Today I'm talking with Morgan at Groovy Grazers MT.

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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. 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 Morgan at Groovy Grazer's MT, and I'm assuming the MT stands for Montana, but I could be wrong. Good morning, Morgan.

00:22 Good morning. Yes, it is Montana. We're hoping to be another state. So we like to kind of divide it out. So this is our Montana location, which would be our original location. Okay, that makes sense. Well, tell me about yourself and Groovy Grazers. Yeah, so I'm an Air Force veteran. I spent about two years in and then I got out in Okinawa, Japan when I had my son. And it did set off some genetic disorders. So that's kind of how Groovy Grazers came about.

00:50 was I left my corporate America job making over, you know, $100,000. I was like, I'm going to do something different. And then we got some goats because we needed to like refresh our land. Goats are good land rebuilders. A lot of people don't understand that they can rebuild the land. So it just started with three goats and we were just sitting there one night, me and my husband, and I was like, man, these guys are just burning hay. They're kind of like horses or, you know, just kind of an ornament right now. They got to do something.

01:20 So it started originally with grazing because in the south, and that's where I came from, I moved from Arizona up to Montana, but I lived in Homesteaded in Louisiana and I lived in Texas. And I've seen them do this like massive grazing, but they've done it with meat goats. So I was like, okay, we're gonna try it. And that's kinda how it started. It went from grazing to birthday parties and events to kind of being like a community-based thing. So it's really got a lot of facets to it as a business and as like,

01:50 accompany what we do but the main thing is just go birthday parties right now. Fun! So how does that work? How do the goats interact at the birthday parties and is it for little kids or up to 18 or for grown-ups too? Anyone can have a goat party. I actually did a 34 year old males party this month and part of it was

02:15 He had goats growing up. So some of it is nostalgia, right? For the adults. Tonight we're doing St. John's United. They're a really big nonprofit. A lot of people know them. They're, I believe, worldwide. So we're doing it. So it kind of varies in who and what and where I've done. Dispensary grand openings, because it is legal here. We're doing a kid event at the park. So it...

02:41 There's really not like a person, right? If you ask who can do goat parties, it's anyone, but what do the goats do? Well, I mean, they're Nigerian dwarfs, so they're cute in general, right? They're like max 50 pounds, but I bring the babies. So I just rehomed my 10 to 12 week old. I think every 12 week, I'd have to count back. We had a few babies, but I would take them with, and the kids can hold them, the adults can hold them. You can take pictures with them, just watch them, right?

03:09 Sometimes kids will just sit there and watch them because they're really interesting creatures. A lot of the event is me talking and interacting with the public, which is really my favorite. So, you know, being disabled and not having a lot of things to do and being at home on 20 acres, you don't get out a lot. So a lot of it is me interacting with these people and explaining to them weird facts about goats and why we got into this and how it works and then them getting full range of touching them.

03:38 and exploring them. I love when the kids touch the horns and they look at, you know, their eyes, and I'll even show them their teeth. It's just a hands-on learning experience. And that's really what the whole party is about, is letting the kids touch something that maybe they wouldn't. I mean, not very many people have 20 acres or even goats per se, so it's something that they may never get to do. And so to allow them to do it to the fullest extent is kind of what Groovy Grazers is about, is like free or like...

04:06 I don't know how to explain it, hands-on learning, like free play. Like you play with the goats, you see what they do and you see how they interact and then the kids will ask you questions naturally. It's kind of a really cool interaction between the kids and goats. Super fun. No one has told me the, whatever you said, the facts. Oh yeah. Tell me some facts. Tell me some crazy facts about goats. Okay. So my favorite is land, right? Because in Montana...

04:34 our soil where we're at, I'm in Laurel, which is right outside of Billings. It's kind of a bedroom town for Billings. We're really high in alkaline, right? Alkaline isn't good to garden in. It's really hard to garden in actually. And you have to rebuild your soil. So I tell people, they're like, man, goats are annoying. And I'm like, yeah, well, do you have weeds in your yard? And they're like, yeah, my horses don't either or the people that bale hay.

