-legged critter because they don't have feathers?
07:28Maybe I mean, he grew up with this kind of stuff, right? He, you know, showed pigs he had all this kind of stuff. So it's not as new to him as it is to me and the boys. So I think he's just, you know, maybe not as excited about doing it again, per se.  He did say that about the bunnies when we first got the bunnies, because we were given them as meat rabbits. em We have since kind of transitioned more into pet bunnies because they happen to be just so adorable. em But it's like, I get it. I mean, I think if we bought
07:57a pig knowing that we're going to raise it for consumption, then it's different than if we buy a pet and then, you know, keep it as a pet.  Yeah. Yep. Absolutely.  So, um,  when you decided you wanted to get into this,  did you talk to your friends about it?
08:19Well, not necessarily, maybe a little, but we don't necessarily have people who were super close with that are doing the exact same thing. We have friends who have had chickens or have had ducks who coincidentally no longer have chickens or ducks, but that didn't deter me. So I was determined to do it regardless. Okay. The reason I ask is because when my husband and I had the chance to start looking for a homestead,
08:46like land as we lived on a 10th of an acre lot for over 20 years.  When we made the offer on the place that we've lived at for six years in August now,  we waited until we knew the offer was accepted to tell people.  the reaction on all the people that we told faces, this terrible grammar, sorry,  was the same.  It was shock.  It was denial. And then it was like, what the hell?
09:16Why? What is it? I mean, maybe it's just not as common. Where you because I feel like even in  our little neighborhood, we're kind of a little afterthought. And I wouldn't even call it subdivision. em I mean, in the morning, I hear probably seven other roosters like everybody has something. There's sheep down the road that sometimes end up in our driveway. Like around here. I feel like it's just everybody has something.  I don't know the answer to your question. And I really don't know.
09:44on a lot of levels because we had been growing a garden in our backyard for years. m a lot of produce came out of that little tiny backyard. And we had been growing peonies and flowers in the front garden.  We had gotten chickens when the bird flu went through that first time.  And  we didn't even know who were allowed to have chickens, but I was like, I don't want to be without eggs. getting chickens. We had four chickens.
10:13We had always said to our friends that if we had the opportunity that we would find a place that had more land and we would move.  I don't think they believed us because  no one,  no one was un- Really?  Everyone was surprised. Interesting. And to this day, I think that they still think we're insane.
10:40Well, they can think that until you give them eggs and produce and bread and all the things that are coming from your homestead. Yeah. And the other thing that I've said a lot on this podcast is that  I grew up with my parents growing a garden, with them heating their house with a wood stove, which meant that we as kids helped with the splitting and the hauling of the wood for the wood stove.  My mom canned, my mom froze extra produce in the
11:10the freezer in the basement. I didn't know that homesteading was anything weird. I thought everybody did it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's interesting. So when I first started this, again, I said we're fairly new to this, but I made a point of asking people who who did classify themselves as a homestead, like when when do you consider yourself a homestead and when are you just, you know, I have a hobby or I have a backyard garden or I have some chickens. And a lot of people were saying it's more of a
11:39Like homesteading is a state of mind. If you feel like you are doing this because you're wanting to, you know, better the quality of food that you are feeding to your family and that kind of thing. So it's interesting to think about when people consider it an actual homestead.  Yes. And for me, because of the way I was brought up,  I always equated homesteading and prepping and  not tinfoil hat prepping, but just being prepared. Yeah. Yep.
12:07Cause if you grow up in Maine where I grew up and you know what winters are like in Maine,  sometimes you literally can't get out of your driveway for a week because it's too icy or the plows can't get to where you are and you're stuck. If you're out of toilet paper or out of milk or out of coffee, you're out. Yeah. Yeah. So  I didn't know that, that people actually only bought
12:36things every day that they needed and  didn't prepare for the occasional emergency. Yeah, yeah, for sure. So it's just the whole thing is so  nuanced, I think. Yeah, yeah, and just in different, different where you are in different. I mean, I  take a homestead here in Texas versus somewhere.
13:02We're doing probably different things, maybe the same basic, you we have animals, we have the garden, but the way, what we're planning for and what we're growing and saving and prepping is probably completely different, just geographically too. um I think to a point, yes. And I think part of that is that you are lucky enough to live in an area where you probably have persimmons that grow, persimmon trees. Oh, I don't know. I don't have any. We are... um
13:32I have a love-hate relationship with trees and getting them to grow. And sometimes I'm convinced West Texas doesn't have  the ability to grow trees. I don't know.  I honestly have to look and see if we have any around here. I don't know. Well, I know in the South that there are fruits that grow that will not survive Minnesota. Oh, for sure. Like,  poppa trees, persimmon trees, anything kind of tropical-ish. Yeah. They won't.
13:59make it here because they can't survive the cold freeze in the winter. Yeah. And for the longest time, I thought that peaches wouldn't grow here, but we have two peach trees and we got peaches two falls ago. So I don't want to jinx myself, but I might actually get peaches this year. So I planted trees a year and a half ago now, peach, pear, apple, and plum. And we got flowers on everything. I was so excited. And then, you know, good old West Texas windstorm comes through and
14:28All of the flowers are gone on everything except for the peach trees. But we do actually have a couple that provided they stay on. um We should actually,  should be able to enjoy at least a peach this year.  I hope you get to because there is no better peach than the peach that you grow yourself. um I am really trying to. There's some things that I've, it's funny, uh my youngest, my six year old, he's more into everything in the garden because he  eats everything, which is great.
