They Grow 80% Their Food AND Earn $100k From a 1 Acre Backyard!

I mean, I could probably turn five grand just on sunflowers.And then even the dahlias alone, I mean, this will generate probably over 10 ,000.I think we did the math one year.I think in this bed, I produce over 600 pounds of cucumbers.I do not think you should buy more land.I believe you should start small and stay small.

If you want to grow more food for your family, You have to stop growing like a hobbyist.You need to grow like a market gardener.You don't have to grow it all.You don't have to raise it all.You can grow your own food and buy Costco jam and you can still be doing what you need to be doing.

You were eating three meals a day from a gas station.

Yes, like I lived on Reese's peanut butter cups and Red Bull, okay?

Last weekend, Jill made 100 loaves of sourdough bread in this oven with a wooden spoon as her stir stick.That almost paid my mortgage.Is it easy?

No, but it's not supposed to be.

We are here in Arkansas at Whispering Willow Farm with Jill, who has made a successful market garden and a profitable business in her less than one acre backyard.She's also the mom of four and teaching people like us how to frugally use the time, money and land that we actually have to our best benefit.So let's walk around and talk about how you've made this all work.Yeah, let's do it.

All right, welcome to my broken greenhouse.And while she's not as cute as she was a few months ago, this is where we actually grow about 80 % of our family's food year round.Awesome.So it's a 20 by 50 foot.And I mean, we crank out some food here, literally year round.The beds are never bare.

So what do we have going on here?

So we just direct seeded, this is one of the crops we do that to, our bush beans.And we have a few different varieties, but In the last several years before, we would grow this bed as a cash crop.So this is a three foot by 24 foot bed and we would just grow ginger in it.for another local farmer that makes elderberry syrup.And so they would come plant it, we would water and manage, which is just like hilling it up, and then they would harvest, and then they would pay me. about between $2 ,500 and $2 ,700 depending on.

So you're basically renting your greenhouse space.This is why we're here talking to her because this girl knows how to make a farm business work.

We have cucumbers.We do a ton of fermenting.So that's primarily what these are for.We'll take some to the farmer's market.Katrina cucumbers is the only variety I've grown for probably the last four years.And I mean, we will crank out 40 pounds, 40 plus pounds per plant, which is insane.

I think we did the math one year.I think in this bed, I produced over 600 pounds of cucumbers.I actually have never had any sort of pests on these at all.So I grow a lot of hybrids, which can be controversial.And so a lot of people think they're genetically modified.I think it's just a misconception that Maybe the modern world has told people to believe, maybe some fear around that.

They are super nutritionally dense, right?There's nothing different.They're certified.Like, I mean, I will always grow heirlooms.That's how I learned to garden, my papa taught me.You know, like there's a place for both, but when you're trying to feed your family year round, which we are, we're providing for other families.

I would, it would be silly for me not to grow hybrids.You know what I mean?Totally.And so, no, I mean, these produce so much.I could grow that next to an heirloom and it's going to produce 10, 20 times the amount.

All right.So as we're still by the cucumbers, though, I noticed that some of them down there are taller than these ones.Yeah.What's that about?

Yeah, succession planting is really the only way we can grow as much.So we do two primary successions in two sections and that's just to ensure that we don't have to go to the store and buy cucumbers.

Yeah.Do you direct sow your cucumber plants or do you take them from the greenhouse and put them in here?

Yes, we transplant almost everythingon our farm.That's mainly the only way we're able to maximize our spaces.We need one thing ready to go when the other one comes out.So that's how we like to do it.

What happened here?

A massive snowstorm and we had to take one of our knives and duct tape it to a broom handle while we all had the flu and we were just cutting plastic so we're just waiting to replace it pretty much.

I mean this is one of the things I love the most about you.It's real life and real frugality at its finest.Alright so let's quickly revisit this.So you said that you were using these to take pests from what?

Our brassicas.We found that they gravitate more towards the brussel sprouts than they do the cabbage or kohlrabi or anything like that.So we typically will grow brussels towards the back of the bed and they don't take all of them and they do a great job.Now that we've got the ginger and the beans out we'll just take these and feed them to the sheep.Worms and all.Oh, for sure.

Amazing.Yeah.And then the eggplants will be a trap crop for what's planted there for the summer.I never grow spring brassicas.It makes no sense here.The pest pressure is going to be too bad.

