O'Connor Family Acres - Surprise Piglets and a Soap Business Begins

Today I'm talking with Tracy at O'Connor Family Acres.  The Soap BeeZZ   www.patreon.com/atinyhomestead Muck Boots  Calendars.Com If you'd like to support me in growing this podcast, like, share, subscribe or leave a comment. Or just buy me a coffee  https://buymeacoffee.com/lewismaryes 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. Today I'm talking with Tracy at O'Connor Family Acres in Le Sueur, Minnesota. It's a hyper local episode. Welcome Tracy, how are you? Hi Mary, thanks for having me. I am doing well today. It seems like it's going to be a little warmer today here, so very excited. And we're supposed to get freezing rain later today too. 00:28 I mean, why wouldn't we? It's Minnesota. So  yeah, it's very gray, but that's why we're warmer. so yeah,  Tracy's been on the show before. It was a little over a year ago. And we talked about that you had just gotten pigs,  mangalitas, mangalitas. Yep.  And um that was the newest thing then. And Tracy has been selling her duck eggs in the summertime, all this past summer. 00:58 at our farm stand, at our place. So it's been kind of fun. Yeah, it's been a great collaboration. I really appreciated the opportunity and it's been nice because we,  springtime and summer, we are  overflowing with duck eggs and then they take the winter off  and  know, hunker down, I guess.  Yeah, about the time they stopped really laying, we had a couple of people stop in and ask if we had duck eggs and I was like, nope, they're on vacation until April. 01:27 It's very true.  they yeah we and you can put heat and light in the coop But we kind of let them follow their natural cycle. That's just you know, the way we've we decided to do it. So Yeah,  when they lay they lay very proficiently and when they don't they don't so You know, so what else is new on the farm in 2025 because I didn't talk to you on the podcast since December of 2024 01:57 Yeah, so we've really just been expanding the goats.  We've had some baby goats this past spring and so they've been doing really well. um Getting kind of a wrangle on what the ideal number of ducks are.  So we've been working on that. And then we had  baby piglets  unexpectedly this fall. I mean, kind of unexpectedly. We knew the boar was in there with her, but... 02:25 We didn't realize she was pregnant. that was a fun uh adventure.  And thankfully, our mama pig, Fiona, her name's Fiona,  has been doing  really well with the piglets. So  we have six  gorgeous little baby piglets running around. How old are they now?  Oh,  they would be about two and a half months. OK. Yeah. 02:53 They were right before Halloween. just, yeah, just over about almost two and a half months. And they are so adorable. Like so adorable. I saw the pictures on Facebook that you posted, but I couldn't tell from the pictures how big they were when they were born. Were they the size of your hand or were they bigger than that? Yeah, they were probably the size of two of my hands, I would say. But they were, I mean, they were teeny teeny. 03:23 um And then of course it was October in Minnesota, so we got to pick them up and bring them in the barn and mama did great with that. She was  not overly thrilled but was not aggressive, which was great. And then  we were able to, after a bit of time, coax her into the barn. um And we had the heat lamp set up in there and  they have a big enough paddock where they can 03:49 go to the other side or come back and be under the heat lamp if they want. And they are just, they're doing super great in there. So yeah, looking forward to figuring out what we're going to do with. So what'll be eight pigs now, two adults. We have the male boar and then the female. And then we have the six piglets and of the six, I think only one is male. So all the rest are female as well too. 04:19 Oh wow. Mm-hmm. Yeah.  Okay. Well, you might be in the market to sell a couple sows in the spring.  Exactly.  Exactly. I don't think they're called sows until they have babies. don't know  what version Yeah, I'd have look. It's... guilt? Are they guilt maybe? Yeah. Yeah,  I think that's right. I don't know. I'd have to Google it and I don't... 04:46 want to make the clicky clacky noises on the keyboard right now. So yeah, no, I feel you. Yes, exactly. And then I've been doing soap. Soap has been my new adventure this year. yeah, tell me the story on how that happened because I was like, oh, okay. Yeah, I kind of fell into it, which was awesome. So my neighbor has the soapies is the name of the business. 