Episodios

  • Cottage Foodie Con - THE Conference For Cottage Food Producers!

    Cottage Foodie Con - THE Conference For Cottage Food Producers!
    Oct 15 2025
    Today I'm talking with Matt Rosen at Cottage Foodie Con. You can follow on Facebook as well. "CottageFoodieCon will be an annual premier event dedicated to supporting and empowering small-scale food entrepreneurs operating under cottage food laws. This conference serves as a vital hub for cottage food producers, policymakers, educators, and industry professionals to connect, learn, and grow. Through a combination of keynote speeches, workshops, networking opportunities, and an exhibitor trade show. The conference will foster business development, regulatory compliance, and innovation in the cottage food sector." Use Promo Code: CFCON25 and get 25% OFF (expires 10/31/25) 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 Matt at The Cottage Foodie in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Good morning, Matt, how are you? I'm doing fantastic, Mary. How are you? Good. See what I did there? I didn't say your last name. Do you want to explain it really quick? Yeah. So I question my family. 00:26 Lineage so whether or not they are pronouncing our last name correctly because it's spelled just like Rosen R O S E N But it's actually pronounced rosine like there should be a Z in there or maybe two E's uh So yeah, so it's uh I respond to both Okay. Hey you probably works to does people or hey cookie guy. That's what seems to be uh Most popular here over the last five or so years since I started my college food business, so 00:56 Yeah. And uh your business is sergeant shortbread and it's really hard to screw that up. So the spelling is a little tricky. A lot of people mix up the spelling of sergeant. went with the, uh of course, spending 23 years in the military. went with the military version of sergeant, not the S A R G E N T that some people want to spell it. But, uh, so it's easy to pronounce, hard to spell. Yeah. I grew up thinking the English language was super simple. 01:26 And then I looked at other languages and went, no, we're just as messy as everybody else's languages. So, has been on my show twice, I think already. And he came back to chat with me this morning about the fact that he has spearheaded the Cottage Food Econ that's coming up in April of 2026. So tell me what you got going on, Matt. 01:52 Yeah, so it's a cottage food conference designed specifically for cottage foodies uh or cottage food entrepreneurs. And the premise behind it is like the classes and the sessions and everything about this conference is geared towards uh the business side of running a cottage food business. 02:15 A lot of people ask me like, can you have a cottage food conference? Every state, how can it be national? Every state is different and all these products. I'm like, easy. I'm just going to teach you the business side of running a cottage food business. And I'm not going to teach you how to make sourdough. You probably already know how to do that. And I'm not going to teach you about the laws in Tennessee. You should already know those because you're a cottage food producer in Tennessee. If you're not from Tennessee, you could care less what the laws are in Tennessee. 02:44 So yeah, so that's the premise behind uh the conference is that it's designed to help cottage food entrepreneurs with the business side of running a cottage food business. things like one of the classes is food photography using your iPhone. As we all know as cottage food entrepreneurs, we don't have enormous budgets to hire somebody to take professional pictures. So just starting out, we'll teach you how to do 03:13 great pictures and it's taught by a photographer. oh So she's going to teach us how to take, you know, she used the lighting and the angles and ah things like that. So it's going to be a hands-on workshop. So people are going to get to take picture. It might not be their exact product of what they're taking a picture of, but it's going to give them the idea of like what the angle should be and um whether you want direct lighting or maybe you want to pull a shade. If it's really sunny out, you might want to pull the shade so it's not quite as bright. So 03:42 Yeah, teaching things like that social media. We've got a few classes on social media uh One of them how to win at social media without being an influencer. So Yeah, and it's we have speakers coming in from gosh all over the country from California, Missouri, Colorado, Florida Pennsylvania Wisconsin and of course right here in the great state of Minnesota Fantastic so I have lots of questions the first one 04:11 The first one is what are the dates in April for this? It's April ...
