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Episode 885: Hijacked By A Redneck

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Join the Tactical Redneck for a hijacked episode of LFTN!

Big picture: spring is very involved

Featured forage

1 trees waking up

Livestock 

1) rabbits look better

2) 2 sets of triplets

3) assisted birth: shoulder and intertwined with the second: narrow cervix

4) watching for shock in the ewe and having a vet out

5) ram schedule will be fall to better align

6) more time invested in handling

Grow

Peas are up

Potatoes are in

Seedlings are up

We have greens

Infrastructure

Base for minisplit. Challenge is moving it in

Fencing update

Community

Seed exchange was fun but small

Next event is April 13

Holler neighbor dinner

Finance

Spent money on milk replacer and a vet

Make it a great week!

GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce. It makes a great Christmas Gift!

Community

Advisory Board

Resources

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Episode 884 – How Do You Get Real Information? With Knightsbridge

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Today, I am joined by Matt Williams to talk about Open Source Intelligence, getting better information and opting out of the fear-based news cycle while maintaining situational awareness.

Featured Event: SelfRelianceFestival.com/Webinar

Sponsor 1: EMP Shield, Coupon Code LFTN

Sponsor 2: DiscountMylarBags.com

Show Resources

https://www.knightsbridge.ltd/

https://www.twitter.com/kbr_intel

Global Hotspot Report and Briefing – $14.95 (email only 5 days a week)/$24.95 (with weekly 60-90m briefing call) 

Coupon Code LFTN for a free month to try it out!!

Matt Williams is the head of intelligence operations for Knightsbridge Research, Ltd., an open-source intelligence (OSINT) company focused on global hotspots. He spent over a decade in Wall Street research and financial operations, later moving to an executive position at a midsized Texas firm. He’s learned and applied these techniques in both personal and professional instances for over 20 years. Matt works from his ranch in North Texas raising cattle, gardening, and watching tornados from the front porch.

Make it a great week

GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce. 

Community

Advisory Board

Resources

 

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Tuesday Live with John Willis, Nicole Sauce and Alyssa – Ep 883

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Join me for a group discussion with John Willis of Special Operations Equipment and Alyssa from the Lampost Collective. Alyssa left the Self Reliance Festival a year ago with new connections and a desire to build something new. She filled a niche in her town for small remodel projects. She has done so well that she and her husband will move to a new state, new projects and a new life.

Connect with us:
OriginalSOEGear.com
NicoleSauce.com
@lamppostcollective on Instagram

Featured Event: 

FREE WEBINAR! March 17-21 selfreliancefestival.com/webinar

Don’t miss the Hand Hewn Farm Processing Workshop, April 4-5

Sponsors:

Show Resources

Special Operations Equipment

Living Free in Tennessee

NicoleSauce.com

HollerRoast.com 

HandHewnFarm.com

Main content of the sho

Make it a great week!

GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce. 

Community

Resources

 

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What Do Webinars Bring You? EP 882

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Today we talk about lessons learned from the free five day webinar series that was put together by the SRF team and me. We will also go over our usual Monday segments: Tales from the prepper pantry, the weekly shopping report, frugality tip, operation independence

Featured Event: Kentucky Sustainable Living Expo, THIS WEEKEND!

Sponsor 1: Holler Roast Coffee

Sponsor 2: The Wealthsteading Podcast

Livestream Schedule

LFTN YT: https://www.youtube.com/@lftn/streams

🎙️ Monday, 2pm, Lessons Learned from the Webinar Series

🎙️ Tuesday, 12:30pm, Tuesday Live with Alyssa, and John Willis, Special Operations Equipment

🎙️ Wednesday, 2:00pm, Interview with Matt Williams, Knightsbridge

🎙️ Thursday, 7:00pm, SRF Live

🎙️ Friday, 9:30am CT: Homestead Happenings with the Tactical Redneck

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Man when life gets busy, it is hard to love to cook, but we made it
  • Curing Pork Bellies this week
  • Found a solution for organizing jars of herbal teas that we grow – the cube
  • Time to grab vinegar – I can’t put it off any more. I am going to have to go to the store
  • Made “Not Quite Cottage Cheese”

Weekly Shopping Report, March 11

Saturday’s first trip was just by me, primarily to get an oil change for the Santa Fe, but I then went to Hobby Lobby and found a few items I knew Sonia wanted; Saturday was our 17-year Anniversary.

