THE ONES WHO DARED
Embracing Homesteading, Motherhood and Integrative Health | Sarah Stutzman
Are you craving a simpler life? Sarah Stutzman guides us back to basics with insights on health, homemaking, and raising our own food. Listen to her wisdom on cultivating a resilient, sustainable lifestyle.
She is a modern day homesteader and a Certified Integrative Health Coach.
Founder of Well Folk Revival — three acre farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania where she and her husband raise their children, grow food, care for animals, and teach the community about ancestral practices through Folk School Classes and Health Coaching.
Sarah’s passion is to inspire and empower women to transform their health for a lifetime.
As she says “When you change the way a woman cooks you change her health and the health of her family."
In this episode we discuss:
The Beauty of Homesteading Life
The Challenges of Balancing Motherhood and Work
Importance of a Proactive Approach to Health and Nutrition
Avoiding Comparison and Pursuing Our Own Healing and
Sarah's Well Folk Revival Classes
Follow Sarah on instagram @wellfolkrevival and if you’re in PA, come sit around the table with like minded women and learn sourdough, fermenting, butchering, canning, and cheese making in person.
-Links-
https://www.svetkapopov.com/
https://www.instagram.com/svetka_popov/
Are you craving a simpler life? Sarah Stutzman guides us back to basics with insights on health, homemaking, and raising our own food. Listen to her wisdom on cultivating a resilient, sustainable lifestyle.
She is a modern day homesteader and a Certified Integrative Health Coach.
Founder of Well Folk Revival — three acre farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania where she and her husband raise their children, grow food, care for animals, and teach the community about ancestral practices through Folk School Classes and Health Coaching.
Sarah’s passion is to inspire and empower women to transform their health for a lifetime.
As she says “When you change the way a woman cooks you change her health and the health of her family."
In this episode we discuss:
The Beauty of Homesteading Life
The Challenges of Balancing Motherhood and Work
Importance of a Proactive Approach to Health and Nutrition
Avoiding Comparison and Pursuing Our Own Healing and
Sarah's Well Folk Revival Classes
Follow Sarah on instagram @wellfolkrevival and if you’re in PA, come sit around the table with like minded women and learn sourdough, fermenting, butchering, canning, and cheese making in person.
-Links-
https://www.svetkapopov.com/
https://www.instagram.com/svetka_popov/
And not many people were doing what we were doing. Because when I even think back to like you know, we always say, oh, grandma's day and age, like your grandma probably had a garden. Both my grandmothers worked and they didn't really. They cooked from scratch, but they weren't doing what we were doing, you know, having the garden and putting up food. So our friends were asking us and then I started teaching them. And then when we moved to our farmhouse where we're at now our little farm and I was like let me just bring more people in and I was more of our friends. And then I started like just sharing with our community and sharing that we were having these classes and teaching people. And so then it just kind of word spread, developed a website, instagram, all of that.
Speaker 2:Hey friends, welcome to the Ones who Dared podcast, where stories of courage are elevated. I'm your host, becca, and every other week you'll hear interviews from inspiring people. My hope is that you will leave encouraged. I'm so glad you're here, sarah Stutzman. Welcome to the Once a Year podcast. So fun to have you in the studio today.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me, spetka, it's an honor to be here. Well, you're a homesteader, even though you don't love the word homesteading, but you're also a certified integrative health coach, and you touch on all things based on wellness, from cooking to farming to all things pertaining to health, and so I'd love for you to share kind of how you got started in that with your husband and kind of the journey that you took to get to where you are today, and now you're also helping other people to find some of those things and teaching them, educating them, having courses.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, yeah, yeah, I'm a little salty about the term homesteading.
Speaker 2:Tell me why I don't know.
Speaker 1:I think it starts back to like yeah, when we got started. So my husband and I got married in 2007. And we lived on his. It was his grandfather's organic farm that was sold prior to us getting married. It was his grandfather had passed away and then a friend of the family bought the farm and the house on the farm came for rent. So we lived there and we had the run of the place, and so it's so cliche, but we watched a movie called Food Inc. Have you ever watched Food Inc? Yes, yes, okay. So it was, like you know, one of those first documentaries. And my husband grew up, you know, helping his grandfather farm. His mom was really into health. So, like I married up, like he came already, like knowing a lot of the crunchy things and like knowing how to take care of his health and, um, like I never have to like argue with him to like eat healthy. He just you know that's amazing.
Speaker 2:That is not. A lot of couples can say that it took a while for me to get my husband on board.
Speaker 1:A few things yeah, like we spur each other on. So he'll listen to podcasts and come home and tell me crazy things and I'm like I, I am not doing that, you're in therapy and coffee enemas and all that. I'm like I'm not there yet, but all that weird stuff. But I digress. So we lived there and we watched that movie and then that next spring because we got married in October, so that spring we started a garden and we're like we're going to raise our own food, we're going to grow our food, because where is our food coming from? So he grew up with that background.
Speaker 1:I grew up just always loving like I don't know. I was intrigued by homeopathy herbs. My dad let me have a garden in the backyard and so we just dove in and we had a baby, we had chickens and meat birds and we had a beef cow that we kept on his parents' property and some pigs. I mean, we just dove in head first and we didn't know it was a term. So I think after a while we were watching YouTube videos and reading books and magazines and then realized, oh, there is a term and people are coining this term and using it on YouTube, and I'm thinking of all the big youtubers that you know are big now because they got in like yeah, what, like 2009 or so, and started making this lifestyle visible to everyone, which is awesome, and I love that people are really jumping on board with this and taking interest in not just where their food comes from, but just keeping their food chain local, because we have food at our fingertips.
Speaker 1:I tell my girls all the time I have three daughters and they're 15, 12, and 10. And I always tell them don't get so scared about when you hear news that says there's food shortages, and don't get so scared about, like you know, when you hear news that says you know there's food shortages, and don't get like caught up in that fear Because when you look outside, there's food everywhere. Yeah, you know, like our ancestors, they didn't have to go to the grocery store. They hunt, they gathered, yeah, and they fished Foraged, foraged, right, and they had to work food. Now we just oh, I forgot tomatoes at the grocery store. I'm going to run to the grocery store we're like 10 minutes away, I think. So we just have to come back to our roots and come back to just knowing that we can grow food, we can search out farmers in our area. So just keeping that food chain shorter, right? So yeah, what was your question?
Speaker 2:again, I was like I feel like I think it was a loaded.
Speaker 1:It was a loaded question so, yeah, I'm not like salty about it, but I'm like, okay, this is like homesteading, this is what our ancestors did, and now it's this term that's being used around. You know, oh, you're a homesteader, right, and that's fine. I think it's just how people then understand what you do. But when you think about it like, this is what our great great grandparents did, this is how they lived yeah, and I think that I feel like there is more of an uptick.
