Épisodes

  • Hope Hill Homestead

    Hope Hill Homestead
    Dec 10 2025
    Today I'm talking with Marcus at Hope Hill Homestead. Route 2 Revolution 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 Marcus at Hope Hill Homestead in New Hampshire. Good morning, Marcus. How are you? Good morning, Mary. How are you? I'm good. I'm very excited to find out what you do, but tell me how the weather is in New Hampshire this morning. Well, when I was dropping my kids off at their little 00:28 uh school, little farm school, little private Catholic farm school. It was two degrees. Okay. Is it sunny? it cloudy? What? It's partly sunny, cloudy. Okay. so, but there's some snow on the ground and everything is frozen here. um It is, I think it's 22 degrees outside here. 00:56 In Minnesota, it's very overcast. Our yard light, we live on three acres, so we have a light that lights up the door yard at night. It was still on at 7.30 this morning and the sun was supposed to be up. I was like, oh, it is very overcast. And they are predicting rain this afternoon. Oh no. So you're going have some hard driving conditions pretty soon. Yes. And my husband actually has an appointment at two. So I was like, please be careful when you go. 01:26 True. Yeah, I don't love it when the weather does this flip floppy thing because it's been really, really cold here and we've had snow at least a trace every day for over a week and now it's going to rain. Yeah, it just makes a big mess. yeah, we did the driveway and like, for example, I had an oil truck try to come deliver oil to me and we burn wood and we have like oil as a backup and sometimes if the fireplace goes out, the stove goes out in the night, then you... 01:55 the heat kicks back on and I wanted to make sure I had the oil tank full because we live up on a dirt road, a driveway is a dirt road that goes up pretty steep and uh at some points the oil company will say we won't even attempt to go up your driveway because it's dangerous. uh yeah, yesterday he tried to, a few days ago they tried to get up, they couldn't make it up and I'm like, oh please God, please let them help him get up and then they came today and he delivered it. So now we're, hopefully we're set for the winter. 02:25 because it's really important when you live on a homestead, as we all know who do. Okay, so tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do at your place. Yeah, so we live on, me and my wife and my four kids, live on 10 acres and we have some sheep and we have some chicken and I also from home, I'm a work at home parent here and I 02:54 I make furniture, but I also make like little A-frame cabins and greenhouses. That's primarily what I do now. I make these kind of these smaller concept cabin structures that people use for like Airbnb or just for, you know, their backyard sleeping cabins or whatever. Yeah. And as far as like the homesteading part, we just started milking some sheep this last spring, the first time we milked. um 03:24 That's been interesting and we made cheese. We were in the process of trying to become more self-sufficient, but as you know, you got to take little steps and sometimes with every two steps you take, you take one step back. Yes, you do. Sometimes you don't even go forward again. We did that with rabbits. 03:48 We're not doing rabbits again, I don't think. We keep talking about it, but I don't think we're gonna do it again. just not, it is not worth the return for us. So with the sheep, I already knew that you could milk sheep, but are they good with that or do you have to like train them to be okay Well, you know, there's a couple breeds that are very good milkers. So we have some East Phrasians and 04:14 The East Fraser's sheeps, can produce up to a couple gallons each one a day. And a lot of people don't know that about um sheep that you can milk them. we love our sheep and we've had sheep for the last, well, we had to get rid of our herd a few years ago because we just didn't have enough pasture and it was getting too expensive and we had young kids and it all together was hard. so we... um 04:43 We got rid of our sheep and our goats for a little bit. And then we just had the chance to get back the same sheep that we got rid of, returned to us um because they had young children. They couldn't take care of them. And luckily they were, one of them was in milk. And uh so we just kept on milking and it was fantastic. And sheep's milk, if anybody has tried goat milk, there's a little bit of a taste with goat milk. It doesn't taste like cow's milk, but sheep's milk. 05:11 actually taste just like cow's milk, I would say even better than cow's ...
