MN River Valley Homestead

Today I'm talking with Holly at MN River Valley Homestead.

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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 Holly at the Minnesota River Valley Homestead. Good morning, Holly. How are you? I am good. How are you? I'm great. What a beautiful morning we have in LaSore, Minnesota today. It is wonderful outside.

00:29
Yeah, it's a little allergy inducing, but other than that, it's great. Yes, I agree. So, um, Holly is an acquaintance and sort of friend. She lives not far from me. And the way that I met Holly is because she sells her lovely baked goods at the farmer's market. And I had asked her months ago if she wanted to be a guest on the podcast, but there was stuff going on. So.

00:55
I finally get to ask you all kinds of questions today. So tell me about yourself, Holly. Well, I have been a stay at home mom for, let's see, gollish, it's been so many years, I don't think I even know, almost 20 years, mainly because I can't work because I'm epileptic, but I have all seven kids that I have raised and.

01:23
One is gone and now I just sit and keep track of the other six. And right now it's nice and calm because there's only two left at home because the other are at school. Yay. Today, first day today? Um, no, it's actually, um, they started their second week today. They started last week, so they were excited.

01:48
Yeah, I feel like kids are in one of two camps. They're either tickled pink to go back or they don't want to go back. Yeah, my two older ones were not very happy and the two younger ones were very, very excited. So. So how old are the kids that are still living at home? They are 345715.

02:17
16 Okay, so you got teenagers and little still at home. Yep Okay. All right. So what do you what do you do at your your? Minnesota River Valley homestead when I'm at home which is all the time obviously I Work on a lot of my yarn crafting I do a lot of crocheting I make blankets and

02:46
I make dishcloths and handbags and hats. Pretty much you name it, I can make it. Otherwise I make jams and jellies and then there's the other part of it that my husband is a really big part of. We make a lot of sourdough and bagels and other sandwich breads.

03:14
and we're now starting to get into dessert breads.

03:19
So yeah, we, yeah. Yeah. And I mean, I guess that's, that's, that's the big part. Otherwise I get into making a lot of oils for different purposes, not, not scent, you know, not essential oils, but healing oils, things like that. So I'm a lot, I'm really big with herbal things. So always.

03:47
So you're a typical homesteader. You've got your hands in almost everything. Yeah, pretty much. Nice. Um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna toot your horn for you. Your bagels are amazing. Kyle brought some home Saturday and they were the Osceaga ones. Oh my god. So yummy. Yeah. And you're, uh, He said he's been eyeing those for a while, so he decided to get some.

04:16
Yep. And your raisin ones are really good too. Oh, I'm glad you like those. Yeah. We love bagels. We don't love store-bought bagels, but we love your bagels. So, Oh, I'm glad. I was going to ask, um, the Italian bread that he brought home. Um, I didn't get any. Cameron and Kyle ate all of it before I could get to it. Oh my gosh. But they loved it. I didn't get a chance to try it.

04:46
Oh, well, just let me know and I'll make you some. Okay. Yeah. I was going to grab some and I was like, where'd the bag go? And Cameron was like, we ate it. And then Kyle made honey oat bread and, and, uh, herbed bread yesterday that he makes, so I was like, okay, well maybe I'll get some of those maybe. Yeah. Food doesn't last very long in this house if it's, if it's really yummy. So it must have been really yummy, Holly. I will find out eventually.

05:16
Well, that's good. We make sure we have fresh herbs growing outside on our deck so I can grab them and we use those. So yeah, fresh herbs are the best thing. And if you can't have fresh herbs, dried herbs work just as well. So it works out great. Thank you.

05:39
I'm very excited you're going to get in dessert, two dessert breads. I cannot talk this morning. I feel like I'm not separating anything out and I'm not pronouncing my consonants. I don't know what's wrong with me. Your dessert breads are an exciting new thing. What kind of dessert breads are you guys doing? Oh, um, well, Chris has been making, um, one of them is a, gow, what does he call it? It's a cinnamon.

06:08
uh, cinnamon or not cinnamon chocolate, twist, I guess is what he calls it. But it's, um, he rolls it out flat and then he puts Nutella all over the whole thing and then he rolls it up and twists it and turns it into a circle. And then after it's done baking, it's covered in a caramel sauce and, oh, it's, it's just really good.

