Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark - “How To Homestead Anywhere In America.” - With Suburban ‘Wormsteader’ Natalie Argo

Episode Date: March 24, 2023

Spring is springing! And, before you go to your local Home Depot or nursery, get ready to learn the easiest ways to start homesteading! Whether you live in the city or the country with your homestead business bestie, Natalie Argo from @heyyitsagoodlife! In this short & sweet episode, you’ll learn exactly what tools (and worms) you'll need to get started composting and your very own garden – from a plot of land, to an apartment balcony, Natalie is here to assure you that you can live a goo...

I know the argument from the left is that we need to get rid of masculinity by whatever means possible because it's all toxic. But what if the antidote for a rotting culture isn't less masculinity? It's more. That's exactly what Turning Point USA believes and why we've launched a brand new event taking place in multiple cities around the U.S. called the summit. Just for men, ages 16 to 40. The mission of the summit is to revive the masculine heart firmly founded in biblical principles, by creating men who are physically, mentally, and spiritually fit. The summit will help develop purpose-driven men who are leaders ready to serve their God,

their family, and their nation. Male attendees should expect to be challenged in three directions, inward, outward, and upward. They will be immersed in harsh environments that will push them past their limits. They will be strengthened physically and spiritually with intense physical activity and mental conditioning. They will be prepared to battle against false ideolfeiting. through an understanding of strong men from the Bible and throughout history. The men will be encouraged to stand up for the week, lead families, and guide communities, and be taught the value of self-control and doing what is right over what feels good.

Apply at summit.tpsa.com and a summit representative will work with you to ensure the man in your life is signed up for the best, most appropriate event based on his availability, interests, and age. upcoming events will be in Palmdale in Ohio, California, Colorado Springs, Grass Range, and Fish Tail Montana, and soon to be announced cities in Virginia and Texas. Spots are filling fast. Are you man enough? That's summit.tpUSA.com. Listen up, worms! This episode is so on brand for us. I literally can't stand it. If you homestead, if you want to homestead. And if you're someone who understands the question, would you still love me if I were a worm? that you're going to love this episode. Now, until talking to today's guest, I had no idea that it was even possible to homestead if you live in the suburbs or if you live in the city. Our guest is here to illustrate just how doable a self-reliant lifestyle can be no matter where you live, an apartment, a house, the city, the country.

She's going to provide some practical tips and insights into her dream of farming while she is living in the middle of Sandy. Diego herself. Can you believe that? She's a wife and mother and the genius behind, hey, it's a good life, a beautiful corner of the internet where you can learn all things homesteading and worm farming through her insightful materials, including the gardener's guide to worm farming. Now, her life is dedicated to the idea that you can bloom wherever you're planted, especially where worms are involved if you've never even planted a flower. But just have a little bit of curiosity about what it takes to start gardening and growing your own food. The goal with this episode is that you'll have a few easy steps to take from this interview so that

you can get started. This is also going to be a great episode to watch because you will get to see some of the things she talks about. There's a lot of like showing and telling, okay? Search for Poplitics on YouTube and subscribe. Please welcome Natalie from Hey, it's a Good Life to the spillover. So let me just be honest about my journey with the whole homesteading world with you, Natalie. I have always from the day I was born, Ben, all-girly girl, you would never, ever, ever in a million years catch me wearing cowgirl boots or living in the country or anything. Like, I could not fathom people that would choose to not live in the city. When I was shopping for my apartment here in Phoenix, the first thing I asked the leasing chick in the office was,

How far away is the nearest Chick-fil-A and how far away is the nearest Sephora? Like, these are the important things for me. So when I found out that somebody like you existed who does all this homesteading stuff but lives in the smack dab middle of San Diego, I was like, how in the world is this possible? And, you know, it wasn't until the pandemic in 2020 that I started thinking, oh, the people that know how to grow their own food and take care of themselves and garden. and hunt or all those types of things, those are the people that get it. Like, those are the people that when Ish hits the fan, like, we're going to be looking to them for help. So then I started

becoming really interested in the concept of homesteading, finding out what it was. And since you somehow do this while still living in like a normal neighborhood in the city, I'm just like, how in the world did this even begin for you? Yeah, that's a great question. And yeah, I want to say too. I think 2020 woke a lot of us up to, you know, potentially broken systems. And I like to find the gift in things. And I hope that that was a gift for a lot of people of like, is there something that I could do differently? Like maybe now you're asking yourself, how can I have a garden on my apartment patio? And even that is such a significant question. And I think it's one that we should all be asking ourselves. I know for me, my favorite books growing up were The Secret Garden and Charlotte's

