Today I'm talking with Nicole at Little Strawberry Patch Homestead.

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00:00 This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead. The podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. A Tiny Homestead podcast is sponsored by Chelsea Green Publishing. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Nicole at Little Strawberry Patch Farm or something. She's gonna say it for me. Say it, Nicole. What's your voice again? Little Strawberry Patch Homestead.

00:27 Homestead, yes, I'm so sorry. I have talked to so many people lately and they all end their names in farm or farms or homestead or farmstead. I'm like, which is it? All right, Nicole, you're in New Jersey on a small lot. Tell me all about yourself and what you do. I was born and raised in South Jersey. We are still in South Jersey. We're a little further up in South Jersey. We're in Cumberland County.

00:56 We recently moved here in 21. We have three, three children, three wild children, nine, five and four. And we live on a very small homestead. Basically it's very tiny. It's only 0.40 acres. Okay. And your house and maybe a garage is on that 0.40 acres? There is a, there is a house and a garage. Yep.

01:25 been there done that except we did it on a tenth of an acre so it can be done. It really can and that's crazy. Yeah. A little aside, I was born in New Jersey and my parents moved to Maine when I was six months old so I have no working memory of being in New Jersey but it was at Fort Dix Air Force Base. Oh yeah, that's like an hour and an hour or so from here. Yeah. So I'm...

01:53 I'm not a native Maynard because I wasn't born in Maine, but I might as well be and I'm actually not even there anymore. I'm in Minnesota. So I was a I was a almost native Maynard until I was 21 or 22. And I will never be a native Minnesotan because that's not how it's played out here. I am I'm going to be away and away from person for a long time. Oh my gosh, that's funny.

02:21 Yep. So I never got the Jersey accent. I got the main accent. And then I got it. So I definitely have the Jersey accent majority of the time. It's not as heavy as I thought it was going to be. I was like, oh, she's going to sound like a Jersey girl. And then you started talking about Philadelphia and that's my husband. Okay. All right. Okay. So I just wanted to throw that in there because I think it's interesting. So what are you doing on your

02:50 your little bitty homestead. So we initially had started out when we moved in. I obviously had to have chickens because who doesn't have to have chickens, right? And initially that was just supposed to be like a little fun hobby thing for me. And then I was like, you know, we can get more chickens because that's how it works. You start adding chickens with chicken math.

03:13 And then I was like, well, we can start giving to the neighbors. Like I'd rather give it to them than them go to the grocery store. And this is when the grocery prices for eggs were through the roof. So it was like, yeah, we need to get more chickens. So we've slowly been adding chickens. We only have 10. But we're doing that for eggs. Mostly we have a rooster we might keep. So hopefully we'll have some chicks too. And then maybe we could do meat. I'm not positive.

03:43 quail currently that we just got that we're doing for meat and for eggs. And hopefully we can do offspring with them too. We're doing silver fox rabbits, which we just started this year and we've built them like an outdoor enclosure. We're now going to do a secondary enclosure for them, which is going to be like double what they have. And then we're going to move our pet rabbits outside and we'll use those for.

04:12 meat for our dogs, which is what we've currently been doing with them. And then if anybody wants pets, because they're adorable, they're an option too, if they would like them. And then we also just recently got dogs, which are my new favorite. We had our chicken hatch, two duck eggs, and then we have a duck that's now sitting on like a whole clutch. But we now have four, five, six ducks, adult ducks, and then we have two babies.

04:42 So like overall, we're just like flourishing in the animals and we're starting to now add in like garden stuff. We have fig trees, like two massive ones that everyone loves, animals included. And my husband just recently, we just recently tilled way in the back. So we have corn going and stuff like that. Peas. And then we tried to do strawberries, but they got decimated for some reason this year by bugs.

