0:07

Hi everyone . Welcome to another

0:09

episode of the Creative Mountain Mama

0:11

podcast . This week I am

0:14

joined by Brianna from the

0:16

Honey and Nectar Co . I

0:18

am really excited about our conversation . If

0:20

you've been interested in homesteading

0:23

at all , we're going to talk a lot about how to

0:25

get started . She also talks

0:27

on her page a little bit about Jesus

0:29

and gardening as well . Thank you for

0:31

joining me , brianna .

0:33

Yes , thank you . I am so happy

0:35

to be here .

0:37

I appreciate your time . Is there anything new

0:39

?

0:41

Yes , I mean it's

0:43

been like a crazy week here , but just

0:47

in general , but it always is like on

0:49

a farm or anything I feel like at least . But

0:52

this week I had I never

0:54

get professional photos taken of me like

0:56

ever and I was like it's about time , you

0:58

know , to do that for my business

1:01

and I , um

1:03

, we have more of like a hobby

1:05

farm at the moment we don't have the space

1:07

for much more and , um

1:10

, I was out in the field with

1:12

our . We got just really cute

1:14

. They look really innocent animals . Um

1:16

, we've got a little horse and

1:18

a mini mule and

1:20

we were out there taking pictures . So we got maybe like

1:22

four before

1:24

. Um , before they started like the

1:26

mule . You know , they constantly are

1:29

like changing their emotions

1:31

like all the time , and one

1:33

second they're like taking cute pictures with

1:35

me and then the next they're like urging

1:38

at me like I think maybe five or

1:40

six times I was dressed like super nice

1:42

for the occasion five

1:46

or six times and I was dressed like super nice for the occasion and he was , I was like on a

1:48

tree stump and he was like just running around me in

1:50

circles , like for like

1:53

10 minutes maybe , as I was like yelling

1:55

at my dog like stop barking . And um

1:57

. It was , like you know , a

1:59

great reminder of what it's like to be

2:02

like on a homestead

2:04

or a farm , because they are constantly

2:07

like . It was like

2:09

I was on this stump in this long

2:12

dress and I was like scaling the fences

2:14

to get away from it . It was like absolutely

2:17

insane .

2:18

You grew up on a farm . Can you tell me a

2:20

little bit about that ?

2:22

Yeah , I grew up on like a real

2:25

deal farm . So , like I said , now our

2:27

farm side of things with the animals is super

2:29

like hobby farm now . But I

2:32

grew up on a pretty large farm

2:34

. We had just like 13 to 15 acres

2:36

but we did just

2:39

about everything you could think of . We

2:41

had sheep and horses

2:43

and we had goats and

2:45

we had pigs and sheep

2:48

. I can't remember if I said that we had a garden

2:50

and sometimes we took this

2:52

to market . We did starts for market

2:55

and it was pretty real deal

2:57

and we sold a lot of . We

2:59

had like a lot of lambs . That was our biggest

3:01

thing . We did lambs in a garden

3:03

and we

3:06

were able I mean it was such a good experience

3:08

. We had this farm basically the

3:10

whole time that I grew up and

3:12

it was an experience that I

3:14

wish everyone could have to be able to

3:16

grow up in

3:18

that kind of a setting

3:21

with um around like nature

3:24

and living animals

3:26

and , uh , creatures and

3:28

not just . I know it's like so different

3:30

to how a lot of us grew up today , but

3:33

, um , I'm so thankful for that experience

3:35

. It was um , it teaches you so

3:37

many lessons and it's just

3:39

so fun to be involved

3:41

in something like that it was . It

3:43

was a great childhood . It was a

3:46

hard like . We were able to learn lots

3:48

of skills , to work hard , and

3:50

of course , it's just fun to be around cute

3:52

little lambs and cows and

3:54

things like that as well , so it

3:57

was great .

3:59

I'm so glad you said that . I was wondering if there are

4:01

any early memories you have of

4:03

cute little animals and running

4:05

around the farm .

