A Tiny Homestead

Backlund Acres

Today I'm talking with Sheila at Backlund Acres. 
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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. This episode is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company, where creativity and community grow hand in hand. Just like a thriving garden or a well-loved homestead, the best things are built with care, purpose, and heart. Through thoughtful design, storytelling, and handcrafted goods, they're helping people celebrate a simpler or meaningful way of living. Learn more at Greenbush Twins & Company.
00:28Today I'm talking with Sheila at Backlund Acres in Belle Plaine, Minnesota. Good afternoon, Sheila. How are you? Good. How are you doing? I'm good. We're having a hot one again today. Right. I'm a little tired of it, are you?  Yeah.  Yeah, the plants love it, though. So  I can't complain because everything in the field is just doing amazing. Well, I guess I guess the good news is that at least we've been getting rain along with the heat.
00:58Exactly.  If we were just getting the heat, we would be in trouble. It's definitely, yeah, it's definitely a bigger problem. And when we had the early heat, I think was it in May or June?  It was  so dry and it was just heat. And so we had trouble with like our spring crops bolting early.  Yeah, our asparagus went to seed super fast this year. I was very sad about this.  Yeah.
01:27We planted asparagus five years, five springs ago now. And this was the year we were going to be able to have a bunch to sell at the farmers market, right? No, it all bolted so fast that we couldn't keep up. So I have a question about your asparagus. So you planted it five years ago and you can just start harvesting now or you're just saying it multiplied enough where you had  enough to sell? We got
01:53We got enough to have a mess as my mom would call it two springs ago. And then last year we had enough to have some to eat and some to sell on our farm stand. This was the year where we thought there was going to be enough to actually sell it at the farmer's market. So  we thought that it would have been  long enough that it would have multiplied and sell it.  But no, because it was so hot,  it just went poof because it's a breath.
02:23as a grass. Oh, I didn't know that.  We are on year two of our asparagus and it was ready  really early. Now, I know you're not supposed to harvest it the first year,  but we  bought like and  we have a whole field of it, I'll just say.  And  they, the company we got it from said we could harvest it for a week the first year. And then the second year it's three weeks. So anyways, yeah,  I was ready in April though, which was really weird.
02:53We're getting a little bit ahead of ourselves, but we're on asparagus. I'm going to ask this, and then I'm going to ask you to tell me about yourself. Was your asparagus super sweet this year? Because ours was. It was delicious. Yeah.  But then we had a freeze and I had no idea that it all will freeze and die. Oh, yeah. You know, if you're only allowed to harvest it that first week, everything that was above ground froze. And so if I would have known that, I would have taken like I probably would have had an entire
03:23There was a lot  that I could have brought in and pickled or done something with, but I just, I guess I didn't know.  Live and learn, right?  Right. Yep. Yep. That's all this farming and home setting and ranching is, is living and learning every freaking season. For sure. It's fun and it's frustrating.  So anyway,  please tell me a little bit about yourself and about Backland Acres. Okay. So we...
03:50So I grew up, me and my husband actually grew up in Eden Prairie and had never planted anything. um So we  got married out of high school, lived in Chock-A-Pee, had never planted anything in my life.  And  my son came home with like a styrofoam cup with  a little plant from, you know, that you do in kindergarten. They plant the seed in the styrofoam cup and bring it home.  So he brought that home and we planted it next to our house.
04:20in Chakapea, just dug a hole, had no idea what I was doing, just dug a hole and planted it and it turned into this big plant and gave us summer squash. was crooked neck summer squash. Nice.  And I just became  really infatuated or  yeah, just really, really excited. So  I went to the store and I bought a bunch of seeds and I had no idea what I was doing, like literally  nothing. don't even, I didn't.
04:46don't even know if I had a smartphone then. I didn't know how to look anything up. I didn't look anything up. I didn't read anything. I just started dumping seeds in the ground. But I dumped a whole packet in the ground. So I would dig a hole and dump a whole packet of bean seeds in the ground. Or unknot seeds or whatever. You got the bug. Yeah, I did. And it was really fun. And we had some things, obviously. We had weeds and everything. And I had no idea what I was doing. But yeah, so from there, we had some...
05:16friends who wanted to  purchase a farm  and start like an organic  meat farm. And so we  were good candidates for that.  we, um they wanted to purchase it and start this business and  they wanted somebody else to live on the property and run the business. So we agreed to do that.  And I just started planting more and more. I don't know how much you want me to tell, but I started planting more and more. um
05:46when we came out here and learned a little bit  more about what I was doing, you know, that I needed to weed, that I needed to  space the plants apart  and um start some seeds ahead of time.  And this was 12 years ago? Yes, this was 12 years ago. Right.  I'm impressed. You...
06:15You caught the bug knowing nothing and you have turned it into a business in 12 years.  Right. Yes, exactly. And so when we first moved here, we started with a lot of animals because they were really interested in the animals. So we raised like a thousand chickens a year.  We um had pigs, we had cows  that we had like put up all this fencing to have cows on our land. was someone else's cows, but we were just,  we had 15 acres. So, you know, it was either hay it or have animals on it. So.
06:45um We were learning how to move cows around and how to move chickens behind them. And we had some sheep at  one point. We had goats. We tried  everything.  But the thing that we did for our business first off was the chickens and the pigs. um So that's more of what we were focused on. But I slowly just started growing uh vegetables. Well, actually not slowly. Before I even moved in here.
07:12We rented a tiller and for some reason I thought I had to bring the sod up. So I got a sod cutter and um we planted a whole bunch of stuff.  But just again, still had no idea what I was doing. Didn't have a greenhouse and had all this stuff in my basement um and was doing a lot of throwing,  like digging a hole and still throwing seeds in the ground. um But yeah, so over the
07:40course of 10 years or 12 years, guess,  we  have transitioned to doing less animals and more. Now we have, now we plant five acres of vegetables and flowers  and we have tractors and a greenhouse and  high tunnels and oh all the things.  You also have a model for your CSA that I read about on your website that  I think is super cool.
08:09people can come and work at the farm. yes. this is.  It's a SDS share, right? Correct, yep.  And this is how that started. So we start, I really started selling vegetables, you so we're still doing a lot of animals. I think in one year I raised like 3000 chickens because I was raising for somebody else as well.  So we're still doing a lot of animals, but.
08:35We had these gardens that were quite big and they were just for me and there was no reason to have that much garden space. And it was during COVID and I had friends.  So this was, think, so yeah, COVID six years ago. um I had friends coming over because there was nothing else to do with their kids and the kids were playing and we were  weeding the garden. And I just said, let's all take care of the garden together and then we can just split the, whatever we produce.
09:03So that same year,  a farmer's market reached out to me because I think they needed vegetable vendors, I can't remember, and asked if we would  sell vegetables at their market.  And I was like, oh my goodness, I've never even,  you know, I don't know what I'm doing at all.  Like, we're just, I can grow things, but it's very messy process. Like there's lots of weeds,  things are imperfect.
09:30So I asked my friends and we said, let's do it. So we all went  on it together and just started planting and um taking care of what we already had and started going to the farmer's market together.
09:46I so far, love your story and I'm going tell you why. I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to get people to grow something because things are so expensive right now and seeds are cheap compared to a tomato. Yes. I feel like almost everybody can find a bucket and get a scoop full of dirt and grow a tomato plant. I feel like they really can. I do too.
10:16And  I also feel like you with your situation  your your child brought home a seedling and you were like, let's plant it and see what happens.  That's not luck. That's intention.  So you are just uh solidifying my my constant push to get people interested. You happen to luck into it. But guys, if you have space, grow.
10:46something. Right, plant a seed. Yeah. You know, and don't be, I mean,  and I guess I had to be willing to dig out, you know, I didn't have a perfectly manicured yard or whatever. dug a hole in the side of my house and I had to be right next to my lily. There was lilies there. There was other perennials.  I  had to be willing to just  see what happens.  I think
11:10a lot with this. think something about my personality that works with farming, I've talked to my husband about this, is that I am not a perfectionist. whatever the opposite of a perfectionist is me and I am willing to just try things or throw a seed in the ground. I was just doing a lot of throw seeds in the ground and see what happens and see what happens instead of trying to learn everything there is to know.
11:40try to do it perfectly so I can have this perfect looking garden.  You're an experimenter, that's what you are. Yes, yes. I  remember the lady who  purchased the farm, I was growing vegetables for her because I was going to provide for both of our families.  And she kept asking these scientific questions. And I was like, Kate, I don't know. And she's like, so you're...
12:08You're saying it's more of an art than a science. And I'm like, yes, that's what I'm saying.  We're going to see what happens. And every year is different. there's not like a formula. At least I don't think people might, other farmers might disagree with me, but I don't feel like there's a formula for a perfect um plant or system or growing season. There's just way too many variables.  Yeah. If there was a system or a science to growing things.
12:36Everybody would be doing it and people would be a lot better off Right. Yeah, but there isn't we I'm not gonna lie the last two summers have been rough here with our farm to market garden because in Luzor we got rain  Every day in May and into June both years. You know, I've been getting a lot of rain the past two years I've been watched because I'm always watching the radar. Yeah, and it always stops when it gets to me So we've actually been dry super dry the past two years
13:07And you're only like half an hour away from me, which is just crazy.  It is crazy. I don't know if it's something to do with the river, but me and my neighbors talk where like, it's so weird how it always splits around us. And I am watching the sewer Mankato. That area is always just getting like  red, you know, on the radar. It's like red after red.  There's storms or rain. Luckily this year has been  perfect. Oh, good.
13:35And I'm really afraid to say that out loud because I'm afraid I will jinx it.  But we have apples on our apple trees.  have uh tomatoes forming on our tomato plants. We've already picked cucumbers and kohlrabis and zucchini. This year is looking to be across everything I have and knock on wood a good year. But the last two summers have just been hellacious because of all the rain. I'm sorry. My husband.
14:04went out to, well, he wanted to plant  last spring on May 15th, because that's the day we do it.  the garden was mud. It was slow up. He was like, I can't plant anything because I'm, I'm sinking into my ankles if I step into the garden. Yeah. It's like, Oh, that's fabulous. So he ended up planting three different plantings of tomatoes to get
14:32maybe 50 pounds of tomatoes last year. Oh, I'm sorry.  Yeah, the timing of everything can be really frustrating. ah So  so we have one hundred and  seventy CSA members and then  people who shop at our farm store each week. So I don't know.  I just feel like probably 200 families, you know, that we're  getting vegetables for each week. ah
15:00So we have, so the timing can be very frustrating because we have to have, start June 1st, we start sending out vegetables June 1st or the first week of June.  So we have to have vegetables ready.  And when you, can't get the tractor in or you know, you have plans to like this year we had, we were in really early. And  so I,  I test the water, like I do some extreme things. I plant extremely early on some things.
15:30where everyone around, know,  people who have gardened forever, they'll stop by the greenhouse and say, Sheila, you're planting too early. And I'm saying it's going to be fine.  But things like lettuce, all the brassicas, celery, celeriac, all the cold weather things, I'll plant extremely early um because then we can have them, you know, the first week of June.
15:53But if it's too wet, you can't get tractors in the ground. This year what happened is we got them in really early and then there was some really cold weather coming and it was very scary. Everything survived. You know, I think it got down to like 26 and all of my cauliflower, everything survived. You were very lucky. So that was an experiment that worked out good. Yeah. And people who don't do this.
16:21have no concept of the worry that we all have. Oh,  right. I think about that all the time when people are saying, you know, I'll be in the farm store and customers are coming in saying there's a big storm coming. There's a big storm coming. I'm like, you don't know what that's doing to my  anxiety right now. Let's stop talking about the storm. Let's pretend it's not going to happen. Oh, yeah. We lost an apple tree, uh, two Sundays ago, two Sundays ago.
16:50That storm that came through early on Sunday morning, it snapped right off at the base.  Oh my goodness. Yeah, and  I'm sad,  but I'm not as sad as I would be if it had been a different tree. It was a honey gold variety and we have four. We now have three. Okay. And I don't love honey gold apples. My husband does.  And the other two trees, two of the three trees are loaded with apples. So we should have some honey golds for.
17:19sale and for my husband to snack on when they come in. But I would have been heartbroken if it had been the one Regent or the one Harrelson that we have. Right, right. So I felt very blessed that if it had to be an apple tree, at least it was one of those. Yes, Honey Gold is a good one. Yeah, last year we had, I think it was in June, we had some big wins and I had no idea it was coming. I'm happy I didn't know because I would have been so stressed out.
17:46But it happened in the middle of the night and it ripped one of our high tunnels out of the ground. Ugh. And just to give you an idea, high tunnels,  I mean, they're thousands  of dollars. They're so expensive.  And the time and the, you know, I had built it myself. We did end up fixing it this year, but it was really, really... So then em it ripped, you know, so then whatever was in the tunnel was like exposed to the elements all year, which ended up being completely fine. It was cucumbers.
18:16Yep. But it was, it was pretty, pretty darn stressful. So I think  the more infrastructure  and investment  I have in the game, I think I'm realizing the more stress, the more that's on the line, it's just more stress with weather and  things happening, you know, just adds to, adds to that stress, the weightiness of, you know, carrying it on your shoulders, I guess.
18:44But would you give it up for anything?  Maybe the high tunnels. The high tunnels are stressing me out. Yeah. But no, the rest of it. No, in the field, I don't get too stressed when there's storms. It's more of just those. mean, I'm trying to think. I think the high tunnels that I just put in were like 15,000 apiece.  Uh-huh. So it's quite a bit of  money we're talking. You know what mean? That like if something happens to that, um that's a
19:14big loss.  Yeah. And I feel your pain on a smaller scale. We just had a basically like a high tunnel style greenhouse. So maybe a quarter of the size of what you're talking about. And I watched it go over and it was a lot. It was loaded with seedlings that all got knocked into the ground, their seed trays. So that is my number one.
19:41I don't even want to talk about it, but that is definitely my number one fear is my greenhouse, something happening to that during the, during, you know, like March and April. Yeah, this was three or four summers ago, springs ago. I watched it go over and I cried. And what did you do?  Well, all the seedlings were big enough to be planted. So we had  basically surprise gardens all over our property. Okay.
20:11And it was really kind of fun because you know,  squash seedlings, they don't necessarily look different from each other. So we didn't know if were planting a squash or summer squash.  So we had a few patches of zucchinis  and butternut squashes growing in the same plot.  that's funny.  Yep. So we rescued as many of the babies as we could, but  I never want to see a greenhouse go over again. It was
20:41It was heartbreaking. Right.  So I don't know how to make my greenhouse stronger, but that is definitely my number one fear. Like a winter storm taking it out while it's  still freezing out and things.  I don't know what I would do.  Well, we have a hard-sided greenhouse now that went up three maize ago.  The wind is not going to take that one down. It's like a house.  OK, that's cool.
21:11So, and that was funded by a grant from the market  entry fund. if you, if you want, if you want to come up with the money for a hard sided greenhouse, I would suggest looking into grants because that way you're not shelling out the money to build one. oh I put a hard side on  one  side, but it is still like a hoop house. Yeah. So anyways, you know, it's a lot. So, um,  so you grow flowers too, right?
21:41Yes, so during this time,  so six years ago, once I started growing and selling the vegetables, um I started planting flowers in the green. I basically just plant any seed that comes my way.  So I was planting everything and I was planting in the greenhouse and then I had to plant it outside, of course, and I knew nothing about flowers.  Never grew a flower in my life.  And I  became equally just...
22:10excited and completely obsessed with  flowers as I was with growing vegetables. I think it's,  if you like to grow, it's a great way to, um you know, get like, em get creative. Use time being creative and it's an art form that I think if you already like to be outside and you like to grow things, it's just a great outlet, I guess. you do annuals, perennials or both?
22:40Both. I am trying to build up my perennial gardens. was just looking, was, that's fine. I was just outside looking at the colorful echinacea that I planted last year and it's really taken off and really bountiful right now and it's just gorgeous. My flower gardens this year are outperforming any year and they're just insanely beautiful. So I need to...
23:09somehow get like some drone footage or something so that people know can get a good idea of what they look like. It's so hard to have  pictures do justice. Yes. And so I just want, yeah, I want everyone to come out and experience it. We have pick your own flowers  on Fridays and Saturdays during like our  on-site market here. And  people have really been enjoying it, but I just want to make sure everyone knows it's a possibility.
23:39um And that we  have loads of beautiful things here. Post on Facebook to your friends if anybody has a drone you can borrow or  if they want to come over and do it for you. Okay, yeah, was just talking to my husband and  his friend apparently has a whole production company.  Well, maybe that's solution. Yes, yes. So I'm like, we'll get him over. And I'm like, Nick, ASAP right now because  these flowers, you know, they don't let, we need people picking them now.
24:09Yeah, can you believe it's past July 4th? I can't. The season goes so fast for me now. Yeah. I think I'm probably over halfway through my growing season because we plant everything again for the fall. I don't know if you do that, but we plant. I deliver until the second week of December. Wow. OK, no, we don't do that. Yeah.
24:36So we plant everything outside again. So all the cold weather stuff in the fall or the  spring things like the cabbages and the lettuces and  all of the, you know,  leafy greens and radishes. I plant all of that again. And then I also planted another time in our high tunnels. So in December we're harvesting out of our high tunnels.  Very nice. That is so cool. uh
25:06Echinacea is also called cornflower or cone flower, right? Yes, think people even call it purple cornflower, but there's a variety from Johnny's that is a colorful mix. trying to remember what it's Cheyenne? Cheyenne spirit? Well, it sounds beautiful. I haven't seen it. The reason I asked you, I asked you, geez, I can't pronounce, I cannot pronounce ASK today for some reason. We...
25:35got a bunch of cone flower plants two years ago and they just do not do well here. They were fine and then nothing came back this year. Weird. So tell me about your soil. Is it, probably because of the wet? Maybe. Did they drown? I don't know, but our dirt is very, it's not sandy, number one, and I know they like
26:05Sandier dirt, know sandier soils that might have something to do with it I'm not sandy at all. I'm thick clay Okay, I don't know near the year that they didn't come back for me. So two or I think four years ago I planted them. They didn't come back the next year because it was too wet Then maybe that's what it is because we put them in three Four three, I don't know three or four springs ago
26:32And they did well the first year and then the next two years it was bad. So what I'm discovering is that sometimes the things that you think will do really well in your area that are, you're cultivating, don't do as well as the wild things.  Yeah, for sure. For sure. mean, right. They're good. um
26:59lilacs and wild plum all over the place here in Minnesota. And our wild plum tree does well every year. But lilacs? Nope. And coneflowers? Nope.  And crocuses and daffodils? Nope. Yeah. Isn't that funny? And then you see it in fields in all these weeds, know, poking one of weeds and  nobody's taking care of it, but they're just growing like crazy. Yeah. I'm like, what did we do wrong?
27:29What did we screw up? And I don't think it's anything we screwed up. think that plants grow where they're planted, but they may not grow well if you force it. And they must have just like they found the perfect soil that they needed. You know, that's what I noticed too, like different weeds coming up. Different weeds will do really well in different years, you know, depending on whatever the soil has that year or how wet it is or.
27:59Yeah, it's a crapshoot. Mm-hmm. That's  yes. I really do think so. I really do think so. I've had so many years where I'm like, there is no what was it this year? We had something so amazing and I was like, there's no reason why is that doing so well?  I've planted that for years and for some reason this year it's doing well and I want to know why I'm trying to remember what it was.  Well, I don't remember, but cauliflower.  have I'm having a really great cauliflower year.
28:28Nice. Are you having a really good call Robbie year? Cause we are. Yes. Yes. Basically everything's doing pretty good for me this year. Trying to think of what's not. Yeah. We had, you know, here's a weird thing. We've never had this happen, but all of our radishes did terrible. Like they bolted super early and they didn't get very big radishes. They're so dependable. Same thing.
28:56Yeah, they're so dependable. Like every year they're just the same for me except for this year they were not. oh my husband brought in four French breakfast radishes for me  and I always try them before I do anything with them because if they're too hot, I won't be able to eat them. They hurt my mouth.  I took just a little tiny slice and bit into it I was like, nope, those are hotter than hell. No. Yes. And that's what people did say about my radishes too. They're wow, they're really hot. So it must have just been
29:25that early heat that we had. But I don't know, I've grown them in the high tunnel. just didn't, there was nothing that made sense because in the high tunnel they didn't do well either. So what I want our listeners, my listeners, whatever, however we're saying that these days, um, to know is that gardening is surprise, is a surprise a minute and it can be a really good surprise or it can be a bad surprise, but it's worth the effort. Absolutely. Absolutely.
29:54So um I try to keep these half an hour almost there.  What I would like to know as a last question  is you have a CSA. Is it still open for members or are you done with new members for this year? We are closed for delivery,  we are still open for what I call, I call it our UPIC CSA.
30:18I think I need to change the name to market style CSA because people think that they have to come here and go to the field and pick their vegetables. But it really, you pick just means you come to the farm store each week on Fridays or Saturdays  and you pick out which vegetables you want in your bag. So most CSAs you get a box or a bag of vegetables each week, the farmer picks. They give you, and that's how our delivery system works. We pack bags  and we give you what the best thing out of the field.
30:47On Fridays and Saturdays, set up, you pick,  we set up like a market  and we get other local things from other places as well. And you come here and pick whatever you want in your bag for the week.  That's fun. Yeah. And then it's been really fun because in addition to that, there's available, there's options for you to pick extra things from the field. So like you can get a pint of peas for one of your items, or you can go to the field and get a half gallon of peas.
31:17if you pick them. So there's really the people that are taking advantage of the pick your own are really making off great. They're going home with like  five gallon buckets of spinach or kale and  they're going home with a lot of vegetables. So  if you're willing to put a little work in, you can really  do well here.  So where can people find you if they want to if they want to take advantage of your business?
31:42Well, yeah, they can just come to the farm store. We are in Belle Plaine. We're right between Belle Plaine, Jordan and New Prague. So they can come to the farm store on a Friday or Saturday. And all of the information for this is on our website.  But come on to the farm store Friday or Saturday. Fridays 11 to 4, Saturdays 8 to noon.  And we can help you get signed up. Otherwise you can just shop. It's open for non-members as well. Just not all of the exact same benefits. um But it's open for non-members to just shop.
32:11Like it was exactly like it was a farmer's market. oh And your website is backlandacres.com and your Facebook page is backlandacres, right? Right. Yes. Okay. So that people can go find out and get the address to be able to show up. Yes.  Awesome. This was awesome. And I'm  so  thrilled that you're doing what you're doing. I wish more people would do it. I don't want them to do it right next door to you because you don't need the competition, but I wish that...
32:41I wish that people in the areas would do this because we need No, I agree.  I agree. I wish more people would do this, even if it's around me, because I think it creates a market for people to,  know, people get used to getting their food just locally when it's available more locally.  And so I just think that the more people, the better, really.
33:10Yes, and I keep saying this and I'm going to say it until I die. If you get your food from someone who's grown it locally, it is more nutritionally dense and it's better for you. Right, so you're getting more for your money. Yeah. Yeah, and I tell this to people too, you our prices don't, like you can't compare our prices to a grocery store because it's just not even the same vegetable. Right. It's not the same product at all.
33:36ah And some of our things are less expensive than the grocery store. Some are more expensive than the grocery. We have to charge what we need to to to grow the vegetable ah But it's not even  the same thing. So you can't really compare  Well, I'll tell you what the last time I bought a couple stems of rhubarb at a grocery store years ago They were super sour and they didn't taste like rhubarb. They just tasted really sour
34:04The rhubarb that grows in my yard tastes like rhubarb and when you add a little bit of sugar to it, it's really yummy. tried adding a little bit of sugar to the stuff from the store and it was still kind of sour, bitter and gross and stringy and woody and it was just disgusting. True.  just not even the same thing. Yeah, I don't want to knock grocery stores. I think that we kind of need them for certain things.  But I also feel like we live in a country where we can get food.
34:33from our neighbors who are growing it because they love to grow it and because they want to share it. So why not support them?  Right.  Yes, I agree. All right. So as always, people can find me at a tinyhomesteadpodcast.com. Sheila, thank you for taking the time. I really appreciate it. Mary, thank you so much for having me on. It was really fun. I would like to talk to you again. I know we should do this again. It was fun. Cool. Thank you. Yes. Have a good day. You too. Bye.
 

