A Tiny Homestead

Rawly-Mae Farm

Today I'm talking with Daniel and Joni at Rawly-Mae Farm.
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00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis.  A Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Homegrown Collective, a free-to-use farm-to-table platform emphasizing local connections with ability to sell online, buy, sell, trade in local garden groups, and help us grow a new food system.  You can find them at homegrowncollective.org.
00:25Today I'm talking with Daniel and Joni at Rawly-Mae Farm in Tennessee.  Good morning, guys. How are you? Good morning. Good morning, we're good. How are you?  I'm good. And as we just said before I hit record, you guys have been up all night getting ready for things going on in your life. And I have  some pretty good allergies kicking my ass this morning. So we're going to try to make this as good as we can.  So you were saying that  it's really  muggy in Tennessee this morning?
00:54It is. It's very humid and muggy and we're, it's dry enough for us to our hay. So we're getting our hay done right now. So. Says it feels like it's 87 degrees. Ugh, gross. Well, it's raining here. Just so listeners have a weather update from Minnesota to raining. Nice soaker. I'm really happy about this. This is good. So tell me about yourselves and what you do. So, um, we.
01:22of course, own Rawly-Mae Farm. We started that in 2021. We are a first generation. We've both been around agriculture, our whole lives. But when we got started, Daniel was a police officer with the city of Cookeville and I was a special education teacher in White County. So we have
01:52We both put in  over 10-year careers in those before we were both able to step away to just doing the farm. We have  two  children, Eliza who is nine and Ralston who is seven.  They are big into rodeo. We travel a lot with them and  try to support them the best we can  with all of their endeavors.
02:19I think we have too many pets to actually name  as far as the livestock and the  dogs and stuff. But  that's just kind of like a short snippet of our life. Okay, awesome.  And I don't want to,  I'm going to do the opposite of burying the lead on this one. You said that you are getting ready to sell your farm. So does that mean that you're getting out of this?
02:48No, it means we have outgrown where we're at currently. So we are landlocked where we are at. The airport in our area owns the land for the majority around us. So there's nowhere for us to expand. And with the amount of animals that we currently house,
03:17needing hay and just the production of it all, we're needing to expand. So  we've been looking in White County for a farm that offers more acreage.  Okay, good. Cause I was,  I was afraid this was going to be a sad episode because I just talked to somebody last night and she did end up selling her farm,  um, year or two ago and she's moved on to a new thing and she's very happy doing it, but she misses her farm a lot.
03:46Yeah, so I was like, oh no, not a second one selling no  Right  No intentions to stop  Good. Okay. So what do you guys do at Raleigh May?  So  we sell  various livestock  we focus mostly on menter cattle  and highland cattle  as well  as  various exotics like llamas alpacas,  especially chickens
04:14Polish, Silkeys, know, stuff like that. Mature donkeys are a big thing that we sell. And we do little bit of everything. I we travel all over the United States. I think we go to several livestock sales across the country. we recently, the first of last year, started doing our own deliveries, which has expanded to, you know, we're delivering to, I think we're up to 23 different states that we have delivered to or sold.
04:43livestock to over the past three and a half four years Wow, okay, and did I see that you guys take in animals that that need a home as well We do we've got Various rescue animals a lot of times when we buy animals to resell They just stay here. We all fall in love with them and they don't go anywhere. So that's
05:10One of the perks of the job is we get to see all kinds of animals and sometimes we like them too much for them to go anywhere else. They become part of your family? They do. They do. They're a large family. Yeah, it sounds like it. It sounds like you are overrun with family. Yes. We have new members of our family coming sometime in next two weeks. We have three barn kittens coming to live with us. Awesome. We just actually might.
05:38My cousin just gave us, she was going to give us a couple of her barn kittens and it turned into six barn kittens. we've recently found homes for four of them. So we're down to just the two. Well, we are the home. Our friends have three mama cats and the first one had babies about seven and a half weeks ago. All orange striped kittens. Oh wow. The whole litter. Oh yeah.
06:08And my son says that orange cats have  one brain cell spread amongst all of them. So  we're getting dumb cats as far as  my son's concerned. He thinks that they're all stupid.  I don't think they're stupid. I think they're pretty. So I'm good with this. And then her second cat had all orange kittens,  but one was black and they were born, I think five weeks ago. So they're not ready to leave mom yet.
06:36And I really want that one black kitten, but I don't want to wait another three weeks to get it. So,  so we're getting two females and a male because, um, luckily these kittens are free, but to buy barn cats is expensive. It's at the, at the humane society here in Minnesota. It's like $50, $50 for a barn cat.  Oh, wow.  Here in Tennessee, cats, you can't hardly give cats away.
07:06Uh huh. Yeah, well, I thought we were going to get one female and two males and my husband informed me yesterday that he wants two females and a male. And I said, um, that's a lot of kittens to find homes for. He said, we've lived here for almost five years. He said, how many cats have we lost where they've just flaked off or they've gotten him by a car  or a predator has picked them off. And I'm like,  um, more than I can remember. So probably a few.  said,  yeah. He said, do you really think we're going to have a problem with.
07:35with having too many cats. was like, we might. He said, well, we're going to get two females and a male and we'll see how it goes. I said, okay, that's your choice. I said, cause it was my choice, it would be two males and a female. So we'll see how it goes, but we're very excited to have new kittens on the property again, cause I love kittens. They're so cute. So does our daughter. Yeah. And that's about the only thing we, we home here where we bring in cause
08:03We have chickens, have a dog, we have two male barn cats right now and that is it. There are animals on the property.
08:11Wow. Yeah. Little tiny space and not a whole lot of critters. And I'm good with this. I'm really good with this. I understand that when it comes to taking care of all of them. Yeah. But so excited that you have so many different kinds. Like I looked at the photos on your website and I was like, wow, they have got to be tending to animals from sunup to sundown and probably past midnight. It's a lot.
08:39I say that our house gets neglected because we're never in it.  So we plan to downsize  house-wise. So  we spend all of our time at the barn. It's a never-ending  job, but  the kids are really good helpers. They each have their own favorite to take care of. Good, because you are teaching them responsibility and pride of ownership and all the good things. Yes.
09:08Yep. Good.  So do you have milk cows? We don't currently have milk cows. We have had some,  um, miniature jerseys before.  Um, usually we get those per request for people that are looking for certain specific ones.  Um, I would love a milk cow,  um, of my own,  but  Daniel seems to think that we don't exactly have the time.
09:37Poor milk cow. Daniel might be right. not, I don't know, I to get in middle of your marriage, but you guys get a lot going on.  We do, yes, yeah.  Okay, so  I don't want to ask a nosy question. I always feel like I'm being nosy when  I bring this up, but  is this all you guys do? Is this your job? It is, yes.
10:02You know, most of what I do  is, you know, like, so we go different livestock sales, we buy from... A lot of times we'll buy out small farms. So there'll be farms that are just either they're elderly and don't want to  or unable to maintain their farm and want to sell their animals  or they have a large ranch  and they're looking for folks to bring a trailer and buy in bulk. And so a lot of times I will buy and then we'll do a lot of deliveries.
10:31And then Joni  is  usually here feeding, helping with  the rodeos.  And in September of last year, we decided to homeschool our children, which is  another full-time task that she has taken on.  So  that's our full-time  gig.  It sounds like a good gig. You get to be with your family all the time. That's fabulous.  Absolutely. Great. And Joni?
10:59Good job and congratulations on the homeschooling thing. It's a lot of work. I did it with my two.  It's a lot of work. It's a lot of time and patience and good on you for doing that. Well, thank you.  It is a lot of time and  I, you know, I taught for 11 years and  I just, we kind of had the realization I'm spending seven hours a day with other people's children.  Our son is a top one diabetic.
11:28So we  felt the need for us to be more readily available to him  was a priority as well.  for sure. Yeah, definitely. You guys are good parents. I love it when I get to talk to people who take parenting  seriously and as  the joy and the honor that it is. Yes. Yeah. Well,  they're definitely a blessing  from God.
11:59We wholeheartedly believe  they're only ours for a little while. They belong to our father and we're honored that he chose us to be their parents.  And, you know,  we only get the blessing to  raise them, to turn them out into  a world where hopefully they're going to be, you know, warriors for him. And  we do take a lot of pride in that. Good. Good. I'm glad.
12:25I have four grown kids, youngest is 23 now, oldest is 35. And I lived, I like literally lived to raise them to the age of adulthood so they could take care of themselves. That was my one goal after I had my first daughter, my first child who was my only daughter. And now that the youngest is 23, I'm like, huh, I did my job and I kind of worked myself out of a job.
12:53And that's how the podcast got born because I needed a job. needed something to do. Yeah. It's kind of, it's bittersweet that you work your whole life as a mom and a dad to raise them, to take care of themselves. And then it's bittersweet when you've accomplished that. Yeah. It's a weird thing. Like I've said it a couple of times on the podcast already, when they put my daughter, my first born in my hands.
13:19After she was born, I looked at her and I thought, oh my goodness, 18 years is a long time. Because I was really young, I had just turned 20. And  it looked like a very tall mountain to climb. And  she hit 18 and I was like, oh my God, 18 minutes went by in a blink.  sorry, it's not a  18 years went by in a blink.  And so for anybody out there who's in the trenches with their kids right now,
13:47try to enjoy every moment of it, even if the moments are hard because they go so fast. Yes, yeah, they do. They go so fast. it's, you know, something we get caught up in is the hustle and the bustle of, you know, the farm and there's always something to do and something to get done. But  it,  it's nice when the kids can come along and  you're teaching them
14:15while making all these memories with them.  yeah, they're never going to forget this stuff. They're going to talk to their great grandchildren about it. Yes, yeah. And that's the other thing I hang on to is that everything we do as parents, if we're doing it right, it's going to be a happy memory that gets passed down. Yeah, yes. I know I was just  was reading something. I just posted something on Facebook this morning.
14:44And it was like something about my mom was always, I never understood why my mom was always irritated and now I'm irritated junior. And I got to giggling because I never really thought my mom growing up, my mom passed away the same year we moved here. And I never really,  I always tend to compare myself to her because she was such a good mom and  Daniel, he can vouch for this. I'm hard on myself because she always
15:12went through life so gracefully raising us and we never knew her struggles. And I've recently found some of her journals and I have been reading them and I have, I'm fixing to be 37 and I've just realized, oh, well, you know, my mom, struggled too. Like she has all these feelings that I had and you know, she, so I hope and pray that my, we're passing on the memories that the kids will remember all the good and that we've kind of shielded them from most of the struggles.
15:42Yeah, and don't beat yourself up too much, Joni. We all see our parents as like not human.  They're not people. They're just our parents.  And I'm just as guilty of it as you are. I have called my mom and my dad many, many times in the last 30 years and said,  I was thinking about this thing when I was 12 or when I was 13 or when I was 15 or when I was 17 that I did. And I'm so sorry.  And they laugh because they don't  even remember it.
16:10It was just a blip for them. Yeah.  So yeah, we don't see our parents as actual human beings that have their own thoughts and feelings and lives. We see them as the boss, think.  So,  Okay. So,  what else can I ask you?  What's the best thing about what your life is?  What do you think the best experiences that you've had in doing what you're doing? Well, I think one thing is
16:39You know, there's,  if you read the news and you see the stories about  farmland disappearing and you see everywhere, you know, farmland is disappearing. There's, you know, subdivisions coming, businesses coming. What we get to do is we supply  many farms  all over  the country. And it seems like many farms are popping up everywhere, small homesteads.  So we're getting to help.
17:09agriculture, you know, we're helping establish many farms, we're, you know, walking people through the process. And that's a lot of fun because we're seeing a lot of like-minded families that are trying to do, raise their children, do what's right. And so even though farmland is disappearing, we're seeing more mini farms, more hobby farms pop up with, you know, people having the right intentions of raising their family and trying to get back to, you know,
17:38taking care of animals and going through the process that we've got away from. So that's sort of rewarding on our end.  awesome. And  since you brought up farmland disappearing, here in Minnesota, if there is a big tract of farmland, I  think it has to be over 40 acres before you can sell any part of it. Like if your property is only 40 acres, you can't subdivide it.
18:06Really? that how it is in Tennessee or not?  It's not, no.  They have tax incentives here.  If you have 15 acres plus, they consider it as farmland.  You get some tax exemptions for certain things, but there's no requirements of certain acreage before subdivision or any requirements like that. Okay. Well, I think part of it is that half of Minnesota is
18:34forest land and half of it is farmland. The top half is forest, the bottom half is farmland really. And Minnesota is interesting because it has so many different geological  features. Like we had the prairie lands, had the  oak savannas, we had the  evergreen forest stuff.
19:00I think Minnesota has been really trying to preserve what they can that's left. And I think that's why that law is in place.  And also Minnesota is part of the heartland. We may be upper Midwest, but we also grow a lot of food here.  So I think that Minnesota knows that we've got it pretty good. We probably ought to take care of it.  think. then  what's the, what's the worst day you've had at your place? Cause I'm sure there's been a bad day.
19:31Every other day. Oh no. It's very stressful. know, because the expenses have gone up, fuel has gone up, know, feed prices have gone up. You know, there's always, you know, something that needs to be repaired or something fixed, more equipment you buy. You know, so it can be very stressful. You a of times we have social media accounts and
19:57you know, all the positive things get shown on social media, but not necessarily all the behind the scenes.  You know, we want to show the best of the farm and the best of the agriculture.  And of course we, you know, we follow several of our farm pages, but everybody wants to their best.  And most people don't realize that I think every farm out there has a stress and struggles that we don't often share with each other.
20:25Yeah, I feel like we should probably share it more. Like we've  had bad days here at our little three acre homestead, but it hasn't been anything earth shattering. It's just been sad.  But I know I follow some accounts where people have lost horses they've had for 20 something years out of the blue and I have watched them cry on camera. You know?
20:51And I really think that more people should be just slightly more transparent about the bad days. Because I've said this before and I will stand by it. I think that you have to be a certain kind of person to raise animals. You are putting your heart and soul into them.  And if something bad happens, it really hurts your soul. And so  I think that people need to know that because everybody posts all these beautiful things.
21:20of these gorgeous animals that are in the prime of their lives, running around, having the zoomies, eating great food, doing the thing. And he was like, Oh, that looks like so much fun. I want to do that. And then you see the stories of an animal dying and these people just sobbing. And it's like,  I might need to think about that a little bit longer. Yes. Yeah.  And I think I posted one time. So the kids and I hatched some goslings last summer. We hatched  geese eggs and
21:50We had three that hatched out of all the ones that we and we  Those little things would follow the kids around like they were their parents  Hand raised them they got big enough to where they could go to the barn so we had them in like a cage and one of the  horse stalls  and I came out one morning. This is probably the most  One of my worst days here Daniel wasn't here. He was off. He was hauling livestock and
22:20Um, I went out and I thought, man, that little  one looks  different. Something's not right with it. So I got over closer and it's lower mandible of its jaw, like its beak,  um, was gone. Yeah. Entire bottom portion of its beak and I found it and something through the night where we suspect maybe a raccoon  reached and tried to pull it out.
22:48But it had pulled  its tongue, its jawbones, like off of its face and it was still alive.  in my head, I knew that it could not survive because they had no way to eat or drink. But dealing with that  and losing that one.  And then we had  a dog that,  some pups that we had rescued.
23:17that  their livestock, like they were blue healers  and they didn't fare well with my chickens. So  that was another bad  day. So you don't see the raw  of it.  And sometimes I wonder if people are prepared for  what is the raw of farm life.
23:44Yeah. And I don't think everybody needs to be prepared for it because it's going to hit you whether you're prepared for it or not.  Like if you want to buy land and you want to have animals and you want to grow a garden,  do not let me discourage you from doing that. But listen to people who already doing it.  I think my saddest day here on the farm in the last four and a half years  was we had a mama cat who was basically a teenager herself.
24:14and she had four or five babies. And when the kittens were about three and a half weeks old, mama cat disappeared. Like we couldn't find her. We didn't, we don't know what happened to her. We had three and a half week old kittens.  They are not, they are not old enough to take care of themselves. They still need mom's milk and  they were starving to death. And we gave it a day to see if she would come back and she did not. And  my husband said, we are not raising kittens.
24:44We're not doing it. We're not bottle feeding them. He said, we have enough going on. We're going to be up every hour and a half feeding kittens. This is not going to work. And I said, you're absolutely right. I said, but I can't watch you put them down. I can't. Yeah, it's, it's hard, but we, we bottle fed one kitten that didn't even have its eyes open. So I fully understand not wanting to do that.
25:10Yeah, that was probably the saddest day and I didn't actually cry then because we'd already lost barn cats to cars and they just disappeared but the mama cat was such a sweetheart and I was more sad that she had left her babies like like she something must have taken her because  mama animals don't leave their babies for anything if they can help it and the next day my husband was like are you okay and I'm like I'm just sad I said that's
25:39something bad happened to her.  he was like, well, something bad happened to the kittens too, obviously. We dealt with it. And I'm like, no, I know. But mamas don't leave their babies.  It's not natural for them to just leave.  I said, so something must have gotten her. And he's like, I think you love mama cat more than kittens. I said, I hadn't even gotten to know the kittens yet. I knew the mama cat. Right.
26:05So even that, I mean, I always know that if we have cats on the property, they are here for a limited amount of time. That's just how I look at it.  But that one kicked my butt.  was very sad for about a week and a half about it.  And I know what I'm getting into. I mean, we knew when we moved here what  we were looking at. So it's okay. But there are just hard days. And there are also days that just make you want to
26:32I don't know, get on your knees and thank God that it went the way it went, that it was great, that it worked out. Yeah, absolutely. So, I don't know, it's a hard life, but it's a good life, I guess is what I always come back to. Yes, yeah, it is. All the good outweighs the bad. Hopefully, if we're really lucky and the Lord is shining his light upon us, we are going to have that result. There are also people that that doesn't happen to.
27:02You know, and if you're lucky enough to be in that situation,  awesome. It's fantastic. It's a freaking miracle.  Yes. Yeah. So,  um, so you guys are moving to a bigger property. Have you already found it?  Yes, we have  put an offer  contingent on the sale of  the current farm.  so we're just waiting for this one to go on the market. Probably.
27:32this week sometime, even as early as tomorrow and start the moving process. Awesome. Awesome. Are you going to bring in anything new or are you just going to continue with what you're doing, way that you're doing it, just on a bigger property? Well, I'm voting for a zebra. Yeah. There's a zebra running around Tennessee right now that is loose. It's quite the stir, but yes, we've
27:59We've had some exotics.  We've had water buffalo. We've had an e-lend, which is like an antelope.  And so we're open to maybe bringing a few more exotics and we  try to locate exotics for folks as well. So if there's different exotics that people are looking for, we can help them locate what they're wanting and  facilitate that as well.  But my vote is a zebra or a camel. Yeah, camels are a
28:28Big, big animal, Joni. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Or a kangaroo maybe. How about a wallaby? I hear wallabies are friendlier than kangaroos. I don't know. Daniel had a bad, they, Daniel and the kids had a bad experience with a wallaby not too long at a,  a live dog tail. It got loose and was like  running or got into a pen with some of the,  what was it? Black-tailed deer  and the deer and the, when it was a disaster, they had stuff running everywhere.  Oh no.
28:58Okay.  When you guys talk about exotics, would you consider like, um, I don't know, parrots or cockatiels or, you know, those kinds of birds, would you consider an alligator or are you just, are you just talking to- Our kids would. Yeah.  There's a certain states have different laws on exotics.  And so there are certain exotics you have to have permits for, and we would probably never get to the point of having to be a permitted,  um, exotic dealer.
29:28you know, our law stock dealer license is a little bit restrictive on what we can and cannot sell. We're registered through the state of Tennessee and we have to, you know, our records get inspected by the state and we also have to be bonded through Packers and Stockyards through USDA. So there's, we're limited a little bit on what we can buy, purchase, you know, and sell. So can't go too crazy with it, but we can still get.
29:57you know, various exotics, which is basically anything other than your cows, horses, you know, stuff like that. Okay, cool. I just, hear exotic and I think of the exotic, um,  veterinarian lady on TV. don't remember her name now  and she does, she does all kinds of stuff. like, Oh my God, I can't believe you're treating that animal. That's crazy.  Um, okay. So where can people find you guys? We have, uh, we're on Tik TOK,  uh, YouTube.
30:26Facebook, we have a website that we keep trying to update and keep running out of time. know, have a Google, the phone number and all that's on there. Okay. Are all your accounts Raleigh May Farms? Yes, ma'am. sure are. Okay, cool. All right, you guys, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me today and sharing your stories about how hard this stuff is because it is hard, but it's good. And as always, got any...
30:55As always, you can find me at atinyhomesteadpodcast.com.  I hope you guys have a great day. Thank you. too. Thank you.
 

Dawn's Dirt

Today I'm talking with Dawn at Dawn's Dirt.
You can also follow on Facebook.
A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Homegrowncollective.org.
 