05:12 um And the soap bees has been around for 20 years, over 20 years. So my neighbor, Anne, who is amazing, um was looking to retire and not do soap anymore. um And  she asked if I would be interested in taking over the business. And so we made some soap together and I was like, oh my gosh, I love this. Absolutely, I would do it. So I have a full time jobby job, um you know, so it's really more of a 05:41 you know, a part-time  pay for my hobby kind of job.  You know, maybe make a little extra money, but not, you know, I'm not trying to do it full-time, full-time, but um so I do probably one,  one show a month or so  and um just, you know, direct sales then  and um 06:04 She mentored me for about seven months. made soap together.  I have her recipes, so it's all the same recipes that she's been  using for the last 20 years. um And the soap is amazing. Absolutely love it. And then  I ventured into,  also do, we do a shaving soap puck.  And then  I also ventured into dish soap this year. So I've been making that bar of 06:33 of dish soap. So that's new just in the last couple of months. um So yeah, I was really fortunate to have an amazing mentor  and um you know, she told me the do's and don'ts so I didn't have to learn those on my own through  trial and error, although I've made plenty of trial and error my own self once I was flying solo. So, but it's been good. It's been really good. Good. Have you had a batch Cs on you yet? 07:03 Absolutely. Yes.  Yeah.  It's  not fun at all.  And I just had my first batch  I  made.  So the soap or the shaving soap recipe is less because I put them in the round molds instead of the big square loaf molds. Yeah. And so it's less butters and oils  and  I put in the fragrance for a one tray of the square ones. 07:33 instead of the lesser. And so now I have this chalky,  crumbly soap and I'm like, oh great.  So that batch is  going to get tossed probably. But yeah. hate it when that happens. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I've had a few where, um, so the other thing too is the sense that she was using the company that she went through. I took over the business in January and 08:01 end of January, they went out of business. I was like 90 % of the  sense that she had been using were from that company. And I was like,  okay. So now I've  been kind of trial and erroring, erroring, trial and erroring soaps,  our fragrances. And so that's been a whole process as well too. But I feel like I have a good core group now of 08:27 sense and then I just kind of mix stuff in when I feel like something new. So that's been good. So what are your usual sense that you make? Yeah, the big sellers are, mean, oatmeal, milk and honey hands down is the like best seller and I put ground up oatmeal in there as well too. So it has a little bit of exfoliating action and also it's very soothing for the skin. So I have people who 08:56 have sensitive skin that order, I mean, like 15 bars at a time.  They just love it. And then um Angel Smiles is another big seller for us.  Sweet Rain has been an amazing one.  But I have a lot of the tried and trues. I have a cotton,  I have a eucalyptus, uh lemongrass is my personal all-time favorite.  I love the lemon smell. That's a good one. 09:26 Um, and then I tried a new one this fall called crackling birch. And that one has been a great seller. So that one smells really good too. Nice. Um, Kyle and I have had one batch of soap seized on us and it didn't all the way, but we just, we just went ahead and poured it because it was still pourable, but it was starting to get thick, thick. Yeah. One hadn't poured it and let it cure. 09:54 And it turned out that it was usable, but it was ugly as sin. And so we didn't share it with anybody. We just used it till it was gone, because it was fine. It was just, it just looked wrong. When we sliced it, had like little air bubbles in it. Yeah. Which you're I actually had a batch of eucalyptus that did that.  And the best advice I ever got was  just... 10:19 Basically just sell it. Don't worry about it because at the end of the day people understand that it's handmade and that You know, it's you're not a machine pumping it out. There's imperfections. It's gonna look a little different sometimes um and I was  Honestly, I mean there's times when I've been like, I'm gonna mix these colors and it doesn't work, know, or I'm gonna do I'm gonna make this. Oh, I did um 10:45 I did one for Valentine's Day last year  that was going to be, was the, the fragrance was sensual. So I'm like, oh, that's perfect. I'll do red. It'll be great. Right.  Um, it turned brown.  So I was like, wow, that's  not very sensual.  