#11 The Simpler Life – Tina Beard

Amy (00:01) Welcome to Just a Thought with Amy Keys. We are here to inspire, educate, inform, and entertain. On today's episode, I'm thrilled to welcome Tina Beard. Tina is someone who has so much to give to us as far as education and inspiration about sustainability, natural living, seasonal rhythms, and pretty much everything in between is sort of a holistic lifestyle, maybe I would describe it.

So welcome Tina.

Tina (00:32) Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Amy (00:34) So happy to have you. I'd love to go back. I think I think it's been over five years now since our paths crossed, and you came to my first little market in 2021 and everyone loved you and people still talk about your soap, or they they would be like, Who's that soap lady? Is she gonna be there at the next one? And I fell in love with your delivery and the way that you educate your

your viewers, your listeners, your watchers, your customers. And so that is one of the reasons I wanted to have you on because you've always very much interested me. And whenever you make a post or do something educational, I'm very intentional to make sure I take the time to read it. And so that's the perfect reason to have you on a podcast.

Tina (01:20) Yay. Yeah. I'm so glad to be here. Yeah.

Amy (01:24) So everybody, I I wanna I want Tina to tell us I know some of it, but I'm gonna learn a lot about her today too. But I thought it'd be good to dive in and you just tell us what drives you to all the things you do.

Tina (01:39) Yeah, well, you know, Amy, I grew up in Maine, which I think the you know, just being in a place like that that is so full of nature and outside things, and just kind of weaving that into the core of who I am, I think a strong root like a place like Maine just carries with you through your life, no matter where you live. So I live in Tennessee now, obviously, and you know, you I can't ever just not

be who I used to be. I have a neighbor that will say, You need to move to the country. And I'm like, No, I don't. I'm doing what I need to do right here. You know, I'm in Clawyerville. I don't need to move to the country. I can do the things that I want to do and live the way I want to live right right there in town. And so, you know, we have a lot of gardens in the back. I'm on a quarter acre, but we keep chickens, we have gardens and we have it laid out so that it all works. And and for me it's just, you know

getting out of the more culture. It's about peace. it's really about freedom to make the decisions I want to make. And part of that is the way that I spend my time. And so if I'm doing so many other things, then I don't have time to garden. I don't have time to take care of my chickens. So for me, you know, I think that all goes back to a natural lifestyle of is simplifying it. You know, the food that we eat

The people in our lives, the products that we use, it's how we spend our time. And that's all kind of tied back into like the natural umbrella.

Amy (03:12) Love that. and when you say that of over the five years I've known you of watching your business, your your changes, you even changed your name. Old Soul Farm.

Tina (03:20) I did. You were old. So

Amy (03:24) Yes. And then you changed it to Home Sweet, Home Spun.

Tina (03:28) I didn't.

Amy (03:29) And why'd you do that?

Tina (03:31) Well, you know, there was a time in my life where Old Soul Farm felt right for what I was doing. The emphasis was on herbs a lot, and it still is, but kind of in a different way. You know, there's some background there as far as my name was spelled P H A R Farm as in like pharmacy. You know. But as I grew and started working with herbs more, I realized number one that

I don't really think of herbs as pharmaceuticals. And so that's a huge, you know, in my mind, how you know, how can that be my business name if if I'm saying I don't want to use herbs like pharmaceuticals? That's the whole point of why I wanna use them is to get away from the pharmaceutical realm. So the farm word in there was really, you know, just it didn't feel right after I really learned who I was as I don't want to call myself an herbalist. I'm more of a plant person, but

It just didn't match up anymore when I realized how I worked with plants. But the other part of it too was it was around the time that Maine legalized marijuana. Okay. And I have a lot of friends and family and followers in Maine. And on every single corner up there now is a pharmacy. And they're and so I even Googled Old Soul Farm one time just to see what came up and it and it said I was a dispensary. And I was like, you know what?

This isn't working anymore and I need to change this.

Amy (04:58) Interesting. I thought you just I mean, I rebranded my business I don't know, it's been a bit been a few years, but it it was painting for the home and heart. Then it became AEK paintings because my customers would always call them that. And I'm like, well, if my my when the business started in two thousand, long time ago, I was thinking painting for your house, like stuff for your house, but your heart too. Mm-hmm. And then a lot of people would say think it was hearth.

as in like a fireplace. I'm like, no, it's home and art. But then I realized I I guess it's been seven or eight years that people have been I was like, well, they're all calling them A E K originals. Mm-hmm. So I need to be called I need to change my name to what the customer calls me. So it's interesting that we both have a story like that.

Tina (05:43) Yeah. And it was really hard because I had built quite a you know, following. But I would have messages come through like, Are you a pharmacist? And I'm like, No, I'm not a pharmacist. Like, so it was almost like the name was just d a little mismatched, you know, and the old soul part of it was like, I always just like antiques and I like old things. I like to knit, you know, and so I'm just I've always been our old soul.

Amy (06:10) Yeah, you're an old soul. That's why I thought it was so great for you.

Tina (06:13) was,

you know, but I just felt like I outgrew it. It it was a different time and and we change. And I as an artist, I had a friend also say, like, you artists, you're always reinventing yourselves, you know. Well. And so, you know, we have

Amy (06:29) I we have to.

Tina (06:30) if it's something that I was thinking about over and over and over, I'm the type that I don't just jump on things. And so if it kept resurfra resurfacing, recoming up, I was like, okay, I need to revisit this. So it

But honestly, if I could not name my business, it's it's really not even, you know. Well,

Amy (06:48) Just call it Tina's stuff.

Tina (06:50) a lot of people say Tina's soap. I mean Tina's soap. Yeah. Or I'm soap tina in people's phone. You know, I've taught soap and they have me as soap tina, but you can't call it soap tina. Right, right, right. So I I came up with home sweet homespun and, you know, it's kinda like a lot of what I do is at home.

And playing off the home sweet home, obviously, and homespun as in, you know, nothing I do. I don't strive for perfection. I'm very homespun. Social media's been a great chance for me to kind of look at my photography and have fun with that. And and I'm also, you know, Instagram's changed so much to where we're getting away from the per perfect picture, the perfect, you know. Right. True. And so I really feel like homespun just fits what I do.

as an umbrella, you know. Whether it's gardening, home canning, chickens, you know, the things that I do is really homespun because I just it it's almost on a level of becoming crafty, like, you know, just just very imperfect.

Amy (07:55) So what does like in it to I know I have a definition of natural living and all these things that you do, but what what does it mean to you? I think you've kind of encapsulated it already a little bit, but you know, what does it mean as far as a daily life?

Tina (08:10) Yeah, sure. Well, when I'll tell you when it really started for me the whole rabbit hole, because it really is a rabbit hole and can be, is wasn't I had kids, you know, and you're looking at this tiny little baby and you're like, What am I putting on them? What are they eating? You know, and when you really look at labels and and you learn to educate yourself what does this label mean? Because the front can say natural.

But you flip it over and it's not.

Amy (08:42) They're natural flavors. They're

Tina (08:44) Right.

Amy (08:45) not always natural and can be kind of gross. In the bottoms,

Tina (08:48) can be from beaver beav

Amy (08:50) right? Yeah.

