A Tiny Homestead

Lazy Ass Acres

Today I'm talking with Kendra and Louis at Lazy Ass Acres. You can also follow on Facebook.
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00:00This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Kendra and Louis at Lazy Ass Acres. Good morning, guys. How are you? Good morning. We're doing well. How are you? I'm great. Where are you? We are in Noonan, Georgia.
00:25Thank you. I'm in Minnesota. It is a bright sunny day here. What's it like in Georgia? It's warm. I saw that you saw the northern lights last night. How was that? It was amazing. I've never seen them in real time before. We didn't know anything about it, so we didn't make it outside to look. So we don't know if they'll be visible tonight, but we'll definitely try to check it out. I know some people...
00:53south of us, they saw it too. So yeah, it's unheard of to see it that far south. So I hope you get a chance to see it. The thing we learned last night is that our eyes don't see all the colors of them, but if you take a photo with your cell phone or with a camera, the colors you don't see show up in the photos. So that was really neat. That's cool. That's, oh.
01:19Yeah, really, really beautiful. And Facebook is filled with photos this morning from all over the place. It was so neat to see it all. All right. So tell me about yourselves and what you do at Lazy Ass Acres. So, um, just a little bit about us. We've been married for 34 years. We have two kids, we have two daughters. One is 27 and one's 30, both grown professionals doing their thing.
01:49We have always had a small-ish garden, even if it was just tomato plants and pots, we've always grown something. But we just decided, like, over time, to grow, I guess. We started out with a small garden, then we got a few chickens, then we got a few more chickens, then the garden got a little bigger, and then we've added. So, just continuing to grow our homestead and continuing to...
02:17do everything we can to be as self-sufficient as possible. And how is that going for you? Like what percentage would you say you're at on self-sufficient? We're pretty high. I would say, based on how little we bought from the grocery store, I would say we're about 80, 85%. So I guess just before
02:46COVID, we became empty nesters. And so we started applying our free time, our family time to the garden expanding. And we just live on a small lot here, about just over five acres. And it was all wooded when we first moved here. And so if you looked at it from Google Earth, it pretty much looked like the Unabomber lived out here. It's just, all you could see was a rooftop and just trees everywhere.
03:15So we've just been etching out more and more ground space and the soil over here is just horrible. It's just Georgia red clay and rocks. So we started on just raised bed containers and just making our own soil using a horticulture method. And then we just
03:40realized we could put that stuff on the ground and amend the soil there and it worked out great. We had moved our chickens around on top of the last year's garden bed and they fertilized and turned it and we just kept doing that. And we make our own compost. We bring in about, I'd say about 10,000 pounds of manure and hay and straw a month and then we turn that with some fresh greens that
04:10local organic market. They give us our scraps every week. And it can be between one to 300 pounds of fresh greens, lettuce, and all those leafy greens. And so we feed that to our animals, and then we add some to the compost and turn it about every week, get all those nutrients in the soil. And that's really been a game changer for us.
04:37Yeah, you can't grow anything in clay. It doesn't matter if it's the gray clay that we have here in Minnesota or the red clay you guys have in Georgia. Clay does not grow anything. So yes, composting and amending the soil and chickens are a miracle creature. I do not love chickens. I'm going to say it loud and clear. I don't love chickens, but I love what chickens do and what they provide for us.
05:07Yeah, they do a lot for us because we grow, we harvest our own meat birds once or twice a year and we get the eggs and everything is used on our chickens because like I said, we harvest the meat. When we do that, all the feathers go to a compost pile. The innards and stuff, they go to a compost pile. The dogs get the chicken feet.
05:37When we're done with the meat birds as a meal, we use the bones to make bone broth out of it and then we take the bones out of that, dehydrate it, and then crunch that up and blend that with egg shells so we make our own bone meal that we give to our birds and use as fertilizer. So it's zero waste.
06:03Yup, exactly. That's why I said chickens are a miracle critter. They give back more than they take, I think, sometimes. And I'm going to say this again, it is not necessarily inexpensive to raise chickens, but if you can make the return go as far as it can, it takes some of the sting out of keeping chickens. Exactly. You're 100% right.
06:33say something about it and then I forgot it because this is what I do. I get listening and I forget what I was going to say because what you guys tell me is so interesting. We have chickens and we don't utilize them as much as we should because we're actually way lazy ass farmers. We just don't and we should but we don't and I have to think about that and talk to my husband about it because I'm like that is really smart. And our chickens are not meat chickens. They are laying hens.
07:02So they're probably not going to be real good to eat, but they probably might make really good chicken stock. So I need to talk to him about that when we can narrow down which ones are giving up on laying eggs because we've got 18 chickens and we've been getting like 10 eggs a day for the last two months. So. Well, that's good. I couldn't tell you exactly what our headcount are on the chickens. I'd have to say.
07:29Probably about, well, there's probably 35 outside between three chicken pens. And then we have some in brooder we just moved outside. And we have some turkeys and we have some ducks. We have some guineas. We actually just had one guinea hatch about 10 minutes ago. So we're in panic mode trying to get that one in the brooder and get the other ones off the eight turners before. We had a two-bar here. Yep.
07:57They hatched a few days earlier than we expected or started hatching a few days earlier than we expected. So we had to figure out what, you know, just switch gears a little bit there and get them, get the breeder ready. I would say we probably have 50 chickens, 50, 55 chickens. But we still have three incubators going right now. We do actually really like chickens. Yeah. Isn't it great when nature surprises you and the babies come early?
08:25Yes, I love it. I just would like to snuggle and like hold a little tiny babies when they can come out of the incubator and they're so cute. Are they really soft once they dry out from the wet? They are very soft. And fluffy. But most of our birds are egg layers. So we just special order some Cornish Cross from Hatchery.
08:54once or twice a year, grow them out for eight weeks, and they go to Camp Kenmore. They end up in the freezer. Yep. Yep, that's a good place for them. So are you guys doing this just for yourselves, or are you sharing or selling with your community? Well, mostly for ourselves. We share with the family. We do have customers, regular customers for our eggs, and we occasionally sell.
09:22some of our birds, whether they're the guineas or some chickens and quail and rabbits also. We just had a small litter of rabbits born last week. So we do sell them mostly as pets. Yeah, I saw the pictures of the babies. They're very, very sweet. Yeah, they just opened their eyes a couple of days ago. Yeah. There is little cuter than...
09:52There is almost nothing cuter than a baby bunny. I know, that's so cute. We have learned. Mostly for ourselves. And we just, you know, we talk to people or they ask us questions on social media or in person about what we're doing. And we just don't realize how deep we are into being so self-sufficient.
10:20because I had a coworker ask me about bone meal. He saw the video of us making bone meal and used that as fertilizer. So I had to back up and explain to him where the bones come from that we harvest our own chickens and we crush up our egg shells from our chickens and then the compost is our compost that we make here on site. And so it's all, I don't wanna say it's a closed circle just yet.
10:49But we're trying to get there. Yeah, we are not. We are not even close to a closed circle. We need to work so much harder at this. OK, so do you guys have any other animals besides the chickens and the guineas? We have two, I would say, pigs, but I think they're hogs now. They're about 450 pounds. I'm trying to think in our feeding order. We have two hogs, Dottie and Daisy.
11:18I think we have three, no we have four turkeys. We're trying to breed, in the turkey pen we have about three that we're trying to breed. Like Kendra said, we may have between 40 and 50 chickens. We have a couple of pecan duck and we have I think about five rabbits and probably about 20 quail.
11:45and about eight guineas. I think the guineas are our favorites. I love the guineas. Everybody complains they're so noisy, they're so noisy. And they are, but they also have just like crazy personalities. And when they're not squawking and being really loud, they make this really sweet little peep that I don't think is precious. But they are so fun to watch because they just have, they're like little clowns.
12:13just some of the silly things they do. And they're just entertaining. And they're also good watch pets, because they let us know if somebody's on the property before the dogs even know. Yeah, I keep hearing that. Our dog is like the most phenomenal watch dog ever created. So I'm not too worried about getting guineas. But my question is, the guineas lay eggs as well, yes? Yes. Correct.
12:40And how big are they compared to like a chicken egg? They are just a tad smaller than a chicken egg. Their egg shells are harder. So like I said, we just had some hatch, started hatching today. But as far as eating them, they taste no different than chicken eggs to us. But they, Kenra said it, I think she nailed it right on the head when she said they're funny. They look like little clowns running around the yard.
13:08And they're so fluffy and when they run, they look like they have little Flintstone feet underneath their big bodies. All fun. That's cute. Yeah, she said people complain that they're loud. Not our neighbors, I think general consensus. You either love them or you hate them. They can be noisy, but they make, like she said, good watchdogs. They alert when there's a hawk or a snake or something on the property that's not supposed to be here.
13:39And, uh, but they're, ours are not skittish from us. They actually will follow me around the property to each feeding station, wanting something. They'll follow us to the pig pen. They want some pig feed. And they'll follow us to the turkey pen and see what we're feeding them. They don't want to miss out on anything. Well, no, that'd be terrible. Yeah. Spoiled rotten. So they know they're going to get a treat at every, every animal station we go to. Every, every time somebody gets fed, the guineas get a little bit too.
14:08And they know this, so they just follow us around. And they're also not scared of our dogs, which the dogs don't bother them, but they'll kind of follow the dog around too, like just say, oh, what's he finding? Is he gonna find a treat for us too? Oh, funny. Huh, I didn't realize they would do that. Okay, so are you guys going through the cicada craziness that's going on in other states? We have some, it hasn't been an outbreak down here.
14:37Um, but we have noticed some, and I was wondering, um, if the chickens have taken up on them, but, um, not, not so much, not, not crazy crazy. What about you guys? No, we don't, we, we're not in the right state for that. We're too far north this time. Oh, okay. And kind of glad we are too far north because I sort of remember a while back, we had some cicadas that, that came out. Not, not like it is right now, but.
15:07but some. And I know that they're harmless and that they don't sting and they don't really bite but they're creepy looking little things. And my 22 year old son who still lives with us, he's like, I wish it was happening here. He said I would be collecting the shells. I said, for what? He said, I don't know. I'd figure out some way to make it into a sculpture. I was like, okay, I'm kind of glad they're not here. So yeah, it's, I've been, I have new friends that I made from.
15:35interviewing them for the podcast and they have cicadas everywhere and they have a social media channel that they do on YouTube and one of the women is making things out of the cicada shells and I'm like, oh, it's really cool but gross, no. I was reading an article, they're actually edible too.
16:04Yeah, I don't. A lot of things. I jog a lot of eating bugs. I'm sorry. Yeah, no, I'm good. I don't really need to try a new taste sensation. I'll pass on cicadas. Okay, so your adult children, are they in on the farming and stuff or are they off doing their own thing? One lives in state. One is out west and she's fixing to move this side of the world. But when...
16:32When the youngest one is home, she's very hands-on. Last year, she helped butcher the hog. And also, I think last year, she helped, if not last year, the year before, with some of the meat birds. So they do like coming over and helping when they're around. I think when she gets a house that's under property, she will definitely be more.
17:01Like she, right now they live in an apartment, but I think she will, she wants to have a garden. She tries to grow things in pots. I definitely think ideally she would love to have a small, if not a farm or a home set, at least a garden and a couple of chickens. And our oldest daughter who lives just a couple of minutes away from us, I think- She gardens. She pots. Yeah, she gardens and she like does, bakes homemade sourdough and things like that. But I don't know.
17:30I don't know how she would feel about the chickens. She likes them when they're little babies, but I don't know that they would fool with like raising them, but definitely she gardens and I think eventually she'll garden more. Yeah. I feel like we pass this stuff down to our kids. My stepson lives in Nebraska and they just moved to Nebraska from Arizona back in December. And part of the reason they left Arizona is because he could not garden.
17:59in Arizona the way that he can garden in the Midwest. Right. And he is so excited. He was weeding out a patch yesterday. He's got a spot for his garden set up. I think he's putting in seedlings and seeds today. And he's been talking his dad's ear off about his garden for this year. And it is so, I don't know, satisfying and amazing that he's so excited.
18:29into this and he learned it from us. Yeah. That's awesome. Yeah, that's what and that's kind of like... What's on about Granny Grannity? The things with, you know, that we like to pass down and my grandparents who basically who I got the love of gardening and growing food from, they grew up in very in a very rural area and then in the 50s they moved to the city of Atlanta. Well, they were sure college. And they always had a garden.
18:58And so growing up, they moved to Atlanta, but then they built a garden in the backyard. So they always had, they were always growing things, but they grew up, their parents were sharecroppers. So they have grown up farming, that was all they knew. So they passed along the love of growing food, even on a small scale, they always grew a huge garden. We always grew up eating fresh foods. And then my mom did it.
19:25a little bit, but not as much. It kind of skipped a generation. She wasn't as interested in it. And then when Lewis and I bought a house, like that was one of the things that we were excited about was planting flowers and trees and growing food and having a garden. And then we've been fortunate enough that our girls have, to some degree, become interested in it as they've gotten older.
19:50Yep, I think that it's a wonderful trait to pass down. My mom's parents had a beautiful garden in their little town, in their house, in Oakwood, Illinois, of all places. And I know for a fact that both of my grandparents' parents were farmers. So it's been passed down through my family from at least four generations ago. And uh...
20:19I used to love to get my hands in the dirt and get my shoes dirty and plant stuff. And as I've gotten older, I'm not as into that part, but my husband is a gardening fanatic. So he grows the produce and I cook it. So I think we have a good split going on. That's how we are too, a little bit. I grow the garden, but Lewis is the cook in the family. All right. I grow it and he cooks it. And then
20:47He's more hands-on with the meat processing than I am. So we kind of share the responsibilities and the chores. Yeah, I think it's really good when spouses or partners or whatever the relationship is, when you both know what you're good at and what you enjoy, and it's complimentary to the other person. Right. It really makes things easier.
21:15Okay. So how come it's named lazy ass acres? That's a good question. I don't know. I don't know if I have a good answer for that. Okay. As a comedian and a jokester and like things quirky and funny. Yeah. I think it was a little bit of a smart aleck. Yeah. I think it was just a whimsical name I came up with. You know, a lot of people, they name their.
21:44farm or their ranch and they have, you know, they have their brand where it's bar A or something. So I was just trying to use my initials, LA for something. And so I just saw a picture of a donkey and I said, well, let's go with lazy ass acres. I don't want to call it necessarily a farm. Everyone has a different definition of a farm or homestead or a ranch. We just call it acres. And I say we're on a homestead, not a farm.
22:14feed ourselves and feed our family for the most part. But yeah, it's just a whimsical name and it's contradictory what we actually do. I mean, we really work our ass off here. There's never any idle time. Yeah, that's what happens when you have acreage and you decide you want to make it go. We discovered that when we moved to ours almost four years ago, because I was always busy.
22:43in town in the little house that we had. And I was raising four kids and doing my thing. And I was always cooking or cleaning or helping with homework or kissing Owies or making sure people were bathed. And when we moved here, all the kids had full in the coop except one. And I'm still busy. I'm still making sure that there's dinner on the table and there's still clean laundry and that the kid who's still here hits the shower at least every other day because, you know, boys are stinky.
23:13but we're always busy with something, but it's good busy. It's fun busy. Yeah, it's fun and productive. It's gotta be both. And a lot of times it's therapeutic to be outside. I just can't, I turn on the TV maybe on Saturday when we're sitting down to eat dinner. I don't watch TV during the week. I'm outside doing something with the animals or doing some more infrastructure with the homestead.
23:41So it's therapeutic to be outside and in the real world and not in this digital world that a lot of people choose to live in. Yeah, and with all the news that isn't great, you're probably better off not staring at the TV all day. Right, and that's the thing, because when COVID hit, everyone was trapped. They were trapped inside and they were restricted on what they could do or where we go. And I felt we were just in our little bubble. We just really...
24:10didn't feel that effective. Now when we were in the public, we took our, you know, necessary precautions or what have you, but we still had, you know, our property here. We could go outside and garden and be with the animals and walk around and all that. We really didn't feel like we were restricted much. Yeah, we were still living in our little house in the little town before we moved here during COVID, and we were lucky enough to have a lot of state
24:39parks and land near us. So my kid and I would get in the SUV and drive to the park and we would just go for long walks because no one was around. It was fine to be outside and not have to worry about masking up or any of that. And we did more walking during COVID than I think we'd done in five years because it just felt like we were trapped. So we just would go escape and hike.
25:09My job closed down for either six or eight weeks and I was at home, but I still had animals to care for and garden to tend to and we stayed busy. And when I come home from work now, it's usually about seven when I get home. But because we have daylight for so long, I come inside at dark. For the most part, I come in, change shoes and clothes and go out and I'm in the garden until dark. And I like it that way.
25:39It's like a decompression for me to just go work in the garden. Yeah, I don't know if you were aware, but yeah, we both still work full time, 15, 60 hours a week, respectively, and then still do what we do here on the homestead. Yep, my husband works 40 to 50 a week and he's just go-go when he gets home on the gardens right now because that's the time of year it is. Yes. So, yeah, I get it.
26:08That was the thing I was gonna say. Oh, part of the reason that we moved when we did is because we were really packed in tight with our neighbors and during COVID, it was really hard being surrounded by people, but not being able to be around people. And we had planned on moving anyway when the opportunity presented itself and it just so happened.
26:36that 2020 was when we could do it. The best part about living on acreage is that you can just do what you want to do and your neighbors aren't right there being like, what are you doing? Why are you doing that? And if you have people in and they say, what are you doing? They're probably actually curious. They're not like looking down their nose. Right. We have...
27:05We're slowly opening up our property. We had over 200 trees cut down in our front yard just to try to gain some ground and grow some grass. And about the same in the backyard, but now you can see more of our property from the street view. Yeah. We sit back off the road. Yeah, we sit a good bit. And our neighbors who take a walk around the neighborhood, they can see.
27:32some, not necessarily construction, but a lot of activity up here. And so they came up one time, it's like, wow, I didn't realize y'all had done so much to the property. It's really opened up and grown. And, you know, we see what a lot of activity up there with dozers and tractors and stuff. But yeah, like you said, you can do what you want on your property and, you know, have that freedom.
28:00Yeah, that's the best part of this is that you don't have to deal with city codes and regulations and stuff. One of the things that we do have to deal with here is county stuff. We are in the end stages of getting a heated greenhouse built. My husband and my son are building it. It looks awesome.
28:25Yeah, hopefully, hopefully, hopefully most of it will be done by tomorrow evening. But we got halfway into the build and I was like, oh, I didn't get ahold of the guy at the county about a permit for this because if you're putting up a structure and it's over a certain amount of square feet, you have to get like a setback thing and you might have to get a permit because it's too big and you have to have a permit for a certain size.
28:55And I called the other day and I was like, we're halfway into the build and I just remembered to get hold of you He said that's okay. How big is it? And I told him he was like and where's it going? because we had had something we put in a shed for our farm stand a couple years ago and I said it's bigger than the shed and he said okay 50 bucks. Oh wow for the setback thing and he didn't have to come out there and do any inspection or anything just
29:23No, no. And what really kind of tweaked me a little bit is he said, he said, I will email you the form and I will email you a photo of your property and you can just circle where it is printed out and circle it and email it, you know, scan it and send it back to me. And he sent me a photo, an aerial photo of our property that is within the last six months. I was like, holy crap.
29:52Okay. Yeah. It's weird. Go ahead. We've I know we've like looked at just like Google Earth or whatever. And it's like so creepy that like anybody can just see what's on your property. Just by Googling it. Yeah. Yep. It just, I don't know. Like I am a terribly private person. If I am in my home or in my yard.
30:22I expect a certain amount of privacy. I saw that photo come through and I was like, oh my God, we could have been outside naked. And not that we ever are, but we could have been. We could have been. Uh-uh, no, this is not cool. I don't like it. I don't like it, it bothers me. But it made it very convenient for my husband to circle on the picture where the greenhouse is going to be. So that worked out great.
30:52losing and privacy we're gaining inconvenience, go fig. But anyway, so yeah, there are still regulations and rules that you have to follow as a citizen of the United States when you're going to do something on your property. But as you get bigger properties, the rules and regulations become less.
31:17So that helps. Yeah, you're right. Yep. But anytime the city or county can make a few dollars off of you, though. So just for that permit, what have you. It's OK. $50 is doable, and it's totally worth it to us. Absolutely. I saw pictures of the greenhouse. It looked like it's going to be awesome. We will be sharing more photos on Facebook of it when it's done.
31:45And the plan is to have some raised beds in there so we can grow radishes and leafy greens. And we're going to try carrots, but I don't know if it's going to work, starting in October and growing into December, hopefully, because it's going to be heated. Because we got asked by a school if we could provide leafy greens, radishes, and carrots for salads for their school lunches. That's awesome. That's great.
32:12You can't grow that stuff here without a heated structure. So we ended up getting a grant and that's what has paid for the materials to build the greenhouse. That's awesome. Yeah so I'll be posting pictures and my husband wants to next spring do the hanging flower baskets. He wants to start them and we will sell hanging flower baskets at the local farmers market and we've never done that before. That's a great idea.
32:41So all kinds of excitement going on here at the tiny homestead place. Yeah, we follow you. And I saw your little helper up on the rafters on the greenhouse. The kitty. Yeah, that's Chirp. Her name is Chirp. Yep. She, I met her for the first time when she was about four hours old. Cause she's the baby, she's from the first litter from our barn cat last September.
33:11And the first noise I heard her make sounded like a bird chirping. And I was like, that's it. You're chirp. Your name is chirp. And her mama's name is floof. F is in Frank. L O F F floof. Cause she is a puffball. She has the longest hair I've ever seen on a calico cat. Really? So we have floof and we have chirp. And we have, and we have Satan. Satan is the black barn cat and he's mean.
33:40He's mean. That's why his name is Satan. I hear you. We had two barncots. Sue, one is she's gypsy's old. She just showed up one day. Like I looked out the kitchen door and she's sitting on the door about like, would somebody let me in? So we tried to see if we knew if, you know, she belonged to any of the neighbors and she didn't. We live on a dead end street. And I think people probably dump animals more often than we realize around here. Yeah. We just started feeding her and she stayed. And then.
34:09Um, our other barn cat is black and his name is just barn cat. He, um, he was a rescue. Somebody found him injured and sickly and got him healthy and the needed to rehome him and so I brought him home. And he's very, they're both sweet cats. They're, they're very friendly. Um, Gypsy's not so much of a barn cat anymore. She's very old and just kind of enjoying retirement laying in the sun, but barn cats still, he's a good mouser.
34:39and still brings this little presence to the back door sometimes. Yep. I love barn cats. I love barn cats because they live outside, they do their job, and I don't have to have a cat box in my house. Exactly. You're right. I say Satan is mean. Satan was mean. Satan actually is very, very friendly compared to how he used to be.
35:05The Humane Society told us when we got him from them that he was a feral stray. He would never let anyone pet him. And turns out that they were wrong. He will come up to me and do the winding in between my ankles and meow at me and he'll let me pet him. He hates being held. So if you pick him up, he fights to get down. And that's why I say that he's mean. And as for people dumping their pets, it happens.
35:35Farms a lot. Floof, the mama cat I was talking about, she showed up here two springs ago. She was about six months old and we didn't know where she came from. And we put a notice out on Facebook. I did all the channels of if anyone is missing their cat, we have her. And of course, nobody said anything. We think someone dumped her and we think that they dumped her because she was a long haired.
36:05cat and she was all matted up and people were going to have trouble keeping her groomed. And she is aggressively friendly. She will climb you to get to your shoulder so you'll pet her. And she's been like that since she showed up. So I get kind of upset when people dump their pets because it's just so... Abandonment, yeah. Sad. Yeah. It really is. It's horrible, but you know, a lot of times things happen for a reason.
36:35And so I don't condone dump your pets in somebody's yard or at the end of the street or whatever, but. Sometimes it works out. Yeah, I love Floof. I'm actually glad that if she had to be dumped, at least she was dumped here where we could take her, where we could take care of her. All right. What's some of the stuff you got in the garden this year? How much stuff you guys have in the garden? Yeah, he was just asking if I would want her to tell you about the garden. Go ahead. Please do.
37:05So every year, you know, I plant similar things, but this year I have three different varieties of tomatoes, but I probably have 50 tomato plants total, so we can grow enough to can and make salsas and salsa and things like that. And then I'll probably have a dozen different varieties of peppers, mostly hot and some sweet. I have sweet corn, I have okra.
37:33I have cucumbers, squash and zucchini, rattlesnake pole beans, which are my favorite beans to grow, potatoes, garlic and onions. Asparagus. Oh, and asparagus. Asparagus, this is coming up on year three with the asparagus, so hopefully we'll be able to harvest some before too long. It just takes a long time for that. I used to grow a lot of different, like I would try to grow cantaloupe and it never worked out very well.
38:04Finally, it was like stop trying to grow things that are not working out and grow the things that do work out and that you know That you're gonna eat the most of You are going to be swamped in produce. Do you can we do we can and freeze and we make olive sauce and canned tomatoes for recipes for the winter and then Lewis makes his own hot sauce as well, so we
38:30We use a lot of different varieties of peppers for the hot sauce. Yeah, we couldn't keep any of the hot sauce. It turned out really good. And we sampled it, wanted a bottle. And then we started doing jams and jellies. You know, it's nice to try something different, though, if you have room in your garden to try a different plant. Because last year, we tried some birdhouse gourds. And they took off. We had over 100 of them. And they just collapsed.
39:00the trellis we had for it, we were not ready for how productive that plant was. Yeah, so how long does it take for those gourds to dry out enough to make them into birdhouses? I've seen it done. About six months, between four to six months. Yeah, four to six months. I mean, ideally a year would be best just to make sure, but four to six months, they're pretty dried out. They start getting where you can rattle them, the seeds are dried out.
39:29we harvested last year are in my garden shed right now. So I've started cleaning them and because they get kind of splotchy and moldy looking. Yeah. So I just clean them, lightly sand them and then I'll have them ready to like turn into birdhouses and maybe sell at our Gypsy Junker Market in the fall. Super cool. I love that. Will you paint any of them or will you just, will you just...
39:58sell them the way that they are. Roll experiment, we'll probably paint some. We'll probably paint some, but I also thought about just setting up a little table at the market and give them kids $5 by Gord and the kids can paint them their selves and take with them. So kind of make and take activity for kids out there. That's fun, I love that.
40:21I understand what you're saying about trying something new in the garden. We've tried to do that every year for over the last at least 15 years. And the one we tried two years ago was Lufa. I want to do that this year. I just haven't started it yet. I probably should. How did that do for you? It did not. We don't have a long enough growing season for them. They're a really long time from seed to end result.
40:50And so they didn't work. And I did some research after, because we just picked up a packet of luffa gourd seeds. Didn't even think about it. And yeah, Minnesota's not the best place to grow luffa gourds. I know people can, it's been done, but we're not where it's gonna work very well. Maybe with the greenhouse, maybe we can grow them. Yep, I was fixing a side babe with a greenhouse. Yeah, we'll try it. And the reason we wanted to do luffa gourds is because we make,
41:19cold press, cold processed lye soap. I keep saying cold press, it's not cold press, it's cold processed lye soap. And we used to buy cold processed lye soaps from a lady that would do her soaps around the loofah sponges. So as you're using the soap, the sponge comes, or the, it comes through. And so we wanted to make some of those. And I was like, hey, we could grow loofah.
41:48whatever they're called, gourds or squashes or whatever, and we could make our own. And so, yeah, that was why we tried it and it didn't work. So we're going to have to try growing them in the greenhouse and see if it works. Right. This year, we're trying something new with a mini fruit tree orchard. So we planted apples. We planted two varieties of apples, so three each, and then two. I think I planted four peach trees.
42:17a pomegranate and then we have two paw paltries. And then we have all those figs. We have so many figs. Nice. And the blueberries are just overloaded right now. Yeah, figs and blueberries. So is everything blooming right now? Is that what you're saying when you say overloaded? Yeah, the blueberries have already like put on the actual berries, the fruit, and they, the blueberry bushes have so many berries on them like it's pulling them to the ground. They are so full.
42:46Yeah, I think I posted some videos on our Facebook page on that. Yeah. So, and some of them are just starting to turn blue, but you have to let them stay for just a little bit so they'll be sweet. Yeah. Um, I don't know. I know nothing about Georgia's weather. How cold do you guys get in, in like January? Um, they just reclassified us to zone 8A. We were 7B. So we don't get.
43:14Our winters don't get too bad and by our perspective, we may get in the 20s, maybe five to ten days out of the winter time. It rarely gets down to the teens. So it's cold enough for us. Yeah, we don't have too many days or too much time. January is our coldest month and we don't have too much time where we really get below freezing.
43:44It happens, but not very often. Okay, so when... Okay, let's talk about blueberries because that's what we were talking about. When did they start blooming for you guys? Probably late March. Okay. We tried growing blueberry plants at our old house and they would bloom in May or June.
44:14Yeah, because it's cold here in the wintertime. Yeah, you can have that cold. Nothing, nothing grows here in the wintertime outside. We have the opposite problem here. Like I have a really hard time growing like, um, leafy greens and carrots. I've tried Brussels sprouts multiple times and broccoli multiple times. And we go from blazing hot to winter. Um, like we don't have a long enough.
44:44fall to really grow a good fall crop. Usually I can get a little bit, but we just go from hot to cold and then we don't have a long enough winter. I could do some cold things in the early spring, but there we go from really cold to 85 degrees in two weeks.
45:12We kept going from winter to summer to winter to summer. We would just not have the long extended falls and springs that we used to have in Minnesota. And this past fall, we basically didn't even have a winter this winter. It was cold, but we didn't get a lot of snow. We didn't have the weeks of the minus twenties that we usually have. And this spring has been amazing. It's been just...
45:40the slowest, gradualist lead-in to summer in years. That's perfect, y'all. And we had tulips and daffodils blooming for like two weeks straight. That doesn't happen here in the last 10 years. So I got to have the most beautiful spring flowers for two weeks on end. It was lovely. That's so nice. Yes, I had been saying to my husband the last two years we were here, I was like,
46:09What happened to our extended falls and our extended springs? He's like, we're going to get one. We're going to get one. And as soon as I saw the tools bloom, I was like, yeah, they'll bloom and they'll be gone in two days. And this is today's the end of the two-week period from when they started blooming and the petals are falling off now. So really nice to see the flowers for more than two days this spring. It's been amazing.
46:34All right, Kendra and Louis, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and I try to keep these to half an hour and we're at like 46 minutes and 31 seconds. So I'm going to let you go. Thank you again and have a fantastic day. Thank you for having us. Thank you, Mary Lewis. All right. Bye.
 

