Episodios

  • New Beginnings with Leah at Clear Creek Ranch Mom

    New Beginnings with Leah at Clear Creek Ranch Mom
    Feb 13 2026
    Today I'm talking with Leah at Clear Creek Ranch Mom. 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 In this episode of A Tiny Homestead, Mary welcomes back returning guest Leah from Clear Creek Ranch Mom in Nebraska. Leah has previously appeared on the podcast four times since March 2024, and today’s conversation brings exciting updates. They begin with a little seasonal appreciation, talking about frosty mornings, baby pink sunrises, and the beauty of unobstructed rural views. From there, the conversation turns to what is new. Introducing a New Podcast Mary and Leah recently launched a brand new podcast together: Grit and Grace in the Heartland: Women in Agriculture After thoughtful consideration, Leah said yes to co hosting, and the two have been recording weekly conversations that highlight the voices and stories of women in agriculture. They talk about: Why so many podcasts stop around episode seven and why they are determined to keep going The joy of unscripted, authentic conversation Creating space for women to be heard The power of storytelling in building connection and courage The importance of real human connection in a world increasingly shaped by technology Leah shares how her background in communications and her love of asking questions have shaped her passion for elevating other people’s stories. Why Women’s Voices Matter Grit and Grace in the Heartland focuses on women in agriculture and the many roles they hold. The podcast explores: Identity and authenticity Wearing multiple hats in rural life Leadership, business, ranching, and family Financial literacy and independence for women The deep and often unseen emotional labor of rural women Mary and Leah discuss how meaningful it is to go beyond surface level conversations and create a space where women can share their real stories, including the hard parts. They also reflect on the courage it takes to put yourself out there publicly and the importance of community support, especially in small towns. The Power of Asking and Listening Leah shares stories about the impact of simply noticing people and saying thank you. From fast food employees to store clerks, she talks about how powerful it can be to acknowledge hard work and offer genuine appreciation. The takeaway is simple: If you see something, say something. And not just when it is negative. Kind words and curiosity can change someone’s day, and sometimes even more than that. Stories That Shape Us Mary and Leah also reflect on the women who shaped them, especially their grandmothers. They talk about unconventional women, loneliness, resilience, and the importance of preserving family stories. Every woman has a story worth telling. Every family holds stories that matter. That belief sits at the heart of both podcasts. A Nebraska Favorite The episode wraps up with a lighthearted discussion about Runza, the beloved Nebraska sandwich filled with beef, cabbage, and onions baked inside bread dough. They even share tips for making them at home. Where to Find Leah and the New Podcast You can find Leah at Clear Creek Ranch Mom on Facebook. Listen to Grit and Grace in the Heartland: Women in Agriculture at: gritandgraceintheheartland.com Find Mary and A Tiny Homestead at: atinyhomesteadpodcast.com Thank you for listening to A Tiny Homestead. If you enjoy the show, please share it with a friend and leave a review. Your support helps more people discover these meaningful rural stories.
    Más Menos
    38 m
  • Grounded In Maine Podcast

    Grounded In Maine Podcast
    Feb 9 2026
    Today I'm talking with Amy at Grounded In Maine Podcast. https://www.homesteadliving.com/subscribe/ref/41/ https://homesteadliving.com/the-old-fashioned-on-purpose-planner/ref/41/ www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Amy Bolduc at Grounded in Maine in Virginia. I know that's weird, but that's how it falls. Good morning, Amy. How are you? I am doing fine. Thanks. I know it's such a funny thing. People are like, where are you? Like I'm in Virginia, but why is your podcast Grounded in Maine? Well, because you'll always be. 00:29 Your heart will always be grounded in Maine. That's why. mean, 49 years, not like that's nothing. That's not nothing. Yeah, exactly. Well, what's the weather doing in Virginia this morning? Oh, geez. It's so cold this morning. Like, I'm sure it's not Minnesota cold, but it's still cold. mean, it was 15 degrees when we were walking this morning. um And yesterday, yesterday, it was so yesterday we had 45 mile per hour winds. um And it was not much warmer. 00:59 So but then two weeks ago, I mean, if you're asking about weather, the weather here is so weird. I mean, all of like November, December, it was beautiful, like 40s, probably. And I know I, you know, everyone was like, oh, my gosh, it's so cold. It's snowing, snowing, snowing. And I'm like, well, you know, don't want to say anything because I'm in the south, blah, blah, blah. But then two weeks ago, the weather forecast was looking like we were. 01:27 My weather app was telling me we were going to get up to 21 inches of snow. And I was like, what is this about? ah And then when it actually came, it was like a dusting of snow, but then an inch and a half of freezing rain, ah which I would so I would prefer 21 inches of snow a million times over freezing rain and ice. ah Anyone who's dealt with freezing rain would agree a thousand percent freezing rain is so dangerous. 