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The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast
1KHO 538: You Can Change Everything in Three Years | Janelle Anderson, The Haven Farmstead
00:54:09
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- [00:00]
Janelle Anderson
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- [00:29]
Jenny Yurch
Welcome to the 1000 Hours Outside podcast. My name is Jenny Yurch. I'm the founder of 1000 Hours Outside, and I have a new friend with me today. We met at the Homestead Festival in Columbia. It was in Columbia. No, it wasn't. Yes, it was Columbia. Columbia, Tennessee was so cool. Janelle Anderson, Welcome.
- [00:47]
Janelle Anderson
Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. This is awesome.
- [00:50]
Jenny Yurch
So you have. Okay. It's called the Haven Farmstead. But what's really interesting to me about your story, Janelle, is I think a lot of people's stories about homesteading, they move from the city or they were in the suburbs and they go and. And they don't have any experience and they're kind of getting their feet wet with it and they're kicking off their homestead. But you've got a unique story because you actually have some of this in your roots and so does your husband. And what it makes me think about is what a gift that is generationally. Like, if you start now, then your kids would be like you and Ben or where you have some of that already in your lineage and it's not so foreign.
- [01:28]
Janelle Anderson
Yeah.
- [01:29]
Jenny Yurch
And as we're talking about it, here's your mom in the background doing something with your milk.
- [01:34]
Janelle Anderson
Thanks, Mom.
- [01:35]
Jenny Yurch
This is a legacy that can be passed along. So can you just give us a little bit of that story? Cause I think it gives people a vision for trying something that's hard and new.
- [01:44]
Janelle Anderson
Yeah. So for myself personally, I grew up in rural Wisconsin. I mean, we lived in the city for a little bit, but when I was very young, we moved out to the country. And I tell people all the time, like, what we were doing there, what my parents were doing, doing what my dad was really focused on. We would have been called homesteaders now today. But we were just living country or living rural. We hunted a lot for our food, we fished. We raised our own, you know, chickens and hogs and beef, cows and all that kind of stuff. And so the things that I learned then are really serving us well now. And my husband, he grew up in western North Dakota on a ranch that has been in his family for over 100 years. And so he has already always been around cattle. And because of that, I really. You're right. Like, what my parents and his parents and the generations before them had created have served us well. And I do think about how that like, really translates to other people because, like, our goal is to leave a legacy and to leave skills with our children. And so people that are just starting, like, you might be the catalyst and you might be the first, but this is something that can go on for generations.
- [02:53]
Jenny Yurch
Do your parents talk about much their why?
- [02:57]
Janelle Anderson
So my dad passed away in the end of 2021, but he has always been the kid who grew up hunting and fishing. That's how he grew up. And I always think back this. This story really gets me. So my grandparents were in ministry, they were pastors. And at some point they went churchless for a while. And it was really, really hard on them. They lived in northern Wisconsin in a cabin with no running water. And we're talking. I'm talking. My dad was born in 1956, and so he would have been a teen in the. So this was the 70s, no running water, no toilet, and they had no income coming in. It was really hard on my grandpa. I would just honestly, openly say he was really depressed. And my dad would go out with his younger brother and they would hunt and fish for their food. And so I always think about that of like, the resilience that is in my lineage and how important that is to bring that into the future. And so I think that's part of it for my dad. I think that's why he. He did what he did on the farm and then brought my mom with was because that was how he survived before. And I. I think he looked to the future. And I. And I'm so grateful that he just never wanted his family to face something like that and not be equipped.
- [04:10]
Jenny Yurch
So then he tooks it a step further. So not only you grow up, you're hunting, you're fishing. But then he adds on these homestead. What, you know, Joel Salton calls it a homestead tsunami. Yeah, these homesteading principles where now you have chickens and now you have pigs and you're sort of expanding out. It's not a mono. What do they call it, like a monoculture or. It's not just like a one thing.
- [04:29]
Janelle Anderson
Yeah, it's very diverse.
- [04:30]
Jenny Yurch
Yeah. You know, he's adding on. So as a child, do you have a perspective of like. Yeah, that was hard. Things went wrong. We didn't really know what we were doing. It was fun, you know, as A kid. What did you think about all of that?
- [04:44]
Janelle Anderson
Yeah, I didn't really see a lot of failure. Like, looking back now from an adult perspective, I definitely see the failure. I always say that my dad taught us a lot about what to do, but also some things not to do. But back then, like, it was a lot of hard work. Like, we didn't enjoy all of the chores, but, man, the life that they gave us. Like, we were free to run around outside as much as we wanted. We had partial land around a lake so we could always go out and boat. We swam in the middle of the lake as kids. Lots of trust. I mean, I grew up. I was born in the early 80s. And so we grew up when you still could be a kid and do the things that everybody wants kids to do now. And we just had free range. And so because of that, yeah, it definitely gave us a really good perspective to shift into all of this.
- [05:31]
Jenny Yurch
So yours now is called the Haven Farmstead. You are in southern middle Tennessee. You do all sorts of really cool things there. I'm going to make sure I put links. You can tell people, but you have workshops, you do things in person, you have a community, and you have your own podcast called the Farmstead Revival. I love it. The Farmstead Revival Podcast. New this year. So super exciting. Was that always your plan then, when you got married to do something like that, or were you doing something different and transitioned into it?
