VT Blodgett Family Farm

Today I'm talking with Dawn at VT Blodgett Family Farm.

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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, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis.  A Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Homegrown Collective, a free-to-use farm-to-table platform emphasizing local connections with ability to sell online, buy, sell, trade in local garden groups, and help us grow a new food system.  You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe.

00:29
share it with a friend or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Dawn at Vermont Blodgett Family Farm. Good morning, Dawn. How are you?  Good morning. I'm doing good and you? I'm great. Tell me I pronounced Blodgett correctly. You did. Okay. Cause  I was like, could it be Blodgett or is it just Blodgett? Blodgett.  Awesome. Good. I always hate like slaughtering people's names. I feel really bad about it.  What is the weather like in Vermont this morning?

00:55
This morning we've actually had a warmer day.  It's up in the  30s.  We got about an inch and half of snow in an hour this morning when we were milking.  So the roads are nice and slushy and we're all white again.  Well, it's pretty. I'm sure that you're like a lot of Northern Tier State people. You're probably looking forward to spring. Yes. Yes, us too.

01:22
just to do my usual thing that I do at the beginning of every episode. Here in Minnesota this morning, it's bright and sunny and it's warm. And we're supposed to hit 70 degrees today for the high. I'm jealous. Yeah, me too. I'm gonna be real happy to see that hit this afternoon. The problem that we're having with this though is that it's really bouncing up and down. And today it's to be, it's supposed to hit 70.

01:51
And then it's supposed to go back down to like the fifties and then Friday they're saying that it's going to be over 70 and we're, might get, um, severe thunderstorms in March. Wow. Yeah. I'm like, you know,  this is not great. I don't, I don't really love the, uh, the zigzagging and the up and down that we're going through right now,  but hopefully by May it will have worked it all out and it'll be okay. Saturday.  was  negative five with the wind chill.

02:21
Oh, all day long. Yeah, a week and a half ago,  two weeks ago here,  we were in like minus 20 real temperature weather for a week. So yeah, it's really hard to know how to dress for the day. I'll tell you that. Layers and it all then can come off.  Exactly.  All right. So tell me about what you guys do at your farm and about yourself.

02:51
So we are classified as a dairy farm. So we have 45 milking jerseys. So we ship to Organic Valley. so that is what we actually do. Like our whole farm is set up as a dairy farm. We've been here for almost 10 years now. are high.

03:20
What is it?  High rotational grazing or intense. That's it. Intense.  Great  rotational grazing.  We have  about 50 acres of land that we we pasture.  We have about 100 acres of land that we hay  and then we have beef cows. But we only have 15 of them.  That's more for the farm stand that we have.

03:48
And about three years ago, four years ago, my husband built the stand, the farm stand, and I have been increasing my egg sales since. So I'm up to 670 chickens. Wow. But we are a dairy farm. OK. I understand that you're a dairy farm, but 670 chickens lay a lot of eggs. Yes.

04:17
You must be very popular right now with egg sales.  Very. I right now because I have various ages of birds.  I have about  250 that are laying consistently.  So I get about 21 dozen eggs a day and I sell out within an hour.  Well, I was impressed that our chickens just started laying a week ago. They're starting to be consistent and we've been getting 10 eggs a day. So  21 dozen a day seems like a wonderful thing. Yes.

04:47
It is a lot of eggs. I'll be happy when we have a dozen a day because we have 12 chickens. So if they're all laying the way it was supposed to, we will have seven dozen a week, which would be really nice right now. Yes.  Yes. And I don't really want to talk too much about eggs and chickens because it's all over the news. And I saw your post  on Facebook that you did  about your chickens and what it costs to take care of them.

05:13
And I'm going to share that on my page and my tiny homestead podcast page because  people don't quite understand that that that first outlay for the chickens is expensive.

05:27
So  it definitely can be. As you said, I posted it. But for the first four months of a chicken's life, it actually only cost about $10 for  four months to feed them. But what's going to cost you the money is starting up. So you need a housing place to put them.

05:53
Yep.  So you need  the waterer, you need a feeder, you need  a place to keep them warm. When I first started, actually kept them in my bathtub  with a heat lamp, right? my, you know, because I could shut the door and my dogs, you know, and my cat couldn't get to them.  And so,  I mean, you can do it cheaply.

06:21
You know,  if you have a place to put them in a place to do things,  but  it's not really the first four months that becomes an issue. It's when they  start laying  that they  that they'll start costing you because it takes a lot for them to lay an egg.  Uh huh. So  you have to,  you know, make sure that they have.