I need that real estate for something else.So yeah, growing that throughout the fall and the winter does really good here.And one thing I like to do is we'll mix up some Bt, spray the plant before it leaves the greenhouse, put it in, immediately put insect netting, replace that with row cover, and we're good to go.But that little bit right there, just get nine gauge wire, cut it to the length of your beds.That's the best insurance policy you can do for your farm.So easy to do.

The row covers?Oh, 100 % Nansac netting, because it alleviates most of these issues.It's harder to do that with the plants you grow in the spring, unless it's like greens, and especially into the summer, things that are vining and growing.But in the winter garden, Fall garden?That's your best bet.People ask me all the time, um, what's your best

advice for squash bugs?Yeah.And my best advice is don't grow squash.I love that.Squash is so affordable at the farmer's market.Even if you're buying organic at a grocery store, it is not worth it for the pests you're going to bring on your farm and for the maintenance, right?

Because if you're an organic grower, I'm the maintenance.Yeah.I'm not handpicking that.I'm not going to invite all of those pests to all my other crops that are actually feeding my family.Go buy squash.Love that.

That's my tip.

That's brilliant.What do we have going on over here?

This is actually our leftover second winter wave of beet and then we planted onions behind that and then we will interplant more carrots and then I direct seeded all of these.So we've got different radish varieties and then carrots at the front.We swap these two beds every year.And so we will plant a full 54 foot bed of root crops twice a year.And that's enough to last our family.Cold storage, fermenting, fresh, all the things.

That seems to be enough for us for those varieties.

Also, we mentioned that you have four kids.Four kids.So, you know, big eaters.

Got a lot of mouths to feed.

So when you were doing your first garden on that one acre, what was your cash crop per se?

Well, I started with vegetables and then we were a certified farm, so I was selling organic tomatoes for $2 .25 a pound, wholesale price back in the day.And then I started working with a naturally sourced grocery store.And she's like, hey, I'll pay you $2 .50 for a dahlia stem.One flower?One flower.So I was like, looks like we're growing flowers.

So then our cash crop became zinnias and sunflowers.And we then scaled into dahlias and all what you see behind me.

Yeah, so OK, let's walk and talk.Watch yourself.These are so little wobbly.But yeah, what do we have going here?

Yeah, so we have our first round of everything out.So we have our zinnias, our dahlias.We actually overwintered this year.We've got sunnies, our fillers, and then we'll just keep this in rotation.We'll have flowers out here through November.

And how much money is in this garden, would you say, throughout the growing season?

Oh gosh.I mean, I could probably turn five grand just on sunflowers.And we also rent it out.

Wait, that patch right there?So we'll do the back one and then eventually it'll take over.

So typically we would take like four of these grids and make them.So eventually once these run out, that's just what that will be.But I have photographers that just want to come and take photos, which I've been paid $800 an hour for someone to come take.Photographs, so there's a lot of different ways some of it.We're gonna sell you know what I mean We've always done wholesale, but we're doing direct -to -consumer this year and you pics which we can charge more And then we'll let photographers to come in which is really our high ticket And then even the dais alone, I mean this will generate probably over 10 ,000 plus.That's probably on the low end throughout the season.

I absolutely love that you just went from being a vegetable farmer to a flower farmer because you looked at the data.So many people make decisions in farming from an emotional standpoint.

You know, I think you have to stay so fluent in farming.If you have one set plan, you're like, I'm going to do this until the day I die.It's just comical right because it's like the economy is going to change first of all We live in a town.So the nearest town has four colleges.Well, that's why I can sell flowers Yeah, because do you think those college kids care anything about growing or buying locally grown produce?No, but they'll buy every sort of cute bouquet you can put that on for their apartment Yeah, so it's like I'm playing to the needs of my community.

So that's what I Try to consider.I would never just put up another high tunnel because I don't knowthe property.

Totally.

But if I have a market and I know I can sell it and I know I can turn profit on it, I'll consider it.

And this is why we need to listen to folks like her who are doing it the right way and thinking about it the right way.By the way, just quickly plug your book.

Oh, The Tiny But Mighty Farm.

Yes.

All about small -scale growing.I have a tiny farm planner that is really all the record -keeping, seasonal to -dos.And yeah, how do you maximize space?How do you grow efficiently?It's a whole lot of stuff.

