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The Forbidden Farm “our farm, your secret”

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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 Andrea at The Forbidden Farm in New Jersey. Good morning, Andrea. How are you? Good morning. How are you today? I'm good. How's the weather in New Jersey this morning? It is actually bright and sunny and it was supposed to rain. Oh, well it's bright and sunny in Minnesota too, but it's nippy. I think it's maybe 57 degrees outside.

00:29

Already? uh My brother was from  Minnesota. Oh cool. Where did he live?  Don't even tell me I went. Like one time went to the Mall of America, which was amazing.  That was it.  Okay. All right. Cool.  So he must have lived somewhere nearby. Yes. that's where the mall is. Yes. Yes. Okay.  All right. Awesome. So

00:55

Tell me a little bit about yourself and why it's called the Forbidden Farm.  Well, you know, that's a little secret, so I got to keep that to myself.  Oh.  I  started out running an environmental company for 20 some years.  And when I left that company, I came home  and literally decided I really I just had a little temper tantrum, was stomping my feet and said, I'm going to get goats  and make soap.

01:25

So that was May, June,  I  LLC'd my company. And then from there, I had my first event on, I started out in my, my sunroom,  um, making all my products and doing stuff out of the house with my middle son, Dean. He was the big help in the beginning. We made all our soap together, just him and I mostly. then

01:51

we decided to branch into  like fairs, like wineries and stuff like that.  During this timeframe, my mother uh was diagnosed with dementia. So we had um set her up  in one of um the nursing homes actually ends up being right across the street from my now shop. ah And then she came to live with us.

02:19

So I had to move the stuff into the basement. So we continued doing that. We had our first event in September of last year on a Sunday at Terra Nono Winery, which was amazing. It was so much fun, had a huge setup, never done anything like this. And that was on Sunday and Thursday, I ended up getting the shop, which was insane. All within like a three month timeframe.

02:48

all again while my mother was going downhill.  So it was a huge struggle. ah family, everybody pulled together. uh Sadly, my mother passed and we buried her and then opened up the shop the next day, which was a struggle. But the community has been amazing. Like everybody, like I wear my heart on my sleeve. I don't hold anything back.

03:17

authentically myself from the day you meet me, probably too much so, but you know, open book. I'm like that too. And right now I feel like there's a lot of wearing your hat on your sleeve because things are just so crazy in the world. really feel like you have to. Yeah. I talked to my daughter who lives in Florida for three hours on the phone the other day and

03:42

We both teared up at least six times in three hours over things that we were talking about that are impacting the world right now. And I ended up with a terrible migraine from it because I'm one of those people where if I try to like stem the tears, it makes my head hurt. Me too. Oh my God. I was like, I love talking with her, but I wish it had been more positive. And we tried. We tried really hard to find positive lights in things, but it's just so hard right now.

04:10

Sometimes you can't, it is hard.  So I  need to clarify here. So you have a shop where you sell things that you make, is that right? I have a shop and cafe. Okay. And then do you still have your goats?  I do.  Okay. So do you live on like  acreage or do you just have No, the farm is outside of where

04:40

We live, it's not in Vineland. Okay. So  I'm trying to get to this. uh So my podcast is conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers and crafters. So you  sort of are doing homesteading, yes? Yes. Well, I am getting closer and closer to like creating, cause I'm looking for, cause  obviously you'll know, they always say to everybody thinks you need.

05:09

like 10 plus acres of land to do, I feel a good five acres is a solid like amount to create your whole homestead on,  least in my head. So I'm actually uh the beginning of next month looking at a piece of property that has the acreage that I want, a house  and a building for possibly like the shop because we,

05:35

Even I'm also a real estate agent, but I'm working with one of the agents in my company because I'm like, I don't want to play agent. You'd be my agent. She's like, I think this would be perfect because you'll have everything all in one. So we're not  running around everywhere doing like, you know, like planting the lavender and like we at my house and then running over to the farm and then back and forth. You know, want it all centrally located. How exciting.