05:01 Those are especially my favorite, because we talked to a lot of other farmers out here in Montana. It's a pretty rural area, right? And so I get to tell them, I'm like, well, hey, you need goats, because goats naturally eat. And then they process like 90% of the seeds, so they digest them fully. And then the other like eight to 9%, I'm probably a little off of my percentages, they're rendered unviable, so they're not gonna sprout. So you're talking about an animal that comes in and cleans up your field.

05:31 The other really cool thing is they're ruminants like cows. Um, so they chew cud, right? So I love that. They love seeing that, right? They love being able to watch the goats chew. You were saying. Yeah. So the, I mean, just the interaction of the goats, right? Them being ruminants and them chewing their cud. The kids think it is the most hilarious thing ever, right? Because they've seen cows do it, but cows' cud smells really different compared to goat cud.

06:01 And so they love watching it. They also love learning that the ruminant is on the left side, right? So on the goat, which if you're looking at the head, it's on your left side. If you're looking at the goat, it's gonna be on the right. So a lot of people say R for ruminant. I just know it the different way because that's how I was taught. So I love letting the kids or adults put their ears up to the goat's side. When I have little baby goats, that's easy, they just pick them up, you know?

06:26 And they're like, wow, you can hear it gurgling and talking. I'm like, yeah, it's digesting. So there's so much hands-on. They can see almost a full 360 around them with their eyes. That's why their eyes are on the side of their head and they're shaped differently. My husband knows the actual name of the shape that their eye is, and he's got some of the cool facts. They also produce cashmere. Not a lot of people know that. I didn't know that actually. My boyfriend, or husband, we just...

06:54 got married, she basically was like, did you know that they produce cashmere? Cause I'm obsessed with crocheting. Cause my mom taught me how and I said, no. So even me who crochet didn't even know that cashmere came from goats. You know, so I think there's a lot that we don't know about them. Also Nigerian dwarfs are 50, they're like 50 50. They're more of a cream breed, which is what I have. I know people are like, you're nuts. You milk a Nigerian dwarf, you only get a quart of milk. Max, today I have a dough that produces two quarts.

07:24 And I'm like, yeah, but it tastes really good. Most people don't know that because the Nigerian dwarves produce less, that it is a higher fat content. It's actually about 10% more than most other breeds. I mean, these are just like my best facts. I can keep going for days. I absolutely am obsessed with goats. Yeah. I actually have a question. I was watching a show, a vet show, and I think it was dogs. Dogs have uterine f*****.

07:54 horns so they develop babies on both sides. I was a vet tech. That is correct. Do goats do have that too? Yes they do. So that was something I actually learned. So anyone that has goats listening to this you need to go on a Facebook and type goat emergency into your search bar and join that group. Because it's just farmers being farmers and you do have some vets on there but they're just giving advice for free right?

08:21 So on there, I learned that because goats can have babies or kids, which is what they're called, that develop in each horn at different stages. It's super rare, but that's how I learned that goats have uterine horns. And I know that dogs do because I used to help. I was a veterinary technician in Louisiana and we used to perform surgeries. And I remember looking at the horns and him telling me all about that. So that was something that when I went to goats,

08:51 I thought was really interesting that they also have uterine horns too. So they have two separate uteruses almost because from what I was reading, they can have different developmental stages if they're releasing extra eggs, right? Which isn't, they're not supposed to do, but yeah, they do. Isn't that crazy? It is. Nature is nuts. I don't understand what...

09:17 in the world, nature was thinking when it decided to do the things it does. And if you're a God person, I don't understand what God was doing. I don't have to understand. I'm not, I'm not religious. So for me, it's nature. Yeah. I look at the way things happen and the way things get messed up and the way things turn out right. And I'm just astounded every time. Yeah, absolutely. Ghosts have taught me a lot about nature, right? Like it's kind of a cut, cut throat.

