Episodes

  • Front Forty Farm

    Front Forty Farm
    May 29 2026
    Today I'm talking with Mary at Front Forty Farm. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking to a fellow Mary at Front Forty Farm in Missouri. Good morning, Mary. How are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm good. I don't talk to Mary's very often. I always think it's a very common name. Yes. think you're the second Mary I've talked to in over two and a half years on this podcast. Oh, really? I've always thought it's like a very boring square name. 00:30 Yeah, I honestly, I was nicknamed Lynn when I was a couple weeks old because I'm named after both my grandmother's Mary Evelyn. And my parents had a disagreement about which name should have come first. So they decided to nickname me Lynn. And when I went to kindergarten, they did the roll call and they were asked, you know, they were calling my given name. 00:57 And I didn't know my name was Mary. I thought my name was Lynn. Oh, wow. And the teacher called my mom and she said, there's a girl in our class and we don't know who she is. We think she's Mary. And my mom was like, uh okay, this is really weird. And my mom's okay, describe the girl. And they described what I've been, what I was wearing and my hair color and that I was this tall, whatever. And my mom said, well, yeah, that's Mary. And 01:26 They said she doesn't respond to Mary. And my mom laughed and she said, of course she doesn't because she's never been called Mary. She's been called Lynn. So there was a very big mix up the first day of kindergarten. then in high school, I switched back to Mary because I was like, it's my real name. I should use it. my close friends for a long time would call me Lynn, but no one except my husband calls me Lynn now. 01:55 Oh really? Interesting. Yeah, so names are crazy. Yeah. Okay, so the reason that I asked you to be on the podcast is because of your farm name Front 40. I'm assuming that is the opposite of Back 40. Exactly. My husband came up with it because he's like, well, you know, people are always saying out to the Back 40 or, know, whatever. And in the assessment plot, we are the front 02:24 east 40 of the whole section. so there you go. Well, 47 actually, but yeah. Well, it got my attention. So I'm glad you called it front 40 arm. And it's three F's in a row. So that's cool too. So when did you, when did you start the farm? We moved out here in November of 22. 02:51 Okay. And were you city folk or do you have? Oh yeah. Um, yeah, we got married in October. He's a widower and I've been divorced for a very long time and we got married in October, bought the house in November and we lived in Independence, Missouri, which is, um, a suburb of Kansas city and the urban sprawl and all the crime and everything. So it wasn't a great place and we wanted to be more self-sufficient. Yeah. 03:21 I think COVID woke a lot of people up and yeah, so we did it. He sold his house, I sold my house and me came out here. Did you guys have any farming or homesteading background before that? Not really. He was raised on more of like a farm. They had a milk cow and they butchered rabbits and things like that. And I grew up on Lake Michigan. uh 03:50 So no, not really. had my first husband had to farm horses and a few cattle. So I do a little bit from that. And we just kind of wing it. We do a lot of praying for wisdom. Well, that's good because even when you've been brought up in a homesteading or farming family, you can't know everything. Rice can't. So it's good that it's a learning process all the way through. Yes. So you guys have highland cattle, you have sheep. 04:20 You have chickens? They're angora goats. Sorry, angora goats. They look like sheep. Oops. do. You have chickens? Chickens and guineas and one turkey at the moment. And am I missing an animal? Dogs, cats, bees. Bees, okay. Cool. I think that's it. Okay. I want to talk about the angora goats and your 04:46 Your minis, but I said I wasn't going to ask about this, but I am going to ask about this because I'm a sucker. Your dog, dogs, both dogs? have four altogether. Are two of the dogs the Wolfhound Australian Shepherd Crosses? Yes, they're a brother and sister. Okay. We were breeding Aussies and it was too questionable how they would turn out, whether they would kill our 05:14 chickens and we had two goats killed and then we were like, okay, we're done with Aussies. They sold well, but it's like, yeah, we're not taking that chance anymore. we had one, it's hard to find a group of dogs that ...