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    32 m
  • Erin's Acre

    Erin's Acre
    Oct 13 2025
    Today I'm talking with Erin at Erin's Acre. You can follow on Facebook as well. 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 Erin at Erin's Acre in, I want to say around Faribault, Minnesota. Good afternoon, Erin. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you doing, Mary? I'm doing good. Is Faribault close enough? Faribault is close enough, yes. We do have an example address. Cool. 00:26 Alrighty, I know how the weather is because we're in the same state. It's been a lovely day. It is a lovely day. It's very warm for October 2nd. Yeah, I would just assume it not be, but we're going to have that next week, supposedly. So that would be nice. I see a 34 degree out there next week is a low. So we are coming to an end. Yeah, I saw that too. And I was like, well, there goes the good basil that's left in the garden. Right. And in my farm, uh my flowers run 00:56 July, I guarantee July through September and you know, any extra days into October are just bonus for me. The first, the first frost will take me out. I don't have, um, hoop, hoop tunnels or anything like that. I'm everything's outside. And so that, that first frost will take me out and I grow a lot of dahlias. so usually by the second week of October, I'm ready for, let's move on to the next, the next phase here and start clean up and getting ready for next year. Yes, ma'am. Um, 01:25 I have a question about dahlias, but I usually say, tell me a little bit about yourself and your place. But first the question about dahlias. Okay. When do you have to have those out of the ground? When do you have to dig the bulbs out? So after the first frost, you can start cleanup as far as, you know, cutting down the dead greenery stuff that's on the top. They do recommend a real hard freeze to put that tuber into the dormant state. And then you dig. 01:55 You know, Minnesota weather in October can be all over the place. It's freezing rain. We've had snow. I've had to dig snow off to dig the tail, your tubers up. Um, but you know, a real hard freeze, um, is great. And then if you can get some warm days to do the digging and pull them up after that is the best. And then the other question I have is, will they bloom until the first frost or do they kind of have a life cycle where they're kind of done? They do slow down. think, um, you know, our temperatures. 02:24 Those cooler nights will slow them down and just the hours of daylight too. And I'm sure you've noticed we're really losing daylight fast right now But they will keep going I've got oh I've got one variety called Baron Katie and she is my first to bloom and my last she will Keep turning out blooms until the last last last moment. Okay. Well, we grew dahlias two summers ago just as a shit and giggles thing, you know grins and giggles and uh 02:54 I didn't love them as much as people seem to. They were pretty, but they're not my thing. And so my husband said to me that September, October, he said, do want me to dig the bulbs out? And I said, nah, I'm probably never going to grow them again. And he said, are you sure? And I said, yes. He said, what about the gladiola? It's because you have to dig gladiola bulbs out too. And that was the year we tried those too. And I said, nah, just leave them. said, you really like. 03:22 He said, you really like perennials, don't you? said, yes, I do. They are a lot of work. Yeah. And we don't really have a good place to store them. I mean, I could probably figure it out, but I'm just like, it's expensive. It's an expensive hobby. And I also wasn't really excited about the gall situation with, you know, if they have gall on their, their roots. It's hard to cut, to cull and cut what you've been saving. Yeah. 03:50 Yep. So I was like, it is way too persnickety for me. am not, I'm not into it. So we didn't do it, but they were very pretty. got the cafe au lait one and that was really, really pretty, but I don't know. I like peonies. Peonies are easy. You throw them in the ground. Three years later, they're producing beautiful flowers. Well, that's what's, know, with flower farming, everything, Betty kind of finds their niche, niche of what they enjoy and what they can handle. oh 04:20 Yeah, I've got a lot of dahlias. Yeah, I think that they're gorgeous. And if you are obsessed, please be obsessed because people love them. But I don't want to grow them. I'm not into it. It's not my thing. I'm bad at it. So I'm just going to let you do it. All right. So now that we've talked about dahlias, clearly you grow flowers. So tell me a little bit about yourself...
