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David Gilmore, known as the LDS Prepper on YouTube. Posted his first video 10 years ago.
He was inspired by other YouTube prepper channels and wanted to share what he was doing and learning on his journey and preparedness.
Today his channel has over 210,000 subscribers and over 44 million video views.
Please checkout his quality videos and products at his website and YouTube channel, linked below!
Website - https://ldsprepperstore.com/
Youtube Channel – LDSPrepper
Show Notes
How LDS Prepper Got Started
A Passion for Helping People Be Prepared
Value of Building Rapport With Your Customers
“Once You Educate Customers, Your Going To Get Sales”
Knowing Where Your Customers Congregate – Online / Offline
Top Seller – LDS Prepper Premium Micro-Nutrient Mix
Mittleider Gardening Course Book
What I Like About Having an Online Business in the Prepping Industry
Continued Education and Growth for Sustainability is Needed Around The World
Personal & Business Goals For The Next Year
Other People's Traffic: Tips for Growing Your Online Youtube Channel / Business
Transcription
David: I found that really I can ship anywhere in the world. And I do so I need to make myself available to the world.
So I started on YouTube.
And then when I make a YouTube video I also put a link on my Facebook profile because I've got 5,000 friends, okay, I've never met. But however, they feel like they know me because they've watched the videos right?
They say this all the time, I feel like I know you, I've watched 300 of your videos.
Podcast Intro: If you’re someone who refuses to go along to get along, if you question whether the status quo was good enough for you and your family.
If you want to leave this world better off than you found it and you consider independence a sacred thing.
You may be a prepper, a gardener, a homesteader, a survivalist, or a farmer or rancher, an environmentalist or a rugged outdoorsman.
We are here to celebrate you whether you’re looking to improve your maverick business or to find out more about the latest products and services available to the weekend rebel.
From selling chicken eggs online, to building up your food storage or collecting handmade soap.This show is for those who choose the road less traveled the road to self-reliance for those that are living a daring adventure, life off the grid.
Brian: David Gilmore, known as the LDS Prepper on YouTube. Posted his first video 10 years ago.
He was inspired by other YouTube prepper channels and wanted to share what he was doing and learning on his journey and preparedness.
Today his channel has over 192,000 subscribers and over 42 million video views.
He has become a true YouTube influencer. His passion has turned from a hobby to a seven figure a year business as an affiliate for preparedness products and producer of his own product. Today he shares his insights with us on how to start an online business with zero capital zero risk and a mobile phone.
David Gilmore, welcome to the Off-the-Grid Biz Podcast.
David: Thank you Brian. Glad to be here.
Brian: Yeah, I really appreciate it.
How did you end up at this point?
How did the whole journey start with you, David?
David: Great question.
I'm really a visual learner. My wife reads lots of books, her nightstand is piled with books and she just goes through the books. And I get to watch a video I get it.
I gotta see physically. Instead of me googling things for answers, I go to YouTube.
I call it YouTube University. And it really helped me out and I am preparedness-minded.
I feel it's my responsibility as a father and as a husband to provide and protect. I was always looking for solutions and YouTube just seemed like a great place to do that, and I appreciate what others put up.
So I thought, well, maybe I should share some of the things that I'm doing.
First of all, had to come up with a YouTube name. -
Jim White is the creator of Fishnure, located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Fishnure manufactures and markets organic fertilizer including both solid fertilizer and liquid.
Checkout more about Fishnure's quality products and daily updates, please checkout their website and active twitter account, as listed below!
Website - https://www.fishnure.com/
Twitter - @fishnure
Show Notes
Agricultural Background: Beginning of Fishnure
Finding Our First Customers
Natural vs. Chemical Fertilizer
Different Types of Products We Offer
Solid vs. Liquid Fertilizer
How COVID Impacted Our Business
Importance of Sustainability
Why Just Labeling Fertilizer As “Organic” Doesn't Mean It's Good
Fishnure's Future: Heading In The Right Direction
Jim's Business Advice to Those Starting A Business
Full Transcription
Jim: We had a pepper grower up in Minnesota who grew his entire crop with Fishnure. And then he set up a control between one of the biggest sellers, Miracle-Gro and Fishnure.
So we had one batch of plants that were fed Miracle-Gro the other batch was Fishnure. Miracle-Gro got two treatments during the year, Fishnure only one. Fishnure came out with 8% production.
Podcast Intro: If you’re someone who refuses to go along to get along, if you question whether the status quo was good enough for you and your family.
If you want to leave this world better off than you found it and you consider independence a sacred thing.
You may be a prepper, a gardener, a homesteader, a survivalist, or a farmer or rancher, an environmentalist or a rugged outdoorsman.
We are here to celebrate you whether you’re looking to improve your maverick business or to find out more about the latest products and services available to the weekend rebel.
From selling chicken eggs online, to building up your food storage or collecting handmade soap.This show is for those who choose the road less traveled the road to self-reliance for those that are living a daring adventure, life off the grid.
Brian: Jim White is the creator of Fishnure, located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Fishnure manufactures and markets organic fertilizer including both solid fertilizer and liquid.
Fishnure is made by composting solid fish manure is filtered to get solid manure free from unwanted materials and combined with the carbon source clay inoculants and then decomposed to form a humus compost.
Jim is a serial entrepreneur who has created numerous computer software production management businesses. He also has a significant background in statistics and agriculture.
Jim White, welcome to The Off-the-Grid Biz Podcast.
Jim: Hey, thank you.
Brian: So how did you get into Fishnure, tell us that story?
Jim: Well, I created a company that monitors agricultural production. In other words, in the delta, catfish production is big and a farmer may have 100 ponds. And we developed a wireless solar power monitoring and control system that will control the environment and every pond.
So that's how Fishnure came because I was interested in some of the customers were using the connection from the fish production to growing plants, which is what aquaponics is, and that's what started it.
Brian: Oh, wow.
So how did you find your first customers?
Jim: We advertised I think it was on Craigslist. And that started then we sold a lot on our website, and then move to Amazon, which is the main seller right now.
Brian: How long ago was that, when did you first start the whole process?
Jim: It's been seven years.
Brian: Excellent.
Where are you finding most of your customers right now or via Amazon?
Jim: Right.
Brian: Great.
Do you do any other sort of outreach or marketing to bring in?
Jim: Oh, yeah.
Yeah, we use Twitter. We tweet several 100 tweets a day.
The website, I write a lot of articles and publish those and email marketing the whole bit. -
Saknas det avsnitt?
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Jesse Frost
Take both feet and jump right in!
It's clear Jesse Frost is well informed on gardening and things he's passionate about. But for he and his wife Hannah Crabtree to take that passion and turn it into not only a way of life but a way of making a living is truly impressive.
Join us for some fabulous insight, from getting a start in farming, to what it takes to get your book published.
Oh, and did we mention Jesse's terrific No-Till Market Garden Podcast and the quality information you can get from listening...all for free!
Check out the links below for more info on Jesse and Hannah's Rough Draft Farmstead, to No-Till Growers Podcasts and Jesse's new book published with Chelsea Green Publishing called, The Living Soil Handbook.
The Living Soil Handbook - https://www.notillgrowers.com/livingsoilhandbook/d9z5gkf1bbnhu0w5xxb3trngiqhwgo
No-Till Growers Podcasts - https://www.notillgrowers.com/home
Podcast on Youtube Also - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLhu5JoRWPgEGDoUFfQHTPQ
Rough Draft Farmstead - https://roughdraftfarmstead.com/
Show Notes
From Wine to Farming: My Start in No-Till Farming with Bugtussle Farm to Starting Rough Draft Farmstead
Type of Vegetables We Grow at Rough Draft Farmstead
How We Found Our First Customers
Why Being Certified Organic Was A Big Move For Us
Keeping No-Till Growers Podcast Accessible For All
New Book: Living Soil Handbook with Chelsea Green Publishing
Positive Response Since The Books Been Launched
How We Started The No-Till Market Garden Podcast
How To Find No-Till Growers Podcast
Big Following on YouTube
Why We Choose the keyword “No-Till”
What I Like Best About Farming & Podcasting
Being Open to New Ideas In Farming & Media
Happy Life: Importance of Family and Relationships
My Advice to Farmers
Transcription
Brian: How did you start your podcast?