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    35 mins
  • Outlaw Farm Alpacas, LLC

    Outlaw Farm Alpacas, LLC
    May 27 2026
    Today I'm talking with Steve and Jennifer at Outlaw Farm Alpacas, LLC. You can also follow on Facebook. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Steve and Jennifer at Outlaw Farm, Alpacas, LLC in Ohio. Good morning, you guys. How are you? Good morning, everybody. Doing well. I love that. No one has ever said good morning, everybody, on any episode of my podcast so far. Thank you for doing that. I'm glad I'm the first. 00:29 Uh, were you in radio by any chance? I'm a performer and I own a production company, so I'm pretty familiar with this kind of stuff. Yeah. I figured you had to have something in your background because most people would never have thought to have said that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So the first thing I always ask is how is the weather where you are and you're in Ohio. So how's the weather in Ohio this morning? Well, it's a little overcast today. It says it's 60, but it certainly doesn't feel like it. 00:58 It is raining here in Minnesota this morning and it has been overcast for the whole week. I am praying that we get some sunshine tomorrow because I am a, I'm a sunshine girlie. I really do like it when the sunshine is pouring in the windows. And this week I've gotten up every day and watch the sun come up, what little sun there was, and then it's been gray. So I am ready for it not be gray for a little bit. think we have a couple days of rain in store for us here then before we hit some sunshine again. 01:28 Yes, I this spring has been so weird and I don't dare to complain about it because the last two springs here all it's done is rain all of May and into the first half of June and it really ruined our farm to market garden So I'm not complaining I'm just saying it would be nice to see the Sun peek out a little bit this weekend. That's all I'm saying Okay, so you guys how did you get your name number one? 01:57 Well, let me tell you, um we bought this place um about eight years ago and it's located on Law Road in Grafton, Ohio. um we were brainstorming for a name and we're thinking of crazy different names we could name an alpaca farm. And I said, what about outlaw farm? And she says, what do mean? We're not outlaws. And I said, you know, but we're on Law Road. So that made a lot of sense and it stuck. we ran with it. 02:25 And again, it's attention grabbing. of the reason I love this so much is because part of the way I find people to talk to is by you guys' names. And I saw Outlaw Farm, Alpacas, and went, oh yes, I must find out about them. Okay, so when did you get into this? Well, we got into it around 2018. We bought this place and... 02:52 It was, it was really in need of some work. So we cleaned up the old barn, which was built in like, I say the late 1800s, a lot of cleanup. We cleaned it up, made it look nice. And we thought, yeah, let's get a couple of animals because it's such a nice barn. We could use some more pets because we have the land now. Well, my wife has a cousin that has alpacas as pets. So she mentioned alpacas. She contacted her cousin and they said, you know, we'll sell you a couple. 03:22 So we bought four pets, two males, two females, and it just went from there. um She started researching alpacas and the fiber and the showing and the breeding. And she just wanted to make it a business because she was set to retire in a couple of years and she wanted something to do. So that's, that's basically how it started. minor midlife crisis situation. Small one. 03:50 I just did the same thing almost three years ago because my youngest was going to be moving out, youngest of four, and I didn't want to face emptiness syndrome without a project. So I started this podcast. So I'm right there with you. Awesome. I get it. It's really hard when your life changes in a big way and women tend to find projects and I won't say what men tend to find. And that would be a very terrible thing to say. 04:18 I don't think that men necessarily find projects. I think that men find distractions. I'd have to disagree because I have a lot of projects. Because of the farm, he has a lot of I mean the men who are enlightened. You're enlightened, Steve. We'll give you that today. You are an enlightened soul. Awesome. Thank you. So uh do you guys, I want to talk about the alpacas because I haven't really talked in depth with anybody about them. But do you have other animals as well? 04:47 Yes, we right now we're at 34 alpacas and we are expecting nine creas, which are the ...
