An Enchanted Homestead

Today I'm talking with Lydia at An Enchanted Homestead.

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00:00 You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis. At Green Bush Twins and Company, we believe in the power of creativity, imagination, and art to bring people together.  Our mission is to inspire connection across all ages, encouraging understanding, individuality,  and a true sense of belonging. We're building more than a brand. We're growing a mindful community rooted in kindness, intention, and shared purpose.

00:29 At our core, it's about real people sharing real stories, ideas, and products that make everyday life more meaningful.  If you believe in living with purpose and supporting brands that care,  you'll feel right at home with Greenbush Twins. That tiny homestead podcast is sponsored by Greenbush Twins and Company. Today I'm talking with Lydia at an enchanted homestead. I love that name in Idaho. Good afternoon, Lydia. How are you? Hi, I'm well. How are you?  I'm good. How's the weather in your neck of the woods today? oh

00:58 windy and rainy. Us too. In Minnesota, same thing. It is gross outside. Yes. It's like we can't make up our minds here. One day it's like a warm spring. Now it's like kind of reverting to winter. It's so funny. Every time, every time I talk with somebody about the weather and it just keeps flipping, they all have the same sigh and I do the same thing. I did it two days ago.

01:27 We just need spring to get here and stay here. That would be great. Yes. And it's unusually warm.  Um, cause I feel like winter skipped us here in Southern Idaho. We got snow like only three times and it melted the same day. And so  it got pretty warm. Like we were having a pretty warm  spring, um, which I was kind of excited about. And then this week it was like, psych.  So it's like cold and wet.  Yup.

01:56 I... There's that noise again. I hate this. Alrighty. So why is it called an enchanted homestead? Do you have magic on your homestead? Oh, gosh. I'm just always... love all things like magical and just like finding gratitude even in the mundane boring stuff and like turning it into something... Well, magical.

02:21 Enchanting and so I don't know it just it's stuck with me and we decided to name it that  Well, you'll be happy to know that one of my good friends gave me a fairy weather vane when we moved here five years ago, that's awesome  And it only took a year and a half to put up, but it's really pretty so

02:45 Yep, I can see it out my living room windows and every time I look at it, I think of her and I'm like, I hope you're looking down from heaven smiling at the weather rain.  Oh, that's awesome. That is awesome. I love adding all kinds of stuff. Like I have like  my courts around the garden, like sun catchers, wind chimes. just I love putting stuff everywhere. I'm like,  I don't know, like adding that little magical umph to like otherwise  boring places around the property.

03:15 And so I just, love that. Yes, because when things aren't blooming, you need something to look like it's blooming. Oh my goodness. Yes. Yes, indeed. Make it somewhat pretty. Yeah, I get it. I really do. I was talking to somebody about the fact that peonies are my favorite flower the other day and I realized I still have at least two months before my peonies bloom. Oh yeah? Well, I want to add more flowers around the property, but I

03:43 suck. I don't know. cannot  get flowers to bloom hardly at all.  just, I don't know. Is it shady?  Some parts, but our house  faces west and so the sun does like, whoo.  Um,  but I don't know. just, I have wildflowers though that have taken off and they come back every year, thankfully. So I'm trying to get more going.  Um,

04:12 So we'll see this year.  We'll see.  Okay.  I have a question. Did you grow up in Idaho? No, actually in Puerto Rico. Oh, okay.  I was listening to you talk and I'm like, there's some accent there, but I can't place it. Yeah, no. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, moved to Hawaii and then came to Idaho. Okay. It's really subtle. I don't think anybody else would have noticed it, but I am like a fanatic about it because I listened to everything really closely. um Okay. So.

04:42 Tell me about your homestead. Well, we have a little bit over 50 chickens, I would say,  give or take.  We have four goats. We have  nine cats, five dogs. Five dogs, yeah. And we are just on, I think about three and a half acres here. um Yeah, we do gardening.

05:11 We do obviously the farm fresh eggs, all the stuff. Nice. Because I'm a dog fanatic, I never was until we got our dog five years ago. My husband is the same. What breed, what breed, what breeds are your dogs or is it one breed? Oh, so we had, we started with one Shih Tzu and then she got pregnant. And she had five puppies that were mixed.

