Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Mystic Roots Homestead - Herbal Simples & Apothecary
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Mystic Roots Homestead - Herbal Simples & Apothecary
Today I'm talking with Corey at Mystic Roots Homestead - Herbal Simples & Apothecary.
www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead
Muck Boots
Calendars.Com
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
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 Corey at Mystic Roots Homestead, Herbal, Simples, and Apothecary in Kentucky. Good morning, Corey. How are you? Good morning, Mary. I'm good. Good. How's the weather there? It is sunny and almost in the 50s in South Central Kentucky today. It's really kind of crazy for it being January.
00:29
Yes, I'm in Minnesota. It is going to be 40 and it is sunny and we have about three or four inches of snow on the ground right now. my goodness. I would love for some snow. had a very, very dry Christmas this year. So does it snow in Kentucky? You guys are pretty south, right? It does. I think in 2015 we had, or no, 2014, we had about eight feet here and I'm closer to the Bowling Green area. I was working at
00:58
I was a dispatcher then actually, and we had so much snow that we had to close the interstate down. It was rough that year, but it does. It's not been bad or equated to a lot in the last few years, but we've kind of been waiting for it. The woolly worms have been telling us it's coming, but it's not showed up. And the woolly worms lied to me this year. I saw seven different woolly worms and all of them had different stripes.
01:27
different width stripes. And I was like, okay, I need some consistency here, guys. And see, we've been all of the persimmons have been given a spoons shovels, but we've not seen it'll probably be here in mid February is when we'll see it. Okay, so for the listener who doesn't understand what we are talking about, woolly worm caterpillars are are black and like a reddish brown. And the ends of the caterpillar are black and the middle is brown, I think. And
01:56
The middle band of the caterpillar tells you how long and how hard the winter is going to be. And all of them I've seen have been different. And the persimmon fruit, if you cut them open, it looks like a spoon or it looks like a fork, right? Or a knife. A knife, okay. if it's spoon, fork, or knife. Okay, so if it's a spoon, it indicates lots of snow. uh If it's a fork, it indicates what?
02:24
It will, I think it's very mild and then the knife it's going to be frigid. It will like, the knife will be cold enough it'll cut through you. Yeah. So it's a very frigid winter. Fork is very mild, but a shovel, you're supposed to be shoveling through that stuff. And that's what we've had, but we've not had it yet. Yup. I understand the last two winters we've had, not counting this one, we had a foot of snow each winter. That was it. And the reason that I wanted to clarify what we were talking about is because not everyone is up on their,
02:53
their weather lore. And if you want to learn about it, the old farmer's almanac talks about this stuff all the time. It'll even tell you when to cut your hair. Yes, it will. It will tell you when to breed your cows. It will tell you everything. We do a lot of stuff based off of the almanac and the cycles. We like it and it works that way. They've been doing it that way for hundreds of years. Why would we change it? Yeah, if it works, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Don't fix it. Exactly.
03:22
All right. So tell me about your homestead and what you do. We started full on homesteading last year. I've been staying at home for about three years now with the girls and I got a few quail and then I got some ducks and I got some chickens and I started a hatchery. We wanted to gear more towards sustainability and
03:51
I had a lot of hormone issues and we had some fertility issues and I started falling in the rabbit hole of herbalism. And that brought me closer to my spirituality because it allowed me to learn about the land and the things that are provided here that are local that I can forage, but that also heal my body. And that led us into homesteading and it blew up. You fell down the rabbit hole.
04:19
Literally with everything Just right in like Alice Mm-hmm. Yep. Absolutely. That's how it happens. You get sucked in and you and you learn things and you're like what else is there? Yes, and now my family I Usually they come to me for little things. We don't get sick in my house a lot So they're always like what are you doing? What are you using and I'll be like, well, here's some tea and
04:46
I say community herbalist because I just offer consultations to people now at this point and if they want product, I just let them have it. And that gets them an entryway into this and it's an amazing place. It really is. um I am trying so hard to remember to this spring, get um bird netting over my elderberry plants. Yes. Because they're trees.
05:15
Which means we're gonna have to figure out a way to throw it over the top of the trees and they're at least six feet tall. I would just grab a ladder and tie some rocks to the other end of your net so it's heavier when you toss it. Yep. And that will help. I have a friend that I used to teach with and she has a farm that's about two minutes from my house and they have a light.
05:42
Grove of elderberry that's wild and I made four gallons of syrup this summer. Wow. Okay. So I'm going to ask you because I keep looking it up and I keep thinking I need to make a bookmark and I always forget and have to look it up again. What do you do with the berries to make it into syrup? Do you put them through a juicer? How do do it?
06:02
You boil them on the stove. There are some people that will make an oxymilk first with apple cider vinegar, which allows it to be more shelf stable. But what I do is I put all of the berries into a big pot and I boil that down on a slow cooker for like seven hours. Some people boil it because you have to use that heat to break down the bad chemicals in the elderberry because they have cyanides in them.
06:32
from the seeds. But when you do that, that breaks that down, that heat breaks that down and it makes it tolerable for you to use. Okay. So I don't even know what the inside of an elderberry looks like. Is it a little tiny seed or is it, is it like- So you know how like blackberries, each blackberry little pod has a seed in it that's about the same size of the berry? Yes. It's about the same. Okay. And then after it boils down, I run it through a fine mesh strainer, put
07:01
equal part honey to it and refrigerate it. Okay. Can you okay. So we have a pressure canner and we have a water bath canner. Can you can it too? You can if you use I believe the shelf stable version. I don't make the shelf stable version so it needs to be refrigerated. So it's only good for about three to four weeks on um outside of the refrigerator but then it lasts for about six months in refrigerator.
07:30
Okay, so it might be easier just to put it in the refrigerator. Yes, and there are tons of recipes. uh There is the Appalachian Forager. She's from Eastern Kentucky. She's got a big following on Facebook as well. She has a wonderful shelf stable recipe for it. I've just not tried it yet. Okay, I'll have to look her up too because she might be somebody I want to talk to on the podcast. she was the possum festival queen as well, I believe. She's cool. She is amazing. She's big into fungus and mushrooms.
