1KHO 674: There's a Big Difference Between Food and Nutrition | Ruthann Zimmerman, The Heart of the Homestead

Summary

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The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast

1KHO 674: There's a Big Difference Between Food and Nutrition

Guest: Ruthann Zimmerman, author of The Heart of the Homestead
Host: Ginny Yurich
Date: January 9, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode features homesteader, author, and Old Order Mennonite-raised Ruthann Zimmerman. She and host Ginny Yurich dive into the difference between food and nutrition, the value of homesteading skills, building family through chores and shared work, reclaiming lost traditions, and why these old ways are more relevant in today’s world than ever. Ruthann shares from her rich personal history, blending down-to-earth wisdom with encouragement for families to “start small” and reconnect with meaningful home and nutrition practices.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Ruthann’s Background and Homestead Transition

• Raised Old Order Mennonite: horse-and-buggy living, gardens, chores, self-sufficiency (05:41)
• Left the community 18 years ago, discovering faith in a new way and navigating excommunication—restored relationships with immediate family ([07:04])
• Ruthann’s “join[ing] the modern world” was an eye-opener: she didn’t realize her lifestyle skills were uncommon ([11:13])

Quote:

“I honestly did not know that everybody didn’t know the things that I knew.” – Ruthann ([11:13])

Homesteading vs. Modern Living

• A culture shock realizing others saw her daily skills as exotic “homesteading”
• Skills like bread-baking, laundry-drying, animal keeping were everyday life to her, yet mysteries to many modern families ([11:13]–[13:28])
• She was encouraged to start sharing her knowledge after discovering the #homesteading movement online

The Learning Curve of Homesteading

• Ginny: “There’s so many things that you might not know.” Example: chickens instinctively roost ([13:28])
• Ruthann emphasizes that practical skills become second-nature only through repeated practice—cheesemaking, canning, baking, etc. ([15:34])

Quote:

“You have to do it so often that you can do it while you’re parenting ... at first it’s going to feel that way, but eventually you’ll get to the point where you can do it while you’re parenting, or chatting with a friend.” – Ruthann ([15:34])

The Food vs. Nutrition Paradigm

• Ruthann’s critical insight: “There’s a huge difference between food and nutrition.” ([22:13])
• Many foods available are calorie-rich but nutrition-poor, often grown in depleted soils with synthetic inputs and covered in pesticides ([23:26])
• She advocates for whole foods, even accessible versions: “At the very least, choose to buy potatoes, rather than instant potato flakes.” ([25:05])

Notable Quote:

“It’s our skills as homemakers that puts nutrition on the table for our families. It’s not money, because there’s a difference.” – Ruthann ([22:13])

Cooking from Scratch: The Most Accessible Step

• Cooking from scratch is a “place anyone can start,” regardless of garden or livestock access ([28:04])
• Ruthann’s goal: pass on the knowledge so her children could feed themselves from basic ingredients if needed

Quote:

“Cooking from scratch is one of my favorite ways to inspire people to be more in control of the food their family is consuming. It’s a beautiful way to take a little bit of control back.” – Ruthann ([28:04])

Processed Foods vs. Traditional Meals

• Ruthann recalls her children’s first experiences with processed “rich people food” after attending modern schools ([30:16])
• Practical story: Her home-canned lentil soup was healthy but unwelcome at school due to appearance ([30:55])

Quote:

“It’s food, yes, but it’s not nutrition. It doesn’t do anything except put some calories in your stomach.” – Ruthann ([30:55])

Seeking Control in Unstable Times

• Ruthann analogizes the current homestead movement to foster kids seeking control: adults sense insecurity and gravitate to controlling their food source ([32:47])

Quote:

“We are just like children and we want to control something, and in this case ... I 100% support anybody wanting to control their food source.” – Ruthann ([32:47])

Skill Growth Shrinks the Grocery List

• The more homesteading and cooking skills you gain, the less you need to depend on long supply chains and packaged foods ([35:29])

Gardening Realities and Generational Legacy

• Ruthann’s 8,000 sq ft northern garden: seasonal challenges, bulk preservation ([37:06])
• Skills in growing animal feed and bartering expand as needs shift
• Ginny admits her own struggles: “You would be mortified to see our garden... but you can start with cooking from scratch” ([28:04])
• The garden’s real value: legacy, intangible skills, shared family experience ([41:03])

Quote:

“If you stick with it, one thing your garden can produce that cannot be measured ... is the legacy of skills you are teaching and values you are instilling in your children and your grandchildren.” – Ruthann (read by Ginny) ([42:29])

Patience: Homesteading is Not Instant

• Years of gardening may not seem “worth it” right away, but the slow, cyclical approach creates lasting benefit ([43:18])

Family, Chores, and Relationships

• Chores teach kids resilience (“I can do hard things I don’t feel like doing” ([48:18]))
• Big work days and daily chores are less about the task and more about bonding and character development ([46:52])
• Free time is sweeter when earned; positive family memories are built through shared work, not necessarily entertainment ([48:18]–[50:01])

Quote:

“If your children are whining and complaining about chores, it’s simply the sound of their character being developed.” – Ruthann ([48:18])

Dopamine, Boredom, and Screens

• Chores provide natural dopamine “high” from real accomplishment compared to the artificial spike from screens ([51:25])
• The danger of screens is undermining kids’—and adults’—intrinsic motivation for life skills and real-world capability ([53:35])

Quote:

“The dopamine high of a job well done is what we want our children to tap into...” ([51:25])

Practical Homestead Skills & Family Culture

• Covered in Ruthann’s book: bulk purchasing, supply chain shortening, canning, thrifting, knitting, animal care, recipe-making from scratch ([54:59])
• Homesteading is as much about family culture and resilience as nutrition

