March 7, 2025 • 45 mins
On this week's episode of The Rural Woman Podcast™, you'll meet Tina Gokstorp.
Tina Gokstorp, founder of Good Food Farms, is an award-winning entrepreneur dedicated to regenerative farming and creating socially responsible farm-to-table products. With a focus on high-quality pastured chicken items, she advocates for more women and diversity in agriculture leadership.
For full show notes, including links mentioned in the show, head over to wildrosefarmer.com/215
. . .
THIS WEEK’S DISCUSSIONS:
[08:14] - Navigating Family Dynamics
[11:02] - Transitioning from Hobby to Business Farming
[17:19] - Understanding Market Demands
[20:02] - Current Sales Strategies
[25:57] - The Need for Mentorship in Agriculture
[31:57] - Innovate Approaches to Value-Added Products
[37:49] - The Importance of Sustainability and Profitability
. . .
This week's episode is brought to you by: Advancing Women Conference
. . .
Let's get Social
Follow The Rural Woman Podcast on Social Media
Sign up to get email updates
Join our private Facebook group, The Rural Woman Podcast Community
Connect with Katelyn on Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest
. . .
Support the Show
Patreon | PayPal | Become a Show Sponsor
Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts | Take the Listener Survey
Screenshot this episode and share it on your socials!
Tag @TheRuralWomanPodcast + #TheRuralWomanPodcast
. . .
Meet the Team
Audio Editor | MixBär.
Patreon Executive Producers
Sarah R. | Happiness by The Acre
. . .
More with Katelyn
One on One Podcast Consulting | Learn More
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:37):
Hi, I'm Katelyn Duban and thisis the Rural Woman Podcast. I'm a
first generation farmer whomarried into agriculture. Born and
raised in a city, I was sounfamiliar with where my food came
from, but I was determined tofigure it out. Through my journey
into agriculture, I saw womenwho were strong but humble, often
(01:00):
taking a backseat. To me.These women were leaders who deserved
a seat at the table. I createdthe Rural Women Podcast to share
the voices of women in anindustry whose stories often went
untold. The ruralentrepreneurs who live and breathe
their work full of grit andpride. We come here to share our
(01:24):
stories, to be in communitywith each other, to be challenged
and inspired, but mostimportantly, importantly, to be celebrated
and to be heard. We may notall live farm, ranch or homestead
the same, but we are allconnected. We are rural women and
our stories are worthy ofbeing told. Hey everyone.
(01:53):
Welcome back to anotherepisode of the Rural Woman Podcast.
Today you'll meet Tina Gokstorming.
Tina, founder of Good FoodFarm, is an award winning entrepreneur
who's redefining regenerative.
Agriculture and farm to table products.
Tina's journey is nothingshort of inspiring. After a successful
(02:13):
career in telecommunications,she took a leap of faith into farming,
establishing a woman ownedoperation dedicated to.
High quality pastured chickenand sustainable food production.
In our conversation, Tinaopens up about.
The challenges of transforminga hobby farm into a thriving business,
the complexities of navigatingfamily dynamics in agriculture, and
(02:36):
why mentorship is a criticalpiece for new farmers. She's also
a passionate advocate fordiversity in ag leadership, pushing
for more women.
To have a seat at the table.
Whether you're a farmer, afood enthusiast, or someone dreaming
of making a big career shift,this episode is packed with insights
(02:57):
on resilience, sustainability,and building a business with purpose.
Without further ado, myfriends, let's get.
To this week's episode with Tina.
Tina, welcome to the RuralWoman Podcast. How are you today?
(03:17):
I'm great and thanks so muchfor having me. And I do want to just
take a second to thank you forthe work that you're doing because
I feel like I've beenlistening to this podcast as we're
kind of. As I'm kind ofbuilding this farm and developing
a vision and just hearingstories of other people who are struggling,
who are figuring it out, whoare not always getting it right.
(03:38):
It's been really meaningfulfor me, so thank you for that. So
I'm Tina Goxorp. I call myselfFarmer Tina. I have a woman owned
and managed farm to tablesocial enterprise focused on regenerative
farming practices. Ourproducts currently are focused around
our outdoor free range pasturechicken. But I mean, we are adding
to our products and I mean, wehave a vision for a larger product
(04:00):
offering down the road. Yeah,we're definitely passionate about
seeing more women in ownershipand leadership positions in the agriculture
sector because I think we havea lot to offer for sure.
Absolutely we do. I'm curious,were you born and raised in agriculture?
Is this a new career for you?
This is a new career. So Ifeel like I've always been an entrepreneur,
(04:21):
but I didn't always know it.My dad was raised in a farm in Sweden,
so that's where kind of thelast name comes from. And you know,
growing up in the city, Idefinitely thought farms were just
stinky. And I didn't enjoycoming out to visit any of his friends
who lived on farms. But as Igot older, you know, it just became
part of what we did. And whenwe would drive out in the country,
(04:42):
I did become a little curiousbecause dad would point out what
crops were in the fields andnow it's so second nature. But I
do remember those days of justnot being able to tell the difference
from one thing to another. I'dsay, is that corn? It's like, no,
that's soybeans. Or is thatcorn? No, that's wheat. So definitely
a city girl. And it took me along time to kind of fall in love
(05:05):
with agriculture and farming,but as kids we did, you know, pick
a lot of our own food. I mean,also don't. Didn't necessarily love
it, but, you know, we didn'thave a lot of money. So all the kids
would get hauled into thestation wagon. We go to the strawberry
fields and my dad would giveus the instructions, eat all you
can at the field becauseyou're not getting it when you get
(05:26):
home. And when you got home,you had to haul them and then they
got frozen and, you know,cherries and all that stuff we ate.
Mom canned and froze and. Andthat kind of got us through the year.
I love the young personperspective of farming when you're
on the outside and like yousaid, is that I would say hey. And
(05:47):
I'd laugh and point at a baleand say, hey. And it was straw. So
really my jokes were not thatfunny. Some people would say they're
still not funny. But havingthat curiosity and that exposure,
I think really kind of lookingback now, I think how silly it was
to not know what was going onaround us, Especially in proximity
to where I lived, to Farmingand agriculture. So I'm curious,
(06:10):
what was your professionbefore you came into farming?
So I did work in thetelecommunications sector. So I kind
of, I guess was fortunate whenI was pretty young that I got a job
with Rogers, which is a prettybig telecommunications company in
Canada, and just kind ofstayed there for a number of years
and did a few different thingsthere and learned a lot from that
(06:31):
experience and really valuedit. And then there came a point in
time where I just felt, Iguess in my 30s, where I felt like,
okay, I'm checking the boxes,you know, you've got a good salary
and all those things. But itjust didn't feel fulfilling. I did
go to India, take my yogateacher training, thinking that that
would kind of fill the itch orgive me a better sense of doing something
(06:53):
meaningful. And it did to adegree. But I still wanted to do
something different with my.So I, I went out on my own and did
some telecommunicationsconsulting, worked on some like deploying
new technologies. So did someinteresting things and then really
just I ended up selling myhouse in the city kind of unexpectedly.
(07:14):
I mean, I planned to sell it,but I really didn't think through
what I was going to do next.And when I sold my house, I realized
that I actually was having ahard time finding something in the
price range to replace it thatI was happy with. So I ended buying
like a for now house in asmall town outside of the city. So
I'm, I'm in the London area,which is, you know, two hours west
(07:37):
of Toronto. So moved into anarea northwest of London, into a
small town, into an olderhouse that I just completely renovated
and met a boy and he was afarmer and so I lived with him for
a little bit on his farm. AndI mean that relationship didn't last,
but I really did get thatsense of I like the space, I like
(07:58):
being outside. I've alwaysliked, you know, physical work. And
so that kind of started me onthat journey of agriculture and learning
a little bit more about it.And then from there dad and I bought
a farm together. So we boughtthe property that I have now. And
when I kind of decided tochange jobs. So I've been working
(08:23):
on a technology that was ownedby Motorola. Google had purchased
out Motorola. Theydiscontinued the technology product
that I was working on and Ikind of tried with other vendors
to make something work and itjust wasn't going to. So I ended
up working for a local farm.It was a potato farm and they worked
with retailers so like Metroand Food Basics and They didn't work
(08:46):
with Loblaws, but they did dosome work with Sobeys. So I learned
that was a huge crash coursein agriculture, and it definitely
opened my eyes to. There areso many possibilities in agriculture.
I mean, right now I understandwhy we segregate farmers into producers
(09:08):
and processors, but, I mean,it's an arbitrary decision. Like,
it makes sense in a lot ofways, but it also really isn't mandatory,
and I don't think it'snecessary. And I think we lose a
lot of value by doing that.
I love the eat, pray, love ofgoing to find yourself. And trust
me, I'm with you. I probablyhave thought about getting my yoga
(09:30):
teacher training more timesthan I will ever admit, because I
like you very much, like thebox checker. And in my story, you
know, I. I found the farmer, Iliked him, I married him. So that
was those boxes checked and,you know, had the career, had all
of these things, but still waslike, well, what am I missing here?
(09:51):
Like, what is it? That piece?For me, it was learning to drive
a tractor and never lookingback. But I. I totally get it. How
was it with, you know, yourdad? Obviously, you said he grew
up surrounded by agriculture.Not here, but, you know, coming to
Canada and being inagriculture to now being back in
(10:12):
agriculture with his daughterin a different way. What was that
transition like?