01:57 Yeah. it's, you know, it just is like, but since then, so last weekend, I, my, my trusty weather app that I've been using for years lied to me and said, you know, maybe, maybe one between one to three inches of snow. I'm like, okay, you know, that's no big deal. But then we got 10 ish inches of snow and it was fluffy snow, which was cool. But then like, when I moved here, I did not get a snow shovel because I was 02:26 You know, last winter we had four inches total, like all winter long, two, two inch storms. And I was like, that is no big deal. And then this year, you know, and then the ice, I was like, I'm not I'm not even shoveling. I literally can't shovel that. But so I have a travel trunk shovel, which it's in two pieces and it's rickety and plastic. I've had it for probably 20 years uh and. 02:54 I ever used it, only when I was working and I got stuck in a snowstorm. But so that's what I've been using. I actually went out yesterday to try to get a real shovel and they were out. Of course. Of course. Because we just got 10 inches of snow. yeah, I mean, the weather is great. And then, know, Tuesday is supposed to be like 60. I like, there's no, I don't think there's like Virginia weather. I think it's just whatever. 03:23 happens, like what it just feels like. 03:28 Yeah, Mother Nature has become extremely bipolar over the last two years. That's a great way to say it. Maybe she's going through menopause too. I don't want to make you jealous, but it's seven, it's, what is it right now? I'm looking at my weather app. It's 27 degrees here in Minnesota in Lesor right now. And it's supposed to be 38 for the high. Tomorrow 45 for the high, Tuesday 38, Wednesday 38. 03:57 Thursday 40, Friday 40. Well, that's like making up for the last two weeks when it was below zero. That's exactly what I was going to say. We had, we had 14 or 15 days in a row where we never got close to freezing to 32 degrees. And it was the longest stretch I've seen in years and it sucked. No question. So anyway, um, that's the weather update. I would do weather update. Um, start with a weather update folks. 04:26 Oh, always do. In case you need to know. Every podcast opens with how's the weather because we're all doing stuff that weather impacts and I figure it's a good way to do it. We're all experiencing weather. We sure are. And when we're trying to grow stuff or, um you know, if we have chickens. Raise animals. Yeah. Yeah. It's kind of important to know what we're walking out into. So that leads me to my first question. I saw that your chickens are starting to lay again, beautiful eggs. 04:55 How are the chickens doing and how many do you have? The chickens are good. I have ...
    Más Menos
    39 m
  • Open Road Ranch

    Open Road Ranch
    Feb 6 2026
    Today I'm talking with Julie at Open Road Ranch. You can also follow on Facebook. The Old Farmer's Almanac www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Julie at Open Road Ranch in Wisconsin. Good morning, Julie. How are you? Good morning, Mary. I'm wonderful. Thank you. How are you? I'm good. How's the weather there? Sunny and beautiful. It's so nice to see the sun. Oh, we had that yesterday and the day before. Right now it is inco... 00:28 incredibly overcast in Minnesota, but it's warm. Yes. It's nice, isn't it? Oh my God. This last two weeks of like living in the Arctic tundra. Yeah. I had forgotten how terrible a more than a couple days stint of those temperatures is. Yes. I woke up on like the 13th day and thought to myself, if this doesn't break soon, I don't know what I'm going to do. 00:56 Yes, we just need like a day of sun to remind us or just a windless day or something just to hang on. Yeah, I grew up on the East Coast and I remember the song, the song Oklahoma, where the wind comes rolling off the prairie. Yeah. And I had no concept of that because my house was surrounded by trees. The wind didn't roll across the prairie because there was no prairie. I moved to Minnesota and I learned real quick about wind rolling off the prairie. 01:25 Oh yeah, I just saw the other day someone said the quote, it wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the wind, said every farmer ever. Yeah, absolutely. It's just crazy. And I open every podcast with How's the Weather? Because I just feel like we're all in ag and it's important to talk about the weather. Oh yeah. I used to work office jobs and I worked in a basement office with no windows and weather was just, I'd never even thought about it. It could be light out, could be 01:54 night, could be raining. It just didn't really have any effect on my life whatsoever. Now it's everything. Yeah, absolutely. It literally is everything. okay, I don't do a lot of the outside work. My husband is the outside guy. I do a lot of the cooking and the cleaning inside. And even I pay really close attention to the weather because I'm like, I saw it's going to snow tomorrow. Are you set to plow the driveway? 