05:41 one passed away early on and so I could not part with the other puppies. And so we were in town at first and so that is what led us to then have to find somewhere out of town limits because I think it was a three dog maximum rule  and we had a little bit more than that. And of course they're little dogs so they yap. They are quite the little yappers. um And so then when we moved out here  we had a dog

06:10 that randomly showed up. His name was Jax. He  passed um two or three years ago. But then we had another dog show up, Bruno. He's still with us. He's  a  lab mix, a black lab mix. And then our son  brought another dog home and she is a border collie lab mix. And so  we currently, yeah, one, two.

06:40 three, four, five, because we've had a few that have passed away. yeah. Yep. My husband and I are  of  the mind that one dog is more than enough for us. We adore our dog.  her mama has a litter every year.  And friends of ours own the mama. And I'm like, man, those puppies are so cute. My husband's like,  our dog is so cute. We don't need to give her a sister or a brother. What breed is she?

07:10 She's a she's an Australian shepherd.  Oh,  okay.  And they need they need to be played with. Yeah, they have energy. Yeah. So  having more than one would probably kill both of us. Yeah, that's how it is with ours. That's a border Collie mix. Nova. Oh my goodness. She has energy for days and we have her kind of like on a routine. So like they get breakfast every morning and then she gets like after breakfast playtime. Then at around three o'clock she gets another playtime.

07:39 Then after dinner, they get playtime and it's like, she will, and she knows, like she will sit by the area where her toys are at and just look like the saddest abused dog. Like, please play. Oh my goodness. I calm down.  But she loves, thought she wants to be outside playing all day long. cannot for the life of me figure out if border collies and um Australian shepherds just know how to communicate better than other dogs do.

08:08 Mm-hmm. would say so. Maggie's the same way. She has all kinds of expressions for what she wants.  They're super smart.  Yeah, it's crazy. And my mom and dad have a purebred border collie and  her name is Duchess and she was aptly named and she has all kinds of faces for what she wants to according to my dad. So  I think that those two breeds are very expressive and very clear.

08:36 when they want your attention for whatever it is that they want you to do. oh absolutely. And I could talk about dogs all day. Like  I am an absolute convert. I go to the church of dog. I swear to you. uh I've always been a dog person, but my husband,  for his whole life was scared of dogs. Like it is the funniest thing. Like even the littlest dog, he'd be like, Nope. And I'm like, come on. Like it's not going to eat you. Like really?

09:05 and he will just walk the other way. And so then when we got our first dog together, Harley,  he started coming around and his family to this day, they're like, we would have never thought you would end up with five dogs. Like of all people, like you were so scared and they sleep in bed with us. Like they are so spoiled  and people like, man, you've come a long way.  Yeah, I always loved other people's dogs. I just didn't want one of my own. Oh, that's funny.

09:34 And then we got this cute little puppy at seven weeks and six days old and I fell in love and I went off the deep end. So,  all right. So you said you would think you have about 50 chickens.  you, and you have a farm stand, right? Yes, ma'am. Yup.  Yeah. So are the girls laying? Oh my gosh, a lot. get like  around 30 a day, 30 eggs. So it's like, we stock the farm stand. So we started opening every day.

10:04 except this week, I  do announce, like, hey, it's weather permitting. Because our house faces west and across the street, like, there's a field. So there's nothing blocking the winds or anything. So the farm stand um obviously gets affected. oh And we had an upgrade. We started the farm stand, I think it was two years ago,  and my husband built it, like, literally a little stand. He built it. My dad was living with us at the time, and my dad helped paint it. So it was, like, really special.

10:34 Um, but then the wins, like she went belly up several times, several times. Thankfully it was like when she wasn't open. we didn't have stuff in it. Cause we also have like apothecary items that I make and stuff. Um, so thankfully we never experienced like damage in that sense. And anytime like my husband was able to fix her up and just, would set her back up. But then we were like, okay, we got to figure something out. And so.

11:03 we had a shed in our backyard that was just full of junk. Like  it needed cleaned out. And so  we pulled that out and that's the farm stand. So it's like a green shed that has tables in it. And that's what we're using. And thankfully it's sturdy enough to where the winds don't affect it, but still like when you open the doors, like the wind is just like blasting it. So  we keep her closed. Yeah.