14:55Like he'll go out and I mean, if there's two or three tomatoes that are ready, like they won't make it out of the garden. Like he just eats everything. But so he's, he has asked for, he would like an apple, he would like peaches and he would like some strawberries. And it's like the things that he has asked for are the ones that I struggle with the most. I don't know how many strawberry plants I have killed at this point. And it's like, I don't know why. I just, there's some things that just, they do not do well in my backyard.  Huh.
15:21Yeah, strawberries are hard because birds love them. So you may think that you're bad at strawberries, but it may just be that the birds are getting them before you see them. I'm going to go with that, but I don't know if it's true.  It's like we have elderberry trees here and elderberry is a really, really good thing to have growing on your property. And there's two and they grow wild.
15:46And every spring they bloom and they're beautiful. And I'm like, yes, elderberries. have not, I've not gotten to them yet. And part of the reason I haven't gotten to them yet is because birds adore elderberries. And I said to my husband this winter, said, is there any way we could put like bird netting over the And he said, if I had a really good fire truck with a really good ladder. Yep.
16:16And I laughed and I said, well, how much would one of those cost us? he went, no, just rent one. sure.  Yeah. He said, he said, what? And I said, I'm kidding.  He said, you are so deadpan sometimes. I don't know if you're joking. uh Maybe we can get one of the firemen to drive down and help. And he was like, they're not going to do that.  said, yeah.
16:39So I think that my chances of  getting elderberries for anything are probably slim to none, but it was really neat to find out we had elderberry trees on our property. Yes.  And the birds were here long before I was, so. So  I you gotta let them have them.  Yup. I mean,  I feel like we  as humans have stolen so many things from nature.
17:06that if I have to sacrifice elderberries to the birds, I'm just giving back things that were stolen from them a long time ago. That's true. That's fair. And I'm not going to die if I don't get the elderberries. It's fine. However, my husband is going to go out and cut asparagus tonight because our asparagus patch is going  crazy.  That's one that I  would like to do too. I haven't done that one yet. The new ones we've added this year, just because I feel like...
17:33I mean, tomatoes do great. We do so many herbs. Um, the main thing I like to do is alufas. I'll talk with those in a second, but, I really, really just wanted to grow a side dish, a nice side dish to go with a quail dinner. Right. And it's just like, I, I, I failed at a couple of different variations of green beans last year. Um, so this year I did Brussels sprouts, which are doing great. And then, um, and other new one was art to carts, which are actually,
18:00Yes, that's one thing you probably can grow like crazy. We've tried. They do not do well here. See, I thought they were even considered as well, cool weather, maybe not cold weather, cool weather, because like we, I think I planted them too late last year, the Brussels sprouts and they never quite, they didn't get the actual Brussels sprout before it got too hot for them. And then the leaves just died. So I planted them much, much, much earlier this year. So hopefully we'll have a good harvest of those. Yeah. Brussels sprouts and artichokes, a no go.
18:29We have tried. just never do anything. Well, I'm fingers crossed on those. But the other one that we that I love to do did them last year is luffa gourds. How long how long is the growing time for those from seed to ready? Well, it did. So we don't I didn't eat them like you can't eat them. I know you can. And that's like 90 days or something like that. But then if you just let them go about 120 plus days and let them
18:57you know, dry on the vine and then, you know, get them as luffa sponges. That's what I did. So I let them all dry, which worked really, really well here. And because it's like, it's perfect. You literally plant this plant and your whole goal is to just let it die on the vine. So it's really hard to mess up. So it's great. um But then let them all dry and then peel them. And then I actually cut them apart and then I sewed them all onto,  I crocheted.
19:23a little rectangle with 100 % cotton yarn and then sewed the loofah onto the other side. And then for Christmas last year, everybody got homemade loofah sponges. So it was the perfect little growing a gift.  is a great idea. I love that.  See, this is the other thing about homesteaders. We're all very creative  or we're curious enough to go find the people who are creative and copy their ideas. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I honestly didn't. think for the longest time I wasn't really, you know, a loofah, I think growing up having a loofah sponge, was one of those
19:53nylon, know, puffy ball things. I wasn't thinking actual natural loofahs. And then I just, I think it was probably even TikTok or Instagram or something. I saw a lady talking about growing them and I was like, you know what, I'm going to give that a try. And they actually do really, really well. If we wanted to grow them here, we would have to get them planted in February. Yeah. Like in a container in the house to get them started and then transplant them.
20:20Yeah, I have seen one. So there was a lady I watched. She was in, I think, Michigan, and she grew them into where about the time that they were starting to get a frost, things, they weren't quite dry yet, right? They weren't brown. So she picked them and she slowly dried them in her oven, like the lowest possible setting door open. She had a little convection fan thing  and just naturally or not actually, guess, dried them that way. So maybe that would have to be have to do it when it's cold.