05:09 So I just let the chickens have their way with that patch. Well I'm sure the chickens are thrilled because they love strawberries. Did I see on your Facebook page that you call the ducks water chickens? Oh my god, the baby ducklings, yes. Because the chicken hatched them. Okay because I thought that was very cute because I call the calves out in the fields that we see when we're driving around.

05:36 I call them grass puppies all the time because they look like little dogs out there running in the grass. That's adorable. So I was like water chickens. I love that. I have to add that to my, my lexicon of terms that are stupid and silly. Um, okay. So, so are you trying to do this to make what you're doing make money? Are you just doing it because you love it and to support your, your hobby?

06:01 I loved it initially. So initially we started, like I said, chickens and we wanted to do rabbits and it was more so for me and I had to sell that to my husband because he's like, I don't really want to do this. But now he's like all for it loves the rabbits. That's like his therapy animal apparently. So we really started just to kind of share with our neighbors that we have, we have three neighbors that are real close that they share like from their gardens. So we share like what we have to give them with eggs and such so far.

06:31 it started that way. And then I was like, you know, we really should start doing like me. So let's do some quail and then we'll see what we can do from there. And then it obviously the rabbits too. So the hope is that we can have our children understand where the food comes from, because my daughter has no idea besides the grocery store, which is such a crazy thing to me. And then the hope is also to potentially put money back into

07:01 I don't know how much I could do here overall, but I would like to do something to make some kind of payback for what we have going on because it is going to eventually be a lot. If that makes sense. Oh yeah. Yep. Because you got to keep them fed. Yeah. And like honestly, if we could do it properly, I think it would be great. Like I'd really like to start pickling like the quail eggs because that seems like a big way to sell those.

07:29 There's like a lot of different things I'd like to do. Like with the rabbits, you can dehydrate the ears for dog treats. Like there's several things that I think I could do and I just have to nail them down. Yep. Exactly. Um, so is New Jersey like super regulatory on this kind of stuff or are they pretty? Oh, yes. Yeah, very. So.

07:54 that's kind of where I'm dancing in the line too because I'm not really supposed to have chickens I can have ducks which is crazy to me because this is the egg capital of New Jersey apparently. So I'm pushing the line with the chickens a little bit but I have the ducks and they're fine, the quail are fine, the rabbits are fine it seems. With the quail it seems like if you want to sell the eggs or like the animals over like state lines you have to get a permit which does not seem too difficult.

08:24 So that is something I'm going to look into as well. But again, planning slowly because I feel like I'm going to stress myself out. Yeah. So, is there any plan to in the future maybe move to more land or are you not interested in that? Oh no, I'm 100% interested in that. Definitely like there's land behind us, but the guy wants to sell.

08:52 all of it like spanned across wide. And we only want the spot behind us, obviously. But definitely that's what I would like to do. We would like to not be in New Jersey. We are not positive where we would like to move, but eventually that is the plan is to get more land. And then that would be more sustainable even further. Okay, yeah. We...

09:19 We had a similar situation to yours where we had a tenth of an acre lot in a small town, about half an hour from where we are now. And it ended up that we had the chance, opportunity, good fortune to move in 2020 to a 3.1 acre property with a house and a huge pole barn on it. And we never in a million years thought we would actually be able to do this at all. And so just so you know, it is possible.

09:49 You just got to have faith and you got to watch for those opportunities. Oh yeah, I know. I'm always looking. Yep. I am always looking because I'm like, there's plenty of space here. Like we can make it work. Like I'd really like the permaculture idea where everything is just there and like the animals are living in everything. But it's like you also have the kids. So it's like you need things for them to play with still. So it's like that's not like ideal right now here. So it's definitely something I really would want down the line.

10:19 Yeah, and then I have a question about New Jersey. I have driven through New Jersey on a road trip at one point in time. And my memory and perception of New Jersey is that people are packed in like sardines. Yes. So before we moved here, we lived in basically like Kate Marriott exits here almost.