I mean, I think he. My dad isolder, so he is. I mean, I'm just
over 50 now, and he's justover 90. So he was. So when we bought
the farm, I think he was 73.So for him, I feel like. And, I mean,
(10:32):
I don't think everybody wouldagree, but I definitely feel like
it kept him really young. Imean, he did love having work to
do, and, you know, it just. Hewas active doing stuff. There was
so much to do. He had lotsgoing on, but we really operated
as a hobby farm. And I mean,it is a difficult story because it
didn't end well. So I have anumber of siblings, and as dad got
(10:56):
older and it became moredifficult just for me to manage,
kind of caring for him. And, Imean, I don't think it's an unusual
story that, you know, dad isan older guy. He comes from a different
generation where men make therules. And so it was hard for me
to do some of the things thatI wanted to do. And I mean, I guess
(11:17):
it's also a sad story for alot of farming families because farms
are worth a lot of money andit becomes really difficult to manage.
You know, who gets the farm.And how can that be done fairly?
And, I mean, I think it's. Ina lot of cases, it's not done fairly,
and in a lot of cases, itcan't be done fairly, and it creates
(11:39):
a lot of resentment. And Iactually don't think it's always
about the money. I think it'sabout all the stuff that money represents,
which is, you know, value andcontribution and love and affection.
But in my story, it didn't endwell. So I did buy the farm, but
I did. There is a separationin our family.
(12:02):
Thank you for sharing thatwith us. And I think it's important
that people share thosestories, regardless of how hard it
is. And you are not alone inthat. There are so many people that
I have spoken to on mic andoff mic about these stories, and
each family is so unique anddifferent. And you said it really
well. It's not just aboutmoney. It's about love. It's about
(12:26):
family. And, you know, it'stricky. And I have seen it go very
well for people, and I've seenit not go well for people. And I
think the thing that reallyties it in is the communication piece.
And sharing our stories of ifit went well is great. I want to
(12:47):
hear those stories, but alsosharing if it didn't go as planned.
So, again, thank you forsharing that.
Yeah, I mean, we need to talkabout it more. I totally agree. And
I know that Omafra has, like,a whole section on succession, and
I feel like. I think, youknow, they're trying to bring it
into the conversation, but Ithink for sure it's something we
(13:07):
have to talk about morebecause otherwise we don't have a
chance. Like, the futuregenerations don't have a chance when
they're trying to figure outhow to, you know, maintain a farm
that they want to keep intheir family or that they want the
next generation to kind oftake on, but they also, you know,
love their family and love allof their children. And I think if
(13:29):
we never have thoseconversations, it will never change.
Absolutely. So you hadmentioned that when you started this
farming operation, it was moreor less starting kind of as a hobby
farm. Take us through thatprogression to where it is today.
So, I mean, we had actually,when I was living with my boyfriend,
we had shown dad this propertybecause, I mean, it's not prime farmland.
(13:52):
It's in a really heavily, youknow, conservative farming area.
But it's. It has a creekrunning through it. I have. It has
what I call old creek bed. Soit has lowland and highland So I,
you know, in my imagination,that potentially is based on some
reality. You know, there was abig glacier river running through
the property. This is kind ofthe area where or close to where
(14:15):
the glaciers ended. And so Ithink that used to be an old, huge
river that was runningthrough. Now it's just a tiny little
stream. But there's that. Thatlow land area. There's. There's a
lot of, like, ravine or areasthat are treed or that have bush
on. Some of the plots are alittle hard to get to. There's like,
six different land plots. Soit's not prime agriculture. So I
(14:36):
did fall in love with theproperty and have always loved, you
know, walking around andenjoying all that nature has to offer
here. And so we had a farmerthat was renting the land that had
rented it before we purchasedthe property. Yeah. So it wasn't
prime farmland, and it wasrented out to a farmer. And then
(14:57):
I just have all. I've alwaysgardened, so I've always grown my
own food just because I thinkit tastes so much better. And for
whatever reason, probably partof my upbringing, I have always enjoyed,
like, fresh foods. I taste it.I notice the difference in terms
of flavor, and I love theconvenience of it. So I've had a
big garden, and then I juststarted doing some chickens. And
(15:18):
I think I've heard a couple ofyour guests say, like, that's the
gateway drug to livestock. Ihad a conversation with, you know,
a friend who is from a farmingfamily, and we were talking about
chickens, and he did say tome, I said, well, what. What am I
going to do with the chickensat work? And he says, well, they
don't know you're at work, sothey'll be fine. So, I mean, definitely
(15:39):
very green, but, you know, dadwas game for that. So we. We built
a little chicken coop. And Istarted out with, you know, six chickens
and loved it. Like, just afantastic experience. And I really
started to learn a lot aboutchickens. So that's kind of why we
went to chickens. I mean,chickens don't require a lot of infrastructure
(16:00):
upfront costs. I mean, they.You process them relatively quickly.
So when you're raisingchickens, you can see income coming
in, like, in a relativelyshort period of time relative to
some other livestock. So. Andjust because I was familiar with
them, that's kind of where Iwent to it. But, yeah, we started
it with six chickens. Youknow, it kind of grew over time.
(16:21):
I tried doing meat birds. Dadreally, it took him a little while
to understand why I wantedChickens to be on pasture. But when
we first started raising meatbirds, we slaughtered them ourselves.
So dad and I watched a YouTubevideo, and then, like, it's amazing
what you can learn on YouTube.And he was really impressed with
(16:41):
how much grass they wereeating. And he did. I don't know
that he ever acknowledged itverbally, but I do feel like he recognized
that there was a difference interms of flavor and quality. So he
stopped bothering me so muchabout that. And I was teaching yoga,
so I would sell eggs andchickens to yoga teachers. And then
when the conversation startedgetting pretty serious about transitioning
(17:05):
the farm, I mean, I wasn'tsure if it was going to work out,
But I knew if it was going towork out, I needed to figure out
how it was going to pay thebills. And so that's when I started
doing chickens. And so thefirst year, I think we did 600 chickens.
And I had a summer studentthat helped me. And I learned pretty
(17:25):
quickly that first summer thatthere was no way I was going to be
able to pay a mortgage on, youknow, selling pasture chicken products.
So we were selling at farmersmarkets, and what I really noticed
is we didn't just sellchickens, because I'm like, okay,
if I'm going to set up a boothat the farmer's market, what else
makes sense for me to sellthere? So we were selling some baked
goods, we were selling somequiche, we were selling a few other
(17:48):
things. And I just noticedthat, you know, if I was lucky, I'd
sell $200 worth of chickencuts. But I was selling, you know,
$100 worth of quiche, and, youknow, this much of that and this
much of that. And so it justbecame really clear to me that if
I was going to make it work,we needed to create value added products.
So I don't care what peoplesay, what they actually do is, you
(18:11):
know, what matters. So whatthey say they want to buy from you,
and what they actually do buy,I find are not always the same thing.
And so as much as people tellyou that they want, you know, real
ingredients from farmers, whatthey really want is convenience and
food from farmers. So thatwinter, I mean, I think we had over
100 chickens in the freezer.And I just thought, what am I going
(18:33):
to do with 100 whole chickensthat nobody's buying? We do raise
our chickens to maturity. Sothat also made it challenging. People
weren't used to the size ofour cuts. And so I had these hundred,
you know, seven, eight, ninepound chickens in the freezer, and
Just started figuring out,okay, take a chicken out, like testing
this, testing that. I had abunch of people over that first year
(18:55):
testing recipes and we wentwith the kebabs because I thought
they were really good use ofchicken breasts. They were something
that we could do on a largerscale. We created some recipes and
I mean, we've evolved ourrecipes since then based on what
sells and what doesn't sell.But that worked out really well.
I had one of those handgrinders. So, you know, we tried
(19:17):
that out. And so our productlineup now looks like we have six
different flavors of our premarinated kebabs. We have seasoned
chicken burgers, breakfastsausage patties, which are made from
the chicken gizzard, andthey're excellent. We do honey garlic
wings, bone broth soups,chicken pot pie. We still do our
quiche. We have a smokedchicken chili. I'm sure I'm missing
(19:37):
something because the productlist has been growing over time.
But I mean, definitely thismakes a difference. So what we could
sell in raw chicken justdoesn't even compare to what we sell
with the pre made items thatare made from real ingredients. Like
they're handmade, homemade,they taste handmade and homemade.
But people can just go homeand dinner's easy.
(19:59):
I, I love that you found thatcorrelation because it is 100% true.
Yes. I want fresh, local,delicious ingredients. I don't want
to cook it or think about whatam I going to make with all of these
things. I like convenience.
That's right. What I actuallywant is all the good things. What
(20:20):
I actually do is go to Costco.
Right, Guilty. Absolutely.Absolutely. So are you, are you still
solely selling at farmersmarkets or have you transitioned
into different ways ofmarketing your product?
I mean, we currently just sellat farmers market, so I mean, people
have asked us about an on farmstore and I tell people, yeah, we
(20:43):
definitely want to put an onfarm store. And fortunately those
cost money. We don't have anyof that. And I mean, lots of people
can tell you it doesn't costmuch money. And I tell them that
that's still money that Idon't have. So we're trying to. I
mean, I've learned this reallyearly too. Like we are bootstrapping.
I struggle. We don't have theequipment that we need. We can't
(21:03):
afford to do all the thingsthat we need to do, let alone the
things that we want to do. Soit's not easy, but it's getting better.
Like as we add new products toour product list, as we get more
Efficient with our processes.We see results. As I learn better
about, you know, how do weapproach the farmer's market strategy?
Like which markets work forus, which don't. That's really made
(21:26):
a difference. So we have plansto have a retail location with our
own commercial kitchen. Rightnow we don't right now, we just sell
it at farmers markets. Peoplehave, I think the first year I did
allow people to come to thefarm to pick up. But again, it's
one of those things where Ifeel like what people do and what
they say is different. And Ifeel like people don't understand
(21:47):
how hard we work. It's justme. So I don't have a spouse. And
so people say they're going tocome at a certain time and they don't.