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    39 min
  • Rustic Haven Homestead

    Rustic Haven Homestead
    Dec 8 2025
    Today I'm talking with Christeen at Rustic Haven Homestead. 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. 00:12 Today I'm talking with Christine at Rustic Haven Homestead in Washington State. Good morning, Christine. How are you? Good morning. How are you? I'm doing great. I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. oh What is the weather like there? 00:30 Right now it's eight o'clock in the morning, so we're just getting our day started and it's super foggy and trying to rain. 00:40 That sounds about right for Washington state. Yes. Well, in Minnesota, it is bright and sunshiny. We got a little bit of snow overnight on top of the snow we got over the weekend. So it's very shiny outside because the snow is reflecting the sunlight. It's beautiful out. I love that. I can't wait for it to snow, but we still have a few more weeks of rain. Yeah, when. 01:05 I don't know anything about Washington state's climate except that you guys get a lot of rain. So does it get cold, cold there? It does. um Depending on where you live in Washington, that'll depend on how much snow you get. I have kind of been all over. So up in Skagit County by like Mount Baker, you get a ton of snow. And down here by Olympia so far, we don't get a lot of snow, but there's a lot of ice. 01:36 Okay. Yeah. I don't love it when there's ice. My husband drives all over the place for his job and the days when it's freezing rain, I'm just like, please be careful. Right. I don't mind driving in the snow and stuff like that just because I'm used to it from living up in Skagit County, which I didn't really grow up in. For the most part, I was born and raised in North Carolina where they put ice like 02:05 um, ice salt down instead of sand. Here they do sand. And so it's a little bit different on that front. But I've noticed that in certain areas of Washington, the roads aren't kept as well as others. So up in Skagit County, they worked really hard to make sure everything was maintained. Down here, it's like they're very short staffed. 02:32 And so the roads don't get cleared and when they do get cleared, it's clean cleared. So it's very scary. And if you don't grow up in an environment where you're actually driving in the snow and the ice, you become a danger to others. Yes. And that happens every fall here in Minnesota. That first snowstorm, there are more people who end up in the ditch than really should end up in the ditch. Yeah. And so... 03:02 I work in the medical field. have for almost 20 years and so I'm just like, just stay home. It's okay. Just stay home. If you can, don't be on the roads. Yes. Yep. Okay. is more important than your life. Oh, absolutely. You're, you're absolutely a hundred percent right. And other people's lives too, while we're talking about it. So tell me a little bit about yourself and your version of your homestead. Okay. So. 03:32 My name is Christine and I have grown up with my grandparents canning and baking everything and doing everything from scratch. My mama, she lived to be almost 100 and had a full-time garden, worked in the medical field. She worked in the hospital until she was in her 80s. And so she taught me a lot about canning. 03:59 vegetables and how to grow a garden and all of that aspect. And then whenever I was probably 30, I started getting into sourdough and learning all of that process, which has been quite fascinating actually. um But I met my spouse and we have started our own little homestead. We have all kinds of animals and 04:30 honestly all kinds of kids. uh Blended family of seven, so we have five kids between the two of us and they love to ride our goats like their horses. And it's fun to watch them get chased by chickens sometimes, but we have kind of just moved everything into a very simple life and hopefully in the next couple of years we can start homeschooling as well. 04:59 Very nice. That sounds like a beautiful life that you're building. We're trying really hard. We have a few acres and em within that we are pretty self-sustainable for the most part. 05:15 Okay, awesome. So what animals do you have? Because I always ask that question. So we have about 100 chickens. We have turkeys and geese and about 20 ducks. We have six pigs and four goats. And then we have five dogs. And so it all meshes well with our five children. I was going to say a dog for every kid. Yes. 05:45 Are the other dogs all different breeds or do you guys have a favorite breed? They are all different. So we have a 50 50 split Shepski. So he's Siberian Husky and German ...
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    45 min
  • Santa Claus!

    Santa Claus!