06:03

I really hope it works out. exactly. And then you have your shop. So tell me about your shop. What's  it like? um It's a dream come true, honestly. It's not like work. It's been a struggle, but more so because  of just everything that I've gone through personally while opening it. And we haven't even hit a year yet. So it's insane.

06:31

but I love it. love um making things for people,  using my hands, using  everything  as a whole being. I'm also um currently uh studying for a holistic practitioner. So I'm super excited because I started with the soap and the creams and the oils and I love that. And I will never stop doing that. But I have branched into so many more  like

06:59

items and I'm loving the holistic aspect of it. But again that was always my whole life I was the one if you were sick, I was making you something like  you know I used to do the handmade gift cards and just basically encompassed everything of myself into the shop and then I have a love for coffee so I'm like oh I really like basically redid the coffee nook in my house into my store.

07:26

And we were actually just voted top five for South Jersey Community Choice Awards. Congratulations. Thank you. That's fabulous. Back when I lived in town, we've lived in the middle of nowhere for five years now. We live in the middle of corn fields and soybean fields now. Oh my God, I'm jealous. But we did live in a small town and we were right in town, so we had many neighbors around us.

07:51

And anytime anybody was sick, everybody knew that I made fabulous homemade chicken soup. Yeah, has.  And they would message me or call and be like, do you have any chicken soup in your freezer?  It makes a difference.  Yeah. And uh everybody swore by it. And I was like, I am happy to help.  And one of my neighbors even bought a couple of them.

08:14

frozen whole chickens to put in my freezer so that I could make more soup for the following season, which I thought was very sweet. That's amazing. I love that.  Yep. So I get it. I love helping people and I still do help people. just help people in different ways now because my nearest neighbor is a quarter mile away. ah I cannot, I cannot wait.  cannot wait.  Yep. It's so,  I do not.

08:42

I do not recommend anyone to move to the middle of nowhere if you're really, really social and you have no way to keep that social outlet because I'm not, I am an extreme introvert and I really do love just being in my little pretty house and having my chickens and my barn cats and my dog. And my husband and my son are kind of important too, but it's just really nice to have the

09:11

I don't know this piece,  this place where people aren't just knocking on the door out of the blue, you know?  I know. I always would say like my backyard too, just even now,  when you walk out, like it's my own little like oasis.  And we do have a very quiet neighborhood, but it's still a neighborhood, which I love it. It's  wonderful. It has served its purpose. And I will always hold onto that house.

09:40

but I'm ready for, I want like a ruse of lavender. I want like my girls like running like crazy all around my chickens just roaming.  Like I'm ready to have that right there.  Yes. And you are actually making my point for me because  you were saying that that  you've been looking for a bigger piece of land.

10:04

And the point of homesteading is not necessarily big land. It's about actually doing the things that bring you joy that have to do with nature. Yeah.  So anybody can do it on any size property. um just interviewed a lady who lives in Minneapolis and she has,  I think she has a third of an acre and she has backyard chickens and she adores them. Yes. Yes.

10:31

You can. mean, you don't need, like I said, you don't need the, I feel that way. Like you don't need all the way. And mean, I would love all the way. And I have so many things that  I want to do. Like, but it's different. It's a different, it's, it's not what I would have said five years ago, because I always was going this direction.  But like five years ago, it'd be like, Oh, I just want like, you know, all of it and put this here there. But now it's like condensing, even with the house, like I want.

11:01

Just like a nice size little rancher. Like I don't need all the stuff. Like I don't want all the stuff. Put it in the back. That's what I want. I want the stuff in the back.  Yeah.  My project for this winter,  one week at a time, I'm going to be going through all of my stuff. I'm starting with the  closet at the top of the stairs, because that's the one that doesn't really get noticed much. It's got our winter coats and stuff in it. Yes, yes.