Jesse: Originally, I started on my cell phone with a call Recorder an app that journalists will be familiar with. And my audio wasn't great.
I recorded it in our cooler for our vegetables, like our walking cooler. And also we had two young kids and it was the only place I could go to do it. And it kind of evolved from there.
You know, we're going into our fourth season this fall, each season has gotten a little better and gotten a little bit better at interviews and more comfortable.
But the beauty of podcasting, like, I think that when you're a curious person, it really fills that need for you to just dive into things.
Podcast Intro: If you’re someone who refuses to go along to get along, if you question whether the status quo was good enough for you and your family.
If you want to leave this world better off than you found it and you consider independence a sacred thing.
You may be a prepper, a gardener, a homesteader, a survivalist, or a farmer or rancher, an environmentalist or a rugged outdoorsman.
We are here to celebrate you whether you’re looking to improve your maverick business or to find out more about the latest products and services available to the weekend rebel.
From selling chicken eggs online, to building up your food storage or collecting handmade soap.This show is for those who choose the road less traveled the road to self-reliance for those that are living a daring adventure, life off the grid.
Brian: Jesse Frost lives in central Kentucky, where he runs Rough Draft Farmstead with his wife Hannah Crabtree. Frost is also the host of the No-Till Market Garden Podcast and the author of, The Living Soil Handbook: The No-Till Growers Guide to Ecological Market Gardening.
Jesse frost, welcome to The Off-the-Grid Biz Podcast.
Jesse: Well, thank you so much for having me, Brian. I'm excited to be here.
Brian: This is real fun. So tell us a little bit about what it is that you do?
Jesse: Well, I do a lot of different things. But my primary vocation is farming.
As you said, -
Bevin Cohen of Small House Farm
The Artisan Herbalist, by Bevin Cohen
Bevin Cohen is an author, herbalist, seed saver and owner of Small House Farm in Michigan.
Join us as we discuss topics like -
* why homesteading is a life long obsession
* The joy Bevin gets from sharing his knowledge with others
*Bevin's latest book The Artisan Herbalist
Grab a copy of his latest book & other fine products today – SmallHouseFarm.com
1:53 Small House Farm: We Believe in a Simple, Small, Intentional Life
2:48 What Brought Me Into Homesteading: A Life Long Obsession
4:03 From Music Festivals to the Beginning of Small House Farm
5:49 Educational Products to Help You Grow
7:09 Bevin's Latest Book: The Artisan Herbalist
8:11 From Our Seeds & Their Keepers
9:11 Story Telling & Becoming an Author
12:28 How Book Writing & Speaking Opens Doors for You & Help Others at the Same Time
15:18 Teaching at Events like Mother Earth News Fair
17:43 Gardening & The Power of Curiosity
19:26 Small House Farms Top Sellers
Herbal Wellness – Witch Hazel
Seeds – Pineapple Ground Cherry's
Books – The Artisan Herbalist
Workshop Classes – Seed Saving
21:29 The Joy of Meeting New People at Classes and Workshop Events
23:34 New Book Coming Out in February 2021 with New Society Publishers
The Complete Guide to Seed & Nut Oils
25:45 The Secret to Success: Have Fun!
27:15 Where to Contact Bevin and pickup his latest book, The Artisan Herbalist
Transcription
Bevin: I think that with everything in life as business owners or wherever we're at when we put ourselves out there, challenge ourselves to try something new.
And it's just that little bit of success can boost that confidence enough to be like, Okay, let's try that again. Let's push forward on this, let's see where we can take this thing. Even if it doesn't turn out we've tried something new, right and we've grown as a person because of that.
But nine times out of 10 it is gonna work out and that's the beauty of pushing your limits, is we can find that we're capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit.
Podcast Intro: If you’re someone who refuses to go along to get along, if you question whether the status quo was good enough for you and your family.
If you want to leave this world better off than you found it and you consider independence a sacred thing.
You may be a prepper, a gardener, a homesteader, a survivalist, or a farmer or rancher, an environmentalist or a rugged outdoorsman.
We are here to celebrate you whether you’re looking to improve your maverick business or to find out more about the latest products and services available to the weekend rebel.
From selling chicken eggs online, to building up your food storage or collecting handmade soap.This show is for those who choose the road less traveled the road to self-reliance for those that are living a daring adventure, life off the grid.
Brian: Bevan Cohen is an author, herbalist, seed saver, and owner of Small House Farm in Michigan. He offers workshops and lectures nationwide on the benefits of living closer to the land through seeds, herbs, and locally grown food.
Bevin is a freelance writer and videographer whose work has appeared in numerous publications including Mother Earth News, Hobby Farms, Grit magazine, and the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company catalog.
He's the author of, Saving Our Seeds, and The Artisan Herbalist.
You can learn more about Bevin's work at www.SmallHouseFarm.com
Bevin Cohen, welcome to The Off-the-Grid Biz Podcast.
Bevin: Thanks so much for having me.
Brian: Great having you here.
Can you give us a little bit more about what it is that you do and how you got to this point in your life?
Bevin: Sure.
So my wife and I own a small homestead business we call Small House Farm, -
Lucinda Bailey
Lucinda Bailey, (aka, The Seed Lady) is a Master Gardener and Certified Crop Advisor specializing in the cultivation of heirloom vegetables from seed.
Join us as we talk about how “old-time pioneer skills” are quickly becoming the hot new desire for many Patriots in our changing economy.
From the value of saving seeds to teaching Mittleider gardening, Lucinda was a joy to chat with and we know you'll be blown away the wealth of information she has to share.
It's easy to see she has a passion for the work she does.
Head over to Texas Ready & pickup a Liberty Seed Bank today! - https://texasready.net/
Texas Ready - Liberty Seed Banks
1:51 Beginning of Texas Ready: Taking Back The Reins of Food Production
3:05 Why This Business Gives Me A Personal Connection to My Customers and Community
3:44 Perfecting Our Message – By Going to Gun Shows
Building Relationships by Putting on Classes at our Local Community Center
Why Quail Is An Ideal Option to Raise for Practical Preparedness and Homesteading
7:21 Heirloom Seed Shortages
9:08 We've Seen a Huge Influx In People Wanting to Grow Gardens and Be Better Prepared
10:33 Ideal Customers: Family Oriented and Preparedness Minded
11:33 Top Selling Products: Liberty Seed Banks (Ammo Cans)
12:30 Lucinda's 3-Skill Sets that Revolve Around Gardening
13:38 Knowledge Is Power: Giving Confidence to Patriots
18:55 The Inside Baseball of the Seed Industry
Just How Long Do Seeds Really Last?
22:12 Quality Food Production: The Mittleider Garden Course
24:49 10 Week Hands-On Class: Teaching Family Homesteading Skills
27:07 Follow Your Dreams: Work With a Standard of Excellence and Integrity
29:10 Where to Find out More About Texas Ready (https://texasready.net/)
Transcription
Lucinda: I think we're moving in that direction. As a society, I think that we're going to see the importance of networking, and connection, and of helping our neighbors. I'm seeing that happen.
And that breaks down all the barriers, whatever political party, whatever, religious institution, you come from whatever color you are, we are members of the human race.
That's our first and only group that we need to be.
Intro to show: If you're someone who refuses to go along to get along, if you question whether the status quo was good enough for you and your family, you want to leave this world better off and you found it and you consider independence, a sacred thing. You may be a prepper, a gardener a homesteader, a survivalist, a farmer or rancher, an environmentalist or a rugged outdoorsman. This show is for those who choose the road less traveled the road to self reliance, for those living a daring adventure, life off the grid.
Brian: Lucinda Bailey, aka "The Seed Lady" is a master gardener and certified crop advisor, specializing in the cultivation of heirloom vegetables from seed.
Her interest began as a teenager in Michigan, where she grew posts in her backyard to sell to neighbors. She now spends her time traveling the country attending shows and presenting seminars on the Mittleider gardening and food production.
