Makers Acres Homestead

Today I'm talking with Tracey at Makers Acres Homestead. You can also follow on Instagram.

A Tiny Homestead Podcast thanks Chelsea Green Publishing for their support.

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
This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. 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 Tracey at Makers Acres Homestead. Good morning Tracey, how is the weather in Tennessee today? Good morning. It is sweltering. I think we're going to have a record high today actually. So like...

00:28
actual about 100 degrees. I'm not sure what feels like temperature will be, but I am so sorry to hear that. We had feels like temps two days ago of 110. Wow. In Minnesota. I'm going to say that's something from Minnesota. My goodness. Yeah. It was gross. You stepped outside and you were immediately misted. It was terrible. Yeah. And we were in a drought too. So my gardens are a hot mess right now, a little bit of a dumpster fire, but you know, you just kind of go with.

00:58
We've got a pretty good dumpster fire going on with our gardens and absence. So may so I understand. All right. So tell me about yourself and what you're doing. Makers Acres Homestead. Yeah, well, we we do a few things where I maybe I should say I or I don't know my husband's kind of long for the ride and some of this stuff. I'm the person with all the ideas.

01:23
I want to do about a thousand times more than I'm doing because my ability to execute everything doesn't keep up with all my ideas. But we named, we kind of gave it this property when we moved here five years ago from Michigan. We gave this property, we're on six acres and my parents have a home on the property as well that we moved them down to a couple years after we moved here.

01:51
And Makers Acres is just meaning that we just recognize and proclaim that all this belongs to the Lord and this is His land, His property, and we truly just want to be obedient to Him in that and how He wants to use it. But back in Michigan, before we even moved, I really had this like dream that I felt like God put on my heart.

02:21
to grow food and give it away to people, basically. And mainly because a little bit of just a brief backstory is I have really seen the power of nutrition change my health story and that of my family. And so I just recognize like everyone deserves access to fresh fruits and vegetables. And even back,

02:51
before even my health transformation, we, for a time period during the crash in 08, we actually utilized some of the government services like food stamps and stuff like that because my husband lost his job. And so I have like this intimate knowledge of just that process and being a part of that, just that world. And I mean,

03:17
It's fascinating. That's like a whole different rabbit trail. But when you can get candy and junk food and all that with food stamps, just as well as anything else, you're going for cheap because you're trying to make your dollar stretch. And so I think when anyone, whether they're using government assistance or not,

03:44
When you're feeling that pinch in your budget, we're always trying to make everything stretch farther. And it's so easy to.

03:55
just to compromise because unfortunately the system and the setup is where like junk food is cheaper than healthy food. And so we, I just really wanted to give everyone the access. Now I, you know, not everyone wants it. That's fine. I mean, I get that. And so there is an educational piece behind it. But

04:19
I just really wanted everyone to have access to fresh food. And so that's what kind of started this idea in my heart to essentially grow it and give it away. And I personally use these vertical aeroponic tower gardens, a distributor for the company. And that's really how I got my start, zero green thumb, but I just wanted to grow food for my family. And

04:45
Michigan soil is very sandy and I lived in a lot of shade and so My back porch was really the only place to grow so That's a nice. I started growing with those and I just realized how much I could grow in a small space So that's kind of what spearheaded that and that dream really took root once we moved to Tennessee and we bought this property and we're like

05:12
Okay, so we actually, it's the name of that is called Maker's Pharmacy. And pharmacy is spelled F-A-R-M-A-C-Y. You know, just, you know, food is medicine. And so that's kind of the, the story in brief behind that. I'm sorry if I went off on a rabbit trail a little bit with your question, but. Nope. I want all the stories I can get. I am thrilled when people talk for five minutes about what they're doing. It makes me happy. Oh, good.

05:41
So when did you move to Tennessee again? So we moved in the summer of 2019. Okay, so it's been like five years. Yes. Okay. Do you love it? It's been a really good move for us, yes. I mean, it was just really God. We had zero plans to move. All of our family lived in Michigan. Well, I shouldn't say all of my family did. My husband had a few.

06:09
family members outside. And, but, you know, never, never planned on moving in that sense. And then just a few things happened. My husband really was feeling super frustrated at work, wasn't able to grow and, but it was like the best job he could get in the area kind of thing too. So you feel easily can feel trapped and I'm not going to lie.

