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. 1d ago

    Bayou Magnolia Homestead and Ranch

    Today I'm talking with Jennifer at Bayou Magnolia Homestead and Ranch.  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 Jennifer at Bayou Magnolia Homestead and Ranch in Louisiana. Good morning, Jennifer. How are you?  Good morning. I'm fine. How are you? I'm good. How is the weather there this morning? Brutally hot.  It's only, it's not even 10 o'clock yet. It shouldn't be brutally hot. Well, we have the super thick humidity down here to deal with too. So it adds on to the brutalness of the temperature. 00:57 I'm sorry to hear that. I'm up in the north in Minnesota and it is 75 degrees right now and it's really overcast and muggy. It was foggy when I got up.  man, that 75 sounds pretty great right about now and overcast too. We're kind of in the middle of a dry spell. So we're dry, hot and humid.  Yeah, we had two to three weeks of really, really hot and humid. 01:27 I don't know, a couple of weeks ago. And it sucked lemons because Minnesota does not usually have a stretch that long, that hot and that wet. So we're real thankful that it's finally leveled out again.  Well, y'all's weather sounds a lot cooler than it is here and I'd kill for it right about now. I'm waiting for the cooler months.  I think we all are. This summer has been hard everywhere with the weather. So I think we're all kind of like... 01:55 Okay, two more weeks and then we should be rolling into fallish temperatures, hopefully.  Okay, so tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do, Jennifer. Okay, so I am 29 and I am not originally from any kind of a rural life. I'm actually from the outskirts of New Orleans, so pretty big city.  However, 02:19 My family has always kind of been more of a self-sustaining kind of family, even in a more suburban kind of area.  I met my better half and together we bought a small five acre farm a little ways away from the city. And we just kind of jumped in on it, built a house and immediately the first thing I did was start getting birds and pigs and horses and. 02:46 So we kind of acquired just a little bit of a small but large farm here. And that was in 2025?  No. Yeah, well, we started building. We bought the property in 2021. OK. But we had done everything ourselves. So it was a wooded property that we ended up clearing ourself. And then as far as our house goes, we built that ourselves. We contracted out a few things, but for the most part, we did it ourselves. 03:14 Our barn was built by ourselves. So it took a lot of time. So we started our venture in 2021 as far as acquiring the property. And then we started operating a small business around 2025, which was, we moved here in May. So we started a few months after we moved. Okay, cool. So I'm going to ask at the beginning instead of at the end,  was it, is it? 03:43 a steep learning curve and are you loving it?  Absolutely.  And there's never, it's never ending learning. You're always learning something new. And I think that's really important and kind of anything that you go into is that you're always open to the idea of learning new things and believing that you don't know everything there is about what you're doing.  So it was definitely a learning curve.  Getting used to 04:14 I mean, I had a few farm animals in the suburban area, wasn't really supposed to, but as far as mass scale, that was a big learning curve. And it's a lot sometimes, I'm not gonna lie. It can be a handful and you always have sicknesses and illnesses and you kind of have to figure it out as you go. But I love every second of it and I wouldn't trade it for anything else.  Good. And you're 29. We need people like you coming up through the ranks to do this stuff. 04:44 We need you, Jennifer.  So tell me, what do you have at your homestead for animals? 04:55 So we started off with just having, had a horse beforehand that I was boarding. So we started off with the horse, but of course you're not really technically supposed to keep horses by themselves.  we did some searching and I came home with a feral Mustang that I've been training on the side.  She ended up being pregnant. So I have three horses. And then we had, we live in an area where unfortunately a lot of people kind of dump. 05:24 animals on our street because we're so rural. Yeah. So they think it's a good place where the animal won't come back to them, I guess.  So we found 15 chickens on the side of the  dumped chickens.  Someone dumped chickens and it was hens, roosters, everything. And they were young. They were probably maybe like four or five months old. So me, I come from a veterinary background. So I have a very large heart for animals. 05:54 and I don't like to see endless suffering or unnecessary suffering. So I couldn't leave these birds just helpless on the side of the road. So we took a dip net and started scooping as many as we could. There were probably maybe 50 birds on the side of the road and I collected maybe 15 of them. Oh, wow.  It was quite the adventure and I was pretty disturbed that somebody could do that. 06:20 Um, but we also have four dogs and three of those four dogs were also set found the exact same way on our street,  banded on the side of the road. But for chickens, I never knew that people would do that for chickens, but they do apparently.  So, um, I acquired 15 chickens and I absolutely fell in love with them. I had a hen as a child and I love chicken sense, but we weren't really pushing to add a whole bunch of animals at one time starting out. 06:50 but the 15 chickens kind of did me in,  then chicken math takes over.  So we ended up getting a few more, some friends had asked me to take a few birds. And then I got kind of really dove into the world of zombie chickens, which is an Ayam Samani and a white-like horn cross and the Ayam Samani breeds.  Uh-huh, yeah, I've heard about those. Yeah, so I thought those were really cool. I... 07:18 kind of ventured into maybe breeding those and producing my own stock of those. I acquired a very, very nice Ayam Samani rooster for a very good price. So we acquired him and I then bought a bunch of white leghorn hens that I have. So we originally wanted to start breeding Ayam Samanis and white leghorns.  And we are still doing that. We just kind of took the back burner on breeding birds and 07:45 are focusing more right this second on just selling eggs and kind of dipping our toes in the water to see what we can best serve our community with.  Okay, so your number one, thank you for taking in the chickens and the dogs that got dumped.  And I just want to take a minute and or a couple of minutes and say, if you're a person who has an animal you cannot keep. 08:14 I'm pretty sure that there are shelters,  there are helplines you can call to find out if there's places you can take your animal,  and it doesn't hurt to ask the property owner if they're interested in taking your animal before you dump it. So please, for the love of God and everything,  good. Ask some questions before you just dump the animal that you don't feel like you're equipped to take care of anymore, please. 08:43 because it is really hard on those of us who are not prepared to find animals on our property or right on the road outside of our property because we have really big hearts and we want to help them. But we may not have what we need to take care of them right that moment.  So Jennifer, you have anything to add to that? Thank you very much for saying that. But yes, there is always going to be it may be you know, you may have to, you know, 09:11 actually try to find a place that'll take them. But there are places that'll take them. Even the chickens, I mean, I would have rather seen the roosters go to somebody that can use them for food instead of dumped on the side of the road.  Yeah. And you can always, I don't know about Facebook, but I think on Nextdoor, the app Nextdoor or on Craigslist, I think it's free to put up a post that says, I have 50 chickens. Is anyone interested? So 09:40 Try everything before you just dump an animal because when you take on the care of an animal, once your animal, you are supposed to commit to the responsibility of that animal.  And please be responsible in trying to find a new home. I understand that times are hard right now, but please try before you just dump them. Right, right. I definitely agree. And we live in a 10:07 world full of technology and resources and there's always another way for that.  I hope so.  I we just had an animal show up at our property last week was a probably four month old female orange tabby cat and we were we were fine letting her stay here and be a barn cat and somebody pulled into our driveway too fast and hit her and broke her and my husband had to put her down. 10:36 She'd only been here two days.  So number one, somebody dumped her. They picked a good place to dump her because she was welcome to stay. And then somebody else hit her. It was a very rough couple of days here last week. Wow. Yeah, that is rough. I can't imagine.

