Ep 68 - Latine Herbalism with Josie Castaneda

Hey friends! I'm super excited to have my friend and fellow herbalist, Marla Alexander, on the show today! In addition to running an herbal seed library, Marla has been growing plant starts for bigger and bigger plant sales every year for quite a while now. She currently organizes a large Denver-based plant sale every spring and coordinates growing lists for three different growers that provide the plants for that sale. Today we'll dive into Marla's tips and tricks and she'll share TONS of knowledge and advice for how to make sure your plant sale is successful. This is a great potential way to make a little sidehustle income for your homestead, or to just deepen your community connections by offering plants to neighbors, community gardens, etc. In the past, doing a small spring and/or fall plant sale has been an easy way to at least cover the cost of our farm's seed order for the year. Also, after we finished recording the episode, Marla reached out with one more piece of advice for the planning/prep portion of the episode: she suggested having signage for each species of plant being offered, if possible with photos included of the mature plants, to help people visualize what they will look like after growing. Marla said to make sure to laminate your signs for easy re-use the following year! This is especially great because it lets more introverted folks get the info they need without having to talk to you, and it leaves you free to focus on helping people with sales! It might be a bit of work on the front end, but they're reusable so you'll just have to add new signs for any new plants you add to your grow list the next season :) ~*~*~*~*~*~ Connect with Marla on Instagram The herb seed library that Marla started! The plant labels that Marla recommended in the episode. ~*~*~*~*~*~ Our farm shop is full of goodies for you! If seasonal allergies are getting you down, I'd highly suggest our Green Spiral Tea! SPRING TEA SALE!!! Get 20% off all teas when you buy 4 or more bags (mix and match for as many types as you like). Use code TEATIME at checkout. Follow Nordic Fox Farm on: Instagram * Facebook * TikTok Coming through Hotchkiss, Colorado? Swing by our in-person farm store at 148 E Bridge St! 

Hey friends! Spring is in full swing and we're making lots of headway on some big projects, like our greenhouse build! Today I'm excited to bring you an interview with Ioselleve "Josie" Castaneda, a modern-day curandera or practitioner of Mexican Folk Herbalism. She is the author of Latine Herbalism: A Beginner's Guide to Modern Curanderismo, Healing Plants, and Folk Traditions of the Americas. ~*~*~*~*~*~ Connect with Josie at Curandera Remedies or on Instagram Get a signed copy of Latine Herbalism. Also mentioned in the episode: Episode 61 – Italian Folk Healing with Jill Fazio ~*~*~*~*~*~ Our farm shop is full of goodies for you! If seasonal allergies are getting you down, I'd highly suggest our Green Spiral Tea! Follow Nordic Fox Farm on: Instagram * Facebook * TikTok Coming through Hotchkiss, Colorado? Swing by our new in-person farm store at 148 E Bridge St! We'd love to see you and have a chat over a cup of tea! Use code PODCAST25 at checkout to save 10% on everything in the farm shop!

Hey friends! As promised, we're kicking off our 2026 episodes by diving into our goals for both our homestead and our herb farm! We got really focused when writing up our goals for the year and cut the size of our goal list to about a third of what it's been in prior years. In 2026 we are really honing in only on the projects that will truly move our off-grid homestead and farm forward in big ways. Mike and I are super excited about what we have planned for this coming year, and if we truly knock the majority of it off the list then we will be extremely happy campers! We'd love to hear about your big goals for this year as well -- drop us a line on social media if you're so inclined :) ~*~*~*~*~*~ Our farm shop is full of goodies for you! We've got all the great things for winter health -- our Winter Wellness tea, elderberry tincture, elderberry syrup kits, and our broth bags for delicious soups! Coming through Hotchkiss, Colorado? Swing by our new in-person farm store at 148 E Bridge St! We'd love to see you and have a chat over a cup of tea! Use code PODCAST25 at checkout to save 10% on everything in the farm shop! You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook.