Speaker 2:Do you see that a lot more people are interested in growing their own food and being more proactive and where their food comes from?
Speaker 1:oh yeah, absolutely, and that's one of the things my husband and I love to do is just comes from? Oh yeah, absolutely, and that's one of the things my husband and I love to do is just we're so old now like, take a Sunday drive, you are not old, stop it. Like when we're like let's just go take a Sunday drive. Or if we travel somewhere, we love to see people's gardens, like even in, like you know, in developments, we're like, oh look, they have peach trees, or look at their little garden that they started, or there's a chicken coop, you know. So I love to see that people are being more proactive about it and you can really grow a lot of food on just an acre yeah, even under an acre, you know, yeah, so it was good that I showed you my garden before we got to see it.
Speaker 1:I love it. Okay, I'll come back and you'll have chickens. Are you allowed to have chickens here? I I'm not sure.
Speaker 2:I don't know. Yeah, I'm not sure.
Speaker 1:Don't ask permission, just do it and pay the fines later Exactly Just give your neighbors eggs and they'll be happy.
Speaker 2:I feel like I will provide you with eggs as long as, yeah, I am seeing I do feel like there is more of an interest in being proactive about where your food comes from. And I had Jill Winger on which I you said you, you listened to her episode as well and it's funny because she, I think, also doesn't love the term homestead, or at least the way that some of it is perceived on social media, where it's like a girl was out there in a white, beautiful dress and you know she's got her hair done, her makeup, the whole thing, which nothing wrong with that. But, um, you know, it's really like you're getting dirt in your nails and it's work, and you know it's. It's not as romanticized as it appears sometimes. It's work but at the same time, it's really rewarding work.
Speaker 2:And I think, with the because our lives have the, modern life has really become so busy, so chaotic. Um, just the digital distraction alone is really unhealthy for our minds. So being in the garden is something that grounds us not only in the physical realm of like vibration and all that, but also just takes our mind off of everything else, and gardening actually is one of the important pillars for longevity, so I don't know if you've seen the movie or the show on Netflix. It was about to live to 100 or something by Dan. I'm not going to remember his name no.
Speaker 2:I did not. But he interviewed. He went to the different blue zones and interviewed people and just also observed the way that they live and he found that a majority of them have gardens. That's part of their life. So they're out and I think it's a sense of just having peace with your mind, which is so important in our day and age today, because we're bombarded with so many messages, so much negativity, and media is fear-mongering and news and all of that. So it's like to unplug and just connect back with nature. There's something so beautiful and so important and so human about it that we're missing that. We're missing that slowness, that connection to the earth.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and I think for us that's why I don't know, that's why we just keep going, because the first time we grew green beans and we had green beans on our plate, we're like we grew this, what else can we grow? There's just this satisfaction in this full circle that you see, and so there's that joy and then being able to we don't sell our produce, we're just like here, take some home, we have extra eggs, or you know, asparagus I should have brought you asparagus, man.
Speaker 2:I left in a hurry.
Speaker 1:But if you like asparagus, I have lots of it. Yeah, I think, yes, the idea of homesteading has become so like that romanticized, you know aspect of it, and I'm guilty of it because you know I have someone that comes and does branding photos for me and so, yes, I have some of those beautiful pictures. But this morning I got dressed, knowing I had to, you know, come here this later this afternoon and um, and totally forgot, like I have to move the chickens.
Speaker 1:So I'm like in my white shirt and like my nice jeans and they're all pulled up and trying not to get chicken poo on me and I'm like this is just not reality. And then sometimes I look down at my nails and I'm like gosh, you can dress me up, but you can't take me out Because there's always dirt under my nails. So, yeah, it is a beautiful lifestyle. There is so much beauty in it, especially if I am in my garden and I just look up or I look around and I'm like wow, it's so simple and I think that's why it's like that satisfaction.
Speaker 1:Everyone had a garden in these blue zones. Yeah, but it is that sense of belonging because we came from the earth, right, we came here to tend it. The earth, right, we came here to tend it. And so we're just continuing on with that. You know, um, that task that we were given and and to care for a plant and like to grow, like when you grow seeds from like or plants from seeds and watch that whole full circle yeah, from like seed to tomato on your plate is just so rewarding and every time in the garden I'm always applying, like different spiritual lessons and different things like weeding, and there's so much to learn and so many metaphors that you can apply to real life and you know just from gardening.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I do my best thinking in the garden and it is one of those things. You know, our phones go everywhere with us and I try to keep it. But like, documenting for Instagram, right, and it is one of those things. Our phones go everywhere with us and I try to keep it. But like documenting for Instagram, right, like do I have to have it out here? And then there's just times where I'm like, no, I'm giving myself permission to just leave it inside and I'll go in and check if I need to check any messages. But I think that is with social media and just having our phones on us all the time. I don't know if you feel this way, but I feel like I have to constantly check it or something's missing if it's not with me. So, going to the garden, I have to make sure I just put it down and go to the garden and give myself that space to just be, and then, once you get in there, everything just flows. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think that is the reality for a lot of us with the phones, just because it's become such a multi-tool, it's not just to call or to receive calls. You're looking at your emails, you're getting you know you have, you can have your banks Everything can be connected to that. So it's like carrying a computer, and a lot of the different programs are intended to keep us staying there, whether it's YouTube or Instagram or other platforms. So I think it is there's definitely like a fight. You have to fight for a less distracted mind and for me personally, I just feel kind of a pull to pull away from some of that, just to be less distracted and to focus on the most important things. I think there's definitely pluses and pros and cons to everything. So the pros is you can have a business and you can advertise it on different platforms, which is wonderful, but I think it's also just making sure that we're keeping peace and making the important things the important things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, keeping that balance. I always say what did businesses do before social media and before advertising all over the interwebs, right, what did we do? And the most successful businesses I have two that I'm thinking of right now, like just in this area that, um, that are booming all the time are by word of mouth. Yeah, you know, they really don't have a social media presence.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and sometimes they say, if you build it, the people will come right Sometimes if you have something like that. But, um, the other thing that I love in what you do is that, um, you're also showing people how to do family well and, in that sense, you're teaching your daughters, you're passing on these skills that are really life skills, um, educating in in the different ways and, uh, cs lewis hasa quote that's that I love, and it says that the homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for the one purpose only, and that is to support the ultimate career.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that quote.