06:38
I mean, you live in Minnesota, so you get this. I was kind of over the winters. Oh, I'm getting there, yeah. And our actually, our oldest son had already graduated and he was living in Florida with my father-in-law. And so initially we started, it was like one of those like wild hair ideas that all of a sudden you just like start pulling that thread and God just seems to be like, yes, yes, yes. Let's see what happens next, yes.

07:06
So we explored the idea of Florida initially, but I wasn't overly, I mean, I like it going to the beach on vacation or whatever. And I know not all Florida's beach, but it just, it didn't seem to be the fit for us. I had visited Tennessee a few times with my business and it still had four seasons, you know, albeit they're, they're different a little bit, but I just, yeah, we ended up, we ended up coming here.

07:35
And it's been a nice like just in between place between all the family and then family continues to move closer to us now. That's always helpful. The reason that I won't leave, I will never live in a non northern tier state is I love the Four Seasons. I hate like with a purple passion, passion. I hate high summer when it's hot and muggy. And I hate low winter.

08:05
mid January to the end of February when it's cold and icy and snowy or just cold. We didn't even get real snow last year. So what the heck Mother Nature is doing? I have no idea. We got like a foot of snow last winter. But I love spring. I love rolling into summer. I hate high summer and I love fall. God, I love fall.

08:35
Michigan. It's not the same, but I'll take my mild winters. Yeah. Yep. This past winter here was crazy. And it was probably the mildest winter I have seen in the over 30 years that I have lived in Minnesota. It was crazy. So the reason I asked you if you love Tennessee is because I keep talking to people from Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, and the Carolinas.

09:02
That's where most of the people I talk to who are growing things live. Most of you are homesteading live. And I'm like, well, maybe we should have moved to freaking Tennessee instead of state Minnesota. I don't know. Oh, you would hate the summer though. Yeah, I know. I know. But we're, we, we have basically found our favorite place on earth to live. So I can't imagine that we're going to.

09:27
move again before we die. We found our dream home. We love it. We live here. We live here. I mean, it's not like it's where we lay our heads. It's where we live our lives. So, so I'm going to tell you this. It's really funny to me when people, it's not funny to me. It's unusual to me when people talk about God like he's their friend, like personal friend, because I am

09:57
religious person I know. And it's not that I don't appreciate people who have faith, but it's just really unusual for me to hear anyone speak of God as if he's their best friend. So when people do, I'm like, oh yeah, people do that. I forgot. So if I seem weird about it, that's why. I just had a conversation with a lady yesterday and I was like, I'm the most Christian.

10:27
un-Christian person you'll ever meet. And she said, how's that work? And I said, I try really, really hard to live by the tenets set forth by the Ten Commandments, but I don't go to church. I don't know if there's a God. I don't know if there's a heaven. I don't know if there's a hell. I don't know. And she was like, huh. She said, so you're Christian, but you don't ascribe to being Christian. I said, kinda sorta. She said, you're the most interesting person I've ever met. And I just laughed.

10:57
So it's really interesting to me when people do have a strong faith and I'm always curious about it. So good for you. I'm glad that you have a strong faith and you remind me so much of the girls in the TV show Sweeping Magnolias. Sweeping Magnolias, is that what you call it? Sweet. Sweet Magnolias, I think it is. I don't think I've heard of that. Oh, I think it's on Netflix or Prime. I can't remember, but it's adorable.

11:24
It's this little southern town with all these southern bells. It's so much fun. So anyway, we got way off track there. That's okay. Well, thank you for sharing a part of your story. Yeah. The reason that I am not a church going girl, and I can tell this story because I'm sure that the pastor of that church is long gone by now. When I was living in my little town of St. Paul's me when I was growing up, there was a pastor.

11:53
and he did some very unsavory things, and I know it to be a fact because I got the facts, and that was the church that I went to when I was a teenage girl. And the people involved were teenage girls in that church. I luckily was not involved. And I used to go to Sunday school there, and I found out what happened, and I went home from Sunday school that day, and I said, I need you guys, my parents, to verify if this is true.

12:23
And they did. And I said, I'm never going back to church. I'm not. And I know that churches are not God. Like it's where people go to worship. It's where they go to commune and learn. But it put me off it pretty hard. So that's why. Yeah, I respect that. On behalf of

12:52
Christ followers, I'm sorry. I apologize on behalf of people in authority that have not walked humbly before the Lord and obedience to Him. And unfortunately, unfortunately, I mean, I'm not making excuses. We all, everyone, I don't care if you're a leader or what authority position, we are all in need of a savior because we have all fallen short.