- [05:56]
Janelle Anderson
Yeah, so we. My husband always lived on the ranch, and so when I married him, we were kind of faced with the opportunity to come back out to the ranch and raise our family there. His parents were transitioning to a different ranch that they had purchased like 70 miles away. And so I can say that I never saw beyond beef cows. Like, I thought that we were going to be ranching like he has always done, and that was just going to be all that we were doing. I had to talk him into chickens. I asked for pigs. He told me absolutely no way that we were having pigs. So we had some, like, 4H sheep and lambs that my kids raised, but it was really just beef cattle. We had our horses because we did everything horseback. We didn't have any four wheelers or anything. And then eventually in like, I think around 2020, I told my husband that it would be really beneficial to not only us, but to our community if we had a milk cow. And so I worked on him and we finally got a milk cow. And so we brought that into the fold. And again, Janelle, that was raised in rural Wisconsin, said She never wanted to stay in Wisconsin. And I could live western because like, we had always been in that kind of culture also. But I didn't see the milk cow. I didn't see us doing what we're doing in middle Tennessee. And so that's only God that we are here now. But when we transitioned away from North Dakota, we were full on invested into providing as much of our food for our family from our place and our farm. And to be really like God, really put it on our hearts to be intentional with our family. Like, I, I want to say we were the best parents, but we weren't. Like, my husband worked 100 plus hours a week on our ranch and a business that was run from our ranch. And I supported him in both of those roles. And so our family really got the short end of the stick. And God said no more. Like you need to turn back towards your family. And I really love that about the homesteading movement because more than anything, it's beyond the food. It's actually about, I believe, and for us, focusing back into the family and nurturing that. And I think that's really important.
- [08:07]
Jenny Yurch
All of my podcasts today, this is the most wild thing.
- [08:09]
Janelle Anderson
It's.
- [08:09]
Jenny Yurch
I don't know if it's ever happened. Every single one, they're weaving together because I'm talking to this man, Rory Groves, later today and he wrote a book called the Family Economy. Discovering the Family as It Was Designed to Work. And that's basically the whole gist of it, which is so interesting. It's interesting too, Janelle. Like, I think people would look at ranching, that's an outdoor. You know, for someone who like grows up in a city or in a suburb, like, to me it's like it all kind of seems like farming, right? Like they're out, they're doing stuff in the land, there's food involved, it's outside.
- [08:41]
Janelle Anderson
But.
- [08:41]
Jenny Yurch
But to realize that some of these things could overtake your life.
- [08:45]
Janelle Anderson
Oh, for sure. I mean, were our kids involved? Absolutely. They helped with different things, but more often than not it was us just trying to go out there and get it. And I will say that ranching as a whole, I do believe it is really focused on family. But the big secret in agriculture that shouldn't be is that most farming, ranching families have at least one person working off the farmer ranch to actually make it work financially. And we were just blessed enough that we could do it from the ranch, that the business that was supporting everything was there. But so that takes away like it's not always that. We are all together all the time, and that was really hard on our family.
- [09:27]
Jenny Yurch
So you make this decision. I mean, this is a pretty big decision. I guess the insight here is that, you know, to someone from the outside, it would be like, oh, they went from ranching to homesteading, basically the same thing. But it's not. No, it's not at all. It's totally different skill sets. And you uprooted and moved to a different state. Talk us through that transition, because someone's listening and they're like, I want a different life, you know, or I want a slightly different life than what I have right now. Where did you find the bravery to do that? And what was that transition like?
- [09:56]
Janelle Anderson
For me? I've always been willing to, like, take risks. I went to college in Alabama for a year by myself. Like, had never been anywhere out of Wisconsin. And then I meet. I moved to North Dakota when I was 17. So adventure is great. Like, I like it. I've. I trust that God's going to take us there. My husband, though, he never lived outside of North Dakota, he went to college for four years, and that had been the most that he had been off the ranch. So this was a huge thing. And honestly, if God hadn't closed the door for us, that we would have still been there. Because it takes a lot of bravery, you're right, to walk away from your, like, your. Your income. We walked away from everything.
- [10:35]
Jenny Yurch
Yeah.
- [10:36]
Janelle Anderson
And we sold everything. We brought some of our household contents, and we brought our dogs, and we sold everything else. We sold our cattle. We sold our milk cow, our chickens. I mean, everything. And so I don't want to sugarcoat it, because taking that step from North Dakota to Tennessee put us into. It started with my dad passing away, actually, a few months before, we ended up realizing that the door was closing in North Dakota. And so there was a whole lot of chaos. There was a whole lot of grief that we were working through. I mean, there was so much. And that transition was a big one. We started on raw land, too. When we came to Tennessee, we had a house, a barndominium that was framed on the outside. It was enclosed in. But we had no power. We had no water here. We had no well dug.
- [11:22]
Jenny Yurch
Oh, my gosh. It's like your grandparents.
- [11:25]
Janelle Anderson
Yeah, we bathed in the river that's just on the edge of our property. Like, I mean, we were. We weren't swalming it, that was what I was gonna say. But, like, we. We roughed it for quite a bit as we got stuff and so it was very chaotic and it wasn't fun and it wasn't great all the time. But now that we're a few years into this and being here and having things set up, we're starting to find a bit of that refuge that God had promised the haven would be to us and to other people, which is really cool.
- [11:57]
Jenny Yurch
And.
- [11:57]
Janelle Anderson
But, yeah, we're so grateful that we're kind of past that transition, because it was really hard. Like, really, really hard.
- [12:02]
Jenny Yurch
Well, this is rather new. I mean, you only move there right in the fall of 2022, so it's not even been three years. And behind you, I see a fridge. So, I mean. Yeah, there we go. So things changed. I mean, I'm sure in the time that it was. It might have seemed long, but in retrospect, it's not even been three years.
- [12:21]
Janelle Anderson
Yeah.
- [12:22]
Jenny Yurch
And here you are up and running. You're at the Homestead Festival. You have a homestead going on with this, courses and people coming to visit and a podcast. And it was pretty incredible. It gives people hope, maybe that you can change and change maybe faster than you expected.
- [12:39]
Janelle Anderson
Yeah. I think if you are willing to work, because that's what it took. It takes a lot of hard work and if you're being willing to be open with your spouse and your children. And communication is just so key in all of that, because it's really stressful to do what we did. But, yeah, I always look back, and I'm very grateful that I can look back now because we can see how far we've come in a very short time. Let. It is a really short time of all that we have accomplished here, and I'm really proud of it. But it also helps, I will say, that we have put in place people and mentors to help us. Like, this is my third garden this year that I've ever done, and we never grew a single thing, minus cows and calves and grass in North Dakota. And so there's a lot of new stuff to us, even within the old stuff that we are experienced at.
