Hillside Harvest Farms

Today I'm talking with Brittany at Hillside Harvest Farms. You can follow on Facebook as well.

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00:00

You're listening to A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. I'm your host, Mary Lewis.

00:10

Today I'm talking with Brittany at Hillside Harvest Farms in California.  Good afternoon, Brittany. How are you?  Good. How are you doing? I'm good. I had to think about whether it was morning or afternoon because you're in California. Yes. They're an hour behind us, so it's afternoon now.  We're actually two hours. And I was so nervous. I was not going to figure out the time change.  But it's 11 o'clock, so we're still morning here.

00:36

Okay, well good morning to you and good afternoon to me. How's that? Thank you. Perfect. How's the weather in California today? We have actually had like a  fairly mild summer. So it makes me a little nervous what our August and September is going to be like into October, because we'll be like 110 into October. So I'm a little nervous, but the summer has been great so far. Awesome. My daughter used to live in LA. lived there for

01:06

like over three years.  then she made a lateral move to Florida. Oh my gosh.  I'm like, okay, that's interesting. Well,  you'll still have oranges and lemons. That's good news. Uh huh.  Oh yes.  It is  kind of a gray day here in Minnesota. It's overcast and  it's not really muggy, but it's not really not muggy if that makes any sense. Uh huh. Uh huh. And it's not hotter than hell. So that helps.

01:35

That's always nice.  Yes. After the week we put in last week, I'm very happy to have it be cooled down.  Yes.  Okay. So tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do. Well,  we live in  Paso Robles, California. We moved here about  three years ago. My husband and my two boys.

01:57

We're, my husband and I are both from California, but we went to school in Utah and lived there for quite a few years. And then we're able to move back here to California, which we were really excited about.  Um, we don't live in typical California. We're very rural.  Um, and  just, it's, it's so beautiful out here. about an hour from the coast in central California and wine country.  And  just love being out here. We're on about three acres and.

02:26

have goats and chickens and pigs and ducks and about an  acre garden and a little farm stand down at the bottom of the driveway. And we just have so much fun doing all that.  Very nice. And California is an odd state because  you've got high fashion, you've got Silicon Valley, you've got  the, assume the wine industry is pretty big. You've got.

02:54

citrus fruits that are pretty big.  And then you've got all the agriculture. Yes.  So there's so much agriculture. I love it. We actually just went to  Tahoe over the weekend. It's about a six hour drive.  And besides just the quick drive through  Sacramento, we were just driving through orchards and vineyards and  just it was almost completely agriculture and it was  such a fun drive and I love it so much.

03:24

I forgot a big one. have movie production out there too. Yes, we do. Uh-huh. I know. It's so, I love how diverse the state is.  And it's really cool. I love being in a small town. It's about three hours to our closest international airport. It was really funny when we moved from Utah to California, everybody was like, what are you doing?

03:47

Like it's just, you're just going to be moving to the city. And I'm like, I don't think you understand where we're moving to  in California. Like it's so much smaller than where we're living now. I don't, I don't think you quite understand where we're going. Yeah. And I'm,  I don't necessarily want to make the podcast all about Mary today, but Minnesota is,  is odd like that too. When you hear Minnesota, when anyone hears Minnesota.

04:16

They make Minneapolis St. Paul, which are the two biggest cities in the state.  And they're right next to each other. But southern Minnesota is cornfields, soybean fields, and alfalfa fields.  And northern Minnesota is pine trees and the boundary waters and cabins. so it's funny to me when people immediately assume big city when they hear Minnesota. like, no, there's...

04:43

There's very little acreage that is big city in Minnesota. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. It's so funny. Yeah, but it's great. We love it here. Last year, we opened our farm stand for our first year, and that was so much fun. And it was just a little trailer last year. And this year, we built a greenhouse and a little shed. So that's been a lot of fun.

05:10

I do a lot of canning and preserving and we grow a lot of our own meat  and  my husband's family, have a 40 acre avocado ranch in  a little town called Cayucas that they have, they raise steer.  So we have our own meat, our beef  cows that we raise. so it's,  it's a lot of fun.  do you have access to avocados whenever you want them?

05:38

Yes, and it's glorious  because where we're at in Paso, it freezes and  during the winter not a ton, but we do get into those freezing temperatures every so often. So we can't grow avocados here,  but when we go down to the beach, we will snag avocados every chance we get.  am so jealous. It's amazing.  I haven't bought an avocado in probably a year because they're expensive. Oh my gosh, I know.