09:46 Farming, we're a small farm, right? Well, I don't know. If you ask my neighbors who don't like our homestead, because we're the only homesteader on our entire street, which we're on a smaller street, right? They don't like the farm, but if you ask other people, like we're a small farm, we only have 20 goats. And we can't afford shrinkage. So when you're talking like natural things that happen and not understanding them.

10:13 goats, you know, everyone told me, oh man, goats just love to drop dead and I didn't have any issues for a really long time. And I was like, that's not true. You know, but then I bred and I lost one, um, giving birth and then I just lost one this Friday to worms. And it's just crazy to me that you can let a goat out in the pasture in the morning and they look perfectly fine. I mean, she's running around acting like a little, you know, goat being playful and

10:40 not wanting to go in the pen and having to be chased and eating her food. And then at the end of the night, they're, you know, no longer with you. And so that's what I find crazy is that goats can come and go really quickly in that sense. And sometimes there's no rhyme or reason. And that's with all farming, you know. And so when you get into farming, especially I think with what you're saying is that we learn firsthand just that like there is.

11:07 sometimes no reason for the things that happen in nature. Or you have to really dig, like you don't understand, like goats needing B12. So my goats right now have a heavy worm load and they're anemic, so I'm having to give them iron, B12 and organic apple cider vinegar. Isn't that crazy? Like you're just giving them vitamins. So it's just downing to me that that's just, it's just that simple of a fix for a goat, you know? It's that simple sometimes in nature.

11:37 But then other times it requires antibiotics and it's a lot harder. Yeah, and sometimes nothing works, which is the saddest thing ever. It's so hard. I mean, I keep saying it's so hard. It should be my catchphrase for the entire podcast. It's so hard losing crops and animals because you put all this love and all this work and all this time into the thing you're trying to grow, whether it's plants or animals. You do...

12:04 everything you can, you do all the studying, you do all the work, and sometimes it just doesn't work. It doesn't. And we've experienced that. And I take it so personally, right? When my animals are sick or something. We've spent, I have spent hours actually researching goats need copper. So when people go to the feed store, something I've had to do a lot with Groovy Gracers is education.

12:30 Right? So really groovy grazers is the goats, but there's education involved. So we are a less waste farm at the end of the day. I want to teach people how to do that. So when we, I don't even say we're organic because I can't afford the shrinkage in animals, which is loss, right? Like I had to decide to no longer be organic this weekend because it was either lose four goats or give them an antibiotic. And you know what? They're getting antibiotics.

12:58 Oh, well, I'll just not milk them or I won't, you know, for an extended period because we do watch what we put in our body. But we try to teach people that it is so hard, but it's worth it, right? Pour your heart out into this. Do what you need to do, but know that it can be done on any scale. So when you're having the goats and you're having to make choices with them, sometimes it feels weird, right? And you try everything you can and they still end up dead. But sometimes it works really well.

13:28 So I tell people like, yes, farming is hard, but it's worth it, right? You're growing your own food. You're growing everything on your own. I know what goes into my animals. I know what's coming out of them, right? So like needing copper, that's something they have to have. They have to have selenium and iodine, we're deficient. So you have to do your own research. Like this is a lifestyle, it's not a hobby. I try to tell people like, if you're going to do some type of farming,

13:58 small scale, one acre, it's a lifestyle now. You have to indulge in all the information you can get from other farmers because you don't really, I can't call it that, you know, for some of the things I need. And that's one of the, you know, the problems that a lot of farmers I think run into is that they wanna give up because it can be hard. So like, yeah, it's totally hard, but it's worth it. You can find the things that you need. Just do a little bit of research, right? I go to like five different feed stores.

14:26 If I need to to get all the vitamins I need. Goats need a lot of vitamins. They're a vitamin-based animal. Like, did you even know that? That's another cool fact. If goats' vitamins are off, then they get sick really easily. So- Yeah, yeah, I did know that, but I'm sure that my listeners do not know that. So thank you. Yeah, I didn't know that, right? When I got into this, I was shocked. Do you, so do you have goats, Mary, then? I don't, but I love them.

