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Acres Away
Manage episode 416781303 series 3511941
Today I'm talking with Jackie at Acres Away.
00:00
This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead. The podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. Today I'm talking with Jackie at Acres Away. Good afternoon, Jackie, how are you? Good afternoon, good, how are you doing? Good, so tell me about yourself and what you guys do at Acres Away. So we're just kind of a family hobby farm. My husband and I have always wanted animals. I grew up with animals, he did too.
00:27
And when we had kids and moved to the country, we decided we were gonna, that's what we were going to do. So we bought, um, a house with 10 acres and a barn. And first thing we got was the horses. I grew up with horses, so that was a mandatory, um, and we just kind of expanded from there, had three daughters, and now we've got, um, just about everything you could have on a farm. We've had the horses, we've had pigs, all the birds, turkeys, chickens, ducks, quails. Um.
00:57
goats, we have cows, and I also raise rabbits. Very nice, you have the whole menagerie. The whole thing, I think the only thing we haven't had are alpacas and sheep. And are you interested in doing those or is that just stuff you haven't done? Maybe the alpacas, I do like to crochet, so it would be neat to learn how to spin their fur, their wool, and make my own yarn.
01:24
Same with the sheep, but I haven't heard from some friends that have sheep. I've heard they can be kind of temperamental. So I think for now we'll stick with what we've got and figured, you know, if we don't like something, we'll move on to a new animal. Yeah, that's what we did. We tried doing rabbits and it did not work out very well. So we did that for a year and then decided it really wasn't for us. Yeah. Yeah. I figure you got to try it. You know, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but you got to give it a shot. Yeah. It's funny in the over
01:54
50 interviews I've done since the end of August, the word crochet has not come up and I'm kind of surprised because I like to crochet much better than I like to knit. I hate the sound of knitting needles clicking. And so that's interesting that the word crochet has not come up. That's it's something my aunt, I started crocheting when my aunt was crocheting. I was pregnant with my first daughter. So this would have been
02:22
15 years ago, almost 15 years ago now. And I thought, well, if I can make some cute baby stuff, blankets and whatnot, and then it'd be a good thing to give as gifts, and it kind of took up my time because at the time I was able to stay at home, my husband was full-time in the army, so I was basically at home kind of twiddling my thumbs. And I thought, well, I can learn how to do this, and I'll make stuff, and I've made stuff for friends and sold a little bit, and it's kind of gone by the wayside.
02:48
my husband retired from the army and then I went to work so once I went to work extra time for stuff like that with the animals kind of went away but once in a while I'll still pick up and you know make somebody a hat or make some mittens or a baby blanket if I've got a friend that's having a baby or family so yeah I definitely I could never get quite the hang of knitting my grandmother uh... was she knitted everything she would make hundreds of hats and mittens for
03:14
like local hospitals and churches and things, but I never quite got the hang of the knitting. The crocheting is much easier for me. Yes, I agree. I tried knitting when I was a kid, like maybe 10 years old, because my mom knit, and I could never understand the knit one, purl two thing. I always messed it up. Yep. And with crocheting, once you have it down, once you have the basic stitches down,
03:42
It's really simple and I think it's a great thing to do in the wintertime when it's cold outside and it's dark outside. Yep. I got into it because my kids were small and they would lose their scarves. Yep. And I was like, you know, I could probably just crochet them scarves and that way they have extras when they lose the ones they have. And then I can just make more as they lose those too. And it worked out great. Yep. You always have some extra.
04:09
Yep, and they were little kids, so they loved all of the crazy variegated yarn colors. Mm-hmm, yep. So that made it fun.
04:19
So I just I want to hit on crochet because I hadn't even thought about it until you mentioned it. Okay, so to support your hobby farm, do you guys sell anything that you produce? Not really. I wish we could. It's but it being we're in New York State and they have a lot of regulations about selling meat and and being like USDA certified and
04:47
Even if you're an animal breeder, there's things I was just reading actually yesterday about having some kind of domestic animal permit and the taxes and things. It's really complicated. If I hooked up with somebody who's already doing it, maybe it would be less complicated, but I haven't really found anybody local to me that is either like kind of willing to share what they do. Actually where we are, there's a lot of Mennonites and they kind of have the corner.
05:14
on a lot of those things. They have their bulk food stands and they do a lot of their sales. So without a mentor in that area, I don't really foresee us doing it. Although we are actually moving. We're moving to a larger property with bigger barns and I would really like for that property to pay for itself, at least a little bit.
05:41
Hopefully I can find a mentor out in that area that's willing to say, you know, this is how you fill out this and these are the forms you're going to need. Um, this is who you have to talk to, to get something like that started and, and just see, just see what that process is going to be like, what startup costs are going to be like, but for now my husband's retired, so he gets a pension from the army, but we also, um, both work for the local school district. So that's how we, that's how we pay for stuff here.
06:07
Yeah, and I wasn't being nosy. I just sometimes people do hobby farms as literally a hobby. They just really enjoy it. And then sometimes they do hobby farms or farms because they're trying to make some money from it. In Minnesota, we don't have a whole lot of restrictions. I mean, there are definitely regulations that are in place. But if we had those kind of restrictions that you're talking about, we probably wouldn't be living on three acres.
06:36
and selling produce and eggs and all the things that we do because it wouldn't be worth it. It wouldn't be worth it for us to do it. We'll have people comment on Facebook or any other thing and say, oh, I'm glad you're a certified egg seller and you have your USDA inspection or you have your NPIP and things like that.
06:56
And I know that there's ways to get around it. You know, you sell the eggs as not for human consumption and things like that. But you're always kind of watching. You're, you know, you never really know who's going to say something about. What you're trying to sell or whatever kind of trade you're trying to make. And so, you know, we try to be cautious and I generally only do like animal deals, like with the rabbits. If I sell a live rabbit, you know, it's, it's sold as a pet, even though our meat animals.
07:26
I generally say like, oh yeah, this is going to be a freezer pet. And then they kind of, yep, yep, sure. And yeah, there's different ways to kind of word things so it sounds a little different. But you just have to be smart about it. I don't want to get in trouble. I don't want to get anybody else in trouble. But I'm originally from New Hampshire. To live for your die state. So I'm watching rules come down and listening to things. It kind of makes me go, huh.
07:55
because I could have done it at home and I can't do it here. Yeah, I'm originally from Maine, so I was a neighbor for a while. Yeah. Nice. Yeah, and Maine has less restrictions as well. So in Maine, you can sell raw milk in a public venue. That would be cool. Yeah, there's none of that here. Not here either. No. No, we have to go to the farm where the cow lives, where the cow was milked, and where the cow's milk is in a cooler.
