FarmRaise

A Tiny Homestead

Today I'm talking with Isabelle at FarmRaise. You can also follow on Facebook.

Use code REF20MEL to save 20% off the life of your membership for FarmRaise Tracks – a expense tracking app that is simple and will get you ready to fill in your schedule F in April.

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00:00
This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Isabelle at FarmRaise. Hello, Isabelle, how are you? Good, how are you, Mary? I'm good. You said you're in Missouri? Yes, I am. Okay, well I'm in Minnesota. I don't know if it's a pretty day there, but it's really pretty here.

00:29
Oh my gosh, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous these past few days. Yeah, I always start the podcast interviews with talking about the weather because our weather is always crazy. It's either strikingly gorgeous or it's terrible and it feels like there's no in between this year. So it really, it really is like that. And I know that a lot of people think that talking about the weather.

00:59
is kind of shallow or small talk, but in agriculture, I think it's a form of kind of like a love language or like showing that you care about somebody because the weather just really impacts our ability to do what we do. And so the weather is just a vital part of our lives. And so I think that

01:26
In other industries, it may just be small talk, but in agriculture, we love to talk about it. We love to talk about it. We love to predict it. We love to complain about it, but it's a real thing. It's a really integral part of agriculture. Yes, it really is. It is. But we could definitely use a shot of rain where I'm at, but we'll probably...

01:53
A lot of people will start harvest here in the next few weeks that are in the traditional line of agriculture, but I mean, I have zucchini coming out my ears. So if I get any more rain, I don't know what I'm going to do with it all. So yeah, we don't have anything coming. Well, we have tomatoes coming in finally.

02:18
but it's been a terrible growing season for us. And I don't want to talk about it at all because I've talked about ad nauseum on the podcast and in real life and I just give up. It's a wash to next year is gonna be better. Yeah, I've heard that from quite a few people. I was talking to my cousin on the phone the other day and she said that, you know, she had a horrible year for sweet corn and peppers. And so she was really glad

02:49
they had an overabundance from last year, still in the freezer and still canned from last year because they just had a horrible year. Sorry, what was that? I was going to say it's been rough all the way around. Yeah, this was my first year kind of doing a really, really large garden by myself.

03:16
in Missouri. I grew up in Nebraska and I did some small stuff after my husband and I first got married. So I was just thinking it was just me, but turns out it wasn't. It was kind of a rough year for everybody. So that made me feel a little bit better, but next year will definitely be better for everybody. Keeping my fingers crossed.

03:45
Okay, so tell me about Farm Raise. Yes. So Farm Raise was started by three people who were at Stanford University and they saw a need for farmers to kind of simplify the FSA records process. And then that moved into simplifying the grant application process.

04:14
and then moved into, well, actually what farmers, homesteaders, ranchers really need is the ability to track their records. And so with FarmRays, we have a farm accounting software that helps you to track your records for your schedule F, track your inventory.

04:40
and on the app and then create invoices to be able to send to your customers. And then prepare to apply for loans or grant programs. So we have a really great software that can really help you to see where am I spending money on my farm? And maybe where can I cut back on some of my spending?

05:08
That's not making me as much money. And then another piece of what FarmRays does is we have some B2B software. So we host applications for climate smart farming programs. So we currently host the application for...

05:35
the Mizzou Climate Smart Regenerative Crops and Livestock, and then one for blue diamond growers as well. So we help create applications and then reporting features so that it's easier for farmers to apply for those programs, get the money dispersed to them, and then report the sustainable practices that they are doing back.

06:03
to the organizations to get that USDA funding. So Farm Raise has a lot of different software solutions, not only for farmers, but for businesses who are hosting grant applications for farmers as well. Okay, what does FSA stand for?

06:30
Yeah, so FSA is the Farm Service Agency and they are a branch of the United States Department of Agriculture. So they're in the umbrella under the USDA. And so they are the ones who have different microloan programs, they have different emergency

06:56
assistance programs, as well as disaster programs that farmers can apply for in times of needs, as well as underserved farmers, such as farmers of color, veteran farmers, and beginning farmers to get their farm off the ground, to purchase a farm, or...

07:21
to get started. So FarmRais is currently a cooperator of the USDA and we host the FSA educational hub. So we have a ton of resources where you can come learn about the FSA and learn about how you can potentially start your funding journey with the FSA, apply for loans, apply for different disaster programs.

