They Grow 80% of Their Food AND Earn $100K From a 1 Acre Backyard!

0:00 I mean, I could probably turn [music] 5 grand just on sunflowers. And then even the dolly alone, I mean, this will generate probably over 10,000. I think we did the math one year. I think [music] in this bed, I produced over 600 lb of cucumbers. I do not think you should buy more land. I believe you [music] should start small and stay small. If you want to grow more food for your family, you have to stop growing like a hobbyist. [clears throat] You need to grow like a market gardener. You don't have to grow it all. You don't have to raise it all. You can grow your own food and buy Costco jam and you can still [music] be doing what you need to be doing. You were eating three meals a day from a gas station. >> Yes. Like I lived on Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Red Bull. Okay. >> Last weekend, [music] Jill made 100 loaves of sourdough bread in this oven with a wooden spoon as her stir stick. >> That almost paid my mortgage. [music]

0:46 >> Is it easy? >> No. But it's not supposed to be. We are here in Arkansas at Whispering Willow Farm with Jill, [music] who has made a successful market garden and a profitable business [music] in her less than 1 acre backyard. She's also the mom of four and teaching people like us how to frugally use the time, money, and land that we [music] actually have to our best benefit. So, let's walk around and talk about how you've made this all work. >> Yeah, let's do it. [music] All right, welcome to my broken [music] greenhouse. And well, she's not as cute as she was a few months ago. This is where we [music] actually grow about 80% of our family's food year round.

1:31 >> Awesome. >> So, it's a 20x 50 foot. And I mean, we [music] crank out some food here, literally year round. The beds are never bare. >> So, what do we have going on here? >> So, we just uh direct seedated. [music] This is one of the crops we do that to our bush beans. And we have a few different varieties, but [music] in the last several years before, we would grow this bed as a cash [music] crop. So, this is a 3ftx 24 ft bed, and we would just grow ginger in it for another local farmer [music] that makes elderberry syrup. And so, they would come plant it. We would water and manage, which is just like healing it up, and then they [music] would harvest, and then they would pay me about between 2500 and $2,700 [music] depending on. So, you're basically

2:16 renting your greenhouse space. This is why we're here talking [laughter] to her because this girl knows how to make a farm business work. >> We have cucumbers. We do a ton of fermenting, so that's primarily what these are for. We'll take some to the farmers market. Katrina cucumbers is the only variety I've grown for probably the last four years. And I mean, we will crank out 40 lbs, 40 plus pounds per plant, which is insane. I think we did the math one year. I think in this bed I produce over 600 lb of cucumbers. I actually have never had any sort of pest on these at all. So I grow a lot of hybrids which can be controversial. And so a lot of people think they're genetically modified. I think it's just a misconception that >> maybe the modern world has told people to believe maybe some fear around that.

3:02 They are super nutritionally dense, right? There's nothing different. They're certified. Like I mean I will always grow heirlooms. That's how I learned to garden. My papa, you know, like there's a place for both. But when you're trying to feed your family year round, which we are, we're providing for other families, I would it would be silly for me not to grow hybrids, you know what I mean? Totally. And so, no, I mean, these produce so much. I could grow that next to an heirloom and it's going to produce 10, 20 times the amount. >> All right. So, as we're still by the cucumbers, [music] though, I noticed that some of them down there are taller than these ones. >> Yeah. >> What's that about? [music] >> Yeah. Succession planting is really the only way we can grow as much. So, we do two primary successions in [music] two sections. Um, and that's just to ensure that we don't have to go to the store and buy cucumbers. >> Yeah. Do you direct sew your cucumber

3:49 plants or do you take them from the greenhouse and put them in here? [music] >> Yes, we transplant almost everything on our farm. That's mainly the only way we're able to maximize our space is we need one thing ready to go when the other one comes out. So, [music] that's how we like to do it. >> Uh, what happened here? a massive snowstorm [music] and we had to take one of our knives and duct tape it to a broom handle while we all had the flu and [music] we were just cutting plastic. So, we're just waiting to uh replace it pretty much. >> I mean, this is one of the things I love the most about you. It's [music] real life and uh real frugality in its finest. >> All right, so let's quickly revisit this. So, you said that you were using these to take pests from what? are brascas. We found that they gravitate

4:36 more towards the Brussels sprouts than they do the cabbage or kabi or anything like that. So, we typically will grow Brussels towards the back of the bed. Um, and they don't take all of them. And they do a great job. Um, now that we've got the ginger and the beans out, we'll just take these and feed them to the sheep. >> But then all >> Oh, for sure. >> Amazing. >> Yeah. And then the eggplants will be a trap crop for what's planted there for the summer. I never grow spring bras. It makes no sense here. the pest pressure is going to be too bad. I need that real estate for something else. >> Um, so yeah, growing that throughout the fall in the winter does really good here. And one thing I like to do is we'll mix up some BT, spray the plant before it leans the greenhouse, put it in immediately, put insect netting, replace that with row cover, and we're good to go. But that little bit right there, just get nine gauge wire, cut it