Muck Boots 
Calendars.Com
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
00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis.  A Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Homegrown Collective, a free to use farm to table platform, emphasizing local connections with ability to sell online, buy, sell, trade in local garden groups, and help us grow a new food system.  You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. Today I'm talking with Dawn at Dawn's Dirt in Alberta, Canada.
00:29Good, I don't know what time it is. Good afternoon, Dawn, how are you? I'm really good. Thank you so much for having me. And yes, it's just after 4.30 in the afternoon here in Alberta. Yeah, and it's just after 5.30 here. And again, I tend to do most of my recording in the morning. So I'm programmed to start to say good morning. And I'm like, no, it's not morning. Stop it. It's funny how things go like that. You you get into a routine and a rut and...
00:59But here I am throwing you for a loop already. So let's do this.  I'm all good with that. And the only thing that I request is that we don't talk religion or politics only because I haven't and it can become really divisive and hurtful. And I would just rather talk about positive things like growing plants and feeding people.  I love it. Those are my two favorite subjects to talk about, but I don't like the division and the the either. let's yeah, sounds great with me. Yep. And I just
01:29I've come really close, Dawn. I did. asked one of your compatriots in Canada,  how Canada saw America right now. And she was like, if I say something not okay, just edit it. And I was like, okay. And she was very, very diplomatic and kind. And we kind of talked around things for five minutes. And then I was like, okay, that's as close as I want to come to talk in politics on my podcast. And she just laughed.  So worked out great.  Okay. So.
01:59Tell me a little bit about yourself  and what you do. Yeah, so I'm Dawn  from Dawn's dirt. If you're looking me up and  I  am a farm girl.  was raised in the greenhouse industry here in Canada. So my parents had a 26,000 square foot greenhouse and they grew long English cucumbers  and
02:19In 2007, me and my ex-husband built our greenhouse my parents sold and we took over kind of my family business and we were growing long English cucumbers as well and we started, it was pretty tough. Farming is of all types and sizes, no matter what it is, is really hard. And so we ended up branching into tomatoes and peppers and then we eventually ended up growing 20 acres of garden and field crops and I direct marketed them.
02:46everything that I grew to  my consumers  at farmers markets and  online and things like that. So I was a vegetable farmer for many many years plus I had some chickens and some sheep. So  that's who I was. Unfortunately a year and a half ago I had to sell  and  so now I'm getting into the whole online thing and  if you give a man a fish he eats for a day but if you teach a man to fish he eats for a lifetime. So I'm teaching people how to
03:13grow food in the spaces that they have. think everyone should be growing something in their backyard and  I'm teaching people how to do it. So that's my new venture. Fabulous. And I agree on the teaching Amanda Fish premise.  And  I am trying, we are trying to feed our community too. So we are aligned on both of those points. Perfect. I love it.  I think that we've lost a connection between our food, you know, back in the day, back 50 years ago,
03:42Grandma had a garden, know, great grandma had a garden. Everyone had a garden and a few chickens in their backyard. And I just feel like  we need to take society and shift backwards to some of that again, because  it's so important for kids to know where their food comes from. so, yeah, I just think  that's where we need to head to is to know that your carrots come from the ground and that, you know,  eggs come from chickens.  Yeah, they sure do. Weird, huh?
04:10They don't come from a grocery store. mean,  grocery stores are  a building that houses items that we can eat. But  at the end of the day, the farmer and the field and the sun and the animals and  the earth, that is where our food actually comes from. Yeah, yeah. Yes,  absolutely. It does.  I am living proof of it. ate
04:37butter crunch lettuce out of our garden on my taco last night.  Oh, yum. Yum. And did you grow your tomatoes too?  Well,  we do. We do grow tomatoes. We do can tomato sauce. We don't can tomato paste. Long story. Haven't tried it yet,  but  we just used our last jar of homemade canned San Marzano tomato sauce last weekend. And so we had to buy tomato sauce from the store.
05:07That's not even the same product.  you're comparing apples to oranges almost. I'm aware. It was a very sad moment, but the taco turned out okay and the lettuce kind of made up a little bit for it.  Absolutely.  Yeah, absolutely. Well, lettuce that you find in a grocery store is best case going to be a week old.
05:25by the time it goes from the farm to the packing house to the warehouse to the, you know, been trucked or whatever, it's going to be at least a week old by the time it gets to your shelf in your own fridge. And so  the lettuce that you picked out of your backyard is going to be the best lettuce because you you picked it 20 minutes before you ate. Yes. And having butter crunch lettuce on June  1st is crazy to us because we haven't been able to get
05:54lettuce seeds in the garden this early. And the reason we could is because we have a heated greenhouse now. So this  was like the culmination of a lot of hoping when we built the greenhouse and then a lot of hoping and getting those little baby lettuces into the garden from the greenhouse. it was a  triumph, I swear to you. I love it.  So  like my greenhouse was 36,000 square feet. How big was your greenhouse?
06:23It is not anywhere near as big as yours. I think it's 10 by 25 or something like that. That's still a good size space. So what are you all growing in there this year? Well, a lot of it's already grown and put out in the garden, but  we grew some, well, we grew a lot of different kinds of tomato plants. Cucumber, squash,  lettuces, radishes are out there in raised beds.  I don't even know  what else is, oh, there's a
06:52There's a metric butt ton of basil plants that need to get in the garden this coming weekend. Yum.  Tomatoes and basil, that's where it's at, you know, make up some pasta sauce. Do you make your own pasta sauce?  Oh, yes, I do. Yes, I do. sorry. And you can make a really good spaghetti sauce in 30 minutes. People say you can't, but I do it. It's really good. So what's your trick?
07:20Um, really good tomato sauce, fresh herbs, if I can get them and I can't get them in the winter time, but I can sure get them now. Um, oregano, fresh, uh, basil, onion, sauteed onion, real garlic, like minced garlic, a little bit of balsamic vinegar, a pinch of sugar, a little bit of salt, a little bit of black pepper. And I think that's about it. Oh, and some tomatoes.
07:50tomato paste. Nice. Yum.  Good tomatoes make good sauce. so  my mouth as you're speaking here, my mouth is watering because I can just taste all those good ingredients put together.  And yeah, I'm jumping on a plane this afternoon and I'm coming over for dinner tonight. So, you well, you're going to be late because you can't get from Alberta to here before I go to bed. I'm sorry. That's funny.  Fair enough. Fair enough.  But no, I love to cook. So
08:19And what I'm really looking forward to is bruschetta. Do  you know what bruschetta is?  Yeah. Fresh tomatoes and basil and... Mozzarella cheese, garlic.  I  am ready. Like as soon as we can pick leaves off the basil plants, I am doing that because I  love that so much. And it's so easy and I won't run down the recipe. I've already said it on my podcast like a bunch of times.  Okay. So...
08:49I was listening to your episode, you have three on your podcast and it wasn't the one with the lady that makes tallow and it wasn't the one about tomatoes. It was the other one. I don't remember which one that is. I've actually got 33 I think out right now. Oh, I saw three. Okay. Yeah, no, I've got about 33 episodes out right now. And so you don't remember which one it was? What was I talking about?
09:18I am trying to remember because my husband came home and was talking about about work and I completely have spaced what the heck that you're talking about. The lady with the towel was the second one I listened to. So I remember that one better. Either way, you are huge on growing our own food, making sure that our kids know where food comes from to the point you started a podcast and you are coaching people. So take me through like
09:48I would not ask you to coach me because I've been gardening for quite a while and so has my husband. But if I was a newbie and I hit you up and was like,  tell it to me like I'm four years old. How do I start growing things that I can eat? How would you go about teaching somebody?  Well, the first thing is hire a coach, someone that's done it longer because they can look at your space  and figure out what's going to work where because there's, you know, cool weather crops and warm weather crops and there's
10:16All the different things, know, what should plants eat, plants need nutrients, just like we need nutrients or we need food to grow.  And so hire a coach first off. And then with that coach or with when I coach my clients, what I do is I take them through their space.  I get them to draw maps of their space, take me pictures of their space.  And we jump on Zoom calls, group Zoom calls,  and we walk through
10:41well you should plant this here and you should plant that there and what are we gonna do about this and what are we gonna do about that? And so I tell them,  I take all the guesswork out. See you can go onto YouTube and get all of the videos  and you can get too much information, I sometimes think.  So sometimes when you have too much information you get a little overwhelmed and you still don't even know what to do because  you know,  this person said to prune your tomatoes like this and that person said to prune your tomatoes like that but which one's actually right?
11:09depends on your space, it depends on what we're doing.  And so that's what I help my clients do is I help them take the guesswork out of it  because they can come to me  and we can  make a plan tailored right to them at whatever skill level they have.  So  I had a 36,000 square foot greenhouse with 20 acres of garden, but I've also got clients with just a small backyard.  And so we start with the things that are easy to them.
11:36Last year I had a client and she said, I want to grow something in my backyard and I've got this tiny little space and we looked at it and it was a lot of shade  and she said, I really wish I could grow lettuce but that's probably going to be the hardest one and I'm like, actually, no, ding ding ding ding ding. That's a cool weather crop and it's a shade crop.  So that's going to be your best crop to grow in that space and she had success with her  little toddler  daughter. They had success in their backyard.
12:04growing spinach and lettuce and the greens and the kale and all the things, you know?  And so that's what happens when you hire a coach is you're taking the guesswork out and you actually will see success if you put in the work.  Absolutely. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a homesteading coach. And  I had joked with my husband a while back that  I should do that.
12:28And he said, but you're still learning homesteading. And I said, honey, I've been doing homesteading since I was a little kid and my parents bought their house  on the acre lot in the Pine Barrens of Maine.  said, I've been learning about this since I was six. He was like,  oh, is there such a thing as a homesteading coach? I said, I have no freaking idea.  So now I know that I can tell them that there is, because I talked to one tonight. Yeah, absolutely. And that's the thing. I don't just coach on gardens.
12:56I coach on  farm to table sales and so I teach people how to  take their little homestead and actually save money and make money off of it.  I just started myself.  So since selling my farm, I've moved to another small property and farming is in my blood. It's just who I am.  And so I got myself 150 chickens and I'm going to farmer's markets yet again because that's what I know how to do.
13:19I've got clients that I teach how to  make money off of their chickens and how to make money off of their gardens and how to make money off of,  there's an art to it. It's a business, know,  when you have a little homestead, you have to treat it like a little business and that's what it is. It's a small scale farm  and a little business. And the more small scale farms and the more small businesses that we get up and going,  I think the better our society, all societies and our food system will be, you know.
13:48If you know your farmer and can shake the person that feeds you,  that's where it's at for me. Yeah,  buy  local. You're supporting the people who feed you. Absolutely. And  I mean, I'm not going to get too much into it. But like, what happens if something happened with the grocery store? What happens if something ever happened with our debit cards? We don't know. I can't predict the future. I don't know. And so  if you have something in your backyard, it's just, know,
14:17It's a way for you to just do it for yourself and do it for your friends and neighbors. And  I really think that it would be a way that we can really feed the world. If everybody  grew something that they could grow in the space they have, we would have less hunger problems globally, I think, actually.  Absolutely.  Our first farmers market for the season is this coming Saturday.
14:42This will be the first one where we've actually had some produce to sell at the very first farmers market.  Again,  a triumph. can't, Dawn, I'm so excited. Like it's killing me  how big this feels.  And my husband is the one who goes, I am not a people person. I'm an introvert, like an extreme introvert. And I am so excited for him to go do this again for the third year because he has made  such great connections with people there.
15:12And  people will come up to him at the farmer's market and be like,  I heard your wife's  podcast. I love what she's doing.  Why doesn't she come to the farmer's market? And my husband's like, because she's an extreme introvert and it's a lot easier for her to talk to somebody  over the computer than it is to talk to them in person. And they're like,  Oh, and so I'm, I'm hoping that by the end of the summer, I might actually be able to work up the
15:39the whatever it takes to go to the last farmers market and meet some of these people. Oh man.  And so honestly, like I don't understand you at all because I'm the exact opposite. I'm the extreme extrovert.  I love farmers markets. I will stand there and I will say hello to hopefully every person that walks past my booth.  And  when I sold my farm, was actually the hardest part of selling the farm was not even selling the farm itself.  It was  hugging my customers and just saying like, sorry, I'm selling the farm and
16:09the tears and the relationships. It's the farmers markets and farm to table. It's about community and it's about the people in your,  you know, building those relationships with one another based on like good, wholesome, great food. So  the fact that you're at a farmer's market is just,  I love it. I love it. love it. If you could see my face, you'd see a huge smile right now. Oh yeah.  We've been bouncing around here for the last couple of days because it's only one more, this weekend was only one more week until
16:38the farmers market starts this coming Saturday. And my husband was just like bouncing his knee the other morning drinking his coffee. And I said, what's up? And he said,  I'm so excited. He said, we have actual  produce to sell at the first farmers market of the season. And the smile on his face was huge.  It's  so silly and it's not, you know,  on one hand, this is really silly. Lots of people have food to sell at the farmers market. But on the other hand, this is a big
17:07freaking deal for us and we don't have anybody who can relate to this,  you know, that we really know.  So we're bouncing this  energy off of each other and it's like, we're so dumb.  No, you're not. Like I bounce it off me because I am right there with you. Like I,  I'm so excited for you to have, have your booth and to, you know,
17:30meet people and sell things and just  build relationships. It's so perfect. And you've been doing it for three years, you said now? This is the third year,  Wow. And so the repeat customers and the knowing the good food and the...  I was known as the tomato lady. I'm going to be known as the egg lady now that I've got chickens. But  yeah, I was known as the tomato lady for so, so many years. Yeah. I think my husband is known as the free  sniff.
17:59guy, S-N-I-F-F-S, because we sell candles. We sell handmade candles there too.  that's pretty cool. So he has a sign on the table that says free sniffs and people just giggle about it. I love it. I used to say to people, they would walk up to my booth and I would actually pick up a pepper because  a pepper, a fresh pepper is really firm. And I used to say to people, would you like to feel my peppers? They're very firm. And people would just laugh and laugh and laugh at me.
18:27And then I just stand there stone faced.  I would just play it up. I'm like, I'm talking about peppers. What are you guys laughing at? Like I just played it all up. It was so much fun.  only thing that would be funnier and more obvious is if you sold melons.  I will admit there was one man one time and he picked up a cucumber, long English cucumber and said something and I, my face was just like,  and he said, you started it. And I said, yeah, fair enough. I did start that. So.
19:00Whoops turnabout is fair play. Yes. Um, yeah, okay, so I Just blanked again. I swear I get into this 15 15 20 minutes spot and I'm like, what was I gonna ask her? Um So do you want to go back to farming? Are you really enjoying the co if you had the chance to go back to getting land again and farming? Would you do it or you enjoying the coaching?
19:26I enjoy the coaching a lot,  a whole lot, and I will always do that. I'd like to build that side of it up.  But once you're a farmer and once you're growing food for people, it's in your blood and it's your whole identity and it's who you are. So that's why I'm fighting to get back into it, right?  I just,  I cannot envision my life without having  animals or garden or, you know,  food, food in my backyard. I can't envision my life without doing that.  And so...
19:55I love the teaching side of it. I love the people side because I'm an extrovert,  but I also, I need to do it for myself too. Yeah, absolutely. I figured that was the answer, but I thought I should ask anyway.  I can't imagine not having a garden where we live. You know, my parents had a garden while I was growing up. My grandpa had a garden when I was growing up. That was my first experience with a garden was my grandpa. And he had cucumbers in his garden. And I said,
20:24I said, can I get a cucumber? And he was like, of course, Lenny, because my nickname was Len or is Len. He's like, of course, Lenny, go pick one. And I brought it to him. And he's like, well, what are you giving it to me for? I said, well, don't you want to wash it? And he said, no. And he wiped it off on his pants and broke it in half and said, eat it. That was my introduction to a garden. That's the best food, right? The carrot that comes out of the soil with some dirt on it and that, yeah.
20:52One of my clients actually last year too, her daughter actually, they planted the garden as a family and this little girl was probably, I don't know, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 years old, young, young girl. And her mom told me the story of they had friends come over and the friends came up to the door or come up the walk or something and this little girl picked carrots out of her planter box and was showing the company that came to their home, the carrots that she grew and how
21:20proud she was that she grew those carrots.  And you know that  it teaches kids work ethic. teaches them, you know, where food comes from. It teaches them responsibility. You know, if you don't water your little seedlings, they're going to die. Right? Right? Like  on a homestead, your chickens or your pigs or your cows or your vegetables or whatever,  all of those living beings are reliant on you as the steward  or,  know,
21:46or farmer to take care of them to, you know, to actually have something to eat.  So  there's so much pride with that with kids, especially.  Plus it's really hard to get kids to eat foods that they don't want to eat, but if they grow it, they're going to eat it.  Absolutely, for sure.  And there's a huge difference in the taste and flavor  in something that you get in your back, picked from your backyard, as opposed to something you buy at a grocery store.  I had lots of
22:16lots and lots of kids over the many years that I was doing farmers markets,  that the parents would say to me, my kids won't eat vegetables, but they'll eat your vegetables. so yeah, my kids, their kids during the winter time  here in Alberta, we didn't,  I wasn't growing year round and  yeah, those kids would go with less vegetables in the winter time because they just wouldn't eat them because they didn't taste like  nothing, right? Whereas the homegrown ones,  a tomato that tastes like tomato, not like cardboard, like there's nothing like it.
22:47I can't wait. I can't wait till we have tomatoes again.  Every time you guys, every time I'm talking with somebody on the podcast about tomatoes, my mouth waters because I haven't had a good tomato since last August. Yeah.  Well, the grocery store one. So here's something interesting. So I was in the big greenhouse industry  and in the, I'm not saying anything bad by it. Like I love all sizes of  farming. We need it all in some, some, some capacity.
23:13But the big, big greenhouses in the greenhouse industry, they choose varieties of tomatoes based on shelf life,  not on flavor. Whereas in my small greenhouse,  and at 36,000 square feet, yes, it was small for the industry,  I chose my tomato varieties based only on flavor.  That's all I cared about. And I even grew one variety of tomato. They split really bad. If we had a cloudy day,
23:38the plant would suck up too much water and they would split open. And I still grew that variety even though they went bad a little bit quicker because they just tasted so much better and they were candy tomatoes. Nice. Very nice. Yeah. A cardboard tomato isn't worth the money you're going to spend on it because you're not going to want to eat it anyway. No, no. And that's the thing. Food, I think food was created to, for us to enjoy, right? Like,
24:07When you think of a good meal  and just like you were saying, your mouth is watering. And so when you have a good meal, a good steak, a good egg, a good  tomato, like  it just tastes so much different than, know, and I'm not trying to throw a big company under the bus, but when you go and get something from fast food, something, you know,  it's just not the same. It's just, you know, it's just really, really not the same. No, it's absolutely not.
24:35I've told this story once, think already on the podcast. I'm going to share it with you because you'll get a kick out of it. I have always loved celery. I used to love celery with peanut butter smeared on it when I was a kid. And I thought that celery from the grocery store was pretty good. We finally grew celery here last year or the year before. And I had no idea that celery is supposed to be sweet with kind of a peppery bite to it. Yeah.
25:04Absolutely, right? And that's the thing, like,  again, I had client or customers that say, I don't really like tomatoes. And I would say to them, is it taste or is it texture? And I'd say they'd say taste and I'd say, I can help you  take a bite out of this tomato. And they go, ooh, ooh, I like your tomatoes. And  that's the thing, like when you've not had what it's supposed to taste like, like when you've not had it fresh,  you've not even really had that.
25:29that item before, you  You never ate celery until you ate it out of your backyard, really. Yeah,  now that you said that, in my head, all I can see is the thing on the Starship Enterprise where the captain would say Earl Grey tea, warm or whatever he would say, and it would just give him tea. And I think the food thing made other things besides tea. And it wasn't really food.
25:59Do you I'm talking about? No, because I don't watch Star Trek, or  Star Wars, or any of that kind.  I barely watch TV. don't have time for that.  So it was a machine and it would just spit out food? Yeah. Or what they called food? Yeah, exactly. Yeah.  So it  wasn't real food. No.  I'm going to be slightly mouthy because I am kind of a slightly mouthy woman.
26:28And so I think the center aisles of our grocery store, a lot of times that's what we're getting is we're getting that Starship Enterprise,  things that they call food,  food out of the boxes that you find in the middle section of a grocery store. that's just, it's just not food. It's filler. It's not food. Well, there's one aisle I'm really fond of in the middle of the store and it's where the coffee beans are, because I'm a coffee fanatic. So I can't not go get coffee, but
26:57I don't really want to buy pre-made food, you know?  I will take that.  I am with you there. I am a coffee connoisseur as well. I need my morning  cup of coffee and then,  yeah, I agree with you there. I will take  that portion of my statement back.  That's the only aisle I need to go to though. That's okay. I want to get back to the...
27:20the farmers market thing really quick because I have a couple of things that I would suggest if somebody wants to get into selling their stuff at the farmers market.  I would highly, highly recommend that you spend the money and get the tent awning thingy. I don't know what they're called, but the thing that goes over your space so that you're covered if it rains  and get a couple of decent folding tables because that's where you want to display your things  and
27:49get a sign made that says the name of your business. Those are the three things that we did and it has really worked for us. What would you suggest on?  Well, just on that whole tent thing, I used to  fill buckets with concrete and then put a little screw coming out of the top of it.  And that's what I anchored my tent to. And so if you're going to have the tent,  you need the weights because I've had my tents move across a parking lot in the windstorm,  even with 300 pounds of weights on it.
28:19Make sure you get the weights. Absolutely know your signs.  I always say for myself if it's not priced it won't sell so make sure you have your pricing up  and Pile it high watch it fly when it gets low. It doesn't sell ironically the last bag of carrots sitting on a table  Doesn't sell it was just weird You know there could be two or three there and it would sell and then the last one just would not sell it And it's just a mental thing with people
28:45And yeah, if it's not priceable, won't sell. Pile it high, watch it fly.  yeah, just know  the information. Like tell the truth, you know,  who grew it, where did come from, when was it picked, how was it grown? And  just tell your story. People want to hear the story behind it. Yeah, I was going to say, and make sure you actually interact with people, because if you just sit there,  no one's going to buy your stuff because you're not talking to them.
29:09Absolutely. I think the number one rule, biggest thing that you can take away from  farmers markets is do not be on your cell phone. Just put your cell phone away,  put it down and try and say, I told my staff when I hired staff to do farmers markets for me,  I said, your goal is to say hello to every person that walks past the booth. That's the goal.  If you just say hello, then people will say hello back. And then if you just do an open-ended question,  I used to always say, hi, can I tell you about my vegetables? And then they would say, sure.
29:38and then I would start telling them about my farm. It's a conversation. It's, know,  you're so proud of what you're selling. You're so proud of your candles, right, that you're selling. Just put the cell phone down and build that relationship and have the conversation. Yeah, because you never know when the person you're talking to is going to become a friend  or a resource or you're going to become a resource for them. And that's what it's about. You know, when you have a commodity, when you have a candle or you have a
30:06head of lettuce or you have a dozen eggs or if you have a side of beef or a steak or  a pork chop,  that's where it's at. When we all have what we can do in the spaces that we have, then we can then barter and trade.  I heard of a story actually, I'm gonna change the subject slightly.  I heard of a story of an apartment building and everyone grew on their balcony something different and once a week they would take their something different, their vegetable items.
30:32down to the entryway of the apartment building and then they bartered and trade.  This person had tomatoes, that person had basil and that person had zucchini. Boom,  tomato zucchini salsa.  Yeah. Yeah. Yup. It's like the stone soup story with the little red hen. Yeah, absolutely.
30:53I was at a farmer's market. That just brought up a little story for me, actually.  So there was a class, so I was at Canmore Farmer's Market. It's one of my favorite markets, and it's the one I'm going to now again this year.  And the  teacher every year would come to my booth and she would say,  can the kids purchase  vegetable items for our stone soup?  And so they were each given a loonie or something like that. And I just collected and  donated it back to the teacher and I
31:22donated the vegetables, but I would rip open bags of whatever and the kids would pick out so many items and they would pay me their little looney for it and then they would go and put it in their stone soup.  The kids did that, you know, and it was because the teacher wanted to connect the kids to the food,  to the farmer, you know, to make their stone soup.  Awesome.  Awesome. I'm glad I brought it up.  I didn't know that.  Go  ahead. didn't know.  I didn't know we'd talk about stone soup today. So that's fun.
31:52Well, it's a crap shoot sometimes because I bring it up and people are like, what's stone soup? Like they haven't heard the story. It's everyone doing what they can, right?  That's where it's  at.  That will change our food system if everyone does what they can.  Yes. And if everyone does what they can, if our supply chain goes down,  people will still eat. Yeah. So important, right?  So, so, so important.
32:22Um, yeah,  one of my biggest fears actually moving off of my farm  was  what, what will I feed my kids? And so when I was looking at, I started off looking at places in town  and every house I went to, the first thing I did was I went to the backyard and I was thinking, where can I hide my chickens and where can I put the garden?  That's, that's what I cared about when I was looking for a place. so,  um, thankfully ended up back in the country, but  yeah, it's,  yeah.
32:49That was the most important thing to me when I was looking at places moving into town is where I can put my chickens and where I can put my garden. Boom. That's it. Food.  Uh huh. When we moved here, I keep saying this, like last year it was three and a half years. This year it's four and a half years.  We moved here four and a half years ago. Moved here in August of 2020. And we moved from in town to outside of town by about four miles. And we live in the middle of corn fields. When we were looking for a place,
33:19My two things were it must have a flat space for a garden for my husband because he's the one who really loves gardening.  And hopefully it'll have two bathrooms because I was really sick of having one bathroom.  The garden space won out. We still only have one bathroom.  But you have land and if you're a farmer, know, drop those trousers and just do what you need to do outside. Exactly. You've got the space to do it.
33:45If you actually have two bathrooms, just don't pee on your lettuce or something. Sorry, maybe I shouldn't say something like that. That's okay. We have a beautiful tree line. So if I happen to be the one in the bathroom, my husband really needs to do  number one, as it were. He will go out and pee in the tree line. He's like, I don't care. Nobody can see me anyway.  Yeah, fair enough. Yeah, fair enough for sure.  I think every  farmer's done it. Oh yeah. And it keeps the coyotes away.
34:16Oh, never thought of that. But it's true. Yeah, that would that smell would for sure keep them away. Yep.  He's he's done it on purpose to keep the coyotes away from the property and it's worked. So I'm all good with that. I don't care where he pees. It's fine.  As long as I get it.  I was gonna say I have a dog outside that does that around my yard. And so that'll that'll keep  the animals away as well. Yeah, exactly. They don't.
34:44Predators do not like domestic animals,  excrement or urine, and they don't like people's either at all. They're like, nah, that's not something I want to mess with. I'm not going on that property because there's people there or there's a dog there. So it works out great.  So try to keep this to half an hour and we're past half an hour and I thought we would be.  Where can people find you, Dawn?
35:11So I'm Dawns Dirt. I'm on Instagram and Facebook.  And then I'm also, I've got my own podcast going Dawns Dirt.  And so I'm on Spotify, Apple, Rumble and YouTube. So  lots of different places, Dawns Dirt.  Just look up Dawns Dirt and you'll get me.  And your website is dawnsdirt.ca, right? Yes. I don't, it's not super crazy updated, but yeah, that's, that's my website there for sure. Okay. All  right. Cool.
35:38Awesome. Dawn, I was so excited all day to talk to you and now I'm absolutely pleased that I got the chance to talk with you. Thank you for your time. And as always, people can find me  at a tinyhomesteadpodcast.com.  Have a good night, I  love it. Thanks so much for having me. Appreciate it. Bye.
 

The Kelley Family Homestead

Today I'm talking with Megan at The Kelley Family Homestead.
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00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis.  A Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Homegrown Collective, a free to use farm to table platform, emphasizing local connections with ability to sell online, buy, sell, trade in local garden groups and help us grow a new food system.  You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. Today I'm talking with Megan at the Kelley Family Homestead in Connecticut.
00:30Good morning, Megan. How are you? Good. How are you? Oh, I'm great. Is it beautiful in Connecticut today?  No, it's raining today.  I'm sorry. It is gorgeous here in Minnesota.  Oh, nice.  Last weekend was beautiful. It's the first Memorial Day weekend we've had in years where all three days were just stellar. And I thought for sure it would rain this weekend. It's really nice out today too.  I have no idea why Mother Nature is being nice, but I'm very good with it.
00:58The running joke right now in New England is it's the weekend because it's raining.  It's only nice during the weekdays. The weekend, we've been getting rain for like a month straight.  You are having the spring that we had last year.  And  my parents live in Maine. I just spoke with them this morning and  my mom was like, so how's the weather there? I said, it's sunny and 57 degrees. She's like,  I'm happy for you. I said, you sound really not happy for me.
01:27that is pouring here in Maine this morning again. was like, oh great. Yeah, everything's wet this morning. So yeah,  I'm sorry to hear that and I'm sure you don't actually need any more water from what they've been telling me. It's been bad.  it's all right. It's filling up the rain barrels. So we're good.  Good. Okay.  All right. So tell me about yourself and what you do at the Kelly family homestead.
01:59Well, I'm a mom of three.  I am  very interested in native plants  and growing my own food.  So we moved into our house about nine years ago in the fall and the next spring I was basically ripping up the grass to grow gardens as soon as possible.  We put in over 15 fruit trees, berry bushes, grapevines.
02:26garden plots for annual vegetables and things. And it's just been kind of growing ever since. And a couple years ago, I just decided to go for it and planted a ton of seeds. And everything sprouted even though they were like super old. So that was kind of the beginning of the farm stand. I was just growing my surplus vegetables and putting them out there. The vegetable plants and
02:54That did really well. So the following year I started adding native plants  and  cuttings of my grapevines and some of the  berry bushes that I grow. And that did really well. So this year is the third year of the farm stand and it is even bigger. We've got a lot more bushes and trees.  I mean, it's just a little roadside stand at the end of my driveway for right now, but the plan is to eventually get a piece of property and make it like a full on nursery and
03:24do the whole thing.  But it's a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun. I really enjoy gardening. I really enjoy propagating.  It's always fun to see what works and what doesn't.  And my kids like to help out, and it's just been awesome.  Fabulous.  You are in an urban setting, according to your website. Is that right? We're on a third of an acre.
03:53Yeah. Where are you in Connecticut? I'm in Enfield, right on the Massachusetts line.  Okay. So question for you is if you are in an urban environment,  did you have to get any permit, any permits from the city to have the farm stand or did they, were they not even bothered by it?
04:16Um, I checked with the city before I started and as long as my farm stand is under 200 square feet and is mobile, I'm good to go.  Um, I did have to get a nursery license from the state.  Um,  um, you know, pesticide or a pest  thing, know, license to say that I, I'm making sure that my plants are not, you know, carrying any pests that I'm selling and that I'm, you know, any starts that I get from anybody else, I'm making sure that they're.
04:45equally certified and  have their  pest light prevention  inspection done.  And everybody I buy from sends me their copy of their certificate.  I've been working with the... the re-go ahead. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. You've been working with me.
05:10The North Central Conservation District, I bought some  seedling trees from them this year. And then I also bought  from the New Hampshire State Nursery,  some seedling plants from them as well as some natives.  Just because my property is so small, I can't always grow everything. So the plan is to buy in a little bit of  starter plants, plant some on my property to create a basic stock plant or a couple stock plants.
05:39and then buy in what I just don't have room for like big evergreens and things like that.
05:46Okay. The reason I asked is because every single state and  sometimes every single city has different laws about what you can do within city limits. And  I know this because we used to live in a small town and we were within city limits and  we would never have been able to have a farm stand where we used to live because  we had a 35 foot by I think a hundred foot, a hundred foot lot.  and it was 30.
06:15five feet  wide. Like if you were standing in front of the house, it was 35 feet from left to right. And there was nowhere to put a farm stand and they never would have let us put it on  Boulevard, even though I would have loved to have done that.  The joy of getting a bigger property and getting outside of city limits is that counties really don't give a flying fig what you do. Other than if you're going to put up a permanent building.
06:44If you in our, in our County in Minnesota, we had to  pay a $50 setback fee is what they called it  to put in our farm stand and to put in our hard sided greenhouse. so a hundred bucks total.  And I was very happy to give the County my money to have a farm stand and a hard sided greenhouse. Yeah.  So,  um,
07:10So I was looking at your Facebook page and your website and you are growing a metric but ton of stuff on  an acre. Yeah, we really are.  So tell me what you're growing. You said you have fruit trees. What kind of fruit? We have peaches, plums, apples, pears, quince and pawpaw.  And there's a bunch of different varieties of each.  And then for berry bushes, we've got red and black raspberries, cherry bushes, blueberries, aronia, serviceberry.
07:40gooseberry, red, black and white currants and elderberries. And then this year we just put in blackberries  and then we've got strawberries, rhubarb, asparagus. We've got a couple of different varieties of grapes.  And then we've got chickens and quail also.  So we're packed in.  What's that? How are your chickens doing? They're doing well. They're doing well. They're, they're all, you know.
08:07goofy varieties. We've got a Polish with a big pom-pom hairdo and we've got a silky little fluff ball. then we, we've got one of each kind.  Um, and they're just, they keep us busy and entertained and  they're a lot of fun. My kids love them.  Good.  Um, I, we lost a chicken last night to a predator.  chickens are very much in the front of my mind this morning. Yeah. Um,  we, we had 26 chickens yesterday.
08:37We now have 25.  My husband went out to put them in the coop last night and one of them was he didn't, he couldn't find her and he thought that she might've gone under the coop. Well, we've left them outside in the run overnight. Lots of times before they've been fine. And he went out there this morning and that chicken died a very not great death.  was in pieces. What's really weird is that we have never.
09:06lost a chicken in the little over four and half years we've lived here  to a predator. This is the first time.  I figure that's pretty good odds. think that's not bad.  So, but we're missing one of our chickens. Literally we're missing her because she's gone and we're missing her because we kind of like our chickens. They've been keeping us in really good eggs. Yeah. So that's my story from the homestead this morning. Yay.
09:34Yeah, we don't let ours free range as much anymore because we have a family of fox that moved into our neighborhood a few years ago and they are just very active. Every morning I see them running past my front yard with a squirrel in their mouth.  just, you know, I'm not mad they're here. You know, there's not a lot of habitat left for animals and we have some really great neighbors who let them, you know, are happy to let them have their den in the back of their property and do their thing.
10:02Um, but I don't want to lose my chickens either. So they're only out when I'm out and you know, that's just how it is for now. Yeah. I, I was just dumbfounded when my husband came in and said, we are down a chicken. said, um, what? He said, yeah. He said, and it was a predator this time. I literally didn't know what to say. I mean, we've had chickens die for no apparent reason, but never have we had a predator tear one apart. So yeah.
10:30That was a new thing and I was proud of myself. I didn't cry at a dead animal on my property this time. was just like, shit happens. It's okay. It's all right. It's part of farming. Yeah. But he and the kid will be shoring up the, the coop fence or the run fence today and putting stuff around the coop so they can't get underneath it. Cause he thinks she went under there last night. So that'll be fixing.
10:58things today because that's part of home studying. You're always doing something, whether it's fixing something, building something or baking something.  Which leads me to my next question with all the produce that you're growing. Are you canning,  raising, preserving?  absolutely. Well, my strategy has changed a bit. I am only trying to grow what I'm low on because I have more pickles in my pantry right now than I can possibly ever eat.
11:25I did a ton of pickles and relish and pickle lily and all kinds of  pickle related things. And this year I am actually having to buy in tomato sauce because I just straight up ran out.  So  it's a big tomato year for me.  And that's kind of how  I'm running my garden  from now on is just whatever I'm low on is what I'm growing so that I don't run out and I just adjust accordingly each year. we do applesauce, pear sauce.
11:53Um, we do apple pie filling. do, uh, tomato sauces and,  um, chili starter. Chili base  is a fun one. do pickled beets, which are delicious.  Um, cowboy candy is a big one. I use a lot of that.  Um,  I don't know if you've ever tried it, but it is absolutely amazing. It's pickled  candy, jalapenos. So they're like sweet and spicy. It's a really nice burger topping.  Um,  all right. I can't do.
12:22Jalapeno is because I have an allergy to capsaicin.  Oh no.  Uh huh. Just developed like two years ago. I'm so mad about this because I used to love chili. I've not had chili in two years. I miss it so much. Oh, I bet. That stinks.  Yep. So no, capsaicin can't do it. It makes my lips go numb.  Oh yeah. It makes my fingertips tingle, which is really weird.
12:51And if I eat too much of it, my throat starts to close up. And when that happened, I was like, yeah, I'm done. No more. Yeah. For sure. No more. like breathing. Breathing is really important. I don't blame you. OK. But I do love pickled beets. They're the only way I can eat beets. So pickled beets are great.
13:16Same. That's the only way will eat them is pickled.  Do they taste like dirt to you if they're just fresh?
13:27Yeah.  Yeah. I can't quite get past that.  Yeah, I can't either. My mom would grow beets every year and she's like, you have to try this. It's so good. She'd hand me a slice that was just sliced from a fresh beet.  I'm like, no, it tastes like dirt. She's like, no, that's just because it's been a dirt. I'm like, no, the whole beet tastes like dirt to me.  So she has never understood that because she loves beets. I don't get it.
13:57Yeah, I mean do a lot of roasting vegetables and I don't know I'll try again this year and see maybe like if I season it and roast it I don't know but  I just can't seem to get find a way I like it other than pickled so  Yeah, thank God for pickling things because otherwise there's things that I would never eat  So is canning new to you or did you do it with your your mom or grandma growing up?
14:24I am self-taught.  YouTube Academy  and I do a lot of learning from fellow homesteaders on YouTube.  I am not a rebel canner, but I  definitely can as much as I can find safe and approved recipes for.  And I just, mean, everything, it means it stinks to put all that effort in and then have something go to waste. So  if I can can it, I will. just started learning pressure canning this last fall.
14:52It was a little scary and I'm still kind of figuring out, you know, the timing of everything. So it doesn't feel like it takes all stinking day, but  putting up beans and having having beans ready to go was a big one for me because like I have loads of dry beans, but I don't always remember to soak them.  So having them hand and ready to go has been awesome.  Nice. Okay. Well, we did not can until we moved.
15:20the new house. We moved to the new house in August of 2020.  And the reason we didn't can at the old house is because we had no air conditioning and it was really... told my mom, I've told this story a bunch of times, my mom canned in Maine in the summer  with no AC and  no breeze through the house. it would be horribly sweaty and hot in there.  have bad memories of it. I did not love it. So I didn't want to can.
15:47And then we here, we now have central air and we use it because it gets really hot in July and August in Minnesota.  And my husband asked me two or three summers ago now, he said,  can we finally try canning? And I was like, I guess so. said, but I don't know how to do it because I always left the house when my mom did it. There's so many great videos on YouTube,  like Three Rivers Homestead  and...
16:15You know, 1870s homestead. mean, there's so many great YouTubers that teach it and it's just been so beneficial for me to make sure I have food put up and I'm not losing my stuff I work so hard on. Now I just have to fight the birds for my blueberries. Yes, I understand completely. My husband's grandma and mom actually canned a lot and so he actually knew how to can.
16:44That's awesome. I said,  okay, you, get us started because I'm going to screw it up because I don't know what I'm doing.  He can the most beautiful tomato sauce. mean, we had 90 pint jars in the nice in the closet.  And, um, the first thing I've first and only thing I've ever canned on my own is pickles because they're really easy. Yeah. So yeah, it's doable. You just got to get past the
17:13Either the hate of it because I hated the process. I hated being around it growing up.  I had to like that aside and be like, okay, it's not going to make the walls sweat. It's okay.  So  everything worked out great. We just used our last jar of  San Marzano tomato sauce  last weekend.  It's gone.  Yes.
17:40very sad that it's gone because it was fabulous.  we have over 150 tomato plants in the garden right now and  a lot of those tomatoes are going to get canned here. Yeah, for sure.
17:55So  what else was I going to ask you? I can't remember.  I did it again, Megan. I blank. All right. So did you go through the whole shortage of canning jars thing a couple of years ago in Connecticut? A little bit.  I had a harder time finding lids, to be honest.  I already had quite a few from beforehand, so it wasn't too bad for me.
18:24But like I ended up having to can things in sizes I wouldn't normally use  just so that I could make sure I could still put stuff up.  But yeah, I kind of, I kind of stocked up when I saw them and just made sure that I  grabbed what I could use.  Like I do my cowboy candy and teeny tiny little like half ounce or  a quarter pint size jars because it's just me that eats it.
18:50So like that worked out for me to do the smaller sizes on some stuff that I knew it was only going to be for me anyways.  My kids are not a big fan of spicy yet.  But like applesauce I can do a big jars and you know there's a bunch of stuff I could do in big jars so that was okay but like the pint jars were just really hard to find for a little bit.  Yeah we had a hell of a time I think it was three years ago.
19:18Finding the jelly jar size jars. Oh yeah. And it was just awful. And we ended up picking up some at like Goodwill  and yard sales because you couldn't buy them new at the store. didn't have them.  Um, one of the, one of the best things about canning and I, now that we've done it, I'm actually excited to do it  is that  once you get the supplies, you can reuse  all.
19:47supplies other than the metal flat lids.  And so  if anyone wants to get into canning, it's going to cost you a little bit to start out, but  the jars are reusable. The canner is reusable.  You don't have to buy the supply every year.  if anybody wants to get into it, I really do.
20:12I really do say go for it because you  can screw it  up. Yeah, can screw it up.  But  if you screw it up, you learn from it. Right. I mean, I have things that I put in my pantry and, you know, six months later I found out it was a bad seal. And then you just toss that one jar and you keep going. But like definitely use your network, like reach out to friends and family on Facebook or whatever you use for your social network.
20:40you know, I'm looking to get into canning. Does anybody or their  grandparents or whoever, are they getting rid of anything? Cause there's a lot of older canners that just don't have the time and energy to do it anymore and want to give it to someone who's interested.
20:56Yes, exactly. My mom is 78 and she still cans.  She enlists my 81 year old dad's  to help lift out the jars from the hot water because he's  stronger than she is and she knows it.  Plus,  they are so in love. They're so in love to this day, Megan. They've been together for over 50 years. That's amazing.
21:25How do you still like each other?  I've asked both of them and they both, they're just like, oh, don't get me wrong. The other one drives me crazy, but oh, my life would not be the same without them. That's so good. Yeah. Excellent. Excellent example of a good marriage, a strong marriage. So  love those two to death.  Um, so I have, I have a crazy question. What's your neighbors?
21:53think of what you've done with your property?  That is a very good question.  There's kind of  a mix, I think. I have  one neighbor, two houses down, who is, you know, they mow their lawn in stripes  just so every, you know, every week. And like a lot of the neighbors on my street are very like, they have their yard sprayed for whatever regularly. And then I have other people who come down, they're like, we love your yard. It looks so amazing. We love what you're doing. We love the whole concept.
22:22And so it's kind of a mix. Like there's, there's some people who are just so pro perfectly manicured lawn and like, you know,  maybe that's all they know. I don't know, but  I just, I just try and spread the word about what I'm doing. And I've got, you know, my little milkweed for monarch sign out there and I've got, you know, my sign that says this is a pollinator garden and anybody who walks by that wants to talk while I'm out working or wants to shoot me a message on Facebook. Like I am happy to answer questions.
22:53Like I will tell you all the benefits of not sending your leaves off to, you know, the transfer station in the fall. Like why is it better to keep them on your property? I'll tell you all about that. I'll tell you all, all about why it's better to have  more than just grass in your lawn. Like let the weeds grow, let the other other things grow in with your grass. It's okay. It's super beneficial to all the insects and wildlife that need it.
23:16It's better for your soil. You don't have to put as much input into your lawn to try and keep it looking nice. If you just let other things grow that want to grow there.  Um, so it just kind of depends. mean, I describe my yard as fern gully because it's just, it's so like big and wild and awesome.  And you know, like there's defined gardens, but it's definitely very lush and very green and very like full of things. But like, I don't have to put out bird feeders. They know to come.
23:45Like they know where to be. And like, don't have to worry about like encouraging bees to my property. They're here because I've got all the plants they want. And you know, like when people ask questions, well, what do I do to get rid of this bee? I'm like, well, that bee's not really hurting anything. But if, you know, if that,  um,  what do call them? My, now I'm blanking. The carpenter bee, you know, like they're not really hurting anything and they don't sting. But if you don't want them, you know,
24:13burrowing in that particular fence post, fill a brown paper bag with some newspaper, tie it shut at the top and hang it nearby. And they'll think a wasp has moved in and they'll move out. You're not spraying them, you're not contaminating your environment, but you're encouraging that particular carpenter bee to move somewhere else instead.  There's just so many different things that people just don't know what they don't know. And I know more than I realize I know because I'm such a  webinar junkie and  I'm always wanting to learn more.
24:42So like, just, you you ask me questions and I'll, the answer will show up in my brain because I remember it from somewhere. So that's kind of what I do. And if you're like me, if you don't know the answer to the question, you're like, I am going to have to look that up. Yeah, I will find out for you for sure.  Absolutely.  So  how,  terrible at asking questions this morning, clearly.
25:10the people who come and buy stuff from your farm stand. Did they visit with you? Did they say, is great? Did they ask you questions too? Yeah, absolutely. This morning, actually, I just had a Boy Scout stop by. They're working on an eagle project to put in a garden at a local farm, and they were looking for natives. And we had a whole discussion for a good 20 minutes about what plants are native, how big they grow, what they do, who they benefit.
25:38If I'm outside when they're there,  I do a self-serve farm stand. So if I'm outside, they're welcome to ask questions, but  people shoot me messages all the time on my business page and ask me questions there. If I'm not, I do have a day job in addition to the farm stand. So I'm not always outside, but I try to be out as much as I can.  so I try to be as available as I can because I love answering questions and I love encouraging people to put more natives in their yard. And  we need every  square inch we can get.
26:08such a developed country at this point. Like there's not a lot of woodland left. There's not a lot of wildlife corridor left. There's not enough, a lot of, you know, pollinator plants like milkweed, especially is just gone because there's just not enough of it. And we'd rather grass on the sides of our highway for some reason. And that just makes no sense.  If it, if it makes you feel any better, we have milkweed growing in our ditch out front of our house right now.
26:37And we have monarchs in our yard from  end of June until August. That's awesome. I just went to a lecture on Wednesday actually about monarchs and they were talking about, you know, different things and you can do for your property and to encourage them to visit and, you know, spacing out your milkweed so it's not all in one spot because they tend to do more egg laying if there's more patches of milkweed throughout your property.
27:03you know, when to prune it, you can actually prune your milkweed partway through the season, depending on where you're located and have younger, fresher leaves for them to  munch on because they do prefer the younger,  milkweed leaves. I mean, I'm here in Connecticut and we don't get our monarchs until August. And by August, the milkweed is kind of done for the season.  So they're talking about, you know, pruning it back in maybe July. And that way, by the time  the monarchs show up, they've got, you know, fresh new shoots.
27:33It's not already going to  Do what we can for the monarchs because they need, they need the help.  Yeah. We have to protect them.  One of the most beautiful butterflies we have here is a swallowtail something and it's a black and white butterfly, it has  bright blue circles on the bottom of its back, its bottom wings.  Gorgeous.
27:59most beautiful butterfly I've ever seen in my life. was so taken with it. First time I saw one, I had to go look it up. Yeah. They're so pretty. And it's so silly because you you see a butterfly, you're like, yeah, that's great. And you go on with your day, but butterflies are pollinators. are. They are. We need them. So I try to keep this to half an hour, Megan, and we're at like 28 minutes. So
28:25I know you're going to be doing farmers markets in July and August. that correct? Yeah, I actually have my first one  this weekend on Sunday and then  most weekends throughout the summer.  I'll be there.  There's a few that I can't do,  but for the most part, and I keep it on my website, whatever  markets I am going to be at, but my farm stand is open every day  at my property. So it's 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day. You can stop by and...
28:54chat with me or pick up plants or whatever.  Okay, and where can people find you online?  On Facebook, I am the Kelley family homestead.  Same thing for my website.  I have  a slowly growing  TikTok and YouTube  of the same name. I'm trying to put out more  informational videos for people who are interested in learning more about native gardening and  growing native plants and their benefits.
29:23still a little shy on that front, but I'm overcoming that. Okay, the Kelleyfamilyhomestead.com is your website, right? Yes. Yep. All right. Awesome. And you guys can find Kelly in all the places she just said. And if you're in Connecticut, in Enfield, go buy stuff from the farm stand and see where she's going to be at the farmer's markets. Because if you buy from Kelly, you are supporting her, which means that she can support you.
29:52Absolutely.  All right, Kelly, thank you so much for your time today. I appreciate it. And as always, you guys can find me at ATinyHomesteadPodcast.com.  Have a great weekend, Kelly. I'm Megan, sorry. That's all right. Thank you. too. All right. Bye.  Bye.
 