02:22 Or I saw it's going to be minus 40 windchill three nights from now. Are the chickens going to survive in their coop? And he's like, you never really paid attention to this before we moved to Homestead. I said, no, I didn't because I had no reason to pay attention to it. Yeah, you're so into your lives, you know, your animals. It totally changes your perspective and the way that you live your life. And I kind of love it. Yes. 02:50 All right, so tell me all about yourself and what you do. um I am a first generation farmer. I'm a very new farmer. This is our second year in farming. um So all very new, um very new small business owner. um Just learning as I go. We have a small farm in Greenbush, Wisconsin, um is five rented acres of family land. So Tony's folks live up the road and 03:19 our crop farmers corn, soybeans and wheat and they very generously um are renting us five acres to start our farm here and they're very helpful with their farming knowledge and experience just up the road and so it's because of them that we're able to farm and so we have five acres here and looking at right out the window in our backyard we have pasture raised hogs, uh have uh pasture raised sheep and we have some chickens that aren't doing much of anything right now it's mostly for us m 03:48 but I did get three eggs the other day, so that's exciting. we sell our pasture-raised um pork and lamb. And I also make lard products with lard from our pasture-raised hogs because one of my missions when I first began was uh education and also to use as much of the animal as possible. So I dabbled in trying to tan sheepskin hides that didn't go very far, make dog treats out of the organ meats, just different creative ways because these animals give us such a gift. 04:17 you know I hate to see you go in the trash when especially our ancestors you know would be you know grateful for the whole gift and use as much of it as possible and they needed to use as much of it as possible but I hope to still tap into a little bit of that so ah we use the lard from our pasture raised hogs to create um bombs, dish soap, shampoo bars, things like that because lard is just incredible for us and so I also feel strongly about educating people about the wonder of those 04:46 what are often considered waste products that are so wonderful for us and such a gift. Awesome. Tell me about lard...
    Más Menos
    34 m
  • Ranch Wife Marketing

    Ranch Wife Marketing
    Feb 2 2026
    Today I'm talking with Alisha at Ranch Wife Marketing. You can also follow on Facebook. www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Alicia at Ranch Wife Marketing in North Dakota. Good afternoon. How are you? I'm doing good. How are you doing? I'm good. How's the weather in South Dakota this afternoon? 00:22 North Dakota, um but it is getting better. We did have a negative 50 wind chills just a day or two ago, but now we're at least above zero. So for us, we can finally go back out in a sweatshirt. Nice. Did I say South Dakota? I swear my brain is not working today. You did. It's okay. Oh, North Dakota, the one above South Dakota. Jeez. uh In Minnesota today, it is really cold. 00:50 I am looking out my bedroom window at uh the tin roof of the bedroom next to me and the snow is all sparkly in the sunshine. It's really beautiful, but it's too cold. Oh yes, I get it. We don't get a ton of snow, not as much as Minnesota. I was born and raised there, so I know how much snow falls there. We're a little drier, so we don't have em as much snow, but we do have a little dusting currently. 01:17 Just out of curiosity, where are you in North Dakota? I'm actually on the North Dakota-South Dakota border. I live about 20 miles from South Dakota. um We live on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation um in a small, tiny town called Selfridge. Okay, cool. Well, for the people who are following along on the podcast about my barn cats, um 01:46 We had a stray barn cat show up here a month ago maybe, and she has been kind of hiding out. She'll come and eat every other day. And we have three kittens that we got a couple months ago. They're about five months old. And today is the first day that I have seen her, seen the stray hanging out with the other kittens in the dog house in the sunshine on the hay bales. And I think she's probably around the same age as the three kittens. So, 02:14 That was the banner moment of my day was seeing this beautiful tortoiseshell stray cat hanging out with the kittens. Oh, that's amazing. We have plenty of cats around here, um both indoor and outdoor. I love seeing all the kittens as they grow up in the summer. Yeah, it's really fun. And this cat showed up out of nowhere. I was like, why is there another cat? We don't have six cats. We have five. 02:42 and my husband happened to get a photo of her and I was like, Oh, I hope she sticks around because she's beautiful. And from my local listeners, we have tons of chicken eggs in our farm stand. Farm stand is heated so the eggs don't freeze and we have lots of eggs in the farm stand for sale every day. So if anybody needs eggs, come on by. And that's it for my updates for my house, my homestead. Alicia, you are 03:11 farmer, but you're also a marketer. So can we talk about both? Yeah. So if my husband listens in, he's going to cringe because we're actually ranchers. worries. Some people call it cattle farming. Some people call it ranching. It's all about where you are in the world. But yeah, so we have a cow-calf ranch. We run about 500 mama cows. 03:37 about 200 heifers. We breed some bulls and sell some bulls as well. And we also have a quarter horse operation. So we have about a hundred horses. We run about a 65 to 75 mare brood band and have about six stallions. So that's kind of our ranch side. Wow. That's a lot. 04:02 Yes. Yeah, it is a larger ranch. as much as I'd love to do the homesteading thing and like have the garden and all the other little animals, we have plenty going on that my husband's always like, no, you don't need to add more to our plate. Yeah, I wish that my husband understood that concept. He's always like, I