Fairview Farms: Second Harvest

Today I'm talking with Kathryn at Fairview Farms: Second Harvest. 
This episode is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company.
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Or just buy me a coffee 
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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. This episode is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company, where creativity and community grow hand in hand. Just like a thriving garden or a well-loved homestead, the best things are built with care, purpose, and heart. Through thoughtful design, storytelling, and handcrafted goods, they're helping people celebrate a simpler or meaningful way of living. Learn more at Greenbush Twins & Company.
00:28Today I'm talking with Kathryn at Fairview Farms, second harvest in Michigan,  which is only two states away from me.  Good afternoon, Kathryn, how are you? I am doing well, how are you? I'm good. Is it hot in Michigan? Because it's a little better here in Minnesota now.  Very hot, very humid.  I'm hoping that it goes away soon. um I looked at the long-term forecast for where I am in southwestern Minnesota.
00:55And it looks like it's gonna be in the 80s for the next at least seven days. Yes, that's gonna be us too. Which is better than 95 with a tropical dew point. I'm okay with it. But yeah, I don't know what it was like for you on Monday morning this week. But I got up at five, stepped out on my porch with my coffee and there's a window into the porch. It's a closed in porch. And it was like stepping into a steam bath. And that was 5 a.m.
01:24I was like, oh, today is going to suck lemons. And it did. It was really useful.  And then it got better over the course of the week. And as I'm talking, I can tell that my voice is not what it usually is. So listener, I'm sorry if I sound like I'm dying. I'm not dying. have wicked allergies today.  So Kathryn,  I would love it if you would tell me a little bit about yourself  and your place, because I looked at your
01:53pinned post on Facebook and there is some real history there. Yes. um So  I  live in Rochester Hills, Michigan,  and we purchased a historic home in Rochester Hills District.  It is 179 years old  and we purchased it from a family that has lived here since 1975. And  during his time living here, he obtained and researched
02:22a lot of history on the home in the area and was able to pass that to us when we purchased the home. So we have a lot of personal letters and personal stories that we can share and a lot of hidden treasures inside of the home. The home is wonderful. It's a four square and we have a lot of original architecture in the home. it really neat.
02:52Our piece of property in Rochester is almost two acres currently, but it was a farm of almost 780 acres uh back in the late 1800s.  And this farm itself  did raise cattle for uh beef and dairy, and then also it had chickens  and did produce.
03:16And I decided living here, really what brought me in was the history of the home, the old home. I really wanted to love the old bones and be the next loving family here. And then I decided, I think I need, I think I need to love the land too. You know, I have two acres here in the middle of the city and that's something very rare around here. And I wanted to,
03:43put something back into it.  love to grow my own food.  I love to can.  I'm a do it yourself-er, so I like to um demo things and refurbish things.  I myself have a degree in education  and I have homeschooled my kids  and just kind of really enjoy doing the homesteading portion of life and um going in all natural.
04:13option  and doing things a little bit differently than how society, some of society is going forward  with how busy life is today. So I'm trying to pull, pull back a little bit and relax a little more in life. So  I thought this would be a great project.  am  so impressed, so excited for you because history is so freaking cool. I hated it when I was in school because history in school is about dates and places. There's no stories.  Right.
04:43I love the stories in history. that's,  and that you're trying to help your community is just so amazing. Right, right. I definitely want to give back. I know that there's a lot of people in our area locally that are from here or have lived here for a good portion of their life. And,  you know, running this new page that I have, I've realized like how many people truly are still here and still value.
05:10the idea of what I plan to do and I feel like a lot of local support is huge. um And  I have also  decided to try to join the Historical Society  so that I can figure out how to be supportive in other historical areas of Rochester Hills. So I'm very excited and  hopeful that the community has my back in some of the small projects and ideas that I have.
05:40Very nice.  Michigan is a fairly hefty size state. Where are you in Michigan? So I am about an hour north of Detroit, so I'm barely sitting up in the thumb. OK, cool, because Michigan is shaped like a mitten for people who don't know. um I was listening to somebody talk about Michigan the other day, and they said that if someone says, where are you in Michigan, they hold up their hand and they point on their hand.
06:10where they are because it gives a good  representation because Michigan is shaped like a mitten. Yep. That's exactly how we all do it. Yep. I didn't know that. I  don't think I've ever actually been into Michigan or up into Michigan. um Anyone who's listened to podcast long enough knows that I grew up in Maine and I live in Minnesota now and I do not like airplanes. So anytime I'm traveling from Minnesota to Maine, we road trip.
06:41And I have gone the northern route, as we call it, and we go through, we get very close to Michigan because we go way up into Pennsylvania to get to New York. And so I haven't actually been into Michigan, but I hear that it is absolutely beautiful. And I think I should probably add it to my bucket list for before I die. I agree.
07:10If it's anything like Minnesota and Wisconsin, I'm sure it's worth the trip. Yes, I'm not too familiar with Minnesota, but I am Wisconsin and it's just beautiful land. em There's a lot of opportunity here as far as different things to do, whether it be mountains or water,  or you know, there's just, there's a lot and the weather's really great during the summer. Some of the best summers em are up here in Michigan, I feel like out of everywhere I've lived in this country. So.
07:38And really good cherries and a pretty decent football team. I will say that a pretty decent football team and great cherries.  See, I can say a pretty decent football team because I don't have any allegiance to the Vikings because I didn't grow up in Minnesota. That would be very true. Yes. If I grew up in Minnesota, I probably wouldn't be allowed to say that because they would be like, you're a traitor.  Yes.  And honestly, Maine doesn't have a football team. So.
08:07So the biggest football team is Boston and right this second, ah Patriots. Oh, okay. Patriots is the team that we would half-ass root for in my household because  my family wasn't really a sports  family. Thanksgiving, Christmas, in the afternoon, after dinner, there'd be football on the TV, but it was more background noise. Nobody was glued to the TV set.
08:36But yeah, the Patriots have done pretty well and the Packers have done better than the Vikings for quite a while, which is very sad.  And that's about as close as I get to sports, religion or politics. So there you go. uh So do you have critters on your land? um I do have critters.  So  right now, I mean, I have  the household pets, but  we have
09:05chickens. We have seven chickens currently. um And that's all that our Sydney ordinance will allow us to have. But in the past, em living outside of the city, I've had goats and pheasants and ducks and different things like that. So I'm very familiar with farming animals. But right now we just have the chickens and that's what the city allows.  That is craziness. You have two acres and you can only have chickens.
09:30right. And I think it's because the farmland that originally was attached to this house is all now,  you know, it's neighborhoods, it's developments. And,  you know, if I was to bring a donkey in in the middle of my two acres,  I'm sure some of my neighbors wouldn't love that so much. So  I'm sure that's why I don't get to have more than chickens.  That is so sad. Our neighbors who are about a quarter mile away from us have a donkey and they have a cow.
09:59in the mornings as the sun comes up, the donkey and the cow are kind of talking to each other. So you hear the donkey bray and you hear the cow low and it's so cool.  I guess I get it if you're a city person and you hear that, it would probably be irritating, but I kind of really love it.  So what are your house pets? Do you have cats and dogs?
10:24I do. have two dogs. have an English Springer Spaniel and then a miniature Schnauzer. have two cats and then we have a miniature lop-eared bunny. So that's about it. Does the bunny have the run of the house by any chance? No, it has the run of upstairs. Very sassy bunny, very small and in charge.
10:54quite the personality in that one.  my sister has a rabbit and it has the run of the house. And I guess uses a litter box. Yep, ours does too.  Yeah, she told me about this years ago with the first rabbit she had and I was like, what do mean it's not the cage? And she said, Lynn, and Lynn is my nickname.  She said,  rabbits can be can be  litter box trained just like cats. oh
11:23And I was like, are you kidding? And she said, no, she said, he just goes in and jumps in the box and does his business and hops back out. Yep. Actually rabbits will  use the restroom where they eat. So to litter train them, oftentimes you'll put their hay in their litter box. And so they'll go in there with their food and use the restroom at the same time. So how convenient.  It's a  less mess.  Oh yeah, for sure.
11:53Um, so  I got to know how did you break your ankle? told me you broke your ankle. I did. So I,  um,  own a boat and we were taking it out to the lake  and I was coming up to a dock and was going to hop over  onto the dock and I just, I landed wrong on my left ankle and it just, it kind of snapped.  Um,  and then got right back on the boat and went to the emergency room. So.
12:23Geez, I'm so sorry. Does that like ruin your summer?  Well, I feel like it does, yes, because the type of injury that I have, um it could be about 12 weeks before I'm able to safely just stand on it. um And I know here in Michigan, our summer, which we wait  all year to have,  you know, will be about four good months. And so
12:53I feel like I've just lost my summer, but I'm going to make the best of it and  just kind of keep working with my foot and,  and hope that, you know, I can make it stronger, faster. So we'll, we'll see how this goes, but I'm definitely a mover type person. So I don't stop even I think the day after I broke it, I was doing dishes and laundry. it's, I just don't, don't stop. Yeah. Are you on crutches? Um, I have those too, but I got, I ended up getting a really neat scooter.
13:22So the scooter makes me zoom through the house. I need to get a little bell on it so people know I'm coming. Yeah.  Yup. Absolutely. Can you use the scooter outside or is it just inside?  Nope. I can use it outside. Okay. So your summer isn't completely ruined because it's not like you're stuck sitting  all day. Correct. Yeah. I mean, I plan to go back to my daytime job em on Monday and we'll see how that goes. But
13:51We're going to attempt the boat tomorrow, so I'm hoping that I can safely get on and off the boat so we can watch the fireworks over the water.  hope you can. I really hope you can eke out some real enjoyment tomorrow.  too.  Did I see that you're growing a garden? Yes. So I currently have a smaller garden.  It was prior to me coming up with the idea of um the Fairview Farm second harvest, but currently I am growing
14:20corn  and  tomatoes, peppers, Brussels sprouts, broccoli.  I have raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. um And then I've got some squash going. ah We started our orchard. So  on the property when we originally purchased it, we found out that there are two apple trees. They've got to be about 100 to 120 years old and they produce thousands  of beautiful apples.
14:49Um,  and then it also came with a peach tree, some of the best peaches I've ever had in my life. And I don't even like peaches.  And, um, we planted cherries and plums and also a lime tree this year. So we plan to extend  the orchard and the garden will probably make up about,  um,  over a quarter of an acre of land alone. So we'll be doing that project next year.
15:18I didn't know you could grow limes in the northern tier states. Well, we're going to we're going to try it out. um It's still alive,  but not much growth, but it's actually a lime tree. So um it can get about 15 to 20 feet tall. So I'm assuming maybe it's a slow growing. So we'll we'll see what happens with it. But it's it's been um alive and well, looks healthy for the last three months. It's been in the ground. So we'll see what happens with it.
15:45I want to know, I'm going to follow your Facebook page until it doesn't exist anymore just to see how the lime tree does.  Yes, yes, yes. We planted a couple of cold hardy peach trees here a couple years ago and we didn't get any peaches last year because the couple that were on there, the deer got them before we could. But the year before that,  there were 12 peaches on one of those two trees and we got to have six of the peaches.
16:12didn't realize that we actually did have deer in the area because we never see them.  my husband went out to pick the other six and they were gone. Deer got them. it's so awesome that we can grow peaches in northern tier states where it gets minus 20 to minus 30 below in the wintertime.  Right. Right. I agree. oh I always thought that it was Georgia and Florida and that was it. em
16:42Fruit trees are so satisfying. It takes forever for them to get established. But boy, once they're going and they're producing, it is fabulous. Yes, I agree. We're very excited. So um I'm guessing that the plan is that you're going to be supplying food to your community. But does that mean
17:11like through food shelves and selling  or one or the other? um So I really wanted to keep it a close-knit community um when it comes to being able to sell the produce. So  I will be doing my own farm stand. So I live right off of a main road and there is a  walking path that travels right in front of my historical home. So a lot of people are out there running or biking, walking their dogs and
17:39I really just want to give back to the people local that want to come and visit the home. And  I might do a couple of farmers markets or, you know, local pickup, even straight from the orchard, but nothing, any,  nothing big.  I don't want to go too big. I really just want to focus on, keeping it very local. So. Well, either way you're going to be helping. And right now everybody needs a little help. Yes. um
18:08At the risk of jinxing it, our tomato plants, our over 190 tomato plants  are looking  really good out in the garden. Yes. And uh we'll be selling those at the farmer's market and in our farm stand this year, but we're going to be overrun with tomatoes. So I'm quite sure that my husband will be taking bushels down to  local farm, to the local  food shelf for the people.  Because we're not going to be able to use them all. No, yes, that's wonderful.
18:38Yes.  I can't eat enough tomatoes to get through what we're going to have.  Right, right. I have a lot going this season as well, and I know that I'm not I'm not going to eat them all as quickly as they are ready to be, you know, pulled from the vine. So that's not a bad idea at all to be able to get back to a local shelter or food bank or something like that that can utilize them. So that's a great idea.
19:06Yeah, I just don't want them to go to waste. The work that my husband puts into this garden, I want that stuff to go to people who need it. um And the reason I'm even talking about this is last year and the year before our garden suffered badly from heavy rain in all of May and into June. So this is the first year in two years that we've had a really good garden going. That's really good.
19:32That would be my house pet Maggie barking her head off.
19:38Um, so how you said, you said that your home is a four or something. What is it? It's called a four square. What does that mean? Yep. So back in the day they would make the homes pretty simple when they were farm houses, especially. Um, so it would just be two levels and it would be a complete rectangle. And what kind of fits inside is all that they get. their, um, rooms are very tiny. Um,
20:07They didn't have any bathrooms back then. They had the outhouse and then um kitchens were very, very tiny.  We still have the  location or the original fireplace um for the wood burning stove. That's all they actually have in this house. They don't have any fireplaces, but four square just means it's basically a perfect little itty bitty rectangle. Okay. And  how many square feet is it? Do you know?
20:34So this house over the years has had some extensions done to it. So it's, it's 3000 square feet now, not including the basement. Um, but I would say that the original four square was probably about.
20:5012 to 1400 square feet and that's the top and bottom or first and second floor. Okay. And how many bedrooms did it have originally? you know? Yes. So originally it had three, three bedrooms. And then it had one, like one closet.  Most of the bedrooms didn't have closets in them. So there was a hallway closet and then a dining
21:18Was it two bedrooms up and one bedroom down? Correct. I think I live in a four square house. Oh, ours is about a little over 1400 square feet. It was built in the early 1900s. Oh, and it has two bedrooms upstairs. Good size bedrooms, but just two. And then the downstairs has a really big open kitchen, a fairly
21:48Yeah, fairly small living room, but it also had a bedroom off of that living room. And when they remodeled it, they opened up that bedroom to be included in the living room. So it used to be one bedroom downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs, and it was a little about 1400 square feet. So  I might be in that kind of layout. Yes, I bet so. Yep. And it's completely remodeled. So you would never know that it was built in the early  1900s. It's really pretty.  Right, right.
22:18I'm going to shoot my dog.  She doesn't usually bark this long.  Her  dad is outside and I think somebody's at the farm stand looking at  produce. She's losing her mind. She wants to be out there.  Even if she was out there, she'd be scared. She's afraid of strangers. she's just going to bark and that's fine. That's why we got her. I sound like I'm complaining about her all the time on the podcast.
22:45we got her to be a watchdog because we live in the middle of cornfields and soybean fields and our nearest neighbors are quarter to half a mile away. Right. And so I want to know when somebody shows up. Thing is, we got her two years before I even had an inkling that I was going to start a podcast.  Oh, right. Well, so.  Good job.  Yeah, she does a very good job at doing her job.  Do you have kids?
23:13I do. I have four children. My oldest is 21. I have a 19 year old girl, an 18 year old girl and a 14 year old boy. Okay. So that's, that's a good range. I bet you were terribly busy in their younger years. Yes. Younger years were, I don't know how I survived, but I did. It's a lot more calm now, but
23:42all great kids and  all doing great things in their lives so far.  we're pretty proud, proud parents. And like I shared before, I homeschooled them when they were younger. So I was with them all the time.  I thoroughly enjoyed that. got my degree because I was homeschooling them. So now that they're older, I run a childcare center local to me as the director of the building.
24:11So  that's what I do with my day job.  On, I think it's going to sound crazy.  I think that if you have the privilege of being home with your kids, they actually teach you more than than you teach them.  I agree. I agree very much so. And  my children taught me to slow down a little bit.  I was just going to say number one at the top of the list is patience. Right.
24:40Because when you've got four kids, if you're not patient, no one is going to survive that situation. Right, right. I raised four as well. My oldest is a girl. She's 36 and the other three are boys and the youngest is 24. He'll be 25 in December. So yeah, it's. I always felt like people judged me when they saw me out with four kids and.
25:07At the point that they were all older, they weren't little anymore,  I was like, yeah, judge me, go ahead. Look at these beautiful functioning grownup kids. That's right.  Behold what I have done for the world.  Yes,  I feel the same. It's a lot of work and it's a lot of joy. And if you're lucky, it's very little sadness. Right. Right.
25:37So  are they into the whole  being at the farm and are they into the history of it and are they into what you're trying to do? ah They  are  to an extent. I think they know that it's like the thing that I love the most. They share in my excitement of things. So when things start growing, they're  very excited to hear what I have to say. uh My youngest will help me.
26:07um with the chickens he loves when we get new baby chicks and he'll take care of them and collect eggs and I  definitely think that they support what I do and I know that I love it so much but I think they're off kind of you know doing their thing I would  say that not any of them  would follow in my footsteps.  Well they may surprise you. They might.
26:34I've talked to a lot of people on this podcast who were like, I'm getting out of here. I'm moving as far away as I can. I'm going to have a career totally opposite of what I've been raised in. And then they find themselves going back home and being very into what their parents were into. Right, right. I am hoping that some things will pass off to them, you know, when they, when they realize the value behind it and the reason why, but.
27:00They're still young yet. And one of them is going to college for psychology and the other ones in the military.  um, you know, they're just, they're busy finding their ways, but maybe one day they'll, they'll come back with a, a few things of, yep, mom, were right.  They will. I know they will. I've had a couple of mine do that to me already. And Michigan is one of the most beautiful States in,  the, contiguous States. So they'll be back to visit no matter what.
27:29Yes, I sure hope so.  Yep. So I think that's all I've got for you, Catherine. I try to keep this to half an hour.  So where can people find you?  So I have a Facebook page and Instagram page. You can locate me at Fairview Farms Second Harvest  and it's located in Rochester Hills, Michigan. uh Or you can contact me via email and that's going to be fairviewfarms.secondharvest.gmail.com.
27:57I will put that in the show notes because people sometimes are listening to this when their hands are full.  So I will,  I'll make sure it's in the show notes if somebody wants to get to you.  Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. As always, people can find me at atinyhomesteadpodcast.com. Kathryn, I hope you have a wonderful July 4th weekend. Yes, you as well. Thank you for having me. Thank you. All right. Bye bye.
 

