Inside Omro
Inside Omro is a community podcast spotlighting local businesses, organizations, events, and the people who help make Omro a great place to live, work, and play. Hosted by Brandon Miller and sponsored by Miller Auto.
Inside Omro
Inside Gemma's Farm Fresh Wagon
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In this episode of Inside Omro, Brandon talks with Megan and Matt at Gemma’s Farm Fresh Wagon in Omro to learn more about the heart behind this local farm stand and the fresh, homegrown goods they bring to the community.
From seasonal produce and farm-fresh favorites to the hard work that goes into growing, harvesting, and serving local customers, this conversation highlights the value of supporting small, family-run businesses right here in our area. Gemma’s Farm Fresh Wagon is more than just a place to grab fresh food—it’s a reminder of the connection between local farms, local families, and the community we all share.
Tune in as we talk about how Gemma’s Farm Fresh Wagon got started & what makes farm-fresh products special.
So I always wanted to do a farm stand. We named it after our daughter who we lost last year. Um, we lost her suddenly in September at about 32 weeks after she was born. So it's just something that we're using her name to just give her remembrance.
SPEAKER_02Hello, I'm Brandon Miller. The city of Amro has beautiful parks, active organizations, and thriving businesses. In partnership with Future Omrill, the Amro Area Community Center, and product sponsorship by Miller Auto. We'd like to welcome you inside Amro. Today we're at MM Country Pastures located at 5807 9th Street Road in Amro. It's the home of Gemma's Farm Fresh Wagon. Um and we're sitting down with Matt and Megan um to learn about their business. So thanks for coming on, and uh why don't you start and introduce yourself?
SPEAKER_03Okay, I'm I'm Matt, and uh we bought this place last year, beginning last year, and with the intentions of um just uh raising a you know having our little farm here and the chickens and the pigs and whatever else comes about.
SPEAKER_00Um I'm Megan and yep, we moved in last May. Since then we've had about um where we have about a hundred and uh twenty chickens. Wow and then we have six little piglets right now. We have two dogs and we have three little outdoor cats who we love, and then we have meat chickens that we raise about 60 every eight weeks that we go through um starting in April through October.
SPEAKER_02Wonderful. So you've lived here for about a year, started an organic farm, really. Yes, or everything is organic, no GMOs. Um, so and you do eggs, you do um chicken, uh butcher chickens, and um you also do some baking. Yep. And um so what um sourdough?
SPEAKER_00Um, lots of sourdough, lots of other baked goods, um, just depending on the week. We do dog treats, we do um, we take the meat chickens like organs like heart and liver, and then we'll freeze dry them. Then we sell those at the farm stand. Then in early spring, Matt makes maple syrup. So we tap a bunch of maple trees and then exciting. Make all that. And yeah, we're always trying to come up with something new and fresh and healthier for the community.
SPEAKER_02Wonderful, wonderful. So, where did you move from?
SPEAKER_00I lived in Oshkosh my whole life. Okay, and then I'll tell you where Matt's all lived. So I think he can tell you.
SPEAKER_03Um, so I'm originally from Chilton area, moved all around uh out of high school and stuff, and we basically went around around the top north side of the lake, uh, lived down by Stockbridge, moved from Chilton to Stockbridge up to Menasha, to and the last place I was living at was Nina. Well I met Megan. And um then we moved down to here. Wonderful, wonderful.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, we we searched for a home in the country for over a year.
SPEAKER_02Over a year too.
SPEAKER_00Until we found kind of what we thought would be a good fit for us.
SPEAKER_02So you're a nurse practitioner, yes, and you're an engineer, yeah. Um, and so was your goal to find like a little format, and that's kind of what you wanted to do was find something out in the country so you could raise your create a farm and and do that? Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I would say that's always been our our goal. Matt comes from a lot of farmers, he worked on a lot of farms.
SPEAKER_03I grew up in the country and middle of nowhere, and sure. Um, you know, I I lived in the city for a while. I just always wanted to get back to the farm on the country. And yeah, like like Megan said, I I had worked on a farm for a few years and milking cows and stuff, and I always liked it. Um just kind of I wanted to get back into it. So that's that's the goal. I'm working, we're working at it.