Webb. And so for me, I was just always a nature lover as a kid. But very much like you, I want that kind of city life. I grew up watching America's Next Top Model. Okay. I was like, I'm going to be America's Next Top Model one day. So I was very much like program like that for a while. But I found myself distracting myself with homesteading articles on Pinterest in college. It was just getting so bored of lecture. I'd be like, I'm just going to peek at Pinterest for a second. And it was those homesteading articles that really kind of piqued my interest. I was like, that's so cool. I totally want to grow my own food one day. And then fast forward to a birthday party at my, I call it my friend tours, my friends and mentors.

And I was on track to be a doctor in psychology, but I met this couple. And they were like, hey, you know, we run a ranch for troubled youth. And I was like, that's it. That's it. I'm going to do the psychology thing, but it's going to be outdoors. And so I had this dream for a regenerative farm. Fast forward, go to grad school. It's super hard. It's like very grueling. It's this very awkward experience of like, be the expert, but also don't be too big for your britches. And it's just exhausting. And then you have to do 3,000 hours for his licensure. So I get married in the middle of that. I just find myself very drained and telling myself a lot of lies, honestly. Like in my community around here, we talk a lot about the importance of dreams.

And I just found myself discounting my dreams. And I was like, I finally had to catch myself one day and say, why, why am I doing this? Like, do I really think this dream is too expensive? Like, with God, anything is possible. And there are so many things that I've manifested or that God has provided in my life. Like, why would I think that this is too big? And I really just, I had to draw a line in the sand and that I'm going to do something differently. And it was around that time my friends over at a Pastor Bird, they started primal

pastors. And I was watching them really regenerate land in California. And I was like, okay, this is possible. And then that led me to Joel Salatin, who showed me that there is a better way than the way we currently grow food. And then that led me to Justin Rhodes, which is like, this is possible for small families. And then that led me to Jessica Sowers, which was like, okay, now you go do it. And so I started an apartment patio garden. I completely upset my neighbor upstairs for drilling for three days straight. But I had absolutely no regrets about that. She was super passive-aggressive and got upset when my husband sneezed. So just about anything set her off. Yeah. We'll call her Janice. So anyway, so, you know, it was worth upsetting Janice, learned a lot of lessons, killed my first garden. You know, I dreamed of this garden. I was like, I finally did it. And then I killed it because I just didn't have the concept like you were talking about earlier. Being the city kit, I really didn't understand how to grow things. And so that's how I kind of fell into composting specifically with worms. Because again, being in the city, I was like, I don't have space.

for traditional compost. It smells. I don't want to upset Janice even more by inviting possums and raccoens in the backyard. Like the HOA is going to have my head for this. So I started composting in the corner of my kitchen and I made a lot of mistakes and eventually started feeding my garden and saved my garden. And then I realized, hey, we can, if I can do this anywhere, anybody else could do this anywhere. That's really what kind of fueled my message to to share my journey online. See, this is why you're like the picture perfect guest for me to have on this show. Because not only have I now as I'm leaving my 20s, I'm 29 at the time that we're filming this. Right now I'm leaving my 20s.

I'm starting to educate myself so much more about our food, where it comes from, and how to eat better, which I've never, that's one thing. I eat like crap. I've never cared about what I eat. I'm a naturally thin person, which like makes people, I know that's like something that everybody's going to hate me for saying, but like I am. So I've just, it's never been something that I've really thought about until I started learning what is on our food, and I've been so grossed out. Now I've been trying to eat organic

and all this stuff. So all of that's fascinating to me. But then also this worm farming aspect is hilarious because my whole brand, well, part of it, a large part of my brand is worms. And this all started because this trend on TikTok of people asking their significant other, would you still love me if I was a worm? Which I just thought was funny. So I talked about it on my show. And from there, I just thought it was a cute, funny thing to just call people little worms. And so now so much of the imagery in my show Pop Politics, my daily show where I cover pop culture news and stuff is like worms. And people like know me for that.

