June 25, 2024 • 30 mins
Ever tried to move a six-foot emu size fence without losing your sanity? Join me on this week's episode of Keeping it Real at the Gorham Homestead, where I recount the unexpected fencing project that momentarily sidelined our regular podcast schedule. Hear about the trials and triumphs of tackling this massive job with the help of a young assistant, and get a sneak peek into our plans for upcoming episodes, including a deep dive into our top 10 essential oils in an upcoming interview with Joy Hinterkopft, who will share the scientific benefits of herbs and essential oils. Plus, don't miss updates on our homestead garden struggles, where we're harvesting Roma tomatoes, green beans, and more, all while preparing to expand into a homestead market.
This episode isn't just about farm chores and business ventures; it's also a heartfelt reflection on personal milestones. I get candid about the bittersweet experience of watching my youngest child grow up and the mixed emotions of my son Chase being away at camp on his birthday. From the bustling plans to increase raw milk production to the community spirit behind our new market space, this episode captures the essence of homestead life. And stay tuned for some exciting changes to our podcast schedule, with episodes now airing on Thursdays. Whether you're a seasoned farmer or just curious about homestead living, there's something here for everyone.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:18):
Hey y'all, welcome to Keeping it Real the Gorham
Homestead podcast, where we talkabout real food, real natural
living, the real art of naturalhealing and real life out here
in ourham homestead podcast,where we talk about real food,
real natural living, the realart of natural healing and real
life out here in our tennesseehomestead.
I'm your host, don gorham, andtoday is tuesday, june the 25th
2024, and you are listening toepisode number 16.
Today's topic is just a quickupdate.
(00:39):
Um, I have been on a hiatus.
Last Tuesday I was not able toget a podcast recorded because I
had a young man show up here tohelp me with fencing and when I
have somebody to show up tohelp with fencing out of the
blue, I do not turn them down.
So we spent that whole daytaking up a fence up in the yard
or up in the pasture andgetting this really, really tall
(01:03):
fence Like it's well over sixfeet tall, it's like an emu
fencing.
So we took all that down.
We worked on it again today wedidn't get it all done last week
and took up the T-post anddetached it from the corner post
and all that kind of stuff.
So we were able to get thatdone and so I apologize for
missing out last week.
(01:25):
I still am going to do myessential oil one, but I'm going
to do that on Thursday and I'mgoing to go over the top 10
essential oils that we use very,very consistently and go over
what we use them for.
And then, hopefully on the nextpodcast, I'm going to do an
interview with Joy Hennerkoft.
She is Dr Hans Hennerkoft'swife and she helps him in his
(01:49):
practice, but she also has adegree in biology I believe
either biology or chemistry butshe's very, very knowledgeable
in all things science-y.
So she's really good to explainhow the herbs and the essential
oils work and how they benefitus in our bodies.
(02:09):
So I really look forward tothat interview with her.
Before we go any further, I justwant to say a big thank you to
my first two sponsors.
First one is a Bee's Closet inBon Aqua, tennessee.
If you are looking for anythingto do with your beekeeping
essentials, that is the place togo.
(02:30):
He, joe, is one of us.
He's very self-reliance,freedom oriented, just a good
human being, and he's very, veryknowledgeable about beekeeping.
So that is where I wouldrecommend that you go, um, if
you want, if you're in themarket for some beekeeping stuff
.
Second one is Regina LLC, yourmold specialist.
(02:52):
They are located out of Floridaand he can do.
Our friend, john scary uh, is uh.
This is a relatively newcompany but he has been doing
mold remediation not remediationbut mold testing for a very,
very long time I'd say probably25, 30 years, and before that
(03:14):
his father did the same thing.
So he's always been in thatsort of in that family.
He's very knowledgeable aboutmold.
He actually came here andtested our basement for mold
because T had been having someexhibiting some symptoms of a
really bad mold issue allergylike the whole rash and the
(03:37):
headache and coughing and justthe whole nine yards.
And so our doctor, drHennerkoff, sent him for mold
testing and sure enough, it cameback.
It lit up like a Christmas treethat he had significant mold
exposure.
So then we had to figure outwhere it was.
So, um, john came and testedhis office and tested our
(03:58):
basement.
And the basement the officeturned out Okay, it had.
It was a little bit high, butnot not bad.
But the basement man, I thinkit was supposed to be under
three parts per million to beokay and it was like 98 parts
per million or something.
It was off the charts and wehad aspergillus and blue
(04:20):
penicillin or something.
It was all kinds of crazy stuff, but it was very, very helpful
to know what we were dealingwith.
So if you need, if you suspectthat you may have mold issues in
your home, we highly recommendthat you call Regina LLC.
They are primarily based inFlorida, like I said, but I do
believe that he can travel allover the country and he's like I
(04:45):
said, he's very, very good atwhat he does and he is a friend
of the podcast.
He is a longtime friend of ourfamily and he's a veteran.
It's a veteran owned andoperated business and he's very
freedom and self-reliantoriented.
Just another good human being,and we like to have good human
(05:06):
beings as our sponsors.
So big shout out to Regina LLC.
If you need mold testing, reachout to them.
They're awesome, all right.
So with that, we're going todive right into what I've been
doing and I'm just going to getthis one's going to be very,
very short.
It's just kind of what.
What's been going on here?
Um, we have started moving allof the stuff from the lower
(05:30):
barnyard, so that's what's beenreally really keeping me busy.
Um, it's an area when you comeup our driveway it has a really
old, rickety barn that is aboutto be torn down, needs to be
torn down.
It's about to be torn down,needs to be torn down.
And so that's where we had keptour goat, our one lonely goat,
and we would do the turkeys inthere and we would do some
(05:52):
chickens in there and we would.
Just because it's fenced in andit's another one of those.
You know six feet tall goatfencing, I guess, is what it
technically, or horse fencing,it's horse fencing, it's horse
fencing.
So it worked really, reallygood to keep flying critters in
there.