07:49
So say all of your honeybee hives got taken out this year by variromites or through some different type of disease. There's funding out there through the FSA and through the USDA to help you get back on your feet. Awesome. So Farm Raise is a national thing. It's not just Missouri. Yeah. So Farm Raise, we are a completely remote team. And so there is 12.

08:19
of us. We have three of us on the farmer success team, and then we have four software engineers, and then some people on the design team, and then our leadership team. So there's 12 of us, and we're all throughout the country, but we help farmers in every single state manage their finances. So we

08:47
are so thrilled to be able to do that here. I feel like farm raise takes the pain out of bookkeeping and paperwork if you're in ag. Yes.

09:02
Yes, it really does. It really does. One of the awesome things that our engineering team is, is one of the best because not only do they know what they're talking about when it comes to computer science, but they have experience with agriculture. One of them has a farm and they have all

09:30
done farm tours. Every year, our team, we go out and we visit farmers to be able to see what it's like. And we do tons of farmer interviews every year to see what farmers are needing. And so we make our features to serve farmers. And so our engineering team this year has really done a lot to improve.

09:59
our reporting features to make it super easy for you to export your transactions or to get a custom report of your data, of, you know, find out what, which of my products is making me the most money. How can I spend less in this category?

10:26
And it's really awesome to be able to see how far we've come in that. And then also, you know, being able to send an invoice directly from the app and have it connected to your inventory. It is really cool to be able to help you not only manage your, your inventory bookkeeping, but also manage all of your invoices in one place.

10:56
and kind of be able to take a deep breath and be like, oh my gosh, this is so easy and painless. Because, you know, bookkeeping can sometimes be the hardest part when you're running numbers and crunching numbers. So making it really easy to be able to track it all.

11:25
Quicken and he uses spreadsheets to keep track of our inventory and our expenses and our income and we are a tiny little homestead. We want hence a tiny homestead, but we have a farm to market garden that we sell produce from at the farmer's market and at a farm stand on our property. When we have produce to sell? This year not so much. The last three years, yes.

11:54
He is really good with numbers. He actually was a bookkeeper for a few years in his younger years. And he doesn't mind doing it. But I'm telling you, if anything happened to him, I would have to take it over. And I hate math. I'm good at it, but I hate math and I hate spreadsheets. So a program like yours would help me a lot. The question is, is the FarmRays program

12:23
that you guys do. Is it for even little tiny people like us?

12:29
Yes, yes, of course. We have, we have farmers, we have homesteaders, we have ranchers, we have people who have all the way down from 800 square feet that they are farming all the way up to over 25,000 acres. Wow, we have so many different types of farmers as well.

12:57
We have people who are raising oysters. We have traditional crop farmers, vegetable farmers. We have people who raise honeybees. We have all sorts of different farmers. And so one of the questions that we get a lot is, is farm raise right for me? And...

13:26
Or is it a right fit for blank operation? And my response is always yes. If you file a schedule F to report farm earnings or farm expenses, then yes, you can definitely use farm raise tracks. And the best part of it is, I hear that a lot Mary is that,

13:54
Oh, we're coming to Farm Raise tracks because our bookkeeper passed away or our accountant isn't helping farmers anymore unless they do, unless they start using a software program or something like that. And the great thing about Farm Raise is that if you categorize your expenses to the Schedule F categories throughout the year.

14:20
It'll calculate your line by line totals when it comes to tax season. And then all that has to be done is it has to be plugged into your schedule F PDF form. Um, and so it is just so simplified and it is, it is so, so easy, um, come to tax time or creating a balance sheet if you need to apply for a loan or a grant.

14:50
Um, so it gets, it doesn't have to be difficult. And that's one of the things that, that we want to do is we want to help farmers save time so that they can focus on what, on what they do best, um, is farming. And then secondly, you know, spending time with their family. Um, cause because we know that's important to them as well.

15:18
Yep, it sure is. So you sound like you love what you're doing. Like I can hear it coming through your voice. Yes, yes. I grew up on a farm in Nebraska. And after graduating college, I worked in higher education for a little bit.