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “There’s a huge difference between food and nutrition.” – Ruthann ([22:13])
• “You have to do it so often that you can do it while you’re parenting...” – Ruthann ([15:34])
• “If your children are whining and complaining about chores, it’s simply the sound of their character being developed.” – Ruthann ([48:18])
• “Every time a child satisfies their neurological need for a reward using artificial highs of video games and screen time, they undermine the natural curiosity...” – Ginny quoting Ruthann ([53:35])

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Important Timestamps & Segments

• Background & departure from Old Order Mennonite life: [05:41]–[10:03]
• Homesteading and culture shock: [11:13]–[13:28]
• Learning curve for new skills: [13:28]–[18:07]
• Food vs. nutrition discussion: [22:13]–[26:11]
• Starting practical home nutrition with scratch-cooking: [28:04]
• Cultural shock of processed foods: [30:16]–[32:35]
• Controlling food as agency in uncertain times: [32:47]–[34:48]
• Legacy and value of gardening: [41:03]–[43:24]
• Chores, family bonding, and developing grit: [46:52]–[50:47]
• Dopamine rewards and screen time danger: [51:25]–[53:35]
• Skills, thrifting, and knitting as passed-down legacy: [54:59]
• Childhood outdoor memory: [56:24]

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Tone & Takeaways

The conversation is warm, anecdotal, and inviting—encouraging listeners that the path to more nourishing, skilled family life is practical, attainable, and valuable, no matter how small the first step. Ruthann embodies gentle confidence in “old ways that work,” making the case that reclaiming food, home, and hands-on tradition is how we redeem family culture, child resilience, and community in a convenience-obsessed world.

Final Thought:
Start small. Cook from scratch. Celebrate effort, not just results. Use chores, gardens, and meals as relationship-builders. And most of all:

“Homesteading forces us to slow down...and I personally, I love it.” – Ruthann ([42:29])

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Get Connected

• Ruthann’s book: The Heart of the Homestead
• Social: YouTube, Instagram (links in show notes)
• Cookbook coming 2027

Host closing advice:
Share the episode with someone who needs encouragement to reclaim simple, family-centered living.

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Transcript

[Opening/Closing Narrator]

Oh, it's a beautiful world Ain't nothing on screen that's ever gonna be this view oh, it's a beautiful world and I just want to share with I just want to share with you this beautiful world Such a beautiful.

[Host - Possibly Jenny]

Hello friends. I'm so glad you're here today. I'm really excited about this conversation. Our guest is Ruth Ann Zimmerman, author.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Of the Heart of the Homestead and.

[Host - Possibly Jenny]

This conversation hits on food, family life, chores, skills, getting outside, and why so many families feel stretched thin even though life is more convenient than ever. Ruthanne grew up Old Order Mennonite and she brings a grounded, practical perspective and I think a lot of you are going to nod along the whole way through. This is one of those episodes that makes you rethink how your home actually works and what really matters day to day. Before we jump in, some quick announcements. Our free 20261000 hours outside tracker sheets are available at 1000hoursoutside.com trackers. Print yours out today and print one out for a friend if you want to track digitally. The 1000 hours outside app is available on iOS and Android. Currently on sale for just $25 for the year, it is top ranked. You will love it. And and the 2026 kickoff pack is available inside the 1000 hours outside bundle that contains tons of inspiring outdoor activities for your year. It is available through January 12, so that window is quickly closing. Make sure you check it out. I'll drop all the links in the show notes. All right, here is my conversation with Ruth Ann Zimmerman.

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[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

The 1000 Hours Outside podcast. My name is Ginny Urich and I have a friend, an actual in the real life friend here today. Ruthanne Zimmerman, Welcome.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

I am so happy to be here. I feel like it's very surreal to be here because I've listened to so many of your podcasts and I've actually met you in person now. And I must say that you are even more fun in real life than you are online. So it's a lot of fun. I'm very excited to be here, but most of all, I'm excited that we got to hang out in real life.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

We did.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

Okay.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

I have to tell you something that's so lame, and I never told you this, so we are really big fans of John Acuff, and John Acuff is really big fans of you. So, you know, there's like this one to the next to the next. And I was coming down to speak. Where we met was at this Homestead festival in Columbia, Tennessee with the Feeks. So last summer, this past summer in June, and I was supposed to come with my family, but then last minute there was a bunch of graduation things happening. So I ended up last minute coming by myself. And I don't know, it was like, really hot and I was like, kind of tired and I was all alone. And so at the end of, I think the first day of this. Of this festival, John Acuff was like, I'm coming to see Ruthanne. Like, maybe. Yeah, you know, I'll see you too. And I was like, I'm leaving. So then, because I was just kind of done with the day and I was like, I don't know, the place is so big and am I going to be able to find it? And then it turns out there was a whole party.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

There was a whole party.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

And I'm gonna, like, regret for my whole life that I didn't come. It was for your book.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

It was for my book. It was like a pre launch for my book. And I have a wonderful publishing company and when I signed the contract, I said, hey, you're going to have to tell me every step of the way because all I really want to do is be in my garden and be with my cows. And they took me seriously. And they would start emails with, hey, I need you to come in from the garden and focus for a minute. So they did a great job in meeting me where I'm at and, you know, dreaming up, scheming up ideas for me. And yeah, it was. It was a lot of fun. It was a. There was a pre. Or it was actually books that were advanced shipped. And yeah, it was a lot of fun.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Yeah. And I'm so lame I didn't come.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

Anyway, in your defense, it was very, very hot at the festival and if you would have stayed, you would have probably got drowned because then it rained a lot.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

I did end up playing in the rain the next day. I do love your book. It is called the Heart of the Homestead. Cultivating a spirit of simple living through homemaking, recipes, and family. And you've got a really popular YouTube channel. You're on Instagram as well. And I'll put all those links in the show notes. People can join your mailing list because the information that you put out is so important. It's just kind of the return to things that worked. We've left them a lot of them and we need to return to them because kids are suffering and families are suffering and they're really struggling. So you've got a book that's got about chores and recipes and gardening and animals. So the history here I. And I'm gonna, I'm like, I'm gonna be the annoying person to Ruthanne. You grew up Old Order Mennonite.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