06:07

I might have to add that to the grocery list for the weekend because now that thinking about it, it would be really nice to have some avocado and salad. That would be great. I know. It's so fun. I'll just grab a grocery bag and just fill it and then give it to all my neighbors when they come back. It's like paradise out here. I love it. I'm so glad. I love it when people love where they live because for the longest time, I did not love where I lived. I lived in town, in a small town.

06:34

right off of Main Street, and I've said it before, it was noisy, it was dusty, and it was busy. And I'm one those people who really loves quiet and peace.  So when we moved, we moved to  a three acre acreage, four miles outside of  a town half an hour away. And yes, we have big semis that go by during the day because we're on a main stretch between two towns. And right now everybody's getting ready for corn harvest. Oh yes.

07:04

But that's different noise than  ambulances and church bells and the train going through town.  Oh yeah, for sure. We've lived all over. My husband's in construction and so we've lived  in Las Vegas and we lived in Salt Lake City and we've lived in lots of different cities and  I do not like it at all.  My dream has always been to

07:32

live on a farm. grew up working on my uncle's dairy farm in Idaho and  always begged my parents to have some sort of garden. And I was an FFA and  just always dreamed of having some sort of farm that I was able to live on. And it's  just something I always dreamed of. It was funny when we  moved to our first house in Utah, we were on a little half acre.

07:59

and I was so excited to finally have my dream garden and we moved in December of 2019 and I'd been planning for this for years and that spring of 2020 when I could finally get my garden in was of course when COVID hit and I had to make sure everybody knew that I was not doing this because of COVID. I was not jumping on the bandwagon. I had been planning on doing this for so long. So it wasn't just because of COVID that I was doing it.

08:28

And so it was  quite the experience. Well, even if you were jumping on the bandwagon, it's not a bad bandwagon to jump on. It really isn't. you've been, sounds like you've been an agriculture girl from the get-go. So good for you. Yeah. It's been so fun.  So what do you grow?  I grow just about everything.

08:55

I go through all the seed catalogs and I just want  one of everything.  I initially when I started was only interested in growing  vegetables and fruits.  And then my sister wanted, she lives in Utah. So when I was planning out my garden, she really wanted to get into it with me as well, but she wasn't as interested in the vegetables. She  really wanted to do flowers. So she and I started doing flowers as well.

09:25

would do  cell bouquets. And so she really got me into flowers. So I also do  flowers as well. And I sell bouquets and  centerpieces. And  so she kind of got me into doing that. So I really just have an assortment of everything out in my garden, which is, I just love it. Do you grow  wild flowers or do you grow like,  tall cutting flowers?  A little bit of

09:54

everything and I  really just let everything I'm really my big thing is I let everything go to seed. really just like everything going crazy. So there's wild flowers and  cut flowers  and just a surprise and so there's things that you know they pollinate and I just  don't ever know what's gonna come up and what it's gonna look like. So every year it's just  kind of a surprise.

10:24

And,  but then of course I plant, I'll start plants from seed in my garage. then, so I have things that I know that I'm going to get. And then I also have all my surprises because I just let everything go to seed. Because I'd rather have those plants coming up than weeds coming up  in the garden. For sure.  Yes.  Oh my God. We have been fighting weeds like you wouldn't believe this. Oh my gosh. It's  ridiculous.

10:53

Yeah, they killed our cucumbers  between the constant, well, I don't want to say constant rain because it's way better than it was last year.  But we've had like two or three days of sun and then two or three days of off and on rain and then two or three days of sun. the cucumbers really hate that kind of weather.  We will have no cucumbers to sell this year. I'm so sad. However, the tomatoes are doing fantastic. We're going to be swimming in tomatoes in about a week.

11:20

We're just starting to get ours. I just got my first big harvest of tomatoes and I'm so excited. We keep getting people asking for when are the tomatoes gonna be ready? So I'm excited to get those out in the farm stand today probably actually. You will probably relate to this story then. I have been waiting as patiently as I am capable of for the first six tomatoes to come in from the garden.