14:53 And I have done a bunch of reading on what it would take to have goats at our place. And I can't afford to feed them. I don't have any place for them to graze. Okay, so Nigerian dwarfs. Let's talk about it then because this is a really cool subject. We haul water. I am not hauling water for full sized goats at all because of the fact that it's a lot of water.

15:22 And we, I don't drive the water truck. My partner does because I just, I'm not there yet, right? So when I went into home studying, I never had to haul water. So this was different when I moved to Montana and it's common here. So we looked and looked and looked and the same thing you're talking about, right? Feed, I'm on just my disability right now, right? Groovy Grazers brings in enough money to pay the bills for the goats thankfully now, but in the beginning it didn't. That was why.

15:52 The Groovy Graziers was created. Nigerian Dwarfs are only eating three pounds a day. Compared to six to nine pounds that your Nubians, your Boars, Kikos, Alpines would eat. That's why I went with the Nigerian Dwarf. Also because they're a dual breed. They're meat and they're milk. So end of the world, tinfoil hat, right? Veterans, sometimes I wear it. It's okay. That's why I got the Nigerian Dwarfs in the end of the world type situation. I have everything I need.

16:22 I have a goat that doesn't consume a lot of water. I have a goat that only eats three pounds. So in the winter time, in the harsh winter, they eat more than three pounds here because we got down to negative 40 this last winter. So obviously they eat more in the winter time, but they need very basic needs. So you could essentially, yeah, you probably could have a few Nigerian dwarfs, but you would have to supplement with hay.

16:48 which is okay because if you're milking them, then they would probably benefit you enough, right? So it's all a, like, what is your end goal? And that's what I had to look at, right? When I was getting my breed. So the Nigerian Dwarfs ate less, drank less, but also provided milk that was higher in fat content. I wasn't really a goat milk person, I'll be honest.

17:10 But I do like my goat's milk. So that's what I learned the vitamins is if your vitamins are off, it's a muscular taste in the milk along with how your cooling process. So maybe, you know, if you have an acre, you could technically have three goats. I have a lady she bought goats for me. And she has them in her backyard. She's not in city limits. She's right on the outskirts of it. There's actually a herd of 150 boars across the street from her, but they have a house with a small yard.

17:39 And she has three little withers back there and she gives them hay and they couldn't even keep up with her yard actually because it was growing so well from the manure because goat's poop is ready manure. It's not hot. So it automatically starts absorbing me into the ground. So they're a rebuilder. So I don't know, maybe take a look at it again and look at Nigerian Dwarfs. Like I encourage listeners don't be put off by the size of your land or how much you might have to graze because...

18:06 If the goat only needs three pounds a day and you need at least a minimum of three goats, most people on an acre can do it. But you have to look at the benefits. This lady didn't want to milk. She just wanted lawn mowers, so therefore we went with withers. If she wanted to milk, I would have had her put, use does and then you wouldn't keep a buck. So you would have to pay for the breeding services for your does. So there's a lot of planning that I think goes into each homestead.

18:35 And a lot of people just aren't aware that these miniature goats eat far less than the large size Yeah, and I appreciate everything you just said and it makes me want to look into it more However, I would have to convince my husband that it would be a good idea to get goats and I don't think he's into it Right now. No, maybe maybe what I can do is do some more research over the winter and then hit him in about I don't know February and be like

19:01 Could we get a couple goats this year? Well, and tell him right when he was about to go mo, hey, you could be doing something else like golfing or whatever his hobby is instead of doing this. That was like kind of our grazing catch slogan. It was like, go do something else. Let us do the hard work with the goats. But there is a lot that goes into goat owning. I mean, the vitamins is a big ordeal. And if we weren't milking them.

19:28 I don't think they would be as fruitful for us as they are for the farm. Because yes, we want to get rid of the sweet clover that we have in the fields and they'll eventually graze that out. But we do plan on forever keeping goats because of how much of a duality they bring to the farm. And I think that's important, right? And even though we have 20 acres, 10 of it is grazing the other 10 is forest and gold.