20:49Yeah, I don't know, because we've talked about it. But my husband for some reason just isn't into this whole loofah idea. And he's the gardener. And I meant I meant to just order some seeds back last fall so I could just hand them to him this spring. I completely forgot about it. Next time you decide I'll just I will send you some I'll put them in an envelope. I'll mail them to you because that's the thing is you get one loofah plant and then you get a bunch of loofahs from that one plant and each loofah
21:17has between 50 to 100 seeds in it. So I mean, I have so many seeds. I have sent them to friends all over. I sent them to some to my parents in South Dakota, sent them to my sister, sent them to friends in Minnesota. They're going to try them this year. So I'll let you know how those go. I've sent them to Utah even, so all over. So we'll see what state has the best return. I will message you my email address and maybe send me. You could be my lupus seed dealer.
21:47Absolutely. I'm on it. So the other fun thing that you do is you have the fluffy bunny rabbits. I do. have fluffy, well, have lop-eared and lion head. have both. And these are the ones where, you know, I've said they were some friends got them and they were given them as meat rabbits. And technically lop-eared, can be dual purpose, you know, pet meat rabbits. And it's just like, once you go out there and I play with them every single morning and I'm like, man, they're just, we're just going to be in the pet rabbit.
22:16trade now because I don't know. They're just so darn cute.  Yeah, for the listener, if you guys want to see the cutest baby bunnies ever, you've got to go to H &H Homestead on Facebook  and scroll down a couple posts and there are the most beautiful fluffy bunny babies I've ever seen. Oh, thank you. Well, and they, it's it's funny. We have, we have about three different age, ages now, cause we've got the ones that just opened their eyes. And then from another mom, she had a litter, which they probably are about.
22:46five, six months now, but they're like the middle fluffy stage. And then of course we have the parents, but um yes, they are definitely fluffy, adorable.  They require a little bit of maintenance. Like I probably brush the bunnies more often than I brush my dogs because they're not really the shedding type, but um I go out there with a little brush and I am, so the lion head are part Angora. So I am brushing them and I'm saving their fur and I have it in a little bag and then I will,
23:14Um, wash it with the wool that I have from a friend's sheep. And then I'm going to spin some, spin some yarn this fall and see if I can't make something out of it. Are you lucky enough to have a spinning wheel or do you just have the little, um, don't know, a little thing, a little one. then, I mean, if I, if I really get in, if this becomes my next new big hobby, then maybe I'll consider, um, a big spinning wheel one, you know, with the foot pedals and stuff like that. Otherwise just a little tabletop battery powered ones.
23:43Yep. Hang on one second, Ashley. Yeah.
23:49I had a tickling back of my throat and I didn't want to cough in your ear, sorry. You're good. If you ever do look into getting an actual spinning wheel, I would recommend that you go and look for a used one because I looked years ago at how much a new one is. Oh, yeah. They were exorbitant then. I don't even know how much they cost now. Yeah. Yeah, that's for sure. I remember...
24:18Years ago I watched, I think it was the first time I ever saw someone using one of the, I mean the  big giant ones,  know, on the, they probably sit three, four feet off the floor and she's working it with both of her foot pedals and I can imagine those ones are very, very expensive. Yes. And I am fascinated by them because the- So fun to watch.  Yeah. The, I don't know what the word is,  the mechanics of it.  like, how did somebody figure out how to make these things? Cause they've been around forever. Yeah.
24:47Yeah, it's very fun. Yeah. See, I figured that's, you know, I'm just going to have to, I feel like I'm always adding a new craft or a new something until, know, last year was sewing of these leafy sponges. And now I feel like it needs to be crocheting of something, even though, I mean, I might crochet a hat or ear warmers or things that I don't really need in West Texas, but we do occasionally get one week of a little bit of cold weather. So I might use it then. People love scarves. That's true.  Even.
25:17Even if it's Florida, people love scarves. That's true. My daughter lives in Florida. It got kind of chilly this winter for a little bit in Florida. Yeah. And she messaged me and she was like, wish I knew how to crochet. She said, you know how to crochet. And I said, do you need a scarf? And she was like, I don't really need one. She said, but I feel like it's, she said, having grown up part of my life in Minnesota, she said, I feel like I should be sitting with a cup of tea.
25:47and crocheting because I watched you do it. And I was like, you know, it's pretty easy. And I showed you how. Mm hmm. Yeah. She said, I think I'm just romanticizing it. I said, you really don't want to do it. You just wanted to talk about it. I like it. No, I love to crochet. That's something where I like to sit, you know, sit in the evening when we're watching TV or something and I crochet something I can't. I can multitask and crochet without having to think about the stitches and just kind of, you know, repetition.
26:15Knitting, have to actually read a pattern or focus. I crochet and I do Tunisian crochet and that's really fun to do.  That's what I did with the backs for the sponges was Tunisian crochet. Nice.  I despise knitting. I tried to learn when I was like 13.  My mom knitted and I was like, show me how.  She taught me the whole knit  one, purl two, whatever.
