A Tiny Homestead

Groovy Grazers MT

Today I'm talking with Morgan at Groovy Grazers MT.
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00:00This 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 Morgan at Groovy Grazer's MT, and I'm assuming the MT stands for Montana, but I could be wrong. Good morning, Morgan.
00:22Good morning. Yes, it is Montana. We're hoping to be another state. So we like to kind of divide it out. So this is our Montana location, which would be our original location. Okay, that makes sense. Well, tell me about yourself and Groovy Grazers. Yeah, so I'm an Air Force veteran. I spent about two years in and then I got out in Okinawa, Japan when I had my son. And it did set off some genetic disorders. So that's kind of how Groovy Grazers came about.
00:50was I left my corporate America job making over, you know, $100,000. I was like, I'm going to do something different. And then we got some goats because we needed to like refresh our land. Goats are good land rebuilders. A lot of people don't understand that they can rebuild the land. So it just started with three goats and we were just sitting there one night, me and my husband, and I was like, man, these guys are just burning hay. They're kind of like horses or, you know, just kind of an ornament right now. They got to do something.
01:20So it started originally with grazing because in the south, and that's where I came from, I moved from Arizona up to Montana, but I lived in Homesteaded in Louisiana and I lived in Texas. And I've seen them do this like massive grazing, but they've done it with meat goats. So I was like, okay, we're gonna try it. And that's kinda how it started. It went from grazing to birthday parties and events to kind of being like a community-based thing. So it's really got a lot of facets to it as a business and as like,
01:50accompany what we do but the main thing is just go birthday parties right now. Fun! So how does that work? How do the goats interact at the birthday parties and is it for little kids or up to 18 or for grown-ups too? Anyone can have a goat party. I actually did a 34 year old males party this month and part of it was
02:15He had goats growing up. So some of it is nostalgia, right? For the adults. Tonight we're doing St. John's United. They're a really big nonprofit. A lot of people know them. They're, I believe, worldwide. So we're doing it. So it kind of varies in who and what and where I've done. Dispensary grand openings, because it is legal here. We're doing a kid event at the park. So it...
02:41There's really not like a person, right? If you ask who can do goat parties, it's anyone, but what do the goats do? Well, I mean, they're Nigerian dwarfs, so they're cute in general, right? They're like max 50 pounds, but I bring the babies. So I just rehomed my 10 to 12 week old. I think every 12 week, I'd have to count back. We had a few babies, but I would take them with, and the kids can hold them, the adults can hold them. You can take pictures with them, just watch them, right?
03:09Sometimes kids will just sit there and watch them because they're really interesting creatures. A lot of the event is me talking and interacting with the public, which is really my favorite. So, you know, being disabled and not having a lot of things to do and being at home on 20 acres, you don't get out a lot. So a lot of it is me interacting with these people and explaining to them weird facts about goats and why we got into this and how it works and then them getting full range of touching them.
03:38and exploring them. I love when the kids touch the horns and they look at, you know, their eyes, and I'll even show them their teeth. It's just a hands-on learning experience. And that's really what the whole party is about, is letting the kids touch something that maybe they wouldn't. I mean, not very many people have 20 acres or even goats per se, so it's something that they may never get to do. And so to allow them to do it to the fullest extent is kind of what Groovy Grazers is about, is like free or like...
04:06I don't know how to explain it, hands-on learning, like free play. Like you play with the goats, you see what they do and you see how they interact and then the kids will ask you questions naturally. It's kind of a really cool interaction between the kids and goats. Super fun. No one has told me the, whatever you said, the facts. Oh yeah. Tell me some facts. Tell me some crazy facts about goats. Okay. So my favorite is land, right? Because in Montana...
04:34our soil where we're at, I'm in Laurel, which is right outside of Billings. It's kind of a bedroom town for Billings. We're really high in alkaline, right? Alkaline isn't good to garden in. It's really hard to garden in actually. And you have to rebuild your soil. So I tell people, they're like, man, goats are annoying. And I'm like, yeah, well, do you have weeds in your yard? And they're like, yeah, my horses don't either or the people that bale hay.
05:01Those are especially my favorite, because we talked to a lot of other farmers out here in Montana. It's a pretty rural area, right? And so I get to tell them, I'm like, well, hey, you need goats, because goats naturally eat. And then they process like 90% of the seeds, so they digest them fully. And then the other like eight to 9%, I'm probably a little off of my percentages, they're rendered unviable, so they're not gonna sprout. So you're talking about an animal that comes in and cleans up your field.
05:31The other really cool thing is they're ruminants like cows. Um, so they chew cud, right? So I love that. They love seeing that, right? They love being able to watch the goats chew. You were saying. Yeah. So the, I mean, just the interaction of the goats, right? Them being ruminants and them chewing their cud. The kids think it is the most hilarious thing ever, right? Because they've seen cows do it, but cows' cud smells really different compared to goat cud.
06:01And so they love watching it. They also love learning that the ruminant is on the left side, right? So on the goat, which if you're looking at the head, it's on your left side. If you're looking at the goat, it's gonna be on the right. So a lot of people say R for ruminant. I just know it the different way because that's how I was taught. So I love letting the kids or adults put their ears up to the goat's side. When I have little baby goats, that's easy, they just pick them up, you know?
06:26And they're like, wow, you can hear it gurgling and talking. I'm like, yeah, it's digesting. So there's so much hands-on. They can see almost a full 360 around them with their eyes. That's why their eyes are on the side of their head and they're shaped differently. My husband knows the actual name of the shape that their eye is, and he's got some of the cool facts. They also produce cashmere. Not a lot of people know that. I didn't know that actually. My boyfriend, or husband, we just...
06:54got married, she basically was like, did you know that they produce cashmere? Cause I'm obsessed with crocheting. Cause my mom taught me how and I said, no. So even me who crochet didn't even know that cashmere came from goats. You know, so I think there's a lot that we don't know about them. Also Nigerian dwarfs are 50, they're like 50 50. They're more of a cream breed, which is what I have. I know people are like, you're nuts. You milk a Nigerian dwarf, you only get a quart of milk. Max, today I have a dough that produces two quarts.
07:24And I'm like, yeah, but it tastes really good. Most people don't know that because the Nigerian dwarves produce less, that it is a higher fat content. It's actually about 10% more than most other breeds. I mean, these are just like my best facts. I can keep going for days. I absolutely am obsessed with goats. Yeah. I actually have a question. I was watching a show, a vet show, and I think it was dogs. Dogs have uterine f*****.
07:54horns so they develop babies on both sides. I was a vet tech. That is correct. Do goats do have that too? Yes they do. So that was something I actually learned. So anyone that has goats listening to this you need to go on a Facebook and type goat emergency into your search bar and join that group. Because it's just farmers being farmers and you do have some vets on there but they're just giving advice for free right?
08:21So on there, I learned that because goats can have babies or kids, which is what they're called, that develop in each horn at different stages. It's super rare, but that's how I learned that goats have uterine horns. And I know that dogs do because I used to help. I was a veterinary technician in Louisiana and we used to perform surgeries. And I remember looking at the horns and him telling me all about that. So that was something that when I went to goats,
08:51I thought was really interesting that they also have uterine horns too. So they have two separate uteruses almost because from what I was reading, they can have different developmental stages if they're releasing extra eggs, right? Which isn't, they're not supposed to do, but yeah, they do. Isn't that crazy? It is. Nature is nuts. I don't understand what...
09:17in the world, nature was thinking when it decided to do the things it does. And if you're a God person, I don't understand what God was doing. I don't have to understand. I'm not, I'm not religious. So for me, it's nature. Yeah. I look at the way things happen and the way things get messed up and the way things turn out right. And I'm just astounded every time. Yeah, absolutely. Ghosts have taught me a lot about nature, right? Like it's kind of a cut, cut throat.
09:46Farming, we're a small farm, right? Well, I don't know. If you ask my neighbors who don't like our homestead, because we're the only homesteader on our entire street, which we're on a smaller street, right? They don't like the farm, but if you ask other people, like we're a small farm, we only have 20 goats. And we can't afford shrinkage. So when you're talking like natural things that happen and not understanding them.
10:13goats, you know, everyone told me, oh man, goats just love to drop dead and I didn't have any issues for a really long time. And I was like, that's not true. You know, but then I bred and I lost one, um, giving birth and then I just lost one this Friday to worms. And it's just crazy to me that you can let a goat out in the pasture in the morning and they look perfectly fine. I mean, she's running around acting like a little, you know, goat being playful and
10:40not wanting to go in the pen and having to be chased and eating her food. And then at the end of the night, they're, you know, no longer with you. And so that's what I find crazy is that goats can come and go really quickly in that sense. And sometimes there's no rhyme or reason. And that's with all farming, you know. And so when you get into farming, especially I think with what you're saying is that we learn firsthand just that like there is.
11:07sometimes no reason for the things that happen in nature. Or you have to really dig, like you don't understand, like goats needing B12. So my goats right now have a heavy worm load and they're anemic, so I'm having to give them iron, B12 and organic apple cider vinegar. Isn't that crazy? Like you're just giving them vitamins. So it's just downing to me that that's just, it's just that simple of a fix for a goat, you know? It's that simple sometimes in nature.
11:37But then other times it requires antibiotics and it's a lot harder. Yeah, and sometimes nothing works, which is the saddest thing ever. It's so hard. I mean, I keep saying it's so hard. It should be my catchphrase for the entire podcast. It's so hard losing crops and animals because you put all this love and all this work and all this time into the thing you're trying to grow, whether it's plants or animals. You do...
12:04everything you can, you do all the studying, you do all the work, and sometimes it just doesn't work. It doesn't. And we've experienced that. And I take it so personally, right? When my animals are sick or something. We've spent, I have spent hours actually researching goats need copper. So when people go to the feed store, something I've had to do a lot with Groovy Gracers is education.
12:30Right? So really groovy grazers is the goats, but there's education involved. So we are a less waste farm at the end of the day. I want to teach people how to do that. So when we, I don't even say we're organic because I can't afford the shrinkage in animals, which is loss, right? Like I had to decide to no longer be organic this weekend because it was either lose four goats or give them an antibiotic. And you know what? They're getting antibiotics.
12:58Oh, well, I'll just not milk them or I won't, you know, for an extended period because we do watch what we put in our body. But we try to teach people that it is so hard, but it's worth it, right? Pour your heart out into this. Do what you need to do, but know that it can be done on any scale. So when you're having the goats and you're having to make choices with them, sometimes it feels weird, right? And you try everything you can and they still end up dead. But sometimes it works really well.
13:28So I tell people like, yes, farming is hard, but it's worth it, right? You're growing your own food. You're growing everything on your own. I know what goes into my animals. I know what's coming out of them, right? So like needing copper, that's something they have to have. They have to have selenium and iodine, we're deficient. So you have to do your own research. Like this is a lifestyle, it's not a hobby. I try to tell people like, if you're going to do some type of farming,
13:58small scale, one acre, it's a lifestyle now. You have to indulge in all the information you can get from other farmers because you don't really, I can't call it that, you know, for some of the things I need. And that's one of the, you know, the problems that a lot of farmers I think run into is that they wanna give up because it can be hard. So like, yeah, it's totally hard, but it's worth it. You can find the things that you need. Just do a little bit of research, right? I go to like five different feed stores.
14:26If I need to to get all the vitamins I need. Goats need a lot of vitamins. They're a vitamin-based animal. Like, did you even know that? That's another cool fact. If goats' vitamins are off, then they get sick really easily. So- Yeah, yeah, I did know that, but I'm sure that my listeners do not know that. So thank you. Yeah, I didn't know that, right? When I got into this, I was shocked. Do you, so do you have goats, Mary, then? I don't, but I love them.
14:53And I have done a bunch of reading on what it would take to have goats at our place. And I can't afford to feed them. I don't have any place for them to graze. Okay, so Nigerian dwarfs. Let's talk about it then because this is a really cool subject. We haul water. I am not hauling water for full sized goats at all because of the fact that it's a lot of water.
15:22And we, I don't drive the water truck. My partner does because I just, I'm not there yet, right? So when I went into home studying, I never had to haul water. So this was different when I moved to Montana and it's common here. So we looked and looked and looked and the same thing you're talking about, right? Feed, I'm on just my disability right now, right? Groovy Grazers brings in enough money to pay the bills for the goats thankfully now, but in the beginning it didn't. That was why.
15:52The Groovy Graziers was created. Nigerian Dwarfs are only eating three pounds a day. Compared to six to nine pounds that your Nubians, your Boars, Kikos, Alpines would eat. That's why I went with the Nigerian Dwarf. Also because they're a dual breed. They're meat and they're milk. So end of the world, tinfoil hat, right? Veterans, sometimes I wear it. It's okay. That's why I got the Nigerian Dwarfs in the end of the world type situation. I have everything I need.
16:22I have a goat that doesn't consume a lot of water. I have a goat that only eats three pounds. So in the winter time, in the harsh winter, they eat more than three pounds here because we got down to negative 40 this last winter. So obviously they eat more in the winter time, but they need very basic needs. So you could essentially, yeah, you probably could have a few Nigerian dwarfs, but you would have to supplement with hay.
16:48which is okay because if you're milking them, then they would probably benefit you enough, right? So it's all a, like, what is your end goal? And that's what I had to look at, right? When I was getting my breed. So the Nigerian Dwarfs ate less, drank less, but also provided milk that was higher in fat content. I wasn't really a goat milk person, I'll be honest.
17:10But I do like my goat's milk. So that's what I learned the vitamins is if your vitamins are off, it's a muscular taste in the milk along with how your cooling process. So maybe, you know, if you have an acre, you could technically have three goats. I have a lady she bought goats for me. And she has them in her backyard. She's not in city limits. She's right on the outskirts of it. There's actually a herd of 150 boars across the street from her, but they have a house with a small yard.
17:39And she has three little withers back there and she gives them hay and they couldn't even keep up with her yard actually because it was growing so well from the manure because goat's poop is ready manure. It's not hot. So it automatically starts absorbing me into the ground. So they're a rebuilder. So I don't know, maybe take a look at it again and look at Nigerian Dwarfs. Like I encourage listeners don't be put off by the size of your land or how much you might have to graze because...
18:06If the goat only needs three pounds a day and you need at least a minimum of three goats, most people on an acre can do it. But you have to look at the benefits. This lady didn't want to milk. She just wanted lawn mowers, so therefore we went with withers. If she wanted to milk, I would have had her put, use does and then you wouldn't keep a buck. So you would have to pay for the breeding services for your does. So there's a lot of planning that I think goes into each homestead.
18:35And a lot of people just aren't aware that these miniature goats eat far less than the large size Yeah, and I appreciate everything you just said and it makes me want to look into it more However, I would have to convince my husband that it would be a good idea to get goats and I don't think he's into it Right now. No, maybe maybe what I can do is do some more research over the winter and then hit him in about I don't know February and be like
19:01Could we get a couple goats this year? Well, and tell him right when he was about to go mo, hey, you could be doing something else like golfing or whatever his hobby is instead of doing this. That was like kind of our grazing catch slogan. It was like, go do something else. Let us do the hard work with the goats. But there is a lot that goes into goat owning. I mean, the vitamins is a big ordeal. And if we weren't milking them.
19:28I don't think they would be as fruitful for us as they are for the farm. Because yes, we want to get rid of the sweet clover that we have in the fields and they'll eventually graze that out. But we do plan on forever keeping goats because of how much of a duality they bring to the farm. And I think that's important, right? And even though we have 20 acres, 10 of it is grazing the other 10 is forest and gold.
19:55Because we're kind of on the rims and so I try to explain to people that like anyone can can do do it But how much work do you want to do? You know with us being me and my husband are both? Hyper mobile therefore we have some like physical disabilities and so I tell people like we have ten acres But anyone can do it you can do it regardless if you're mobile or not as mobile It just depends on how much extra work you want to do so like when I have to clean stalls
20:24it takes me a lot longer, but that's okay. I still get it done. So everyone's, I mean, really honestly, everyone's homestead is so wildly different. It is even hard to like give advice. People will ask me for advice on their goats and their homestead, and I'm like, it all depends even on soil and your location and weather. And so I encourage like your listeners, you know, understand that we're in the middle of Montana. We're in rural, rural Montana, and we have
20:54extreme highs and lows. We hit 90 two days ago, but less than four months ago, we were in the negative still with snow on the ground. And so in Minnesota, it's not a whole lot different, but in Florida, it might be. Yeah. And so yeah, for you, we're pretty kind of on the same plane. But yeah, Texas, man, was this a learning curve coming from the south up to here? It's a short growing season. You have to be really picky.
21:21There's a lot more planning and a lot less errors I feel like I can make in Montana. So it's definitely more of like a moderate homesteader type state when you're getting into lots of mistakes, lots of learning curves with plants and animals, but it's all worth it in the end. Yep. So I don't wanna run out of time. When did you get into this? What brought you to doing this in the first place?
21:49So about a year ago, it's actually kind of funny, our in-laws that live on the property, they weren't really a fan when I moved in. And so instead of building like a fence, I said, let's put a goat barn up. And it creates this like peaceful. So I mean, the goats are funny, like how they came onto the farm was just to create kind of privacy. And then they just turned into a passion and a hobby. So this happened about last.
22:17Let's see, I moved in last Mother's Day, not this last. So I've been here for about a year. So we've done all this in a year. We've done it really quickly. Um, I probably had goats about eight months, nine months. Um, I got them a few months after I moved in, but I, I don't know. They're like my little animal. I'm just really obsessed with them. So I spent months reading, um, while owning them and like slowly building the herd up. So we started with three and now we're at 20, 21. I think I just bought two mini Lomachas.
22:45So, and I bought another goat. So yeah, it's always like, but I mean, trinket is right with goats. There's, there is that on the homestead. So you have to kind of go through and learn. It's been a hard year for a lot of farmers too. So yeah, we're slowly building, but I don't know if we're going to expand much more. I mean, 20 to 25 goats is a lot. That's a lot of hoves to trim. Yes. And they have to want to cooperate too.
23:13Yeah, they do. And thankfully, ours are pretty good about it because I stay on top of it and I trim hoes from the time they're five weeks old upwards. So they're pretty used to it. But yeah, I mean, it takes a lot of time. So I mean, if we could add like four more days into my week, I probably would get more animals. But right now, I think we're capped. Well, I think if everybody could add four more days into their week, people will be doing a lot more fun things with their time or what they're interested in with their time. Yeah.
23:42There's no life when you have a homestead. Your homestead is your life. We don't leave the farm much.
23:51Yeah, I understand. We don't either. I shouldn't say that. My husband has a jobby job. That's what we call the job that pays the bills. Yeah. So he's gone during the day during the week to his job. But we don't go on vacation because we have chickens and we have a dog and we have barn cats. And we really made a plan years ago that when we could buy a place like we bought in 2020.
24:19that we wanted it to be a place that felt like being on vacation. Yes. And it does because what we want to do on vacation is go to people's farms and see what they're doing and what they're making and how they're doing it. Now we're just doing it. So it's, it's really fun. And the other thing is that we lucked out and our home that we bought was completely remodeled before we bought it. Oh, wow.
24:46So it's been such a joy to live in a place, and I'm going to jinx it, where we haven't had to paint every fall because the house we lived in before had plaster and lath walls. And so they would crack because the house would shift. So we'd have to mud the walls and paint. We haven't had to put in a new toilet. We haven't had to do any of the stuff we had to do at the old house.
25:11So it's been living, it's been like living at an Airbnb except we own it. Yeah. And that's, that's minus. Yeah. And we get to be outside on three acres. It's just, it's been such a joy. And so I'm not at all upset about the fact that we don't do vacations because we live where we vacation. That's us too. Like we have a rock. I'm sure you've seen it on my Facebook posts and the viewers can go look too.
25:40on our Facebook, but we can see into Park City. And so we can just walk five minutes into the forest and then we're in a whole different location. And so yeah, we don't really leave the land a lot. I mean, I do for doctor's appointments and stuff. So for the most part, I'm here. This is where everyone wants to come to. I mean, if my friends are like, Katie, wanna hang out? I'm like, yeah, do you want me to come to your house? And I'm like, in my head, I'm like, please don't. I have too many farm tours. I'd rather you just come here.
26:09you know, and but all my friends want to come here, it's a little slice of heaven, kind of tucked away. And then, you know, you can just sit outside and relax and that we have a cool breeze most of the time. And so living I mean, three acres that I tell people all the time, three acres is like, ideal. I had five acres when I was in Louisiana. And that was a little too much if I just had chickens, because we just had chickens and dogs and cats.
26:37you know, cause there was nothing to take care of, like the lawn. And so three acres, you can do so much on it. Like you can get into rabbits, you can get into quail, you can get into all sorts of things. I, thankfully my partner loves animals. He doesn't say no. Since I've moved in, I've brought three dogs, a cat, in on top and like probably 20 chickens. I think we're up to like 35 chickens.
27:05and three guineas, but I just bring animals in and he's okay with it. But I do pay the fee bill. So the fee bill is my part of the contribution for the house. I think that's why it's okay. But yeah, three, that's really cool. 2020 was a good time to buy. My partner bought this before. It sure was a good time to buy. Yeah, I think he bought his in 2019. So like right before COVID.
27:32He already had the 20 acres when I met him and we actually live in a tiny house. So it's a two loft tiny house. Yeah. So my son lives on one side of the loft. We live in the other, it's only 450 square feet on the bottom. And the, and the other, we live in a pole, pole barn house. The other portion of the house, which is 1000 square feet is a shop. And so like I blow glass and he's a metal worker. So we'll do that in the winter time in here. And then we're going to convert.
28:00some of it into an indoor garden too. So even though our house is tiny, we don't really spend a lot of time, which it sounds like you guys are the same summertime. You got to get outside because winter time you have to hibernate. There's no option. Yeah. Yep. Exactly. I didn't know you blow glass. Do you want to come back like in a month or so and talk to me about that? Because this is also a podcast for people who make things. Because I know nothing about blowing glass. I just know that I'm fascinated by it when I see people do it.
28:30It's super cool. So I only apprenticed for six months, but I have my own torch. Um, and I was doing it on my own. I was blowing glass on top of my full time job. Um, and I do borrow glass. So it's like Pyrex. So it's going to be like, um, more of like your bongs, your glasses, your shot glasses, like the really, it's really cool. It's not soft glass, soft glass is a lot of waiting for everything to cool down. But yeah, I would totally love to come back and like.
28:59I could even bring one of my glass-blowing friends to or have you talk to Brennan. There's so many different things, but that's cool. It sounds like you have a lot of facets to your farm. You have two podcasts and you do a little bit of home. Well, you do a lot of home setting, it sounds like, because you have the chickens and I'm sure massive gardens. So you're busy. Yeah, we do. We do, yes. And honestly, my husband is the gardener.
29:22Aren't they always mine too? Loves it and I do not I will cook anything for him out of the garden, but I don't love Gardening. I love all the techie stuff, which is terrible because you know, we live on a homestead I could have done this from my house and in town where we lived before. Yeah My son who is living with us. He's 22. He handles chores, which is wonderful Yeah, and and I handle making sure that they get fed
29:52and they have clean clothes, they have clean folded clothes. And I do the marketing and the finding out things from my husband. And he's like, when he's like, we have a new bug in the garden, can you look up this thing? And he sends me a picture. I love it. I'm like, yeah, I can find out what to do. And now that I have the other podcast with the Master Gardener, I literally have someone who can answer any question about gardening ever known to man, which is great.
30:18She's fantastic and I'm so thrilled that she's doing it with me. Yeah. Master gardeners are just knowledge, man. Watching knowledge. I wanted to go and take my master gardening, like go through the process of it. Um, we're organic living soil. Uh, so before we did Groovy Grazers because Montana, it is recreationally and, um, medicinally legal cannabis. That's what my partner grew before.
30:47So when we sold, he sold that business, we ended up doing Groovy Grazers because we like having a small business. And so he is the gardener also. He knows about all of the organic living soil. You feed the soil and then you get what you need out of it. And so he taught me a lot about gardening. I didn't know so much about gardening. I'm the animal person. I was on and off of vet tech in multiple states.
31:15I've done a lot of that. So animals, I can troubleshoot. I can give them the shots. I can handle the sickness. When it comes to the garden, I'm like, you need to look at this. I don't know what I did. So COVID, I actually killed like $1,000 worth of houseplants within the first like, you know, two to three months because I was stuck inside and I used to work on the computer. I was sales reps and so I was at home working. And so I tried and that's kind of what started. I...
31:43could finally grow something and it was cannabis and I did it really well and so that's kind of where my gardening is and so this year I am gardening on a hugel and it's so interesting. You'll have to ask your master gardener about it because they are cool. Andy, my partner, showed me them.
32:03and you get more gardening space and it's a big organic living soil bed. And so I planned out my garden this year, but there's certain things you can't put in there, right? Strawberries can't go in there, they don't like it. So I've been learning all of it. And so knowledge, it's just cool to see, you know, where you can lead, even though everyone has their place. Like you don't do a lot of stuff outside, but you do the important stuff inside. You provide the meal, nourishment is huge.
32:30If they didn't eat, they wouldn't be able to do what they did. Your son doing chores is awesome. I have a nine-year-old son, and I hope he doesn't move out at 18. He stays a little bit longer because he's so helpful on the farm, and he's a key role, right? He's a key player in the farm. Everyone has their role, and that's why I say all the time, homesteads are like little clocks. Everyone's a cog in the clock that works, and if one is off, then the whole farm is off.
33:00I mean, there's no shame doing the tech stuff. I'm tech dumb, like just not able to do it. And I'm young, right? I'm 30. My bosses hated in corporate America. They're like, oh, thank goodness you can sell stuff because you're terrible on the computer. You make so many errors. And I'm like, yeah, because I want to be outside, you know? So it's funny, whereas like my son, he likes to be inside. He likes the techie things. He's the one that, you know, can take pictures and makes his own music to go with our videos and stuff.
33:30sometimes and so it's cool to see that like everyone's homestead has that cog feature, right? Everyone has a role in it. So I would be really interested to see like the other roles in homesteads. I'll have to go and listen to your podcast. I've been listening to it and it's interesting. I've learned a lot. I think just talking and listening to other people you learn quite a bit. It's better than reading.
33:56Honestly, I'm gonna I'm gonna say this again. I keep ending up repeating myself on stuff on the podcast episodes, but it's relevant I really never liked podcasts. It's not how I learn best. I don't learn audibly. I learn reading okay, yeah from reading and Since I started doing the podcast I've listened to more other people's podcasts in the last year than ever before because I wanted to know how they sound and how they
34:24paste their podcast and what kind of things they do. And so now my husband walks up and starts to say something to me and I just point at my ear and he's like, oh, hang on. And I go and stop what I'm listening to and I pop one out and I'm like, yes. He's like, you are constantly listening to podcasts. I'm like, I know, it's crazy. But I didn't like listening to podcasts before. I didn't know I was going to be doing a podcast at this time last year.
34:54And I have what my dad calls got to know itis, which is basically perpetual curiosity. I am a lifelong learner. So when this idea popped in and I ran it by my husband and he said, go for it, try it. I thought that I'd do two episodes and nobody would listen and it would be done and that I would not be good at it and that I wouldn't enjoy it and that it would just be weird. And I actually do love it. And it didn't die.
35:23I just passed 4,000 downloads since last August. Wow, congrats. Yeah, which doesn't seem like a lot, but for this particular situation, I feel like that's a big step, you know? No, that is. Like, we got contacted by Q2 out here, which is a local news station. The first day I posted that we were grazing, and I remember looking at Andy and I was like, wow, people really believe in what we're doing. Like, this is cool, you know, because...
35:53I didn't know I thought I was going to flop but I needed income. I needed my goats to at least get paid for because I'm still going through my VA reading process. I'm not at that 100% that we all need to be at. I totally need to be there. It's just taking two years. These last years have been trials emotionally of wanting to get there and knowing that I will get there but then also having to find my place. I just can't sit at home. I'm a busybody.
36:21I have to move around all the time. As you see, I'm a busy lady. And I love it that way. And then I had another news station, and I've been on the news quite a few times, but I didn't have like your intentions, right? I didn't have the intentions of being this popular gold lady in town, right? Like people recognize me. It's really weird. When people do it. I mean, I'm flattered. And I like I like tell them thank you. And I'm, you know, thank you for supporting my dream. Because we'll eventually nonprofit, we're going to work on that.
36:50next year, but it was just a small little idea and it turned into a big thing just like yours, right? Like you've hit $4,000. I never expected to even book a party, let alone be booked out. I'm booked out two to three weeks most of the time on my parties. And like, I mean, I only do two, like we're not talking like days and days of work, because I do days and days of work on the farm. I only do two parties. So four hours a week. That's what my body can handle, right?
37:20being disabled, I have to work around that. But having those parties constantly booked is like, I don't know, I don't even post sometimes that I'm looking to book parties and I have messages constantly flowing in about it. And you're just shocked, right? That people believe in you. And I think that's part of it, right? Like when you started your podcast, you're like, no one's going to listen. But then people do. It's like the same when people are like, I'm going to homestead. Like, I encourage all of your listeners, if you're a homesteader,
37:46Find a way to use your homestead to bring in income. Yeah. We should all be doing it. And if we're not, like message me, I won't charge you at all. Like tell me what your farm is about and I'll try and think of an idea. I sold accounting software for a big company. I've heard so many different businesses, that was my job. And I love empowering people. I love the fact that your podcast does that. You're empowering other homesteaders to learn from other people.
38:14You're gardening, right? Having a master gardener, that's like awesome. That's unbelievable knowledge you can provide to your listeners. So really like you're doing a really big thing for us homesteaders. You're providing a way for us to talk about our own stories. I've gone online and I've read Reddit, I've read forums and stuff, but nothing is better than listening. I wasn't a podcast person either. But when I got into blowing glass, I was like, all right, I can't listen to music.
38:40for six hours on end because it repeats. I only have so many favorites, you know? But you can listen to podcasts, but the amount of knowledge that I've learned, it's insane, right? Like what I always tell people, and again, tinfoil hat, right? Like it's not about stopping the government, it's about how are you going to survive a collapse of our government? Which to me, translate to homesteading, right? Providing for my own family.
39:08And so that was like part of the push for it. I think everyone right now should be finding something outside of corporate America and should be really pushing to be their own boss because what's gonna happen when corporate America is not there. So we should all be thinking about the bigger picture. Yeah, it's scary, right? Nobody wants to think about 10 years from now. I sure don't, but I do because I have children. And like you, you have a son. We have to think about those future generations. And so-
39:36providing the knowledge that you're providing, just like me, when I go in, take my goats around, it's giving people stuff that they wouldn't have opportunity to, people don't go buy books anymore. You know, it's not like where we all used to go to the public library, because it was the best thing to do. There's jump bars and other stuff now. Yeah. So having these are a great way to provide knowledge. So I think it's a really cool thing that it's grown this big, and then I see it with a lot of people.
40:05just kind of branching out, doing what they're good at, it ends up being fruitful for them and their own homestead. Yes, and the other thing is that I started this because I was just curious about how other people were doing the homesteading thing. And I've had so many people say, I have learned so much from your podcast. And it just makes my heart too big for my chest. I mean, I'm just like, yay, that's great. But anyway.
40:34Morgan, I don't want to cut you off. Yeah, I have to because it's like 41 minutes already. So thank you. And I want to have you back. Let's try to schedule for something in like October or November when it's cold again. Yes, and I'll be back. I'll have my torch and everything set up. We're actually in the process of setting up my area. So that'll be really cool. Thank you for having me. And thank you for the listeners.
41:00definitely reach out if you guys have any questions like I'm on Facebook and Instagram. We love giving advice to people. So that's kind of what we're here for is we just want to help spread knowledge. Alrighty. Thank you so much for your time Morgan. I appreciate it. Thank you. Bye.
 