08:00
So she's, she's who got me started. found her and I was like, if she can do this, I can do this. She's not far from me. And I, she's, I, oh, she's amazing. I'm going to have to look her up. Okay. So I didn't mean to go off on a tangent about elderberries, but every time somebody brings up um foraging, it's the first thing comes into my head and we have been here for five years. I have not gotten a single elderberry yet because the birds get to them before we do. They are so quick.
08:30
Yep. And they're so quick. And that's why if it's the minute you have to watch them about every single day, the minute that they start ripening, you got to grab them. Yeah. The minute that they're good, grab them. The birds will get them. Cause if you go back the next day, they'll be gone. Uh huh. Oh yeah. The birds love them. Yes. And it's so funny because I didn't even know we had these two elderberry trees until the second summer we were here. And I was like, I swear that's elderberry.
08:56
And my husband said, okay, we'll look up how to identify it. And I did. And I said, does it have thorns? And he said, no. And I said, that's elderberry. I have a little bush that's growing in like my tree line. It's only ever had like three flowers on it. So it's not really worth breaking anything off of to use for myself. just leave it for the birds to carry around and hopefully they'll spread some more. Yeah. But, um, when I saw it, I saw the flowers and I was like, Oh, what is that?
09:26
And then I learned that it is also very easily mistaken for em nightshade and also wild carrot. like, not nightshade, hemlock. Yes. So hemlock and elderberry and wild carrot all favor a lot. So you have to be very particular, but they're all larger plants than each other. Like wild carrot looks more like a wild flower.
09:56
And hemlock grows up to like 10 feet. Yeah. And hemlock has some, has some medicinal properties, but if you're not careful, it'll kill you. Yes, it will. And it's spreading so much in our area that I've offered to come and pull it and remove it for people so their kids don't get into it and things like that. Cause it's dangerous even to touch if you're not careful. Cause it has that powder on it. Yeah.
10:27
So, yup. Do you guys have wild plum that grows in Kentucky? We don't. have, um, pawpaw trees and, um, I've never found one, but those are common here. Well, we have wild plum all over Minnesota and it's one of the first trees that blooms in the spring. I would love plum jam. Uh-huh. Oh my goodness. We have a, we have, uh
10:54
It's really hard to explain. We have a wild plum tree, but it was actually five that grew right tight together. it looks like a massive wild plum tree, but it's actually five different trunks. So you have a little grove. Yeah, it's really weird. It looks like one tree and then you walk up and you're like, oh, there's five trunks here. All together, like touching each other. It's really bizarre. And my husband picked some and brought them in just for fun this fall. And I
11:22
They have little spots on them because they're buggy. not going to spray a wild plum tree. And I basically like cut it in half, washed it, cut it in half, took the pit out and ate the plum. And it was so good. They're so good. So sweet. And I said to him, said, if you and the boys want to have a plum picking party this fall, I said, I will help you make wild plum jam. And he said,
11:48
This year, 2026, that's what we're going to do. We're going to try to get enough Oh, that's so exciting. Yep. Oh, I wish you were closer to me. Well, maybe if we make it, I can let you know and I can ship you a jar. Yes, I would pay for it. You don't have to, and it's not allowed. We cannot. In Minnesota, we are not allowed to ship anything that is bought. Bought. Okay, got you. But I can send it to you as a gift and no one Absolutely. I would love that.
12:18
Well, I will see what happens. I'll have a little box together and send you some remedies as well. Because there's some I can say I can send things as long as it's not glass. Yeah, and we can send a glass jar. It's fine. We just can't I just can't sell anything that I make that I cannot ship it. What are like, I'm unfamiliar because of course, it states very but what are like your all's cottage laws there? Okay.
12:45
This is one of my favorite and not favorite subject to talk about ever. In Minnesota, there is a cottage food registration. It's not a license. It's called a registration. And you sign up, you register for this registration and you can sell things out of your home kitchen, but they have to be shelf stable products. Right. So no cheesecake. Um, no oh
13:14
No buttercream frosting. Right. No, no dairy that hasn't been cooked into something. Right. We, I think it's similar here. Nothing that has to be refrigerated or warmed up. Yes. Yep. And, uh, the other thing is that in, I think it said 2027 in the email that I got, we're going to be able to ship our products within Minnesota. Well, that
13:43
opens up some new doors. helps. Yes. But that's good. But it'd be really nice if we could ship anywhere. That would be great. Yeah, that would be. think I'm not real, I don't deal with food stuff. And when I talked to my local health department about the herbal stuff that I was doing, with Kentucky, you have to be careful because of the realm of cosmetics. So if it can absorb into the skin,
14:13
You have to be very careful with what you call things. That's why soaps are okay. Like goat milk soap and things, but you can't make lotion and sell it because it falls in the realm of cosmetic. So you have to be really careful. That's why I geared more towards, I'll give consultations. I don't really like to sell my products, but I'll teach you how you could do this for yourself at home. Do you make lotions, Corey? No, I make some balms and salves, but I've never
14:42
dabbled in lotion. Yeah, I tried making a lotion for my kid. He had some really dry skin on his face and he wanted a homemade remedy. And I used um cocoa butter and coconut oil and something else. Can't remember what it was now. And I was trying to make a lotion and that was what the recipe that I pulled off the internet said it was, said it was a lotion.
15:06
And when I put it all together and stirred it, it was like a lotion. And the next day it had set up like a salve. And I'm like, missing an ingredient. I don't even know how to make it lotion. And I don't know the science behind That's why I like salves. I like something that I can like dip my finger in. And I use beeswax. And however much beeswax you use will determine the stiffness of your salve, which just works better for me. m
15:34
If I'm using anything for the face, I'm going with tallow. Yep. Yep. I didn't have any tallow at the time, so I ended up using the cocoa butter. Cocoa butter's great. Shea butter's great. I love aloe butter. Aloe butter's a good one too. Yeah. The thing that we discovered though when I made this for him is that cocoa butter smells like chocolate. Didn't realize that it would. And especially if it's raw cocoa butter.
16:04
Yep. And so he went to use it and he said, my face smells like a of hot cocoa, hot cocoa. And I well, I said, it's too bad you don't have a girlfriend right now because she would be kissing your face all over because most women love hot cocoa. They do. We do like hot cocoa. It smells, it's, just such a rich smell because of the cacao, but it's so fresh.