15:47
before my husband and I got married. And, you know, then we decided to move back to his family's farm. And so I've been with FarmRays about a year now. And I, you know, I was applying for jobs trying to figure out, you know, how am I ever going to find a job that I love? And I just kept waiting and applying and interviewing and just nothing. And, you know, after college, I had

16:16
I had applied for so many jobs and interviewed for so many jobs and I had like 10 job offers. And then just three years later, I had applied for 100 jobs, interviewed for 10 and had no offers. And so I was like, this is just, I was beginning to lose hope. And I...

16:41
then applied for the job with Farm Raise and I had my first interview with them and I realized how passionate I was about the work that they were doing. Because not only do they care about helping farmers become, you know, more better at tracking their finances, but they also wanna help farmers

17:08
you know, become more sustainable, be able to find sustainable practices that work for their farm as well. Um, and so, yes, I love my job. Um, I'm very passionate, um, about agriculture and, um, farm raises values really align with mine. You know, building farmer trust is our number one, one value. And, um, you know, that, that was really important to me.

17:37
And being authentic is one of our values, or, you know, building authenticity and executing. And those were all very important things to me. And so when I started here at FarmRays, it just felt like a great fit right away because of the value alignment. And so.

18:00
Being able to help farmers with their finances this last year has just been so rewarding. And I can't speak highly enough about our CEO, Jace Hafner, and our COO, Sammy Teletun. They have done a wonderful job building the culture here at FarmRays and making sure that we stay true to the mission and vision of supporting farmers.

18:31
Super. I'm going to share a little thing about how important it is to be able to get behind your job. When I got one of my first jobs, I think I was 17, I worked at a bookstore. And I love books. I am a lifelong avid reader, have been since first grade. And I applied for this job as a cashier at a bookstore in a town that was like,

18:58
two or three towns from where I lived, so a good half an hour, 40 minutes drive. And, uh, I applied because it was a bookstore. I wanted to go to go to every bookstore on earth at that point. And I didn't think I'd get the job because I was only 17. And I went in for the interview and the guy interviewed me and he was like, you are really well read for 17 years old. And I laughed and said, yes, because books are my best friends. And.

19:27
He was like, great. He said, and clearly you can read. He said, you wouldn't be in here if you couldn't read. And he was just laughing. And he said, can you file? And I said, I know the alphabet. I'm pretty sure I can file. And he laughed again. And he basically sent me on my way and said, I'll give you a call in a couple of days. He had called my house before I even got home and talked to my mom and said, don't tell her.

19:55
but I want her to work for me. I wanna tell her. And my mom, of course, told me. So I called him back and I said, "'Say you want me to work for you, huh?' He said, "'Your mom wasn't supposed to tell you.'" I said, "'Well, she couldn't hide her excitement.'" So I worked there for like a year and a half and I loved that job beyond recognition. We were allowed to take home any book and read it as long as we didn't damage it. I had my own

20:24
personal library of new releases for a year and a half. It was amazing. Wow. Yes, so if you're lucky enough to find a job that involves something that you truly love, go for it because it'll be the best thing you ever do.

20:45
Yeah, it is. It truly is amazing. I think I can count on one hand the number of bad days I've had at work this past year and two weeks that I've worked for Farm Raised, which is such a blessing to love your job that much. And really being able to meet.

21:13
the farmers that we get to help, get to hear about their operations, get to see their families, getting to hear about their wins and about their losses too. It really is cool to be able to build a relationship with some of them. And you know, these are farmers that

21:40
frankly, I don't know what they look like. I've heard their voice over the phone before. But really cool to be able to help them organize their finances and to be able to help them. We have one farmer who, she said that the membership paid itself off because she saw how much she was spending in places that she.

22:08
She didn't need to be spending. And so she adjusted her spending habits. We had a farmer whose accountant won't take any farmers except for her because her taxes are so organized because of farm raise. It's so cool to be able to see those success stories.

22:37
through the work. And also, I'm also a really big reader too. We're remodeling a house right now, so I don't read as much as I would like, probably only like 30 minutes to an hour a day. But have you read, what's the latest book that you read? I have no idea.

23:05
I read every night before I go to sleep to stop my brain from spinning. And I just basically read mysteries because I know who did it by the second chapter. And then I just read it to figure out who did it. I mean, how they explain who did it. So I don't really know what the name of the book that I'm reading is right now. And I have a hard time with the digital versions because there's no real book cover.

