What if one of the biggest homeschooling wins isn’t curriculum… but protecting your kids from modern pressures and modern “food”?
In this episode of The Homeschool How To Podcast, Cheryl sits down with Patrick & Ashley—homeschool-connected entrepreneurs and the team behind Jigsaw Health—to talk about:
- Patrick’s experience being homeschooled in 7th–9th grade (and why it mattered)
- The myth of “socialization” vs. what homeschool kids actually gain
- Why food choices have become a parenting issue (and a homeschooling advantage)
- Their documentary Breaking Big Food: How the American Food System Went Rotten and How It’s Being Revived
- Practical, realistic “one step at a time” swaps (without turning your life upside down)
- Why “pay the farmer now or pharma later” keeps showing up in this conversation
You’ll also hear how families are building local alternatives—farmers markets, seed-oil-free restaurants, community markets—and how you can start making changes without getting overwhelmed.
🎥 Watch the documentary: BreakingBigFood.com
Ashley & Patrick's supplement brand: JigsawHealth.com and their organic coffee shop: FireflyScottsdale.com
If you’re homeschooling (or considering it) and you care about kids’ health, behavior, focus, food dyes, ultra-processed foods, and raising well-adjusted humans, this episode will give you both encouragement and next steps.
Follow/subscribe for weekly interviews with homeschooling families and experts—and share this episode with a friend who’s trying to “do better” but doesn’t know where to start.
Learn more about Green Ember: Helmer in the Dragon Tomb—the new prequel book from S. D. Smith—and explore the companion video game now available on Steam: sdsmith.com/helmer
Perfect for parents seeking meaningful, courage-building stories for kids ages 8–12.
📘 The Homeschool How To Complete Starter Guide
Thinking about homeschooling but don’t know where to start? Cheryl created this comprehensive guide, compiling insights from interviews with over 120 homeschooling families across the country. From navigating state laws to balancing work and home life — this eBook covers it all. Stop feeling overwhelmed and start feeling confident on your homeschooling journey.
Instagram: TheHomeschoolHowToPodcast
Facebook: The Homeschool How To Podcast
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Welcome to this week's episode of the Homeschool
How-To.
I'm Cheryl and I invite you tojoin me on my quest to find out
why are people homeschooling?
How do you do it?
How does it differ from regionto region?
And should I homeschool mykids?
Stick with me as I interviewhomeschooling families across
the country to unfold theanswers to each of these
(00:26):
questions week by week.
Welcome.
And with us today, I haveAshley and Patrick on the
homeschool how-to.
Welcome, guys.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Thank you so much for having us.
We're thrilled to be here tochat with you today.
And I know we've been reallylooking forward to this.
So thanks for having us.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I'm excited too because so I love bringing
resources for the homeschoolcommunity, but resources that
also homeschool their kids.
So do you guys have that bothof those aspects here?
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Well, Patrick has a background of being homeschooled
as a kid.
Uh you can speak to that alittle bit.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
And I would say that we do homeschool our three dogs.
Not that they are children, butthey absolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
And he loves it.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
So you're ABC's monk.
Come on, you can do it thistime.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
That's so close.
So, Patrick, what ages were youhomeschooled from?
Speaker 4 (01:22):
I was homeschooled seventh, eighth, and ninth
grade, which as a teenage boy, Ifeel like kind of saved me from
some stuff.
My sisters, who I have threeyounger sisters, they were
homeschooled for five years.
So the book end years of mine,of me.
And my mom actually went tocollege to be a teacher.
(01:42):
All of us went to sort of, Iguess, some of the early school,
and this would have been let'ssee, mid-80s for me, late 80s,
sort of for my sisters, and thenI guess early 90s when I was
homeschooled.
So yeah, it was but somethinglike that I look back on very
fondly, and actually to thisday, some of my best friends
(02:05):
were who I met duringhomeschool.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Oh, that's so cool.
And so, what made your parentsdecide to homeschool you guys at
the ages that they did?
And we'll get into the comingout of the school system and
going back in, but what wastheir initial reason?
Speaker 4 (02:19):
We were raised pretty religiously.
We went to church, and I thinkthat they were just not a fan
of, I guess, what they sawhappening in the school system.
And as you can imagine,basically looking back 40 years
ago, it was probably pretty tamecompared to what things are
looking like nowadays.
If we did have children, Iabsolutely would want to
homeschool.
(02:39):
I have the benefit of havingpublic school, private school,
and homeschool background, aswell as community college and
state university.
So it's like I've toured itall.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
He's been in school for a long time.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Well, I did finish.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Van Wilder.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Like a couple weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
There, yeah, there's the movie with Van Wilder.
He just continues to go toschool.
But that's cool that you havethe perspective of it all.
What would you say were thebiggest differences from
everyone?
Everyone says, oh, thehomeschooled kids are weird,
they're not socialized.
And nowadays with the internet,that's like such a crazy even
thing to ponder.
But 40 years ago, you don't,you're like, you're not even 40,
(03:18):
are you?
Speaker 4 (03:19):
I'm 48.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Are you really?
Yeah.
Okay, you're gonna look a dayover 15.
But uh so what were the biggestdifferences back then?
Were you the weird kid that washomeschooled for a few years?
Were you secluded to yourbasement?
Speaker 4 (03:32):
I think there was a little bit of a stigma to it,
but I remember having aconversation with my dad driving
home from soccer practice.
My sisters, the three youngersisters, had already been
homeschooled for one year.
And my dad's saying, What doyou think about staying at home,
doing school next year?
And I remember like sixthgrade, there were some pretty
(03:53):
pressure-feeling moments.
And of course, everybody at age12, age 13, puberty is
happening at different rates foreverybody.
And I feel like there was alot, I remember feeling a lot of
pressure about like, okay,seventh grade, I'm gonna have to
like make out with a girl.
Like, I'm gonna have to likedo, I'm gonna have to grow up
and do these things, and I don'tthink I was ready for that.
(04:16):
So, so for me, I remember dadsaying that and me kind of just
being like, okay.
And then we were a part of agroup.
We were in Grapevine, Texas,which is just outside of the in
the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex,and we were part of Netcash,
which I think is like NortheastTerrent County Association of
(04:36):
Home Educators.
I think I might have nailed it.
Sounds like Christian homeeducators, and so we ran up like
a group of and we would do aco-op, we would do field trips
together, science museum.
I don't know.
In regular school, I did afield trip a year.
And with homeschool, we didlike a field trip a week.
(04:57):
It was awesome, it was so muchfun.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
I will speak to you as his wife, I am very grateful
that he was homeschooled becausehis mom taught him how to do
dishes really well and help outaround the house really well.
And also, he learned how toplay guitar while he was being
homeschooled because he had alittle extra time, and I was a
big fan of that when we met.
So it's cool.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
It's not necessarily that I had extra time, it's just
that I refused to learnalgebra.
So instead of algebra and alsosentence diagramming, that I
could not figure out.
And I still remember like mymom, especially with algebra,
she's it's so simple.
Whatever you do to one side,you have to do to the other
side.
I was like, I don't know whatyou mean.
I have no idea.
(05:38):
So we I guess agreed todisagree on what homework should
be done, and instead I learneda G C D chord.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah, but that's difficult to a lot of people,
too, right?
Where like algebra might comereally easy to them and learning
guitar doesn't.
And it does give you theopportunity, it does give you
free time because you don't haveto learn just those crazy
things that they want for testscores and all that.
So how are and and I totallyrelate to the seventh grade, and
they're making you like, okay,you guys go behind the lockers,
(06:10):
and everything's so awkward andlike it's not, it's just too
young.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
The social pressures are so much more, I think, than
they once were, especially withsocial media and everything.
And I will just jump in.
My I have two nieces who havebeen homeschooled pretty much
their whole lives.
One is 17, just finished highschool early, one is 15, and
they are two of the mostwell-adjusted young ladies that
(06:37):
I have seen at their age, barnone.
And it's a stark contrastbetween other kids that are just
like buried in their iPads allthe time and don't know how to
have a conversation with anadult or engage.
And that's something that theywere able to really work with
their parents on, spending somuch time with them.
And their parents were verydeliberate to teach them these
skills.
But I mean, it really is nightand day, and I think it's done
(07:01):
them some big favors.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah, yeah, I know.
Where my seven-year-old, I'mlike, oh my God, be quiet, be
quiet, be quiet.
Why just go get an iPad?
No, get it right.
I think that in my head.
I don't say it out loud, butyes, he like does not, and he's
so comfortable with adults, likea little too comfortable to
where when an adult says likethe thing, it's sarcastic, but
(07:24):
or like funny, but when he saysit, he sounds like a smart.
Oh yeah.
I'm like, you're not old enoughto say that yet.
You're not like one of them,but it is funny.
It's cute to see like howcomfortable he is talking to
adults where like my sister'skids all went to school and they
it's like silence when you walkin.
It's like, hi, can you tell howdid your day go?
(07:47):
And you're trying to pullanything out of them.
Now, okay, so how was it goingback to school?
What was your reason forwanting to go back into the
school system?
Speaker 4 (07:55):
So that would have been my sophomore year that I
went back to school.
I went to a Christian school inwhere was Shady Grove, Shady
Grove in Texas.
What was that?
It was like it's not Irvingexactly, but close enough to
Irving, Texas.
One was, I think, kind of forsports.
I wanted to be able to andwhich is kind of funny because
(08:16):
the net cash group, it's like wehad some kind of sports stuff
together where it was like wewould play our house, would play
a different house, though.
unknown (08:25):
Kidding me.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
I think that was it.
And I actually now that I thinkback on it, I don't really
recollect that much of aconversation.
Like I, as I already recounted,really remember the hey, we're
thinking of homeschooling youand me being like, okay.
But then all of a sudden I was,I think I might be figuring it
out.
It might be that they wanted tolike have me stop playing
guitar and learn algebra.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Oh, yeah, maybe.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Like, I I literally think because for sure, Ashley's
correct.
She's not just joking.
I would vacuum, I would dolaundry, I learned how to cook.
Like, I learned some actuallife skills in sixth, seventh,
eighth, or I guess seventh,eighth, and ninth grade.
I didn't learn algebra.
I had to learn algebra ingeometry.
So, in like sophomore, theteachers going over stuff.
(09:09):
I'm like, hey, A equals B timesC or whatever.
It's what do these things mean?
She's like, didn't you learnall this?
I was homeschooled.
I was homeschooled.
I was homeschooled.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
You were the one that gave us the bad rise.
I think it was me, guys.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
We finally found him.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Oh, that's see now, because everybody else says
nope, they went right back toschool and they didn't skip a
beat.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Well, I caught up.
I did fine.
I actually graduated highschool with honors.
It was just like, and then injunior, junior year, uh, so
sophomore, junior, senior year,I went to private Christian
school and I did catch up.
Algebra algebra two wasdefinitely harder for me because
I was geometry, algebra 2.
I was like, when did you guyslearn all this stuff?
(09:54):
They're like, when you werelearning how to play guitar,
which by the way, I ended upbeing a professional musician
for about nine years with her.
That's part of our storytogether.
So it turns out, look, let yourkids, yeah, let your kids learn
guitar, let them practice, letthem become musicians.
It might actually earn themsome good money.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
I was gonna ask you, like, when did you use the
algebra in life?
And when did you use theguitar?
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Well, probably algebra zero, guitar ten, yeah.
Kind of thing.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Funny.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Well, that's a all right.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
So there's a test.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Because before we were professional musicians, he
used it to pick up chicks.
So he considers that also quitebeneficial.
