(sassy rock music) ♪ Hey ♪ Hey ♪ Hey - Welcome to "A Shot of Ag."

I'm your host, Rob Sharkey.

I am blessed enough to live on a farm, so I get all the benefits of being on a farm.

But what about the people that don't?

Well, luckily, there are some people that are willing to share their farm, share their experience for others.

Today we're gonna be talking with Pearl Carpenter from Newark, Illinois.

How you doing, Pearl?

- Good, how are you?

- You're one of those people.

You're like a legit nice person.

- (chuckles) Well, I like to think so, but.

- It's a foreign concept to me, but you actually, you love it when people come out and experience your farm.

- Yeah, I do.

I love sharing it.

And the farm scene has brought like the most amazing people into my lives, people that I consider family.

And someone I was just talking the other day, they're like, "You stick around long enough, and you become friends, and then you gradually become family."

But we have a great community where we're at.

- Yeah.

Now you say it's more of like a farmette than a farm that you grew up on?

- Yeah, so we were only a little over three acres.

- [Rob] Okay.

- So that is pretty small, but we did- - If you're doing it by hand, it's not, yes.

It's actually rather large.

(laughs) - But you know, so we just were taking care of ourselves.

So we had the chickens for eggs.

We'd occasionally do turkeys and eating chickens and a steer for our beef.

But we did a lot with that three acres, and, you know, we made sure to get all those three acres to use.

- Now, when you were little, Pearl, I mean, were you in love with the farm then, or was it more of a chore?

- Yeah, no, I loved it 'cause my parents bought the farm when I was just a year old.

So I remember like bringing pictures to, like, in high school for like around senior day.

We were all bringing like pictures in from our childhood.

And I was like two years old carrying an egg basket, and I thought it was adorable.

And all my friends were like, "Your parents made you do chores-" - It's slave labor back then.

(laughs) They just don't get it.

- No.

- Yeah.

- [Pearl] No.

- So you grew up.

You went off school?

- Mm-hm.

- Where'd you go?

- Went to Iowa State.

I know how big a fan you are of Iowa State.

- I'm surprised it took you so long to mention it.

- I know.

Hey, I didn't wear an Iowa State shirt, so, you know.

- No, you did not.

(laughs) - Went there, didn't end up getting my degree there, but I did.

It was a great school and a big ag community out there, so.

- But when you were out there, you found out, what, about allergies?

Or tell me that.

- Yeah, so I think they call it more like food sensitivities, but because I grew up so organically, we didn't know it was organic at the time.

We were just living, you know, our farm life.

But I wasn't exposed to, like, processed commercial foods, so I kind of had all these sensitivities.

So when I moved back to the farm, which is like 10, 11 years ago now, I just noticed the difference.

- Well, see, that's your own fault, and I'll tell you why.

It's because like when I was growing up, we had like, you know, seven Twinkies a day.

I had built up that immunity.

- Yeah.

- I could eat a chunk of concrete and be fine, but here you are eating all healthy, and then you went off to college.

So it really affected you, huh?

- Yeah, so you're like a goat.

You can just eat anything.

- I am the GOAT.

- Okay, the GOAT right here.

(both laugh) - When you went back to the farm, did it change?

Did you feel better?

- So much better.

- Really?

- I felt so much healthier.

I was so much happier.

I was outside more.

You know, I love animals, so just filling the farm back up with animals and the gardens.

And, you know, some store-bought vegetables don't taste the same, so it was nice to get back to some homegrown food and the animals and the fresh air, like true fresh air.

- So, like, okay, before you came back, were your parents, were they farming?

Was it a business or were they farming just to eat what they were growing?

- Yeah, just a hobby farm.

They were just kind of...

But they were actually scaling down because I'm the youngest, and so I had left for college, and they didn't necessarily want to keep doing as much because there was just my folks at home.

So they were actually scaling back.

So by the time I moved back, I think we just had a llama and some chickens and peacocks.

- You had a llama.

- Yeah, a llama.

- Do you call it Tina?

- It was Lucy.

- Oh, okay.

- Yeah, but she'd go sleep with the deer at night back in the pine trees, and she was like free range.

