Growing Your Own Food with Jill Winger

Jill, thank you so much for being here today.

I am so excited for this conversation. I'm just thrilled to be here.

Hal, I want to say more than just thank you for being here. Thank you for writing this book old fashioned on purpose. I am so enjoying this right now. It's very different from any other book that I would normally read. Normally I'm reading a book on parenting, marriage or business. And what I love about this is that it is, you know, you could say it's a book about homesteading. Right. But it's really a book. I mean, the subtitle, cultivating a Slower, more joyful Life, I think that that says it all. And you, I just want to dive right in, you open the book. I actually wrote this down word for word, the opening line or the opening few sentences. There's something rippling through humanity right now. It's not a trend, but a craving, a longing, a remembering, a sense that we are capable, more capable than we've been led to believe. And then you went on to say that this same thing or something very similar appeared during the Great Depression and it appeared again in the 1970s around the Vietnam wartime, with what was called the back to the land movement. So what is this longing? What is this craving? What is rippling through humanity right now that you're talking about in this book?

Yeah. So I've noticed as you look through history and you especially look at our current era, Covid really kind of kicked it off, but I think it was there before. Whenever our society or culture starts to feel tumultuous or unstable, humans do one thing well. They do lots of things, but there's one primary driver, and they end up feeling this urge sometimes.

Oh, my goodness. Inexplicably, it's a tough word. It's a tough word to get back to their roots, to connect to the earth and to kind of slow things down. And I. I've been teaching homesteading and I've been in this world for a long time, but I have been absolutely fascinated to see everything shift after the pandemic hit us. And so that's what kind of prompted me to dig into this and start to see these patterns throughout history that keep repeating themselves as history does. And so it's just fascinating that when we, even with technology and progress, when we start to feel shaky, we go back to the basics.

Yeah, yeah. You know, and I was telling you, actually I didn't tell you this part, But I. In 2020, my wife and I were like, we need to. I want to get out of the city. I want to be self sufficient. Like, I started to notice not. Not to be a doomsday or. But I'm like, our society is very fragile, like our systems, you know, you start seeing supply chain issues. And I'm like, you know, I think that the best thing to do for our family is for us to be sovereign, to be self sufficient, to be able to actually take care of ourselves that they did, you know, 50 years ago, 100 years ago, however long ago that it was. And so we moved out of the city. We bought land out here in about 30 minutes outside of Austin. And we now have, you know, 25 chickens and two sheep and four turkeys and 18 garden beds. And like, we are pursuing this lifestyle that you talk about. I mean, that's why I so resonated. I mentioned to you that my wife is like, she has found her groove. And I always joke, I'm the financier of the project. Like, I still work.

We need those.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. But. But like, your book's been so helpful because it, it helps with like, the. Why. Why would I want to consider going back to my roots, going back to the way things used to be? Why not just instacart my groceries and, you know, and so I actually want to go there and then I want to talk about your journey from Sydney girl to homesteader. But first, what's the why? Why would somebody. Why would somebody want to read this book? Why would they want to take action on it? Why would they want to listen to the rest of our conversation? Like, what's this? Why for people?

Yeah. Ooh, so much good stuff there. And first off, I just love that you acted on those urges that your family was feeling, like you did the thing. Like, so many people are sitting here on the precipice, like, should I do it? I don't know. It feels scary. Scary. Is it weird? And you guys are just like, we're doing it. So I love that. So inspiring.

To be fair, it took us about a year of my wife getting frustrated, going, when are we doing it? And then we. We finally figured it out. But yeah, yeah, so, yeah, so if you've. If you've been twiddling your thumbs and, you know, dragging your feet, that's okay. Now is, you know, as good a time as any to, to listen to this podcast, read this book and, and make, you know, make, finally make that decision. Make that leap of faith, if you will. So go ahead.