    Dec 5 2025
    Today I'm talking with Santa Claus! Hope you enjoy our chat, and a small peek into the North Pole. Merry Christmas! 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 have the supreme pleasure of talking with Santa Claus at the North Pole. Good morning, Santa. How are you? Good morning, Mary. I'm doing very well. How are you? I'm good. Is it cold at the North Pole? Oh, it's always cold at the North Pole, but we adapt pretty well. Yeah, it's a- 00:27 It's very cold in Minnesota where I am this morning. We are not even at freezing yet. True. We call that the South Pole. Exactly. So in our summers there, you need to come to Minnesota in June. It's beautiful. Yes, absolutely. All right. So tell me a little bit about the North Pole because I, my questions for, for 00:56 the North Pole is, you always listening to Christmas music? Oh, not necessarily. I enjoy a nice variety. mean, Christmas music certainly keeps us focused on what we're doing, but I like some jazz music every once in a while. Of course, there is a nice crossover with Vince Guaraldi. I love his stuff. Very nice. And what I mean... 01:20 I don't even know what to ask you. This is, this is crazy. I might actually, I might actually be nervous talking to Santa Claus. So is your, is your home decor, is it all Christmas stuff all the time? We have some areas that are off limits to anything Christmas because Mrs. Claus, she's very supportive, but sometimes she just needs to have something that is devoid of it. 01:47 Just to have a variety, just to break things up a little bit. She enjoys her Coca-Cola room and she enjoys her shabby chic room and there's lots of rooms in the castle. So she has many options and I give her carte blanche because happy wife, happy life. Absolutely. So is the home a castle? Does Santa Claus live in a castle? 02:13 Oh, we, we have what you might call a compound actually. There's a whole village, not just the castle, but the ancillary areas where the reindeer live, where the elves have their home quarters, et cetera, et cetera. So just about any facility you might imagine that we need, we have, and it's protected by a great big dome so that we can't be seen by anybody who might want to find us. I love it. I love it. That's amazing. um 02:43 So tell me about your reindeer. Are they the same reindeer all the time? Are they immortal or do you have baby reindeer sometimes? 02:54 Oh, we have a, we have the A team that everybody seems to know, although I do challenge the children to try and name them. Uh, they, they always miss two or three. The most famous example is Don Durr, not Don Ur. Uh, Don Ur is something else. Don Durr is the name of that reindeer. And then the B team and the C team. they, they are immortal, but we do have some grandparent reindeers and. 03:21 The beyond the first famous nine, there are two more teams of reindeer right now. So two more, 16 more reindeer. And they have fun names like chat and Shlomo and all of, all of the other reindeer. Shlomo. Okay. I hadn't heard that one before. Right. Well, and then they're all different, but they don't see a lot of action, but they're there just in case. I usually use them when I make visits down south. 03:50 Uh, so that the A team stay in their peak strength. Oh, okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Cause I'm sure that even if you're an immortal reindeer, you probably do get tired. Oh, sure. They need their naps and they're, they're bedded by time and they're, they're good diets and such. So you don't want to wear them out. They can still get sore hooves. Oh my, we don't want that. That's not good. Okay. So, um, what is your. 04:19 Well, number one, does Santa Claus like eggnog? Sure. I enjoy eggnog. Definitely the virgin types. You don't need anything tipsy. I'm always driving. Yep. So maybe, so maybe milk is better. Sure. You can put anything out. It's the thought that counts. And I really appreciate the children who think of us and the reindeer as well. It's nice to put out things for them. They love things. 04:49 that make crunchy sounds. So red bell peppers, maybe some zucchini, some cucumbers, things that crunch. They love making the crunching sounds. So those are always welcome and appreciated as well. they like apples? Oh, sure. If it crunches, they munches. Okay. And then, so I'm assuming that you like all cookies, but you have a favorite. 05:14 Oh yes, again, it's the thought that counts. appreciate whatever the children put out for me, milk, eggnog, a glass of water. It's all fine. And I do have my favorite, it's white chocolate macadamia nut, but cookies are cookies. They're ...