want to try this. I want to try that. And I'm like, I think we need to get good at the first couple of things before we add more in. 04:30 I know. I really want chickens because I love fresh chicken eggs. And he's just like, just go across to our cousins. They have chickens. Honestly, it's easier if you just get them from somebody else. It really is. um We have 18 chickens and keeping chickens is not hard. I'm not saying don't get chickens. I'm not telling anyone to not ever get chickens because it's not that hard, but you have to make sure that you have bedding in the wintertime. If you live in a winter state, a Northern tier state, 05:00 And you have to clean out their coop at least once a month, if not twice a month in the warmer months because it gets stinky and that's not a fun environment for them to live in. So if you don't want to deal with chicken poop, don't get chickens. Yeah, that's definitely a ...
    Más Menos
    34 m
  • Santa's Crew LLC

    Santa's Crew LLC
    Jan 28 2026
    Today I'm talking with Sara at Santa's Crew LLC. Sara and her dad raise reindeer! www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Sarah at Santa's Crew LLC in Wisconsin. Good morning, Sarah. How are you? Good and good morning. How's the weather in Wisconsin this morning? Because it's damn cold in Minnesota. It's very cold here as well. Getting through it. Yeah. um 00:29 I know we shouldn't complain because we had a very long, extended, beautiful fall, but spring can't come soon enough, honestly. Yeah, I don't mind cold weather, but when it's like way, way in the negatives and it causes things to break or have issues, then it's like, okay, now it's maybe a little too cold. Yeah, I am prone to migraines. It runs in my family, and when the temperature drops like this and the air gets dry, 00:56 My head tries to hurt every morning when I get up and I'm like, spring's only a couple months away. I will survive it. Yeah. I would definitely be looking forward to it as well if I were you. Yeah. It's no fun getting up in the morning and you get that little twinge and you're like, okay, so am I going to be down for three days or is this just a few seconds of dry air bothering my nose causing sinus headache? 01:22 It's very frustrating, minor. There are worse things in the world. I'm not worried about it. I just don't enjoy it. So um Sarah talked with me a week or so ago about their dairy farm and she let it slip that she and her dad have a reindeer raising endeavor as well. And I was like, oh, will you come back and talk to me about the reindeer? And she's back. So how in the heck did you guys get involved in raising reindeer? 01:51 Right? It's not something you're, you know, not very common. uh But our neighbor used to have them. And I did go to one of these events one time and, know, it was a lot of fun. I did grow up on a dairy farm. So I grew up around animals and training animals at, you know, going to the fair. So I was familiar with that. And 02:12 we found out he was selling and my dad and I kind of talked. It was kind of spontaneous. It wasn't something like we planned. It was just kind of like the opportunity was there and we're like, let's do it. So we kind of went in partnership. I was 17 at the time. Um, and we started with two baby calves and kind of expand from there was a male and female. So they were calves. We showed them that first year. 02:40 And the following year they would be a breeding pair. So then we had to get another female, um, because during the holiday season is when the males are in rut. So you don't want to bring them out because they're very aggressive. So usually people will bring like females or steers. So then we kind of started with three animals within our first two years. And then, um, the third degree added another one. So then we had three females and kinda, oh um, 03:07 went with that and then we had three breeding females. But yeah, we slowly built it. was, uh yeah, it's very fun. m Reindeer are different than cattle in some ways. They have their similarities but their differences. And growing up with dairy cattle, when I got the reindeer, I'm like, oh, reindeer are much quicker and more nimble than cows. But yeah, it's been a lot of fun. 03:34 And now we've been doing it since 2016, which is crazy to think that time's flying by that fast. do you have a big herd now? We're at eight right now, which is a good size. I don't think we'll get bigger than that um at all. We're pretty with the amount of space we have for them. It seems to work well. It's enough animals for like the holiday season. And then we do have some breeding females. 04:04 So we can kind of get calves. We'll keep a few every once in a while and sometimes we'll sell some to people who don't breed or want, you know, new genetics kind of thing. So other people who have reindeer or want to get into it. we had, let's see, last year we had two, but we were expecting four. We're hoping to have four. We had four breeding females. This year we have five that were in breeding. 04:34 with breeding bulls. And we think the youngest one isn't bred because during the holiday season, we think she was in heat because the steer was kind of trying to jump on her. like, oh, I think she's having a heat. I don't think that one's pregnant. So maybe we'll have four calves. Like, we'll see. um We'll just have to wait and see. How long is gestation for the babies? Oh, two. 05:02 Why am I blanking on the exact? uh Let's see, October is typically when hours are bred and then they calve in springtime around ...