11:49

that I could make the first batch of bruschetta this summer. my gosh. Yes. We had that for dinner last night and my husband happened to pick up a watermelon when he was shopping. Oh my gosh. had bruschetta and then watermelon for dessert last night and I am not kidding you. My heart was so big. I was like this is is living. are rich. It's heaven. There's nothing better. Yep. And I think

12:18

I think that it's wonderful that you grow produce, but you also grow flowers because  produce feeds the body, but flowers feed the soul. yeah,  most definitely.  Nothing makes me happier than just coming in with,  know, you have your food, but then just the beauty of the flowers just makes you so happy  and  seeing all the different colors and  the varieties and it just

12:48

It feeds your soul. Like you said, it makes you so happy.  actually have a weird question. don't know.  I don't know what California is like when it comes to perennial flowers. Here,  we start out with tulips and daffodils and the little short iris varieties, they come first.  And then those kind of die off and the peonies start to bloom. And they have like, I don't know, we had a month.

13:16

of bloom time this year because of the different varieties we have in. then the  lilies start to bloom after the peonies are done.  And then the hostas start to bloom around  mid-August. And that's about a three week bloom. And then we're into fall. Does California have that kind of progression or can you grow pretty much anything anytime?  So what's crazy about California  is you pretty much

13:45

have every single zone in California.  so the zone, I am in zone nine.  And  I'm still I were in our  third season of growing here and I'm still learning.  I came from zone seven in Utah and I'm still trying to learn it's crazy. So I have plants that I thought were annuals that are here are perennials like my snapdragons  and

14:15

um, stock  and  just a whole bunch of flowers that were annuals in Utah here are perennials and they will just grow all winter long.  And  so it's, it's been such a learning experience  to figure out. So I will get it barely have, I barely have enough chill hours for tulips. Sometimes like this last winter we didn't get as many freezes. So my tulips didn't do as well because they didn't get enough  freeze time.

14:45

But we will get  some winters, we'll get enough freeze time for tulips. My daffodils, I did get some daffodils, which was awesome. Like I said, I'm still learning  in this area,  but it's so funny because you just go 40 minutes  towards the ocean and it's like zone 10. And so it's just  so all over the place here that even  within our county, there's like four different zones.

15:14

So  it's  just  such a learning.  Even  where I'm at in Paso Robles is so different than where in the city of Paso Robles. It's just so different. So it's just a learning. You just have to learn where you're at. So I'm still learning, even though we're in our third season, I'm still learning for exactly where my house is, how everything grows.

15:43

And so, and it just depends on  the year too. So hopefully this year will get a little bit colder of a winter so I can get more tulips.  Because tulips are some of my, just my favorite flowers. And that's one of the things I do miss from Utah are the tulips.  So I'm really hoping I can get some good tulips this next season.  Like I said, the daffodils did pretty good.  The summer, my zinnias do amazing.

16:11

The Zinnias just love it because we do get really hot summers all the way into October. Like we generally don't get our first freeze until the end of October. Yep. And so the Zinnias do really well, Dahlias do really well all the way through the middle of October. And yeah, I just lost my train of thought. Hopefully that answered your question. I'm not sure if it did. I just kind of started rambling.

16:40

No, that's  fine because I didn't, I mean, I know that California has some really diverse climate situations going on, but I didn't know to the extent that you just told me. So that's awesome. learned something new today. Also, our zinnias did not come back this year. We had a bunch last year and they didn't come back. And I think it may be that it was too wet.  I don't think, I mean, we've had a few,

17:10

heat wave streaks like three to five days where it's been really hot.  But I don't think  they like Minnesota as much as I wanted to think they like Minnesota. I it stays hot enough long enough. Yeah, the Zinnias definitely like dry weather and where we are at, we basically don't get any rain from  April until October, which is one reason the grapes do really well here.

17:37

So, because  when it rains real heavily, the grapes will split. So the grapes do really well here because  we basically don't see any rain from, like I said, April until October. Which is crazy to think about. think that the good news on that is if you need to water, you can.  Two springs ago, know, so 2024.

18:06

It rained and rained and rained all of May and two weeks into June here. my gosh.  And they keep saying you cannot pull the water out of the ground, but you can water when there's no water. Yeah. So our garden was just  a terrible fail last year. I am so excited to be able to have tomatoes for our community this year because we had  not nearly enough.