Runamuk Acres Conservation Farm

Today I'm talking with Samantha at Runamuk Acres Conservation Farm. You can follow on Facebook as well.
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00:00This 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 Samantha at Runamuck Acres Conservation Farm. Good morning, Samantha, how are you? I'm very good, thank you, good morning. I'm in Minnesota, you're in Maine, and everybody who's listening to the podcast already knows this, but I grew up in Steep Falls, Maine.
00:30Oh wow, that's cool. Which is like half an hour or northwest of Portland, Maine. So I know what Maine's like and I think it's beautiful and I can't afford to move back because it's gotten so much more expensive to live there. So I'm really happy that you get to live in Maine. I think that's fantastic. Tell me about yourself and what you do. Let's see, so I'm a farmer, writer and conservationist.
00:59I own a 53 acre farm and ecological reserve in New Portland, Maine, which is nowhere near the city of Portland. It is about two hours north near the Western Mountains. Okay. Yeah. All right. So what do you do at your place? We raise chickens for eggs. We have a one acre market garden. We have maybe...
01:26an acre or so fruit trees that we've put in since we got here. And I raise a small flock of sheep, which we rotationally graze on our 10 acre pasture out back. Awesome. So why is it why is it conservation farm? How does that play in? Yeah. So I built my business on bees with a bent for bee friendly farming. And it's kind of morphed along the way and become more
01:55geared towards beneficial insects and soil microbial life. And so that's what we are working to conserve. We're working to conserve wildlife through the wellbeing of pollinators and beneficial insects and soil life to benefit the whole ecosystem. Fantastic. Last night as I was heading up to read, because I read before I go to sleep, my husband texted me a photo of a queen bumblebee.
02:25that had landed on one of the logs or the logs that they were cutting up for our wood burning boiler. And I was like, is it a honeybee? Because I couldn't tell from the picture. I knew it was a bee. I just didn't know what it was. And he was like, no, it's a queen bumblebee. And she just happened to land there. And he was like, I'm going to stop and take a photo because this doesn't happen very often. Right. Yeah. She must have emerged from her family nest and be going off to start her own.
02:54Yeah, I don't know. Usually it's earlier in the season. So I don't know why she blessed him with a visit. But it was pretty cool to get a photo. I'm going to post it on Facebook later today. So, okay. So you before we started recording, you said it's your sixth anniversary at being at the place you're at now? Yeah, we call it our farm-aversary. We've been here for six years officially today. Okay, tell me the story. Tell me how you how you ended up where you are.
03:23It was very long and arduous. I was a landless farmer for these eight years. I had gotten divorced and I really just refused to give up on farming. It was kind of the way, the only way I felt that I could become a homeowner and provide a home for my family. So I used the skills that I had and it took a long time to build my income from agriculture.
03:51I raised bees because everybody will have a hive on their property if they don't have to manage them. So I had apiaries all over the area and that allowed me to build my income to the point where I could justify to a financial institution investment in real estate. So and then at that point we weren't able to qualify with a traditional
04:16financial institution. So I ended up going to the USDA as a beginning farmer and the farm service agency classifies a beginning farmer as someone who has been farming for less than 10 years. So at that point I was at eight years or so and I was like, oh geez, if I'm going to do this, I better do it now. So I didn't want to go that way, but because nothing else was lining up, I was like, okay, this is my last chance. I'm going to give it a shot and then I may have to give up farming.
04:46Mm-hmm. So we did we went we were able to qualify it took 270 days to close on a property I went after this other property first and so we were in Closing process with that one for six months before we finally found out that the house wasn't going to pass an inspection and to save my loan I
05:10I had to scramble and look for another property in the area that might qualify, and I ended up here. Okay. For those who don't know, Samantha has a Facebook page, and I started watching or, I don't know, following her Facebook page. It's got to be three years ago, I think. When did you do all this? I was in search of a farm.
05:37It must have been seven or eight years ago now, because it's been six years since I bought this place. Yeah, so I've been following your Facebook page and your story for over six years. That's amazing. And I was so curious to see what would happen and how you would figure this out. Yeah, I was looking a lot of noise.
05:57Yeah, so did you blog about it at the time? Cause I know you have a blog on your website. Yeah, I was blogging about it. Um, and then just to get the word out in the community, I was writing articles to local papers, I had graphics that I had made up that I was plastering all over Facebook. I put up flyers, just trying to connect with someone who might either be willing to rent to own or lease or even, you know, sell if I could make the finances happen, um, a farm that I could take over.
06:25Yes, so if anybody is interested in the whole, let's call it a saga of Sam finding her farm, go check out the blog because I remember your post just being heart-wrenching and then exciting and then heart-wrenching and then exciting again. So the whole journey was like that. It was just
06:51Yeah, and congratulations because it doesn't always happen that way. So, so good job. It's so hard to be tenacious and determined and not lose hope. Oh, it really is. And I definitely considered many times, you know, whether or not I should give up. And people told me I should give up. Can you imagine that people say into your face that you should give up this, this dream that has consumed your whole life and your everything. And they, they're like, you should just walk away from it. And yeah, I couldn't do it.
07:22Yeah, and it's one thing if strangers say that to you. It's another someone who actually loves you and cares about you and has your best interested heart to say it. Yeah, you really have to consider what they're saying in that moment, and like, maybe I'm wrong. Yep, exactly. Because the people who love you absolutely do not want to hurt you, but they also don't wanna see you drive the car into the brick wall in front of you. That's right. If you don't have to.
07:51So I'm glad it wasn't a brick wall. I'm glad that it was an open field for you to drive your tractor through safely. So that's good. All right, so I'm assuming that the farm, and I could be wrong, is supporting itself as much as it can. Is that correct? I make all of my income here on this property, yes. But that wasn't always the case. Like in the first couple of years, it did not.
08:19Did it? Right. Exactly. Yeah. Right after my divorce, I was living in an apartment. The only way I could call myself a farmer was because I had those outlying apiaries. I was working at Johnny's selected seeds in their call center, sitting in a cubicle full time at that point and then farming part time. So I did that for three years and then I was able to go down to part time at Johnny's and farm full time. So I kind of swapped things around a bit.
08:49And then after I got here, I eased myself off of Johnny's and off of, you know, um, outside income. And I've been able to scrape by here on, on the farm. Awesome. Um, so did you leave Johnny's on good terms because I hear they're a great company. I love Johnny's. They have a lot of really fantastic people there. We, I think the
09:19was mutual. I think I had outgrown them at that point. I learned so much working there, just rubbing elbows with these great minds of these other farmers. But I think it was mutual. I was ready to be here. And so I was taking, I was calling in more and more often, and they weren't impressed with that. And they had new management in the call center. So I didn't have the same level of appreciation and support that I had had from my former manager. So yeah, so it was mutual.
09:49They already see me go and I was ready to go. Good. Because we order seeds from them every spring, like specific seeds, because we love them. And I was, I was going to be heartbroken if they're terrible to work for. So I thought I would ask. Corporate, then, then you would think they're a corporate office. And so it's just like any other corporate business, their seeds are unbeatable though. And their service is excellent. Mm hmm. Yep.
10:17I love the fact that I live in Minnesota, but I can order seeds from Maine. It just makes my heart bubble, you know? Okay. So, I'm not sure what else to ask you. Oh, the one-mile trail that you have. I read about that on either your website or Facebook page. I can't remember. What's the deal with that?
10:41So in our, we have 53 acres. 13 of those acres are up front and that's what I'm farming on basically, like three acres right around the house and then the 10 acre pasture out back. And then beyond that is 40 acres that we have contracted to the government for wildlife conservation. We had a couple of different habitats back there that passed their...
11:08assessment with the state biologist. We had the NRCS come out here and the different ecological services came to walk the property to see if it would qualify. And so in that acreage there is an ETB trail that was already there and there's a bunch of different trails that go down to a creek and around to this northern large grove. We have a remote campsite back there too. So I've kept that
11:37open and accessible for the local community to be able to go back there and walk or bike or bird watch or camp. Wonderful. You said NRCS. What is that? The Nature Resource Conservancy Service. Okay. I just, not everybody knows the acronyms and the window. Yeah, I had to think about it there.
12:05So if anyone's interested, that's what that stands for. I'm biased because I grew up in Maine, so I grew up playing in the Maine woods. I know what it's like there. But I feel like Maine has one of the most wonderful, I don't know, public conservation situations. And I could be wrong, Minnesota is pretty good too. But I feel like Maine just really honors the fact that they are so blessed with all of the forest.
12:35I think we're all really proud of it. Yeah. It's this beautiful wilderness. Basically anywhere up above like Central Maine is just wilderness. And it's still like that just like from, you know, the frontier days. And it's wonderful. And you can really go and get lost there. And we have so many beautiful ponds and rivers and lakes and gorgeous mountains. And if you've ever visited Maine, I say this all the time. I'm going to say it again.
13:04You've ever visited Maine and you've only ever visited the coast. You haven't seen. You haven't seen if you haven't seen our mountains, if you haven't seen Bigelow, oh my God, you haven't seen Katahdin you gotta come back. Yeah. And it's such a huge, um, I mean, it's not the biggest state, but there's just so much wrapped in the state. Yeah.
13:28It's gorgeous. Every time I say I'm from Maine, people are like, Oh, I visited. It's so pretty. And I'm like, yes, try, try living there and then leaving. You won't want to. So, but Minnesota is really pretty too. I've heard. Yeah. I would want to visit for sure. Yeah. It's, it's really weird. Minnesota is like three different growing zones. North is zone three. Mid-state is zone four.
13:58and southern Minnesota is now zone five. Wow. And it's so bizarre to me because I don't swim in the area that we're in because the water gets so hot and it's so shallow that there's green algae on top of everything. Oh yeah, yeah, ew. But I keep hearing that way up north, the waters are clearer because it doesn't get as hot up there. I understand. And like people talk about...
14:25big hills here. They don't talk about mountains. And I went somewhere further north than I lived quite a while ago. And so I was like, and this is our mountain. And I just laughed. I was like, that is not a mountain, guys. Sorry. And I'm like, what do you mean? And I'm like, let me take you east about 1500 miles and we'll start seeing mountains. That would be fine.
14:56It's funny because the Minnesota River is about four miles west of my house. East of my house. Hang on. East of my house. Sorry. I'm looking toward, I'm looking south, so I had it backwards. But anyway, Minnesota River is four miles east of my house and it is flooded beyond recognition. It will hit its highest flood stage today or tomorrow in the history of keeping records. Goodness. And the area that I live in.
15:24is River Valley, but we are just far enough that everything's flat. Like we moved just far enough away from the river. We're not in that diagonal slope down to the river. And so right now we can still get out of our town by car, but it was questionable yesterday whether we would be able to get out of our town by car. That's amazing. So Minnesota is really, really.
15:51interesting geographically because it's so different geographically in every area of Minnesota. It's just crazy. So you'd have to visit more than one place there too, really. Oh, absolutely. And Minnesota is very much farming country. I mean, it's where we are at soybeans and corn and winter rye and alfalfa fields everywhere. Yeah.
16:19But the further north you go, it's like Maine, and it's very, very forested. And so everybody, well, not everybody, because not everybody can afford it, but many, many people have their cabin up north that they go to every weekend in the summer. I see, I see. And so it's like the bottom half of Minnesota is prairie land and farming land, and the northern half of Minnesota is camping, fishing, cabining.
16:48Hiking, that stuff. So I really didn't, I made a very lateral move when I moved here because the only thing missing is the mountains and the ocean and I didn't get the mountains and the ocean very often anyway. So, so thankfully it wasn't hard on me in that way to move here over 30 years ago. That's good. It would be a hard transition, I'm sure. Yes. And
17:15The other thing I will tell you is if you grow up in Maine, you know that when you go to the grocery store or the laundromat or the library, any public service place with people, people talk, complete strangers just start up conversations in line. We do. In Minnesota, people are very to themselves. And it was super hard the first year I was here because I was so used to.
17:43striking up a conversation with a complete stranger in line. And people looked at me like I was nuts. Oh no. Why are you talking to me? I don't even know who you are. And people are very nice, but they were confused as to why this complete stranger with a New England accent was chatting them up. So that was the culture shock. That was the hard part. Yeah, I'd have a hard time with it.
18:11Yeah, I did. It was rough. It was really rough. So tell me again, you have livestock. What is it again? So we have laying hens and sheep right now. Usually we have some honey bees, but this year is the first year in 15 years that I have no bees. Did the rain last year cause issues? Because I heard it rained and rained and rained and rained. Honestly, I think it was.
18:38neglect. Like I just don't have the time for bees like I used to when I, you know, before I bought the farm. I had 30 hives when I bought this place. And I thought that's what I was going to do. But then I got here and there's just so much other stuff I need to tend. And I wanted to have vegetables to feed my family, but also to feed my community. So I'm in the beehive one day, and I'm looking across at the garden, which needed to be planted also. And I had to really
19:05way, like do I want vegetables or do I want this high value honey to bring in the money? And I'm like, I really want to be able to feed my family. So I backed off on the bees and we had for a while we had four hives or two hives or back up to six hives, I think. And then it just kind of got down to one. And this year I'm not investing in them.
19:30anything in livestock. I'm trying to get finances squared away. We had a really tough year last year with all the rain. So I didn't make any investments. So just no bees this year. They died over the winter and I still have tons of equipment. So I think next year I'll probably get one or two new colonies. Yeah. My dad tried to grow his garden last year. He's in Whitefield, Maine.
19:59Every time I talk to them, because I talk to them once a week, I'd be like, how's your garden? And he'd say, what garden? Oh no. He put it in, but it just didn't work. It didn't do hardly anything. And this year, we've had tons of rain here. And I talked to him yesterday and I said, you know how you said you didn't really get anything out of your garden last year because of the rain? And he said, yeah. I said, we're now in the boat that you were paddling last year.
20:29That's terrible. It sucks. I mean, I hate to say it that way, but it sucks. This is the first year in four years since we moved in that we have not had lettuces and stuff to sell at the farmer's market by this time. Yeah, I feel for you. Last year, I couldn't grow anything. I tried, I had to close the farm stand to prioritize the CSA. I didn't even get zucchini. Yeah.
20:56Yep, that's where we're at. We had little baby zucchinis at this time last year and I was eating them in salads, you know Because the little baby ones are yummy. Yeah But yeah, so yeah, I understand your your pain from last year because we're feeling it now And and not only that it didn't sound like Maine had a lot of river flooding and where I'm at Our rivers are just way out of their banks right now
21:24So it's been real interesting watching the local news. Over the last few days, I'm like, man, is it gonna get to where we are? And it's not, we're too far from the river, but boy, it is really high. Okay, so back to bees for a minute. Is it hard to raise bees? Is it like a high maintenance thing once you get them established? It really is. And I know when I was...
21:51I was president of the Somerset Beekeepers for six years before I had bought the farm. And I was doing a lot of bee schools at that point. And all the old timers would come to our beekeeper clubs and they'd talk about how it was 30 or 40 years ago. And they could just have these hives in the yard. They didn't ever have to touch them. And they were just always there doing their thing. And it's not like that anymore. We have.
22:18pests that have been introduced to the honeybees, we have climate issues, we have habitat encroachment. They really need to be managed intensively. Like when they need attention, you gotta be able to drop everything and go intend the bees. And I don't have that ability anymore. Okay, I didn't know if it was really high maintenance because like we have chickens.
22:45They get let out of their coop in the morning. They're let out into their run because we don't want them eating our garden. What is in our garden right now? And, uh, and then at night they get fed, they get put back in the coop. Yeah, it's easy peasy, right? It's super easy. They get watered every day. They give us eggs. It's a wonderful working relationship. Yeah. But.
23:09I've talked to a few beekeepers and I keep hearing about all the little detail-y things that are going on. And I'm like, man, I would love to have a couple hives, but I don't want to, I don't want to have to take care of them because it sounds like it's really high maintenance and time intensive. Yeah, it really is. And the, the startup is expensive and if you can get a harvest of honey, it is a high value commodity and people will pay for it. Yeah. But getting to that point is tricky.
23:39Yeah, I'd rather have somebody who is already doing it bring a couple hives out, put them where they think they'll do best and they come check on them and they take care of them. Then we get a couple jars of honey at the end of it. That would be great. Give me a couple jars of honey to rent my space for your bees. That would be great. And then there was another question I had about bees and I'm completely spacing what it was. I don't remember. Oh well, it doesn't matter.
24:09And then you have sheep. Do you have sheep that have wool or do you have the hair sheep that aren't wool? I have wool sheep. They're thin sheep, which actually have next to skin quality wool. So it's super soft and luxurious not that itchy scratchy wool that some sheep have. And they're also a meat animal and I just learned I've had these sheep for, I think I'm going into my fifth season now.
24:36And I just learned that they are actually able to be milked, like for family needs. You couldn't do like a large scale commercial thing with them, but definitely to feed my own family, I could be out there milking those sheep. Have you done it yet? No, I think maybe next year. Like I've kind of held off on milking anything because that early morning block of the day is when I do my writing. And I don't wanna give it up. So I haven't done any milking.
25:05But we've always had state assistance, honestly, because I've been a single mom, I'm a low income household, I had two kids in the house, so I've had assistance from the state for food. But my second son is gonna be turning 18 soon, so now I'm more concerned with being able to provide even more for myself because I'm expecting to lose those benefits. Yep.
25:32So I'm thinking about it. I'm thinking about taking on milking. Yeah, I was just gonna, I, you're gonna have to message me and let me know how it goes because I don't know how, I know goats can be trained to stand still to be milked and I'm assuming that sheep can too, but if they haven't ever been milked, that's going to be a circus. Yeah. I think I'll have to pick one of my, I have a couple who are very receptive to being mick handled.
26:00And there are some who are less receptive. So I'll pick one of the ones who I know will let me manage them that way. And I'll see how it goes. It may be that I have to start with one of the new lambs and work our way up with it. That's what I was gonna ask you next, is do you breed your sheep? I sure do, yeah. Because it's nice to have something that I'm taking from. I don't use the wool to make yarn with. I should, but I don't.
26:28have a facility near me and I just haven't made that leap yet. So I've been using it to mulch in the garden. Um, the meat, we take a harvest every fall. Um, and that's what my household eats. We, we eat a lot of lamb. I sell some of it. Um, so quite a bit of it went out to my CSA members last fall. And then this year I'll put some on my farm stand to sell that way. Hopefully that will cover the cost of my processing bees. Yeah.
26:56But yeah, I don't do it myself. Yeah, it's a lot of work. And to make it pretty, you gotta be practiced. Right. So it's not like just butchering a deer and you butcher it the way you wanna cook it. You gotta make it pretty so people will buy it. Exactly, and they're accustomed to certain things, you know, they're accustomed to it looking a certain way. And there's also like the legality issue in order for me to sell it to
27:25the community, I have to get it processed at a USDA inspected facility. Yep. Yeah. The government's gotta have a hand in it. And I don't mean that to sound snotty. It, again, I get in so much. I have such a quandary about talking about the government on this podcast, because I think that we need government for a lot of important reasons. I also think that.
27:51They make us trip over our own feet over the most simple things ever. Yeah, they tend to complicate things. And so when the USDA comes up, I'm like, I don't want people to die because somebody screwed something up. So I guess it's important. But, but I feel like we should be able to butcher animals on our property, sell from our property and we deal with what happens next. You know? Right. You assume that responsibility for your own self.
28:20Yeah, we have LLC insurance. I think that if someone gets sick, we would probably be able to make a claim on that and we'd probably be okay. I don't know. Has never happened and we don't butcher our chickens because they're laying hens. They're not a dual breed, so we don't use them for meat. So we don't have to worry about that, but it's just, it's so, I don't know, bothersome. I'm not even sure it's frustrating. It's just bothersome.
28:47that people who are doing things and trying to feed their community can't do it without the government having their fingers in it. It drives me crazy sometimes. And what's the excited thing? They've got the all these corporate interests in there who want to make it seem difficult or dangerous for us to do that stuff at home because then we have to give our money to the food industry.
29:12And then there's also the government who thinks they're keeping us safe. And yes, to some degree they are keeping us safe, but at the same time, they're also forcing us to align ourselves with these corporate interests. And that's. Yeah. Especially when you have no interest in doing that. It's so that part is very frustrating. Um, so, so that we end this on a lighter note, cause I tried to keep these to half an hour. Um, do you love what you're doing? I'm guessing you probably do.
29:41Absolutely. Every day is a gift. Good. Cause you worked awfully hard to get to where you're at. I know you did because I follow it along because I love what you're doing. Yeah. I wake up every day excited to start a new day. Who can, who can say that? Me. I get up and I'm like, I get to interview Samantha today. That's what I thought this morning. Thank you. But I'm also not.
30:09Busting my body up to sit here and talk with you guys doing the hard work. So I'm trying I'm trying real hard to to promote you guys because I'm not I'm not the one who busts my my ass on this stuff. My husband's a gardener and My son does the chores. So like I said on a podcast recording yesterday I make sure that the boys get fed and that they have clean folded laundry and
30:35That's pretty much my job. And I make sure to remind them to be careful, to drink water. And if they don't have water, I bring it out to them, that kind of stuff. I'm the one kind of behind the scenes marketing us and making sure that my husband and my son don't die. So I figured that's a good job. Yeah. Yup. But to the people who are doing the hard work, I am so impressed every time I hear a new story.
31:06Well, thank you. And I love talking with you guys. You're so generous with your time and your thoughts, and you're so ingenious on the way you come up with things to get around a problem. So many stories I've heard, and they were like, we couldn't make it go this way, so we went out around Robin Hood's barn and figured out another way, and we made it work that way. I love that. I love those stories.
31:31Just do what we got to do to make it work. Yep, absolutely. All right, Samantha, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Have a great day. You too. Bye.
 