That's right.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Okay, I know. And I'm the annoying person because I'm like, you're probably like, I'm so sick.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

Of talking about this, but I know it's okay. The best way to explain it is the most of you, if you would have seen us out and about, you would have thought we were Amish. We got called Amish a lot. And there is, there's a couple different. There's a couple distinctions. But I was raised in the old, and my husband too, in the Old Order Mennonite culture. In this means I was raised like most of our listeners, grandparents or even great grandparents. So we drove the horse and buggy. That was our main mode of transportation. We had a family milk cow. We had large gardens. Just very old fashioned compared to the modern world. And you'll hear me reference our time before we left the Old Order Mennonite culture and after, as when we joined the modern world. And that's really just my way of saying when we left the Mennonite church and tried to fit in with the modern world.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

So, you know, everyone's going to want to know a little bit more.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

It's okay. It's layers and layers deep. That's why I wait for you to ask the question, because I don't know which layer you want to unearth.

[Host - Possibly Jenny]

Yes.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

And obviously only share. I know you would only share what you're comfortable with. When did you leave and why?

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

So we left about 18 years ago, early 2007. And the why is in a nutshell is my husband and I met a family and a church that introduced us to Jesus as a personal and caring savior rather than a religious oppressor. So that started us searching for a deeper meaning. And therefore we were eventually excommunicated from the Mennonite church because our views and our standards no longer matched their rules.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

What does that mean for Relationships.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

So as far as relationships, family relationships definitely took a. Took a tumble. But God has been faithful and restored all of those, you know, immediate family relationships as far as siblings and parents. But as far as the community, you know, families aside the community, we don't get invited in. So it's different. You know, we can do business with them. They don't mind us doing business with them, but as far as functions and things like that, we don't get invited. So in the Old Order Mennonite culture, they're proud to say that they don't practice shunning like the Amish do. But all that really means, now that I've experienced it, is they don't have church rules that they must shun excommunicated members. But there's definitely a shunning of the heart that that happens. And in their defense, to keep their culture separate from the world, they do have to guard against outside influences. Because, for examp, if we were to get invited in as a family, our children aren't dressing like their children. You know, they're listening to music, all the things that are against their rules. So they do it to preserve a culture and they feel strongly about it. And that's the simple reason why we don't get invited in. Is it still hard after 18 years? No. I know what to expect.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Respect.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

And I've made new relationships. But definitely there's relationships that really wounded me in the beginning because they were dropped, like, after, you know, a lifetime that we just simply weren't invited but the most. And I had purposed in my heart from the very beginning that my sisters were the relationships that I would continue to work on because I have five sisters and I love them dearly. And God has definitely restored those relationships beyond my wildest dreams.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

That's wonderful. Thanks. Thanks for sharing.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

You're welcome. You're welcome.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Because I was like, oh, I'm sure that's what everybody asks right off the bat. But. But what's really amazing and just wonderful about God is that he uses all of the things, all of our life experiences that we go through, and you see them weave throughout your whole life. And so here you, you know, you had a quote in your book where you're talking about gardens, and you're like, I can spot it. I can spot if it's an Amish or an old Mennonite garden just by the way it's laid out. And you have these experiences as a child with chores and, like, this is informing how you raise your family. And also then you're spreading that to other families. So it's really a blessing, Ruthanne, that you're so open with that and open with your life and. And you're taking parts of it. You didn't drop all of it. You're certainly taking parts of that and weaving that into your own family life. So you've got a lot of kids, been married a lot of years, got married young, and you are helping families to learn how to homestead and to just cherish home more. You did talk about how when someone first called you a homesteader, you were kind of confused. Can you talk about that? You're like, wait, a homesteader? You're like. That was like the early American settlers.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

It's one of my favorite stories of our, you know, stepping into the modern world. Because I didn't know because of the culture I was raised in. And I'm not trying to say I'm. I want to be careful how I word this because I don't want to come across as, you know, on a high horse or high and mighty or self righteous. But I honestly did not know that everybody didn't know the things that I knew, if you understand what I mean. Like, I didn't know. I felt they were joking when they said, well, how do you hang laundry to dry? Like, I honestly didn't know that the rest of the world didn't know the things that I know. So we were sitting in the backyard and we were having some, you know, fresh bread and jam, and I was with my. One of my new modern friends, and she, you know, said, well, you know, did you make this bread? And I'm like, yes. And I ground the wheat that, you know, you know, ground the wheat. And so for a while in our modern culture, in our modern church, I had the nickname the Little Red Hen because I ground my wheat before I baked the bread. And I did it all by myself, if you're familiar with that little. And she did it by. And then. So she did it by herself. Right. Anyway, sorry, little rabbit trail. So we're sitting in the backyard, we're eating this fresh homemade bread with raw butter and fresh strawberry jam that. And I had made it all right. And my friend said, you're a true homesteader. And I'm just like, what is that? So she's like, here, give me your phone. And she went on social media and she typed in hashtag homestead or homesteading. And my mind was blown. And I'm like, oh, my goodness, there's people trying to learn the things that I've known since I was a child and so for a long time I just sat back and watched and I watched all these people try to learn the skills. And that kind of helped me start sharing because it, it gave me an idea where people are at and what they're trying to learn. So I slowly started sharing. And the rest is, you know, that the rest is history.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

One of the parts in the book I really liked because we have worked our way into a little bit of homesteading and you talk about the learning curve and yeah, I've been really influenced by Joe Salatin. You know, you, like, you start getting the chickens and you talk about how, you know that you, you don't know that they're gonna. Here's something I didn't know. I didn't know the chickens would go in at night and they roost and you have no idea. And, and you don't really have to.

