The Legal Field: Legal Perspectives in the Agriculture Industry
Hosted by Agriculture Attorney Amanda Perry Carl, The Legal Field discusses legal topics that are of great importance to the agriculture industry. Our guests provide unique perspectives for the advancement and preservation of this vital industry.
The Legal Field: Legal Perspectives in the Agriculture Industry
Goats and Beyond... the GOATs of Goats: A Conversation with Quinn and Grace Pittman, Quinn Pittman's Goat Milk Products
Join us on this episode as Amanda Perry Carl chats with Quinn Pittman and Grace Pittman from Quinn Pittman's Goat Milk Products. Quinn and Grace are amazing young "agripreneurs" (at only 18 and 14 years old) and you will be so inspired hearing their stories! In this episode, you will also hear some of the legal and regulatory issues that QPGMP faces! Don't miss this episode or you will feel so "baaaaaaad".
Agriculture industry. This podcast is for you. If you are interested in protecting and preserving our agricultural heritage, forms, and way of life. Then come join us in the legal field and see what's growing on.
SPEAKER_02:Welcome to another episode of the Legal Field Podcast. My name is Amanda Carl, and I am the host of the podcast. Today we are so happy to have Quinn and Grace Pittman on the episode with us. They are neighbors and friends of ours here in Osteen. So welcome to the show, both of you.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks for having us on. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02:And they are the owners, operators, and founders of Quinn Pittman Goat Milk Products here in Osteen, Florida, and country and worldwide, I think, that you guys are selling your products. For our audience who can't see you guys, can you please tell us your ages?
SPEAKER_03:So I'm 18.
SPEAKER_00:And I'm 14.
SPEAKER_02:And these two at very young ages are very successful agripreneurs and are doing a great job and are great role models and examples for my kids and for other young people, especially young people who want to get into business. We've known these two, my husband and I have known these two for about eight years when we moved into the community. I think Quinn was about 10, and Grace, you were probably about six. And I know your faith is really important to you as well in everything that you do. Quinn, I'm gonna let you talk first about how this whole business came to be and your ideas and how you shaped and started this.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I started when I was seven, and uh I was walking through Publix with my dad, we were joined shopping, and uh I just came across this little bar of goat cheese and uh four ounces for seven dollars, which at the time being six or seven was an inordinate was a massive amount of money for such a small thing. And so I'm like, Dad, dad, I want to get goats and I want to make cheese. And he's like, okay, whatever. Um, and then at the time we were living in the city, and then we moved out to the country, and um I kept that passion of wanting to do that that goat cheese for three years while we built the house and built the infrastructure, and then uh for my nine-year-old birthday, my parents bought me my first couple goats, and then I started doing it. Started doing the cheese. I started selling milk, started selling yogurt and ice cream, and we do farmers markets, and it was pretty successful for the first couple years, but you can't grow big with uh cheese and stuff, it's just not not something you can get big in. So through Providence, we ended up starting the goat soap business with uh some milk that we just didn't think was good enough for cheese, because it's very high standards for the cheese, and uh been doing it ever since.
SPEAKER_02:And so you then moved into the the uh soap business because you can expand that, you can ship that, and it's not perishable and doesn't have to uh just be sold locally.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we can ship that nationwide, which is what we do.
SPEAKER_02:That's awesome. And about, you know, how long did this process take for you to get into the soap? How long have you been into the soap business?
SPEAKER_03:Soap business we've been doing for probably the past four years. Um did cheese for three and then started doing the soap after that, and I've been going with the soap ever since. And now uh my sister does it, Grace does the soap.