- [Rob] Oh, it was a feral llama?

- She was friendly, but like, she was just a free range and- - What if she would've bred with, like, the deer?

You could've had some freak llama with antlers.

We don't need that.

- Put it in the zoo.

(both laugh) - Yeah, well, you were talking before the show, you worked with the zoo down in Peoria?

- Yeah, so between college, I did have the opportunity to move down to Peoria.

I was actually in East Peoria for a couple years.

So I worked at the Peoria Zoo, and it was amazing 'cause obviously I love animals.

- Yeah, what did you do?

- I worked in the Australia exhibit, so I pretty much hung out with wallabies all day.

And then I did the public giraffe feeding.

So we'd go up and, you know, get to help the public feed the giraffes, which is pretty amazing.

- Oh, you let people feed?

- Yeah.

- Really?

They gotta, like, pay to do it?

- Yeah, they do.

- Okay, I mean, you might as well admit it.

- Yeah.

(Rob laughs) - Well, that's really cool.

And then went back to the- - Yes, then I went back to the farm.

- So as you move back to the farm, you're looking at this three acres, and what are you thinking?

- Well, I definitely wanted to get animals back, wanted to get more self-sufficient.

And then I was working a part-time job, and all my excess produce was going to friends and family and neighbors.

And then just one day it clicked, and I was like, "I need to focus more on sharing this good farm-fresh food with other people," so.

- For free?

- Well, it was free when I was, you know, doing it as a side job, and then it was in 2017 that... Not side job, but like just sharing, like you do with neighbors in small towns.

But then in 2017 is when I decided to actually sell the produce and make it like a true farm stand.

- We used to have blueberries, and like when I would give my neighbor blueberries, I'd hand them the bag, and then I would just keep doing this.

- Until they paid for the blueberries.

- Until we came to an accord.

- Oh, okay.

- Yeah, but you were just, you were being nice.

- Yeah, I didn't want the food to go to waste, and, you know, we were doing as much as we could, so.

- So now it's a decision to make this more into a business?

- Mm-hm.

- Okay.

So tell me how that went about.

- So I just kind of built a farm stand at the end of my driveway and started really small, started the Facebook page and got it going.

And just friends and family were stopping by and supporting me.

And then gradually it kept expanding.

I got more customers.

I expanded my garden.

And then now I'm up to over two acres of gardens, so I stay very busy.

- That's really something.

You know, I don't know, I've haven't been to your farm, but I'm kind of questioning if maybe you aren't that good of a gardener farmer because this is the worst-looking zucchini I've ever seen in my life.

- Well, if it was a zucchini, it would be pretty bad by now.

- [Rob] What is this?

- They're luffas.

(seeds rattling) - Luffas?

- Luffas.

- Is this inside here?

- Correct, so when it's growing, it looks like this, and it has the green.

It's at a green color, and it has the skin on it.

And then when it gets to a certain stage, you can peel it, and then you get the sponge inside.

So it's nature's sponge.

- It's like those rain sticks you used to have.

- Yeah.

- What is that rattling?

The seeds?

- The seeds, yeah.

The seeds are rattling in there.

- And the seeds are in there?

- Yeah, you can see there's some stuck in there.

I try to get as many out as I can, but.

- So how do you?

Just... - Yeah, keep tapping.

- Oh yeah, I see one.

- Yeah, you can be a little more aggressive.

- Well, I don't wanna...

It seems like- - It's not gonna break.

It's not gonna break.

- Really?

- Yeah.

- I can't get a seed out, and I really wanna get a seed out.

(luffa tapping) (Pearl chuckling) - I hear some loosening up.

There you go.

- Got one, got one.

- There you go.

- Whew.

Okay.

(Pearl laughs) - I don't know if I'd eat it, but.

Not like a sunflower seed, is it?

- I'm unimpressed.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

What's that over there?

(Pearl hums) All right.

Oh, that's really not good.

I don't advise that.

- Yeah, I don't think I've ever tried one.

- Mm, not good.

What do you do with these?

- So it's just a natural sponge, so you can use 'em in the shower.

Like a lot of people know 'em as like a shower loofah.