06:49
the right amount of feed  and the right amount of  temperature. As you know, you have chickens.  In the wintertime, they're cold. They don't lay eggs. Their energy goes to body heat instead of producing an egg. A lot of people forget that chickens are seasonal. The only time they're not seasonal is that first  winter  because they're still technically considered a pullet. A pullet is anything under a year old bird.

07:19
Yeah. So yeah, it costs a lot of time too. Yes, they do. And I mean, it's not hours and hours a day, but you, do spend time with your chickens. You do spend time cleaning out the coop. You do spend time  gathering the eggs and making sure the chickens are okay and all that. Yes.  Like I said, I don't want to get too far down the rabbit hole because I've talked about this a lot on the podcast lately because it's the topic of the month basically.

07:46
But what I want  to say is if you're fortunate enough to have the funds to go get chickens  and raise them and have  the means to make a home for them and you have the time,  it is well worth it. But if you don't, find somebody who does have chickens, know, a local grower, local farmer and buy from them because  you're supporting them and you're going to get great eggs from them. Correct.

08:13
And it's going to cost you less than the grocery store, probably from the farmer that, know, because I'm not going to be charging $10 a dozen for our eggs. I'm looking at probably $5 a dozen when they, when we have enough to sell. So. Correct. Cause we have less people touching the eggs. So less people to pay. Yes, exactly. So support your local farmer or your local homestead or your local grower. If you can't be any of those things, I guess is what I'm saying. So, okay. So you said you have 45.

08:43
dairy cows. Yes. That's a small herd  for a  dairy farm.  how did you get into this? So  actually my husband,  I grew up in a  dairy farm background.  My father  and his family  were big into dairy farming  from

09:10
You know, the early, I would say, I think they bought their farm in the late sixties,  early seventies.  And so they made it big  in the eighties when you could actually make money farming. Yes. So then they bought a lot of land and they were, they had 300 cows back in the eighties, which  is, you know, milking cows,  which was a large, you know, industrial farm  back then.  And  for Vermont.

09:39
I mean, other places may not have been, but for Vermont, that was a pretty  substantial amount.  so  I was with it when I was at my dad's  every weekend and being part of  the farming, not really farming community,  because I wasn't big into it.  But I was always out in the barn with my dad helping and  learning how to take care of animals  and dealing with stuff like that.

10:09
I'm actually, my children are ninth generation Vermonters. Oh wow.  Yep. And so farming actually kind of goes back on my grandmother's side, you know, all the way to the  1700s.  So  that's kind of a cool little history background. And they all lived, we all lived in the same area. I was the first one to move away.

10:37
So my husband,  his family had a farm and his grandparents had a farm  and his parents  lived a couple houses down, which in Brookfield is  probably, I think it was like a mile away. they had sold all the cows by the time I met my husband, but he had farmed with,  bought a farm with his brother-in-law and sister and were farming and they had different views.

11:06
So my husband got out of it. And in 2011, he's like, I want to start again. So the new adventure started. So we've been farming together for 14 years. Moved here almost 10 years ago. OK, I don't want to be nosy, but I have to ask, is this your job or is this your job outside of your job? This is our job. OK.

11:36
So I quit my job. I was a nurse. I worked with a podiatrist. And I quit my job in 2000 of November of 2012 to do it full time because we had two small children at the time. One was in just started school and the other one was, you know, still technically, I guess a toddler. But the school district was not in the farm district.

12:05
So he would have to stop what he was doing and go pick up our son,  either from the house where  the bus dropped him off or picked him up at school,  and then  find either his parents or my parents to watch them while he went down and farmed. financially,  it was a little difficult taking that income out.

12:34
But  time wise,  it was  the only thing we could do. He could not be a stay at home dad  and a full time farmer. No, because that does not go hand in hand.  No. And see, the thing that a lot of people forget about farmers versus homesteaders  or  people who have a few animals  is this is 24 seven, right? Like he gets up at four o'clock in the morning.

13:04
and he goes until six o'clock at night. And that is an everyday thing.  And if then there's haying or calving or  something breaks  or something like that, he literally is gone longer out of the house. We have no workers  other than me and him and then our 16 year old son helps.  But as we know, what 16 year olds, they like to do other things.

13:33
It's a very time consuming thing. So  when I got done my job, it was mainly to be  a stay at home mom helping on the farm because our kids just took so much time  away from him.  then when we moved here 10 years ago, because now we lived on the farm that we actually have before we rented the farm that was about five miles away.

