Podcast
A Tiny Homestead
Hosted by Mary E Lewis · EN
We became homesteaders three years ago when we moved to our new home on a little over three acres. But, we were learning and practicing homesteading skills long before that. This podcast is about all kinds of homesteaders, and farmers, and bakers - what they do and why they do it. I’ll be interviewing people from all walks of life, different ages and stages, about their passion for doing old fashioned things in a newfangled way.
https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes
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In The Thick Of It with Clear Creek Ranch Mom
Apr 2700:44:32Tap to summarizeToday I'm talking with Leah at Clear Creek Ranch Mom . A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. At Green Bush Twins and Company, we believe in the power of creativity, imagination, and art to bring people together. Our mission is to inspire connection across all ages, encouraging understanding, individuality, and a true sense of belonging. We're building more than a brand. We're growing a mindful community rooted in kindness, intention, and shared purpose. 00:29 At our core, it's about real people sharing real stories, ideas, and products that make everyday life more meaningful. If you believe in living with purpose and supporting brands that care, you'll feel right at home with Greenbush Twins. That tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins and Company. Today I'm talking with Leah Peterson from Clear Creek Ranch Mom in Nebraska. And she also happens to be my fabulous co-host on Grit and Grace in the Heartland Women in Agriculture. Good, um, well afternoon. It's noon now. 00:58 It's high noon. It is high noon. What's for lunch besides I have a birthday cake in my kitchen, but not much else going on yet. I don't know. I might nuke a couple waffles and put some real maple syrup on them. That sounds delightful. It kind of does. So Leah's been on the show, like, I think it's been five times now. And then she became my co-host on the other podcast. 01:26 Leah posted a photo on her Facebook page of a cowhide from a calf and was talking about why they have that. And I thought that it would be interesting for my listeners to know what was going on with that. So Leah, do you want to tell me about that? I can. I always say that raising livestock teaches little people so many life lessons that are applicable. 01:55 you know, in all parts of your life and will be for all time. And so as a child, um my first memories, some of the harder memories from calving season was honestly learning about the miracle of adoption right through my own eyes, watching it in the cowherd. 02:18 It's a practice as old as time. It's evolved and changed over time and many people are still advocates for this method of helping a cow adopt a new baby and other people have moved on to try different things. But we're still kind of old school here and we subscribed to what we call the no fail method. It is hard. It's kind of yucky. um But it works. And so when we have a cow, 02:46 who has lost her calf for whatever reason and she's in milk. We can take another calf, say a twin for instance, or a calf whose mama doesn't have enough milk, and we call it grafting, grafting a calf onto the mama. And it's very interesting when you look at different breeding programs, different breeds, there are different traits that rise to the surface as being most usual for that particular breed. When I was with 03:16 Derek Josie out at TDF Honest, he raises pure red Jersey cows for milk. And those ones do not have the maternal trait of desiring to have a baby. They have their baby and happily will let you take it and he won't even ball for it. There's nothing wrong with that. That's how the Jersey cows live. Our beef cattle want to raise a baby. 03:40 I want to be careful in describing that though, because it's not, I don't want you to think, I don't want listeners to think that it's some emotional bond. It is a physiological response. It's biologically the way they are bred and how they live. And that is that those hormones that kick in when they have given birth and they start producing milk, they desire to have a baby. And so when we have a baby in need, 04:10 What we will do is we will skin the hide off of the deceased baby. So she's lost her baby, it was stillborn, it died, whatever the reasons might be. We will skin that hide off of her baby and we'll make what we call a calf coat and we will adhere that calf coat on to her presumptively to be adopted baby. Do you tie it on to them? 04:38 Yeah, so you can use a variety of methods. We use sometimes some glue to help hold it on and then we use baling twine and tie it so that it kind of starts at the back of the neck and goes down their back, truly like a superhero cape, I guess you could call it, and tied it on. And then you can do some other things. You can apply some scents to mask the smell because again, 05:06 The emotional connection between a mama and a calf is not what you think it is. They identify their calves by sound, which is truly amazing. They can find their baby in a group of 500 by their sound. I think there is probably a measure of recognition. Hard to say how complicated that is because I'm like, all little black baby calves, for instance, look the same to me. um And I can't remember if cows see in color or not, but it's definitely by scent. 05:35 And so if you can mask their original smell and make it smell like their baby, they are way more likely to uh accept it straight away. Now, depending on the cow, depending on the breed, I have seen it go like snap of a finger, this is my baby now, and I have seen times where it'll take 48 hours, but I've never seen it not work. 06:00 You love what you do because you just told a very hard story and your voice sounded so satisfied telling it. It is. It's something I'm passionate about because it helps elevate more understanding about ranchers and not just ranchers because I know this method can be used with uh other animals. 06:29 and trying to help them adopt babies that aren't theirs. SAKE, it happened all on its own or with a little help from humans. It happens a lot. I'm passionate about it. And it's so satisfying because while you see videos and photos of little girls and boys feeding bottles to baby calves, yes, it can be done. Yes, it's a good chore. Yes, it's rewarding. 06:54 but there is nobody that feeds a baby calf like the cow herself. It's just the way nature intended it to be. In beef cattle, not talking about veal calves and those in dairies and whatnot, but for beef cattle, it is the best outcome. And it's so satisfying when after a day together, being confined together that you can turn them out. And we call it traveling pairs. You see them travel together as one. 07:23 back into the wild, so to speak, and feel so relieved and satisfied that you have helped them mother up and that baby is going to be cared for until it's weaned. I love it. See, this is why I wanted you to tell the story because I knew you'd tell it in a way that everybody would get it. um So what happens to that calf hide once the calf is grafted? Well, usually it's sort of, it's 07:48 just like any piece of leather, right? It withers eventually and they'll shed it. Sometimes we'll cut it off. It's very smelly, you can imagine, a couple days and uh it'll wither away and eventually then the scavengers will pick it up and disappear with it. Okay, cool. Thank you for telling the story. I always feel weird asking you this stuff because I am a novice. Like I am, I know nothing. 08:16 about any of this. And I'm so curious and I'm like, Lea knows the answer. I'm going to ask her. And it's so fascinating because again, it depends on the maternal traits in different cattle breeds and what your breeding programs are. But I'm out watching our first calf heifers, right? These are their first babies. And in their first year being mothers, these heifers are like, I don't know, they're energetic teenagers and they're all about everyone's baby. They'll let anybody's baby. 08:43 nurse and so we call them the little robbers. These babies are out there bebopping around. They don't care who's utter they're going to. It's that second year when she has her second calf that she generally, again, depending on the breed, is more interested in just having her baby nurse and kick away at somebody else t...