08:24
on that property. We have to go get the from the farmer. So it's amazing how many things are regulated now that were an everyday occurrence not even a hundred years ago. Exactly. Exactly. I know there's some things we've learned things health wise, but how much of that really, how much of that decision gets to be left up to us and not somebody else?
08:52
Yeah. And again, I think that we do need government. I think there are some very good reasons to have a government. Yeah. But I think that it gets in the way sometimes of really good things. So, and again, that's all I want to say on it because I do not want, I do not want anyone knocking on my door saying, why are you disparaging the United States government? I'm not. Yeah. I'm not. I'm just frustrated. It's okay. Relax. Yep. So.
09:21
That would be really scary. I can't even imagine having that happen. That would be uncomfortable. Oh, I don't even want to. Nope. Nope, nope, nope. The government is great. I just don't want them telling me what socks to put on in the morning. If we're doing that, we're good. So anyway, um, you said you have horses. How many horses do you have? Uh, we have two and they, they're just riding horses.
09:46
My kids, I grew up loving it. My kids don't so much, and I wonder if it's, because they've had access to the horses all their lives. I didn't, I had to go to lessons and I can only go once a week. And during the summers, we'd have our riding camps and things like that. So I had to work to get to be with the horses. My kids don't, so I'll ride. And it's more or less just for fun. We've done a couple of shows.
10:14
And I always thought I would do more with them. But, you know, along the way you get married, you have the kids, you realize the kids take up more of your time than you initially thought they would. And those things kind of go by the wayside. I still like to go and take my horse's name is Shadow Facts. And I take Shadow Facts and we go for a nice trot around. And he still does a little bit of jumping and he'll chase cows. So he'll when I take him out now and we go into our pastures, you know, he'll walk around with the cows and that's kind of fun. But he's just now they're just backyard ponies.
10:44
Yep. I have a little tiny story about horses. When I was in Girl Scouts a long time ago, we went somewhere on a Girl Scout field trip to someplace that had horses and we got to ride horses. And I was all good with getting on the horse and riding the horse. I was nervous because it's the first time I've been around horses. And I think I was probably eight, ten years old. I can't remember now. And my best friend was also in the same troop.
11:13
And she got on the horse and she was doing everything right and something spoke the horse and I watched her get bucked off the horse. And that pretty much cemented the fact that I really didn't need to ride a horse again at that point in time. You know, I was just like, wow, my friend could have died and my best friend was my best friend. I loved her. And so I didn't really have the opportunity to try riding horses ever again.
11:42
and I don't have it now either. I think that if I did have the opportunity to go somewhere where I knew the owners and I knew the horse was calm, I might try it again. But it's really interesting to me that when a traumatic event happens when you're a kid, and it didn't happen to me, but it happened to someone I loved very much, you get put off of the thing. You don't wanna do it again. So. Absolutely.
12:10
I think it's a very brave thing for you to ride horses. And I understand that you grew up with it, but I still think it's a very brave thing. Yeah. He's my, the one I have, I used to be, my trainer used to call me the crash test dummy because he would put me on the ones that showed up at the barn. If it was a new purchase for him or somebody's new purchase, he'd be like, Jackie, I'll ride it. Let's see what happens. So I got so used to being tossed off. And I will say that is, that is one thing I can, I can ride a horse. I'm not.
12:39
always pretty about it, but I can ride a horse and I've seen, I've fallen off more times than I can even remember. Probably sometimes I don't remember because I'm not being smart, not wearing a helmet if I wasn't. That's probably the one thing in my life that's been around since I was a kid and that stuck is I love the horses. I've been in some bad spills and my daughter actually got sent to the hospital. She got stomped on by a horse and it hurt her foot real bad.
13:08
But through it all, that's been the sticker for me is having the horses. Yeah, and the thing is I love horses. We have friends who live about half an hour away and they have, but I think they still have two. I haven't talked to her in a while. One of them's name is Ginger and she is the friendliest, loveliest, most beautiful horse. And Ginger and I are friends. I like it when Ginger comes over and says hello and wants me to scratch her nose and scratch her neck. That's fine.
13:38
But I just don't really have any huge desire to get on her back and tell her to go. So I also have no desire to get on a motorcycle either. I did that as a 16 year old and friend of a friend had a motorcycle and he was like, do you want to go on a ride? Have you ever been on a motorcycle? And I was like, sure. No, I haven't been. Hopped on behind him. He took me for like a three mile ride on the motorcycle. Got back. I got off, took the helmet off. And he was like,
14:06
So what'd you think? And I was like, I think I like cars better. I think you have agreed. So maybe I'm just not a daredevil kind of girl. And I know that I'm not. I am a calculated risk girl and it's gonna take me some time to decide what it is I wanna risk myself over. And I'm good with that. Okay, so how many cows do you have?
14:31
We just have three. So it was kind of, I hate to say impulse buy because we had spoken about it before. But there is a livestock auction not too far, just the next town over from us and we had the day off together. So we went to the livestock auction. We watched for a couple of weeks and then one week we went back and picked up two bull calves.
14:55
One I thought was a heifer when they ran it through. Turned out it was not. A jersey bull calf and an Angus cross whatever bull calf. My jersey only cost us $25. Very nice. So I was like absolutely, I'm buying that jersey. So mine has since been steered and he is going into the freezer. My husband loves his bull calf. So he is still intact.
15:24
much to my chagrin. He bought also a couple of heifer calves. Now we had kind of an incident with the one heifer calf and she passed away. Yeah, it was a bummer. The best thing we could come up with was she had an encapsulated infection and it burst because there was a scab on her leg. Actually, I'm friends with a...
15:51
younger farm guy, his family's been in the dairy business for years and I said, would you come look at this calf because her leg swelled up real bad and the vet's not able to come out. So would you come and just see what you think? He reached down on her leg and found a plug and pulled it out and it was abscess and draining. So pumped her as full of antibiotics as we thought we should. She just went so fast. She probably was septic before we even knew what to do. So she passed, but we still have the one. Her name is Hella and she's—
16:21
So in the wild, we have Stormbreaker and Hella. So we'll see. When we move to the bigger property, my steer, his name is Waldo, my steer is going in the freezer and we have the goats too and the buck for the goats, he's going to go because he's just not really a fit with our does. So they're going to go and we'll bring the bull calf and the heifer calf. And I'm hoping we can find some reasonably priced.
