A Tiny Homestead

Mary E Lewis
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  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated twice weekly

We became homesteaders three years ago when we moved to our new home on a little over three acres. But, we were learning and practicing homesteading skills long before that. This podcast is about all kinds of homesteaders, and farmers, and bakers - what they do and why they do it. I’ll be interviewing people from all walks of life, different ages and stages, about their passion for doing old fashioned things in a newfangled way. https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes

  1. 1 day ago

    Busy D's Acres|Busy D's Caprines

    Today I'm talking with Courtney at Busy D's Acres|Busy D's Caprines.  This episode is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. This episode is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company, where creativity and community grow hand in hand. Just like a thriving garden or a well-loved homestead, the best things are built with care, purpose, and heart. Through thoughtful design, storytelling, and handcrafted goods, they're helping people celebrate a simpler or meaningful way of living. Learn more at Greenbush Twins & Company. 00:28 Today I'm talking with Courtney at Busy D's Acres in Belle Plaine, Minnesota. Good morning Courtney, how are you? Good, how are you?  I'm good. I'm a little sick of the weather.  I really, really wish we get back to the, you know, 79 for the high and a light breeze and the sun shining. This, this gray and hot and sweaty is pretty bad. Yes, it is very hard for us to get in the fields to cut hay and to get in our garden. 00:57 And on the other hand, it's been really great that it's been warm  and enough rain. Because if it was just out or if it was just rain, we would be all screwed. Those of us who grow things. So  on one hand, I want to complain on the other hand, I want to be thankful. So I guess we're somewhere in the middle. I don't know. Yeah. I'm so excited to talk to you because you make goat ice cream, goat milk ice cream. Yes. And you're only on 01:27 property creamery in Scott County, Minnesota, right? Yes.  So I need to know about you and how this happened and what you do. So I'll give a little backstory. The farm has been in my family since 1885. ah Our son is the seventh generation here. ah Back in  the 70s, my grandpa got rid of the dairy cattle and they switched over to Hereford beef cattle. So we had those my entire life growing up. 01:55 And then 10 years ago, we decided to get two Nigerian dwarf goats because my husband and I cannot drink cow's milk. So we're like, let's see how this goes.  Um, I chose the Nigerian dwarfs cause they're really high in butterfat. Cause I was like, well, maybe it'll be fun to try making cheese.  Um, and then here we are 10 years later, we're, uh, on farm licensed creamery.  Uh, we have four different kinds of cheese that we make. And then the ice cream. 02:22 And  my parents are technically busy these acres and we're busy these Caprines, but we're all on the same farm. 02:30 Oh, okay. So it's a family operation. Yeah. So my husband and I are the creamery, which is the Caprines. And then the acres is the entire farm. 02:41 Is there a Facebook page for Caprines?  Nope, it's all the same page because I run them both.  it's Busy D's Acres  and then Busy D's Caprines is in the parentheses.  Instagram is way more friendly that it lets me put both of them. 02:56 Okay, cool. Facebook won't let me put them both because they're too close in names. huh. Go Fig. Love Facebook.  I do love Facebook. That sounded really snotty.  Facebook has been really weird lately. So I don't  know what's going on with it. The algorithm is  sick. I think it's got a cold. 03:19 So  anyhow, uh I have questions about the creamery because  I know in Minnesota we have the cottage food license stuff, registration stuff, and I'm guessing the creamery is not cottage food because that would be really weird. Nope, it is not. I actually have my cottage food too. We've been doing farmers markets for  over 10 years, so I have the cottage side too, but 03:46 The creamer is actually licensed and inspected. So it's the Minnesota department of egg that comes out and inspects. actually have five different inspectors.  have one on our farm side, which is what the goats are considered. And then the milk areas, the milking house  and,  um,  the milking area. And then I have a plant inspector that inspects my, it's pretty much a commercial kitchen, but it's called a plant. 04:11 And then I have an overall inspector that oversees all of them. And then I also have the retail inspection. And then I have  a  lab officer that I have to do my own antibiotic testing before I process each batch of cheese. So  I need an honest answer from you.  Do you feel like there's too much overreach on the regulation or do you think that it's okay?  I am okay now  in the beginning with all of the paperwork and having to get everything 04:41 submitted, it was a lot. My final inspection,  was  way more, I thought it was gonna be way more than it was.  It was actually a breeze, like the final inspection, but there was so much beforehand. ah My dad was a union iron worker, so he read blueprints his entire career. So he actually made us a blueprint for the barn because I had to submit that with all of my barn planning. 05:04 So all of that beginning stuff like down to like where I was gonna have my milk filters with a cover had to be on that map 05:13 Wow. Okay. really specific. Yes. I had to have a detailed list of all my equipment with links so they could approve it. And they can tell you whether or not they approve things, but they cannot give you too much guidance because they are state workers. And so they cannot be biased, which I understand.  But somebody coming from, you know, just milking in a little makeshift milk house to becoming licensed, the milker was the hardest thing for me to find. 05:44 Mm-hmm. 05:47 Okay, so tell me again, how long have you been doing it?  We have had goats for 10 years and I've been in milk for eight years. And then I've been making cheese since we started having milk. 05:58 Okay, so eight years you've been in it with the milk. Yeah, we bred. So we started out with our first two does in 2016. And then in 2017, we got our first buck in weather. And then we had our first babies in 2018, May of 2018. So then we started milking in July of 2018. 06:26 Okay, so you're  kind of an old hand at this at this point. That's long enough to get your under you and grow a pretty decent business.  So  are you  happy with what you've built? Yes, it is a lot of work, which is good. I am not complaining because I'm happy where we're at. ah It's just, it's a lot of work with everything. And right now  my husband still works full time while we're getting this all the way off the ground and 06:55 Um, when I used to make cheese on the stove top, I could do it all in one day. Now with the size of batches that I'm doing, and then also with my antibiotic testing and my pasteurization and everything, it just adds more to it. Okay.  And  are your products, are your cheese, well, are your dairy products, not cheese products,  are your dairy products for sale off the property too? Yes, we are in a couple of local butcher shops,  um, in a couple of local farm retail stores. 07:26 Our cheese curds are most popular.  then,  um, second would be probably our spread. Our goat Vita is getting popularity. People it's, I have to explain that one to people. What it is, is it's Velveeta, but real cheese. So it tastes just like Velveeta. You can use it just like Velveeta, quesadillas, queso,  grilled cheese, homemade mac and cheese. 07:49 And then we do a crumble, which is similar to feta. And then we just rolled out our ice cream two weeks ago. That one took me a little bit longer to perfect with the pasteurization step because it changed the molecules of the fat. 08:04 Yeah, um, your cheese tastes like Velveeta.  I am quite positive that your...  I'm sure your version is way healthier than Velveeta ever had thought to be. Yeah. 08:19 Mm-hmm.  Yeah, I can't do Velveeta. We ate a lot of that when I was a kid and anytime somebody brings it up, I'm like, nope, I'm good. Yeah, the things that we can eat when we're kids and then now as adults, what we know is in it. It's like, oh no,  we're not eating that.  Well, I didn't love it when I was a kid and now I certainly don't want it. So, you know, it's partly bad too. Yeah. So I  have a question about goat milk ice cream. 08:49 Yes. it very different from cow milk ice cream or is it just ice cream? I, it's a richer flavor, which there are richer ice creams.  Um, because our goats are so high on butterfat, all of their cheese  and their products are a little bit more of that rich taste, but they are not that goaty taste.  Um, people, when it comes to goat products, milk, cheese, they don't, they love the goat. 09:15 flavor or they really don't like the goat flavor that like that tangy goaty flavor with our Nigerians what we feed them  and also with their high butter fat. Our flavors taste very in line with cow's milk. 09:30 Okay. And the reason I ask is because people are always like goat cheese is so good. Chev, chev, however you say it.  C-A-V-R-E.  I'm not a fan and I do like cream cheese, but I don't like goat cheese. Yeah.  Right. It's just, there's something about it that I can't get past. And I was like, Hmm, I wonder if that's a thing with the goat ice cream as well, but it sounds like it's not. 09:57 We actually don't make chev because I made it when I was testing out different cheeses. I've made pretty much almost every kind of cheese because before we were licensed, I had to  make different cheeses because I wasn't going to fill our freezer with a bunch of stuff, you know, personal. So I tried almost every kind of cheese. And I made chev and I have a couple of friends that I passed it out to that really like it and the consensus is they actually didn't like it because it didn't taste like chev.