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
And it's funny, I have a friend who her husband
likes to play guitar, and that'slike what lured her in.
And now that they have threekids and he just walks around
strumming the guitar, she'slike, oh my god, will you put it
down and pick up the kid?
Speaker 1 (10:46):
He needs a diaper change.
The stir the pod.
It doesn't quite have theallure it once had.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
You gotta get your foot in the door somehow,
though.
unknown (10:56):
It's true.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
So, okay, so you guys are musicians, and then I know
you just worked on a movie.
Can you tell us a little bitabout all of it?
Like, just come at me.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Well, we just completed a documentary called
Breaking Big Food.
This is a big project we'vebeen working on over the last
year, something that's very nearand dear to our hearts.
We're very passionate about thesubject.
As owners of a nutritionalsupplement company, Jigsaw
Health, we have always beenpassionate about helping people
feel good.
In fact, our tagline is it'sfun to feel good.
(11:27):
But something that becameglaringly obvious is that
there's only so much supplementscan do for you.
And the fact is, supplementsare to do just that.
They're supposed to supplementa healthy diet.
And that brings us to thehealthy diet part, which most
people understand at this point,America has got a real issue.
So the name of the documentaryis Breaking Big Food.
(11:49):
And the subtitle is How theAmerican Food System Went Rotten
and How It's Being Revived.
We really wanted this to notjust be a piece of like
journalism or like a doom andgloom.
We wanted it to beinspirational.
So, yes, we have people likeCallie Means and Alex Clark just
going over chapter and versehow we got here as a country.
(12:12):
And then we have some localArizona purveyors from Arizona
Grass-Raised Beef to Amelia'sorganic seed oil-free restaurant
and Good Living Greens market,where they source from like
different farmers from aroundthe valley, where people can
just go to one little market andget farm fresh vegetables and
eggs and raw milk.
(12:32):
So we wanted to highlight thepeople that are doing it right
and let people know that theseoptions are exist so that people
can start voting with theirwallet to make a difference.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
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(13:06):
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(13:28):
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This is the kind of story ourkids need right now.
Learn more about Green Ember,Helmer, and the Dragon Tomb, the
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Or you can grab the link rightin the show notes.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
And educating them to as to why they need to make
different choices.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Yeah, and this topic is so huge.
And I talk about this a lot onmy podcast.
Like if there were ever justone reason that you needed to
homeschool, it would be that theyou could send your kid to
school with the most expensive,healthy, organic food that you
can find.
And they can throw that out andhave the free breakfast, the
(14:14):
free lunch.
It's free in most well, free,it's tax dollars, but it is it's
free to the children, and theycan get the pancakes with all
the syrup with the high fructosecorn syrup in it, the red dye
40s, the blue ones, every allthe artificial stuff.
And then when they are and thensit them in a desk all day so
(14:35):
that they can't move and gettheir energy out that they
naturally have, anyways, andthen we're medicating when I
know that's not just all of it,but that's a lot of it.
If we change the food, changethe exercise routine, we might
have a lot of people that wouldnot need medications as
children.
And I know when I was growingup, there weren't many kids that
were on drugs, and now it'sit's a very high percentage.
(14:58):
And yeah, so were you guys likebacking or any part of the Maha
movement going through?
What are your thoughts aboutthat?
Because I know Bobby has done alittle bit in the office and
there's critiques of this, andhe's not moving fast enough.
This is all he can do.
He's in a rock with what areyour thoughts on that?
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Well, I think kudos to RFK Jr.
for at least pushing in theright direction.
And I think it's actuallystarting to see a lot of good
benefits.
I would argue both sides.
We're not moving fast enough,but at least we're moving in a
very healthy direction.
This film, Breaking Big Food,started really in the summer of
(15:35):
2024.
We had seen Callie Means speakat a conference, and this is
Callie Means and Casey Means,Casey, who's been nominated to
be the Surgeon General, they hadjust published a book called
Good Energy.
We saw Callie speak at aconference, and it was like he
just laid it out so cleanlyabout how things started going
(15:55):
bad, really back in the 1980swhen Big Tobacco started buying
up a bunch of food processors.
So I don't remember exactly whoit is, but like Philip Morris
bought an hibisco or whatever.
And since the 1980s, over thelast four decades, you tell me,
have things gotten better orworse?
You know, it's pretty clearthat every marker of health has
(16:18):
gotten worse in the past fourdecades, and you are what you
eat.
In fact, it's more probablyaccurate to say you are what you
eat eats, right?
So all the glyphosate-ladencorn that's feed fed to cows on
a gigantic feedlot that ends upas ground beef at the
(16:38):
McDonald's, it's like, is thatactually good for us?
Speaker 3 (16:42):
No.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
So so for us, as Ashley mentioned, we wanted to
point out how the American foodsystem went rotten to educate to
Americans.
And then the second part, whichis really these vignettes woven
throughout, and I can sayvignettes because I was
homeschooled.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
How do you spell it though?
Speaker 4 (17:01):
V-I-N-I-G-E-T-T-E-S.
Well done.
Thank you very much.
I was actually pretty good atspelling, and my mom would be
proud of me for that.
I don't know if it's a verb ora noun, but I know how to spell
it.
So with these vignettes woventhroughout the story of breaking
big food, including thecreation of our coffee shop that
(17:25):
we made called Firefly OrganicCoffee and Market.
And what we did to sort of goto these places to find, as I
think Ash would say, these goodhealthy food purveyors in the
valley.
We we really wanted to show howit's being revived, because we
believe that the more Americansare voting with their wallet to
(17:46):
support local farmers, the morelocal farmers there will be.
The market, I feel, is thebest.
It's sort of the best systemthat we have.
It may be not perfect, but itis the best system that we have
because I would say, evenbreaking big food, the title
somewhat salacious.
Nowhere in the field, nowherein the film are we trying to say
(18:08):
that Kellogg's should go out ofbusiness or Nabisco should go
out of business or whatever.
If anything, we would like tosee changes happen.
And one thing that is happeningto tie it back to your question
about Maha is that some of theearly reports from mid, let's
call it summer 2025 were bigfood meeting with Robert F.
(18:30):
Kennedy Jr.
saying things like, hey, youshould outlaw food dyes, because
if Kellogg's can use it andNabisco can use it, if anyone
can use it, they have thiscompetitive pressure against
each other to, well, hey,Kellogg's is still using it.
So their food is brighter andit's cheaper, right?
And Nabisco's, well, we'drather use beet juice because
(18:50):
it's safer, but it's not asbright and it's more expensive.
So if from the top down we cansort of regulate, legislate some
of these things that are knowncarcinogens, big shout out to To
Die For, D Y E, to Die For, adocumentary that came out
earlier in 2025 about a family'sstruggles with food dyes with
(19:12):
their kids and how their kidsand many other kids like their
family got so much better atbetter in behavioral, in
cognition, after they cut outthe food dye.
And so, yeah, I think that weare like, I guess I mean I'm an
optimist.
I would like to believe thatwe're headed in the right
direction.
Lord knows we have so much todo in the next three years that
(19:33):
you feel like, well, why are allthese things still out there?
But I guess I'm just veryhopeful that at least we're
moving in a positive direction.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Yeah, and also to your point, real change needs to
start at the ground level,right here in our own
communities with us.
We have to choose differently.
We have to educate our kidsdifferently, let them know why
they need to make certainchoices so that they can do that
as they grow up into adultstoo, and not just education, I
think is the First step.
And then because you can'tcount on government to solve
(20:03):
your problems.
I mean, yes, great.
Please make some changes sothat it makes it overall better
and easier for people to makegood choices.
But realistically, it starts atthe community level.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Yeah.
And it's definitely hard whenyou have children because it's
like it's it's easier to controljust what I eat, right?
But then when you have thesepeople that you're sending off
into places, whether it'sgrandma's house, to a friend's
house, a birthday party,Halloween, things like that's
when it's all like way harder.
And you really have to beintentional with what you do.
(20:35):
For instance, the last twoyears for Halloween, we ended up
just having a bunch ofhomeschool families over to our
house and doing things like hayrides and glow in the dark tag,
I guess manhunt.
I don't know.
We called it tag.
We called it tag in the 80s,but I think it's manhunt now.
And you know, swear, and it'sfunny because I was going to
have like marshmallows and Ilooked and it it said like one
(20:58):
artificial thing, probablyvanilla, but it had no dyes.
And one of the moms was like,Can we skip the marshmallows?
And I'm like, Oh, we're alreadydoing so much better than all
of America, but sure.
And another mom was like, I'llmake them from scratch.
And so it's but it is hardbecause it's like your kids see
all this other stuff and theydon't understand yet that you're
(21:19):
not depriving them.
You're you're just trying tomake them feel better.
And my sister like thinks I'mabsolutely insane for we will
now buy meat from a local farmerand we'll order like the half
cow and the half pig a year, andI'll get 20 chickens at a time
and stick it in the freezer fromthe other poultry farm.
(21:41):
And so that seemed foreign tome.
If you were to say that to mefive years ago, I would be like,
I'm not going to 80 differentstores.
No, I don't want all those cutsof a cow.
I know how to make a stripsteak, and that's what I know
how to make, and that's what I'mgoing to spend my money on.
But I think once you just takea baby step and maybe meet that
guy that the butcher at the farmand you get a relationship with
(22:05):
him, and you're like, oh, Ireally want to support him.
He's getting my money.
I like that feeling.
And if there were anapocalypse, I know where I can
find him.
Exactly.
Right?
I can't get into Walmart'sdoors or whatever grocery store
is near you.
That's a really nice feeling.
And the same thing with thechickens.
It's well, I didn't know how tocut up a whole chicken before,
(22:26):
but now I just do it everySunday.
We just make the whole chickenand then we've got chicken for
the week.
And it's you get a routine.
So it seems so overwhelming.
What would be your advice tothe parents that were like me
back in COVID era prior, whojust not necessarily, I never
took my kids to a fast foodjoint, but you know, we just do
(22:47):
the grocery store thing, didn'tread labels, did the best we
could, but didn't know better.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Well, I would say, first of all, one of the
favorite, my favorite phrasesthat I've heard is pay the
farmer now or pharma later.
Um, it seems like a lot to evenfathom.
Oh my gosh, I'm not gonna spendover a thousand dollars buying
like a half of a beef, and thenI can buy like a chest cooler
and put all this meat in there,and it just felt so ridiculous
(23:13):
and extra, and I don't know, butyou're actually paying a lot
less money over the long term ifyou buy meat that way.
Number one, I know it can feeloverwhelming to have to spend
that much at one time, but ifyou look at your yearly
planning, I promise you'resaving money by doing that.
But also, I think if morefamilies could maybe find a
local farmer's market to go toonce a week and make that like a
(23:36):
family outing kind of thingwhere you're getting to meet
these vendors and hear abouttheir farm or just like kind of
have that experience and maybethey get a little treat while
they're there of some kind orjust making it like a fun
outing, uh I feel like is reallycool.
I know a few families that theydo that, and it's like the kids
look forward to it every singleSunday, and it's just it's a
(23:59):
great way, I think, to just kindof introduce kids to the idea
of supporting a local farmer orjust caring about healthy food
and where it comes from.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yeah, and I love that pay the farmer now or farmer
later.
When we look at does yourdocumentary get into the
detriment that takes on yourbody to consume all of these
dyes?
And there's an immediate, Iknow you can see kids that are
like, oh, I'm fiend.
I need that next hit of thehigh fructose corn syrup or
whatever it is, because it'saddictive, the sugar.
(24:29):
What are the short-termailments that we might see and
the long term?