Faith & Feathers Farm

Today I'm talking with Kayla at Faith & Feathers Farm about the homesteading life.
https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes
00:00This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Kayla at Faith and Feathers Farm. Good morning, Kayla. How are you? Good morning. How are things in North Carolina? It's been really rainy and kind of a...
00:27We don't know if we're on the verge of coming in the summer or finishing spring. Yeah. This, this weather all over the world has been a little bit odd lately. It's okay. It's all going to level out. I think, I hope. All right. Tell me about yourself and faith and feathers farm. Okay. My name is Kayla, Kayla Creech, and we have a farm here in Eastern North Carolina on the coast and.
00:55This come with a vision about five years ago, we started when my husband brought home six baby chicks from Tractor Supply. And I think the rest is history because that just started our love for poultry, for a farm in general. And we have just went with it. We started, like I said, five years ago, he brought the chicks home.
01:23my children fell in love. At that time we were living in Alabama, a little small subdivision, and it was probably less than an acre. So that's one of the things I wanted to talk about today with people, it does not matter what size or how much land you live on or what you have, you can work with what you have, and that's what I love about farming. Amen, sister. You're preaching to the choir, that's what we did too. And...
01:52Tractor Supply Company, we joke around here that it's evil because every time we go there, we come home with something we weren't going for. Yes, yes, yes. And so five years ago, we started with those baby chicks. Then the pandemic happened and everything kind of went into a scare or maybe where's our next food source gonna come from? Maybe we need to think of having something to rely on in case we can't get to the store.
02:22We had no idea that, you know, which way it was going to go and kind of the unknown, not really fear, but just having a plan B and option in case you couldn't get to the store. How were you going to feed your family and what were you going to do? Mm-hmm. Yep. That's where the whole homesteading boom, craze, whatever you want to call it, seems to have started, the renewed interest in it. Yes. And so the pandemic happened, kind of jobs went on scare.
02:52We weren't quite sure what we were gonna do and we decided to move back to North Carolina where we originally were born and raised. We did live four years in Alabama, like I said, and did farm there. We always had a garden, even if it was small, you know, just planting roots where you're at with what you have and kinda making it work is what my goal is in life. People say, oh, I can't garden. Yes, you can.
03:21It doesn't matter if you've got a pot on a porch, a little small container bed, a kitchen window, whatever you have that you can put seeds in and start somewhere, wherever you're at. You don't have to start big and have a huge garden. No, you don't have to. You can have a little tiny raised bed and grow things because nature hates a vacuum.
03:48If you provide the right conditions, nature is going to grow something. It's going to work out, isn't it? Yup. I love that you're saying all this because I have been saying this for over 20 years now. All the things you're saying. And people just assume because they see Instagram, they see YouTube, they see what the social media wants to project as far as what you've got to have and you do not have to have that to make it work, you know?
04:18Yeah, and thank goodness there are people like you and people like me who are dispelling the myth because it is a myth. You can grow a potted basil plant to the size that you need it to be to be able to use that basil to cook with in your kitchen even. Absolutely. I started years ago Seed Starts and my husband, we were fortunate at a time, he did build us a greenhouse.
04:48And believe it or not, I've had the best seed start in a milk jug, one gallon milk jug. So literally taking a milk jug and starting your seeds. You don't have to have anything fancy from what a lot of people think and once you get those seeds started, you know, it depends on if you want to direct sow or start your seeds ahead of time, but you can make it work. I have started plants in a milk jug.
05:13almost making like a partial greenhouse with the lid and cutting it half open and starting your seeds. I've heard of people starting their seeds on their dryer in their laundry room using bread bags. Putting the seeds in egg cartons and putting that bread bag around the egg cartons and make a little ecosystem for those seeds to start in and using that bag
05:43to act like a greenhouse, the bread bag. Yeah. That's what you have. Yeah, we used clear, I don't know how many gallon, but containers that had the clear lids too. We used those to start plants one year. Yeah, so when people approach us, we've had some friends say, oh, I can't grow that. I said, can you get a pot? Can you get a flower pot and we will make it work. If you don't have a big garden,
06:11will start right there on your porch walking down your steps, just some kind of pot to put dirt and what you need into it to filter through and your seeds and we can make it work in the right conditions. Are you a teacher at heart, Kayla? I am. I've done it for 16 years and also I work in the medical field, but I always go back to teaching and being with the...
06:40around children and not necessarily just children because you're not ever too old to learn something. So I'm 35 now and I will tell you I still learn something every day. I want to write a book one day but I haven't got that far yet with three kids because we have three kids and they keep us busy and plus the farm. But I would love to write a book about what I have learned in the past five years and how faith and feathers.
07:09farm has come about and what I have learned as far as not necessarily just chickens but what I've learned on the way and to help other people to learn from the mistakes that I did if I could put that in someone else's hands or educate someone else along the way where they wouldn't have to learn the hard way because people they just think okay I'm gonna go get chickens.
07:34It doesn't work that way. I tell everyone that you need to research the animal before you go buy it. And you need to set them up for success. You need to have everything that you can think of to bring them to your farm where you can be successful with that animal. Even if it is a plant, I mean, what does that plant need to grow? What does that animal need to grow? Are you gonna be able to provide it with, you know, protection?
08:02I'm in rules if it's a guy we have guys we have chickens we have ducks we have pigs and we are a rescue farm so i didn't finish telling you that so what we are is a rescue farm our mission like i said five years ago was to start with those baby chicks and have a food source in case we were not able to accommodate you know food for our family if times got tough and we still don't know what tomorrow will bring
08:29but only God knows that, but we can prepare ourself. It's not that you are scaring someone or wanting to put fear in someone, but to be educated, prepare yourself for what might happen. And so, started that little farm with those five chicks. We went from that to, and with life, you know, seasons change just like the weather. And our outlook on what we started with definitely has changed. And I'll tell you why.
08:59We started with the chicks wanting a food source and I got into special breeds, special breed poultry. And I met so many people along the way and it was just a wonderful opportunity to do that. But I enjoyed so much. I got away from what I really started to farm for was enjoyment. It's a hobby.
09:26I love just walking outside and watching my animals interact, interact me, interact with them, my children feed them, the eggs, and all of those fun things that you do on a farm. And with the collecting of the eggs, the ship them out, and you had this deadline, and all these chickens separated for certain breeds. It wasn't, I wasn't enjoying it anymore.
09:51So about two years ago, we come up with a name. We had started farming five years ago, but we finally come up with a name. What was our intention? Well, first faith is always have faith in what you do, faith in God, feeling strong about what your intentions are, faith. And then feathers is we started with chickens, so that's why we got the feather part. And after that, my goal shifted and now we rescue animals.
10:20We have a lot of military around our area that move in and get deployed elsewhere. They can't take their animals with them. People's health declines. They can't take care of their animals no more. Or, you know, with the way the world's gone, some people can't even feed their self. And hardly feed their animals. So we want to provide them a place where they know that they can call me. And I will give them a home. Sometimes they have a permanent home here.
10:48Sometimes I give them a home long enough that there may be somebody else in the area that is searching for that animal Or I'll put out fillers like hey Kayla. Do you know anyone that has a donkey? I know you meet so many people on the way I'm really needing a mini donkey. So that is where our Hobbies have switched to and I could not be more happy at this part of my life I feel like I'm making a difference in people's life for one helping them
11:17They can't move or get deployed because they're worried. They get attached to their animals. They are already worried about the move and then they don't want to worry about their animal going somewhere that they're not taken care of. So they know that they can entrust us. They see what we're about. I can go anywhere from three hours away rescuing a rabbit to an hour away rescuing a duck. So you never know where we're gonna end up but that is what we are.
11:46are set on now is rescuing and rehoming animals, keeping some of them and also seeing what our future holds as far as our food source. We have never lost sight of that. We always keep things here that if something happened, we would have a food source, whether it was a garden, whether it was a meat rabbit, whether it was quail, chicken eggs, something that you can live off of. If you
12:13can't sustain yourself and get to a grocery store or if our food system wants to fail us. Yeah, that's amazing that you're doing the rescue because we have a dog I love more than life itself and I can't imagine parting with her. But if something happened I would want somebody like you to take her and this is how much I love her every time I talk about losing her it makes me cry.
12:40It's terrible. I'm so dumb. I should not be this attached to her, but I am. But you are and they are like family. So I mean, we have goats. We have learned so much along the way. Some animals need more care than others and we do have rescues that are handicapped. Yeah. I know that they need more help than what some other animals would. We do see a vet. I do all I can.
13:09before I reach out to the vet, but when we reach out to the vet, we need help. And sometimes we have done all we can do and they have to reassure me of that. So this is where the medical field background comes into play. I am so fortunate and blessed that God has led me on a path of teaching to the medical field and now to farming because all of that has incorporated into our farm and people reach out to me all the time.
13:40It's not doing well. What can we do? What do you suggest? Is there anything natural that I can give this animal to try first before I resort to a vet? So it really like I said, I would love one day to write a book and tell about our journey on how we've become fate the feathers farm and What we do and what we could do to help other people To save them the heartache of losing an animal if it's something that we could have prevented
14:09if they were placed in, if it was placed in their hands, and every animal that leaves our farm, whether it was raised here, whether it was rescued, whatever the situation may be, when that animal leaves our farm, those owners now have a clear understanding of what this animal needs to be fed and what it needs to be taken care of because I want to set them up for success and the animal up for success. Yeah. Can I, I have not written a book.
14:39But I know I've talked with a lot of people who have, and one of the things that they tell me is if you really feel called to write a book like you're talking about, if you can find 20 minutes a day to write down things in a journal and keep those journals, that would be a really good jumping off point for your book later so that you're not trying to just start it from scratch 10 years from now.
15:05Absolutely, because you know sometimes we get that squirrel in our mind like, hey, we're on this subject like me talking to you. I just love people in general. So I'll be talking to you one thing and then this conversation gets switched. So definitely taking those thoughts at that time and writing them down too. So you don't forget. And also, you know, our time is limited, but I feel a calling to help people in a way.
15:32I've actually learned a lot of natural recipes along our way that help with poultry and some of our animals to try before resorting to the vet. I'm not saying that they are a cure, but they definitely are a preventative and a way to help those animals and then if things get worse then you definitely could reach out to a vet in situations like that. And I really do think it helps to know what that animal needs.
15:59If it is a goat, for instance, you know, goats were raised, I'm sure in the mountains and the hills, you know, and we don't have that here on Eastern North Carolina. Our farmland is flat. There's minerals. We're very, very deficient in selenium here. And so that is one of the things and minerals that the goats need. And you don't want to have to go to the vet every now and again to get a shot just because your soul is lacking minerals.
16:28and the goat needs that type of mineral. So definitely making sure that you have minerals, loose minerals for goats. That the chicken has fresh water all the time and is not in stress. If they feel like a predator is around them, they will be less likely to lay eggs like they should every day to every other day. My mom asked me the other day, she said, Kayla, how do you know all this? You need to go to vet school. And it's not, it's just that I've...
16:55prayed about it. God has blessed me with situations. He's put people into my life that have taught me and if I can teach someone else, I would love to do that. That is why I wanted, I was so excited when you reached out to me because it makes me feel good that people have the similar interests like us and want to do this. They want to Homestead.
17:24other people want to try to do. And this is what the podcast is about. The podcast is about letting people learn vicariously through people who are doing whatever it is they're doing, whether it's farming or rescue or cooking from scratch and selling it or cooking from scratch and not selling it or making crafts. So I was more than happy to reach out and get you to talk with me. You were saying back
17:5110 minutes ago that you really enjoy having the chance to just watch what you're building. Watch your chickens, watch your ducks, whatever. We have a five, well, they'll be five weeks old Saturday, five week old litter of seven barn kittens right now. Oh, wow. And they just came out of the pole barn last night and my dog has been through this once before we had a litter last fall. My dog loves the babies.
18:19And she has, she knows there's, she's known there's babies in the barn, but she doesn't go in the barn. So she's been waiting and waiting for them to come out. She saw them last night and I watched her and I watched her ears perk up. I watched her go on, on point like they do. And her rear ends start to wiggle because she's a mini Australian shepherd. So she only has a nub in for a tail. And many Australian shepherds, Australian shepherds are known as wiggle butts.
18:48She was wiggle button all over the place and waiting for those kittens to come introduce themselves. And this morning, now that she's been introduced, she has been just asking every 10 minutes to go outside because she thinks they're still out there. So watching that happen is one of the most amazing, funniest things I've ever seen because you would think that she would be like, eh, baby cats or whatever, but they're her babies.
19:16Yeah, and it's life on the farm. Now there is hard days. I'm not gonna lie to you. People start out with farms and they get disappointed. You may go out one morning and that chicken or that goat or whatever you have on your homestead may not be thriving. It may not be doing good. And it kind of brings, we had a neighbor that had actually looked after our animals while we went on vacation and I do not vacate.
19:43that much anymore that's the only thing about having a farm you have to find people that you trust to feed your animals when you're gone and I come back to a lot of death not necessarily something he had done in particularly but my own dogs had did it. They actually had attacked some of our chickens and because they were not put up at night and he didn't know that so sometimes things happen on the farm we don't understand why they happen there is heartache but there's
20:12also times of joy, new birth, you having those kittens in the pole barn and just seeing the dog's reaction of anticipation of waiting for so long and then finally being able to go and enjoy them and spend time with them and if any of my days are stressful all you have to do, my husband gets he talks about me missing sometimes and he knows where to find me. I'll be outside talking with my animals. It is an awesome therapy.
20:41I believe talking with your animals and getting out and enjoying nature is the type of therapy. Absolutely. I just talked to my dad this morning and he had a weird thing happen a couple weeks ago. One of his salivary glands got blocked and he got a nasty infection. He and my mom have a border collie dog. He was telling me this morning that she has been just the best caretaker. He said, now, your mama.
21:10is the best caretaker for me. He said, but this dog, I swear, he said, ever since I got sick, she has been right by my side. He said, I've been taking her for walks this week and she has stuck right by me and she's never on a leash unless there's a reason for her to be. And he said, she has not been making him go find her or chase her. She's right there guarding him. Something's wrong. Yep. So yeah, he
21:35And he said that when he was actually feeling terrible when he got home from the hospital because he spent a night in the hospital, she was right there by him and he was petting her and it just made him feel so much better. So yes, having animals is therapy. You may not think so, but it is. And they, they, um, just like a dog waiting for you to get home, they do not know the time that you had left them. How long it was? 30 minutes? 10 minutes?
22:01Five hours they are just excited for and and wanting your acceptance and love So that is what I tell people all the time about having a farm If you can do all you can do not to let that animal down You've really got to be passionate about what you do and when you lose passion in it or when it's not it's time to shift But I have not lost passion in this and I will continue and our farm will reach out to animals that are in need but
22:29just like that dog waiting on you at the door. It just wants your acceptance. It wants your love. It does not judge how you look, how you feel. It just wants your love. That's all it wants. Mm-hmm, absolutely. Okay, so you said you have three kids. Are they involved in the running of the farm? Yes, and we have two girls and a boy, and the two older girls are 12 and nine. One of them is a fashionista, Hoshi.
22:58really more about what she's wearing going into the teenage phase, excited about that, but she still loves our animals. Now my middle daughter, she's out there day with eggs, picking the animals up and holding them. And my oldest daughter and husband, they have favorites on the farm. He's more of a duck and pig person, and I'm more of a chicken person. So we literally have an animal, I guess, for each person.
23:26to love out here. So yes, they helped me so much on the farm. I couldn't do without them. And that is a lot that people don't know about having a farm or a homestead is the thing it takes. We have a lot of animals here. So the feeding, the cleaning, you know, closing up your pen at night, making sure everybody's in to prevent predators because we live in an area where there's nothing around us but fields. And so we face
23:54almost every predator you can imagine, especially snakes right now. Snakes are in and foxes, it's time for the fox run and we are getting, missing a few guineas. So that's just, it's part of life. It is the life cycle. We don't want it to happen sometimes, but unfortunately it does. And so my family is very, very supportive and help as much as they can with the farm, whether it be feeding, caring for an animal, cleaning for an animal.
24:23and just having patience with me because they know it takes a lot of time outside to caring for those animals and not as much time inside anymore. Yeah. You were saying about knowing what's involved in having an animal before you get an animal during the research. One of the things that I want to share with the listeners is that if you're going to get chickens, chickens eat a lot more feed than you think they would. Absolutely.
24:53I had no idea. Or they call them little mini dinosaurs and they have a appetite. They literally will eat and eat as much as you feed them. They're not good self-regulators. No, no they are not. And I will tell you this also about, you know, learning the animal before you get it. I love going to tractor supply, especially during chick days because my husband said,
25:23Because I have had to learn your different types of breeds of chickens. What? So when I meet someone, I'll see them there and they're looking at the chicks and I'm like, okay, what are you wanting? And my husband and my kids laugh at me every time, but I just love people and I want to help them. It's not that I'm trying to get in their business or tell them what to do, but you, you know, is it for me? Is it for a dual purpose chicken? Would you like a chicken just for show?
25:52You're not going to want to get a silky and let and that be your meat source or your dual-purpose bird because in all in all they're in the Bantam variety. They're not going to lay as many eggs as what you say a Rhode Island red chicken would every year. So their requirements are different. So you need to know that too about what you're getting versus going out there and just getting a chicken. There's a lot more that goes into it than just, hey, I'm going to get chickens and I'm going to feed them.
26:21I'm gonna get an egg every day and it's gonna be so much cheaper than buying eggs at the grocery store. That is wrong. Definitely wrong, yes. The other thing that I want to say is you were saying that if your passion dies out for it, it's time to switch gears. Here's the thing about that. You're right. You're absolutely right. But the other thing is that in the beginning of any new thing.
26:50People are evangelistic about the new thing, whether it's a new food or a new lifestyle or a new animal or whatever. They're focused on it entirely and they're excited about it. And then you have to come down from that high that you're on with the excitement because you can't maintain it, number one. And number two, things do go wrong and it does hurt.
27:19and it will make you cry. And you have to learn how to balance your passion and the disappointment that will inevitably come when something goes wrong. The barn kittens that we have right now, I am purposely giving them a fairly wide berth because I don't want to get attached. Because barn kittens don't always survive on the farm. And it's not anything that we can or can't do. It's just that sometimes they don't thrive.
27:49because they're outdoor animals. So they're adorable and I love them. But if a couple of them don't make it, I'm not gonna be nearly as destroyed as when the first barn cat that we got from the Humane Society got hit by a car and died. I was very upset about that. And I don't wanna feel like that again. So I'm admiring the kittens from afar. I have held them and kissed them and petted them twice now. And that's enough.
28:18Because mom is doing a good job, these kittens don't need a second mom. Absolutely.
28:25So that's what I wanted to say about that because it's really hard when you know something bad can happen, but you try and hard to have faith that it won't and then it does anyway. We have rescued goats. The mother died at a farm previously. They had done everything they could for that mom. Unfortunately, when you buy animals from an auction, you don't know what you're buying.
28:54And so they did not know that the goat was pregnant. So she had two babies and we had a bottle baby at the time that did not have a friend. So we rescued the two bottle babies, not knowing much, except that the mom had died and they had tried to do everything they could. But when the mom went down on that farm, she was not able to feed them and do like she needed to, so us rescuing them, they were kind of.
29:21malnourished from their mom passing at the other farm. The mom was wild so the owners were not able to intervene like they needed to and get a hold of the babies and care for them because of the way the mom's temperament was. And so when we rescued them, I had all these intentions of, you know, I was going to do this and I was going to do that and it was going to be wonderful.
29:49And then that's why I was saying back at the previous comment about going out and some days are disappointing because when you go out, one of the babies was down that morning and the vet had to reassure me, you know, Hey, Kelly, you have tried everything. We know your intentions. You were wanting to nurse them back to health, but sometimes things are out of our hands and I lost that goat and it was nothing we had did. We had kept her three days. We were bottle feeding her, but
30:16You can't, it is out of our hands sometimes, but just knowing that you've done all you can do, there isn't a reassurance in that, that I did seek out and try to get it help. I brought it here trying to get it more help and just doing the best that we can with what we have. Yeah, exactly. And I'm gonna put this out there. You can tell me whether you agree or disagree. I feel like when you are working with nature,
30:45whether it's plants or animals or whatever. It gives you the highest highs and the lowest lows. No one who's working with nature needs to do drugs because you will be higher than a kite when things go well and you will be lower than low when they don't. Absolutely, 100% agree with that. Also, I will talk about nature taking its course. There is nothing better than letting a creature or an animal
31:14do its own thing. It's got its own natural instinct. I can come in here and I can sit eggs in an incubator and I can hatch those baby chicks or those baby quail. And I can take care of it to 100% and they are reliant on me. But then I can go and take a broody hen and put eggs up under her or let her hatch her own clutch of eggs.
31:42And watching that mom hatch those baby chicks will give you the most high, like you're talking about, whether it be plants, chickens or whatever. And just seeing those babies that she has got the instinct to know how to take care of from day one by helping. I did not know this, but they can actually help some of them hatch. You know, in an incubator you're not really supposed to help some hatch. Some people do.
32:09Some people don't, they say only the strong ones survive and can get out of the shell. But in nature, the mom can actually help the baby chick hatch. And she knows exactly what to do. I have had such good hens before that I have hatched eggs myself or bought baby chicks from Tractor Supply and not even had to bring home and put under a heat lamp or a brooder plate because I would give them to an experienced mom.
32:37And as soon as she's done her first initial cluck cluck or her noise that she does to call her babies, that chick knows what to do. And it amazes me every time how aseptive of that they are that they can just let nature take its course sometimes. Like what you're doing with the barn cats. Let mom and nature take its course and see how it goes.
33:02Yeah, it's kind of amazing that we as humans really have no idea what we're doing with our first baby. Yes. I know when I got pregnant with my daughter, first child, I was 19. I was young and I had no idea what I was going to do. I mean, I knew what I was going to do. I was going to have a baby, but I had to get books and read up on what to expect when you're expecting and what happens.
33:28what you do when you bring the baby home, because I knew you had to feed the baby. I understood that I had breasts and that I would breastfeed my baby if I could, and I did, and I loved it, and she loved it too, and she is 34 years old now. But I didn't know what I was doing, and I watched my barn cat have these babies last fall, not the latest litter, but the first litter, and I went out.
33:57to check on her maybe three hours after those babies were born. And she's a very floofy cat. She's a very long haired cat. Her tail was completely soaked from all the water from the sacks. And she had those babies right up under her and they were nursing. And she looked completely blissed out. Like I don't know what just happened here, but I feel so good.
34:26She was under a year old. So technically she was still a kitten herself. And she had six babies, never had had babies before and knew exactly what to do. Because it's all instinct. Isn't it is and I have people contact me, should I do this or should I do that? I was like, give it a little bit because you'll be shocked. A mom knows how long to sit on her eggs. Most chickens do.
34:54Do they need to intervene? Do I need to do this? I was like let them sit it out give them a day or two They know when to come off of the nest if they if they might be waiting for a few more to hatch Even though they've got two under two baby chicks under their wing They may be knowing something we don't know that they need to sit just a little bit longer for those last few to hatch Mm-hmm. Just let nature like I said take its course because God created that animal and he he made everything perfect and they know
35:22what they need to do to care for their self to a certain extent. Now do you need to supply them with clean water every day and food? Absolutely. But I have more chickens that would love to get out in free range and just enjoy the bugs and the nature and the grass that God created instead of me feeding them every minute. I'm so fortunate that my geese love to free range.
35:48and that some of our chickens love to free range. Now, is there certain breeds that are there waiting at the food bowl like a dog every time you feed them? Absolutely. But just letting nature take its course and letting what is out there provide their nutrients for them. Yeah. And I feel like homesteaders and farmers and growers all know I was going somewhere with this, something you just said, and I just lost it. I feel like, oh, I know what it was.
36:17We all need to work with nature as much as possible instead of trying to work against it or change the direction because it's never going to stay put long. With our rabbits this year, I'm trying something new, you know, like with the food system, we have no idea which way it's going to go. So being self sustainable is very important, whether it be, you know, I don't have anything against vegan if you want to grow your own plants, that's fine.
36:46We do both here. We do meat and vegetables. And so having that source there is so important and me being able to now grow and know how to start seedlings and grow fruit food for my animals. That is important too. Um, what if, what if the feed store closes and you're not able to get feed anymore, um, just things like that. And I feel so blessed to be able to.
37:14go out and grow lettuce and turnips or carrots for my rabbits. That's amazing when you can turn around and grow something with your own hands for your family or for your animals. That's a proud feeling. Mm-hmm. Absolutely it is. We are getting ready to get stuff planted here in a week or so, because I'm in Minnesota and it's still a little nippy for planting anything outside.
37:43May 15th is usually the day that we're like, okay, we're safe to put seedlings in the ground now. Are you having cool nights still? Yeah. Cool night. Yep. Last night I think the low was 50. Oh yes. And we're in 80s and 80s to high 80s during the day and we are, you know, 55 to 65 at night. So it's time for us, um, with busy life sometimes we don't plant when we want to.
38:13Me, I'm way behind this year. But you know, like I said, life has a season. Every season is different. There is some things I will tell you about, just like getting an animal. You need to know your soil. You need to know what your farm or homestead can grow. And sometimes that makes trial and error. When we first moved to this homestead, there had been nothing here that my dad and them had planted over the years was just soybeans.
38:41So we knew soybeans would grow, but it's very sandy. But we could not get anything to grow except peppers. Now peppers love the sand. Peppers and our squash. But certain vegetables did not thrive unless we made raised beds and amended it with our own soil. And we love our rabbits because we are able to source our own fertilizer through their manure.
39:10And that makes me also proud to have a whole system there of being able to grow the vegetable to feed the animal, but have their manure and what they have to actually grow what they eat to fertilize it. So that right there in a cycle of itself, that will make you proud. A full circle system, I love it.
39:34All right, Kayla, on that note, we're at like almost 40 minutes and I try to keep these to half an hour, so I'm gonna let you go. Thank you so much for talking with me today. I really appreciate it. Yes, we absolutely enjoyed it so much. All right, have a great day. Thank you.
 