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    21 min
  • The Homemade Mess

    The Homemade Mess
    Dec 1 2025
    Today I'm talking with Jessica at The Homemade Mess. 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 Jessica at the Homemade Mess in South Dakota. Good morning, Jessica. How are you? Good morning. I'm so glad to be here. I'm so glad you had time. Hi. It's really hard this time of year starting in September. Harvest season has begun and then the holidays hit. And I'm like, okay, who's going to be available to talk to me? Yes. 00:30 30 minutes isn't a hard time to carve out of the day. Well, it is and it isn't. It just depends. It depends on what people have going on and what time they have available. And things come up and they can't make it. And I'm just like, ah-ha! And it's not 10 o'clock at night? Yeah, I don't do... I try really hard not to record past 6 o'clock at night because I am not on my game at past 6 o'clock at night. Yes. That seems to be the only me time is after 10 o'clock. 00:59 Nothing else is there. Well, that's because you're a mom and you're a home sweater and you're busy and you're a teacher. Yes, I am. OK, so tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do. So I am I live in central South Dakota and I grew up in North Dakota. I did have did grow up on a ranch. And so when I married my husband, I always had these big dreams. I was going to I was going to marry a rodeo guy. Right. And then I fell in love with a fisherman. 01:29 So we, love him to death and we, um, he really isn't into the homesteading, the animals, the, he's a fishing and hunting guy and that's, that's what he does. And so, um, we moved, he's not my husband's alignment. And so we moved to a really small town. Um, there was no Walmart. So I said, we're not moving there. We compromised and we moved there. And so, um, 01:53 We, I really didn't have land. I do have some horses and I do barrel race as well. And so I didn't have land. And then up until probably a year ago, a little over a year ago, uh we found like our dream place and it was like, God willing it happened and it worked out. And so we really are like living out our dream now. I do also teach. I teach in a very small town. have 11 kids in my class. And then I'm a full time or full time teacher. I'm a mom. And then from after that, after 02:23 whatever time I have left is when I do my social media business. um I actually started it in late June of 2025, so like not very many months ago. um And I kind of blew up, um which is I'm very grateful, but um I don't really know what I'm doing on social media quite yet, which might, the half a million followers might seem like I do, but I'm just living on a prayer and winging it over here. But um we live day by day. We don't really know. 02:52 I don't really know what I'm doing in life yet, so here we are. You are in one of the most wonderful and most frustrating spots of life right now because winging it is really fun, but it can also be really scary. Yes. Yes. Especially being like, nobody prepares you for motherhood. You could Google all you want, but then you become a mom and you have no idea what you're doing. So I'm like trying to figure that out. 03:20 trying to figure out my social media business and trying to be a good mom and be a good wife and take care of all the hundred thousand animals I decided to accumulate and it's busy. Yeah, just just be a good human and everything else will fall into place. Yeah. Okay. I have a couple questions regarding your your answer to my first question. um How many kids do you have? Just have the one. I just have the one. Yep. He's 18 months. Oh my that is a very busy busy time. Yes, very busy. 03:49 And then did you teach at a bigger school before you moved? I did, yes. I taught in a very large school district. I taught in a school district that had 12 just elementary schools. So it was about 20 to 30,000 people in elementary. So I taught in a very large district. And then I came down here and I had nine kids last year. I didn't know what to do with my time. 04:15 So how many kids were in the class size before this new place? About 30. Oh, wow. So this is a huge change for you. Yes. Yeah. also, before that, I taught in really big district. And then I taught over on um like a um meeting reservation school. And then I taught where I'm at now. So there was a little bit of steps taken before I got to where I'm at now. 04:45 Yeah, very large class sizes. Do you enjoy the smaller class size more because you can give the kids more attention one on one? Yeah, I do. It comes with its challenges as well, though. The small school district also comes with a school, so it comes ...