  2. 3 days ago

    Backlund Acres

    Today I'm talking with Sheila at Backlund Acres.  This episode is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. This episode is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company, where creativity and community grow hand in hand. Just like a thriving garden or a well-loved homestead, the best things are built with care, purpose, and heart. Through thoughtful design, storytelling, and handcrafted goods, they're helping people celebrate a simpler or meaningful way of living. Learn more at Greenbush Twins & Company. 00:28 Today I'm talking with Sheila at Backlund Acres in Belle Plaine, Minnesota. Good afternoon, Sheila. How are you? Good. How are you doing? I'm good. We're having a hot one again today. Right. I'm a little tired of it, are you?  Yeah.  Yeah, the plants love it, though. So  I can't complain because everything in the field is just doing amazing. Well, I guess I guess the good news is that at least we've been getting rain along with the heat. 00:58 Exactly.  If we were just getting the heat, we would be in trouble. It's definitely, yeah, it's definitely a bigger problem. And when we had the early heat, I think was it in May or June?  It was  so dry and it was just heat. And so we had trouble with like our spring crops bolting early.  Yeah, our asparagus went to seed super fast this year. I was very sad about this.  Yeah. 01:27 We planted asparagus five years, five springs ago now. And this was the year we were going to be able to have a bunch to sell at the farmers market, right? No, it all bolted so fast that we couldn't keep up. So I have a question about your asparagus. So you planted it five years ago and you can just start harvesting now or you're just saying it multiplied enough where you had  enough to sell? We got 01:53 We got enough to have a mess as my mom would call it two springs ago. And then last year we had enough to have some to eat and some to sell on our farm stand. This was the year where we thought there was going to be enough to actually sell it at the farmer's market. So  we thought that it would have been  long enough that it would have multiplied and sell it.  But no, because it was so hot,  it just went poof because it's a breath. 02:23 as a grass. Oh, I didn't know that.  We are on year two of our asparagus and it was ready  really early. Now, I know you're not supposed to harvest it the first year,  but we  bought like and  we have a whole field of it, I'll just say.  And  they, the company we got it from said we could harvest it for a week the first year. And then the second year it's three weeks. So anyways, yeah,  I was ready in April though, which was really weird. 02:53 We're getting a little bit ahead of ourselves, but we're on asparagus. I'm going to ask this, and then I'm going to ask you to tell me about yourself. Was your asparagus super sweet this year? Because ours was. It was delicious. Yeah.  But then we had a freeze and I had no idea that it all will freeze and die. Oh, yeah. You know, if you're only allowed to harvest it that first week, everything that was above ground froze. And so if I would have known that, I would have taken like I probably would have had an entire 03:23 There was a lot  that I could have brought in and pickled or done something with, but I just, I guess I didn't know.  Live and learn, right?  Right. Yep. Yep. That's all this farming and home setting and ranching is, is living and learning every freaking season. For sure. It's fun and it's frustrating.  So anyway,  please tell me a little bit about yourself and about Backland Acres. Okay. So we... 03:50 So I grew up, me and my husband actually grew up in Eden Prairie and had never planted anything. um So we  got married out of high school, lived in Chock-A-Pee, had never planted anything in my life.  And  my son came home with like a styrofoam cup with  a little plant from, you know, that you do in kindergarten. They plant the seed in the styrofoam cup and bring it home.  So he brought that home and we planted it next to our house. 04:20 in Chakapea, just dug a hole, had no idea what I was doing, just dug a hole and planted it and it turned into this big plant and gave us summer squash. was crooked neck summer squash. Nice.  And I just became  really infatuated or  yeah, just really, really excited. So  I went to the store and I bought a bunch of seeds and I had no idea what I was doing, like literally  nothing. don't even, I didn't. 04:46 don't even know if I had a smartphone then. I didn't know how to look anything up. I didn't look anything up. I didn't read anything. I just started dumping seeds in the ground. But I dumped a whole packet in the ground. So I would dig a hole and dump a whole packet of bean seeds in the ground. Or unknot seeds or whatever. You got the bug. Yeah, I did. And it was really fun. And we had some things, obviously. We had weeds and everything. And I had no idea what I was doing. But yeah, so from there, we had some... 05:16 friends who wanted to  purchase a farm  and start like an organic  meat farm. And so we  were good candidates for that.  we, um they wanted to purchase it and start this business and  they wanted somebody else to live on the property and run the business. So we agreed to do that.  And I just started planting more and more. I don't know how much you want me to tell, but I started planting more and more. um 05:46 when we came out here and learned a little bit  more about what I was doing, you know, that I needed to weed, that I needed to  space the plants apart  and um start some seeds ahead of time.  And this was 12 years ago? Yes, this was 12 years ago. Right.  I'm impressed. You... 06:15 You caught the bug knowing nothing and you have turned it into a business in 12 years.  Right. Yes, exactly. And so when we first moved here, we started with a lot of animals because they were really interested in the animals. So we raised like a thousand chickens a year.  We um had pigs, we had cows  that we had like put up all this fencing to have cows on our land. was someone else's cows, but we were just,  we had 15 acres. So, you know, it was either hay it or have animals on it. So. 06:45 um We were learning how to move cows around and how to move chickens behind them. And we had some sheep at  one point. We had goats. We tried  everything.  But the thing that we did for our business first off was the chickens and the pigs. um So that's more of what we were focused on. But I slowly just started growing uh vegetables. Well, actually not slowly. Before I even moved in here. 07:12 We rented a tiller and for some reason I thought I had to bring the sod up. So I got a sod cutter and um we planted a whole bunch of stuff.  But just again, still had no idea what I was doing. Didn't have a greenhouse and had all this stuff in my basement um and was doing a lot of throwing,  like digging a hole and still throwing seeds in the ground. um But yeah, so over the 07:40 course of 10 years or 12 years, guess,  we  have transitioned to doing less animals and more. Now we have, now we plant five acres of vegetables and flowers  and we have tractors and a greenhouse and  high tunnels and oh all the things.  You also have a model for your CSA that I read about on your website that  I think is super cool. 08:09 people can come and work at the farm. yes. this is.  It's a SDS share, right? Correct, yep.  And this is how that started. So we start, I really started selling vegetables, you so we're still doing a lot of animals. I think in one year I raised like 3000 chickens because I was raising for somebody else as well.  So we're still doing a lot of animals, but. 08:35 We had these gardens that were quite big and they were just for me and there was no reason to have that much garden space. And it was during COVID and I had friends.  So this was, think, so yeah, COVID six years ago. um I had friends coming over because there was nothing else to do with their kids and the kids were playing and we were  weeding the garden. And I just said, let's all take care of the garden together and then we can just split the, whatever we produce. 09:03 So that same year,  a farmer's market reached out to me because I think they needed vegetable vendors, I can't remember, and asked if we would  sell vegetables at their market.  And I was like, oh my goodness, I've never even,  you know, I don't know what I'm doing at all.  Like, we're just, I can grow things, but it's very messy process. Like there's lots of weeds,  things are imperfect. 09:30 So I asked my friends and we said, let's do it. So we all went  on it together and just started planting and um taking care of what we already had and started going to the farmer's market together. 09:46 I so far, love your story and I'm going tell you why. I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to get people to grow something because things are so expensive right now and seeds are cheap compared to a tomato. Yes. I feel like almost everybody can find a bucket and get a scoop full of dirt and grow a tomato plant. I feel like they really can. I do too. 10:16 And  I also feel like you with your situation  your your child brought home a seedling and you were like, let's plant it and see what happens.  That's not luck. That's intention.  So you are just uh solidifying my my constant push to get people interested. You happen to luck into it. But guys, if you have space, grow. 10:

  3. 6 days ago

    Fairview Farms: Second Harvest

    Today I'm talking with Kathryn at Fairview Farms: Second Harvest.  This episode is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. This episode is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company, where creativity and community grow hand in hand. Just like a thriving garden or a well-loved homestead, the best things are built with care, purpose, and heart. Through thoughtful design, storytelling, and handcrafted goods, they're helping people celebrate a simpler or meaningful way of living. Learn more at Greenbush Twins & Company. 00:28 Today I'm talking with Kathryn at Fairview Farms, second harvest in Michigan,  which is only two states away from me.  Good afternoon, Kathryn, how are you? I am doing well, how are you? I'm good. Is it hot in Michigan? Because it's a little better here in Minnesota now.  Very hot, very humid.  I'm hoping that it goes away soon. um I looked at the long-term forecast for where I am in southwestern Minnesota. 00:55 And it looks like it's gonna be in the 80s for the next at least seven days. Yes, that's gonna be us too. Which is better than 95 with a tropical dew point. I'm okay with it. But yeah, I don't know what it was like for you on Monday morning this week. But I got up at five, stepped out on my porch with my coffee and there's a window into the porch. It's a closed in porch. And it was like stepping into a steam bath. And that was 5 a.m. 01:24 I was like, oh, today is going to suck lemons. And it did. It was really useful.  And then it got better over the course of the week. And as I'm talking, I can tell that my voice is not what it usually is. So listener, I'm sorry if I sound like I'm dying. I'm not dying. have wicked allergies today.  So Kathryn,  I would love it if you would tell me a little bit about yourself  and your place, because I looked at your 01:53 pinned post on Facebook and there is some real history there. Yes. um So  I  live in Rochester Hills, Michigan,  and we purchased a historic home in Rochester Hills District.  It is 179 years old  and we purchased it from a family that has lived here since 1975. And  during his time living here, he obtained and researched 02:22 a lot of history on the home in the area and was able to pass that to us when we purchased the home. So we have a lot of personal letters and personal stories that we can share and a lot of hidden treasures inside of the home. The home is wonderful. It's a four square and we have a lot of original architecture in the home. it really neat. 02:52 Our piece of property in Rochester is almost two acres currently, but it was a farm of almost 780 acres uh back in the late 1800s.  And this farm itself  did raise cattle for uh beef and dairy, and then also it had chickens  and did produce. 03:16 And I decided living here, really what brought me in was the history of the home, the old home. I really wanted to love the old bones and be the next loving family here. And then I decided, I think I need, I think I need to love the land too. You know, I have two acres here in the middle of the city and that's something very rare around here. And I wanted to, 03:43 put something back into it.  love to grow my own food.  I love to can.  I'm a do it yourself-er, so I like to um demo things and refurbish things.  I myself have a degree in education  and I have homeschooled my kids  and just kind of really enjoy doing the homesteading portion of life and um going in all natural. 04:13 option  and doing things a little bit differently than how society, some of society is going forward  with how busy life is today. So I'm trying to pull, pull back a little bit and relax a little more in life. So  I thought this would be a great project.  am  so impressed, so excited for you because history is so freaking cool. I hated it when I was in school because history in school is about dates and places. There's no stories.  Right. 04:43 I love the stories in history. that's,  and that you're trying to help your community is just so amazing. Right, right. I definitely want to give back. I know that there's a lot of people in our area locally that are from here or have lived here for a good portion of their life. And,  you know, running this new page that I have, I've realized like how many people truly are still here and still value. 05:10 the idea of what I plan to do and I feel like a lot of local support is huge. um And  I have also  decided to try to join the Historical Society  so that I can figure out how to be supportive in other historical areas of Rochester Hills. So I'm very excited and  hopeful that the community has my back in some of the small projects and ideas that I have. 05:40 Very nice.  Michigan is a fairly hefty size state. Where are you in Michigan? So I am about an hour north of Detroit, so I'm barely sitting up in the thumb. OK, cool, because Michigan is shaped like a mitten for people who don't know. um I was listening to somebody talk about Michigan the other day, and they said that if someone says, where are you in Michigan, they hold up their hand and they point on their hand. 06:10 where they are because it gives a good  representation because Michigan is shaped like a mitten. Yep. That's exactly how we all do it. Yep. I didn't know that. I  don't think I've ever actually been into Michigan or up into Michigan. um Anyone who's listened to podcast long enough knows that I grew up in Maine and I live in Minnesota now and I do not like airplanes. So anytime I'm traveling from Minnesota to Maine, we road trip. 06:41 And I have gone the northern route, as we call it, and we go through, we get very close to Michigan because we go way up into Pennsylvania to get to New York. And so I haven't actually been into Michigan, but I hear that it is absolutely beautiful. And I think I should probably add it to my bucket list for before I die. I agree. 07:10 If it's anything like Minnesota and Wisconsin, I'm sure it's worth the trip. Yes, I'm not too familiar with Minnesota, but I am Wisconsin and it's just beautiful land. em There's a lot of opportunity here as far as different things to do, whether it be mountains or water,  or you know, there's just, there's a lot and the weather's really great during the summer. Some of the best summers em are up here in Michigan, I feel like out of everywhere I've lived in this country. So. 07:38 And really good cherries and a pretty decent football team. I will say that a pretty decent football team and great cherries.  See, I can say a pretty decent football team because I don't have any allegiance to the Vikings because I didn't grow up in Minnesota. That would be very true. Yes. If I grew up in Minnesota, I probably wouldn't be allowed to say that because they would be like, you're a traitor.  Yes.  And honestly, Maine doesn't have a football team. So. 08:07 So the biggest football team is Boston and right this second, ah Patriots. Oh, okay. Patriots is the team that we would half-ass root for in my household because  my family wasn't really a sports  family. Thanksgiving, Christmas, in the afternoon, after dinner, there'd be football on the TV, but it was more background noise. Nobody was glued to the TV set. 08:36 But yeah, the Patriots have done pretty well and the Packers have done better than the Vikings for quite a while, which is very sad.  And that's about as close as I get to sports, religion or politics. So there you go. uh So do you have critters on your land? um I do have critters.  So  right now, I mean, I have  the household pets, but  we have 09:05 chickens. We have seven chickens currently. um And that's all that our Sydney ordinance will allow us to have. But in the past, em living outside of the city, I've had goats and pheasants and ducks and different things like that. So I'm very familiar with farming animals. But right now we just have the chickens and that's what the city allows.  That is craziness. You have two acres and you can only have chickens. 09:30 right. And I think it's because the farmland that originally was attached to this house is all now,  you know, it's neighborhoods, it's developments. And,  you know, if I was to bring a donkey in in the middle of my two acres,  I'm sure some of my neighbors wouldn't love that so much. So  I'm sure that's why I don't get to have more than chickens.  That is so sad. Our neighbors who are about a quarter mile away from us have a donkey and they have a cow. 09:59 in the mornings as the sun comes up, the donkey and the cow are kind of talking to each other. So you hear the donkey bray and you hear the cow low and it's so cool.  I guess I get it if you're a city person and you hear that, it would probably be irritating, but I kind of really love it.  So what are your house pets? Do you have cats and dogs? 10:24 I do. have two dogs. have an English Springer Spaniel and then a miniature Schnauzer. have two cats and then we have a miniature lop-eared bunny. So that's about it. Does the bunny have the run of the house by any chance? No, it has the run of upstairs. Very sassy bunny, very small and in charge. 10:54 quite the personality in that one.  my sister has a rabbit and it has the run of the house. And I guess uses a litter box. Yep, ours does too.  Yeah, she told me about this years ago with the first rabbit she had and I was like, what do mean it's not the cage? And she said, Lynn, and Lynn is my nickname.  She said,  rabbits can be can be  litter bo