In The Kitchen With Grammy

Today I'm talking with Shavonica at In The Kitchen With Grammy. You can also follow on Facebook.
00:00This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Shavonica at In the Kitchen with Grammy. Good morning, Shavonica. How are you? I'm great. How are you doing? I'm good. I want to know all about what you do at In the Kitchen with Grammy. Great. So...
00:28It all started about four years ago and I started cooking with my granddaughter. She'll be six in July and we just started making videos and, um, cooking with, with her and now I have four granddaughters and a fifth on the way, but we get in the kitchen and we cook and I teach them how to make different kinds of foods, but now we've started a channel called In the Kitchen with Grammy and we're doing pies. Um, I think that pie making has been a lost art kind of, and
00:55You know, people aren't really doing that anymore. So I want to teach my granddaughters and make sure that they know how to do all that. So we started the, in the kitchen with Ramy. We have a weekly broadcast that comes out where we, I have either a grandchild or I've had several gifts come on and, um, we're cooking and making pies. And then we actually take our pies out in the public and let them taste them and rate them on a scale from one to 10. And from that, uh, people were saying, where can I buy these pies? And I said, well, you really.
01:24can't buy them anywhere. We're just, you know, it's a YouTube, Facebook channel and all that, but they kept requesting it. And so from that, we've actually formed Grammy's pies and I'm now in the pie business probably about a month ago and doing pies on a weekly basis. That's great. Um, so are you falling under the cottage food laws for Texas? Is that how you're doing it? Yes, ma'am. Okay.
01:51So in Texas, are you allowed to ship your food if you have your cottage food registration thing? No, not yet. Okay. All right. That we're working on. It may require me getting a permanent location, getting it inspected and that type of thing. And so we've had tons of requests for shipping and that'll be something that we're working on and trying to get that in the works.
02:19Yeah, all the cottage food laws in all the states are not the same. We're like you in Minnesota. We are not allowed to ship foods if we only have our cottage food. It's not licensing. It's a registration. I keep wanting to say license, but it's not a license. But I guess in other states, you can ship. And I'm waiting for Minnesota to decide that we're allowed to ship our goods as well. Okay. So...
02:48Let me rephrase that. You can actually ship within the state. I should have said that. You can ship within the state of Texas. So I can ship. It's a big state. And so I could ship anywhere within the state as I've, what I've read, but I can't ship outside the state. Okay. We're not allowed to ship anywhere in Minnesota. No, no. And the people that are in charge of this, the higher ups as it were, not me, are working to get the laws changed, but it's a very, very steep climb.
03:17So yes, yes. I love pie. I hate making pie because I cannot perfect a pie crust to save my life. Do you have a secret for making pie dough? Yeah, I use a recipe with we use real butter. People just say your your crust is really flaky. You know, it's just really it's crisp. It's good. And so, I mean, just.
03:44rolling it out, using the right kind of flour, just the right ingredients. And one of the things when you're making a pie crust is using really cold butter. It's got to come straight out of the fridge and you've got to, you know, use it right away to make your pie crust stick. Okay. So do you, do you like use a grater and grate the butter so it gets incorporated or how do you use the cold butter? I don't. I cut up.
04:11butter in kind of like cubes and then I use a food processor. Oh, okay. And it, you kind of pulse it, pulse it, pulse it and it, you know, grinds it up and gets it all in there and makes it a little easier. And you actually have to use really cold water as well. So cold water, cold butter in with your flour mixture and that helps. And I also offer a gluten-free crust in my pies. So that's another little option. You are a one-stop shop then. That's great.
04:40I never thought of using my food processor to pulse the cold butter. I'm going to have to attempt making pie crust again now that I have been reminded that you can do that. Yes. Okay. So I don't know what to ask you exactly because I just don't know. So how old are your other granddaughters? All right. So my granddaughters are, my oldest one will be six in July. I have one that just turned three.
05:09one that just turned two, one that's 19 months, and then one that's due the first part of August. So do the three and two year olds try to help too, or are they still too little? No, no, they try to help. They get in there and they love it. We've got a couple of cooking shows with her on it also, and they absolutely love to get in the kitchen with Grammy and cook. Awesome. I saw a couple of your videos. They're really fun. I looked on your Facebook page.
05:36The only cooking I did with either of my grandmothers, and they're both now passed, so there's no cooking with my grandmothers anymore. My dad's stepmom, technically, used to make thumbprint cookies out of pie dough, actually. And so she would make the pie dough, and then she would have us kids stick our thumb in the middle of the rounds, and then she would put some kind of preserve in that indent and then bake them. And...
06:05It was like little tiny thumbprint pies. I remember doing that with her in her kitchen. And I don't know that I ever cooked with my mom's mom. I don't remember. We lived in Maine and they lived in Illinois. So we saw them like every other summer in Illinois. And my grandma was a fantastic quote unquote Southern cook. She made amazing fried chicken. She made some.
06:32delectable pies, but I just don't remember actually cooking with her. So the only thing I remember is thumbprint cookies. I never cooked with either of my grandparents and didn't have much cooking with my mom. Um, and so I think I just wanted to make a point to cook with my grandchildren and change that, teach them some things that I had to learn on my own and, you know, make sure they knew how to cook.
06:57And provide them some really fun memories to inspire them to keep cooking. Absolutely. Cause there is something fantastic about making food from scratch. And I've said this a few times already. Yeah, we do have all of our pie recipes though, are passed down from generations. So I did get recipes from, you know, grandparents, great grandparents, great great grandparents that were passed down. And so that was, that's fun that we're able to incorporate and then turn around.
07:27and pass those on down to my grandchildren. Yeah, are there stories that go with the recipes that have been passed down? One of them is called a cup of pie and it came from a great, great grandparent. I'm not really sure the story behind it, but it's funny because it's called a cup of pie and it's a chocolate pie. And as my mother-in-law put it, there's not a cup of anything in it and it doesn't make a cup. She doesn't know why it's called a cup of pie, but it makes it delicious, fudgy.
07:56You know, chocolate pie. Yum. Um, my mom has a, a Texas, we call it a Tex-Mex pecan pie. She's, she had a pecan orchard back in New Mexico and so she grew her own pecans, harvested them, made pecan pies and she's passed the recipe on to me. And, and we actually are currently using her pecans, you know, still to make those, those, uh, pecan pies. And so that's where that recipe came from. And then I've got a triple coconut cream that was passed down. Um,
08:25It started out as a double coconut cream, and then I've just changed it and added it. It actually has four derivatives of coconut in the pie, and it's really tasty. It's one of my top sellers. Okay, well, I think that you might wanna make a, write a cookbook here after you get settled into your selling pies. Absolutely, that's one thing. My son helps me with all of this.
08:50stuff that we have going on all of my business. And that's the thing that he's been recommending is that we just write a cookbook and publish that. And as we did the pie tasting out in the community, that's what people asked, are you gonna have a cookbook and when will it be published? And so we're talking about it and it's in the works. If you're gonna do it, I'm gonna offer up advice and I probably shouldn't because nobody needs my advice, but I'm gonna offer it up anyway. If you're gonna try to publish a cookbook, I...
09:17I would try floating it to an actual publisher, partly because trying to self-publish cookbooks is kind of a pain in the butt because of the formatting in the way you do it on Kindle. I used to do this and it really is a pain if you don't know what you're doing. And also, because you have the videos and because you're becoming fairly known, you
09:44publisher might be willing to work with you a lot sooner. Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. It just takes the pain in the butt part out of it for you. You supply the recipes and the stories and then they do the thing and you supply the photos. Awesome. Yeah, we actually have my daughter-in-law is a photographer. So she, we have taken professional photos of every pie that we've done so far. We currently have eight on my menu.
10:10That will grow as we, you know, but we started out with the eight that are on the menu and they've got professional photos and everything of each pie. So that's on our website. Tell me, tell me the different pies, the names of the pies. Okay, let me see. I've got pecan pie. It's called a Tex-Mex pecan pie. I've got a chocolate pie. It's chocolate cream. I don't do any of the meringue because a lot of people don't care for it. And meringue is very touchy and it can be, you know.
10:39the humidity related. And I mean, there's just different things that can affect meringue. So all my pies that could be meringue, they're cream pies. So they're topped with a homemade whipped topping. All my crusts are homemade. So I've got the pecan, I've got chocolate, I've got a peachy keen. So that's an interesting one where you've got your, and I don't make, I don't get any of my, I don't use canned fruit or, you know, it's all fresh. And so I peel the fruit and slice it and cook it down. But anyway, it's got a peach filling.
11:09And over the top of it, it's got like a cinnamon cream sauce before you top it on. So it's really good, really tasty. And I've got an apple, an apple pie, I think is my son's favorite. And that one's really good. It's been a good seller. I've got a lemon dream pie and it is the best of both worlds between a lemon pie and a cheesecake. So it contains cream cheese.
11:40You put your lemon pie in your crust and then you top it with this. That's almost like a cream cheese frosting, but with lemon, so good. And then you top that with your whipped topping and that's been a top seller. I've got a blueberry cream pie. That one's really delicious. Yeah. And the, the lemon, okay. Let me go back to the lemon. The lemon actually has a graham cracker crust. And so that.
12:07That's a really good one. And then the blueberry is not a double crusted. It is a limit. It's a blueberry cream pie. And so it's layered with, you've got a crust, you've got a cream and then you've got your blueberry filling and then the whipped topping on top. So it's a layered and it's a top seller. I really like that one.
12:25Okay. My triple coconut. I mentioned that earlier. That's the, got four different derivatives of coconut in it. And, you know, it's topped with toasted coconut on top of the whipped topping. And I think that's eight, yes? But what I do offer is not only your original pie, but I offer every pie in a gluten-free, every pie in a dairy-free and a sugar-free. Yeah.
12:55The only one that I can't, oh, buttermilk. I didn't mention buttermilk. I make a homemade buttermilk that's been passed down for generations as well. And it's really, it's a, you know, top-level pie. That's the only one that I can't do dairy-free, obviously, because it has a buttermilk in it. But everything else I can do is sugar-free, dairy-free, or gluten-free. Okay, so what's a buttermilk pie? I've never heard of it. Really? Okay, so some people call it a chest pie, a buttermilk pie, but I feel like there's a little bit of a difference between them.
13:25It contains usually either three fourths to a cup of buttermilk and sugar. It, when you cook it, it's one of the pies that you don't cook on the stove. It's one of kind of like a pecan pie. It's a custard pie where you're going to mix it in a bowl, pour it into a raw crust and you're going to pop it in the oven, it's going to cook on its own. And it, it forms this crust over the top that is just delicious. When you cut into it, it doesn't taste anything like a buttermilk pie. So people will say, Oh, buttermilk, buttermilk pie.
13:53That just sounds weird. And so I have, also when I go to the farmer's markets weekly, I have samples and people will taste that and they're like, oh my goodness, that's really good. I never would have thought that's what buttermilk pie would taste like. Okay, well, I'm a Yankee, so I don't know about buttermilk pie, but is it like a custard consistency? Yeah, it's definitely a custard pie. Okay. And so like I said, you mix it up in a bowl and you pour it into your...
14:20your pie crust and it forms the crust of the top and you cut into it and it's definitely a custard. Okay, that makes sense. Okay. It's anything like buttermilk. So you'll have to try it sometime. I'll have to look up a recipe and see if I can get my husband to make it because he's the one that makes pies around here. He's the best thing I ever chose. He gardens, he bakes, he's amazing.
14:47I am a sucker for lemon. I love lemon everything. And I also love cheesecake. So that lemon cake, lemon pie sounds amazing. It is. It is so good. Not just from my word, but people that taste test, they love it. So it's an amazing pie. Yeah. I tried making lemon bars a couple of years ago and lemon curd is not the most easy thing on earth to make for me.
15:17And I made it and it turned out okay. And my husband and my son tried the lemon bars and my husband was like, these are okay. He said, I think we need to work on the technique on the lemon curd. And I was like, I think you're absolutely right. Really be careful when my lemon pie calls for. Not flour.
15:43My mind just went blank. Not flour, but what's the other thing that you use for thickening? Um, cornstarch. Yes. Thank you. My mind just went blank. I'm sorry. So you've got to really whip it while you're cooking it, or you're going to have the clumps, same thing with my chocolate pie, you know, you've got your cornstarch and you've got to really whip it and cook, you know, stir it the whole time that it's cooking, or you can, um, literally end up with clumps of, you know, the cornstarch or the flour or whatever in there. So there definitely is a technique. And.
16:12you've got to keep it going. With the lemon pie that we discussed, it has fresh zested lemon, fresh lemon zest, not only in the pie, but in the frosting itself. And it's just so good. And then I put a little lemon zest across the top of the pie as well. Well, yes, because it makes it pretty. Lemon zest is really pretty. Yes, it is. Yep, and presentation is half the battle, I hear. It really is. And that's, you know, from years ago, I used to cook with,
16:41like youth kids in our church, we would do like bake sells and I would tell them, presentation is everything. If you, you know, even if you go to the dollar store and buy a dollar plate and put it on, you know, it's in, it's cute. People are going to be more act by that than they are something that just doesn't look very pretty. So presentation is most definitely everything. Yeah, that makes sense. Um, maybe that's why my cookies don't sell so well. I'm, I'm really not, I'm not really selling my baked goods. I don't have enough hours in the day.
17:10to make enough things to sell, because I'm doing a podcast and I've got a couple other things in the works. But I tried taking photos of some peanut butter cookies that I made, and it was just an utter failure because I'm not a photographer. And if I ever find the time to actually start baking things and selling them, I'm gonna find a photography student at the high school and be like, if I trade you baked goods, will you take photos of my stuff for me?
17:41So, um, yeah, if you get a chance, go to my website and look at the pictures. It's a www dot Grammys pies.com Grammy with a Y and my pictures of the pies and my daughter-in-law, she's got a carissa grace photography and she did all those pie picture photos and they're really good. We noticed the same thing. We tried, um, taking pictures like with our phone and just trying to get good angles and it, you know, it just didn't. So we had to do the whole background, the whole, you know, white
18:11table cloth and setting it up and the display and the whole thing and they turned out really pretty. They look very appetizing, you know, when somebody goes on the site and it makes them want to click on it and like, ooh, I think I want that. Yeah. My podcast usually gets released Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning at 7 a.m. and I suspect that when this one gets released, everybody who listens first thing in the morning is going to be like, I'm having pie for lunch from somewhere. Yes.
18:40I'll tell you a funny story right quick. I was having some problems with my phone and so I had to call Verizon and I was talking to somebody from the Philippines yesterday and tell him, Hey, my business line is not working properly and my voicemail and he said, what kind of business do you have? And I told him it was pies. He looked it up right then and there and he was like saying, we don't have those kinds of pies over here. Oh my goodness. Those look so good. And wanted to, you know, what's your Facebook and I want to follow you and all these things. And so now I've got some followers from the Philippines. I said, Hey, be sure and share that with your friends.
19:09have them follow me and so he was very interested in what kind of pies and you know what they tasted like and so he was he loved it and then I had to work on my voicemail and he had to call and listen to it he was like that's a very catchy voicemail I love that because my phrase is my catchphrase is you don't have to be hungry to eat pie because you can be full from a meal and I don't care somebody pulls out a piece of pie and then you say I have a little bit more room you know I'm gonna I'm gonna go ahead and eat this piece of pie and so
19:38That's a catchphrase for a long time is you don't have to be hungry to eat pie. You do not. I, I, okay. I have a minor tiny story about a pie that I have made for years. I make an eggnog pie at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and it is the easiest thing ever. It is Cool Whip and the egg, the cream cheese, instant pudding mix and some rum extract.
20:07And basically you make the pudding mix with eggnog and you make it so it turns into like this really thick pudding. You put it in a graham cracker crust and then you put regular cool whip on top and then you sprinkle a little nutmeg on the top and it's an eggnog pie. It is the easiest, fakest, most terrible thing for you ever. My father-in-law loved it the first time I made it and he asked every year for Christmas
20:36if I would make it. And so I'd whip two together and we'd eat, we'd have one after the Christmas dinner and then I'd have one from put in the freezer because you can freeze it. And I think three or four years ago he didn't ask and I said, um, did you want eggnog pie? And he said I want it and he said but I can't have it anymore. My doctor told me I can't eat that kind of sweets anymore. So I made him one anyway and he stuck it in his freezer. So there's always room for pie.
21:05That's right. There's always room for pie. And that's the thing that I've run into as well with people being diabetic or whatever is finding a sugar derivative. That's not Linda and not asked to tame and all that. And so what I've had people say about when they've taste tested my sugar free prices, that's sugar free. They can't tell there's not a funky playing. You know, that's what they say. There's not a funky playing to it. And so the you know what I'm using is really.
21:34good for diabetics and people watching this sugar but yet it doesn't taste like a diet pie, you know? Yup. I can't drink diet soda because it has that weird taste to it. I can't get past it. Me neither. So I'm like, if I'm going to drink soda, it's going to have real sugar in it. Yeah. Absolutely. So. Okay. So your six-year-old granddaughter.
22:03How much of a hand does she have in your kitchen? Is she at the point where she could make her own batch of cookies or pies or whatever? She's not at the point where she can make her own pie yet, but she knows I've taught her how to measure eye level and how to whip. And so she's definitely a hand. She can get in there and help, but she's not at the point yet where she can just whip up her own pie. But.
22:31I'm guessing that it's really fun for her. Yeah, and she loves it. And when they come over and we're not recording, they always want to get in there. They've got their aprons and they come over and grab their aprons and they want to jump in. And their favorite thing actually to make is like pancakes and waffles. And we did that for years before we even started the pies. They would come over and, let's make pancakes, let's make waffles. And so we would do these little cooking videos and I'd say, what do you want to make? And again, it would be waffles or again, pancakes.
23:01That was just kind of their favorite thing to do, but they love to get in there and cook. I love that you're making such wonderful memories with them. And kids are really honest. If it doesn't turn out great, they're going to tell you. That has happened. You know, kids aren't typically fond of like lemon or tart things. So we've done some things where they've tasted it and they're like, uh-uh, I don't like that. You know.
23:29Yeah, the buttermilk well funny enough my my granddaughter the one that's about to be sick She she says her favorite pie is the buttermilk and the chocolate. Those are her two favorite I was shocked by really the buttermilk is really sweet I think you'd be surprised if you tasted it and then I've also had other guests like I've had my mom on the cooking show I've had my sister My daughter my daughter-in-law even my son got in because his favorite pie is Apple So we got in and they were all you know, they've all been on my my cooking show and it's just been fun
23:57My husband's on there. It's nice to have built in guests. It is, it is. And I'm going to venture out. I've got a couple of friends that are coming to visit and they want to be on one. And so it'll be fun. So the one pie I didn't hear you mention is strawberry pie. And I thought strawberry pies were a very Southern pie. That's on the upcoming list. Strawberry. My daughter, my granddaughter has already said she's been begging for something banana. So I've got a banana, banana, nana.
24:27pudding coming I mean, I'm sorry, pie coming and Let's see one more cherry and key lime. Those are all on the upcoming list Okay. Um, are you gonna try doing a strawberry rhubarb as well? I'm gonna do a variation of strawberry. Yeah, it's gonna be a strawberry cream pie Okay
24:51The reason I asked about the strawberry rhubarb is because our rhubarb is now coming up. It's May in Minnesota, so it's rhubarb season. My husband is just an expert at making pie crust, and I am more than happy to let him make the crust. Then, we'll probably pick up a quarter to a strawberry, and we're going to whip together a strawberry rhubarb pie next weekend. I have been dreaming. This is my thing. Every May, I'm like, can we please make a strawberry rhubarb pie now?
25:21leaves. And he's busy. He's in the middle. Well, he's in the, I don't know what the word is, the end stages of getting a heated greenhouse built. And so his weekends have been very full with working on that. But my son mentioned that the rhubarb is ready to be cut. And I said, hmm, strawberry rhubarb pie sounds good. And he was like, yeah, we're going to have to talk dad into making the pie crust. I said, it takes him like
25:49minutes to make the pie crust. I can put the pie together once it's made. So that's in that's in our upcoming plans here. Sounds yummy. Mm-hmm. I love strawberries. We have a few requests for blackberry pie as well. I haven't done that one yet but I have you know blueberry and strawberry upcoming. Yeah I don't know do you guys have black raspberries in Texas?
26:18I don't think so. We have blackberries that grow even wild. Black raspberries. Okay, well, we have black raspberries growing wild in our tree line. Really? And we made a black raspberry pie the first summer we were here, which was four summers ago now. And oh my goodness, black raspberry pie is the yummiest thing I've ever tasted. Wow. It's like a darker tasting
26:47Raspberry pie. It's like a cross between a blackberry and raspberry mixed together. That sounds delicious. Yeah, it's really good. Yep, it's a thing up here in Minnesota. I hadn't really heard about it either until I moved here. But yeah, there's all kinds of things in every state that no one knows about until they live there. Absolutely.
27:17Like when I was growing up in Maine, we had wild blueberries growing everywhere on my parents' property. So we ate a lot of blueberry jam and a lot of blueberry cake and a lot of blueberry pies. Oh, yummy. Blueberries are so good for you too. Yes, antioxidants all over the place. All over. That's right. Yup. I can't eat blueberries raw. I can't handle the pop when you bite into them. Okay. It just grosses me out for some reason.
27:46But I love blueberry pie. I love blueberry jam. Blueberry cake, not so much, but the other two I'm all good with. Well, I'm really excited that you are raising your granddaughters and I assume if a grandson comes along, he'll be in the kitchen with you too. I bet he would. I'm really excited that you are teaching the girls so far how to cook and how to have fun in the kitchen.
28:15Yes, thank you. I think it's important and you know, it seems like cooking itself seems like a lost art anymore. I think that maybe some of the younger generation is getting back into it, but there's a whole generation that just didn't, you know, they did a lot of eating out and still, and there's just been a kind of a lost art of cooking and baking. And so it's important to get them in there and teach them and, and show them that it's fun and you know, get them to love being in the kitchen.
28:45Yes, and as I have said with every episode that I've done with anyone who's cooking or baking, there is a focus and a zen about cooking from scratch. And there's so little time for anyone to focus on one task at one time anymore that I'm grateful when I have the chance to get in the kitchen and really focus and be creative because it's the only.
29:12I'm thinking about at that point in time. Yes, absolutely. You're able to put your own twist on a recipe or you know think about what you're doing and I always like to take no matter what I'm making. I always think about how could I make this better if I'm making you know dinner or a dessert or whatever and think about what can I do to make this better and sometimes that's great and sometimes it's like oh maybe I'll go back to the the original recipe, but you don't know if you don't try and
29:42and see how things go. Yeah. Are you like me when you find a new recipe, do you make it the way it says to make it the first time? Try it and then be like, oh, I need to change this and I need to take that out. I need to fix this. Absolutely. I've even done that with if I find a pie recipe or any kind of recipe, like just for dinner, I'll look at that and sometimes I either try the real recipe or I'll look at it and I'm like, that would be better.
30:09with the seasoning or with cheese on top or you know, whatever. And so either I'll make it the original way or I'll just change it to start with. Cause I'll think that would be better with this and it's added or, you know, or I don't like this ingredient. So I'm going to remove that before I even try it or whatever. So, yeah, my, my rule is that I make the recipe the way it says to the first time. And I am such a stickler for it that even when I read the recipe and I, and I know it's not right, I still make it the way it says to the first time.
30:40and knowing that it's gonna fall, it's gonna be a failure. And then I'm like, yeah, that recipe's wrong. This is what they should have done. And then I do it again and it turns out great. Seeing, I guess I'm just the opposite because I look at it and I know I'm not wasting my time on either a technique or something like that. I've tried that, done that, that, you know, so I'm gonna do it the way that I either know how or I think it's gonna work better just to save time. I don't know, one of my mottos is work smart, not hard. And so if I don't have to do something twice,
31:10I'm not going to do it twice. Well, luckily, luckily, luckily, most of the recipes that I find, I read the comments before I actually decide to do it. And if the comments say, no, this doesn't work, then I just don't do the recipe. Yeah, I do the same. I'll read comments and it'll say, this was good, but I took this so much longer. I added this and so I'm like, that's when I'll start getting ideas. I'm like, okay, that sounds like a better idea. And I absolutely agree with you on that.
31:40But when I was younger, I didn't realize that I could read the comments and save myself the time by reading other people's discoveries about the recipe. So that was when I was really a stickler for doing it the way the recipe said the first time. But I finally learned that, oh, people comment on recipes online and I can find out all the mistakes and all the things first. Or even just a trick. Like, you know, this recipe may be showing you how to do whatever. And then somebody on the comments would be like,
32:10hey, this is a tip, it's a shortcut, and it does it. It's the same outcome, but yet it'll give you a tip or a trick to save time or whatever. I've seen those too. They're always helpful. Yep, and when my kids ask me for a recipe that I have, I will send it to them and I say read through the recipe before you even consider making it. Because sometimes,
32:36There are steps in the recipe that don't come later and you should have known about them to begin with. And I tell them if they're gonna do anything that I send them to read the recipe through all the way and then make sure they have all the ingredients on hand and then measure out the ingredients first because it just makes it easier. Absolutely, I've made that mistake before. There's been recipes that are written funny to where some of your directions are down below something, I don't know, it just,
33:06They were out of order and you're like, oops, I wasn't supposed to mix that with that. That was supposed to be a topper or you know, whatever. And I've, I've definitely done that myself. And so I agree making sure that you've got all your ingredients, making sure that you're going to want to do all of the steps or like you said, even just reading through the thing to make sure that it's all in order, because if you don't do the, you know, do the things that's in order, you may end up mixing something with something that didn't go. And so it's important to read through it for sure.
33:35Yes, because cooking is chemistry. It is. And if you mix two things and the reaction happens before it's supposed to, the following reactions don't work the same. Yeah, absolutely. It's science. It's either going to fall or it's not going to cream up or yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it's science, but it's really fun, yummy science. That's right. All right, Shavonica, thank you so much for your time today talking with me. I appreciate it.
34:03asking me to be on your show. I appreciate it. Yeah, absolutely. I love talking to you guys. I learned things I didn't know. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right. Have a great day. You too. Bye. Bye-bye.
 

Sourdough Farm, Inc. Miniature Animal Retreat

Today I'm talking with Karen at Sourdough Farm, Inc. Miniature Animal Retreat.
00:00This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Karen at Sourdough Farm. How are you today, Karen? Hey, I'm great. Thank you. Tell me the name of your business. I don't have it right in front of me. Sourdough Farm, Inc., miniature something.
00:28Miniature animal retreat. Thank you. I Tried to memorize it in my brain went. Nope not doing it this morning So what do you guys do at the sourdough farm ink miniature something retreat? Well, basically we are raising a variety of miniature animals and We are in the planning stages of opening up our farm to special guests with special needs
00:57And it's a lot of work. I'm sure it is. I wasn't sure whether you were rescuing animals and giving them a retreat, or if you were having a retreat for people to come get good feelings from the animals. Well, that's a very good point, because actually it is working both ways. We rescue and help to rehome animals. Plus, we breed animals so that if folks
01:27mini pig themselves or if they want to have a goat that's been handled and could be used as an emotional companion. We provide the opportunity to give homes to the animals but also a safe haven of peace and joy for folks that just need to get away and need to have good listeners.
01:56Animals are great listeners. They are, and they don't talk back. They just love back. They do. So what kind of animals do you have? Well, right now we have fallabella, miniature horses. We have donkeys. We have miniature cows. We have miniature goats, Nigerian miniature goats. We have lots of pigs.
02:26Just this week we have a new litter of Flemish giant rabbits. Nice. How big is a baby Flemish giant rabbit? Because we raised rabbits for a year and they were very small in the one litter that we got out of the rabbits. How big is a Flemish giant baby? Well, the babies look like little itty bitty puppies. I mean, they're just so tiny at birth.
02:53They hardly look like rabbits, but our older rabbits, the mother and the father, they're good size. They're about the size of maybe a small dog. So they're pretty heavy. You can carry them, but you mostly want to sit down when you hold them. We try to handle our animals on a regular basis. My husband, Steve, and I, we take almost our entire day of spending time with each and every animal.
03:21just petting and loving on and getting them used to being handled. And so that's what we do a lot of our day is just giving our animals love so that they will know how to give love back to any people that might come visit. What a lovely way to spend your days. Yes. I really love it. I love every minute of it. So how did this happen? How did this come about?
03:51We've always loved animals. Both my husband and I have always had animals growing up, but we lived in the city. So when my husband retired, we looked for some farmland and this area right outside Savannah just kind of came into our radar. And the minute we saw it, we knew this was gonna be ours. And so after our first year of being here, we thought, you know, we need to figure out a way of giving back to the community.
04:20We felt so blessed and so lucky to be here. So we were throwing around ideas of how we could help the people that need us most. And I'm talking about maybe people that suffer from depression, people that are just lonely. Our very special folks are our military veterans or folks with disabilities because we are by no means therapists.
04:48just coming and sitting in the shade and listening to the pond and the fountain and the animals talk is just so soothing. So we just wanted to share that. Okay. So Savannah, Georgia, right? Yes. Okay. And I feel like nature's sound is music. And anyone who saw the news this morning saw that Taylor Swift dropped her new...
05:17album last night. And I am sort of a Taylor Swift fan, but not like a Swiftie. And there was a news article on the news this morning about how music actually impacts your brain and that it is the most powerful thing to use all of your brain all at once. And so when people are listening to the water,
05:43and the birds and your animals talking and whatever they're hearing outside. That is another form of music. So I understand that it really does work for people. And actually, I've done some research on music therapy for my animals. We recently had a miniature horse that had to have surgery and she had a long recovery period in the barn. So we were thinking, I wonder if music could help calm her down.
06:11and help her not get depressed and make her heal faster. And so we do play music every day for our animals. And over time, I've kind of discovered that the most soothing music, at least for my animals, is the happy country music. And so we play that for them. And just soothing kind of music or happy kind of music just keeps them uplifted and feeling good.
06:40as much as it would for people. Yeah, I have never walked into a barn where people actually have their animals that hasn't had a radio station on. Yes. So music is healing and sound is healing if it's the right kind of sound. Right. Exactly. We took a lot of effort in building our barn or I should I say rebuilding our barn.
07:09to add just some extra kind of things that would seem a little over the top for a barn. But we added some things that would help our animals be soothed, but also the people that come in the barn. Now I say rebuilt because we had a barn fire two years ago and we lost our barn and several of our animals. And so we rebuilt our barn, it's just now.
07:37ready for visitors. But we built it all metal and we built it with safety in mind. We have exterior doors on both sides of the barn and both ends of the barn with the center aisle that have doors so that the animals could be let out in case of an emergency very quickly. And we have internet access so we can get the music that we want.
08:04cameras and fire extinguishers and fire blankets, fire alarms. We've done kind of more things than maybe the average person would put in their barn, given our... You back?
08:23Okay, I lost you there for a minute. Okay, so you were saying that you have rebuilt the barn and you told me how, so keep going from there. Well, I'm not sure where you lost me, but we put elements in our barn to help protect us from future fire. That's where you were, yes. And we made sure that we had fire extinguishers and smoke alarms that are...
08:50wired. They're not battery operated, so we know that they always should work. And we also have fire blankets and first aid kits for a barn, tool kits for a barn. We've thought of everything, including having enough doors and access to getting out if there should be some sort of emergency. Okay. So your animals are well protected and anyone who's in the barn who's human is well protected as well. That's right. Good.
09:21Good plan, ma'am. Good job. I'm sure that the fire probably scared you to death and you were like, how do we make sure that everybody's okay if it happens again? Well, God forbid, but I'm thinking also about other people that think it'll never be them. Yeah. And we never thought it would happen in a million years. And it was all gone in about 15 minutes. And so,
09:48And we lost our beloved animals too. So it was, we still struggle with it. And, you know, I did safety for a living. I was an OSHA trainer and consultant and I could just kick myself because I'm thinking what could I have done different? But we did buy this place pre-built. So we had what we had, but I should have gone a step further and, and made other kinds of protections.
10:18for our animals, I just didn't know. Yep, and you can't know what you don't know until you find it out. So you discovered that a fire is a bad thing and now you're doing everything you can to make sure that everything survives a fire if it happens again. That's right. Good job. So are you guys a nonprofit? We're not nonprofit simply because when we started it, we really didn't know for sure what all we were gonna do.
10:47I am also an ordained minister in Georgia, so we may open our farm for wedding venues. And we just, we don't have a clear plan yet as to how we want to proceed, because I'm just saying that there's so much need out there, even if it's for hurricane, you know, when we have hurricanes here, a lot of the folks with animals closer to the coast need to move them inward to keep them safe. So you know.
11:17even providing safety for some animals that need to be moved away from the coast if there's a hurricane. But there's just so many directions we could go into that could help other people. And so we're not in stone yet. And we do plan on having some sort of opening the end of summer or the beginning of fall. Nice.
11:46Well, you have all kinds of potential going on there. I don't know if I would be able to make a choice yet either. Well, we have lots to do here. If a veteran wants to come out and go fishing, we have a fully stocked pond. We have 20 acres of trails and woods. All the animals have places where you can sit down and just watch them or play with them. And we have a fire pit.
12:16And it's just really, really beautiful where we're at. I have to pinch myself every day.
12:24I bet you do. So do you feel like you never have to go on vacation again because where you live is where you love? Exactly. I never want to leave here. In fact, I rarely leave here. A lot of my followers don't know because I'm a good faker that I'm also sight impaired. So my heaven is right here where I'm at and I don't need to feel anything better than what I'm feeling.
12:53I just want to share that. That is the most wonderful thing ever. And I do understand because when we moved to the place we live at now, it felt like we had moved into an Airbnb except that we actually got to stay forever. And I still adore it. Every morning I wake up and I'm like, oh, we still live here. This is fantastic. Okay. Exactly. It's awesome. Yeah, it really is.
13:23And I hope that everyone in the world gets the opportunity to feel that. And I know that's not probably the case, but I wish that for everybody. So when you say that you breed animals, do you breed all of your animals or just certain breeds? We just breed certain animals. Some of our animals we have taken in because they have...
13:51some type of disability, they're challenged in some way. And of course, we wouldn't want to breed those animals just for their own comfort and safety. But we have other specific animals that were purchased for breeding. We just purchased a little stallion, a miniature stallion that we're gonna be using for our many girls. And we do breed our goats. We have some special goats that we like to breed
14:21tiny and very good for therapy animals. We love our pigs. In fact, our miniature pigs, we have raised a couple in our house. And so they're now outside, they got too big, but we have some pigs that we breed. So we're not breeding to actually make money. We're breeding so that we have animals to share with any of our neighbors or anyone in the community that wants emotional
14:50support animal and we like I said we handle them all every day so that they would be a perfect fit for someone that needs that furry best friend. That's fabulous and you always have babies around and babies are lovely. Oh yes. I love baby animals so much. Well I have five children myself and when the fifth one um went off uh you know left the nest
15:17I didn't take it very well. So I have a tendency to want to mother everybody and everything. And it's just kind of fun. I just love it. It keeps me young. And by sharing that, I think it helps keep other people young as well. Yeah, absolutely. Animals bring that childlike joy to the surface. And I don't care if you're, I don't know, five and you are a child or if you're 90.
15:47It just animals make that bubble come up of, oh, it's a baby or oh, it's a, it's a critter I can pet and hang out with. You just fall in love. Yeah. And it's unavoidable. I'm going to talk about my dog again, cause she's the animal I love the most. I should not do this, but I'm going to anyway. I have a mini Australian shepherd dog named Maggie and she is my fifth kid.
16:16I love her to pieces and had no idea when we got her that she would take over my heart. My parents had dogs when I was growing up and they were fine. I loved them, but I wasn't in love with them. I have been in love with this puppy since I saw a picture of her when she was two weeks old. Oh my goodness. So yeah, animals just steal your heart and they don't give it back.
16:45That's right. And you have many, so your heart is walking all over the place in lots of bodies. I have to tell you, I love every single one of them. And that's the hard part about breeding, because I fall in love with them, and then I don't want to let them go. But that's just part of it. And we have them die sometimes. Animals die, and we have a little cemetery here on the property. And that always breaks my heart as well. But.
17:15That's just the cycle of life and living and death. You know, it happens on the farm, but it's never easy.
17:25Yeah, I read that if you have livestock, you will eventually have dead stock. And I went, oh, yes, that is absolutely true. Yes, it is, unfortunately. Yeah. And I think I should get it printed and put it in a frame to remind myself every day, because we have barn cats and we have chickens and we have the dog. And I think to myself most days.
17:51This is a wonderful life and then a chicken dies or a barn cat gets hit by a car or my dog will eventually die and that will not be a happy day. No. So I need to remember that just because it's lovely now doesn't mean that every day is going to be lovely. Yes, but all dogs go to heaven. Thank goodness. Yes. Okay. So, you sort of told me what the potential plans are for your place.
18:20Why is it called Sourdough Farm? That's a really good question. Both my husband and I love sourdough bread. And I don't really know why it hit me, but when we got the farm, I said, it's sourdough. We're Sourdough Farm. It just came into my head, and consequently, I am learning how to make sourdough bread. How's it going? Well, I'm still working on the starter part.
18:47But it's just a little project I want to do and I want to make some little mini loaves of sourdough bread to give out to our visitors with maybe our little sticker on it with our name or our logo or whatever. But yeah, we just love sourdough bread. I can't help it. And everybody asked me that question. So I think it's a little different. People will remember it. Uh huh.
19:14Yes, because I thought you made sourdough when I first saw your Facebook page and I was like, oh no, they don't make sourdough. They have a retreat with many animals. Okay. So, have you named your starter? Because I hear if you name your sourdough starter, you are better about taking care of it because it becomes a living thing. No, I'm not there yet. I just... Give it a name. I'm looking at my brand new bread mixer. I'm just looking at the mixer.
19:40at this point and haven't started anything yet. But I'm looking forward to it. Okay. We debated making sourdough starter here and I did the research and I was like, we're never going to use it fast enough. We don't make bread often enough that it makes sense to have a starter. Yep.
20:02And so my husband was like, I saw this thing on YouTube about sourdough bread and you have to make a starter and you need to name it and take care of it. And I said, honey, I said, we got enough stuff to take care of and we would have to make bread every other day. We have, we are three people in one house. And he said, well, we could sell it at the farmer's market. And I said, there's a lady that we like very much at the farmer's market who always her husband already has the market cornered on sourdough bread for the area. I said, I don't want to.
20:32be in competition with them. He was like, Oh, I forgot. And I said, Yeah, don't do that. It's just so good. So we're not we're not doing sourdough bread. He makes some he makes yeast bread, like, I would say three times a year. And it's usually the first really cold day in the fall. And then for Thanksgiving, and then for Christmas, that's about the only time that he makes bread and I don't make bread, I kill the yeast. I suspect if I made sourdough starter
21:01The yeast is already going, I wouldn't kill it. It's already there. It's a lot of work from what I'm told, so I don't know. Yep. We'll see. I'm going to let other people play with sourdough because they seem to really enjoy it. I don't want to do it. It's not my thing. OK, so do you have babies coming now? It's springtime. Well, we, of course, just had our litter of the bunnies, which were.
21:31just so excited about. We plan on breeding our goats shortly, like within the next couple weeks and we are working on breeding one of our horses. It's all new to us, so I'm having to get some expert help, especially with the horses because I've never done that myself and the stallion has never done it either. So it's like the blind leading the blind.
22:00literally. Yeah. But so we we usually have babies all the time and people like to come over and see our babies. But after the fire and rebuilding the barn, we had to take a deep breath and kind of put things on hold a little bit. Yeah. But we are just so excited to get started again. And there is just so much I want to share with other people.
22:27not just the animals, but also a message of joy and hope. That man, we've had so much adversity. I could just help somebody hold on and pick up a little something that they could do, a little project or something, even if it's just coming out to visit the farm once a week or something. It just can't, it just uplifts you.
22:57And I really hope I can do that for people in the future. Yeah. So how are you letting people know that you're there for the reason you're there? Well, I have put a couple just a little messages on the community Facebook page so that they could read that, hey, this is in the makings. And also, I have a good local community following on my farm page, which is just.
23:27Sourdough Farm, but you can just find it just by putting Sourdough Farm in, Miniature Animal Retreat, and we're word of mouth mostly, but we plan on really cranking it up when we get ready to open. I'm gonna, we're gonna do a barn dance and invite whoever wants to come or whoever sees it, it's open, where we'll have a band and food trucks and
23:54just make it just fun, just an old fashioned barn dance. And so we're gonna, we plan on doing that. And, but mostly it's just been word of mouth. People pretty much know this area that have lived in this area for a long time. And they know we're here. Nice. I don't know if you've already thought of this, but I'm gonna throw it out there.
24:18I think that your place would be really good for survivors of domestic violence and especially their children. Have you thought about that at all? Not specifically, but you are so right. You are so right. And I'm not sure how to get that out there. I do know that I want our visits to be by appointment and private.
24:47so that people can come and have our farm to themselves for several hours. My husband and I want to cook for them as well, cook for whoever comes out and provide a nice lunch. But because people that have been hurt really bad, they don't really wanna come out in the public. Even if nobody knows, when you have something bad happen to yourself, you kind of recluse just a little bit. And so...
25:14Maybe I would just need to make some connections with some of the safe houses or, you know, maybe let them have an alternate way of contacting me where it's totally confidential. Yeah. The other places you could contact is your local police department because they can put you in contact with the organizations that help people. And even your fire department might have some contacts for you. I don't know.
25:44Very good idea. I appreciate that one. Yeah, a friend of mine came and stayed with me for a week or two, many years ago with her kids, because the situation at home was not great. And she was a friend. I already knew her. So it was very easy to open our home to her and her kids. And she had been staying at a shelter. And she said that the hardest part was that the kids really had nothing to distract
26:13them from their fear and it was a new place and new people and new foods and everything. And me being able to take her in for that week or two really helped because the kids had already been to our home, they knew me, they knew my husband, they knew my kids. So in your case, you're a new place, but you have soft squishy animal faces to kiss on and touch and pet and love.
26:43Exactly. I think that's a perfect idea. Yeah. And it affects so many, so many women. And men. And men. That's true. That's why I said survivors, not women. Because men get hurt too. And I understand that it's a, I think it's a lesser percentage of men who get hurt in domestic violence situations, but they do. So I want to, I want to shout out the boys. Sometimes they get hurt too.
27:11and they need help too. Yes, I definitely agree with that. I'm a mom of three boys, so boys are close to my heart. I have a daughter too, but she's pretty independent and she's pretty tough, so. Yep, yep. Well, I'm gonna look into that because that's a really important idea. Yeah, and another idea is you have been through a fire that was devastating and hurtful to you.
27:41Maybe people who have been through a fire and are afraid maybe they could come visit and you could tell them your experience and that there is light at the end of the tunnel. A few of the firefighters that came to us that that early morning are actually followers on my page and I just love them because well I don't remember much they remember me and the babies.
28:07You know, we literally just had to listen to them cry until they stopped crying. Because there was no way we could get into the barn. It was just, it was just totally gone in minutes. But they were so caring, the firefighters. And if, I can't remember, there may have been some police here too, just because it was such a huge fire. I mean, the barn is bigger than our house. It's gigantic. It's. Yeah.
28:35gigantic. And anyway, but I also want to mention I have a big place in my heart for military veterans. My father was a veteran and my husband's brother and father and I have a son that's in the Air Force. And I'm just constantly worried about our world right now. And I want
29:03the military veterans and just those that are in active duty know that they're appreciated and Invite them to come to the farm and Just turn off their brain for a minute and see some good and know that they're supported Yeah, absolutely. I love your heart. You have the biggest heart Thank you To a fault sometimes
29:31Yeah, I don't know if it can be. I think when you have a big heart, it just benefits everybody. I really do. Okay, so Karen, it's been almost half an hour and I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and I hope that everything you wish for at your place comes true. Thank you so much. God bless you. Thanks. Have a great day. Bye. Bye.
 

