A Tiny Homestead

By: Mary E Lewis
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  • Summary

  • We became homesteaders three years ago when we moved to our new home on a little over three acres. But, we were learning and practicing homesteading skills long before that. This podcast is about all kinds of homesteaders, and farmers, and bakers - what they do and why they do it. I’ll be interviewing people from all walks of life, different ages and stages, about their passion for doing old fashioned things in a newfangled way. https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes
    Copyright 2023 All rights reserved.
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Economics Leadership Social Sciences
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Episodes
  • Homestead Harvest of Delano

    Homestead Harvest of Delano
    Nov 22 2024
    Today I'm talking with Ellen at Homestead Harvest of Delano. You can follow on Facebook as well. 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 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 Ellen at Homestead Harvest of Delano. Good afternoon, Ellen. How are you? I'm all right. How are you? I'm good. Are you looking forward to the snowflakes we're supposed to get tomorrow? Tomorrow? 00:29 Yeah. No, I did not know that. My weather reporter did not tell me that. Oh, yeah. We're supposed to get like a trace to an inch of snow. I'm in LaSore and you're in Delano, so I'm assuming you're probably looking at a little bit of snowflakes tomorrow. Okay. I will let him know that he has, you know, got a demerit for failing to keep me apprised. 00:57 Well, it is after mid-November. It's time. It's time for things to start looking holiday-ish, you know. All right, so tell me about yourself and what you do. I know you make jams. Uh, yep, I do. I started because my mom used to make wild plum jam jelly from our plums on our property and then she died and we had to sell the place and 01:27 I decided I wanted to make jelly like she did because it was so good. And so I started making it and I had a good time doing it. Thought it was a lot of fun. So I then decided that I wanted to try other kinds of jellies and or jams. And that's where it started. But my nephew, my great nephew really, really likes the wild plum. 01:57 So he kind of, you know, encouraged me as only a child can do. Yep. I've got four kids and they all are my biggest fans when it comes to trying out new foods, because they figure the worst it's going to be is edible. Yeah. It helps when you have somebody who will eat your practice sessions. Yes. We call it eating the evidence. Yeah. 02:27 Okay, good. Yep. Mm-hmm. Yeah, my husband makes Christmas cookies every December and invariably some of them burn a little and none of us care because you just break off the burnt piece and the rest of it's yummy and he calls that eating the evidence. Yeah, that's, he's got a great point there. Uh-huh. And you can't waste food right now. I mean, you should never waste food, but right now don't waste food. It's so expensive to eat right now. It is. It's crazy. 02:57 I have chickens, so they can also eat the evidence. Yes. Chickens will eat anything. So will pigs. Pigs will eat anything too. Um, so I, I knew that jams and jellies didn't always have to be just sweet. I knew that they could be spicy or they could be even salty or minty. But a lot of people don't realize that the jams and jellies can be of. 03:23 a food that goes with like dinner, not just toast and jam. Right. Right. So over the past summer, I was asked by several people if I had any pepper jellies. And so I started making pepper jellies using my sister-in-law's peppers from her garden. And I've had good luck with those. I've had a lot of people. 03:53 enjoy them and buy multiple, you know, come back and buy more. Mm hmm. And, um, that is gratifying because I had never thought of jelly or jam except for mint, mint jelly, you know, you, you know about that. Cause it goes on lamb. Yeah. But, um, also I've had people put it on their fish and their chicken. 04:22 Your jams or mint jelly? Jams. Like, yeah, I have a pineapple variations and peach variations that are used on their meat, whatever, you know, chicken or fish or like that. And then I made, I had a boatload of tomatoes last year. 04:50 So I started making tomato jam and that is so good on like your, um, it's a savory jam. So you put it on your hamburger or your meatloaf or your ribs. And it, um, you get the tomato, but you also get all the, the spices, depending on which spices are used, it brings out the taste of the meat more. 05:19 Yeah, we tried a blackberry jelly and balsamic vinegar glaze on steak one time and that was really good. Oh yeah, that does sound good. Yeah, it was sweet. It was almost like a barbecue by the time it was cooked, but it was very blackberry-y but it had the zing of the balsamic vinegar. It was really nice. Yeah, that sounds good. Yeah, and years ago. 05:49 I used to do roast chickens and I would mix apple cider vinegar and apricot jam and something else. I can't remember what the other thing was. Like whisk it together in a bowl and put that over the top of the chicken like you would put butter over on a turkey. Yeah. And then- Yeah, baste it with it. And that's really good too. My mom still uses my recipe because I sent it to her. I was like, you should try this. And- 06:17 She's like, we make an apricot glazed chicken once a month since you sent me that recipe. I'm like, well, ...
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    33 mins
  • Waddle and Cluck

