Country Roads Farm

Today I'm talking with Danielle at Country Roads Farm. You can follow on Facebook as well.

If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee 

https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes

00:00
After listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Danielle  at  Country Roads Farm. That's it. Good morning, Danielle. How are you? Good morning. How are you, Mary? I'm good. I've got a really goopy voice.

00:26
Right now, I don't know why, hopefully it'll clear itself up as we keep talking. It's that weather. Yeah. We got some real weather last night. We were supposed to get six to seven inches of snow, supposedly, but we live in the plains area of Minnesota. So the wind just blew and blew and blew and there's maybe an inch and a half on the ground out there. But the wind was really, really bad.  I mean, I had the fan on in my room and I could still hear the trees creaking outside. was like,  oh.

00:55
50 mile barwind. No, have in, we are in the thumb of Michigan  and it's been a winter. It's been a long time since Michigan has had a good winter. I don't want to say hard. It hasn't,  but it's been a good solid winter and honestly we need it. But this week is finally  40s and today is almost 50 and it's  definitely given spring fever.

01:25
You're having the week that we had  last week. Last week was gorgeous here.

01:32
Yeah, we're supposed to have snow.  Oh,  I saw it in the forecast. I want to say it's in a couple of days.  you  know, lovely,  lovely Michigan.  Well, it is spring in a Northern tier state. You just never know what you're going to get to quote Forrest Gump. You just never know. Right. All right. So tell me about yourself and what you guys do. So.

01:56
We have country roads farms, which is  last year was our first year being open for business.  And we are  a an agro tourism farm, I guess is the best description of it.  We have a petting farm  and  we offer you picks.  We do workshops,  all sorts of fun stuff. We're open from May to December.

02:26
fun. And for anyone who doesn't know what agritourism is,  it basically is a farm-ish place that offers entertainment through people going and experiencing the activities on the farm.  Right? Yeah. So it's absolutely what it is. Okay. Good.  Yeah. I was looking at your Facebook page. Your place looks like so much fun. I want to go.

02:55
It's definitely a lot of fun and we kind of,  oh,  so what started out originally  as  the idea for a Christmas tree farm quickly involved into being more of a multi-seasonal.  And more so it was, know,  financially it was driven just  by not putting all of your eggs in one basket.

03:22
Christmas trees are a little bit of a risky business in that they take seven to 10 years to grow. during that time, you have to hope and pray that they make it, know, blights, know, drought, too much rain, you name it, everything in between doesn't wipe out your tree lots. So.

03:47
So yeah, we decided to just kind of open it up and  then we were given the advice  of  several other farmers about  agritourism and  looking for ways to invite the public to your farm and kind of capitalizing on that. And we absolutely love that aspect of our farm. So I'm really glad that you do. I'm guessing you're not shy.  No, I'm not shy. I'm.

04:14
I'm a mom of four kids and we're all outgoing and kinda, there's not much that holds us back, that's for sure. We're a spirited group. I love that. Spirited is such a great word. So you diversified your business is what you're telling me. What did you add in?

04:38
We open in May with Mother's Day flowers  and  flats of vegetables.  And I'm sorry if you can hear that. That's my dog scratching at the door. I kicked him out so they wouldn't bark. are so many dog noises on every episode of my podcast. It's totally fine.  So, but we, well, that's good. So I'm not the only one,  but  no, so we have  the flowers and the plants and that kind of, and then we do hard dip ice cream.

05:09
in the petting farm. So all that opens up in May. And then come June, we start transitioning into cut flowers  and dupix.  And then as that goes, the vegetables start coming in. So then we start getting the produce for the farm market.  And then that transitions into fall with the mums and pumpkins.

05:34
Apples, we are licensed to press their own cider. So we do that and do cider slushies  and fresh donuts.  And then we transition into Christmas  with the pre-cut Christmas trees, wreaths,  porch pots.  And in between all of this, we're doing field trips.  We do...

06:00
workshops and different classes and events  and farm to table events.  We also do fundraisers. So there's a lot that goes on on  any given day, week, month. So. Wow.  I don't, I don't want to know what your whiteboard looks like.  It's, it's insane. We were actually, it's absolutely insane. I was looking at getting one of those digital calendars, wall calendars.

