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Being gone every single day, forward momentum, jerky roosters, preparing the homestead for being gone, and last round of harvest.

Feature Event: MWPP

Sponsor 1: HollerRoast.com – Jack’s is Back! https://hollerroast.com/product/bourbon-cooled/

Sponsor 1: DiscountMylarBags.com: https://bit.ly/43r4dkx

Forage

  • Why forage
  • How to make salves

Livestock

  • Even keel
  • Baby lambs are vibrant
  • Looking at adding 2 ewes and selling or processing Cloudy
  • Duck Jail
  • Baby ducks are escape artists – Panic mode and duck gates
  • Rabbit overload

Grow

  • Things slowing for the fall
  • Basil harvest
  • Need to pot up things for inside
  • Willow propagation
  • Banana Tree Process

Harvest meals

  • Pork chops
  • Buying Keto Snacks like it is a teenage road trip/the ICU story

Holler Neighbors/Community

  • Packup and the washing machine
  • Seeking help for animal processing
  • The cast iron pipe and my rental

Infrastructure

  • Nothing

Finances

  • Nothing to report

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!

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Today, I talk with David Hughes about how he built a successful nut tree empire! 

Sponsors John Pugliano and the Wealthsteading Podcast: https://bit.ly/3oPLTmr 

EMP Shield: Empshield.com Coupon Code LFTN 

Featured Event: https://selfreliancefestival.com/product/homestead-medical/

Show Resources

https://rockbridgetrees.com/

Main content of the show

My name is David Hughes, AKA Farmer Dave. I have been a market grower for 25 plus years and nurseryman for 14 plus years. I own and operate Rock Bridge Trees on 8 1/2 acres in Bethpage, TN, selling to customers all over the country. We specialize in Pecans, Hazelnuts, Hickories and other nut producing trees and would love to teach the small-space homesteader how to make their property self-sustaining through the power of nut trees and growing slow food.

Why grow nut trees on the homestead?

What kinds can be grown?

Where and how can they be grown?

Do I grow for myself or for a market?

How much work is involved in growing nut trees?

How do nut trees work with livestock?

Make it a great week

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

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What do you do when a good friend calls and says, can I drop by? If you have the space, you make t. So excited that Toolman Tim was driving by my house today. We took an hour to catch up, then recorded my podcast. It was a topic that he was well-versed in. I hope you enjoy it!

Featured Event: Self Reliance Festival: https://selfreliancefestival.com/?aff=nicolesauce

Sponsor 1: StrongRootsReources.com: https://bit.ly/42UPCgJ

Sponsor 2: AgoristTaxAdvice.com: https://bit.ly/3hDFWpa

Livestream Schedule

🎙️ Monday, 3pm – Episode 796: What It Takes To Build Community – Or Anything

🎙️ Tuesday, 12:30 pm – Don’t miss the Tuesday Live with Andrew from Combat Training Art and John Willis of Special Operations Equipment.
LFTN YT: https://www.youtube.com/@lftn/streams
SOE YT: https://www.youtube.com/@SOEtacticalgear/streams

🎙️ Thursday, 7pm – SRF Live! Come hear about the food, the fun, and the features!
SRF YT: https://www.youtube.com/@selfreliancefest/streams
LFTN YT: https://www.youtube.com/@lftn/streams
SOE YT: https://www.youtube.com/@SOEtacticalgear/streams

🎙️ Friday, 10:30am – Homestead Happenings
You can also stream it on Odysee, here: https://odysee.com/@livingfree:b

Main topic of the Show: What It Takes To Build Community – or anything

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

 

We think you’ll love the flavor of the Southwest and grilled vegetables. Serve the salad warm or chilled.

Read more

Lamb husbandry, new life, getting ready for fall, fire ants!

Featured Event: Sunday Speaking Gig at the Spencer MAG – and a message to you!

Sponsor 1: Strong Roots Resources

Sponsor 2: DiscountMylarBags.com

Forage

  • Passions fruit is on the vines
  • Last rounds in the next 2 weeks on: mint, yarrow, passions flower, comfrey, stinging nettle, blackberry leaves, lemon balm
  • Marking the jerusalem artichokes 

Livestock

  • Chickens in holler roost need their wings clipped (Or processing)
  • REALLY need to process rabbits
  • New Baby Sheep: Lamb Chop (Rack and Rib)
  • Sheep Decisions/Sheep husbandry
  • Baby Ducks are free to the yard as of yesterday (Playing it by ear on when to combine)
  • Fire ants in the garden

Homestead Meals

  • Last? Round of salsa from Holler Hot peppers
  • Crockpot Lamb Ribs
  • Garden Saute – Malabar spinach

Grow

  • Closing down areas: How we do it
  • Lettuce looks good
  • Late squash harvest

Holler Neighbors/Community

  • Ride share to the MAG
  • Saturday Night Holler Neighbor Dinner

Infrastructure

  • $60 to hard fence a tough area (context: reels are about 150 each w braided wire we use)

Finances

  • 5 bags of food a month for babies: $100 for September

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

Today we will discuss how I built a rental business while at a relatively low-paying job. I will also talk about some things I have learned about rentals along the way. We will also cover our usual Monday segments.

