Transcript
Speaker: Today I'm chatting with my friend Liz. She is a wife, mom, and owner of one of my favorite shops ever, Urban Farm Collection. They're based out in Texas, right down the street from where I used to live, actually, and serve their community with some of the best quality products on the market. Today we're chatting about business, motherhood, raw milk, and everything in between. This interview is basically just two friends catching up, if I'm being honest. So cozy up, I know you'll enjoy. Music
Speaker: Well, Liz, we're so happy to have you here today. Can you tell us a little bit about your story? What got you into business? Tell me who you are, what you do, and we'll just, we'll start there. For sure.
Speaker: So I am Liz. um I run a business called Urban Farm Collection. um You can find on Instagram at urbanfarmlife. And basically, my husband and I are just really passionate about agriculture and farming. And we got into that. We were passionate about it before it was trendy. Like it is starting to become trendy now. And I get that. and I love aspects of that. But this has been a passion of ours that we've been working towards for like 15 years. um So we got married young. I was 21.
Speaker: And my husband is Australian. And I'm Texan. And we got married and moved to Australia. At the time I was young. It was an adventure. He had a job in Australia.
Speaker: Let's go to Australia. Didn't have any plans beyond that. um So we went to Australia. It was like, let's live in Australia for a year and then we'll move back to the States. Little did we know that was not practical because it costs like close to $10,000 to get your green card and all that. And then it made sense for us to just stay there until I got citizenship. Cause that way, if I ever wanted to go back, I didn't have to bother bother with the visa process again, cause it's very expensive. um So we ended up staying until I got citizenship. um In total, we stayed in Australia eight years. While we were there, we had three children. um and um in that time, we also decided that my husband, it would be a good idea for him to get a degree so that when we moved back to the States, we would have a better chance at getting a job. And he had started hunting with one of his friends in Australia and became really passionate about, you know, hunting and sourcing your own food and And that, and then in the, at that same time i had, i got pregnant pretty soon after we got married, like a year after we got married. And that kind of catapulted me into like feeling the responsibility of another life and you know, researching health. And so then got interested agriculture because I think agriculture and health go hand in hand. Like they are, they're, they're married. You can't, you can't divide those two things. um And so he got a Bachelor of Agriculture because we thought we don't know what we want to do, but we want to get closer to our food and we want to farm. And so a degree in agriculture just made sense. And so he got a bachelor's in agriculture, worked part time, worked full time and studied part time. He worked at ah ah a lab. um He was a lab technician and consultant. And then in that time, I was a stay at home mom. i I had started hairdressing for a bit and then I got pregnant and I quit that because I ended up having all sorts of reactions like eczema and just toxic overload from all the chemicals and stuff. When I got pregnant, I quit hairdressing. And that's when I just dove in to research. Like so someone asked me the most random question of, will you vaccinate your kid? And I was like, of course, like, like, why, why wouldn't I, I had not even thought about that. And then I was like, well, maybe I should like look into it. And back then Google was not, this was like 15 years ago. Google was not as like censored and biased and stuff like that. You could find stuff.
Speaker: you could find stuff pretty easily. And so I started researching vaccines and the more research on vaccines, I was like, oh my goodness, like, no, I don't want it. Like the research is not there. like it's just like the, it's the research to support it is just not there. And so that's when we decided not to vaccinate. And then I started dabbling in different lifestyles of like looking into veganism, looking into all different paleo, all the different lifestyles.
Speaker: And I had a good friend that was vegan at the time. And so it felt compelling. And so I started looking into it, but the more I looked into it, like I'm a researcher, I want to know the why of things. And the more I looked into it, I'm like, this actually doesn't make sense. It's trendy, but I'm not seeing the research behind it. I'm not seeing historically societies living on a vegan diet. That's not actually sustainable. So the amount of food you have to grow to sustain a healthy life as a vegan is so not sustainable when it's compared to like growing animals, like growing a cow and how much one cow can feed and And my husband was never going to go vegan, like absolutely never. um He was hunting, like just not going happen. He's like, if you make a vegan dinner, put a steak on it with me for me and I'll eat it, you know? um And so I started, I was like, well, I like, that's not making sense to me. What makes sense? And that's when I found Weston A. Price. I was just about to ask, this is going Western A. Price very quickly. And I was like, this, it just made sense. And I read that nutrition, physical degeneration. I read that entire book and I'm like, this makes sense. The research is there. The history is there. The change is obvious from these tribal diets. to when the man-made foods got introduced, like the pictures, they don't lie. And nowadays you can't really, he was in a really unique time period where he still had access to these people who hadn't been modernized yet and he could actually compare. We can't do that now because everybody's been modernized now. It was just, I just, I'm such a nerd and I found it just so fascinating. And so I was like, this is it. This is the diet. This is how humans are supposed to live. And I can tell you, like we've been living this way
Speaker: for fifteen almost fifteen years now i i see the difference i see the difference in my kids i see that we feel the difference we know the difference like this is the way like no one no one can convince me otherwise no one can convince me that animal food is bad for you that raw milk is bad for you, that we should drink pasteurized milk, all that. No one can convince me of that because I've lived it and I've seen it. um So at the time in Australia, we were, um you know, he was studying agriculture. we were, and we had a real passion for regenerative agriculture. Our hero was Joel Saladin. We love Joel Saladin, everything he stands for. Um, well, my husband was doing a conventional ag degree, which I found actually very interesting. We got to learn a lot of like the conventional mindset and when a profit is your only driving factor, the conventional mindset makes sense.
Speaker: Like mass produce cut corners where you can, when that's the deciding factor, but when health of the planet, health of the animals, health of a human is of utmost importance regenerative agriculture makes so much more sense it's not as profitable but it makes more sense and at the I I think that's a good thing.
Speaker: it probably is more profitable because you're not actually just destroying the land and you can support small economies at yeah um so That was our passion. We wanted to we wanted to um regenerative agriculture. we luck i would i ran farm co-op, so I would drive an hour and a half each way to get raw milk illegally in Australia every single week. And I would bring it back to people um who were too scared to do it themselves. And so I would drive and I would have at our church parking lot, I would have like, and we'd get it in these big buckets and have buckets lined up. I would go to a farm and I would buy these big produce boxes direct from the farmer and have everyone's boxes lined up. And I would just I would charge him five dollars to cover my fees. And that basically covered my gas to do it. And so five dollars to pick up your milk and produce. And so I did that for years. Just stuff like that. I've always been passionate about spreading.
Speaker: health to people and educating people and supporting some sporting farmers and local agriculture and stuff. And so that was what we did for many years in Australia. and We always dreamed of one day having a farm for ourself, but never knew if that was actually going to happen because we didn't, neither of us came from money. We didn't have some ranch inheritance, you know?
