La Terre Farms

Today I'm talking with Connor at La Terre Farms. 

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00:00
You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. 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.

00:29
Today I'm talking with Connor at La Terre Farms in Mississippi. Good morning, Connor. How are you? Good morning. I'm good. Enjoying this breeze out here. So. Yeah. My first question is usually, how's the weather? So how is the weather in Mississippi today? Honestly, it's very nice.  We've been in the hundreds, I think, the past month.  So it's kind of nice to have a breeze out here.  Would you believe that they're suggesting, and I use that term with a lot of hope,  suggestion.

00:59
that it's going to be 104 here on Sunday in Minnesota. Oh my gosh.  Yeah. Wow. Minnesota. Yeah. Yep. I'm praying that the forecast changes between now and then because  I keep saying this. shouldn't keep saying it, but I'm going to anyway. I hate high summer. I hate being hot.  I would rather it be minus 20 out because when you, you,  when it's that cold, you can put on a whole

01:28
megaton of clothes and be warm. But when it's so super hot, you cannot be any more naked than naked.  You know, that is very true.  I must prefer cold weather too, honestly. So the springtime is my favorite summertime.  I absolutely hate farming. Yeah, it's terrible. Yeah, I don't I hate saying that because summertime can be wonderful.

01:55
but not when we get these crazy swings in temperatures. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. Yeah. Now you were saying that that tropical storm is moving toward you or you're just getting some of the side effects of it. I think they're just getting, honestly, I have not kept up to date with it. My wife has. She keeps me sane. So she keeps up to date with everything. I just stay in here and look pretty, you know.

02:23
Well, that's a nice job to have  and your stress levels probably stay a little bit lower because of it.  Alrighty, so it's a beautiful day in Minnesota. It was 57 degrees at five o'clock this morning  after a couple weeks of really muggy, really hot weather. So 57 felt like 27  and I was so happy  to feel a little bit of a chill in the air. I was like, wow, that's novel.

02:52
It was it was lovely. I was drinking my coffee with the window open on the front porch and I was like,  oh, that's good.  And it's also sunny today and there's a slight breeze  and it's just perfect July weather for Mary Evelyn. For me, this is great.  It's going to start going back up tomorrow. So I'm going to enjoy today for all it is worth.  I would love to hear a little bit about yourself and what you guys do at La Terre Farms.  Yes, ma'am. So.

03:21
Um, around COVID, um, I had a, job. worked at a science museum and I was a tour guide. And by COVID, uh, we kind of had like a shutdown period, you know, just like everyone did. And so I started to hang out with mom and dad up here a lot, just cause we kind of isolate ourselves from everywhere. Um, and I just, you know, I just wanted to be with mom and dad, make sure they're okay. Um, you're a good son. I try. Um,

03:51
And so we were sitting on top of our barn at the time. Um,  and I was just looking out and I'm like, man, this place is beautiful. Like, why aren't we doing anything up here? You know, like, yeah, it's family land  and  it's beautiful, but I really think I could do something.  And fun fact, my grandpa is actually, was actually a farmer. So we have land in Tallulah, Louisiana  and  my great-grandpa was a

04:21
So it runs in the family. Now I'm not growing cotton or soybeans or any of the hard stuff. ah I'm sticking with flowers. But I just had like an inkling to start farming for some reason. just had like a, I wanted to do something on my own  and thankfully mom was on board with me and now she's stuck with it so she can't escape. uh And so we just  looked up the most profitable

04:51
crop to grow. And number one was lavender. Yeah. And then number two was cut flowers. And I was like, well, I'll be down. And so we started doing that. From the beginning, we didn't know what we were doing. So there's been a lot of trial and error, you know, a lot of failures, but honestly, that's the best teacher, you know, so. And so we sell the florist, we do events up here at the farm at the house and pavilion.

05:20
And we, we, uh, sell the New Orleans floors. sell the base and Lewis force I dell. So we, we never stop, honestly.  That's awesome. have a question about your lavender.  Oh, yeah. Do you, you, um, sell that to places that distill the oil? Um, so I honestly, in the summer, just in heat in general, in our zone,  um, throughout the whole season.

05:50
The only lavender that I know of that can grow down here is Spanish lavender. Um, and I have tried to grow lavender. Uh, unfortunately it does not work out for me. So like, example, we're in Nucleus and Lizzy Anthus, which I grew this year. And I I saw your, your video of it. It's beautiful. Yeah. So I used to, uh, I gave it to the florist. That's why he kind of saw the.

