Today we talk about the overall gardening season

Featured event: Foraging Walk by Kerry Brown

On Saturday August 12th, around 10 am at Solomon Park in Wartburg, TN I’ll be holding a foraging walk as a guest of the Morgan County, TN Homesteaders Group. They have a group on Facebook if you search that particular title. Location: Wartburg Civic Center- Solomon Park 132 Carter Street Wartburg, TN 37887

Sponsor 1: John Pugliano of The Wealthsteading Podcast, InvestableWealth.com

Sponsor 2: Agoristtaxadvice.com

Forage

  • Wine berries
  • Watercress is coming back
  • Mint is all over the place
  • Yarrow

Livestock

  • Trapped!
  • Baby ducks got free
  • Compost area is built for chickens
  • Rabbits are moving to grass next week – took us a long time to get that set up because of sheep being added (talk about adding too much at once)
  • Separating the boys from the girls (why)

Grow

  • Overall season update
  • Last seeding of summer things and rotation into fall
  • Processing garlic
  • More on the onion harvest
  • Green beans and shade cloth

Holler Neighbors/Community

  • Update on Jenni
  • Meat curing class

Infrastructure

  • Rain assists with analyzing hydrology of the land
  • Solar and power outages

Finances

  • $15 for 16 jars of homemade relish

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 learning new things and how that fits in with a happy and productive life. I also highlight a new side hustle that one of our community has launched, and review the results of a recent survey that came from the weekly mail.

Have you signed up for the weekly mail? Do so here.

Featured Event: Early Bird Prices are about to be a thing of the past for Self Reliance Festival

Sponsor 1: TheHomesteadConsultant.com: https://bit.ly/43aLbid

Sponsor 2: EMPShield.com: https://bit.ly/3MBBELx

Livestream Schedule

  • Tuesday Live with Davian McNight, 2:30 PM Central
  • Friday Homestead Happenings, 10:30 Central Time 

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Getting ready for the canning webinar: Bone in chicken
  • Failed to notice a rotting butternut squash “What’s that smell?”
  • Spicy Pickle relish (thoughts on condiments)
  • Return of the Dinner for One concept
  • Quick Cube Steak Recipe
  • Send me pictures of 4% vinegar if you find them at your store (And how to react to information like that)

Side Hustle Feature: BovineBits

Operation Independence

  • New Round of Items for Auction
  • Chicken Composting System is Beginning to Work
  • Holler Roast Update

Main topic of the Show: Learn New Things or Die

Evocative headline, no?

They say if you are not growing, you are failing in business – the same goes for building your life. If you are not learning something new, you are dying.

  • 75hard, one more day (LEARN new things)
  • Spinning Wheel Community Story
  • Setting it up: attempt | Learning | Attempt | Learning | ATTEMPT | jury rigged part filed | Ordered new part
    • Youtube university
    • Revisited the drop spindle
  • So now yall are going to her for the next few months all about me learning how to spin wool – and this is a good thing
  • Chicken Processing Story (LEARN new things)
  • When things become habitual they seem easy, yet for a first timer, they can be quite hard
  • Are you cruising right now? Or pushing yourself?
  • LEARN new things
  • What is that one thing you have been avoiding because you do not know how to do it? (LEARN new things)

Weekly Mail Survey Results:

  • Community Update, Events, Recipes and Tips (Avoiding the greater reset)

Social connection: Medford Oregon Meetup on August 9 – RSVP Here.

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 give a midsummer update on the homestead, talk about community, and celebrate some things that have made life a little easier this year.

Featured event: Pressure Canning Class Wednesday at 5pm Central

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

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

LAST CALL: Paul Wheaton’s Permaculture Adventure Bundle, $35

Holler Roost Plans on Etsy

Rainy year is good

Schedule based on weather: Early morning, midday break, later afternoon (Lots of breaks)

Forage

  • Paw paw update
  • Red clover, mullein, echinacea, chocolate mint
  • Creek mint
  • Lambs quarter (final round)
  • Mullain seed
  • Elderberries acting differently this year
  • Yarrow 

Livestock

  • Baby rabbits
  • Feeding dogs raw is a challenge
  • 8 baby ducks – all girls again
  • Go to bed training
  • Working with automation and the chickens
  • Sheep pregnancy assessment
  • Getting ready to move boys to my place
  • Goat is foraging

Grow

  • Tomato blight experiment
  • T has pet projects for food
  • Reset mottled shade bed for thorny berries
  • Green beans are banging
  • 1st zucchini
  • Brussels sprouts still not ready (Under seeding with squash)
  • Beets sucked this year
  • Onion update
  • Potato update
  • Chard is a perfect balance
  • Cucumber update: volunteer versus planted
  • Malabar spinach and forever spinach doing well
  • Pigs planted squash

Holler Neighbors/Community

  • Holler Neighbor Dinner
  • Spinning Wheel Story

Infrastructure

  • Maintain or make forward progress when Nicole is gone, hammering hard when Nicole is here
  • Disturbing ground so that things can grow back before winter
  • Collecting supplies for a subpanel project for the solar system
  • Setting plans for a mini solar system for the main house that will run the oven and some lights
  • 4wd 4 wheeler, game changer

Finances

  • No new income at the moment

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 what an economic crash looks like, discuss if we are in the midst of one, and explore what you can do to navigate the current economy with Jack Spirko and John Willis.