Patchwork Acres Farm

Today I'm talking with Felicia at Patchwork Acres Farm. You can also follow on Facebook.
This episode is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company.
https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/
https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/
www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead
If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment.
Or just buy me a coffee 
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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. This episode is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company, where creativity and community grow hand in hand. Just like a thriving garden or a well-loved homestead, the best things are built with care, purpose, and heart. Through thoughtful design, storytelling, and handcrafted goods, they're helping people celebrate a simpler or meaningful way of living. Learn more at Greenbush Twins & Company.
00:28Today I'm talking with Felicia at Patchwork Acres Farm in Indiana. Good morning, Felicia. How are you? Good morning. Really good. How is the weather in Indiana today?  Actually really beautiful, uh but we're supposed to get rain tonight. And does Indiana need rain? It doesn't hurt. We had a really, really dry, hot spring and then it has turned into cool and very rainy for the last couple of weeks.
00:58It's just kind of catching us up.  Good. Good.  I talk about this a lot on the podcast, but we had the last two years, not 2026, but 24 and 25. We had rain all of May and into June and our gardens suffered for it.  This year has been unbelievably  moderate. Our garden looks like it's going to be incredibly successful. Fingers crossed and knocking on wood.
01:26And  we're very excited because we have a farm to market garden. And in twenty twenty three, we had tomatoes coming out of our ears like we had  hundreds if not, I bet we got to a thousand pounds of tomato. Oh, wow. You had a good year then. We did. And we sold a lot and we gave a lot away and we got kind of a  minor reputation in our area for having really good tomatoes.
01:54And then terrible weather. And then 24 and 25 hit and people were like, do you have tomatoes yet? Do you have tomatoes yet? Do you have tomatoes yet? And we're like, no. And even when we did, we only had a few. So everything is crossed. Hopes are up for a really good tomato season this year. Yeah, that would be great. So really thankful for the moderate, beautiful spring that we have managed to eke out here in Minnesota this year. It is sunny and cool and lovely outside right now here.
02:23Yes, I always do a weather update because mostly for me because if I listen to the episodes I can get an idea of what the weather is gonna be from the previous year's one weather Yeah Because it does kind of follow trends like that It does and I figure if we get two years of really terrible winter or a really terrible spring We're due for a good one. So I just have to go listen to what I want to find out. Yep, exactly
02:50I'm almost as good as the farmer's almanac and I can say that tongue in cheek because I've actually interviewed the editor of the old farmer's almanac. Her name is Carol and I can't remember her last name. Oh, that's cool. She's super fun. I'm going to ask her to come back and visit at some point here this fall probably. So anyway, I wanted to know about you and what you do at your place. So can you kind of give me a little introduction and what you do at your place?
03:20Yeah, we do a little bit of everything.  Mainly goats. We raise goats, dairy goats,  and uh show and milk and make soap and all that stuff. And then  about six years ago, we started with the sheep and we've got a fine wool breed of sheep called CVM. So we raise them for uh fleeces and we sell lambs and then we process some of them. ah So we've kind of done that for the last about six years.
03:49And then the last couple years, chickens. What's CVM stand for? California Variegated Mutants. They are an offshoot of the Ramadale breed. And Ramadales are all white. That's the breed standard. So CVMs are a colorful Ramadale. Because  if they're white, they can still be a Ramadale. a gray CVM can never, you know, they're considered a CVM.
04:18uh mutant. uh Because they're a mutated color. Yes, yes. So I thought the black sheep of the family literally. Yeah, I thought maybe the M was for mutt like a dog that's behind a
04:35So, okay, keep going. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. You said you have chickens. Oh, yeah. And we have  chickens and we just got ducks again this year. just a little bit of everything. Exciting. So do you have a background in  animal husbandry? Did you grow up doing it or your grandparents or anybody? ah No, I have always loved animals since I was a little bitty kid and we lived in apartments. So um that was not really a thing. But as soon as I got
05:04older and had my own money. I had animals and I started volunteering at vet clinics when I was about 10. And so that's just, I've always been obsessed with it. That's anybody who met me as a kid, like that's, they're not surprised by this now. So it's kind of like when you're a kid and you want to eat ice cream every day for dinner and your parents are like, absolutely not. And then when you get into college, you're like, I'm getting ice cream every chance I get.
05:34I wanted to be a zookeeper in kindergarten and that's about where I've gotten.  Well good.  I think if you have a dream you should live it out. Yeah. So it's been a lot of fun and that's my grandparents had uh a market garden. They had a big vegetable garden. They did the markets  and my grandpa raised honeybees. So I grew up doing that with him  and uh so they had a farm and I grew up mainly on their farm.
06:05I had lot of fun doing that, but he didn't do animals. Okay. But he did honeybees. Yes. So did you, did you learn about that from him? Oh yeah. I, uh, I was real involved in the honeybees from,  I think five or six years old when he got them. And my grandma custom made me a tiny bee suit so that I could go work them with him. And I was involved in the whole thing of that for as long as he had them. We had a lot of fun doing that.
06:35Awesome. So do you think that you'll ever get into keeping honeybees yourself? Oh, yes. We had them for a while.  And then when we moved to this property, it is not  we live, we're a long, skinny property between four cornfields.  So  it's not good for honeybees. They get sprayed and they die. I can't keep them alive here. So I need something that is more buffer from all the cornfields. Yeah.
07:03I understand. live in the middle of on any given year, Felicia, it's corn, it's corn or soybeans or alfalfa. Yep.  So I get it. And they just went through and sprayed some  fertilizer on the soybeans two days ago. And we never quite know what they're spraying. And we like the people that own the land. So I'm not going to complain about it, but we have a dog  and  her lead.
07:33goes like a foot into the field. So anytime they're gonna put manure down or they're gonna spray something, we make sure that she goes potty and she comes back in right away. Because we don't know  what it is, we don't know if it will hurt her. And she's like,  on a good day, she's 35 pounds, on a fat day, she's 40 pounds.  And so she's not a big dog and we  don't know  what they're using and we don't know how it will impact her.
08:01brain mostly so we're very careful so I totally get it.  I feel like my voice is really rough.  Does it sound really rough to you? Oh not too bad. Okay I've got some allergies going on like wow I have real gravel in there.  Trying not to sound like I smoke a hundred thousand cigarettes a day. Allergies do that to you though I've always got the allergy cough and yeah.
08:30Yeah, it's been like this time of year. It's one of the joys of springtime because we're not as well. No, it is officially summer. I'm sorry. Today's the 24th.
08:41I think so. Yeah, so summer started two days ago. It feels more like spring now though than it did in the spring. So it feels very springish now. Yeah, well we've hit summer allergy season and I always joke that Minnesotans talk through their nose because they have two seasons. They have cold season and allergy season. That's about right for here too. Yeah. Yeah, and I'm not from Minnesota but I've been here long enough that
09:10I have learned that it is really hard not to sound nasally when you are sniffling and snorkeling. Uh huh. In the 65 days a year. Yup. So, all right. So I have a question for you. I've not asked anybody this about sheep and goats because it never occurred to me until I saw that you have both. Do sheep and goats get along? Like can they be in the same pasture and be fine? Technically, yes. Okay.
09:40I don't keep mine together. Mine have totally separate pastures. And then when we put them out on the big pasture, we rotate them so the sheep are out at night, the goats are out during the day. um They have different mineral requirements  and the sheep are a lot bigger than the goats.  And the way they play and interact is quite different. um So for the most part, it would probably be fine, but I raise  a lot of Nigerians.
10:09And I  don't need a sheep headbutting somebody and losing kids or any of that. Yeah. So  I don't really run them together. And we also run our ram with our ewes year round.  He wears a  anti-breeding apron. Yep. And so I don't want him riding my does or any of that either. So everybody just stays separate. And it works out perfect because the sheep don't like the heat.
10:37They don't like being out during the day. They like to go out and graze at night  and um the goats would be horrified by that. So the goats put themselves up right before dusk and they don't want to go back out. And that's when the sheep want to go out. So it kind of works out perfect to just rotate them and everybody's happy.  OK, thank you for that, because  I was looking at your Facebook page yesterday to refresh my memory about what you do.  And I was like, huh, I haven't asked anybody this yet. I get to find out something new.
11:06Yeah, some people do run them together. And especially in maybe a small herd that works a little better. But the mineral requirements and the feed requirements are different. My goats are on uh heavy alfalfa hay and a totally different mineral. And the sheep are on a grassier hay because they'll get way too fat on an alfalfa.  And  sheep are not small. I mean, are there many sheep? Like there's many goats and many cows and many horses?
11:36But your sheep are not minis, right? No, we have full size sheep. So there's a big difference between like my smaller breed goats and then my sheep is a huge size difference. So. Are your sheep like five times as big as your goats? Not by weight, but close. They're because the sheep are around probably 150, 200 pounds and then the goats are
12:04you know, 50 to 70 for the most part. So it's a, it's a pretty big size difference. And goats do a lot of like rear up on their back legs and head, butt down, and they don't stand back and ram each other like sheep do. Right.  So the disagreements have a big difference in how they act, but sheep are real chill and they don't fight much. And the goats, you know, they play fight more than they actually fight, but
12:34So they will antagonize the sheep into  play with me and the sheep don't take that the same way.  I feel like  it's the difference between a four-year-old sibling  and the 16-year-old sibling. Yeah. The goats are the four-year-old.  Yes, they are.  Yep. And then I have a really dumb question. I don't know the answer because I've not looked it up.
13:03and I feel stupid asking it, I feel compelled to ask, can goats and sheep breed and have babies? uh Technically, rarely, yes,  but  rarely successfully. Okay. They typically die, you know, they can conceive and then usually  that baby is aborted. Usually it doesn't like come to term. Yeah. And most of the ones that come to term,
13:31they're born and they live maybe a few minutes to an hour and then they pass. Like they aren't very successful, but every blue moon, you know,  one does survive.  Are they called a GEEP? G-E-E-P? Yep.  Okay. Yeah. Sometimes.  I saw somebody post a photo of what they said was a GEEP.
13:58I was like, in the day and age of AI, I don't know whether I believe that.  I thought I would ask you because I figured you'd probably know. Yeah, they have occurred, but they're  very rare. Because I've had friends who ran  goats and sheep together have their ram breed their does and get them pregnant. But then they lost all those pregnancies. So basically, you just wasted a breeding season.
14:27They got halfway to term and then lost them. So  it's kind of hard on the dough to do that. And it's very rarely successful. Most people pick up like hair sheep and they think that they're like at an auction or something,  or I've seen them at a sales where they're trying to call them a geep or something and sell them for a bunch of money, but it's most likely a hair sheep. They're just kind of,  know, swindling people. uh
14:56Yes, and we don't want to do that, people. And hair sheep look like they should be a cross between a goat and a sheep, you know. They sure do. That's the, you know, kind of their vibe. Yeah, we. This is sound really stupid. We don't want to swindle people. We want agriculture to be a upstanding. Yes.
15:25Endeavor full.  People with integrity. Yes.  That's right. Yes. Don't lie to your customers because they won't come back and they won't support anyone else in the industry. Yes. Because it makes people not trust anybody. And there's so many scams in  in  all. Well in everything but in farming and homesteading and like.
15:52People just getting after beginners who don't know any better and taking advantage of them is just terrible. Yeah, it is not cool. Don't do it.  Don't be mean. Don't be dishonest. Be kind. Be honest. Be helpful.  I'm trying so hard, Felicia, to have a good attitude right now in this world that we're in. And I'm trying to encourage people to have the same attitude of be kind, be honest.
16:22whatever the other one was, I forget. Just  try to be a good person. Because the world is so freaking hard right now. There are so many things that are weighing on so many people. If you can just make somebody feel good for a minute, you're not throwing the world. Well,  if somebody's wanting to get started in something, help them out and give them good advice and help them get started. Don't say, they're new, so they don't know any better.
16:52That's just terrible. And I see a lot of that because I'll have people contact me.  Every few years where they bought, you know, dough, they can't get bread. And you go out and, well, they bought two bucks and they didn't realize that the other second one was a buck. know, somebody sold them this  story.  And I've had that.  I get that really an incredible amount of time.  When I was sharing alpacas, I used to run into a lot of people who had
17:21Maybe four males and they picked them up at an auction and they were sold as three females and a male and they paid a ton of money for them and they've got four boys. And like that's just a really rotten thing to do. I've had people do that with sheep, you know, like  kind of always check what you're buying and  especially from auctions. Auctions rarely know what's going on and they're just, they go by what the person told them. They aren't checking anything and
17:49It's kind of terrible how often that happens. Yeah. Do your research before you go to the auction. Oh yeah. Make sure you know how to tell the sex of the animal that you're  A surprising number of people do not know how to do that.  the most difficult animal I've ever had to sex is a rabbit. Oh yeah. so hard to tell apart. Rabbits are terrible. And if you buy baby rabbits, I can see somebody accidentally doing that with young rabbits.
18:18But  goats and sheep,  they're born with it.  It's real obvious. You're just being mean to somebody at that point. Oh, absolutely. And with rabbits, they're always like, the boy has a donut and the girl has a taco. And I'm like,  I have seen rabbits. Because we had rabbits. And you can't always tell what's what.  You really have to get your hands.
18:48into their belly and pull the skin up and  make things show. And even then sometimes people make mistakes. Plus rabbits don't like being on their backs except when their baby's in their nursing. Yeah. Yeah. Rabbits are terrible to tell. And I don't hold that against anybody because they're, you know, unless you've been doing it for a long time and you really do a lot of rabbits, most people aren't good at rabbits. No, it's difficult.
19:16We had Baby Bunnies  the second summer we were here, I think. We've been here six years in August.  And I had to wait till they were like seven, eight weeks old to even begin to make a guess of what their sex was.  And it was great because I was picking them up every day. So they were totally fine with me holding them and looking at their parts. But  I wasn't sure until they were 12 weeks old what they were. uh
19:47I wouldn't claim to be able to do bunnies. I've done a few, but not that I would tell anybody, like with accuracy. Yeah, I can sex a kitten from the day they're born. Yep. Yeah, I think kittens are much easier than rabbits, but I can see why people have trouble with kittens too, because they are kind of a little more fickle. Yes, if there's a big distance between their parts.
20:14They're a boy. If it's no distance between their parts, they're a girl.  Yes.  I'm trying to not be graphic here. So  we have kittens do here in a week. So I'm like, oh my God, baby cats, can't wait. Oh, there's not much cuter than kittens.  Yes, they're barn kittens. And mama's a little bit skitty about being touched or picked up. She'll come see you and she'll she'll let you pet her along her back.
20:43once and then she walks away like, nah.  So we may not actually see these kittens until they come out of the barn with her.  Yeah, we had somebody drop off a cat and I had an appointment for her and for like two weeks later and she had kittens like a week before that. So we had kittens a couple of years ago and that was fun. She was at least super sweet so you got to play with them from day one.
21:13in your business.  yeah. Yeah. There is nothing like a newborn kitten. They are so  tiny and so cute and so fragile. Yeah. Like you got to be really careful when you pick them up. Yeah. But they become your friends and they follow you all over the place and they try to help with chores. It's really fun.
21:37Yeah, I had them in my milk room and they were helping milk goats, which is not helpful,  it was a lot of fun.  Yeah, did you squirt them in the face? My grandpa's friends down the road used to squirt their barred cats in the face with the milk from the cows.  Oh yeah, and they figured out I feed all my kids on a bucket feeder. So it's got nipples in a row on it. And they figured out how to squeeze the nipples and get milk out. So I'd be filling the bucket feeder and I'd have a whole line of cats down there.
22:06Chewing the end of the nipples and squeezing them with their paws to get milk for themselves.  It was a rodeo every day trying to get my kids milk together and get it out the door before it had kittens in it.  Uh huh. Exactly. And I'm sure the baby goats were not thrilled to share their food with the baby cats.  Oh, not really. Or even the grownup cats for that matter. Yeah. Okay. So I was looking at your Facebook page and I saw a really curly haired Auburn colored dog. Is that that's your dog?
22:36Yes, that's Gus. What is Gus's breed? He's a Boykin Spaniel. I have I've never heard of that.  Oh, yeah, they're uh, they're from South Carolina So it's always funny that most people around here don't know what he is either. But when we went to Tennessee to pick up goats uh everybody in Kentucky and Tennessee knew right what he was  and We're all excited to see him. But you come north of Indianapolis. Nobody knows what he is. So it's always kind of funny
23:06He's beautiful. Did you get him as a puppy? Yes. My husband  hunts ducks and then he's got his field bred golden retriever and he was doing hunt tests with him. And so I was going to the hunt test and there was a lady there that had boykins. And so I got to see the breed and  mess with him and I love spaniels. And so I was hooked. So I got him  just shy of three years ago. He's going to be three years old next week.
23:34Is it B-O-Y-K-I-N? Yep. Okay. I want to put it in the show notes because people will be curious to what we're talking about. Oh yeah. The perfect dogs.  Well, they're all perfect dogs if you're in love with the one you have.  Well, yeah. I just got to give my husband a hard time because he thinks his golden is the perfect dog. Yeah. And I think my Maggie, who's an Australian Shepherd, is perfect. Oh yeah.
24:04And she's actually not perfect. is. She is the most amazing, perfect watchdog, but she's also the most obnoxious watchdog because they're interchangeable.  Yeah, basically. uh I've got a Commodore livestock guardian dog and she is  yes, she's always barking. She calls her all the time. I've not heard of a Commodore either. What's that?  They're the mop dogs.
24:34They're usually corded and they have big long white cords. Huh. So they look like a big floor mop. But I keep her shaved because she's a she works. She's outside all the time. So it's too hard to keep her. Not awful when she's corded.  I am going to have to look up Commodore. Oh, yeah, they're beautiful dogs. Is she what color is she? She's white, real curly hair. She looks like a really big
25:03poodle when she's shaved. You have the coolest farm dogs.  She's a real good with strangers. So that was kind of why I picked the breed is the ones I had met before  were pretty good with people and not real bad about escaping and climbing fences and obsessing over that stuff. And she's just been wonderful. She doesn't give me any fits  about trying to leave the property or, you know,
25:31She's great with all the babies, great with the other dogs. People come over a lot, so I needed something that was not  people aggressive.  she isn't, she really likes everybody. So that's kind of nice. She's a big dog? Yes. Like a hundred pounds big dog? Yeah,  she's right about a hundred pounds. Okay, cool. um Our dog  loves people  once she's decided that they're her people.
26:03Until she decides that they're her people she barks and barks and barks and barks at them and Yeah, well, she's all teeth in the front and she's all wiggle button in the back because she's yeah She's like I have to protect my people. I'm afraid of you, but I want to be your friend All in the same moment and I'm like me for the love of God. It's okay be their friend Take ten minutes at least to finally be brave enough to sniff their hand
26:31And  once she's realized that they're not a threat and that they're her friend, she is in their pocket the whole time they're here. Yeah. Yeah. On your barks and makes a ton of noise. And then once she's out with somebody and I tell her it's OK, like I've let them in and we're all buddies, she's fine. Yeah, don't I don't have the off switch. It's got to be the off switch. it is insane.
26:57God just loves everybody. He has never met a stranger and he thinks that everybody comes here to see him and talk to him and that's it.  Well, of course he does. Yeah, he doesn't bark. He doesn't. He's just thrilled to death that somebody has arrived. Well, he looks like he's a really nice dog and he's very handsome. So of course he thinks that everybody comes. And he's not been wrong yet. So that's that doesn't help either is that he's he's always right about that. Uh huh.
27:27You would think that the people who come here, if we gave them treats to give to Maggie, she would just stop being obnoxious.  Nope.
27:41But it's okay. She's the perfect dog. We're sticking to it. That's our story. That's right.  Yes. And I'm so thankful for her. Like  I had no idea how in love I would be with owning a dog. I have never owned a dog before. Oh,  oh yeah. There's nothing better than having a dog. Yeah. My parents did, but we weren't,  I and my siblings were not responsible for the dogs. My parents  were responsible. So we just got the benefits.
28:11but it's a whole different ball game when you get a little tiny puppy and you raise them.  huh. Yeah. If I, if I had to give up everything and I could just have one thing, it'd be a dog. Yeah. I'm a, I'm a dog person through and through. Yes. And it's,  I'm doing it again.  I don't care. I'm doing it again. Dogs, when you get them as puppies and when you treat them well and you, you train them well.
28:39They literally just want to do what you ask them to do and they want to make you happy. Pretty much. That is the best feeling on earth.  Except for maybe terriers, you know.  I've never met one. Oh, really? Oh, no one I know has ever had one.  Oh, I had I had one. That's why I haven't had chickens for the last eight years, because I had a
29:07a little terrier that I was supposed to be fostering briefly for a rescue organization and he was ridiculously charming as terriers are. And so once I signed the paperwork and said that I would keep him, then he said, well, actually I do eat chickens. I've just been good for two weeks to make you think that I didn't. So he knew when the ink was dry on the adoption forms that like,
29:35Okay, now it's official. I can become my true self. Oh, a sneaky little brat. Yes. So he was he was a wild thing. He was a lot of fun, but he was a there's a reason they call him terriers, you know, they're little terrors. Exactly. Well, what's interesting is I was never really a dog person. I liked other people's dogs, but I didn't want one because I liked cats. And then friends of ours.
30:04their two dogs had their first litter together  and we had bought this house and we had decided that when we bought a house with land we would get a dog and I saw these puppies and I was like oh my god they have puppies we're ready for a puppy can we get a puppy and my husband was like yep so we got Maggie and I swear to you the  minute she settled down so it took like  took like
30:318-10 weeks for her to really find her footing because she was a baby. She was a day younger than eight weeks when we brought her home. But once she got comfortable and started showing her personality, I was like, that's it. I don't ever want house cats again. This dog. Yeah. Cats deign to put up with you. Dogs want to love you. Yes. I like the dogs want to love you better than the cats deign to put up.
31:00Yeah, I've got both. I've always had cats with my dogs and they all get along great. Gus has his own cat  that kind of adopted him from a puppy. I've got a real big orange fluffy haired cat  and Gimli. And Gimli just when Gus arrived, decided that was his dog and they have been bestest friends ever since.  And it's just hilarious. Gus will pick him up and carry him around the house.
31:28And Gimli, like his back legs and his tail just drag the ground and he loves it. He'll go when Gus gets home and I open the front door, he runs over to see him and rub all over him. He's all excited see him. So it's funny. So  cute. ah Maggie loves kittens and I don't mean she wants to eat them. I mean, she loves babies. Oh, yeah. And she hasn't had any baby kittens, you little baby kittens in her life for two summers. So.
31:56When Smokey, the mom of cat, brings her babies out in eight weeks, or however long it takes her to bring them out, just depends. Maggie is going to be sitting at the end of her lead, waiting for those kittens to come over and be introduced. Yeah, Gus loves kittens. Which he's been raised though with baby goats and chicks and all this stuff now. And so he thinks all baby things are his and that everybody wants to see him.
32:25He occasionally gets himself into trouble because he travels with me for work and he'll go to somebody's house that doesn't have dog friendly cats and he thinks, oh, this cat wants to see me.  So he's gotten thumped a couple of times by an angry cat that did not want to see him at all.  yeah. He says, sure that they do.  They're so funny. Dogs are so funny. All right. So.
32:51I try to keep these to half an hour, Felicia, we're almost 33 minutes. So where can people find you?  Mainly we're on Facebook at Patchwork Acres Farm. ah That's where I'm kind of most active. And then we do have a website for the goats. ah I'm hoping to get the sheep on there  soon, but it's just time.  But we have a website at patchworkacresfarm.com  also. Fabulous.
33:18And before I forget, I was going to ask you the AGDA, ADGA, whatever it is, for goats, what does that stand for? American Dairy Goat Association. ADGA, ADGA. ADGA. And then the other one, the other designation I saw on your website for the goats. AGS is American Goat Society, and NDGA is Nigerian Dwarf Goat Association.
33:45Okay, so there's just a whole bunch of them A's and G's and N's in there. Yes.  But ADGA is like the big,  the main registry in the US. So like if you are registered to ADGA, you can down register to all the other organizations, but they don't always up register to ADGA. Okay. So ADGA is usually like the big one that everybody's looking for.  Would you like to come back and talk to me in a couple of months about the specifics of all that, all the GOAT stuff? Oh, sure. uh
34:15I feel like I've talked about some of it, but not all of it with people and maybe there's more to know. Oh yeah. There's a, Dairy Goats are a whole thing. There, you'll spend a lifetime learning about Dairy Goats. It's kind of fun. I like that about them that they're such a challenge. Cool. Well, let's schedule a time, I don't know, maybe in September to talk again. All right. I will message you and we'll get a date on the.
34:43Thank you Felicia, this was a joy. As always, people can find me at atinyhomesteadpodcast.com.  Hope you have a great day. You too.
 