Butcher Shop Bake Company

Today I'm talking with Dustin at the Butcher Shop Bake Company. You can also follow on Facebook.
00:00This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Dustin at the Butcher Shop Bake Company. Good afternoon, Dustin. How are you? I am doing fantastic. How are you doing today, Mary? I'm great. Other than the fact that...
00:25Our technology doesn't always work the way it's supposed to. Everything's good. So tell me about yourself and Butcher Shop Bake Company. Sure, so I am a third generation entrepreneur, not in the family business. We were a construction family, but I've been in the food industry pretty much my entire life, more years than I haven't been.
00:50And we've been doing the Butcher Shop Bay Company now. I wanna say this is, we're going on year seven. And really I started this whole company with one thing in mind is creating something exciting to eat. Cause we all gotta eat food. And I was in the health and fitness industry for a lot of years. And I did diets and this and that and the other thing. But you still gotta eat something that makes you, something that makes you salivate a little bit.
01:17So that was where we kind of came up with the idea of making some ginormous products, specifically some gourmet cookies. Awesome. So I gotta know, did you start out as a cottage food producer or did you start out as a commercial place? Sure, so actually before I started Butcher Shop Bay Company, I had a cottage company called the Flexible Baker where I created healthy protein desserts that I
01:46sold mainly kind of just like through Facebook and online like that through local meetups and made some cookbooks and stuff like that. And then that kind of just snowballed into the commercial side of things. Okay. So you started small because everybody's got to start somewhere. Yes, ma'am. Cool. So you're exactly the kind of person I want to talk to because there's lots of cottage food producers.
02:16who are starting out in their galley-sized kitchens and maybe dreaming of someday doing something bigger, and that's kinda what you're doing, so that's awesome. Absolutely. All right, I have so many questions. Number one, this, number one, how do you get your cookies to be so tall and they cook all the way on the inside? Well, part of it is trade secret, but, so,
02:46a couple of things. One, it helps that I cook extremely hot. My oven, my oven is convection, of course. But the temperature is way hotter than what you cook a normal cookie at. It helps if a lot of my cookies are also stuffed. So then there's actually less dough to cook through. So that helps a lot. And then what is not quite traditional.
03:12with my dough recipe is I almost started off similar to a scone instead of a traditional cookie recipe, which I help. I think that that helps then distribute the fat a little bit different and a little bit better, which helps it cook through quicker. Okay. Because I was looking at your Facebook page, because that's what I do. I look at people's Facebook pages and websites before I interview them. So I know what to ask. And the cookies look almost like a cake cookie.
03:42Just about, yeah. It kind of has some of my flower makeups. I try to mimic, because for me, I grew up eating very thin, crispy cookies. And as much as my dad loves those, not me so much. I like a nice, chewy, a little crunch on the outside, but I like it to still be nice and chewy on the inside. So that's kind of what I try to replicate. And then that's also where that
04:11really hot temperature comes in to give the cookies a nice, um, crunchy exterior, so to speak, but then yet keep them nice and cakey on the inside. Yeah. I'm a huge fan of the, the crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, soft and chewy on the inside. So when I saw the pictures, I was like, Oh my God, how does he do that? And the other question I have is what is a hodag? Help me here.
04:41Oh, that's funny. So, so the whole day has been around for boy, I want to say now, 120 some years or so late 1800s. Boy, Jean Shepherd was his name, kind of created this mythical creature that lives in the woods and eats white bulldogs. And it's just this giant lizard looking creature with white horns and red eyes.
05:10And it is, for whatever reason, the Hodag has stuck. And I think last year or the year before, we actually won best mascot in the country or something like that. So yeah, it's kind of cool to be from a town that is known throughout the country. I've been everywhere you go, you meet somebody that's been to Hodag country.
05:38Okay. So it's Rhinelander, Wisconsin? Yes. Okay. And is it specific to Rhinelander, Wisconsin, this Hodag thing? Yes. Okay. All right. Cause I saw the, the post about the, the cookies and I was like, what's a Hodag cookie? And then I was like, oh, I have Google. I can look up Hodag and see what it is. And then I looked it up and I was like, oh, he's making cookies to go with the festival thing. Yes. Yeah. We have a, um,
06:07We not only have the Hodeg Heritage Festival here in town, but then there's a store here in town called the Hodeg Store and that he features exactly that. Everything under the sun that you could imagine, but green and Hodag themed. So this is year two now that we've been working together to create the Hodag Cookie to kind of just have one more offering at his store.
06:35It's funny because a lot of places have these, I don't know, made up legendary things to promote their area. And the town I used to live in, we had the Heimatfest Festival. And it's basically just a day or a weekend every September, just after school starts. And there's a car cruise and there's just like a little tiny festival in the city park.
07:03And it's been going on for years. And when I moved there and found out about it, I was like, what is this about? And it actually, I don't know if I'm saying this correctly, but my understanding is that some bad things went down in my town many, many years ago, the town I used to live in and the powers that be decided they needed to create something really fun for families to kind of change the atmosphere of what people thought of the town.
07:33And it's worked. Wow. That's kind of a neat backstory. I mean, I'm a big history buff, so I think that's pretty cool. And boy, now I'm intrigued on what bad things had to happen to create a festival to cover it up. I will tell you after we're done recording, because I don't want to give my town, my former town a bad rap. Oh, sure. But I'll tell you after where it was.
08:03and the town I live in now we have we are the home of the jelly green giant oh No kidding. Yeah, Lasur, Minnesota There's a there's a billboard when you drive into town on the highway that has the jelly green giant and sprout on it Nice okay, I didn't realize that Okay, so go fig yeah weird. Um, okay. So beyond all that silliness
08:31You also make all kinds of other things. I saw your brownies. Oh my god, I wish that there was such a thing as taste division. Yes. Yeah, that's something I hold kind of near and dear as much as I love my cookies. I played around with my brownie recipe for a long time. I think I went through six different renditions before I finally said, okay, enough is enough and
09:01very particular in certain things. And brownies, just like the cookies are one of them, as much as I like kind of a cake-ier cookie, I like the exact opposite of a brownie. And I like a really moist, fudgy, kind of gooey brownie versus the cakey, maybe a little more structured brownie, so to speak. But to me, those usually end up being a little dry and a little...
09:30little less flavorful compared to a fudgy brownie. But then I also find myself leaning typically on the side of the gooier thing, even on the cookies. They still are kind of that gooey center and stuff like that. So I guess I kind of like that. But yeah, the brownies are just out of this world. Yeah, my go-to for a brownie recipe is Ina Garten's Outrageous Brownies recipe. I don't know if you know about this,
10:00they are like, I don't want to say gluey, but they're so gooey, they're almost gluey. Oh yeah. And she calls for chocolate chips in the brownie batter. I don't do it that way because I don't want that much chocolate in mine, but hers calls for chocolate chips in the batter and sprinkled on top while they're baking. It's a lot of chocolate. No kidding. But really, really good.
10:29She has, side note, has a fantastic soda bread recipe. Yeah, I don't do breads. I always screw them up. My husband might be interested. I do cookies and cakes and brownies because I'm better at that. Okay, yeah, absolutely. Well, and soda bread is a very easy quick bread. So yeah, I don't touch the yeast very much. As much as I love fresh yeast bread, it's just too much of a pain.
10:58Yeah, it's got so much chemistry that can go wrong. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Because cooking is chemistry. Don't let anybody tell you different. It is. Yes. Yep. Okay, and you do cheesecakes and what else do you do? So let's see. Yeah, so we got cheesecakes. Today. We also just we just got done doing tiramisu and carrot cake. And we're also making
11:27some cake pops. Okay. So we do a little bit of everything, but I would say our main features are our cookies, brownies, cheesecakes, and then muffins. Ooh, muffins are great. Yeah, I'm a big muffin fan as far as breakfast desserts go. Sign me up for a nice buttery blueberry muffin with a crumb top. Oh yes, nice cup of coffee.
11:57Do you do scones at all? It's so funny. My cookies get mistaken for scones so much. I do it as a joke to not make scones just because of that. But no, not scones so much really, because once again, it kind of falls down into my pickiness and I think you should either just eat a biscuit or a muffin. Yeah, yeah, I can see that. But so many people like scones, so I'll be honest with you. I think my...
12:27My girls here at the bakery are slowly talking me into scones. Um, so I'm, I'm assuming we'll be doing those very soon. Okay. And so two questions. Number one, why is it called butcher shop Baker bake company? And is it a standalone store? Sure. So this, it, sometimes I wish I could go back and maybe name the company something else because it is such a confusing name for people. Um,
12:54A to say I get it mispronounced all the time. And B, a lot of people think that we are a butcher shop as well. We are in fact are not a butcher shop. But I started with six, not even a six foot table, probably about four and a half feet worth of table inside of a butcher shop. So I had one shelf, I had four feet of table, I had one freezer and I got to share an oven.
13:23Um, so as the company was kind of growing and I really needed to hammer down, you know, a name, I just thought that, um, I, I'm someone that really likes to humble beginnings and, and a little nod to where we came from. Um, to not eat, to, to just remember, you know, that as big as we get, don't forget that four feet of space that we had. Yeah, absolutely.
13:51And is it a standalone store? Yeah, I'm sorry. As of this year, actually, we finally are in our own location. We've been renting out a back of a, I was also co-owner of a deli in town. So we were renting out the back of the deli, but this year we finally had a space open up downtown, so we took the plunge and now we got our own place. Congratulations. That's a huge deal. Good job.
14:21Thank you. Yeah, it's been, uh, we, unfortunately the building we went into has been, um, neglected and very old. So it's been a lot of hurdles and a lot of headaches this year so far, but it's, um, all good things to encounter and overcome. Cause then you can just add it to the tool belt of, of things that you've, you know, you can, you can deal with when they come up. Oh yeah. Life is a wonderful teacher.
14:50Absolutely. Every damn day. I saw in one of the videos that you put up, I don't remember what it was about, one of your cookies or something, and you were like, sweet baby Jesus. And I laughed myself stupid because my son started saying three or four years ago, he heard it somewhere, he said, he was all excited about something. He said, sweet buttery baby Jesus. And I said, what is that?
15:20from. He said, I don't know, I heard somebody say it, it's funny. And it is funny. So when you said, Sweet Baby Jesus, I just laughed. I was like, boy, after my own heart. There we go. Well, I got to tell you, you got to just have fun and you know, sometimes you got to be a little goofy. And that's the one thing that I try to keep here at the bakery with even like today I was rotating some muffins and it caught my hand and I dropped the whole pan of muffins mid-bake.
15:50It was very irritating, but as my girls are looking at me and I just got to remember, every day is fun here. You know, you got to love coming to work and through all the trials and tribulations, just remember that I get to create something sweet today and that is awesome. Yes, and the mantra of every entrepreneur everywhere is shit happens. It's amen, sister. Oh gosh, if that isn't the truth.
16:21Yep. And I actually try really hard not to swear on the podcast, but sometimes it's entirely appropriate and that one was. Yes, absolutely. I've never thought about it, but yeah, if you had to sum up a little phrase for entrepreneurs, that's one of the top ones right there. And the other one is being your own boss is the best thing ever. Yes. Amen. Only I have to yell it myself.
16:51Yeah, and you can only be mad at you when something gets messed up. Yep. Yeah, absolutely. And for me, it's such a humbling experience even with employees and things like that is when things happen, you kind of take a step back and, oh, I could have prevented that or what wasn't I doing to change that course of action? And once you, like you said,
17:19what a learning experience, you know, every day. Even though I've been, like I said, this is year seven for us and I've been cooking for 16, I think, and you still, you know, every day is you still learn something new. Yeah, for sure. We're going through a learning from life thing here. We got six inches of rain between three o'clock yesterday afternoon and seven o'clock this morning.
17:48Wow. And we're a farm to market garden producing place and market being farmers market and the farm stand on our property. It's been a terrible spring here in LaSore, Minnesota for getting plants in the ground. And my husband's the gardener and he is getting increasingly frustrated with the situation because today is June 3rd. And we usually have...
18:17Lettuces and kale and chard and stuff coming up by now That hasn't happened because it's not in the ground yet because our garden is a puddle. It's mud So I said to him I said to him yesterday. I said are you okay? Are you mad? Are you feeling terrible about all this and he said? Honey, and I thought oh no he says this is this is part of it He said we've been really lucky the last three years. He said this is the year that it's gonna
18:46that's gonna try us and I said, okay. And he said, I can't fight the weather. He said, thank God we have the greenhouse because at least I have starts that are growing so that when we can get them in, they'll be okay. So we are learning patience this spring. Well, you'll have to tell them that I am, this is my first year, because I eventually would like to see myself in some sort of homestead.
19:15capacity. So right now I just got a house in the city, but I did, I got 16 raised garden beds this year that I am going to try and fill and grow as much as I can. And it has been a learning experience so far this year. Oh yeah. Is it the first time you've ever done it? Yes. Yeah. I grew up, my mom and grandma are master gardeners, but for,
19:45Pretty plants, never really was vegetable gardening until my mom started the last couple of years, but this is my first year actually trying to get into it. And yeah, unfortunately, I think I've killed more little seedlings than I've saved so far, but we're trying. Yeah, it happens. And honestly, if the conditions are right, you throw the seed in the ground and it grows. The problem is the conditions aren't right where we are this year.
20:15anything. So a little bit of frustration going on on the tiny homestead right now. Yeah, absolutely. So back to naming things. You were saying that you kind of wish you could change the name, but you also want to pay homage to where you started. When I started the podcast, before I even did the first episode, I was trying to come up with a name for it because
20:43I didn't really want to name it a Tiny Homestead Podcast because that's our business name. And I wanted to step away from it a little bit. And I was talking to my husband and my son and I was like, what do I name this thing? And we brainstormed for a week. And after a week, there was nothing coming to the forefront. And my son said, just name it a Tiny Homestead Podcast. He said, you already have the business. You might as well put it back. Put it under the umbrella of the business.
21:14the
21:44I kind of was in the same boat as, you know, we've been going so long where it's like, could I rebrand and change the name? Sure. But I've done, especially locally, I've done such a good job of name recognition at this point. I think it would be more detrimental than it would be beneficial to try to rebrand. Yeah. And rebranding is such a pain in the butt.
22:10You have to change all of your marketing materials. You have to change so many things.
22:17Yeah, it's not just changing. Yeah. Headaches I don't want to deal with. Yeah. It's not just changing the name. People think it's just changing the name, but it's not. Yeah. So thousands of business cards that I have would then be wasted. Yeah. They'd become little note scratchy paper thingies. No, that's not a great use of that money. Um, okay. So I'm not going to lie. Pretty much every baker I've talked to. I.
22:46think but one has been female in my my weeks and months of doing this podcast. So I assumed that the owner of butcher shop baked company was a woman until I looked at your Facebook page and saw your videos. I was like, Oh no, that's not a lady. That's a guy. Okay. So you do understand how unusual that is in baking, right? Yeah, absolutely. Um,
23:16I have two ladies that work for me and I have yet to have any male show any sort of interest for a baking position, nor have I really met too many male bakers over the years of my travels, so to speak, or years of doing business. Even some of the companies that I connect with, because I ship nationwide, so I try
23:46as much of an Instagram and social media presence as I can. And I like to network with other companies and most of them are also female bakers or owned and operated female businesses. So yeah, I am definitely a little bit of a standalone here. Which is not necessarily a bad thing at all because it gives you.
24:14I don't know, cachet, clout, little bit, makes you stand out.
24:20Yeah, I, I, yeah, I, um, I'm definitely not one for being, whether it's the, the little guy in the room or the, um, you know, kind of the oddball out, um, that's kind of been my whole mo for, for life. So, um, I'm, I'm no stranger to it and, and I don't mind it, you know, it, um, whether it hurts or helps or anything like that. I try not to, um,
24:48even think about those things. I'm just a baker and I show up each day to make awesome cookies and hopefully people buy those either way. But yeah, I think it is pretty cool that – because I was a chef for many years and in that industry, it seems to be at least in my area more men than it is females. But then yeah, as soon as you switch over into the –
25:17the dessert side of things, it's a light switch flip as far as gender roles go. But I don't mind that because sometimes...
25:30having some ladies in the kitchen is a little better than having some guys in the kitchen. Sometimes some egos in a small space isn't always great, where my ladies are absolutely fantastic and just a joy to have. So I think that works really well to kind of help balance things out on that side of things.
25:53Yeah, and I wasn't saying that men should not be bakers if that's how that came across. That wasn't what I meant. Oh, no, not at all. Not at all. Okay. I have three sons. I have a daughter. My daughter is the oldest of the four kids. And all four of them cook and love to cook. And my first son of the three made Russian tea cakes when he was 12 because he wanted to make them.
26:22on his mom's side, he's my stepson, had this recipe that she used to make at Christmas time for Russian tea cakes and he wanted to make them. And he said, he says, I'm gonna take over your kitchen. He was 12. I said, okay. It was a little galley style kitchen in the old house that we lived in. I said, okay, what do you need? And he said, I need convection sugar and butter and smashed up pecans and something else. I don't remember what it was.
26:52And I said, the only thing we don't have is pecans. Would you like to go to the store with me and we'll get some? He says, yeah. And I said, would you like my help making these things? And he said, he says, I want to try to do it myself. He said, but if I need help, I will ask. I said, okay. And that boy whipped up the yummiest Russian teacake cookies I have ever tasted. Oh, that is awesome. That is so cool. So, yep. And my daughter used to.
27:21used to when she lived at home, used to make cookies and things and she was very good at that. And my youngest is still living with us and he cooks dinner twice a week for us, which is amazing because that means I have two nights I don't have to come up with dinner. And my other son lives with his dad right now so I don't know what he's cooking. But they all were raised.
27:44to do their own laundry, to know how to cook, to know how to make at least one meal and one dessert, they would be proud to serve their friends. And they all can. Well, that's for you. It wasn't gender specific either. So I guess what I was trying to get at is, I think it's a shame that in the baking people I've talked to, I've only talked to two men who do it. I guess that's what I was getting at. Yeah, absolutely.
28:12It definitely is. I think a lot of guys kind of look at it, maybe look down on it, or maybe it isn't quite as glamorous as grilling steaks or being a head chef because I've been both. And sometimes the head chef is definitely the focal point, especially if you're in a restaurant that is doing maybe course dinners or something like that. It's definitely more
28:40romantic or sexy, they might say, to be a chef or a line cook than it is maybe being a baker or a patissiere. But so fun and so, yes, there are plenty of different savory dishes to make and so many different ways to cook a piece of chicken. But the wow factor, we did.
29:09at the restaurant that I owned, we would do beer and wine pairings and it'd be six courses. I would probably say 90% of the time, I would always ask, oh, what was your favorite course? What was your favorite course? And it would almost always be the dessert because it is just, whether it's nostalgia flavors or it's eye popping or you put something cool like gold leaf on it.
29:36It's just such a fun way to either tie people back to maybe something that they had in their childhood or give them some new ingredient a different way or a presentation that they've never seen before. Whereas grilling a steak is delicious, but it's still a steak on a plate. Yes, yes, absolutely. We don't do a whole lot of dessert after dinner here. We do it once in a while.
30:06And a couple weeks ago, our rhubarb was coming in and strawberries are in season in the southern states right now. And so we bought strawberries and I made a strawberry rhubarb compote to have over scones with whipped cream. And not gonna lie, I would have been real happy to just have that for dinner. And I thought, you know, I'm a grown up. I might want to eat real food before I eat sweets.
30:31And so I ate like three bites of a burger and two french fries and five stalks of asparagus from the garden because that is dessert to me anyway. I love asparagus so much. And I was like, okay, I ate grown up food. Now I'm going to the kitchen. I'm getting two scones. I'm splitting them in half. I'm putting them in a bowl. I'm putting the sauce over. I'm putting a mountain of whipped cream on it. I'm going to devour it. And I did. The joy of being a grown up.
31:00is knowing you can have dessert for dinner, but being reasonable enough to eat actual food before you do it. Absolutely. That's, look at you. You've done well. I was a grownup for five minutes and I was sorry. But yeah, I mean, for me, food, food, real food, like dinner food is the means to an end to get the lovely dessert that is coming after if there is one.
31:31Yeah, absolutely. And like you said, I don't as much as everybody's like, oh, you must eat so much stuff. I eat my fair share because I like to try things and make sure it's all right. But once you have sugar every day, you start to crave some savory stuff and you don't need to have it every night, so to speak, or not so much. So thankfully, it's almost worked a little bit.
32:00opposite for me is now I don't even crave the sweets anymore. I'm almost craving savory stuff by the end of the day just because I've been around sweets so much. Yeah. And all you smell all day is dessert. Yes. So you're like, I can't, I need salt. I need sour. Correct. I was just going to say salt. Yeah, absolutely.
32:27I was thinking of something when we were talking and now I forgot because that's what happens. I don't know that it matters. Is there anything else you would like to share about what you do and how you feel about what you do? Well, I know for anybody listening that is not on a commercial space or is still struggling on a small scale.
32:56become very, very comfortable in your small space because even when you get to commercial settings, a lot of times, like I said, I started on a four foot table. So a lot of times, I used to find myself very frustrated about, oh, I just need more space, I need more space. Well, once you start to learn how to really utilize the space that you have and figure out your processes and really hammer down.
33:25exactly how to get from A to B with not a lot of nonsense in between. That just, that tremendously helps that when you make that switch to a bigger setting, whether it's a commercial kitchen renting or your own space. So I, boy I kind of just lost my train of thought there, but pretty much just for anybody that's listening that's on the small scale, become very, very good at what you do on the small scale.
33:53and then just slowly kind of amplify that. And then most bakers that I found don't ever think about a wholesale route. And that's what my company set up. 90% of my business is a wholesale business because I learned in my very rural town of Rhinelander, we don't have a lot of walk-in traffic. So even though I have my very own storefront now,
34:23We don't even have an actual storefront set up Yet just because we don't really have we're a town of 8,000 people So for me to fill a big bunch of bakery cases every day I just found isn't beneficial where I think a lot of a lot of young bakers think Oh, I got to get a storefront. I got to fill cases and that's the only way to become a baker But I found in the bakeries that I've worked. That's a great way to throw away a lot of product
34:52where on the wholesale side of things, it's sold before I make it. And that's really helped me keep the bakery going as long as it has. So just a little piece of advice for anybody listening that is trying to figure out how to increase their business is go wholesale. So many businesses, the dessert is the forgotten about course. You know, your waitress doesn't talk about it. They either don't stock a dessert
35:22just buy some cheap Cisco cheesecake or something like that, where you can go in there and say, hey, I got a local product. It's gourmet. It's delicious. All of the above. And it's no nonsense. They can just put a piece of cheesecake on a plate and sell it for $3, $4, $5 markup. For them, they're making more money. They're offering a better product. And you now as a baker have a confirmed sale.
35:51or a reoccurring sale versus hoping somebody's walking in. So I think that's just a missed point for a lot of bakers. And I think that's why a lot of bakeries fail is because they're a little too narrow-sighted on their customer base. Yeah, before I ask you the second question again, there is almost nothing more disappointing than ordering a piece of cheesecake at a restaurant where the food is really good, where they make their food.
36:21And then they bring you this, this scale piece cheesecake that is hard and doesn't taste like anything. I had that happen a few years ago and I sent it back. I was like, no, no, no, no. You guys, your food, your dinner menu is amazing and I know how you make this stuff. Find someone who knows how to make a cheesecake. And the manager came over to me and said, excuse me, what?
36:50I said, I'm not being mean, I promise you. I said, but anybody can make a decent, yummy cheesecake in their oven at home. It's not that hard. I said, you either need to hire somebody who knows how to make a cheesecake or don't put cheesecake on the menu. He was like, well, aren't you, aren't you uppity? And he was grinning. But that was what came across, you know? Yeah. That's, that's.
37:18I too many times now when whenever I'm somewhere and I really enjoy the dinner and we're thinking about dessert, I always ask first I says what's made in house. And unfortunately, most of the time, a lot of the stuff isn't made in house. And then yeah, I don't even order it because what's what's the point is I'm going to be disappointed if like you said, if the dinner was amazing, and they're making making it in house to then get handed something that isn't made in house is just just a buzzkill.
37:47Yeah, that's such a myth. You're starting to see it a little bit more, I think now in the last couple of years, the Instagram foodie, that whole trend has become so popular. I think it's almost forcing some places to increase, which is phenomenal, to increase their quality of food, especially when you get into the city, more populated areas. But yeah, you still see it.
38:17You hate to see it. Yeah, and it's kind of amazing how these little small mom and pop restaurants do make their own desserts and they are fantastic. They're wonderful. Absolutely. I think it's Anthony Bourdain's got this famous little quote and it goes something like, whenever I go somewhere to eat.
38:44They always apologize, oh, I'm so sorry that this isn't, you know, truffle mashed potato, you know, something amazing. And he's like, listen, he's like, I just want to eat something that was cooked by your grandma in the kitchen. That's good food. And that's exactly what you're finding in some of these small mom and pop places. They're just making good, it doesn't look amazing, potentially, but boy, is it going to taste awesome. And that's really all you're looking for.
39:14Yeah, exactly. Okay, so how do you feel about what you're doing? I mean, I can tell from the way you're talking that you're really, really enjoying what you've built, but how do you feel about what you do? Yeah, I tell you, this is actually the first year that I've been able to work full-time for the bakery. I had the restaurant, so that was my day job, and then I kind of would just handle the bakery after that.
39:43So to wake up every day, not only to be working for my baby that I created, but just to be able to do something that I love that is fun, working with people that also love what they're doing, is just absolutely fantastic. And then I tried moving away many times and then finally I realized, I was like, dude, you live in an awesome place, people vacation here, plant your roots.
40:12And after I planted my roots, I just, I wanted to do whatever I do, focus on making the place that I live a better place to be, not only for myself, but for my family and, and the community. So this bakery has really allowed us to not only, um, make an impact, which is creating great food for the area, but then it's allowed me to become extremely community involved, whether it's donations, volunteering, um,
40:41speaking for small business panels, just allowed me to give back to the community, which has been just so rewarding. So you're growing where you planted yourself, which is great. Yes, absolutely. Yes, those seeds took. Good. Awesome. All right, Dustin, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me today because I know you've got a lot going on.
41:08Absolutely. I can't thank you enough for giving me the opportunity to jump on. Oh, absolutely. Thank you. Have a great day. Thank you.
 