Speaker: And so when we moved fast forward to eight years of that, and that lifestyle in Australia, we moved to the U S with nothing. And we were starting from scratch and it's not easy to start from scratch. We had three kids at the time um and we were starting from scratch. So I'm telling you, my husband got a job making $10 an hour cleaning out freezers just to get money in. And it was a nasty job. Like restaurant said, it closed down. Their freezers have been off for days and he's cleaning out like rotten Indian food all these freezers stuff like that.
Speaker: i was I got a little part-time job when he wasn't working walking dogs for this like company where I would go and walk dogs and feed people's cats and stuff when they were away, like making $12 an hour or $15 an hour, or something like that.
Speaker: It was crazy. and um Then finally, he got a job at a nursery. we were able to buy a small neighborhood house. and Even I could go on and on. Even that was a miracle. We were just in a small little house in a neighborhood. But the fact that we could have something with our name on it was a miracle at the time. um And so we bought that house and we just kind of, you know, we lived there and um were faithful with what we had continued. I did raw milk drops, would drive again an hour and a half each way. We'd pick up raw milk for everyone in my church and we'd sit on our porch and people would do the porch pickup and stuff like that. um And we thought like it was just really hard to get our feet on the ground and just to get established and have kids, you know, expensive it is to be a family and one income.
Speaker: And so we were just like, look, I, I, and we were always committed that we were going to be near our church, a church, a local church was really important to us. Um, and community was really important to us. So we were never going to move out in the middle and nowhere just to get the farm because it was like the farm was a dream, but the church was most important to us. And so we were just kind of like, we just kind of lifted our hands up to the Lord and was like, i this dream might, this this this might be this might be our desire, but it might not be yours. And we're going to be okay with that. And we're still going to live this lifestyle, even in a neighborhood. And there's perks to living in a neighborhood. There's some things about a neighborhood setting this. But yeah.
Speaker: Fast forward to living a few years like that, very tight budget, but still, you know, living our Weston A. Price lifestyle, COVID hit and that went crazy as you know, everyone knows. Yeah. Yeah. And so hit and, um,
Speaker: It just, it got wild. And that's when I started growing my urban farm wife account again. I had started it in Australia. And then when I moved here, I had imagined like chronicling my journey and all that. And I just did it. It was, it was a very stressful time. And I, a lot of people. Yeah. but Well, before COVID, like just moving, I didn't end up ah before COVID. I just, I gave up my Instagram, my public like Instagram. And I was like, you know what?
Speaker: But then when COVID came, I picked up my covered my Instagram because I was like, no, i'm I've got to speak out against this. This is crazy. This is like all my nightmares coming true of like, you know, and I was like, this is where it's going. I had been, you know, knew about Bill Gates before even anyone knew who he was. And I was like, he's he's he's in on this stuff. And so I started speaking out in on my Instagram again. And that's when my platform started growing again. and it was growing with like-minded people, which was nice. um People who were also...
Speaker: That's how we met, right? Because we met in Utah, but I was wearing a Mandate Medical Freedom shirt, and it was like 2021, and you were like... Yeah, yeah. And then we found out we were both from Conroe, and I'm like, oh my gosh. Yeah, we live right... I think we were like 20 minutes away when we lived in Texas. Like, yeah, yeah such a small world. so That is how we met. Yeah, you were wearing a shirt. and I'm wearing a shirt. I think it says Mandate Veggies right now. Nice, yes. From my 2020 area.
Speaker: Yeah. And so that, so we, I started speaking out and that's when my account started growing and I started looking at, you know, finding ways to make money with my account um to support the family. Cause I was really sick of Jesse working. He was working two jobs and really that Jesse's my husband really having to scrape by um And so I started using my account to make money and I had joined young living and then doTERRA and I tried the MLM um thing all in that time.
Speaker: god was working behind the scenes miracles as he always does And thing. a
Speaker: where we're are now which is outside of houston had not gotten there yet And so we were able to take this tiny little three bedroom neighborhood house that was just nothing special built in the 1990s. Absolutely nothing special. 1500 square feet, tiny yard. And we made almost $200,000 off of it.
Speaker: And we only lived there two years. Amazing. Yes. And so we all of a sudden were in this really unique position where we had a ton of equity to move into another house. And at the time, so long story, our church in Round Rock, which is where we were, adopted a church in Conroe. They wanted families to come.
Speaker: Out of the blue, someone from this hydroponic lettuce company contacted my husband and wanted him to move there. Job started right when the church was planted. They were going to pay to move us. And so we were like, okay, God, we see you. Awesome. And so we moved to Conroe. We had all this equity and we're in this really unique time where Conroe hadn't boomed yet. the interest rates were crazy low and we're like oh my goodness i think we can afford property like this is crazy And so we had
Speaker: this ah this house we're in now was the fourth house. I think we put a bid on the other three fell through, but looking back, the other three were just not the houses for us. Like, I'm so glad we didn't get those. We got this house, it's on two and a half acres. Obviously we would have loved like some sort of ranch or something, but we're like, it's on two and a half acres and this is amazing. And so we we got this house and we're like now we can start our homestead dreams. Immediately got chickens, because like, of course that's the first thing you get. Yeah. And pretty soon after we moved here, I got a milk cow because I was like, I was still doing, you know, the long trips, like raw work our lives kind of centered around raw milk. My husband is celiac. And so his diet is already limited and raw milk is a staple in his diet. And so we always, we center our lives around raw milk and still do because now we have cows. Yeah. So we got our milk cow and then what, what, and I had already named my account urban farm life back when I was in Australia before I even like, because that's like, that was the name I'd picked because that's what I wanted to be. But now I'm like, we're in an urban setting. We're only 20 minutes outside town. We only have two and a half acres, but our passion is like showing people, Hey, there's a lot you can do on two and a half acres. Like yeah you can there's a lot you can still do. You don't have to have the ranch. The ranch is on like unfeasible for,
Speaker: 90% of the population yeah um for a variety of reasons. And so we're like, we're super passionate about showing people what you can still do on a small plot of land. And then also connecting urban to agriculture and farming, because I find people are so disconnected to where their food comes from, what that looks like. Like the amount of people who ask me, does a chicken still lay an egg if there's no rooster? Like they don't understand the basic biology of a chicken or they think they don't realize you have to get cows pregnant for them to milk. Just like humans, they don't milk unless they get pregnant. And then over time they dry off. So you have to get them pregnant again. Like they just assume a cow, a milk cow just has perpetual milk. You just go squeeze its teats and there's always milk there. Yeah. And the amount of people who said like, how do you get emu oil from an emu? Like thinking like you milk it or something.
Speaker: And so people like, and tallow, do you have to kill the cow to get tallow? And stuff like that. So people just don't understand. And we're like, it's it's quite sad because it's, it's pretty new that people are this removed from their food, you know, like chicken comes from the grocery store, um you know, all that kind of stuff. Like they just don't get it. Like what actually it looks like and what it costs and, Yeah. And so we're really passionate about educating people and teaching people that and showing people where the food comes from and that they can still do it on a smaller plot of land. You know, there's going to be variations of what you can do depending on how much land you have, but there's a lot people can do even with just a backyard and stuff. So yeah, so that's where we are now. And in that time, I started my business because again, i had wanted an income.