SPEAKER_02:Grace is now the goat queen. I am. You are the goat of goats now. Um and you know, Quinn, you are 18 and Grace, you're 14, and you guys already have this incredible career in this business, and I feel like you see so many people coming out of college in their mid-20s, and they have no idea what they want to do. They have no career path, they have all this student loan debt, and you guys are a great example of how hard work and vision can really pay off into something that's profitable and something where you have a career path at a very young age and you know, not have to have so much debt. Um, so Grace, you're handling all the goat stuff now. Can you talk to us a little bit about you know how many goats you guys have, how many how much soap you're selling every year, where you're shipping to, you know, any of these details about the the soap company now.
SPEAKER_00:So we have about 11 goats. And when we started, it was kind of tricky because we had to move our soap area and so we had to pick up on the back orders. And so it was going pretty well, and we sell about 20,000 bars of soap annually. That's incredible.
SPEAKER_02:That's a lot of soap. That's a whole lot of soap. Are you guys you guys are shipping nationwide?
SPEAKER_03:Nationwide.
SPEAKER_02:And about how many, like I know you guys are going to the post office all the time and shipping, you know. Are you sending out shipments every day probably, or about every day?
SPEAKER_03:They're about every day, or if it's a slower week, every two days.
SPEAKER_02:And your soaps are really amazing. I ordered them for Christmas presents a lot too, and the shapes and the scents, they're pretty incredible. Um, and they're great gifts, they're great to use, you know, every day. And they're really the cutest soaps that you can possibly buy. Um, I know that they're different than what we buy at the store. So without naming any of those other brands and why they're bad, um why is the soap that you guys sell better than what you buy at the grocery store or at Walmart or wherever?
SPEAKER_00:Well, what you buy at the store, they take out those oils that cleanse your skin, and so they're not actually soap, they're cleansers. And so we make actual soap. So we keep all those oils and salts that you need. And the milk has special proteins that are good and absorb into your skin. And so you don't have to buy those really expensive lotions that go along with the cleansers.
SPEAKER_02:So when you're buying the, let's not name the brand, but you're buying their soap, then they're also selling you the lotion and they're getting money off out of you twice because you have to then moisturize your skin. Which is great about bees because you can buy it's one-stop shopping. Um, you know, whether you're 40 or 14 in a business, there are challenges when you start a business. Being an entrepreneur comes with a lot of challenges. I, after almost 20 years of working for other companies in law, I started my own company last year, and there's challenges along the way. Um, Quinn, I'll let you answer this one since you kind of started all of this. What are some of the challenges you guys faced along the way, and how did you overcome those?
SPEAKER_03:Well, a big thing was figuring out our soap recipe. So there were some online, but not in the kind of volume that we were doing. So we had to figure that out, and then dealing with livestock, you're gonna have problems with livestock as with anything else. So goat casualties or goat sicknesses, or the milk wasn't up to standard. And so all that stuff, and all that stuff is um can set you back, but then if you just keep going, perseverance will always there's always a end to it. It doesn't keep going forever. So as long as you keep going, then there's always an end to it, and you can always move out forwards after that. Oh, sorry, go ahead. That was probably one of the biggest things at the beginning was just keeping going, figuring out if it's gonna work. Um no one else had done it on the kind of scale we were trying to do it. So just figuring out if it would work and then just prayerfully considering it, and then God decided to bless it.
SPEAKER_02:So absolutely. When you're when you're following his plan and what he has called you to do and what he wants you to do, um he will multiply that. And I think you know, what you guys have learned along the way is are things that people haven't learned a lot of times in their 30s, 40s, 50s. If you can learn to overcome adversity and figure out how to get past these challenges, that helps you mentally when you're older and adult and help you overcome some real major adversities as you know grow and get older. And I think a lot of times people haven't learned that by the time they get to their 30s and 40s, and when something's set them back, it makes it a little bit harder. Um so your whole family works in this business. Your mom and dad help out of this business as well. Um, Grace, do you want to talk to us a little bit about how that whole component works, how you guys all work together? You all have your own roles in helping with this, and it's really cool to see.