Tina (08:51) Yeah. That's raspberry natural flavors is from beaver booty. But you know,

Amy (08:55) Wow.

Tina (08:56) and so is that better than a fake, you know, raspberry? I don't know. And and for me it's never about being perfect with it. It's just when I go in the grocery store and I have options because there's so many options for everything these days, it's it's not simple to shop. If you're really

care about what you get. Right. You know, right. You gotta really read it. Cause you could go to any health food store and they're still selling things that aren't great. So for me it was, you know, having kids really even though I I always was kind of that way, you know, in high school we would go to the fairs in Maine together. And I was always drawn to the agricultural stuff, the you know, the soap making booths before I really had a label for what it was.

I I just was always drawn to that and gravitated to that. And so it's just it's just part of who I am, partly. But it's going in the store and if you have six options, you know, two of them might be really actually natural. And so it's learning how to, you know, say, Well, I don't need I don't need that product. I don't need all the things that are in that label.

to accomplish what I'm trying to accomplish. So if you can peel back the layers of what you're purchasing, you really can use the natural things and come out with the same outcome. And so, you know, there's so much fake out there that we have a big job to do to find the real things. And it's true.

Amy (10:29) It's getting more complicated. Even yesterday I was at the grocery store and my husband loves peanut butter. Mm-hmm. And all natural peanut butter he thinks is gross. And it's like more oily and it's not, it's it's not the same. And so I try I kept trying to find one to like maybe sneak it in the house and see if we fall for it. And most of the ones that said organic or all natural, I would turn the the container and it they all had palm oil. Yep. Or they all had

Like a gazillion ingredients. And I realized that that's exactly what you're saying. Yep. So very interesting. Well, so let's cover a few natural life topics that that you're so good at. You enjoy ancestral skills, you said, like cooking healthy foods as opposed to processed. What foods do you grow?

Tina (11:23) Well, so this year I'm growing n nothing. So some years are like that. Okay. I have a little patch of Swiss shard that I'm so grateful for and am pulling from all the time. So I'm using that in place of spinach and since all the you know, the drama with the lettuce. Right. And so I was really thankful that I did have the Swiss shard. But, you know, some years I grow a lot more than others. Last year my whole garden was pumpkin patch.

I just had all these pumpkins and butternut squash. They take up a lot of room. So

Amy (11:58) Now let me tell you something about pumpkins. Of I don't know, it's probably been 10 years ago. My youngest son and I bought a packet of pumpkin seeds.

Tina (12:07) Ha ha ha.

Amy (12:08) And I didn't know what I was getting myself into. Those things on those vines literally would grow across the sidewalk in our backyard overnight. Yep. And we had we I think we got like five cute little pumpkins out of it, but the vines alone were taking over the yard, like literally taking over the yard.

Yeah, so that's funny about the pumpkin.

Tina (12:31) But so did you eat them or you decorated with them?

Amy (12:33) We just decorated with them. Yeah.

They were middle, but they were key.

Tina (12:37) You

and they're so fun, right? Yeah. So but so I would grow varieties for eating and last year I grew so many butternut squash and it's I have two still from la they're a year old sitting there perfect. so they're really storage variety that I you know, if I'm gonna grow it, I wanna be able to use it. Wow. But you can process it and freeze it too, you know. But you know, tomatoes, cucumbers, kale, all all of the normal things. I do have asparagus that comes up every year on its own.

It's a perennial vegetable, which is great. You plant it once and they do take a little bit of time to mature. But so I have that. But the majority of my gardens this year are medicinal herbs that I use in in my soaps and and just daily living, teas and that kind of thing.

Amy (13:23) And and then healthy skincare. Tell me a little bit about the you brought me something here. Yeah. wild rose coffee bean face oil. Yep. Avocado oil coffee bean, rose petals, lilac blooms, and wild violet.

Tina (13:36) Yep. And so that people that use that that have bought in it have come back over and over. I have to have more of it.

Amy (13:44) It smells like coffee.

Tina (13:45) Yep. It's organic coffee beans. So I soak the avocado oil in organic coffee beans, whole coffee beans, wild rose petals that I dried, and then the violets and the lilac are from the backyard. And so I I soak in the oil for probably eight to twelve weeks and

You know, herbs all have oil soluble properties, alcohol soluble properties, or water soluble properties. So depending on how you're using them, you know, so soaking those things in oil pulls out all the oil soluble quality

Amy (14:20) Yeah.

Tina (14:21) of the plant or the bean or whatever it is. And so it infuses into the oil.

Amy (14:25) And isn't like caffeine good for your skin or says something for your like not not necessarily ingesting it, but putting it topically.

Tina (14:32) Yeah, it can it can plump, you know, the face and it can help with collagen building and all that kind of thing. But it just energizes just like just like caffeine does for our inside. It can do for our skin too. Yeah.

Amy (14:45) all for energizing. Yeah.

Tina (14:48) Yeah. Well

Amy (14:49) And then healthy skincare leads me to soap making. Mm-hmm. And you brought me a goat milk soap with coconut oil, olive oil, tallow, shea butter, essential oils, and raw goat's milk in each batch with an exclamation point on the raw goat's milk part. And it's activated charcoal. Can you tell me about this soap?

Tina (15:09) That one actually is unsinted. I have the essential oil on there just, you know, for ease of labeling. But down in the bottom corner, it actually tells if there was essential oil, it would tell what it was. Which one is. Yep. But so the activated charcoal in soap, you know, it absorbs so much times its weight in toxins or oils. If people were to overdose and go to the hospital, they would give them activated charcoal in their stomach to absorb the toxins.

And so it's a very documented thing that it does that. So when we wash our face with it or our underarms or, you know, any area that needs extra help that way, it can it can really absorb things, smells, oils, toxins. And so that's the idea behind it.

Amy (15:52) So I remember a few years ago I bought some soap from you and you I think had harvested pine evergreen needles from Maine and put it in the soap. That soap was amazing. Yes.

Tina (16:03) I bring I bring when I go to Maine, I bring an empty suitcase and some I have been known to ship clothes home. Yes.

Amy (16:12) Yeah.

Tina (16:14) And so I I do a lot of foraging or wild harvesting in Maine just because there's a lot of things there that I'm familiar with. Right. I know where they are. I lived there, you know, for twenty six years and and w grew up in a we're pretty bunch in the middle of a forest. And so

Th this last year I brought home a whole bunch of St. John's wort because you have to use that fresh. You can't dry that and use that to get what you need. And and I just don't have a patch here that I know about. So, you know, I I get a lot of the pine trees from my parents and bring home and to Tennessee and I work with them that way in the in the skincare, in the soap and choose the the pine

Amy (16:53) So good. That's my favorite thing you make, I think. It's so it smells so good. Yeah. It smells like Christmas in a soap bar, but it's not. It's just so fresh.

Tina (17:02) Right. And

you know, pine sap is extremely healing. If you think about a wounded tree, like you gash a tree, right, it's pumping out this sap or pitch to cover the wound. And the reason is it's it's antimicrobial, it's antiviral, it's very healing to the tree and it does the same thing for our skin.