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Yeah, the documentary I would say it goes into that a
little bit, but it assumes alittle bit of prior knowledge
about our ultra-processed foodsnot being very healthy.
It it's it's unfortunate howconvenient they are.
And I would say that is reallya big part of the message of the
documentary is that we'rehopeful that markets like Good
(24:55):
Living Greens, restaurants likeAmelia's, coffee shops like
Firefly Organic Coffee andMarket will start to pop up all
over the country to make itactually more convenient for
parents who are trying toprotect their kids.
I mean, that's really what itall comes down to.
You're trying to protect yourkids.
I think that the more, again,it's kind of a supply and demand
(25:16):
thing, it is more expensive tofeed your family good food.
But as Ashley said, as thesaying goes, you can pay the
farmer now or pay pharma later.
One of the uh vignettes in thedocumentary is of AJ and Brooke,
who are the co-creators ofFromTheFarm.org.
(25:40):
And they're buildingessentially a kind of a
community, an Airbnb ofconveniently being able to buy
vegetables, meats onlinedirectly from farmers, which
could be in your area or couldbe further away.
But it's a great resource.
So I feel like up until the80s, and maybe even maybe it was
(26:01):
a little bit before that, butyou know, we didn't have organic
food because it was just food,right?
But thanks to big food, gettingreally big tobacco taking over
big food, and getting probably alittle bit too greedy or loose
with the facts, whatever youwant to say, food went rotten in
(26:21):
America.
There's all there this is a bitof an aside, but we've probably
all heard or anecdotallyexperienced going to a European
country like Italy, where youare able to eat the pizza and
drink the wine and you neverhave a hangover and you lose
weight, and you're like, well,maybe it's just because I was
walking around all the time.
Or maybe because the winedidn't have sulfites and the
(26:42):
wheat didn't have glyphosate andthe pesticide.
Maybe it's a little bit ofboth.
I don't know.
But I think like in America,we've kind of lost our passion
for food.
And I think that maybe one ofthe answers is for us to fall
back in love with food again.
I mean, there's not really muchbetter than a good full belly
after a great meal.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Amen to that.
And I will add to in thedocumentary, we have a number of
personal transformation storiesfrom Leah Hope, who lost over
200 pounds just by changing herdiet, getting rid of the
processed food, the fast food,and starting to make simple
foods at home to Landon Flowers,who was almost on death's door
(27:26):
and didn't know, but food washis answer.
So there are some very touchingstories in the documentary that
I feel like, especially ifyou're gonna watch it with your
kids, they are enjoying thisfilm.
They're able to like enjoy thestories in it, but also it's
making an impact.
It's making them go, well, Idon't want to end up where they
ended up.
So maybe I should think aboutwhat I'm eating here.
(27:47):
So we tried to make it reallyentertaining that way so that
families could watch ittogether.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Yeah.
Oh, awesome.
I'm definitely gonna watch itwith my three-year-old, will
probably annoy me the wholetime, but my seven-year-old, I
am a three-year-old.
I'm gonna put cocoa melon onfor her in the other room, but
I'm gonna watch this with myseven-year-old because he is.
I mean, he we were at myin-laws today and he goes, Oh,
look, you have air organic syruptoo.
Because he's used to themhaving Aunt Jemima or whatever.
(28:12):
And honey, it's just maplesyrup.
I mean, that's that yes, it isit's organic, I guess, but it's
maple syrup.
But yeah, because he saw usswitch over the years and now
he's kind of pointing it out tothem, and he'll always be like,
Well, is there red dye 40 inthat?
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
But, you know, I was gonna mention too.
I was earlier this year, I wasat a conference with Del
Bigtree, and um Max Kane was theone who put the conference on.
I'm not sure if you're familiarwith him, but he has a company
called Farm Match, which soundsexactly like what you were just
mentioning, where you can go onand you can order the
vegetables, the meat from localfarmers in your area.
(28:54):
They might have to ship it toyou still, maybe it's a few
hours away, but you can find thelocal farms to you.
So it's matching farms with theconsumers, and it's the same
idea.
It's brilliant.
And yeah, it was an awesomeconference.
I got to talk to Dell at it.
He's been on my podcast, butalso there were there was a
member of the Kellogg's familythere, and she was against the
(29:15):
her brand.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
I think she was maybe the one that was on Food Babe
on on her podcast as well.
She basically kind of blew thewhistle on her own family's
operation.
Is that right?
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Yes, she did.
And is my memory serving mecorrectly?
Was it is it Casey Means thatwas actually pretty sick before
she changed her diet?
Or was that?
Speaker 4 (29:34):
No, it was the Callie and Casey Means were really
their transformation story, wastheir mother, uh, who I believe
it was pancreatic cancer thatwas sort of diagnosed very
quickly and then quickly passedin two weeks.
And Casey, as a surgeon, Idon't think that she has that
kind of health transformationstory.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
No, it was all based on the story of their mother and
how they believe she wasmistreated and mishandled within
the system, and so it becametheir life's mission, so to
speak, to educate and help helpit to not happen to anyone else.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Yeah.
It must they were at a panelthat I'm thinking of, and it
must have been someone elsethere that completely changed
everything from the eczema, thestomach issues with just diet.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
It might have been Vonnie.
Oh, she'd have had a story thatway.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Okay.
Yes.
I think you're right.
Yeah, the food babe, it justthere's so much coming out now,
and it really, like I saidbefore, it seems so
overwhelming.
But if you just take babysteps, because you can
immediately be like, Well, Ihave to change every single
thing in our house, and then Ihave to get rid of all the
plastics that we're puttingeverything.
I mean, me the other day, no,we get raw milk.
It's illegal in New York, andwe have to have it like bust
(30:51):
bust in from an Amish farm andhave this secretive pickup
location.
It's like the craziest thing.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
It is the craziest thing.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
But the milk comes in plastic and the yogurt in
plastic.
And so this week I was like,all right, I'm changing it all
over and I'm putting it in glasscontainers once it gets to my
house, right?
And so I'm doing all this, andthen I'm taking what did I take
out like a brick of cheese outof the refrigerator, and I'm
like, this stupid thing's inplastic too.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
I know, and it is overwhelming, absolutely,
especially when you start totalk about like the plastic and
then the the aluminum cans, andit's like nothing is safe
anymore, right?
But I really always encouragepeople to just pick one thing to
change right now.
When that no longer feels likea change and it's just normal,
add something else, but justtake baby steps because any
(31:41):
improvement is a goodimprovement.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Yeah, I agree with that wholeheartedly.
Don't overwhelm yourselfbecause especially then you get
into the lotions and theshampoos and the makeup and the
laundry detergent and thelinens.
It's yeah, it just one thing ata time.
And then maybe in six monthsyou'll change something else.
And then, and I think withinthe homeschooling community, it
is so much easier to do thisbecause that generally is just
(32:07):
people that are more consciousof their health and their
healthcare decisions.
In New York, we have to get allof the vaccines on the schedule
if you want to attend school.
So you'll see a lot ofhomeschoolers that are not doing
the vaccine thing or not doingall of them because they they
are not allowed into school forthat.
And it really is easier to findyour people when you are
(32:28):
homeschooling.
And that might seemoverwhelming too.
I'm sure it does if you're notif it's not on your radar
already.
Oh, I have a job and my kidsannoy the crap out of me and all
this stuff.
But it's also, well, your kidsmight annoy you because you're
not the one with them most ofthe day.
So somebody else is raisingthem.
I don't know, bring them homeand don't make them a-holes.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Raise your kids to be people you like.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Yes, that and that is so true.
So, what would be I'mdefinitely going to sit down
because it's I was it's not thatI didn't have the desire to
watch this because it was likeon my phone as I was making
dinner every night to watch thisdocumentary, and then a child
would run through, and then thedog would go to the bathroom in
the house, and then there's alot going on.
(33:13):
But I'm excited that you said Ican watch this with my son
because what a perfect healthlesson and something to put on
the homeschool report that, youknow, for them, just
entertainment, but also part ofyour homeschooling health class.
They're not learning this stuffin school.
What do you see happening withthe school lunches, the school
breakfasts?
Speaker 4 (33:34):
Gosh, I think that there is somewhat of a movement
of having the lunch ladiesactually like make the lunch
again instead of just heatingstuff up from frozen cardboard
boxes.
I feel like there was a thedocumentary is escaping my mind,
but maybe West Virginia orsomething like that, where they
(33:55):
saw a huge improvement inacademics by switching the food,
throwing away the USDAcardboard crap that was being
sent to them, and using likefood.
Oh, maybe it was like a JamieOliver kind of a thing.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
He definitely did a series where he was
revolutionizing the cafeteriafood, essentially.
And yeah, it's been a few yearssince we've seen that one, but
it was really good.
Speaker 4 (34:19):
I guess I would like to believe that the scales are
coming off of our eyes.
Food is hot again, to use a bitof a pun.
And to like people are it'slike it's cool to care about
your food again, I think.
And hopefully our documentarycan help with that.
We want to, you know, preach uhthe good news to the choir and
(34:40):
have the choir shout it.
I think that there are someminds that are being changed,
but I think if anything, thisprovides a lot of ammunition and
a lot of hallelujahs for peoplethat are gonna be like, yes,
I've been saying this.
We need more like this.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Thinking about homeschooling but don't know
where to start.
Well, I've interviewed a fewpeople on the topic.
Actually, 120 interviews atthis point with homeschooling
families from across the countryand the world.
And what I've done is I'vepacked everything I've learned
into an e-book called TheHomeschool How to Complete
Starter Guide.
From navigating your state'slaws to finding your
homeschooling style, fromworking while homeschooling to
(35:16):
supporting kids with specialneeds.
This guide covers it all withreal stories from real families
who've walked this path.
I've taken the best insights,the best resources, and put them
all into this guide.
Stop feeling overwhelmed andstart feeling confident.
Get your copy of the HomeschoolHow-To complete starter guide
today and discover thathomeschooling isn't just about
education.
(35:36):
It's about getting what youwant out of each day, not what
somebody else wants out of you.
You can grab the link to thisebook in the show's description
or head on over to thehomeschoolhowto.com.
Speaker 4 (35:47):
And the good news is some of the comments that we're
getting back is I need to builda firefly in my community.
And if that's what starts tohappen in America, I think we
can, in fact, revive the foodand revive the comp the country
and the culture.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Yeah.
And I think when you just thinkabout like your child's
behavior, the not being able tofocus all the way to things like
eczema, rashes that are ontheir bodies or your own body.
And even going to things likecancers.
I mean, it this is a hugestrong link, but it's not always
genetics.
If maybe it's not, never, Idon't know.
(36:24):
But you know, even curingcancer through like autophagy
and fasting, I mean, that'sstuff they never teach you about
in school.
I mean, not that it, I don'tknow that much about it, but
there is enough research to showthat there is some truth that
your body, once you kind of fastover a certain amount of hours,
you're getting rid of thedamaged cells.
(36:46):
And all of that has to playinto what you are putting in
your body and you know, how yourbody can repair.
And I would imagine your bodydoesn't get rid of those damaged
cells quickly if it's trying tofight all of the crap that
you've, the red diforties andthe blues and the artificial
things and the high fructosecorn syrup that you're putting
(37:07):
in.
I would imagine that's keepingyour body busy so that it can't
say, hey, that is a cancer cellmultiplying.
We should get rid of that.
It's too busy.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
Well, yeah, not to mention the environmental
factors that we really don'thave a lot of control over.
We can do our best, but thereare a number of them that is
just, hey, we're not gettingaway from cell phones, we're
not, unless you're going to offthe grid kind of thing.