SPEAKER_02So wonderful, wonderful. And you were saying before we started recording that uh you're looking to go full time at the farm.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, um, yeah, I'll be uh be working here, working on the animals or working with the animals, working on projects here pretty much full time because there's lots to do.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, we have a large garden out back there. So once everything starts to grow, we'll be able to put that in the farm stand and for us to I love to can actually Matt taught me how to can. Well I know I didn't know how to can until I met my husband. That's nice. So um, and now I really love it. Like last last week I was making peach jam that we got a whole bunch of peaches from a local farmer, and then yesterday we picked up four flats of strawberries from Picket Produce, just right in in town. Sure. Um, or in Ashcash, I should say. So I'll be making some strawberry jam. So yeah, just more things to just kind of add and add everything to the little homestead.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. So do you have hours operation here at the farm? Can people come right to the farm? How how does how does the sales aspect work?
SPEAKER_00So we use our social media a lot and our website. We will post um a monthly menu of what we have to offer, and then every week we'll post what we're offering for like sourdough or baked goods or anything new that we've added, and then they can put in an order form through like Google Forms is what we use. Sure. And then we also always have extra out uh that people can pick up. We have it open Saturday, one to six, and then or one to seven, whenever people can get out. We're not like really in a big rush, but usually one p.m. for sure to open because we make everything fresh in the morning, and then Sunday, noon till six p.m. Wonderful is the hours.
SPEAKER_02Wonderful. So and you guys also do um farmers markets. Um, I see you're you're gonna be at the AMRO Farmers Market coming up.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we do that every other week is what we uh talked about doing. And we did it the first time two weeks ago. We'll be there this Thursday, and it was really successful. It was really nice to see the community, and it was very good.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. So, what does the typical day on the farm look like?
SPEAKER_03Oh, get up early in the morning.
SPEAKER_00Like five.
SPEAKER_03Either the dogs will get us up or the sun will wake us up. Yeah, sure. And I go out right now. I'm still working, so um, I go out and take care of what needs to get taken care of, feed, feed and move the meat birds, and make sure everything's good, have water, and then I'll go to work and then come home and do everything else. It usually about an hour, hour and a half worth of chores. Um, once again, moving the moving the birds, making sure everything's got food and water again. Um, I just try to do more at night, obviously, because I got time. So um yeah. Right now, that's that's what it looks like at the at the moment.
SPEAKER_00So I'm the treat lady. I give them treats every night after the birth. That's important, yeah. They all know me. They all know I'm their mom. I always get them extra treats of all the sorts. The piggies like um spinach and blackberries right now a lot. The birds like a lot. I hold all my little chickens. We have like a little silky sanctuary back there, so those are like the cute fluffy chickens. So I have to hold them every night and see what they're up to. So I'm just doing the fun stuff.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely, absolutely. Do you guys incubate chickens? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we have we have incubated this year and we sold a whole bunch actually, and then I kind of took a break because it's a lot, it's a lot of chicks, a lot of rounding on making sure everybody has food and water, and yeah, because we had like at one point I think we had probably like eight sets of chickens or chicks, and I'm like the other at all different like phases of life. Sure. So it was a lot, it was a lot. So we're taking a little bit of a break.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. So you have a hundred chickens, and sixty of them are meat chickens now.
SPEAKER_00I would say we probably have like a hundred laying chickens. Okay. Are going to be laying. Do you think about a hundred?
SPEAKER_03Maybe eighty-ish.
SPEAKER_00Okay, maybe eighty.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, but not all of them are laying right now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, some are some are still babies.
SPEAKER_03Sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but then we have like 50 to 60 meat chickens. How however well they're doing. Right now we have like 120 meat chickens because we have littler ones, and then we have ones that are out on the field.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Total chickens, meat and laying?
SPEAKER_00Over 200.
SPEAKER_02Over 200. Wow. Okay. Yeah. That's over 200. That's a lot to keep to keep track of. So um, obviously, wildlife is a concern when it comes to chickens and you know, coyotes and foxes and all the things.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, luckily we haven't had any issues yet, but I have all our layers. I have in they are they can go outside, they're all free range, but we have electric netting that I put up um that keeps them them in. I had sometimes they get out, but um just put them back in and more importantly keeps the predators out.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, coyotes and fox and raccoons and all that. Um so luckily I haven't had had any issues with that. Um the meat birds I have built a uh they call it a chicken tractor. It's uh a box with you know, all four sides are wrapped in um hardware cloth or steel um for wind protection, and the top is covered, half covered as well. Gives them shade too as well if they're on hot days. So um, and that's when I talk about moving chickens, that's I move that every twice a day. Um so they have a new fresh um spot of ground that they can pick at grass and bugs and whatever. All the things, yeah, all the pasture, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And it's really nice about the netting is that we can move it like for our laying chicken, so like Matt'll move it every week so that if they get that grass is too gone or like they ate too much of it, then we'll move it out to a different part of the field, so then they still get fresh grass. And it's a lot, it's a really big area. How big? How many square feet do you think? We talked about it one day, and I was like, it's a lot.
