Strom Acres Homestead Pinnacle, NC

Today I'm talking with Jamie at Strom Acres Homestead Pinnacle, NC. If you'd like to buy Happy Homestead Coaching by Jamie Strom, click here, and I will receive a small commission. 

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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 Jamie at Strom Acres Homestead. Good morning, Jamie. How are you? I'm well, thank you. How are you? I'm great. Is it lovely where you are? Yes, it is. Very sunny today. And where are you again? Pilot Mountain, North Carolina.

00:28
That's right, North Carolina. You're like the 10th person I've talked to from the Carolinas in the last month. It's, it's gotta be the place that homesteaders go to, to build their dreams. I swear. There's a lot of it around here. A lot of it grew up learning it. Yeah. Um, so tell me about yourself and what you guys do. Um, I live here on Six Acres with my husband. We are empty nesters.

00:58
And I replace my children with farm animals. As we all do, yes. Um, they're fenced in orchard. The orchard has apple, peach, pear, plum, almond, trees. I think that's all out there. And I keep the chickens fenced in with the orchard. That way I don't have to move their poop. They just fertilize the trees for me. Perfect. And you have two coops inside that. So if a predator or something has to get in, they got to go through two fences.

01:27
We've also got dogs and cats and honeybees. That's all for now. I'm also a nurse. I'm a diabetes teacher. I work part of the hospital and part time from home. I have two grown kids, 33 and 27, and I have a grandson that's 10. Wow, okay. I have four grown kids too, and one of them is 34 and one of them is 32. So your 33 year old is right in between. Yeah, yeah.

01:57
Nice. Okay, so how did you end up coming to this lifestyle? I think it slowly progressed over the years. Um, I've always had a little garden started out probably in my 20s. When I first got married, got my own place, always had tomato plants. And then started the raised bed thing and then started the chicken thing. And then we added on honeybees.

02:26
And then we expanded the raised beds to now we have about, well, I think it just keeps expanding. Um, I like the idea of living, being self-sufficient. Um, COVID did scare everybody when they ran low on food in the grocery stores. And I thought, Hmm, I could just do this myself. My grandparents did it. If they could do it, I can do it. So I've just slowly been learning more. And just.

02:55
building on the knowledge already had. Yeah, it's like a runaway train, I swear. Especially with social media, you always see something else out there you think, if they can do it, I can do it. Yeah, I think it's true. And I don't think it's true for everyone. I've said this a couple times on the podcast that

03:18
I'm not sure that homesteading is for everybody. I think that it takes a special person, and I don't mean in a derogatory way, I think it takes someone special to want to learn and grow in this way. Absolutely. I know lots of my friends say, I could never do that. I could never do that. I'm like, well, I'm glad I can. They don't wanna get their hands dirty. They don't wanna do a little chick-a-boop. They don't wanna hear a rooster. And that's the kind of stuff that just don't bother me.

03:46
Yeah, I kind of like hearing roosters. We don't have one, but our neighbors about a quarter mile away have a rooster. And I'm usually up before the sun comes up and I hear him calling and I'm like, oh, he knows what time it is. I recently made a ringtone out of my rooster's roost because he's teaching a younger rooster how to do it. Oh, fun. He's going, he's doing his, errr, errr, and then the baby goes, errr. That's adorable.

04:16
That's great. So I don't know when your book came out. I know you have a book out and I don't think it was out when I approached you about being on the show. So can you tell me about your book? Sure. I wrote it the last half of last year and it was published in January. It's called Happy Homestead Coaching. That's the book. It's on Amazon. Anybody's interested. Okay, what's it about?

04:46
about how to not just do the homestead thing, but how to maintain happiness and a peaceful life throughout it, not let it overwhelm you, not let it be something that you regret. That is a fantastic topic for a book because there have been days since we moved to our three acres where I'm like, what are we doing today? And it can, it can overwhelm you. Oh yes, absolutely. You have to know when to say, that's enough for now.

05:15
Yeah, last summer we were making lip balms and cold process lye soaps and candles. And my husband was doing the garden and the farmers markets and the CSA. And I was trying to keep everybody fed and make sure the clothes got washed. And like in July, I just looked at him. I said, what are we doing? This is nuts.