 

M57 Farms

Today I'm talking with Adam and Katie at M57 Farms
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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. This episode is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company, where creativity and community grow hand in hand. Just like a thriving garden or a well-loved homestead, the best things are built with care, purpose, and heart. Through thoughtful design, storytelling, and handcrafted goods, they're helping people celebrate a simpler or meaningful way of living. Learn more at Greenbush Twins & Company.
00:28Today I'm talking with Adam and Katie at M57 Farms in Michigan. Good morning, how are you? Good morning, we are great. How are you?  I'm well. Thank you for coming to chat with me.  No problem. We look forward to it and we've been excited.  Good.  What is the weather like in Michigan? Is it sunny and bright like it is in Minnesota this morning?
00:52It's a beautiful day. It's sunny. It's got to be probably 72 out right now  and beautiful blue skies.  Did you guys have the heat last week that we had?  Absolutely sure did.  Yeah, it was not fun this week here. It's supposed to only be. I think the highest high I saw was 79 or 80 and I thought OK Mother Nature. Maybe you've gotten your act together for at least a week. That would be really nice.
01:19We are hoping and of course we decided to do all of our crazy landscaping projects around the farm in the heat, which I don't know why we do that to ourselves. They could have been done anytime. Because you like a challenge, I would guess. You know, as much as I say no, that's probably it. That's my wife nods her head. Yeah, it's a thing. It really is. OK, so I got to know why is it called M57 Farms?
01:47So we have state roads in Michigan  and all the state roads begin with  M  and we live right off of M57.  So it's a pretty busy main road. um And we just kind of sat here one night and everyone always says like, oh, it's the farm right off of M57. So  we just decided to kind of go with M57. OK, that makes a lot of sense and how lovely that it was easy because it sounds like it
02:16But M57 is a very long road.  now everyone says, where on M57?  Oh,  OK. All right. So tell me about yourselves and what you guys do at M57 farms.  I will have my wife lead.  Oh, geez. OK, well, I'm a speech language pathologist by trade. So  the farm is just kind of the hobby side for me. It's more Adam that does a lot of the running around. I like to do the dreaming and.
02:44He likes to do the executing, so.
02:49So I am a franchisee for Firehouse Subs and I do enjoy that, but I've always enjoyed farming, being outside. We have a 40 acre farm here and we have currently 22 pairs. So it'd mama cows and some calves. And I kinda, we do lease it out.
03:17but we kind of manage the cows the day to day, do all the chores and we rotate them and our property, we have water located in the central of it. So we kind of have little pie sections, if you will. So we kind of put our eyes on the cows every day, do the chores and we also make crafts. So we have a little gift shop located at the end of our driveway.
03:43And since we're kind of right off the main road, we get quite a bit of traffic from that. we make  homemade soap, we freeze dry things, we have a freeze dryer, and we also have a laser engraver that can kind of cut wood, laser engraved wood.  And the biggest thing that we do now is we have a  lavender patch  in front of our barn  and we renovated our barn into an Airbnb.  So.
04:12We rent out the Airbnb  and  we have a lot going on at the farm. So we have cows. um And of course we have our outdoor cat,  Rubble Crew Kitty. And  we have an indoor cat as well and we have two dogs. um But as far as the kind of outside farm goes, we have our outdoor Rubble Crew Kitty.  And um the guests love him. He's pretty popular.  And the gift shop, the gift shop's
04:41Decent size is probably 12 by 14 foot kind of gift shop shed and it's fully stocked with soaps,  keychains we make, tumblers that we engrave. My wife makes a lot of beaded things like beaded pens and garden stakes,  all kinds of, I don't know. I'd like to say we're just all over the place.  We are.  Well, that's okay because variety is the spice of life.  You said you lease out.
05:10the beginning of this whole string of things you guys do, what does that mean?  So we lease out our 40 acres  to a local farmer to put his cows here. So they're not our cows, but we just tend to them  and,  you know, rotate them through the pasture, put our eyes on them, do the chores with them and all that stuff. OK, thank you, because I was like, I think I know what he means, but I'm not sure. And if I'm not sure, that means whoever's listening isn't sure as well.
05:40OK, so you sound very happy. Both of you. Are you very happy? Yes, very happy. We  moved.  So I'm from the country  and my wife is from,  I guess, the city of all of what? thousand people. Yeah.  Small town, but yeah, but a townie.  And uh when I got my firehouse sub started, we ended up moving to Lansing, which is like the capital of Michigan. It's  a lot.
06:09bigger and we made it two months there before we said we got to get back to the country.  So,  so your country, your country mice not city mice now. Yeah. Correct. Yeah.
06:23I understand completely if I if I have a choice, I don't want to live in a town or a city again. We live about four and a half, five miles outside of our small town. And right now we're surrounded by soybean fields and I don't know what they planted across the street from us. And I'm OK with that, because as long as it's green, I'm good. Yep, we love it. We feel too.
06:47We are right off the main road, but we live on a dirt road  and you know, we can go for walks with the family. There's some road tracks down the road so we can go walk down there.  Um,  our two sons, have two sons, Cooper and Cannon.  nice. Yep. They are, they love it out here. He's got like four or five different power wheels  and you know, whatever job I'm doing, he's got to have his little tractor or Jeep or lawnmower, whatever out.
07:16How old are the boys? Three years for Cooper and then Cannon is four months tomorrow. Oh my God, you are in the thick of it. Yeah, but it's a blessing. Cooper keeps us busy and Cannon is just great too. So we're glad to have them both. Yeah, I when I say it like that, it's because I raised four. My youngest is 24. My oldest is 36. Four would seem like a lot to me.
07:46I think it was a good number. was a lot, but it was a lot of fun too. Yeah. So you mentioned the outdoor cats. I haven't said anything yet on the podcast about this.  One of our female barn cats is very, pregnant right now. She's probably going to pop about the end of June,  1st of July. And we haven't had barn kittens on the property in a year and a half, two years.
08:12So we're very excited to see what she throws for colors, because she is a very interesting looking cat. Do you guys know about the cats that look like werewolves? The Loki cats? No. No. She looks kind of like that, and not because she's that breed, but that's what she reminds me of. And her coloring is mostly dilute grays and blacks with a little bit of white. But her brother and her sister, her brother is orange. He's orange.
08:41So we have no idea what color kittens we're going to get. And we're like, oh my God, let them all be healthy. And I can't wait to see these babies in two weeks, probably. We are pulling up pictures of what they look like right now. That is crazy. Yeah. And the thing is, the reason I say she looks like a Loki cat is because she is, she's about 10 months old. I think she's just shy of a year. She was very, very long haired. And when spring hit, she shed out.
09:11up right to the base of her shoulders and the rest of her long hair and she's tiny. She's a small cat. So I was like, oh my God, she looks like one of those werewolf cats. It's so funny.  But she's also gorgeous because the markings on her face are very much tabby. So she's not scary looking, but she's definitely she looks like one of those Loki cats. That's cool. We we have our outdoor cat, which we told Cooper he could.
09:40name him and I don't know, the kid loves Christmas. So we said, you can pick any name you want and go ahead and name him. And he's like, how about Santa Claus? I was like, are you sure? I said, it's not Christmas. He's like, yeah, you're right. And he likes the construction Rubble Crew show. So he says, about Rubble Crew Kitty? And I was like, yeah, Rubble Crew's good. He's like, Kitty. So we have to say Rubble Crew Kitty every time.
10:10That is a very long name for a barn cat. Yeah, we finally got it down to rubs now.  Well, our Loki cat, as I have now decided I'm going to refer to her as her name is Smokey because when she's outside walking around in the morning in the half light, she looks like smoke, like just moving through the yard. She's so pretty. She's not friendly, but she's pretty.
10:36the and um
11:05That's what little guy he is such a little hunter out there. He loves it. Yes. Yeah. It's so fun. They're so fun to watch and see what a cat is actually supposed to do when it gets when it's allowed to be a cat. Ours is just crazy. We live on this dirt road, so like he could totally follow us like when we go for a walk and he just knows his limits. We walk to the end of the driveway and he sits down.
11:32And we walk down the road and when we come back, he's just there sitting waiting for us to come back. Like a yard dog. Yes. Yes. Yes.  We often refer to him as our dog.  Uh huh. Do you guys have dogs too? Yes, we do. What do you have?  We have a Shiba in you named Roxy  and we have an Australian Shepherd Siberian Husky mix named Wrangler. How big is Wrangler by is he big or is he small? Not big. mean,  I.
12:0238, 42 pounds.  Yeah. Okay. Well, as everyone who listens to my podcast knows, I have an Australian shepherd.  She's going to be six. Oh my gosh, she'll be six in August. Her name is Maggie and on a good day, she weighs about 34 pounds. On a fat day, she weighs close to 40 and she's on a fat day.  So she's a chubby girl and she,  I swear to God, they must have, she must have Corgi somewhere in her lineage.
12:29because she's got a very long body and short legs. And I'm trying everything I can to get her to lose a couple pounds because that kind of weight on short legs,  hard on their joints.  My husband is not in the game with me on trying to get her lose a couple pounds. So we keep going back and forth on how much food she should have in her dish at night. um Do you love Wrangler? Is he a really good dog?  He is a good boy.  He
12:59I mean, the sweetest boy. He's very protective though.  So we kind of have to watch him around people and stuff. He's just the sweetest thing to us though, but  he's very protective and you know, he tries to save us from Amazon and UPS all the time. yeah,  it seems to be an Australian shepherd thing that they're very, very attached to their people, but everybody else is either a threat or they're scary. Oh yeah. That garbage truck, that garbage trucks like
13:29Wow. And he can hear him from three miles away. Yes. I know barking. It's like crazy. I understand. My dog hates the trash truck. She is scared to death of it. If she's outside when it comes, she tries her damnedest to be strong and bark at it as deep in her throat as she in her chest as she can. But the entire time she is shaking. She's so afraid of it. Yep. Yep. Ridiculous.
13:58Okay, so I don't want to spend the whole episode talking about dogs. I just think that it's funny when I hear that other people have Australian Shepherds. So I'm like, we are a special breed of people to have very special breed of dog. Okay, so you said that you guys make crafts. Do you have a garden? Yes, we have a small garden. We grow your typical stuff, know, squash, sweet corn, peppers, tomatoes, things like that.
14:27And is that just for you guys or do you sell some of it? So we've kicked around  doing like the local produce and things like that. um But really,  so many people around us have gardens and do it.  And actually, they just, you know, kind of give a lot of stuff away. So we don't really focus too much on that. uh we really focus on like the soap, um our lavender. have the lavender patch in front of the Airbnb, which  is probably.
14:57A good 150 lavender plants. Oh, wow. Do you sell any of that?  We do. um We were going to focus more on kind of a you cut  and  bring people in. But now the Airbnb is taken off so much that it would kind of invade that privacy. So we just kind of use the lavender for us and for our products  and then just allow the guests to enjoy it.  Nice. That's amazing.
15:27Um, so what made you want to do an Airbnb? Cause that's, that's a, that's a job and a half right there.  Yeah. You know,
15:37I don't know, the minute I kind of mow in and I just kind of put my mind to something and start thinking about something, it's kind of, there's a meme that goes around that says, my wife showed it to me. It says, I've had this dream my whole life since lunch.  That's very much Adam. And that's me. Decide in the morning that we're going to build something and it needs to be done by the evening. So he sets his mind to it and we just do it.  Well, how long has the Airbnb been  up and running?
16:07um Four months. Yeah. Oh, about four months. Yes. Yep. And how is it going? Do you is it working out? Do you like it? We actually quite enjoy it. We didn't know  what to think. Like my wife said, I kind of just do something and then think about the rest later.  So decided to build this.  It's just a smaller. It's probably I don't know what it would be. Four hundred and eighty, maybe five hundred twenty square feet.  It's a too bad one bath. um
16:37just a smaller one and it's completely private from the rest of our house. You kind of have a whole acre to yourself, separate driveway  and the barn shields everything from the home  and we love it. We were booked out pretty much every weekend. um We get to meet a lot of people, which is, see, I like to talk, so it works out pretty good. Okay.  Is it closed during the winter or do you guys leave it open in the winter too? Well, we
17:06We were originally going to close it, but now I think if the demand's there, we're going to have it open year round. Sure. Fun. So it has heat and cooling and stuff. yeah. Yep. Yep. It's got a mini split. It's got heat, um air conditioning. You know, it's pretty nice.  And what are the tourist attractions around you? Are there any?  We have quite a few  apple orchards around us in our area. um
17:36But that's kind of it is there's  not a lot in our area. So there's no hotels um pretty much within 30 miles  around us.  So  with so many  kind of families and things like that, that we  get a lot of visitors visiting family. um And but we do have like the little hole in the wall things, Apple orchards. um I don't know, we're pretty close to some major cities. So.
18:05A lot of country folk that would like to stay out of the hustle and bustle, just kind of stay with us and just choose to drive 20, 30 minutes into town. And we're kind of seeing that some of our guests come just to get away. Like we become more of what they're looking for. They just want to not hear the road traffic. They want to not have the big city. They just want to relax and.
18:29Yeah, so that's becoming part of it too. So you are the epitome of the actual get away from it all.  Yes, we would like to think so. It's funny because, you know, the locals are like, hey, what do mean people are just coming there and they're just staying there and  here and we're like, yeah, yep. You know, we have the cows they can see out grazing in the field. um You know, it's a total yard. We had some people got stay before that.
18:57There's room for them to run around and we have a gazebo with a fire pit and it seems so every day to us, but to a lot of people it's not. So it is fun for them to, you know, come and see what it's like out here. Probably some of these people have never seen a cow before.  It's amazing how many people in America have never seen a cow or a chicken or a goat or sheep in real life ever before in their lives. Yep.
19:24It's one of the reasons to start of the podcast. was like, we are so far removed from all the things that used to be everyday occurrences and we need to talk about it. Yup. that's kinda, I don't know. We, I was pretty crazy when we thought to build it, but it's been doing great and it's pretty fun and it's nice to have a little more revenue stream off of the farm.
19:49Yeah, absolutely. Do you guys have chickens? You know, we don't have chickens. We talked about it  and it was a big debate for a long time. you  know,  having  having a four month old right now, we kind of decided to  not do the chickens right away. um We've even kicked around goats and all kinds of other things. But right now, having the cows and having a busy life.
20:18Having the Airbnb and the craft store and everything,  we decided that that's probably good enough. But, um you know, we do have a zip line.  Oh, nice. He loves the zip line.  Well, they're fun. They are fun. uh So your oldest boy,  when the calves are born in the spring, is he like, oh, my God, mom, dad, look at the babies. Yes, he loves it. He tries to name them all. Yes.  Yup.
20:49Isn't it fun watching them discover all this stuff? Oh, it's absolutely awesome. And he's  very smart. We have the entire property has an electric fence around it.  And,  know, we teach him very well. He knows. So when the cows are not in there, he's like, I can touch the fence. I'm like, yeah. But he's very good. He knows the fences on when the cows are in there.
21:15Good. But we  we love it out here and  we enjoy it and the crafts thing we spend a lot of our nights making crafts together  and we do sell a lot of soap.  The freeze dried goodies. We enjoy making that. We  it's actually awesome for a little guy. He will eat pretty much  any fruit or veggie freeze dried  and freeze dried asparagus. I'm telling you, it's so good. It is so good.
21:45so good. I'm so jealous. want a freeze dryer so much and I cannot  do not have the money to invest in it right now. And we do have asparagus every spring because we have a huge patch. Yeah. And so now I'm like, Oh, I gotta make the money to get a freezer or just so can try freeze dried asparagus. Thank you so much, Katie.  It is delicious. And I tell you, I eat half of our profit.  Sure.
22:15So it works out pretty good. do love it when I'm mowing and I'll be able to like sneak over there. You know, I'm just going past it. And then I'll grab a few goodies for myself. And my wife's like, oh, I don't see any money in the thing. I'm like, yeah, no, that was me. I don't think we've ever taken. I don't think we've ever taken anything out of the farm stand unless it was it was too far gone to sell it. Does that make sense? Yeah, we're just taking it.
22:44And you have no strength. And yeah, I have no restraint. Tell me like that was last night when I'm like, I'm not going to have a snack. And then, you know, I sat for two more hours, watched House Hunters and  I had quite a few snacks. Well, as long as they're good for you, you're all set. Yeah. Chocolate chip cookies aren't too bad.  Luckily, I let my my college food  registration expire, so I haven't been making big goods for the farm stand. So.
23:12There's no big goods in our farm stand right now. There's eggs, there's soap, and there's lip balms, and there's candles, but that's it. Oh, we do. We enjoy making candles. We make a lot of candles. And it's really neat having the engraver so we can engrave all of our candle jars and everything like that.  I never thought of that. We have a Dremel set. I wonder if we could do the same thing. Oh, that would be pretty cool. Yeah.
23:40Oh my God, you guys, I'm so glad you were going to talk to me today because I have an idea to run by my husband tonight when he gets home from work. Yeah, we started. mean, we've been making candles now for, I don't know, 10, 12 years. And that was the biggest thing for the longest time, but it's kind of somewhat seasonal where we're at, you know, the winter time, we just tend to sell a lot more candles. So it's just a fun. We I don't know, we just love the farm out here. Yeah.
24:10Do  you make your candles in the house? In your house? Yes,  yes. So  we have a pretty big barn and we've kicked around trying to  move all of our crafting out there. But right now we do everything in the basement and we make the candles kind of down in the basement  and kind of have all of our craft stuff down there. The laser and the freeze dryer are in our garage though. yeah. oh
24:41Do you do scented candles or unscented candles?  We  focus a lot  with lavender right now because we use our lavender.  So a lot of our things are tailored to lavender. So we do scented  and we use our lavender for it. But we used to, you know, kind of do a little bit of everything. But with the price of everything going up, it's just easier to use our own products. Yes, of course, because it's right there.
25:10Um, we, are getting out of the candle making business because things are so expensive trying to get it. It's so painful,  but  I have, I have a thing where certain scents are just too intense for me and they give me headaches, like bad headaches.  Yup.  And, um, I'm trying to think  leather. We got a leather fragrance oil. That one every time my husband would make the candles in the kitchen.
25:40I would take Tylenol two hours before you even started making them for even open the fragrance bottle because it would just kill me.  Leather does the exact same thing to me and so does suede and smoke.  Yeah. I don't know what it is, but it's just too strong. And I have the same thing. Like if something drops on the bottom of the stove when we're baking stuff and  it burns, but it doesn't actually smoke necessarily that
26:08burning smell of the  piece of pizza crust or whatever fell down in. I get headaches from that. like, you know, I wish my nose would stop harassing me. This would be great. Well, it's so funny because everyone's like, Oh, your house must just smell so good when you make candles. And every time I make them, I'm like,  I wish it didn't smell in here.  Yeah, but it's so strong. So concentrated. Yeah.  Yeah. And the thing that's funny is lavender is supposed to take the scent of lavender is supposed to take the edge off.
26:38headaches. um The lavender fragrance oil and the lavender essential oils. If  it's too much, like if we can't open a window, that'll give me a headache too. I'm like, no, lavender is supposed to help with headaches.  Damn it. And there's a coffee fragrance oil, which is amazing.
27:01That, the Lord, does not give me headaches. So when my husband is like, I'm gonna make coffee once this time, I'm like, yes, thank you. We had like a cucumber melon one that  was very refreshing. I did quite enjoy that one. Yeah, it's,  I am like a freak about scents. And it's so dumb because I know some are going to give me a headache. Like it's just a definitive fact that Mary Evelyn, you're gonna have a headache if you smell this.
27:30And when we first decided to make candles, we ordered like a sample pack from Bramble Berry of different scents. And they were all the Christmas time scents. You guys, that thing came in the mail.  I had that box ripped open within five seconds and opening these little tiny bottles and just getting high on the smell of Christmas. My husband looked at me. said, you are a Christmas fiend. I said, what was your first clue?
28:01That's what  so when we originally bought this farm  I wasn't sure what to do and I love Christmas and Cooper loves Christmas  um and all I could think was how cool would it be to have a Christmas tree farm? Yeah, yeah  and  Cooper would love it and then you know I started reading and doing all this research  and I'm like
28:25a lot of work right at the holiday and it's cold outside and I hate being outside when it's cold.  Yeah. So it kind of unchecked a lot of boxes.  To the Christmas tree farmers, they put in good work.  Yeah, Michigan in the wintertime, cold, weird, who knew?  Yeah, I know, right? Yeah. Like, honey, I have this huge tree meal, like all trees and everything.  And then now I just look out at the cows and I'm like, wow, this is pretty nice. That was pretty relaxing. Yeah.
28:52Yes, and cows throw heat, which means  if you have a friendly cow and you can stand next to her, you're going to be warm.  Yep. Yep. You guys said you make soaps.  Do you make the cold process lye soaps?  Yes. Yep.
29:10And when did you start doing that and were you scared the first time you did it?  So,  so my mom makes a ton of soap  and she's like, Oh, you know, cause  we made candles, you know, for 10, 12 years and she's made soap and she's like, Oh, it's so easy. I'm like, is it though?  And you know, the lie and all that stuff, it did have me kind of a little bit freaked out, but,  um, you know, we made it with her and
29:40found out it's actually not that hard.  But yeah, it did have me little bit freaked out at first, yes. We wear the gloves and the goggles.  Do you still wear the goggles?  I do.  I'm a little bit more risky. I should, but you know, I don't know. Usually I do have them right there and I guess I know my limits. Yeah, there's different parts of the process where it's kind of.  Where I.
30:09The reason I ask is because I'm still afraid of the whole lion water thing. My husband is not. My husband is very brave. He has a minor fear of the unknown, but once he's done something, even if it's kind of scary, he's like, eh, I got it. I've done it once. can do it again. And so he's the one that, that makes the soaps. And  every time he does it, I'm like, you probably should open the window if you're going to do the lie and the water in the house.
30:40And he's like, it's not going to do anything. It's fine. And I'm like, okay.  So I just, I don't know. I don't, scares me. And I'm so thankful to have a husband who is brave and wants to do this stuff because I really like cold process Lysol. I really like what it has for my skin. So, so thank God he makes it. That's awesome. Yeah. Wait, don't get any ideas.
31:09But now we love it. We use all of our products and  I guess it's just it's a fun hobby that you know with the farm we have just a bunch of different kind of revenue streams and we enjoy it and being a franchisee gives me time to be able to be here at the farm doing the things that we love. Yes, absolutely. And you know, they say if you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life. So you're I guess you're not working guys.
31:39I know, we moved a lot of rocks the other day. That felt a lot like work. Uh  huh, I know. But it's still better than sitting behind a desk.  It sure is. All right, I try to keep these to half an hour. Where can people find you?  So we have a Facebook page,  M57 Farms,  and pretty much everything is just on there. We're not crazy big social media people. So pretty much just on Facebook and then  Airbnb has our Airbnb on it.
32:10good because I think that that would be a wonderful vacation place for people to go.  And honestly, I would suggest in like  May  and September if  it was my place in Michigan because  if Michigan is anything like Minnesota, Michigan is pretty hot between the middle of June and the middle of August. Yeah. So I always, I always suggest when people want to come to Minnesota, I'm like come in May or come in September.
32:39That's pretty much it. Yep. And then we do have our lavender. So  if you come  right,  I'm probably hearing about a week or so,  it will be pretty with the lavender. So we do try to fight the heat with pretty. m Yeah, absolutely.  All righty, you guys. Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. I really enjoyed our conversation.  As always, you can find me at AtinyHolmes.podcast.com.  Have a great day.
 