06:20
the last bit of it. But I had heads three times that size. So it's very exciting because it's a really hard flower to grow. Yeah. And then ranunculus, same thing, I would love to grow that but each each state has their own zones are each, you know, state has their own zones. So we're zone nine B nine A, think. And so we can't grow ranunculus.

06:48
We're a 4B here in Minnesota, at least where I am. Yeah.  Yeah. you probably could peonies and all that.  Oh, darling.  I have so many peonies. It's my favorite flower on earth.  I have  like 50, 50, I don't know.  I don't want to say plants because they spread. I started out with about 20 and now I have at least 50 clumps of peony bushes.

07:18
along my driveway. And that's beautiful. Are you interested in the colors? Oh yeah. No, I honestly, love, I love peanuts too. So yeah, have yellow and baby pink and Hello Kitty pink. I don't know if you know what that is, but  Hello Kitty  is a popular little girl's thing. And this color is, is associated with Hello Kitty. So I call it Hello Kitty pink  and

07:47
I have burgundy, have yellow, have coral, and I have white,  like pure white. And every spring,  Connor telling you, it gets to May 1st and I'm just looking at these peony shoots coming up.  And I'm like, please don't get frosted. Cause if they get frosted, they do not bloom. The little buds just freeze and turn black. And this year we had hundreds of blooms. was so beautiful. You know, speaking of frosts.

08:17
You know, it's funny, people are like, man, I wish I could do what you do. You know, I wish I grow flowers and walk through the flowers and  just enjoy the beautiful air. I'm like, do you understand  what goes through on how to grow flowers? You know, it's truly, it's a very delicate situation with flowers, you know? And so like I have to constantly remind myself to keep going.

08:46
Cause like in the summertime, I ain't cranky. I'm like, I don't want to do this. I'm out here. I don't want to do it, but I'm out here. So I had to constantly remind myself like, man, I got a good life, you know, but once they start growing and once they start blooming, that's when I say I have a good life. Yeah. I am constantly saying on this podcast that growing produce or raising animals is a crap shoot.

09:14
It is a wonderful life, but you've got to be equipped to deal with highs and lows because it's not always in the middle. No, it's it never is. You know, actually we lost. Sorry, I'm just rambling here, but we lost. Let's see. So the big snowstorm that happened in Mississippi a couple of years back, definitely suffocated all of our flowers and we're like, oh my gosh, they were all black and we're like, oh, this is terrible.

09:44
And sure enough, snow is a great insulator for  anything, honestly, but especially for flowers. they came up and like, were just gigantic. And I was like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. But any other time with just a normal frost,  ice or anything, they're dead.  So.  frost is a different phenomena than snow. Yeah. uh

10:13
It's pretty humbling experience, but you know, I love what I do.  And by the way, my grandpa was a farmer, so it's just in the blood.  And I to hang out with my parents. So that was nice. Yeah. So you were saying that your mother is stuck with this now.  I'm guessing your mom is totally fine with this. Oh yeah. No, she, uh, honestly, she keeps me going because, uh, she's always thinking about the next step. Whereas I,  she calls me, uh,

10:43
was it, um, where I just walk around, I go at my own pace, which drives her nuts. Um, which is a very slow pace, by the way. And she's like, we gotta hurry up. And so she's thinking like 20 steps ahead where I'm, you know, steadily just making the beds and, know, do no labor. I'm like, man, I don't know what I'd do without you. You gotta teach me your ways. She's a, she's like Yoda. Yes, she is definitely Yoda.

11:12
Her name is Terry.  Yes, ma'am. Terry Wiley. Shout out to Terry. What a great mom. And what a great really what a great mom for supporting you in this idea. Yeah, she. Yeah, it's pretty it's pretty amazing. So very, very lucky guy. So  and it's going to sound like I'm stalking you. I'm not. looking at your website about page.  And it says as soon as I retired from practicing law.

11:39
Connor and I started taking classes, traveling to workshops and conferences, blah, blah, blah. Your mom was a lawyer? Yeah. You know, I've never won an argument with her.  What kind of law was she practicing?  Environmental. she. Aha. Yeah. Yeah. So it's funny. She keeps  she keeps me updated with all the, you know, DAQ and environmental things because my dad and I.

12:08
love building, like digging everywhere, you know,  with our excavator. So ah we're very careful with pitcher plants and all that healthy environmental stuff, you know, like their own ecosystem. So she keeps us in track because we get too excited.  That's awesome. So,  so I love that that's what she does. She still do it or she's retired.  She's retired. So she does this full time with me.