11:30 We have a farm stand too and it's got like a  one door. It's got one door that opens to the left and it's a big door. And I worry when people come to get their eggs because I'm so afraid that door is going to smack somebody when they go in when the wind's blowing, but everybody's been okay so far.  And we have insurance that will cover that.  But I still don't want anyone to get hurt. I mean, I assume that they're coming to a quote unquote

11:59 farm or homestead, they know to be careful. Right. mean, normally you would, yeah, I think that's a pretty safe assumption, but yeah, it's common sense.  Yeah. It's also, it's also probably not safe for people who have mobility issues and people know that too,  because you have to step up about four inches to get into it. And  I said to my husband, we should probably put a ramp on that. And he was like, it's on the list. This was, this was three years ago.

12:28 Oh, we have a list going on stuff too. Yeah, there's still no ramp, but maybe this summer there'll be a ramp on it. I don't know yet. Yeah, I want to turn ours just a little bit because I want it to still face the road,  but kind of angled so the winds don't necessarily just like slap her inside.  But also I want to paint because right now it's just a dark green shed. So I want to get her painted.  Yeah, there's a list.

12:56 There's always a list on a homestead.  never ends either. You get like six things crossed out and then seven more things show up.  Yeah, that's true.  So you do apothecary things. What do you do? We do elderberry syrup,  herbal salves. It's just stuff that  we use personally. I just make more.  We are big on essential oils, so I have rollers out there that we use. ah

13:23 And so it's very important though with like herbal remedies. I have a disclaimer like, hey, this is what we use. This is how we use it and why. But, you know, do your research. Your mileage may vary. Yeah. I'm like, these are the ingredients, you know, because for allergy reasons, I don't want anybody. But yeah, so I have essential oil rollers. I have herbal salves. I love plantain, calendula, lavender.

13:53 Dandelion we are big on dandelions here. We're probably the only property on this road that doesn't spray.  Oh uh I swear because everybody has all the pretty green yards and then there's our house with all the dandelions and which I think is prettier  Personally same I had to get my husband on board. He's like come  on and I'm like, nope, like they're just so good So we use it for like tinctures salves.  I feed them to our goats or chickens

14:24 They're so good.  and so have you,  have you done dandelion root tea yet?  No,  I did. I have the roots. I, but I want to do,  um, this local lady was talking to me about it and it just, it got me curious, but I have not done it yet. It's like a dandelion latte. So basically you do that the tea, but then to that you add milk and then honey and it's basically like coffee, instead of coffee, it's the dandelion root.

14:53 Yes, I bought dandelion root tea at the store at the co-op. Yeah. And tried it and it does it tastes like coffee. is wonderful. I just I have it. I just I've not been brave enough. Do it. Put those roots in the oven at the lowest temperature and let them dry out. OK, deal. That's good to know. She loved it too. She was like, no, it's so delicious. I'm like, OK, we'll see. And I have it. I just I've not done it.

15:22 Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it.  I will definitely report back. Yes, please. um I love my rollerball bottle that has  lemon, lavender and peppermint in it. And I put it on my like right behind my ears  and right under my nose and on my wrist when I have a migraine headache and it literally takes the migraine headache down by half.  Oh my gosh. Yes, we have a migraine roller.

15:50 Funnily enough, I had never added lemon to it. I do lemon, peppermint, and lavender as an allergy blend though. So that's awesome. killing two birds with one stone. Yes, for sure. Like it's so good. Yeah. And it smells good.  Yep. And I looked up the thieves oil recipe and I have thieves oil roller rollerball bottles too. I love these. We love thieves in this house.  Yep. I didn't know anything about it until I saw a former neighbor of mine was talking about it.

16:20 And I was like, what is Steve's oil? And I looked it up and I was like, oh, I can do that. I can make that. have all the oils for it.  Mm hmm. Yep. It's really good. And it smells good. It's almost like Christmas. Yeah, because of the clove, right? Yeah. Clove and cinnamon.  Yes. m We didn't really do much for Christmas this year and I'm kind of sad about it. We were just busy and  my youngest had some stuff going on and we just didn't do it. And my youngest is an adult.

16:49 Let's just make that clear. He's not little.  And ah we just kind of had a very quiet Christmas and we didn't really do cookies and we didn't do pumpkin pie.  And now I'm thinking about it. like, you know, we should pull some squash out of the  freezer and do pumpkin pie this weekend. Oh, that sounds so good. And nothing beats homemade. Yeah, and it's going to be chilly on Saturday. Maybe I can do that. Maybe that'll be perfect. That sounds so cozy. Maybe that'll

17:17 raise the spirits around here, who knows. If that doesn't.  And that's one of the great things about homesteading is that the stuff that people do at Thanksgiving and Christmas,  you can do anytime.  doesn't matter. Yeah, that is true. Yeah. I just baked  zucchini bread, I think it was like two weeks ago, and it was using zucchini from our garden last year that I had frozen. Did it work? Yeah.