16:51
two-year-old heifers that have maybe been bred before and freshened and done the whole thing so that there can be some experienced and maybe more friendly heifers around because I worry that that hella might be kind of wild. Yeah. So I don't know, I want to I want to experience it with an experienced heifer before before she goes. I want to know what I'm getting into. Yeah, that's a good plan. Um,
17:18
I have a question about the jerseys. Are the jerseys the one that are kind of like rust colored with white? So my jersey is kind of a deer color. That's like the best way to describe it. And he's got kind of white around his eyes and a little brown nose. They look like a stuffed animal, but they're not fuzzy. Yeah. Yeah. He looks like a stuffed animal. Yeah. I love those ones. I just want to kiss their faces anytime I see them.
17:45
the cutest little things. But my husband, see he was really, cause I kind of do everything, his critters are like the cows and the goats. And so even though I did help him with the bottle feeding, I didn't do it as often as he did it, cause usually I was taking care of my own critters at four o'clock in the morning. Yeah. So they love him. They don't love me. They tolerate me. But like if I go into the pasture, they walk up behind me and I'm sure they know, just like a horse would know, I'm sure they know that I'm.
18:13
highly uncomfortable with them when they're like right up behind me and I'm not sure what they're doing. But they'll go play with my husband and everybody's fine. So I just, I don't go in the pasture by myself just in case somebody decides they don't like me. Yeah, animals are really funny. Our dog is, okay, I'm not going to get too far into this because I talk about the dog all the time, but this is relevant. I promise. She is a mini Australian shepherd.
18:40
And Australian Shepherds and Border Collies are notorious for being very, their people focused. Like they love their people, their pack. And then they're very wary of anyone who's not part of their pack. And they're not mean, they're just very aware that that's a new person we need to find out if they're okay. And Maggie has been around all three of the people who live here since we brought her home. It's my husband and I and our 22-year-old son.
19:10
And she adores my husband. Like if she has to pick one of us and he's home, she's going to pick dad to go love on or sit with or be next to. And I do not understand this because I'm the one who's been with her the most since we brought her home, but he's her favorite person. And I think it's because he leaves. He leaves for eight hours a day. So she misses him. So I think that's why.
19:39
But I always think, why do you love him so much? I'm the one who's been with you your whole life. I don't get it. But my kids were the same with him too, with dad. Oh, OK. Yeah. He was their favorite person because he was gone eight hours a day. Yeah. And then they show up and they get to do all the fun stuff. Yeah, I'm familiar. Mm-hmm. Yeah, exactly. Oh, dad's home, so mom doesn't exist now. Yeah, unless you need a snack or something like that, then we're back into existence. Uh-huh.
20:08
Exactly. So, okay, so did you say at the beginning of this, this is what you always wanted to do? Yes. When I was a kid, you know, my dad actually got me chickens and ducks when I was a kid and and I knew like, you know, I want to take care of animals. I want to have animals. I thought I was going to be a veterinarian, but that didn't quite work out. So, you know, I wanted to have
20:37
animals in my life more than just a cat and a dog. I always knew that was something that was going to be, I was going to, I was going to need, you know, it probably sounds weird to people that don't, don't have the same connection with animals, but like I've, I've got to get up and, and take care of them. Like I go out and I feed my ducks and I just sit there with them and I go out and take care of the horses and I just, you know, stand there with them, watch them eat. It just, just got to have it. You are illustrating the
21:05
difference between have to and get to for me. You get to. You wake up in the morning and I'm sure you're like, I get to go see the cows. I get to go see the goats and the ducks and whatever animal it is that you're gonna go take care of. I get to, not, oh, I have to go do this. Unless it's five degrees out and then it's just a have to. Yeah. When it's blowing snow in five degrees, I go, oh man, I have to. But.
21:32
But yeah, days like today, you know, it's raining, it's not that nice out. But yeah, I get to go outside and I get to feed them and I get to see them and be there with them. So. Yeah. And you know, I know that you know that it is an honor and luxury to be able to do what you're doing and that you love it. Yep. Absolutely. Good. I love that. So tell me how you decided to name it Acres Away because I think anchor away or anchors away.
21:59
Yep. So if you're familiar with the Finger Lakes area of New York, there's, I think it's like seven, I forget exactly. But there's like, it looks like scratch marks across the face of New York state. And they're called the Finger Lakes and we're like 10 miles from one of them. So I thought, you know, if we're ever going to, if we're going to market this place, if we ever do, whether we're doing horse stuff or if we're selling things or we have some kind of market, then.
22:27
you know, instead of it being anchors away, because there's so many people that use the lake and have boats and things like that. And it's a double A. So thinking of like back when we had telephone books still, double A would be listed first in the phone book and acres away. Just like you said, it sounds like that anchors away. And so, you know, when somebody thinks of that, they would, oh yeah, that's a funny, it's just a funny connection. So that was my thought process. I used to work at a place called Aberus Arabians.
22:55
And I always I asked the owner like why like I get it like friendly horses like I get what you're saying But she's like no think about it. You're first in the phone book and it sounds funny So it's gonna stick in your head better than it would if it was you know, Arabians are us or something You know, it just the sound of it would would attract attention and keep it kind of in your mind Yeah, it's amazing how the alphabet used to be really important the order of the alphabet and now nobody cares. No, no sure don't
23:22
The good old days, I'm telling you, when there were library card, I don't know what they're called now, the cabinets that had the drawers that had the directory for the books and library. Yes, the card catalog. That's it. Thank you. Yes. You're welcome. Yes. And we still have library cards, but they're little plastic credit card-shaped things that we scan when we take out books. It's so weird. It is.
23:50
I found one of my old library cards a couple of years ago and I was like, Oh, I didn't even know I still had this. And I showed it to my kid and he was like, what is that? I said, that's what library cards look like in the 1970s and early 1980s. He's like, Jesus, your old mom. I'm like, yeah, I know. 54 is ancient. It's terrible. No, it's not old. It's what is it? Like cars? It's like.
24:18
Classic, I think. Classic, yes. Yes. And he's so funny too because I'm learning all about how to do a podcast. I have been learning about this for the last six, seven months because I just started it back in August. And at first I was like, how do I do this? How do I do that? And he's like, oh, this, do this, do that, do this. I'm like, okay, cool. And then I got into it after about four months and I had a question for him about what one of my statistic things meant on my...
24:47
tracking stuff on my podcast. And I said, what does this mean? He said, I have no idea. Google it. There you go. He said, you are now ahead of me on what I know about this internet situation with the podcast. And I was like, Oh, okay. So I went and looked it up and I was like, this is what it says it means. And he's like, I don't even want to talk to you that fantastic.
25:13
He said, keep doing what you're doing. He said, and I don't want to hear about it. He said, you are so far ahead of me on this that he said, this is ridiculous. I was like, okay, well, your mom, you can teach an old dog new tricks, apparently. Oh yeah. And he gave me the I, you know, the what. Yep. I don't like you right now. I was like, go play your games. I'm going to do some dishes. It has nothing to do with podcasts. He's like, okay, fine. So yeah, it's, it's funny how.