23:34
to memorize anymore. So I can't tell you what I'm reading right now. I just can tell you that I read every night before I go to bed. If I'm going to read something I need to remember, I read it during the day, because otherwise I will forget if I read it at night. Yes, yes. So I have a book in my dresser drawer right now that is basically a gardening guide that I got as a review copy a year ago.

24:04
And I looked through that. I should actually get up and get it. Hang on one second. I'm going to grab it so I can tell you the name of it. Okay. Oh, awesome. Hang on. I had to walk across my room to get it. I will edit out all that silence. Um, no, you're fine. It's called the backyard homestead guide to growing organic food. And it's by Tanya Dinkla Cobb. D E N C K L A. And it is one of the most beautiful books I've ever seen.

24:33
for helping people grow a garden in their backyard basically. It is so, it's laid out so well. It has an appendix, it has an index, and it's all the usual suspects you would grow. And I interviewed her months ago, and that's why I got the book. And she's so smart. Like, I was talking away with her, and I'm like, I am learning so much just from this podcast. Yay. So that's the last one.

25:03
That's the last one I really got my hands on that's a real book. Oh, awesome. Yeah. My, I, once I filled up both of my bookshelves, I made the rule this year that I couldn't buy any more physical books. Um, and that I could only buy on the Kindle because I had too many books.

25:29
on my shelves that I needed to read first. So I need to get all the books on my shelf read first. But this one looks great. I'm definitely gonna have to check this one out. And honestly, the gardening and homestead books, and I have a bunch of cover crop books and soil books.

25:55
I think that those ones are great to have hard copies of just so that you can take them out to the garden with you if you need to compare one of the pests or something or one of the diseases, one of the pictures in there to outside in your garden. So I think those are always great to have physical copies of. Yeah.

26:20
When I started the podcast, I didn't even think about interviewing authors because writers are not gardeners, I assumed. But some writers are gardeners and some writers write about homesteading and things like that. Who knew? I'm dense. I hadn't even thought about interviewing authors. And then I got approached by somebody who is an author who raises chickens to interview her and that got the ball rolling.

26:48
I'm going to actually approach some more authors who write about the things I talk about because I really love books and when I got this one I was like, oh, I could be getting review copies for free because I want to read the book before I talk to the author. Duh, this is a great plan. Yes, that is a great plan. So yeah, it just never clicked until this lady approached me and I was like, I could be doing two things I love. I could be doing the podcast and I can be reading books by the people that I...

27:18
that I talk to. That would be great. I have not written a book yet, but if I write a book someday, I don't know what to think. We'll talk again. Yes, we'll have to talk again. I don't know what I'll write about. I have all sorts of things I could write about up my sleeve. I'm actually interviewing a lady on Friday this week who wrote a book about sheep's milk because she raises sheep. And she's very, very into the nutrition.

27:48
um, part of the sheep's milk. And I interviewed her a couple weeks ago and we talked about her sheep and we talked about other stuff. We never actually talked about her book and the nutritional parts. Oh my gosh. I did not even consider her. So she's coming. She's coming back. She's coming back Friday to talk about the thing we're supposed to talk about weeks ago.

28:13
Oh my gosh, I never even considered sheep's milk, but I mean, we have cow's milk, goat's milk. I mean, they have camel's milk in the Middle East. Why wouldn't we have sheep's milk too? Yup. So that'll be out next week, so I can always send you the link to the interview.

28:42
You know, even people just getting started, if they want to track their expenses, you know, if they are selling at a farmer's market, track that revenue. Because you know, for some grants, you have to be able to show the profits that you have made. Even if it's minute, you do have to have you do have to show the profits that you've made. If people do want to apply for grants someday.

29:09
you know, whether that is to put in shelter belts or to start regenerative grazing with their goats or, you know, the livestock or their chickens that they have. You know, tracking those finances no matter how large your homestead or your farm is, is really important when it does come to applying for.

29:37
for financing or grant programs even. And so, you know, we can get you, Mary, a referral link with a code for 20% off for your listeners. Yes, please send that along. And would love to be able to help some of your listeners to be able to.

30:05
get started on their tracking journey, especially if they are filing a schedule F for their taxes because, you know, different states have different rules. But if you, in some states, even if you have as little as five acres, you can be counted as a farm. So in some states, they don't have any acreage requirements.