16:33
I like hazelnut for that reason too, because it smells rich. It's a really good fragrance. Oh, absolutely. I love hazelnut coffee. Yes. And you can smell it when it brews through the entire house. It's... Yeah, husband made coffee scented soap last weekend. I it was two weekends ago. And the whole house smelled like coffee all weekend. I was just like, can make coffee scented.
17:02
Soap anytime you want. Does he make goat soap? Nope. He makes just the cold process. I gotcha. Cause we have friends that have goats, but they actually sell their goat milk to people so that they can drink it. So they don't always have any extra. And well, it's a very lengthy process to do goat. My mom used to, we raised Nigerians at my mom's for a long time and we would milk them and make soaps with them. And the curing process is very
17:31
lengthy comparative to like cold processing. But we loved it. My mom, she loved making soap, but she got busy. She started teaching and the goats were not suffering, but she wasn't spending the time that she wanted to with them. So it was better for her to discontinue her herd. Yeah, it happens. It takes time and it takes energy to raise animals.
17:57
It does the stewardship and it is a dedication that a lot of people don't have and it's hard work and discipline. And even if you're sick or cold or it's ugly outside, they still have to have care. Yes. I always say that when you take on animals, you're taking on another kid. Yes. And we, have hundreds of chickens, goats, or not goats. have sheep, quail.
18:28
I have rabbits now, we have pigs. They all have care. They all have to be cared for, but they're all like my children. Yep. it's, again, I'm going to say it again. It's so hard when you have animals because you love those animals. And my dog yesterday, no, two nights ago was acting off.
18:54
She was acting like she was starting to not feel good and I was like, please don't make me worry about you right now. Everything is going okay. Do not be the problem child. She's the only dog. And I got up the next morning and she was back to her normal self. But I looked at her I said, thank you for not making me worry about you today. Right. Yeah. Like I can't handle that today. I had a bunny that was acting funny the other day. We had moved some cages around because I had a bunch of grow outs and I was looking at them. was like, tricks dude.
19:24
I don't know what's wrong with you, but like we can't be having this. And the next day he was fine. Yup. It's so, it's so heart wrenching when you think something's wrong. And then if it turns out to be actually wrong, it's even worse. Yes. And I think it bothers me in the world that we're in because people don't understand.
19:50
the difference between that some of my animals are pets and some of them are not pets, but they still receive the same amount of care and love. And I would not let anybody suffer and
20:07
That care that we give to them doesn't differ just because we choose a different timeline for specific animals for the needs that they provide on our farms. Yeah, absolutely. We just lost a chicken yesterday and my husband came in from feeding the chickens and he was like, we're down a chicken. And I said, you kind of thought maybe we might be down one sometime soon. And he said, yeah, he said, I, I wish there was a vet to take chickens to.
20:37
And I said, if they didn't expect you to pay the cost of 50 chickens to take care of the chicken, that would help too. Yeah. And that's the thing is with you, you have to, as a homesteader or a farmer or animal steward, you have to make those decisions. Like, am I going to pay a thousand dollars to take one chicken to the vet? Or am I going to do everything that I have in my resources and power? There are things that I keep here on hand.
21:06
I've spent a lot of time learning how to doctor the chickens through the seasons. So that way we stay ahead as a preventative maintenance. Anytime there's a shift in the air, they get oregano oil. Yep. And that cuts respiratory issues about like 75 % on my farm at least. We're going to have to try that. We put apple cider vinegar in their water.
21:34
I like the oregano oil because oregano actually acts as an antimicrobial. And so it's wonderful for your gut health, but it will also take care of any kind of bacteria that could be happening that doesn't need to. I'm going to have to add that to the list. Thank you, Corey. You're so welcome. love it. We, um, I use Tygaard if there needs to be treatment, of course, which is available on Amazon.
22:04
but I also get oregano oil in a dilute form and it's on Amazon too. Okay. I will have to look that up and acquire some and add that. think, I think we'll probably still do the apple cider vinegar because it to help too. Yeah. Our chickens have been laying humongous eggs lately because we have a light in the coop. Yes. And that's
22:33
People are like, it's cold. They're not like, it's not the cold that does that. It's the light. sun went away. Yep. They need 12 to 14 hours of sunlight a day to produce eggs. Yep. And people don't understand that. And you can, which a lot of people do do artificial. I have so many birds that I don't have to, we still get enough that I have a plethora of eggs. Um, but with my quail, I have to substitute light sometimes where I won't get anybody laying. Okay.
23:03
Um, I have a question about your quail. Do you have a lot, do you have a lot of quail? Yes. Do you sell the eggs to restaurants? I have not ever had anybody inquire. We considered it, especially being so close to Nashville. Um, but I am not producing that many. Um, we just hatched a close to a hundred in September and I've been going through and regrouping everybody. So I've got four.
23:32
No, five different coveys with at least 20 hens right now, but I've not been supplementing light for the last month. Okay. So what do you do with all the eggs when they're producing full tilt? My dad pickles them. Okay. They either get pickles, he eats them, he likes them as well, or I feed them back out to the flocks or the dogs. Okay. And they're little tiny eggs, right? Yes. I can just toss them out to them and they just eat them.
24:03
Okay. That makes sense. Um, if you ever do have a chance to sell them to restaurants, you should look into it because restaurants really like quail eggs. Yes. And I thought we have some interesting restaurants here in Bowling Green, of course, because it's like the third largest city in Kentucky, but there's just not a huge market for it right here. For me, at least that I found, and I may not have done enough.
24:32
digging, but maybe I need to, have some friends. need to dig around more. Yeah. I mean, I'm not telling you, you have to do it. I'm just saying, there is a huge market for that. Yeah. And even like the duck eggs too. Yeah. I was very surprised. We were selling our friends, duck eggs in our farm stand this summer. Could not keep them stocked in the farm. People love them. Yeah.
25:03
And people, there are tons of people around here that like the quail eggs too because of the nutritional value that they offer compared to a chicken egg. Yep. hear that a lot. They've got, they're so nutritious. I don't, I'm not an eggy person, which is so weird because I have so many birds that lay eggs, but I usually gift eggs. think in the last six months, my male lady has gotten a hundred dozen eggs.