    Más Menos
    36 m
  • Cole Canyon Farm - The Impact of Having A Coach

    Cole Canyon Farm - The Impact of Having A Coach
    Jan 23 2026
    Today I'm talking with Morgan at Cole Canyon Farm. Learn about how having a coach can change your perspective. www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 You're listening to a tiny homestead. The podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Morgan at Cole Canyon farm in Montana for like the fifth time, I think. Good morning, Morgan. How are you? Good morning. Good morning. Yeah. What a journey this has been um from Groovy Grazers to Cole Canyon farm to more surprises. feel like 00:26 We have so many pivots you've had to cover, so I can understand why we've been on quite a bit. Well, you're also really listenable and you're really fun and I like you so much, so you make it a joy to talk with you. ah Morgan has been, I don't know how to say it, she found herself a coach. Yeah. And I wanted to talk with Morgan about how that is changing things for her because I feel like coaches give us perspective. 00:53 That we need that our friends give us so tell me about how that's going Yeah, so we talked a little bit about the last episode. I was like alright. I just did this crazy thing I signed up for a coach, I've never signed up for a coach. I've actually never spent I Would say probably more than two three hundred dollars on continued education for myself, and this is thousands of dollars But it's really important that you invest in yourself just as much as much as you invest in your property right so 01:23 um I do some silver and gold stuff with a friend and her name is Diane Graber. She has a homesteading thing that she just launched. So I'm going to have you talk to her about Mary because her and her husband have been doing this for well over a decade. Like, yeah. So she's coming out into her homesteading area as I was coming into my set, you know, my, golden silver era. Like I was just learning about it. Right. And she. 01:52 came into my life about a year ago and she was helping coach me and that was really great, but I just had a lot going on. We covered a lot of what was going on in 2025, know, just lots of pivots changes. And she asked me about, I don't know, two weeks before the class, she was like, hey, jump onto this class, just say yes. It'll change your, change your whole world. I've worked with this woman before in previous adventures that we've done. 02:21 And she's a great person I just reconnected with her after 15 years. So was like, all right, cool. Like I'm, I love meeting people. That's how Mary and I met. If people don't know, she just messaged me on Facebook. Like I love talking to people. So it was one of those things where I was like, fine, I'll jump on. I don't have a problem. It's free, right? Like for me, income is lower in the winter time. It's kind of a squeeze here in Montana. And 02:49 So being free was great. It was something I could commit to. I got on and a coach is a vibe. Let me tell you, like you will not vibe with every coach. You will not like what some coaches say. You will think that it doesn't fit your niche, whatever, be it right. Like coaches are, they attract their vibrational group is what I'm gonna say. Like, sorry. uh 03:18 the wind's bad here, you're going to attract the people that need to be around you. So somehow I landed up, landed in this class and I was listening to it and it was about being a millionaire. And I was like, well, don't, I'm not just try, I don't strive to be a millionaire. And it's not that I think that it's unhumble to be a millionaire. It's just like, for me, 250 K a year would be life-changing enough, let alone 500 K in a year, you know, so. 03:46 For me, was like, all right, I may not vibe with as much the millionaire side of this, but I can get through the whole breakthrough concept of it. So I think there's a lot of like shame around having coaches or being open about having coaches. But there's a reason why in corporate America there's bosses and those bosses have supervisors and supervisors have supervisors. It's a checks and balance because like you were saying, Mary, it's a perspective. 04:16 So I got on, Melanie talked, it was two days. I really liked what she said. I had some really big breakthroughs about throwing spaghetti on the wall. I've said that here on this show before. If you've heard me talk on here before, I've talked about how we love throwing spaghetti at walls. We don't anymore. And all throwing spaghetti at the wall does is it either gets butter on the wall or it gets spaghetti sauce on the wall and it makes a mess. Correct. Yeah. So like... 04:43 In the past, was like, I'm just, and I was real honest about it. Like I didn't try and tell anyone we had every, you know, my ducks were not in a ...
