2594: Growing Your Own Food with Staci and Jeremy HIll

The idea that growing your own food is only for the privileged few or those with a 'green thumb' is a myth — and Staci and Jeremy Hill, founders of Gooseberry Bridge Farm and authors of *The Preserver's Garden*, are here to prove it. They’ve transformed a 12-acre Missouri farm into a thriving, self-sustaining ecosystem where they grow, preserve, and share food with their six children and the public. What started as a simple desire to give their kids space to run has evolved into a full-time mission to reconnect families with the roots of their food. Their philosophy? Start small, start with joy, and treat food production like a skill, not a chore. The real breakthrough isn’t about perfection — it’s about reframing the effort as a form of financial and emotional investment. By focusing on one beloved food — like tomato sauce — and building from there, anyone can begin. They reveal that a single four-by-eight-foot garden bed, with just four to six tomato plants, can yield enough sauce for months, especially when frozen and batch-processed. The key? Block scheduling, using tools like a water bath canner and reusable jars, and embracing failure as part of the process. Even if you kill plants — and they admit they do — the real green thumb isn’t innate; it’s built through repetition, backup plans, and a mindset that prioritizes long-term goals over instant results.