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    34 min
  • Catching up with Becca at Moon Ridge Acres

    Catching up with Becca at Moon Ridge Acres
    Nov 28 2025
    Today I'm talking with Becca at Moon Ridge Acres. A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Cottage Foodie Con. The code HOME 15 will get you 15% off any ticket and is valid for the month of November 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. Have you thought about being a cottage food producer? Or if you're a cottage food producer, have you thought about expanding it into a small business? Cottage Foodie Con is probably for you. You can find more information at cottagefoodiecon.com and if you use the code HOME15, you'll get 15% off your registration costs. 00:29 And that price is valid through the end of November. So again, check out cottagefoodiecon.com. A tiny homestead is sponsored by uh cottagefoodiecon.com. Today I'm talking with Becca at Moonridge Acres. I think it's the name of your place in Alberta, Canada. Good morning, Becca. How are you? Hi, I'm good. How are you? I'm good. Is Moonridge Acres the right name? That is correct. Yeah. Okay. And do you, you have a separate page for that or not on Facebook? 00:59 I actually do have a separate page for it, but I don't really use it very much. um just, I'm spread a little too thin, but eventually I would like to do it and have it be more, you know, promotional for the horses. But right now it's just kind of sitting there. Okay, cool. I looked at your personal profile. was like, I know she has a business name, but I couldn't remember it. And I was like, oh yeah, Mooner Jakers. Okay, cool. So how's the weather in Canada this morning? 01:29 It is brisk. Brisk is what I would call it. It's, I think we were at minus 11 last night, that's Celsius. So I don't know what that works out to in Fahrenheit. I'm still, I'm trying to get the conversion in my head, but it's not going super well. So yeah, it's cool. It's one of the cooler mornings that we've had so far. And honestly, this is a really great fall. It's been really nice. So I can't complain. 01:59 Is it sunny there? Sunny? Yeah, it is. is sunny. It's, uh, Alberta's kind of known for being cold, but sunny. So you, you get one, one evil and one good thing. You know, the sun is nice. Cause when it's dreary and cloudy, that's just depressing. Yeah. Um, yesterday all day, looked like, um, dusk cause it was rainy and cloudy all day yesterday. um 02:28 And I was okay with that because the weatherman was predicting that we were going to wake up to one to three inches of snow this morning. And I was excited. Oh, wow. And I got up and we got like half an inch of snow. I was like, it's going to be another one of those winters where they hype the hell out of the forecast. And then we get nothing. I swear every single year, like in the last like four years, they were like, this is going to be the worst winter ever. And then it's fine. 02:55 Like, I'm not sure if they get more clicks on that. Like, maybe they make more ad revenue by saying it's going to be terrible. I'm not sure. I have no idea, but I was in my five-year-old pram of mind of, okay, it's going to be the first really nice snow. It's going to be beautiful when I wake up. And oh no. No. I was also excited because my dog loves the first real snowfall of a couple inches because she goes out and rolls in it. 03:23 And I was so excited for her to go out the door and be all crazy. And now I was like, okay, well, this was not the day already. No, they seem to be doing that a lot. told us Calgary, which is just a boat three hours south of us, they got a decent dump. Like I think it was 10 inches or not 10 inches, sorry, 10 centimeters. ah And they said it was coming our way and to expect a big storm and nothing. 03:52 Yup, I don't believe the weather people anymore. The weather is what it is doing outside my window right now. And right now, it is really windy. It is 28 degrees and I would call it brisk. So I think we're probably in the same, the same. I think so. think Fahrenheit to Celsius, believe 20 is zero Celsius. So we're minus 11 Celsius. So that's gotta be like. 04:21 I want to say around like the, in the single digits of Fahrenheit, I think. So we're having kind of the same weather day. It's all good. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So you've been on the podcast twice. They have been wonderful conversations. And just to catch people up, tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do. Uh, so I breed miniature horses, um, here in Alberta and we breed for 04:48 show purposes um and we show them and my, you know, my whole social media is all about promoting the breed and hopefully getting more people to get into them and see that miniature ...
