A Tiny Homestead

A Better Yard

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Today I'm talking with Brad at A Better Yard. You can also follow on Facebook. If you use the code atinyhome, you'll get a discount on the price for the first month.

 

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Join today for just $37 a month and start building a business that doesn't depend on the algorithm. A tiny homestead podcast is sponsored by Seals Spoon Farm. 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 Brad Tabke,  the founder of A Better Yard in Shakopee, I think, Minnesota.  Good morning, Brad. How are you?

00:49

Good morning. I am happy to be coming to you from Shakopee. OK. And I forgot to mention that he's also a Minnesota state representative for Shakopee.  So ah how is your day? I would ask you about the weather, but since you're only about half an hour, an hour away from me, I know that it's sunny and warm. Warm. Warm is good. It is.  It felt so nice. Like  I was out this morning already. I had bird feeders to fill and do all that kind of stuff. And so I was out this morning and it was

01:19

gorgeous and I hear we're supposed to get some snow later this week. So  that would actually be kind of nice to give some more moisture.  That would help a lot. Yes. ah My husband actually cut down an ash tree  last weekend and he was out there cutting it up this weekend in a t-shirt and like khaki pants and sneakers. But  it's a goofy February. Goofy is the weather's goofy all the time right now. We'll see what happens with that. it  yeah it was a gorgeous gorgeous weekend.

01:50

It really was and I was like, why am I warm? And I looked up at the thermostat in the house, it was 75 degrees and the furnace was not on. I was like, oh, duh, when it's warm outside, it's gonna get warmer in the house. Go fig. Exactly. It's a good ambient heating there. Yeah, we've got lots of windows and so the sun was just pouring in the living room and I was like, why am I hot? And I'm like, oh, duh, I know I'm hot. It's not.

02:17

It's February, but it's not February according to the weather. Okay, so you had a group called Minnesota Gardening and you changed the name to a better yard in January. So tell me the history on this. Yeah, so during COVID, it feels like all the stories now start with during COVID XYZ happened.

02:44

We during COVID, I had a bunch of friends who were asking me they wanted to start doing planting vegetables and flowers and those kinds of things and wanted something to do. And so they knew that I was I have a horticulture degree from Iowa State and have been in the landscape industry since I graduated from college. Actually, since I was in middle school working in a greenhouse. And so I have been

03:10

started that out helping just friends. they're like, Brad, we want to pay you to do this. And how do we do that? And I was like, I don't know. I'm not sure oh how we can do all this and make it make sense. And so we were just helping folks. And uh then we set up what we called Minnesota Gardening to grow that and stretch that to be  helping  with landscapes and helping make sure people knew how to  reduce their chemical use and just fundamental things like that,  along with

03:38

fruits and vegetables and making sure to grow  those kinds of things. And so  we started that and was very Minnesota centric. It was very much here in  our thing that we wanted to be doing.  But then it continued to grow from there. And so it was the focus shifted  through COVID and after COVID to  focusing on  environmental landscape and making sure that people knew  how to  eliminate chemicals, how to feed pollinators, how important it was.

04:05

that we have a diversity of  native and helpful plants in our yards  and making sure that those kinds of things, saving water, storing carbon  that are important for our future, that those kinds of things are  happening. And so  we grew beyond just Minnesota  and just gardening into focusing  on making sure that we're helping to  do, you know, little things like helping to reduce the risk of cancer from chemical use and those kinds of things. And so

04:33

We switched to a better yard this year and it's been going really, really well. I'm excited about it. Awesome. I'm really happy for you because when you you when you rebrand, it's it's a it's a gamble. So I'm glad that it's going well for you. I want to tell a little story when when I moved in with my husband back over 24 years ago, I think now. Yeah, at least over 24 years ago, he lived in Jordan.

05:01

And he lived on a 10th of an acre lot with a house and a four car garage on it. you can imagine how little room  there was for growing anything.  And the backyard was basically crab grass and weeds.  And his mom was moving and she gave us some  iris roots or whatever they call rhizomes  and some lilies and some violets.  And she was like,

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take these and plant them wherever you want to plant them. And neither my husband nor I had really considered putting in gardens as it were until that moment. And there was a pine tree growing in front of our bedroom windows between our house bedroom windows and the sidewalk. It was a little tiny, maybe six foot deep by 14 foot long bed where that pine tree was.

