Tending Seeds: Adventures in Gardening, Homesteading, and Herbalism

Hey friends! Hope you're doing well as we wrap up January here. We have been SUPER busy with some big projects behind the scenes. One of them is that we now have our farm store open in Hotchkiss! For the last two years, Mike and I have, in addition to homesteading, had a small tattoo studio in Hotchkiss. Our lease was coming to an end and we had really outgrown the space so we started looking for something bigger. One of the things we were hoping to find was a new studio space that would be big enough to actually house both of our business! We lucked out and found a great commercial space that's still on the main road through town and the property owner is super cool and very supportive of everything we're doing.

We've also been trying to find some time to pause and do some planning before things pick up steam here with markets again. I think taking the time to really reflect on what we've done before planning for the next season is so incredibly important and that's why I'm so excited to have Jill Ragan of Whispering Willow Farm on the podcast today! She's the author of the Tiny But Mighty Farm but our focus today is to talk about her newest project, The Tiny Farm Planner. We had an awesome conversation about so many topics, like honoring the different seasons of our lives, getting away from the cultural urge to monetize everything we are doing, and instead focusing on the joy that activities bring to us. Hope you enjoy!

Grab your own copy of The Tiny Farm Planner!

Connect with Jill: Instagram * Facebook * Website

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Our farm shop is full of goodies for you! We have two new offerings in the shop -- our Hot Italian Seasoning, and our Tummy Mender Tea. Our seasonal Lymph Love vinegar is also back in stock to guide us smoothly out of winter and into early spring over the next few months. Your support helps us to keep growing, literally and figuratively <3

Coming through Hotchkiss, Colorado? Swing by our new in-person farm store at 148 E Bridge St! We'd love to see you and have a chat over a cup of tea!

Use code PODCAST25 at checkout to save 10% on everything in the farm shop!

You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook.

Please share the podcast with a friend so we can reach more fantastic like-minded people!! <3

Hi friends! Welcome to our first episode of 2025! We're getting back to releasing two new episodes a month, and we have some awesome interviews already recorded and ready to share with you -- like this one!

Today's guest is Sarah Thrush, who I've been following for a few years over on TikTok. You might know her there as @peeliesandpetals and she shares tons of great information with her followers about food preservation. I was also able to snag a copy of her book, Preserving with a Purpose, and I have to tell you it's quickly become one of my favorite books about canning! It covers all of the basics if you're new to canning but Sarah also offers up a lot of kitchen wisdom and her recipes are not the same ones that we see time and time again in other canning books – there's some really cool unique stuff in here that I am excited to try out for myself this coming year as we start bringing in the garden harvest.

I loved having Sarah on the podcast, I think her knowledge and enthusiasm for the freedom that comes from preserving food for your family is really contagious and I hope you will catch the bug as well! Enjoy the interview!

Connect with Sarah Thrush: Instagram - TikTok - Get her book!

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Our farm shop is full of goodies for you! All of our seasonings, including our smoked jalapeno salt and smoked garlic salt, are back in stock and ready to ship. We also have seasonal offerings like our Elderberry Syrup Kits to get ready for cold and flu season. Your support helps us to keep growing, literally and figuratively <3

Use code PODCAST25 at checkout to save 10% on everything in the farm shop!

You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook.

Please share the podcast with a friend so we can reach more fantastic like-minded people!! <3

Hi friends! I'm back with an awesome repeat guest today -- Natalie, the Alaska Redhead! Natalie is a fellow off-grid homesteader who lives in Alaska and was on the podcast a little over a year ago. We became friends and have stayed in touch, so decided to have an on-going series that we're calling Homestead Chats with Natalie and Sara. Today we catch up on what's been going on at each of our homesteads, how we made it through winter, our different crafty endeavors, and lots more! Hope you enjoy!

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Find Natalie on Instagram: @alaska.redhead

Natalie's Podcast My Far North Cabin

Natalie's crochet Etsy store

Our farm shop is full of goodies for you! All of our seasonings, including our smoked jalapeno salt and smoked garlic salt, are back in stock and ready to ship. We also have seasonal offerings like our Pumpkin Pie Spice Blend and our Elderberry Syrup Kits, to get ready for cold and flu season. Your support helps us to keep growing, literally and figuratively <3

Use code PODCAST24 at checkout to save 10% on everything in the farm shop!

You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook.

Please share the podcast with a friend so we can reach more fantastic like-minded people!!

Hi friends! It's been a minute since our last episode but we have lots of fun progress updates to share! Things are moving along nicely with our shop build and we've been having a great season at different farmers' markets and festivals.

Today I'm super excited to have Tenae Stewart on the podcast to talk about her book, Botanical Cocktails. Residing in California, Tenae is a cottage witch and astrologer who has previously published two other books, The Modern Witch's Guide to Natural Magick and The Modern Witch's Guide to Magickal Self-Care. In her latest book, she shares delicious cocktail and mocktail recipes with us that feature beautiful herbs that we can cultivate in our gardens or find while out foraging. I hope you enjoy this episode!

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Want to connect with Tenae? You can find her on Instagram, or visit her website to get signed copies of her books.

Our farm shop is full of goodies for you! All of our seasonings, including our smoked jalapeno salt and smoked garlic salt, are back in stock and ready to ship. We also have seasonal offerings like our Pumpkin Pie Spice Blend and our Elderberry Syrup Kits, to get ready for cold and flu season. Your support helps us to keep growing, literally and figuratively <3

Use code PODCAST24 at checkout to save 10% on everything in the farm shop!

You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook.

Please share the podcast with a friend so we can reach more fantastic like-minded people!!

We're back with our second episode in our Homestead Tools series! Make sure to check out Episode 53 - Essential Tools for Your Homestead if you haven't already listened to that one.