  4. 8 Jul

    Patchwork Acres Farm

    Today I'm talking with Felicia at Patchwork Acres Farm. You can also follow on Facebook. This episode is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. This episode is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company, where creativity and community grow hand in hand. Just like a thriving garden or a well-loved homestead, the best things are built with care, purpose, and heart. Through thoughtful design, storytelling, and handcrafted goods, they're helping people celebrate a simpler or meaningful way of living. Learn more at Greenbush Twins & Company. 00:28 Today I'm talking with Felicia at Patchwork Acres Farm in Indiana. Good morning, Felicia. How are you? Good morning. Really good. How is the weather in Indiana today?  Actually really beautiful, uh but we're supposed to get rain tonight. And does Indiana need rain? It doesn't hurt. We had a really, really dry, hot spring and then it has turned into cool and very rainy for the last couple of weeks. 00:58 It's just kind of catching us up.  Good. Good.  I talk about this a lot on the podcast, but we had the last two years, not 2026, but 24 and 25. We had rain all of May and into June and our gardens suffered for it.  This year has been unbelievably  moderate. Our garden looks like it's going to be incredibly successful. Fingers crossed and knocking on wood. 01:26 And  we're very excited because we have a farm to market garden. And in twenty twenty three, we had tomatoes coming out of our ears like we had  hundreds if not, I bet we got to a thousand pounds of tomato. Oh, wow. You had a good year then. We did. And we sold a lot and we gave a lot away and we got kind of a  minor reputation in our area for having really good tomatoes. 01:54 And then terrible weather. And then 24 and 25 hit and people were like, do you have tomatoes yet? Do you have tomatoes yet? Do you have tomatoes yet? And we're like, no. And even when we did, we only had a few. So everything is crossed. Hopes are up for a really good tomato season this year. Yeah, that would be great. So really thankful for the moderate, beautiful spring that we have managed to eke out here in Minnesota this year. It is sunny and cool and lovely outside right now here. 02:23 Yes, I always do a weather update because mostly for me because if I listen to the episodes I can get an idea of what the weather is gonna be from the previous year's one weather Yeah Because it does kind of follow trends like that It does and I figure if we get two years of really terrible winter or a really terrible spring We're due for a good one. So I just have to go listen to what I want to find out. Yep, exactly 02:50 I'm almost as good as the farmer's almanac and I can say that tongue in cheek because I've actually interviewed the editor of the old farmer's almanac. Her name is Carol and I can't remember her last name. Oh, that's cool. She's super fun. I'm going to ask her to come back and visit at some point here this fall probably. So anyway, I wanted to know about you and what you do at your place. So can you kind of give me a little introduction and what you do at your place? 03:20 Yeah, we do a little bit of everything.  Mainly goats. We raise goats, dairy goats,  and uh show and milk and make soap and all that stuff. And then  about six years ago, we started with the sheep and we've got a fine wool breed of sheep called CVM. So we raise them for uh fleeces and we sell lambs and then we process some of them. ah So we've kind of done that for the last about six years. 03:49 And then the last couple years, chickens. What's CVM stand for? California Variegated Mutants. They are an offshoot of the Ramadale breed. And Ramadales are all white. That's the breed standard. So CVMs are a colorful Ramadale. Because  if they're white, they can still be a Ramadale. a gray CVM can never, you know, they're considered a CVM. 04:18 uh mutant. uh Because they're a mutated color. Yes, yes. So I thought the black sheep of the family literally. Yeah, I thought maybe the M was for mutt like a dog that's behind a 04:35 So, okay, keep going. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. You said you have chickens. Oh, yeah. And we have  chickens and we just got ducks again this year. just a little bit of everything. Exciting. So do you have a background in  animal husbandry? Did you grow up doing it or your grandparents or anybody? ah No, I have always loved animals since I was a little bitty kid and we lived in apartments. So um that was not really a thing. But as soon as I got 05:04 older and had my own money. I had animals and I started volunteering at vet clinics when I was about 10. And so that's just, I've always been obsessed with it. That's anybody who met me as a kid, like that's, they're not surprised by this now. So it's kind of like when you're a kid and you want to eat ice cream every day for dinner and your parents are like, absolutely not. And then when you get into college, you're like, I'm getting ice cream every chance I get. 05:34 I wanted to be a zookeeper in kindergarten and that's about where I've gotten.  Well good.  I think if you have a dream you should live it out. Yeah. So it's been a lot of fun and that's my grandparents had uh a market garden. They had a big vegetable garden. They did the markets  and my grandpa raised honeybees. So I grew up doing that with him  and uh so they had a farm and I grew up mainly on their farm. 06:05 I had lot of fun doing that, but he didn't do animals. Okay. But he did honeybees. Yes. So did you, did you learn about that from him? Oh yeah. I, uh, I was real involved in the honeybees from,  I think five or six years old when he got them. And my grandma custom made me a tiny bee suit so that I could go work them with him. And I was involved in the whole thing of that for as long as he had them. We had a lot of fun doing that. 06:35 Awesome. So do you think that you'll ever get into keeping honeybees yourself? Oh, yes. We had them for a while.  And then when we moved to this property, it is not  we live, we're a long, skinny property between four cornfields.  So  it's not good for honeybees. They get sprayed and they die. I can't keep them alive here. So I need something that is more buffer from all the cornfields. Yeah. 07:03 I understand. live in the middle of on any given year, Felicia, it's corn, it's corn or soybeans or alfalfa. Yep.  So I get it. And they just went through and sprayed some  fertilizer on the soybeans two days ago. And we never quite know what they're spraying. And we like the people that own the land. So I'm not going to complain about it, but we have a dog  and  her lead. 07:33 goes like a foot into the field. So anytime they're gonna put manure down or they're gonna spray something, we make sure that she goes potty and she comes back in right away. Because we don't know  what it is, we don't know if it will hurt her. And she's like,  on a good day, she's 35 pounds, on a fat day, she's 40 pounds.  And so she's not a big dog and we  don't know  what they're using and we don't know how it will impact her. 08:01 brain mostly so we're very careful so I totally get it.  I feel like my voice is really rough.  Does it sound really rough to you? Oh not too bad. Okay I've got some allergies going on like wow I have real gravel in there.  Trying not to sound like I smoke a hundred thousand cigarettes a day. Allergies do that to you though I've always got the allergy cough and yeah. 08:30 Yeah, it's been like this time of year. It's one of the joys of springtime because we're not as well. No, it is officially summer. I'm sorry. Today's the 24th. 08:41 I think so. Yeah, so summer started two days ago. It feels more like spring now though than it did in the spring. So it feels very springish now. Yeah, well we've hit summer allergy season and I always joke that Minnesotans talk through their nose because they have two seasons. They have cold season and allergy season. That's about right for here too. Yeah. Yeah, and I'm not from Minnesota but I've been here long enough that 09:10 I have learned that it is really hard not to sound nasally when you are sniffling and snorkeling. Uh huh. In the 65 days a year. Yup. So, all right. So I have a question for you. I've not asked anybody this about sheep and goats because it never occurred to me until I saw that you have both. Do sheep and goats get along? Like can they be in the same pasture and be fine? Technically, yes. Okay. 09:40 I don't keep mine together. Mine have totally separate pastures. And then when we put them out on the big pasture, we rotate them so the sheep are out at night, the goats are out during the day. um They have different mineral requirements  and the sheep are a lot bigger than the goats.  And the way they play and interact is quite different. um So for the most part, it would probably be fine, but I raise  a lot of Nigerians. 10:09 And I  don't need a sheep headbutting somebody and losing kids or any of that. Yeah. So  I don't really run them together. And we also run our ram with our ewes year round.  He wears a  anti-breeding apron. Yep. And so I don't want him riding my does or any of that either. So everybody just stays separate. And it works out perfect because the sheep don't like the heat. 10:37 They don't like being out during the day. They like to go out and graze at night  and um the goats would be horrified by that. So the goats put themselves up right before dusk and they don't want

