Featured posts

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Episode 74: The Art of Knowing What is None of Your Business

It’s been awhile since we explored a freedom topic, and as most of you know, the ability to live life as freely as possible is one reason that Mark and I have chosen to go on this homesteading journey. So today, I thought that it might be fun to examine something about freedom that most people don’t talk much about: building the ability to know what is none of your business. You’ve all heard the term “Nimby” right? Well today we will walk through that, along with our usual segments and a few tales from the Holler.

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Episode 73: Butchering Lamb for Two, Recipes

A friend asked me, while looking at a carcass to cut up on his butchering table, how I would butcher a lamb if I had one here for Mark and me. So today, we will talk about how to process your spring lamb – or goat – for two.

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Episode 72: Early Spring on the Homestead

Today, we are going to talk about some fun projects we did over the last week here at the Holler Homestead. There were some changes that needed to be done because of the pig, some fun wild plants popping up, goat hijinks and more. And yes, as usual, nothing went as planned but a bunch of stuff got done. This really makes me think the most important skill you can develop if you plan to integrate homesteading practices into your life is troubleshooting and keeping flexible.

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Episode 71: Focus is So Simple It’s Hard


How are you doing moving toward your goals? These past few weeks have had me thinking pretty hard about how simple it is to set a set of priorities in your life and family, then use them as a filter through which to make choices. It is so simple, in fact, that it is hard. Then I got to reading a book I was helping someone right and one of their chapter titles was “Organized people who are wrong beat disorganized people who are right every time.”

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Episode 70: Live in the Now, Plan for the Future

We are going to talk about life and more importantly life today, not yesterday, and not tomorrow. You hear people say all the time to live in the now but that seems kind of weird, right? I mean, if I just do what I want every day to be in the now, then when tomorrow comes, I will have used up all my cash and will end up out on the street. Well, maybe living in the now but being aware of the future is important. We will cover more of that in the main topic of the show.

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Episode 69: How to Dry Cure Ham With Brett Corrieri

Today  we have a great interview with Chef Brett Corrieri, the instructor from Cider Hollow Farm’s pork processing class. Brett walks us through the process to dry cure a ham, and describes why you would want to eat it a little too well. Also today, we have a roundup of sweet potato recipes from you, the listener.

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Episode 68: Goats for Weed Control on the Homestead

Today, we’ve got a good one with an exploration of how well goats work for weed control, as well as some tactics we have learned about over the past “almost year” of having these playful little devils — and they are devils — on our land.

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What mother nature is providing

  • Shagbark Hickory Update
  • Deadnettle is starting to spring up
  • Bees legs are full of pollen
  • Watercress may be big enough this week to harvest a round
  • Bad mushroom year – all my best logs are gone
  • Sprouts 
  • Eggapalooza –

Getting the Gardens Ready

  • Seedling trays – maybe – big trip to houston coming up and not sure if things will be in place
  • Special replay this week: Growing your Own Seedlings.
  • Mud farming – facial idea

Tales from the prepper pantry

  • Marty the pig will graduate in a few weeks – a confession
  • Laying plans to eat more green beans – for some reason this year we’ve been finding lots of collard greens and not hitting the canned stores
  • Still swimming in sweet potatoes – anyone got some fun recipes?
  • Onions from last fall will be done in about two weeks, just as the wild garlic is coming on 

Operation Independence

  • Duplex taxes are done – so much more to do on taxes
  • Arranged for Marty to be processed

Goat Fencing Episode

Make it a great week!

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Episode 67: Planning a Big Relocation

Today, we are going to talk about something that several of you have brought up recently: How to navigate a big move. I have moved across the country several times, as well as overseas for a year and learned a thing or two along the way. As it turns out, some of you see your path toward standing on your own in another place from where you are. Places with lower property taxes, or no income tax, or less zoning restriction. Places where you are more free to just get a business started without filling out a million forms. And moving can be so costly! I will share with you some lessons learned in the trenches on this one.

5 NEW SPOTS OPEN: Spring Workshop

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Episode 66: Create Opportunity Through Simplification

Elderberry Syrup

Today, I am going to talk with you about opportunity and simplification. Simplification is the top of people’s minds for so many right now as they declutter their closets, re-examine their priorities and see opportunities come to fruition.

And opportunity is the name of the game.

Here at the Holler Homestead, we have been on 18 months of growing side hustles as I transitioned to a different way of life, and, well, the opportunities just keep coming in.

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Episode 65: How to Wet Cure a Ham

Today, I am going to talk with you about how to cure ham. This topic is robust enough that we could do several shows on it in fact. I even reached out to my buddy, Chef Brett, to get his take on the dry curing method alongside my brining approach to this conundrum. He and I will have a curing interview later this week.

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