5:23 to the length of your beds. That's the best insurance policy you can do for your farm. So easy to do. >> The row covers, >> oh, 100%. insect netting um because it alleviates most of these issues. It's harder to do that with the plants you grow in the spring unless it's like greens and especially into the summer things that are vining and growing. But in the winter garden, fall garden, that's your best bet. People ask me all the time, um what's your best advice for squash bugs? >> Yeah. >> And my best advice is don't grow squash. [laughter] >> Squash is >> love that >> squash is so affordable at the farmers market. Even if you're buying organic at a grocery store, it is not worth it for the pest you're going to bring on your farm and for the maintenance, right? Because if you're an organic grower, I am the maintenance. >> Yeah. >> I'm not handpicking that. I'm not going

6:09 to invite all of those pests to all my other crops that are actually feeding my family. Go buy squash. >> Love that. >> That's my tip. >> That's brilliant. What do we have going on over here? >> This is actually our leftover second winter wave of beets. Um and then we planted onions behind that. And then we will interplant more carrots. And then I direct seedated all of these. So we've got different radish varieties and then carrots at the front. We swap these two beds every year. And so we will plant a full 54 ft bed of root crops twice a year. And that's enough to last our family. Cold storage, fermenting, fresh, all the things. That's seems to be enough for us for those varieties. Also, have we mentioned that you have

6:56 four kids? four kids. >> So, you know, >> got a lot of mouths to feed. >> Yeah. [laughter] All right. >> So, when you were doing your first garden on that one acre, [music] >> what was your cash crop, per se? >> Well, I started with vegetables and then we were a certified farm, [music] so I was selling organic tomatoes for $2.25 a pound, wholesale price [music] back in the day. And then I started working with a naturally sourced grocery store and she's like, "Hey, I'll pay you 250 for a dalia stem." One flower. >> One flower. So I was like, "Well, looks like we're growing flowers." So then our cash crop became zenyas and sunflowers. [music] And we've then scaled into dalas and all

7:41 what you see behind me. >> Yeah. So, okay, let's let's walk and talk. >> Watch your step. These are still a little wobbly, >> but yeah. What do we have going here? >> Yeah. So, we have our first [music] round of everything out. So, we have our zenyas, um, our dalia. We actually overwintered this year. We've got sunnies, our fillers. Um, and then we'll just keep this in rotation. [music] We'll we'll have flowers out here through November. >> And how much money is in this garden, would you say, throughout the growing season? >> Oh gosh. Um, I mean, I could probably turn five grand [music] just on sunflowers. And we also rent it out >> that patch right there. >> Well, so we'll do the back one and then eventually it'll take over. [music] So, typically we would take like four of these grids and make them. So eventually once these run out, that's just what

8:26 that will be. [music] But I have photographers that just want to come and take photos, which I've been paid $800 an hour for someone to come take photographs. So there's a lot of different ways. Some of it we're going to sell, you know what I mean? Um we've always done wholesale, but we're doing direct to consumer this year and you pick, which we can charge more, and then we'll have photographers to come in, which is really our high ticket. >> Um and then even the dolly alone, I mean, this will generate probably over 10,000 Plus, that's probably on the low end throughout the season. >> I absolutely love that you just went from being a vegetable farmer to a flower farmer because you looked at the data. So many people make decisions in farming from an emotional standpoint. You know, I think you have to stay so fluent in farming. If you have one set plan, you're like, I'm going to do this until the day I die. It's just comical,

9:13 right? Because it's like the economy is going to change. First of all, we live in a town, so the nearest town has four colleges. Well, that's why I can sell flowers because do you think those college kids care anything about growing or buying locally grown produce? No. >> But they will buy every sort of cute bouquet you can put at on for their apartment. >> Yeah. >> So, it's like I'm playing to the needs of my community. So, that's what I try to consider. I would never just put up another high tunnel because I have the property. >> Totally. >> But if I have a market and I know I can sell it and I know I can turn profit on it, I'll consider it. >> [music] >> And this is why we need to listen to folks like her who are doing it the right way and thinking about it the right way. By the way, just uh quickly plug your book. >> Oh, the tiny but mighty farm. >> Yes. >> All about small scale growing. I have a

9:58 tiny farm planner that is really all the record keeping seasonal [music] to-dos and yeah, how do you maximize space? How do you grow efficiently? Talk a whole lot [music] about it. Popping back to [music] our farm to give a huge shout out to the sponsor of today's video, Better Help. Jill is managing a [music] lot. And as someone else who also loves to manage a lot, the dark side or the other side that not enough people talk about [music] when you are juggling a ton is mental health, especially for young working moms. I found Better Help 6 years ago at a time in my life that I was struggling with all of the things that I was juggling and I needed to talk to someone [music] about it. I'd done talk therapy before, but there are several features of BetterHelp that have kept me a loyal customer for the last six [music] years.