Yeah. So I, I think the overarching why. And I didn't honestly figure this out until a little later on in my own homesteading journey, because like most people, I came into it for the how or just those really tangible pieces. I want sourdough bread. I want homegrown tomatoes. I want chickens with eggs in my backyard. It seems fun and romantic, and so I came into it for that. And what I started to realize as I continued down this path is these skills, they're not just cute little homesteading skills. They're not just a reaction to Covid. They're a part of what keeps us human. They're a part of really what humans have been doing since the beginning of time. And it's only in very, very recent history that we've pulled so far away from them. And it's fascinating to me that, you know, in our current culture, like you said, we think that these systems and institutions are so stable. And it was Covid that kind of shook a lot of us were like, these are not stable. These are not rock solid. These are actually very recent. They're constructs. They're very shaky. And when we get back to these basics, and it's not always about buying, necessarily buying land or having a milk cow or having, you know, living in Wyoming like I do on the wide open prairie. But we just start. Have this awareness of these grounding principles that keep us human, that keep our mental health in check, that keep our physical bodies where they need to be. It brings just a whole layer of richness to life that I think is really hard to accomplish when we're living within the standard American rat race.

Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, you talk in the book a lot about, like, I think people feel it, like something is wrong. This. The way our society, you know, I. It really. It, like, saddens me. It hurts me the way our society is. I think about, like, the music that is pushed onto kids, right? Like, you know, that. That. That the lyrics would not have been even considered. Like. Like, there would have been no chance 10 years ago or, you know, like. But now it's like they're talking. I don't want to repeat lyrics, but. But I just. In our media, right, like, our. Our culture, I feel like we've moved away from the. The values and the ideals that really did matter more than anything else. You mentioned something a second ago or a few minutes ago, minute ago about you don't have to have land, you don't have to live on the prairie in Wyoming like you do. And I actually do want to really mention that for people, and I'll probably Mention in the intro, just so people don't think, oh, this is only if I could afford to buy land. Because what I love about your book is how tactical and actionable you get in the book. From how to grow potatoes in a plastic tub in your apartment. Right. To how to grow sprouts indoors in your apartment or in your house. Right. You know, and then you go as far as. And. Or how to raise chickens, and that could be in your backyard with a very small plot of land, you know, but there's so much more. Like you. You cover from, you know, mulch to composting. Like, you covered every topic, and you did so from the beginning to the end, from a place of, like, hey, here's how to make this work for everybody. Whether you, you know, you've got an acre, you live in an apartment, you know. Right. You've got 10, eight. Right. Whatever. This works for you. So talk to me about your journey, you know, to writing this book. But, I mean, really, from city girl to homesteader.

Yeah. So I was not raised on a farm or a ranch. A lot of people assume I was, that I come from this rich family lineage, and I don't. I come from a very standard, kind of 1990s kid in the suburbs sort of upbringing. I think the one thing that set me apart then was I did have this weird desire for rural living. I really liked horses. So horses were. I was one of those weird horse girls. Did you ever know the horse girls when you were growing up?

My wife's becoming a horse girl. We actually. Yeah, she's becoming a weird horse girl right now. She was. First she was the crazy chicken lady, and now she's the weird horse girl.

I love weird horse girls. But, like, I was one of those. From, like, three years old, I had a singular obsession with horses. And then I wanted to live on a farm, and I was like, five and going to my parents and begging them to buy property in the country, and they're like, no, that's not a thing, honey. Like, we're not doing that. So I don't know where that came from. It was definitely before homesteading was the thing. It was before it was trendy. I definitely was ostracized by my peers because of it, but I could not shake it. Like, I. I just was obsessed. And so as I got older, people were like, what are you gonna do with your life? You're ready to graduate high school. Like, what you gonna do? And I. I didn't want any of the normal paths. It all sounded horrible. And so the one thing that seemed tolerable was I found a little equine program in Wyoming, moved to Wyoming, did this equine studies at a community college, met my husband, and I also then realized he wanted a little bit more of an unconventional path. And so even though I didn't come from a homestead background, the thread throughout my life was I just liked to do things a little bit different, that this was where I'm most comfortable. And so we realized our first home is after we got married. We didn't want it to be the typical little suburban house with a white picket fence and a minivan. We wanted it to be a little unconventional. And so we found an old fixer upper farmhouse back in 2008. And this was before Joanna Gaines. This was before it was cool to buy a fixer upper. Homesteading was a word I had never even heard before. So it was definitely, like, not as accepted. But when we bought that property, I can't even fully describe it, I just knew there was something in my gut that just lit up and I'm like, this is it. This feels so good. And I was excited to have the property for my horses, but I was even more excited because I was hit with this idea of or this question, rather like, how could I become a producer instead of just a consumer? And I'd never thought of that before. I was very happy to just consume prior to that, but it was just like walking onto this land. I'm like, I can make it productive. I can make it grow, I can make it beautiful, I can make it feed us. And it just. Just totally captured my imagination. And that was the beginning of what became our homestead. And we've been still on that same property, still trucking along to that same dream now.

