Today I'm talking with Mimi at Wholesome Meadow Farms.   www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots  Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters.  I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Mimi at Wholesome Meadow Farms in Florida. Good morning, Mimi. How are you? Good morning. How are you? I'm good. How's the weather in Florida? It's nice. It's fall weather  and it's  not hot. It's really nice and cool. 00:27So we're really excited about the  new weather right now.  I'm in Minnesota and it is as gray as it can possibly be and it is cold and they're saying rain today. Well, it is still sunshine in Florida.  It's really nice at the farm with the nice cool weather coming in. It makes it much easier to work on the farm for sure. Oh, it always does. We love cool days in Minnesota in the summer because in the summer, 00:57It can get as hot as it gets in Florida and it can be just as muggy as it gets in Florida. So I understand what you're saying. um So when you say it's cool, like how cool is it there? 70,  65 to 70 right now. Okay. Well, we have had frost every morning for the last three mornings. So my definition of cool is a little bit colder than yours. Yes.  Yes. 01:23But I'm not mad about it. Fall is my favorite season. So I am tickled that we in mid fall. It's been beautiful.  All right. So tell me a little bit about yourself and wholesome whatever the heck it is. I forget the name because I've been sick. I'm sorry. Tell me about your place.  No problem.  started the place. I grew up in a farm back home and I really wanted to go back into the farm. We started uh a little homestead. 01:52but the region in Vernon and it's about 11 acres  and we have a few animals. have goats, we have a lot of chickens and we do have  some pigs and we're growing, you know, steadily growing  our flock and we're excited about it because it's pretty flat uh area. It has different, um we kind of parsing in our four  areas region so we can move our flock. 02:22around ah and then we also putting  on a putting on one of the lot a house there so we're excited about that to be permanently at the farm and  operating so  it's uh that's overall uh the farm we also building a pond  so that we can have our ducks  and  other you know animals being able to enjoy a pond as well. 02:50Very nice. So what made you want to get into this? Because I grew up on a farm, I wanted to always go back to that root and being able to raise my own animals and being able to grow vegetables or food source in a natural way like it used to be, know, non-GMO, pasture-raised animals so that 03:19we have that wholesomeness and then being able to have more of um a source of food that  we love raising and being able to. uh 03:36offer that same type of uh experience to other people too and enjoy a natural made food source. oh so  I'm glad that you mentioned that because not everyone who has a homestead or a farm sells their products that they produce from the farm. But is that was that the plan when you started this?  Yes and no. We also have uh some of our people, the people I know in community 04:06They also expressed the want to have naturally, you know,  a  reliable food. So we started  selling  our uh products to some friends and family and then expanding now to the other market. So that's how it falls from,  you know,  being able to share the things that we oh 04:35we raise  and then trying to expand it to  a bigger market right now.  Okay. So that leads me to my next question. Do people come to your place to buy your produce and your other products or do you sell it like a farmer's market or are you looking to get into grocery stores?  Some people do come at the farm to pick up the  items. I

Today I'm talking with Rebecca at AQuack AndaCluck Farm.   www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots  Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Rebecca at a Quack and a Cluck farm in Illinois. Good morning, Rebecca. How are you?  Good morning. Doing good. Good. Well, how's the weather there? Because it's been raining since last night here in Minnesota. Well, we didn't get rain until this morning and now it's drizzling  and cold. 00:28Yeah, and I hate to sound like a farmer, but we need the rain, so I guess it's okay. Yeah, we definitely do.  Definitely. It's really dry. It's been dry. It's needed. um Okay, so the first question I have for you is how you came up with a quack and a cluck for the name.  You know, honestly, 00:51I sat and I thought about it for a very long time.  And one thing that  I did was, you know, kind of come up with some names and I Google search just to make sure, you know, nobody else had any of them. didn't want to, you know, take somebody else's name.  And it just kind of hit me. I'm like, well, we got chickens and we got ducks. They make noises. There we go.  And  so I just, it just kind of came together. It worked out great. 01:20I  love it. And the only thing that's hard for me as the podcast host is that I have to make sure I pronounce  cluck very carefully. Yeah. Yeah. There was another lady who had a name like yours and it was something it had clucking in it.  And I I practiced for a whole day in my head and out loud saying clucking. So I didn't screw it up. uh Yeah. You know, and it 01:50It only takes just a little bit of a tweak in there for it to sound like something completely different. Yeah. And that's the one word that I never ever say on the podcast because I don't want people to be alienated. So,  right. So every time I find somebody with a name that ends in UCK, I'm like, OK, Mary Evelyn, be careful of how you say this word. Right. Yes. Very enunciate.  Yes. So is that chicks that I hear in the background? It is. Yes. 02:20um This is our first year  of doing fall hatches. um I'm not so sure that I like doing it. uh Of course, it's partly because my chickens are like,  no, we're out. So  it's been kind of random on what's hatching and what we're able to hatch.  Okay. 02:45Well, it's a lovely sound. think that chick peeps are beautiful to hear. do not,  I'm gonna step off to the side for a second.  The peeps that they sell at Easter,  I hate them. I don't like them. Every year I try one and I go, God, those are gross.  But  baby chicken peeps, the sound are just beautiful. So. Yes, I agree. And  on that side note of yours,  I do not like those peeps. 03:15I want to like them and my son always ends up getting some because he loves them and he's like try again so I eat one and I'm like it's just straight sugar it's gross. They're cute they are cute I'll give them that it's just that texture is just I can't get past that.  either I don't like them and my husband just laughs at me he's like you love marshmallows. 03:42And I'm spoiled. I have had homemade marshmallows before. Homemade marshmallows are fantastic.  And Peeps got nothing on them.  No, no. And once you have the homemade marshmallows, you can't even look at it or even taste, you know, the store-bought marshmallows the same. They just don't taste the same to me. No, they absolutely do not. There is a place up in Duluth, I think it is. I interviewed the lady that owns it and she makes homemade marshmallows and she sent 04:12I actually ordered some from her. had to try them.  And she sent me a package and I opened them the day I got them and they were gone. There were like 12  in the bag. And I ate pr