13:22
But when you're in a position of authority, that, yeah. I mean, so many people, it's sad to me. I mean, sad's just not even the right word. How many people have been hurt, grieved, grieved and abused by the church when that is truly not the heart of God? Yep, no, no, it's not. But I was like 15 when I found out about this. And I was just like, nope, if I wanna talk to God,

13:52
I'm gonna go for a walk in the woods and I'm gonna have a chat with God. That's where my church is. So anyway, we're getting real deep on this. The other thing I wanted to touch on is I'm so proud of you for wanting to feed people. Make sure that people have good nutritious food. And I will tell you why. There was a period in my life back when I was in my twenties where I didn't eat a lot of food because I didn't have a lot of money.

14:21
And I learned what it actually feels like to be truly hungry. You know, I was eating one meal a day and I felt really lucky to have that. And hunger is a weird thing because you can get used to it. You can adjust to it. And I lost weight. I didn't, I didn't get too skinny, but I lost weight for sure. And hunger, if you have never felt it before, feels like the inside of your stomach.

14:48
one side of your stomach is rubbing the other side. That's what hunger feels like. You also get like your brain gets cloudy because it's not being fed. Yeah. Hunger is not a fun place to be. So really, really happy that you're doing what you're doing. So tell me how you're doing it. How are you feeding people? How are you feeding your community?

15:18
vertical gardens. We use those primarily, but then this last year I actually received a couple raised beds and trellis from Vago Gardens. They donated to us and so that's allowed us to expand our offering because the vertical gardens

15:40
can grow so much, but they are a little limited to, they cannot grow root vegetables because it's not, it's a soil-less system that we use. And so, and it's, you know, root, so I'm not growing onions. So I'm growing onions, potatoes, carrots, that kind of thing outside of those towers. I can do that in the raised beds and stuff like that. So that kind of gave us some more options. And so we partnered, like the,

16:10
Last couple years, we just kind of play it by, well, I don't know if play it by ears is exactly the right term, but each year we approach it. Each year we approach it differently and see who we can serve. My goal or our vision is more to, I'd rather go deep with one organization than do a little bit with a bunch of organizations, if that makes sense. So Yep.

16:38
I'm not trying to be a food pantry itself. I want to partner with the organizations and ministries, whatever, that are already working and have relationships with people in the community that they're serving. So we've worked with a couple in the past, we've worked with a couple homeless shelters that serve a few meals during the week and or give out food bags.

17:07
this year we partnered with a ministry that's actually serving women that have gotten out of sex trafficking and sex exploitation and they're kind of in a rehabilitation home. And so we've helped provide fresh food for them. And you know, when you start something

17:37
morph as you go because, you know, for example, when you're serving, so when I'm serving this home that is, that has women that live there and I can provide for them and they have a kitchen and they can make stuff, you know, that is, that's different than even when I'm providing food bags for, for largely.

18:02
The homeless are on I think on houses, the more politically correct word. It's the new word. Yes. But, um, you know, like, so with them, I'm like, I've packaged up some cucumbers and some cherry tomatoes, cause I'm like, you can just eat those going down while you're walking down the street or sitting at the park or whatever, you don't have to have a kitchen, you know, to prepare that. So it, I, I. Totally.

18:32
I would say I started with a lot of ignorance, but God is so faithful to just, He can do so much with obedience. You don't have to be skilled and completely knowledgeable or educated and all the things you want to do. You just, a little bit of ignorance on fire and you show up and He does the rest. So like I said, we're changing kind of what we do from year to year. And then

19:00
I'm going to be completely transparent with you. OK. We are actually, just last week, our board, we voted to put it on hold to go dormant in a gardening term, whatever, for the winter. So last fall, we did raise money. Last fall, we put up a greenhouse so that the towers are in the greenhouse.

19:30
That way, the goal is to be able to grow year round in a greenhouse. So that was the vision. We haven't been able to complete all that work yet financially, but as far as like wiring the greenhouse for all that. We put it on hold largely because I kind of got burnt out. It happens. Yeah. Well, and...

19:56
And I want to say this very carefully because I don't mean any disrespect to anyone board members or people that partnered with us, but.