Speaker: In today's day and age, it gets harder and harder to live on one income. And so i was like, I'm not going back to work. I'm not, I don't work for other people. I am too independent and too, and I, and I'm staying home with my kids and I'm homeschooling. So I started Urban Farm Collection because I was already recommending stuff on my Urban Farm Life account to people. And I was like, and then I had affiliate links and stuff. But I was like, you know what, why don't I just become the store where they can buy it? And then I can pick things that I would recommend and sell it.
Speaker: And then I also started making my own skincare at the time. I started off with a golden yolk serum, which I love so much. was my favorite. favorite one that's our number one seller still yeah but that was the first thing I made with egg yolks from my own chickens and that catapulted us into starting the whole apothecary line and it's just over the past three years developed into what it is now and now it's our family's full-time income we run urban farm collection we have our own skincare line our own cosmetics we homestead My husband traded a one hour commute because we worked an hour away. So every day it was one hour in the morning commuting to work. And now instead it's an hour of milking cows and he much prefers milking cows. while driving traffic to work
Speaker: so awesome So yeah, so that, that's basically our story in a long nutshell of how we got here and like what we're doing now and how our passions kind of all aligned into like what we have now.
Speaker: I love it. I feel like it's so encouraging to me to see, okay, this is what you can do on two and a half acres. I feel like everything that you've said, I really resonate with because we came to the same conclusion when we were looking to buy a house because we're like, we want property. We're trying to figure out what's feasible in middle Tennessee.
Speaker: Everything is so expensive. Like we're realizing we could have gotten a lot more for our buck, a lot bigger bang for our buck if we were still in Texas. come back yeah i know this is the price we pay we really wanted to be near the mountains and like we love we love it here it's beautiful it's so beautiful but as we were like looking i drove out you know way far out into nowhere to look at houses on larger plots and they were nice and they were brand new houses on bigger pieces of land but then i was like
Speaker: We're an hour and a half from church. We're an hour and a half from our friends. Like we, that's just not the life that we want to live. We know how important it is to be with people. So we ended up, we're on, a little over half an acre. And even like, I feel like being on about half an acre, there's so much that we can do. Like we're already plotting out our gardens and I'm getting chickens next month and we're going to hatch them. So they'll be laying by the spring. Cause like we go through so much, so many eggs. We go through so much milk, our milk. That was another deciding factor. Our milk supplier, there's some friends of ours. They live 15 minutes away But we were driving an hour and a half one way every week to pick up our milk. And, you know, we go through like five gallons a week. Like we're we're plowing through milk. And I could do more if we could, if we could like budget for more. i could probably budget for more. But my husband would be like, you're a psychopath. Yeah. You are actually, actually, no, he would like it, I think.
Speaker: Anyways, so yeah, we were close to where we get our milk and then we'll be able to do the things. But I feel like a lot of people don't realize how much you can do with even just a little bit. And I think you saying, you've said this multiple times in your story, but being faithful with what you have, like be faithful with a little bit. I think that's something that people feel, i think people feel like Eating locally, sourcing your food locally, living a more healthy lifestyle is out of reach. But I know for me personally, like there there have been seasons where we've had like zero money, but we still made it a priority to buy raw milk. Right. That's exactly where we were in. In so many seasons, you you you make priorities. And I'm like the people who say that, I'm like, I would say, how much fast food do you get? How much excess empty calorie processed food do you buy at the grocery store? And it's like, if you cut the unnecessary stuff out, you'd be amazed at what your budget can actually afford.
Speaker: Yes, and I think like taking a serious look, well, number one, I think a lot of people don't budget, but number two, I think if they were to look at it, it's like, oh, there's actually a lot that we can expend, like a lot that we can get rid of. We got down to, 2021 was a really hard year for us financially. Like we just, we ah were basically living on my income And like our savings, because it it was just like so wild. Every it was like every bid, my husband and I were both self-employed and every bid my husband put out.
Speaker: It was like something weird would happen right before the job would start and it would like falter. And so it was just so much of that. And it was so weird. And i remember we were like. We had cut everything down in our budget and our bare bones. It was just groceries and bills like we were not paying for anything else other than groceries or bills. And I remember one night we were laying in bed and we're just like talking through our financial situation.
Speaker: And my husband was like, I think it's time to cut the raw milk budget. And I shot up and I was like, I think it's time for you to make more money. Like, I think that that's what's going to happen right now. And he was like, taking a little aback. I was like, I cut my own hair. All of my underwear has holes in it. I don't go shopping. I'm like, I am not living a luxurious life, but I need my milk. I will not give it up. And he was like,
Speaker: Okay, like it was kind of prompting he needed to go to the But it's so important, like to me, looking at that, and I know like, i'll I'll talk with clients and I'm like, if you can't get your hands on raw milk, like, yeah, try low temp, pasteurized, non-homogenized, like if you can.
Speaker: But I really do think, I know there's some debate on on Instagram right now. Like some people are like, oh, just do pasteurized, like it's fine. I really, i hold raw milk to such a high standard and I think everyone should have their hands on it. And I know you know a lot about raw milk, so can you tell us a bit about like the benefits of raw milk and how to safely consume it. Cause I know there's a lot of people that will fear monger people that are like, Oh, it's not safe. Like, but there are some things that you want to pay attention to when you're sourcing milk. So can you tell us a little bit about, for sure you know, all of that?
Speaker: For sure. I think on like ah backtracking a little bit, I think we are the first society in recent, maybe a past hundred years that didn't think like bake food, a major part of their budget. Like we want food to be like 10% because we want all this budget for vacations and fancy cars and a bigger house and the nice clothes and the beauty products and stuff like that. And I was like, if you look back in history, like people worked to eat.
Speaker: Like yeah that was how it was. It was like food, you worked so that you were fed. And then maybe 10 to 20% was like any little extras that might be, you know, a Christmas treat, like kids, like Christmas treats used to be like an orange and the candy and the stocking, like a little house on the prairie days. And it was like,
Speaker: It was like life revolved around food. And nowadays people just, they don't want that, but they don't, there's a disconnect to realize how important food is to live a good life. And it's like, if you want to be healthy, happy, you know, not anxious, you know, all the different things of what, you know, you want, it's like, you've got to prioritize food. And it's like, do people, eat there's, that there's such a disconnect in how like our budget should like food should be a good chunk of your budget like don't be scared of that cut other things don't cut your food because you cut your food you cut your health and then everything else goes haywire and yeah we we cut wi-fi before we cut our food budget like we cut wi-fi we we actually still don't have wi-fi because we're like well we actually don't use it that much like I'm on right now i turn on a hot spot on my phone because you know that's
Speaker: Yeah. Anytime I do, it it's impressive because I do work online. So anytime I do clients or a podcast, I'm on hotspot. That's cool. Yeah. Yeah. We definitely still have wifi, but, um, but I'm saying like people, people realize what they can cut, like whenever I'm or what they can do to make it a priority. Like whenever I'm in conversation with people, you saw our cars, Oh,
Speaker: It's a little embarrassing, but I'm like, you know what? It's paid for. Yes. I don't owe either of our cars. We don't owe a dime on them. hey Why don't like, and we eat well. Yes. So I could have a car note and drive around everyone everyone go, oh, nice car. But who really cares anyways? Nobody cares. Yes. And we would cut our food bill. And I'm like, I think I'll, I'll, I'll take like steak regularly and and like say the food yeah over a car.