But you can use it any way you'd use a sponge.

So we wash our dishes with it.

I wash my eggs with it.

- You just cut it up?

- Yeah, you can just cut it up with a, serrated knife works best.

And then you just use it until it...

Eventually, it'll wear down, so it'll have the texture of like a washcloth it gets so worn down.

And then you just cut a new one.

- Looks like you can exfoliate with it.

- Mm-hm.

- Yeah.

Looks like it would really dig that top layer of skin off.

- It's great when you have all the bug bites, you know.

You just get in there.

- So you sell this?

- Yeah, so I sell luffas, yep, and I have a soap maker that turns it into soap.

So these are from last year, and I don't have too many more left, so I was digging to find some decent ones to bring.

But yeah, so I've been planting the new plants, and then we have a pretty short growing season for luffas.

They like a little bit warmer.

So I'll be picking...

I'll be lucky to get a few that are ready before the first frost, and then I'll pick before the first frost.

- Gotcha.

As far as like what you're selling, now, are you going like farmer's market, or you had people coming to your farm?

How's all that work?

- So I just sell direct from my farm.

- [Rob] Okay.

- So I stock my stand fresh every morning.

So I have one stand that's for vegetables.

Then I have one stand for flowers.

So I do the flowers as a flower buffet.

So we precut a couple thousand flowers in the morning, and then you get to make your own bouquet.

- Wow.

- Yeah.

- Really?

How does that work?

If I walk up, is it like a buck a flower or something?

- So it's a cup, and you fill a cup for 25.

- That sounds like an awful good deal.

- Yes, it really is.

And there's some people that really cram the stems in there, and they really get their 25 bucks' worth.

- So if you were a dude that lived up by you, right, and for 25 bucks, you'd do that once a week, that'd keep the missus happy, wouldn't it?

- Yeah, there's plenty of people that divide it into two bouquets, and they'll keep one, and then they give one away.

- To the girlfriend and to the wife, or what do you- - No, like women.

I don't have a ton of men that actually stop by.

But a lot of people that buy bouquets, especially the women, they divide the bouquets up.

They'll keep one for themselves, and they'll give one to their mom, their sister, their friend.

- Oh.

Are you saying women are cheap?

- No, I'm just saying that there's a lot of flowers in the cup that you can get.

(chuckles) - It's like anything else.

When you fill the cup at the fountain thing, you just gotta get it all the way the top, right?

- Yeah.

- What is your biggest seller?

- So flowers are huge, and then veggie-wise, garlic is probably my biggest vegetable.

But I am determined to have a really good tomato year this year, so I'm hopefully- - Do the tomatoes know this?

- They apparently do 'cause they're doing really good so far, so.

- What's your downfall with tomatoes?

- The last two years I've had a number of problems, but the sunscald from the sun.

They get the sunburn, so I invested in some shade cloth this year, so I think that's gonna make a huge difference.

And then I bought some varieties of tomato seeds that are much more disease-resistant.

- Gotcha.

- But I'm doing about 250 plants.

So there seems to be a few problems that I'm still working the kinks out for.

- What's with the garlic?

It seems like that's kind of taken off.

It's become more popular.

What are people doing with that?

- Cooking with it.

(laughs) - Isn't that like too strong to eat, though?

- No.

- Well, I mean, all I get is garlic salt, and I know I wouldn't want to take a spoonful of that.

- Well, you're not supposed to eat garlic salt by the spoonful.

But yeah, I do have customers that eat it raw, and they swear that it keeps them healthy.

- Unless you're a vampire.

- Unless you're a vampire.

Then it has a reverse effect.

But people are going crazy about the homegrown garlic right now.

- Yeah, I agree with you.

As far as livestock, you said you're bringing some more of that in?

- So most of them are pets, but I do have mini donkeys, goats that are not for goat yoga 'cause they're a little on the bigger side.

- Ah.

- And sheep.

And then I have peacocks, ducks, chickens, dogs, cats.

- Oh, peacocks.

- They're noisy.

They're noisy.

They're not for everyone.

- And they're a vain animal.