When they see worm stuff, they send it to me. And so when I found you, I'm like, you're kidding me. This girl is homesteading in a city, teaches people how to do it like anyone can do it from the ground up and she's a worm farmer. So I was like, I've been calling you with my staff behind the scenes, by the way, Natalie. I've been calling you a Wormstetter. Oh, I think we've just developed a new trademark. Team, get on that.

Let's trademark that right away. Isn't that so cute? I'm like, she's the official Wormstetter. So now you have to walk us through. What the heck is worm farming? And how does that, like, fall into homesteading and all this? Yeah, absolutely. So like we were talking about earlier, my garden needed fuel, but I didn't know how to fuel it.

And that led me down the route of composting. And there's a thousand and one ways to compost. But truly, and I don't just say this because I'm a worm farmer, but like truly the best compost around is vermic compost. And when you think about it and you think about creation, it's like, okay, there's worms in the ground for a reason. And they're providing the absolute best poop in town. So when you can harness that and use it for your garden, it's an amazing thing. And, you know, the number of secrets for themselves. If you go to the nursery, you can see that worm castings really are the most expensive thing.

and it's because they do so much for the garden. As gardeners, we're trained to think of the garden in terms of like three main nutrients, macronutrients, NPNK, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. And in a similar vein of like talking about food, it's kind of like we think about food in terms of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. But when you really break it down, kind of like you're starting to do in your journey of like, well, let's talk about nutrients. Is the food that I'm eating actually nutrient dense?

And it sounds like you're coming to the realization that you need some more nutrient density in your life. You need some more pasture-raised chick-fil-a buns in your life. Right. Grass-fed, all that stuff. Oh, I've been ruined by, you know, the food babe on Instagram. She is now totally ruined chick-fil-a for me, but, you know, sometimes I just have to pretend I didn't see those posts. Yeah, I think we all do. And I know when 2020 rolled around, it was such a, it was such an eye-opener to what truths are we willing to accept and how does that change our life and what things are too uncomfortable to accept? And so we just kind of live with them. And so there is this like cognitive dissonance sometimes between, I know this isn't good for me, but like I also really want it, but I know this isn't good for me. And it's hard. It is hard. But, you know, as an encouragement to you in your journey and anybody else listening, it just takes one baby step after the next. And I think that's the hardest part about getting started with homesteading or wormsteading. It's, it's, it's a lot. When you look at it. You're like, well, do I have to make my own sourdough? And do I have to make my own komb? And I have to start everything from seeds. And it's like, hang on, honey. Let's get one tomato plant from.

the store. And let's put it in some quality potting mix. Throw a little worm castings in there, if you please. And like, let's try it with one tomato. And then, you know, if you're really feeling yourself, maybe you get some sourdough starter from a friend. You can buy little packets of dehydrated sourdough to dehydrated sourdough starter online and like just one step after the next. And I know for me, even just one step a season, that's like four step, big steps in a year. And so one of those big steps for us was starting a worm farm. And like many women that I speak to, My husband was like, no, worms in the house. Are you serious? But I just kind of secretly started it in the corner of the kitchen and just kind of fed them the worm, the food scraps from our dinners and made a lot of mistakes. Some of the biggest mistakes you can make when you're getting started with composting with worms is overfeeding them. And then they get really slushy. So I don't know about you, but I'm Italian. And so I think the Italian grandma on me came out and was like, please, manja, eat. I like wanted to give them all this food. But I kind of ended up drowning them. Anyway, there's a whole process.

And I have a free quick start guide for anybody who wants, you know, if you're interested in this stuff. Oh my gosh, please. So, yeah, so you're talking about homesteading 101, number one, explain to people. So you talked about how you started in your kitchen. But now, I mean, I'm just looking at you, you know, visually as we're recording this. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see it too. But it looks like you live in a normal neighborhood, like a subdivision type of thing. So how in the world does somebody, let's say somebody is never even garden before?

But they're interested in hope setting. How do you go from I've never even planted a flower to now I want to grow my own food? Yeah, that's a great question. You know what? Let me grab a real practical example. I'll be right back, okay? Ooh, props. I don't think we've ever had anyone grab props on the show before.