12:38
Um, but I keep telling her, I'm like, you know, at some point I want you and dad to like go on trips. You know, I you to retire. I know you say you love doing this with me. I love doing it with her as well, but at some point, uh, you know, take over and, know, let them enjoy their lives. I don't want them stuck at the farm. how old are your parents? Are they in their sixties or their fifties? Uh, seventies. Oh, okay.

13:07
I thought you were like in your early 20s. Oh, no, no, I'm 33. So, okay. That's not on my part. Oh, no, you're good. They don't look their age. It's kind of creepy. They don't act their age apparently either. Yeah, no, Yeah, my dad is always on the tractor. Diesel is very boring up here.

13:35
My mom's birthday is tomorrow  and I think she's going to be 80. And I have to confirm that with her tomorrow.  I always am off by a year and I thought that I had it last year and no, I didn't have it. I made my daddy year older than he actually was.  And my dad's birthday uh is July 30th. So they  are, you know, seven days apart,  but they're three years apart.

14:05
So my dad is either gonna be 80. My mom is either gonna be 80 or 81 tomorrow. My dad is gonna be either 83 or 84 on July 30th. And my dad still acts like he's 50. I'm 56. He acts younger than I am. It's just crazy to me. And I swear the thing that keeps him young is his dog. He has a 10 year old border collie.

14:34
Duchess her her  her name given name is Duchess her nickname is Dutchie  and she acts like she's about to because my dad has basically given her the run of their 14 uh acre property the whole time they've had her and she is always out running and playing  and guarding and going down the river and getting a drink she is keeping herself in fabulous shape

15:01
Because my dad is so in love with his dog and has been since she was about eight weeks old He is always going out with her. So he gets his walks and she walks him. He doesn't walk her Yeah, it never works like that.  Yeah, so so if you want to stay young get yourself a good dog Well, you know, I have a black laugh. Her name is Sonny.  She's ten years old as well  and and with the two puppies here just cuz

15:30
My sister and her family are here for a bit this summer. So she has two puppies to deal with. She just like sits there and watches them go at it. She's like, yeah, no, I'm good. It's quite funny actually. She keeps me alive too. So yeah. I think if you have passions and you have things that you're responsible for, it extends your life. I really do. Now.

15:55
I have other questions for you and because I am 56 and I am in menopause, bad word,  I get brain gaps here and there. So I looked at your Facebook page earlier. I was like, oh, I know all the questions.  And now I forget what I was going to ask.  Do  you guys grow anything besides flowers? ah So we have tried vegetables. Now we did do okra very well. Okra? Yeah, okra. ah

16:25
Stuff is very pokey though. It's not fun. So you definitely need to wear gloves when you're picking up. Didn't know that. oh But yeah, just vegetables require so much more care than flowers. So  yes, they do.  Yeah. I mean, it's it's ridiculous. So like the summertime crops.  Sorry, I go back to flowers. I'm just trying to, you know, relate to different between vegetables and flowers like

16:52
sunflowers and zinnias and,  um, Azerothem, Amaramp, all those summer annuals  are like, basically just put it out there and, you know, I fertilize every two weeks  and then I have irrigation everywhere, all the timers. You just let that be and they're good to go. Whereas  festivals, you have to constantly, constantly watch them and make sure no, uh,

17:21
Rodents are getting in there eating all your crop. ah It's a headache.  Yes, it is. My husband grows a 100 foot by 150 foot farm to market garden. Wow. It's his baby. It's his passion. It's his Zen. It's his thing that he loves to do  when he's not at his full time job. So not only is he growing that garden, he has a full time job. Wow. And he came in.

17:49
on Sunday and he said, the pole beans are doing great. And I said, okay. He said, the regular green beans are done. I said, done? He said, yeah, we're not going to get a single one. He said, they have rough spots all over them.  And it's from all of the rain and all of the hot that we've had. They just haven't made it able to handle it. And the other problem with growing produce, not flowers, is that you have to actually weed.