17:44 Yes, it did. I always worry that it'll make it dry, but actually turned out so yummy. Oh, I thought it would make it really wet.  Oh, no, no, no, it did not. Huh. Okay. Mm hmm. Do you shred your zucchini before you freeze it? Yeah. Yes, I do. That's probably why it wouldn't make it wet.  Okay, cool. We grow winter squashes more than we eat zucchinis of the garden as they're coming in. So there's very little to go in the freezer because what we don't eat, we sell at the farmer's market.

18:14 But we grow winter squash and the winter squash gets roasted and put in the freezer. So that's what will be in the pumpkin pie. It'll be butternut squash pie. Oh, that sounds so good. Yeah, because pumpkins are actually squash. So it doesn't matter what winter squash you use for your pumpkin pie. It's all pumpkin pie. Really? Yep. Huh, I was now years old. OK, that's cool, Yep. I was this many years old when I discovered that pumpkin is squash.

18:43 I was like, has to be just pumpkin. Well, that's good to know. I don't think I would ever know the difference though. Yeah. I would not recommend using a Hubbard or a Delicata squash because they're not sweet. Oh, yeah. You would be able to be like, yeah, no, this is not traditionally made. But the joy of using butternut squash is if the butternut squash has had a good season, it's naturally sweet. It's so good. You can cut the sugar down in your recipe if you want.

19:13 Oh God, butternut swatch is so good. We have some planted. I'm waiting for it to start sprouting because I'm excited because they're so good.  am. I'm trying so hard to not wish the next six months away because last year's garden was not  overly successful. Let's put it that way. And the year before that, it was not overly successful either. had really terrible weather. We had a lot of rain and then a lot of heat and then a lot of rain.

19:42 which causes the blight, which kills plants. And I've got everything I have crossed that we have a successful growing season this year. Yeah.  I think it's going to be warm here. I'm nervous because we had a really warm winter. We're having an unusually warm spring. Yeah. So I'm nervous that we're going to have a really hot summer. So I'm trying to prepare for that. I hope with everything I have.

20:12 that everyone who wants to grow produce this year  has a good shot at it because the last couple of years have just been hellish. The bugs, the bugs got us last year and  so we don't, we don't use like toxic chemicals on anything. So like I make our own sprays and stuff. um But my goodness, last year I was like, holy cow,  squash bugs. I had never  known what they were and  oh,  yeah.

20:41 They give me the ick. They legit gave me the ick.  They're disgusting.  I was like, stop. I would stay on top of them, like trying to like, oh my God, was, nope. Zero out of 10.  Zero out of 10. Do you want to know a natural repellent?  What?  Neem  oil.  N as in Nancy, E-E-M as in Mary. Neem  oil. Okay. Okay. They don't like it. Good to know. I'll be able.

21:10 You bet I'm going to get some now because after last year, like, oh my goodness. I could not, like, I could not get rid of them. I had to like constantly, once I thought, okay, I got this last like hatch because you could see the eggs on the leaves and stuff. I would cut the leaves. But then I was like, okay, we're good. And then they would come back. I'm like, are you kidding me? Like, where are you coming from? And once they get into the main part of the plant, you're done for.

21:39 Ugh, they just, no. Bugs in general just give me the ick.  And we've started finding ticks already.  Uh huh. I'm like, thankfully they're not on our animals, but I'm already spraying everything down. I'm like, nope. Like, no, no. They literally just, I start feeling them on me and I just, get the ick.  I cannot. Yup.  I hate that. It's so...

22:04 It's so hard to get rid of it too, because you know there's no tick on you, but you still have the creepy crawlies. Oh yes, it's so bad. The other thing that I was thinking of when you were talking about the squash bugs, back before we moved here, we were growing squashes or something, very broad leaf plants at a neighbor's house. And they got the mildew, I can't think what it's called, downy mildew on the leaves.

22:33 looked all over Google to figure out what we could do to treat it before it killed the plants. And it said milk and water, half water, half milk in a spray bottle. Really? And you wait till like 10 o'clock in the morning  and you spray the leaves and the milk somehow kills the mildew. Huh? So if you ever have downy mildew, and there's another name for it too, but again, think of it right now, spray it with a mix of milk and water.