Um,  so I ended up calling it Woodland Bouquet and it was one of my best sellers. What did it smell like? 11:14 It smelled like woodland flowers basically when I first smelled it and that's the other thing too, which I'm sure you guys know from doing it.  Sometimes what you smell in the bottle when you get it is different  once it mixes with the oils and the lye and you know all the stuff. And so when I opened it, it smelled like, I mean, old lady perfume to me, honestly, like in a not good way.  And I was like, oh no. 11:43 But once it cured through the soap, oh, it smelled so good. It was just like, yep, like walking in and picking a bouquet of woodland flowers. That's what it smelled like. So that's why I called it woodland bouquet. And I figured,  you know, brown woodland. That's okay.  Yep. And honestly, not everybody is hung up on the names.  They want whatever they want. And if it smells good and it does the job, they're going to buy it anyway. uh It's so true. 12:12 Kyle made a batch of leather soap the other day, last weekend. eh That  leather scent that we get from Bramble Berry is  so strong when  you open the bottle em and it gives me a headache. So he told me he's going to make leather soap and I said, let me get some Tylenol on board before you start because it's going to make my head pound. And he was like, okay, I'm going to start in an hour. was like, okay, let me go grab two Tylenol right now. 12:41 Yeah. Did not end up with a headache, which was great. But the reason I'm even sharing about the leather soap is that I would never want a soap bar that smelled like this stuff when you opened the bottle. It's very, very strong and it's very chemically smelling. Yeah. But the bars of soap when they're done, they smell just like walking into a Wilson's leather shop. It's so good. Yeah. It's so nice. Yeah. It is so true that there are some where you open the bottle and you're like, 13:11 And there are some that are just not my cup of tea, but they sell well. So when I'm making them, I'm like, oh, I'm going to smell like this  all day.  But they sell really great. And someone had asked me that actually at the last show I was at. And they were like, are there any scents that you don't like? And I go, oh, absolutely. But I will not tell you which ones they are.  I'll never admit it. 13:40 Yeah, and I actually told you wrong. made the leather ones two weekends ago.  He made coffee soaps last weekend and that's always a happy day in my house because everything smells like coffee  all day long when he makes that. And then as it's curing, the whole upstairs smells like coffee.  Oh, and that's got to be your absolute favorite because you are a coffee fanatic. I love it. I do. I love the coffee soaps when they're curing because 14:05 It just permeates the whole house and it smells like there's brewing coffee even  though there isn't because I'm down to a,  we make a pot in the morning  and I only have about two cups a day now. Whereas I used to drink a pot and a half a day in my younger days. Yeah, I hear you. I feel like as,  as we get older, things affect us differently, especially caffeine and alcohol and you know, all the things, all the fun stuff, rude. 14:33 Well, I used to say all the time I would sleep when I'm dead and now sleep is my favorite thing ever. So that has changed too. It's so true. I feel like that's a whole nother podcast though. Yeah, the one about peri, menopause and menopause. exactly. The minute you hit 40, 45, everything changes. It's so true. It's so true. Okay. 15:00 So I just made back to sorry, back to soap. I just made a fresh batch of my first batch of coffee soap. So I'm going to have to bring it over and compare it with your, like do a smell comparison with yours. I'm not sure if I like it or not, but I got to wait for it to cure. So well, we can, we can trade. you like ours, we can give you a bar of ours. And if I like yours, we can take a bar of yours. Yeah, that'll be fun. That'll be so fun.  I love it. I love that you're doing so and 15:30 Kyle said to me the other day, said, you know, he said, I think I just want to make the business a hobby. Because we don't live in an area where it's going to really make money. And I said, that's true. And he said, so we should probably fold the LLC. And I was like, before you do that, said, I've got a podcast and I've got a second podcast starting here. 15:54 let's keep the LLC for a little bit because the podcasts might actually grow this year more than they have. And he was like, okay.  So, so we're basically gonna still sell at the farmer's market and still sell at the farm stand. But, his big dreams for being, you know,  rich off of our little business are  done.  