06:28
And maybe that'll help. I don't even know. Oh, and then we have, you know, the animals and the chickens and the eggs and all that stuff. So. Yeah, you're a busy lady. Holy cow. Or holy chicken, whatever. Right.  It takes the whole family.  My husband  is amazing. So he's a huge, you know, he he's I couldn't do it without him. So.

06:55
Yeah, I've got one of those too. He could probably do it without me, but I couldn't do it without him. Yeah, that's about it.  Okay, so two things. One's about dogs.  My dog has  been behaving herself admirably lately. She has not really barked in the background lately when I'm recording. And  I'm very proud of her because her job is a watchdog.  So on the days where she doesn't bark when I'm recording, I go downstairs and I pet her and I love on her and I'm like, thank you for not barking, Maggie. I appreciate it.

07:24
And then the ice cream thing. Do you guys make the ice cream from scratch?  No. So we have, we just use all Michigan brands and,  uh, and that's what we offer in our farm market. So, you know, it's a kind of a, you know, we're staying local and that we stay with the Michigan brands.  I can't do that.  I don't have enough time in the day to  make my own ice cream.  So.

07:50
I was just curious because I have had the experience of making ice cream from scratch with the old fashioned bucket that you turn the handle on  and it takes a while and I have never used a modern day ice cream maker, but I'm guessing they're small. So that probably wouldn't help you. Yeah, we have, we actually have two,  two of them. One attaches to my KitchenAid and then we have just a regular plugin one I think my kids got for Christmas one year. And we love, we used to make it all the time and the kids were little, the homemade ice cream, but.

08:20
You know, we haven't made it since  adding it to the farm market. Now you just go and grab, grab some when you want some.  Uh huh. Exactly. It's handy and it's already made. It is. I find I skip a lot of meals and you know, just kind of go quick, grab some ice cream. It's probably terrible to say, but.  Well, milk is good for you. We'll go with that. Yeah. Well, I like the triple peanut butter. So I figure it's got the protein in it. So we're good. It's dairy, it's protein.

08:50
It's a frozen protein shake. It's good for you. Yep. That's what I go with. Yeah. I'm going to ride that train all the way to the end. That'll work.  Okay. So what do you have for animals?  So we have  mini,  they're all minis because of the putting farm, but we have the Shetland ponies.

09:13
Fainting silky goats.  And then we have Highland cows and we bred those to a miniature breed.  So this summer we're excited to be able to have the little mini cows.  And then we have  maybe 50  chickens.  And we're getting ready to add meat birds.

09:40
to the mix and do meat, birds and turkeys for this fall, well summer and fall.  Awesome. Awesome. That's great. And are you,  are you doing the meat, chickens and stuff for yourself or are you going to sell some of them too? Both. Yeah. Both. So obviously we're going to keep some back, but we're also going to  sell it through the farm market as well. So. Well, you have yourself a really fine enterprise going there.

10:10
Danielle.  You know, sometimes I feel like I bit off way more than I can chew. then  it comes, it's always the pre-work that's stressful.  And then it starts coming together  and then it's not so bad.  But I feel like this time, which should be the slow time, I feel like is almost the busiest time, because you're hustling, trying to get all of, you know, like all my seeds and I'm starting to get all those going.

10:40
and trying to keep the lisianthus alive.  you know, there's just so much going  behind the scenes that I feel like once everything's planted and going, I can breathe easy. And, you know, then it's a matter of paying employees to help upkeep it. It's not solely on me. Yeah. Is January your month to maybe have a little breathing room? Yeah. So  this year we closed

11:09
about a week, a week and a half before Christmas.  Um, and then we all kind of, my husband and I just kind of plopped for two straight days on the couch  and, uh, and you know, and from, from then on, we just kind of relaxed for a good six weeks. Good.  Um, but yeah, ended January, you know, it all kind of starts up other than the Lizzy Anthus. Those got started early, but, um, other than that.