10:44 And that is that they take all of the guesswork out of finding a good office and finding a therapist that you mesh with. You can get online, fill out a quiz, and you get matched with a therapist pretty quickly. And then if you and that therapist don't mesh super well, you can very easily change therapists within the app. They also have tons of free group therapy sessions you can attend in between your paid [music] therapy sessions. just for free as a result of using the service. Probably the best thing about BetterHelp though [music] is that I can do therapy right here from the comfort of the farm and never actually have to go anywhere. Something that I personally love a lot because if I am going to go somewhere, I want to go visit other farmers or go speak at conferences and the rest of the time I want to be right here where the good stuff's at. And for me personally,

11:29 therapy is very seasonal. when there is something that comes up and I want to work through like our fertility journey and the losses that we suffered, BetterHelp and the therapist I found through it has been a huge positive resource for me in my life. So, if you're struggling with something and you want to talk to someone about it, check out BetterHelp. You can go to betterhelp.com/anofalltrades or use code analrades at checkout and you'll get 10% off of your first month of therapy. When I was [music] looking at your flower garden, I was at first like, "Oh, that looks almost like it's raised beds [music] and then we got closer to it and I noticed all these bricks." >> Tell us about uh what's with all of the bricks. >> So, our property is on a V, right, which

12:15 just collects a ton of [music] water, which is obviously not very good for our plants. So, we had to get creative in a affordable way to divert the water, which is essentially what we are still doing. We're still building this. We're making use of the property [music] that we have because land's expensive. I do not think you should buy more land despite what a [music] lot of farmers will tell you. I believe you should start small and stay small, especially for a lot of reasons, [music] right? We refused to go into debt to do this. We could spend money and buy the perfect property that we could not afford and it would make absolutely no sense. Or we [music] could take a property that we could afford that was less than ideal, if you will, and work with what we have. So, this is [music] us working with what we have. I encourage so many people start small and stay small because you can outscale yourself real quickly and then what happens? Um, and also from a

13:03 sustainability aspect, if we're community driven in what we do, I remember we bought this property and you know, you think more land, I'm going to go get all the things, right? And so I thought, I'm going to freaking buy a dairy cow. And so we were currently buying our milk a mile down the road at a dairy and that was their full-time operation. And so I wrestle with I really want a dairy cow. And then one day I'm journaling and I'm like, how dare I say I am a communitydriven supportive farmer when I would be willing to put a dairy cow on my property and raise it less than ideal and take business away from a farmer a mile down the road from me with the most ideal conditions. So we don't have dairy cow, nor would I ever get a dairy cow, right? And so it goes back to that practice of like you don't have to grow it all. You don't have to raise it all.

13:49 Sometimes actually being sustainable [music] is supporting the people that that is what they're doing and you do what you can do well within the means at which you can do it. But let me [music] tell you something. We have a joke and no offense like to anyone who has this picturesque farm that's great. But we have a joke in our family. If [music] you go to someone's farm and it's nice they don't actually farm. >> Oh 100%. >> And this is a great representation of that. [music] So, this is what a business looks like, friends. >> This is our catch all. All of these plants just made their way out minus a couple. So, we do start um sunflowers every week here on the farm. So, we have the plants that are actually still being grown over there. >> Also, let's just keep moving cuz it's quite toasty in here. Okay. So, you've

14:36 also given me another warning about this. >> So, we put this tunnel up. It's from Bootstrap Farmer and we hired a consultant to come and tell us what do we need to do. >> Yeah. and he said, "Do not grow in it the first year. Manage your weeds." To which I thought surely. So I grew in it very successfully the first year. But then >> and the second >> the second year we were like this is unmanageable. So we bought some chickens >> and we put the [music] chickens in here to help with the wheat. Um we're actually going to turn this into our seasonal supper club. >> Oh. >> So we will plant the outside rows and then the inside we will lay gravel and this is where we do all of our farm to table events. um all of our [music] workshops without the weather situation. Oh, it's not near as bad as I thought it was. >> Oh, this is great.