Speaker 2:And it's not to say that other careers are not important. I'm a business owner, so I'm a mother, and we're all kind of called in different places. But I think raising humans is a huge endeavor, right, and so can you just speak into that a little bit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, I think now more than ever we need the mamas in the homes. I mean, I grew up and my mom was home with us and then, you know, as we got a little older, we were able to stay home alone a little bit. My dad worked night shift, so at least we weren't home all the time by ourselves in the summertime, and she worked part time. But there's nothing like having my mom at home raising us and being present for our needs, and so I think I feel like it can be a lot. So I did. I was a teacher for a little while, but all I wanted to do was be a mom. You know, ever since I was little, I just wanted to be a mom. Like, what do you want to do when you grow up? I want to be a mom, you know, because I saw that emulated.
Speaker 1:For me, my mom was home with us, cooking food, going places together, just learning those life lessons of being a woman, and so I resigned from teaching. When our middle child was born, my husband and I made that agreement. He believed that he wanted me at home as well, but I still felt like I needed to make money, right, I needed to have that place in this world that wasn't just at home and going to college. You're 18, what do you want to be for the rest of your life? And I'm like I don't know. Who knows what they want to be when they're 18?.
Speaker 2:Right, we're constantly evolving as human beings anyways.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, and I don't think we should stay stuck in human beings anyways. Yeah, exactly, and I don't think we should stay stuck in a career forever. I think it's good to evolve and change and work with our gifts and how those evolve. So I just naturally picked teaching because I love children and I knew I wanted to be a mom and I was like, ok, I'll have my summers off with my children. But I, yeah, I loved teaching and I know that God wove that into me for later in life as well.
Speaker 1:But all I wanted to do I would leave for school and I was like I just want to be home with my babies. Well, it was my baby at the time, right, my first, my oldest, and it was such a rush. I would rush here and rush there and get her to the sitter or get her to my mom or my mother-in-law, and I just didn't feel right. I didn't feel like that was going to last for a long time. I was like I can't keep doing this. I'm not home for her. I'm raising other people's children, I'm teaching other people's children while I'm sending my own daughter off to be raised by her grandmothers and child care. I'm like this doesn't make sense. So we eventually said I'm going to be home. But then I was like I need to be doing something else, and I think it was those words that my grandmother would always say get an education, because no one can take that from you, right? And so I just felt like, okay, this is what you do.
Speaker 1:Most everyone in my family did not go to college. My one aunt did. She went to be a teacher and she's the youngest of my mom's siblings, and so her and I are more like sisters because we're very close in age. And so I was like okay, okay, so you go to college. This is what you're supposed to do. You know, all the women in your life are like go to college, get an education. You know no one can take that away from you and be independent if you need to be independent. And so I was like where does this come from in women, right? Um, why can't we just be who we are and be a mom and stay home and raise the children? Because that's a full-time job, yeah it's a big undertaking.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I did later go on to then become a health coach and get my health coaching certification because I loved health and I was like you know what, I can do that from home and I can be with my children and be home with them and start my own business from home, but I just, I don't know. I feel like I still got caught into that hustle and that fast-paced lifestyle of, ok, I have to have a business and I have to make it legit, and so that got my attention more than my family did, and so I lost that balance again and I had to come back to center. And so 2020 did that. You know where we started homeschooling and really that was a huge transition, like learning to balance business and balance homeschool. And now I'm kind of learning to focus more on family and focus more on bringing up my girls, because I often think and my husband and I say this all the time we only have so many years left with them. It goes so fast.
Speaker 2:I think when they get to that age where your kids are about, that's when you realize how precious time is. My kids are getting older and I'm like dinner times are going to be really important here. I mean we've always kind of make made that a point, but you do. And then it's like wow. And I mean I look back with regret sometimes because we were building a business so we missed out on some of those times with our kids. You know, um, I wasn't. I was a stay-at-home mom with the first one, could not be with the second one. We were just not in the financial position for me to stay home.
Speaker 2:So, definitely, increasing compassion to everybody, whatever, wherever season and whatever place you're in there's no condemnation, for sure, um. But now I'm just like man, I wish I would have spent more time with my kids when they were smaller, like, but. And then I'm thinking, okay, how would we work that out financially? So it is.
Speaker 2:I think it's a struggle, but at the same time it's like, if you can make it work, it's such a gift to instill the lessons and just who you are and pass down some of those things and give your kids the gift of your presence. Even that's huge and even I think there's a difference now of being with your kids or being fully present, because I don't know about you, but I struggle being in the moment and I have to be really intentional about being in the moment. The phone is the culprit of all that, so it's like put that down, look your kid in the eye when they're talking to you and just really be present. So even when we're with our kids, we know and just really be present. So even when we're with our kids, you know we could not be with our kids mentally.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's how I was for the like, for many, many years building a business online. I was with my children but I was not present. They'd be asking me a question and I'm like, my eyes are on the phone. Yep, you know like. And so now I'm learning to be present with them, even though I'm home all day with them. Yeah, just learning to be present. And yeah, wherever you are in life, you know. But you know motherhood is that greatest career, right? Yeah, but we can still be intentional, even if you work outside the home or you know you have a business within the home, carving out that intentional time like movie night or I don't know, making Monday nights special. I forget who I heard it from, I think it was Lisa Tierkirst. She always said Monday nights nothing was on the schedule. Monday nights were always for family, and then, as the children grew, friends would come over and they knew it was an open door and I was like that's what I want to create.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's having those rhythms, that expectation, the rhythms that's like hey, we know this is happening. Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1:But I think our girls now, like you said you asked me about raising the girls and teaching them these skills they were with me little on up baking in the kitchen, canning, gardening, and now it's amazing to see how everyone's little gifts are just not little. They're, they're big gifts, taking off and they're running the farm pretty much they feed in the morning. They all have their little chores that they do, that they love, and we don't have to ask them to get up in the morning and do this. They just they're up and out and they know it, they love it. Um, so they asked when I left today can we have a baking competition? Can we bake when you're gone?
Speaker 2:You know like they just love being in the kitchen and yeah, so it's great to see that. I love that. So you're going to come home to some baked goods yeah, like not too much sugar, but yeah, oh, that's awesome. Well, also, I've been thinking about what you represent is the wellness in the community, taking charge of our health and being proactive with that.
Speaker 1:And why do you think it's important to take a proactive approach towards our own wellness? Great question. But when I come back to homesteading right, it's not necessarily so. That term can cover a lot of things, right, but it comes back to being proactive about what you're putting in your body, what you're buying at the grocery store, because we can be hit with so many you know, oh, this new health craze and that new health craze, right, and all the terms. But it comes back down to like, okay, what did God put on this earth for us to consume and how should we consume it? Right, earth for us to consume and how should we consume it? Right, um, and that's important because there's so many people that are sick, so many people that are that are sick, and I think, what if we just got rid of the processed foods, the seed oils? And, like I was sharing, food is everywhere, right, and when we look around, but it's not just always at our fingertips. Right, it takes intention, it takes time, especially in the kitchen, right, and it could be, I don't know. Once you get good at it and find the rhythm, we don't have to be cooking these elaborate meals with all these crazy ingredients. Look around with what you have and just come back to the basics.