Featured Event: Self Reliance Festival: https://selfreliancefestival.com/?aff=nicolesauce

Sponsor 1: Permies.com

Your ref code to promote the Kickstarter:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulwheaton/low-tech-0?ref=9bl6gk 

Details on the earlybird rewards:

https://permies.com/wiki/earlybird

Sponsor 2: John Pugliano and the Wealthsteading Podcast: https://bit.ly/3oPLTmr 

Livestream Schedule

  • Monday, 3pm, NOTE: I changed the time due to my evening Choir schedule
  • Tuesday, 12:30pm: LIVE with Pat Watson of Uncensored Tactical and John Willis of Special Operations Equipment 
  • Friday, 10:30am: Homestead Happenings – We have BABY SHEEP!!! 

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Really need to kick Up cheese production for the winter
  • So. Much. Food.
  • Power Pantry Webinar 
  • Weekend Eaten Up with Roaster Repair- so less forward momentum on harvest. Creek Mint
  • Fall restock will happen in the next four weeks or so (How we do this)

Weekly Shopping Report From Joe

I gassed up on Friday, and spent the usual $3.899 per gallon of untainted regular at Weigels.

Traffic was moderate, and the weather was nice.

All of the drink coolers are working at Dollar Tree, and they are well-stocked. The health aisle looks pretty full too, with a good supply of generic OTC meds. 

A 2x4x8 remains at $3.68 in Home Depot. I’m not sure I saw any AA or AAA Lithium batteries, but they have plenty of alkaline, and they do have Lithium coin cells and CR123s. The store was normal-busy.

Aldi was last. We found what we wanted. They even had a little bit of 70% chocolate in stock again. Staple prices were: milk: $2.82, eggs: $1.03, heavy cream: $4.69, butter: $3.19, OJ: $3.19, bacon: $3.99, potatoes: $5.99, sugar: $3.09, flour: $2.19.

Frugality Tip from Janet – who just started a sewing podcast

This one can help keep things tidier in your bathroom too!

I save little slivers of soap in a jar in the bathroom. When I make a batch of homemade liquid hand soap with a bar of grated soap and a gallon of water, I add all the little slivers to the batch and use them up that way.

Operation Independence

Three sheep were born, Lamb Chop and Two Unnamed Girls!

Main topic of the Show: How I Built a Rental Business with a $25,000/Year Job

It was the early 2,000s and I was living in an apartment with a roommate. I was in my late 20s and had rarely lived without roommates – that was how I made money work.

Background:

  • Grew up helping Dad with rental properties
  • Took jobs cleaning and painting in college because they were flexible
  • Was an excellent tenant
  • KNEW I wanted to eventually have rental properties

Learning the Trade: Befriended someone who managed several rentals and helped with property management.

  • Standardized agreements
  • Standardized paint colors
  • Standardized policies/template agreements
  • Garbage disposals, ceiling fans, and appliances
  • The “Move in fee’
  • Month to month versus leases
  • Screening services

Mentorship and My First Home

  • Qualified for $150k on my 25000/year salary with good credit
  • Could only really afford 100k when I looked an finances
  • At this time, houses in the “wrong” part of town fell into that category
  • How I got the first home
  • How I kept the first home (Roommates)
  • Remodeling myself

It was 2006 and the mortgage market was playing free and loose with loans – New state, Tennessee. I found myself becoming a landlord across the country.

Established a long term goal: ongoing revenue in old age, 10 units

  • Mid 30s and still had roommates
  • Went in on a duplex in Nashville with a 50-50 partner in an undervalued part of town. It needed work and updates.
    • Established a property manager I trusted (words on this)
    • Bad experiences happened when
      • I let folks in with former evictions
      • I let folks in with criminal history
      • I let folks in with bad credit
      • I did not check monthly
  • Bought the Holler and my former Nashville Home became a rental – the NEW DAWN
    • Standardized policies
    • No exceptions to screening rules
    • Hired a lawyer for rental agreements
    • Standardize paint colors, ceiling fan, garbage disposal, appliances policy
    • Immediate eviction notices for late rent
    • Philosophy: strict adherence to contracts from the start
  • Financial goal per property: Positive cash flow, not long term asset appreciation

Today, we rarely have issues and use time between tenancy to implement maintenance. The approach is that it is better to be empty a bit longer than to have a bad renter experience. There is still improvements to do on each property and we update things as extra budget happens. 

Speaking of finances: for 20 years, most money from the rentals goes back into the rentals, which are nicer than my personal home. By choice. To build this long term into ongoing revenue for when it is harder for me to work.

Today I have 4 and if you think about it, by having Tactical in my guest house, I STILL live with a roommate. In my 50s. Because that is one of the BEST ways to quickly improve your financial situation quickly and leverage the money toward rental property acquisition.