25:42
technology has changed so incredibly just in the last 30 years. Yeah, yeah. And it makes it easier for everybody. I mean, I wouldn't be talking to you without this situation.
25:57
Okay, so what's the plan for your acres away? Is it just gonna stay a hobby farm, or are you gonna try to look into the rules and regs and maybe make it try to support itself a little bit? I definitely wanna look into it supporting itself a bit. I'm not sure how. We have our own implements to cut hay, and we do that for ourselves now. We have a hay field and we bale our own hay.
26:25
where we're going, we're going to have more acreage and probably the ability to sell some of our hay if we don't expand either our goats or the cows very much. So selling hay is a big thing. Every year, everybody needs hay. Everybody that's got a farm has got to have some hay, whether they're using it to feed something or they're using kind of the poorer quality or straw to bed down stuff.
26:49
And it seems like every year, there's a shortage somewhere, whether it's because there's a drought in this part of the country or there's fire up in Canada or something, somebody's having a hard time getting a hold of hay. So if we can put in for that and help out there, that would be excellent. And then, you know, I just don't know, I do other little crafty things, but, you know, you find the crafts that yeah, you can make kind of a side hustle with crafts. Like I make jewelry.
27:18
and kind of charm things with chicken eggshells and quail eggshells and feathers and the occasional rabbit poop because it's cute. It's funny and it makes people talk about it. You make a pair of earrings for $10. I'd have to sell a lot of $10 earrings to make any kind of money. It's just something I do because it's fun. I don't know. I just really need to think about it and see what...
27:45
see what we can figure out once we're settled in the new place, see what's allowed, see where I can actually make money and if it's even worth it. Because if I'm paying taxes left and right and having to pay for this, that and the other kind of permit, is it even worth it at the end of the year to try to turn a profit? Or am I just better off feeding my family, which is just what we do now, feeding the family and maybe selling eggs to my neighbors instead of somebody I don't know?
28:13
Yeah, and I don't think that any homestead has to be selling to the outside public. I just, I was just curious about what the plan is. So, the new place, is that on the near future radar or are you guys just getting started on looking? We're under contract where we're at right now and by summer, by the time it turns summer, we'll be in the new place. Yay!
28:40
That's awesome. Congratulations. I'm trying not to be excited because we're like a Murphy's Law family. Like if it can go wrong, it does. So I'm excited. I am excited, but I am also, boy, I can't think of a good word for it, but. Anxious? Not so much anxious, but I'm glasses half, the glasses half something. I'm not sure if it's full or if it's half empty. But I'm just.
29:09
I'm just going to wait before I get too excited. As long as everything goes the way it should and the way it's looking, we'll be there by summertime. But I just, I'll reserve my excitement for when we've unloaded the last box of items into the house. Yeah, when we bought this place three and a half years ago, we paid for the inspection ourselves because we didn't want that to be on the seller.
29:37
I was really worried that something was going to pop up that made it a no-go, that we were not going to be able to buy it. The inspection man was really, really awesome. He showed up before we did and did his inspection of the property and the house. Then we showed up and I walked in and I said, so what's the bad news? He said, wow, way to be optimistic. I said, look.
30:03
I said, this is important to me and I'm trying not to get my hopes up. So I had to come in that way. He said, the bad news is you got yourself a fine little house here. I said, really? He said, yep. He said, they did a fantastic job. He said, the wiring is great. They did a lovely job remodeling it. Everything looks solid. I hadn't been breathing deeply since we had made the offer and I was accepted until.
30:33
after that. And then he said, but, and I went, uh-huh, here it comes. He says, I'm doing the radon test because in Minnesota, like seven out of 10 homes have a radon gas problem in their basements. And he said, I don't think it's going to be a problem. He said, but you might want to not quite exhale all the way until you get that. He said, if that's the kind of person you are. And I said, I am. He said, okay. He said, don't, don't, don't
31:03
put all your eggs in that basket just yet. He said, put like 11 of the 12 dozen, 11 of the 12 in the dozen in the basket. He said, that's where I'm at. I said, okay. And we got the results from that back. And I thought that the radon levels were too high because every basement has some level of radon. Right. And I almost cried.
31:26
And my realtor called shortly after I'd gotten the results. And she was like, so, did you see the radon results? And I said, yes. And she said, why do you sound sad? And I said, because it's bad, right? And she was like, no, you're good. I said, oh, okay. She said, you're good. You're gonna get the house of your dreams. I said, okay, fantastic. Now I can breathe. She said, yep. She said, go ahead and blow it all out. And I blew into the phone. She just laughed.
31:57
But yeah, it's really hard because you can't get so excited that if something goes wrong, your heart is so broken, you can't function. Right, right. Yep. And that's how it would have been. So I'm right there with you. I did it. I lived it. You did. This is our second go around on this. We bought our first property 12 years ago where we are now. So now we're doing it again. And it's the same process, but we weren't homeowners before.
32:27
and before the military was moving us. So it wasn't, you know, it wasn't kind of scary because we knew the military was gonna move us up. Now it's just us. Now it's just the family. So, and of course with the animals, it's even more, but I think we're making the right decision, you know, and even if it's not the right decision, we'll find a way to make it work. Yeah, as I was growing up, all I wanted to do was be a grownup.
32:53
And then I got to be a grownup and I was like, wow, it's really hard being an adult. Yeah. I didn't sign up for all this, but okay. And it never ends. I mean, I look at things now and I'm like, we have to make what decision about what, where are the parents here? Yeah. My husband laughed. He said, honey, we are the parents now. I said, well, yes, I understand that, but isn't there a higher authority than
33:20
than us who can make this decision. And he's like, no, we're it. I'm like, no, I don't want to do it. And we don't have one of those. So yeah, when an adult ear adult, yes, I'm going to put that in the lexicon of funny things that I'm going to say from now on. Um, jobby job is one of the funny things. Um, adult ear adult is now added and grins and giggles.
33:44
I heard somebody say four grins and giggles the other day and I thought, wow, that's a much politer way than the way I usually say it. So, yep, yep. Grins and giggles now instead of the other one. I learned so much on this podcast. It's great. It's good. Yes, and I love words. So anytime I get a new word to add in, I'm very happy. Okay. Well, it's been about half an hour, Jackie. I really, really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me.
34:12
And I hope that whatever your dreams are for your hobby farm, I hope they all come true. Okay, thank you. Thanks for having me. Yep. Thanks. Bye. Bye.