  2. 4d ago

    The Little Farm in the Forest

    Today I'm talking with Katie at The Little Farm in the Forest.  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 Katie at the Little Farm in the Forest in Indiana.  Good afternoon, Katie. How are you? I'm great. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to have me. How are you? I am good. What is the weather like in Indiana today? It is very warm. I think we have some rain that is much needed on the way, but hopefully not too stormy.  I am hoping we don't break the 90s, but it looks like we're going to.  Yeah. Yeah. 00:58 I thought we were through all of this really hot and muggy weather, but apparently we're still in August.  I'm in Minnesota and the last few days up until yesterday were really lovely, like 79,  low dew point, nice breeze.  And then yesterday the humidity started to climb again. I was like, no, because I thought my air conditioner in my bedroom was broken. 01:24 And I mentioned this to my husband because he's doing a training class working from home this week.  And he came up and looked at it and he came downstairs and he said, I think I know what's wrong with the AC. And I said, what? And he showed me the filter.  The filter was filthy.  So PSA people, if your air conditioners that are window air conditioner are not working right, first thing to check is the filter because now it's working fine.  I'm so glad to hear that. You know, being born and raised in Florida, 01:53 I would imagine you are not equipped or used to that weather. know you guys had some heavy, some hard hitting temperatures a couple of weeks ago up there.  yeah. Yep. My poor dog.  Oh my God, Katie.  She's okay. I don't want to spend too much time on this. talk about her all the time, but she's an Australian shepherd with the double coat and her top coat is all curly. 02:20 And you're supposed to Aussies because of that double coat. Right. So we don't. And that two weeks, she just laid around and looked at me like, save me from this. And we were giving her ice cubes every couple hours to chew on.  she loves ice. So that was great. But I knew she was miserable because she would go outside, go potty and come right back in. 02:47 I'm like, I'm so sorry, honey. I can't fix it.  And she's so dumb because she could have just been in one of the bedrooms where the ACs were on, but no, she wanted to lay by the toilet in the bathroom.  it at least tile? Is the tile cool? Yes, that's why she wants to be in there. Okay, that makes sense. So she's not actually dumb, but she could have been in a 69 degree temperature room, but she chose the tiles instead because they feel good on her tummy. 03:14 So anyway, tell me a little bit about yourself and the little farm in the forest. love the name.  Thank you so much.  So we it is a family operation. It's my husband and I and his mother and grandmother have moved up here. We are just outside of Louisville, Kentucky. So, you know, we're just across the border in Indiana. And it's kind of a family operation, first generation sort of family compound set up. 03:41 And my mother-in-law actually kind of came up with the name when we were thinking about what we wanted to name our little farmstead or homestead. And I wanted to include something with the forest in it because our property is heavily forested and we're working on restoring the forest while moving into market farming. And so that's kind of how the name came up to be was it was kind of just a mashup of conservation meets agriculture. 04:11 Okay, so I was looking at your Facebook page, because I do this every time I talk to somebody.  And the one post you've done in the last week really stuck out to me was about the SpaceX debris hitting the moon.  Do you know anything about that?  Were they just trying to shoot a rocket at the moon for funsies? 04:36 I, somebody had commented, didn't know too much about it. It was just sort of something that was like popping up all over my feed.  Um, and I guess it was already kind of like up there. weren't aiming and it just sort of got off track.  And I guess the gravitational pull or something had caused it to go there. Um, but it was, it was just something that kind of hit me kind of hard because. 05:00 As somebody who's really interested in conservation and being a little bit more self-sufficient and sustainable in my life choices,  just the thought of launching debris into space, it feels like another form of littering to me that we're taking it to the next level.  This isn't necessarily in regards to SpaceX specifically, but 05:29 just the thought of us launching things into space and then they just get locked there and it's like another form of pollution.  Well, we've already tried to ruin the ocean. So why not try to ruin space?  Right? Yeah, it just, you know, it really like it had caused me to sit there and reflect and think a lot about, um, just because we can, does it mean we should kind of questions?  Absolutely. Um, my 05:56 I have two podcasts. have this one and I have Grit and Grace in the Heartland Women in Agriculture that I do with a co-host.  And my co-host, I love her. She's fantastic. And one of her things right now is AI,  that it's not good. And I agree with her. I don't think it's good.  And that's another thing that's really screwing with agriculture and conservation.  just, we don't need 06:26 to do all this stuff. Why can't we embrace what we have, you know? Right.  It's kind of just this reminder.  You know, they talk about living in the moment a lot,  enjoying life, you know, especially this lifestyle. It comes with that, that mentality of having a slower pace of life, really being present in your life and with your community, your family, your friends. And it's like, now we have all of this. 06:55 this opportunity through technology to kind of instantize things and make everything accessible. That it almost feels like just the creativity of life, the mysteriousness of life is really just being pulled from us. Because now we can just type a few words into something and it can dream it for us. we're, it almost feels like we're being robbed of our ability to dream.  Yes. And that's not okay. And part of the reason it's not okay is because 07:25 We have little people watching us all the time.  And little people have big imaginations. And if we rob them of their creativity, we're robbing them of the joy of life. And I don't want to talk about this too much further, because I could talk all day.  I just, I'm the woman that still gets a pitter patter in my heart when my husband brings in tomatoes from the garden, the first tomatoes.  So I'm very much. 07:53 I wouldn't say I'm crunchy granola, but I am right below that, you know?  Right.  Right. 08:03 But either way, I just saw that on your Facebook page and I was like, oh, Katie and I are going to be friends because yeah, that's okay.  All right. So you have a humongous garden, right?  So I don't know if humongous would be the word to describe it, but it is the biggest one I have personally done. We are operating it as a market garden. So we're coming in at about 8,500 square foot, which I think roughs out to like a fifth of an acre. 08:34 Yep. So I guess it's a decent size.  That's a really good size. Don't sell yourself short.  Yeah. It's been a lesson this year. I've never done a market garden.  I've always just grown food, you know, for myself, my husband, friends, family when they're around.  And yeah, I'm learning a lot from this garden. It has definitely been the garden of lessons for me this year. 09:01 And what lessons have you learned so far? What are the biggest ones? I think approaching the market garden the way I would a personal garden was kind of one of my biggest mistakes.  love kind of the potage garden, the interplanted garden, the very wild and chaotic gardens. But when it comes to market gardening, there needs to be a little bit of organization there. And that is not my strong point. 09:31 So it got really out of hand really fast. I've just got like basil plants that are like two foot wide between my tomatoes, making it hard to pick right now, kind of hitting peak harvest season. And then I am not super familiar with this area. We just moved here last year. So I'm still again, being born and raised in Florida. I'm still navigating seasonality and like season extension. And that's something I've never really had to do. 10:00 on a scale when it comes to making money because this has always been a personal hobby. And so now that we've commodified it and turned it into a business, I have to start approaching it like a business rather than a hobby. Yeah, it does change the view of it. It really does.  My husband's garden, he's the gardener. His garden is 150 by 100. 10:28 feet, think, 150 feet by 100 feet. So that's a 5,000 square foot garden.  And he has a hard time keeping up with it.  I'm not the gardener, and he doesn't want me messing with it.  So right now, we've got a lot of beautiful cucumbers and tomatoes coming i