14:03
it became, this became my full-time job also. Okay, cool. The reason I asked is because a lot of people, even full-time farmers,  they're  full-time farming as much as they can, which means every hour they're not at their jobby job. And it's a really, really hard balance from what I've been told. I haven't had to do it. Thank God.  I would not have the energy or the patience for it.  But  you were saying in messages that

14:33
that was I sure that I wanted you to be on the podcast because you're farmers, not homesteaders.  And Dawn, there's a lot of overlap between homesteaders  and farmers. There's a lot of  skill involved that are the same skills.  And I feel like there's some homesteaders that consider themselves to farmers  and farmers that consider themselves to be homesteaders as well. So

14:59
It's all under the same umbrella for  what I'm trying to get to on the podcast. That makes sense.  So  I think, to be honest,  that is true to some extent.  I think  the thing that does separate a homesteader  versus a farmer, and what I classify as a farmer, I know that's kind of a loose term.

15:28
is  most homesteaders do it for themselves.  A farmer does it to feed the community.  And I think that is something  that just plays a part in it. So like when I was talking about I was more of a stay at home mom,  and I helped on the farm.  So at that point, I would classify myself as more of a homesteader because I used

15:57
the materials, right? I had my garden.  you know, I cooked from everything from scratch because I had more time to do it.  So I did more of the homesteading and  I use quotation marks on that one because, know,  labels just aren't very nice anyway. They sound horrible.  But  I had more time to be able to do some of those things. When we became

16:25
farmers up here or when I became a farmer, should say.  I could not do a garden anymore.  I pay for my vegetables.  I have a friend who  that's what he does full time.  we barter meat for vegetables because I do the meat, he does the veggies.  I do not have time in my day to do a garden.

16:52
I have to literally pencil in enough time  if I want to can my chicken broth just because I have so many, you know, frozen chicken in my freezer that I've got to get out of. Right. So I'm staying up late at night  to  to be able to do that because there just isn't enough time. So I think that is a big difference between homesteaders is  it's just  they're they're doing things to feed themselves.

17:22
And then making money with the things like that versus farming is like our full-time job. Yep. Okay. I see the distinction now, but, but again, I thought I was trying to, I know it sounds horrible trying to get it out, but there is a distinction and there's not, it's not a bad thing. Yep. Right. I'm not trying to say homesteaders are lease,  you know, less than farmers. It's just different.  yeah, absolutely.  And

17:49
Again, going to stick by there's a lot of overlap in what you guys do regarding skills because,  because homesteaders, a lot of them definitely have a of dairy cows and they milk them and they do the thing, but it's not like what you're doing. You are an operation as it were. So the skill set is the exact same,  right? The difference is, like you said, we're doing it as an operation. have 48 milking cows versus they have one. Right. So my cows, you know,

18:19
Myles and I were actually just talking about that this morning where  somebody was saying how I read somewhere about washing the udder and brushing down their cow before the milking procedure.  I went, could you imagine if we did that  for every cow we had before we brought them into milk?  And we would be milking for 12 hours every day,  like sitting there brushing our cows.

18:47
Because it's an, so we, you know, we just do things differently. Yeah. Right. But it's still the end result is getting milk out of the cow and healthy milk and clean milk. Exactly. So if you have that many cows, do you actually have babies in the, in the, during the year or not? So we are seasonal. Um, because, um, I growing up in, in a farm,

19:15
household, my father was never available. He was always out milking or doing chores or doing something.  So Christmas, we had to wait  until he came in to do, you know, Christmas presents. And we never got to take vacations.  And we never got to do anything. Yeah. So for my family, I told my husband when we started farming, we were  going to still be a family first,  no matter what.

19:44
So we were taking vacations. We were going to basketball games. We were doing all of the things that my kids needed to do to be, you know, children. So we became seasonal in 2017. So everything got dried off, everything capped within six weeks to two months. Sometimes there's a little, you know, tail-enders there that got pregnant a little bit late. The prices. Yep.

20:13
So  we dry everything. We go down to once a day normally in the beginning of July.  And then by August 1st, we dry everything off at once.  So we are not milking anything. And we have our first cow, Cavon, in  mid September. Okay. And then  because you already have so many milking cows, do you keep some of those babies or do you sell them?