134 episodes
Manage episode 416781303 series 3511941
Today I'm talking with Jackie at Acres Away.
00:00
This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead. The podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. Today I'm talking with Jackie at Acres Away. Good afternoon, Jackie, how are you? Good afternoon, good, how are you doing? Good, so tell me about yourself and what you guys do at Acres Away. So we're just kind of a family hobby farm. My husband and I have always wanted animals. I grew up with animals, he did too.
00:27
And when we had kids and moved to the country, we decided we were gonna, that's what we were going to do. So we bought, um, a house with 10 acres and a barn. And first thing we got was the horses. I grew up with horses, so that was a mandatory, um, and we just kind of expanded from there, had three daughters, and now we've got, um, just about everything you could have on a farm. We've had the horses, we've had pigs, all the birds, turkeys, chickens, ducks, quails. Um.
00:57
goats, we have cows, and I also raise rabbits. Very nice, you have the whole menagerie. The whole thing, I think the only thing we haven't had are alpacas and sheep. And are you interested in doing those or is that just stuff you haven't done? Maybe the alpacas, I do like to crochet, so it would be neat to learn how to spin their fur, their wool, and make my own yarn.
01:24
Same with the sheep, but I haven't heard from some friends that have sheep. I've heard they can be kind of temperamental. So I think for now we'll stick with what we've got and figured, you know, if we don't like something, we'll move on to a new animal. Yeah, that's what we did. We tried doing rabbits and it did not work out very well. So we did that for a year and then decided it really wasn't for us. Yeah. Yeah. I figure you got to try it. You know, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but you got to give it a shot. Yeah. It's funny in the over
01:54
50 interviews I've done since the end of August, the word crochet has not come up and I'm kind of surprised because I like to crochet much better than I like to knit. I hate the sound of knitting needles clicking. And so that's interesting that the word crochet has not come up. That's it's something my aunt, I started crocheting when my aunt was crocheting. I was pregnant with my first daughter. So this would have been
02:22
15 years ago, almost 15 years ago now. And I thought, well, if I can make some cute baby stuff, blankets and whatnot, and then it'd be a good thing to give as gifts, and it kind of took up my time because at the time I was able to stay at home, my husband was full-time in the army, so I was basically at home kind of twiddling my thumbs. And I thought, well, I can learn how to do this, and I'll make stuff, and I've made stuff for friends and sold a little bit, and it's kind of gone by the wayside.
02:48
my husband retired from the army and then I went to work so once I went to work extra time for stuff like that with the animals kind of went away but once in a while I'll still pick up and you know make somebody a hat or make some mittens or a baby blanket if I've got a friend that's having a baby or family so yeah I definitely I could never get quite the hang of knitting my grandmother uh... was she knitted everything she would make hundreds of hats and mittens for
03:14
like local hospitals and churches and things, but I never quite got the hang of the knitting. The crocheting is much easier for me. Yes, I agree. I tried knitting when I was a kid, like maybe 10 years old, because my mom knit, and I could never understand the knit one, purl two thing. I always messed it up. Yep. And with crocheting, once you have it down, once you have the basic stitches down,
03:42
It's really simple and I think it's a great thing to do in the wintertime when it's cold outside and it's dark outside. Yep. I got into it because my kids were small and they would lose their scarves. Yep. And I was like, you know, I could probably just crochet them scarves and that way they have extras when they lose the ones they have. And then I can just make more as they lose those too. And it worked out great. Yep. You always have some extra.
04:09
Yep, and they were little kids, so they loved all of the crazy variegated yarn colors. Mm-hmm, yep. So that made it fun.
04:19
So I just I want to hit on crochet because I hadn't even thought about it until you mentioned it. Okay, so to support your hobby farm, do you guys sell anything that you produce? Not really. I wish we could. It's but it being we're in New York State and they have a lot of regulations about selling meat and and being like USDA certified and
04:47
Even if you're an animal breeder, there's things I was just reading actually yesterday about having some kind of domestic animal permit and the taxes and things. It's really complicated. If I hooked up with somebody who's already doing it, maybe it would be less complicated, but I haven't really found anybody local to me that is either like kind of willing to share what they do. Actually where we are, there's a lot of Mennonites and they kind of have the corner.
05:14
on a lot of those things. They have their bulk food stands and they do a lot of their sales. So without a mentor in that area, I don't really foresee us doing it. Although we are actually moving. We're moving to a larger property with bigger barns and I would really like for that property to pay for itself, at least a little bit.
05:41
Hopefully I can find a mentor out in that area that's willing to say, you know, this is how you fill out this and these are the forms you're going to need. Um, this is who you have to talk to, to get something like that started and, and just see, just see what that process is going to be like, what startup costs are going to be like, but for now my husband's retired, so he gets a pension from the army, but we also, um, both work for the local school district. So that's how we, that's how we pay for stuff here.
06:07
Yeah, and I wasn't being nosy. I just sometimes people do hobby farms as literally a hobby. They just really enjoy it. And then sometimes they do hobby farms or farms because they're trying to make some money from it. In Minnesota, we don't have a whole lot of restrictions. I mean, there are definitely regulations that are in place. But if we had those kind of restrictions that you're talking about, we probably wouldn't be living on three acres.
06:36
and selling produce and eggs and all the things that we do because it wouldn't be worth it. It wouldn't be worth it for us to do it. We'll have people comment on Facebook or any other thing and say, oh, I'm glad you're a certified egg seller and you have your USDA inspection or you have your NPIP and things like that.
06:56
And I know that there's ways to get around it. You know, you sell the eggs as not for human consumption and things like that. But you're always kind of watching. You're, you know, you never really know who's going to say something about. What you're trying to sell or whatever kind of trade you're trying to make. And so, you know, we try to be cautious and I generally only do like animal deals, like with the rabbits. If I sell a live rabbit, you know, it's, it's sold as a pet, even though our meat animals.
07:26
I generally say like, oh yeah, this is going to be a freezer pet. And then they kind of, yep, yep, sure. And yeah, there's different ways to kind of word things so it sounds a little different. But you just have to be smart about it. I don't want to get in trouble. I don't want to get anybody else in trouble. But I'm originally from New Hampshire. To live for your die state. So I'm watching rules come down and listening to things. It kind of makes me go, huh.
07:55
because I could have done it at home and I can't do it here. Yeah, I'm originally from Maine, so I was a neighbor for a while. Yeah. Nice. Yeah, and Maine has less restrictions as well. So in Maine, you can sell raw milk in a public venue. That would be cool. Yeah, there's none of that here. Not here either. No. No, we have to go to the farm where the cow lives, where the cow was milked, and where the cow's milk is in a cooler.