    Waddle and Cluck
    Nov 20 2024
    Today I'm talking with Lindsay at Waddle and Cluck. You can follow on Facebook as well. You can visit Nature Notes, as mentioned in the episode. 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 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 Lindsay at Waddle and Cluck. Good morning, Lindsay, how are you? Good morning, I'm doing good, how are you? Good, wanted to make sure I pronounced the cluck with the C-L because it could have been misconstrued, and that would be really bad on my podcast. 00:28 Yes, it's Waddle and Cluck, an old English pub for birds. Oh, okay. Cool. I was going to ask you the story behind it. So is there an actual story behind it? Yes and no. We started off with chickens and ducks and so Waddle and Cluck. And I just, I thought it sounded like when I went to London and I was visiting some of the places around there. 00:56 I just like the way it sounded. So that's what we went with. Yeah. I feel like if you go to the UK, you can't throw a stone without hitting a pub. Is that about right? Yeah. Yes. I've never been, but every time I read a book about it or see a story about it, there's always a pub somewhere involved. So all right. So tell me about yourself and what you guys do. Well, we are a family of six. We're a blended family. 01:24 We have four kids, three boys and a girl ranging from 14 to 19. The oldest is in college. And we have a little hobby farm. So we have chickens, ducks, geese, guineas, quail, and turkeys. And we plan to expand that once we can finish off fencing. 01:52 I think fencing is the bane of existence for anyone who has animals. And then we also do a lot of gardening. I am also a business owner in addition to that. So we also, there's a couple of local markets around here, indoor markets that are geared towards local products that we sell eggs and baked goods and some handmade goods. 02:21 And so we do a lot of things. Yes. I was looking at your, uh, your Instagram page and your Facebook page. And I was like, does this woman ever actually sleep for more than an hour at a time? Yeah, three. Yeah. You know, it's, it's one of those things when you want to have your dream life. Um, you're willing to work harder for it. 02:51 Absolutely. And sometimes if you're lucky that dream life happens and you realize you don't have to keep pushing so hard, that's kind of what happened with us which was really nice because my husband and I are in our mid-50s and we worked really, really, really hard until we moved in here four years ago. And we still work hard but we're not quite as stressed about it as we used to be. 03:21 Yep. And you know, once you really get the hang of things and you get systems in place, it does become a lot easier to do all of the things. I am intensely organized and we have all of our farm stuff on a pretty good schedule. And so other than getting up at sunrise, things flow pretty smoothly around here. 03:50 Yes, and there is a huge benefit to getting up at sunrise. I have a kitchen sink that has a picture window above it. And so when I get up in the morning and get my coffee, I try to get up before the sun comes up because I didn't have the luxury, I guess, of seeing the sunrise from where we used to live. And now there's an open field out that window and it looks due east. And every morning if there's a sunrise, I get to see it and it just makes my day. It starts my day. So. 04:20 peacefully and beautifully that the rest of the day can't go wrong even though there's a chance it will. That's a great way to start your day. Our daughter is currently obsessed with sunsets. Every time there's a sunset, it's prettier than the last one and her phone is filled with pictures of sunsets. 04:45 So is mine because my husband does the same thing. He goes out in the morning if it's a pretty sunrise, he's taking six or seven pictures, and he's always out in the evening at sunset. It doesn't matter what time it is, but he's outside. So I have thousands of pictures of sunrises and sunsets in my phone. I told him we should make calendars every year. You should, you should. Yeah. 05:09 My thing is that in the house that we lived in before this one, there was no window in the kitchen. There was a window out the back door that was in, you know, it walked, it entered onto the kitchen, but it looked north. So you could not see a sunrise or sunset from the kitchen. And when I did dishes, I was looking at a blank wall. So I'm so incredibly thankful for having a window over my sink. 05:36 And that sounds really, really stupid and small, but it's not, it's huge to me. It is. And you know, there's, I have in my office here at the house, ...
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    50 mins
  • Nourish and Nestle

