(bright music) - Hello and welcome to "Farm Connections".

I'm your host, Dan Hoffman.

On today's episode, we visit Gnomestead Farms to learn about their special breed of rabbit, the Gnomish Giant.

As well as discuss the other revenue streams to make up their farm.

And the University of Minnesota extension provides us with another Best Practices.

All here today on "Farm Connections".

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(crickets chirping) - Welcome to "Farm Connections".

We're on a farm near Lansing, Minnesota with Naomi Thompson.

She's gonna tell us all about her special farm.

Naomi, thanks for having us.

- Thank you for being here.

- Well, this is a unique farm.

Tell us about it.

- Well, we are in Lyle, Minnesota.

We've been out in Lyle for about three years and we started off in Austin actually, raising rabbits for meat.

And we have been doing that for eight years now.

So, the thing that started us off was we had just lost our day spa and I became disabled.

My husband actually worked with me at my day spa, so we found ourselves without work.

So, it was during that recession at that time and we kind of didn't know how to make things go.

We had two children, a daughter and a son, and there was kind of a shortage of food and money and things like that, so kinda scarcity.

And so, we were just running around in the backyard one day and my husband came across some bunnies and scattered 'em around.

So, they come, my son and my daughter and my husband, come in with this big, huge armload of little baby bunnies and they're like, "Look what we found, can we keep them?"

And I was like, "You know, I think that's actually illegal, but let's go put 'em back in their nest."

But they came in again and they were all very excited about bunnies and wanting bunnies.

So, my husband didn't let it go.

He went on this expedition looking down the rabbit hole, so to speak, and he wanted to raise meat rabbits at that point so that we could have nice, healthy, good quality food.

And it's cheap to raise meat rabbits.

And we lived in an apartment at the time, it was something that we could do in our apartment.

So, we started looking into that.

We got an approval from our landlady who did not know that was the purpose for us having our little pet rabbits, but she approved it.

And so, we got three does and a buck and got some cages and things like that and started producing meat in our apartment.

So, a rabbit itself can produce up to 12 babies per doe.

So, by three months, by 12 weeks, you will have a lot of meat.

And then, you know, that's fantastic per, you know, how much it takes for a cow to produce that much meat.

You get it just really, really fast.

That's a lot for a family.

So, it's healthy, clean meat and really, really fast production.

- Naomi, when you speak of quick turnaround, gestation, growth, how many weeks for one generation?

- For one generation you can reproduce rabbits by six months you can be re breeding a new generation of rabbits.

So, six weeks you can wean them off their mother.

Most people say eight, but six weeks is completely fair.

So you can take them off and put them in another cage.

Rebreed the mother.

So, you can be rapidly repeat breeding your does.

They don't actually need a break as long as they are healthy weight, you know, looking well, rabbits are designed to breed.

So, they want to be mothers for the most part.

If you get one that doesn't wanna be a mother, then you just eat it and bring in a new rabbit.

So, that's pretty much how meat rabbits are designed to be.

- Naomi, how many generations in one year?

- Two.

- So that is quite rapid and it's allowed you to grow your business.

And how do you find your market?

- Well, we used to use Facebook, but they don't allow sales anymore.

So, that made it a lot harder for people to get out and find, you know, customers.

We were using Google.

They've also banned sales on their venue.

Craigslist has banned sales on their venue.

So, it's actually become extremely hard.

So for us, we do a lot of networking, word of mouth.

We've found some just by searching Google, there's some really little secret markets where you can do free listings and things like that.

So, I just find as many of those as I can and put them out there.

And then I have a website where I'll just funnel them back to my website.

So, that's one way that I've managed to find customers.

And then going to farmer's markets.

So again, networking is a big part of it.

- No doubt, after a while you build a customer base and they tell others.

- Right, yep.

Repeat customers has been huge for us.

- Any restaurants or supermarkets where we can find your product?

- No, we don't have a license for that.

That's a special license.

