A Common Life
Welcome to A Common Life where Morgan and Taylor offer month-by-month gardening advice to help your garden thrive. We also share our personal journey in seasonal living, aiming to foster a deeper connection with others, nature, and our Creator. Our hope is to encourage and equip others who are on a similar journey and to provide a space for community around these ideals.
A Common Life
We're sharing what's on our plates, bookshelves, and playlists right now.
"What if the simple act of reading a physical book has become a form of cultural resistance? Taylor and Morgan ponder this question while diving into their current obsessions with beef tallow cooking, homemade marshmallows, and thought-provoking literature.
The conversation begins with a lighthearted examination of "virtue signaling" in modern homestead culture. Is sharing your reading list or posting about cooking with tallow simply a way to showcase your virtues? Taylor and Morgan acknowledge the grain of truth here while celebrating the genuine joy of discovering and sharing meaningful books, recipes, and ideas with others who appreciate them.
Food takes center stage as the couple describes their journey away from vegetable oils toward traditional cooking fats like beef tallow. Their description of making homemade french fries as "a labor of love" captures the special moments created when family gathers around the kitchen, snagging hot fries straight from the skillet. Morgan's triumph with perfecting homemade marshmallows after multiple attempts demonstrates the satisfaction of culinary persistence, while her candid confession about being stuck in a dinner rut will resonate with anyone who's ever stared blankly into a well-stocked refrigerator.
Literary discussions reveal both hosts' evolving relationship with reading. Taylor shares his appreciation for Substack's thoughtful, long-form content without the distraction of advertisements, while Morgan enthusiastically describes her latest book haul including works by Julia Cameron and Annie Dillard. Perhaps most refreshing is their mutual liberation from feeling obligated to finish every book they start – a freedom that has expanded their literary horizons and reading enjoyment.
This delightful glimpse into Taylor and Morgan's everyday pleasures reminds us that a meaningful life often emerges from these small indulgences and thoughtful explorations rather than grand gestures or achievements. Whether you're curious about beef tallow cooking, looking for your next great read, or simply enjoy authentic conversation, this episode offers a warm invitation to appreciate life's common treasures."
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Music on the podcast was composed by Kevin Dailey. The artist is Garden Friend. The track is the instrumental version of “On a Cloud”
Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of the Common Life Podcast. I'm Taylor and I'm here with my beautiful bride, morgan, hello. And in this episode we're going to be talking about what we've been eating, reading, listening to and indulge ourselves a little bit. Let's do it so, hey. So somebody I read somewhere well, you might have shown it to me, but somebody said something about if you show a picture or video of frying something in tallow, it's like virtue signal.
Speaker 2:I think you told me that.
Speaker 1:Did I tell you that? You told me that it's like the homestead, mom's virtue signal.
Speaker 2:Beef tallow.
Speaker 1:Hashtag beef tallow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, we've been doing that. Do we want to talk about eating?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we can start with eating. But then I thought okay, so I just thought about that and I was like is this virtue signaling? Like talking about what we've been reading? Do you feel like that's virtue signaling?
Speaker 2:I mean you. Just I don't even know what that means anymore.
Speaker 1:I think it kind of is for me. What do you mean? Well, yeah, I mean like so when I put out the books, like when I talk about the books that I'm reading, it's like look at how virtuous I am. Look at these amazing books that I'm reading, because I read. And not only do I read, but I read Wendell Berry, right, right right, so I'm obviously a good person smart person wise.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. This is what I'm putting on yeah.
Speaker 1:So I'm like I was just kind of checking myself and I was like, yeah, I, there's a shade of that and like I really wish more people that I follow that. I'm interested in that. You know that write Like what are they reading? I am interested in that and it isn't fake, you know. So, like what I share, that I'm writing, I'm like literally reading, or I share what I'm reading, I'm really reading it, right, and I do enjoy them and I'm being honest about them. Like we're not doing book reviews, you know.
Speaker 2:Right, it's not yeah.