    Nourish and Nestle
    Nov 18 2024
    Today I'm talking with Lynn at Nourish and Nestle. You can follow on Facebook as well. 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 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 Lynn at Nourish and Nestle. How are you, Lynn? I'm well, thank you. Awesome. I have to tell you, my nickname is Lynn. My given name is Mary Evelyn. Oh, okay. And my... 00:28 and my parents couldn't decide which name was going to come first, and they settled on Mary. And by the time I was like a week old, they were calling me Lynn. So I grew up not knowing that my name wasn't technically Lynn. So when I saw yours, I was like, oh, a real Lynn. Okay. A real Lynn. Yep. All right. So tell me all about yourself and what you do. So this like 00:57 stocks me when I say this, but I've been blogging for about nine years, which is like a lifetime. And I, you know, so my blog is Nurture Nestle, obviously, and it's a basically everything I like to do, you know, I kind of ignored the advice to niche down and I kind of niche out. So 01:21 I like to cook, so I cook. I like to garden, so there's gardening. I like to knit, so there's knit. So whatever I like to do is kind of on there. So yeah, that's pretty much it. In a nutshell, I've enjoyed this blogging journey. I got to a point earlier this year where I was like, gosh, do I really wanna keep doing this? And what I did is I just kind of slowed down and just. 01:49 focused on the stuff I wanted to do. And I really kind of stepped back from all the crazy stuff that, you know, make Facebook happy and Google happy and Pinterest happy. And I'm really blessed that I have a great email, active large email list. So I just started really kind of focusing on them and I'm in a happy place right now. You did all the hard work at the beginning and now you get to make the rules. I think that's great. Yes. Awesome. 02:19 Okay, well, I have been doing my podcast for a little over a year. And at a year, I went through the same thing. I was like, do I want to keep doing this? Because it's a lot of work. It's a lot of work to be a creative and put yourself out there and put the time into it. And I talked to my husband about it and I was like, this five days a week thing is a lot. 02:47 And he said, cut back to three days a week again. He said, when you first started, it was once a week. And then you moved to three a week and then you did months of five episodes released a week. He said, drop back down to three. He said, you have a following now. See what happens. And that's what I've done for the last week or so. And it's fine. So no one's your limits and slowing down is not a terrible thing. And, and there's a, there's a lesson for us all there. 03:16 You know, we're not doing our best when we're not enjoying it and when we're feeling like under the pressure and we're feeling like, you know, I must do this, I must do this. And we're at our best, especially creatives, when, you know, we listen to our heart on that, you know. And luckily, you know, I am and hopefully you are in a position too where 03:42 you know, we don't have to go to the daily grind. I know not everybody is lucky enough to do that. And I'm lucky enough to kind of step back and say, okay, this is what I want to do. And I don't want to do all the other things. So yes. And I'm in the same boat. So whatever it is that catches my eye and the person I want to talk to, if they say yes, I am all over it. And it can be anytime between 8 a.m. Central time and 6 p.m. Central time. 04:09 After that or before that, I'm asleep. I'm done. I'm exactly. I need sleep. I am 55 years old. I spent years not sleeping, raised four kids. And sleep is like my favorite thing next to talking to people on the podcast. You and me both girls. Sleep is my happy place too. Uh huh. Yep. And I have to get in some reading just for me. I'm an avid reader. And if I don't read something for me. 04:36 at least an hour a day, I feel like my life is off kilter. So that's kind of my thing. So we could talk about all that stuff all day, but we're not going to. So I wanted to talk to you basically, because you're all about home and design and creating things and I love it. First question for you is what is your particular style when it comes to decorating? 05:05 I think I would be called eclectic. I don't, and I don't, so with not offending anybody, I don't buy decorations. I haven't really bought furniture in forever. I have hand-me-down furniture and I have, the furniture my husband and I bought when we were married 35 years ago. 05:32 is the furniture that I still have today that I've recovered, obviously. But I'm kind of a... I don't...
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    42 mins

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