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

Warm your insides with a spicy, satisfying meal that needs only rice and a salad or vegetable to be complete.

This crockpot adaptation makes dinner prep easy on a busy day. Read more

Leaves are starting to turn on the trees that turn the earliest. It is the time to pay attention to cherry leaf drop. Indeed, fall is not here, but the weather has turned a corner in Tennessee to cooler nights and mornings. AC is off more than on. Fresh air in the house makes everything fee better. Animals are friskier and garden plants are doing a last push.

Strategically, we are reducing time needed on the homestead to care for things so that one person can more easily manage it.

Featured Event: Homestead Advanced Wound Care with Chuck Peoples: https://selfreliancefestival.com/product/homestead-medical/?aff=nicolesauce

Sponsor 1: Freesteading.com: https://bit.ly/3o2BcMR

Sponsor 2: AgoristTaxAdvice.com: https://bit.ly/3hDFWpa

Forage

  • Missed my tree shaking
  • Goldenrod is everywhere
  • Nettles are ready for harvest
  • Mints, etc still harvestable
  • Grabbing Yarrow
  • Echinacea Seed collection to start additional patches
  • Chicken of the woods this week

Livestock

  • Baby sheep playing this morning
  • Really close to another round of babies
  • Timing rotation so that the sheep are easy to get to for SRF
  • Starting to rotate goats again when fencing is simplified
  • Deer season is nigh and there are many in the area
  • Time to process rabbits
  • Picking up a rooster or two (Need leg bands to mark them)
  • Time to put on ear tags for the new lambs

Grow

  • Lettuce is up and needs thinning – transplant to the AP system
  • May have enough peppers to do another round of salsa
  • Getting ready to prepare beds for spring planting
  • Preparing bed for garlic
  • Last brussels sprout harvest this weekend
  • Flowers did great this year

Holler Neighbors/Community

  • SRF Stage Assistance
  • Filling in when we are gone
  • The roaster repair

Infrastructure

  • Semi permanent electric fencing to make life easier (Making straight shots)
  • Building a new rabbitry – need to put pine tar on the structural wood (Making a big mess under Tajmaholler

Finances

  • Expensive chicken eggs are night – Today is the earliest day for eggs
  • Tracking system is working well
  • Andy has sheep shares 

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

Today we talk about choosing freedom, finding the right kind of community, keeping up with life, and setting yourself up to live in a way that is healthy for you with Tag from Life Done Free and John Willis from Special Operations Equipment.

Featured Event: SelfRelianceFestival.com VIP Tickets: https://selfreliancefestival.com/tickets/

StrongRootsReources.com: https://bit.ly/42UPCgJ

EMPShield.com: https://bit.ly/3MBBEL COUPON CODE: LFTN

Show Resources

Special Operations Equipment

Living Free in Tennessee

LifeDoneFree

Main content of the show

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

 

Today, we have a hybrid Monday show with an interview with Brian from The Lots Project, Along with our usual Monday Segments!

Featured Event: The Back to the Land Festival, Sept 22-24

Sponsor 1: EMPShield.com: https://bit.ly/3MBBELx, Coupon LFTN

Sponsor 2: Discount Mylar Bags https://bit.ly/43r4dkx 

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • More green beans have come off the garden for processing so I am going for it
  • It is time to shift things around to prepare for incoming meat
  • Crock Pot Beef Ribs
  • Auditing and refilling the pantry medical, staples

Weekly Shopping Report from Joe

We took our usual trip on Saturday. Traffic was a lot heavier than it has been. People’s generally pleasant moods were no different, there were just a lot more of them on the road.

Dollar Tree was first. There have been no significant changes. The one cooler still hasn’t been fixed, but the others have plenty of stock in them. I didn’t see any holes in aisles.

Home Depot was next. A 2x4x8 remains at $3.68. We were able to get two big bags of the detergent Sonia likes; each is good for 132 loads, so with what we still have we’re covered for laundry for probably a year.

Aldi was last. New pallets of flour and sugar were put out not long ago. We found everything else we wanted, although I had to get the 85% cacao chocolate. Staple prices are:

eggs: $1.02 ; milk: $2.78 ; heavy cream: $4.69; OJ: $3.19; butter: $3.19; bacon: $3.99; flour: $2.19; sugar: $3.09; potatoes: $6.29.

A gallon of untainted regular gasoline remains at $3.899.

Frugality Tip from Janet

Parmesan cheese rinds get added to the soup pot for flavoring.

Operation Independence

Focus is on SRF Tickets and Repairs to the Duplex in Nashville to keep finances moving in a positive direction!

Resources

TheLotsProject.com

Main content of the show

Brian from The Lots Project travels in an rv with his wife and two LARGE dogs. They started their journey seeking a new piece of land and through keeping an open mind and focusing on the characteristics of the life they want have transitioned into the nomad lifestyle. By going minimalist, Brian and Cory have saved enough money to purchase a piece of land and are beginning to build a new dream.

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