  3. 6d ago

    Roberts Rabbitry Homestead

    Today I'm talking with Vicki at Roberts Rabbitry Homestead.  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 Vicki at Roberts Rabbitry Homestead in Indiana. Good morning, Vicki. How are you? Good morning. I am good. Good. How's the weather in Indiana today?  It's all right. I think it's going to get hot again, but right now it's not too bad. Went out and did my morning chores and didn't break a sweat, which is always great. 00:51 Yeah, did you guys have, we had over two weeks of tropical dew points a couple weeks ago. Did you guys have that too or did you just have like a few days?  Honestly, we had such bad humidity that I don't know. It was bad for,  honestly, most of the summer, our humidity levels have just been insane. Yeah, I don't like it. And I keep saying that on every episode and I need to stop. Fall will be here soon. I know it will be. And then I'll be like, man, it's cold again. What happened? 01:21 Today in Minnesota it is 72 right now and it's sunny and it's pretty and it's very little breeze and it's supposed to be high of 85 and I don't know what the dew point is supposed to get to.  Probably,  yeah we're going to be back in tropical dew points today 72 at 3 o'clock this afternoon 72 degree dew point. Yay, oh yay here we go again.  Yay. 01:50 So, tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do at Robert's Rabbitry.  Well, rabbits. Yeah, I do. I got lots of rabbits. I love my rabbits for sure.  But really, I'm just a normal person.  I'm a mom. I got four boys from... Oh my. Yeah.  The oldest is 15. He just got his learner's permit.  Then... 02:19 The next one's 11. He just entered middle school, then seven, and my youngest is five. And he just went into kindergarten. So my youngest went to kindergarten. Did you cry?  You know, a little bit, but honestly, I've been raising kids for the past 16 years, my whole adult life.  My husband and I married straight out of high school. I was pregnant with 02:48 and had a kid within a year, sorry, a year of marriage. So I've been doing the parenting thing my whole adult life.  And while it never stops, but they go to school and you get a little bit of more time to yourself.  And it's, you know, that time is like, oh man, what do I do with myself now? You know, I've never had, I've never had all my kids at school at one time. I've always had at least one home.  And when I 03:18 kind of started to realize that these kids are getting a little bit older and I have a little bit of time myself and I can, you know, start to explore some of my other hobbies that are a little more time consuming that I wanted to jump into.  So I'd already been doing some of these other skills, you know,  when my kids were little, I learned to sew so that I could make them baby clothes because that's cute. 03:48 And so I did that. learned to sew and I have gardened on and off my entire adult life. Some places we could garden where we live, some places we couldn't.  And when we got out here to the country, out to the family farm,  now I have the ability. I don't have to ask permission from anybody to have a garden. So that's been really great. But you know, I've just been learning some of these skills.  do. 04:18 I obviously I raise rabbits.  I have chickens and we do pig feeder pigs, but we don't breed them. just get them from a local farm and raise them out for the pork. But I don't have a business.  don't have,  you know, I'm not like big,  huge social media star or anything. I'm just... 04:48 just a normal person who I'm here.  you know, I didn't grow up learning any of these skills. And as I got older, I was more interested in them. And now that I have this time, I'm diving a lot deeper into them.  That's fabulous. You're in it for the satisfaction and the self sufficiency.  Exactly.  Good. That's amazing. And I think everybody should be. 05:12 I know it's not everybody's cup of tea. There's a lot of people who don't want to do what you and I do in our daily lives and that's okay too.  So I saw on your Facebook page this morning when I was looking to see what you're up to a post from June 4th and it says, going to lie, this was pretty entertaining. And it's a string of messages back and forth about somebody wanting rabbits from you. 05:39 Was it a bot? Was it somebody just being stupid? Tell me the story on that one. It's a scammer. Yeah.  So a lot of times, I don't know if it's a bot or not.  I think it might be.  I get them from time to time.  But it's funny to me, you know, when you type back to them because 06:06 It's just like they're responding to whatever, you know, they're not like actually seeing what you're doing because they don't actually want whatever it is you have. They want your account stuff. You know, they want your financial information and to be able to get money from you in one way or another.  So it was just funny. was just playing. I like to do that. You'll see it on a lot of my posts. I get tons and tons of trolls and 06:34 I mean, I haven't even been doing this that long and they hit me very quickly and they hit me very hard.  Yeah.  And I mean, to me, I just laugh about it and I'm going to put something,  if I even respond, the trolls, it's going to be probably something witty or funny.  It is witty. 07:00 It is witty and funny. read through the whole thing. And for the listener, if you want to see it, go follow Robert's Gravatory Homestead. It's the first pinned post. And you will definitely giggle, if not pee your pants laughing at Vicki's responses.  Yeah, I mean, I'm not here on social media to take things like super serious, you know?  So I'm here.  I live in a very, very, very small community. 07:31 Honestly, it's an hour before you get to a city with a population over 18,000.  So it's very, very small and I'm an introvert and I like to stay home. So I don't have a lot of friends really, you know, and I wanted that community too. 07:58 Honestly, I was having a really hard time finding any resources that could kind of help me learn in the way that I learned.  So that's kind of how the whole thing was built. Really the whole page. I was bored and lonely and just looking for people who shared the same passions as I did. And that's what I ran across when I started my page. And that's a really great 08:27 thing to do, really great way to do it.  And I know that people think that social media is a terrible entity.  It's a monstrosity, but if you use it for good, it can be really good.  I think with your voice and the fact that you're an introvert, you should start your own podcast, Vicki. I think you'd be great at it.  Oh my.  I don't know about... I just like the... 08:56 learn, honestly, I love to learn.  And I will spend my whole life learning something new every day. That's my goal is just to learn more and more. You can never know enough, you know, or at least that's how I feel. And I just have a passion, I guess, for sharing what I learned because when I started looking for resources and stuff to 09:25 on like online because I couldn't find it in person.  I just, I was having a really hard time coming across a lot of those resources that were helpful, especially in the rabbit world.  That is just such a world full of so much good and bad. 09:53 That's what I'll say. There's tons of good and there's tons of bad.  Yeah, I've heard that. I've heard that rabbit people can be kind of a pity if they show their rabbits, if you're not a show rabbit person.  I've heard that if people are raising their rabbits for the hides and for meat and for rabbit's feet, they can be a little more forgiving. I don't know if that's what you expect. Yes, absolutely. Yep, that is true. 10:23 All right, we will get to the rabbits, but I want to ask you a question. You have an Australian shepherd. I sure do.  What is her name? Her name is Renly.  Renly, okay. And you said she's five. She's about, she turns five next month, yes.  Okay. I don't want to talk on and on about mine. I have done it too many times on the podcast already because I love her so much.  What I want to ask you about her is why did you get her? Did you get her as a puppy and did you have a reason? 10:52 Um, I did get her as a puppy.  Um, we,  I had a Yorkie that I'd had since, um, I was pregnant with my very first one back in 2010.  Um,  and she was sick.  um, I knew that when that time came, would lose and I would lose my Yorkie.  It would be devastating. Yep. 11:22 And I didn't want another Yorkie because that, it wouldn't compare, you know? Like I just felt like I knew I couldn't get another Yorkie and that would save the heartbreak that I would feel when I lost her. So we were out here at the farm and I wanted a family dog that had the energy. 11:51 to keep up with all my feral kids.  Yes.  So I wanted, you know, but I didn't want a giant dog because our house is not that big.  um,  honestly, and I had just seen Australian shepherds, you know, here and then at one point I did work for a vet f