15:22 >> I will tell you this looks so much better. My goal is for it to be operational come midocctober. [music] We had counted like 13. >> Did you want this chicken back in there? >> Oh, sorry. You might actually recognize this deer [music] reader from Roots and Refuge. >> And Refuge. >> This is Jess's greenhouse thingy. Tell us more about this. >> Yeah. So, one, it looks a little different if you are um an OG follower of Jessica's. So, we pretty much kept the bones. I mean, we kept the windows. We had to replace some obviously because we moved it onto the property. Um and then we rebuilt all of this. This This is where we have our bread CSA pickup each week on the farm. Um, my little

16:09 >> Hold on. Is this another business venture? >> Yes. >> So, you have a bread CSA? >> I have a bread CSA. They can order every week, pick up on farm or pre-order their bread for the farmers market because we always sell out. So, we'll put up our open sign. They have certain time to come on the farm. We're actually, it's our work day on the farm, so they can come and see anything, talk to us, whatever. Just a great way for community to get out, see what we're doing. >> This is really cool. >> Sturdy. >> Yeah, I love that. >> [music] >> So, one of our friends ran an organic uh farm [music] about an hour and a half here. And when we bought this property, because I knew there was going to be a [music] lot of transition happen, I asked him if he would co-armm with us

16:54 for 2 years. We would split all the food for both of our families, he could sell, and I would cut the profit with him if he would teach me. Yeah. >> And one of the things I realized in that process is, wow, okay, I really want to teach backyard gardeners professional growing techniques because it's just way more efficient and not you don't have to sell anything, right? It's just if you want to grow more food for your family, you have to stop growing like a hobbyist. You need to grow like a market gardener to store more food for your family to be more efficient. Like there's a day for everything on our farm to where >> a few years ago I could have looked at this and been like, "Oh my gosh, how am I going to manage that?" >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, I know Tuesday I'm harvesting flowers, Thursday I'm harvesting flowers, Wednesday I'm weeding, Friday I'm seeding and transplanting. Like when you have a day that is your task list,

17:39 >> then I can weed and cultivate one day a week and then that beats I mean that's an hour of my time versus waiting until it's overrun and then I've got a week's worth of weeding to do. >> Totally. >> You know, so it's like for me that was one of the things he taught me. You have to one everything has to have a place which we're still learning how to do that one. But then two, you have to have a system for everything. And if you don't have a system, you don't have a way to automate it. >> And those are the kinds of things that make it possible for you to be a mom of four. You're also baking bread and writing your book and like and all of that is organized and intentional. >> Oh, 100%. Yeah. I am um a micromanager. I will say everything's a time block and I have a certain amount of time and if I don't get it done, it moves on to the next task. And that's just how I've set myself up to be efficient. Yes. Um, I honestly believe that's how we've been

18:25 able to be a profitable farm. And I cannot recommend that enough. Like, and I still have joy in it, too. Right. Because when it's efficient and I'm profitable, then I'm joyful about it. Yes. >> But when I feel overwhelmed, that's when I start getting scattered. I start being frantic. You start not making level-headed decisions. And so, me being rigid, if you will, with my time actually makes me more joyful and gives me more time freedom to spend out time out out here, which is what this is. This is just a forjoy garden. Oh, I love it. So, like, let's look around. Let's not try to have Adam [music] die on these um [clears throat] unburied papers. [music] >> This is so beautiful. So, all of this was just bare. Um we moved the pavilion

19:12 and the greenhouse from the existing garden [music] and we built everything else. And this is where we grow our perennial herbs, which we use for breads [music] cocktails, things like that. And then this is just I I don't know if you would say a fun garden. It's all [music] intentional, but this is just like for me. It's a beautiful space we can come into. We cook so many meals right [music] over there underneath that cowboy fire pit. >> Love it. Also though, you were telling me like those are Jess's famous rose bushes. >> Yeah. So, we transplanted as much as we could. Um all of these roses that she had planted, we've gone in and planted more. Um >> and they're beautiful. And what's this in between them here? [music] >> So, this is nine bark. That's a great shrub. So eventually it'll grow big. We use it for filler. We've got native flowers. >> Put filler in your >> flowers. [music] >> So like when you're making a bouquet. >> Yes.