25:33
She's the best, so she gets all of the eggs. Nice. I'm sure she appreciates it. She's wonderful. But we also raise button quail. Not just, I have catornix and buttons, which are like oriental to look at quail, and they're tiny. And when they hatch, they're about the size of a bumblebee. Oh my God. They are so little, but they're so fun. And they whistle, and it's like,
26:03
And it's so cute. I didn't even know there were button quail. I learned something new every day on this podcast. They're not really worth anything to a homestead, but somebody that would want maybe a little ornamental bird, but didn't want like a parakeet. They're great. They covey the same way. They are a little bit flighty, but they're so cute.
26:31
Yeah, there's a lot of they're so cute on a homestead. swear. They will. there's because it's everything's so cute. How do you not like farm animals? Yeah, it's ridiculous. I am a sucker for a baby goat. My husband's mom or my husband's mother-in-law and his sister all or my mother-in-law and his sister all raise goats. We have hair sheep. Yeah, I prefer the sheep to the goat. They
27:00
behave a little bit better. do. And it's funny because my husband and I have talked off and on for 20 years about how great it would be to get a couple of baby goats and raise them. We have been on a 3.1 acre homestead for five years. Do you think we've gotten any baby goats? No. Do you know why? Because they're a pain in the butt. Right. That's what I told Jared. We've only got about five acres right here, but we've got neighbors. And I was like,
27:28
Honey, the pigs get out enough. don't need the goats getting out too. which we have wonderful neighbors. They love all of the things that we have because the chickens and the roosters especially, they crow all day every day because there's so many of them. They just talk to each other and they're like, we love it. It's so funny. We get so tickled at it. And I'm like, I'm so glad you don't hate me. Yeah. Our neighbor, our closest neighbor is a quarter mile away and I wish we lived that for far.
27:58
They are industrializing our area. We're hoping to move soon, um, on further away from Bowling Green. We're 30 minutes away from Bowling Green and it's still growing fast and fast. So we can't get away from it fast enough. Well, I wish you all the luck in the world with that because the best thing we ever did was move out of the town that we lived in.
28:27
So we were right in town. We were townies. And now we live in the middle of cornfields and soybean fields and we love it. And our neighbors have a rooster who crows every morning. I hear him at 4 a.m. and he's got the softest crow. Like if he's crowing hard, something's wrong. Right. And they have at least one donkey and I can hear it bray now and then. We would love one. And they have they have at least one.
28:56
bovine, I don't know if it's a steer or a cow. And every once in a while I will hear it doing the lowing sound that they do. The really low, soft moo. I grew up on a dairy, I love cows. Uh huh. And I just, when I get up in the morning, I sit on the porch with my coffee and I just listen to all the animals waking up at our neighbor's farm. And I'm like, hey, better them than us. Cause I get to hear it, but I don't have to take care of the critters.
29:22
Well, like we're in one of the smallest counties in Kentucky and I'm nestled right in Mammoth Caves back door. Like I'm five minutes from the whole entire park. We're from Edmondson County, which holds the majority of the park itself. So you wouldn't think that it would be as populated, it's Bowling Green is growing. So now Edmondson County is growing.
29:49
And so on the side of the river that we're on, on the South side, it's just becoming more populated. I want to go to the other side where it's not, and there's not so many people. And so we wouldn't be going far, but far enough that it's not populated as bad. Yeah. Yep. I understand, Corey. I really do. Which is just, I think it's just happening everywhere now.
30:18
It's at pop, people are moving. There've been an influx of people from California here, which is great. I love that. Come live, come live here. It's not a slow life. It's not simple either, but it's not as fast as the city. Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. All right. I try to keep these to half an hour, Corey, and we are there. was an absolute joy talking with you. Where can people find you?
30:45
They can find me on Facebook, Mystic Roots Homestead, Simples and Apothecary, Herbal Simples and Apothecary. I have a TikTok page as well. TTS, Mystic Roots. I do TikTok shop, wellness stuff that I align with and then of course the bunnies. But that's the two places they can find me. You're not on Instagram yet? I have a personal Instagram, but I don't use it.
31:14
I don't know. I got so focused on TikTok and the farm page on Facebook. I was worried to take on too much at one time. That's probably smart. The best advice I've gotten since I started the podcast two years ago is to pick a couple platforms and stick with them, the ones that work for you. Yes. And that's what they said. That's what I heard as well. And that's what I did. And so far it's working really well. I would like to advance more in meta because I feel like
31:44
There's more growth as a content creator, but as far as like, if you're doing anything with affiliate, it's TikTok right now. Yeah, I don't even, I have a TikTok account only because my daughter posts things and a friend of mine posts things and they're like, you should have a TikTok account so you can see what we're doing. It's fun over there sometimes that people can be mean because there's of course billions of people can be mean anywhere. I don't understand that. It's free to be kind to just go on about your day.
32:14
I'm going to say this. I haven't said this on the podcast ever before. takes less muscles to smile than it does to frown. And I feel like it takes less muscles to be nice than it does to be mean. I agree. I agree wholeheartedly.
32:31
I don't know why people have to be mean. It's one of my biggest pet peeves ever and I try not to talk about it it just makes me mad. As always, people can find me at a tinyhomesteadpodcast.com. If you want to support the podcast, you can go to a tinyhomestead.com slash support. And I've started a second podcast with Leah from Clear Creek Ranch Mom on Facebook. The podcast is called
32:59
Grit and Grace in the Heartland, Women in Agriculture. There are two episodes posted. Love that. Yeah. And we have a website that is, building it. It's like three pages in right now. And that's gritandgracenheartland.com. I will run over there and give you a follow. Everybody else should too. Mary, this was such a wonderful experience for me. It was really fun and I learned new things. I love you guys because you teach me things every time.
33:29
Well, I would love to chat with you another time. Anytime you let me know if you want to. Yeah, I would love to hear more and half an hour is not nearly enough time for everything I want to ask. So we'll do it again in about six months. Okay. Sounds good, Mary. We'll talk to you later. Thank you, Corey. Thank you. Okay.