- [13:27]
Jenny Yurch
Yeah, yeah. Because people would think you have all the skills, but not necessarily, because you can go in so many different directions with farming and ranching and gardening. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Hey, friends, it's Ginny from 1000 Hours Outside. Have you ever gone down the rabbit hole of searching for wellness tips online? One minute you're looking up ways to feel better, and 10 tabs later you're overwhelmed by advice on cold plunges, journaling supplements, screen detoxes. It's a lot. I've been there. And while some of these things can help, the truth is it's hard to know what actually works for you. That's why talking to a real trained therapist can be such a game changer. It cuts through the noise and gives you personalized support. Therapy isn't just for when life is falling apart. It's also about building boundaries, learning healthy coping skills, and becoming more grounded so you can show up for yourself and your family. Better Help makes it Easy it's the world's largest online therapy program, with over 30,000 licensed therapists and more than 5 million people helped worldwide. You can start from the comfort of your home, switch therapists if needed, and fit it into your busy life. As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Talk it out with Better Help our listeners get 10% off their first month@betterhelp.com 1000hours that's BetterHelp H lp.com 1000hours hey friends, it's Jenny Yurch from 1000hours outside. As parents, we know that childhood moves fast and we don't get these years back. That's why we work so hard to reclaim time for our kids to play, to connect, and to grow in the ways that really matter. But even as we aim for 1000 hours outside, there are still moments where you need to slow down, take a break, or bring everyone back together. And that's where Brave Books comes in. Brave is a Christian children's entertainment company that helps families build character and imagination. When you subscribe to their Book of the Month club, you get a brand new book every month that teaches things like kindness, honesty, and so much more. Plus games, activities and conversation guides that help your family connect in meaningful ways. And for those moments when screen time makes sense, Brave is their brand new streaming platform. They make sure that everything gets vetted to ensure that their entire platform is good for your child's character and their brain. It's entertainment you don't have to second guess. So whether you're climbing trees, reading stories, or just need a quiet moment, Brave Books gives you tools that support your family's rhythm of connection over consumption. Right now you can get 20% off your first purchase at bravebooks.com 1000hours with the code 1000hours. That's 20% off with code 1000hours and@bravebooks.com 1000hours.
- [15:57]
Janelle Anderson
Close your eyes, Exhale, feel your.
- [15:59]
Jenny Yurch
Body relax and let go of whatever you're carrying today.
- [16:04]
Janelle Anderson
Well I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh, my gosh. They're so fast.
- [16:12]
Jenny Yurch
And breathe.
- [16:14]
Janelle Anderson
Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw.
- [16:16]
Jenny Yurch
The discount they gave me on my first order.
- [16:19]
Janelle Anderson
Oh, sorry. Namaste.
- [16:21]
Jenny Yurch
Visit 1-800-contacts.com today to save on your first order.
- [16:25]
Janelle Anderson
1-800-Contacts.
- [16:28]
Jenny Yurch
What was your vision for the Haven farmstead? And do you feel like you're walking that out?
- [16:33]
Janelle Anderson
Yeah. So I'm going to be really honest. It was very focused on the family. Like, I didn't foresee us teaching classes here. I didn't know that there was a need that people were coming into this lifestyle because it was very new. Like, honestly, very close to when we left North Dakota, I realized that there was this movement of people that were calling themselves homesteaders. So it was new to me to know that people were doing this. I began to realize as soon as we got here that what God had created this place for was not just for us, but was for other people as well. And that what we have experienced and the skills that we grew up just having and learning were something that was going to be able to translate to them and help lessen the learning curve. Because there is huge learning curves, especially when you get into bigger livestock.
- [17:19]
Jenny Yurch
There's huge learning curves with all of it, which sometimes is annoying, but also is like, well, it's kind of neat that there's always things to learn. How boring would life be? But we're. We have done garden for while. We've lived in our home for six years, and we haven't done the garden every year. Maybe we've done it four. Anyway, it's kind of awful because every year it's awful. I'm like, it stinks. And I wish I could go back and redo, but you have to wait for the next year to redo it. And I don't know, it involves a lot of patience and a lot of trial and error, but also a lot of joy at the same time. So it is wild how much you can fail, but also, it still brings joy, you know, like, okay, you know, I'll accept whatever, but we've tried to make this sunflower house, which doesn't even matter. It's not food or anything. But the sunflower house. This is like my sixth year trying it, and it just didn't work. Only the sunflowers are only growing, like, in an L shape. And I was like, why? Why aren't they growing in the other spot? And so it is tricky. It is a steep learning curve and it involves a lot of disappointment, I think, you know, and, and regret to a degree because you're like, gosh, I wish I would have known that or I wish I would have done that that way. You know, we had an orchard that we planted and none of the trees survived. But if I would, I don't know, you know, if I would think, if I would have put down weed mat. And then in the other spot where the two trees did survive, one of them is like complet completely on an angle, 45 degrees, like growing into this fence. And I'm like, I don't, we don't know how to fix that. So it involves a lot of hard. Yeah, but also it's exciting. So what kinds of courses I love that you are really into in person. You know, come, come to Tennessee, learn things. What kind of workshops are people interested in and what, what are they hoping to learn?
- [19:05]
Janelle Anderson
Yeah. So some of the things that we have found people are really looking and seeking is on family milk cows for sure. Because everybody wants a family milk cow or some sort of dairy livestock. And so we had an in person event with that, just the milk cow first. I was doing that with a friend and then we transitioned away from partnering with her in that and my husband and I took it on. But we included beef cattle because if you're raising a milk cow, you're going to have a calf that in my mind is either going to be your future milk cow or it's going to be meat for your family or your community. And so we wanted to give people like the foundation for it. So those have been well attended. We're doing about four a year and hopefully we'll put something in a course online because not everybody can travel here and we know that. And then some other ones that we've been doing is I just did my first intro to hard cheese and teaching people how to make hard cheeses. I'm basic, I'm not telling you like I am the in depth science. But what I found is people just need to see it modeled in front of them where they can ask questions as you're going through the process. And every person left that class and I was just so incredibly happy that they were all going to make cheese. And they have like, I've been getting tagged with these people that are starting to do it. They're tracking down like all the equipment that they need and it's just really, really cool to do that. So those are basically our. Our main ones that we're doing. I really love mentoring people within the cattle space. I talked on cattle at the Homestead festival. So grateful to do that. We talked about dual purpose cattles. And so that is my biggest thing. Like, I want to answer questions and I want to be there for people so that maybe they won't have to have like some huge failures with really expensive animals.