But so if we have a certainamount of those environmental
toxins and factors that we can'treally do much about, we can
(37:38):
make better food choices.
So let's just do what we canwhere we can.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
Yeah.
There's so much to learn.
But you know what?
Your documentary helps us getthere, right?
As like parents, it's one thingwhen it's just us, it's oh,
okay, it's just me.
But then when I had kids, itwas like, oh man, I'm in charge
of two people and how if theyget sick, if they don't get
sick, how if they catch a cold,how quickly they can get over
(38:03):
it, that sort of stuff.
And it's a big responsibility.
And sure, it's easy to say,just send them to school,
they'll feed them, they'lleducate them, but is that really
what you want?
Right?
Like, good question.
We might have to step up.
So, where can we find yourdocumentary?
Speaker 4 (38:19):
Breakingbigfood.com is the best place to go right
now.
Uh, depending on when peoplewatch this, we actually leaked
it to YouTube.
So, our distributor, uh, it'sactually gonna be coming out on
Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV,I think right around the first
of beginning of January.
(38:40):
So, we don't know the exactdate.
And our we were kind of like,hey, that's too long for us to
wait.
We want to put it out there.
Are you okay with that?
And they're like, Well, this isunconventional.
And I was like, hey, so ishomeschooling.
And I went through it, so thisis what we're gonna do.
It's our film.
And they're like, No, actually,it kind of makes sense.
Like, release it for free.
So far, about 75,000 peoplehave watched Breaking Big Food
(39:02):
on YouTube.
And uh, like I said, thecomments that we're getting, the
reactions are really, reallygood.
Uh, I would say the most commonword we hear is inspiring, and
that is really touching to us.
So watch it for free on YouTubefor the next few weeks, uh,
depending on when this podcastcomes out.
And then uh after that, it'llbe available for rent on Apple
(39:24):
TV and Amazon Prime Video.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
But you can just go to breakingbigfood.com and I'll
take you directly to the YouTubelink.
Correct.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
Okay, I'm gonna link that in the show's description
too, so that people can justeasily click there and I will
get this out ASAP so that theycould still watch it for free.
But hopefully they will watchit regardless and donate to the
cause, share with their friends,and really think about kind of
living life with intention.
And I just want to kind of saysomething too, it all goes hand
(39:51):
in hand.
You had mentioned before inother countries, in Italy, they
don't have all of the dyes, andyou're totally right.
And I remember a book I readyears ago about an American.
That went to Paris and she wasraising her baby there.
It was called Bringing Up Baby.
And she like the she talksabout this whole meeting that
they had with the chefs at thedaycare.
(40:12):
And they planned out like whatthe children would be eating for
the whole year.
And there was like three coursemeals.
Of course, they weren't bigmeals, but it was like a cheese,
and then everything had avegetable.
And the chefs made the foodevery single day fresh.
And I remember reading that.
I was pregnant for my son and Iwas like, this is so foreign.
(40:34):
This is insane.
And then you look at what ourtaxes are for school taxes.
And it's what are these kidsgetting?
In a lot of cases, they'regetting like leftovers from fast
food places or the equivalentof.
And we just you can think aboutit as back to when we got like
the women into the workforce inthe 60s or whatnot.
(40:56):
And ever and it was kind ofthis push when I was going to
school.
I'm 41.
It was you got to go tocollege, you gotta go to
college, you gotta go tocollege, because you'll never
amount to anything otherwise.
And so it was like, well, Idon't know what I want to go to
college for, but I'm going.
And you come out with hundredsof thousands of dollars in debt.
So it's like near impossiblefor anybody to buy a house or
(41:18):
even be a stay-at-home mom onceyou decide, once you have kids
and you're like, oh, I think I'dlike to stay home.
Well, I can't because we wantto buy a house and we have all
this college debt.
And they give you car loans andcredit cards.
So you're swimming in even thatdebt.
And it's it makes it just sohard to be like, I just want to
cook good meals for my family.
And even maybe that's the guy.
I mean, I homeschool, so I seemany dads that are the
(41:40):
stay-at-home dad, and the wifeactually is the one that works.
But you know, for that oneperson to stay home and not that
you have to stay home.
You can definitely meal prep onSundays and have fresh food as
well.
There are ways around it.
But it's just so funny how notfunny, but sad how in our
country it really kind of wewere just scooted along, pushed
behind us.
(42:00):
Here, this is what you're gonnado now.
And we've put a McDonald's onevery corner to make sure it
happens.
It's that what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (42:06):
The system does not seem to be rigged for us, we'll
just put it that way.
Yeah, so yeah, into our ownhands and making different
choices.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
I think I just thought of our next documentary.
Oh no, breaking college.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
It's too soon.
I need a nap first, and thenmaybe.
How long did it take you tomake this?
About a year for filming, andthen it's okay.
The project is done.
Now someone needs to promotethis so that someone can watch
it.
Oh, that's when the real workstarts.
Yeah.
So it's good though.
It's work that we're passionateabout and we love talking about
(42:41):
it.
I'm sure you can tell as wewe've been on this call today,
but naps are fun too.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
Oh, guys.
Patrick and Ashley, thank youso much for coming on the
Homeschool How-To today andtalking to us about this.
I will put the link to yourdocumentary in the show's
description.
I am going to watch it myselfwith my son Colin.
We are going to see what elsewe can change because I know
there's some plastic or someartificial.
There's a marshmallow in ourpantry just waiting to get
(43:10):
thrown out.
Speaker 4 (43:11):
Yeah, I mean, it might be time to switch to some
mold-free coffee.
Speaker 2 (43:15):
So wait, are you guys the coffee makers?
Speaker 4 (43:18):
We work with a roaster, yes.
And we taught, we kind of aspoiler alert, but in the
documentary, that is part ofwhat we were literally doing for
that year was trying to find aregistered organic coffee that
we really like the taste of andthat actually passed our test.
So we sent our coffee beansinto a lab that basically tests
(43:40):
for heavy metals and pesticidesand glyphosate and mold and
mycotoxins and four pages ofnasty things, and it came back
squeaky clean.
But that is a spoiler alert.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
So, all right.
So just because I get wholebeans organic doesn't mean it
doesn't have mold in it.
Speaker 4 (44:00):
Well, it's gonna be helpful, it's organic certainly
helps.
Especially with the glyphosateside of things and pesticides,
but it doesn't necessarily meanit's mold free unless it tests
for it.
So if your audience goes toGoogle Firefly Coffee Beans,
you'll find on our website,Jigsaw Health, that we sell the
beans and we also have thereports of each batch that we
(44:22):
test because Ashley was like, Idon't want to drink mold coffee.
I'm dealing with enough stuffalready.
So yeah, that was part of thesearch that we kind of go
through in breaking big food.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
Wow, that's amazing.
Yeah, I thought I was doing itall right, but I didn't know
that mold could be on the coffeebeans.
Speaker 1 (44:41):
Yeah, actually, it's one of the bigger offenders of
mold, the mycotoxins, it justhappens through the process.
I mean, they'll wash the beansand then maybe not dry them
completely, or they don't drythem all the way.
I think they said because ithelps to add weight, because
coffee is sold by the by weight.
So if they wet the beans down,then it can make them heavier.
(45:02):
But I all I know is coffee isone of the bigger offenders of
mold.
So it is important to find somea brand that is doing either
third-party testing or that'sprobably the only way.
Speaker 4 (45:13):
Yeah, especially if it comes from or is goes through
a humid climate, so like aCosta Rica, Indonesia, stuff
like that.
It's not to say that they'reall bad, it's just higher risk.
So the beans that we source arefrom Honduras, which are grown
at high elevation and in theshade, shade grown.
It's it starts to get into somea little nerdy on the coffee
(45:34):
side, but it tastes great.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
Oh, I will have to try that.
So see, yes, you're in mylanguage now.
Oh, awesome.
And side note, I have along-lost sister that I never
knew I had that lives in Hawaiithat does make coffee.
So not as like a business, butjust as like a fun thing for
because I guess that's whatpeople in Hawaii do.
And uh Kona has some greatcoffee.
(45:57):
She sent me some one time and Iwas like, oh, this is can I
make this?
And she's no, you can like onlymake it in Hawaii.
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
That seems kind of stupid.
You can't make everythingyourself.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
Yeah, but I is coffee like only made in places like
Hawaii?
Speaker 4 (46:16):
Where is it or Honduras?
It's grown in a lot ofdifferent places, it's really
originally from Ethiopia, iswhat they say, and Ethiopia
still produces some of the bestcoffees, but it's mostly grown
close to the equator, so likealmost no coffee grows in the
United States.
Basically, just Hawaii.
Okay, I think for Hawaii, yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:35):
Okay, yeah.
I mean, she only sent it to methe one time because she was
like, Yeah, this is reallyexpensive.
I'm not just gonna say coffeeis very expensive.
It is, but she did also send mea coffee maker because she sent
me whole beans and she's like,Do you have do you have a
grinder?
And I'm like, No, I mean, Idon't know, can I put it in a
blender?
So she sent me a coffee makerwith a grinder on it, which is
(46:55):
amazing.
However, now I'm looking at thething and I'm like, the whole
thing's plastic.
The whole thing's plastic.
So, all right, so lastly, and Ipromise I'm gonna let you go
because my kids are probablygonna end up killing each other
upstairs because they're alone.
But what do you how do youprepare the coffee?
Because mine, so I have thegrinder, but like it sits in the
container of plastic, and I'mjust looking at that.
Whoa, that can't be good forheating up, and then you're
(47:17):
drinking it every day.
Speaker 1 (47:18):
There is a great grinder that I highly recommend
on Amazon, and it just is small,it sits on your counter, it has
a stainless steel bucket, soyou put the beans in and you
just grind it fresh for the nextday or the day of.
I'm trying to remember what thebrand is, and you could link it
here.
Oh, the Krupps brand.
Spell that K-R-U-P-S.
Speaker 4 (47:40):
Okay, and what model is that?
Speaker 1 (47:44):
It's just a three-ounce coffee grinder.
You'll see it has the stainlesssteel bucket in there.
So but then how do you prepareit?
I just use a drip coffee makermyself.
So yours is in plastic into astainless steel carafe.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:59):
But you could do French press, you could do pour
over, but I just do uh my dripcoffee.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
Okay, I'll have to look up.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
Do you use a drip coffee machine?
Speaker 2 (48:06):
No, I use whatever she sent me from Hawaii.
I don't know what it is, butit's plastic.
It's like a Keurig, but with agrinder on it.
So you don't need to use a cu aK cup.
You can use what you'vegrinded.
Speaker 1 (48:19):
Okay, yeah.
I mean, I would probably justfind a drip coffee maker with
Quisin Art makes a nice one andit has a stainless steel carafe
option or a glass.
They don't use plastic.
I mean, there the components ofit inside, there are some
plastic that it's made with, butunless you would just want to
do a straight pour oversituation, which you could avoid
all plastic in that case.
(48:40):
And then you're just kind ofdoing it by the cup and you
basically boil the water or getit really hot, put the grounds
into the pour-over thing, andyou just kind of have to be
patient and you just pour itover the grinds and it drips
into the cups.
Speaker 2 (48:51):
Okay, I don't see my husband doing that at 4:30 in
the morning.
Speaker 1 (48:54):
But yeah, if I will look into more than one cup,
it's probably not the best.
Speaker 2 (48:58):
I will look into the drip, stainless steel one.
And so that can be everyone'snumber one step, right?
Get mold-free coffee that isn'tboiling in plastic.
All right, here we go.
We have a mission.
Thank you guys so much forjoining me today.
This has been so fun.