11:39
There was a lot of pre work to be done, a lot of pre planning, figuring out what I want to grow, getting those ordered,  all of that. Now, and now I'm, you know, sewing every day. We're sewing stuff.  Yep. Your kind of business is the kind of business that if you don't force yourself to take a break, you will burn out and you've only been doing this for a year, right? Yeah. Yeah. There, there definitely has been,  um, last year being our first year open,

12:09
Um, I want to say it was kind of the learning year  and there was definitely some burnout that we had to address very quickly. And I find like with my husband, I, when we both start getting burnt out is when you start arguing and squabbling over things that normally wouldn't,  you know, you're sure you're just stressed out, you're tired.  Um, and so we had to, cut back in our hours for the farm market. We, you know,

12:37
Um, we, we've just learned that you just can't be working non-stop 24 seven. We hired employees because at first we thought we could do it all ourselves.  Um, that's just not feasible.  Uh, so. Is, know, it's just kind of learning and then, you know, learning to  let things go because not everything's always going to be perfect. So you just gotta let things go sometimes and, and let it work itself out. Cause it will.  Absolutely.

13:06
Perfectness is silly.  I've said this before, I'm going to say it again. It's okay to shoot for perfect, to have that be the goal, but sometimes good enough is good enough.  You know, I learned last year that everybody was thrilled with good enough.  They were thrilled. I mean, it was our first year, right? was nowhere we're still building and still growing and still expanding and

13:36
And I felt like last year, the best I could do was good enough.  um, and  everybody was thrilled. And so I think it kind of taught me that I need to lower my expectation and my bar just a little bit. It's okay.  And,  uh, you know, as long as my plants are growing and I have crops to deliver and, know, the animals are taken care of, I mean, it's a good day. So.

14:06
Yeah, what you thought was good enough, everybody else thought was just perfect.  Right. I think part of it, this type  A personality of mine, like, you know, it should be like this beautiful, pristine Martha Stewart type of farm. And that's just not reality. That is not a, and we are a working farm that, you know, we try our hardest to keep it beautiful  and to make it an experience. But

14:33
There are times when, you know, it's going to be a muddy mess because it's a farm  and, you know,  there's going to be dead plants and there's going to be weeds, you know, and it is what it is.  Yep. And when people come and see those baby cows this summer, they're not going to care about weeds. They're going to care about the baby cows.  Yes, they are. I know my, was joking.  Well, not really joking, but my husband and kids and I were all talking about it and they said, you know,

15:03
We could probably have like a little goat, like a goat channel. These people probably watch these fainting goats and all their shenanigans. You should. Probably all of those little animals, they're quite, quite humor, especially like the pony, because they're all together. The ponies and the goats and the, even the chickens will run in to the main, you know, pasture and.

15:30
They,  it's funny because they all kind of play with each other and it's very humorous to watch it  happen. Yeah, you should, you should do that. You should set up a YouTube channel. And if you don't already have one.  No, I don't. It's only spare time. should  find some teenager who wants to play and let them set it up and let them set up the cameras. And I guarantee you, you will have more subscribers than you can even guess at in a month and a half to watch the goat.

16:00
and the cows and the baby cows and whatever else. Chickens too, probably. Yeah, they do. And they all kind of play and  it's quite funny, especially the one male pony Ben likes to play with the goats and chase them and kind of get them going. And then they'll pass out,  over  and faint, guess I should say, and fall over. And he'll just kind look at them like, what just happened? This was not the plan. You're not running.

16:30
And, but it really is funny cause he'll kind of chase them and he gets a little, he gets a little spirited, especially being winter and kind of cooped up. So. Yeah. Yep. He's going to be really happy here in about three weeks when it's not so yucky out anymore. Yeah, definitely.  Well, you sound like you absolutely adore what you're doing. I do. I love it. It's been a dream of ours for a long time.

16:59
We, oh gosh, how long goes it out? About 10 years ago, I wanted to start a Christmas tree farm. And at the time we were kind of, so we flipped houses ever since the crash and we lived in it for two years and it literally was right on that two year mark. So you didn't get capital gains tax, but right on that two year mark, we would.