Dollar Tree. Most of the drink coolers are full again, and all of them are now $2.25. I still just grab a drink off a shelf.

Aldi: more crowded than usual. Stock levels were good, and as usual we found everything we wanted. Staple prices were: eggs: $2.64 (-); whole milk: $2.86; heavy cream: $5.19; OJ: $3.29; butter: $3.69; bacon: $4.25; potatoes: $3.99; sugar: $3.09; flour: $2.29; and 80% lean ground beef: $3.99 (-).

Home Depot. A 2x4x8 was $3.38, which I don’t think is a change (I only put the staples in my notes).

A gallon of untainted regular gasoline remains at $3.599.

Frugality Tip from Margo

When pricing out new appliances, look at the delivery and set up fees. Those hidden little fees can be another couple of hundred dollars. In the last year we have had to replace a spare refrigerator and a stacked washer/dryer.(Side note don’t ever buy a scratch and dent washer, ask me how I know). We ended up using one store (Best Buy), because delivery and setup were included in the price of the washer/dryer and if you are nice to people they will put your fridge in too 😉. A family member just got a new dishwasher, but didn’t look at the add on fees. What looked like a savings over other stores prices ,ended up being $180 more than the other store with the extra fees. So even if you are handy and are planning on putting your own appliances in, look at that free delivery and setup and let someone else do the work without paying any more money.

Happy saving y’all.

Operation Independence

Missing Chicken

Main topic of the Show: Lessons From The Webinar Series

Why we are doing it.

  • Learning vs selling vs community
  • Spirit of the world right now
  • Why I do SRF and LFTN to begin with – lots of why

Assess Your Assets – just like in homestead design

Tap into your community – Cohosts, content creators, and Rebecca

Lessons Learned

  1. People love a freebie – abuse this to your peril (2 schools of thought)
  2. Upfront about upsells – it is in the marketing
  3. The technical and production part always takes more than you thought it would. Always. (Backups on your backups)
  4. The registration form and where did you hear about this question
  5. The landing page and conversion rate – 45% (Why I think this is)
  6. Short term vs long term benefit

All in all Know Your Why, Know Your Brand, And Be Willing To Take A Chance.

SelfRelianceFestival.com/Webinar

Make it a great week!

GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce. 

Community

Resources

 

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Bread, Vegetable, or Main Dish?

Broccoli Spoon Bread is definitely a comfort food – hot, starchy, and cheesy – from plain ingredients. It’s also health food, containing protein; calcium; Vitamins A, B6, C, and K; […]

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Homestead Happenings for March 15 2024 – Ep 881

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Today we talk about things catching on fire that should not be on fire, a surprise home invasion, a rabbit update, and more!

Featured Event: Seed Exchange and Potluck, Tomorrow 1-3pm

Sponsor 1: Senior Chief Electric: https://bit.ly/3MKKbuu 

Sponsor 2: SRF Webinar: https://selfreliancefestival.com/webinar/

Listener Feedback

Just listened to your podcast talking about your troubles with the dishwasher and oven. Don’t have any words of wisdom for the dishwasher, but the oven, if the igniter is glowing and the gas is not coming on, the issue still could be with the igniter. If it’s glowing more of a red orange then a white orange, it might be cracked or just not getting hot enough for the controller to bring on the gas. I don’t know if there’s a way to diagnose it other than just by the color or replacing it, but had that issue a number of years ago on my parents oven and replacing the igniter fixed it.

Hope that can be of help,

Andy

From D

I am listening to a rather new episode. 