05:58

And it was just all weeds in the pine tree. And so  I said, would you cut the pine tree and can we get some stuff to amend the soil and we'll put the flowers out front? Cause that would be really pretty.  And he was like, sure.  And so we took that tree down without breaking a window, which was amazing  and ah got everything going. And it was really a sweet little garden,  really pretty.  And after the first summer, that winter, I was like, you know, we have a backyard. And he said, he sorta.

06:28

And I said, I know it's small. I said, but I said, if we tilled that up and amended the soil,  we could be growing food, not crabgrass and weeds. And we had four kids at the time.

06:42

He was like,  oh, almost free food. said, yeah, almost free food. mean, that first year is going to be expensive, but after that,  it'll even out. So we ended up working on that yard all that fall, think. No, was spring, I'm sorry. Got some little beds planted. We had a huge,  can't remember, rhubarb patch that had been there for years already. That stayed. You do not want to dig up rhubarb that's over a hundred years old, because that's good stuff.

07:11

and ended up growing tomatoes  and  summer squash and cucumbers in herb garden that first year.  And it did so great. And we were the only ones on our block doing this. Our neighbors thought we were nuts.  The reason I tell this story is because it got our neighbor right next to us. Her little girl was very interested in the cucumbers growing through the fence. And that got her interested in gardening.

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and our neighbors, our former neighbors across the street.  She,  for the last two years has been doing cut flowers in her yard that's even smaller than our former yard was.  Wow. So, so you can  be an influence, you can make a difference on the, in the smallest ways and it becomes a movement. Exactly.

08:02

And it's so, important for people just to get  started with something, right? It's just so important that people find a place and find just a little thing. And what  we find happens a lot with people. So we do a lot of teaching around this getting started  concept of things. And  we help people understand that  it doesn't need to be this big grandiose. You don't need to have huge plans. You don't need to have all these things.  You just need to get started with one thing. uh

08:31

And just like with with Iris, um getting that out there and getting that going and learning,  learning the rhythms of how that plant grows and when you can expect to have  Iris, like beautiful Iris flowers for yourself and what you need to be doing. And then you can take and go to the next step and go to the next step. And it's a  it's a ladder to get to  really great things.  It really is.  And  there is something really special.

09:01

about planting a seed, nurturing it, and watching it become something different. And I think that's true in anything. I mean, if you want to write a book. uh A book is not a book until the idea comes out of your head,  onto paper, onto the computer keyboard, and gets printed and people can read it. A garden is not a garden until you plant a seed. Right. Absolutely.  right.

09:28

Now is like a lot of people don't realize it, right, especially for like native and local plants to be growing in your areas. Like right now is a really, really great time to be planting those seeds. So like coneflowers and things like that and planting those during the winter is is the time to be doing it. And so just grabbing a packet of seeds and tossing it in your backyard or tossing it into a milk jug for some winter sowing is a beautiful way to get started.

09:58

Yes, and it's all simple. I think the reason that people drag their feet is because they think it's going to be  a lot of time and a lot of hassle and a lot of energy expended for very little return. And I'm going tell you right now,  it can be a lot of work. And it can be a lot of time, but it doesn't have to be.  And even if it is, it's so worth it when that cone flower blooms and you're the one that put it where it is. Right. It's so rewarding, especially if you have like

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kids and family around and that kind of thing or grandkids or wherever you're at in your stage of life, like involving them in these processes is always so like we have when we start things for the garden from seed inside like tomatoes and that kind of stuff, which I don't think I'm going to end up having enough time to get done this year, which is terrible. But I know it's it's been rough. And so we'll see what happens with it. But like my youngest, she's 14 now.

10:56

And uh we  check on the babies. call the babies  the little plants coming up. We call those the babies. And we check on the babies every morning and just seeing  who sprouted overnight and where it's at and all that kind of stuff.  we'll see what we can get done there.  we're a little behind our schedule with life.  Yes. And actually, we can talk about that in the last five or 10 minutes.