We don't have the kind of production that can go that far.

- And so, how do people find out about your business and your products?

- Well, we do have a website and also we are on Facebook.

It's Gnomestead Bunny Tree Farms on Facebook.

- That is a long title.

And the breed name?

- Is Gnomish Giants.

- And I understand you've had a lot to do with that breed and maybe even originated it.

- Yes, this is a breed that we are creating.

Again, when we started raising the meat rabbits in our apartment, I got bored, because I was disabled and no longer doing my business day spa.

I needed something to occupy my mind.

And so, I started looking into what created a breed, what breeds that were out there, and I wanted to do something for myself.

So, I looked into all the different breeds, Rex, Silver Fox, Champagne d'Argent, New Zealands, things like that.

And there were some certain traits that stuck out to me.

The Rex Fur, which is just beautiful, plush, all one length.

And the Silver Fox, which has ticking the silver ticking across it if you go like this.

And so, I decided that I want to combine those two and make a giant meat rabbit that grows really, really fast, but has these beautiful pelts so that people can work with those pelts and you know, make like coats and things like that, gloves and boots.

- Naomi, what are the products you actually sell?

- Okay, so for the meat rabbit itself, you have the rabbit live.

You have the meat that you can produce, you can make dog treats out of the ears and the feet.

You can make the pelts into all kinds of things, from boots to coats to hats, mittens, things like that.

- Well, that's extensive.

You're making a lot of good out of one animal or one rabbit.

- Yes.

- Who does the harvesting?

- My husband at our place.

- So, Gideon actually does the harvesting?

- Yep, I do some helping.

I help with the bagging and the washing, you know, to clean it all up.

And then we sell the meat from our farm to customers and eat it ourselves also.

- Why should someone want this food product?

- Well, it is low in cholesterol, low in fat, and very tasty.

If you've had rabbit, you will never wanna go back to chicken again.

The Gnomish Giant actually, has a unique trait that we found, we discovered, and kind of honed in on that.

Normal rabbit meat is all white meat.

So, I'm not a white meat person anyway.

Like with turkey, you know how there's white and dark.

The Gnomish Giants have dark meat and white meat, like the turkey and the chicken, which most rabbits do not.

They have just white meat.

So, we developed that trait and we brought it out and people have really enjoyed that difference with the Gnomish Giants.

- Well, you certainly have taken something or a time that wasn't really great in your economics and in your family life and turned it into something better.

What advice do you have for others who might be saying, "Wow, please gimme some inspiration?"

- Well, I think that if you put your mind to it, you can pretty much do anything.

So, just persevere.

Ask for help if you need help.

I had a lot of mentors along the line too, so it's not like I did this all on my own.

I couldn't have.

I had a lot of people that if I had, you know, we went through a lot of ups and downs with making the breed too.

There were illnesses that came in and outta the rabbitry.

There were, you know, lots of heat issues, cold issues, you know, to say that it was easy is not the case.

So, you know, it's never gonna be easy.

So, if you're gonna do it, know that upfront that you're gonna have to really work at it, but it's definitely worth it in the end to me.

- To this level of success, you must have a background that we're not aware of.

Can you tell us about some things that you drew upon to be successful?

- Okay.

Well, not a whole lot of farm experience, but I do have a certification in nutrition.

My day spa background, I guess I was a massage therapist, but I also did a lot of work in health and nutrition.

I'm a Reiki master.

I worked a lot with like reflexology and different things.

So, I had a complete anatomy background as far as my massage degree.

So, I kind of took that and turned it over into animals.

Did a lot of research and learned more of the animal anatomy, physiology, pathology and things like that.

We work with some different vets and labs and things like that.

So, when things come up in our rabbitry, or with the goats, or with the chickens, or the ducks, we reach out to the vets and the labs, personally, to get answers.

And you know, a lot of people they'll go online and they'll ask just other people, which we've done that too, but there's a lot of myths that go around there.