08:24
on that property. We have to go get the from the farmer. So it's amazing how many things are regulated now that were an everyday occurrence not even a hundred years ago. Exactly. Exactly. I know there's some things we've learned things health wise, but how much of that really, how much of that decision gets to be left up to us and not somebody else?
08:52
Yeah. And again, I think that we do need government. I think there are some very good reasons to have a government. Yeah. But I think that it gets in the way sometimes of really good things. So, and again, that's all I want to say on it because I do not want, I do not want anyone knocking on my door saying, why are you disparaging the United States government? I'm not. Yeah. I'm not. I'm just frustrated. It's okay. Relax. Yep. So.
09:21
That would be really scary. I can't even imagine having that happen. That would be uncomfortable. Oh, I don't even want to. Nope. Nope, nope, nope. The government is great. I just don't want them telling me what socks to put on in the morning. If we're doing that, we're good. So anyway, um, you said you have horses. How many horses do you have? Uh, we have two and they, they're just riding horses.
09:46
My kids, I grew up loving it. My kids don't so much, and I wonder if it's, because they've had access to the horses all their lives. I didn't, I had to go to lessons and I can only go once a week. And during the summers, we'd have our riding camps and things like that. So I had to work to get to be with the horses. My kids don't, so I'll ride. And it's more or less just for fun. We've done a couple of shows.
10:14
And I always thought I would do more with them. But, you know, along the way you get married, you have the kids, you realize the kids take up more of your time than you initially thought they would. And those things kind of go by the wayside. I still like to go and take my horse's name is Shadow Facts. And I take Shadow Facts and we go for a nice trot around. And he still does a little bit of jumping and he'll chase cows. So he'll when I take him out now and we go into our pastures, you know, he'll walk around with the cows and that's kind of fun. But he's just now they're just backyard ponies.
10:44
Yep. I have a little tiny story about horses. When I was in Girl Scouts a long time ago, we went somewhere on a Girl Scout field trip to someplace that had horses and we got to ride horses. And I was all good with getting on the horse and riding the horse. I was nervous because it's the first time I've been around horses. And I think I was probably eight, ten years old. I can't remember now. And my best friend was also in the same troop.
11:13
And she got on the horse and she was doing everything right and something spoke the horse and I watched her get bucked off the horse. And that pretty much cemented the fact that I really didn't need to ride a horse again at that point in time. You know, I was just like, wow, my friend could have died and my best friend was my best friend. I loved her. And so I didn't really have the opportunity to try riding horses ever again.
11:42
and I don't have it now either. I think that if I did have the opportunity to go somewhere where I knew the owners and I knew the horse was calm, I might try it again. But it's really interesting to me that when a traumatic event happens when you're a kid, and it didn't happen to me, but it happened to someone I loved very much, you get put off of the thing. You don't wanna do it again. So. Absolutely.
12:10
I think it's a very brave thing for you to ride horses. And I understand that you grew up with it, but I still think it's a very brave thing. Yeah. He's my, the one I have, I used to be, my trainer used to call me the crash test dummy because he would put me on the ones that showed up at the barn. If it was a new purchase for him or somebody's new purchase, he'd be like, Jackie, I'll ride it. Let's see what happens. So I got so used to being tossed off. And I will say that is, that is one thing I can, I can ride a horse. I'm not.
12:39
always pretty about it, but I can ride a horse and I've seen, I've fallen off more times than I can even remember. Probably sometimes I don't remember because I'm not being smart, not wearing a helmet if I wasn't. That's probably the one thing in my life that's been around since I was a kid and that stuck is I love the horses. I've been in some bad spills and my daughter actually got sent to the hospital. She got stomped on by a horse and it hurt her foot real bad.
13:08
But through it all, that's been the sticker for me is having the horses. Yeah, and the thing is I love horses. We have friends who live about half an hour away and they have, but I think they still have two. I haven't talked to her in a while. One of them's name is Ginger and she is the friendliest, loveliest, most beautiful horse. And Ginger and I are friends. I like it when Ginger comes over and says hello and wants me to scratch her nose and scratch her neck. That's fine.
13:38
But I just don't really have any huge desire to get on her back and tell her to go. So I also have no desire to get on a motorcycle either. I did that as a 16 year old and friend of a friend had a motorcycle and he was like, do you want to go on a ride? Have you ever been on a motorcycle? And I was like, sure. No, I haven't been. Hopped on behind him. He took me for like a three mile ride on the motorcycle. Got back. I got off, took the helmet off. And he was like,
14:06
So what'd you think? And I was like, I think I like cars better. I think you have agreed. So maybe I'm just not a daredevil kind of girl. And I know that I'm not. I am a calculated risk girl and it's gonna take me some time to decide what it is I wanna risk myself over. And I'm good with that. Okay, so how many cows do you have?
14:31
We just have three. So it was kind of, I hate to say impulse buy because we had spoken about it before. But there is a livestock auction not too far, just the next town over from us and we had the day off together. So we went to the livestock auction. We watched for a couple of weeks and then one week we went back and picked up two bull calves.
14:55
One I thought was a heifer when they ran it through. Turned out it was not. A jersey bull calf and an Angus cross whatever bull calf. My jersey only cost us $25. Very nice. So I was like absolutely, I'm buying that jersey. So mine has since been steered and he is going into the freezer. My husband loves his bull calf. So he is still intact.
15:24
much to my chagrin. He bought also a couple of heifer calves. Now we had kind of an incident with the one heifer calf and she passed away. Yeah, it was a bummer. The best thing we could come up with was she had an encapsulated infection and it burst because there was a scab on her leg. Actually, I'm friends with a...
15:51
younger farm guy, his family's been in the dairy business for years and I said, would you come look at this calf because her leg swelled up real bad and the vet's not able to come out. So would you come and just see what you think? He reached down on her leg and found a plug and pulled it out and it was abscess and draining. So pumped her as full of antibiotics as we thought we should. She just went so fast. She probably was septic before we even knew what to do. So she passed, but we still have the one. Her name is Hella and she's—
16:21
So in the wild, we have Stormbreaker and Hella. So we'll see. When we move to the bigger property, my steer, his name is Waldo, my steer is going in the freezer and we have the goats too and the buck for the goats, he's going to go because he's just not really a fit with our does. So they're going to go and we'll bring the bull calf and the heifer calf. And I'm hoping we can find some reasonably priced.