19:55 Because we're kind of on the rims and so I try to explain to people that like anyone can can do do it But how much work do you want to do? You know with us being me and my husband are both? Hyper mobile therefore we have some like physical disabilities and so I tell people like we have ten acres But anyone can do it you can do it regardless if you're mobile or not as mobile It just depends on how much extra work you want to do so like when I have to clean stalls

20:24 it takes me a lot longer, but that's okay. I still get it done. So everyone's, I mean, really honestly, everyone's homestead is so wildly different. It is even hard to like give advice. People will ask me for advice on their goats and their homestead, and I'm like, it all depends even on soil and your location and weather. And so I encourage like your listeners, you know, understand that we're in the middle of Montana. We're in rural, rural Montana, and we have

20:54 extreme highs and lows. We hit 90 two days ago, but less than four months ago, we were in the negative still with snow on the ground. And so in Minnesota, it's not a whole lot different, but in Florida, it might be. Yeah. And so yeah, for you, we're pretty kind of on the same plane. But yeah, Texas, man, was this a learning curve coming from the south up to here? It's a short growing season. You have to be really picky.

21:21 There's a lot more planning and a lot less errors I feel like I can make in Montana. So it's definitely more of like a moderate homesteader type state when you're getting into lots of mistakes, lots of learning curves with plants and animals, but it's all worth it in the end. Yep. So I don't wanna run out of time. When did you get into this? What brought you to doing this in the first place?

21:49 So about a year ago, it's actually kind of funny, our in-laws that live on the property, they weren't really a fan when I moved in. And so instead of building like a fence, I said, let's put a goat barn up. And it creates this like peaceful. So I mean, the goats are funny, like how they came onto the farm was just to create kind of privacy. And then they just turned into a passion and a hobby. So this happened about last.

22:17 Let's see, I moved in last Mother's Day, not this last. So I've been here for about a year. So we've done all this in a year. We've done it really quickly. Um, I probably had goats about eight months, nine months. Um, I got them a few months after I moved in, but I, I don't know. They're like my little animal. I'm just really obsessed with them. So I spent months reading, um, while owning them and like slowly building the herd up. So we started with three and now we're at 20, 21. I think I just bought two mini Lomachas.

22:45 So, and I bought another goat. So yeah, it's always like, but I mean, trinket is right with goats. There's, there is that on the homestead. So you have to kind of go through and learn. It's been a hard year for a lot of farmers too. So yeah, we're slowly building, but I don't know if we're going to expand much more. I mean, 20 to 25 goats is a lot. That's a lot of hoves to trim. Yes. And they have to want to cooperate too.

23:13 Yeah, they do. And thankfully, ours are pretty good about it because I stay on top of it and I trim hoes from the time they're five weeks old upwards. So they're pretty used to it. But yeah, I mean, it takes a lot of time. So I mean, if we could add like four more days into my week, I probably would get more animals. But right now, I think we're capped. Well, I think if everybody could add four more days into their week, people will be doing a lot more fun things with their time or what they're interested in with their time. Yeah.

23:42 There's no life when you have a homestead. Your homestead is your life. We don't leave the farm much.

23:51 Yeah, I understand. We don't either. I shouldn't say that. My husband has a jobby job. That's what we call the job that pays the bills. Yeah. So he's gone during the day during the week to his job. But we don't go on vacation because we have chickens and we have a dog and we have barn cats. And we really made a plan years ago that when we could buy a place like we bought in 2020.

24:19 that we wanted it to be a place that felt like being on vacation. Yes. And it does because what we want to do on vacation is go to people's farms and see what they're doing and what they're making and how they're doing it. Now we're just doing it. So it's, it's really fun. And the other thing is that we lucked out and our home that we bought was completely remodeled before we bought it. Oh, wow.

