Today I'm talking with Cody at Ryan’s Yak Farm. You can also follow on Facebook.

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00:00
I'm listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Cody at Ryan's Yak Farm in New York. Good morning, Cody. How are you? Good morning. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. Where in New York are you and how is the weather? Are you part of the heat bubble that's going on? We are definitely part of the heat bubble. We are in Oxford, New York.

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upstate New York.

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It's a hot, hot, hot day, a hot week. Yeah. Yup. It sure is. um Upstate New York is all the way across New York. what are you, are you West or middle or East upstate? I'm going to say like East. Okay. I'm not really good with demographics. So that's okay. Don't worry about it.

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My parents live in Maine, my husband and I have made the road trip from Minnesota to Maine a couple of times in 20 years we've been together. And we always drive the Northern route in New York and then we drop down to get down to Albany. And it is so beautiful. The grape arbors and I don't even know what else.

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all the rivers that go along the highway and oh my God, coming into Albany, you go basically up a slight incline and then you get to the top of that incline and the whole valley drops out underneath you and all you can see is mountains and trees. So pretty, isn't it? Oh my God. The first time I took my youngest, we took our youngest with us to visit my parents. We came up over that, that hill and the valley dropped out.

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And he's looking from the back seat and I hear this big gasp and he says, he says, mom, can I say a swear word? And I was like, yes. And he said, holy shit, it's so beautiful. How funny. And I'm crying. hadn't been home in years. It is so pretty out here though. Yeah. And he was like, why are you crying? And I was like, you know how you felt like you needed to say a big word you're not allowed to say? He says, yeah. And I said,

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These are the big feelings that I feel like I'm not allowed to feel anymore. uh

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Maine's so pretty too. Oh, it is. It's beautiful. Basically, basically we would hit Pennsylvania and I would be like, ah, I'm back in the land of trees. Yes. You know, cause I mean, Minnesota has trees, but it's very much Northern Minnesota that is like Maine. And so for me to feel like I'm quote unquote home ish. Yeah. I have to drive like five hours to get far enough North to be like, Oh, pine trees, many, many pine trees again. So it's.

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It's hard, but I also love Minnesota. I've been here for over 30 years. I always have to say that because when I first moved here, I moved here kicking and screaming. Oh, really? Did not want to leave Maine. Yeah. And then after about 15, 20 years in Minnesota, I was like, you know, it really is nice here, too. I kind of love it. so I always have to reiterate that I love where I live. I have had the chance twice to move back and I have chosen to not leave. So I do love it here.

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I love Minnesota. It is my second favorite home. So anyway, can you please tell me a little bit about what you do and a little bit about yourself? So I am a teacher during the day. I teach a barbering program at DCMO Boces. It's a career and technical school. It's not part of the cosmetology program. It's totally different.

04:06
the barber side of things. um I also work at a barbershop after I leave school. I go to the barbershop until like seven o'clock at night and then I'm finally able to come home for the farm. And then I'm on weekends. My family does a lot during the week for the farm while I'm not here. Weekends are my time to...

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do everything I want to get done on the farm, spend time with the animals. I didn't grow up on a farm. I married into a farm, here 17 years. We've always had beef. This was my husband's dairy farm. Their family has owned this farm since 1906 and then my husband bought into it.

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There was originally over 428 acres, but it got eventually sold off. And then my husband bought the farm. So, um, I've got three children, 16 year old, 14 year old, and a 12 year old. And we live here on the farm and now, now we're yak farmers. I am so excited to find out about yaks, Cody. I haven't talked about haven't.

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talked to anyone about yaks yet in over two and a half years of doing this podcast. So, they're so good. They're so awesome. Yes. So tell me the different animals you have and then we'll narrow it down to my questions about yaks. What else do you have besides yaks? I have three baby Dalshi, four goats. They're like mixed mixed goats. I've got a Gnubian and Oberhalsi and some Nigerian Dwarfs. um

05:58
I've got, I think.

06:03
13 cooney cooney pegs. Okay. I have a mule and a horse um I Think that's it we did have these but I lost the hive over the wintertime. So I didn't get bees this year. I was too late That happens. Mm-hmm It's it's a very rewarding job to keep bees, but oh definitely It's also heartbreaking when you lose a hive because it takes a lot to get that

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Worked up. Yes, and they're so expensive. Yeah, so to lose that My first year was that was that was rough, but I do plan on getting back into it. But good good I hope that you do because you already have this setup you might yes and the thing that's expensive about keeping bees is the beginning year as you discovered yes Definitely getting all this stuff that you need is definitely expensive

07:01
Yeah, all the supplies. I it's going to sound terrible, but I'm going to say it anyway. If you are someone who is buying more than an acre of land to get into homesteading and you think you need to make a choice between bees and chickens, chickens are actually cheaper to get. Oh, 100%. Yes. But if you're obsessed with honeybees and you really want to do the work and you want to lay the money out so you can have go for it because it's just as rewarding.

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It is and it's so delicious. Oh my goodness. Yeah. We, um, we have not been doing a lot of honey lately because honey is very expensive at the store or through someone who is raising bees. Right. miss it. I really miss honey. Oh, it is so good. I don't, I've never liked honey either. And then I got my own bees and started doing it and started like separating the honey from the honeycomb and all that. And

08:00
got on my fingers and then I tasted it. was like, holy moly, this is so good. It's so different. m And we were getting our honey from Sam's Club. Okay. And we know someone who has bees and we haven't been up to see him in a couple of years. He has an apple orchard and of course has bees. Yep. And he sells his honey every fall and we haven't gotten honey from him in a couple of years. The difference between his honey and the

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the real honey at Sam's Club, the difference in taste is, I would say, half again is good. His is half again is good. And we were lucky enough to get some of the honey he got one year from his bees. They had found a patch of wild mint. So the honey had a minty taste. It was fabulous. I bet it was. Oh, was so good.

08:58
I don't think he's had that kind since. They haven't gone back to the mint patch. ah I love that though, the mint patch. Yeah, I teased him. said, you should charge double for this mint. Yeah. Like I can't do that. That's not, I can't do that just because we locked into mint. I said, of course you can. You're the one that sets your prices. He's like, Mary, I'm not going to do that. I'm like, okay.

09:26
We're all going to benefit from your smart bees." And he was just laughing. I said, if you can find, I don't know, a tree that makes a strawberry flavor besides strawberries, strawberries that flavored honey would be really Oh, yeah. He said, you know that's not how it works, right? And I was like, yes, I know that's not how it works. Yes, I do. But it would be good. Yeah, strawberries, honey, t...