20:08
no one will work as hard for your dream than you will. And I totally understand that. But yet, we got to a place where I'm like, I cannot do everything. And so alongside, I have a business, I homeschool my boys, I'm a wife, I'm a caregiver for my parents. There's just so many different

20:37
this ministry can become and did become, especially during peak growing season, easily at least a part-time job several hours a day. And it just became where I just couldn't do it. And then it got to where even if I could do it, I didn't want to do it anymore. But not from a like, I didn't believe that it wasn't important. It just was like, I am tired of doing this by myself.

21:07
I don't know, I'm working through that a little bit and I feel good with putting, essentially closing it down for the winter. I mean, I'd be lying if I didn't say that I fight like, oh my gosh, did we do something wrong or did I try to make something happen before it was the right time? You know, where have I failed or whatever.

21:38
I just have to surrender it and release it and just trust what God is doing and trust the process. And we'll see, you know, I just, I need more people to come around to make it actually work. Yes. And you have not failed. You have started something wonderful. And I'm going to be completely transparent with you. I'm going to bust my everloving hiney over the next couple of weeks to get some episodes recorded and banked.

22:07
So I can take a week off from recording because my house needs a humongous cleaning. Oh girl. I know. And I'm, and I'm, I'm starting to find that trying to do a, a interview a day every day is a lot. Yeah. So I'm going to try to do a few extras a week so that I have some bank so that I can take like four days off from recording.

22:34
so that I can get stuff organized so I feel like I'm more focused on the podcast when I'm focused on it. And I think that you taking the winter to, number one, give it a rest, number two, reevaluate, and number three, figure out where to go from here, is healthy. That is not a terrible thing to do. I agree. I...

23:00
Like I said, I'd be lying if there weren't those doubts, but at the same time I reached such a place where I'm like, I just, I don't even know if I can say this, but it's like, I don't even, I care, but at the same time when you're so tired and weary, like I don't care what happens either. There's a word, I'm not going to use it. You have no Fs.

23:27
to give at this point. Yeah, I know what you mean. And there's another term, out of spoons. When you're tired, when you're done for the day, I have friends and I learned it from them that say, I'm out of spoons. I just, I can't keep going right now. So if you don't want to use the F one, you can use I'm out of spoons and people look at you funny. You just say, I'm just out of gas. I can't keep going right now.

23:51
Yeah, and I just felt like it's like a season for me to withdraw. It's not like the right word either because I don't, it sounds a little bit of a negative connotation, but it is just to be like, okay, I am just setting some boundaries and I'm just focusing on my home, my family and my business. And like you said, I mean, I'm just working through even

24:13
some basic cleaning projects around my home and property because it just gets neglected when you're going in 20 directions. Yep, it sure does. If you could see the back of my stove in my kitchen right now, you'd be like, Mary, why did you not clean your stove for a month? Because we don't have a vent above our stove. We don't have the thing that blows the grease out because it's just not set up that way.

24:38
I can't seem to find a place that has one of those when I live in it. It just never shows up. But my husband and my kid love bacon. They love burgers. So grease gets everywhere when you don't have one of those hood vents. I have got to, got to this weekend clean that because it's driving me insane. It's going to feel so good when you do that. Oh, you're going to be so proud of yourself.

25:06
And nobody else really cares. And I don't really care because nobody really visits here very often. Cause that's how my life is set up. I'm not a people person. I don't have people over very often, but when I'm looking at it and going, that's just gross, I got to take care of that. It's time. And it's just, there are so many things that you have to make choices about every day about what you're going to do and what's going to wait. And, and I looked at your Instagram.

25:35
page feed, whatever they call it. You have lots going on. Yeah. So don't beat yourself up. Mentally hug yourself. Say that you're taking care of you and do things you need to take care of you. It's okay. And don't lose hope because once you take a break, you get yourself together. You figure out what you want to do. You're going to have renewed energy to make the next thing even better.

26:06
Yes. And I sound like a cheerleader, but that's what I would tell myself. I'm going to tell you. Yeah. So, and I'm assuming you're not going to go anywhere. You're still going to be available online on Instagram and Facebook. Oh, yeah. People can still learn about stuff from you. I love, I love talking about it. And I love, and like, I love equipping and inspiring others to, you know, to provide for their family and have hope for the health of their own family, as well as

26:36
you know, to be able to operate in the plans and purposes God has for them and designed for them too. So I love, I'm the worn out woman and maxed out mom right now, but I love to champ. I really love championing them because I've been there. I am there. And, but I know it's not our story forever. It's just a chapter. Yeah. And the thing I've learned in 54 years is everything is a chapter. Yeah.