Speaker 1:But a healthy mind, like a sound mind and a healthy body, I always say, are hard to kill. So it's like you, just your health is the most important thing, right? Because you know, when you don't feel well, when you have a headache or you have a cold, you don't feel like doing anything, you don't have that energy, you don't have motivation and all you want is to feel better. And so when I think of folks that are living in chronic pain, with not disease but dis-ease in the body, my heart goes out to them and I just want I think sometimes I want it more for other people than they want it for themselves. I see people that are suffering and I'm like I just want you to be well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and do you see different things they could do differently. And then you're like you know, if you just change your diet, there's some things that would go away. Or like, did the process elimination? Sometimes I love doctors, they, they have a place, and but sometimes when we go to the doctor there is no getting to the root of the problem. So there's not like, okay, what is your sleep like, what is your diet, what are you eating? You diet, what are you eating? You know your hydration and do you exercise? You know, like all the different things. So I feel like there is no time in that slot, that little time slot appointment, to get to the root of all the things. And so then we're prescribed things to deal with the symptoms, versus to, okay, what's the root and let's try to, let's eliminate grains or wheat for a while and see what happens. Or dairy, or also there's, you know, a whole thing with that too. So there's certain dairy. That's a whole subject there.
Speaker 1:I think that is a whole subject, because, you know, even grains too, it's not necessarily grains aren't bad. God created grains, you know. But it just the the way that it's been processed over the years.
Speaker 2:And you know, they say italian wheat is so much more digestible than american grain, yes, and I I remember being in italy and I mean you could eat pasta for lunch and dinner and every day, and you do not feel like bloated and gross and tired. Yeah, it's so different. And then there was we were naples, florida, and there was a french pastry chef and he imported flour from france because it it had a different gluten structure and it's not processed the same way as the american and so, like you also, you would eat his pastries and you wouldn't feel lethargic afterwards and it's like what is going on? And why does America not have access to that? Or why don't we have that in stores? And why are certain things allowed in stores that are known to be poisonous and that are banned from the European Union? Union, for example, you know, like food coloring and different things like that?
Speaker 1:well, they just did, uh, they just did ban artificial food colorings and I'm not up to date on this in certain states, oh, I have to. I shouldn't even say it because I'm not up to. I just saw it briefly. Um, so they're starting, but but I think they ban something and then they come out with another name for it, or like yeah, but like raw milk, right is yeah, illegal in some states, or you have to have, you know, a certification to sell it. But yet lucky charms and you know all these lucky charms flavored maple syrup is on the market and that's safe and healthy, right or not healthy, but safe for our children and right safe enough to be in the shelves and for kids to buy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly and um.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when I go grocery shopping, sometimes I get anxiety just looking at people's carts, like not judge judgmentally, like looking at them like oh my gosh, how could you put that in your cart? But like I, people think that's okay because it's on the shelf or you know. You know, I have my own little. Like I love chips and I can't get rid of, like the Hellman's mayonnaise, like there are certain things that like you know.
Speaker 1:I put in my cart too. But I'm like, oh I, just, why is it allowed? It goes back to why is it allowed? And so when I see people suffering, I think the changes can be simple. But they're not always easy, because it's our mindset that gets in the way. We tell ourselves we can't do this or it's going to be too hard. But we have to have the belief that we can heal first.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, I think, taking a proactive approach towards our health, because health is wealth, as you said, and there is no amount of money that can buy when you're terminally sick, and so I think either there's another saying that I love that either you pay now or you pay later.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think it's a mindset change too, Because we can look at labels or we can. Around here where we live, we have all these amazing discount stores right, that we can go and get food cheap. But if we learn how to cook, simply right. Instead of buying that frozen meal, buy a chicken. It doesn't have to even be organic. I always say just buy a whole chicken, Not the chicken breast, not the boneless, skinless chicken thighs, Buy the whole chicken and you're going to get three meals out of that. And so that's going to be actually cheaper than buying the TV dinner, Because you're going to get a meal out of the chicken.
Speaker 1:That first night. You cook it or roast it. You can take the leftover chicken and make something else chicken salad or chicken tacos or chicken tacos or whatever and then you can make broth out of that chicken carcass, and so you have three different meals. And so it's just learning those ancestral principles, right? Go back to great-grandma's kitchen. My grandmother, if you threw a chicken carcass away or a turkey carcass after Thanksgiving dinner, if you threw that away she'd have your hide Like you don't throw that away, yes, She'd be taking it out of the trash and telling someone to take it home and make broth out of it.
Speaker 2:So you make broth. Well, if it's roasted, you make it afterwards. So I've never done that. I've never done the reverse. Usually what I do is I take the whole chicken and then put in the pressure cooker and it cooks there for hours. Yeah, and you have the own broth. Yeah, and you know, you can divide the meat however you want to soup, and so forth, but I've never cooked, yeah, after the fact.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so I just had one in the crock pot last night. Um, so you can do it in the crock pot too, because I had a chicken that I cooked at the I think it was like Sunday or Monday and we did that. So we ate one meal was like we had some chicken breast and then I had a little chicken leftover. I forget what I made, I don't know something. Oh, it was an amazing corn dip, like a street taco corn dip, with the chicken on the bottom and the creamy corn on the top. Oh, sounds amazing, it's like our family favorite.
Speaker 1:And so made that. And then I had the carcass left over, pour water on some onions, some celery herbs, and then blended it. We had venison last night, so I had some bones from the venison and I always do a blended then, and so just put it in the crock pot with lots of veggies and water. Yeah, so either way, I mean sometimes I will cook a chicken in the crock pot and I'll have some broth, but then I'll use that broth and then just put it back in again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and broth is amazing for you with the gelatin, and so good, yep yeah, I usually drink it for breakfast and it satiates you like until lunchtime, like you don't need anything else?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, before coffee, right, yeah, exactly. Well, no, I do it after coffee. I know I'm like, and it satiates you like until lunchtime, like you don't need anything else. Yeah, yeah, yeah, before coffee, right, yeah, exactly, well, no, I do it after coffee, I know I'm like total opposite there.