View all episodes
By Mary E LewisToday I'm talking with Corey at Mystic Roots Homestead - Herbal Simples & Apothecary.
www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead
Muck Boots
Calendars.Com
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
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 Corey at Mystic Roots Homestead, Herbal, Simples, and Apothecary in Kentucky. Good morning, Corey. How are you? Good morning, Mary. I'm good. Good. How's the weather there? It is sunny and almost in the 50s in South Central Kentucky today. It's really kind of crazy for it being January.
00:29
Yes, I'm in Minnesota. It is going to be 40 and it is sunny and we have about three or four inches of snow on the ground right now. my goodness. I would love for some snow. had a very, very dry Christmas this year. So does it snow in Kentucky? You guys are pretty south, right? It does. I think in 2015 we had, or no, 2014, we had about eight feet here and I'm closer to the Bowling Green area. I was working at
00:58
I was a dispatcher then actually, and we had so much snow that we had to close the interstate down. It was rough that year, but it does. It's not been bad or equated to a lot in the last few years, but we've kind of been waiting for it. The woolly worms have been telling us it's coming, but it's not showed up. And the woolly worms lied to me this year. I saw seven different woolly worms and all of them had different stripes.
01:27
different width stripes. And I was like, okay, I need some consistency here, guys. And see, we've been all of the persimmons have been given a spoons shovels, but we've not seen it'll probably be here in mid February is when we'll see it. Okay, so for the listener who doesn't understand what we are talking about, woolly worm caterpillars are are black and like a reddish brown. And the ends of the caterpillar are black and the middle is brown, I think. And
01:56
The middle band of the caterpillar tells you how long and how hard the winter is going to be. And all of them I've seen have been different. And the persimmon fruit, if you cut them open, it looks like a spoon or it looks like a fork, right? Or a knife. A knife, okay. if it's spoon, fork, or knife. Okay, so if it's a spoon, it indicates lots of snow. uh If it's a fork, it indicates what?
02:24
It will, I think it's very mild and then the knife it's going to be frigid. It will like, the knife will be cold enough it'll cut through you. Yeah. So it's a very frigid winter. Fork is very mild, but a shovel, you're supposed to be shoveling through that stuff. And that's what we've had, but we've not had it yet. Yup. I understand the last two winters we've had, not counting this one, we had a foot of snow each winter. That was it. And the reason that I wanted to clarify what we were talking about is because not everyone is up on their,
02:53
their weather lore. And if you want to learn about it, the old farmer's almanac talks about this stuff all the time. It'll even tell you when to cut your hair. Yes, it will. It will tell you when to breed your cows. It will tell you everything. We do a lot of stuff based off of the almanac and the cycles. We like it and it works that way. They've been doing it that way for hundreds of years. Why would we change it? Yeah, if it works, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Don't fix it. Exactly.
03:22
All right. So tell me about your homestead and what you do. We started full on homesteading last year. I've been staying at home for about three years now with the girls and I got a few quail and then I got some ducks and I got some chickens and I started a hatchery. We wanted to gear more towards sustainability and
03:51
I had a lot of hormone issues and we had some fertility issues and I started falling in the rabbit hole of herbalism. And that brought me closer to my spirituality because it allowed me to learn about the land and the things that are provided here that are local that I can forage, but that also heal my body. And that led us into homesteading and it blew up. You fell down the rabbit hole.
04:19
Literally with everything Just right in like Alice Mm-hmm. Yep. Absolutely. That's how it happens. You get sucked in and you and you learn things and you're like what else is there? Yes, and now my family I Usually they come to me for little things. We don't get sick in my house a lot So they're always like what are you doing? What are you using and I'll be like, well, here's some tea and
04:46
I say community herbalist because I just offer consultations to people now at this point and if they want product, I just let them have it. And that gets them an entryway into this and it's an amazing place. It really is. um I am trying so hard to remember to this spring, get um bird netting over my elderberry plants. Yes. Because they're trees.
05:15
Which means we're gonna have to figure out a way to throw it over the top of the trees and they're at least six feet tall. I would just grab a ladder and tie some rocks to the other end of your net so it's heavier when you toss it. Yep. And that will help. I have a friend that I used to teach with and she has a farm that's about two minutes from my house and they have a light.
05:42
Grove of elderberry that's wild and I made four gallons of syrup this summer. Wow. Okay. So I'm going to ask you because I keep looking it up and I keep thinking I need to make a bookmark and I always forget and have to look it up again. What do you do with the berries to make it into syrup? Do you put them through a juicer? How do do it?
06:02
You boil them on the stove. There are some people that will make an oxymilk first with apple cider vinegar, which allows it to be more shelf stable. But what I do is I put all of the berries into a big pot and I boil that down on a slow cooker for like seven hours. Some people boil it because you have to use that heat to break down the bad chemicals in the elderberry because they have cyanides in them.
06:32
from the seeds. But when you do that, that breaks that down, that heat breaks that down and it makes it tolerable for you to use. Okay. So I don't even know what the inside of an elderberry looks like. Is it a little tiny seed or is it, is it like- So you know how like blackberries, each blackberry little pod has a seed in it that's about the same size of the berry? Yes. It's about the same. Okay. And then after it boils down, I run it through a fine mesh strainer, put
07:01
equal part honey to it and refrigerate it. Okay. Can you okay. So we have a pressure canner and we have a water bath canner. Can you can it too? You can if you use I believe the shelf stable version. I don't make the shelf stable version so it needs to be refrigerated. So it's only good for about three to four weeks on um outside of the refrigerator but then it lasts for about six months in refrigerator.
07:30
Okay, so it might be easier just to put it in the refrigerator. Yes, and there are tons of recipes. uh There is the Appalachian Forager. She's from Eastern Kentucky. She's got a big following on Facebook as well. She has a wonderful shelf stable recipe for it. I've just not tried it yet. Okay, I'll have to look her up too because she might be somebody I want to talk to on the podcast. she was the possum festival queen as well, I believe. She's cool. She is amazing. She's big into fungus and mushrooms.