18:18
because if you get weed pressure and insect pressure, you're not gonna have a crop. Yeah, we've learned that the hard way. you know, the beauty  where we are, we have power line.  Sorry. I feel like everyone's been at the farm. Sorry.  So we have a power line  on our property  and they allowed us to do beds there with flowers. And so that's where all of our flowers are right now and by the barn and

18:46
Also, another feel I just made. the  airflow,  you know, the air that blows through all the flowers, like I think, again, I don't know, but I'm very confident that's why we've not had any pest problems  or any, you know,  mold or anything. And they have been super happy this year, thankfully.  Good. Yeah. um

19:10
How many, I don't know if you do this in acres or if you do this in feet, we do our garden in feet because we have three acres of property, but our garden is not an acre by any stretch.  How many acres of flowers do you grow? um I'd say about two to three acres. ah Now our overall property  is 500 acres. Wow.  Yeah.  So we literally just do like

19:40
two or three acres of flowers. And usually the powerline field is my biggest field. They're about 100 feet long, three feet wide. And I have some 50 feet, some 75 feet. it just kind of varies with our topography, whether I can do like a full 50 foot or full 100 foot, you know, so that varies. Yeah, absolutely. And then the other question I have for you is it says,

20:09
You have a workshop. that just for you guys or do you teach? uh So,  so during Christmas time we do garland  and reefs as well. ah And so we have workshops where I teach them how to make Magnolia reefs, cedar reefs. ah Basically those two are what we do because it's kind of hard to put boxwood in a reef.  yeah. ah

20:40
And then the workshop also is where we have our Garland machine, which I tell you what, I cried when I got it. I was like, Oh my God, this is awesome. And so it literally makes Garland for you. Now you have to manhandle it, you know, make sure you get it through the hole and stuff. But man, it is, it is quite a blessing. So I didn't know there was such a thing as a Garland machine. Yeah, well we did it. So actually, fun fact, that's how we started out. So we started out.

21:10
I mean, obviously doing flowers, but more so the garland and wreaths.  We actually did it in the backyard of our family home or the garage in our family home that we sold a couple years back.  And  I told mom,  I always joke with her. I'm like, you know, Jeff Bezos  and  everyone else who succeeded started in their garage. saying. Yes.  But I mean, obviously I'm not saying the next Amazon.

21:39
Don't want to be that anyway. Yeah. Yeah. I'll  read people's status. um

21:51
Uh huh. Okay. So the other thing that I saw on your website is that you guys, you guys still grow holly.

22:00
Uh,  no. we,  we try it one year.  Uh, it did pretty good, but then,  uh, it kind of stopped working.  That's a tricky part about it. Just it works one year and you're like, what happened this year? So  I bought a Holly plant at around Christmas time, one year just for, for giggles and grins  and,

22:26
I thought that I could make it survive through the winter and maybe I could plant it outside.  Minnesota is not built for growing holly. Holly does not grow here outside. Yeah, no, definitely not. I didn't know that.  I was like, but Holly's associated with Christmas. Christmas is associated with cold.  Holly should grow in Minnesota.  No, no, that is not the equation. Yeah, yeah, no, it's,  it's definitely hard to gross.  I'm sorry.

22:56
My cat is hanging off the porch.  I don't know how that even happened. Is it oppressive? Is it okay? Yeah, she's okay. She's just running from the puppies.  It's just not cool.  huh. Absolutely. I love cats. We had house cats for a while and then we got a puppy and  we had one house cat left and I was like, guess what, Molly, you get to go outside.  She didn't want to be inside to begin with. And so she ended up being an indoor outdoor cat for a while.

23:27
Yeah, then she ran away and we don't know what happened to her. So now we just have a dog. Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. That's okay. It was five years ago, but She ran away for six months She was gone for six months and she showed up after six months and I was like, well, hello It's good to have you back  and she came right up to me and she was purring and she let me pet her just like I always did and let me pick her up

23:54
And about two months later, she disappeared again and never came back. I was like, well, I guess, I guess our place is not the kind of hospitality you want. found a different place to live. So. I'll buy him. It's OK. We have barn cats too, and they're friendly as well. it was a barn cats took a little bit of staying out of losing our pet. But cats are weird. They they deign to live with you.

24:22
They don't make you happy. They want you to make them happy. Very true. Yeah, she she kind of runs the house now, actually. So it's quite comfortable. One of the things that I love about my dog, I never had a dog of my own up until the one we have now. I love the fact that she wants to make us happy. She wants to do what we need her to do. And that didn't happen until she was about two.

24:52
Up until they're two,  they think they want to make you happy, but they also want to chew shoes  and tear things apart. She turned into a stellar, well-behaved dog at two years old. Wow. That's actually very impressive. She's really good, other than the fact that she has no off switch when she is being a watchdog. So she's a very loud, perfect dog. Yeah.  And I'm OK with this. It works out great.

25:19
Alrighty, so uh I have time for probably two more questions because I try to keep these to half an hour. It says that you do you pick  and you're an event venue. So are those two things still correct?  Yes, ma'am. So tell me about the you pick. You picked. we,  like said, the power line field and other fields, we just come up and we'll have a band out there playing  around the barn area.