  4. Aug 10

    Southern Roots Organic Cabinet

    Today I'm talking with Raven at Southern Roots Organic Cabinet.  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 Raven at Southern Roots Organic Cabinet in Idaho. Good afternoon, Raven. How are you? I'm good. How about you? How are you? I'm good. How's the weather? It's actually pretty good. We had a little heat wave for a bit, but it's starting to calm down a little. Little smoke in the area from the West with some fires and stuff going on, but everybody's dealing pretty well around here.  Yeah, I'm in Minnesota. It is sunny. It is muggy and it's getting a little warm. 00:57 been nice the last few days, but I think actually I can tell everybody exactly what the temperature is because I'm sitting here looking at it. It is 76 right now, but it feels like 76. So we're good with that because I don't know, three weeks ago we had tropical dew points for two weeks straight and I was just like, Minnesota is not supposed to do this. Yeah, we had a little bit of humidity last week. We're not used to that up here. 01:22 Yeah, it's not fun. I don't love it. As I keep saying, I hate high summer and we are basically in it.  So I don't want to wish away the summer, but I'll be real happy to see apples coming in and winter squash coming in and fall arriving.  Absolutely. I agree.  So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do, ma'am.  Okay. Well, I am originally from Southern Louisiana,  grew up in Cajun country down there. 01:51 My husband is as well, but we actually never met. He went into the military at early age and I went off to college and I became a nurse, been nursing for 30 years.  And over time, as we've gotten older, we ended up meeting while he was actually on leave and we just sprung a long distance relationship and it worked out. He got out of the military, we got married, but he wasn't used to being in one place. He had left Louisiana a long time ago. 02:21 So he was used to being stationed around the country deploying.  so we, I had never been anywhere. I was a Southern girl, never been anywhere outside much of the state. And we, you know, decided we needed to find a place to call home. And we ended up in Arizona for a little while, cause I have a sister out there. They love it out there.  And our daughter was born there, but it was just too hot. It was too hot, too brown. Didn't care for it. My sister loves it. Her family loves it, but it wasn't for us. We missed the green. 02:50 You know, we missed being outside a lot because it was too hot to go outside most of the year.  So we did a lot of research, ended up in Southern Idaho and we loved it. We took a few vacations, ended up loving it and we just said we dropped everything, made the move. My husband got a new career, ended up here loving it.  I slowly started to develop some health issues in my late thirties. 03:17 thyroid, skin issues, just hormone issues, going through that perimenopause. And so I started doing a lot of research, and know, as a nurse, I started digging and found a lot of stuff, natural ways and, you know, changing up our food. And we have a lot of awesome,  friendly, regenerative farmers here in Idaho,  small businesses that do a lot of your meats and your fruits and vegetables.  And so we started buying locally, it's to support our small businesses, but also to support our health. 03:44 Yes. And then I kind of started getting into, was like, you know what, my skin, had like severe melasma acne scars and just discoloration from being in the sun all the time. was a softball player years ago and, you know, getting older stuff. I really don't care. I love growing old. It doesn't bother me at all, but I just, could tell my skin was taking a toll.  So I started looking at things of how, you know, transitioning our house into like a more natural home. 04:13 So I started slowly but surely transitioning all of our cleaning products, everything, instead of buying from the stores, just buying the ingredients to make myself.  Excuse me, and over time,  it was great. And then I started looking at labels with products, shampoo, with soaps, and I was like, okay, I'm having some hormonal issues here. Maybe these are contributing. 04:41 I started digging and then I started actually buying some, know, tallow goat milk soaps and stuff from other people, whether locally, whether other farmers in other states. And then I'm like, how easy or how hard is this actually make myself? Because I do a lot of homemade food, lot of whole grain food and stuff. I said, I could do this myself, you know, while still working at a corporate job, basically I was working from home as in leadership. However, I was still able to like maintain that home cooked meals. 05:11 you know, making everything for our home, for ourselves.  And so I started digging into it and just got into it for ourselves. And eventually my husband was like, you know, there's a lot of people, especially moms, look into really natural products for their skin and their kids, you know,  and don't want to have to deal with their kids growing up with the hormone issues and everything. And he's like, maybe you should kind of look into getting a business and something you think. And he was like, yeah. 05:39 So I did, I started very small a couple of years ago, after a few years of doing it myself with just our family. And it just blossomed. took a while, of course, to get my name out there. And I've met a bunch of lot of local artisans like myself. We collaborate,  other bakers and friendly small businesses.  And we help each other out and do things for each other at the markets and promote each other. And it's just turned into a really, you know, 06:08 fun.  What started as like a hobby in my kitchen just became this big thing, you know, nationwide.  I ship everywhere across the US and my locals, they'll do local pickup or they'll come see me at the market.  So I have a lot of support behind me and yeah, it's just, it's been a real blessing to be able to take what I learned from nursing school, you know, the chemistry background, biology background, and just doing a lot of research and looking up a lot of 06:38 holistic remedies and stuff to use.  And it's helped my skin. I suffer with psoriasis and eczema. My daughter had eczema for a little while. We don't have any issues anymore. I go to my dermatologist and she's like in shock. She's like, why don't we need to see you for six months? know? So, and she's like, what are you doing? And I told her and she's like, that's amazing. You know, so there's a lot of dermatologists that'll be, they're kind of on it, but mine, she loves it. She loves it. You know, the... 07:04 act of making things homemade and natural, knowing what's in your products and using it on your skin.  And it's been really big for our health. My daughter is a gymnast.  She's a competitive gymnast. They travel all over the country and her skin is beautiful. My husband loves my stuff. He even uses it. He has a beard, he has hair, he uses my shampoo conditioner, he uses my soaps.  I make a ton of homemade remedies for the skin. 07:32 And we have a little bit of pantry items too. And I like to share some recipes as well. You know, like I make homemade granola or vanilla extract and I'll share my recipes with customers as well. Okay. So I'm going to say this out loud. Isn't it amazing how your doctor will tell you not to eat fast food and to cook at home with whole foods, but your doctor won't tell you to find somebody who makes homemade skincare and things that help you. 08:00 Absolutely. Yeah, I did it all by myself. You know, just doing it for us and doing the digging and we still have get pushback. You know, we'll still get some pushback on things with certain doctors, but I tell them, hey, I do my blood work like I'm supposed to. I see my PCP once a year. I see my dermatologist twice a year. I have a hormone holistic doctor who treats me naturally because I have Hashimoto's with the thyroid. 08:27 and I have to use, I don't use any synthetic hormones, everything's natural, and I take care of my skin and my health and eat whole foods and it is completely transformed. I mean, I am 49, I'm about to be 50, but I feel like I'm in my 30s. And my daughter is like, mom, you look like you're in your 30s. Like she's, know, my husband looks like he's in his 30s. It's not really about looking younger. I don't feel 50, I don't feel 60. don't, you know, I feel like I'm in my 30s and I want to be able to keep. 08:55 going and not have to suffer because in southern Louisiana they deal with a lot of heart issues, deal with a lot of diabetes and we don't have to deal with that because of how we eat, how we treat our skin, how we treat our bodies.  So and we stay inactive, that's a big thing too, of course. Getting out in the sun, know, people, oh sunscreen, da da, yeah, but you know, there's a lot of sunscreens out there, we don't buy sunscreen, I'll make, I actually make a homemade sunscreen. 09:21 that's natural and we don't use it a