11:30

But it's also got a bunch of crap that needs to get out of my house.  And so, so this winter is going to be pack it like we're moving, even though we're not moving, get it out of my house. want,  I want things to be more minimalist because we moved all of our stuff from the place we lived in for 20 years into this house by ourselves. Cause it was during COVID. So we didn't really have much help. We didn't feel safe asking people to help. Right.

11:59

And so we slammed everything into this house and a lot of it ended up in the pole barn. And it is now time five years later to actually sort through it and get rid of some things. That's the project for the winter. And you know that five years probably flew by too, didn't it?  Oh, it's nuts. I can't believe we've been here five years. just... It's crazy. I know.  I just shared a  video of our puppy that we got five years ago. You know, like of her at eight weeks old this morning, because today's her gotcha day.

12:29

And that dog is now a dog and she is amazing. We were so afraid we would break her because we'd never had a puppy before.  I can say this right now because my husband will be back for this episode airs. He's actually out of town this weekend and she adores him.

12:50

And I was afraid that she was going to be obnoxious last night because usually if he's out of town she comes in and jumps on the bed like six times during the night if she's looking for him. And she was such a good girl. She didn't even come in my room last night. What type of dog? She's a mini Australian Shepherd. Oh, I love that. You got the whole thing going over there. I love it. Oh, we do. Yes, we do. And I actually have

13:17

eggs in my kitchen right now from our chickens because I told my husband I said I'm not putting I am keeping a dozen eggs this weekend because I would like to make some eggs because we usually just stick them in the farm stand and they go like hotcakes they're gone. Really?  Yep. So yes we are we are doing the thing and another lady that I interviewed on the podcast she calls it doing the damn thing she says do the damn thing.  So we're doing the damn thing. My children are so sick of eggs.

13:47

Like I can't give them away fast enough. It's like, oh my God, if I eat another egg right now with our, we have 13 chickens. just like, Yeah, we have 20 and we did have 26, but as I've said many, many times this summer, raccoons got some of our chickens this year, but we end up having just enough eggs to have two dozen going into the farm stand almost every day.

14:15

That's amazing. And they're gone by three o'clock in the afternoon. People have bought them. Gone. It's like, listen, you're a dealer when you have eggs. It's hysterical. The thing that's amazing is that a lot of the people that buy our eggs, actually bring cartons to us so we can just refill them. Mine do too. I mean, I don't sell them, but like my friends are like, here. I was like, okay.

14:44

Yeah, and it's great for like two or three times and then you want to toss them because they do the egg curtains can get gross after a while.  So it's so fun and it's such a little piece of  sustainability. But the things that we do on our farm, I keep saying that if you can do just something small positive, it does counteract negative.

15:13

So we just keep trying to do good things here. I love that. I love that. I'm very excited. I'm getting like a 10 by 10 greenhouse. Yeah. And I have a, had this huge like blackberry bush that we had and I plant and I always plant all the like vegetables and everything. So I am so excited to like keep it going throughout with this. So hopefully, hopefully soon it gets here.  Nice.

15:41

Yes, greenhouses are amazing. have one of those. We have one of those too. I love it. And if you would like a hint on how to keep it warmer, because New Jersey is not exactly the warmest state in No,  any suggestions. Give me all of them. OK, you said it's 10 by 10? Yes. OK, if you can get a couple of the rectangle water containers that you can get at the store where stores actually sell water where you go and refill your containers. OK.

16:11

If can get those, as long as they're clear, you can put those in your greenhouse. The water will warm up during the day and it will disperse the heat at night. Really? Yeah. We have the big IBC totes in our greenhouse because our greenhouse is bigger than yours.  And  it really does help. oh So you could try that. Yeah. It will not help on like a minus 30.