- Oh yeah, they will sit in... We have French doors at the back of our house, and they will just sit and stare at the reflection for hours.

It's really fun.

- Yeah, we had 'em until- - Oh, okay.

- Yeah, my in-laws came in their brand-new car, brand-new car, and the peacocks decided they wanted to scratch the living tar out of that brand-new car, and then they disappeared.

- Oh yeah, you know.

- It happens.

They yell too.

- Yes.

- Help!

It sounds like someone yelling for help.

- It does, and I'm like...

I'm so used to it, but like people will hear, and they'll be like, "What is that noise?"

And they're like thinking, you know, something bad's happening over there.

And you're like, "Oh, I forgot to tell you, like I have peacocks," but mine don't scratch cars.

But they offer this wonderful service where they eat the dead bugs off your grill when you pull in the parking lot.

- That I could handle.

- [Both] Yeah.

- So tell me what this means to you.

Someone shows up to your farm.

They live in a...

I mean, the most green they see is a yard the size of this stage, right?

Tell me what that means when they come to your farm.

- Like a lot of 'em, they just take a nice deep breath, and they just like feel calm.

Like, I'm a smaller-scale farm stand, not necessarily like one of the bigger touristy ones, but so they feel really welcomed.

And I have a social space with a pavilion and tables and chairs so you can come have a picnic.

I'm a big reader, so I have a little lending library, so you can grab a book.

And I do everything I can to make it a very welcoming space, and so people tend to stick around for a while.

- Okay.

They're coming out with Roundup Ready tomatoes.

I'm gonna plant those next year.

You in?

- No.

(laughs) - They've got like a sun retardant on there too, so.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- So I'll order you some.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

The natural stuff, like the hippie-dippy stuff, that's important to you, isn't it?

- Yeah, just because, you know, there's a lot of people that are struggling with allergies and sensitivities, and I don't know if we're discovering more about it or if they're just more common, but there's a lot of people that are looking for stuff that's grown all naturally.

So I don't use anything, any sprays, not even organic, which is very challenging, Obviously, you know, I couldn't go much bigger with what I do.

But beneficial insects are great, crop rotation.

- Yeah.

- There's even planting later, like with the squash vine borers, which have become such a nuisance in the last- - The squash?

- Vine borers.

- I haven't heard of those.

- I just got 'em within the last four or five years.

But they burrow in the stems of your squash, and they lay their eggs, and then the larvae eat your stem, and your plant dies.

- Ew.

- And they've been awful.

But one of the best ways to prevent that is you plant later.

So if you plant like late June or early July, you miss their breeding cycle, and they're a little bit of a problem, but they're not- - Now, see, that's getting pretty late, isn't it?

- It's just enough.

- Just enough?

- It's just enough.

You can plant zucchini as late as like July 15th.

Like most of my zucchini- - Really?

- Yeah, most of my zucchini doesn't even go till July 15th, and I have plenty of zucchinis, and it's good 'cause then the people that are sick of zucchini are now back on to wanting zucchini again, you know?

- Literally, anybody can grow zucchini, right?

- Pretty much.

- It seems to be like, yeah, if you want someone to garden that can't grow anything, just because we would forget to weed for like, you know, two months.

And you go out there, and there was huge zucchinis.

I mean, they were pretty hearty.

- Oh, yeah.

- And zucchini bread is probably one of the best, chocolate chip zucchini bread.

- Yeah, or chocolate zucchini bread where you do like a chocolate cake mix, and you just shred up some zucchini in it, and it just makes the most delicious cupcakes.

- Shut up.

- Yeah.

- Really?

- Yeah, we do it at all of our, not all of our events, a lot of our events, and people go nuts over it, and they always want the recipe, and we're like, "Well, it's a chocolate-" - I don't know if my wife is listening in the control room.

Yes, okay, we'll talk later on that, yeah, 'cause I think I deserve the recipe for that one.

- I think so.

- What's the plan for the future in your farm there?

- You know, I just wanna keep growing and listening to my customers of their suggestions.

I kind of never know what's next, and I like that part of the business.

- But you want to stay on the farm here and- - Yes.

- Make that your living?