SPEAKER_00:So I'm at the soap, and mom packages it. So, you know, she takes the orders, she gets she uh packages them and labels them and drives over to the post office and sends them on the way. And my dad helps Quinn building the uh infrastructure.
SPEAKER_02:And we'll talk here in a few minutes. Quinn has a whole different role now as the company is expanding as well, um, that he's moving into as well, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yep.
SPEAKER_02:And you guys both, Quinn, you started being homeschooled at White Green. And it was your first grade. In Gray, so you've been homeschooled all the way through, correct? Um, Quinn, do you want to talk uh about how that has helped and shaped what you guys do in your business?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so I mean, the short is that if I were public schooled or private schools, I wouldn't have been able to do any of this. Um with homeschooling, you can do the work that you need to and then you can go do something else while you're at home. And all my friends that went to public school and private school are not in that position. They're stuck in school all day with repetition and just learning stuff that they probably won't end up using. Um, meanwhile, I'm learning how to milk goats, make soap, all that other kind of thing. And uh I wouldn't have been able to do that without homeschooling. If I were a public school in a government indoctrination camp, I wouldn't have been able to do that.
SPEAKER_02:And Grace, do you have anything to add to that too, about how it's helped and shaped what you're doing?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean, I have to spend all day in school, like when said, I can go and help with the goats or do the so it I mean it just takes a couple hours when you're homeschooled. So it makes your uh time schedule really flexible.
SPEAKER_02:And you're learning to run a business too, and you're learning those life skills that you can't get sitting in a classroom a lot of times. A lot of times there are those those kinds of skills. And our kids are in a homeschool hybrid where they go somewhere most days, but they're not learning that some of the typical things. They're learning a lot of those life skills, which I know is so important. Um we see a lot of the trades, we see a lot of um ag industry folks where you know they're aging out, and we need to have the next generation of people that actually have life skills. Um, so I think it's so great that you guys have had that ability to build this business that you probably wouldn't have been able to build and the skills that you wouldn't have been able to learn sitting in a traditional classroom. Um I know that you guys are expanding the business. So, Quinn, do you want to talk about what you guys are doing now and your your new farm that you have in Putnam County?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. So uh a couple years ago, a lot of the goats is doing really well. We bought a large piece of property in this little town called Crescent City in North Florida ish. And um we bought too much. So for goats, it was too much property and too far away. So we figured we just need had to figure out something to do with all that land and then make some money off of it. So we're now getting into uh polyculture farming and sustainable farming and grass-fed beef. So I run cows, pigs, chickens on that farm, and then we sell the produce. Um and then I also run a butchery service now. So I'm less into the goat soap now and I'm more into more typical farming, but in a polyculture style and regenerative farming. So cycles and then keep maintaining a land and instead of destroying the land, um actually helping it by the way that we run our animals.
SPEAKER_02:And you guys are going to be bringing some of that product here to Osteen to sell as well. Is that that's the plan as well? So you guys have chickens, you have cattle, you have hogs up there, that you're going to be selling the meat from that. Which is really awesome to expand that to you know to another aspect of agriculture. You guys were taking this agripreneur thing to the next level, which is really awesome. Um, and then Grace, you're taking over, you've taken over the day-to-day goat business, you're the goat queen, and now what's your name, Quinn?
SPEAKER_03:Um, I don't have one yet. I have not been. You gotta come up with one.
SPEAKER_02:You need your title.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Um so if you guys could walk us through maybe kind of a day in the life of, I know every in farming, every day is different. You never know what the heck's gonna come up. You never know when your goats have gotten out, or you know, they've broken a fence or something has happened, or you've got an a dog or a coyote that's coming in the night and unfortunately killed some of your herd. Um, we'll start with you, Quinn. Kind of what's a day in the life of um some of the things that you're doing.