Speaker 1:We really just toss out titles and authors and do talk about them some.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that is like. One thing that I do love social media for is I love seeing what people are reading like. If someone can tell me a good podcast and a good book, I usually will like both of them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely so we're just sharing the love and we want you to know how awesome we are, because we're pretty awesome and you can kind of tell by the books that we read.
Speaker 2:And the tallow we fry in. Yeah, I mean, come on.
Speaker 1:Okay, so start us off with some tallow.
Speaker 2:So well. What were we using before? If we were to fry.
Speaker 1:We dropped vegetable oils a long time ago. Yep, I definitely think vegetable oils affect. I think I have inflammation when I really dive into vegetable oils.
Speaker 2:I got my Nana's cast iron skillet and I'm like that thing has so much vegetable oil over like 80 years of vegetable oil in this skillet, you know.
Speaker 1:so we dropped vegetable oils and then if we were going to fry something, we would fry in like Avocado oil. Yeah, but I would actually use peanut oil.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you did use peanut oil.
Speaker 1:I don't know how great that is for you. I don't think it's seed oils, but I also don't think it's.
Speaker 2:But if we make cornbread or something, Okay, I'm back. Sorry, I had to go get a cough drop Okay so, oh, if you had to go get a cough drop, okay. So oh, if we were to make cornbread or something, yeah, we would use like avocado.
Speaker 1:Yeah or butter, but you don't really fry it, you stir fry it anyway, with our last couple Azure orders we've been doing beef tallow and we've been doing beef tallow and we've been making french fries, so that's been fun.
Speaker 2:When we do burger nights, we've been making french fries, but it's like a labor of love. Definitely, because we do it in like a tiny skillet and then as you make them and they come off and they're super hot, everybody's just grabbing a few. So then by the time you sit down it's like everybody has a few little fries. But that's kind of the fun of it, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's fun. Why do we use tallow again? Why do we like tallow? Why is it better for?
Speaker 2:you. Well, it's not a poofa.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we don't like PUFAs. No, yeah, polyunsaturated fat Right.
Speaker 2:Okay, and some people say avocado oil is questionable and it's like an old I mean old timers did tallow, I hear because of RFK, steak and Shake is going to be doing Tallow Steak and Shake. It'll be interesting to see what fast foods change in the next few years.
Speaker 1:It will be.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm Cool. What did you put on your eating Tallow, really Fries, what?
Speaker 1:did you put on your eating Tallow?
Speaker 2:Really Fries. Okay, the other thing I put on my eating is homemade marshmallows.
Speaker 1:Yeah you did You've nailed that?
Speaker 2:Well, I've been trying to make them for like two years and they've just not turned out the best. Remember when they would be like real clumpy? Yeah, but I took Ashley Turner and Fox Meets Bear these are two like moms I follow on Instagram Took their recipes, kind of combined them and doubled them, and that seems to really help, yeah. So we've been doing that and just dropping them in coffee or eating them as a snack or hot chocolate yeah, you've got some odd ingredients the recipes in our newsletter that we'll be dropping prior to this podcast.
Speaker 1:You've got arrowroot powder. I guess that's an azure thing.
Speaker 2:Azure thing, I got the yeah, I don't know if you could. I'm sure you could get that at whole foods. I don't know that. Yeah, it's, um, it's in. So ashley turner has a book called Restorative Kitchen and Restorative Traditions and it's specifically for autoimmune disease and healing your gut and like an autoimmune protocol diet. No restorative kitchen. She talks through in the beginning like how to do all of that and how to stock your pantry, and that's one of the things that's used in a lot of her baked goods.
Speaker 1:It feels kind of talky but you put it on the bottom and top and it just keeps it from sticking to your fingers. Cool yeah, homemade marshmallows. That A picture of a homemade marshmallow that is a homesteader mom, like virtue signal.