- [20:50]
Jenny Yurch
It's one of those sentences that you're like, I wonder how many people have ever said this in their life. I love mentoring people in the cattle space.
- [20:57]
Janelle Anderson
Yeah.
- [20:59]
Jenny Yurch
People are like, I want to be a dentist. I want to be a veterinarian. I love mentoring people in the cattle space. It's so great.
- [21:06]
Janelle Anderson
You so funny because you asked earlier, did I ever see myself doing that? No. Like, I worked on a dairy for a bit when I was like 18 and I was like, I never want a milk cow. Like, we drank raw milk growing up because we could go to the local. The neighbor up the road who had a bulk tank and we could just scoop milk up from it. And I didn't like it. So, like, I tell people all that time and now I love it. Like, it's incredible. But no where God has taken us. Never would have thought that this would be our life.
- [21:35]
Jenny Yurch
Yes. Which is exciting. It's exciting. There's so many cool things you can do with your life. You can even mentor people in the cattle space. Okay. So we had. During COVID we got a milk goat.
- [21:45]
Janelle Anderson
Nice.
- [21:45]
Jenny Yurch
This was my first ever experience with the milk goat. We got it because we were basically panicked and we are in Michigan. Michigan was like, pretty locked down. So we had nothing else to do as well. And that was an interesting piece. Right. Like, you have to go milk that goat. We learned a lot. We even learned how to actually, like, you have to squeeze the thing a certain way. And then the first couple squirts, they go to the cat. And I mean, it was just. It was a really cool experience. And I did really like the milk. And that's. We didn't do anything else with it. Like, I. In retrospect, I wish. I probably. I wish I would have tried yogurt. I. I probably. I could have. Right. I don't even know.
- [22:21]
Janelle Anderson
Totally cheese.
- [22:22]
Jenny Yurch
I could have made lotions. People do all sorts of things with the goat's milk. Right. But we just did the milking. And then when life sort of got a little bit more back to normal, it was hard for me to keep up with. And then you can't really go anywhere. And we didn't have anybody to watch the goat, so we just kind of let it go. But obviously this is a really controversial topic. Yeah, but I mean, why don't you go for it?
- [22:47]
Janelle Anderson
Yeah, I think. I think we always get so stuck in. If we bring something home to our farm, to our homestead, and it doesn't work, we gotta stick it out. Well, you know what part of it is enjoying this lifestyle, and if it does not fit with what you are doing, what your family needs, because family should always come first. If it does not fit within that space, then let it go. And I don't think that you have to marry your animals. I think that you can steward them well, and you can steward them well into other people's homes. And so if something isn't working for you or you want to take a vacation from doing it, and maybe. Maybe in a couple years you'll come back to it, like, just let it go. I. I am not the person who thinks that if you bring something home that you have to keep it for the rest of its life and your life, and that you'll always be a milk maid if you don't want to be one. Like, give yourself the freedom to say, nope, this isn't serving us anymore, and we're going to step away from it.
- [23:42]
Jenny Yurch
Okay. The controversial thing I was thinking about is the actual milk.
- [23:46]
Janelle Anderson
Oh, okay. Well, see, that's controversial also because I.
- [23:50]
Jenny Yurch
Love it because it's just part of your world. Like, you're like, we would go and we would get. Use the scooper and get the milk out of the thing and.
- [23:57]
Janelle Anderson
Yeah.
- [23:58]
Jenny Yurch
You know, it's just. It's such a. I guess a smaller percentage of people that are living that way, that people are like, oh, my gosh, that's so strange. You don't get it out of a jug from Kroger and it's been pasteurized, you know, whatever. Yeah, it's one of those things that. I don't know. There's a lot of information out there. I don't know. I'm gonna let you take it.
- [24:17]
Janelle Anderson
No, I. And I. You're right. There is so much controversy around raw milk, and it doesn't matter if it comes from a cow or a goat or a sheep or a camel or a yak. I mean, all of those things people milk and more. But I think what's interesting, if anybody is, like, wants to understand the history of raw milk in the United States, I think that's the first place to go. Because if you can understand where We've been like, you can figure out where you can go in the future. And so one of the best books is the Untold Story of Milk. And I cannot think of the guy's name who wrote it, but you can look it up and find it.
- [24:49]
Jenny Yurch
I think I read that one, which is just so funny. Like talking about, I love mentoring people in the cattle space. It's like someone wrote a book called the Untold Story of Milk, you know, but it matters. The history of a lot of the things do matter. And his name is Ron Schmid.
- [25:06]
Janelle Anderson
Yeah, there we go. Yeah. And I think, I think we need to make our decisions based in facts instead of based in fear. And a lot of fear is sold across the board. And I'm not getting political in anything, but I think fear sells. So, like, if someone's marketing a supplement, they're trying to play to the fear of why you should take this supplement. It's no different when we're talking about products like raw milk. I do think that raw milk definitely can be dangerous in a way. But what I always tell people is like, we, we try to over complicate things and I like to simplify things for people. So if you are feeding your cow correctly, if you are milking with correct milking practices and handling the milk afterwards as you should, then there is zero reason that I would ever be afraid to drink that milk. And that's in those sections is where people just really need to understand it and put that foundation in place and then move from it. And also, like, I understand as consumers, one of the things is it's not going to be where you can go find raw milk everywhere. People struggle with it to find it. So go to real realmilk.com and you can probably source them hopefully, but taking the fear out of it. And I, I created a guide, which I wasn't planning on saying it. It's free and it's how to purchase raw milk. And it's what you want to look for, what questions you want to ask. And I thought coming from a producer standpoint, that that would help people navigate that world. Because if you don't know what you're at, you, if you don't know what to ask, like to get a clean product, then I understand there's some fear around it. So take the fear out of it. Let's educate your. You. And so you can go get raw milk because it is a beautiful food, but it's not for everybody. Not everybody has to do it. There's a place for pasteurized milk, Just not on my farm.