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    37 m
  • Tiffin Community Kitchen

    Tiffin Community Kitchen
    Oct 10 2025
    Today I'm talking with Emily at Tiffin Community Kitchen. You can follow on Facebook as well. 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 Emily at Tiffin Community Kitchen in Tiffin, Ohio. Good morning, Emily. How are you? I'm great. How are you? I'm good. How's the weather in Ohio this morning? ah Wonderful. It's actually going to be 85 today. That's awesome. It's going to be 90 something in Minnesota. 00:29 And I'm done. I'm going to be really happy to see this break this weekend. Yeah, it's time. It's October. It's time. Okay, so tell me a little bit about yourself and what Tiffin Community, whatever it is, Okay. All right. So my name is Emily Reilly. um joined the, it's actually a nonprofit that runs the Community Kitchen, the Farmers Markets, and the Community Gardens. 00:57 So it's Seneca County common ground and it's the nonprofit and I'm the executive director of it. Um, I joined with them in January of this year. So I've only been with them for, was it like 10 months, 10 months now. Um, so Aaron Gerlach, who is the reverend of the Episcopal church here, who started this whole program. Um, he had this huge vision. So once the kitchen was built, then they needed someone to. 01:26 actually take what his vision was and um actually start putting it into motion. So that's what I'm here to do. So I oversee the community kitchen, which is a our mission is to support and improve local food ecosystems. um The kitchen has successfully delivered um kitchen training um and we're directly supporting our local workforce to help strengthen it. um 01:56 I also run the farmers market, um which we operate every single weekend. It's awesome. It's fabulous. I love it. I've never ran a farmers market until this time. But my background is event services and hospitality. So it kind of falls right in line with everything I enjoy doing. um And then the community gardens, which I'm not a gardener, but I oversee that part as well. And it's great because we're able to put garden boxes throughout um Seneca County. 02:26 So people can go and grab their locally sourced tomatoes and cherry tomatoes and green peppers and all that kind of stuff and not have to pay for it. Because sometimes it's not affordable for everybody and we always want to make everything affordable. So that's what the nonprofit kind of is helping um develop in Seneca County. That is fabulous. I love that all three parts are one. 02:54 you know, that they all feed each other. ah So where is Tiffin? What's the nearest big city? ah So it would be between Columbus and Cleveland. Okay. I have probably driven by Tiffin on my drives from Minnesota to Maine to see my parents. Yep. So, okay. Is Tiffin a small town? Is it a suburb? Is it, what is it? Yes. Tiffin is a small community. It's a rural community. 03:22 So, you know, you have Tiffin and then you have a bunch of rural towns around it. Like you have Hopewell and Bascom, New Regal, Cary, Old Fort. So Tiffin is like the center, kind of like a little city um with all these smaller towns around it. And we're a huge farming community. So we are very rural. It's cornfield after cornfield and then you hit soybeans. it's, you know, that's why I love doing the farmer's markets because you have. 03:50 all these locally sourced vegetables and baked goods that are coming in um that you sometimes don't get ah in the cities. I lived in Columbus for eight years, loved it, but I miss living in a rural environment. Yeah, I can't imagine living in a big city again. I don't ever want to if I don't have to. um So if it's a rural area, then 04:19 How is this helping? Because I would think that people in a rural area would already have these things covered. me why it got started. So why it got started is because um we want to make sure everything is accessible. at the farmers market, actually offer, you can use your EBT and SNAP benefits. We also accept the senior coupons and WIC coupons. All that is accepted at the local farmers market, which makes it 04:48 a little more accessible for families that don't have a lot of income, don't have a lot of money to spend on this stuff. And we also provide training. So we have taken, we took a group of 12 people from the community kitchen to the local farmers market, showed them how the shop use their EBT benefits. Then they came back to the kitchen and they got to learn how to cook what they purchased. And I think that is one of the missing pieces um in this 05:17 in this community and actually in the world now that people don't know ...