Or people say they're going tocome and then they can't make it
that day. And I just cannotpack up meals and leave them linear
and a cooler while I'm awayfor eight hours. And then somebody
doesn't come pick them up. Sowe just stopped doing that and just
(22:08):
said, okay, well, we justcan't right now and we'll have to
figure it out later. So we areplanning to do an online store. We're
planning to do a retaillocation. But right now we strictly
sell at a farmer's marketsmarkets. And we continually change
our market strategy so wefocus on the markets at work and
then we try new markets toreplace ones that aren't working.
(22:31):
I don't know if I asked thisor not. When did you start selling
at farmers markets? Do youremember the year?
Yeah. So we started in 2021,and I didn't actually own the farm
then, so it was a little bitof a risk. Again, caused a little
bit of friction because I wasmaking decisions about using the
farm in a way that dad didn'tnecessarily agree with, but I felt
(22:52):
like, okay, well, either I'mgonna buy them out anyways or we're
gonna sell it and it's myinvestment and I'll just lose it.
So we started in 2021, andthen I bought the farm in 2022. And
so since then, I feel like wehaven't made as much progress as
I'd hope, just because, youknow, I'm just trying to pay that
(23:12):
big fat mortgage with, ofcourse, super high interest rates
that because I can't getconventional financing, which, I
mean, is something else. Ifany of your listeners have any suggestions,
we'd love to hear it. I mean,I'm in an excellent equity position,
but how do you start abusiness that in year one or year
two pays all the bills? Imean, it's just not realistic. So
(23:34):
we're making good progress. Ithink next year will be the year
where, you know, we'll. We'llkind of hit the targets and then
we can go to conventionallenders. But right now it's, you
know, private lenders andloans and all that fun stuff.
There are so many thingswrapped up in agriculture. And you've
just said them all, right?And, yeah, we've talked about it.
(23:55):
Like, you are a new farmer.How are you supposed to make a go
at it? And how are nextgeneration supposed to make a go
at it when there's, you know,little or no answers? If a person
new in agriculture doesn'thave the equity to get in, it is.
It's difficult. So findingthese places and spaces to talk about
(24:18):
this, I think, you know, is alittle therapeutic. Like you're talking
to the people who understandand who know. And, yeah, if anybody
can figure out how to make areal big profit after year two, let
everybody know, because weneed to know.
Well, if that were real,everybody would be doing it. I mean,
(24:39):
I think the thing that comesfrom my background in what I would
call, you know, my other lifeor that other world is that agriculture.
And this is my perspective.I'm not sure it's true or not, but
from my perspective, havinglived on the outside, it's like this
hidden, like, you know, thewizard of Oz. It's like everybody
(25:00):
goes to the grocery store andthere's just a curtain between the
rest of the world and whathappens in agriculture. And I understand
why. I mean, farmers are toobusy to do the education. It's not
our job. We don't getcompensated for it. So I can understand
why we don't do it. But also,if we want people to make different
decisions, we have to find away for this to be more available.
(25:24):
I mean, when you work intechnology or if you're an entrepreneur
in most other industries,there are incubators, there are support
programs. I mean, I can't eventell you how many mentors I had or,
you know, people that weconnected with through networking
that helped introduce us tonew business or all of those things
(25:48):
that just don't seem to existin farming. And I do understand why.
And I don't want to say, youknow, somebody should do this, because,
again, I mean, it's not thateasy. But I think it's important
for us, if we want to be moresuccessful, to look at other models
in other industries that areworking to help people kind of be
(26:10):
more successful. And yeah, Ithink, like, incubators, better networking,
better mentorship, you know,farmers selling to new farmers in
ways where instead of us,instead of me paying interest, tons
of interest to privateinvestors who have tons of money,
I would have much rather paidthat, these interest rates to, you
(26:31):
know, my family or to somebodywho could also provide me with a
little bit of help to, to makeit a little easier. And I think when
farmers are selling farms, Ithink, you know, there are ways that
they can do that, that boththe buyer and the seller would be
better off for it. But again,like, it, it's not so easy because
(26:51):
people need help figuring outthose systems and structures and.
And I'm not sure who would do that.
Right. And I love, I love thisconversation and the piece that I
want to focus on is thementorship piece of agriculture,
because either you have it oryou don't. And when people are like,
(27:13):
somewhere in the middle oflike, do I have a mentor? Do I not
have a mentor? And like yousaid, you understand why there's
things that aren't available,because who has the time to develop,
to implement, to do all ofthese things or to find what's already
out there? Because there, youknow, I. I am really lucky in that
(27:38):
I get to have conversationslike this and other conversations
with incredible women inagriculture who, you know, come from
different backgrounds, havedifferent perspectives, have different
networks. So when you havethose networks, then you're kind
of able to expand and be like,oh, well, I talk, talk to so and
so who talked to so and so.And they found a whole network of
people who want to invest inagriculture or X, Y and Z. But if
(28:03):
you are one person, how do youfind all of that? We come to podcasts,
we listen to things, or, youknow, you read the news if you have
the time. But it's exhaustingto always be on the lookout for what
is it going to take for me tomove to the next level. Whether it's,
you know, product development,whether it's going to a new market,
(28:25):
whether it's, you know,joining a board or any of those things.
All of those things take time.They take research and energy. And
I think it's safe to say thatfarmers might be some of the most
tired people I've ever comeencounter with.
Yeah, and it's discouraging,too. So I think it's hard when you.
I mean, I'm. I feel like I'mfortunate what I did learn from my
(28:46):
previous life Is, you know, nodoesn't really hurt my feelings that
much because If I get 100 no'sand I get one yes, do I really care?
But it's, I mean, it's, it isexhausting and it can be frustrating
to always hear no. And so Ican understand why, you know, do
it.
Yeah. I want to talk aboutsomething positive. Now that we've
(30:28):
just bummed everyone out.Let's talk about your customers and
your customer base. Obviously,you know, you have been growing over
the last few years and yourproducts are selling people like
what you are making.
So, yeah, I mean, the futuredoes feel bright, for sure. I mean,
I feel like I don't do a greatjob of connecting with customers.
(30:50):
We don't have a website yet. Ihaven't really connected with customers.
I mean, we kind of have takenin our market approaches. We're here
now. Like, I don't know whatI'm doing tomorrow, I don't know
what I'm doing next week, butI'm here now. And even though we've
been very poor about kind ofpromoting where we are, when people
show up and they buy our stuffand when they see, I mean, we see
(31:11):
people all the time say, oh,I've been looking for you. I'll take
10 of those things because Idon't know when I'm going to see
you next. So it's reallyexciting to hear that, you know,
what we thought would work isworking. I mean, the kebabs are just
fantastic. They're a great useof the product. I mean, it's a high
quality chicken. And then weput some really fun seasonings on
it. So that's a really nicedinner. I mean, I even love eating
(31:34):
those. We've had people buylike three or four packs of burgers
because they're like, youknow, these are the best chicken
burgers we've ever had. So weget lots of positive feedback. It's
super fun kind of creating newrecipes. I mean, every year I feel
like we solve a problem of,you know, last year we had a problem
with too much of this and thenwe solve that problem with a new
product. So that's reallyinteresting. I mean, we do have some
(31:57):
other fun things going on atthe farm. We're in the process of
building an off grid bunkie,so trying to focus on ecotourism,
which will also give us theopportunity to kind of sell some
of our products to people whoare staying at the farm, connecting
them with, you know, howdelicious fresh food tastes, all
those kinds of good things.Yeah, we're also in the process of
trying to develop a bit of afranchise business model for our
(32:20):
product. So we're still prettyearly. We're looking for probably
just two or three farms thatalready produce chicken that are
interested to try adding somevalue added products to their lineup
so that we can really create,I guess what our value proposition
is how successful farmers canbe adding these kinds of products
(32:40):
to their lineups. And I mean,I, I think I'm working with a consultant
who has a very similarmindset. You know, it's very focused
on regenerative farmingsustainability, creating an opportunity
for farmers to be successful.So we've already decided that, you
know, we're going to leavesome money on the table. It's not
going to cost an arm and aleg. We want farmers to be successful.
(33:00):
I mean, we have to becompensated for the work that we've
done, but it doesn't have tobe unreasonable. And then we think
there's a way to create kindof the seasoning and sauces in, in
bulk so that if you're gonnaadd these products to your lineup,
you'll just get all of thestuff that you need already made.
So if you're a small farm likeme, I mean, it's, it's exhausting
(33:23):
making all the products andthen also having to spend a day,
you know, putting together allthe, the recipes. So we think if
we buy products in largerscale, there's going to be enough
of a business case that itwon't really cost the farmers more
money for us to do it forthem, but it will make more sense
for us to do kind of largebatches of seasoning blends or sauces
(33:45):
or stuff like that.
I love this. And I could justgeek out about entrepreneurship and
franchising and all of thethings. Like we were chatting before
we hit record. We are allessentially small business owners.
Your small business, you know,could be thousands and thousands
of acres and have a hundredemployees, but, you know, you're
still a family farm doing allof this and like you had mentioned
(34:10):
before, figuring out what itis that you have and how are you
going to make it work for yourcustomers? What do your customers
want? You know, that takestime and money to develop and you're
figuring it out along the way.Wouldn't it be nice to just like
walk in somewhere and be like,hi, I would like my own business.
(34:31):
I have xyz, number ofchickens. How do I have a value added
product? And I don't knowwhere to start. Tina comes in and
says, hello, chicken farmer. Ihave you. Like, we have, you know,
the research, we have, theproduct development, we have all
of these things for you. Whyaren't more farmers doing this?