- [26:54]
Jenny Yurch
Yeah, yeah. So learn about it. Learn the different things about it. And those are some really good resources. I'll make sure. I'll put the links in the show notes. So what is your day to day? So this is. You started with one milk cow, and they give a lot of milk, right? It's like in the gallons, and so then you can. It spreads out into the community.
- [27:12]
Janelle Anderson
Yeah. Back in North Dakota, when we got our first milk cow, we were getting four and a half to five gallons a day with her. And so for a while there, I was making hard cheeses, I was making yogurt. And then all of a sudden, it was like life kind of enveloped all of that. And so I started selling it because I didn't have time in my head to process it. And so I started selling to our local community, which was really cool. We supplied one family and their extended family. There was like, I don't know, I sold 20 plus gallons a week to this family. They had so many kids that had kids. And, like, so it was really cool. It was one drop. It was really super easy. When we came to Tennessee, I started selling milk down here because that's what I had done. And I very quickly realized that as much as I love people, I don't love that interaction of jars and delivery and setting that all up. And so we shifted away from it, and I just started to make products with it. And so it feeds our farm, our family first, and then we have a little bit extra, and we barter and trade. We supply a local friend of ours who's now a friend, raw milk, and he gives us a bowl to use to breed our cows. And then we have a couple other people that are really close to us that if we have extra milk, they can have. But we are using everything on the farm, from feeding pigs to chickens to our garden to making the hard cheeses, the soft cheeses, the yogurt, and all that kind of stuff.
- [28:37]
Jenny Yurch
And that's. I've had Joel Salatin talks about that. Like, you know, he would talk about, you could sell a chicken for X amount of money, but if you make a chicken pot pie, there's like that value add. And so that can start to just be a different idea of things to do on your farm. So you take the raw product and you can make it into other things. Okay, talk to us then about the process of making cheese.
- [28:57]
Janelle Anderson
And.
- [28:57]
Jenny Yurch
And is this like when you talked about your husband? He's working 100 hours a week ranching the spot that you're in now. Is it somewhat similar? Does it feel overwhelming in terms of the amount of time? Because it's really neat that there's all these different ways, especially after reading this book by Rory, the Family Economy. And then he has a book called Durable Trades, and he talks about all of these jobs that have, you know, stood the test of time, basically. And, you know, he talks about gardening and farming and. And basically there's a lot of different ways that you can go with it. So how have you struck the balance there with providing for your family? But also, I know a lot of the things take time.
- [29:32]
Janelle Anderson
Yeah, and you're right. Everything takes time. And so we are kind of in that still building period. My husband works off of the farm here, just up the road at a local ranch where he's put his skills and his knowledge to work up there. And we trade for some haying equipment and stuff like that. And we have slowly started to purchase that thing, those. Excuse me, not that thing, slowly started to purchase equipment. So maybe he won't have to be up there as much to do that trade off, because we have the equipment now, so he's still working. And so a lot of the day to day, I like to say that I'm the farmer. Like, I'm the one who's doing a lot of it. He still does plenty, don't get me wrong. But he's not making the cheese, he's not making the meals. Like, that does fall on me. And we have two teenagers, and we have a. And then we have a younger one. We do have an older son. I want to mention he doesn't live here. He's older, and he's off doing his own thing. But with that, our teenagers are incredibly helpful. Like, if I didn't have them, I don't think I would be able to accomplish what I can accomplish. And my mom lives with us. You saw her at the beginning as we started to record. And so that's very helpful for all of us. Anyway, so with my husband being off there, off the farm, working, I do a lot of everything, I should say. And so I take the milk and I have to process it into something. Like, I. I just cannot waste it. I feel like one of the things that has really, like, God has impressed upon my heart is to be responsible with the bounty that he has given us. And so sometimes I do want to just sit down and not do anything. But then I think, you know what, I actually need to go put this in the freezer or stuff like that. And There is a balance. I'm not to going saying I always do that, but I think that part of what we are called to do is be good stewards of what he's given us. And so taking what he's provided us and turning it into things and, and to go to raw milk, I always tell people that drink the raw milk because it's great and there's a lot of benefits to it. But go beyond it, like it naturally wants to ferment into something else. And when we can take it into those next steps, it becomes more nutritious and it also becomes readily available down the line. We're preserving it in a sense, we are doing what they used to do with it. We keep clabber on our counter now. And all that is, is it's curdled milk. And I know that sounds weird and bad, but that curdled milk has some beautiful bacteria in it that I can take and make cheese from. So I don't have to go by culture.
- [32:01]
Jenny Yurch
Wait, tell me more. First of all, clabber, I've never even heard that word.
- [32:05]
Janelle Anderson
You have to look it up. It's amazing.
- [32:07]
Jenny Yurch
Does it smell?
- [32:08]
Janelle Anderson
It doesn't really smell because I'm refreshing it almost like a sourdough starter.
- [32:12]
Jenny Yurch
Okay.
- [32:13]
Janelle Anderson
And when I have it to the point that I want it, I'll stick it in the refrigerator and I'll bring it back out and refresh it as I need to, to use it. But it's really unique because it carries yeast from the air in our kitchen. That's normal. And then it also has what are called mesophilic and thermophilic cultures in it, some bacteria. And so when I am going to make cheese, it automatically how I am processing that milk, whether I'm heating it up to a certain temperature or I'm aging it longer, either the thermophilic or the mesophilic are going to take over and do what I'm asking it to do within the cheese.
- [32:47]
Jenny Yurch
Does that allow you to not get. We've never made cheese. But like when I look at making cheese, you have to buy stuff.