10:45 there was no, like I wanted chickens there, but there was no way that would be so cruel, even to have them free range. It was like a tiny run almost. And then we moved up here and it's been like crazy, like because it's huge feeling compared to what I came from. But up here, it's a lot more, um, what's the word? Rural. So there's space between the neighbors.

11:09 There's definitely still neighbors, but there's a decent space on each side, which I did not have before. And then we have just to span back and front. But definitely there is a lot of areas in New Jersey where there's either all farmland or it's packed like sardines, like you said. Yeah, that's what I was going to ask is if there's any actual open space in New Jersey, because I never was in an area where I saw that. So

11:34 it's kind of split up in Cumberland County and then like Lawster and stuff like that, which is like the town or the next county over. And then you have to go up like towards the city, like New York towards that way. And there's a lot of that way as well. Okay. Yeah. I have driven the long way across New York from Minnesota to Maine, and, and it is beautiful. My God. New York in the areas that you're just driving for hours and hours is just stunning.

12:04 I can only imagine. Yeah, it's beautiful. We talked about not staying in Minnesota when we were looking for the next place four and a half years ago. And it turned out that Minnesota is fairly affordable and fairly, or was, inexpensive compared to a lot of the states that I would have liked to have moved to. So we ended up staying in Minnesota.

12:32 But New York, upstate New York was one of the things we considered. Maine obviously is one of the places we considered because I grew up there. Um, Wisconsin even we thought about because those are all areas with really pretty geography. So we ended up staying in a very pretty area in Minnesota, but we definitely flirted with not staying, if that makes sense. Oh, for sure. Yeah. So I understand that you're like, we're not sure we want to stay in New Jersey because...

13:01 why if you don't have to if you want to try something else? Definitely if you don't have to, I would love to go anywhere, anywhere else with like expansive land. Like I like my neighbors, I love them, but sometimes I want to walk outside and them not be there, you know? And that sounds so wrong, but it's like I'm longing for that and I think I'll get that eventually. So I'm just hoping we're getting there. Yeah, when we moved here...

13:28 Our neighbors, our closest neighbors are a quarter mile away. And it's, it's a big dream. Yeah. It's a big cornfield, which was a soybean field when we moved in. It's a cornfield now around us. And I had a moment like three years ago, one morning when I got up and it was still dark out and I looked outside and I was like, dude, we are, we are not anywhere near if something goes wrong.

13:55 You know, if I, if something was wrong and I yelled for help, nobody's going to hear me. And I had that moment of, oh my God, what did we do? And then like two days later, we had to go back up to the town that we used to live in and all the houses are right next to each other and it's noisy and all you can smell is car exhaust and dirt, not soil, dirt. And I was like, I don't care if I call for help and nobody can hear me. Because if I have to die, I want to die there where it's beautiful. Right?

14:25 It makes so much sense. Yup. And I don't intend on dying, but I think you get what I'm saying. I do. I really do. I know exactly what you mean. Anytime I have to go back down to exit zero area, it's like, oh my God, I don't know how I lived here for so long. And like, so much tree cover, like so... Oh God, gloomy, I guess. Mm-hmm. Yup.

14:51 And honestly, the town that we lived in before was great for raising kids because almost everything was within a mile walking distance for the kids. So raising kids in that town was fabulous. But now the kids are all grown and doing their own things. And I was like, I'm going to lose my mind if I have to live here for the rest of my life. I know. We don't live there anymore. And it's nice that you're a quarter of a mile away.

15:20 Yes, just far enough away that when the donkey at the neighbor's place northwest of us braids, it's adorable. Oh my gosh, that is adorable. And when their cow is low, it's a beautiful sound. And I think they might've just gotten a horse. I swear I heard a horse do that blow that they do through their nose and neigh the other day. I was like, did they get a horse? Oh my God.

15:48 So yeah, it's really fun. And I'm not saying this to rub it in your face. None of this is like, ha ha, look what we did. It's just that there's opportunities that you can't possibly know are coming down the pike for you because that's how life is. Oh yeah, definitely. And hopefully the housing market changes. That would be wonderful. Yeah, no kidding. Yeah, that would be good. And then I'll be like on board right away.