That couldn't really fly thathigh and you know, anytime that
(06:13):
we needed to use it, we used it.
But it's about to go bye-byeand so we've been moving
everything.
Still have to move the dogkennel.
We have one of those bigtractor supply metal, really
well-made retriever brand, Ithink, dog kennel.
So we need to get that movedbecause the dogs are moving with
(06:34):
the poultry.
That is, their job here on thefarm is to protect the poultry,
so we need to get that moved.
And then there's a what we callthe junior high, so we need to
get that moved.
And then there's what we callthe junior high.
That is the smaller chickencoop that has enclosed runs on
either side of it.
It's almost like two wings toit and that works really good
(06:55):
for when the chickens, the babychicks, come out of the brooder.
But they're not ready.
They're too small to just kindof range free range out there
with the rest of the chickens.
So we keep them in the juniorhigh for a little bit until they
start getting big enough thatyou know we feel decent.
(07:16):
I mean we still.
I watched a hawk grab one rightout of the driveway the other
day and the hawks will do thateven when they're getting a
little bit bigger.
And of course, rip and Dolly,we had been keeping them up
because the fence is down sothey weren't there to be able to
protect from the hawk.
But hopefully, once everythingis moved over there, then we're
(07:37):
going to start digging the pondand that is, oh my goodness,
what a job this has been.
I didn't realize how much stuffwas down there and what an
undertaking this really is.
There is just so much stuff.
There's brico blocks and rocksaround a tree.
(07:59):
They're not rocks, they're morelike stones, like paver stones
maybe, around a tree that theprevious owner had put there.
And then there's t-posts thatwe have to take up, just random
t-posts driven in the ground,for I'm sure they had a purpose
at some point, but right nowthey look very out of place
because there's nothing attachedto them.
(08:20):
There's, of course, sort ofstuck in the ground, um, and the
but it's a pole barn, and whilethe wood, the wood on the
outside and the roof and allthat stuff is just like
crumbling.
The four posts, the electricpoles, light poles that are on
all four corners, those looklike they're in still really
(08:41):
good shape.
So I'm tempted to, um, whenthey bulldoze the barn, to try
to maybe cut those with achainsaw and salvage them.
And the door in there there'slike a door between one side and
the other.
I think at one point it was ahorse barn and so it's divided,
(09:04):
but the door between the dividesit is still in really good
shape.
So there's a few things out ofthere that I would like to
salvage.
There was some things thatcould be used for roosts, that
were just sort of laying aroundin there, like limbs that had
been trimmed down to perfectlystraight for chicken roosts and
(09:27):
things like that.
So hopefully I can salvage someof that.
Hopefully I can get the juniorhigh moved, get the dog kennel
moved.
That's on my agenda for thisweek.
When my son's friend, luke cametoday we were able to finish
taking down all of the fencingthat was up in the pasture,
(09:50):
taking down all of the fencingthat was up in the pasture.
And the previous owners had hadhemp up in the pasture and so
they.
I guess that's why they had thereally tall fencing, because
they didn't want theirinvestment eaten by deer.
So they put up the tallestfence that they could and it
served its purpose, I'm sure.
But I needed that pasture partback because I mean I'd say it's
probably a half acre up thereand so and it's covered in
(10:12):
thistle, I mean it is just it'sa nightmare.
So but now that the fencing'sdown and we got to go up there
and take up a bunch of cloth youknow the garden cloth, the
black garden cloth because it'sdown and I mean it's grown
through.
It's just it's ridiculous howbadly it's grown through.
But I know that bush hogs don'tlove garden cloth.
(10:37):
So hopefully we can get that upbefore time to bush hog.
And then I would like to reseedand put some clover and some
good stuff in there and get ridof.
You can even walk through there.
There's so much thistle Like itis.
It is like I am a thistlefarmer is what that looks like
up there and so, uh, glad to beat least making progress.
(11:00):
Um, I plan to use the six footor taller I believe it's taller,
I think it's almost eight feetfence.
I mean, it's like for a prison.
If I put some razor wire acrossthe top of it it might look
like a prison fencing.
But we're going to run thatalong the tree line the whole
perimeter where the chickens aregoing and hopefully that will
(11:23):
keep deer from coming up,because my garden is there and
hopefully that will keep deerfrom coming up because my garden
is there, the chickens arethere, so I'd like to keep deer
from jumping over and cominginto that area at all and I feel
like if I use the tallest fencealong the tree line, that might
give me a little bit of anadvantage.
And then the inside, we willuse the shorter four foot, five
(11:46):
foot, whatever it is fencinglike you would use for cattle
and we'll fence all that off onthe inside for the dogs and the
chickens and try to keep themout of the garden.
I'm going to repurpose thePremier chicken netting and I
had previously had cattlenetting.
And the cattle netting isaround the garden right now but
(12:18):
it's like big squares.
It's almost like a maybe evenfour inches gap between the
netting pieces and it doesn't doany.
I mean it stops dogs from goingin there, but it doesn't stop
chickens.
They go right through it.
So I'm going to double layerthat and once I have a permanent
fence up, I'm going to take thepoultry netting and wrap that
around the garden two or threetimes if I have to to try to
help keep the chickens out.
(12:41):
And I'm going to have a littlegate going into the garden and
I'm going to have a little gategoing into the chicken yard and
a little gate going down to theold pond.
That's really just a.
It's an overflow pond and it'sreally deep in a holler.
It's in the holler and it'shard.
I'd like to clear off that treeline now that I'm thinking
(13:01):
about it, clear off that treeline where I could see that pond
and use that for ducks andwhatnot.
But I've seen lots of snappingturtles in there, so I don't
think the ducks would like thesnapping turtles.
So I don't know if that willever come to fruition, but
that's sort of where we areright now.
The garden's finally coming in.
I harvested about 30 Romatomatoes, maybe a little more,
(13:23):
five green beans, maybe a littlemore five green beans, about
five or six green bell peppers,some banana peppers and about
five or six thin cayenne peppers, which I get really excited
about those because those are aabsolute requirement for my
(13:43):
Meemaw's Nashville hot pickles.
