A Tiny Homestead

Mary E Lewis
  • 5.0 (7)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Semiweekly

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. 5d ago

    Front Forty Farm

    Today I'm talking with Mary at Front Forty Farm. 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 to a fellow Mary at Front Forty Farm in Missouri. Good morning, Mary. How are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm good. I don't talk to Mary's very often. I always think it's a very common name. Yes. think you're the second Mary I've talked to in over two and a half years on this podcast. Oh, really? I've always thought it's like a very boring square name. 00:30 Yeah, I honestly, I was nicknamed Lynn when I was a couple weeks old because I'm named after both my grandmother's Mary Evelyn.  And my parents had a disagreement about which name should have come first. So they decided to nickname me Lynn.  And when I went to kindergarten, they did the roll call  and they were asked, you know, they were calling my given name. 00:57 And I didn't know my name was Mary. I thought my name was Lynn. Oh, wow. And the teacher called my mom and she said, there's a girl in our class  and we don't know who she is. We think she's Mary. And my mom was like, uh okay, this is really weird.  And my mom's okay, describe the girl. And they described what I've been, what I was wearing and my hair color and that I was this tall, whatever.  And my mom said, well, yeah, that's Mary.  And 01:26 They said she doesn't respond to Mary. And my mom laughed and she said,  of course she doesn't because she's never been called Mary. She's been called Lynn.  So there was a very big mix up the first day of kindergarten. then in high school, I switched back to Mary because I was like, it's my real name. I should use it.  my close friends for a long time would call me Lynn, but no one except my husband calls me Lynn now. 01:55 Oh really? Interesting. Yeah, so names are crazy. Yeah. Okay, so the reason that I asked you to be on the podcast is because of your farm name Front 40. I'm assuming that is the opposite of Back 40. Exactly. My husband came up with it because he's like, well, you know, people are always saying out to the Back 40 or, know, whatever. And in the assessment plot, we are the front 02:24 east 40 of the whole section. so there you go. Well, 47 actually, but yeah. Well, it got my attention. So I'm glad you called it front 40 arm. And it's three F's in a row. So that's cool too. So when did you, when did you start the farm? We moved out here in November of 22. 02:51 Okay. And were you city folk or do you have? Oh yeah.  Um, yeah, we got married in October. He's a widower and I've been divorced for a very long time and we got married in October, bought the house in November and we lived in Independence, Missouri, which is, um, a suburb of Kansas city and the urban sprawl and all the crime and everything. So it wasn't a great place  and we wanted to be more self-sufficient. Yeah. 03:21 I think COVID woke a lot of people up  and yeah,  so we did it. He sold his house, I sold my house  and me came out here. Did you guys have any farming or homesteading background before that? Not really. He was raised on more of like a farm.  They  had a milk cow and they butchered rabbits and things like that. And I grew up on Lake Michigan. uh 03:50 So no, not really. had my first husband had to farm horses and  a few cattle. So I do a little bit  from that.  And we just kind of wing it.  We do a lot of praying for wisdom. Well, that's good because even when you've  been brought up in a homesteading or farming family,  you can't know everything. Rice can't.  So it's good that it's a learning process all the way through.  Yes. So you guys have highland cattle, you have sheep. 04:20 You have chickens? They're angora goats.  Sorry, angora goats. They look like sheep. Oops. do.  You have chickens? Chickens and guineas and one turkey at the moment.  And am I missing an animal?  Dogs, cats, bees.  Bees, okay. Cool.  I think that's it.  Okay. I want to talk about the angora goats and your 04:46 Your minis, but I said I wasn't going to ask about this, but I am going to ask about this because I'm a sucker.  Your dog,  dogs, both dogs?  have four altogether. Are two of the dogs the Wolfhound Australian Shepherd Crosses? Yes, they're a brother and sister. Okay. We were breeding Aussies and it was too  questionable how they would turn out, whether they would kill our 05:14 chickens and we had two goats killed and  then we were like, okay, we're done with Aussies. They sold well, but it's like, yeah, we're not taking that chance anymore. we had one, it's hard to find a group of dogs that work well together, get along  and don't try to like chase the cattle or kill the chickens. And we had one. 05:40 We had two Aussies and the one got hit by a car which only left one. So then I found on Frexlist the  Australian Shepherd slash Wolfhound cross, drove four hours over into Kansas  and got the female.  She's gray and white with blue eyes. And a week later went back and got her brother. Okay. The thing that I didn't ask you before we started recording about this  is was the cross 06:09 an oopsie for the people that had them or did they breed them on purpose that way?  was an oops. Okay. That's probably why I've never heard of it before. Because I was like, that seems like a really interesting cross. Yeah, they're great dogs.  Yeah. They're big.  Like their head is twice the size of our Aussie just about. And the thing is, I have no idea what wolfhounds are like because I've never met one. 06:36 I've seen pictures, but I've never actually been in contact with one. Are they, are they lovey?  they really good temperament? Oh yeah. They're  very lovable and have a great temperament. They're sight hunters  and you know, originally bred to fight wolves.  And so  we do have coyotes around, although we haven't really had any issues with them coming on our property,  but we thought it would be helpful to have  the great big dogs for that reason.  And, um, 07:07 So yeah, they're pretty mellow, really. They're protective. We've had the female is more aggressive towards strangers than the male is. And so we have to be a little careful about that.  Yeah. And the other question I have is, this breed that you find yourself with,  are they as people focused as Aussies usually are? Because our Aussie is like,  she can't lay down without touching one of us. 07:34 Yeah, they're not quite that bad.  If we do have an Aussie that's like that also, he's very needy.  but they are very,  um, yeah, people focused, I guess is the right phrase to use. They're happiest when they're with somebody. So if we're working out in the yard, they want to be where we are. If we're working in the barn, they want to be where we are. Yeah. Um, my husband was out cutting down ash trees yesterday in our tree line. Cause we got the emerald  ash borer bug. 08:04 Oh, He cut down, I think, nine trees yesterday. Wow. And Maggie was outside and she was laying in the grass at the far end, as far as her lead could reach, laying in the grass, flat with her head on her front paws, just looking where he was. Like, I wish I could be over there with you. Right. Yeah. It's it's amazing to me how how much she wants to be with her 08:34 people, her people. So and they all take a person like our female  Wolf on Ossie. My husband is her person. The male,  I'm his person.  Maggie's persons are whoever is home.  I have I've spent the majority of the time with her because I'm not I don't have an outside the house job. Oh, okay. 08:59 So she doesn't listen to me as well as she listens to my husband because he's not here all the time. Right. It's typical kid behavior.  I think of her as like a three year old  kid. Right. And she's actually going to be six in August. So. But I said I wasn't going to bring this up because I would talk about Maggie the whole half an hour. I am not going to do that.  So tell me about the Angora goats first, please. Well, we were working on Fence Line. 09:29 And we have a ton of poison ivy. And I was like, all right. And I am I'm horribly allergic to it.  And the cows eat some of it, but, you know, not all of it because they're fenced in and they can't get their heads through to to get the stuff. And I was like, all right, we got to do something about it. And we didn't want to spray with chemicals because of um floating in the air and getting the bees or we just try to be as chemical free on the farm as possible, no matter what animal we're talking about, including ourselves. 09:58 Amen.  And uh they're like, OK, we can get sheep or goats, but they have to have a purpose besides just eating the poison ivy. And so we first got some Nubians that were given to us  and uh some Nigerian dwarves. And they were constantly getting their heads stuck in the fence, constantly getting their heads stuck, getting on stuff. And we were like, 10:28 This is not,  these are not the goats for us.  So we sold those and then we're like, we saw a picture of Angora  and I've always been interested in learning to spin and weave and all of that kind of stuff. And so it's like, all right, well, let's, let's try Angora's. So we got them. I think we're down, we're down to five now. We were up to like 13 and we sold several this year. Um, and they're just very mellow. 10:58 They're not like Nubians or Nigerian dwarfs. They don't get their head stuck. They're more like sheep. Their temperament and everything is more like a sheep. Yeah. And apparently they look like sheep because that's what I thought th