Speaker 2:It's definitely a virtue signal. All right reading. Okay, let me just say eating. I feel like I am in a rut. I am in a dinner rut and even when my friends send me recipes, I'm like like I sent my friends an SOS this weekend. It was like I'm in a dinner rut. They sent me all these recipes. I'm just like I'm in a dinner rut. They sent me all these recipes. I'm just like I want to make that. So I think the main thing is I want recipes with beef, because we have so much beef, especially ground beef.
Speaker 2:So not meatballs, meatloaf, tacos or spaghetti.
Speaker 1:I will love you forever. You know what we need to do. You get those like six pack of bell peppers.
Speaker 2:I don't like stuffed peppers, but maybe we could try that. I don't know, I feel like, and the other part is like I want our kids to be like, oh, this is great.
Speaker 1:Good luck with that.
Speaker 2:I know One thing that would be fun, that I think they could go crazy over, is like loaded nachos Mmm With beef cheese. That's probably what they would want beef and cheese.
Speaker 1:Oh for sure, Just beef, maybe beef. They would do that just as a courtesy to us. It was mainly just chips and cheese. That's their version of loaded nachos.
Speaker 2:Okay, just needed to say that Drizzle a little beef.
Speaker 1:Just to say they did it. Yeah, so Reading, reading, yeah, so reading. I have funneled most of my social media to substack, yes, where our newsletters housed and where we publish these podcasts first, at least a week ahead of time for our paying subscribers there, and then they go out to something and go out to spotify. But substack is a really cool social media platform I agree.
Speaker 2:What do you like about it?
Speaker 1:well, it's geared well. I say this is geared more towards, like, long form writers and writing.
Speaker 1:I think that they have shifted a little more with their notes to encourage and promote the shorter form, like what we've become accustomed to with, like Twitter, like a feed, like a feed and like with pictures and a caption, right. But for now I've just been able to find people that write about things that I'm interested in and almost all of them they have some type of long form newsletter that they write and send out and in between they post notes which, again, are just little short snippets and usually with a picture or something, and the people just generally feel and come across as maybe a little more genuine, a little more laid back. If I went in search of politics or if I went in search of you name it, I'm sure it's there, but Substack the company makes money off of when people subscribe. So like, for instance, you can subscribe to our newsletter and if you pay $7 a month, you get the benefit of supporting us and having that us, morgan and I, and our virtuous life. But another benefit you get is you get our podcast a little early and this is how people structure their newsletter right early. But you know so. So, and then this is how people structure their newsletter right, so you can pay and if you're a paying subscriber, you, you know, typically you get extra benefits kind of thing.
Speaker 1:Well, substack, that's how they make their money. They don't make money off of advertising. Yeah, there's no ads, there's no ads. And so the whole economic model is about building a subscriber base, or encouraging the users of the platform to grow an audience, giving them the tools to communicate to their audience and then get subscribers, and Substack takes a cut of the subscribership fee. So, yeah, that's the other thing, there's no ads and it's just, it's a slower pace. You know, it's like if you post something on other social media platforms, typically you've got maybe like a window of an hour or two a day a week max maybe, where you're going to get your um interactions whether I guess it's likes, comments, that kind of thing shares whereas with substack man, things just kind of circulate in the ecosystem. It can be sometimes I'll click on something, I'm like, huh, this is really interesting and I'll be reading it and I'm like, oh, this was from six months ago, you know. So they just do a good job of kind of keeping popular posts out in the ecosystem. And, I mentioned, there's no ads, so slower pace.
Speaker 1:The people seem a little more chill and I found a couple of authors that I really like, so I funneled most of my social media attention there and there are a few writers. So this is the we're talking about, what we're reading, what we're reading Mm-hmm, I might save some of the others for future eating, reading, listening. But the one I wanted to mention was a guy he's he goes by benjamin bramble on on, uh, his on the substack and he had. He writes the fox holler almanac and one of the first um first newsletters that I read of his was on the Eastern Red Cedar and it's just very good writing. It's different. He has a very interesting perspective. He sees the world a lot differently than I do, I think, but we also see a lot of things similarly, which is neat and we do have some overlap. But he's just a good writer and he's very interesting. So I linked his piece in our newsletter.