16:51
two-year-old heifers that have maybe been bred before and freshened and done the whole thing so that there can be some experienced and maybe more friendly heifers around because I worry that that hella might be kind of wild. Yeah. So I don't know, I want to I want to experience it with an experienced heifer before before she goes. I want to know what I'm getting into. Yeah, that's a good plan. Um,
17:18
I have a question about the jerseys. Are the jerseys the one that are kind of like rust colored with white? So my jersey is kind of a deer color. That's like the best way to describe it. And he's got kind of white around his eyes and a little brown nose. They look like a stuffed animal, but they're not fuzzy. Yeah. Yeah. He looks like a stuffed animal. Yeah. I love those ones. I just want to kiss their faces anytime I see them.
17:45
the cutest little things. But my husband, see he was really, cause I kind of do everything, his critters are like the cows and the goats. And so even though I did help him with the bottle feeding, I didn't do it as often as he did it, cause usually I was taking care of my own critters at four o'clock in the morning. Yeah. So they love him. They don't love me. They tolerate me. But like if I go into the pasture, they walk up behind me and I'm sure they know, just like a horse would know, I'm sure they know that I'm.
18:13
highly uncomfortable with them when they're like right up behind me and I'm not sure what they're doing. But they'll go play with my husband and everybody's fine. So I just, I don't go in the pasture by myself just in case somebody decides they don't like me. Yeah, animals are really funny. Our dog is, okay, I'm not going to get too far into this because I talk about the dog all the time, but this is relevant. I promise. She is a mini Australian shepherd.
18:40
And Australian Shepherds and Border Collies are notorious for being very, their people focused. Like they love their people, their pack. And then they're very wary of anyone who's not part of their pack. And they're not mean, they're just very aware that that's a new person we need to find out if they're okay. And Maggie has been around all three of the people who live here since we brought her home. It's my husband and I and our 22-year-old son.
19:10
And she adores my husband. Like if she has to pick one of us and he's home, she's going to pick dad to go love on or sit with or be next to. And I do not understand this because I'm the one who's been with her the most since we brought her home, but he's her favorite person. And I think it's because he leaves. He leaves for eight hours a day. So she misses him. So I think that's why.
19:39
But I always think, why do you love him so much? I'm the one who's been with you your whole life. I don't get it. But my kids were the same with him too, with dad. Oh, OK. Yeah. He was their favorite person because he was gone eight hours a day. Yeah. And then they show up and they get to do all the fun stuff. Yeah, I'm familiar. Mm-hmm. Yeah, exactly. Oh, dad's home, so mom doesn't exist now. Yeah, unless you need a snack or something like that, then we're back into existence. Uh-huh.
20:08
Exactly. So, okay, so did you say at the beginning of this, this is what you always wanted to do? Yes. When I was a kid, you know, my dad actually got me chickens and ducks when I was a kid and and I knew like, you know, I want to take care of animals. I want to have animals. I thought I was going to be a veterinarian, but that didn't quite work out. So, you know, I wanted to have
20:37
animals in my life more than just a cat and a dog. I always knew that was something that was going to be, I was going to, I was going to need, you know, it probably sounds weird to people that don't, don't have the same connection with animals, but like I've, I've got to get up and, and take care of them. Like I go out and I feed my ducks and I just sit there with them and I go out and take care of the horses and I just, you know, stand there with them, watch them eat. It just, just got to have it. You are illustrating the
21:05
difference between have to and get to for me. You get to. You wake up in the morning and I'm sure you're like, I get to go see the cows. I get to go see the goats and the ducks and whatever animal it is that you're gonna go take care of. I get to, not, oh, I have to go do this. Unless it's five degrees out and then it's just a have to. Yeah. When it's blowing snow in five degrees, I go, oh man, I have to. But.
21:32
But yeah, days like today, you know, it's raining, it's not that nice out. But yeah, I get to go outside and I get to feed them and I get to see them and be there with them. So. Yeah. And you know, I know that you know that it is an honor and luxury to be able to do what you're doing and that you love it. Yep. Absolutely. Good. I love that. So tell me how you decided to name it Acres Away because I think anchor away or anchors away.
21:59
Yep. So if you're familiar with the Finger Lakes area of New York, there's, I think it's like seven, I forget exactly. But there's like, it looks like scratch marks across the face of New York state. And they're called the Finger Lakes and we're like 10 miles from one of them. So I thought, you know, if we're ever going to, if we're going to market this place, if we ever do, whether we're doing horse stuff or if we're selling things or we have some kind of market, then.
22:27
you know, instead of it being anchors away, because there's so many people that use the lake and have boats and things like that. And it's a double A. So thinking of like back when we had telephone books still, double A would be listed first in the phone book and acres away. Just like you said, it sounds like that anchors away. And so, you know, when somebody thinks of that, they would, oh yeah, that's a funny, it's just a funny connection. So that was my thought process. I used to work at a place called Aberus Arabians.
22:55
And I always I asked the owner like why like I get it like friendly horses like I get what you're saying But she's like no think about it. You're first in the phone book and it sounds funny So it's gonna stick in your head better than it would if it was you know, Arabians are us or something You know, it just the sound of it would would attract attention and keep it kind of in your mind Yeah, it's amazing how the alphabet used to be really important the order of the alphabet and now nobody cares. No, no sure don't
23:22
The good old days, I'm telling you, when there were library card, I don't know what they're called now, the cabinets that had the drawers that had the directory for the books and library. Yes, the card catalog. That's it. Thank you. Yes. You're welcome. Yes. And we still have library cards, but they're little plastic credit card-shaped things that we scan when we take out books. It's so weird. It is.
23:50
I found one of my old library cards a couple of years ago and I was like, Oh, I didn't even know I still had this. And I showed it to my kid and he was like, what is that? I said, that's what library cards look like in the 1970s and early 1980s. He's like, Jesus, your old mom. I'm like, yeah, I know. 54 is ancient. It's terrible. No, it's not old. It's what is it? Like cars? It's like.
24:18
Classic, I think. Classic, yes. Yes. And he's so funny too because I'm learning all about how to do a podcast. I have been learning about this for the last six, seven months because I just started it back in August. And at first I was like, how do I do this? How do I do that? And he's like, oh, this, do this, do that, do this. I'm like, okay, cool. And then I got into it after about four months and I had a question for him about what one of my statistic things meant on my...
24:47
tracking stuff on my podcast. And I said, what does this mean? He said, I have no idea. Google it. There you go. He said, you are now ahead of me on what I know about this internet situation with the podcast. And I was like, Oh, okay. So I went and looked it up and I was like, this is what it says it means. And he's like, I don't even want to talk to you that fantastic.
25:13
He said, keep doing what you're doing. He said, and I don't want to hear about it. He said, you are so far ahead of me on this that he said, this is ridiculous. I was like, okay, well, your mom, you can teach an old dog new tricks, apparently. Oh yeah. And he gave me the I, you know, the what. Yep. I don't like you right now. I was like, go play your games. I'm going to do some dishes. It has nothing to do with podcasts. He's like, okay, fine. So yeah, it's, it's funny how.