Speaker: Yes, I remember I did a post years ago that like because I was standing in the Aldi checkout and I had, you know, all my organic groceries and Aldi has grass fed steaks. I'd like had all these things as best that I could get from Aldi, you know, at the time in our budget. I'm like, OK, I'm doing I'm doing well with my budgeting. And I was looking at the person in front of me and she had like just trash food. It was not real food. It's just like crap. Right. And.
Speaker: I tried not to make a judgment because I'm like, okay, like, you know, i want to be generous with my interpretation of people like, Maybe they're really struggling right now and this is truly all they can afford. And then I walk outside and our cars are parked next to each other. I'm in this beat up 1999 Honda that has a black top because we got in a wreck and my husband fixed it himself. And it's it's got a black top, but the car is blue. And it just like it's just the trashiest car. It's held together by zip ties. yeahp And she's in a brand new Mercedes. I'm like, okay.
Speaker: you're Okay. you have different characters Yeah, we have different priorities. Your your car note is probably $1,000 a month. And i i paid $2,500 cash for this car. And I don't know anything. I would much rather buy organic groceries get raw milk, get whatever I can then.
Speaker: have have to the car yeah Yeah. And so, okay. So back to your question on milk and the benefits of raw milk. When you go back to the start of pasteurization, like that's fairly new. So that was only introduced in the 1800s. All throughout history, milk was raw.
Speaker: yeah And it's like, is there a risk to raw milk? Yes. Is there a risk to any to consuming Taco Bell? Yes. Is there a risk to consuming spinach? Yes.
Speaker: there there is like There is nothing. Is there a risk to getting into your car and driving five miles down the road? Yes. It's like, that is life. And so... Like, and is there a risk to pasteurized milk? Yes. So so whenever people people want to over dramatize the risk of raw milk and minimize the fact that everything in life has a risk and it's all about benefits versus risk its up and stuff. And the benefits of raw milk far outweigh the risks when done responsibly, when done responsibly. So raw milk is just the simplest, most unadulterated, natural substance, nothing tampered with. Heat does like people people like heat does damage things, anything. yeah The first thing to get damaged is the enzymes, okay? And so the enzymes are really important, particularly people with lactose intolerance. Their gut doesn't make the lactase enzyme. Raw milk has lactase because all milk has lactose. Raw milk has lactase.
Speaker: the lactase enzyme digests the lactose. So your gut doesn't actually have to digest the lactose because it contains lactase. So people who are, that's one of the first things people who are lactose intolerant are shocked. Like people who would drink milk and be running to the bathroom immediately are shocked that they can drink a glass of milk. And they're like, oh my gosh, I'm not like, it doesn't affect me in the slightest. One of the major, one of the major issues with, so pasteurization started because they were,
Speaker: Slot feeding these cows who are in really poor condition. The milk was making people sick. They found out you can heat the milk and that kills the bacteria that makes people sick. And there you go. We can sell this nasty milk that's low quality. We just heat it and people stop getting sick. Now, the thing is, a sick cow will make milk that you don't want to drink.
Speaker: Like that is, that is just, that is the case. So I am not saying, I will not say to someone, get raw milk, go to any old cow, any old dairy with any old practices and get milk. It's like, no, no, you need to, you need to, you know, get it from a healthy cow, just like a healthy, you know, a healthy farm. It's a raw product. So you want to, you know, get it from um a healthy farmer. I'm telling you, if a farmer has raw milk, nine times out of 10, they are extremely conscientious because they know the kind of scrutiny that is on them. And they know that when someone gets sick, the milk is the first thing getting questioned. Like they know the pressure that is on them. So not like there is still so some people who don't do it right, but nine times out of 10, they are doing it
Speaker: very well. So the first thing I would want to make sure is like, are the cows well fed? Are like, what do they eat? What is, you know, what does the property look like? Is it, you know, do the cows have space? Are they able to graze grass at least for a good chunk of their diet? um But a healthy cow is going to produce healthy milk.
Speaker: And when you've tasted raw milk straight from a healthy cow, there is no comparison. No comparison to the store. Just taste alone.
Speaker: Like there's no conspiracy. There's no comparison. Raw milk tastes like melted ice cream. You just drink it. It does. It tastes like it's so sweet. It's so creamy. Yeah. And I think one of the things I've noticed being in America versus being in Australia, and Australia is still not like a picture of health. But their diet is better. They eat more of whole food diet. Whereas America, our diet is so heavily processed, we forgot, like we don't really know what the taste of fruit like food, like what food is supposed to taste like, like real food.
Speaker: So everything has like these chemical flavor enhancers and all these things to make food taste palatable. When if you just drank raw milk, you'd be like, oh, wow, you don't actually need all that. I don't actually need tons of all these additives and artificial flavors to make me my flavored milk. I could just drink raw milk that actually tastes really good. Yes. And one of the other things that America does that I don't think most people are aware of because they change it under all different terminology and things. um And they really work hard at tricking consumers and making them feel like they're getting a superior product when really it's about financials for them.
Speaker: A lot of the milk sold in the grocery store in the dairy aisle is UHT, which is ultra heat treated. And so in Australia, the UHT milk is...
Speaker: sold on the middle of the grocery store on an aisle it you don't need to refrigerate it it's ultra heat treated so the only milk it doesn't actually need to be refrigerated so but i noticed here i started noticing the ultra heat treated milk in america is sold in the refrigerated section i'm like why are they putting it in the refrigerated section it doesn't need to be and i'm like oh because no one wants to go to the pantry aisle to buy their milk like that's nasty But the ultra heat treated milk, the kind that, you know, has that little pop thing and it's like a seal, that's ultra heat treated. It's shelf stable. And more and more milk, I've seen over the eight years we've lived in the States, more and more milk is becoming ultra heat treated. Now that is like, they...
Speaker: flash pastured it to the highest degree. It is like super denatured and it can sit on the shelf for a year. Who wants to drink milk that can sit on a shelf for me for a year? Not me. Milk is a fresh food is it's supposed to spoil. We're not supposed to have it sitting on a shelf for a year. And so what I found is they're selling it in the refrigerated section. And most people don't realize to look for ultra heat treated. They don't realize that it can be shelf stable because in your psyche, milk, milk is not shelf stable. And so if they sold it on the shelf,
Speaker: people wouldn't buy it. It's unappetizing. When you see a picture of a cow and you see green grass and it's sold in the fridge, you're like, oh, and even a lot of the organic brands are doing this. It's more profitable because you're able to, um you know, a lot of small dairies are closing because they're, you know, spreading out and there's lots and lots of big, big, big dairies. a lot of the small dairies are closing so they can kind of condense America's dairy supply into a smaller number of dairies. And this milk, because it's ultra heat treated can travel, it doesn't need to be traveled on a refrigerated truck.