Speaker 2:I know you're supposed to have your protein before coffee, but I just I also heard you're supposed to wait an hour after you wake up to have coffee, because I forget the term, but the sleepy something in your brain like it's. It helps if you delay it by an hour you get more energy. But I just I generally wait like half an hour at least and then I put mct oil in my coffee and a little bit of cinnamon, yep, to kind of make it not, yeah, raise the cortisol level too high.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll do the. I'll do a little heavy cream, sometimes a little mct oil, but normally I'll have my coffee and then instead of a second cup of coffee. So I wean myself off of that second cup. Because I have an espresso maker and the girls are like mom, a double shot is like two cups of coffee, is it really so? Yeah, so if I have a second um cup of coffee, they're like actually that was for mom, and I get really irritable and cranky if I have too much coffee. So I switch to bone broth then, so that I'll have those healthy fats and that satiates me through, yeah, through lunch yeah, so you also offer classes too.
Speaker 2:And what got you to start offering classes for other?
Speaker 1:people. Yeah, um, so that goes back to like when we first got started. Our friends were like, what are you doing? What are you doing? Now, you know, always asking us what are we doing? Uh, because it was really the like Amish and Mennonite communities that were growing their own food, raising their own food, and not many people were doing what we were doing. Because when I even think back to, we always say, oh, grandma's day and age, your grandma probably had a garden. Both my grandmothers worked and they didn't really. They cooked from scratch, but they weren't doing what we were doing having the garden and putting up food. So our friends were asking us and then I started teaching them.
Speaker 1:And then when we moved to our farmhouse where we're at now, our little farm and I was like, let me just bring more people in. And I was more of our friends. And then I started just sharing with our community and sharing that we were having these classes and teaching people. And so then it just kind of word spread, developed a website, instagram, all of that. So it just naturally it goes back to my teaching. Okay, god wove that into me, so I don't I resigned from teaching, but I can always use those skills that I learned in college, right? So once a teacher, always a teacher, um, and I often ask my husband. I'm like hey, will you teach this class with me? You know more about chicken butchering than I do. He's like no, you're the teacher, I am not teaching.
Speaker 2:So yeah, that's just um. So what are some of the classes that you do offer?
Speaker 1:Sourdough bread making. That's like a popular one in the wintertime and I just want to take the difficulty out of sourdough bread Because when I started learning sourdough, do you make it?
Speaker 2:So speaking of sourdough bread I have bought all the things and they're laying there and I'm like, when I'm done with my full manuscript revisions, I will start that project. So that's kind of where I'm mentally, I think. For me it definitely seems intimidating. I'm just going to be honest. And the amount of thread and pull, and I've seen videos and I'm like, oh my gosh, is this going to be honest? And the amount of thread and pull, and I've seen videos and I'm like, oh my gosh, is this going to consume my life? So that's my and I know that this is a perception, right, I get it.
Speaker 2:It's like anything when you start, it's a lot simpler than you thought. It's like just starting, it is the first step, and then it's like, oh, this wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Why did I do this earlier? And so the other thing for me too. I love carbs. Well, I like salty things, I love bread, and I feel like if I make sourdough bread, I will probably gain a good amount, because I will like just not stop eating it. So that's the other kind of resistant thing that stands in the way, besides the intimidation of like, oh, this is going to be a big undertaking and I don't want to undertake a new project until I make headspace after.
Speaker 1:I'm done and that's a wise choice Because I think with anything new we learn, we have to give ourselves space to learn it and also space to fail forward, because sourdough is intimidating and I know when I started learning it I was trying to follow a recipe. I had babies tugging on me or wanting to nurse and I'm like I can't do this. And it was all in grams and weighing on a scale.
Speaker 1:Yep I got the scale. Oh, but that's not how I ever learned to bake. And when people come to class I don't really measure anything and they're like sometimes it freaks people out, but then sometimes it's like, oh, giving them permission, like, oh, okay, I can do this, you know, yeah. Um, so my cousin taught me then because I had killed so many sourdough starters. Um, I met a friend who's now a friend now. Um, we met at the Walmart parking lot down here in Ephrata. What?
Speaker 2:yeah, I'm, I'm like I met her on a.
Speaker 1:Facebook, like one of those Facebook crunchy mamas groups, and she wanted kefir grain. So that's like fermented milk, it's like yogurt on steroids. And do you say kefir? Yeah, kefir, I know it's like here it's like kefir and other countries it's kefir. But she wanted the grains and I wanted starter. So we met at the Walmart parking lot and I'm like OK, is this a shady operation? My husband's, like are you going to be safe? Like what is this?
Speaker 1:And I was like yeah, so we swapped, and then I ended up killing that starter and got another one from her. And then my cousin taught me how to use just like measuring, made a really simple recipe for me, and then that's the recipe that I teach other people, because it doesn't have to be complicated, and I always go back to. Every time I'm teaching something, I always go back to OK, what did our ancestors do?
Speaker 2:They didn't have the digital scale that I bought.
Speaker 1:Everything probably wasn't super clean either. Right, they didn't have mixers. They used their hands, they used their five senses that God gave them. And so I take the intimidation out of sourdough, because it took me quite a while to learn it, and I remember punching the dough, like one night I put all the kids to bed and I was just trying to. I was so frustrated and I'm punching it. I'm like why won't you do what I want you to do? And my husband looked at me. He goes you know, the first ingredient is love. I was like, okay, yeah, I know, but like it's just, but yeah. So giving yourself space to learn something is key, and our brain always tells us that it's going to be so hard and so difficult because our brain wants to keep us safe. Right, don't go out of your comfort zone. It's going to be so difficult.
Speaker 2:So, sourdough.
Speaker 1:in fact we had just some sourdough flatbreads for lunch before I came here. I gave my daughter this new recipe and she's loving it and it's a great recipe. But, yes, the whole carb thing. I get you that. And then cheese making. I do a soft cheese making, just an intro, like ricotta and mozzarella and cultured dairy. So yogurt, kefir, sour cream, herbal medicine, chicken butchering, so like all the homesteady, like just back to your roots kind of classes.
Speaker 2:You also do one on women hormones, which is you know, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So then I will do, yes, I have. So there's folk school is what I call it? Folk school, mm-hmm? And those are really like hands-on classes, where you're coming away with a lot of education and like a product or a book or something to go with it so that you can replicate it at home. Because there's nothing like hands-on classes, right, yeah, absolutely yeah, home, because there's nothing like hands-on classes, right? Yeah, absolutely yeah. And then I do have like hour and a half seminars, some evenings as well, where it's more on like health topics, right. So this Friday I have one on essential oils and first aid, like what oils can you use when you're in a pinch, or if you are backpacking or camping? Like what can you use for a bee sting or a nosebleed, those kinds of things, right? Um, but I think like learning in person, there's nothing like it, and when I started, that's what I craved. But, like I said, it's like all Amish and Mennonite communities and I didn't really have any Amish or Mennonite friends then like I do now.