And so, what we do is we just go to the vets and things like that and you get a little bit of a better answer.

You know, 'cause there was a time when they said, "Oh, if you get pasteurella in your rabbits," which is a respiratory disease, "you have to kill all your rabbits."

You just have to start over 100%.

But that's not actually the case.

It's completely treatable.

The illness actually like the common cold.

We carry that with us all the time.

That's their common cold.

So, every single rabbit actually, carries that illness.

They only get it if their body wears down and they get rundown.

So, the same with bordetella and staph infections and things like that.

So, if you just kill 'em all, you're not helping them.

They need to build up a resilience and pass that down to their future generations so that you get healthier generations.

So, if you just, you know, butcher them all and you know, that's fine, you can eat 'em, you can do that, but that's not really gonna help, you know, down the line.

- [Dan] Build up immunity.

- Build up the immunity, yep.

- Naomi, you mentioned your children were instrumental in the front part of this business getting started, because you're very motivated and interested.

How old were they at that time?

- Let's see, my son would've been five, my daughter would've been 10.

And they were actually, very active in the project.

My son still is.

We really couldn't have done it without them.

They helped with the planning, they helped with the care, petting and playing with them to make sure that they were docile for, you know, selling to the public and picking out the next generations too.

They actually did help with that process.

So, the things that we have today are because they helped with it.

So, it's been a family project, not just a me thing.

- Your resilience and your family involvement is certainly admirable.

Are there any other projects on the farm?

- Yeah, actually, we started with the rabbits and that was our main project, but after a while we wanted to branch out.

We ended up getting some chickens for eggs.

Then we started doing forage with the rabbits and the chickens.

And then just did that for a couple years and then the kids kind of wandered off from that.

Then we got goats when we moved out here to Lyle.

So we do that for the meat, for the milk, not really for any pelts or anything like that, 'cause there's not really a market for that.

And they're kind of bigger and you know, you can do pelts for goats, but it's not really anything people do.

So we do the meat and the milk for that.

We make cheese just for personal use.

We make goat milk soap out of that and we sell that down at farmer's markets and from the house.

And then, for them, we actually had some issues when we first brought them here.

So, we've had to do a lot of extra planning and research on them as well.

We found out that our well water was actually killing our goats.

People were saying, "Oh, you've got this problem, you've got worms, you've got parasites," things like that.

But what it was, our well water had antagonists, which are the minerals were unbalanced.

So, the store minerals that we were buying wasn't enough to keep our goats healthy.

So, in my research for that, because again, the nutrition background kicked in, we discovered we have to get individual minerals and put 'em in these cells.

And then the goats are smart enough where they go down the cells and they eat each mineral that they need personally.

So, each one knows what they need and they keep it balanced.

And since we did that, we actually had one that was declining when we found this out.

She was on her knees crawling around on the ground.

She had just had a baby and she wasn't doing well and we were really concerned about her.

But we brought in the minerals and two weeks later she was up and she's very healthy and she's walking around in there.

She has been perfect ever since the two weeks after when she started eating these minerals that way.

- [Dan] Was it a potassium shortage?

- No, pretty much we don't know really what she's eating, - [Dan] She balanced it herself?

- Yeah, iron, copper, there's potassium, there's 20 different minerals, magnesium, molybdenum, silicon.

It's very extensive.

It's a big mineral bar all the way down the row in the barn.

And each of the goats just takes what they need so.

- You've worked well with biology and nature?

- Yes, I love nature.

I grew up loving nature.

It's always been my goal to live off the land and make our own food and just, I don't know, produce our lifestyle.

Like we make our own soap, we make our own laundry soap, we make our own dish soap.

You know, things like that.

That's always been my goal in life so.

- Naomi, thanks so much for sharing with us today.

- Yes, thank you very much, pleasure.

- Stay tuned for more on "Farm Connections".

- [Promoter] "Farm connections" Best Practices brought to you by Absolute Energy.