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    30 mins
  • Rusted Gates Farm

    Rusted Gates Farm
    May 22 2026
    Today I'm talking with Connie at Rusted Gates Farm. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Connie at Rusted Gates, uh, farm? Farm? think it's farm. Yeah. Pennsylvania. Good afternoon, Connie. How are you? Good morning. I'm doing well. Good. How's the weather there? Rainy, but we need it. I think almost everybody in the United States needs some rain right now. 00:30 Yep, they sure do. Other than us, we've had we had half an inch two days ago and it's been cloudy for the last three days. And I'm like, you know, sunshine, you could come back out any time now. There's baby plants in the garden that need you. Yes, there are. It's so cute. look out my living room window and there's a big old garden right out the window across the driveway and it's all good, rich, black dirt. 01:00 And then there's these little green baby plants in there and I'm like, oh man, this is my favorite part. Watching everything just in finally after a long winter. Yep. When you finally, everything starts finally waking up. Trees have their leaves and all the plants are flowering. It's a pretty time of year. I freaking love spring. I love fall more than I love spring because fall is the, uh 01:28 the reaping of what we planted in the spring. So I like fall because we're eating squashes and the last of the tomatoes and um pumpkin pie and all those good things that we associate with fall. Okay. So your last name is Gates. So is that why it's rusted Gates farm? Yes, it is. And why rusted Gates? Well, ah 01:56 We had a daughter and her nickname was Rusty. Cute. I love that. Yeah. So, yeah, so that's why we name it Rusty. Sweet. Very sweet. Okay. So your main thing that you do at Rusty Gates Farm is fainting goats. And I want to hear all about that. Yeah, about 15 years ago, I got started in it. 02:20 Yeah, but what else is there anything else that you do on the farm as well as the goats? We have an assortment of animals. To run down the list, we started with silky chickens. We got a couple of ceramas, chickens, couple of Polish chickens, a couple of golden phoenixes. We got ducks. We got bunnies. We got a we got a sepastra bull goose and a hubby. 02:50 Sterling, we named him Sterling and uh and Hope is the other one and Hope's a little famous. She is used in this uh photographers as a prop and a lot of the kids put up pictures. So she's been a prop in a couple of uh the photo shoots. Hope is a goose? Yep, Hope is a goose. Okay. 03:18 And she's almost 13 years old. So I'm not sure how long she's going to be around, but she's 13 now. So she's getting up there in age. That sounds like a very long life for poultry. Yeah, it is. We have a couple of turkeys. We have a zebu cow that originated over in Africa. How did you get that? 03:41 Um, there was a breeder in Bedford County that we did. I wanted Highlands and I couldn't afford a Highland. I really wanted a miniature Highland, but like I said, that, was a no go for the price tag. So we settled on the Zeeboot because it was a much more reasonable price range for someone that's on social security. Yeah. The Zeeboos are the ones with the hump. 04:06 in their backs. Yes. They look like almost like the Brahmans, except they don't have the long ears and their hump's not quite as big and their miniature size. Nice. All right. And his name is Seb. We have two ponies, Louie and Chunky Charlie. And Louie I use for pony rides for his birthday parties. And we have a little donkey and he's kind of famous in our community too, because 04:34 He goes to church with us quite a bit. His name is Festus. um Festus has been in a couple Christmas plays at Celebration Community Church. And then at Easter time, went and he was in, they had a special program for the kids about, and they took each day of Jesus' life in the last week of him being on earth. And they had a different station for that. 05:02 Festus was of course the first one because Jesus rode on in on the back of a donkey into Jerusalem and kids lay pumped down and pumps down in front of him and he walked over him. Have fun. Yeah, and an interesting fact about donkeys while we're on donkeys is Festus has a cross on his back. He has a dark stripe down his back and a dark stripe over his shoulders. So it makes a 05:32 cross. So that was kind of a blessing from Jesus for carrying him on Palm Sunday. And pretty much all Mediterranean donkeys have that cross. I was gonna say not all donkey breeds have that, but that ...