So as soon as I get all thatstuff together, the cucumbers
are starting to bloom.
So hopefully we will be makingcucumbers coming up very soon.
And so the other thing that'sgoing on here with us is I am
starting a farmer's market outof the cannery, here on the farm
(14:04):
, and I was going to do it inthe shed across the way and I
started looking at it and therereally wasn't the room that I
wanted, the space that I wanted,and then I'm going to have to
run electricity to that, I'mgoing to have to decorate it,
I'm going to have to modify.
There's tons of things I wouldhave to do to turn a shed into a
(14:24):
market.
So I started looking around inhere in the cannery and you know
we have events here and we havebaby showers and bridal showers
and meetings and I hostworkshops and all kinds of stuff
and I have tons of space, tonsof floor space, and so I started
looking around here and I'mlike you know, and the reason I
(14:46):
never wanted to do it before wasbecause I didn't really feel
comfortable with people comingand going in here to get their
stuff.
I kind of wanted them to get itfrom the porch.
But I don't feel like therefrigerator on the front porch
keeps the milk as cold as I wantit to.
For one thing, in the summerand in the winter sometimes the
(15:09):
milk freezes.
So I move that refrigerator inand I've set up little areas and
we're going to call it Gorham'sHomestead Market and I have
already let some of my neighborsknow, I've let it know on
Facebook and some of my Facebookpeople had some really cool
ideas about labeling thedifferent areas, like the, where
(15:32):
the milk and ice cream andbutter and buttermilk and yogurt
and all that stuff is.
That's going to be called theDairy Depot, and where I have my
herbs is going to just be theapothecary and where, um, I'm
going to have just a couple ofdifferent sections.
I'm trying to think right now,the barnyard boutique, that was
(15:54):
another section that somebodycame up with, or I came up with
it as a name, but they said youknow, use that for your sections
.
And I thought that was just thecoolest idea.
So even if, um, so, even if Imake just a little bit of extra
money by doing that, by havingpeople who are coming in to get
milk, just putting a few extrathings in front of them, whether
(16:15):
it's soap, detergent, herbs,butter, ice cream, merch, you
know, hats, t-shirts, whateverFreeze-dried stuff.
I have freeze-dried raw milk, Ihave freeze-dried eggs, I have
freeze-dried lemons, just, youknow, all kinds of little stuff
(16:37):
like that.
So I'll be offeringfreeze-dried farm stuff,
freeze-dried dog treats, andthat's just going to be for the
people who are, you know, whoare regular customers and that
sort of stuff.
So, hopefully, next year I'llhave eight cows that I'm milking
and as long as the governmentstays reasonably friendly to raw
(17:04):
milk here in Tennessee,reasonably friendly to raw milk
here in Tennessee, I willcontinue to milk.
And next year, hopefully, Iwill have 15 to 20 people coming
each day to pick up their milkwho in turn could also, you know
, pick up some of their thingsthat they might want for their
markets.
I'm going to can some stuff.
So if they want canned pastasauce or green beans or corn or
(17:30):
excuse me, or whatever herbsthat we have in season, if I
have some extra deal I'll throwthat out there and I'm hoping to
do some herb starts that maybeother people don't do, like some
natural herbal remedy.
Starts like chamomile andcomfrey and echinacea and
feverfew and you know all ofthat kind of stuff, just to
(17:52):
offer something different thanwhat you get from typical
nurseries, and I'm lookingforward to doing that.
I think that'll be a lot of fun.
I need to utilize the greenhousethat we have or the high tunnel
, so hopefully I can get thatfixed and I either want to put
strawberries in there and offer,you know, strawberry products,
(18:15):
make a strawberry ice cream,strawberry yogurt, throwing all
that stuff into my dairy Excuseme, I've got a tickle in my
throat or just, you know,selling freeze-dried
strawberries or strawberry jamor whatever.
It does not make sense for meto not grow strawberries because
it is my favorite food in theworld.
I love strawberry-flavoredanything.
(18:38):
It does not.
Strawberry cake, strawberry icecream, strawberry poop I don't
care Strawberry, I lovestrawberry.
I'm just kidding about the poop.
I wouldn't eat strawberry poop.
I don't care Strawberry, I lovestrawberry.
I'm just kidding about the poop.
I wouldn't eat strawberry poop,goodness, but anyway.
So that's kind of where we are,what things are going on.
Chase is away at camp so I don'thave anybody here to help me,
(19:01):
which he works most days anywaybut I do have his little buddy
that's come over and helped me acouple days.
I think he's been here threedays.
And today is Chase's birthday.
Our son, our youngest son, theyoungest of six.
It makes me really sad because,like he, you know, when the
baby starts getting older ithurts.
(19:21):
It hurts a little more thanwhen that older one.
When the older one startsgetting older, you're kind of
ready, but when that baby startsgetting older, oh my goodness,
it hurts your heart.
It really does.
And you know he's away at camp,so I'm not going to see him and
we're going to pick him up Julythe 7th or 8th and then we're
(19:47):
heading on to Colorado and ourfarm sitter, honey Bear, will be
here and she is going to takecare of all my milk customers.
So don't worry about that.
She is on top of it, she'samazing and if you need some
designer chickens.
She is your girl.
She has the coolest breeds.
(20:07):
They hatch them, they do allkinds of good stuff.
So if you look up Alex Slaytonon the Homesteaders Alliance
group, she is one to check outbecause, like I said, she's got
some of the coolest hard to findbreeds of chickens that are
just super interesting.
But anyway, she's amazing and Ilook forward to having her here
(20:31):
.
I trust her with my cows and Idon't say that about just about
anybody.
I mean she knows her stuff andI'm thankful that she's going to
be handling everything.
What else do we have going on?
(20:55):
Oh, workshop coming up thisSaturday.
If you've ever wanted to learnhow to can, this weekend is your
chance.
It is the beginners canningclass.