05:40
And he said, this is summer. He said, wait until November. You'll be like, I'm so bored. What do I do now? And we don't even have animals. I mean, we have a dog and barn cats and chickens. It's not like we're taking care of cows and goats and horses. Right. That's one reason I don't have those is because I do feel like it would overwhelm me. Yeah. I mean, I would love to have them. I think that would be really fun, but I think the fun part of it would probably go away after about a month and I'd be like, Oh, this is.

06:10
a lot of work. Okay, so do you guys, I asked this of everybody who homesteads, do you homestead just to be sustainable for yourselves or do you sell stuff? We haven't sold stuff as of yet because we, I can and I want to preserve and keep as much as I can in the basement. After I feel like I've got enough stored on my own, then I'll start selling. And I just got about 70.

06:40
chicks from Tractor Supply in the last two months. So I'm gonna start getting too many eggs and I'm not canning eggs. So I probably will start selling them at that point. I got that many chickens so that I could raise them and then sell the chickens. I can buy the chickens for three or four bucks and then sell them for 30 or whatever. That's my plan. My plan is not to keep 70 chickens. Yeah, that's a lot of birds and a lot of eggs. Oh my God. You're using ducks too. Oh.

07:10
So you have branched out into other fowl. I did, I was a sucker at the tractor supply. They're awfully cute, it's hard to walk away without them. Yep. And if we had the set up for chickens, it'd be so easy just to put them all together, and it is. Just like other chickens, they all get along fine, they all eat fine, they all drink from the same water. No fault can go to it though, ever. Yeah, I won't go to tractor supply between February and-

07:39
June if I can avoid it because I'm gonna get suckered in and I'm gonna be like we should try doing baby chickens and my husband really wants to do that and I don't most of the time I don't but I went to Tractor Supply like two springs ago and they had the most adorable ducklings and the guy let me hold one and they're not supposed to but he did and that duckling almost came home with us and I was like yeah I need to not go to Tractor Supply when it's when it's the

08:07
the time that they're selling the baby fowl because they're adorable and I want them, but I don't actually want them. You kind of do and you kind of don't. Yeah, we have like 18 chickens that are laying hens and that's more than enough. I'm good. It's all good. And they're useless so you don't ever get baby chickens? No. Okay. Nope, but we have many, many, many eggs, many eggs. I'm sure. When I first brought the babies home, I had them in plastic Walmart tubs in my kitchen.

08:37
I had three of them on my kitchen table. I was not ready for them. And as they got bigger, I'm like, hmm, now what? And luckily we had a storage shed, it was 10 by 10, that we just cleaned out and made it the nursery. Yeah. This week we put a chicken access door through it and fenced outside so they can go in and out and it's working great. Yeah, I mean, honestly, chickens are the gateway drug to all the other animals you wanna get.

09:04
And the reason why is because chickens are fairly low maintenance. Fairly. I mean, we got four chickens when we lived in town before we moved here. And really, my husband would clean out the coop like once a month because it was four chickens. And we had eggs enough for me to make a batch of cookies for the kids and for the kids to have a couple scrambled eggs during the week. So it's not that hard.

09:32
They don't require a lot of care and they don't really require a fancy coop. We bought one of the sheds you can get at Home Depot, you know, the vinyl ones, when we first got them. And actually, no, when we first got them, we got one of those chicken coops that it, I don't know how to explain it. It looks like a rabbit hutch. Yeah. One of those. And it really wasn't big enough for four chickens.

10:01
And so we ended up getting the shed thing from Home Depot. And once the shed was built, the chickens were so happy because they had so much more room. And we kept referring to the shed as the chicken mansion. We built them a mansion. And we called it that to the neighbors. And the neighbors like, what do you mean chicken mansion? And we explained, they were like, oh, they're moving up in the world. I said, yes, they have much more room now. So it's a really simple thing to do.

10:28
as long as your city allows you to do it if you live in a city. Yes, you mentioned having them when you were in the city. When we started out, we lived in the city. And then I didn't know they would get old enough to fly over the fence. We would get calls from the neighbors saying your chickens are walking down the sidewalks. And I learned how to trim their wings, but that's when I thought maybe we need a different place.