Today I'm talking with Susan at Momma Dragon's Homestead.   www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots  Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Susan at Mama Dragon's Homestead in Maryland, of all places. Good morning, Susan, how are you?  Good morning, I'm doing well. How are you? Well, let's be honest, you and I are both coming off of a two-week sickness. And if I sound rough, it's because I have had the most 00:26ridiculously miserable head cold upper respiratory thing  since two Tuesdays ago. And  how long have you had it? It's been about the same. I'm on week three and  doing so much better than I was before.  My tonsils decided that they were going to  get huge on me. So  but it's something that my kids brought home for sure.  Yeah, my kid went to see his girlfriend and she had been sick and I didn't know she'd been sick. 00:54And I think he brought it home from her place. So I'm kind of  mildly displeased with him,  but I love him. And so I'm just like, eh, it could have been my husband bringing it home from work. can't find anybody to blame. I just have to be miserable.  So  if  Susan sounds snorky or I sound snorky, that's why.  And listener, if you are smart, 01:19try to make sure you wash your hands and if you feel okay about it wear a mask when you go out in public because it is going around. Yeah it is. It's gross you do not want this. It has been so bad.  Okay so first off I'm so happy that you're you're well enough to chat with me  and second off why is it mama dragons homestead? um I  really really love dragons. um 01:47I was definitely uh kind of a horse girl growing up.  But then like in middle school, was like, you know what? I'm going to just make these look like dragons now. dragons  have just been something that  I've  loved for most of my life.  And I'm an artist as well. So I draw a lot of dragons. uh I  didn't want uh my homestead to be uh 02:17a name that I already have online elsewhere or anything. I tried to make it kind of, well, I love dragons. So I'm a mama. Here's dragons. Mama dragon.  Well, it's attention getting because I saw it on Facebook and I was like, hmm, what is this? Does she raise dragons? Do they exist?  My kids, my kids are all grown. But if you had figured out a way to find dragon eggs, hatch them and raise dragons, they would have been all over that.  Oh, if I 02:46you'll be the first to know because I'm all about that.  Yeah, the book that got my youngest hooked on reading  was Aragon and he talked about dragon eggs incessantly for months after he read that book.  I actually have read that one too. think I was um in middle school as well when I read that one. ah But my first uh big dragon series book was Anna Caffrey's Dragon Riders of Fern.  Mine too. 03:14love that series. Absolutely love it.  Me too. And what I didn't know when I started, the first one I read, we're going to get into books for a minute, was The White Dragon because I didn't know there were other books before that one. And that's the one that got me sucked in. And then  as a young adult, I learned that there were so many more. And then I think she's died now. think  Emma Caffrey has passed. So there will be no more Pern books. And I'm kind of sad about it. 03:44She did collaborate with her son. So her son has, they've got books that they've done together and some that he's done. So there's still some Anne McCaffrey magic out there. I may have to dig into it. I haven't read one in a long time. Okay. Well, anyone who's a reader and loves dragons and loves words, go find the Pern series because it is fabulous. So I don't want to get into books too much because I am a word nerd a

Today I'm talking with Paula at Hens, Hooves & Honey Farms. You can follow on Facebook as well. Sean's book - Exit Farming: Starving the Systems That Farm You   www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead   Muck Boots  Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters.  I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Paula at Hens, Hoves, and Honey Farms  in California. Good afternoon, Paula. How are you? Good afternoon. How are you? I'm good. It looks like it's sunny there. Oh, yeah. It's nice and warm down here today. Oh, well, I think it's not even 50 degrees in Minnesota where I am. 00:29Oh, wow, that's cold already. Yeah, fall is on the way. It's really sunny though. So if you don't think about it too hard, it still looks like summertime outside. So tell me about yourself and what you guys do at your place. So my husband and I bought some land about 15 years ago. 00:54It kind of started, my husband at the age of 32 was diagnosed with cancer  and  the cause of it from  what the doctors could understand was more environmental causes. Basically the water, the food, all the stuff, all the toxins and everything. So we kind of decided that we wanted to grow our own food, just kind of live a healthier lifestyle, so to speak. 01:23Um, so we got some land and we started small with cattle and pigs and then just slowly over the years,  um, we've just kind of expanded things and that's kind of how we got started.  How long ago was this? About 15 years ago. And how's your husband now? He's great. He is cancer free and has been,  I mean, since it went away about 01:5214 years ago.  Awesome. So whatever you guys did helped. Yes, hopefully. It never comes back. Good. It looks like you have a lot going on. So do you grow produce? Do you grow animals? Do you grow both?  Well, right now we grow animals.  We have some fruit trees and stuff growing that we've been slowly planting over the years to just kind of get everything ready. uh 02:20We don't actually live on that farm that we are starting, but we literally make the drive every single weekend. We live in Southern California and we bought up in Northern California. Oh, okay. We have a foreman that lives on the property  and he takes care of the animals during the week. then usually  Jeff and I try to make a three or a four day weekend trip out of it. And we drive up and down. 02:49and help take care of the animals, make sure everything's up to date, make sure they have their food, their pens are secured, run all the errands, and then we get to play with them and have some fun.  So  it's like work and vacation mixed together? Yes. Okay, what kind of animals do you have there? So right now we have mini Hereford cows,  and then we have our pigs. 03:18which we have uh Magna-Listas. ah And then we have about 40 chickens.  And we've got what else? Oh, we have a lot of Nigerian goats that we um have started breeding about two years ago.  We kind of dabbled into the goat world. We've always just done the pigs, the chickens and the cows and up by our property. We have a lot of poison oak, which my husband is highly allergic to. oh 03:48We decided to bring in some goats to help try to clear it and then we just kind of fell in love with the breed and we slowly grown them over the last two years. So um now we breed them and sell them. 04:06Okay. So I was going to ask you if the animals earn their keep. The goats do. Oh yes, the goats do and the, uh, the cattle do as well. So we kind of run them through a cycle. We have, let the grass kind of grow back. We let the cows go through and graze first, and then we'll kind of run the goats behind them to pick up cause cows are kind of a little bit more picky about what they eat. Yeah. And

Today I'm talking with Lulu at Burrow & Bloom. You can follow on Facebook as well. Sean's book - Exit Farming: Starving the Systems That Farm You   www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots  Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters.  I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Lulu at Burrow and Bloom in Bismarck, North Dakota. Good morning, Lulu. How are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm good. How's the weather there?  Really cloudy,  really humid over here. 00:25Oh, well, it's really nippy here in Minnesota this morning for the first time in over a week.  Thank God. It's been very, very hot this past week. Yeah, we should be getting some good weather this weekend though. So I'm excited about that. I'm really happy for you. It's supposed to rain here this weekend and that's okay too, because we could use it. And  that sounds really funny coming out of my face because, you know, I didn't grow up as a homesteader. 00:53And so every time I say we need the rain, I sound like a farmer. totally understand. So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do, Lulu.  So my name is Lulu and I'm the owner of Furrow and Bloom.  And  I started a micro  farmstead um in little  North Dakota.  What we kind of do is like we grow 01:23vegetables. um We raise rabbits. That was how we started on a fourth of an acre. And um we recently started to reach out to the community and provide some of our products. And there was a demand for a refillery store. So we started kind of taking on the responsibility of that. So we're just kind of growing and  taking orders like that. Awesome. 01:52And I know that you actually produce almost everything that you put out in the world. And so how in the world do you have time for all of that?  So I have to really sit down and make time for it.  I work  as an administrative assistant for a neuropathic doctor here in town. So that takes up a majority of my time, obviously. 02:19Um, but then I do have a passion for  baking. That's kind of how I got into the whole homesteading life.  And I learned how to make sourdough probably about four or five years ago now.  Um,  so because I enjoy it so much, I make time for it. It started off just  with me baking breads for our family. But then I started gifting it out. People started to really want it. And now. 02:48I um sell that as part of our farmstead. 02:54Okay. And what else do you make and sell? So I actually sell ravioli. So when it comes to food, it's bread and raviolis. um That's mainly what I put out and jams. And I try to source all the things here in town as much as I can. And also just like use the community  as  a, um I guess like a support system. Cause a lot of stuff we actually get 03:23donated or we go and pick up when people no longer need something or just want to get rid of it. So we do use a lot of things like that oh to make our products. Okay, so here's my big question for you. In Minnesota, we have a lot of regulations on  how we can do things like you're doing. 03:46And in our case, we can't really do pop-ups at businesses unless there's more than three people who are going to be involved, three businesses, three pop-up businesses at the business. Is that how it is for you or can you just like get hold of a business and say, can I use your parking lot for five hours? Yeah. So the laws,  the cottage laws specifically here in North Dakota and Bismarck kind of changed over the years when I first started out. 04:14Um, cottage bakers were not allowed to bake at all. Like there was no cottage food, um, really allowed without getting permits and pulling all the right licenses. It has now kind of  become, I guess, more accessible because there's such a big farm  l

