Tending Seeds: Adventures in Gardening, Homesteading, and Herbalism

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! ~*~*~*~ 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. 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!!

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! ~*~*~*~ 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. Check it out!! 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!)

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 ~*~*~*~ 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. You can also follow us on social media as @foxandelder.

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. ~*~*~*~ Find Natalie on Instagram: @alaska.redhead and @nataliesoffgridkitchen Natalie's Alaskan Life blog Natalie's crochet Etsy store ~*~*~*~ Find Sara on Instagram: @foxandelder Check out our farm's herbal products: Fox and Elder shop Our newest seasoning blend: Herbs de Provence

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: 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! ~*~*~*~ 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.

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. ~*~*~*~ 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.

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. ~*~ We're celebrating spring with a 10% off sale over at the Fox and Elder online farm shop! Check out our Good As Gold herbal body oil and our Nettle and Seaweed Seasoning Salt, which I love to put on everything from omelettes to popcorn. Use the code SPRING10 at checkout. Please help spread the word about the podcast by subscribing, rating, and sharing with a friend or three. Follow us on all social media (IG, TikTok, FB) etc at Fox and Elder.

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! ~*~ As always, we appreciate your support of this podcast and our work! Please check out the spring seasonal items in the Fox and Elder 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

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!! ~*~*~ 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. If you want to see some really cute pictures, check out the Fox and Elder Instagram and Facebook. We’ve also released some of our spring seasonal items in the Fox and Elder 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. 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

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 :) ~*~ Pre-orders are now open for our spring herb box -- packed with seasonal herbal products to help you transition from winter to spring. Check it out here! Please help spread the word about the podcast by subscribing, rating, and sharing with a friend or three. Follow us on all social media (IG, TikTok, FB) etc at Fox and Elder.

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! ~*~ Check out Jerome and Mari's book, Freestyle Bonsai, and follow them on Instagram @TheBonsaiSupply. ~*~ We're having our biggest sale of the year over at the Fox and Elder online farm shop! All of our tinctures are currently Buy 3, Get 2 Free -- this includes all of our single herb extracts as well as our herbal formulas like Evening Ease and Heart Lifter. Please help spread the word about the podcast by subscribing, rating, and sharing with a friend or three. Follow us on all social media (IG, TikTok, FB) etc at Fox and Elder.

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! ~*~ 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! ~*~ Check out both of Tasha's books: Grow Your Own Spices and Weed-Free Gardening. You can also find her on Instagram at @exploresimplestead. ~*~ Please help spread the word about the podcast by subscribing, rating, and sharing with a friend or three. Follow us on all social media (IG, TikTok, FB) etc as Fox and Elder.

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! ~*~ Connect with Kathleen over on the Fox Briar Farm instagram! Her CSA is open to new members right now for 2023! ~*~ Please support the podcast by subscribing, rating, and sharing with a friend or two. Find us on all social media (IG, TikTok, FB) etc as Fox and Elder ...but please note that we're becoming *Nordic Fox Farm* in 2023!

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. ~*~ Connect with Josh on Instagram Visit the Greenthread School Learn about the Green Arte ~*~ Please support the podcast by subscribing, rating, and sharing with a friend or two. Join our Full Moon Community on Patreon! Follow Fox and Elder on Instagram Check out the herbal offerings in our farm shop!

Today's guest is Bevin Cohen of Small House Farm. Bevin is an herbalist and educator who offers lectures and workshops across the country teaching about the many benefits of locally grown and wild harvested plants, seed saving, and oil production. Today we'll be discussing his latest book, The Complete Guide to Seed and Nut Oils. I hope you'll be inspired to try pressing your own oils at home after listening to this episode! This is a fun homesteading topic that we've never discussed on the show before. We also talk about Bevin's work creating an umbrella network to connect the many seed libraries in his home state of Michigan. ~*~ Find Bevin's books, seeds, and more at Small House Farm. ~*~ Please support the podcast by subscribing, rating, and sharing with a friend or two. Join our Full Moon Community on Patreon! Fox and Elder on IG Check out the herbal offerings in our farm shop!

