#1041 Making Hay

Honey has six year old type 1 and they live on a farm.

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Scott Benner 0:00
Hello friends, and welcome to episode 1041 of the Juicebox Podcast.

Today I'll be speaking with honey. She is the mother of two children, her youngest has type one diabetes. Honey and her husband live on a family farm in Washington State. And we talk a lot about what it's like to live there, work there and raise animals. Her son Vinnie is using a T slim and Dexcom. While you're listening today, please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan or becoming bold with insulin. How would you like to save 40% on everything that's available at cozy earth.com You can you go there you put your stuff in the cart, and use the offer code juicebox at checkout to save 40% off of your entire order. Save 10% off your first month of therapy@betterhelp.com forward slash juice box. And of course the diabetes Pro Tip series has been remastered and is available in your audio app right now. Between episode 1001 1026 Do not miss it. diabetes pro tip.com If you don't want to listen in an app this episode of The Juicebox Podcast is sponsored by a G one. That's right. I drink ag one every morning and you could as well drink ag one.com forward slash juice box when you use my link. You will get five free travel packs and a year supply of vitamin D with your first order at drink a G one.com. Forward slash Juicebox Podcast is also sponsored today by Omni pod Omni pod.com forward slash juice box. Are you looking for an omni pod five are the Omni pod dash. They're both there at that link Omni pod.com forward slash juicebox Get started today. Learn more and check into that free test drive. Links to Omni pod ag one and all of the sponsors are in the show notes of the audio app you're listening in now. They're also available at juicebox podcast.com.

Honey 2:30
Hi, Scott. Thanks so much for having us on today. My name is Honey and I own a farm up in northeastern Washington and I am the mom of a type one who is a six year old little kindergartener. And we are just thrilled to be on your show today talking about diabetes and being bold with insulin. Cool.

Scott Benner 2:52
All right. So six year old daughter, son, son, yeah. How old was he when he was diagnosed?

Honey 2:58
So he was almost five, he was four at the time. And a little background on me. I'm actually a school nurse. And so I had this inkling in the back of my head that something was wrong, something was going on. And he, you know, had all the classic signs and symptoms. And my husband's also a fireman. So we have this kind of medical background. But it was kind of fluky. The year that he was diagnosed, we had this incredible drought happening, the weather was the hottest, we've seen it, we had no rain for months. And which is not typical of Washington, if you're familiar with the Northwest, and we just thought something's wrong. And anyways, we got him in and it was actually the first day of school. So my first day back at work, and the docs here in our local little clinic said, let's, let's do some blood work. I think you're onto something, I think you're right. And I said just do me a solid and let's poke his finger in the clinic here. And he was 512. And, and that was pretty much the you know, it tell tell we're going to the hospital and we know what our life is gonna look like moving forward from here. And, you know, as a mom, that's scary as a nurse, that's, you know, like, Okay, this is doable. This isn't curable, but there's tools and things out there that we can handle, but I still always revert back to I'm a mom first. And, you know, I was like, my baby is now it's gonna be life changer. So that was in September of 2021. And he turned five and 25 in that year and then he just turned six. And you know, it hasn't slowed him down one bit. I would say actually, he's done. Pretty darn amazing. Yeah,

Scott Benner 4:54
well, let's find out about but before we do, have you ever been concerned or worried? That life is the matrix, and that your life was designed by the same guy that wrote the penthouse letters in the 80s. Because here's what I've heard so far. Hi, my name is Honey. I'm a nurse, my husband's a fireman, and we live on a farm. This sounds like the next sentence is gonna be on a Friday night. My husband came home after putting out a big fire with his big hose. And it's just like, seriously, like, are you serious? Honey?

Honey 5:31
We are serious. I know. I know. It's this our whole story to how we got here is it's kind of interesting, you know, because my husband and I met through work. And it's not like, oh, the nurse and the firemen that met in the ER or anything. We we just met through our jobs. I was working in an adult ICU and, and he was working for the local fire station. And we met through coworkers. And we've done a lot of cool things together. You know, we've remodeled a couple homes. We've gone from a five acre farm to now 115 acre farm. So you know, but it's something that drives and fuels us outside of, you know, our jobs as a nurse and a fireman. So,

Scott Benner 6:18
have you ever bought him cookies at the fire station that he took you for a ride in his Camaro?

Honey 6:25
No, but I would. I mean, that would have been so fun.

Scott Benner 6:30
Where do you Who do you? How old are you?

Honey 6:32
I am 36.

Scott Benner 6:33
I use no context for what I said when I said penthouse letters, then

Honey 6:37
you know what the funny thing is, though, is my husband who listened to this and told me like I know exactly what he is talking about. Because

Scott Benner 6:46
I'll give you the tiniest overview. There used to. There used to be nudie magazines that were old. I don't think they exist anymore. And one of them. They would purport to be printing letters from readers. But they were clearly written by never she horny guys, do you know what I mean? And anyway, like, it totally would have started out like this. Present now.

Honey 7:11
I mean, yeah, you can take it for what you want. I mean, let your listeners have their own imagination. And if their 80s babies and my husband like I said, He will listen and he will say I know exactly what Scott is talking to you about. Not even a big deal.

Scott Benner 7:28
If I wasn't so lazy, I'd get some like cheesy like Cinemax music and play it behind the entire episode. And while we're while you're telling me about things, I would just be like chicken bow. Anyway, sorry. As you were going through it, I was like, this isn't real. Okay, so, so you. So once this is only like a year or so ago?

Honey 7:52
Yeah. Yeah, we're, we're very new to the type one world I guess you could say. Yeah. So but I do feel like, thankfully, with our background, you know, the needles and the insulin and, you know, the poking or dealing with, you know, pumps and stuff like that, that didn't really intimidate my husband and I, I think the most intimidating thing, when we were diagnosed was like, you know, oh, my gosh, this is this is obviously it's life changing. Like, no matter what you say, or do, it's life changing, and being able to, you know, kind of flip the script. And we always tell Vinny, that's our son, you know, like, do not let it define you. I know you're six and there's days that you wake up, but it's rough for you know, there's days that you woke up and you know, your, your site's gone bad. And then we have to do this all before school or you have a bad day at school because you had a low and then you had the mess recess or whatever it ended up being, you know, we don't we really try and empower him to not let diabetes define him. And, you know, we also have a daughter who's his big sister. And so there's also that fine line of keeping the balance and the family peace. When you're dealing with really a family disease that affects everybody. It just doesn't affect him and affects everybody in the family,

Unknown Speaker 9:14
for sure. How old's your daughter?

Honey 9:15
She's nine. So and you know, I will say she has done incredibly well. You know, she was obviously super worried when he was diagnosed. And there, there's a lot of times where he is. He's like the second mom, just really helpful. I mean, but there also are times where she's like, this is unfair, because Vinnie had so much more attention, you know, in certain moments, and I'm like, I get it. It's not fair.

Scott Benner 9:41
Does she actually come to you with that? Yeah, she'll

Honey 9:43
say, you know, like, it's not fair like Vinnie got this or that or got to do had an extra piece of candy because he was going low. And so we try and bounce that pretty well. And you know, if he gets something to treat a low and then we try I'd give her something to treat a low. But again, we're at the same time pretty health conscious about things as well. And she'll, she will even say to us, No, I'm okay. I don't need a piece of candy because I want to try and be on the healthier, healthier side of things today. So, you know, it's just one of those things I think you deal with as a family managing type one. Yeah.

Scott Benner 10:22
So when this happens, obviously, you were able to see it quickly. But did you expect it? Is there like, Do you Do you have any autoimmune issues your husband or your family? Drink a G one.com. Forward slash juice box? I heard words very similar to that on a different podcast a couple of years ago, and then I started drinking age one. Today you're hearing about it on my podcast. It's what do they call that meta circle life. Who knows? Today, I get my foundational nutritional supplements from drinking age one. I feel better when I drink a G one. And I do it every day. I can remember back to before I had ag one, and things just weren't the same. Ag one is a science driven formulation of vitamins, probiotics and Whole Foods sourced nutrients. Ag one is raising the standard for quality in the supplement category and helping you to build a healthy foundation. Drink ag one.com forward slash juice box when you use my link, you're also going to get five free travel packs, and a year's supply of vitamin D with your first order of ag one. Ag one helps to provide sustainable energy, improved digestion and mental clarity. It's easy to mix. Great to drink. Easy to clean up, it will take you just a couple of moments at the beginning of your day. I mix mine with some cool water, knock it right back, and I'm on my way. Drink ag one.com forward slash juicebox links in the show notes links at juicebox podcast.com. When you click on those links, you're supporting the production of the podcast.