11:22

I usually do these for half an hour or so at about 20 minutes. I'll let you know we can  you can share what you would like about why things have been so crazy  for you. um I'm going to lose my kitchen table this weekend to seedling trays.  Oh, beautiful. What kinds of stuff do you grow?  We will be growing. I'm sure we will be growing thyme because I love it and I cook with it a lot. So we'll have thyme babies.  Beautiful. Tomatoes, cucumbers, squash.

11:51

um Probably chives. Chives are a really easy thing to start and grow for anybody listening. um Rosemary. Rosemary from seed is so fun because half the time it doesn't take and half the time it grows like crazy. So  when you plant rosemary seeds, there's a 50-50 shot whether you'll get the seedlings and when you do, it's like hallelujah, they came up.

12:15

I'm always like, Hallelujah, they came up on all of them.  It's just amazing to me to think about like  how  seeds are just this little  packet and this little bundle of everything you need for a  tree to grow or a plant to grow or however that is.  And just that it's all contained, especially when you put like a little, you know, a poppy seed down or you put a little  tiny tomato seed and what that grows into is just uh a wonder the whole time. And it's it's amazing to watch.

12:46

It's miraculous. is the epitome of the word miraculous. Exactly.  I love it. I  am not the gardener. My husband is. I always make sure I say that because I used to be  in it with him. And as I've gotten older, I'm not nearly as entertained with it as he is. He is an avid, ridiculously obsessed gardener. Like he just loves it.  And every spring he's like, I'm going to go get seed trays. And you can just see him bouncing on his heels because he's so excited.

13:16

Well, it's such a  great thing for this time of year, like  when everything just feels,  I mean, we had a great weekend here, but it's going to get cold again and we're going to get snow again and  we're going to have whatever our uh suffer through our  third or fourth winter, whatever we end up doing and just having that little bit of hope and that little bit of excitement  that we know the warmer days and being able to be outside are coming  and make it through. March is my least favorite season of the year.

13:44

And it is just the hardest. And so those are always great to help us get through. Yes, the having the little green babies in the kitchen just makes my heart happy. Every March and April while they're taking over my kitchen table, which I'm not happy about, but I am very happy to have the seedlings.  One of the things I would say is if you have a dog that is tall enough to reach wherever you have your seedlings growing,  you might want to figure out a way to put them out of a dog's reach because a dog will eat

14:14

babies seedlings. They will. I've never heard that before.  Ours have always been out of reach of our dog, but  she's never shown much interest in them. Oh, well, our dog is short. She's only about, I think her back is just below my knee and I'm five foot nine.  She can't reach the table. But the first year that she was full grown and we had seedlings on the table, she was very interested in all the smells coming from the plants. Oh, funny.  I wonder if it's the fertilizer maybe.

14:44

I don't know, but as soon as we had mint growing, she was always coming out the kitchen with me and sniffing the air by the table. And I'm like, you must like mint.  Funny. Yeah. So be careful. And cats will eat stablyngs like crazy. Oh, that definitely I've heard that for sure. And we're not cat people. So I don't have that issue. Yep. We don't have cats in the house anymore. We have barn cats. Barn cats are great because they're friendly,  but they're outside.

15:14

Yep. Doing their job. It's a good thing. Oh, we have three six month old kittens right now. I was watching them play in sunshine yesterday and one of them popped out of a bunch of wood that we have stacked for our wood burning furnace and had a mouse in its mouth. And I was like, all right, six months old and catching mice. I'm impressed. It's a beautiful thing. Yeah, it's they know what they're supposed to be doing.

15:40

Mm-hmm. Absolutely. And they're gorgeous cats. Two of them are long-haired. One of them is short-haired.  And I'm so in love with these babies. And  I suspect we'll probably have kittens by fall. And we didn't have kittens last summer at all because we didn't have a female cat on the property. So I'm very excited to have some more barn kittens come fall. Fun. Yeah. And we always find homes for them. So it all works out great because  other farms need barn cats too. Right.