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    52 min
  • Rosewyn Urban Regenerative Farm - Catching Up With Chelsie

    Rosewyn Urban Regenerative Farm - Catching Up With Chelsie
    Nov 26 2025
    Today I'm talking with Chelsie at Rosewyn Urban Regenerative Farm. A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Cottage Foodie Con. The code HOME 15 will get you 15% off any ticket and is valid for the month of November 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. Have you thought about being a cottage food producer? Or if you're a cottage food producer, have you thought about expanding it into a small business? Cottage Foodie Con is probably for you. You can find more information at cottagefoodiecon.com and if you use the code HOME15, you'll get 15% off your registration costs. 00:29 And that price is valid through the end of November. So again, check out cottagefoodiecon.com. A tiny homestead is sponsored by uh cottagefoodiecon.com. Today I'm talking with Chelsie at Rosewyn Urban Regenerative Farm in Montana, right? Yes, Billings, Montana. Yeah. I've talked to a couple of people in Alberta in the last few days and I keep thinking Alberta. I'm like, no, she's not in Canada. She's in the States. Okay. How are you ma'am? 01:00 I am doing wonderful this morning and yourself? I'm good. How's the weather where you are? It's it's a little chilly, but not as bad as it could be. Okay. It is definitely chilly here. We got sleet for the first time this season this morning and it has all melted away already and the sun is peeking out. So it's, uh, it's looking like it's going to be a pretty day, but it sure didn't look that way at three o'clock this morning when I got up, when I got up for no apparent reason. It was. 01:28 pouring rain here at 3 a.m. Oh no, we haven't had a lot of moisture. I've been pretty lucky on that. I do have my wool out, but it's like mainly for mornings and evenings and then you just don't want to get caught out before the temps go back down. yeah, it's been a beautiful extended fall here. It sounds like it has been there too, so that's good. 01:55 Okay, so Chelsea was a guest on the show back in May and she was telling me all about her regenerative urban farm or urban regenerative farm. said it in the wrong order. So give me a quick update on who you are and what you do, Oh, well, I am someone that just took their health into their own hand and it led me here and now I like to grow lots of things and 02:24 have chickens and I just added rabbits. eh And the attempts of creating a decentralized intentional community that's focused around edible landscaping and self-sufficiency and personal growth. Okay, I have a question about decentralized. Is that the same thing as hyper local community? 02:54 I have absolutely no idea. just said decentralized because we won't live together. Okay. Cause with everything that's been going on in the States right now, I've talked to a couple of people on different aspects of the whole snap fiasco and what we don't, we don't use snap, but I definitely was on wick when I had my first baby. And, I think maybe way back. 03:22 My first husband and I might have had to use food stamps and it wasn't a card then it was actual like paper vouchers. But, but SNAP is really, really important, but more important than SNAP, think is number one, not finding yourself in a position where if SNAP goes away, you're, there's a bad word, you're in trouble. And that learning to cook helps with that planning ahead. 03:51 and trying to get things stored away in your pantry or your cabinet for an emergency is really important. And your local growers is really important because farmers in my experience really want to help. I can tell you right now, someone had pulled into my driveway and said, do you have eggs? I'm on the SNAP program. I don't have any food. Can I just have some eggs? I would have given them eggs. Yeah. I mean, it's hard because for me, you know, 04:19 grew up, was a welfare kid, you know, like I didn't have a great childhood. And, know, even when I raised my children, I had to utilize that even though I still worked full time, you know, I went to college full time, uh, online and when I was working full time and raising two kids by myself, and I definitely used food stamps, but I still had to go sit outside of food banks, you know, on the weekends and in some way forage. 04:48 or additional resources while raising two boys. So I get it. I get using resources, but I also understand that being dependent on them makes you a slave. Exactly. And you don't want to be a slave. And let me just clarify, there is absolutely no shame in utilizing the resources that are available to you that taxpayer money pays for, especially if you're one of the taxpayers...