Yeah, I don't, I feel like anybody that I talked to that does it, you know, on a smaller scale is. 16:24 You have to have two jobs or you have to have a breadwinner and someone doing it, you know, separately because there's just with the cost of everything, there's just no way to, you know, unless you're like really hustling and really, I mean, you have to, you have to really dive in. And to your point, I mean, there's so much in the market that you have to kind of, you know, really 16:53 I don't know, really hit a sweet spot  or, you know, travel a Yeah. Yeah. And it's hard. Yeah. There's got to be something unique because if you're just making the same thing everybody else is making, it doesn't matter. Yeah. Yep. Well, and I think like I've definitely been at shows where you can tell vendors when you can tell the vendors who are doing it for their sole income versus people who are not. mean, they're sometimes it feels there's like this 17:23 energy where it's really like intense. went with a friend. I met a friend  who started doing charcuterie boards with the em acrylic inlay. ah And I was like, oh, bless your heart because I can't imagine working with acrylic, but  she does beautiful work. so we were chatting, you know, shows and things like that because she knew I had done some shows and you 17:52 How do I figure out which shows I want to do and yada yada. And we were walking around this little vendor fair and we went to a soap booth and this lady had a laundry stick stain, which I love a good laundry stick stain. So I was like, oh, can you tell me what's in your laundry, you know, in your soap here, in your laundry soap, stain soap stick, I don't know, whatever. And she was like, no, I cannot tell you. And I'm like, 18:23 okay.  It was just so she's like, and then she went into the, 12 reasons why she won't tell me what's in there. But we were walking away and I told my friend, I was like, mean, good luck trying to find the right ratio of those ingredients to get the exact same thing. said, I literally have my ingredients on my label. I was like, you know, but good luck trying to figure out how to mix those seven butters and oils together to get the exact recipe I have, you know. 18:52 Um, so I just feel like sometimes people are really intense with it. Yeah. I have stopped asking people questions like that because, and if I do, I'm like, okay, I don't want the secret sauce thing. Just give me a basic idea of how you make the thing because people do get really testy and I'm like, I don't want to steal your idea. I just want to know what I'm going to be putting in my body or on my body. 19:20 Yes, exactly. Like knowing what's in there, like knowing it has coconut oil or shea butter or whatever is one thing. But if you're like, oh, I need to know, do you have seven ounces of this or do you have like, that's a fully different question. But just knowing what's in there. I what if you're, I had a, had a lady who came up and I have coconut oil and she's extremely allergic to, one of the ingredients, maybe it wasn't coconut, it was something. 19:51 And I was like, oh, yep, don't touch it. It's in there. oh It's important to know what you're  putting in there. then there's, people have  certain, um they want certain things in products or don't want certain things in products and that's your personal choice. if it doesn't align with what you want to utilize, then  you shouldn't have to. 20:20 Yeah, it's kind of crazy, but  I've really been enjoying it. The shows are fun. It's nice, especially since I work from home. It's nice to be able to get out and  see people and interact with people. um And for the most part, everybody's been extremely supportive, extremely friendly. um You know, some shows are great successes and some not so much. uh that's, you just kind of take the good with the bad. And you know, I always look at it as an opportunity to get out and try new things. 20:49 Yes, and you are a social butterfly, unlike me, who is basically a caterpillar still in the chrysalis. You're so sweet. I always say I'm an introvert that presents as an extrovert. I am great small group and great one-on-one. If you get me in a massive crowd of people, I'm like, ugh. I still force myself to do it, but I am... 21:17 I'm much better one-on-one in small group, which is perfect for affairs and stuff because it's small, you  you're talking to individual people. You're not having to, you know, speak in front of large groups or that's not definitely. I can do it. I don't love it. You know, I'm sitting in my sunroom right now looking at the birds outside, which is perfect. um I love your sunroom. Your sunroom is so cool. Thank you. 21:45 It is, it was a big selling point for their buying point for the house. guess it would be buying point. um Yeah, we were, I really love this room and it's my absolute favorite. Thank you, Mary.  