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    34 mins
  • H&H Homestead

    H&H Homestead
    May 18 2026
    Today I'm talking with Ashley at H&H Homestead. You can also follow on Facebook. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 I'm listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Ashley at H &H Homestead in Texas. Good morning, Ashley. How are you? Good. How are you? I'm good. I haven't actually recorded an episode for A Tiny Homestead in over a week because people have been busy. Oh, it is that time, especially down here. And we're planting everything. 00:28 We've had some stuff going for weeks, so I can imagine everybody's kind of really getting into it right now. Yeah, it's that time of year and I go through the same thing in the fall when everybody's harvesting and I go through the same thing at Christmas and New Year's because everybody's busy with family. Oh, for sure. So I'm very happy you had time to talk with me today. Yeah, absolutely. How is the weather in Texas this morning? 00:53 It is so sunny and nice. I went out and watered everything as early as I possibly could because I know we're supposed to get to 100 today. So I wanted to make sure, you know, I was out there before it got super hot. Oh, I was cringing at the fact that we're supposed to have like 84 for a high on Friday. 100 would kill me right now. See, you're in Minnesota, right? Yes. Yeah, I just I feel you just you just acclimate to where you are because I used to. 01:20 I mean, I've been to Minnesota several times. I used to live in Alaska and I am such a warm weather person now. I just, I really don't like being cold. So it's like, you just get used to where you're at and then, you know, go to somewhere opposite and it really throws you. Uh-huh. I would rather, this is going to sound really stupid because I do not enjoy deep winter, but I would rather deal with cold because I can throw on more layers of clothes. If it's hot, I can't get any more naked than naked. 01:50 Just extra fans, extra fans. I have her, like not even just the cold. I have not had to shovel snow in years and I love that. Yep. One of the things I used to do when I was a kid, cause I grew up in Maine and Maine is very, very, very humid in July and August. And I would get, I would get headaches when it was hot. And so I would, I would literally come in the house, go on the bathroom, strip down, get in a cold, cold, cold shower. Yeah. So that my hair was wet. 02:19 And then I would dry my hair just enough so that it wasn't dripping. And that cold hair on my neck would keep me cooler. Yeah. Yeah, that's smart. But I just, hate being hot. Hot is my least favorite state of being. Well, see, there has to be, you know, opposites in people. Otherwise we'd all be in Minnesota or we'd all be in Texas. So it's a good thing that there's a mix. It would be a very boring world if everybody was the same. Yes. And my podcast would put people to sleep. 02:49 So, all right, so why is it H and H Homestead? Well, so our last name is Huff. so there's two of us, me my husband, but then our boys names are also both start with H. So either way you look at it, there's just H's all around. So we went with H and H. Oh, I love it. That's amazing. That's great. And like way to be original, mom. Well, you know, I had to keep with the, you know, I don't know, R being our last name. 03:18 Hough or, you know, Hank and Hogan Hough. And then they have the same middle initial as well. So everyone's got the same, you know, just that way everything stays the same. You don't get one thing personalized. Technically it goes for everybody, you know. Fabulous. That's really great. So what do you do at H &H Homestead? A little bit of everything. So we're kind of new to this. So 03:40 And I blame my oldest son for getting us started in this because he brought home the chickens from his first grade class. And this is kind of what started the whole thing is, um, his first grade class hatched these chickens for, you know, studying the, life cycle of animals. Right. And they had these seven adorable little chickens and then summer rolled around and nobody necessarily wanted to take them. So of course I volunteered. So we started with chickens and then from there. 04:08 I was like, well, my chickens need some neighbors out there. They look a little, they look a little sad. then, then we got quail and then I did a greenhouse and now I have dozens of raised garden beds and now we have bunnies and we just got chukkers. And so I'll probably like everyone else's. Um, you're just always adding something and always doing the next thing on your homestead. Yeah. It's one of ...
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    33 mins
  • Rud Ridge LLC

    Rud Ridge LLC
    May 8 2026
    Today I'm talking with Ruth at Rud Ridge LLC. You can also follow on Facebook. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Ruth at Rud Ridge LLC in Wisconsin. Good morning, Ruth. How are you? Good morning. I'm fantastic. How are you? I'm good. Is the weather beautiful in Wisconsin today? Because it is gorgeous in Minnesota. 00:22 It's one of those Wisconsin days where you're not sure if 60 degrees is going to feel like 40 degrees or 60 degrees is going to feel like 80 degrees. So, uh, it's beautiful. I'll take it. Uh, but it's a little chilly out there for this time of year. Yeah. May has turned out to be more like April and April was more like May here. So I don't know. Mother nature is just a fickle. Which W I C H let's put it that way this year. 00:49 As long as my husband can get the corn in the ground today and the other crops planted, I will be very happy. Yes, yes, because corn needs time. So it can be knee high by the 4th of July, as they say. You've got it. They just planted the field that surrounds our property yesterday, day before yesterday, and they're doing soybeans this year. It's been corn for three years in a row. I'm so thankful it's soybeans this year. 01:17 little bit of change. Yeah, we actually had some ice on the duck ponds this morning, which was not normal for me. So, no, our outside um water supply, I don't know what they're called. It's the it would in the old days, it would have been the well where you had to pump the water out. And it's not you just lift the handle and it's like a spigot. Yeah, yeah, it's been frozen the last three mornings. And my husband's like, 01:45 I'm going to have to fill up a five gallon pail of water and take it out to chickens. I'm like, good luck with that because that's heavy. So yeah, it's been weird, but I hear that this is the last cold week, supposedly until fall. We will see. Weather, man. I don't know. So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you guys do at Red Ridge LLC. So Red Ridge originally started with rabbits. em 02:13 Excuse me, specifically, Rex, not many rabbits. We started with rabbits because we lived in town on half an acre. ah children and I began with raising rabbits for meat and show. And we relocated to another property outside of town and have expanded into crop farming and we will be adding beef hopefully later this year. So we are all around a family homestead. My husband is a seventh. 