- [32:54]
Janelle Anderson
Yeah, you have to buy cultures, you have to inoculate your cheese, you have to give it the, the fresh bacteria to make the cheese that you want. And so instead of me having to buy freeze dried cultures, so then you don't.
- [33:06]
Jenny Yurch
Because that's what I always wondered. I was like, well, what do people do in the 1700s when they couldn't buy this little packet off ebay, they.
- [33:12]
Janelle Anderson
Kept clabber on their counter and they use that for different things.
- [33:17]
Jenny Yurch
Wow.
- [33:17]
Janelle Anderson
So you're doing the clabber just like yogurt. You can strain it off. You can take the clabber, you can get like, make it into a bigger jar where you've clabbered like a half gallon of milk and you can put it in a pot and heat it up. You can make cottage cheese. Like, there's so many different things that you can do with it.
- [33:33]
Jenny Yurch
How'd you learn all this?
- [33:35]
Janelle Anderson
Other people, mentors. Like I am. I. I didn't grow up making cheese. I might have lived in dairy country, but it was something that was foreign to me. And I also am not scared to try anything. Like, I am the person that will absolutely dive head first into something and learn about it. If I want to know the knowledge, I'm going to seek it out wherever I can and figure it out.
- [33:57]
Jenny Yurch
On WhatsApp. No one can see or hear your personal messages. Whether it's a voice call message or.
- [34:03]
Janelle Anderson
Sending a password to WhatsApp, it's all just this.
- [34:09]
Jenny Yurch
So whether you're sharing the streaming password.
- [34:11]
Janelle Anderson
In the family chat or trading those.
- [34:13]
Jenny Yurch
Late night voice messages that could basically.
- [34:15]
Janelle Anderson
Become a podcast, your personal messages stay between you, your friends and your family.
- [34:21]
Jenny Yurch
No one else, not even us.
- [34:23]
Janelle Anderson
WhatsApp message privately with everyone.
- [34:27]
Jenny Yurch
This episode is brought to you by Stay Farm. Knowing you could be saving money for.
- [34:31]
Janelle Anderson
The things you really want, like that.
- [34:33]
Jenny Yurch
Dream house or ride, is a great feeling. That's why the State Farm Personal price plan can help you save when you choose to bundle home and auto bundling. Just another way to save with a personal price plan. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and.
- [34:51]
Janelle Anderson
Eligibility vary by state. It's summer time to enjoy long days, lazy nights and great food because Uber Eats has deals all summer long. So when hunger strikes, don't sweat it. Delicious deals are just a tap away on Uber Eats. Enjoy all your favorite grocery items delivered straight to you. Get ice cream, soda and snacks from your favorite stores like Wegmans and cvs. And make the most of every moment. Now that sounds like a good summer order. Now on Uber Eats terms apply. Product availability varies by region. SIAP for details.
- [35:24]
Jenny Yurch
Okay, so what kinds of cheeses do you make?
- [35:28]
Janelle Anderson
So far we've made Havarti. We have Parmesan in there. Gouda has been our favorite by far. I love Gouda. We've also made Cheddar. I have some Cheddar cheese curds That I froze because we're going to deep fry them this weekend for the Fourth of July. Basically, any cheese that you want to make, you can make A hard cheese has the same steps. You're heating it up to a certain temperature, you're adding a culture in, and then at that point is when it changes, and you add a rennet in, which is going to coagulate it, and it's going to make it into the curds. But everything starts out the same way. So it's really simple. You just take it where you want it to go.
- [36:04]
Jenny Yurch
Isn't it cool? There's so many things to learn out there. I love that. And you are able to dive into it and do it and do it with your kids, do it with your kids right alongside of you. And I love what you said just a minute ago. Like, maybe this is one of the biggest things that we're missing. You said, sometimes I want to sit down. And we have this world around us that is very conducive to that. Right. It's like, well, yeah, you can sit down, you can do your work, and then just go sit for the rest of the day. But these natural processes that God made, having animals or not wanting to waste your product, your raw resources, they force the things that help us feel good.
- [36:45]
Janelle Anderson
Yeah. There, you know, you were talking about flowers in the garden and how you are trying to grow this sunflower house. And I look, I go to my garden that I planted zinnias right in the front when I walked in. Like, right when I step in the garden, I see this beautiful color. And even though I know that behind that patch of zinnias is a whole lot of work for me to do, like, it's such a beautiful reminder that as we step into, like, the garden per se, that all of these steps, there's joy along the way. And, yes, we do rest, because I. If we're going to go into the cheese, right, I warm up the milk, and while I'm doing that, I can sit there and I can catch up on things that I need to. It doesn't mean that you never go sit down, because, like, go sit down if you need to, But I put that in there, and then I warm it up to the temperature I need it. I put my culture in, and then I am forced to wait while it cultures the milk. And then I do the next step. And then I am forced to wait while I do the next step. And so this becomes just a part of the routine. And I do believe that there is rest built into that for sure.
- [37:52]
Jenny Yurch
But I, you know, I think it's like we've over indexed on the sitting around and watching Netflix part. Yeah, there's a lot of that and there's less of, gosh, I should get outside. And if you have plants to water or you have cows to milk or you have, you know, things in the kitchen that are going to go to waste if you don't get up and deal with them, those types of external things provide this extra motivation, I think, in a world that's very conducive to doing none of that.
- [38:19]
Janelle Anderson
Yeah. So yesterday I'm going to just kind of out my husband. He was struggling. He was having not a great afternoon after we came home from church. And I could have gone in the house and done probably a zillion things. It was Sunday, and we try to rest a little bit more on Sundays, but he had to fix the lawnmower. And so instead of me being like, oh, I need time to. For me to just go out and relax, I decided to go out there and just sit with him and help him. If he needed a tool, I was going to run and grab it for him. And me being intentional with that choice, like, his mood turned around, like, so fast because we were outside together. He didn't feel alone. And I think, like, circling back to why it's really important to do this as a whole family together. Like, it. It changes the way that we view things. It doesn't mean we don't have bad days, but you don't. You're able to process stuff a lot better when you have other people around you and know that they're there for you. He doesn't need me. Like, he's more than capable. But it changed everything for him because I was willing to go and sit with him while he was working. Mm.