[Host - Possibly Jenny]

Do much about it.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

They just kind of know when it's starting to get dark and that's their, I guess the way God made them, it's their body intuition. So all of these things that you don't know. And it's incredible to learn it well.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

And the beauty is, have you ever tried to chase a chicken when it doesn't know where it's supposed to go? Like, God really, like saved us because chickens, if you try to chase them, they're not going to go where they never been before. So he really was thinking of us when he designed them to just go home at night.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Yes. So this is just to your point. Like, there's so many things that you might not know. So you wrote this. A lot of frustration can arise when we try to fit animals onto the homestead without asking how we can make a functioning home for them.

[Host - Possibly Jenny]

Turkeys are going to roost in the rafters.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

And I have found turkeys to be somewhat dumb. Like, we've never been able to. Our turkeys always get picked off. I, I don't know. Like, I. But I would have had no idea that a turkey is different than a chicken. You know, you. The things you don't know. Turkeys are going to roost in the rafters and their droppings are going to go everywhere. Pigs are going to push around loose feed troughs and spill open water seeds. Steers are going to test boundaries and know when the fence isn't electrified and ducks are going to splash in water.

[Host - Possibly Jenny]

Wherever they can find it.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

It's just one of those things when you think, you know, a lot of times people think about farmers. Joel talks about this he'll say he'll go into meetings and he'll be wearing a suit, and they're. They're expecting him to be in overalls and being like, hello.

[Opening/Closing Narrator]

You know.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

But there.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

There is a beauty in the level of expertise that you can have and learn and that there's always more.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

Yeah, the. The beauty of that is. And this is an old saying from my Mennonite childhood. And you can take. The saying goes like this. You can take the girl out of the Mennonite, but you can never take the Mennonite out of the girl. Right? So saying, you know, your. Your culture, yes, your culture shapes you. But let's say ducks, for example, or cows, having been raised around them. It took me watching other people on the Internet and the mistakes that they make to understand what my audience wants to learn. Because when something. When you've learned something from your childhood and it's second nature, it's a true life skill, right? So then there's a whole other level of understanding that comes for you to be able to teach or what you already know, because you don't even have to break it down in steps for your own head. You just do it because it's second nature. And I explain it to a lot of people when they talk to me where they ask me about canning, you know, or baking bread or something, and I say, you have to do it so often that you can do it while you're parenting. Like, the world doesn't have to stop because you are canning. At first it's going to feel that way, but then eventually you'll get to the point where you can do it while you're parenting or chatting with a friend or visiting, you know, with your husband. And the way I learned this is with cheesemaking, because cheese making was a new skill for me. And I really had a lot of compassion for people learning new skills when I learned cheese making. Because at first I had to chase everybody outside so that I could focus on the recipe that I'm checking, you know, every 2.5 seconds, I'm checking this recipe to make sure I'm doing it right and watching the video. And then I started becoming more comfortable, and now I can do it with my grandbaby underfoot while I'm chatting with my daughter or while. While we're just living life. And so that's. That's part of what mastery of skills looks like. And even though people, some people weren't raised in the culture with repeat and practice and a mindset, like a growth mindset, they can still get to the same point. And I've known people with a healthy growth mindset that have that started from zero and have surpassed me in their skills and their mastery, which.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Which is a big thing to say because there are a lot of skills. And I think you get that when you talk about the cheese making, because that's one skill, you know, and you talk about grinding the wheat. People will be like, well, where do I even get that? You know? And you know, you talk about you get half a year's worth at once. And so the skills grow little by little. But I it just shows that our grandparents are great grandparents. They sure had a lot of skills.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

They did.

[Host - Possibly Jenny]

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[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

I was thinking about this a lot just the past couple weeks. I mean, if you're on social media, you'll know why I'm thinking about this. The saddest thing has happened when we think that money is what puts food on the table. And there's a huge difference between putting food on the table and putting nutrition on the table. And now more than ever, it's our skills as homemakers that puts nutrition on the table for our families. It's not money, because there's a difference. There's a huge difference between food and nutrition. And I cannot even. It makes me so frustrated. And I just want to tell everybody, you have to stop and think nutrition is simple. Like you can break it down and you. And it frustrates me that people are upset because of their. They, you know, their access to food is what they're worried about. But I want to tell them that's not even nutrition. Most of what you have access to is not even nutrition. There's a big difference between food and nutrition.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

So you say it's simple. Can you elaborate on that?

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

Okay, so nutrition. Let's take for example, what do we want to use? For example, pasta.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Okay.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

Potatoes. Okay, we can use both. And here again, we're not trying to be self righteous, but if we think about potatoes and you think about where they're grown, how that soil's been treated, the soil has been depleted 100. You know, it's just been depleted because it's been abused. And so then how are those potatoes grown? They're grown with synthetic fertilizer. And we know that plants that we consume get their nutrition from the soil. So if they're depleted with. The soil's depleted and they're grown with synthetic fertilizer and then they're sprayed, the plants are sprayed with pesticides and fungicides, and then they're harvested, and then they're put in these buildings and they're fogged with an herbicide to keep them from sprouting. And then those are the potatoes that we're eating. Right. And nutrition would be soil that has been carefully tended and amended to be, you know, at its prime of nutrition, plants that have been grown and not treated with any herbicides or fungicides or pesticides and then harvested and stored. So that's, that's a little bit of the difference in, however, to not burden people and make people feel overwhelmed. Because I know that there's moms out there that are listening. And the last thing we need is another burden Right, right. At the very least, choose to buy potatoes rather than instant potato flakes. Because simply buying potatoes is a much better choice than the ultra processed potato flakes. So when we talk about food versus nutrition, I like to look at it in these steps of foods that are in their whole food in their whole state, and then it gradually goes down to, like, the ultra processed. And everything you buy falls into one of those categories. And like I would for our family, 90% of our diet should come from whole foods or traditionally prepared foods. Everything else should just be a small fraction. So potatoes in there. You know, buying potatoes from the grocery store is not bad. Just make sure you're buying the potatoes versus the potato flakes. That's the difference between buying a whole food or a processed food or ultra processed.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