19:58 >> This girl never wastes an inch of growing space if [music] she can help it. Like okay, she's got a perennial and she's making these rose bushes look nice. But then she's literally going to use a perennial that she [music] can clip and put into a bouquet that she can sell. And you'll notice there's still a lot of weeds here. But then we have a lot of ground cover that we're hoping will help us eventually manage. We'll keep buying more of that and [music] try to spread it throughout. Um, but also as you know, someone who doesn't mind a weed or two here and there, but I think this is everyone. It's like, oh my gosh, sorry about the three dishes in the [music] sink when someone comes over, but like they're like, I didn't see the three dishes. This is so beautiful. I would not be the one who's like, you know what, I can't buy your book about market gardening cuz I do in fact see a right there. So,

20:43 >> yep. Anytime someone did mention the three dishes, I'd probably be like, "Well, there's soap." [laughter] >> The good Lord gave you two hands for a reason. Oh, which actually that leads me to one other practical question about, you know, managing family, managing a family business, >> managing your farm. Uh we share something in common. The our husbands are super dads. >> Oh, 100%. Nathan helps out so much, but Nathan definitely is like managing kids, you know, doing dishes, doing laundry, picking up kids to and from places. And then, of course, he helps make all my dreams come to life, but it's a little different. And actually, really, I was telling Ann earlier, I spoke at a homemaking conference and I was like, I'm not sure that you want me speaking. He's like, my homemaking role is a little different, but it's like it is homemaking to me, right? Because I'm

21:30 providing for my family and as a homemaker, as a mom, right? That's what I feel like God's called me to do is to provide for my family. And so, this is where I thrive. Nathan actually really enjoys doing that stuff and coming alongside of me and the things I need help with. And I think that's the great thing about working and farming with your spouse. It's like, gosh, we live the best life. Like, we get to grow our own food, grow beautiful flowers, raise our kids, and then teach and inspire, you know, a ton of other people to do that. >> I love that. >> So, is it easy? No, but it's not supposed to be. [laughter] >> Wow. Yeah, I agree. >> Yeah. I don't think it's supposed to be easy or there's no point in doing it, right? Like it has to be hard work. I think now you can make it as efficient as possible, but if it's easy, then

22:16 what's the point in doing it in my opinion? >> By the way, she decided right after having a baby to run [laughter] an ultra marathon without training. And in case you're wondering where the context of what she was just saying comes from that that's that. >> Yeah. >> Actually, one of my things that I came on my notebook that I wanted to ask you about cuz I I saw this in your book. >> Uh you said it's so important that you find and state your mission >> and that you revisit that. So can you just tell me like for you and your family, what's your mission? >> Yeah, I think community is the top. It is above growing food. It's above providing for our fan family. Um, I think without stewardship of people, you miss the point in doing it. So when Anna texted me, she's like, I know it's short notice. I'm like, I have an open door policy because if we're not stewarding

23:02 community, why are we building the farm? Shoot, that's convicting and challenging in so many ways. >> You all moved from your backyard garden to some acreage. >> For sure. And the first thing [music] most people do is like, "Okay, well, I've got land now, so I'm going to get animals." And you you didn't um you have animals now. So, let's talk a little bit about that. >> Thankfully, I'm not the animal person in the relationship. So, for me, >> very rarely am I spooned by an animal, right? I'm like, I just got to have it. Um the sheep [music] are so efficient because they're one truly the only grass-fed, grass-finished animals that we have. So, we want to raise that, right? cuz it's [music] going to cost us the least amount and we can butcher them at home. So, we knew 100% we have to

23:50 have sheep on [music] our farm. >> Those are the kinds of nonemotional business decisions I love to hear about. But, you do have sheep. >> We do. And >> so, let's talk about the sheep. >> Yeah. So, we're actually on my neighbor's property. They're so sweet. It's a conjoining and so they have three acres and so they let us rotate our sheep out here. So, we have our moms and their babies from this season. Um, we have all of our babies every spring and so we can rotate them on their three acres and we bake them bread, we give them meat, you know, it's a good exchange. They love washing the sheep. It's so sweet. They actually helped like with the birthing process of these this year. And then we have another neighbor that we borrow their tractor and their equipment. Um, they have like a weekend home with like double of everything. You know what I mean? And they're so sweet. And so it made no sense for us to lease

24:35 or buy a tractor when we had one available to us due to relationship instead of money >> 100%. And like we we bake them bread, we give them meat, we invite them to things, we you know come over, eat dinner with us. Like we have a working relationship with them and it's worked out great because it makes no sense for us. While a tractor would be nice, it's not necessary. >> This is the thing that I think so many people are missing. this idea of self-sufficiency, fear-based everything. We, it's 2026, we have nothing in common with our neighbors, so we're just going to separate in every way. There's so much that's missed in that. Community is so important to me because I actually grew up in an intentional community. But in that, everything started and stopped around the table because sharing a meal

25:22 is everything. You started by saying you wanted to support your family and raise as much of your food as you could. Can we go in the house and actually look [laughter] look at what that looks like? How you feed your four kids? >> Yeah, absolutely. >> Okay, let's do that. >> All right, so we're going to walk right [music] in self-guided tour of your pantry [laughter] cuz there's so many things I like seeing [music] right off the bat. >> Well, it's pretty open. >> Yeah, it's [laughter] very open. Tell me about what's what are we looking at here? >> Yes. So, it's a blessing and a curse it being this open with four kids. But up top we have all of our bulk like beans and legumes. We get all of those from Azure Standard which [music] is kind of like a co-op that drops once a month. This is our beef liver that we Yeah. We