Hayes Valley Farms

Today I'm talking with Christina at Hayes Valley Farms.
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00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis.  A Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Homegrown Collective, a free-to-use farm-to-table platform emphasizing local connections with ability to sell online, buy, sell, trade in local garden groups, and help us grow a new food system.  You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. Today I'm talking with Christina at Hayes Family Farm.
00:28Good morning, Christina. How are you? Good morning. I'm good. Just watching the rain. Yeah. Where are you? We are in Marion, Virginia. That's right. I knew it was the South because you have that lovely Southern accent going on. Whatever it says. And I'm like, I don't hear it, but... You don't hear it if you don't... Okay. I am like a crazy fanatic about accents. You don't hear it if you live in it. Yeah, true. True. So...
00:58It is gray here in Minnesota. It was supposed to be sunny and the sun has not decided to break through the clouds yet. Do you guys still have snow on the ground? Oh no, no, no, no. I think we had sleet three and a half weeks ago. I think. Might have been five and a half weeks ago, but it's been a while since we've seen any frozen precipitation. Thank goodness.
01:21June 1st is Sunday and we have farmers market starting June 7th. So it better not snow.  Has it snowed in June there before? Not when I have lived here. I've lived here. I've lived in Minnesota for over 30 years and I have not seen snow in June.  I have seen like three inches of snow in May though.  Yeah, it was really pretty though. Oh my goodness.
01:50because stuff had started to leaf out just a little bit. So the snow got caught on all the little tiny leaves. It was really  That's pretty. Yeah. Yeah. And I had a rose bush that had bloomed and there was snow on the rose. And I was like, oh my God, I got to a picture of this. And I did. So  you don't want to see it snow in May and June, but on those rare occasions that it does, make sure you have a camera handy.  Yeah, definitely.
02:18Okay, so tell me about yourself and what you do at your farm.  So  we  are,  I'm  a,  I guess a third generation farmer, skipped a generation.  So my parents, well, my father grew up in Nebraska  and came from a farming family  and then joined the Air Force.
02:44And then my mom was born in Cuba.  my grandparents  on my mother's side are Cuban. She came to America when she was two years old. And in Cuba, they had a farm, but  the great grandparents did not the grandparents. They were more city folk.  She went to the Air Force. That's where I was born.  so I guess, you know,
03:11I don't know, third, fourth generation farmers skipped a generation.  I grew up on a farm. grew up in Miami, Florida  and met my husband in Tennessee  and we, he had, grew up farming.  Um, so he's, you know, country boy  grew up in the mountains, the Appalachia mountains.  And, uh, you know, he liked that I was the city girl. I liked that he was the country boy. He didn't want to farm.
03:40He wanted to live in the city and I'm like, yeah, you don't want to live in the city.  So we're farming.  I won that argument. Nice.  Yeah. We started our farm in Tennessee  and  long story short, the county we were in was expanding. A lot of the farms got pushed out. And so between property taxes and then, you know, we,  I had been in Tennessee since about 2005, 2006.
04:09And, you know, since then, you know, prices have exploded in East Tennessee because everybody's flocking, has been flocking to that area. So we couldn't afford to buy a bigger piece of land. You know, for what we sold our farm for, we were able to buy three times that here in Virginia. So that's how we ended up in Virginia. So his family, my family, they're all in Tennessee. So we're about two hours from family.
04:39So  I have a background actually, had a mortgage company. You know, my background is finance, business.  So I traded high heels for muck boots.  That's excellent trade. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, we raised Angus in Tennessee. And then when we moved the farm to Virginia, because we wanted more land, we decided to  start a micro dairy.  So now we have jerseys. We traded.
05:08one cow for another  and  we're a full working farm. We raise hogs on pasture. We have chickens, we have a small hatchery, we have a rabbitry, we have sheep, have goats, we have Jersey cows  and a couple of mini donkeys and then standard donkeys.  And then geese and ducks.  I think that's pretty much everybody.  But we offer, you know,  grass fed beef.
05:38pasture raised  chicken eggs, poultry, rabbits, live as pets. have different breeds. So we have pet breeds, the cute little ones, and then we have like meat breeds. Our goats are a dairy breed  and we have Nigerian dwarfs and newbies. We do milk the goats.
06:03but I don't sell their goat milk anymore or offer it to our private herd share members, because it's illegal to sell raw milk in Virginia. So we have to do everything through a herd share  or a private membership.  We have our own little store on the farm. Our farm members come and pick up their beef, their pork, lamb, goat. We have goose, we have freezers, and then the raw milk,  goats milk soaps that we make.
06:32We make butter and we have a little separate cream. Sometimes if I'm not exhausted, I'll make some cheese and stick it in there. I use it hours in the day. I was going to say, how often are you not exhausted? Cause that is a lot to take care of. It is, it is. We have 110 acres. It's basically my husband, myself, and our 11 year old that run the entire farm. Wow. Wow. That's a lot.
07:01So when you say you offer beef and  chicken and  rabbit meat,  do you sell any of the beef to outside of your community? Like does it go to a  slaughterhouse and get sold to grocery stores?  No, it's only packaged and put in our store for our members. Okay. All right, cool. Awesome. So  you're feeding your community. That's great. That's exactly right.
07:30We used to do, and we still do it sometimes by the whole or the half, like on the pull work. But then we have some members that want to do it by the cut. you know, it's a 50-50 % of how much is goes, you know, a whole hog will go to one family or a half a hog to a whole family, or there's cuts also to choose from.
07:54Yeah, I think it depends on if the person wants to do the work of dealing with a half or a whole because it is a lot of work to butcher an animal.  Well, they don't they so the way it works is they pay us for the hanging weights and then  our butcher butchers and it's all custom cut and they get everything packaged up. So we handle everything for the person. Very nice.  We have here butchered
08:24a half  pig before.  And my husband hunts, so he's used to butchering deer. we do too. So we've, you know, what they call field dressing,  you know, your deer,  your bear,  stuff like that. the  clients, you know, a lot of our clients don't have a farm. They couldn't tell you where this cut comes from. Right.
08:50And a lot of them have never ordered a whole animal custom cut, you know, to fill their freezer. So as a mom, as a woman, you know, the main cook of the family, if you will, you know, I was so done with them. you know, I'm like, well, what, what do you guys eat? You know, if we're talking about, you know, a hog and they're like, well, we like it like this. And we, you know, we have pork chops or butterfly chops or bone in bone out. And then I basically fill it out for them and hand it into the butcher.
09:20Yeah, I went through that when we got our first half beef. I didn't know what all different cuts were. And I had to call the actual butcher to tell them what we wanted. And the lady that answered the phone was like, so how do you want this done? And I said,  you're going to hate me. And she said, why? And I said, because I don't know. I don't know what all the cuts are called.  And she said, oh no, Mary. She said, I go through this all the time. She said,
09:48You  will remember for next time though, I guarantee you. was like, okay. And she walked me through the whole cut sheet  and she said, did you want the soup bones? And I was like, why yes, yes I do. And she said, okay, we'll those into.  And to this day now, if we get a half, I know what to ask for. So I love that you sit down with them and ask them what they want. I do, I do. Because a lot of our clients had never ordered anything remotely like that other than going to the grocery store.
10:18store and say, we're going to do pork chops tonight or we're going to do, um, you know, pork like kebabs. Yeah. So yeah, I go over all that with them and the chicken we do process here, the rabbit we do process here. That's the only, we only do the small animals here on the farm. have a processing station and, we'll just start, you know, processing whether it's birds or rabbits.
10:48And, uh...
10:50that's, know, again, we also have breeding stocks. So everything that we raise on the farm can be turned into food or can be converted, you know, can be registered.  And we've had several people that are starting, you know, their first homestead  and they want a breeding pair of katod and sheep. And so they'll get a ram off of us or a euling.
11:18Normally one or the other, because we keep one side. So  if one mom has  a boy and another mom has a girl, they're still related because they have the same dad. Right.  But we keep a Jersey bull. We milk 10 cows.  The babies, the calves stay with their dams with their moms until they're weaned.  We milk once a day.
11:45and the calf is our second milking. Very rarely we have to milk sometimes twice a day.  We have two that are really big producers and even with a calf on them, they need to be milked twice a day.  You have two overachieving cows. Yes, yes. They are overachievers.  And then once they hit peak lactation, which is about 90 days, then we can start tapering them down to once a day.
12:14So everybody right now is now once a day. We do have one Heifer calf still on the farm and she is nursing off of one of the cows and I alternate the cows with  her All our jerseys love babies, so you put if I put 20 calves out in the field they will all take them up like mama  Nice.  Yeah. Yeah
12:42A whole different ball game compared to eight kids. They're just their personality. They know their name. They're just like big old puppy dogs. I love jerseys. I love how they look. I love their personalities. I've never had cows in my life, but I've known people who have them. And I've met some really not very friendly Holstein cows. But every one of them, they're just, you have to picture.
13:11We milk one at a time.  One cow comes in our parlor, because we do raw milk. I need to ensure, not just for us, for our family, but for our members, that she is clean, clean, clean, and I'm sticking my head under and checking each teat.  And so they come in one at a time. And when you're sitting on your stool next to that cow,  you sit on a normal stool,
13:41Her utter is about island, whereas on a whole scene, it's above your head.  They're just massive. They're just, they'll scare me.  Yeah. The jerseys are just sweet. They're sweet, adorable cows. And yes, I know that they're big. They're a big animal, but  they, they have always come across to me as gentle giant cows. Yeah, they definitely are.  I love them. I really do.
14:10You were saying back when you were talking about moving from Tennessee to Virginia, I think that Tennessee was getting built up the area you lived in.  Yeah. So we lived in Morristown and it was in Hamblin County. And Hamblin County has  to give you an idea.  If you look at East Tennessee, you have  basically Bristol and then you have Knoxville and Morristown is right smack in the middle of these two big towns.
14:39Okay. And so Moore's Town, you know, it grew, it grew. And from when I had moved there, you know, people were like, grew even more in those last 10 years. Like it really exploded. A lot of farm land became either subdivisions or shopping plazas, like shopping centers, Walmart, stuff like that, which is good. You know, it brings jobs, but
15:10What ended up happening  is they rezoned,  they stretched out the city limits. And so they pushed city limits into the county and the county didn't have the funds to fight with the city. And so city won, city got, you know, expanded. And so a lot of farms now were in city limits.  And that's what happened to our farm.  Yeah. Yep.
15:37But the reason I asked about this is because I had the  supreme pleasure of driving up to the town we lived in four and a half years ago.  I got to go up there yesterday because my son needed to go to the bank.  And  we were driving through town and everything has changed just in four and a half years. hadn't been up there in six months.  And there's literally a new development on...
16:07on what used to be a cornfield.  I  was like, what the actual hell happened here?  And  my son said, oh, you haven't been up here in a while. I said, no, no, I have not.  He said, they've been working on that for the last year and a half.  I was like, I'm so glad we moved when we did because this is breaking my heart. This used to be  a really cute, adorable.
16:34just outside of a suburb feel town.  Small town  and so much is being built up around it. mean, the highway that goes through there is just ripped to shreds because they're putting in a cloverleaf thing on the main highway.  I just, I'm looking around going, oh my God, this doesn't even look like where I lived for 20 years of my life. Yeah. It's just like, you know, Miami's always been  overdeveloped.
17:04But there were parts of Miami that were, you know,  when I say farmland, it was more like nurseries and stuff like that. And they have built almost all the way into the Everglades.  Oh my. I have family still in Miami and you know, they're like, you wouldn't recognize, you know, I haven't seen Miami since 2015. I haven't been in Miami. I want to say 2016.
17:34either 16 or 17,  but  it's been a minute.  I'm like, yeah, you couldn't pay me to live back in a major city like that.  Yeah, me either. And I mean, I lived in Portland, Maine for a couple of years.  I lived in  a pretty big suburb of Minneapolis for a couple of years. And now we live  on a three acre piece of land.
18:03in the middle of cornfields and I would not trade where we live now for anything. I love it so much. Yeah, so ours is like that. We're on a dead end road. It's 110 acres  and we're surrounded by national forest.  I bet it's beautiful.  It's gorgeous. It's quiet out here.
18:26All you hear is sometimes our peacock going crazy.  Well, you must hear native birds, right? You hear a bird song in the morning. Oh, yeah. Yeah. We have wild birds everywhere. We have all kinds of critters around. We hear coyotes at night. Me too. Yeah. We catch them on our game cams too, but they don't, you know, we have German shepherds.
18:52that protect the farm so they don't come close to the farm.  doggo's doing their job. Yes, it's important. It's important to have some kind of dog on the property because other  canine species do not like people dogs. They don't like animal. They don't like  dogs that are around humans. Let's put it that way. Yeah. Our biggest nuisance is actually  muskrats because we have ponds and we have creeks.
19:20And they just wreak havoc on our ponds and our creeks  with their little tunnel systems.  And muskrats are not like  specific to Virginia. They are everywhere. We have muskrats in Minnesota too. And they're just nasty. Like our dogs will hunt them. Yeah.  One of our dogs.  So there's like a new little nest area we have found in one of our ponds.  My husband's always yelling at
19:50at one of our dogs  so she can stop digging because she's making the whole bakery and everything. She's going to drain the pond.  Yeah, I just want to get to the nest and it's like she's hunting.  And they'll eat them. Our dogs will eat them. They're doing their job and you feel bad telling them not to do their job, but you also can't have them destroying stuff either.  Our dog, when she was a puppy, she loved to dig.
20:19And we had to teach her that that was a not good idea. That was not good behavior because she would dig holes.  We wouldn't know they were there and we would step in them.  Oh, no, that's not good.  So she doesn't dig anymore.  she really doesn't dig to dig. She's like digging in their little burrow system.  She's like, I'm going to get  you. Absolutely.
20:43Maggie tried to dig out a tree and she actually damaged the roots of a maple tree because she dug underneath of them.  So that tree was already not great and it now no longer exists in our yard because we had to have it taken down. Oh wow. And it was probably a hundred years old. So we were very sorry to see that tree go. But  dogs do what dogs do and  you have to teach them what is acceptable and what is not.
21:13Yeah, yeah. Oh my God, we have so many trees. So when Helene came through, I mean, oh my gosh, I can't even tell you. As I said, a number, I don't know, 20, 40 trees came down all around the property. So our farm, like I said, it's surrounded by the national forest and probably about 15 acres of our farm, which is like the buffer is woods, which it's woods that we own.
21:42And you know, these were 150 feet tall oak trees that just toppled over, root balling off.
21:53I guess it's the shale that's in this mountain region. And so the root system doesn't go down on an oak tree. spreads out.  one little wind comes. And so now not only do we have these massive trees down, which is great. We have a sawmill, but  you know, it's another tour.  We've got these massive like craters now in certain areas of the farm. Yes.  There's one in the cow field actually, which
22:22We,  I like having collars on our girls  and  we train the cows  to be collar trained. like you would grab a dog and walk with it. Yeah.  But because there's still like two big trees down that we haven't gotten to in that field.  Um, they're everywhere.  Like  you can't even comprehend how many trees are down. It's just a mess.  And,  um,
22:50I took their collars off because I'm like, that's all I need. Because jerseys are just real silly creatures and if there's something new, they got to check it out.  Yeah. all their collars off just in case so they don't go rubbing on the tree and hang themselves. Yeah. Get hung up on it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like,  you look naked.  wonder if they miss their collars when they're not on.
23:21I don't think it matters to them because it's not like it's tight,  know. Yeah. They just can't come up over their head.  Right. Exactly.  So I feel like I'm doing these left-hand turns in this conversation, but I wanted to ask you a question.  You do a lot of animal husbandry. Do you do any produce? We do, actually.  We have a garden and then we have a commercial greenhouse.
23:51that we have vegetables or we start vegetables from seed from our organic seed stock.  And it's 80 feet long, 32 foot wide, I want to say. So yeah, we have a commercial greenhouse that we also do produce.  Awesome. So you're like a grocery store at your farm store. We are like a grocery store. And then we have some extra little, you know, stuff in there like decor.
24:20farm decor, if you will. How big is the building for your shop? The store is a 12 by 32. Oh, it's Yeah, it's one of those like sheds with the porch on it. And then, you know, we dolled it up inside. We actually have videos on our website of our little store. And it's got a shelf, it's got a freezer, got the commercial fridge in there.
24:49Cute, cute,  It makes our farm stand look like an ugly shed. Yeah, it's cute.  I like it. And we painted it red. We actually got a great deal on it because it was like a repossession.  We got somebody's repo and then we  cleaned it up and painted it and it looks, we flooring and so you walk in and it has that little country vibe inside with the wood floors and.
25:18It's all white inside.  Nice. I'm going to have to look at the videos.
25:27Yeah. So, and it's right at the entrance of the farm. So we have a little parking area and then customers come, they park, go in the store. The lights are automatic. We have some nurses that have real late shifts. And when they get out of work, you know, I would see them. If I was up late, I would see them in the store with like, with their, their camera flashlight, you know, trying to look around. told my husband, I'm like,
25:53We got to put automatic lights in there. So now when you just open the door, boom, the lights come on.  Wow.  I am.  really impressed. I'm not telling my husband anything about this discussion about your farm store because it's going to be like,  we should get that for ours too. And I'll be like,  no, it's an eight by 10 shed. No, we're not getting automatic lights. We  close at six.  But the general public were open Monday through Saturday one to six.
26:22We have other stuff that we sell that we can sell to non farm members. You know, we could sell the stuff, we could sell eggs.  We can sell, we have hatchery.  So we probably hatch maybe 1800 chicks a month. This may be the last month we hatch.  And so I'll have people all the time coming, buying bunnies,  know, buying a goat, buying a lamb, buying.
26:52chicks.  So, you know, we're, we stay busy and we have the honor system in our store because I don't have someone sitting there. Right. To run the store. Yeah. I mean, we have cameras and, you know, it's like yesterday, every day, obviously we milk and every day we bottle.  And so yesterday I went in the store and there was like over a hundred dollars in our little basket. Oh my God.
27:19That's the best part about a farm stand or a farm store is when you go out there expecting to find like five bucks and there's oh, 50, 100, 150 that you didn't expect to find. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's, this is our livelihoods. Yeah. We're new at the farm stand thing and we actually made like a hundred bucks in the first four days we had it open at the beginning of May. That's you guys do. We sell eggs.
27:47And we sell homemade candles and soap and lip balms  and wax melts  and duck eggs from a friend who has ducks. She wanted to know if she could sell her duck eggs in our farm stand this summer. And I was like, of course you can.  And then we're going to have radishes  and peony blossoms and rhubarb and asparagus in there, I think, this weekend, I think. So basically whatever is in season is in the farm stand. That's awesome. Yep.
28:16And people love it. Like I didn't think anybody would show up that first week because it was the first week of May. All we had was really eggs and candles and lip balms and candles. And my husband was like, well, let's open up and see if people want good eggs from real chicken for a real farm. And I was like, OK. And we can't keep eggs in stock. Yeah, we're going. And we only had 12 chickens at the time, so it was really easy to sell a dozen eggs a day. Right.
28:46So with your hatchery, I don't know how to ask this. Like I see people on Facebook all the time doing the small incubators with like 12 eggs. I'm assuming that's not how you do it. No, no, we have three cabinet incubators and each cabinet holds 450 to 650 eggs depending on the size of the egg in the tray. So obviously a goose egg, you know, takes up the space.
29:16kind of an egg and a half of a chicken. So if I'm putting goose eggs, then it's a lot less chicken eggs I can put in. But yeah, we have three cabinet incubators and we can pump the chicks out if people want them. And we hatch all kinds of breeds. I have people all the time, what breeds do you have? And I'm like, it's on our website.
29:43I'm not trying to be mean, but it's like, I'm trying to farm. can't sit here and answer all your million questions. I try to make things like very automatic. And then I'll have people like, can I have a picture? And I'm like, oh my goodness, just come to the farm. I will show you the baby. And then we have a brooder that holds, let's see, 50 times six. So it'll hold about 300 chicks at once. Well, I bet that gets really loud.
30:13Yeah, yeah, when I go in there in the mornings, they're all like, hey, we're dying. We're starving. We ate all the food you left us last night. Cause I top everything off early in the morning and then throughout the day and then again at night. So I mean, they're eating and eating and eating. And then we have like little poop trays and then I take that and clean it once a week. And people are like, what do you do for a living? I shovel poop.
30:41All day. That's what I do for a feed animals  and I'm mucking some kind of poop. Somebody poop. My dad would say, I shovel shit all day. What do you do? Yeah, that's exactly right.  I feed animals and I move shit around, like literally. Yeah, exactly.  I have one more question for you. I know that...
31:07I know there are chickens that lay colored eggs like green, blue, whatever.  I am guessing that those eggs don't taste any different because they're a different color. No, they don't. And it's funny, my grandmother, if I give her eggs, she's like, well, I don't want green or blue. And I'm like, why? You know, I'm Cuban, I speak Spanish, so I'll be like, abuela, which is grandma in Spanish,  and she's like, well, I don't want the green one.
31:35They just, they look rotten. Oh, They don't taste any different. Um, but there are some people they want, you know, I have some clients, they're like, I only want brown eggs. And I'm like, okay. You know, but I like to, when I put the eggs in the store, um, our son, helps me, I wash all the eggs. And I mean, we probably put about six to eight dozen a week or a day in there. Yeah. And, uh,
32:04I actually have like four dozen I need to wash from today. And I do a color, you know, so there's pinks in there. There's blue, there's green,  there's  brown, different shades of brown, different, you know, we have olive eggers, we have blue eggers,  our buffs lay out like a pinkish egg. yeah, blues, different hues of blue.
32:33I like seeing the colors. I like the rainbow.  Yeah, I was gonna say it makes the cartons really interesting looking.  Christina, try to keep this to half an hour. We're there. Where can people find you? We are  on HayesValleyFarms.com is our website. All our social media handles is Hayes Valley Farms plural.  So that's...
33:02That's how you can find us, Hayes, H-A-Y-E-S. Awesome. If any of the listeners are in Virginia, hit up Christina, because she's got all the good things happening at her place. as always, you guys can find me at atinyhomesteadpodcast.com. Christina, I hope you have a wonderful day. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye.
 