Ryan’s Yak Farm

Today I'm talking with Cody at Ryan’s Yak Farm. 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 Cody at Ryan's Yak Farm in New York. Good morning, Cody. How are you? Good morning. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. Where in New York are you and how is the weather? Are you part of the heat bubble that's going on? We are definitely part of the heat bubble. We are in Oxford, New York.
00:29upstate New York.
00:34It's a hot,  hot, hot day, a hot week. Yeah. Yup. It sure is. um Upstate New York is all the way across New York.  what  are you, are you West or middle or East upstate?  I'm  going to say like East. Okay.  I'm not really good with demographics. So that's okay. Don't worry about it.
01:02My parents live in Maine,  my husband and I have made the road trip from Minnesota to Maine a couple of times in 20 years we've been together.  And we always drive the Northern route in New York and then we drop down to get down to Albany.  And it is so beautiful. The grape arbors  and I don't even know what else.
01:32all the rivers that go along the highway and oh my God, coming into Albany, you go basically  up a slight incline and then  you get to the top of that incline  and the whole valley drops out underneath you and all you can see is mountains and trees. So pretty, isn't it?  Oh my God. The first time I took my youngest, we took our youngest with us to visit my parents. We came up over that, that hill and the valley dropped out.
02:01And he's looking from the back seat and I hear this big gasp  and he says, he says, mom, can I say a swear word? And I was like, yes. And he said,  holy shit, it's so beautiful.  How funny. And I'm crying. hadn't been home in years.  It is so pretty out here though. Yeah. And he was like, why are you crying? And I was like,  you know how you felt like you needed to say a big word you're not allowed to say? He says, yeah. And I said,
02:30These are the big feelings that I feel like I'm not allowed to feel anymore. uh
02:38Maine's so pretty too.  Oh, it is. It's beautiful.  Basically, basically we would hit Pennsylvania and I would be like, ah, I'm back in the land of trees.  Yes.  You know, cause I mean, Minnesota has trees, but it's very much Northern Minnesota that is like Maine. And so for me to feel like I'm quote unquote home  ish. Yeah. I have to drive like five hours to get far enough North to be like, Oh, pine trees, many, many pine trees again. So it's.
03:08It's hard, but I also love Minnesota. I've been here for over 30 years. I always have to say that because when I first moved here, I moved here kicking and screaming. Oh, really?  Did not want to leave Maine. Yeah. And then after about 15, 20 years in Minnesota, I was like, you know, it really is nice here, too. I kind of love  it. so I always have to reiterate that I love where I live. I have had the chance twice to move back and I have chosen to not leave.  So I do love it here.
03:37I love Minnesota. It is my second favorite home. So anyway, can you please tell me a little bit about what you do and a little bit about yourself? So I am a teacher during the day. I teach a barbering program at DCMO Boces. It's a career and technical school. It's not part of the cosmetology program. It's totally different.
04:06the barber side of things. um I also  work at a barbershop  after I leave school. I go to the barbershop until like seven o'clock at night and then I'm finally able to come home for the farm.  And then I'm on weekends. My family does a lot during the week for the farm while I'm not here.  Weekends are my time to...
04:33do everything I want to get done on the farm, spend time with the animals. I didn't grow up on a farm. I married into a farm, here 17 years. We've always had beef. This was my husband's dairy farm. Their family has owned this farm since 1906 and then my husband bought into it.
04:59There was originally over 428 acres, but it got eventually sold off. And then my husband bought the farm.  So,  um,  I've got three children,  16 year old, 14 year old, and a 12 year old. And we live here on the farm and now,  now we're yak farmers.  I am so excited to find out about yaks, Cody. I haven't talked about  haven't.
05:27talked to anyone about yaks yet in over two and a half years of doing this podcast. So,  they're so good. They're so awesome.  Yes. So tell me the different animals you have and then we'll narrow it down to my questions about yaks. What else do you have besides yaks?  I have  three baby Dalshi,  four goats. They're like mixed mixed goats. I've got a Gnubian and Oberhalsi and some Nigerian Dwarfs. um
05:58I've got,  I think.
06:0313 cooney cooney pegs.  Okay. I have a mule  and a horse um I Think that's it we did have these  but I lost the hive over the wintertime. So I didn't get bees this year. I was too late That happens. Mm-hmm It's it's a very rewarding job to keep bees, but oh definitely It's also heartbreaking when you lose a hive because it takes a lot to get that
06:33Worked up. Yes,  and they're so expensive. Yeah, so to lose that My first year was that was that was rough, but I do plan on getting back into it. But good good I hope that you do because you already have this setup you might yes and the thing that's expensive about keeping bees is the beginning year as you discovered yes  Definitely getting all this stuff that you need is definitely expensive
07:01Yeah, all the supplies. I it's going to sound terrible, but I'm going to say it anyway. If you are someone who is buying more than an acre of land to get into homesteading and you think you need to make a choice between bees and chickens, chickens are actually cheaper to get. Oh, 100%. Yes. But if you're obsessed with honeybees and you really want to do the work and you want to lay the money out so you can have go for it because it's just as rewarding.
07:30It is and it's so delicious.  Oh my goodness.  Yeah. We, um, we have not been doing a lot of honey lately because honey is very expensive at the store or through someone who is raising bees. Right. miss it. I really miss honey. Oh, it is so good. I don't, I've never liked honey either. And then I got my own bees and started doing it and started like separating the honey from the honeycomb and all that. And
08:00got on my fingers and then I tasted it. was like, holy moly, this is so good. It's so  different. m And we were getting our honey from Sam's Club. Okay. And we know someone who has bees and we haven't been up to see him in a couple of years. He has an apple orchard and of course has bees. Yep. And he sells his honey every fall and we haven't gotten honey from him in a couple of years. The difference between his honey and the
08:30the real honey at Sam's Club, the difference in taste is, I would say, half again is good. His is half again is good. And we were lucky enough to get some of the honey he got one year from his bees. They had found a patch of wild mint. So the honey had a minty taste. It was fabulous. I bet it was. Oh, was so good.
08:58I don't  think he's had that kind since. They haven't gone back to the mint patch. ah I love that though, the mint patch. Yeah, I teased him. said, you should charge double for this mint. Yeah. Like I can't do that. That's not, I can't do that just because we locked into mint. I said, of course you can. You're the one that sets your prices. He's like,  Mary, I'm not going to do that. I'm like, okay.
09:26We're all going to benefit from your smart bees." And he was just laughing.  I said, if you can find, I don't know, a tree that makes a  strawberry flavor besides strawberries, strawberries that flavored honey would be really Oh, yeah. He said, you know that's not how it works, right? And I was like, yes, I know that's not how it works. Yes, I do. But it would be good. Yeah, strawberries, honey, that would be amazing.
09:55Okay, so I didn't know that you had kept bees. I hope that you get back into it. Sounds like you really enjoyed it. So tell me about yaks. The thing in my head about yaks is that they are from Siberia or somewhere really cold and that the natives would milk them so that they had a source of milk. That's all I Yes, they did do that. They were from the Tibetan mountains, Himalayas.
10:25They're just magnificent animals. They're big. I mean, they've got a lot of power on their backs, their necks. They use their horns over in the mountains to move rocks out of their way. But other than that, I'm still learning about yaks. This wasn't anything that we...
10:48research before getting it just kind of fell in our lap and then  I'm still researching so I know how to
10:59Keep everyone happy, everyone healthy. I'm still in that process of learning because we just got yaks last year.
11:08Oh, so this is new.  Oh, this is so new.  very new. OK, then let me ask you some specific questions because it would probably be easier for you.  How many do you have? I have 12.  And have you had have you had any baby yaks?  Yes,  we  have had two yaks born on here at the farm. This year we lost one of the baby yaks. That was a really tough time.
11:37We've tried  everything to help her and save her, but she had some kind of a rumen issue in her stomach and she just wasn't growing and it was awful. But  we have another little baby yak. Hopefully four more are born this year. ah So we have little Ivy. She's so sweet.
12:03So yeah. So do  you have like more than one male Yak or do you have males? Nope, we have a couple of males. um We have Jack. So Jack is  who started all of this. um
12:20Nothing.  I  didn't know anything about Yaks. Nothing. I didn't even know what a Yak was.  And my husband went over to his uncle's farm who was housing Jack.
12:36He was housing him because there was a case going on, an animal abuse case. And Jack was one of those  animal victims that needed a spot to go. And my husband said, for the love of God, don't tell Cody that there's a yak that needs a home.  Don't say anything to her. And then my husband comes home and he walks through the door and he looks at me, he's like, you want a yak? And I'm like, what is a yak? I don't even know what a yak is.
13:04And I'm Googling it and looking it up and I saw a picture of him and I smiled at my husband. I'm like, yeah, I want to yak. So that's how we got Jack is we adopted him through the SPCA. ASA SPCA. adopted him. And then when I was doing research, he was previously left with cows. So he's.
13:32We had cows here, but we kept them separate. But doing some research,  they're herd animals. we got...
13:42Um,  I gotta think how many more we got since Jack.
13:52Nine. We bought more Yaks. So this all started in March of last year. So not, not long ago. no. All right. I pulled up, I typed in Yak in Google cause I wanted to see a picture of one. And what it's, and what I, what I saw in my head here is that it looks like a cross between a
14:21beef cattle animal  and a buffalo. And it's funny because the taxonomy it says, it says belonging to the genus boss, BOS, yaks are related to cattle and bison.  Yes. Go fig. They're part of the bovine. Yep.  And the one they're showing is a dark  one with the horns that curl up and he has like a heart shaped white spot between the horns.
14:49kind of like what Jack looks like. He's black  and has like a white patch and Ivy has the same markings as her dad.  Nice. Okay, so in looking at this picture, they have very long hair or are there short haired? So Jack is,  his upper body is short haired.
15:13And then he's got a long skirt. The skirt and the Himalayas would protect the underneath during the super, super cold weather. I've got some woolies, so they're very  shaggy  and...
15:28Alls I can think of is like a perm. You know, like my one bowl has a  very curly top on his head. But  they do come in a little bit of both. Okay. So does this, can the skirt hair be used for clothing? Like light sheep bowl is used for clothing?  I don't,  not a hundred percent sure, but I don't  think so  only because that's more of like a hair,  their fiber.
15:59We get the Ariaks fiber from their top half, like underneath their regular hair. Like it's,  I don't know if I'm explaining that right, but it's so soft, so, so soft. I want to say it's probably just as soft, if not more than alpaca. So like an undercoat, like a dog? Okay. Yep.
16:23And how is a yak's temperament? I mean, I'm assuming it depends on the animal. It depends on the owner, but... depends on the animal. general? I am currently yaks four, Cody zero. Oh, no. Yeah, it's not like they're trying to hurt me. I get in their space and they just move their head and I happen to be in that pathway. Jack is the sweetest yak that we got.
16:53You could go in there, pet him, do whatever you want. He loves treats. em Some of them they want, they'll come up to you and take a treat, but they don't want to be pet.
17:04Which is fine, but they're not aggressive animals by any means. Like I said, even though I'm four and zero, it's not out of aggressiveness that they're getting me. It's because I'm just being careless  in their area.  I'm too comfortable in their area, which I shouldn't be because  they are intact bulls. They are a huge animal. I should always have my guard up, but I'm like, oh, they're so sweet.  And I just love them. And I just want to be in there and pet them.
17:33give them all the treats and there's times they don't want that. Please be careful, Cody. would like you to survive your love of Jack's. They are amazing. I do love them so much, especially Jack. He's  just to know what he's been through.  And I say this all the time on our page.  I don't think we rescued Jack. We might have helped him, but
18:03in a way like he saved us, he rescued us. I didn't realize that we needed to have the farm open. um We're open to the public and I never thought I wanted people at my place.  I'm kind of private person, but now having Jack in our Yak page and open to the public, mean, everyone comes here and is able to brush  Jack.
18:32See all the other animals that we have and I absolutely love I didn't know I needed that in my life Yeah, it's funny how animals come into your life and you just your heart just bursts open you had No clue that number one you needed them and number two that you would love them as much as you do. Yep Yeah, we have a dog like that and I'm not gonna spend 20 minutes on her. I swear to God
19:00She's my favorite pet I've ever had. Her name is Maggie. She's an Australian Shepherd. She's going to be six, the first of August. And I have fallen so far over the love cliff with this dog. It's ridiculous. And I said to my husband the other day, I said, don't think I want another dog after Maggie is no longer with us. And he said, why? And I said, because I don't think I can do it again. I don't think I have.
19:27the capacity to fall in love like that again and watch the animal live out of life and I'm still alive when it dies.  I can do it. Now that is one of definitely the hardest parts is losing a dog or anything, Cattle. mean, we lost Ivy or we lost Hazel and  I was  devastated. Yeah,  it's.
19:52I keep saying that grief is not about regret about the death. It's about regret over the potential of the thing that died.  It  seems like you're grieving the life they lived, but you're actually grieving the life they didn't get to continue to live.  And I didn't realize that until a few years ago and my whole perspective shifted. And I was like,
20:23Oh, duh. If I'm grieving the life that they didn't get to continue, maybe we make the life we're living better while we're here. Right. And that's probably what you think about the acts. probably have to make your life so much richer. Oh, definitely. I I love teaching to begin with. So when people come here and we can educate them with what knowledge that we do have and what we're still learning.
20:49Just seeing people interact with the yaks or any of the animals we have here,  I just love it. I think it's amazing to see Craig go, my husband Craig go up in the pasture with the yaks with a bucket and just have them  all  follow him and then see people's expressions when you see these massive animals  either running behind him  or  walking behind him in a single line.
21:18people's reactions is priceless.  love it. I think there's  so magnificent that people need to see them. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So how big do they get? I mean, how tall are they at the shoulder? Jack  is
21:42How tall are you? I'm 5'4". So, I mean, Jack's head comes up to my head. Okay. So their shoulders probably about five  foot, maybe four foot 10. Maybe. Okay. So they're not super tall. No, not at all. Not super tall, just beefy um and powerful. Yeah. How much do they weigh, eh
22:13Maybe 1200 to 1500 pounds. Yeah. So about the size of a cow. Yeah. Yep.
22:22But short, but a short cow.  But shorter, their legs are shorter, they've got that skirt, they've got the massive horns. um
22:34Yeah, mean, just the muscle mass that they have is crazy. The power that they used in the Himalayas to move things and tread through all that snow is  mind blowing. Yes, they're super amazingly strong and powerful animals. um I'm sure you don't want to eat your yaks, but I'm guessing that people eat yak meat like they eat beef. They do. They do.  So that's one of the things that
23:04We do plan on doing with our, if we get too many bulls when we start calving, that's probably gonna be some of the pathway that we lead to is just ethical breeding, but making sure that we utilize all of our animal. My one bull that I have, he's about three years old and he's supposed to be processed.
23:29but I can't find anybody in this area that will butcher a yak because of the horns.  Really? Yeah. They can't fit in the squeeze chute that they need, I guess, to be USDA. I can't. And I made sure that we bought some from the people that we got yaks from. They had some meat there and we bought some and it was delicious. It's so lean. It's so good for you. Yeah. Higher in the omega fats.
23:59It's just,  it was amazing. You just gotta eat it a little bit.
24:04Rare, not rare, but.
24:08medium rare, just so it's still juicy. But um that was our plan, but we still have Danny  and he was originally our first yak to process and  I can't find anybody that doesn't want to cut the horns off first. And I'm not doing that. I'm not, that's not anything that I'm interested in is putting my animal through any kind of stress  before that because
24:37I love them and I value them and I appreciate his time here and his purpose for us,  but I'm not putting my animal through any kind of stress like that. Yeah. And I'm assuming that New York has laws just like Minnesota has laws, just like every state has laws. Yep. That you can't dispatch him on your property and then take him to the budget. No, and not to do USDA so we could sell. Yeah.
25:06So, no. Huh. Well, that's an interesting problem. And I've  called  everybody. And as soon as they're like, yack, nope.  Like, oh my goodness. I'm so confused because there's longhorn cat.  Yeah, I even called a longhorn butcher. And  I said, will you butcher a yak? He goes,  nope. I'm like,  why?  Just won't do it.  That is so weird.
25:35guess it's meant to happen. know, Danny's meant to be here. So  sure. But do the female cats have horns too? Yep.  Well, the boys just have thicker. There's are a lot thicker, um longer. I think Danny's probably three and a half to four feet across with his horns. um The girls aren't as big, but they do have them.
26:06The reason for not doing the females was to grow our herd. Oh, yes, of course. But I was just thinking that. definitely. For sure. We could. Yeah. As the females get older and aren't going to produce babies anymore. And it takes a long time to grow them too. Yeah. About three years to grow a yak to be from what we were told from the people that we got them from to be butcher size. OK.  Because they grow slower.
26:36Yeah. And it takes about two years for a cow. So that doesn't surprise me that it takes a little bit longer for a They're mostly grass fed. just it's more lean, but we do do a little bit of grain. Yeah. And now it's off of pellets. I'm just astounded that they won't butcher. They won't dispatch and butcher a yak. Yeah, no. I can't find anybody.
27:03I was willing to travel to PA. I was willing to travel wherever just so we could start our meat production here. That's what we got the cooney cooney pigs for is meat production and breeding.
27:18They also take a really long time to grow. my first one goes on the 28th  of this month. I'm kind of  really sad.  They're so sweet. Yeah. Friends of ours got a couple of pigs a couple of,  two years ago, I think, and they butchered at least one of them last fall.
27:42She was concerned that she would be really sad too and she hasn't said anything about being really sad about it. No. I think it went okay. I think this pig will do okay because I knew his purpose this whole time but the babies,  we just got seven more on Monday. And there's two that I have, one that looks like Chewbacca and just one that was a runt that we bought.  I don't think I could let those two go.
28:12They're going to be friends for life. They're going to be friends forever. Yeah. Yeah. Because they're just so sweet. Um, well, I'm still puzzling over the whole not butchering yaks. So if anybody is listening and knows anyone who does butcher yaks, please let me know or let Cody know. can email me and you can, assume I'll, I can, I'll put your Facebook page link. Yeah.
28:41in the show notes when this comes out so people can get a hold of you. Definitely let me know, especially if you're in upstate New York. Yeah, or I'm trying to think. I don't know if I don't know how this works. What happens if somebody in Canada will do it and you drive your yak to Canada to be butchered and then it comes back? I have no idea. I don't know. Do I have to cross customs?
29:08I don't know. think so. I wonder if that's a thing probably. I bet it would cost a ton of money. So maybe that's not even possible. But I'm trying to think of what's before New York because I'm looking at the map in my head and it's a little hazy. What is the state west of New York? Ohio? Yeah, it's down a little bit. But yeah. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe Ohio.
29:33Maybe Illinois, maybe freaking Kentucky. I don't know. even reached out to the, um, we follow this group on Facebook, um,  the bearded butchers. They're in Ohio. I absolutely love them. And then I even reached out to them, but I didn't hear anything back. That would have been amazing. This is craziness. Yeah. I'm so sorry that you're having such a hard time with them. Oh, that's okay. I mean, just.
30:01longer that we get to have Danny here and people get to see how amazing he is and how beautiful he is.  Well, I love that you guys are doing this because yaks and reindeer  are two of the animals that most people don't think of when they think of people who have farms or homesteads and ranches. And my other podcast, Grit and Grace in the Heartland with my co-host Leah,  she's a cattle rancher.
30:29And I interviewed a lady who raises reindeer with her dad. And Leah had her cattleman husband listen to that episode. And her cattleman husband said, $20,000 for a reindeer? One? That was what stuck out to him from the interview. That's too funny. Yeah. So how much does a yak usually cost, It depends on their temperament.
30:57The place that we went to, there was a couple, but I think they did this price, there was $18,000. And I think they set it that high because they don't want to get rid of it. But I would say typically between three to $5,000 is normal. Especially with temperament, if they're super sweet, you can get more money because instead of like a wild one.
31:27um We just got some, just got two new Yaks, Aspen and Ridge on Saturday.
31:39They're the sweetest things. So sweet. So we have the vet coming out today to do a health check on them and then the babies to get them ready because we got invited to go to the Schenango County Fair this year. Oh, fun. Yeah. Not to be in with the dairy, the bee for anything. Like we won't be in their exhibits, but we'll have our own little tent and set up for our yaks. I think I'm going to bring three or four of them.
32:09So the vet comes up today and we do checks and.
32:15Get everyone all ready for the fair in August and it should be a good time. That's exciting. And the fact that they're not putting them with the other cloven-hoved animals leads me to think that they think that they are,  there's a word and I had it before I started talking about it,  exotic. Yes. Oh, for sure. For sure. Your special, Koda, you have exotic animals. Yes.
32:44So exotic that insurance. Let me tell you, it was rough getting insurance because of the exotic animals. Yeah. So do you have to have like a special permit to own them? No.  No permit. Okay. Cool. Which is weird. That's good though, because permitting can be really expensive too. Yep. No permits.  Just have them here.
33:13And I know this is new for you, but are there a lot of people in the United States that have yaks or is it a very unusual animal? There's  a few in New York that I know of that I've gotten mine from. um I probably can think of four  yaks.
33:38Yak Farms. In New York alone. In New York. Yep.  And people have been reaching out about buying some and I just, I don't have.
33:51the amount yet to be able to grow our herd and we'll see with how many babies we have. Yeah. So. Oh, that's another question. With cows, if they have twins and they're male, female twins, the female typically isn't capable of reproducing. Right. She's called a free Martin. Do yaks have the same issue? That I'm not sure. You might want to check into it.
34:18I do think that having twins is very rare for them, but they do have them.  that part I don't know yet.  Well, I'm glad I had the chance to talk to you so I could bring it up because now that we're Leah goes through that sometimes. Does she? They don't know whether the female is going to be able to have babies or not in that situation. And so she usually goes to auction and becomes hamburger or whatever because they can't
34:47keep an animal that isn't earning its keep. Right, exactly. Yeah. So put it on the list, ma'am, to check and see about the free Martin situation with the eggs. Definitely. Try to help every chance I can, because I know just enough to be dangerous. And when I actually think that might be important, I'm like, hey, have you thought about this yet? No, that's good to think about. I try to keep these to half an hour. We're at 35 minutes, Cody.
35:14Thank you so much for having me. Where can people find you? At Ryan's Yak Farm on Facebook.  And if you go to the website, it's Ryan's Yak Farms with an S at the end of farms.com. Awesome. Thank you so much. No, thank you. I really appreciate it.  As always, people can find me at Atty. Homestead podcast.com.  Cody, thank you again. Love you. Thank you.
35:42And I learned so many cool things today about an animal that I knew like two things about. So it was awesome.  Have a great day. Thank you. You too.
 