Transcribe →The Tiny Life with Ryan Mitchell
Apr 2400:33:14Tap to summarizeToday I'm talking with Ryan at The Tiny Life. Ryan's newest book - Living Off Grid: 50 Steps to Unplug, Become Self-Sufficient, and Build the Homestead of Your Dreams A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. At Green Bush Twins and Company, we believe in the power of creativity, imagination, and art to bring people together. Our mission is to inspire connection across all ages, encouraging understanding, individuality, and a true sense of belonging. We're building more than a brand. We're growing a mindful community rooted in kindness, intention, and shared purpose. 00:29 At our core, it's about real people sharing real stories, ideas, and products that make everyday life more meaningful. If you believe in living with purpose and supporting brands that care, you'll feel right at home with Greenbush Twins. A tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins and Company. Today I'm talking with Ryan Mitchell at the Tiny Life in the Carolinas. Good afternoon, Ryan. How are you? Good. Thanks for having me. Oh, you're welcome. I'm so thrilled to get a chance to talk to you because I had 00:58 Sent an email to you, I think a year and a half ago, and I didn't hear anything back. And then your person, because you have people, I don't have people. Yeah, there's a few of us. Your person emailed me and reached out and I was like, yes, finally I get to talk to you. Yeah. All right. So how is the weather where you are? It's good. Yeah. So I'm located in the, I say the Carolinas. So we are, my tiny house is in 01:27 North Carolina and we moved on to a homestead about a little less than a year ago. ah And then I live with my girlfriend in South Carolina. And so we're kind of gearing up the homestead to make the transition over to that. So that's why I kind of say, you know, I have one foot in both places right now as we make that transition. How far is it from where your girlfriend is to the tiny home? About 30 minutes. 01:55 Oh, so close. You're real. Yeah. Yeah. And I was living, you know, obviously full time in the tiny house when I met her. And then, you know, when we decided that uh we were going to, you know, continue the relationship and it kind of went to the next level and everything that I was probably moving in with her because she had her two dogs, a Liz, two lizards, a spider and a 02:22 a snake, that was not going to fit into the tiny house at all. has a full house of critters. It sure does. Well, I'm in Minnesota and I'm going to tell you right now, it's hotter than I would like it to be for April 22nd. Yes, yes. It is, I think it's 77 outside right now. And thank God there's a breeze because if there wasn't, it would be disgusting already because Minnesota is really weird. You would think that 77 would just feel good. 02:52 It doesn't, it feels hot in April. 02:57 So, but at least it's not snowing. Yeah. Cause it could be doing that too. And I'd rather have this than snow cause I'm over it. It was a very, it was a very moderate winter, but it seemed like a very long winter. I'm good on snow for the season. Um, so I have a quick question about where your, um, your tiny house is located. Is, is stuff has, has stuff been greened up for you? 03:26 for weeks now because you're so far south. 03:30 Sorry, ask that question one more time. Has stuff been green up? how are the trees leaving out? Yeah, like in the last two weeks, things have really kind of taken off. You know, we've had some warmer days, some really nice days, like low humidity, which is not typical for us. So yeah, things are starting to green up. We just had our last frost date a couple days ago. So, you know, we're busy in the garden and things like that. m Get ready for spring and summer. 04:00 We have another month before our last frost date. But that doesn't stop the greenhouse from getting planted. That's true. Yeah, we have that benefit of long growing seasons. if you're really on the spot, can sometimes cram two rounds of crops. And if you're choosing shorter varieties that 04:28 you know, take a little bit less time to come to maturity. then, you know, during the winter, you have quite a few options if you have a greenhouse or you're going to do, you know, low tunnels or something like that. Mm hmm. Yep. We're starting a brand new to us variety of watermelon this year. We've never done it before. It's called a mini me and personal size watermelon. It's got a 60 day maturity. 04:58 Wow. Time frame. And my husband planted them, I want to say two weekends ago. And we have sprouts already and I'm so excited to see how these do because growing the big watermelons in Minnesota does not work very well because our growing season is so short. Yeah. Yeah. So hoping to have watermelons in end of June, first part of July. 05:26 Excited so excited because I love love love watermelon and if they do well I want to grow a bunch of them again next year so we can sell them at the first farmers market in June. We'll plan. I've never had much luck with any melons because the squirrels always get at them before they're ready and it always seems like I'm like, okay, I'm gonna pick it one more day and we one more day on the vine and then I'll pick it and then that night something gets every time. 05:53 Huh, we, it's weird, we don't have a lot of squirrels on our property. I don't know why, I think I've seen two in five years. Oh wow. So they just, don't think they have a food source that is a natural food source for them, so they just don't live here. And we're surrounded by corn fields and soybean fields and alfalfa fields, and I don't think that squirrels are very happy with that, so. 06:22 All right, so tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do, Ryan. Sure. So my name is Ryan Mitchell. I run the tiny life dot com and we focus on a simple living in kind of three different lenses. The first one is tiny houses. So, you know, small homes. uh Typically for one person, you're looking at two to three hundred square feet. 06:47 You know for a family, a small family, you might be looking at thousand, fifteen hundred, just depending on your needs, things like that. Then minimalism, which is basically, you know, thinking intentionally about the way that you live and your interaction with consumerism, what you buy, and just, you know, making sure that the things you own don't start to own you and just being, you know, kind of crafting that intentional life around what's important to you. 07:16 And the last one is home setting home setting, obviously, you know, very familiar to you. Uh, and that's a, a newer kind of park tour or website we've been doing for about two years now. Uh, but it's not new to me. I've been, you know, growing food, chickens, quails, bees, you, you name it, um, for at least a decade, um, if not more. Uh, so. 07:42 Yeah, we kind of focus on those three topics at the website. um, you know, why I'm speaking to you today is because we have a new book coming out. It's called living off the grid, 50 steps to unplug, become self-sufficient and build the home set of your dreams. And that basically was the book that I wish I had when I was kind of, uh, you know, going through my own journey, uh, with a lot of like practical steps, uh, of how to think about how to develop a plan. 08:12 how to make a homestead that's right for you, and not just kind of adopting someone else's pre-packaged plan of or definition of what it means to be a homesteader. So yeah, that's kind of a little bit about me and our background. Awesome. So I have to ask you, how do you define homesteading? And I will tell you how I define it first, and then you can tell me if you think it's accurate. I think that homesteading is a lifestyle choice 08:...
Transcribe →Bauer Family Farms
Apr 2200:38:20Tap to summarizeToday I'm talking with Leah at Bauer Family Farms. A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 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. At Green Bush Twins and Company, we believe in the power of creativity, imagination, and art to bring people together. Our mission is to inspire connection across all ages, encouraging understanding, individuality, and a true sense of belonging. We're building more than a brand. We're growing a mindful community rooted in kindness, intention, and shared purpose. 00:29 At our core, it's about real people sharing real stories, ideas, and products that make everyday life more meaningful. If you believe in living with purpose and supporting brands that care, you'll feel right at home with Greenbush Twins. That tiny homestead podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins and Company. Today I'm talking with Leah Bauer at Bauer Family Farms in Faribault, Minnesota. Good afternoon, Leah. How are you? Doing well. I got most of my chores out of the way, so I'm... 00:56 sitting pretty with a nice coffee in my house and ready to chit chat about farm life. Good. And normally I would say, how's the weather? But you and I both know it is a gloriously beautiful day in Minnesota today. Compared to yesterday, yes. Yeah. And Saturday, Saturday, we got snow in the morning. Right. It was enough to to build up on the grass where we were at. We're we just had unhooked our our plow and everything and got it put away for the 01:26 spring, which those couple of 80 degree days really, really had me going for a second there. Yeah. And I just said that wrong Sunday. It was yesterday morning. I'm not quite with it. Oh, you're right. Yeah. It was yesterday morning because I was up at five and at 515, I went out on the porch with my coffee and looked outside and I was like, I will be damned. It's snowing big white feathery flakes. Right. Which is not what you want to see once you've already had what? Five 80 degree days? Yeah. 01:55 Yeah, it's spring in Minnesota. Doesn't know what it's doing. Oh, it's coming. It's all going to be okay. Our rhubarb is leafing. Our tree line is leafing. My peonies are up. They haven't budded yet. Thank God, because they'd be useless if they had, because the snow would have killed them. We have um tulips up with buds on them. They haven't opened yet. um 02:24 The tree has not bloomed yet. The apple trees have not bloomed yet. So that's good news too. We have about 500 cloves of garlic planted that are, I think like eight inches tall already. Wow. I know I'm so excited. We started, I think in 2023, we planted 80 cloves from a neighbor and the plan was to just multiply it, you know, cause garlic is 02:50 It's one of those things that if you plant one, then you usually get five to eight cloves back at the end of the season. Oh yeah. And so started with 80 and then replanted everything. And now we've got 500. So when we harvest, we should have 3000 or 4000 cloves to plant again at the end of this year. I am so jealous because we can't grow garlic here to save our lives. The dirt's too heavy, too black. You have more of a clay soil. 03:20 Yes. Yes, we do. That sucks. Garlic likes soft soil, kind of a loamy almost so that it has room to expand. Yeah, I asked my husband if we should just put in a raised bed and, you know, make the soil what the garlic would like. And he said, yeah, we could do that. And we haven't done it yet. It's easy to to get all of the dreams together. 03:47 But then once it actually comes to putting the supplies together, that's a different story. Well, we're just not sure that we need to grow garlic because lots of people grow garlic in Minnesota. And he really loves growing tomatoes, so he puts all his focus on tomatoes. 04:06 I think it was 2024 that we did a ton of tomatoes and I still have some in the freezer. We just, we don't need a ton of them. And some other family in Wasika actually grows a greenhouse load of them. So they cover us for that and we're going to stick with garlic, I think. It's lot of fun. Yeah. And garlic is like God's gift to cooking. So keep growing garlic, please. 