02:42 generation farmer here in Wisconsin. So we are looking to continue that with the eighth generation that would be our children. Nice. um I have a question about the Rex rabbit. Rex rabbits are the ones that look like velvet, right? Yes, they are. They um are kind of generally considered a commercial breed, larger in scale. They have a versatility where their their pelts are 03:11 utilized in a lot of garment making and such. very, very soft. Once you feel Rex rabbit fur, nothing else feels quite like it in density and softness. And they really are a joy to raise and watch thrive in our homestead. friend of mine had one and it was like 03:36 like a chocolatey, a light chocolate brown one, but she had black eyeliner around her eyes. And I fell in love with that rabbit. She was friendly and she was the softest animal I have ever petted in my whole life. Yes, absolutely. And we specifically have always focused on temperament of our stock. They are handled quite a bit from the day they are born. We do routine nest box checks. We're always hands on. 04:05 Um, you know, making sure that they're growing well, um, everybody's alive in the nest that they are used to being handled, that moms are used to us handling them. So it kind of really sets them up for, um, a thriving of their social personality in that aspect. But you know, you pointed out they can be really sweet and kind. Yes. I mean, I think that rabbits make excellent pets as long as you, as long as they are socialized to being handled. Yes. Well, and you know, 04:35 Certainly historically in America, rabbits have been utilized for meat. It's not quite as common as it once was um in either the country or our region specifically to have rabbits as meat. But I think it's an important point for people or families who want to be a little more self-sustainable, to be able to be involved in their own personal food chain, whether it be for themselves or for their pets. We do supply. 05:05 Some people rabbit meat for their pets, um dogs and cats, ...
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    30 mins
  • Little Willow Homestead

    Little Willow Homestead
    May 4 2026
    Today I'm talking with Jessica at Little Willow Homestead. You can also follow on Facebook. A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. At Green Bush Twins and Company, we believe in the power of creativity, imagination, and art to bring people together. Our mission is to inspire connection across all ages, encouraging understanding, individuality, and a true sense of belonging. We're building more than a brand. We're growing a mindful community rooted in kindness, intention, and shared purpose. 00:29 At our core, it's about real people sharing real stories, ideas, and products that make everyday life more meaningful. If you believe in living with purpose and supporting brands that care, you'll feel right at home with Greenbush Twins. A tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins and Company. Today I'm talking with Jessica at Little Willow Homestead in Idaho. Good afternoon, Jessica. How are you? Good. How are you? A little dumb today. I'm not going to lie. It's all right. 00:59 Maybe both of our brain cells together will accomplish something. Maybe. I think it's allergies. It's very sunny here in Minnesota and there's a light breeze and I think all the things that are really starting to bloom are just ruining my brain. But my husband sent me photos of the apple trees that are blooming today. So I'm very excited. Our apple trees never do very well in 01:29 end of April, 1st of May, because we get these big wind storms or we get thunderstorms and the blossoms get blown off. uh And I'm just, the weather's supposed to be good for the next five days. So I'm praying that the weather is good for the next five days. So we get apples on the trees on the far side of the property that we've never gotten apples from in the five years we've been here. Hey, we can pray. That's awesome. Yes. So I think the allergies are kicking my butt. 01:59 And I got a really quick thing I want to share with you and listener. um I went out on my porch and looked out the window and one of our chickens was over by our useless garage. We don't use it for anything. It's ready to fall down. And we have this one chicken who escapes the run every day. And I decided that her name is Hopper because she hops the fence. 02:24 I have a few of those and uh one of them, she is ultra determined. She's a coffee agger and she loves to jump the fence and lay in this one particular spot. But I know it's going to be there every day, so I go and collect it every day. Yeah, I don't think the chickens are actually laying outside of the coop, but this one just has to go explore after she lays her egg in the nesting box. 02:55 She's a little crazy. She's a little free spirit. She is and she looks so fat. I know if I went out there and picked her up, she probably only weighs about three and a half pounds. She's so feathered out that she just looks round. I love it. So I want to talk about the coffee agar thing, but first, would you tell me a little bit about yourself and about your homestead? Oh my goodness, where do I start? 03:24 So I really want to share with you the why why we moved out here to begin with. Yes. um So we we kind of homesteaded a little bit before in our hometown, which is a little tiny town in Idaho. And I don't know, I just that was back in 2009. And I got chickens. I had a ton of chickens. I was doing meat birds, taught my kids how to process meat birds and all the things. And my daughter 03:54 My youngest of, we call her the youngest of the first batch. was the youngest of our five. She was really struggling in school. And so we made the decision because she was the only one at home that we would um sell our house, move to a different town and get her into the best school in the area that worked well with children on an IEP. And so we sold our house, moved into a subdivision, stayed there for four years. 04:21 During that time we did foster care and then we adopted our daughter. Well that daughter the daughter that we moved there for graduated from high school and a month later we put our house on the market and and we had our daughter that we adopted from a foster kiddo she had asked us to take her and and and raise her and so we wanted to give her a life away from the city teacher where her food came from and just 04:50 for me to be able to homeschool her and, you know, just teach her all the things, you know, things maybe that I didn't learn and just,...