23:03 That's  wicked. Like how interesting. I wonder what's in the milk.  I have  no idea, but it worked. We had the most beautiful squash from those plants.  Well, hey,  and it's natural. So that's a double win. Yeah, there are so many things that  people did before we had all this not natural stuff.  And they did just fine. Yeah, that's what I like. That's the whole.

23:32 thing here, like I always tell my husband like we like to turn to nature like for answers because that's how our ancestors did it. Like they didn't have all these fancy things that ironically are to make our lives easier.  But in reality, like, is it?  Um, in some ways, I'm really, really thankful for some advances we've made because because antibiotics kill strep throat.

23:59 and I used to strep throat all the time and no natural remedy  gets rid of that. So really thankful for that.  But the stuff that we can do that  is fixable with nature, think that we should do that first. Yes. Oh, absolutely. Same.  I had one time it was strep throat and ah an issue with my tonsils at the same time.  Oh my goodness. On the plus side, I lost weight.

24:28 I could not eat. So very thankful for the medicine for sure.  Yeah, I mean if I'm coming down with a head cold my go-to is orange juice and chicken soup, homemade chicken soup. And it usually does help.  But if I've got a sore throat and I've got white spots on the back of my throat, I'm going in for the prescription for antibiotics. Yeah, know. At the sign of anything here we start chugging Algaeberry syrup. I make our rollers. I diffuse oils.

24:58 Like also if it gets worse, like, okay, you know, let's get medicine. Yeah. So, so again, it's, it's one of those  six of one half dozen of another things.  I don't think it has to be an either or. think it's a yes and yes.  Yep. um I agree. I would do elderberry syrup, except that our two elderberry plant trees, sorry, not plants, they're trees.  Um, get.

25:28 eaten by the birds before we can get to the berries. Oh, so we have one here  and I didn't know what it was. It came with a property. I'm like, okay, because I wasn't into like homesteading. I didn't have that mentality when we bought our house. We literally came across it one morning and it was just like a good deal. Like, so we ended up moving in.  Plus we needed to be out of town because of the dogs. Yes. So it was like, okay. And it was the middle of winter. So it wasn't the ideal time.

25:59 But then this was  going on 10 years ago. um Then like we got chickens and like, like they say chickens, it's the gateway to everything homesteading wise. so  I started getting into essential oils, which is like the gateway to like a natural life. It's like the chickens of a natural living of sorts.  And so  all that while here, but I think like

26:28 We were like a year into the property and so like we had raspberry bushes out back that I trimmed at the wrong time and that's the end of that. um Come to find out we have an elderberry tree here on the side and I didn't know. So it got neglected for a minute  and  once I figured out what it was and I started learning about elderberry like the flowers, the berries and

26:55 how the leaves, everything is medicinal, I started babying it. Well, for the last few years, it's been like my pride and joy.  Last year, finally, it was at a place where  I could have harvested the berries. ah Except the birds.  They were like, nope, dead. I'm like, well, okay. So we go to the mountains here, we can forage them pretty locally. It's like a 45 minute drive, so I don't mind.

27:25 Worth it. Yes. Y'all,  absolutely. So I was like, okay, I guess I'll share with the birds this year.  So we just went up to the mountains and we forage. And so I've been very blessed in that sense that I still have them kind of close  and we're able to get them that way.  Yeah. Let's take a beat here on elderberry.  If you think you have an elderberry bush or tree growing on your property and you're not sure,

27:52 make sure you know somebody who can identify it for you. There's two kinds and I guess the one with thorns, you're not supposed to eat the berries. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, either way you have to cook the berries for at least 20 to 30 minutes. Yeah. Cause otherwise it'll send you to the bathroom. Yeah. But I think the one with thorns is actually poisonous. I think it can really make you sick sick. Yeah. I identify it properly. Yeah. And on foraging,

28:21 Definitely. Yeah, because  there's also another, I don't know the name of it, but it's very similar, but the berries are bigger. But they're the same shade of purple and everything, but they're bigger. I don't know the name of it, but it's also like one of those, okay, that's not elderberry. Like, no, don't do that one.  Yeah. If you want to get into foraging, find somebody who knows what they're doing and take all the notes you possibly can as they're walking through the forest with you.

28:50 Yes, and don't over harvest because I've seen also people they're just they take everything. I'm like, OK, like the tree has to be able to come back next year. Like, hello.  Let's share with nature since nature shares with us. Yes, and share with everybody.  Mm hmm. Right. Because other people would like some of those elderberries,  Oh, yeah. Like we've um we've been times where it's like you see that people have already harvested.