If you're watching this on YouTube, you can see her. Oh my gosh, she's wheeling over a garden. She's wheeling it. This is so neat. Oh, my gosh. Oh, this is so fantastic. Yeah, it's like a tower of plants it looks like that she's wheeling over. She's sitting back down.

I thought about just doing a whole bunch of animal noises right here, but then I figured that good ranchers wouldn't really like that. So here's something that will floor you. Meat that is labeled as Made in America in the grocery store is almost certainly, not actually, made in America. What do you mean, Alex, you ask? Well, almost all American beef, even the kind that says grass fed is shipped from overseas. The reason they're able to put a made-in-America label on it is because it is packaged and processed in America.

Messed up, I know. This hurts independent farmers and ranchers in the United States, and that should fire you up as a conservative. So what I've found is the best solution for me is to get my meat from good ranchers. They are a meatbox subscription company that is conservative and family owned, and all of their meat is sourced from local independent farms in Middle America. Subscribing comes with tons of perks and no long-term commitment. You can pause any time. So subscribe to the box that makes your mouth water and then pick the frequency you think is best because you can always change the frequency later. And then you sit back and you get free shipping and a consistent price on all of your orders forever.

That's exactly how buying meat is supposed to work. So get started today at good ranchers.com slash Clark with Code Clark. And best of all, right now, every new subscription will get you free bacon for a year. You will get 24 ounces of applewood smoked bacon that will be added to each box for a year for free. This is 100% American high-quality bacon source from local farms and the value of this offer. It's over $200 in free bacon. The offer won't last forever, so you should act now before it's gone. Go to good ranchers.com slash Clark with CodeClark.

Plus, my code will get you a bonus $20 off when you check out. I feel like this ad has been five minutes long because there's like so many offers. Good Ranchers.com slash Clark with Code Clark. And just a reminder, when you subscribe, you will get a price lock guarantee so your price stays the same as long as you are subscribed. Good Ranchers.com slash Clark and Code Clark. Good Ranchers. American Meat delivered.

This is my greenstock. And you know, you can find this on our website as well. It's not actually my product, but I do work with this company. And if I had known about this when I got started on an apartment patio, I feel like it would have been such a game changer for me. I built my first garden beds with my own two hands and I used the wrong kind of screws. They ended up all falling apart. It was like such a waste of time and money when I could have just bought this for a lot less money and had a lot more plants and a lot more success. So I think if you're working with a small space, I think of you with your beautiful apartment and you're wanting to grow something on your apartment patio, something like this. is a really great way to make use of space because it's a vertical system. And so you've got 35 plants here in five different tiers or, yeah, 30 plants, I think. This is like, you know, we've got strawberries in here. Yeah, we've got little flowers in here for the pollinators, you know, rosemary, edible flowers. And that's a really great way to get started. Don't be intimidated by that. Just grab a terracotta pot from, you know, Hobby Lobby for $3 and that'll work too. But if you're wanting to really max out your space and don't have a lot to work with, I think this is a really, um,

awesome invention. When I tell you, I haven't felt my heart pitter-patter like this ever, except when I was looking at like a pair of lubitons. I can't believe I'm feeling the same sensations looking at a tower of plants that I feel when I look at shoes, but I'm feeling it. I want to be a homesteader in my apartment. Okay, so this thing is fascinating. You said over 30 pots for different things. Yeah, so we've got six little pods and five tiers, right? So that's 30. Yeah, one, two, three, four, five. Yeah, 30 plants. I know that the great. I know that the girls on my team that are watching us film this right now are freaking out and they're going to want this too. And most of us do live in an apartment. So, okay, so how do you get the confidence to start

now that thing, the Tower of Plants with no experience? I think that was a great question. And I'll just be honest, I have to follow other people that were doing it. And so anybody listening, if you want a little encouragement, come hang out at Hey, it's a Good Life. I am always talking about the importance of following your dreams and taking baby steps to get there. And so find the people If you don't resonate with, hey, it's a good life. There are other people out there that are doing this and sharing that message of like, start where you are with what you've got, with what you can do. And so, you know, something like this is a really easy way to get started. And then, of course, you want to be mindful of, you know, it's going to need some fuel.