SPEAKER_03:So, first thing I wake up and I go and look the goats. So the I have all the goats at the farm now, um, along with everything else. So I get up, I melt the goats, and then I give them feed and water, make sure they're all in tip top shape, and then I take care of the chickens, feed and water, cows, make sure they've got water around. They're free roaming right now, and then the pigs make sure they got feed and water. After that's done, which takes a little less than an hour, um then I go fix whatever fence the dogs broke in the night, because I'm sure they broke something. And then I um we'll move on to a project during the day. Right now I'm building a uh a chicken slaughterhouse, and then uh just take care of things that come up during the day. Um and at the moment that's pretty much it. Uh so been working mostly on construction projects and then maintaining the chickens and the pigs and the goats and the dogs and the cows that we have up there now.
SPEAKER_02:How about you, Grace?
SPEAKER_00:Well, we're still in school, so I'm worried it's not nearly as exciting as Quinn's. Since he goes over at the farm, I don't do any of that. So I get up, get ready for the day, do my school, get the oils and for the soap ready. And that was pretty much it.
SPEAKER_02:And you guys have been featured on Glenbeck, I think. You guys have been on Blaze TV, you've advertised, I think, on a lot of different um podcasts and you know, around the country. You've made it really huge as agripreneurs. I mean, you guys have done an amazing job in such a short period of time. And, you know, we see, as I mentioned earlier, we have a lot of farmers and producers and ranchers that are getting older and their kids don't want to take over, and we've got lots of farmland that's being developed, especially here in Florida, and we see that we don't have a lot of young people in some ways getting into this. So, what advice, and we'll start with you, Grace, and then we'll go to Quinn, what advice would you give to young people who either want to get into ag business or business in general? Um, because we need your generation. We really do to keep up our it's a food safety is or a security issue, a national security issue. Um how do we encourage other young people?
SPEAKER_00:Well, when you buy something that you love to do, you want to turn into a business, you have to stick with it. So you can't just do it on days that you want to do it. You have to be able to do it on days that you don't want to do it, and to always do it with excellence so that people can depend on you and they're gonna know you're gonna do a good job. That's really wise advice.
SPEAKER_02:Um, I feel like I know a lot of 30 and 40-year-olds who would not have that wisdom. So that's very wise advice. How about you, Quinn?
SPEAKER_03:Well, first thing is you just gotta find you just gotta start going. Like you're not gonna be successful immediately. That's one of the things with starting businesses and doing something new is you don't know how it's gonna go. So the likelihood of you just immediately doing amazingly at it is so slim. But if you just start, then there's something to build off of. Call your local farmers, call your local 4-H people. Um as a farmer, I would love it if someone would call and say, Hey, I'd love to learn this stuff. I can teach it, you know. I've have all the time to teach, um, and but I don't have enough hours of the day to do it all myself. So if they call your local farmers, call anyone like that. Just start calling places, and then there will be someone who wants to help and wants to teach you and wants to help you grow in it. Like I have. I've been trying to get some people to join up, but uh they're uh they're set going to college.
SPEAKER_02:So you guys are both very wise beyond your years with experience um beyond your years. Like I said, I think there are a lot of adults who don't understand that concept of, and you're an adult now, and I shouldn't say adult, you are legally an adult. Um, there are a lot of people who are in their 20s, 30s, 40s who don't understand that. Keep at it, keep working. You're not always going to succeed. Don't give up. Don't, you know, I hate to say it this way, don't go cry in a corner and just give up. You've got to keep persisting. And I think that you guys are very wise beyond your years in that. And ag has so many opportunities. There's food safety jobs, there's like what you guys are doing, things in kind of niche areas. There's traditional farming, there's so many different avenues for people to get into. They just have to ask the questions, dive in, um, figure it out. Being that I am an ag lawyer, kind of have to touch on a little bit of regulatory and legal stuff. Have you guys experienced any challenges, issues, regulations you have to follow, legal issues, and kind of how do you overcome that? Um, I know sometimes in the niche areas you have your own unique issues.