04:35 Yes, absolutely. We're hoping to put it in the farm stand if we get any smaller heads that aren't suitable for planting at the end of this year. Yes. So we kind of jumped the gun here. How about you tell me a little bit about yourself and how you came to be farming and what you do? Right. So we just kind of started up the farm and the farm page this year, but I do have a rural 05:05 background and grew up out in the country. Always had chickens when I was younger, but never really cattle or any other types of poultry or pork. ah So we're just really getting into it again, after a few years hiatus and jumping in with both feet, you know, starting chickens again, I have about 125 egg laying chickens. 05:34 Very nice. And I have six New Zealand doe rabbits and one buck. And we're hoping to get some quail eggs in the incubator soon, along with hopefully doing cut flowers for the farm stand and lots of vegetables. I love a big garden and I do a lot of canning myself. And so most of it's for my own shelves. But I'm hoping to get my cottage license here soon and I'll be able to sell my canned goods. 06:04 Yes, do that. Cause I think it's still free. Oh yeah. To get the cottage license. It's I've from the women around me that have applied and gotten approved. said that the process is fairly easy. It's super easy. have to renew mine and basically the website has a bunch of information you read through it. And then there's a quiz. It's like 10 questions and you have to get seven or eight correct. Right. 06:33 I mean, it almost sounds too easy. Anybody could do it, but maybe that's the point. Yes. Yes. And the thing is, if you don't love to cook, you're not going to bother to get your cottage registration. So I think it's fine. But yes, we we have a farm stand on our place too. And my intention over the next month or so is to start cooking some start cooking, start baking some cookies and get them packaged up and out there because 06:59 People are stopping in for eggs anyway. And if there's like a little box of six cookies out there for eight bucks, maybe they'll buy them. Who knows? Oh yeah. I'm pretty terrible at the impulse buys. And so that would get me a hundred percent. Yes. And my cookies are way better than store-bought cookies. I promise. That rings true for, I think, at least 99 % of farm goods. 07:27 Why buy it in the store when your neighbor can make it and you can barter for it or... And it doesn't have preservatives in it. You're right. Exactly. Five ingredients compared to a paragraph. Yes. And thank God for that because the labels would be impossible to create. So our neighbor, um the lady that I do the farm stand with, her name is Summer and her cottage name is Summer Flowers. It's kind of a play on words. 07:57 Cute. so she does all of the cottage baking and she is incredible at it. I mean, she's she truly has a gift. I'm looking at uh jalapeno cheddar and cinnamon raisin loaves right now that I snagged from the weekend. And so she does a lot of the cottage baking and I am going to supply cut flowers, fresh produce and farm fresh eggs at the farm stand. So it's kind of a 08:27 oh co-operation with the farm stand. But it's been a lot of fun so far. We've only been open, I think, three weekends now on Saturdays and Sundays. Nice. So do you get a lot of traffic in there? Yes. They have a gorgeous property and it's a little brick building that I think used to be like a pump house or a garden shed or something, but it was repurposed beautifully into what the farm stand is now. 08:56 but lots of, uh, not nitpicking, but we'll change little things about it as the season goes. Yes. You'll have to re revamp it as the season goes. Right. Fresh pangy, um, so...
Transcribe →Homesteading with BeckyJ
Apr 2100:34:13Tap to summarizeToday I'm talking with Becky at Homesteading with BeckyJ. A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 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. At Green Bush Twins and Company, we believe in the power of creativity, imagination, and art to bring people together. Our mission is to inspire connection across all ages, encouraging understanding, individuality, and a true sense of belonging. We're building more than a brand. We're growing a mindful community rooted in kindness, intention, and shared purpose. 00:29 At our core, it's about real people sharing real stories, ideas, and products that make everyday life more meaningful. If you believe in living with purpose and supporting brands that care, you'll feel right at home with Greenbush Twins. A tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins and Company. Today I'm talking with Becky at Homesteading with Becky J in Oregon. How are you this morning, Becky? I am fabulous. How about you? I'm good. What's the weather doing in Oregon? 00:57 We're actually really overcast today. 01:02 Is it raining or is it just overcast? Just overcast. It looks like it wants to try, but nothing's happening. Yeah. And rain is not, it's not anything unusual in Oregon or Washington state. So I'm sure you're ready for it to sprinkle whenever, right? Yeah. Well, and I'm in Eastern Oregon. So we actually, lot of the storms tend to go around us. We're usually pretty dry. So yeah, we definitely take all the rain that we can get. 01:30 Yeah, I'm in Minnesota. It is yet another really lovely morning. It's the reason I sound weird about that is because this winter has been the longest, grayest, wettest we've had in probably four years. Oh, geez. But the sun is coming in the bedroom window. There's no wind and it's just really pretty outside. I'm like, hmm, another good morning. Yay. So. ah 01:59 I have to tell you when I saw the name of your page, Homesteading with Becky J, for some reason it made me think of a pop star and I can't for the life of me think of who it is right now. But I was like, that sounds like a rock star homesteader. I want to talk to her. Easy to remember then. Yes. So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do. Well, I am 37 years old. have 02:28 Three children, a whole full-fledged homestead now. I literally have animals all over, but it was not like that. You know, six, seven years ago, I was living in a trailer park. So, I mean, we made some major changes for the better, obviously. There was a lot of work to get here, but... 02:51 Still grilling. So when you were in the trailer park, were you already like practicing homesteading skills though? you already learning? I mean, I've always been a meal prepper, baker, cooker. So I kind of had that going for me, but honestly, no. And I wish that I would have been practicing some of these basic skills. You know, like I could have been gardening on my porch. I could have been utilizing container gardening or 03:19 you know, worm composting or learning how to sow, but I was so oblivious to all of it. And I guess I just thought that like the property had to come first. So I'm a big advocate for people. Like it doesn't matter where you're at. Like you can literally do this anywhere. And I wish I would have started sooner, you know? Well, I would say, okay, listener, you heard it here first, but I say it all the time. So, okay, listener, you're hearing it again. Learn to cook, grow a plant, learn to 03:49 crochet or sew, just learn some basic skills of do-it-yourself things because that way you're not caught flat-footed. Yeah. Yup. 04:01 Okay, so when did you move into, when did you acquire your land? We have been here about seven years now. it just slowly but surely we started getting some animals and the first year I tried to garden it was a complete flop because I didn't know what I was doing. That's okay, at least you tried. Yeah. 04:31 Yep. Okay. So tried gardening. Yeah. The people that had lived here before us, she had a big, big garden and I know them personally. So like I seen what it looked like in full bloom and everything that she had been growing. like, Oh, I could totally do that. And so of course I just planted everything in the ground with no idea of like weed control or how I was going to water or anything. And then of course, 04:58 everything started sprouting. It looked fabulous, but then I couldn't tell what were like weeds and what were the plants. By the time it was big enough for me to tell, I'm like, oh yeah, I'm not pulling all these. I just gave up. I just let it grow wild that year. I'm like, yeah, no. Did you get anything out of it though, even though it was crowded? Some lettuce. 05:26 I did get some lettuce, but that was about it. Well, it's better than nothing. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. It's definitely a learning lesson. Are you plant, are you, so have you gotten better at gardening over the years? Oh yes. I now know like what works for me and because I do work full time still. So I definitely have to have some major systems in place in order for me to make it work growing as much as I do. Um, 05:53 but I have some weed barriers down. have an automatic watering system now. I grow certain things in raised beds, certain things in the ground. And so I have a system now. Yeah. Systems are really very, very, I would could say very a hundred times. It wouldn't be enough important to making a homestead run where you don't feel like you're putting out fires all the time. Definitely. Yup. And you said you have animals. So what do you have for animals and what animal did you get first? 06:23 Um, so funny enough, we got cows first, which seems backwards in my head. Yeah. But there, we already had a fence pasture and my husband always wanted cows, you know, raise our own beef. And we started with cows and that also obviously was a learning experience. Um, the first cow we had his name was Houdini given for a very good reason, because even though it was a fenced pasture, the fence needed some work. 06:52 And so he got out constantly. So I don't know how many times I, we had to walk that guy home. Like he would end up at the neighbors, you know, half a mile down the road and someone else's pasture. And it was like, oh my gosh, this animal is huge. I'm going to get ran over. And I got chickens and chickens obviously were a little bit easier to manage. Yeah. They say chickens are the gateway animal for homesteaders. Cows is not. 07:21 Cows is not the animal they say is the gateway animal. Yeah. Really quick. I'm going to jump in our neighbors to our west, our Northwest. They have cows and they have at least one donkey. And we've lived here. We've lived here for a little over five years and I keep, I keep waiting to get up in the morning and find a cow or a donkey in my yard and they've never shown up. So they must have really good fences. And what's really dumb, Becky is that 07:51 I would not be terribly offended if I woke up to a cow or a donkey standing in my yard. It would be definitely has their own personalities. Yeah. As long as I could get hold of the owner and say, you need to come get your critter because I can't do it. I would be fine with it. Cause I think that we don't have livestock here. We have chickens, we have a dog, we have barn cats. And I 08:18 We have three acres. We don't have enough room for anybody to graze and feeding livestock right now is real expensive if you're not grazing them. Yeah. So the idea of waking up to a cow or a donkey in my yard would be highly entertaining once. Yeah. Let me just visit. Okay. Like babysit them a couple hours, maybe once a week and then take them back. Yeah. Their beautiful dog came over one day and she's, I think her name is shy or sky. 08:48 And she's the red golden retriever. Like she's not the yellow golden. She's the red...