29:20 And it's like, come on.  Like you can tell they over-harvested. Yeah.  And  I'm going  to give them a little bit of grace.  Maybe they didn't know that they weren't supposed to.  Maybe they weren't greedy. Maybe they were just overzealous.  Maybe. Okay. But yes, try to consider the fact that we need to share. Yeah. Just like we were taught in kindergarten.

29:50 Exactly. All the things I need to know I learned in kindergarten, I swear. Yeah, for real. Be nice, share, be kind. All those good things that the world really needs right now. Oh, and that's the truth. Yes, it is. So I have one more thing about the elderberries. We are thinking about putting netting over the trees this year so the birds can't get to the berries.

30:18 The thing is, we did that with our strawberries a couple of years ago.  as the baby robins started showing up, we caught a couple of baby robins in the bird netting because they couldn't get loose. So  I'm thinking maybe we just say, screw it and let the birds get as many berries as they want. Because  I don't want baby robins dying in the  I know. think I would be like, it's fine. I'll share.  Yeah.

30:46 That's my thing here like much to my husband's dismay like I don't think I'm the typical like homesteader Because I say the goats they're just very expensive dogs. Yes um Our plan of breeding and selling babies that went out the window like I fell in love with our first baby Denver and he's very much still here. Uh-huh. Oh, I  Same with our chickens like we have raised meat birds

31:14 We raised a steer, we raised a pig, but everything that is raised for food is done so at my brother-in-law's property. Him and my sister-in-law. don't bond? Yes, literally. When we got the steer, my husband's like, no, like you're not allowed to name him. And I'm like, but why? And he's like, because otherwise he's going to die of old age. Uh-huh. Like, like he is going to feed our family when the time comes. And I'm like, so.

31:43 We would help, obviously, like they would live on their property, but we help with feed, like with chores. Like if they went out of town, like we were on duty. And so there were a few times where obviously like I went over and I was like, I like feeding him. And my husband's like, no, like, come on. No, no, no. Like, no,  you cannot fall in love with him. Same with the pig. Same with the meat birds. They were all at my brother-in-law's house.  And so he had  animals that I'll be able to love on.

32:13 That's really smart.  My husband's life is hard. He's like, well, like he's trying to figure out ways around this. Yeah, it's it's so hard. And I think all the time  we had our first litter of kittens two summers ago here.  And we knew that we were going to be finding them new barns to go be barn cats at.  And this family came and adopted two of them.

32:42 And I was so excited because it was the last two of the litter. There were like seven kittens. Oh, wow.  And I was thrilled. And the mom and dad showed up and like a three year old and a six year old got out of the car with them. And they, these little kids were so excited  and I couldn't be out there with them. I couldn't, I just would have cried. And I thought I had a handle on it. I really did. And I saw these little kids just light up like Christmas trees at these kittens.

33:12 And it was so good. Like my heart was so big and they pulled out of the driveway with those kittens and went home and I just cried. That would be me. Yup. That's why we just end up keeping them all.  And my husband, my husband came in and he said, is something actually wrong? And I said, no.  And he said, you're sobbing. And I said, they were so, those kids were so cute.  And

33:39 They took the last two babies away and he was like, oh, so it's, it's happy and sad. I said, yeah, the worst kind.  Yes. Yup. That's, yup. That's how we have nine cats. Mostly people just dump animals here.  every July, I swear for the last like three years, we've gotten a cat every July.  Um,  last year we ended up getting two and then already there's one showing up an orange cat and we have one that's orange.

34:09 And this one just looks just like him. And so one morning, my husband comes in and he's like, Hey, babe, I'm like, Yeah. He's like, there's an orange cat in the cat room. Okay, so we have an extra room that we have a little gate,  the dogs can go in it. Yeah, and eat their food. So we call it the cat room, but it's like just an extra room.  And, and I'm like, um our orange cat is in bed with us. And he's like, Yep.

34:36 That's my point. There's an orange cat in the room and it's not ours. This cat came in through the little pet door that we have in the window.  He came in, he was eating, he was on the bookshelf, obviously scared at that point because our cat had noticed him. He noticed my husband and I'm like, oh good God. So we're kind of working on him. He's come back a few times and I told my husband as soon as he lets me love on him, that's cat number 10.