Today I'm talking with Sean at Carlton Hill Farm. You can follow on Facebook as well. Sean's book - Exit Farming: Starving the Systems That Farm You   www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots  Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Sean at Carlton Hill Farm in North Carolina, is that right? West Virginia.  West Virginia. I'm in Minnesota. I am a Yankee. It is all the same to me. Sorry about that.  No problem at all.  Good morning, Sean. How are you?  I'm doing well. Good morning to you as well. How are you? 00:28I'm good. I'm going to start this off by saying I have a head cold. So if there's sniffles in the recording, it's me and I'm sorry.  How is the weather in uh West Virginia?  It's honestly pretty good. It was pretty dry and hot there for a while.  we last week, I think we got like an inch and a half of rain one day and weather's weather's starting to cool down in the mornings and everything. Everything's starting to feel like normal fall again. How's the weather up there? 00:54It's a little nippy. I think it's maybe 60 degrees and it's breezy and bright and sunny.  Oh, wow. Yeah, we've had a couple cool mornings dipped down into the high  30s. I actually had to start a fire the other morning. So it was it's it we've had some brisk ones, but overall, it's pretty nice. Yeah, even if I wanted to start a fire right now, I can't.  Our furnace is dead and we have a wood boiler, wood burning boiler  that hooks into our furnace with a blower. 01:23And so right now it's about 65 degrees in my house and probably will be for a couple more days, but then we're getting it fixed. Oh nice, well that's good. And just in time for the cool season.  Oh, of course, of course. That's what always happens. If the furnace is going to go out, it's going to be  in the fall.  And if the AC is going to go out, it's going to be in the spring. Yep, that's exactly right. 01:46Yeah, exactly. Because Murphy is an optimist and God love Murphy.  I have bad things to say about Murphy, so we're not going to go there.  All right. So  tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do. Yeah. So ah I'm an author and farmer from West Virginia. I farm a one acre property with my wife.  We farm rabbits and chicken and chickens and quail. um Prior to that, I spent 12 years working for the federal government  and uh 02:14we bought this property, started farming on it to feed ourselves first and  then we sell anything that's left over to the community and then we also have some giving initiatives where we give back, whether it be farm products or uh pantry items uh to the people that need it most in our community. Fantastic. So are you strictly rabbit, chicken and quail or do you have a garden too? 02:41We do have a garden. So we  grow a lot of produce, we grow a lot of fruit. We use all of our rabbit manure as the only fertilizer for  all of our crops and everything. So the rabbit manure is kind of where life begins for everything. It feeds everything that feeds us, including the rabbits. And it's kind of a  closed system. But yeah, we also grow wildflowers and um any sales of  things like wildflowers. 03:07A portion of those proceeds go to purchase pantry items that stock are giving initiative, which is called Farm for Better. 03:15Awesome does farm for better have uh a website or a Facebook page or anything?  Yeah, so it's it's just part of our normal website, which is CarltonHillsFarm.com slash farm for better Okay, cool because I'm sure that people want to go check it out because they're gonna be like poor Where can I find stuff about that? um Okay, so tell me tell me how you got in this because I looked at your website a

Today I'm talking with Deborah at Sproutside the Box. You can follow on Facebook as well.   www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots  Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Deborah at Sproutside the Box in North Carolina. Good morning, Deborah. How are you? Good morning. I'm great. How are you? How's the weather in North Carolina today? Actually, it's cooler than it has been. It's been staying right around 86. 00:27And we're getting a cold front on Northeastern.  So  it's a little bit cooler today, probably mid seventies,  but the sun's out. So  no,  actually it's not supposed to start raining until I think late Friday  into Saturday. And then Saturday is supposed to be, you know, pretty heavy rain. oh My daughter lives in Florida and she's on the Miami side. So I think she's probably going to be okay. 00:57but if she was on the other side, she'd probably be getting rain right now.  Okay, so tell me a little bit about yourself and Sproutside the Box. Well, my sister and I started the business um back in February  and our initial thought was to purchase a farm  and tower farm. So we purchased a tower  and started growing aeroponically and 01:26It was just amazing the vegetables  that the tower produces. so  then I thought, well, you know, it only had like 28 ports.  So unless you purchase a quantity,  you really wouldn't have anything em much to say for like a business or a farm stand. And so  at that point, we decided we needed something a little bit. 01:54faster with a faster turnaround time  and we came upon a website  for microgreens through Donnie DeLillo for  Donnie Greens microgreens.  Anyway, so we took that class  and we began growing microgreens  and it's evolved rapidly. um We deliver to homes, we do home subscriptions  and 02:24So we deliver in a 30 mile radius and we also have,  we've branched out into salads. And so  now we have a big clientele for our salads  and it's just expanding from there. Right now we're actually looking for land so that we can put a tower farm and the microgreens  with a barn dominium on one spot. So that's where we're at today. 02:54So much fun. Okay, so I have questions. The tower garden is the thing where it's a bunch of tubes and they have holes in them and you put a thing in and it has dirt and then you put those seeds in the dirt. Is that how that works? No. Okay, tell me. With this one it has a base that holds the water with a pump and it has one tube with 03:23seven pots and each pot has four openings.  So  in our case, when we first got the tower, we didn't know how to grow seedlings. And so we purchased the seedlings with the tower.  And it came in one package one day, we put it together in a matter of 20 minutes, maybe tops.  And we have the seedlings in there in the pump going, you know, within 03:52a couple hours  and you add nutrients to it and then it's on a timer. So it  waters itself. You don't have to do anything.  that's pretty neat. What kind of space footprint does it take up? Like how tall, how wide? um It's probably, I would say six feet tall with everything. We also have a caster, um like a little 04:21bench that it sits on so that we can roll it around if we need to change positions for a better sun. And then it's probably about maybe two and a half feet around. So it doesn't take up much space. And you can have one in the house, they have a smaller version that goes in the house. But ours was out on our deck. And so we just grew from February to April. 04:51We just watched it grow. We went out and sat down and watched it grow. We were growing microgreens in the meantime  in the house,  but not outside. Do you buy your towers e

Today I'm talking with Matt Rosen at Cottage Foodie Con. You can follow on Facebook as well. "CottageFoodieCon will be an annual premier event dedicated to supporting and empowering small-scale food entrepreneurs operating under cottage food laws. This conference serves as a vital hub for cottage food producers, policymakers, educators, and industry professionals to connect, learn, and grow. Through a combination of keynote speeches, workshops, networking opportunities, and an exhibitor trade show. The conference will foster business development, regulatory compliance, and innovation in the cottage food sector." Use Promo Code: CFCON25 and get 25% OFF (expires 10/31/25) www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots  Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Matt  at The Cottage Foodie  in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.  Good morning, Matt, how are you? I'm doing fantastic, Mary. How are you?  Good. See what I did there? I didn't say your last name. Do you want to explain it really quick?  Yeah.  So I question my family. 00:26Lineage so whether or not they are pronouncing our last name correctly because  it's spelled just like Rosen R O S E N But it's actually pronounced rosine like there should be a Z in there or maybe two E's uh So yeah, so it's uh I respond to both  Okay. Hey you probably works to does  people  or hey cookie guy. That's what seems to be uh Most popular here over the last five or so years since I started my college food business, so 00:56Yeah. And uh your business is sergeant shortbread and it's really hard to screw that up. So  the spelling is a little tricky. A lot of people mix up the spelling of sergeant. went with the, uh of course, spending 23 years in the military. went with the military version of sergeant, not the S A R G E N T that some people want to spell it. But, uh, so it's easy to pronounce, hard to spell.  Yeah. I grew up thinking the English language was super simple. 01:26And then I looked at other languages and went, no, we're just as messy as everybody else's languages. So,  has been on my show twice, I think already. And he came back to chat with me this morning about the fact that  he  has spearheaded the Cottage Food Econ that's coming up in April of 2026. So tell me what you got going on, Matt. 01:52Yeah, so it's a cottage food conference  designed specifically for cottage foodies uh or cottage food entrepreneurs.  And the premise behind it  is like the classes and the sessions and everything about this conference is geared towards uh the business side of running a cottage food business. 02:15A lot of people ask me like, can you have a cottage food conference? Every state, how can it be national? Every state is different and  all these products. I'm like, easy. I'm just going to teach you the business side of running a cottage food business. And I'm not going to teach you how to make sourdough. You probably already know how to do that.  And I'm not going to teach you about the laws in Tennessee. You should already know those because you're a cottage food producer in Tennessee. If you're not from Tennessee, you could care less what the laws are in Tennessee. 02:44So yeah, so that's the premise behind uh the conference is that it's designed to help cottage food entrepreneurs with the business side of running a cottage food business. things like one of the classes is food photography using your iPhone.  As we all know as cottage food entrepreneurs, we  don't have enormous budgets to hire somebody to take professional pictures. So  just starting out,  we'll teach you how to do 03:13great pictures and it's taught by a photographer. oh So she's going to teach us how t