Thank you.
And happy holidays.
Yes, you too.
Thank you for tuning in to thisweek's episode of the
(49:21):
Homeschool How-To.
If you've enjoyed what youheard and you'd like to
contribute to the show, pleaseconsider leaving a small tip
using the link in my show'sdescription.
Or if you'd rather, please usethe link in the description to
share this podcast with a friendor on your favorite homeschool
group Facebook page.
Any effort to help us keep thepodcast going is greatly
appreciated.
Thank you for tuning in and foryour love of the next
(49:44):
generation.
Welcome to this week's episode of the Homeschool
How-To.
I'm Cheryl and I invite you tojoin me on my quest to find out
why are people homeschooling?
How do you do it?
How does it differ from regionto region?
And should I homeschool mykids?
Stick with me as I interviewhomeschooling families across
the country to unfold theanswers to each of these
(00:26):
questions week by week.
Welcome.
And with us today, I haveAshley and Patrick on the
homeschool how-to.
Welcome, guys.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Thank you so much for having us.
We're thrilled to be here tochat with you today.
And I know we've been reallylooking forward to this.
So thanks for having us.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I'm excited too because so I love bringing
resources for the homeschoolcommunity, but resources that
also homeschool their kids.
So do you guys have that bothof those aspects here?
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Well, Patrick has a background of being homeschooled
as a kid.
Uh you can speak to that alittle bit.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
And I would say that we do homeschool our three dogs.
Not that they are children, butthey absolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
And he loves it.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
So you're ABC's monk.
Come on, you can do it thistime.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
That's so close.
So, Patrick, what ages were youhomeschooled from?
Speaker 4 (01:22):
I was homeschooled seventh, eighth, and ninth
grade, which as a teenage boy, Ifeel like kind of saved me from
some stuff.
My sisters, who I have threeyounger sisters, they were
homeschooled for five years.
So the book end years of mine,of me.
And my mom actually went tocollege to be a teacher.
(01:42):
All of us went to sort of, Iguess, some of the early school,
and this would have been let'ssee, mid-80s for me, late 80s,
sort of for my sisters, and thenI guess early 90s when I was
homeschooled.
So yeah, it was but somethinglike that I look back on very
fondly, and actually to thisday, some of my best friends
(02:05):
were who I met duringhomeschool.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Oh, that's so cool.
And so, what made your parentsdecide to homeschool you guys at
the ages that they did?
And we'll get into the comingout of the school system and
going back in, but what wastheir initial reason?
Speaker 4 (02:19):
We were raised pretty religiously.
We went to church, and I thinkthat they were just not a fan
of, I guess, what they sawhappening in the school system.
And as you can imagine,basically looking back 40 years
ago, it was probably pretty tamecompared to what things are
looking like nowadays.
If we did have children, Iabsolutely would want to
homeschool.
(02:39):
I have the benefit of havingpublic school, private school,
and homeschool background, aswell as community college and
state university.
So it's like I've toured itall.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
He's been in school for a long time.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Well, I did finish.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Van Wilder.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Like a couple weeks ago.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
There, yeah, there's the movie with Van Wilder.
He just continues to go toschool.
But that's cool that you havethe perspective of it all.
What would you say were thebiggest differences from
everyone?
Everyone says, oh, thehomeschooled kids are weird,
they're not socialized.
And nowadays with the internet,that's like such a crazy even
thing to ponder.
But 40 years ago, you don't,you're like, you're not even 40,
(03:18):
are you?
Speaker 4 (03:19):
I'm 48.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Are you really?
Yeah.
Okay, you're gonna look a dayover 15.
But uh so what were the biggestdifferences back then?
Were you the weird kid that washomeschooled for a few years?
Were you secluded to yourbasement?
Speaker 4 (03:32):
I think there was a little bit of a stigma to it,
but I remember having aconversation with my dad driving
home from soccer practice.
My sisters, the three youngersisters, had already been
homeschooled for one year.
And my dad's saying, What doyou think about staying at home,
doing school next year?
And I remember like sixthgrade, there were some pretty
(03:53):
pressure-feeling moments.
And of course, everybody at age12, age 13, puberty is
happening at different rates foreverybody.
And I feel like there was alot, I remember feeling a lot of
pressure about like, okay,seventh grade, I'm gonna have to
like make out with a girl.
Like, I'm gonna have to likedo, I'm gonna have to grow up
and do these things, and I don'tthink I was ready for that.
(04:16):
So, so for me, I remember dadsaying that and me kind of just
being like, okay.
And then we were a part of agroup.
We were in Grapevine, Texas,which is just outside of the in
the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex,and we were part of Netcash,
which I think is like NortheastTerrent County Association of
(04:36):
Home Educators.
I think I might have nailed it.
Sounds like Christian homeeducators, and so we ran up like
a group of and we would do aco-op, we would do field trips
together, science museum.
I don't know.
In regular school, I did afield trip a year.
And with homeschool, we didlike a field trip a week.
(04:57):
It was awesome, it was so muchfun.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
I will speak to you as his wife, I am very grateful
that he was homeschooled becausehis mom taught him how to do
dishes really well and help outaround the house really well.
And also, he learned how toplay guitar while he was being
homeschooled because he had alittle extra time, and I was a
big fan of that when we met.
So it's cool.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
It's not necessarily that I had extra time, it's just
that I refused to learnalgebra.
So instead of algebra and alsosentence diagramming, that I
could not figure out.
And I still remember like mymom, especially with algebra,
she's it's so simple.
Whatever you do to one side,you have to do to the other
side.
I was like, I don't know whatyou mean.
I have no idea.
(05:38):
So we I guess agreed todisagree on what homework should
be done, and instead I learneda G C D chord.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah, but that's difficult to a lot of people,
too, right?
Where like algebra might comereally easy to them and learning
guitar doesn't.
And it does give you theopportunity, it does give you
free time because you don't haveto learn just those crazy
things that they want for testscores and all that.
So how are and and I totallyrelate to the seventh grade, and
they're making you like, okay,you guys go behind the lockers,
(06:10):
and everything's so awkward andlike it's not, it's just too
young.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
The social pressures are so much more, I think, than
they once were, especially withsocial media and everything.
And I will just jump in.
My I have two nieces who havebeen homeschooled pretty much
their whole lives.
One is 17, just finished highschool early, one is 15, and
they are two of the mostwell-adjusted young ladies that
(06:37):
I have seen at their age, barnone.
And it's a stark contrastbetween other kids that are just
like buried in their iPads allthe time and don't know how to
have a conversation with anadult or engage.
And that's something that theywere able to really work with
their parents on, spending somuch time with them.
And their parents were verydeliberate to teach them these
skills.
But I mean, it really is nightand day, and I think it's done
(07:01):
them some big favors.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah, yeah, I know.
Where my seven-year-old, I'mlike, oh my God, be quiet, be
quiet, be quiet.
Why just go get an iPad?
No, get it right.
I think that in my head.
I don't say it out loud, butyes, he like does not, and he's
so comfortable with adults, likea little too comfortable to
where when an adult says likethe thing, it's sarcastic, but
(07:24):
or like funny, but when he saysit, he sounds like a smart.
Oh yeah.
I'm like, you're not old enoughto say that yet.
You're not like one of them,but it is funny.
It's cute to see like howcomfortable he is talking to
adults where like my sister'skids all went to school and they
it's like silence when you walkin.
It's like, hi, can you tell howdid your day go?
(07:47):
And you're trying to pullanything out of them.
Now, okay, so how was it goingback to school?
What was your reason forwanting to go back into the
school system?
Speaker 4 (07:55):
So that would have been my sophomore year that I
went back to school.
I went to a Christian school inwhere was Shady Grove, Shady
Grove in Texas.
What was that?
It was like it's not Irvingexactly, but close enough to
Irving, Texas.
One was, I think, kind of forsports.
I wanted to be able to andwhich is kind of funny because
(08:16):
the net cash group, it's like wehad some kind of sports stuff
together where it was like wewould play our house, would play
a different house, though.
unknown (08:25):
Kidding me.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
I think that was it.
And I actually now that I thinkback on it, I don't really
recollect that much of aconversation.
Like I, as I already recounted,really remember the hey, we're
thinking of homeschooling youand me being like, okay.
But then all of a sudden I was,I think I might be figuring it
out.
It might be that they wanted tolike have me stop playing
guitar and learn algebra.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Oh, yeah, maybe.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Like, I I literally think because for sure, Ashley's
correct.
She's not just joking.
I would vacuum, I would dolaundry, I learned how to cook.
Like, I learned some actuallife skills in sixth, seventh,
eighth, or I guess seventh,eighth, and ninth grade.
I didn't learn algebra.
I had to learn algebra ingeometry.
So, in like sophomore, theteachers going over stuff.
(09:09):
I'm like, hey, A equals B timesC or whatever.
It's what do these things mean?
She's like, didn't you learnall this?
I was homeschooled.
I was homeschooled.
I was homeschooled.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
You were the one that gave us the bad rise.
I think it was me, guys.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
We finally found him.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Oh, that's see now, because everybody else says
nope, they went right back toschool and they didn't skip a
beat.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Well, I caught up.
I did fine.
I actually graduated highschool with honors.
It was just like, and then injunior, junior year, uh, so
sophomore, junior, senior year,I went to private Christian
school and I did catch up.
Algebra algebra two wasdefinitely harder for me because
I was geometry, algebra 2.
I was like, when did you guyslearn all this stuff?
(09:54):
They're like, when you werelearning how to play guitar,
which by the way, I ended upbeing a professional musician
for about nine years with her.
That's part of our storytogether.
So it turns out, look, let yourkids, yeah, let your kids learn
guitar, let them practice, letthem become musicians.
It might actually earn themsome good money.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
I was gonna ask you, like, when did you use the
algebra in life?
And when did you use theguitar?
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Well, probably algebra zero, guitar ten, yeah.
Kind of thing.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Funny.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Well, that's a all right.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
So there's a test.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
Because before we were professional musicians, he
used it to pick up chicks.
So he considers that also quitebeneficial.
Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
And it's funny, I have a friend who her husband
likes to play guitar, and that'slike what lured her in.
And now that they have threekids and he just walks around
strumming the guitar, she'slike, oh my god, will you put it
down and pick up the kid?
Speaker 1 (10:46):
He needs a diaper change.
The stir the pod.
It doesn't quite have theallure it once had.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
You gotta get your foot in the door somehow,
though.
unknown (10:56):
It's true.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
So, okay, so you guys are musicians, and then I know
you just worked on a movie.
Can you tell us a little bitabout all of it?
Like, just come at me.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
Well, we just completed a documentary called
Breaking Big Food.
This is a big project we'vebeen working on over the last
year, something that's very nearand dear to our hearts.
We're very passionate about thesubject.
As owners of a nutritionalsupplement company, Jigsaw
Health, we have always beenpassionate about helping people
feel good.
In fact, our tagline is it'sfun to feel good.
(11:27):
But something that becameglaringly obvious is that
there's only so much supplementscan do for you.
And the fact is, supplementsare to do just that.
They're supposed to supplementa healthy diet.
And that brings us to thehealthy diet part, which most
people understand at this point,America has got a real issue.
So the name of the documentaryis Breaking Big Food.
(11:49):
And the subtitle is How theAmerican Food System Went Rotten
and How It's Being Revived.
We really wanted this to notjust be a piece of like
journalism or like a doom andgloom.
We wanted it to beinspirational.
So, yes, we have people likeCallie Means and Alex Clark just
going over chapter and versehow we got here as a country.