08:00
So she's, she's who got me started. found her and I was like, if she can do this, I can do this. She's not far from me. And I, she's, I, oh, she's amazing. I'm going to have to look her up. Okay. So I didn't mean to go off on a tangent about elderberries, but every time somebody brings up um foraging, it's the first thing comes into my head and we have been here for five years. I have not gotten a single elderberry yet because the birds get to them before we do. They are so quick.
08:30
Yep. And they're so quick. And that's why if it's the minute you have to watch them about every single day, the minute that they start ripening, you got to grab them. Yeah. The minute that they're good, grab them. The birds will get them. Cause if you go back the next day, they'll be gone. Uh huh. Oh yeah. The birds love them. Yes. And it's so funny because I didn't even know we had these two elderberry trees until the second summer we were here. And I was like, I swear that's elderberry.
08:56
And my husband said, okay, we'll look up how to identify it. And I did. And I said, does it have thorns? And he said, no. And I said, that's elderberry. I have a little bush that's growing in like my tree line. It's only ever had like three flowers on it. So it's not really worth breaking anything off of to use for myself. just leave it for the birds to carry around and hopefully they'll spread some more. Yeah. But, um, when I saw it, I saw the flowers and I was like, Oh, what is that?
09:26
And then I learned that it is also very easily mistaken for em nightshade and also wild carrot. like, not nightshade, hemlock. Yes. So hemlock and elderberry and wild carrot all favor a lot. So you have to be very particular, but they're all larger plants than each other. Like wild carrot looks more like a wild flower.
09:56
And hemlock grows up to like 10 feet. Yeah. And hemlock has some, has some medicinal properties, but if you're not careful, it'll kill you. Yes, it will. And it's spreading so much in our area that I've offered to come and pull it and remove it for people so their kids don't get into it and things like that. Cause it's dangerous even to touch if you're not careful. Cause it has that powder on it. Yeah.
10:27
So, yup. Do you guys have wild plum that grows in Kentucky? We don't. have, um, pawpaw trees and, um, I've never found one, but those are common here. Well, we have wild plum all over Minnesota and it's one of the first trees that blooms in the spring. I would love plum jam. Uh-huh. Oh my goodness. We have a, we have, uh
10:54
It's really hard to explain. We have a wild plum tree, but it was actually five that grew right tight together. it looks like a massive wild plum tree, but it's actually five different trunks. So you have a little grove. Yeah, it's really weird. It looks like one tree and then you walk up and you're like, oh, there's five trunks here. All together, like touching each other. It's really bizarre. And my husband picked some and brought them in just for fun this fall. And I
11:22
They have little spots on them because they're buggy. not going to spray a wild plum tree. And I basically like cut it in half, washed it, cut it in half, took the pit out and ate the plum. And it was so good. They're so good. So sweet. And I said to him, said, if you and the boys want to have a plum picking party this fall, I said, I will help you make wild plum jam. And he said,
11:48
This year, 2026, that's what we're going to do. We're going to try to get enough Oh, that's so exciting. Yep. Oh, I wish you were closer to me. Well, maybe if we make it, I can let you know and I can ship you a jar. Yes, I would pay for it. You don't have to, and it's not allowed. We cannot. In Minnesota, we are not allowed to ship anything that is bought. Bought. Okay, got you. But I can send it to you as a gift and no one Absolutely. I would love that.
12:18
Well, I will see what happens. I'll have a little box together and send you some remedies as well. Because there's some I can say I can send things as long as it's not glass. Yeah, and we can send a glass jar. It's fine. We just can't I just can't sell anything that I make that I cannot ship it. What are like, I'm unfamiliar because of course, it states very but what are like your all's cottage laws there? Okay.
12:45
This is one of my favorite and not favorite subject to talk about ever. In Minnesota, there is a cottage food registration. It's not a license. It's called a registration. And you sign up, you register for this registration and you can sell things out of your home kitchen, but they have to be shelf stable products. Right. So no cheesecake. Um, no oh
13:14
No buttercream frosting. Right. No, no dairy that hasn't been cooked into something. Right. We, I think it's similar here. Nothing that has to be refrigerated or warmed up. Yes. Yep. And, uh, the other thing is that in, I think it said 2027 in the email that I got, we're going to be able to ship our products within Minnesota. Well, that
13:43
opens up some new doors. helps. Yes. But that's good. But it'd be really nice if we could ship anywhere. That would be great. Yeah, that would be. think I'm not real, I don't deal with food stuff. And when I talked to my local health department about the herbal stuff that I was doing, with Kentucky, you have to be careful because of the realm of cosmetics. So if it can absorb into the skin,
14:13
You have to be very careful with what you call things. That's why soaps are okay. Like goat milk soap and things, but you can't make lotion and sell it because it falls in the realm of cosmetic. So you have to be really careful. That's why I geared more towards, I'll give consultations. I don't really like to sell my products, but I'll teach you how you could do this for yourself at home. Do you make lotions, Corey? No, I make some balms and salves, but I've never
14:42
dabbled in lotion. Yeah, I tried making a lotion for my kid. He had some really dry skin on his face and he wanted a homemade remedy. And I used um cocoa butter and coconut oil and something else. Can't remember what it was now. And I was trying to make a lotion and that was what the recipe that I pulled off the internet said it was, said it was a lotion.
15:06
And when I put it all together and stirred it, it was like a lotion. And the next day it had set up like a salve. And I'm like, missing an ingredient. I don't even know how to make it lotion. And I don't know the science behind That's why I like salves. I like something that I can like dip my finger in. And I use beeswax. And however much beeswax you use will determine the stiffness of your salve, which just works better for me. m
15:34
If I'm using anything for the face, I'm going with tallow. Yep. Yep. I didn't have any tallow at the time, so I ended up using the cocoa butter. Cocoa butter's great. Shea butter's great. I love aloe butter. Aloe butter's a good one too. Yeah. The thing that we discovered though when I made this for him is that cocoa butter smells like chocolate. Didn't realize that it would. And especially if it's raw cocoa butter.
16:04
Yep. And so he went to use it and he said, my face smells like a of hot cocoa, hot cocoa. And I well, I said, it's too bad you don't have a girlfriend right now because she would be kissing your face all over because most women love hot cocoa. They do. We do like hot cocoa. It smells, it's, just such a rich smell because of the cacao, but it's so fresh.