24:46 So it's been such a joy to live in a place, and I'm going to jinx it, where we haven't had to paint every fall because the house we lived in before had plaster and lath walls. And so they would crack because the house would shift. So we'd have to mud the walls and paint. We haven't had to put in a new toilet. We haven't had to do any of the stuff we had to do at the old house.

25:11 So it's been living, it's been like living at an Airbnb except we own it. Yeah. And that's, that's minus. Yeah. And we get to be outside on three acres. It's just, it's been such a joy. And so I'm not at all upset about the fact that we don't do vacations because we live where we vacation. That's us too. Like we have a rock. I'm sure you've seen it on my Facebook posts and the viewers can go look too.

25:40 on our Facebook, but we can see into Park City. And so we can just walk five minutes into the forest and then we're in a whole different location. And so yeah, we don't really leave the land a lot. I mean, I do for doctor's appointments and stuff. So for the most part, I'm here. This is where everyone wants to come to. I mean, if my friends are like, Katie, wanna hang out? I'm like, yeah, do you want me to come to your house? And I'm like, in my head, I'm like, please don't. I have too many farm tours. I'd rather you just come here.

26:09 you know, and but all my friends want to come here, it's a little slice of heaven, kind of tucked away. And then, you know, you can just sit outside and relax and that we have a cool breeze most of the time. And so living I mean, three acres that I tell people all the time, three acres is like, ideal. I had five acres when I was in Louisiana. And that was a little too much if I just had chickens, because we just had chickens and dogs and cats.

26:37 you know, cause there was nothing to take care of, like the lawn. And so three acres, you can do so much on it. Like you can get into rabbits, you can get into quail, you can get into all sorts of things. I, thankfully my partner loves animals. He doesn't say no. Since I've moved in, I've brought three dogs, a cat, in on top and like probably 20 chickens. I think we're up to like 35 chickens.

27:05 and three guineas, but I just bring animals in and he's okay with it. But I do pay the fee bill. So the fee bill is my part of the contribution for the house. I think that's why it's okay. But yeah, three, that's really cool. 2020 was a good time to buy. My partner bought this before. It sure was a good time to buy. Yeah, I think he bought his in 2019. So like right before COVID.

27:32 He already had the 20 acres when I met him and we actually live in a tiny house. So it's a two loft tiny house. Yeah. So my son lives on one side of the loft. We live in the other, it's only 450 square feet on the bottom. And the, and the other, we live in a pole, pole barn house. The other portion of the house, which is 1000 square feet is a shop. And so like I blow glass and he's a metal worker. So we'll do that in the winter time in here. And then we're going to convert.

28:00 some of it into an indoor garden too. So even though our house is tiny, we don't really spend a lot of time, which it sounds like you guys are the same summertime. You got to get outside because winter time you have to hibernate. There's no option. Yeah. Yep. Exactly. I didn't know you blow glass. Do you want to come back like in a month or so and talk to me about that? Because this is also a podcast for people who make things. Because I know nothing about blowing glass. I just know that I'm fascinated by it when I see people do it.

28:30 It's super cool. So I only apprenticed for six months, but I have my own torch. Um, and I was doing it on my own. I was blowing glass on top of my full time job. Um, and I do borrow glass. So it's like Pyrex. So it's going to be like, um, more of like your bongs, your glasses, your shot glasses, like the really, it's really cool. It's not soft glass, soft glass is a lot of waiting for everything to cool down. But yeah, I would totally love to come back and like.

28:59 I could even bring one of my glass-blowing friends to or have you talk to Brennan. There's so many different things, but that's cool. It sounds like you have a lot of facets to your farm. You have two podcasts and you do a little bit of home. Well, you do a lot of home setting, it sounds like, because you have the chickens and I'm sure massive gardens. So you're busy. Yeah, we do. We do, yes. And honestly, my husband is the gardener.