26:44Yeah, and and I just  it was way too  personickety and I hated the sound of the needles clicking which is really weird. That's funny I do I find that relaxing and then I even I usually have like long fingernails or something and then like the sound of the fingernails with the knitting I don't know it's one of those I find that like a relaxing so it's so fun. Yeah, I don't know and I mean
27:06I may be on the autism spectrum. I don't know. I've never been diagnosed, but there are just certain things that drive me insane.  Knitting needle clicking was one of the things that just, was like, God, I hate that noise. don't know why. So if you ever do take up knitting, you're going to do it while wearing earplugs or like loud music blaring.  I'm just not going to take up knitting. will crochet. Do you do any other other crafts too? um outside of crochet? ah
27:37I love to cook. Oh, same. Yep. So I don't know if that's a craft, but I do. love to cook. I for me. I used to like to do, I don't know what it's called, not embroidery, cross stitch. Oh, cross stitch. Yeah. I don't do a cross stitch if it has like the image already printed on there. I don't know that I have the patience sometimes for counted cross stitch. Like I just want to look and match colors and do it that way.
28:05Yes. And what's really weird is knitting is too persnickety for me, but counting cross stitch was really easy. Really? Oh my goodness. Okay. Yeah. Very weird. I haven't done cross stitch in a long time. I got into it when I was probably 32, 33. Yeah. And I'm, 56 now. And I, I made, I found out that my mother-in-law really loved butterflies. Yeah.
28:31And so I found these two really gorgeous butterfly cross-stitch kits and I made them for her and I gave her one for her birthday and one for Christmas.  And then she passed away uh back  just the beginning of COVID and she didn't pass away from COVID, she passed away from something else.  And we were packing up the house and she had those cross-stitches hanging on her walls and I have them, I put them away because I put a lot of hours into those things.
29:01Yeah. And I just, don't know, I think I'm, I'm past my cross stitching phase. Yeah.  I can see that. Okay. Well, the next thing, you know, just, mean, my other big one is, is sewing and quilting. I love all things sewing and quilting. Yeah. I never got into quilting. My mom, my mom loves to quilt. Yeah. Like,  loves it. And she's 79 years old. And I think the last quilt she made was two years ago. Oh, wow. Good.
29:31You just, think once you start, you just never stop. I mean, I've been sewing since I was about six. My mom taught me and then picked up quilting later,  probably  after high school. And then, I mean, I've taught both sewing and quilting for probably 15 plus years now. I designed patterns,  published patterns. was on a quilt show. Me and my friend did a couple episodes or couple seasons of a quilt show. And then I sew anything and everything. And my first sewing book actually just came out.
30:01last November. um So yeah, I love to do  all things related to fabric.  you have a website, Ashley? Not a personal one, just the Facebook page. um So where's your book available? uh So Amazon is the big one. So it's 500 Sewing  Tips, Tricks, Techniques and Hacks. um But a bunch of, know, it's a small little quilt shop.  have them. uh Barnes and Noble has them. But Amazon, think, is just the
30:31easiest way for everything, for all shopping.  That's exciting. I didn't realize you had a book. Yeah, thank you. It was fun.  I've taught both sewing and quilting for years and done it either in person or em I probably have hundreds of hours of just short little clips or little tip videos or long form classes. And so it was  kind of fun to um do the written version of that.
30:59Like I feel like it's very easy to, I think it's easy to teach someone like when you're physically sitting there next to them, right? And showing them how to do something and explaining something. But it was a very different process to actually put it into words of like trying to make it a cohesive, understandable book. But it was a lot of fun. Nice. You are very talented and you're very busy. And you give me hope because this homesteading thing is not a fad.
31:28Yeah, yeah. is a way of life. And I agree. As the world gets scarier and crazier, I feel like the people that are practicing homesteading skills, skills, schools, uh-huh, skills are the ones who are basically going to save us. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's like, we won't necessarily need the big box stores and things like that. We will be able to do and provide for ourselves.
31:57So I'm trying to get everybody on board who wants to be on board because  we need the world to survive because honestly,  nature doesn't give one flying F about human.  No,  nature would go on just fine if all humans disappeared tomorrow.  Absolutely. And I don't want  to disappear. No, no, no, it does. But I think, you know, you're saying, some people don't want to fully embrace full on home setting per se. But it's like if if somebody just picks
32:26one thing that they're into. Like maybe you only want chickens, you don't want to do anything else. Or maybe you only want to grow this one specific thing. But if everybody has just the one thing that they're doing, then everybody altogether, we're still going to have everything we need.  Exactly.  All right, Ashley, this was really fun and I appreciate your time.  People can find you at H &H Homestead on Facebook. Yes, absolutely. Are you on Instagram?  No, I probably should, but I'm not yet. Okay.
32:56All right. As always, people can find me at thetinyhomesteadpodcast.com.  Ashley, I hope you have a great day. Thank you. You too. Thank you.
 

Rud Ridge LLC

Today I'm talking with Ruth at Rud Ridge LLC. You can also follow on Facebook.
