This is an interview you don’t want to miss. I had THE ABSOLUTE HONOR to interview my friend Gina over at Judah’s Haven who moved from the suburbs of NJ to homestead in TN. Her journey is both incredible and inspiring. Also, if you want to head over to her shop, here is the link.
A little info about yourself, where are you from, details prior to starting your homestead.
GINA: I was born and bred in NJ, or rather, Jersey, just 30 minutes outside of Manhattan. I come from a big Italian family were everyone was close and stayed close. Every one of my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and even great aunts and uncles lived within 30 minutes of each other… on both sides! Throughout my childhood, my siblings and I struggled with a lot of health issues. I personally had moderately severe asthma and allergies, ADHD, chronic ear infections and eczema. Cancer, Manic depressive and bipolar disorders were also illnesses that ran in the family line. I was, thankfully raised by two parents who taught me to rely on Jesus Christ for all of my hope, my healing, and my salvation. I met my husband Dave in church in 2010, and the next year we were married. From birth my oldest son, Antonio, started to show all of the same health issues that I had always had. The allergies, the asthma, the ear infections, and some behavioral issues too. But it wasn’t until my Isaac was born in 2014 and started repeating the same health problems, even more severely, that my eyes finally began to be opened to the real causes of these issues. I began to eliminate so many poisons from our kitchen, our cleaning cabinets, our bathroom cabinets, and our medicine cabinets, but not without also learning to replace all of those poisons with healthy options. My cupboards and fridge started to fill up with real, whole, organic, single ingredient foods, my medicine cabinet with herbs, minerals, probiotics, and enzymes and my cleaning cabinet and bathroom cabinets with homemade and plant based soaps, cleaners, and skin care. Hours everyday were spent studying herbs, holistic health, real food, and natural healing. I surrounded myself with a community of moms who were doing the same things for their families, and guided each other. In 2016, I took some formal trainings and became certified as a holistic health coach through the Institute of Nutritional Leadership. I must admit, I learned more through my hours everyday researching than I could have in that certification course. Through all of the changes made, and all of the practices learned, I watched my husband, my two sons, and myself begin to heal. And I began to make a business of teaching others how to heal through food and herbs.
What triggered your move / change of lifestyle?
GINA: Back in 2018 my husband Dave an I began to feel a tug to leave our region of the country. We were not fond of the big city politics, and I also had dreams growing and raising our own organic foods. I had become so passionate about feeding my family only the best, and wanted to REALLY know where everything we were eating came from. For a while, local farmers markets and organic meat shares were enough for me, but NJ only has so much of that to offer. I dreamed of a garden full of veggies and fruit trees and maybe even some farm animals, and none of that would fly living in a controlled rental property in the suburbs. At the time, we had only ideas of what areas we might like to consider looking, but no clear opportunities. No close friends to visit around to and be led by. So we prayed and waited. Then on November 27 2019 our world turned upside-down. My son Judah was born, died on the very same day, and my world fell apart. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to catch my breath again, let alone follow my dreams. The mass quarantine of 2020 was warmly welcomed by my souls’ need for alone time and a slower pace. Then in May, our local pastors reached out to let us know that they would be permanently leaving NJ to start a homestead and plant a church in Tennessee. Dave and I immediately saw this as an opportunity to explore a possibility for our family. We made plans to visit them just weeks after they moved in, and also made appointments to view properties for purchase in the area. From that point on, everything happened in a whirlwind. We closed on our new home in record speed and moved into our little farmhouse on a nice little piece of farmland on August 2nd of 2020, my birthday. My family all thought I was crazy for leaving, and I can’t say they were wrong. If Dave and I weren’t in the depths of shock and grief, I’m not sure if we ever could have made this decision. But God has really paved the way to bless us here.
YOU ARE INCREDIBLE. How did you learn to live this lifestyle? Any good resources (books /podcasts / etc).
GINA: When we bought our homestead, I knew less than nothing about growing plants or raising animals. We didn’t even keep pets in the home prior to that, and I couldn’t keep a cactus alive! However, God blessed us with a community of local homesteaders that were all so helpful. I truly jumped in with two feet before I knew what I was doing, but that has been my process all along. Even as I started a business of teaching people about wellness, it was always “Fire, ready, aim!” Instead of “ready, aim, fire.” Now was no different. Started one big project after another, had bumps along the way, asked for advise from people who knew better than me, did research after the fact, and then made changes as needed. For the particular methods and projects I’ve taken on, I have really enjoyed and gleaned from “Roots and Refuge” YouTube channel, and Joel Salatin’s books. But no resource beats advise from local friends with similar goals. Again, God has provided this to us… a community that we weren’t even looking for and didn’t know we needed.