  5. Aug 3

    Magnolia Morning Co

    Today I'm talking with Jennifer at Magnolia Morning Co.  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. 00:29 Today I'm talking with Jennifer at Magnolia Morning Company in Georgia. Good morning, Jennifer. How are you?  Good morning. I'm great. How are you? I'm good. How's the weather where you are?  Actually, it's a beautiful day. It's not so hot. We've had some really hot weather here in Georgia,  like scorching hot. But today is probably in the high 80s and it's calm. We might have some storms later on this afternoon. So it's a pretty nice day here. 00:58 Same here in Minnesota. Yesterday, it felt like September. It was 65 degrees for the high here.  That's beautiful. That's the perfect weather. think high 60s are the perfect temperature to me.  But then again, here lately, I'm cold and hot and cold and hot.  So I feel like I've got an internal thermometer that's going crazy all the time.  Yeah. It was a beautiful reprieve from the three weeks of tropical dew points we'd had before. 01:27 I bet, I bet.  We don't get that in Minnesota very often and my god was I reminded how much I hate humidity.  It's awful. So does my beautiful Australian shepherd dog. was dying.  She kept looking at me like save me and I'm thinking I can't save you. can't shave you. 01:53 I went to Michigan one time and got off the airplane up there and I immediately felt like I could breathe so much better. I was like, oh, the air is not heavy. It just feels wonderful. And I kept asking people, does it, is it like this all the time? Can you breathe? And the air feels, doesn't feel so heavy. And they're like, yeah, what are you talking about? You know, they just don't have a clue what it's like down here with all the humidity.  Yeah. 02:19 Like Minnesota is supposed to be like Michigan, but this summer has been ridiculous.  And I'm going to say it because I'm very excited about it. This heat that we've been having all summer has been wonderful for our gardens.  this week is tomato ripening week. The tomatoes are ripening in our garden.  Yes. Yes. My son has a little small garden as well, and he's been excited about his tomatoes.  So I can understand that. 02:48 I bet he doesn't have 190 plants getting ready to pop.  Holy cow, no. But if I would let him, he probably would.  He has a green thumb. I unfortunately have a black thumb.  I want to see things grow. I enjoy watching them grow. I especially enjoy, you know, fruits and vegetables, but I don't do well taking care of them. I don't. But he definitely has the gift of 03:16 My dad was really good with that. My dad could grow anything.  And my son has inherited that gene, I believe. So he grows beautiful things. He's got plants all throughout his room and a garden out here. And he takes care of all the flowers and all the things.  growing is a beautiful thing. a hundred, how many did you say? A hundred and eighty?  Over a hundred and ninety tomato plants in the garden.  Wow. That's impressive. 03:45 Yep. And our friends and neighbors will be very happy because they'll be buying canning tomatoes from us until probably mid September. Oh, that's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah, we're excited because last two summers we haven't really had very many because the weather was not kind to us. So we've been waiting and crossing everything we have and holding our breath all summer to see how this crop did. And it's looking really, really good. We just brought in the first ripening. 04:14 They're not red yet. They're not ready to eat, but they are definitely blushed. So that's fantastic. Well, good for y'all. I'm glad it's going to be fruitful for you this year. I hope so. I hope so. All right. So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do, Jennifer. Well, I am a mother of five and a grandmother to two. I have two little grand boys that are eight and four.  And I am 04:44 A full-time everything.  And I'm sure you know what that means,  but I'm a full-time mom, a full-time grandmother, a full-time worker. have a full-time job.  I've been working since I was 15 years old.  Work is just what I do.  I'm a worker bee.  Married to a wonderful man for almost 35 years who is also a worker bee.  And we just stay busy a lot. 05:14 you know, and there's always something to do or something to take care of or somewhere to be or some errand to go or some crisis happening. We seem to have a lot of crisis in our family. I don't know why that is.  but, you know, it's a lot of fires to put out a lot of a lot of the time.  So personally, that's that's me in a nutshell,  just busy all the time. And that is how Magnolia Morning Company came about. 05:44 I needed to slow down.  when I say needed, I mean mentally and physically needed to slow down. My body started screaming at me and I had some episodes of some medical things that made me take pause and go, okay,  I've got to quit stressing out so much.  I've got to calm this down. I'm a natural worrier. 06:13 My brain stays going all the time and I just think things through. think about every scenario and I think about it backwards and forwards and it mentally takes a toll on you, you know, and I didn't know how to shut that off. And I would, you know, be busy doing things for my family and taking them here and there and letting them do the things they enjoyed.  And when my husband, bless his heart, he almost works seven days a week. 06:42 When he gets a little time off, he goes to do some things that he enjoys with his friends.  And I'm standing around one day and I'm going, you know, everybody else is doing something and I don't really know what to do.  I don't know how to stop. don't know how to, I'm just, you know, nobody was in the house and I was there. I was, you know, cleaning the kitchen or mopping the floor or something. And I was like, Jennifer, just slow down.  Just stop. Just take a pause and just rest. 07:10 And I realized I didn't quite know how to do that.  And the more I thought about it and thought about it and had some conversations with my girlfriends and they were like, yeah, Jennifer, you stay going all the time and doing, need to slow down.  But I just didn't understand how I was supposed to do that. You know, and I've, guess I've grown up thinking that rest meant being lazy.  And that's kind of how I equated it for so long. 07:38 So I didn't, so when I stopped, when I would stop and try and rest, I felt guilty. And I felt like I didn't deserve to do that. There were other things calling my name that I needed to take care of this or do that or go somewhere and handle this. And it just became harder and harder for me to do. And so when I had these conversations with my friends and things and thought a lot about it and put some, some time thinking about it and reading about rest and relaxation, I realized, you know, 08:09 I need this.  I mentally need it, I physically need it, and it's okay. There's nothing wrong with rest.  And that I didn't have to have anybody else's permission to do that.  So I started trying to figure out what I could do when I rest. I that sounds crazy, but you know, sometimes it's hard just to sit still. And I didn't know how to sit still, but I also didn't know 08:37 really what I enjoy to do if I were to rest, if I were to find something that I wanted to do to entertain myself, to do something just for me, what would I do?  And so in thinking of all that, and I was talking to my husband one night and I was telling him about it and I said, you know, I said, I bet there's other people out there like me. I bet there are women that are my age and I'm in my early 50s and I bet there are women that 09:06 are like me that don't really know how to rest and don't know what to do when you rest and or even maybe don't even know what they like anymore because they've spent the entirety of their life taking care of somebody else, which is what I feel like I've been doing.  And not that I'm complaining. That's just, you know, what I did all my life. I took care of somebody, whether it be my parents or my children or my grandchildren or something.  And so 09:35 We were talking about it and I was like a light bulb went off and I thought, you know, why don't I put something together and share it with other women and let them know that it's okay if we rest, if we stop,  if we just take a pause,  if we just collect our thoughts or we just have some me time. It's so mentally important to have that me time. And I'm just now learning this because I've not 10:04 I've not done that my entire life. I've not done that.  I've always been a doer and a fixer and I wanted to make everybody else okay. I wanted to do whatever was necessary,  jump whatever hurdle there was to make somebody else's life easier.  And I didn't complain about that. That's just what I did. And I enjoyed it for many, many years. I enjoyed it.  And 10:33 But nobody ever stepped up to make my life better or easier. And I was starting to realize that maybe I needed some of that. You know, I needed somebody else to