Transcribe →Morning Sun Homestead
Apr 1500:27:01Tap to summarizeToday I'm talking with Maryann at Morning Sun Homestead. A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. At Green Bush Twins and Company, we believe in the power of creativity, imagination, and art to bring people together. Our mission is to inspire connection across all ages, encouraging understanding, individuality, and a true sense of belonging. We're building more than a brand. We're growing a mindful community rooted in kindness, intention, and shared purpose. 00:28 At our core, it's about real people sharing real stories, ideas, and products that make everyday life more meaningful. If you believe in living with purpose and supporting brands that care, you'll feel right at home with Green Bush Twins. That Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Green Bush Twins and Company. Today I'm talking with Mary Ann at Morning Sun Homestead in West Virginia. Good morning, Mary Ann. How are you? We're doing well. Thank you for having us on your podcast. 00:55 Oh, you're welcome. Thank you for taking the time. I appreciate it. I was just going to close Facebook, your Facebook page because it was still open. Do you have an Australian Shepherd? We actually have two of them puppies. We got them the first weekend in January. Two males. One is Remington, one's Winchester and we love them. They are wonderful dogs. 01:21 Yeah, I happen to see the always on guard even if it's watching a pesky cat post and I was like that looks just like my Maggie because we have one too. 01:32 We are in the process of trying to train them to herd cows and chickens. uh One is more relaxed. He likes just to stay on the porch and watch, but the other one has the instinct and the drive to really herd. So we have to watch him a lot. He's very good about keeping the chickens across the fence where they belong, but he likes to nip a little bit. And that is okay for a cow, but a chicken is much more tender. So we're working on that right now. 02:04 I wish you all the luck in the world with that. Our Maggie doesn't really have a farm job. Her job is watchdogging for the home. And uh the thing we've learned in the five years we've had her is that she is not a dog that knows how to fetch. She loves to chase things, but if we say bring it back, she will not bring it back. 02:28 That sounds very familiar. Yup. And are yours full size Australian Shepherds or are they the smaller ones? 02:39 They are full size. Once they're grown, they'll be full size. Okay, Maggie's a small standard. weighs like 36 pounds. 02:53 Okay, so how is the weather in West Virginia this morning? It is sunny and cold in Minnesota. 03:01 We are supposed to have 78 degrees today. We had rain last night, a thunderstorm moved through. It rained really, really hard. Then this morning it was 52 degrees and we had a little bit more rain. It stopped, a few more showers. Right now it's 66. We're supposed to have 78. But this is a roller coaster. We've had some nice weather and now tonight it is supposed to be 37 and tomorrow we're supposed to have snow. 03:30 And then it's supposed to shoot back up to the 50s, 60s. And then next week on Tuesday, we are supposed to have 17 at night. So we are just up and down with the weather. But this is a small taste of spring and we want to get out and do all kinds of things, but we have a lot of mud, which is okay because we needed the moisture. We are very dry. So that worked out to get more rain. um We're really anxious for spring to come when you have warm days like this and you get out and you're able to work a little bit. And then 03:58 you have snow again. So that's a let down, but we are on a roller coaster ride. Yeah, we're supposed to get a little bit of snow every day through Sunday this week here. And I'm like, okay, um, I guess I can handle it because hopefully it'll be the last of it for the winter. Hopefully. Um, so tell me a little bit about yourself and morning sun homestead. 04:28 So my husband and I, um well when we got married of course we ate like everyone else. You know, was fast food and quick dinners and things like that. And then over time once we had our children we realized that that wasn't the life we wanted to continue. So we started to dig in and um grow in our own food. And we have branched off from that and now we do our own meats. You know, of course we have our own eggs. The girls are a tremendous help. 04:58 They all are on the bandwagon with us, so to speak. So it really helps to have their help. They know how to do everything, which is a huge help now that as we're getting older, you just don't have as much energy. And uh when I look back, I wonder how I did it all when they were small. I guess it was just all willpower and grit. But that's how we got started. We just got tired of eating all the processed stuff, feeling bad, waking up with inflammation, you know, 05:28 bags under our eyes and that sort of thing and decided to pick a healthier path and it's worked out well and we are so glad that we decided to do that. It has made a major difference in our lives. 05:43 Awesome, and I'm glad you just said all that because I'm gonna do my my public service announcement early in the podcast episode today if you live in America right now, and you don't know how to cook learn and If you don't grow anything to eat start a plant this year try growing something even if it's herbs on your windowsill and 06:08 get to know your local producers, your local farmers, because if the supply chain should happen to go down again, it's good to be able to know who to buy from locally. That's my public service announcement. And there is so much truth in that. know, local is best. If you can't grow it yourself, the next level would be local. That way, the way I look at it, have, we milk cows, so we have raw milk and it's became legal now to sell raw milk in West Virginia. 06:37 And I would never sell a gallon of milk that I felt my family wouldn't drink. And I think that a lot of people that are local feel the same way about their produce or their meat, their eggs, whatever they may be selling. I feel that if they wouldn't feed it to their family, they're probably not going to try to sell it to you. I know I wouldn't. Hopefully that's how most producers are. But the big corporations really don't care. They will send us whatever. 07:04 And because it doesn't matter to them, it's all one big connection with pharmaceuticals and big farms and our health. 07:14 Absolutely yes. Yes, yes, yes, you are absolutely right. uh I, how do I say this? We grow a garden and we have chickens, partly because it's fun, but we're not doing it for funsies. We're doing it to feed ourselves and feed our community, if that makes sense at all. 07:39 Yes, it most certainly does. um I'm assuming from the comment that you made, must also sell any additional eggs that you have and uh garden produce you give away. Right, and we do that if we have extra produce to older people. um There's a lot of older people that used to eat healthy. This was not... 08:02 like a trend, this was the normal way of life, this is how they always did it, and now they're just not able to get out there and do it, and we will give them produce from our garden em just because that's what we want to do. If we can help someone out, that's what we do, but it sounds like your family does the same thing, and that's wonderful. uh We need more of that in America. 08:23 Yes, we do. need everybody who has a talent. And by the way, everyone has a talent. It doesn't matter what it is. If you sing, then sing to your kids or sing to your friends. It makes them feel good. um If you're good at writing, write a story. It makes people feel good. If you're good at growing things, feed people. Everyone has a talent. You just have to figure out what it is.</p...