16:38

temperature night. No, but still, yeah. But it will gain you some time, know, gain a couple I figure I'm going to start small with this and then hopefully, you know, down the line when all the things come together.  Yep, but you can try that.  We did it last year and it gained us two months past, well, it gained us October and November for growing in there. Really? And then it also allowed us to get our seedlings that we started out in our kitchen out there sooner this spring. That's awesome. All right, perfect. Thank you.

17:08

So  it's a fairly inexpensive trick  and your mileage may vary, you know, but now listen, any little bit helps, right? Exactly. Yup. So tell me, I was looking at your Facebook page and you have little boxes that you sell.  One had an orange flower on top.  Oh, yes. I just made them the other day, my little like fall like, um,

17:33

Like I call them like grab and goes, cause I have a ton of people come in and I make baskets,  uh, like  quite frequently and I love it. It's my favorite thing to do. And I  honestly, go ham with them. like all the little details and I always cutting down flowers and putting stuff in,  but I'm like, Oh, let me do some of these little grab and go boxes with little, almost like a sample box as well too. But more so if you're,  know,

18:01

run into somebody's house and you want something to bring.  did,  I made the goat milk. I made a pumpkin spice  soap  and I think I did the  fall leaf and little pumpkin. I did gingerbread uh sugar scrub. And I use about five different types of like sugars in that and like almonds,  avocado and sunflower oil. And then I did  a pumpkin spice cream.

18:29

but I also have like the cutesy like spa type ones, your traditional lavender or vanilla as well.  Nice. They're really pretty. The boxes are really pretty. I do that with these soaps too. I like wrap them and then I do the little,  I felt like getting real creative this week, like with like that stuff. I felt like my soul needed that this week. So it made me happy.  Yeah. Listening to you talk, I was thinking about this the other day and I was wondering if I could work it into a podcast somewhere.

18:59

I love to cook. I don't necessarily love to craft, but I love to cook. And I feel like a lot of these activities that are involved in homesteading, whether it's you're making crafts or you're cooking or you're growing plants or whatever, it's about play. It's a lot of play, even though it's a lot of work. It's like when you were a kid and you were pretending to make pies with mud or you pretending to make a crown with flowers.

19:29

It's the way that we as adults express that playful spirit. Agreed. I actually have in the front of the store,  I call it like you scoop it. It's a bunch of different bath salts. Each one is a different property, like let's say joint and muscle,  you know, and then you have your traditional lavender and then your stress and anxiety and you know, so forth and so forth. But it's like the old school.

19:58

where you would like scoop the sand part.  So you can layer it. And I did one with like a layer and I would show like the adults and they were like, oh my God, I'm like, just the act of scooping it is so much fun. And then when I make, when I do classes, especially with the body scrubs, I had my first class, I had the recipe and I was all like, oh like freaking out about it. And then I just threw the recipe to the side. I'm like, listen, this is all about consistency that you like.

20:28

I'm like, this is the basis and  these scoops that I got, these wooden scoops, I did the big glass containers. So all of it feels good, like holding the scoop in your hand, like scooping the sugar out. I'm like, just dump it all in and then it's like making um a sand castle. I'm like, get your hands in there and you get the consistency of like, think when you're on the beach and you squeeze that sand and you're like, all right, that's enough water so it will be able to mold.

20:58

I'm like, that's how we get with the sugar scrubs and just make a mess. I always say everybody gets all nervous.  Even when I'm pouring soap, like if people are helping me and it spills, I'm like, listen, soap is the easiest thing in the world to clean up. Let it dry, scoop it, boom, done. I'm like, don't worry about it. don't, I go through, it's like a tidal, like a tidal wave of stuff everywhere. I'm done.  Yeah. I feel like when everybody got tablets and smartphones and stuff,

21:28

We all were so enamored with this thing that we just basically touch with our fingers that we lost sight of the actual needing to play and make things. Exactly. They don't do anything. You don't even write anymore.  And now, now people are coming back around to, yeah, it's fun to create stuff with actual physical things. Yes. Yes. And we paint soap too.