(34:52):
I mean, I think again, this iswhere, coming from that other world
where I just saw thishappening all the time, like, like
everybody can't recreate theworld. And we have, a lot of people
have suggested to us we shouldscale up. We should scale up and
become really big and do allof these things. And I feel like,
yeah, we could, except thatthat's not what I want for myself
(35:13):
in my life. And I feel likewhat is better to have one person
doing a lot of production orto have a hundred people all doing
a reasonable amount ofproduction and still we're all supp.
Supplying the market with theproducts and, you know, we're distributing
(35:34):
the wealth over multiple farmsand farm owners. I think all of those
things feel a lot better to meand I think it's going to be more
fun and just create morecommunity and do all of those good
things and, and give farmersstill some flexibility and to do
whatever else they do.
Yeah, what you just saidthere, Tina, that's like your eat,
Pray, love moment for farming,right? Like, no, I don't want to
(35:57):
have, you know, 10,000chickens out the door of my farm,
but I would like to be able tohave a life that provides me and
provides others with goodquality food.
Yeah. And just so that peopleunderstand, I mean, I think if you
haven't thought about doingvalue added products, I would highly
(36:17):
recommend doing it. So if youthink about the agriculture market,
producers don't get a lot ofthe money. I mean, if you look at
what, you know, the grainmarketing employees make, it's probably
more than most farmers make.And then if you look at what marketing
executives make for the peoplewho process the products into the
(36:40):
stuff that goes in the grocerystore shelf, for sure it's more than
what the farmers make and thenthe grocery store people also more
than what the farmers make. Sothere is, I mean, I've always given
examples of like Dole orCavendish Farms or all of these places
is that they are no longerfarmers. I mean, they maybe were
at some point in time theystopped being a farmer because they
(37:00):
could make more money justgetting somebody else to do the farming
for them and create the valueadded products. So I mean, in terms
of the profit margins that wemake, I mean, we charge a premium
for our products. So, youknow, we, let's say there's a, an
8 pound chicken, we wouldcharge like between 45 and $50 for
(37:20):
that if people were buying thewhole chicken. And when we make our
value added products, we canget almost $100 worth of products
from an 8 pound chicken. Imean, there's some additional costs
and there's some additionallabor in there, but I mean, the numbers
still work out to our benefitfor sure. So I think it makes sense
for farmers to start thinkingabout, you know, where their products
(37:44):
go, who's using them, whatconsumers want and can they, you
know, add some value on theirend to retain some of the, the benefit
that they're giving away to alot of other people?
Yeah, absolutely. I want totalk about your community and we
talked about your customers.You had mentioned that you are, you
(38:06):
know, having or building theinfrastructure now to have your community
come to your farm and do thestays and all of that. What is that
going to mean to you assomebody who came from a city background
to being able to offer that tothe other city dwellers?
(38:27):
I mean, it's a super funproject. I feel like, you know, I
don't know how you feel, butthis is the time of year where I
just kind of, it's like I'mdone. It's like my tank is empty
and I don't know how I made itthrough and there's still a lot to
do. And just knowing that, youknow, this is a fun project for me,
it does help to fill my tankup. I mean, I think just having people
(38:49):
come and see what I love aboutthis lifestyle is exciting. It's
also going to mean a lot forus financially for sure. I mean,
it's going to be a significantsource. I mean, the hope is it's
going to be a significantsource of revenue for us. It's going
to help create more awarenessabout our products so I don't have
to go. I mean, my schedule is,is ridiculous. It's, you know, during
(39:12):
the summer season if I'm luckyto get four or five hours of sleep
a night, seven days a week, Imean, that's a good week. So just
being able to be home a littlebit more and not having to race around
and that's going to be reallyfun. Hopefully. One other thing we
want to create at the farm isa market garden, which we don't have
yet. We just don't have theresources for it. I'm already thinking
(39:35):
about succession. Like I dowant to try and bring somebody else
into the farm that one day canbuy it out over time in a way that's
affordable and feasible. Soall of those things are super fun
and exciting. And I feel likeI've lived through the worst of it.
Like, the first years werepainful. It was emotional because
of the family separation andjust the, you know, the amount of
(39:57):
money that I had to try andcome up with every month was debilitating.
But as we progressed, youknow, we're seeing progress and it's,
it's super fun. And I mean, Ilove the foods that we're creating.
I'm so proud of them. They'redelicious, they're nutritious, they're
made from real ingredients. Imean, we can, we can produce a ton
of foods and, you know, wetake out one bag of garbage because
(40:20):
everything is, you know, notpackaged and made from real foods
and all that good stuff. Sothat's definitely meaningful for
me.
Yeah. And I love what you saidabout, you know, kind of at that
either, you know, the end of agrowing season or the end of whatever
season that you're in and, youknow, if you have something to look
forward to in that quieterseason or that new season, it's still
(40:44):
work. Like, I'm still sittinghere working today, but this is really
good work and this is the goodstuff that makes me want to work
hard in agriculture and infarming. So we can amplify your story
and the other stories of womenin agriculture, and it's still a
job, but when you havesomething that you know is fulfilling
(41:06):
in a different way, it's notwork. You just sit down having a
conversation with agirlfriend. So.
And I think, I think farmersneed more of that. They need more
fun work because they haveenough hard, painful work.
We have enough.
Yeah.
In all aspects.
That's right. Literally and figuratively.
Absolutely. Is there anythingthat we left out?
(41:28):
I mean, the only other thing Ican think of that is, is a really
fun part of my job is we are asmall breeder of puppies. So we have
some Red Fox Labs, which are aspectacular, you know, red headed
lab. And that's something thatdefinitely fills my cup. I mean,
on a hard day, if you cancuddle a puppy, that's pretty great.
And we do a limited amount ofbreeding. Like, it's not my, my main
(41:52):
focus. But again, it's likethe income that the puppies bring
in is shockingly differentcompared to how much effort I put
into chicken and how littlemoney we make from that. But. But
yeah, so we do a little bit ofthat and it's so fun.
So you buried the lead, Tina.This could have been the whole podcast.
(42:15):
Yeah, they're the best. Best.
I love that. Honestly, fourlegged anything on a farm like, and
if you can have multiple ofanything, you know, that's, that's
living to me. So.
Yeah, well, I mean we're,we're in a position where everybody
has to pull their weight. Soif you want the privilege of living
on this property, everybody'sgot to contribute. And so we, we
limit the breeding. But it'sso fun.
(42:37):
Yeah, so fun. Tina, I feellike I've asked you this question,
but if there's anything toreally add to it, my last question
for you is what is the mostrewarding part about being a rural
woman for you?
Oh, that's a great question. Imean I'm not a fan of singular, a
(42:57):
singular focus. I mean, Idon't know if it's my personality
or what, but I feel likethere's no one thing. But I think
it's the combination of, ofthe things that does it for me. I
mean I love the outdoors and Iknow in my old life it's easy to
get caught up in working inthe office and being in the house
and being in the car andforgetting to be outside. So I love
(43:17):
that part of the work. I dolove the physical work. I mean some
days I wish it was lessphysical, but that really matters
to me that I go outside and Ido really good work with my body.
I mean I do love animals somedays more than others, but they are
just a gift and that's superfun. I do love, you know, creating
(43:40):
real foods. I really. Whatdefinitely is, keeps me going is
there's so many possibilities,there's so much to learn. You know,
we're trying to focus onsustainability and regenerative farming
and that's just a whole,that'll be a lifetime of learning
about all of those kinds ofthings. So that, that definitely
is fun for me too.
All of the good things aboutfarming. All of the good things,
(44:03):
things that is so good and ithonestly when you say those things
and I think I'm just as guiltyof this, I don't spend enough time
thinking about the good thingsversus all of the things that could
go wrong, have gone wrong andthat I haven't even thought of could
go wrong yet.
So.
Well, and I think the otherthing that we should probably mention
(44:25):
that makes a lot of sense isthe good people. I mean I feel like
farming people, they justdon't get caught up, up in the things,
the non, what I would call nonimportant things. And when you meet
a farmer, like they get it.Like we all struggle and life is
hard and we need to look outfor each other and lift each other
up. And so I feel like thepeople you meet that do farming like
(44:48):
these are good people for sure.
I agree. And you're one ofthem. Tina, thank you for sharing
your story with us today.I've. It's been a pleasure getting
to know you. For the listenerswho would like to connect with you
online, where can they find you?
So we're working on ourwebsite, but the domain is goodfoodfarms.
(45:09):
Ca. Although maybe just checkthe show notes to make sure I got
that right. The best place toreach me at this point in time is
our Facebook page, which isvisitgfarms. Yeah. And I mean, we're
transitioning to Good FoodFarms. Eventually that will be our
business, this operating name,but for now we're GF Farms. And we're
(45:29):
also GF Farms on Instagram,although I don't use Instagram as
much at this point in time.
Good. And we will link all ofthose in the show notes so people
can find you and connect withyou. And for the local people, go
get some chicken because nowI'm hungry. Yeah.
We do a lot of Torontomarkets. When we get our website
up and for next year's marketschedule, we're going to do a better
(45:51):
job of creating the schedulein advance, having some consistency
so you can find us in like St.Thomas, we do the Comoka Market,
St. Thomas, Mississauga, we doBronte, which is in Oakville. Yeah,
we do a bunch of markets.Quite a few.
So good. So good. Thank youagain so much for sharing your story
with us, Tina. I reallyappreciate it.
(46:12):
Thanks again. Have a wonderful day.
Thanks for listening to theRural Woman Podcast. The Rural Woman
Podcast is more than just apodcast. We are a community. A huge
thank you to the Rural WomanPodcast team, Audio editor Max Hofer.