10:56
Yeah, our plan was always to try to find a piece of land with a house on it because living in town wasn't really my favorite thing ever. And so when we had the opportunity to go, we went like there was a fire under our feet. We were like, okay, it's time, let's move. And we did. And our chickens are smarter than the average chicken, I guess. We live by a very busy highway. And it's not

11:26
It's not like an interstate highway, but like a two-lane highway. And we live in the middle of corn fields and soybean fields and alfalfa fields. And so the big semis are going down the road all the time because they're transporting stuff back and forth. And I was afraid we started letting the chickens free range this past fall. They've usually been in a run and my husband was like, I'm gonna let them out. I said, okay.

11:54
I was afraid that they would go out on the road and get hit. They only go about halfway between where their coop is and where the road is, and then they go back. They never actually go to the road. So we have not lost a chicken to a truck yet. Yeah, that's good. Maybe they go to the mountain too. Yeah, I don't know, but they love going out halfway across the garden, which is the expanse between the road and where their coop is. And they get about halfway across the garden.

12:24
eat their way back through the earthworms and stuff. So I don't know what the deal is, but maybe they're just smarter than I think they are. Maybe so. Could be. I might have the smartest chickens in the world and I don't even know it. Who knows? I doubt it. Chickens are not the smartest animal ever. They're fine. Okay. So your book is... Tell me the name of the book again real quick. Nappy Homestead Coaching. Thank you. So are you...

12:54
interested in coaching other homesteaders by chance? Yes, and I put in my book that I would coach other people. I put my contact information in it. And the book also teaches you how to coach others once you become a coach yourself and make an income off of it if that's what you choose. Very nice. That is a really great idea. I put all my passions together. The coaching, which I do through nursing, the happy, peaceful stuff, which I do online too.

13:24
And then the homesickness kind of mixed them all together. Yeah, I really love the topic of the happy part and the joyful part because I have talked with so many people lately who are just swamped with the busyness and the fastness of life right now. And it's like they never get a chance to just breathe, to calm down and look around.

13:54
Yes, enjoy it. As humans, we all need that. We need a chance for our anxiety levels and whatever the hormone is that goes with stress to come down. Yes, absolutely. I've got used to not being fixated on having the perfect garden. If I've got weeds in my beds, so what? I'm happy and the plants are still growing. I'll get to it when I get to it. I don't let it take me out.

14:22
Yeah, I mean, I don't know, I have lots of thoughts about this and they're all dancing in my head and I can't pick one. Yeah, humans have to rest. You can't stay at a level of high anxiety all the time. It will kill you. It will, literally.

14:44
So yeah, I think it's great. I'm actually thinking about picking up a copy of your book because I'm really curious about what's in it. Yeah, I'll probably get the E version and read it before I go to sleep, probably. Because right now I've got a lot going on too, who knew? So. You should watch out for it. If I'm not careful, it'll sneak up on me and I'll get overwhelmed, especially when I went from 10 chickens to 80. But you gotta face yourself and remind yourself

15:14
Enjoy the small moments. Look out the window every morning and look at what you've got and just take a deep breath and relax and be thankful for the things you do have. Not worried about the things you still need to do. Yeah. My husband is one of those guys who is always looking forward further than he probably needs to. And he's always thinking about how do I make it bigger, better, more?

15:44
And I finally had to sit him down a couple years ago and just be like, honey, we have already achieved more in our fifties than most people do by the time they die. Can you just take a day and look around and breathe it in and smile and realize what you've accomplished? And he was like, but, and I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, you need to slow down. You need to stop for a minute and just take it in.

16:14
This being of brain activity becomes a habit over your lifetime. You get used to being in this crisis mode where you have things to do and you've got to keep going or something bad's going to happen. So it's like turning your brain sideways to make it slow down and go from sixth gear to third and realize you can relax. It's just hard to do until it becomes a habit. Yeah, I tricked him. I had our kid make a fire in the fire ring. And

16:43
I poured a little tiny snort of whiskey in a glass and my husband came over to talk to my son because we have benches that sit around the fire ring. My husband was sitting down talking to my son and I handed my husband the little tiny snort of whiskey and I said, drink this. He said okay and he drank half of it, put it down and I said okay.