Amy’s Garden Jam

Today I'm talking with Amy at Amy’s Garden Jam about her jam making and her podcast, Grounded In Maine, which is about sustainability. You can follow on Facebook as well.
00:00This is Mary Lewis at a tiny homestead. The podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Amy Fagan at Amy's Garden Jam. How are you, Amy? I am doing good, thank you. How are you? I'm good, it's been a decent day. It's been a decent week so far, so that helps. So.
00:29So full disclosure, folks, Amy and I tried to do this a few weeks ago and the recording failed and so we're trying it again. So Amy, tell me about Amy's Garden Jam. Amy's Garden Jam is, I have a jam business. It is for a little over four years old. I just started making jam.
00:57for not for fun necessarily, but I made it as my contribution to the income in our home. Because I don't make a lot of money at my job. I was thinking that if I, you know, grew produce and harvested and preserved it, then that would be just like making money. And so I started making jam. I mean, I've just I've always made jam for like the last 20
01:27And my sister got married and I made little four ounce jars of jam for all of their guests as a gift. And they said, you really need to do this. To which I said, that's really funny. No. But then a few years ago, four years ago, I changed my tune. So
01:56Amy's Garden Jam is a thing. And why did you change your tune? So I was, I actually had a car accident. I was in a car accident and I was out of work for a few months. And so while I was out of work, you know, a lot of people were like, you know, just catch up on Netflix and watch lots of movies and I was like, no, I just can't do that. So I was watching like...
02:25I was doing webinars and...
02:31stuff like that, webinars and workshops and just getting myself all hyped up. And I was like, well, maybe I can do this. And while I was out of work, I couldn't really walk. I had foot surgery. So I had the time to wait on hold with the state and get everything in line. So by the time I was able to walk again, I had a kitchen all lined up and I had my license in hand.
03:01And I started with a, I started running. So you did all the leg work with a broken foot. I did. Very nice. Yeah. I mean, I had nothing to do, right? Yeah. It's amazing how that works out. Um, I just thought leg work with a broken foot was funny. Oh, I didn't even get it. Good one. Yes. Yeah. Very funny.
03:30Okay, so are you at liberty to say what your jobby job is? Do you mind telling me? Oh, well, I mean, at the time, at the time of the car accident, I was working for an elder home care agency in the office. Okay. And what's your jobby job now? Now I work for a healthcare company in medical records. I work from home.
04:00Nice very nice, but I should have been doing four years ago at the time of the accident because I could be working. Yeah Yeah Okay, so I also know that you have a podcast called grounded in Maine Actually how I found you. Yeah So are you like balancing your jobby job you're making jams and your podcast as your three
04:29jobs that you do or does one take more time than the rest? Oh, my job takes up most of my time. Uh huh. Uh, the podcast takes up most of my brain space by choice. I mean, I get very excited about it. And so I'm thinking about the podcast while I'm working. Um, and then jam is usually like one day on the weekends. Okay.
04:58So jam is where you de-stress, I take it.
05:02Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because we I called it I named it Amy's Garden Jam for a couple of reasons. So one, you know, it's a jam business. I'm making jam, obviously, but I also used to be a singer. And before I got like obsessed and and podcasting took up my my whole brain. I would listen to music and sing. So and so while I first started
05:32making jam for the business, I would play like 80s music. It's always the 80s. And even still, like I'll do it sometimes. But so it's a jam session. I call it a jam session. And do you listen to music while you make jam and sing? I do. Uh huh. Yeah. I love having music playing when I'm doing housework or cooking. Oh my gosh. It is so it's like, I mean, I enjoy cooking and baking, but it would be unbearable if it was just quiet.
06:01Yeah, the old house that we lived at, the music used to come out of our bedroom. When you walked in the door, our bedroom was to the right, the living room was where we walked into, and the kitchen was to the left. And so the music would just flow out of the bedroom toward the kitchen. So if I was cooking, I just turned the music way up and just danced around the kitchen and cooked and sang along and it was really fun. Here... What's your music of choice though?
06:31Oh good lord. I don't even know. Um, alternative rock maybe? Okay. Um, I can't listen to 80s music. It makes me cry. Yep. Um, I really, really liked the music that came out from Maroon 5 and Sara Bareilles and all those people. Back, back 14 years ago. Oh my god. Oh, that's- Like-
07:01It's still relevant. It's still relevant. It's still good, but I can't believe it came out that long ago. Yeah. So so the problem is the house we live in now is set up completely differently. And if I want to have music, not like pulling my eardrums out while I cook, I have to move the speakers out in the kitchen on the table and I have to move my laptop out there. I have to reconfigure everything to have music. So.
07:28That is on my list for this fall to figure out how to fix that permanently. Hmm. Yeah. So, but either way. So, um, I really love that you you're making jams, but I'm actually more in love with the fact that you're addicted to podcasting because so am I. And I want to talk to you about your podcast because your podcast is really about sustainable living, right? It is indeed. So tell me about that.
07:57Well, so it's kind of a long story, but I volunteer at a local farm. I'm a volunteer gardener. And so this farm, we grow organic produce just to donate it to the local food banks, because food insecurity is such an issue. I assume it's everywhere, but
08:25in my area, that's what we're able to manage. But so I've been doing it for, I think this is my seventh year. This is my seventh year. We're the Saturday crew. And so the people that always go in on Saturday mornings, we are like family. And so we were weeding garlic one day sitting on the ground and a friend and I were talking about how cool it would be to start a YouTube channel.
08:55and talk to people about different homesteading skills, like raising animals and butchering animals and gardening and making cheese and stuff like that and have a different person every week or every two weeks. And then after that conversation, bring it home and test it out and then report back the next week and be like, this was totally something that I'm taking on. I'm going to do this from now on.
09:25or ain't no way I can do this while I'm working. And then my friend kind of dropped off and I said that I am not going to be talking to myself on YouTube. No, thank you. So it became a podcast, but it still took two years. It took about two years to actually come to fruition.
09:50And I just I talked about it with everyone, you know, I'm gonna do this. I want to do this and a Friend of ours had told my sister-in-law Not me. I don't know why he told her I think he told her because she's she can be she's sort of In the nicest possible way bossy like she there's something about her that I can't say no to so He told her
10:18that some friends of his in Florida were hosting a podcasting training workshop. And this was 2022. I found out about this in, I think, January. The workshop was in March, early March. And at first I said, no, it's 2022. There's a pandemic out there. And Florida is COVID county.
10:48So no, I don't want to be on a plane with people and get their germs. But, um, but then this friend, I did eventually end up talking to him and he offered me flight points and said, you pay for the workshop. I will get you there. And that was just too big of a gift to say no. So I went, it was only like four, I think it was four other people and myself, and then the people that were doing the training.
11:18So it was really, really, really intimate. And there were a lot of tears on my end because I did not feel ready. I didn't feel...
11:30Like I had a place, I didn't feel like I had a voice that should be doing that. Like I just don't have, I don't have a lot of training. I don't have a lot of creativity, but then I did. So I left there in March and June, my podcast started. So I'm going on two years. It'll be two years in just a couple of weeks.
11:58When I decided I was going to do this podcast, I was doing it within a week of deciding of what it was going to be. I wish. But, but there had been two years of trying to come up with a topic to do it on. So I wasn't afraid to do it. I wasn't, I didn't feel like I couldn't do it. I just didn't know what it was going to be about. Hmm. Because I talk all the time.
12:27I mean, I've raised four kids. I've had many friends. I have, I have parents. I've had the resets of in-laws in my lifetime. It's not like I don't communicate all the time. So, so the talking part was not hard to handle. Right. And I knew that I had a listen, a listenable voice. I didn't know that it was as listenable as people have been telling me.
12:53But I knew that it wasn't like, you know, nails on a chalkboard. So that was good news. I just needed the idea. And when I had the idea, I was like, honey, I'm going to do this to my I said, honey, to my husband, do this. And he said, yes, do that. So I'm going to do that. Do that. Go talk to somebody else for a while. Do that. I. Right. Yeah. Stop talking to me for a second. Talk to someone else.
13:16Exactly. It was totally the opposite for me. That's so that is really funny. I mean, I was scared to death to hit record that first time. And I think I redid that first episode, which was only I think it was like four minutes, but it was the longest four minutes of my life. But it was just you as well. Yep. Yeah. Having another person on the other side is no problem. I'm so good talking one on one, but me just me is whoa.
13:44Yeah, I had to do the intro for mine. I had to record it eight times because I kept screwing it up. I'm like, I'm never going to get through the intro, which was I'm never going to do this. And then I finally got one I liked and kept it. So, but anyway, we could talk about the details and the imaginations of podcasting today. Yeah. What I want to get to is what it's about and it's about sustainability and. Yes. So, um, ground to me.
14:12is an open conversation about how we show up for the world. And the intent is to encourage people to be creative about sustainability. It is a huge word. It can be very overwhelming and feel like, you know, especially with the state of the world right now, it can feel like, you know, why even bother? Like I'm just one person and I don't have
14:37know, a 10 acre farm and I don't have solar panels covering my whole property and I don't have lots of money to buy all this stuff. And that's where this is coming in. Like, people are talking about all kinds of really cool stuff. I mean, I had Mary on my podcast and she was talking, or actually next Tuesday. The prize. Mary was on my podcast talking about her
15:06her tiny homestead and how it's totally possible. And I've had people that came on and talked about making their own broth, which I'm all for and container gardening and stuff like that. Like it doesn't have to cost lots of money to be part of the solution and to feel good about what we're doing. Um, and that for me feels like I am making a difference just by encouraging people. Yeah. And giving people new ideas because
15:34The thing I'm finding with my podcast situation is that people talk to me about the things that they're doing and they love. And they tell me things I haven't thought of yet to try. And that makes me so happy because if I haven't thought of it, other people haven't thought of it yet either. Right? Yeah. So I feel like a cheerleader and a teacher and a learner all at the same time.
16:03Yes. I am that. So I just, I love, I love, love, love doing podcast casts. There we go. There's the S and I love being on your podcast. I listened to the, the episode that you sent me that no one else can listen to until Tuesday the fourth and it's beautiful. It's great. I I'm in love with what you did with that. Oh, I did nothing.
16:33You asked the right questions. That's what you get. Well, that is, I don't know about that. I mean, I just, I'm so curious about what people do and how, you know, for me, it's like the story of where someone's life changed. You know, we, there is for a lot of people or most people or all people, there's like a switch where we change from,
17:01being careless and not thinking and then there's a switch where we're very mindful of what we're doing or you know, even if we're not like what changed what changed was there something that pushed it or was it just like a waking up? I don't know. And that's, you know, it's just for me, that's what's so exciting to get to know people. It's about getting to know people on my on my end.
17:29and learning what they're doing. And hopefully it's resonating with a lot of people because I don't wanna stop it. Yeah, exactly. Okay, so what do you do to practice sustainability? Because I didn't ask that last time when we talked. I have a jam business. Uh. Ha ha ha ha. I had.
17:57I'm a gardener. I'm not a great gardener. I'm actually a really bad gardener, but I enjoy gardening. I recycle like compost. We have chickens. I have a worm compost, which a lot of people don't know about, but that's because it doesn't smell like they would assume it would. I am not, I try to not use electricity as much as possible. Not to say in the summer, my air conditioner isn't running.
18:2624-7. But otherwise, like in the summertime, or even, you know, in the mornings when it's light out, like I don't use, I don't turn lights on unless I actually can't see. And that's just a, I think it's just a weird mindset thing. Like I just don't, I don't feel like I need to, so I don't want to use it if I don't have to. I feel like that's it. And I say that all the time. Like I don't, I don't really do that much.
18:54But then there are people that are like, oh my gosh, you do that too? But, oh, I make my own tooth powder. I do an all-purpose cleaner. And I also, excuse me, we have in the town that I live in in Brunswick, we have a refill store, which is the coolest thing. So it's like a total sustainability geek store.
19:24And I bring all the jars that I can think of and I will fill them with dish soap and hand soap and castile soap for making my own cleaners and cleaning vinegar and deodorant and tooth. Oh, you can get like mouthwash tablets and stuff like that. So you just fill up your jars and then you have no waste. Which is so cool. I just love.
19:52I love that. And they don't just carry all this stuff. They're super smart and super passionate. Like, you know, you go to some stores and they hire kids that they're just like, you know, they're frowning. They're just grumpy. They're like, I'm just here because I have to make money. These people actually really care about what they're doing and they know what's going on, which I think is so fun. And they know the products. I had to... I am currently in menopause.
20:22And I had to, I, I've finding that my head is, um, my skin has heavily having allergies these days. And I've always used a shampoo bar. That's another thing that I do. Shampoo bar instead of a bottled shampoo. But, um,
20:40I so the shampoo bar, the essential oils have been irritating my head. And so I went in there and I was like, I just need a shampoo bar. And they're like, maybe you need an unscented one. I'm like, you shut up. I like the sense deal with that. And then I went in the next day and I was like, yeah, or the next week. I was like, you're probably right. But I don't, I don't like it. Um, so, but it is, you know, it's just cool to have conversations with them and like,
21:10They are, they're humans and they care. They're like passionate about it. And I can have real conversations where there are so many places I go and I try to make conversation with people and they're like, stop talking. Just stop talking to me, please. I'm trying to ignore you. Yup. Um, the last time I had to buy a computer, computer ish thing. We went, we went to best buy and.
21:38There was this kid who looked like he was about 12, but I'm sure he was probably 20. And I was like- Oh my God, 12 years old is what I say when people look young too. Yeah, I said, I said, I need, I need a basic laptop computer that can do these things. And he said, I don't think they make those. Oh my gosh. And I said, really? They don't have computers for cavemen.
22:06He said, no, he said, I don't think we have the, I don't think we've had that basic a model in forever. And I was like, number one, you're implying I'm 80, which I'm not. And number two, I know there are basic laptops around. So, so I literally said, is there anybody else I can talk to who might help me? And I didn't say, can I talk to the manager? Right. Cause I don't want to say that I've never said that. I don't ever want to, unless I really have to. Right.
22:32But he was like, Oh yeah. And he called some other person over who looked like they might be 30. And I was like, okay, we're getting somewhere now. And went through the whole thing again. And he was like, Oh yeah. He said, we have those because some people don't need gaming computers or a ton of memory or whatever. He said, yeah, come on over here. And I think I paid like 150 bucks for a workhorse computer to basically write on.
23:02to write articles on. So I understand what you're saying about people just being at their job because they need a paycheck. It's not great. And as for the refill store or whatever you said it was called, we don't have one of those nearby. But I saw on TV the other day that there are these detergent laundry detergent sheets that you stick in your washer and they're not
23:31There's dry. Yep. And I had heard about them, but I really had seen them before. And I was like, that is really cool. And I'm really sick of paying for water. So I went out on Amazon. It a big thing of plastic every time too. That too. Yeah. And I went on an Amazon and I ordered some and it's supposed to be here tomorrow. And I can't wait to try them and see if they're good. Cause if they are, we're switching over. Yeah. Which brand did you get? I don't remember. Okay. I don't know.
24:01I really I liked the kind I think they're kind version kind brand. I've just I'm I've learned that they a lot of them have plastic in them. So the the sheet is part plastic and then hate. We you know, it's going to dissolve into your and get in your washing machine and whatever but some of them don't. It's hard to tell.
24:30It's hard to tell because they're all going to tell you they're eco-friendly and whatever and they want you to buy their stuff. Well, I'm going to try it and see what happens. But it's less plastic anyway. Yeah. And I'm in the same boat as you. I am definitely past childbearing years and your joints don't quite handle pressure the way that they did when you still had tongue vestrogen running through your body. And we end up buying the great...
24:59big containers of laundry detergent and they're heavy. So I was like, huh, that laundry detergent sheets aren't heavy. Right. And they cost basically nothing to ship and they're, yeah, they're so light. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So I'm very excited about this. I haven't even told my husband about it yet. I was like, I'm just going to spend 12 bucks and we're going to try it. And if it works, we're going to do that. And I will tell him about it afterwards. Who cares? It's fine. Because you can like subscribe to them. You can subscribe for them and get...
25:29on schedule and yeah. Yep. So that's my new my new myth that I'm turning over regarding laundry and being sustainable. Yeah, it's good stuff. I mean, I love I love stuff like that, you know, just people are catching on to the the inefficiency of all the stuff. I actually had a podcast guest on not too long ago. Her name is T T E.
25:57Fortin Barnes, her name is Therese, but she goes by T. And she has her own podcast called Green Living with T. And so she talks about toxins, all the toxins that we have in our world and in our homes. And one of the things that I remembered so well is that she said that the companies, like the cleaning companies are trying to sell us.
26:24a different cleaner for every single piece of area of our home. You know, the bathroom cleaner, the toilet cleaner, the glass cleaner, the, you know, all this stuff. And we just don't need, we don't need all that, but we're convinced that we need to because they're, they're yelling at us with it. You know what the best all purpose cleaner there has ever been and ever will be is vinegar. White vinegar. Yep. Yeah. And it's cheap. And it's available.
26:55Yep. And it doesn't make your house smell like vinegar for more than five minutes. Yep. Yeah. I mean, I've started using a vinegar rinse on my hair. Yeah. For a soap maker lady. She told me that the head, I mean, I was telling her about my woes, my menopause woes. And she said, you know, your hair and your head are begging for acid.
27:25And she said that would be the best thing that you could do. And so I have, I've been making my own apple vinegar, um, with the scraps from my apples for my apple jam. So I'm getting a twofer. And so I've been using that, just mixing that with some water and putting that on my head and it smells so I love the smell of vinegar. It doesn't bother me at all, but then I don't smell it after like 10 minutes.
27:51Yeah, I love pickles and I think part of the reason I love pickles is I love the smell of vinegar. So I'm right there with you. The other thing I was going to say on the sustainability topic here is my peonies are starting to bloom. And I was like, I don't have any cut flour preservative packets that you get at the florist. Right. And I was like, there must be, there must be a do it yourself remedy here. So I went up and looked at that. Right. Isn't it?
28:20It's well, yeah, you can ask, but we don't have any house for it in the house. But really what works is apple cider vinegar and a little bit of sugar in the water. Huh? Yeah. So I was like, okay, I have those. I can do vinegar will save the world. You guys. Who knew? Yeah. I was very excited because I was like, I do not want to order. Cut. Oh, plant. Preservative. I don't need it that bad. So.
28:51And very excited because my peonies are starting to bloom. I have been waiting for three years for this to happen. So seriously. Oh, because it's a new house to you. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. We have we have coral and burgundy and Hello Kitty Pink right now blooming. Hello Kitty Pink. Yep. I want a peony tree, man. I want a tree. There are I mean, yes, there are tree peonies, but.
29:20They're not a tree. They're like a bush. That's fine. And they grow differently than a herbaceous peony. You know what they're called? I don't know. The normal peonies. So you have to stir. Yeah. Not a plant person. I am a peony fanatic. So what do you call that person? What? What do you call that person? The person that talks about plants that's obsessed with plants? I don't know. I'm a
29:49and I have no words, right? You call it me. I'm obsessed with plants. But either way, the tree peonies, they actually have like a stem, a hard woody stem. And you have to prune them differently and you have to take care of them differently. I have one and I have ignored it. And it's reverted back to being the normal peony. Oh, what? So yeah, tree peonies are not all they're cracked up to be. Oh.
30:19They're pretty. They're all pretty.
30:23But either way, my peonies are starting to bloom. I'm probably gonna have over 100 blooms this year. I'm so excited. And the other thing that's happened since I talked to you last is we just received two honey berry plants from the lady that I interviewed last week and her episode came out this morning. Oh, honey berry. Are those like big fat, like long?
30:51Yeah, they're they look like a blueberry, but they're oblong. And she says that their skin is like a raspberry thickness, so they're really easily bruised. Oh, so we have to. You have to have two different varieties for them pollinate. So we have two different varieties and they're going in tonight and they will not fruit this year, but next year we should have honey berries. And I'm so wet about this.
31:22So yeah, lots of plant things going on here. Another wonderful thing about podcasting, the people that you get to meet and the friends that you make and the connections that you make and people will send you stuff. If you're next to them, of course. Yeah. And I'm going to say it right now. I don't ever expect anyone to send me anything just because I interviewed them. That's not why I do it.
31:53Yeah, but if somebody says hey you were talking about wanting to get you wanted to start growing honey berries Can I send you a couple plants? Why yes, if you're okay with that, I love that Right, you know like I'm yeah, there's like cuttings or whatever that you can. Mm-hmm Yeah, I mean people are will like prune their own and and thin it out and if you're you know, if you're gonna compost that I'll take it Yeah, and this is this is actually her business. She she
32:22grows plants and sells the seedlings. And she also sells the berries when they harvest them. So I was just gonna go order a couple from her. She was like, I'd like to send you a couple. I said, are you sure? She's like, yeah. I said, okay, cool. So they're here and they're beautiful. And I just, I looked at them and I opened the box and I was like, oh my God, finally, we're gonna be able to grow honey berries, finally. That's exciting. Have you had them before?
32:50I have not because they do sell them in the stores around here now and then, but they're not common and they're expensive. So we've never bought them before. But no one in our area grows them and people like them. So it's a good thing to start growing. Yeah. So that's happening.
33:20But this really isn't about me, it's about you. But we are talking about sustainability because growing fruits is definitely a sustainable thing. Well, and also sharing. Yeah. Sharing instead of buying and selling, um, is also very sustainable. Uh-huh. Just doing my part. Yes. I think we both are. And I think a lot of people are, and that's kind of the point because if we don't start doing things differently and.
33:49maybe better, it's not gonna matter. Right. I remember at the beginning of the pandemic, I had had, we were using Amazon at that time, and we have since this year, we canceled our membership. But at the beginning of the pandemic, I was like, I've got my toilet paper on auto ship, and I'm not worried about that. And then they canceled my auto ship, and I had such a panic attack.
34:18I was so worried, like, you know, because I knew that the, you know, all the shelves were bare and I was like, what am I supposed to do about no toilet paper? Like, I need my toilet paper. So we bought it today, like an attachment for the toilet. And we never opened it because then things started to come on time. Yeah, the whole toilet paper thing was, it was not funny, but it was funny to me because I was like, that's what you're worried about?
34:47Having a closet full of toilet paper? Yep. Well, and then there's the whole like, you know, the people that could buy or were buying all of it. Yeah. Like, what about everyone else? Yeah, COVID definitely showed us who people are. Right. And I wasn't all that impressed with most people at that point in time. No, no, and I, what-
35:13Yes. I mean, it showed me that so many people were so grumpy. And it was, you know, I don't know if it was out of fear or if it was something else, but I hated it. I remember going to the grocery store and, you know, they only let so many people in at a time. I don't know if you had that in Minnesota as well, but they had to limit the number of people in the store at a time. And so we were waiting outside six feet apart with our masks on.
35:43And it was such a beautiful day. And I, the person that was in front of me like turned around and was looking at the line behind her. And I was like, what a beautiful day, huh? I mean, it's not so bad to wait out here, right? And she just like scowled. I could see her scowl through her mask. And she turned around. I'm like, you just ruined grocery shopping for me, man.
36:04Like it wasn't bad enough to start with and you were trying to make it lighter and she didn't slay. Yes. Yes. I remember going to Sam's club with my husband about a week after after our our governor said everybody mask up everybody um wash your hands everybody do all the preventive preventative things and it I think
36:32I don't remember what the date was that happened, but it must have been like a Wednesday because we were at Sam's Club that Saturday. So like four days later. And I had never seen that store that crowded in my entire life. And people, you could just feel the panic in the air. And I looked at my husband and I said, are we weird because we're not panicked?
37:01I mean, this is what we do. We go every two weeks to Sam's, we stock up for two weeks and then we go home. Yep. And he said, I don't know. He said, I don't think this is going to be as bad as how this deals. It's going to be in this moment. And I said, okay. I said, okay. And everybody was just so tense. Yeah. Like the way that they moved, you could see how panic they were.
37:31And I was just like, okay, let's just get what we need to get and go home because this is really weird. I don't love this. This is not great. Forget the bill. Forget the bread. Forget the toilet paper. Yeah, I mean, we did what we always do. We went. We filled our list. We went home. And we weren't panicked. We were just on our usual shopping trip and wearing masks. Oh, well. And I like don't get me wrong.
37:59I know people lost people that they love to COVID and that sucks and I hate that. But I've said this before on the podcast, some really great things came out of COVID. 100%. So it was a podcast for one. What? A million podcasts for one. Yeah, and a billion sourdough makers and I'm okay with that too. That's fine. But like I've said, people had.
38:29A chance for people who weren't sick and weren't miserable mourning someone that they lost had a chance to take a deep breath and go, Okay, so what's next? What are we doing? And I love that the world had a moment of pause. Because there just wasn't any room for it until they were forced to take that moment. Yep. Yeah, we didn't allow ourselves to stop at all. We were just on autopilot. Yeah, all the time.
38:59And also, one of the other things that came out of it is boundaries. Boundaries came out of it because if you were smart during COVID, you were like, no, we're not having friends over. No, we're not going to a dinner party with other people and boundaries happen. And I feel like the longest time people would just like walk all over each other.
39:27because they thought that it was okay, or it was how they expressed their love to the person that they were friends with. And for me, boundaries are really important and always have been. So I was very happy to be like, no, you cannot come over and have coffee with me right now because I don't want you to die and I don't want to die. That's how I expressed my love and my affection for my friends. It was no, this is not the time.
39:57So boundary. Right. Yeah. I went to a graduation party in 2022, maybe. I feel like it was, yeah, it must have been right after I started the podcast in July. I went to a graduation party and somebody, there was a couple that had COVID and they showed up anyway. And they were wearing masks. And I ended up with COVID.
40:25Uh-huh. It was the end of June. And then, so I was sick for the 4th of July, which I don't care. The holiday is not that big of a deal, but it was strawberry season and I couldn't go pick strawberries. And I was so mad. Oh yeah. And then, you know, there was also, I remember reading in the, um, the regional newspaper, somebody was like, well, it's long over. Like it's not a big deal anymore. And I was like sitting home and I couldn't
40:54go shopping and I couldn't go to work and I couldn't do all these things. Uh huh. I was like, oh, you're telling me it's over. But that was the first time I was my only time with COVID. Thank goodness. Got at a party. Uh huh. My first party out. Oh, that's a lot party out. That is such a bummer. My son and I, the youngest had COVID. We think we had COVID.
41:23back in December of 2019 when supposedly COVID wasn't here. Right. However, it was all the same symptoms that everybody else had in 2020. Yep. Were you in Las Vegas? Because my sisters were in Las Vegas and they were pretty sure that they had COVID. No, I was in Minnesota. But what happened is my son worked at a comic book store and a couple of the guys that worked at the comic book store
41:52were sick with some kind of nasty crud. And then a bunch of people came for, they had game nights and things. And they came in and they were sick with this nasty crud. And my son caught it. And then I caught it from him. Of course. My husband never got it. He never had it. And then all of a
42:21COVID-19 was all over the news. And I was like, boy, that sounds like we had. And the worst part of it was that we were all sick for three days. But then we had this cough for six, eight weeks after. Yeah, that was the worst part of it. Yeah. So so we were lucky. I think we got the we got the early version that wasn't quite as bad as the later version. Hmm. I don't know. But either way.
42:51COVID, I think, is the thing that jumpstarted the new interest in homesteading and sustainability and being prepared. And I'm thankful for that.
43:08For sure. I mean, I just think there are a lot of people that, you know, I think that there was a huge...
43:19Well, I mean, it made people stop and think about what they were doing. And, you know, and that pause was really good for people, as you were saying. And a lot of people were like, yeah, I don't think I really want to do this anymore. And I don't really want to go into the office and blah, blah, blah. But it just, it really, it really changed a lot of people's lives in, I want to say, good ways. Like, I mean, I'm sure that there are bad things about it.
43:50you know, realizing that our lives were, we were slaves to the paycheck. And there was just so much more. I mean, when I actually, when I, you were saying that, that, oh, the sourdough thing, that was really funny that you couldn't get flour either. But when I, I started my jam business in my first time.
44:17making jam in the rented kitchen was May 3rd of 2020. Right in the heat of COVID, I was making jam, but people were also doing a lot of canning. And so jars were super duper expensive and there was a shortage because everything was coming from China and everything was backed up coming from there. It was so hard to get jars.
44:46I was like, this timing is no good. Yeah. Yep. And that's the other thing is that there were so many supply chain issues of things that you never would have thought would have been an issue. Right. Right. So go fig. It was very weird. I hope we don't have to go through it again anytime soon. Well, we'll see. That would be nice. If people learned and
45:15Well, I guess we'll see. We'll see. Uh, I still have masks in my car because you know, just never know. I still have my favorite mask. My, my daughter-in-law made me a mask and it has, um, many Australian shepherd dogs on it and it's like turquoise blue with, with many Australian shepherds on it.
45:40And it's one of the real soft elastic ones that go behind your ears. So it's really comfortable and it's washable. So that's my favorite mask from COVID and I still have it and it's all clean and ready to be used again if it needs to be used. Yep. She also made superhero ones for my husband and my son. And I think they still have theirs too. Awesome. I think. They're probably their favorite too.
46:10Yup, my mom, my mom, God love her, she made so many for her, for her extended family in Illinois and her family in Maine and friends. And she was just a mask making maniac for for two years. And I finally said, I think you can maybe stop making masks now. She said, she said, that's good, because I really need to make new curtains for my kitchen. I was like, yeah, do that.
46:39So my mom's sustainable too. She makes her own curtains for her kitchen windows. Aw. Yep. And she actually made some out of the material that she had made some of the masks with and it's the most beautiful material with chickadees on it. And she sent me- Oh, they're painters. Yeah. And she sent me pictures of the curtains and I was like, oh my God, they're so pretty.
47:10She said, do you want me to make you some? And I said, nope, I'm good. I have curtains, I'm all set. Stop, stop sewing. Your future's must hurt. She's like, huh, I'm used to it. But no, no, I don't need curtains, but thank you for offering, but they were really pretty. So yeah, I come by, honestly. That's the sustainability and homesteading and gardening and cooking from scratch and all of that. I learned it from my family and I'm really happy that I did.
47:39So anyway, we've been talking for 48 minutes, so I'm gonna let you loose because I'm sure that you probably have things you would love to be doing. Oh, well, sure. All right. I love talking to people, so I'm good. Yeah, well, I have things I actually have to do. I have things I need to do. Yeah, I have dishes to wash because we were just having dinner before I hopped on with you and.
48:07The boys are outside planting honey berry plants. So I get to do the dishes. Okay. It's a good trade off. I'm okay with it. All right, Amy, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. Oh, thanks, Mary. It's, it's fun having these conversations always. I, I agree because we already know each other now. Yeah. We're best friends. We're besties.
48:33Yeah, for sure. From Maine. All right. Have a good night. You too. Thank you. Bye.
 