Transcribe →Faithful Harvest MN
Apr 1300:30:28Tap to summarizeToday I'm talking with Abigail and Christian at Faithful Harvest MN. A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 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. At Green Bush Twins and Company, we believe in the power of creativity, imagination, and art to bring people together. Our mission is to inspire connection across all ages, encouraging understanding, individuality, and a true sense of belonging. We're building more than a brand. We're growing a mindful community rooted in kindness, intention, and shared purpose. 00:29 At our core, it's about real people sharing real stories, ideas, and products that make everyday life more meaningful. If you believe in living with purpose and supporting brands that care, you'll feel right at home with Green Bush Twins. That tiny homestead podcast is sponsored by Green Bush Twins and Company. Today I'm talking with Abigail and Christian at Faithful Harvest Minnesota in Dexter, Minnesota. Good afternoon, guys. How are you? Good. How are you doing? Good. 00:54 So I'm in LaSore, Minnesota and it's overcast here and it's like 57 degrees. Is that what it's doing where you are? Yeah, it's about that here. It's really windy today, but the sun is out. So we're happy about it. Yeah, the sun is not out here. It's kind of great. Oh. 01:15 But that's okay, because at least it's warm and it's not snowing. Finally, yeah. You get all cooked up over the winter and then finally like the nice days, you just want to break out and do clean everything all at once. 01:33 Oh yes, my husband spent most of Easter day outside and he was either riding the tractor and watering chickens or he was in the greenhouse planting seeds. yeah, perfect timing to start doing this stuff. It gets exciting when the weather finally starts getting nice and itching to get outside and get all that stuff done. Absolutely. So do you guys consider yourselves homesteaders or farmers? 02:01 Uh, we consider ourselves homesteaders, um, just because whenever I think of farm, I kind of think of the large scale industrial farming and our homestead is very small batch and homemade and we have it smaller right now. yeah. Okay. So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do as homesteaders. Yeah. So, um, I'm right now I'm an ER nurse, um, and I'm 02:31 part time with that right now. And uh that's kind of a new transition for me personally. And we've been doing the homestead for about four years now. And uh recently over the last year, we've gotten much more into the business side of the homestead and just starting to share what we do on the homestead and our daily life and everything. So that's kind of where we're at right now and what we do. 03:01 I'm just spending a lot more time doing stuff for marketing and just getting ready for the planting season here. Yeah. When starting the homestead, I do have a drywall business. 03:21 other than doing the homestead. 03:26 so you both have outside income. 03:30 Yeah, yeah, we both have our jobs outside of this. And then, you know, we're considering this a really fun job. The homestead is the job you want to be doing. The other two jobs are the jobby jobs. Yeah, exactly. The goal is to maybe one day we both do this full time and that's kind of our long term dream one day. But for now, just paying the bills with that and then in our free time we... 03:59 do everything we can for the homestead just to be out there and just working together on it. sounds very familiar after talking with people over 500 episodes in the last two and a half years. You're not alone in that guys. That's how it's done. So did you always want to be homesteaders? Were you raised by people who grew things? How did it work? Yeah. on 04:27 My side, I did grow up on a small hobby farm is what we called it. And my parents just raised cows, pigs, and sometimes chickens just to feed the family and some friends. And my mom always had a garden growing up. So it's kind of been in my blood. And when we finally got together and we've been, Christian and I have been together for five years and just got married last year. And in that five years we've 04:54 learned a lot about each other that we both would love to get back to our roots of making things homemade and growing our own things, growing our own produce and livestock and just being able to be self-sustaining more. And that was kind of our biggest goal. So I do have a background in farming, I guess, but I learned a lot more in the last five years of Christian than I ever had growing up. Yeah, I would I would agree with that in the last five years. 05:23 I've learned more than I ever have in my life. Growing up, I grew up on a small acreage and the extent of that was what we would do was have a small garden and it was basics, tomatoes, peppers, onion. No, not onions, just oh pretty basic garden plots, small garden plots. We didn't have any livestock or anything like that, but 05:51 always grew up just being outside and either working or just playing mow the lawn, stuff like that. But yeah, it wasn't until Abby and I met and... uh 06:11 to start getting into this learning little by little. Yeah, it's a whole different ball game when it's just you guys and it's not family doing it. Mm For sure. Yeah. There's a lot more that I didn't realize that my parents know so much more that I never even learned that I find myself going back to them like, what did you do with this when we were younger and all this stuff and now when it's just us, it's fun learning the little things that maybe we didn't know in the past. 06:41 Yes. And honestly, I think one of the best things about getting into homesteading is the learning curve because it's not, it's not necessarily a steep learning curve. is a consistent learning curve. Yeah, that's a really good way to put it. Yeah, I agree. Everything we've done over the years has just come little by little. Reading here, watching, you know, watching this or then trial and error that and 07:12 At the beginning projects, it seemed a little daunting, but just getting into it, it's always been a steady, steady incline. Yes. And once you know it, you know it. You don't forget it. It's like riding a bike. It's true. I love that part because if I had to relearn everything every day, I would just throw in the towel. It would be too much. Groundhog Day is not an appealing concept to me. 07:41 Um, Abigail, I saw your video on your Facebook page of your soap, making your soap. Yeah. Yes. And you were saying that it makes your skin so much softer and that I can't remember the rest of it, but just you were kind of raving in the commentary about how much you love it. Is that cold process, Lysow? Yeah. So that is, I guess I'm... 08:10 not a connoisseur of making soap. And I, when I first learned how to make it, I actually learned it from a guy that makes it in Minneapolis and he had a YouTube video out there. I was, and I had always wanted to start making soap eventually. And so we just pulled the trigger and pulled up this YouTube video. Like let's just buy the exact ingredients. Let's do it. And yeah, it is a cold process soap. ever since then, we've been using that same exact recipe just because we, we love it so much and it 08:40 changed how our skin feels and everything. So yeah. Yeah. Well, let me tell you, girly, I am, am 56 years old. We started making our own cold process Lysol a good 15 years ago, mostly because mostly because the store bought soap that I could get made my skin dry and it made me itchy. And I got a bar of cold process Lysol. 09:10 at the Renaissance Festival from, I can't remember the name of the company, I don't think they're even out there anymore, but they had an oatmeal almond soap. And I fell in love with it and I had the same reaction. I did not have itchy skin anymore. My skin was soft and it...