And you have all sorts of recipes in here as well. So you've got canning recipes, you've got bread, granola bars, popcorn, kind of like those staple snack recipes. You have recipes for meals. Roasted chicken. You have recipes. If you have milk from the cow, you can use Clabber. You're talking about great grandparents. It is wild to me how some words are completely gone.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

I know.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

I heard Clabber just recently. It was from. Oh, my gosh. I interviewed her, and I can't think of what her name is, but she's down in Tennessee, and she was also at that. At that festival. It'll come to me. But she was talking about clabber, and I was like, tell me more. You know, you got all these recipes.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

Yes. So there is a sprinkling of our favorite recipes in the book, but I'm actually going to submit later today when I finish it, my cookbook, which will be coming out in early 27, and that's gonna have like 125 homestead recipes.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Oh, Ruthanne, I'm so excited about that.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

I know, right?

[Host - Possibly Jenny]

Wonderful.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Well, because you talk about how cooking from scratch, that is a place that anyone can start. You may not be able to start with a family milk cow. And, you know, you may not be able to start with a garden. I mean, our garden hardly grows food. You would be mortified to see our garden that tries to grow food, but doesn't really, you know, but you can start with cooking from scratch. And I remember I was in my 30s the first time I made a loaf of bread, and I was like, huh, this hardly has any ingredients. I mean, if you don't count water, which I feel like you don't have to count water. Does that really count? It's flour, salt, maybe A little sugar, maybe not. Maybe a little sugar and honey and maybe yeast, maybe not. If you're sourdoughing, I think you say it could be as simple as flour, water, and salt.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

Yes. So cooking from scratch is one of my favorite ways to inspire people to be more in control of the food that their family is consuming. And it's a beautiful way, a very simple way to take a little bit of control back. And I look at it this way, you know, because as a mother, our number, you know, the minute that baby is born, we want to feed it. Like we are designed to want to feed our family. Like, it's just. It's a. It's a high on our list of primal instincts. So. And it never really goes away. Like, when you have adult children and they move out, it's one of the biggest questions you think about is, you know, if your daughters want to marry well, can the man earn enough money to feed a family? Like, as mothers, we never lose that primal instinct of wanting our children to be fed right. So to look at our children and know that they know the difference between, let's put it this way, earning money, earning a paycheck may not always be enough to put food on the table. So for me, one of my goals is for them to be able to walk into the grocery store and if there's no bread, know that, oh, I know I need flour in, you know, simple things. I need flour and a little bit of salt, and I can make my own bread for the family. Or to make it a little more complex, is I know that I can turn a whole chicken from the freezer section or, you know, you see a pheasant walking out there, I know that I can turn that into a dozen nutritious meals for my family. So cooking from scratch is twofold. For me, it's, yes, number one, feeding the family, but also teaching my children those valuable skills that will help them feed their own families should times get really hard for them.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

So growing up, did you have almost exclusively cooked from scratch food compared to.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

The modern world today? Yes.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Do you happen to remember when you were exposed to different types of processed foods? Because you, you talked in the book, you said our two older daughters started attending a private Christian school after being homeschooled. And they became aware of the difference between their from scratch lunches and the other children's lunches that were full of processed food options. They started asking for lunchables. Spaghettios, ramen noodles, microwavable Mac and cheese. You know, it is an interest. It must Be kind of a shock to be like, well, we just cook our food and then to see the vast amount, the amount of processed food available is, is very vast.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

And it's not nutrition. And that's just my point. It's. It's food, yes, but it's not nutrition. It doesn't do anything except put some calories in your stomach. And so, yes, and our daughters, to finish the story, they started asking for those foods. And I would say, oh, it's too expensive because I knew I could make cheaper options at home. Right. And so they started calling spaghettios and ramen noodles rich people food because I said we couldn't afford it. So one of another story that goes along with that is, you know, when you're packing five lunches, six lunches every day, it's very helpful to be able to can food. So you can just open it. So I can this soup called a lentil soup, and you can it in chicken broth and you know, lentils are very nutritious. And so you add it to chicken broth and it just becomes this powerhouse meal. But it looks terrible, right? It's so unappealing to the eye and it's kind of greenish brown, but it's so healthy and so nutritious. And my children, they liked it, but they asked to not take that to school because their classmates couldn't handle the way it looked. And their classmates would give them a hard time about, ew, what are you eating? And so culturally, yeah, culturally I was raised different and my children as well, you know, as they've grown older, they've learned. But to this day, I've never made my younger boys take lentils to school.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

It is a bit of an indictment though. And Joel Salatin talks about that in the Marvelous Pigments of Pigs where he says, God fearing people should be more aware, a little bit more aware at least.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

So one of the, one of the analogies that I think about often is so, you know, we're, we're adoptive parents, right? So when we were going through foster care classes, one of the things that we learned is that when children, when their world turns upside down, you know, when everything they've known is no longer and they feel out of control, they are going to control whatever they can and they're going to control, primarily they're going to control what goes in their body and what comes out of their body. And we experience that firsthand. And so I. So the homestead movement, the whole homestead movement is exactly like that. Because what, what's happening, if you Think of all of us as children of America, right. And we get a little concerned because nothing feels stable. We don't know what the next year is going to bring. Everything feels a little insecure. So what are we going to turn to? We're going to start controlling what goes in our bodies and what goes into our family's bodies. And that is one way for us to maintain a little bit of a semblance of security is by being having control over our food sources. And it's actually, it's mind boggling when I think about it because I'm like, oh my goodness, we're just designed exact. We're just like children and we want to control something. And in this case, us all being adults, I 100% support anybody wanting to control their food source and their family's food source. And. But I also know it's a primal instinct and it's there from the time we're a year old that if your family is falling apart and you feel out of control, you're going to control what goes in your body.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

That's right, yes. Yes. And so here we are in this shaky time and if you can learn these skills, you know, another thing that Joel says is, he says you're only disappointed in the skills you don't have. No one is disappointed in the skills they have. You're not disappointed that you know how to grow an 8,000. I almost said 8,000 acre. That's probably not correct. Square foot garden. You're not disappointed in that. You're not disappointed in the fact that you know what clever is and you can do things with it. So the more skills you gain, the more fulfilling your life can be, the more stable you can feel. You say as your skill set grows, your grocery list will shrink and you give all the ideas in the book.