    35 min

  2. May 27

    Outlaw Farm Alpacas, LLC

    Today I'm talking with Steve and Jennifer at Outlaw Farm Alpacas, LLC. 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 Steve and Jennifer at Outlaw Farm, Alpacas, LLC in Ohio. Good morning, you guys. How are you? Good morning, everybody. Doing well.  I love that. No one has ever said good morning, everybody,  on any episode of my podcast so far. Thank you for doing that. I'm glad I'm the first. 00:29 Uh, were you in radio by any chance? I'm a performer and I own a production company, so I'm pretty familiar with this kind of stuff. Yeah. I figured you had to have something in your background because most people would never have thought to have said that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So the first thing I always ask is how is the weather where you are and you're in Ohio. So how's the weather in Ohio this morning? Well, it's a little overcast today. It says it's 60, but it certainly doesn't feel like it. 00:58 It is raining here in Minnesota this morning and it has been overcast for the whole week. I am praying that we get some sunshine tomorrow because  I am a, I'm a sunshine girlie. I really do like it when the sunshine is pouring in the windows. And this week I've gotten up every day and watch the sun come up, what little sun there was, and then it's been gray. So I am ready for it not be gray for a little bit. think we have a couple days of rain in store for us here then before we hit some sunshine again. 01:28 Yes,  I this spring has been so weird and I don't dare to complain about it  because the last two springs here all it's done is rain all of May and into the first half of June and it really ruined our farm to market garden  So I'm not complaining I'm just saying it would be nice to see the Sun peek out a little bit this weekend. That's all I'm saying  Okay, so you guys how did you get your name number one? 01:57 Well, let me tell you, um we bought this place um about eight years ago  and it's located on Law Road in Grafton, Ohio. um we were  brainstorming for a name and we're thinking of crazy different names we could name an alpaca farm. And I said, what about outlaw farm? And she says, what do mean? We're not outlaws. And I said, you know, but we're on Law Road. So that made a lot of sense and it stuck. we ran with it. 02:25 And again, it's attention grabbing. of the reason I love this so much is because part of the way I find people to talk to is by you guys' names. And I saw Outlaw Farm, Alpacas, and went, oh yes, I must find out about them. Okay, so when did you get into this? Well, we got into it around 2018. We bought this place and... 02:52 It was, it was really in need of some work. So we cleaned up the old barn, which was built in like, I say the late 1800s, a lot of cleanup. We cleaned it up, made it look nice. And we thought, yeah, let's get a couple of animals because it's such a nice barn. We could use some more pets because we have the land now. Well, my wife has a cousin that has alpacas as pets. So  she mentioned alpacas. She contacted her cousin and they said, you know, we'll sell you a couple. 03:22 So we bought four pets,  two males, two females,  and  it just went from there. um She started researching alpacas and the fiber and the showing and  the breeding. And she just wanted to make it a business because  she was set to retire in a couple of years and she wanted something to do. So that's, that's basically how it started.  minor midlife crisis situation.  Small one. 03:50 I just did the same thing almost three years ago because my youngest was going to be moving out,  youngest of four,  and I didn't want to face emptiness syndrome without a project. So I started this podcast. So I'm right there with you. Awesome.  I get it. It's really hard when your life changes in a big way and women tend to find projects and I won't say what men tend to find. And that would be a very terrible thing to say. 04:18 I don't think that men necessarily find projects. I think that men find distractions. I'd have to disagree because I have a lot of projects. Because of the farm, he has a lot of  I mean the men who are enlightened. You're enlightened, Steve. We'll give you that today. You are an enlightened soul. Awesome. Thank you. So uh do you guys, I want to talk about the alpacas because I haven't really talked in depth with anybody about them.  But do you have other animals as well? 04:47 Yes, we right now we're at 34 alpacas and we are expecting nine creas, which are the babies. Anytime I have our first one actually do now and they'll birth all the way through probably the end of September. But we also have five goats, just pets, all males, weathers and then 30. Oh, let me see where we at. We're at about 40 chickens, I think, and six ducks. 05:15 aside from numerous dogs and barn cats and the like. Whatever else shows up on the property, know.  Yeah, I saw you have barn kittens right now.  Yes, we seem to have. had a mama kitty that kind of hung around and now her kids came seem to come here and live and.  Add more barn kittens to our farm, so I think we just have two. Those are the only two I have seen so far. 05:44 But there could be more.  For everybody listening, if you want to see some really cute kittens, go to Alpaca's Farm,  the Facebook page, because there's a couple photos and they are very sweet. um I am a sucker for a barn kitten. We have two females right now who I suspect are pregnant.  And if they are, they're probably due at the very end of June versus July. And I am so looking forward to barn kittens again, because we haven't had any in a couple of years. 06:14 They're lot of fun. They're cute. It's fun to watch them grow up. They keep the mice population down too.  Oh my God.  Yes.  When we bought this place back in 2020, it was August  and the big old pole barn that was on the property was empty except for all these little packets that were ripped open on the ground in the pole barn. And come to find out it was  rat poison basically because 06:44 We had a pretty good mouse issue going on in that pole barn that we didn't know about.  And so  my husband was out puttering around in the fall and he had opened up one of the drawers on the old workbench in the pole barn. And he came in and he said, do you have a minute? And I said, yes, what? And he said, come with me. So I walk out to the pole barn and he's like, be quiet and just look, just look. And he opens this little drawer in the workbench. 07:11 and there's four little tiny field mice babies all curled up sleeping in the drawer.  He says, uh we need to get some cats. He said, cause where there's that many babies, there's lots more mice.  So, okay. So we ended up getting like three cats and then we had a stray show up. She was a female. She had babies.  I think she had three or four litters in a couple of years. And one of her daughters had a litter and 07:39 The thing with barn cats is that barn cats flake off or they get killed by cars. And so  every year we lose a couple. So I'm very excited that we have kittens coming, I hope.  We don't keep tons of cats, but  when there's new babies, it's fun  and everybody likes a kitten. So we usually find homes for them pretty easily. 08:03 Yeah, we try to do. I mean, there's some people interested in the kitties and when they're old enough, I'm sure we can  we can get them some good homes. Yeah, I just I get real antsy when I talk about the barn cats because the big thing is they and neuter your pets and I agree completely stay and neuter your pets unless you intend to breed them as a business. But when it comes to barn cats, barn cats have a job. Yeah, yeah, it is not the same premise is not the same thing so. 08:33 I try to walk a fine line between, yes, have millions of animals on your property that you can't afford  and that aren't being treated well. Don't do that. That's not a good plan. Have a plan.  So anyway, ah what kind of dogs do you have on the property? Well, we have four German Shepherds and we have a Dalmatian, which is the oddball.  Is it a girl or a boy? Girl.  What's her name? You'll never guess. Purdy? 09:02 Yep. I love it. I have never seen a Dalmatian puppy in person. Wish I could say that I had because I bet they are freaking adorable as the They are the most adorable little puppies. As the spots start to pop out. Yeah. Yeah. Because Dalmatian puppies are white when they're born, right? Right. Yes. Yeah. And then their spots come in slowly. 09:29 Right, about two, three weeks in, they start getting their spots. Yeah.  See, I'm such a freaking encyclopedia of worthless information.  I know that about Dalmatian dogs, never actually met a Dalmatian dog in person,  but I know nothing about alpacas. So, go fig. So tell me all about alpacas. Start from the beginning. Well,  I guess the main thing to know is they are actually quite 09:59 shy but curious. They're not an animal that you can just always walk up to on pet unless they really get to know you and really trust you. But once they do, they are a super, super sweet, calming animal. um That's the one thing that I find attracts a lot of people to them is their calming nature. Just they're very gentle, they're very curious. um you know, once you get to once they get your trust, you know, 10:29 They come up to you and approach you.  A lot of people use them, um obviously, for their fiber. Their  fiber is much  warmer, actually, than woo