16:15 Let's go. It's time. Yes. Yeah, it's time. My bags have been packed since we talked about it. Let's go now. Now is the time. Yes. We can get a horse and a cow. Yep, exactly. Um, okay. So I don't know. Did you, did you grow up wanting to have a homestead?

16:40 I would definitely not say a homestead. Probably wanting to live on a farm. I've always had like a gajillion animals of all sorts. And then when we lived at the last home that we owned, it was only so big so we had cats and dogs and I couldn't have the chickens. So when we got here, I was like, it's happening. And it happened. And it's kind of explicit with animals and I love it. And the kids like...

17:06 I honestly adore it. I think the only one that doesn't love it entirely is my oldest daughter, but she's getting to the point where she's like enjoying seeing the animals. She likes the little ducklings and the chickens running around. So it's like she's starting to appreciate it more, whereas I feel like she really didn't appreciate a lot of things the same. Yeah. So I would say that overall, I think that it's starting to help everybody around here. Even my husband who was like super like clean freak and now he's like...

17:35 getting in the garden, which is crazy to me, and cleaning up chicken poop and duck pools. So overall, I would definitely say this wasn't the end goal. I would still love a farm, but yeah, this is where I'm happy to be for sure. Cool. So how do your neighbors react to what you're doing? I mean, when you started doing all this stuff, were they like, what are you doing?

18:04 Well, we told the one neighbor we were getting chickens because he's like he's the closer neighbor. He's like on the side of our driveway basically near the garage. And then the other neighbor is kind of far. And I was like, we're not getting roosters. So I'll just let it go. But we told him and he's like, I want chickens too. But he didn't get chickens still. But he was fine with it. And then we were like, we're gonna get rabbits. And then we got quail and ducks.

18:29 So now every time he'll just like pop over in the gate, like walk through and check everything out. So he's like super into it and like intrigued. And then like the neighbors across the street are like semi intrigued, but they have like a huge massive garden going on. So really nobody's really bothered. And honestly, the ducks are way louder than the chickens, I would say. Yeah, I can imagine they probably are. Cause quite.

18:54 quack is a lot different than that. Yeah, you come out the back door, it slams and they are going off. Like definitely louder than the chickens. Yeah, you know what's also louder than chickens? Barn cats. Barn cats are louder than chickens. Our barn cats have the loudest meows I've ever heard. What are they meowing for? Oh, just to let us know they're there. We have two cats that live outside, so I call them the barn cats.

19:23 Yeah, the littlest one is four months and a couple weeks old. And every morning he comes tearing from the pole barn over the steps of the house. And the whole time he's going, I'm here. Hello. You have a snack? I'm like, dude, I see you. You stick out like a sore thumb. You're white with beige spots against green grass. I know you're there, but he's very friendly and he's a big love. So it's fine. But yeah, the barn cats are probably the loudest thing outside.

19:53 that's kind of obnoxious. The chickens aren't bad. They're not that loud. Really, they're not. They're not loud at all. The ducks are really loud. The cats can be loud too. Yeah. So, um, when you, when you decided to get ducks, did you already know what they needed? No, I had no idea. And I honestly didn't want ducks and I really didn't want ducks. And then we sadly went to tractor supply and these ducks look so sad.

20:20 in the bin. Of course, they got you. And I was like, all right, we're going to bring these ducks home. And then when we brought them home, we were like immediately obsessed. So I just poured my heart into everything you could think of. We build a duck house and everything for them. And now they have two pools. But I really had no idea. And I didn't want them because they were dirty, apparently, which they are very dirty, but they're so smart.

20:48 and they clean up way better than the chickens do. They eat less than the chickens do. So I would definitely say they're a very cool animal. Yeah. And the baby ones are so cute. Oh, my God. Their feet are so big and they're so tiny. So cute. You know, like they're stomping around with little boots.