[Host - Possibly Jenny]

The book is called the Heart of.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

The Homestead and you give ideas about how to purchase in bulk. You give ideas about how to shorten your supply chain. And then all of these wonderful recipes.

[Host - Possibly Jenny]

January always feels like a fresh start in our homeschool. It's that reset moment after the holidays where you're refining what worked, letting go of what didn't, and finding your rhythm again. Oh, and also you actually know what day it is again, as opposed to being in that holiday induced fog where time and space seem to just meld into nothing and everything all at once. One thing we've learned over the years is how important it is to meet each child exactly where they are. That's why IXL fits so naturally into our homeschool life. It adapts to each learner so one child can review last year's skills while another jumps ahead without pressure, comparison or busy work. I love how effortless it is as a parent. Everything is organized by grade and by topic, so I'm not digging through resources or reinventing the wheel. And the real time feedback is huge. Kids learn from mistakes immediately and the progress reports give clarity and confidence. As a guide, IXL covers math, language arts, science and social studies from pre K all the way through 12th grade and it grows right along with your child. It is flexible, proven and trusted by millions of families. Make an impact in your child's learning. Get IXL now and 1000 Hours Outside listeners can get an exclusive 20 off their IXL membership when they sign up today at www.ixl.com 1000hours Visit ixl.com 1000hours to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Can you talk about the 8,000 square foot garden? 8,000 square feet and you preserve more than 500 quarts of food from it.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

So the garden. What a lot of people when it blows their mind because our garden's so big. What they're not, what they are not understanding is that we live in the northern hemisphere, right? So our summers are short and intense. Our growing season is from May 15 to September 15.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Same.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

And so we have most long season crops like sweet corn and tomatoes and squash. We have a one shot chance at those because we can't wait until the peas and beans are done and then put our corn in. So we need all that space because we need to put everything in by the 1st of June or by late June so that it can mature before we have frost. So that is why my garden looks as why my garden is as big as it is. And as the family dwindles, I plan.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

To learn more skills because Dwindles because the girls. You've got one that's a mom already.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

Yes. So I would Our two oldest daughters are married and no longer live at home. And then the five youngest live at home and they range from ages almost 18 all the way down to almost 10. And so I know what it feels like when they start leaving home and also with the teenagers when they start not being home for as many wheels meals during the week. But where I'm going to expand my skill set is to learn to grow more feed for the animals that feed us. Because true self sufficiency if you think about it, what if the dollar stops being a dollar, right? How am I Going to feed the chickens all winter or what am I going to feed my cows? Because eggs and milk are like the cornerstone of our meals. So two things. Learning how to grow food for my animals. You know, we already have hay and things like that, but the pigs and the chickens, they need, you know, more than just hay. The cows can live on hay. So two things. Learning to grow on my. Grow it myself, and also making sure that I have skills and resources to trade for the things that I don't. You can't grow so you won't see me planting yard in my garden anytime soon.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

I love that part of it, that there's always something else you can add or learn, you know, or. Or tweak or just make better because otherwise the life would be boring. You talk about how you were practically.

[Host - Possibly Jenny]

Raised in the garden.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

You were born in April, so you spent your whole summer in the vegetable garden, and then all the way up through your childhood. I can spot a Mennonite or Amish homeschool homestead during my travels merely by the design, size, and layout of their garden. We're the same with that one shot growing season. We usually botch it. We do get a lot of flowers.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

It takes a. It takes a lot of practice.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Yeah, yeah, I know. And that's what you're saying. You just got to keep at it. And that's what I say. I'm like, I sometimes I'm like, this is really a waste. You know, we got a lot of zinnias and some sunflowers, you know, but six tomatoes. But I think the more you keep at it, at least we're not letting it.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

When I think. I think your dialogue is also very important because we are all created to want to repeat positive experiences, right? So if you're walking to your garden and you're saying, oh, I'm so terrible at this. Look at all these weeds and all of that subconsciously, the next year when it's time to plant, you're not going to want to do it, and you're going to be even more discouraged. But if you're walking through your garden and you're saying, oh, the zinnias in this morning light are just so pretty. And if you're. If you create a positive experience, you're naturally going to be inclined to want to repeat it.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Wow, Ruthanne, I never thought about that. The ease of the flowers is what keeps me coming back. Yes, I did do one summer, because I know you speak around the country, and I do as well. And a lot of the speaking things are in the spring. And so a few summers back I didn't do it. And I thought I will never have an an non garden summer again because I missed it so much. So I love that you said that flower. The flowers keep me coming back. And you wrote this and I thought this was really important to remember because so many of these skills have been lost. You say it may take years. I don't think anybody's really this honest about it, Ruthanne. It may take years, years of gardening before you can reconcile all the time and effort of this garden's impact on your daily nutrition and budget. If you stick with it, one thing your garden can produce that cannot be measured or assigned a price tag to is the legacy of skills you are teaching and values you are instilling in your children and your grandchildren. Because here it is. You know, my nine year old daughter.