16:10

We don't feel too bad about having more kittens because it's  once or twice a year and then we find homes for them at new farms. So it works out okay. Exactly. So  what  what do people get out of this a better yard  program because it costs money and I want people to know what they're getting for that money. Yeah. So we are um it's thirty seven dollars a month or people can get a huge discount if they do an annual

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membership. so what we do is we teach folks how to grow with a focus on the environment and focus on our local ecosystems. Because as we as we know, cancer rates are skyrocketing. And those have been proven now to be mostly, or I don't know, mostly is the right word to use. many of them have been proven to be

17:05

chemically induced by other chemicals we use on our landscape and our properties and in the environment.  And  we need to make sure to protect ourselves and we need to make sure to protect those around us. I'm doing that. And so  this is  one way  we teach people how to reduce and eliminate chemical use in their landscape and in their lawns. then as well  from there, we work very hard on  on

17:29

feeding pollinators songbirds because we insect populations that are collapsing, partially due to chemical use, partially due to habitat destruction,  as well as songbirds. And the it is just amazing how uh much those populations in United States have dropped over the  course of last three decades.  And it's up to us to help  figure that out and out to  provide the habitats to support these things.  And the fun thing is by

17:57

doing this by eliminating chemicals and by  feeding pollinators and by doing that work.  What happens from there  is that  that also ends up saving our clean water, which we know that we also need to do because we have uh polluted water systems and we are uh having an epidemic of non clean water available for people.  And then also stores carbon to help eliminate and reduce climate change and everybody.

18:25

does their part. So it's a really good thing to kind of go back to our roots and go back to where we started.  And so we teach people how to do those things. So we have a monthly theme  every month where we talk through like this month is all about ecology and understanding  what our uh local ecosystems need and how they work. And then we give tools every weekend for people  knowing how to  enact these things and do them. But the  biggest thing, is that

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It's a community of people who  care about similar things and who uh want to build a similar world together.  That is  safe for our kids to play in the grass and safe for  insects to come and  use our backyards or front yards as habitats and making sure that we're doing those things  to make the world a better place. I love oh it. And if I didn't already have a handle on all that, I would be joining your community.  However, I have a handle.

19:24

And I don't have time, I don't have the resources right now to join another thing. And I'm not saying that people shouldn't, but I'm probably not going to just full disclosure.  the  focus is on people who are  in a transition and focus on people who are, ah you have just purchased a new house or just moved or that kind of thing, or you've come to some sort of like, there are so many people that are having these

19:51

I mean, I'm sure that everyone listening to this knows of someone who's having a health scare right now or something going on or worse. uh And know that they want to start doing these things. It's always been in the back of their head that they want to start uh reducing the amount of  weed killer that they use on their lawn because it's bad for everything.  And so it's those kinds of folks who  need the help and need to know where to start and just how to get going on these things so that it's a

20:21

It's a livable practical ecosystem. And it also ends up reducing the amount of work your yard takes for yourself. It also reduces the amount of uh time and energy and money that it takes to  to get things going.  Yes. And as I always say, you can't eat grass. Right. Exactly. And nothing can eat grass, not even like  we as humans can eat grass. But it

20:48

Our lawns do nothing to support any sort of uh other living creature.  so it's really important that we provide that like  our...  So like if we talk about monarchs and monarchs are now on the endangered species list  because they are, there's too many chemicals being used and not enough  milkweed that is available for them to eat across their migratory patterns. And so it's really important that we...

21:14

all work together to develop these kinds of things so that not just humans can eat, but also  that we have things that are, you know, aesthetically pleasing and happy and great to look at that provide ah that piece for us. Also, you can do that  and do more with your landscape in your  Absolutely. I love what you're doing, Brad. It's amazing.  Thank you. All right. So you were saying actually, before we get into this.