    30 min

  3. May 22

    Rusted Gates Farm

    Today I'm talking with Connie at Rusted Gates Farm. 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 Connie at Rusted Gates,  uh, farm? Farm? think it's farm.  Yeah. Pennsylvania. Good afternoon, Connie. How are you? Good morning. I'm doing well. Good. How's the weather there? Rainy, but we need it. I think almost everybody in the United States needs some rain right now. 00:30 Yep, they sure do. Other than us, we've had we had half an inch two days ago and it's been cloudy for the last three days. And I'm like, you know, sunshine, you could come back out any time now. There's baby plants in the garden that need you.  Yes, there are.  It's so cute. look out my living room window and there's a big old garden right out the window across the driveway and it's all good, rich, black dirt. 01:00 And then there's these little green baby plants in there and I'm like, oh man, this is my favorite part. Watching everything just in finally after a long winter. Yep. When you finally, everything starts finally waking up.  Trees have their leaves and all the plants are flowering. It's a pretty time of year.  I freaking love spring. I love fall more than I love spring because fall  is the, uh 01:28 the reaping of what we planted in the spring. So I like fall because we're eating squashes and the last of the tomatoes  and um pumpkin pie and all those good things that we associate with fall.  Okay. So your last name is Gates. So is that why it's rusted Gates farm? Yes,  it is. And why rusted Gates?  Well, ah 01:56 We had a daughter and her nickname was Rusty. Cute. I love that. Yeah. So, yeah, so that's why we name it Rusty. Sweet. Very sweet. Okay. So your main thing that you do at Rusty Gates Farm is fainting goats. And I want to hear all about that. Yeah, about 15 years ago, I got started in it. 02:20 Yeah, but what else is there anything else that you do on the farm as well as the goats?  We have an assortment of animals. To run down the list, we started with silky chickens. We got a couple of ceramas, chickens, couple of Polish chickens, a couple of golden phoenixes. We got ducks. We got bunnies.  We got a  we got a sepastra bull goose  and  a hubby. 02:50 Sterling, we named him Sterling and uh and Hope is the other one and Hope's a little famous.  She  is used in this uh photographers  as a prop  and a lot of the kids put up pictures. So she's been a prop in a couple of uh the photo shoots. Hope is a goose? Yep, Hope is a goose. Okay. 03:18 And she's almost 13 years old. So I'm not sure how long she's going to be around, but she's 13 now. So she's getting up there in age. That sounds like a very long life for poultry. Yeah, it is.  We have a couple of turkeys.  We have a zebu cow that originated over in Africa. How did you get that? 03:41 Um, there was a breeder in Bedford County that we did. I wanted Highlands and I couldn't afford a Highland. I really wanted a miniature Highland, but like I said, that, was a no go for the price tag.  So  we settled on the Zeeboot because it was a much more reasonable price range for someone that's on social security.  Yeah. The Zeeboos are the ones with the hump. 04:06 in their backs. Yes. They look like almost like the Brahmans, except they don't have the long ears and their hump's not quite as big and their miniature size.  Nice. All right.  And his name is Seb. We have two ponies, Louie  and Chunky Charlie.  And Louie I use for pony rides for his birthday parties. And we have a little donkey and he's kind of famous in our community too, because 04:34 He goes to church with us quite a bit.  His name is Festus. um Festus has been in a couple Christmas plays at Celebration Community Church.  And then at Easter time, went and he was in,  they had a special program for the kids about, and they took each day of Jesus' life in the last week of him being on earth.  And they had a different station for that. 05:02 Festus was of course the first one because Jesus rode on in on the back of a donkey into Jerusalem and kids lay pumped down and  pumps down in front of him and he walked over him.  Have fun.  Yeah, and an interesting fact about donkeys while we're on donkeys  is  Festus has a cross on his back. He has a dark stripe down his back and a dark stripe over his shoulders.  So it makes a 05:32 cross. So that was kind of a blessing from Jesus for carrying him  on Palm Sunday. And pretty much all Mediterranean donkeys have that cross.  I was gonna say not all donkey breeds have that, but that specific breed does. the Mediterranean donkey stew. Funny.  So yes, so that's his claim to fame. And then we have all kinds of pigeons, all different breeds. um 06:00 And I think that's about it. So why do you have pigeons?  That's my husband's hobby. OK. That's something that he's always been fascinated with. And  so that's what we have. We have homers and we have some that are called Birmingham rollers.  They're really cool because when they catch an airdrift that goes up, they roll in the sky. 06:26 and then they catch another drift and they go way high and then they roll. It's really fun to watch them. Yeah, birds are so interesting. Like, I don't want one in my house. I never want a pet bird. And we have chickens and I really don't enjoy touching the chickens, but I absolutely enjoy having the eggs from the chickens. Of course, they're good and fresh that way. 06:53 Yeah, I think that birds belong outside. I really enjoy watching them. I don't want to be up close. are kind of messy and dirty. Yeah, I don't want to be up close But not as dirty as ducks. Ducks are the worst.  So I hear. I don't have ducks. My friend does. And she's actually selling her duck eggs in our farm stand again this year for the second year. Oh, well, they're very good for you. Yeah. And I just, I'm like, I don't want ducks. I'm good. Chickens is more than enough. 07:23 Well, you get more chickens for eggs.  Chickens lay eggs for a longer period of time than ducks do. Ducks have a very short laying cycle. They do.  And it was funny because her ducks stopped back last fall and we had a few people asking where the duck eggs were. And I was like, you clearly don't know anything about ducks. And I didn't say that because that would be rude.  And I was like, they don't lay past. 07:50 Yeah, end of September 1st of October when the daylight gets short, they don't hmm. So and now they're back and everybody's like, yay, duck eggs are back. I'm like, yeah, because the sunlight is now back. Yeah, because all of agriculture is influenced by weather and daylight. That's right. We need to get people back into this. I swear, it's part of the reason I do this podcast and my other one, because people need to know. 08:19 how the cycles work and how nature works and that eggs don't come from the store, they come from chicken butt.  Yes, yes,  it's interesting.  We're so far removed and it's so sad and it  took such a short amount of time.  One generation, it's all it took. Yeah, it's nuts.  I refuse to be removed.  I  will not be removed from where my food comes from. 08:48 because I was raised by, well, I wasn't raised by grandparents, but I had grandparents who had gardens  and my parents had a big garden and my parents hunted. They heated their house with wood, with a wood stove. So I know a lot about gardening and I know a lot about hauling wood. And I refuse to let people remain in their little bubbles of the grocery store is where food originates and that's where we get it. 09:15 Or you turn on the switch and you have heat.  That too. Yeah. Yeah. So what's still is a little bit more work.  Yes. If you do it right, your wood should warm you four times.  The saying is three, but it's actually four because you got to cut the tree when you sweat, when you cut a tree, you have to cut up the fallen tree.  You have to. You have to split the wood and then you have to move the wood to wherever it's going to be stored. So that's four times. 09:45 Yep. then it heats you when you need it in your wood stove in the winter. Correct. So I guess it's five times. It might even be more than that. Who knows?  All right. So let's get down to fainting goats because I have not talked with anybody about fainting goats.  Why do they faint? It actually started out as a genetic mutation. So and of course, things that are interesting. 10:15 man perpetuates.  So they started with the,  they're called MGRs or short hair  goats in Tennessee.  And  the 10:30 they have a fading gene. And what happens with that is their muscles lock and it's from their neck down  and it's only about 15 seconds, but  the goat is fully awake, fully aware and is aware of its surroundings. It just can't move. It's just been  startled or scared and it just freezes. 11:00 Sometimes they fall over and our goats, once they get about four weeks old, the babies start fainting, which is, and they completely fall over. But as they get older, around six months or so, they start to learn how to control that faint so that they just freeze in place for 10, 15 seconds. 11:27 And then as they get older, it's just their back legs  that they can't move. So they can still move their front legs,  which is, they kind of look like the walking zombie at that point.  And that's pretty much what they do. But they took the  Tennessee uh fainting goat and mixed it with  a Nigerian dwarf. And that's how they came up with the mini silky. 11:53 And the idea i