LilyFire Farms

Today I'm talking with Roxanne at LilyFire Farms. You can follow on Facebook a well.
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00:00This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead. The podcast comprises 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 Roxanne at Lily Fire Farms. Good afternoon, Roxanne, how are you? Hi, I'm doing well, how are you? I'm good, so did farm school go well this morning? We did not have farm school. It actually ended a week or so ago.
00:30Oh, okay. I thought it was a summer. No, we have a spring session and we're looking at scheduling a summer session, but I do give myself some downtime in between just because I can't do week after week after week during our busy season for, you know, farm projects and gardening and all of that. Yeah, that makes sense. All right, well, tell me about yourself and Lily Fire Farms. Oh my goodness, where do I start? So.
00:59I guess what you want to know about me is that I'm a mom and obviously a farmer. And we have our little farm here, like you said, Lollipire Farms, that we run it as a business and we're trying to grow and be that kind of resource for our community for what I would personally, of course I'm biased, but what I would consider to be kind of food the way nature intended it to be.
01:24meaning that we follow organic principles. We're not organic certified, but we follow the organic mindset. You know, we don't use chemicals. If we can help it, I will obviously occasionally pull out a chemical dewormer if I need to for our goats, since those are, you know, extra picky. And, you know, I'd rather not lose any animals, but we try and go natural methods as often as possible. We pasture raise everything or free range here. We have poultry, we have chickens, turkeys, ducks.
01:54We'll be getting geese next week just for fun for predator protection. We have goats Cows we have pigs We have a couple of sheep. We have a couple horses Just for you know, what's a farm without a horse kind of? So, yeah Yeah, what yeah exactly. So you're an agriculture zoo is what you are in a way. Yeah, uh-huh Okay, and I
02:23asked about farm school at the beginning because I thought it was all summer long. So tell me about farm school too. Yeah. So we farm school plus other things we offer what I would call on-farm educational opportunities or community experiences, that sort of thing, where we have farm school that so far that's been a six-week program where we take each week and we kind of cover what's hard to do. And these kids work so hard and their parents too to absorb all this information.
02:52It's basically all of the multiple facets of running a farm like this, slammed into those six weeks with that organic-minded, rotational grazing, regenerative agriculture kind of focus. So like we meet the animals, we learn what quote unquote jobs they all do. You know, like we call our pigs our rototillers because they're helping us clear land and they'll clear the garden later. And you know, the sheep are the lawn mowers, that kind of thing. We cover parasitology and nutrition.
03:21and how those are connected and it connects to pasture management and how it connects to, I mean, all of the pieces of, you know, like I said, running the farm, rotational grazing, all of that. I do have, this year we're doing it a little differently. I have a, I'll call it a grow along gardening program. And so it's once a month classes from, when did we start? May until September.
03:47And so that's basically like come and learn crash course of how to grow your own vegetables and a little bit of the fruits. And we do it as this once a month this year. So that way like you came in May and you know we're starting seeds and it's a little late, but that's okay. We start seeds, we plant some stuff in the class garden here, you know, and then the next one we'll be doing pruning and plant supporting and you know kind of as the garden progresses it's going to match whatever is growing in your garden.
04:16And of course we offer field trips and hatching eggs. And we've had field trips here and we kind of try and cover the base of basically however it is that we can help connect our community back to these foods that we're providing for them. We kind of have a few different angles for that, like you mentioned with the classes and all of that.
04:46I will put it this way. It's meant to be farm school for kids. By the time we get about halfway through it tends to be the parents that are really you can see the wheels are turning and they'll start asking some really good questions. They participate too. So I call both the kids and my parents. I call them my farm kids while they're here. So I have Awesome. I haven't Great. Yeah. I haven't done any like adult farm school classes.
05:13But I have had every year, I've been doing it, this was our third year so far, and every time I've had at least one family come, if not more than one, where they say, I ask everybody first week, why'd you sign up for farm school? What is it that you're hoping to take away from here? Because we have that luxury of being able to kind of make sure that we cater to your interests and yours a little bit within our topics. And every year I have at least a couple families that they're either actively looking for land to start farming on their own.
05:42Or they've just gotten there and they're like, well, we were hoping we could kind of come get this crash course and then we know we're kind of getting off to a good start because you've been doing this and you know what works and what doesn't and kind of have that good start. So that's always really, it's a really gratifying feeling for me when I, when I have those families and it's, you know, they'll come back to me later in the summer or the following year and they'll be like, hey, we're doing this. Thank you again for firm school. It was so great to learn this. And
06:09know, we don't feel so lost getting our first goats or starting this or whatever it might be.
06:15That's amazing, fantastic. Okay, so are you, did I see that you're in New York? Yes, upstate New York. Or not quite upstate, I don't know how you wanna call it. To anybody outside of New York, upstate means anything but New York City. When you live in New York, I would technically be Western New York. Okay, got it. It's kinda like Minnesota. Minnesota is either up north at the cabin or the Twin Cities. Those are the two things that you hear about the most for locations, so.
06:45Okay, I had a thought while you were talking and a horn honked really loud outside and distracted me. Oh, I didn't mean it. You probably wouldn't because I have headphones on and a noise reducing mic. Perfect. However, it's going to be distracting. We have had flooding happening all around us because of the heavy rains we got for eight days in a row. Oh, boy. And a dam failed in a city that's about- Oh, my goodness.
07:14half an hour southwest of us. So our little cute tarred two lane country road is now a detour for a lot of the major roads here. So I have been listening to cars go zoom in by all morning and I hadn't even thought about the fact that people are going to be stupid because they're not familiar with the area. So I've been hearing brakes screeching and horns honking and I'm like, did we move back to the city? This is crazy.
07:44So if I seem distracted, that's why it's been a nutty couple of days here. No problem. Okay. So you have farm school, which is great. And I am so impressed with what you're doing because people really do, I think, need to learn how to grow at least some basic nutritional food if they have the room to do it because we all learn during COVID supply chain issues happen.
08:14Absolutely. So do you sell your produce on property or at farmers markets or anything? So I have not sold any produce, the fruits and veggies specifically, just because we have a small garden here that's just for us. And my reason for that is because the area that I'm in, I've had a lot of people in town tell me that I am convenient country because I'm 15 minutes from
08:44downtown in our city. So, you know, I'm 10 minutes from the airport. So it's not like I'm out in the middle of nowhere, where like, if you need to go to the grocery store, it's a 30 minute drive, like it's five minutes to the grocery stores, like three of them within five or 10 minutes, it's, it's quite close. And so I live in an area where there are some farms within like 15 minutes of me. And you know, it'll be like, there's a beef farm a couple miles from me. There's another pig farm.
09:14I want to say about 15 minutes west of me. And so there's kind of these little same-as-mine small farms that we do a little bit of this and that. We're not going to feed our community entirely, unfortunately. We couldn't replace the grocery store between us. But I'm really in an area where there's very limited availability for what I'll call the good meat, the pasture raised. It's not the factory farmed. It's not in Styrofoam and shrink wrap at the grocery store.
09:42And so since I'm in such a pocket of, you know, we have CSAs, we have fruits and vegetables, you know, some bigger farms that are 20, 30 minutes that, you know, they're big enough now, multi-generational, that they have drop zones in different towns, et cetera. And so, like you said, people need to grow their own. My, my personal philosophy has always been that if you have the room, like you said, if you have the room and the physical capability, you should grow your own food. If you can do any farming and raise your own chickens, for example.
10:11you should do that. And then if you can farm enough and sell extra, you should do that. And the reason that I kind of follow that mentality here is that, you know, we live in a suburban area. Most people have a backyard or a balcony in their apartment or something where they could grow something. And so I feel like personally, if I could change the world, if I could have a magic wish to change the world, everybody would grow their own produce and they can do that on their quarter acre, half acre yards throughout our town.
10:40but they can't have their own livestock. And so I feel like my first focus needs to be growing what I'm doing here and being that resource for the livestock. You know, my pipe dream down the road is to have a little micro dairy here. And those are the kinds of things that you can't do on a half acre in your backyard around here in this town. And so I will provide what you are literally, like legally incapable of providing for yourself otherwise. And then it's that idea of
11:09you know, let's work together to put food on your table as opposed to like, you know, it bugs me that we have door dash these days for McDonald's, like drive-throughs are no longer fast enough and convenient enough. We now need to have it delivered. And I think that speaks volumes to the direction we've gone. And I feel like by providing the meat and encouraging these garden classes and farm school and all of that, I'm trying to kind of help reach as many as I can back towards what you're saying.
11:37We all know that it's smart to grow our own food. We need to more collectively, we need to be doing that. So any of the pork and stuff we have, the pork, the chicken, the eggs, I do an online farm store, virtual farm store, if you will. Do not do markets just because it's tremendously inconvenient to try and run a farm by yourself and also. Sorry, yeah, it's really, it's tough to try and run a farm by yourself and then.
12:05you know, also be at a market at six in the morning because like who's going to do farm chores if you're sitting at a market all day, um, you know, and dragging the kids along and there's just a lot of chaos with that and transporting, you know, frozen pork, refrigerated eggs. It's a whole different game than taking produce. And it just works out better to just do the virtual farm store. Customers order what they want. They pay for it online or have a cash box if they want to bring cash with them. Um, you know, but they order and I have a little pickup spot and.
12:33little pickup fridge down at the road and it's just a beautiful system to me. We started doing it when everything was still the you know the no contact covid stuff and so it's like that's just beautiful. I can just go drop it and carry on with my day and you know I don't have to sit and wait for somebody to be here at an exact time to hand them their stuff. I can just here you go curbside pickup let's make it work. Yep absolutely we have a farm stand on our property and that's why I love it because they just come in and they pick out what they want and leave the cash in the box and
13:03It's awesome. So you were saying whatever you can legally grow or do or whatever. What are the regulations for for selling eggs and meat for you? Because in Minnesota, as long as the people come to our property to pick up eggs from us, from our chickens or if we had meat chickens and we butchered them here, they could just buy it from here. There's nothing that says that they can't.
13:32So what is it like in New York for you? That's a great question. So there's a lot of nuances that if you want to buy, I think a lot of people are familiar with a whole hog or a quarter cow or something like that, the bulk purchasing, those kinds of things, they have to be done by a butcher. I think there is some tiny little loophole of the farmer butchering themselves. But I think it's a good idea to have
14:00I don't have that kind of time, so I never bothered to look into it. But generally, I have to go to the butcher for that. I have to pre-sell it. So like I can't take a cow and if I only have three quarters of it sold, technically, I'm not supposed to take that cow to the slaughter yet because I haven't sold that last quarter. It needs to have a customer, you know, an actual owner has transferred ownership in that way. And then it's the farmer, I'm just providing the service, taking it in.
14:30know, just the cuts like just a pack of bacon or just the pork chops or whatever. Those have to go through the USDA inspected butcher. I'm not sure I would assume that's similar for where you are or where anybody is honestly. But yeah, so that makes it a little easier for me because then I can still just get it butchered and put together if you will a quarter pig or whatever and then sell it after the fact that I can just, you know.
14:58sell it when I sell it kind of thing. Meat chickens, I can butcher them here up to what is it? I want to say up to a thousand birds per year. So if I do meat chickens and I do Thanksgiving turkeys, there's a conversion there. So I can't do a thousand bodies if you will, because one turkey counts as four chickens or whatever. It's a weird bunch of annoying math. But yeah, we can butcher those up to a thousand chickens.
15:28on farm and I can sell those at a market or I believe that those can go to if there was like a small grocery store that wanted to carry them I could put them there. Any of the pork that's going through the butcher that has to go through a USDA butcher in order to go to a grocery store anything like that. Eggs can be on farm or at the farmers market. There is no as far as I'm aware there's no real inspection or anything for.
15:56like the small stores, if you were partnering with another farm, like I know a beef farm that's nearby that she had offered that I could put my eggs in their cooler and they'll sell them there because they don't have chicken eggs for their customers. So there's kind of some flexibility there, but generally I haven't really worried about the retail sales and whatnot just because I don't.
16:25I don't want to say I don't believe in it. Because I still frequent the grocery store now and then too, but I just, I feel like it's kind of more the right direction for the world to go that we go back to buying direct from the farms. And so I'm not going to go jump through hoops to make sure that I can sell it somewhere else. I'm going to do what I do to sell it here off the farm. And so I think it's the same as yours as far as as long as I'm...
16:52doing it here, selling it direct from the farm, direct to consumer, then that's okay. If we were to cross into, I'm not doing it yet, but if we were to do raw milk, that one is really particular. It has to be on the farm only, cannot be sold through any retail outlets or anything like that. Yeah, that's what it's like here too.
17:14The reason I asked is because every state seems to have at least one or two things is different from every other state. So I try to ask when people are dealing with this stuff. Fair enough. Yeah, there are some nuances. So what brought you to this? Why are you doing this? How did you get into this? That's a really great question too, because ever since I was a kid, I wanted a farm.
17:41without having any clue what kind of farming I was going to do because I did not grow up in farming at all. I grew up spending a couple of weeks every summer at my grandparents' house where they had a big old garden and my grandfather had honeybees, which I forgot to mention we do have honeybees here too. I kind of got used to that and you go pick it fresh out the garden and as my grandma says, you pick the beans and it's like one for me, one for the basket.
18:09you know, and doing the canning and that kind of thing with them and cooking with her and really that homesteading kind of feel without them having any livestock or anything. But I always told her I was going to buy the sheep farm that was next to her and I was going to live there and that would be my little farm. And I don't know why, but I've always had that in my head. You know, grew up, went to college, met a guy that I don't even remember having the conversation with him, but he also always wanted to be a farmer since he was a kid.
18:36You know, we just happened to cross paths the right way. Um, and so it was just always our dream to, you know, move out of the suburbs, buy land, um, and do a farm. And we, we initially bought this property, um, to homestead and specifically not sell it to anybody. We just wanted our own little like micro ecosystem, grow our own grain, do our own hay, the whole nine. Um, and that's what we really wanted here. When we had first moved, of course we did the stupid thing of not.
19:05Donating things before we moved we moved all of our crap and then donated it as we unpacked So, you know the other side of the coin there As we were doing that we were posting it at our local by nothing group on Facebook And so we had people coming and you know picking up like the extra nightstand you don't need in this bag of clothes And whatever and almost every single person that came up the driveway to pick stuff up. They would see our chickens out there Because we got chickens within I don't know four or five months of moving in I think it was super quick
19:33And so people would see our birds and they're like, oh, do you sell eggs? And we said, no, we, you know, they're only like two months old at the time. Like they're not even laying, but no, we don't, we don't have any eggs for sale. And they said, well, if you ever have extras, you know, down the road, then, you know, please send me a message. I'd love to buy them. I don't know where to get farm fresh eggs around here.
19:53you know, and we just kept getting those kinds of things. We had somebody come pick something up and she's like, would you ever consider raising meat birds? Like I will pay you just to raise them for me because I can't do them where I am, but I want pasture raised chicken and I can't find it. And so that was really kind of our clue into this. Like I said, in our area, there are not a lot of farms. I'm pretty much right in the center of our town itself. You know, the sign says Child Life Center, but as...
20:23As we kind of kept doing this, you know, get rid of our junk thing, we just started to really feel like, you know, we were researching it and looking into it. We're like, wow, these people are not kidding. Like where do you get pasture-based chicken around here without driving, you know, 30 minutes out of your way somewhere? And so it really just kind of started to feel like maybe we got, you know, planted on this property not just to homestead for ourselves.
20:54you know, we can provide these products to these people that are asking for them. So we should. And so we just went for it, started up the LLC and we've just grown from there. So you had an already established demand for what you were doing before you even moved in. In a, in a really unexpected way, I guess. Yeah, we did. That is so lucky. That's so lucky. That's great. Um, okay.
21:23So tell me again when you moved there, tell me how long you've been there. So we've been here since 2020. We dealt with a nice long closing during, you know, COVID and all of that. And we officially started the farm business in August of 2021. Okay. Do you love it? I mean, it's been four years. So in your four years of getting it started and meeting your neighbors and finding out there was a market for what you were doing,
21:53and all the things, are you at the point where you love it?
22:00It's a trick question, isn't it? A little bit, yeah, but I ask everybody. Yeah, you know, I mean, there's the usual of, you know, you get certain days or certain weather and you're like, ugh, why am I doing this? I should just shut it down. I should quit, you know, because nobody really likes having to chop up ice water in the winter in livestock troughs. And nobody likes having to, you know, if the equipment goes down, well, guess what? You still gotta get water and feed to the animals. And so if you're hauling it little by little on a wagon or something, then that's what you're doing.
22:30You know, there are moments where it's hard, of course, and I think any farmer listening can relate to that, and kind of you have to just get through it. But I guess I'll word it this way. I don't know that I've ever asked myself the question, do I love what I'm doing? But I will word it as, I love the life that we're living here. You know, and I'll take the bad with the good. I've had my moments of, this is tough.
22:55I've had my moments of that existential crisis of like, should I keep doing this? This is a lot of work for one person and, you know, trying to do all the fencing and the expanding and clearing land and all of that. It's a boatload of work. But at the same time, I can't see myself doing anything else at this point anymore. I thought about that for a while that I was like, if I shut down the farm business, if I took it back to just, you know, back it down to homesteading only.
23:25What would I do as my job? I don't know. I don't know what I would want to do. I don't want to go sit in an office all day. I don't want to go be a cashier at the grocery store. You know, I just, I would pick what I'm doing every day, day in and day out, the good, the bad, the ugly. I would take all of it over, you know, corporate America, for sure. I do not miss that world. Yeah, okay.
23:51I'm going to say it out loud, I probably shouldn't, but I think anybody who's worked in corporate America and then ends up doing what you're doing and what we're doing here would agree with you 100%. Working in an office is not a natural state of being for a human being. It shouldn't be. I agree. 100% agree. As I sit at my computer and talk to you at a desk. Weird. But...
24:21But I chose this and I see it as not really work. It is something that I love to do. And I feel like work has this connotation of going to a job you don't like to make money so that you can go home and maybe eke out the time to do things you do like.
24:44And my job, I love this job. I don't make any money at this job yet. I'm almost to the point where I can monetize the podcast and then maybe I'll have a little bit of money coming in. But it's a job and I love it. And when I talk with you and all the other people that I've talked with, I learn so much from you. And all the listeners learn so much from you. And that's what I wanted when I started this.
25:13I love when I say, do you love what you're doing? It's either this long pause because no one's really thought about it. And the answer usually comes down to, yes, I love the choice that I've made. I've yet to ask someone and they're like, no, I've decided I hate it and I'm going to quit. You know? Right. But I always ask because it's always phrased differently. It's always a different reason why the person loves the life they've chosen.
25:41So I will always ask because I want to know. So anyway, what else? Do you have kids? I do. I have two of them. Are they young? Are they teenagers? Are they grown? We're elementary age. And are they involved with the stuff on the farm? Whether they like it or not, yes. OK, do you think that they do enjoy some of it? So they were really little.
26:11The one was about three and a half, the other was about five and a half when we moved here. Just getting here and having a bigger backyard in their minds to run around in was like a dream come true, right? My son especially, he's a runner, so he can go. We're surrounded by woods. He's got a really clear fear of the woods, not fear, but he had an innate, this is the stopping point. He's loved it because it's a three or five acre open space that he can just go. I know he's not going to get lost anywhere.
26:40So that's been great for him. And then as everything's grown, like my kids were so excited when we got those first chickens, it lined up to be really close to their birthdays. And so I was like, guys, do you want chicks for your birthday? And they were like, yes. So while we're doing the hatchery order for our first things, I took each kid and I sat down at the computer and I scrolled for what must have been hours of like, what do you want for chickens? And my one daughter was like,
27:11I want the blue eggs. I gotta have blue egg chickens. I'm like, all right, cool. Let's find blue egg chickens. Here's your options. We narrowed it down what the feathers look like. She picked out her chickens. She's thrilled. My son did the same. We picked out chickens. He's thrilled. So I think that was kind of the clue in of like, okay, good, we're raising farm kids here. As time has gone on, they have claimed this animal or that as quote unquote theirs.
27:35the one goat for whatever reason my daughter claimed as hers. It was one of the first ones we got and I'm like, um, it's mine, but sure you can call it yours if you want, whatever. But you know, fast forward a couple of years and this spring when that goat had her kids, my daughter was in there as the goat kitted. She wanted to take a video of it, but like, she's watching, you know, the slimy mess that is kidding. And she's just right in there coaching her like, come on pancake, good girl, you can do it. It's the cutest thing.
28:04My son has shown an affinity and a love for when we have to stack hay bales or any of this build muscle kind of stuff. He's at that age now where he wants to be the tough guy. They might be a little grudging sometime when we have to go do chores and it's raining, but when we have good weather especially, then they're eager to do it.
28:32And it's been amazing to see things like, you know, I'll say, hey guys, we've got to get going on chores and, and, you know, like it's time to go outside. We're done with breakfast and all of that. And like, let's go do chores. And they'll be like, okay. And they run out and they know the routine that they just, they grab the buckets. They start scooping food for the chickens, for the pigs and whatever. And like, they just know what they're doing. You know, I know that if, if something happened or if I wasn't here or whatever, and somebody else had to do the chores, like my kids have done that, that they'll tell people this is what it's got to be. And this is what we're doing. And.
29:02It's just so cool to see these little kids, how do I want to word it, that in certain moments they show up as the farmer. And it's the coolest thing to see. So they do enjoy it. And honestly, I'm sure that mom doesn't really like going out and doing the chores when it's cold and snowy or cold or any either. I do not. So they're no different than a grownup doing it. Right.
29:32No, I can't blame them. I can't blame them. And you know, I have asked them outright within the last probably six months. Just out of curiosity, like, do you like being a farm kid? You know, would you rather be no because we homeschool and so it's obviously a whole different game here. Versus public school and you know, it's not like I'm making them work and then go sit school for six hours and then come home and do more chores and So it's a totally different feel to life. But it's like, do you like our life here? Do you like what we're doing? And they're both like
30:01yeah, I don't want to go to public school. I want to keep doing this. It's like perfect. That's all I needed to know. I love that you asked them because there are lots of parents who wouldn't have thought to ask. I mean, it's not like I'm going to ditch the farm and move. No, but you wanted to check in with them. Right. And I would maybe structure our days a little differently. Like we only live a couple miles from my parents. And so there might
30:31You know, there might have been a conversation of like, well, maybe you're going to go, they're both retired. Like maybe you guys are going to go hang out at their house for a couple hours, more than one day a week. Kind of, you know what I mean? And, and we could kind of shift that of like, you know, just the way we structure our day was really, that was why I asked the question was like, if I need to do the chores without them, I'm going to do it at a different time of day than if they're going to help me with it. And then at the same time, there was still that conversation in my own head with myself of.
31:01You know, we didn't move here so that we could all be separate. We didn't buy a farm so that the kids wouldn't have to do the chores. And it's not that they have to do the chores, it's that we want them to do the chores because they do have such a good work ethic from it. I see a huge difference in my kids and even among other homeschooled kids, because there tends to be a difference between, you know, public schooled kids and homeschooled kids, and then there's a different group of the farming and the homesteading kids.
31:27They have a different work ethic. They don't give a hoot about video games, you know? Like their idea of fun, I keep asking them, guys, why do we have so many toys? Because their idea of fun is literally catching a little tiny toad and making it a habitat or playing swords with sticks that they find on the ground or just picking it up and it's a walking stick and we're just walking around the grass. It's like, wow, they don't need anything. They just, they're one with nature now.
31:53Even if they didn't like being farm kids per se, I might change what their chores were, but we're never leaving this just because I can see how good it's been for them. Yeah, and they will never outgrow the wanting to play with toys from nature. There was a big fat toad on our quote unquote patio. We have a cement pad that sits in front of our door.
32:23so that you could put like a picnic table or something out there. We just haven't gotten to it because all it's done is rain here. Um, but anyway, big fat toad out there this morning at the bottom of the steps. And I texted my son, he's 22 and he was doing something in his room. And I said, there's a big fat toad on the, on the pad outside. And within seconds he was downstairs to check out the toad because he loves frogs and he loves toads and he's not elementary school age.
32:51And he has always loved snakes and frogs and lizards. He would have a lizard if I would let him, but it's mine and my husband's house. We are his parents and I don't want a lizard in my house. So we don't have a lizard in my house. I don't want one for a pet. I really don't. We have a dog, we're good. We don't need any more pets in the house. But point is, if kids are raised around nature and taught...
33:19to love that life, it lasts their entire lifetime. So I think it's great. And I'm obviously the converted, you're preaching to the choir. I agree with everything you're saying. But I think that, I don't want to make anybody mad here. I think that when kids are raised in the city, like in the city, I don't mean small town, I mean like downtown Chicago or New York City or whatever.
33:49They don't have the opportunities to be exposed to toads and frogs and birds and whatever nature. And it's a shame. It really is a shame. Oh, I agree. So that's where I'm at with it. And if you're raising your kids in a big city and they're happy, good, you're doing the right thing. But that's not how I wanted to do it because it's not how I was raised. So
34:17It's really hard on this podcast because I just want to be like pro nature, pro grow your own food, pro everything that I believe in. But then I have to remember that not everybody does it the way that I do. So you know what though, you're doing a great thing because you know, like you said, people hear this and other people listening can learn things. And I hope, you know, it's not my place to say per se. But if I could dream of one thing that would come from people listening to me in particular in here, I would hope that a whole bunch of other little farms are doing farm schools
34:48Because we had field trips with a school. We have a couple of schools that I have sold hatching eggs to for the last couple of years for the life cycle units. And so the one school was like, hey, can we do field trips too? And really connect the kids to this is where your hatching eggs came from. And now the chicks are going back to this farm. And it was the sweetest thing of how many kids gave me a hug when they were leaving. And how many kids were like, you know, I want to be a farmer when I grow up.
35:17as they're getting back on the bus. I had kids that were saying, okay, you know, like, we'll see you next year in first grade. I'm like, oh my God, please come back. That would be so fun. But, you know, it- Your heart, your heart was probably five times too big for your chest cavity. It sure was, but it was just, it was that, as the guy at the school that, you know, coordinated all of this, he said, you know, most of these kids, this is the first time they've ever been to a farm. You know, they're really-
35:44They're not exactly, it's a fairly rural-ish area, suburban sort of rural area where these kids are coming from. But at the same time, he's like, most of these kids, they're not getting out into that kind of area. They're not getting out. And I mean, even the parks are very structured with the equipment and they're in the suburbs, right? So there's always houses around and it doesn't feel like you're going to the woods. Whereas my property...
36:10The buses, if I wasn't standing in the road, the buses would buzz right by us because you can't tell that there's nobody here. And so it was just the coolest thing to really kind of do what you're saying of give these kids this opportunity to realize this is amazing. It's so worth it. Yes. And the other thing is that the air smells different where you are versus where they live. Right.
36:39And I don't mean it's stinky because you have animals. I mean, it just smells cleaner and different to where they are. And I feel like that's important too because people like to travel to experience different things. And different things can be as simple as the smell of the air being different. Oh, I agree. I agree. So...
37:08So you're giving them, you're literally giving them a culturally different experience when they come to the farm. That's a good way to word it. Yeah. So you're doing a great thing. And I think that's wonderful. And I'm so glad I had the chance to talk to you today. Absolutely. Thanks for taking the time. It's been over half an hour. So I'm going to let you go. Thank you again.
37:35And we're going to have to chat a year from now, because I want to see where you're at. All right, sounds great. All right, thanks Roxanne. Yeah, thank you for having me. Bye.
 

Harvest Creek Farm & Retreat

Today I'm talking with Debra at Harvest Creek Farm & Retreat.
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00:00This 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 chatting with Debra at Harvest Creek Farm and Retreat. How are you, Debra? I am doing wonderful today. Thank you, Mary, for inviting me today.
00:22Oh, you are very welcome. I need you guys to talk to me or I don't have a podcast. So thank you for being willing to come visit. Tell me about yourself and Harvest Creek Farm and Retreat. Well, we started about three years ago and my husband and I were just looking for about five acres. We live in a subdivision and I wanted to have some chickens and I wanted to grow some vegetables and fruit trees. And well, you know what HOAs are like.
00:50We would try to find about five acres. Well, we came across this 15 acre parcel that used to be a farm decades ago. And so we slowly but surely, it had completely grown up. It was woods, forest. So over the next about a year or so, it was literally just excavation and taking down trees and just trying to get back the pasture again. It was so overgrown. And so we started working on that.
01:20put in a little vegetable garden that first year and it did amazing. So we started growing vegetables and we had our chickens and ended up buying four or five more acres adjacent to our property. So now we have 20 acres and it is just exploded and we have now built a pavilion on it. We have a vacation cottage that people love to come and stay and we've left, we left quite a few woods and put the cottage near that.
01:50So people have a place to just come and relax and get away from city life. Yet we're only minutes from the main city of Lenoir City. So it's just been an incredible project. As all farmers know, it is tireless. You never get caught up. And so we've had help here and there that we've hired. But basically my husband, myself, and some friends really have been helping us here and there. But now we are officially
02:19A You Pick Flower Farm. Nice. Okay. So, you're in Tennessee and how many years ago was this that you started it, that you bought it? Three years ago. Okay. Yeah. All right. Awesome. I want to talk about the flower farm for sure. Yeah. But I also want to talk about the work involved. Did you get your chickens?
02:44So yes, we had chickens for, I think it was about 18 months and we started doing a lot of traveling. We've actually joined the Tennessee Agri-Tourism Association. Oh yeah. Yeah, we've been going to those conferences and getting more involved in that. So as you know, you just can't leave animals. No. It just got to a point where the chickens were not going to be our focus. So we were able to have them adopted by some friends. And so they're happy. They did not get beheaded.
03:13Good. Yes. And so now we do not have any animals on the farm. Eventually, we'd love to get some horses. I actually lived in a farm in Australia on a stud ranch for some time. And so that's always in my heart. So eventually we'll get horses. But right now we're focusing on the flowers. Okay. You lived in Australia on a what ranch? A stud farm, a stud ranch. Stud, stud ranch. All I heard was said. And I'm like, I don't know what that is. Sorry.
03:43Okay, Stud Ranch, that makes more sense, thank you. Okay, so you have the flower farm. Do you do events around the flowers? Do you sell the flowers? What's involved in the flower part of the business? So we actually ended up putting a farm store at the bottom of our property to sell our vegetables and to sell our flowers, which has now become this beautiful little boutique farm store that we carry honey, not from our own property, that we purchase honey from.
04:13and we have flowers, other flowers and gifts and candles and soaps and things like that and wind chimes and garden theme that people love to just stop by. We just started that last month and so now they will come to the farm store and they will sign up for their you pick time and then they'll go out and they'll start picking flowers. So yes we have a pavilion and because we're part of the
04:40We have a minimum 15 acres and we're part of the agritourism association. We can have events under, under that. So we will eventually do weddings and have lots of other fun events here. Awesome. I just, I just chatted a week or so ago with a lady who lives a couple of towns up from me and she has a flower place too. It's freedom, freedom, forge flower farm or something like that.
05:09And she does events. She's got three planned this summer. And it sounded like so much fun. But I'm not so big on the pollinators that go with the flowers. I mean, I love them. They do their job. They're important. But I don't really want to be walking through the flowers and get popped by a bee. So not really my thing to go to. However, I love
05:34I love, love, love flowers. I mean, when we moved here four years ago, the first thing we did was get peony roots in and tulip bulbs in and daffodil bulbs in because there was nothing here. The only flowers here were hostas. And hostas don't count for me as a flower because they're not my favorite and they love shade. And the only place to grow them was on the backside of our house, which is where the only door in and out of the house is.
06:04So everything else, which is grasses and wildflowers, there was no anything here for cutting flowers, as it were. You've really transformed your place. We have, oh my goodness. Isn't it? It's a lot. It's a lot of planning. It's a lot of thinking through. It's a lot of knowing, or if you don't know, learning, what will grow where. Yes, trial and error all the way.
06:34What I have never in my life had more appreciation for farmers. The dependence on the weather, the dependence on what kind of pests are going to come that particular season. Some seasons are stronger than others. What do I use this year? It's like you finally see your apple trees coming in and these beautiful sweet apples and then you go out the next day and they're all gone. That happened to us last year. We still don't know what happened. There was not.
07:02even one on the ground. They were gone. Do you have deer in your area? Yes, there are a few deer, but they were in a location. There's no way they could have reached the top of those trees. They're tall. So quite interesting, but you don't know. You just have to go with the flow and the breaks come sometimes and sometimes the difficult challenges arise and you just ride through them.
07:30because there's going to be a sweet season coming. Yes, and you have to either laugh or cry and either one is perfectly acceptable. Exactly. We had a whole bunch of lovely apple blooms this spring. There is not a single baby apple on any of our trees because we had a huge windstorm when the trees bloomed and they took the flowers, gone. Nothing to pollinate. Devastating, isn't it? It's...
07:59It's my dad, my dad would say it's such a pissa because he's from New England and it really is. It's such a disappointment. Yes. But there's always next year and we had some apples last year so we actually got to try them. They were fantastic. So there's always another season coming and that's, I think that's what all of us who grow produce rely on. Definitely. Yeah. It's not the easiest thing on earth.
08:27It's also not the hardest thing on earth either. Right. Right. And I think that's why we really chose flowers, too, because we because we have so much land here. We ended up doing a flower trail. And so people can go to different zones over it throughout the farm. And so they can just go for a hike, basically, and pick flowers. While they're hiking, we did not concentrate all our flowers in one garden. We spread them.
08:55over the entire 20 acres on trails. And fortunately, we've had plenty of sun in each of those locations. And we've measured and we're almost a mile of zinnias. Wow. It's pretty incredible. I think we can probably take the Guinness World Book of Records on that one. I think that's a lot of zinnias. Do you guys have a drone? Do you have any way to take aerial footage of your gardens?
09:22Thank you for that reminder. We do have a friend that does that. And yes, yes, yes, they're in full bloom right now. We totally need to do that. Thank you, Mary. Yes, do that, because I want to see them. I ask because I'm selfish. I want to see this. And then the other question I have for you is since you grow flowers and you clearly love growing flowers and you know how much happiness flowers bring to people, I'm not. If you don't do this, I'm not telling you you have to, but something to consider.
09:52Do you donate flowers to, I don't know, hospitals for patients or to nursing homes or any of that? This is our first year and they just came to the Zoom two weeks ago. So that is a fabulous idea. Yes, I will definitely look into that. I love that. Yeah, I, they're okay. Where we used to live before we moved here, there was an
10:18what they wouldn't have called 100 years ago or 80 years ago an old folks home. And now it's called assisted living or whatever for folks who are older and need some help. And they would get bouquets from the local florists, just extra flowers that the florists weren't going to use. And they would give them to the people who live there to have in their rooms. What a beauty. It just spurs things up.
10:48I was like, she's grown a lot of flowers. I wonder. I think I have a new assignment now. Definitely. Wonderful idea. Yeah. And I mean, man, if I was 85 years old and could not really get out in nature, I would be thrilled to have a bouquet of flowers brought to my room. That would make me really happy. Yeah. I'm not there yet, so we're good. Right. Yeah. Good job for that. Well, we actually have a lady that lives just kind of in our property when we bought the
11:17We bought it from her and she really didn't want to move. So we sectioned off a half an acre for her so she could stay. And so 81 years old. And so every time I do the bouquets, because I also do wedding bouquets, just did my daughter's wedding. So I took her one of the bouquets and you're right. At that age, it means the world to them. Yeah, super cool that she got to stay. That's amazing. Yeah, yeah, worked out great. Awesome.
11:47Okay, so what kind of flowers you grow besides zinnias? Because I love every flower I've ever met. Right, we have astur and then we also have some dahlias in and then I have two huge sunflower fields. Okay and is that all? Is that all you grow? So in the fall I will get my ranoculus and my peonies and my anemones in. So that's here. You know it's always in stages.
12:17Usually I'm not failing. So we're gonna get really good at this before we start adding anything else Okay, you mentioned my absolute favorite flower on earth peonies. Have you grown them before? Well, my mother grew them. So I'm originally from Canada and she had a garden she had she did roses and What else did she have? But just flip my mind Azaleas and Rhododendrons and
12:46She did peonies. She had quite a few in her garden. The weather up there was better, so I'm not sure how peonies will do in the South yet. Yeah, I was going to say, I have been growing peonies in my yard one way or another for about 20 years. And the things that I can tell you about peonies, if you would like to know, is the first year, the first spring after you plant the roots, or rhizomes or whatever they are.
13:16They won't really do anything. They will just, they will grow. They will have the green leaves and everything, but they probably will not bloom. Second year, second spring, you might get a couple blooms. Third year is when they do really well because they've gotten themselves established. Ah, good to know. Yep, and the thing that people have always told me is the first year is sleep, second year is creep, third year is leap. Isn't that the truth? Yeah, I see it.
13:43trees all the time when we've bought those emerald green trees, you know, yeah. Sometimes you're thinking, what's going on? They're not growing. And then boom, three years later. But it's such a reminder that farming is patience. It sure is. Oh, you just, the reward is down the road. But patience and yeah, giving God all the way through it is, there's a result at the end. Yep.
14:10And then the other question I have is how cold does it get in the winter time for you in Tennessee? We had, we've had a couple of rough winters. It has gone down to occasionally eight degrees, which is quite rare for here. It's not, it doesn't usually do that. It usually sits around, you know, 32 degrees, sometimes 28 in the winter in January or so. So it doesn't get biting cold, but the past two years have definitely changed. It's gotten
14:39and we've lost a lot of plants because of that. And also, as you mentioned with your apple tree, all the blooms, the wind came along and blew them away. We had last year, all our fruit trees were blooming and we had a late, very late cold snap and it killed all the blooms. Yep, I hate that. Yeah. Okay, the reason I asked how cold it gets is because the peonies need time to sleep in the wintertime and they needed to be chilly.
15:09So as long as it gets to the freezing mark or slightly below, you might have some good luck with peonies. I don't know. Okay. I will not plant a whole field then. I will plant a small garden of them. Thank you. Bye. Yeah. I would hate for you to go out and spend hundreds of dollars on the stock and then have them not do well. That would be terrible. Have you done any ranunculus? I have not. I don't even know what it looks like.
15:38They're like a little mini rose almost, puffy. They're beautiful, but they're fragile. So I'm a little hesitant, but I'm going to give them a try. Well, you can start small with that too and see what happens. Exactly. We put in, we tried two springs ago, three springs ago. I can't remember now. We wanted to try growing the crocus that puts out the saffron. Oh, I've not heard of that.
16:07because I read that you could grow it in Minnesota. Well, you might be able to grow it in Minnesota, but I think that the voles, the little rodents, ate the bulbs, because we didn't get any crocuses in there. But we got the regular crocuses. Oh my goodness. And we only bought like 12 bulbs, because I was like, I don't want to spend a whole lot of money on these, not knowing how they're going to do. And really glad we didn't spend hundreds of dollars on the...
16:36the saffron crocus producing thingies because it would have been a really bad situation. So sometimes you try and sometimes it doesn't work and sometimes you try and it turns out great. Yeah, exactly. And it's quite shocking. We get excited in the spring or kind of in the winter when you know spring's on its way and you can't stop. You start buying all these seeds and bulbs and it's like we've spent.
17:01thousands of dollars here. You know, because it's exciting and it's fun to buy all that kind of stuff. But boy, you've got to really watch your budget or it can be crazy. Yes, you will go broke trying to grow beautiful things. Yes. We haven't gone broke yet, but we've thought about going broke buying beautiful things. So, okay, so how hot does it get in Tennessee in the summertime?
17:29We are in the nineties this week and coming week it's forecasted for 95. So the average has been over the years. It's between 85 and 90 throughout the summer. It's definitely way higher this year. We've not experienced nineties like this in June. It's unusual. So, and I'm just hearing that all across the country, different people that I speak to different regions, they're all have new challenges and just
17:57unusual weather patterns. So you just don't know. Next week it could be in the 70s. Yeah, this weather has been absolute insanity. We got a foot of snow for the entire winter where I live and we usually get three or four feet. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Yeah. And then this last two weeks we've had nothing but rain. Yesterday was the first day in eight days where it was sunny and
18:27Oh my goodness. And that is a very unusual pattern, isn't it? Yeah, that doesn't, that's not, that usually happens like at the end of April into May here. And today's June, what, 24th, 25th? Yeah. Yeah. So, no, this is, it's nutty and I don't love it. And I'm, okay, I've said this a billion times. I'm going to say it again. We grow a farm to market garden here. And,
18:56for the last three springs. By now, we've had lettuces to sell, we've had spinach and chard and kale. We have nothing to sell right now because we got stuff in and then it just rained. And everything in the garden right now is just stalled out. It's still alive, it's still growing, but it's just really, really slow. And it just reminds you, you can't promise people and customers anything with these. No.
19:25friends right now. And you say that you grew lettuce. I don't know why I have been so challenged with lettuce. I grow it. It's gorgeous. I pick it and it's bitter. What am I doing? I'll tell you exactly why. If you've had really hot days, lettuce gets bitter if it's too hot out. Oh my gosh. Okay. So there's no doubt that like, I guess just a greenhouse is the only way. Yep. Okay. Yep.
19:54I won't eat lettuce out of our garden past the end of June because it's just too hot. And it does. It gets that real icky, bitter taste to it. And it looks wonderful. It looks like the most delicious lettuce ever known to man, but you bite into it and you're like, this is awful. It's too hot. That's what it is. All right. Thank you so much for that. Yep.
20:18Lettuce likes it to be warm during the day and cool at night. It's more of a cold weather crop than a hot middle of the summer crop. So similar to spinach, I guess. Yep. Yeah. Okay. Yep. And kale doesn't matter because honest to God, nobody actually loves kale. No, right? Yes. I'm sure there are people who do, but most of the people I've talked to are like, eh, kale's something, yeah.
20:44You throw in the pan and wilt to go with your stir fry, because then it tastes like everything else. Yeah, I see. And I am not actually the gardener in my household. My husband is. But I used to garden with him. I just don't love it enough to keep doing it. But he is an avid gardener. So when people bring things up like that, I know the answers. But it's not because I'm still doing the gardening.
21:13Right. Well, you're doing what you love. And I think it's wonderful you're doing these podcasts. I was able to go in and listen to some of the past ones and I was learning some stuff that other people are sharing and they tried this and that didn't work and then they tried this and that's just, yeah, it's great. Thank you for doing these podcasts. Oh, you are absolutely welcome. I just needed something to do that I was interested in. So it's no skin off my brow to do these.
21:43I was going to say, because I'm nuts, I am absolutely crazy. I have started another podcast with a friend of mine who is a master gardener in Minnesota. And that one has three episodes out. It's called Mary and the Master Gardener. And I'm not the master gardener. She is. Her name is Liz. So if you want to learn things about gardening, it's not necessarily just gardening in Minnesota. It's gardening wherever. That's wonderful.
22:12So I can send you the link if you want it later. But it's fun, and we're doing two more episodes on Wednesday to be released on Friday. One's going to be about herbs, and one's going to be about composting. Oh, definitely in on that. We do have quite a big herb garden, too, and we're selling those as you pick. Mm-hmm.
22:34I love herbs. I love going and picking out herb seedlings. I love growing the babies on my kitchen table in March. I love being able to go cut fresh basil for bruschetta or the stuff you put on pasta. Garlic and basil and olive oil. Pesto? Yes, that. Thank you.
23:01Yes. I was like, I know the word. Where is it? We have to find some pine nuts, Mary. Oh, that too. Yes. Yes. And oh my goodness, pine nuts are so expensive right now. They are. Yeah. Oh. Yeah. I'm going to have to figure out how to do my own. I'm going to have to find a pine tree and harvest my own pine nuts because this is not okay. Fascinating how they do come from that. I want to learn.
23:27You can never stop learning, can you? Like, I mean, literally there is so much that we can learn from others and from podcasts and books and YouTube, and you never stop learning. There's so much. I think that my brain would explode if all the gardening things I've ever wanted to know were in it. Yes, so true. Well then, like, I've got to ask the gardeners. And I gotta.
23:51I gotta warn Liz not to tell me everything or my head will explode because she's brilliant. She knows so much about gardening. I know maybe an eighth of what she knows. Maybe. Right. So, but either way, how are your flowers doing? I mean, when did you get stuff in this year? We got them in the last week of April. This week they exploded.
24:20So we have, so we're open this Friday for you to pick. There are millions. I mean, I'm not being dramatic. There are so many flowers and they're so beautiful. And the bugs thankfully have not harmed any of the flowers. We were praying for rain. You could see the bottom of the leaves because we've planted so many. They were starting to dry out because we've been in the nineties with no rain. Yeah.
24:49the rain came and it was a soaking rain and it was just what we needed. And I put on Facebook, thank you Lord for the rain last night. And all these people were liking it. So a lot of the farmers in the area was just like, Oh, everything is so thirsty. So they are doing now that they've also had that drink of water. They are stunning. We do have a lot of photos on Facebook and on our website. Nice. Yeah. Um, as I was telling you, before we started recording, it's been doing nothing but rain here.
25:19So I would love to just like send you bucket fulls of water from the state of Minnesota because we don't need anymore. And I'm sure just like suddenly your weather is going to change again. Yep. Yeah. Yeah, I figure we'll be back in a drought by August, but right now we are nowhere near a drought. Right. Wow. Amazing. And it's so everything that we growers do is dependent on what falls out of the sky or what
25:49doesn't. Back in April, we were in a drought and had been since last year. And we'd get a little bit of rain and everybody's like, oh, thank God it rained and we need the rain. And then basically the whole month of, well, the end of the month of May and almost all of June, we have gotten rain almost every day. Oh my gosh. That is just a drastic change.
26:16Mm-hmm. Yeah, and it's just it's not great. It's If you're in a drought and you have a well you can water your plants If you're not in a drought if you're in the exact opposite of a drought You can't suck the water back out of the ground. Mm-hmm So I would almost rather be in a drought and be able to water what needs to be watered Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, it's it's like in the wintertime in the wintertime if it's too cold
26:45you can throw on 7,000 layers of clothes and be warm. In the summertime, if it's too hot, you can't be any more naked than naked. It's the same situation. You're right. So it's been incredibly frustrating. My husband has been getting more and more frustrated as it's rained more and more. Yeah. And I looked at him the other day. I said, are you OK? And he's like,
27:14I'm letting it go. He said, I am, he said, I have been so frustrated with this. He said, I'm letting it go. We have the greenhouse. We have lots of stuff growing in the greenhouse because it's not soaked. Right. He said, as soon as this weather breaks, I will be able to get all that stuff that's been growing into the actual garden and it will do fine. I said, well, look at you being a grownup. He's like, I can't fight the weather. I know.
27:39And it's so interesting because my husband, Randy, he's been like completely the opposite with the weather. It's been a drought here for a while. And so we bought a huge tank. Well, he bought it and put it on the back of his side by side. He drives around with a hose watering almost a mile of flowers. And of course, 40 gallons doesn't go very far. 100 gallons, maybe it is. And so he's back filling it up again. He's like, oh, I need this rain. God love that man. Yeah.
28:09Yeah, and that's for my flowers. So sweet, you know, you can just, oh, well, honey, I guess you're croc died. But no, no. He faithfully helps me through all of it. It's it's a joint effort. It takes both of us for sure. He loves you. There's no question in my mind. He loves you. Yes, I do know that. It's a wonderful thing. Yes. All right, ma'am, I'm gonna I'm gonna wrap this up because we're almost at 30 minutes.
28:37I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and I hope that your you pick goes really, really well. Thank you so much. I love this time sharing with you today. I loved talking with you about flowers. Yeah. All right. Have a great day, Debra. Thanks. You too, Mary.
 