4:07

Yeah , I definitely . Um , I

4:10

mean , my favorites were

4:12

probably went with the lambs

4:14

, cause they're like the cutest . Um , we

4:17

had like some pretty fun like

4:19

experiences with all of the animals

4:22

that we raised , but the

4:24

lambs were , of course , the cutest and

4:26

the most fluffy and fun and

4:28

I'd say like my favorite memories

4:30

with them was we bottle

4:33

fed a lot of them , and so that was

4:35

a lot of like late nights , early mornings

4:37

, like 12 am , headed outside

4:39

, make sure there's like no cougars in the dark

4:42

or anything , and you're running to the shed and

4:44

you just get like surrounded by like 30

4:46

little lambs and we all like

4:48

had our hands full of bottles and they

4:50

just sit on your laps and it

4:53

was like I'd say that was like maybe

4:55

my my favorite thing

4:57

. It's not always fun to wake up at like 12 AM

4:59

and go outside in the freezing cold , but

5:02

once you got into the shed

5:04

and they're all like surrounding you and

5:07

that was like my

5:09

favorite . One of my favorite things was

5:11

always the little lambs

5:13

or little pigs , and we

5:15

had some pigs that were actually really friendly

5:18

and some we did giant , like

5:20

giant pigs I don't even know what the name

5:22

is anymore , but when

5:24

we were younger we could ride them , and

5:27

so we had a pig

5:29

that was like I think that it had

5:31

been showed earlier in

5:33

its life , and so it was very , very

5:35

kind , very tame , and we were able

5:37

to ride it around , and so there's

5:40

a lot of fun memories

5:43

that we have , all of us

5:45

kids . But those are two of my

5:47

favorites was all

5:49

the little lambs , the bottle babies and

5:52

bottle baby calves that we did

5:54

as well , and just getting

5:56

to raise these animals and

5:58

then they almost become tame like a

6:00

dog or a cat , and I

6:02

had one sheep that just passed away

6:05

last year and she

6:07

was my bottle baby that I had when I

6:09

was like 12 . And so she , she

6:11

was like a dog , she would follow us around and

6:14

, uh , was pretty spoiled , and

6:16

so , yeah , there was so many great memories

6:18

that , um , I think everyone

6:21

I've ever chatted with that grew up on a farm

6:23

. I think we all have great like some great

6:25

experiences in there , and it's always fun

6:27

to be raised around

6:29

animals , I think .

6:33

Can you tell me a little bit about how that background

6:36

has informed your lifestyle today

6:38

?

6:39

Right , yeah , absolutely . I think

6:41

it has everything to

6:43

do with what I do today , I

6:46

think , because for a while I had

6:48

left like the farming kind of

6:50

like what we call like the homesteading or country

6:52

lifestyle

6:56

. I did

6:59

a few different things . I worked at like a bronze

7:01

factory and I worked at

7:03

a , a childcare

7:05

, um

7:17

, and a few other random things , and I just

7:19

it just feels so different . Um , I it feels like , um , like

7:21

the way that I feel like I could best explain it is I felt

7:23

less purposeful there in those places , if that makes sense

7:25

, and less connected

7:28

with creation and less connected with

7:30

the Lord , because

7:32

I felt like I was disconnected

7:35

from life and disconnected

7:38

from watching things grow

7:40

from seed and watching

7:43

flowers bloom and getting

7:45

to be around these babies

7:47

and raise these baby lambs

7:50

and things like that . And same

7:52

with chickens is a big one that

7:54

we did as well , and they're so cute

7:56

when they're little and watching them grow . And

7:59

it felt like there was such a disconnect

8:01

from creation

8:03

and even from the Lord at times , because

8:06

it feels like when I was

8:08

in my nine to five , a lot more , there's just

8:10

so much routine and it

8:12

didn't leave a lot of room for

8:14

those things anymore , and

8:17

so , after a couple of years of that

8:19

, I was just like I can't do this anymore

8:21

, and what was coming back

8:23

to me was the way that I felt

8:25

when I was growing up and

8:27

making my own food and raising

8:30

our animals and do

8:32

it in gardening and things like that as well

8:34

, and so I really um

8:36

that I think

8:39

it pretty much informed everything

8:41

that I do now . Um

8:43

, because it's

8:46

, I think , cause I left the

8:48

lifestyle for a couple of years and

8:51

just being able to recall those memories

8:53

and how it makes you feel and , um

8:56

, the way that I felt so different , um

8:58

, when I was being raised

9:00

in this environment versus when I left it . So

9:03

, yeah , I so , yeah , I think it really

9:05

was the foundation for everything

9:08

that I do now , which I'm

9:10

so thankful for that .

9:12

Can you walk me through what exactly

9:15

that is and what your operation looks like today

9:17

?

