Tending Seeds: Adventures in Gardening, Homesteading, and Herbalism

Today is our 50th episode!! I have Mike on the podcast with me again and we're diving into all of the different parts of our off-grid infrastructure. We share what has worked, what hasn't, and things we wish we had known ahead of time. Some of the topics we cover include:

• road access to your land
• hauling water
• septic vs composting toilets
• generators
• camper batteries
• battery tenders
• solar power
• off-grid internet options

We hope this episode will be really helpful to you if you are considering homesteading at some point, or are already homesteading and looking to possibly change up some of the things you're doing! We are definitely not even close to being experts, but always happy to share whatever knowledge we can in the hopes it will save you from some of our own mistakes!

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If you'd like to support the podcast, please spread the word about it by sharing it on your social media!

You can also support us by checking out our online farm shop. We have lots of great herbal offerings in stock and pre-orders for our summer solstice box will be opening up soon.

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

/// 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 hope the month of May has been treating you well! Things here are looking great – it's finally warm enough that we have some seeds started and sprouting, and we were invited to vend at a local market for a spring event last week. Our farmers' market also starts up at the end of this month and we're looking forward to being there every Saturday!

Today's interview features two awesome guests who I'm excited to introduce you to:

Stephanie Thurow is a Certified Master Food Preserver and Master Gardener Volunteer from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a homesteader, author of bestselling cookbooks Can It & Ferment It, WECK Small-Batch Preserving, and WECK Home Preserving. You can find here on the Minnesota from Scratch blog, or on Instagram under the same name. Stephanie hopes her experience with homesteading will help others reach more of their goals. When she isn't in the kitchen preserving, she can be found in the garden with her hens, teaching food preservation classes, or at the lake with her family and friends.

Michelle Bruhn homesteads in suburban Minnesota. She's a local food advocate, Master Gardener Volunteer, writer, garden educator, and farmers' market manager. As the founder of ForksInTheDirt.com, an information hub for garden and farm-to-table living, her passion is helping folks "dig" their food. She can also be found at ForksInTheDirt on Instagram. When not in the garden, Michelle enjoys spending time with her backyard flock, family, and friends while immersing herself in nature (usually with a foraging basket in tow).

Their book Small-Scale Homesteading covers topics such as:

• Gardening tips and tricks: from composting, soil health and what plants thrive best during the different seasons.

• All things preserving: Canning, curing and how to keep your vegetables last year round.

• Raising chickens: how these feathered friends can inhance your homestead.

• DIY products and recipes: healthy alternatives to everyday cleaning products, lotions and soaps.

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If you'd like to support the podcast, please spread the word about it by sharing it on your social media!

You can also support us by checking out our online farm shop. We have lots of great herbal offerings in stock and pre-orders for our summer solstice box will be opening up soon.

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

/// 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

Today I'm excited to welcome Angela Ferraro-Fanning to the podcast. She is a self-taught first-generation farmer who runs Axe & Root Homestead, a six-acre farm in central New Jersey. She grows and preserves her own homegrown produce for her family and runs a farm bustling with Clydesdales, geese and ducks for eggs, an apiary with ten beehives, sheep, and a small orchard. She shares her love for self-sufficient living with others through social media as @axeandroothomestead, her books and online homesteading classes, published articles, and public speaking. She is also the cohost of the HOMESTEADucation Podcast and the author of the Little Homesteader children's book series.

Angela joins us today to talk about her book, The Sustainable Homestead: Create a Thriving Permaculture Ecosystem with Your Garden, Animals, and Land.

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Please help spread the word about the podcast by subscribing, rating, and sharing with a friend or three.

/// 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! We're back with our second episode with my partner, Mike, as a guest. We're continuing this series discussing the process of restarting our homestead out here in Colorado. Today's episode focuses on our actual move from Tennessee to Colorado and some of the big decisions we had to make and the logistics that we had to organize. I hope this episode is helpful to anyone who finds themselves in the position of needing to move their homestead in the future. And I hope everyone else finds it entertaining to hear about our adventures!

Some topics we touch on :

• Deciding when to actually make the move.
• Deciding where/what to live in once we got to Colorado -- we bought raw land so we were starting completely from scratch!
• Working to get our TN homestead on the market to sell.
• Moving in stages -- we needed to have infrastructure ready to go for the animals before we brought them out.
• Our first work trip -- what we accomplished; help from friends.
• The actual move -- worrying about our animals; finishing fencing in the dark.
• The rush to beat winter -- getting ourselves situated; not letting solar equipment freeze.

The cover photo for this episode is the first selfie we took on our new property, the morning after we arrived and started stumbling around our land for the first time. If we look sleep-deprived and a bit wild-eyed, it's because we were!

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As always, we appreciate your support of this podcast and our work! Please check out the spring seasonal items in the shop! Lymph Love, our favorite herbal vinegar, is back in stock. We also have violet leaf salve and calendula salve available in two different sizes now – both are great if you're dealing with dry skin from winter still. And of course we still have our normal stock of delicious herbal teas and tinctures. Thanks so much for supporting our farm with your purchases! It means the world to us, especially as we work to get our farm re-established in a new location this year, which comes with a lot of expenses.

If you're enjoying the podcast, please share it with a friend or three to help us reach more listeners!

Until next time, keep your hands dirty and your heart open <3

/// 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

I'm so excited to welcome Dylan and Mickenzie of Nashville Farmacy to the podcast today! This is the final interview that I recorded back in Tennessee, and some of the only guests that I was fortunate enough to get to meet and hang out with in person!