Honey 12:05
No, we neither of us do. And no we didn't expect it. I said to my husband, I can remember vividly texting him because he was diagnosed like the end of August. So it was August 31. And I think I remember looking back at my text messages, and I had texted him like the very beginning of August and said I think Vinny has diabetes. And he was like, Okay, well, you know, we'll get him in and we'll get him looked at which of course we did. And then of course being a nurse and, and in my background. You know, I went from adult ICU to working as a peds nurse on a cardiac and transplant for I would float to the cancer care unit. And so I had seen those kids with different leukemias and stuff. And so in the back of my mind, I thought, well, it's diabetes, or it's cancer. And I was like, neither one is anything that we would choose, you know, for anybody, but we, we ended up with him being a type one. And I was just glad that we had answers. Like, you know, at that point, I was like, Okay, we have answers. Now we know what's going going on because he just wasn't our boy. He was irritable. You know, he always felt like he had a stomachache. And he had, he had lost weight. And that was like, my big trigger was like, Man, he's just he's not putting on weight for a little like four year old he should be like, thriving, and he's doing the opposite.

Scott Benner 13:29
Was it difficult to because he was for like communicating with him, like very clearly about how he felt?

Honey 13:35
Yeah, yes. Yeah, it was he would sit at the dinner table. And I remember to like there'd be times where we cook salmon. And he'd be like, uh, you know, having a fit over salmon, which I'm like, okay, I get it. You're for like, that's not everybody's favorite meal. And then he would just cry and cry and cry and cry. And we couldn't console him and, and he would just seem so overly tired. I thought this is really weird. You're not like this. Normally you like fish or salmon or whatever we put on the table. He's not our picky eater. Our nine year old is actually our picky eater.

Scott Benner 14:09
Yeah, I figured that out when she was complaining about not getting an extra piece of candy.

Honey 14:12
Yes, yes. So it was just really eye opening. And, you know, at four, it just took a lot. It took a lot more time getting down on his level, explaining to him, you know, there's nothing that you did wrong. There's nothing mom or dad did wrong. This just happened. And we tell him this still now. We tell him there is some reason I'm that firm believer of like, everything happens for a reason. But I'm like, there's some reason that this happened. There's some reason that you were diagnosed whether you end up being a doctor or you end up going into a medical profession or you know, you end up running a podcast like Scott, you do something like that. There's a there's a reason, you know, that this has happened, and we don't know why yet, but we will in the future. And so we try and kind of, you know, home that into him on a daily basis, like,

Scott Benner 15:05
do you think it's comforting for him?

Honey 15:08
I think so, you know, and he's so good about, like, he's at school. And granted, I'm one of his school nurses. So I actually don't work in the elementary school, I work in the middle school. And so I don't get to see him on a daily basis. But he will tell his, his friends, you know, like, why am diabetes so this is why I have to have this and we've gone into the classrooms and said, you know, this is why then he carries a phone on him. And this is why he will have sugar when you guys don't get to have sugar. And, you know, try and make it really, versus something that he's hiding and ashamed of, we try and be pretty open about it, because it's not something that you can really avoid, you know, based on the pump that he wears, and the fact that he carries like a little fanny pack around with like snacks for Lowe's and his phone in it because he's a kindergartener. I'm like, I can't imagine a kindergartener carrying a phone around or other kindergarteners care, understanding why have another kindergarteners carrying a phone around well, and we chose to go that route just because we wanted to be able to either talk to somebody quickly while we weren't there. Sure, you know, or when he's able to he can, you know, text us he's not quite there yet. But he'll get there eventually. Hey, Arden

Scott Benner 16:24
had an iPhone in kindergarten, back when iPhone just came out, and we were the scourge of the town for doing that.

Honey 16:34
I still feel like that I feel like when people see us out, I'm like, do I need to explain myself? No, I'm not gonna explain myself. They can make a presorted judgment on me if they want. But at the end of the day, this is what he means. And if somebody wants to, you know, be a kind human and ask versus just judge, I'm open. I'm serving our story.

Scott Benner 16:57
I'm certain that people looked at us. And we're like, oh, there's castles that bought their kid on iPhone. And that's how I feel. Yeah. causing us to be bothered by our children because they want an iPhone. And exactly. Listen, whatever I we one time we were in a 504 meeting. And a nurse said like a teacher. She goes boy art and camping or iPhone into the room, because then all the kids will want one. I was like, tell them just to get an incurable disease and they can have one. Yeah, sure. Perfect. I mean, if they needed that bed, I don't know how to make diabetes happen, but they should go concentrate on it and see what they can do. Yep, yep. Yeah. So anyway, you know, right now I need you to either make a reference about driving or slapping Chris Rock so I can call this episode Honey, honey, come right. Can you work one of those things in while we're talking?

Honey 17:50
Sure. I'll try and work it well. You know, speaking of the farm, the kids I mean, that was kind of our biggest thing when when he was diagnosed, my husband looked at me in the hospital and he said,

Scott Benner 18:00
pickles. I bet you that's not what he said. But we'll find out in a second. My daughter has been wearing an omni pod every day since she was four years old. Today. She is 19 years old, and a sophomore in college. She's wearing an omni pod right now. She wore one last week and she'll wear one tomorrow. It is the complete and utter friend in this trip with diabetes Omni pod.com forward slash juicebox. You can get the Omni pod dash or the Omni pod five at my link. Omni pod dash is a regular pod to Bliss and lovely you can swim with it bathe with a jump in a lake, go play soccer doesn't matter. No tubing never have to take it off to do your activities. And it's all what you would consider like an OG insulin pump, right? You set your Basal insulin up, you make your own decisions. It's a beautiful delivery system for insulin. Now the Omni pod five is an algorithm based pod and it works with the Dexcom G six Omni pod five is going to make insulin decisions for you. You still put in your carbs and tell it what you're eating. But if it sees your blood sugar going up, it tries to stop it. If it sees your blood sugar going down, it takes insulin away and tries to stop that as well. It doesn't matter if you choose the Omni pod five of the Omni pod dash Omni pod is going to simplify your life with its tubeless insulin pump. On the pod five has the smarter just technology. Go to my link and read more about it. Omni pod.com forward slash juice box. You don't have to take the Omni pod offer anything I mentioned earlier, but anything involving water, bathing, swimming, anything involving activity where you most likely would take off a tube pump. You don't have to do that without the pot and I'll tell you what, that's really important because your blood sugar can rise up to like one point per minute. If you take your pump off. You don't want that you want good consistent insulin delivery. Head over now. Check out your coverage. Find out your S to meet a copay, or check that other button out, I'd like a free trial of Omni pod please. It's all there on my link, Omni pod.com forward slash juice box, you can wear the same exact insulin pump that my daughter has been wearing for 15 years, links in the show notes links at juicebox podcast.com.

Honey 20:21
Do we need to give up the farm? You know, we've been doing this for two years plus already. We have, you know, draft horses and we have Scottish Highland cattle. So we have those big fluffy horned cows, we have goats, we have chickens. We have Barn Cats, we have all the things. And that's a lot to manage on top of, you know, just being a mom being a dad having a full time job outside of the home. Yeah. And I'm like, No, this is, you know what, again, coming back to Everything happens for a reason. I'm like, Absolutely not everything that we're doing here will help Vinny in the future because guess what you don't have to dose for you don't have to dose for protein. And I'm like, there is you know, I get that some people aren't protein fans, we are a protein a kind of every meal, fam. And we, you know, sat down in the hospital and said, No, this is super duper important. This is what we need to be doing. This is how we need to raise the kids, and kind of sharing our story in a different light for hopefully, you know, people who don't have the knowledge of type one, because that's a whole nother story of, you know, oh, you have type one hill Hill grow out of it. And then or you have diabetes. They don't know, the difference between type one or type two

Scott Benner 21:45
or, or they think juvenile means that it only exists while you're a child.