20:42
So I keep 10 babies  a year  and then I sell everything else.  Okay, cool. So  you're keeping your  herd fresh and in rotation, I guess is what I'm trying to get to. Awesome.  And you get the joy of dealing with calves.  Right.  And  I say that with kind of a weird tone to my voice because  I love calves, but I don't have any, you know, to me a calf is something.

21:12
calf is something I go  to visit and pet and be entertained by and then I get to leave it with its parents. But for you, this is this work. So  so do you still get to enjoy the calves or are they just a means to an end?  I enjoy my calves. Okay. I think we look at it definitely different where yes, they are means, right? We have to have them on the farm to

21:40
bring in new life to the farm because cows get old, cows get sick, right? So we do look at them very different, but every one of my calves  are loved on, they're played with.  We have kids that come over that love playing with them and  desensitize them, because having a spazzy calf is not fun.  But they're fed.

22:09
They're bottle fed, they're,  you know, they're named, they're loved.  We love our cows just like we do our dogs.  Every one of them has a personality where we're just like,  you're just like your mother. Like coming out, you look at them and you're like, wow, you're just like your mother.  But they,  and I think that that's where the small dairy farm comes in versus some of the larger ones.

22:38
is we do, because we are small, we have time to  get to know our animals,  right? We're touching them, we're playing with them, we're part of their community versus like them being part of our community. Right, yeah. So what kind of  farm dogs do you have? Because everybody has a favorite. I mean, we have friends that have two Pyrenees, so. So we have three golden retrievers that  are our mascots.

23:07
and they are not allowed in the barn. Uh huh. Because they have the longest, most beautiful golden hair and they would love to be on my bed being covered in cow crap. So our dogs are babies. Yes. Versus, you know, when we were a Thai stall, when we first moved here, Thai stalls have a lot different atmosphere because the cows are tied to, you know, where they're supposed to be. Yeah.

23:37
So they only poop in one spot. So having the dogs out there wasn't a big deal because they just knew not to go in the gutter. But now that we're in a free stall,  there's poop everywhere.  Yep. And cow poop is amazing for manure, for  fertilizer, for a garden, but it's not amazing if you're wearing it. Yep. That's exactly.  I actually have a really funny story about wearing poop.  So we had just moved here.

24:07
And  so a manure pond  is where all of our liquid manure sits until we can get it spread on the field. Yes. So  there is a special little tool that can be backed in and it has a propeller on it to  agitate the pit. Yeah. And it's got a spray hose on it. Well, my husband,  I had to talk to my husband about something and I was walking out and I went.

24:35
That would really suck if somebody got sprayed with that. Oh, no. And it  was in the spring, by the way. So the manure had sat in there for all winter. And then, of course, we had just moved here and the previous owner hadn't emptied the pit. So that poop in there was ripe.  Right. So I went over and I was standing there waiting for my husband to  see me and pay attention.  Well, he put the hose  on the bottom part underneath me.

25:04
to try to  get the poop  to move away from where it was.  And literally a wave of poop covered me.  Oh no.  My silhouette was on the wall behind me. Ugh.  His face was, he didn't know if he should laugh.

25:29
Or run. Yes. Yes, run fast away because she's probably really mad right now. I actually could do nothing but laugh. It was just the funniest thing because I had just said that would really suck if somebody got sprayed with that because it did it stunk so bad. For like a week it was in my nose. Oh yeah. That smell. Even after you showered and put deodorant on and perfume, you still have it stuck in your nose.

25:58
I had to throw away all of my clothes  because I could not get the smell out. And if I could have taken my skin off, I would have been thrown that away. It smells so bad. Oh yeah, absolutely.  I don't have a Kalmanor story, but I have a skunk story. When I was a teenager, when I was in high school, our Samoyed dog, the big white fluffy dogs,  got sprayed by a skunk and he took a direct hit.

26:26
My parents had to bring him in the house and, you know, get him in the bathtub with tomato sauce or whatever they used to try to cut some of that smell because it is really intense.  And because they brought him in the house, that smell was all through anything that was cloth in the house, including my clothes.  And I don't know how high school was for you, but I was not popular and I got teased a lot.  You can just imagine.

26:51
the two weeks or three weeks after that happened me going to school because I couldn't go buy new clothes and even if I did the house still had that smell in it.  yeah. Yeah. It was not fun. Three weeks to a month after that happened being in high school smelling like a slug.  It was really bad.  So yeah, I've had my experiences with stinky things too, but not, not calminor. The only time,  the only story I have about calminor is we went to visit my folks in Maine.