Popping back to our farm to give a huge shout out to the sponsor of today's video, BetterHelp.Jill is managing a lot, and as someone else who also loves to manage a lot, the dark side or the other side that not enough people talk about when you are juggling a ton is mental health, especially for young working moms.I found BetterHelp six years ago at a time in my life that I was struggling with all the things that I was juggling and I needed to talk to someone about it.I'd done talk therapy before, but there are several features of BetterHelp that have kept me a loyal customer for the last six years, and that is that they take all of the guesswork out of finding a good office and finding a therapist that you mesh with.You can get online, line, fill out a quiz, and you get matched with a therapist pretty quickly.And then if you and that therapist don't mesh super well, you can very easily change therapists within the app.

They also have tons of free group therapy sessions you can attend in between your paid therapy sessions just for free as a result of using the service.Probably the best thing about BetterHelp though is that I can do therapy right here from the comfort of the farm and never actually have to go anywhere, something that I personally love a lot.Because if I'm going to go somewhere, I want to go visit other farmers or go speak at conferences, and the rest of the time I want to be right here where the good stuff's at.And for me personally, therapy is very seasonal.When there is something that comes up and I want to work through,like our fertility journey and the losses that we suffered, BetterHelp and the therapist I found through it has been a huge positive resource for me in my life.

So if you're struggling with something and you want to talk to someone about it, check out BetterHelp.You can go to betterhelp .com slash antiviral trades or use code ANTIVIRALTRADES at checkout and you'll get 10 % off of your first month of therapy.When I was looking at your flower garden, I was at first like, oh, that looks almost like it's raised beds.And then we got closer to it and I noticed all these bricks.

Tell us about what's with all of the bricks.So our property is on a V, right, which just collects a ton of water, which is obviously not very good for our plants.So we had to get creative in a affordable way to divert the water, which is essentially what we are still doing.We're still building this.We're making use of of the property that we have because land's expensive.I do not think you should buy more land, despite what a lot of farmers will tell you.

I believe you should start small and stay small, especially for a lot of reasons, right?We refuse to go into debt to do this.We could spend money and buy the perfect property that we could not afford and it would make absolutely no sense.Or we could take a property that we could afford that was less than ideal, if you will, and work with what we have.So this is us working with what we have.I encourage so many people start small and stay small because you can outscale yourself real quickly and then what happens?

And also from a sustainability aspect, if we're community driven in what we do, I remember we bought this property and you know, you think more land, I'm gonna go get all the things, right?And so I thought, I'm gonna freaking buy a dairy cow.And so we were currently buying our milk a mile down the road at a dairy and that was their full -time operation.And so I wrestle with, I really want a dairy cow.And then one day I'm journaling and I'm like, how dare I say I am a community driven, supportive farmerI would be willing to put a dairy cow on my property and raise it less than ideal and take business away from a farmer a mile down the road from me with the most ideal conditions.

So we don't have a dairy cow, nor would I ever get a dairy cow, right?And so it goes back to that practice of like, you don't have to grow it all.You don't have to raise it all.sometimes actually being sustainable is supporting the people that that is what they're doing and you do what you can do well within the means of which you can do it.But let me tell you something, we have a joke and no offense like to anyone who has this picturesque farm that's great but we have a joke in our family if you go to someone's farm and it's nice they don't actually farm.Oh a hundred percent.

And this is a great representation of that.Yes.

This is what a business looks like, friends.

This is our catch -all.All of these plants just made their way out, minus a couple.So we do start sunflowers every week here on the farm.So we have the plants that are actually still being grown over there.Also, let's just keep moving because it's quite toasty in here.Okay, so you've also given me another warning about this.

So we put this tunnel up, it's from Booster Trap Farmer, and we hired a consultant to come and tell us what do we need to do.

Yeah.

And he said do not grow in it the first year, manage your weeds.To which I thought, surely.So I grew in it very successfully the first year, but then the second year we were like, this is unmanageable.So we bought some chickens and we put the chickens in here to help with the wheat.We're actually going to turn this into our seasonal supper club.We will plant the outside rows and then the inside we will lay gravel.

And this is where we do all of our farm to table events, all of our workshops without the weather situation.Oh, it's not near as bad as I thought it was.Wow, this is great.I will tell you this looks so much better.My goal is for it to be operational come mid -October.We had counted like 13.

Here, did you want this chicken back in there?