Honey 21:49
Exactly. It's so popular. Exactly. Yeah. You know, he'll grow out of it or whatever. But no, this is this is something that we're really trying to work on and build so that the kids can potentially take the farm over one day. And for us, you know, knowing exactly kind of where our food comes from we, on top of, you know, raising all these animals, we also have three ginormous gardens, we have a 24 by 40 hoop house where we raise all of our tomatoes and peppers. And, and thankfully, he's not our picky eater. And he is super helpful on the farm, he and his sister will drive out in our little RTV and go get eggs for us. And they'll go check on the cows. And, you know, I think that we had some reservations initially when, you know, when he was diagnosed thinking, how are we going to do this? Like, how are we gonna do this? Thankfully, my knowledge is a as a school nurse and my background as a school nurse to that point, because I've only been a school nurse for three years now. I was like, well, there's really great tools out there that we can use and, and that will help us monitor him, especially when he's away from us. And, and we just make sure when the kids are out, you know, rolling around on the farm, whether they're, you know, running up the hill to check on the pigs or they're out in our UTV driving around that they are set, you know that we've got stuff for Lowe's with him pretty much all the time, and that he's got some sort of communicated device, whether it's a phone or something on him so that when they're when they're helping us on the farm, that we can still make sure that he's safe to see though.

Scott Benner 23:29
Do you have like glucagon with him when he's out on the farm? Does your daughter know how to help him? Things like that?

Honey 23:34
No, you know what, we don't keep a glucagon in our, our little farm rig. And the only reason why is because of the temperature, like the temperature control. So we keep stuff like fruit snacks and juice in there. And I had, he knows when he's getting low, it took a while, you know that first like six months honeymoon phase that he was in? He would be like 34 and talking to us. And I'm like, Vinny, like, let's see right now. And he was fine. Now when he goes low, he can tell us before he's getting below 60. And so that's super helpful. He'll say, I don't feel good. I'm starting to feel low. And so we keep snacks on him so that way he can dose himself while he's, you know, still being outside and living the life as a kid should on a farm. You know, we still want him to be a true rugged farm kid.

Scott Benner 24:28
Yeah, we refer to that is feeling the fall. Yeah, like Yeah, so Okay, so I guess I want to talk about that for a second. Um, so I'm assuming you you're building this big thing, right? By the way your life sounds are you also an astronaut? Like on the weekends or something like do you guys have so much energy? Are you doing a lot of coke or something? How do you have all this energy? Seriously? I'm a nurse. I did this he's a fireman. We have a farm. There's a pig there's a goat. I'm like What? No, hell

Honey 24:58
no, I know my husband. As my husband's famous quote is like, I'll sleep when I'm dead. And I'm like, yeah, that's pretty much. That's pretty much how it goes, we, we are really trying to bite off as much as we can right now, while we are young, I'm 36, my husband is going to be 42 this year. And, you know, we really are trying to get a lot of things done, not only to set ourselves up for success, but like I said, the kids, you know, we hope to pass this

Scott Benner 25:25
on. That's where my question is. Because I'm, I tell Arden, I'm like, you know, you could probably keep the podcast going after, like, old and she's like, I don't know. And I'm like, you're good at it. And she's like, Yeah, maybe. And then it's just so I mean, I can't wait to I won't be around the day. You're like, you guys. Wait, don't want the farm. I killed myself the build.

Honey 25:47
Yeah, hey, no. All right.

Scott Benner 25:50
Tell me again, what you want? Yes. So him working on the farm, doing the things he does? He doesn't get low, he doesn't get low.

Honey 26:00
You know, no, for the most part, he actually, like, stays pretty even killed. I will say, he's out. Especially when we're out in the garden, he'll like, be snacking on some strawberries, or those pull a carrot and snack on a carrot. So he's still, especially when we're outside. So that is kind of a hard, bounce. Like, okay, how many strawberries have you eaten from the garden? Because now I don't know what you've had. And yeah, let's make a really good guess on what you've had as far as dosing goes. But he's, he is pretty good about that. He can, you know, tell us when he's feel in the fall. And he'll go back inside, if he's not feeling good. And he'll just go have a snack himself. And thankfully, we do this with a lot of our family, we have a ton of family close by. And so if we have to step away from a project or, you know, finish doing something early, then we can come back inside and make sure that you know, he's doing okay, he's got what he needs. And then He usually comes back out on the, on the farm with us.

Scott Benner 27:05
Do you employ people do you employ people?

Honey 27:08
We don't, we we're still small enough that we don't need to have like full time employees or anybody working for us. But it does help that we have our family here as well, because we all kind of like reap the benefits from the farm, right, like so we, you know, with our meat. And then as far as the vegetables go, my mother in law, and I do a lot of canning, freeze a lot of our berries and you can freeze a lot of your vegetables too. It just depends on what you're going to use them for, for future use. But we try and freeze a lot of that stuff. And the kids get involved in help to you know, like when we can green beans. They're like the best green bean cutters ever. So I guess I employ my children's sense.

Speaker 1 27:50
I assumed you had them working. I just wasn't sure about like, you know if there were other people that it just seems like Yeah, can I look the farm up online or something? Or yeah, so cuz I don't understand. You understand that I don't understand. Like, my, my dog had to go out before we recorded this. And I was pissed that I had to take him out.

Honey 28:08
I hear ya. I hear ya. Yeah. So And with that, like our farm, so we follow regenerative agriculture. So I don't know if you've heard that term. It's being thrown around a lot lately. But basically, when we bought our land, it was pretty, like used and abused. You know, it was sprayed for pesticides, sprayed for weeds. And so with herbicides and stuff, and we when we bought the farm, we've not sprayed or done anything. So we're totally chemical free here. And we actually use our cows and our animals to help regenerate the soil and you know, grow healthier grass, we joke around and say, Well, we're soil farmers and grass farmers first versus us being, you know, a rancher or, you know, people that sell eggs or stuff like that, you know, we we really try and focus on healing the land. So basically our cows, they're on winter pasture right now and they get hay every day. And when they come back out onto pasture, we move them once a day. So think of them in a little square. And then the next day, they move to a new square and they don't get to go back to the old little patch of grass that they were on. And it goes like that all year long until they come back to winter pasture. So our cows are on fresh grass every single day. And it is a lot of work. And we've in the years that we've been doing this, we've learned a lot of things and the kids are right there by our side. So if you go look us up on social media, you know, they're in videos where they're helping us pull fences or pull the stakes that hold their fences up or helping us you know, they'll drive our UTV and help us move the water or move the minerals. You know, they get our eggs for us. We'll ask them when we're cooking them. Hey, can you guys run out to the garden and get a pepper and a head of broccoli, and they'll run out and get what we need for four things. And so they're a big help. And we really try and incorporate them into pretty much everything we do. And Vinny is right there along side of us, just, you know, plugging away.

Scott Benner 30:18
So you're not, I mean,

Honey 30:19
testing things.

Scott Benner 30:20
Yeah, test my knowledge of this, right. So yeah, the the, the cows being in one place, and then taking off the grass, then deprecating, and then moving on, like, you're kind of regenerating the ground that way. So you keep moving them so that they are doing the work to, to bring the soil back to where it needs to be is there there are I have, I mean, obviously, you are right, like it's become fashionable to talk about regenerative farming in some places. So I've heard things like some soils only have 60 seasons left and things like that, because, and then you have to bring in outside, like manmade fertilizers just so things will grow in some places, because the soil is so dead. And you're Yep. Okay, and you're trying to stop that from or you're trying to bring bring that back from the you bought?

Honey 31:08
I see. Yeah, yeah, we are trying to stop all of that, you know. So there are definitely farmlands, I think that are, you know, this is what their grandpa's grandpa's did. And this is just the way they farmed, and we are trying to step away from that and really heal the soil, like you said, with the use of the animals. So them grazing them, you know, actually eating the grass and pulling out the grass seeds helps to regenerate the soil down in the roots that that helps, like you said, the deprecating getting their nutrients back into the ground, it's all natural fertilizer, and then we have our chickens follow behind them. And then they spread their manure and eat the worms that are in the manure. And it's this whole kind of, like circle of life.

Scott Benner 31:57
Are you trying not to say circle of life? Because yes, I

Honey 32:00
am, then I'm like, it's gonna happen. It happened.