Speaker: And it can travel long distances, it can sit in a warehouse for a little bit until it goes on the shelf, it can sit in the grocery warehouse before you go put it on the fridge and stuff. And so from a business standpoint, that actually makes a lot of sense. because getting fresh milk is ah is a hassle. It expires. You've got to keep it at temperature or it can make people sick. And that's another thing. raw Pasteurized milk, you have to keep it at temperature because milk is the perfect medium for bacterial growth. It's got all the fats and sugars that bacteria love. But when you have raw milk, it's full of good bacteria, good flora from the cow. And so you can have raw milk sit at room temperature for a whole day and then put in the fridge and still drink it. It's just cultured. It's just cultured like, like you put yogurt. It might, it might not taste as good because you're going to taste some of the sour cultures, but it's not. going to make you sick and spoiled like yeah like pasteurized milk there has to be a level of care and so when you take that level of care out and transportation it doesn't have to you know because if a truck a refrigerated truck is transporting milk and the temperature drops or something happens all that milk is trash whenever it's UHT milk and it can sit on a shelf you don't have to worry about that kind of transportation and stuff It makes me sick. I mean, but also like it does make sense from a business perspective. Isn't that what they did too with homogenization? Like it was solely a aesthetics thing. Like we're going to homogenize the milk because aesthetically nobody like the cream separated from the rest of the milk. There's it there's a few reasons for homogenization and aesthetics was one of them. People, there there's two reasons. Aesthetics was people don't like, if you let raw milk sit for a while, the cream separates and then it forms kind of like globules, which can be like little chunks, which we think delicious, extra chunks of cream. But a lot of people don't like that. It's a texture, it's weird, it's gooey. So there's the aesthetics of that. But then there's also the aesthetics of you back in the day when no milk was homogenized, you could tell the quality of milk by the cream line.
Speaker: Like you can tell if that farmer is taking, cause the cream is a valuable commodity. Okay. The cream makes water, the cream, like the cream, like people will want the cream. So if they're skimming a ton of the cream off and selling you an inferior milk product, then you know that, and you know, you're paying for like skimmed milk rather than like full cream milk. And so the cream line was a real way to hide quality of milk because you you no longer had that cream on to tell how much cream you're getting and stuff like that um And then also homogenization makes the milk white.
Speaker: So if you get raw milk, it has a bit of a yellow tint. People, people don't want to see very, they don't want to see variation color their food. They have one idea of what food is supposed to be. It's supposed to white liquid that stays one texture all the time. And that's, and that's what you get with pasteurized, homogenized dead liquid that consistency. It's white liquid that's same color. It's white liquid that's the same no matter what cow and like different breeds of cows have different textures and cream ones all that kind of stuff. And it's like, but they just want uniformity, consistency and shelf, like look good on a shelf.
Speaker: It's just that, yeah, it taken it's taken all the character and knowledge and it's taken out a lot of the small niche farmers because consumers are just so uneducated and they just, they don't understand the differentiations in food and stuff like that.
Speaker: I get this question all the time where people ask, it's not a question. I usually get statements from people that are like, there's no nutritional difference between raw milk and pasteurized milk. Can you debunk some of that for us?
Speaker: Yeah, that's that's just not true. that ah like There are nutrients that are heat sensitive and the way, low so low low temp pasteurization, if someone is really adamantly against raw milk, I would say go for gently pasteurized, gently pasteurized milk, non homogenized, the homogenization denatures it as well. It's centrifuges it and it it denatures all the molecules. So that the cream doesn't separate, not natural, not necessary. Just absolutely just skip the homogenized milk. There's no reason for homogenization, but the low temp pasteurized is different from there's different levels of pasteurization. There's pasteurized, there's low temp pasteurized and there's ultra pasteurized. The low temp pasteurize, because it heats it at a lower temperature, it's less likely going to denature those proteins. But guess what?
Speaker: It's not as but is profitable to low temp pasteurize. It takes longer. You have to do it at a lower temperature for like 60 minutes. Keep it at a low consistent temperature for like 60 minutes.
Speaker: But it's going to kill the enzyme. So you're not going to get any enzymes. And it's going to have a small element of denaturation to the proteins and nutrients. But ultra heat treat is just like this flash, super high heat, and they only have to do it for a few seconds. And then they let go.
Speaker: And then everything's nuked. And it's like, one thing you notice, you notice the difference in a raw fed calf. and a formula bottle fed calf. It's like the difference in health is just, just purely looking at an animal's health. It's like their body knows the difference between formula and breast milk. It's like the more processes you do, it just is. It just is denatured. The longer something sits on a shelf, like, you know, as soon as you cut, as soon as you cut a vegetable from the roots or from wherever it's growing, pull it off the tree.
Speaker: It starts denaturing over time. It's like, that's what food does. It denatures. The fresher, the better, the higher the nutrients. Pasteurized milk is weeks old. It's weeks old. it's It's denaturing on the shelf. When you get fresh raw milk, it's all the nutrients intact. It has not been touched. It hasn't been put through centrifuge machinery. It hasn't been zapped with high heat. It's all the nutrients. It's super fresh.
Speaker: Like if if your raw milk supply is any good, it's within a few days of being milked. Absolutely. My suppliers, the morning, like we pick up every Tuesday, they milk that morning. Yes. Most of our customers get morning of or day before milk so that it's chilled. And that like the fresher, like that's just like basic. Like I feel like we shouldn't have to explain the fresher the food is, the more nutrients it has. The longer it sits, the more it denatures. Like that's...
Speaker: And how old is your pasteurized milk? Well, if it's UHT, it could actually be a few months old. Yeah. And it's also been like heavily nuked. It's like you said, people don't, or there's a disconnect, right? Like it doesn't register with people that, oh, your food has been sitting on the shelves for a long time. Like even... the oranges, the apples, the banana, like these foods that you're buying, they've been sitting on the shelf for a long time. And until you've tasted something that has been raised locally and then you're eating that, there's really no comparison. There's no comparison.