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00:00listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters.  I'm your host, Mary Lewis.  Today I'm talking with Ruth at Rud Ridge  LLC in Wisconsin. Good morning, Ruth. How are you? Good morning. I'm fantastic. How are you? I'm good. Is the weather beautiful in Wisconsin today? Because it is gorgeous in Minnesota.
00:22It's one of those Wisconsin days where you're not sure if 60 degrees is going to feel like 40 degrees or 60 degrees is going to feel like 80 degrees. So, uh, it's beautiful. I'll take it. Uh, but it's a little chilly out there for this time of year.  Yeah. May has turned out to be more like April and April was more like May here. So I don't know. Mother nature is just  a fickle.  Which  W I C H let's put it that way this year.
00:49As long as my husband can get the corn in the ground today and the other crops planted, I will be very happy.  Yes, yes, because corn needs time. So it can be knee high by the 4th of July, as they say.  You've got it. They just planted  the field that surrounds our property  yesterday, day before yesterday,  and they're doing soybeans this year. It's been corn for three years in a row. I'm so thankful it's soybeans this year.
01:17little bit of change. Yeah, we actually had some ice on the duck ponds this morning, which was not normal for me. So,  no,  our outside um water supply, I don't know what they're called. It's the it would in the old days, it would have been the well where you had to pump the water out.  And it's not you just lift the handle and it's like a spigot. Yeah, yeah, it's been frozen the last three mornings. And my husband's like,
01:45I'm going to have to fill up a five gallon pail of water and take it out to chickens. I'm like, good luck with that because that's heavy.  So yeah, it's been weird, but I hear that this is the last cold week, supposedly  until fall. We will see. Weather, man. I don't know.  So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you guys do at Red Ridge LLC. So Red Ridge originally started with rabbits. em
02:13Excuse me, specifically,  Rex, not many rabbits.  We started with rabbits because we lived in town on half an acre. ah children and I began with raising rabbits for meat and show.  And we relocated to another property outside of town and have expanded into crop farming and we will be adding beef hopefully later this year. So we are all around a family homestead. My husband is a seventh.
02:42generation farmer here in Wisconsin.  So we are looking to continue that with the eighth generation that would be our children.  Nice. um I have a question about the Rex rabbit. Rex rabbits are the ones  that look like velvet, right? Yes, they are. They um are kind of generally considered a commercial  breed,  larger in scale. They have a versatility where their  their pelts are
03:11utilized  in  a lot of garment making  and such. very, very soft. Once you feel Rex rabbit fur, nothing else feels quite like it in density and softness.  And they really are a joy to raise and watch  thrive in our homestead.  friend of mine had one and it was like
03:36like a chocolatey, a light chocolate brown one, but she had black eyeliner around her eyes.  And I fell in love with that rabbit. She was friendly and she was the softest animal I have ever petted in my whole life. Yes, absolutely. And we specifically have always focused on temperament of our stock.  They are handled quite a bit from the day they are born. We do routine nest box checks. We're always hands on.
04:05Um, you know, making sure that they're growing well,  um, everybody's alive in the nest that they are used to being handled, that moms are used to us handling them.  So it kind of really sets them up for, um, a thriving of their social personality in that aspect. But you know, you pointed out they can be really sweet and kind.  Yes. I mean, I think that rabbits make excellent pets as long as you, as long as they are socialized to being handled. Yes. Well, and you know,
04:35Certainly historically in America, rabbits have been utilized for meat.  It's not quite as common  as it once was um in either the country or our region specifically to have rabbits as meat. But I think it's an important point for people or families who want to be  a little more self-sustainable, to be able to be involved in their own personal food chain, whether it be for themselves or for their pets. We do supply.
05:05Some people rabbit meat for their pets, um dogs and cats,  sometimes snakes.  I think that  people can care for their livestock and rabbits can be a part of livestock while also being  kind of that cute and cuddly at the same time. It's an interesting dynamic to try to uh explain to people that are looking to begin on a homesteading journey.
05:34Yes, you don't  just have to have meat chickens, you can have meat rabbits as well. Yes. Rabbit meat actually is considered one of the healthiest and easily digestible proteins  that's available to people to consume. um I know  that, again, people have to kind of get past the fact that it's their own um animal they would be harvesting,  and it's not  presented in a package  these days.
06:04Every single animal that we consume  kind of looks the same on a grocery store shelf. They're all basically in the same size packages. They're in the same sort of presentation. But rabbit meat from a health standpoint personally can really give people a solid boost into their nutrition.  And I keep hearing that  if all you ate was was rabbit for your meat source.
06:32that that doesn't go well because they don't have a lot of fat on them? So that is  more geared to wild game rabbit.  Okay.  Um,  while within the meat itself, there's not like a lot of marbling like you would see in, um, beef or in pork.  Um, you will find when you harvest domestic rabbits that they do have a certain amount of fat content within them. Okay. That being said,
07:01There's no one  ever that's really  consuming solely rabbit in their diet, you know in this day and age if you understand where I'm coming  so it would be really really difficult to be so Exclusively relying upon rabbit meat that you would find yourself deficient, you know in  in nutrient Okay, so it's
07:26I wanted  to bring it up because people keep telling me this and I'm like, I don't think anybody's just going to eat rabbit, number one. And number two,  we had rabbits for a while and when we butchered them, they had fat on them.  It's very much akin to um the old wives tale that if you touch a rabbit  or you  touch a nest from a rabbit that the mom will abandon that nest.  It's kind of the same  in the same vein that there may have been a
07:55grain of truth  into, you know, exclusively utilizing rabbit being poor for your health. You obviously need a well-rounded diet  that somehow that translated into people believing that rabbit starvation is an issue when you're utilizing rabbit meat and that it's just not the case.  you. That's I was hoping you would clear that up for me.  Absolutely.  And you know far more about rabbits than I do. We did it. We did not.