In addition, Lucinda also enjoys playing the piano, tending to her livestock and working with Texas Ready test gardens.
Lucinda Bailey, welcome to The Off-the-Grid Biz Podcast.
Lucinda: Oh, this is such a privilege. It's good to connect with other fellow patriots and people that are like-minded and concerned about where our country is.
Brian: Absolutely.
So why don't you let us know a little bit about what it is that you do and how you ended up here?
Lucinda: Years ago, I was in financial services and I realized all of a sudden, there was no good news coming out of the United States or Europe or anywhere else.
I thought, well, you know, there may be something to the need of preparing my family, for whatever might come? -
Shelley Whitehouse of The Smart Chicken Coop
It all started with 3 chickens on a porch, that turned into a side interest in backyard chicken keeping, that grew into a successful online business.
Shelley Whitehouse shares her story about her company, The Smart Chicken Coop as we cover various topics listed below.
Be sure to checkout The Smart Chicken Coops quality products at the link below!
The Smart Chicken Coop - https://thesmartchickencoop.com
Topics Covered
It all Started With 3 Chickens On A Porch
Craigslist & The Smart Chicken Coop's First Customers
Credibility & Trust, Help Convert to Sales
Facebook & Google Advertising Success
COVID-19 Effect on Business
Life, Caring for Animals & The Value of Homegrown Food
Increase In Demand: The Start of DIY Chicken Coop Kits
Importance of Business Acumen & Self Discipline
Challenge of Developing a Marketing Plan for Nationwide Success
The Joy of Providing Value to Others
Bad Reviews & Quick Responses
Meeting Demand, While Maintaining Our Product Level
Advice for New Business Owners
A Joy for Indian Runner Ducks
The Value of Perseverance In Business
Transcription
Shelley: Just started out as a lifestyle business, do you know what I mean?
Brian: Yeah, absolutely.
Shelley: I didn't know that it was going to become so popular. And then of course with COVID, it became ridiculous.
Brian: Yeah.
Shelley: But my husband actually took three months off of work his work, because we couldn't get everything done, we were working full-time, all of us. We're working.
It was crazy. It's crazy, but really fun too, because here are these families who are stuck at home with kids pulling their hair out, and they get to build chicken coops and then get the chickens.
It's a fun business.
Podcast Intro: If you're someone who refuses to go along to get along, if you question whether the status quo was good enough for you and your family.
If you want to leave this world better off than you found it and you consider independence a sacred thing.
You may be a prepper, a gardener, a homesteader, a survivalist, or a farmer or rancher, an environmentalist or a rugged outdoorsman.
We are here to celebrate you whether you're looking to improve your maverick business or to find out more about the latest products and services available to the weekend rebel.
From selling chicken eggs online, to building up your food storage or collecting handmade soap.This show is for those who choose the road less traveled the road to self-reliance for those that are living a daring adventure, life off the grid.
Brian: Shelley Whitehouse has quite a varied background. She spent many years performing as a professional orchestra flutist, raced mountain bikes for the heck of it, coached high school sports, raised three kids with her husband, then decided to go back to school to get an MBA.
After several years working as a management consultant, one of Shelley's side interests, backyard chicken keeping, morphed into a business called, The Smart Chicken Coop, that sells fancy backyard chicken coops nationwide.
Shelley, welcome to the Off-the-Grid Biz Podcast.
Shelley: Thank you for having me.
Brian: Absolutely.
So what brought you into Backyard Chickens in the first place?
Shelley: Well, this is a funny story. So as I said in the bio, I was working as a management consultant. My daughter, who was at UC Santa Cruz at the time, decided to stop out of school and move to rural Yucatan. And so she dropped three chickens on my porch en route.
And I hate birds, but what I found is that they were really fun. And people started saying, well, what's the latest with the chickens?
That turned into, why don't you do a blog, that turned into me buying chicks to sell in my backyard, to people saying, where'd you get that chicken coop? -
Julia Coffey - Co-Owner of Seeds Trust
SeedsTrust.com
Come on down and have a fun time with us as we talk with Julia Coffey from Seeds Trust about a range of topics, such as...
Helping to educate Backyard Gardeners in getting started in seed and seed saving.
Why plugging into your local community is important.
Why Seeds Trust is committed to helping to combat Disappearing Biodiversity
What you'll find in Seeds Trust Newsletter
And finally, what you've been waiting for, just what is Julia's favorite seed!
Thanks again to Julia and Seeds Trust for joining us on the show, and be sure to check them out at the links below. :)
Website - https://www.seedstrust.com/
Top Selling Product - https://www.seedstrust.com/seed-cans-buckets/bucket-of-seeds-high-altitude
Instagram (@seedstrust) - https://www.instagram.com/seedstrust/?hl=en
Facebook (@seedstrust) - https://www.facebook.com/seedstrust/
Transcription
Brian: What would you say you like best about your business in your industry as a whole?
Julia: Oh man, I like best that it matters.
Not everyone has that, as far as what they do in life. And I'm really, really lucky that I believe in seeds, I believe in their power to change the world for the better.
I believe in their capacity to connect human beings.
And I find that really fulfilling, in something that I do is my livelihood.
It's a beautiful industry, and seed people are incredibly friendly and generous, and hardworking.
Podcast Intro: If you're someone who refuses to go along to get along, if you question whether the status quo was good enough for you and your family.
If you want to leave this world better off than you found it and you consider independence a sacred thing.
You may be a prepper, a gardener, a homesteader, a survivalist, or a farmer or rancher, an environmentalist or a rugged outdoorsman.
We are here to celebrate you whether you're looking to improve your maverick business or to find out more about the latest products and services available to the weekend rebel.
From selling chicken eggs online, to building up your food storage or collecting handmade soap.This show is for those who choose the road less traveled the road to self-reliance for those that are living a daring adventure, life off the grid.
Brian: Julia Coffey is co-owner and Director of Operations for Seeds Trust.
Handling the daily order fulfillment, inventory management, grower relations, sourcing logistics and graphic design duties. Julia apprenticed closely with seedsman Bill McDorman to learn the seed industry ropes.
After graduating from one of Bill's first seed school programs, she moved down to Cornville, Arizona to run Seeds Trust with him, eventually purchasing the company and moving it home to Colorado in 2011.
With a decade of experience running the business, Julia is an extremely knowledgeable about growing for seed, seed storage and seed saving techniques.
She's currently completing her Colorado State University Master Gardener certification, Julia Coffey, welcome to the Off The Grid Biz Podcast.
Julia: Great, thank you, it's great to be here.
Brian: Besides what we heard from your bio, why don't you tell us a little bit more about what it is that you do?
Julia: I started getting interested in seeds when I lived in France, when I graduated from college. And I was really impressed with some more sustainable models in everyday life over there that I didn't see as much here.
I was super interested in what kind of sustainable agriculture projects was going on in Colorado where I'm from. And when I came home, I actually ended up finding Bill McDorman giving a seed talk in Lyons, Colorado.
I went to hear him and I was so inspired, I went up to him and I was like, hi, can I come apprentice with you, and go to your seed school?
He was like, sure, sure. He's like, just ask Belle, who's is Bills wife, and Belle was like well, -
Dyan Twining - Roost & Root
RoostandRoot.com
Dyan and her husband Montie co-founded Roost & Root to help you, “Find your inner farmer.”
Join us for a fun conversation as Dyan talks about the companies journey from building their first 20 chicken coops to the amazing ride they've had serving and building relationships with customers from coast to coast.
Be sure to checkout their quality Cedar Chicken Coops and Gardening products as well!
➡️ Call Today - (877) 741-2667
➡️ https://roostandroot.com/
Transcription
Dyan: Hearing from customers because I do talk to a lot of them after the sale. Like there's always like a driver who's like, "I'm gonna get chickens," and then there's other spouse a lot of times he's kind of like, "okay, not super excited about this, but whatever."
And I hear from the other spouse that's not super excited and like, had no idea I would love having chickens.
Podcast Intro: If you're someone who refuses to go along to get along, if you question whether the status quo was good enough for you and your family.
