598: Tommie Hockett on Sharing Seeds with Friends.
Splitting a Seed Up In a Box with six others and building community resilience.
In This Podcast:
We hear first-hand experience from one of our avid podcast listeners, Tommie Hockett, on how he hosted a community seed sharing event. Living in rural Texas, Tommie does not have many close neighbors and he shares with us how he devised a plan to build community resilience that expanded across county lines. Tommie notes how his expectations were exceeded throughout the process from the number of seeds he received to the unexpected guests that showed up out of curiosity.
Our Guest:
Tommie runs Sissy & Bubba’s Farmstead alongside his beautiful wife Chellie. Through their strong faith, they are striving to be good stewards while living a self-sufficient life full of abundance! Tommy recently convinced a few friends to go in on a purchase of a Seed Up In a Box and had their own seed sharing event.
Listen in and learn about:
- What is Seed Up In a Box
- How does the Seed Up work
- What was the process that Tommie and his group used for swapping seeds
- Tommie’s overall experience with community seed sharing
- What was the motivation behind hosting a seed swapping event
“It’s one way to take a step away from the system”
- How he formed a group and expanded community ties
- What was the community-building aspects in the process for selecting seed varieties
“When I received my Seed Up In a Box, it more than exceeded my expectations”
- How is he managing the move from a 1.5 acre farm to 12 acres
- What kind of unique livestock does he raise
As well as:
His failure – The time he built raised beds too tall and while struggling to fill them, he thought manure was the optimal option for plants not realizing the need for compost
His success – Marrying his wife
His drive – He knows that he was called to be a farmer as his purpose
His advice – “If you know your purpose in life, don’t give up on it and don’t let anyone tell you different, even if it may take a while to get there, just keep taking those half-steps everyday towards it.”
Tommie’s Book recommendations:
The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs: Respecting and Caring for All God’s Creation by Joel Salatin
How to reach Tommie:
Email: the.s.and.b.farmstead@gmail.com
Telegram App: t.me/sandbfarmstead
UrbanFarm.org/SissyandBubba
*Disclosure:
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