9:18

Yeah , so it's definitely a lot smaller

9:20

than what it was when I was growing up . It's

9:22

primarily me now , and

9:25

so when I grew up , it was a

9:27

family operation and they

9:29

had a

9:31

garden and orchard and animals

9:33

, everything like that , and

9:36

we moved from that

9:38

scenario and I'm the only

9:41

one so far that's really picked back up on

9:43

it . So it's a lot smaller

9:45

. It's scaled back quite a bit , um

9:47

, but , um , we

9:49

have chickens still . We

9:51

do have a hobby farm animals

9:53

, like I said , like the horse , two horses

9:56

and a mule , um , right now

9:58

, and um , they're

10:00

just for fun . But I

10:03

do a lot more of like in

10:05

the home things and that's a lot of what

10:07

I teach is like , um

10:09

, basically , my

10:11

primary thing is for people that are starting , like

10:13

, where can they start ? And I would say

10:15

, start in the kitchen , and so that's a lot

10:18

of what I teach now is , um

10:20

, starting in the

10:22

kitchen . What can you do to

10:24

begin to make your own food from scratch

10:26

, bake from scratch , canned food

10:29

, and a lot of that goes

10:31

hand in hand with what I've picked

10:33

back up , which is gardening , and I garden

10:35

for myself , I garden for my

10:37

business online and I garden for

10:39

market , and so I do take things to

10:42

market in the summer . Whenever I'm talking to someone

10:44

that is starting at the very basic

10:46

, have no idea

10:49

how to get into homesteading

10:51

or even what

10:54

that looks like , I always encourage

10:57

start with those sorts of things . They're often

10:59

more familiar with the kitchen

11:01

and often more familiar with growing

11:03

indoor plants , and so those

11:05

are the places that I start with

11:08

. When it gets into like animals and

11:10

things like that and outdoor gardening , I

11:13

always recommend well

11:15

, I started pretty big with my garden and

11:17

so if someone is willing to start like

11:20

pretty big , I'm like go

11:22

ahead , experiment , try

11:24

whatever the heck you want like , really

11:26

get into it , plant as many

11:28

things as you want to plant and , um

11:30

, along the way you can learn what

11:33

works and what doesn't and um

11:35

, that's like how I got

11:37

into doing it on my own . Um

11:39

was just more of approaching it as

11:41

like experimental and fun and

11:44

not having a lot of like weight

11:46

on it , needing to provide

11:48

for me or anything along those lines

11:51

. It was more just to learn

12:06

. And so if someone is

12:08

going to be like in the garden or

12:10

in the kitchen and a lot

12:12

of that has to do with , like

12:15

, my location and also

12:17

my business and how it's

12:19

geared like who it's geared towards

12:21

.

12:21

That makes sense absolutely

12:23

, and I would assume it's geared towards

12:25

people that have no background

12:28

. They weren't raised , you know

12:30

. Yeah , how would

12:32

you tell someone to get started

12:34

that wants to get into right

12:37

raising animals ?

12:38

for animals . I always would

12:40

say chickens is like the best place

12:43

to start , and starting with a small

12:45

flock , I say like , start

12:47

with hens , especially like if you can

12:49

rooster , you can easily

12:51

rehome them . Generally , and oftentimes

12:54

if you buy them from the store , they're already

12:57

separated by gender

12:59

, and so I think like it's

13:02

very that's like the easiest

13:04

place to start when you're starting with animals

13:06

would be sickens . They're extremely

13:08

low maintenance and um they

13:11

they're also just fun . It gives

13:13

you a great experience , especially when you get them as as

13:16

chicks . It's like it's a great

13:18

, um . It's kind of like what I was talking about with

13:20

the having the baby lambs and things like that . It

13:22

creates like a great experience and

13:24

um , yet one

13:26

that's not burdensome and

13:29

one that doesn't require a lot of funds

13:31

as well . That's a big thing that I try

13:33

to share is like ways that people

13:35

can save money and

13:37

also , uh , learn self

13:40

sustainability and learn how to homestead

13:42

and learn more about um , like

13:45

country living and farming . Um

13:47

is how can you do it in cheap

13:49

ways , and so chickens is

13:51

a great way , especially if you have a small

13:53

flock . You don't need a large coop . Um

13:56

, a lot of the time , you can buy like prebuilt

13:58

ones from the store for like $150

14:01

. And so that's a really , really great place

14:04

to start . Chicken feed isn't overly expensive

14:07

and you get a great return

14:09

. To be able to get eggs

14:11

and use like a farm fresh item

14:13

that you helped raise

14:16

is so encouraging and

14:18

so refreshing . And

14:20

so that's where I always encourage people to start

14:22

. When it comes to animals and gardening

14:25

, I always , if it's someone that's starting small

14:27

, I say start with

14:29

like five plants , like five different

14:32

varieties , like tomatoes , a pepper

14:34

plant , maybe some herbs and some greens

14:36

, and that gives you a beautiful variety

14:39

of plants to harvest

14:41

at different times throughout the summer . But it's

14:43

very manageable , very inexpensive

14:46

, and purchasing starts

14:48

over . Starting seeds is

14:50

also a great way to start . It really sets

14:52

you up for more success

14:54

than if you are starting from

14:57

scratch and trying to grow from seed

14:59

. So I know that's a lot of information

15:02

, but I think that's

15:04

like generally where I try to have

15:06

people land when they're starting from scratch

15:09

with farming and gardening .