Hey friends! We hope your holidays were great and that you're getting as excited for 2026 as we are. Before we close out this chapter, I wanted to share a wrap-up episode of all the cool challenges and projects that we took on in 2025! It was a super eventful year that saw a TON of growth for us, both on our homestead and for our farm business. I can't wait for next year! Stay tuned in January to hear about our plans and goals to make 2026 even more amazing ~*~*~*~*~*~ Our farm shop is full of goodies for you! We've got all the great things for winter health -- our Winter Wellness tea, elderberry tincture, elderberry syrup kits, and our broth bags for delicious soups! Coming through Hotchkiss, Colorado? Swing by our new in-person farm store at 148 E Bridge St! We'd love to see you and have a chat over a cup of tea! Use code PODCAST25 at checkout to save 10% on everything in the farm shop! You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook. Consider leaving us a positive rating and review -- it really helps! And please share the podcast with a friend so we can reach more fantastic like-minded people!!

Today Mike and I are talking about some of the big things we've learned over the last few years of vending at various farmers markets, festivals, craft fairs, and other events. We hope you'll find a lot of useful info here that you can use to level up your own market experience!! Some of the areas we dive into include: -things to think about when choosing markets (and when to leave a market behind) -tips and tricks for making your booth stand out to customers -reducing friction for your customers (aka making it easy for them to buy from you) -improving customer interactions We'd love to do another follow-up episode, so please reach out to us if you have questions you'd like us to answer, or if you have market vending tips that you'd like to share with our audience! ~*~*~*~*~*~ Our farm shop is full of goodies for you! Grilling season is upon us and we have TONS of amazing seasonings and smoked salts to upgrade your meals. I'd highly suggest our smoked garlic salt and/or smoked jalapeno salt for your burgers, and our herbs de provence for some amazing grilled veggies. Coming through Hotchkiss, Colorado? Swing by our new in-person farm store at 148 E Bridge St! We'd love to see you and have a chat over a cup of tea! Use code PODCAST25 at checkout to save 10% on everything in the farm shop! You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook. Consider leaving us a positive rating and review -- it really helps! And please share the podcast with a friend so we can reach more fantastic like-minded people!!

Hey friends! My guest today is Whitney Johnson, also known as the Appalachian Forager. She's here to talk about her beautiful new book, Go Forth and Forage, which is all about mushroom foraging. We dive into some of the common misconceptions about mushrooms, how to go about identifying mushrooms properly, the debate about whether we should cut or pluck when harvesting, and lots of other hot shroomy topics. Whitney also shares some knowledge about how learning tree identification can really help you when out mushroom hunting and we talk a little bit about other foraging adventures and the joys of seasonal eating. I loved this convo with her and I think you will too! Connect with Whitney: Website - Facebook - Instagram ~*~*~*~*~*~ Our farm shop is full of goodies for you! We have four new teas -- Strength, The Sun, The Moon, and The Star. The Moon is our first caffeinated tea, with a white tea base plus cornflowers, butterfly pea flowers, and more! And The Sun is perfect for this warmer weather, with hints of orange peel and hibiscus. Coming through Hotchkiss, Colorado? Swing by our new in-person farm store at 148 E Bridge St! We'd love to see you and have a chat over a cup of tea! Use code PODCAST25 at checkout to save 10% on everything in the farm shop! You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook. Consider leaving us a positive rating and review -- it really helps! And please share the podcast with a friend so we can reach more fantastic like-minded people!!