18:32

last year. can't even imagine having to, yeah, it's so nice being able to regulate the water  and just water when it's needed and then just turn it off.  It's quite nice.  It's a gift. And honestly, I've said this so many times in the last year since all that rain fell, but our garden was  soup for about a month.  You couldn't

19:01

You could not go out there and put your foot into the actual garden because you would go up to your ankles.  my gosh. It was disgusting. And we were very mad. We were very, very mad about it.  Oh, I bet that's awful. Yup. And this year my husband has been, he's the gardener. I always give him all the credit because he's the one does all the work in the garden. I help him plan it, but I don't do the work.  He has been just  happy as a pig in mud.

19:31

this year because there hasn't been a whole lot of mud. Uh huh.  Oh, perfect. So yeah, it was, it was a very, very long,  miserable summer last year. can't even imagine.  Yup. And he, we still had stuff to sell at the farmer's market because we make things too. And people would be like, are you going to have tomatoes for canning this year? Cause the year before we were selling hundreds of pounds of tomatoes and he had to tell them, no,

20:01

And every time you told them no, he said it's the same face every time, honey. He they just look at me like,  ah, nobody else has them either.  You know, it's so sad. And it's just something about those tomatoes. That's just what  everybody, they just want those tomatoes, man. Like there's something about those garden fresh tomatoes that everybody looks forward to every year. Well, they taste good.  I know they there's nothing like them.

20:31

That's for sure. The other thing about tomatoes is that they're so versatile. mean, you can make salsa, you can make tomato sauce, you can make tomato paste,  you can make spaghetti sauce and can it so that all you have to do is warm it up. Yes.  We have struggled. My youngest, he has really struggled with eating. He's very

21:00

He gets very nervous about trying new foods, but he loves  my canned spaghetti sauce. And so that has been a lifesaver of  one of his quote unquote safe foods that he will eat is the canned spaghetti sauce. Funnily enough, he will eat most things that come out of the garden, which has been  just amazing seeing him get excited about like, are the peas coming up?

21:25

He gets excited about the carrots and he loves going out and picking the strawberries. And so that has been  so fun watching that because he just gets,  it's been so hard  with him getting so nervous about trying new foods, but he does get so excited about the jams that we make and he loves helping out with that. And I don't know  where we would be with his eating if it weren't for the garden and his excitement with.

21:54

with seeing it grow and the process that it takes to make these things. It's just been,  like I said, I don't know where we would be without it. It's been a huge blessing is what it's been. yeah. Oh yes. And  that is phenomenal. And he likes your homemade spaghetti sauce because mom's love is put in there too. Yes.  That's for sure. Blood, sweat and tears,  Yeah. People joke about

22:22

love being the secret ingredient.  it's not a joke. It's for real.  It really is. The passion and the  time and the love that people put into making things from scratch is a real thing.  It  really is. And I will die on that hill. I promise you. Yes.

22:46

I can't stand the spaghetti sauce that you buy at the store.  will never eat it again.  I know.  I couldn't get to canning last year. had a death in the family and so we  just ran out of it and we had to get some from the store. I like,  can't do this.  We're just going to have to wait until I can make some more.  We're not having spaghetti for the rest. Until the tomatoes come again.

23:15

I cannot do it. How old is your son, the one who's hard about eating? He's seven. he's been getting better. We've gone to a few different therapists, but it's been really difficult. But yeah, he's seven now and it's been a very difficult journey. Is it a texture thing that gets him?

23:45

No, it's funny because there's no rhyme or reason to it. think just what it is, is he has a desire, he wants to eat and try new foods. But when it comes down to it, he just is just terrified to try it. Like he just gets scared. And it's almost heartbreaking because I am such a food is just life for me. just food is everything. And so it's been so hard.

24:15

watching it  and not knowing how to help him because  it's really just all fear-based because he'll talk about it and  things he wants to try and then just when it comes down he'll have the spoon in his hand and ready to try it and he just  is just  it's just a mind like he just gets scared to try it  but luckily he likes  pretty much something in every food group

24:44

So he's,  he hasn't had any like growth, like impairments or anything like that. So  he's been fine there. But like I said, it's just,  it's  just like a mind.  Oh, just a mind scared. So it's just really trying to work through that is, is where we've, what we've been working on. the good news is that he will probably outgrow it at some point.