17:23
list the house and move on and buy a new one and renovate. And these were always, you know, farms. So we've always had a hobby farm of one sort or another, but this one particular property would have been a beautiful tree farm.  And my husband being an engineer  is a very black and white spreadsheet kind of guy. I,  created a whole Excel spreadsheet color coordinated, created the cost analysis so we could kind of sit through it and

17:49
He looked at it and that's a great plan. said, yeah, this would be a perfect retirement.  And, and shortly after that, our son had,  was diagnosed with cancer  and it just kind of put everything on hold and you know, and it stayed on in the back burner for years.  And you know, he's, he's perfectly fine now. It was  two years  of chemo and crazy and scary and lots of prayers and

18:18
You know, now he's  an 18 year old strapping young man that thinks he's, you know, invisible to everything. Like your typical 18 year old.  Um, but last two years ago,  we, um, we had just built a house on a lake.  It was, you know, it was in the woods,  um, on a lake  and, it was our dream house. And, uh, very quickly we started realizing that.

18:46
We are not Lake people. the first time where we didn't have a farm or were in more of agricultural  area.  And it just wasn't us. And so we sold it and bought the farmhouse that we're in now and started our dream 10 years later. Which just goes to show that you can make a choice and if you're not happy with it, you can change your mind. It's okay.

19:13
You absolutely can. know, it was, was one of those.  It was so, I mean, it was a beautiful, it was a dream house. We built our dream house, what we thought we would want.  Um, and we planned on staying there forever. Cause you know,  we were flipping houses and up until that point, we, know, we decided this is it. We're done. It's time to put in roots. We have moved our kids so many times that,  and this whole time we stayed it within the same school district, but.

19:42
Every two years our kids were in a new house  and it was time  to stop and to be done and just to settle. And so we built it and  I looked at, we had the discussion, said, we can, the housing market was insane.  We could sell it now as a new build and sell it very quickly or we can wait till the kids are all graduated  and hope and pray that the values are still there, the housing market's still there.

20:12
And, and, you know, and obviously we decided just to kind of rip the bandaid off  and, we were, you know, I think a lot of it was pride. We just built this house and there was a lot of opinions on how, you know, our crazy, our craziness, our indecisiveness, I guess you could call it.  But we knew that we weren't going to be there long-term. It just, we are not  relaxed,  sit down, lay back and stare at the lake kind of people.

20:42
So it's great for vacation, but it's just not us. So. Yeah. Yeah. And it's great that you knew that, you know, I mean,  so many people think, Oh, I want to move to Italy and remodel a villa and, and eat tomatoes and basil all day long. And then they, go do something like that. And they're like,  I hate this. I want to go do something else, but they're so, they're so caught up in that, that I don't know that choice that they can't step.

21:11
out of it. So I think it's great that you just knew that that was not going to be where you'd be happy. So I want go back to the Christmas tree thing. does your place already have Christmas trees growing? So we, last year, we planted our first set of trees. So we planted 3000 Christmas trees.

21:34
And then we have another 3,000 on order for this year. So every year our plan is to plant 3,000 tree blocks essentially.  we have them, they're not ready to be cut yet, which is why  we  do pre-order trees for the Christmas season. Right now, yeah. For now. For now.  For now. So we're hoping the trees will be done

22:04
So we spent a little more money, got a little bit of bigger trees  and invested in what's called,  oh gosh, it's either L-POTS or L-E-POTS, it's E-L-L-E.  And basically these trees,  their roots have never been disturbed throughout their lifetime. They stay in these biodegradable pots and they continuously just get potted up.

22:31
And so you have to hand plant all of them in.  but their roots at these trees just have taken off and done amazing. It was worth every penny  of our investment on these trees. But,  um, so we're hoping in five to six years,  uh, we'll be able to start offering, uh, our own trees. So I have five, six years to grow our farms by the time we're ready to open for that Christmas season.

23:01
I want our place well established and well known. So I my work cut out for me. I feel like that's a hefty goal, but we'll get there.  are incredibly smart about this. I'm really impressed because most people don't understand that you got to have the people who know, trust and like you to come and visit you and spend their money in your establishment, you know?  Right.

23:30
You're building your farm. You're making it as pretty as you can so that it's attractive for people to come. You are growing your animals for your petting zoo. Obviously they're going to keep growing. people are finding out about you every year. And so when you do have your own trees, people are going to be like, oh my God, they're finally ready. they're going to walk through.

23:55
That's the goal, you know, then one last year, a big pivot, one I never saw coming, never saw it coming. It kind of took me by surprise and I decided to roll with it. But in our area, so we're in, you know, the thumb of Michigan, it's very rural, very...