Speaker 2:The one you read first.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he said it like In Veneration of the Eastern Red Cedar, like I remember in his article he writes about. I mean, in the back of my mind I've always kind of known, like I'm pretty sure the trees it's like Christmas tree, it's kind of pagan. I mean, christians love to take pagan stuff and make them Christian, right, right, right. It's like nobody knows the history of the christmas tree while we do it. Right, we just do it, and he kind of talks a little bit about that and, um, I don't think he's a christian and so he kind of says some offhand, off-color things. But that's just who he is and he writes from a different perspective, like I said. But he's like, you know, in our western judeo-christian culture it's like and this is our one chance to worship trees, right, and he's kind of a tree hugger, so he's like all he's, all for it. You know he's like this is great. You know, even christians worship trees, kind of.
Speaker 1:Thing and adorn trees, and so, yeah, it was a cool little piece. It made me laugh out loud multiple times one of the things he said was they would like back.
Speaker 1:I forget how how old this tradition was, but they would like line the halls of of the, the monastery, or of like the temple or something. This wasn't that long ago with trees, and typically it was it was a cedar, eastern cedar but they would line the halls and then they would hang stuff, you know, throughout the season and then at the end of the year or at like the solstice or after at certain point it might have been after christmas they would all bring the trees out and light them on fire and, uh like hold hands and dance around it yeah, yeah, and I was just like man, that'd be a cool tradition.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, like once you're done with your Christmas tree, it's like all right, let's take all the ornaments off and let's take it outside and burn it and dance around. You know, definitely has a pagan flair.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it does.
Speaker 1:It still sounds fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it does.
Speaker 1:It's funny. So that, yeah, it does. Um, funny, so that's. That's one of the things I wanted to mention. Uh, if you're, if you're not on substack, you should check it out and go find your people that that you want to read. You know, it's just regular people like this dude is. He's a farmer in missouri yeah trying to make ends meet and he's writing as a way to help support himself and yeah it's neat.
Speaker 2:It took me a long time to get over there, but I've been on for like a month and I've really enjoyed it. The other thing is that it doesn't really link you with your friends, so you're like friends with strangers or you just get to choose who you want to Do. They have a follow button. I guess you subscribe, but then there's also a follow button.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can follow people and that's just in the app and you'll see their notes and publications, or you can subscribe and they send their newsletter to your inbox.
Speaker 2:There is a little bit of a learning curve, but once you figure it out it's enjoyable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I wish everybody could see you right now. You're so relaxed and in your lap is our little dog, our little Chihuahua dog Bear.
Speaker 2:The only reason he's right here? I never let him right here. The only reason he's right here is because you smacked him in the face with your computer charger. It was an accident, I know, but he was traumatized and now he's in my lap he's so comfortable, he's asleep, he's so cute.
Speaker 1:You know you love him I do okay, but it's documented.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, I mean I'm basically just following down our newsletter, but I wanted to say something else too. So I'm gonna the books that I'm currently reading. I'm gonna list like one, two, three, four, five, and I could have listed more, but I was just gonna say I remember it wasn't that long ago and I'm sure I've said this before, but I remember when you know, I would feel so guilty if I started a book and didn't finish, and I felt, like any book that I started, I had to finish, and so I was nervous to take a risk on a book, because if I didn't like it, then I'll just be stuck in it and months would go by. Yeah, that's so miserable. It's so miserable. Have you ever been like that or felt like no, no, I think that's totally a one thing.
Speaker 2:A one thing I I mean, I just when I finish a book it's like yay, I finished that one yeah, well, I'm not like that anymore.
Speaker 1:Um, are you not like that anymore? Or you don't feel guilty for having?
Speaker 2:multiple books at the same time, like do you typically still finish even if you don't feel guilty for having multiple books at the same time? Like do you typically still finish even if you don't love it, or do you move on?