  5. 6 Jul

    M57 Farms

    Today I'm talking with Adam and Katie at M57 Farms This episode is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. This episode is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company, where creativity and community grow hand in hand. Just like a thriving garden or a well-loved homestead, the best things are built with care, purpose, and heart. Through thoughtful design, storytelling, and handcrafted goods, they're helping people celebrate a simpler or meaningful way of living. Learn more at Greenbush Twins & Company. 00:28 Today I'm talking with Adam and Katie at M57 Farms in Michigan. Good morning, how are you? Good morning, we are great. How are you?  I'm well. Thank you for coming to chat with me.  No problem. We look forward to it and we've been excited.  Good.  What is the weather like in Michigan? Is it sunny and bright like it is in Minnesota this morning? 00:52 It's a beautiful day. It's sunny. It's got to be probably 72 out right now  and beautiful blue skies.  Did you guys have the heat last week that we had?  Absolutely sure did.  Yeah, it was not fun this week here. It's supposed to only be. I think the highest high I saw was 79 or 80 and I thought OK Mother Nature. Maybe you've gotten your act together for at least a week. That would be really nice. 01:19 We are hoping and of course we decided to do all of our crazy landscaping projects around the farm in the heat, which I don't know why we do that to ourselves. They could have been done anytime. Because you like a challenge, I would guess. You know, as much as I say no, that's probably it. That's my wife nods her head. Yeah, it's a thing. It really is. OK, so I got to know why is it called M57 Farms? 01:47 So we have state roads in Michigan  and all the state roads begin with  M  and we live right off of M57.  So it's a pretty busy main road. um And we just kind of sat here one night and everyone always says like, oh, it's the farm right off of M57. So  we just decided to kind of go with M57. OK, that makes a lot of sense and how lovely that it was easy because it sounds like it 02:16 But M57 is a very long road.  now everyone says, where on M57?  Oh,  OK. All right. So tell me about yourselves and what you guys do at M57 farms.  I will have my wife lead.  Oh, geez. OK, well, I'm a speech language pathologist by trade. So  the farm is just kind of the hobby side for me. It's more Adam that does a lot of the running around. I like to do the dreaming and. 02:44 He likes to do the executing, so. 02:49 So I am a franchisee for Firehouse Subs and I do enjoy that, but I've always enjoyed farming, being outside. We have a 40 acre farm here and we have currently 22 pairs. So it'd mama cows and some calves. And I kinda, we do lease it out. 03:17 but we kind of manage the cows the day to day, do all the chores and we rotate them and our property, we have water located in the central of it. So we kind of have little pie sections, if you will. So we kind of put our eyes on the cows every day, do the chores and we also make crafts. So we have a little gift shop located at the end of our driveway. 03:43 And since we're kind of right off the main road, we get quite a bit of traffic from that. we make  homemade soap, we freeze dry things, we have a freeze dryer, and we also have a laser engraver that can kind of cut wood, laser engraved wood.  And the biggest thing that we do now is we have a  lavender patch  in front of our barn  and we renovated our barn into an Airbnb.  So. 04:12 We rent out the Airbnb  and  we have a lot going on at the farm. So we have cows. um And of course we have our outdoor cat,  Rubble Crew Kitty. And  we have an indoor cat as well and we have two dogs. um But as far as the kind of outside farm goes, we have our outdoor Rubble Crew Kitty.  And um the guests love him. He's pretty popular.  And the gift shop, the gift shop's 04:41 Decent size is probably 12 by 14 foot kind of gift shop shed and it's fully stocked with soaps,  keychains we make, tumblers that we engrave. My wife makes a lot of beaded things like beaded pens and garden stakes,  all kinds of, I don't know. I'd like to say we're just all over the place.  We are.  Well, that's okay because variety is the spice of life.  You said you lease out. 05:10 the beginning of this whole string of things you guys do, what does that mean?  So we lease out our 40 acres  to a local farmer to put his cows here. So they're not our cows, but we just tend to them  and,  you know, rotate them through the pasture, put our eyes on them, do the chores with them and all that stuff. OK, thank you, because I was like, I think I know what he means, but I'm not sure. And if I'm not sure, that means whoever's listening isn't sure as well. 05:40 OK, so you sound very happy. Both of you. Are you very happy? Yes, very happy. We  moved.  So I'm from the country  and my wife is from,  I guess, the city of all of what? thousand people. Yeah.  Small town, but yeah, but a townie.  And uh when I got my firehouse sub started, we ended up moving to Lansing, which is like the capital of Michigan. It's  a lot. 06:09 bigger and we made it two months there before we said we got to get back to the country.  So,  so your country, your country mice not city mice now. Yeah. Correct. Yeah. 06:23 I understand completely if I if I have a choice, I don't want to live in a town or a city again. We live about four and a half, five miles outside of our small town. And right now we're surrounded by soybean fields and I don't know what they planted across the street from us. And I'm OK with that, because as long as it's green, I'm good. Yep, we love it. We feel too. 06:47 We are right off the main road, but we live on a dirt road  and you know, we can go for walks with the family. There's some road tracks down the road so we can go walk down there.  Um,  our two sons, have two sons, Cooper and Cannon.  nice. Yep. They are, they love it out here. He's got like four or five different power wheels  and you know, whatever job I'm doing, he's got to have his little tractor or Jeep or lawnmower, whatever out. 07:16 How old are the boys? Three years for Cooper and then Cannon is four months tomorrow. Oh my God, you are in the thick of it. Yeah, but it's a blessing. Cooper keeps us busy and Cannon is just great too. So we're glad to have them both. Yeah, I when I say it like that, it's because I raised four. My youngest is 24. My oldest is 36. Four would seem like a lot to me. 07:46 I think it was a good number. was a lot, but it was a lot of fun too. Yeah. So you mentioned the outdoor cats. I haven't said anything yet on the podcast about this.  One of our female barn cats is very, pregnant right now. She's probably going to pop about the end of June,  1st of July. And we haven't had barn kittens on the property in a year and a half, two years. 08:12 So we're very excited to see what she throws for colors, because she is a very interesting looking cat. Do you guys know about the cats that look like werewolves? The Loki cats? No. No. She looks kind of like that, and not because she's that breed, but that's what she reminds me of. And her coloring is mostly dilute grays and blacks with a little bit of white. But her brother and her sister, her brother is orange. He's orange. 08:41 So we have no idea what color kittens we're going to get. And we're like, oh my God, let them all be healthy. And I can't wait to see these babies in two weeks, probably. We are pulling up pictures of what they look like right now. That is crazy. Yeah. And the thing is, the reason I say she looks like a Loki cat is because she is, she's about 10 months old. I think she's just shy of a year. She was very, very long haired. And when spring hit, she shed out. 09:11 up right to the base of her shoulders and the rest of her long hair and she's tiny. She's a small cat. So I was like, oh my God, she looks like one of those werewolf cats. It's so funny.  But she's also gorgeous because the markings on her face are very much tabby. So she's not scary looking, but she's definitely she looks like one of those Loki cats. That's cool. We we have our outdoor cat, which we told Cooper he could. 09:40 name him and I don't know, the kid loves Christmas. So we said, you can pick any name you want and go ahead and name him. And he's like, how about Santa Claus? I was like, are you sure? I said, it's not Christmas. He's like, yeah, you're right. And he likes the construction Rubble Crew show. So he says, about Rubble Crew Kitty? And I was like, yeah, Rubble Crew's good. He's like, Kitty. So we have to say Rubble Crew Kitty every time. 10:10 That is a very long name for a barn cat. Yeah, we finally got it down to rubs now.  Well, our Loki cat, as I have now decided I'm going to refer to her as her name is Smokey because when she's outside walking around in the morning in the half light, she looks like smoke, like just moving through the yard. She's so pretty. She's not friendly, but she's pretty. 10:36 the and um 11:05 That's what little guy he is such a little hunter out there. He loves it. Yes. Yeah. It's so fun. They're so fun to watch and see what a cat is actually supposed to do when it gets when it's allowed to be a cat. Ours is just crazy. We live on this dirt road, so like he could totally follow us like when we go for a walk and he just knows his limits. We walk to the end of the driveway and he sits down. 11:32 And we walk down