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    31 m
  • Careful Creations Bake Shop

    Careful Creations Bake Shop
    Oct 6 2025
    Today I'm talking with Marissa at Careful Creations Bake Shop. You can follow on Facebook as well. 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 Marissa at Careful Creations Bake Shop in Mankato, Minnesota. Good afternoon, Marissa. How are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm good. What a beautiful day we're having in Minnesota today. Oh gosh, yeah. I see that they're predicting snow the first four or five days of November. oh 00:29 So I mean I'm used to that with just moving back from Sioux Falls. We barely got snow last year. So this will be a nice change for us Yeah, the last two winters have not been too bad for snow in Minnesota Just so you know, so you may luck out again and not have a whole lot of Oh, man, my youngest children will be disappointed with no snow then 00:54 Yeah, I don't know. This weather's been nuts. And that's why I always start the podcast off with, how's the weather? But because you're right down the road for me, I was like, oh, it's a gorgeous day for both of us. Yeah. So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do. So I am 28. I'm married. I'm a military wife. I have four kids. My husband and my eight-year-old daughter both have 01:24 tree nut allergies. My eight-year-old, also has sunflower allergies. my goal has always been to make the environment safe for them. And when we go to the store, we can't really buy any baked goods because everything has some sort of manufactured on or near 01:53 nuts, then 90 % of store products do have sunflower of some sort. creating my own bakery company and business has been a dream come true because now I can keep my loved ones safe and other people's loved ones safe. love that you would not believe how many people I have talked to in the last two years. 02:21 who had a need for themselves, figured out how to fill that need and then were like, oh, I can help other people who have the same need. I love everybody in this community so much. Yeah, it's a whole new ball game for me, but I am definitely excited to be able to provide those special dietary needs for my clientele and customers. 02:48 Mm-hmm. So how have you been getting the word out because you just started the business a little bit ago? So this morning at about five o'clock, we actually launched our website that is also on my Facebook page. We have a public group. We have a public page. And also here in Mankato, we have been taking advantage of the free public 03:17 bulletin boards and we have putting flyers out as well. And then Friday we receive our business cards so we'll be able to hand those out as well. Awesome. Tell me the website address if you know it off the top of your head now and then you can tell me at the end too. It is www.careful-creations-bake-shop.com. Okay, awesome. And I'll ask you again at the end so people can catch it at the end too. 03:48 So, so what are you I know nothing about tree nut allergies or sunflower allergies because I haven't had that in my family at all. So are you just avoiding making things with nuts or have you found some kind of substitution for them? So we completely avoid them altogether. There are things where we do substitute. So if like it is something for example 04:16 My favorite thing to make is butter chicken, but traditional butter chicken requires cashews, and that is the deadliest for my husband. So when I make it, I actually leave it out completely. I just add a little bit of extra butter to make it a little nicer. Butter makes everything better. Oh yes. But most of the time we just avoid. 04:43 If there are recipes where we need to substitute, we usually use flax seed or we go ahead and use chia seeds. Okay, yeah. Can you use pumpkin seeds? Yes. Sometimes we will use pumpkin seeds. They're a little nuttier than sunflower seeds, which I personally like, but some people just don't like that. So we, if like, 05:13 One of our recipes calls for a tree nut. You know, we just ask, hey, you know, do you have an allergy to this? Do you like the flavor of it? And if the customer states that they'd prefer that we leave it out, we work around. Awesome. I'm actually going to pull up your website because I had questions about your menu and I need the web to be able to do that. So hang on just a second. 05:43 Okay. Oh, there's the menu right there. Sourdough or yeast breads and muffins and cookies, quick breads, tortillas and English muffins. So that's awesome. But can people just request a certain kind of muffin or cookie or are going to have a like a? Are you going to have a list of things ...