Speaker 1:uh well, there are quite a few books by my chair that I've started, that I haven't finished and I've kind of just they're on the back burner. I think I will go back to most of them, and there are some where I'm just like nope this is maybe never.
Speaker 1:And I'm okay with that. But I'm okay, yeah, with putting a book down and picking up another book and just letting a book kind of fade off. Yeah, it's so freeing Because I just want to read, I want to learn, I want to grow, I don to learn, I want to grow, I don't want to be dumb.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's good. I love that about you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's probably a one thing too. I want to be right. It's important to me To be right. Yeah, I mean to be like, to be like on the right side of things Righteousness.
Speaker 2:Well, I love that. You love to read. I think I don't think. Definitely not every man your age reads.
Speaker 1:Most probably don't. Yeah, I actually wrote in the top of the newsletter. I said let me read the front of the newsletter. You haven't read it yet. I said Morgan and I periodically write a post on what we are eating, reading and listening to. In today's world, it feels like the act of reading a physical book is a form of cultural protest. Am I being dramatic? Perhaps not.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I hate when people are like, yeah, I'm reading Pride and Prejudice and then you're like you find out through the conversation. No, they're actually not reading it, they're listening to it. Oh, yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:That's annoying.
Speaker 2:It's annoying, but I mean, even if I don't know, there are some books like I've realized. I'm going to talk about how I'm doing this classical literature book club, but I think I've decided with those I especially want to start it on audio, because I'm just not good with all that old English and like knowing how to pronounce things and names, and so I want to know like how I can be saying it right in my head when I'm reading.
Speaker 1:And you're like on a timeline.
Speaker 2:And I can much more easily in this stage of life listen to a book and I think that's kind of where a lot of my friends are at too Is like we can much more easily listen to a book while we're folding laundry or doing dishes double tasking than sitting down and reading. Do you know what I mean? Absolutely yeah yeah, so.
Speaker 1:So if you, if you're gonna like, hey, you got to read this many chapters by next week or something, you need to be listening, otherwise going at your own pace, it's like you'll read this Charles Dickens book in three years, I know I know all right. So do you want to talk about your books? You want me to go through mine real quick? I don't have much to say, sure? Um, so I'm currently reading two Wendell Berry books and I'm making pretty good progress. Actually, I think I'll finish them in this round. What are people for? It's like a compilation of essays and then the need to be whole and uh that book is one of his later books.
Speaker 1:Um, it's a recent book. He talks a lot in it about racial prejudice and the history of it in his area and patriotism, and he does such a good job. It's really good. I have paused my pipe crafting book. It's still by my bed. I'm not going to put it up. My pipe crafting book it's still by my bed. I'm not going to put it up. I'm going to pick it back up and keep reading. But I think I'm not going to be able to make a pipe really for real until I have a good shot. So I've kind of just paused it Because it's kind of getting technical now.
Speaker 1:It's like when am I going to read that technical before I go to bed? But it's in the little five books or so that I've got Out and about. And then David Bender's the Gift of being Yourself, which we've got to find that I've been missing it for the last couple of days. I bet you it's in there somewhere. I bet it is. I'm going on this for like the third time. I love this book. It's really good and I'm like five pages or so from finishing the Great Wave and that was such a good book, yeah.
Speaker 1:I've copied it on the Eating Reading Listening before. That was a fascinating book, yeah, and so the library at the school where I work. The school shut down and there's this library and the books are just there. I've got to go. Yeah, you do, and every time I go in there to like work and clean and do stuff, it's like I come home with books. But I think I'm going to start reading Dude Gibbons, one of the books I got, the History of the Fall and Decline of the Roman Empire Right. Guess when he wrote it? The first one was published 1776. What? Yes, no way, yes, way. And this dude wrote six volumes. And it's like, dude, people were built differently back then.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Dude what We've become weak For sure.
Speaker 1:It's crazy. Imagine when the robots are doing everything for us.