- [39:29]
Jenny Yurch
It's like people might be like, well, why. Why would you ever pick a life like that? Yeah, why would you pick a life where you're milking cows and your lawnmower breaks? I mean, you could live in a condo and never have to deal with your lawn ever.
- [39:41]
Janelle Anderson
And trust me, my husband's thrown that out there. Let's go move to the city. And we're never serious.
- [39:46]
Jenny Yurch
I mean, but. But it is something where you're like, you could have a life that doesn't involve any of those things, but when you take a step back, the fact that those things exist are a little protective. I think of making sure that you get outside, making sure that you do things with your hands, making sure that you create, making sure that you have community because you got to go sell your cheese to someone. So it's starting to build, and you're doing these barter things. It's counterintuitive, I guess, right? It's like. I guess we would want our life to not include any of those parts because it's messy and it's, you know, it's time consuming, and we're tired, and we don't want to be beholden to it. But the fact that we're beholden to it also protects those parts of life that are really beautiful. And the relationship piece, so really cool. So people can actually come visit the farm. You have these courses that you do, and you have a tribe you talk about, the Homestead Hive. So I'll make sure I'll put links to that, because obviously, like you said, you learned from a bunch of other people. Tell us about your podcast. You just started it this year.
- [40:46]
Janelle Anderson
Yeah, well, my sister Trudy, she's the youngest in the family. She's probably like seven or eight years younger than me. She brought it up over Christmas. Christmas. She's like, hey, would you want to do a podcast? And I'm like, you know, I have a zillion things. Why not add on another one? I'm like, yes. And she's like, wait, really? You would do that? And I said, yeah, I would. And we sat there and we thought about what we would talk about and. And not just two sisters talking. Like, we wanted to have a direction, and we really thought about our upbringing, and we thought about what we're both doing now, which she's living rural. She's. She's doing the farm homestead thing. They. In North Carolina. They moved from North Dakota. Her husband grew up in North Dakota and moved all the way over to North Carolina. Poor guys that marry these. These girls. This family.
- [41:31]
Jenny Yurch
North Carolina is beautiful, though. I mean, I wouldn't mind ending up in North Carolina or Tennessee. They're both beautiful places.
- [41:36]
Janelle Anderson
Yeah, I do agree. Good choices. And we just started to talk about how we wanted to talk about the way that we grew up and then what we're doing now. And the greatest thing for me is really not about the podcast, per se, but it is a time for me to slow down and actually have a conversation with my sister. And I don't know if anybody else does this, but, like, we can get really busy doing all of the things that need to be done. And if I have that time now that I have to invest into this, that allows me to share that with my Sister and I think it's just really cool.
- [42:08]
Jenny Yurch
Yeah, you get an in depth. It's built in. Another thing that's built in. Yeah, it's a conversation with your sister. What kind of a farm is she doing? Is it similar to yours?
- [42:16]
Janelle Anderson
Very similar. They have horses. We don't have horses here. But she has a milk cow, they have some beef cows, they have a lot more timber. And so they are going to be building their house from the resources that are on their land. We, we all just take chances. Like we're not afraid of taking chances. And especially if God calls you to do something, he's going to provide every step of the way. And that's one thing I don't think everybody's called to this kind of lifestyle. But I do think everybody should understand what other people are doing. Because for me personally these past three years has deepened my relationship with God because I can understand so much more in the Bible. Like I didn't understand a lot of what he was talking about with sheep until I got a bum lamb. Now I get it, you know, like.
- [43:01]
Jenny Yurch
Wait, no, tell us, tell us.
- [43:03]
Janelle Anderson
Well, like listening to your master's voice and that sheep, I can call it from anywhere and he will come running.
- [43:11]
Jenny Yurch
The sheep know my voice.
- [43:13]
Janelle Anderson
Yep. And, and so to me that's really cool. And in the garden being able to grow and to understand just some of the different things that are in the Bible about that sowing and reaping and harvesting. We never farmed before, we never raised a garden. And so now like I have like this deeper knowledge when I read the Bible and read talking about that kind of stuff. It's just, it's been a really cool experience. A hard experience, but really cool.
- [43:39]
Jenny Yurch
But that is an interesting point because there are a lot of things that you would not understand unless you do some more hands on things. And I think that's important. I think the fact that kids are not outside is actually a spiritual issue amongst many other things. Talk us through a typical day as a farmsteader. Homesteader.
- [43:57]
Janelle Anderson
Yeah. So it's summer, so we've been getting up really early. We get up at about 5. And I really like some peace before everything gets kicked off. So I start some coffee and I will go sit on the porch and just do all the things with God and, and pray and just really enjoy that time. And then we jump right into it. We start going and doing chores. I first go milk the cows. That's my main chore in the morning. How many cows we have two that we're Milking right now.
- [44:25]
Jenny Yurch
Okay.
- [44:25]
Janelle Anderson
With some extras that'll be coming up in the next year and a half. So it'll be. It'll be fun. And then my husband will go out with the beef cows. He will get the corner set for the next pen because we move our beef cows every single day to a new pasture, new paddock. And then I'll go out there after I finish all of the milk chores, and I will go set up the fence and the fence posts, and later in the day, I move them. But one thing I wanted to point out is when I'm done milking, I bring the milk inside. And my teenage daughter, she will process it, she will put it in the jars, she will get it chilled, and she washes the milk machine if she's not working, if she doesn't have to go to her job. And my son, if he gets up before me and gets started on his chores, he'll go get my feed ready for my dairy cows. This morning, I had to go milk out in the middle of the pasture because one of our dairy girls is out with the beef cows getting bread, and I couldn't bring her back to the house where I normally milk. So my husband and my son were out there helping me in that process. And so, yeah, there's a lot of work. I try to get in the garden before the sun comes over a hill that kind of blocks the sun so I can get everything harvested that needs to be. But I have no shame. I use weed barrier so I don't have to weed. Like, it's basically just now harvesting is. And preserving is what I'm doing. So again, then we get to the afternoon and I will go move the cows and then come back in the house and just do get ready for supper, do all the things online, because of course, you know, I'm on social media as I'm doing this. I just like to include everybody. And I. I always like to be as real as possible. Like, there's. It's really important to me to be authentic in what we're doing. Like, every day is not great, and every moment is not great. This morning, I went out to milk my cow in the middle of the pasture, so we're not close to the house. And I totally forgot to put rags in the. In the bucket, so I couldn't wash her with anything until I realized I had to take off my shirt and wash. So I talk about it and I shared a video. Not I had clothes on still. I mean, there's things like that. So nothing Is the same every day. I'd like to say we have a nice routine down, but like the farm, you never know what's going to get thrown at you.