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    31 mins
  • Natures Farmacy

    Natures Farmacy
    May 1 2026
    Today I'm talking with Joe and Jessica at Natures Farmacy. A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. At Green Bush Twins and Company, we believe in the power of creativity, imagination, and art to bring people together. Our mission is to inspire connection across all ages, encouraging understanding, individuality, and a true sense of belonging. We're building more than a brand. We're growing a mindful community rooted in kindness, intention, and shared purpose. 00:29 At our core, it's about real people sharing real stories, ideas, and products that make everyday life more meaningful. If you believe in living with purpose and supporting brands that care, you'll feel right at home with Greenbush Twins. A tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins and Company. Today I'm talking with Jessica and Joe at Natures Farmacy in Alabama. Good morning, guys. How are you? Good morning. How are you? I'm good. How's the weather in Alabama this morning? 00:55 It's a little overcast. It rained yesterday and a lot last night. So overcast, warm. Plants are happy. I bet. I bet they are. It is a beautiful sunny morning here in Minnesota and there's a very light breeze and everything has greened up beautifully. And tomorrow is May 1st. Yay. 01:22 Very excited because May 15th is the date that we plant our seedlings. So we only have to wait 15 and a half more days. Awesome. So tell me a little bit about yourselves and what you do. OK, so uh we're Nature's Pharmacy. We are a micro farm here in Summerdale. um We grow all kinds of fruits and vegetables. um We're basically on 1.7 acres and we're trying to pack in as much 01:52 ah produce and fruit as we can on this. It's not tiny, but it's not big either on this piece of land. And ah we use organic growing practices. We set up at the markets. ah We have five kids. We homeschool them. So we're here all the time. That is a lot of little people in your life. We have two that are big people now and we actually just became grandparents. 02:22 from one of them. So that's really cool. She's a month old now. Jessica, you look amazing to be a grandma. saw your videos on Facebook and I was like, wow, she can't be more than 25. guess. Oh, thank you. It's the veggies. Yeah, absolutely. Are the kids involved in the... They're involved in the berry picking and eating. Yeah, it's hard to keep fruit on the trees and... 02:51 on the vines, ah but I'm guilty of that too. I love to get out here and pick berries and eat fruit. It's really awesome to be able to have that experience and for our kids to have that experience running up and down the rows picking, whether it's fresh carrots or blackberries, plums, peaches. I'm so glad that we get to do that for them. They do help though. They are oldest, not our oldest, but the oldest living here. He's 13. ah 03:20 He helps us with harvesting and packaging and getting stuff ready for the market. He helps us set up at the market. The girls help some too. They'll come out when we're planting and want to poke a few seeds in the ground. We don't force it. So if they want to help, they do. Nice. You're growing budding entrepreneurs while you grow your gardens and your fruit trees. Actually, our 13 year old has his own mushroom operation. I mean, I'm sorry. 03:49 Worm casting. Worm casting operation. Which could lead to mushroom growing. Well, we do grow mushrooms. So, yeah, that's definitely something that, you know, if he wanted to get into that, he could. We grow Shiitake mushrooms and we'll grow other mushrooms as well, like wine cap. But yeah, so he's he's farming worms and collecting castings and he sets his little worm castings up at the market and he 04:17 He sells worm casting, so it's really cool. He's pretty much staying sold out too. And the girls are trying to get into crickets. They did just recently order their first batch of crickets. They want to be able to grow those, whether it's for like people that have lizards or feeding their chickens or even bait. Yeah, fishing. I love it. You guys have been an excellent example for your little people and your big people. Thank you. 04:47 I wish everybody could be that kind of example because we'd have a much better world in about 10 years. Well, I think more people are waking up and moving towards, you know, going back to homesteading and I say a simpler life, but sometimes it's not simpler. mean, there's a lot of work involved, but I see ...