15:12

As far as making money , I know

15:14

you break down a lot of ways

15:17

to save money . Can you

15:19

explain coming to market and how

15:21

you can make a profit off of your homestead ?

15:23

Yeah , yeah , absolutely . That's one of my favorite

15:25

things to talk about . I

15:28

feel like a lot of the time people are really

15:30

intimidated by starting

15:33

a farm or garden or going to market

15:35

because of the expenses and

15:39

feeling like overwhelmed

15:41

with like oftentimes

15:43

it's a really different

15:45

environment than

15:47

we're used to in other places

15:50

. That like settings , like work settings and

15:53

things like that it's it's very

15:55

different . And so I definitely chat

15:57

with a lot of people who are like what

15:59

do I ? It feels overwhelming

16:01

or it feels so new and so different , and

16:03

so I have a lot of tips that have to do

16:05

with you know how can you do it

16:07

inexpensively ? And

16:09

also tips

16:12

for communication

16:14

skills and also

16:17

in general , there's so many things we don't even think about

16:19

, like my . One of my

16:21

very first things I always tell anyone

16:23

when they are , uh , wanting

16:26

to join their farmer's market or

16:28

even just open a farm stand or sell

16:31

on Facebook marketplace and things like that is

16:33

to make sure that you know your state

16:36

laws . That is , like always my biggest

16:38

thing . Um , because a

16:40

lot of States have , like you think like

16:42

the strangest and

16:49

like from where I live , I can sell

16:51

butchered chickens for

16:54

like meat chickens and I did that for a long

16:56

time , but I

16:59

can't sell their eggs without , like

17:01

, a licensed kitchen , which is

17:03

totally crazy . I could sell the

17:06

chickens without a licensed

17:08

kitchen , but I have to have a licensed kitchen for

17:10

the eggs . So it is the most random things

17:12

that you wouldn't even think of

17:14

, like a sourdough starter . Some States

17:17

you can't sell sourdough starter like

17:19

if it's dehydrated or not . You

17:21

can't sell it and can't sell fermented

17:24

things like kombucha . And so really

17:26

make sure that you know that you are

17:29

stepping into this , doing it legally

17:31

, and that you

17:34

have the credentials that you need to

17:36

sell what you want at market , and it's not impossible

17:39

to sell these things . Getting

17:41

a licensed kitchen is not as

17:43

intimidating or hard as it

17:45

often looks . I don't currently have one where I live

17:47

, because I don't need one for what I do , but

17:50

I have in the past and it is really

17:53

a simple process depending on where you

17:55

live , um . But that is definitely

17:57

the first thing that I would

17:59

encourage everyone to do is make sure that

18:01

they know what they

18:04

can and can't sell , legally

18:06

speaking , um . And

18:08

then the second thing is I always encourage

18:10

filling your booth with

18:12

secondhand goods , that you're set

18:15

up with secondhand goods , so , um

18:17

, for me , that means like Apple boxes

18:19

and baskets that I bought secondhand

18:22

. I never buy anything from

18:24

my booth that is like

18:26

purchased right from

18:28

the store . I always buy secondhand

18:30

or I was salvage goods

18:32

and all those sorts of things , anything

18:34

like that that I can think of , because

18:37

the thing that we want is we want

18:39

to really we want we're going to market to make

18:41

money , and we're going to market to find a

18:43

new way to earn income

18:46

, especially oftentimes doing what we really

18:48

love and that can be hard with

18:50

farming lately to make

18:53

a good income off of it . And

18:55

so if there's ways that you can cut costs , I

18:57

always recommend find ways that you can

18:59

cut costs . And so another one if

19:02

you do starts in your garden . I

19:04

always sell mine out of tin cans

19:07

and other recycled goods that

19:09

cost me no extra money at all , and

19:11

so , along those lines

19:14

, I always encourage people to learn to compost

19:16

, because that way you never have to buy potting

19:19

soil ever again . So there's

19:21

a lot of things along those lines

19:23

. That's like that's ways to save money . Make

19:26

sure that you're doing it legally , and

19:28

I also really encourage people to get to

19:30

know the people that run their

19:32

market and the people that are

19:34

in their market as well . This

19:37

is going to really help you understand

19:39

the culture of your farmer's

19:41

market , who runs it , so

19:43

that you are able to learn

19:46

so much more about the operation

19:48

when you are in contact with

19:50

the people that run it . When

19:52

you are in contact with the people that run it and when

19:54

you are going to the meetings and the symposiums

19:57

that they put on , oftentimes like once a

19:59