[Host - Possibly Jenny]

Knows how to tell if a watermelon.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Is ripe or not. Yeah, that's a skill. I didn't even know it was a skill but boy did we harvest one too early. And you're like, oh, you know, you wait, you wait, you wait. You're so excited. It's getting bigger, bigger and what a waste. So then we had to learn that you have to look for the little curlicue and it has to be dead. And now she knows. So I mean there, there are a lot of immeasurable things to it and I appreciate that you are honest about it. May feel like you have to reconcile a little bit.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

Well, you know, those first couple years, you're putting in a lot of time and effort and some people are spending bukus of money on their first garden and then at the end of the year with their 12 quarts of tomato sauce, it's like that's expensive tomato sauce. Right. It takes years to see like homesteading. We live in an instant type of world. Right. But homesteading is not. Homesteading forces us to slow down and be, you know, we're amending the soil and taking care of the soil so the next generation can enjoy it. And it's the same way with gardening or raising your milk cows. And it just, it forces us to slow down. And I personally, I love it.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

No one really talks about this like it might take a while, it might take years for it to feel worth it.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

Yes. And we have to be future, future minded. So when, when my publisher asked me to write this book about homesteading, I, I felt overwhelmed about writing about something as dry and practical. Practical about like keeping a family cow or keeping the garden. I just felt like it was going to be such a dry and practical book. And I personally don't like how to books right I once. But what God did as I was writing the book, God showed me my true passion. And my true passion isn't about grass fed beef or the garden or even the family milk cow as much as I love her. It's about the relationships within the family and how you can use your homestead. Because here again relationships are built on positive shared experiences. Just like your relationship with your garden is built by your positive mindset when you're there. The relationships that we build with our family are also built upon positive shared experiences. And oftentimes people's minds when I say this, go towards big vacations when everybody was happy and having a good time. But what they don't realize is that the, the concentration of positive shared experiences happens at home. So think about the number of times you're sitting around the dinner table having dinner and the number of times that the boys and I go out to milk the cow. And my job as a parent is to keep it as positive as possible, as positive as you can when you have preteens and adolescents and you know, multiple ages. But that is what builds relationship is just the time spent together building fences or in the garden or in the kitchen and the homestead and the homesteading lifestyle. And it just gives so many opportunities. So within each chapter I felt the need to make sure that I'm not burdening parents by saying, well, if you're buying potatoes from the grocery store, you don't love your family. You know, things like that. That's not the tone I wanted to set. I wanted to set the tone of even if you're eating Kraft Mac and cheese, but you're sitting around the table chatting while you're doing it, you are doing a good thing. Because in today's modern world that is what is going to build a relationship and set our children apart from their peers. And is the relationship with parents because with devices and screens, it's becoming almost an epidemic where children do not have enough social skills to build relationships. And we should be very scared for our children. No, not scared because we don't do things out of fear. We should be very intentional to make sure our children have relationship skills and that we are building intentional relationships with them. Because you cannot influence anybody except through relationship. And that is very important with our children. If we want to influence them to love God, we can't do it unless we built relationship with them.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

And you talk a lot about that. Like this is so different from how modern childhood is where you're talking about your chores. You know, you had a lot of chores and a lot of times you do them with a sibling, which made it a little more enjoyable. And then you also, beyond your chores that you had, you also had big work days where the entire family would work together toward a shared goal, such as harvesting chicken or preserving the harvest or shelling peas. And you say this is opposite of what someone would expect. Big work days are at the core of many of my childhood memories. I do not remember the work as much as I do the commercial camaraderie of the family. What felt like mundane and never ending around the farm to 10 year old me was really the feeling of developing the very character upon which my adult life is built. Then you talk about how the structure of going out for the family milk cow, it helps you to be consistent, it gives you rhythm to your day. And this, this part of chores, which you talk a lot about in this book, really give this opportunity for you to constantly be touching base with your kids, the kids, with the siblings, and as a family as a whole, working toward a shared goal. You even talked about the benefit of how the chores framed your free time. You told the story about how you went fishing with your brother and you're like, oh, we love it so much because free time means more when you have chores. So can you talk about the chores piece?

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

So, number one, the character trait that is developed when you have to do the same chore every day or when you have to get up and do chores every day is I can do things that I don't want to do. I can do things when the weather is bad, I can do things when I don't feel well, I can still do things. So in short, I can do hard things that I don't feel like doing. And that is a very, very valuable skill. And if you start noticing this character trait, you will be appalled at how lacking it is in a lot of adults that you meet. The being able to make myself get up off the couch and do something even though I don't feel like doing it. That's a very important skill and one that we are very intentional about teaching our children or making sure they have opportunity to develop it. And if your children are whining and complaining about chores, it's simply the sound of their character being developed. It's very expected. It does not mean they're broken. And even for myself, like the skill of doing things that I don't like to do, I can trace it all back to having to get up and get outside and do chores before I go to school. It helps with time management and it just helps you get things done. And there was something else I was going to touch on. Was your question twofold?

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Well, I think I just talked a lot. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. About going to catch the fish. How free the free time as. Yes, just having more joy in it.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

So people often ask how many chores should a child have? And it varies for each child. But my standard is they should have just enough chores so that their free time feels like a reward. And so for my childhood, I remember we grew up on the river. So every afternoon in the summer we wanted to go swimming, but there was always chores we had to do first and the swimming was simply a reward. And we treasured it and we swam and we enjoyed it because we knew that when mom calls us there was going to be more chores. And I can't even remember what the chores were were. It was probably helping with dinner or the laundry or something like that. And. But we treasured our free time.