Speaker: alone is such a major difference. I didn't recently, we started getting carrots locally. Like I'm just, I'm trying to slowly like more things locally, right? Like we, we started with raw milk, then it was eggs, then it was meat. Cause those were like my, my top. I really want to make sure these are raised well. And now we're getting more into like the fruits and vegetables locally. Like that's, that was one of the reasons we moved to Tennessee is because There's so many farms like everywhere we drive anywhere and everybody's selling produce. Everybody is growing things. And in a beautiful climate for growing, it's beautiful. And it just felt really difficult. I don't know if you've come into this. We ran into this in Conroe. where it just was difficult to go and get things locally because it was only on Saturdays. You go to the market and that's only time it's open. And then if you don't get there right in time, everything's gone. And so it just felt like that. It's getting better, but this area has struggled. It's getting better, but as it gets more developed and the the tides are changing a little bit, but it was for a while very hard to get healthy food. Yes. So that was just, that was one of our deciding factors of, okay, we want to be somewhere where we can easily source our food, which again, this is, i feel like so many people get into their heads and they just, they say, oh, I can't do that. Well, it's like, well, you can, you can make choices. You just, you you might have to be uncomfortable, right? Like we, we made the uncomfortable choice to move away from our family because having our food locally sourced is really important to us. And raising our family in a healthy environment is really important to us. And, you know, we still value family, of course, like we value our family and our friends back in Texas, but also like we all make choices, right? Like it's just a matter of what choices you want to make. So saying like, oh, I can't do that. That,
Speaker: That verbiage actually really bothers me when people say, oh, I can't do that. It's like, do you have hands? do you have feet? Yes, you can. You just have to choose to. it's it's might be So much of it is a mind game of like, what are you willing to do?
Speaker: Exactly. You don't want to. Say you don't want to, not I can't. Yes. That's something I talk to with my clients all the time because I'm like, it seems so silly to use the language of I can or I can't. Or I choose to or I don't choose to. But simply using that language puts you in control of your own life, right? Like, it's okay if you don't want to go to bed at 930 because it's better for you.
Speaker: Like, it's okay. Just say, I don't want to go to bed 930. I can't go to bed. Yeah. if you If you're saying, oh, I can't go to bed because my kids keep me up. Well, Pooey. Like, yes, you can. like work Work towards it. It might take some time to work towards it, but you it's hard work. but you have to work towards changing their schedules. and Yes. I had a client recently, like two weeks ago.
Speaker: I told her that. That was a big thing. They had no sleep schedule. No, like, and she was just running on stress hormones. And I was just like, Y'all have to sleep. Like there's no reason why your children should be staying up until two o'clock in the morning. There's no reason why they should be sleeping until noon. Her oldest is five. Like there's, there's absolutely no reason you need to be going to bed, waking up with the sun. I was like, just, you know, do a soft launch. Like you don't need to wake your children up with bright lights and an alarm at six o'clock in the morning. Just open their curtains. Just open the curtains and see what happens. And within a week, like the next week we came back and she was like, okay, so when we got off our call last week, I was kind of like in a bad mood because I was like, yeah, there's no way I can do that. Like, it's not going to work. Like, it's not going to be that big of a deal.
Speaker: But I was wrong. And my kids started sleeping and they go to sleep at 830 now and we wake up and we have a much slower morning. And I just, I chose to do it. And I was like,
Speaker: That's so good. Half the day is gone when you wake up at 12. Yes. Yes. Well, and it was, ah this is a whole other side, but like, it was just a lot of like, her kids were waking up late, but she was waking up early and then she wasn't sleeping. I'm like, you're, You're in you're in control of your home.
Speaker: you You are the decider of things your kids don't get to decide. They don't get a vote. You get to decide when you go to sleep. you know what's best for them. Because you know what's best. You're the mom. So you put them to bed when they need to go to bed and you go to sleep when you need to go to sleep so you can be a mom to your small children.
Speaker: Like it it just, it has to happen. But I think like so much of that, people just don't put together like, oh, our food, our environment, our everything. so significantly impacts us and know how we got onto the aside, but just back to raw milk. Like, I just think if people were more, took more responsibility, took accountability, I think a lot more people would have access to things because when you decide that this is a priority for my family, you make it work, right? Like we made it work when we didn't have any money. We made it work when we were driving an hour and a half one way. you know, when you look at food as life-saving medicine, like if your kid needs life-saving medicine, you would make it work. And when you look at food as this is saving my kid from medicine and this is life-saving medicine for growing up to be healthy. you make it work.
Speaker: You have to change the lens in which you see food. Food is not just the stuff that keeps you full and tastes good. Food is your life source. Yes. That is your medicine. So make it a priority and you're going to save your kids from needing medicine and the medical system in the long run.
Speaker: Yes, my kids, I mean, we've hardly ever been to the doctor, ever. Like, we've had a few emergency room run-ins, which, you know, we love breastier medicine for that. But, like, by and large, my kids are healthy. And I love that. And it's so... Like it, it brings so much peace as a mother, as I'm sure, you know, like knowing, okay, that is taken care of.
Speaker: They are growing. They're getting the nutrients that they need. i ate the typical nineties kids, kid diet and fruit loops and yo-yo dieting, like going a whole, being proud of myself, going a whole day, eating nothing but a banana and a can of green beans. Oh my gosh. Yeah.
Speaker: Well, and I look at cycle for nine months. because And it's not normal. Like it, but nobody tells you that. Right. Like i remember doing losing my cycle as a teenager and I was concerned, like, and rightfully so I was like, wait, does this mean I'm not gonna be able to have kids? Like I was so confused. And everyone I asked her like, Oh no, it's fine. It's not a big deal. Like it'll, it'll regulate. And you're like and I had no idea.
Speaker: Ultimate biomarker of women's health. like Again, I had no idea. And it wasn't, unfortunately, it wasn't until I miscarried that I was like, oh, this is a huge deal.
Speaker: Like it was way bigger of a problem than they let off. And nobody told me. And that's what pissed me off. And that's where i got into anxiety. everything. Cause I'm like, okay, what other, what other places am I being lied to?
Speaker: You know, what other areas am I being told a half truth if, and these people were well, well-meaning like the people i trusted them, but they were lied to.
Speaker: Nobody told them the truth. And so it's like, i it goes back to having to take responsibility for your own health. You can't just trust the influencers on social media. Like you can't just trust everyone that you talk to. go and actually look into it. like And again, back to raw milk, like everything that you have said just makes sense, right? like Those questions make sense. And I think we've, in our society, have been we've been desensitized to our own intuition, right? It makes sense that this is the way that food has been consumed for thousands of years. It makes sense that...
Speaker: food that is minimally processed is going to be better for you than food that is not. that's That's also the cognitive dissonance that just drives me mad when people are like, oh, seed oils aren't bad for you.
Speaker: there's There's no research to prove it. Like, well, of course there's no research because there's so they're so profitable. Like, of course there's not research. They're going to shut down any research pretty darn quick. Nobody's going to pay for that because they make so much money. But just think logically for a second. You have a brain. Let's use it. When you happen to have industrial machinery to make a gray sludge and then you have to add colors to make it mimic butter so that, and then you have to have artificial flavors so that it kind of remotely tastes like butter. It's like, and then you have to bleach it. and then yeah That's okay for your body rather than just butter.
Speaker: Exactly. That it just, it does not make sense. And I just say, if you can't make it in a home kitchen, it's probably not worth eating. If you need industrial machinery to do it then it's like, like even with pasteurization, it's like, okay, low temp pasteurization. You could do that in a home kitchen. If you want to, you can't alter it. You can't homogenize and alter You need special machinery for that. Avoid the stuff that needs specialized machinery. Cause that's messing with your food. And when they mess with food that needs specialized machinery, it's usually for money.
