How I Grow This

Nicole built a wedding venue, a garden destination, and a family business with $12,000, a shovel, and a refusal to let fear win.

In this episode, you’ll discover how she keeps wedding packages under $8,000, why she chose sweat equity over million-dollar loans, and what it actually takes to build beauty on a budget. She breaks down her “clean cottage” garden style, the deep mulching method she uses to improve clay and shale soil, and the marigold borders that have become one of her most talked-about features online. But this episode goes far deeper than flowers and farm aesthetics. Nicole opens up about the grief, PTSD, and trauma that changed her life, and how gardening became part therapy, part spiritual practice, and part survival. Her story of planting through pain, healing through failure, and finding peace in the garden is as moving as it is practical.

Most people chase “freedom” as escape. Heidi and Evan from Small Axe Farm built something better. What began as a homestead dream became a business producing about $300,000 in annual food sales from roughly one acre, with a system designed to protect bodies, preserve soil, and still leave room for family, wilderness trips, and a life outside the farm.

From chef to market farmer, Mike Russo shares how he built The Chef’s Harvest from a backyard garden into a thriving small-scale vegetable business. He and Luke talk about recovery, entrepreneurship, finding restaurant customers through relationships and social media, and the practical systems that make a farm profitable—from crop selection and market research to efficient wash-pack workflows.

Check out Chef Mikey on youtube https://www.youtube.com/@chefsharvestfarm

and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chefsharvestfarmllc/

The homesteading advice nobody wants to hear: do less, specialize more, and build real community before burnout takes your farm down. Anne of All Trades shares the hard-won shift that took her from a tiny suburban backyard, free manure, and four impulsively acquired chicks to a 30-acre Tennessee dairy farm and a plan to teach woodworking, blacksmithing, and lost trades.

Check out Anne’s channel on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/@AnneofAllTrades

and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/anneofalltrades/

If you want to know why empty grocery shelves in 2020 changed the conversation, why convenience has quietly made us dependent, or how a backyard garden can become a powerful act of resilience, this episode will grab you fast. Luke Hammond shares his own story of moving from conventional growing to organic farming, and Joel connects that journey to a much bigger cultural shift - one that touches health, family, economics, and even personal identity.

What started as a seven-year search for the right property became a full homestead in Georgia, complete with fruit trees, a garden, and hard-won lessons about what works, what does not, and why less land can often mean more life. Jared and Annette also share the surprising origin story behind their move to the country, the entrepreneurial instincts that shaped their path, and how a deeper understanding of soil, structure, and seasonality changed the way they think about health.

Most gardeners waste time fighting their climate instead of designing for it. Jolene Wainwright turns that idea on its head with a “Sanctuary Garden” built on purpose, ancient Biblical symbols, and smart Pacific Northwest strategy - and she reveals the practical systems that make it work. This conversation blends faith, family, and highly intentional growing. From a garden layout modeled after the Old Testament tabernacle to raised beds, trellises, the secret “Triangle Trick,” companion planting, and seasonal challenges in the PNW, Jolene shows how a garden can be both beautiful and deeply functional.

After building a life on a huge North Dakota ranch, starting over on 45 acres in Tennessee, and now preparing to move again to a 14-acre Wisconsin homestead, Janelle shares what it really takes to keep a family fed, a farm productive, and a marriage strong through constant change.

Most people envision the perfect homestead—a picturesque farm with healthy cows in immaculate pastures, a sprawling garden free of pests, and a barn that looks like an idyllic painting. But Melissa's grounded reality shatters those illusions, revealing that true homesteading is about embracing imperfection, hard work, and strategic growth. She shows us that resilience and incremental progress are what make you, and your homestead flourish.

What if turning your yard into a garden could help heal our planet, build community, and even bolster local economies? In this eye-opening episode, environmental scientist and mindful farmer Sean Pessarra reveals how small changes in your backyard can make a massive difference.