BlueSky Homestead

Today I'm talking with Amanda at BlueSky Homestead. You can follow on Facebook as well.
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00:00This 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 Amanda at Blue Sky Homestead. How are you, Amanda? I'm well. How are you? I'm great. It is really sunny and beautiful here today. So tell me about yourself and Blue Sky Homestead. So...
00:31I just, um, so Blue Sky Homes had started just not even, probably not even a year ago. I would say about 10 months ago. I started venturing into more homemaking. I'm a stay at home mom. I work on a horse farm part time in the mornings, but other than that I'm home. So I started venturing more into.
01:00cooking from scratch and the sourdoughs. I got married this past September and my husband lives on a little five acre farm. So we have goats and chickens, which I do not grow up around at all. Didn't have gardens, didn't have animals, except for cats and some dogs. But other than that, nothing. So it was like a, kind of like a culture shock to me really because I've never been around animals like that.
01:29So, so I decided like maybe I can make my own little website and post things that I'm learning and share it with other people that are new to it and don't know much about it because that's still kind of where I'm always learning. But it's been fun. I still want to venture out into more like holistic things.
01:59I like, I can't do like perfumes and stuff. Those chemicals really gave me migraines, like really bad. I had to get rid of everything. So I want to start venturing eventually, candle making, like incense and stuff like that, that doesn't cause and doesn't have all those nasty chemicals in them that really destruct your whole body. So.
02:29I mean, that's where I want to head into, but for right now, I'm still in the works. Okay. Well, speaking of perfumes, giving you migraines, me too. You're taught, you're preaching to the choir. Me too. Oh, really? I know a lot of people and they, like my daughter, she doesn't believe me. She's about to be 16. She buys all Victoria's Secret and bath and body wash and I'm like, get it out of the house.
02:57You want to know why I have a migraine all the time? Cut that stuff out for a little while and see how you feel. Yeah. Well, he's a teenager though, so. Yep, and you don't want to stomp on him, but you also don't want to have a headache all day every day either. Oh my gosh, yes. So the last time I was at a public entertainment event, it was a chorus thing for my youngest son, and the...
03:27The high school has had, we don't live there anymore, they still have a really nice auditorium that they built. And we went and I was there for maybe 20 minutes and all the perfumes and all the deodorants and all the colognes, I couldn't even think my head hurt so bad and I didn't have a headache when I walked in. So it does cause issues for people who are sensitive to it. So crazy because I never used to be like that.
03:55Or I did and I didn't realize it was comics or not because I didn't know anything about this kind of stuff until now, really. So I would, it was, it would really be bad because my husband and I would like, we don't really have date nights. So the one time that we would have a date night, I'd get all dolled up and looking nice. And I would put on my perfume and we would get ready to go. And I'd be in the car driving. And
04:24All of a sudden my nose felt like stuffy and my head just started. I was like, Oh man, this is not going to be a good night because my head is starting to hurt and I don't know why. Yep. So it was a whole thing where I was reading books and was in a podcast. And I'm like, wow, like that could really be a thing. So I had like 20 different perfumes from like different places. And I just actually gave them all to my oldest stepdaughter cause
04:53She doesn't care about stuff that doesn't affect her. So I'm like, here you go, you can take them. But it's amazing that just, well, even body lotions. And I was shocked when I learned about how that really can affect your everyday living, honestly. I got rid of all my plugins. I don't use Debreze anymore. So the only perfume that I really found that does not affect me is, it's a brand by Skylark.
05:22So it's a little crazy. It's a roll-on. They do self-sprays, but when I found it, I initially just got a roll-on. And it's a cream, and I don't have migraines when I wear that. Because I do like perfumes and stuff, so I miss wearing them. But this Skyler line is the only line that I have found so far that has clean ingredients that do not have that effect on me at all.
05:52is you can put essential oils that you like the scent of on your skin as long as it's in a carrier oil like a sweet almond or an olive oil or coconut oil. The coconut oil that isn't the room temperature hardening kind, I think it's called fractionated coconut oil. Yeah. Okay. I wear a roll-on essential oil blend if I want to wear perfume. And it does not cause any headaches because it's just...
06:22the natural oils. There's no alcohol, no fixatives, no nothing. It means that you have to put it on more often because it does wear off faster. Yeah, yeah. I do buy oils at Whole Foods. There's little, I wouldn't say there's natural oils. They're like, they're natural oils, like a must. Yep. So there's, it's a clean set. So I have a few of those. There's small ones and there's some of them, but I don't wear them too often just because they're crazy, but.
06:52Yeah, I have found some alternatives, but being able to like manage and make my own and you know do it that way and to share would be really fun. And candles, I can't do candles. I can do soy based candles. That doesn't give me migraines. And when I say migraines, it's so bad that I can't function. I can't go and do anything. So literally ruins my day. So the soy based candles
07:20have that effect on me, I don't know. And I do check ingredients because of the phyllates and all those kinds of things that make it bad. But so I wanna do candles and keep all that nasty chemicals out that really damper your day. Yep, I understand. The other thing I was gonna say, since you wanna do candles, is you could do wax melts. And
07:48That way you don't actually get the smoke from the candle either. That is true. I do like, I do like the wax for sure. Yeah, we make those. They're fab, they're fabulous. We love them. Oh really? Yeah. That's awesome. It's just the candle wax, you know, you just put her into a, I messed that up completely. You just pour it into the little molds and let it set up and then you just put them in the wax melters and they melt and they smell just like candles, but no smoke.
08:17Yeah, I do like those. I thought, look, I'm in like a couple candle Facebook groups just to get an idea of how the difficultness of making candles and I've watched YouTube videos. YouTube videos, they don't seem so difficult. I mean, it's just the fractioning of everything, I guess that makes it scary. Yeah. Yeah. And the thing is, once you do it a couple of times, it won't bother you at all. You won't be afraid of it anymore. We
08:45We started making candles last spring and loved it. Love it. And we still have tons of candles. We sell them at the farmer's market and we're starting to get down on our inventory. So we'll be making candles again here in a few weeks. Yeah, that's awesome. And the whole house smells amazing when you make them. That's what I miss about candles and those because I love a good smelling and my house is always clean and stuff, but like there's no smell.
09:15At least to me, it means that I live there, and it means the way the house smells. But I love walking into the house and it smells really pretty. Yeah. So I've been missing that. Yeah. My house always smells like whatever we cooked last because we cook a lot from scratch. So, so it's not just something in the microwave and there's no scent. Um, my husband, my husband cooked up hash browns this morning and the food, the kitchen is right below my bedroom, which is where I record the podcast.
09:43and all I can smell right now is hash browns. I'm like, oh my God, okay. So yes, anyway, we could talk about smells and candles and stuff all day. All day. So what, you said you have chickens and what else on the homestead? Yeah, so we have two sister goats. We did have a male first. Like when I moved in with my husband, he had a male, his name was Fromms. His oldest daughter named him.
10:13and she was small, but he had, he came down with some kind of brain anemone or some kind of brain thing that literally came out of nowhere. So we tried to help him and the penicillin and stuff and he had just, he passed away very quickly. So we have like this huge hill that we had fenced in for him. So we ended up getting two, two sister goats.
10:42Two years ago, no, probably three years ago now, but yeah, they're nice. They'll come to you if you have food. That's it. And then when you'll be able to pet them, they don't run to you and want to like be pet all the time. Like I wanted, I wanted goats to love on and they are not lovable girls. I'm sorry if you have food. But, so I mean, they keep the hill that we have, like chewed down so we don't have to like motor anything. They.
11:11I've been there best of life up there in the woods. But yeah, so then we do have chickens. I started incubating my own chickens three years ago. It's a lot of work to do that, but I love chickens. I just love them. So I have 10 chickens. I did have 11. One, I don't understand chickens and when they die, like what happened? You were completely fine an hour ago and then you're just.
11:40fall over dad, I don't get it. But this one was in the middle of the yard. It wouldn't move. So I thought it was injured, but it wasn't. And so it's, I had a little bit of blood on its mouth. So I thought maybe a one of the rooster, my rooster attacked it or something. So I put it, put it in by itself. It was walking. It was, it seemed fine. So I was like, okay, put my other chicken in with it the next day, just for some company and the next day it was.
12:11I don't know what was wrong with it. It's just I hate when things die. So I feel so sad. Yeah, nature is cruel sometimes. Yeah, I just wish I could understand why they just fall over. Don't get back up. Yeah, and I mean, you could take it to the vet and have them do a necropsy and see what caused it, but that's a lot of money to find out that.
12:39It died from something and it doesn't matter because it's still dead. It's not like they can fix it. So yeah. But I still have 10 chickens, but I think I so I hatched five and I bought three off of my friends who I believe she ordered them. So these chickens are massive. I don't remember what they're called. I can look it up. But they're.
13:07Two of them are black with turquoise, like a shimmer to it when the sun hits on. Their legs are big. They look, they're literally tiny dinosaurs. They hover over, they tower over my other chickens and my other rooster. They're just massive. But I believe I have more roosters than hens, so I have to figure that out. They're also in their own little cliques. So my original rooster and hen, those two are together constantly. They're inseparable.
13:37And then the three that I cut from my friend, they are a little gang of themselves. So they stay to themselves. And then the other ones that I hatch myself, they stay to themselves. So they don't mesh well. I don't know how to get them together. I'll put them all in the coop together for like a day or two. And, but they, when they're out rearranging, they want nothing to do with each other. They just stick to their own people, I guess. They're clicky. They're mean girls.
14:05Yeah, I don't but I do have more roosters than hens. So I'm gonna have to probably get rid of some before they start fighting each other Yes, my black ones are really pretty. They're really pretty Yeah, we have black ones, but they don't have a blues or a greenish blue shimmer to them. They have Coys kind of shimmer. I do have a red one with like um, black mixed in there kind of hmm But yeah
14:35Yeah, our black ones have like a reddish sheen to the black, like a brown red. Oh, wow. They're really pretty. That's pretty. Okay. So do you grow any produce on the homestead? So my husband actually built me a produce stand because I'm like, I want to start selling off our property, our vegetables and stuff because we eat them, but we eat them, but we still always have much more than what we eat. So I'd like to be able to share it with the community. So it's not.
15:04fully done, so I'll build my shelves. So our garden, I'm still trying to love gardening. I really am. I'm not a fan. I don't like pulling weeds. I don't, I just don't. But this year I covered my entire garden with the black fabric, which I don't like the fabric. The weeds still grow underneath of it. It doesn't kill it. It just grows underneath. So I'm still like where my plants are.
15:31I still have to like push my hand underneath and like grab the weeds that are like around it, but it's not anywhere near as painful as it was past years. But I have it completely covered. It just holds cut out where my plants are. So I have tomatoes and peppers. I have a spaghetti squash. I have a watermelon and a zucchini, I believe it is.
15:54We don't, we eat vegetables, but we don't eat a lot of vegetables. We eat more meat and potatoes than anything, but, oh, and I do have asparagus, which I messed up for like the last two years. I didn't know. I didn't know that you were supposed to like cut it. Like I, I was thought when it would grow, it would have spheres automatically, but this one grew and has like those feathers. And I let it go to seed and then.
16:23the next year, it wasn't looking like spheres. I'm like, where are these spheres that look like, it's very, it looks like a big tree. Yeah. And so I finally YouTubeed it just a few weeks ago, actually, and I let it go again, like too long. So I guess this fall, I'm supposed to cut it completely and then cover it. And then next season is when they'll come up into spheres. Yeah. I had no idea.
16:52When did you put them in? I seriously I put them in like two years ago. And she was like, they won't come up this spring. They'll come up next spring. And I'm like, well, there's no asparagus spheres here. So I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I literally thought it would just be spheres that would come up out of the ground. But it didn't help. Yeah. So I literally been wasting two years of buying produce or buying asparagus from other produce stands because I didn't know what I was doing.
17:21Well, if it makes you feel any better You really wouldn't have gotten a lot the first year after you put them in or the second year because it takes about three years for them to get Established to where you're getting more than you know eight or ten So and the reason I tell you this because when we moved here four years ago, we put in asparagus crowns In the spring after we moved in in August so like nine months later and
17:51This is the first year that we've really gotten a lot of asparagus out of the garden. So it takes three, three and a half years for them to get back together. Okay, so that technically should be right on track then. Yep. So, and yeah, you're supposed to cut them. We do it in the fall, but yeah, you're supposed to cut them back after they've done their thing in the springtime. Yeah, because it's like falling over, it's so heavy, it literally looks like trees that are growing in my...
18:21He made a thing out of skids. Yeah. What is it called? A raised bed? Yeah. So he made one of those for the asparagus. We did, we did carrots one year. So it didn't, they didn't produce very much at all. And then we did potatoes last year and those bugs got in them and just told most of them. So we did it again this year. We're hoping. Potato bugs are the worst ever. They really are. I had no idea.
18:50They're actual potato bugs. But, and I was like, oh, the potatoes are dead. They're gone. Yeah. They were eaten. Yeah. They will strip them completely. Yeah. So I've been on top of those so far so good, but there, I haven't seen anything coming out of the ground yet anyway. So, but I mean, other than that, I try to just take the things that I know that we eat because of the peppers, I use green peppers and red peppers and all those for a lot of meals.
19:20Um, so I'll just freeze them. Um, and then I have them for like the rest of the year and the tomatoes last year, I didn't can them, I just throw them in the, all in the freezer. So I was like, this is getting bored. Tomatoes, I just throw them in a freezer or a vacuum seal bag and put it in the freezer. So now my freezer is still like full. The floor of my freezer is still full of tomatoes. So I have to follow them out and probably just make some sauce with some sort and can it.
19:50Yeah. We have half a cow coming the first week of July. And so I have to clean out a freezer for that. Okay. I'm excited for that. We've never had, we never bought a half cow at a butcher before. So we're excited. Yeah. It's, it's a really good way to have beef year round. That's not going to cost you an arm and a leg. It's a huge outlay at the beginning.
20:19But you are getting filet mignon and really nice steaks for exactly the same price as your burger and you roast and all that because that's how that works out. It's a great way to do it. Yeah, I feel like it's a huge money saver for sure. It is and it's security. As long as your freezers are working, you have beef for a year. I was going to say about the peppers. Did you know that you can oven roast your peppers?
20:48and then put them in ziplocks and then they're already cooked for sauces and stuff. No, I didn't. I never thought about that. Yeah, all you gotta do is chop them up the size you want them, put some olive oil in the bottom of a cookie sheet, you know, with the edges. This is, I'm not saying this right, not a flat cookie sheet, a cookie sheet that's got the edges so that the oil doesn't spill out. And then you can season it with whatever you want to season it with. You roast them until they get soft.
21:18And then you can put them in a ziplock and freeze them. You push all the air out or you can use your seal meal and it does it for you. But they're good for a couple of years in the freezer. Yeah. That's what I like about freezing. Um, and I do vacuum seal and stuff, but I don't, I, yeah, I don't, I like freezing stuff to last the rest of the year when it's not in season. Yep. Um, I'm still trying so I can, we had to get.
21:45We have mulberry bushes out back also, so we picked mulberries. I made a mason jar of jelly of that. We picked blueberries the past Saturday. We got a lot. And then everybody scattered when it came to like having to wash them, pull their stems out, sort through them. I was spent my Saturday night till like 10 o'clock and I'm really anal about things too, so I probably wouldn't have done it the way that I wanted it to be done anyway. But now I was standing at the sink for like.
22:15like three hours just going through and stemming and getting out the bad ones. And then my husband comes in and he's like, you're still in here? I'm like, leave me alone. It's a process that I have to do. And he was like, well, you know, I would have used all the bad ones, even just for jelly, you're, you're putting it through the processor. I'm like, leave me alone. Yeah. Not using it. I'm going to give it to my chicken. So leave me, leave me be. I'm doing my job. Yes. Yeah.
22:43Exactly. So I'm going to start doing some blueberry jam or jellies, which actually my first year doing jellies, it lasted a full year. Like it lasted. I still have a jar from last summer, this summer. And so I don't ever buy jelly ever at the Sourcher store because it was super expensive anyway. We don't ever buy jelly or jam anymore either because we started canning two summers ago and made tons of jams and jellies.
23:12We made peach butter. You know like apple butter? Do you know what apple butter is? Oh yes, I love apple butter. We made peach butter instead and we still have like 10 jars, jelly jars of peach butter in our pantry right now from two seasons ago. Oh my gosh, I never heard of peach butter. It's really yummy. Yeah, it's thick like apple butter, but it's delicious. Well, peach season is coming up soon I believe, so maybe I'll try that.
23:41Yeah, you just cook the peaches down like you into like almost like an applesauce texture and do your sugar and your pectin and whatever and tada you have peach butter and I didn't even know. I call it peach butter because it reminds me of apple butter. I don't know if peach butter is actually a thing. I have no idea. But anyway. Well, you just trademarked that. Yeah, I just wanted to mention that you are in Pennsylvania. I didn't mention that at the beginning. I usually try to try to pin that down with people.
24:10So it's Lancaster, PA, but I live in, my aunt is in Conestoga, but I don't live in the little town of Conestoga. Brighton, Lancaster is like on the border. So we live in a very quiet area and I love it because it's so quiet. My kids are young and they're like, it's boring out here. There's nothing to do. So I mean, they have a park across the street, like it's a nature preserve.
24:38And they can run over there. Like I'm a worry work. So I'm like, take the walkie talkies and our phones and don't go too far. But they go into playing the creek yesterday. They were gone for like two hours. I started panicking. I'm like, they went on a trail back in the world. So they never been on before. I was not without me anyway. And so I was getting a little worried, but they made it back and they had finally found a little waterfall. And.
25:07some other teenagers down there that were playing with them. So I just get worried. So it is much different than it was back when I was a kid where you could walk anywhere you wanted. You didn't have to worry about so much. Yes, and you're right. But I'm gonna tell you, I grew up in the woods of Maine, okay, the state of Maine. When I was a kid, we didn't have cell phones, we didn't have walkie talkies, we didn't have any of that stuff. Because I'm 54, those things weren't available then. Yeah.
25:37And there's nothing better for kids than to just let them go and use their imaginations and make forts in the trees and count the minnows in the creek and all that stuff that the kids miss out on so much now. So good on you. Good job, mom. I know, they really do. Yeah. I love being able to let them go even though I'm like, don't go. My son is 12 and then I have two nine-year-olds and those are the ones that are just like my son, my oldest son. He's...
26:06He's so adventurous. He just loves to explore and I just have to get out of my head. So he tells me, just stop it. I'm going to be okay. I'm going to come back. I wish she went to the United States in 2020 and it just muscles up my head. Yeah, when I was 12, I would take my bike and ride out to the creek and spend five hours on this flat rock that stuck out into the creek. And I would be out there with a book and just in the quiet and listening to birds and reading.
26:35And I would come home and my mom would be like, so how far did you get in your book? And she'd look, because I dog-eared the pages because I was a terrible steward of books back then. She's like, wow, you did a lot of reading today. And I'm like, yep. And I saw three deer, and I saw a fox, and I saw a cardinal, and I heard the birds singing, and I saw some fish. And she's like, oh, so you weren't just reading the whole time. I'm like, no. Of course I wasn't. My oldest daughter will do that. So we have an overlook, which I will not let my kids go without an adult, because you have literally
27:05fall off, you're done. Yeah. I don't let them go to the Overlook where my daughter will go. Um, and she'll take her book and it might be ridiculous, but I make her either take a knife or pepper spray just to ease my mind and that's what she does. Every time she wants to go out, but she does the same thing. She'll go out there for like about two, an hour or two and take her book. Set out the Overlook and read her books and stuff. So yeah, I love.
27:32that they have that so close to home because like you said, kids don't know anything about the woods anymore. It's just not a thing unless you live in like the country or you have it close by. Mm hmm. Yeah. We ended up taking our kids camping two summers in a row because we wanted them to actually understand that you could pitch a tent, sleep in it and then spend the day outside. And it was lovely. It was also very, very cold.
28:00The first time we went, it was end of May and it was unseasonably cold. And the day we went was fine and we were all in sleeping bags that night. And then, oh my God, it was like 40 degrees when we got up in the morning. Oh my gosh. Getting up out of a nice warm sleeping bag into 40 degree weather is not, it's a rude awakening. It really is. Yeah. Oh my gosh.
28:26But it was still fun. We got the fire going and had a hot chocolate and coffee made with a percolator on the fire thing. It was great. They were like, you can make coffee and hot chocolate in the woods? Yes, yes you can. Yeah. So yes, I feel like a lot of kids these days are living vicariously through other people's videos of doing the things.
28:56And you've got to experience it. You've got to actually do it to know what it's like. Yeah, totally. I totally agree with that. So anyway, we've spent like almost half an hour just not really talking about anything you're doing on the homestead, but talking about how good it is to raise kids with nature and freedom. And that's OK, too. So why is it Blue Sky Homestead? Well, I was.
29:25really having a hard time finding a name. And so honestly, I was, at my husband, I tried to get him involved in helping me and he was either like, nah, I don't like it, it's too much or then he would shoot out ideas. I'm like, well, I don't like that either. So I actually used chat GPT to find my name because I put in everything that I wanted to do.
29:55what my interests were as far as using the name for. And it came out with a bunch of names. And I'm like, I really like this one, and I like this one, and I like this one. So I had to narrow it down. So my daughter's middle name is actually Sky. And my favorite color is blue. So I'm like, when I saw that one, I'm like, huh, I kinda like that because there's a significant there, my daughter's middle name. And so it just sucked. And my husband was like, yeah, I like that. So.
30:23And I didn't even realize the sky part of it until like a couple weeks in. I'm like, Oh, well, let's take this middle name. So I'm glad I, I chose that one. Well, when, when I read it, I, I got a feeling instantly of just peacefulness. Yeah. Oh, that's nice. So it was awesome. Yeah. All right. Well, Amanda, I am really happy that you took the time to talk with me today. And I appreciate it. And.
30:51Keep raising those kids in the woods is the best thing for them. Yes, I will do that for sure. Alright, thanks so much. Yeah, thank you for having me. Bye. Bye bye.
 