If you want to leave this world better off than you found it and you consider independence a sacred thing.
You may be a prepper, a gardener, a homesteader, a survivalist, or a farmer or rancher, an environmentalist or a rugged outdoorsman.
We are here to celebrate you whether you're looking to improve your maverick business or to find out more about the latest products and services available to the weekend rebel.
From selling chicken eggs online, to building up your food storage or collecting handmade soap.This show is for those who choose the road less traveled the road to self-reliance for those that are living a daring adventure, life off the grid.
Brian: Dyan Twining co-founded Roost and Root in 2013, with her husband Montie, their passion and slogan is, "find your inner farmer."
At Roost and Root, they manufacture high quality backyard farm and garden lifestyle products that help fulfill that slogan.
She enjoys keeping chickens and gardening as well as deep sea fishing and running.
Dyan, welcome to the Off The Grid Biz Podcast.
Dyan: Hi, thank you for having me.
Brian: Yeah, it's great having you here.
So why don't you tell us a little bit more about what it is that you do?
Dyan: So together with my husband, we run Roost and Root, like you said, we are manufacturing company based out of Dripping Springs, Texas.
So we're a little bit west of downtown Austin, and we have a manufacturing facility where we we started in 2013 manufacturing and selling chicken coops primarily chicken coops.
In 2020, we actually changed our name to Roost and Root. We used to be Urban Coop Company. But we sold our coops through the years and we kept getting a lot of customers saying, you know, "what else you guys going to build?"
They liked our products. They liked the quality, and what goes hand in hand with backyard coops, and its gardening products.
So we changed our name to Roost and Root, to kind of reflect both of our interests.
Brian: Fabulous.
So what led you into the business to begin with?
Dyan: So my husband is a builder and an entrepreneur and we moved to a piece of property in Texas, and I got some chickens, and I could never find a chicken coop that functioned like I wanted it to.
I wanted it to be easy to clean, I wanted it to be easy to take care of the chickens, give them food, give them water.
So Montie being a builder, I said, "you need to build some chicken coops."
Well, a little bit more to that.
Montie was a builder, had a commercial construction company at the time, and did a big project for a company and we are leaving to go to town for Thanksgiving.
We drive through the drive thru of this Starbucks that he had helped to build. And we were still waiting to get paid for the work that had been done.
And we're thinking this whole working for someone else is not so much fun. -
Norman "The Beard Guy" Farrar
Soap.Club
Special guest, business coach Norman “The Beard Guy” Farrar brings us a wide range of business thoughts on our latest episode.
Join us as we talk about Norman's expertise from helping businesses have success with Amazon, to starting various companies (like Soap.Club), to pivoting to upping his podcasting game in result of the changes COVID-19 has brought to all of us.
Norman was a kick to chat with, and we know you'll love this episode as well!
Norman Farrar's Website - https://normanfarrar.com/
Soap.Club - https://soap.club/
Podcasts
Lunch With Norm Podcast - https://lunchwithnorm.com/
(live on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook on Mon, Wed, Fri)
I Know This Guy...Podcast - https://iknowthisguy.com/
Transcription
Brian: Welcome back to the Off The Grid Biz Podcast, today's show featuring Norman he is something quite different than what we're used to, when it comes to interviews.
Let me tell you why.
We don't focus as much on the reason why we picked him out to interview him, particularly for the show, which is his website, Soap.Club, we do hit on it, on how he came about it, and how he really thinks that it was a mistake to start that website. But he goes through all that when we get to it.
The rest of the time, he is really an expert when it comes to e commerce and especially in the area of Amazon.com. This is one of those that's very business oriented.
So no matter what type of business you have, this would be useful to you. But off the grid business owners really need to hear what Norman has to say.
That's why I included it on our podcast.
Join me at the end for a quick commentary, where we kind of go over some ideas that he produced really good episode. Stay tuned.
Podcast Intro: If you're someone who refuses to go along to get along, if you question whether the status quo was good enough for you and your family.
If you want to leave this world better off than you found it and you consider independence a sacred thing.
You may be a prepper, a gardener, a homesteader, a survivalist, or a farmer or rancher, an environmentalist or a rugged outdoorsman.
We are here to celebrate you whether you're looking to improve your maverick business or to find out more about the latest products and services available to the weekend rebel.
From selling chicken eggs online, to building up your food storage or collecting handmade soap.This show is for those who choose the road less traveled the road to self-reliance for those that are living a daring adventure, life off the grid.
Brian: Entrepreneur, businessmen Norman, "The Beard Guy" Farrar stands at the forefront of the economic mega machine known as Amazon Marketplace.
As a leading expert with over 25 years of product sourcing development and branding expertise, Norm is an advisor to many and an inspiration to all throughout his career.
He's worked with big brands including Mercedes, Coke, Dell, Microsoft target, Hershey 20th Century Fox, Molsons, Cadbury, and a wide variety of emerging businesses that are celebrating sudden escalation and profitability and sales as a result of taking action on his advice and proven methods.
Norm Farrar, Welcome to the Off The Grid Biz Podcast.
Norm: Hey, I'm very happy to be here.
Brian: Well, that's awesome. So other than what we heard from your bio, why don't you let everyone know a little bit about what you do on a day to day basis.
Norm: Oh my gosh.
So on a day to day, actually, it starts the night before, I'm one of these old guys, if you can't see me, I'm an old guy in the business, but I always like to plan my day, the night before.
I always find if I know what I'm doing, things can always change. But if I plan ahead of time, then I know and then what I've tried to do for most of my life, is do everything that's important first.
So my priority my task a gets the very first thing I do, -
Shannie McCabe - Rareseeds.com
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds - Rareseeds.com
Shannie McCabe joins us to talk about what it's like to be garden educator and catalog writer for Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.
See what Baker Creek has to offer today and be sure to pickup a catalog! – https://www.rareseeds.com
Also, checkout Shannie's terrific videos on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCToFIe32MeC-P8Z4Uptax_w
Transcription
Shannie: I was introduced to Baker Creek, and I thought wow, I love this catalog. This is the most beautiful, fascinating catalog. The stories behind these heirlooms are phenomenal.
As a market farmer I made sure to grow Baker Creek varieties because I wanted something that was like colorful and interesting to engage passers by at the farmers market.
I wanted something more interesting to stand out.
I had subscribed to the email newsletter for Baker Creek, and that's where I saw a email saying they were hiring. So I responded and I moved to the Missouri Ozarks when I was in my early 20s, to a co-garden manager.
And then I started reading the catalog and the rest is history.
Podcast Intro: If you're someone who refuses to go along to get along, if you question whether the status quo was good enough for you and your family.
If you want to leave this world better off than you found it and you consider independence a sacred thing.
You may be a prepper, a gardener, a homesteader, a survivalist, or a farmer or rancher, an environmentalist or a rugged outdoorsman.
We are here to celebrate you whether you're looking to improve your maverick business or to find out more about the latest products and services available to the weekend rebel.
From selling chicken eggs online, to building up your food storage or collecting handmade soap.This show is for those who choose the road less traveled the road to self-reliance for those that are living a daring adventure, life off the grid.
Brian: Shannie McCabe studied environmental horticulture and sustainable agriculture at University of Rhode Island and has worked on farms growing organic veggies and flowers for a decade.
She has been the farm manager for Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company, and is currently a garden educator and catalog writer for the company.
She has traveled internationally for Baker Creek, searching for rare and unusual heirloom seeds to offer in the award winning Baker Creek catalog.
Shannie McCabe, welcome to the Off The Grid Biz Podcast.
Shannie: Thank you for having me.
Brian: Yeah, why don't you let everyone know a little bit more about what it is that you do.
Shannie: Sure, yeah.
So basically, I teach gardening skills. I'm really really obsessed with heirloom seeds, and with gardening and market farming, and in all manner of small farming, gardening, permaculture, growing and homesteading, and then how we use those heirlooms in the kitchen and for crafts and such.
So I'm just really obsessed with heirlooms and all the different forms. I was formerly a co garden manager with a couple other people, I helped to write the seed catalog, we've got a few different writers on the catalog these days.