25:42
technology has changed so incredibly just in the last 30 years. Yeah, yeah. And it makes it easier for everybody. I mean, I wouldn't be talking to you without this situation.
25:57
Okay, so what's the plan for your acres away? Is it just gonna stay a hobby farm, or are you gonna try to look into the rules and regs and maybe make it try to support itself a little bit? I definitely wanna look into it supporting itself a bit. I'm not sure how. We have our own implements to cut hay, and we do that for ourselves now. We have a hay field and we bale our own hay.
26:25
where we're going, we're going to have more acreage and probably the ability to sell some of our hay if we don't expand either our goats or the cows very much. So selling hay is a big thing. Every year, everybody needs hay. Everybody that's got a farm has got to have some hay, whether they're using it to feed something or they're using kind of the poorer quality or straw to bed down stuff.
26:49
And it seems like every year, there's a shortage somewhere, whether it's because there's a drought in this part of the country or there's fire up in Canada or something, somebody's having a hard time getting a hold of hay. So if we can put in for that and help out there, that would be excellent. And then, you know, I just don't know, I do other little crafty things, but, you know, you find the crafts that yeah, you can make kind of a side hustle with crafts. Like I make jewelry.
27:18
and kind of charm things with chicken eggshells and quail eggshells and feathers and the occasional rabbit poop because it's cute. It's funny and it makes people talk about it. You make a pair of earrings for $10. I'd have to sell a lot of $10 earrings to make any kind of money. It's just something I do because it's fun. I don't know. I just really need to think about it and see what...
27:45
see what we can figure out once we're settled in the new place, see what's allowed, see where I can actually make money and if it's even worth it. Because if I'm paying taxes left and right and having to pay for this, that and the other kind of permit, is it even worth it at the end of the year to try to turn a profit? Or am I just better off feeding my family, which is just what we do now, feeding the family and maybe selling eggs to my neighbors instead of somebody I don't know?
28:13
Yeah, and I don't think that any homestead has to be selling to the outside public. I just, I was just curious about what the plan is. So, the new place, is that on the near future radar or are you guys just getting started on looking? We're under contract where we're at right now and by summer, by the time it turns summer, we'll be in the new place. Yay!
28:40
That's awesome. Congratulations. I'm trying not to be excited because we're like a Murphy's Law family. Like if it can go wrong, it does. So I'm excited. I am excited, but I am also, boy, I can't think of a good word for it, but. Anxious? Not so much anxious, but I'm glasses half, the glasses half something. I'm not sure if it's full or if it's half empty. But I'm just.
29:09
I'm just going to wait before I get too excited. As long as everything goes the way it should and the way it's looking, we'll be there by summertime. But I just, I'll reserve my excitement for when we've unloaded the last box of items into the house. Yeah, when we bought this place three and a half years ago, we paid for the inspection ourselves because we didn't want that to be on the seller.
29:37
I was really worried that something was going to pop up that made it a no-go, that we were not going to be able to buy it. The inspection man was really, really awesome. He showed up before we did and did his inspection of the property and the house. Then we showed up and I walked in and I said, so what's the bad news? He said, wow, way to be optimistic. I said, look.
30:03
I said, this is important to me and I'm trying not to get my hopes up. So I had to come in that way. He said, the bad news is you got yourself a fine little house here. I said, really? He said, yep. He said, they did a fantastic job. He said, the wiring is great. They did a lovely job remodeling it. Everything looks solid. I hadn't been breathing deeply since we had made the offer and I was accepted until.
30:33
after that. And then he said, but, and I went, uh-huh, here it comes. He says, I'm doing the radon test because in Minnesota, like seven out of 10 homes have a radon gas problem in their basements. And he said, I don't think it's going to be a problem. He said, but you might want to not quite exhale all the way until you get that. He said, if that's the kind of person you are. And I said, I am. He said, okay. He said, don't, don't, don't
31:03
put all your eggs in that basket just yet. He said, put like 11 of the 12 dozen, 11 of the 12 in the dozen in the basket. He said, that's where I'm at. I said, okay. And we got the results from that back. And I thought that the radon levels were too high because every basement has some level of radon. Right. And I almost cried.
31:26
And my realtor called shortly after I'd gotten the results. And she was like, so, did you see the radon results? And I said, yes. And she said, why do you sound sad? And I said, because it's bad, right? And she was like, no, you're good. I said, oh, okay. She said, you're good. You're gonna get the house of your dreams. I said, okay, fantastic. Now I can breathe. She said, yep. She said, go ahead and blow it all out. And I blew into the phone. She just laughed.
31:57
But yeah, it's really hard because you can't get so excited that if something goes wrong, your heart is so broken, you can't function. Right, right. Yep. And that's how it would have been. So I'm right there with you. I did it. I lived it. You did. This is our second go around on this. We bought our first property 12 years ago where we are now. So now we're doing it again. And it's the same process, but we weren't homeowners before.
32:27
and before the military was moving us. So it wasn't, you know, it wasn't kind of scary because we knew the military was gonna move us up. Now it's just us. Now it's just the family. So, and of course with the animals, it's even more, but I think we're making the right decision, you know, and even if it's not the right decision, we'll find a way to make it work. Yeah, as I was growing up, all I wanted to do was be a grownup.
32:53
And then I got to be a grownup and I was like, wow, it's really hard being an adult. Yeah. I didn't sign up for all this, but okay. And it never ends. I mean, I look at things now and I'm like, we have to make what decision about what, where are the parents here? Yeah. My husband laughed. He said, honey, we are the parents now. I said, well, yes, I understand that, but isn't there a higher authority than
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than us who can make this decision. And he's like, no, we're it. I'm like, no, I don't want to do it. And we don't have one of those. So yeah, when an adult ear adult, yes, I'm going to put that in the lexicon of funny things that I'm going to say from now on. Um, jobby job is one of the funny things. Um, adult ear adult is now added and grins and giggles.
33:44
I heard somebody say four grins and giggles the other day and I thought, wow, that's a much politer way than the way I usually say it. So, yep, yep. Grins and giggles now instead of the other one. I learned so much on this podcast. It's great. It's good. Yes, and I love words. So anytime I get a new word to add in, I'm very happy. Okay. Well, it's been about half an hour, Jackie. I really, really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me.
34:12
And I hope that whatever your dreams are for your hobby farm, I hope they all come true. Okay, thank you. Thanks for having me. Yep. Thanks. Bye. Bye.
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