08:25do well at it and we don't raise rabbits anymore. I'm  sorry to hear that because we really define them to be a  positive impact in our life.  We had dumb bunnies. They did not know how to procreate and we had the right genders or sexes or whatever. They just didn't make babies.  I believe people have found that there is  the saying of, you know, breeding like rabbits  that particularly when you want them to, they may not.
08:54uh It can be  a little bit of an art and a science. uh There  are  things such as the rabbit's over consumption of a pelleted feed that can lead them to be a little heavier in fat that would limit their ability to get pregnant.  There can be other environmental stressors or factors that can make it a little more difficult than it may seem on the surface to kind of really get an established rabbitry, even of a trio.
09:24into a productive meat source for a family. But  if you can work through trial and error  and really talk to people that have an established  formula, you know,  sometimes it can, can really work out.  And I wish it had, but we were just, after a year, we were so frustrated with these rabbits and don't blame me  and feeding livestock that isn't, isn't doing the job.
09:50is not a good plan.  we just were like, now we're just going to butcher the ones we have and stick them in the freezer. Now, having said that,  one of the females did get pregnant and she did have babies. And it was one of the most wonderful couple of months of my life because baby rabbits are freaking adorable. They really are. I always have to tell people when I show them pictures of new litters, like the day they're born, I promise they get cuter. ah It can be a little surprising for people when they see what a newborn
10:19uh, rabbit looks like, uh naked mole rat. Yeah, we call them hippos.  Little, you know, blind hippos.  Um,  but you know, as they grow and it really can be a joy. My personal favorite age is three weeks old,  um, which we have some rabbits in the barn right now that are getting ready to be that age.  Um, but for the most part, it can be really a  joyous process. are so sweet and
10:47The reason that I say it was one of the happiest couple of months of my life is because it was really hot when this mama had them. It was June.  It was way hotter than it should have been.  And there was no way to keep the hutch cool.  so  I demanded that we bring the mama and the babies in. So the mama and the babies hung out in a big old plastic bin with the nest box and hay, cleaned that thing out every day.
11:16And I got to watch these babies grow from a day old until they went back outside with mom at about five or six weeks old. Six weeks old. It's amazing how quickly they grow, huh? You just kind of... Yes. It's hard to even believe sometimes. Yes. And because they were...  The bin was on my kitchen table.  I got to pick up baby bunnies whenever I wanted to and they were very socialized.  Yes, absolutely.
11:41It was really fun. I don't want to do it again anytime soon, but it was really, really fun while it lasted. You're grateful for the experience. Oh, I  am. I would not change it for anything. And  I told my mom, she,  I live in Minnesota and she lives in Maine and I told her the whole story when we did it. And she was like, so you get up every morning and get your coffee, drink about half a cup of coffee and then just sit down and commune with baby rabbits. And I was like,  yes, I do.
12:11Yes, and it's fantastic. Absolutely.  It really can be a joy. She said, I think I'm jealous. I said, get you some rabbits, Like,  no, I'm too old. Not doing that. I'm like, okay, that's fine.  So it was very fun. I don't want to do it again. But I commend anyone who is raising rabbits because it is an art and a science, I think. It is. I agree. Yes. So you said you said you're thinking about getting into getting cows.
12:40So, yeah, so is that that's for meat or dairy or both? Meat. So my husband was raised on a dairy farm. He comes from a long line of dairy farmers. Unfortunately, in 2008, his family's dairy barn burned to the ground. Luckily, all the animals and all the people were safe. But since that time,
13:06his family has pivoted to raising beef cows. ah They raise herford ah for the most part. And so we are looking to add our own  beef cows down here.  We're about 20 miles away  from my in-laws farm. ah We're looking to add beef cows to our pasture.  So  you don't have to tell me an exact number, but are we talking like
13:3410 or are we talking like 100? uh So  we're on the smaller side of an operation, probably 25 or so.  Nice. And I'm going to ask a really stupid question because I  literally don't know the answer to this. Where does one acquire beef cattle in Wisconsin? Well, so  acquiring them directly from other farmers is an option.