26:09 ground down and freeze dried it and we make our own capsules. So, we have bulk stuff, bulk rice, bulk grains, and then a lot of our freeze-dried stuff. [music] So, we've got our kale, our celery, tomatoes, our freeze-dried eggs that we really only use for baking in the winter. >> Hold, please. Uh, this is a freeze-dried egg. >> I mean, not just one, but [laughter] >> what do you mean you're using this for baking instead of a real egg? >> Yes. So, when our chicken quit laying instead of us having to buy eggs, which one we just don't eat a lot of like fresh eggs, but anytime we're baking or making casserole or any sort of baked good, we'll just use our freeze-dried eggs. So, we try to freeze dry one to two dozen a week in the peak season to have enough for when they quit laying. What a world. Then we have all of our

26:55 fermenting supplies, canning supplies. We've got our freeze dryer stuff, our smoothie stuff, and then, you know, stuff that we also have to source out. So, like we're sourcing out um our black beans, our peanut butter. Um >> listen, I both of [laughter] these things. There's some things that it's like if you look at the ingredients on the back, this is exactly what I would put in it if I did it myself. And >> well, and the great thing is is when I first started gardening, you know, I went to the farmers market and I made jam and I did all this stuff and it made sense. But now that we are at where we are, it doesn't make sense. And we don't grow our own strawberries. Hopefully, if we do, we'll get back there. Um, but yeah, I mean, my kids still eat PB&Js sometimes. Like, I'd rather them do that than us go down to a fast food restaurant, right? Like I'm making the bread. Um, and I don't know. I think

27:41 it's an important message. Like I don't want to sit here and lie be like we make everything from scratch. I don't. And it's not the most efficient thing for me to. Yeah. >> So it's like hear this message loud and clear. You can grow your own food and buy Costco jam and you can still be doing what you need to be doing. You can still be self-sufficient. You can still be a gardener, a homesteader, whatever you want to be labeled and considered as. I'm over a decade in. >> Yeah. >> And I'm still buying jam. >> Listen. And that's okay. Wait, before we meander past that though, uh you told me something that actually really hit hard with me when we first sat down at your table earlier. Uh we have very similar backgrounds. We grew up with not a lot and we've figured out a way to find that stuff. But in that you were saying that prior to your life now, you were eating

28:29 three meals a day from a gas station. >> Yes. >> How do you go from that to this? >> Yeah, I You know, when I met my husband now, he was almost like it was almost he didn't think he could marry me. Like I lived on Reese's, Peanut Butter Cups, and Red Bull. Okay. >> Yeah. >> While working three jobs. >> While working three jobs. I lived on my own at 16. And you don't know what you don't know. Yeah. >> Right. Like one, I never grew up in a culture. Like I didn't eat most of my vegetables until I was well into my 20s. Um I was telling Ann like the only vegetable I remember eating is like a little English pee and I'd have to douse it in my mashed potatoes just to even swallow it, right? And it was not a culture that I grew up in. It took years and years of trying. I mean, my husband made me try mushrooms, you guys, so many times that I was like, "Lord, was this the right decision. [laughter]

29:15 Now I eat mushrooms with almost every single meal we eat." Right. >> You're 100% right. We We had made a point uh when we had Alexander. We're like, "We're going to feed him everything because hopefully he won't end up like either one of us." >> That's the thing. And I encourage my kids and I want them to know food's not good and food's not bad. Fruit food does one thing, right? Or it nourishes your body. Yeah. >> Or it depletes your body. So, I give my kids a choice, but one, I want you aware. If you choose to eat this, like, we don't eat hot dogs in this family. Okay. Why is that? Because we're aware of the ingredients and [laughter] we know we just don't want that. But if my kids go to a birthday party, I don't tell them, "No, that's bad. You can't have it." I say, "Well, you know what's in it. I'm going to give you the choice." >> And I will tell you, nine times out of 10, my kids make the right decision.