So this is my pantry porn, it is sooooo bad. You know those Crates for traveling with cats on a plane? Well, when you unscrew them each half takes about 12 mason jars. And they fit under the couch. Lovely. I use screw top bottles – I am not in the States to use the lovely Ball jars, but am able to safely and efficiently pressure can with a canner I had to order in! 

These jars are a pint or a pint and a bit (720gr-ish).

The other photo is about managing stock. It is not 100% effective but does work. 

I got a template from somewhere and adapted it for us. The table has lines for the items, like tomato or cucumber or meat or whatever, and little empty jars. 

When I canned something it gets one line through. When it has been used, a cross. 

So this is my inventory (spelling?!) for what my husband and I use in a year (I started it in July last year, so I recorded what I still had. This year will be my second season using a pressure canner, so the volumes I can do at a time is already much higher than a silly 4 jars at a time in my small stock pot… Whoo hoo. 

Hope this may be useful. The pictures are horrible, like good pantry porn should be. 

 

Forage

  • Wild Mustard Flowers are here!
  • Watercress is still beat back from the flooding
  • Same early spring greens as last week

Livestock

  • Rabbit ear mite update
  • 3 am home invasion
  • Moving sheep
  • Still on lamb watch
  • Eggapalooza is on
  • Something’s on fire

Grow

  • Seeds germinated!
  • Still need to plant potatoes
  • Swiss chard and parsley
  • Murdering fire ants

 

Holler Neighbors/Community

  • Big boost from the Eversoles
  • Reupping the monthly homesteader meetups

Infrastructure

  • Fencing

Finances

  • No update

Make it a great week!

GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce. It makes a great Christmas Gift!

Community

Advisory Board

Resources

 

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Build Your Future with The Canny Couple – Ep 880

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Join me at 2pm CT for a live interview with the Canny Couple. We will talk about their move into building a life they want to live on their terms, freedom, homesteading and more!y to it all.

Featured Event: March 17-21, 2024, Self Reliance Voices: Lessons from Legends
https://selfreliancefestival.com/webinar/?aff=nicolesauce

Sponsor 1: DiscountMylarBags.com
Sponsor 2: HollerRoast.com

Show Resources
About Aaron and Julia
We are a small homestead family that has been slowly building our homestead for many years, merging homesteading and frugality. We work everyday on being more self-reliant on a budget. We have officially became 100% debt free, which has lead to some amazing changes for our homestead.

Linktree – https://linktr.ee/thecannycouple

Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRspWFevoyYcUuEsr9Mjgvg?sub_confirmation=1

TikTok – http://tiktok.com/@thecannycouple?lang=en

Podcast – https://fountain.fm/show/aW3kvtrG84EW2iluwcmQ

Make it a great week

GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.

Community
Mewe Group: https://mewe.com/join/lftn
Telegram Group: https://t.me/LFTNGroup
Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@livingfree:b

 

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Tuesday Live with John Willis, Nicole Sauce and Hand Hewn Homestead – Ep 879

Direct Download

Join me for a group discussion with John Willis of Special Operations Equipment and members of our community and beyond about building the life you choose, current events, building a durable life, community development, business, getting started, health and more. 

Each Tuesday, we welcome a different guest to tell their story, as well as take your questions live. 

et’s talk about building freedom through following your butchering passion with the guys from Hand Hewn Farm. Both Doug and Andy will join us to talk shop and take your questions live!

Want to grab one of the 8 remaining spots in their class April 4 & 5 in Camden, tn? Here is the link: https://selfreliancefestival.com/product/pig-processing/

Connect with us:
OriginalSOEGear.com
NicoleSauce.com
HandHewnFarm.com

Featured Event: 

FREE WEBINAR! March 17-21 selfreliancefestival.com/webinar

Don’t miss the Hand Hewn Farm Processing Workshop, April 4-5

Sponsors:

Show Resources

Special Operations Equipment

Living Free in Tennessee

NicoleSauce.com

HollerRoast.com 

HandHewnFarm.com

Main content of the sho

Make it a great week!

GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce. 