Does it stay warm in the wintertime? It stays. Yeah, it does.  There's in floor heat, which is nice. um So it works out really well. um So the thank you to the people who developed this. 22:12 end of the house before we bought it.  It's beautiful though, so it's great. And I just refilled the bird feeders this morning, so, I knew we were going to be chatting and I'm like, oh, you can sit out here and relax a little bit while we, while we, while I get to talk to my friend Mary. Yeah, I'm going to fill in the listener here. I, my husband and I have been over to Tracy and her husband Paul's house once. I have been there once and the sunroom she's talking about. 22:40 It basically is uh windows on  one whole wall. And I can't remember if the other short wall is windows or not. Is it just one more? Yeah, it's got one like big sliding glass door basically. m Yep. uh behind their house is a ravine.  the glass wall looks out into the trees  that are at the top of the hill before the ravine.  And uh it's the most peaceful thing to sit there and 23:07 have a cup of coffee and chat and just be looking outside at the birds and the bird feeder. It is my absolute favorite. Thank you so much. Yeah. And I, um, you know, I have house plants in there too, so you kind of get the oxygen and the greenery going. So yeah. Yeah. We need to have you guys over again soon. we do. And today is not it because I'm not going anywhere in freezing rain. That is fair. But, uh, 23:37 Yeah, my favorite room in our house is my kitchen because  I've always had either an apartment with a kitchen, which is not fun.  And the house that Kyle and I had before had a galley style kitchen and it was very small and it wasn't a room that you could sit in and have a cup of coffee. And I love our little breakfast nook thing at the end of the kitchen because we didn't have that before. Yeah, absolutely. Well, and for the listeners, we've been to your house a couple of times and 24:05 There's an amazing island in the middle of the kitchen where we get to sit and have coffee and chat a bit while the boys are out talking garden stuff. And uh we've had dinner over to where we've sat in  the nook and had dinner, which was great. It's great conversation and it's warm and  welcoming and I love it.  Thank you. 24:29 And our little nook has windows that look outside into the trees too. So I think Tracy's going to have a running theme about wanting to look out into the trees and see the birds.  Exactly. Exactly.  All right. So  I wanted to share this too. Tracy gave us three beautiful kittens about what a month and a half ago, maybe less. That's about right. Yep.  Because we needed some more barn cats because we were down to two. 24:56 and two is not enough for humongous pole barn and a 3.1 acre  lot. uh the kittens have decided that they are brave. They have finally come out of the pole barn  and they were up on the steps this morning and they are gorgeous. And anyone who has a ranch or a farm knows that barn cats have their place and they need to be here to do their job. But I also fall in love with them just a little bit. 25:21 We were holding off on naming them because we were afraid that they would run away when we let them out of their carrier. They did not. They have stayed. And the long haired grayish,  blackish  one  is Smokey  and she's female. The one that looks just like her but is short haired  is named Shorty because she has short hair. And then there's a long haired orange one that we don't know the gender of yet.  And his name is Junior because he looks just like our other orange barn cat. 25:51 And thank you, Tracy, for sharing the kittens with us because they are so special. thank you for taking the kittens because we,  anyone who knows who has a farmer ranch knows they multiply very quickly. So,  um, yeah, no, it's been great. We, I'm glad that they're doing so well and I'm glad they're venturing up to see you, which is good. So they're, they're great. The cats are the, you know, just. 26:20 They're  to your point, they have a purpose, right? They're rodent control for sure. And they a really good job. A great job. Yeah. But they are also, you know, they're fun. They're fun to interact with and pet the kittens and, you know, watch the cats do funny things and  they're fun.  