Scott Benner 32:04
I was. So I'm like she's trying not to say circle of life right now. But there are no other words for it.

Honey 32:09
No, it's not. And to put that into like perspective, for somebody who's not on a farm and doesn't understand, you know, what we talk about when we're talking about replacing the carbon and the nitrogen in the ground, that's effectively what we're trying to do is basically make healthier soil. And we want to see the microorganisms that we know are in the soil, come back to life, and turn, you know, like on a drought season, if there isn't anything for the, you know, when there's no soil and there isn't anything for the water to be absorbed into, well, then you don't have grass that grows and then you're stuck, either, you know, irrigating or fertilizing or praying that you're going to have some sort of harvest for hay or, you know, whatever your crop is that you're that you can feed your animals through winter. And so, it you know, I say it a lot. It's a lot of work, but we absolutely love it, and we wouldn't be farming really any other way.

Scott Benner 33:09
So where does the money come from? Like, okay, it seems like we've got we've can things we've grown things we've raised things, then I mean, do you like for example, like let's go through it like you can the the vegetables, you sell them online, you sell them locally?

Honey 33:26
We don't that's super hard to do. Because just have state laws and regulations, especially when you're canning things, you people do it. So let me sit let me preface that people do do it. We do not have to go to a special kitchen to do that. And there isn't one close to our house. And for us.

Scott Benner 33:44
Would you need to employ a food Packer? Right, basically? Yeah. And what about the beef? Then? How do you do that? The

Honey 33:51
the beef, so basically kind of like where you probably buy your beef or your pork from our beef goes to what's a USDA butcher. So that's a federal federally inspected Butcher. And because it's been inspected, we can sell that across state lines, we can sell that throughout the state. There's a lot of different ways if you're purchasing like a full animal, you can either buy a whole or a half or a quarter. Or you can just buy cuts, you know, like, hey, I want to have a ribeye with my valentine kind of thing. You can go to local farms and say do you have cuts available and if they are more than likely being processed at a USDA butcher, then they can have cuts available for you to purchase. So that's what we do is we have our animals go to butcher we get cuts back and then we sell those cuts to people because not everybody's interested in having a whole cow stashed in their freezer. And so we kind of appeal to those customers that say well I want just some bacon and I want just a couple steaks and maybe some roasts and XYZ to get us through the week of dinners Okay, perfect. So that's, that's where the money comes from there. Obviously, if you've seen all the egg memes and all of the egg jokes going around, you know, you know how, how expensive and crazy it is to get eggs right now. Um, so eggs are another big thing. But what people don't realize is that eggs are chickens decrease their output in the winter because of daylight hours, and it's just colder, in general. And they also molt, so they shed all of their feathers to bring in new feathers for the next year. And so there are a lot of different factors that affect why chickens lay, and why they don't lay. And so like right now, we do not advertise that we have eggs, and we sell only to a couple, like very loyal customers, because we don't have enough to supply everybody, like we usually do in the summer. So that will change. You know, but yeah, so that's, that's basically where the money you know, comes from. And then we also, we sell our live animals as well, to people that you know, either want goats to do the same thing like us to help clear brush or to manage their weeds, or people that just want cows because Highland cows are really popular. And some people just want them as like a backyard pet thing. Seriously. Yep, there are people that have Highland cows as just backyard pets. And we don't do that. But there are people out there that that definitely want them just to have a cute fluffy cow in their yard. And you know, you can have a cow on three acres and, and they do fine.

Scott Benner 36:38
What what, how much does a cow cost me if I want one?

Honey 36:41
Oh, man, I think it depends on there's you know, there's a fluctuating price you could get them in this is throughout the country, but I've seen them as low as $2,000. And then we have seen them go at auction for up to $40,000.

Scott Benner 36:56
Okay, so how much would it cost me if I had it butchered? And I bought it as as the beef.

Honey 37:01
Yeah. So if you did that you pay. You pay your farmer, you're hanging weight. And so basically, whatever the farmer sets is their hanging weight price. So national standards right now is about $5 a pound. And then you would also pay your cut and wrap fees, which can depending on how you cut and wrap your animal is typically 300 To 50 to $300 is what you're, you're paying. So if you were going to buy a whole cow, you could guesstimate that you're going to spend about $1,500, but that's in beef.

Scott Benner 37:34
Okay, and then maybe another three 400 for the cutting in the wrapping. Yep. So the animals basically worth about two grand, have seen a better life. But I'm getting into an entire cowboy theme because we're speak.

Honey 37:49
Also learning so much.

Scott Benner 37:51
I've watched Yellowstone recently. So you know,

Honey 37:53
oh, yes, I know. We're, we're we're big Yellowstone fans. That's funny.

Scott Benner 37:57
I'm fascinated by this. Because if I'm so Nick who puts a cow on their property, just to have fun, because that's how that's how, by the way, if you own a cow as a pet, that's how I see you as an adult. But anyway, like, so what is what, what does it cost me to feed the thing? And

Honey 38:14
so yeah, I mean, you have to think about that. That's an that's one of the biggest questions we get, you know, you have to factor in the cost of hay if you live somewhere like us where we had, you know, 13 inches of snow before Christmas, which is not normal. So you have to factor in your cost of hay. And granted, we're buying hay and create, we make our own hay. So we're making it on very, very large scales. So we have about 70 tons that we store for the winter. So that's quite a bit we have a whole building that's dedicated on our property to just storing hay. And, and that's another place where the kids love to go play. They love to play in the hay bale. Because we have a big beautiful barn too, and, and they love to go play in that. But that is something that you have to factor in. So you're Yes, I'll never be per month is probably going to spend 100 bucks, 100 bucks on hay a month. If you have like one cow.

Scott Benner 39:11
And there's gonna be couched everywhere. Everywhere. Yeah.

Honey 39:15
So you could, you could, you could compost that and you could put that back into your garden to help

Scott Benner 39:26
me that well, but I don't think I can.

Honey 39:30
I mean, yeah, wait a minute, you were annoyed about your dad. I

Scott Benner 39:32
was so irritated. He's like, I have to pay and I'm like you mother, okay. I gotta go make a podcast, but we'll go outside and pee now. Then he then he did. And I'm like, Dude, get back in the house. And it's my mom's 14 years old. And he knows and he's looking at me like I was thinking of walking around and I'm like, You need to go back in the house. And he starts wandering away from me and ignoring me and I had to like run and jump in front of him like what are you doing? And he's like, Oh my god, I could get away with it and then he walks in the house. This cow will not like attack me like if I go oh, three acres to legally keep a cow on my property.

Honey 40:09
Well, I mean that depends if you're in a neighborhood you know it just depends on kind of what your what your guys's I guess laws and stuff are depending on where you are because there's some places where you couldn't do this

Scott Benner 40:25
one acre in Jersey in a residential place I'm thinking I'm gonna throw a cow back there to screw was the people.

Honey 40:32
Oh, that would be so fun. I'm you know what? I know that there's some breeders in that area that we should get to one. We're going to find one. Yeah, we can now

Scott Benner 40:42
Yeah, we should definitely get me a cow. That's a great idea. I'm not sure I could take care of the stuffed animal that I saw. When I Googled Highland cattle.

Honey 40:53
You could you could do it.

Scott Benner 40:55
I do. You did something in the beginning, which I understand like being in your like line of work in your life where you were like, I know, some people don't like beef, which was like protein, which is a nice way of saying, I'm trying to be respectful. Some people think that we're murdering, but I'm gonna have a steak later today, just so everyone knows. But um, I'm trying to decide like that fluffy thing is edible?

Honey 41:20
A sure are I mean, and that's, I guess my my thought is, you know, what's the difference between my my fluffy cow versus, you know, a Black Angus or a reading?

Scott Benner 41:29
And that's what I'm trying to figure out. What am I eating exactly right,

Honey 41:33
you're still leaving, you're still you could be eating a highland, you just might not know it. You know, if you don't have that connection to your farmer, then you won't know what you're getting essentially at the end of the day. And that's why

Scott Benner 41:47
my farmer honey is Costco. So you know.