Sorry.You might actually recognize this, dear reader, from Roots and Refuge.This is Jess's greenhouse thingy.Tell us more about this.

Yeah, so one, it looks a little different.If you are an OG follower of Jessica's.So we pretty much kept the bones.I mean, we kept the windows.We had to replace some, obviously, because we moved it onto the property.And then we rebuilt all of this.

This is where we have our bred CSA pickup each week on the farm.

Hold on.Is this another business venture?Yes.So you have a bred CSA.

I have a bred CSA.They can order every week, pick up on farm or pre -order their bread for the farmer's market because we always sell out.So we'll put up our open sign.They have certain time to come on the farm.We're actually, it's our work day on the farm, so they can come and see anything, talk to us, whatever.Just a great way for community to get out and see what we're doing.

This is really cool.She's sturdy.

Yeah, I love that.

So one of our friends ran an organic farm about an hour and a half here.And when we bought this property, because I knew there was going to be a lot of transition happen, I asked him if he would co -farm with us for two years.We would split all the food for both of our families.He could sell and I would cut the profit with him if he would teach me.And one of the things I realized in that process is, Wow.Okay.

I really want to teach backyard gardeners professional growing techniques because it's just way more efficient.

Yeah.

And not, you don't have to sell anything, right?It's just, if you want to grow more food for your family, you have to stop growing like a hobbyist.You need to grow like a market gardener.Yeah.store more food for your family, to be more efficient.Like there's a day for everything on our farm to where a few years ago I could have looked at this and be like, oh my gosh, how am I gonna manage that?

Well, I know Tuesday I'm harvesting flowers, Thursday I'm harvesting flowers, Wednesday I'm weeding, Friday I'm seeding and transplanting.Like when you have a day that is your task list, then I can weed and cultivate one day a week and then that, beats I mean it's an hour of my time versus waiting until it's overrun and then I've got a week's worth of weeding to do.

Totally.

You know so it's like for me that was one of the things he taught me.You have to one everything has to have a place which we're still learning how to do that one but then two you have to have a system for everything.If you don't have a system you don't have a way to automate it.

And those are the kinds of things that make it possible for you to be a mom of four.You're also baking bread and writing your book and like and all of that is organized and intentional.Oh 100 percent yeah.

a micromanager I will say everything's a time block and I have a certain amount of time and if I don't get it done it moves on to the next task and that's just how I've set myself up to be efficient.Yes.I honestly believe that's how we've been able to be a profitable farm.And I cannot recommend that enough.Like and I still have joy in it, too.Right.

I love it.It's efficient and I'm profitable.Then I'm joyful about it.Yes.But when I feel overwhelmed, that's when I start getting scattered.I start being frantic.

You start not making level headed decisions.And so me being rigid, if you will, with my time actually makes me more joyful and gives me more time freedom to spend out out out here, which is what this is.This is just a for joy garden oh i love it so like let's look around let's not try to have adam die on these um unburied pavers this is so beautiful so all of this was just bare um we moved the pavilion and the greenhouse from the existing gardenwe built everything else.And this is where we grow our perennial herbs, which we use for breads, cocktails, things like that.And then this is just, I don't know if you would say a fun garden.

It's all intentional, but this is just like for me.It's a beautiful space we can come into.We cook so many meals right over there underneath that cowboy fire pit.Love it.

Also though, you were telling me like those are Jess's famous rose bushes.

Yeah, so we transplanted as much as we could.All of these roses that she had planted, we've gone in and planted more.

And they're beautiful.And what's this in between them here?

So this is ninebark.That's a great shrub.Eventually it'll grow big.We use it for filler.We've got native flowers.

Filler in your...Flowers.So like when you're making a bouquet.

Yes.

This girl never wastes an inch of growing space if she can help it.Like, okay she's got a perennial and she's making these rose bushes look nice but then she's literally going to use a perennial that she can clip and put into a bouquet that she can sell.

And you'll notice there's still a lot of weeds here but then we have a lot of ground cover that we're hoping will help us eventually manage.We'll keep buying more of that and try to spread it throughout.

But also as you know someone who doesn't mind a weed or two here and there.I think this is everyone.It's like, oh my gosh, sorry about the three dishes in the sink when someone comes over.But like, they're like, I didn't see the three dishes.This is so beautiful.I would not be the one who's like, you know what, I can't buy your book about market gardening because I do in fact see a weed right there.