Speaker 2:But, um, yeah, and there's synergy in being together, right, so there's synergy in, like getting in the room with other people who are also curious about the same things and are trying to grow in that same sphere, and so that's bonding and you get to learn together and it's so fun to be with other humans who are growing in the same areas.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And then you get to connect. I love to see people exchanging phone numbers, or I had this one group of ladies that took my sourdough class and they all created a group chat to help each other out, and then you form friendships and you teach each other, because I'm not the sole teacher. We all have something to offer and some kind of wisdom and knowledge to share with the world, and so I just love to see that happening. And I love to see the synergy and the dynamics of the class too. Sometimes it's a really serious class and they're like, okay, all ears and eyes on me and they're afraid to make a mistake, and then sometimes there's like a group of women that are just so chatty and just loving it and having so much fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, every class is a little different, but I love it.
Speaker 2:I feel like you're more of an intuitive teacher. Like you said, you don't measure things and so you're kind of someone who just is more free and not trying to put everything in the box and make it so rigid and so rule following. It's like okay, let's just explore this together. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I think sometimes humans, we just complicate, we overcomplicate things and then that leads to fear and the what-ifs instead of just like what?
Speaker 2:if the what-ifs are just like a big surprise, right and yeah and just have fun with it what is some of the hardest things that you had to overcome on this path of you know, just natural learning, wellness and homesteading.
Speaker 1:I think comparison and comparing my journey to someone else's or my homestead to someone else's or what they know I think that's really hard for me to do, and so sometimes yeah, I have to step away from social media or sometimes unfollow people that I feel like I'm comparing too much with right, because am I following their journey or am I following my own journey?
Speaker 2:right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because just like homesteading has had this romantic— Appeal to it Appeal right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and everyone's really drawn to it because of the romantic and maybe not the romantic a little bit, but I think it's. They're drawn to it for the simplicity of it, yeah, and also what's woven into them that this is how we're meant to live, right? Yeah, um, that sometimes I can see other people and what they're doing and like am I doing enough or um, or should I be doing that right or should I be doing what they're doing right? Yeah, and I think that makes sense, like absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're all, um, we can all fall into the comparison trap with any arena, right? So it's like, oh, this person's further than I am, or is doing this better, or. But you have to take the whole picture, the whole context of the picture, to like how many years have they been at this and what are some guides that they have in their life that maybe their growth is expedited because they have a neighbor or a friend or someone close to them that knows all the skills? And you know, and now, or maybe they were born into a family like that or whatever. And you know, and now, or maybe they were born into a family like that or whatever.
Speaker 2:And so I think that it is easy, especially with social media, to compare. But I always have to remind myself that there will always be someone better than you or further than you, I should say, and someone who's not as far as you are right in their journey. So you just have to see am I, I growing and am I improving? Am I better at wherever I'm striving for this year than last year? And when we compare it to others, it's like, oh, there's so much taking at. We have no idea of the full picture.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, and we can just see a snippet of their life on YouTube or Instagram or on their website a snippet and not the whole picture, right? And so you know, I was at that place too, where I was like, got my health coaching certification and then I love learning, and so it was the year before my children came home to be homeschooled, I started functional medicine school to become a functional medicine health coach. I'm like I want to do this. It was intense and I had to question, and I had some other friends of mine that are in the holistic health world. I had to question why am I doing this when everyone just needs to know to drink more water, right, get better sleep? And it came down to nutrition.
Speaker 1:I felt like I was learning things that I didn't necessarily need to know at the moment to help people just make simple changes, and so it took a lot for me to actually I got one year in and I was like I can't do this because then my children came home and I needed to focus on them, and that was like ooh, a shot to the ego and I'm like I need to do this so I can have those letters behind my name. So I had to give that up, but I also think, okay, when my children are grown, I can come back to it, and maybe then, in 10, 15 years, I'll be ready for it and the people that I serve will be ready for it. You know, for more information, and so, yes, there's always going to be people that know more than you, and so I'm learning to just glean from that and learn from them. Those are the people that I need to learn from that I do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, but where I'm at now, there's people that need to be. You know where I have to hold a hand out for them to like OK, next level, next level, and it's just those baby steps to help them get to where they need to be.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, and then you also touched earlier we had this conversation about sometimes, when we learn something and we feel like we're benefiting from the knowledge that we learned, we're so excited to want to pass it on to all our friends and everyone we know. But sometimes we want that more for people than they want for themselves. Have you experienced that? Yeah, I have.
Speaker 1:I have experienced that. I have. Well, it comes at a cost too. I don't know if you've been following our story at all, but my big dream was to renovate our barn and to make it a wellness space to a larger classroom, and that's been our dream since we moved onto our property for 10 years. Right, and we've been making those little steps to get the barn plans, and our last step was sewage like getting a new septic system on our property and we got shut down. We're not allowed to have a sewage system, so that means we can't renovate our barn, and that was just crushing to my dream.
Speaker 1:But in all of that I could shake my fist and be like, why, god, you put that dream in me, why? And then he was like, well, you were chasing it more than you were chasing me. I could cry at that Because I think I want you know. The Bible says God says love me, love your neighbor. Like love me first, and I was loving his people more than him, right. Like I was chasing them. Like you need this, you need this lifestyle, you need to make these changes right. And so I was like, ok, I want to make this center, I want to create a bigger classroom where more people can come and learn.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you see the need. Yeah, I did. And then you know I think we were talking about this too like the fear that media puts into you right, Of what could be coming in the future. And so I was like, okay, we'll have like this other, this little space where we could have like holistic practitioners that could come and serve the community if, if, all of that gets shut down. So I was like envisioning a future where people needed what you know a place to go, a place to go like what our family offers and some of my, my friends in the health community, what they could offer, and then, you know, a respite space with like an Airbnb, like a place for people to come.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I was chasing that more than the people, than it was God's vision for us. And so I think if the only people we can change, the only person we can change, is ourselves, and so I was like, ok, so this year is my year for healing. Sometimes I create a word for the year and sometimes I don't, but that word just keeps coming back to me heal. And there's some things in my own for healing. I just, sometimes I create a word for the year and sometimes I don't, but that word just keeps coming back to me.
Speaker 1:Heal, and there's some things in my own health journey like no one's perfect, right, when you look at health practitioners, doctors in the allopathic medicine world and doctors that are naturopaths no one's perfect. We all have our own struggles and we have our own things that we need to work on. So no one's perfect. We all have our own struggles and we have our own things that we need to work on. So I'm like, ok, I'm going to become the best version of me. Just love God and he's going to bring the people. So, instead of chasing people down and shoving this stuff down their throat, they have to want it first.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Right, so you said you are feeling pulled to be in a space of healing. What does that mean to you, or what does that look like for you? If you don't mind sharing yeah.