But I read the catalog, I helped to write content for our YouTube page.
Our YouTube channel is called, Rareseeds.
Then making Facebook videos and Instagram videos, and basically just getting out into the garden and into the kitchen with various heirloom varieties and educating about them.
Brian: That's fabulous. So can you tell people who may be new to the gardening scene, especially what what heirloom seeds are and how they're different from from the typical seeds?
Shannie: Sure, yeah. heirloom seeds are open pollinated varieties.
That means that they have been saved and passed down from generation to generation. They're not hybrids, they're not f1 hybrid, they have open pollination, which means their seeds can be reliably saved, year after year.
Typically, -
Christopher & Kirsten K. Shockey
The Big Book Of Cidermaking
Christopher Shockey and Kirsten K. Shockey join us again to talk about their new book, The Big Book of Cidermaking.
We also talk about an exciting new project they've taken on called, Fermentation School!
Fermentation School has online classes from top experts to help you advance your own fermentation skills.
For more on Fermentation School, The Big Book of Cidermaking and other Books and information the Shockey's have checkout the links below!
Fermentation School - https://www.fermentationschool.com/
Ferment.Works - https://ferment.works/
The Big Book of Cidermaking - https://www.storey.com/books/the-big-book-of-cidermaking/
Transcription
Brian: Christopher Shockey and Kirsten K. Shockey are the authors of The Big Book of Cidermaking. And award winning
Miso, Tempeh, Natto & Other Tasty Ferments, Fiery Ferments and the best selling Fermented Vegetables books that came from their desires to help people eat in new ways, both for the health of themselves and the planet.
They got their start in fermenting foods 20 years ago on a 40 acre hillside smallholding, which grew into their local organic food company, when they realized their passion lay in the wish to both teach people how to ferment and push this culinary art to new flavors.
Kirsten and Christopher lead lead experience experiential workshops worldwide and online at FermentationSchool.com. Helping people to make enjoy and connect with their food through fermentation.
They can now be found at Ferment.Works. or excuse me, they can also be found at Ferment.Works. Kirsten and Christopher, welcome back to the Off The Grid Biz Podcast.
Christopher and Kirsten: Thanks, Brian.
Brian: Why don't we just start out by kind of going over your new book, tell us tell us what led you to write this new one on cidermaking.
Christopher: Well this is the one I wanted to write from the very beginning, we bought a hand press on the farm 20 some years ago when we moved here. And so we've been making a lot of cider since that time and that's my favorite ferment by far.
So we just had to do a few 100,000 other books before we could do this one. Yeah, and it's cider season, we have cider apples on the farm. So all those reasons why.
Brian: Was this one of the original fermentation experiments that you guys went with or how did it come about?
Christopher: This is one of the ferments that we did for ourselves, we had a lot of apple trees and so we we made cider for ourselves. The Founding Fathers would let you make 200 gallons for yourself and we came darn close nearly every year.
Friends and family, I trained as a cider maker. And we were going to do cider instead of fermented vegetables and all that other stuff.
When I learned that to run a little cidery, the most important thing is you can repair equipment, used equipment, I can look at a pipe and it'll start to leak. So I'm good with grey tape and after that it falls down. So I said to Kirsten, I love drinking it, I love making it, but I'm not so sure we're going to be a good small cidery. And that's how all the other fermentation stuff started.
But in the response back from the book so far, it's been really positive.
Kirsten: Yeah, I think this one's much easier lift than the last one. Most people know what cider is. Most people are interested in fermented beverages and are willing to maybe take that on as a first ferment, where as miso or, you know, fermenting a bean or grain eating stringy natto, or growing fungus around a bean, like tempeh is just asking a little more of the American general, American population.
So yeah, it's been popular and it came out well, it was supposed to come out in June, but it came out along with Apple season, so I think we've gotten a lot of nice feedback.
The other thing is, it's a very beautiful book, it was shot here in three different times of the year, but all on our farm. -
Corwin Bell
Karen Sadenwater
Established in 2005, BackYardHive is committed to bee-centric practices that increase the survivability of colonies through their Bee Guardian Methods.
Corwin Bell and Karen Sadenwater join us to talk about their transition from starting out as computer animation to developing a deep passion for beekeeping from observing bee behavior, to help save the bee and teach others how to safely help our friendly flyers today, and in the future!
Checkout their leading innovation products like the Cozy Cover and the Cathedral Hive, while soaking up quality information at their site below!
Checkout BackYardHive Today - https://backyardhive.com/
Transcription
Brian: In 1995, Corwin Bell started keeping bees due to a longtime fascination with this delicate pollinator. Along with Karen Sadenwater, Corwin founded BackyardHive.com in the spring of 2005.
They are committed to be centered practices that increase the survivability of colonies.
If the bees are cared for by applying the Bee Guardian methods that they teach, then the survival genetics and healthy behavioral traits will be preserved within the gene pool.
Backyard Hive was the first to offer backyard beekeepers, online resources, training DVDs, and information about getting started in a lifetime of top bar beekeeping. They realize the need early on and became the very first organization to make available fully assembled top bar hives on the web.
BackyardHive.com is committed to sharing knowledge and top bar hive technologies that encourage and enable backyard beekeepers to be successful and completely chemical free.
Corwin and Karen, welcome to the Off The Grid Biz Podcast.
Corwin & Karen: Hey, Brian.
Brian: It's great having you here. Why don't you let us know a little bit about what it is that you do?
Corwin: Well, we have a business called BackYardHive. And it's about teaching natural beekeeping for people that are gonna keep bees in their backyards.
So we do classes, we do intensives, we innovate in the bee space. Have two of our own design hives we've worked on over the years, and pretty much in unnatural beekeeping is our thing without using you know, chemical treatments at all or smoke or sugar. So we really promote that. That's pretty much what BackYardHive is doing.
Karen: Yeah, we really want to teach people that method, you know, backyard beekeeping and natural beekeeping and treatment free.
Brian: Well, that's fabulous. So you started the website in 2005, right?
Corwin: Yeah.
Brian: And tell me about what led up to that, what was your life up till that point?
Corwin: Well, yeah, it's funny, because when someone says, oh, you're a beekeeper, I'm like, no, no, I'm a bee researcher more than anything. And even then it's odd that I'm doing bees.
I started off in the film industry doing TV commercials. Then I moved into doing game design for computer games. I was the first one to put out a computer game on CD ROM for Hanna Barbera called Page Master. It came out on the same weekend that Lion King did so I just crushed our game on the endcaps. But it was great game.
Then, I kept working in the game genre that we work in is called serious games.
Karen: And games for health.
Corwin: And games for health.
So they're games that aren't like driving cars and playing with little characters. So from that we did, The Journey To The Wild Divine, which was a big hit. The Dalai Lama played it and it was had finger sensors that read your bio feedback for real and that's how you played the game. But people call it "mist for mystics" is what Wired magazine actually called it.
And then, we went on from there. So now we're overlapping. Now we're doing the wild divine project. And here comes you know, I'm like, oh, these are cool. I want to do bees, and basically went online. Back then it was like the modem kind of online, right.
And I found this guy Marty Hardison who did thi... -
Charles Wiley
Corn Man Chapter 2: Corn Inc. Cometh
Charles Wiley is back with us to talk about the Chapter 2 of the Corn Man story - Corn Inc. Cometh, as well as what sparked his idea for International Corn Man Day!
Checkout Chapter 2 and all things Corn Man at the link below.
➡️ https://cornmanofficial.com/shop/
Transcription
Brian: Charles Wiley has been writing music and playing drums for 25 years. He currently lives in Los Angeles and plays with various bands and artists including rock band Dark Horse, Rising Riot, award winning singer songwriter Chris Angeles, and Americana band Circa 62.
In addition to playing drums, he also writes music for television. His music has been played on Oprah, Dateline, NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Dr. Oz Show, The Young and the Restless and more.
Charles created the Corn Man project to bring awareness to how much corn is in everything we eat. Corn Man is an ongoing action adventure children's book series, and progressive rock concept album, Charles was inspired to call attention to the issue using music and humor.