Lazy Knoll Farm LLC

Today I'm talking with Liz at Lazy Knoll Farm LLC. You can also follow on Facebook.
00:00This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Liz at Lazy Knoll Farm LLC. Good morning, Liz. How are you? Good morning, Mary. I'm doing well. How are you? Great. You're in North Carolina? Yes, ma'am. Pilot Nob. Pilot Nob? Pilot Mountain. Mountain. Okay.
00:29Alright, tell me about Lazy Knoll Farm LLC and what I really want to know is why it's called Lazy Knoll. Well I guess the name was just kind of situated on top of a hill and it's one of the highest points in the area. I was trying to find something that was more of like a relaxing name. It's a quiet area. It's in the middle of the country.
00:59And to me, just a lazy novel is just a peaceful little place. But we actually got started in 2020. We started our first pumpkin patch and that was in the middle of us purchasing the property from my husband's family. And after that, the farm kind of began an annual pumpkin patch here and it slowly grew into what it is today with the chickens. We had pigs.
01:29We ended up processing them and we have our cows, which is a variety of cows now. We have our Highland cows and white Galloways and belted Galloways and we have a Dexter and a ton of chickens. Nice. The Galloways, is that an Irish breed or does it just happen to be called Galloway? They're actually a Scottish breed. Okay. Yeah.
01:59And I honestly, I was drawn to them originally before we even got howling cows. I liked the fact that they were smaller in size and polled. And we started looking at the different varieties of smaller cattle because we live on 40 acres, but you can only keep so many cows on each acre, especially when it comes to Angus or some of the bigger breeds that are so popular around here. And
02:29And then we happened to be watching an auction. And I asked my husband, I said, it was for a Highland cows. And I was like, do you think we should try for it? And we ended up winning her. And that just started the snowball effect of getting all these different cows. OK. Polled means that they don't have horns, right? Yes. Yeah. How is it spelled? Is it P-O-L-L-E-D? Yes, ma'am.
02:56Okay, I keep hearing it, but I never know if it's polled P-U or polled P-O. So thank you. Um, the Highland breed is the, the orange-ish colored cows with the real fluffy coats, right? Yeah, they, I mean, they come in a variety of colors, but they have, I guess most distinguishably their, their horns are those, um, similar to like long horns, but they, they curve a little bit and I mean, they all have a different.
03:26shape to their horns. They're just, they're all unique. But yes, they had the long shaggy fur, which, you know, a lot of people call them the emo cows. Yeah, they look like a stuffed animal. They're the Justin Bieber's of cows. Cute. Okay. So what is the purpose of your farm? Are you guys just raising animals and
03:55gardening and stuff for yourselves or do you sell?
03:59We do sell our cows, but we sell them more to hobby farms, small homesteads, smaller farms. A lot of people like Highland cows for, you know, kind of, I guess, glorified yard ornaments, but they are actually sought after for their meat too, but they're so cute that a lot of people have trouble making that transition.
04:30I do know that it was one of the, I believe it was the only beef that the Queen of England would eat. It was a highland beef. But it does take them at least two years to mature. And so you can't get it as readily as you would say an Angus or a Baldi or some of the more popular beef breeds.
04:58They do. And it's actually rich in buttermilk. Okay. So it's, you know, if you're interested in churning butter or anything like that, it's one of the better cows for that. We don't currently milk any of our cows. We do have a mini Dexter, and she's our smallest. She won't get over 36 inches, and she has A2A2 milk.
05:25She was tested genetically for that. And A2A2 milk is supposed to be better for people who have lactose intolerance, milk allergies, those sort of things. I guess it's easier to digest, which my five-year-old son has, he cannot drink milk or soy milk. He has allergies to both. And so it's been on my mind when she has her first calf that I've considered.
05:56starting milking her and seeing how he can digest that. I also don't tolerate milk as well. So I'm curious to see what the difference would be in that. Yeah, you'll have to check back with me because I want to know too. That would be really interesting. Okay, so did you always want to do this or was this a new thing for you or what? It's kind of crazy. Our story is, I guess,
06:26unique. I actually moved down to North Carolina from Alaska in 2016. I will say I was originally born in Virginia, but I moved to Alaska when I was six. My mom has this book from when I was in school. My preschool page, you had to mark what you wanted to be when you grew up. On my page, I had put farmer and a mother.
06:56And now here I am with three children and we own a farm. And so I had a variety of jobs between them. You know, I'm working in Alaska. I did not do this. I worked in residential treatment. I had my degree in psychology and I worked in prisons and I worked as a probation parole officer and
07:24My last job was actually in the courthouse. And when I had our third son, or our third child, I made the transition to being a stay at home mom. And that was about two years ago. And I started building the farm up then. And that's about two years ago is when we started getting our first cows.
07:50I had gotten chickens before then, which everyone says chickens are the gateway drug. Yes, yes they are. Yes they are. And then it just doesn't, I mean, it doesn't end with chickens. You got to go beyond that. But we got the pigs and yeah, we never, I had met my husband after I moved to North Carolina. I met him in Pender County. We worked together and we moved up here when we had our first son. And
08:20I fell in love with the property that we're on right now because of all the open pastures and it's got a huge wooded area also. We just decided to ask the family because it was family owned between his father's siblings. We just talked to them about buying them out on this property. It's been in his family since, I believe we traced it back to the 1930s.
08:49It was originally a tobacco farm. And so we, they agreed to it and we started our pumpkin patch and just slowly grew into this and here we are. And we, I think we focus a lot more on homesteading as in providing for ourselves. We've done meat chickens. We processed our own pigs. My husband hunts. He, he processes deer. Um, but.
09:16We've also gotten into the cattle and that's more of a, you know, I guess, farm aspect of, you know, selling beyond just our family and friends. And we do our annual pumpkin patch, which that sells to the community around here. But yeah, we never plan on it. It's the best life for us, I think, especially with the three kids being able to raise them.
09:46on the farm and raise them getting dirty every day. I always talk about my daughter faceplanting into a cow patty. She's two years old and she couldn't care less. Yeah, they don't care. As long as they're clean when they go to bed, they're fine. Go cat. Go. Okay.
10:10So is the plan to continue to grow it and grow it and grow it as you get older and the kids get older or do you have a different plan for it? We're pretty much good where we're at with the cows right now. We have 12 acres that we've fenced in for pasture. I do want to expand. It's been in my plan for this past year is to.
10:39add babydoll sheep to the farm. A lot of it is the attraction. Highland cows, people like to take photographs of them. People like to pet them. It brings people here for the pumpkin patch. So I think we hope to expand in that regard. We do our sales for the pumpkin patch in the fall. We've talked about maybe expanding to selling Christmas trees in the future, depending on
11:09how things go, just bringing our community in and bringing them together to, I guess, have a place they can get something local. We do have a couple other pumpkin patches around here, but ours is the only one in the Westfield area. But that's, I think that beyond that, we don't plan on expanding anymore, just maybe adding the sheep and then.
11:37I think we're at our limit with animals beyond that. Okay. Sorry. I had a question when you were talking because this is what happens to me. You guys talk and I get so engrossed in what you're saying, I forget the prompt that kicked me when you were talking. Christmas trees. Is that a hard thing to start? And do you have any idea how long it takes for them to be cuttable size? Well for us, we would actually...
12:05purchase from a local farm and then bring them in as already cut and just set up a sales stand basically. What I envision I guess is I see we would like to have like a little building on that side of the property that we can sell out of but also you know just at that time of the year having hot chocolate, having Christmas lights up and just…
12:32a place where people can come and pick out their Christmas trees. That's not the grocery store. You're making me want it to be Christmas and we are literally just coming into spring in Minnesota. So I'm feeling really conflicted right now because the idea of an open fire and a mug of hot cocoa or coffee and sitting down and chatting with people and then picking out a Christmas tree sounds wonderful, but this is not the time. Mary Evelyn, no.
13:02Okay, I remembered the other question. The other question was, what's the biggest city near you? I'd have to say, we have Mount Airy here, which I don't know if you know, Mount Airy is known as Mayberry. Okay. From the Andy Griffith Show. Okay, yeah. And that is the closest city to us, but I wouldn't qualify that as a big city. Winston-Salem's 30 minutes away. Okay, yeah. And then just beyond that, 45 minutes away is Greensboro.
13:31Okay, I don't know Greensboro, but I know Salem, so we're good. I don't know what I haven't been there, but I've heard of it. So yeah. Yeah. I have talked to a lot of people in your area in North Carolina and South Carolina in the last couple of months because apparently the Carolinas are a great place to have a homestead or a farm. And I assume that's because the soil is good and the climate is good. Yeah, I've noticed that too. We actually follow a lot of people around here.
14:00Um, right, I think probably an hour or 45 minutes away is Polyface Farm, Bull Salton, and then Justin Rhodes is in Asheville area, which is another big name for homesteading around us. Um, I know there's Instagram and Facebook, YouTube shows, sow the land. Um, they're also by Asheville area. And we're kind of in the middle.
14:30of this like the northern middle part of the state. A little closer to the west were 15 minutes from the Blue Ridge Parkway. Okay. So, you're in a really beautiful area, number one. And number two, you lucked out and had a piece of land that you could buy in a really beautiful area. So, that's fantastic. Speaking of Joel and Polyphase Farm.
14:58I actually interviewed him a week or two ago and released the episode this past Monday and he is such a nice man. Oh, yeah. We've been dying to meet him. We watch a lot of his stuff and actually when we did our meat chickens, we used his chicken tractor design. Yeah, he's the, what is it, the godfather of homesteading pretty much. Something like that, yeah. I don't know if you've listened to the interview.
15:27time in between taking care of the kids and getting things ready for spring and summer, it's up on the podbean.com, a tiny homestead page. So if you want to listen to it, feel free. But yeah, if you have a chance to meet him, go meet him. He's very nice. Yeah. He seems like an open door policy with anybody interested in learning about what he's created.
15:58Oh yes, absolutely. He's apparently out of the country this week teaching his methods to people in other countries across the pond. So I'm like, wow, I can't even imagine, I can't imagine number one, flying because I hate to fly. And number two, being so sought after that I would go across the globe to teach. Yeah, that says numbers about him.
16:27Yeah. So, okay, so how old are your kids? Because I assume they're young and that's fantastic because they're going to be brought up in a lovely way. We have a five-year-old who's currently in preschool and he's our oldest. And then we have a two-year-old girl and a one-year-old boy. Oh my, you are busy. That's a...
16:53That's a lot of little ones to take care of and start a business and run a farm and take care of everything. Yes, they keep us on our toes for sure. I mean, it is a little bit limiting when you're trying to focus on like we've been, my husband and I, we do pretty much all the work around here ourselves. Okay, he does 95% of the work. I do maybe 5%. I understand, yes.
17:23And we've been pasturing in those 12 acres and we're down to just needing to wrap wire on the last, what is it, four acres. And when you're trying to wrap and watch the three kids and make sure they're not getting into things they shouldn't be, it slows things down a little bit. But they, just seeing them out here and just running around in the field and...
17:49My youngest likes to go over to the chickens and just watch them and they love it. Yep. And those kids are going to be a huge help in about 12 years. So it's great. I mean, I, again, I've said this before on the podcast, I'm going to say it again. I wish that we had been in a position to do this thing that we're doing here now when my kids were young. We were not. We lived in town. We lived in a tiny house.
18:19It just wasn't possible then. And of course, once the youngest hit 18, the opportunity came for us to buy acreage and move. And I was like, of course, now they're all grown, we can go. So I really envy you guys who are younger and have little ones and can do this while they're young because then they're raised in it. Yeah. Well, do you have grandchildren? Sort of, kind of.
18:49Um, my, my, uh, stepson who I consider my son, I have four kids. I have a daughter, my stepson, and then two sons after the stepson. My stepson and his wife, she has a daughter from a previous marriage and my stepson and his wife just got married in September. So officially I am a grandma and she's, she's like 11 or 12. Oh, I'm sure she loves it. Um, she's been up once like.
19:18Oh my, it was a while ago. It was like four years ago. And so we had just moved here and things were really, really crazy and stressful. We literally had moved in two months before they visited and we had a brand new puppy. So things were a little nutty because I was still trying to get the house situated and know where things were and we had a puppy underfoot and they came to visit and.
19:45It was insanity here when they visited. So I'm not sure she had a great time when they were here, but they are now only about a five to six hour car drive away. So I expect to see them this summer. And then it will be better because we're more settled and the gardens will be going and she can go pick whatever she wants and she can hang out with chickens and hang out with the dog that was a puppy when we met her. So it'll be a little less.
20:14crazy.
20:17What kind of dog do you have? I have a mini Australian shepherd and I have talked and talked and talked about her on this podcast and I always feel weird about it. Her name is Maggie. That's a cute name. Yep, she's been Maggie since before we actually brought her home. Friends of ours are the owners of the parents of Maggie.
20:45when we said we wanted one of the puppies, my friend Jean said, what's the name going to be? And I said, it's a girl puppy. She's like, yeah. I said, Maggie. Maggie has had, Maggie has been Maggie since she was about five weeks old. What made you pick that name? I'm kind of weird and I love biblical names, even though I'm not religious at all. And I have always loved Mary of Magdalene. I love Magdalene.
21:14And so I was like, I want to name the puppy Maggie after Mary of Magdalene. And my husband was like, I don't care what we name her because you're always good at naming things. So, so she's, she's Maggie after Mary of Magdalene, even though I am the least Bible person you will ever meet. I don't know why I keep doing this, but I do it. So I usually proper names. So I understand that.
21:38Yeah, I mean, we should have named her Bandit because if she's out in the yard and she's a good 20, man, not even 20 yards, 10 yards away, she has a white stripe in between her eyes and she has the little brown markings that look like eyebrows above her eyes. And so when she's far away, she looks like she has a mask on. And when I noticed it, when she finally came into her adult coloring,
22:08I was like, I should have named that dog Bandit. And my husband looked at me, he said, it's too late now. I was like, I know, she's Maggie. But Bandit would have been really cute. So I do this all the time. I said, well, Maggie's cute too. Yes, and she is very, very cute actually in person. She's a beautiful dog. She's the black and white tri with the tan points.
22:34And she is just a lovely dog and I don't want to say anything else because I've talked about her so much. People are like, oh no, we're talking about the dog again. Yeah. Does she help you with the chickens? No, no, she does not because she's a gross dog and she wants to eat the chicken poop. That's just a dog thing. Yes. And it just, I'm completely grossed out by it.
23:01And because she's a house pet, she lives indoors and I don't want her licking my face knowing she was eating chicken poop. It's just gross. And there's no stopping her from licking your face. I mean, she must lick your nose if she can get to you. So it's just gross. I don't want her doing it. And we only have 18 or 19 chickens and they have a big run so she can't get to them, but she can see them. So.
23:30She's not, she doesn't really have a job. She's a watchdog mostly. Well, that works. That's a job. Yeah, we needed a watchdog. We live five miles outside of town and we live on a busy highway because of the semi trucks that take, I don't know, the produce from the farms around here in and out all the time. And so I wanna know if somebody pulls in the driveway and she knows immediately and she barks really loud. So.
24:00Oh, that's good. Yeah, she's fabulous. I love her so much. She is my favorite, favorite, favorite thing on earth right now. Just don't tell the kids. Ah, I've told my husband, I've told my kids. I'm like, you're just going to have to accept it. She is my favorite thing on earth right now. And she's the first dog I've ever raised from a puppy to a dog. My husband and I had never had that experience before. Yeah, that does change things.
24:28Yeah, because they're babies. You fall in love and then you're screwed for the rest of their lives. Yeah. So, but anyway, do you guys have any pets? We do. I don't mean animals, I mean pets. Well, we have four dogs, but they're livestock guardian dogs. Yeah. So they're outside 24-7. And then we have our farm cat, Hanks, after Tom Hanks. Yeah.
24:55We had his mom and then we named her Pumpkin. And then my husband and I just get a kick out of that Saturday Night Live skit with Tom Hanks, David S. Pumpkins. And so we named the Pumpkins' son, Hanks. Nice. And then we have a 50% Anatolian
25:2250% great Pyrenees dog named Zeus. And he came with me from Wilmington. And then we adopted a full Pyrenees female named Lady. And they had a surprise litter last year. And we found great homes for all of them, except Sophia was the runt and we have her.
25:52And she's been my mom's favorite and also my daughter's favorite. And then we actually just, I, when we, we've never had puppies or anything before. And so I had told everybody who was getting puppies at, if anything didn't work out, please bring them back, do not bring them to the shelter or anything. We'll take them back. And so we had one brought back to us this past week.
26:20and he was not in good shape. And so he's back here and we're getting him up to the weight he should be and getting his little muscles stretched, but he's doing good. He was actually the, he looked identical to his dad, Zeus. And so when he was a puppy, just because they looked so similar and I assumed he was going to be going to a good home, I had named him Zeus the second just because they were
26:50twins. And now that he's back, we've had to pick a different name. And for whatever reason, Murphy just fits him. And the mom and I called him that. He would come to me. So he knows his name is Murphy now. But that's been a little journey with him. I love Murphy for a name for a dog. Yeah. I really wanted to name him Killian.
27:17We were trying to stick with like, he, he, I don't know why he resembles kind of an Irish Wolfhound look to him. So I was like, well, we've got, you know, the Scottish cows. It's like, maybe we can find a good Celtic name for him. And I tried calling him Killian because it means dealing with strife. He's dealt with that with what he went through and it just didn't fit. And for some reason, Murphy just.
27:46sounded right. You know, when you look at them and you're just like, that's it. Yeah. Um, so when you found homes for the puppies from the surprise litter, when you, when you had to give those puppies to their new owners, did you cry? Yeah. Well, I was attached to a couple of them, very attached. Um, but it's kind of amazing when you find the right home, you just feel good about it.
28:16And there were, I mean, everybody else from that litter went to farms in the area. And I still talk to a bunch of the owners and they send me pictures and updates and, and they all just went to great homes. But this specific family was a young couple and they live in an apartment. And at the time they had had a house with the yard and that's okay with it. And
28:44But them being young, I was kind of unsure about it, but I got my first Pyrenees when I was 20, so I couldn't judge them. So I was thinking I was just being kind of motherly and too worried about it. And, but he did seem to hide behind me a little bit when they had come and were gonna take him, but I thought maybe he's just nervous and in my gut. I should have just trusted my gut.
29:13that it just wasn't gonna be a good fit, but we didn't realize.
29:20what was going on and they had contacted me about two months ago saying that they weren't going to be able to keep them. So we said, okay, bring them back. It's no problem. They changed their minds and then this past weekend they said they're going to bring them back. All the other puppies were at six months about 90 some pounds and he is probably roughly 50 pounds at 10 months.
29:50And you can feel his bones in his hips, his ribs. You can see that he was kept in a kennel too small for him because his spine is curved and his hips are, they sag. So it's just, it's very frustrating. Even his pads on his feet are so soft. They're like a puppy's pads because he hasn't been out to use them. Wow.
30:18I'm really glad that he came back to you. Yeah, it's very, I don't know, it's just disheartening that anybody can do that to anything but you just, you hope for the best and we tried to be so selective about who would get him because, you know, I've had dogs my whole life and I've never gotten rid of them and you just want the best for them but I am glad he's back and...
30:48Sorry, I could ramble about that for forever. No, no, no, that's okay. I'm sure it was just heartbreaking to see him when he came back. But I'm gonna flip it and tell a happy story about giving a pet to some, or a puppy or a kitten to someone and that way we don't have to end it on a sad note. My barn cat had kittens last September and she had six and then she had four because two of them disappeared. We think that probably an eagle or a...
31:18Osprey or a hawk got two of them and We ended up finding a home for one Two of the four passed away from an upper respiratory thing because they're barn kittens and that happens And so we had one one we kept one. Her name is chirp. She still lives here We love her and one of them we found a home for and the one we have found the home for Her name was Rocky
31:47when we named her, because we named all the barn kitties. And this family wanted a kitten. And I was like, which one do you want? We have this one and we have that one. And they picked Rocky. And they came to get her on a beautiful morning. I think it was back in November, I think. And they had two little kids and they looked very excited and they had bought a cute little carrier to bring her home in.
32:17And I was very excited for her to have a home because we don't need a thousand cats here. No one needs a thousand cats. So I knew they're coming. I was very excited. I talked to the mom. She was nice, blah, blah, blah. And they pulled out of the driveway with that cat and I just cried. My husband was like, what is wrong with you? I said, I don't know. I wasn't even that attached, but maybe it's just happy tears. I don't know. And so the next day I messaged her and I said, how's...
32:45How's the kitten doing? And she sent me a picture before she even answered me in words, she sent me a picture of the kitten with her little girl. And she followed it up with, she seems to be settling in fine. And I said, what's her name? And she said, toast. T as in Tom, O, A, S, and T. Toast. I said, toast. She said, yeah, the kids named her and the kids were like four and two or something. I said, okay. Well.
33:14keep me posted on toast because I want to know how she does. And she sent me a picture at Christmas time and toast was all curled up under the Christmas tree. And I was like, Oh, this cat is living its best life. So, so sometimes you can do all the research in the world and all the vetting in the world of people who are going to take your baby animals to their homes. But sometimes you just luck out. Yes. Yeah, I can say.
33:43of all the puppies, I mean every other puppy when the families came to get them and they're, one of them went to the roost homestead and that was Apollo and we had on Instagram there's a page called growing up pier for growing up Pyrenees and I mean they groom them and
34:12They just take amazing care of them. And then another family, they got one of the puppies named Bear. She'll send me pictures. And she actually came back and bought some laying hens. And they're getting started on their homestead. There's just so many amazing families that got them. Even the ones that I was very attached to, I came in and I was like, I'm just relieved. I'm really glad that they're going to great places.
34:43I'm trying to think, let's see, Gallagher's, Pumpkin's, up in Sparta, North Carolina, they got Theo. He was the last male to go. And they've got four other dogs, but he's still spoiled. They are great families out there. Yeah. One of the things that I think is beautiful about this whole farming, homesteading, is
35:12community thing is that that community is what lifts you up when things are when you're not feeling so great about something because you have All these other puppies that went to these other places that are doing great and they keep in contact with you So you know that you did the right thing? as far as you possibly could and You got the one back. So now you can fix him. You can you can help him have a better life
35:41Yes, yeah. Yeah, I do. I can't preach it enough about the homesteading and farming communities. It's kind of a different world when you know other farmers or other homesteaders and and we try to be as welcoming as possible. Anybody who comes to get chickens or anybody who comes to get cows or anything, we have an open door, open phone policy. Just if you have any questions or need any help or...
36:10Um, when we were processing chickens, I, I let folks know like, Hey, if you want to come and you want to see how we do it, by all means, come on by, we know you can help if you want, or you can just stand back and watch. Um, I feel like everybody really supports one another. And, and I mean, I've been lucky in that I don't really have, haven't gotten to the point. I don't know if we're just not big enough yet, but.
36:37having gotten to the point where we're being trolled or anything, it's all very positive people. And it's nice. Yeah, I really hope that you don't get to the point where that happens because it's just, it's no fun. We haven't had it happen to us yet. I figure it probably will at some point. But I really want people to understand in the world that we who are doing this thing with
37:06growing food for other people or for ourselves or trying to be sustainable or trying to leave the earth better than we found it. We really want that to be important and we want that to be something we can continue to do. And when people get trolled or harassed or bothered, it makes you want to give up. So don't do that people. Don't harass other people. It's not okay.
37:34And all it does is reflect poorly on themselves. Mm-hmm. And messes up the people they messed with, but yes, it does reflect very poorly on the person that does the offense, whatever the offense is. And I hadn't really thought about that until you brought it up, but yeah, it's live and let live, honestly. If you don't want to do what somebody's doing, don't do that. But don't make them feel bad because they've chosen that life, you know?
38:04So busy that we don't even have the time to, you know, like if you're busy and you're working and you're doing the best you can and you live in your best life, you don't have the time to worry about others offending you or, you know, like, yeah, absolutely. Okay. So do you have anything else you would like to share? I know you guys will be doing the pumpkin patch in the fall, but is there anything you have planned for the summer for the public to come play?
38:34play to? Not yet. We're still, we're kind of feeling things out. I would just, I don't throw that out there if there's photographers in the area that would like to come take pictures. We'd be open to that. Really I'm just kind of checking out what other people are doing and we're slowly growing it. It's gonna be a lot easier and I feel like we're gonna get a lot more done.
39:01in the coming years because the kids are going to be a little bit older and we'll be able to apply more attention to events. But for right now, it's the pumpkin patch. We always begin it in September and then end about halfway through October. So we're hoping the growing season goes well this year and we've got the cows out there in that pasture right now where our patch is spreading their gold for us.
39:31Yeah. Yep, I bet it is. I hope your growing season goes really well too because this winter has been the craziest thing I've ever seen. And I don't think it was just Minnesota. I'm assuming your winter was a little weird too. I don't think it was as bad as what you guys got. We got a lot of rain, that's for sure. It would be nice to have a little bit of a
40:01You guys got... Whew. We actually didn't get anything, which was the weird part. We only got about a foot of snow for the winter here and that's really unusual. Yeah. So, I don't know. Because I had a minute of being like the lower 48 Alaska. That makes sense. Usually. Yeah. Oh, that's interesting. But I'm sure you guys had...
40:29cold weather and winds, right? We had a week where it was really, really cold. One week. Wow. Yeah. It's been unseasonably warm. It's been unseasonably snowless. And we just got a ton of rain two days ago. Thank goodness, because we were cruising toward being in a drought again already. So I'm just hoping that...
40:59Mother Nature settles down a titch and goes back to being moderate and we'll be able to grow our gardens this year here because if we don't, that's not going to bode well for the canning for next winter. Yeah. I understand. I kind of joked last year about wishing we could just have like a pipe going from North Carolina to everywhere in the Midwest.
41:27having a drought because we were just flooded here. Mm-hmm. And it's bizarre. Yeah. My folks live in Maine and my dad basically said they got hardly anything from their garden because it rained so much. Nothing, nothing could grow. Mm-hmm. That's that we had to actually cancel our pumpkin patches last season because we just couldn't keep it dry. You know, it.
41:54They have a big issue with different fungus and downy mildew and powdery mildew and then the bugs and when it's moist out the bugs come and you just, it wasn't an easy year that's for sure. Yeah, I always say that the good years make you really, really thankful because the bad years will just destroy you. Yes, absolutely. And you gotta try. You can't.
42:21You can't give up. You got to try because there's always that hope that the following year will be the year that makes the year before not as bad. Yes. So. That's our main slogan right there, right? Yeah, pretty much. It's a gamble every year and you just do what you can and try to work with nature and sometimes nature wins and sometimes you win. So.
42:49All right, Elizabeth. Well, it's been over half an hour and I really appreciate you sharing your time with me. I know you've got stuff to do. So thank you for taking the time to talk with me today. Yeah, thank you so much for giving us this opportunity. Oh, absolutely. It was great talking to you and getting to know you. Yeah, it was great finding out about what you guys are doing. And I wish you all the luck in the world with your plans. Oh, thank you so much. All right. Have a great day. You too. Bye.
 