21:41

The one thing I will tell people is that if you really get into gardening, don't be surprised if chickens show up on your property fairly soon because that's what happened to us. We started gardening and then we got chickens. that's funny. It's a natural follow through a lot of the time. Exactly. Yeah. mean, that whole thing of taking care of yourself and like and working and knowing where your food is coming from and knowing what is actually in your

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landscape that your dogs or your kids or your grandkids are, are rolling around in and playing because we should be able to do that with a clear conscience and clear mind. And that's, that's what we, that's what we help people get to. it's, like you said, it's called a better yard and people can find us at a better yard.org. And there is a $37 to get started and we have a $30 discount that I forget exactly. this up on you, Mary.

22:38

I there's a discount that people can get and I don't know if you can send it  just to start for seven bucks for the first month.  I can put in the show notes if you can get me a code. I will do that for sure.  Okay, cool.  Um,  and  yes, I agree with everything you just said about being able to just be out and playing and be safe. That's a good plan.  Um, okay, so I don't know how much you want to say about why you've been so busy.

23:06

and why it's been so hard,  if you want to take the floor and talk about what's been going on, it's up to you. So we just came back from  Washington, D.C. and was working there with our senators and with a coalition of just absolutely incredible humans who are working  to help make the world a better place, which is what we all,  at least I hope that we all want to accomplish on things our communities have been  under assault by ICE and uh Shakopee specifically has, along with the Metro. um

23:35

and then other places outside the Metro, Lesour, uh Winona, other places have been just  rocked by ice and for no  apparent reason  all the time. so it's the people have been literally plucked off the streets, uh trapped on roofs uh and just lots of terrible, terrible things have been  happening in our communities. And we have to  work together to protect them and work together to make sure that we are uh

24:04

doing the best for our people that we possibly can. And so I just couldn't be more proud of Minnesota and  the amazing things that people have been  coming together to do and building these communities. And so it's a lot like we do at A Better Yard, which uh is  building  systems and building people together to find a path forward. And so that's uh what we've been doing  with pushing back against ICE here. ICE has a job to do. there are uh

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without a doubt, uh people who have committed crimes and bad people that we don't  want to have in our communities. There are uh reasons for having laws and having public safety and those kinds of things,  but that is  well uh underserved by what uh ICE is doing in our communities. And so it has been  super proud of all of our people and it has just been  overwhelming and taking up a ton of time. So I appreciate everybody.

25:02

sticking with us and  being part of that journey as well  at A Better Yard.  Yeah, I really hope that this drawdown as they're calling it  continues because watching this from the outside has been, it's been really frightening and I can't imagine living in Minneapolis right now. I just can't. Yeah, it has, it's just been so unnecessary and um

25:30

The scariest part to me is just that there's absolutely zero accountability, zero recourse. And from a lawmaker perspective,  like there's no way for us to hold people accountable for their actions. Like they  are uh doing  many, many illegal things and  in the name of  safety, right? And so  it is really  difficult to watch and difficult to experience. And just the number of

26:00

drones that are constantly flying over my house. then  one day where I had a Blackhawk helicopter hovering  over my house ah and uh just the fear and intimidation tactics seem  well beyond anything that we have ever,  ever experienced  here in Minnesota and  anywhere else. And so  ICE, yeah, is going after ah the other day, just a quick story is that

26:27

They stopped the family for no reason whatsoever other than their skin was brown. And they took that family and intimidated them, pulled them out of the car. And they had citizens that are all citizens. And so they let them go. And then they went, and this happened on the road. They pulled them over. And a couple hours later, they went to their house and started yelling at them and screaming at them and said that they would only leave this

26:56

family of US citizens alone  if they  help them find five people and then they'll leave them alone. So it's extortion. It's just  horrible, horrible tactics  that just should not be who we are. And so it's really important that we hold,  we do everything we can to hold these folks accountable and make sure that they do actually leave. haven't seen uh evidence of that in Shakopee yesterday. We had dozens and dozens of agents here in town.

27:26

and it's still as bad or worse than it was because they're extremely aggressive right now and we want them gone. Yeah, it's like when you kick a hornet's nest. Yeah, yeah. They visit my house often, not to make it about me because we need to make sure that we are centering this on people who are immigrants in the United States, who are the ones that really have...