(46:33):
A special thanks to ourPatreon executive producers, Sarah
Riedner from Happiness by theAcre and Carrie Munven from Blaestone
Farms. To learn how you cancan become a Patreon Executive producer
or other ways to financiallysupport the show, head on over to
wildrosefarmer.com to learnmore. Be sure to hit the follow or
(46:55):
subscribe button wherever youlisten to the podcast to get the
latest episodes directly onyour playlist. And if you are loving
the show, please be sure toleave a rating and review on Apple
Podcast or any other platformthat accepts ratings and reviews.
You can connect with us onsocial media, the Worldwoman Podcast
(47:16):
and with MeldroseFarmer one ofthe best ways you can support the
show is by sharing it. Sendthis episode to a friend or share
on your social media. Let'sstrengthen and amplify the voices
of women in agriculturetogether. Until next time my friend.
Keep sharing. Sharing your story.
Hi, I'm Katelyn Duban and thisis the Rural Woman Podcast. I'm a
first generation farmer whomarried into agriculture. Born and
raised in a city, I was sounfamiliar with where my food came
from, but I was determined tofigure it out. Through my journey
into agriculture, I saw womenwho were strong but humble, often
(01:00):
taking a backseat. To me.These women were leaders who deserved
a seat at the table. I createdthe Rural Women Podcast to share
the voices of women in anindustry whose stories often went
untold. The ruralentrepreneurs who live and breathe
their work full of grit andpride. We come here to share our
(01:24):
stories, to be in communitywith each other, to be challenged
and inspired, but mostimportantly, importantly, to be celebrated
and to be heard. We may notall live farm, ranch or homestead
the same, but we are allconnected. We are rural women and
our stories are worthy ofbeing told. Hey everyone.
(01:53):
Welcome back to anotherepisode of the Rural Woman Podcast.
Today you'll meet Tina Gokstorming.
Tina, founder of Good FoodFarm, is an award winning entrepreneur
who's redefining regenerative.
Agriculture and farm to table products.
Tina's journey is nothingshort of inspiring. After a successful
(02:13):
career in telecommunications,she took a leap of faith into farming,
establishing a woman ownedoperation dedicated to.
High quality pastured chickenand sustainable food production.
In our conversation, Tinaopens up about.
The challenges of transforminga hobby farm into a thriving business,
the complexities of navigatingfamily dynamics in agriculture, and
(02:36):
why mentorship is a criticalpiece for new farmers. She's also
a passionate advocate fordiversity in ag leadership, pushing
for more women.
To have a seat at the table.
Whether you're a farmer, afood enthusiast, or someone dreaming
of making a big career shift,this episode is packed with insights
(02:57):
on resilience, sustainability,and building a business with purpose.
Without further ado, myfriends, let's get.
To this week's episode with Tina.
Tina, welcome to the RuralWoman Podcast. How are you today?
(03:17):
I'm great and thanks so muchfor having me. And I do want to just
take a second to thank you forthe work that you're doing because
I feel like I've beenlistening to this podcast as we're
kind of. As I'm kind ofbuilding this farm and developing
a vision and just hearingstories of other people who are struggling,
who are figuring it out, whoare not always getting it right.
(03:38):
It's been really meaningfulfor me, so thank you for that. So
I'm Tina Goxorp. I call myselfFarmer Tina. I have a woman owned
and managed farm to tablesocial enterprise focused on regenerative
farming practices. Ourproducts currently are focused around
our outdoor free range pasturechicken. But I mean, we are adding
to our products and I mean, wehave a vision for a larger product
(04:00):
offering down the road. Yeah,we're definitely passionate about
seeing more women in ownershipand leadership positions in the agriculture
sector because I think we havea lot to offer for sure.
Absolutely we do. I'm curious,were you born and raised in agriculture?
Is this a new career for you?
This is a new career. So Ifeel like I've always been an entrepreneur,
(04:21):
but I didn't always know it.My dad was raised in a farm in Sweden,
so that's where kind of thelast name comes from. And you know,
growing up in the city, Idefinitely thought farms were just
stinky. And I didn't enjoycoming out to visit any of his friends
who lived on farms. But as Igot older, you know, it just became
part of what we did. And whenwe would drive out in the country,
(04:42):
I did become a little curiousbecause dad would point out what
crops were in the fields andnow it's so second nature. But I
do remember those days of justnot being able to tell the difference
from one thing to another. I'dsay, is that corn? It's like, no,
that's soybeans. Or is thatcorn? No, that's wheat. So definitely
a city girl. And it took me along time to kind of fall in love
(05:05):
with agriculture and farming,but as kids we did, you know, pick
a lot of our own food. I mean,also don't. Didn't necessarily love
it, but, you know, we didn'thave a lot of money. So all the kids
would get hauled into thestation wagon. We go to the strawberry
fields and my dad would giveus the instructions, eat all you
can at the field becauseyou're not getting it when you get
(05:26):
home. And when you got home,you had to haul them and then they
got frozen and, you know,cherries and all that stuff we ate.
Mom canned and froze and. Andthat kind of got us through the year.
I love the young personperspective of farming when you're
on the outside and like yousaid, is that I would say hey. And
(05:47):
I'd laugh and point at a baleand say, hey. And it was straw. So
really my jokes were not thatfunny. Some people would say they're
still not funny. But havingthat curiosity and that exposure,
I think really kind of lookingback now, I think how silly it was
to not know what was going onaround us, Especially in proximity
to where I lived, to Farmingand agriculture. So I'm curious,
(06:10):
what was your professionbefore you came into farming?
So I did work in thetelecommunications sector. So I kind
of, I guess was fortunate whenI was pretty young that I got a job
with Rogers, which is a prettybig telecommunications company in
Canada, and just kind ofstayed there for a number of years
and did a few different thingsthere and learned a lot from that
(06:31):
experience and really valuedit. And then there came a point in
time where I just felt, Iguess in my 30s, where I felt like,
okay, I'm checking the boxes,you know, you've got a good salary
and all those things. But itjust didn't feel fulfilling. I did
go to India, take my yogateacher training, thinking that that
would kind of fill the itch orgive me a better sense of doing something
(06:53):
meaningful. And it did to adegree. But I still wanted to do
something different with my.So I, I went out on my own and did
some telecommunicationsconsulting, worked on some like deploying
new technologies. So did someinteresting things and then really
just I ended up selling myhouse in the city kind of unexpectedly.
(07:14):
I mean, I planned to sell it,but I really didn't think through
what I was going to do next.And when I sold my house, I realized
that I actually was having ahard time finding something in the
price range to replace it thatI was happy with. So I ended buying
like a for now house in asmall town outside of the city. So
I'm, I'm in the London area,which is, you know, two hours west
(07:37):
of Toronto. So moved into anarea northwest of London, into a
small town, into an olderhouse that I just completely renovated
and met a boy and he was afarmer and so I lived with him for
a little bit on his farm. AndI mean that relationship didn't last,
but I really did get thatsense of I like the space, I like
(07:58):
being outside. I've alwaysliked, you know, physical work. And
so that kind of started me onthat journey of agriculture and learning
a little bit more about it.And then from there dad and I bought
a farm together. So we boughtthe property that I have now. And
when I kind of decided tochange jobs. So I've been working
(08:23):
on a technology that was ownedby Motorola. Google had purchased
out Motorola. Theydiscontinued the technology product
that I was working on and Ikind of tried with other vendors
to make something work and itjust wasn't going to. So I ended
up working for a local farm.It was a potato farm and they worked
with retailers so like Metroand Food Basics and They didn't work
(08:46):
with Loblaws, but they did dosome work with Sobeys. So I learned
that was a huge crash coursein agriculture, and it definitely
opened my eyes to. There areso many possibilities in agriculture.
I mean, right now I understandwhy we segregate farmers into producers
(09:08):
and processors, but, I mean,it's an arbitrary decision. Like,
it makes sense in a lot ofways, but it also really isn't mandatory,
and I don't think it'snecessary. And I think we lose a
lot of value by doing that.
I love the eat, pray, love ofgoing to find yourself. And trust
me, I'm with you. I probablyhave thought about getting my yoga
(09:30):
teacher training more timesthan I will ever admit, because I
like you very much, like thebox checker. And in my story, you
know, I. I found the farmer, Iliked him, I married him. So that
was those boxes checked and,you know, had the career, had all
of these things, but still waslike, well, what am I missing here?
(09:51):
Like, what is it? That piece?For me, it was learning to drive
a tractor and never lookingback. But I. I totally get it. How
was it with, you know, yourdad? Obviously, you said he grew
up surrounded by agriculture.Not here, but, you know, coming to
Canada and being inagriculture to now being back in
(10:12):
agriculture with his daughterin a different way. What was that
transition like?
I mean, I think he. My dad isolder, so he is. I mean, I'm just
over 50 now, and he's justover 90. So he was. So when we bought
the farm, I think he was 73.So for him, I feel like. And, I mean,
(10:32):
I don't think everybody wouldagree, but I definitely feel like
it kept him really young. Imean, he did love having work to
do, and, you know, it just. Hewas active doing stuff. There was
so much to do. He had lotsgoing on, but we really operated
as a hobby farm. And I mean,it is a difficult story because it
didn't end well. So I have anumber of siblings, and as dad got
(10:56):
older and it became moredifficult just for me to manage,
kind of caring for him. And, Imean, I don't think it's an unusual
story that, you know, dad isan older guy. He comes from a different
generation where men make therules. And so it was hard for me
to do some of the things thatI wanted to do. And I mean, I guess
(11:17):
it's also a sad story for alot of farming families because farms
are worth a lot of money andit becomes really difficult to manage.
You know, who gets the farm.And how can that be done fairly?