06:35
And then last night with our daughter, he made a raspberry, a raspberry twist that has chocolate chips in it. And that one is just super good. And then he made, oh, he made a sticky bun kind of thing. And they have a really light glaze on top of them. And they're just to die for. He's he's so good with

07:04
baking stuff. I mean, I like baking, but he goes beyond. Yeah. I've told this story before a bunch of times on the podcast. I'll mention it again. Kyle is the bread maker in our family because I kill the yeast every time I try to make it, try to use it. And so I have been saying that I want to try making some and he's like,

07:30
Now that I'm busy with my job, because he got the new job back last year, he said, if you want to try making bread, he said, have at it. He said, if you kill a beast, he said, he said, just keep track of what you're doing. And I will try to help you so that you figure out how not to kill it. I was like, okay, that would be great. But yeah, it's wonderful when our husbands, when our husbands do some of the baking too. Yes. I really like the fact that he does it and he got into doing sourdough. I.

07:59
six years ago, seven years ago, somewhere around there. And it's just really flourished since then. And he's just so into it. And I just come up with new ideas on what to do with them. And I'll, he'll make the dough and then I'll put everything in it and put it together and bake it. But as far as the dough is concerned, he's, he's got that. I can't do it.

08:29
Yeah, but you're a team. So that's amazing. I love that. I think when married folks can work together, even if you're doing separate parts that come together, it's fantastic. Yeah. Oh, I had a question. Oh, the farmers market. I keep meaning to ask other people who are part of it because Kyle's really the only one I talk to about it. It seems like

09:00
in the last three years? Do you feel like it is too? Well, the first year, excuse me, I had my zapper go off. The first year went really slow. And then the next year, last year was a lot better. And that's when Kyle came and started and it got a

09:30
amazing with how many people, vendors have showed up. And it's just, it's really flourished. It's been great. I really like it. I think that it's really nice. There's a lot of new people coming to shop. And I just, I couldn't have asked for anything better.

09:58
big a deal. Like people showed up, they sold stuff, they went home. And when Kyle started going last summer, he was like, it's really robust. It's really good. And I was like, well, maybe you were the magic charm. Maybe they just needed you to show up. Yeah. Well, last year he was a really big part of it because it was a good year with the tomatoes and all the other produce that he brought.

10:27
Because not very many people were bringing things like that. And so, you know, he was a big deal With it and it it's a bummer that it was so bad this year Because I was actually looking forward to more tomatoes because all of our tomatoes went they just drowned Well, if it makes you feel any better, there are 50 tomato plants in the garden right now that he put in like end of June

10:56
when he could finally get in the garden and they're growing. So as long as they don't get frosted anytime soon, we might be able to help you out with some tomatoes in like mid September, maybe. Don't hold your breath, but if we have enough, we will make sure you get some. Oh, that would be wonderful. I still have a couple bags of what I got last year that I need to get turned into something.

11:25
but I need a couple more because I want to make some more sauce and just some more canned tomatoes overall because we ran out really quick. It doesn't last very long in our house at all. Yeah, all of our tomato sauce is gone from the last two years. We've used everything we can in the last two years. So I understand completely. Now I have a funny story to tell you that Kyle probably will never tell you, but I'm going to tell you it.

11:53
He was talking last winter about making some breads and selling them at the farmers market. And he's made bagels before and he loves doing it. He was like, I can make bagels and sell them at the farmers market. I said, excuse me, sir. And he looked at me like, what? I said, our friends sell bread and bagels and stuff at the farmers market. I said, do you really want to be in competition with Holly and her husband?

12:22
You're going to lose. Their stuff is better." And he was just laughing. He was like, I completely forgot that we would be in competition with them. I said, yeah, don't do that. I said, if you want to make something, make your cinnamon rolls, because I don't think they make cinnamon rolls and yours are really yummy, make those. Oh yeah. He was like, oh yeah, I have things I can make that won't be in competition. I said, no, they won't. And that would be good.

12:49
And he just, he completely wasn't thinking about it as he was saying it. I'm just inside, I'm just dying, giggling my head off in my brain. So I saved you guys from some minor competition by reminding him that that's a bad plan. Don't do that. Thank you. I, I am very grateful for that. I mean, there's, you know, two other people, um, vendors that go that sell bagels

13:20
Um, and sourdough and one of them, I mean, she's nice and her husband's nice. And, but I mean, I, and I hate sounding like I hate her because I don't hate her. It's terrible to say that, but every time we come out with something new for a flavor or, or the other vendor, they come out with something new with a flavor. They come out the next week with the exact same thing. And it's.

13:49
Just, it's horrible. It's like, oh my goodness, can you just think of something your own? It's terrible. It's frustrating. And, and competition is good, but, but, uh, direct copying, maybe not so good. Uh-huh. I know what you're saying. And I'm sure that you don't hate her. You're too nice of a person to hate anyone.