Speaker 2:I was thinking in the shower tonight because we have a limited amount of hot water and so I was taking my shower and just thanking God for hot water, and I'm like you know what makes people weak? Probably hot water Like having this luxury probably makes people really weak.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I'm really grateful for it. Just just like you're gonna be grateful for the robots not doing it. Uh, and that's it for me okay yeah, what about you babe?
Speaker 2:well, the first one I have is so I just did. I just did a big old thrift books order so these are the ones that I got in my most recent order Walking in this World by Julia Cameron. So Julia Cameron wrote the Artist Way. That's her most famous book and I probably talked about that one here before and it is a book about it's for writers or creatives and some practices very practical book of practices that you can put into place um to help you get into your creative space. So like one is morning pages, which is writing three pages of just right, when you wake up in the morning, free flowing thoughts and it's basically like a brain dump or getting things out of your head and so that's something she teaches. But it's things like that. This book is geared toward the practicality of being creative and it's like a book following the artist, the groundwork that's in the artist way. So I have that. I um Amy Carmichael.
Speaker 2:I'd never heard of her before until I went to a book club and I was telling Cindy Rollins who was the speaker that night. She is an OG homeschool mom like um before. It was cool kind of thing. So and she, you know she homeschooled, I don't know, I think she had nine boys and one girl, but she's really really smart and very well read. And so at the end we were talking and I was telling her cause. Some of her favorite books are Madeline Ingalls nonfiction, and those are my most favorite books I've ever read. And so she said you might really like Amy Carmichael.
Speaker 2:And so I looked up her books. She this one is called Edges of His Ways and it's like a little devotional. It's like a little devotional. She was a missionary, I think, in India, but Elizabeth Elliot was really influenced by Amy Carmichael and yeah, so I'm excited to read this. I'll read a little like this was today's. They're just short, little devotions and it has the date.
Speaker 2:So like this one is Song of Psalms 1-3, thy name is an ointment poured forth, and she just says have you ever tried to get something out of a bottle without taking the cork out itself? Some people remind me of bottles with the cork in. There is something truly good inside, but it's corked up. It cannot get out. For the help of others. Do you feel sometimes like a corked up bottle? It's a stuffy, uncomfortable sort of feeling, but some manage to get on like that for months on end, to their great loss and to the loss of all who have to do with them. Dear corked up bottles, do go and get uncorked. There is only one who can take out the cork of self-love, of shyness, of sleepiness, of whatever it is that keeps you from pouring out for others all you have been given. He who was always sweetness poured forth. Okay, and then, speaking of Madeline Engle, she has how do you say her last name?
Speaker 2:It starts with an L, but it's Ingle.
Speaker 1:It's just Ingle Madeline Ingle.
Speaker 2:Yes, okay, I think so. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think so. Her Crosswicks series is the one that's like my most favorite books of all time, and so this is the last one of this series and it's about her marriage and kind of their story. So there's that. And then I have For the Time being by Annie Dillard. Everybody loves Annie Dillard, she's classic. I have her book, the Writing Life, and I've been wanting to read another one of her nonfiction books, so this is the one I chose. And then, like earlier I was talking about the classical literature Society that my friends and I started, mm-hmm, and You're so virtual.
Speaker 2:Really, it's because we're like we've never read great books and we need to start doing that.
Speaker 1:You know, I know there's like tons of classics that we were supposed to read in high school.
Speaker 2:Well, that's this one that we're reading. I did read in high school.
Speaker 1:You read it and all.
Speaker 2:I remember something about a lady in a wedding dress that was really creepy and like eating her cake and she was 80. Or something. But yeah, so Great Expectations. But yeah, so great expectations, the only book I remember from high school literally to kill a mockingbird no, it was the godfather oh, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, but you didn't have to read that first, you chose it I chose.
Speaker 1:it is the only book in all of high school that I actually got to choose what I want to read on, and I remember to this sitting I read it in like three days. I'd never read a book in my life and it's like 350 pages. I read it in like three days. I couldn't put it down. That's when I realized oh, I like to read. I just want to read books that I want to read.