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    34 min
  • Lala and Justin’s Homestead

    Lala and Justin’s Homestead
    Nov 24 2025
    Today I'm talking with Amanda at Lala and Justin’s Homestead. You can follow on Facebook as well. A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Cottage Foodie Con. The code HOME 15 will get you 15% off any ticket and is valid for the month of November 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. Have you thought about being a cottage food producer? Or if you're a cottage food producer, have you thought about expanding it into a small business? Cottage Foodie Con is probably for you. You can find more information at cottagefoodiecon.com and if you use the code HOME15, you'll get 15 % off your registration costs. 00:29 and that price is valid through the end of November. So again, check out cottagefoodiecon.com. The tiny homestead is sponsored by uh cottagefoodiecon.com. Today I'm talking with Amanda at Lala and Justin's Homestead in Vermont. Good morning, Amanda, how are you? Good, how are you Mary? I'm good, how's the weather in Vermont this morning? Chilly, we got our first freeze. 00:56 Um, well, our first day that the bowls in the barn, the ice bowls were all frozen. So that was a fun morning, topping out dishes, but it's to be expected. It's Vermont. So as my dad says, it's all part of it. Yep. Yep. It's, uh, it's very gray here in Minnesota this morning. It's chilly and there's almost no breeze at all. It's very quiet outside, which is weird. We usually have some kind of wind blowing. 01:24 Okay, so I want to know why it's called Lala and Justin's Homestead first. Well, Lala um was a nickname given to me by my stepdad. And when I got into rabbits, he helped me a lot with like building nest boxes and building cage areas and different things that I needed help building. And he always called me Lala. So 01:52 When I started the rabbitry back up, um as an adult, I decided to honor him and call it Lola's Lovely Lops. And Justin's my partner, so he gets to tag along. Well, yeah, and he probably helps, which is really nice. um Is your stepfather still with us? No, he passed away five, he's been five years since he's been gone. Okay. Well, what a great way to honor his memory. That's, that's fabulous. 02:20 Okay, so tell me a little bit about yourself and what you guys do. Um, sorry. Um, so I'm- Did I make you cry? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. 02:37 It's just... I just miss him. That's all. Yeah, yeah, it's so hard. It's hard around the holidays. Oh, for sure, yeah. And the way that I deal with people who have passed... The way I deal with it is I try to remember the really fun stuff that made me laugh and then it makes me laugh and it kind of counteracts the crying a little bit. Yeah, he was hilarious. So there's a lot to laugh about. 03:05 Yeah, and you're carrying on his memory by doing something you love to do. So that's a beautiful thing. And how much do you love raising rabbits? I mean, come on. I've been raising them since I was 10. I absolutely adore them. Yeah. one of my favorite animals in the whole entire world, other than my dogs. Okay. So are you okay? Yeah, I've got it back. Okay, good. So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do. 03:35 So we are a family of four. We have a point four or five acre property and we raise the rabbits garden. We do a lot of foraging. like, I'm very into mycology and mushrooms. um So we've been taking on teaching ourselves different types of edible mushrooms for the past, I'd say 12 years or so we've been learning about mushrooms. 04:05 And I'd eventually like to get into herbs and learning about that. But I would like to find a mentor before I step into that because there's just so much to learn. But yeah, we're a small family and we raise the rabbit meat. I do a lot of bartering with people for rabbit. And I get most of my beef and chicken from other people that raise so that. 04:30 That's a good trade. It's a good barter system we have going in our community. And we started that back in 2020 with the bartering because of the shortages and stuff. So I just got deeper into the rabbits at that time. And I have way more than I intended now. So rabbit math is not much different from chicken math. take it. Oh, I think it's a little worse. Okay. 04:56 But it's enjoyable, so it's okay. don't have anything bred right now. I have one that's due today. And, she was due yesterday and she hasn't had her litter yet. But other than that, I don't have anything bred because I haven't decided if I want to have babies in the cold, cold months yet. But I have a few that I was thinking of breeding this week so that I could have them born during my Christmas break from work. ...