27:54

significantly less resources and ways to combat this than I do. And so I'm  doing everything I can to pull every lever  possible. We'll have a ton of bills with the legislature this year  to work on this issue and to help  Minnesota stand up in the face of this onslaught if it ever were to happen again, which I obviously hope it doesn't.  But I just don't know how we trust the federal government and all the people involved for this  moving forward.

28:24

Yes. And for the listener who doesn't quite understand, Minnesota is a sanctuary state as in, as in we're okay with people coming here no matter where you're coming from, right? uh Yes, we are a very, very welcoming state and we want to make sure  that we're welcoming to immigrants and people who want to be here. Shakopee is uh built on

28:50

immigrants and we have  a very large native population. We have Asian population. have  Somali folks. We have East African. We have  Hispanics and uh it makes our community who it is and it beautiful and wonderful and really, really great.  And, but that being said, like the, the sanctuary, what the federal government is saying on the sanctuary state  side of things  is just  not  accurate. Like we work.

29:16

together if there are uh bad people and if there are things like that that should happen, we work together. But we also want to make sure that nobody is left  behind and they are,  if they, someone needs healthcare, we want to make sure because it's better for all of our communities and better for all of our kids in schools.  If everyone is fed and if everyone is healthy and everyone is going that direction.  And some people just genuinely don't agree with that. And I.

29:46

I get it, but I disagree vehemently.  And we  should just be able to  do our thing. we should just,  they should leave us alone. And if the federal government had done their job  in making sure that we had secure borders, and this is not just a  Republican or a Democratic thing, this is  a uh United States of America federal government thing,  that if they had done their job, then this wouldn't be  a problem. But this is not the way.

30:13

to fix the problem that they created. This should be a uh civil kind of uh path forward and find a way to make sure that the people who are incredible, wonderful, loving people and families and supporting families here are able to continue that. And it's a federal government issue to fix.  It is. And  I guess I want to end this off by saying that unless you can for sure positively track

30:40

your ancestors back to the indigenous people of the United States.  We all have immigrant blood running through our veins. Absolutely. And that's a  really important piece of this is that we should  all love and trust and uh do the best we can  together because it's really important to recognize where we all came from. And like this work that we're doing here in Minnesota is uh standing on

31:08

that work from  that's been going on for  centuries in the United States and making sure that we're protecting our people and making sure that we're protecting our neighbors and making sure that our communities are  as safe as we can possibly make them. Yep.  And uh we learned all of our growing things from the indigenous peoples who live near us. So that ties it back into gardening and homesteading and a better yard. How's that?

31:37

That was really well done.  Okay. I'm not great at segues or  conclusions, but I tried really hard, That was perfect one. I'm proud of you for that one.  Thank you so much for being honest and straightforward and telling me what you think, because that's hard to get out of someone who is in politics. So  I very much appreciate it.  And this isn't, I want to say this, I don't know how to say it right.

32:05

This is not about politics. This is about being good humans to each other. Right.  Exactly. And, uh, and, and,  and  working together with our community, like that's, that's what this  all, all is. And we can all do better when we all do better. Yes, absolutely.  So go out there and be a good human today, folks, cause it might make things better.  Um, so you can find Brad at abetteryard.org.

32:33

And I highly recommend going and checking it out because it sounds like there's some fantastic knowledge and resources there. Thank you, Brad, for doing that.  Yeah, there is. And you can find me at AtinyHolmsteadPodcast.com.  And you can find, if you want to support the show, sorry,  you can do that at AtinyHolmstead.com slash support.  This was  really fun, Brad. You have the most wonderful radio voice. I told you that when we first talked. Thank you.

33:03

I appreciate it. before we go, just want to make sure we can do the $30 off for the first for all of your listeners. If people want to go, it would just be $7 at and we can just use a tiny home and use that as the coupon code. we'll be go for those. So people use use the coupon code to get $30 off the first month and they can just check us out and see how wonderful our happy little community is. All right, I'm writing it down because I will forget a tiny home. Okay. Awesome.

33:32

Thank you so much. appreciate your time and I hope you have a good day at your job. Thank you so much.

 

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A Tiny HomesteadBy Mary E Lewis