35:01 And he's like, no, we already have nine. I'm like, you won't even notice. I'll just tell you it's tangerine. You won't even know the difference.  I swear people love homesteading because you have so much more. I don't know. Let's use the word freedom or autonomy. Yeah. To be able to do the things you'd like to do. Yeah. And regarding pet doors. Friend of mine, when we lived in the old house.

35:30 Again, my life is old house versus new house. We've been in the new house for over five years now.  Oh, right.  When we lived in the old house, I had a friend and they had a pet door and  one of their cats caught a pheasant and brought it in through the pet door alive.  Oh, no. They had a pheasant in their house.  That's happened to us with a pigeon. I'm like, open and they brought it in.

36:00 and they ran into the bathroom and I just heard like commotion in the bathtub. And so I opened the curtain and I see one of our cats with the bird and I'm like,  oh, like girl, like what are you doing? And then the bird just started flapping and it was alive and like this bird flying in, I'm like, oh my God. So I'm shutting off all the fans. I'm trying to keep the cats away from me. Cause then all the other cats were like,  game. Oh yeah. So, oh yeah. Yep.

36:29 The things that they bring in. Thankfully they have not brought in a snake. Well, no, that's a lie. They did bring in a snake once and I'm terrified of snakes, like petrified of snakes.  And  I was making coffee and I see like this little snake curled like in the corner. I started screaming. I called my husband and he couldn't understand what I was saying. And I'm like, there's a snake.

36:58 in our house. And he's like, okay, FaceTime me. Okay, so I FaceTime him and he's like, Oh, yeah, it is a snake. What did you think I was saying? Like, are you kidding me? Like he had to come home. Like he left work. He had to come home, get the snake out. And then go back to work. I could not I could I told him we're moving. We are moving. We are posting our house for sale. The house now belongs to the snake. Like nope.

37:29 I cannot deal with snakes. Well, luckily it got removed and you still got to keep your house. Yeah, otherwise we have been homeless. I cannot. I could see that. We don't have a pet door here because our dog is on lead all the time, so we have to hook her up. So having a pet door wouldn't help. But my biggest fear, like I've had nightmares about her not being on lead.

37:56 and having a pet door and she brings a live skunk into my house.  Oh, skunks. Oh my God. That's a whole other thing here because we had the tiniest skunks  actually kill a few of our chickens.  And so we had to dispatch them.  I am I love all animals except insects and reptiles. I cannot deal. But I love all animals. So I was like, oh, but at the same time, it's like my chickens or you, you're going.

38:24 So my husband would handle it, but anytime I would like smell it, I'm like, oh God, our chickens. And so I run out, I'm like checking, no, skunks, my husband's actually just last night, I smelled and I ran out. I was like, there's a skunk. And he's like, you have like skunk PTSD? I'm like, yes. Like it literally got rid of, I think it was  nine out of 11 chicks and a mom. It decapitated a hen.

38:53 Yeah, skunks and raccoons are the worst when it comes to chickens. We lost chickens last year to a mama raccoon and her four babies.  Oh no. See, I would be like,  ah, but also like, aw.  Yeah, it was really difficult because we didn't realize that she was a mama raccoon. My husband had actually tried to shoot her  and I stepped out on the porch at like five o'clock in the morning, the sun was just coming up  and

39:22 As I shut the door to the house, I heard little screech noises and we have a cement pad outside the door. And I looked and four little baby raccoons out there. I'm like, oh my God, here we go. Oh, how'd you handle it? She left. I don't know. My husband went out and fixed the chicken run so they couldn't get in it. So they couldn't get near the chickens. And once the food source was no longer there, the buffet had been shut down. They left.

39:52 Yeah, we had a raccoon once and my husband put a live trap and I swear it's like she saw the trap and just never came back. Mm-hmm. And I was like, okay with that. Yeah, if we don't have to dispatch wild animals on our property, we go out of our way not to. Same. It's because of me. Otherwise my husband would be like, he was raised very like country boy, like you do what you need to do, blah, blah, blah. But I'm like, but also how about we don't?

40:22 Yes, and we have coyotes around here and I'm telling you, a coyote is in the yard, it's going to get shot at because that's not safe. Oh, same here. And I'm terrified of coyotes. Like in my head, you know, like a werewolf in a movie. That's what I see in my head whenever I hear a coyote. It is like the dumbest thing I know, but I cannot help it. I'm terrified. But we've never, knock on wood, had issues with them and our chickens.