Corn Man hopes to be the conversation starter and tackling the complex issues surrounding the food industry, the environmental impacts of it, and the unsustainable nature of how we eat and grow food.
Charles Wiley, welcome back.
Charles: Thank you so much Brian, and pleasure to be back. I'm really excited.
Brian: For those of you who are listening, you may remember Charles from an earlier episode and we'll link to that in the description, where we first met him met the Corn Man project, and what's that's all about.
And now we're kind of getting back together and being updated on what's happening in his world, his upcoming book, which is Corn Man Chapter Two.
So that should be out in paperback next week. At the time of when we're recording this by the time you hear it, it may already be out.
Charles: That's the hope.
Brian: Yeah. So let's go right into it.
We were talking a little bit before and you had mentioned, International Corn Man Day, just celebrated. So why don't you tell us a little bit about what that is?
Charles: Well, that was yesterday. And I had this idea, How can I bring more awareness to what the Corn Man project is about, and what it's doing at one time?
I thought, well, let's have a day, a Corn Man Day. And I liked the way Corn Man day sounds. But for some reason, International Corn Man Day, just had a more grand name.
I was like, I like that, plus two, I do have people that support the project overseas. And you and I both know, tackling our food system, the environment, it's a worldwide solution that we're looking for. It's not singular to the United States or to any other place.
So I said, let's do International Corn Man date. And my goal was two fold.
One, I wanted to help people find one small thing that they could maybe implement into their lives that would help reduce the amount of processed corn and their food. In September, I posted a suggestion a day.
And they're very simple, very basic things. But the goal was, I believe, a lot of people don't realize, since there is so much corn in the processed food for one, but it's also in the field that gets the food to the grocery store, and pesticides that get sprayed with all this stuff.
The animals being fed corn, it's such a big part of the entire food system.
My goal was let's find simple solutions, we can all implement something, go to a farmers market for the first time.
How does that impact how much corn is in your food?
Well, it shrinks how far your food has to travel to get to your front door. That in and of itself reduces how much corn is in your diet.
Everything from, I had let's do a fruit tree swap. You plant an apple tree in your backyard, your neighbor plants a pear tree over a few years. You guys have apples, you have pears, you give them out, things like that. -
Tom Watkins - Murray McMurray Hatchery
Murray McMurray Hatchery
Specializing in heritage and rare breed chickens for small backyard flocks and homesteading family's.
Join us as we talk with Tom Watkins from Murray McMurray Hatchery about life and times working in a long-time owned family company and just how does it work to have live animals shipped to customers doors!
For more about Murray McMurray Hatchery and what they have to offer, please checkout their website below!
Murray McMurray Hatchery - https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/index.html
Transcription
Brian: Thomas Watkins is vice president and McMurry Hatchery.
He's been working at the hatch for eight years. No previous chicken experience but now he's something of a chicken expert. McMurray Hatchery is a family owned small business, but they just happen to hatch a lot of chicks.
They specialize in heritage and rare breed chickens for the small backyard flocks and homesteading families. Thomas Watkins, welcome to the Off The Grid Biz Podcast.
Tom: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Brian: So why don't you tell us a little bit more about what it is that you do?
Tom: Like you said, I'm the vice president here. It sounds impressive. It really isn't.
That's part of being a small family company.
You might get a big title, but I'm still the plumber. I do a lot of building maintenance.
Number one is we have chickens.
And with that, we raise our own breeder flocks and take care of all the chickens. We hatch the eggs.
So here we have large commercial incubators and we hatch out about 150 to 200,000 chicks a week and ship them all across the United States. So primarily to small backyard flocks.
We don't really do anything commercially for that. So it's just people want chickens, you know, a couple of laying hens in the backyard or to produce their own meat or eggs.
Yeah, you kind of wear a lot of hats.
Brian: So you said you didn't have previous chicken experience.
How did you end up here? What's your life story up to this point?
Tom: I married into it, you would say. My father in law is the president of McMurray Hatchery. So McMurray Hatchery has been around for a little over 100 years now.
All right here in Webster City, Iowa. So we're in the heart of Iowa. And while the McMurray's are all gone, went through Murray McMurray and his sons John and Charles and then his grandson Murray MacMurray took over and he had two business partners.
And those two retired and it was my father in law Bud Wood and said eight years ago, I came on with really no intention of being any management plan just to kind of help around and work my way up, you'd say, oh, pretty quickly.
It's, you know, helps when your father in law is the boss, but you just kind of jump in with everybody. We're really lucky, we have a lot of great help. Because it's all hands on deck when you deal with live animals.
So we work really hard when you need to work. And then, you know, take time off later.
Brian: Yeah.
Tom: Oh, absolutely. Yeah I don't know and now, you just answered enough questions, you can be your own chicken expert.
Brian: Good deal well, and it fits into the crowd that you're playing into, because it's what they're all attempting to do, right. They they're going from quite possibly not knowing anything about chickens to raising them and so forth.
Tom: Exactly. Like I said, I'm living proof of what happens because I never knew people had chickens in their backyards. And then so we got chickens and went from a few, and then you go from having chickens and they are the gateway animal to other, you know, hobby farming. You get a goat, or you get small cow. You move to an acreage, like so.
Yeah, I've done everything exactly that any of our customers are going to do or try to do.
Brian: I imagine there's a whole lot of customers that have been with you for quite a while, having a over 100 year old company, -
Gianaclis Caldwell
Holistic Goat Care
Some people are just experts in the subjects they excel in.
Others are experts with a joy for helping others and learning from those they interact with.
Tune into this podcast and checkout some of the links below, and it won't take long to get an impression that Gianaclis is the latter.
Now, I could spend time talking about her love for Nigerian Dwarf Goats here.
Or perhaps her extensive knowledge in Cheesemaking.
Possibly even her 6 nonfiction books or her ventures into fiction writing.
Maybe you'd even like me to spill the beans on her thoughts on speaking and teaching classes?
Well I'm not going to do that, no, not at all.
But if you want to know more about the subjects we cover in this episode, please checkout the links below, because Gianaclis is someone you'll want to follow and learn from!
Checkout Gianaclis's books, future classes, consults and more at her website and Facebook page -
https://gianacliscaldwell.com/
https://www.facebook.com/gianaclis/
For more about Pholia Farm - https://pholiafarm.com/
Transcription
Brian: Oregon native Gianaclis Caldwell grew up milking cows, but was lowered to the goat side where she remains a committed devotee. She was a commercial cheesemaker at the Caldwell Off Grid Dairy Pholia Farm for over 10 years.
She now milks her Nigerian dwarf goats just for pleasure. In between writing books in which he has six, speaking, and judging cheese, which she considers the most fun.
Gianaclis Caldwell, welcome to The Off The Grid Biz Podcast.
Gianaclis: Well, thank you, Brian. Thanks for having me.
Brian: Yeah, so why don't you tell us a little bit about what it is that you do on a regular basis?
Gianaclis: Oh, gosh, it sure varies from day to day. And I was just talking to my mother about people who are drawn to this kind of life really have to be nonlinear, because you just can't really schedule your day or your week sometimes with animals and farm life and that sort of thing.
So still milking the goats, you were very correct and I do it for pleasure, love having them can just working with the animals. We've been breeding the Nigerians now since 2003, and have developed a good name for the breed or as a breeder, I should say, of Nigerian dwarfs. Particularly for strong, long milking animals and with good milk production for that breed.
And that's, that's something that's hard to imagine. And we're getting older now, of course, as we all do. But it's difficult to imagine giving up but that process of working on a breed and all those those genetics and all those improvements, and of course, there's this addiction that every goat person will confess to.
I think about waiting for those babies to come every year. And goat babies are there's a good reason that they're all over YouTube and such.
They're they're so appealing, and they pretty much stay that way as adults.
So we work our local farm is mostly a pleasure farm now, we do Airbnb with a couple of farms days we have, and that keeps us busy also, but it's a great income stream for the farm supplement a lot of the feed bills and that sort of thing.