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    29 m
  • Red Feather Farm

    Red Feather Farm
    Oct 3 2025
    Today I'm talking with Ruby at Red Feather Farm. You can follow on Facebook as well. 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 Ruby at Red Feather Farm in Ohio. Good morning, Ruby. How are you? Good. How are you? I'm good. How's the weather in Ohio this morning? It's actually kind of chilly, but sunshiny, so I'll take it. At least it's not 100 degrees. Yeah, we're looking at 90 tomorrow or Saturday in Minnesota. Oh man. We had that over the... 00:29 past weekend and it was miserable. I'm so excited for fall. Me too. And I'm going to update everybody on the weather here and then I'll tell you why I me too on fall and then I get questions. The weather here is bright and sunny and I think it's 65 degrees and there's a light breeze, but they're saying hot and really windy all weekend, which means that a lot of the stuff we wanted to get done outside isn't going to happen because we can't do it with high wind. Oh, great. 00:58 So indoor things this weekend, which is good because we have lots of indoor things to take care of because it's end of summer season. You know how this goes, right? Oh, yes. Yeah. And ah the reason I said me too is because fall is my absolute favorite season. am so excited to get into soup season and sweater season and candle season. I'm thrilled. Oh, me too. That's my favorite. I love soup. It's so easy too. 01:25 Yeah, I was looking to see if we had any canned beans, not like we canned them, but store-bought canned beans, because I was thinking chili sounded good next week. And uh we don't have any, but we have the beans in a bag, you know, the dry beans. So I will be soaking beans at some point next week so we can make chili and cornbread, because that sounds wonderful. Oh, yes. I'm ready, ma'am. 01:50 I'm so ready. All right. So tell me about yourself, a little bit about yourself and about, um, red feather farm. Well, my name is Ruby and me and my husband started red feather farm. I'd say somewhere like 2015. And basically it started out with, we named it after we raised red Angus beef cattle and we raised boar goats. both red. And then we raised all kinds of poultry. I. 02:19 pastured them and sold them that way to customers. And we've kind of evolved a little bit and I've completely gone in a different direction. But basically now I guess you could call me a homesteader. I think most of my followers on social media know I hate that word because nobody knows what it means. But we have dove into basically producing all of our own food for our family and some other families and 02:46 Red Feather Farm is now just kind of my social media presence where I am teaching and trying to empower people that are either just waking up and trying to escape the matrix of being dependent on grocery stores or people that have been doing it a little, a long time like me. And just be encouraged and know that this is a great life. It's hard. You've got to be willing to work hard and preserving your own food and growing it is not that scary. It's not that serious and we got to quit being afraid of it. 03:16 So it's kind of, it's been kind of fun doing this social media thing and teaching other people. I've taught a lot of people how to can and all that good stuff. yeah, that's okay. Fantastic. And you're right. It's, it's not hard to preserve food or it's not scary to preserve food or any, or make soap or any of the things that we do as homesteaders, but it is hard work and it's not convenient. And the reason that 03:46 people like stores is because it's convenient. You go, you buy the thing you need. You don't have to buy the stuff to make the thing you need. Right. And then make the thing you need. so yeah, I think I'm going to define home studying as number one, a lifestyle is not necessarily having a hundred acres and 40 cows and 20 goats and 50 chickens. It's for me, it is being able to make things that I need. 04:15 out of the things that I have available to me with my own hands and my own mind. I like that. That's how I see it. I kind of, I'm having a hard time too with the homesteading versus farming versus ranching because everyone who is in whichever realm of it, you know, if you're talking to a rancher, they're a rancher, they're not a farmer. If you're talking to a farmer, they're a farmer, not a rancher. If they're, if they're a homesteader, 04:44 They're neither a farmer or a rancher. And, and really, I think that they all fall under the heading of wanting to do good in the world, to grow our own food, to take care of ourselves and be independent. That's kind of how I see...