  6. 3 Jul

    Ryan’s Yak Farm

    Today I'm talking with Cody at Ryan’s Yak Farm. You can also follow on Facebook. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 I'm listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Cody at Ryan's Yak Farm in New York. Good morning, Cody. How are you? Good morning. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. Where in New York are you and how is the weather? Are you part of the heat bubble that's going on? We are definitely part of the heat bubble. We are in Oxford, New York. 00:29 upstate New York. 00:34 It's a hot,  hot, hot day, a hot week. Yeah. Yup. It sure is. um Upstate New York is all the way across New York.  what  are you, are you West or middle or East upstate?  I'm  going to say like East. Okay.  I'm not really good with demographics. So that's okay. Don't worry about it. 01:02 My parents live in Maine,  my husband and I have made the road trip from Minnesota to Maine a couple of times in 20 years we've been together.  And we always drive the Northern route in New York and then we drop down to get down to Albany.  And it is so beautiful. The grape arbors  and I don't even know what else. 01:32 all the rivers that go along the highway and oh my God, coming into Albany, you go basically  up a slight incline and then  you get to the top of that incline  and the whole valley drops out underneath you and all you can see is mountains and trees. So pretty, isn't it?  Oh my God. The first time I took my youngest, we took our youngest with us to visit my parents. We came up over that, that hill and the valley dropped out. 02:01 And he's looking from the back seat and I hear this big gasp  and he says, he says, mom, can I say a swear word? And I was like, yes. And he said,  holy shit, it's so beautiful.  How funny. And I'm crying. hadn't been home in years.  It is so pretty out here though. Yeah. And he was like, why are you crying? And I was like,  you know how you felt like you needed to say a big word you're not allowed to say? He says, yeah. And I said, 02:30 These are the big feelings that I feel like I'm not allowed to feel anymore. uh 02:38 Maine's so pretty too.  Oh, it is. It's beautiful.  Basically, basically we would hit Pennsylvania and I would be like, ah, I'm back in the land of trees.  Yes.  You know, cause I mean, Minnesota has trees, but it's very much Northern Minnesota that is like Maine. And so for me to feel like I'm quote unquote home  ish. Yeah. I have to drive like five hours to get far enough North to be like, Oh, pine trees, many, many pine trees again. So it's. 03:08 It's hard, but I also love Minnesota. I've been here for over 30 years. I always have to say that because when I first moved here, I moved here kicking and screaming. Oh, really?  Did not want to leave Maine. Yeah. And then after about 15, 20 years in Minnesota, I was like, you know, it really is nice here, too. I kind of love  it. so I always have to reiterate that I love where I live. I have had the chance twice to move back and I have chosen to not leave.  So I do love it here. 03:37 I love Minnesota. It is my second favorite home. So anyway, can you please tell me a little bit about what you do and a little bit about yourself? So I am a teacher during the day. I teach a barbering program at DCMO Boces. It's a career and technical school. It's not part of the cosmetology program. It's totally different. 04:06 the barber side of things. um I also  work at a barbershop  after I leave school. I go to the barbershop until like seven o'clock at night and then I'm finally able to come home for the farm.  And then I'm on weekends. My family does a lot during the week for the farm while I'm not here.  Weekends are my time to... 04:33 do everything I want to get done on the farm, spend time with the animals. I didn't grow up on a farm. I married into a farm, here 17 years. We've always had beef. This was my husband's dairy farm. Their family has owned this farm since 1906 and then my husband bought into it. 04:59 There was originally over 428 acres, but it got eventually sold off. And then my husband bought the farm.  So,  um,  I've got three children,  16 year old, 14 year old, and a 12 year old. And we live here on the farm and now,  now we're yak farmers.  I am so excited to find out about yaks, Cody. I haven't talked about  haven't. 05:27 talked to anyone about yaks yet in over two and a half years of doing this podcast. So,  they're so good. They're so awesome.  Yes. So tell me the different animals you have and then we'll narrow it down to my questions about yaks. What else do you have besides yaks?  I have  three baby Dalshi,  four goats. They're like mixed mixed goats. I've got a Gnubian and Oberhalsi and some Nigerian Dwarfs. um 05:58 I've got,  I think. 06:03 13 cooney cooney pegs.  Okay. I have a mule  and a horse um I Think that's it we did have these  but I lost the hive over the wintertime. So I didn't get bees this year. I was too late That happens. Mm-hmm It's it's a very rewarding job to keep bees, but oh definitely It's also heartbreaking when you lose a hive because it takes a lot to get that 06:33 Worked up. Yes,  and they're so expensive. Yeah, so to lose that My first year was that was that was rough, but I do plan on getting back into it. But good good I hope that you do because you already have this setup you might yes and the thing that's expensive about keeping bees is the beginning year as you discovered yes  Definitely getting all this stuff that you need is definitely expensive 07:01 Yeah, all the supplies. I it's going to sound terrible, but I'm going to say it anyway. If you are someone who is buying more than an acre of land to get into homesteading and you think you need to make a choice between bees and chickens, chickens are actually cheaper to get. Oh, 100%. Yes. But if you're obsessed with honeybees and you really want to do the work and you want to lay the money out so you can have go for it because it's just as rewarding. 07:30 It is and it's so delicious.  Oh my goodness.  Yeah. We, um, we have not been doing a lot of honey lately because honey is very expensive at the store or through someone who is raising bees. Right. miss it. I really miss honey. Oh, it is so good. I don't, I've never liked honey either. And then I got my own bees and started doing it and started like separating the honey from the honeycomb and all that. And 08:00 got on my fingers and then I tasted it. was like, holy moly, this is so good. It's so  different. m And we were getting our honey from Sam's Club. Okay. And we know someone who has bees and we haven't been up to see him in a couple of years. He has an apple orchard and of course has bees. Yep. And he sells his honey every fall and we haven't gotten honey from him in a couple of years. The difference between his honey and the 08:30 the real honey at Sam's Club, the difference in taste is, I would say, half again is good. His is half again is good. And we were lucky enough to get some of the honey he got one year from his bees. They had found a patch of wild mint. So the honey had a minty taste. It was fabulous. I bet it was. Oh, was so good. 08:58 I don't  think he's had that kind since. They haven't gone back to the mint patch. ah I love that though, the mint patch. Yeah, I teased him. said, you should charge double for this mint. Yeah. Like I can't do that. That's not, I can't do that just because we locked into mint. I said, of course you can. You're the one that sets your prices. He's like,  Mary, I'm not going to do that. I'm like, okay. 09:26 We're all going to benefit from your smart bees." And he was just laughing.  I said, if you can find, I don't know, a tree that makes a  strawberry flavor besides strawberries, strawberries that flavored honey would be really Oh, yeah. He said, you know that's not how it works, right? And I was like, yes, I know that's not how it works. Yes, I do. But it would be good. Yeah, strawberries, honey, that would be amazing. 09:55 Okay, so I didn't know that you had kept bees. I hope that you get back into it. Sounds like you really enjoyed it. So tell me about yaks. The thing in my head about yaks is that they are from Siberia or somewhere really cold and that the natives would milk them so that they had a source of milk. That's all I Yes, they did do that. They were from the Tibetan mountains, Himalayas. 10:25 They're just magnificent animals. They're big. I mean, they've got a lot of power on their backs, their necks. They use their horns over in the mountains to move rocks out of their way. But other than that, I'm still learning about yaks. This wasn't anything that we... 10:48 research before getting it just kind of fell in our lap and then  I'm still researching so I know how to 10:59 Keep everyone happy, everyone healthy. I'm still in that process of learning because we just got yaks last year. 11:08 Oh, so this is new.  Oh, this is so new.  very new. OK, then let me ask you some specific questions because it would probably be easier for you.  How many do you have? I have 12.  And have you had have you had any baby yaks?  Yes,  we  have had two yaks born on here at the farm. This year we lost one of the baby yaks. That was a really tough time. 11:37 We've tried  everything to help her and save her, but she had some kind of a rumen issue in her stomach and she just wasn't growing and it was awful. But  we have another little baby yak. Hopefully four more are born this year. ah So we have little Ivy. She's so sweet. 12