17:07
I said, you're sitting still. He said, I am. I said, there's a nice fire. He said, there is. I said, you have another sip of whiskey. I said, can you please now settle down for a minute? And he was like, you tricked me into stopping. I said, I sure did.

17:24
And I started asking him questions about what he thought of what we had managed to do that particular year. And he's like, well, we did this and I want to do that. And I said, no, no, no, no, no, no, stay focused on this past year. And he did. He tried. And after he got talking, he thanked me. He was like, thank you for asking me about this. Because I didn't realize how much we've really managed to get done and how great it is.

17:53
So if you have to trick somebody into calming down, trick them, it works. They'll thank you later. Exactly. So, speaking of busy, I cannot keep a lid on my news. I wanna share it with you and it'll get shared on the podcast when this comes out. I am starting a Midwest Makers Directory online today. I am starting to build it.

18:21
because it does not exist. I'm making a directory for people who make things and who are crafters. And I am so excited about this. I woke up yesterday morning not knowing I was gonna do it. I had floated the idea a year and a half ago and it didn't seem like anyone was interested and I didn't think I had the skills to build it. And then yesterday someone commented on that post from a year and a half ago.

18:48
And a whole bunch of people also commented and liked on it. They would be interested in that being a thing. So I went to Google and I typed in, how do I build a directory website? Because I didn't know if maybe there was a program that would do it for me, that I just had to pay somebody to do it and found out that it is affordable and simple and I can do it. So.

19:15
talked to my husband last night when he got home and I said, so I have a thing that I ran by you a year and a half ago but now I have more information thinking about doing this and he's he listened and he said do that that is something people obviously want and need and you're good at this go do it. So for the next two weeks I'm gonna be building this thing and then getting the word out. The reason I'm sharing it is because it plays into the calm and joy thing.

19:44
I thought that I would not sleep last night because when I have a thing that I'm gonna do that seems big to me, I chew on it when I try to go to sleep and I can't get to sleep. I slept like a baby last night so I know it's the right thing to do. Yes. So excited. And I don't want to hijack your story but it's driving me crazy and if I didn't get it out I was gonna be all distracted and not be able to ask any more questions. So. You got it before you. It's a good idea. I'm so excited. Um.

20:12
A lot of times I wanted something homemade. Like recently I wanted like a crochet chick because I didn't think I could make it. I do crochet but I don't think I'm that good. And I wanted something local but I usually go to Etsy. But Etsy, it could be coming from anywhere all over the world and I can't really narrow Etsy down to looking just in like Midwest area wherever you are. So that's an awesome idea.

20:40
Is it set up so you can do it as regions of the United States? And you can also have a map where there can be pins for people, for their addresses and stuff. It's really slick. I'm so excited to dive into this later today. And I was a good girl. I did not jump on it last night. And I absolutely did not cancel this interview with you because I was like, nope, I have to do the podcast and then I need to eat food.

21:07
And then I can start on this because it's going to require my whole brain to get it going. Yes. So I'm, I'm glad that I had you to talk to you because it made me think through and take time and not just jump in and then be frustrated by six o'clock tonight with it. So that does come back to, to calm and joy and ideas and that you can't do everything at one time.

21:36
Absolutely. So I think that plays into your book. And I will absolutely list the link for the Amazon listing for your book when I do the description for the episode. Don't let your new project overwhelm you. One more time? Don't let your new project overwhelm you. No, no, no, no. I'm going to try to take it as slowly as I can and still make it worth the time I'm putting into it. And my daughter happened to take a coding.

22:05
class, a computer coding class two years ago. So I called her last night and I was like, I'm going to do this thing. If I get stuck and frustrated and overwhelmed, can I call you and can you try to talk me through whatever is I'm doing wrong? And she was like, of course I can. So I have a helper. Good. It's nice having grown kids sometimes. It is wonderful having grown kids who know more than I do. Yes.