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    32 mins
  • Forsythia Farms

    Forsythia Farms
    Apr 29 2026
    Today I'm talking with Casey at Forsythia Farms. A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins & Company. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. At Green Bush Twins and Company, we believe in the power of creativity, imagination, and art to bring people together. Our mission is to inspire connection across all ages, encouraging understanding, individuality, and a true sense of belonging. We're building more than a brand. We're growing a mindful community rooted in kindness, intention, and shared purpose. 00:29 At our core, it's about real people sharing real stories, ideas, and products that make everyday life more meaningful. If you believe in living with purpose and supporting brands that care, you'll feel right at home with Greenbush Twins. That tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins and Company. Today I'm talking with Casey at Forsythia Farms in New Jersey. Good morning, Casey. How are you? Good morning. I am well. How are you? I'm good. You said it's a beautiful day there in New Jersey? 00:55 It is. It's nice and sunny and it's going to be almost 70, I think, today. It rained all weekend, so we're due for some sunshine. Well, congratulations on having a great spring day because I am in Minnesota and I can hear the rain falling on our tin roof outside my bedroom window. Oh, my goodness. And it's supposed to rain all day and I think we're supposed to get thunderstorms too. So we are getting what my grandpa would have called 01:23 poor man's fertilizer for our garden. Oh my goodness. You guys get some heavy storms out that way, don't you? Um, we get... I have never experienced nor seen a tornado in the over 30 years I've lived in Minnesota. Well, that's good. But we definitely get some high winds. We have had our power go out because of lightning strikes, stuff like that. 01:52 Minor things like I'm scared to death of tornadoes like I don't ever want to Ever want to see one and I sure as heck don't want to have one come through my door yard. I would pass on that Yeah, I understand But no the weather has been unseasonably warm this spring our Lilac bushes are leafed out our maple tree is leafed out Everything is leafed out. I could do a list. It would take ten minutes, but it's very exciting 02:22 because we're ready, we're ready for this long, long winter to be over. It is, has been such a long winter. I know we started getting some good like sprouts and whatnot, but I know some farms around here are actually dealing with issues because it froze again. We were under a freeze warning last week. So I know there's some like fruit farmers that are concerned because it, you know, 02:50 usually doesn't typically freeze as bad at this point in April. So they're seeing, some are seeing some detrimental like loss with some of their plants, which is really upsetting. We're supposed to have freezing temps tomorrow night, think, there's tomorrow night, Wednesday night, Thursday night, maybe. And I am so thankful that our apple trees are leafed out, but they're not budded out yet. They're not blooming. Okay. 03:19 because I really want apples and if it freezes there will be no apples this fall for us on our property. yeah, yeah, we have an apple tree and a peach tree, they're, I'm not expecting fruit from them for like another couple of years because we just planted them. So anywhere from three to five years, depending on what the, uh, the variety is. Yeah. Honey crisp. I don't remember what peach variety it is, but we have honey crisps crisps. 03:47 crisps, there we go, that we put in, I think, two or three falls ago. And we're hoping with everything we have that they actually bloom this year and that we might get one or two, because they take a while and they were baby trees. So we'll see what happens. So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do at Forsythia Farms. So we are first generation homesteaders or farmers, whichever 04:15 term you prefer to use. We are more on the animal side. I will say I don't have much of a green thumb. um I can do like we have our fruit trees, we have some berry bushes. um But as far as like plants, I'm really bad with the gardening aspect. My husband is actually better with that. I am the animal person. So we have a lot of chickens, we have some turkeys. 04:43 We have goats and a pony and horses, and obviously they have cats and dogs as well. I am a certified veterinary technician by trade, so to say. So I've always been around animals and always wanted to have...
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    36 mins