16:33
I like hazelnut for that reason too, because it smells rich. It's a really good fragrance. Oh, absolutely. I love hazelnut coffee. Yes. And you can smell it when it brews through the entire house. It's... Yeah, husband made coffee scented soap last weekend. I it was two weekends ago. And the whole house smelled like coffee all weekend. I was just like, can make coffee scented.
17:02
Soap anytime you want. Does he make goat soap? Nope. He makes just the cold process. I gotcha. Cause we have friends that have goats, but they actually sell their goat milk to people so that they can drink it. So they don't always have any extra. And well, it's a very lengthy process to do goat. My mom used to, we raised Nigerians at my mom's for a long time and we would milk them and make soaps with them. And the curing process is very
17:31
lengthy comparative to like cold processing. But we loved it. My mom, she loved making soap, but she got busy. She started teaching and the goats were not suffering, but she wasn't spending the time that she wanted to with them. So it was better for her to discontinue her herd. Yeah, it happens. It takes time and it takes energy to raise animals.
17:57
It does the stewardship and it is a dedication that a lot of people don't have and it's hard work and discipline. And even if you're sick or cold or it's ugly outside, they still have to have care. Yes. I always say that when you take on animals, you're taking on another kid. Yes. And we, have hundreds of chickens, goats, or not goats. have sheep, quail.
18:28
I have rabbits now, we have pigs. They all have care. They all have to be cared for, but they're all like my children. Yep. it's, again, I'm going to say it again. It's so hard when you have animals because you love those animals. And my dog yesterday, no, two nights ago was acting off.
18:54
She was acting like she was starting to not feel good and I was like, please don't make me worry about you right now. Everything is going okay. Do not be the problem child. She's the only dog. And I got up the next morning and she was back to her normal self. But I looked at her I said, thank you for not making me worry about you today. Right. Yeah. Like I can't handle that today. I had a bunny that was acting funny the other day. We had moved some cages around because I had a bunch of grow outs and I was looking at them. was like, tricks dude.
19:24
I don't know what's wrong with you, but like we can't be having this. And the next day he was fine. Yup. It's so, it's so heart wrenching when you think something's wrong. And then if it turns out to be actually wrong, it's even worse. Yes. And I think it bothers me in the world that we're in because people don't understand.
19:50
the difference between that some of my animals are pets and some of them are not pets, but they still receive the same amount of care and love. And I would not let anybody suffer and
20:07
That care that we give to them doesn't differ just because we choose a different timeline for specific animals for the needs that they provide on our farms. Yeah, absolutely. We just lost a chicken yesterday and my husband came in from feeding the chickens and he was like, we're down a chicken. And I said, you kind of thought maybe we might be down one sometime soon. And he said, yeah, he said, I, I wish there was a vet to take chickens to.
20:37
And I said, if they didn't expect you to pay the cost of 50 chickens to take care of the chicken, that would help too. Yeah. And that's the thing is with you, you have to, as a homesteader or a farmer or animal steward, you have to make those decisions. Like, am I going to pay a thousand dollars to take one chicken to the vet? Or am I going to do everything that I have in my resources and power? There are things that I keep here on hand.
21:06
I've spent a lot of time learning how to doctor the chickens through the seasons. So that way we stay ahead as a preventative maintenance. Anytime there's a shift in the air, they get oregano oil. Yep. And that cuts respiratory issues about like 75 % on my farm at least. We're going to have to try that. We put apple cider vinegar in their water.
21:34
I like the oregano oil because oregano actually acts as an antimicrobial. And so it's wonderful for your gut health, but it will also take care of any kind of bacteria that could be happening that doesn't need to. I'm going to have to add that to the list. Thank you, Corey. You're so welcome. love it. We, um, I use Tygaard if there needs to be treatment, of course, which is available on Amazon.
22:04
but I also get oregano oil in a dilute form and it's on Amazon too. Okay. I will have to look that up and acquire some and add that. think, I think we'll probably still do the apple cider vinegar because it to help too. Yeah. Our chickens have been laying humongous eggs lately because we have a light in the coop. Yes. And that's
22:33
People are like, it's cold. They're not like, it's not the cold that does that. It's the light. sun went away. Yep. They need 12 to 14 hours of sunlight a day to produce eggs. Yep. And people don't understand that. And you can, which a lot of people do do artificial. I have so many birds that I don't have to, we still get enough that I have a plethora of eggs. Um, but with my quail, I have to substitute light sometimes where I won't get anybody laying. Okay.
23:03
Um, I have a question about your quail. Do you have a lot, do you have a lot of quail? Yes. Do you sell the eggs to restaurants? I have not ever had anybody inquire. We considered it, especially being so close to Nashville. Um, but I am not producing that many. Um, we just hatched a close to a hundred in September and I've been going through and regrouping everybody. So I've got four.
23:32
No, five different coveys with at least 20 hens right now, but I've not been supplementing light for the last month. Okay. So what do you do with all the eggs when they're producing full tilt? My dad pickles them. Okay. They either get pickles, he eats them, he likes them as well, or I feed them back out to the flocks or the dogs. Okay. And they're little tiny eggs, right? Yes. I can just toss them out to them and they just eat them.
24:03
Okay. That makes sense. Um, if you ever do have a chance to sell them to restaurants, you should look into it because restaurants really like quail eggs. Yes. And I thought we have some interesting restaurants here in Bowling Green, of course, because it's like the third largest city in Kentucky, but there's just not a huge market for it right here. For me, at least that I found, and I may not have done enough.
24:32
digging, but maybe I need to, have some friends. need to dig around more. Yeah. I mean, I'm not telling you, you have to do it. I'm just saying, there is a huge market for that. Yeah. And even like the duck eggs too. Yeah. I was very surprised. We were selling our friends, duck eggs in our farm stand this summer. Could not keep them stocked in the farm. People love them. Yeah.
25:03
And people, there are tons of people around here that like the quail eggs too because of the nutritional value that they offer compared to a chicken egg. Yep. hear that a lot. They've got, they're so nutritious. I don't, I'm not an eggy person, which is so weird because I have so many birds that lay eggs, but I usually gift eggs. think in the last six months, my male lady has gotten a hundred dozen eggs.