Honey 41:51
And I love and I love me some Costco. And they do a great job. But yeah, you know, that's, that's kind of the thing for us is, when my husband like, well, we got to, we've got to figure out what we're going to do with the farm. When Vinnie was diagnosed, it was like, Well, no, this is like, very important. And he is he loves our products. You know, his one of his favorite thing. And what he requests for dinner is bones. And that is code for pork chops. Oh, because he loves to just knock on the bone of a pork chop. So for us, it's, you know, it's one of those important things where I feel like, yes, there is this amazing life saving hormone that we have to give our kid multiple times a day and that we think about all the time, but then there's moments where, okay, you're just eating protein. And I don't have to think about that for a minute. Because I don't have to

Scott Benner 42:44
dose you. You don't see any rise later from protein because protein can be stored as glucose after Yeah,

Honey 42:50
you know what? Yeah, we actually with him have not, he'll have, he'll have just, you know, like, one of his favorite lunches is actually just like salami. And he's kind of getting away from cheese right now. But that was one of his favorite kind of lunches. And he will say, pretty much like right at 110 or 108. You know, you know what, I wonder? He has, yeah,

Scott Benner 43:15
he's so active, isn't he?

Honey 43:17
He is very active. I mean, not to

Scott Benner 43:21
also part of it, not to ignore diabetes for 39 minutes, and then come back to it now, but I'm trying to decide like, do you do is he kind of like gone? I mean, he's using a pump, right?

Honey 43:33
He's in a pump. So he's, I don't know if I can say what pump is.

Scott Benner 43:37
Why would you not be able to say that we just said, Oh, I don't know. I think we just like talked about like cutting a cow up and a little pieces. You can talk about that. Yeah.

Honey 43:43
Yeah, so he's on the T slim. And and we went with that just because of the age the Omnipod wasn't out at the time or the Omnipod. Five wasn't out, obviously at the time where we wanted to have him how critical IQ. Yeah, so what's so what's his Basal set? Is basals. Point three.

Scott Benner 44:06
That's what he's he's not using and what's the way?

Honey 44:10
He's almost 60 pounds? Yeah,

Scott Benner 44:13
okay. Yeah, he's not using as much. I think he's not his settings aren't as strong as I would expect them to be. I think it's probably because of all the activity.

Honey 44:21
Yeah. And he is very active. So like, he's always on a sport. So my daughter does gymnastics, and he does soccer and he just finished basketball, and then we'll go back into soccer. And then he's also that kid, when he gets home from school. He's like, I need a snack. And then it's like, Okay, how's this not going to be but I'm going outside, even when it's snowing and garbage out. He's going outside. And it's like, okay, well,

Scott Benner 44:44
honey, I have to be honest with you. I don't get all the action and the movement around and adding extra things to it. So you get up in the morning, go to a job. And then come home and work a farm. Yeah. And then you Why don't you you have to cook and eat and do all those things. You go to the bathroom at some point, I imagine.

Honey 45:07
We're really busy. Yeah, no, it's actually on the mornings where my husband is gone is he you know, he's a fireman. So he'll work those 24 hour 48 hour shifts. I have to get up, get the kids ready for school. So you know. And of course, these are the mornings where it's like, oh, the site went bad or it's decks failed, or it's like, Are you kidding me? So got to deal with all of that. And then get them fed, get them pack lunches, go outside, feed everybody, because I can't leave for the day and not feed the cows. And then go to work and do it.

Scott Benner 45:40
In the morning, um,

Honey 45:42
you know what? I actually don't get up superduper early, like I was up at five today. 530.

Scott Benner 45:49
Your kids don't get up earlier than say 530

Honey 45:53
Yes. I mean, that's not that bad. Hey, you know what, Scott, there's people that wake up at four to work out. And I used to be one of those people that I'm like, I I've given up on

Scott Benner 46:03
trying to live forever. What time do you go to bed?

Honey 46:07
Last night I went to bed at like, 930 I was tired. Last night.

Scott Benner 46:11
I mocked them. I'm making fun of myself, but I shouldn't be so yeah, my life's on a different schedule than yours. Because, yeah, eight o'clock this morning when my alarm went off. And I thought I've got to get a shower and go make the podcast. I was like, it felt early to me. But I didn't go to bed. I didn't go to bed till like two o'clock in the morning. Oh,

Honey 46:31
holy moly. Yeah. So it affects me all day.

Scott Benner 46:35
Oh, okay. I see. So you're sleeping from nine to five. You're getting more sleep than I am.

Honey 46:42
I am. It's good for you to

Scott Benner 46:45
eat that's for also I woke up very angry from a dream at 330 You ever get pissed off at a dream?

Honey 46:51
Oh, all the time. My husband's like, what am I in trouble for now that I didn't my dream. I'm like, well, just wait. I can tell you.

Scott Benner 46:58
Here. This is gonna be really stupid. Wait till I tell you this. Okay, three years from the time I was 16 till I was 19. I was a volunteer fireman. Oh, yeah. And at the end, I decided I wasn't going to do it any longer. But I was still in the middle of deciding. And yeah, I think I had made it fairly clear. And then one day I decided to like, there was a call and I was like, you know, I'm gonna go and maybe I'll decide to keep doing this. And I got there and my gear had been pulled already. And it pissed me off. And I dreamt last night that that happened again. And I woke up incredibly angry. Oh, how bizarre. Yeah, and that was like 29 this like 33 years ago that happened. Interest. I jumped about something that happened when I was 19. And I was just as pissed in the middle of the night last night as I was when it happened to me when I was 19.

Honey 47:54
Well, maybe it's because you knew you were going to talk to a fire away today. And I

Scott Benner 47:58
can't be true because I don't read the notes first. Like when you came on, and I was pulling all my stuff up. I thought this is the lady that has the farm. And and because of the bizarre way that I don't know that I set the show up like I talked to you so long ago. Like, you know, I mean, what did you book this like six months ago or something like that? Yeah, yeah. So I'm like, I've been living for the last six months they can eventually I'm gonna turn my thing on one day and talk about farming with somebody.

Honey 48:29
Yeah, that's right here. You know, I

Scott Benner 48:31
am here I am today. Yeah. Okay, so, here's a couple of things I've learned so far. Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. I do want a cow. Now that I've seen this thing. I think we should make that happen. This specific photo on Google, I think, maybe I'll just get this picture and hang it up. That might be easier. And also, I blame Taylor Sheridan for making me feel way too because I think I've now watched Yellowstone 1883 And I'm caught up on what's the other 119 2919 2323? Yes. I'm caught up on that now. And, and I was I was again irritated when I got to the end of it. I was like, Wait, there's no more episodes?

Honey 49:13
Yeah, I know. I we feel the same way. I have a very well, it's a known thing, but I love rip. I love rip and my husband has like almost he doesn't have a handlebar mustache, but he's got a very aggressive and impressive mustache right now. And I'm like, Yeah, I was meant to live on a farm and, and be married to a cowboy.

Scott Benner 49:35
Well, okay, I've requested first let me say this. If you're enjoying all the Yellowstone TV shows, may I suggest a movie from 2016 Hell or High Water, which was actually written directed by the guy that made the Yellowstone. Oh, okay. We'll have to go watch that. And I remembered liking it back then. And then I put two and two together eventually. Here's another thing. I've never I've never been on a horse. Okay. I feel badly about that.

Honey 50:02
You should do that. I bet there's somebody close by to you that would offer you something like that. And maybe your daughter would get a kick out of it too. Who knows, but

Speaker 1 50:16
I have a short checklist of things. It's the weirdest checklist of things that I've never done that I think I'd like to do that I'm fairly certain I'm never going to do.

Honey 50:29
Well, is riding a horse on there.

Scott Benner 50:32
My list so far is horse. This is so stupid when a cow. No, I wouldn't. I've never had. I've never had a cup of coffee. What? Yes. So I think I want to do that once. Yes, I've never. I've never smoked weed. Okay, and I've never, I've never shot a gun, you should just

Unknown Speaker 50:51
come over.

Scott Benner 50:53
Can I handle all this in a day and a half a year?

Honey 50:58
We could get you on the back of a horse. You could pick a cow. We could drink copious amounts of coffee. Yeah, we could we could take a lot of the things off that

Scott Benner 51:09
list. Like do you skip the weed but you're in Washington. So I mean,

Honey 51:12
we are in Washington. So that is clearly a thing that could happen very legally for you.