27:20
back in 2014  and they have a hay field that they basically let a friend of theirs cut and and in exchange my parents get venison from them I think or be foreign the other and So  when we went to visit it was right around the time that a guy was gonna put manure on the hay field  and my mom was just crossing everything that he wouldn't come until after we had left because it's stinky  and

27:47
That morning that I got up and heard my mom swearing like pirate as I was coming down the stairs at their house  was the morning that he brought the the shit spreader as my parents call it.  oh, my mom was mad. I have not seen her  that upset about anything in a long time. And she used words that I've never heard her used before.

28:12
And I basically had to give her a big hug and be like, it's okay. I know what cow poop smells like. It's fine. She's like, he could have just waited another day. And I'm like,  mom, when it needs to be done, it needs to be done. She's like, you're taking this much better than I thought you would. I said,  I remember driving through this area when we were kids  and the windows would be down and we would smell cow poop.

28:38
And we would be like, oh, it stinks. And you'd be like, that's mother nature's gold right there. I said, we're not immune. This is not a new thing for me or my husband or our kids. It's time.  So yeah, she was mad, really, really mad. I have so many words I'm not using right now. yeah, mean,  a lot of this lifestyle, whether it's farming or homesteading or ranching,

29:05
There's a lot of messy things about it, but it is  so incredibly worth it, I think. So it is a lifestyle,  right? It is.  And if you don't like the lifestyle, then it's  it's miserable. Right.  And actually,  I grew growing up because of how my father was. I kept saying to my mom,  I was like, I'm never marrying a farmer.

29:33
I hate Vermont. I'm moving away and I did move away, right?  I moved away to Virginia Beach when I was 21. So,  and then I moved back and I met my husband. It was fate.  We actually had gone to kindergarten together all through school. Our paths have,  you know, intertwined.  It was meant to be.  And I found where I belong, right? It took forever, but this is where I belong. This is, even though it's frustrating.

30:03
Like I did a post the other day about how tired I am,  but it's not the fact that I'm tired of the nonsense. I'm tired of  how things work  in our society. They shouldn't be so hard for farmers  or for homesteaders or people to be able to make a living doing what they enjoy.  a bunch of people said on my post, they were like,  oh, well, but it's so rewarding.

30:32
That doesn't make it less tiring. No, no, it does not. That actually makes it more because our job is so demanding on all of our time. I say it, my husband's not just married to me. He's married to 48 other women. Yes. And, he treats them better than me sometimes. I'm sure he doesn't mean to. Oh no, he does. He says it all the time. They get everything, but it's okay. Most of the time it's okay.

31:03
But the thing is, it's all the other stuff that makes a tiring job even more tiring. Like, why are we fighting our government,  right? To be able to  provide good food for our community.  Why are we fighting people because they don't understand and believe in what we do? Yeah. You know?  And I think that's the hard part is  that's what makes it so tiring is

31:33
all the other.

31:36
Yes.  And  if you love what you do,  it makes it a little easier to deal with that. But man, if you don't love what you do and you're having to deal with all that stuff, you're going to get out. You're just not staying in it. And so I think another part that people forget  is, you know,  farming,  again, like homesteading is a lifestyle, right? It is a profession.

32:04
But, and this is where it kind of overlaps, you were saying,  is  once you get to a point where that farm is no longer making enough money  to sustain itself, you have to make choices  of either getting out  or passing it on and finding something else to do. Farmers don't know what else to do. And they will hold on to their lifestyle longer than they really should.

32:34
But they don't know any different. They don't know what else to do. Yeah.  It's so hard. Like I'm talking to you and I'm like, oh, it's so hard and it's so, I don't know, negative sometimes.  And then I talked to other people who are farmers, like actual farmers, and they're so high on it because everything is going well. So I think it's  an any given day thing.

33:03
where you're at with how you feel about it?  Yes.  I have had, and I'm not trying to put down farming in any way.  This is an emotional week for us.  Last week was the anniversary of us losing my husband's brother.  It's been three years. And so we had that huge emotional,  you know, that's when his accident was.  He didn't pass away until March 24th.

33:33
Right. And so there's a lot of emotional baggage still,  you know, with with all of that. And then  last week was a big week because we had a lot of vet checks, right. We had a lot of extra.  So.  For for me right now,  I'm just I mean, tired,  right, is is what I keep saying  is I just need to be recharged. So.