  7. 29 Jun

    Farm Country Candles

    Today I'm talking with Jillian at Farm Country Candles. You can also follow on Facebook. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Jillian at Farm Country Candles in Belle Plaine, Minnesota, which is just up the road from me. Good afternoon, Jillian. How are you? I'm well. How are you, Mary? I'm good. And it's a beautiful day in Minnesota. It just kind of clouded in here a little bit in Lasur, but it's still beautiful. It's not hot. 00:27 and everything is so freaking green right now, it's ridiculous. Yeah, everything is blooming. It's a good time to visit Minnesota. Yeah, I always say May, first part of June, or September, first part of October, because any time in between those two times, it's just hot and sticky, and I'm like, not going to enjoy it if you come any time other than that. Yes, absolutely. But there's always something to do, so. 00:55 Whatever works with anybody's schedule still come visit Minnesota.  Yeah, it's gorgeous. It's absolutely gorgeous any time of the year It's just that you have to you have to understand that Minnesota is I would use the word volatile when it comes to weather You never know what you're gonna get and you can't  Plan  on it being the way you want it to be so be flexible and enjoy whatever mother nature gives you 01:24 Absolutely. Couldn't have said it better. Yeah.  And I mean, I grew up in New England. It's the same thing. I made a lateral move over 30 years ago and I was like, Minnesota is not that different from where I grew up. There's just no mountains to my west, you know, half an hour, 45 minutes, and there's no ocean to my east,  half an hour, 45 minutes.  It's more like  day trips to get there now.  Yes.  That is a big change. 01:51 Yeah, but the weather itself is kind of the same.  And honestly, my dad and my mom, give me weather updates when I talk to them. Oh, they're still in England? In New England,  in Maine. New England. In Maine. Oh, sure. And my dad will say, how's the weather been? And I tell him, and he's like, okay, well, I know what we have coming in three days, because basically whatever we get three days later, they get. So  he said, you're better than our local weather reporter. I'm like, yeah,  weird how that works. 02:21 So that's awesome.  What? That's awesome.  So anyhow, I would love it if you would tell me about yourself and what you do, Jillian. Absolutely. Well, I'm Jillian and I'm  the owner of Farm Country Candles. I started this business, gosh, was it a year and a half ago now? Oh, that soon. That it wasn't that long ago. It was not.  It kind of happened  on accident. 02:51 To be honest, ah my parents  owned a candle company. ah It was on a smaller scale, but they started that  around 2008. So they've had all the equipment and uh now they were like, well, Jillian, do you want to have our equipment? We're kind of downsizing.  And I was like, sure. Yeah, this sounds like fun. It'd be a hobby of mine.  love  the candles  and this way I could have it for myself and maybe gift a few. 03:21 to family and friends.  But then  eventually people wanted to buy some and I was like, okay, maybe I should turn this into a business.  So I did, I rebranded  the company and I called it Farm Country Candles, because it's  the area that we live in, right? Farm Country. uh So it had just a good ring to the name.  And now it's just kind of grown into what it is today, which still have the soy candles. 03:50 but we also have fire starters  and  small space diffusers or car diffusers. uh And  those additional products always came by kind of, again, on accident and they all have funny stories behind them. So  I would love to share those as we continue our conversation today. Well, go ahead. Tell me the funny story about the car diffusers first. Okay, absolutely.  So the car diffusers, uh I don't know if people know what they are because I didn't. 04:19 Okay, so they're just little vessels that have the fragrance and a diffuser base and you can hang them in your car. So  if you look on social media, they're known as car diffusers, but I love them for any of my small spaces  like  bathrooms, um offices,  mud rooms.  You could put them in your benches because shoes kind of get stinky after a while.  I know some people 04:47 by family and friends, have them in their fish houses, their campers,  their side by sides. Pretty much anywhere  you can't have a burning candle, you can put this diffuser. So it's portable  and you just take off the plastic stopper, put the wooden cap on it, turn it upside down,  let it saturate in this wooden cap, and then it hangs wherever you like to put it. So it just, again,  flameless candle, you can put it anywhere. 05:17 And  so how this happened was  one day one of my coworkers,  she's like, well, Jillian, you make candles. Can you refill this thing I have? This is like a smelly little thing.  And I was like, okay, I don't know what you're talking about, but yeah, I could probably look into that for you.  So a week later,  she's like, yeah, like this is it. Can you refill this? And I was like, oh, okay. Yeah, sure. I've never seen anything like that.  So  I was able to fill it for her. 05:46 It did it smelled amazing. So I'm like, okay now  now I need these so something I never thought I needed I needed and now it's a product that I carry and it's it's a big hit  so if anybody sees me at the Vendor shows are out and about and people ask  I do call them the flameless candle  nice and they remind me of the the little glass jars that you can get and you put the fragrance oil in the bottom and you put the 06:16 the little wooden sticks in it? Same idea?  Same idea, but the wooden cap replaces the sticks  to the diffuser. Yeah. And then is there a funny story with the fire starters? Yeah, the fire starters. um So the fire starters  came from a little  family embarrassment on my end. um I was at my parents' house  and it was just the immediate family and I wanted to start a fire. So my dad handled me a 06:44 one of those wood shaving fire starters and said, here you go, use this. So I tried  and I couldn't get this fire started. And I mean, it was dry wood and everything. So it was all on  my end,  I was never a girl scout. So let's just start with that. So I  think I was already at a disadvantage here.  So I asked my husband to help me.  And then all of sudden my brother comes over and chimed in. You even had a fire starter? 07:11 I felt like super silly and I was like, okay, I just like walked away.  And I thought, well, if I struggled this much on starting a fire,  maybe somebody else does too and maybe I could make a product that can make it this easier.  So  today, every time I just like make a batch of fire starters, I always think of the way it started, which was my brother asking me, you couldn't even start a fire with a fire starter, but now I can. 07:41 because these fire starters are amazing.  They're really, number one, I bet they work great, but number two, they're really beautiful. I feel like it would be really nice as a, like part of a centerpiece at a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. They're that pretty. They are.  However, I always say, again, if you see me about at vendor shows, I'm like, this is not a candle. We should start by saying that because it's all highly flammable material, right? We got pine cones. 08:10 We got wood shavings in the wax. We got a paper  cupcake liner. So all of this stuff is very flammable. So yeah, you would not want to light that at your centerpiece. Yeah, no, I'm not saying light it. I'm saying  they're really pretty. They would be really pretty  as a visual addition.  Yes. I just had to put that in there just because I wouldn't want people to mistake that. But it is very beautiful. And they smell good because it's all natural material. 08:39 you know, outside. It's pine cones. It's, it's Frasier fir or blue spruce, um you know, branches.  Yeah, they're gorgeous. And I was looking at your Facebook page today and I was looking at all the different candle scents.  How in the world do you keep them all straight, Jillian? Oh my God, there's so many. Yeah, so I kind of went overboard when I'm like, oh, I should try this or I should try that. 09:07 I like, I want to try to blend this  and I kind of been experimenting. So now I have some like house blends actually, which is pretty cool. ah The three house blends that I have, my first house blend was Northwoods. So it's a mixture of blue spruce and Fraser fir. It just gives you that deep woods smell like that, you know, that Christmas tree smell, but then just blend a little bit with the blue spruce. It's very, it's very pleasant. ah 09:37 The second house blend I did was the Armoretto Sunrise. So that one you get the almond top, like top note of it.  And then you got a little bit of vanilla in there.  And then the base is in you get like the orange  zest to it. So that one is, you know, pretty strong. It's probably one of my strongest candles has a nice cold throw and as well as a warm throw. So hot throw when you light it. And then my third house blend. 10:06 which we just  created, I would say maybe 10 days ago,  is called Minnesota Prairie. So if you enjoy like outdoorsy, fresh, clean scents,  this one is gonna be for you. So there's five different fragrances in it.  It's Tienese,  Lillia the Valley, Bergamot, Casimir Cedar, and then just a splash of fresh cut grass.