21:11 So have you found that one of the benefits of having chickens and ducks and rabbits and quail is that you don't have as much lawn to mow? Oh, 100%. But then we have the dogs that are, you know, fertilizing it themselves every day. So there's patches of high and then there's patches of bare. But yeah, definitely they do a lot. And like I said, the ducks do a lot with like the pests way more than the chickens.

21:39 And then the chickens scratch up anything they can find. So I'm cool with that. And since you said all of that, you are definitely a homesteader because you understand the whole circle of how things work. Yeah, I really oh my God, I'm so glad you said that because I swear me and my husband talk about all the time, people are online. They're like, is it OK if my chicken has this? I'm like, if the chicken's going to eat it, it's probably fine. Like, they know what to eat, not to eat the same with the ducks. Like, yeah.

22:08 If you're going to throw something out there and poison them, they're going to eat it because they naturally would eat that. But they're so like self-sufficient. That's why you see them out in the wild. Like it's just so bizarre how people try to like make it really complex and it's really so simple. And that's why it's so enjoyable because of the simplicity. Yeah. The hardest thing about homesteading, whether it's gardening or raising animals, is the work involved to get it going. Right.

22:37 That's exactly what it is. It's the hardest part. And then when you get it done, it's like, you can enjoy it for a little bit until you do the next thing. Yeah. And what's funny is the beginning of anything is always the hardest part. It is because you have to figure it out. Yeah. And so people are like, Oh my God, how did you do that? That's a lot of work. And I'm like, how did you figure out how to do the thing that you're doing that you love, right? You had to start somewhere too.

23:05 It's the same. And I feel like it's because they think of it as more of a hobby. But when you're trying to do something on a larger scale or maybe larger for you, and like even if they don't know how large it is to you, it's different for them, I guess, because it's not the same hobby, I guess they want to call it. Yeah, I don't know. I just, I feel like people sometimes don't think about what they're saying before it comes out of their mouth. Right. And I don't, I don't mean that.

23:35 as in they're not smart. There's just no online editor to stop what they're thinking to come out their mouth. And so when they're confused or perplexed, this question comes out and you look at them like, but you did the same thing with ABCD, you know? Right, correct. And then they realized what they asked and they're like, oh yeah, I did. Okay, so it's kind of the same. Yes, it's kind of the same.

24:05 It really is. You just kind of have to smooth the edges for them and then they realize. Yeah. Whatever your passion is, whatever things sparked you to want to know more and then to do that thing, it's all the same motivation behind it, if that makes sense? Definitely. It definitely makes sense. Yeah. When we got chickens, we got chickens when we lived at the old place because that bird flu thing was going through. And we had four kids.

24:35 And eggs were really expensive and my children really liked homemade chocolate chip cookies and chocolate chip cookies take eggs. And I said to my husband, I said, how hard would it be to get like four chickens? And he said we would have to buy a shed or a coop for them. And I said, how much would that cost? He told me. And I said, okay. And I like went out of my way to make enough money to get one of the little prefab chicken coop things from Fleet Farm.

25:04 Oh, New Jersey doesn't have fleet from I don't think but. Tractors fly basically. Yeah and come to find out it was a little too small for four chickens so we ended up buying one of the the sheds at Home Depot that you can put together. Yep. And we retrofitted that sucker and it was a great coop and we had eggs for less money than we would have been paying at the store because feeding four chickens isn't that expensive. And I was hooked.

25:34 I just thought this is great. These eggs are so much better than the store bought eggs. And whether they... Don't you love when you crack them and they're orange inside and then, oh my God, I got a hard boiled egg from like a convenience store because I had to go out one day and I had to get food. This egg on the inside was like almost like white. Why? I was like, this is gross. I am not eating this. I would rather starve. Yeah. And the thing is I...