year before market . A lot

20:01

of markets put on symposiums for the vendors

20:03

, and so I always recommend , if they send an

20:05

email out , read it , reply

20:07

to it , chat with the people in charge

20:10

and get to know the people that are in

20:12

market with you , especially if they've been there a long

20:14

time . They're going to have amazing

20:16

tips . One of my favorite gals

20:19

that's a part of my market encourage

20:21

all of us to write out our story

20:23

so that when we feel like

20:26

we're having trouble communicating and I often

20:28

feel like I have trouble communicating I

20:31

am able to just

20:33

give them this story and be like hey

20:35

, if you want to learn more about my farm , this

20:37

is my paper , and that way , my

20:40

words are on the paper . I don't have to worry

20:42

about like stumbling over my words

20:44

and so getting

20:46

to know the people in your market

20:48

. They're going to have wisdom for you that no one else is going to have that

20:50

because they're not a part of your market , they're not a part wisdom for you

20:52

that no one else is going to have that because they're not a part

20:54

of your market , they're not a part of

20:56

, and especially for such a long time

20:59

. So I really encourage that

21:01

as well . Get to know these people . And

21:04

lastly , I really say , just do your research

21:06

on how

21:08

you want your booth to be set up , as

21:10

well as what's the pricing

21:12

generally in your area for these things

21:15

. And is there a way to make your

21:17

produce or your crafted

21:19

like goods or , um , your baked

21:22

goods ? Is there a way to make them stick out ? And

21:24

is that maybe by cutting

21:26

costs so that you can have lower pricing

21:29

than other people , or is

21:31

it a part of your story ? So for me

21:33

, I'm able to market

21:35

my produce . It's not just local , but

21:38

it's also . It's non-certified , organic

21:40

. You can oftentimes label yourself

21:42

as non-certified organic , but

21:45

even people just knowing she's not certified

21:48

but she is organic and

21:50

or pesticide , chemical free

21:53

and things along those lines

21:55

. I also do a lot of regenerative gardening

21:57

, so the earth is not

21:59

as disturbed and disrupted

22:02

in the way that I approach gardening and

22:04

oftentimes I'm giving back to it with compost

22:07

and things like that , so it's really giving

22:09

back to the local environment

22:13

as in nature , a

22:15

lot more than from

22:17

the produce you'll get like from the store and things

22:19

like that . And so there's a lot

22:21

of ways that you can market your products

22:24

and your brand and your produce and

22:26

your farm that are going to encourage

22:28

others to be interested in it

22:30

and to come back for more

22:32

, because you have a story behind it and because

22:35

you're trying to cut costs

22:37

, or even if you can't cut costs , your

22:39

story and your produce and

22:42

your crafted goods are going to be much more

22:44

valuable because

22:46

of your story and because of what you

22:48

do and the time and energy you

22:50

put into what you're selling . And

22:52

so those are a couple of tips that I

22:55

would give someone who is just starting

22:57

with market .

23:00

So good . Brianna , you are clearly a

23:02

wealth of knowledge , and I feel this

23:04

is just the tip of the iceberg . If

23:07

someone were to want

23:09

to learn more from you , where

23:11

are a couple of places you would direct them

23:13

?

23:14

want to learn more from you . Where are a couple

23:16

of places you would direct them ? Yeah

23:23

, I , um , I have Instagram is is my primary um , the primary place that I post

23:25

lately , and that's at the honey and nectar co . That's my username . I also

23:27

have a website that I post on

23:29

about once a week uh

23:32

, just honey and nectarcocom and

23:34

I try to do a blog post that's

23:36

really extensive . I have a

23:39

separate amount of

23:41

blog posts and things like that that are for

23:43

subscribers and they are the ones

23:45

that go really in depth with the

23:48

market and growing

23:50

regeneratively and things like that

23:52

. If you're really interested in those things and

23:54

I did just start a YouTube channel and

23:56

you were the one that encouraged me to do that , and

23:58

it's going to be at the same handle as my Instagram

24:01

that's where you can find me at any platform

24:03

. I have Pinterest as well

24:05

and different things like that , and so it's

24:07

the honey and nectar co and

24:09

that's . Yeah , that's where I mostly

24:11

share . My stuff is social media , but you

24:13

really want in depth ? Uh , you can

24:16

definitely find me at my blog and now at

24:18

my youtube channel thank

24:24

you so much for your time .

24:25

I really appreciate you helping us

24:27

.

24:28

Yes , thank you so much .