Farm Country Candles

Today I'm talking with Jillian at Farm Country Candles. 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 Jillian at Farm Country Candles in Belle Plaine, Minnesota, which is just up the road from me. Good afternoon, Jillian. How are you? I'm well. How are you, Mary? I'm good. And it's a beautiful day in Minnesota. It just kind of clouded in here a little bit in Lasur, but it's still beautiful. It's not hot.
00:27and everything is so freaking green right now, it's ridiculous. Yeah, everything is blooming. It's a good time to visit Minnesota. Yeah, I always say May, first part of June, or September, first part of October, because any time in between those two times, it's just hot and sticky, and I'm like, not going to enjoy it if you come any time other than that. Yes, absolutely. But there's always something to do, so.
00:55Whatever works with anybody's schedule still come visit Minnesota.  Yeah, it's gorgeous. It's absolutely gorgeous any time of the year It's just that you have to you have to understand that Minnesota is I would use the word volatile when it comes to weather You never know what you're gonna get and you can't  Plan  on it being the way you want it to be so be flexible and enjoy whatever mother nature gives you
01:24Absolutely. Couldn't have said it better. Yeah.  And I mean, I grew up in New England. It's the same thing. I made a lateral move over 30 years ago and I was like, Minnesota is not that different from where I grew up. There's just no mountains to my west, you know, half an hour, 45 minutes, and there's no ocean to my east,  half an hour, 45 minutes.  It's more like  day trips to get there now.  Yes.  That is a big change.
01:51Yeah, but the weather itself is kind of the same.  And honestly, my dad and my mom, give me weather updates when I talk to them. Oh, they're still in England? In New England,  in Maine. New England. In Maine. Oh, sure. And my dad will say, how's the weather been? And I tell him, and he's like, okay, well, I know what we have coming in three days, because basically whatever we get three days later, they get. So  he said, you're better than our local weather reporter. I'm like, yeah,  weird how that works.
02:21So that's awesome.  What? That's awesome.  So anyhow, I would love it if you would tell me about yourself and what you do, Jillian. Absolutely. Well, I'm Jillian and I'm  the owner of Farm Country Candles. I started this business, gosh, was it a year and a half ago now? Oh, that soon. That it wasn't that long ago. It was not.  It kind of happened  on accident.
02:51To be honest, ah my parents  owned a candle company. ah It was on a smaller scale, but they started that  around 2008. So they've had all the equipment and uh now they were like, well, Jillian, do you want to have our equipment? We're kind of downsizing.  And I was like, sure. Yeah, this sounds like fun. It'd be a hobby of mine.  love  the candles  and this way I could have it for myself and maybe gift a few.
03:21to family and friends.  But then  eventually people wanted to buy some and I was like, okay, maybe I should turn this into a business.  So I did, I rebranded  the company and I called it Farm Country Candles, because it's  the area that we live in, right? Farm Country. uh So it had just a good ring to the name.  And now it's just kind of grown into what it is today, which still have the soy candles.
03:50but we also have fire starters  and  small space diffusers or car diffusers. uh And  those additional products always came by kind of, again, on accident and they all have funny stories behind them. So  I would love to share those as we continue our conversation today. Well, go ahead. Tell me the funny story about the car diffusers first. Okay, absolutely.  So the car diffusers, uh I don't know if people know what they are because I didn't.
04:19Okay, so they're just little vessels that have the fragrance and a diffuser base and you can hang them in your car. So  if you look on social media, they're known as car diffusers, but I love them for any of my small spaces  like  bathrooms, um offices,  mud rooms.  You could put them in your benches because shoes kind of get stinky after a while.  I know some people
04:47by family and friends, have them in their fish houses, their campers,  their side by sides. Pretty much anywhere  you can't have a burning candle, you can put this diffuser. So it's portable  and you just take off the plastic stopper, put the wooden cap on it, turn it upside down,  let it saturate in this wooden cap, and then it hangs wherever you like to put it. So it just, again,  flameless candle, you can put it anywhere.
05:17And  so how this happened was  one day one of my coworkers,  she's like, well, Jillian, you make candles. Can you refill this thing I have? This is like a smelly little thing.  And I was like, okay, I don't know what you're talking about, but yeah, I could probably look into that for you.  So a week later,  she's like, yeah, like this is it. Can you refill this? And I was like, oh, okay. Yeah, sure. I've never seen anything like that.  So  I was able to fill it for her.
05:46It did it smelled amazing. So I'm like, okay now  now I need these so something I never thought I needed I needed and now it's a product that I carry and it's it's a big hit  so if anybody sees me at the Vendor shows are out and about and people ask  I do call them the flameless candle  nice and they remind me of the the little glass jars that you can get and you put the fragrance oil in the bottom and you put the
06:16the little wooden sticks in it? Same idea?  Same idea, but the wooden cap replaces the sticks  to the diffuser. Yeah. And then is there a funny story with the fire starters? Yeah, the fire starters. um So the fire starters  came from a little  family embarrassment on my end. um I was at my parents' house  and it was just the immediate family and I wanted to start a fire. So my dad handled me a
06:44one of those wood shaving fire starters and said, here you go, use this. So I tried  and I couldn't get this fire started. And I mean, it was dry wood and everything. So it was all on  my end,  I was never a girl scout. So let's just start with that. So I  think I was already at a disadvantage here.  So I asked my husband to help me.  And then all of sudden my brother comes over and chimed in. You even had a fire starter?
07:11I felt like super silly and I was like, okay, I just like walked away.  And I thought, well, if I struggled this much on starting a fire,  maybe somebody else does too and maybe I could make a product that can make it this easier.  So  today, every time I just like make a batch of fire starters, I always think of the way it started, which was my brother asking me, you couldn't even start a fire with a fire starter, but now I can.
07:41because these fire starters are amazing.  They're really, number one, I bet they work great, but number two, they're really beautiful. I feel like it would be really nice as a, like part of a centerpiece at a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. They're that pretty. They are.  However, I always say, again, if you see me about at vendor shows, I'm like, this is not a candle. We should start by saying that because it's all highly flammable material, right? We got pine cones.
08:10We got wood shavings in the wax. We got a paper  cupcake liner. So all of this stuff is very flammable. So yeah, you would not want to light that at your centerpiece. Yeah, no, I'm not saying light it. I'm saying  they're really pretty. They would be really pretty  as a visual addition.  Yes. I just had to put that in there just because I wouldn't want people to mistake that. But it is very beautiful. And they smell good because it's all natural material.
08:39you know, outside. It's pine cones. It's, it's Frasier fir or blue spruce, um you know, branches.  Yeah, they're gorgeous. And I was looking at your Facebook page today and I was looking at all the different candle scents.  How in the world do you keep them all straight, Jillian? Oh my God, there's so many. Yeah, so I kind of went overboard when I'm like, oh, I should try this or I should try that.
09:07I like, I want to try to blend this  and I kind of been experimenting. So now I have some like house blends actually, which is pretty cool. ah The three house blends that I have, my first house blend was Northwoods. So it's a mixture of blue spruce and Fraser fir. It just gives you that deep woods smell like that, you know, that Christmas tree smell, but then just blend a little bit with the blue spruce. It's very, it's very pleasant. ah
09:37The second house blend I did was the Armoretto Sunrise. So that one you get the almond top, like top note of it.  And then you got a little bit of vanilla in there.  And then the base is in you get like the orange  zest to it. So that one is, you know, pretty strong. It's probably one of my strongest candles has a nice cold throw and as well as a warm throw. So hot throw when you light it. And then my third house blend.
10:06which we just  created, I would say maybe 10 days ago,  is called Minnesota Prairie. So if you enjoy like outdoorsy, fresh, clean scents,  this one is gonna be for you. So there's five different fragrances in it.  It's Tienese,  Lillia the Valley, Bergamot, Casimir Cedar, and then just a splash of fresh cut grass.  And it is
10:36been a big hit. Let's just say I just wanted to do uh a  small batch and all of a sudden it was gone.  I posted on Facebook, like you said,  and then it was gone. So I had to make a second batch  already.  Yes, I was reading the sentence for that one. I was like, oh my God, that's got to be amazing. And  anyone who's listened to the podcast knows that my favorite flower is peony.
11:01Oh, really? I was like, and I love it when my husband, Moissa Lawn, loves the smell of cut grass and oh my goodness, that must smell so good. This one will be for you then.  Uh-huh. Oh, I'm sure all of them would be for me. I used to be a candle fanatic.  The minute it got cold outside in October, I was like, it's candle season. Yay.  And oh I laugh because I say the same thing. And  a lot of people say it's always candle season, Jillian.  And I'm like,
11:31Maybe you're right. Maybe it is always candle season because there's a scent for every season. There is, but I have so many windows in my house and I'm really grateful for that. We have lots of windows. We have so much daylight. It's amazing that it feels weird to light candles when the sun is just pouring in the windows in the summertime. So I rarely ever use candles in the spring and the summer, but in the fall and the winter I am all over it.
12:00Yeah, and that's kind of another interesting thing that people ask me. They're like, you must burn candles all the time.  I make candles almost every day. Yeah. So  I don't burn any because I always smelly whatever I'm creating or making. Right.  So and that stays in your home  for a good 36 hours, I would say, depending on the strength of  the scent.  So  I rarely burn candles.  Not only does it stay in your home, it stays in your nose.
12:30Yes,  we  do go nose blind if you make multiple sends at the same time. Yeah, we did make candles a couple summers ago and we made quite a few and we sold them at the farmers market and we still have some and we sell them in our farm stand. And every time we would make them, I would go to bed and all I could smell like in my nose was whatever candle we had made that day. And when it was coffee or lavender,
12:58or lemon or orange, was like, oh, that's so good. But we had a leather essential, not essential oil, fragrance oil. That one gave me horrible headaches and it was not a great scent out of the bottle. And, oh, rough. That one was rough. It makes a really nice scented candle. But when you're making it, it is hellacious to smell. I would 100 % agree with you because
13:27I was making that for the first time and I could barely stomach it as well. However, now that I came back to it a year later, it's okay now. I don't know why. I must have changed a little bit  through the other scents that I create.  that one, um and I get  all my fragrance oils  from really  well-known suppliers. this one, this leather actually was okay that I was like, okay, I can actually do this.  And it smells just like a saddle shop.
13:57And funny enough, it works really well when you see me at Pioneer Power. People come just for that leather candle.  Of course, that makes complete sense. ah People  loved the coffee and the leather not together. The coffee candles, the leather candles, they really liked them. And  we're not going to be making them anymore because supplies are so expensive now that  we can't, we just can't sustain it.
14:26It's just too much money. So we are no competition for you, not that we ever were. But  I welcome it. Everybody should do what they love to do. And this is just something that I love to do. So it works.  I'm normally at shows with  one, maybe two other candle vendors. it's you know, they have different different sense, different styles.  So  it's all OK.
14:55Yeah. And I just,  we have to make them in our kitchen because we don't have any place to make them anywhere else.  And my husband said, are you kind of tired of having your house to be turned into a candle factory? And I said, do you want the truth? And he's like, yeah. And I said, yeah, kind of am. He said, well, I'm kind of tired of spending inordinate amounts of money for the fragrances and I don't feel right charging people what it would cost us to keep doing it.
15:25He said, and there's lots of other candle makers in the area. I was like, okay, let's not do candles anymore. So we made the, the not unilateral. There's another word means both of us.  came  to the conclusion together that we are done with candles. And  when they're gone, they're gone. But it was, not going to let your husband talk to my husband then.  But it was fun. It was really fun. And I just talked to somebody this morning on another interview and they make soaps.
15:55And they were talking about all different scented soaps they used to make. And it reminded me of when we bought sample packs from,  think it was Bramble Berry  of the fragrance oils for Christmas for candles and soaps.  And  I was just in heaven, brought that box in, opened it, started opening the vials to smell the little two ounce bottles. And I was right in.
16:22Christmas mode and it was August when they came in.  Well, that's what I'll start making. August, September is  the time that I'll start making my Christmas candles too. yeah, yeah. I called my mom and I was like, I am so high. All I can see is your living room with the Christmas tree in it. She said, what is wrong with you? It's August. And I explained what was happening and she's like,
16:48Oh, I love that Christmas smells remind you of the old house with the Christmas tree. was like, yeah, that's where I am. My mind is right there.  She said, those are good scents. You're going to want to use those. I was like, ah, yes, I am. And there's one, I can't remember the name of it. And it smells just like when you step outside, when it first starts to snow. That real tingly little minty scent to it.  Yeah, like a
17:14Silent snowfall or something? Along those lines. So good. So good. And I am olfactorally driven. I love scents. So when we were doing the candles, it was really, really fun.
17:30But it's always fun to experiment and get that delivery because you never know what the scent is going to smell like. It changes per, you know, vendor too. So you just never know. Yeah. It's always a surprise and it's a really nice surprise except for the  1 % chance that it's not. There have been a couple we've gotten here like, no, that is not what we want to be doing for candles. I don't remember. And then I have to be a chemist and mix it with some other stuff to  create it something that is actually going to be
18:00worthwhile to make. So that's kind of another challenge. Yeah, I don't know. But it's kind of fun. Yeah, I don't remember  what ones we got. There were a couple and we opened them up and they were just little sample bottles. So it wasn't a big deal if we didn't like them.  And I was just like, I don't think I like that one. Do you like it? And he took a sniff and he was like,  no,  you  and you is not a word you expect to hear out of a dude.  Right.
18:28And it was very much the girl, eww, and I was like, oh, that's not good. If you're saying, ew, we're not using that one. And it's always fun to watch other people's reactions to this stuff. When he's at the farmer's market, he has a sign that says free sniffs for the soaps and the candles. And people see the sign and they laugh. And he's like, no, really. If you want to smell the candles, feel free. And people are funny about it. They kind of...
18:55It's almost like they're tiptoeing to the edge of the table. And then they very gently pick up a candle and they sniff it. And the one they always go for is the coffee one. And  he's like, honey, he said, it's almost like they can't believe that a candle could smell like a cup of coffee. He said, they look skeptical and they smell it. they're like,  Oh my God, this smells just like my kitchen. My coffee's brewing. And  he's like,  yes, that's what we want.
19:25And then it's a whole conversation.  So it's just fun. um So go ahead. I do have a funny story about Vending. And this one gentleman came over and he was kind of puzzled by what was all in my  mason jar containers.  And because it's white, I don't add any  dye color to any of the candles. They just are the sarwhack. oh
19:50then the fragrance. So sometimes they get a little bit darker depending on the fragrance. But again, it's just white otherwise.  And he comes up and he's like, there's so many different flavors  of chicken Alfredo, Alfredo sauce. And I was like,  no, no, no, sir.  These are candles, soy candles. He's like, oh my gosh, I thought these were Alfredo sauce. I was like, no, not today.  So you just never know who's going to come up and
20:19That is what it looks like though with the soy wax. That's funny. It does. Yeah. was great. But I also do make all these  candles in my kitchen.  So I understand your feeling of like, yeah, kind of taking over. um This is kind of taking over, you know, I guess, extra room that we have. um We have like a formal dining room that we don't use as a formal dining room. So that's not my candle room where I put.
20:48majority of my supplies.  But yeah, it kind of sneaks into the kitchen a lot and it kind of sneaks in other places depending on if I'm getting ready for anything.  And we recently um just got a fundraiser in Birchwood. um Birchwood, Wisconsin  would like to bring back free movies to the park. So  I partnered  with a resident there that she's a Birchwood native. um And she was like, I have this really cool idea.
21:18Do you think we could use the candles as a fundraiser opportunity to, you know,  they need equipment, they need to do some licensing. And I was like, absolutely, let's, let's make this work.  And we created  six different labels that are like birchwood, like branded. And then we create, you know, we agreed on six different cents for these labels.  So then I went to town and started making candles,  you know, every single night I would just.
21:48candles, candles,  But yeah, 360 candles went out  two weekends ago to Birchwood. So they are actively in their fundraiser right now efforts of trying to get free movies to the park. So kind of a cool  kind of a cool thing that we've started doing and just kind of, again, saying yes to my friend with the car diffusers, you know, my coworker and friend slash friend.  But then also, like when an opportunity like fundraising comes up and like, absolutely, we can do that.
22:17Why not? It just, feels good to give back. yeah, absolutely.  I, that's great. ah Did you say that you have your candles in some local stores? Oh yeah. So that's been also kind of fun. ah You know,  as I started this like 18 months ago, ah I never knew that this would like grow into what it was. ah And my first actually  store that I was in,
22:46ah I'm not in currently, but the first  place I was in was actually  in Belle Plaine here at Riverview Coffee.  And it was just kind of like something that was so cool. Like people can come in,  get their coffee and, you know, maybe smell some candles as they wait or whatnot.  And they've, they switched ownership. So we are not in there anymore. But then it was like, Oh, maybe I should go and start talking to people and see if we can get these products elsewhere. So um to date,
23:15We are in Rust in Luster in Chaska, Minnesota. ah Cattle Fish Brewing in  St. Peter, Minnesota. Mankato Vintage Market is carrying the car diffusers. Signature 3D Ink is also carrying the uh car diffusers.  But we also, since they're a 3D Ink company,  they are creating,  I call them
23:43accessory tops for these card diffusers.  So they have um 3D prints made of cowboy hats like dog paws, hearts where they have a  butt frog. So it's a little green frog with a little butt on the back. um They made crosses,  dragonflies,  and they can custom make pretty much anything. um So if there's something that somebody wants, you can just reach out to ask.  But they have a variety of the diffusers there.
24:12at their store and the Mankato mall, as well as their 3D prints. So they just put a little hole on top that can sit right on top. it makes it kind of makes it a little bit more fun and you can switch out the tops too. So that's  That's and then I know right. um Then we're also in  at Drummers Garden Center and that's also Mankato for the car diffusers.  We are at Schills Lake Cheesecake.
24:40in Lonsdale, Minnesota.  They're a new storefront. They make  the most amazing cheesecake.  So,  shout out. you're the third person that's mentioned them to me. Oh, really? On a podcast? Yeah, they're really great. So, definitely try them. um And they  have a little  merchandise, a little section that  carries all of our products. So, that's pretty cool that they're allowing us to do that.
25:08And then  we just got into Mabel Mercantile  in Newall, Minnesota.  And they  have our fire starters right now. And then we are going to go  into a new storefront in Birchwood, Wisconsin when they open that. So we're just in talks about that  right now. So it's kind of fun.  Super cool. You are moving up, lady. Yeah, it's.
25:37something that I never expected, but here we are, I guess.  It's so fun and it's so cool that you're doing something you really enjoy and you're having success at it. Is it your only job or do you have like a jobby job? A jobby job.  That's cute. ah I do have a jobby job. I work in healthcare.  My husband and I call it the jobby job because it's the job that you work to support the
26:06hobby that you have? Yes. Yeah, that is definitely,  yeah, this is definitely a hobby, ah but is growing, you know, obviously, hopefully into  something bigger than I expected. But yeah, my jobby job, I've never heard that. I just love that.  Yeah, I work in healthcare. I work in St. Peter at Rivers Edge Hospital.  Okay. So shout out to Live Well Fitness Center. I always
26:36I always say like, anytime I'm about like, come check out the gym down at the hospital.  You'll see me.  Do you love that too? Do you love that job as well? Oh gosh, yeah.  Everybody's, I mean, it's a community gym and then we also have a cardiac rehab program. So we  can help people after a heart event, which is  probably one of the scariest times of their lives, right?
27:04And to see them build back their confidence is amazing. And then they just continue with us. So it's just awesome to be able to hear their stories and then  see them progress and get back to their lives  and enjoy their hobbies, you kind of like this. Like  that's their goal, to try get back into doing what they want to be doing. You are blessing the world on two counts. And  as a mom, you're blessing the world on three counts. So you're doing a great job of everything.
27:32Well, thank you. Sometimes it's hard to tell when you're doing all the things, but it's just the candles came at a time in my life where I needed something when we, we just, mean, it's a, there's a big story to this, I guess. But I, when I said yes to the equipment, my parents gave us, you know, we were, we're new to Belle Plaine. we just moved here three years ago and maybe three and a half now, but
28:01I didn't know anybody and as a small town, like it's,  you know, everybody's pretty darn close.  You walk in places, people kind of look at you like, oh, that, person's new.  And that's how I kind of felt. But the candles actually made, you know, me get out of my shell, get out of the house, right? My kids are so tiny and I felt like I was just, you know, going to work and then  coming home and parenting and then going back to work.  But the candles made me.
28:27um gave me an opportunity to do some shows and get to know people. And I feel like finally I'm starting to grow roots. Like, okay, like I know people. I asked somebody for something and oh, yep, it's so and so and  yeah, here's their number. And it's just, it feels like now I'm in the community, not just  living here. So  that's really cool. And yeah, it kind of seems like, that, wow, Jillian, how do you do it? You know, you're working,  your job, and then the candles.
28:57But really, it's a full circle thing where now I can  use the candles as an avenue to give back, right? Like the fundraising opportunities we can do.  I have some more ideas up my sleeve that I'm not quite ready to disclose yet, but  it's just more opportunities to get more into the community. And that's what's nice about  having  businesses in towns.  You need to support. You live there, support the  rule.
29:26the rural businesses support each other.  It's pretty cool.  Yes. And  I,  this is going to sound really Pollyanna, but I do not care.  When people make things themselves, there is magic in that. And I don't mean Harry Potter magic. I mean just specialness. And  if you're going to give someone a gift, don't you want to give somebody a gift that is  special?
29:56that isn't just something you picked up at Kohl's. Absolutely.  And that was,  it's funny you say that, I actually, this last  Christmas, I was telling, you in the gym where I, my jobby job,  I was like, I'm going to make homemade gifts for everybody that I give presents to this year.  And it was so cool to just try to like find things. And,  and I'm like, wow, now, now it's like something I just do in my, you know, everyday life. Like,
30:25I was making my own spices and gifting them and it's it's those types of things. It's like, well, I don't have to buy that. It's way better when you just make it on your own.  is.  And  that, that passion and that love that you put into the thing that you make,  you can't, you can't make that out of factory. It comes from you.
30:51And I have a story about the whole making things and giving them as well. think I've told it once in two and a half years on this podcast. Back when we lived in Jordan,  oh my God, 15  years ago, 20 years ago now, we had learned how to make cold press lye soap, cold process lye soap. And our families found out about it and we let them try it and they liked it.
31:19to the point that they would call or text and be like, we really like this. I'm like, okay, great. So we literally made a whole bunch of different scents and we went to Christmas that year and we had a box  of all the different kinds of soaps in Ziploc bags, which is really terrible plastic, blah, blah, blah, not good for the environment, but that's how we did it. m
31:43We basically, when it was our turn to give presents, we were like, do you see this box? And they were like, yes, in the middle of the room. And I said, when you have a minute, pick out whatever soap you would like to take home with you. Merry Christmas. And the smiles on their faces were priceless because we didn't pick out the soaps for them. We were just like, take what you would like, whatever sense you like, take them. They were thrilled and they wanted more.
32:12And more and more after, you know, my father-in-law still gets soaps from us. it's really neat when you find something that people love and you can just share it with them. And it's really neat when you turn into a business, but that first blush of uh recognition that you've made something that people really enjoy or they benefit from is  very special.
32:40Yeah, I mean, and people see that they are like, well, you can go buy something, but you made this and it probably took you hours upon hours potentially, you know,  so it does it does mean a little bit more. And it's fun. Let's let's not lie here. It is so fun to make stuff. And I really wish that everybody could have at least a moment of creating something from scratch where they get that  bubble in their chest of
33:10Oh my God, I made this and it turned out right and it's good. Whatever it is, whether it's food or soap or candles, I don't care. It's just, there's so,  it's like being a little kid again when you're in art class and the art teacher is like, okay, today we're gonna learn how to paint a leaf. And it's really simple. But I remember being a little kid in art class and learning how to paint something. You know, with paint, a brush and a piece of paper, that leaf was not there.
33:39when I started and it looked like a birch leaf when I was done. I thought I was the bee's knees. I thought I was great.
33:50That's awesome. Yeah, it's, it's the little things, isn't it?  It always is. It always is. And it's so frustrating to me that the world has become click  and you get the thing that you want or need. And there's no effort. And yes, I understand to make money, you have a job and you're putting an effort, but there's no  creativity of your own to get the thing that you need. And
34:20Also, when you make your candles, Jillian, you get to  start and end and have a finished product. And it's one of the things that I hated about my jobs when I had a job. I  was only one little piece of  the product, the finished product. I never got to see the beginning and I never got to see the end.
34:45Right. Yeah, that's,  that's, it is really cool. Like you have, you know, all these supplies and like I said, it's all over my house, but wouldn't I? Yeah. You have all the supplies and then you have your final product and it's all together. It is pretty cool  because it is, it's something that you're, yeah, you're proud of. Um, and it takes time. And I mean,  that first batch, you know, I didn't have it all together, but  it didn't turn out the greatest, but because I kept,
35:15saying, I got this, I can do this. You know, I was able to figure it out. ah And I just said yes to the next opportunity, even though I didn't have it all figured out, I would say. ah It just it's the same. It's the same. Yes. I think it's really the the go getting attitude and to keep going and keep striving.  And you got something that you love and  people can sense that and
35:44And people, you know, love to hear the stories. And that's what I love what you're doing is just like letting everybody have an avenue to do that is pretty amazing. So thank you for having me on. oh absolutely. And Jillian, I cannot lie to you. I enjoy these conversations so much. They are the highlights of my week because you guys  love what you're doing or what you're learning or what you're providing. And
36:11Things are so crazy in the world right now that any positivity or love or kindness just makes me feel like there's hope.
36:21So thank you for doing what you're doing. Well, I appreciate that. I mean, I couldn't have done it without everybody else. mean, too, it's like the support of my family and my friends and the motivation. Like,  I really thought I had to have this all figured out and perfect, perfected before I like started at all. I was like, well, I can't do it. I can't do a show. can't. I can't put it on a Facebook page. I can't do all that. And somebody was like,
36:50you're never going to have it perfect. She said, just start,  just, just, just start, begin. And that's where it'll all come together. And I was like, okay, maybe, maybe she is right. So if anybody, yeah, if anybody listening in there just like, I don't know if I should do something like this  or, you know, start a passion or maybe even put it in a business. You don't have to have it all figured out.
37:19That's one thing I should say. You don't have to have it all figured out. It will come. Yes. And I'm always saying start small, dream big. I'm also, I'm also always saying, how do you eat an elephant one bite at a time? Yes. So yeah, if you have an interest and you have that little thing in the back of your head saying, I'd really like to learn how to do
37:48whatever it is you want to learn how to do, take it  one step at a time. And if you get four steps in and you're like, this is not for me,  you don't have to keep going. You can stop. It's fine. Right. Yeah, I absolutely agree. That's the first thing I always say too when I'm, you know, talking to somebody like,  you don't have to like my product if, you know,  if you don't like the smells, totally fine. But
38:15you know, maybe there should be a scent that you like, because I typically carry like 50 cents every time I go to a show. I'm kind of ridiculous, to be honest. I'm like, hey, why don't you just come over and smell some candles with me? Here, I'll talk to you about my passion. I'll tell you why my candles are presented the way they are. So it's just really funny to see like people's reaction. But people are always just like, yeah, like, let's just have a conversation, you know? And I think that's too, instead of being behind, you know, social media and our phones.
38:44People still really like that. They like to have that face to face and, oh my gosh, that smells like you were saying, like, oh, my grandma's house or this memory. And that's what it's really all about. When they come up and they're like, wow, this truly smells like my grandma's kitchen. I'm like, yeah, I mean, it really brings you back and you can see the smiles on their faces. Have you had anybody burst into tears when they had something or a mind?
39:12had one of your candles remind them of something?  Yes.  mean, it was  just a little tear, but it was just it was the sweetest moment. uh It was just like two uh sisters that were out and about shopping. And they came and spent hours just going through the candles. I won't. That's probably an over exaggeration. But  I would say it was a good half hour of them smelling. They went shopped a little bit more and then came back. So it felt like a long time. And they just
39:42all the memories and  those that have passed away, but they still have those memories of  the holidays or the summer evenings. ah It's  truly nostalgic.  Yeah, olfactory scent is one of the strongest things that makes you remember. And music is also one of them. Hearing music will bring back a memory immediately.
40:09I'm huge on candles. I'm so glad you had the time to talk with me today, Jillian.  Where can people find you on Facebook? It's, uh what's name of the company? Yep. So it's Farm Country Candles.  So I do have a Facebook. I have an Instagram  and then I just launched on Shopify. So I have, I mean, I have a ton of cents, but I do have 20 cents listed on Shopify. So you can actually order online now  and I can have them shipped to you.
40:39And it does include my three  house blends. So if you want an exclusive farm country candle scent, uh those three again are the Minnesota Prairie, the Northwoods and the Armaretto Sunrise.  But otherwise I have 17 other scents right now available and I'll be adding more scents as the days go on. Fantastic. As always, people can find me at atinyhomesteadpodcast.com.
41:07Jillian, I'm so glad we finally found a time to talk. This was great. Thank you. Thank you so much. Have a great day. You too.
 