34:01
That's why I take vacation every year, why we go on vacation and do the seasonal thing. And so we can recharge  and bring that energy back in the next season. Yeah. And, you know, it's really hard with a winter, right? The way we have,  it's just draining. It's just tiring. I know I say that word a lot, but,  you know, right now we're at the end of that season. Well, Dawn, I'm going to tell you,  I

34:31
appreciate what you do. And I'm not sure you hear that enough, but right now I've got about a third of a gallon of milk in my fridge because my husband was supposed to go and get milk yesterday and didn't get it at the store. He said he's going to and they got sidetracked. And I was like, did you ever go to the store? He's like, no, it was past time to go. So I love milk. I drink it in my coffee. I have it with cookies when we have cookies because I can't eat a cookie without milk. That's not happening.

34:59
And I also have really gotten into making sausage gravy and biscuits this winter because it's really filling and it's not  it ain't good for you, but it's yummy and It's great for you. Yeah It just depends on you. It's great for the soul. Yes, exactly And it was really freaking cold here a couple weeks ago Sausage gravy and biscuits was very warming and I was very happy to have it, but it takes like three cups of milk.  So

35:28
I really appreciate what you do. really appreciate what dairy farmers do because it is a lot of work. And I know that sometimes you can have a bad batch of milk that you can't sell and you lose that money and that's not good.  So I appreciate you. Thank you for doing what you do.  Thank you.  And  it actually,  it's nice to hear when people appreciate you because, and I, you know, I feel very fortunate.

35:58
my Facebook page that we have  has a lot of supportive people, right? Like I love my people.  But every once in a while we get one, you know, where they're just like, oh my gosh, I hate dairy. And it's like,  well, come learn,  right? And you wouldn't hate it. I mean, yes, it's like any industry. There's parts of it that  are not,  that aren't pretty,  that are, that's hard.

36:28
We make hard decisions every day. Like there's a cow that's not producing and isn't pregnant. What do you do?  Do you lose money? So, you know, that's the difference. You know, sometimes is people just don't see it as a business. They put their emotions in it. Well, I'm going to say something that's probably not very popular to my, well, to my listeners, probably fine, but to anybody else, probably not.  I feel like.

36:58
people  are not very good at considering the other person's life and perspective. You know, the walk a mile in my shoes thing.  And I have been trying to do that for a very long time because I used to be  very sharp with my tongue when I was young and I used to not really understand that the world didn't revolve around me because teenagers are like that.  And after I had my daughter,

37:26
when I was 20, my whole worldview changed. I wanted things to be good for her.  And I started doing, I read a lot before that, but I started reading a lot more things about other people and other  ways of living and really tried to pull in what I learned into my, my own paradigm of just because I do it this way, doesn't mean it can't be done successfully in a different way.  And so

37:57
My big thing  is please just consider other people's viewpoints. You don't have to borrow them. You don't have to embrace them,  but at least consider them. Yep. That's all I really want because I feel like the world would be such a better place if maybe people had a little more patience and consideration. Yep. I agree with you 100%. I  always sound very Pollyanna-ish, like very idealistic with that, but  I don't think it's a big ask.

38:27
I feel like every human being is capable of listening to someone's story, processing it and going, I've never done it that way, but huh, it worked. Yep.  Well, so like  I  feel very strongly going off from that. I feel very strongly that there's enough room for everybody. Yeah. Right.  I'm not competing with the person next door. Right.

38:54
I am there to support the person next door.  if  we are both selling hamburger, I don't care  where you go, just go.  I tell people all the time  on my farm page, right? Hey, go here, go here.  Support this person, support this farm.  To be honest, I'm not in competition with anybody  and they shouldn't be in competition with me.

39:25
It's a let's help everybody grow. There is enough business just like I am not one for  almond juice,  coconut juice. I personally find them so sugary.  I can't stand them. Right. So that's why I drink real milk.  know,  but I understand why more people why there's people that drink those. My best friend's allergic to milk. Yeah. She can't have any dairy. she's  like,

39:54
I'm so sorry. like, why? It's not your fault. Right. It's like, even if you don't just don't like it and fine with it, but  you know, so  she doesn't bash me for it. She's like, well, you know, she just she supports the farm. But it's like, I don't know. I feel very strongly where  it doesn't matter what you want. Like.

40:20
There's enough people in the world that we all can support each other. Yes, and we should. So I'm going end the podcast episode with that because we should all support each other. I think that that is a really good way to end it. Everybody  try to support each other. Try to be encouraging. Try to help  because it's so important.  Dawn, I really appreciate your time today. Thank you so much.  Thank you for having me. All right. You have a great day. You too.  Bye.