30:00 Yeah. >> Now, that doesn't mean I'm going to stock my pantry full of crap, >> right? But it also means I'm not going to deprive you either. If you want to choose to do that, you know the outcome and you get to make that choice. And so, I want to provide them with good choices. >> I love that. >> But I'm also going to give them the option, you know. So, like you see, there's not a lot of I mean, we do have packaged foods, but they're not bad. Like Lara bars, this is cashews and dates and sea salt. That's a huge snack. Organic applesauce, right? Like oranges. We can have any sort of fruit. And we know anything on this level is like all the time fruit. You can always make a smoothie. You can always have fruit. These things you need to ask. We're going to limit them. Yeah. >> You know what I mean? So, we just try to be mindful of that. And that's a lot of what we have. I mean, our smoothie bowls, smoothie bowls, oatmeal. We do have some some convenient stuff like if

30:47 we're in a pinch or for lunch, you know, doing some rice cauliflower. And then, I mean, you see we got some pretzels, we got some chips. We do the best we can, but I'm also not trying to live such a restrictive life that like that's all my kids know. >> But you've also got, you know, stuff. You grew your sweet potatoes. >> Yeah, sweet potatoes from last year again. I mean, we try to eat as seasonally as possible. So once these sweet potatoes are up, we probably won't have sweet potatoes again until >> until it's time to pick. >> That's right. And same with squash. Like we grow usually I grow over 200 lbs of winter squash every winter. And then that last us until um we've been going through a lot of winter squash. But >> And you just figured that out by trial and error. >> 100%. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We froze some and then we have some fresh. You can puree some if you're feeding your baby.

31:32 Like there's a lot of different ways to utilize certain things too. So like for our cauliflower like we usually ferment a ton of it. Freeze fuettes whole. And then we also make our own cauliflower rice. We have one vegetable you can preserve three different ways. grow more of that vegetable if you have the space in the freezer space to do that. >> Yeah. >> And then the bottom's just like storage, you know, quart jars, crocs, um all that other stuff. So, love it. >> You mind if I just do it? [music] >> This is uh this is always a good [laughter] test, right? >> Okay. >> So, yeah, we've got like tons of your pork that you guys made, right? and frozen beans. >> Chicken nuggets. We try to buy as clean

32:18 as we can. Yeah, we buy our chickens from a local farm. And even our beef, we have to buy from a local farm. Um, just because we don't raise that. So, what we're raising, what you typically see [music] is pork. We eat a lot of ground pork. So, like we would for ground beef. That's like [music] primarily ground pork is what we use. >> Um, and then we'll have lamb in season, but we haven't butchered any of our lambs this year. We like traded pork for salmon for a guy who went [music] to Alaska. Just like we get much of our pork. >> So, we like we trade and we barter a lot, which is how we came across all of our chicken. We we traded. >> All right, let's look in here. Oh, we see our favorite Costco jam. >> That's right. Costco garlic. These are radishes. We have carrots. We actually ferment [music] our broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, and

33:03 onions. We have our pickles. >> This is your sourdough starter, right? Which is one of your business things. >> That's right. I've got regular. I've got chocolate. I've got two that I use for when we bake each week, like our big batches. And listen, I love seeing this. This is Moran Farmers taught us the same trick, putting your carrots in bags and in the fridge. >> So, yeah, that's everything in there. And then our canned goods. Like, we're using that as best as we can. We've got our corn, our beans, tomatoes, and then these are all just like freeze-dried peppers that we use. We probably make curry like once every week and a half. And then all of our tomatoes. The rest of these will be used [music] for sauces for pizza night. >> Also, like I'm I don't want to like shame you in any regard. This is actually like this is very cool and I

33:49 think important for people watching. This is what cast iron that's being used look like, you know, it's not washed. >> I don't know. Like for me, maybe someone from like a different part would come down here and be like, "Girl, why did you not wash that?" But like in the south, like that's how I grew up. If you come to my house and you want to do my dishes, please do not touch the cast iron. >> And there in lies one of our biggest fights. Adam has taken over the dishes. And the common fight we have is that he washed the dishes too well. >> Mhm. The whole thing. You see that red thing? That's just full of bacon grease. >> Yes. Oh, preach. >> 100%. Uh, let's just talk about what you and [music] I talk about probably the [laughter] most in our friendship, which

34:35 is frugality. >> Yes. >> And making things work. Last weekend for the farmers market, Jill made 100 loaves of sourdough bread, which is about, [music] what' you say? $1,000 worth of bread. >> A little over $1,000. Yeah. >> In this oven. >> Yep. >> With a wooden spoon as her stir stick. She doesn't have a con commercial like dough mixer. >> Yeah. >> So tell us what it's like to bake a 100 loaves of bread in your home kitchen. >> It's a lot with a spoon. >> It's a lot of work. I can bake six fkacas, six artisinal loaves, and eight French loaves at a time. So what that looks like is about >> is insanity for anyone to free 18our days. Now I do cold proof my artisal