Hundred Acres Meadows

Today I'm talking with Claire at Hundred Acres Meadows.
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00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis.  A Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Homegrown Collective, a free to use farm to table platform, emphasizing local connections with ability to sell online, buy, sell, trade in local garden groups, and help us grow a new food system.  You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. Today I'm talking with Claire at 100...
00:27100 acres something and I can't read the screen. What is it again, Claire? Hundred Acres Meadows.  Thank you. I swear this technology doesn't work sometimes and my eyes get older every day. So it doesn't help me at all.  So what's the weather like in Louisiana? Because that's where you are.  Very hot and very humid. It's in the  90s and the air is saturated.  Is that unusual for me?
00:56Oh no, May is usually our  kind of summer dress rehearsal. It's usually hot and buggy and icky and then it just gets hotter from there. Okay, well, I'm in Minnesota and we never know what we're going to get in May. We had a 90 degree day a couple weeks ago. And today it's like 67, I think, and it's sunny.  I,  Minnesota is weird. I don't really appreciate the swings all the time.
01:27So at least you have sort of the gauge on May for Louisiana.  Yes.  Okay. So tell me about what you do because I think you have classes. I know you have horses.  What is it you do? So  we do a couple of things. A, we homeschool. So  we spend time homeschooling our two kiddos. And then a lot of times we'll have homeschool families over to the farm.
01:57teach them how to milk goats and introduce them to the ponies and the chickens.  And  they take home milk and sometimes cheese if we have some that we've been making.  And then we run our farm. And then my main gig is I'm actually a vet. So that's a part-time job for me. Very nice. But that comes in handy with your animals. Yes. I mostly do small animal for work, but I'll take care of minor problems that come up here on the farm.
02:26the major than I let somebody else handle it. Okay, awesome. And I'm guessing you're probably connected with other veterinarians if you are a vet.  Oh, yes.  So that helps.  Okay, I have a couple questions about you being a veterinarian because why not? I don't get to talk to  veterinarians  other than when I take my dog to her vet who she  loves.  Thank God.
02:54My dog is crazy, she loves going to the vet. How did you decide you wanted to become a vet? Did you know from when you were little or was it something that you got into when you were in high school? So I always loved animals and I  thought from the time that I was, you when people start asking you what you want to be, that was  often my answer. But I actually got to college and I got a C in chemistry and I said,
03:20they're never gonna let me in because getting into vet school is harder than getting into med school. It's a very, very competitive process.  So I actually stopped aiming for vet school and I switched over  and became a teacher. My background was elementary education with a minor in special ed  and talked for a couple of years. I got my master's in Ed specialist in gifted education.
03:45And after a few years teaching, I said, this is not what I want to do for the rest of my life. I love the kids. I love the teaching. I didn't like all the other stuff that went along with it. So I said, I'm going to give myself one semester of retaking science classes and see if I can make.
04:05A's in it, not hey, I scraped by and I got a B plus. I wanted to feel confident that I could handle material. And I did that and I said, okay, well, if I can do that, I'm going to apply to vet school. So I went ahead and applied and went to vet school and graduated  later than most of my peers did, although we had somebody that was, I want to say 55 when he graduated and he owns his own clinic in Florida now. So.
04:32age isn't a requirement with it, but it did give me a nice background for homeschooling my kiddos that I feel pretty comfortable with the education side of things.  Well, that's impressive. I'm proud of you. That that must have taken a lot of  I don't know, pulling yourself up by the bootstraps and really digging into to learning the things. Yes,  yes, it did. And I actually had my son a few months before.
05:01I started vet school, so I had him in April and we started in August. So I had a bitty baby and a toddler all through vet school, which made things extra challenging, but I have a wonderful husband and family who helped support me through it.  Oh, honey, now I'm really proud of you.  Wow. That is a big ask of your own self. Yes.  How long does it take to become a vet? How many years of college?
05:30So you have to have a minimum of three years to apply to vet school. Most people have their bachelors before they apply, but there are a handful that do three plus their last year of vet school counts as their first or their first year of vet school counts as their last year of their undergrad.  You have four years of doing vet school after that. So it's going to be minimum three years, but usually four years of undergrad plus four years of.
05:59pretty intense schooling.  Wow. Okay. I flirted with the idea when I was like 12, I thought being a veterinarian would be really cool.  And then I went with my dad when he took one of our cats to get fixed.  And back then  the vet basically would numb up the cat, sedate the cat and  cut off its testicles.  And  I watched that happen and I went, yeah, maybe not so much on being a vet. I'm  not sure I really can handle it. So.
06:30That was great though. He was like, you sure you want to see this? And I said, yes, I do. And he said, okay, if you pass out, I'm not picking you up. I said, okay. A  good way to test it out.  Yeah. And not for me. I  can't be a doctor or a lawyer or a psychologist because I would feel bad if anything went wrong and I would carry  it with me for the rest of my life. It would just build up. And I know that about myself. So
06:59when I talk to people who do do those jobs, I'm always just blown away at your intestinal fortitude for the job that you do.  Well, and I will say vets are actually the number one most likely careers to commit suicide and a lot of that has to do with we do like I can tell you each patient that I have lost and the circumstances because
07:22We care for animals and that's that's why we're there. And then you get a lot of pushback and people say, well, you just do it for the money. And we might have doctor in front of our names, but we don't get paid the same as a human doctor does. Not that it would make up for, you know, losing a patient or taking care of animals. Most of us are just in it because we enjoy what we do. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I don't think anybody is a veterinarian who doesn't absolutely love animals and wants to do the best for them. They can't.
07:53Okay, so I always really like talking to people about their professions because I don't know a whole lot about the ins and outs of how they became the thing they became and It's really interesting to hear everybody's take on why they did what they did So let's talk about your place you I know you have a horse because I saw the Facebook post about the the fly mask What else do you have for animals?
08:19So we have four ponies, three are small ponies and one is the larger pony.  Then we have  seven goats, they're dairy goats, so they're the bigger type of goat. Then we have some chickens and according to chicken math, I don't have to count the chickens, so we have some chickens. You have some chickens, good. Some chickens, yeah. And we have a rooster that stays over in a different pen.
08:45Um, because he didn't mind his P's and Q's and tried to peck a kiddo and we don't, we don't let that happen in our yard. So we have too many visitors and we have our kids that want to enjoy their time in the backyard. Um, and then we have a coop cat that's named Hey Hey, and she was raised in our chicken coop around the chickens. So they're just kind of her brothers and sisters and she doesn't mess with them, but she fights with them over who gets to eat the tasty mouse that they found. Uh huh.
09:14but she has the run of the yard now. And then we have two dogs who are not allowed in the farm spaces because they moved over here with us from the city and they are not country dogs at all and they would definitely eat a chicken or a goat or get kicked by a pony. So they have their own separate yard that they live in and get attention inside rather than joining the farm outside. Well, it's good to know your limits, whether you're a dog or a person, I think.
09:44Yes.  Okay. So I'm trying to think of what to ask you because  you have a lot of things going on there.  What brought you to having a farm-ish kind of place? So we moved out, once we left Baton Rouge, which is where the vet school is, we moved back toward here in Louisiana, and we call them parishes rather than counties. We moved back to the parish that I grew up in.
10:13to more country area, just your money goes a little farther in the country. So we got a house and it has  about three acres  on it. then a couple of years later, the property that was behind us went up for sale and it's about a hundred acres. And my parents  decided that they were gonna buy that. They still live about 20 miles away, but they wanted to have that as  a...
10:38That way they knew it wasn't going to become a neighborhood. They can hay the field. My dad set up some bees on the property and they um, pittle around there sometimes. But that gave us the option that I have  always loved riding. grew up riding horses and  doing hunter jump equitation shows. And at that point we had our daughter and she was about
11:02three and she was bitten by the horse bug. She loves everything to do with horses and ponies and she would play with her toy horses and ponies. So I said, well, this is perfect. We can get a pony or two and that way she can start learning how to ride and it can be something that we do together. And my son likes animals, but he is not as horse oriented. So we went and we picked up a small pony named Nacho and he was already trained to ride.
11:30And then we got a friend that's a little mayor for him.  And she came from up in Minnesota where there was a  hoarding case basically. And they had a whole lot of these little ponies that they needed homes for. So we brought her home and I just said, if all she does is keep them company, it's all good. But she's actually turned out to be a doll. She can be ridden by the kids. She pulls a little cart, but about...
11:55maybe seven months after we got them home, I noticed, hey, they're both getting kind of chunky, which is not unusual with ponies. They convert that grass to fat really quick. So we switched up our feeding regimen and cut back a little bit on feed. And the gelding, he lost weight.  little Mayor, she just kept getting rounder.
12:19and rounder and then she started bagging up and I called the people where she came from and said, hey,  is there a possibility that she could be pregnant? And they said, yeah, yeah, that's possible. We had a couple of little studs get in with the girls.  So that first summer,  we had about a week's notice where we knew she was pregnant before she gave birth, but she folds here in our yard and the kids got to come out and see the.
12:46low foal when she was still all wet and fresh and new, which is  really, really neat. then she's been around them for her whole life. So she doesn't bat an eye. If a kid jumps off a swing set next to her dressed as a T-Rex waving  a lightsaber, she's as can be.  And knowing that we had the three of them, I said, well,  at some point we're going to need to wean her. And with horses, they're herding. So you don't want to have them with
13:16just completely alone. So I said, well, we need to get another horse or pony so that we can lean safely and give everybody a friend. So I went to Mississippi Horse Rescue, which is a great organization, and  adopted a horse from them. And that's Dazzle, the one that was wearing that fly mask. And he's a large pony. So he's a pony that I can ride and the kids can grow into. So that got us to our
13:44our four ponies out there.  And then just somewhere along the way we said that my son loves chickens and he had been begging to get chickens. So we got some tractor supply chickens and my husband, he generally is not, he doesn't dislike animals, but he's not all about the farm life. He pretty much limits it to,  he'll help me build things. So he helped me  build a big chicken run and chicken coop.
14:13for the chickens and he helps me build like the goat shed, that sort of a thing. So we got the chickens because my son was  smitten with chickens and then I wanted to get into goat milking. So we have a really good dairy farm, not too far from here. So we got some dairy goats and let them grow and then got a little boy and  they did what goats do and all of sudden our herd.
14:39doubled in size. went from three goats to six goats and now we've had another one this year so we're up to seven.  It is so amazing to listen to you talk about this because  the joy that this is bringing you is just ringing through your voice.  Yeah it eats all your time but if it's something that you enjoy then you don't notice it.  Yeah exactly but you just sound so tickled at your decisions.
15:08How old were your kids when that little pony was born? Let's see, that was in 2022. So Ruth would have been two and a half  and Asher would have been seven at that point. So  when  they came out and saw this still wet little tiny horse.
15:35What did they do? mean, were they just like making  excited noises? Were they asking questions? How did that go? They just stood there. They were both still in their jammies and they just stood there  staring  at her with, you know, those bright like Christmas morning  eyes as excited as can be.  And as she grew,  did you teach them about her as she grew?
16:01Yes. So they had already learned with the older ponies since we'd had them a little bit like maybe nine months at that point. So they knew how to lead and they knew how to walk the ponies and help do, you know, feeding and that sort of a thing. But I got to teach them how to, you know, handle her with her being smaller that we can't pull on her yet.  one of the big things with foals is that you don't want to let them mouth  at  people because when they learn to be mouthy,
16:31It can cause problems as they get bigger, you know, a  30 pound tiny little foal mouthing at you isn't a big deal. But when you have a  300 pound horse trying to chew on you, it's suddenly a much bigger deal.  But they got to learn about that and how to correct her, but still be sweet.  And Ruth has started helping me now.
16:54get on her back and do little rides. don't do it super often since she's still pretty young. She's going to make three this summer.  But we've started letting Ruth get  on and sit and like her, her mama lady, she's just the easiest  pony to start. There's no, I'm breaking this horse or anything like that. There's no big bucks or anything like that. She just kind of sees it as well. This is one more way the kids play with me. They lay on my back and
17:24We go for walks  and  she's just a doll.  That's so awesome.  I'm so thrilled for your kids that they got to see that baby  right after it was born and they've been able to grow up with her. That's amazing.  Yes.  I love it. I really do. Like those are the things that I wish I had experienced when I was little, but my parents weren't on a farm. They were on a one acre plot in the middle of the woods in Maine. So  it did not happen for me, but
17:53I'm so jealous of your kids. That's so fabulous. Oh, me too. Me too. I grew up in the suburbs. we similar. We were on a on an acre. But even though I begged for pony, they would let me go ride. But I can never have a pony. So I'm just, you know, living my little girl's dream.  Yes. And through your kids eyes, which is so beautiful, it really is. I mean,  I have four kids of my own and they're all grown. And I think back to when they were little and
18:23I wish I could have given them more. We just didn't have the means to do it.  And the thing about teaching the pony not to be mouthy,  that's true of all babies. My youngest  is 12 years younger than my oldest, 10 years younger than the next kid down,  and four and a half years younger than the next kid down. Okay?  So they were all talking, walking, functional children.
18:52or teenagers almost, when the youngest was born. And the youngest was spoiled by his siblings. And I was trying to teach the youngest not  to hit when he was frustrated because babies will hit. They will reach out and smack you.  And the two boys,  the two kids up from the baby, thought that it was really funny when the youngest would hit.
19:17And I said, at some point, this is not going to be funny. He's really going to catch you when you don't expect it. And at about three years old, both of the older boys were playing with the youngest. The youngest was three and they were really kind of poking at him, kind of teasing him. And youngest  smacked  the older brother in the face,  fist by accident. closed his fist, but he wasn't trying to punch him. He was just trying to get his attention.
19:47And  kiddo got a bloody nose out of that.  And I said to him, said, I tried to tell you, you don't want to teach babies to hit because if they hit you when they're bigger, it's going to hurt.  He was like, yeah,  maybe I just like, don't do that anymore. I said, it's too late. I said, now you've really got to work to teach him to be sweet. Yeah. So it's,  you really do have to teach babies. It doesn't matter if it's animals or humans.
20:17what is acceptable behavior. I'm really glad that you brought that up  and  I'm doing the mom thing again. But either way, yes, training your kids, teaching your kids is important and teaching your animal kids is important too.  Do you grow any produce at your place?  Not a huge amount. We have a couple of little raised beds where we have some herbs and we have some celery that we planted last fall and
20:47It somehow made it through our five inches of snow, which I realize up in the Northeast five inches is routine. But down here in the South, that's a hundred year event.  But we got that this past winter. But  by some miracle, our celery is just chugging along happy as can be. But my kids  decided that they went to the store with my husband. They were picking something up from Lowe's or Home Depot and they talked him into buying some seeds.  They got home.
21:16They planted the seeds,  but they didn't really, you know, like label where they put stuff or do any organization. They just put the seeds in. So  this spring we're going to have a little chaos gardening and whatever comes up comes up.  So there might be corn next to rosemary, next to carrots, next to...
21:41green beans next to the bell peppers, who knows what they, and they don't even remember everything they planted. They're like, oh, well we threw the packages away. So,  what we get.  Nature loves a chaos garden. You will probably have the best things  this summer that you've ever had. That's what I'm hoping.  And I love a chaos garden. I really do. I love it.
22:07with the raised beds where they have all the different kinds of herbs all just spilling off the sides of it. I think it's beautiful.  Okay, so  is your place a  hobby-ish farm or is it do you try to make it support itself? So in general, I would consider it a hobby farm.
22:30That said, I'm trying to somewhat convert over to  do like the Facebook monetization so that we have something that helps pay the feed bill.  And we have some friends that they get milk, the goat's milk regularly and they usually do like a donation to the feed fund. Here in Louisiana, they're a little fickle about.
22:53selling milk, you have to be an approved commercial dairy, the milk has to go through an approved processing plant. Set up with that with two goats and milk. So we share with our friends and our family.  for a lot of the friends and family that are getting milk on a regular basis, they'll make a donation so that it helps offset our feed costs. And same thing with eggs. We have a few friends that will buy eggs when we have extra.
23:22What essentially helps offset that cost. And when we have friends that come over and like they learn how to milk,  we just do it as a, give a donation if you want to, to help the farm rather than, it's a set cost. That way anybody that wants to come can and cost isn't a big limiter, which we've had foster kids that have come. We've had people who they give a big donation and everything in between.  So.
23:52It leaves it open so everybody can enjoy it.  Very nice. That's a great way to do it.  I have a question because we actually do sell stuff from  our farm, our homestead,  and we've never considered doing donations because I just didn't think of it.  Are donations taxed? It depends on your state.
24:16And it depends on the threshold. So you would want to check your state guidelines  on what that threshold is.  Yeah, I will look it up now that you've brought it up. I'm really curious about it because  I would much rather do donations and help pay some of the chicken feed and the cat food for taking care of the mice in the barn with donations.
24:42instead of having to pay taxes on actual income, but I suspect we probably do. Minnesota's pretty,  pretty good about that. Um, okay.  So you said you make cheese with the goat's milk. Do you make soaps with the goat milk? We have not yet. I have given somebody, um, goat milk to make goat soap, but I have not jumped into that whole foray yet.
25:11Same thing and I know you can do things with the way for making cheese, but honestly at this point we don't save it. We just  dump it outside or send it down the drain depending on the time of day.  But I do usually save if we have milk that say I'm having it chill on the counter  and  it gets left out for you know two hours, three hours where I don't feel like
25:39I really want to consume it at that point. I'll label it as so put it in the freezer. It's honestly probably still fine to consume, but we have  so much goat's milk that I don't see a reason to bother with it. And then I keep the colostrum each year from the mamas.  And I have somebody that likes making goat colostrum soap.  A little different scent to it and it's a different texture on it. So.
26:06I save that for people who make soap.  Well, I think  I'm going to say this. think you should try making goat milk soap because I've talked to a lot of people who make it and they say it is fabulous and it's not that hard to do.  Well, we'll put it on our list of, know, when we have free time, we'll add that one. I have a nice little list of things that  need to be done around the farm and then kind of hobbies that I still want to get into.
26:36dehydrating and doing more gardening or two that I would love to get more into but haven't had time as of year.  Yeah,  I understand. I killed my sourdough starter this week by accident because I was doing other things and did not feed it.  Oh, yeah, that's another one that I would love to get into sourdough. We have a bread maker.
26:59But I have not used it yet. And I have friends who swear by their sourdough and have offered me starter for it. It's just I don't want to kill anything before I even get started.  I was doing really great. And then I had a whole bunch of other stuff happening and I was like, I will feed it later. It's not ready.  And then I didn't for like three days. And I looked at it today and went, I don't trust it anymore. And I dumped it and I started a new one. So  and I looked at the clock when I started it and I was like 10 a.m. every morning.
27:29I have to take care of this.
27:32So, since I started it and I made a note of the time, maybe I can keep it alive until next week so I can actually make some sourdough bread.  I'm telling you, all these things, you know, I feel like I have all the time in the world and then I sit down to do stuff and I look at the clock and it's five o'clock in the afternoon. Yes.  Well, around five o'clock is when we start doing stuff because middle of the day, if you go out and try to do anything outside,
28:00you're going end up with heat stroke. yeah. Yeah, absolutely.  And for me, most of my stuff is inside and it's mostly finding people to talk to for the podcast and figuring out all the stuff that goes with podcasting because I'm still kind of new at this.  And you would be amazed how much time can slip by when you're researching things like this. It's nuts.  I believe so.  You were saying that you were trying to get to do the monetization thing for Facebook.
28:29Are you monetized yet? am. I had managed to get up to 10,000 followers, which I worked really hard to try to get there. And I was hoping that that would kind of trigger it to monetize, but sadly it did not. And I've been doing all the weekly challenges and I completed those perfectly for months on end and I still wasn't monetized other than stars. So I kind of said, well,
28:57It's taken a lot out of me to make sure that I'm posting two or three times a day and engaging a lot. So I kind of went on a Facebook vacation and I would post something about once a day. And if I had something that I really wanted to comment on, I would comment on it. But I just kind of left it on the back burner and didn't put a lot of energy into it. And right at that one month mark of ignoring it, Facebook said, oh, you're monetized.  So.
29:26I kind of picked up and started working a little harder at it after that.  Uh huh. I am having the hardest time with all of this stuff because  I just got monetized for Facebook like a  couple of weeks ago and  my views have gone up astronomically since that happened.  I do not understand all of this and I'm one of those real quantitative thinkers like, like I'm a very linear thinker. need to understand.
29:56what all of it means.  And I sat down with my husband last night and I said, okay, I have updates for you about the podcast and about Facebook. And he was like, okay, and he doesn't really get it either, but I just needed to get it out of my head. And I said, the podcast is doing pretty well. I said, Facebook is doing really well. And I have no idea why I explained to him what's going on.  And he said, honey, I don't understand either. And I thought, oh no, I need to find somebody who gets this.
30:26Talk to a lady today who does get it. She's been monetized for over a year.  And she said, you will never understand it. She said they change the algorithm all the time. They change the stuff they're doing all the time.  Just ride the wave and be thankful. So that's where I'm at with it today. I'm just riding the wave and being thankful.  Yes.  Cause there's no linear, I do this and then this happens.  just, Facebook is a big social experiment and
30:54They do what they do and you get what you get is what I've come to accept.  Well, I would be happy to get $10  in June to add to the feed cost. That would be fine. I would be happy with that.  So,  um, and really it's, it's funny because a lot of the people that I talked to on the podcast, they are farmers or homesteaders or bakers, or they make things and everybody  uses Facebook and Instagram and Tik TOK.
31:24to promote what they're doing. And so it's so weird that I started the podcast to talk about old fashioned things and these  new ways of making money from old fashioned things keep coming up. Yes.  Glad they do though. I think it's great. So all right, Claire, I try to keep these to half an hour. Where can people find you if they would like to reach out?  On our Facebook page is usually the easiest place. So Hundred Acres.
31:53Meadows is our Facebook page and we usually catch messages pretty quickly on there. Good, awesome. Thank you. I really appreciate your time and I'm really glad I got a chance to talk to you and I'm so glad you told the story about your kids with the baby horse because that was a fabulous story. And as always people can find me at atinyhomesteadpodcast.com. I hope you have a great evening.
32:22You too.
 

Louis De Jaeger - SOS: Save Our Soils

Today I'm talking with Louis De Jaeger author of SOS: Save Our Soils.
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00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis.  A Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Homegrown Collective, a free to use farm to table platform, emphasizing local connections with ability to sell online, buy, sell, trade in local garden groups, and help us grow a new food system.  You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. Today I'm talking with Louis de Jaeger in Belgium.
00:29and he's an author of a book called S.O.S. Saving Our Soils. Good. I don't know what time it is in Belgium. Good day, Louis. How are you? No, very happy to be here on your podcast. It's so nice. What time is it in Belgium? It's 10, 12 here in Minnesota. Well, it's 5 p.m. 5, 12 here. So almost time for dinner. OK, so good afternoon to you, Thanks. Good morning.
00:58Thank you.  So I was very surprised when you reached out to ask about being a guest on the podcast. And then I saw what you do.  And all my surprise went away because you are trying to save the earth by teaching people about soil. Exactly. And so I would love to know what your background is and why you got involved in this in the first place. Yes. So
01:25I actually  have two grandmothers that grew up on farms  and they had to  move from the countryside to the city because there was actually no future anymore  for farming.  that actually  influenced me  until a point that when I was 18 years old, I actually wanted to become a farmer.  The only
01:48problem was is that I didn't have land anymore in the family and land is like super expensive in Belgium. It's around 100k per hectare or  like, let's say 40k per acre.  And  so  that wasn't really an option for me. And I was  kind of curious about why that is, how things are going.  And also was thinking about what kind of farmer would I like to become.
02:16For that, really was  looking for answers and the more I kept looking for answers, the more I realized that the farming system worldwide is actually pretty screwed. that the way we farm today is a  lot of the reasons we farm today as we farm today is because of governments,  of lobbyists pushing us in certain directions. actually  nobody's winning,  only big corporations and not the farmers themselves and certainly not
02:46not the consumers. So  yeah, we need to do something about that urgently.  Okay, that explains the drive for you to write this book and do all the other things you've done over the last, I don't know, 12 years.  And you're only 31. Yeah, correct. You're baby.  My daughter's 35 and she's the oldest of four. So yeah,  you could be my kid.
03:16So  what I want to know is in all your travels, because I know you've traveled a lot looking at your website,  who is doing it the best out of the worst? Well, the good news actually is that I've traveled to like half of the states in the United States. I really love America. I've also traveled to Canada, to Central America, South America.
03:41And  every country that I visited, there are farmers that are really showing that it's possible to  grow crops,  very high  yields and taking care of the planet at the same time. And also not unimportantly having more profits than their neighbors.  So that's actually the good news that there's no one country doing better.  are just like a lot of pioneers
04:09spread across the world, spread across the United States as well.  if more people would know about them,  if more farmers would see that,  like a farmer living only 50 miles away is like, gone by one Porsche car every year because of the savings and pesticides, then more people will  make a transition to a more natural way of farming.  Well, I'm glad that America doesn't
04:39fall way down at the bottom because I live in America. And my husband is a gardener. He does a farm to table garden. It's 100 feet by 150 feet. It's a little garden. We're not a farm. We're a homestead. And he uses no pesticides, no herbicides, no chemical fertilizers. As close as we get to chemical fertilizers is our chickens manure.
05:08And it works. mean,  when we don't get rain for six weeks from May to the middle of June, like we did last year,  we have a really beautiful, productive garden to the point where we have too much and we sell it. Wow, that's great. So it can be done on a small scale. For sure, we're doing it.  But  how do farmers who are doing it big scale handle this? Because
05:37For a long time in America, it has been all about weed control and  pushing bigger yields and using things that aren't good for the earth to make that happen.  how can bigger farmers do this without doing it in a bad way? Yeah, that's really an issue we need to tackle. And a lot of the time people think, well, or you go very small scale and you go regenerative.
06:05or you go very large scale and then you can't to regenerate. Well, the good news again is that you can also do it on large scale. example, let's say  a farmer that really don't live too far from me.  He has about, let's say 20 acres of land  where he grows vegetables, which is not small for like really having a lot of different vegetables.
06:33And  he has  not given any irrigation for the last 20 years.  He has  very high yields  and  the same with another farmer in  the United Kingdom in England.  Also, I think it's even bigger than that.  Every year his yields are getting bigger and he doesn't irrigate and he doesn't even use animal manure or chemical manure whatsoever.
07:01just by using wood chips that grow for free next to his  farm.  He spreads it very thinly on his fields.  He activates the microbial life, the fungi and the bacteria. And these actually create the fertilizers from the rocks. They extract it from the rocks that are in the soil and  make them accessible to the plants.  that's like vegetable growing, but  you have large scale.
07:29growers of wheat, cereals on thousands of acres,  who are showing that it's perfectly possible with high-tech machines  to sometimes even do polycultures, mix different crops together and harvest them at the same time. then  mechanically, separate the different seeds they harvest. And it's just amazing  the results they're having. And also, yeah.
07:58the bottom line, the profits they're making. It's really incredible.  Okay. So  I happened to catch your Facebook post about changing things in five years. I can't remember what exactly the title of it was.  Do you remember by any chance the name of the video that you put up about that? That you can make a transition in five years? Or  you mean with restoring water cycles and cooling down
08:27your microclimates. That one. Yeah. People think that it's too late. They think that that Earth is doomed. And I  want to make it clear in talking with you that the Earth does not need to be doomed. We are human beings and we are ingenious  and we are creative and there are ways  to still make a change so  the Earth is not doomed.
08:54and your video kind of explains some of that. So could you talk about that? Yeah, no, definitely. And that's a nice thing is that if you watch the news and we watch the news too often, in my opinion, then  you think that we're living in an apocalypse. You see  wars, see terrorism, you see shootings, you see whatever. But  the news is actually click bait.  The writers of articles are baited by
09:23how many people watch their news articles or  television shows or whatever. they actually,  the more scared they make you, the more they get paid. So step one is to  watch a little bit less news  and then try to  look at stories of  get good things going on because there are so many good things going on. And  one of these things is  the regeneration of landscapes and  also even the
09:52manipulating of the weather and most of the time when you speak about weather manipulation or climate manipulation, you think about cloud seeding.  But you can actually cloud seed by planting more trees on your property.  And that's like a relatively new theory that scientists have discovered. And it's,  it's called the biotic pump theory.  It's  the small water cycle.  What they found out is that
10:22Just like us, we humans, we sweat,  it's actually water that becomes vapor. And because of this, actually have  your warm, sweaty vapor that rises. We all have learned in schools that warm air rises, right?  It's like an air balloon, it rises  because you warm up the air. And because you have like planted trees on your property,
10:50all this sweating of the trees because trees sweat all the time.  Like hot air balloons, you have this upward motion  and the air is going upwards. And because the air is going upwards, you create a low pressure zone because everything is going upwards. And you actually pull the clouds towards you. And if  you can do that  on a large enough scale, can literally  attract the rain clouds  to make it rain.
11:18in your  region.  people have been doing this  around the world and literally being able to create more rain because it's not only  the clouds that you attract, it's also the  sweaty sweat that goes into the atmosphere when it  becomes high enough in the atmosphere, it actually transforms in rain again.  And they, for example, did some experiments, they checked
11:47the rainfall and they checked like the isotopes of  the raindrops and they found out that  sometimes up  to 50 % of the rain that's falling on earth is actually created by a tree and doesn't come from the ocean, for example. So if you want more rain, if you want more  steady climate, we actually have to integrate more trees in our landscapes and you can do this like having hedge rows or having riparian buffers or creating
12:16a food forest or agroforestry having  between your rows of annual crops, can have bushes or trees and that's also a win-win for a farmer because then you  bet on different horses at the same time.  Yes, exactly. And I wanted you to explain it because you understand it far better than I do.  So  let's get to your book for a second. Your book, S.O.S. Saving Our Soils.
12:45is coming out June 24th, is that right? Yeah, correct. Yeah. Okay.  And  is it, I  don't want to say this, it's to sound snotty.  Is it very sciency or is it where someone who has no science background can read it and go, yeah, that makes sense. I want to try this.  Very good question.  Well, actually to
13:09To give a funny answer to your question, I sometimes get attacked by scientists because I try to explain things too simple.  And that's exactly what I've done with the book.  try to  have a very scientific, difficult stuff, try to explain it with as simple as possible that even a 10 year old can understand it.  Because science is great, of course, but if you  read a scientific paper, it's
13:38almost impossible to read. You need to explain things  as simple as possible. And that's why I make a lot of comparisons  with things that are super easy, understandable.  Good, because  in my experience, I'm a reader. I really, really do love to read and I have been getting into like historical stuff lately.  written, I've read.
14:06two books on President Lincoln's  presidency lately, just because they came through as something that I could get my hands on. And I've never been interested in President Lincoln in my whole life, other than the fact that he's on the penny.  And these books were fabulous. Like I learned so  much, so many things that I didn't know about  the Civil War, the part Lincoln played in that, blah, blah. And you're not from America, so I don't know how much you know about this, but.
14:36Either way, sometimes a book hits you when you need it the most.  And so what I want for this one for you is that it hits people  now  when they don't even know they need it so that it can sit in the back of their brain and percolate. Yeah, definitely. And  that's so true. We need to touch people with emotions and not facts and figures.  It's important, of course, to that these facts and figures are some place and  scientists use
15:05these facts and figures. Otherwise, I wouldn't dare sit in an airplane, for example.  We need numbers, otherwise our airplanes would crash.  But  like you say, we have to emotionally  connect with people. And the best way to do that is via stories, is to tell stories about how farmers have overcome their struggles, how farmers have really thought out of the box. And also by understanding very simple concepts,
15:35For example, that's why the title I think everybody knows  SOS save our souls.  That's, that's  something you learn from a very early age. A lot of people even know the Morse code for it.  And  that's why I chose the title SOS save our soils,  because it's actually the same.  And that's  if that's  concept if I only like have one concept that sticks in the people
16:05minds that saving our soils is saving our souls.  That is  actually exactly the same thing than I'm already a super happy guy.  Yes,  and I'm glad you said it that way because  most people do not understand that our soil is where everything springs from.  Water, food, animals, everything.
16:32And if our soil dies, we're  dead. Yeah, that's so true.  It's the air we breathe, it's  everything. Yeah. And so if you want to explain why that's all true, because I know, but I'm terrible explaining it.  Yeah, no, of course.  Well, it's even just the reason that life became to exist on planet Earth.
16:59You know, at the very beginning, the earth was just one giant rock was all rocky, there was no soil. And when there is no soil, no plants can live. And if there's there are no plants, it's hard to have even oxygen on this planet, you have some oxygen from the plants living in the sea from the plankton.  But  you need you need soil. And it's actually the plants that that created the soil by
17:27by working together with fungi and bacteria, by grinding the rocks.  And when the plants died,  it's like organic materials,  very rich in carbon. They mixed together with these  grinded stones and that's how soils were formed.  And because of that, there are larger and larger animals that could be supported. If  there was never soil, there would maybe only be ants on this planet or like little creatures, but it's because
17:57these plants kept on grinding the rocks together with all the microorganisms  and kept on dying too,  together with animals dying as well and kept on mixing to create richer and richer soils, permitting bigger plants like bushes and trees to form.  And then the animals could become larger and larger. And one day the monkeys  started to develop and these monkeys turned into humans.
18:27And that made sure that we humans actually are what we are. If we  didn't have soil, we wouldn't have trees.  And if we wouldn't have trees, we wouldn't have hands. Because the reason we have hands is because monkeys like to climb in trees.  That's actually how our hands were formed. So no soil, no tree, no human. And today, the air we breathe comes from the plants that live in the soil and the food we eat, of course.
18:56come from the soil. But it's more than just the food we eat, because the problem is with us humans is that we don't have microscope eyes, we can only see big things, we can only see the apple we're eating. But we don't realize that if you go in the  nature and you pick a wild apple or a wild pow pow,  or another wild vegetable or fruit, if you would have a microscope with you, you would see that this apple is full with
19:26microorganisms full with little creatures living on that apple. And the first time people hear this, they are often very shocked because they're afraid of these little animals.  And then I always tell them a very shocking truth that a lot of people are very shocked to hear for the first time.  And that is that we actually are no humans. We actually exist of  more non-human cells.
19:56than human cells.  And that's a crazy thing to wrap your head around. We're like  vehicles of little creatures living inside of us.  And they're actually the ones that keep us healthy. Imagine you have the  humanity and  our ancestors and the primates before us. For the last hundreds of thousands of years, they've been putting all kinds of things in their mouths from leaves to
20:24little eggs to worms to  whatever and and all these plants or things they put in their mouth was full of  of these little microorganisms, these little creatures and they said, Hey, Mary, if I can stay in your body, I will take more iron out of your broccoli. Can I stay in your body? What do you say? Yeah.  And then then that's type of creature installs themselves in your body and now is
20:53responsible for more iron uptake and you're very happy that little creature is happy.  And then another one comes in and says, Oh, I can protect your guts against intruders. Can I stay, Mary? Uh huh.  And before you knew it, hundreds of thousand years passed, a lot of negotiations happened.  And our guts now are like brimming of these little creatures.  an important fact is our guts are
21:21It's actually perforated. It has these little holes inside of it.  And it needs to have a lining of bacteria  that actually stop the bad guys from coming in. And because we live so  sterile nowadays, we use too many hand gels, we use pesticides on our food. We don't get all these loads of microorganisms of bacteria  inside of us. So they're going away. And that makes our
21:51gut unprotected. So these little  perforations in our guts actually are now  unprotected than are these little holes now that can leak stuff. And then you get a leaky gut, for example. And before you know it,  you get a chronicle disease. Why? Just because you don't have this microorganisms, this connection with the soil. And the thing is, of course, these microorganisms, they all live in the soil. So if you go and do
22:19chemical warfare and you start nuking the soil, then yeah, they all will run away and they won't be on your food anymore. So if you put an apple in your mouth that has been sprayed 25 times with pesticides, no organism is left on it. And then our guts are becoming more more empty of these beneficial little creatures and we all get sick basically. Yeah.
22:46Absolutely. And you did a fabulous job of explaining that as a story because you could have done that in very scientific terms and people would have zoned out after one minute. So  I appreciate the fact that you, that you made it a story and you made it actually kind of cute.  Yeah. People don't,  I don't want to say all people cause that's not true, but
23:10So many people don't understand the system that nature put in place in the beginning.  And they don't understand that scientists have tried to thwart that system  for a very long time. And my theory is if it isn't broken, don't fix it.  know, nature knows what she's doing.  We  used to go camping at this very rustic campground. Like it had  the two sets of bathrooms, you  know.
23:40Two for  dudes, two for girls  on opposite sides of the campground.  And there was like a fire pit so you could  cook over an open fire. And there was a pad to put your tent on. And I loved this place.  And they ran out of money. It's a state run campground. And it closed down.  And I drive by there now and then and nature has taken it back over. You would never know there had been campsites there.
24:10And the other thing is, if you go hiking, you know,  I'm sure that you've been hiking in the woods.  If you go to woods that are not traveled very often,  mostly the only places that things don't grow is where the animals have made trails through like deer,  deer trails, because nature abhors a vacuum. She wants to fill in everything  with
24:35little lives. It doesn't matter if it's bugs or plants or animals.  She's going to fill that gap. Yeah, definitely. So I don't know where I was going with that, but I thought I was thinking about it this morning. I missed that campground so much. It was so much fun to go there.  Camping is just the most magical thing ever, sleeping under the stars  and being in  nature during the evenings because we tend to spend so much time inside of boxes.
25:05Sometimes we have forget their connection with nature. We need to go more camping.  Yeah, even if it's not camping, just go for a day trip and go hiking.  Be out in trees and grass and air that's open.  It's really important because
25:29Not only is it important for your soul, but it's important for your body because if you're outside hiking, you're probably going to be in the sun for a little bit.  And the sun provides vitamin D, which is really good for your body. They're portuting the sun as something dangerous  and everything in  big doses is dangerous. Even if you drink too much water, you will die.  We need sunlight to be healthy. have been nurses who actually put their patients
25:58in the sun  for a while  to treat their ailments and they actually have  a higher rate of getting better and they get better faster.  nature is actually one of the biggest  healers out there. Well, very interesting thing as well is  if you go into the forest, you have this phytoncides, it's these  chemical substances that trees emit and they actually are very good for your health.
26:28And so  doctors should prescribe more forests.  Yes, I agree. I think you're right. And in Japan, they're doing it. So it's  there. The doctors literally prescribe and say, hey, guy,  you need to go more to the forest here than forest first visits.  Get outside.  exactly.  Before we moved here, we moved to our new house like almost five years ago.
26:57And when we were looking at where we wanted to move to buy a new house,  my husband floated Alaska.  And, I said, absolutely not because I can't spend four months in darkness.  I can't, I will die.  And he was like, people do it all the time. People live in Alaska. I was like, no,  no,  I don't want to live where I don't see the sunshine for more than an hour and a half a day,  four months out of the year. This is not a cool thing with me.
27:26So we ended up staying here.  I really love bright  sun, shiny days. There we go.  I also love a good soft rain day where it's just kind of sprinkly all day.  Yeah.  Cause we need that too. It has been dry for three months now here and we finally had our first days of rain after three months and we were so happy  for all the plants. It's crazy.
27:56Yeah. Also, that actually leads me to a good question and a good way to wrap up the interview.  Why  do you think that the weather patterns have been  so insane over the last couple of years? Because you were just saying you guys haven't had rain for three months.  Well, it's all about land management. Of course,  we have changing weather patterns because of the climate is literally warming up.
28:25But also because  the land management,  when I was traveling to the United States, first of all, I was  so impressed by the beauty everywhere.  But I was also impressed by the history,  more specifically the Dust Bowl.  That was really a story that shocked me and that really that I felt that that is a very big trauma for a lot of families and
28:55One of the stories I heard was that if you would cut down a tree,  you would be sent to jail.  One guy told me because they all knew that the trees actually  would keep the soil together and would prevent these dustballs. But  we are humans sometimes have a very short term memory and kind of forgot about the dustball. I have the feeling because like only a couple of days ago I was talking to a
29:23to an American and she said that  her home village just had a very severe dust storm,  very, very severe. And she was saying that,  look,  this is the dust bowl happening all over again.  We're just waiting for it to happen. But it doesn't have to be that way. We can  really influence the climate by turning our soils into sponges.
29:52And one of the easiest things  to do that is  to have different farming methods to stop ploughing the soil or ploughing less to using more cover crops to having hedgerows to planting trees in between  row crops.  these actually slow down the wind. even stop disease from flying in your fields. For example, the potato disease, fitoptera,  it stops the
30:21the spores of the bad fungi  so it doesn't  get in your fields and kills your potatoes. So you don't have to  use chemicals anymore. once you  save your soil,  it becomes a sponge. All these little  soil microorganisms, they come again, they reproduce, they become bigger in numbers and they will have the plants to grow higher.
30:51a big aha moment for me was when I learned more about how fungi  work together with plant roots. Like I'm sitting here right now on my desk and I want to have a  glass of water, but I can't get it because it's like the other side of the house. So imagine if I could make my arm 100 times longer and I could just reach for that glass. Wouldn't that be fantastic?  Plant root, it can just do that. It can make  roots.
31:19100 times longer just by working together, collaborating with this fungi.  So these fungal spores, make like this tiny roots to get water from huge depths to  suck the water up. And that already  puts the plants in touch with much deeper water layers. And because of this connection, these plants will be able to grow bigger, will be able to sweat more.
31:47And like what we talked about just before, when they sweat more, they'll have more sweaty air going like air balloons in the air and will attract more rain.  by that, we can actually stabilize the climate. should have this, like  a lot of people actually are  sometimes discussing about climate change. met farmers in the US who say, it's all a hoax and  other farmers swear that it's changing. to be honest,
32:16I don't even care what people think. We all agree on that we want clean air. We all agree on that we want a healthy soil. We all agree on that we want clean water.  We all agree on that we don't want any droughts.  So we have to just focus on the solution, no matter what we believe. And it all actually comes together with something that I really love  from my time in the United States is  the striving for freedom.
32:46I think it's a very universal thing, correct me if I'm wrong, that in America, freedom is like something very important to most of us. And it all comes down to freedom. Me too. Again, that's why I love America and the American people. I  want freedom. And if you look at, what does it mean, freedom? It means that I can do whatever I want.  And one of the  prerequisites to do whatever you want is
33:15to be healthy. If you're not healthy, if you have to lay in bed or can't move or are have to sit on the toilet all day, you're not free. That's the opposite of freedom. Then you can say, woohoo, freedom, but I have to stay in my bed. No, that doesn't work that way.  Or, oh my God, I just had a  giant flood that destroyed my entire house.  like almost my all my savings  are now gone because I have to replace all my furniture and appliances and I have to
33:45put a new windows, there goes my freedom.  Or, or my harvest just there are like, there was a hail storm as big as giant tennis balls and, and destroyed my harvest. Well, where is your freedom? It's gone.  like, treating the soil in a better way  is the only way to really achieve this freedom. Because if our souls turn into sponges, we'll have
34:14we  have a better resistance against droughts and we have more freedom. If we stop using pesticides and  herbicides and we have less disease, have less Alzheimer's and less Parkinson's and even less miscarriages because if you're a woman and you're pregnant and you're exposed to pesticides, the chances to have a miscarriage  or a child with autism or with another,  even with brain damage.
34:42It's so much bigger if you live near  places where they use pesticides. It's crazy.  And then where is your freedom if you have a child  and you have to go into hospitals every three months  by freedom? And  it's all these things, human health, climate,  regulation, it all  goes back to a healthy soil. And  in order to create a world where freedom is a possibility, then...
35:11Having a good soil is like the most important thing there is. It's step one. Yes.  All right, Louis, thank you so much for your time. can people find you?  Well, can find me on LinkedIn or go to my website, very easy, louisdj.com. I'm not a real DJ. It's just my last  name. Or they can find the book SOS, Save Our Soils on Amazon.  yeah, just say hello on social media or via my website.
35:41Yeah, and I'm assuming you're cool with answering questions if someone wants to reach out. Yeah, definitely.  Yeah. Great. Thank you.  All right. I appreciate your time so much, Louis. As always, people can find me at atinyhomesteadpodcast.com.  Have a great evening. Yes, well, very nice to meet you, Mary. You too. All right. Bye-bye.
 