SPEAKER_03It's you know probably the size of the house here, so they got it there.
SPEAKER_00It's pretty big that they can move around in and and get all the bugs and the worms.
SPEAKER_02I got lots of room. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I have friends that have um chickens, they just do it as a hobby. Yeah, um, and actually just this last week and I was over there, and it's amazing they kind of make their well, with I'm sure your help, they kind of make their schedule. They they get up and they are ready to do what they do, and then when it's time to go to bed, they all just go to bed. Yeah, but it's pretty interesting.
SPEAKER_03As soon as the sun it starts getting before the sun's up, as soon as it starts getting late, oh, you can hear the roosters going and they're ready to go out. And we on our coop we have automatic doors, so it opens up at a set time and closes at a set time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, sure.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so yeah. And that's another measure of you know keeping them safe at night and stuff too.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, they've got a big chicken run, and yeah, she says I I put them to bed every night. And you know, it and it changes with the season. So you know, during the winter time it gets dark at six, so you're putting to bed at 5 30. Yeah. The summer they're going to bed around eight or something like that. And yeah, you know, and I'm like, well, why why will they just go to bed on on their own? Absolutely, they'll go in there, but I gotta lock them in. I'm like, well, why do you lock them in? Well, because of them animals, the predators and so forth, because they'll get through the fence or what have you.
SPEAKER_00So knowing what what'll happen. Yeah. Luckily ours are pretty smart so far, and they see even a hawk, they've been pretty good about running back into the coop or something. Duck and cover. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Duck and cover protection that they can run underneath when they see a bird overhead, they'll our silky sanctuary.
SPEAKER_00We have netting over the top because they um can't really see. They have really fluffy heads, like really fluffy feathers.
SPEAKER_01Sure.
SPEAKER_00So they can't see up at all. So if a hawk comes, they will not be able to see. So they're really protected.
SPEAKER_02Right. So do you invite groups out to the farm to look at the farm animals or anything along those lines?
SPEAKER_03Or we haven't had groups or offered tours. I mean, there's really not a uh, you know, a ton to tour at the at this moment, but um, because we're just kind of getting started. But um I mean, definitely people that come and you know, buy, you know, purchase products and stuff. We can, you know, we we've shown some people that show them around to what everything looks like.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you can see when people pick up like meat chickens, like when they bring their kids or whatever, they'll come back and like we'll see the pigs or um the baby chickens or whatever. So sure, yeah, like they're definitely open and welcome. I've had people who come to the farm stand to pick up stuff that will come back and give them a little tour of what it is. It's kind of like honestly a hot mess the majority of the time. There's always a project going on somewhere, absolutely. So um, so it's it's fine and yeah, it's it's just our little home.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome. So, what are your future plans? I mean, if now that you're looking at going full-time, yeah, are you looking to add more animals, uh more more acreage?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I would I would love to get in get some cattle at some point. Um, I I think we need a little more land for that and infrastructure too as well, because we don't really have uh we'll have to we'd have to feed hay and in the wintertime and stuff for that, so we don't really have a place for storage for that. So that's all down the road, but yeah, eventually we'd like to get into that. Right now, um everything's just gonna be kind of seasonal, like we're gonna do most of the stuff in the summertime, like the meat birds and um the pegs will be all gone and you know by by the end of the by the end of the year here. So I don't have to worry about keeping them over winter and stuff. We'll have the laying hens obviously over winter, still hopefully laying eggs. Um but uh as far as everything else, we're just gonna be doing it seasonally.
SPEAKER_02So about how many eggs are you guys um getting?
SPEAKER_00We get about like 20-ish a day right now. And we have so we have two like separate coupes right now. We have like a group of like four to five month-old ones that aren't big enough quite yet to go with the big the big girls, I call them. Sure. So we noticed yesterday that two of them started laying. They gave us little small green eggs. So I was really excited about that. Yeah. And so hopefully they will be out within the next couple of I don't know, weeks here, moving to the big girl coop. So then once they all start laying, it'll probably be around like I don't know, like 35 a day. So it's a lot of eggs, it's a lot of eggs, but we sell a lot of eggs. We eat a lot of eggs, we give our dogs eggs, the cats will get eggs, the pigs will get eggs, everybody gets eggs. Everybody gets eggs. Everybody gets eggs, and it's good eggs, because like you said, we're all it's all organic. We feed them all organic.