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    37 min
  • Clear Creek Ranch Mom - Life Goes On (whether we're ready or not)

    Clear Creek Ranch Mom - Life Goes On (whether we're ready or not)
    Nov 21 2025
    Today I'm talking with Leah at Clear Creek Ranch Mom. A Tiny Homestead Podcast is sponsored by Cottage Foodie Con. The code HOME 15 will get you 15% off any ticket and is valid for the month of November 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. Have you thought about being a cottage food producer? Or if you're a cottage food producer, have you thought about expanding it into a small business? Cottage Foodie Con is probably for you. You can find more information at cottagefoodiecon.com and if you use the code HOME15, you'll get 15 % off your registration costs. 00:29 And that price is valid through the end of November. So again, check out cottagefoodiecon.com. The tiny homestead is sponsored by uh cottagefoodiecon.com. Today I'm talking with Leah at Clear Creek Ranch in Nebraska. Good morning, Leah. How are you? Good morning, Mary. Always good to visit with you. Yes. And as I told you before we started, I love you. You are wonderful. uh 00:58 What's the weather like in Nebraska this morning? Oh, goodness. So if you didn't know, my first major in college was actually meteorology. I was planning to be a weather girl. And so I love to study the weather. It is foggy and dreary. I'm supposed to be 60 today, but if you follow the old wives' tales, I mean, I keep seeing these early foggy mornings, TNS up for precipitation in 90 days. I don't know. Winter has not arrived yet, but 01:27 It'll be interesting to see what ends up happening. We've had such a beautiful fall. We have here in Minnesota too. And I thought we were going to be looking at an early cold snap, but it's been gorgeous. And we had our first, um, Sneet. We call it Sneet here, snow and sleet mixed together. We had that three or four days ago and it did it early in the morning and then it was gone by noon. Nice. 01:54 It's been, it's been foggy here every morning for the last four mornings. So I don't know. This, this climate change thing is freaky. I don't really love it, but it's okay. We'll see how it goes. And honestly, my husband drives all over creation for his job. So the less ice and snow on the road, guess is better than more ice and snow on the road. story. Yep. Yeah. Let's check like in February and see how things are looking. 02:24 Yeah. Well, I'm sure we're going to get snow. I just don't think we're going to get a lot. The last two winters here where we live, we haven't even seen a foot of snow total for the winter. Yep. Same. I always uh judge the snow by in my diary how many times we had to scoot bunks for the feeder calves in the mornings. And the feeder calves are with us until, well, somewhere around the week after Valentine's Day when we usually sell them. so I always know what kind of winter it's. 02:53 It's been, we didn't have to shovel at all last winter at all. Okay. All right. So Leah's been a guest on this show three times already because she's brilliant and I love talking with her and she is a rancher, a fifth generation rancher, right? Yes, ma'am. And sixth generation waiting in the wings. Oh, there's a baby come in. uh No, the girls fight our daughters. Yep. Yep. Yep. The ranch will be left. 03:23 to these wonderful girls when the time is right and they can do with it as they choose. But I love that fact. Good. And hopefully they'll marry really good, strong, smart men who can help them run the ranch. Yes, ma'am. That is the prayer when I go to bed every night is marrying the right man, not because of what I want him to do, but how I want him to be no matter what occupation he's in. 03:53 Yes, absolutely. need, okay, I'm gonna step on the soap box for a minute because I don't usually, but I'm going to right now. We need our children who are adults to hook up with the right person so that they can have a really long and lasting love and that they work together as partners because I've been married three times. This current marriage is my third marriage and we just celebrated our 20 something. 04:22 I can't remember right now. I married in 2002. And it's longest marriage out of any of the three that I've had. And my husband and I are very different people. I mean, very different. His priorities and my priorities on things are very far apart sometimes, but our core values are the same. And so if you can find someone with the same core values, you can work through almost anything. Amen, sister. Yeah. 04:51 So um when we last talked in September, so this is a really quick turnaround for you to come back. I'm very happy about that. We talked about beef prices. And one of the things that you told me is that you ...
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    1 h