    34 min

  4. May 18

    H&H Homestead

    Today I'm talking with Ashley at H&H Homestead. 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 Ashley at H &H Homestead in Texas. Good morning, Ashley. How are you? Good. How are you?  I'm good. I haven't actually recorded an episode for A Tiny Homestead  in over a week because people have been busy.  Oh, it is that time, especially down here. And we're planting everything. 00:28 We've had some stuff going for weeks, so I can imagine everybody's kind of  really getting into it right now. Yeah, it's that time of year and I go through the same thing in the fall when everybody's harvesting  and I go through the same thing at Christmas and New Year's because everybody's busy with family. Oh, for sure. So I'm very happy you had time to talk with me today. Yeah, absolutely. How is the weather in Texas this morning? 00:53 It is so sunny and nice. I went out and watered everything as early as I possibly could because I know we're supposed to get to 100 today. So I wanted to make sure, you know, I was out there before it got super hot. Oh, I was cringing at the fact that we're supposed to have like 84 for a high on Friday. 100 would kill me right now. See, you're in Minnesota, right? Yes. Yeah, I just I feel you just you just acclimate to where you are because I used to. 01:20 I mean, I've been to Minnesota several times. I used to live in Alaska and I am such a warm weather person now. I just, I really don't like being cold. So it's like, you just get used to where you're at and then,  you know, go to somewhere opposite and it really throws you. Uh-huh. I would rather,  this is going to sound really stupid because I do not enjoy deep winter, but I would rather deal with cold because I can throw on more layers of clothes.  If it's hot, I can't get any more naked than naked. 01:50 Just extra fans, extra fans. I have her, like not even just the cold. I have not had to shovel snow in years and I love that. Yep. One of the things I used to do when I was a kid, cause I grew up in Maine and Maine is very, very, very humid in July and August. And I would get, I would get headaches when it was hot. And so I would, I would literally come in the house,  go on the bathroom, strip down, get in a cold, cold, cold shower. Yeah. So that my hair was wet. 02:19 And then I would dry my hair just enough so that it wasn't dripping. And that cold hair on my neck would keep me cooler. Yeah. Yeah, that's smart. But I just, hate being hot. Hot is my least favorite state of being. Well, see, there has to be, you know, opposites in people. Otherwise we'd all be in Minnesota or we'd all be in Texas. So it's a good thing that there's a mix. It would be a very boring world if everybody was the same. Yes. And my podcast would put people to sleep. 02:49 So,  all right, so why is it H and H Homestead? Well, so our last name is Huff.  so  there's two of us, me my husband, but then our boys names are also both start with H. So either way you look at it, there's just H's all around. So we went with H and H. Oh, I love it. That's amazing. That's great. And like way to be original, mom.  Well, you know, I had to keep with the, you know, I don't know,  R being our last name. 03:18 Hough or, you know, Hank and Hogan Hough. And then they have the same middle initial as well. So everyone's got the same, you know, just that way everything stays the same. You don't get one thing personalized. Technically it goes for everybody, you know. Fabulous. That's really great.  So what do you do at H &H Homestead? A little bit of everything. So we're kind of new to this. So 03:40 And I blame my oldest son for getting us started in this because he brought home the chickens from his first grade class. And this is kind of what started the whole thing is, um, his first grade class hatched these chickens for, you know, studying the, life cycle of animals. Right. And they had these seven adorable little chickens and then summer rolled around and nobody necessarily wanted to take them. So of course I volunteered. So we started with chickens and then from there. 04:08 I was like, well, my chickens need some neighbors out there. They look a little, they look a little sad. then, then we got quail and then I did a greenhouse and now I have dozens of raised garden beds and now we have bunnies and we just got chukkers.  And so I'll probably like everyone else's. Um, you're just always adding something and always doing the next thing on your homestead.  Yeah. It's one of the best things about it. I don't know what a chukker is. They're a little, little game birds. They're called chukker partridge. They're a little bit bigger than a quail.  Um, 04:37 brown, they've got a little black ring around their neck.  My husband used to hunt them um growing up and now we're just going have an easier way to do that because we'll just walk out to the backyard.  Don't have to hunt, just have to acquire. Exactly.  So chicken math quickly led to homosteading math is what you're telling me. Yes it did. With of course a side of sourdough because that has to come with it too. Yeah  I wasn't going to talk about sourdough today but you brought it up. 05:06 I have sourdough  starter in my fridge. It's been in my fridge for a month  because I made it and it was doing great and I was like, I'm not  going to make bread right now. So I stocked the jar in my fridge and I really haven't looked at it since. And because you said it, now when I go downstairs, I'm going to have to take it out and make sure it's not dead. I have never put mine in the fridge. I know people do that. I've just never...  I've always been afraid that that's going to kill it. 05:36 So I probably, you know, I make as many discard recipes that I do actual bread, just because I'm like, I gotta do something to keep it going. Yeah. My husband, part of the reason I got stuck in the fridge is because my husband makes yeast breads and he's really good at it. Yeah. And therefore three or four weekends in a row, he had made four loaves of yeast bread every weekend. So we had bread that was already made in the freezer and I was like, eh. 06:03 I'm not even going to attempt to make the third loaf of my life of sourdough right now.  So I put it in the fridge and I guess as long as it doesn't have orange or pink mold on it, it's still viable. think so. I think it just gets that layer of stuff on top and you pour it off and then... Yep. And just add some more stuff to it.  So I got to check that today  and I honestly don't want to because that means that... I didn't mean to just add to your to-do list. 06:31 My to-do list today is basically the podcast recording with you, but  I really should check. really should. uh So do you have land or are you an urban homesteader? We have about an acre, just a little over an acre. And I mean, technically we're within city limits, here we're very, I mean, we could walk and we're outside of it. We're so close to the edge. So like we don't have a ton of space, but eh I feel like really maximize. 07:00 the area that we have. have everything kind of right next to each other, not super spread out. Definitely still have room for more animals. I've been telling my husband I want goats or I want pigs or I want something else. And so far he is not super on board yet. Doesn't seem to have a problem if I add any type of birds that I want. But as soon as it has four legs, then it's more of a discussion. Is it because he's afraid he'll get more invested in a four-legged critter because they don't have feathers? 07:28 Maybe I mean, he grew up with this kind of stuff, right? He, you know, showed pigs he had all this kind of stuff. So it's not as new to him as it is to me and the boys. So I think he's just, you know, maybe not as excited about doing it again, per se.  He did say that about the bunnies when we first got the bunnies, because we were given them as meat rabbits. em We have since kind of transitioned more into pet bunnies because they happen to be just so adorable. em But it's like, I get it. I mean, I think if we bought 07:57 a pig knowing that we're going to raise it for consumption, then it's different than if we buy a pet and then, you know, keep it as a pet.  Yeah. Yep. Absolutely.  So, um,  when you decided you wanted to get into this,  did you talk to your friends about it? 08:19 Well, not necessarily, maybe a little, but we don't necessarily have people who were super close with that are doing the exact same thing. We have friends who have had chickens or have had ducks who coincidentally no longer have chickens or ducks, but that didn't deter me. So I was determined to do it regardless. Okay. The reason I ask is because when my husband and I had the chance to start looking for a homestead, 08:46 like land as we lived on a 10th of an acre lot for over 20 years.  When we made the offer on the place that we've lived at for six years in August now,  we waited until we knew the offer was accepted to tell people.  the reaction on all the people that we told faces, this terrible grammar, sorry,  was the same.  It was shock.  It was denial. And then it was like, what the hell? 09:16 Why? What is it? I mean, maybe it's just not as common. Where you because I feel like even in  our little neighborhood, we're kind of a little afterthought. And I wouldn't even call it subdivision. em I mean, in the morning, I hear probably seven other roosters like everybody has so