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    30 m
  • The Forbidden Farm “our farm, your secret”

    The Forbidden Farm “our farm, your secret”
    Oct 1 2025
    Today I'm talking with Andrea at The Forbidden Farm. You can follow on Facebook as well. 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 Andrea at The Forbidden Farm in New Jersey. Good morning, Andrea. How are you? Good morning. How are you today? I'm good. How's the weather in New Jersey this morning? It is actually bright and sunny and it was supposed to rain. Oh, well it's bright and sunny in Minnesota too, but it's nippy. I think it's maybe 57 degrees outside. 00:29 Already? uh My brother was from Minnesota. Oh cool. Where did he live? Don't even tell me I went. Like one time went to the Mall of America, which was amazing. That was it. Okay. All right. Cool. So he must have lived somewhere nearby. Yes. that's where the mall is. Yes. Yes. Okay. All right. Awesome. So 00:55 Tell me a little bit about yourself and why it's called the Forbidden Farm. Well, you know, that's a little secret, so I got to keep that to myself. Oh. I started out running an environmental company for 20 some years. And when I left that company, I came home and literally decided I really I just had a little temper tantrum, was stomping my feet and said, I'm going to get goats and make soap. 01:25 So that was May, June, I LLC'd my company. And then from there, I had my first event on, I started out in my, my sunroom, um, making all my products and doing stuff out of the house with my middle son, Dean. He was the big help in the beginning. We made all our soap together, just him and I mostly. then 01:51 we decided to branch into like fairs, like wineries and stuff like that. During this timeframe, my mother uh was diagnosed with dementia. So we had um set her up in one of um the nursing homes actually ends up being right across the street from my now shop. ah And then she came to live with us. 02:19 So I had to move the stuff into the basement. So we continued doing that. We had our first event in September of last year on a Sunday at Terra Nono Winery, which was amazing. It was so much fun, had a huge setup, never done anything like this. And that was on Sunday and Thursday, I ended up getting the shop, which was insane. All within like a three month timeframe. 02:48 all again while my mother was going downhill. So it was a huge struggle. ah family, everybody pulled together. uh Sadly, my mother passed and we buried her and then opened up the shop the next day, which was a struggle. But the community has been amazing. Like everybody, like I wear my heart on my sleeve. I don't hold anything back. 03:17 authentically myself from the day you meet me, probably too much so, but you know, open book. I'm like that too. And right now I feel like there's a lot of wearing your hat on your sleeve because things are just so crazy in the world. really feel like you have to. Yeah. I talked to my daughter who lives in Florida for three hours on the phone the other day and 03:42 We both teared up at least six times in three hours over things that we were talking about that are impacting the world right now. And I ended up with a terrible migraine from it because I'm one of those people where if I try to like stem the tears, it makes my head hurt. Me too. Oh my God. I was like, I love talking with her, but I wish it had been more positive. And we tried. We tried really hard to find positive lights in things, but it's just so hard right now. 04:10 Sometimes you can't, it is hard. So I need to clarify here. So you have a shop where you sell things that you make, is that right? I have a shop and cafe. Okay. And then do you still have your goats? I do. Okay. So do you live on like acreage or do you just have No, the farm is outside of where 04:40 We live, it's not in Vineland. Okay. So I'm trying to get to this. uh So my podcast is conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers and crafters. So you sort of are doing homesteading, yes? Yes. Well, I am getting closer and closer to like creating, cause I'm looking for, cause obviously you'll know, they always say to everybody thinks you need. 05:09 like 10 plus acres of land to do, I feel a good five acres is a solid like amount to create your whole homestead on, least in my head. So I'm actually uh the beginning of next month looking at a piece of property that has the acreage that I want, a house and a building for possibly like the shop because we, 05:35 Even I'm also a real estate agent, but I'm working with one of the agents in my company because I'm like, I don't want to play agent. You'd be my agent. She's like, I think this would be perfect because you'll have ...
