I don't think people are like, "I'm going to save the planet by planting my own herbs." But on environmental issues like climate change, there's a sense of hopelessness and despair. Maybe it's really a small gesture but if you can have a garden it may make you feel like you're helping in some way, or that you're making a connection. You can't change the world but you can change your backyard.

Anyone who has kids knows that children like to be around chickens, goats, whatever. My kid loves to go out and feed the chickens and collect the eggs. It's a nice way of living.

You have to make people understand that things cost something. Otherwise it seems like they have no value. I can't just be giving away rabbits. No. It costs five bucks, so make it work for you.

There is this really intimate connection that people have with the animals they're going to eat. A lot of people who eat meat say "I would never kill my own animals." Well, that means someone else is doing it for you, ultimately. This is the modern attitude that we have: Somebody else will do that for me. And to me, it just seemed wrong. I wanted to be part of the process of what it meant to eat meat. I wanted to be responsible.

I feel that anyone can do farming. But people who are in it for the long haul have to have a little bit of tenacity. You have to do it because you love it, not because it's cool, because there will be moments when it's not cool.

I didn't think that at the beginning. I just wanted to have a garden and a farm and have animals around me. But I do think there's a craving for people to feel a connection. Honestly, it's building on an immigrant tradition, where you bring your country to America. You bring your seeds from Italy. My neighbors are Vietnamese, so they're growing their herbs and stuff that they miss from Vietnam.

I think that's part of people wanting a wholesome life, to surround yourself with farm animals and fields. That's sort of an American ideal.