(12:12):
And then we have some localArizona purveyors from Arizona
Grass-Raised Beef to Amelia'sorganic seed oil-free restaurant
and Good Living Greens market,where they source from like
different farmers from aroundthe valley, where people can
just go to one little market andget farm fresh vegetables and
eggs and raw milk.
(12:32):
So we wanted to highlight thepeople that are doing it right
and let people know that theseoptions are exist so that people
can start voting with theirwallet to make a difference.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Parents, you know this.
What our kids take in shapeswho they become.
But today, they're swimming incontent.
Some good, a lot confusing, andwhat they consume has never
mattered more.
Our kids need stories thatbuild them up, not break them
down.
That's why so many familieshave fallen in love with the
work of best-selling author S.
D.
Smith.
His bold, hope-filledadventures in the Green Ember
(13:06):
series have sold more than 1.5million copies, not just because
his stories entertain, butbecause they also give kids
models of courage, mirrors thathelp them feel seen, and maps
that help them make sense ofchoices, consequences, and
calling.
And now there's something newto share with both readers and
gamers.
S.D.
Smith's latest book, GreenEmber, Helmer and the Dragon
Tomb, is the long-awaitedprequel to the series' beloved
(13:28):
character Helmer.
And for the first time ever,the Green Ember world comes to
life in a brand new video gameavailable now on Steam.
This is the kind of story ourkids need right now.
Learn more about Green Ember,Helmer, and the Dragon Tomb, the
book and the game atsdssmith.com/slash Helmer.
Or you can grab the link rightin the show notes.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
And educating them to as to why they need to make
different choices.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Yeah, and this topic is so huge.
And I talk about this a lot onmy podcast.
Like if there were ever justone reason that you needed to
homeschool, it would be that theyou could send your kid to
school with the most expensive,healthy, organic food that you
can find.
And they can throw that out andhave the free breakfast, the
(14:14):
free lunch.
It's free in most well, free,it's tax dollars, but it is it's
free to the children, and theycan get the pancakes with all
the syrup with the high fructosecorn syrup in it, the red dye
40s, the blue ones, every allthe artificial stuff.
And then when they are and thensit them in a desk all day so
(14:35):
that they can't move and gettheir energy out that they
naturally have, anyways, andthen we're medicating when I
know that's not just all of it,but that's a lot of it.
If we change the food, changethe exercise routine, we might
have a lot of people that wouldnot need medications as
children.
And I know when I was growingup, there weren't many kids that
were on drugs, and now it'sit's a very high percentage.
(14:58):
And yeah, so were you guys likebacking or any part of the Maha
movement going through?
What are your thoughts aboutthat?
Because I know Bobby has done alittle bit in the office and
there's critiques of this, andhe's not moving fast enough.
This is all he can do.
He's in a rock with what areyour thoughts on that?
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Well, I think kudos to RFK Jr.
for at least pushing in theright direction.
And I think it's actuallystarting to see a lot of good
benefits.
I would argue both sides.
We're not moving fast enough,but at least we're moving in a
very healthy direction.
This film, Breaking Big Food,started really in the summer of
(15:35):
2024.
We had seen Callie Means speakat a conference, and this is
Callie Means and Casey Means,Casey, who's been nominated to
be the Surgeon General, they hadjust published a book called
Good Energy.
We saw Callie speak at aconference, and it was like he
just laid it out so cleanlyabout how things started going
(15:55):
bad, really back in the 1980swhen Big Tobacco started buying
up a bunch of food processors.
So I don't remember exactly whoit is, but like Philip Morris
bought an hibisco or whatever.
And since the 1980s, over thelast four decades, you tell me,
have things gotten better orworse?
You know, it's pretty clearthat every marker of health has
(16:18):
gotten worse in the past fourdecades, and you are what you
eat.
In fact, it's more probablyaccurate to say you are what you
eat eats, right?
So all the glyphosate-ladencorn that's feed fed to cows on
a gigantic feedlot that ends upas ground beef at the
(16:38):
McDonald's, it's like, is thatactually good for us?
Speaker 3 (16:42):
No.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
So so for us, as Ashley mentioned, we wanted to
point out how the American foodsystem went rotten to educate to
Americans.
And then the second part, whichis really these vignettes woven
throughout, and I can sayvignettes because I was
homeschooled.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
How do you spell it though?
Speaker 4 (17:01):
V-I-N-I-G-E-T-T-E-S.
Well done.
Thank you very much.
I was actually pretty good atspelling, and my mom would be
proud of me for that.
I don't know if it's a verb ora noun, but I know how to spell
it.
So with these vignettes woventhroughout the story of breaking
big food, including thecreation of our coffee shop that
(17:25):
we made called Firefly OrganicCoffee and Market.
And what we did to sort of goto these places to find, as I
think Ash would say, these goodhealthy food purveyors in the
valley.
We we really wanted to show howit's being revived, because we
believe that the more Americansare voting with their wallet to
(17:46):
support local farmers, the morelocal farmers there will be.
The market, I feel, is thebest.
It's sort of the best systemthat we have.
It may be not perfect, but itis the best system that we have
because I would say, evenbreaking big food, the title
somewhat salacious.
Nowhere in the field, nowherein the film are we trying to say
(18:08):
that Kellogg's should go out ofbusiness or Nabisco should go
out of business or whatever.
If anything, we would like tosee changes happen.
And one thing that is happeningto tie it back to your question
about Maha is that some of theearly reports from mid, let's
call it summer 2025 were bigfood meeting with Robert F.
(18:30):
Kennedy Jr.
saying things like, hey, youshould outlaw food dyes, because
if Kellogg's can use it andNabisco can use it, if anyone
can use it, they have thiscompetitive pressure against
each other to, well, hey,Kellogg's is still using it.
So their food is brighter andit's cheaper, right?
And Nabisco's, well, we'drather use beet juice because
(18:50):
it's safer, but it's not asbright and it's more expensive.
So if from the top down we cansort of regulate, legislate some
of these things that are knowncarcinogens, big shout out to To
Die For, D Y E, to Die For, adocumentary that came out
earlier in 2025 about a family'sstruggles with food dyes with
(19:12):
their kids and how their kidsand many other kids like their
family got so much better atbetter in behavioral, in
cognition, after they cut outthe food dye.
And so, yeah, I think that weare like, I guess I mean I'm an
optimist.
I would like to believe thatwe're headed in the right
direction.
Lord knows we have so much todo in the next three years that
(19:33):
you feel like, well, why are allthese things still out there?
But I guess I'm just veryhopeful that at least we're
moving in a positive direction.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Yeah, and also to your point, real change needs to
start at the ground level,right here in our own
communities with us.
We have to choose differently.
We have to educate our kidsdifferently, let them know why
they need to make certainchoices so that they can do that
as they grow up into adultstoo, and not just education, I
think is the First step.
And then because you can'tcount on government to solve
(20:03):
your problems.
I mean, yes, great.
Please make some changes sothat it makes it overall better
and easier for people to makegood choices.
But realistically, it starts atthe community level.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Yeah.
And it's definitely hard whenyou have children because it's
like it's it's easier to controljust what I eat, right?
But then when you have thesepeople that you're sending off
into places, whether it'sgrandma's house, to a friend's
house, a birthday party,Halloween, things like that's
when it's all like way harder.
And you really have to beintentional with what you do.
(20:35):
For instance, the last twoyears for Halloween, we ended up
just having a bunch ofhomeschool families over to our
house and doing things like hayrides and glow in the dark tag,
I guess manhunt.
I don't know.
We called it tag.
We called it tag in the 80s,but I think it's manhunt now.
And you know, swear, and it'sfunny because I was going to
have like marshmallows and Ilooked and it it said like one
(20:58):
artificial thing, probablyvanilla, but it had no dyes.
And one of the moms was like,Can we skip the marshmallows?
And I'm like, Oh, we're alreadydoing so much better than all
of America, but sure.
And another mom was like, I'llmake them from scratch.
And so it's but it is hardbecause it's like your kids see
all this other stuff and theydon't understand yet that you're
(21:19):
not depriving them.
You're you're just trying tomake them feel better.
And my sister like thinks I'mabsolutely insane for we will
now buy meat from a local farmerand we'll order like the half
cow and the half pig a year, andI'll get 20 chickens at a time
and stick it in the freezer fromthe other poultry farm.
(21:41):
And so that seemed foreign tome.
If you were to say that to mefive years ago, I would be like,
I'm not going to 80 differentstores.
No, I don't want all those cutsof a cow.
I know how to make a stripsteak, and that's what I know
how to make, and that's what I'mgoing to spend my money on.
But I think once you just takea baby step and maybe meet that
guy that the butcher at the farmand you get a relationship with
(22:05):
him, and you're like, oh, Ireally want to support him.
He's getting my money.
I like that feeling.
And if there were anapocalypse, I know where I can
find him.
Exactly.
Right?
I can't get into Walmart'sdoors or whatever grocery store
is near you.
That's a really nice feeling.
And the same thing with thechickens.
It's well, I didn't know how tocut up a whole chicken before,
(22:26):
but now I just do it everySunday.
We just make the whole chickenand then we've got chicken for
the week.
And it's you get a routine.
So it seems so overwhelming.
What would be your advice tothe parents that were like me
back in COVID era prior, whojust not necessarily, I never
took my kids to a fast foodjoint, but you know, we just do
(22:47):
the grocery store thing, didn'tread labels, did the best we
could, but didn't know better.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Well, I would say, first of all, one of the
favorite, my favorite phrasesthat I've heard is pay the
farmer now or pharma later.
Um, it seems like a lot to evenfathom.
Oh my gosh, I'm not gonna spendover a thousand dollars buying
like a half of a beef, and thenI can buy like a chest cooler
and put all this meat in there,and it just felt so ridiculous
(23:13):
and extra, and I don't know, butyou're actually paying a lot
less money over the long term ifyou buy meat that way.
Number one, I know it can feeloverwhelming to have to spend
that much at one time, but ifyou look at your yearly
planning, I promise you'resaving money by doing that.
But also, I think if morefamilies could maybe find a
local farmer's market to go toonce a week and make that like a
(23:36):
family outing kind of thingwhere you're getting to meet
these vendors and hear abouttheir farm or just like kind of
have that experience and maybethey get a little treat while
they're there of some kind orjust making it like a fun
outing, uh I feel like is reallycool.
I know a few families that theydo that, and it's like the kids
look forward to it every singleSunday, and it's just it's a
(23:59):
great way, I think, to just kindof introduce kids to the idea
of supporting a local farmer orjust caring about healthy food
and where it comes from.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Yeah, and I love that pay the farmer now or farmer
later.
When we look at does yourdocumentary get into the
detriment that takes on yourbody to consume all of these
dyes?
And there's an immediate, Iknow you can see kids that are
like, oh, I'm fiend.
I need that next hit of thehigh fructose corn syrup or
whatever it is, because it'saddictive, the sugar.
(24:29):
What are the short-termailments that we might see and
the long term?
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Yeah, the documentary I would say it goes into that a
little bit, but it assumes alittle bit of prior knowledge
about our ultra-processed foodsnot being very healthy.
It it's it's unfortunate howconvenient they are.
And I would say that is reallya big part of the message of the
documentary is that we'rehopeful that markets like Good
(24:55):
Living Greens, restaurants likeAmelia's, coffee shops like
Firefly Organic Coffee andMarket will start to pop up all
over the country to make itactually more convenient for
parents who are trying toprotect their kids.
I mean, that's really what itall comes down to.
You're trying to protect yourkids.
I think that the more, again,it's kind of a supply and demand
(25:16):
thing, it is more expensive tofeed your family good food.