Speaker 1:Just slowing down and learning to rest and not have to pack my schedule full and always be busy and always be on the go. Go, go, go go. That's just, that's my nature, that's my personality. Is like I start a project and it's not even finished and I'm onto the next project. Like it drives my husband crazy.
Speaker 1:So, just learning to be, and just really learning to be, savor each day for me, you know, like taking that quiet time in the garden, yeah, yeah, like I just had my root canal. I was sharing with you, I just had this root canal out and that was scary. Like I had this root canal that was causing infection. And at the base of every root canal is infection, whether the doctor can see it on an x-ray or not. But when they get in there, there's infection, and we don't see those things manifest until like years later, and they can manifest in the form of like skin rashes or aches and pains, um, and even into like even cancer. So, yeah, I've heard that, yeah, so that is one thing that I did for myself this year, um, and just giving my space myself, space to dream too, you know, um, because you know, when you're so busy, you forget to dream yeah, it's like you don't stop and reflect and just absorb, even to look back and say, you know, acknowledge the blessings and how far you've come.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know. It's because it's like, oh, especially that you're looking at something ahead of you and other people that are ahead of where possibly you want to be. And then it's to look back and then it's like, wow, look, how far I've come. I've actually learned so much and I'm able to pass on some of the skill set to other people and educate people or just offer these skills for my family and create more of a wholesome life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's where I'm at, like, okay, no matter what, like God was protecting us through that you know, the barn renovation not being able to do it Instead of being angry like just saying thank you, okay, he has plans for us to prosper, right, he does not have any plans to harm us, and so I know I'm safe. And whether he just wants us to continue what we're doing where we are, I will be satisfied with that. But if he has something greater, I'm excited for that. I love his mysterious ways. I love surprises, right.
Speaker 2:Me too. I love it. Right, good surprises, yeah, yeah, no, you're right, and it's like you know, there there could be that um, you don't know the end of the story yet. Yeah, and that's the mystery, and that's the beautiful mystery, and and sometimes I find that with God, it's like the times that are the most painful are the ones that reap the greatest rewards yeah, yeah, absolutely, like he gets you through those hard times right, and that's when we lean in the most and that's where we grow the most.
Speaker 1:Yes, right, yeah, and I think like healing. This year too, I just turned 43. And I'm like, ok, hormones are changing, body is changing. Like learning to accept that, learning to just, you know, be who I am as a 43-year-old mom, right, and a woman, and accept who I am and just lean into my identity and you know we can say, like our identity in Christ. I'm like, what is that, you know? Just like being free though, being free of like casting off judgment and what people think you know we should be or what I should be, you know. So just healing from that.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 2:That is such a powerful place to be when you embrace who you are fully and I know that I feel like for me it's a ongoing process. It's never like, okay, I fully accepted who I am and I am gonna run with it for the rest of my life. You know, it's always gonna kind of like surface um. But when we embrace who we are and we realize that you know, yeah, there are other people that maybe they have what I want or maybe there's certain part, aspects or characters or parts of them that I'm like man, I wish I had a little more of that or was better, or you know character whatever. But at the end of the day we get to be who we are and if we embrace that and are able to shine our light to the world, that's such a gift when we operate in the fullness of who God made us to be, versus to being timid and like, oh, but I'm not as good as so-and-so. So I love that. I feel like that's part of the 40s journey is really saying you know what?
Speaker 1:I get to be me. Yes yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think what you were saying about oh, I'm not like her, or I wish I had more of that that she has, but instead turning around and celebrating like, wow, I love that gift that God gave her, I love what he wove into her, because that allows you to be a little bit more free in who you are. Like, ok, what do I have? What sparkle do I have to add to the world? Right, and how can I show up a little bit better, you know, so that other people can shine like? I think? You know you think of a disco ball, right, there's all those reflections, right, and what if we all were like a disco ball and we all just like shimmered and shine all over the place? You know, everyone had their own little um, their way that they reflected his light.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like be a nice big party. Yeah, exactly, I love that. What would you say to someone who is maybe just thinking about starting their journey of wellness or wanting to explore some of the basics of homesteading? What advice would you have? Like, what advice would you have?
Speaker 1:Well, for homesteading I would say just dive in, like, don't be scared. Like, if you're feeling that, pull, just go with it. I mean, make a wise decision. But I think it comes back to like you have to know your why. Why do you want to do it? Not because everyone else you know that you follow, or that you you see doing it right. Um, you have to have that. Why, internally, it has to be an intrinsic thing?
Speaker 2:um, right, because then you're not going to stick to it. If, like you're like, well, I really hate gardening, it's like, okay, why did you start it, you know? And then when you figure that out, then you could you have more of the tenacity to finish.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when you know why yeah, I always reflect back to like, ever since I was a little girl and I. So this would be my advice like, go back to your childhood, like, think about when you were a little girl, right, little boy, um, do you have? Mostly men or women, a mixture of both, mixture of both? Okay, go back to your childhood. What were those things that you just loved doing when you had free time? Were you a daydreamer, like, did you? I mean, I for me, I was always digging in the dirt, making mud piles, mud pies, right, I was always digging in the dirt, making mud piles, mud pies, right.
Speaker 1:I was always, like, you know, my mom had a little garden, but I was always fascinated with just growing stuff and health. Like, in high school, I always had homeopathy books and essential oil books and gardening books, you know, and so I come back to that. Those things are woven into you. So go back to what you know. Your passions are what's woven into you. So go back to what you know. Your passions are what are what's woven into you. So, if that's been something, that has been something. If you love helping people, right, um, but nursing's not really your thing, right? I always thought I would be a surgeon, but blood grosses me out. I kind of say I would like pass out just getting my blood drawn. So I'm like, okay, yeah, I don't know if I'll be be in the medical profession, but I know I loved helping people with nutrition, and that was always my passion.
Speaker 1:So go back to that little child inside you. Even now I look at my girls and I love homeschooling because I love to see what they were gifted with and I know that that's going gonna follow them all of their life. You know, my youngest is, she's the builder. Like I could give her directions and she could put something together and I normally do, because I can't follow directions and so, but she can. You know, yeah, um, she's my organizer, making sure everything is like in its place. My middle child loves plants. Like child loves plants. She's not the best at reading and math, but she is so smart with common sense and she can tell me all kinds of plants and how to plant them and how to take care of them. I'm like where did this come from? I don't know. And then my oldest loves farming. She wants to be a dairy farmer.
Speaker 1:But, she's been with us with the animals since she was a baby. I mean, they all have been, but she's the one that wasn't scared to get on the horse. She would love to go ride horse with my husband and she has no problem telling them what to do. I'm like these are like 2,000 pound animals and you have no fear, so just go back to your yeah, that inner child.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I heard this recently that I really loved, um, and I forget who said this, but essentially it's like when you're raising your kids, you're tending for their souls. We get to partake in seeing them evolve and grow and be part of the nurturing process. Yeah, and there's something so beautiful about that. I was I've never thought about it in that sense of just. We're able to care for them as their souls and not just like, ok, this is my son and this is my daughter and whatever, and you're just doing your thing.