Hey friends! Hope you're doing well! Spring is poking its head up here but we're still getting snow off and on as well, so we're not able to start planting outdoors yet. We have lots of great stuff happening inside though! We've got loads of grow lights and heat mats set up and we have tons of seedlings already taking off! We're really trying to narrow our focus this year to growing larger quantities of a fewer number of crops. Specifically we're focused on the things that we need big amounts of in order to produce the things we make for our farm store – mainly our seasonings and our herbal teas. We're also still growing vegetables for our personal use, and continuing to expand our perennial food forest of course. But we're getting a lot more dialed in on prioritizing what we really HAVE to have versus all of the fun random things that I WANT to have when I flip through seed catalogs. Which sometimes is easier said than done, because there are just so many cool varieties out there and I want to try them all! Speaking of seeds, that's our focus today! My guest today is Dan Brisebois, a farmer who focuses on growing seeds. His newest book is The Seed Farmer and I was sooooo ridiculously excited to get to talk to him about it! I've been a bit of a fan girl about Dan's work for quite a while now, ever since I learned about his worker co-operative farm and then got to go through his Farmer Spreadsheet Academy a few years back. Yall know how much I love a spreadsheet! Dan's book is absolutely fantastic and I think you'll get a ton from it whether you're wanting to learn to save seed and come up with your own plant crosses for your own personal garden use, or if you're interested in selling seed someday yourself. I hope you enjoy our conversation! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Connect with Dan: Dan's website -- get a copy of Dan's book, check out his great blog, learn about the Farmer Spreadsheet Academy, and listen to the Seed Farmer Podcast! Dan's Instagram ~*~*~*~*~*~*~ As always, if you enjoy the podcast please share it with a friend or two and leave us a positive rating and review! You can also support our work by checking out our farm store at NordicFoxFarm.com. We have some great new tea blends up in the shop plus all of our delicious seasonings and smoked salts. Make sure to use the code PODCAST25 for 10% off your first order, and hop on our mailing list while you're at it. I hope you're doing well and getting to have some planty fun this spring. Our next episode will be all about mushroom foraging! Until then, keep your hands dirty and your heart open.

Today I have a really great guest for you! His name is James Miller and I actually met him as a tattoo client. We did a large piece that took several sessions and so as I was tattooing him we had some really amazing conversations that then led to me wanting to bring him on the podcast. James was here in Colorado to work on a local farm as a WWOOFer. Now what is WWOOFing? WWOOFing stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. This is an organization that networks small farms with individuals who are interested in working on farms. This usually isn't paid work, but instead a pre-set arrangement of working a certain number of hours per day or week in exchange for meals and housing, plus the knowledge that you will get to pick up along the way. So WWOOFing can be an amazing opportunity for someone who is interested in traveling all over the country, or even the world, and learning some cool skills as they do so. It's something I was looking into doing when I was younger so when James told me he was a WWOOFer I knew I had to have him on the show! Today James will share his experiences with us traveling through two different organizations – WWOOFing, as well as another similar site called WorkAway. We recorded this episode in December right before he left Colorado for his next farm destination. His travels have taken him to several different states as well as Spain and Morocco and who knows where he will go next. If you're interested in learning agricultural skills, WWOOFing can be a really cool option and James will outline some of the things he looks for when considering a new potential work arrangement. I hope this episode will inspire you and give you the travel bug! Enjoy! Connect with James on Instagram. ~*~*~*~*~*~ Our farm shop is full of goodies for you! We have two new offerings in the shop -- our Hot Italian Seasoning, and our Tummy Mender Tea. Our seasonal Lymph Love vinegar is also back in stock to guide us smoothly out of winter and into early spring over the next few months. Your support helps us to keep growing, literally and figuratively Coming through Hotchkiss, Colorado? Swing by our new in-person farm store at 148 E Bridge St! We'd love to see you and have a chat over a cup of tea! Use code PODCAST25 at checkout to save 10% on everything in the farm shop! You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook. Please share the podcast with a friend so we can reach more fantastic like-minded people!!