27:05
Every stage of your life is a chapter and sometimes you have to go back and read past chapters To figure out what maybe the direction of the next one is Yeah I've had to I I have and to remember what is like Remember how you've changed and grown through every chapter because of the chapter, too Yeah, the thing I hang on to is you can only make decisions based on what you know at the time and so

27:35
I refuse to see anything I've ever done as a mistake. I see it as a learning experience. Yeah. I tell people that about gardening all the time. It is always an adventure and experience. The best gardeners have killed many plants. Oh yeah. So I actually did a post about this the other day. I said, I was talking, the video of my dad cucumber plant, even the healthiest plants, they come to an end. They have a season.

28:04
But it's like, I don't regret planting that. I don't think it was a waste of time. So I shouldn't view where I'm at and just where Maker's Pharmacy is at either that way. I should just, it's just a season. It is and hang on to that because it will keep you sane. There have been days in my life where I have looked around and gone, what the hell am I doing? Why? Burn it all to the ground.

28:31
Why am I doing this? Well, how did I even get to where I'm doing this? You know, just having one of those terrible days. And I haven't had one in quite a while, but I remember the last one I had, it was probably eight, nine years ago. Frustrated, beyond measure about something, and just mad, you know, horny mad. And I called my mom and I was like, I need to vent, because my mom's real good about that. She's like, you call anytime you want to talk. So I called her, I was like,

29:01
This thing is going on. I know I did it to myself because I made these choices, blah, blah, blah. And she was like, yes. I said, having a bad day. She was like, yep, that happens. She said, I have compassion for you and I'm glad that you called the vent because that's what I'm here for. She said, but you need to sleep on this. She said, go on with your day. Try to find some good things in it. Get some sleep. Look at it tomorrow morning. It will probably look better. Love, my mom.

29:31
So I got off the phone and I basically hiked up my big girl pants and finished my day and went to sleep and actually slept. That helped too. Got up next morning. I don't know why I was so mad yesterday. This is easily fixable. I just need to change some things. It's okay. And the other thing I'm going to say, I was thinking about this this morning, is that sleep is as important as food. I, my husband, my husband snores.

30:00
And I go to bed early so I can get at least four hours solid sleep before he comes to bed because half the time he comes up, he doesn't snore, I'm good. Other half of the time he snores like a chainsaw and I get no sleep. And four nights in a row of no really good sleep will make me really, really angry. So, so people, good food is really important, but good sleep going hand in hand with nutrition is really important. Yes.

30:31
Yes. Amen. Amen. I will join you on the amen on that one. So, so it's all about, I mean, you're tired. I know you're tired and you're busy and you're trying to give of yourself and that is a noble, wonderful thing. But if we don't take care of ourselves, we can't take care of anybody else. And this whole podcast today has been very, very new agey, coachy.

31:00
And that's not what the podcast is really about, but it really does apply because when you're trying to do things like grow produce or raise animals for meat or heck raise kids, cause you wanted a pastel of kids, it's all very big and very tiring and very good makes you feel great when it works, but you have to be good in yourself to be able to do it.

31:29
So I think it's appropriate. I think that this whole 30 minute conversation was really important today. Good, I hope that it encourages someone and just they feel seen and know that there is hope. It's okay, like you said, we have bad days. We have rough, hard seasons. It's been a hard year, but it's laying the ground for something better too. And I just.

31:58
I put my hope and my trust in Lord Jesus. Yeah and I'm not religious at all but I'm going to say this and people are going to laugh at me. Maybe God put me in your path for me to talk to you about this today. Yeah, God uses, God can use anyone. Was it they believe in him or not? Exactly and I figure he has a very good time doing that. He's like, I'm going to let her know I'm here whether she thinks I am or not.

32:28
All right, Tracey, I try to keep these to half an hour and we're there and I really appreciate you being so open with me. That was great. Thank you. You're welcome. Thanks for the invitation. You're welcome. And thanks for your time. I really appreciate it. Thanks. Have a great day. You too.