Amy (17:22) It sounds like honey. Yeah, in a way made by a tree. Yeah. When it has a boo boo. Right.

Tina (17:26) Or or maple syrup. I mean, all those things have health benefits. Yeah. Yeah. So when if we can incorporate that into our life, you know. Yeah. So

Amy (17:35) Interesting. Well, so are there any ingredients when you make your soap that you avoid? Like how long does it take to make us I know you make like a loaf and slice it, right?

Tina (17:44) Yeah, I mean I used to make loaves more and more. Now I make slabs which are big, you know, squares, and then I cut the loaves from the slab. Just ups production a little bit.

Amy (17:54) Does your house smell so good?

Tina (17:56) You know, it does. I'm not really one to have a lot of fragrances going. You do get a little bit from the soaps when they're on the cure shelves. You can smell it. I d I love a simmer pot to kind of like you know, this time of year as we're kinda go the we're trying to tilting into fall a little bit. You're seeing the light change, I like to put a simmer pot on. Because you can get the same scent in your house from lemon rind, apple peel, cinnamon sticks than then the

the things that you plug in or all that, you know. So

Amy (18:27) But I bet when you are I bet when you are making soap, it smells that that especially that one soap that I like with the pineapple.

Tina (18:36) Yes. People will come in and say, you made you made peppermint soap today. Yes, for sure.

Amy (18:41) Or

and your soap lasts forever. Yep. It really does. Because it's d it's a dense I don't know the t I don't know soap terms. Yep. But it's always it's just like it it just

Tina (18:52) Well, a a lot of that has to do with the choice of of the oils and fats in there. But the other part of that too is I'm not so much worried about like how much I sell. I want it to be really great soap. So part of that is the cure. You have to let soap cure. Because when you make it there's extra, you know, goat milk or water and if you sell it a week later, that bar's still pretty wet. It it really needs to dry and cure.

in that water to evaporate and that's what gives you longevity of the bar, but it's also the tallow and coconut oil, those two together really make a hard bar of soap. The olive oil's in there to, you know, moisturize more. And there's a lot of things in olive oil that don't turn into soap that are called unsupponifiable. So that's left behind in the bar to nourish your skin.

But yeah, the really making sure that it cures correctly is is a huge part and responsibility in my opinion when you're selling something. Yeah.

Amy (19:49) Vegan versus tallow products. There's a lot you hear a lot about beef tallow now. You do. And I don't know the difference. I mean I know the difference of vegan and tallow, but dive into that a little bit for

Tina (20:00) Before I dive into that, there was one part I didn't answer on your question before I left it off. but you asked if there's anything I left out of soap or did and so I don't use any synthetic products at all in my soap. I don't use synthetic fragrance or synthetic colors.

Amy (20:20) So you're not going to the craft store and buying the stuff and bringing it home. But you're you're doing it all yourself. 100%. And you can tell when you use your soap.

Tina (20:25) Yeah, I mean

I I want it to be different than what you can get in the store. You c now natural's pretty big, you can get But I want I don't want to go through all this process and still have it have ingredients in there that are questionable or that might could hurt somebody. But

Amy (20:45) So yeah.

I love it.

Tina (20:48) So onto the tallow. vegan versus tallow. Like tallow.

Amy (20:52) Tallow is everywhere right now. I keep hearing about it and I'm like I don't even underst I mean, I know what tallow is, but I don't understand why it's like this it's like a trend again. There's so many trends. It seems like it's a trend.

Tina (21:04) It is very trendy right now. Okay. It's it's ancestral tallow is a big thing. So there's a lot of people that have been using tallow way before it became so popular. And the reason is they're wanting to use every part of the animal. That's that's a number one reason that you want to use tallow. If if this animal's being, you know, processed for its meat, animals are not processed for their fat. Fat's considered a byproduct of of a harvest. Okay. Okay. And so

If you're into the sustainability side of things, then you want to honor that animal all that you can. And and tallow makes some really great soap and but it's also great for skincare and it's got vitamins in it. Now tallow can be different it depends, you need to know what you're getting. There can be suet tallow. Suet is fat from a red meat animal. It can be venison, you know, deer, bear, beef, cow, but it's the internal organ fat.

there that is the best for skincare. It's around the organs. It's not connected to the to the meat where they're harvesting. And so that's called trimmings fat. Okay. And so when you get suet, the kidney fat, the internal organ fat, it is hard. It is chalky. It has a lot of vitamins and minerals in it. It's it's the cream of the crop for tallow. So if you're getting tallow, suet tallow is what you really want.

Trimmings fat is good for soap making. It it can be used on the skin, but it's going to be greasier. It's going to be more smelly because when they're processing it, it's connected to tissue. It's

Amy (22:43) Right, right. Interesting.

Tina (22:44) a different fat. But you can absolutely use both. And our ancestors absolutely used both. But tallow can be tricky because people say, well, it's it smells. I got some and it's smells so bad, you know? And it probably wasn't suet tallow.

I see. so there's some education there. but the reason it's trendy is because there is this push to go back to natural and and it's really great for your skin. Your skin, you put it on your skin and your skin recognizes this fat. It's very similar to human fat. And so our body knows I know what you are and I'm gonna pull you in. and and utilize the vitamins for your skin that way. And so it's it's really a healthful fat.

Amy (23:27) Interesting. Yeah. I learned I learned something new every day. Yeah. And you're like, hey, y'all are coming back to this natural stuff. I've been doing this all along.

Tina (23:35) Yeah, yeah. I'm kinda like, Y'all need to stop making my hobbies and interest popular.

Amy (23:41) Right. You're like you're like I made it. I I must be why I'm it's all

Tina (23:44) Well,

but it's not even that so much as it drives up my costs for everything. 'Cause now when I go to try to buy suet from the local farms, which I'm pretty, you know, passionate about is is sourcing local. Right. They've raised the price, which I don't blame them because they realize, this is no longer a waste product. I'm not gonna throw this away. People actually wanna buy this. So

Amy (24:07) yeah.

Tina (24:07) for me it's really driven up, you know, the price of being able to do because it is so popular. Right.

But at the same time, I'm glad it's popular because people are, you know, learning about that. But the other side of it is, you know, the the ethical part of using animals in our skincare or, you know, people that are are vegan. So there's there's options for that too. If you could if you don't want to use tallow because you it's a you know against your beliefs or whatever it is, there's a lot of plant based things that that can do the same thing.

You know, they're not gonna have the same vitamins that a grass fed animal is gonna have. Right. But it's gonna work too. You know, it's so I'm never like it's about perfection. it's not. It's do what works for you and do it to the best that you can, but you no good, we're not perfect. And you know, you can get by with with different things. It doesn't have to be all or nothing. Right. For me.

Amy (25:05) Well, what are some like t I want to talk about raising chickens? Okay. Because I get attached to animals. Yeah. So I would be like d I'm sure they all have a name. And how many do you have? Okay.

Tina (25:16) okay.

Well, okay, we've been keeping chickens since about twenty twelve. Okay. And what you need to know about chickens is if you want chickens as pets, then you can keep them for years and years and years and and they'll be good pets. But if you're in it for the the mindset of food production and this animal I take really great care of this animal while it's here, but the thing about a chicken is it's only gonna produce really well.