    Más Menos
    32 m
  • Frostbite Family Farm LLC

    Frostbite Family Farm LLC
    Jan 16 2026
    Today I'm talking with Addie at Frostbite Family Farm LLC. www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Addie at Frostbite Family Farm, LLC in Lonsdale, Minnesota. Good morning, Addie, how are you? Good morning, I'm good, how are you? I'm good. We're having some really gray weather this morning. We are. It's coming after a lot of sunshine though, so I can't complain. 00:25 Yeah, we're supposed to get snow tonight and I'm kind of hoping we do because the cornfield is looking very bare right now and it looks kind of ugly. So fresh coat of snow would be nice. Yes, we have some livestock and it actually gets harder when things warm up and get a little wet. So the dry snow is always a good thing. Yeah, I was just talking to a dairy farmer. I don't if it was this week or last week, but they were saying that it had been 00:54 like really muddy. And I of course assumed that the cows were out in the field and I said, I hear that wet weather is not good for cows feet. And he said, oh no, he said, they're in the barn or they're on a dry lot and it's actually dry. He said, they're fine. He said, but yes, it can wreak havoc with their feet. And I was like, okay, cool. Yeah, that is the difference between large dairies and small ones. So we operate a micro dairy. 01:21 And all of our cows are out in the field. So they have a good space to roam around in, but mud definitely affects them. Yeah. And, okay, I don't want to get too far into dairy stuff because I've interviewed two people about dairies in the last two weeks. But when you say microdairy, how many cows? So right now we have 16 cows. That includes our calves. So we are milking 10 currently twice a day. Okay. And I'm assuming you're not milking 10 cows by hand a day. 01:50 No, we use a surge bucket system. It works really well. My husband and I team up and do it together and it gets done pretty efficiently that way. It kind of keeps it cleaner than hand milking. Yeah. I think the days of hand milking have kind of flown. They've kind of gone away. Unless you just have one cow and you really like milking cows. Right. And even then I'm like, okay, you get a bunch of stuff that kind of flings into it and it's just, they make smaller systems now. 02:20 It's really easy. Okay. So I want to know how your farm got its name, because I love the name. Sure. Yeah, that is always a topic of interest. It's so funny. We picked that name after we didn't start out farming. My husband and I got married and lived in an apartment. And I've always had this love of plants and food and good cooking. And as we had kids, it developed into including health and 02:50 um eating at home and making things ourselves. And we sort of realized over time, like, I think we need to look for some land. I think we want to do some of this ourselves. And we began our land search, but at the same time realizing that neither of us had come from agricultural backgrounds. We decided to try to find people locally that were doing what we wanted to do or close and get to know them. 03:17 and hear their processes. And um apples were a big point of interest for me. I love apple trees and just the amount of food they can supply is amazing. So we found an orchardist in Northern Minnesota who was organic for a really long time. He has this amazing little orchard on acres and acres of planted trees, really well maintained. A lot of them are like the semi-dwarf stock and we would go visit every year with our little kids. 03:46 It was one of the only organic orchards that we had heard of locally. It was about a two hour trip for us, so it was always a big event taking the kids. And as we had gone over a couple of years, we got to know the owner, and he is incredible and would give us so much of his time walking around the orchard telling us all about his trees and the ones he was breeding and the different varieties he chose and why. I just... 04:11 I felt like I could just consume that information all day and he was so gracious with his time and he would walk around and show us, this is the triumph apple. It's a new one I'm trialing. You know, taste it. This is what I like about it. This is what I don't like about it. ah And on one of our trips up there, I mean, he was showing us the inside of his buildings and where he would make cider and all of these things and ah he was like, hold on, you got to come with me to the back of the orchard. He's like, my favorite apples are planted back there. 04:41 And as we took the trek back, he was telling us about the frostbite apple. And it was developed in ...