24:20
Uh, I don't want to say poor, but it, you know, it is  a lot of rural America areas,  um, have a much lower, you know, um, income ratio than,  and so,  um, but we were finding a lot of people coming to the farm still buying our produce, but wishing that we could accept,  um, EBT snap benefits and WIC and, know, senior fresh and all that stuff.

24:50
And so  last August, I started looking into it.  And so I'm excited. So this year moving forward,  we'll be accepting  the SNAP and WIC benefits  and hopefully the Senior Project Fresh and the  various benefits that you can get for it. So I believe last year is the first year that they opened it up to

25:18
actual farm stands to be able to accept those benefits.  That's amazing. I'm so glad you did that.  My question on that is how hard was it to to make that happen? Was it a lot of paperwork or was it just filling out a couple forms? No, it's  it's taken months and I'm still working on my approvals.

25:40
I started in August and I'm still going. And it's funny because I just did a webinar for MSU Extension about my journey. I told her, said, I am not doing a how-to because there is no rule book or instruction manual on how to do this. And WIC is state-based.

26:07
where SNAP is, you know, through the USDA, and they don't work with each other. The  Senior  Project Fresh is something different, and there's all different things in between. The Double Up Food Bucks, they all work  not with each other. So you're having  all these separate, different approval processes that you're going through, simultaneously. Well, I'm glad that you were

26:37
dealing with the hassle to make this happen because that's really important. So  it's a need in our community. And I think,  um, it's a much needed, you know, that it's tough to get good produce that,  um,  is,  know, we, are not certified organic, but I do grow them organically, um, due to the Christmas trees, we will never be certified organic because, um,

27:06
Honestly, I refuse to go organic with them.  takes, you know, seven, 10 years to grow them and I  won't risk, you know, them getting wiped out from, you know,  from bugs or, you know, blight or you name it.  And so I do spray my trees and I'll always spray them because to me it's not worth the risk. But  the flowers and the vegetables, you know, I grow very much organically.

27:35
And to be able to explain it and them, you know, them coming that, you know, the customers that come and buy the produce, they love that it's healthy. They know how it was grown. If they want, they can go do the you pigs and pick their own if that's what they want to do. So it's a fun experience. And it's it really like we grow here. We grow.  I tend to grow at both like not at both things, but I like the colored carrots.

28:04
And you know, like  there was a family that came in, we had purple green beans and the kids had never seen it. And they were begging their mom for these purple green beans. And she kind of laughed. goes, I don't think they've ever eaten a green bean in their life.  But the fact that it was purple, you know, made it fun. And the kids were excited to go home and eat these purple beans. So I think it's different and it's fun. And you know that you're getting

28:31
the healthiest, freshest produce possible that you just don't get from a grocery store. Yeah. You heard it here first folks, colored, different colored green beans and carrots are the way to get your kids to want to eat vegetables.  It really is something. It's just different.  And I think when they're invested in it from the very get-go, when they pick it out and then they're going to help cook it.

28:53
And you're just instilling these values at a young age that hopefully carry on for future generations.  So. Yeah. And I mean,  people are bringing their kids to your place. Your place is an event.  It's a memory that's being made with the kids and their parents.  It is definitely an event. There's not many, you know, markets, grocery stores, whatever you want to call it that you're going to come.

29:21
and pick out some produce,  know, get an ice cream, the goats, jump on the jumping pad, maybe do a barrel train ride. You're not going to get that at any other grocery store.  No,  no.  And the thing is  what you are providing is a place for families to make really good memories because  they can, they can have the memories in their heads, but I'm sure that everybody has a cell phone with a camera. the picture's being taken  and

29:50
you are encouraging these kids to know where their food comes from. Yep. I see nothing wrong with any of this at all, Danielle. I think it's fabulous. is.  It's definitely been a fun journey and I can't wait to see what this grows into. And  I was asked not too long ago about the long-term goals and I said, you know, I'm building a legacy for my children.

30:19
I want this farm to continue on with the children and I want them to grow it into something maybe I never even dreamed of, you know, and  I'm setting these foundations for the future and we'll see. It's been a lot of fun and I think our, you know, our kids are young, but you know, they get fed up with the hard work like  any farm kid does,  but they also see the value.