Hi, friends! We've been working hard this month getting back into the swing of things. We spent four days vending at various markets this month and March and April are slated to be busy as well. We also had the official grand opening of our farm store in Hotchkiss and it's been so amazing to connect with people in person when they come in to browse our teas and other herbal products!  We're getting ready to jump on our next project, which is getting the greenhouse built next month! We're also getting some seeds going indoors in the meantime, and then they'll move out to the greenhouse which we hope to have done by mid-April at the latest. This will let us get a HUGE jump on the growing season, as we can't really put many plants outside until the end of May.  And as we wait for spring to arrive, I'm having fun editing some of the great interviews I've had time to record these last couple months, including today's wonderful convo with Lisa Fazio. Lisa is an Irish/Italian American folklore witch, herbalist, and astrologer, as well as the mother of 4 children and Nonna to 2 grandchildren.  Her principal training is in Traditional Western Herbalism, Western Astrology, and the folk ways of her Italian immigrant family. The primary focus of her work is ancestral revival and remembrance within the Italian diaspora as well as with anyone who longs for ancestral connection. She has an academic background in Psychology and Ethnobotany as well as years of study and practice in the traditions of Trika Shaivism and Plant Spirit Medicine. She is also a tracker, a wilderness first responder and has spent 20 years working as a clinical and community herbalist.  I'm so honored to have gotten to chat with Lisa about her book, Della Medicina: The Tradition of Italian-American Folk Healing. We had such a wonderful conversation and one thing I really want to emphasize is that you don't need to be of Italian heritage to get a ton of value out of Lisa's work! So much of what she shares crosses different cultures and backgrounds and I hope this will inspire you to dive into your own ancestry as well. Grab your own copy of Della Medicina! Connect with Lisa: Instagram * Substack * Website ~*~*~*~*~*~ Our farm shop is full of goodies for you! We have two new offerings in the shop -- our Hot Italian Seasoning, and our Tummy Mender Tea. Our seasonal Lymph Love vinegar is also back in stock to guide us smoothly out of winter and into early spring over the next few months. Your support helps us to keep growing, literally and figuratively Coming through Hotchkiss, Colorado? Swing by our new in-person farm store at 148 E Bridge St! We'd love to see you and have a chat over a cup of tea! Use code PODCAST25 at checkout to save 10% on everything in the farm shop! You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook. Please share the podcast with a friend so we can reach more fantastic like-minded people!!

Hey friends! Hope you're doing well as we wrap up January here. We have been SUPER busy with some big projects behind the scenes. One of them is that we now have our farm store open in Hotchkiss! For the last two years, Mike and I have, in addition to homesteading, had a small tattoo studio in Hotchkiss. Our lease was coming to an end and we had really outgrown the space so we started looking for something bigger. One of the things we were hoping to find was a new studio space that would be big enough to actually house both of our business! We lucked out and found a great commercial space that's still on the main road through town and the property owner is super cool and very supportive of everything we're doing. We've also been trying to find some time to pause and do some planning before things pick up steam here with markets again. I think taking the time to really reflect on what we've done before planning for the next season is so incredibly important and that's why I'm so excited to have Jill Ragan of Whispering Willow Farm on the podcast today! She's the author of the Tiny But Mighty Farm but our focus today is to talk about her newest project, The Tiny Farm Planner. We had an awesome conversation about so many topics, like honoring the different seasons of our lives, getting away from the cultural urge to monetize everything we are doing, and instead focusing on the joy that activities bring to us. Hope you enjoy! Grab your own copy of The Tiny Farm Planner! Connect with Jill: Instagram * Facebook * Website ~*~*~*~*~*~ Our farm shop is full of goodies for you! We have two new offerings in the shop -- our Hot Italian Seasoning, and our Tummy Mender Tea. Our seasonal Lymph Love vinegar is also back in stock to guide us smoothly out of winter and into early spring over the next few months. Your support helps us to keep growing, literally and figuratively Coming through Hotchkiss, Colorado? Swing by our new in-person farm store at 148 E Bridge St! We'd love to see you and have a chat over a cup of tea! Use code PODCAST25 at checkout to save 10% on everything in the farm shop! You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook. Please share the podcast with a friend so we can reach more fantastic like-minded people!!