Today I'm talking with Erin at Erin's Acre. You can follow on Facebook as well. www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots  Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters.  I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Erin at Erin's Acre  in,  I want to say around Faribault, Minnesota. Good afternoon, Erin. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you doing, Mary? I'm doing good. Is Faribault close enough? Faribault is close enough, yes. We do have an example address. Cool. 00:26Alrighty, I know how the weather is because we're in the same state. It's been a lovely day. It is a lovely day. It's very warm for October 2nd. Yeah, I would just assume it not be, but we're going to have that next week, supposedly. So that would be nice. I see a 34 degree out there next week is a low.  So we are coming to an end.  Yeah, I saw that too. And I was like, well, there goes the good basil that's left in the garden.  Right.  And in my farm, uh my flowers run 00:56July, I guarantee July through September and you know, any extra days into October are just bonus for me.  The first, the first frost will take me out. I don't have, um, hoop, hoop tunnels or anything like that. I'm  everything's outside. And so that, that first frost will take me out and I grow a lot of dahlias. so usually by  the second week of October, I'm ready for, let's move on to the next,  the next phase here and start clean up and getting ready for next year.  Yes, ma'am.  Um, 01:25I have a question about dahlias, but I usually say, tell me a little bit about yourself and your place. But first the question about dahlias. Okay. When do you have to have those out of the ground? When do you have to dig the bulbs out? So after the first frost, you can start cleanup as far as, you know, cutting down the dead greenery stuff that's on the top. They do recommend a real hard freeze to put that tuber into the dormant state. And then you dig. 01:55You know, Minnesota weather in October  can be all over the place. It's freezing rain. We've had snow. I've had to dig snow off to dig the tail, your tubers up.  Um, but you know, a real hard freeze, um, is great. And then if you can get some warm days to do the digging and pull them up after that is the best.  And then the other question I have is, will they bloom  until the first frost or do they kind of have a life cycle where they're kind of done? They do slow down. think, um, you know, our temperatures. 02:24Those cooler nights  will slow them down and just the hours of daylight too.  And I'm sure you've noticed we're really losing daylight fast right now But they will keep going  I've got oh I've got one variety called Baron Katie and she is my first to bloom and my last she will Keep turning out blooms until the last  last last moment. Okay. Well, we grew dahlias two summers ago just as a  shit and giggles thing, you know  grins and giggles  and uh 02:54I  didn't love them as much as people seem to.  They were pretty, but they're not my thing. And so my husband said to me that September, October, he said, do want me to dig the bulbs out? And I said, nah,  I'm probably never going to grow them again. And he said, are you sure? And I said, yes. He said, what about the gladiola? It's because you have to dig gladiola bulbs out too. And that was the year we tried those too. And I said, nah, just leave them.  said,  you really like. 03:22He said, you really like perennials, don't you? said, yes, I do. They are a lot of work. Yeah. And we don't really have a good place to store them. I mean, I could probably figure it out, but I'm just like, it's expensive. It's an expensive hobby.  And I also wasn't really excited about the gall situation with, you know, if the

Today I'm talking with Emily at Tiffin Community Kitchen. You can follow on Facebook as well. www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots  Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00You're listening to a tiny homestead. The podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters.  I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Emily  at Tiffin Community Kitchen in Tiffin, Ohio. Good morning, Emily. How are you? I'm great. How are you?  I'm good. How's the weather in Ohio this morning? ah Wonderful. It's actually going to be 85 today. That's awesome. It's going to be 90 something in Minnesota. 00:29And I'm done. I'm going to be really happy to see this break this weekend. Yeah, it's time. It's October. It's time.  Okay, so tell me a little bit about yourself and what Tiffin Community, whatever it is, Okay. All right. So my name is Emily Reilly. um joined the, it's actually a nonprofit that runs the Community Kitchen, the Farmers Markets, and the Community Gardens. 00:57So it's Seneca County common ground and it's the nonprofit  and I'm the executive director of it. Um, I joined with them in January of this year. So I've only been with them for, was it like 10 months, 10 months now.  Um, so Aaron Gerlach, who is the reverend of the Episcopal church here, who started this whole program. Um, he had this huge vision. So once the kitchen was built, then they needed someone to. 01:26actually take what his vision was  and um actually start putting it into motion. So that's what I'm here to do.  So  I oversee the  community kitchen,  which is a our mission is to support  and improve local food ecosystems. um The kitchen has successfully delivered um kitchen training um and we're directly supporting our local workforce to help strengthen it. um 01:56I also run the farmers market, um which we operate every single weekend. It's awesome. It's fabulous. I love it.  I've never ran a farmers market until this time.  But my background is event services and hospitality. So it kind of falls  right in line with everything I enjoy doing. um And then the community gardens, which I'm not a gardener, but I oversee that part as well. And it's great because we're able to put  garden boxes throughout um Seneca County. 02:26So people can go and  grab their locally sourced tomatoes and cherry tomatoes and green peppers and  all that kind of stuff and not have to pay for it. Because sometimes it's not affordable for everybody and we always want to make everything affordable. So that's what the nonprofit kind of  is helping um develop in Seneca County.  That is fabulous. I love that all three parts  are one. 02:54you know, that they all feed each other. ah So where is Tiffin? What's the nearest big city? ah So it would be between Columbus and Cleveland. Okay. I have probably driven by Tiffin on my drives from Minnesota to Maine to see my parents.  Yep. So, okay.  Is Tiffin a small town? Is it a suburb? Is it, what is it? Yes. Tiffin is a small community.  It's a rural community. 03:22So, you know, you have Tiffin and then you have a bunch of rural towns around it. Like you have Hopewell and Bascom,  New Regal, Cary, Old Fort. So  Tiffin is like the center,  kind of like a little city um with all these smaller towns around it.  And we're a huge farming community.  So we are very rural.  It's cornfield after cornfield and then you hit soybeans. it's,  you know, that's why I love doing the farmer's markets because you have. 03:50all these locally sourced vegetables  and baked goods that are coming in um that you  sometimes don't get ah in the cities. I lived in Columbus for eight years, loved it, but I miss living in a rural environment. Yeah, I can't imagine living in a big city again. I don't ever want to if I don't have to. um So  if it's a rural area, then 04:19How is