Moon Ridge Acres - Becca Hammon

Today I'm talking with Becca at Moon Ridge Acres. You can follow on Facebook as well.
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00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis.  A Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Homegrown Collective, a free-to-use farm-to-table platform emphasizing local connections with ability to sell online, buy, sell, trade in local garden groups, and help us grow a new food system.  You can find them at homegrowncollective.org.
00:25Today I'm talking with Becca at Moon Ridge Acres in Alberta, Canada? Yes,  that's right. Yes, okay.  Good afternoon, Becca. How are you?  I'm great. How are you? I'm good. It's a gray, drizzly kind of day here in Minnesota. What's it doing in Alberta? It is actually sun, shiny, and beautiful. After a mega thunderstorm last night,  it's actually quite lovely. The birds are chirping. Everyone is.
00:53Seemingly good the calm after the storm, I Yeah, the weather has been absolutely insane everywhere  this past weekend was Memorial Day weekend here in the States and In Minnesota where I am Friday and Saturday and Sunday were absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous days Right that doesn't usually happen. Usually one day of Memorial Day weekend is a washout and it didn't happen
01:21That's impressive. Our, our May Long was like last weekend and it was  absolutely frozen. It was so cold. It was like,  it was terrible. We couldn't do anything.  Oh, God, mother, mother nature.  didn't get snow though, which is,  you know,  it is normal for us to get snow on May Long. We say we don't plant our gardens until after May Long  and we didn't get snow, but it was like in the, in the single digit.
01:50So it felt very cold, but today it is, oh, it's got to be close to 20 degrees already. Which is what in Fahrenheit? Because I'm really bad at it. I'm really bad at it too. I would say that's like 45, 50, I think. Warmish. It's warmish there. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Wait.
02:16Yeah,  I could be wrong on the conversion. I'm sure someone will correct me. I can always look it up and put it in the show notes and be like, here's the chart that says what's it actually is.  When I went to the US, my car had this really handy feature that it just converted it automatically for me, which was so handy. And it's funny how quickly I was able to go from Celsius into
02:46um, the Imperial system and then,  and then back and it just felt totally normal with that, you know, system in my car. But like, if you asked me to convert it like right now,  there's no way.  Yeah. And one of my best friends is from Canada and you would, I've known her for over 20 years. You would think that I would have made a point of learning this, but I still haven't. It's terrible.
03:09And my parents are old enough that they still use the Imperial system for like 90 % of things. Like the metric system was kind of imposed upon them  like after they were out of school. So they're still very much on the Imperial system. They're always talking in Fahrenheit and I'm like, what?  And you'd think I would pick up on it, you know, but no, like I'm, I got Celsius on the brain, but I use inches though, which is a very Canadian thing to do.
03:39Yeah, I feel like whatever you're first introduced to, like I am not a Macintosh computer kind of girl. I really do like Windows. Right. And I tried using a Macintosh Apple as they were known when I was in school and that was a very long time ago. I'm 55, you can do the math. And I can do it.
04:06but it's like retraining my brain to find where files are if I use that. So yeah, it's what you're introduced to as a brand new thing, what you tend to gravitate towards. So, okay, so got the weather covered, got the small talk covered. You have been going through some fits and issues with Facebook lately. Did you want to vent for a couple of minutes about that? Oh, absolutely. I would love to.
04:36So as a Canadian, when it comes to content creation across social media, we are very limited in what we can access for monetization. We don't get paid for TikTok. And then we have Facebook and YouTube.
04:57I believe Instagram also monetizes, but I don't think Instagram pays very well. think Instagram is very much targeted for  like attracting brands to do brand deals.  And for me,  as a millennial where Facebook was like the OG platform, actually like just be like, we were just saying, I love creating on Facebook. I love that there's multiple different,  um,
05:25like ways, like I can do text, can do photo, I can do groups, I love Facebook. So that is where I've put a ton of my effort. I'm also on TikTok and TikTok is fantastic for like discoverability. The algorithm is absolutely great for getting you in front of new people. But again, I can't monetize my TikTok and TikTok is also really great for like filming face to camera videos.
05:55It's just very user friendly and  I'm  old enough that I struggle with technology, but like young enough to have a general grasp. um,  so I, I  often repost my TikToks over to Facebook and I bring all of my content over to Facebook, but Facebook is where I've put my heart and soul  because I genuinely really liked the platform  and YouTube is a whole other beast  of,  you know,
06:23needing to be prepared and having to  really, um, just like pre-plan your content and doing this long form stuff and like the editing and the amount of work that goes into a YouTube video is like at least five times more than what goes into a TikTok.  Absolutely. Yes. Yes, it is. It's, it's, it's a lot.  So  as a one person show who has two kids, who has like also running the farm on the side of things,
06:53I've really put my heart and soul into Facebook and I got monetized on Facebook last year. I think it was around March where I made my first like $5. I was like, oh my gosh, it's working. And of course you can't get paid out until you reach a certain threshold, which I think is $100. And I finally had a viral video on Facebook in June of last year.
07:23and I got like $125 and I thought I was a rock star.  And  that's 125 USD.  So in Canada, I really was a rock star. That was like 200 bucks.  And so I was doing, was  like, things were good. And after that point,  I started seeing fairly consistent income. Again, it was not like life-changing money by any means,  but it was,  you know, okay, like now I can buy.
07:51Uh, you know, that covers my feed store trip or that covers whatever. And the job that I had been working at previously, um, I was school bus driving and as someone with ADHD, the like school bus driving, was waking up in the morning. think that was really the hardest part. Um, I am a night owl. stay up till two in the morning.
08:18whether I want to or not.  waking up at five in the morning every day, getting two kids into the bus and like they were coming with me  and it just,  it made me kind of like,  hate my life. I was miserable.  I was tired all the time. I wasn't enjoying the horses anymore. And it was around this time when I like started considering purchasing George  and I was like, what if, you know,
08:47I could get this really amazing little horse  and  also potentially boost my social media enough that I don't have to continue bus driving.  That's all I wanted. I just wanted to replace that income.  And  sure enough, I ended up saying,  let's do it. Let's invest in this little horse that could be a great asset to my breeding program,  but also be an investment in my social media business.
09:17And it worked. It was exactly as I hoped it would be.  I started really seeing  that replacement income  in around September, October.  Like, again, it wasn't a full replacement, but it was enough to say like, okay, this is possible. Sure.  And like clockwork, those every month that those funds would would come into my account as  as they were supposed to and never had a hitch.
09:46So  December rolled around, same thing. Everything was going great. At this point, George had almost paid for himself.  And I was gearing up to like go pick him up in Tennessee from Katie Van Syke.  so  January,  so the way Facebook works, I'm not sure if you're familiar, but you get paid for the month prior.
10:15on the  21st  of the month. So on January  21st, I would be getting paid for December. Right, yep.  And  December was my first like  very, like very good payment, like over four figures. is,  know, yeah, right? Like it was good money.  And I was like super excited.  And  I  was met with  an error from
10:44from Facebook and said the payment didn't go through.  You need to update your payment method, which is  odd because I hadn't changed my payout method. Everything had remained the same. So  I  contacted support  and they were like, oh, just update it. Like maybe it's a glitch and you know, like it just needs you to like reenter it. Okay, cool. So I do that.  And then they're like, well, now you have to wait until February.
11:13because we only process payments once a month.  Oh, man.  Which at this time, so I'm gearing up to go get George. have this big trip to Tennessee. In my head, I'm like, all right, well, that's a great way for me to not spend that money, right? Like, sure, it's in the bank  and I'll save it for the trip. That's no problem.  And so February rolls around, same problem.  And  I'm like, okay.  So at this point,  I
11:43subscribe to MetaVerified, which is the little blue check mark, which is like a stupid amount of money every month.  And the reason I did this was because they say enhance support, like you get to actually talk to a person instead of a robot. So I was like, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to go ahead and do that.  And I did that, filed the new support team  and they looked into it and they were like, Oh yeah, like it looks like there was like some kind of error.  So
12:11just re-enter your information again and it looks like that problem is fixed. Which sounds a lot like the first story, right?  But again, I'm like, okay, well this is a real person this time because I was not sure the first time.  And so I did as they instructed and then again, oh, now you're gonna have to wait until March.  And.
12:33So that was very frustrating considering I was leaving to get Georgian March and I would be in Tennessee when that payment was supposed to come into my account. Yeah. And so that was stressful in itself being like, am I going to get this money while I'm down there? Because I had  hoped to do some shopping in the US and  have a really fun trip.
13:02Um, so I was, I, you know, just made sure that if it didn't come through, that I was going to be okay to get home and whatever.  But I said, let's, let's go. If I end up not being able to shop down there, I guess that's, that's the worst worst case scenario. Right.  And so  sure enough, March  21st, same error.  And at this point I'm like, well, that's disappointing. Like I just did.
13:30all of these miles, like I had so many things I wanted to buy in the US because you guys just have so much more accessibility to  everything.  Like  I went into tractor supply and I probably could have filled my horse trailer with just stuff that we don't even have available here. Yep.  And  so I again contacted support  and they this time they were like, Oh, this has been happening.
13:59You know, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna pass you on to a specialized team  and we're gonna get this sorted out. Okay, great. So  I  go,  like I'm continuing on my trip to go get George. I  just carry on.  And I think it was a week and a half  before  they  finally reached back out to me because mind you,
14:24They have you on this chat. say they've passed you to a specialized unit  and then they mute your conversation. So you can't even like say, hey, like just wanting to follow  up, just, you know,  you know, there's none of that. No, it's muted. It's like, this is an automated message. We'll get back to you when we're ready. And it's like, cool, cool, It's like, hurry up and wait. So  I  carry on the trip  and I can't even remember when they finally got back to me.
14:52I think I was already back in Canada and  they said, okay,  we're not sure why this isn't working with your PayPal. So  can, you have a bank account you can use? Try that.  Okay,  sure. So I open up a USD bank account because we can only receive  payments  in  U S dollar. I opened that up with my bank.
15:18and I put all the information in  and  set it all up and sure enough, wait till April 21st.  So.  Becca,  this is getting real long.  So you still haven't been paid yet, yes or no? No, no. Okay. I did some research yesterday after I saw the other posts you shared from the other creator that hasn't been paid. Really? And I looked up.
15:45Why is Facebook not paying creators? And if you look it up, there's a party line on a couple different results that say that Facebook is looking into changing how they're doing this. Why I wanted you to share is because this is why it's never a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket to be a homestead quote here. you're not doing that.
16:12proud of you for realizing that you can't necessarily always count the chickens before they hatch.  Right. But what a freaking mess. I'm sorry you're going through it.  Yeah. And  I just got to the point where I can receive stars on my Facebook page. Right.  And I looked it up and  oh, you have to actually, as someone who wants to give stars to a creator, you have to buy the stars. Oh yes. Great. Fantastic.
16:42So,  if you are a Facebook creator who just got the ability to receive stars and haven't received any, that's probably why, because people are probably pretty stingy with who they give stars to.  Oh, absolutely.  Another thing, I just wanted to throw it out there.  When you mentioned that they were switching how they were doing things, they switched from the performance bonus program  to content monetization.
17:11If I remember correctly, I joined the content monetization program last December. So I am almost certain that this is a content monetization problem,  specifically with amounts over four figures.  probably. So I think I think there's something there.  And unfortunately,  we're it's just a waiting game until they figure out what the heck's going on.  I do think I'll get it. I'm not I'm not worried about that. I'm just like how
17:40You know, like right now I'm prepping for horse shows  and I'm like, well,  that was kind of the money that I was going to use for my entry fees and all of that stuff. So now I'm having to pivot and do a whole bunch of other things that  to try and generate enough money to  continue on doing what I wanted to do with my money that I should have.  Yes, exactly. So  17 minutes in,  I'm going to back us both up a little bit.
18:08I thought- So sorry. No, that's okay. That's okay. I gave you the floor and you took it and  people should know. People should said you wanted to vent and I'm like, I will tell you the whole story. Yeah. People should know that being a content creator is not all candy and hearts and roses. It's work and you should be paid for your work.  So, I'm to back us up to the beginning. You and I spoke back in January of this year, first time we'd ever spoken. So this is a catch up episode.
18:37Becca's had a lot going on.  mentioned Katie Van Slyke back in the first episode because I'm a fan of Katie and so is Becca.  Becca basically told me that Katie Van Slyke was her  inspiration for getting into raising mini horses. So that's what Becca does. Becca raises mini horses and now we're caught up. So you went  in March to buy
19:05George, a baby mini horse from Katie van Slyke.  And it was an adventure from what I saw on Facebook. So, so go ahead and take another 10 minutes and tell me about that trip.  All right. Well, I'll try to be a little bit more, more concise with it.  Um,  it was, it was a fantastic trip. We left Alberta and I was traveling alone with my two kids,  um,  pulling the horse trailer and I traveled,  uh,
19:34all the way down to Oklahoma with another miniature stallion that a friend had sold to someone in Oklahoma.  So that helped cover  most of the cost of the trip down,  which was really, really nice. But traveling with kids, we ended up not being able to do quite as many miles as I had anticipated. So we did have like a little bit more,  like I think there was an extra stop from what I had originally planned, which just
20:04because  instead of driving 12 hours, we were driving nine,  right? so  we got into Montana. Montana is absolutely beautiful. We didn't have any crazy weather.  And then  as we're leaving Montana to get to,  our goal was to get down to Colorado that second day, but we got stopped in Sheridan, Wyoming. There was a freak blizzard  and  the roads were closed.
20:34because apparently in the US you guys close roads.  We sure do.  And we find it so funny because like I understand that  the wind  is a large factor in a lot of these spaces, but like here I don't think I've ever seen a road closed unless there was a major accident.  And  like we drive in like absolutely crazy weather all the time, but that's just normal to us.  So.
21:03That  was an interesting thing, but I'm glad that it happened where it did because Sheridan actually ended up being probably one of my favorite stops.  I just really enjoyed that little town. was like very cowpoke country. Like it feels like you could ride your horse down the street in the middle of the day in the summer and it would be totally normal.  I  loved it. So  after that,  we...
21:30Um, we went down to Colorado. There was some major like wind issues, but we never actually hit any of the wind issues. We darted across, uh, Kansas and down to, um, is that, is it Oklahoma? That's right below Kansas. I think so. Right. I am. I think so. It's been a long time. I've taught a geography, but I think so. Yeah.
21:56Okay, so from Kansas down to Oklahoma, we dropped Titan off  and then we took a little little side quest to Texas,  which is where my friend  Nicole.  Um, Pierce all lives.  So if you don't know Nicole,  she is DVM miniatures. She's  just got like, she's got some freaky horses. Like they are so unbelievably gorgeous.
22:26Um,  I know last year, I think  her horses were  like winning the grand champions at both,  um,  the  AMHR nationals and the AMHA worlds. Like she had quite a lot  of, uh, grand champion wins  and she's got this  like elite breeding farm down in Texas and miniature horses. was like, of course.
22:53I need to go see her and she does like TikTok and Facebook as well.  So  we stopped there. I got to like learn all about  her breeding program and just like finally meet her. Cause we've been friends on social media for a while.  And  honestly, that was incredible. I got to snuggle all the cute little babies  and  just spend a couple of days there with them.  And  then we had to  rush to get to Tennessee because there was like
23:23800 million tornado warnings.  Yes. Yes. I remember reading about that. Yes. was so many tornadoes and like somehow I made it through  all of them  and we got to Tennessee. We picked up George.  I  didn't spend a whole lot of time at Katie's.  She strikes me as a very, very busy woman.  I feel like she's got a lot going on even with the help that she does have.
23:53a lot going on all the time.  Absolutely. Like she's,  she is busy and I could just feel that vibe when I was like, I think I'm busy.  And so we picked up George  and George was very nervous. That was his first time on the trailer. So  we could have made it a little bit further that night, but I decided, you know what, we're just going to find a hotel in the area  and let George be in the trailer  and have a minute.
24:23because  he was just vibrating in his boots. He had no idea what was happening.  he  was, how old was he? So he was born in July of last year. So in March, he would have been, what is that, eight months? Yeah, about. Yeah. So still a baby, but you know, like he grew up there  and he'd never been off the farm. So hopping into a trailer with people you don't know, like that's a lot.  And so we just parked it and
24:52you know, tried to get to know him for the night  and  whatever. So after that we  carried  on, um, driving  north. headed straight north because I had a mayor in Niagara falls that I have wanted for three years. I am absolutely in love with this mayor. She is the mother to  my, um, my other stallion, Max.
25:20she's just, she's stunning, she's gorgeous and I've wanted her forever. So I said, you know what, I'm going to go up through Canada because at this time we were also concerned about the tariffs.  yes, yes, I remember. remember you, I,  uh,  I can't talk.  messaged you and said, you buying George from Katie van Slyke? And you said yes. And you had said something to me, I think about wanting to get him before the tariff situation went into effect.
25:49Right. Because at that time, I think they were set to go in  on April 2nd and no one knew  what it was going to mean for like livestock.  Right? Like it was very up in the air. No one had any idea. Whatever. So I was like, you know, let's just dart across the border, get back into Canada. I don't want to pay tariffs on him.  And  that's what I did. So I got into Canada and then we were met with some serious weather.
26:18Because Canada.  And we were, I think we were parked  for a full week, basically just kind of hanging out in Ontario  and,  you know, doing our thing in the hotel. was honestly so relaxing. I,  I enjoyed it. I'm not going to lie. It was, it was nice breakfast made out for dinner. Like  I spent all of my money in Canada.  You, you had a, you had a mini vacation.
26:47I did. was, you know, in the States, I was being so frugal because I was like, we need to get home. And then by time I got to Canada, I was just like, whatever, let's go out to eat. Let's,  let's just enjoy this.  And we stayed there for quite some time. had an ice storm that had like  half an inch of ice on the side of my car. was absolutely crazy.  Um, and then after we got through Ontario, which is where all the nasty weather happened, then it was.
27:17pretty smooth sailing and we got home and  George is, George took no time at all to settle in. He's just  out here living his best life.  Like he was here his whole life. Like he's my best buddy. He's an absolute pocket pony. He just wants to be my best friend  and I love that. That's  exactly what I was hoping he would be.
27:40And I love that for you. And that's not the snarky. love that for you. That's the I actually love that for you. That's fantastic.  I have a question about George.  His registered name is RS King of the North. Is that right? It's RS Ruler of the North. Ruler of the North. Sorry. Ruler of the North. Yes, because his sire  is  Oak Bay Salsa's Cardinal Rule. Yeah. And his bar name is Ruler.
28:09His sire is  the main reason that I really  wanted George is his sire is pretty spectacular.  And  we thought it was fitting to have ruler of the North because  Katie kept referring to him as, you're to go be king of the North, you know, and  I thought it was cute. was like, cause I had no idea what to call them.  And that one just kind of fit and I love it.  So my question is,
28:36How come I know RS stands for running Springs. So how come it's RS and not whatever your  your thing is. Because it was he was bred by Katie. Okay.  So and I think I think with the minis she's going with  running Springs ruler of the north as opposed to RS because  in miniature horses with naming them we have like 36 characters as opposed to quarter horses who only have like 20.
29:04So we can be a lot more outlandish with our names. And I am almost certain that I've seen names longer than the 36 characters. So I don't, I'm not even sure if the registries care. Okay. Okay. And sorry, sorry if I screw up names and things. I follow you. I follow Katie. I just started following the one you mentioned in Texas. just started following Nicole. Yes. Yes.
29:28And it's only because you guys are so freaking entertaining and the babies are so cute that I follow you because I don't have any interest in getting mini horses. I'm good.  Right. But those baby horses are the sweetest freaking things I've ever seen when they're  on another level. And Nicole and I, we might be slightly biased, but we did agree that miniature horses  are cuter than big coals  any, any day of the week. are so stinking cute.  And the,
29:57Like now, like I used to love big foals, but now I see them and they just don't do it quite the same for me. To me, the mini foals  look kind of goofy, like stuffed animals. Yeah, yeah, like they're almost like cartoonish. Yeah, and the regular size foals look like deer to me.  And so I think it's the cartoonish stuffed animal thing with the minis that gets me. they are just...
30:25They're so beautiful, but they're so goofy looking. Yeah, yeah.  Yeah, no, I am a huge fan of  my mini babies.  Yeah. And I don't want to make you sad, but I also don't want people to think this is all starlight and roses and candy.  You also had a  pretty serious loss a month or so ago.  Yeah, it was, oh, that was honestly...
30:50I've dealt with a lot of loss in my life, but that one was especially hard because that...  So for those that don't know,  our mayor, Angie,  she was, know, due any day, I was right outside. I had just checked on her  and,  you know, not a hair out of place, nothing looking abnormal. And  I  was  putting eye drops in our other fool's eye because she had an eye ulcer.
31:19You know, that takes a few minutes because we needed to  do the drop separately.  So we were kind of  doing that  and I look over  and  Andrew's having this dang thing. And I race over to her  and  this thing is limp.  It's  just, it's not responding. my best guess is that it was a red bag delivery. And with red bags, you can be there in the room and still have it not.
31:49end up good.  But it just kills me that I was right there.  And maybe I could have made a difference. Maybe I couldn't have. It's hard to say.  But  the icing on the cake was that foal  was our  only foal that we were able to get this year from  our late stallion SRF Premier who  was this
32:14gorgeous, gorgeous little buckskin stallion. was 28 inches tall and he passed away last fall due to complications with Cushing's disease  or equine PPID.  And it just killed me because he got one pregnant and it was that one that we lost. that  is  just heartbreaking.  Heartbreaking is the best way to put it.
32:42That one messed me up.  I'm so glad that my next two falls after that  were completely smooth without a hitch,  not a single problem. Like they  were beautiful and textbook.  And I'm grateful for that because I had some serious anxiety after, after Angie, because  again, I'm one person doing this. I don't have a team.  I do need to sleep at some point.  Um,  and
33:11You know, it just,  I was right there and that sucks. will haunt me for a very long time knowing that I was  right there and maybe could have made a difference. But  the coulda, shoulda, woulda's don't bring anything back. And unfortunately life goes on very quickly on the farm.
33:33Okay, so I'm just one person. I need to sleep at some point, but trying to be there for these mayors when they foal and all of the things that go along with foaling, it's ideal if you can be there 24-7. And one day I hope that I will be able to hire foal monitors and...
34:00all of those things that can like better enable me to  be there  like right as things start to progress. But unfortunately, the reality is like you can only do what you can with what you have.  And  when you're  starting from the ground up,  kind of like I am, like  I have a lot of support and I'm very blessed in that way,  but  I'm not someone who was given
34:28you know, all of these alerts and systems to get started with. So it's something that we have to build up to and it'll haunt me forever knowing that  I was  quite literally right there  and this still happened and that we lost that beautiful baby.  And  it is what it is. Unfortunately, life goes on very, very quickly on the farm and you just have to learn to cry your tears  and  wipe them away and get on with your day.
34:58And that's one of the hardest things about this life  is.  Yeah. And except that you didn't necessarily do anything wrong.  Right. You have no idea why that baby died. Exactly. It could have been something completely genetic. We will never know.  And  it's unfortunate  trying to separate yourself because it's so easy to blame yourself and so easy to
35:26think of the woulda, coulda, shoulda's,  but unfortunately all you can do  is learn  and  hope to  hell next time you look over a minute sooner. It's  just sad. Yeah. Well, just so you know, I saw the video you posted about that and you were crying and I was crying with you. Oh.  And I am like a really soft heart. I've said this on the podcast a bunch of times.
35:55When our first barn cat got hit by a car and died, I cried for hours.  And there was nothing I could do about that, obviously. And so for the people that have these beautiful,  expensive animals that they love and they have sunk money into and vet costs into and  hoping to have them show someday, I can't imagine how hard that is.
36:23I'm such a dork that I sobbed for six hours over the first barn cat we lost.  I would have been destroyed for a week if I had a  full. Yeah.  And I  think you,  I don't want to say you get used to it, but like you get better at  processing things.  because our, you know, first loss was the same thing. Like I was devastated for days and days and days.
36:53And like that, think that was like with a rabbit, like, and rabbits are notorious for  being terrible mothers.  Um,  so,  you know, and then to move it up to,  oh, that was my first foal that we've ever lost.  And unfortunately  it's,  it's just part of it.  And you do get  better at  dealing with the pain.  doesn't,  it doesn't get easier when it's happening. You're.
37:22still  devastated. It's just you process it better and faster, I guess.  Yep. And I didn't want to make you relive the story, but I also want people who listen to this podcast to know that just because you have a place that's big enough to have animals  and just because you have what it takes to get the animals,  it's not always perfect. There are things that go wrong.  There are also things that go really, really right.
37:52Yep.  So, well, I mean, if you look at Katie's a great example of someone who,  like,  I don't think I know anyone who does as much  vet care as she does.  Um,  and you know, she's got vets right there all the time and she still has stuff go wrong.  And, you know, like, of course she's doing everything in her power to prevent those things.  Um,  and it absolutely.
38:20destroys me when I hear people like, you know, hate on her for  whatever, because like she's clearly doing everything she possibly can to prevent tragedy.  I  can't think of anything that she could do  differently.  And, you know, to see that and then to know that her reality is also not the reality for 99 % of farmers or people in the industry.
38:49Like, it's, her reality is beautiful and it's so nice to see, you know, the level of care that she provides her animals. But that is not the norm for 99.9 % of people because 99.9 % of people don't have an unlimited budget. They don't, you know, make money from views and stuff like that. So at some point you always have to
39:18say, okay, like at this point, we're gonna have to pull the plug or we're gonna have to make that hard choice because we can't justify spending that, right?  And I think  that's  one of the like dangers  of Katie's content and not her specifically, just  her like how privileged her life really truly is.  And
39:44like how unrelatable it is for so many other people that have animals. And it's not because  she's doing anything wrong. She's amazing.  But it is  really, really challenging to not compare yourself to  someone with all of these means.  And I don't want anyone to ever think that just because you can't provide what Katie provides,  that you shouldn't own animals  because
40:14The vast majority of people can't provide the level of care that she does. And when wildly she still gets hated on for not providing enough, which is insanity to me. people have fans, they also have haters. It's just how it goes. Hey, I have my own Reddit page now. So I think I've made it. think I'm doing great. Very nice.
40:40And the other thing that I would throw in here is that we as humans are all  one  unknown step away from falling off a cliff. Absolutely. Absolutely.  You don't know. You just don't know what's coming next and you do everything you can  to do the right things and plan for things and hope with everything you've got that everything turns out the way you would like it to.  But a friend of mine's husband just passed away unexpectedly like a month and a half ago.
41:09Oh man.  she had no idea that that was going to be her last day with him.  Oh, that's so, yeah. it's, life is just insane when you think about it. It's just crazy.  And all you can do is live the day that you're given and hope for the next one. But just do, do what you can with what you have right now. And, always strive to be better, you know, like  I,  I, I don't want anyone to ever feel like they need to.
41:37or they shouldn't own animals because they're not willing to spend, you know, $200,000 on a horse, right? In vet bills, right? Because I think animals bring so much joy to people and like we just had a serious vet bill with our Pomeranian puppy. He broke his leg and it was, I think it was like $5,500 once it was all said and done.
42:01Um, and there were so many people that were like, Oh, I would never be able to do that. And like feeling guilty. And I, I hate that it's like, there are other options. We chose the expensive option, but there, there was another option and don't ever feel like, you know,  like that's a good, good case for getting pet insurance sort of thing. Like I think, you know, there's a fine line between being cognizant of what you can afford. Um, but also.
42:27being too hard on yourself because you don't need an unlimited budget to enjoy the love of animals, right? You don't. And I think I mentioned Maggie to you when we talked before, but our dog is a mini Australian Shepherd. She is way too fancy a dog for us, I swear to you. She is beautiful. She is a classic black tri mini Australian Shepherd. And she cost us $500. And when we got her,
42:57Five years ago  in October, I think, is the anniversary of when we picked her up.  had the funds to spend $500 on a puppy. And at the time I thought, Jesus, that's a lot of money for a farm dog, basically. She's got a dog and that's it.  But I was in love and it was the first time we'd had space to have a dog and I really wanted a puppy. So we got Maggie.  Maggie has been the biggest blessing of my life.
43:25I love her. She lets me know when people pull in the driveway and I can tell from her barks whether it's somebody that we know or if it's a stranger. And that lets me know whether I should be on alert or just be happy that somebody I know has come to visit. But we have spent money on her well visits. We spent money to get her
43:47spayed because we did not want her to have puppies and she's absolutely she's been spayed. She will never be a mama but boy is she a mama to the barn kittens when we have them. I love that. I love that. And there were a couple months this winter where money was very very tight and I was like I gotta make some more money so I can keep my beautiful too fancy for me dog fed you know. Yeah absolutely and I mean
44:14Right now, it's such a trying time too, because things are so volatile  with pricing and like there's no way to have a budget because all of a sudden my groceries cost $100 more than it should have last month, you know?  Like it's so  hard to  be living in this  absolutely chaotic,  like just pricing, tariff, everything, all of the things  making life more expensive.
44:42And like, I just want to sit out here and watch my ponies eat grass. Like that's, that's what I want in my life. I, you know, like the shows are great. Um, if I have to not show this year because  of the whole Facebook drama thing,  um,  that's okay. I'll be, I'll be all right. I can show next year. That's not the end of the world,  but as long as  I can feed them  and,  know, keep them happy and contained and  just love on them, that's, that's what it's all about. That's what it's all about.
45:11Yeah, absolutely. And there's only so much we can control. I  groceries are pretty goddamn spendy here in the US too.  It's terrible. When I was down there, there was something I noticed actually that  in Canada, we always have this  perception that everything is so much cheaper in the United States.  It's not, especially if you factor in the exchange rate because our dollar is so terrible.
45:41Yeah.  I didn't find like we want we went through a few grocery stores and I didn't find anything  like cheaper at all. I found some things to be quite a bit more expensive actually. And I think that was like  a perception that we had from  from a long time ago because things used to be a lot cheaper there. And there were some things for sure that were cheaper.  But  like groceries and food. No, not really.
46:10I didn't find that. Yeah, we're so very thankful that we're rolling into June  this weekend.  Yeah. Because the farmers markets really start kicking here in June. Right.  And we benefit from that because we buy stuff from the farmers market, but we also benefit from it because we sell at the farmers market. Right. Right. And I am a big, I love salads. I love lettuce. I love radishes. I love cucumbers and tomatoes.  Right.
46:40it'll be a lot less expensive to eat over the summer. It always is because we eat really late in the summertime. Right. Yeah.  I, um,  I unfortunately am a big meat fan.  that is just not, it's not cheap at all.  Um,  it's just gone up and up and up and up.  And if you try and buy direct from a farmer, it's more expensive for some reason.  And you'd think that it wouldn't be, but it is.  Um,
47:10And  yeah, but I like, would rather buy direct from a farmer because  I'm sick and tired of these big billion dollar corporations  getting all the, all the profit while the farmers suffer and then the consumers suffer.  And  you know, they,  there's one store here in Canada,  so going off on too much of a tangent, they hiked up  a  very  like
47:36quite a lot of prices over the pandemic and beyond.  And  they  renovated all of their stores to be like so much more bougie.  And it was like, you guys, like, you could have like,  not done that and just let us have our groceries at a better price.  no, you renovated, like they renovated our local store, I think three separate times.  And just,  and I could see that it's just  because they wanted a write off, right?
48:06But it kills me. It kills me. think farmers really need to band together and create some kind of like  stick it to the man supermarket of some kind, which is like a farmer's market, but more accessible. I don't know. Good business idea for somebody who has the time.  Yeah. So she's not you right now.  No, it's not.
48:28I was talking with my husband about this a week or so ago and I said, did we just happen to be born at the right time, be born in the golden age of growing up? And he said, what you talking about? And my husband is like five and a half months older than I am. I was born in 1969. Right. And he was born five and a half months before me  in 1969. Wow.  And  he said, you know,  he says, we were teenagers during the cold war. It was still the cold war. It was before the Berlin Wall.
48:58was taken down. Right. I'm like, thank you for pointing out to me how freaking ancient I am. And he's like, yes, I know, honey. He says the eighties and the nineties were very easy for us  as young adults. And I said, I think so too. said, I can't imagine being in my twenties right now. I wouldn't know. I would not be able to afford to live. I wouldn't be able to afford to eat or live in a home.
49:27And most of them can't, unfortunately. Like even, even the young bucks here who are up in the oil field grinding it away are struggling. And it's, it's terrible. And I mean, this is why I said, you know what, I'm pursuing this social media thing because to me as someone who
49:51You know, this has been my dream since I was a little kid is owning horses and just being in the country and  living a quiet, peaceful life.  I  like this kind of life is extremely expensive  and  I  truly  feel that social media is was and is my only ticket  to being able to live that life and build that life  so that my kids can have it too.
50:18when they're old, if they want it, you know?  Because I feel like I've missed my mark for going to law school  or med school.  And  those jobs still require you to be so busy.  like, don't get me wrong, I'm  so busy with social media and doing all of the things, but  I'm here talking to you watching my horse eat her mash.  And  that to me is  like,
50:46the most blessed life I could possibly live. And if I could,  you know, make enough to  support my dreams, I don't need to be, you know, a millionaire. I don't need to live lavish. I just want to support exactly what I'm doing right now.  And,  you know, hopefully I can help benefit others in the process.  think going back to Katie, again, that's something she does so beautifully is
51:12bringing people into her circle and letting everyone have a piece of her  pie that she created for herself.  And it's just,  it's,  I truly think it's the only way because if I go out and get any  kind of, you know, even a decent paying job,  like my husband has a decent paying job and he's just noticed that prices go up, but his wage stays the same and he's getting,  you know, you.
51:40All this inflation happens, but it doesn't happen to the wages.  And so he's being bumped down,  you know, 20 years ago in his industry, he was considered like a high income earner and now he's like  considered a very like medium to low income earner. And like, to me, that's just not right.  And  so many people are dealing with that and  it's the real tragedy  of our existence, I think.  Right now, yeah.
52:10It's terrible. There is a word for people who do tourism on their farms. It's agritourism. Yes. Yes.  So do you think that all this social media that is promoting farms and ranches and homesteads and stuff, do think we should call it agri-content? I mean, you could, or I mean,  like there's farm talk, there's horse talk, there's, yeah, like you could definitely call it that.  And I think
52:39The  the whole idea of it is the agritourism but minus all of the insane insurance costs, right?  So digital agritourism. Yeah, exactly because like I mean I would have I would have loved to have a petting zoo  I don't have the space for it right now But like I've looked into like even like a mobile petting zoo and the insurance. Oh, it's just  Insane because animals are unpredictable. Unfortunately
53:07And insurance is just insane.  Our place is registered as an LLC.  And we looked into getting LLC insurance because people do come to  the farm as it were  and buy stuff from the farm stand and they want to see the chickens and they want to see the barn kittens when we have them.  And our insurance guy who we love, he's no longer our insurance guy. retired. We are very sad about this.  He was great.
53:35And we told him what we were doing and he said, you really should have insurance for the LLC.  Because if anything happens to people on your farm, homestead, whatever you're calling it,  you could get sued and that would be really bad. the  LLC insurance is expensive. And  my husband, said, is it worth it? Is it worth it to pay this? And he's like,
54:00Do you like being able to sell eggs and produce in the farm stand all summer? And I was like, yes. He said, then it's worth it.  Oh, that's a good husband right there.  But insurance, matter what kind it is, is always expensive. And  what makes me insane about it is that  I have health insurance, you know, through my husband's work.  I  rarely  ever need to use it.  And yet we're paying out like,
54:30hundreds of dollars at a very paycheck for health insurance.  Yeah. I'm like, is this a racket or is it really worth it? You know?  Right. I mean, it's not worth it until you need it. And then it's worth every penny. Right.  And that's the like, here's another crazy business idea for some insurance company who might be listening.  Like group pet insurance. I would love to have pet insurance  on the pom poms  and the dogs and all of those animals. Because like I said, we just had like this huge vet bill.
54:59Um, but try to have pet insurance on the amount of animals that I have.  Like it's crazy. Um,  but I would love to see like some kind of pet insurance that's like  shaped like a life insurance policy where, know, if your pet never needs anything, you get a portion back or something, you know?  Yeah. I,  so just putting that out into the universe again for someone who has time.  Uh huh. Exactly.
55:28Well, I wanted to get caught up with you. I wanted to hear the story about George. Thank you for sharing it.  I  really wanted you to tell a story about Angie's baby because people need to know this is not all sunshine and bubblegum. It sure is not.  It's work. It's good work and it will hurt your heart, but it will also make your heart sing at the same time. So absolutely.  And I wanted to give you some room to talk about Facebook because I think that people who are not content creators have no understanding of
55:57of how it works or why we do it. Right, right. Yeah. And a lot of people, you know, maybe don't see the value in it.  Um, but I think  quite a few studies show that people are watching TikTok or Facebook reels or whatever YouTube  more than they're watching TV and like these pre-produced Hollywood things. And when you think about it,
56:21That means that we're taking a little bit of  the money out of Hollywood's pocket and putting it into real people's pocket. And I think that's freaking awesome because  we don't need any more Kim K's.  No, we do not. You are correct. No,  I'm not going to sit here and throw shade at the Kardashians.  They're doing their thing. They're living their life the way they want to live it.  I  say you do you and like I'm inspired by you,  but
56:51you have too much money.  It's not fair for the rest of us. I will never know what it's like to have too much money and I am okay with that. I'm perfectly fine with that.  All right, Becca, where can people find you?  So  my Facebook name is Becca Hammond. It has a little blue check mark now. So  that's it's the one with the blue check mark.  The username is at Becca Bia Moon.
57:18Uh, that's for Instagram and Facebook. And then over on TikTok,  am  at moonridgeacres as well as YouTube as well. So I really need to like make those all the same at some point. I haven't got there yet.  Okay. Well, I would highly suggest if people are interested in mini horses and everything that goes into having them,  raising them and crying over them,  you should go out, go and check Becca's Facebook page for sure.
57:46And as always, guys can find me at atinyhomesteadpodcast.com. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you, See you next time. Bye. Bye-bye.
 