22:31
I want my kids to be more successful than I have ever been and she's well on her way. Anyway, enough about me and my idea. I just had to spit it out before I choked on it. So let me see what else I can ask you. You said that you can. Do you love canning or is it just a necessary evil? I enjoy it. I mean, if I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't grow so much.

23:01
But I didn't know that my dad did it until I told him I was doing it. And he gave me a book that he used. My grandparents never really taught me how it's like, I know they did it, but it was like a survival skill that they had to have. And I guess they felt like, now that we've got canned food at the grocery store, I don't, my kids will never need those skills, but we do. I do enjoy it and I do try to teach it to my kids too.

23:31
I think one of the best and worst things that ever happened is I think it was after World War II when all the instant foods became a fad. It was great because it freed women up to go pursue other things, but it was terrible because people stopped learning how to cook and providing nutritional food for their families. And I like knowing exactly what is and is not in my food.

24:01
Yeah, me too. Me too. And it's, I swear, everything is a double-edged sword because women back then were expected to be in the kitchen and take care of the kids and bring their husband, their pipe and their newspaper and their dinner. And I, I'm trying really hard to say this the way I want it to come out.

24:29
I am a stay at home mom to this day. Our youngest still lives here. He's 22. He's a fully grown adult and there are reasons why he's here and there are very important reasons that I'm not allowed to get into them. But I'm also not a full time hands on radar raised mom of little ones anymore. And the fact that I have time to cook from scratch and enjoy it is such a joy to me.

24:58
It's such a blessing to me. And the thing that I have really learned in the last 10 years is that all that home cooking that I did for the kids made them healthy and made their brains work. And so I'm glad that I had the privilege of being a stay-at-home mom and cooking for them and making them things like crocheted scarves because I could.

25:23
Because they saw me doing these skills that were important to know and they all learned to do them too. Yes.

25:33
So I don't know, you can play on that if you want. If not, that's fine too. Yeah, I totally agree. I wasn't a stay at home mom, but now I think I've done more of the homesteading since my kids grew up and moved out because I got the time to do it now. Yeah. But yeah, I think there's a balance to it. You don't want to do too much. You mentioned like when we had to stay home and cook and clean and raise the kids all the time, there's a balance to it. And now we do have a choice.

26:01
where we want that balance to be. We could be at home doing this kind of stuff all the time, or you can work full time now. Women have a choice. Yeah. But when you have the balance of both, it can be awesome. Yeah, and it's wonderful. I mean, I loved raising my kids. You know, I really, really did. But once the oldest turned 18, I didn't realize how I had been holding my breath for that.

26:31
The day he turned 18, I swear I exhaled for five minutes straight. I was like, okay, he is, he is of age and I am still sort of responsible for him. But I'm not anymore. And it's a lot of weight on parents to raise their kids to adulthood. Oh yes. On top of everything else they're doing. And kids are, these days are needing their parents more past the age of 18. Yes.

27:01
We still take our kids, new stuff every day because they're willing to learn. Especially a lot of the home fitting stuff. I didn't do a lot of this when they were growing up. I was working full time every time as a nurse. So now that I'm getting into it and sending them pictures of the baby chicks and the cannon in the garden, they, they do ask more questions and they're interested and they start more of their own at home too. Yes. We never stop being examples for our kids. It just keeps going. Oh yes.

27:30
Okay, so I saw the pictures of your chicks. They are adorable. And most people don't know, I mean, anyone listening to this podcast probably knows, but people who are new to the homesteading idea don't know that average laying time from, from hatched chick to eggs is like 18 to 22 weeks. Right. And so,

27:58
Part of the reason that we don't buy chicks, we buy laying hens that are already, you know, just started laying is because you still have to feed those little creatures until they start laying before you see a return on your money. Oh yes, and when they're growing, they eat more. Once they're grown, they kind of just free range. I don't feed them a lot of feed. They eat a lot of bugs off the ground. Yep. Right, when they're young, we're going through a lot of chicken food. Exactly.

28:27
So it's really fun getting a day or two old chick and raising it, but it's also expensive if you're buying like 20 of them to keep them fed until they start giving eggs. And the reason I say this is because there is this picture of homesteading in a lot of people's heads that it's just this very pretty, very fun, easy thing.