For about two to three years.

And so if you're in the mindset of these animals are here for for my enjoyment, I enjoy them immensely. But if their main goal for being here is for food to produce eggs, we we don't eat meat, chickens, or anything like that. We're just too small. I don't have the room for it. But then I have to cycle them in every few years because they'll eat the same amount of food, take up the same amount of room in the hen house.

And so if you want to keep adding new ones, I just don't have the room to keep all. So sadly we can't keep them right that way. And and you know, that comes with experience or or time and actually doing it. Because the first five chickens that we started with, I thought I would have them forever. Right. They all had a name.

Amy (26:34) No, I would get so attached.

Tina (26:36) Yeah. But then you realize, okay, it's been two and a half, three years because chickens molt every fall and when they're molting, they're growing new feathers and not laying eggs. So they don't lay eggs from fall until late winter, early spring. Okay. So you give that rest time. Some people push and and light ar you know, artificially to make them produce eggs year round. But we never did that. And so there's eggs are seasonal foods. So so there's already a period of the year you're not getting eggs from them. Okay.

Amy (27:06) I didn't know they I didn't know it was seasonal.

Tina (27:07) Yeah. So they have a gland behind their eyes that the sun makes it release hormone by the daylight. wow. So as soon as the daylight starts going, you know, for fall, then that tells the chicken I don't need to be producing babies right now 'cause we're going into the winter. That is

Amy (27:24) I am mind blown. Yes. I had no idea a chicken had a clan behind its eye.

Tina (27:27) Yeah. It's

kinda like the pineal gland. Wow. And so it governs their hormones. And so their hormones are or what makes them lay eggs. Whether you have a rooster or not, they're gonna pr they're gonna ovulate. So, you know, so you go without eggs for however long, fall and winter, and then you're ready for these hens to lay, It's spring, come on, you know, the daylight's here. I've given you the great food. And then you realize, she's three years old.

Shed to lay four or five eggs a week. She might lay two now. And so you realize, well, I need to bring in some more chickens so that those young ones, because it's their first three years that they're very productive. And you you end up running out of space in your in your coop, you know, unless you have a large scale area, which we don't. And so I think just through doing it, you you get a little bit hardened to that relationship with them being a

farm animal, you know. Yeah. They are far they're

Amy (28:30) Domesticated.

Tina (28:31) not. We have cats and a dog. They're our pets. Obviously they're not going anywhere. But so I, you know, I my kids used to name them all because they don't have the farmer mindset of this is here for food. Right. And so that was really a great learning for them to see where food comes from. These are not pets. And so it was really

an awakening and really good for their growth to understand those things.

Amy (29:01) Yeah, see I don't think I'd catch on to that because th I would think they're my pets. Yeah. I mean I th I watch wild birds and name them. So I got I that's a whole nother podcast.

Tina (29:09) What but so there are people that have chickens for pets and buy the eggs at the store. There are people that do that. It's really just what works for you and your setup and y and what you want to do. I mean I could keep and have pets, but for us, you know, we want the eggs. So

Amy (29:26) What happens when you have to cycle a three year old out? Where does it go?

Tina (29:29) Well, what I'll usually do is that summer while they're still laying pretty good, I'll I'll just I there's chicken pages on Facebook and you can rehome a chicken chick. I have people texting me weekly, do you have any hens that you're parting with? So it's not hard to rehome them. People that have more space or someone that's, you know, just needs an extra body because there was a a raccoon attack or whatever it is. There's always people that want chickens.

And so I don't wait until she's like, you know, not really laying great. Right. And but she'll keep laying. It's just not as many. So peop some people don't care. Like some people only eat a dozen eggs a week and and two or three eggs from one bird is fine. So so there's all kinds of ways to do it and work it, you know? And so I try to tell the girls, like, let's don't name you know, but there's always ones that stand out 'cause they each have their personality. I

Amy (30:27) Everybody has a Henrietta in their chicken coop. You know what I mean? Yeah.

Tina (30:31) Well, it's like we have one now that's called no butt. Okay. And to answer you, we have thirteen right now. Thirteen. I've had more than that, but thirteen's a good number. But we have a no butt. And when she was a chick, she was small and her little booty was not puffy like the other. She kind of just dropped off and so they called her no butt. And you know that no butt was the first chicken out of that group of thirteen to lay in it.

'cause I always thought, well, she's not gonna be productive, you know. Yeah. There's something wrong with her. but so my daughter has contracted me that no butt will stay forever.

Amy (31:06) It's not going on a chicken page on Facebook.

Tina (31:07) No. Okay. Not going to whoever texts and says, Do you have chickens? And, you know, most of the time I say no. But when I grow out chicks and there's a pecking order. You can't just put new It

Amy (31:20) Yeah.

Tina (31:20) it's very, very true. That's where it comes yes. Chickens are brutally

Brutally mean to each other if they're not in the flock. So if I'm growing out chicks and want to add there's a pecking order. And it's really hard to add them you know, in an enclosed run and all that situation. But so at that time when I'm adding new birds, I will disrupt the current pecking order by rehoming some of them. And so it puts them all out at like who we don't know who's doing what. Right.

And so it's easier to add that way. Other d other times I've just sold them all and gotten new ones. and so we're just more of a farm mentality, you know.

Amy (32:00) And my probably fifteen years ago at this point, maybe longer, my in laws in Arkansas, they live in Mountain View, Arkansas. It's it's literally like a I mean, they are you would love it up there. It's in the middle of nowhere and on the top of a mountain. And the neighbor passed away and left them his chickens. And they don't think they had like having chickens in their agenda. Yep. And then we got all attached to them 'cause they all did have names and eventually they all had passed away and

But yeah, I got all attached. So that's so interesting about the gland behind their eye and their life their their life cycle of eggs. I didn't know that.

Tina (32:36) Yeah. And and but they really tie into the natural side of things too. You know, I don't want to eat eggs from factory chickens. And and the labels these days, you can't really trust what they're saying. If you see cage free, all that really means is that they had about this much space. They weren't in a cage holding up my hands and making a little square, but they it you picture out on the grass. That's not what it means. Right.

Pastured poultry or pastured eggs is what you're looking for for the for the free range environment if that's important to you. But you know, when the chickens are at our house, we treat them very well. They're fed well, we love them. And so that's the egg I want to eat. And so, you know, and you can artificially light a chicken. You can put a light on them artificially to press them to produce to like

Amy (33:30) make like the seasonal changes and all this problem. That's kinda sad. It

Tina (33:34) It

is, but you know, in my mind eggs are seasonal and I'm okay with that. Food is seasonal. There's no food that's available at all times. And if it is, question it, you know.

Amy (33:45) I I read in a book about how you really should eat the things that are seasonal when they're seasonal. Like you don't eat a watermelon in December. Right. Although I do love watermelon, you know, I that's not a seasonal food at that time. Right. So but you're really good about that, about seasons. And I want to talk about that in a minute about you and seasons. But I also want to ask you about like self care routines, ideas, and what's your sleep routine?