Today I'm talking with Marissa at Careful Creations Bake Shop. You can follow on Facebook as well. www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots  Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Marissa  at Careful Creations Bake Shop in  Mankato, Minnesota. Good afternoon, Marissa. How are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm good. What a beautiful day we're having in Minnesota today. Oh gosh, yeah. I see that they're predicting snow the first four or five days of November. oh 00:29So I mean I'm used to that with just moving back from Sioux Falls. We barely got snow last year. So this will be  a nice change for us Yeah, the last two winters have not been too bad for snow in Minnesota Just so you know, so you may luck out again and not have a whole lot of Oh,  man, my youngest children will be disappointed with no snow then 00:54Yeah, I don't know. This weather's been nuts. And that's why I always start the podcast off with, how's the weather? But because you're right down the road for me, I was like, oh, it's a gorgeous day for both of us. Yeah. So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do. So I am 28. I'm married. I'm a military wife. I have four kids. My husband and my eight-year-old daughter both have 01:24tree nut allergies. My eight-year-old,  also has sunflower allergies.  my goal has always been to  make the environment safe for them. And  when we go to the store,  we can't really buy any baked goods because everything has some sort of manufactured on or near 01:53nuts, then 90 % of store products do have sunflower of some sort. creating my own bakery company and business has been a dream come true because now I can keep my loved ones safe and other people's loved ones safe. love that you would not believe how many people I have talked to in the last two years. 02:21who had a need for themselves, figured out how to fill that need and then were like, oh, I can help other people who have the same need. I love everybody in this community so much.  Yeah, it's a whole new ball game for me, but I am definitely excited to be able to  provide those special dietary needs for  my clientele and customers. 02:48Mm-hmm. So how have you been getting the word out because you just started the business a little bit ago? So  this morning at about five o'clock, we actually launched  our website that is also  on my  Facebook page.  We have  a public group. We have a public page.  And also here in Mankato, we have been taking advantage  of the free public 03:17bulletin boards and we have putting flyers out as well. And then Friday we receive our business cards so we'll be able to hand those out as well. Awesome. Tell me the website address if you know it off the top of your head now and then you can tell me at the end too. It is www.careful-creations-bake-shop.com. Okay, awesome. And I'll ask you again at the end so people can catch it at the end too. 03:48So, so what are you  I know nothing about tree nut allergies or sunflower allergies because  I haven't had that in my family at all. So  are you just avoiding making things with nuts or have you found some kind of substitution for them? So  we completely avoid them altogether.  There are  things where we do substitute. So if like it is something for example 04:16My favorite thing to make  is butter chicken, but traditional butter chicken requires cashews,  and that is the deadliest for my husband. So  when I make it, I actually leave it out completely. I just add a little bit of extra butter to make it a little nicer. Butter makes everything better. Oh yes.  But  most of the time we just avoid. 04:43If there are recipes where we need to substitute, we usually

Today I'm talking with Ruby at Red Feather Farm. You can follow on Facebook as well. www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots  Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Ruby at Red Feather Farm in Ohio. Good morning, Ruby. How are you? Good. How are you?  I'm good. How's the weather in Ohio this morning?  It's actually kind of chilly, but sunshiny, so I'll take it. At least it's not 100 degrees. Yeah, we're looking at 90 tomorrow or Saturday in Minnesota. Oh  man. We had that over the... 00:29past weekend and it was miserable. I'm so excited for fall. Me too. And I'm going to update everybody on the weather here and then I'll tell you why I me too on fall and then I get questions. The weather here is bright and sunny and I think it's 65 degrees and there's a light breeze, but they're saying hot and really windy all weekend, which means that a lot of the stuff we wanted to get done outside isn't going to happen because we can't do it with high wind. Oh, great. 00:58So indoor things this weekend, which is good because we have lots of indoor things to take care of because it's end of summer season. You know how this goes, right?  Oh, yes. Yeah. And ah the reason I said me too is because fall is my absolute favorite season.  am  so excited to get into soup season and sweater season and candle season. I'm thrilled. Oh, me too. That's my favorite. I love soup.  It's so easy too. 01:25Yeah, I was looking to see if we had any canned beans, not like we canned them, but store-bought canned beans, because I was thinking chili sounded good next week.  And uh we don't have any, but we have the beans in a bag, you know, the dry beans.  So I will be soaking beans at some  point next week so we can make chili and cornbread, because that sounds wonderful. Oh, yes.  I'm ready, ma'am. 01:50I'm so ready. All right. So tell me about yourself, a little bit about yourself and about, um, red feather farm. Well, my name is Ruby and me and my husband started red feather farm. I'd say somewhere like 2015. And basically it started out with, we named it after we raised red Angus beef cattle and we raised boar goats. both red. And then we raised all kinds of poultry. I. 02:19pastured them and sold them that way to customers.  And we've kind of evolved a little bit and I've completely gone in a different direction. But basically now I guess you could call me a homesteader. I think most of my followers on social media know I hate that word because nobody knows what it means. But  we have dove into basically producing all of our own food for our family and some other families and 02:46Red Feather Farm is now just kind of my social media presence  where I am teaching and trying to empower people that are either just waking up and trying to escape the matrix of being dependent on grocery stores  or people that have been doing it a little, a long time like me. And just be encouraged and know that this is a great life. It's hard. You've got to be willing to work hard  and preserving your own food and growing it is not that scary. It's not that serious and we got to quit being afraid of it. 03:16So it's kind of, it's been kind of fun doing this social media thing and teaching other people. I've taught a lot of people how to can and all that good stuff. yeah, that's okay. Fantastic. And you're right. It's, it's not hard to preserve food  or it's not scary to preserve food or any, or make soap or any of the things that we do as homesteaders,  but it is hard work and it's not convenient. And the reason that 03:46people like stores is because it's convenient. You go, you buy the thing you need. You don't have to buy the stuff to make

Today I'm talking with Andrea at The Forbidden Farm. You can follow on Facebook as well. www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots  Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Andrea at The Forbidden Farm in New Jersey. Good morning, Andrea. How are you? Good morning. How are you today? I'm good. How's the weather in New Jersey this morning? It is actually bright and sunny and it was supposed to rain. Oh, well it's bright and sunny in Minnesota too, but it's nippy. I think it's maybe 57 degrees outside. 00:29Already? uh My brother was from  Minnesota. Oh cool. Where did he live?  Don't even tell me I went. Like one time went to the Mall of America, which was amazing.  That was it.  Okay. All right. Cool.  So he must have lived somewhere nearby. Yes. that's where the mall is. Yes. Yes. Okay.  All right. Awesome. So 00:55Tell me a little bit about yourself and why it's called the Forbidden Farm.  Well, you know, that's a little secret, so I got to keep that to myself.  Oh.  I  started out running an environmental company for 20 some years.  And when I left that company, I came home  and literally decided I really I just had a little temper tantrum, was stomping my feet and said, I'm going to get goats  and make soap. 01:25So that was May, June,  I  LLC'd my company. And then from there, I had my first event on, I started out in my, my sunroom,  um, making all my products and doing stuff out of the house with my middle son, Dean. He was the big help in the beginning. We made all our soap together, just him and I mostly. then 01:51we decided to branch into  like fairs, like wineries and stuff like that.  During this timeframe, my mother uh was diagnosed with dementia. So we had um set her up  in one of um the nursing homes actually ends up being right across the street from my now shop. ah And then she came to live with us. 02:19So I had to move the stuff into the basement. So we continued doing that. We had our first event in September of last year on a Sunday at Terra Nono Winery, which was amazing. It was so much fun, had a huge setup, never done anything like this. And that was on Sunday and Thursday, I ended up getting the shop, which was insane. All within like a three month timeframe. 02:48all again while my mother was going downhill.  So it was a huge struggle. ah family, everybody pulled together. uh Sadly, my mother passed and we buried her and then opened up the shop the next day, which was a struggle. But the community has been amazing. Like everybody, like I wear my heart on my sleeve. I don't hold anything back. 03:17authentically myself from the day you meet me, probably too much so, but you know, open book. I'm like that too. And right now I feel like there's a lot of wearing your hat on your sleeve because things are just so crazy in the world. really feel like you have to. Yeah. I talked to my daughter who lives in Florida for three hours on the phone the other day and 03:42We both teared up at least six times in three hours over things that we were talking about that are impacting the world right now. And I ended up with a terrible migraine from it because I'm one of those people where if I try to like stem the tears, it makes my head hurt. Me too. Oh my God. I was like, I love talking with her, but I wish it had been more positive. And we tried. We tried really hard to find positive lights in things, but it's just so hard right now. 04:10Sometimes you can't, it is hard.  So I  need to clarify here. So you have a shop where you sell things that you make, is that right? I have a shop and cafe. Okay. And then do you still have your goats?  I do.  Okay. So do you live on like  acreag