14:15
But I'm also positive that it is very frustrating for you because you're like, we've been here, we've been doing the work and now somebody else is just like doing the same thing all of a sudden. It's very disheartening. Yeah. It would be like us trying to bring out candles and he sits there with that whole table full of candles and free smells. I love it. It's great. We were right next to him last weekend.

14:45
I laugh every time he says it to somebody. It just cracks me up every time. But I wouldn't want to do that to him with candles on my table. I felt bad when I started doing granola. And last year he brought granola, but he didn't have it this year. So I decided to start making granola. That's because I haven't been making it. That's the thing that I make. Okay.

15:12
And the granola has been being eaten here for breakfast. So we just haven't had any extra to sell. Ah, and I haven't had time to make it because I've been doing the podcast. Okay. Well, that makes sense. Yep. Most of the time I do a recording at 10 and then I go downstairs and I eat a bowl of granola for breakfast because I don't like to eat food before I record because it gets in my teeth and I'm licking my teeth through the hole.

15:42
conversation is just gross. I don't want to do that. I actually felt weird about the granola last year because I know how I make it. It is a very simple thing to make. I know how much it costs per bag. It cost me to make it. I was like, how much should we sell the bags for? Kyle was like, I don't know. Whatever we sold it for, 10, 12 bucks last year. I don't remember.

16:12
Yeah. And it's not that big a bag. And I'm like, I feel really weird about this because people are paying for it. But it seems like it's a lot of money. And yeah, I looked at the same size bag at the store, you know, people who are selling it at the store. And granola is freaking expensive at the store. Oh my gosh, it is.

16:35
And I was like, I am taking the time to do this right to make sure they know what's in it. And it doesn't have any preservatives or colorants or anything in it. Now I know why people are buying it. Uh huh. Exactly. And I found that, um, we were selling it at $10 a bag and I think they're 15 ounces and, um, they weren't really selling very much.

17:05
So I lowered it to eight and now it sells constantly. We went to those who were fair the other, you know, a couple of weeks ago and I sold out. I was like, what? I mean, it was crazy. I didn't- But that's fabulous. Oh, it was. I was like, I didn't realize I needed to make more granola before we go to the market next week. I think the thing with granola

17:35
is that people like it, but they don't want to eat it every day. And so if they find it at a fair or a farmer's market, they're reminded that they like it and it's a small bag. And they're like, yeah, I can eat this before it goes stale. And they'll buy it. But no one's going to go buy a humongous five pound bag of granola because they're never going to eat it. Right. Yeah, I don't eat it every day. I eat it.

18:04
maybe every other day or every few days. But I mean, it's just, it was kind of crazy how much it sold. I was really astonished. It really floored me. I am applauding you. I'm not, I'm not going to sit here and clap in front of the mic, but in my, in my head, I'm applauding you because that's fantastic. Good job. I don't know how you make your granola. I will tell you how I make mine and it's why I felt weird about selling it.

18:34
I basically dump a bag of oatmeal into our roasting pan. You know, we spray the roasting pan with nonstick stuff. And then I flatten it out with a spoon. And then I pour in like a cup and a quarter of veggie oil, a cup and a quarter of honey, stir it all up, add in some cinnamon and a couple splashes of vanilla, stir it up.

19:00
Bake it at 350 for 15 minutes, stir it, shut the oven off, leave it in there for another 15 minutes, and it's done. That's how simple my granola recipe is. Yeah, that's pretty simple. I put them in a bowl, in a big bowl, and I use maple syrup that we get from the gas station downtown. And I use that unless it's... I have four different flavors that I do.

19:29
and one of them has honey, but the other ones, all the other ones have maple syrup. And then I'll put any nuts, usually pecans and cinnamon. And a lot of them have, I use pepitas and sunflowers, sunflower seeds. And I'll mix it all up and put it in the oven for 15 minutes, stir it 15 more minutes.

19:59
and then I pull it out and I let it cool. And then I'll add craisins or raisins. And then when it's all cooled, then I just bag it up. So yeah, it's still pretty simple. Yeah, it really is. And if you don't like granola, no one's gonna make it themselves. It's not even worth making it. But.

20:27
I feel like people don't realize how simple it is to make it. And that's probably to our advantage. Um, the other thing I will say about granola, I tried to make granola bars years ago for the kids. And I didn't know that you were supposed to not put the dried fruit or chocolate chips or whatever in it before you baked it. Oh yeah, I did that a couple times. God, the chocolate, like it didn't burn burn, but, but it burned. And so the entire batch tasted like.