Yep.

Anytime someone did mention the three dishes, I'd probably be like, well, There's soap.The good Lord gave you two hands for a reason.

Oh, which actually that leads me to one other practical question about, you know, managing family, managing a family business, managing your farm.Uh, we share something in common, that our husbands are super dads.

Oh, 100%.Nathan helps out so much, but Nathan definitely is like managingyou know, doing dishes, doing laundry, picking up kids to and from places.And then of course he helps make all my dreams come to life, but it's a little different.And actually really, I was telling Anne earlier, I spoke at a homemaking conference and I was like, I'm not sure that you want me speaking.Cause like my homemaking role is a little different, but it's like, it is homemaking to me, right?

Because I'm providing for my family and as a homemaker, as a mom, right?that's what I feel like God's called me to do is to provide for my family.And so this is where I thrive.Nathan actually really enjoys doing that stuff and coming alongside of me and the things I need help with.And I think that's a great thing about working and farming with your spouse.It's like, gosh, we live the best life.

Like we get to grow our own food, grow beautiful flowers, raise our kids, and then teach and inspire, you know, a ton of other people to do that.I love that.Is it easy?No, but it's not supposed to be.

Yeah, I agree.

Yeah, I don't think it's supposed to be easy or there's no point in doing it, right?Like it has to be hard work.I think now you can make it as efficient as possible, but if it's easy, then what's the point in doing it in my opinion?

By the way, she decided right after having a baby to run an ultra marathon without training.And in case you're wondering where the context of what she was just saying comes from, that's that.Yeah.Actually, one of my things that I came on my notebook that I wanted to ask you about, because I saw this in your book, you said it's so important that you find and state your mission and that you revisit that.So can you just tell me, like, for you and your family, what's your mission?

Yeah, I think community is the top.It is above growing food.It's above providing for our family.I think without stewardship of people, you miss the point in doing it.So when Anne had texted me, she was like, I know it's short notice.I'm like, I have an open door policy because if we're not stewarding community, why are we building the farm?

Shoot.That's convicting and challenging in so many ways.You all moved from your backyard garden to some acreage.For sure.And the first thing most people do is like, okay, well, I've got land now, so I'm going to get animals.

And you, you did it.You have animals now.So let's talk a little bit about that.Thankfully, I'm not the animal person in the relationship.So for me, Very rarely am I swooned by an animal, right?I'm like, I just gotta have it.

The sheep are so efficient because they're truly the only grass -fed, grass -finished animals that we have.So we want to raise that, right?Because it's going to cost us the least amount, and we can butcher them at home.So we knew 100 % we have to have sheep on our farm.Those are the kinds of non -emotional business decisions I love to hear about.But you do have sheep.

We do, and they're so cute.So let's talk about the sheep.Yeah, so we're actually on my neighbor's property.They're so sweet.It's a conjoining.And so they have three acres.

And so they let us rotate our sheep out here.So we have our moms and their babies from this season.We have all of our babies every spring.And so we can rotate them on their three acres and we bake them bread.We give them meat.You know, it's a good exchange.

They love washing the sheep.It's so sweet.They actually helps like with the birthing process of these this year.And then we have another neighbor that we borrow their tractor and their equipment.They have like a weekend home.with like double of everything, you know what I mean?

And they're so sweet.And so it made no sense for us to lease or buy a tractor when we had one available to us.

Due to relationship instead of money.

100%.And like we bake them bread.We give them meat.We invite them to things.We, you know, come over, eat dinner with us.Like we have a working relationship with them.

And it's worked out great because it makes no sense for us.While a tractor would be nice, it's not necessary.

This is the thing that I think so many people are missing.this idea of self -sufficiency.Fear -based everything.It's 2026, we have nothing in common with our neighbors, so we're just gonna separate in every way.There's so much that's missed in that.Community is so important to me because I actually grew up in an intentional community.

But in that, everything started and stopped around the table.Because sharing a meal is everything.You started by saying you wanted to support your family and raise as much of your food as you could.Can we go in the house and actually look at what that looks like, how you feed your four kids?

Yeah, absolutely.

OK, let's do that.All right, so we're going to walk right in with your self -guided tour of your pantry, because there's so many things I like seeing right off the bat.Well, it's pretty open.Yeah, it's very open.Tell me about what are we looking at here?