And, I mean, I think it's. Ina lot of cases, it's not done fairly,
and in a lot of cases, itcan't be done fairly, and it creates
(11:39):
a lot of resentment. And Iactually don't think it's always
about the money. I think it'sabout all the stuff that money represents,
which is, you know, value andcontribution and love and affection.
But in my story, it didn't endwell. So I did buy the farm, but
I did. There is a separationin our family.
(12:02):
Thank you for sharing thatwith us. And I think it's important
that people share thosestories, regardless of how hard it
is. And you are not alone inthat. There are so many people that
I have spoken to on mic andoff mic about these stories, and
each family is so unique anddifferent. And you said it really
well. It's not just aboutmoney. It's about love. It's about
(12:26):
family. And, you know, it'stricky. And I have seen it go very
well for people, and I've seenit not go well for people. And I
think the thing that reallyties it in is the communication piece.
And sharing our stories of ifit went well is great. I want to
(12:47):
hear those stories, but alsosharing if it didn't go as planned.
So, again, thank you forsharing that.
Yeah, I mean, we need to talkabout it more. I totally agree. And
I know that Omafra has, like,a whole section on succession, and
I feel like. I think, youknow, they're trying to bring it
into the conversation, but Ithink for sure it's something we
(13:07):
have to talk about morebecause otherwise we don't have a
chance. Like, the futuregenerations don't have a chance when
they're trying to figure outhow to, you know, maintain a farm
that they want to keep intheir family or that they want the
next generation to kind oftake on, but they also, you know,
love their family and love allof their children. And I think if
(13:29):
we never have thoseconversations, it will never change.
Absolutely. So you hadmentioned that when you started this
farming operation, it was moreor less starting kind of as a hobby
farm. Take us through thatprogression to where it is today.
So, I mean, we had actually,when I was living with my boyfriend,
we had shown dad this propertybecause, I mean, it's not prime farmland.
(13:52):
It's in a really heavily, youknow, conservative farming area.
But it's. It has a creekrunning through it. I have. It has
what I call old creek bed. Soit has lowland and highland So I,
you know, in my imagination,that potentially is based on some
reality. You know, there was abig glacier river running through
the property. This is kind ofthe area where or close to where
(14:15):
the glaciers ended. And so Ithink that used to be an old, huge
river that was runningthrough. Now it's just a tiny little
stream. But there's that. Thatlow land area. There's. There's a
lot of, like, ravine or areasthat are treed or that have bush
on. Some of the plots are alittle hard to get to. There's like,
six different land plots. Soit's not prime agriculture. So I
(14:36):
did fall in love with theproperty and have always loved, you
know, walking around andenjoying all that nature has to offer
here. And so we had a farmerthat was renting the land that had
rented it before we purchasedthe property. Yeah. So it wasn't
prime farmland, and it wasrented out to a farmer. And then
(14:57):
I just have all. I've alwaysgardened, so I've always grown my
own food just because I thinkit tastes so much better. And for
whatever reason, probably partof my upbringing, I have always enjoyed,
like, fresh foods. I taste it.I notice the difference in terms
of flavor, and I love theconvenience of it. So I've had a
big garden, and then I juststarted doing some chickens. And
(15:18):
I think I've heard a couple ofyour guests say, like, that's the
gateway drug to livestock. Ihad a conversation with, you know,
a friend who is from a farmingfamily, and we were talking about
chickens, and he did say tome, I said, well, what. What am I
going to do with the chickensat work? And he says, well, they
don't know you're at work, sothey'll be fine. So, I mean, definitely
(15:39):
very green, but, you know, dadwas game for that. So we. We built
a little chicken coop. And Istarted out with, you know, six chickens
and loved it. Like, just afantastic experience. And I really
started to learn a lot aboutchickens. So that's kind of why we
went to chickens. I mean,chickens don't require a lot of infrastructure
(16:00):
upfront costs. I mean, they.You process them relatively quickly.
So when you're raisingchickens, you can see income coming
in, like, in a relativelyshort period of time relative to
some other livestock. So. Andjust because I was familiar with
them, that's kind of where Iwent to it. But, yeah, we started
it with six chickens. Youknow, it kind of grew over time.
(16:21):
I tried doing meat birds. Dadreally, it took him a little while
to understand why I wantedChickens to be on pasture. But when
we first started raising meatbirds, we slaughtered them ourselves.
So dad and I watched a YouTubevideo, and then, like, it's amazing
what you can learn on YouTube.And he was really impressed with
(16:41):
how much grass they wereeating. And he did. I don't know
that he ever acknowledged itverbally, but I do feel like he recognized
that there was a difference interms of flavor and quality. So he
stopped bothering me so muchabout that. And I was teaching yoga,
so I would sell eggs andchickens to yoga teachers. And then
when the conversation startedgetting pretty serious about transitioning
(17:05):
the farm, I mean, I wasn'tsure if it was going to work out,
But I knew if it was going towork out, I needed to figure out
how it was going to pay thebills. And so that's when I started
doing chickens. And so thefirst year, I think we did 600 chickens.
And I had a summer studentthat helped me. And I learned pretty
(17:25):
quickly that first summer thatthere was no way I was going to be
able to pay a mortgage on, youknow, selling pasture chicken products.
So we were selling at farmersmarkets, and what I really noticed
is we didn't just sellchickens, because I'm like, okay,
if I'm going to set up a boothat the farmer's market, what else
makes sense for me to sellthere? So we were selling some baked
goods, we were selling somequiche, we were selling a few other
(17:48):
things. And I just noticedthat, you know, if I was lucky, I'd
sell $200 worth of chickencuts. But I was selling, you know,
$100 worth of quiche, and, youknow, this much of that and this
much of that. And so it justbecame really clear to me that if
I was going to make it work,we needed to create value added products.
So I don't care what peoplesay, what they actually do is, you
(18:11):
know, what matters. So whatthey say they want to buy from you,
and what they actually do buy,I find are not always the same thing.
And so as much as people tellyou that they want, you know, real
ingredients from farmers, whatthey really want is convenience and
food from farmers. So thatwinter, I mean, I think we had over
100 chickens in the freezer.And I just thought, what am I going
(18:33):
to do with 100 whole chickensthat nobody's buying? We do raise
our chickens to maturity. Sothat also made it challenging. People
weren't used to the size ofour cuts. And so I had these hundred,
you know, seven, eight, ninepound chickens in the freezer, and
Just started figuring out,okay, take a chicken out, like testing
this, testing that. I had abunch of people over that first year
(18:55):
testing recipes and we wentwith the kebabs because I thought
they were really good use ofchicken breasts. They were something
that we could do on a largerscale. We created some recipes and
I mean, we've evolved ourrecipes since then based on what
sells and what doesn't sell.But that worked out really well.
I had one of those handgrinders. So, you know, we tried
(19:17):
that out. And so our productlineup now looks like we have six
different flavors of our premarinated kebabs. We have seasoned
chicken burgers, breakfastsausage patties, which are made from
the chicken gizzard, andthey're excellent. We do honey garlic
wings, bone broth soups,chicken pot pie. We still do our
quiche. We have a smokedchicken chili. I'm sure I'm missing
(19:37):
something because the productlist has been growing over time.
But I mean, definitely thismakes a difference. So what we could
sell in raw chicken justdoesn't even compare to what we sell
with the pre made items thatare made from real ingredients. Like
they're handmade, homemade,they taste handmade and homemade.
But people can just go homeand dinner's easy.
(19:59):
I, I love that you found thatcorrelation because it is 100% true.
Yes. I want fresh, local,delicious ingredients. I don't want
to cook it or think about whatam I going to make with all of these
things. I like convenience.
That's right. What I actuallywant is all the good things. What
(20:20):
I actually do is go to Costco.
Right, Guilty. Absolutely.Absolutely. So are you, are you still
solely selling at farmersmarkets or have you transitioned
into different ways ofmarketing your product?
I mean, we currently just sellat farmers market, so I mean, people
have asked us about an on farmstore and I tell people, yeah, we
(20:43):
definitely want to put an onfarm store. And fortunately those
cost money. We don't have anyof that. And I mean, lots of people
can tell you it doesn't costmuch money. And I tell them that
that's still money that Idon't have. So we're trying to. I
mean, I've learned this reallyearly too. Like we are bootstrapping.
I struggle. We don't have theequipment that we need. We can't
(21:03):
afford to do all the thingsthat we need to do, let alone the
things that we want to do. Soit's not easy, but it's getting better.
Like as we add new products toour product list, as we get more
Efficient with our processes.We see results. As I learn better
about, you know, how do weapproach the farmer's market strategy?
Like which markets work forus, which don't. That's really made
(21:26):
a difference. So we have plansto have a retail location with our
own commercial kitchen. Rightnow we don't right now, we just sell
it at farmers markets. Peoplehave, I think the first year I did
allow people to come to thefarm to pick up. But again, it's
one of those things where Ifeel like what people do and what
they say is different. And Ifeel like people don't understand
(21:47):
how hard we work. It's justme. So I don't have a spouse. And
so people say they're going tocome at a certain time and they don't.
Or people say they're going tocome and then they can't make it
that day. And I just cannotpack up meals and leave them linear
and a cooler while I'm awayfor eight hours. And then somebody
doesn't come pick them up. Sowe just stopped doing that and just
(22:08):
said, okay, well, we justcan't right now and we'll have to
figure it out later. So we areplanning to do an online store. We're
planning to do a retaillocation. But right now we strictly
sell at a farmer's marketsmarkets. And we continually change
our market strategy so wefocus on the markets at work and
then we try new markets toreplace ones that aren't working.
(22:31):
I don't know if I asked thisor not. When did you start selling
at farmers markets? Do youremember the year?