Oh, I didn't realize.

So it is.

You're still on that same property?

We are. And it's changed a lot because it was. It was rough when we bought it. It was.

Yeah, it was like a 900 square foot shack that used to be lived in by a miniature horse. Right.

There was a horse living inside. And the neighbors would love that story so much, they would pull in.

Yeah. The previous owner had different tastes than we did.

Yes. My favorite yard decor after we bought it was the washing machine with dirty clothes in the front yard. That was.

I loved that.

That was wonderful. So, yeah, it's changed a lot, but it's still the same property. And so it's been quite.

I imagine y' all built a nice dream home. You know, like you built a nice home. On there at some point. Okay.

Yeah, yeah. We added on our addition ended up being bigger than the actual house because the house was so tiny. Of course, people pull into the driveway now and it looks like the homestead dream home. Right. And they're like, oh, you got, you're so lucky. And I wish I could. I'm like, no, no, no, you don't know what we started with. Like, it was, it was a process to get to this point.

Yeah. Like, let me take you out to the horse guest house and.

Exactly. The washing machine museum.

Here we begin. So I want to get into some, some, some tactical stuff for people listening on kind of like things they could. Should be thinking about, like, oh, I could eat no matter where I live. I could start growing sprouts indoors. I could, you know, these things. Before we do that, I actually wanted to start with the big question that you ask any author, which is like, why did you write this book? Why write this book? Why now? And what do you want it to do for people?

So as we progressed on our homesteading path, I saw how it was changing me in every way, like for the better, changing my health. It was changing how I was eating, my beliefs of what was possible, how I was parenting, how I was schooling my kids, how we ended up making income was changed by the homestead. I mean, the best thing that's ever happened to me, hands down. So I was sitting with that and feeling all warm and fuzzy. And then I was also sitting with this idea that I know not everyone can do that because not everyone can. Like we talked about earlier, not everyone can move to the country, nor do they want to. Not everyone wants to move to where I live or somewhere similar. And so I was holding these two ideas and like sitting with that tension of I believe these skills are so crucial to our health and well being as humans. They're not just a hobby. They're not just a little, a silly little thing that some of us do. They're crucial, just the essence of those skills. But not everybody can have. Have it or not everyone can move. So I'm like, how can I distill down the essence of what homesteading is and bring it to a broader audience? And so after sitting with that for a while, that's what became old fashioned on purpose. And my goal is I want it to get into the hands of people who are not already completely indoctrinated into homesteading. I mean, homesteaders will love it. I know my audience is going to eat it up, but I want it to get into the homes of people who haven't watched YouTube videos about chickens or they aren't following the pretty Instagram homestead influencers, the ones who are feeling a little bit unmoored, a little bit shaky after the pandemic and what our modern culture feels like. And they're just looking for a way to reconnect with themselves and with their communities and with the earth. And so that's what I hope the, the book does, is just to help people become more aware.

Yeah, and I think it does. Or I mean, it does, at least for me. It's, it's just, it's beautifully written and it's so. It's such like. I would use the word rich. Like, it's so such rich.

Material in the book in terms of just getting you to think differently. And really you think about how disconnected we are from the Earth, for example. Right. And how crazy that is. And you know, you mentioned that like our, our current lifestyle is relatively new, you know, but, but the lifestyle that you're talking about, I mean, and I, and you're really talking about a hybrid lifestyle, like bringing the old into the new. Like, you talk about, I'm still a normal mom, I've got a Roomba vacuum, like, you know, robot that's vacuuming my floors, you know, but, but, but I think, but if we, if we stop and really think about how life was for thousands upon thousands of years and how human beings. That's normal. Yeah, that's like, that's normal. What we think's normal, not normal, new, progressive, different, right?

Yes.