And then working on books, which you said correctly, six nonfiction books and now I'm switching to what was originally my first passion which is trying to and I say that because I want to be humble about this, I write fiction.
And then we also are caring for elderly parents and current with all of that and that's a wonderful thing to be a part of that certainly is a ongoing team team. Source of activity for us.
Brian: Absolutely.
What drew you to go after work in on a dairy?
Gianaclis: Well, it was a family dairy here growing up so wasn't a commercial dairy.
But I had been dairy cattle for each leader and just always loved cows and had that typical kind of superior complex that dairy cow people have over goats. And that our youngest daughter was six or seven at the time a... -
Jason Smith - Adventures In Homebrewing & Austin Homebrew Supply
From experiments in brewing while serving in the Army to now over 20 years in the Homebrew industry, Jason Smith joins us to talk about the joy of Homebrewing and fermentation.
Checkout Jason's fine websites to help you in your homebrewing adventures today!
Adventures In Homebrewing - https://www.homebrewing.org/
Austin Homebrew Supply - https://www.austinhomebrew.com/
Transcription
Intro: Jason Smith is the owner of Adventures In Homebrewing.
It all started when he was brewing beer in 1992. While serving in the army in 97, he left the army and moved back to Detroit to pursue pharmacy school. While preparing for school, he realized the lack of competition in the homebrew market in Detroit and opened up his own shop in 1999.
Over the last 20 years, his business has evolved into both retail and online sales as well as producing their own warehouse management system. So the gap year that he took off from pharmacy school has actually been over 20 years now, but it's been quite a rollercoaster ride.
Jason Smith, welcome to The Off The Grid Biz Podcast.
Jason: Thanks for having me.
Brian: So why don't you let everyone know a little bit about what it is that you do?
Jason: My name is Jason Smith. I own Adventures In Homebrewing and Austin Homebrew Supply. We do homemade beer making, wine making, cheese making, distilling of products.
We have guests that do soap making, soda making to kind of anything that you would make at home. As far as beverage supply goes for sure.
Brian: How did you end up of all things in the home brewing industry?
Jason: It's kind of crazy. I started out in the Army. And when I started, I wanted to make wine with the guys in the Army. And they're like wine, How about beer?
Well, I suppose we could do that.
So we got involved with some beer making.
I worked in a pharmacy. We had lab equipment available to us, of course. So we started culturing a lot of our own yeast doing different things in the beer making side of it. We really didn't have what's available today.
Internet access, we couldn't just order something.
It was a lot of finding where can we get grains, where can we get hops? And then of course with the yeast we started culturing a lot of it within the labs at the hospital at the time, I did that for some time, started a small homebrew club at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, did some fun stuff with that.
And then as I left the military, I got home, I was gonna go back to school for pharmacy.
When I got home, there was a couple small shops, but nothing really, that had bar equipment and you know, the kegging equipment and just the bigger items that were available.
I just had a larger vision of what home brewing could be versus what the local shops had had. Says talking to a friend one night over beer, of course, and kind of determined that we could do a better job than what was currently available in Michigan.
So the first thing we did was kind of that ESPN mentality.
Well, we can open this in Michigan, but there's a whole world out there. Let's jump on the internet and make sure that we are getting out to everybody. We started collecting email addresses, phone numbers, names, building an email list and slowly developed a small website.
That was 20 years ago, the website is done well, from day one, we've kind of evolved.
And now I'm sure we're the largest store in Michigan, one of the larger ones in the Midwest, and there's two or three stores in the country that I think evolved to our size but it's just been a an enjoyable trip.
I love home brewing. I love you know, gourmet foods, gourmet drinks, of course, type in hand in hand. And they've been very fortunate to get in as the craft beer scene really exploded back in 99.
Most people were like, what is this craft beer?
Today, it's hard to go anywhere without recognizing either an event or something goi... -
Petra Page-Mann - Fruition Seeds
In our opinion, Petra Page-Mann is one of the top communicators in the self reliance and DIY organic gardening fields.
Join us for a terrific conversation on why personality marketing and quality education can help differentiate you from big corporate companies. As well as some heart felt thoughts on current events in America today.
Head over to Fruition Seeds for helpful tips on gardening and be sure to grab some organic seeds to start growing now! - https://www.fruitionseeds.com/
Transcription
Brian: Petra Page-Mann is the co-founder and storyteller at Fruition Seeds. Growing up in her father's garden, Petra believes each seed and each of us is in the world to change the world. Her passion, curiosity, love of food and love of people led her all over the world studying seed, song and culture worth celebrating.
In 2012 she co-founded Fruition Seeds with her beloved partner Matthew, to share the seeds, knowledge and inspiration gardeners crave to amplify our individual as well as collective abundance in our short seasons.
Petra, welcome to the Off The Grid Biz Podcast.
Petra: Why thank you, my friend. It's a joy to join you.
Brian: Awesome.
So how did you end up here? What's your life story up to this point?
Petra: I really like to eat and I've been fortunate enough to eat a lot of wonderful things and somehow it just keeps happening and so I am to share all of those seeds and all of these meals with all the people so we can all keep growing.
I grew up in my father's garden here in the Finger Lakes of Western New York. And if you'd asked a little seven year old Petra, what she loves to do, I wouldn't have told you gardening.
I also wouldn't have told you brushing my teeth. It was just something that we did.
And I took seed saving for granted as well.
Now, if you want to sow some seeds, you should save some right?
So I'll profoundly be so grateful for that gift that my father gave me my entire life. And as I, you know, became a teenager and became more aware of the world around me and really just deeply concerned by the patterns that I was seeing.
I realized that agriculture was kind of this intersection of a lot of my passions of being outside of eating but I've also like soils and justice, and all of these wonderful things and seeds are kind of the seed of it all right?
And seeds are this just epic metaphor to me of just the growth of the potential the capacity to adapt and change, and kind of that like gift of our ancestors and how we can become good ancestors.
So I spent over a decade working in kind of the organic seed world, working on farms and also for seed companies. I've worked for some of the smallest seed companies in the world, also one of the largest. And it really galvanized me to know decentralization is so important.
You know, there are oaks all over so many continents, right. But there are so many different genus species. So many subspecies and the Oaks that we have on this ridge above me, are distinctly different even within that subspecies from five miles down in down in the valley.
So we must do the same thing as humans, with our economies, with our businesses, with our hearts with how we communicate and organize.
And so our centralized, highly commodified seed system, food system, you know, it's not broken. It's doing exactly what it was designed to do, which is exploit the marginalized people that have been so profoundly exploited for generations for millennia.
Part of what that looks like is decentralizing and really taking care of, you know, thinking locally, thinking globally. But how we started Fruition Seeds and 2012 to kind of respond to our immediate inspiration and also just necessity of creating regionally adapted seeds for short seasons and sharing them widely.
There are so many I used to when I grew up in my father's garden, I thought our season was too short for watermelons, -
Sam & Ida Friedman - Chagrin Valley Soap & Salve
It all started with a school teacher wanting to help educate students and show people online how to have healthier beauty and wellness options.
Join us as Sam Friedman takes you on a fun journey from his mother Ida's beginning, to his involvement soon after, all the way up to today as a thriving ecommerce based, natural and organic body care products company.
Be sure to checkout Chagrin Valley Soap & Salve's quality organic products today - https://www.chagrinvalleysoapandsalve.com/
Transcription
Brian: Sam Friedman has taken a long and interesting journey on his road to operating an organic bath and body care company. His first passion being music and theater, Sam co-founded and was artistic director of the actual reality Theater Company in Columbus and Cleveland from 1997 to 2001.
From 2001 to 2004, he took the position of technology director at the Agnon School in Beachwood, Ohio, where he taught second to eighth grade technology and media and was also the family retreat director from 2002 to 2004.
In 2004, Sam then moved to Madrid, Spain, where he worked with the Spanish government as an English language specialist to diplomatic liaisons.
In 2007, at the request of his mother, Sam moved back to the US to try and help turn the hobby and small local market business she had started into something bigger.