29:22 Aren't they always mine too? Loves it and I do not I will cook anything for him out of the garden, but I don't love Gardening. I love all the techie stuff, which is terrible because you know, we live on a homestead I could have done this from my house and in town where we lived before. Yeah My son who is living with us. He's 22. He handles chores, which is wonderful Yeah, and and I handle making sure that they get fed

29:52 and they have clean clothes, they have clean folded clothes. And I do the marketing and the finding out things from my husband. And he's like, when he's like, we have a new bug in the garden, can you look up this thing? And he sends me a picture. I love it. I'm like, yeah, I can find out what to do. And now that I have the other podcast with the Master Gardener, I literally have someone who can answer any question about gardening ever known to man, which is great.

30:18 She's fantastic and I'm so thrilled that she's doing it with me. Yeah. Master gardeners are just knowledge, man. Watching knowledge. I wanted to go and take my master gardening, like go through the process of it. Um, we're organic living soil. Uh, so before we did Groovy Grazers because Montana, it is recreationally and, um, medicinally legal cannabis. That's what my partner grew before.

30:47 So when we sold, he sold that business, we ended up doing Groovy Grazers because we like having a small business. And so he is the gardener also. He knows about all of the organic living soil. You feed the soil and then you get what you need out of it. And so he taught me a lot about gardening. I didn't know so much about gardening. I'm the animal person. I was on and off of vet tech in multiple states.

31:15 I've done a lot of that. So animals, I can troubleshoot. I can give them the shots. I can handle the sickness. When it comes to the garden, I'm like, you need to look at this. I don't know what I did. So COVID, I actually killed like $1,000 worth of houseplants within the first like, you know, two to three months because I was stuck inside and I used to work on the computer. I was sales reps and so I was at home working. And so I tried and that's kind of what started. I...

31:43 could finally grow something and it was cannabis and I did it really well and so that's kind of where my gardening is and so this year I am gardening on a hugel and it's so interesting. You'll have to ask your master gardener about it because they are cool. Andy, my partner, showed me them.

32:03 and you get more gardening space and it's a big organic living soil bed. And so I planned out my garden this year, but there's certain things you can't put in there, right? Strawberries can't go in there, they don't like it. So I've been learning all of it. And so knowledge, it's just cool to see, you know, where you can lead, even though everyone has their place. Like you don't do a lot of stuff outside, but you do the important stuff inside. You provide the meal, nourishment is huge.

32:30 If they didn't eat, they wouldn't be able to do what they did. Your son doing chores is awesome. I have a nine-year-old son, and I hope he doesn't move out at 18. He stays a little bit longer because he's so helpful on the farm, and he's a key role, right? He's a key player in the farm. Everyone has their role, and that's why I say all the time, homesteads are like little clocks. Everyone's a cog in the clock that works, and if one is off, then the whole farm is off.

33:00 I mean, there's no shame doing the tech stuff. I'm tech dumb, like just not able to do it. And I'm young, right? I'm 30. My bosses hated in corporate America. They're like, oh, thank goodness you can sell stuff because you're terrible on the computer. You make so many errors. And I'm like, yeah, because I want to be outside, you know? So it's funny, whereas like my son, he likes to be inside. He likes the techie things. He's the one that, you know, can take pictures and makes his own music to go with our videos and stuff.

33:30 sometimes and so it's cool to see that like everyone's homestead has that cog feature, right? Everyone has a role in it. So I would be really interested to see like the other roles in homesteads. I'll have to go and listen to your podcast. I've been listening to it and it's interesting. I've learned a lot. I think just talking and listening to other people you learn quite a bit. It's better than reading.

33:56 Honestly, I'm gonna I'm gonna say this again. I keep ending up repeating myself on stuff on the podcast episodes, but it's relevant I really never liked podcasts. It's not how I learn best. I don't learn audibly. I learn reading okay, yeah from reading and Since I started doing the podcast I've listened to more other people's podcasts in the last year than ever before because I wanted to know how they sound and how they

34:24 paste their podcast and what kind of things they do. And so now my husband walks up and starts to say something to me and I just point at my ear and he's like, oh, hang on. And I go and stop what I'm listening to and I pop one out and I'm like, yes. He's like, you are constantly listening to podcasts. I'm like, I know, it's crazy. But I didn't like listening to podcasts before. I didn't know I was going to be doing a podcast at this time last year.