Today I'm talking with Jenn at Bright Acres Homestead. You can follow on Facebook as well. www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots  Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Jen at Bright Acres Homestead in Florida. Good morning, Jen. How are you? Good morning, Mary. Well, thanks. How about yourself? Well, I'm good.  I have a runny nose that's been driving me crazy. Oh, yes. And so if I'm sniffly, that's why. ahh How is the weather in Florida this morning? 00:29It is doing all right. We've had some really nice cooler mornings lately, but  by midday it's back in the  90s.  It's crazy. The swings are crazy.  Yeah. Where are you in Florida? We are just south of Tallahassee,  right on the Gulf.  Okay. Yep. So you get the ocean breezes. 00:49I kind of feel like the Gulf of Mexico or Gulf of America, whatever you want to call it these days, is like a dust bowl  for allergies. Okay. Yeah.  It's kind of wild. It's different than living on the East Coast for sure.  Yeah.  My parents still live in Maine. I grew up in Maine and my dad is always talking about how the winters are so much warmer now  because of number one, global warming. But number two, because of global warming, the oceans are staying warmer so they get the 01:20the insulation of the warmth of the ocean in the wintertime. And every time he explains this to me, I'm like, you've told me this a thousand times. And he's like, yes. And I'm like, I still don't quite understand how it works.  And he said, does anybody really understand how nature works? And I'm like, no, if we did, I would be much richer. 01:39Um,  is, it is overcast in Minnesota again this morning and we were fog locked for the second day this morning. could not see more than eighth of a mile down the road and my husband had to go to work and I was like, please be careful. Please. Yes. Yes. Completely understandable. Do not want to lose that man. And, and, and every time it gets foggy like this, I'm like, please don't let somebody hit him or please don't let him hit somebody. Oh, I totally understand the fog. 02:08It happens here too, especially like down the road from us, because there's such a change between we're right near  what we the Springs. And so like the Springs are, you know, the river runs through town and  it's much cooler. And then you have like the Gulf, which is very warm. And so it creates like this, I don't know what you want to call it, but like this tunnel where the two collide and the fog is crazy. um So it's kind of wild. 02:35Yeah, I don't like it. I really don't. I like to be able to see a mile away. It makes me happy. I want to take a moment before we dive in to thank you and all my other guests that have been on the show and my listeners because this podcast is one of my favorite things I've ever done and I appreciate everyone's time so much. I love that. Happy to be here. Good. I'm happy to have you. So tell me a little bit about yourself and Bright Acres Homestead and I love the name. 03:05Oh, thank you. um So we  see my husband and I, guess way back before we even knew each other, always both really loved farms.  I remember my parents used to tease me at some point I'd live on a farm and I'd have all the things. um And my husband also felt the same way.  His family kind of grew up that way.  A lot of canning and  they've lived in Florida before it was even a state  way back in the day.  so 03:33There's a lot of tradition there. And so between the two of us, after we met, we always had this dream of, let's do it. And so we're kind of living that dream. We both have real jobs on the side, of course. And so I should say real jobs for most of the time

Today I'm talking with Swan at Hairy Farmpit Girls. You can follow on Facebook as well. www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots  Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters.  I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Talking with Swan at Harry Farm Pit Girls. And if you laugh, that's okay. So did I.  And I know she's in the South somewhere. Where are you, Swan?  I am in Bowman, Georgia, which is just kind of,  um, East, uh, Athens, Georgia. Okay. Cool.  So it's the northeast corner of Georgia.  All right. 00:29That makes a lot of sense. That helps. How's the weather there this morning? I think that we're going to get into the mid 80s. So, you know, it's a little warm. It hasn't actually been too bad. I think it's probably about 70 something right now. So it's the delightful time of day. Give it about another hour and we'll be scorched again. Well, how cool do you guys get in January? Well, we have a little pond on our property and in January and 00:58February in the summer upon freezes all the way over. Um, I'm not willing to walk out to the middle of it, but I can stand on the sides.  Um, so it gets to, I think about we've only been here for about four and a half years, but it gets to the twenties and the teens a little bit.  Um,  just a few times, but for the most part, we, during the day, we typically stay at the coldest above snowing temperature. Okay. Awesome. I just, I've never been further south than, uh, 01:29I think Maryland. So I have no idea what it's like in the south in the wintertime. I don't think anybody's ever considered Maryland south.  it's not, but that's as far south as I've ever gotten, you know, in the United States. So the weather here in Minnesota this morning  is cool and overcast to the point that we are actually fog locked on my property. can't see an eighth of a mile away.  Oh, wow. Wow. That's incredible. 01:58Yep, my son calls it uncanny valley when this happens because it makes you feel like you're the only person on earth. 02:07My son, whenever we have a foggy morning, which we don't really have right now in this time of year, but he calls it, he's five. So he says it's froggy outside and we have always uh decided to never correct him from saying, from calling fog frog. So he says it's froggy or he can't see through the frog outside. So.  Oh yeah. We call it froggy. We also call, we also call humidity humdidity. 02:35We call it a humidititty. It's the South. Yup. And there's one other I was thinking of when you brought that up. And of course it's gone because I have over 50 brain and I think of things that are funny and then by the time I get to say them out of my mouth, they're out of my brain and I can't find them again. I'll do that exact same thing and I have under 50 things. So. Yeah. It's just, I think it's just the way that we live now. 03:02Yeah, there's just too much information and your brain can't possibly sort it as fast as say AI can. Ugh. So  anyway, uh we've tried to do a podcast twice before and had terrible technical difficulties. So Swan is back for the third time, hopefully the charm,  so that we can actually talk with Swan about what she and her wife do in Georgia. So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do Swan. 03:29All right, well, we have  a little 12 acre farm out here. um We are called the Harry Farfit Girls. And we started off just as we started off at a different farm  down in South Georgia.  Whenever we started building that farm, we had come from the city and we started building that farm.  I just started writing about it on social media, particularly on Facebook. um 03:53So just watch, letting people like kind of watch our journey. Cause I know that not everybody could do what we wer