  6. Jul 31

    Cole Canyon Farms - more ChchchChanges

    Today I'm talking with Morgan at Cole Canyon 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 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 Morgan at Cole Canyon Farms in Montana.  Good afternoon, Morgan. How are you? Good afternoon. I am doing wonderful. I mean, it's 100 degrees here, but we haven't melted quite yet. Well, I'm glad you haven't melted. And in Minnesota,  it is, I can tell you exactly what the temperature is because I'm sitting here holding my phone.  77 degrees right now feels like 77.  Can I switch you? You come here and I'll go there. 00:56 No, I'm sorry. I can't do that because we had two weeks of dew points that were tropical and temperatures above 90.  This break we've had has been beautiful. Yeah, I thought I moved up to Montana for it to not be Arizona weather, but here we are, 100 degree weather.  I mean, it literally raises, you know, 10 degrees as you're watching it, you know, the time. So if it's seven o'clock in the morning, it's 70 degrees and outside 80 at eight. It's just wild. 01:25 em I'm shocked.  I understand because  I don't remember a time in my 30 years of living in Minnesota two weeks of that kind of heat and humidity. It's crazy. We've had high humidity here too, which is out of dorm, know, but it's destroyed crops out here. Hay is  astronomical. can't even,  I four times as much. I'm just like, all right, well. 01:53 I thought Montana grew a little bit better hay and wheat,  we just haven't gotten the moisture. It's been really humid outside, but the rain is like coming later in the year. We normally don't get a lot of rain this month, but we have and it's way hotter than normal. Yeah, I don't like it. I would like things to go back to the night to 19. Honestly, if I'm being real, I'd like things to go back to 1985.  You know, 02:21 I have heard that a few times that like the early 1980s to early 90s was like the time to be alive. I wasn't alive until 1994.  So I missed that whole fun part.  Yeah, I was like 15 or 16 in 1985 and I hated school, but I loved my life in general at that age. So it would be nice to revisit it.  Yeah. You know, everyone said I was going to need all that, you know, all that school I was learning and like, well, I needed some of it, honestly. 02:50 wish I would have just started farming sooner. I understand why some kids would just drop out and go farm instead.  Yes. And don't get me wrong. I loved my teachers. I loved learning. I didn't like the social aspect of it at all. Yeah, that's right. Because like I'm a social butterfly and over the years I've learned you're kind of a homebody hermit.  like to be your space. I have been shy and quiet my whole entire life. I have been an extreme introvert and 03:18 I tell that to people in real life and they're like, no, you're not. And I'm like, you have no idea how hard I have to work to be social.  You and my husband are scup from the same cloth. Let me guess your husband's a bubbly extrovert. He is most of the time. Yeah. See, that's funny. Opposites definitely attract. So he does your farmers markets, doesn't he? He's the one that goes and sets them up.  Yes, he's very good at it. That's right. He was growing cabbage. How did that go? 03:45 That was our last podcast. talked about the cabbage and lettuce. it was. Yeah, it was cabbage. I think he's sold every single head of the cabbage he's taken so far this summer. See, it was smart of him to up his cabbage amount, but that's because you guys tracked your numbers and you knew what you guys were going to sell. We just started doing farmers markets and I've learned from what you guys told me.  Well, you specifically, because I talked to you, not your husband. Well, you talked to him through me, but yes. 04:13 Yeah, of course, you know, and he he had tracked his numbers. So he went three times as many as that. Correct.  I think so. Yeah. See, so I track my milk  and I've been making goat cheese  and I started making goat caramel also.  And it's been helping. So this week I had to have like a break because of the extreme heat.  get issues with the milk  animals in general. 04:40 you know, cows or goats. They just have a really hard time with the heat. It kind of bogs down their immune system.  It's also been really wet, which is like typical intestinal worm season. So we've just been kind of working through that and at a later time.  So we had to take two weeks off and man, I felt it. I felt it in our wallet. I felt it. You know, I was like, I can't wait until you're back in milk. So I ended up buying a second milk goat just to try and keep up with the demand that were. 05:08 already having our first year at this Red Lodge Farmer's Market. Mm-hmm.  So you said you're making caramel? Yes, it's called Kahita and it's a goat caramel. Yeah. It's so good. I sold out  in my first 30 minutes when I took it to the first uh Red Lodge Farmer's Market. I was selling pints for 15. I'm going to up them to 20 just because supply and demand. It takes one whole gallon of milk, you know, to make six uh 05:38 I think they're half pints. Sorry, not full pints. They're half pints. it's it renders down really far. But  I  added in cinnamon sticks to the  first half instead of adding an actual ground cinnamon this time.  And I like figured out my own recipe. Like, know, you kind of take a base recipe, tweak it a few times. So this was my first time taking it out. And I did free samples and everyone who tried it bought  a 06:07 bought a half pint of it. I even had two roommates and they were like, I'll fight you over it. They were going to just split it for their coffee. And they're like, no, I'll fight you over it. They were younger and they were real funny. So they ended up each buying a half pint and they wrote their names on them  so they could keep them separate because it was so good.  Uh huh. And the thing is not very, I mean,  I am ruining this. Sorry. Let me try that again.  That thing  is Kehita or Kaheda, however you say it. Yeah.  Is  unusual. 06:35 not a lot of people make it.  it is definitely a supply and demand thing. And I would pay $20  for a half pint of that because I'm only going to do it  once a year and I'm going to enjoy it.  And a lot of the people that go to this Red Lodge Market, it's a tourist town.  So a lot of them are traveling. So a lot of the people, it's almost 06:59 I mean, there's a lot of normal  farmers markets where they're not in tourist towns that I could go to, but my booth is $15 there. And so it's a very affordable booth  and you constantly have a new crowd and  every  Saturday during the farmers market, they have some type of event that's either going on before it. have Zuma this weekend and a car show, or they're doing like something after like they did Shakespeare in the park last weekend or the weekend before that. 07:29 Like they do this really cool. If you look it up, you'll laugh. It's called the Iron Horse Rodeo out there. And it's a bunch of bikers that are doing the barrel racing and all those types of events, but on their motorcycle. So you get a new crowd every week and they have, they all have different things they're looking for.  Or, you know, you're attracting a crowd that's maybe not used to some of the things that you're in the farmer's market doing. So having an item like I have, and also offering Chev. 07:56 um, which is just goat cheese. I didn't know that it's any type of goat cheese. I didn't realize that until after I started making it,  um, was one of those things that it's a niche, not a lot of people are doing it.  And so  I had people showing up, you know, from an hour away just to buy goat cheese from me because it was closer than where I'm at in Laurel. So it's honestly opening up to a whole new 08:22 I guess you could say atmosphere of folks, right? Like I'm getting to see a different market every week. So I feel that tracking my numbers is really important. So I'm able to kind of watch all those different things, you know, because the Iron Horse rodeo, I didn't sell any goat cheese. I didn't have um a lot of the products that I had because my goat was taking a break, but I'm almost glad I didn't because of the fact that, you know, we... 08:50 I wouldn't have sold them. Nobody asked for them. I talked about them, but everyone was like, oh, goat cheese. There's this like weird stigma around Shev, around Kehita, um and goat milk in general. So it's one of those things. I mean, we've talked enough times about it. I'm very passionate about it. I'm very passionate about kind of breaking the stigma because goat milk is going to be something with the way hay prices are going that I think we're going to start seeing a lot more of because it's almost unattainable to raise a dairy cow. 09:20 Yes, I have talked to a few dairy people in the last few weeks and it is becoming impossible to get in to dairy work unless you are part of a dairy family right now.  Correct. I've actually been looking at expanding into a dairy cow because I'd like to make my own cream c