So I came out the other day, I went out to feed the goats and the pigs and I turn around and it's, you know, just like late. 26:48 dusk so it's almost night but there's just enough light you know yeah um and i turn around and there's cats in the tree like up in the tree over  where the roof is and i'm like what are you doing like there's four cats up there what is happening right now  um and they just you know they were just chilling they went up there after something i'm sure but oh crazy um 27:17 The kittens that you gave us, can't remember if was last weekend or the weekend before, whatever the last weekend was when it was actually sunny for an afternoon. We've only had a few of those lately. um All three of the kittens and the older orange cat were out in where the doors are to the pole barn, like where the track is.  They were just roughhousing and rolling each other and then they would be nice and groom each other and they go back to rolling each other. 27:44 And I sat there and watched them for 15 minutes because it was just so entertaining to see them playing. Exactly. It's so fun. I know I'll always get caught up, but sometimes when the baby goats are running around, I'll watch them play with each other, have a good time. I sat out there, I threw some hay out for the pigs because they like to kind of burrow and make a nest. so I threw a couple of hay. 28:11 pieces of hay over  and the pig was literally picking it up and throwing it and putting it everywhere, strewing it everywhere. And it was just really fun to watch him just love life. um And so that's always, you know, it's such joy. It brings such joy for sure, which is a lot of uh fun. Simple joy.  We humans think that we're the only ones that play. 28:38 but almost every animal will play when they're young.  Oh yeah. So apparently it's something we actually all need is to play.  Yes. Yeah. Well, it brings joy for sure. And then seeing other animals, peoples, humans,  know,  laughter  is definitely the best medicine. Someone said that.  I don't know who said it, but I'm glad they said it. Yes.  Agreed. 29:06 All right, Tracy, I tried to keep these to half an hour and we're almost there.  Where can people find you?  Yeah, so I have,  we have our farm pages, O'Connor Family Acres um on Facebook and I also have the Soap Bees, which is on Facebook as well. um So those are my two, my farm, you my homestead page and then my soap page.  So both of those are on Facebook and I... 29:36 You know,  do so I do ship my soap. um I actually have a customer in Massachusetts I ship to and a customer in Florida that I ship to. So, ah you know, just I post  a list of my sense every now and again, and people just message me through Facebook to order. So very nice. So these on Instagram. ah It is not, but I was actually just looking the other day about setting up an Instagram account. Do you have an Instagram? 30:03 I do. don't like Instagram because I still don't understand how the algorithm works. Yeah. Okay. I'm going have to, I'll do a little more research on that. Yes. And I have been asked by customers to set up a website for orders. So that's on my 2026 bucket list, but you know, there's an expense with that. So I also try to keep it as, you know, I try to keep my prices as low as possible. And some of that is, you know, 30:32 considering those things, but um so eventually I'll probably get a website together, but right now I'm all on Facebook.  Well, it's free and it works for now.  That is true. That is true. Thank you so much. It was really great to chat with you today. It really was. And I will talk to you after I stop recording about the website thing because I have a couple of things for you. Okay.  Oh, perfect. Love that. Thank you. All right. As always, you can find me at a tinyhomesteadpodcast.com. 31:01 And if you'd like to support the podcast, you can go to a tinyhomestead.com slash support.  And I have a new podcast,  the first long episode. I did a teaser on Friday, but the first long episodes is going to be dropped tomorrow morning.  And the new podcast is called Grit and Grace in the Heartland Women in Agriculture. Which was amazing.  The teaser. 31:24 Anyway,  I did listen to it. You guys did a really nice job. It's I think it'll be  it'll mirror this nicely, but with a different focus, which will be awesome. um And you do an amazing job. So I'm excited to hear more about the women in agriculture.  Well, 2026 is the International Women in Agriculture,  sorry, International Year of the Women Farmer. So. 31:51 Yeah, very cool. Yeah, I learned that on your podcast. So  women are starting to really step forward and we, Leah and I really wanted to die.  Cannot talk. Talk about it in more depth. There we go. Perfect. Another cup of coffee coming. That's what I hear.  Oh, for sure.  All right, Tracy, thanks for taking the time to chat with me. Yeah, thank you for taking the time. Have a great day. 32:21 You, too.  Bye.