In today's conversation, we talk about what it's been like establishing their new homestead, their passion for sharing and teaching others about mushrooms, some of their favorite mushrooms, running a gourmet mushroom farm, and how to grow your own mushrooms. I hope you'll hop on over to their website to check out their offerings, including some of their grow kits if you want to try your hand at growing some shrooms! Also make sure to give them a follow on their Instagram. Enjoy!!

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It's the end of March, but we still have over 3 feet of snow on the ground at our place in Colorado! I'm itching to get the garden going but it looks like I'm still going to be waiting a while. Our kune kune Clementine gave birth to five super healthy and adorable piglets last weekend so that's keeping us busy in the meantime.

We've also released some of our spring seasonal items in the shop!Thanks so much for supporting our farm with your purchases! It means the world to us, especially as we work to get our farm re-established in a new location this year, which comes with a lot of expenses.

Our next episode will be another joint episode with my partner Mike as we continue to talk about our move from Tennessee to Colorado and transitioning to off-grid life here.

Hope you're doing well out there! Love extra hard on the people you care about, and plant some good seeds – both literally and figuratively.

Until next time, keep your hands dirty and your heart open <3

/// 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

Today I'm so happy to welcome my partner Mike to the podcast! This is our first episode together in what will be an on-going series talking about our move from homesteading in Tennessee to now living off-grid in Colorado.

In this episode we're talking about why we wanted to move West, what we were looking for in a piece of land, some of the properties we fell in love with, and various obstacles to actually getting a purchase to happen. And of course we talk about the piece of land we ultimately ended up purchasing and are now recording this podcast from :)

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Please help spread the word about the podcast by subscribing, rating, and sharing with a friend or three.

/// 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

Today I have a super fun interview for you about a different kind of growing – bonsai trees! I'm sharing a fantastic conversation that I had with Jerome and Mari of the Bonsai Supply. They are also the authors of the beautiful book, Freestyle Bonsai.

In today's episode, they'll discuss the origins and history of bonsai, some common myths about bonsai, and the different types of trees that can become bonsai. Jerome and Mari also offer their thoughts on what tools you need to get started, and walk us through the process of tending to and pruning your bonsai trees. There's a lot of great information here and you can really hear the passion that they both have for bonsai and their craft! Enjoy!

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Check out Jerome and Mari's book, Freestyle Bonsai, and follow them on Instagram @TheBonsaiSupply.

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Please help spread the word about the podcast by subscribing, rating, and sharing with a friend or three.

/// 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

The Fox and Elder online farm shop is finally back open after our big move! Come check out what we have to offer this winter for teas, tinctures, elderberry syrup kits, and more. We appreciate your support so, so much!

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For today's episode, I'm thrilled to bring you a conversation with Tasha Greer about her wonderful book: Grow Your Own Spices. Tasha lives and homesteads in North Carolina and has so much wonderful experience to share with us. If you've ever wondered if you could grown spices such as ginger, vanilla, and cumin -- this one is for you! We recorded this conversation this past summer before I left Tennessee and I really hope you'll get a lot from this episode. More than anything, I hope you'll be inspired to work a few new spices into your garden plans for this coming spring! Enjoy!

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Check out both of Tasha's books: Grow Your Own Spices and Weed-Free Gardening. You can also find her on Instagram at @exploresimplestead.

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Please help spread the word about the podcast by subscribing, rating, and sharing with a friend or three.

/// 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

The podcast is back and we've been absent because of some big news -- we're not in Tennessee anymore! Over the last few months, we purchased 41 acres in western Colorado, sold our TN homestead, and are now living completely off-grid (except for satellite internet) in the mountains. We're exhausted but so, so happy, and looking forward to sharing more of this wild journey in future episodes.

Today though I'm sharing a lovely conversation with fellow farmer Kathleen Moss of Fox Briar Farm in Easton, Maryland. We're talking about land and some of the different options (buying, renting, farmer co-ops, etc) available to farmers looking to find a space to start growing. We share our own experiences over the years -- the joy and love of connection we develop with land, and the heartbreak if we have to unexpectedly move on. We also talk about stewardship, community building, and pondering what will happen to a piece of land after we either stop farming or pass away. I had such a good time talking with Kathleen and this is a really intimate conversation between two growers about something that becomes inherently personal the longer you are growing in one place. I hope you enjoy it!

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Connect with Kathleen over on the Fox Briar Farm instagram! Her CSA is open to new members right now for 2023!

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Please support the podcast by subscribing, rating, and sharing with a friend or two.

/// 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

I have Josh Williams on the podcast today to talk about his book, Spiritual Herbalism, and I'm so excited to share this conversation with you. I think this is one of my favorite interviews so far on the podcast! Before we dive in though, a little background about Josh:

Josh Williams is an award-winning herbalist and owner of Salt Lake City's Greenthread Herbs apothecary. He is a lifelong student of the plants, and a graduate of several of the world's top herbal education programs including the rigorous East-West school. Josh has been in clinical practice since 2015 and opened the shop in 2018 with Bryan Lindquist. Josh has won Best Herbalist in Utah award since 2018 and the shop has won best of city and state in several categories since its opening.

Josh's approach to herbalism and plant work is radically rooted in the spirit of plant people. He is a fierce animist and practices The Green Arte, a craft tradition of plant sorcery that honors the spirits of place, the old gods, and the ancestors.

Josh's approach to herbalism really resonates with my own beliefs and I highly recommend his book to new and seasoned herbalists alike. I really hope you enjoy this episode and then will pick up a copy of his book and check out his online course offerings.

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Connect with Josh on Instagram

Visit the Greenthread School

Learn about the Green Arte

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Please support the podcast by subscribing, rating, and sharing with a friend or two.

/// 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