We will teach you how to safelyuse a pressure canner, when you
must use a pressure canner andwhen it's okay to water bath can
, the difference between the two, the science behind it, and so
you'll be comfortable in knowingwhy you're doing what you're
(21:17):
doing.
And we'll also have some handson we're going to can.
Hopefully I can get my hands onsome green beans, since mine are
not coming on yet.
See, I tried to plan this towhere my workshop would coincide
with the green beans beingready to harvest, but nature
just did not cooperate with methis year.
(21:37):
Green beans have blooms, but Igot, I think, six green beans
off my plants today.
So I'm on the hunt for somegreen beans this week and we'll
can those up at the workshop onSaturday.
You can sign up if you'reinterested at the Gorham
Homestead dot com.
We already have a threequarters full class, I believe.
(22:01):
So it you know, if you want todo it, you better get in before
before it fills up, and it'sjust a great day and the people
who have done this is our fourthseason of doing this and the
people who have done it beforehave left and remained friends.
That's one of the coolest thingsabout going to workshops and
(22:24):
going to events and things ofthat nature.
It's not only the knowledgethat you leave with, but it's
the relationships and thefriendships that you make when
you're in person doing thingslike that, and you learn so much
more from an in-person workshopthan you do, in my personal
(22:47):
opinion, from an online or froma book or from a podcast or from
.
I mean, they can give you ideasof what you want to learn.
Youtube videos can give youideas of what you want to learn
and some things I'm sure you canlearn, but it's just not the
same.
The experience is not the same.
The energy is not the same, theenergy back and forth between
(23:11):
people.
It is just such a coolexperience, and so if you're
interested, like I saidthegrownhomesteadcom sign up.
We have a blast and you willnot regret it and you will never
regret investing in yourselfand that is what you are doing.
When you are investingsomething that teaches you a new
(23:32):
skill that you can then go andeither teach other people or you
can use it to save money, useit to better your health, use it
to better the quality of yourfood, there is nothing more
important than investing inyourself.
That's just, that's how I feel,that's how I roll.
So get over there and do that.
(23:55):
Sunday is our Dixon HomesteadersAlliance group meeting, and our
topic this time is a roundtablediscussion on food freedom.
If you're in the area, anywherewithin driving distance, we'd
love to have you join.
Us love to have you come andparticipate in the discussion,
and we are up against somereally scary things coming down
(24:18):
from the federal level,particularly with raw milk, with
seed saving, with the abilityto grow your own food, the
ability to market with eachother and barter with each other
, to commerce with each otherAll of those things are in
jeopardy, and so we have tofigure out how we are going to
(24:40):
continue to have a strongcommunity and how we're going to
continue to be able to havecommerce between ourselves.
So that is something that, ifyou're interested in talking
about, come on, we would love tohave you.
Other thing is is Self RelianceFestival is coming up Up, up
(25:01):
bleh, coming up October 4th and5th.
Tickets are on sale now over atselfreliancefestivalcom.
We have family passes this yearand that is really exciting.
That has been something that'sbeen a drawback for people in
years past, because you know youbuy a $100 ticket or a $75
(25:22):
ticket.
Of course, the price haschanged over the course of it,
but you know, per person, thatcan really add up, especially if
you're a family, and a lot ofus homesteaders are big families
.
We have a bunch of kids, and sothe family pass really makes it
more affordable for families.
And also the ticket prices havedropped, and the reason for
(25:45):
that is we've had a couple ofbig sponsors come in, and so we
wanted to pass those savingsalong to the people who want to
come to the events, and so wewere able to drop the ticket
prices and, you know, hopefullyget more and more people there,
more people involved, and that'sanother thing that you will not
(26:07):
regret.
Going to self-reliance festivalis so much fun.
It's such great networking, itis a great place to be a vendor
um it, where you find otherlike-minded people and where you
build your network, where youbuild community and, as nicole
says, this is where you findyour tribe.
So that's another thing.
(26:29):
Check outselfreliancefestivalcom If
you're interested.
If you do not have the money,if you're struggling financially
or it's just not in your budget, reach out to me.
I always have need forvolunteers and you do have to
purchase your ticket up front,so you do have to come.
Your ticket up front so you dohave to come out of.
(26:50):
You know, whip that out ofpocket, but once you have
completed your volunteer time,then we reimburse you the cost
of your ticket and that's, youknow that's worth.
You know, a couple hours ofyour time to be able to be there
, you know, and see the speakersand check out the vendors and
get to know and just become partof this family, because this is
(27:11):
really, really important goingforward, being part of something
, being part of a network thatyou can count on, and you will
find that at Self-RelianceFestival.
I think that's pretty much all Ihave on my list for things
going on right now.
All the puppies are gone,except for one.
(27:33):
Garden is doing good, turkeysare moved, everything's doing
good.
Oh, if you haven't reservedyour Thanksgiving turkey, you
can do that on the website atthegormhomesteadcom.
The deposit is $25, and wecharge $4.50 a pound, and you
will not find a betterThanksgiving farm turkey
anywhere than the turkeys thatwe produce, and it's a not I
(27:56):
mean, like you can tell all yourfriends, this is a Gorham
Homestead farm turkey.
That's just cool, right?
Just something different,something to talk about, and not
everybody has a Gorm Homesteadfarm turkey, so you'll be unique
.
With that being said, thank youfor tuning in.
I hope that you've enjoyedtoday's podcast.
(28:16):
Like I said, it was just anupdate.
Thursday, I'm going to comeback and talk to you about my
essential oils and the thingsthat I love, and probably I'm
going to move my podcast toThursdays, and the reason for
that is it's really hard for meto be doing chores and then get
all hot and sweaty and gross andthen come back in and want to
(28:39):
sit in front of a microphone OnThursdays.
I have a Seraph AllianceFestival staff meeting every
Thursday at 1030 and I'm alreadyin front of the computer anyway
, so it makes sense for me tojust flow right on into
recording my podcast once thatmeeting is over.