Rosewyn Urban Regenerative Farm

Today I'm talking with Chelsie at Rosewyn Urban Regenerative Farm.
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00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters.  I'm your host, Mary Lewis. A Tiny Homestead is sponsored by the Homegrown Collective, the best option for organizing a responsible and regional food system for America.  You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. Today I'm talking with Chelsie at Rosewyn Urban Regenerative Farm. Almost forgot the name of your place is Chelsie, sorry.  Good morning, are you?
00:29I am doing phenomenal and yourself? I'm good. It is a gorgeous day in Minnesota again, two days in a row. Yes, we're finally  hitting steady seventies over here. So it is optimal outside time.  Yes. Springtime is wonderful.  Um, my favorite is fall, but spring is my second favorite season. So,  and, uh, I know you're in Montana because  I talked to Morgan yesterday.
00:56and she recommended that I talk with you and Morgan is in Montana as well. tell me all about what you're doing because urban regenerative farm is not something I hear very often.  No, no. I mean, the optimal idea was to get a big plot of land, but then I just figured I need to do something where I am to show other people it's possible to do it wherever you are. So  I focus a lot on small footprints.
01:24Growing options that way if someone's in an apartment or in a trailer, they realize that they have an option as well. Um, I really, really am an advocate for food and medicinal security as a community. And if we can all grow something in our yards and trade, then our community will be a lot more sustainable, uh, as a whole. And no one, it will, it will equalize kind of the deficit or the difference between income levels.
01:56So essentially  sovereignty for everyone  and burning down the gates on the way.  Good, good. I  don't advocate burning anything, but I understand the phrasing, burning down the gates to keeping people out from doing what they want to do. Yeah, gatekeeping, know, just those  gates.  So I collect knowledge so people have access to it.
02:23and can check out books or whatever they need to check out. Yeah, absolutely. The reason that I kind of jumped on that phrasing is because this is the five year anniversary of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis and I live an hour southwest of Minneapolis. And at the time that that happened, my husband worked not a mile and a half from all the destruction from the fires that were set. So
02:50I'm a little twitchy about anything on fire right now.  I understand and I apologize about any triggers that happened. No, that's okay. I just remember him coming home from work when he was actually allowed to go back to work because the place that he worked at was on lockdown for three days.  So it was a hospital  and  he was, he looked pretty shell shocked when he walked in the door and  we are both very white people. And I said, why do you look so sick? And he said, honey, he said, if you could see.
03:20the road I drive on to get to the hospital. He said  every building has plywood up on the windows or it's burned.  it to affect him in that way when he had nothing, I don't know, at stake as it were in it,  it was a big deal here. So I don't want to bring the discussion down, but I'm just making people aware that  we all really need to respect each other.
03:49And we really, really need to be careful of how we live our lives because everyone deserves a life that's good and everyone deserves respect. So that's all I have on it.  Absolutely. No,  I fully understand that. So anyway,  so do you teach about the urban regenerative stuff?  So  I am definitely more a one-on-one person because everyone
04:17and everyone's situation is so individual and unique.  So what I do,  I'm also a shamanic healer. So  in all areas, I create like a sacred space for people to find their own power, you know?  And so I do give tours  and answer questions, but on a whole, have not done like classes at this point yet. I'm sure it will evolve into that at some point, but right now,
04:47It's just trying to figure out how one, each person can implement something where they are. Okay. Yeah. Um, we have a bunch of plants, like bedding plants that we grew on purpose to sell to people this year, because I want everyone to be growing something if they have the space, if they can make the space because our, our supply chain stuff might go a little wonky this year again. And I'm really concerned about people having food.
05:17And the best thing you can do for yourself is grow your own produce. if it's just herbs. Herbs have medicinal properties.  They are also really nutritional and they make crappy food taste better.  Absolutely. Yeah, I have had  people come over and get cuttings off some of my plants and I get a lot of volunteer trees on my plot. So  I will pull those and give those away as well.
05:46People can give donations if they want, at this point I really am just trying to get stuff in people's hands. Yeah, we have stuff for sale, but after this episode, I'm going to chat with my husband about putting out on Facebook that  if people would like one or two plants for free, they're welcome to come get them. Yeah, after  almost all, everyone that's come and got it had a tour. They leave with something, whether it's  a tree start,  a start of a plant cuttings.
06:14Even sourdough starts have gone.  Yeah, we just grew so many that we are overrun and we're not going to have enough room in the garden to actually plant all of it.  And I realized that those plants that don't get planted are going to die. And I hate that. I hate it a plant dies. Absolutely.  So I'm going to put out a notice later today and be like, if you would like to just come grab one or two,  it's not going to cost you anything. Just please take my plants and give them a home.
06:43Yeah, one of my biggest plans for more space is, so  we just recently got married this month and we're going to celebrate with everyone in July. But after that, I'm shutting down my pool  and I'm converting it into an in-ground greenhouse. So I have a lot more space.  Awesome. And congratulations on getting married. Thank you. That's fantastic.  would you, would you, uh, I don't know, put like a
07:13a framework above the pool and put shade cloth over it and then put dirt in the pool. How are you doing this? So the plan  is  doing just like a greenhouse top on the pool since it's already in ground.  And then I'm going to line the walls with pallets and fill them with soil so I can do some vertical growing as well in there. And probably like a raised bed on one side and some like
07:41Pable tops on the other for seeds and stuff and then towards the deep end I did bring back  a fruit cocktail tree from Arizona on our wedding trip  and  It has six different types of stone fruits on it and that will be the centerpiece in there And then at that point we'll acquire ducks  as well since they need a lot more space than the chickens do  Please post photos of your progress on Facebook and Instagram if you're on Instagram because I want to see how this goes
08:11Absolutely. I'm not on Instagram at this moment, but I will propose photos of any updates in progress. I have a nice little list of volunteers and I've been bartering Skillshare's with people. So it will be kind of a community effort too. What a fantastic idea. I had never thought about turning a pool into a greenhouse. That is amazing. I mean, it's just copying like a wall of peenie, you know, but using what I have where I have to implement it.
08:38Yeah, no, that's fantastic.  We don't have a pool. And even if we had a pool, I would probably want to swim in it.  I really like I did. That's how you got me to Montana. I grew up over in the Pacific Northwest in Washington. So getting me away from the ocean required the pool here.  But now that I'm here and I see how often I actually get to use it in Montana, I'm like, I can use the greenhouse so much more.  Yeah, absolutely.
09:07You have you said you have chickens. How many chickens do you have?  I have four chickens. I just acquired them. I want to say a little over a week ago. So they're about three weeks old right now.  I did have chickens before I left Washington. When we moved here to the city and not having like a  backyard, everything was covered in turf when I moved to this house.  Um, so I've been slowly removing that as well. So they will go out.
09:34Probably in another six to eight weeks. Okay. How big is your property? Just because I'm trying to get a picture of how much room you're working with here.  Oh man. I have like a really narrow shotgun property.  It is so everything is divided into different areas. Like I have the front food meadow that I just did and I probably want to say that that's probably
10:03an eight by 20 area. And then there's an area between our main house, which they're both, we have a main house and a pool house. And in between there is an area where this lady put in a whole bunch of snow on the mountain, but that is edible. So I just threw a whole bunch of red clover and shade loving wildflowers in there as well to kind of combat.
10:32that since it wants to grow like men.  And  then there's a raised area and that area is probably what? Maybe four by eight feet. Okay. And then I have four raised beds  up on  a rocky raised area that she, the lady before us had put in where I do most of my annuals. Everything else here is pretty much perennials. That way it just keeps growing.
11:01And then  there is the food forest area that I did that's probably about four by 16 feet long. And that's the first area I converted. I started with a dwarf apple tree  and a grapevine and a bunch of herbs and shrubs.  have like currants  and service berries in there.  And it just kind of, and I let it go wild. Like I don't pluck any of the weeds.
11:30because those are medicinal.  And  then  on the side of the pool is where all my raspberry blackberries and mint are duking it out for space. And that's probably three by 12 feet. So you have like, we call them fairy gardens here. We screwed up  a couple of years ago when one of our greenhouses went over  and  there were a lot of seedlings in the greenhouse. And of course, when the greenhouse got blown over, everything got mixed up.
12:00And so my husband just like planted a bunch of little, I don't know, four foot by five foot plots with whatever it was and we just let it grow.  we ended up with some great squashes out of the deal.  Yeah, I will plot. So when I actually at the top yesterday, they had some heirloom type of winter squashes  and so  they were handing out seeds and I just popped three of them in there in my food forest area yesterday. So we'll see those and how they.
12:30out. Yeah, um, just a hint for anybody listening. When you plant squashes, even like summer squash, if you mound up the dirt and then you put the seed in the middle of the mound, however deep it's supposed to be, supposedly that helps them grow. I don't know if it's true, but that's what my husband does and they do really well. Nice, good to know. I do a lot of electroculture over here too.
12:56with copper rods and in  the front,  I have wrapped the whole  little gated area with the copper wire as well.  And I've seen some great results  in the areas before that one. So in the food forest and the raised beds. I had never heard of that before. I do a lot of like indigenous type practices.
13:25Rather than trying to control nature, just want to work within. So I might suggest an area, but nature does what she wants, right?  Yep. She sure does. Like blowing over a greenhouse that you spent months getting things growing. yes,  yes, that was one of the saddest things that's happened here in the almost five years we've been living here. I watched it go over  and I stood there and cried. Chelsea, honest to God.
13:51I can imagine one of the places that I like to frequent for my growing materials lost their whole greenhouse from the snow this year.  So,  it can be devastating. bet. Yup. And then I realized I was crying over something that I couldn't fix. And I was like, okay, there's going to be an upshot here somewhere. I know it's going to be silver lining to this disaster. And there was, it all worked out fine. food forest.
14:18I've heard that a lot lately with people I've been talking to and we are also in the process of getting ours really going  because we have ash trees in our tree line and the ash beetles, know, the emerald ash borers, whatever they're called,  they have found our ash trees. So  my husband and my son are in the process of taking down the ones that they can get to safely.  And then we have a dude who brings us firewood. He is an arborist, woodcutter person.
14:48and we'll hire him to take down the scary, dangerous trees by the pole barn. this has become an opportunity as well because we now have spaces where we can put in new trees.  So we're in the process of getting as cheaply as possible  more apple trees, more plum trees, more peach trees  so that we can have a food forest that is basically fruit. And  it's been so fun researching what will grow in Minnesota.
15:16Like we have two peach trees that produced peaches last fall. I didn't think you could grow peaches in Minnesota. And that's why I'm so excited with the greenhouse because the stone fruit tree has six, so it has two peaches, two apricots, a plum and a nectarine on it that are grafted on. I really like grafted trees. So I also have an apple tree that has four types of apples grafted on and then a lemon and lime tree. But that little girl stays inside until.
15:46And then she rolls right back outside.  But yeah, they're great small fruit options for the grafted trees.  Yeah. And I, because we've been doing all this research, I didn't know that you could graft different fruits onto one root stock. And my husband did a whole bunch of research on it.  And he said, did you know we could grow cherries, plums, apples, peaches, and like two other things on one root stock? And I said,
16:16No. And he said, I want to try this. I was like, I think you should. I think we should do that. We'll have a Frankenstein fruit tree. Absolutely. It's so cool. And it came that one actually, we, so we did a two week road trip for our wedding and this man, don't know why he takes me to nurseries and things. I'm gonna leave without something, but it's very adorable. And I saw that and she rode back in the shower of the trailer the whole way. She had like her own little greenhouse.
16:45Well, she's got a good start then. Yes.  Very nice.  And then  you were talking about your chickens.  people, probably people listening to podcast know this, but most people don't realize that  it takes a good four to six months before laying hens will start laying eggs. so  I'm telling stories today. I'm sorry. I'm going tell this one and then we'll ask you more questions.
17:14My husband and I posted on Facebook this morning about the fact that my husband and I had an impromptu discussion this morning at eight o'clock in the morning  on Sunday on Memorial Day weekend about an idea that we both have had percolating in our brains for a week  and come to find out it was the same idea for a new thing for the farm.  I guess, I guess that great minds do think alike. And when you've been together for over 25 years or whatever it's been, um,
17:43We start thinking alike, it's really weird.  But anyway, I had seen a video Monday about somebody who was incubating chicken eggs. And I was like, that's so cute when they hatch. And we don't really need a new project. We really, really don't. But it's been in the back of my head since Monday. And  my husband says to me this morning, he says, can you ask our chicken dealer, our friend who sells us the laying hens we buy.
18:12where she orders her chicks from. And so I did, and I said, I said, she gets them from one of the hatcheries, blah, blah, blah. I said, but I said, I would really like to look into getting fertilized eggs and an incubator and actually incubating the chickens ourselves, because it will cost us less money and we can do them whenever we're ready to. And he was like, we could do that. I said, yeah, not right now, but in, know, this fall maybe.
18:42Mm-hmm. And so we had this whole discussion out of the blue neither one of us planning on having this discussion this morning  All because we both had the same idea and open our mouth to share it at the same time  And so I am primarily the one over here coming up with the ideas, but my husband bless his heart helps me Execute them  That's what husbands are for. It's also what wives are for because he's gonna come to you with an idea at some point
19:11Be like, I was thinking about doing it. you're like, let me look it up. Let me research it. How can I help? Yes. So, but my husband's idea is that we have been selling out of our chicken eggs in our farm stand every day. Like we have 12 chickens. That's a dozen a day. We can't even keep eggs in our house for ourselves because we're selling them all. And so we got 14 more chickens. They are just starting to lay.
19:40But that again, that's only two dozen a day and they will be gone because people want good eggs right now.  And so my husband's idea was that we should get some baby chickens and raise them ourselves. And I said, you realize they won't be laying for five to six months from the day they arrive, right? And he said, oh, I thought it was like four months. I said, typically it's five to six months. I said, they have to grow, honey.  And he said, oh, and I said,
20:08I don't have a problem with doing this. I said, but we need to make sure that there's a market for us to do this.  said, I would hate to buy a hundred chicks, grow them out, and then we're stuck with tons of eggs. can't move.  I said,  if you want to consider it, I said we could do selling the eggs as a CSA model, community supported agriculture model, and people could sign up in the spring for a share for six months.
20:38And he was like, oh yeah, because then they would come get their eggs. said, yes, because they will pay for them. And it's such a great option for small farmers because then you get the funds up front for the season. Yes, which would pay for the chicks or the incubator to hatch the eggs. So basically, we're kind of we're tabling it for now because we have a lot of stuff going on here at the homestead this weekend. But we're going to revisit it in two weeks. And I'm going to do some research and see what's involved and how much money it would cost us to get set up.
21:08And I'm kind  of excited about this.  When a new idea presents and it's not an immediate that will never work, I'm always lit up about it.  Oh, absolutely. At one point I told my husband, I'm so thankful for you because sometimes you'll be like, no, that won't work. And I will be like, my brain will just start going,  but these are how it can. And I was like, you just make me think of how it can work.
21:36Don't tell me what I can't do.  I will show you how it's possible. Like, and that's what again, that's what I do is I just everything is possible. You just might have to look at it from a different angle, you know, apply a different system to it  or just step back for a moment  or get someone else's perspective.
22:00One of the ideas that I have is, you know, finding elderly people who have backyards and turning it into a little farm for them, providing them everything that they need, but then also delivering the rest to a food bank or having a community feed or even doing  a CSA with the remainder, leftovers. Yeah,  and can I throw an idea at you? Absolutely.  Okay, if you're going to do that, if you're entertaining that idea,
22:30There are kids  in middle school and high school,  or they used to call it junior high school, I guess the middle school now,  who are interested in learning how to garden,  but they don't really have anybody to learn from. How cool would it be for you to put out the word to your community that you're going to be doing this and that you would love it if there were some young people with strong backs to help volunteer to help work on these gardens?
22:56Absolutely. And that's another reason why I have my, I have volunteer sheets at like three sustainable businesses in town for people to sign up for tours and information and volunteering. But another thing that I wanted to do was even, um, like Eaglemont here works with, uh, disabled children and they do all kinds of outings and recreational things, but allowing them to come and, and farm and forage for tactile input and.
23:26with nature. So I just I have a lot of things but I want to get everyone excited about growing stuff and get them  more connected because we're so disconnected  and seeing where the food comes from, seeing the chickens  and  just how they interact, know, watching them forage or being in the garden while they forage.  Yeah, that's one of the things that
23:53I find when I talk with people on the podcast that they love the most is that they get to see  the process of their work from literally beginning to literally end result. And so many people have jobs where they're doing a piece of the job and they never see the result.
24:11Yeah, it's like the story of the four blind men with the elephant, you know, and when they're asked to describe it, they all describe something else because they're touching a different part, whether they're saying, oh, it feels like a treat  because they're touching the leg or, know, whatever. They all described something different. We just need to get together and talk to each other so we can put the pieces together. Yeah. Which is why I started this podcast over 18 months ago. I was like, people have stories to tell and it's going to connect everybody.
24:41Yes.  And I love it. I love it so much. Morgan said some very, very nice things to me yesterday on her episode made me cry.  So  because of connections that have been made because of my podcast and I didn't know anything about it, I was so excited when I got done talking with her that I ran downstairs and said, honey, I have a story for you and told my husband the story.
25:08That is amazing. I can't wait to listen tomorrow. That's when it's coming out, right? Yep. Tomorrow morning at seven. Can't wait to listen. Yeah. And for people don't know Morgan at Groovy Grazers in Montana. She's the one that I talked to yesterday.  She has goats.  So yeah,  I think that what you're doing is amazing. And especially since you're in an urban setting because
25:31We have three acres here and we've spent four and a half years trying to figure out what the heck we're doing with it, how we're going to make it  go and how it's going to benefit not just us, but our community. And we're finally starting to get a handle on it.  Finally.  And you know, when I started out, wanted the big plot. I wanted to do an eco village with a healing center. But again,  like
25:58So we've converted a shuttle bus. So we  live in that for the most part. Like that's where our room is. And the main house is my farm office and jam  and my healing office. So it's, it's a very micro version of what I wanted, but it still exists. And,  anyone who needs help or needs to research how to heal themselves, they can come here. Anyone who wants to garden or learn about gardening or
26:28whatever.  I want this to be a very community oriented social place. I'm going to be doing circles like I have a little activity we're doing here next month,  making  little lanterns out of upcycled jars and dried flowers and little push lights,  but just to get people exposed. Nice and I should have asked you back at the beginning of this.  Are you tying in your
26:57urban regenerative farming with your healing practice? Yes,  absolutely. And everything in life is interconnected. So why not? Okay. Cause some people don't, some people have, have that kind of business and then they have the farm as their thing that they do.  So I feel like if you connect them, then you're also adding all that nature and having hands in the dirt and breathing in really good oxygen from the plants. That's all healing too.
27:26Absolutely, but then also  if I want to make a tea blend for someone I don't want to order it.  Right. I want to know that there's no chemicals on it. want so it just makes you go down the rabbit. Like  you have to take charge of all these things if you want to know for sure that they're going to be healing and beneficial. Plus it's the energy.  I know that I'm growing everything here with love. So there's love inside those plants because
27:55I hold a reverence for them. I know that each blade of grass or  each stem, they all have their own spirit, right? So  by being kind and  living  symbiotically with them and stewarding over them,  the medicine that people then use themselves has that intention in it as well. Yes. And people will say that's woo woo.  W O O  W O O.
28:25It's not woo woo. It is real. It's a for real thing that happens because I'm going to tell one more story and then we're probably going to wrap it You are absolutely right. got all the stories. My mother and one of my mother's in law, okay, she passed away in 2014. She hated cooking. She did not enjoy cooking at all. Like she did it and she did her best, but she didn't love it. And you could tell that she didn't love it. Right. know?
28:55And she invited me and my husband to make Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. can't remember which now,  because I love to cook and she knew I loved to cook.  everybody in the family who ate dinner that day with us at my mother-in-law and my father-in-law's house  took home containers of leftovers. I cooked for like 40 people. There were only 15 there, I think.
29:22I raised two boys by myself, so I cook a lot when I cook too, I understand. Yeah, and my sister-in-law either posted on my Facebook page or messaged me, I can't remember now, it was a while ago. She said, I came home on purpose today to eat your leftovers for lunch. Thank you for what you did for my mom for Christmas. Yeah, that's beautiful. And it's not that my mother-in-law wasn't willing to cook, she just did.
29:52No, enjoy it. And I feel like when you really love what you're doing,  all of that love energy goes into whatever it is that you are producing. So it's a real thing. is not woo woo.  No, honestly, I'm going to tell you this. This really all started because during COVID, I got to sit with myself and I realized there's just some things about myself that are not  what the doctors are telling me.  I was very overweight.
30:20Uh, at my highest, I was over 400 pounds. Wow.  Um,  about three years ago, I mean, I got,  I started suspecting that I was neurodivergent during COVID. And I finally, once I moved here, I got that confirmation  and then I was like, well, what else have they missed?  Lots of epigenetic conditions.  And I've lost over 200 pounds and I am out of pain and off all medications by just taking everything into my own hands.
30:50I don't know what the correct response to that is. I want to say congratulations because that's a lot of hard I can trust my body. So that is it is the congratulations because I was falling and I was I was dying. All my organs were shutting down.  The stress of life, you know that  stress is what 90 % of most doctor visits  and that correlation is not taught. We're not taught about like our lymphatic system, which is our sewage system.
31:19We need that to drain movement and deep breathing does that.  Um, it doesn't have a pump. Right.  I had to learn to heal myself. And now that I know that I could heal myself with, you know, whole foods and intention  and self care, like, just want that for everyone. So that was the purpose of this  and realizing I have a privilege that I don't have to go work a regular job anymore.  This is now.
31:49my life's purpose is just helping people wake up to their own power. Okay, so I have a couple things on that. Number one,  what you did was really brave.  Having that time where you could self-reflect and sit  in silence and think through  and realize that you needed to make some changes, that's really brave of you. And making the changes is really amazing.  So I'm proud of you. Thank you.
32:18And number two, what a wonderful gift you are giving everyone you come into contact with.
32:26I mean, they all have it there though. I think we're just been taught that we don't. That's part of that disconnect I was speaking of earlier,  we're disconnected from ourselves. And I think oftentimes we have a narcissistic relationship with ourselves and we'll trust someone else just because they have a diploma or a white coat. Yes.  Yes, I could talk about that for hours, but I'm not going to.
32:50Let's just say I've raised four kids and I have been their advocate the entire time when it came to doctor's appointments. So yeah, never, I never was like, okay, yeah, we're going to do exactly what the doctor said because they said it. If I had a question I asked. Yeah, I was gaslit so long. mean, one of the things, I mean, they always just told me lose weight, you know, one of the things I suffer.
33:15from is lipidema. All of the weight is not just coming off however they want it to. But another thing is that, you know, I have Ehlers-Danlos. I also have mast cell activation syndrome. So I have a histamine intolerance.  I can't eat beef and tomatoes.  Like red meat is super high in histamine and tomatoes cause almost an allergic reaction in my system, even though I'm not allergic to them. They just
33:44release so many mast cells into my system, it looks like I'm having them. So  most of my life I was in chronic anaphylaxis. Yeah, that's not any good way to live.  Please tell me that you can eat blueberries. Oh yeah, I have blueberries. have actually am growing honey berries outside and  because they're more cold resistant. Okay, because tomatoes are excellent antioxidant providers and blueberries are too.
34:13And so are honey berries. I'm, I was just like, Oh no, she's not getting her antibiotic oxidants. That's not good.  No, I am. I make sure that I have a very diverse diet. So I try and make,  they say you need to eat at least 30 plants a week for a diverse microbiome, but I probably eat that in a day. Nice. Good.  All right, Chelsea, I really appreciate your time. Where can people find you? Well,
34:40Right now, mainly it's on Facebook with Rosen Urban Regenerative Farm or ROOF for short. Otherwise, it's the same at gmail.com if they want to email directly. Okay, awesome. Thank you so much. as always, people can find me at atinyhomesteadpodcast.com. Thank you again, Chelsie. I really appreciate your time. Have a great weekend. You too. All right. Bye.
 