Speaker 1:I remember sitting there reading and it's this like like four chapters in, and there's this sex scene and the dude like throws the woman up against the wall, you know, and they're like having sex and I'm sitting in the middle of my in the middle of my English class reading this book. You know, I'm going to a private, small Christian school and I'm just looking around like oh my gosh, like I can't believe I'm reading this right now. It's like I just, you know, I kept reading. It was a great book. The Godfather Great book.
Speaker 1:It's the only one I remember from high school.
Speaker 2:Well, to be virtuous. The only book that I loved in high school was Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. You read that in high school. Yeah, I did. Yeah, nice, that's a good book. It is a good book. It's much more virtuous than the Godfather, Was it? You read Al Capone at one point.
Speaker 1:Scarface, that was a movie. Oh yeah, the biography of Al.
Speaker 2:Capone, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was just in the last five, six, seven years. Super good.
Speaker 2:I think that was like 10 years ago.
Speaker 1:Well, no, because Virginia's 10, and I probably read it like six years ago, great, great book. That's when I realized that I was really interested in the early 1900s and 1800s. Biography of Al Capone.
Speaker 2:Okay, I think that's all my books, cool.
Speaker 1:So you just got a thrift books order and dropped everything else you were reading. You're like I'm done with everything else. I'm about to start on these all new books.
Speaker 2:Well.
Speaker 1:Okay, great, all right, moving on. We are still making our way through homemaking. Yes, that we are. We didn't even mention that book, but that's what we're doing a podcast series on um listening. So in my mind, like this girl, eliza greenman she's no idea, you're talking about.
Speaker 1:I know, yeah, she well. I back when we started the farm, like 2013-14. I had an Instagram account, riverfly Farm. Still have it. I just don't get on it, but I remember following her Eliza Apples. It's like Eliza Apples but the A she uses for Eliza and Apple, and she was like a fruit explorer and I just thought it was so cool. You, you know she goes around finding, like apples, wild apples out in the woods, and not only apples, but you know they're finding. You know you find pears and and it's these like ancient varieties, heirlooms, that then they then would take cuttings from and preserve.
Speaker 1:Right, so like all of the apple trees that we purchased that are like alabama apple trees somebody at some point preserved this line and they were found in alabama because the native americans used to grow apples and cultivate them. So, anyways, she was like this fruit explorer, and I can remember she was just on my feed. Back then, and then fast forward like to this year, I saw her being interviewed by um, this guy on Substack, and so I listened to it and, uh, she's just so inspirational. Um, she's cool. Yeah, she's cool, so inspirational. Mm-hmm, she's cool, yeah, she's cool. She like she nerds out. She's the type of person like I'm not a, I don't nerd out on things, like I'm not a five Right right, like she goes, she has her one thing, like she is a fruit explorer.
Speaker 1:Oh well, that, and she's done other things too, but it's all around that and she goes deep, deep on her stuff. I'm not like that. I'm more of like I scratch this itch just enough to satisfy and then I find another itch to scratch and I just am constantly scratching itches. You know, it might be the itch might be price revolutions and Fisher, and it might be pipe crafting and it might be. You know, there are certain things that have kind of they. They keep coming up right and I go deeper on, like um, agro, ecology, agricultural things, definitely I, that itch keeps coming around, but I have lots of broad itches, I do. You know it's just like, hey, that's me, but anyways, she doesn't. To my knowledge, her, her forward-facing, public-facing person is very, um, she goes deep, but but in this interview she talks about acorns, like now her most recent thing is she's she's, uh, trying to figure out and doing research and working with people to find specific varieties of oak trees that produce acorns with low tannins, so human consumption can be more agreeable.
Speaker 1:You told.
Speaker 2:Carter about this girl.
Speaker 1:Have I told Connor Carter? No, I haven't.