Yes, so it's a blessing and a curse it being this open for kids.But up top, we have all of our bulk like beans and legumes.We get all of those from Azure Standard, which is kind of like a co -op that drops once a month.This is our beef liver that we Yeah, we ground down and freeze -dried it and we make our own capsules.So we have bulk stuff, bulk rice, bulk grains, and then a lot of our freeze -dried stuff.So we've got our kale, our celery, tomatoes, our freeze -dried eggs that we really only use for baking in the winter.

Hold, please.This is a freeze -dried egg.I mean, not just one.But yeah.What do you mean that you're using this for baking instead of a real egg?Yes.

So when our chickens quit laying instead of us having to buy eggs, it's when we just don't eat a lot of like fresh eggs.But anytime we're baking or making casserole or any sort of baked good, we'll just use our freeze dried eggs.So we try to freeze dry one to two dozen a week in the peak season to have enough for when they quit laying.

What a world.

Then we have all of ourfermenting supplies, canning supplies.We've got our freeze dryer stuff, our smoothie stuff, and then, you know, stuff that we also have to source out.So like we're sourcing out our black beans, our peanut butter.Listen, I recognize both of these things.

There's some things that it's like, if you look at the ingredients on the back, this is exactly what I would put in it if I did it myself.

Well, and the great thing is when I first started gardening, you know, I went to the farmer's market, and I made jam, and I did all this stuff, and it made sense.But now that we are at where we are, it doesn't make sense.And we don't grow our own strawberries.Hopefully if we do, we'll get back there.But yeah, I mean, my kids still eat PB &Js sometimes.Like, I'd rather them do that than us go down to a fast food restaurant, right?

Like, I'm making the bread.And I don't I think it's an important message.I don't want to sit here and lie.We make everything from scratch.I don't.And it's not the most efficient thing for me, too.

So it's like, hear this message loud and clear.You can grow your own food and buy Costco jam, and you can still be doing what you need to be doing.You can still be self -sufficient.You can still be a gardener, a homesteader, whatever you want to be labeled and considered as.I'm over a decade in, and I'm still buying jam.And that's OK.

Wait, before we meander past that, though, You told me something that actually really hit hard with me when we first sat down at your table earlier.We have very similar backgrounds.We grew up with not a lot and we figured out a way to find that stuff.But in that you were saying that prior to your life now you were eating three meals a day from a gas station.

Yes.How do you go from that to this.Yeah, I know.When I met my husband now, he was almost like, he was almost, he didn't think he could marry me.Like, I lived on Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Red Bull, okay?Yeah, while working three jobs.

While working three jobs.I lived on my own at 16, and you don't know what you don't know.

Yeah.

Right?Like, one, I nevergrew up in a culture like I didn't eat most of my vegetables until I was well into my 20s I was telling and like the Only vegetable I remember eating is like a little English pea and I'd have to douse it in my mashed potatoes just to even swallow it, right?And it was not a culture that I grew up in.It took years and years of trying.I mean, my husband made me try mushrooms, you guys, so many times and I was like, Lord, was this the right decision?

Now I eat mushrooms with almost every single meal we eat, right?You're 100 % right.We had made a point When we had Alexander, we're like, we're going to feed him everything because hopefully he won't end up like either one of us.

That's the thing.And I encourage my kids, and I want them to know food's not good and food's not bad.Food does one thing, right?It nourishes your body, or it depletes your body.So I give my kids a choice, but one I want you aware.If you choose to eat this, like we don't eat hot dogs in this family, okay?

Why is that?Because we're aware of the ingredients, and we know we just don't want that.But if my kids go to a birthday party, I don't tell them, no, that's bad, you can't have it.I say, well, you know what's in it, I'm gonna give you the choice.And I will tell you, 9 times out of 10, my kids make the right decision.Now that doesn't mean I'm going to stock my pantry full of crap.

But it also means I'm not going to deprive you either.If you want to choose to do that, you know the outcome and you get to make that choice.I want to provide them with good choices, but I'm also going to give them the option.We do have packaged foods, but they're not bad.Like Larabars.This is cashews and dates and sea salt.

That's a huge snack.Organic applesauce.Oranges.We can have any sort of fruit.Anything on this level is like all the time fruit.You can always make a smoothie, you can always have fruit.