(upbeat country music) - This is Brad Carlson, Extension Educator with the University of Minnesota Extension.

And here's today's Best Practice segment.

Historically, we would see following a dry year, large concentrations of nitrate showing up in our surface waters.

And obviously, it's coming off of the land.

And so, really what's happening is we have large amounts of residual nitrogen carrying over from the previous crop year.

The reason for that is that the loss processes of nitrogen are water based, and when it's really dry, we just simply don't lose it.

And therefore, nitrogen accumulates not just simply during the growing season, but even following the growing season as our crops mature somewhere in the vicinity of Labor Day or a couple weeks afterwards.

But things don't really cool down until we get to late October, early November.

We continue to see nitrogen mineralizing outta soil organic matter through that time period, and then it accumulates in the soil.

Well, this is a perfect situation where we would look at taking a soil nitrate test.

Historically, we would recommend taking a soil nitrate test in situations, one, like we have now, where it has been extremely dry.

And then also in fields that have a long-term manure history.

So, very specifically, corn following corn.

Anywhere this year if you're growing corn next year following corn this year, we will be particularly looking for whether we've got applied fertilizer from this last year that's still there and potentially available for next year.

And then corn following soybeans where we have a manure history where we would also expect high levels of nitrogen to be mineralized out of the soil organic matter.

Now, it's possible we might also see high levels of nitrogen just in any ordinary circumstance of corn following soybeans, but that's not necessarily part of our recommendation.

But it won't hurt you anything, if you wanna take that sample.

The recommendation is to take a sample down to two feet deep, because nitrates are mobile in the soil profile.

It's gotta go much deeper than what we would normally take for a P or K soil test.

And to try and take that sample as close to the time of crop use or planting as we can.

So, in South Central Minnesota, you're primarily looking at taking that sample probably in late March or early April, and then adjusting your nitrogen rate according to the amount of residual nitrogen that's found in the soil.

Western Minnesota you can take it in the fall, but recognize that if it gets really wet in the spring, your number may no longer be good.

Look for the University of Minnesota Extension's website, type in soil nitrate test and you'll find the chart to interpret your test results.

This is Brad Carlson with our Best Practices segment.

- Welcome back to "Farm Connections".

We're in Zimbrota, Minnesota with Stu Lourey from Minnesota Farmers' Union.

Welcome to "Farm Connections".

- Thanks so much, Dan.

Appreciate you having me.

- Well, it's great to have you and you work for a great organization, but you have a really a great history that brings you to this point.

Tell us about that.

- Yeah.

Well, I like to think so.

Well, first, most importantly, I grew up on a farm and as a Farmers' Union member.

So, you know, proud of that fact.

My grandparents members too.

I grew up in Pine County with Commissioner Tom Peterson.

We bookend Pine County and my family we raised beef cattle and sold organic apples to the co-ops there.

So, we fit that in among the pine trees up in Northeastern Minnesota.

And went to school down in Northfield, worked in politics outta school.

So, I worked for then Senator Al Franken and worked for Senator Tina Smith.

Had the opportunity to do a lot of work on rural healthcare, which I am very, very passionate about.

And then found my way to the team at Farmers' Union.

And here, I direct our government relations work.

- Well, Stu, why is that important?

- Yeah, so, you know, when I'm doing my job, well, Dan, I think that I am helping our members who were here at the Covered Bridge restaurant tonight, right?

They're discussing policy resolutions, which are basically, their vision for what would make life on their farm, in their community, and agriculture in this state better.

And so, they take those ideas to conversations like this.

They debate 'em and refine 'em and make 'em better, both here at county conventions and then at our state convention that goes into a policy book.

And I have the honor of taking that book and those ideas to the state legislature and working with partners there often involved in our members to help drive on those policy priorities and get that stuff done.

So, really important and I'm really excited to do it.

- It sounds grassroots.

- Yes, 100%.

And we take that seriously.