  8. 26 Jun

    Halfhacked Homestead

    Today I'm talking with Heather at Halfhacked Homestead. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters.  I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Heather at Half Hacked Homestead in Kentucky. Good afternoon, Heather. How are you?  How are you? I'm good. You were telling me it's really freaking hot in Kentucky. Yes, it is disgusting hot.  It is.  Today will be, um, 00:29 indexes will be over 100. Some talks of areas being pushing 110 with we've had humidity levels this week of anywhere from the upper 60s to over 90s a couple of days ago. So it's just hot and wet and miserable. the dew point yesterday, I think at 630 in the morning here in Minnesota was 65%. Yeah, that is 00:55 Tropical and it's worse than tropical for Minnesotans because we're not used to that kind of heat, right? But back in January or December or whenever the heck it was because I don't remember We had a week this past winter where it was minus 25 real temp for a couple of days The day I was like, this is some crap. I don't like this any better than 65 dew point either 01:24 So we'd love spring and we love fall in Minnesota because the weather is temperate in those two seasons.  wish Kentucky had more of those. We either have uh hot season or mud season. There's really not a lot of in between.  We have allergy season and we have cold season. That's why Minnesotans sound like they talk through their nose a lot. Okay. Well, 01:52 I put up yesterday and it's still my unpopular opinion that I would much rather do all of this in the cold than the heat though. Yeah, definitely. I don't know that anybody will ever convince me otherwise. Uh  huh. Exactly.  All right. So I have to know why is it called half hacked Homestead? Well, a couple of reasons. Um,  one, my initials are HAC. Oh, okay. Yep. So if you, if you, anybody ever sees me refer to as hack, that's, that's me. 02:22 Um, the other thing is when I first started this adventure,  I  was  actually a hotel manager.  I have almost 20 years  in hospitality  and  corporate structures and things like that. And so when I started, I really didn't have a lot of time, but that business side gave me a lot of experience in working in systems  and developing efficiencies  and 02:51 really analyzing,  you know,  data and systems and all the things that go into how things operate.  And so because I was only able to focus on my personal life  about half the time, um everything just kind of became half-hacked and it became a running joke because sometimes, you know,  I do things that are unconventional  or a little, you look at it sometimes and you're like, what the heck is she doing now? 03:21 That's half-hacked. I love that. That is brilliant. All right. So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do at half-hacked Homestead. So obviously in the last few years I have left the corporate life and I work part-time retail now just to support some of the things. My Homestead does support other parts of it with different things but I have 03:50 An entirely too many amount of animals right now and more on the way. So I think my latest count was about 82 animals.  Wow. How much land?  Five acres.  Oh, you can you can handle that many animals. That's okay. uh Most of them are  chickens, rabbits. got meat rabbits,  Rex's back in December. 04:15 which was very exciting. And then just a couple of months ago, I got started on my quail. 04:25 So I have the quail, the rabbits,  the chickens, and then of course, you know, there's the outdoor cats and there's a couple of dogs and. 04:39 Any goats? No. I don't have goats.  I have a very I have to be strict with myself that I have a no pet poll. Like I'm full on pets. um So everything I have has to have some kind of use now because the cats and the dog um take up the freeloader status.  Yes, they're very good at that, but they're worth it. Yeah, I don't. 05:09 don't foresee myself wanting, I don't like goat meat. And I don't see myself wanting to raise them for dairy, because I don't want to have to worry about keeping them in kid or milking them several times a day. So it's just, they're not my thing. I'll let other people have all the goats. are a homesteader who knows her limits and I'm proud of you because 05:36 There are a lot of homesteaders who get into this and they're like, I want all the animals and all the produce and all the fruit trees and all the asparagus and all the strawberries and all the rhubarb. And you cannot do that unless you have like a whole team underneath you to help. Right. And fortunately I have met some wonderful people out here in Western Kentucky who do have the goats and the dairy animals. 06:01 and the pigs  and we have created this wonderful bond and network of people  so we don't have to do it alone. Right and that's really smart because many hands make light work. Absolutely.  Alrighty so how is your rabbit adventure going because our rabbit adventure lasted a year it did not go well that's why it lasted a year. uh It's going really well so far. uh 06:30 told you I tend to do things that make people go,  oh man. And that's I have a colony set up.  And so I started out with a  trio, with two does and a buck.  And  they have now, I'm on my  third litter from each one.  And there have been, there were some challenges. The very first litters that I had, I didn't quite know they were pregnant because again, being in a colony situation, 07:01 don't have them separated. Right. So I didn't know that they had come of age and that they were  about to kindle  until that week that you were talking about where it was negative in Minnesota. It was also uh pushing zero here. And of course, that's when they kindled.  Of course, because that's how mother nature is.  Exactly. So first time mothers didn't pull enough fur. um They didn't know what they were doing. And I woke up and I went, oh, there's babies. 07:31 So did you manage to rescue them?  We did. So the first, um I had both does kindled within a couple of days of each other.  And oddly enough, I had a chicken go broody and also hatch out  eggs  during that time. So in a week, I had  28 babies born between the three different moms. um And everybody,  I did lose one of the rabbit litters. 08:02 Um, because despite checking on them  multiple times a day,  I, one of the rare days that I had to go to work  and I came back and I was like, Oh, the whole nest is now frozen.  So I did lose the whole first of one of the does, but the other doe raised her rabbits,  uh, successfully. So half a bed. 08:28 Absolutely. And if it was the first time you've ever done it, congratulations. You learned something really important on  the fact that not all mama animals really know how to be good moms. No, and in fact, the one that lost her entire litter, um she lost her second one as well to a completely different circumstance,  which was the spring floods. we um 08:53 I let her choose her own spot and I was like we're gonna do this as natural as possible we're gonna see what she's gonna do and she put them in an area that I could not reach underneath a set of concrete stairs which I've chosen to leave because it's a nice cool place for them in the summer and the rain came and it ran 09:19 just slightly downhill underneath the thick layer of straw that I have in their pen and where she had dug out the little bowl for the nest, retained water. 09:32 It happens. It is not your fault, just in case you're feeling bad about it. It is not your fault.  So I rescued one of them. were able, I found it. It had washed out and was covered in mud. And the second time I rescued Kits from the same mom.  And now she's on her third one and she had 13  and eight of them are still alive. So, and we are at four weeks now. So I think her third time she's finally figured out. 10:02 how to do this. Sounds like your buck has figured out how to do this too. Holy crap, that's a lot of babies. Yeah, they both give me very, very large litters. The other doe that I have has managed no less than 10 and she gave me 13. So out of these two, I have 16 four week old grow outs now that just came out of the nest and are running around. Your rabbits are really healthy. That is incredible numbers. 10:32 That is amazing.  have a very, I'm very proud of them and I'm very thankful to the woman that initially raised these rabbits.  Yes,  very good quality.  I would say so. Like  I'm actually flabbergasted at how many babies these rabbits are putting out. um For the listener, the deal with the colony style raising of rabbits is you don't have your rabbits in cages. 11:02 You have them down on the ground where they can burrow, right? Correct. Okay, so that leads me to a question because that's not how we did it. We had cages for our bunnies.  When the babies are born, how do you know they've been born if they're burrowed? So they,  these guys, the mamas have not  dug deep burrows. oh I have  several totes and places and things  for them to hide. 11:31 When they're not kindling, it's a lot of enrichment and ways for them to  get away from the buck and to have their own little sort of spaces.  Because despite the fact that they like being social and around each other, they also like their space. So that's where  they tend to build their nest at is in these totes. Okay, so you can get to them.  Okay, we have a neighbor down the road from us and she has a colony style. 12:01 rabbit thing. What's the word for it if it's colony style? Is there

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About

We became homesteaders three years ago when we moved to our new home on a little over three acres. But, we were learning and practicing homesteading skills long before that. This podcast is about all kinds of homesteaders, and farmers, and bakers - what they do and why they do it. I’ll be interviewing people from all walks of life, different ages and stages, about their passion for doing old fashioned things in a newfangled way. https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes

Information

  • Creator
    Mary E Lewis
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    447
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2023 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    A Tiny Homestead

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