So you don't need a giant system. So I just built this. It's a system that's going to generate about 6,000 pounds of compost every year. But I started with this, essentially, something like this. This is a 10-gallon rubber neck. I'm sorry, roughneck rubber made tote. And this is what I teach people to layer. When you get your layers right, you get your browns in there, you get your nitrogen in there, you get your compost in there, your worms. There's like different ingredients that we need to get going in kind of the right sequence.

Once it's all going, you know, it takes 10 minutes to set up and then two minutes of work each week and you're making hundreds of pounds of compost and a 10 gallon rubber made roughneck tote. So it's really, it does not have to be complicated. And that's what I try to share over on my page. but there's lots of people kind of sharing this message online. So anybody out there listening, you know, take courage. There are people out there, and I draw a lot of inspiration from other content creators who are doing the same thing. I think that's what gave me the vote of confidence.

Now, I imagine that there's probably harder things to grow and easier things to grow for somebody that's a beginner. So for the cute servatives that actually own a home and they do have yard that they could, I don't know what the word is, till up and garden, is that right? I don't see, I don't even know, like garden terms. If they wanted to start a tiny garden, though, and they don't live in an apartment, so they're not going to do the Tower of Plants like you're showing, what are the easiest items that you recommend starting with like vegetables or plants or whatever? Well, I love that we're having this conversation in fall because fall is actually my favorite time to be gardening. And I'm not sure when this airs, but it's undecided.

So it could be spring. It could be fall. It could be winter. Okay, okay. Well, anytime's a good time to start a garden. I just happen to love the fall garden because it is a lot easier to manage. So the things that you want to ask yourself kind of right off the bat are what is the sunlight that I'm working with? Do you have at least six hours of light? That's generally what plants need. And then, you know, what kind of

soil are we working with? So you mentioned like tilling up the earth. In my community, it's kind of like hit or miss. Do we till? Do we not till? A really simple method out there is just laying down cardboard, laying down lots of organic compost and just basically smothering out any grass or any problem areas and then starting your garden there. It does take a little longer to establish that way, but it can be better in the long term. And, you know, so this is for somebody who lives in the suburbs and maybe has a little bit of space or, you know, has a bigger yard than I do. And some of the best plants to start with, you know, it depends on your zone. So you're going to want to look at your zone. I imagine in Phoenix, you're probably similar to us, like 10, somewhere like 9 or 10, meaning that we have a longer growing

season. We can grow for about at least 250 days of the year. And after you've considered your zone, you want to think about what season is it. And we really have two kinds of crops. We have cool weather crops and warm weather crops. And so in the cool weather crops, we have things like Brussels sprouts, leafy green, things like arugula, salad, mustard greens. You also have things like peas. That's one of my favorite things to grow. There are so many different varieties of peas and so many lovely colors.

Sometimes it's fun to just grow for the fun of it. Maybe not put that pressure on yourself to eat it straight out of the garden. But within the peas section, you've got, you know, sugar peas, sugar snap peas. You've got like actual peas that you shell and you eat kind of like more traditional like an English pea. And then if it's the warmer weather, I'm trying to think of some of the easier things to grow. So in the cool weather section, we've got probably leafy greens are probably the easiest thing to grow. And then in the warm weather section, I think tomatoes and tomatios are probably some of the easiest things to grow. And depending on where you are, herbs can be perennial, meaning like good almost all year long.

And so that can be something fun as well. Like you can constantly be drawing from herbs all year long to kind of get that. See, that's kind of what I really, really want to do is grow herbs. I would love to have a basil plant and time and, oh, a lavender plant I'd be really into. I love cooking with lavender and baking with lavender. So that's something that I would really like. Yeah. And I think that really gives you that feeling, right, of like, I'm doing this and I can do this.