Yeah. So we started in 2021,and I didn't actually own the farm
then, so it was a little bitof a risk. Again, caused a little
bit of friction because I wasmaking decisions about using the
farm in a way that dad didn'tnecessarily agree with, but I felt
(22:52):
like, okay, well, either I'mgonna buy them out anyways or we're
gonna sell it and it's myinvestment and I'll just lose it.
So we started in 2021, andthen I bought the farm in 2022. And
so since then, I feel like wehaven't made as much progress as
I'd hope, just because, youknow, I'm just trying to pay that
(23:12):
big fat mortgage with, ofcourse, super high interest rates
that because I can't getconventional financing, which, I
mean, is something else. Ifany of your listeners have any suggestions,
we'd love to hear it. I mean,I'm in an excellent equity position,
but how do you start abusiness that in year one or year
two pays all the bills? Imean, it's just not realistic. So
(23:34):
we're making good progress. Ithink next year will be the year
where, you know, we'll. We'llkind of hit the targets and then
we can go to conventionallenders. But right now it's, you
know, private lenders andloans and all that fun stuff.
There are so many thingswrapped up in agriculture. And you've
just said them all, right?And, yeah, we've talked about it.
(23:55):
Like, you are a new farmer.How are you supposed to make a go
at it? And how are nextgeneration supposed to make a go
at it when there's, you know,little or no answers? If a person
new in agriculture doesn'thave the equity to get in, it is.
It's difficult. So findingthese places and spaces to talk about
(24:18):
this, I think, you know, is alittle therapeutic. Like you're talking
to the people who understandand who know. And, yeah, if anybody
can figure out how to make areal big profit after year two, let
everybody know, because weneed to know.
Well, if that were real,everybody would be doing it. I mean,
(24:39):
I think the thing that comesfrom my background in what I would
call, you know, my other lifeor that other world is that agriculture.
And this is my perspective.I'm not sure it's true or not, but
from my perspective, havinglived on the outside, it's like this
hidden, like, you know, thewizard of Oz. It's like everybody
(25:00):
goes to the grocery store andthere's just a curtain between the
rest of the world and whathappens in agriculture. And I understand
why. I mean, farmers are toobusy to do the education. It's not
our job. We don't getcompensated for it. So I can understand
why we don't do it. But also,if we want people to make different
decisions, we have to find away for this to be more available.
(25:24):
I mean, when you work intechnology or if you're an entrepreneur
in most other industries,there are incubators, there are support
programs. I mean, I can't eventell you how many mentors I had or,
you know, people that weconnected with through networking
that helped introduce us tonew business or all of those things
(25:48):
that just don't seem to existin farming. And I do understand why.
And I don't want to say, youknow, somebody should do this, because,
again, I mean, it's not thateasy. But I think it's important
for us, if we want to be moresuccessful, to look at other models
in other industries that areworking to help people kind of be
(26:10):
more successful. And yeah, Ithink, like, incubators, better networking,
better mentorship, you know,farmers selling to new farmers in
ways where instead of us,instead of me paying interest, tons
of interest to privateinvestors who have tons of money,
I would have much rather paidthat, these interest rates to, you
(26:31):
know, my family or to somebodywho could also provide me with a
little bit of help to, to makeit a little easier. And I think when
farmers are selling farms, Ithink, you know, there are ways that
they can do that, that boththe buyer and the seller would be
better off for it. But again,like, it, it's not so easy because
(26:51):
people need help figuring outthose systems and structures and.
And I'm not sure who would do that.
Right. And I love, I love thisconversation and the piece that I
want to focus on is thementorship piece of agriculture,
because either you have it oryou don't. And when people are like,
(27:13):
somewhere in the middle oflike, do I have a mentor? Do I not
have a mentor? And like yousaid, you understand why there's
things that aren't available,because who has the time to develop,
to implement, to do all ofthese things or to find what's already
out there? Because there, youknow, I. I am really lucky in that
(27:38):
I get to have conversationslike this and other conversations
with incredible women inagriculture who, you know, come from
different backgrounds, havedifferent perspectives, have different
networks. So when you havethose networks, then you're kind
of able to expand and be like,oh, well, I talk, talk to so and
so who talked to so and so.And they found a whole network of
people who want to invest inagriculture or X, Y and Z. But if
(28:03):
you are one person, how do youfind all of that? We come to podcasts,
we listen to things, or, youknow, you read the news if you have
the time. But it's exhaustingto always be on the lookout for what
is it going to take for me tomove to the next level. Whether it's,
you know, product development,whether it's going to a new market,
(28:25):
whether it's, you know,joining a board or any of those things.
All of those things take time.They take research and energy. And
I think it's safe to say thatfarmers might be some of the most
tired people I've ever comeencounter with.
Yeah, and it's discouraging,too. So I think it's hard when you.
I mean, I'm. I feel like I'mfortunate what I did learn from my
(28:46):
previous life Is, you know, nodoesn't really hurt my feelings that
much because If I get 100 no'sand I get one yes, do I really care?
But it's, I mean, it's, it isexhausting and it can be frustrating
to always hear no. And so Ican understand why, you know, do
it.
Yeah. I want to talk aboutsomething positive. Now that we've
(30:28):
just bummed everyone out.Let's talk about your customers and
your customer base. Obviously,you know, you have been growing over
the last few years and yourproducts are selling people like
what you are making.
So, yeah, I mean, the futuredoes feel bright, for sure. I mean,
I feel like I don't do a greatjob of connecting with customers.
(30:50):
We don't have a website yet. Ihaven't really connected with customers.
I mean, we kind of have takenin our market approaches. We're here
now. Like, I don't know whatI'm doing tomorrow, I don't know
what I'm doing next week, butI'm here now. And even though we've
been very poor about kind ofpromoting where we are, when people
show up and they buy our stuffand when they see, I mean, we see
(31:11):
people all the time say, oh,I've been looking for you. I'll take
10 of those things because Idon't know when I'm going to see
you next. So it's reallyexciting to hear that, you know,
what we thought would work isworking. I mean, the kebabs are just
fantastic. They're a great useof the product. I mean, it's a high
quality chicken. And then weput some really fun seasonings on
it. So that's a really nicedinner. I mean, I even love eating
(31:34):
those. We've had people buylike three or four packs of burgers
because they're like, youknow, these are the best chicken
burgers we've ever had. So weget lots of positive feedback. It's
super fun kind of creating newrecipes. I mean, every year I feel
like we solve a problem of,you know, last year we had a problem
with too much of this and thenwe solve that problem with a new
product. So that's reallyinteresting. I mean, we do have some
(31:57):
other fun things going on atthe farm. We're in the process of
building an off grid bunkie,so trying to focus on ecotourism,
which will also give us theopportunity to kind of sell some
of our products to people whoare staying at the farm, connecting
them with, you know, howdelicious fresh food tastes, all
those kinds of good things.Yeah, we're also in the process of
trying to develop a bit of afranchise business model for our
(32:20):
product. So we're still prettyearly. We're looking for probably
just two or three farms thatalready produce chicken that are
interested to try adding somevalue added products to their lineup
so that we can really create,I guess what our value proposition
is how successful farmers canbe adding these kinds of products
(32:40):
to their lineups. And I mean,I, I think I'm working with a consultant
who has a very similarmindset. You know, it's very focused
on regenerative farmingsustainability, creating an opportunity
for farmers to be successful.So we've already decided that, you
know, we're going to leavesome money on the table. It's not
going to cost an arm and aleg. We want farmers to be successful.
(33:00):
I mean, we have to becompensated for the work that we've
done, but it doesn't have tobe unreasonable. And then we think
there's a way to create kindof the seasoning and sauces in, in
bulk so that if you're gonnaadd these products to your lineup,
you'll just get all of thestuff that you need already made.
So if you're a small farm likeme, I mean, it's, it's exhausting
(33:23):
making all the products andthen also having to spend a day,
you know, putting together allthe, the recipes. So we think if
we buy products in largerscale, there's going to be enough
of a business case that itwon't really cost the farmers more
money for us to do it forthem, but it will make more sense
for us to do kind of largebatches of seasoning blends or sauces
(33:45):
or stuff like that.
I love this. And I could justgeek out about entrepreneurship and
franchising and all of thethings. Like we were chatting before
we hit record. We are allessentially small business owners.
Your small business, you know,could be thousands and thousands
of acres and have a hundredemployees, but, you know, you're
still a family farm doing allof this and like you had mentioned
(34:10):
before, figuring out what itis that you have and how are you
going to make it work for yourcustomers? What do your customers
want? You know, that takestime and money to develop and you're
figuring it out along the way.Wouldn't it be nice to just like
walk in somewhere and be like,hi, I would like my own business.
(34:31):
I have xyz, number ofchickens. How do I have a value added
product? And I don't knowwhere to start. Tina comes in and
says, hello, chicken farmer. Ihave you. Like, we have, you know,
the research, we have, theproduct development, we have all
of these things for you. Whyaren't more farmers doing this?
(34:52):
I mean, I think again, this iswhere, coming from that other world
where I just saw thishappening all the time, like, like
everybody can't recreate theworld. And we have, a lot of people
have suggested to us we shouldscale up. We should scale up and
become really big and do allof these things. And I feel like,
yeah, we could, except thatthat's not what I want for myself
(35:13):
in my life. And I feel likewhat is better to have one person
doing a lot of production orto have a hundred people all doing
a reasonable amount ofproduction and still we're all supp.
Supplying the market with theproducts and, you know, we're distributing
(35:34):
the wealth over multiple farmsand farm owners. I think all of those
things feel a lot better to meand I think it's going to be more
fun and just create morecommunity and do all of those good
things and, and give farmersstill some flexibility and to do
whatever else they do.