SPEAKER_03:So at our area, we have a pretty major issue, which isn't massive right now, but we the St. John's Water Management District, um originally the property we bought was a fernery, so it's all irrigated and uh the port property was divided, but we got the property with the bar five vials, but not the pump. So we need to put in our oil well to irrigate our fields to grow other stuff. And uh the pump that is made to run that size field is a six-inch well pump. The St. John's Water Management District taxes you for every gallon of water if you use a six-inch well pump, which is the size you need for that. So that's one thing we've been dealing with. Um haven't haven't put a well in for the fields due to that. Um and then uh Florida's not too bad, but we gotta label all our all in the beginning when we were doing goat cheese and goat milk, you gotta label everything not for human consumption because raw milk scares people. Um that's one thing. Um permits, another one. But those are some of the big ones that we've been dealing with more recently.
SPEAKER_02:And it's great to live in a state where we have fewer regulations than some other states. You know, you look at California and everything is regulated and everything is taxed, and there are just so many hurdles to jump through, especially in agriculture and water use air. But we do still have some, you know, some hurdles to jump through. But Florida has been over the years a lot better and more conducive to agriculture and to production than a lot of other places.
SPEAKER_03:We wouldn't be able to do a lot of stuff we do if we were not in Florida. Florida is definitely the place to be for a lot of this.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. And the FDA for soap actually you know has some special regulations. So, you know, if you make sure you have the right salts and right ingredients, then you don't actually have to get special licenses as long as they don't have any cosmetic claims like it cures or anything. And we don't need any special licenses for the soap. That's great. So that's been uh very nice.
SPEAKER_02:Yes. The least hurdles you have to jump through to actually conduct your business and make money and be successful are are better. Um well, we know Christmas is right around the corner. I like to buy a lot of um of soaps for people for our Christmas. Where can our listeners order your products?
SPEAKER_00:Well, we if you want to order our soap, you can go to qpgoatsoap.com and if you use the code LEGALFILED, then you get 10% off.
SPEAKER_02:That's awesome. People can stock up for Christmas. People can everybody need some uh good goat soap products for Christmas. And I always like to kind of wrap up my podcast with some fun personal questions. So I'm gonna I have a few questions for you guys, and we'll start with Grace on the first one, and then go to Quinn, and then we'll go back and forth. So, what do you like to do for fun outside of business or school?
SPEAKER_00:Well, mainly I like to read action and adventure books and the our church is a lot of activities. So I like to be in the choir and I take voice lessons and um and in in the chancel choir, like the adult choir at our church for extra singing events. So I really enjoy that. Awesome. How about you, Quinn?
SPEAKER_03:So right now I'm actually rebuilding a 1956 Chevy truck. Um so that's one of the things I've been working on now, and then I also like to build guns and uh that kind of thing. So whenever I have the free time, I do that.
SPEAKER_02:So how's the truck coming?
SPEAKER_03:Um getting new parts today. So hopefully we get that running soon. Pulled it out of a uh pulled it out of a field and it's been sitting in for over 20 years. So ought to be able to see how that goes.
SPEAKER_02:My boys have been working on this excursion downstairs here for two or three years, putting a Cummins deselage in it. I'm ready for that to be done. Um so what is or was your favorite subject in school? Quinn, we'll start with you on this.
SPEAKER_03:Um science was fun just because I could do it hands-on. A lot of my science I ended up doing with the goats. I did, you know, actual science with uh goat chemistry. And then uh I was always kind of good at English, so I did that too. And history. I liked history.
SPEAKER_02:My boys like to say recess and lunch. So you have to have a subject recess, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I liked lunch.
SPEAKER_02:Eating's good. How about you, Grace?
SPEAKER_00:A few years ago, I would have aggraded the boys, recess. But now I think grammar.
SPEAKER_02:Ooh, that's a good one. That's a real I think especially in the age of social media, internet, people post things, and you know, I think grammar is so important. It always has been, but I feel like now when your words are out there a lot, um, that's really important. Okay, Grace, your favorite Bible verse.