    Más Menos
    39 m
  • Day by Day Dairy

    Day by Day Dairy
    Jan 14 2026
    Today I'm talking with Sara and Nick at Day by Day Dairy. www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 00:00 You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. Today I'm talking with Sarah and Nick at Day by Day Dairy in Wisconsin. Good morning, guys. How are you? Good and good morning. Good morning. 00:21 How is the weather in Wisconsin? Snowy. um looks like it's all trying to melt today, but it's going to be like 40 today. Yeah. Not a warm spell before it gets cold again, but never stays cold too long. I'm your, I'm your neighbor in Minnesota and it's supposed to hit 40 today and 45 tomorrow. Oh, okay. Yeah. It's, I prefer to stay frozen all winter instead of the thawing and I'm like freezing and muddy mess. 00:51 I'm sure it's not good for the cows feet. They go out on a concrete this time of year. We have them on a concrete cow yard and the ones there in the tie stall barn, they go in and out. They'll go in and out for a little while, but then we put them back in the tie stall. So yeah, they don't see too much mud this time of year. Try to keep them clean and dry as best as we can with the weather, you know. Good, good. 01:15 My husband watches videos of farmers and dairy farmers and cattle, know, steer meat, meat farmers on YouTube all the time. And he's watching, he's always watching these shows where the cows' hooves are all messed up from being out on wet pasture. And I'm like, it's so gross. Why do you have to watch these? I, isn't Nate the hoof guy? I watch his videos. He does, he does pasture or um, hoof trimming. Yeah. He does hoof trimming. 01:44 It heat up pasture and uh a freestyle barn cows. So it's kind of a mix, but I don't know why it's satisfying. like watching it. When we let ours out on the pasture, we rotationally graze all of our, all of our heifers. So they're always on fresh grass from probably beginning of May to almost first a week in December, sometimes a second week in November, depending on the weather. And the cows go out in a dry lot that has some. 02:14 green on it, but um just because they have a totally different ration, the milk cows do. We haven't figured out a way yet to perfect that intakes that they eat out and out if we do rotational grazing. yeah, no, definitely, we do get them outside quite a bit when the weather is appropriate. Good. All right. So since I knew I was going be talking to you, there is a song that I learned in school, I think. 02:42 And it's something about day by day, day by day. Oh dear Lord, three things I pray. And I don't know if you guys have ever heard it, but I had to learn it for a musical chorus thing back in probably sixth grade. So it was a long time ago. And so thank you for sending me into the way back machine by your name. And how did you, how did you get your name? Well, we were trying to think of names for a while. 03:09 And I'm like, Oh, what should we do? We had a lot of different like ideas, none of them just felt right. And one morning Nick woke up and he's like, I think, I don't know he said something about taking things day by day or something. Yeah. We're just trying to take it day by day to get to the next day. So then we're like, Hey, day by day dairy. It just kind of happened. Yeah. It just kind of happened like that. Awesome. Um, and also Wisconsin. 03:38 As far as I know, last time I looked it up, which was a few years back, Wisconsin is the or pretty much the state for milk production in the United States. Is that right? think California passes us in fluid milk production, but I think we're still number one in cheese. ah I believe California, because they have... Yeah, go ahead. Is that how you guys got the cheesehead moniker? 04:07 Yes, yes. Yeah, there's like a cheese store. There's so many cheese stores all over. Yeah. Both proximity. Yeah. Oh, yeah. When my husband and I make road trips to go see my folks in Maine, we go through Wisconsin because we drive and there's a uh Dane DeForge exit and there's a cheese shop there. And the first time we drove to Maine, he was like, we have to stop there. He grew up not far from there. 04:35 Well, he didn't grow up far from there. His family is from there. He grew up in Minnesota, but he used to visit family in Wisconsin. And he's like, we have to stop there. And I said, why? And he said, because they have the most wonderful Granny Smith wine, Granny Smith Apple wine. He said, and they have chocolate cheese. And he was raving about this chocolate cheese. And I was like, okay, so is it like fudge? He said, I can't explain it. You just have to try it. And I'm not a fan. 05:05 It is the weirdest like fudgy cheese thing ever ...
    Más Menos
    39 m