    33 min

  5. May 8

    Rud Ridge LLC

    Today I'm talking with Ruth at Rud Ridge LLC. 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 Ruth at Rud Ridge  LLC in Wisconsin. Good morning, Ruth. How are you? Good morning. I'm fantastic. How are you? I'm good. Is the weather beautiful in Wisconsin today? Because it is gorgeous in Minnesota. 00:22 It's one of those Wisconsin days where you're not sure if 60 degrees is going to feel like 40 degrees or 60 degrees is going to feel like 80 degrees. So, uh, it's beautiful. I'll take it. Uh, but it's a little chilly out there for this time of year.  Yeah. May has turned out to be more like April and April was more like May here. So I don't know. Mother nature is just  a fickle.  Which  W I C H let's put it that way this year. 00:49 As long as my husband can get the corn in the ground today and the other crops planted, I will be very happy.  Yes, yes, because corn needs time. So it can be knee high by the 4th of July, as they say.  You've got it. They just planted  the field that surrounds our property  yesterday, day before yesterday,  and they're doing soybeans this year. It's been corn for three years in a row. I'm so thankful it's soybeans this year. 01:17 little bit of change. Yeah, we actually had some ice on the duck ponds this morning, which was not normal for me. So,  no,  our outside um water supply, I don't know what they're called. It's the it would in the old days, it would have been the well where you had to pump the water out.  And it's not you just lift the handle and it's like a spigot. Yeah, yeah, it's been frozen the last three mornings. And my husband's like, 01:45 I'm going to have to fill up a five gallon pail of water and take it out to chickens. I'm like, good luck with that because that's heavy.  So yeah, it's been weird, but I hear that this is the last cold week, supposedly  until fall. We will see. Weather, man. I don't know.  So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you guys do at Red Ridge LLC. So Red Ridge originally started with rabbits. em 02:13 Excuse me, specifically,  Rex, not many rabbits.  We started with rabbits because we lived in town on half an acre. ah children and I began with raising rabbits for meat and show.  And we relocated to another property outside of town and have expanded into crop farming and we will be adding beef hopefully later this year. So we are all around a family homestead. My husband is a seventh. 02:42 generation farmer here in Wisconsin.  So we are looking to continue that with the eighth generation that would be our children.  Nice. um I have a question about the Rex rabbit. Rex rabbits are the ones  that look like velvet, right? Yes, they are. They um are kind of generally considered a commercial  breed,  larger in scale. They have a versatility where their  their pelts are 03:11 utilized  in  a lot of garment making  and such. very, very soft. Once you feel Rex rabbit fur, nothing else feels quite like it in density and softness.  And they really are a joy to raise and watch  thrive in our homestead.  friend of mine had one and it was like 03:36 like a chocolatey, a light chocolate brown one, but she had black eyeliner around her eyes.  And I fell in love with that rabbit. She was friendly and she was the softest animal I have ever petted in my whole life. Yes, absolutely. And we specifically have always focused on temperament of our stock.  They are handled quite a bit from the day they are born. We do routine nest box checks. We're always hands on. 04:05 Um, you know, making sure that they're growing well,  um, everybody's alive in the nest that they are used to being handled, that moms are used to us handling them.  So it kind of really sets them up for, um, a thriving of their social personality in that aspect. But you know, you pointed out they can be really sweet and kind.  Yes. I mean, I think that rabbits make excellent pets as long as you, as long as they are socialized to being handled. Yes. Well, and you know, 04:35 Certainly historically in America, rabbits have been utilized for meat.  It's not quite as common  as it once was um in either the country or our region specifically to have rabbits as meat. But I think it's an important point for people or families who want to be  a little more self-sustainable, to be able to be involved in their own personal food chain, whether it be for themselves or for their pets. We do supply. 05:05 Some people rabbit meat for their pets, um dogs and cats,  sometimes snakes.  I think that  people can care for their livestock and rabbits can be a part of livestock while also being  kind of that cute and cuddly at the same time. It's an interesting dynamic to try to uh explain to people that are looking to begin on a homesteading journey. 05:34 Yes, you don't  just have to have meat chickens, you can have meat rabbits as well. Yes. Rabbit meat actually is considered one of the healthiest and easily digestible proteins  that's available to people to consume. um I know  that, again, people have to kind of get past the fact that it's their own um animal they would be harvesting,  and it's not  presented in a package  these days. 06:04 Every single animal that we consume  kind of looks the same on a grocery store shelf. They're all basically in the same size packages. They're in the same sort of presentation. But rabbit meat from a health standpoint personally can really give people a solid boost into their nutrition.  And I keep hearing that  if all you ate was was rabbit for your meat source. 06:32 that that doesn't go well because they don't have a lot of fat on them? So that is  more geared to wild game rabbit.  Okay.  Um,  while within the meat itself, there's not like a lot of marbling like you would see in, um, beef or in pork.  Um, you will find when you harvest domestic rabbits that they do have a certain amount of fat content within them. Okay. That being said, 07:01 There's no one  ever that's really  consuming solely rabbit in their diet, you know in this day and age if you understand where I'm coming  so it would be really really difficult to be so Exclusively relying upon rabbit meat that you would find yourself deficient, you know in  in nutrient Okay, so it's 07:26 I wanted  to bring it up because people keep telling me this and I'm like, I don't think anybody's just going to eat rabbit, number one. And number two,  we had rabbits for a while and when we butchered them, they had fat on them.  It's very much akin to um the old wives tale that if you touch a rabbit  or you  touch a nest from a rabbit that the mom will abandon that nest.  It's kind of the same  in the same vein that there may have been a 07:55 grain of truth  into, you know, exclusively utilizing rabbit being poor for your health. You obviously need a well-rounded diet  that somehow that translated into people believing that rabbit starvation is an issue when you're utilizing rabbit meat and that it's just not the case.  you. That's I was hoping you would clear that up for me.  Absolutely.  And you know far more about rabbits than I do. We did it. We did not. 08:25 do well at it and we don't raise rabbits anymore. I'm  sorry to hear that because we really define them to be a  positive impact in our life.  We had dumb bunnies. They did not know how to procreate and we had the right genders or sexes or whatever. They just didn't make babies.  I believe people have found that there is  the saying of, you know, breeding like rabbits  that particularly when you want them to, they may not. 08:54 uh It can be  a little bit of an art and a science. uh There  are  things such as the rabbit's over consumption of a pelleted feed that can lead them to be a little heavier in fat that would limit their ability to get pregnant.  There can be other environmental stressors or factors that can make it a little more difficult than it may seem on the surface to kind of really get an established rabbitry, even of a trio. 09:24 into a productive meat source for a family. But  if you can work through trial and error  and really talk to people that have an established  formula, you know,  sometimes it can, can really work out.  And I wish it had, but we were just, after a year, we were so frustrated with these rabbits and don't blame me  and feeding livestock that isn't, isn't doing the job. 09:50 is not a good plan.  we just were like, now we're just going to butcher the ones we have and stick them in the freezer. Now, having said that,  one of the females did get pregnant and she did have babies. And it was one of the most wonderful couple of months of my life because baby rabbits are freaking adorable. They really are. I always have to tell people when I show them pictures of new litters, like the day they're born, I promise they get cuter. ah It can be a little surprising for people when they see what a newborn 10:19 uh, rabbit looks like, uh naked mole rat. Yeah, we call them hippos.  Little, you know, blind hippos.  Um,  but you know, as they grow and it really can be a joy. My personal favorite age is three weeks old,  um, which we have some rabbits in the barn right now that are getting ready to be that age.  Um, but for the most part, it can be really a  joyous process. are so sweet and 10:47 The reason that I say it was one of the happiest couple of months of my life is because it was really hot when this mama had them.