30:48
in it. So which I think is important stuff. I love it.  I'm so glad that I asked you to be on the show. This has been so much fun, Danielle. I was worried because I think it's a little bit different because we're not a homestead. I we've done homesteading in years past.  We've done lots of that, but we're not a homesteader. But I definitely think, you know, a lot of homesteaders  aspire to some of this. So

31:18
Yeah. And I just changed the intro  on the  podcast episodes  and now it says and topics adjacent. Oh, there you go. You are a topic adjacent. Yes.  So my  newest thing was, so I do what's called companion planting for all my vegetables. And that's how I've been able to organically grow them for years.

31:44
Um, but last year was my first time with the massive, it's not rowcraft, but it's a lot bigger than a garden. And so, but I did my traditional rows and, uh, this in, we're kind of running out of space, so I can't expand it any bigger. Um, and I would like to try to bring it in a little bit smaller to help it be more manageable. So what I'm playing with this year, which I've never done before, um, there's a few terms, so it's called intercropping.

32:13
or inter planting. Another word is called relay,  relay planting or relay cropping. So essentially you're having multiple crops growing in the same rows or the same containers at the same time with different harvest dates to save on space and to, you know,  to quadruple what you could normally grow in normal rows or a normal garden.

32:42
Nice.  it's been to me, it's a little stressful because I've never done it on such a big scale.  So  I'm hoping I'm going in a prayer that's going to work out. So  I think there's a lot of praying going on right now on a lot of fronts regarding gardening this year. Everybody I talked to last year had something go wrong  or they just didn't get a whole lot out of their garden because the weather was so weird almost everywhere. So

33:11
So I'm going to say a little prayer for you. can say a little prayer for me  and  maybe everything will at least be decent this year in the gardening front. How's that?  Yeah, I will say I think this year is going to be a normal year, like a normal spring with normal timing. Last year, everything was at least a month early.  Everything. It was crazy.

33:35
Um, I had roses blooming in May, like early May. I've never had that. That's insane.  Um, you know, and typically we've always been zone five and for whatever reason, I was looking at it last year and we're now zone six. I don't know when that happened, but,  uh, I don't know if I quite trust it, but,  um, it's just, I don't know. The last year was definitely a really odd year, but I think.

34:04
I've been watching all my plants and my perennials and everything still, you know, sleeping how they should be. Last year, my roses never lost their leaves. And we're in Michigan, up in the thump. Yep. It was just a bizarre year. Yeah. My son sliced his thumb open or his finger or something. can't remember in October and he needed stitches. So I ran him up to the hospital. He's an adult. So he just went in and had them give him stitches for the cut.

34:34
And I was sitting in the parking lot waiting for him and the lilac bushes that were over on the edge of the parking lot  were blooming in October. I was like, is just wrong.  Yes.  I heard that  a couple of friends of mine said that their lilacs had bloomed. mean, it wasn't like your normal spring flush.  said,  yeah, they had had, cause we didn't have any in the spring  because it was such a, we had such a

35:01
It wasn't even, I wouldn't even call it a winter. The ground never even froze last year. But I wanna say, I think there was just a late frost that kinda wiped out the blooms or the buds, but they did. They bloomed in the fall, which is crazy. I don't think I've ever seen that happen. Never heard of that happening. I've seen it once in my lifetime. I'm 55, so if that tells you anything. I've seen it once before.

35:30
The one thing that was really cool is it was very pretty. You know, it was, it was nice to see color because October is not a time when you're seeing flowers. it was kind of, was kind of special to see it. You know, I will say that and lilacs I think are one of those triggering flowers because they have such a potent smell. I think there's a lot of memories and a lot of good feelings that are tied to lilacs. So I think any time they're blooming, they're appreciated.

35:59
I think those are one of those flowers that are just,  they're a well loved flower, but I've never met someone that says, hate lilacs.  So my sister actually sneezes if she smells them. So  she's not a fan, but she also thinks they're really pretty. So they are pretty.  All right, Danielle, I need to get off  the computer here because I have stuff I got to get done and I try to keep these to half an hour. So

36:26
I'm gonna let you go, but thank you so much for your time. appreciate it. Absolutely. Thank you. And it was great talking with you. You too. Have a great day. You too. Bye. Bye.