And as a counselor turned online educator, I really believe in the power of positive momentum. It's like, okay, so you get that little basil plant from Trader. Joe's, you're stewarding that little plant, you're keeping it alive, and it's sending you this message, I'm doing this, I can't do this, I'm doing this, I can't do this. And so I think that's really powerful. Like, just get a plant. Just get a little plant and put it somewhere sunny that it's going to enjoy itself and just, yeah, tend to it and be nice to yourself along the way. If you forget to water it and something happens, that's okay. But just kind of, you know, try to gain those skills in small ways so you can take the bigger steps later on. So what are the tried and true materials that you feel like

every single homesteader should have as they get started. Like, you know, as simple as like a shovel or whatever. That's such a wonderful question. You know, I think I had a list on this on my website a long time ago. I don't even know if that blog post exists anymore. I think it was like top 10 tools for the homestead. For me, for me, I build so much stuff. So for me, it's a drill. I need to have a drill. Absolutely that. But it really depends like kind of like we were talking about earlier. Where are we stepping into homesteading? Are we stepping into homesteading in the kitchen or in the garden? I think when it comes to the kitchen, getting yourself some decent jars that you can see really well what's going on in there. I like these really, I think they're half, half gallon jars with these

beautiful gold lids. They're by this company in Italy. I can't remember the name now. But if I had it my way, I'd have like 20 of those and I would be able to see all my beans and all my herbs and everything in one fell swoop. But we don't really have a proper pantry. So we're just kind of making do there. it's great for starting sourdough as well. So if you're playing with sourdough, you know, some good mixing bowls, something to keep your sourdough starter in. And something to keep in mind, too, is having something that is beautiful or intriguing can kind of keep your interest to keep doing it. Like sometimes it is a matter of just doing the dang thing in like a 10 gallon rough neck tote. It's not very beautiful. But sometimes having something to keep your interest can be good too. So getting like a beautiful jar for that sourdough starter. But yeah, when it comes to being practical, like, with tools for me, a mitersaw, a drill. Those are things that I've used all the time. Deck screws. I use deck screws for everything and it saved me because when you're building things, you usually have to pre-drill. So you can save yourself a step. Usually when you get deck screws and just one fell swoop, you're in there with one screw. And as far as the garden goes,

yeah, definitely a hand shovel. You're going to want a good hand shovel. Definitely going to want some gloves. I made the mistake of shoveling all of the dirt into our raised beds without gloves. Oh, yeah. Gave myself some good blisters. So gloves. And yeah, just I recommend investing in quality things if you can because I definitely did the newlywed budget like dollar tree at adventure with gardening. And those tools just break. And so it's kind of like a waste of your time and money over time to go do the, you know, to do the 99 cent option. Yeah, that's really good advice. Because I think for a lot of my listeners, a lot of us are we either starting our families for the first time. We've just graduated college. I would say the majority of my audience. So being on a budget trying to homestead is probably something that they're. they're going to be thinking of. So I think that's really good advice. Everyone knows I've been on a no lash extension journey. And if you're looking on YouTube, okay, so with the eyeliner on, it does make a difference, right? Like, this is so much better. Okay, so it's been a little jarring and taken some getting used to on camera without having

my lash extensions. However, in person, when I'm by myself at night and I'm washing my makeup off and it's just me and my bare face, I really do feel so confident. And I owe so much of that to one, getting my diet in a better place by eliminating all processed food, but also being diligent, like, I'm a military officer with my skincare routine. Nimi's skincare is a skincare company that not only shares my values as a conservative, they use amazing ingredients in each product like hyluronic acid, peptides, AHAs, and vitamin C that actually work. My tight, dry skin is in the best shape it's ever been in thanks to the last few years that I've been using Nimi's skin care. Now, I'm very prone to redness and unevenness and their vitamin C line along with the hydrating retinol daily

moisturizer has kicked butt in that department, making my skin blindingly bright. Nimi's skincare is made in the USA and their factory is women owned and operated at a state-of-the-art FDA certified facility in Oregon. One of the only good things to come out of Oregon, I dare say. sorry, Oregonites or ducks or whatever they call you. Service to others is a core value of Nimi 2, too. So 1% of all their products sold goes to American causes for women and girls that share their values, like girls on the run and women of faith. Whether you want to brighten, prevent aging, or hydrate, Nimi skincare has you covered,

and you can try them with 10% off using my code today. Go to NemiSkincare.com and use code Alex Clark to get 10% off your order. That's N-I-M-I-Skincare. and use code Alex Clark for 10% off or click the link in the description. Yeah, yeah. You can do the dollar tree thing or the 997 thing if you have to, but if you can invest in it long term because it's going to be worth your time and your dollars over time. And I think that's where worm farming is such a beautiful thing because anybody can do it anywhere. And I have the honor of speaking at this event called Homesteaders of America.