35:22 loaves and put them in the fridge to buy myself time. But my thing is that almost paid my mortgage. So I have two to three days worth of hard work to pay my mortgage for the entire month. Do I think I will always bake a 100 loaves every week out of my home kitchen? No. >> But if I can do that for three days out of the month to almost pay my mortgage, >> I'm going to freaking bake a 100 loaves a week out of my home kitchen to get me to where I'm trying to go, >> which is where where are you trying to go? >> I'm trying to get people on farm, right? I'm trying to Yeah. have a commercial space that I can bake out of, right? That I can do farm-totable dinners out of. But the thing is, it's like, yeah, you can look at Ann and I and say, "Oh, it must be nice. I'm a decade into growing food. I'm six years into running a business and I'm still hustling just

36:09 like you are in a different way because this is still new to my business. While I can grow food with my eyes closed and can provide for my community, that's that's just like something I can do in my sleep. A bread CSA, we've never done that before. baking bread for the farmers market. I've never done that before, right? So, I don't expect it to be easy, but eventually if that can pay for my commercial space, and I know this isn't the plan long term to have to bake 100 loaves out of my home oven, well, I'm going to take that couple hard days any day to get me there. I always tell people, what's your why? >> Cuz if you're not rooted in why you're doing it, the first time an off comes, you're out, >> right? So like you need to and I will tell you right behind the dining room table I had a master poster board and it was certainly not cute but it was

36:55 plaster there because I was in a season of life where like building this business was hard >> and I needed to know why I was doing that front and center. Every day I sat down for coffee I looked at it. >> What did it say? [music] >> I'm doing this for stewardship of the land and community and if ever that's not enough reason to do it for the next generation why am I doing it? But there was a season in my life where my why was so cloudy [music] or the obstacles were so hard I should say that I put it to where every single times a day I sat at that table I had to see it [music] >> because that's what I needed in that season of life. >> Totally. >> And then finally a season came where I'm like I think I can take the poster board down >> like I think I've been doing it long. >> It's so ingrained in who I am that I know if it's hard I'm not going to want to bail. I'm going to just persevere because I [music] know I don't really

37:41 care if I want to do it. My kids are relying on the work I'm gonna put in for the generation and the future they're going to have. So [music] it's like whether I want to get up at two o'clock in the morning, whether I want to go farm, whether I want to set up at the farmers market, I don't get the privilege to say no [music] because my kids are dependent on me saying yes to pave way to where they can have the option to [music] say yes >> to have the childhood you didn't have. >> That's right. No one gave me No one gave me the option. Right. I had to work three jobs at 16. No one gave me that option. >> Yeah. So, it's like I'm going to I'm going to do whatever I have to do to give them the option, but I want them to know hard work really does play off. Like, if you root yourself in faith and community and you steward your family well, cuz that's my thing. It's like I can steward the whole world well, but if

38:27 what I don't do in the four walls, like that's what matters of your house. Yeah, >> absolutely. >> And so, there's a lot of convictions. It's like we got to we need to pray at night. Like, we need to pray before meals like mom's working a lot. There needs to be grace. You need to know why I'm doing this. >> And that's what I appreciate the most about you is that you are real through and through. You even have transparent countertops and everything. We can see >> plants the whole thing. >> Listen, we can see everything that's going on in your life. >> All right, Jill. So, you and I have yet another thing in common. Um, we both left home at 16. [music] We both had some educational hiccups along the way, but now I'm here in your kitchen. I'm holding three books that you wrote.

39:14 Uh, let's talk to 16-year-old Jill. And what do you want to tell her? >> Oh, that's a loaded question. [music] I think the biggest thing like there was a lot of selfworth, right? And it's like being a published author of three books, it's like, man, I was worth enough to be able to do that. Yeah. >> You know what I mean? And so I think if I could [music] look back, it would be the same thing I tell my kids when they were 16. It's like, you are worthy of whatever you set your mind to do. And [music] that can look like whatever you want it to look like. That can look like, for me, stewarding, you know, a profitable acre in my backyard. That could look like stewarding 20 acres. that could look like living in an apartment and just being a really good spouse or working for a job that you find a lot of joy in. And so I think

40:02 what I would say to anyone is like whatever you're going to do, steward it wholeheartedly. [music] Give your best self to it. And I know for me it has certainly paid off. And I'm so glad that I bet on myself. >> But despite what I thought, [music] there was some part of me that still thought, well, maybe you're worthy enough to try. Had I not showed up and I not worked those three jobs, I promise you I would not be the person I am today in business, just in being a mother, being a spouse. [music] And so in my life, and so many people's life, there have been so many moments. You've all had that moment where you're like, is this [music] worth it? >> Yeah. >> And I just want to encourage you, whatever it is, like you're worth it. I don't know what it is, but I know that you are worth pursuing [music] whatever you feel like you've been

40:48 called to. Oh, hey. [music] >> [music]