25:14

I don't know if you've tried this, it's something I learned with my fourth kid when he was, you know, a year or so old.  The rule with that one, because  I hadn't thought to try this with the other three, was that he had to give it a fair shot of a new food.  And if he genuinely did not like it and could not swallow it, he could politely spit it into a napkin. Or if we were at home, he could just get up from the table, go to the trash can and spit it in the trash. And he was the most

25:43

Venturous eater now. Oh my gosh. That is awesome.  I know we've tried. I'll have to try that Yeah, because if he felt like he didn't have to actually swallow it he was okay with it Yeah, but if we were like no you have to swallow it. He wouldn't do it It's to the point that he would to the point that he would throw up. Yeah, I'm like this is dumb This  does not have to be a battle like it's it's been quite we've tried so many things we we haven't tried that

26:12

He'll have his drink that he can have.  So he's gotten real good about just taking his drink. Like I said, we're making progress, but it's been such a journey.  Well, if you can handle letting him have that  choice. I know. That's a good idea.

26:35

being able to get it out of his face the minute he realizes that this is really not for him.  It might make him less afraid and it sounds like it's a fear thing. it really is. And like I said, it's just been so hard to watch. never thought, because neither my husband or I are picky eaters at all. And I was like, our kids won't have any problems with that. But. Uh-huh. That's  not how it always works. Same as last words.  Has he had a chance to try pesto yet?

27:04

hasn't  and I've made it. I need to try it this year because our basil looks so great right now. So I need to pick some and try it.  But we'll  yeah, I need to we'll try some basil pesto. That's a good idea. We'll have to try some of that. That's one of those pasta dishes that you have like once in a great while.  And because it's such an unusual taste, it's really good.

27:31

like once every six months, you wouldn't want to it every day. That's a great idea. He's so funny with pastas because he likes spaghetti. We're really trying to get through like pasta in different shapes. It's the same thing in just different shapes, but he hasn't gotten past like he'll eat spaghetti, but he won't eat bow type like any other shape. It's just spaghetti. Like that's the only shape he'll eat. So we'll have to try that.

28:00

pesto with just the spaghetti.  I'm going to tell you a secret. I'm 55 years old  and  I don't like the thick spaghetti. I like the angel hair spaghetti better. So funny.  So I mean, I'll eat thick spaghetti, I don't love it. I really like the angel hair and part of it is because it cooks quickly,  but it's also just a lighter feeling in your stomach when you eat it. That's true. So

28:28

And I'm so thankful that I get to talk to people on the podcast about their kids because I have a granddaughter, she's 12,  and she lives in Nebraska and I don't get to see her very often.  And my son grew up with all my tricks. So I don't really need to teach him any of the secrets that I tried on them because he knows them. So it's always nice when I get to share something. I love learning. I always am trying  just any tricks.  just, mean...

28:57

all the tips and tricks.  So that's awesome.  feel like I'm the fairy grandmother to a bunch of kids I've never met. It's perfect. I love it. It's kind of great.  It's kind of great because I don't have to change diapers  and  I don't have to cook for the kids, but I can at least help the parents.  It's kind of a win-win right there.  I really do love it. I'm kind of poking fun, but it's always nice when something I learn can help somebody else. That's great.

29:26

All right, Brittany, I didn't realize we're going to get into a food discussion. I know it's It's perfect.  It's totally fine because it's about produce and it's about making things. So we're on track.  Where can people find you?  I'm on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube  and TikTok. We're trying to get a website put together.  but yeah, right now I'm on  those social medias  and yeah.  Alrighty.

29:56

And  I meant to ask 15 minutes ago when you're talking about the flowers,  I scrolled down into your Facebook feed a little bit, but I don't remember seeing pictures of your flowers. Do you have pictures of your flowers? Yeah, there should be pictures on the,  I know we posted some of like the zinnias and some of the bouquets  on that should be on that Facebook and Instagram page.  So people, people want to see your flowers. can just go find them. Okay. Cool.  All right.

30:24

fantastic as always people can find me at a tinyhomesteadpodcast.com and that's probably going to be changing by next week because I'm trying to revamp our tinyhomestead.com website so I don't have to have two separate ones. So for now you can find me at a tinyhomesteadpodcast.com but starting a week from now it might just be a tinyhomestead.com. We'll see how much I get done. Thank you so much for your time Brittany I really appreciate it. for having me.

30:54

Have a great day. You too. Bye.