And look at, look at the mental health crisis. Like, look, look. Our society is conditioning us to always want what's new, always want more, always want the next thing and to devalue old fashioned, right? On purpose. Old fashioned on purpose. Things that have stood the test of time. And I think that's why there is this calling of people. And maybe Covid was like this great awakening where it's like, oh wait, what am I? Like, it's almost like we were in a dream, right? Like life was just felt like it was just kind of so normal for so long that you're like, oh, you know, you know, yeah, careful what I say here. But, but, but, but just realizing that, oh wait, maybe things aren't as they seemed. You know, it's almost like like the movie the Matrix, right? Like everybody was plugged into the Matrix and now like we were yanked out. Like, oh wait, things are not different or things are different than they seemed. And, and getting back to what really matter.

I was going to ask you.

I just want to. Can I say something? Because you brought up a really good point. I think that what you just said there is the pivotal point of awareness that people can start to wrap their mind around that our current culture is new.

Yeah.

And that, like, just to ask that question, who were we before industrialization came along and told us how to live and how to act? Like, if you can just start to chew on that, it doesn't mean your life will look like mine or you have to, you know, go hog wild and buy milk cows and go off grid. It's not. I'm not saying that. But if you start to ask that question, things change a lot. And I think it gets exciting because it opens up possibilities, you know, And I've heard people say, you know, here we are in our modern culture and everyone's feeling bored. And, you know, there's mental health crisises and there's physical health crises, and lifestyle diseases are on the rise. And we're always looking for, like, why is this happening to us? And we need to have a quick fix. And it's like, maybe you're not as broken as you think. You're just not designed to live in a culture where you're just sitting at a desk all day and you hate your life and you're miserable and you never are engaged in nature and you're eating this weird food. Like, you're just not designed for that. So it's maybe not. You're not as broken as you think. You just need to get back to the. To where you're supposed to be.

Yeah. And that is what I find that when I'm out there working in the garden, you know, working in the yard. Like, I have. I don't really have any stress. Right. There's like, this is. I'm just. I'm just being. I'm just living, you know. And, like, my wife's a great example of what you just talked about, which is, you know, we used to live in this, you know, nice suburban neighborhood before we moved here. And. But her days were spent like, you know, she was. You know, she'd cook and clean, take care of, like, the kids. She's. She's a. You know. You know, she stays home with the family, with the kids. But, like, then during the day when the kids are at school, she would be like, what do I do? I guess I can. I need to go to Costco. I'll go to Costco. But that wasn't fulfilling. She just bought stuff at Costco. Probably half of what we didn't really need, you know, but. And then she's like, well, I should probably go to the gym. So then she'd go to the gym. But, like, she's just described how unhappy and not even totally aware of how unhappy she was in our former lifestyle. And now she says she has so much purpose. She said, you know, as a mom, she's like, the food that I'm growing. Like, there's this motherly connection to the food. There's this motherly connection to the animals and taking care of them. And so, yeah, she's arguably never been more fulfilled in her life than she is living this lifestyle that you talk about in this book. And I still instacart more often than I probably should, but it's all right.

I want to share something with you. This may have been the statement that got me to finally make the decision to move.

And it was a friend of mine who's very wise, and we were just talking about, I think it was at the time that there were issues with the food supply chain and the grocery stores couldn't get food. Like, there was just different certain things. Like, you couldn't find semiconductors. Right. Like, you couldn't get microchips because they were imported overseas. And that's where, like, we started to see, like, whoa, whoa, whoa. This. Yeah, this. These systems are very fragile. And these things that we once completely took for granted. You never thought car manufacturers never thought they couldn't be without they'd be out microchips that went on for, like, six months where there were no new cars being made, right?

Yep.

So the point being, we were talking about it, and he said, he goes, I think there could come a point in our society where the only people that are able to eat healthy food are the people that grow it for themselves.

Yeah.

And I. That, like, that hit me, like, I was like, whoa. Because I value, you know, I'm a cancer survivor. Eating healthy is the, like, right next to, like, my family's my number one priority. And eating healthy food is a close second, if not tied for first.

Yes.

And I was like, wow, that's a really good point. And it's not some dystopian conspiracy theory. It's like, we've already seen that this can happen, you know, Anyway, so I'm just curious as to your, like, any response to that or any thoughts that come up with that idea of, like, there may become a point in the future where the only people that can eat healthy food are those that grow it for themselves.