Salonek Farms

Today I'm talking with Therese at Salonek Farms. You can follow on Facebook as well.
00:00This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Therese at Salonek Farms. Good morning, Therese. Good morning, Mary. How are you today? Oh, we are doing great. We're doing great. This is fun. I'm so glad you invited me. Yeah, I have. I have all kinds of questions. Before I get into them, tell me about what you guys do.
00:30Well, we farm in Montrose, I understand you're in Minnesota as well? Yeah, in Lesour. Lesour, okay. So we're just about 45 minutes west of the cities in Montrose, Minnesota, and we raise beef. We have anywhere between 900 and 1,000 head of beef cattle here. And you know, we've...
00:59My husband grew up on a farm not far from here. I, however, was a city girl and I go where he goes, right? And so we've been here at the farm since the early 90s. Yeah, mid-90s. And we bought the farm from his parents. We milked cows for until about the 2000 or so, 2001.
01:27and switched over to raising replacement heifers for dairy farmers, and then ended, kind of landed on beef. And for a variety of reasons, beef isn't as intense as milking cows. And yeah, so that's what we do. Our beef goes, we have a pretty robust, private beef sales. We have...
01:56We work with several processors in the area to sell privately to beef. And then we also sell, obviously, into the major beef markets. JBS in Wisconsin is where our cattle are shipped to. So yeah, that's what we do. OK. So is producing cattle or raising cattle for beef less intense than for dairy?
02:26gets contaminated, you lose all that milk and it costs you money, is that part of it? No, because that's a pretty rare occurrence that that would happen. It's more, dairy animals require every day, twice a day milking. Some people do three times a day, we never did, we did morning and night. And they also are a little bit more finicky.
02:54as far as how you feed them and how you carry. Dairy cattle are hardier, or beef cattle are hardier than dairy. And so, yeah, so that's kind of the difference between, and actually, sadly, dairy farmers are not, they're dropping out the small dairy farmers that are milking 60 to 150 animals. They're...
03:23few and far between because the milk prices vary so much. And that was part of the reason that we got out is our monthly income could vary $15,000. And that was in the early 2000s. And that was just, it was frustrating to us because we didn't have that control. And so milk would go up, milk would go down. And it was just too frustrating. My husband loves.
03:53farming, he loves livestock and he's good at it and he's done it his whole life. But you have to look at the economics of it. And that's why I think you see so many in the last 20, 15 to 20 years, dairy farmers going out and you're seeing the major 2000, 3000 cow dairies pop up because that's really the only way I think you can survive. You know, I'm sure there's people doing it, but for the most part, you're seeing all of that.
04:24all of those dairies just get bigger and bigger and bigger. And it's tragic. There's a lot of empty farmsteads around here where you see, obviously, they had cattle probably for many, many years. And they went out of cattle. And yeah, so. OK. All right. I just didn't know why dairy was more intense than raising for meat. But thank you, because if I don't know, other people don't know either.
04:52I feel, okay, I'm going to say this, this is my opinion and my opinion only. I feel like farmers and teachers don't make nearly the money they should be making. Well, with, it's the control of, I always said to my husband, you know, we would send a cow on a truck, right? And then to be butchered.
05:20then once it gets there, they tell you what they will give you for it. Well, it wasn't in their best interests to give you, if they didn't have to, to give you a high price. So the farmer was kind of like, okay, what are you going to give me for it? And they're not going to be able to take the cattle back, right? It's already been there. So it always kind of frustrated me. And I say to my husband, this was years ago, you guys should unite, you know, because
05:49It just didn't, it never, who else puts their product out there and not knowing what they're going to get for it and then just be stuck with whatever somebody deems it to be valued at and you know, but farmers are, are independent bunch and to not want to collaborate, which always confused me as well. I thought, why don't you guys get together?
06:17have breakfast once a month and share your ideas so everybody can do well, you know, all boats rise with the tide. But farmers are, you know, kings in their own kingdoms. I probably get in trouble for saying that, but. It's been my experience that they, you know, are independent and that's probably what makes them, you know, successful and satisfied with their jobs.
06:47and satisfied with what they do because they do work incredibly hard and, you know, don't always get the recognition they deserve. But it's a very fulfilling life, and I think that's probably what drives a lot of them. Yeah, I think that anyone who appreciates the food that they get from their local growers should hug their local grower when they see them. It's a thankless job, typically.
07:16And I try to thank everybody for anything they do for me, even if it's the tiniest thing, because I think that thanks is a really important word. I also think, Mary, that in going forward, people need to understand where agriculture is going, the demands being put on the farmers, regulatory, et cetera, and where prices are gonna go, beef prices. It's alarming to us as producers.
07:46to see the futures, right? Because that's our bread and butter, right? So we follow that kind of stuff much more so than the average person. And the futures are pretty alarming for cost to consumers. Yeah, tell me about that, because I was reading your Facebook post about that. Tell me more about that. Well, beef prices are rising. The country had a...
08:15very significant drought, especially in cattle country across Texas and a lot of those areas where because of the drought, they didn't have the feed to feed their herds. A lot of them were on grass, right in the open pasture, that type of thing. Well, when there's no rain and no rain for a really long time, grass doesn't grow. And it's cost prohibitive for them to
08:45People say, well then, truck down hay or whatever. Well, when you have 1,000 animals out on a pasture, that's a lot of feed. It's cost prohibitive to bring feed down from someplace that didn't have drought. Therefore, they had to sell off their herds because they couldn't feed them. Well, they not only, they sold off the cows as well. Well, the cows are the ones that produce the next generation. So you see.
09:15You know, chickens, you can turn around and grow a chicken and, you know, I'm not a chicken farmer, but we've had chicks in, you know, 55 days or 85 days or whatever it is, and you've got a chicken that's ready to eat. Hogs are a little longer than that, but not nearly as long as it does the life cycle of bringing a steer to market. So that's why you're going to see beef prices rise is that there wasn't the cows were sent to butcher as well.
09:44So the next generation wasn't anymore. And then you add into that, South America had significant drought as well. And so that affected a lot of beef comes from South America and that affected. So it was kind of a perfect storm in the last couple of years to reduce our beef hurts. And then you look at some of the growing third world countries that are
10:12their middle class is growing and they're demanding more and more beef, which I, you know, which, you know, with exports. So there's just a lot of demand placed on beef and there's less beef around. Okay. We had bought a half from a local butcher like a year and a half ago, and I was not in love with it.
10:37I think it was grass finished and I really like green finish because I'm old school. I like my beef to be green finished because I think it tastes better. And so what I was going to ask you is how does this... I don't even know how to ask this correctly because I know nothing about raising beef. So I'm going to try. What's the difference between growing or raising or finishing grass fed?
11:06versus finishing grain fed.
11:12Well, I'm not an expert in grass fed, but from what I understand, grass fed is leaner. It does have a different taste, but they're also older because, you know, there's not the caloric intake that there is with corn. For instance, a beef steer, we can turn around in about 14 months to finishing weight. And I think grass fed is significantly.
11:41longer than that because they're fed a different grain. The corn fed or grain fed is a richer diet and so they grow faster. Okay, then that might be why. I'm not going to say who we got the beef from because I'm sure that people love their beef. I just don't like it.
12:08I assume that if the animal is older, the meat will be tougher. And that's where I'm running into the issue. It tastes different to me and it's really tough no matter how we cook it. Yeah, to be honest, I've never had grass-fed. And so I don't really know. I only know anecdotally what people say about it. But yes, that's a question many of our customers will ask them is, you know, is it grass? Some prefer the grass-fed. And I think that's a good point.
12:37and I'm not exactly sure why that is, but it's more expensive too. Grass-fed is more expensive. But there's, yeah, it's personal like and dislike, I think, but for the most part. And also grass-fed is a little tougher up here where we live, right, because of winter. Yeah. We can't have them out on pasture. There's, because people say, well, are they out on pasture?
13:06Well, that's a great idea for spring and summer, but it's not such a great idea when it's 35 plus zero. No, no, because once they eat whatever is dried from what had been growing and died off, it's gone. So there's nothing for them to eat. Right, right. Yeah, so you see primarily green feed up in our region, I would venture to guess. OK.
13:35I've been trying to figure it out because I was so excited to buy a half and then ate the first steak from it and I was like, I don't like it and now we're stuck with a half steer of this particular animal. Yay. Luckily, my husband and my son think it's fine. They're not thrilled with it, but they think it's fine. So they have been eating a lot of it and every time they're like, you want to do steaks or do you want to do burgers? I'm like,
14:05Okay, and I eat like three bites and I'm good. So it's been it's been very frustrating and very disappointing for me. And honestly, we're probably going to hit you guys up for a half when we need to buy one again, because I was looking at your website, and I was like, I think we need to go see them. That'll work. Well, that's very nice of you to say. At Salonek Farms, I have I run the private part of the of our farm. And we have about 1200 private customers that we
14:34have serviced and we guarantee our beef and if you don't like it, you can bring it back. We will give you your money back. We never ever want Salonek beef in a freezer that they don't want it in. But I can tell you that that never happens. I make that really clear because integrity in our business is our highest priority. And we always seek to be more than fair and probably maybe.
15:03Sometimes I overdo it by making sure that our customers are happy. We're proud of what we do. We work hard every day to grow the best beef available. When we ship to Green Bay, we get, obviously, they send you what your steers get. We 35 steers fit in a semi. Okay. And then they grade them and we come out 95, 96% of those 35.
15:34animals come out at primer top choice and often a third of the herd will come in at five star reserve which is the highest you can get. So we're very proud of what we do. We save our best steers for our private customers so we are very confident that people will be very pleased with our beef. Like I said, we guarantee their satisfaction.
16:02that's just the way we want to do it. I never want anyone questioning our integrity. Fantastic. I am absolutely gonna talk to my husband about getting the next half from you guys because I really wanna like the next steak that I eat out of the next half we buy. I really do. So you were saying that you were a city girl, so was this a hard transition for you or was it okay? I think I wept.
16:29When I think back on it, I think I wept every day on the phone to my mother because being a city girl, I wasn't used to the dirt, I wasn't used to the smell, and I wasn't used to the work ethic, unfortunately. I'm not proud of that. And so we moved to the farm just after our first born. We have seven children just after our first born. And unfortunately, my husband fell off the roof.
16:59the day we moved in and broke his neck in several places. And that was not a good start. No. We were milking at the time and, you know, God really showed up and he healed and he was able to, you know, eventually get back into the barns. But so that's how we started it off. And so I was feeding him in the living room with a
17:28Yeah, it was a nightmare. It was a nightmare. And we were poor as church mice too, which is not very fun. And yeah, so I did. It took a lot of getting used to. I was used to a nicer home and that type of thing. But like I said, I go where he goes. And having a husband that's satisfied with this work, and doing what he wants to do, and doing what God's called
17:57is, has to be your highest priority. And we moved here, we made it ours, we, you know, continue to grow our family. And it's been a wonderful life. It's been a really wonderful life. One of the things my husband is really gifted in is care is young men that are struggling. Many of them are fatherless. Some are just kind of
18:26struggling in adolescence. Some are, you know, parents are struggling with defiance and that type of thing. And so that's really his ministry here. And part of the reason he continues to farm, because we are in our mid-60s, is that it really provides him an opportunity to have these young men come out to the farm and to hopefully help them to become...
18:56men, good men, for them to see what a good man is and to see the satisfaction of hard work, to spend that time talking to them about issues in their lives that maybe nobody talks to them about. And it's something that the farm provides that opportunity for him to teach him honest day's work, to show them, put a wrench in their hand and show them how that wrench works and to give them
19:25because they have no father at home to show them that. You know, moms, God bless single moms, but there comes a time when a young man, adolescent boy, I think needs a strong man to guide them and help them to make good decisions and that type of thing. So we have done a lot of that over the years and continue to do that. Whoever God brings into our lives, we...
19:54They're welcome here and it's not always easy and we don't make it easy on them, but they are loved and they are guided. Awesome, that's fantastic. And I'm gonna jump the gender gap here a little bit. With girls and boys or with boys and girls, I think that they all need to have really good role models of each gender besides mom and dad.
20:25because women learn from quote unquote adopted aunties and adopted grannies, just like boys learn from adopted uncles and adopted grandpas. And I tried really hard when I was raising my four kids to make sure that the people that we had in our lives who were adults taught the kids things that they knew that we didn't know, if that makes sense.
20:50So yeah, what your husband is doing is amazing. And it's really funny when men, men are a different animal. They can't just sit down over a cup of coffee or a cup of tea and be social and chat about things that are deep. I feel like if they're working on something, they just naturally start talking about things that mean something to them.
21:20And I think these young men crave some guidance. They know, you know, some know that, you know, the path that they're on isn't the best path for them. And it's not like you're in the army now, it's not boot camp, but they respond to that. And I've said to my husband so many times, you can't talk to a girl like that. And, you know, because it is true, it is different. And, you know, you...
21:48want to have those positive role models in their lives and especially for our girls, I don't know if you raised girls, but we have four of them, is to hopefully have them pray for them to choose good men because that is their life, right? If they make a bad choice, that is life altering for the rest of their lives. So our girls have chosen wonderful men that treat them well.
22:18love the Lord and it's heartbreaking for some of my friends to have their daughters in tough situations. So yeah, you're right. It's who you allow your children to spend that time with in their formative years really defines their values and what they will accept and what they won't accept. Yeah. I have a daughter. She is the oldest of four kids. And she...
22:45She managed to find herself a really good man. He adores her. He takes care of her to a fault. And she's also terribly independent. And so she'll call me and she'll be like, mom, I married the right guy. She said, but he's almost too helpful. And I'm like, that's OK. Just that's good. Just tell him that you appreciate him offering the help.
23:15and that if you need it, you will ask. And she's like, okay. And I'm like, honey, trust me, it's better to have one that's too helpful than one that's not helpful at all. Exactly, exactly. And you know, you watch your adult children and they still need some parenting and some guidance. And that's also a privilege as a mom. And really for you, Mary, it shows how well you raised her that she trusts you as a friend to come to you.
23:45give you, you know, be open with you about struggles or whatever, because that's, we still need to be there for our adult daughters and they need that guidance sometimes. Absolutely. And I feel like my kids are my friends to the point that sometimes they tell me things that I don't really need to know and I blush. And I'm like, that's a little TMI guys. And they're like, no, no, no, no, it's not. I'm like, no, trust me, it's a little TMI.
24:14But I love that they feel like they can just open up to me and tell me stuff. And even if it makes me blush, it's still an honor that they are willing to do that. So, and then the other three are boys. And again, men are a different animal. And I have had conversations with my sons that I never expected to have. You know, as they're growing up when they're little and you're like, things I never thought I would say as a mom.
24:44Like, no, no, you can't eat cat poop out of the cat box, things like that. Gross, terrible things that you never thought you'd say. It's now turned to things I never thought I would hear. And I have to laugh. It's just ridiculous. But they're all really, really good kids and I am so proud of them and so glad that they're mine. Yes, it's a blessing. It is. Yep. My kids too, they're not perfect.
25:14We have our moments. There's a good thing there's doors on the house sometimes, but that's part of being a family. And when you have seven, anything could happen at any time. Generally does, especially on the farm. Yeah, my theory has always been that one kid is one kid, but once you have more than one, it may as well be 100. Yeah, and then we have others too. I mean, I can have 12 at my lunch table for sure in the summertime. And I like
25:43that and I like to cook and I like to provide a healthy meal for them because they're working hard and so, you know, there's just a lot of big personalities sometimes. Uh-huh. Yes, all four of my kids have huge personalities to the point that sometimes it's hard to have them all in the same room. So I understand that. Okay, so do you guys do anything?
26:11else besides raised beef? Do you garden? Do you have chickens? Do you do any other kind of homesteading things that farmers do? We do. We just, I was, my mother never garden, so I never really learned how to garden. I have a friend who is a gardener and also a canner and all this stuff. And I said, you know, Sarah, we could have a garden. I would, you know, at the farm, we certainly have enough, you know, land to do that.
26:38So we tilled up this great big piece of land out where we used to have horses and we put in a garden last year and it was more, we bit off more than we could chew. It was a great idea in the spring, right? It's a great idea. And then you get to be late July and it's like, what the heck have we done here? I froze a lot. I didn't know how to can, but I see Sarah's, she just has tons and tons and tons of stuff.
27:07So I'm going to do that. Freezing my tomatoes and all that, that takes a lot of room up in your freezer. And I think canning. And honestly, I think some of the things going on in the world right now, it's not a bad idea to have extra things around and to grow. It's satisfying, but it's also, food security is important. I hate to be a conspiracy person, but.
27:35I don't know, sometimes in the morning I wake up and go, what could have happened last night that will impact the world? And so I am going to start canning as well and hopefully it goes well and I don't know. So it's such a homestead thing to do that it's not really my thing, but I'm gonna try it. It's not hard. I'm gonna say this again, I've said it a couple times on the other episodes that are out.
28:04Canning is not hard. It's just a lot of steps and you want to make sure you have the time To devote to it in one day Yeah, once you start you got to finish. Yeah. Yeah, but it's not hard It's just it's just it's just many many steps to make sure that it all gets done correctly So you don't get botulism from something you eat six months from now Yeah, so you got to follow the steps and you got to be careful, but
28:33you if if you like it the first time you do it you will be hooked for the rest of your life. Well you got to have the stuff for it. I don't have the stuff for it so I got to find the stuff for it which you can get at garage sales or you know estate sales that grandma died and they got all this stuff and the kids don't do it anyway but so I got to keep keep an eye out for the stuff. Yeah absolutely and
28:58I know what you mean about not wanting to be a conspiracy person because I don't want to be that either. But there are some mornings I wake up and I just have this feeling that something happened that I don't know about yet. And I'm almost afraid to turn on the news because so many strange things have happened just in the last six years. And we have always lived like something was going to happen where we couldn't get to the store to get milk.
29:28So when we shop, we always shop for at least two weeks worth of stuff in the house. And we can because we have a big garden and we always have surplus and canning is better than sticking in the freezer because in the freezer it just gets buried. And if you have a shelf full of jars of jam and jelly and pickles and tomato sauce and
29:56satisfying to go open that cabinet and see all those jars of food and be like, okay, we're good for a little while. It's hard to imagine. It's hard to imagine that we would have been thinking that, you know, five or, you know, 10 years ago that we should, you know, I remember hearing about peppers and thinking, well, that's ridiculous. Why would anybody, what could, and now more and more, we're not alone in that where people are, you know, it's, it, you see commercials for
30:2625 years of dehydrated food you can buy on mainstream TV. And so people are obviously concerned about the possibility. And that's a tragic turn of events, I think, for the country, but one that possibly nothing would ever happen, but to even think that possibly something could happen is disturbing to me. But...
30:53And we have the resources, right? And obviously out on the farm, we'll always have what we need. It's the inner city where Cub Foods is their only option. Well, Cub Foods could run out of in hours if there was a major. You know what I mean? So there's some vulnerability that I feel for. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And part of the reason that we live outside of Lesor, Minnesota, is because we wanted to be able to grow a big garden
31:23preserve that food for the winter because it's Minnesota. Things happen like blizzards and ice storms and situations where you can't necessarily get anywhere for three days. Yeah, for sure. And hopefully you have power because we have waters here for a thousand, so that's where we are like, we have generators and whatever, but losing power is a big deal on the farm.
31:48Yeah, we have a generator that kicks in automatically, which is an absolute blessing. Like if the power goes out, we have power back within 10 minutes as long as there is fuel for the generator to run on. It's so wonderful. It just, anytime that, every week the generator kicks on for like 15 minutes Tuesday night so that it runs during the year in case, it just, it keeps everything working. And every time it kicks on on Tuesday night, I'm just like...
32:18Generators running it still works. So it just it just calms me down because the idea of not having power and Losing everything in our freezers and our refrigerator and if the power isn't working We don't have water because we're on a well. Yep. We don't either so yeah, it's it's a it was a There's a word. It was a bucket list thing that we wanted when we looked
32:47for this place, we wanted a generator that just would come on automatically. And our realtor who's a friend, she was like, that's kind of a bigger ask. And I said, if the place doesn't have it, that's fine. But if it does, yay. And she's great. I'm going to be interviewing her in June, actually, because she's a realtor. She knows about the market. And people who are looking to buy a place to start a homestead, she's going to be able to tell them things that they might not.
33:17think of. So I'm looking forward to interviewing her too. But she's great. She basically found us a place that had all the check boxes checked for us. And we love her to pieces. She's now a member of our family, basically. That's very sweet. Good to know. Good for you. She's lovely. I just, every time I get to spend time with her, she's so bubbly and she's so happy and so friendly.
33:44I'm just high for like four hours after she leaves. Those kind of friends are great, priceless. It's really fun to visit with her. And I asked her if she wanted to be on the podcast and she was like, absolutely. I'm like, okay, good. Let's do that. That'll be fun. So anyway, Therese, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me.
34:05And as soon as we need to replace our half beef that is getting whittled down, I will be messaging you because I want to try out your beef next time. Well, we'd love to serve you in that area. So you just let us know. And it's been really fun to talk to you, Mary. You seem like somebody I probably wouldn't have coffee with. It's really a privilege to have been on your podcast. So thank you for that.
34:34Thank you so much, Therese. Have a great day. Bye-bye.
 

Future Farmers of America (FFA)