Maybe I'll have to change the title of my talk to anybody can be a Wormstetter. But as it stands right now, right the time, as it stands right now, the title of my talk is every family needs a worm farm. And it's because it's so economic. You know, we start making compost here and now you don't have a compost bill anymore. You're not having to add to your garden. You're making it yourself. So there's that self-sufficiency aspect of homesteading. But also kind of getting back to that nutrient conversation that's kind of been, you know, in our talk today.

You take five cups of worm castings or verba compost, really, just scoop it out of there. and you put it in water, add some sugar, add some air. You've got 50 gallons of sprayable fertilizer or sprayable superfood known as foliar feeding. And I've noticed, I've noticed that that greatly decreases pest pressure and plant disease. And so you can start to see by just making these little shifts. You're starting to create what's called like a closed loop cycle. And I think that's the power of homesteading and not being dependent on bigger systems is, okay, I start my seeds in my greenhouse and I make my compost. And we have a saying around here, I feed the worms.

the worms feed the garden, the garden feeds me. And it's a reminder that it's this closed loop thing that we're doing. I love that. That's so precious. But you know, some people are listening to this, Natalie, and they're thinking, okay, I hear you on the homesteading thing, but this sounds like a lot of work. Why should I be growing my own food as opposed to just going to whole foods and just buying organic food? So, yeah, that's a great question. And I think there's a lot of right answers to that question of why should I do this? This sounds like a lot of work. I kind of want to dispel the notion that it is a lot of work. I mean, when it comes to worm farming, it's 10 minutes to set up.

You can follow our quick start guide, which is free to our newsletter, subscribers, $3, otherwise on our website. And it helps you get set up the right way. It's got, you know, your supplies and your checklist. That's a one-stop shop for everything that you need. And 10 minutes of work and you're already, you know, off to the races, you're making compost essentially in four to eight weeks. And then after that, it's just two minutes of work a week.

So I think part of it is just shifting that mindset of, like, is it really a lot of work or is it just something new and I feel a little overwhelmed by it? It can definitely be a lot of work depending on how you garden and when you garden. But some of the key principles, I think, that we need to be looking at as women, as moms, is we want to give our families the very best. And in talking with a lot of our homeschool families that are taking our course, it's amazing what worm compost can do for the garden. In creating the course, I actually learned that vermicompost removes talk. toxins and heavy metals from soils. Now, as people who are aware of the damages of heavy metals

and toxins, it's like, wow, if I can take that out of my soil, I feel like I'm giving my family the very best. When we're looking at this from women who are coming into our age, when we're looking at this from mothers and a wife standpoint, we want to give our families the very best. And there are so many ways to do that from growing your own food to making your own compost. One of the things I learned in creating our course is vermicompost actually removes heavy metals and toxins from the soil. And so when we know the damages of heavy metals and toxins, well, we don't want anything to do with that. So yeah, let's remove them from the soil. But then also we're adding kind of on that nutrient note again, we're adding many, many nutrients more than we could even number or count into the

soil with that vermic compost. And so you can be confident that you're giving your family the best. So So why is this important? Why does this matter? Well, we want to give our families the best. So start with good compost and then start gardening. And yes, gardening can be a lot of work if you make it a lot of work. I think it's about finding the system that works for you. Let's start a tomato plant on the front porch and let's see how that goes. And then maybe that graduates to something like this, like a greenstock. And then maybe that graduates to some raised beds in the back. And then before you know it, you're bit by the homesteading bug. And what once felt like a lot of work is now this thing and this challenge of like, oh, I like this. Oh, I'm expanding. I'm inspired by what I'm seeing online. I like what this is doing.

We're decreasing our grocery bill. We're increasing our connection with nature. So back to your question of why. I think the question of why is this important is a really great question. And we want to give our families the very best. But then when we start to take little baby steps towards more and more, when we're adding vermicompost to the garden, it's taking out those heavy metals and toxins, as well as adding so many nutrients.