These things you need to ask, we're gonna limit them.You know what I mean?So we just try to be mindful of that, and that's a lot of what we have.I mean, our smoothie bowls, smoothie bowls, oatmeal.We do have some convenient stuff, like if we're in a pinch or for lunch, you know, doing some rice cauliflower.And then, I mean, you see, we got some pretzels, we got some chips.

We do the best we can, but I'm also not trying to live such a restrictive life.Like, that's all my kids know.

But you've also got, you know, stuff you grew, your sweet potatoes.

Yeah, sweet potatoes from last year.Again, I mean, we try to eat as seasonally as possible.So once these sweet potatoes are up, we probably won't have sweet potatoes again until...

Until it's time to pick them again.

That's right.And same with squash.Like, we grow...Usually I grow over 200 pounds of winter squash every winter and then that lasts us until We've been going through a lot of winter squash, but and you just figured that out by trial and error 100 % Yeah, yeah, yeah, we froze some and then we have some fresh you can puree some if you're feeding your baby like there's a lot of different ways to Utilize certain things too.So like for our cauliflower like we usually ferment a ton of it freeze florets whole and then we also make our own cauliflower rice.We have one vegetable you can preserve three different ways, grow more of that vegetable if you have the space in the freezer space to do that.

Yeah.

And then the bottom is just like storage, you know, quart jars, crocks, um, all that other stuff.So love it.Do you mind if I do it?Do it.

This is a, this is always the test, right?Okay.So yeah, we've got like tons of your pork that you guys made.Right.And, Frozen beans, chicken nuggets.

We try to buy as clean as we can Yeah, we buy our chickens from a local farm and even our beef we have to buy from a local farm Yeah, just because we don't raise that so what we're raising what you typically see is pork We eat a lot of ground pork so like we would for ground beef.That's like primarily ground pork is what we use And then we'll have lamb in season, but we haven't butchered any of our lambs this year.We like tradingpork for salmon for a guy who went to Alaska, so we get much of our pork.So we trade and we barter a lot, which is how we came across all of our chicken.We traded.

All right, let's look in here.Oh, we see our favorite Costco jam.That's right.

Costco garlic.These are radishes.We have carrots.We actually ferment our broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, and onions.We have our pickles.

This is your sourdough starter, right?Which is one of your business things.

That's right.I've got regular.I've got chocolate.I've got two.that I use for when we bake each week, like our big batches.And listen, I love seeing this.

This is more than farmers taught us the same trick, putting your carrots in bags and then the fridge.So yeah, that's everything in there.And then our canned goods, like we're using that as best as we can.We've got our corn, our beans, tomatoes, and then these are all just like freeze dried peppers that we use.

We probably make curry like once every week and a half.

And then all of our tomatoes, the rest of these will be used for sauces for pizza night.Also, like, I don't want to like shame you in any regard, but this is actually like, this is very cool and I think important for people watching.

This is what cast iron that's being used look like.You know, it's not washed.

Like for me, maybe someone from like a different part would come down here and be like, girl, why did you not wash that?But like in the South, like that's how I grew up.If you come to my house and you want to do my dishes, please do not touch the cast iron.

And therein lies one of our biggest fights.Adam has taken over the dishes and the common fight we have is that he washed the dishes too well.

Or the whole thing.You see that red thing?That's just full of bacon grease.

Yes.

Oh, preach.100%.

Let's just talk about what you and I talk about probably the most in our friendship, which is..is frugality.Yes.And making things work.Last weekend for the farmer's market, Jill made 100 loaves of sourdough bread, which is about, what did you say, $1 ,000 worth of bread?

A little over $1 ,000, yeah.

In this oven.Yeah.With a wooden spoon as her stir stick, because she doesn't have a commercial dough mixer.

Yeah.So, tell us what it's like to bake a hundred loaves of bread.

in your home kitchen with a spoon.

I mean, it's a lot of work.I can bake six focaccias, six artisanal loaves, and eight French loaves at a time.So what that looks like is about...

Is insanity for anyone watching.

Two to three 18 -hour days.Now, I do cold proof my artisanal loaves and put them in the fridge to buy myself time.But my thing is that almost paid my mortgage.So I have two to three days worth of hard work to pay my mortgage for the entire month.Do I think I will always bake a hundred loaves every week out of my home kitchen?No.