20:56
charred chocolate. It all went in the trash. I was so sad. There was no saving it. So if you're ever going to make granola, anyone listening, do not put anything with sugar, like dried fruit or chocolate or Nutella or anything like that in the granola bowl or you put it in the oven because it will burn and you will ruin it. Oh yeah. And also if you do put any dried fruit or anything, if it doesn't burn, you

21:26
It'll just get really, really hard, and you'll probably break a tooth. Yeah, it does. It gets really hard and it's gross. It's just not good. Add that stuff in after it's cooled off and then it's great. So there's a lesson on making granola for the day. Um, I do have another question for you. It has nothing to do with granola or the farmer's market or anything else. How did you and your husband get into the homesteading stuff?

21:56
How did we get into the homesteading? The home, the homesteading. Yeah. Um, we have been wanting to do it, um, for a long time and, um, we've moved from a lot of different places that were, you know, small and we went from a trailer to a house, um, in Arlington, which is really small.

22:25
And I mean, it had a bigger yard. We had a big garden there, but it wasn't, you know, big enough to really do much with. And then we found our house here and we have a nice big yard where we can grow stuff. And we finally decided that we should actually do something and actually make an actual homestead with it. We've been wanting to get an actual farm

22:55
get some goats and, you know, just kind of expand a little more. But right now we're, we're pretty good with what we have. And, um, we've been, that's, that's what we've been wanting to do. Just kind of expand a little bit more with what we have and we use what we have. We're making an orchard in the yard with a whole bunch of different fruits and we've got berry bushes and all kinds of stuff. So.

23:25
It's just Chris grew up on a farm, on a dairy farm. So he's always loved farming and I grew up in the city. And I've always liked being outside and working in a garden with my grandpa and stuff like that. So I didn't like being in the city and we just, we like being out in the country. So that's kind of what we do.

23:55
Us too. We're right there with you. Um, speaking of fruit trees, we just, I just made our first apple crisp with our apples last night. First, we've been able to actually have from our trees that we put in, in the fall of 2020 and it was delicious and it was more delicious because it was our apples. They were honey gold variety apples.

24:25
No, we got, we have, we started with one apple tree that was here when we moved here and we don't know what kind of apple tree it is, but the apples are huge. And if the deer don't get them first, we get some. And last year I finally got some in the freezer and that's what I made my apple pie sourdough with last week. And it is amazing. I use my apple pie filling.

24:53
that I got from my grandma and I put that in my sourdough and it is really good. Those apples are wonderful. You gonna have any this weekend coming up? Probably. Okay, I'll put in my request with Kyle Lainley of Saturday Morning. Yeah, I've been trying to do a new fruit sourdough every weekend. So it's been challenging because I'm trying to.

25:23
do fruit that are in season. So apples are definitely one of them. I am so happy it's September. I, anyone who knows me knows that basically the very last week of August, I start to get high because I know fall is a week away. Yep. I love fall. I love apples. I love, I love winter squash. I love all the

25:50
the things that come rolling in starting in September. So I am, I'm feeling the best I have felt since, oh, probably this time last year, because winter was weird, as you know, and spring all it did was rain, and our garden, as you know from Kyle's stories, has been a disaster. I mean, he has made it go as much as he can, but it's just been an impossible year for having a really good garden.

26:18
And it's so sad because the first three gardens we put in here did great. And this year, no. So I'm much more bright and shiny and happy today than I have been since this time last year. Well, that's really good. I am right there with you. I mean, this time last year, I was not in a good place. I was getting over the surgery that I had and I was going in

26:48
In a couple days, I was going back in to get one of the wires fixed that they had put in and it was a mess. This whole last year was terrible for me. But now that everything is taken care of and they took out what they put in in June, so I'm just, I'm back to myself. I feel good. And now that it's turning fall, which is my favorite, all that stuff that you like, I am right there with you. I love all of it.

27:18
Uh-huh. It's just, it's wonderful. I love it. The only, I think the only part that I, I like it a lot, but it gets really overwhelming is that I have two boys that have birthdays in September and it gets a little bit much. Uh-huh. I, I understand. Um, my, my routine back when I had the kids all at home when they were younger was that we had a birthday in August.