I totally am. In line with that. And I actually was just thinking of that recently, just in some different experiences I've had lately. And people I've been around, especially children, just watching how other kids, my children are brainwashed into the homestead lifestyle so they understand healthy food and they're, you know, we're butchering chickens this afternoon, and they're gonna help, and they're gonna be there and they're helping us can tomatoes yesterday. So my kids are oddballs in a wonderful way.

And how old are they? How old are they now?

13, 10 and 7.

Okay.

So, yeah, they're well indoctrinated. Not that we don't eat junk food sometimes, because I, you know, but for the most part, they get it. But I'm around, you know, watching how other children are eating it, and it's not. This isn't a message of judgment to any family or, you know, I have to preface that. But we also have to speak to problems and what's happening. And, yeah, I'm looking at what's considered normal and what is so easily available and what's cheap. And it scares me because exactly what your friend was saying. It takes so much effort to find food that is not full of garbage and poison and, you know, corn, soy, wheat. Corn, soy, wheat. It's in everything. I call it human kibble. Like, it's like all we eat is corn, soy, and wheat. And it's. And the seed oils and the chemicals. And then we have that whole topic of pesticides around it. Like, it's so hard to get that food. You have to go to extra efforts. And so when I start to see the progression, like, I do think that's very true, like, you can do it now in a grocery store. You have to be really picky and selective and stay on the outside. And even some of the whole foods in the grocery store are still sprayed with chemicals, are still grown in not great ways. So you have to kind of go the lesser of the evils and have that conversation with yourself. But that's honestly what prompted my homesteading, part of the conversion for me 15 years ago. Wyoming is not a place, or it hasn't been traditionally a place with a lot of local food culture or farmers markets. And I realized if I wanted anything that wasn't, you know, Doritos and typical food, then I needed to grow it myself. It was just hard to find organic. It was hard to find clean food. So I even recognized it then. And I'm seeing it become so much more so now. And I wish or I hope there's ways we can work around that because not everyone can have 60 acres to grow. So I feel like there's gotta be some ways we can have co ops or collaborations to get that out. But I think education is the first step so people understand what they're eating and they're understanding what it's doing to their bodies.

Yeah. Yes, well said.

Yeah.

And I mean, yeah, you go to the grocery store, you mentioned saying on the outer aisles, right. But even that, you know, half of the beef has got hormones and you know, all sorts of stuff that you don't want in it. And most of the vegetables are, you know, sprayed with pesticides. Right. So I mean, you're literally looking at, I mean, think about that. I think it was Eben Pagan years ago that was talking, he said something along the lines of just that it's, it's like, you know, it's less than 2% of, or maybe, maybe less than 5% of what's sold in the grocery store you should actually put in your body.

Yeah.

Like think about how crazy that is, y'. All. That as much as if not more than 95% of what they sell at a grocery store actually has toxins and poisons and things that, you know. And you wonder why cancer is an epidemic and obesity is an epidemic. It's like because we're literally being poisoned every day.

The. Oh, I keep drawing blanks. What was the next thing I wanted to ask you about?

Oh yeah, getting practical. So I, when my wife and I started buying various foods like rice and beans and just, just stuff that. When we saw the, the food shortages during like the pandemic, we were like, oh, let's order some like, you know, we didn't know how long they were gonna last, right. So we ordered like organic rice and beans. I was like, well, I want something healthy, you know. So we got like big, you know, five pound buckets of rice, five pound buckets of beans or five gallon buckets, I should say. But one thing that hit me because again, I used to be a completely raw vegan food person. I was all food that was alive. Now I eat a variety. I eat grass fed meat and pasture raised chicken and all of it. But I still a primary part of my diet during the day is I want food that is living right, that is not cooked, that is organic live food. And when we were buying this emergency food, I said to my wife one day, well, what am I going to. What I can do for living food? Like, because at that time we did this was before we had the, you know, we weren't growing anything. And she goes, well, what about sprouts?

Yes.

I go, oh, my gosh, you're a genius. And so I wanted to share one minute on my view of sprouts, and then I want to hear you because you talk about this in the book.

Yeah.

But for anybody not listening, for one of the most popular sprouts is you buy organic mung beans and you can get them on Amazon.com, just organic mung beans, mu n g. And then you put them in water and within a few days they start sprouting these little tails. They look like tadpoles, right?

Yep.