Today I'm talking with Kristy at Future Farmers of America (FFA). You can also follow on Facebook.
00:00This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Kristy at Future Farmers of America. Good morning, Kristy. Good morning, Mary. How are you? I am wonderful. It's a beautiful sunny day in Indiana.
00:26Awesome. It's a beautiful sort of overcast day in Minnesota. The sun keeps peeking out. So tell me about Future Farmers of America. Yeah, so National FFA is an organization that allows students to take agriculture education classes and then also participate in FFA chapters. And what that means is along with taking those classes in their schools, they can then participate in FFA events.
00:55that allow them to really focus on different projects and also on leadership skills. So instead of being like some clubs that are extracurricular, FFA is unique in that it's intracurricular, meaning you have to have an agricultural education class to be an FFA member. Cool. So it's just offered in schools. And I'm assuming it's not necessarily offered in city schools, or is it?
01:25It actually is. Interestingly enough, we are in 23 of the largest 25 cities. We have more than 8,995 chapters and we're almost a million members strong. So FFA is definitely growing and really gaining interest for a lot of students on a lot of different levels. That's awesome. I'm sorry, I made a bad assumption on that one.
01:55Okay, so what do you guys teach in the FFA classes? Yeah, absolutely. And Mary, don't worry, a lot of times people make that assumption. It's an easy one to jump to. So our ag education classes really run the gamut, right? There are more than 350 careers in agriculture, which a lot of times people don't realize because we usually tend to think just about production agriculture, but there's a lot more.
02:22There's aquaculture, there's forestry, there's veterinary science, biotechnology, so a lot of opportunities. So depending on where your chapter is, it could vary of what you might really be focused on. For example, some of our urban chapters focus a little more on the greenhouse pieces or maybe the aquaculture piece. We have a chapter out in the Northeast that really focuses on aquaculture.
02:47And then one up in Chicago that focuses a little more on agri-science. So it's kind of all over the board. But our goal really is to let students understand that there are so many opportunities in agriculture and really help them look at those career paths and figure out what their best pathway is to a career in agriculture. Okay. So what grade level can kids start taking these classes? Well, we've actually just recently expanded into middle school.
03:17So they can start in fifth grade. Not every state has that, but some do. Traditionally, most of them are in high school, but we have expanded to include middle school and junior high. OK, and it's offered as an elective, I would assume. Well, so the agriculture education class is a regular class, but then FFA just is an additional piece. Yeah. It's been a while since I was in junior high or high school. But I'm.
03:46The classes that weren't required were called elective classes back then. I don't know if that's what they're called now. Well, and also been a long time since I've been there too, but I believe that some of the agriculture education classes qualify as science classes as well. So some of them might fall under those science classes and not necessarily elective, it just depends on what those offerings are in your school. Okay.
04:11I wish that they had been offered in my high school because I would have taken one. I would have loved to do that because my parents were very into the growing things and hunting and fishing and I would have been happy to take an FFA class. That would have been awesome. Okay, so on average, do you have any idea how many kids choose to take these classes? Oh, well, that's a little hard to break down on like how much it would be per school.
04:40I do know we're reaching close to a million members nationwide. So there is a large percentage. It just depends on if those schools happen to offer those agriculture education classes and if they have an FFA chapter. Okay. And does it, it doesn't cost the students anything to take those classes? The classes don't cost, no. But FFA membership, there is a fee.
05:07And usually that just depends on what the chapter fee is and then what the state fee is and then what the local fee is. Okay. All right. Well, what are the benefits of taking the classes? I assume the benefits are that the kids are interested in whatever they're interested in and they get to learn about it. Yeah, absolutely. The benefits are kind of twofold. One, it's an opportunity really for them to
05:34explore those different career paths and see what they might want to really focus on after graduation. It's also an opportunity for them to get involved in their community. We have what we call a supervised agriculture experience, which is a project which allows them to get hands-on learning. So working with the community maybe on some of a local
05:56Maybe it's with a local farmer or with a local vet where they can work and get that work experience. And that's part of their SAE project where they can kind of get that hands on. So we really like the hands on piece where they can kind of experience those careers firsthand. But then in addition to that, the FFA chapters definitely teach leadership. And we also believe in giving back to the community. So service is also a big piece. So there's a lot of different benefits. And of course, as most organizations have, the camaraderie as well.
06:27Do you guys work at all with the 4-H organizations too? No, not exactly. There are times where we're like working hand in hand on if we're promoting agriculture, but there's no big partnership with 4-H. Okay. And I don't wanna put you on the spot, but I'm gonna ask the question, is there a reason there's no real tie-in?
06:54Well, they're just two different organizations, right? 4-H is extracurricular and FFA is intracurricular. So they're just different. Okay. Alrighty. See, I'm the type of person who would be like, hey, we should join up and do a cross thing with the 4-H and the FFA, cause they're kind of related, but not exactly. But whatever, I'm not the one who runs it. Yeah, I mean, we work together on promoting agriculture, but like I said, they're a little bit different, right? They offer different pieces.
07:23They're also open to different age groups. So that's why they're just different organizations the way they're created. Okay. When you talk about service, what kind of things do the kids do to help out their communities? Do you know? Yeah, there's tons of things that they do. Sometimes they're helping at food pantries. Sometimes they're running the food pantries. Sometimes they're growing the produce that then they donate to the food pantries.
07:51Other times they might be helping with Habitat for Humanity or they might be working with local animal shelters. We had a couple chapters who worked with the local animal shelters and helped them with their facilities, building things at their facilities or creating dog toys. There's just a lot of opportunities. They look in their communities, see where there's a need for service and see how they can get back. Nice. That's fantastic.
08:18I had another question while you were talking and of course now I've blanked on it. I'm trying to think and I don't remember what it was. It was something about the kids. Oh, if there aren't any classes offered in the schools that the kids go to, is there any way for kids to get involved in FFA beyond their school?
08:45Yeah, for those who don't have a chapter at their local high school or for those who might be homeschooled, we always encourage them to reach out to their state FFA association and then they can work with them to see how they can get involved and how they can be still a part of FFA. Okay. And then I'm thinking if I was in FFA when I was in school, I would want to grow up and help.
09:13like volunteer at the FFA. Is there a way for people to do that? Yeah, absolutely. I'm actually really glad. Glad you asked about that, Mary. So we have an alumni and supporters group for FFA. And the reason we call it alumni and supporters is you do not have to have been an FFA member to be an FFA alumni, because you can be a part of FFA alumni and supporters and you can volunteer on your local level. You can volunteer on your national level or state level.
09:39in a variety of ways, whether it's helping that chapter, helping that advisor, or maybe it's being a mentor or sharing with members what your career path is. We also encourage people to become a member of our Forever Blue Network, which is basically a LinkedIn for our FFA members and alumni, for them to make those connections and mentor. So absolutely, you don't have to have been an FFA member to become involved and really play a part in FFA members' lives and volunteer. So.
10:08I'm really glad you asked that question. Yeah, because I mean, I'm guessing that the FFA organization probably needs all the help it can get wherever it can get it because people, bodies help. Absolutely, absolutely. And our advisors are such amazing individuals and they give so much of their time that I know it helps them when they have people in the communities who can help them a little bit.
10:32on the different events, you know, help them when they're taking students to competitions or when they're taking students to different conferences. So we greatly appreciate our supporters and our volunteers. Okay. And is the FFA, is it a nonprofit organization? It is. We're a not-for-profit. We work with a lot of corporate sponsors who give back to our organization and help us make sure we have the programming we need for our students.
11:03And do you guys do like fundraiser event things at all? It varies. So a lot of the local chapters will do local fundraisers. So you may see your listeners may see FFA chapters out, perhaps selling mums or selling vegetables or seedlings, or they might see them at Christmas time selling poinsettias or fruit. And that's the way that they raise money for their chapters, so they can go to different events. So it just depends. And then
11:31Many of the state organizations, the state FFA associations also do fundraising. And then national also does fundraising with our corporate partners, but also with individual donors. So during FFA week, which is a week where we celebrate FFA in February, we have a day called give FFA day where we encourage people to give back to the organization. And so that's always a big success and an opportunity for people, not only to give to the organization, but to really indicate where they want their dollars to go.
12:00whether it's to program to fund blue jackets for members so they can get their blue jacket, or maybe it's to conferences, or maybe it's just to where the greatest need is. But there's definitely opportunities to get that. Okay, is there a link on your website if people want to donate to FFA? Yeah, actually, I would just encourage them to go to FFA.org, and then they can find information out about the organization as a whole, and there is an area to go for a foundation where you can give back.
12:28And you can also find information about our alumni and supporters on the page as well. Awesome. Yeah, I looked at your website after I asked if someone would chat with me about FFA and it's actually pretty user friendly. I'm impressed. Oh, thank you. We love to hear that. Yeah. Sorry. Okay. So what do you do at the FFA?
12:56So I am the communications manager. And what that means is I work with my colleagues to make sure that the information they're putting out is correct, right? That it's pristine, good copy, engaging. I do a little bit of editing for them and a little bit of writing, but then I also work when I get to talk to people like you to spread the word. So I get to work on our public relations. And then I also get to work during our national convention of sharing the word.
13:23broader audience. So that is what I do. I've never bored. It's always great to share our message with a lot of people.
13:31I was going to say your voice sounds so I'm guessing you love your job. I do. I really do. Yeah. I really like it when I talk to public relations people. It doesn't really matter who they are doing public relations for because every single marketing person and public relations person I've talked to has just sounded so up and peppy and happy. It's really fun. I think it's...
13:58I think that you're born with that personality and it just comes through. Maybe, I don't know. I think it helps when you really believe in something. And I, I, this organization, I also was not an FFA member. Um, so I've been very privileged over the last years to become involved in the organization and learn about it. And it's just, it's something I'm very passionate about because I think it's a great opportunity and had I had the opportunity wasn't when I was in school, I really think I would have wanted to take some classes.
14:27Yeah, I feel like they're probably really fun. So have you talked to any kids that have been through the classes and gotten any feedback from them? Yeah, absolutely. We have a lot of wonderful stories and testimonials from kids about how FFA's made a difference. We often have stories from members who talk about when they took the ag class.
14:53They were just taking it to get a class in, and then their advisor kind of pushed them out of their comfort zone. We've had a couple who talked about how shy they were, and then their advisor talked about, well, maybe you should try this public speaking class. And the next thing you know, they're competing at a state level and then a national level of speaking to a lot of people. So they really talk about how much those classes have helped them come out of their shell, but really how much their advisors have helped.
15:22can't say enough about our advisors and how much they help those students really find their niche and where they fit. And then we've had a lot of students talk about how they found their career path. And this is why they're gonna go down this pathway or this is why they're gonna go down another pathway. We also have quite a few students who often talk about wanting to go into agriculture education because their advisors have made such a difference in their lives. That's awesome.
15:48So I was looking at your website this morning just to refresh my memory on what FFA is and does and all that. And it said something about that FFA has changed in the last, I don't know, few years from being just future farmers of America to encompassing more. So what was it when it began? What was FFA when it began? Oh, sure. Well, it began in 1928.
16:17with the group of farm boys who really wanted to focus on farming and production agriculture. And so that's how it got its start, really talking on farming and just, you know, an opportunity for them to network with one another and focus on vocational education and agriculture. And then it just evolved over the years. It grew to also include women and let women be involved. And then it went, yeah, I know.
16:47In the 80s, our membership dropped. As your listeners may or may not know, the 80s were very difficult for farmers. It was a very trying time for them with all of their field issues and just agriculture as a whole was struggling. But then we saw a resurgence in the 90s of an interest in agriculture, agriculture education, and we saw our membership grow.
17:16And we really saw that people realized that agriculture was more than just production farming, and that there were so many opportunities in agriculture. Like I mentioned before, there's more than 350 careers. Careers that you may not think are agriculture related, right? So like veterinary science or forestry or food science. And we really talk about the fact that agriculture is around you.
17:40every day, every moment of your life, from the clothes you wear to the food you eat to the fuel you put in your car. You touch agriculture every day. Agriculture has a place in your life. So I think it really hit home with some of our students. And I think they saw that there was a potential. And that's why we just continue to grow. And we continue to share that message that agriculture is such a broad field and there's many opportunities. And we believe our members are going to feel that.
18:08talent pipeline that there's a real need for. Yeah. Did you guys see a jump in membership a couple of years ago after COVID went through and people started realizing they needed to know where their food came from and have a local source for it? Well, we did. It stayed pretty steady. Um, it stayed pretty steady through COVID. It increased a little bit more after COVID, but we had seen even before COVID, the interest of.
18:36people really wanting to know where their food came from. Especially with some of those urban settings too, a lot of them started doing greenhouses or urban gardens even before COVID. And then what we found is during COVID, when so many of the schools weren't meeting in person, they were still working on giving back to their community. One of my favorite stories is we had a couple chapters who on the onset of COVID, when so many food banks were really struggling
19:06have what they needed to provide for people. And then some local farmers were also struggling in terms of getting their stuff to market. We had students working with local farmers, getting the protein, right, whether it be the chickens or the beef, and then donating that to the local food pantries. So it was definitely a symbiotic relationship where those students were able to work with the
19:30farmers in the community to give back to the community. So, but yes, we definitely saw an increase during COVID and we saw a lot of things change during COVID of really being aware of where things came from and also trying to continue that community partnership. Awesome. I'm so glad to hear that. Okay. So I'm shifting from that to this. I keep hearing the term agritourism when I talk with people who have homesteads or farmsteads or whatever.
20:00when I talk with them for the podcast. Are you, is FFA teaching kids about that perspective of agriculture as well? Yeah, yeah. I'm actually glad you asked that. So I mentioned that there were a lot of different opportunities in FFA. So we have what we call a supervised agriculture experience. So it's a project, right? And so for some students, it might be raising cattle. For some students, it might be...
20:29teaching agriculture to elementary students and but there's always a different option of what you can do. So we have some who definitely do pieces of agritourism and it can run the gamut. We have people who do corn mazes or people who might have an orchard and then do tours of the orchard. So it's definitely an opportunity for those students to get creative but they absolutely share with us what they're doing and those supervised agriculture experience.
20:58projects also allow all of our students to learn how to keep record books and learn how to run a business Which dovetails perfectly in with those agritourism opportunities? Nice The reason I I brought it up is because I like I said I've been hearing that word a lot in the last month and a half and I figured it was probably something you guys at least Touch on but also because we here at my place are building a winter
21:28greenhouse, like a heated greenhouse right now. And it's a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be. My husband told me it would be 18 by 40 or whatever it is. And I am spatially challenged. I have a hard time understanding how big that is until I'm standing in it. And the framing went up last weekend and the rafters went up on one side of it yesterday. And it's huge. And
21:57it's going to look really interesting from the road. And I have a feeling that when people stop to buy things at our farm stand, they're going to be like, can we see your greenhouse? And I think it may turn into some form of agritourism. I don't think we'll charge money for people to step into the greenhouse. But it's just one of those things that people are really interested in. Yeah, it's amazing. And it's really interesting.
22:25I think agritourism can be so broad, right? Because we immediately think of the greenhouses, the tours, the tours of the farms, the corn mazes. We have one young lady though, and we talk about outdoor recreation, and she was a white river raft guide. And she tied in the agriculture on her guiding of the white water rafting, because she would talk about
22:52all of the things that they would see, right? That related to agriculture. So I thought that was very unique, a unique way to make that connection. So there's a lot of creativity out there. Yeah, that is super cool. I'm gonna share a story with you that other people have already heard on the podcast, but I don't know if you've heard it. I was interviewing a young woman a couple of weeks ago, and she raises goats.
23:18and she raises them for showing them and for milk and for stuff. And I've talked a lot with a lot of people about goats on a tiny homestead podcast because it's chickens and then it's goats and then it's cows and then it's horses. And we're talking away and she was explaining to us about genetics and how you want to have the babies be better than the parents and all this stuff about goats.
23:46and she is going to school to become a veterinarian. And she said that she had applied for an internship with a local veterinarian clinic, but that she had to be 18 to be part of it, and she wasn't quite there yet. And I said, how old are you? And she said, 17. And I suspect that she probably had a hand in an FFA class or two. I don't know, I didn't ask, because I didn't think about it. But...
24:15As I have said a few times on this podcast, I think that young people like her are the light and the hope of the future. Because without these kids who are interested in continuing in the ag field, we are going to be in some big trouble when the farmers that are doing it now age out. Yeah, absolutely. And you know, that's one of the things that's really refreshing is we see this membership continue to...
24:43to increase is knowing that there are a lot who want to fill that need and the talent pipeline of agriculture, right? Whether it's production farming, whether it's more in the industry of like the technology piece of, you know, working with the agronomy, but it's good to see that there is an interest and especially an interest in where our food comes from and taking care of our earth and making sure things are still sustainable. That's one of the things we always talk about, you know, I don't think people realize that
25:13all of our people in agriculture and farmers are some of the first people to really be concerned about sustainability, because that's their livelihood, you know, to make sure that they're taking care of everything around them. Yeah. And it used to be that the farm families were farm families. It was a dynasty or a legacy. The farmer from 1850.
25:37had a farm and he had many children and some of those children continued to run the farm and then their children continued to run the farm and their children continued to run the farm. And that's not happening as often as it used to. Yeah, it's not. You know, we've noticed that too. We actually offer a conference that's called New Century Farmer and it's offered to our members who are interested in staying on the family farm continuing that legacy.
26:05And we offer different pieces in that conference about succession farming and how that looks like and how can they be supported when they're taking over the family farm. Because it is changing. It's definitely evolving, but it is a very important thing for us to keep in mind and support those who are staying on the family farm. Yeah. I talked to a woman a couple of weeks ago. I have many, many episodes I need to get out over the next month. And she has a farm.
26:35And it's been in her family for a long time, and her kids aren't terribly interested in coming back to continue it. And the sadness in her voice about this was just palpable. She is very, very sad that that farm may no longer be a family farm once she and her husband are gone. And it was really hard not to cry.
26:59because she is a wonderful person and they have put their heart and soul into this place and it's just killing her that it may not be under their name anymore. Yeah, it's very sad. So when we hear those people who definitely want to stay on the farm, we try to do what we can to give them tools and skills that would help them as they move forward. Okay. So we've got like three more minutes before we hit 30 minutes. And I have...
27:28question that you may or may not know the answer to. How can the everyday person support these kids that are in FFA and support their local farms? Yeah, so that's actually a pretty easy question. One, I would encourage them to go to our website, FFA.org. Click on the alumni and supporters link. See if there is an FFA chapter in your area where maybe you can get involved, be a mentor to a student.
27:56or find out what those local events are and just support those students. And then, you know, if you see those fundraisers going on where they're selling those seedlings or those plants or maybe they're selling vegetables from their greenhouse, go ahead and purchase those. And that gives back to those FFA chapters and helps them too as they move forward. So there's definitely different ways that they can get involved. And then,
28:19I'm just going to do a very selfish plug for National FFA. Feel free to follow us on social media and just see all the different things that are going on and all the FFA chapters around the country. So you can follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and of course X. Okay. Awesome. And how do we get people to support the local growers? Because we're local growers and we know local growers and marketing is always the hardest part for any small business.
28:47And I don't mean I'm not saying commercial farms, I'm saying the smaller farms. Right, right. You know, I think the best way to encourage people to support is, you know, just look at those local growers and if you see them at the local farmers market, you know, have those conversations one with them, but then make those purchases and try and follow the different communities online that support the local growers, because it is important to really...
29:15look at your local growers and support them because probably many of those are also FFA members and FFA alumni. So it's always a good thing to give back to your community and support your local community. Yeah. And I'm going to, I'm going to say something mildly controversial. It's really not that bad. Farmers are smart people. I just talked to someone last week who was saying that back in high school,
29:43Kids were encouraged to not go into ag. The kids who were smart weren't farmers. And that is absolutely not true. Kids are smart, frighteningly smart. And I don't think that it matters what field they go into. They're going to take their love of learning and their curiosity and they're gonna direct it to being successful in whatever they choose. So don't assume that if someone is
30:11digging in the dirt with a shovel and putting things in the ground and growing not smart because they are smart. Yeah, absolutely. In fact, more than likely, they're probably some of the most intelligent individuals out there. I have a real quick story, Mary, to share with you before we go. Um, so we have a national convention where we do awards for different things that students have done. And one of them is called our star in agriscience. And.
30:38I think it was about 15 years ago we had a young man who was a finalist because he found a way to eradicate kudzu, which is an invasive species in the South that really kills a lot of plants. And not only did he find a way to eradicate kudzu, he worked with NASA and they were going to patent his formula. So never think that just because a student is taking an FFA class or an agriculture education class that they are not smart because they are probably some of the most intelligent
31:07people that I have ever met. Yeah, and how old was he? Because I think I read something about him. He was, I believe, at the time when he won that award, he was 20. Nice. Yep, I just want people to think about their preconceived notions and maybe, maybe take a minute to reconsider them. That's all. So.
31:35All right, Kristy, thank you so much for your time today because I really wanted to talk to somebody from Future Farmers of America. I also want to talk with someone from 4-H. I'm working on it because I think that, number one, people may not know how to get their kids involved. And number two, if a kid comes home from school and says, I want to take the FFA class, parents may not even know what it is.
32:05Yeah, absolutely. And Mary, I just wanted to tell you, while we may not work hand in hand with 4-H, we have a lot of members who are both FFA members and 4-H members. So it is also a wonderful organization. Yeah, I'm working on trying to talk to you. I have sent an email, I have messaged on Facebook and I haven't heard anything back yet. So I'm trying to find my local 4-H chapter and I think I finally found them. And I'm going to email them today and be like, would somebody please talk to me about 4-H? Because I wasn't part of it when I was growing up.
32:34So, hopefully they'll get back to me. But thank you so much for being with me today, Kristy. I really appreciate it. Yes. Thank you, Mary. I appreciate you letting us tell our story. Oh, absolutely. Have a great day.
32:49Bye.
 

Upward Spiral Goat Service

Today I'm talking with Josh at Upward Spiral Goat Service. You can also follow on Facebook.
00:00This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Josh at Upward Spiral Goat Services. Good morning, Josh. How are things in Otter Tail County, Minnesota? Good morning, Mary. It's really good. The rain stopped sometime overnight.
00:27Yeah, did you guys get bad storms up your way? Because in Lesor, we had some pretty good thunderstorms going on. I saw lightning once, but and the wind picked up after half of the day. But no, no, it was just a pretty gentle rain all day. OK, good, because it was a little spooky here last night. The dog actually barked at the thunder. I was like, why are you barking at thunder? You can't fix it.
00:54Okay, so tell me about yourself and Upward Spiral Goat Services and what you guys do. All right. I'm Josh. I've kind of discovered farming in my adulthood. My parents both grew up on the farm to some degree and I, as a travel opportunity, I learned
01:24about wolf willing workers on organic farms. And that's where I first saw regenerative management, intensive grazing. And I decided to make it my business.
01:38Okay. And so what is your, what do you do? What is your business? Um, I, uh, I have my herd of goats, um, my breeding herd specifically, and I move them at least once a day. Um, I bring them to other people's properties for a fee and I'll move them through, uh, especially for managing buckthorn and, uh, really weedy places. I guess they.
02:08They love brush and they eat a lot of like pasture forage as well, but they prefer brush. So it's a, they thin it like, they'll stand on their back legs and they get the leaves up right as high as you can see. So it's a really drastic difference and it looks great. And I'm moving towards kind of a environmental like management.
02:36sort of side of things where I've got a lot of test plots and I'm trying to see just how good I can make it look. Okay, full disclosure, I wrote an article for River Valley Woman, it's a regional magazine out of Mankato area, a few years back about people who have a business doing the same thing that you do, they're based over toward Montgomery, Minnesota. So I am aware of how this works, but the listeners probably aren't.
03:06Um, what Josh does is he, he has his goats go to places where people need their brush and their, their undergrowth and their tree lines cleaned up. Or like, I assume that if a park has buckthorn, a buckthorn problem that you could, you could take your goats there and they would take care of it. Is that how this works? That's true. Yes. Okay. And
03:31So my questions are, because I was terrible when I did my article and did not actually address this, can the goats do this work in the wintertime too? I just went to a pasture walk outside of vining here, which is like a neighboring town, and that was all about bale grazing with cattle. And I...
03:59It wasn't until then that I started describing what I've been doing this past winter as bale grazing. Um, and yeah, they, the answer is yes, they, they have a really drastic effect in the winter because I'm feeding them hay. There's not much for them to eat, but they will, they peel the bark off of the buckthorn and they'll eat the stems way back a lot more than they would in the summer. Um, and their manure.
04:29and the waste hay is a lot more concentrated. I don't have to move them over as much land. So I've got this big strip of tree line that I'm watching and the difference is already really dramatic. I love it. Okay, and then the other question I have is, I know that they eat the leaves and they eat the stems and they eat the bark, but do they eat the plants all the way down to the ground? I mean, if there's a...
04:57If there's a trunk that's three inches in diameter, will they eat the trunk down to the ground? No, no, definitely not. Okay. Um, yeah, I work with my buddy Cody. He has his company, Jonas & Company, and that's brush clearing. So he's the brush clearing specialist, and he helps me with treat like fence lines, cutting fence lines and stuff. Yeah, the big stuff, they don't eat wood. They'll eat...
05:27Um, uh, they won't eat lignin, but they do eat cellulose, which I think is kind of the same thing, but lignin is more hard and like that's actual wood. I think that's the line. Okay. And the other question I have is how hard is it on their teeth? I mean, how long can I go do this job before they start to destroy themselves? I don't know. I think they're made for it.
05:56I think they prefer it. Honestly, I know they're in better health when they're on the brush rather than just a soft forage. And they'll, they rub up their whole bodies against trees and I'll look behind them and an oak tree will just be covered in, this spring, it was just covered in fur. They love it and I'm sure their teeth are the same. I think they like it.
06:24Okay, I was just wondering because we, I don't want to talk about my dog today, but we have a dog and she gets like a chewy thing that she eats every day for her teeth. It's called dental life and it's supposed to help keep her teeth clean and it's really hard and I've read stories about dogs cracking a tooth on things that are supposed to actually help them. And I was like, huh.
06:53I wonder how long it takes a goat to wear down their teeth eating brush. Yeah. That's why I asked. Like a beaver. Yeah, exactly. Okay, so do the baby goats go out and eat too? Yes. Yes? Yeah. I've been surprised. They'll be eating the really soft forage like within a week. But...
07:22I let them pretty much naturally wean and they might be on their mom for a year. But they eat forage pretty early, really early. Okay. And how many goats do you have, if that's not a rude question to ask? Not at all. In my breeding herd here with the bucks that I have, I have 27.
07:48And I have a separate herd that is my finishing animals, and that's nine in that group. So I have, that's 36. Okay. And does it, I don't, I don't want to assume genders here. Does it matter whether the goats are female or male? Do they just pretty much do the same job? Does it matter? No, they do the same job. I've noticed that,
08:16I was trying to slow down my growth. I'm intent to have a bigger herd, but I'm trying to kind of go up and then down a little bit before I go back up. So I took a break from having the does bred. And now this spring, I noticed when I did, I bought a new buck and I brought them in and the does were, it seems like they're all bred. And then their forage consumption went way up.
08:46So I think, you know, if sex comes into it, that might be a big part, because they're raising, they're growing animals now, once again, where they were just full grown adults for a little while and maintenance, and now they're growing animals right now. Now they're eating for two or three instead of just one. Yes. So they're hungry, they're gonna eat more, of course. That makes sense. Okay.
09:14So how long does a goat live? Because I don't know. Yeah, I'm not sure either. I think all the ones that I have are pretty young. I think it's like a cow where they can be eight or nine if it's, if, you know, you, you're really working them, but if they're kept more like a pet, maybe more like 15. I'm out of my, I don't know.
09:43Oh, that's that's fine. Um, so basically they can do the job Until they can't eat or walk around anymore. I would assume Okay. Yeah, I had a dough that had a Disease I think it was CAE chronic arthritis and cephalitis I think it's it is and it's That like really wore down at her joints on her rear legs
10:13and she couldn't walk anymore. I think she was one of the older ones. But other than that, I haven't had any issues where they can't eat. They're all hungry consistently. I'm glad to have that. That's good. Yeah, I bet. Yeah.
10:40So you told me a little bit at the beginning about this, but when did you start doing this business and how did you decide on goats to eat brush? Well, so I met my partner, Chloe, in, it would have been 2019. And I'm on her family's farm now and we live here.
11:10Her dad, Al, had a dairy and I got to work on the dairy and that was some of my first farm experience. I was then painting my grandpa's shed. I really liked it. And when I had the chance, after COVID had been around for a year, I think it was 2021, I went traveling with a friend of mine, Hannah, through this program called Wolf, Willing Workers on Organic Farms. And...
11:40Um, I went to a pretty big organic, raw goat dairy on the West coast. That was Marsha's farm. Um, and I really liked it. I really liked the goats. I really loved the dairy. Um, and the work, I like farm work a lot. I think chores and, uh, some regularity in your life. It, it keeps me responsible. It keeps me accountable. Um, but.
12:10The next farm we went to was Katia's farm in Oregon. And that's a really small hobby farm. She had a few cows and a few goats. She had chickens and rabbits and I loved it. I really, it was, it was this magical little spot in the valley and the nutrition I got there made me a lot healthier and happier. I could feel it and
12:40She did this, she moved her animals to a different spot every day. And seeing the difference in the ecosystem and in the soil and hearing the bugs and the birds and everything, it just seemed so much more vibrant and full of life. And at that point I was reading books by Joel Salatin and by Michael...
13:13I forget the name. It's The Omnivore's Dilemma. It's a really good book. And I was kind of turned at that point. I knew I wanted to do this kind of grazing specifically. Okay. It's a long story. No, no, that's fine. Because that's what I need. I need the stories. That's why I do this. I love the stories behind how people come to what they're doing. So, so do you okay?
13:41I'm guessing that you're not doing anything like selling goat meat or selling goat milk. That's not the goat's job. I am selling goat meat this year. Okay. All right. Okay. And how do you feel about that? Because I mean, I'm assuming you have a minor attachment to these animals. Yeah. Yeah, it was harder than I thought it would be because I've raised chickens and
14:10I slaughtered and butchered 70 chickens in one day, and it was a really big job. And I got over it, and they were raised for that purpose. And I ended up really liking the time I got to spend with family and stuff. But yeah, the goats, I mean, I'm with them like every day. And it's, there is some attacks.
14:40And yeah, it was kind of hard bringing them up to the butcher. And that one with the bad legs, I, with a friend, I butchered her myself. And that was, that was hard too. But with her, I mean, it was, she, she couldn't walk and it was, it was either let her die or take advantage of, of her, you know, her life and use it for our family and that's.
15:10Um, so I was, I was more content doing that, but these were animals that were more just call animals. I didn't necessarily want them in the herd. And it was, you know, sell them on to someone else or, you know, start my, my meat business and what, which is part of why I'm raising goats, it's for the, the meat that I produce with this kind of grazing. So it was, it was a challenge, but it was why I'm doing it. And, um, the meat is.
15:40really really good. I'm happy to have it. Yeah. I think one thing that keeps me in the right headspace about it is that when I'm grazing the goats and I see what they're eating, like I eat gandalines and stuff, but the buckthorn and the grass and all that, I see it and I'm choosing what to put them on because it looks tasty.
16:10And I'm not eating it, but I get to eat that goat or, you know, we're thinking about doing dairy someday and we can drink that forage as delicious milk. I think it's, you know, it's why I feed the animals so well, in part. Yeah, that makes all the sense in the world. Part of the reason I asked you about how you feel about having to, to cull the animals that you raise is because...
16:39I feel like lots of people think that farmers are hard asses, that they don't have feelings about their animals, that animals do a job and that's it. And I know, I know that people like you get attached to their animals and they're doing everything they can to get the best out of the animal they're raising but also treat that animal the best they can. And you can't help but have feelings when it's time for that animal's life to end.
17:08It's just the way it is. So for anybody listening, farmers are not hard asses. They're not heartless. They love what they do. They love the animals they raise and they do the best they can for them. That's what I'm gonna say anyway. Yeah, I would agree. It is the, like that book, it's the omnivorous dilemma. It's like, I choose to eat meat. So.
17:37I'm really lucky enough to give those animals the very best life possible. And that's my challenge and my dilemma all the time is that it's a big part of my life. Yeah. And I think part of the reason that people have a perception that farmers are heartless or just don't care about the animals they raise is I think...
18:06people's perception is of farmers from 150, 200 years ago. And mostly farmers were male then, and men of those generations weren't chatty, they weren't talkative, men weren't supposed to talk about how they felt about things. And so men were very quiet and very withdrawn, and so no one ever really knew what men were thinking 150, 200 years ago. Yeah, yeah.
18:34We've come a long way from then, I think, because most of the men that I know, and I don't know very many now, but most of the men that I've known over the years, they're a lot more willing to answer questions and talk through things than they used to be. Yeah. I love being asked because I'm a verbal processor, as you can probably tell. That's how I work through a lot of stuff. Yeah. And men just didn't do that.
19:03a long time ago. And I appreciate it because I really do want to know what my husband and my sons and my friends who are male think about the world and about their place in it because I'm really curious about people. And it doesn't matter to me whether you're male or female. I want to know what you think. So yeah, I think the question of, you know, you know how people feel and approach to animals to it, I think.
19:32the mechanized farming that has come up into our sort of farming economy in the past few hundred years. I think it's another big part of it where you see confined animal feeding operations and stuff like that. I think people really do end up having to treat animals like machines. And even though those people are farmers because
20:01know, a lot of the time they love the land and they care about their family. I think they are forced to treat animals like machines in a way where they, you know, maybe that's just what farming is to them. But I like alternative farming because it seems more holistic in that sense. You don't have to sacrifice your ideals and everything.
20:29Yeah, and there's not that wall between you and the animal anymore. Okay. My goats, my goats whine and they'll, they'll, they'll cry and they'll tell me that they want to be moved and I can, I can push it for a little while, but my fence isn't perfect. And I have a few good jumpers and they'll, they'll just go out if they have to. It's like.
20:56I can't force the animals too far into anything. I've found that I have to, I can't push them into anything. I have to lead them into something. It's a hundred times easier. And that's kind of, I think that kind of goes with that. Or the wall is gone between me and the animals. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And of course you're dealing with 36 or 37, not thousands of them. And so it's probably easier to be.
21:24closer to your critters than say having a thousand or two thousand goats.
21:33Yeah, those guys with like a lot of goats. I really would love to see that happen with the buckthorn grazing and everything, but I can only know it from my perspective. Right, exactly. So how many baby goats did you or do you have coming? Did you have baby goats this year? I'm going to have like a late summer kitten this year.
22:02because of that me pushing back the breeding, but it's gonna be.
22:1025 bread doughs. So if they're averaging two kids per dough, that I could probably expect about 50 kids. It's gonna be noisy at your place because baby goats are chatty. They're very skucky. Yeah, I have plenty of Nubian goats too and they're supposed to be the noisiest.
22:36I know just enough about goats to make assumptions. I don't have any. I've never had goats. I just love them and I really love the baby goats. I've talked about this a lot on the podcast and I need to not get too far into it because people are going to get bored. But baby goats are adorable and I'm sure they're even more adorable when you know that they are going to improve and increase your bottom line. Yes, absolutely. Yeah.
23:06I like them a lot. I think the charisma of goats is probably why I chose them specifically. Sheep might be more fitted to my, like the farm that I live on, and I get to graze the margins and the edges of fields and stuff. And it might be better for sheep because there's more grass than brush. But the goats are just, I love goats.
23:37They are full of personality and sheep, I don't feel like are. No, no, they're a little bit. Well, I mean, you know, when people talk about sheep in a metaphor. Yeah, exactly. Sheep, to me, sheep are dumb and boring and goats are funny and full of mischief and always doing something you don't expect them to do. Yeah, that's right. So.
24:05Okay, let me see what else. You clearly love what you're doing. Absolutely. Yeah. Good. And do you see this being a lifelong thing? Or is this a 10 years and then maybe maybe not anymore? Um, well, animal agriculture is my lifelong passion. I'm certain about that. The goat business
24:35I'd like it to become a sustainable, like maybe a replicable thing where if at some point I need to split my herd into two, I could...
24:57I could share the business of it with other people. And if someone eventually wanted to buy my business from me, I'd be okay with that. Not yet, of course, it's not at that level, but down the line, because I like working with people, but working at home, close to home right now.
25:25Like I can see the goats out of the living room window and this is so perfect. Like I would love if things eventually looked a lot more like Katya's homestead, where I'm moving cattle out there and goats are sheep close to home and chickens and stuff. And yeah, no, I...
25:53I joke about how as I get older, I'm going to move from inside the trees to the edge of the trees to the high ground on top of the hills and be moving cattle or something. You're going to be a cowboy. That's what you're going to do. Yeah. Everyone talks about horses. They're hay burners out here. But I have family in North Dakota who loves their horses.
26:23I think there's, you know, I can see that someday, someday I think I'm going to have a horse and I'll love that horse. Yeah, I love horses. I don't want to own one, but I love watching them. I think that they are incredibly beautiful. I don't want one. They're too big for me. It scares me to death. They're huge. But it's okay. It's okay. There's so much power there. Yeah. And they're smart. They're thinking animals. That's like the goats.
26:53It's a lot of power, not just, you know, muscle and everything, but they're thinkers. Yep. Absolutely. Okay. I have one more question for you because I keep meaning to ask somebody and you're probably the person to ask. When you eat goat and say it's a steak, like a beef steak, only it's a goat steak, how do you cook it?
27:20Yeah. Um, yeah, I just got back my, my meat from the butcher, like a couple of weeks ago. And I cooked, uh, what they called, they labeled it a leg steak and I cooked it like I would a steak. I salted it the night before. And then I cooked it on high heat. I left it kind of rare in the middle and I rested it. And.
27:50The, when it was fresh, like off the, you know, cut it up on the chopping block and everything, it was tough and I wasn't happy with it. The next day it sliced really, really good and it was tender and toothsome or whatever, but. Yeah, I have had dry aged goat that cut like cheese and that was so.
28:19really really delicious. I think braids, like a braids in some kind of a broth or slow cooking is the more like tried and true you know break up the tougher meat because it is a tougher meat. I just had meatballs with ground goat and that was flawless. It's like lean beef. It's like except
28:49Like between lamb and venison in flavor, but the fattiness was like lean beef. That was really great to cook with, really delicious too. But yeah, the cuts and the roasts and the steaks, I think it's slower cooking or, I'm experimenting with it. Okay, because we have not tried goat yet and I'm.
29:16I'm hoping to maybe find somebody local who has goat that I could just buy some from because I don't want to buy an entire animal and then not like it and have it sit and then get thrown away. That's a terrible use of an animal. I don't want to do that. So I thought I would ask about the cooking process because I've never cooked it. I've cooked beef, I've cooked chicken, I've cooked lamb, I've cooked venison, but not goat. So. All right. Well, I'm going to go ahead and start.
29:46Josh, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me today. And I learned new things just like I do every time I interview people on this podcast. It's really fun.
29:57Yeah, thank you, Mary. I've been listening to your podcast and I really like it. I'm going to keep listening because you have such different people on and I like hearing your story and mixed in with it. So it's a good joy. My story isn't nearly as interesting as you guys' story. So I'm just going to leave it there. We're just doing our thing and trying to get through our life and be happy in it. That's what we're doing here. You'll have to have a guest interviewer on.
30:27have yourself be the guest sometime because I'd love to hear that. I did, it's actually released. It's the one called A Tiny Homestead. Oh cool, okay awesome. I'll find that one, thank you. Yeah and don't fall asleep listening to it, it's really not that interesting. All right Josh, thanks so much, have a great day. Thank you, you too Mary. Goodbye.