Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO): Thank you for tuning into our holiday episode. Today you are going to hear a great story of Jody. It’s an entrepreneurial success story in small town America. Jody is a farmer’s wife. Her family wanted to reinvigorate the dying downtown of a small Indiana community. So they started a small homey business and they called it The Homestead and it’s just grown from there. They’re in two locations now. They have a blossoming eCommerce business. But the origin story is due to this farmer’s wife being a busy mom—they had 5 girls in 6 years—and she didn’t want to be stuck in the kitchen any time they had friends or family over. So she learned some tricks about how to have frozen meals ready to pull out and heat up and today she’s sharing those with you. As CEO and chief cook of The Homestead, she’s going to talk about some of her tricks. We’re going to talk about one of my favorites, the Indiana state pie, a delicacy called the sugar cream pie, so listen in for that. She’s going to have some inspiring advice for would-be entrepreneurs and letting you know why it’s important to know where your food comes from. Thanks for tuning in. Enjoy. Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO): Welcome to More Than a Mile, a local food podcast from Market Wagon focused on connecting you to local food through farmer stories from across America. I'm Nick Carter, your host, a farmer and CEO and co-founder of Market Wagon. We are your online farmers market with a mission to enable food producers to thrive in their local and regional markets. Food is so much more than just nutrients and calories. It's actually the fabric that holds us together. Thanks for joining me for this episode of More Than a Mile, and thank you for buying local food. It's one critical step in making an investment in food for future generations. My guest today is Jody Bahler, the CEO, founder and chief cook at The Homestead. Jody, thanks for joining us. Jody Bahler (The Homestead): Hi Nick. How are you? Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO): I'm doing great. Good. So we are doing this recording virtually, but we could have gotten together. You are just an hour away from where I'm at in Indianapolis, up in Remington, Indiana. Right? Yep. I know that you've got a background in farming. Do you and your husband still farm? Jody Bahler (The Homestead): Yes, absolutely. That's Mike. And Mike farms with his two brothers. so it's a hundred year farm here in Indiana and that's where we've lived since we've been married and raised our five girls. Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO): That is so cool. Jody Bahler (The Homestead): I grew up on a dairy farm and married a hog farmer, so I got an ag background myself, . Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO): So you grew up on a dairy farm where at? Jody Bahler (The Homestead): I grew up in Kansas, little town of Lamont, Kansas. Teeny tiny town near Emporia State University, Kansas State University. So that was where I began. Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO): So I grew up on a dairy farm too. Not really heavy in production because we had gotten rid of the milking equipment. So I just bred. What did you raise? What, do you know what breed? Holsteins, of course. Jody Bahler (The Homestead): Yep. Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO): Yeah. Very cool. So you were no stranger to the farm life when your husband, Mike decided to whisk you off to the farm life in Indiana? Jody Bahler (The Homestead): Nope. Absolutely not. Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO): How'd the two of you meet? Jody Bahler (The Homestead): We actually met through our church. We did a lot of traveling and back and forth with our church network across the United States, and we had met through that. And so that was, that was, yeah, that was primarily how we met and got acquainted. Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO): Oh, that's neat. So moved Indiana, how many daughters did you say? Jody Bahler (The Homestead): We have five girls. Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO): Five girls. Are they, are any of 'em still in the house or have they moved on? Jody Bahler (The Homestead): Our oldest is still home. Um, she's 26, and then we have twin girls that are 25. Then we have, we had two girls after that. So youngest is, is 20, they range anywhere from 20 to 26. And the oldest is the only one single and living at home still. She's an RN and works in Lafayette, Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO): So she's a nurse. So she took that on after you as well. I'm understanding you're a nurse. Jody Bahler (The Homestead): She did, she did. She followed in my footsteps. . Nick Carter (Host - Market Wagon CEO): Cool. So tell me a little bit about what it's like to raise five girls on a farm in rural Indiana. Jody Bahler (The Homestead): Well, it's been a good life. I wouldn't trade it. We love the country life. We love, we loved being able to raise our girls on the farm and to know what hard work means. ...