SPEAKER_00:Well, favorite Bible verse is Psalm 2, 5 through 6. Then he'll speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury, saying, As for me, I've set my king in Zion, my holy hill. That's an awesome one.
SPEAKER_02:And for our listeners, that was memorized, not read. So that is awesome. How about you, Claire?
SPEAKER_03:Uh, I like Psalm 58 in its entirety. Um, I don't have the full verse memorized like my sister, which kind of hurts my soul. Um, but basically it's about uh how God will come to judge, especially in the time that we're at where there's so much evil going around, um, knowing that God says he will come to judge those. Uh it always kind of comforts me. So Psalm 58. It's a good one.
SPEAKER_02:That's a very good one. And my last fun question here, which I think is a very fun question. Do you have a favorite goat of all the goats you've ever had, or a least favorite one? I need a least favorite animal of all the livestock I've ever had because he was a real jerk. So if you have a favorite or a least favorite of any of your goats, Quinn.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, I love them all. Um, but no. Uh I've had a few favorites. Um one was cre one was named Carmel, and then another one, I have one named Lily, had another one named uh Ranger, all fun goats, and then least favorite um would probably be one that I I I really like, but Sergeant Bill, because he'd break all the fences. He was a super fun doat, really friendly, but he'd always break the fences.
SPEAKER_02:So I had a ramp, we had sheep, I had a ramp who came across the field Monday and hit me in the head and gave me a concussion. So he was my least amor of all time. Yes. How about you, Grace?
SPEAKER_00:Um my favorite one of our first first goats was Rainbow. Remember, she was really fun. And that we have now, it's probably Freya, because I mean she kinda acts like a dog, you know, she'll jump on you and she wants to get her pets. And the least favorite is probably one that we used to have, named Rosie, just because she wasn't the brightest. So I think she like hurt my mom a couple times and poor Rosie. Couldn't do things right.
SPEAKER_02:She just wasn't very uh cooperative and yeah, I get that. I get that. Sometimes it happens with livestock. I get it. Well, is there anything else you guys want to share with our listeners about anything you do, anything in your lives, anything at all that you would like to, any message you would like to give to our listeners, because I think this has been a great day. I appreciate you guys sharing what you guys do um for our listeners and inspiring others.
SPEAKER_03:Well, the one thing I'd I'd like to end with is to actually call your farmers. Like uh there is so much need for work and wanting to teach people in this field. So make some phone calls. They ever they always pick up or they will pick up eventually, and uh they will want your labor. I'm I'm sure of it. Because I am one tough.
SPEAKER_00:How about you, Grace? Um I'm not really sure. I think Quinn kind of hit a nail in the hand, you know, just to reinforce if you want to do something, perseverance pays off, you just gotta go for it.
SPEAKER_02:And I'm calling your local farmers too, buy from your local farmers, buy from your local producers because you're sure Yeah, exactly. Buy from you guys. Don't forget to go to the website, use the discount code, and we will also put that in the post when we share this podcast too. So go use that discount code and buy some goat soap products. And if you're here locally near Volusia County, look out for will you guys be posting when you're selling the meats of feedback.
SPEAKER_03:FrederangeFarms.com is a website for meats and butcher service.
SPEAKER_00:Our store is gonna open in about a month, I'm pretty sure. Okay.
SPEAKER_03:So we will have an actual location in Osteen.
SPEAKER_02:Keep an eye out for that for all of our listeners. And if you're here local, come buy some meat. And if you're anywhere in the the world, probably country or world, order some soap products. Thank you both for being here today. I appreciate your time, and you guys are both awesome and an inspiration to young people around the country. So thank you.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you for listening to the Legal Field Podcast. For more content, please visit the Facebook page of Florida Ag Law or go to FloridaAglaw.com and join us next time on the Legal Field Podcast.