26:02 Every time I have this conversation with people who get it, they're like, oh yeah, eggs from your chickens are so much better than eggs from the store. And I agree, but there are reasons for that. Number one, the eggs at the store have probably been on the shelf for at least three weeks. For two weeks. Yeah. Which degrades the nutrient value and probably the taste of the egg.

26:30 when you are literally cracking an egg from the chicken that just laid it 10 minutes before and frying it up, it's clearly going to taste different and it's going to look different. Oh, so delicious, yes. So, so yeah, I just, I, I always feel stuck on this point because grocery stores are important because not everyone can or will have their own chicken.

27:01 And eggs are good for you. I think that people should eat eggs. I think people should drink milk as long as they don't get sick from drinking milk, you know? But not everybody can go out to the barn and milk their cow and have fresh milked. I'm sorry. Well, apparently in New Jersey, you can't even have raw milk like to sell anymore. You can drink it personally, but you have to find a way to acquire it because you can't sell it. Yep. So they've kind of taken away that right.

27:28 my husband said as of I think he said 22 or 21. So it's like you can't even do milk, but it's almost like I wish they would do the day where they dropped it on your front doorstep. Just like the same thing with the eggs. Like I do think the grocery store is a necessity, but I think that there's a lot of things that they're cutting corners on that are definitely gross.

27:56 So everything happens for a reason. The reason just may not be very good is how I'm gonna put it. Right. But either way, the whole point of my podcast is to let people share about what they're doing to make their life what they want it to be. And I'm so impressed that you are doing all of this on probably what, a fifth of an acre, not even a fifth of an acre? 0.40, so. Yeah.

28:26 Yeah. But with the house and the garage. Yeah, really not a lot of them now. Yeah. So you're using probably every square inch of what yard you have to basically better your life. Right. Just to provide any more sustainability and to not rely, I guess, on the grocery stores as much because they're not that reliable anymore, to be fair. Yeah. I talked with a lady

28:56 couple months ago and she has a little tiny city lot in, I can't remember where, and she's surrounded by a hospital and some clinics. And the doctors and the nurses who go on break, they come outside to the break area and they can see into her yard where she grows produce and bedding plants and stuff, and they come over and talk to her and ask her questions all the time on their break.

29:26 Because it's probably so amazing that like, probably like crazy to see that around all that, all those buildings, but it's like so necessary. Yeah, she had five, I think she said 5,000 seedlings started in her basement. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah, I loved her story. I love your story too. Because I keep saying to people, you can homestead in...

29:55 loft apartment in New York because it's not about land, it's about lifestyle. It is not. I tell my husband that all the time. People in the city can have quail on their porch, they can have plants on their porch. There's so many things that people can do and I really, really want people to see that. That's really important to me because if we can do it, there's no reason someone else can't do it. Yeah, absolutely. And if you're growing something that doesn't need to be pollinated, like lettuces or...

30:24 radishes or carrots or spinach. You can grow that stuff in containers on a table under grow lights in your kitchen. Right, and they have those hydro grow things now. You can do the towers. Like there's so many options. And I definitely think people are forgetting what the country was built on, which is agriculture and all that because that's necessary to learn about. Mm-hmm, absolutely.

30:52 So why is it Little Strawberry Patch? Oh, Little Strawberry Patch. Well, first, because it's little. Yep. Strawberry, because we live on the road, is called Strawberry. It's a patch because it is just a patch. Yeah. And it's a homestead. Okay, cool. I just, when people have cute names, I'm like, why is it called that? Just very simple. Yeah. Ours is a tiny homestead because 3.1 acres isn't that big.

31:20 So, and plus we named it when we lived on our 10th of an acre. That was the name of our business. So I was like, okay, well, we're still a tiny homestead. We're just a little bigger tiny homestead now. Yeah, we'll just drag it over. Yep. So, all right, Nicole, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me today. I try to keep these 30 minutes and we are there. All right, thank you so much. This was awesome. Yep. It's all right. All right, thanks. Have a great day.