Yeah, what you just saidthere, Tina, that's like your eat,
Pray, love moment for farming,right? Like, no, I don't want to
(35:57):
have, you know, 10,000chickens out the door of my farm,
but I would like to be able tohave a life that provides me and
provides others with goodquality food.
Yeah. And just so that peopleunderstand, I mean, I think if you
haven't thought about doingvalue added products, I would highly
(36:17):
recommend doing it. So if youthink about the agriculture market,
producers don't get a lot ofthe money. I mean, if you look at
what, you know, the grainmarketing employees make, it's probably
more than most farmers make.And then if you look at what marketing
executives make for the peoplewho process the products into the
(36:40):
stuff that goes in the grocerystore shelf, for sure it's more than
what the farmers make and thenthe grocery store people also more
than what the farmers make. Sothere is, I mean, I've always given
examples of like Dole orCavendish Farms or all of these places
is that they are no longerfarmers. I mean, they maybe were
at some point in time theystopped being a farmer because they
(37:00):
could make more money justgetting somebody else to do the farming
for them and create the valueadded products. So I mean, in terms
of the profit margins that wemake, I mean, we charge a premium
for our products. So, youknow, we, let's say there's a, an
8 pound chicken, we wouldcharge like between 45 and $50 for
(37:20):
that if people were buying thewhole chicken. And when we make our
value added products, we canget almost $100 worth of products
from an 8 pound chicken. Imean, there's some additional costs
and there's some additionallabor in there, but I mean, the numbers
still work out to our benefitfor sure. So I think it makes sense
for farmers to start thinkingabout, you know, where their products
(37:44):
go, who's using them, whatconsumers want and can they, you
know, add some value on theirend to retain some of the, the benefit
that they're giving away to alot of other people?
Yeah, absolutely. I want totalk about your community and we
talked about your customers.You had mentioned that you are, you
(38:06):
know, having or building theinfrastructure now to have your community
come to your farm and do thestays and all of that. What is that
going to mean to you assomebody who came from a city background
to being able to offer that tothe other city dwellers?
(38:27):
I mean, it's a super funproject. I feel like, you know, I
don't know how you feel, butthis is the time of year where I
just kind of, it's like I'mdone. It's like my tank is empty
and I don't know how I made itthrough and there's still a lot to
do. And just knowing that, youknow, this is a fun project for me,
it does help to fill my tankup. I mean, I think just having people
(38:49):
come and see what I love aboutthis lifestyle is exciting. It's
also going to mean a lot forus financially for sure. I mean,
it's going to be a significantsource. I mean, the hope is it's
going to be a significantsource of revenue for us. It's going
to help create more awarenessabout our products so I don't have
to go. I mean, my schedule is,is ridiculous. It's, you know, during
(39:12):
the summer season if I'm luckyto get four or five hours of sleep
a night, seven days a week, Imean, that's a good week. So just
being able to be home a littlebit more and not having to race around
and that's going to be reallyfun. Hopefully. One other thing we
want to create at the farm isa market garden, which we don't have
yet. We just don't have theresources for it. I'm already thinking
(39:35):
about succession. Like I dowant to try and bring somebody else
into the farm that one day canbuy it out over time in a way that's
affordable and feasible. Soall of those things are super fun
and exciting. And I feel likeI've lived through the worst of it.
Like, the first years werepainful. It was emotional because
of the family separation andjust the, you know, the amount of
(39:57):
money that I had to try andcome up with every month was debilitating.
But as we progressed, youknow, we're seeing progress and it's,
it's super fun. And I mean, Ilove the foods that we're creating.
I'm so proud of them. They'redelicious, they're nutritious, they're
made from real ingredients. Imean, we can, we can produce a ton
of foods and, you know, wetake out one bag of garbage because
(40:20):
everything is, you know, notpackaged and made from real foods
and all that good stuff. Sothat's definitely meaningful for
me.
Yeah. And I love what you saidabout, you know, kind of at that
either, you know, the end of agrowing season or the end of whatever
season that you're in and, youknow, if you have something to look
forward to in that quieterseason or that new season, it's still
(40:44):
work. Like, I'm still sittinghere working today, but this is really
good work and this is the goodstuff that makes me want to work
hard in agriculture and infarming. So we can amplify your story
and the other stories of womenin agriculture, and it's still a
job, but when you havesomething that you know is fulfilling
(41:06):
in a different way, it's notwork. You just sit down having a
conversation with agirlfriend. So.
And I think, I think farmersneed more of that. They need more
fun work because they haveenough hard, painful work.
We have enough.
Yeah.
In all aspects.
That's right. Literally and figuratively.
Absolutely. Is there anythingthat we left out?
(41:28):
I mean, the only other thing Ican think of that is, is a really
fun part of my job is we are asmall breeder of puppies. So we have
some Red Fox Labs, which are aspectacular, you know, red headed
lab. And that's something thatdefinitely fills my cup. I mean,
on a hard day, if you cancuddle a puppy, that's pretty great.
And we do a limited amount ofbreeding. Like, it's not my, my main
(41:52):
focus. But again, it's likethe income that the puppies bring
in is shockingly differentcompared to how much effort I put
into chicken and how littlemoney we make from that. But. But
yeah, so we do a little bit ofthat and it's so fun.
So you buried the lead, Tina.This could have been the whole podcast.
(42:15):
Yeah, they're the best. Best.
I love that. Honestly, fourlegged anything on a farm like, and
if you can have multiple ofanything, you know, that's, that's
living to me. So.
Yeah, well, I mean we're,we're in a position where everybody
has to pull their weight. Soif you want the privilege of living
on this property, everybody'sgot to contribute. And so we, we
limit the breeding. But it'sso fun.
(42:37):
Yeah, so fun. Tina, I feellike I've asked you this question,
but if there's anything toreally add to it, my last question
for you is what is the mostrewarding part about being a rural
woman for you?
Oh, that's a great question. Imean I'm not a fan of singular, a
(42:57):
singular focus. I mean, Idon't know if it's my personality
or what, but I feel likethere's no one thing. But I think
it's the combination of, ofthe things that does it for me. I
mean I love the outdoors and Iknow in my old life it's easy to
get caught up in working inthe office and being in the house
and being in the car andforgetting to be outside. So I love
(43:17):
that part of the work. I dolove the physical work. I mean some
days I wish it was lessphysical, but that really matters
to me that I go outside and Ido really good work with my body.
I mean I do love animals somedays more than others, but they are
just a gift and that's superfun. I do love, you know, creating
(43:40):
real foods. I really. Whatdefinitely is, keeps me going is
there's so many possibilities,there's so much to learn. You know,
we're trying to focus onsustainability and regenerative farming
and that's just a whole,that'll be a lifetime of learning
about all of those kinds ofthings. So that, that definitely
is fun for me too.
All of the good things aboutfarming. All of the good things,
(44:03):
things that is so good and ithonestly when you say those things
and I think I'm just as guiltyof this, I don't spend enough time
thinking about the good thingsversus all of the things that could
go wrong, have gone wrong andthat I haven't even thought of could
go wrong yet.
So.
Well, and I think the otherthing that we should probably mention
(44:25):
that makes a lot of sense isthe good people. I mean I feel like
farming people, they justdon't get caught up, up in the things,
the non, what I would call nonimportant things. And when you meet
a farmer, like they get it.Like we all struggle and life is
hard and we need to look outfor each other and lift each other
up. And so I feel like thepeople you meet that do farming like
(44:48):
these are good people for sure.
I agree. And you're one ofthem. Tina, thank you for sharing
your story with us today.I've. It's been a pleasure getting
to know you. For the listenerswho would like to connect with you
online, where can they find you?
So we're working on ourwebsite, but the domain is goodfoodfarms.
(45:09):
Ca. Although maybe just checkthe show notes to make sure I got
that right. The best place toreach me at this point in time is
our Facebook page, which isvisitgfarms. Yeah. And I mean, we're
transitioning to Good FoodFarms. Eventually that will be our
business, this operating name,but for now we're GF Farms. And we're
(45:29):
also GF Farms on Instagram,although I don't use Instagram as
much at this point in time.
Good. And we will link all ofthose in the show notes so people
can find you and connect withyou. And for the local people, go
get some chicken because nowI'm hungry. Yeah.
We do a lot of Torontomarkets. When we get our website
up and for next year's marketschedule, we're going to do a better
(45:51):
job of creating the schedulein advance, having some consistency
so you can find us in like St.Thomas, we do the Comoka Market,
St. Thomas, Mississauga, we doBronte, which is in Oakville. Yeah,
we do a bunch of markets.Quite a few.
So good. So good. Thank youagain so much for sharing your story
with us, Tina. I reallyappreciate it.
(46:12):
Thanks again. Have a wonderful day.
Thanks for listening to theRural Woman Podcast. The Rural Woman
Podcast is more than just apodcast. We are a community. A huge
thank you to the Rural WomanPodcast team, Audio editor Max Hofer.
(46:33):
A special thanks to ourPatreon executive producers, Sarah
Riedner from Happiness by theAcre and Carrie Munven from Blaestone
Farms. To learn how you cancan become a Patreon Executive producer
or other ways to financiallysupport the show, head on over to
wildrosefarmer.com to learnmore. Be sure to hit the follow or
(46:55):
subscribe button wherever youlisten to the podcast to get the
latest episodes directly onyour playlist. And if you are loving
the show, please be sure toleave a rating and review on Apple
Podcast or any other platformthat accepts ratings and reviews.
You can connect with us onsocial media, the Worldwoman Podcast
(47:16):
and with MeldroseFarmer one ofthe best ways you can support the
show is by sharing it. Sendthis episode to a friend or share
on your social media. Let'sstrengthen and amplify the voices
of women in agriculturetogether. Until next time my friend.
Keep sharing. Sharing your story.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com