I think, you know, you probably know this talking to me for just a couple minutes, but if I go to the legislature and say, "Hey, Stu's got a great idea."

Who cares, right?

But if I say, hey, our grassroots membership is experiencing this thing on their farm in this particular way, and here's the opportunity to make it better, that legislators listen too, right?

Folks in their district coming up with solutions to problems that other constituents are facing that matters.

And that's where we have power and the power of our people and the base that makes our organization.

- Well, we have a very diverse state, diverse in terms of people, geography, soils, and certainly distance.

When we look at the Canadian border all the way down to the Iowa border.

You referenced Pine County bookending it, that's a big deal.

But think about the entire state, right?

- Yes, absolutely, absolutely.

And I think about that all the time and I think that's why I am, you know, interested in being a member and working as part of Farmers' Union is we're a Big 10 organization.

So, of course, we're statewide, but we also represent members of all production types, sizes.

You know, we have, of course, members who are doing, you know, conventional rotation of corn and soybeans, but we also have members who are growing four acres of vertically raised vegetables and hoop houses and earning a living off of that.

And probably have a really good farm business management instructor in some cases who's helping them figure out those revenue streams, right?

And I think when you bring folks together who are all involved in agriculture, they're all involved in feeding people, clothing people, making sure our vehicles run, right?

But doing it in very diverse ways.

I think it makes for some really interesting policy discussions.

And when I go to the Capitol, I'm very rarely able to say, "Hey, everyone of Farmers' Union members agrees on this issue," right?

But what I go say is, "Hey, we talked about this at conventions, we debated it at state convention, and here's the consensus that we came to about what would be best for the state and best for agriculture."

And I think that's what we need more of, right?

Is people talking about problems and coming to consensus.

And it's cool that we have an organization like this that does that.

- Stu, can you talk at all to the farmer's contribution to our state economically.

I mean, they pay real estate taxes, they hire people,- - [Stu] Yes.

- they pay W2 wages, they pay social security, Medicare in for their employees plus themselves.

They make a huge contribution, plus all the things they buy.

Can you elaborate on that at all?

- Yeah, a huge contribution.

And I always think too, I mean, and you know, it is not just that farm, right?

It's the air duct installer who's coming and doing that work in the dairy barn, it's the folks building the pole buildings, it's the folks pouring concrete, it's the consultants coming in and helping.

You know, farmers try out new practices like cover crops in some areas.

You know, there's really exciting work happening and the work that's happening is because of the community that surrounds farms.

And that's what those businesses enable.

And I think that that's what makes me really excited.

I always think growing up on a livestock farm, you know, we had a small number of beef cattle.

But I think growing up in a rural area, sometimes you don't see folks as often.

You know, over the summer before I could drive, I can remember being a kid, right?

And, you know, if it wasn't family, if there was someone driving down our driveway who I knew and who we were in relationship with and in community with, it was our farrier, or our veterinarian, or someone who was coming to check out the cows, 'cause they wanted to buy 'em.

And it was because of the livestock, right?

And it built community, it built economic wealth, and like we, you know, need more of that to make sure that our communities continue to be vibrant, and I think that's what farms bring.

- Sounds like you're talking about sustainability as well.

- Absolutely, absolutely, yes.

It's a central tenent.

I mean, I think, you know, if there's one thing that I hear that drives our members and that makes the hard work of being involved in agriculture worth it, right?

It's being able to pass that operation, that generational wealth onto the next generation, right?

Or be able to, you know, build it in the first place to pass on to your kids.

And I think that's a core tenent of sustainability.

You know, taking care of our land, our water, what sustains us.

I think that's, yeah, that's part of the ethic that I think, you know, farmers bring to the state.

- Well said, Stu, thank you so much.

- Well thanks, Dan, appreciate it.

- Those sure were some big bunnies.

We'll catch you next time.

I'm Dan Hoffman, thank you for joining us on "Farm Connections".

(upbeat country music) (upbeat country music continues) (bright music)