    30 min

  6. May 4

    Little Willow Homestead

    Today I'm talking with Jessica at Little Willow Homestead. You can also follow on Facebook. A Tiny Homestead Podcast 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. At Green Bush Twins and Company, we believe in the power of creativity, imagination, and art to bring people together.  Our mission is to inspire connection across all ages, encouraging understanding, individuality,  and a true sense of belonging. We're building more than a brand. We're growing a mindful community rooted in kindness, intention, and shared purpose. 00:29 At our core, it's about real people sharing real stories, ideas, and products that make everyday life more meaningful. If you believe in living with purpose and supporting brands that care, you'll feel right at home with Greenbush Twins. A tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins and Company. Today I'm talking with Jessica at Little Willow Homestead in Idaho. Good afternoon, Jessica. How are you? Good. How are you? A little dumb today. I'm not going to lie. It's all right. 00:59 Maybe both of our brain cells together  will accomplish something.  Maybe. I think it's allergies. It's very sunny here in Minnesota and there's a light breeze  and I think all the things that are really starting to bloom are just ruining my brain. But my husband sent me photos of the apple  trees that are blooming today.  So I'm very excited. Our apple trees never do very well  in 01:29 end of April, 1st of May, because we get these big wind storms or we get thunderstorms and the blossoms get blown off. uh And I'm just, the weather's supposed to be good for the next five days. So  I'm praying  that the weather is good for the next five days. So we get apples on the trees on the far side of the property that we've never gotten apples from in the five years we've been here. Hey,  we can pray.  That's awesome. Yes.  So I think the allergies are kicking my butt. 01:59 And I got a really quick thing I want to share with you and listener. um I went out on my porch and looked out the window and one of our chickens was over by our useless garage. We don't use it for anything. It's ready to fall down.  And we have this one chicken who escapes the run every day. And I decided that her name is Hopper because she hops the fence. 02:24 I have a few of those and uh one of them,  she is ultra determined. She's a coffee agger and she loves to jump the fence and lay in this one particular spot.  But  I know it's going to be there every day, so I go and collect it every day.  Yeah, I don't think the chickens are actually laying outside of the coop, but this one just has to go explore after she lays her egg in the nesting box. 02:55 She's a little crazy. She's a little free spirit. She is and she looks so fat. I know if I went out there and picked her up, she probably only weighs about three and a half pounds. She's so feathered out that she just looks round. I love it. So I want to talk about the coffee agar thing, but first, would you tell me a little bit about yourself and about your homestead? Oh my goodness, where do I start? 03:24 So I really want to share with you the why why we moved out here to begin with. Yes. um So we  we kind of homesteaded a little bit before in our hometown, which is a little tiny town in Idaho.  And  I  don't know, I just  that was back in 2009. And I got chickens. I had a ton of chickens. I was doing meat birds, taught my kids how to process meat birds and all the things.  And my daughter 03:54 My youngest of, we call her the youngest of the  first batch. was the youngest of our five.  She was really struggling in school. And so we made the decision  because she was the only one  at home that we would um sell our house, move to a different town and get her into the best school in the area that worked well with children on an IEP.  And so we  sold our house, moved into a subdivision, stayed there for four years. 04:21 During that time we did foster care and then we  adopted our daughter. Well that daughter the daughter that we moved there for graduated from high school and a month later we put our house on the market  and and we had our daughter that we adopted from a foster kiddo  she had asked us to take her and and and raise her and so  we wanted to give her a life  away from the city teacher where her food came from and just 04:50 for me to be able to homeschool her and,  you know, just teach her all the things, you know, things maybe that I didn't learn and  just, I don't know, I just really wanted to raise her out in the country. I felt really strongly about it.  And I had this like idea that you move out into the country, far out into the country, because we do, we live 30 minutes away from anything,  a gas station, anything.  And so you have this like mindset, at least I did. 05:19 that you move out into the country and things are gonna be slow and peaceful and serene and all the things.  And that's not what it's been like for us being out here.  It's actually been really, really hard. When I first  got here, we got chickens right away, of course. And then I started to raise meat birds and  what have you. And then... 05:47 Shortly after that, um that daughter was 19 years old, was actually convinced to go into uh Washington state, get on a plane and fly into Washington state and she uh was trafficked while she was there, she was sold.  And so this whole time I'm thinking like, it was supposed to be easier being out here, but things seem to be getting harder.  And  I um struggled with um being diagnosed with lupus after that. 06:17 And then  really having a hard time with breeding my birds and trying to take care of my daughter,  struggling with lupus. But my husband was so amazingly, like, patient and loving. And  he saw this desire in me to do this. And so he would step in when I couldn't. so we just really learned to work together as a team. em you know,  we were doing really well. We were 06:47 building our business, creating the rainbow eggs and what have you. And while I was doing that, I came across that really deep dark brown color. And I was like, I know how I can make that, but what am I gonna call it? Because it needs to be something different. And so I looked and looked and I'm a coffee drinker. So I was like- 07:12 I love coffee and I have like coffee signs, have a coffee bar, like all the coffee things, right? And it just hit me one day, it was like coffee agar. And then I felt like God was like, go look it up  and make sure, know, dot all your I's and cross all your T's, make sure that it's not being used in commerce. And it wasn't, I couldn't find it anywhere.  It's just like, this is awesome, this is so cool. So I actually had the name for it before I ever even had the color, which I thought was funny. 07:42 pretty cool. And then I got the  color that like six months later, as soon as I figured out like how to do it, I got that color and hence that's where the coffee acres came from.  And so we were, we just started to breed like those colors and whatnot  and things were going well. We were selling to a local  like feed store, our birds and stuff. And  it was like literally in the height of like hatching season, you know, it was the end of April and I got a phone call. 08:11 at six o'clock in the morning on April 26th that my son had overdosed and died of a fentanyl overdose. And I was completely wrecked.  when was this? This was five years ago, April 26th, 2021.  And I told my husband, I couldn't catch my breath for one. And it felt like I was getting kicked in the gut daily. And I told him, said, I can't, I can't do this anymore. I can't, I can't breathe. 08:41 I'm going to cry. 08:45 said, want to sell everything. I don't want to do this. um And so I started to list things and he said, you're not selling the incubators and you're not selling your best. I'll let you sell, but I won't let you sell your best. I need you to keep back your best.  And he knew what I was trying to accomplish. And so I sold all but 10 birds  and I grieved hard, hard, hard for eight months. 09:14 And then I just felt like God's saying, go back into the brooder, like get back into this.  And I walked back, I just remember walking back out into the brooder and going, this is it. This is what is going to bring me healing. Like I just need to take all of that grief and pour it into genetics. So that's what I did. I just dumped it into genetics and  like that's all my brain really thought about, you know, and I was able to mass produce the coffee acres  and 09:44 I figured out how to do it and I figured out which ones were laying that egg without even having genetic testing done  just by the look of the bird. And so I posted a post one time. I mean, I didn't have very many followers. We weren't big or anything. And then I just said, these are our coffee agers. And it blew up after that.  And my husband was like, you're going to need to trademark that name.  And he said that from the beginning. 10:14 he saw interest in it. And so did my father-in-law. I said, no,  no, I'm okay with that.  And they just kept pushing me. And finally this last year, he was like, no, we're going to do this. And I said, okay, but you got to get all of  the duckies in a row because that's not my thing. I just want to breed the birds.  so he did. He found an attorney and we  filed our application and we had to prove. 10:42 When we star