Speaker: Yes. Yes. I think that's a really good point too. Cause I always like, i get people still super concerned about raw milk and i'm like, I mean, you can heat it on your stove if you're really, really concerned. I usually tell people to keep it below like 120 degrees Fahrenheit. I think that's what I've read is like maintains the whatever,
Speaker: and Warm it up a little bit if that makes you feel better. But I think, I mean, you touched on this a little bit ago, like it really just matters more so the conditions of your cow. And most farmers know that unsafe milking practices are going to make raw milk. And one thing, if you're really, I say to someone, if you're really concerned, go find, and this may or may not be in your area, a grade A raw dairy, okay? So grade A raw dairy means they have outside and accountability. You don't get grade A raw dairy stamp. Unless you have monthly testing. So they come and they batch test your milk every single month. They it inspect your property every single month. They inspect how things are done. i mean, they go down to like where you're allowed to store any medicines, what medicines you can like, they, they go like there, if you want that kind of like, personally, I like the freedom of just getting it from who I want to get it
Speaker: but yeah But there is like, if and i and I can appreciate the grade A certification for people who want that and businesses who also want to be able to put that and say, I'm doing it above board. So there's different levels of raw milk. And if it's really something you're scared of, I would not be scared of grade A certified because they are mand mandated to monthly tests. Their processes are evaluated. They have food inspectors come check regularly. They are monitored. And so i always say, try and find a grade if you can. Yeah.
Speaker: Different states, a lot of different things and stuff, but there's all different kinds of levels. I think also people don't realize that there are options, right? Like you're, it's not your only options are conventionally farmed pasteurized milk in the store and raw milk. There's kind of a spectrum of things that you can get. And like I present this in my course, I give them like a worksheet of good, better, best, like raw milk is the best. That is the best. If you can do that, I recommend it. And then there are some options that are better and that that are good. And so let's work back. What are you comfortable with? what do you have access to? And I think, again, just people don't recognize that. Like we have options. It's not all or nothing, which I think social media has really screwed people over on that because it's like,
Speaker: They they didn can't understand nuance. They can't. Yeah. Yes. There's no nuance. There's options. it Not nothing. Very few things in life are black and white. Like, yes, like it's just that's my biggest problem that I have with social media is there's no nuance and you say something. That, ah again, is ah everything is a nuanced subject, right? But you say something and then people go off on, what about this? What about that? What about that? And every scenario, you're just like, oh my God, yeah. yeah I don't have time for this. Like, I i cannot possibly cover all of the...
Speaker: All of the topics. And every possibility for everything I say. Yes. Yeah. Like just you have a brain. Please use it. Like understand that there is going to be more and we're humans and we can't cover all of the nuance of things. um But ask questions, right? That's the most important thing that we can do is ask questions and and move forward.
Speaker: So we talked about how you got into business. We talked about raw milk. We talked about Jochelle's passion for agriculture and sourcing. Tell us a little bit about your business and how people can reach you, um how people can find you, how people can purchase from you. because And this is my plug here. I personally love your products. I've been using them for... I sent y'all opened, right? I think, I think when y'all opened. Yeah. yeah And your makeup is actually, I've been trying so many makeups, but your foundation is the best foundation that I've tried. It's like a perfect match for my face, which is just awesome. And it lasts forever. I mean, i don't wear makeup.
Speaker: Actually, it lasts a long time. It does. Cause I've been wearing this one specifically every day before I wasn't wearing makeup every day. Cause I'm like, well, I don't want makeup on my face every day, but it's got like aloe vera and like really light and dewy. Very light. So nice. And it just gives your skin that glow. Yeah. Yeah. So for sure. So, um, you can find us, we have an Instagram urban farm collection and we have a website, urban farm collection.com. and you can purchase on our site. Cassidy is an affiliate for us. What is your code?
Speaker: Oh, I have no idea. I'll put it in the show notes. It's probably Cassidy W. Cassidy W. don't know. Cassidy W. 10 or something like that. Cassidy has a discount code that gets you 10% off all Urban Farm Apothecary and Urban Farm Cosmetics products. We have an apothecary, which is our handcrafted skincare line. It's very animal-based. Our philosophy for skin is that nourished skin is beautiful skin. A nourished body, nourishment is beauty.
Speaker: And anything else is trying to mimic nourishment, makeup. You're trying to give yourself a glow that nourishment gives. And so we believe that nourishment is the key to beautiful skin. And so all of our skincare is crafted with that in mind. There's no empty, like if i i I was shocked. I said, I went for some research purposes. I went to Ulta's website and I started looking up their skincare and looking at the ingredients. I was shocked. These are just just like the empty calories on a grocery store shelf.
Speaker: These ingredients in the skincare are just empty crap calories in ingredients with really good marketing in a pretty bottle. And so people think, oh, this is beautiful. And so they spend like the prices got me. I'm like $10 for that. yeah Oh my goodness. I did a price there on one specific product.
Speaker: And I knew like this was not, it was just one ingredient. It was a seed oil and they marketed it as this amazing, it was this brand. It was $74. And I Googled just the wholesale. I'm like, that was like 30 cents, like 30 cents. Cause that's one ingredient in a bottle in a pretty package with a name. And I could not believe it. I could not believe it. And so, um our The philosophy art of our skincare is just nourishment.
Speaker: like everything should give your but Everything you put in your mouth should give your body fuel and nourishment. Everything you put on your skin should give your skin nourishment. So ingredients like tallow, ingredients like emu oil are some of our favorites. Ingredients like egg yolks and fresh botanicals and jojoba oils and beeswax, local, we get it from a local beekeeper, beeswax and honey. um Yeah. So it's all about just fresh nutrients for your skin. And so that's the whole philosophy but behind our apothecary. And then our cosmetics, um the whole philosophy behind the cosmetics is clean cosmetics that aren't going to disrupt your hormones. So many cosmetics are full of synthetic fragrances, really harsh ingredients, artificial dyes, and all the different things. And it's like, We don't need to put that on our skin.
Speaker: First off, a nourished body and healthy skin should be beautiful. Cosmetics should just be like a little bit of icing on the cake. I get that as you age, society doesn't handle aging women well.