SPEAKER_02It's interesting that you know how you feed a chicken can determine obviously how how the eggs, the quality of the eggs. So um, you know, that's something that we notice when we get eggs from our when our friend friend gives us eggs. Um the quality of them is just so much better than you know, store-bought eggs and and so forth.
SPEAKER_00So definitely. Like it's the coloring's different, the texture's different, like it's crazy what happens when you feed your animals right. Yeah, essentially, and they're free to move around and do what they're supposed to do. So even though they only live eight weeks, they live a pretty good eight weeks. So that's what I try to look at. So yeah, because I mean, being a nurse practitioner, you know, it's like death and all of that, it's hard, but at the end of the day, it's like, well, they're here for a purpose, and if they can make everyone else a little bit healthier and eat healthier, it's it's it's a good thing. Yeah, it's a good full circle.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. Talk a little bit about uh Gemma's Farm Fresh Wagon.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So we made Gemma's Farm Freshwagon in like the beginning of this year. So I always wanted to do a farm stand. We named it after our daughter who we lost last year. Um we lost her suddenly in September at about 32 weeks after she was born. So it's just something that we're using her name to just give her remembrance, and um, she was always gonna be our little chicken girl that was gonna be running around and holding chickens, collecting eggs. It's just what we had pictured for her, and this is just something that we can remember her by. Yeah, so that that's our little farm stand, and I love it. It's like our my little project. So I decorate it very cute. I have a little picture of um a little girl, like a little blonde girl. I always thought she would be blonde, and she's running with chickens, and um it's just something that I just think it fits really well for our home and our current life situation. For sure. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I would love a talk a docker turkey. Um, we're kind of like at Matt tells me I can only get a new animal every year. So you're talking about species, you're not.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we didn't have to be able to do it. Yeah, like species.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so this this year, well last year it was a lot of chickens. I got a lot of chickens, and then this year it was the six piglets. So next year I'm hoping it to be maybe some ducks, maybe a turkey or two. We kind of talked about getting a turkey for us just to kind of try it out this year, but we ended up not doing that. I don't know why.
SPEAKER_03Oh, just didn't happen.
SPEAKER_00Just didn't happen. There's too much else going on.
SPEAKER_02So you know, it kind of interesting. Um, my wife her whole life, you know, ate eggs, one of her favorite things, and it was almost like a flip of a switch. She became completely allergic to chicken eggs.
unknownWeird.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, she she I mean it just upsets her stomach, she just can't do it. And she found out just this year, actually, that she doesn't have that reaction from duck eggs. Oh so she the duck eggs are a little bit richer, they're they're a little bit different, but um, so now she's searching out duck eggs because she absolutely loves eggs. It just it something with her digestion system changed and she just can't do chicken eggs anymore.
SPEAKER_00We um have our a friend that gives us duck eggs that will sell at the farm stand for them frequently. They usually give us a bunch like every other every other week or so. So and that we always sell them. Like it duck eggs are a huge thing. So pretty popular. Yeah, the dogs love them too.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00So maybe that'll be your next maybe that'll be our next venture, maybe next year. Yeah, we'll see. We don't ever know. Let's see what comes around, comes around next year.
SPEAKER_02You know, I I have to say that I'm a little bit jealous that you're um going full-time on the farm. I have um I have some acreage. I don't have any animals or anything like that, but that is my favorite thing to do is maintain the land. And, you know, I've got a bunch of woods that I've cleared out a bunch of you know areas and you know, and uh my last name's Miller, so I call my house Miller Park. Oh nice. Love that. Not walking anymore. Yeah, I was thinking I mow about five acres, something like that. And uh so yeah, I'm kinda jealous that uh you're gonna stay on the farm all day long.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I like I said, I I always liked it, and I think after getting away from it and uh getting into manufacturing and and going through school and becoming an engineer and all that, and I've done that for eight, nine years now, and it's just I've had enough sitting at a desk, I think.
SPEAKER_02What kind of engineering are you?
SPEAKER_03Um so I I work for uh sheet metal um manufacturer. So um I do you know making uh prints and stuff for the the people on the floor to form and weld and stuff, and then I also have been doing the past couple of years, I've been doing um CNC programming um of some machines. So um so between yeah, programming, engineering and stuff, but yeah, and it's not all sitting at a desk, but it's all inside, so like the outside.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, this will be definitely a better fit for for us. Yeah, definitely. We got a lot going on, and somebody needs to be at home more.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and like you said, it it it is a lot of work to take care of the the land and the property, and I was mowing last last week on the the field out here, and I only got a four foot mower on the back of the tractor, and it took probably three, four hours to do it. Yeah, you know it so it's so you need time to to get it, you know, and need time to do it. Not enough time in the day to to do that when you're at work forty hours a week. So definitely.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00I'm excited for him to be home.