Tina (34:11) Yeah. Yeah. Those I think fall under the natural living umbrella. And it goes back to the more culture, the fast paced life that we're living. It's really hard to go, go, go, go, go the way that we're expected to do and all the social media and all the things that we read and see we're not supposed to really take in this much information. It's exhausting. It is. And so for me, I I can't I can't wind down if I'm constantly looking at that stuff. So

I don't scroll my phone and that's, you know, when you think about self-care, you think about, I'm gonna take a bath. I'm gonna, you know, the beauty side of self-care, but for me it's more like an internal, like processing the world self-care. I have to put up that boundary and and that's self-care for me, is to put up that boundary of not letting everything in. You know, people say, Well, did you hear this? Did you hear that? I'm like, No, I didn't, and I don't want to. Like, I can't change it. I don't

I don't have the mental energy to spend on that. My cup is only so big. And if all those things fill it up and it's full, then that's it. I'm done. So for me, self-care is is those layers in my cup to be the things that I want to do. You know, and and so that's, you know, setting boundaries is part of my self-care. It's it's saying no to certain things that I might have to do or feel like I have to do.

But as part of my self care, I know that if I do that, then I can't go home and do what I need to do, you know, for my my cut. Right. So

Amy (35:48) So and and I do think that's something that women especially, we are all like, we have to show that we've done it all. We have to do it. I mean, I'm guilty, I'm guilty. Go, go, go all day long. But the older I've gotten, I've gotten better with boundaries. I don't feel like I have to be doing what everybody else is doing. I I'm better at saying no. I'm also I've always been very good at not walking away, but just opting out, I guess is a better way to say it. Yeah. Of things that are not filling my cup. Sure.

My friend Amber recently said something about she was changing some things up because she wasn't filling her own cup. She was just filling everyone else's. And I've seen her do that and I'm really proud of her. But I think we as women need to tell each other, Hey, it's okay. Good job for having a boundary like you. Yeah. Good job. It's hard.

Tina (36:37) It is hard and and I've I haven't always been good at it. You know, I used to think I was good at it, but I think I would realize, you know, you weren't really good at boundaries right then. So and I think that comes with age, you know.

Amy (36:49) Absolutely.

And boy am I aging. So apparently. What's your sleep routine? Well

Tina (36:56) S I my sleep sleep routine is to shut off phones, social media, all the stuff that there's so many, you know, daytime hours for that stuff that when I'm getting ready for bed, I can't scroll. I can't, you know, I can't look at a screen. It just keeps too many things going. So so I start that way and I read a book, I make a cup of tea, chamomile. There's a lot of different ones that really work with our nerves that are nervine herbs.

That help us calm down because a lot of you know, we go to bed and all everything's racing through our mind. I do some journaling. I'm big on journaling and planners. You like

Amy (37:34) Quiet time, don't you?

Tina (37:36) I have to have

Amy (37:38) Qui I can tell by when you say these things, you like quiet times.

Tina (37:40) I

have to be alone to process things and reset things. I have to have alone time. I have a couch up in up in the room. You know, if people I've you know, kids, husbands, would they're it's a busy place. Yeah. I have to remove myself from some of that to wind down to go to bed with some tea, some reading, journaling, reflecting. And so I also keep a journal next to my bed. There's there's a little basket next to my bed and I have a journal in it. I have a little muslin bag of

like herbs like lavender, chamomile and things that kind of help us to to relax and I kind of put that near my face when I fall asleep. But journaling, like I write down the things that are bothering me that might creep into my sleep and I put them in the book. Yeah. And I that's where they are. You need to make

Amy (38:28) That's a great idea. Make

like a little sleep kit and sell it. A little journal. Muslim bag. Because I could have used it last night. I think I I got in bed at ten thirty, like a normal person. Mm-hmm. And I think I'd toss and turn till one or two. Yeah. For no reason. I didn't have anything I wasn't trying to solve a problem of the world. Yeah. Maybe if I had one of those little bags, I could stick it on my face and

Tina (38:50) Well, it's it's weighted, it has like some rice or some lentils in there and it's it's kind of the I have the little bag but I also do sew them and they're kind of the shape of your eye and you can just I fall asleep with it on there and wake up with it wherever. But it really just helps me clear my mind, smell the nice lavender chamomile, sleepy time things and and just writing it in the book tells my brain it's in the book. Right. You don't need to worry about it.

Amy (39:20) That's great idea.

Tina (39:21) Put it there, don't put it on your pillow.

Amy (39:23) That is such a great piece of advice because I think ninety nine percent of women I know, we're we're we're solving everything at night. Yeah. Because it's the only quiet time we have. Yeah.

Tina (39:33) Well, I've always told people, think about your shower. If you're in your shower and you are almost meditating, like the water's running over you, it's quiet, it's warm. If that's when your brain is like finding its safe space, then you're not doing enough self care. You know, I can always tell when I need more self care as far as all the things that I was talking about, that I'm not taking care of myself.

If that's where I go in my shower. Interesting. Because if I'm up on my self care and I feel like I'm taking care of what I need, then my shower is in lightening moments, brainstorming ideas. So where I go in my shower tells me where I'm at with my self care, if that makes sense. I love

Amy (40:18) I'm gonna I'm gonna everybody's gonna listen to this and then gauge their shower next time.

Tina (40:22) I mean, but it's so true because think about it. Nobody's saying mom, although there's been showers with with mom. But it's your time, you're alone, it's warm, you're safe, your body says I'm safe, and where you go during that time says so much.

Amy (40:40) So is there a change that you've made in your lifestyle over the years that impacts your daily life? I would say probably your sleep routine after you just said that, but

Tina (40:52) Yeah. Yeah. I mean, sleep is is a huge part of it. But I think the the thing that really changed my daily life that that I actually made a change was to add using herbs into daily life. And you know, just incorporating them into your daily life can help your body systems. So for me, herbs aren't like this is what's wrong with me. I need this herb to fix it. Like

That's thinking of I was talking to you about not using herbs like pharmaceuticals. That mindset is where we all are because of the pharmaceutical industry. We need something to fix us. We need this pill. So I want to do it naturally. So that's how people end up at herbs because they want to switch from taking a pill to that. Right. But for me, herbs are more like if I incorporate them into my daily rhythms.

then they can help my body system work better. And so, you know, if you can if you can take herbs that help your liver work better, then you don't need some of those medicines. Right. And you don't need a a patch. You don't need s a pill to fix you. So learning the rhythms, but you know, a mistake I made at the beginning of using herbs was, I'm gonna try this one time. It didn't work. And that's such a pharmaceutical damage that we have.

And so when I learned that the routine of using herbs daily and building up that relationship with them inside your body and allowing your body to to kind of use the herb, you know, to work better. And it takes time. Things don't happen overnight or they shouldn't in the natural world. And so allowing yourself to understand how herbs work

Amy (42:41) We're such an impatient society. We are. We want it right now.

Tina (42:44) Now culture, the more culture.

Amy (42:47) Right now.

Tina (42:48) so so really understanding that and adding herbs daily really has impacted me. I I make infusions which sound pretty, you know, medo medical, the word infusion. Right. But an herbal infusion is a really strong, long brewed tea. Like nettle, for instance, has so many vitamins and minerals. It is so nutrient dense. It's a food. And so if you take an ounce of dried nettle and

to a quart of boiling water and you let it sit overnight, strain it and drink it, the amount of vitamins and minerals and things that are in the nettle is like it's gonna make you giddy.