14:04option.  The auctions, equity livestock would be another  option. Certainly the last handful of years, three years or so, beef prices have soared quite a bit. Yes. We joke that it has not been a wonderful time to plan to get into beef cattle. uh So short of purchasing from our own family. uh
14:30or going to the auction,  either way you slice it, it certainly costs more than it did probably five years ago.  So I think the farmer  is an ever optimist, right?  We have to be. em If you're pessimistic about it, you might as well not even start because Lord knows we don't control the weather, we don't control the commodity prices, we don't control whether or not our herd
14:57remains healthy within our control or if something happens or you know government  forces at play or any of that. So I think we really at this point are just kind of looking to find  some sort of reasonable beginning and to try to flourish and expand  from within ourselves through breeding and other acquisitions that we really can do in order to leave something that our children
15:26have been involved in starting and may want to continue in the future. I am thrilled to hear that you're looking into this and you want to do it and you're going to make it go because my other podcast called Grit and Grace in the Heartland, Women in Agriculture, my co-host is a cattle rancher in Nebraska and she and her family are going to have to sit down next week and figure out what animals they are keeping, what animals they are selling.
15:55because Nebraska and South Dakota, basically the whole Midwest, other than Minnesota and Wisconsin, and we're upper Midwest, so it's different, is in the middle of a drought.  And there's been a lot of fires in Nebraska this spring. And so the grazing field, the grazing land is burned.  And uh a lot of people are going to be selling off their cattle this year.  And she told me that um a bunch of
16:24people in her area are having issues with this, this strings calves being sick because of the weather conditions.  So if you think beef is expensive right now, it's only going to get more expensive. And I'm so sad about this.  I am as well, you know, and, us smaller scale farmers, you know, of course, small scale, think as far as upper Midwest versus small scale.
16:48Yes. Kind of towards Nebraska and that are two different things, right? It's not necessarily the number of head we're talking about, it's kind of the operation in general. Yeah. But small scale farmers are really, you know, kind of disappearing a bit  and being absorbed absorbed into  larger operations. And  I would really love to see family farmers and ranchers be able to continue to push forward somehow. um For us,  that means
17:18starting and scaling in increments that are manageable and small.  Not taking on operating loans or expenses, just trying to kind of chip it out  as we can and try to  teach our children to do the same and do the best with the circumstances we can control. And  if we can at least start with feeding ourselves,  feeding my family, feeding our, you know, the few families that are connected directly to us.
17:47be good stewards of the animals and the land and just keep going away at it. It is our way of life and  what we would welcome and want people to try to continue to do. On the other hand, I realize it's difficult. Conditions can be brutal,  emotionally, physically, environmentally. And  I tip my hat to any  fellow farmer or rancher that is having to make these tough decisions because it's not fun. um
18:16but I send our prayers and well wishes with them. Yes. And no one gets into raising livestock because it's all rainbows and sunshine and boxes of candy. No one does. Or for the money. I think that was especially in the rabbit world. We had expanded at one time to having our Red Ridge stock in 22 different states.
18:44um kind of going through starting other people's barns for themselves, starting into show  territory. And there's an assumption that, well, you you're just in it for the  money or,  you know, exploiting these poor small woodland creatures.  But I can promise the profit  in farming is purely one of culture, lifestyle,  and that's really in the heart that certainly has nothing to do with uh
19:14Monetary gain or loss as it were depending on the year  No, it's because you freaking love it Yes Yes,  and I want to I really want to pound on that because I feel like a lot of people just make assumptions about people who grow things or raise animals and  it's I don't know why it's weird to be in agriculture, but
19:40A lot of Americans think that it's weird to be in agriculture. And I'm like, it's not weird. Why is it any weirder than being in selling boats for a living or selling cars  or selling crypto?  Do what you love. Yeah, I do think some of it, as far as the wider American public links back to our separation from our food and our specific food chain, you know,  we did see a swing back a little bit as far as American families keeping chickens, for example.
20:10um after COVID or with the rise in egg prices. um But otherwise, I think people just see food  and agriculture as something that's like, well, somebody else is going to do it. What do you want to do it for? Somebody else will do it. um But for those of us that are in agriculture, um it's really a cornerstone of our lives. And it's interesting because I don't come from really an agriculture background. um I was not raised in the Midwest.
20:39My husband 100 % was, this is his heritage. It's something I always felt drawn to even as a little girl. ah So the agriculture bug bit me somehow. um And I think it can really be something that anyone who feels the call can do. It might not be easy. It might not always be fun or Instagram worthy, but anybody can do it if they're willing to really  make
21:07some sacrifices  and get into the community to learn from others as well. Yep. So are your kids into this? My kids are very into this.  Yes. I have one daughter and one son.  They are going into middle and high school. um They are involved in the FFA. They very much  are out there on the tractor and  you know,
21:35working to acquire their own  beef herd as it were.  They have steak in the rabbits. So they are very much farm kids. That gives me so much hope. Yeah, me too. We need,  I'm going to use the term little people, but we need our little people and  our getting bigger people to embrace this because somebody's got to grow the food that America eats, you know?
22:05Right, it's really that connection with  our food, with agriculture and with the real world that  is  required to operate within it to make sure it continues. We'll our best to give them that. I'm so glad and I'm so glad that your daughter is into it because again,  a lot of people assume that girls  don't farm and women are very into farming now. Very. Absolutely. Yes.
22:33Yes. And she, you know, has a favorite brand of tractor. will not argue about colors of green on this podcast, but I promise my son and daughter have  differing opinions on it.  And they're very strong ones. Uh, they have their favorites for the field and what each of their own individual plans are, but raising a daughter that is interested in crops and in livestock.  Um, and then additionally in animal sciences, you know, really.