So look for me on Thursdaysgoing forward, starting this
(29:01):
Thursday With that.
Whatever you're doing today andwhatever you've got on the
docket, just remember y'all tokeep it real.
See y'all guitar picker playing, all the local clubs and my
(29:28):
mama was a waitress where theyparked their 18 wheeler trucks.
We didn't have much money.
Times were kind of hard, livingin a trailer on the edge of
grandpa's farm.
I was far.
Yeah, I may not come from much,but I've got just enough.
(29:55):
As long as my baby's in my armsand the good Lord knows what's
in my heart, I refuse to beashamed.
It's just a Southern thing.
Hey y'all, welcome to Keeping it Real the Gorham
Homestead podcast, where we talkabout real food, real natural
living, the real art of naturalhealing and real life out here
in ourham homestead podcast,where we talk about real food,
real natural living, the realart of natural healing and real
life out here in our tennesseehomestead.
I'm your host, don gorham, andtoday is tuesday, june the 25th
2024, and you are listening toepisode number 16.
Today's topic is just a quickupdate.
(00:39):
Um, I have been on a hiatus.
Last Tuesday I was not able toget a podcast recorded because I
had a young man show up here tohelp me with fencing and when I
have somebody to show up tohelp with fencing out of the
blue, I do not turn them down.
So we spent that whole daytaking up a fence up in the yard
or up in the pasture andgetting this really, really tall
(01:03):
fence Like it's well over sixfeet tall, it's like an emu
fencing.
So we took all that down.
We worked on it again today wedidn't get it all done last week
and took up the T-post anddetached it from the corner post
and all that kind of stuff.
So we were able to get thatdone and so I apologize for
missing out last week.
(01:25):
I still am going to do myessential oil one, but I'm going
to do that on Thursday and I'mgoing to go over the top 10
essential oils that we use very,very consistently and go over
what we use them for.
And then, hopefully on the nextpodcast, I'm going to do an
interview with Joy Hennerkoft.
She is Dr Hans Hennerkoft'swife and she helps him in his
(01:49):
practice, but she also has adegree in biology I believe
either biology or chemistry butshe's very, very knowledgeable
in all things science-y.
So she's really good to explainhow the herbs and the essential
oils work and how they benefitus in our bodies.
(02:09):
So I really look forward tothat interview with her.
Before we go any further, I justwant to say a big thank you to
my first two sponsors.
First one is a Bee's Closet inBon Aqua, tennessee.
If you are looking for anythingto do with your beekeeping
essentials, that is the place togo.
(02:30):
He, joe, is one of us.
He's very self-reliance,freedom oriented, just a good
human being, and he's very, veryknowledgeable about beekeeping.
So that is where I wouldrecommend that you go, um, if
you want, if you're in themarket for some beekeeping stuff
.
Second one is Regina LLC, yourmold specialist.
(02:52):
They are located out of Floridaand he can do.
Our friend, john scary uh, is uh.
This is a relatively newcompany but he has been doing
mold remediation not remediationbut mold testing for a very,
very long time I'd say probably25, 30 years, and before that
(03:14):
his father did the same thing.
So he's always been in thatsort of in that family.
He's very knowledgeable aboutmold.
He actually came here andtested our basement for mold
because T had been having someexhibiting some symptoms of a
really bad mold issue allergylike the whole rash and the
(03:37):
headache and coughing and justthe whole nine yards.
And so our doctor, drHennerkoff, sent him for mold
testing and sure enough, it cameback.
It lit up like a Christmas treethat he had significant mold
exposure.
So then we had to figure outwhere it was.
So, um, john came and testedhis office and tested our
(03:58):
basement.
And the basement the officeturned out Okay, it had.
It was a little bit high, butnot not bad.
But the basement man, I thinkit was supposed to be under
three parts per million to beokay and it was like 98 parts
per million or something.
It was off the charts and wehad aspergillus and blue
(04:20):
penicillin or something.
It was all kinds of crazy stuff, but it was very, very helpful
to know what we were dealingwith.
So if you need, if you suspectthat you may have mold issues in
your home, we highly recommendthat you call Regina LLC.
They are primarily based inFlorida, like I said, but I do
believe that he can travel allover the country and he's like I
(04:45):
said, he's very, very good atwhat he does and he is a friend
of the podcast.
He is a longtime friend of ourfamily and he's a veteran.
It's a veteran owned andoperated business and he's very
freedom and self-reliantoriented.
Just another good human being,and we like to have good human
(05:06):
beings as our sponsors.
So big shout out to Regina LLC.
If you need mold testing, reachout to them.
They're awesome, all right.
So with that, we're going todive right into what I've been
doing and I'm just going to getthis one's going to be very,
very short.
It's just kind of what.
What's been going on here?
Um, we have started moving allof the stuff from the lower
(05:30):
barnyard, so that's what's beenreally really keeping me busy.
Um, it's an area when you comeup our driveway it has a really
old, rickety barn that is aboutto be torn down, needs to be
torn down.
It's about to be torn down,needs to be torn down.
And so that's where we had keptour goat, our one lonely goat,
and we would do the turkeys inthere and we would do some
(05:52):
chickens in there and we would.
Just because it's fenced in andit's another one of those.
You know six feet tall goatfencing, I guess, is what it
technically, or horse fencing,it's horse fencing, it's horse
fencing.
So it worked really, reallygood to keep flying critters in
there.
That couldn't really fly thathigh and you know, anytime that
(06:13):
we needed to use it, we used it.
But it's about to go bye-byeand so we've been moving
everything.
Still have to move the dogkennel.
We have one of those bigtractor supply metal, really
well-made retriever brand, Ithink, dog kennel.
So we need to get that movedbecause the dogs are moving with
(06:34):
the poultry.
That is, their job here on thefarm is to protect the poultry,
so we need to get that moved.
And then there's a what we callthe junior high, so we need to
get that moved.
And then there's what we callthe junior high.
That is the smaller chickencoop that has enclosed runs on
either side of it.