Amy (43:26) Where can I get nettle? Where do where does someone go get that? Someone like you or is there can you buy it at like a sprout?

Tina (43:32) yeah, fr well, I don't know about sprouts in the quantity that I'm talking about. You want to get like Southwest herbals, frontier herbals, the trusted companies, Mountain Rose herbs, the organic herbs. You don't want them sprayed with, you know, right. Pesticides or whatever. So it's on Amazon. I know I'm talking about a natural in the now culture, but

You can source them. You can go directly to their websites or if you're if you're on Amazon, you can get nettle in bulk that's organic and dried and you just weigh out an ounce to a quarter water. You can cycle through with oat straw and these nutritive herbs that can act as as blood builders. They can act as, you know, things like comfrey we can use can can repair broken bones when you put it on your skin and I mean they're just incredible. So

I think just and the the infusion comes from like the amount of herb to the amount of water and the amount of time that you're letting it sit. It's not just a cup of tea. Tea's great, but these are nutritive infusions from herbs. And so adding those in and cycling through different ones have really been great.

Amy (44:48) Tina, if you could be forced off the grid, if if we had a zombie apocalypse. No, just just kidding on that. But if if you were forced to live off the grid, could you be self-sufficient?

Tina (44:59) Absolutely.

Amy (45:00) Rock on. Love it. Love it. I think your lifestyle just out and the outside looking in slows things down a little in a good way. And you seem to appreciate the little things of life, which

I think a lot of society right now misses out on, myself included sometimes. Am I right?

Tina (45:21) Does it? yeah, one hundred percent. Yeah.

Amy (45:24) I tend to notice that in autumn when you make posts, I love your business page autumn, fall s it's just like the most you g you you get the vibrant pumpkin with the gray backgrounds on the f on i i in your backyard. It is always so like you make me like ready for for fall.

Tina (45:47) Yeah.

Amy (45:47) And so I feel like I may have just answered my own question, but feel free to add

about it making you appreciate the little things and

Tina (45:56) Sure. I mean, we go through the world with our blinders on because we're have so much information thrown at us. So we we have to like have this tunnel vision just to get through the day. Yeah. But if you can slow down and take in the little things, if you're having a rough time, I I like to tell friends that say, Hey, I'm having a rough day or whatever. I'm like, if you can find one thing that is, you know, in a slow moment that makes you happy, like that's all that you need. And

And then you can handle the hard stuff. You've got to allow yourself like if I go in the backyard and see a cicada hatching and and coming out of its shell and it's beautiful. Like that moment, if I wasn't if I was, I've got to rush, I've got to feed the chickens, I've got to get out of here, I wouldn't even see it. You know, and seeing something like that to me is symbolic, like, you know

Amy (46:47) Stop and smell the roses or watch the cicada yep do that business they do.

Tina (46:51) Allow yourself the space to sit and be quiet, you know.

Amy (46:56) Hear that, menopausal women? Well and

Tina (46:58) I'm in a puzzle too.

Amy (47:00) Hear that, ladies and gentlemen too, but that's a big shout out to the ladies because we're just working so hard to try to do it all.

Tina (47:09) in this kind of living isn't about perfection for me. I'm never gonna tell someone you're doing it wrong. I mean, unless you're trying to boil water without a heat source, I'm not gonna you know, right you're not doing it wrong. You've got to do we're all different. You've got to do what works for you. You know, a lot of people use different therapies to get through different things, whether it's HRT or or going in the backyard and being in nature. There's we have to do what works for us. Yep. But

Yes, definitely slow down and and and take it in and allow yourself the space to enjoy things.

Amy (47:45) Well, do you ever just like buy a frozen pizza or gummy bears at

Tina (47:49) Of course.

Amy (47:50) the grocery store? I

Tina (47:52) Course.

Amy (47:52) mean, you know, like is there I mean, if it what's like an indulgent processed American food that you just are like, I'm gonna have this.

Tina (48:04) if I'm gonna be really bad, I'm I'm gonna go get a big juicy hamburger or cheeseburger with some bacon on it or fettacini Alfredo, something real you know, fatty. But yeah, I mean, if you go in my house right now, you're gonna say, Okay, this girl does not have it all together. There's messes, you know, I never want this the the damage with this lifestyle is the aesthetic right now.

And the perfection and and our little squares on Instagram can look so pretty. But I promise you there's so much life happening on the outside of those. And so if you were to come in my house, you'd say she does not have everything together. there's laundry piles, you know, our pantry is full of things that that I can't personally eat because I do have like some food aversions. Like I can't eat MSG, which is in so many things.

Amy (48:59) Everything, yeah.

Tina (49:01) it it really

gives me migraines. I I can't eat it. So, but, you know, just because I live this way and I have to do these things, the rest of my people and my family, you know, I've taught them, you know, this is better, this is a better choice, but I'm not a martyr about it. Right. If you want goldfish, I'm gonna get you goldfish.

Amy (49:23) Fish are good, especially the flavor blast. That was a popular the fl which is probably MSG, but the flavor blast was a was a big hit when my boys were little.

Tina (49:32) And and so that's that's what's kinda damaging about this lifestyle is that people think, well she she's got it all together, she's perfect. I am not, I really am not. And so you know, so teaching them this is this is what's good and you know, they know that and but they're their own person. They they make their own decisions. I'm not gonna be like, that's not allowed here, you know, it's just not that way. So

Amy (50:00) I've always seen you in the f short five years I've known you as quiet, calm, and a little mysterious in a good way.

Tina (50:09) Yeah.

Amy (50:09) A little mysterious. And maybe that's where that mystery comes in, that I don't see you as somebody who would have piles of laundry. No judgment if you do. But I just a little mystery there. Yeah. Which is not a bad thing. You I mean, I'm an open book and everybody knows exactly what I'm thinking, when I'm thinking, and how I'm thinking. And maybe that's probably not the best.

Tina (50:29) Well, you know, they're clean piles, at least. I'm like, this is your laundry basket, all your socks are in there, you know. But I've I've also started working in the last year outside of the home. Right. And so when I was home every day, I I'd like to think I had stuff together a little bit more. But a lot of that you say I'm quiet and a lot of that is, you know, a little bit of neurodivergence in there.

Neurodivergent people sometimes can be quiet because they're not really sure how how am I supposed to be reacting reacting right now. Okay. So in social situations where I'm a little bit more withdrawn just because of that part of me. And, you know, the mystery, it's like the things that I do that keep me grounded and and whole and where I need to be aren't really things that, you know, that I really need to tell everyone.

You know what I mean? Sure. So that mystery is just more of like a personal thing. Yeah. Yeah. I get it. I get it. Yeah. I get it. So but but if you were to ask me, maybe outside of a podcast, I would be fine talking about it.

Amy (51:39) So, and you did mention working outside the home. We we we've gotta touch on this. so we've had Kat Sourdough on the show and she is my first ever podcast. And Kat, I met Kat years ago. Kat was in one of my markets. You and Kat met at my market.