- Yes, I kind of like laugh when we get like the realtors send the postcards in the mail, and I'm like, "There's not enough money in the world to get me to move with how much we've-" - Oh yes, there is.

(both laugh) - Probably, yeah.

Just how much, you know, the blood, sweat, and tears that go into that kind of business.

Like, yeah, it would take a lot of money.

- Well, I don't know the area in Newark that you are in, but, I mean, it has to be a little tempting 'cause you could probably sell that farm and go out and buy 40 acres somewhere.

- Probably, but, you know, I really love my community, and like I couldn't imagine upping and moving.

You know, my community is the one that supported me all throughout school, and now I'm giving back to the kids and the community and the family around me.

So that's really important to me 'cause, yeah, I could go to farmer's markets an hour away and do really well, but it's important that we have something for our community right where we're at.

- So with the big push on Make America Healthy Again, you know, the MAHA and Kennedy and that, you know, a person like yourself that that's very important to, I don't know, do you think it's gonna make a difference?

Do you think actually people will stand up and say, "All right, maybe we need to look at something"?

Or is it gonna be same old, same old?

- I don't know.

I'm not super familiar with what they're doing with MAHA.

I just, I kind of stay in my bubble and focus on just my farm because there's just so much out there.

And I'm sure there's good and bad aspects to it, but I'm not as maybe- - Well, nobody really does, and maybe by the time this comes out, it'll all be laid out.

But, you know, the artificial dyes, the artificial- - Right, right.

- Stuff like that.

I mean, they want to take a look at that.

I don't know, it seems to me like it's feel-good stuff, and nothing will ever...

I don't know if it's bad or not, but I would like to know.

- Yeah, that is true, that there's some things that we just don't know enough about at this time to make those decisions.

- Well, if a person is like me and, you know, eats more Twinkies than greens, but they wanna become, you know, more healthy, how would I start?

- Support your local farms because there's plenty of farms that are, you know, trying to make it.

And we have lots of, you know, smaller farms that are getting into, they're switching over from maybe big crops to smaller vegetable gardens and stuff like that.

So, yeah, just, the more local you can get your food, the fresher it's gonna be, the more nutrients it has in it 'cause there are studies that prove, like, as soon as you pick something from the vine, it starts losing its nutritional value.

So a tomato from the grocery store that took, I don't know, 1,000 miles to get there versus one that's five miles from your house, that tomato's gonna be a lot more nutritious for you.

So there's a lot of people that are thinking they're eating very healthy, and they are.

They are eating salads and tomatoes and stuff, but if you can get stuff local and cut down that travel time, it can make a difference 'cause you're getting more nutrients.

- If you ever have that tomato out of the garden, you know exactly what you're talking about.

I'm not a big fan of tomatoes unless it's straight out of a garden.

And you know- - Right.

- If it's been picked, you know, that day or that afternoon, oh, bring on the BLTs.

- Mm-hm, and when they're warm from the vine, and you're slicing 'em up and putting 'em on your BLT or your burger, mm-hm.

- You could almost make like a tomato sandwich just with 'em.

They're that good.

- Yeah, I have plenty of customers that do, and they'll just sit there and eat 'em while we're talking, you know?

(laughs) - Yeah, I know people will eat 'em like apples.

I'm not there.

- Yeah, I'm not there either.

I'm not there either.

And then the kids that love the cherry tomatoes, 'cause, as a kid, I did not like cherry tomatoes, but I have tons of kids that that's what they want, and they just sit there chowing down on cherry tomatoes.

- Well, what kind are you growing?

- All different.

So I like very colorful foods.

So I have white, yellows, orange, black.

Midnight Snack is like everyone's favorite.

- I've never even heard of that.

- So it's almost all black, but their bottom is red, and that's how you know what's ripe 'cause the bottom will be green, and then it turns red.

And the first time I posted it, 'cause I said, "Oh, this is Midnight Snack tomatoes," everyone thought I was just having it as a midnight snack.

So everyone's like, "What variety is this?"

And I'm like, "It's Midnight Snack."

But, yeah, it's been a favorite for the last couple years, so.

- Okay, the beefeater, that's what I always grew.