But if I can do that for three days out of the month to almost pay my mortgage, I'm going to freaking bake a hundred loaves a week out of my home kitchen to get me to where I'm trying to go.

Which is where?Where are you trying to go?

I'm trying to get people on farm, right?I'm trying to, yeah, have a commercial space that I can bake out of, right?That I can do farm to table dinners out of.But the thing is, it's like, yeah, you can look at Anne and I and say, oh, it must be nice.I'm a decade into growing food, I'm six years into running a business, and I'm still hustling just like you are in a different way.Because this is still new to my business.

While I can grow food with my eyes closed and can provide for my community, that's just like something I can do in my sleep.A bread CSA, we've never done that before.Baking bread for the farmer's market, I've never done that before, right?So I don't expect it to be easy, but eventually if I can pay for my commercial space, and I know this isn't the plan,long term to have to bake 100 loaves out of my home oven, I'm going to take that couple hard days any day to get me there.I always tell people, what's your why?

Because if you're not rooted in why you're doing it, the first time an obstacle comes, you're out.Right?So like you need to and I will tell you right behind the dining room table I had a master poster board and it was certainly not cute but it was plaster there because I was in a season of life where like building this business was hard and I needed to know why I was doing that front and center.Every day I sat down for coffee I looked at it.What did it say?I'm doing this for stewardship of the land and community, and if ever that's not enough reason to do it for the next generation, why am I doing it?

But there was a season in my life where my why was so cloudy, or the obstacles were so hard, I should better say.that I put it to where every single time, three times a day I sat at that table, I had to see it.Because that's what I needed in that season of life.

Totally.

And then finally a season came where I'm like, I think I can take the poster board down.

Like I think I've been doing it long enough.

It's so ingrained in who I am that I know if it's hard, I'm not going to want to bail.I'm going to just persevere because I know I don't really care if I want to do it.My kids are relying on the work I'm going to put in for the generation and the future they're going to have.So it's like whether I want to get up at two o 'clock in the morning, whether I want to go farm.whether I want to set up at the farmer's market.I don't get the privilege to say no because my kids are dependent on me saying yes to pave a way to where they can have the option to say yes.

To have the childhood you didn't have.

That's right.No one gave me, no one gave me the option, right?I had to work three jobs at 16.No one gave me that option.Yeah.So it's like I'm just, I'm gonna do whatever I have to do to give them the option.

But I want them to know hard work really does play off.If you root yourself in faith and community and you steward your family well,because that's my thing, it's like, I can steward the whole world well, but if what I don't do in the four walls, like, that's what matters.Of your house, yeah.Absolutely.

Oh yeah.

And so there's a lot of convictions, that's like, we need to pray at night, like, we need to pray before meals, like, mom's working a lot, there needs to be grace, you need to know why I'm doing this.

And that's what I appreciate the most about you, is that you are real through and through.You even have transparent countertops and everything.

Dead plants, the whole thing.We can see everything that's going on in your life.

All right, Jill.So you and I have yet another thing in common.We both left home at 16.We both had some educational hiccups along the way.But now I'm here in your kitchen.I'm holding three books that you wrote.

Let's talk to 16 -year -old Jill.And what do you want to tell her?

Oh, that's a loaded question.I think the biggest thing, like, there was a lot of self -worth, right?And it's like, being a published author of three books, it's like, man, I was worth enough to be able to do that.You know what I mean?And so I think if I could look back, it would be the same thing I'd tell my kids when they were 16.It's like, you were worthy of whatever you set your mind to do.

And that can look like whatever you want it to look like.That can look like for me, stewarding, you know, a profitable acre in my backyard.That could look like stewarding 20 acres.That could look like living in an apartment and just being a really good spouse or working for a job that you find a lot of joy in.And so I think what I would say to anyone is like, whatever you're going to do, steward it wholeheartedly.Give your best self to it.

And I know for me, it has certainly paid off.And I'm so glad that I bet on myself.Despite what I thought, there was some part of me that still thought, what?maybe you're worthy enough to try.Had I not showed up and I not worked those three jobs, I promise you I would not be the person I am today in business, just in being a mother, being a spouse.And so in my life, in so many people's life, there've been so many moments.

You've all had that moment where you're like, is this worth it?And I just want to encourage you, whatever it is, You're worth it.I don't know what it is, but I know that you are worth pursuing whatever you feel like you've been called to.