25:33
She's the best, so she gets all of the eggs. Nice. I'm sure she appreciates it. She's wonderful. But we also raise button quail. Not just, I have catornix and buttons, which are like oriental to look at quail, and they're tiny. And when they hatch, they're about the size of a bumblebee. Oh my God. They are so little, but they're so fun. And they whistle, and it's like,
26:03
And it's so cute. I didn't even know there were button quail. I learned something new every day on this podcast. They're not really worth anything to a homestead, but somebody that would want maybe a little ornamental bird, but didn't want like a parakeet. They're great. They covey the same way. They are a little bit flighty, but they're so cute.
26:31
Yeah, there's a lot of they're so cute on a homestead. swear. They will. there's because it's everything's so cute. How do you not like farm animals? Yeah, it's ridiculous. I am a sucker for a baby goat. My husband's mom or my husband's mother-in-law and his sister all or my mother-in-law and his sister all raise goats. We have hair sheep. Yeah, I prefer the sheep to the goat. They
27:00
behave a little bit better. do. And it's funny because my husband and I have talked off and on for 20 years about how great it would be to get a couple of baby goats and raise them. We have been on a 3.1 acre homestead for five years. Do you think we've gotten any baby goats? No. Do you know why? Because they're a pain in the butt. Right. That's what I told Jared. We've only got about five acres right here, but we've got neighbors. And I was like,
27:28
Honey, the pigs get out enough. don't need the goats getting out too. which we have wonderful neighbors. They love all of the things that we have because the chickens and the roosters especially, they crow all day every day because there's so many of them. They just talk to each other and they're like, we love it. It's so funny. We get so tickled at it. And I'm like, I'm so glad you don't hate me. Yeah. Our neighbor, our closest neighbor is a quarter mile away and I wish we lived that for far.
27:58
They are industrializing our area. We're hoping to move soon, um, on further away from Bowling Green. We're 30 minutes away from Bowling Green and it's still growing fast and fast. So we can't get away from it fast enough. Well, I wish you all the luck in the world with that because the best thing we ever did was move out of the town that we lived in.
28:27
So we were right in town. We were townies. And now we live in the middle of cornfields and soybean fields and we love it. And our neighbors have a rooster who crows every morning. I hear him at 4 a.m. and he's got the softest crow. Like if he's crowing hard, something's wrong. Right. And they have at least one donkey and I can hear it bray now and then. We would love one. And they have they have at least one.
28:56
bovine, I don't know if it's a steer or a cow. And every once in a while I will hear it doing the lowing sound that they do. The really low, soft moo. I grew up on a dairy, I love cows. Uh huh. And I just, when I get up in the morning, I sit on the porch with my coffee and I just listen to all the animals waking up at our neighbor's farm. And I'm like, hey, better them than us. Cause I get to hear it, but I don't have to take care of the critters.
29:22
Well, like we're in one of the smallest counties in Kentucky and I'm nestled right in Mammoth Caves back door. Like I'm five minutes from the whole entire park. We're from Edmondson County, which holds the majority of the park itself. So you wouldn't think that it would be as populated, it's Bowling Green is growing. So now Edmondson County is growing.
29:49
And so on the side of the river that we're on, on the South side, it's just becoming more populated. I want to go to the other side where it's not, and there's not so many people. And so we wouldn't be going far, but far enough that it's not populated as bad. Yeah. Yep. I understand, Corey. I really do. Which is just, I think it's just happening everywhere now.
30:18
It's at pop, people are moving. There've been an influx of people from California here, which is great. I love that. Come live, come live here. It's not a slow life. It's not simple either, but it's not as fast as the city. Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. All right. I try to keep these to half an hour, Corey, and we are there. was an absolute joy talking with you. Where can people find you?
30:45
They can find me on Facebook, Mystic Roots Homestead, Simples and Apothecary, Herbal Simples and Apothecary. I have a TikTok page as well. TTS, Mystic Roots. I do TikTok shop, wellness stuff that I align with and then of course the bunnies. But that's the two places they can find me. You're not on Instagram yet? I have a personal Instagram, but I don't use it.
31:14
I don't know. I got so focused on TikTok and the farm page on Facebook. I was worried to take on too much at one time. That's probably smart. The best advice I've gotten since I started the podcast two years ago is to pick a couple platforms and stick with them, the ones that work for you. Yes. And that's what they said. That's what I heard as well. And that's what I did. And so far it's working really well. I would like to advance more in meta because I feel like
31:44
There's more growth as a content creator, but as far as like, if you're doing anything with affiliate, it's TikTok right now. Yeah, I don't even, I have a TikTok account only because my daughter posts things and a friend of mine posts things and they're like, you should have a TikTok account so you can see what we're doing. It's fun over there sometimes that people can be mean because there's of course billions of people can be mean anywhere. I don't understand that. It's free to be kind to just go on about your day.
32:14
I'm going to say this. I haven't said this on the podcast ever before. takes less muscles to smile than it does to frown. And I feel like it takes less muscles to be nice than it does to be mean. I agree. I agree wholeheartedly.
32:31
I don't know why people have to be mean. It's one of my biggest pet peeves ever and I try not to talk about it it just makes me mad. As always, people can find me at a tinyhomesteadpodcast.com. If you want to support the podcast, you can go to a tinyhomestead.com slash support. And I've started a second podcast with Leah from Clear Creek Ranch Mom on Facebook. The podcast is called
32:59
Grit and Grace in the Heartland, Women in Agriculture. There are two episodes posted. Love that. Yeah. And we have a website that is, building it. It's like three pages in right now. And that's gritandgracenheartland.com. I will run over there and give you a follow. Everybody else should too. Mary, this was such a wonderful experience for me. It was really fun and I learned new things. I love you guys because you teach me things every time.
33:29
Well, I would love to chat with you another time. Anytime you let me know if you want to. Yeah, I would love to hear more and half an hour is not nearly enough time for everything I want to ask. So we'll do it again in about six months. Okay. Sounds good, Mary. We'll talk to you later. Thank you, Corey. Thank you. Okay.