It's almost like two wings toit and that works really good
(06:55):
for when the chickens, the babychicks, come out of the brooder.
But they're not ready.
They're too small to just kindof range free range out there
with the rest of the chickens.
So we keep them in the juniorhigh for a little bit until they
start getting big enough thatyou know we feel decent.
(07:16):
I mean we still.
I watched a hawk grab one rightout of the driveway the other
day and the hawks will do thateven when they're getting a
little bit bigger.
And of course, rip and Dolly,we had been keeping them up
because the fence is down sothey weren't there to be able to
protect from the hawk.
But hopefully, once everythingis moved over there, then we're
(07:37):
going to start digging the pondand that is, oh my goodness,
what a job this has been.
I didn't realize how much stuffwas down there and what an
undertaking this really is.
There is just so much stuff.
There's brico blocks and rocksaround a tree.
(07:59):
They're not rocks, they're morelike stones, like paver stones
maybe, around a tree that theprevious owner had put there.
And then there's t-posts thatwe have to take up, just random
t-posts driven in the ground,for I'm sure they had a purpose
at some point, but right nowthey look very out of place
because there's nothing attachedto them.
(08:20):
There's, of course, sort ofstuck in the ground, um, and the
but it's a pole barn, and whilethe wood, the wood on the
outside and the roof and allthat stuff is just like
crumbling.
The four posts, the electricpoles, light poles that are on
all four corners, those looklike they're in still really
(08:41):
good shape.
So I'm tempted to, um, whenthey bulldoze the barn, to try
to maybe cut those with achainsaw and salvage them.
And the door in there there'slike a door between one side and
the other.
I think at one point it was ahorse barn and so it's divided,
(09:04):
but the door between the dividesit is still in really good
shape.
So there's a few things out ofthere that I would like to
salvage.
There was some things thatcould be used for roosts, that
were just sort of laying aroundin there, like limbs that had
been trimmed down to perfectlystraight for chicken roosts and
(09:27):
things like that.
So hopefully I can salvage someof that.
Hopefully I can get the juniorhigh moved, get the dog kennel
moved.
That's on my agenda for thisweek.
When my son's friend, luke cametoday we were able to finish
taking down all of the fencingthat was up in the pasture,
(09:50):
taking down all of the fencingthat was up in the pasture.
And the previous owners had hadhemp up in the pasture and so
they.
I guess that's why they had thereally tall fencing, because
they didn't want theirinvestment eaten by deer.
So they put up the tallestfence that they could and it
served its purpose, I'm sure.
But I needed that pasture partback because I mean I'd say it's
probably a half acre up thereand so and it's covered in
(10:12):
thistle, I mean it is just it'sa nightmare.
So but now that the fencing'sdown and we got to go up there
and take up a bunch of cloth youknow the garden cloth, the
black garden cloth because it'sdown and I mean it's grown
through.
It's just it's ridiculous howbadly it's grown through.
But I know that bush hogs don'tlove garden cloth.
(10:37):
So hopefully we can get that upbefore time to bush hog.
And then I would like to reseedand put some clover and some
good stuff in there and get ridof.
You can even walk through there.
There's so much thistle Like itis.
It is like I am a thistlefarmer is what that looks like
up there and so, uh, glad to beat least making progress.
(11:00):
Um, I plan to use the six footor taller I believe it's taller,
I think it's almost eight feetfence.
I mean, it's like for a prison.
If I put some razor wire acrossthe top of it it might look
like a prison fencing.
But we're going to run thatalong the tree line the whole
perimeter where the chickens aregoing and hopefully that will
(11:23):
keep deer from coming up,because my garden is there and
hopefully that will keep deerfrom coming up because my garden
is there, the chickens arethere, so I'd like to keep deer
from jumping over and cominginto that area at all and I feel
like if I use the tallest fencealong the tree line, that might
give me a little bit of anadvantage.
And then the inside, we willuse the shorter four foot, five
(11:46):
foot, whatever it is fencinglike you would use for cattle
and we'll fence all that off onthe inside for the dogs and the
chickens and try to keep themout of the garden.
I'm going to repurpose thePremier chicken netting and I
had previously had cattlenetting.
And the cattle netting isaround the garden right now but
(12:18):
it's like big squares.
It's almost like a maybe evenfour inches gap between the
netting pieces and it doesn't doany.
I mean it stops dogs from goingin there, but it doesn't stop
chickens.
They go right through it.
So I'm going to double layerthat and once I have a permanent
fence up, I'm going to take thepoultry netting and wrap that
around the garden two or threetimes if I have to to try to
help keep the chickens out.
(12:41):
And I'm going to have a littlegate going into the garden and
I'm going to have a little gategoing into the chicken yard and
a little gate going down to theold pond.
That's really just a.
It's an overflow pond and it'sreally deep in a holler.
It's in the holler and it'shard.
I'd like to clear off that treeline now that I'm thinking
(13:01):
about it, clear off that treeline where I could see that pond
and use that for ducks andwhatnot.
But I've seen lots of snappingturtles in there, so I don't
think the ducks would like thesnapping turtles.
So I don't know if that willever come to fruition, but
that's sort of where we areright now.
The garden's finally coming in.
I harvested about 30 Romatomatoes, maybe a little more,
(13:23):
five green beans, maybe a littlemore five green beans, about
five or six green bell peppers,some banana peppers and about
five or six thin cayenne peppers, which I get really excited
about those because those are aabsolute requirement for my
(13:43):
Meemaw's Nashville hot pickles.
So as soon as I get all thatstuff together, the cucumbers
are starting to bloom.
So hopefully we will be makingcucumbers coming up very soon.
And so the other thing that'sgoing on here with us is I am
starting a farmer's market outof the cannery, here on the farm
(14:04):
, and I was going to do it inthe shed across the way and I
started looking at it and therereally wasn't the room that I
wanted, the space that I wanted,and then I'm going to have to
run electricity to that, I'mgoing to have to decorate it,
I'm going to have to modify.