Speaker 1:I need to tell him though and actually, yeah, it's funny, you say that there's another podcast by this guy he interviews. I think his name is kyle scharberger larberger. He's an. He's an alabama guy who like got tiktok famous for prairie restoration and and he's like super, super, um popular. Now I'm like well known. I think his name's kyle larberger. I'm gonna listen to that interview. I haven't told carter about eliza greenman but like, dude, if I could interview eliza, I mean honestly I'm a little nervous because, like she said even in this interview, she like doesn't like to be interviewed because people are kind of so they just talk about dumb things. I'm like, yeah, I would probably talk about too much surface stuff. Yeah, um, so yeah, that's what I listened to. I linked it. It's a cool interview. Cool, I find it. I found it very interesting. All right, what about you? What did you listen to that you want to share with people?
Speaker 2:sorry, have we shared on here couch? Oh, because that's all my kids like. Okay, if we're talking music, I was wondering where you were gonna go with that because I was thinking music in my head like she's a fruit explorer. I was like I was wondering where you were going to go with that because I was thinking music in my head. I'm like she's a fruit explorer. I was like podcast, okay, music-wise, in our car we listen in to Forest Frank, always Still.
Speaker 1:Three years later.
Speaker 2:We love him, though. He's great. Yeah and Couch.
Speaker 1:Couch.
Speaker 2:So Fire, I feelouch Couch, so I feel like maybe we have talked about him. Anyways, if we haven't, taylor took Wendell to a Corey Wong concert at the Ryman in Nashville and Couch opened for them. And they have this girl, timma, who is the singer, and the band is like a full-on band. Taylor, how many instruments?
Speaker 1:They have a guy playing keyboard. They've got two wind. You can call them wind right, brass, brass. I don't know, it's like a saxophone and trumpet. And they've got a guy playing the guitar. They've got a bass and they've got drums.
Speaker 2:And they're all like 21, 22, 23 they're so young so young and they're like funk soul funk, soul, rock and roll but it is. I mean, once you start listening you're like like. At first I was like, oh, they're good, and now we know all the words. We listen all the time.
Speaker 1:Can't wait to take the family to see them live. Dude Timma is awesome. She's so talented. She's so talented, she's great on stage.
Speaker 2:It's like who you would like the ultimate wedding band.
Speaker 1:Oh, they're way beyond wedding band if you got couch to become to your wedding. First of all, you're loaded. Second of all, invite me please. Yeah, they're like the big, they're like they're gonna be a big deal. Yeah, I mean, they're traveling right now in europe with cory wall yeah it's like their last week.
Speaker 2:I think they're about to be back, but anyway, okay, I listened to a really good podcast on marriage with the Perrys and I've been telling all my friends about it. It's good, it's really good. Yeah, so Jackie Hill Perry and her husband, preston Perry and they're just like you know, they're my famous friends that they don't know that we're friends, but like me and Jackie tight, I just they make me laugh so hard and I feel like we get each other. Yeah, um, but they are interviewing some of their mentors. Why are you laughing at me? You're so funny. They are interviewing some of their mentors and they're just talking about marriage for like an hour and 45 minutes and it is so good and helpful. A lot of good, practical things, really like that, yep, the Perry's.
Speaker 1:They're doing good work out there mhm, do we cover everything?
Speaker 2:I think so, okay. Well, we'll be back. Do we cover everything? I think so, okay. Well, we'll be back next week with another episode of homemaking, the book. This next chapter is going to be on brothers and sisters.
Speaker 1:Okay so.
Speaker 2:Sounds good. Well, also, I've got to share what I want to grow this year, because this is the second episode I haven't shared that Well, hold on.
Speaker 1:We've been going a long time.
Speaker 2:We've been going a long time. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:I'll share it on the next one.
Speaker 2:What I'll share it. On the next one, what I'll share it on the next one.
Speaker 1:Okay, so yeah, share it on the next one.
Speaker 2:Okay, so Until next week. Until next week, no-transcript.