[Host - Possibly Jenny]

Yeah.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

You say the knowledge that free play was limited helped us to cherish this time and to use it wisely. And you talk in this book too about boredom. You talk about not. Not responding to boredom with entertainment. That's actually a really big deal. Let's talk about that for a minute. You use this phrase, the artificial highs of video games and screen times and, and the artificial highs a video game and screen. I cannot say it a video games and screen time. Can you talk about how chores also give a dopamine reward but in a very different context in a very different way.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

So what we want our children to tap into is the dopamine high of a job well done because that is the natural dopamine cycle of the adult life is those. The, the people that get a dopamine hit just come from doing. Getting a job well done. And so the. That's. I'm going to go back to the cheese making. For example, when I got my first wheel of cheese out of the cheese cave and we ate it, that was like a dopamine high that I'll never forget. And my family was here to experience it. And my son in law, our son in law, he remembers it because he laughed and laughed at me. But it was such a good feeling because I had done it. I really did it. You know, I did something that I had been afraid was too hard for me and I don't know why I thought it was too hard for me. But the dopamine high of a job well done is what we want our children to tap into because that is something that they can build on for the rest of their life. They're going to use it to support their families. That dopamine high of I did a good job, and we have. But the. The thing that happens with screen time and video games is it's an artificial dopamine high, and it's a much higher high than the natural world affords us and everything. When children have access to video games and a lot of screen time, the rest of the world is dull in comparison. And I want to protect. For our children. We're intentional about protecting that throughout their formative years as long as we can. Protecting that so that they learn to appreciate and so that their brain gets accustomed to the highs of the natural world rather than the brighter lights and flashing sounds and the. You know what I'm talking about. I know you do. The artificial highs that come with screen time.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Yeah, you word it this way. And I think this is such an important reminder. Every time a child. And people may not even know this. Every time a child satisfies their neurological need for a reward hoard using artificial highs of video games and screen time, they undermine the natural curiosity that directs their developing brains to find satisfaction in lifelong skills based on capability, leadership, and a strong work ethic. There's a lot. You packed a lot into this, Ruthanne. The book is called the Heart of the Homestead. It even includes thrifting tips and thrifting skills. Thrifting skills. Consider yourself a student in the school of thrifting skills. There's always new things to learn and discover. You also have chore ideas for different ages. You also like to knit. So we were at this conference together, and I learned how to crochet there. This is my first time. But you're sitting in a row with your daughters. Everyone's knitting or crocheting. And it's just like a wonderful way. It hones in my attention. I'm able to sit longer and listen and pay attention. So it was really cool to see the legacy that you passed down. Not many other people were doing that, but it was you and it was all your girls. You know, they're. They're sitting there, they're doing their knitting, too, in their crochet, and they're making different things. You'll also learn in the book about why you might want to go to the barber and ask for everyone's hair.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

The clippings.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Yes, the clippings. Those are Gold. So if you want to know more, that's on page nine.

[Host - Possibly Jenny]

93.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

The book is wonderful. You covered so much in it about the how to, but also about the why. Filled with stories about Petunia the pig and your family milk cow and creating a life that you are passing a lot of things on. Legacy skills that have been lost over the generations. So, Ruthie, I want an honor to talk with you. The computer did run out of space in the middle, and so. So I'm terrified that this conversation is only going to be 15 minutes. I hope it's there.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

Well, if we need to get back together and visit some more, I. I would not be disappointed about that. And you and I are the same, because my MacBook is saying low battery, low battery, low battery. So you and I like to live right on the edge.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

On the edge. Well, we are gonna. We have to talk the next time because what we said we were going to talk about was dating, and we didn't even get there, so.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

Oh, my gosh. I had so many thoughts for that since our conversation. So we'll have to schedule another one and talk about the taboo subject of why is nobody talking about dating?

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Yes, absolutely. So that'll be the next one. The book is called the Heart of the Homestead, Ruth. And we always end our show with the same question. What's a favorite memory from your childhood?

[Host - Possibly Jenny]

That was outstanding.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

Outside favorite. Outside childhood memory, I think by far is riding my ponies back into our wood property and finding my favorite tree. And it was a big pine tree and the branches hung all the way down. And just sitting there under my pine tree while my pony nuzzled around me and his breath would, like, his hot breath would blow on me. It's. It's a memory that it happened so many times in my childhood because I did it a lot. It's just a favorite.

[Host - Possibly Jenny]

Yeah.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

That's beautiful.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

Oh, I loved my ponies.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Ruthanne, thanks for being here. Thanks for this wisdom that you're sharing. Thanks for being willing to look out at the world and do a good job of seeing what people don't know and filling those gaps. I think that's a pretty special skill when you have skills and you're able to teach people along the way who. Who know nothing about it. And so your YouTube channel is phenomenal at doing that. This book is in your Instagram and a cookbook coming in 2027. Ruthanne, thanks for being here.

[Guest - Ruthanne Zimmerman]

It was my pleasure. Thanks for having me, Jenny.

[Host - Possibly Jenny]

Thanks for listening. If this episode stuck with you, you're probably already thinking about who you'd want to talk to about it, send it to that person. These conversations don't spread because of algorithms. They spread because someone thought, hey, you need to hear this.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

And if you never left a review for the podcast.

[Host - Possibly Jenny]

I read every one and they really do matter. If you want to take a small, practical step after Today, the free 2026 tracker sheets, the app, and the kickoff.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Pack are all available.

[Host - Possibly Jenny]

You can learn [e-mail] and links are in the show Notes I'm so glad you're here. Until next time. May you find extraordinary moments on ordinary paths.

[Opening/Closing Narrator]

Get outside, open your eyes Feel that sunshine kissing your skin Throw your worries.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Out to the wind.

[Opening/Closing Narrator]

Climb some trees, skin your knees Feel that grass on your feet again get out there and.

[Host - Possibly Ginny Urich]

Take it in.

[Opening/Closing Narrator]

Oh, it's a beautiful world Ain't that laughing on the screen Is ever going to be this view oh, it's a beautiful world and I just want to share with I just want to share with you this beautiful world Such a beautiful world.