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    32 m
  • Bright Acres Homestead

    Bright Acres Homestead
    Sep 29 2025
    Today I'm talking with Jenn at Bright Acres Homestead. You can follow on Facebook as well. 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 Jen at Bright Acres Homestead in Florida. Good morning, Jen. How are you? Good morning, Mary. Well, thanks. How about yourself? Well, I'm good. I have a runny nose that's been driving me crazy. Oh, yes. And so if I'm sniffly, that's why. ahh How is the weather in Florida this morning? 00:29 It is doing all right. We've had some really nice cooler mornings lately, but by midday it's back in the 90s. It's crazy. The swings are crazy. Yeah. Where are you in Florida? We are just south of Tallahassee, right on the Gulf. Okay. Yep. So you get the ocean breezes. 00:49 I kind of feel like the Gulf of Mexico or Gulf of America, whatever you want to call it these days, is like a dust bowl for allergies. Okay. Yeah. It's kind of wild. It's different than living on the East Coast for sure. Yeah. My parents still live in Maine. I grew up in Maine and my dad is always talking about how the winters are so much warmer now because of number one, global warming. But number two, because of global warming, the oceans are staying warmer so they get the 01:20 the insulation of the warmth of the ocean in the wintertime. And every time he explains this to me, I'm like, you've told me this a thousand times. And he's like, yes. And I'm like, I still don't quite understand how it works. And he said, does anybody really understand how nature works? And I'm like, no, if we did, I would be much richer. 01:39 Um, is, it is overcast in Minnesota again this morning and we were fog locked for the second day this morning. could not see more than eighth of a mile down the road and my husband had to go to work and I was like, please be careful. Please. Yes. Yes. Completely understandable. Do not want to lose that man. And, and, and every time it gets foggy like this, I'm like, please don't let somebody hit him or please don't let him hit somebody. Oh, I totally understand the fog. 02:08 It happens here too, especially like down the road from us, because there's such a change between we're right near what we the Springs. And so like the Springs are, you know, the river runs through town and it's much cooler. And then you have like the Gulf, which is very warm. And so it creates like this, I don't know what you want to call it, but like this tunnel where the two collide and the fog is crazy. um So it's kind of wild. 02:35 Yeah, I don't like it. I really don't. I like to be able to see a mile away. It makes me happy. I want to take a moment before we dive in to thank you and all my other guests that have been on the show and my listeners because this podcast is one of my favorite things I've ever done and I appreciate everyone's time so much. I love that. Happy to be here. Good. I'm happy to have you. So tell me a little bit about yourself and Bright Acres Homestead and I love the name. 03:05 Oh, thank you. um So we see my husband and I, guess way back before we even knew each other, always both really loved farms. I remember my parents used to tease me at some point I'd live on a farm and I'd have all the things. um And my husband also felt the same way. His family kind of grew up that way. A lot of canning and they've lived in Florida before it was even a state way back in the day. so 03:33 There's a lot of tradition there. And so between the two of us, after we met, we always had this dream of, let's do it. And so we're kind of living that dream. We both have real jobs on the side, of course. And so I should say real jobs for most of the time. This is the on the side deal, but it's been pretty incredible. We have 27 acres and we have 11 cows and five. 04:00 pigs and we garden pretty much year round in Florida as possible. so, um you know, having three to four gardens a year, depending on the season um and just really enjoying, you know, living off the land and all the things that come with it. um It's been pretty awesome, especially for our kids, for them being able to have responsibilities outside and see that, you know, working hard is, has fruits of labor, right? um 04:28 with all the things that we put on our plates at dinner and that we're able to offer up as gifts or just started selling in our shop, which is pretty cool. Okay. Thank you. I have a very specific question. even wrote it down on a notebook so I wouldn't forget. planted Roselle plants? Oh yeah. What are they? What is that? So Roselle, it's a Roselle hibiscus. It's a type of flowering plant. 04:57 And after it ...