Halfhacked Homestead

Today I'm talking with Heather at Halfhacked Homestead.
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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 Heather at Half Hacked Homestead in Kentucky. Good afternoon, Heather. How are you?  How are you? I'm good. You were telling me it's really freaking hot in Kentucky. Yes, it is disgusting hot.  It is.  Today will be, um,
00:29indexes will be over 100. Some talks of areas being pushing 110 with we've had humidity levels this week of anywhere from the upper 60s to over 90s a couple of days ago. So it's just hot and wet and miserable. the dew point yesterday, I think at 630 in the morning here in Minnesota was 65%. Yeah, that is
00:55Tropical and it's worse than tropical for Minnesotans because we're not used to that kind of heat, right? But back in January or December or whenever the heck it was because I don't remember We had a week this past winter where it was minus 25 real temp for a couple of days The day I was like, this is some crap. I don't like this any better than 65 dew point either
01:24So we'd love spring and we love fall in Minnesota because the weather is temperate in those two seasons.  wish Kentucky had more of those. We either have uh hot season or mud season. There's really not a lot of in between.  We have allergy season and we have cold season. That's why Minnesotans sound like they talk through their nose a lot. Okay. Well,
01:52I put up yesterday and it's still my unpopular opinion that I would much rather do all of this in the cold than the heat though. Yeah, definitely. I don't know that anybody will ever convince me otherwise. Uh  huh. Exactly.  All right. So I have to know why is it called half hacked Homestead? Well, a couple of reasons. Um,  one, my initials are HAC. Oh, okay. Yep. So if you, if you, anybody ever sees me refer to as hack, that's, that's me.
02:22Um, the other thing is when I first started this adventure,  I  was  actually a hotel manager.  I have almost 20 years  in hospitality  and  corporate structures and things like that. And so when I started, I really didn't have a lot of time, but that business side gave me a lot of experience in working in systems  and developing efficiencies  and
02:51really analyzing,  you know,  data and systems and all the things that go into how things operate.  And so because I was only able to focus on my personal life  about half the time, um everything just kind of became half-hacked and it became a running joke because sometimes, you know,  I do things that are unconventional  or a little, you look at it sometimes and you're like, what the heck is she doing now?
03:21That's half-hacked. I love that. That is brilliant. All right. So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do at half-hacked Homestead. So obviously in the last few years I have left the corporate life and I work part-time retail now just to support some of the things. My Homestead does support other parts of it with different things but I have
03:50An entirely too many amount of animals right now and more on the way. So I think my latest count was about 82 animals.  Wow. How much land?  Five acres.  Oh, you can you can handle that many animals. That's okay. uh Most of them are  chickens, rabbits. got meat rabbits,  Rex's back in December.
04:15which was very exciting. And then just a couple of months ago, I got started on my quail.
04:25So I have the quail, the rabbits,  the chickens, and then of course, you know, there's the outdoor cats and there's a couple of dogs and.
04:39Any goats? No. I don't have goats.  I have a very I have to be strict with myself that I have a no pet poll. Like I'm full on pets. um So everything I have has to have some kind of use now because the cats and the dog um take up the freeloader status.  Yes, they're very good at that, but they're worth it. Yeah, I don't.
05:09don't foresee myself wanting, I don't like goat meat. And I don't see myself wanting to raise them for dairy, because I don't want to have to worry about keeping them in kid or milking them several times a day. So it's just, they're not my thing. I'll let other people have all the goats. are a homesteader who knows her limits and I'm proud of you because
05:36There are a lot of homesteaders who get into this and they're like, I want all the animals and all the produce and all the fruit trees and all the asparagus and all the strawberries and all the rhubarb. And you cannot do that unless you have like a whole team underneath you to help. Right. And fortunately I have met some wonderful people out here in Western Kentucky who do have the goats and the dairy animals.
06:01and the pigs  and we have created this wonderful bond and network of people  so we don't have to do it alone. Right and that's really smart because many hands make light work. Absolutely.  Alrighty so how is your rabbit adventure going because our rabbit adventure lasted a year it did not go well that's why it lasted a year. uh It's going really well so far. uh
06:30told you I tend to do things that make people go,  oh man. And that's I have a colony set up.  And so I started out with a  trio, with two does and a buck.  And  they have now, I'm on my  third litter from each one.  And there have been, there were some challenges. The very first litters that I had, I didn't quite know they were pregnant because again, being in a colony situation,
07:01don't have them separated. Right. So I didn't know that they had come of age and that they were  about to kindle  until that week that you were talking about where it was negative in Minnesota. It was also uh pushing zero here. And of course, that's when they kindled.  Of course, because that's how mother nature is.  Exactly. So first time mothers didn't pull enough fur. um They didn't know what they were doing. And I woke up and I went, oh, there's babies.
07:31So did you manage to rescue them?  We did. So the first, um I had both does kindled within a couple of days of each other.  And oddly enough, I had a chicken go broody and also hatch out  eggs  during that time. So in a week, I had  28 babies born between the three different moms. um And everybody,  I did lose one of the rabbit litters.
08:02Um, because despite checking on them  multiple times a day,  I, one of the rare days that I had to go to work  and I came back and I was like, Oh, the whole nest is now frozen.  So I did lose the whole first of one of the does, but the other doe raised her rabbits,  uh, successfully. So half a bed.
08:28Absolutely. And if it was the first time you've ever done it, congratulations. You learned something really important on  the fact that not all mama animals really know how to be good moms. No, and in fact, the one that lost her entire litter, um she lost her second one as well to a completely different circumstance,  which was the spring floods. we um
08:53I let her choose her own spot and I was like we're gonna do this as natural as possible we're gonna see what she's gonna do and she put them in an area that I could not reach underneath a set of concrete stairs which I've chosen to leave because it's a nice cool place for them in the summer and the rain came and it ran
09:19just slightly downhill underneath the thick layer of straw that I have in their pen and where she had dug out the little bowl for the nest, retained water.
09:32It happens. It is not your fault, just in case you're feeling bad about it. It is not your fault.  So I rescued one of them. were able, I found it. It had washed out and was covered in mud. And the second time I rescued Kits from the same mom.  And now she's on her third one and she had 13  and eight of them are still alive. So, and we are at four weeks now. So I think her third time she's finally figured out.
10:02how to do this. Sounds like your buck has figured out how to do this too. Holy crap, that's a lot of babies. Yeah, they both give me very, very large litters. The other doe that I have has managed no less than 10 and she gave me 13. So out of these two, I have 16 four week old grow outs now that just came out of the nest and are running around. Your rabbits are really healthy. That is incredible numbers.
10:32That is amazing.  have a very, I'm very proud of them and I'm very thankful to the woman that initially raised these rabbits.  Yes,  very good quality.  I would say so. Like  I'm actually flabbergasted at how many babies these rabbits are putting out. um For the listener, the deal with the colony style raising of rabbits is you don't have your rabbits in cages.
11:02You have them down on the ground where they can burrow, right? Correct. Okay, so that leads me to a question because that's not how we did it. We had cages for our bunnies.  When the babies are born, how do you know they've been born if they're burrowed? So they,  these guys, the mamas have not  dug deep burrows. oh I have  several totes and places and things  for them to hide.
11:31When they're not kindling, it's a lot of enrichment and ways for them to  get away from the buck and to have their own little sort of spaces.  Because despite the fact that they like being social and around each other, they also like their space. So that's where  they tend to build their nest at is in these totes. Okay, so you can get to them.  Okay, we have a neighbor down the road from us and she has a colony style.
12:01rabbit thing. What's the word for it if it's colony style? Is there a word for it or just colony style? think it's colony style. I refer to it as the bunny pin or when I'm being funny, it's Bunningham Palace. Well, whatever. I'm guessing there's probably some term besides colony style, razing rabbits, but that's what she does. And her rabbits are literally, they literally dig burrows and dens and
12:31She doesn't know how many babies she has until the babies come out. You big enough to come out. So  I don't want to do rabbits again, but if I did, I probably wouldn't do colony style because I would be like, can't see the babies. And  if there's a dead baby and a nest, it will kill the other babies if you don't get it out. Yeah. And that's what happened with the first one is I think one of them passed and the whole nest got cold. um Now I do have...
12:59what I call the maternity cages that are set up that I can separate  if necessary. Nice.  So I have that just as a backup, but I will probably be now that the weather is  a little bit nicer. I think I am going to burrow a nest box sort of in the middle of the colony because I've seen where people have done that. They have the pipe and then the box down in the ground and just a little hinged lid on the surface  that they can  lift up.
13:29So I'll probably be trying that in a couple of spots. That's a really cool idea, because then Mama Rabbit can do what she naturally would do,  but you can still do what you need to do and make sure they survive.  Nice, brilliant, fantastic. See,  homesteaders are amazing because they come up with all these  hacks just like your name. And it's great that we're all able  to share those now. ah Immediately, yes.
13:59Yeah, this age of information I think is wonderful.  A lot of people talk about, you know, historically in the old ways and the ways their grandparents did it  and it's, we don't live in that time anymore.  No, and  okay, so here's the thing.  Back in the old days, we need to remember that families weren't just a mom and dad and like one or two kids.  Families, aunts and uncles and grandparents and the parents and a whole
14:28hassle of children.  So a home was a community in and unto itself.  And there was  things  that were inherited, whether it be the property or the tractors or  even  the animal sometimes, and the knowledge just,  it was all passed down and passed around. Whereas now everybody seems to be having to start from zero.
14:55Yes. And the other thing is, that back in the old days,  most people in America attended a church or they went to the town social every month or something where they were with the other people in the town that they were part of.  And if you needed to raise a barn, you let people know a couple of months ahead of time  and said, we're going to be raising a barn on this date  in this month,  show up.
15:26and people would come and help their neighbors raise a barn or harvest the crop or whatever the project was that needed more hands. And we've gotten so far away from that that the internet has become our community.  I'm telling you Heather, if you've got rabbits you need butchered,  don't have any way to get to you to help from the  As much as I would love to.
15:51You know,  and that's why I think it's very fortunate that  we do have the ability to connect.  it's it's not been until the last, I would say, year, year and a half, though,  that.  I'm finding more and more of us here within a couple of hours of each other. You know, there's the person that just had chickens who thought they were insignificant or just that person who had a couple of quail that  they didn't feel like they were much.  But when you put all the puzzle pieces together, now we have a whole community and we have a whole network.
16:23Yes. And it's part of reason I started this podcast because I was like, I need to talk to other people who are doing this stuff  and  I want to learn from them. But I also want to share the information with other people who want to learn from them too.  And I think the desire is there and I'm seeing it more and more every day where people are and whether it be starting  to bake their own bread or to can or to get livestock or to
16:51to just any little thing to do on their  own.  There's a desire for it now.  Thank God and the stars above because we need people to learn how to take care of themselves again. uh My husband brought in some asparagus  a month ago. We had a really short asparagus season this year. They went  from little tiny nubs in the ground to already
17:20leafing or seeding out within a week and a half. It was so hot they bolted. But he brought me in so I could have some because I freaking love asparagus. I hated it as a kid.  Discovered a love for it back probably 15 years ago.  And this is the fourth year on our asparagus patch that we put in.  There is there is nothing better than  literally picked 10 minutes ago  snap.
17:49put in a glass bowl with a little bit of water and microwave for three minutes asparagus from your own garden.  I about cried when I ate it.
17:59I understand that I was 17 the first time I tasted a fresh green bean. And I went, what is this? It's the most amazing thing I've ever had. Why do we eat these mushy things that almost have like a metallic when we can have this? And I would agree with you, except that I don't like fresh green beans because they're fuzzy on my tongue.
18:29It's the same principle of uh anything. Yes, yes. And I mean,  I don't necessarily like eggplant either, but I'm sure eggplant right out of the garden cooked the right way is amazing. Oh, probably.  I haven't found anything yet that I don't  enjoy fresh.  Mm-hmm.  Yep. And my mom, I've said this before a couple of times on a couple of episodes so far.
18:58My mom used to can green beans right out of the garden and actual canned green beans, the way that people used to do this, you know, the canning process, love those compared to the ones that you buy at the store in the aluminum cans. Yes. And canning is actually where I started this entire adventure. Good. Tell me. So I have
19:26um You know like anybody else again a corporate world doing all the things  Thankfully, my mom had you know taught me how to shop sales and things like that when I was younger um And I had an entire freezer full of meat and the freezer went down oh Probably two thousand dollars worth of meat in one day. Mm-hmm, and I this is ridiculous. I never want to experience this feeling again  And so I learned how to can
19:53And because I, you know, again, I do things unconventional, I started learning how to can meat. And it has progressed into literally everything. I'm sure somebody at some point has brought up the concept of rebel canning. I have been a part of that from the beginning, thankfully. And so now I, I even can my extra eggs. You know, most people with chickens this year, they talk about.
20:21water glassing or giving them away or feeding them back to livestock. And I can them so that I have shelf stable hard boiled eggs ready whenever I need them.  Oh, OK. I was going to say, how does that work? But that makes sense. they go in in the shell and they go in fresh. And when they come out, they are in the shell hard boiled.  And it makes meal prepping and cooking so much faster. And I was able to take that concept.
20:49of shopping sales  and  shop seasons.  And because I could make everything stable and preserve  the expiration date of things  to many years out, know, including things like milk and butter and eggs and you know, my meats and the vegetables. um There's very few things that I found that I don't like canned.  But  it allowed me to start almost this little
21:18investment snowball into my life, which was  you buy things seasonally and yes, it looks crazy going and buying, you know, 100 pounds of potatoes when they're  cents a pound. But then I didn't have to do that for the rest of the year. And I was able to take that money that I saved  and sort of reinvest it back into myself and into my pantry  on something else.  And that is not crazy. That is smart.
21:49And so now that has turned into, I think I started learning to can in 2013 or 2014.
21:59Yeah. Very nice. That's rolled into me having 82 animals.
22:05You're  doing all the things. You are definitely a homesteader.  I looked at your Linktree thing on your Facebook page and it says consultations. Do you teach people this stuff?  Sometimes I do.  The consultations part is more, it's a little bit um of a side John. It's where I do,  I take what I've learned in the corporate world and big business  and the accounting and the marketing and all the things. And I actually, um
22:35help people do. Oh, okay. So it's not necessarily homesteading. It's more teaching them how to set up systems and things. Or doing it for them. Yeah. So any sort of virtual assisting or plans or any things that people might need assistance with. I do.
22:54And a lot of times it's, you know, with small businesses and people who aren't even, you know, micro businesses really that they just have no clue even how to, you know, set up a budget or keep track of their finances to see if it's profitable or what they're producing. Yup. Super cool. I always feel weird because I'm doing old fashioned stuff like making bread or canning or making