25:47
You'll start at the barn and then you'll walk out to the field  and one of us will guide you out there and then let you cut away. And then you can make your own little bouquets after, hang out,  eat some food, um drink some alcohol if you want, you know?  So that it's, pretty much September and October is when we started doing the events again. Senator Ralph Flowers, cause  obviously as we all know it's

26:17
hot.  So nobody really comes out during the summertime except for, you know, the shed that we have. We have flowers bouquets over there as well. So uh it's more just like a pick up and go, you know, right now. So like what we would call in Minnesota a farm stand. Yes, ma'am. Yeah. Okay. Oh, sorry. And um was there other questions? Event venue. What kind of events do you do? Yes, ma'am. So we

26:47
We do, uh we have florists in the Bay. name is Martha  and she comes up and does flower arrangement classes. um We also  do flower, you know, pick your own flowers. You pick, yeah, but you know, it's more like we pick them for you and then you make your bouquet. And then um people will usually just like hang out after and  we do a lot of  We.

27:16
never stop. So there's always something to do up here. And we also have  farm the tables.  We have chefs come up and cook you a meal. And, you know, we have a big long table out here. yeah,  so it never stops.  That's so fun. Okay. Do you have like  a funny story or a sad story at all from from  your experience doing this? ah

27:46
Well, actually, so there is a,  let's see.

27:52
There is a funny story where, like said, Holly's cat around here, no Clover, and Holly's my sister's cat. And I was literally out there in the field cutting and Clover comes out and starts chasing birds. And so all I see are birds flying everywhere. I'm what the hell is going on?

28:21
And she was trying to be a huntress, but she didn't catch any birds.  um, um I mean, that was kind of a lame story, but  not really a lot of crazy stuff happens up here. Besides when you get home to the farmhouse and all these animals are here  where, you know, you can honestly have to keep an eye on them because they'll go off and adventure off.

28:45
Yeah, that's that's one of the things that they do that you're like,  um, are they trampling all my flowers?  Yeah, they, um, that's why I try to keep them at the house.  But Tulip, my sister's dog,  she hears a side by side on and she's like, I mean, is,  I've never seen a dog run so fast.  So you really have to like just gun it as soon as she's in the backyard, you just gun it and hopefully you make it in time before she gets in.

29:15
Oh my goodness.  it's  honestly, it's quite comical  how much craziness happens up here with the whole family here, but especially at the house. Not so much in the fields because I keep them away, you know? ah But man, it's just  like I just had to go grab Holly, my sister's cat, from the puppies.  And she was  climbing up the screening porch while they were barking. I was like, dude.

29:45
trying to do an interview here.  That's okay. We keep it real because we don't want to act like AI.  Yeah, true. Nope, no artificial intelligence here. It's actual intelligence here. um And that's a good line. I should keep that. That was good. Yeah, it was really good. Actual intelligence. That's my AI. um I have a little short funny story about our cat that is no longer with us.  Less than five pound female cat.

30:16
came walking out of our tree line with a more than five pound wild rabbit in her mouth that she had caught. Wow. That's awesome. Yep. looked like she was going to tip over. And I was like, that rabbit is bigger than she is. How did she to get it?  That was nuts. My husband looked at me. looked at him and we're just like, I don't understand how she did that. That's crazy.  So that's  the craziest thing I've seen here since we moved in  six years ago in August.

30:47
Yeah, that is great. Yeah, nuts. uh Okay, so where can people find you online, Connor?  Let's terraforms.com  and uh the whole story of our  beginning adventures  and ever expanding is on there. And then  also Facebook. I am thinking about doing a YouTube channel maybe  at some point. I think you should. I know I uh

31:17
It's funny, I got a new phone. I had a phone for like four years just because I'm cheap. I really don't care. But I got a new phone and finally I had like good camera quality. So I did the video. Yeah. I was like, man, it took me four years, you know? Well, you're handsome and you're well spoken. I don't see any reason why you can't do a YouTube channel. well, thank you. I appreciate that. You're welcome. Connor, thank you so much for taking the time today to talk with me.

31:46
I say this to all my guests. know you're really busy and I do not ever take for granted the time that you share with me. Of course, it is my pleasure and I appreciate you reaching out to me and it's exciting. It's my first podcast ever, so it's pretty awesome. You did great. As always, people can find me at AtinyHolmsteadPodcast.com. Connor, I hope you have a great day. Tell your mom, thanks for being awesome and...

32:14
I hope the tropical storm doesn't do any damage for you. Yeah, same here. I'll take this breeze though.  Have a great day. You too. Thank you.