SPEAKER_03I bet the stuff around the house and um you know projects we want to do too, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, that's gonna give I mean I I'm I'm sure that you'll you'll come back, you know, or look back on it and after a year or two years, it's you I I think you'll probably expand pretty pretty good. Yeah, because of the time that's available to you.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, like um next year I we we talked about our chickens have been selling well and um eggs have been selling well, so we're definitely probably look to to do more for sure next year and um we'll see how the pigs go. We'll probably do some more of those next year. Yeah once we get some more infrastructure in place and and then yeah, if if we do get a little more acreage at some point we'll um look into expanding more species.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, doing all the things. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm hoping next year we can do definitely like eight rounds of meat birds. I think that would be like a good goal. Sure. Actually, we're not gonna buy any more chickens. We're keeping our roosters and we're just gonna hatch our own. So that'll be that'll be the next thing for next year. So and that's pretty exciting too. Yeah, that is exciting.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's neat, neat watching the the process.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, definitely. So we have all the kinds, so we'll make all the kinds.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. So is um the bakery aspect of it, is that something that you're kind of focused on, or is that just kind of like an add-on, or what what I would say it's like an add-on.
SPEAKER_00Like uh I like doing it. Um, my mom taught me a lot how to do it. My mom will help. Um, my sister-in-law will help, so it's kind of like just like a little family thing that we do.
SPEAKER_03And yeah, it's something something to offer outside of like I said, like the the all the meat and stuff is gonna be seasonal during the summer stuff, so then you know we can you can bake all year round.
SPEAKER_02So it's who doesn't love the smell of baked goods, right? Especially while they're cooking, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Fresh sourdough and um making like sourdough cookies and sourdough muffins, like just something different. We made sourdough croutons now that we're gonna offer at the farmer's market, so we'll see how that goes. It's always just something that's like ever changing that we can keep like growing and trying to come up with something else that's new.
SPEAKER_02So, do you have a sourdough starter that you yeah, everything's in the fridge? Is it named?
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_02Okay. I asked because I have a the same friend that has the chickens has a sourdough starter, and she named it Clint Yeastwood. Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's funny. That's funny. Nope, no names for that. All the chickens have names, the majority of them. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02200 chickens with 200 names, not the meat words. No, no, no.
SPEAKER_00No, though those ones are too hard. Yeah, and I have a hard time. I'm not I'm not naming the the pigs because they have butcher dates.
SPEAKER_01So I know.
SPEAKER_00I already begged Matt to keep one. He says no. So he says the farm life's a hard life.
SPEAKER_02Yep. It'll be interesting to see what uh what all you guys add in the in the future, and we'll have to come back out and see what it looks like in a in a couple years.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we we talked about doing like breakfast on the farm this summer, like end of the summer. I don't know if it'll happen this summer. Maybe it'll be next summer. There's just a lot going on. So um that's something that we definitely want to do to show everybody like all our animals and all the things. And I feel like so many people live in the city that they don't even get to hold like a baby check or or anything. So I think that's a good a good thing for the community. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. So why don't we uh talk about the you know your Saturday and Sunday hours a little bit more? Um, what the best way to place an order, what your website is, and that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_00So our website is MM Country Pastures.com, nothing crazy. Um, we have an Instagram, we have a Facebook, we post there probably every other day of something, sometimes more. Like I got really excited and post piglets and um my green egg yesterday or this morning. So I always have something on there. And I would say to see all of our specials, see what we have. There's the order form on there, there's an order form on the website for what we're offering at the farm stand every week. And again, those hours are Saturday one to six and Sunday 12 to 6.
SPEAKER_0112 to 6.
SPEAKER_00And we also have order forms on our website for pigs and our meat chickens. The best way to contact us is you can ask a question on our website, you can call my husband, his number's everywhere. You can text him, you can message us on Facebook or Instagram. Uh someone will someone will get back to you and or comment on anything. And and yeah, I would say that's the easiest way.
SPEAKER_02Perfect. So and every other week you're at the farmers market in Amaral.
SPEAKER_00Yep, every other week it ends up being so. And we posted those dates like on our website, and we'll bring something. We try to bring something different every time we go. So yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, it was a pleasure meeting you guys. Yeah. Yeah, thank you. A lot of fun, and I'm again I'm jealous. Uh congratulations. Yeah, thanks. So um yeah, this was fun. Yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_00It was a good time.
SPEAKER_02Right, awesome. Thank you guys. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00Thank you.