Groovy Grazers - Big Changes

Today I'm talking with Morgan at Groovy Grazers.
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00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. A Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Homegrown Collective, a free to use farm to table platform, emphasizing local connections with ability to sell online, buy, sell, trade in local garden groups, and help us grow a new food system.  You can find them at homegrowncollective.org.
00:25Today I'm talking with Morgan at Groovy Grazers in Montana. Good morning, Morgan. How are you? Good morning. It's a wonderful morning. How are you today? I'm really good. It's a wonderful morning in Minnesota too. It's a little nippy for May. I think it's only like 45 degrees out. Wow. You guys are colder than us. We're like in the 60s. It's hot already in the morning.  Yeah. A week or so ago we had some really high temps for May and then it dropped back off.
00:54And I think the high for today is supposed to be 69, I think. Oh, wow. Yeah,  that's pretty nice. I mean, it's easier to do things when you're able to be outside, you know, so colder almost is a little better, but not for planting season, you know, so it kind of depends on what you're doing here with the heat. It just  it weighs on the animals because we'll we'll get snow and then all of a sudden it'll be, you know, like super hot.
01:24So  we're bouncing back and forth like a bouncing ball. Yeah, it's been that way here too. And honestly, I'm not, I can't complain about where we're at here because  last summer was terrible with rain for all of May and into June. So we haven't had that this year, thank God, because our gardens are actually planted other than basil. We can't put basil in yet because it hasn't been warm enough overnight to not kill them. Yeah. So this year I actually decided to not do a garden.
01:52Even though I took my master gardening course, so I did go  to it's called Carbon County as the county I did it in  and I was gonna take the test and it's an open book test which so if anyone's interested in Master Gardening most of them I guess level one is open book.  But I just found out a lot about my soil being too alkaline-y which we kind of knew but it's so hard to amend it that it's not even worth.
02:18trying to plant in it right away. So I learned so much in master gardening that I was like, whoa, pump the brakes.  I don't want to spend a bunch of money, you know, because it's trial and error for a lot of us.  And the more things we try, the more it costs. So the more failure, you know, so I've learned that sometimes it's better to do a lot of research, almost what seems overkill, such as going to a master gardening class to make sure that I'm able to do. Yeah, so I'm able to do.
02:46you know, the multiple things that I want to do and not spend the money on it. Yep, absolutely. Okay, so now that we've gotten the weather report out of the way and the gardening report out of the way.  Morgan was a guest on the show back last July and she was gracious enough to come back and visit with me and give me an update because you're doing a lot of new things. So  where is Groovy Grazer is at now?
03:12Yeah, so thank you for having us again, because I think having an update yearly is really helpful for some people. Because man, has the farm changed in a year? I might get a little emotional. Our first year of farming was really hard. You I came on the episode and I talked about worms. Yep. And that was just the biggest hurdle we had all summer long was trying
03:39to overcome these worms, which were Barbara pole worms. A lot of farmers that have goats deal with them. Goats, yes, you have goats. Yes. Worms with goats, yes. Yep, worms with goats. So we have goats and sheep. We added sheep in and sheep kind of have the same cycle too. And I did buy a horse. Horses  don't get Barbara pole worms. So we end up  using land of Havala. I might be saying that wrong.
04:06Um, but she's a master herbalist. has dairy goats also, and she creates her own blend of herbs. So we were doing like a worm tea.  And this year I had 10 babies in one week. So I had three does drop triplets a piece.  So nine babies in 48 hours. And what that talks to is like that we were able to get their health in control and they were able to  produce. We had a lot of miscarriages last fall. I only had one baby.
04:35born or not one baby one doe that gave three babies but like you know one birth last fall so we were kind of behind track so I kind of fell down you know and I was like man  the worms are really kind of kicking our butt we got to figure it out so we made a lot of changes I changed feed we went to a locally  like milled feed  owned by a woman also which is awesome  and then we  added in oregano oil to their water
05:04And that's something that seemed to really help. So we just made a lot of different changes. So the goats, they gave birth right this morning before I came to talk to you, I milked my goats.  And it's really,  that is the cycle that makes it worth it for me, right? So I have one goat, Honeybee, which you go and look on Facebook or, know, grooviegrazers.com or website, I'll be posting photos of her. But even with triplets, she produced three cups of milk. Awesome.
05:32Yeah, and it's super exciting because  the direction of the farm. So last year we were doing potentially grazing. We ended up doing parties, right? So we're still doing the goat petting zoo parties, which me personally, I would like to encourage farmers find different  ways for revenue to come in. Yes. So go to a petting zoo. If you have questions, please contact me. I want other people to do this because
06:00The joy that it brings to the children and even the retirement homes that we go to is worth it for a farmer. It makes you feel good because there are lots of highs and lows when you're breeding and you're milking and you're bringing new animals in and trying to learn, right? So my biggest thing with  kind of our business and how we're moving as a farm, because it is a business at the end of the day, is we're going to cut back on doing some of the parties.  We're not gardening this season.
06:30because Andy's bringing in pack goats. So that's like our big thing this year is we went from doing all dairy to  realizing that in Montana, because it's so rugged out here, that if you go hunting, it's really beneficial to have pack goats. And goats are cheaper to feed than horses. I have never heard of a pack goat. Explain this haven't? No. Oh man, then we're about to have so much fun. Okay. Okay.
06:56So pack goats, my husband's obsessed with it. This is kind of his thing. So the pack goats are Nubian boar crosses that we have coming in,  a Lamacha full-sized  and  two Nubian females. And we're using Nubian and some people don't like using them. They use alpines. There's a bunch of different breeds,  but we're just starting out and Andy kind of picked what he wanted to start with based off of his research.
07:23So packgoating is huge up north over here by Montana. So what they do is they take out a string of packgoats. You can have like five, 10, however many you think you can handle  as their, you know, I guess leader essentially, right? You're their herd master. So they'll take them out hunting and goats don't shy away from you. So like when guns go off because you shoot an elk or you shoot, you know, a deer, they run towards you where a horse runs away. Oh yeah.
07:53And they can go without water for four days, I guess. So  it makes it really an essential piece for people that are elk hunting, because elks you have to quarter out, you know, and multiple people have to carry it while out here, some of the hunters will each get their own elk and then they spend three days back and forth with the meat trying to get it home. Yeah.
08:15You know, so you have goats instead, they can hold up to 30 % of their body weight. 30 to 50 % was what we were reading. It depends on the goat and what their ability is. So if you have a 100 plus plus pound goat, know, 150 pound  Nubian boar cross, it can hold up to 30 to 50 pounds. What a great idea. I didn't even know this was something people did. Yeah, you know, and it's so big up here. Everyone is obsessed with pack goats like
08:41seriously obsessed with it, but I don't think it's a very common thing that's talked about outside of like a Montana or very wilderness experience. The other thing you can use them for is camping.  if you want to go camping or like, you know, very like far out, hard to reach spot, which we all want to, I don't know about you, but I want to, when I to get away from society, I want to go as far away as I can go. Right. And so for me,
09:10If I can have goats carry me out 30 miles, not carry me, I wish they could, a horse could, but you know, if I can go out 30 miles and then have somebody drop off all my gear,  leave and come back a week later when we're ready to leave, that would be more convenient for me because I can't carry enough supplies for a week 30 miles in.  but if you have five goats with you, you sure can. You sure can. And what if a goat's a milk? Think about getting fresh milk every single day on your camping trip.
09:40Man, this is brilliant. I love this. Yeah. And more people should do it. Seriously. Cause then the goats are in these wilderness areas and they're going to groom it naturally. Goats don't go for grass first. Everyone thinks they'll eat tin cans and stuff. Mine won't. You know, they're really even picky about treats, but they will eat the weed. So if we take them out into a very wilderness location,
10:06And we say, sweet, we're going to drop you guys off. We'll leave these three goats here because they're in milk. You want milk or you know,  you, might want to have goats take you around while you're exploring. If they're foraging for like mushrooms or,  um, you know, really anything you're foraging for in the wilderness, you can take the goats and they can help you carry it back and forth. Rock hounders. This whole conversation started with our friend that rock hounds in Missoula. Okay.
10:33He was like, man, cause Andy wants to go, my husband wants to go  and rock hound with him.  And  he's like, yeah, man, the only crappy thing is, is sometimes we have to carry 30, 40 pounds of rocks out 20 miles by hand.  And that's really hard cause you're carrying axes in. So they're carrying big old metal axes and all this stuff. So it's not like  they're just going in with one item. They're already packed down.  And he was joking around about how like,
11:03could my goats carry it? My husband was like, yeah, actually that's a thing. And then this is how it all kind of evolved. So we have six pack goats coming to us in four weeks. So we're gonna be super busy with that on top of milk season.  Exciting. Yeah, it's super is exciting and it kind of changes the direction of the farm. So what I found is like,
11:27I mean, some people can, I can't, but I can't write down like a solid plan of what the farmer is going to be and then say like, okay, in a year, this is exactly what it's going to do. We hit a lot of those big milestones that we want on there, you know, for the farm, but then we find something new that adds value.  I mean, talking about packing, I saw a video of little tiny mules packing yesterday,  like tiny dwarf mules, right?  Packing along and I was like, can we just...
11:56buy those also, you know, right? So it changes so often for us, but the main goal for us is always just milk, meat providing. I have to shear my sheep. I've never sheared sheep. So that'll be fun. I ordered my shears. coming in.  And then  I was able to explore at another farm. And it's so important that us farmers talk to each other and like interact and try different things. So I would have never thought that I could spin.
12:26wool, right? But I went to a farm that spins wool and we're big fans of them and they're big fans of us. They do sheep only and we essentially kind of do go only even though I have a few sheep. So their daughter was like, hey, jump on this wheel, try it out. And she was like, wow, you're naturally really good at this. And I was like, all right,  never did I think I was going to want to spin wool, but I crochet and I'm going to get into knitting the boys like wool, my husband and son, they're wool fanatics, right?
12:55And so if I can knit and do stuff with my own wool, then it's just more the farm brings in, but then I can also sell yarn. So when I talk about different incomes and streams of revenue, it's really important for farms to not just focus on one thing, because then you're able to maximize and grow. Because most farms, I mean, we've got 50 projects we want to do and $20 on the bank account after we pay our feed bill. Uh-huh. Yes. Yes.
13:24And I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to take this a step off from what you're saying. We can't keep eggs in our farm stand right now. We have a dozen chickens and they give us 12 eggs a day, you know, on a good day. And we have been putting them in the farm stand for $5 a dozen because here it's like eight to $10 a dozen at store. And we can't keep them in stock. So we did spend the money and we bought 14 more laying hens and they won't actually be laying.
13:54until probably the second week in June, because they're young. Yeah. And I said to my husband the other day, said, you know, I said,  if we could make enough money at the first farmers market, we could get some more chickens.  Yeah. That way we would have some eggs for ourselves too, because we're literally not keeping any eggs for ourselves right now. They're going directly to the community. And he was like, I have to think about this.
14:20And then my friend Tracy, Tracy listens to podcasts all the time. So I have to say, hi Tracy, brought me some sourdough starter. I had not wanted to actually get into this because I didn't think that it was worth my time. I'm a bad homesteader. I should have been doing sourdough a long time ago and I'm keeping it alive. And I started my own cause I was like, Oh, I can do this. I can do this. And so right now I have the starter. She brought me, I have to feed it when I get done talking with you.
14:50And I have the one I started, which I need to feed.  And  I have been finding all kinds of recipes for things that aren't just sourdough bread. You can make sourdough chocolate chip cookies. You can make sourdough doughnuts if you want to.  And I was like, you know, if I can get my starter really good too, I will have more than enough to make goodies to put in the farm stand and to sell at the farmer's market. And that might make the money for the new chickens to keep us in eggs.  So
15:19Why I'm telling these stories is because there are so many ways to diversify your farm business. There's a lady who I'm going to try to get hold of. I haven't gotten her booked yet.  And she does weddings at her farm. And I think that's it. don't think she has any,  I don't think she has animals and I don't think she grows anything. I think she just uses her farm as a wedding venue. So you don't even have to do animals or produce.  You can offer it as an event center.
15:48Yep. Offer space, you know, and it's funny you talk about sourdough. So I'm gluten free.  And I don't have an oven. Well, I do have an oven now, but we live in a very unconventional house. So we had to get my friend over who's an electrician to put in the socket for it  on the side that we need the oven. Cause my husband, when he built this, just was air fryer status. Right? Sure.  And so, excuse me, the weather is so bad here with the pine. They're blowing all their pollen.
16:18So with the stove, I was like, okay, once we get the house clean, because we've been doing a lot of construction,  I want to get a shed, but I'm practicing all my sourdough items. So I've focaccia, I've made pizza dough, I've made cookies, I've made cake, all sorts of stuff with a gluten-free sourdough starter. And your idea of a stand, Andy and I have been talking about doing a stand, not with a goat milk so much because I'm very
16:48um, like retentive about how the milk is handled from having a milk machine and everything. So that's where one of those were like,  I want to deliver it straight to the person and talk to them. And if they haven't, you know, but we have a few chickens. So we, we talked about doing the eggs, like you're, you're doing in the sand too. We also talked about doing frozen,  um, like goodies, like once I'm able frozen and baked,  excuse me, I'm sorry.
17:17No,  I'm just having a lot of coughing issues today. We can do the goodies that are frozen also. So you could make ready  to bake frozen cookie dough from your sourdough starter. So it doesn't just have to be baked. You could essentially make it a frozen item and then just have one of those little, saw one where they had a split mini fridge or they put dry ice in  a metal like bin essentially.
17:43and then had a cooler sitting in it so it stayed cold. So there were a bunch of ideas I saw, but the idea of selling baked goods is definitely something I would recommend. I don't know about your guys' laws. Every state has different laws. Like SB 199 is the cottage laws. It's the freedom food act for Montana. It states what you can and cannot sell under a cottage law and how it has to be labeled. So doing those farm stands are smart.
18:12and to fund your chickens is even smarter, right? Because everything should work for each other. So like, you know, the goats, their hay money comes from selling babies.  And then the compost, we sell compost even, that money goes back into feed for them or goes into vet care  or extending the herd. Like as I milk, I realize who is taking up too much of the feed bill that doesn't. So also sometimes sitting back in like,
18:41assessing because the world changes so quickly economically here that every six months you should kind of reevaluate because you might find  six months down the road that it's way too expensive to feed your hens compared to what you're getting for eggs. Right. Yep. So then you just cut back on some hens, right? You know, you cut back on the ones that maybe are older, don't lay as much, have more issues, right? Like they molt worse or they're having mites or they get
19:10the bubble foot, you know, like some of that can be genetic with just not being a hardy bird. So it's really important having the different revenues. Like you're saying like the sourdough starter, I encourage you to do that. But also go walk your local cottage, like your farmer's market, the cottage farmer's market  and see what people are selling. Because I was shocked that people sell shampoo bars. I mean, we all know that, but shampoo bars.
19:40Whoa, wait. There's so many things and  I love your idea about the frozen stuff in a cooler in the farm stand. We are unfortunately not allowed to do that in Minnesota. Okay. So you're guys at Sea Look, the laws, Montana versus Minnesota. Montana, as long as it doesn't have meat, I can. Yep. Nope. Here, nope. That would never fly. We would get,  I don't know what we'd get.
20:06I don't know what the punishments are because it's not a license here. It's a registration. I think it's a ticket. I think that they would just be like, no, you cannot do that. Don't do that anymore. I think you get a warning and then a ticket in most states. I have no idea. Well, I mean, I'm not trying to get in trouble. So I try to read, right? You know, the laws and make sure I follow them, especially with raw milk. Yes. Um,
20:34you know, that's something and in Montana you can sell it cause SB 199 gave that power back to us, but you have to have recommended, there's recommended testing, which means like you should do, you hear tuberculosis from goat milk. Yeah, you,  you can get really sick if you don't do the things you're supposed to do. And  again,  I've said this a bunch of times on the podcast, Morgan, I'm going say it again.
21:03We have government and laws for a reason.  Sometimes government makes us trip over our feet more than we need to, but sometimes it's actually really important. Correct, yes. like that's the biggest thing is like,  you're, okay, so everyone, I sell raw milk for 30 a gallon or 30 a quart.  That's expensive  compared to a lot of people,  or sorry, 30 a gallon, I apologize.
21:31I sell a quart typically of my milk at a time. won't sell a gallon because it's 4.5 % or higher milk fat with the Nigerian dwarfs. So most of the time people are like, oh, I don't go through this milk as quick as the other people I get from. And I'm like, well, they probably have Nubians. So one thing I also encourage is to like, if in your state you're allowed to buy raw milk, you should ask the person, can you visit their farm? Because if they tell you no, you do not want to buy raw milk from them.
22:01Absolutely not. right. Like, please come out. Look at what we do. Look at the facility we have. Look at the goats. Look at everything. Like, I also want to stress, I'm a cottage farmer. And when people tell me I'm a small dairy, I say, no, my law states. So read your law. Mine is 10 does lactating. That doesn't mean I can't have more than 10 does. It just means only 10 can be lactating for milk.  For my usage.
22:29And so that's one of the things, like I encourage people to come out and see how the goats are kept. Look at my milk practices. Look at my cleanliness and stuff, because that also builds reputation.  So when we talk about being a farmer, it is definitely still the good old boy reputation club. Like who has a good reputation? You must have a really good reputation if your eggs are constantly being sold out.  I am so  like from last year to now, both of our farms have changed a lot and I'm really proud of you.
22:58for doing the farm stand because it's working out really well and you're doing the  ads for people.  You're pulling in revenue from different streams. I know we talked about this last year, different revenues. So that's always my biggest thing that I like to talk about and you're doing it. You're making me cry, Morgan, thank you. Thank you for saying you're proud of me. I appreciate that. We all need to say that to other farmers because like...
23:24I'm not gonna lie, had a doe die last year because she had a baby stuck in her.  Oh no.  And we couldn't save her. And she was my, I'm gonna cry a little bit, she was my favorite goat. Yep. And it's so hard as a farmer. You put your life into this and when somebody else that does this looks at you and says, I'm proud of you, you're doing really well. It just hits a little different, right?  Uh, yeah.
23:52Very different because the minute you said it, my eyes filled up with tears. Yeah, because we're struggling, right? We're not just doing this to make money. I've been called a backyard breeder by people that I, you know, my neighbors aren't as happy. They listen to the podcast too. They're not as happy when I'm on the show. They don't like the goats, right? Cause  it's not what they want. So you get a lot of hate sometimes as being a farmer because people around you are judging what you do. Right.  And so there is backlash sometimes as being a farmer.
24:22But then when another farmer says, I'm proud of you or somebody else says, I'm proud of you, it reinforces that you're doing the right thing because we're going against the grain. I did career day and I could cry because you ask these kids how many of you guys want to be a farmer.  You're lucky if one kid raises their hand. Oh, yeah. And you're like, where I the next question I asked them, said, guys, where's our food going to come from?  they all look at me.
24:53and they look around at each other  and then it hits them. And then I ask them, how many of you guys come from a farm, especially in Montana, right? And a lot of them raised their hands and I said, I get it. You don't like feeding the cows in the morning. You don't like going out in the winter. We had four feet of basically from January to the beginning of February constantly. We just had snow everywhere. And I was like, I get it guys. It sucks, but where's your food gonna come from?
25:21And I think that's what people don't realize is you and I and the other farmers, we're all going against the grain in the world. Everyone else just, you know, goes to their daily job and that's all they do. They go home and they disconnect from the world and they just rely on the government. We've all made this stand that we're not going to rely on the government and we're going to provide for ourselves. And that's hard and expensive. Well, for ourselves and for the community around us with any luck.  Yes.
25:51And that's part of it too. We have so much overage that we're able to share with people like today I get to go talk we're doing pet sitting right because I love the parties Don't get me wrong, but it is so it takes a lot of spoons, right? Yeah, when you own a farm and you work too, right? Don't you have a full-time job?  I do not but my husband does That's right. I remember one of you guys did so you guys were like us Andy quit his job
26:20Andy works on the farm and freelance works for everyone too because it was that much work and we were making enough money for that to happen, right? On the farm, we do the parties, but there's a lot of spoons that get taken away when you're doing that a lot of hours off the farm. So we want to be on the farm more. So we're doing, um, pet sitting with a local lady and it helps out her company. Well, I'm going to go see her today. She had twins and she's also going to get some goat milk from me. She  was testing it and helping us last year.
26:48And so it's really cool to see how these farm connections work because we're making friends with our community. So you talk about feeding them, you feed the community, they also will feed you. Yep. giving you work and helping you.  we're able to do the pet sitting so we can expand the farm.  Yeah, it should be a circle. It should be a symbiotic relationship between the community and the people  that grow food or raise animals or whatever the farming thing is.
27:18Correct. Yes, exactly. And like we all have to remember that. So remember farmers.  Remember cottage farmers. Remember city folk, whoever's listening to this podcast. Go find your local cottage farmer, support them, buy a few items from them. I promise you, your strawberries from that local farmer aren't gonna mold the same day. You put them in your fridge.  No,  no they are not.
27:45Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. We actually had strawberries over winter in our heated greenhouse this year Oh my goodness, heated greenhouse. You have so much expansion that we haven't even talked about you and I are gonna have to talk after the podcast about all the expansions Yeah, tell me about the strawberries. Did you sell them? No, we didn't have enough. We had we had like five baskets hanging baskets in there Yeah, yeah and come to find out pollinator bugs actually survived the winter in the heated greenhouse, too
28:15So my son brought in like a small bowl of red strawberries three weeks ago and it was still April.  So it have been four weeks ago. And he's like, I have something for you. And he pulled it up behind his back and showed me. And I was like, oh my God.  He said, you have to try one. He said, they are so good. These are hot house strawberries, really.
28:40I grabbed one and I rinsed it off. He's like, you probably didn't even need to wash it. I said, I know, have it. I rinsed it off and I just picked, I held it by the  hull and just bit into it.  Oh my sweet everlovin'. Jesus, it was  wonderful to have a homegrown strawberry in April. Yeah. So we had a lady that brought terries, cause my son's homeschooled. so Friday we had, it's called Barefoot Academy. They do it all over the world. Please support them. They're nonprofit. It helps out homeschoolers.
29:09that learn forestry stuff. So I gotta give them a shout out because they taught my son a lot. So he learned about cherries from cherry trees.  And he goes, mom, that's the best cherry I've ever had.  But people don't know that. They're scared to try items like what you're doing, like a hot house. A lot of people can make a hot house. My goal is to eventually teach people how to urban farm on their patios and stuff. Like that's my goal. Cause I lived in an apartment for a long time.
29:39But having a hot house is really smart and you can peppers. Let's talk about hot peppers real quick. Cause you have a hot house people there's like  a niche for different types of rare peppers, right? And you can get a lot of seeds. Like the peach Carolina Reaper is very common now that used to be rare, right?  If you cut those bushes like an inch above the soil, just completely down your pepper plants, you can put them in the hot house.
30:06And they'll winter all winter and next year when you grow them, can grow them just in the same pot and they produce peppers way quicker and way more. So hot peppers can be wintered. A lot of people don't know that. I didn't know that actually until I came to Montana and a farmer told me.  Yeah. And the other thing that I'll throw in here is that you've been told your whole life, certain things like,  um, I don't know, Rosemary can't overwinter in Minnesota. Yeah.
30:34Rosemary can't winter over in Minnesota outside because it's too cold. But we had one winter over in the heated greenhouse. Yeah.  I didn't think it would make it because we're not talking a hot house, Morgan. We're talking  it maintained about 30 degrees at the coldest this winter in the greenhouse. That's pretty good though. But see, like listeners can hear 30 degrees, guys.
30:59That's not very hot. You can put a mr. Buddy propane heater in there and heat that bad boy up to 30 degrees We did it with the goat bar, you know exactly so so you  I am I am a big proponent for trying things out even if it goes against what you've been told  If it doesn't if it isn't gonna kill you make you sick or maim you  try it. See what happens We call that the no. you bite in our house
31:29The no thank you bite. I'm like, you can take a no thank you bite, but you have to try it, you know, and,  um, raw milk, right?  I, you'll laugh. I milked my goats for like three weeks and my son and husband drank it, but I just wouldn't drink the milk. I'm not a milk drinker anyways. Like to be completely honest, I drink, my son calls it whooping cream. It's whipping cream, but he calls it whooping cream just because he did. And we all laughed about it, you know? And so he's like, all right, I'm to make the whooping cream coffee.
31:58So I didn't drink a lot of cream. didn't drink a lot of milk before just because I'm not a milk drinker. And when I finally tried the goat milk, it was so weird because in my brain, I was like, this is gonna make me sick and taste awful, right? Because I had learned raw milk was bad growing up.  Only pasteurized, like,  know, nobody would buy raw milk. I had never had raw milk until I milked my own goats at 30.  And so I tried it and I was like, holy smokes, this
32:25better than the store bought milk. So my friend Kayla, she'll listen. Hey, Kayla.  She listened to this podcast episode because she tried it. And she was like, I don't like milk normally. And this milk is good. And she was very hesitant to try goat milk. And she was like, I don't know why it was so hard for me to try it. It took her like four months of everyone drinking it but her. And she was like, fine, I'll try it. And she tried a little glass just a little like
32:54shot of it and then she was like, I have a full glass of that? And I was like, yeah, absolutely you can, gave her a full glass. And like, she's a picky eater, won't even have like, she's, she's in meat on her tacos. Like that's the type of person she is.  so she's a very picky person. So I think like talking about that is you should try things. Like if it makes you nervous and it's not gonna kill you, right? And it's within reason, like try it because you may find something you actually really like.
33:22Yeah. And it can be food. can be beverage. It can be projects. can be if you want to try raising a certain animal, whatever it is. So yeah,  I,  I am so glad I got a chance to talk with you today, Morgan.  really am.  I'm so glad that we met up after a year, right? Or almost a year. think it's been like a little shy of a year, but the changes, right? Good job to you on expansion. I'm proud of you.  I'm proud of you too. Yeah, we've, we've been kicking butt.
33:51doing the damn thing as I like to say. And whatever that is, so whatever you're doing, just do the damn thing.  I'm gonna do the damn sourdough thing for a little bit so I can actually get good at it because  I am reading all kinds of things because this is the new thing, you know how that goes. And I'm saying you don't have to be really nitpicky with it, oh you have to be really nitpicky with it, and I'm like there's gotta be a balance here somewhere.
34:17Yeah, and let me know and like keep us updated. I'm definitely going to start listening more to the podcast because I've been getting away from watching TV all together and been like plugging into podcasts more because the TV is just a mind numbing machine and podcasts have information  and I can't wait to talk to you again. Like I  am just so excited and I encourage everyone to reach out if you want to do a mini like petting zoo.
34:45You could even do it with ducks. could do it with a bearded dragon like I have one that's a reptile. You can do it with a lot of things. Just please reach out to me because if we can all help each other, then that makes this farming thing worth it. So if I can teach other people how to bring revenue in by doing parties, then I would love to speak to you about it. If you have questions about milk or farming or you want to just chit chat and have a farming buddy that you can like cry over the lows and then tear on the highs like
35:13That's what this is about is growing a community and I'm glad that you're a part of my community. You are here for it, Morgan. Yes. Um, where can people find you? Groovy Grazers on Facebook? Yeah. So there's two pages. It's a little confusing right now. Facebook made me a profile. Don't make a profile guys. Make a page if you're a business owner, because then it can plug into like Wix, your websites. So you can find me Groovy Grazers on Facebook.
35:40Instagram is Groovy Grazers and you can find us. own our domain now  www.groovygrazors.com.  Yay. Congratulations. I knew you were working on that. So good job. Yeah. Yeah. So I'll talk to you, I guess in another year then on this show and we'll see all the new changes, huh? Maybe this fall actually. Maybe we'll do six months. Yeah. Let's do a six month checkup. I think that would be really cool if you started doing that with some of the other
36:07people you've interviewed so then we can all see progression. But thank you so much for giving me a place to speak, giving me your time, and most of all, interacting with us again, because it does help the farm out. We appreciate you giving us a platform last year and  letting the word out. I actually have a follower from Florida that ended up getting goats because she listened to your podcast. Oh my god, really? Yeah, yeah, it was really cool. I hope she listens to this one. I know her farm name. It's just kind of blanking me right now.
36:36But yeah, I had two followers from  different parts of the country reach out to me because they wanted to do the farming thing. So just know that like, guys, when you speak on this platform, you're getting to speak to people you wouldn't normally speak to. And that can connect some dots and help you guys out. So Mary, you're doing the damn thing for us farmers and us cottage farmers and helping us get our platforms out there, giving us a place to speak. So we appreciate you and you have a wonderful weekend.  now I'm seriously tearing up. Thank you, Morgan.
37:05Yeah, mean, seriously, just know that like, last year, you gave us such a good platform and it helped me get on other podcasts that were local and stuff. so like, people,  it is, it is worth it to make 3040 minutes for Mary to talk to you, because it's going to change your farm in ways that you never expected and podcasts are good. Like other people are going to listen to your, your lows and highs. You know, last year was really vulnerable and talked about worms.
37:34and how it was like destroying my farm literally and I was trying to get a hold on of it. You know, and I did get some backlash. Oh, well, you have worms. Yeah, but not really not worms that can transfer to humans. That's why I don't worry about when I was going to the parties, you know, but  it is that platform that you're giving. So just know that like from the bottom of my heart, I appreciate what you do and this helps and I've connected with people. So I hope this year I connect with more farmers like I do. I hope from this podcast.
38:01people reach out again because that's what it's about. Because one of the ladies taught me a lot about horses I didn't know about.  And that's something that's really valuable. So yeah, I will totally talk to you in the fall. I'll have more babies then, we'll have the pack goats going, the horse will be saddled and ridden by then. We'll have a lot to talk about. Hopefully the glass blowing studio, I know we talked about that last time, it's still in the works. That's why we're doing the extra things to fund that, like you're funding your chickens. So it will all come out in the wash as they say,
38:31in Louisiana. It all come out.  Yup.  All right, Morgan. Thank you so much. And as always, people can find me at atinyhomesteadpodcast.com. Thanks so much for your time. Thank you. Bye.
 