Today I'm talking with Jim at Vinestops. You can follow on Facebook as well. www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots  Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. 00:11Today I'm talking with Jim at Vine Stops in New York. How are you, Jim? I'm good, how are you? I'm good.  How was the weather in New York? It's beautiful today.  We're in that part of the season where  one day it's beautiful and the next day it's starting to turn super cold.  So it's going into flu season, I guess.  Yay, that's exciting. 00:37I am actually, my bedroom is where I record  at my desk in my room.  And uh my bedroom, it feels like a refrigerator this morning because when I went to bed last night, I had to have the AC on  and uh my husband didn't turn it off when he came downstairs this morning and shut the door. So  I am almost shivering talking to you in my room.  Yeah, we do that all the time.  We love it. We like the cold, so we're okay with that. 01:05For sleeping, it's great, but for sitting at a desk with my hands needed to move the mouse and stuff, it's not awesome. Okay, so tell me a little bit about yourself and what you have going here. So obviously, my name is Jim. We bought this farm during COVID and it kind of changed our lives significantly. was 01:31in the corporate world and  also in the film industry and some law enforcement experience. so that was kind of  everything I did, you know, seven days a week was somewhere in that realm. And then  COVID hit, obviously all of our lives had changed, but we had the opportunity to buy this small  1800s gentleman's horse farm, about 10 acres. uh And it was where I grew up.  And so I wanted to come back closer to my mom anyway, because she was getting sick. 02:02Yeah. So he said, you know what, let's do it and rehab it.  Because my wife grew up on a farm in Oklahoma, so she always had horses  and she always wanted to get them again.  So we decided to do it. And  very quickly, we went from  that fast paced or I did anyway, that fast paced life to kind of country life. You know, we bought chickens and then I started like, you know, I put a little stand on the side of the road and we started  selling our extra eggs and then 02:29You the whole chicken math thing happened. You start with six, you go to 10, 20, then you're fluctuating back and forth. And next thing you know, have 150 plus chickens in our yard. And, uh, and then, you know, towards the last year of COVID, uh, which was the, this is the year that we purchased it. Um, we put it, when we bought it, we put in about, I don't know, 50 fruit trees. And we, just wanted to start kind of a hobby farm. You know, I didn't do the whole homesteading thing yet. 02:58and I just wanted to kind of grow extra.  So we had some fresh food because I was frustrated with what we were getting in the supermarkets. know, if like when the egg crisis happened,  you couldn't find eggs anywhere. And when you can find them, they were like $10, $15, you know,  a dozen. was just ridiculous. And so  I eventually, I just started changing. I started eating so much more from my garden and from my trees. 03:23spending less and not going to the supermarket and all my health numbers, my doctor's office, they all started getting better. And I like really realized like, holy cow, know, that all that fast food and that crap put into my body, it really does make a difference. And so kind of the homesteading was born, you know, of having the passion of, you know, growing my own stuff and then, you know, running a farm stand on the the on the front of the driveway. So, you know, after 03:53after that was kind of successful the first year. The next year I doubled everything,

Today I'm talking with Elizabeth Ries at Home To Homestead. You can follow on Facebook as well. www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots  Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Elizabeth Ries at um three different places, I guess. Well, four actually. You've got Twin Cities Live, you've got My Talk 107.1, you've got... 00:22HomeToHomeStead.com and you've got bestofthenest.com and Elizabeth is in Minneapolis. So good morning, Elizabeth. How are you? Good morning, Mary. It's nice to be back with you today. Thanks for asking me. You're so welcome. I loved our chat back in March of 2024. That's how long it's been. It's been a while. Yup. And I was really nervous because I'd only been broadcasting for like six months at that point. And I still had no idea what I was doing. And I listened back to it I was like, God, I'm so glad I'm more comfortable now. 00:50It is, a lot of it is just getting the reps in.  I think that that is a huge thing with broadcasting or interviewing or asking questions. It's just the more you do, it's just like anything.  It's a skill  and the more you do it, the better you get at it. And I hope you look back on those early days fondly and think about how far you've come because I thought you did a great job that time. So I can imagine it's only going to be better today. 01:15Thank you, and I do look back. I went back and listened to the very first episode of, I can't think, a Tiny Homestead podcast. And it wasn't awful. Like when I listened to it back the first time, I was like, ugh. And I listened to it back about six months ago, and I was like, you know, it really wasn't that bad. People learned things, it was a fun chat, I'm okay. So, I don't want to get too far into... 01:42what you do because  you did a huge intro on the episode that we did before.  And if people want to know all about Elizabeth's professional life, you can go listen to the original episode. The OG.  Yeah, exactly. The OG Elizabeth Ries  But you are the co-host for Twin Cities Live.  You and Marjorie Punnett do a show together  on  what station is it? Well, we had a radio show together on MyTalk107.1. uh 02:11for a couple of years. And then um we both ended that because we moved on to different things. Oh, you're not doing that anymore. Right. And then the podcast is called Best to the Nest. So Marjorie and I teamed up for the podcast and we kind of joke that it's like the show within the show. It's the conversations that we were having during the commercial breaks about  life and home and family and relationships and all those things that then we brought into the podcast. But I do still get to fill in over at MyTalk. 02:40pretty regularly and it's always fun to show up. They just got new studios, so now I really like going over there. uh It's all bright and shiny in there. It's nice. Okay, so I want to, I got questions about your homesteading stuff in your city  home, because you don't have a homestead. You live on a city lot, right? Yes. Yes, I do. I am on a city lot. on about  about a third of an acre in the city of Minneapolis. 03:07Prior to living in this house, we've been in this house for six years. Prior to that, we were on 0.13 of an acre in the city of Minneapolis and really did a lot of the same things  that we do  here. Yeah. So did you do a garden this year? I did a garden. I have the garden going.  And um I have four raised beds in the backyard. Two of them are like four feet wide by, um I think they're 10 or 12 feet long. 03:37however long my husband made them.  And those are wooden raised beds. This year I added an arched,  a cattle panel arch trellis between the two of them, which h

Today I'm talking with Gentry at Southern Charm Up North: Tales of a Maine Magnolia. Muck Boots  Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters.  I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Gentry at Southern Charm Up North, Tales of a Maine Magnolia  in Maine. How are you,  Gentry? I'm great, Mary. Thanks for having me.  You're welcome. I saw the name of your page on Facebook and I was like, oh, she sounds like a fun one to chat with.  I hope so. 00:30So how's the weather in Maine this morning or this afternoon? Well, actually, I'm in Mississippi today. How are you? Okay. I am. But I think the weather's probably better in Maine.  Okay. Well, how was it in Mississippi? It's  hot. We had a rainstorm this morning, which we desperately needed, and I know we did. So can't complain about that. But now it's muggy. It's that typical Mississippi humidity. 00:59We're experiencing the same thing in Minnesota this morning. I'm sorry, this afternoon. I keep thinking it's 10 o'clock in the morning. It's 1 o'clock in the afternoon. It is supposed to hit 95, I think, today here. And the dew point is above 60. So needless to say, the dog and I are hanging out with the freestanding air conditioners in the house today. Do not blame me about that. 01:23Yep. And if she barks, it's because somebody pulled up to our farm stand because we have eggs out there that people want to buy. So. Oh, I love fresh eggs. I wish I was there. Yeah. Yeah. Our chickens have done really well this summer and we have not been able to keep eggs in the farm stand for any more than 24 hours. Once they go out there. It's been really funny. Wow. So tell me a little bit about yourself and about what you do. Well, I am living between 01:53two states, two worlds really. We live in Mississippi. I was actually born and raised in North Carolina and I've lived different places, but primarily the South. I've lived in Mississippi for, I guess, 27 years now. And about two and a half, three years ago, I was getting remarried, lots of life changes. And I told my fiance, I said, I'm going to live in Maine. 02:21He just kind of looked at me and said, oh, okay. And so we went up and he asked me, he said, have you ever been? And I said, no. And he said, don't you think we should go check it out first? And so we went up there. I had a broken ankle at the time. So was on a knee scooter, couldn't do anything, but just sit and look while he got to go explore and do all the fun stuff. And we went back about six months later, maybe, and made the offer on the house. 02:50and bought the house. So my heart is always there even when I'm here in Mississippi. um And I started my blog in the Maine Magnolia just as a way of kind of interweaving those two worlds  and  sharing with my friends there and my friends here um and just people that I've met all over, you know, what it's like to transition between 03:19dramatically different states um but still find the similarities and the things that you can call home in both.  Well yeah and people are people and food is food and home is a home and you know I don't know that it matters exactly where you live as long as you actually live where you live. Exactly. So. Just did a blog post this morning about the importance of being present  and 03:46That's being present wherever you are and whatever the circumstances are at that given moment, but finding your why, your reason, your joy in whatever situation you're in.  Yeah. Otherwise, why are you here?  know? Right. Exactly. Hang on one second. 04:09I had a tickle in my throat and I didn't want to cough in your ear. uh So  having moved from Maine to Minnesota when I was 22 and I'm  50, almost 56 now,  and you moving from Mississ