Speaker: And I even heard a guy say something like women age like milk. And i'm just like, ouch. Yeah. He was not not i was like, ouch, but society is so harsh on women aging. And so, um and the so many women our age are doing the injectables and the fillers and the Botox and all those different things. And so there's this expectation. I'm like, I want to fight against that for sure, that women are not supposed to look 40 when they're 40 and they're not supposed to look 50 when they're 50. But I also think that, you know, we should have the option to do something that makes us feel a little elevated and it's not going to wreck our skin, wreck our hormones, be full of toxic ingredients. um
Speaker: but So that was the whole heart behind our cosmetic line. And we've got lots of products in that. The Aloe Vera Foundation is definitely a top seller. It's so clean. we've We've made sure that we priced it really reasonably. So many clean foundations are like $50 a bottle. We sell it for $27 a bottle. Yeah, was going to say it's like $30. It's so, It's so reasonably priced. Yeah. and And it it and it when you apply it with a little bit of your... serum and then you put, it's like this nice dewy glow. And I'm like, that's what you want. Just even out the skin tone a little bit, a nice little bit of pop of color on your cheeks, a little bit of color in your eyes. And it's like, you look like a woman who's close to 40, but has a glow about her. And it's like, is yeah. So I want to help women embrace aging without harming their health. and be able to feel beautiful at all stages of life. And so that's kind of the basis of our cosmetic line. And then we have the marketplace, which is our vendor product. So it's products that I use and love in my own family. We have everything from like protein powders to beeswax candles to home cleaners to other skincare brands like so body washes just so many laundry soaps and dish pods and so many different things so we really just tried to make it a place where you can go on our website you can buy all of your set staples get it all in one box save on shipping and it's like it just arrives at your door and you've got all your healthy goodies I love it. I feel like the line that a lot of small business owners have to walk is you have the passion, but do you also have the quality product to back it up? Right. Like, and sometimes people have a quality product, but they lack the passion. Sometimes people have the passion, but they lack the quality product. More often it's that one, because the more I've gotten into it in business, I realized, oh, if I cut that corner, I could make a lot more money.
Speaker: Yes. I can't cut that corner. If i chose to cut my body oils with sunflower oil, you can make i would make my body oils a lot more profitable, but I use jojoba oil, which is seven times the price of sunflower oil. And the more I've learned about like having wholesale relationships with suppliers and seeing prices, I'm like, I get why i get why these people do it because money's the bottom money's the bottom line. And I think that's what people don't realize so much of. And that For us, this is a family business. And it's like the fact that we're doing this full time, like we're not trying to be super rich. Like we do this full time.
Speaker: We get to farm. We eat nourishing food. We're all healthy and well. Like we are happy with a modest income. We're not trying to make it rich. If we were, we would cut quality and raise prices, but we're we're not doing that. Yes. And I think that's the beautiful thing about shopping small and shopping locally is like, I know that every purchase I make is putting money into your account, feeding your family, keeping your husband at home with you all so you can be together. Like that just feels so much better than going and purchasing from some big box store that doesn't have CEOs taking lavish vacations. Exactly. Like, and again, I think social media changed
Speaker: taken away the humanity from people where we see these small businesses and it's like oh you're just doing it for the money well of course I'm doing it for the money but kind of have money I have to like you have to have it to live I'm I have children and a mortgage and like we have bills to pay everything a big buck store is also doing it for the money and they've compromised quality and I have it exactly and so Yeah, i'm I'm glad that we're getting – I'm glad that I can send my audience to you more because i truly do love your products. The other day I put your – it's like the egg yolk hair serum. um i forget what it's called. but it's not hair theum Okay, yes. I put it in my hair at night because I think you're supposed to like wear it at night. And then I didn't shower the next morning, so I just had like greasy egg yolk-y hair all the next day. And I was like, yeah.
Speaker: It is what it is. Like, you could probably see it. I think it was yesterday. You could probably see it in my stories because all day I had my hair slicked back. That was the egg yolk syrup in my hair all day. i Definitely wash it out when you put it in. But yeah, yeah. but Let it marinate your hair for an extra day. And I'm sure it's silky nuts.
Speaker: so silky, so smooth. I'm not used to it. You said a little while ago, what we put in and on our body should nourish our body. Okay. So I started with inside our body when I started like making more changes. um I was using non-toxic products, but it didn't register to me that seed oils on the skin will oxidize. And so I have oxidative damage on my face from using makeup with sunflower oil in it. And it didn't register dear to me that that's what was happening. Cause like, why do I have liver spots on my face? Like I'm 20, think it was 25, 26 at the time. I'm 26 years old. I should not have liver spots. Like that is, that does not make sense. And then I realized like, oh, I'm wearing, I'm wearing oxidative damage on my face and then going out in the sun and so that's i just i love when i can find companies that actually understand that and then put the effort into what they're creating because it's it's like oh yeah that makes sense like you put something that's highly volatile on your face and then you expose it to heat of course you're going to damage like of course it's going to be an issue so
Speaker: All that to say, I just appreciate y'all's passion and your your purpose for your business. And I'm really excited for more people to get their hands on your products because they truly are. I i love them so much. I use them every single day. And the antioxidant balm, I use that every night too. So good. So look at this. Yeah, I could go on and on. um Hopefully lots of people buy after this podcast because they should. It's so great. ah I only, that's one thing I do like about social media is I genuinely only share about the things that I love. And I've had, I've had companies send me products that were crap.
Speaker: Like there's this particular tallow company that I think is like sending a lot of products to a lot of influencers. And it was trash. Like it was absolute trash. I was like, yeah, I'll give it a try. And they kept emailing me and they were really aggressive with like reaching out to me or like, So like, are you going to share about it? Like, let's get you going. And I was like, I'm sorry, I can't in good conscience share about this because it's not good. Like this product is not a good product. And so I'm not going to, I'm not going to share it with people. it It's trash. And I think I got blocked on their social media.
Speaker: That's pretty funny. yeah on it Yeah. And that's one thing we've never done with our affiliates or anything. I'm like, I want people to like it and share about it because, because they love it. And I'm like, is that bad business? Maybe, but I'm not, again, I'm not trying to conquer the world and stuff like that. I just want to get loyal customers. And that's the thing. I would rather a loyal customer who notices the difference, sees the quality and keeps coming back than 500 new customers that act they they make that initial purchase and then they never come back, you know? Yeah. Well, that's also really hard on business too, just on the business side. Like if you just always are looking for new customers, it's just, yeah. Very expensive.
Speaker: It's very expensive and it's a a lot. So anyways, we could go off on those rabbit trails. Me asking where we can find you is usually my wrap up for podcasts.
Speaker: But i'll I'll reiterate so we can find you on Urban Farm Wife on Instagram, Urban Farm Collection on Instagram. We'll link everything in the show notes of this podcast so people can get to you. Thank you so much for being with us tonight and chatting all about raw milk and small business and telling us a little bit more about your family and your business and how y'all got to where you are. because i think it's something that's missing in society. I think more people need to hear the people behind the business. I think we need to personalize a lot more of shopping, right? To just say the least. So anyways, I really appreciate your time and I really appreciate you being with me tonight. So thank you so much for having me. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It felt like just to catch up with friends. So I know that's what I'm trying to do. This podcast is, that's what I want this podcast to be, but thank you so much for your time. And thank you all so much for listening.
Speaker: If you found this podcast helpful, I'd love for you to take literally two seconds, hit the subscribe button and leave a review. Doing so helps to get this podcast seen by more people who need to hear it. Thank you so much again for listening and we'll see you next week.