23:01makes me proud to show other mothers and other daughters that we have a place here. Yes,  absolutely. And I don't care what color the tractor is as long as it gets the job done. You know, I feel that way. not quite... I don't understand what the whole  spiel is, but I am happy to let...  As long as they're going to drive it to do the chores, right? That's my  thing. Yeah. And as long as it starts and continues running, we're good. And as long as they can fix it.
23:30We happen to run  older equipment. That too, yes. They can fix. oh Yes. And the other thing that I kind of want to touch on, because we're talking about tractors, which I never talk about because I don't really use ours, my husband does. um Tractors don't have to be brand  new, like came off the line yesterday, to work.
23:56You can  pick up an old tractor and  re-habit whatever and it'll work just as good as a brand new tractor. You just won't have screens and computers that tell you  where you are in the field. Right.  Yes. That's how we personally operate. I understand why other operations may operate differently, but  for us, particularly since we only really started  within the last decade, it's important.
24:25to us to operate something we can afford  at the jump. We can work on ourselves. um We may be able to still find spare parts for  versus waiting on a computer chip from somewhere that we don't know how long it's going to take to get here. Well,  the plants have got to get planted. Yes.  I am old enough to remember when cars did not have a computer system in them. Right. And I kind of hate that cars have computer systems in them now.
24:55Yeah. One more thing to fix,  One more very expensive thing to fix. Yeah.  Yep. So, you know, our kids are an eye. I'm  I don't drive the tractors as often. It's  kind of my husband's thing. I am the one that is the gopher and the do and the, know, he needs me to go down to the implement store and bring him what have you. Because again, this was
25:22What he was raised on, he's worked on these types of tractors his whole life. uh I can contribute in other areas, but,  you know, for the most part, it's been a positive way for us to kind of maintain things in our operation. Yes. So you're, you're in Southwestern Wisconsin?  Yes. We're just about halfway between Madison, Wisconsin and Dubuque, Iowa in the Southwestern corner of Wisconsin. Okay. So.
25:51You've been to Minnesota, yes, no? Yes, I have. You know how Minnesota is weird because like the southern part of the state is pretty flat, but as you go further north, it's more hilly and forested?  Yes, we are the opposite.  So, so it's not flat where you are? No, it is not flat where we are. It's pretty, ah you know,  graded and hilly and it is not flat where we are. We're considered what's called the driftless region.  Oh, yes. um
26:20So we are not necessarily in a really flat part of the state.  No, but you are in a really beautiful part of the state. I have been to the Driftless area. It's gorgeous. Yes, it's very unique and it  certainly has different landscapes for everyone. uh Your cattle are going to love it. Yes,  they will as long as the fences hold, right?  I think don't go through the, uh we have creeks that run through some of our property.
26:50And they can be a little crafty about getting around the fences that go through the creek, but you know, it's a beautiful landscape and a beautiful area.  am so excited for you. What's the ETA or the possibility ETA on getting cattle?  Um,  we don't really have a firm  timeline. Um, we're kind of shooting for before summer. Nice. Um, but I think that has a lot to do with how the planting season starts and.
27:16you know, lot of other things that are kind of intertwined with making sure we are set up with good fences and, you know, water and all that for the cattle. So hopefully  before fall.  am going to have to keep an eye on your Facebook page for when the first pictures show up of your cattle on your property. I'm sure there will be lots of them. So yes, please do. I love when I get to interview people and they have  new things coming down the road because
27:46It'll pop up on my Facebook feed and I'm like, oh yeah, they finally got the thing, whatever it is. Yep. You know, the pivot away from rabbits has been, um, well, I shouldn't say away from rabbits, but away from rabbits being the main focal point has been a little bittersweet. know, um, rabbits built red ridge. Um, it did the purpose of beginning where we did with rabbits was because we lived in town. can't have cows in town.
28:16My husband was still  active duty military at the time. And so it's how my children and I really started Rudd Ridge is kind of a segue into my husband's retirement. um now move forward into um cows is seeing  everything we dreamed of for 20 years kind of come to fruition. So  I feel like I'm departing from what built Rud Ridge and moving into, you know, the future that
28:45I'm excited for, but it's also a  a little bittersweet. So I try to invite people to do their own part  for their family with their food source, still through rabbits, to kind of maintain that, connection. Yeah. It's so exciting, Ruth. I'm so thrilled for you.  All right. Where can people find you? I try to keep these to half an hour more, 28 minutes. Oh, okay. That went by fast, huh? Yeah. So people can find us at Rud
29:15Ridge  LLC  on Facebook. That is most commonly um where I am able to update.  We do have a regular website, uh redridgewisconsin.com,  but that can be a little more clunky to update. So I'm trying to get there to get  a little more current, but we look forward to having people join us where they can find us.
29:41As always, people can find me at atinyhomesteadpodcast.com. Ruth, I love what you're doing and I appreciate the fact that you took time out of your busy day to chat with me. Thank you so much. Well, thank you so much for having me. I appreciate you. Have a good day. You too.