23:22you cooking from scratch or whatever it is that we're doing that is an old fashioned skill, a homesteading skill. But I decided to start a podcast, which is definitely higher tech, two and a half years ago, almost three years ago. And I always feel weird because I'm like, okay, I'm going to go make dinner here in two hours and it's going to be pasta with a garlic sauce. But I'm sitting here talking to you and you're in Kentucky over a computer. ah
23:50It's just crazy to me. It's awesome.  I think it's fantastic. And I said, I think it opens up a lot of possibilities for all of us to,  to learn how to do things.  There is somebody on the internet who will teach you literally anything you want to know.  Oh, yes, absolutely. And whether that's over the phone,  over zoom, just through videos they've posted.  What a time to be alive, Heather, I swear to God.
24:20It is so cool to me because I am so curious all the time. Had the internet been what it is right now, when I was in high school from 1984 to 1988, I would have ruled the freaking world by now because I would have ingested every piece of knowledge I could have gotten my eyeballs on. is as I'm a very curious person, obviously, and there's almost too much some days because
24:49What do you where do you start the executive dysfunction kicks in sometimes so there's so much information that where do you start? But if it wasn't for the internet being what it was I Wouldn't be here because I'm self taught in my canning I taught myself how to crochet and how to knit and how to spin wool into yarn And I had never seen a live chicken until I got them that day. I had never seen a rabbit until I got them I
25:18None of these things had I experienced before I said, is what I'm going to do. Wow. That is awesome. I love that. uh I was the girl who my parents had bought a full set of encyclopedias when I was probably 12. I read those encyclopedias from beginning to end from A to Z.  You and me both. had the entire 28 volume Britannica set. Yup. I was.
25:47Like, I didn't even know they were going to get them. And I don't know if they bought them new or somebody had a set, but they were within a year of printing, you know, that year.  they had them on a bookcase at the end of the hallway outside our bedroom door. And if I didn't have a book, I would just go grab one of the volumes and just sit down and read it.
26:14My mom said to me one time, she said, so what have you learned? And I just grinned and said, everything. The most random, useless, you are wonderful at trivia information you could ever. It was so fun. And I thought then what a time to be alive. But man, at 56, I'm like, what a time to be alive. This is amazing.
26:44It is it is incredible the information out there. I said there's there's always somebody to teach you  how to do things which which I think is fantastic because  coming into this and I live in a very big agricultural area.  The county that I live in produces the most wheat in the state of Kentucky. It's  big ag a lot of big players here  and  in my retail job they come in and I talk
27:12very openly about everything I have going on because I found the more you talk, the more it opens up dialogue and conversations.  People get curious. They ask questions. And in some instances, some of these old farmers  come to me with criticism and they say, that's not how you do it or you can't do it this way. And I just say, watch me. Yeah. And then they come back later on and they're like, yo, how's that? How's that going? Or how's this going?  And a couple of years ago,
27:42I looked at one of these who he kind of been lightly mocking me in a playful way for most of the summer. And I said, my little 600 square foot garden that I have, which started as solid clay, they had excavated the topsoil off, has produced 750 pounds of produce this season.
28:07And he wrote, what?
28:11I'm over a pound per square foot. Yeah.
28:17without bringing in anything extra as far, you know, I didn't haul in topsoil, didn't haul in compost, I didn't  use all of these synthetic fertilizers and things. It can be done with a little time and effort. What did he say after you told him that?  He  didn't have much to say. He just said, wow, good job, kid, and kind of walked off.  Oh, so at least he complimented you. That's good.
28:45Yeah, he kind of did and I was like, yeah, don't don't tell me I can't do something again because those are like fighting words to me  Yeah  When you tell someone like you you can't do that  The answer for you is always gonna be watch me  And keep doing that cuz  I'm gonna quote my dad, but I'm not gonna use a swear word my dad say opinions
29:13are like buttholes everyone's  the only opinion that is worth anything in your case is yours absolutely and if I can do it other people can too yeah absolutely and it doesn't take  it doesn't take a lot of money or things you just got to get really creative yes  and creativity is fun that's why people end up being actors or actresses or musicians or singers
29:41or artists or  I don't know, fiber people who make clothing. It's fun.  And  it's also hard,  know, not  Taylor Swift did not become Taylor Swift by just like opening her mouth and singing. There's a lot of work  she has done.  And there is, there's the sweat equity. Yeah. And I use her as an example because there are so many little girls in the world who just  idolize her and
30:09I'm really hoping that the parents of these little girls explain to them how much work has gone into making Taylor Swift who Taylor Swift is. Well, I'll tell you something that really gets a lot of people when I talk to them on this topic is. And my data is outdated. I've looked up the current, but at the time when I started, really, which was about 2019, I sat down.
30:38looked up on all of the the government websites and I said  how many hours a week do I have to work for somebody else just to feed myself? And the answer then was about 10.
30:5310 hours out of a 40 hour work week, which is our standard full time, 10 hours, that's an entire day of working for somebody else to buy food. Yes. And I think, and that was assuming, if you look at the, I used the median numbers instead of the averages. The median was that, the median household spent $400 a month on groceries and made $30 an hour.
31:22And I live in a very poor state. I made 12. So if $30 an hour got me 10 labor hours, my wage is half of that. It cost me 20 hours of working for somebody else just to eat. I'm glad that you brought that up because I wanted to jump in and say, I just saw yesterday on the news that the inflation rate for the month of May
31:52was over 4%. And I'm assuming that's on everything because that was a government number that they were reporting. um The smartest thing that you can do if you live in America today  is number one, if you have  any way to grow any kind of food where you live,  do it because you're going to make money  by doing that. You're going to save yourself money and you're going to eat nutrient dense food.
32:22that will make you healthier and stronger. that's where I teach if somebody can't at least  start canning that way you can shop price point to price point. Yeah. And I always say if you can't find the people in your area who are doing it and buy your fresh food from them because the food at the grocery store, the produce,  you don't know how old that produce is. You have no idea.
32:51how long it took to get to your grocery store shelf. And  every day from the day that that produce is picked or harvested, you lose the nutrient density of that produce. When every day goes by, it becomes less good for you. One of the things that I saw was like onions.  Commercially, onions are harvested about September, October? Yes.
33:20So if you were buying them in the summer, those have been sitting in storage since the previous fall. Well, I think it depends on where the onions were grown as well. Majority of them are, you know, it's those things are sitting in storage in a lot of instances. Yep. And it's kind of crazy, but they I just can't imagine spending
33:48And now I'm sure it has to be even worse if I were to look at the actual median numbers of  what the average person spends on food and what the income ratio is. Even with everything that I do with my garden and I'm building a food forest, uh my plan's for about a half an acre food forest, which is gonna be super fun. um And I have the livestock animals,  they're small, but they're there. They'll produce a lot of meat for me, enough that I need.
34:16can't imagine that taking 10 hours of my week, 20 hours of my week. And that opens up free time to do more, to actually live and experience my life versus being somewhere making somebody else $100 for every hour they want to pay me 10. Yes, and you're enjoying the work that you're doing at your Because there's nothing more fun than going and hanging out.
34:46and a mass of  30 rabbits all hopping around and wanting your attention.  Yes, and even the hard yucky work like mucking out the freaking chicken coop. It doesn't take that long. And I always think that once you do the cleanup work and everything is back to spruced up,  there's such a, I don't know,  there's a word. Number one, satisfaction.
35:13but joy in knowing that you have given your critters a nice place to live again. Absolutely. Which is where a lot of us,  especially around the online homestay community, um raising meat for food,  people really get upset over the rabbits.  They get very upset.  But  it's hard. Raising meat for food is hard. Yeah. We know from the time it's born,
35:43what is going to be.  And we're still out there in the middle of the night, bottle feeding babies,  trying to save rabbits, dealing with chickens who just  want to drown themselves or  escape and  possibly, you you get eaten by the pack of coyotes down the road.  We're out here at all hours doing all these things knowing  that's what's going to happen.  That's the end goal. Yeah. But all of us also know
36:14that we are giving our animals  and our quality  so much better than industrial commercial livestock operations. And you were saying that's really hard. You get a hard time about rabbits. Let me tell the listener.  Rabbits are just really cute chickens. Yes.  The meat is almost exactly the same.  It tastes the entire rabbit taste.
36:42like chicken breast. tastes like, it's white meat. Yeah, it's really good. lean,  yeah. But everybody looks at them as these cute little pets and they absolutely can be.  There are people that have pet cows, they have pet chickens, they have pet goats, they have pet sheep. Every animal  on this planet can be a pet to somebody. And that person can think they are the cutest thing in the world. Yes, but in Asia people eat dogs. They do.
37:11In South America, guinea pigs are  a highly sought after delicacy. They raise them as livestock. Yes, and I'm sure there's somewhere in the world where cats are seen as a food source too.  That's also Asia.  So it's yeah, when you when you're looking at producing the most calories per per square foot.
37:36animal food always produce more. And if it means going hungry and starving, or consuming this animal, people are going to naturally choose to not sacrifice themselves for  a cute animal's life.  yes, and  I was reading something the other day.  It's a book, you know, it's like a fiction book.  And one of the quotes in it from someone who was religious,
38:06was that the good Lord provided animals for us to eat and survive.  And I was like, you know,  that's probably true. And I have never thought about it that way.  is an interestingly enough, I was just sort of touching on this conversation that I've had,  because I spent four years being a carnivore.  health wise, it was the best. I won't go off on that one. But
38:35A tomato plant has more biological defenses  than my rabbit.  The contact dermatitis,  the bioavailability of the nutrients, all of the anti-nutrients.  They're minor reactions,  but depending on how much you consume, you can't just go eat the leaves off a tomato plant  and  you're very likely to have some sort of contact dermatitis.  Whereas if you go eat a rabbit, you're
39:05You're going to be fine. There's really not going to be any side effects.  And if you think about cucumbers, cucumbers have all those little prickles on them. Yeah. Yeah. Plants have...  They don't want to be eaten. We do.  and, know, in terms of the big ag and,  know,  I get into these conversations a lot. You can produce more square foot on on worse land when you...
39:35when you eat meat versus  all of the  land and resources that are needed to support an all plant diet or mostly plant diet. Yes.  I, my theory is that we're supposed to eat meat and vegetables. You don't have to share my opinion. Listener,  you eat what you want to eat. You want to eat McDonald's hamburgers every day. You go do that. That is fine.  I am not telling anyone how to eat  what I am.
40:04telling everyone is that if you want to be able to eat in this country in the next year or two, you might want to learn how to grow some produce. You might want to learn how to grow some meat animals.  And you might want to learn how to cook because I don't see this getting better anytime soon.  The cooking is the other part that I am seeing is difficult for people  because I  meet a lot of people who don't know if it doesn't come with instructions on a box, they don't know how to cook it.
40:33Yeah, isn't that ridiculous? Just about a month ago, I was having a conversation. Somebody came into, I said I work part-time retail, they came in looking for a box of cornbread mix. And I said, we don't have this, but we have cornmeal. Yeah. Well, I don't know how to make cornbread with cornmeal.
40:53I don't want to be mean about this. I'm not going to be mean. I'm not going to be disparaging. If you don't know how, that's fine. But you can learn. Absolutely. And so I did have to show them. said,  there's a recipe on the back.
41:09And he went, is it good? I said, yeah, it's good. Try it. Give it a try and let you know, next time I see you, let me know how it was. And he did. And he said, he liked it.  He said, I think I might need to find a little dis of recipe, but, but it was good. said, see now  you know how to make it without purchasing this  convenience box that's overpriced.  And if you want, I'll give you my recipe and  it's probably much better anyway.  Yes. And the other thing that's great about learning to cook  is
41:39those little packages to make cornbread have a ton of sugar in them.  If you don't want a ton of sugar in your cornbread or your corn muffins or whatever you're doing,  if you learn how to make them from scratch, you can take a little bit of the sugar out so they're not so sweet.  And a lot of people don't realize that those little boxes have more flour than they do cornmeal. Yeah.
42:06So it's not even really a true and that's, know, people are so used to that now that they're like, well, I don't like, I don't like this cornbread. I'm like, but that's actual that that's cornbread. The other thing is it's a corn cake, you know, and us people in the South get really defensive over what is what. I'll tell you what I will eat cornbread no matter where, how it's made, because I really like cornbread.
42:31But I really like people who really know how to make cornbread because it's the best.  It's a little something different.  But it's  again, it's the principle and the concept of  these  small things.  Yeah. And I go and I talk to people about making  homemade pasta or gnocchi or the fact that,  yeah, I've gone out to my garden and I've picked a bunch of vegetables and I made the fresh pasta and a fresh
43:00Pasta primavera with fresh noodles  and  fresh squash and vegetables and tomatoes and  it's the best thing ever.  It really is. And if we can just keep talking about this with people in our lives  and  getting them curious enough to start trying things, we'll have a better situation. um The last thing I want to say, because I'm going to be making this in about an hour and a half, two hours.
43:30I guess two and a half hours, sorry it's only two o'clock.  I'm gonna be making an Italian sauce, not Italian sauce, sorry, garlic sauce for the pasta tonight.  And tonight it's gonna be butter  and  diced garlic,  sauteed in a pan.  That's just gonna go  get mixed in with the pasta, because we're doing really easy tonight.  But I learned  months ago.
43:57that I don't have to go crazy on Alfredo sauce.  All I have to do is make a roux  and then put whole milk in until it's thickened up  and then add a little tiny bit of real Parmesan cheese  and some diced garlic. And that is Alfredo sauce. You don't have to be a gourmet chef to make something yummy.  don't. you I  have you ever tried lemon pasta?  No, I have not.
44:27So do do like a butter noodle with a very simple splash of even just the bottled lemon juice. A lot of places in Italy, they'll serve it with, you know, fresh squeezed lemon and a little lemon zest. It really gives it that little bit of extra. A very simple, just a little splash of lemon juice and the butter, little fresh Parmesan if you want. But it is it tastes high end gourmet.
44:56I think I will try that some night when my husband's going to be late from work so that if he doesn't like it, he can make something else. is very interesting. some people, know, it doesn't take much. Again, it's that creativity and just that little bit of  play and experimentation and just knowing if you know how things work.
45:21then you can figure out how to make things different.  No, no, no, it does. It does make sense, at least to me.  All right. So where can people find you, Heather? So I am pretty much just on Facebook right now.  I am in the process of building my own website because some of my adventures are taking me in places that social media does not like. OK. And so we'll be having a
45:49I'll have my own website here. Hopefully in a few months I'll have it all completed, but who knows what will think. Yay. I wish you luck with that. love websites. I hate building them. Yeah, it's been interesting. But there's an entire piece of this closed loop system of my homestead here that nobody really, nobody likes to talk about and they don't like to deal with.
46:16but um I find it to be absolutely critical and social media does not like um waste products and end products or what people would assume are waste products.  But we make use of  every part of everything that we can. So. From the snout to the tail.  Absolutely. And  everything in between literally.  Good.
46:43Awesome because we have gotten away from that too and that's important as well  All right, heather. Thank you so much for your time as always people can find me at a  homestead Podcast.com. hope you have a great day heather. Thank you. Thanks, Mary you too
 

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.