In this episode, we interview Jason Contreras. He’s one part of the husband and wife duo behind the homesteading project and popular YouTube Channel, Sow the Land.
Jason and his wife Lorraine run a 1.5-acre homestead just outside of Asheville. They grow their own food, which includes everything from raising chickens to preserving the fruits and vegetables that come out of their garden.
When they’re not running the farm, they each follow their own passions. Jason makes beautiful things out of wood, which he sells in their Etsy shop, as well as does all the filming and editing for their YouTube channel. Lorraine homeschools their daughter, cooks homemade meals, and creates products for her apothecary line, Plain Jane Lorraine Apothecary.
“It’s about documenting family, it just so happens we have over 100k people watching.”
Here’s What You’ll Learn in this Episode:
- Why Jason and his family relocated from California to Asheville
- How Lorraine and Jason fell in love with growing their own food
- How Jason went from recording videos for their family in California to 116,000+ YouTube subscribers
- How Jason was the making the original IG story style video
- What the “Bernice” T-shirt is
Enjoyed this interview? We think you might also dig this episode with Luke McLaughlin of Holistic Survival School.
Season Sponsor
This episode is brought to you by Range Urgent Care an Asheville-based clinic that offers affordable healthcare, transparent pricing, and streamlined, friendly service. Learn more about Range Urgent Care.
*Enjoy your first month free of annual membership at Range Urgent Care. Use code ‘makingitinasheville’ at checkout. Offer valid for a limited time only.
Show Notes
About Jason Contreras
In 2009 Jason was diagnosed with cancer. He and his wife Lorraine quickly became passionate about growing their own food and knowing what exactly is in our food as use for healing.
In 2016 Jason and Lorraine sold most of their belongings and left the city in southern California to start a small homestead in the mountains of North Carolina. Jason started filming YouTube videos to show their family back home what they were up to. There, they document their life showing viewers how a family from the city left to start a completely different life learning to grow food, start a business, and live a healthier life. Now, Sow the Land’s YouTube following is at 116,000 and counting. Sow the Land also has an online store of the products they make on their homestead as well as a podcast.
To learn more about Jason and Sow the Land, check out the pages:
Places
- Anneliesse Gormley of Spoon + Hook
- Casey Neistat – OG vlogger and American YouTuber
- MrBeast– successful YouTuber
- Steven Pressfield, author of “The War of Art“
Media
- Carolina Home & Garden Magazine
- 8th Grade, a film by Bo Burnham
- iMovie– the platform Jason edits his videos on
Memorable Quotes
- “If you want to do a thing, you can do it with what you have now.”
- “Ownership of the ‘shame thing’ becomes people’s superpower.”
Music by Commonwealth Choir
