May 10, 2023
Episode 11:
Let’s Chat w/ Del Barber
We’re sitting down to chat with Canadian farmer and singer-songwriter Del Barber. Del’s music has been nominated for countless awards and has received critical acclaim from Rolling Stone Magazine.
Episode Guest
Del Barber is a farmer, a family man and an accomplished singer-songwriter from Manitoba, Canada. His music has been nominated for countless awards and has received critical acclaim from Rolling Stone Magazine. In April 2023, Del released Almanac, his 8th studio album.
When he’s not touring or recording, he’s running his farm with his wife and kids––a massive 2000 acres of grain land as well as 250 pure bred cows. He raises and sells over 1,000 meat chickens per year and they yield a sustainable micro-farm with vegetables and flowers. Del butchers his own meat, preserves his own food, and bakes all of the family’s bread (croissants are a favorite, he’s big into French cooking.) He even built a small greenhouse so his neighbors could get their bedding plants directly from him; their community is so rural, they don’t have restaurants… so living off of the land isn’t a choice, it’s a necessity.
In this episode we’re sitting down to chat with Canadian farmer and singer-songwriter Del Barber. Del’s music has been nominated for countless awards and has received critical acclaim from Rolling Stone Magazine. In April 2023, Del released Almanac, his 8th studio album.
When he’s not touring or recording, Del is busy running his farm with his wife and kids––a massive 2000 acres of grain land as well as 250 pure bred cows. He raises and sells over 1,000 meat chickens per year and they yield a sustainable micro-farm with vegetables and flowers.
We’re going to talk with Del about how song writing is like storytelling, how he’s able to balance his farm life with life on the road and we’re going to hear songs from the new album!
You can learn more about Del and order your copy of Almanac at www.delbarber.com
Before the interview, we recap some of the fun we had at the recent Mother Earth News Fair in Kansas. We got to hang out with some old friends and meet many new friends while we were there! We even ran into Zach Loeks who you might remember from an earlier episode of the show! You can check out our interview with Zach here: https://www.smallhousefarm.
We had so much fun at the Mother Earth News Fair seed swap! Bevin got to spend time sharing stories with the one and only Ira Wallace from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange! It was a blast! We’ll be hosting another seed swap at the Pennsylvania fair – find all the details at https://www.
On our drive down to Kansas we watched the redbuds evolve through their entire flowering cycle. Nature is fleeting and spring will be gone before we know it! One of our favorite ways to celebrate the seasons is with our Small House seasonal gift baskets, specially curated for our Patreon subscribers! Loaded with limited edition teas, tinctures, salves and other groovy Small House products, these baskets are a great way to celebrate the seasons and support our podcast! Sign up to get your gift basket here: www.patreon.com/smallhousefarm
We also decided to bundle Bevin’s book, The Complete Guide to Seeds & Nut Oils, with the Piteba oil press.. and that was so well received at the fair that we decided to continuing offering the bundle on our website! If you’d like to learn more about pressing your own seed and nut oils at home, check out this great bundle deal: https://www.smallhousefarm.
And remember, you can always support our podcast for as little as $3 a month by joining our Patreon: www.patreon.com/