Scott Benner 51:21
Also, you've almost named the episode number of times you actually said I can't believe this, you actually said bought the farm at 1.0. And you said making hay. So there's all kinds of euphemisms that have come out through your conversation so far. Oh, by the way, I also want to say that it's super interesting to me that a woman named honey named her son Vinny.

Honey 51:44
Oh, you know what it's from. There is no family ties or anything. But we actually after we decided we were going to name him Vincent realized that there was family ties, but that wasn't what influenced our name. It's from entourage. Oh,

Scott Benner 51:58
I had my fingers crossed for Pulp Fiction, actually.

Honey 52:01
Oh, I mean, that would have been a good one, too. But no, it was from entourage. So I had knee surgery and my husband and I have binged the whole, the whole everything of entourage. And I was like, no, if we have a boy, I want to name him Vincent. And he was like, Okay, I love it. And so that's, that's what he ended up as.

Scott Benner 52:22
So I thought it was one of those situations like when you know, your real Republican, your kids turn out Democrat or vice versa. Like you're like, like some hippie named me. I'm gonna go with something a little more traditional, is what I

Honey 52:33
Yeah, no, yeah. No. And my mom, I mean, my mom. Yes, I would say she was a hippie. But my name wasn't even from like that. It was my mom's a hygenist. And she was like, How to a client and she said, if I have a girl, I'm going to name her honey, because I love that name. I was going to be named a Petra, Petra, because we're Norwegian. But I ended up honey, which is much more suiting and definitely fits my personality. So not a Petra,

Scott Benner 53:01
Petra, it's tough. I think you have to be like an Instagram model with ABS. Petra. That's a tough one. There's a look there, you got to pull off. You got to be like six feet tall. And have, like, I'm thinking blonde hair slicked back. Yeah, yeah. And you I think you get to be a, I think you get to be the bad guy and Eddie Murphy movie, if I'm remember, Oh, that'd be fun. No, Sylvester Stallone, maybe I'll figure it out. Yeah. Okay. So the diabetes thing is not that big of a part of your day, huh?

Honey 53:32
You know, well, it is a big part of our day. I mean, you know, I think about when we were first diagnosed, and how overwhelming that feels, and then, you know, being, you know, new to that, so not new, because I had I deal with kids at school, right all day with diabetes, or other life threatening allergies, or seizures, etc. And so, I had a little bit of background, but didn't have enough. And so, you know, I think my biggest thing is finding those groups or those resources that are going to work for you. And, and, like we say, to Vinnie, every day, like, you know, you're not defined by your diabetes, this does not define you. This is nothing, you know, to stop you in life. This is just maybe a little roadblock, but there is a rhyme and a reason as to why he was diagnosed and, and, you know, we think about it every day, obviously, when he eats, we're thinking about it, and when he's having lows or when we can tell if he's, you know, going high, but for the most part, you know, we'd really try and keep our, our management, really well rounded, and we try and stay on top of it as best as we can, especially while we're running a farm like this. I do think that the tools that he has to help, you know, like being on T slim, and having decks are wonderful, amazing things and I you know, we'd be lost without them. You know, when we were doing MDI, it was like, how do people do this like cuz we need to get on a pump, you know, and I think there's a beautiful part of MDI, because his pump failed this summer. And so I was like, well, that sucks. My husband, my husband was, of course on and I'm like, well, we can't let us stop us. So pack up, the important off we go, and you're gonna have to, you know, go back to getting injections here for a little bit. And he handled it great as a five year old, because he's, you know, he just turned six. So this was in the summer, because a five year old, he can do his own shots, and he can handle it, doing his own shots. He wants to be involved. And I think that just, you know, being proactive, and, you know, saying, You have to help us, like, there are things that you have to help us with, and I know that you don't want to do this, and it is unfair that this happened to you, but you have to help us, he has realized, okay, I have to do it. Otherwise, the consequences, you know, result in DKA, or ending up back in the hospital or losing, you know, if this was long term things losing limbs or losing vision, or you know, things that you get scared about and worry about. And that's what makes me lose sleep at night sometimes. But then I'm like, I can't focus on all that. Otherwise, I would drowned in in fear. And so we really tried to not not let that take over our life on a daily basis, you know, and he does great with it at school, too. That was my biggest fear was sending a kindergartener to school, even though I work at the school, but I'm right there. I'm like, I'm still worried. Inside. Yeah, I

Scott Benner 56:33
we worked so hard to get Arden on to Omni pod before she started school. Yeah, I had that same. My thought back then was just like, I don't want like a stranger sticking my kid with a needle so many times, that is actually Oh, what I thought, you know, it just occurs to me that you're managing having diabetes, you know, your son having diabetes. Like, it sounds like you just do it the way you do everything else. And it's full out like, like, I mean, what's the what's the other option? Really, right? I mean, like, seriously, you wouldn't see it this way, because it's your life. But if you got caught into a situation where three or four or five hours a day was lost to like, either woe is me, or like, you know, confusion or, you know, whatever. There are, like legitimate live things, that would not be okay, because of that. Like, it's almost like you can't, I'm trying to figure out what I'm trying to say here. It's almost like you can't afford not to do it this way. And because of that, this is the way you do it. It makes me wonder if I couldn't have just taken the dog out without complaining about it.

Honey 57:39
Yes, you can. Yeah. And I you know, what's interesting, and I will say this is when we were in the hospital, that and, you know, diabetes has been around for how long and, and especially in the northwest and whatnot. And the day that we were diagnosed, so a year and a half ago, I said something to the doc, like, kind of like, well are there, you know, because like, I felt like I needed a counselor or somebody to talk to you at that point. And then I was like, Well, are there resources available for the kids expecting, you know, I work with a counselor every day in the school. So I have a counselor at my fingertips if somebody's having an issue. But are there counselors for some of these kids who maybe don't have like a stable home situation, or they're gonna have to navigate a lot of this by themselves, especially if they're in their teens or whatnot. And they had just started their program for kind of more on the mental health behavioral side of things or counseling, like that week, and I was flabbergasted because I thought they're just, there's so many resources out there, but there still isn't enough. Sometimes it seems like, you know, I rely heavily like on Facebook groups, like your Facebook group. There's not like there's type one diabetic mom groups, there's, you know, tandem groups that are specific to tandem, I rely heavily on those groups to, you know, bring more knowledge to the table for us to use with Vincent. Because, you know, at the end of the day, we're all learning, we're all learning. We're all learning from each other. You know, I saw somebody yesterday in your group post about, like, helped me swag this and it was, you know, like a yogurt and a string cheese and oh my god, did you see that? I was like, holy moly. I'm, I'm well over 100 carbs.

Scott Benner 59:25

100. And it was, it was like a, it was a kid at a Valentine's party at school. Yes. There was so much stuff on that plate. And I thought like, wow, like, I could not eat any of that. But okay, I Yeah, exactly. And so it was really actually heartening to me to watch it because so many people got close enough. Like there was my best guesses there was about is just gonna sound crazy. There's about 110 carbs on this plate. Yep. But people like in that group. Word. ere they were between 80 and 105, and they were talking about like, well, that's so much insulin. So I would probably do like this much, and then wait to see if there was a rise and put there, they all had like a plan around it and everything and, and only, it was really interesting, because it got a ton of traffic. And right, everyone was so very supportive about it. Like nobody was like, your kid should need that. Because I think we all know nobody should eat there was like a cookie and a doughnut and potato chips. And like, I was like, Oh my God. But yeah, one, it was one person who said I would not eat any of that. And it was an older person. And I and I removed their comment and sent them a note that said, we don't tell people how to eat here. And that was the end of it. And so, but I mean, 100 other people were like, Oh, I would try it was very supportive, very interesting, was

Honey 1:00:51
very supportive. And I thought it was interesting. And I was like, that's like a perfect example of diabetes and how everybody will manage it differently. You know, like you said, there were people that said, Well, when I dose half or what I give an extended Bolus, or would we see if they ate at all? For one? That would be my question when my kids eat?

Scott Benner 1:01:09
Yeah, I was sure they're gonna eat all that. Yeah.