Cottage On Cross

Today I'm talking with Karen at Cottage On Cross.
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00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters, and topics adjacent. I'm your host, Mary Lewis.  A Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Homegrown Collective, a free to use farm to table platform, emphasizing local connections with ability to sell online, buy, sell, trade in local garden groups, and help us grow a new food system.  You can find them at homegrowncollective.org. Today I'm talking with Karen at Cottage On Cross
00:28Good morning, Karen. How are you? Good morning. Thank you for having me. You're in Pennsylvania, right?  I am, yes. Okay. I'm in Minnesota. It's beautiful here for the first time in four days.  We've had clouds and rain  since, I think, mid-afternoon on Monday. So it's been really nice to get up this morning and see the sun shining. So how are things in Pennsylvania?  Well, we probably got your weather. Oh,  We're in the midst of that rain, but it's spring and it's needed, so I'm not complaining.
00:58Yeah, the weather people here were saying on Monday, they were giving us the heads up that this drenching was coming and they were all like, we need the rain. And I'm like, we don't need 17 inches guys. Oh gosh, no. Yeah. I think we've all, I think we've all ended up with five inches total. Well, that's better. Yes. You don't want your garden to flood.  No, that happened last year. I don't want it to happen this year. So,  all right. So you  tell me why it's called Cottage on Cross.
01:28That's a fun story.  It's purposeful,  but it's also out of desperation. This is not my first online business. And I learned accidentally with my  last one that  your name matters  in Google searches.  If people don't even know what they're looking for, but type in a keyword,  you'll come up.  know, cottage  core,  was super trendy when I started it.
01:56And that's a lot of what I make. So I wanted that name somewhere.  And the first  maybe 28 names I chose  weren't available either on Etsy or on Instagram.  And  I needed the availability on both of those.  So  I ended up with Cottage on Cross because we live on Crossroad.  okay.  Okay. So for people who don't know what Cottage Core is, can you explain that?
02:24Um, well right now, grandma core is trending, which is pretty much the same, just another term for it. It's just kind of a, uh, a back to basics,  um, aesthetic  where, uh, if your grandma had it, you're gonna like it, but, but that's the grandma core. Cottage core is,  uh, well, kind of the same thing. It's like little house on the prairie, um, vibe going on.  Um, it's, it's a more, uh, old fashioned vibe maybe.
02:54Uh huh. Okay.  Um, what I find interesting about Cottage Core is that I grew up with Cottage Core because we spent time with my grandmas, obviously,  and,  my mom was very influenced by her mother, who was my grandma.  And so we always had old fashioned things in our house. And to this day, I really, really hate sleek, shiny glass metal furniture.  want,  I want wood furniture. want cast iron.
03:23hooks for my coats. want the old fashioned stuff.  I am the same. I am the same. And I think we probably grew up similarly then. Yeah, just in touch with family and the generations  back through and all their things that they brought with them and they didn't have the new shiny,  partly because they couldn't afford it.  And partly because it was cherished memories for them  from the generations. And yeah, so you just grow up loving that stuff and
03:52No, I shunned. I shunned all that too. So this is not a going back for me. This is a celebrating that they've caught up with us. exactly. And I feel like I'm going to sound really dumb. I feel like shiny glass and metal is very cold. And I feel like quilts and cast iron and wood are very warm. I agree. So I really like the cozy warm feeling in my house. I don't want it to be, you know, austere and cold. Yes, I agree.
04:21So before we get into what you do with quilts, because I've seen the pictures and what you do is really beautiful. Thank you. Do you live on a farm? I grew up on a dairy farm.  I had almost all the animals growing up and it was a fantastic way  to live.  We have land off my family's farm now. We are right across from the farm. I see it every day. It's beautiful.
04:46I do not have a farm. I have a working knowledge of what a farm is and how much work it is. So I've chosen very carefully what I want. We have chickens. They are easy to care for. I can walk away from them for a day and bank up on their food and they're going to be okay versus a milk cow. can't do that. The goats are really hard to contain. So no, I do not have a farm.
05:12I live on four acres with a lot of chickens, guineas,  dogs.  So it's a almost farm, we'll call it. Almost, yes.  And you have the best of both worlds because the family farm is across the way. Right.  Very convenient, very nice. I love that.  Okay, so  let's talk about what you do with quilts.
05:38When I looked at the pictures, I thought that you were making the quilts and then making things out of the quilts. Then I read further and you're not. You're actually buying or acquiring quilts and then repurposing them. So tell me the story. Yes,  I wish I could quilt.  And if I did, I probably would never cut them up because I am very aware of how much work goes into them.  I did not come from a family of quilters and I'm a little bit saddened by that. A family of seamstresses, yes. So that's where I acquired my love of.
06:08sewing and I learned from my mom and  who learned from her mom and  so  From there we've had quilts in the family that had been passed down, but they're cherished heirlooms I wouldn't cut those up  but  I was inspired by others online who had been making things out of quilts  and thought oh I can do that. So I started picking them up at Salvation Army and Goodwill and places like that and now they are hard to find there
06:36But when I started, I was able to, and  a lot of people don't like it, that people like me cut up quilts, but  my theory is they're there because nobody wanted them.  And somebody could find them to give them a loving home, but I'm giving them a loving purpose. it's, know, kind of, kind of one in the same as how I'm looking at it.  But I,  if it's a quilt that's in really good shape, I do not cut it. I will, you know, find a new home for it.
07:04I use what they're called cutter quilts.  They're  very badly damaged.  They're so stained you can't see  what the pattern is underneath some of the stains you cut around those.  They have holes in them that just can't be repaired. The batting is out of them.  I use those in projects and a lot of my projects reflect those. You can see the fading of some of the colors.  I use the best parts that I can, but you can still sometimes see that they are old quilts.
07:33I do give them new life.  like to extend their life that way in a way that can be useful. Okay. So what do you make out of the old quilts?  Right now I'm making handbags mostly. I've  always had a love of purses. So this is like combining all my passions right here.  I make tote bags, purses, handbags,  but some home goods,  banners. I'm working on banners now. I have like five or six cuts, some for the patriotic season coming up.
08:03And some just for fun.  We have a birthday banner in our home that our kids love to put up in their all adults. So when they come home for birthdays, I still have it hanging.  Banners are just fun. And a quilt banner just adds some color and  some of that old fashioned charm that we talked about.  Just some things like that.  Okay. So if you're making handbags out of old quilts, does that mean the handbags or the purses or whatever are washable?
08:33Hmm.  It really depends. That would probably be based on the quilt in particular.  Some really are and some  really are not.  And I  probably need to send washing recommendations with them. That's a good idea.  Some are, some are not. Spot cleaning would be better  for some. Okay. The reason I ask is because I never ever have bought a cloth
09:02purse or handbag  because I'm terrible. put my bags down wherever and I don't really look what I'm doing and they always get dirty.  Whatever it is. And I'm not even talking about a like a handbag, I'm talking about like a duffel bag.  And  I've always bought leather bags because leather you can clean pretty easily as long as you know what you're doing. Right, right.  So.
09:25That's why I ask, because I'm terrible. I would ruin one of your beautiful quilt bags within 24 hours of owning it. I would. I know I would. really am the same. I have washed mine, and it's washed well. And I can attest to the washability of that one. But some of the oldest quilts where the fabric is thin, I try not to use those as much because they do not wash well.
09:53And it kind of is, if it's dirty, you've got to use it like that. And nobody likes that. It feels dingy.  But most of them can be washed, whether it's just with  a cloth  or you can throw it in the washer. I do try to make them usable and durable because why have something if you can't really use it to its fullest? Right. Yeah, exactly.  Do you travel places to find quilts or are you just finding them in Pennsylvania?  Both.
10:22I am always looking,  sometimes even just on eBay.  But  when I'm traveling, I am looking.  I'm always looking. I'm sourcing, whether it's on Marketplace or at flea markets there, or  even just a pop into a Goodwill if I'm somewhere out and about. But yes, every time I'm away from home, I'm always looking. Okay. And is there a certain kind of quilt that's better for this or can you use any kind? Hmm. That's a good question. That's an interesting question.
10:51Any quilt can be used. I have preferences on what I like. I actually prefer to use quilt tops versus quilts, mostly because they're going to be in a lot better condition because they're unfinished quilts. It's the quilt that has been completely assembled, but it's not had the batting and the backing added. So it's just the thin top. And then it's been stored.
11:21because nobody's finished it. So it's in very good condition, but nobody knows how to finish them.  Few people know how to finish them nowadays  and don't have the desire to do so. So I can pick those up for a little less money and they're in very good shape.  So  they're gonna be the washable ones. They're gonna be more durable.  And then  I put interfacing, heavy interfacing behind them to make them stiff. So I look for those  first and foremost.
11:49And after that, just anything  with pretty colors or patterns. I stay away from anything with polyester in it. I like all cottons.  That goes along with the cottage core and the grandma core.  It's staying away from the new  vibe. Yeah, and polyester doesn't biodegrade very easily and cotton does. I don't even like the feel of it. It's gross. I'm going to be on your team. It's gross. I don't like polyester either.
12:17I also don't like how polyester smells. Polyester has a scent and I don't like it. You are correct.  And I agree. It's gross. I don't like it. So I avoid polyester like the plague. I  honestly I avoid plastic like the plague as much as I possibly can.  Okay. So  if you are  sourcing old quilts or new quilts, I guess, if there's a cotton new quilt that you really like, you might get that too. Who knows?
12:47I'm assuming the cost is anywhere from  zero to hundreds of dollars.  I'm  pretty particular in my price point.  I have to be able to make a profit.  So far, I've not spent over 150 on a quilt and to me that was astronomical, but I know a good quilt can go for far more than that. But those are the ones that I wouldn't want to cut anyway. yeah,  I try and keep my price point low so that I can
13:17keep my bag price points lower. I know there  are those who sell for a lot more than I do,  but I like to be able to help people more like me who are on a budget.  Yeah, yeah. And really you're doing it because you love it and you just happen to be making  a small profit on it, I think. Yes. Yes. Okay.  Um, let me see.  I want to tell you a story. My mom  loves to quilt. Like she's got into it.
13:45I think when I was probably in my early  20s and she kept clothes from my sister and I and she made us each blanket. And I don't even know what happened to that blanket because I'm a horrible daughter and I don't know what happened to it.  But it's for a twin bed and I didn't have any twin beds and I'm sure that it got stuck in a box somewhere and the box got lost in a move. I don't know.  But it didn't stop my mom. She still quills. And she took
14:14A quilt that she had made from my dad's dad, so my grandpa. And she tore it apart when he passed away and she made a new quilt for my mom and dad's bed.  the new quilt was actually better than the old quilt because she was more practiced.  But she still loves to do it and she's 78 years old. Good for her. Yeah. And I'm just like, how in the world do you have what it takes in your hands to do all that fine work?
14:43And she says she's lucky and she has good genes. Okay. Good for her. No, that's  I love that. I love that she still keeps up with her passion  that way. I hope I can still that age. That'd be fantastic.  Yeah. And she made me a pillow when we moved into the new house, which is not the new house anymore. It's we've been here almost five years,  um, with, uh, lady slippers and chickadees and pine tassels. Cause those are all mean things. grew up in Maine. Oh, I love Maine.
15:11And she sent it to me and I was like, I love what you did.  said, I think that  the puppy will love what you did. Cause Maggie, our dog was a puppy then and she basically adopted the pillow. She would lay on it on the couch and my mom had this kind of irritated note in her voice. And she said,  you know, she said, I made that for you because I know that you read before you go to sleep. And I thought you could prop up your tablet against it.  Oh, I love that.  And I said,
15:40I'm sorry, Sid, I didn't know you'd tell me.  And she was like, I guess, I guess Maggie can have it. I guess the grand dog can have it. And I was like, okay, she's not ripping it up. She just puts her head on it.  So I sent my mom a photo of Maggie curled up on a pillow and everything was fine. So,  so just because you make something for somebody doesn't mean it's necessarily going to do the thing you intended it to do.  That's correct. That's correct.
16:08In fact, that kind of reminds me of that someone just sent me  their father had passed away  within the past year  and she asked me if I would be willing to make a bag from the pants of a suit coat of a suit that he had.  She thought it would make a nice and it did. I just finished it yesterday.  It's pinstripe, it's navy pinstripe and she sent
16:34contrast band for the bottom. It's like the clamshell style bag that I make,  leather handles. Oh my gosh.  I am so honored that I was able to be entrusted with such memories for her.  These are reasons why I love to sew, why I love what I do.  You're just making something  that people can treasure as long as they want it.  It was so fun.  Yeah. There's a lady I saw on Facebook who takes flannel shirts that
17:04husbands or dads have worn and makes pillows out of them and it still looks like the shirt.  the front with the buttons is still the front with the buttons in the pocket. Oh, that's interesting. And I thought that was really adorable. So yeah, there's so much sentimentality in  textiles. Yes.  Very much.  Weird, but there is. is. In fact, I still have my security blankie from when I was five.
17:34because I can't,  that textile, it's  the feel and the color, it's, yeah, there's memories wrapped up in that. And I thought at one point, oh,  I'd love to make a teddy bear and give to my first grandchild, but then I couldn't bring myself to cut it up and it'd probably  fall apart, it's so old.  But yes, there are memories wrapped up in fabric.  Yeah, I had a stuffed panda, flat panda pillow that my mom had either made or gotten
18:03me  when I was like a toddler. And I had that thing until I was at least 30. Like  I brought that into my third marriage. Well.  And it was beat up and it was dirty and it was gross. And my daughter who was, don't know, 12, 13 at the time,  she said, are you going to keep your panda? And I said, um, why? And she said, because I would like to have your panda.  Oh, I love that.
18:32I said, why do want it? And she said, well, number one, she said, I'm going to give him a bath. She said, I was reading up on this the other day. She said, I think I can get him really clean.  I said, OK, what's secret? She said, I'm not telling you. If you're this old and you don't know yet, I'm not telling you.  I was like, oh, OK, fine. Take it. Have it.  So she did her magic. don't know, something to do with lemon juice and vinegar and baking soda. I don't know what it was.  And she did that experiment. And she got him half clean.
19:00And then she stuck him on her bed during the day when she was at school. And I was just like, I don't know why this kid wants his panda, but if it's going to make her happy, she can have the panda. Right. And I think she may still have it and she's 35 now. So that's awesome. I love it. Yeah. So there's just something about, again, textiles, you know, we love a doll. We love a teddy bear. We love a good blanket. You know, a good blanket is hard to come by.
19:29It is. It is.  okay. So tell me,  have you gotten any, I don't know, stories, responses, reviews on  your work? All the reviews have been  positive.  I've  been very happy  with my customers and it seems like they've been very happy with the bags.  And a lot of it goes back to what we're saying. They're saying that
19:59You know, they love the quilts too, and they love that they can carry a piece of  history with them. They're loving,  of course they talk about the quality and the design, but  I  think they love the fact that they're able to carry something  old with them,  some history,  besides just going to, know, Marshalls and buying something new.  There's memories with it, and that's important to people nowadays.  I think it's...
20:28It's a valuable thing that they know that can't be reproduced. I think that's important to some people as well. Well, I'm assuming your bags are one of a kind. Yeah, so that makes them really special too. It is, yes. Because even if I can make from the same quilt, it's, know, quilts aren't... Wherever you cut, it's going to be a different pattern. Which I love. I love that. So if you see it and you like it, you probably should get it because...
20:57I can't make another exactly the same, which I like too.  My other business that I have on Etsy, I make dog collars and  bandanas and that's going to be 10 years old next month.  the reason I started Cottage on Cross is because I make the same things over and over there. And it's starting to feel, I mean, it's handmade, everything's handmade, but
21:21They, I have X patterns on the site and they purchase and then I make it and it's starting to me to feel very cookie cutter. There's no creativity left there.  So I love cottage on cross where I can just create anything I want.  And it doesn't have to be  a box pattern. It doesn't have to be the same old, same old that I did last month or last week or yesterday.  I love the creativity. It's been very freeing for me.
21:50Yes, part of the reason I love my podcast so much is because I talk to somebody different every single time  and everyone has a different story. It doesn't matter if they have a five acre homestead, just like the other 10 people I've talked to who have a five acre homestead,  they're going to be doing something different with their five acre homestead. And that's a beautiful thing.  I love it. It makes me  so excited  when I hop on to talk to people.
22:17And the podcast is not just about homesteads. It's about crafters like you and it's about cottage food producers. So not only am I not just talking homestead every time I get to talk about baking, I get to talk about sourdough bread, I get to talk about quilting or basket making. was a lady I talked to while ago who does the actual,  I can't think of the name of them, the baskets that fishermen take fishing with them, the fishermen take. Creel  maybe.
22:46Maybe. That's fun. Yeah, she makes the most beautiful hand-woven I bet she does. Yeah. Well, that's  fun. So it's always really interesting to me when people are doing stuff like you're doing because  no one does this stuff anymore.  Not as many, but I've always been  a little more creative in what I do.  We have four kids and our youngest was born with Down syndrome.
23:13So when I was, I homeschooled until he was born and it was just kind of turned upside down. He had, he's healthy. We are incredibly blessed that way. has no heart issues, no other issues, but the testing and the doctor appointments, the first couple months of his life, we were at the doctor like twice a week. Yeah. All the time for months on end. We didn't finish school that year. He was born in March. Yeah.
23:41The authorities don't know this. My kids are adults now, it's okay to say. But because of him, I need to be a stay-at-home mom. I need to be able to take him to the doctor's appointments, which are non-existent now. But now that he's 22, he's an adult also. He is still living at home. He always will. But he doesn't like to be left alone. I trust him. Clearly, he doesn't trust himself. He doesn't like to be alone. So...
24:09He has to have somebody with him all the time and  we don't trust him  with just anyone. I'm  still a mama bear.  So I need to be home. so being able to make money while being at home,  you have to be creative. So I've, I've always looked for ways and things that I can do  to supplement the income while being available  to the family.  I just, I loved being able to sew  that has opened up worlds of opportunity for me.
24:40I have a question. If he's with you all the time, has he learned any of the quilting stuff? Oh gosh, no. If mom is doing it, he's... Of all our kids, he is the most normal in the aspect of, my parents embarrass me. It cracks us up. Like we go to church and the kids sit with us. They always have like when they're younger, not him. From the time he was like 13, he's like, oh, I'm sitting on the other side of the church. I can't be seen with you. It's embarrassing.
25:08So no, if I'm doing it, he wants nothing to do with it, which is a little sad to me because I have an online friend whose daughter has downs and she quilts. And I think, oh my gosh, the meticulous aspects they could bring to the table. She is an amazing quilter, this friend's daughter. Our son, he could probably do something well, but he chooses not to do anything that we want him to do because that's his stubborn gene. So no, he did not pick any of this up.
25:38have him take out the trash in my shop and that's all I can get him to do. Okay well I just I was hoping that I could have... Yeah me too. I was I could hear a story about a young man who quilts because that would be really cool. Or makes bags out of quilts, whatever. No, no. Okay so I have another question for you. Have you found any really unusual quilts in your you're acquiring them? Hmm let me think about that for a minute. Unusual quilts.
26:07I did find one that had, and it's not unusual, was just  really cool,  it was dated 1870, I  think. It was hand-stitched with the date on.  I got it at an auction.  It was like a bulk sale,  and I could not, I ended up selling that. There was no way I was gonna cut into that one.  Yeah, other than that, I haven't really come across any unusual.  There was one I did buy, I was cutting into it, which is,
26:35which is more common than people realize, but they don't cut into them so they don't know. But when you cut into it, you realize there was a quilt inside it that had gone bad. And so somebody made a quilt top and put over it to extend the life of it. So it's like a quilt in a quilt.  I swear I read something in  a  historical fiction book about that the slaves used to hide things and like sew things into their quilts.  Oh, that's interesting.
27:05That's interesting. they  could bring a quilt with them when they were traveling in the Underground Railroad,  they would put stuff inside the quilt. So if you ever cut into one and find something really special, that might be where that came from. That would be, yeah. No, the only thing I found that's a little unusual,  the ones made with old feed sacks, you're aware of those, for  the  podcast listeners that might not know,  I'll explain a little bit.
27:32Back during the Depression when things were so hard to get food was scarce  and in clothing and  everything was was a struggle  the the grain companies  would print Like a floral pattern on their grain sacks  so that the women could reuse them for clothing  And a lot of those were reused were used also for quilts  And a feed sack quilt is a really fun thing to find the patterns are just beautiful
28:00But a lot of those still have  grains in them. When I cut into them, there will be like oats that fall out.  Funny. That is fun.  Yeah. Again, I'm a big reader, so I read all kinds of stuff. And I saw an article online about the FeedZaxx from then,  and they had pictures of them.  And the prints that they used, some of them were so adorable. Yes.
28:28Yep. A lot of them were kids patterns so that they could make kids clothing out of them. And I feel like they were wearing mom's old dress. So it was fun. Yeah. And weren't the feed sacks made out of cotton? Yes. 100 % cotton, which I love. Yeah. So they were soft too. So if you made a skirt, wasn't itchy. Right. Correct. Yeah. And wasn't burlap. was not. You think of a feed sack and you think burlap, but no, these were cotton. Well, these days, probably plastic.
28:56It is, yes.  We're so crazy here. We use those to keep the weeds down in the greenhouse. Same!  We're the same.  Yeah, they work great because  the sun can't get through them and the weeds die and then you've just got dirt again, which is great.  All right. Well, can you  start a new game for the end of the podcast? The new game is...
29:23Can you tell me one word that describes how you feel about your business?  One word that describes how I feel about my business.  I'd say joy. It just brings me joy to be able to create every day and  joy to be able to offer something to someone that brings them joy. So it's, it's literally happy, happy, joy. It really is. Yes. Good. I'm glad because  really you don't throw your whole self into something like this, Karen, if you don't want to be doing it. That's true.
29:53That's true. Now I love, love my job.  Everyone says, oh, it's Monday. And I'm like, yes, that's my actually work seven days a week because  I can't not. I work in my basement and that's also storage for, you know, extra things in the house. You know, we keep  Sam's club stacks of toilet paper down there and I'll go down to get a paper towel roll. And you know, three hours later I'll come back and I'm like, look at this bag I made.  My husband's like, we needed the paper towels.  I just love it. I can't not work.
30:23Yeah, and it's so easy to get distracted by things that you love.  I sat down yesterday to find who I was talking to in the afternoon yesterday on my phone.  And of course it was on Facebook and found three other people to message about if they'd be a guest on the podcast. it's...  That's how it works. Yes. It's just how it works. Yeah, exactly. When you love your job, you never work a day. It's just what you get to do. Yeah.
30:53My husband asked me how many hours I put in on the podcast. And  at this point, if he asks me, just say all of them.  That's the right answer.  Because I never stopped thinking about it. I'm always okay. What can I do? Who should I talk to? What else do I need to get done to get that episode ready to go out? Blah, blah, blah. And he said, you don't put in all the hours. He said, you sleep, you do dishes, you take a shower. I'm like, I'm dreaming about the podcast. And he's like, you are obsessed. I said, yes, I am.
31:22Yes, agreed.  Nope, that's how you know you love what you're doing. Yeah, and I'm guessing you're probably in the same boat and that's  wonderful. Everybody should have something that makes them this happy. I agree. I wish everyone loved their job this much. Wouldn't that be great? Yes, the world would be happier.  Yes, my dog is not happy that I love my job though. She's sitting outside my bedroom door whistling. She's like, are you coming out yet?
31:50All right, Karen, I try to keep you to half an hour and we're there. Thank you so much for your time. Where can people find you? We are cottage on cross on Instagram. And that's it? That's it.  Or Etsy. Cottage on cross on Etsy. That's where I sell.  Yeah, that's the important part. We want people to go see your thing.  Okay. And as always, you can find me and my podcast at atinyhomesteadpodcast.com.  Thank you, Karen. I really appreciate your time. Thank you so much for having me.
32:19Have a good day. You too.