Is that old now?

- Well, there's so many different varieties of beefsteaks, so I think I have like three or four varieties that I'm trying this year.

There's like Big Beef and Beefsteak 1 and SuperSteak.

And they have so many varieties now.

- It seems like it's almost hard to keep up with stuff like that because it just keeps evolving.

Well, you know, it's like the apples, right?

They come out with Honeycrisp, and it's like everything else is is crap now.

I don't know.

(laughs) The Farmacy Farmstand, and you spell it with an F, it's clever.

- Yeah, thank you.

- If people wanna find out more about you or your Farmacy Farmstand, where do they go?

- So Facebook is the best way I keep up with that the most, and I can post events in there.

But Instagram, I'm trying to get better about posting on there daily as well.

- You're trying?

- Trying.

- It's hard to post every day when you're actually working.

- It's tough, and I'm hard on myself, and I don't like to post the same thing on Instagram and Facebook.

So I have to come up with like two ideas every day.

- My wife won't either.

I don't care.

I was like, "Just post it."

Actually, it used to if you post it on one, it would post on the other automatically, but I don't know.

- Yeah, there's still the option to do that.

It's just, I hate seeing the same stuff in my feed when I'm on Instagram and Facebook.

I'm like, "This is the same stuff I just saw on Facebook, so why am I scrolling on Instagram?"

So that's why I have to be difficult and post different things on different pages.

- Says a lot about you, Pearl.

(both laugh) What advice would you give?

'Cause what you're doing, a lot of people would like to do.

What advice would you give 'em?

- Start small.

It's easy to get overwhelmed.

And even with the home gardeners, you see that all the time.

They'll go really big their first year, and then they get discouraged.

They can't keep up with the weeding.

Oh, that's a big one.

So start small, see what you can handle, and grow what you'll use 'cause I always see a lot of people that are growing like, especially herbs and stuff, they're never gonna use.

And just learn along the way and, you know, just keep working up to it.

- But it's tempting, though, because automatically you wanna...

If you've got three acres, you're gonna put three acres of, I don't know, something in there.

- Yeah.

- Lettuce.

- Yeah.

(Rob laughs) - And like you said there, probably a lot of it is that you can't even give that much away.

- Yeah, and so I try growing exactly what I can sell.

So there's no point in me growing, say, 6,000 bulbs of garlic if I'm only selling three.

So it does change every year, and last couple years I've actually cut back on jalapenos.

- Jalapenos is actually how you say it.

- Oh, I'm sorry.

- Thank you.

- That's okay.

- I'm not the best at pronunciation.

- We're, here to teach.

- Okay, good.

(both laugh) - That's fallen out of favor, the jalapenos?

- Well, people were doing cowboy candy, and now a lot of people are not canning as much.

- [Rob] Cowboy what?

- Cowboy candy.

- I don't know what that is.

- I've never tried it.

It's essentially like a pickled jalapeno, I believe, but it's on the sweeter side.

But you know, after 2020, people were canning and getting into all that stuff, and now you're gradually seeing people not have time again.

- Gotcha.

Okay.

All right, The Farmacy Farmstand.

Pearl, I love what you're doing.

- Thank you.

- You know what I love about it is the passion, you know, the work and everything you're doing.

But you can tell when you talk about your farm, when you talk about what you're doing, you light up.

- Yeah, you can't shut me up sometimes.

(laughs) - PBS can 'cause they can cut the cameras off.

- Pull the cord, yeah.

(Rob laughs) - But no, I wanna thank you.

We've talked before.

You know, there's different types of agriculture, and I think the more that we talk inside of agriculture is going to help because there's plenty of room for everybody, and there's no reason that agriculture should be ripping on another side of agriculture.

I know a lot of farmers like me kind of like, "Oh, they're doing just their gardening."

Well, you know what?

I don't know if I could raise that many by hand, you know?

That's a lot of work, and I know and appreciate and understand that.

So, thank you for coming down.

How long did it take you to get to Peoria?

- Two hours.

- Two hours.

Well, thank you very much.

Really, really appreciate it.

Pearl Carpenter.

Everybody else, we'll catch you next time.

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