Today we're moving past the basic tools that we previously covered and talking about some investments that can really help to level up your projects. Mike answers my questions about everything from cutting metal and welding to a variety of options for sawing your own lumber, and so much more! We hope this episode will be super useful for you.

Here is the Miller welding app that Mike mentions.

Our third installment in this series will talk about tool maintenance so that you can make sure to protect your investments!

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Our new website and farm shop are finally up! All of our seasonings, including our smoked jalapeno salt and smoked garlic salt, are back in stock and ready to ship. Your support helps us to keep growing, literally and figuratively <3

Use code PODCAST24 at checkout to save 10% on everything in the farm shop!

You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook.

Please share the podcast with a friend so we can reach more fantastic like-minded people!!

It was a long winter but we're back with some great project updates now that the weather has gotten nicer and we can get back to work on our property! Spring means worktime around here for sure!! Mike and I share what we've been up to thanks to an excavator rental, and some tips for those of you who might also be renting large pieces of equipement. We also discuss the pros and cons of working with repurposed materials, specifically using old tires for building projects.

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Our new website and farm shop are finally up! All of our seasonings, including our smoked jalapeno salt and smoked garlic salt, are back in stock and ready to ship. Your support helps us to keep growing, literally and figuratively <3

You can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook.

Please share the podcast with a friend so we can reach more fantastic like-minded people!!

Hi friends! Happy New Year! We're back with our first episode of 2024 where we reflect on what we accomplished in 2023, share some big life events that happened, and then dive into our goals for this coming year. We talk about goals for our land/homestead, the farm business, our tattoo studio, our health, and more. We'd also love to hear about your goals for this year as well! We think speaking our plans aloud helps with accountability and it's also fun to see the commonalities in goals across our whole community. This year is going to be AWESOME!

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Please consider supporting the show by checking out our online farm shop! All of our seasonings, including our smoked jalapeno salt and smoked garlic salt, are back in stock and ready to ship.

Please share the podcast with a friend so we can reach more fantastic like-minded people!!

Find our online farm store at NordicFoxFarm.com

Join our mailing list for 10% off your first order!

You can also visit our shop in person at 148 E Bridge St, Hotchkiss, Colorado.

Follow us on social media: FB * IG * TikTok

Hey friends! Mike is back on the podcast with me to discuss essential tools for your homestead. We start off by talking about hand tools and then progress to battery-operated power tools and corded power tools. Mike answers some of my questions and we share things we've learned over the years. We think this is useful info even if you aren't homesteading yet because it's great to have a basic toolkit no matter where you live! We'll be doing a second tool episode covering specialty tools and also answering any questions that you all send in, so feel free to message us through our social media if there's something you'd like us to cover!

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Please consider supporting the show by checking out our online farm shop! Pre-orders are open for our quarterly seasonal box of herbal products. This box ships in time to receive it before the winter solstice, Yule, and Christmas -- so it also makes a great gift! It comes with our best-selling Winter Wellness Tea, elderberry syrup, and lots more.

You can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook. (You'll notice we've switched our farm name to Nordic Fox Farm -- we talk about this in the intro to the episode! New website coming soon!)

/// Hello from the future!! ///

Fox & Elder is now Nordic Fox Farm!

Find our online farm store at NordicFoxFarm.com

Join our mailing list for 10% off your first order!

You can also visit our shop in person at 148 E Bridge St, Hotchkiss, Colorado.

Follow us on social media: FB * IG * TikTok

Hey friends! October 20th marks one year of us living off-grid on our land in Colorado, so we thought it would be nice to take an episode to reflect on everything we've accomplished so far! We also dive into how our lifestyle has shifted living so remotely, some of the unexpected challenges we've faced, what we really value and consider to be luxuries now, and lots more. At the end of the episode we also touch on some tough news regarding our pig herd.

This episode is dedicated to Franklin, Clementine, and their piglets <3

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Please consider supporting the show by checking out our online farm shop! We've got loads of seasonal goodies stocked up there for the fall and winter.

/// Hello from the future!! ///

Fox & Elder is now Nordic Fox Farm!

Find our online farm store at NordicFoxFarm.com

Join our mailing list for 10% off your first order!

You can also visit our shop in person at 148 E Bridge St, Hotchkiss, Colorado.

Follow us on social media: FB * IG * TikTok

Hi friends!! I'm recording this intro on the summer solstice, looking out at the garden and just really loving life at the moment. This weather is absolutely amazing. We've gotten a TON of work done on the homestead recently and we'll share about that in an upcoming episode. We're also getting fun new summer herbal products listed in the Fox and Elder shop, including our summer solstice boxes which we have just a couple of left.

Today I have Natalie, the Alaska Redhead, joining us on the podcast. I found her through a mutual friend and immediately knew I had to have her on the show. I'm so glad to have been able to strike up a friendship with her and convince her to come on and share her experiences with you all.

Alaska is one of those homesteading destinations that has become more and more popular in recent years, but there are some big challenges to consider if you're thinking about moving there! Natalie and I dive into those and she shares some of her challenges in living off grid in Alaska. She has some great insights to share and I hope you enjoy our conversation!

I hope everyone is doing well out there and that your seedlings are healthy and happy. Be good to each other!

Until next time, keep your hands dirty and your heart open.

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Find Natalie on Instagram: @alaska.redhead and @nataliesoffgridkitchen

Natalie's Alaskan Life blog

Natalie's crochet Etsy store

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/// Hello from the future!! ///

Fox & Elder is now Nordic Fox Farm!

Find our online farm store at NordicFoxFarm.com

Join our mailing list for 10% off your first order!

You can also visit our shop in person at 148 E Bridge St, Hotchkiss, Colorado.

Follow us on social media: FB * IG * TikTok