21:54

It was one of the first classes I had. I'll do like the, like just like a vanilla scent and like, just the plain. So it's just white.  But I'll do fancy molds and then we'll take the mica powder and then they paint it. And it's like,  you should have seen mine. I'm like, I'm not doing these classes anymore. I have a girlfriend who's like really good with this. And  my customers were amazing.  Like when they paint this, it's like.

22:18

a work of art. Mine looked like toddler, like just stamping paint on this thing was terrible. And these women, they get so excited when they're doing it. It's so much fun to watch all of it. Just get messy. Like you said, you get messy and it's okay to get messy. And it's fun to be messy sometimes.  Absolutely. um

22:40

We  used to make candles. We haven't made candles in a while, but my husband was the candle maker because I do not like dealing with hot wax. I've burned myself before. don't love it.  And so he would pour the  wax from the pitcher into the candle jars. And the first time he did it, he was like, oh, I just drip wax on the table. And I was like, it's wax. It'll dry. Just use a spatula and scrape it out.

23:07

And he was like, won't that scrape the table? said, not if you use the uh plastic spatula or  pancake flipper or whatever they're calling it now.  And he was like, oh, and so now  if he's in a hurry, he just like  across the jars and he wastes some of the wax, but not much.  And I said,  you know, if you scoop that up and put it in a container, I can just melt it down and we can keep the  different.

23:35

waxes for candles for us. what I do for the soap. Yes.  And he was like, Oh yeah, we're gonna throw it away. And I said, well, I'd rather not.  Waste not, want not.  Yeah. And especially when it's the coffee scented candles, because I love coffee. so, so he did, he spilled, he spilled quite a bit of coffee wax one time and I was like, do not throw that away.  I have to send you  our coffee bean oil, actually the customer that

24:04

came up with this for me. So funny. She brought a jar in. It was like I have I'm like a hound dog with my nose. terrible. It's good, but it's not. And she was like, Can you replicate this? And I did. And she's like, she loves it. She buys like two of them like I swear once a month. It's like it's hysterical. I was like, you. I'm like my problem like the worst business owner. I'm like, this will take last you forever. All you need is one. But it's I again, I can't just truthful.

24:33

but I have this forbidden bean oil  and  the body sugar scrub and cream and she loves it. It smells so good. If you like coffee, I'll send you that.  Oh, that would be lovely. Yeah, you'll love it. It's so good. And I make it with like my my coffee beans, the grinds. So it's really good. Well, you'll like this story then. uh My kid needed some  lotion for his face.

25:00

because he was using  some stuff on his face that was drying his skin out. And the doc said use some face lotion. And I didn't have any of my favorite, which used to be Burt's Bees.  And so I was like, there must be a recipe for a lotion you can use on your face  on Google that I can make. And there was,  and it called for uh raw cocoa butter.  And I'm all for that, that's cool.

25:28

And it didn't really come out.  It was a lotion  and then it actually hardened up and now it's more like a salve. Yes. But what I didn't know is that raw cocoa butter actually smells like chocolate. I had no idea. Really? Yeah. So anytime we use that for hands, face, elbows, feet, doesn't matter. It's good for everything.  All you can smell for about 10 minutes is just like hot chocolate and it smells amazing. smells like Hershey Park. Yeah.

25:58

And  I am okay with it. I don't like to use it on my face because I don't want that smell right up in my nose, but on my hands. Oh my God. It's lovely. Oh, in the winter I can imagine too. Yup. So that's the other part of making things is that sometimes you discover that a thing that you were making because you needed it is actually just fun. It's true. It's true. And then, and I, my customers too, I have so many

26:25

things in my shop that I never thought I would make like  not once did it ever cross my mind.  And I like my I love these this these people that come in this community like it's they are amazing. ah I've got I put in like sea moss like facial clean like cleansers and like all that stuff. But tallow.  I never wanted to get into tallow it takes so long to make it's exhausting.