Today's guest is Brittany Peters, one half of Sun and Soil Farm in Madison, North Carolina. We're talking about one of those taboo subjects: money! We might not like to talk about finances, but I think it's an aspect of farming for a living that needs to be talked about much, much more. I'm really grateful to Brittany for how open she is on social media about their farm finances and how that impacts their quality of life and decision making about working off-farm jobs or not. We dive into their debt-free journey and then the progress they've made financially over the last few years with their market garden. We also talk about some of the projects they're excited about, such as their composting service, the greenhouse they built, and the pond they're working on. I think there's so much great stuff in this episode and I hope you'll get a lot out of it! ~*~ Sun and Soil Farm on IG Sun and Soil Farm - Brittany's YouTube Ana White DIY Greenhouse ~*~ Please support the podcast by subscribing, rating, and sharing with a friend or two. Join our Full Moon Community on Patreon! Fox and Elder on IG Check out our farm shop!

Today we've got our first interview of the year with Stephanie Rose, author of The Regenerative Garden: 80 Practical Projects for Creating a Self-Sustaining Garden Ecosystem. Stephanie talks to us about what brought her to gardening in the first place, what makes a garden regenerative, some of her favorite projects from the book, and about her work designing gardens for children. ~*~ Please support the podcast by subscribing, rating, and sharing with a friend or two. Join our Patreon community! @foxandelder on instagram Our Lymph Love herbal vinegar is back in stock in our farm shop! foxandelder.com

The podcast is back! Season 3 is here and we're kicking off the new year with a deep dive into some techniques I use for goal setting, with examples related to the farm and homestead. ~*~ Please support the podcast by subscribing, rating, and sharing with a friend or two. Join our Patreon community! @foxandelder on instagram foxandelder.com

Today I'm bringing you a lovely conversation with herbalist and herb grower Lucy Jones. We dive into the incredible story of how she got started down the plant path, training in two different herbal modalities and then integrating them into her clinical practice, and why she chooses to grow and gather the majority of her herbs rather than purchasing them from other growers. She also shares loads of knowledge with us from her book Self-Sufficient Herbalism, covering topics such as proper harvesting, drying, and storing of herbs and that there's no "one size fits all" approach to drying our plant material. I think you'll get so much from this interview and hopefully want to do some growing and gathering of your own! If you're inspired to dive deeper into Lucy's work and purchase her book, her publisher Aeon Books has kindly offered a 20% discount code for our listeners. That code is SH20 and is good through December 31st, 2020. If you are in the US or Canada, use that code to purchase through Red Wheel Weiser. If you are in the UK, you can use the same code to purchase through Aeon Books. ~*~ Lucy Jones is a medical herbalist with a busy high street practice, Myrobalan Clinic, in Somerset, UK. She grows or gathers the majority of the herbs that she works with and is a passionate proponent of self-sufficient herbalism. Prior to qualifying in western herbalism, she studied Tibetan Medicine with the great master Khenpo Troru Tsenam. This experience deeply influences her approach to therapeutic practice as well as the way that she grows and processes her herbs. She originally trained in Agriculture and Forestry and has two degrees from the University of Oxford. Her book ‘Self Sufficient Herbalism’ is published by Aeon Books. Connect with Lucy on Instagram, on Patreon, or her website. ~*~ Please support the podcast by subscribing, rating, and sharing with a friend or two. Join our Patreon community! @foxandelder on instagram foxandelder.com

Today we have Quin Shakra to talk to us all about seed saving! Quin is the farmer and seed grower behind the Plant Good Seed Company. Quin gives us an overview of how he got into growing for seed and walks us through the seed saving process. We also dive into his favorite tools for farming and seed saving, refining his process over the years, being in community with other growers, how to store your precious seeds after you’ve cleaned them, and so much more. You'll want to check out Quin's seed saving comic as well as a seed cleaning demo video he so kindly shared with us. You can find those in a public post over on our Patreon. And we're doing a seed giveaway over on the Fox & Elder Instagram, so don't miss out on that! Connect with Quin on Instagram or PlantGoodSeed.com #SmallBusinessSaturday is this week, and we'll have some special offers as well as releases of new herbal products from our farm! Check out the shop on Saturday, November 28th to see what's new!