But as Ashley said, as thesaying goes, you can pay the
farmer now or pay pharma later.
One of the uh vignettes in thedocumentary is of AJ and Brooke,
who are the co-creators ofFromTheFarm.org.
(25:40):
And they're buildingessentially a kind of a
community, an Airbnb ofconveniently being able to buy
vegetables, meats onlinedirectly from farmers, which
could be in your area or couldbe further away.
But it's a great resource.
So I feel like up until the80s, and maybe even maybe it was
(26:01):
a little bit before that, butyou know, we didn't have organic
food because it was just food,right?
But thanks to big food, gettingreally big tobacco taking over
big food, and getting probably alittle bit too greedy or loose
with the facts, whatever youwant to say, food went rotten in
(26:21):
America.
There's all there this is a bitof an aside, but we've probably
all heard or anecdotallyexperienced going to a European
country like Italy, where youare able to eat the pizza and
drink the wine and you neverhave a hangover and you lose
weight, and you're like, well,maybe it's just because I was
walking around all the time.
Or maybe because the winedidn't have sulfites and the
(26:42):
wheat didn't have glyphosate andthe pesticide.
Maybe it's a little bit ofboth.
I don't know.
But I think like in America,we've kind of lost our passion
for food.
And I think that maybe one ofthe answers is for us to fall
back in love with food again.
I mean, there's not really muchbetter than a good full belly
after a great meal.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
Amen to that.
And I will add to in thedocumentary, we have a number of
personal transformation storiesfrom Leah Hope, who lost over
200 pounds just by changing herdiet, getting rid of the
processed food, the fast food,and starting to make simple
foods at home to Landon Flowers,who was almost on death's door
(27:26):
and didn't know, but food washis answer.
So there are some very touchingstories in the documentary that
I feel like, especially ifyou're gonna watch it with your
kids, they are enjoying thisfilm.
They're able to like enjoy thestories in it, but also it's
making an impact.
It's making them go, well, Idon't want to end up where they
ended up.
So maybe I should think aboutwhat I'm eating here.
(27:47):
So we tried to make it reallyentertaining that way so that
families could watch ittogether.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Yeah.
Oh, awesome.
I'm definitely gonna watch itwith my three-year-old, will
probably annoy me the wholetime, but my seven-year-old, I
am a three-year-old.
I'm gonna put cocoa melon onfor her in the other room, but
I'm gonna watch this with myseven-year-old because he is.
I mean, he we were at myin-laws today and he goes, Oh,
look, you have air organic syruptoo.
Because he's used to themhaving Aunt Jemima or whatever.
(28:12):
And honey, it's just maplesyrup.
I mean, that's that yes, it isit's organic, I guess, but it's
maple syrup.
But yeah, because he saw usswitch over the years and now
he's kind of pointing it out tothem, and he'll always be like,
Well, is there red dye 40 inthat?
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Yeah, that's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
But, you know, I was gonna mention too.
I was earlier this year, I wasat a conference with Del
Bigtree, and um Max Kane was theone who put the conference on.
I'm not sure if you're familiarwith him, but he has a company
called Farm Match, which soundsexactly like what you were just
mentioning, where you can go onand you can order the
vegetables, the meat from localfarmers in your area.
(28:54):
They might have to ship it toyou still, maybe it's a few
hours away, but you can find thelocal farms to you.
So it's matching farms with theconsumers, and it's the same
idea.
It's brilliant.
And yeah, it was an awesomeconference.
I got to talk to Dell at it.
He's been on my podcast, butalso there were there was a
member of the Kellogg's familythere, and she was against the
(29:15):
her brand.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
I think she was maybe the one that was on Food Babe
on on her podcast as well.
She basically kind of blew thewhistle on her own family's
operation.
Is that right?
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Yes, she did.
And is my memory serving mecorrectly?
Was it is it Casey Means thatwas actually pretty sick before
she changed her diet?
Or was that?
Speaker 4 (29:34):
No, it was the Callie and Casey Means were really
their transformation story, wastheir mother, uh, who I believe
it was pancreatic cancer thatwas sort of diagnosed very
quickly and then quickly passedin two weeks.
And Casey, as a surgeon, Idon't think that she has that
kind of health transformationstory.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
No, it was all based on the story of their mother and
how they believe she wasmistreated and mishandled within
the system, and so it becametheir life's mission, so to
speak, to educate and help helpit to not happen to anyone else.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Yeah.
It must they were at a panelthat I'm thinking of, and it
must have been someone elsethere that completely changed
everything from the eczema, thestomach issues with just diet.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
It might have been Vonnie.
Oh, she'd have had a story thatway.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Okay.
Yes.
I think you're right.
Yeah, the food babe, it justthere's so much coming out now,
and it really, like I saidbefore, it seems so
overwhelming.
But if you just take babysteps, because you can
immediately be like, Well, Ihave to change every single
thing in our house, and then Ihave to get rid of all the
plastics that we're puttingeverything.
I mean, me the other day, no,we get raw milk.
It's illegal in New York, andwe have to have it like bust
(30:51):
bust in from an Amish farm andhave this secretive pickup
location.
It's like the craziest thing.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
It is the craziest thing.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
But the milk comes in plastic and the yogurt in
plastic.
And so this week I was like,all right, I'm changing it all
over and I'm putting it in glasscontainers once it gets to my
house, right?
And so I'm doing all this, andthen I'm taking what did I take
out like a brick of cheese outof the refrigerator, and I'm
like, this stupid thing's inplastic too.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
I know, and it is overwhelming, absolutely,
especially when you start totalk about like the plastic and
then the the aluminum cans, andit's like nothing is safe
anymore, right?
But I really always encouragepeople to just pick one thing to
change right now.
When that no longer feels likea change and it's just normal,
add something else, but justtake baby steps because any
(31:41):
improvement is a goodimprovement.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Yeah, I agree with that wholeheartedly.
Don't overwhelm yourselfbecause especially then you get
into the lotions and theshampoos and the makeup and the
laundry detergent and thelinens.
It's yeah, it just one thing ata time.
And then maybe in six monthsyou'll change something else.
And then, and I think withinthe homeschooling community, it
is so much easier to do thisbecause that generally is just
(32:07):
people that are more consciousof their health and their
healthcare decisions.
In New York, we have to get allof the vaccines on the schedule
if you want to attend school.
So you'll see a lot ofhomeschoolers that are not doing
the vaccine thing or not doingall of them because they they
are not allowed into school forthat.
And it really is easier to findyour people when you are
(32:28):
homeschooling.
And that might seemoverwhelming too.
I'm sure it does if you're notif it's not on your radar
already.
Oh, I have a job and my kidsannoy the crap out of me and all
this stuff.
But it's also, well, your kidsmight annoy you because you're
not the one with them most ofthe day.
So somebody else is raisingthem.
I don't know, bring them homeand don't make them a-holes.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
Raise your kids to be people you like.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Yes, that and that is so true.
So, what would be I'mdefinitely going to sit down
because it's I was it's not thatI didn't have the desire to
watch this because it was likeon my phone as I was making
dinner every night to watch thisdocumentary, and then a child
would run through, and then thedog would go to the bathroom in
the house, and then there's alot going on.
(33:13):
But I'm excited that you said Ican watch this with my son
because what a perfect healthlesson and something to put on
the homeschool report that, youknow, for them, just
entertainment, but also part ofyour homeschooling health class.
They're not learning this stuffin school.
What do you see happening withthe school lunches, the school
breakfasts?
Speaker 4 (33:34):
Gosh, I think that there is somewhat of a movement
of having the lunch ladiesactually like make the lunch
again instead of just heatingstuff up from frozen cardboard
boxes.
I feel like there was a thedocumentary is escaping my mind,
but maybe West Virginia orsomething like that, where they
(33:55):
saw a huge improvement inacademics by switching the food,
throwing away the USDAcardboard crap that was being
sent to them, and using likefood.
Oh, maybe it was like a JamieOliver kind of a thing.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
He definitely did a series where he was
revolutionizing the cafeteriafood, essentially.
And yeah, it's been a few yearssince we've seen that one, but
it was really good.
Speaker 4 (34:19):
I guess I would like to believe that the scales are
coming off of our eyes.
Food is hot again, to use a bitof a pun.
And to like people are it'slike it's cool to care about
your food again, I think.
And hopefully our documentarycan help with that.
We want to, you know, preach uhthe good news to the choir and
(34:40):
have the choir shout it.
I think that there are someminds that are being changed,
but I think if anything, thisprovides a lot of ammunition and
a lot of hallelujahs for peoplethat are gonna be like, yes,
I've been saying this.
We need more like this.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Thinking about homeschooling but don't know
where to start.
Well, I've interviewed a fewpeople on the topic.
Actually, 120 interviews atthis point with homeschooling
families from across the countryand the world.
And what I've done is I'vepacked everything I've learned
into an e-book called TheHomeschool How to Complete
Starter Guide.
From navigating your state'slaws to finding your
homeschooling style, fromworking while homeschooling to
(35:16):
supporting kids with specialneeds.
This guide covers it all withreal stories from real families
who've walked this path.
I've taken the best insights,the best resources, and put them
all into this guide.
Stop feeling overwhelmed andstart feeling confident.
Get your copy of the HomeschoolHow-To complete starter guide
today and discover thathomeschooling isn't just about
education.
(35:36):
It's about getting what youwant out of each day, not what
somebody else wants out of you.
You can grab the link to thisebook in the show's description
or head on over to thehomeschoolhowto.com.
Speaker 4 (35:47):
And the good news is some of the comments that we're
getting back is I need to builda firefly in my community.
And if that's what starts tohappen in America, I think we
can, in fact, revive the foodand revive the comp the country
and the culture.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Yeah.
And I think when you just thinkabout like your child's
behavior, the not being able tofocus all the way to things like
eczema, rashes that are ontheir bodies or your own body.
And even going to things likecancers.
I mean, it this is a hugestrong link, but it's not always
genetics.
If maybe it's not, never, Idon't know.
(36:24):
But you know, even curingcancer through like autophagy
and fasting, I mean, that'sstuff they never teach you about
in school.
I mean, not that it, I don'tknow that much about it, but
there is enough research to showthat there is some truth that
your body, once you kind of fastover a certain amount of hours,
you're getting rid of thedamaged cells.
(36:46):
And all of that has to playinto what you are putting in
your body and you know, how yourbody can repair.
And I would imagine your bodydoesn't get rid of those damaged
cells quickly if it's trying tofight all of the crap that
you've, the red diforties andthe blues and the artificial
things and the high fructosecorn syrup that you're putting
(37:07):
in.
I would imagine that's keepingyour body busy so that it can't
say, hey, that is a cancer cellmultiplying.
We should get rid of that.
It's too busy.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
Well, yeah, not to mention the environmental
factors that we really don'thave a lot of control over.
We can do our best, but thereare a number of them that is
just, hey, we're not gettingaway from cell phones, we're
not, unless you're going to offthe grid kind of thing.
But so if we have a certainamount of those environmental
toxins and factors that we can'treally do much about, we can
(37:38):
make better food choices.
So let's just do what we canwhere we can.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
Yeah.
There's so much to learn.
But you know what?
Your documentary helps us getthere, right?
As like parents, it's one thingwhen it's just us, it's oh,
okay, it's just me.
But then when I had kids, itwas like, oh man, I'm in charge
of two people and how if theyget sick, if they don't get
sick, how if they catch a cold,how quickly they can get over
(38:03):
it, that sort of stuff.
And it's a big responsibility.
And sure, it's easy to say,just send them to school,
they'll feed them, they'lleducate them, but is that really
what you want?