    31 min

  7. May 1

    Natures Farmacy

    Today I'm talking with Joe and Jessica at Natures Farmacy. A Tiny Homestead Podcast 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. At Green Bush Twins and Company, we believe in the power of creativity, imagination, and art to bring people together.  Our mission is to inspire connection across all ages, encouraging understanding, individuality,  and a true sense of belonging. We're building more than a brand. We're growing a mindful community rooted in kindness, intention, and shared purpose. 00:29 At our core, it's about real people sharing real stories, ideas, and products that make everyday life more meaningful.  If you believe in living with purpose and supporting brands that care,  you'll feel right at home with Greenbush Twins. A tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins and Company. Today I'm talking with Jessica and Joe at Natures Farmacy in Alabama. Good morning, guys. How are you? Good morning. How are you? I'm good. How's the weather in Alabama this morning? 00:55 It's a little overcast. It rained yesterday and a lot last night. So overcast, warm. Plants are happy. I bet. I bet they are. It is a beautiful sunny morning here in Minnesota and there's a very light breeze and everything has greened up beautifully. And tomorrow is May 1st. Yay. 01:22 Very excited because May 15th is the date that we plant our seedlings. So we only have to wait 15 and a half more days. Awesome. So tell me a little bit about yourselves and what you do.  OK, so uh we're Nature's Pharmacy. We are a  micro farm here in Summerdale. um We grow all kinds of fruits and vegetables. um We're basically on 1.7 acres and we're trying to pack in as much 01:52 ah produce and fruit as we can on this.  It's not tiny, but it's not big either on this piece of land. And ah we use organic growing practices.  We set up at the markets. ah We have five kids.  We homeschool them. So we're here all the time.  That is a lot of little people in your life. We have two that are big people now and we actually just became grandparents. 02:22 from one of them. So that's really cool. She's a month old now. Jessica, you look amazing to be a grandma. saw your videos on Facebook and I was like, wow, she can't be more than 25. guess. Oh, thank you. It's the veggies. Yeah, absolutely. Are the kids involved in the... They're involved in the berry picking and eating. Yeah, it's hard to keep fruit on the trees and... 02:51 on the vines, ah but I'm guilty of that too. I love to get out here and pick berries and eat fruit.  It's really awesome to be able to have that experience and for our kids to have that experience running up and down the rows picking, whether it's fresh carrots or blackberries, plums, peaches. I'm so glad that we get to do that for them. They do help though. They  are oldest,  not our oldest, but the oldest living here. He's 13. ah 03:20 He helps us with harvesting and packaging and getting stuff ready for the market. He helps us set up at the market. The girls help some too. They'll come out when we're planting and want to poke a few seeds in the ground. We don't force it. So if they  want to help, they do. Nice. You're growing budding entrepreneurs while you grow your gardens and your fruit trees. Actually, our 13 year old has his own mushroom operation. I mean, I'm sorry. 03:49 Worm casting. Worm casting operation. Which could lead to mushroom growing. Well, we do grow mushrooms.  So,  yeah, that's definitely something that, you know, if he wanted to get into that, he could. We grow Shiitake mushrooms and  we'll grow other mushrooms as well, like wine cap. But yeah, so he's he's  farming worms and collecting castings and he sets his little worm castings up at the market and he 04:17 He sells worm casting, so it's really cool. He's pretty much staying sold out too. And the girls are trying to get into crickets. They  did just recently order their first batch of crickets. They want to be able to grow those, whether it's for like people that have lizards  or feeding their chickens  or even bait. Yeah, fishing.  I love it. You guys have been an excellent example for your little people and your big people. Thank you. 04:47 I wish everybody could be that kind of example because we'd have a much better world in about 10 years. Well, I think more people  are waking up and  moving towards, you know, going back to  homesteading and  I say a simpler life, but sometimes it's not simpler. mean, there's a lot of work involved, but  I see more and more people all the time. Seems like they're waking up and trying to. 05:15 disconnect from the system and become more self-sufficient.  So.  Yeah, as I've said on this podcast a bunch of times, I didn't know that homesteading was anything weird or different. my parents lived on an acre  in Maine when they were raising me and my siblings and they grew a garden and they heated their house with wood and my dad split wood by hand with a splitting mall and an axe. 05:44 And we helped him haul wood over to the basement and chucked it downstairs and moved it from one corner of the other to stack it for the winter.  We didn't know that that was not what everybody did. And I can remember walking into a house for the first time where they didn't have a wood stove in their house. And I was like, don't you guys freeze in the wintertime?  I think  I was 10 and  the dad of the family was like, what are you talking about? We have electricity. 06:15 We kind of grew up the opposite. Okay, yeah. Yeah, like we grew up on the TV dinners and the plopped in front of the TV and you know, just we didn't know people lived like you lived. Yeah. Yeah, we grew up completely different. But later in life, we, you know, started to realize that that's not the way we wanted to live anymore. So 06:43 We wanted to start growing. We got a piece of property in Summerdale, started our first garden  about 13, 14 years ago and just fell in love with growing and with the idea of being able to provide people with food.  so from there we just expanded on that idea and have continued to grow our farm.  And,  you know, we still want to expand. uh It's a work in progress for sure. Building new beds all the time and 07:12 planting more crops. 07:16 Yeah,  do I explain this?  We have a hard sided greenhouse that is permanent, but we had a,  a, I want to call it a high tunnel, but it's not one of the big ones, but that style of greenhouse, we had one up and the plastic ripped over the winter.  That whole thing came down yesterday. Cause we're not going to use it this summer.  And I was like, I'm kind of, I'm going to miss that little bubble out there. My husband looked at me and he said, what? 07:45 And I said, the greenhouse you took down today. Yeah. It's been part of the landscape for two years. And I it's going to look weird having a hole in there, you know? Yeah, for sure. We love our greenhouse. That's actually where we're sitting right now. It's actually become like a second living space or actually maybe this is the main living space and the house is kind of secondary living space. yeah, we have Thanksgiving out here. if you know, the big kids come over and bring the family then. 08:15 We have dinner out here. It's really nice. That is so sweet. I love that. And is it warm in Alabama at Thanksgiving time?  Sometimes. Most of the time. Yeah, it's very warm. We usually have to have the sides up and  sometimes fan going.  Yeah, we couldn't do that here. It would be very cold to be eating Thanksgiving dinner in our greenhouse. Yeah.  Yeah, most of time it's warm, but like two years ago we had snow. So 08:45 That was kind of unexpected. Bet it was pretty. It was. We actually played in the snow. I don't even think I came inside for two days. I'm just out here walking around in the snow. It's something we don't get to see very often. Did you eat the snow? Cause I would have. No, I did not eat the snow, but I definitely played in it. We do still have a bag in the freezer though. Our daughter wanted to keep some snow. 09:13 One of the most fun things that I ever did with my grandpa when I lived in Maine  as a kid is he would go out and get  the fresh fallen snow that no one had walked on and no dogs had done anything to.  And he would bring it bring it in and put it in a bowl and put maple syrup over it. And we would eat maple syrup snow. So like a maple syrup snow cone. Yeah. And if it snows again this winter you should do that with your little ones because they might get a kick out of it. 09:42 Yeah, that's cool. Never thought about doing that, but yeah, that's that'd be cool. And I don't know if it'll snow again. That's something that's very rare down here. Yeah. If it does, do not use the crappy store bought fake syrup. Get some real maple syrup because it will not be the same without real maple syrup. Oh yeah. That's all we use.  Okay, good.  My husband picked up some of the  not real maple syrup when he was shopping and I was like, we will eat it because you bought it, but don't keep buying this.  Yeah. 10:13 It's bad for you. It may taste good, but it's bad for you.  So much stuff in the stores is terrible for you.  Yep, absolutely. If I knew somebody close by that I could get uh raw milk from, we wouldn't even buy milk from the store. We would buy it from somebody nearby, but there's no one within a half an hour of us that sells raw milk right now. Oh my goodness. 10:39 And with gas