Honey 1:01:13
And then, you know, dose base off of that my husband went to Vincent Valentine's party yesterday, because of that reason, I was like, there'll be treats, and I'm at work, and I can't, you know, leave to go over there and help, you know, dose and stuff. And I don't want to leave that in the hands of the teacher, and then have them be 400 by the time he comes home. And so I think it's cool that there are so many tools and resources available out there. And I wish more people knew about that I feel blessed, because our endocrinologist, they're amazing. And they tell you, here's Facebook groups that you could follow, here's, you know, helpful resources that you can go to, Here's a helpful group of moms or parents or whomever that you can talk with, that, you know, may have a tip or trick, you know, when we first started with Dexcom, Vinnie broke out in a rash every time and I was like, Oh, my God, I can't, how are we going to do this, this poor little skin, and then it was someone, I was scrolling through something and somebody said, Flonase, and I was like, touching, then take my money. And we haven't had skin issues since then. And so, you know, I think there's so many great resources and whatnot out there. And, and, you know, tying back to our lifestyle, like you said, we don't have an option to not just kind of, this is the path we're going. And we're gonna, you know, we're just gonna do what we have to do, essentially,

Scott Benner 1:02:37
what made you want to come on the podcast,

Honey 1:02:39
you know, I wanted to come on, because I feel like, like, in my realm of when he was diagnosed was like, that people should know that they're not alone, because I felt very alone. And, you know, I don't know, if you battled insurance. Well, I had to battle insurance. And my first month and, and I think I want people to know that. And this comes from also my nursing background. And my husband probably say the same thing, too, because he's a fireman and deals with people in some of their worst moments as well. But having somebody to advocate for you, for you, or advocating for your child, if they're diabetic, is beyond important. You know, and I know that most of us are the big mama bears, and Papa bears that are like, we're going to do whatever we need to do for our kid. But then there are some people I think that need that little nudge, like, No, it's okay. You can ask for things that you want or think that your child needs, and not take no for an answer. To fight

Scott Benner 1:03:36
back a little bit. It's, yeah, and you know, it doesn't come naturally to everybody.

Honey 1:03:41
No, and it doesn't, I would like, you know, I want to encourage people to think about that, and, and, you know, to, to not let, because like I said, when I remember in the hospital, people think this is going to stop in life. You know, like you said, you can spend three to four hours a day, having a woe is me pity party, we could have done that. We could have said we're going to sell the farm, we're going to sell all the cows, we're going to stop everything our focus is just going to be Vinnie, giving him the best life we can. And then it clicked, like in that moment where I was like, well, doing what we're doing is going to give him the best life that we can. Not doing this and not building this farm up, would probably be detrimental to him, you know, in the future. And so for us, it's really just about empowering people knowing that you're not alone. lean heavily on the community that we have here, because it's pretty incredible.

Scott Benner 1:04:36
You ever imagined that you'll be able to farm like full time.

Honey 1:04:40
That's our goal. We'd love to get there. You know, I do. I love my job. And you know, in Washington, I have to work so many hours to keep my license up. So I will probably always have something part time as far as a nurse goes, but we would love to see this the full time you know, operation and right now we're good you know where we're at. We're growing small, and, but we're growing steadily. And we love doing this. We're doing this alongside our kids. So, you know, at the end of the day, I'm like, even if it became nothing, I did it with my family. And so that's the cool part, what's the name of the farm. So the name of our farm is called del Kenna Highlands, and that this is based off of the area that we live in. But it's D ALKE. n, a, and then Highlands. So just like it sounds high, and then land, and that's based off of us being tucked up a little bit in a valley, kind of up in the higher area. And then delta is the area that we're at, in Washington. So that's where we're from. And

Scott Benner 1:05:44
so I'm here I can buy like a pork chop, or something.

Honey 1:05:49
You could so we aren't. Yeah, so yeah. When when we are shipping, I will ship us some steak, Scott. But we aren't shipping yet. So right now we just delivered to like, Inland Northwest. So yeah, so we're on the border of Idaho, actually. So we can touch on, you know, the Idaho kind of Western Idaho border. And then my husband actually commutes and works south of Seattle. And so we can deliver all the way over to you know, we're inland to Pacific Northwest, basically is where our our area is right now. But we're hoping to be shipping here soon. And I'll send you some steaks.

Scott Benner 1:06:26
Thank you. Can I ask a silly question? Sure. Grass fed grass finished. I understand that. Yeah, I don't understand finished.

Honey 1:06:37
So a lot of cows, like your lovely yummy Costco cows, they are finished on green. So they just they basically, most cows spend their life on on pasture eating grass. And that's how they grow and mature and get to their, their standard size. And then a lot of cows are brought in to basically a barn or like a feedlot. And then they're finished with grain. So that basically pumps them up at the end before BUTCHER So that can help with making them more tender. People think that has has more flavor. But then there's my husband, this is his quote is, think about it this way. You've eaten really healthy, let's say you've done like a whole 30 year entire life. You've been super, super great. You're super lean, you're walking around, you're getting all the nutrients we need. And then somebody says, Here's ice cream and you get to eat ice cream until the end of your day. How do you think that would feel? And that's basically kind of what happens is your lean your lean mean machine until the end and where you get screen finished?

Scott Benner 1:07:43
Which fattens them up and then they and people like the fat for plate. Yep. Gotcha. Exactly. And finish with grass. You get a leaner cut,

Honey 1:07:53
you get a leaner cut and like so for Highlands, for instance, why we raise Highlands is they are they've got all that long, hairy coat on them. So they actually don't have to put on as much fat to keep them insulated. But they still have great marbling. And they still taste just as delicious. And they're not gay me like some of that grass fed protein candy. They're really, I mean, they are quite delicious. And I think it's just your preference. You know, we we hunt, and we fish and we do all this stuff, too. And so, you know, you think about like a deer and elk. You're like, well, they're not getting finished within a grain. And so we haven't known really any different and so that's why we chose to go grass fed grass finished. It's cheaper to if I don't have to buy grain at sea saves me in the long run. Sure.

Scott Benner 1:08:39
Okay, I just you know, the word finished. I was just like finished like what does that mean? Yeah. So

Honey 1:08:45
they the the last day that they spent here before they're loaded up into a trailer. They are still on grass.

Scott Benner 1:08:52
Nice. Okay, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Well, yeah. Did I not ask you anything I should have? No, I

Honey 1:08:59
think you asked everything. Yeah, I think we're good. And then I have a pug barking sorry. Why do

Scott Benner 1:09:04
you have what's wrong with you? Honey? Why do you have a dog?

Honey 1:09:07
I have three have

Scott Benner 1:09:08
to have a cow or something? What are you doing?

Honey 1:09:13
So funny. I know. I have. I have two Labradors and a pug. So you know, that keeps me busy too.

Scott Benner 1:09:25
Can I ask a question? I can't believe I have a question about chickens. But I actually do. Yeah. I don't understand that. There's an animal that like, I guess free range. If you didn't own those chickens, there'd be a way they'd live and they'd lay eggs. But when you bring them into a coop, like stuff happens right? Like they they can go crazy. Don't the moms go crazy after they lay the eggs and you have to separate them or what am I not?

Honey 1:09:49
Oh no. So we have actually our coop is built on an old hay wagon. And if you go on like our social media or website you'll see a pic sure of it, and that coop, we built it that way so that it could move behind the cows, you know, part of that regenerative agriculture so they pick the poop and eat the worms and all that, but they have nesting boxes along the side of it. And so they go in and they lay their eggs and and then they go back to you know, pecking and scratching in the grass and in the pasture and acting as a chicken shed and then they come back in the coop at night to roost. But if there is a mom, that is what the term is broody, so she wants to sit on those eggs and hatch those, those moms, we just, we still take their eggs every day. And because we're a licensed egg dealer in Washington, we candle our eggs. So that means we look at them with a flashlight every day. And make sure that there isn't a baby chicken there that we're selling to somebody, you know that somebody's sat on an egg too long, and we missed it or something so we can handle all of our eggs. And we've had chicks naturally born here. But usually those moms go and hide their eggs somewhere. They don't do it in the coop. So go. We last year. In fact, we found four chicks, and a mom in the field just randomly. Like, she had hatched her chicken, her chicks in a long pile of grass, close to the coop so she could go get food and stuff, but would come back to her little clutch of eggs every day and just sit there. And then she hatched out four little chicks and it was beautiful.

Scott Benner 1:11:32
She's gonna make a break for it. Do you think she had like a whole plan? Like in a Disney movie? Oh, yeah.

