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

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...