Community

Resources

 

, ,

Three Lessons Learned After 1 Month on Solar – EP 878

Direct Download

Join me as I share with you three things about being on solar that I did not realize I would experience as well as our usual Monday segments.

Featured Event: Self Reliance Voices: Lessons from Legends

Sponsor 1: InvestableWealth.com

Sponsor 2: EMPSHIELD.COM, coupon code LFTN

Livestream Schedule

  • Tuesday Live with Hand Hewn Farms, 12:30PM CT
  • Wednesday Interview with The Canny Couple, 2pm CT
  • Thursday SRF Live: 7pm CT
  • Friday Homestead Happenings, 9:30AM CT

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • We’ve been eating lots of green beans because I lack motivation to make more effort
  • Makin Bacon
  • Still in a use it up phase and I canned so much more bone broth than w e need

Weekly Shopping Report from Joe

Dollar Tree

  • Drink coolers are partially empty i
  • Red Bull products for $2.50. 
  • Plenty of drinks on the shelves. 
  • The food coolers are mostly full too.

Aldi was rather crowded. Stock levels looked good, and we found everything we wanted. Staple prices were: 

  • eggs: $2.78; 
  • whole milk: $2.86 (-); 
  • heavy cream: $5.19; 
  • OJ: $3.29; 
  • butter: $3.69; 
  • bacon: $4.25; 
  • potatoes: $3.99; 
  • sugar: $3.09; 
  • flour: $2.29;
  • 80% lean ground beef: $4.59 (+).

Home Depot has  a lot of bulbs, vines, and onion starts in a row of islands in the front. The tool islands have lots of empty compartments. There are still specials going for Milwaukee 12V “Red Lithium” tools and batteries, with just a few of the Ryobi USB-charged tools left, and some 18V One+ items. Fire extinguishers area was full, including various smoke and CO alarms. 

A 2x4x8 remains at $3.38.

Untainted regular has dropped a dime to $3.599/gallon.

Frugality Tip from Margo without a t

Ever tried a new recipe and it ended up not what you thought it was going to be? Don’t throw it out, do something else with it. I recently tried a new humus recipe and it turned out like a soup. 

So I made some pasta, poured this roasted red pepper chickpea sauce on it, added some roasted tomatoes and a little homemade Italian salad dressing and boom, it is now a pretty darn good pasta salad. Maybe add some roasted chicken to it. The possibilities are endless… And now after writing this, I could have made a soup too. 

It can be frustrating to make something that doesn’t turn out like you want, but to me it’s more frustrating to throw good food away. Get creative, who knows you might accidentally make something you will make again one day. 

Operation Independence

  • Avoiding the need to buy a new appliance through appliance repair
  • Mechanical appliances and helpful video – NEED LINK FROM T – Sorry guys i will update it here when he sends it!!

Main topic of the Show: 3 Lessons Learned after 1 Month of Solar

Reference: HackMyHomestead.com

Background on the solar system and how we sized it. 

How long it took for it to work right and barriers to functioning that we ran into.

The lessons:

  1. Know Your Why, Don’t Be Rosy Eyed About The Savings, Choose Wisely
    1. Sized based on budget for resilience
    2. Developed to be scalable as in we can add batteries and panels if we like
    3. Reputable companies for equipment means we got a free upgrade when a new model came out
  2. Installing solar into an existing home will teach you things about the wiring that you had no idea about. 
    1. Found Bad Wiring
    2. Found Bad Grounding
    3. Needed to get some other things up to code for safety not just because of codes
  3. Access to the real time data helps you make wiser decisions
    1. Time of day to use water and why I have changed
    2. The clogged spin down filters
    3. Cloudy days make me even less happy than they used to
    4. Trimming Trees and the Big Picture
    5. Frosty mornings
    6. Snow and dust and panel cleaning

Bonus observation: Knowing the why and how it fits into my long term energy resilience plan has really helped me embrace the system, learn more about solar, and not have dispatched expectations. Also, batteries are WAAAAAAAY more important than panels. You do get a tax credit FWIW.

Make it a great week!

Song:

GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce. 

Community

Resources