28:54
and it is very pretty and it can be fun, but it's not easy and it can be expensive. And it makes you work hard and you're tired at the end of the day. Yes. And I don't say that to discourage anyone, but I just want to be honest about this particular lifestyle. If you're really gonna dive into it deep, you gotta be ready to do the work. Absolutely. My justification always is that I'm gonna get a return off of it.

29:25
I wouldn't have 80 chickens just to be pets. I plan on selling them and making money. And that's my justification for anything around here I do. It's to save money. Yeah, and that's honest. It's really nice when you can do something and give of yourself without expecting any return. But even with stuff that isn't a monetary return, there's some return or you wouldn't be doing it.

29:55
The self-sufficiency is huge for me. The money we put into the garden blend dirt and the raised beds, I'll never get back. It would take a lifetime to get that back out of food. But the self-sufficiency part of it that I can take care of myself if I need to is something money can't buy. Yeah, exactly. And I'm gonna say this and then we're gonna wrap it up because it's been like half an hour already. That was fast.

30:24
We have a huge garden that we grow and we sell produce at the farmers market from it and we sell produce at our farm stand on our property. And my husband decided that he was going to cut back on the many varieties of things that he's been growing and focus more on the things that we know people want like tomatoes and pickling cucumbers and just cucumbers and squash and green beans, the stuff that people really want.

30:52
And I happened to look at a loss leader flyer this past weekend from the store. And I said, um, how many tomato plants did you plant? He said, 120. I said, how many cucumber plants or seeds did you plant? And he said, a hundred. I said, good. And he looked at me because I had that, oh, thank you, Jesus. Look, I'm there sound in my voice. He said, what? And I said, honey, I said, I don't see inflation coming down anytime soon.

31:21
I said, I am happy to sell the excess produce this year. I said, but I hate to say it, but we need to make sure we can tomato sauce and diced tomatoes and pickles and green beans and freeze our squash because it's going to be real expensive to eat this coming winter. Yes. And he was like, Oh yeah. And I said, I'm actually getting a little nervous about this. And

31:49
He said, well, he said, we've got all growing season. He said, and I have lots planted. I said, yeah, we need to stay on preserving it. So, anyone out there who isn't growing things, if you have even the littlest space in your yard that you could put in a raised bed, I would suggest growing some things this year. Yeah, absolutely. You mentioned how many tomato plants you had going. I'll tell you a funny story.

32:15
I bought like 10 packs of tomato seeds, different tomato seeds that I wanted to plant in like January. And my husband thought it'd be sweet and bring home a tray full of 96 cherry tomato plants. Oh my god, okay. So now my plant tomato bed is now his cherry tomato bed and I told him I hope you like cherry tomatoes because you're going to be eating them for the next year. That's a lot. And we found two other beds and I cleaned out that I put my seeds in. Yatch. I love cherry tomatoes.

32:45
And cherry tomato plants are prolific if they're healthy. Mm-hmm, like bushes. Yeah, yeah, and I like cherry tomatoes, but I don't think I could eat that many from that many baby plants, no. Not the good news. We're gonna have to find a cherry tomato recipe book. Mm-hmm. There is a cherry tomato pie recipe that I saw, and the comments that I saw under the recipe said that it

33:14
almost tasted like a strawberry pie. So I can try to find it and send you a link if you want to try making a cherry tomato pie. Yeah, that'd be great. I don't want to. When I eat too many tomatoes, they do start to taste like strawberries to me. And when I eat too many strawberries, they start to taste like tomatoes to me. So I'm going to skip the pie thing. But it is a thing. It's out there. Yeah, please send it to me. I will try to find it again. I'll message it to you.

33:43
All right, Jamie, thank you for entertaining me today, because really this is all about entertaining me today, because I was so distracted by my idea that I got to get going on. I'm like, I'm going to let her talk, because I need something to get my brain off this idea that's been spinning in my head for 24 hours now. I understand. Thank you for your time and your thoughts, and the fact that you wrote a fantastic book that will help other people. That's great. You too. Have a great day.

34:13
Thanks, you too. All right, bye. Happy to see you. You too, bye. Bye.