And the way that I had this or I learned about raw or sprouting years ago, and what stuck with me is that, you know, when you buy even organic vegetables at the grocery store, they are dying. They've been dying since the moment that they were cut off the vine. Right. But when you sprout something in water, it's literally life. It is brand new life that is emerging. And you think about the energy rather than dying in the foods that have been bought at the store, it's literally life energy in those sprouts. And then when you consume them, you're consuming that energy. So anyway, for me, sprouting is so easy. You don't need any soil, you don't need anything other than water, a jar, and the mung beans or the lentils or whatever you're sprouting. So I'd love to start there on stuff that people could immediately start implementing into their life to implement what you talk about in the book and improve, you know, immediately improve their health and start growing things for themselves.

Yes. I love sprouts so much, like you said, and the other parts, you know, sprouts at the store are pricey and they go bad really fast. So when you're growing them yourself, to me it's like a convenience thing, which is funny because people see my life and they think it's the opposite of convenience. But I'm like, I just don't want to have to drive to the store and buy stuff that I throw away in two days. So, like, there's a lot of pieces here, but I think it's such a great example that if you're willing to think outside the box, like you have so many possibilities available to you, even if you're living in an apartment in New York City, like, you can do, you can do more than you think. So sprouts are an awesome option. Windowsill herbs. There's Even ways to grow windowsill lettuce, you know, salad greens. So you're letting those sprout. You're seeding the sprouts in little pans of soil, and you're letting them get a little bigger and trimming them off. There is all sorts of different vertical planters you can get these days that can go in to, you know, next to a sunny window or if you have a. I'm just. Let's. I'm talking like the. The scenario of someone living in an apartment. Like nothing. Because that's the extreme. Right.

Yeah, sure.

So you can get vertical planters and put them near a window or on a balcony and grow all sorts of things. Strawberries, lettuce, green beans. You're not going to get gobs, but you're going to get something. And then beyond even just the growing, if we're talking about living foods, there's a lot you can do in your kitchen. I get totally nerdy over bacteria because I just think it's super cool, like fermentation.

Who doesn't? Jill? Who doesn't?

I just. I'm just like this. So I appreciate that. Your kinship there. Yeah. Soil bacteria, bread bacteria. I think it's awesome. So, like fermenting vegetables, that's taking food and bringing life into it. It's a living food. Sourdough bread is that same dynamic. You're capturing wild organisms from the flour, from the air. You're bringing that into your kitchen and you're partnering with it. Kombucha, the kefirs. There's all sorts of fermented dairies where you're creating living foods and very natural processes. And the cool thing about those foods, if you can get handy with those, they don't take a ton of effort. There's a little bit of a learning curve. That stuff you can't buy at a store, like the sauerkraut you buy at a store has been pasteurized and it's now dead. And a lot of the yogurts you buy at the store are so full of garbage, they hardly are even yogurt anymore. And sourdough bread, most sourdough bread, not all, but most of it that's sold in a traditional supermarket is not actual sourdough. It has flavoring in it to make it sour. So once you master the microbes, you get food that you can't buy. And to me, that's highly valuable, and it's also living food. So stuff like that, I just get so weirdly excited over, because it feels good when you do it not only does it taste good, like you're getting all the dopamine from making the thing and figuring it out, and it's such a magical process. And it sounds like similar to what you were talking about with your wife. When we shift into that role of producer, it feels good. Like, it does something for us as humans. And that's the part that I want more people to understand when they look at what I do and they're like, oh, Jill, it's so much work, and why don't you just do it the easy way? I'm like, well, because this feels better. Like, it lights me up, and that's worth something.

And I think that, like, to your point, you know, you. You just. You start somewhere. You do. Like, for example, if you grow some sprouts, right? Get. Go get. You know, just Google how to grow. Actually buy Jill's book. Duh. But. But the point is, right, you can Google it too, but, right. You put mung beans, a handful of mung beans into a jar with some water. Water. And then you just put it by the windowsill, and you just change the water every day. And all of a sudden you literally go, wow, I grew. Like, I created this. And so I think the point is, once you dip your toe in the water and then you get that reward of, wow, it feels good to be a producer, to produce something, to grow something, to create something. I am a creator, right. I was put on this earth to create, not to consume. So there's this fundamental, spiritual, innate human drive and desire within us. And like you said, maybe you're not as broken as you think. Right. I love. There's a book called Potatoes Over Prozac, you know, and I think it was about the actual chemical impact of the potato. But it's also like the idea of, hey, if you grow potatoes, you might realize that, wow, this is what I'm meant to do. And now, like, my wife, like I said, she is so lit up every day and she works her butt off, you know, but she loves every moment of it, you know, she wouldn't trade it for anything.