Tina (52:00) Matt Cat at your market.

Amy (52:01) It would have been the twenty twenty four one. And then before we know it, you're working.

in her new bakery that she opened last year. And everybody, if you've ever had the famous chicken salad, Tina makes the chicken salad there. Yes, I she makes a chicken salad. And yesterday when I was in to get my weekly loaf of bread, I think you were making what were you making?

Tina (52:27) I was working on chicken salads. I was getting the bread out of the oven. It was the sandwich bread. And normally I make the facasha for JoJo's espresso on Sundays. But for whatever reason their order was short that week. They they didn't need any. So I was working on just some other things that to kind of fill in the gaps for my time. Yeah.

Amy (52:50) So if you've ever had that chicken salad, you guys, if you know, you know. Especially with the pickle that goes on it. It's divine. It's my favorite thing. And we went to have lunch there yesterday after church and Tina was there and the bread wasn't ready. I mean, it was so fresh, they couldn't cut it. They literally could not cut it.

Tina (53:06) Too hot.

Amy (53:07) So Tina went out of her way for me and got me a full loaf. And you hear this cat

Tina (53:12) Yeah.

Amy (53:13) Tina was like, I'm gonna do this. So I didn't have to come back, which I didn't mind if we did, but she put it in like a tin

pan with the the the bag and the twist tie that would go with it later all set up for me so I could take it out the door. And I mean my car smelled so good. but I love the connections that all come through because you and Kat working together couldn't be a better combo of great ladies who work hard and and you both n she's good about boundaries and she knows what she she knows what she wants to do. For sure like she's very she's a she's amazing.

Tina (53:49) She's an A plus she's a great boss. Yeah. I've I've enjoyed working for Kat immensely.

Amy (53:55) And

in her in her in her podcast, she talked about they learned through all this to to hire really great people. And I'm like, well, I know one who works for you. So I

Tina (54:05) I love that.

Amy (54:07) So one more question before we get to rapid fire is if a listener wants to make a few small changes, like if I'm a friend listening to this podcast, driving down the road today, and I'm like, Hmm, where should I start? I mean

It's hard f I mean, I know example me. I'm not just gonna go buy chickens and start just figuring out how to make soap on my own and make my own hand cream. Like where what would you say to somebody? You you touch really well on the boundaries and the self, the self care about sleep, but like if they wanna do something tangible, if they're if you've inspired somebody, where should

Tina (54:42) Yeah,

if you're like, yeah, this is this is what I want to do. I would encourage you to seek out your local farmers. Seek out the people that are doing these things because they're they're doing it and they're probably doing it really great. There's farms in the area that grow meat the right way, regeneratively, sustainably. And so when I'm making my products, that's what I want to make it from. I don't want to make stuff from

you know, animals from feedlots and th that's just not the product I want. And so I would say seek it out local if you can. And if you can't, then a trusted source online, you know, the everything we have choices. You can get good, bad, or ugly, you know, for anything. Right. And so, yeah, find someone that is doing things that would a l align with with this kind of stuff. They're out there. Farmers markets. But also too

You know, if you go into something like Whole Foods or Sprouts where they have the bulk stuff, you can get really good quality grains and in my pantry beside the goldfish. I have, you know, my jars of of stuff that I can eat that nobody else eats but bulk oats, bulk grains, grind up quinoa and flax seeds and hemp parts and grind up so that the seed, you know, the

They're broken down so when you eat you get more nutrition. But I grind them up and keep in a jar in the freezer. And just small little things like that, that you can sprinkle those on salads, on oatmeal, on, you know, yogurt and add that nutrition in there. So just learning little ways to to incorporate healthy stuff into your diet, you know. I love it.

Amy (56:27) Yeah. I love it. Little ways. It doesn't have to be complicated.

Tina (56:30) Right. Small steps. You know, when I had a little a little baby, I thought, I'm gonna throw all this stuff away. I'm not gonna you know, but that's really you're setting yourself up to fail if you go all in too hard 'cause it's too it's too hard to do.

Amy (56:46) And then you're never gonna be sleeping because you're gonna be trying to figure out how to work it all out.

Tina (56:50) And and things, you know, things can be painted bad, whatever it is. It's really just doing the best that you can, sorting through what is important to you, you know, and and making the best choice that you can make and you're not gonna be perfect. I mean I love it. I'm gonna eat pizza and and I might pay for it the next day, but we're not perfect and don't don't be too hard. If you're too hard on yourself, you're not gonna do it. True. You know, I I

don't buy synthetic clothes anymore, but that doesn't mean that I got rid of everything that I own that's synthetic. Like I go into the store and I don't want a shirt that's made from recycled water bottles, knowing what I know. But I still have those things. So as they wear out, I can replace them with linen, wool, you know, cotton. And so, you know, just small steps.

Amy (57:43) Small steps, everybody. Well okay, rapid fire. What's a guilty pleasure?

Tina (57:48) A guilty pleasure, I I would say eating the food I know is bad, regardless. Yep. Yep.

Amy (57:55) Sunrise or sunset.

Tina (57:57) Mm Sunset.

Amy (58:00) say both because I'm grateful for either of them. But if I had to pick I'm gonna say Sunset Two.

Tina (58:05) Well, I don't like the sun, but I like the start of a new day. But sunset is is my time to chill. So yeah, sunset.

Amy (58:13) Morning person or night owl.

Tina (58:15) morning person.

Amy (58:17) Yeah. Favorite soap scent that you make.

Tina (58:20) Pine Pine, yes.

Amy (58:21) Yes. What's a pantry staple? I know you've mentioned several of those, but lentils. Okay. Okay. What is something you couldn't live without?

Tina (58:25) Lentil.

This one's gonna surprise you, but I could not live without my espresso machine.

Amy (58:37) No, that actually doesn't surprise me because a lot of people would probably say that.

Tina (58:41) Yeah.

Amy (58:42) Yeah. What do you make in your espresso machine?

Tina (58:45) I make a double shot once or twice in the morning. I usually lean towards two, but I make a latte. Double shot of espresso. I like to source organic fair trade coffee beans just so that I feel really good about, you know, it's so concentrated that I want it to be really good quality. So and then I just steam my whole milk. I like a pastured whole organic milk and I don't put sugar, but that is an easy swap, you know.

When you're reaching for something, you can reach for honey or maple syrup and and keep it natural. So I I put like honey sometimes, but not in the morning. That's kinda like a treat.

Amy (59:25) A lot of people would probably say coffee or espresso machines. What is your lifestyle in one word?

Tina (59:32) One word?

Amy (59:34) It yeah, bonus points, that you can use a few more. There's not a test, so if you need to use a few more, that's okay.

Tina (59:40) I would say just simplicity, simplifying. You know, when we're thinking about food choices, if you can simplify, people think I've got to have this big extravagant meal every single meal. And you don't. I I sim I eat simply and it takes the pressure off this this ordeal, you know, a simple plate of food. Just simplify.

Amy (1:00:03) Well, I eat simply just 'cause I don't like to cook. Yeah. Yeah. Favorite season.

Tina (1:00:09) Autumn.