34:54 And I have what my dad calls got to know itis, which is basically perpetual curiosity. I am a lifelong learner. So when this idea popped in and I ran it by my husband and he said, go for it, try it. I thought that I'd do two episodes and nobody would listen and it would be done and that I would not be good at it and that I wouldn't enjoy it and that it would just be weird. And I actually do love it. And it didn't die.

35:23 I just passed 4,000 downloads since last August. Wow, congrats. Yeah, which doesn't seem like a lot, but for this particular situation, I feel like that's a big step, you know? No, that is. Like, we got contacted by Q2 out here, which is a local news station. The first day I posted that we were grazing, and I remember looking at Andy and I was like, wow, people really believe in what we're doing. Like, this is cool, you know, because...

35:53 I didn't know I thought I was going to flop but I needed income. I needed my goats to at least get paid for because I'm still going through my VA reading process. I'm not at that 100% that we all need to be at. I totally need to be there. It's just taking two years. These last years have been trials emotionally of wanting to get there and knowing that I will get there but then also having to find my place. I just can't sit at home. I'm a busybody.

36:21 I have to move around all the time. As you see, I'm a busy lady. And I love it that way. And then I had another news station, and I've been on the news quite a few times, but I didn't have like your intentions, right? I didn't have the intentions of being this popular gold lady in town, right? Like people recognize me. It's really weird. When people do it. I mean, I'm flattered. And I like I like tell them thank you. And I'm, you know, thank you for supporting my dream. Because we'll eventually nonprofit, we're going to work on that.

36:50 next year, but it was just a small little idea and it turned into a big thing just like yours, right? Like you've hit $4,000. I never expected to even book a party, let alone be booked out. I'm booked out two to three weeks most of the time on my parties. And like, I mean, I only do two, like we're not talking like days and days of work, because I do days and days of work on the farm. I only do two parties. So four hours a week. That's what my body can handle, right?

37:20 being disabled, I have to work around that. But having those parties constantly booked is like, I don't know, I don't even post sometimes that I'm looking to book parties and I have messages constantly flowing in about it. And you're just shocked, right? That people believe in you. And I think that's part of it, right? Like when you started your podcast, you're like, no one's going to listen. But then people do. It's like the same when people are like, I'm going to homestead. Like, I encourage all of your listeners, if you're a homesteader,

37:46 Find a way to use your homestead to bring in income. Yeah. We should all be doing it. And if we're not, like message me, I won't charge you at all. Like tell me what your farm is about and I'll try and think of an idea. I sold accounting software for a big company. I've heard so many different businesses, that was my job. And I love empowering people. I love the fact that your podcast does that. You're empowering other homesteaders to learn from other people.

38:14 You're gardening, right? Having a master gardener, that's like awesome. That's unbelievable knowledge you can provide to your listeners. So really like you're doing a really big thing for us homesteaders. You're providing a way for us to talk about our own stories. I've gone online and I've read Reddit, I've read forums and stuff, but nothing is better than listening. I wasn't a podcast person either. But when I got into blowing glass, I was like, all right, I can't listen to music.

38:40 for six hours on end because it repeats. I only have so many favorites, you know? But you can listen to podcasts, but the amount of knowledge that I've learned, it's insane, right? Like what I always tell people, and again, tinfoil hat, right? Like it's not about stopping the government, it's about how are you going to survive a collapse of our government? Which to me, translate to homesteading, right? Providing for my own family.

39:08 And so that was like part of the push for it. I think everyone right now should be finding something outside of corporate America and should be really pushing to be their own boss because what's gonna happen when corporate America is not there. So we should all be thinking about the bigger picture. Yeah, it's scary, right? Nobody wants to think about 10 years from now. I sure don't, but I do because I have children. And like you, you have