Transcribe →Montana Country Homesteading
Apr 1000:37:48Tap to summarizeToday I'm talking with Diane at Montana Country Homesteading. You can also follow on Facebook. A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 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. At Green Bush Twins and Company, we believe in the power of creativity, imagination, and art to bring people together. Our mission is to inspire connection across all ages, encouraging understanding, individuality, and a true sense of belonging. We're building more than a brand. We're growing a mindful community rooted in kindness, intention, and shared purpose. 00:29 At our core, it's about real people sharing real stories, ideas, and products that make everyday life more meaningful. If you believe in living with purpose and supporting brands that care, you'll feel right at home with Green Bush Twins. That tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Green Bush Twins and Company. Today I'm talking with Diane at Montana Country something homesteading in Montana because it's Montana country homesteading. Good morning, Diane. How are you? Good morning. I'm wonderful. How are you this morning? I'm good. How's the weather there? 00:59 Actually yesterday for Easter was just about as perfect as it could be. And this morning it's a little overcast, but it's going to be a nice day. Unusual weather in Montana, to be honest. Yeah. It was a lovely day in Minnesota here yesterday too. Yesterday was beautiful. Sunny 50s light breeze. was, it was really good. All right. So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do at Montana country home study. Well, um, 01:28 Let's see a little bit about us. I've been married to my husband who was my high school sweetheart for 47 years now. um We came to Montana exactly 30 years ago in just a couple of weeks, the first weekend of May. And um we came with our three kids, two dogs, a motor home, a U-Haul carrying a pickup truck full of all my husband's construction tools and away we went. 01:57 and came out onto a bare piece of property that quite honestly, my husband found in the back of a Field and Stream magazine in a one inch by two inch ad and said, honey, let's go to Montana. And so we did, we packed up everything 30 years ago and came onto this 20 acre parcel that we actually bought it with a couple of Polaroid, the shake pictures, you know, that you shake to develop them. 02:26 And away we went and it's been a whirlwind since we actually did homestead this property. It was set up in 20 acre tracks out here with quite honestly, no roads, no development, no nothing. They had just subdivided the land. um When we moved on the property, there was literally a two lane dirt path that came down to our 20 acres. And that I looked at. 02:52 dirt path up by the way. And it is actually considered um a stage coach line road from Billings, Montana to Park City, Montana back in the day. So that was of interesting. Yeah, we live on a stage coach road. uh It's now been a little better developed than it used to be, but it's still just a gravel road coming in here. uh But yeah, 30 years ago, we came onto this property with just a dream and an idea. uh 03:21 We were uh building contractors in the Bay Area and were just on complete overload and did not want to raise our kids in that environment. And so we made a pact with each other to get the heck out of there before our kids got uh in middle school and away we went. And we've been here since. That is amazing. I love that. Okay. So did you... 03:47 Did you grow up with people who did homesteading or gardening or farming or ranching at all? My grandparents um on my dad's side had a farm, but we didn't go there very often. uh My other grandma was the most incredible gardener that you had ever seen. She lived in a little town in Pemberville, Ohio. And um quite honestly, that woman could grow anything. And what was really amazing to me is she would 04:15 pull all of her flowers in from her flower beds and put them in what she called her breezeway in the winter months in Ohio. And she would hold those flowers over till next year and put them all back out in the beds. It was amazing to me. I don't have that gift that grandma had, but I can grow a thing or two. So what are the thing or twos that you grow? We grow a lot of our own food. um I think it's really important that you grow your own food, especially today. 04:45 with what's going on with the food chain and the modified foods and all the sprays and such that they're putting on our foods. think it's wildly important that you grow your own food today. So I actually have, one of the first things we did on this homestead was we built some raised beds, started some gardens with my kids. And then of course the deer came and ate everything. I didn't realize that I was dealing with some serious 05:15 predation with animals and such around here, but we were. uh Then we decided to put a hoop house over the raised beds and got wise and kept the animals out and started growing food there. uh If you look on my social media page right now, my husband finally finished uh our main greenhouse that we're going to be growing and I actually just started putting plants in there on Saturday afternoon. 05:39 That's exciting. It's super exciting. It's like over the top greenhouse, of course, my husband's that go bigger, go home kind of guy. um But the first greenhouse that we we grew food in was just a little raised bed area that we put literally sheet panels that we hooped over it and uh buttoned them down to both sides of the of the raised bed and then put um plastic over top of it. And that's what we grew and put a wall in the front. 06:07 some mesh in the back and away we went. And I grew in that for 20 some years. So it doesn't need to be elaborate, but you need to grow your own food. And now we've just stepped up the game to grow into this uh major greenhouse. And years ago, I took a horse barn that we had when we were actually raising paints back in the day. I took that horse barn and I rented it to somebody who cultivated. uh 06:34 inside of that and they have since moved out. So now I have an area where I can actually grow indoor produce all year long. So we're working on that next. That's our next big project. We've had one project after another here on this piece of land. Again, we drove up, there was nothing here, like literally nothing. No water, no power, no phones, no driveways, uh just a piece of land with some pin markers so that you knew what was yours and what wasn't and 07:04 We laid it out from there and it's been quite interesting. Okay. After everything you just told me, I have a couple of thoughts. I'm going do my public service announcement now because it plays into what you just said. I do this on every episode lately. If you live in America right now and you don't know how to cook from scratch, learn because you will save yourself a lot of money if you're buying ingredients instead of finished foods. Number two, if you 07:30 can't grow a garden, get to know your local producers and growers because they can grow a garden and you're feeding yourself really good food and you're supporting your neighbors. Love all of that. That's incredible. Yep. And then number two, I have been trying to figure out a way to explain the feeling that we homesteaders get when we have a project and we get it finished. And the only thing I can liken it to 07:57 is if you were in Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts or you took art class in elementary school and you learned a new skill, whether it was building a homemade birdhouse or Girl Scouts, they used to have you make an apron or in art class, did, I don't know what it was called, but we took a chisel and we chiseled out a design on a piece of vinyl board and then we would make stamps with that vinyl board. 08:26 When, if you've ever don...
Transcribe →An Enchanted Homestead
Apr 800:46:13Tap to summarizeToday I'm talking with Lydia at An Enchanted Homestead. A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 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. At Green Bush Twins and Company, we believe in the power of creativity, imagination, and art to bring people together. Our mission is to inspire connection across all ages, encouraging understanding, individuality, and a true sense of belonging. We're building more than a brand. We're growing a mindful community rooted in kindness, intention, and shared purpose. 00:29 At our core, it's about real people sharing real stories, ideas, and products that make everyday life more meaningful. If you believe in living with purpose and supporting brands that care, you'll feel right at home with Greenbush Twins. That tiny homestead podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins and Company. Today I'm talking with Lydia at an enchanted homestead. I love that name in Idaho. Good afternoon, Lydia. How are you? Hi, I'm well. How are you? I'm good. How's the weather in your neck of the woods today? oh 00:58 windy and rainy. Us too. In Minnesota, same thing. It is gross outside. Yes. It's like we can't make up our minds here. One day it's like a warm spring. Now it's like kind of reverting to winter. It's so funny. Every time, every time I talk with somebody about the weather and it just keeps flipping, they all have the same sigh and I do the same thing. I did it two days ago. 01:27 We just need spring to get here and stay here. That would be great. Yes. And it's unusually warm. Um, cause I feel like winter skipped us here in Southern Idaho. We got snow like only three times and it melted the same day. And so it got pretty warm. Like we were having a pretty warm spring, um, which I was kind of excited about. And then this week it was like, psych. So it's like cold and wet. Yup. 01:56 I... There's that noise again. I hate this. Alrighty. So why is it called an enchanted homestead? Do you have magic on your homestead? Oh, gosh. I'm just always... love all things like magical and just like finding gratitude even in the mundane boring stuff and like turning it into something... Well, magical. 02:21 Enchanting and so I don't know it just it's stuck with me and we decided to name it that Well, you'll be happy to know that one of my good friends gave me a fairy weather vane when we moved here five years ago, that's awesome And it only took a year and a half to put up, but it's really pretty so 02:45 Yep, I can see it out my living room windows and every time I look at it, I think of her and I'm like, I hope you're looking down from heaven smiling at the weather rain. Oh, that's awesome. That is awesome. I love adding all kinds of stuff. Like I have like my courts around the garden, like sun catchers, wind chimes. just I love putting stuff everywhere. I'm like, I don't know, like adding that little magical umph to like otherwise boring places around the property. 03:15 And so I just, love that. Yes, because when things aren't blooming, you need something to look like it's blooming. Oh my goodness. Yes. Yes, indeed. Make it somewhat pretty. Yeah, I get it. I really do. I was talking to somebody about the fact that peonies are my favorite flower the other day and I realized I still have at least two months before my peonies bloom. Oh yeah? Well, I want to add more flowers around the property, but I 03:43 suck. I don't know. cannot get flowers to bloom hardly at all. just, I don't know. Is it shady? Some parts, but our house faces west and so the sun does like, whoo. Um, but I don't know. just, I have wildflowers though that have taken off and they come back every year, thankfully. So I'm trying to get more going. Um, 04:12 So we'll see this year. We'll see. Okay. I have a question. Did you grow up in Idaho? No, actually in Puerto Rico. Oh, okay. I was listening to you talk and I'm like, there's some accent there, but I can't place it. Yeah, no. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, moved to Hawaii and then came to Idaho. Okay. It's really subtle. I don't think anybody else would have noticed it, but I am like a fanatic about it because I listened to everything really closely. um Okay. So. 04:42 Tell me about your homestead. Well, we have a little bit over 50 chickens, I would say, give or take. We have four goats. We have nine cats, five dogs. Five dogs, yeah. And we are just on, I think about three and a half acres here. um Yeah, we do gardening. 05:11 We do obviously the farm fresh eggs, all the stuff. Nice. Because I'm a dog fanatic, I never was until we got our dog five years ago. My husband is the same. What breed, what breed, what breeds are your dogs or is it one breed? Oh, so we had, we started with one Shih Tzu and then she got pregnant. And she had five puppies that were mixed. 05:41 one passed away early on and so I could not part with the other puppies. And so we were in town at first and so that is what led us to then have to find somewhere out of town limits because I think it was a three dog maximum rule and we had a little bit more than that. And of course they're little dogs so they yap. They are quite the little yappers. um And so then when we moved out here we had a dog 06:10 that randomly showed up. His name was Jax. He passed um two or three years ago. But then we had another dog show up, Bruno. He's still with us. He's a lab mix, a black lab mix. And then our son brought another dog home and she is a border collie lab mix. And so we currently, yeah, one, two. 06:40 three, four, five, because we've had a few that have passed away. yeah. Yep. My husband and I are of the mind that one dog is more than enough for us. We adore our dog. her mama has a litter every year. And friends of ours own the mama. And I'm like, man, those puppies are so cute. My husband's like, our dog is so cute. We don't need to give her a sister or a brother. What breed is she? 07:10 She's a she's an Australian shepherd. Oh, okay. And they need they need to be played with. Yeah, they have energy. Yeah. So having more than one would probably kill both of us. Yeah, that's how it is with ours. That's a border Collie mix. Nova. Oh my goodness. She has energy for days and we have her kind of like on a routine. So like they get breakfast every morning and then she gets like after breakfast playtime. Then at around three o'clock she gets another playtime. 07:39 Then after dinner, they get playtime and it's like, she will, and she knows, like she will sit by the area where her toys are at and just look like the saddest abused dog. Like, please play. Oh my goodness. I calm down. But she loves, thought she wants to be outside playing all day long. cannot for the life of me figure out if border collies and um Australian shepherds just know how to communicate better than other dogs do. 08:08 Mm-hmm. would say so. Maggie's the same way. She has all kinds of expressions for what she wants. They're super smart. Yeah, it's crazy. And my mom and dad have a purebred border collie and her name is Duchess and she was aptly named and she has all kinds of faces for what she wants to according to my dad. So I think that those two breeds are very expressive and very clear. 08:36 when they want your attention for whatever it is that they want you to do. oh absolutely. And I could talk about dogs all day. Like I am an absolute convert. I go to the church of dog. I swear to you. uh I've always been a dog person, but my husband, for his whole life was scared of dogs. Like it is the funniest thing. Like even the littlest dog, he'd be like, Nope. And I'm like, come on. Like it's not going to eat you. Like really? 09:05 and he will just walk the other way. And so then when we got our first dog together, Harley, he started coming around and his family to this day, they're like, we would have never thought you would end up with five dogs....
Transcribe →Girlypop Acres
Apr 600:32:09Tap to summarizeToday I'm talking with Lily at Girlypop Acres. You can also follow on Facebook. A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 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. At Green Bush Twins and Company, we believe in the power of creativity, imagination, and art to bring people together. Our mission is to inspire connection across all ages, encouraging understanding, individuality, and a true sense of belonging. We're building more than a brand. We're growing a mindful community rooted in kindness, intention, and shared purpose. 00:29 At our core, it's about real people sharing real stories, ideas, and products that make everyday life more meaningful. If you believe in living with purpose and supporting brands that care, you'll feel right at home with Greenbush Twins. That tiny homestead podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins and Company. Today I'm talking with Lily at Gurley Pop Far- Acres in New York. How are you, Lily? I'm how are you doing today? I'm good. I almost messed up the introduction yet again. I'm telling you, I- 00:56 I know what I'm going to say and the brain does not translate to my tongue to come out of my face. So how is the weather in New York this morning? Oh, it's actually decent for once. We've been hit hard by snow lately, but it's sunny and shiny and everyone, all the critters are walking around happy. Good. It is March 30th, I think. And I'm in Minnesota and the sun is pouring through my bedroom window, which is the room I do my recording in. 01:26 And it's supposed to hit 75 degrees today. Oh, goodness. I'm jealous. think we're probably in like the 40s and I'm celebrating. Yeah, the weather's been so weird. We had 81 degrees two Sundays ago for the high. Oh my goodness. And then it was cold, colder all week. And then it was really nice yesterday. I it got up to 63. It's supposed to be 75 today and it's supposed to drop down again this week. So. 01:51 I'm gonna be real happy when we get a stretch of seven days where it is moderate and spring-like. It would be great. Oh, same here. Same here. It was snowing just two days ago here. Yeah, it's nuts. So tell me, I wanna know about you and what you do, but tell me why your place is called Girlie Pop Acres. So I have four dogs, three great Pyrenees and one beagle. And back when it was just the great Pyrenees, 02:20 um I had two of them puppies and you know, great Pyrenees puppies don't listen to anything at all. And it was just easier to yell girly pops at them instead of being like, over here. So I would yell girly pops and I accidentally trained all three of them to only respond to girly pop. uh And now the beagle does So I just named it after my dogs. That is so cute. 02:50 I call my dog girly all the time. Oh, I love it. I'm sure my neighbors know that we're girly pup acres because my dogs used to break out of the fence before we had our fences as good as we do. I'd be outside yelling girly pups, girly pups. Oh, Funny. You know what would be funny? It would you made cake pops and took them to your neighbors and were like, I'm so sorry that I'm always yelling girly pop. Here's some cake pops for you. 03:19 I should. I don't know if they can even hear me because my neighbors are pretty far away, but if they do. Yeah, I think that would be really cute. If you ever get an inkling or hear a rumor that they're upset, just throw together some cake pops and I don't know, put cute little dog faces on them and take them over to them. Oh, that's a great idea. That's what I would do because I really like turning messes into messages. That's such a cute like motto. I love that. 03:49 Uh huh. have gained so many sayings from this podcast over two and a half years from people I've talked to. 03:57 and they're all relevant. So I just, have a whole rolling lexicon in the back of my head of things that I can do or say. I love that. Yeah. It's been great. Okay. So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do, Um, so I'm a homesteader as you can guess, since I'm here. Um, I raised Nigerian dwarf goats. We have eight goats right now. Uh, we got the four dogs. Uh, we got a goose named Boopers. 04:26 walking around next to me right now. I got a bunch of ducks, a bunch of silkies, and I raised two feral farm children and a potbelly pig named Big Bertha. sounds like Homestead. Yep. Very full life over here. I consider myself a Lyme's disease advocate because I have Lyme's disease and so does my husband. 04:56 um I'm a disabled farmer. I have two leg braces because my knees are all messed up. I'm either always in a cane or a walker, which is a challenge with farming, but we make it work. Yes, yes. And I'm glad you said that because I'm not saying that you are over 50. I have no idea how old you are. I am over 50. 05:21 You can do homesteading at any age as long as you feel safe in what you're doing. That is an amazing thing to call out because ah I'm only 28. My husband is 25, but we've been doing it for a couple of years and it was pretty much the second we could get a piece of land. We're like, okay, let's get back to farming. ah I was raised on a cattle farm when I was a kid and he grew up at this lake. 05:50 semi-famous bed and breakfast in Arkansas, where they had like 100 acres. But there's definitely times where your safety is like, goodness, like people don't think about how much goes into homesteading. Oh, there are so many ways to get hurt on a homestead. husband was splitting wood over the weekend with our wood splitter, you know, the actual 06:19 motorized one. And I was sitting on the porch because I don't do wood, he does it. And I kept going out and kind of keeping an eye on him because he's out there by himself. And I'm like, please don't let him get sidetracked and leave his hand in the way. Because if you get your hand caught between the wood and the metal piece that splits the wood, you're going to have a broken hand for sure. Oh, goodness, I couldn't imagine. So he was fine. He's got it down to a science and he's very good at it. And it's kind of fun watching your husband do 06:48 manly work, you but But there are so many ways I mean The first time we came to see this place over five years ago before we bought it it's it's 3.1 acres and it is a flat it's a piece of flat land and uh There were divots or whatever. They're called trenches. I don't know but all over the yard from where the the tractors had gone through or been moved or whatever on the property 07:18 and I caught my boot toe on one the edges and went down. In the first five minutes, I was walking this property and I was like, well, that bodes well. I'll probably break a leg before it's over. So you can do the dumbest things and get hurt or you can be the most careful ever and still get hurt. So it's something to consider. Yeah, I'm on the dumber end of it with my first goat. He was a little baby. 07:44 And he loved jumping up onto my shoulders to get piggyback rides. And I just let him because I was like, this is cute. This is adorable. This isn't going to backfire on me someday. And now that he's a full grown goat and still tries to do it so swell. uh I also got attacked by an emu once on our farm when we tried to raise emu. So yes, they are big birds and they're not 08:13 I mean, I'm sure someone in their experience has raised an emu chick and it's the friendliest, sweetest bird ever and would never hurt a fly. But I don't think that's the usual course of events. I have no idea. We got one as a baby. It was given to us by a friend as a housewarming gift and it was in our living room and it would sit around and wh...