There's tons of things I wouldhave to do to turn a shed into a
(14:24):
market.
So I started looking around inhere in the cannery and you know
we have events here and we havebaby showers and bridal showers
and meetings and I hostworkshops and all kinds of stuff
and I have tons of space, tonsof floor space, and so I started
looking around here and I'mlike you know, and the reason I
(14:46):
never wanted to do it before wasbecause I didn't really feel
comfortable with people comingand going in here to get their
stuff.
I kind of wanted them to get itfrom the porch.
But I don't feel like therefrigerator on the front porch
keeps the milk as cold as I wantit to.
For one thing, in the summerand in the winter sometimes the
(15:09):
milk freezes.
So I move that refrigerator inand I've set up little areas and
we're going to call it Gorham'sHomestead Market and I have
already let some of my neighborsknow, I've let it know on
Facebook and some of my Facebookpeople had some really cool
ideas about labeling thedifferent areas, like the, where
(15:32):
the milk and ice cream andbutter and buttermilk and yogurt
and all that stuff is.
That's going to be called theDairy Depot, and where I have my
herbs is going to just be theapothecary and where, um, I'm
going to have just a couple ofdifferent sections.
I'm trying to think right now,the barnyard boutique, that was
(15:54):
another section that somebodycame up with, or I came up with
it as a name, but they said youknow, use that for your sections
.
And I thought that was just thecoolest idea.
So even if, um, so, even if Imake just a little bit of extra
money by doing that, by havingpeople who are coming in to get
milk, just putting a few extrathings in front of them, whether
(16:15):
it's soap, detergent, herbs,butter, ice cream, merch, you
know, hats, t-shirts, whateverFreeze-dried stuff.
I have freeze-dried raw milk, Ihave freeze-dried eggs, I have
freeze-dried lemons, just, youknow, all kinds of little stuff
(16:37):
like that.
So I'll be offeringfreeze-dried farm stuff,
freeze-dried dog treats, andthat's just going to be for the
people who are, you know, whoare regular customers and that
sort of stuff.
So, hopefully, next year I'llhave eight cows that I'm milking
and as long as the governmentstays reasonably friendly to raw
(17:04):
milk here in Tennessee,reasonably friendly to raw milk
here in Tennessee, I willcontinue to milk.
And next year, hopefully, Iwill have 15 to 20 people coming
each day to pick up their milkwho in turn could also, you know
, pick up some of their thingsthat they might want for their
markets.
I'm going to can some stuff.
So if they want canned pastasauce or green beans or corn or
(17:30):
excuse me, or whatever herbsthat we have in season, if I
have some extra deal I'll throwthat out there and I'm hoping to
do some herb starts that maybeother people don't do, like some
natural herbal remedy.
Starts like chamomile andcomfrey and echinacea and
feverfew and you know all ofthat kind of stuff, just to
(17:52):
offer something different thanwhat you get from typical
nurseries, and I'm lookingforward to doing that.
I think that'll be a lot of fun.
I need to utilize the greenhousethat we have or the high tunnel
, so hopefully I can get thatfixed and I either want to put
strawberries in there and offer,you know, strawberry products,
(18:15):
make a strawberry ice cream,strawberry yogurt, throwing all
that stuff into my dairy Excuseme, I've got a tickle in my
throat or just, you know,selling freeze-dried
strawberries or strawberry jamor whatever.
It does not make sense for meto not grow strawberries because
it is my favorite food in theworld.
I love strawberry-flavoredanything.
(18:38):
It does not.
Strawberry cake, strawberry icecream, strawberry poop I don't
care Strawberry, I lovestrawberry.
I'm just kidding about the poop.
I wouldn't eat strawberry poop.
I don't care Strawberry, I lovestrawberry.
I'm just kidding about the poop.
I wouldn't eat strawberry poop,goodness, but anyway.
So that's kind of where we are,what things are going on.
Chase is away at camp so I don'thave anybody here to help me,
(19:01):
which he works most days anywaybut I do have his little buddy
that's come over and helped me acouple days.
I think he's been here threedays.
And today is Chase's birthday.
Our son, our youngest son, theyoungest of six.
It makes me really sad because,like he, you know, when the
baby starts getting older ithurts.
(19:21):
It hurts a little more thanwhen that older one.
When the older one startsgetting older, you're kind of
ready, but when that baby startsgetting older, oh my goodness,
it hurts your heart.
It really does.
And you know he's away at camp,so I'm not going to see him and
we're going to pick him up Julythe 7th or 8th and then we're
(19:47):
heading on to Colorado and ourfarm sitter, honey Bear, will be
here and she is going to takecare of all my milk customers.
So don't worry about that.
She is on top of it, she'samazing and if you need some
designer chickens.
She is your girl.
She has the coolest breeds.
(20:07):
They hatch them, they do allkinds of good stuff.
So if you look up Alex Slaytonon the Homesteaders Alliance
group, she is one to check outbecause, like I said, she's got
some of the coolest hard to findbreeds of chickens that are
just super interesting.
But anyway, she's amazing and Ilook forward to having her here
(20:31):
.
I trust her with my cows and Idon't say that about just about
anybody.
I mean she knows her stuff andI'm thankful that she's going to
be handling everything.
What else do we have going on?
(20:55):
Oh, workshop coming up thisSaturday.
If you've ever wanted to learnhow to can, this weekend is your
chance.
It is the beginners canningclass.
We will teach you how to safelyuse a pressure canner, when you
must use a pressure canner andwhen it's okay to water bath can
, the difference between the two, the science behind it, and so
you'll be comfortable in knowingwhy you're doing what you're
(21:17):
doing.
And we'll also have some handson we're going to can.
Hopefully I can get my hands onsome green beans, since mine are
not coming on yet.
See, I tried to plan this towhere my workshop would coincide
with the green beans beingready to harvest, but nature
just did not cooperate with methis year.
(21:37):
Green beans have blooms, but Igot, I think, six green beans
off my plants today.