And it can be really become this game, this thing that evolves into, okay, I started a little worm farm and I started a tomato on the front porch. my patio and expanding becomes this adventure really. And what goes from feeling really daunting goes to kind of feeling like a challenge or a game. And then you're getting your kids on board. And they're having fun holding the worms. My little 19 month old comes out every day. Hold the worms. And it's the most precious thing in the world. And it's been such a lesson in stewardship and responsibility, teaching her gentle. And every day she's like, hold, hold, worms. You know, she's really into it. And to see that being instilled in her.

is really exciting. And it's something that we can pass on collectively to all of our children as we kind of make these steps towards nature again. So freaking cute. She's one of us. One of us. That's what I want to scream. Okay. So one last question before we get all your information because I know that key conservatives are like, okay, I'm in. I'm sold. But for those that are like on the brink, here's what I want the truth on. With inflation as bad as it is, so many families feel like they're up against a wall like it's due or die at this point. something has to give or we're not going to be able to pay bills. How much money, honestly, is your family saving by doing homesteading and growing your own food as opposed to grocery

shopping for some of that? That's a great question. And I will be honest with you, we're nowhere near being sustainable or self-sustainable. And even if we had double the garden space, I think we would be hard pressed to produce for ourselves just in our location. It's not super ideal by any means and we certainly don't have a huge pantry where we can just put up for winter. And so I haven't seen a huge decrease in our grocery bill per se, but I have seen a huge increase in my joy, in my connection with nature, in my connection with my daughter and my family. And I think that's what we're really rich in. And we're also really rich in the lessons that will be taking with us to the farm if and when we eventually do get to that farm. And so while I wish I

could say like, yeah, everybody should start a garden because it's instantly going to decrease your grocery bill. It's probably not, but you're going to be rich in so many other ways. I love the honesty there, Natalie, honestly. And I think that's super relatable and authentic. And I really appreciate you kind of sharing that. And I think I love that you're like, but we're planning for the future. Like it's still a dream to have this huge farm and do all this. And so I really love that. I think that cute servitives will appreciate it. Okay. So now you have to tell us the name of your, is it website, blog, where all all this information is on how people can get started, what your Instagram is just basically all

of the tea on what to do. Okay, perfect. Yeah, let's fill all the tea. So yeah, if you're into this sort of thing and you want to come hang out, you can find me on Instagram. I'm there as, Hey, it's a good life. Just think of it as a southern role. Hey, it's a good life. And then we're at, hey, it's a good life.com. That's just, hey, it's a good life.com. And that's where you can find everything from our free Quick Start guide to our ebook as well as our course, which is amazing for homeschool families or anybody really wanting to level up their, their knowledge. and all of this stuff. And we're also on TikTok and YouTube and Pinterest, I think. So yeah, all the big ones. Oh my gosh. Amazing. Natalie, it is a, it is a once in a lifetime experience to talk to

a Wormstetter. And I hope you use that word. I absolutely will be using that word. Yeah, thank you so much for your permission to use that. I appreciate it. I have had a lot of request to have someone on to talk about getting started with gardening and homesteading. And since Natalie does it using worms. I just thought that she would be a great guest that could offer some simple, tangible pieces of advice on how to get started, you know, pretty simple, pretty easy. I am dying to get that tower for plants or whatever to put on my porch at my apartment. I just think it's lovely.

And I really do want to start herb gardening. Next week, we are diving into all things education, how the traditional public school experience is actually impeding a child's ability to learn how to supplement. the things your child is taught in public school if that is where they go, what different schooling method options there even are for parents. And essentially, how parents can radically rethink what a K-12 education should look like for kids. Every week, new episodes of The Spillover are released on Thursdays at 9 p.m. Pacific or if you're on the Eastern time zone, it's midnight. And that is anywhere you get your podcast, Apple, Spotify, all the good stuff. The biggest ways to

support the show are to make sure that you're actually subscribed on the platform you listen on, click that little plus sign, the follow button, or whatever it is, leave a five-star review and then share your favorite episodes with your friends and followers. Every week is completely different. So, hey, if this wasn't your jam, then you might love next week. If next week isn't your jam, you'll like the next week. So I try to do a totally different topic every week, a different interesting interview with somebody who has expertise or a crazy life story that I think that you'll be interested in. So go do all of that right now. If you haven't already, I am watching you worms. I'm Alex Clark and this is the spillover. Love you, mean it. Bye.