What exactly are you homesteading / making / doing?
Currently on our farm we have a big flock of egg laying chickens, and a second flock of heritage meat chickens that we plan to continually breed to produce meat for our family. We breed and sell hatching eggs and live chicks from our meat birds and egg layers, and we raise ducks for meat, for eggs, and to sell. We also raise rabbits for meat. Many people are surprised by this, but as farm as meat goes, rabbit is the most economical when it comes to the costs vs. the return, plus they produce the best manure to fertilize the garden. We also sell bone broth and some shelf stable meat products from the animals we raise and process all ourselves. All of our animals are raised on green pasture and fed organically. We may be able to offer rabbit meat for sale in the near future as well. We have a small orchard of fruit trees which will soon hopefully be producing enough for our family to eat, but tress take some years to get to the point of fruiting. We also grow a big veggie garden, all organically with sustainable methods. We strive to even fertilize and water our garden with only the products of our own farm. This includes animal manure, homemade compost, teas made from comfrey, banana peels, etc, and even rain water collected in big barrels. The garden includes countless varieties of fruits, veggies, and even some grains for our own families consumption, plus many many varieties of herbs that I use to create all the holistic remedies I sell. I don’t sell fresh produce, but rather I use the fresh produce to make foods and healing goods to sell.
What does a day in the life look like for you now?
GINA: Each day after the kids get off to school, I head outside and first feed the animals. Right now (nearing the end of fall) that includes around 60 chickens, 6 ducks, 30 rabbits, and 3 barn cats. That number will dip towards mid winter when we process the last of our 2022 meat, and then it will nearly double by mid spring when breeding is at its peak. Once every creature has a full belly, I scoop poop as needed. Rabbit poop usually goes straight on our garden beds. Chicken poop needs to be aged for several months first, but in the fall and early winter I can sprinkle it staring on garden beds that will be dormant until planting season. During late winter and early spring, many hours are spent starting and caring for seedlings for the garden. Once the seedlings all make their way to the garden, watering becomes quite a chore, and can take many hours each week if the weather is dry. Late summer and early fall might be the busiest times of the year. Veggies need to be harvested and then processed for storage. Some things get washed, chopped, blanched and frozen, others get canned and fill the pantry. In 2022 we were able to put up enough veggies to get us well into the winter. Herbs need to get harvested, washed, and then dehydrated for long term storage. Meat needs to be processed, cleaned and either frozen or canned. Then a whole new busy season begins… making all the products from all the herbs. Dried herbs get infused into alcohol, vinegar, honey, or oil. Infusion time for any of these is at least 4-8 weeks, and then they can be further mixed into tinctures, elixirs, salves, or syrups, and packaged for my clients. In late fall and winter, when the needs of the garden slow down, much of my time goes into making and marketing new products, packing and shipping orders, and planning for the following year. Some days I spend 6 hours just bottling products packing boxes to send out to customers.
What are you currently making / selling? What can we buy from your farm?
GINA: Because my creativity is bursting at the seems, and my own family’s wellness needs are ever changing, I am always coming up with new products. I have an entire line of each of the following- Tinctures, Teas, fermented honies, hot sauces, infused oils, roll-ons, soaps, hair care, personal care, body butters, salves, herbal sprays, and even fermenting classes. I also offer seasonal products like seedlings, plant cuttings, hot cocoa mix, and my goodies make beautiful gifts.
Any additional info you’d like to share.
GINA: Here’s what I hope to work on in 2023. I’d love a small green house to help with starting seedlings early, and growing more in the fall and winter. I want to learn out to tan our rabbit hides so we can make some fur goods with them. I want to create a proper root cellar for better long term storage of some of our produce. I tried using our basement but it was just too damp down there. I also want to seek out option for raising larger animals- potentially goats or pigs, for milk and meat. But that won’t work for us until we have more land to work with. We are currently maxed out with all the things we have grazing and growing. <3
Gina, You are a true inspiration!