30:35
notation to know when you're a homesteader and filing taxes. So. Yes. And on the grant subject, we were going to apply for a grant like a month ago. And I read through the application and everything. And I said to my husband, I said, I'm going to need these numbers from you. And he said, oh, okay. And he looked through the stuff about what they needed for information. And he was like,

31:04
I don't even know what that means. I don't know what they're looking for on that one. And so we basically decided not to apply for that grant because we thought we were in over our heads. You know, it was beyond the scope of what we're doing. And so I'm assuming that maybe Farm Raise would be able to explain what that number was supposed to be if we were part of it. Yeah. And so we have...

31:33
We have a huge farm funding library. And while, you know, farm funding isn't our focus anymore, you know, if we do have an equip application, like equip streamlined application for our premium members, if you have not yet set up FSA records, we do have a streamlined FSA records.

32:01
application on our website as well for our premium members. And if you want to find out if you can qualify for some of the value added processing grant or the Equip grant, we have some surveys that can help you find out if you're even eligible to apply. So you don't even have to do the hard work to figure out.

32:30
Hey, I don't even know if I should apply for this. Well, we can tell you if you should with some of the resources that we have for our premium members. So, I can kind of help you figure out how to find a grant writer too, if you weren't comfortable writing it yourself.

32:53
We've got a ton of resources too and we will help out our premium members. We do not write grants, but we can point you in the direction of some people who do. I was going to ask you that. Good. Awesome. Thank you. So how many tiers are there for the cost for this? Currently we have one tier, well, I guess two tiers. So we have a free membership.

33:22
So that is just gives you kind of a basic access of the tracking app on your phone and then the funding library on the web browser. And then we have our premium which is $40 a month.

33:51
or $432 a year, but we are going to get Mary a 20% off code, which customers can keep for the lifetime of their membership. So that's not just a one-time thing. You got to keep that forever once you get it. So

34:15
But then that includes schedule F generation, balance sheets, inventory tracking, invoicing. And then if anybody actually does have, you can also track your personal expenses on it as well. Or if you have another business, you can track another business on there as well with our custom categories as well. So, and then you also do get access

34:44
to tracks on your laptop with our premium access. So lots of different options and really cool new features coming out here soon for our inventory. And we did just release a payroll pilot for anybody who does have employees. Awesome.

35:12
I love what you're doing. I mean, it probably seems like I'm sitting here doing a commercial for your business, but I'm not because I know how hard it is to do this when you're first starting out. How do I do the books for my business? And if you've never done it before, it's a lot. It's a lot to figure out. Yes, it is. It is. And that was, you know, when...

35:38
when you're a small business or a small farm, it can be really daunting that first year of how do I categorize this for taxes? Or how do I know where this goes? Or how do I know how to track my different products? Or should I even track this? And those are things that we can kind of help you figure out.

36:08
and get started. And that's also another thing is, you know, we're a small company and we're farmers, we're farmers kids, and we all love agriculture. And we also have a customer service team that is based here in the United States. And you can call, text, chat, email us.

36:38
And you're always going to get a real person. We're not switching over to AI. No matter how big we get, we always want to make sure that you get a real person. And you don't get that with some of the other accounting softwares, even if you're just tracking your personal expenses. So one small business to another.

37:06
Let's help each other. So yeah, I love it. I'm so glad that I reached out to you because this is really, this is very interesting to me on my geek side because it's all numbers and magic. And I like it when numbers and magic come together because numbers don't lie. And the magic is that it's not going to make you crazy trying to figure out your bottom line. Yes, exactly. Exactly.

37:34
And I will say when I ran our balance sheet for the first time, it was kind of like, oof, I didn't realize that that's how much debt that we had. And now, you know, my husband and I have been able to look to be like, okay, how can we pay off some of this debt faster to reach our goals faster?

38:01
And so some of those reporting features have really been a help to us personally too and helping us start our farm. So we're really excited about that as well. Yeah. I feel like farm raises a win-win. As long as you can afford the cost of using the program, it's a win-win. Yes. So.

38:28
All right, Isabel. Well, I tried to keep you to half an hour. 38 minutes.

38:36
Say it again. So sorry about that. No, that's okay. What were you going to say? I was going to say we do have a seven-day free trial to help to see if it's right for your operation too. Okay, awesome. Okay, I'm going to try it again. Thank you so much for your time today, Isabelle. I appreciate it. Yes, thank you for having me. Absolutely. Have a great afternoon.