Transcribe →Cole Canyon Farms - Doin' The Damn Things!
Apr 300:43:45Tap to summarizeToday I'm talking with Morgan at Cole Canyon Farms. You can also follow on Facebook. Content Seeds Collective https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Morgan at Cole Canyon Farms in Montana again. I think for like the fifth time maybe. Good afternoon, Morgan. How are you? Good afternoon, good afternoon. Yeah, we've gotten to chat quite a bit since we met a few years ago over those little groovy goats. So I'm excited to be back on. 00:27 It's funny how podcasting can create friendships, real friendships. Yeah. Yeah. It's actually really honestly the digital age. It's crazy how we can create friends that we don't even see in person, but they, they're a real friend. It's I, mean, there's pros and cons to digital, but that is one of the things I love about it. Like the community I've made and met and the people like you I've gotten to meet have really shaped Cole Canyon farm. 00:55 to what it is today, honestly. Oh, well, I'm glad to hear that. How is the weather in Montana today? It's hot. We've been in the 70s. I'm not even kidding you. Like, I had shorts on and this is like unbelievable for Montana to be this warm. So I think it's like 70 today with light breeze. So it's a good, you know, a good day to start spring cleaning and getting all of the, you know, future projects we have done. How's your weather? 01:24 It is partly sunny. is 68 degrees. Feels like 68 degrees. I'm looking at my weather app right now and there's hardly any wind today. So that's a nice change from Saturday. Saturday, the wind was blowing so hard. was making the house creek. man. Yeah, it does that to our house. We've had like, so it's windy where I'm at, right? So I'm not ever shocked by wind, but in the last few years, we were seeing more and more gusts. I remember when like 01:50 75 mile per hour gusts were huge a few years ago and now this is the second time in the last six months we've had 90 plus mile per hour gusts here. Yeah, I, this, I don't even know what to say. I've talked, I talk about the weather on every single episode and I am literally out of things to say except that it's just weird. It is the apps never correct. Like we had rain last night. We could hear it cause we live in a middle, like a metal tin boot. 02:20 like 10 house, you Yeah. And I could hear it and my husband, it was like, I don't know, we got in a bed kind of late last night because I went to the auction, the horse auction. So I had a lot to film in on about. Did not come home with anything, side note, good thing on that. But, you know, we heard just this light pattering and I was like, is that hail? Because like that would normally like snow hail season as this season, right? Yeah. And we were like, no. 02:46 No, actually that it's sprinkling outside and the app never updated never said we had precipitation nothing. So I bought uh I think it's a hydrometer or whatever where you stick it outside. I need to figure out the real name for it, but I just called the rain catcher, but it will tell me how much rain we're getting because I think to be honest with you, they're not they're not as accurately recording what's going on and being a farmer. That's super important. So 03:13 because the digital age has changed and we can't rely on these apps anymore as much as we did for weather, I'm having to learn the old ways, which is always good, right? Like if the electricity goes out, you need to know how to do this. But I've started turning rain myself, so it'll be interesting. I need to look at what we got last night, but I don't think it was enough to even register, honestly, Mary. But yeah, we've had strange weather here too. 03:37 Yeah, I'm at the point where if I want to get kind of an idea of what the weather is going to be in a few days, I will catch the morning news. Yeah. They seem to be more accurate than the weather apps. And if I want to know what the weather is right now, I literally step outside. Yeah, that's how I am too. Like we live kind of on an outlook, right? So the storms whip around us because we're on the top. We're kind of on like it's called a rim out here, but it's like a fat uh kind of a flat plane that's in the middle of 04:07 Some canyons right there's canyons in the middle of it where it popped up. Well, you know it'll if it goes around us left If it goes around us left then Will sometimes get rain but if it goes right which is into Laurel the city Yeah, then we don't ever see it So you can almost stand on the flat and it'll say that it's you know, hailstorming and it's not where we're at 04:35 We don't even have any hail or snow, nothing coming. But in town, they're getting like beaten with golf ball size, literally golf ball size pieces of hail. So I'm, I'm like you, I just walk outside and I try to look, you know, and see if there's any storms blowing in. But you just, don't know. I pack enough clothes, I guess, with me for any type of weather. I've got bibs, I've got jackets, I've got shorts, I've got t-shirts in the truck, right? Like, yeah. 05:01 just changes often, so you just go with the flow, but it is gonna make farming interesting this year. So I think having, like you said, just some idea of where to look for reliable stuff is important. It is, and it's so funny because I listen to a lot of podcasts about podcasting and everybody's like, don't talk about the weather, it's boring. But anytime I ask someone who is farming, homesteading, ranching, it's not boring. 05:30 It's really interesting to hear everybody's take on what they've got going on and what it's doing. Yeah, it literally, I mean your whole life as a farmer is based on an amount of rain that's going to come down if you don't have irrigated land. And we sadly have to haul every drop of water on and off this property, know, like there's, it's not an option for us. My leach field is green with three or four inches of grass already, which is crazy. The horses love it, you know? So 05:57 I think it's going to be great for the animals. They've had a rough swing this year. know my animals really need some extra TLC after going from 70, not even kidding you, down to one degree in less than 24 hours. That's really a big swing. So I think, you know, it's important to watch the weather because of that, but just knowing how to adapt to it. that's something that I'm actually planning my whole life around is all these weather changes, like building more greenhouses this year. 06:27 Yeah. Trying to make more wind blocks. Like that's a whole thing. We've been looking up the Texas Ys. They're like in Texas, they're known for it. You get a lot of wind there, right? So it's like a Y shape, but they use it for cattle and horses. We've been trying to plan how many of those we're going to need because if not, my poor horses, it doesn't matter where they stand in a shelter, they're going to get, you know, soaked. 06:53 with how much wind we have in the unpredictability. can't go put sheets on them, you know, because I don't know when it's going to rain. exactly. All right. So let's let's go back to when you and I first talked. When you and I first talked, you were Groovy Grazies, Grazies Montana, and you were raising goats and taking the goats to parties and things. And the last time we talked in January, end of January, you had gotten a couple of horses. So 07:23 What I'm wondering about is how you got into horses because that really wasn't on the radar for a while. Yeah. So I'm a horse girl. I'm a I'm a covert horse girl. That's what my husband calls me. Right. Because Andy made fun of horse girls growing up. It's actually funny. One of the girls that I'm going to buy hay from this year, she knew Andy growing up and I was like, I turned him into a horse girl. So he's like almost completely also turned into a horse girl himself. uh 07:52 But I was writ...
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