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  • Hairy Farmpit Girls

    Hairy Farmpit Girls
    Sep 26 2025
    Today I'm talking with Swan at Hairy Farmpit Girls. You can follow on Facebook as well. 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. Talking with Swan at Harry Farm Pit Girls. And if you laugh, that's okay. So did I. And I know she's in the South somewhere. Where are you, Swan? I am in Bowman, Georgia, which is just kind of, um, East, uh, Athens, Georgia. Okay. Cool. So it's the northeast corner of Georgia. All right. 00:29 That makes a lot of sense. That helps. How's the weather there this morning? I think that we're going to get into the mid 80s. So, you know, it's a little warm. It hasn't actually been too bad. I think it's probably about 70 something right now. So it's the delightful time of day. Give it about another hour and we'll be scorched again. Well, how cool do you guys get in January? Well, we have a little pond on our property and in January and 00:58 February in the summer upon freezes all the way over. Um, I'm not willing to walk out to the middle of it, but I can stand on the sides. Um, so it gets to, I think about we've only been here for about four and a half years, but it gets to the twenties and the teens a little bit. Um, just a few times, but for the most part, we, during the day, we typically stay at the coldest above snowing temperature. Okay. Awesome. I just, I've never been further south than, uh, 01:29 I think Maryland. So I have no idea what it's like in the south in the wintertime. I don't think anybody's ever considered Maryland south. it's not, but that's as far south as I've ever gotten, you know, in the United States. So the weather here in Minnesota this morning is cool and overcast to the point that we are actually fog locked on my property. can't see an eighth of a mile away. Oh, wow. Wow. That's incredible. 01:58 Yep, my son calls it uncanny valley when this happens because it makes you feel like you're the only person on earth. 02:07 My son, whenever we have a foggy morning, which we don't really have right now in this time of year, but he calls it, he's five. So he says it's froggy outside and we have always uh decided to never correct him from saying, from calling fog frog. So he says it's froggy or he can't see through the frog outside. So. Oh yeah. We call it froggy. We also call, we also call humidity humdidity. 02:35 We call it a humidititty. It's the South. Yup. And there's one other I was thinking of when you brought that up. And of course it's gone because I have over 50 brain and I think of things that are funny and then by the time I get to say them out of my mouth, they're out of my brain and I can't find them again. I'll do that exact same thing and I have under 50 things. So. Yeah. It's just, I think it's just the way that we live now. 03:02 Yeah, there's just too much information and your brain can't possibly sort it as fast as say AI can. Ugh. So anyway, uh we've tried to do a podcast twice before and had terrible technical difficulties. So Swan is back for the third time, hopefully the charm, so that we can actually talk with Swan about what she and her wife do in Georgia. So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do Swan. 03:29 All right, well, we have a little 12 acre farm out here. um We are called the Harry Farfit Girls. And we started off just as we started off at a different farm down in South Georgia. Whenever we started building that farm, we had come from the city and we started building that farm. I just started writing about it on social media, particularly on Facebook. um 03:53 So just watch, letting people like kind of watch our journey. Cause I know that not everybody could do what we were doing. And so just wanted to share it and I didn't want to bog all of my other friends down with like 4,000 photos of chickens. So I figured out if the internet wanted to see 4,000 photos of chickens, they could come and see them all the time with a social media page. So at first I just started writing about it and then we got pretty popular cause I have a little bit of a sense of humor. 04:22 So we added a product. started raising goats and making goat milk soap and lotion and do with farmers markets and little shops around South Georgia. um And then we got more and more popular and we were able to buy a second farm up in North Georgia and move all of our stuff to online. So now we make soaps. m We make soap, goat milk soap still. But also um I've got a lot of people that just have gotten 04:49 have fallen in love with our animals over the past decade. We've been sharing for a little over 10 years. Oh, it's actually going be 11 years in January. We've ...
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