Yeah. I just want to say, if no one has grown, has tried growing or harvesting potatoes, it is one of the most satisfying things. Like when you're digging in there, I don't know what it is. I know it sounds so weird to even describe it. You're digging in the soil with your hands and you're uncovering the potatoes. It's addictive. I get such a dopamine hit off harvesting potatoes. It's Insane. But yeah, it's those things that I'm always like. I try to be chill, right? Because I get really excited over this and super nerdy, but I try to be chill. So I'm like, it's fine, you know, you just try the sprouts. Just try the sprouts. Because I know once they do that, it's going to create that chain reaction and then, you know, the rest is history.

Yeah. Let's close with. Well, anything that you want to share. But you know, I just, I think that what's so important, it's like anything in life is mindset, right? Everything begins with your mindset about it.

It's sustained based on your mindset. And whether or not you enjoy the fruits of your labor is based on your mindset, right? So it's like to me that's the through line. And you said in the book that old fashioned on purpose, which is the title of the book, Old Fashioned on purpose is a mindset. And so kind of bringing everything together we've talked about today, like what do you want to leave people with in terms of adopting that mindset in their lives?

So two things that come to mind. The first is embrace that hard doesn't always equal bad. Because we have been sold this idea in our culture. Thank you. Industrialization and the factory mindset and all of that, that if something's hard, it's beneath you, it's not worth doing, you should run from it. Where in reality the opposite is true. It's kind of a natural law that challenges, like we're designed for challenges, our bodies are designed for challenges. We don't grow our muscles unless they're challenged and stretched and it's uncomfortable. And there's so much of life that follows that law, that natural law. And so I think first is just reject that. Just because something is hard or uncomfortable, it means you should shy away. In fact, sometimes it means you should lean in. And that's really important in this old fashioned lifestyle. And then the other piece I think that's so crucial is that you have to be highly committed to action, messy action, imperfect action, action before you know all the steps. But you have to take action. And I think so many people in so many areas of life, not just homesteading every everywhere it's there's this paralysis of I need to know everything that's going to happen first. I need to have the perfect plan, I need to figure it out, I need to have more education, I need to read more books, I need to watch more videos. I'm like, no. And you'll never feel ready. You're never gonna feel ready. You just have to do it and figure it out as you go. And everything I've learned in my life, I have a habit of getting myself into situations that are over my head and I have to learn as I go. But I think that's the only way to learn. Honestly, I've never actually done anything worth doing that I had learned in a book or in a class ahead of time and had it all figured out. That's never actually happened. So take messy action.

Take messy action. And, you know, you mentioned that, like, you just said something about not having all of, you know, knowing everything you need to know. I do feel like this book is a manual for from start to finish. Like I said, you cover virtually every topic related to this and so much about the mindset and the why. Like, as you read this book, you're like, I want what Jill has. Like, I want that slower lifestyle. I want to be lit up by digging potatoes out of the ground, you know, and so the book is old fashioned on purpose. Cultivating a Slower, More Joyful Life by Jill Winger, creator of the Prairie Homestead. Where's the best place to buy it?

I would say I always recommend go to your local bookstore if you have one, and then if you don't have one at the typical retailers, Barnes and Noble, Target, Amazon, Bookshop.org is a good one. Bookshop.org is supporting indie bookstores and you can order from them online. So, yeah, just a normal place.

Very cool, Very cool. Well, I am excited. Like I said, I think this book is so needed right now more than ever. It speaks to me. I'm gonna get it on audible for my wife. She's an audiobook kind of gal, but I think she's just gonna, she's gonna love it. And then we might. She might be reaching out to you for some pro tips.

Send her my way. We'll chat. Yeah.

Awesome. All right, well, Jill, thank you so much. And everybody listening. Thank you for listening to this episode. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. And go grab Jill Winger's new book, Old Fashioned on Purpose. Cultivating a Slower, more joyful life wherever books are sold, starting with your local bookstore, if you can support them. So love you guys and gals and we'll talk to you next week.