Graham Fam Farm LLC

Today I'm talking with Janae at Graham Fam Farm LLC. You can follow on Facebook as well.
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https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes
00:00This 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 Janae at Gram Fam Farm LLC. Good morning, Janae. Good morning. How are you, Mary? I'm great. I'm so excited to talk with you. Tell me about yourself and what you guys do.
00:25Well, great. Thanks for having me. I'm so excited to be here. So I started Gram Fam Farm. Let's see. We officially started about 10 years ago, but we got our company up and running about three years ago. And we grow weeds, what people would call them, and use them for medicinal purposes. So we like to forage and gather and grow our own medicinal plants. And we use them to make all sorts of herbal products and like to teach people about natural holistic
00:53healing and living and how they can use the plants growing all around them to make medicine for them and their family. Awesome. You are exactly the person I want to talk to today. I know a little bit about like essential oils. Like I know that when I have a migraine, if I open up my bottle of lavender essential oil and smell it, it takes the edge off the pain of a migraine. I know that clove oil can help with tooth pain, like toothache pain.
01:23I know that mints can help with joint pain, but that's about all I really know. So are you a certified herbalist? Is that correct? So certifications are, I'm not certified and certifications are kind of wonky. A lot of people will claim that they're certified and it allows them more credibility in the industry, but there actually isn't just a standard certification for herbalists. So a lot of herbalists that tend to say they're certified, it may mean nothing.
01:51So I have experience of 10 years with it. I'm a first-generation herbalist, but I am definitely not certified through any group or anything like that. Okay. I was wondering if certified meant anything because I'm going to say this and I really don't want anybody to come down on me about it, but probably we'll have a hard time with it. I know that when we sell our essential oil blends at the farmers market, we have to label them with what oils we use.
02:22and we have to name whatever the thing is. I have like something I use for bug repellent and we call it bug off because it's funny, but we're not allowed to say what the oils are good for because the FDA frowns upon that. And so here's where I get confused because there are companies that sell herbal
02:51things to help with ailments and they're allowed to say what it's for. So why can't I do it or why can't you do it that way but companies can? Do you know? Well, the FDA hasn't hit them yet. Pretty much you're not supposed to make any sort of claim at all about the viability of herbal products or what herbal products are used to cure, I'm doing air quotes, right? Or heal, I'm doing air quotes. You're not supposed to do any of that.
03:21You can say, it is recommended for this and we recommend it for this. And that's where herbalists like to err on the side of because, I mean, we're not doctors. And so I like to make it very clear, I'm not a doctor. I'm an herbalist. This is an herbal recommendation. This is what I recommend to clients. Recommend is one of the best things, but one of the best terms you can use when you're talking about the benefits of herbal medicine. But as soon as the FDA gets a hold of it, they like to kick out anything natural, unfortunately.
03:52Yeah, and it's so silly because we did this a long time ago. Yeah, we've forgotten. A lot of people have forgotten about it. The truth's been hidden, you know, and I think it would kill, I don't think it would kill the pharmaceutical industry. Yes. And it's unfortunate that we as human beings pay so much money for manmade things and corrupted things. When I can go out to my garden, pick mint.
04:22and steep it in a sweet almond oil or an olive oil or a coconut oil, put it on my ankle that is sore because I twisted it, which is not true. I did not twist my ankle. I'm saying if I did. And it will actually help take away some of the ache. Yeah, because it's a hardcore anti-inflammatory. It's the same thing with dandelion. The root is used as an anti-cancer. The astringent properties of it alone are amazing. Same thing with red clover. Red clover is a blood cleanser.
04:50These things are recommended to treat things like cancer, which actually doesn't need to be cut out of your body, despite what doctors claim herbalists don't think that that's recommended at all. In fact, your body can take care of it itself. It just needs to be given the right conditions to then be able to heal itself. These are a lot of, call them folklore, whatever you will, but these are a lot of remedies that have been used for generations to take away a lot of ailments. People either forgotten about them or they've been intentionally hidden.
05:19And unfortunately, it's to make money. It's frustrating. And that's the mildest word I can use at the moment on this podcast. Um, so how did you get into this, Janaye? Well, you know, um, when my first son was very young, even right before he, he was born when I was pregnant, I just didn't like, I started looking into a lot of stuff, going down a lot of rabbit holes and I didn't like any of the products that were available on the market as prenatals.
05:46I was just not a fan of them. They had a lot of crap in there. And so as my kids started to pop out, right, and grow, I started to look into the different sort of alternative treatments and alternative therapies. And it started out honestly, besides the prenatals, with diaper rash bomb. I mean, I was so sick of, I was a working mom at that time. I was in law school and I was so sick of what they were putting on my kiddo at daycare. And I just, I hated it. And so I created my own, you know, diaper rash bomb and I said, put this on him, you know.
06:16It's got all the good stuff in there without all the bad. And I, I created it out of necessity because I couldn't find anything on the market as a working mom that I trusted. I didn't know anyone who was using herbal products at that time. Um, and so I just was like, you know what, I need to create my own. And so I started to dabble at first and just create the products that me and my family required. Sunscreen was another one that we definitely required. Um, and an alternative sunscreen. And so I just.
06:42started off out of necessity and eventually it grew into something more and became bigger and bigger and I had people started off with family, hey, can I get some of that? Hey, can you give me this as a birthday present or a Christmas present? And then eventually I started to sell the things that I made and it just kind of blossomed from there. Okay. Yeah. We made, we tried making some sunblock or whatever last year, have never made it before, found a what I thought would work recipe, tweaked it a titch.
07:11and put it in like little lip balm tubes. Yeah. So it's more like a salve than a lotion. And a couple of the vendors at the farmers market that we know, we asked them if they would try it and let us know how it works. It worked for us, but we wanted other people to try it. And the lady that is one of the organizers for the farmers market came back a week later and said, do you have more? Cause she was using it on her kids. And
07:38It wasn't stinky. It wasn't oily. It actually stayed on their skin and it cut the sunburn down by half. And I didn't expect it to completely block sunburn, you know, totally. But I figured if she was smart, like most people are with their kids, she would not have them out in the burning sun all day. It is a deterrent is not a cure for sunburn. And she loved it. And I have to get some more to her probably next weekend.
08:08So you can make this stuff, you can acquire the ingredients, you can forage for it, you can buy it, you can create a thing, and it does work. Yeah, yeah. I mean, moderation is key, right? In everything. Too much of anything is bad for you. Too much water will kill you, right? Same thing with sun. And so people are like, oh, you know, I was outside for 12 hours, you know, and this didn't work. Well,
08:32yeah, you were outside way too long. Why don't you put on some clothing over the area that's getting exposed to the sun for that amount of time? And it's the same thing with herbal products. It's the same thing with any product you have. Too much of anything is a bad thing. And so you have to be smart. You have to be logical and you have to be reasonable about it. But there are really good natural ingredients that can be used to block a lot of the harmful UV rays when you are out there for a shorter period of time. And if you reapply, it's going to, like you said, block up to half.
09:00Um, yeah, we've come up with a really good blend. We sell it online. We teach people how to make it for free on YouTube. We do YouTube videos, TikTok videos. We teach others how to make our products for free. And, you know, that's the thing is people say, you know, I can't believe online you're charging $60 for a tincture. Well, I had to grow the plants myself. Then I had to dry them myself. Then I had to steep it for four to six weeks, at least six weeks, I usually say. And then I had to strain it, bottle it, put a label on it. And, and I'm kind of a one band show here, right? Me and my family. So.
09:29It's worth the money you pay for the natural ingredients you get out of it. And it'll, it'll work a long time. I mean, people don't even bat an eyelash about paying hundreds of dollars for, you know, pharmaceutical, it's going to last them for 30 days, but they won't pay 60 bucks for a tincture that's going to last them 30 to 90 days. So it's, I think people need to, um, come to a realization of what it takes to make natural products, you know, not on this large scale, uh, conglomerate like a Walmart, but you know, with small individual.
09:58sole proprietors or LLCs making these products. And look, the information's coming to you for free on how you can make them yourself. But if you want to buy ours, then you know it's handmade. And there's something to be said about a handmade product that you can guarantee where the ingredients are coming from. Yes, and handmade always takes more time than a factory will. Definitely, and it's better product. You know, it's a higher end product. We can guarantee it. We're physically looking at it. You know, we are making sure that it is what we expect it to be.
10:29Yes. And for anybody listening, if you want to find Janaye's products, type in Gram Fam Farm on Google because her stuff will come up everywhere. I did it this morning. Awesome. Yeah. I typed in your business name and I was like, wow, it's two pages in and I'm still seeing Janaye's label or company or whatever. I was like, wow, your Google algorithm is fantastic.
10:58Thank you. We've been working on it for a long time. Maybe it definitely was not that way two years ago. Yeah. Yep. So I have a question about herbalist versus nutritionist because herbs are fantastic. I'm actually quite sad right now because my herb garden is non-existent at this moment. It got tilled in because my husband decided that he wanted to move it.
11:28And we didn't have anywhere to put any cuttings from the herbs over the winter because I live in Minnesota and it's cold here and I don't have enough natural light to keep them going in the house right now. So my herb garden is kaput. I think there's basil and thyme in the greenhouse that just went up. And that's it. But I know that herbs have many, many stellar qualities for the body, whether it's eating them or using them in topical things or whatever.
11:58Do fruits and vegetables, like cherries are supposed to be good for your joints. Spinach is supposed to be good for iron. Do fruits and vegetables count in this herbalist thing or is that more a nutritionist thing? Yeah, I mean, definitely. You want to make sure the quality of your products always a big deal, but we like to say we're naturalists and I am an herbalist. So you're supposed to be getting all your vitamins and minerals from food.
12:26A lot of people like to say, oh, if you're not drinking quality water, we love distilled water because it pulls out toxins in the body and you're supposed to be eating good enough food where your vitamins and minerals are coming from the food you eat. So if you live an overall healthy lifestyle, then that lifestyle includes fruits and vegetables, whole foods, fresh foods, and a lot of which can be herbs because there's a lot of culinary, you know, there's some herbalists that just practice medicinal culinary.
12:53art and only focus on the herbs you can eat in the culinary palette. We focus on a bit more and go into tincture and salve and infusions and decoction, different things like that. But I mean, you're supposed to use them all hand in hand. A lot of what we eat and what we know as food today is not actually food. We've grown up with it thinking that it's food, but it's not. A lot of it's just crap.
13:19products and it's causing our body to be crappy, unfortunately, and not allowing it to work properly. So I mean, if you take the herbal idea to heart, then you should be eating healthy foods along with that and trying to stay... It's very funny. We hear a lot of the time, don't eat frozen foods or stay away from sugar. It really is important. You really are what you eat. And a lot of people wouldn't require...
13:45the herbal products that we sell for these cleanses and for these detoxifiers if they were eating properly, if they were eating better food. You'd be surprised at how much breath work goes into a healthy body as well, just what oxygen does to the cells and how it can replenish the body. And I mean, you've got flax seed that has natural collagen in it. So I think that when you look at herbalism or when you look at naturalism and you look at all of these Ayurveda, right?
14:13all of these different alternative healing practices, they really all go hand in hand. And basically what it is, is it's trying to get people back to that natural living idea where, you know, you're not grabbing for food that's been in the freezer and it's got all these preservatives in it. You know, you're not grabbing for just like boxed mac and cheese. And it's not to say we don't have that. I've got two kids. I've got a nine-year-old and a seven-year-old. So I go there just as much as others do too. But the idea is to get your body used to eating.
14:42natural holistic foods as often as possible. And you'll notice that your body can reset itself. Your body can heal itself. It can reset itself. It can be as healthy as you'll allow it to be. And a lot of that is the environment in which you're in. A lot of people don't even think about the products they're putting on their body and in their hair and in your deodorant and your toothpaste, your hair sprays. There's a lot of crap in there that's not allowing your body to ever reset.
15:10and thrive and get back to this natural state of well-being. Because your body is naturally supposed to be in a state of well-being. Yes, and makeup too is part of that that list you just made. Definitely. Definitely. Makeup has so much crap in there and people wonder, Janaye, why is your skin so nice? Well, I don't put makeup on it. I don't put a lot of crap on it. And over time, your skin will start to reset itself. What they've got going on in these
15:39is really harming your skin and making you look less attractive when you take it off, which makes you want to use it even more. If you're caught up in that cycle of, oh, I'm just trying to look as beautiful as I can. Well, as soon as you take that stuff off, it's already done so much detriment to your skin that your skin looks worse every time you use it, unfortunately. So give yourself, give your skin room to breathe and it'll go back to a state of balance. Yeah, absolutely. And I can remember...
16:07When I was in my early 20s, I went home to visit my family. And my sister is not even a year young. No, she's 15 months younger than I am. And she was never without a full face of makeup, ever. And I mean everything. Every layer she could put on, it was on. And she came out of the shower in her bathrobe, no makeup, no nothing. And I was like, my God, you are so beautiful without makeup.
16:37And she was, she was gorgeous. And she's like, no, I'm not. And I said, no, you really are. And she couldn't, she couldn't see it. Right, right. It gets you into a numbing state. It's almost like you can never be pretty enough if you start going down that makeup route, you know? People don't get used to the moles and marks they naturally have on their skin, you know? And they start to...
17:02get this really disoriented perception on what beauty actually is. And that's what happens when you start to go down that rabbit hole. I mean, hey, I was there. I definitely was there. I was an NFL cheerleader for a long time and I know what that's like to just be caked and caked in makeup. I grew up a dancer. I was caked and caked in makeup. And when I had my daughter and I started to think about, you know, she's so pretty. Why would I want her to think that she needs makeup to be beautiful? It made me think, well, then I need to stop wearing makeup every day.
17:33because she's just gonna start looking into what I'm doing and looking at my example. And I was thinking, why do I wear makeup? And it really is a self-confidence thing. We've gotta be confident in ourselves in order to make that change and then allow others to see the natural beauty that resides in every one of us. Yes, and honestly, if you use a lip balm that is made from natural ingredients, like from a local maker, if you have one, like you and like me.
18:03And if you use, I think it's cherry juice that will give like a pink to your cheekbones. Yes. And I don't know what you would use for eyeliner or mascara if you wanted it, or eyeshadow if you wanted it. But honestly, just having that little pink in your cheeks and the shine on your lips, that brightens you up, but you're not layering a bunch of stuff on your skin. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's...
18:28It's shocking what you can do if you just add some oil. Like almond oil is one of the best things. Jojoba oil, it's actually very close to our natural oil on our face. It's spelled J-O-J-O-B-A. It's one of the best ones you can use. And if you'll get yourself normal vitamin D from the sun, you'll find that your body naturally has that peak in your cheeks, right? You go outside and you'll naturally get that. And I think a lot of people underestimate exercise as well. If you will allow your body to create endorphins, it will bring that subtle color.
18:57to your skin in those certain areas. And that's where they first even got the idea of makeup. It's because people that were naturally healthy and working out and doing all of these different things, they naturally just have this glow about them. And that's your body's endorphins. And that's like collagen you're getting from food. That's not your body being so toxic and then just adding crap on there to try to make that. Your body will naturally look like that. And we all...
19:21People don't believe it. They're just like, oh yeah, well naturally you're pretty. No, no, I work to be as healthy as possible. And when you're a healthy person, you start to exude beauty. It's just a natural thing that starts to come to you because your body's naturally created to do that. And your skin, when it has its elasticity that you naturally are able to allow it to maintain because you're not doing things to your body that provide literally reduced elasticity, which is what happens when you put it on a lot of makeup.
19:49and allow your skin to breathe, these things naturally come about. You'll be shocked. I was shocked as well when I was allowing my skin to heal and allowing, seeing what I actually looked like without makeup for six straight months. That was a very real shock to me. I was like, oh my gosh, my skin is just better. My elasticity is better, right? You eat a plum and it's just, that helps with your elasticity and your collagen. Same thing with like blackberries and blueberries. If people would naturally eat these foods you're supposed to eat,
20:18then they'll see their skin and their body perk up. Yes, and natural foods taste good. I love plums. Yeah. And I love blackberries. Yeah, it's shocking. You know, our palates have really been taken over.
20:35by conglomerations, unfortunately. They've been taken over by them. And when you start to actually give your palate, you know, balsamic and just different tastes in spicy foods, a lot of spicy foods are super healthy when it comes to cancer, like cayenne and different things like that, that actually breaks up these blockages in your lymphatic system. And that's really where cancer starts. It's your body's, this is an herbalist, this is an herbalist for you, not a doctor again, but it's your body's defense system. It's really just trying to protect the organs from what it sees as toxic.
21:04parts, toxicities coming in through your body and a lot of it's from the products people are using and the crap people are drinking.
21:12Yeah. Yeah. So you guys have a big event coming up. Yes. In July. Yes. Yes. Roots and Remedies. Roots and Remedies 2024. It's been a dream of mine for a long time. I'm so, so stoked to see it coming together. It's a big herbal holistic retreat. We started off with nine professionals coming in. We now have 11 professionals coming in, some of which are doctors. We've got herbalists, we've got Ayurvedic healers, we've got
21:42Reiki masters actually, it's very cool. Sound bowl therapy, sound healing, we've got a drum circle. I mean, I literally tried to pull in every alternative healer I could around this area that had any sort of reputation and get them all in one place to be able to answer questions about natural living, alternative healing options. Just kind of give Missouri.
22:06And we've now actually expanded it to virtual tickets as well, just with all the interest. But give everyone an idea of how easy it is and all the different options that are available to be more natural and allow your body to be in that state of calmness so then it's able to reset itself. I'm very excited about it. Uh-huh. I saw one of your videos where you were in a car.
22:31lately, I think, and you had just gotten word that someone is going to be at this event that you were so excited about. Yeah, yeah, I was so stoked. Dr. Soren is going to be there. Dr. Sergi Soren, he's really known for Ayurvedic healing and Ayurvedic medicine around Missouri. He actually has traveled all over the world, especially the United States, and I was stoked to see that he's going to be coming. His father was also supposed to be there. I had learned about that.
22:57first, but he actually can't. But Dr. Sergius-Oren's gonna be there. I'm so excited. He just brings a lot of clout to this event. He's just very well known. So did you just reach out and ask if he would come or did he hear about it and approach you? Yeah, so before I started, first I wanted to start it off as just an herbal retreat. And then I thought, you know, why don't we bring in alternate.
23:23alternative healers of different types. And so I reached out to Dr. Soren. I'd already heard about him and known his clout in the industry. And he was very, very excited. I was very stoked by his reaction to my request to have him come. And it's just exciting because Missouri is such this little hotspot. A lot of people are moving into this area from the coasts. And so it's starting to just be this more almost like up and coming natural alternative healing.
23:50hotspot like Mecca if you will and I'm excited to be a part of that and on the forefront of it. I am super excited for you and I'm going to tell you exactly why. You did the big ask. The big ask is scary. It is scary to reach out and ask for something you really really want knowing that it could be a note. Yep. Yep. That's exactly it. Yep. I'm going to tell everybody
24:20a bucket list thing or something you want to do or someone you want to talk to, ask the worst that you're going to get is no. Definitely. I mean, you've got to be your number one biggest fan first, right? And you've got to be confident enough in yourself and in your skill set to be able to ask. And that was something I struggled with for a long time is I felt...
24:45not reputable. And maybe it was because I didn't have the certification, right? I didn't go to a school for it and get their certification for it. I'm doing kind of robot arms with it, you know, because I think people think of that with our traditional schooling method. It's like, well, if you don't go to some kind of school, or if you don't have some sort of paper certificate, you're really a nobody. That's not how it is. That's not how it is with herbalism at all. A ton of it is experience of others and learning from that experience and going to those that have practiced it for such a long time and learning from their skill set.
25:14and ensuring of course proper identification of plants, but it doesn't require schooling in order to do that. You know? Yeah.
25:25Yep. The reason that I was so emphatic about Do The Big Ask is because I just started this podcast back in August last year. Not knowing what I was doing, not a clue how to do this, figured it out on the fly. It's now June of 2024. So I started August of 2023. And back a few months ago, I emailed Polyface Farm.
25:52and was like, I would love to have someone from Polyphase Farm chat with me on my podcast about what you're doing. And I didn't necessarily think that I would have Joel Saliton talking with me. I thought maybe he had a marketing person or a promotions person that would do that. Got an email back directly from Joel saying he would be honored and delighted to be a guest on my podcast. And he was, and it's already released. It's like 10 episodes back at least now. And I was just dumbfounded that he said yes.
26:21because that was a huge confidence thing for me, because I was like, he's never gonna wanna talk to me. I'm nobody, just like you were just talking about. Yeah, I think that one, that's awesome. Congratulations, Joel's great. I think that everyone in this alternative sphere, in this alternative atmosphere, that's trying to get people almost woken up, right? Shake them out of their cyclical habit of just doing what...
26:47media tells them to do, they're all really excited to give a voice to this area, right? And tell people, look, you don't have to follow the traditional route that everyone else is. In fact, the life expectancy is declining. So if you keep following that, it's almost like, where are we going? And so when you actually reach out to these alternative practitioners or people that are doing it differently, they're more than happy to give a voice to this area and bring
27:15attention to it because really what it needs is attention. You know, you've got all the information there now. You just need to get the word out. And that can be difficult on social media, right? They silence a lot of things, a lot of things that I do violate, quote unquote, community guidelines. And I, you know, I've had a lot of people say, when you get it back, it's amazing what they say to you. They say like, you know, there's a certain set of facts that we all agreed are true. It's almost like what? And if you go outside those certain set of facts, it's hard to down, can you please?
27:44It's hard to get that information out there. And it's great to see that people want to spread that information. If you have some sort of pedestal where you can get that information out there, they love to be on that. And they love to just tell people about how easy it is to make these little small changes. Yeah. And it's all about little tiny baby steps. It really is. I didn't know anything about anything. Thirty years ago, I just I had a daughter and I was like, wow,
28:14my child is going to have a better life than I did. And I'm not knocking my family or my parents. My parents raised me really well. They had a garden. My mom cooked from scratch, the whole bit. But you want your children to have better than you had, if that's possible. And just started learning things, just off and on. Like, how does this work? What could be better? How do I do it? And now I'm 54 and running a podcast, or producing a podcast that...
28:44teaches people things about all kinds of things, like growing gardens, like growing animals, like using herbs for bettering your health, like all the things that I've talked to people about in the last 70-something episodes I've done since last August. And it's not even just about sharing it with the listeners. Part of the reason I do this is because I want to know. Yes?
29:11So when people like you say yes, I'm like, oh my God, I'm so excited because she knows things I don't know. Well, that's, I mean, that's what the community is all about, right? It's about creating, bringing people together that have these different skill sets and have these different expertises that they've spent all this time like cultivating these knowledge, these different knowledge bases and then bringing them to the people and having us all figured out together because I mean, there's strength in numbers, right? And we've heard that forever, but there really is strength in numbers.
29:40The more of us that are awake and aware of the possibilities on how we can live, that's a little different, then the stronger this movement's going to get, the stronger it's going to be because then we come together and we create almost this like alternative community and that's where like the bartering system and different things come in. I mean, this world we're living in is absolutely crazy. I think that it's brought a lot of people to homesteading and to natural living and animal husbandry and all these different things that, I don't know, seemed a little...
30:09backwoods for some people back in the day, you know, when I was first doing it, or like preppers, that stigma of preppers. Well, now, you know, it's really become a reality with like war and different things happening. And so I think that it's allowed the movement to get stronger and get gain more credibility. And people are really thinking, wait, this is actually a better way to live. This does allow me more freedom. And it's not an anarchic idea or tearing down anything that already exists. It's just really a shifting away from that.
30:38opening up these new possibilities. And so I think that that's what shocks people most often is it's like, no, these are all your other options. Oh my gosh, I have other options. Oh, that's fantastic. You know, and it just gives people self empowerment and power and self sustainability and freedom. Honestly,
31:07I do not want grocery stores to go away. Our garden is not even fully planted yet because it's been raining here in Minnesota mostly every day for the last three weeks. The garden was soup two weekends ago. It was a mess. And so we have some stuff in, but not nearly enough. And I'm not quite sure that we're going to be canning as many things as we did last summer, this summer. So.
31:34I'm really happy that the grocery store does exist. I'm really happy that farmers markets are available because we're probably going to end up buying stuff at our farmers market where we sell things this year because some of the things may not grow. It's just so wet. So I guess what I'm saying is there's a place for almost everything. It's just a matter of finding where you fit in the spaces you want to be in, I think.
32:00Yeah, definitely. Right. And there's a there's a perfect timing for everything as well. Right. Like divine timing. And as these alternative avenues open up more and become more popular and available to those that are interested in them, it will get easier to source locally and to find these local outlets. If you will. You know, when you are running low and your garden isn't, you know, performing as well as you'd hoped. Right. And your potato harvest gets all messed up. There's there's all these different what ifs. But when you get
32:29a solid group of individuals either around you or within your reach who also have similar resources available to them, then it gets a lot easier to be able to obtain the natural products you want to obtain. A lot easier and just, it's exciting. I never thought we'd be here. Let me be honest with you. I never thought we'd be here. I never thought that we would be growing Grand Fan Farm into something when I first started it out. I didn't even know it was going to be called Grand Fan Farm, but it's exciting.
32:57It's exciting to see the movement. It's exciting to see that these natural products work. It makes you feel so powerful when you know that you can create literal medicine, you know, that fights like joint pain, right? And arthritis, people that have dealt with that forever, just little hacks that you had no information on to begin with, like popping knuckles. I love, love, love, love.
33:21breaking down old wives' tales. I love that. It's one of my favorite things to do when people are like, oh, one of them, for example, is like popping your knuckles. You know, you're supposed to pop your knuckles, actually. You're supposed to pop all the things in your body that will pop and it keeps the buildup from occurring and keeps people from having surgeries, unnecessary surgeries and limited mobility. You're supposed to move your body around and just little tiny habits that if you can get worked into that younger generation.
33:47then that will get worked into the next generation and the next and then we'll pretty soon be able to just dispel a lot of these myths, if you will, or old wives tales that somehow got started and just continue on and keep us going down the wrong direction, unfortunately. It is so funny that you bring up cracking knuckles. My son does it all the time, so loudly. It sounds like 22 gunshots, like the caliber 22. Oh yeah. And he does it.
34:16He does it and I look over and he looks at me and grins and does it again. And I'm like, yeah, I'm going to ignore this because it's, it's a creepy sound. I don't love it. It's first. And he just keeps doing it until I'm like, could you please, I think you've done it enough, please stop. And then he does it two more times and then giggles and stops. I'm like, and you're right. It doesn't do any damage. It's fine, but it just drives me crazy. And he does it just to, just to get me, which is okay. Um, the other thing, the other thing that I love about.
34:45making things is when someone comes to you and says, I bought your product or a friend gave me your product or I tried a sample and I love it and it actually helped me. That makes me so happy when it happens for us. Definitely, definitely. Because you're almost like, I don't know, every time someone says it, I just get more and more stoked. You already know it works, but...
35:12Then the fact that it works again for somebody and again for somebody and again for somebody, it's just like, let's go. It's such an exciting feeling and you feel that you gave them a lifetime skill, right? Especially when they learn it. I love when people will come to my classes and learn stuff. That's one of my favorite things. You know that I love when my products work for people and most of my customers are recurring customers that have told their friends and family and that's always exciting. But I love when they learn it on their own and people are like, why do you teach them that? Because then they're not going to buy your products.
35:41Well, that's not really the point. The point is to spread herbal medicine, right? And to spread the knowledge of alternative healing practices and alternative living. And it just, it makes the collective better, you know? And so I love when my products work for people and it makes me excited because I know I've got a good product out there on the market, but I absolutely am thrilled when someone learns it. I had a lady email me the other day, she was a secretary to local school, and she said to me, you know, I attended your class, you know, a few months back.
36:11I made a tincture for my husband's joint pain and, or no, I'm sorry, it was his high blood pressure and she made a tincture for that. And she has seen his high blood pressure, his blood pressure go down and he is normal out and is completely normal now. And that for me is the ultimate win. It's because I've empowered someone to be able to take control of their health and their family's health into their own hands. Like that's so huge. And I just can't imagine the impact. If it impacted her enough.
36:39to be able to reach out to me via email and send me a long email, then I know it's made her feel incredibly worthy of controlling her own health and her life, in fact, because it really does ripple out from there. I think a lot of people feel enslaved, enslaved to the system, enslaved to the system of medicine and pharmaceuticals and doctors. People listen to what their doctor says without ever questioning it most of the time. And I say this all the time, there's idiots in every profession.
37:09And that's no disrespect, it's reality. I'm a lawyer by trade. There's idiots in every profession and we really need to take it upon ourselves to question these experts and to question those who have received knowledge about medicine and different things. We really need to question it and hold them accountable. Because if we're not holding people accountable, people get lax, you know, and people get lazy. And then we become enslaved to a system where we've got the highest infant mortality rate in the, of all.
37:37countries in our system. So that's kind of where we are. And so when I see people getting more empowered, then they're going to start questioning what their doctor says, right? And that's not to say, you know, if you're acute injuries, you break your arm, don't go to the doctor. Doctors are necessary, just like grocery stores that we talked about earlier. But for these chronic conditions, I mean, to continue these same things over and over again, just shoving ourselves full of pharmaceuticals that are just leading to, you know, pharma cocktails that are just people into just...
38:06all sorts of messes, I think that we need to take a step back and question, hey, maybe I should look at my lifestyle choices, right? Maybe I should look at the foods I eat. And doctors can only repeat it so many times, like you need to eat healthier. You need to drink water. Well, maybe we should focus on that more rather than focus on prescribing these quick fixes, if you will, that kind of mask the issue rather than get to the bottom of what's really happening and dispel it altogether.
38:36questions of everything. I don't think my parents meant to do this, but they did. And when I became a mom, I have three children that were born of my body, and I have one that wasn't. I have a stepchild. And they're all grown. And when they were little, if they needed to go to urgent care or the emergency room, I would go with them. And I would ask questions. If the nurse said we're gonna do this, I would say why.
39:04or if the doctor said we're gonna do this, I would say, why? And they would tell me and I would be like, I don't know that that's necessary at this juncture. And I'll give an example here in a minute. But a lot of the time when you question the medical staff, the first thing they ask you is, do you have a background in medicine? No, no, I do not. But what I do know is if you take a child to the emergency room,
39:33because they are exhibiting what might be appendicitis, but might just be gas. You don't really need to start an IV the second they get there. And the doctor wanted, the nurse wanted to start an IV. And I said, until you guys decide that he needs to go in for surgery, could you not put a needle in his arm? And she was like, well, the doctor recommended. And I said, I understand. But as this child's mother,
40:03I know that sometimes germs get on sterile things that go into a body and then cause infection. I said, I would just soon he not get a staph infection because you guys think he might need to go into surgery in three hours or it might be gas. He might pass it and we might just go home. And she said, do you have a background in medicine? And I said, no, I do not. But I'm his mother. I am the last say. So is it going to cause any issues?
40:33to wait a little while and it's going to take you all of two seconds to put an IV in his arm. Right. If it is necessary. Yeah. And she was like, well, we can wait. And I said, yes, please wait. Do not do this procedure on him now. I do not give you my permission. And she looked at me like I was crazy.
40:59As human beings, we have the right to say no to a medical procedure that we're not comfortable with or that isn't imminently needed. And I don't know that people know that. Yeah. Well, you know, a lot of scare tactics come out with that, right? The doctrine of whatever, Pinterest, where the state can be your, you know, take over your parental rights and different things like that. It's amazing. The fear that has been...
41:29instilled in everyone and made questioning a thing of the past, right? You're questioning your doctor. That is such a sad thing to see. Fear is one of the lowest vibrations, and I get into the spiritual side as well with all that. But they use fear quite often to keep people from doing what could be a really good thing for them and their family because they want people to go along with the get-go, right? Go along with the norm, don't question it. And that's why we are where we are in the United States, unfortunately, right? That's where we're at.
41:59And I think that it's such a powerful thing for people that still question, for people to question, you know, why is this necessary? Why that? Tell me why. Why is one of the best in questions you can ask? I love the why. I love that because people are all so different. There's no one size fits all. Anything. Nothing. Even in the herbal world, nothing. There's herbs that will work for one people and then they won't work for another.
42:23That's just life. Our bodies are very different things. It depends on the toxicities that built up in us. It depends on where we are in our progression. It depends on what we're eating every day. There's lots of different reasons as to why something would work for somebody but not for another. And bless you. And one of the main things that I don't like about traditional medicine is that they try to prescribe and do the one size fits all approach, you know, and it just doesn't work. It's been shown not to work and they just can't catch up. I feel like they're actually very archaic.
42:52And so behind, and so if you think about that, and you think about how often these medications are not working or how many lawsuits have come out due to the medication or the vaccines or et cetera, et cetera, you do start to think, well, then why can't I question? Why is it that I can't question? And maybe it's because when you start to question, you'll figure out that you don't really need that. And you'll figure out that you don't actually need to go to that person anymore, right? And they'll lose a client. So...
43:17I think that questioning is one of the best things we can do, and it's one of the best ways to protect your children. And I think that if you're not questioning, you're really not doing your due diligence in raising your child and making sure that what's happening to them is the thing that's supposed to happen to them, the best thing that should happen to them. It's just maybe the only answer you've been given at that time. Yes, absolutely. And the resolution to the story I was telling is that he only had a gas bubble that was just making his stomach hurt. So go figure.
43:45Thank God it wasn't appendicitis. He was only like eight or nine at the time. And appendicitis is not typically something that happens to young children. It does, but it doesn't happen often. And I knew that too. So, but he was totally fine. And he is a strapping young adult lad now. So everything worked out. But yes, I mean, I think that questioning only leads to knowledge and knowledge only leads to
44:14knowing more and needing to know more. That's what I think. Yeah, I one of my sayings that I have is the more you know, the more you can become. Yes. And that's just something that I thought of when I was first trying to figure out what was right, you know, and the truth, I call it, because I think there is an underlying truth within everything, and eventually people find it and then it takes them down a really cool path in life. But as you're trying to find that, you know, it's important to question. It's really, really, really important question. And it's fun.
44:44It is, it's very fun. And if you were like me, I used to drive my parents crazy because they'd tell me something and I'd be like, why, how, tell me more. Right. Exactly. I still drive my dad crazy. I call him up and I'm like, you know, that thing you mentioned 20 years ago. And he's like, no. And I say, it was this thing we were talking about in a refresh his memory. And he's like, I think I remember it. And I say, I want to revisit that because I found out some things and he's like, are you kidding me?
45:14Like, no, not kidding you, I asked you 20 years ago about this and you said, I don't know, go ask your mom. I didn't ask my mom, I asked Google the other day and found out I want to share it. And he just laughs. He thinks it's so funny. Yeah. I mean, that keeps the generation expanding in the right direction, right? And if we always are looking backwards to what they've done all the time, we just repeat things or regurgitate information because that's how it's always been done and no one's ever...
45:38looking to see if there's a better way to do it or if that way is correct or if that way is harming us or anything like that, that we don't progress as a people, right? I mean, people thought Einstein was a freaking nut. People thought Tesla was a freaking nut during their time, you know? And that's what happens with progress, right? Those of us who are on the forefront of progress, we look crazy to everyone else. And it is what it is. I accept it 100% because...
46:03it's going to be different when true change happens, right? It's going to look weird. It's going to look strange when true change occurs, but that shouldn't deter you from making progress forward in that direction, right? And I think that a lot of people really worry about what others think about them, and they worry way too much about being accepted by others. And the truth of the matter is, is who cares, right? And I made a video about this recently, and because it really, as long as you think what you're doing,
46:31is good for you. You think your family is on the right path of health, right? And you're not intentionally harming another and you think you're a good person. I mean, in the end, it doesn't really matter if you're accepted by the masses or not. Usually what the masses is doing is a pretty stupid. Yeah. And other people's behavior has more to do with them than it will ever have to do with you. That's the thing I always come back to. 100%. 100%. Right? We all create our own lives and
47:00their insecurities will cause them to react very negatively to anything that's usually new. So, you know, you let them go through it and you just keep chugging along on your path of natural holistic self-sustainability, self-sufficiency, freedom path, and I would encourage you to go that way. Yes, I would encourage anyone to just pursue the things that work for them. That's what I think people should do.
47:25We didn't know we were going to be living on a three acre lot, growing a humongous farm to market garden and growing things in a greenhouse and having eggs every day from our own chickens that we take care of in their little coop and in their little run. Didn't know we were going to have a dog. And that's what happened three, four years ago. And never been happier than to pick my own produce out of our own garden.
47:53that I know what went into the dirt or soil. I know what we put on the plants. I know that it's good for us. Yeah, definitely. I mean, the simpler life leads to the happier life, right? And I think that we overcomplicate things. They try to take our time from us a lot, right? With these regular nine to five jobs and all the sports and all the extracurricular. And the biggest thing that people can allow themselves is time to just sit and think.
48:23just time to sit and ponder and think. And that's one thing that I love about, you know, self-sufficiency and having a garden and growing your own is you get that time to just be in silence. I, when I was first starting off on the whole journey, I got advice from a friend to just allow meditation to happen in your car. And how does that happen? Well, you shut off all the music and people don't really understand how their mind gets entertained so quickly with just the music that's on and doesn't, doesn't allow it to really be calm and think.
48:52And so when you allow your mind to that time to think, you'll be shocked at the ideas and thoughts that come to your mind. And this generation is one that's really losing ideas. We're losing that ability to create and think on our own without prompts from others, you know, or without being led in one direction or be given like the instructions, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, that they're losing that thinking ability and that idea creation ability. And when we lose that, that's a loss of society. That's a loss of humanism.
49:22And I think that that's one thing I like to fight against the most is, no, my kiddo, you're not going to watch TV all day. No, you're not going to sit there and listen to music all day. Not to mention the content and the type of music they're listening to. That's one thing too, but just shutting it off altogether. Right? And no, go play. And I think that the greatest thinkers of our time came from a time when they had a lot of downtime.
49:46You know, and downtime leads to great ideas. And so I think that the more you can allow yourself downtime and not feel bad about it and not be like, oh, I got it, got it, got it, got it. There's always gonna be a gotta, right? There's always gonna be stuff to do, always. And so you really need to carve that space out. And like I said, I started off in the car, just no music on in the car and just sitting there and thinking. And a lot of people say to me, cause meditation is something we're doing, the roots and remedies, you know, just teaching people how to meditate. People are like, what is meditating? It's literally thinking.
50:13You're just sitting there and letting your thoughts come to you. And the more people will allow themselves this free space to think about whatever it is and to really just kind of monitor your thoughts and then get into cool, higher thinkers like Neville Goddard and just different stuff like that, the greater we will become as a people. And then that leads to, oh, now I am interested in this herbal route, right? Now I am interested in growing my own garden. Now I am interested in taking animal husbandry to a new level. And that is what really sparks the next generation of thought and thinkers.
50:44Yes. Hey, music. I love music. I absolutely love music. And for me, when I'm trying to chew on something, I put on classical music that has no words. Because that way, I'm not distracted by lyrics. And that really helps me settle in and think through a problem or write something that I need to get out on paper or on the computer. Do you know why? Huh? Do you know why? I.
51:13sort of do, but tell me. So it's because a lot of that was played at 432 Hertz. So 432 Hertz, it allows your mind to think better and your synapses to connect faster. And classical music was all created in that way. They don't tell us that. And there's a lot of artists you can listen to that they play their songs at 432 Hertz, like Coldplay, but all classical music was 432 Hertz. And that's the perks of the gods, right? It allows your mind to work a lot better, more efficient.
51:42Yeah, I didn't know the details, but I knew that classical music had something very, very special to it that lets your brain work better, more productively, more efficiently. So I always have music on in the car when I drive, mainly because I hate to drive. I get anxious about driving. So I always have some kind of music on. And if it's a really stressful drive I've never taken before.
52:11I'm probably going to be listening to stuff with lyrics because it does distract me from my anxiety. If it's a drive I've taken a billion times before and I need to think through something, it's probably going to be classical music. The other thing I was going to say is when someone throws an idea at me that I'm not sure about yet, I always, always say, let me sleep on it. I need one night to process through sleep before I answer your question or say yes or no.
52:41And I actually did that the other day. Someone said, I would really like to come back on your podcast because I have other things that I would love to talk to you about. And I said, that sounds great. Let me sleep on it. Went to bed, slept great, got up and I was like, I need to start another channel. Yeah. She's a master gardener. So, so soon, probably in the next two weeks is going to be a new podcast that I am producing.
53:08She and I will be co-hosting it and it's going to be called Mary and the Master Gardener. We are so lit up about this. I talked to her yesterday and we recorded the first episode, the introductory episode. It's going to be great and she is brilliant at what she does. And had I not slept on it, I think that my answer would have been, I have too much going on right now. I don't know how I can work this in. No.
53:36But then I slept on it. I was like, it's only a couple of episodes a week. I have time for that. So if you're working on something that you're not sure of, sleep on it. Because sleep is sort of like meditation as well. Definitely, definitely. The subconscious mind figures out lots of issues and problem solves a lot while we're sleeping. So definitely. Yeah, it's amazing how good food and good sleep seem to fix many, many things.
54:04It's so
54:32Yeah, the thing I've really noticed since I turned 50 is I say, why not a lot? In the best possible way. Why not? Why not try that? And for the most part, it's working out. I mean, there have been some things that I've gone, why not? Well, let's try. And they haven't worked, but it wasn't the end of the world when it didn't work. And it led to other things working better. That's right. We're always learning, right? We're.
54:59We're beings that are experiencing. And so just because something doesn't work, well, you learned what doesn't work, right? I went, oh, I didn't learn anything. It was the wrong path. Well, now you know what not to do, you know? And hopefully that's not how you learn every lesson because that would be a horrible life in existence if you always had to go through experience on what not to do and learn that lesson that way. I mean, you can learn from others, but some of them are required, you know? Some of those lessons you have to learn that way and really trusting your intuition and trusting that, you know, this does work out. Somehow, some way this works out and this was the path I was supposed to go down.
55:28Yeah, exactly. All right, Janae, we've been talking for almost an hour. I knew this would go long, because I was so excited to talk to you. I appreciate you and your time and your thoughts and what you're doing. And I can't wait to see in July how your event goes, because it looks really fantastic.
55:48Thank you so much. I'm really, really stoked about it. Just thankful to even be in this spot. And so I'm really excited about the event and I'm excited to just see what happens with it, you know, what it blossoms into. We already have some fantastic people coming and I'm so excited for all the people that have purchased tickets. It's going very well. I'm very, very happy and thankful. So thank you for having me. Yes. And before I actually let you go, are you going to have tickets available up until the day of the event or is it a limited number?
56:17We are having available till the end unless until we sell out. So we're selling out a hundred is all I'm going to take. Um, and until we get to that number, tickets will be available the entire time. And what about the virtual part? Virtual is unlimited. So you guys will, they'll be able to purchase tickets up and until the day. And even once it started, I'll still have the virtual tickets available. Some people are just purchasing virtual for one day, but hit us up. We're happy to work with anyone who has like a alternative strategy they would like with ticketing. Okay.
56:46Then when I really, I'll try to get this released in the next, not this week, but next week so that people will know about it and I will put all the links to stuff so that they can go sign up. Awesome. Thank you. Yeah. Check out our website, gramfanfarm.com. That's the best way to purchase tickets. The rest, Eventbrite and things, they're a little higher because there's extra fees with those vendors. So the cheapest tickets you'll find are on our website. And then there's a route 30 will get you 30% off too. So check that out. Awesome.
57:14All right, Janae, thank you again. Have a great day. Thanks, Mary, you too. Bye-bye.
 