27:47
and then we had Labor Day, and then we had the kids going back to school, and then we had Halloween, and then we had my birthday and my daughter's birthday, and then Thanksgiving, and then Christmas and New Year's. So basically from August 21st through New Year's Day, there was planning for all kinds of things that entire stretch, so I get it, it's crazy. Yeah, we go from my birthday,

28:17
in April, two weeks later, it's Chris's birthday. And then two weeks after that, it's our oldest daughter's birthday. Two weeks after that, it's our 15 year old's birthday. And then we go a month into July, it's another birthday. And we get another month in, and then it's September with two birthdays. So it's like, holy cow, there's our summer.

28:44
There's always something to celebrate in your home though. Yes. And we get a good rest, I guess, break, after September in fall and beginning of winter and after Christmas. And then all of a sudden, February comes and it's like, oh, two more birthdays. But it's crazy. I love it. I really do.

29:13
It's wonderful. It is. You must make a lot of cakes in your household for birthdays. Actually, I don't make any of the cakes in my house. Oh, does Chris? My daughter makes most of them. Oh, okay. Chris makes some of them, he used to, but now our oldest daughter likes to make them. So she usually makes the cakes. And I am very happy about that

29:43
of a baker as I am, I do not like baking cakes at all. Unless it's a cheesecake. Yeah, I love cheesecake. I keep saying I should make one and I don't do it because I get busy and I forget. I don't mind making cakes. What I mind is having to do a two-tier cake and decorate it. If it's just a cake in a cake pan, I am all over that because I love cake batter more than I love the finished cake.

30:14
No joke, I will make a cake just to lick the bowl. Yeah I kind of agree with you on that one too. I like that too. I really have to stay away from all that though. Oh my word I do. Well that's why I only make a cake about once a year. And I only make outrageous brownies once a year because I don't know if you heard that story yet from Kyle but I make these brownies and they are...

30:43
My god, I think the pan probably weighs six pounds when it's cooked. And it's butter and chocolate and all the good things. And the batter on this stuff is so rich and so beautiful. It looks like silk when you're stirring it. Like it's so pretty. I want to take a bath in it. And it's so smooth. It's so smooth that all you want to do is eat it like pudding. And you can't do that. Cannot do that. You will be sick.

31:13
But when I make them, I get like one brownie. That's all I can handle. They're so rich. So I only bake those things once in a great while because otherwise I would be 500 pounds and I cannot do that to myself. Yeah, I'm in the same boat. So I have to stay away from a lot of that stuff just because of the extra weight that I ended up gaining this past year.

31:42
because I was on antibiotics all year and I ended up gaining so much weight with it. It was terrible. So I had to stay away from all of that. Oh, I'm so sorry. It's no fun. Yeah, it's terrible, but I manage and it's going good because I'm finally able to get up and move. So it's good. I have to stay away from the cookies that I made for the...

32:12
fair. There is so many cookies in our freezer and the triple chocolate ones are just, it's really hard to stay out of them. But yeah, it's, it's a temptation that you don't need, but you needed to make them for the fair. I understand. Yeah. I'm, I'm just glad that they're out in the freezer in the garage instead of in the house. So, but yeah, I don't know.

32:41
That's about all I can say. Yeah, no, I understand. I really do. I have finally gotten to the point where I have a handle on my weight, totally, for the first time since I was probably 20 years old. I used to be a string bean until I got pregnant with my daughter when I was 19. She was born like 10 days after I turned 20. And I put on some weight.

33:10
with that pregnancy. And it's been kind of a yo-yo thing for years. And in the last three years, I have maintained a reasonable weight for my height and I feel really good. So it can be done. But yeah, it's a habit thing a lot for me. Like, if I get in the habit of choosing certain behaviors, then I just continue to choose those behaviors. So for me, that's what works.

33:40
but it doesn't necessarily work for everybody. So anyway, we're at like 33 minutes and I try to keep this to half an hour, but I do wanna say that you have been real honest with me about your epilepsy issues and journey. And you have managed to build a beautiful life and a business with your husband, with all the things that you have been going through with the epilepsy. Number one, really proud of you. Number two,

34:09
you are living proof that you can do this, even if you have an issue. Yeah. I, I, I try. I mean, I've been trying really hard and I try to make it so people like me can do it. So, I mean, it's, it's somebody has to be there, you know, to show other people that they can do it. So, Yeah.

34:38
Exactly. So I'm really glad that you're doing it and I'm really glad you wanted to come on the podcast to talk to me because this has been really fun. Yeah. Thank you so much for your time, Holly. I appreciate it. Yeah, it was fun. I was looking forward to it a lot. Good. Then then objective met for the day on that particular topic. Yes, ma'am. All right, you have a good one, Holly. Thank you. You too, Mary. Bye.