Amy (1:00:09) Mm. Yep. Autumn. Autumn. I I think I'm growing a little more to like spring a little more because I love all the renewal that I the older I get, I'm just grateful that for the renewal and the green again and and all that. But I've always been a fan of pumpkins or we got married in October. There's lots of little autumnal things there.

Tina (1:00:27) It's the cozy time and for me, like, you know, the type of person I am getting to to sit and you know, summer is the busy season for me. I I work, you know, really hard outside and so that fall reset and the other thing about fall though that I I wanna say that's important to me is you know, you see it creeping in earlier and earlier every year, like August. August is not fall. And so f when when I see that, I'm like, No, even though that's my favorite, it's not time.

Amy (1:00:56) Right. You're like breaking the rule here. Yeah. I can't think about pumpkins till after Labor Day. And that's early for me. Yeah. I'm really more of an October one girl. Now that doesn't mean I won't get a pumpkin coffee somewhere. Yeah. But I have all the chemicals and stuff in my coffee. But I I'll g you know, the barista will make it with all the foam and all the caramel drizzle. Yeah. It's sugar free. It's a toxic chemical bomb, but I don't drink them all.

Tina (1:01:21) You don't drink it every day. Yeah. I I don't want to cheapen it. I want it to arrive when it's supposed to arrive, you know?

Amy (1:01:29) What kind of music do you listen to? I picture it being I envision it being very chill, like relaxing.

Tina (1:01:36) Girl, no. Really? No, no, no. When I put something in my ears, right now I'm a deep dive into nirvana.

Amy (1:01:46) Wow, you're taking me back to college right there, my freshman year of college.

Tina (1:01:50) Well, yeah, I it I was in high school, the rise and fall of Nirvana. It was such an important music for me. And I went a long time without listening to Nirvana. But now, like, yeah, let's let's go. I wanna I wanna hear that.

Amy (1:02:06) I did not see that coming.

Tina (1:02:08) But but I really like country. Okay. I really like a lot of different kind of music. There's not a lot of music I don't like, but I don't like classical.

music, which w if I wanna hear music I want I want it to, you know, pump me up.

Amy (1:02:25) If Nirvana is it, yeah, you're yeah, that's pretty solid.

Tina (1:02:28) Specifically the the T V unplugged nervonium. That's

Amy (1:02:32) Yeah. Totally in my freshman year of college.

Tina (1:02:34) that's the best.

Amy (1:02:35) That brings back some core college memories. Yeah. I would say my I I I my favorite song is just like Heaven by the Cure. I'm I always loved the cure. Yeah. Now my husband is not into that kind of music. He never was. And so the other day he was like, Who is that? I'm like, How am I married to you? You do not know this. Yeah. How do you not know who they are? He's like, I don't know any songs they sing.

And then I was like, I have got to cultivate that I've got I've got to work on this guy. Yeah. Tina, you've been so informative. I think we could talk for hours about even more. Is there anything else that you have to tell us?

Tina (1:03:14) mean I think I think something that is is really important that stands out in my mind that I didn't really cover a lot of is I really get on the soapbox about scents and fragrance. And if you think about all the products that people use, our shampoo, our you know, face care, our body care, our teeth care, our laundry care.

Our floor care, our cleaning, it's all scented.

Amy (1:03:45) It is.

Tina (1:03:47) And so I have scent allergies. So my girls like the highly smelly, scenty body sprays. And I cannot be around They make me physically ill. So for me, that's really huge. They keep in the garage for the most part. They spray out there. And so that's kind of where I meet in the middle, you know, not just gonna be like, they're not allowed, but

I really can't be around them. And if they spray them in the house, I know it. And I'm I call them out. I'm like, you need to take that in the garage because because it really impacts me. and so when we're choosing products or when I'm choosing products, I like to go for the uncinted, which I know isn't fun. You know, that's not fun, right? But if you think about putting it on your skin, it is the very same thing as ingesting it because it's going into your body and our liver is processing all of this out.

So if we're eating chemicals, and I don't mean chemicals, I mean synthetic chemicals or harmful chemicals, because even natural things are chemicals, but the ones that we know disrupt our hormones, that we know cause problems, and we're slathering it all over ourselves, our liver has a huge job to do. And so, so just getting rid of that load, if you can rethink some of the products, like, you know, and there's probably things that you're not willing to get rid of, and that's fine, but get rid of some of them.

You know, you don't need that knock your face off scent because it can damage you. And so

Amy (1:05:17) should see the basket of treats that I have for my guest and sh none of it's like it's there's lots of stuff there's lots of stuff in there. There's pirates booty and granola bars and dots pretzels. There's all these things. I'm wondering if she's gonna take anything.

Tina (1:05:35) Yeah, I was kinda looking at the simple mills, almond flour, peanut butter. I did

Amy (1:05:39) It

puts some stuff in there that's healthy, like that. But yeah, those are all good points to make. Yeah. Those really are.

Tina (1:05:47) So just being mindful, like, you know, and when you're s when I'm set up and selling soap, the first thing that people do, the first thing is put it to their nose. So smell is such a powerful

Amy (1:05:58) For soap especially. Yeah. Yeah.

Tina (1:06:00) So that's why I go for the essential oils because, you know, I like unscented soap because I do notice that scented soaps are a little bit more rough on my skin. But for other people that they don't the scent doesn't bother them, that's what they want. And so I want to give it to them. Right. But I want to give it to them in a way that's healthy. Right. And so so I think that I I probably didn't say really enough about fragrance and how important it is to be careful with it.

Amy (1:06:29) I love it. Well, I guess everybody's gonna be like thinking about maybe how they're maybe small swaps they're making. I wonder how many people are gonna go to Cats and get the chicken salad now that they've heard who makes it. Well I had a lot of people after her podcast say I'd never been there before. really? And now they're hooked. so I love that. And I love that they'll come in and know that you're making some things and ask for Tina. If she's not with her hands messy back in the bakery part of the store, ask for her. I'm sure you'd love to meet them.

Tina (1:06:58) Yeah, absolutely.

Amy (1:06:59) I would.

But everybody will have all the information about Tina's website and you're right, you still have the website, right?

Tina (1:07:06) Yeah, it's homespun soaps dot com.

Amy (1:07:08) And we'll have it all on on on the show description and information and links, how you can reach Tina. If you just want to tell her hi or tell her some change that you've made, I'm sure you'd love to hear it. Yeah, I will. That's what we're here for. Yeah. So that's a wrap, everyone. Tina, I appreciate you. I know you're tired. You have a lot of things to do, but I appreciate you. If you would like to be on the podcast, you can reach me at amikiespodcast at gmail.com.

That is Amy Keyspodcast at gmail.com. You can listen to all the episodes on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, Audible, iHeartRadio, and I think YouTube now too. So everybody, we really appreciate you listening to this very educational and episode. And that is one thing that we want to do on this is educate, inform, and entertain. And I definitely think you covered.

inspiring, educating, and informing in this podcast today. So thanks for being here.

Tina (1:08:07) Thank you so much for having me and hopefully, you know, we offered some inspiration and I really appreciate you.

Amy (1:08:13) Yeah, definitely. And till next time.