Sweet Briar Farm

Today I'm talking with Kelsey at Sweet Briar Farm. You can follow on Facebook as well.
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
00:00This 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 Kelsey at Sweetbriar Farm. Good afternoon, Kelsey. How are you? I'm good. How are you, Mary? I'm good. It's been kind of a crazy day here, but I'm ready. So tell me about yourself and everything you guys do at Sweetbriar Farm. Oh, boy. Well...
00:29My husband, Mike and I run our small family farm together. We have five kids and our farm is tiny. We're just under six acres and we got started here about 10 years ago. Okay, and what do you guys do on your farm? Well, right now we're getting into produce season. So...
00:57Mike is the one with the green thumb, and he grows all different kinds of tomatoes and beans, cucumbers, pumpkins, squashes, the works. And then in addition to produce, we have livestock. So we raise dexter cattle, which are the smallest standard breed of cattle. And in addition to our dexers, I have a small herd of Nubian goats.
01:27Our oldest child has her own herd of one mini Nubian goat and we've got some chickens too for laying hens. Okay. So, this is a question I always ask, what made you guys decide to do this? Well, I think it's something that Mike grew up with. He grew up gardening and being involved with agriculture. So that's something that was very familiar to him.
01:56For me, it was a bigger leap. I grew up in a subdivision on the west side of Michigan and I had little tiny dogs growing up. But my grandfather used to have a dairy farm with like a hundred head of Holsteins. And he sold the farm before I was born, but I grew up hearing stories about the farm and how cool it was. So I think it's something that always kind of...
02:25just simmered in the back of my mind about how much fun it would be to be a kid on a farm. So after Mike and I moved in together and got married and were able to, you know, have a place of our own with a little bit of space, we, you know, he put in his big garden and we started with chickens. That was back, gosh, 2009. Yeah. So 15 years ago, we first started. And I thought he was crazy.
02:54but it sounded like fun. So yeah, we just do it because we enjoy it. That's the best kind of crazy. And I love that your husband is the one who has the green thumb because my husband is the avid gardener as well. I have a green thumb, I can grow plants. I've done it before, I will do it again. But he is the one who loves to get out there and work in the dirt. And it's the way he de-stresses from his jobby job, his regular job.
03:23That's awesome. Yeah, it's really nice when a couple can compliment each other because if we depended on me to grow our food and plant form, we would be very hungry. Yes, and I'm the one that gets depended on to actually cook the food that comes out of the garden. I am all good with that because I love to cook. So it works out great. Yep, it's wonderful when our skills that we're good at compliment the other ones. Absolutely.
03:53Yeah. So you said you have kids? Yeah. Yup. We have five children. We just had number five in January. Um, so our oldest is 12. Uh, she's our daughter and then the rest are boys. So we have a 12 year old daughter and then our boys are 10, eight, six, and four months. Geez. You are a busy mama and a busy dad. Yes. Yeah. They definitely keep us happy.
04:23Yeah, it's funny how much in common you and I have because my oldest is a daughter and all three of the younger ones are boys. Oh really? So yeah, we're batting a thousand on quinkanings here. Okay, so do you guys just do this for yourselves or do you try to make the farm profitable to support itself? I think our goals have changed over the years.
04:52produce for ourselves and then anything extra we'd sell. And then we kind of swung to the other end where we were producing to make money and to make the farm a growing business and then we'd eat the extras. And I think now we're kind of swinging back towards the middle point where we want our farm to be able to sustain itself.
05:20We still want to be able to produce food for a small number of other people, you know, to kind of make it a self-sustaining thing because for many years, all our extra money we were investing into the farm. And now it's time that it needs to pay for itself or things need to not be part of our farm. So. Yes. We are right there with you.
05:47It's really funny when you start this thing, this project, this dream, you're like, we're going to do all the things and the farm is going to support itself and we're just going to be happy doing the work. And then you find out that that's not necessarily true and you're still happy doing the work, but the money isn't coming as easily as you maybe thought it would. We are in that same boat. And the other thing that's really strange.
06:16is my husband does the farmers market on Saturdays in Lesor where we live. And in Minnesota, I don't remember where you guys are. Where are you again? We're in northern lower Michigan. Yeah. So you're north west east of us a little bit. Quite a bit actually. But anyway, he does the farmers market and sometimes he comes home with $25 and sometimes he comes home with over $250 and there's no rhyme or reason to it.
06:46So it's a very up and down kind of business to be in. And so I think that we just all get into this and we love it, but then we realize that you have to adapt every waking moment of the day as to what is going on. Yeah, yeah, that's definitely true. As far as a business model to where it could be something that we could quit our day jobs, I don't know how we'd get there.
07:15I don't see a path for us in Michigan where that's possible. At our scale, I don't see it happening. Yeah. If you're not a quote unquote commercial farmer, it's really hard to make it support itself. That's all there is to it. And my husband actually did quit his job two marches ago. Oh wow.
07:41And part of it was he had had enough. He had been at the same place for almost 30 years. He was incredibly unhappy there, had been unhappy there since I'd met him, which was 20 years before. And he just came home one day and said, I need to not be at this place anymore. I need a mental health break. And I said, okay. I said, so you're gonna quit your job? And he said, I am.
08:08I said, okay, what's next? And he said, we're gonna make this place go. And I said, oh my God, okay. Now bear in mind that this place is a three acre property with a really nice home on it and a big old pole barn and a old one car garage that is our woodshed and now has a farm stand and a heated greenhouse built. So we have all the things now.
08:36make it go better than we had last year. This summer is now all rain in Minnesota, so our gardens are very slow taking off this year. All our plans for making it go bigger and better this summer may be delayed by the weather. That happens because we're growers, we're farmers. Yeah.
09:03five months of mental health break and loved every moment of it. And then got himself a new jobby job back in November because we needed to have income. So what I'm telling you is don't give up the dream and you're doing the adjusting thing just like we have. So just keep dancing the dance because it's worth it. I think so. I can't imagine our lives without the farm. I think it's been incredibly positive for us.
09:32Mike and I as a couple to have like a team project, like something we both do together. Because before that, I think we had independent hobbies that we did in the same places, but not necessarily things that we did together. It's really good for our communication skills too, yelling at each other, working livestock. Yes, I could see that happening. Hello, Mike. I wasn't sure if you were there or not. Yeah, I'm just listening in. Okay.
10:01When toddlers play, it's called parallel play because they're doing their own thing next to each other. And that's what I think you're saying is that you and Mike were doing parallel things, but not intersecting things. Yeah, yep. We like to spend a lot of time out in nature. So we'd go to his family's property out in the woods and he would pretend he was a lumberjack and...
10:27I would take the dogs on hikes so we'd be in the same places, but yeah, doing parallel things. Yep. Makes sense. So what is your... I'm so distracted. I'm sorry. What is your favorite thing about your lifestyle?
10:46Hmm. I think it makes me feel powerful. Not overly powerful, but empowered in a way that I hadn't experienced before. So if I can walk a thousand pound bull on a halter, or if I'm brave enough to climb into a pig pen and give an 800 pound boar an injection of an antibiotic because he's, you know.
11:16got a cough or something. Like if I'm able and brave enough to do those things, like what else can I do? What else could I encounter in my day-to-day life that could possibly be more intimidating than that? You're braver than I am. Well, it's, I don't know, you'll be surprised what you can do when it has to get done, right? Right. So I...
11:44I think the other thing is like our small farm, the impact on our small community too. You know, we, as far as like our produce stand that we have, we sell our produce very cheap and it's clean, it's healthy. So we have a positive impact on our small community as well. And we get that feedback from people that, you know, we interact with in our front yard.
12:15Um, you know, as far as the farm life goes, that's one of my favorite things is, you know, paying it forward, I guess, a little bit to the, to the community. Yeah. And that's something, um, we've been able to parlay, uh, some of the money we've made from the YouTube channel to donating to the local food bank. And, um, like during COVID, when it was difficult to get certain things, you know, like we had our eggs out, um, on the farm stand, you know, just, uh,
12:45If you can and take a dozen to donate to a neighbor or something, because it was just hard. The community where we live is like a very low economic, like there's like a hundred percent of the students in our school district get free lunches. You know, there's, it's a depressed area and there's a lot of food insecurity. So it's really nice to be able to help.
13:14alleviate that even just a little bit. Yes, we donate stuff to the food shelf every summer from the garden too. And the first summer we were here, we just wanted to get the hundreds of pounds of zucchini out of my kitchen. So we knew the people who run the food shelf were like, you guys want zucchini? I mean, everybody has zucchini right now, but do you want it? And the president of the...
13:40Food Shelf was like, I will take any produce you want to hand me because we have people to feed and they will take it. And ended up taking boxes of squash and cucumbers and tomatoes down to the Food Shelf. And at the end of the summer, Galen, he's the one who was the president at the time and I think he still is, came.
14:07to see us and just thanked us profusely for sharing our overabundance. And we thanked him for getting it out of my house. So we gained, they gained. I understand what you're saying. It's really nice to be able to help your community and your neighbors eat. Yes, absolutely. But it was really nice to get those squashes out of my kitchen too. I was very happy to see them go. Yeah, it doesn't take very much of a garden to overwhelm a kitchen.
14:36No, no it does not. And we only have three acres, you guys have six. And a good percentage of an acre is garden here. So when we grow, we grow. It's not like the little backyard kitchen garden. It's a big garden. So when the weather is good, we are swimming in produce from mid-June until September. So yeah.
15:04I understand what you're telling me. We are living parallel lives here except that you guys are younger than my husband and I am. I'm quite sure. We're in our mid-50s. I don't think you guys are there yet. I'm 41. Yeah. I'm just a little younger. Yeah. I think anyone can do this, but you've got to want to do it.
15:28And I would not recommend starting this particular stage of your life when you're starting your 65-year-old stage of your life because it's hard work. I tell people, especially getting into livestock, you have to hate money. Yeah, because you won't have any for a little while at least. Exactly. Yeah. Thank God it's not actually all about money. I mean, it is. You have to make money to survive in this world. But...
15:58But it's not all about money. You also have to have things that make you happy. And a lot of the time, the jobby job is not to make you happy. It is to give you money in the bank. Right. Yep. And that's why we have jobs. Exactly. So are the, I mean, not the four month old, because I'm assuming that one's a little too small to be helping out on the farm yet. But do the kids help? I mean, you said your daughter has a herd of one mini goat.
16:27the other kids play to? Yes, yeah, they're all a huge help, especially this last year when I was pregnant and couldn't do nearly as much. So our daughter makes sure everybody has hay in the morning and at night, and our oldest son makes sure everybody has water. Our middle son is in charge of the cats and the dog and the eggs. And our six-year-old
16:55feeds our bottle baby goat and every day he goes out and meets Pearl in the backyard and gives her a bottle. So sweet. Have you gotten photos of him doing that? Yeah, yeah. We've put some shorts up on our YouTube channel and Facebook pages. It is super adorable. There is nothing better than little kids with baby animals, I swear to God. It's just so fun.
17:22There's nothing cuter than my 22 year old with a bunch of kittens trying to lick his feet and get in his lap too. And he's a grown man. So baby animals are adorable. I love them. It is wonderful. Yeah. We don't have big animals on the farm here because we don't have room for them to graze. If we had more acreage, we probably would have goats. We would probably have a couple of sheep and we might have a couple of many cows. But.
17:49There's just no place for them to be able to graze. And as you guys know, feed for goats and sheep and cows is extremely expensive right now. Yeah, nothing's cheap. So I can't afford to feed the animals that I would love to have someday after I'm old and gray. Well, grayer than I am now, but older than I am now. So, okay.
18:19I'm trying to think. What is the least favorite thing about what you're doing? Because if you got a favorite, you must have a least favorite. Well, I think our least favorite thing is just left the farm a few weeks ago. We raised pigs for about three years. We bred five years. We bred and raised pigs and the last pigs just left the farm in May. And you're not sorry to have seen them go? Not yet.
18:47We've still got freezers full of pork and we don't have pigs right now. So I think we're happy with that. I don't know if we'll change our minds when the freezers are empty. I don't think I'll ever breed pigs again. It was fun while we did it, but it's a daily, twice a day chore and you can't leave the farm for vacation with them.
19:15If you're just raising feeder pigs, that's a different story. You can sell feeders and stuff like that, but when you have breeding stock, you can't let them sell feed or they'll get too fat. It's a lot more peaceful now that they're gone. Yeah. I have read more than once about mama pigs being not very good at being mamas because they...
19:41they aren't paying attention and sometimes they step on the babies or they roll over on the babies and the babies get hurt or they die. Did you guys go through that? Yeah, we've lost lots of piglets from those actions of rolling and crushing and stepping. We tried to do it without ferroing crates. Well, we never use ferroing crates, but we just didn't really have a good setup for it.
20:11We tried to do it outside with a three-sided shed. The weather here in Michigan in the spring is unpredictable. When it gets cold, the piglets need to stay warm and they get too close to mom and mom's not paying attention. Then, yeah, she'll crush them. If we had a litter of 12, we'd usually average around eight piglets that would survive, which is pretty good. It's sad, but we were always hoping for that number.
20:42Yes, and the truth of the matter is, is that there's always something sad right around the corner if you are on a farm or a homestead or a farmstead or however you want to say it because things die. Yeah, our veterinarian says if you have livestock, you have dead stock, which is a good way to sum it up. Yes, I had never heard that in all my life until I started watching a YouTube channel.
21:10woman, young woman named Katie Van Slyke has this YouTube channel and she has her parents raise cattle and they both, her parents and her and her husband raise horses. And she said it on one of her videos and I don't know how come I never heard, if you have livestock you will eventually have dead stock, but it was the first time I'd heard it and I was like...
21:36No truer words have ever been spoken. That is perfect. So yeah, and it's really hard. I have talked about this a lot on the other episodes I've done with people because the first time it happens, it crushes you. You will cry your eyes out. Second time it happens, you're still sad. You might tear up. Tenth time it happens, you're like, well, this is how it is here. And you do everything you can.
22:05to take care of your animals and make sure you're doing the right things, but you can only control so many things.
22:16So it's hard. It is. Yeah. Some days farming just sucks. Yeah. Thank God there are good days that make up for it. Yeah. There's more good days than bad days. Yep. I've been sweating this constant rain we've been having in Minnesota for the last month, month almost daily rain. We feel like we're living in...
22:42Washington State or Oregon right now because it's been raining almost every day. And I said to my husband I need an update on the gardens and the greenhouse stuff in the greenhouse because I'm feeling like we are going to fail this year. And he came in last night and he said here's the update and I said okay. He said the tomatoes in the garden are bouncing back they're starting to grow again because they stalled out and they were yellow you know leaves were starting to yellow.
23:10He said, the peas have blooms. I was like, great. He said, we have green beans coming up. I was like, great. He said, all the stuff in the greenhouse is growing like crazy. And I said, okay. He said, honey, you can take a deep breath now. We're probably gonna have produce in about three weeks. I said, oh, okay, good. I have been so worried about all of this for a month. I didn't realize how much I was holding my breath until he gave me the update.
23:38So even with produce, it's not even about just losing livestock. If you're afraid you're going to lose your produce, your potential produce, that will drive you insane too. Yeah. We've had a rough few years in a row with pumpkins. Three years in a row. Yeah. Dry, cold springs. Spend a thousand dollars on seed and then basically lose the crap because of drought. Yeah. Yep.
24:08There's a reason that the big operations have crop insurance. Right, yep.
24:18I don't know if there's crop insurance for small operations. I should probably look into that. I don't think there is, but. You could check with your USDA office. I don't know if there's a size limit. I think we've always figured it was too small of potatoes for us to worry about, but it's different for everyone. Yeah, I have no idea because I've...
24:43This is what happens. I get talking to people on the podcast and I'm like, Oh, I hadn't thought about that yet. I should probably look into that. I do this all the time. My husband gets home from work and we're having dinner. I was like, I talked to so and so today and he says, how did that go? And I say, I got reminded that I hadn't thought of this thing yet. You want to look into that or do you want me to look into that? You guys are so helpful. I really appreciate it.
25:09So, okay, I am so distracted. Why is it called Sweet Briar Farm? Well, our home was built in 1880, and it was built by one family, and the house stayed in that family's possession until we bought the house in 2012. And there were pictures that they left for us of the house right around 1900.
25:39And it had this sign on the front of the house, Sweetbriar Farm. And when we purchased the house, that same sign was hanging on the side of our pole barn. So it's been Sweetbriar Farm for almost 145 years, 144 years. So it didn't feel right to change it. Yeah, no. Have you looked into the family that owned it before you did? We've met the, you know, the remaining.
26:09brothers, basically, who sold us the house through the estate of their father who passed. So we've met them and they've told us a little bit about the history of the farm. And I've read some, there's some local history books in our local library. So there, you know, people have been farming here basically since probably the 1870s. It used to be a stockyard. I know they used to raise Guernsey cattle here.
26:38And at one point there was a big apple orchard. And our house was even featured on a, like a brochure to attract settlers to the area. I love that. That's so great. Yeah, it's really cool. So it's neat to kind of get to be stewards of a historical place, a place with history that at least we know the story of.
27:07Which is fun. Yeah, we had a guy pull into our driveway the first or second summer we were here. We've been here almost four years. And we were out working in the garden. He just pulled in, got out, and we didn't know who he was. We were like, who is this? And he came over and introduced himself. And he said, my father used to own this place. And we were like, oh, what can you tell us about it? And he said, over there was an actual barn, not a pole barn.
27:37but a barn barn. So we have a pole barn now. And I said, like the rounded roof barn? And he's like, yeah, I think so. He said, I don't think it was the diagonal kind. It was the rounded one. And I said, so what did he grow? And he said, well, where you're standing in your garden right now used to be all pumpkin patch. And I was like, OK, do you know how long ago it stopped being a pumpkin patch? And he said, 40 years ago.
28:06He said no one has grown a garden in this spot since then. So basically our garden hadn't had anything grown on it except wildflowers and weeds and grass for 40 years.
28:25And that makes for some really, really good soil when you're getting ready to put in a garden. So we were very excited to hear that because when we put the offer in on this place, we didn't have a soil tester with us, so we couldn't check the pH, we couldn't check anything. And we basically were crossing our fingers that the soil would be good to get the garden in. And we lucked out huge.
28:52So it's really nice when people know the history because then you can find out. Yeah. We were very excited and also found out that the guy, the guy who had stopped in to tell us about his dad owning the place 40 years ago or 50 years ago, whatever it was, had honeybees and he only lives like three miles away. So his honeybees pollinate our plants.
29:20That reminds me, actually the worst thing on the farm, at least favorite, is my bees. Oh, okay. So what's up with your bees? Oh, no, it started as a hobby and it grew too big and it's my least favorite chore on the farm. I would rather have the pigs back. So if you don't love it, is it still worth doing it?
29:48Uh, it's, it's, it's the liquid gold that I'm after. Yeah. That's what makes it worth it. So what do you not like about it? Is it just, is it just a hassle to have to maintain the hives? Yeah. And it's, well, it's heavy lifting and, and I call myself a lazy beekeeper. So I have yet to be in a bee hive. I just, um,
30:15let them kind of go natural and then I add honey boxes as I need. So that means that they swarm. So I ended the year last year with 12 hives, 6 survived the winter, and then all 6 of the hives swarmed, but I'm able to catch them easily because they go into one of my apple trees. The problem is that right when they swarm, I'm always doing some other...
30:43farm job and I have to stop what I'm doing to go catch a swarm. So they're just a pain in the butt. Yeah, they pick the most inconvenient time to decide they're going to vacate their premises. Yes. And usually it seems like they swarm just before a thunderstorm rolls in or something. You can, in certain times of the year, I walk outside in the morning and I say it feels like a swarmy day and sure enough, I'll have a swarm later on in the afternoon. And yeah.
31:12I'm dealing with that. Okay, well, we're past half an hour, but I have one more question. If you were talking to somebody you happen to meet at the grocery store or the farmer's market or wherever, and you were talking to them about what you do, and they were like, we want to do that too, what advice would you give them?
31:38I think some of the best advice we saw or received was start with the smallest amount of infrastructure you need to get started. Don't go crazy buying fancy brand new everything. Buy used equipment. Start with the minimum you need to get going because I think every single year might change is.
32:06I think we went 10 years in a row and every year he changed the chicken coop. And we finally got a chicken coop we like now and he's constantly changing the hay feeders and the fence lines and the shelters for the animals. Like he's constantly perfecting everything. And if we had dropped a ton of money, you know, buying something fancy and brand new, it almost certainly wouldn't have been what we wanted. Yeah. So start small, start simple and then change it as you go. Yeah.
32:36And then the other thing would be like if you're trying, you know, want to do farmers markets or anything, something like that. Uh, it putting in a garden is, is cheap to do. Um, I mean, you could hire somebody to road until an acre or whatever, if you don't have the means to do it yourself, but you know, seed is, you know, for tomatoes or whatever, very cheap. Um, and easy to do anybody can do it.
33:06Um, still to this day, our produce is the most profitable thing on the farm. I mean, we use produce money to pay for hay. So, um, it's, it's, it's easy to do. Um, if you're not afraid of, you know, doing a little back bending and, and picking and stuff like that, but, um, yeah, start, start, start with a produce stand and work your way into chickens. And.
33:36larger livestock as you as you as you feel. Yeah, that sounds about right. That's what we're doing. All right, guys, I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me today. Thank you. Thank you very much. Have a good evening. You too. Bye.
 