Today, Sam is the managing and brand director of Chagrin Valley Soap & Salve. A USDA organic brand that hand-makes over 350 bath skin and hair care products. And he helps lead the natural body care industry as educator spokesman and brand ambassador for one of the globe's finest brands of natural personal care.
Sam Friedman, welcome to The Off The Grid Biz Podcast.
Sam: Thank you. Thank you for having me Brian.
Brian: Yeah, so that's a nice recap of your life up until this point, why don't you let us know a little bit about what you do right now.
Sam: So right now Chagrin Valley Soap & Salve is a company that makes about 350 organic certified products. We currently have a staff of 19 individuals. We're selling our products through our own website, ecommerce, and in some stores, both small mom and pops and a few larger shops in all 50 states in the US and over 120 some countries across the globe.
Mostly all small parcels, small packages, mostly direct to people's homes. Of course A few business clients that buy and resell themselves. We make every type of product under the gamut that you could imagine having to do with body care, skin care, taking sort of care of the outside of the body.
And, you know, at this point, just looking at where we've come from where we've been, it's been a really great journey from the kitchen to a really robust business.
Brian: What led your mother to go into this business?
Sam: Well, my mother's background is in science and human biology, because her first job she was a nurse, so she actually went to nursing school for several years and got medical training and then spent a decade working in local hospitals.
Then after leaving the hospitals, a lot of the reason that happened was because of her not agreeing with some of the standard pharmaceutical care that's out there and the things that are being provided for people as far as the diagnosis and the remedy for what your issue might be.
That really started spinning in her head because of my stepfather's eczema.
Eczema is a pretty annoying condition that a lot of folks have, especially here in the US. And it's dry and flaky and itchy and red. It could be in patches in certain areas in the body can start with your baby, it can start when you're older.
It's just something a lot of people deal with. And so my stepdad had some pretty bad eczema on his elbows and arms. He was going to the doctors, the dermatologists and getting the steroid creams, and they're expensive, and they're filled with questionable chemicals.
You know, -
Tigger Montague from BioStar US took sometime to sit down and talk us about the companies fine horse and dog supplements, what brought her into the industry from her time in dressage and some of the companies challenges and mindset during the COVID-19 pandemic and how to handle adverse situations.
Be sure to check her BioStar as well as her Healthy Critters Podcast linked below.
BioStar US➡️biostarus.com
Healthy Critters Podcast ➡️healthycrittersradio.com
Full Transcript
Brian: Tigger Montague is the owner of BioStar, a provider of nutritional supplements for dogs and horses.
Tigger has been in the supplement industry, both human and animal for 38 years. She competed in dressage as a professional, but had to give that up when she started BioStar.
She's written two books, has a fine monthly podcast called Healthy Critters and lives on an organic farm in Virginia.
Tigger Montague, welcome to the Off The Grid Biz Podcasts.
Tigger: Thank you, Brian.
Brian: Why don't you let everyone know a little bit about how you ended up here, what's your life's story up to this point?
Tigger: How much time do you have?
(laughs)
Actually, my competition horse it was diagnosed with inflammation of the bursa. The bursa is in the foot and my vet is one of the United States Equestrian Team veterinarians. We tried every drug every modality known to man to get this horse sound, nothing worked.
He finally said to me, I think we're going to have to nerve him. And that means cutting the nerves in his foot so that he wouldn't feel it.
The problem with nerves and horses is that the nerve regenerates. So in a year or two, we'd have to go back and nerving him again. So my vet was away at a big show in Calgary, Canada. And I thought, well, you know, this horse is going to have surgery, maybe I should start thinking about preparing his body and I was working at the time as a consultant for a human health food company called Mega Foods, doing a lot of research on raw food, spending a lot of time in California.
I thought, well, you know, maybe I should just start sprouting some seeds and I had a little dehydrator and I just literally took sprouted seeds, added some papaya, made it into little cookies to hydrated them and start feeding them my horse. To make a long story short, in about three weeks I saw an improvement.
And then my vet came and he couldn't believe it.
He said, wow, if you can do something with nitric oxide, you might be onto something. I didn't really know what nitric oxide was, but it turns out it's the master circulatory molecule of the body.
There are certain foods that are very high and an amino acid called arginine.
Arginine is a precursor or a substrate for nitric oxide production.
So I started looking at foods that were high in arginine, and they always contain lysine.
I realized that in nature, those two amino acids are always together. Now some foods are high in lysine, low in arginine and others are high and arginine low in lysine. But when I sorted out the high arginine foods and made them into a cookie if you will, just to dehydrated them. And feed them to my horse, he came sound.
I went, whoa. okay, okay, there's really something to this food. And that start that started the journey.
Brian: Wow, that's incredible. So how did that know into a business for you?
Tigger: Well, my vet was so blown away by the result that he was on his way to Florida. This is I think, in November, and he was on his way to Florida for the winter to the big winter circuit in Wellington. I was making these bars and dehydrating them all winter and sending the next day air to him. And he was trying them on all sorts of different horses. I think I had made somewhere like three to 4,000 bars that winter. He came back and he said you've got to make this into a company.
Brian: Wow. So how did you find your first customers?
Tigger: As the rider, competitor, -
Looking past the amazement of people lining up for full carts of toilet paper in the month of March. The real underlining concern for most Americans was for safety for their loved ones yes, but also an all too real lack of practical preparedness.
Join us today as Joe Rieck of Emergency Essentials (BePrepared.com) shares what life has been like since sales started to climb in the month of February. From challenges the company has faced to the customer letters of gratitude Joe's received that help him and the staff know they are making a difference in tough times.
Our hopes align with Joe's that in light of these challenges, people will view preparedness as a practical and safe thing to do in the future.
Find out more at their website and be sure to pickup a QSS certified, 1-Month Food Supply - https://beprepared.com/
Full Transcript
Brian: Joe Rieck is the VP of sales for Emergency Essentials. It can be found online at BePrepared.com.
He's been involved with emergency preparedness for over 14 years, and he has helped thousands of people to become better prepared. Joe Rieck, welcome to the Off The Grid Biz Podcast.
Joe: Hey, thanks Brian for having me on. It's a pleasure to be here with you.
Brian: So why don't you let everyone know a little bit about what it is that you do?
Joe: Okay, so emergency essentials, we specialize in long-term emergency food, and this usually consists of freeze dried items as well as dehydrated items. We have a wide selection of fruits, vegetables, meats, ready made meals, MRE's, we have a wide selection of emergency gear, 72 hour backpacks, water filtration systems, anything you can kind of think that you might need an event of an emergency or disaster. We try to have you covered.
Brian: Great.
How did you personally end up here? What's your life story up to this point?
Joe: Well, you know, about 10 to 11 years ago, I was involved with a company that we started a long-term food storage company that grew. And we ended up selling that off a couple years ago.
Typically once companies get in the hands of private equity groups, the mission kind of changes a little bit.
I was lucky enough to be found with a group called Emergency Essentials. And I've been here for over two years. It's a great little company, we're a privately held, there's no private equity group that is responsible for to.
We have one owner and that's the only person that we listen to, and that we kind of take advice from. And so it's very, very simple.
We try to just be there for our customers the best that we can. So I actually love what we do here at Emergency Essentials and it's been a lot of fun over the past couple of years.
Brian: Oh, fabulous.
So what where do you find new customers at?
Joe: Well, let me just tell you right now they're coming out of the woodworks with this whole COVID-19 pandemic that we're going through. It's like, a flip was switched and everybody in the world kind of became well aware of the need to have a backup plan.
As you can imagine, with this COVID crisis that's going on just our industry, our business, I mean, we've been hit tremendously hard, you know, in a positive way, because the amount of interest that we have in our products. And so it means it's caused a little bit of hiccups from a business perspective as far as having the capacity to produce and to make the food and to get it packaged and prepared and shipped out, which caused some trouble that way as far as having a backorder list.
But as far as the knowledge and the need to educate people, the media has done a great job of showing what happens in the event of a disaster with the shelves being cleared off.
I think we all kind of went through that several months ago where we couldn't even find toilet paper, for crying out loud. These things happen and it brings your awareness to a different level of, "oh my gosh, our system is so fragile." - Visa fler