  7. Jul 27

    Zebulon Heritage Farm

    Today I'm talking with Ronel at Zebulon Heritage Farm.  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 Ronel at Zebulon Heritage Farm in Tennessee. Good morning. Ronel, how are you? Good morning. Doing well. How about you? I'm good. Is it hotter than Hades in Tennessee this morning? It just about is. Yeah, I looked at the map that was on the news yesterday and the whole country was red. I was like, that doesn't happen very often. Mother Nature, what? 00:56 What got up your butt and irritated you? Because you're hot. There's something wrong.  Right. It's been a hot month for sure. It's been hot month. It's been terrible.  And  like I said to my co-host on my other podcast, I have two.  The other one is Grit and Grace in the Heartland. um I said to her the other day, I said, I'm trying to keep a really good attitude about this. 01:24 it's getting exceedingly more difficult with every day that the dew point is over 70 in Minnesota. That doesn't happen. Right. Cause that's a little different than here in the East where we have a lot of anyway. Yeah, absolutely. Minnesota is, is yes, close to a great lake, Lake Superior. It's right next to it. But last I knew great lakes weren't the same as ocean. 01:49 I grew up in Maine, so we had a lot of humidity in the summer in Maine. But you would not expect it to be this sticky. Well, I guess it is mid-July now, but usually we get the sticky in August. So it's been a bit much to swallow, Ronel. Let's just put it that way. I totally get it. I totally get it. Yes. So I would love for you to tell me a little bit about yourself and about what you do at Zebulon Heritage Farm. 02:19 Sure, sure. I guess, well, it's kind of a long story. mean, going back, I guess as a kid, I grew up on a homestead where we would bring you some bottle calves back then you could buy them for $5 from a dairy. And we milked some goats as a kid. I was never so fond of the goat milk though. So I guess later we got a family cow, I guess I was about 12. And my dad's like, here's a cow, milk her, take care of her, I want butter. 02:49 And then I milked the family cow for a lot of years. And I guess about 12 years ago, I decided at that point, I already had my own family. I decided I want to start a herd share. Some herd shares have been legal in Tennessee for quite a few years. So I added a second cow and then a third cow. And I guess over the past 12 years, it's just gradually grown and become 03:19 Well, full-time business.  Very nice. So  I know what A2A2 milk is. Is that what it's called? Right? Sure. Yes. But not all of my listeners will know. Can you explain what's special about A2A2 milk? Okay. So I guess there's a lot of different opinions, but I guess the short answer is it is the betacassin, which is the protein  in the milk. 03:48 but I guess it's dependent on the cow's genetics. there are a lot of different variants. And I guess most people don't know that. Most people assume it's either A1 or A2, but there's actually a lot of different variants. And A2, A2, which is both markers are A2, is the desirable one. It is believed to be more digestible, associated with better health. And I do believe there's merit in that because I have more than one 04:18 hard to share member that has told me they had raw milk. mean, most of the time if people can't drink store milk, they can drink raw milk, right? Because it's more digestible, it's less processed. But I have a couple of share members who have told me that they reacted badly to raw milk that wasn't A2A2 and they are able to drink my A2A2 milk. So there is definitely something to it and it is definitely something that a lot of people 04:47 or after because it's  associated with better digestion and better health. Thank you for explaining that because if I had attempted to explain that, I would have butchered it. It would not have been good. I was looking at your Facebook page and your website. Is it just jerseys that you milk or is it another  breed as well? 05:08 Yes, we have only jerseys. I mean, we do have a beef herd too that we  raise grass-red beef. But as for milking, we only have herded registered A2 jerseys. So it didn't start out that way. I just had some random jersey, you know, that I had no idea, you know, anything about her really,  as far as this A2 registration goes. But I gradually, um I guess, built up to the registered herd. So I bought like one registered cow and then bred her  and  tested. I bred only two A2 bulls. 05:39 And the calves I tested and I got lucky in the sense that even though if I had 50 % chance, I ended up getting mostly A2 cuffers. So my herd became fully A2 very quickly.  And then I just continued breeding to A2. So from there, we just went off with A2 cows. Okay.  I'm going to say this for me.  I would get nothing done if I had a herd of jerseys because I love their faces. 06:07 And all I want to do is hang out with them  and kiss their noses and stroke their ears. They are so pretty. Sure. I'm biased too. mean, know every breed has their perks and they definitely have their place, but I'm biased too. mean, the jerseys are just super pretty and they're just so curious. mean, they just have personality and they can be different too. mean, some are definitely nicer than others, but generally speaking, they're just  so like  part of the family kind of temperament, know. 06:37 They always look like they're going to be really sweet. I'm not saying that every single Jersey cow is sweet, but they look like they're going to be very sweet critters. And they are. I mean, I think I've had ones with my kids were a little, it's like before I could stop them, you know, they would call them on the cow or crawl under the cow. I was like, Oh my goodness, you know, you shouldn't be doing this to a cow, but you know, this particular half-puff, she didn't care. Yeah. It's just that, um, you know, some of them are just really gentle. Some of them not so much. mean, most, most of ours are really. 07:06 well-behaved.  I don't keep cows that aren't, but some are really friendly and they will be like upping your business.  Yeah, yeah. I would love to meet your cows. I think that it's so fun. I don't have any cows. We don't have room.  If we had room and I was about 20 years younger,  we probably would have cows.  Right. And I will say this to people starting out,  cows are a digger. 07:33 You know, I never had any intention of having the amount of cows I have right now.  It just kind of like every time a pepper was born, was like, I cannot sell her. You know, I have to keep her. And then I end up with, you know, 40 something calves. I'm going, okay, I got a problem.  Well, if you're that smitten with the Jersey breed, you must be just absolutely beside yourself  in love with the babies every time there's babies. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. They're just so cute. But I mean, they just look like a little deer. Yeah, I 08:02 I have a hard time every time I need to make a decision to keep one or not keep one, know.  Yeah.  Yep. And I can't believe that you remember when you could get  a calf for $5. Do you know how much a calf is going for right now? Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. I just sold one this morning. I  mean, it's just a jersey bull. This one I sold, so they're not bringing as much, but the beef couch right now. Oh my goodness. They're, yeah, it's crazy what they're bringing right now. 08:28 Yeah, just a couple of years ago, I think you could still get a beef calf for like 50 bucks.  Right.  Right now. I heard the other day over a thousand dollars. Right. Nope. That's basically the heifers are going for  a thousand and upwards.  That's a hell of an investment.  Right. Right. And I mean, haven't, you just a few years ago in the time that I was running a herd chair, if I sold an adult cow that was like 08:58 kind of a, you could say a call, you know, maybe when she wasn't breeding or whatever, but she was a nice, fat, healthy, otherwise cow. When you sold her, you would be getting like $200. I mean, I sold more than one that I got $200 for. And I'm like, those days are so gone. Yeah. And I'm really afraid that the days of owning cows and steers or bulls is coming to an end because I keep reading about how the 09:26 I'm going to say bovines. The bovine herds across the United States are shrinking because farmers can't afford to keep them. Right. Right. And that is a concern because it's so, mean, buying replacements.  mean, initially it was like, you know, if a cow, if you didn't want a particular cow or there's something wrong with her, you just bought another, you know, it wasn't, it wasn't a big deal. But right now it's like, you have to, you know, you have to like take out a loan to buy.  You know, they're so expensive, especially if you're trying to buy a nice one. 09:56 Yeah, it's hard to get started in the business right now if you don't already have cows because they're so expensive to get. Yeah, if you're not part of a family that  is raising steers or dairy