Today I'm talking with Aaron at Appalachian Highlands Farmers Magazine. You can follow on Facebook as well. Muck Boots  Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Aaron at Appalachian Highlands Farmers Magazine, and you are where? I'm in Bristol, Virginia. Okay. Welcome, Aaron. Thank you for being here. Thank you. I appreciate being here. So how's the weather there? It is... 00:29study in a little bit chilly.  You're lucky. It is very muggy in Minnesota. That's where I am. This is about as this is the first  couple of days we haven't had rain since I've been here. uh Oh, okay. So are you new to there or  what's up with that? I've been here about two years.  Um, I'm a transplant from Southern California,  um,  and still moved out here just to retire. And then I figured out I can't retire. 00:59So I started getting busy again. Yeah, my husband and I are both in our mid fifties and anytime retirement comes up in conversation, we just do that very sardonic laugh and go, we're never retiring because it's not going to do us any good to retire. Yeah. And it's also not good for your brain to sit off that much, you know? Absolutely. Yeah. My dad retired over 10 years ago. He is now 80. 01:28I think  and He acts like he's 50. He lives like he's 50. You would never know. He was 83 years old. So I'm very proud of  All right, so tell me a little bit about yourself and about your magazine Okay, well I was gonna mention that I'm planning out here from Southern California in the mountains of Southern California About 5,000 so I come from a kind of a rural 01:58not rural really, it's urban forest I guess you could call it, it's a little town called Crestline, California. um I  spent most of my career in  the printing business and when I say print I mean magazines, newspapers, that type of thing. um My education is actually graphic communication, kind dawned into the print business and ended up consulting with authors. 02:25These are the things that I like the San Francisco Chronicle, San Diego New New York Review, and people like that. About, you know, how they used to go out and do their layout design. So, later on in the managing, I my little hometown newspaper at the time. It was called the Alpenhorn Nude. It addressed my town. And I worked there. 02:54for a while and I just wanted to  it. was  definitely going to buy it from after that fence fell through and I moved away to Montana for five years and I came back and it turns out somebody had bought it from the old owner and he was not doing well with it and so I was joking, strictly a joke. I wrote up the contracts for me purchasing it  and was supposed to just be something funny. 03:24And I said, no, I'll buy it for $295. 03:29And that was how much they that's how much money they were in the black for the year.  Uh  huh. So he's he he's didn't even look at it. He just said, you know what, where's this? Where do I  Wow.  Right. And I ended up publishing that newspaper and upgrading the branding on it. It had already been changed to to a new name, which was the  Alpine Mountain here in this case. 03:58It was just a typical little newspaper, a real small town newspaper. Nothing's honestly known, no stories or anything like that. No politics. So then I retired, moved out here, got calls from a son of mine back in California who owns stable farmer's markets, some private farmer's markets. And he said, you know what, I want you to do my marketing for me. 04:26So what I want to do is create a farmer's market newspaper. Okay. And I said, sir, I'll do that. I put one together, you know, a mock up of one and pricing, I'll be distribute distributing that. And when he

Today I'm talking with Morgan at Groovy Grazers for an Autumn update. You can follow on Facebook as well. Muck Boots  Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters.  I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Morgan at Groovy Grazers in Montana. Good morning, friend. How are you? Good morning, good morning. It's starting to feel like fall here, which is always exciting after a hot summer. So I'm super excited to be here today.  Oh, honey, tell me it's starting to feel like fall. 00:28Our heat is not working and it was 63 degrees in the house Saturday and Sunday. Oh my goodness.  Afternoon. And  our furnace is broken. We found out because we turned it on and it didn't work. So it was rather nippy this past weekend and I actually made granola to heat up the kitchen and blow some warm air to the living room. 00:55and made apple crisp with our own apples. Ooh,  apple crisp is my favorite. We're gluten free, so there's a lot of  fall treats that I miss. And I'm going to try and recreate. I'm going to get a little more adventurous. Last time we talked, we talked about sourdough  and making various things with that. So I'm kind of excited for this fall because I think I can be included in the pumpkin spice treats that we all love. 01:22Yeah, I am not a pumpkin spice fan. I like pumpkin pie and I like pumpkin bread,  but the whole pumpkin spice thing, I'm not into it. I don't know why. I'm not really, I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin spice per se, except for like a few drinks, but like,  I'm not even an eggnog person. I don't know. I'm just not a normal person, I guess, when it comes to like the drinks. I like a Thai latte over pumpkin spice. I mean, any day. 01:51Yeah, I actually freaking love eggnog. So we're kind of opposite on this, but that's fine.  But the important part of my statement regarding the apple crisp is that it was made with our apples from our trees.  Honey gold, our honey gold tree actually produced at least 150 apples this year. Wow. I remember you were excited to see the numbers that it was going to bring and you were slightly worried it was not going to bring a bunch of apples. So that's a 02:20That's a lot of apples, a hundred apples over, you Yeah,  over 150. Wow, that's a good producing tree. And I think that's really important with what we're going to talk about today. Did you buy the home with that tree?  No, they were actually given to us as a housewarming present from an orchard guy that we know. That's even better because  that's first year producing over a hundred. That's big amount. I took a 02:47Master Gardening since we last spoke. I just did the course to kind of like freshen up and learn about Montana because I am not a Montana native. Yeah. And it's really hard when you go, especially here to plant trees. So we've planted two trees now. We planted a Liberty Apple tree and we planted some type of pear and neither took, but we have really bad alkaline soil and I've learned more history about our soil. 03:15And so to even put a tree, think we'd have to do some major soil reworking and pulling out material and putting it back in. Yeah. I've kind of given up slightly on the tree idea for a minute, just until we have a better location. Yeah. And  it's,  it's hard because you never know what's going to grow where until you try it. And,  and just as a caveat, took five years from putting in those apple saplings to get the apples. 03:45Five years, wow. Okay, so I mean, that's still not bad though for a five-year-old tree when you look at production. mean,  the amount of apples that I'm sure you're gonna get to put away, you'll get to make many apple crisps, I'm sure all the way through  the winter. So did you can any of it