So I'm on the hunt for somegreen beans this week and we'll
can those up at the workshop onSaturday.
You can sign up if you'reinterested at the Gorham
Homestead dot com.
We already have a threequarters full class, I believe.
(22:01):
So it you know, if you want todo it, you better get in before
before it fills up, and it'sjust a great day and the people
who have done this is our fourthseason of doing this and the
people who have done it beforehave left and remained friends.
That's one of the coolest thingsabout going to workshops and
(22:24):
going to events and things ofthat nature.
It's not only the knowledgethat you leave with, but it's
the relationships and thefriendships that you make when
you're in person doing thingslike that, and you learn so much
more from an in-person workshopthan you do, in my personal
(22:47):
opinion, from an online or froma book or from a podcast or from
.
I mean, they can give you ideasof what you want to learn.
Youtube videos can give youideas of what you want to learn
and some things I'm sure you canlearn, but it's just not the
same.
The experience is not the same.
The energy is not the same, theenergy back and forth between
(23:11):
people.
It is just such a coolexperience, and so if you're
interested, like I saidthegrownhomesteadcom sign up.
We have a blast and you willnot regret it and you will never
regret investing in yourselfand that is what you are doing.
When you are investingsomething that teaches you a new
(23:32):
skill that you can then go andeither teach other people or you
can use it to save money, useit to better your health, use it
to better the quality of yourfood, there is nothing more
important than investing inyourself.
That's just, that's how I feel,that's how I roll.
So get over there and do that.
(23:55):
Sunday is our Dixon HomesteadersAlliance group meeting, and our
topic this time is a roundtablediscussion on food freedom.
If you're in the area, anywherewithin driving distance, we'd
love to have you join.
Us love to have you come andparticipate in the discussion,
and we are up against somereally scary things coming down
(24:18):
from the federal level,particularly with raw milk, with
seed saving, with the abilityto grow your own food, the
ability to market with eachother and barter with each other
, to commerce with each otherAll of those things are in
jeopardy, and so we have tofigure out how we are going to
(24:40):
continue to have a strongcommunity and how we're going to
continue to be able to havecommerce between ourselves.
So that is something that, ifyou're interested in talking
about, come on, we would love tohave you.
Other thing is is Self RelianceFestival is coming up Up, up
(25:01):
bleh, coming up October 4th and5th.
Tickets are on sale now over atselfreliancefestivalcom.
We have family passes this yearand that is really exciting.
That has been something that'sbeen a drawback for people in
years past, because you know youbuy a $100 ticket or a $75
(25:22):
ticket.
Of course, the price haschanged over the course of it,
but you know, per person, thatcan really add up, especially if
you're a family, and a lot ofus homesteaders are big families
.
We have a bunch of kids, and sothe family pass really makes it
more affordable for families.
And also the ticket prices havedropped, and the reason for
(25:45):
that is we've had a couple ofbig sponsors come in, and so we
wanted to pass those savingsalong to the people who want to
come to the events, and so wewere able to drop the ticket
prices and, you know, hopefullyget more and more people there,
more people involved, and that'sanother thing that you will not
(26:07):
regret.
Going to self-reliance festivalis so much fun.
It's such great networking, itis a great place to be a vendor
um it, where you find otherlike-minded people and where you
build your network, where youbuild community and, as nicole
says, this is where you findyour tribe.
So that's another thing.
(26:29):
Check outselfreliancefestivalcom If
you're interested.
If you do not have the money,if you're struggling financially
or it's just not in your budget, reach out to me.
I always have need forvolunteers and you do have to
purchase your ticket up front,so you do have to come.
Your ticket up front so you dohave to come out of.
(26:50):
You know, whip that out ofpocket, but once you have
completed your volunteer time,then we reimburse you the cost
of your ticket and that's, youknow that's worth.
You know, a couple hours ofyour time to be able to be there
, you know, and see the speakersand check out the vendors and
get to know and just become partof this family, because this is
(27:11):
really, really important goingforward, being part of something
, being part of a network thatyou can count on, and you will
find that at Self-RelianceFestival.
I think that's pretty much all Ihave on my list for things
going on right now.
All the puppies are gone,except for one.
(27:33):
Garden is doing good, turkeysare moved, everything's doing
good.
Oh, if you haven't reservedyour Thanksgiving turkey, you
can do that on the website atthegormhomesteadcom.
The deposit is $25, and wecharge $4.50 a pound, and you
will not find a betterThanksgiving farm turkey
anywhere than the turkeys thatwe produce, and it's a not I
(27:56):
mean, like you can tell all yourfriends, this is a Gorham
Homestead farm turkey.
That's just cool, right?
Just something different,something to talk about, and not
everybody has a Gorm Homesteadfarm turkey, so you'll be unique
.
With that being said, thank youfor tuning in.
I hope that you've enjoyedtoday's podcast.
(28:16):
Like I said, it was just anupdate.
Thursday, I'm going to comeback and talk to you about my
essential oils and the thingsthat I love, and probably I'm
going to move my podcast toThursdays, and the reason for
that is it's really hard for meto be doing chores and then get
all hot and sweaty and gross andthen come back in and want to
(28:39):
sit in front of a microphone OnThursdays.
I have a Seraph AllianceFestival staff meeting every
Thursday at 1030 and I'm alreadyin front of the computer anyway
, so it makes sense for me tojust flow right on into
recording my podcast once thatmeeting is over.
So look for me on Thursdaysgoing forward, starting this
(29:01):
Thursday With that.
Whatever you're doing today andwhatever you've got on the
docket, just remember y'all tokeep it real.
See y'all guitar picker playing, all the local clubs and my
(29:28):
mama was a waitress where theyparked their 18 wheeler trucks.
We didn't have much money.
Times were kind of hard, livingin a trailer on the edge of
grandpa's farm.
I was far.
Yeah, I may not come from much,but I've got just enough.
(29:55):
As long as my baby's in my armsand the good Lord knows what's
in my heart, I refuse to beashamed.
It's just a Southern thing.
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