  8. Jul 24

    La Terre Farms

    Today I'm talking with Connor at La Terre 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 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. 00:29 Today I'm talking with Connor at La Terre Farms in Mississippi. Good morning, Connor. How are you? Good morning. I'm good. Enjoying this breeze out here. So. Yeah. My first question is usually, how's the weather? So how is the weather in Mississippi today? Honestly, it's very nice.  We've been in the hundreds, I think, the past month.  So it's kind of nice to have a breeze out here.  Would you believe that they're suggesting, and I use that term with a lot of hope,  suggestion. 00:59 that it's going to be 104 here on Sunday in Minnesota. Oh my gosh.  Yeah. Wow. Minnesota. Yeah. Yep. I'm praying that the forecast changes between now and then because  I keep saying this. shouldn't keep saying it, but I'm going to anyway. I hate high summer. I hate being hot.  I would rather it be minus 20 out because when you, you,  when it's that cold, you can put on a whole 01:28 megaton of clothes and be warm. But when it's so super hot, you cannot be any more naked than naked.  You know, that is very true.  I must prefer cold weather too, honestly. So the springtime is my favorite summertime.  I absolutely hate farming. Yeah, it's terrible. Yeah, I don't I hate saying that because summertime can be wonderful. 01:55 but not when we get these crazy swings in temperatures. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. Yeah. Now you were saying that that tropical storm is moving toward you or you're just getting some of the side effects of it. I think they're just getting, honestly, I have not kept up to date with it. My wife has. She keeps me sane. So she keeps up to date with everything. I just stay in here and look pretty, you know. 02:23 Well, that's a nice job to have  and your stress levels probably stay a little bit lower because of it.  Alrighty, so it's a beautiful day in Minnesota. It was 57 degrees at five o'clock this morning  after a couple weeks of really muggy, really hot weather. So 57 felt like 27  and I was so happy  to feel a little bit of a chill in the air. I was like, wow, that's novel. 02:52 It was it was lovely. I was drinking my coffee with the window open on the front porch and I was like,  oh, that's good.  And it's also sunny today and there's a slight breeze  and it's just perfect July weather for Mary Evelyn. For me, this is great.  It's going to start going back up tomorrow. So I'm going to enjoy today for all it is worth.  I would love to hear a little bit about yourself and what you guys do at La Terre Farms.  Yes, ma'am. So. 03:21 Um, around COVID, um, I had a, job. worked at a science museum and I was a tour guide. And by COVID, uh, we kind of had like a shutdown period, you know, just like everyone did. And so I started to hang out with mom and dad up here a lot, just cause we kind of isolate ourselves from everywhere. Um, and I just, you know, I just wanted to be with mom and dad, make sure they're okay. Um, you're a good son. I try. Um, 03:51 And so we were sitting on top of our barn at the time. Um,  and I was just looking out and I'm like, man, this place is beautiful. Like, why aren't we doing anything up here? You know, like, yeah, it's family land  and  it's beautiful, but I really think I could do something.  And fun fact, my grandpa is actually, was actually a farmer. So we have land in Tallulah, Louisiana  and  my great-grandpa was a 04:21 So it runs in the family. Now I'm not growing cotton or soybeans or any of the hard stuff. ah I'm sticking with flowers. But I just had like an inkling to start farming for some reason. just had like a, I wanted to do something on my own  and thankfully mom was on board with me and now she's stuck with it so she can't escape. uh And so we just  looked up the most profitable 04:51 crop to grow. And number one was lavender. Yeah. And then number two was cut flowers. And I was like, well, I'll be down. And so we started doing that. From the beginning, we didn't know what we were doing. So there's been a lot of trial and error, you know, a lot of failures, but honestly, that's the best teacher, you know, so. And so we sell the florist, we do events up here at the farm at the house and pavilion. 05:20 And we, we, uh, sell the New Orleans floors. sell the base and Lewis force I dell. So we, we never stop, honestly.  That's awesome. have a question about your lavender.  Oh, yeah. Do you, you, um, sell that to places that distill the oil? Um, so I honestly, in the summer, just in heat in general, in our zone,  um, throughout the whole season. 05:50 The only lavender that I know of that can grow down here is Spanish lavender. Um, and I have tried to grow lavender. Uh, unfortunately it does not work out for me. So like, example, we're in Nucleus and Lizzy Anthus, which I grew this year. And I I saw your, your video of it. It's beautiful. Yeah. So I used to, uh, I gave it to the florist. That's why he kind of saw the. 06:20 the last bit of it. But I had heads three times that size. So it's very exciting because it's a really hard flower to grow. Yeah. And then ranunculus, same thing, I would love to grow that but each each state has their own zones are each, you know, state has their own zones. So we're zone nine B nine A, think. And so we can't grow ranunculus. 06:48 We're a 4B here in Minnesota, at least where I am. Yeah.  Yeah. you probably could peonies and all that.  Oh, darling.  I have so many peonies. It's my favorite flower on earth.  I have  like 50, 50, I don't know.  I don't want to say plants because they spread. I started out with about 20 and now I have at least 50 clumps of peony bushes. 07:18 along my driveway. And that's beautiful. Are you interested in the colors? Oh yeah. No, I honestly, love, I love peanuts too. So yeah, have yellow and baby pink and Hello Kitty pink. I don't know if you know what that is, but  Hello Kitty  is a popular little girl's thing. And this color is, is associated with Hello Kitty. So I call it Hello Kitty pink  and 07:47 I have burgundy, have yellow, have coral, and I have white,  like pure white. And every spring,  Connor telling you, it gets to May 1st and I'm just looking at these peony shoots coming up.  And I'm like, please don't get frosted. Cause if they get frosted, they do not bloom. The little buds just freeze and turn black. And this year we had hundreds of blooms. was so beautiful. You know, speaking of frosts. 08:17 You know, it's funny, people are like, man, I wish I could do what you do. You know, I wish I grow flowers and walk through the flowers and  just enjoy the beautiful air. I'm like, do you understand  what goes through on how to grow flowers? You know, it's truly, it's a very delicate situation with flowers, you know? And so like I have to constantly remind myself to keep going. 08:46 Cause like in the summertime, I ain't cranky. I'm like, I don't want to do this. I'm out here. I don't want to do it, but I'm out here. So I had to constantly remind myself like, man, I got a good life, you know, but once they start growing and once they start blooming, that's when I say I have a good life. Yeah. I am constantly saying on this podcast that growing produce or raising animals is a crap shoot. 09:14 It is a wonderful life, but you've got to be equipped to deal with highs and lows because it's not always in the middle. No, it's it never is. You know, actually we lost. Sorry, I'm just rambling here, but we lost. Let's see. So the big snowstorm that happened in Mississippi a couple of years back, definitely suffocated all of our flowers and we're like, oh my gosh, they were all black and we're like, oh, this is terrible. 09:44 And sure enough, snow is a great insulator for  anything, honestly, but especially for flowers. they came up and like, were just gigantic. And I was like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. But any other time with just a normal frost,  ice or anything, they're dead.  So.  frost is a different phenomena than snow. Yeah. uh 10:13 It's pretty humbling experience, but you know, I love what I do.  And by the way, my grandpa was a farmer, so it's just in the blood.  And I to hang out with my parents. So that was nice. Yeah. So you were saying that your mother is stuck with this now.  I'm guessing your mom is totally fine with this. Oh yeah. No, she, uh, honestly, she keeps me going because, uh, she's always thinking about the next step. Whereas I,  she calls me, uh, 10:43 was it, um, where I just walk around, I go at my own pace, which drives her nuts. Um, which is a very slow pace, by the way. And she's like, we gotta hurry up. And so she's thinking like 20 steps ahead where I'm, you know, steadily just making the beds and, know, do no labor. I'm like, man, I don't know what I'd do without you. You gotta teach me your ways. She's a, she's like Yoda. Yes, she is definitely Yoda. 11:12 Her name is Terry.  Yes, ma'am. Terry Wiley. Shout out to Terry. What a great mom. And what a great really what a great mom for supporting you in this idea. Y

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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

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  • Creator
    Mary E Lewis
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    457
  • Rating
    Clean
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    © Copyright 2023 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    A Tiny Homestead

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