26:54

I never ever thought I would use that because I'm like, no,  no, I don't want it on my face.  I use that for me. The magic number is like every other day, every two days. So it doesn't for me. I always say every body is different. So it for some might not work for others, but, especially within my store, I have a lot of products that do all the same things, but you just have to find what fits for you. But that tallow, I am obsessed.

27:24

I'm like, can't,  does, it is for me, like a little on the, obviously, because of what it is, the greasier side, but  my skin now loves it. It absorbs perfectly. And I have this like dewy, youthful look. I'm like, oh my God, I'm like, damn that tallow.  So, and I fly,  I feel bad because, you know, it takes a long time to make a little bit. So I try to like stay up on it, but I was out for a while and I put it all back on the shelf and

27:54

came right off. Wow. Yeah, tallow is a big thing right now. I don't do that. I haven't gotten into that at all. I should. I've got like 20 pounds of beef fat in my freezer right now. Oh, well, you know what? I'll put a little sample in there because then if you love it, then you can start making it. Yeah, you're like somebody's got to like get because me I would have never until like I was almost forced to and I was like, OK, I'll try it. So yeah.

28:23

Yep. have melted down raw beeswax from the hive and done candles with that. And that's not nearly as hard as tallow. Tallow takes more work. Do you find with the beeswax, because I put the beeswax in my tallow because it was, you know, to make it like thicker. I melted it down. did the whole, you know, my science project looking thing  and I, the one I have at home. So I have not put beeswax in since that. So maybe you could give me a trick for this.

28:53

but it all went right back to the beads, no matter what I did. So I didn't know how to break it down. I'm like, thought I broke it down as I was supposed to, but then when it all came back together, the little, I guess, beeswax beads came, which is fine, it still breaks down, but I have to work it with my fingers first before I put it on.

29:18

Okay, the only suggestion I can give you is do not buy the beeswax beads ever again.  Get  honeycomb that is from an actual hive. Okay. Because I  don't know how they make the beeswax beads, but I hate them. We bought some and I will not use them. I used like a half a bag. We bought two bags and  they're sitting. They're too. I used it the one time and I'm like, nope, nope, never again.

29:48

Yep. I just,  there must be somebody who keeps bees in New Jersey that is nearby that you can talk to and ask if you can have, it's basically the caps from the honeycomb when they, when they get the honey out. Okay. And you just melt it down in water and the wax floats to the top. All the impurities go to the bottom and you just peel the wax out when it cools down.  Thank you.

30:15

So don't,  if you want good beeswax, get it from the real bees. Okay. Yes. And we do. We have a bunch of them, a local here. So I will reach out to them. Yep. And your whole house will smell so good because there is still honey in that wax.  Oh, that sounds amazing.  Oh, when I did it, oh everybody in my neighborhood could smell the honey. Really?  Yeah. That's awesome.

30:43

Yeah, my neighbor called me when she got home from work. said, what are you cooking? I said, I'm not cooking anything. Come on over. She came over and she's like, what is that? And I said, that is raw  beeswax from  the caps from the hives from Joe,  who I got it from.  And she was like, oh my God, it smells like you are making mead. I said, I wish I was making mead. That's amazing. So.

31:08

Anyway, I try to keep these to half an hour. This has been a lovely discussion. Andrea, where can people find you?  I  am um online at the Forbidden Farm and Cafe. Excuse my website. It's a work in progress. When I get time, I will get to that.  Facebook, Instagram, and we are in Vineland, New Jersey.  Fantastic. As always, people can find me at atinyhomesteadpodcast.com.

31:36

And if you'd like to learn some of the things that Andrea and I have been talking about, I have a Patreon.  It's patreon.com slash atinyhomestead.  Andrea, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. Thank you. This was amazing. Very hot, like eye opening. I appreciate you.  Oh, I appreciate you too.  Have a great day. Thank you.  Bye. Bye.

 

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A Tiny HomesteadBy Mary E Lewis