    32 min

  8. Apr 29

    Forsythia Farms

    Today I'm talking with Casey at Forsythia Farms.  A Tiny Homestead Podcast 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. At Green Bush Twins and Company, we believe in the power of creativity, imagination, and art to bring people together.  Our mission is to inspire connection across all ages, encouraging understanding, individuality,  and a true sense of belonging. We're building more than a brand. We're growing a mindful community rooted in kindness, intention, and shared purpose. 00:29 At our core, it's about real people sharing real stories, ideas, and products that make everyday life more meaningful.  If you believe in living with purpose and supporting brands that care,  you'll feel right at home with Greenbush Twins. That tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins and Company. Today I'm talking with Casey at Forsythia Farms in New Jersey. Good morning, Casey. How are you? Good morning. I am well. How are you? I'm good. You said it's a beautiful day there in New Jersey? 00:55 It is. It's nice and sunny and it's going to be almost 70, I think, today. It rained all weekend, so we're due for some sunshine. Well, congratulations on having a great spring day because I am in Minnesota and I can hear the rain falling on our tin roof outside my bedroom window. Oh, my goodness. And it's supposed to rain all day and I think we're supposed to get thunderstorms too. So we are getting what my grandpa would have called 01:23 poor man's fertilizer for our garden.  Oh my goodness. You guys get some heavy storms out that way, don't you?  Um,  we get... I have never experienced nor seen a tornado in the over 30 years I've lived in Minnesota. Well, that's good. But we definitely get some high winds. We have had our power go out because of lightning strikes, stuff like that. 01:52 Minor things like  I'm scared to death of tornadoes like I don't ever want to Ever want to see one and I sure as heck don't want to have one come through my door yard. I would pass on that Yeah,  I understand  But no the weather has been unseasonably warm this spring our  Lilac bushes are leafed out our maple tree is leafed out  Everything is leafed out. I could do a list. It would take ten minutes, but it's very exciting 02:22 because we're ready, we're ready for this long, long winter to be over. It is, has been such a long winter. I know we started getting some good like sprouts and whatnot, but I know some farms around here are actually dealing with issues because it froze again. We were under a freeze warning last week. So I know there's some like fruit farmers that are concerned because it, you know, 02:50 usually doesn't typically freeze as bad at this point in April.  So they're seeing, some are seeing some detrimental like loss with some of their plants, which is really upsetting. We're supposed to have freezing temps tomorrow night, think, there's tomorrow night, Wednesday night, Thursday night, maybe. And I am so thankful that our apple trees are leafed out, but they're not budded out yet. They're not blooming. Okay. 03:19 because I really want apples and if it freezes there will be no apples this fall for us on our property.  yeah, yeah, we have an apple tree and a peach tree, they're,  I'm not expecting fruit from them for like another couple of years because we just planted them. So  anywhere from three to five years, depending on what the, uh, the variety is. Yeah. Honey crisp. I don't remember what peach variety it is, but we have honey crisps crisps. 03:47 crisps, there we  go, that we put in, I think, two or three falls ago. And we're hoping with everything we have that they actually bloom this year  and that we might get one or two, because they take a while and they were baby trees. So we'll see what happens.  So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do at Forsythia Farms. So  we are first generation homesteaders or farmers, whichever 04:15 term you prefer to use. We are more on the animal side. I will say I don't have much of a green thumb. um I can do like we have our fruit trees, we have some berry bushes. um But as far as like plants,  I'm really bad  with the gardening aspect. My husband is actually better with that. I am the animal person. So  we have a lot of chickens, we have some turkeys. 04:43 We have goats and a pony and horses, and obviously they have cats and dogs as well. I am a certified veterinary technician by trade, so to say. So I've always been around animals and always wanted to have animals. I think I've wanted chickens my entire life. So we moved to New Jersey in 2023, because we were actually originally from Pennsylvania. 05:12 And we moved to Southern New Jersey to have some more land so we could start on our little farm that we have always dreamed of. And it has grown. It definitely has grown. Chicken meth is real. It sure is. We started with four in 2022 and now we have over 100 turkeys. they're definitely the gateway to the rest of the animals. 05:41 Chicken math got you real good. It did. It did.  It went from chickens to  goats and then to turkeys and then to horses. And if we had enough land, we would probably have a cow, but  we don't.  I wish we had a cow. I wish we had enough land for a cow.  And we do not. We have three acres and  there's no grazing area for an animal that big. So we are just not going to do a cow. 06:10 It's not happening. Yeah, we have about three acres as well. my we have grazing areas on some parts of our land, but a lot of it is wooded and trails. um But our neighbors have. Big like yards and stuff in the my horse, Chai, she'll go over and mow their lawn is what they say, but. The many that I have can't have fresh grass,  so they're mostly on a dry lot, which is one of the reasons why. 06:39 brought them here as opposed to boarding them because he can't really have grass to begin with. So us not having a ton of grazing isn't a huge uh deal for the two of them, but definitely not enough for a cow.  Yeah. Yeah. They eat a lot. And  the other thing that I hadn't really considered until I was listening to you talk is even if we had a cow,  we would have to have her bread to have to give her a milk because we don't have 07:06 If you don't have a cap to get things started, it's not gonna, it's not gonna work. Right.  And, um, the other thing is, is that a full-size cow gives a lot of milk and  we don't have anywhere to keep that right now. Right. That's exactly it. We've run into that problem a couple of times.  Um, with the chickens, we just had like in the spring and summer, so many eggs.  So  many. 07:36 Eggs, yes, yes. I think at the highest number we had 36 or 40 chickens and we have a farm stand on our property and we would sell the eggs and we were still overrun with eggs with that many chickens. So  we're down to a very reasonable 14 chickens. There you  go. just, we free range um and unfortunately,  you know, the circle of life, there are predators here so we do lose a few. um 08:06 Especially during this time, we're mostly ground predators are our issue. Foxes to be exact. We do have some hawks, but foxes tend to be our big issue. So around this time, I don't love to let them free range.  I always, it's part of the reason why I like to have a lot because if we do lose some,  now we have established a clientele that like order eggs from us. And some people get upwards of like 10 dozen at a time. 08:36 So I like to keep a certain number just so we can keep up with demand now. But  in the winter, I at least have enough to fill that demand. Whereas my older ladies might stop laying, I always have younger ladies that are still going. Yes.  Thank God for the younger ladies and the older ladies. Yeah. And when I let them live out their days, however long, I still have a couple of my originals from 2022. 09:06 And I have, I do breed for like olive aggers. So I have some of those are my more, I have silkies  and bless their hearts. They are just not smart. love them, but they are just not the smartest and they can't see because of their little head puff. So they don't free range and I have them in a separate coop. Yes. The dumb as a stump chicken variety. Yeah. 09:33 Yes, and the Polish, I have those as well. It's just, you got to collect them all, they're like Pokemon. Or Lay's potato chips. Yes. Yeah, exactly. So what is the nearest city in New Jersey to where you live? The biggest, largest city would be Philadelphia. So yeah, and we moved from the suburbs of Philadelphia to New Jersey. 10:02 Because the biggest city  in Jersey closest to me would probably be like Trenton. But even still that's further than Philly is to us. We're about 20 to 30 minutes, depending on traffic from Philly. So not too bad.  No. Yeah, we're in a good spot. We're not too far from family. Everyone's still over in Pennsylvania, but we're also in an area where it's like, I think when my family helped us move here, my uncle, 10:32 had made a comment like, feel like I'm in Alabama because it's just all farmland. This doesn't even feel like the Northeast. It feels like the South. And I was actually really surprised when you said New Jersey because I didn't think there was a whole lot of acreage available in New Jersey. maybe you lucked out. There is, there is. There's a lot of actually preserved farmland down here. um And it is the garden state, you know, for 11:00 for a reason, they do produce a lot  of um goods and it's amazi

    36 min
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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
    434
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2023 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    A Tiny Homestead

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