- [46:41]
Jenny Yurch
What's your vision?
- [46:43]
Janelle Anderson
The vision has shifted a bit again. We started opening it up to our community, but my whole goal is, first and foremost to just be as. As good of a parent to my kids and a wife to my husband. Again, like, I. I was not that great of a mom. I don't think back then I didn't realize what was truly important. I loved my kids. They felt loved. Like, don't get me wrong. But being intentional with them, we. When we moved to Tennessee, we brought them out of school. Like, we started homeschooling down here. We didn't do it before. And so continuing to be intentional with the relationships with my children is first and foremost. And second is doing what God is calling us to do, and that is to open our farm to people and to help them gain skills to change their legacy and their generations to come. Because that is really important. We first do that with our family, and then we're going to open our home to do that with others.
- [47:37]
Jenny Yurch
What a thing that you're able to make all of these changes in less than three years. Less than three years. I mean, it is incredible and inspiring, and I know it's been exhausting and a lot of. But here you are speaking at the Homestead Festival, and the ripples out are very large and just more to come. More to come. It just goes to show that there's a lot that you can do in life, that there's a lot of changes you can make. And especially as the world is changing, the economy is changing, you know, if you're feeling like you want to make a leap to try something else, you can try it. You can try it and still hold on to other things as well.
- [48:07]
Janelle Anderson
Absolutely.
- [48:08]
Jenny Yurch
I was just talking to this woman the other day. She's, you know, she's a wonderful. She's a nurse, but she's interested in doing coaching for families that have chronic illness and their kids are struggling. And I'm like, I mean, it's wonderful. Like, try it. You never know. You never know. I mean, this is less than three years for you. You came to a place where you're literally bathing in the river. Yeah. In less than three years, you have these courses and people are coming and speaking. So it is just really, really inspiring what you're doing. It's called the Haven Farmstead. People can find things at the haven farmstead.com if you want to come in for some of the in person workshops? And the podcast is called the Farmstead Revival. There's also the Homestead Hive, so I'll all those links in there. Janelle, we always end our show with the same question. What's a favorite memory from your childhood that was outside?
- [48:55]
Janelle Anderson
I didn't know you did this. This is awesome. I like. I like random questions. It wasn't. At the time, I didn't enjoy that we processed chickens. We processed hundreds and hundreds of chickens. People came from our neighbors and that we all did it together. At the time, it was not my favorite. But now looking back, like, I am so grateful that I had that time with. With my dad, with my siblings, and again, learning a skill. Is it Probably. It ranks up there. Can I say a different one?
- [49:25]
Jenny Yurch
Yes, you can.
- [49:27]
Janelle Anderson
There's two. Because my parents allowed us the ability to be outside. And growing up like we were always running around outside. Horses, animals, just what they gave us is such a beautiful experience. But I will always cherish that. On Christmas Eve, my siblings and I would get up at midnight. I don't even think my parents knew that we did this. And we would leave the house and we would go down to our pond that was frozen because we lived in Wisconsin, and we would go ice skating in the dark, you know, with this, the moon shining and. And I'm so grateful that, again, that my parents allowed us. Us to be able to do those. They gave us that kind. They worked so hard to bring us out to where we could run free as children outside. And that has, like, made such an impact on all of us.
- [50:14]
Jenny Yurch
What a thing. Have you talked about that on your podcast?
- [50:17]
Janelle Anderson
I don't think so. We definitely need to.
- [50:19]
Jenny Yurch
Who, I wonder who. Can you remember? Like, whose idea was it?
- [50:23]
Janelle Anderson
I don't remember. I don't think I can remember. Whose idea was. It was probably my brother. It was okay. I was probably. I was the oldest daughter. And so I'm sure it was something like, hey, let's go ice skating. And my younger siblings were like, okay, you know, they were younger, but yeah, it was. It was so cool.
- [50:39]
Jenny Yurch
That is so cool. What a memory. I love it. Well, Janelle, what an honor. It's so cool to get to know you more and to be at that Homestead Festival together. It was such a cool festival. I'd never been, and I'd never been to a Homestead Festival at all, so I was just shocked at how many people were there and how friendly people were and just. I mean, it's such a big thing it's such a big movement. There was so much. Many booths and things to learn about. I learned so much, and I really enjoyed it. It rained like monsoon. Yeah.
- [51:07]
Janelle Anderson
Wild. Both afternoons. Oh, my gosh.
- [51:10]
Jenny Yurch
I know. I was speaking in a tent, and it was like. And people are having to hold it down. I was like, this is crazy. I'm like, do I just keep talking? I'm not quite sure what to do. But it was so fun. I ran around in the rain. It was so super memorable. So I really appreciate what you're doing, and I. And I think to have the inspiration that you can make big changes in your life and, you know, God will. God can help them to work out. You know, you plant these seeds and. And God makes them grow, and the harvest is. Is huge. You know, the seeds are small, torn. Wells said there's nothing too spectacular, something like that about a seed. But the harvest, the zinnia and all the zinnias that you get from that one seed, it's. It's really a big deal. So you plant these small seeds, and you don't know what's going to come. Janelle, thank you so much for being here.
- [51:53]
Janelle Anderson
Thank you, Jenny.