Honey 1:11:37
It's a legit thing. Their animal instinct is very, very real.

Scott Benner 1:11:42
Like I'm gonna hatch these eggs and we're gonna get the hell out of here.

Honey 1:11:45
That's right. And she did. Great. It was cool. Kind of Wonderful stuff like that.

Scott Benner 1:11:51
Yeah. Oh, that's so interesting. It really is. Yeah. I'm looking at. I'm looking at your Instagram. It's dark Kanna Highlands at Dhaka. It's the ALKENAHI Gh la nds. Yeah, so people want to see pictures. Oh, look, there you are. The internet's amazing. I can see you.

Honey 1:12:12
Yeah. Don't you love that? Also, I

Scott Benner 1:12:15
don't know. You play down his mustache a little bit. It's pretty impressive.

Honey 1:12:18
I told him. I told you. It's impressive. And it's aggressive. It's, it's it's a good stash. I I love the stash. I have. There's this weird thing that I have for Redfin. And I'm like, Well, I can't have the real thing.

Scott Benner 1:12:33
I get this one for have my own version. No, that's not that's not his real hair color. He dies it for the show.

Honey 1:12:39
I know. I know. Which mean, yeah, he's basically he's a redhead.

Scott Benner 1:12:45
I think what do you like about him that he's quiet? You know?

Honey 1:12:49
I don't know. I think I just like that. You know? He's, like a manly man. Like, he just is. He's just fierce. If there's like one word that I'd be like about ribs.

Scott Benner 1:13:01
Yeah, he would not pitch about taking the dog out. I would listen. I I've said it before. I'm not embarrassed. I love complaining. I feel like it's a sport.

Honey 1:13:11
That feels good to complain. I'll call my mom and do that. Sometimes. I'm like, can I complain?

Scott Benner 1:13:16
Fairness, I'm not even upset. I just love the complaining part. Yeah. This is really cool. I appreciate you doing this. I do have one last question. But I don't know if it's gonna make people sad or not. I mean, what's it like to raise an animal? to butcher it? Is it hard?

Honey 1:13:37
It is hard. Yeah. There's, there's moments where I'm like, Oh, my gosh, this is really hard. And our, our, our, basically, our way of our train of thought is that we give them a really, really an amazing life here. You know, there's, they're on pasture, they're getting grass, they're getting all the things that they need, and they have one bad day. And so that's how we look at it. And you know, I think if I didn't have that connection to my animals, I feel like I should be out of the business. You know, because it isn't easy. And I'm not heartless, you know, there's a lot of time and effort and energy that goes into each and every animal. So it's just a matter of, you know, yeah, knowing at the end of the day, though, that I'm not just providing for my family, I'm providing for other families as well. And we gave that animal the best life that that it deserved. Really.

Scott Benner 1:14:25
Yeah. I mean, I to be clear, like, I don't have a problem with it. I just, I just, I mean, I'm looking at them. Like, they're kind of adorable. And yeah, and then, I mean, you have to have some sort of connection with them. You're seeing them constantly, they're seeing you they must recognize you at some point. And you know, like, they do all that goes along with that. And I don't I just figured that personally, it might be hard.

Honey 1:14:48
It is hard. There is no doubt about it. It's hard. And yeah, I guess I just try not to like let that sway me, you know, I'm like yes, they're adorable and cute and I Trying to remind people of this to. I'm like, they're adorable and cute, but then they're adorable and cute. And they end up being 2000 pounds and they have horns, and they are an animal. And so you have to remember that. I mean, I'm like, dogs are adorable and cute until you remember, they're an animal and they have animal instincts. I mean, I would trust my labs with anybody, but they're still animals. You know?

Scott Benner 1:15:22
No, listen, I don't want there are a lot of people on this planet. I don't I certainly don't know how to feed them without without animal meat. So anyway, this is really cool. I thought, Yeah, terrific. I appreciate you doing this very much.

Honey 1:15:38
No, thank you. I love it. And when we're shipping steaks all should be a steak. Oh,

Scott Benner 1:15:43
see, I really do appreciate that. I will smoke your steak just so you know. Oh, I

Speaker 1 1:15:47
love it. I will. I will slice it down. And then I will pick at it for days. Good. Like just is that weird? Like I what I basically Well, first of all, I can't believe I'm saying this. At least around here. Costco is the best steak I can find. Like I believe that. Yeah, it's just without going to a butcher. Like you can't get the steaks in grocery stores around here a terrible I don't even know if people realize it or not. I don't know why I couldn't begin to tell you why. But anyway,

Scott Benner 1:16:18
I go to Costco. I don't do prime. I do choice. So I get a little fattier bike. And then I like to do a I smoke them just a little like salt, pepper, you know, like smoke them up. And then I sliced them down with after they're cold. And I just picked.

Honey 1:16:37
Oh, that sounds delicious. Kind of how I

Scott Benner 1:16:39
go through my week in the afternoon. I do a little steak. So

Honey 1:16:43
yeah, that sounds delicious. To me. I'm in. Yeah. And

Scott Benner 1:16:45
people are like, isn't that expensive? It's like, I don't know what you're talking about. Like I eat all week for $40. So I was like, I you know, I don't know what you're spending to stay alive for a week. I really do. i It's so bizarre how I anyway, thank you. Hold on one second for me. Okay. Yeah. Okay.

I love talking to honey. I hope you enjoyed listening. You can check her format. I'll give you the link in a second. But first, let's thank Omni pod Omni pod.com forward slash juice box on the pod has been supporting this podcast with ads for nine years. Go say thank you at Omni pod.com forward slash juice box. And you know who else had our back today? Drink ag one.com forward slash juice box they supported the show where their ads and we get honey story in return. Go check out my links Omni pod.com forward slash juice box drink ag one.com forward slash juice box links in the show notes links juicebox podcast.com. And I have honeys. farm here for you hold on a second. Here it is. Let's spell it. D ALKENHIGH la nd s.com Delkin Dakka Dakka Tao Kana. Right. Tao Kana definitely Delkin D eight Yep, I got it. Huh? Did you enjoy hearing me say Dalkon a 15 times in a row. You didn't do bad I'm not saying it out. Loud. Gonna highlands.com Really cool little video it tells you a little bit about their life and pictures of adorable cows that I think people eat, but you don't know how adorable they are when you're eating them. They just taste delicious at that point. Go check them out. Would you please that what a great little family and a wonderful farm. If you are a loved one has been diagnosed with type one diabetes. The bold beginnings series from the Juicebox Podcast is a terrific place to begin listening. In this series, Jenny Smith and I will go over the questions most often asked at the beginning of type one. Jenny is a certified diabetes care and education specialist who is also a registered and licensed dietitian and Jenny has had type one diabetes for 35 years. My name is Scott Benner and I am the father of a child who has type one diabetes. Our daughter Arden was diagnosed in 2006 at the age of two. I believe that at the core of diabetes management, understanding how insulin works, and how food and other variables impact your system is of the utmost importance. The bowl beginning series will lead you down the path of understanding. This series is made up of 24 episodes. And it begins that episode 698 In your podcast, or audio player. I'll list those episodes at the end of this to listen you can go to juicebox podcast.com. Go up to the menu at the top and choose bold beginnings or or go into any audio app like Apple podcasts, or Spotify, and then find the episodes that correspond with the series. Those lists again, are at Juicebox Podcast up in the menu or if you're in the private Facebook group in the featured tab, the private Facebook group has over 40,000 members. There are conversations happening right now and 24 hours a day that you'd be incredibly interested in. So don't wait. So don't wait. Check out the bold beginning series today and get started on your journey. Episode 698 defines the ball beginning series 702, honeymooning 706 adult diagnosis 711 and 712 go over diabetes terminologies in Episode 715 We talked about fear of insulin in 719 the 1515 rule, Episode 723 long acting insulin 727 target range 731 food choices 735 Pre-Bolus 739 carbs 743 stacking 747 flexibility in Episode 751 We discussed school in Episode 755 Exercise 759 guilt, fears hope and expectations. In episode 763 of the bowl beginning series. We talk about community 772 journaling 776 technology and medical supplies. Episode 780 Treating low blood glucose episode 784 dealing with insurance 788 talking to your family and episode 805 illness and ketone management. Check it out. It will change your life

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