Right?
Like, good question.
We might have to step up.
So, where can we find yourdocumentary?
Speaker 4 (38:19):
Breakingbigfood.com is the best place to go right
now.
Uh, depending on when peoplewatch this, we actually leaked
it to YouTube.
So, our distributor, uh, it'sactually gonna be coming out on
Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV,I think right around the first
of beginning of January.
(38:40):
So, we don't know the exactdate.
And our we were kind of like,hey, that's too long for us to
wait.
We want to put it out there.
Are you okay with that?
And they're like, Well, this isunconventional.
And I was like, hey, so ishomeschooling.
And I went through it, so thisis what we're gonna do.
It's our film.
And they're like, No, actually,it kind of makes sense.
Like, release it for free.
So far, about 75,000 peoplehave watched Breaking Big Food
(39:02):
on YouTube.
And uh, like I said, thecomments that we're getting, the
reactions are really, reallygood.
Uh, I would say the most commonword we hear is inspiring, and
that is really touching to us.
So watch it for free on YouTubefor the next few weeks, uh,
depending on when this podcastcomes out.
And then uh after that, it'llbe available for rent on Apple
(39:24):
TV and Amazon Prime Video.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
But you can just go to breakingbigfood.com and I'll
take you directly to the YouTubelink.
Correct.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
Okay, I'm gonna link that in the show's description
too, so that people can justeasily click there and I will
get this out ASAP so that theycould still watch it for free.
But hopefully they will watchit regardless and donate to the
cause, share with their friends,and really think about kind of
living life with intention.
And I just want to kind of saysomething too, it all goes hand
(39:51):
in hand.
You had mentioned before inother countries, in Italy, they
don't have all of the dyes, andyou're totally right.
And I remember a book I readyears ago about an American.
That went to Paris and she wasraising her baby there.
It was called Bringing Up Baby.
And she like the she talksabout this whole meeting that
they had with the chefs at thedaycare.
(40:12):
And they planned out like whatthe children would be eating for
the whole year.
And there was like three coursemeals.
Of course, they weren't bigmeals, but it was like a cheese,
and then everything had avegetable.
And the chefs made the foodevery single day fresh.
And I remember reading that.
I was pregnant for my son and Iwas like, this is so foreign.
(40:34):
This is insane.
And then you look at what ourtaxes are for school taxes.
And it's what are these kidsgetting?
In a lot of cases, they'regetting like leftovers from fast
food places or the equivalentof.
And we just you can think aboutit as back to when we got like
the women into the workforce inthe 60s or whatnot.
(40:56):
And ever and it was kind ofthis push when I was going to
school.
I'm 41.
It was you got to go tocollege, you gotta go to
college, you gotta go tocollege, because you'll never
amount to anything otherwise.
And so it was like, well, Idon't know what I want to go to
college for, but I'm going.
And you come out with hundredsof thousands of dollars in debt.
So it's like near impossiblefor anybody to buy a house or
(41:18):
even be a stay-at-home mom onceyou decide, once you have kids
and you're like, oh, I think I'dlike to stay home.
Well, I can't because we wantto buy a house and we have all
this college debt.
And they give you car loans andcredit cards.
So you're swimming in even thatdebt.
And it's it makes it just sohard to be like, I just want to
cook good meals for my family.
And even maybe that's the guy.
I mean, I homeschool, so I seemany dads that are the
(41:40):
stay-at-home dad, and the wifeactually is the one that works.
But you know, for that oneperson to stay home and not that
you have to stay home.
You can definitely meal prep onSundays and have fresh food as
well.
There are ways around it.
But it's just so funny how notfunny, but sad how in our
country it really kind of wewere just scooted along, pushed
behind us.
(42:00):
Here, this is what you're gonnado now.
And we've put a McDonald's onevery corner to make sure it
happens.
It's that what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (42:06):
The system does not seem to be rigged for us, we'll
just put it that way.
Yeah, so yeah, into our ownhands and making different
choices.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
I think I just thought of our next documentary.
Oh no, breaking college.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
It's too soon.
I need a nap first, and thenmaybe.
How long did it take you tomake this?
About a year for filming, andthen it's okay.
The project is done.
Now someone needs to promotethis so that someone can watch
it.
Oh, that's when the real workstarts.
Yeah.
So it's good though.
It's work that we're passionateabout and we love talking about
(42:41):
it.
I'm sure you can tell as wewe've been on this call today,
but naps are fun too.
Speaker 2 (42:49):
Oh, guys.
Patrick and Ashley, thank youso much for coming on the
Homeschool How-To today andtalking to us about this.
I will put the link to yourdocumentary in the show's
description.
I am going to watch it myselfwith my son Colin.
We are going to see what elsewe can change because I know
there's some plastic or someartificial.
There's a marshmallow in ourpantry just waiting to get
(43:10):
thrown out.
Speaker 4 (43:11):
Yeah, I mean, it might be time to switch to some
mold-free coffee.
Speaker 2 (43:15):
So wait, are you guys the coffee makers?
Speaker 4 (43:18):
We work with a roaster, yes.
And we taught, we kind of aspoiler alert, but in the
documentary, that is part ofwhat we were literally doing for
that year was trying to find aregistered organic coffee that
we really like the taste of andthat actually passed our test.
So we sent our coffee beansinto a lab that basically tests
(43:40):
for heavy metals and pesticidesand glyphosate and mold and
mycotoxins and four pages ofnasty things, and it came back
squeaky clean.
But that is a spoiler alert.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
So, all right.
So just because I get wholebeans organic doesn't mean it
doesn't have mold in it.
Speaker 4 (44:00):
Well, it's gonna be helpful, it's organic certainly
helps.
Especially with the glyphosateside of things and pesticides,
but it doesn't necessarily meanit's mold free unless it tests
for it.
So if your audience goes toGoogle Firefly Coffee Beans,
you'll find on our website,Jigsaw Health, that we sell the
beans and we also have thereports of each batch that we
(44:22):
test because Ashley was like, Idon't want to drink mold coffee.
I'm dealing with enough stuffalready.
So yeah, that was part of thesearch that we kind of go
through in breaking big food.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
Wow, that's amazing.
Yeah, I thought I was doing itall right, but I didn't know
that mold could be on the coffeebeans.
Speaker 1 (44:41):
Yeah, actually, it's one of the bigger offenders of
mold, the mycotoxins, it justhappens through the process.
I mean, they'll wash the beansand then maybe not dry them
completely, or they don't drythem all the way.
I think they said because ithelps to add weight, because
coffee is sold by the by weight.
So if they wet the beans down,then it can make them heavier.
(45:02):
But I all I know is coffee isone of the bigger offenders of
mold.
So it is important to find somea brand that is doing either
third-party testing or that'sprobably the only way.
Speaker 4 (45:13):
Yeah, especially if it comes from or is goes through
a humid climate, so like aCosta Rica, Indonesia, stuff
like that.
It's not to say that they'reall bad, it's just higher risk.
So the beans that we source arefrom Honduras, which are grown
at high elevation and in theshade, shade grown.
It's it starts to get into somea little nerdy on the coffee
(45:34):
side, but it tastes great.
Speaker 2 (45:37):
Oh, I will have to try that.
So see, yes, you're in mylanguage now.
Oh, awesome.
And side note, I have along-lost sister that I never
knew I had that lives in Hawaiithat does make coffee.
So not as like a business, butjust as like a fun thing for
because I guess that's whatpeople in Hawaii do.
And uh Kona has some greatcoffee.
(45:57):
She sent me some one time and Iwas like, oh, this is can I
make this?
And she's no, you can like onlymake it in Hawaii.
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
That seems kind of stupid.
You can't make everythingyourself.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
Yeah, but I is coffee like only made in places like
Hawaii?
Speaker 4 (46:16):
Where is it or Honduras?
It's grown in a lot ofdifferent places, it's really
originally from Ethiopia, iswhat they say, and Ethiopia
still produces some of the bestcoffees, but it's mostly grown
close to the equator, so likealmost no coffee grows in the
United States.
Basically, just Hawaii.
Okay, I think for Hawaii, yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:35):
Okay, yeah.
I mean, she only sent it to methe one time because she was
like, Yeah, this is reallyexpensive.
I'm not just gonna say coffeeis very expensive.
It is, but she did also send mea coffee maker because she sent
me whole beans and she's like,Do you have do you have a
grinder?
And I'm like, No, I mean, Idon't know, can I put it in a
blender?
So she sent me a coffee makerwith a grinder on it, which is
(46:55):
amazing.
However, now I'm looking at thething and I'm like, the whole
thing's plastic.
The whole thing's plastic.
So, all right, so lastly, and Ipromise I'm gonna let you go
because my kids are probablygonna end up killing each other
upstairs because they're alone.
But what do you how do youprepare the coffee?
Because mine, so I have thegrinder, but like it sits in the
container of plastic, and I'mjust looking at that.
Whoa, that can't be good forheating up, and then you're
(47:17):
drinking it every day.
Speaker 1 (47:18):
There is a great grinder that I highly recommend
on Amazon, and it just is small,it sits on your counter, it has
a stainless steel bucket, soyou put the beans in and you
just grind it fresh for the nextday or the day of.
I'm trying to remember what thebrand is, and you could link it
here.
Oh, the Krupps brand.
Spell that K-R-U-P-S.
Speaker 4 (47:40):
Okay, and what model is that?
Speaker 1 (47:44):
It's just a three-ounce coffee grinder.
You'll see it has the stainlesssteel bucket in there.
So but then how do you prepareit?
I just use a drip coffee makermyself.
So yours is in plastic into astainless steel carafe.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:59):
But you could do French press, you could do pour
over, but I just do uh my dripcoffee.
Speaker 2 (48:04):
Okay, I'll have to look up.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
Do you use a drip coffee machine?
Speaker 2 (48:06):
No, I use whatever she sent me from Hawaii.
I don't know what it is, butit's plastic.
It's like a Keurig, but with agrinder on it.
So you don't need to use a cu aK cup.
You can use what you'vegrinded.
Speaker 1 (48:19):
Okay, yeah.
I mean, I would probably justfind a drip coffee maker with
Quisin Art makes a nice one andit has a stainless steel carafe
option or a glass.
They don't use plastic.
I mean, there the components ofit inside, there are some
plastic that it's made with, butunless you would just want to
do a straight pour oversituation, which you could avoid
all plastic in that case.
(48:40):
And then you're just kind ofdoing it by the cup and you
basically boil the water or getit really hot, put the grounds
into the pour-over thing, andyou just kind of have to be
patient and you just pour itover the grinds and it drips
into the cups.
Speaker 2 (48:51):
Okay, I don't see my husband doing that at 4:30 in
the morning.
Speaker 1 (48:54):
But yeah, if I will look into more than one cup,
it's probably not the best.
Speaker 2 (48:58):
I will look into the drip, stainless steel one.
And so that can be everyone'snumber one step, right?
Get mold-free coffee that isn'tboiling in plastic.
All right, here we go.
We have a mission.
Thank you guys so much forjoining me today.
This has been so fun.
Thank you.
And happy holidays.
Yes, you too.
Thank you for tuning in to thisweek's episode of the
(49:21):
Homeschool How-To.
If you've enjoyed what youheard and you'd like to
contribute to the show, pleaseconsider leaving a small tip
using the link in my show'sdescription.
Or if you'd rather, please usethe link in the description to
share this podcast with a friendor on your favorite homeschool
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Any effort to help us keep thepodcast going is greatly
appreciated.
Thank you for tuning in and foryour love of the next
(49:44):
generation.
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