Highland Ledge Farm

Today I'm talking with Ed, Emily and Corey at Highland Ledge Farm. You can follow on Facebook as well.
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
00:00This 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 to Ed and Emily and Corey at Highland Ledge Farm. Good morning, guys. How are you? Good morning. We're great. I'm good. Tell me all about yourselves and Highland Ledge Farm.
00:27We're a small business that produces all, makes all of our own jams, mustards, vinegars, simple syrups, and short breads. And we travel to different fairs, markets.
00:47Okay, so how did you, how did that happen? How did you start it?
00:54So we started a long time ago. Emily used to do fares and such recently, I guess about six years now. I think, yeah. I retired and decided to help Emily with her business. And so we put a little more effort into marketing
01:24all that sort of thing, productizing, and kind of kicked off the business as it is today. Okay, so, okay, I don't know what to ask. Okay, so let me let me tell you, we're we're on 37 acres up on top of a mountain in the Berkshires in Massachusetts. Okay. We go to about 70 fare.
01:53fairs and season and vend retail there. We also service about a dozen stores with wholesale. We sell products too as well. We do all our own labels, all our own packaging. Most of the fruit and such comes from the farm or locally.
02:22Uh, we do most of our food prep cooking packaging in the winter because in the summer we're involved with selling it.
02:33Okay. So do you travel outside of New England? Not yet. But we're looking at some shows that might be good for us outside of New England. Okay. And do you ship your goods? Yes, we do. We have a website that's active purchasing and shipping from the website. Okay. So here in Minnesota, we have a thing called
03:02cottage food registration where we can make baked goods or jams or jellies or canned goods and sell them without having to be licensed as a commercial seller. So does Massachusetts have that or do you have to be a commercial? Massachusetts and in fact New Hampshire, Vermont, New York are the states we sell in. All of those states and locations.
03:31All those states have cottage food definitions. In Massachusetts, to be a cottage food manufacturer, you have to have, it can only be non-potentially hazardous, NPF foods. Or it's also now it's called non-temperature sensitive. You can only do those foods, but you still have to be licensed and inspected.
04:01Okay. The only restriction is we're not allowed to sell wholesale outside of the state. Okay so every single state has a different set of laws regarding this, I swear. Well it's all based on the FDA.
04:24rules. I forget how exactly it's tied, but typically to get a commercial license, you have to be inspected to state standards, which typically mirror the FDA standards. The CAUTI's license relieves some of the requirements of the FDA standards if you promise not to do a wholesale outside the state. Yeah, okay. So, people, some people,
04:52have a perception that when you work for yourself, it's easier. And I don't hold that perception because we started a small business last summer and we were busy all the time. So, do you guys put in 80 hour weeks? Yeah, I don't know where people get the idea that we're not busy. So, typically if we are awake, we could be doing business.
05:22So anything can happen. Somebody could call, we need to get this, we need to get that. Somebody has a show for one weekend, we're open, so we have to scramble to get the paperwork in. So the business just happens, it's part of our regular life. It's not a separate thing. I think there's two or three different kinds of people like us that have their own business. There's the people who just wanna make
05:52couple of bucks under the table. And they go to all of these events. And there's people like.
06:04who have enough money to be able to do it right and they have a fancy set up and so on and so forth. And there's people like us, right in the middle, who wanna do it right, who take the time to get the...
06:24paperwork and the permits and have made a good booth presentation and just keep trying and trying and trying to make it grow and that's that's the way it is I mean you see you see people all the time at shows and you can tell that they're not licensed
06:54but they're doing something with their time and stuff like that, but just they aren't spending a lot of time doing it. For people like us who use foods, who do stuff and care about how it tastes and things like that, it's like an 80 hour a week job. Yeah.
07:20because you're living it, you're living it and breathing it and maybe sleeping it. It's, it's, I wouldn't give it up for anything, but it's, it's not always easy at all. Yeah. So, you know, that's what I think about it. We wouldn't do it if we didn't love it. Well, yes.
07:49That's what a lot of people say, but they aren't really living it. I think it's fun. I think it's not fun, but it's funny when I'm like, okay, I'm taking today off. I am not doing any work today. And then I spend six hours doing work. Yeah. You know, there's always something that you got to do, you know, cleaning up, preparing for a new show.
08:18organizing the shed that we keep our jars in. Someone local place an order so you got to do a delivery or someone non-local place an order so you got to go to the post office after packaging everything up. So I didn't mention we do local deliveries. If you're within 20 miles of us we deliver it to you directly so. Yeah and that that takes time too out of your day so. Yeah.
08:47It does. And you know, it's always every year we sit down and say
08:56What are we going to change this year? How can we do better than last year? And every year it gets better. Yeah. But, you know, I think we had six jams when we started. That was it. No, not going to do anymore. Uh-huh. And what are you up to? 14 jams. Four mustards. Four vinegars.
09:26Four syrups, cookies. Shortbread cookies. We got a plethora of sliced and dried fruits. Drink mix concoctions that we put together. It keeps growing. Yeah, it's amazing how this particular kind of business just does that on its own. It's like it just takes off and you can't stop it. Yeah.
09:55Exactly. Okay. You know, I don't know if I'd want to stop it completely.
10:06Yeah, because it's a social life too. I mean, yeah. Everybody I know does something for the business. Every every place I go has something to do with the business. You know, it's just the way it is. Yeah, it's a big community. We make friends with other vendors, the vendor coordinators. And we recognize people from.
10:32different states going to all these different shows who are just having fun with their summer or spring and fall. We're like, Hey, we saw you. And they're like, yeah. Yeah. Okay. So what's the relationship here with you guys? Is it Ed and Emily married and Corey's a daughter or what? Okay. All right. Cool. I wasn't sure and I wanted to, I wanted to make sure I found out.
10:59So there's a saying about if you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life. And I love that saying, but I also have a little bit of a beef with it because I think no matter what you're doing, whether you love it or it's a jobby job, it's work. I think that the saying means that if you love it, it's good fun work. So is that where you guys are at with this? Yes.
11:26Yeah, I the first year that we haven't wanted to change anything. Yay. Yes, I know it's it's all the products are going where they're supposed to go. And you know, the ones we don't like are kind of dropping off and we're not remaking them. It's our show. Shows are getting better.
11:55We're getting called to do shows, which is really kind of weird. Fantastic. Yes. I think though that...
12:13in this business, you kind of have to find a niche. Mm-hmm. I mean, I know jam's jam, but you have to find a niche where that jam is gonna sell the way you want it to sell. And you fill up your show dates the best you can, but you try and do the...
12:42bulk of them in a certain venue. For instance, Renaissance Fairs. I love those. We do about five of those a year. And they are our best sellers. And I have so much fun going to them. I love interacting with the customers. The vendors are.
13:10not just the vendors, the actors, they're hilarious. And they always bring friends with them. It's a lot of fun to do. But you know, that takes care of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, and Massachusetts for us as far as those things go.
13:38We do a lot of Scottish games or we try to. We haven't always gotten to them. But, you know, that's our venues. Yep. And a particular note, I hope it's on topic, but most of the states we go to, except for Massachusetts, the state regulates how we behave as a cottage vendor.
14:08In Massachusetts, though, every town is allowed to permit you. Okay. For a health permit? So we have to obtain permits to sell, so we, to give samples and sell food. And every town we go to in Massachusetts. Wow. At significant cost. So we've.
14:35We actually prefer to do fairs outside of Massachusetts because of that. Yeah. And that's unfortunate since you live in Massachusetts, it doesn't seem right. I know. That's, it's kind of weird. Yeah. Um, I have a question about last year, last season. Did you guys notice that people weren't quite as free with their expendable fundage to spend on your stuff? So last year was, was about.
15:0520% down from the previous year. We attributed it not as a spending tightness, but because of the weather was consistently, it consistently rained every weekend last year. They wouldn't come out to the show. So we felt like it was more attributable to that than spending aversion. Okay, we just started our small business last April.
15:35and we were selling at the farmers market and selling on property here, produce and stuff. And people in Minnesota had pretty decent weekends last year here in our area. But this inflation thing was kicking everyone's heiny from here to Timbuktu. So people didn't really want to spend a lot of money on extras as it were.
16:04seems to be the way that could be what we found out about produce is that when COVID happened the next year everybody had their own garden yep and they didn't need as much produce you know I would suggest you supplement produce with things like honey, jams, eggs
16:32things like that and see if that helps. Yeah, and we are going to be doing that this year, but we were brand new last year and didn't know what the hell we were doing. So it was like, let's throw everything out there and see what sticks. Yeah, I remember. I remember. That's not the way to do it. Yeah, I remember doing produce and saying, how the heck do people usually do this every week? Yeah. I was just stuffing bags of lettuce like crazy.
17:00Yeah. It's like, how do they do this all week, every week? Yeah. The first year is just trying to figure out what's going on. Yeah. Yeah. The first year, like you said, you didn't know what you're doing. And so it's interesting you mentioned that. So we have, there's, there's a difference between packaged food sales and produce sales.
17:28You can go to a farmer's market and sell produce every week. But for packaged food like jams, et cetera, because it's not an immediate consumable, people store it. So we only do well at those shop-most markets on the first one. And maybe the next to the last or something like that. Because people are buying the jam they want and it's pretty much the same people that come.
17:58There's not a lot of diversity in the crowd, not the diversity that most people talk of. I mean, so we don't do farmers markets anymore because they don't do it. Also the interesting thing in Massachusetts is the regulatory agency for the farmers markets is different than the regulatory agency for the food.
18:23So of course it is. I know. So they have, they have, we, we during COVID it was terrible because the, the agricultural people and the health, which is different than the board of health people, food safety were at odds about what the rules were. And we had to cancel lots of shows because they couldn't figure it out. Because they weren't allowing sampling. At the.
18:53The agriculture people was not allowing sampling. Uh-huh. So I'll tell you a funny situation. We were signed up to go to a fair where we could sample because it was regulated by the Board of Health, but they combined it with a food fair and the agriculture group would not allow sampling. Not down and drag out. And sampling is a killer. I mean, we have to have sampling. We would not be able to survive without sampling. We get people to taste it.
19:23we got 80% chance of a sale.
19:26But if they're just looking at the jars on the table, they're not gonna buy that much. Nope, and it doesn't matter how pretty the label is or the jam inside the jar is. If they can't taste it, they don't wanna take the chance. Absolutely right. And we have to remember, when we do shows, especially for that, we are a food commodity. We're not a staple. That's why for us it's interesting, our wholesale business and our retail, our retail business is a commodity.
19:56our wholesale business is we're trying to be a staple, a grocer. Yeah. So it's, there's a whole different attitude and a whole different way we go about that the labels have to stand alone. So you really have to pay attention to your labeling and your cost in the wholesale market and the commodity retail market. It doesn't matter. I mean, you can go in there with a handwritten label and if it's good, you know, people taste it, they'll buy it.
20:22Yeah. And honestly, packaging is a killer in cost. I can't believe how much it costs us to label the stuff that we did last year. So I'll tell you what I did. If you can afford the initial investment.
20:39We bought our own label machine and our own label printer. And so we buy the rolls of labels that we want from a place that sells just the labels. And we do our own production, our own design, our own artwork, work, et cetera. You can go on your website and see the results of that. I think it's pretty good. It's about three quarters to a half of the cost. What? That's.
21:08printing our own labels versus... Oh yeah, yeah. Three quarters of what you would get. If we had contracted out, because we have a lot of people that send out for their labels. Yeah. And we do it for about 75% of their cost. Nice. In fact, we've gotten so good and efficient at it that I've offered to make labels, people have looked at us making their labels for them. Yeah, and Ed does our labels and they're fantastic.
21:37Yeah. Um, and I don't, okay. I feel like we're kind of ragging on the stuff of running a business and I don't want to discourage people from trying to start a business. I think. Yeah. Yeah. What you're saying is true. We, we are kind of ragging on it, but we wouldn't do it if we weren't doing something we enjoyed. Right. Yeah. In every business there's widgets.
22:07you know, those little things that have to be just so. Labels is one of them. Jarz is one of them. Display is one of them. And...
22:19That's what we do. And we're talking about it because that's what you do. We all want to know how another person handles that kind of little widget. And yeah, you know that it shouldn't discourage people. No, I mean, they should, they should see someone doing stuff like us and say, I'd like to do that. I have a better idea for a label. And ask us.
22:49How do you do that? What do you use? I've met people, food business for the farmers is supposedly a huge business in this state.
23:09I know someone who spent a year plus just talking about how their label is going to be designed. And I'm going like, I have to eat. I can't wait that long for that stuff. I just, you know, some people put too much into it. I get a great deal of satisfaction when we go to a fair.
23:39or a show or something and somebody says, oh, look at the nice labels and blah, blah, blah. We put our labels or have UPCs on them. They have the FDA required ingredients list and nutrition labels. I put all that stuff on there. It's just great when people go to a fair and see us, it's just the three of us. Yet our stuff looks very professional, very nice art wise, at least I think.
24:08Yeah, and some a lot of people think that we don't make it because of that. Yeah, I've had people. Yeah, I've had people say, you don't make this. Yeah, we do. Yeah, yeah, I do. Ask her what she's going to be doing in two days. But like people are like, oh, I'm so sorry, but I want to try a sample. And I'm like, listen, samples are the best part of my day because I get to see you be happy with something that I did.
24:37Oh, I'd love to give it out. I love samples. That's my favorite part is giving people samples. We make spicy jams as well. So I like giving samples of the spicy for the obvious reasons. I like to see how people react to that. But I just love getting the feedback from people directly on what it tastes like, what they think. That's one of the good things about our businesses is that we get immediate feedback.
25:06And people are always asking, what would I do with this? Because say the jams, they're like, what would I do with this besides toast? I'm like, I wish that I had a whiteboard behind me that I could just wheel out of all these things you could do with things. But it gets me conversing with people and I get to just the interaction with everybody in different communities and different ways that.
25:34all these people do the same thing. Yeah. And. I mean, that's absolutely, for me, that's the number one thing. Number two thing is actually the money and make the selling stuff. But just interacting with the people's, it's just kind of cool. I just cannot understand people at fairs, craft shows, whatever, just sitting there behind their table doing nothing.
26:06someone comes up they say hello and that's it. So we're very active we have to be careful we're not too active we're very active with the customers in promoting. You want to sell your cookies? Sell your cookies but sell them in a good way I mean you know these cookies are so good you aren't going to believe it you might want to get a jar of jam in order to put on top of the cookies. Yes.
26:35They sell. You know, when you do things like that, but when you say, here's a cookie, you know, people say, eh, I don't know. You know, and that's it. I don't know, when we get samples of cookies, they just buy the cookie. Ha ha ha.
26:54Well, yes, because you never know where you're going to get those cookies again. You should buy them while they're in front of you. Yeah. Yep. Okay. I, I have, I have a minor suggestion you might want to consider about when people say, what can I use the jam for besides toast? You guys have a website. You can put a page on your website with ideas for people to use your jam. Yep. We could. And we.
27:21thought of that and we will do that as soon as we get around. That has actually been the plan for a while now. I've been contemplating making a recipe book for like five years now and I haven't gotten to it. You gotta have the time. You do. And the thing is, is that Ed and I are getting older. And we just...
27:51We've got all these great ideas. And we say, Kourt, you can do this. Kourt, you can do this. And it's like, there's always so much I can do, help. Yep, yep, exactly. And when somebody says we're getting older, my first thought is, aren't we all? It's not that bad. I mean, I still love what I'm doing. Good.
28:21Good. Okay. I have one more question for you and then I will probably wrap it up. Um, Ed sounds like he might not be from New England and Emily, and Emily sounds like she is for sure. So am I right? You're right. Yep. Corey and I are from Vermont, extreme Northern Vermont. They're right up here in the Canadian border. I was, I'm from Virginia. Yep. Okay.
28:49He did a lot of business with the Navy, and he went from place to place to place. We finally got together and stuff like that. That's how we started working together, living together, loving together, stuff like that. Yeah, I wasn't in the Navy. I was an engineer for shipbuilding, general dynamics. Okay, yeah.
29:11I grew up in Maine, so I'm very aware of New England accents. And I was like, I don't think Ed's from around there to start with. Yeah. So it's funny because I've lived in New England. I mean, I lived in Maine for 11 years. Yup. I worked at Bath Ironworks in Maine, so. Mm-hmm. I don't know. Yup. I don't think I have an accent. What are you talking about? A little bit. Just a little bit. It's not real obvious. It's funny. If I go visit.
29:41somewhere in the south. I come back and for a couple of weeks I'm worse. Yeah, he says peony and cement. Uh-huh. Yeah, my grandpa. Yep, northern people think it's kind of hilarious to hear that. It's like watching the Beverly Hillbillies for a while. No. Not that bad. It is to me, but anyway, so...
30:11Yeah, he's not from New England. He's not from around there. My, my grandma, well, my mom's parents lived in Illinois. And so my mom was raised until she was 19, living in Illinois. And then she married my dad and moved to Maine with him because that's where he was from. So I grew up listening to my mom talk with a very Midwestern, kind of Southern drawlish accent. And my dad.
30:41with his Down East Maine accent. And I ended up right in between. I really don't feel like I have an accent at all. So it's very weird. But again, I'm very aware of people's accents because my dad makes fun of me now because I don't sound like I grew up in Maine at all. Yeah, you do have a bit of a Midwestern little. Little bit. But it's not terribly obvious. A friend of mine, every time I say the word
31:10now I'm going to overthink it, room or roof. He's like, what are you talking about, Corey? Why, why are you going into a rum? Funny stuff like that. Yeah. And they say route up here. They say route. Yeah. But it's route. That's something that we can talk to our customers about too. Uh huh.
31:36They pick it up and they say it and they say this and the other thing. And we know what they're talking about. So I don't know if you caught it. We were talking about the theme things we go to. We go in garb, in costume. Sure. Yep. We've been in kilts and all that kind of stuff. At least I do. When we've got a place to go that takes that stuff. Like Scottish games, rent fairs, those are full garb. Those are fun.
32:06It's super fun. Of course, you don't want to wear wool when it's 90 degrees out, but there you go. No, no you do not. We, we, you know, people may not understand and think and be intimidated when they meet someone who looks professional, who does everything, seems, seems they do everything right and things like that, but everybody had to start it.
32:36same place, the beginning, and do the best they can and each year improve it a little. Yes. Each year improve it a little. Dive into it. Have fun. Do it. Do it your way. And that's one of the best parts of having your own business is you get to do it your way. Yes. And that's what you're saying is that that's why it's called growing a business. Yes. So. But.
33:05Anyway, guys, this was really fun. I didn't know I was going to get to talk to three people in one shot today. Thank you for your time. I really appreciate it. Thank you. This is fun. Thank you. Have a fantastic day in beautiful Massachusetts. You as well. You too. All right, thanks. Bye.
 

Farmgirl Farmstead

Today I'm talking with Regina at Farmgirl Farmstead.
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
00:00This 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 Regina at Farm Girl Farmstead. Good morning, Regina. How are you? Good morning. I'm excellent yourself. I'm good. I keep doing this thing where I introduce people and then I stutter through the rest of it and I don't know what is going on with me, but that's okay.
00:29So tell me about yourself and Farm Girl Farmstead. All right. Well, I am 65 and a half years old. About three years ago before I retired, I decided I wanted to have a farmstead. I spent most of my life raising four kids and I raised three kids and I raised two tiny grandkids for about a year and a half. And I was like, when I get out of the classroom of learning and I actually have time to have a farmstead,
00:58I'm going to start one. So three years ago I started, but I was still working full time as a supervisor, so I didn't have a lot of time to commit. But then I retired in December. I just worked two days a week remote, and now the Farmstead Dream is coming true. I mean, it's happening, it's happening fast because I did a lot of research prior to get into the full time. And it's almost self-sustaining with the products that I sell.
01:27But my goal is next year, because it would be my, this year was my first real year of running a full time. Next year I hope to make a profit. Awesome, congratulations on retiring and starting your next season of life. That's amazing. So I have many questions. I was looking at your Facebook page and it looks like you're located in a neighborhood. Is that correct? Absolutely, I'm an urban farmer.
01:55I have a tenth of an acre and I'm surrounded by the medical field right across the alley from me is ear, nose and throat within a block is a hospital, four blocks is another hospital. So I have a big population of buyers because I'm so visual where I am. Okay. So tell me and tell the listeners how you are.
02:22utilizing what little space you have to produce lots. Okay, I gotcha. Well, the way that the homestead pays for itself is I start vegetable plants downstairs in the basement. I think I have 38 grow lights, we pot breakers like four times a day. And so this year I grew 5,000 plants from seed. Last year just like 500, just cause I wasn't retired yet. I sell those for $2 each. And I think I have about
02:51150 left. So that's how the farmstead pays for itself. And I plant everything that we eat. We have dwarf apple trees, dwarf plum trees, a ton of grapes, strawberries, and I sell strawberry plants too. Every vegetable that we like to eat I plant. And that way we can be self-sustaining. I have a friend who has 55 hens, so she provides me eggs,
03:22like three or four hens and see if something I want to do. I grew up, we raised chickens grown up in California and San Diego. Cause I don't want to jump in and then be like some people who are like, no, let's get rid of them. So I make sure it's something I can and I do want to do. And then also we planted mulberry trees too cause my 29 year old granddaughter loves mulberries but we plant everything that we love.
03:49I'm hoping to do a beehive next year. There's classes locally and none of my neighbors spray. Nobody sprays anything. I don't use any chemicals. So I wouldn't have to worry about a loss of a beehive due to neighbors. Well, that's helpful. That's great. Yes. Okay, so when you started growing stuff, you grew 5,000 seedlings in your basement with grow light this spring.
04:18Yep, yep, this spring. I started in January. As soon as I got back from Georgia visiting grandkids, I started in January because I knew with only 38 grow lights, I have to do succession after succession. So some went to the big greenhouse. It's only like 8 by 12, the small ones, 6 by 8. And I'd have a heater in there if the weather dipped, but they would rotate to the big greenhouse or the small greenhouse. And yeah, successfully 5,000. My goal was 8,000.
04:48But with just me, I just couldn't do it. I couldn't do 8,000. That's a lot to handle, yes. So do you grow anything outside? Like you have the fruit trees and stuff. But when you, okay, I asked that whole thing wrong. Let me start again. When you started growing things outside on your property, did you have to amend the soil because you were in the city? Absolutely, yeah. And when we first moved here, and I would say we, but I'm single.
05:18When I first moved here, I rented the house. That was nine years ago. And the first spring, my landlord said, hey, what do you think about ornamental grasses in the front? And I said, hold on, let me grab my sketch pad. He's like, you drew something up. And in the backyard, I drew all these raised beds. And he's like, oh. I said, I just want permission to do it. If you say no, I'm fine with it. This is your house. And I will take care of everything. I don't expect you to pay for it.
05:47He looked at it and he said, you can do it. He came the next weekend, brought a rototiller and tilled everything, came the next weekend, built all the beds, came the next weekend, filled in all the dirt. And he would not let me pay him for anything. But we have both. I build an outdoor compost and we have an electric indoor composter. And we bring all the coffee grounds. My granddaughter brings coffee grounds from work. And I pick them up at Dylan's from Starbucks.
06:17And I mean, we compost everything that's organic so we can put it into our soil. I did buy five cubic yards of compost from a local place last fall. That was a lot of compost, but my soil now is amazing. It used to be so compacted. There was no life in it. You could not find a worm. Now, anytime I try to dig something up, I'm like,
06:42Sorry, worm, sorry, didn't mean to bother you. It's just, it's the healthiest soil, it's just beautiful. Awesome. Regina, I have to say it. I love you. You are proving my point about the fact that anyone can do this on a small piece of property. Exactly. And you can make it go. Yes, yes. And you know, I'm 65 and a half. I would say a half because I'm almost at 66 and I've always had a high level of energy, but I have...
07:12visions and they're written down in goals and I make new goals every day and Sometimes I don't make some of those goals but a ton of them I do and that's the ones I celebrate not what I didn't get Done, but what I did accomplish and that's Yeah Absolutely, that that's how you should do it because then you have hope that you can get some more things accomplished later Yes, it's it's plans for the future. It's great. Yeah
07:39The other reason I'm excited about talking with you is because we had a tenth of an acre as well where we used to live and we made our entire backyard gardens. And so I understand completely what you're talking about. And we now have a hard-sided greenhouse that just was finished a couple of weekends ago. And it's 18 by 40, I think, are the measurements. And so...
08:06So my husband and I have big, big, big plans and dreams for next year because it's going to be heated. So we're going to try doing bedding plants too for people. Oh, I love, oh my gosh. And they just sell themselves. I market them on the marketplace and then have a sign on the corner and word of mouth gets people, they come back from last year or the year before, they send friends, they're like, hey, Darcy sent me. And I mean, it's just, it's...
08:34growing itself with me putting like maybe $10 a week into marketing during my busy season and that's it. Yeah, yeah. And I don't know if the city that you live in is a food desert, but a lot of cities end up being food deserts. So is it? Yeah, absolutely. And we don't even have a grocery store close. There's a committee trying to build one about four blocks away where one used to be.
09:03and they asked if I would help provide vegetables to sell in it. And I told them if I can fit it into my yard, I sure will. I won't be able to, you know, be the only supplier because I never want to be big like that, but I will absolutely be a part of that. Yeah. And yeah, not a lot of people garden here. There's a couple of community gardens, people, I don't know. I don't know why. I think maybe they think they can't do it.
09:30Yeah, and I mean, if you've never done it before, it can be really daunting. Oh, yeah. There's a large, steep learning curve if you're starting from scratch on how to grow food. Absolutely. Yeah. And I don't want to discourage anybody. It's a really fun learning curve, but you've got to want to do it and you've got to have the time to put into it. Yeah. And it's like anything we're going to, if it's something new.
09:58We're always gonna be learning with gardening. We're always learning and we're always gonna have our failures, but if we look at what we did and did well, that's what keeps us motivated, keeps us going. Cause I've already made my list of things that I did well this year and things that I have not. And we'll learn from that next year, take those have nots and put them on. We got it. Got it done. Yeah, for sure. It's really funny.
10:25We live about four and a half miles from the nearest town, which isn't that far. And we are surrounded by cornfield right now. And the corn's coming up. It's about, I would bet it's about eight inches, 10 inches tall right now. And we put in some stuff before all the rain hit weeks ago. I'm in Minnesota. I don't know if you know what the weather's been in our area, but we've just been pounded with rain. But...
10:54A volunteer lettuce plant came up and we're having grilled ham and cheese sandwiches tonight. I was thinking about it. I was like, what can we have with grilled ham and cheese? I'm going to have my son go out and grab that lettuce because it's big enough to have as a salad. Yes. We're just going to have a basic lettuce salad from the garden with our sandwiches. I love it. This is the first year I actually grew lettuce.
11:21and spinach and it grew so well. I'm like begging my grown kids, please, please cut it, take some, please. Because before I'd get like one lettuce, because I didn't have time to focus, but this year I had so much. I'm like, please, please, this is so expensive at the store and it's so good, it's organic. Then I take my granddaughter, she's 29. We, when we bought the house, we cohabitate, we share everything. I raised her, put her through college, so, and we get along so well.
11:51But she's a vegetarian. I'm like, if I see you buy bagelettes one more time while we have all this lettuce, she's like, I know, I keep forgetting. So, first ever growing so much lettuce and because we eat a lot of vegetables, we eat a lot of fruits, we try to grow or I try to grow everything that we'll eat. Yeah. And I mean, you're already doing it. You might as well reap the benefits of it. Exactly. Yeah.
12:18Because I didn't start with the idea of selling plants to other people. I wanted to give us healthy foods and to reduce our, because I only spend $40 a week on my groceries. I buy my own groceries. I spend $40 a week. And I was like, I'm going to garden because gardening is going to be a big part of keeping that bill at a minimum and eating as healthy as I can. Yes. And with the inflation prices that have happened in the last year, that's a great plan. Yes.
12:46three grandkids here for three weeks from Georgia. There was six, eight, and 14. And we went shopping the day after they got here. So we went shopping Monday. I was like, good Lord. Grocery bill is like, good night nurse. That's crazy. Yeah, it's ridiculous. I am, I'm offended at the fact that we live in America and it's the land of milk and honey. I said this the other day too on a podcast.
13:16interview and a lot of people quite literally cannot afford to eat now in the last year and a half. Agreed. Absolutely agreed. And actually, it's been that way for a long time. When I was middle management at Boys and Girls Club, probably 30 years ago, we'd have kids on Friday night who are like, Mr. Regina, do you have anything I can eat? I'm like, did you eat? Did you eat lunch at school?
13:42On the weekends, they'd be like, I haven't eaten anything all day. So we started a program where we cooked real meals every weekend for every kid who showed up. So it's been that way for so long, but I think people are just realizing it. I mean, for some people, it's always been like that. It's been a hardship just to feed your kids or to eat. But now it's for everybody now. Yeah.
14:04Now I love you even more because of what you just said. And yes, I knew that there were lots of people who couldn't afford to eat before the last year and a half. But like people who are making okay money at their job are having to make choices about where they spend their money more than they did before because it's a choice of whether the car payment gets made or they eat. Exactly. Absolutely.
14:33It's ridiculous. I hate everything about this situation as it stands right now. Me too. I thought after COVID was over and through and the trucking crisis, I thought that prices would go down kind of where they need to be, but that just didn't happen. Yeah, we'll be donating produce to our local food shelf this summer. And we did last summer, and we did the year before that, and we did the year before that. We moved here almost four years ago.
15:02So every summer we've had the big garden, we've donated zucchini and tomatoes and cucumbers and stuff to the food shelf because we have so much and we're so blessed that I'm like, we need to take that big old box down the food shelf right now. Yep. Yeah. In the front yard, we, we changed that to a growing area. So I always plant tomatoes and peppers out there. So anybody, any neighbor, anybody walk them by who wants them, they can just pick them.
15:31So it's kind of like a little community food station.
15:40Yep. Awesome.
15:45Are you still with me? Yeah, I'm still here. Okay. It just got really quiet. And usually when it does that, I think that it's cut out on me. We have a farm stand on our property where we sell produce as well. And we don't have cameras. We don't monitor it hard because our theory is if somebody takes produce without paying for it, they need it more than we do. Yeah. And I shouldn't broadcast the fact that we don't monitor it because now people just come and take stuff.
16:14It's an honor system and we just hope that people who can afford to pay for what they take do. Yeah. And if they need it, then they can have it. Yeah. I do that too. I do a lot of self-service. I was out there nine to five or 96 every day, but then when it started slowing down, I started doing the self-service Venmo cash app. I have a cash box. And I think I only had one person who didn't actually pay for their stuff. And that was my whole idea too.
16:43They must need it more than me. And one guy hit me up on Marketplace. He's like, I don't have any money. Do you think I get plans? I'm like, absolutely. I said, let me know what you want and let's meet. And you can absolutely have him. He's like, I really don't have any place to plan them. I'm homeless. But I'll find a place. I said, let's do it. Nice. Yeah. That's great. Yeah. He doesn't have a home, but he has this want or this need to grow food.
17:10And I'm just like, that's where it all starts. That's where everything starts to pivot and change for somebody. When they have these little grains of ideas and put those into motion, then it grows and it grows. And then all of a sudden, his whole life has changed because he wants to do this one thing that's going to move him forward and provide food for him. You're literally planting seeds, literally and figuratively planting seeds for his life. Oh, thank you. Yeah.
17:39So what's your favorite favorite thing about what you're doing? Do you have one favorite thing or is it just all your favorite? I think it's that I get to wear overalls all the time.
17:52When I picked up my grandkids in Georgia, my six-year-old granddaughter who's very, very fancy, she's like, Nana, are you wearing overalls? I'm like, yes, ma'am. I said I brought a pair for tomorrow, a pair for the next day. So every day when she gets up, she's like, you have overalls. I'm like, this is what I wear. I call it my pants purse because I always got people on one side for squirrels that eat out of our hands. Then everything I need is in my pockets. And I don't have to worry about what.
18:20what I'm wearing, how I present myself, that's just who I am. And when people come to buy things and they have overalls on, we talk about overalls, it's just so sweet and just so simple. What's your favorite brand of overalls? Cause I need a pair. I like the old Navy ones because they have some slouch in them, they have some give in them, and they have the boyfriend cut, so they're just a little bit higher and they have a lot of pockets. But when I'm down in the dirt,
18:48I don't wear those, any of those. I wear the key, K-E-Y, they're older ones. Just because they have all the pockets to hang your tools in. If I get mud on them, and I will, then I'm not worried, because I have a lot of overalls. So I wear all the, let's see, other ones I have. I got them from the grain store. Found one pair at a yard sale. I was like, what? A bag of clothes for $5? Yes, ma'am. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, I like the ones from the Sparm store because they're just built better.
19:18But then my city, I say going to town ones, even though I live in the city, right in the middle, those are my old Navy ones because they're a little bit more feminine and not so muddy. Well, you got to spruce up a little bit now and then just to feel better. So your farm girl farmstead uniform is overalls. I love that. Exactly. Yeah. And one time a guy came and he's like, my friend said you always wear overalls.
19:44I'd been out there from nine in the morning to six at night. He came at seven and I had just changed. I went out and he's like, where's your overalls? I'm like, I'm so sorry. I said, I just changed. I was just exhausted and dirty. He's like, they said you always wear overalls. He said like eight times. I knew that that was gonna be my image. That was gonna be my uniform because that's what people expected. And they, I don't know, it just makes them happy when I have overalls on. Great. Do you have different color overalls or are they just denim? All denim.
20:14because you know, yeah, you know, I'm retired. I'm on a budget. I'm gonna have to find out your size and find some really crazy looking overalls and ship them to you from Amazon. That has some, but I'm like, oh, I can't pay that much for overalls. I've been looking at. Yeah. Yeah, you should get some with flowers on them. Oh, I see those and I'm like, oh, I'm gonna have to wait because you know, when I knew my grandkids were coming, I'm spending a lot of money this month.
20:43Yeah, so that's where my budget's being thrown to. But yeah, well, I wear the same size as my age, 18. I'm 18, so that's a giveaway. I'll have to look and see what I can find. I'm so tempted to buy you some really fun overalls just for Grins and Giggles. I bought some off a big blue box store. I bought them online and they got here and they were a whole different size than what they should be.
21:08and you had to put your own clasp on them. Like, what is this? This is worse than math trying to figure that out. Yeah. No, they need to be ready to wear. Yes, yes, exactly. See, I wear Levi's jeans and tank top and a t-shirt over the tank top and really cute socks. I bought these socks a year and a half ago. They're little ankle socks and they look like the rag wool socks, but they're not. And calaboutes all the time. That's my...
21:38That's my uniform here at our place. And mostly because I really like being comfy and I don't have to like pack away winter clothes and bring out summer clothes and pack away summer clothes and bring out winter clothes because it all works. It's all year round. Yes, yeah. That's my big thing is being comfortable. It's always been, I've never been into fashion. I've never cared about my nails just because I was always in dirt. Anywhere I can be in dirt, I'd be in dirt. I just don't care about that. I just wanna be comfortable.
22:08And, you know, I want to look clean, of course, I share every day, but I just want to be comfortable. I don't want to wear what I want to wear. You know, I had to wear when I worked for the state of Kansas, I had to wear what I needed to wear, but now I just want to wear what I want to wear. Yeah, there's a woman on Facebook, her name is Casey. I think her last name is Heister, H-E-I-S-T-E-R. And she's a girly girl. She wears the most beautiful dresses.
22:36and she gardens in them and she shoots guns in them and she actually has like videos and photos of herself in these really beautiful dresses. That's so cool. I love that. And she's beautiful. Yeah. I love it too. But I really don't move as easily in a dress as I do in jeans and I am always doing something. I'm cooking or I'm chasing after the dog or I'm outside.
23:04I don't own a dress. I haven't owned a dress in forever. So I watch her and I'm like, I love her for what she's chosen for her life. And you were mentioning pockets and the overalls. I don't carry a purse ever. I always wear some kind of jacket. It doesn't matter if it's 90 degrees out. I have a light jacket that has pockets because my jacket is my purse.
23:32Partly because I don't ever forget my jacket, but I have literally walked out of places without the bag that I brought with me. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, I just slide my debit card in the top pocket if we're going somewhere, my ID if I'm driving, and off we go. Yeah, I have a wallet. I actually carry a wallet just like a man and it's always in my back pocket because it's just easier and I know where everything is. Absolutely. I wish that I could wear dresses because I like long flowy garden dresses.
24:03the medical center that butts up to the alley. Their break room is right there. And every time they come over, they're like, oh my gosh, we watch you all the time. It's just so awesome over here. We wanna be over here. So it's like I'm being watched for 10 hours a day. So if I was wearing a dress, I'd probably, I don't know, it wouldn't be pretty. Yep. And like you said, you have earned the right to make your choices to be comfortable in your clothing choices and what you're wearing.
24:33Absolutely. Yeah, now I have to donate a ton of clothes because I haven't touched most of it since I retired. Well, someone will benefit who needs them. So that's great. Absolutely. Okay, so what's your least favorite thing about what you do? That the time is limited every day. Because if I could be out there for like 30 hours in a row, I would do it. I love being outside. I love being in the dirt. I love
25:02Starting a seat. I love deadheading. I love everything. I just hate that Time is so limited Yeah, there's never enough hours in the day. I don't think it matters what you're doing There's just not enough and you have to sleep at some point. Yeah. Oh and I hate aphids I'm again this week. We every week we're at war somewhere different in the yard with aphids Okay, tell me
25:29We don't really have trouble with aphids and we never really have even at the old house. What is it that aphids are a problem for? Right now they're on the calendulum. Last week they were on the grapevines. We have a ton of grapes. And then they were on the daisies first. And so we use neem oil and I've listened to your podcast. You use neem oil too. Yep. And that takes care of them. But I'm like, good night. Every time I turn around there's somewhere else. I'm like, I thought I got rid of you guys. I hate aphids.
25:59But do they eat the plants? Is that the problem? Yeah, they suck the juice out of the plants. And last year I was like, oh, there's ants on there. The ants are going to take care of those aphids and eat them. Well, my granddaughter, the one I spoke about, she's a biology major. She's like, no, they're harvesting the sugar off the aphids. They are profiting from the aphids. They're not going to kill them. They're going to try to keep them alive. So I had to start using neem oil.
26:24Yeah, it seems like a lot of insects do not appreciate neem oil at all. I like that. Yeah, it works. I saw it on something on a YouTube video years ago and I was like, huh, it's not going to hurt my dog. It's not going to hurt the barn cats. It's not going to hurt the chickens if by chance they get into it and it doesn't hurt the plants. So let's try that.
26:51if you do it in the morning or after they all go to bed. That was my big thing, the pollinators. But yeah, and I think you had mentioned on one of the podcasts that you used it on the apple trees. Like, oh, I never heard that because we have two dwarf apple trees. So I started using it on the apple trees too. Yeah, we started that last year because we had little, we had a couple of tiny little apples developed two falls ago on one of the trees.
27:20They're fairly new trees. We just put them in three and a half, four years ago. And they had the, the yuck on the inside from the moth larva that get into apples. Yes. And I was trying to find a way to not have that happen again. And I saw something about that you could use neem oil once that the little baby apples developed from the blooms. And I said to my husband, I said, do we have any neem oil left in the spray bottle thing? And he was like, yeah. I said,
27:50Can we try spraying the apples with that and see if it helps? Like spray the base of the tree and spray the actual apples. And he's like, I will try anything at this point. I was like, okay. So we did. And we ended up with probably a hundred honey gold apples last fall. That's amazing. That is amazing. And they were small, but they're dwarf stock trees and they were young trees. We didn't expect them to be big apples. Yeah.
28:17And I don't like them. I don't like Golden Delicious Apples and Honey Gold's taste a lot like Golden Delicious Apples to me. But my husband loves Golden Delicious Apples. So he was thrilled that we got them. That's funny. I think we planted one Gala and one Fuji because those are our favorites. And how are they, you don't know how they're doing yet. You won't know for a while. This is their second full year.
28:44So you're supposed to get apples within two, three years. So we should have apples next year. Okay. One of them bloom this year, but I don't see any apples on there. Yeah. It's after the blooms. Cause that's when I heard you say to use the email. I'm like, man. So next year. Yep. Um, we don't, I don't know if, uh, Gayle's or the other one you said would grow here because we're further north than you. Oh yeah. You're a little north.
29:14Yeah, but the ones that we have are the honey golds. We have two honeycrisp trees that are, they were saplings when we bought them two years ago. So they're finally starting to branch out. So we're hoping to have apples next, not this coming, but fall of 2025 from those. And we have Regents and we have Harrelson.
29:39And we have a couple old varieties that I can't think of the names of right now. We have like 16 or 18 trees. Wow. That's so, so hopefully within a couple of years, we'll actually have enough apples that we can sell them and we can donate some of those to the food shelf. I love that. I love your heart. I'm trying. I I'm trying so hard to figure out ways to make this place support itself. And also without.
30:07without charging any money to people, support the community as well. Yeah. Yeah. And it's a balance. It is. Absolutely. Like my prices on my vegetable plants, three years ago, was $2. Last year, $2. This year, $2. And I told everybody, and that's even my perennial flowers that I grow, I told everybody next year I plan on keeping it at $2, but I said I need y'all to return your pots though, because my goal is not to put any money out for pots and...
30:36no more plastic out into the world, that's new. I just want to reuse. And so everybody's been fantastic about returning pots, pots that didn't come from me. But because people are like, we went to this store, it was this much for one tomato plant? They're like, that's why we always come back to you. You're organic, it's $2. You did all the work. We don't know where the seeds came from, what they were sprayed with. We know what yours were sprayed with, nothing. Uh-huh, yep. You're doing a good thing.
31:05Regarding the pots and the baskets and things, the plastic, somebody on Facebook Marketplace last week had a whole bunch of nursery pots, the plastic ones, one and two gallon ones, for free. She got them from the nursery and she was like, I need these gone, come get them. And I was like, pick us, we'll take them. So my husband and my son drove down and brought home like 30.
31:34of these pots. And because we now have the greenhouse, we need those size pots for plants. And I put out the call on Facebook, you know, on my friend page. I was like, if anyone has hanging plant pots from their, the stuff that they got this year that they want to get rid of, let us know. And one of my good friends who lives nearby, she's like, I have three, we'll bring them all over. And I said, okay, great.
32:00So I'm putting out the call for the ones that people are just going to throw away because we need them. We want to grow hanging potted plants in the greenhouse next spring. And the landfill does not need them. That's my whole... I don't want to buy any more new ones. And when we put that call out, all of a sudden we start getting what we need. Last weekend, I have a friend who works on the weekends at an auction house. They had an old greenhouse that they wouldn't let anybody go into because it was in bad repair.
32:30Tell me what you want. She got me, I think, 2,000 pots. She got me 12 of the real heavy, heavy plastic trays that have the drain holes in it. These are trays that will never, ever break. She got me a ton, probably about 40 hanging hooks to hang plants in the greenhouses. And she's like, $2. I'm like, I am not paying you just $2. I said, it was your time, your wear, and these are valuable to me. So I over, over, overpaid her.
32:58but I didn't overpay her for, you know, I made sure it wasn't too much for my budget, but I gave her a lot more than she wanted. But when you put that call out, all of a sudden, everybody's showing up and dropping off stuff at your porch or your greenhouse. Yes, because if you don't open your mouth, nobody knows what you need. Exactly, or they think she probably has plenty, she's been doing this for a while, I'm just gonna throw it away, nope. Everybody shows up, they'll be like, hey, I just dropped something at your greenhouse. I'm like, yes, or the medical center next door,
33:28they walk over when they see me out there like, where was I come when you're out? Cause you like talk about plants and boy, do I like to talk about plants. You're educating the medical field. Good for you. Yeah. Yeah. They're, they're just, they're a blessing. They're just so sweet. One of my plants, when I saw last week, one of the ladies over there sent an email to everybody in the building and said, Hey, Farm Girl Farm said this is a price this week. And a ton of people came over. So I sent her, I walked over.
33:56bouquet of flowers for her from the garden. Awesome. We're doing that, yeah. I was gonna say before before I cut you loose because we're at we're over half an hour now but I still have questions. Do you, what do you grow for flowers? You said calendula, what else? Well this is the first year I've ever grown flowers that weren't just for me so I grew dahlias from seed. First year I ever did it.
34:25I think about 40 for me and then I sold the rest and I started Status and oh my gosh, that was probably 100% germination rate. Planted what I needed because I want to try bouquets this year just because when the vegetable plant season ends, it gives me something else to sell. Oh gosh, I started Black Eyed Susan's, yarrow from the seeds that I saved and purple cone flower because I like perennials. I don't like to waste money. Everything came up except for rosemary.
34:54I hate rosemary. It hates me back. I tried a lot of fashion plantings and everyone did not make it, not one. But yeah, I started so many flowers, but I put on my list for next year not to plant as many flowers, Regina. We should have planted more vegetables and herbs in all that flower space, but I love flowers. I just think they're beautiful.
35:19Well, don't eradicate the flower growing. Just grow slightly less and you'll be good. Yeah, but I also did a lot of research this winter because I wanted to learn about dahlias. I've never grown them. And I didn't want to buy them, the tubers, because they weren't in my budget. So I bought the seeds and wow. And then I learned that when you pull up that tuber or tubers in the fall, it's going to be whatever the color of that flower was, that's going to be the color of your next flower.
35:47But the seeds will be so many different colors. And that's how they come up with all these new varieties. When they plant seeds, all of a sudden they have this one. They take it and they breed just that one. So I said, so, you know, I always educate people, this is what you're gonna get. When you dig it up, make sure you dig it up, save those seeds, same, I mean, zinnias, every, zinnias are my favorite. I always have so many seeds every year. But I love, I love flowers. Yeah, zinnias are really fun because they're easy. Yes, yes.
36:17And there's so many different colors and they're great for bouquets. Mm-hmm. They have a long base life. Yeah. We have, we have some growing. Yeah. They're so forgiving. If you forget to water them for a couple of days or a week, they're like, we're still here. We're not going anywhere. They grow like a weed. Exactly. A pretty weed. Absolutely. All right. Well, Regina, I am so excited that you took the time to chat with me today because you proved.
36:47My thing I've been saying on the podcast for almost 10 months now, I think, that anyone can grow produce and flowers and herbs on a small city lot. Yes, ma'am. And you can get that soil amended. Oh, and I forgot to tell you, I did buy this house five years ago. I told you I was renting it initially. Yep. Then I ended up buying it. So it's mine. Yay. Yeah. That's awesome.
37:16Thank you. And I bought it before, excuse me, before the housing market went crazy. Oh, even better. Yes. Good. All right. Regina, thank you so much for your time. I really do appreciate it. You're welcome, Mary. And thank you. You have a wonderful day. Okay. Have a great, have a great day. Thank you. Bye bye.
 