40:50 but we did lose a kitten two years ago.  she was half blind. I was getting her in. I brought her in and she got out again. And then I'm like, I hear the coyotes. I'm gonna go back and look for her. And I was out there and I could not find her. And it was mating season for coyotes. So it's when they're most aggressive. And so,  yeah, they took her. And so since then, I told my husband no. I,  that will be the one animal that I...

41:18 No, like he took our little Freya, like, uh-uh, that's it. You do what you need to do.  Yeah, and the thing that's so tough with coyotes is that they are a beautiful animal,  but they will catch and eat almost anything that is smaller than them or injured. Yeah, yeah, so, uh-uh. No, I'm just, terrified of them to begin with. I've never seen one in real life. Oh, I have. So I'm like,  uh...

41:46 So in my head, all I'm thinking is like this werewolf from a movie. So it it terrifies me and we hear them so loud. And my husband thinks, because behind our property, there's a field and there's like a little creek and everything. And there's like a section with a bunch of trees that he thinks there, there might be a coyote den. so he thinks that that's where they're coming from. I'm like, fantastic. Like I love that for us. Like why?

42:14 And he's like, so like, we're just going to have to stay diligent. I'm like,  you mean you, cause let's be real.  But yeah, no. Yup.  And again, homesteading is a great thing to do, but there are some real things that come with it, like predators,  like losing animals.

42:35 Oh yeah. having people steal money out of the farm stand. We haven't had that happen. really Oh God, knock on wood, us either. And everybody always  tells us like, you guys are very trusting because like we just, I don't know, it's the honor system. even like it's a self-serve stand. So like even if somebody just wants to take the eggs, my husband's like, listen, if somebody needs eggs  to feed their family that badly. They can have them.

43:02 And I'm like, okay, cool. But also like at least  leave us a note like, hey, I needed the eggs. Thank you. And it would be really sweet if people would do that. But I think that they feel ashamed. They shouldn't. But they probably do. um I have one last thing for you. I hope it will help if you haven't already done it.  Did you know that Venmo and PayPal, the online apps that people can pay through,  they usually have a QR code that you can actually print out and put up in the arm stand?

43:32 Yep, I have those. have that one. have Venmo, PayPal, Cash App.  And I also have the Apple thing to where I could run cards because we did farmers market two years. And so I had the credit card stuff, but I just cover that with the cash box.  Yeah. I get it as easy as possible for everybody. Yeah, I just didn't know if you knew and I wanted to let you know if you didn't know because it really helps because it does. Yeah.

44:01 Because sometimes people just don't have cash on them, but they see the sign and they're like, I'm going to stop in and see what they have. And if you happen to have the QR codes, they can pay right there with their phone. I was impressed with how much cash we've also gotten,  two dollar bills. I had never seen a two dollar bill.  Like our boys had some like they were collecting them when they were little, but

44:28 I got paid with $2 bills. This one lady came over and she did, I think it was $12 in $2 bills. And I was like, this is so cool. Like I'm keeping like all the $2 bills we get, I keep. And we've gotten quite a few. Like to me, that's so cool. I didn't know that was even a thing. Yeah. And they're not in print anymore. They don't make those anymore. My husband has a $2 bill folded up in his billfold from his grandpa. Oh, see, that's so cool. Like I had never seen one of my...

44:58 The first time I got one, I even posted it. I'm like, thank you. Like, this is like, I'm geeking out something fierce. And so I keep them all like they're all folded in my  little money thing. And I'm like, nope, these are just like a keepsake that I hopefully will pass on.  It's so funny. The little things that just make your heart sing. Oh my God. Yes. Like I color code my eggs. Like they're always like  very specifically set up in their egg.

45:26 containers, like even stuff like I feel so dumb because as I'm setting the eggs, I'm smiling like a fool. I'm like, oh my gosh, like it's yeah, definitely. It's the little things that bring joy  and everybody needs the little things to bring joy. swear to you, it's so good for the soul. Yeah. All right, Lydia, this was a joy. Where can people find you? Well, we are on Facebook, Instagram  and Tik Tok.

45:54 at an Enchanted Homestead.  Fantastic. I feel like this conversation was enchanted. Thank you for your time.  Thank you for having me.  As always, people can find me at a tinyhomesteadpodcast.com.  Lydia, I hope you have a great rest of your day. Same. You too. Thank you. All right. Bye.