Speaker 1:But their character and the way that they treat other people, and not just what they're going to be when they grow up one day. But training them to be kind human beings yeah.
Speaker 2:Is there any thing that I haven't asked you that you'd want to share with the listeners?
Speaker 1:I don't think so. Nothing I can think of.
Speaker 2:Okay, so we'll wrap up with our end of the podcast questions what is the bravest thing that Sarah has ever done?
Speaker 1:Well, there's homeschooling. Okay, I have two Homeschooling. That's brave Because, coming from a public school teacher myself, we had to unlearn everything. I had to unlearn. My children had to unlearn the whole public school way of teaching, educating and, I think, also resigning from the education profession and breaking free of what other people expect of me. Right, go to college, get a good job. When I resigned, I had people that are like what are you doing? You just went to college for this. You're giving up your career to stay home with your children. But that's all I wanted to do right.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I think resigning Because it's scary. There's times I'm like should I go back? Should I go back to teaching? With the economy the way that it is, things are getting tighter. But I know my purpose right now is to care for my children even if times are tough. Right, yeah, that's the most important work.
Speaker 2:What are three books that made an impact on your life?
Speaker 1:They're children's books, so I'm not a huge reader. Hey that's OK there is me.
Speaker 2:I listen to Audible and those count too. Yeah, I listen to Audible and those count too yeah.
Speaker 1:I listen to Audible in cracks of time I feel like I'm so busy and if I do sit down to read I fall asleep. But I was thinking about this question. So the number one book that impacted me was a children's book, where the Red Fern Grows. I think it's because my dad always made me read in the summertime. He's like you're going to read for an hour and I always struggled with reading and had a hard time comprehending. I was in special reading classes so it never really came easy to me. I love magazines and I love reading short articles. But that summer he made me pick out a book and I was like, fine, I'll read a book. But I was captivated and like, fine, I'll read a book. But I was captivated and I actually fell in love with reading. So I think that's why that book made a big difference in my life, because I found my style of reading that I like, that I actually fell in love with it and could understand it.
Speaker 1:Because I have a middle child that we never had her tested but I think she has a little bit of dyslexia and we have a tutor for her. But I'm like you know what, I'm not going to get her tested. I don't want to put that label on her. She's brilliant and bright and she's starting to love reading too, and we're the same age as she was when I fell in love with it. And then there's a children's picture book you Are Special by Max Licato. Have you ever read that book?
Speaker 2:No, but I think I've seen it a few times. Yeah, in that story.
Speaker 1:Um, I go back to it and I read it to my children. Um, every now and then when we need this reminder. Um, punchinello is this little wooden person. There's the wemex are all these little wooden people and their master, their maker, right carves them and they go around town and they give each other stars or dots Stars if you do amazing things, and then dots if you're like paint is chipped or you do something stupid and I'm like, wow, that's kind of like you know, it's kind of like social media, where it's like everyone's judging everyone, right, and they all just walk around with these stars or dots on, and some have more dots and some have more stars.
Speaker 1:And then there's this one girl, lucia. She doesn't have any dots or stars at all, and Punchinello is like why don't you have any stars or dots? And she takes him to the maker, right and representing God, right. And when he starts to believe what God says, what his maker says, over what everyone else says, the stars, well, the dots start to fall off, right and the stars Nothing sticks. And so I'm like I want to be a Lucia, I don't want anything to stick to me, right? So it's a good book to have. That's a powerful message. Yeah, so I'm like you can learn so much in children's books.
Speaker 2:You can. As an elementary teacher like I, just love children's books. Yeah, because that message is so profound of not being thrown to this way or that way based on the applause or the criticism of people. To be free of the opinions and the applause of others.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, because both are important. Of others, yeah, yeah, because both are important. Both, yeah, both, and we can both can damage us, right? You know, we could get so high on our horse if we, you know, always have all the stars right and the accolades and all of that, and then we could be so depressed if we get that one bad comment or negative comment or several right, and then but it always comes back to, okay, but who do you say? I am God? And Funcinello leaves that day the first time he encounters his maker, and one dot fell off, like it's not going to happen all at once.
Speaker 1:We have to be able to listen to that voice over the crowd of people. Right, yeah, so that book. And then obviously, right, yeah, so that book. And then obviously I don't even like to read devotions a whole lot anymore because I feel like that's still man's perspective of the Bible. So I go right to the Bible and that's just reading that every day. It's so simple, right, yeah, but His Word. So I just, I love to read through the Bible and yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm not a big fan of devotionals either for various reasons. I just I don't know like, yeah, probably the same with you on that one. And what is the best advice that you've ever received?
Speaker 1:That if something, if you're making a decision, and you're feeling rushed or hurried, confused, frustrated, then it's usually you know the wrong decision. Like, if you are making a decision right, if that's how she put it, I'm trying to think about how she put this. You know that feeling when, like, you have to make a decision.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's. You need to make it right now. You have to make it now, sarah. What do you think? Are you going to go? Are you going to do this or not? Yeah, and if you feel rushed, it's usually a no.
Speaker 1:It's usually a no, because that voice of frustration and confusion is never. You want to follow the voice of peace, right? You want to have that peace inside of you and you should be given more time than having a rush decision.
Speaker 2:Are you going to buy this house? Yeah, because someone else is going to buy it right now. Sarah, if you don't get this house right now, I know and that's the voice of our culture right now, everything is like rush, rush, rush.
Speaker 1:Don't think about it, just do it. So that's why I think that's part of my healing this year too Don't rush, slowing down and don't rush.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, sarah, thank you so much for spending time with me. I really appreciate it. You are a guide and a light to the people that you guide, and so I'm so honored to have you in the studio today and just for you to kind of share your journey. And where can people find you? Kind of share your journey, and where can people find you?
Speaker 1:So my social media handles are WellFolkRevival and my website is WellFolkRevivalcom. I post all my classes on there and they're usually seasonal classes. So, yeah, I hope to meet many of you, so reach out, say hi, dm me on social media. It's been a pleasure to be here with you, svetka, and just conversing woman to woman, and I'm excited to see what you create and continue to create in the future.
Speaker 2:Oh, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Sarah, Thank you for listening to the Once we Dare podcast. It is an honor to share these encouraging stories with you. If you enjoy the show, I would love for you to tell your friends. Leave us a reviewer rating and subscribe to wherever you listen to podcasts, because this helps others discover the show. You can find me on my website, svetkapapacom.