Red Dragonfly Animal Rescue

Today I'm talking with Terry at Red Dragonfly Animal Rescue. You can follow on Facebook as well.
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
00:00This 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 Terry at Red Dragon Fly Animal Rescue. How are you, Terry? I am doing great, Mary. Good. Tell me about yourself and what you do. So we have a large animal rescue in the Panhandle of Florida.
00:28Um, we rescue horses, donkeys, cows. Um, every, every single rescue has a different story of how they wound up on our, on our farm. Um, we also have Muscovy ducks and roosters that have been dropped off because people have found them in their front yard and don't know what to do with them. Um, we're trying to provide a service for animals that have been neglected, abandoned. Um, the equine that have been put into the slaughter pipeline.
00:58which is just devastating. So I know people ask me, you know you can't save them all and I know I can't, but I feel like if I can just make a difference in a few lives and save what I can that I think I found my purpose. Okay, so what brought you to this? So in 2021, we purchased a small five acre lot in Southwest Florida. And we have...
01:27We had a business up in New England and we thought, okay, so this is where we kind of want our last chapter to be. I'm originally from Florida. My husband's originally from Connecticut, but he was on board to relocate. And at the end of 2021, we didn't know what we wanted to do with this piece of land. We know we thought a farm, we thought animals, we thought, you know, we had somewhat of a vision, but it wasn't clear to be, you know, fully transparent.
01:56So my husband called me, I think it was like November, December of 2021 and said, listen, I met this rancher and he's got these baby cows that he's gonna take to slaughter. And I was like, why? And he said, well, he has too many cows and too many males and he's, one's a male, one's a female. Female, he doesn't even know who the mom is. So I said, no, let's bring them to the farm. So I learned how to do barbed wire for the first time in my life.
02:25Um, we fenced in two and a half acres and we had six week old calves. Mary, they cried for their moms on that. Oh yeah. Oh, it broke my heart and we weren't living there, but I was there. I was there every hour. Um, and then six months, not even six months, I'm going to say maybe a couple months later, we got a call that a petting zoo was closing and they had this donkey and, um, that's the story that we were given.
02:55I'm still not 100% sure. I think he was a displaced donkey that nobody wanted. So we transported him to the farm and we thought, oh, donkeys are pasture mates. They're gonna protect the cows. Not this donkey. This donkey wanted to attack the cows. So we had to separate them. They each got their own pasture, their own pole barn, their feed stations, their hay. And I thought, okay, I could do this. And I started doing research. I signed up for
03:25FEMA classes that have, and this is all free, and a lot of folks don't know this, they're available online. They bring teachers to, it's usually like community centers. I was the only lay person in the room. We did a two or three day course. I flew up to Long Island, and it was all first responders on how to deal with animals in a disaster, whether it's a natural disaster or unnatural disaster. So you know, the fires in...
03:54wildfires in California and I didn't know Hurricane Ian was coming to southwest Florida, but what do you do with animals in these situations? What do you, you know, who, who's there to help you? Who has transportation? Where can we relocate them to? So I started to reach out to folks in southwest Florida. I think they kind of had their own established network, and then Hurricane Ian came. We were super lucky, Mary, super lucky that the animals survived.
04:21And the house that we also had near them survived, but not much else survived. I'm sure you saw pictures of, of post-hurricane and the devastation and the, the loss of lives. And it was just, we thought better of maybe not staying there. Um, my husband rides dirt bikes as his mental therapy, and he found some trails up in the Panhandle of Florida. So we came up here on a weekend and he was like, this is gorgeous. Um, and better yet.
04:51affordable. So I said, I will relocate. Here's my thing. I need to live where the animals are. And I want to do this full time as much as we can full time. So I got our 501 C3, which was no easy feat. We transported the animals. We bought a 25 acre. We went from a 2400 square foot house to a 900 square foot barnaminium.
05:21and we promised each other that 80% of our time will be spent outside with the animals. And it is. Since 20, we bought this property last year. Since then, we've rescued two female donkeys that were in the auction cycle. They were both pregnant. We did not know when we brought them here. They came up last year.
05:47Coffee delivered April 21st, a healthy baby. We think she may be a henny, the vet's coming out next month maybe to do some blood work. What is that? What's a henny? It's a cross between a female donkey and a male horse. So when they're thrown into these auctions, and a lot of folks don't know what happens in these auctions, but these equine are put into these horrible situations. They're put in these lots that are very, very small, confined.
06:17They're not fed good feed, they're given poor hay, and then they're paraded in front of people because it's all to make money. At the end of the day, Mary, it's all to make money. And these horses are in horrible, horrible conditions. These donkeys are in horrible condition. You know, they're not, they're not taken care of because it's, nobody's going to keep them on an auction cycle or in one of these fold-over laws for any extended period of time. So it was a kill pen up in North Carolina.
06:46that I reached out to and I brought them home on August 8th. They delivered April 21st and April 30th. We don't know if she was exposed to a horse or a donkey. She just, the baby seems really big to me compared to the other baby donkey. So I was like, I want blood work. Not that it matters. They are sterile. She won't be able to reproduce and that's the, you know, the only thing. Mules or hinnies.
07:14sized by the same size as a horse. They're much stronger. They're much durable. They're super smart. So I'm excited. We'll see what we have. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's funny when mules happen because sometimes they're absolutely gorgeous and sometimes the funniest looking thing you've ever seen. My husband says, so this is going to date us. I think it was a kazoo.
07:43the cartoon when we were younger that had that helmet on. He's like, she looks like she's wearing a helmet. So, we'll see. And then January, the most recent rescues, besides the ducks and the roosters, were five horses from a kill pen in Tennessee that were in horrible, horrible condition. We signed up for two blind horses. The blind horses will never be sold at auction. You know that they're-
08:13They're going to be loaded on that cattle trailer and they're going to be hauled, you know, across the border, um, to slaughter. And it's a very inhumane, very brutal way that they transport them. I do want to mention, I'd love for the audience to look it up. It's called the SAFE Act. It's HR 3475. And, um, it's to, uh, it's to stop the transportation of equine.
08:43for slaughter. So we used to have slaughters statewide or stateside. I'm sorry. It was legal to slaughter horses and donkeys here. And then I want to say 2017, they abolished that. But they didn't abolish the fact that we can still throw them on trailers, drive them pregnant babies, it doesn't matter, shove them into these cattle trailers and and
09:08put them on the road for 20 hours, 24 hours, whatever it takes to get them across the border to Canada or Mexico. I think that if we can ever pass that bill, that would be amazing. So the horses came very sick. They had something called strangles, which is a very highly contagious upper respiratory infection. Our farm was put under quarantine by the state. We had the state inspector come every week.
09:35We had to keep them away from the rest of the rescues. And I had to suit up to give them their medicine, to feed them, to three times a day. It was a very, very long two months. I would do it over again in a heartbeat because there's two blind horses that we promised to rescue turned into five when the driver showed up with 13. And some of the other rescues didn't show up to take what they.
10:04committed to taking my husband. And this is one of the reasons I love him so much. I kept saying, he kept saying, we don't have room. We don't have room. And I said, there, he's not gonna take him back to Tennessee. He's not. So he just untied them and I'm sorry, I get emotional. That's okay. They are the best horses ever. We have.
10:32One, unfortunately, after two months passed away, and that was harder than I expected. And then two have, one's a thoroughbred. Actually, the vet's assistant, we had them at halters, and she noticed right away, she said, I think she's a thoroughbred. They tattooed them on their upper lip so you don't have any markings on them. And sure enough, Maggie has her tattoo, but she has an injured eye. So who's going to buy her at auction?
11:02Um, Winston also has an injured eye and a huge, beautiful gelding protects the mares and then the other two blind girls. We think it was ovidus, which is a common, unfortunately, bacteria that horses get. And eventually to lose their vision. I had the farrier out here the other day and they all stood for him like perfect. So, you know, they were somebody's horse. I just don't think folks know what happens.
11:30when they take their horses to auction. I, you know, they just really, Mary, they have no idea what these horses are gonna go through. Yeah, yep. I don't wanna cut you off, but I have a couple questions out of all of that. Number one, you said that it was, well, I don't know what you said, but it sounds like it was rough getting the 501C3 thing.
12:00Is that because you have to, how does it work? Is it that you have to justify why you want to become that? So you have to have a purpose or a reason or a vision or a mission, whatever you want to call it. I was super worried because everything I read, and I've tried to self-educate as much as I can. In a previous life, I was a pharmaceutical rep and I'm used to studying and learning and I think it's what keeps my head going.
12:29My focus now is animals, so, and how am I going to help them? So I like dove in, how am I going to get this 501c3? Because that's how we're going to get donations when folks could write them off, when, you know, the grants, what can I apply for? And everything I read, Mary, scared me because it said if you don't get it right the first time, the IRS could tell you we're not going to honor the 501c3 for a year or for however long.
12:56So I reached out to a law firm in Fort Myers that specialized in it. Not inexpensive at all. So it took- Not inexpensive, is that what you said? Not inexpensive, very, very inexpensive. So I made payments. I got on a payment plan and I said, this is what I can afford. Each month, can we progress? And it took us a year. And in July of 2023,
13:26I got the official 501C3 and then I registered for my number in the state of Florida. So if you look us up under any charity, Red Dragonfly Animal Rescue is completely legit. We have our vendor credentials, so I can go to Tractor Supply, I can go to the feed store, Ace and I don't have to pay taxes. So there's a lot of benefits to it that folks may not know.
13:52And I just finished, I did a very detailed business plan of where I see us, you know, for the rest of this year. And then where I see us in 24 months and 36 months and 48 months. Um, and now that I have that complete, my next step is to get a grant writer. Um, which I'm now just starting to investigate, but I feel like that will be. We have 25 acres, not all of it is cleared.
14:21We've started to clear on our own and it's time and it's expensive. Fences are expensive, no climb is expensive, and then you're trying to do all this while still maintaining the rescues, you know, still giving them veterinarian care, obviously good feed, everything that they need. And I think grants will definitely help us.
14:48that you have to have to do this. And I was like, oh my God, that's got to get really expensive, really fast. It does. And I, um, I always say my animals will eat before I do. Um, I still work remotely because there it's, it's just such an expense to keep it going that it, I don't. I don't foresee that changing until we can get into this grant world. And, and, um, and I know there's a lot of grants out there because I've researched it. Um,
15:16And I know like tractors, even, you know, private companies have grants. I just need to expand that more, focus more on that and get my applications out, my business plan out and grow that part of it. Yes, the great thing about grants is there are lots of them. The bad part about grants is there's lots of people who would like to get their hands on the lots of grants. Right.
15:42Exactly. Everything I read says be detailed, be detailed. So I'm trying to be as detailed as I can. And I can talk about this Mary all day long. Like I, this is when, you know, I told you I was a pharmaceutical rep when I was young, I was a flight attendant, I worked with my husband's business. You know when you find your purpose, you really, it's in your heart. It's not, I tell people it's the hardest job I've ever done physically and emotionally.
16:12And I've raised kids, I've done all that. But the fulfillment you get out of all that hard work, I've never, there's nothing you can compare it to. Yeah, you found your passion. This is what you want to be doing and what you think that you were meant to be doing. This is your calling. Absolutely, absolutely. And on that note, I think that what you're doing is amazing.
16:40and I think that there's a reason for it. But I'm sure that you get pushback from people about why are you doing this?
16:49Okay, so what I was saying is I think that what you're doing is amazing and I think it's important, but I'm sure that you probably get pushback from people about why are you doing this? Oh yes. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Why am I doing this? Besides my own purpose and my own goals? I think these animals need it. I think people need to be educated. I think people just don't know.
17:19they don't realize, for example, where these donkeys could wind up. Oscar's Place is a great sanctuary in California that I've reached out to and I've communicated, and I've tried to learn from other sanctuaries and learning from other rescues. We've done some University of Florida veterinarians classes online on how to handle large animals and really get to learn more about them. I feel like if more people were aware,
17:48of what these animals go through, I think people would say, no, we're not going to do this. Let's stop this. Let's not transport them. Let's, you know, let's find them. There's one retirement home for horses in the state of Florida in Gainesville. They have 300 acres and they're full and they try to, you know, limit who they take only working horses. People buy a horse for their kids and they think we're going to have a trail horse and then they lose their sight.
18:17And that's it, we're done. I don't want them on my feed, Bill. It's still a living, breathing creature. I've had quite a few people visit the rescue. I try and do one-on-one. Like we had a little boy yesterday who's homeschooled, who came out. We did a special project. So I'm trying to do natural mosquito control in Florida. So we went and gathered gambusia fish from a retaining pond to put in the horse troughs that eat the mosquito larvae.
18:46But it was my opportunity at age nine, he's not gonna really understand what these horses go through and how he could make a difference. But his mom did and she was shocked. She was like, I had no idea. And these are folks that are professionals, are educated, consider themselves knowledgeable. It's just, for lack of a better word, a seedy or shady side of the horse business and the donkey business.
19:15the cattle industry that folks don't know. I'm never gonna tell anybody what to eat, what not to eat, that is not my place. There's humane ways to do it. There's ways that you're not, you know, putting 800 chickens in a 12 by 12 room, you know, feeding them antibiotics to get them to grow so you can sell more chickens. You could do it in a humane way. You could.
19:43you could have cattle in a humane way. You could have dairy farms in a humane way without dragging those babies away from mamas right away. I think it's all education and opening our eyes and maybe going back to simpler times when it wasn't more money, more things, more... I think that's my why, is to educate people. Okay. All right, that seems reasonable to me.
20:13Um, I have, I have another question. What's the, what's the insect that I'm hearing in the background? Um, so you hear crickets at night when the sun sets, you hear frogs, but you may hear roosters. Yeah. Okay. So we, yeah. So we, um, we just rescued cowboy, um, who's a beautiful, beautiful rooster who wound up in a very, um, in a historical district in a town nearby us. And.
20:42the lady found this on the internet, I guess, or somebody gave her her phone number and she called me and she's like, I have him in my bathroom and I don't think I can keep him in my bathroom. I'm like, yeah, I don't think that's a good idea. So she came out a couple of days later and she was so funny because she had gotten attached to the rooster and she was like, what if he doesn't get along? What if he runs away? I said, well, we have 25 acres and we're gonna feed him.
21:11I don't think he'll run away. And we have probably about, I don't know, how many Muscovy ducks and we have other roosters. He has taken the charge and I think he's part duck. He keeps all the ducks together every night and then the ducks will go down to the pond and he gets very upset and then he kind of hangs his head and goes inside the barn like he's done his job and can't help them anymore. So I think you hear cowboys, what I think you hear.
21:37Yeah, I just, it sounds like cicadas and I didn't know if you guys had the cicadas down there this year. And I know you guys had one of the years, right? We don't. Oh. No, we don't have it here in Minnesota, but we will at some point, but not this year. No, I think you hear the crickets, the frogs, and probably cowboy. Okay, I think it's crickets. We don't have any crickets here yet. They don't really start singing until end of June, usually. We have some big ones.
22:07I don't know the difference between crickets and grasshoppers, but we have a lot of them. Yeah, we'll have both soon. The mosquitoes just arrived yesterday, so that's lovely. So muskoby ducks are the best bug-eating ducks because I know you have a homestead, correct? We do. Okay. So your challenge is to keep them out of your produce or plants that they love to eat.
22:36and I'm trying to gambush a fish. I don't know if you have any standing water, but they'll eat the larvae. Yeah, we have. It's funny because last summer we had no standing water, therefore we had no mosquitoes. And it has rained for a week straight here off and on. And it's been a very wet spring. And so I stepped outside this morning to grab the dog and got bit twice by mosquitoes. I was like, oh, great.
23:05they're back. But we don't have any standing water on our property, but there's a wildlife preserve land piece down the road. And the Minnesota River is like three and a half miles from us. So I don't think that doing anything is really going to get rid of the mosquitoes that come to our place.
23:35vicious. They're just vicious. I did a walk around last night. I do a walk around and check all the gates and the donkeys are very bright and have figured out how to open the gates so we put chains on them too. Horseflies all of a sudden, like ginormous horseflies. So I went inside and I'm like, why? We too have had a lot of water and behind the property we have Florida swamp. And that's where they lay their eggs is in that marshy, you know,
24:04And I'm like, how do you even control that? Mm-hmm. You don't and bugs are bugs. There's always going to be bugs. Yep. And then there's great new dragonflies.
24:20Yes, yes. The dragonflies will help here in a couple of weeks. They'll be back too. Good. And we have really beautiful ones. We have like these blue, like cross between blue and green dragonflies. And every time I see them, I'm just like, I just have to watch you for a while. They're so pretty. I completely understand. And that's one of the joys of having a homestead or a farm is that...
24:47you get to stop and look at the things that are around you. It slows you down. I came from a very fast paced life and there's always gonna be work to be done on the farm. Like I've made my peace with that, but when I'm feeling stressed, I grab a brush and I just head out to one of the paddocks and I'm like, we're gonna brush you today, we're gonna spend some time and it just kinda slows you down.
25:16Yeah, and it's a one task thing. You're focused on that for the time that you're doing it. It's great. I love, I don't have any animals other than the dog and the barn cats and chickens. So I don't have a horse or a donkey to go brush out, but I do have two male adults who I need to keep fed in the house. And so...
25:41Cooking is my zen. It's where I have one task that I'm focused on for the time that I'm doing it. I get it. Yeah, I think everybody needs something they love to do where they're just doing that one thing for at least 20 minutes. That's what I think. Yeah, yeah.
26:01So I don't know how old you are, which means that I don't know how long you want to continue to do this animal rescue thing. So this is our final chapter. In my late 50s, my husband's a year older than me. And I've talked to the kids, we have together four grown boys of, you know, who would think about taking this over? Because I want it to be a legacy if at all possible.
26:30If there's some, and this is going to sound horrible and I don't want it to sound horrible. If for some reason this stops after I stop on this planet, I've told them all, if you can't rehome them, they cannot go to auction, they cannot be sold off, they cannot, I almost rather them be euthanized with me because it's just, I got them out of this situation. Let's not put them back in that situation.
27:00Yes, and it's a hard thing to think about. It's a hard thing to talk about. No, it's something that crosses our minds. I'm not 25 anymore. Somebody reached out to us, and I said, at this time, I can't make a commitment. But let's see where we are in a couple of years. She's in her 60s. She's got a donkey sanctuary in Texas. And all her kids told her, we want no part of this. We don't want it. We don't like it.
27:29So she wants to re-home, I think she's got 12 donkeys, she wants to re-home them before she passes on, or at least have a sanctuary or rescue that says, I can take the majority of them, or, you know, she wants that to be set before she moves on. So it's a big commitment. It's an obligation. You have these, you know, living, breathing creatures that completely depend on you. So, you know, if the right person comes along,
27:57I think we were the right people to buy this property. The folks that sold this property were older. They had built it as an equine. They had a couple horses on it for their daughter. And they wanted the right folks to buy it. They still come visit us. They come visit us every month. And they're, you know, they asked me to name one of the baby donkeys after. So I could see that. I can see us passing on this.
28:26Hopefully one of the kids, but if not somebody that wants to embrace it and continue this mission because it's not easy. No, no. I am not doing it and I know damn well it's not easy. Running any kind of rescue or sanctuary or refuge for animals is a huge undertaking and kudos to you for doing it because I could not do it. I...
28:53I am not young enough, I am not patient enough, and I am not determined enough to do what you're doing. I am determined enough to talk to you about what you're doing though, so that's good news. Because you're helping me spread my passion and you're helping me spread the information and the education that folks need to learn about. Yeah, exactly. And that's what the podcast is all about. It's about letting people hear about what other people are doing, whether it's growing
29:23I don't know, raising animals for food or whatever they're doing because you guys are brilliant people doing amazing things and there's so little chance for you to get the word out to the public and I want people to know. Thank you. I appreciate this from the bottom of my heart. We had a booth at the Florida State Fair in November for a few days.
29:48just to raise awareness. And we're trying to figure out, we're trying to figure out different things. How are we gonna raise awareness? How are we going to promote the cause? How are we gonna get more support? And I met some really great people. My husband's like, we're doing what? And I'm like, let's make some t-shirts and let's share our story. And I actually met a couple of people that are volunteers at the rescue now that I could not let, you know, they come out every other Saturday and they help me bathe horses and...
30:18They help me spray and they help me drag fields and you know, it's all about networking. I really think it's all about networking. But life is about networking. Yes, because one person cannot do anything alone. Except maybe use the bathroom. That's a good time to be alone. But other than that, if you're doing something, many hands make light work. Absolutely. And I feel like, I was going to say, I feel like the more love the animals feel, the better for them.
30:48Yeah. So I was going to ask you at the beginning, but I got sidetracked. So I was listening to your story. How come it's a red dragonfly animal rescue? How did you name it? My sister and I were walking in the little farm that we had in southwest Florida, and there was red dragonflies everywhere. And I thought I've never seen a red dragonfly that I remember. And my sister was kind of like, this is strange. So, of course, we took out our phones and we're like this. Somebody is sending us a sign. And yeah.
31:16The story behind the red dragonfly is when you see it, if you're going through a moment of despair or hard times, it's a sign that there's better times coming. Just hang in there, better times are coming. And it was like an epiphany. It was like, this is it. You know, cause I had talked about, my dad had recently passed away. Let's name it after him. Let's name it, you know, maybe after a location. And the minute I saw what that meant, to me, it was a given. And it's become our mission statement.
31:45You know, we are going to take these animals from really bad situations and show them love and kindness and, you know, care and nutrition and give them what they deserve. Those horses that we rescued, I say this to everybody who comes on the farm, those horses we rescued in January have every reason to be aggressive, to be mean, to be, you know,
32:14act up, they are the sweetest. One of them, I think, thinks is a dog because he always licks me when I go into the paddock. I think they appreciate and they know the difference between the situation they were in and what they've come into. And I feel like, you know, the red dragonfly just is that symbol that I want folks to know what we're offering these animals.
32:41Yeah, I love that. I didn't even know red dragonflies existed. So again, learn something new. And I'm talking to people on the podcast. Mary, you're going to go outside and you're going to see all your blue green and there'll be a red one. I promise you because I was like, wow. And I believe in, I believe in science. I believe that the universe sends you signs to tell you the right place at the right time. And the last father's day was hard for me.
33:08And I took a walk, we're up against the Apalachicola State Forest, and my son came to visit me, and we took a walk through there. And there was red dragonflies everywhere. I mean, he's the one that's with that mom. And I said, I know. We're where we need to be. I'm where I need to be. Yeah. And you're right. I think that your horses do understand because, and I've talked about this before, but I'm going to share it again, because it's what I do. I share the stories over and over again.
33:36We adopted a cat from the Humane Society. And they told us that he was two years old and that he was feral, stray, and would never be friendly, ever. And basically take him home, leave him in his carrier, give him some food and water, and let him be in his carrier for a day, like 24 hours, and then let him out wherever he's going to live. And leave him alone, basically. We want him for a barn cat.
34:06And this cat is in love with us now, because we feed him and we let him come to us and we pet him. He hates being held. He will growl the entire time. So I think you're right. I think that animals know that if they've been mistreated, if you can build trust with them, they will become friendly and kind. Trust. I think that's the key word, Mary. I think it's...
34:36you showed that cat that he could trust you. Yeah. And we named him Satan because he was full of Spitfire when we got him. He was not a happy boy. So his name is Satan, but I call him Lucy in my head for Lucifer because Lucy seems nicer than Satan. I like that a lot. How long have you had him?
35:05Three years now? Yeah. It doesn't happen overnight. No, and my son was the one who really bonded with him and it took him about three months for the cat to be nice to him. That's about right. So it was pretty quick. It was a pretty quick term. Yeah. And when I... Yeah, he's a lovely kitty. I'm sure he is. When what? When I say they're super nice and non-aggressive. It's not that I haven't been kicked.
35:35and I haven't been pushed and I haven't been because they still get scared, they still get spooked, especially the blind horses. It's not all super, but that's how they communicate. When you try and hold him, hold Lucy, and he doesn't wanna be held, that's how he tells you. I'm gonna growl at you to show you I don't have hands to push you away. That's the way he shares with you that, okay, you can feed me, you can pet me, but this is where I'm gonna draw the line.
36:04Yeah, I don't hold him. I don't want to get scratched and he's telling me that he doesn't want to be held and I respect that. My son however, he likes holding him and playing with him and the cat puts up with it. He hasn't actually scratched him yet. So we're good. Good. Good. But yeah, it's I don't know. I feel like I'm gonna sound like a Pollyanna for a minute. I feel like if people would just be kind and
36:34follow the people's lead that they're trying to know and same thing with the animals, things would be a lot better. I am going to put a caveat on that in that there are people who will lead you down paths you don't want to go. But if people could just not be mean and try to understand the other person's experience before they put their experience on top of it.
37:02maybe the world would be a better place. Absolutely. I could not agree with you more. Walk a mile in somebody's shoes before you pass judgment. It's so easy for us to be short with each other. You know, summer's here, it's hot, the kids are running around. You can have an excuse to be mean. You can have an excuse to be short every single day. Every single day. It's choosing not to be and working on it.
37:32Yeah, I, my husband thinks that I am a terribly soft hearted person and he thinks that it's a good thing, but that's what he thinks. And it's because when I was a kid, I was teased a lot. I am, I was very tall, very quickly. I did not come into a womanly figure until I got pregnant with my first kid. I had pitch black hair, bright blue eyes and very pale skin. This did not go over well in school.
38:00And I got teased a lot and I hated every minute of it. And my way of coping with it was to try to consider the other person's life and where they were coming from. Because I couldn't be mean and I wasn't big enough to fight back. So my coping mechanism was they must have a really terrible life at home or something must be wrong. And I think it molded who I became as an adult because when I see people acting in a not so great way,
38:29I'm like, huh, they must be having a bad day. I wonder what's going on. I wonder who they're married to. Or I wonder what's at work. Yeah, or do they have a really bad headache and it's making them cranky or something? Because that's how I dealt with it as a kid. And my husband is like, you always are willing to give people to benefit of the doubt. And I'm like, until I don't. Yeah. Once I'm done, I'm done, but I'm gonna try. With me as well.
38:59I used to pack extra lunches for my kids and tell them, I want you to sit with a kid that doesn't have a friend. I need you to sit with a kid who's sitting alone in the lunchroom. Mark my words, just sit with that kid. And my three boys have developed lifelong relationships because they chose to sit next to somebody that maybe nobody else would for whatever reason. They look different, they smell different. Kids are mean. They are, they are mean.
39:27I do believe the adults that we are today, there were hints of it in the beginning and I think we are formed into who we are today by things that happened in our childhood. And I have friends that, you know, as adult friends, I never talked about this really out loud about the rescue and animals that kept going. Is this a phase? Are we going through a phase? I'll support you, Terry.
39:56I kept saying, no, my mom and my sister, who obviously have known me my whole life, not surprised in the least. And they laugh and they're like, you were the kid that would make dad stop to pick up the turtle and get it across the road. You were the kid in fifth grade that said, I'll take the hamster home. My mom won't care. You were the kid that showed up in the backyard with, you know, six ducks because you found them on the side of the pond and you couldn't find their mom. And it's just who I've been my whole life.
40:27So this to me is just a natural, I'm an adult, I can make my own decisions because I don't have my parents to ask, can I keep the dog? Can I keep the cat? Can I keep the duck? I have my own finances and I have an incredibly supportive husband. I don't think he would choose this lifestyle if he was giving his, but he's the first one to say, where do you need the next fence? What do you need me to clear? Where do you need me? And he's...
40:56know, he'll halt your horse and he'll help me lead them and he'll do whatever without and I can't ask for more. I really can't. You are blessed because not every husband would do that. I know. I know. All right, Terri. Well, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me today. I appreciate you, Terri. Thank you. I was like...
41:23We're at like 42 minutes, so I'm gonna let you go. I'm sure you have work to do. Yeah, that's okay. It's always worth it. All right. Yes, there is. All right, Terri, thank you again. Have a great day. Thank you. Bye.