Featured Event: Self Reliance Festival in Camden, OCT 14-15

Sponsor 1: Paul Wheaton

Permaculture Adventure Bundle

Paul Wheaton and our friends at permies.com are offering a limited-time Permaculture Adventure Bundle that can kickstart your journey into natural building and homesteading. This fantastic offer has the potential to turn your summer into an educational tsunami. It’s available at an unbeatable price of $35 through Friday.

Link to Product:  https://permies.com/w/permaculture-adventure?f=495

Link to Blog Post: https://www.livingfreeintennessee.com/2023/07/12/permaculture-adventure/

Sponsor 2: AgoristTaxAdvice.com

Matthew Sercely at Agorist Tax Advice offers a free consultation to LFTN listeners so that you can find out if working with him to structure your finances, track tax write offs, and understand any risks associated with taking them can put more of YOUR money in YOUR pocket. He has broad experience in real estate, end of life planning, rentals, business taxes and more.

Find out more at AgoristTaxAdvice.com/LFTN

Show Resources

Special Operations Equipment

Living Free in Tennessee

The Survival Podcast

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

 

Join me as we explore what seven years of podcasting has taught me about getting started, gear, monetizing and more.

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

Sponsor 1: The Wealthsteading Podcast: https://bit.ly/3oPLTmr

Sponsor 2: Senior Chief Electric: https://bit.ly/3MKKbuu

Livestream Schedule:

  • Tuesday, 9:30M CT, Live with Jack Spirko and John Willis
  • Thursday, 7AM CT, Self Reliance Festival Livestream
  • Friday, 10:30AM CT, Homestead Happenings

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Moved and inventoried last year’s canned goods
  • Herb Garden Pick Me Up Tea
  • 21 jars of green beans are put up for 2023/24
  • Beets did poorly this year 🙁
  • Got to use the All American Canner that was gifted to me last fall and LOVED IT. Will be selling the Presto Canners I have (⅔)
  • Wednesday at 5pm CT, Preserve It! Overview and  Waterbath Canning: https://nicolesauce.podia.com/waterbath-canning

Frugality Tip: Cherry Pitter

DIY Quick, inexpensive, easy way to pit cherries!

Operation Independence

  • “Fast” food
  • $50 Travel Spend

Main topic of the Show: Lessons from 7 Years of Podcasting

From Micah

How about podcasting?

Equipment, guest form, interview tips, how it fits in with a business, how it incorporates with other areas of life, etc.

Software, workflow

Podcast lessons:

  • The how it happens matters less than the actual happening
  • Consistency and predictability
  • Developing categories or segments helps keep focus (Also scripting vs outlines vs winging it)
  • Committing to a co host can get you in trouble
  • Streamlining the process:
    • The Guest Form (From Jack Spirko)
    • Audio Editing for Mistakes
    • Prepopulating the website and social posts, etc.
  • Community, Network, Keeping Things Growing
  • The Money: webinars, books, events, coffee, podcasting 2.0 and fountain, social capital
  • how it fits in with a business, how it incorporates with other areas of life, etc.
  • Successful Interviewing: (Research, Do not be afraid to ask, have things you can bring up ready to go if things lag. Only interview people you think are interesting, THE FORM)
  • Ok, I will talk about gear and software: Scarlett solo box, Rhode NT 1, Alesis studio mixing set, Lighting, Garage Band, Levelator, iMovie, Canva – other options!!!
  • It doesn’t matter – just start recording, create your rss feed, and register on itunes – from there you will find other places that require registration or adjustment and add them as people complain that you are not on one platform or another.

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 talk about exiting the system, increasing personal freedom, building community, off grid living and freedom with Tag and John Willis.

Show Resources

Special Operations Equipment

Living Free in Tennessee

LiveDoneFree

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 talk about the heat of summer, interesting new forge things I have discovered here, chicken nuggets, baby ducklings, and processing garlic.

Featured Event: Sunday at 4pm Central, A live Auction for Jenni

Livestream Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QisNMJGOETA

Come tell your Jenni Story: https://www.livingfreeintennessee.com/2023/06/28/share-your-jenni-story-live-this-sunday/

Sponsors:

Heat and livestock on the homestead: A brainstorm.

Forage

  • Mullein is tall with flowers
  • Yarrow
  • Wood Sorrel (Just learning about this one)
  • Last of the day lilies
  • Gooseberries
  • All the mints and herbs!

Livestock

  • Rabbit Is due
  • Eggs hatching in the next week
  • LGD vet appointment
  • Chicken compost yard is set up
  • Baby ducks first time swimming
  • Integrating two duck flocks
  • Goats are out and grazing

Grow

  • Green beans are ready
  • First tomato usually happens this week – we will see
  • Planting last round of cucumber, squash, bean seeds (shade cloth)
  • Brussels sprouts are about to be ready – hope they make it through the 100 degree days
  • Swiss chard is still going strong
  • Peas are done
  • About time to harvest onions
  • REALLY need to get the garlic out of the ground before I go to Montana
  • weeds

Holler Neighbors/Community

  • Stomach flu with community
  • Chick class update (Oxy and Holler Neighbors)
  • Jenni’s fundraiser

Infrastructure

  • Nothing new this week

Finances

  • Chicken class: $480 profit (Did not cover chicken costs, which is fine)

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 we talk about one of the most important things you can do to opt out of having your life lived for you, and beginning to build the life you choose yon your terms: Decide.

Livestream Schedule

  • Tuesday: 12:30PM CT Live with John Willis and Bear Independent
  • Friday: 9:00AM CT Homestead Happenings

Featured Event: Permaculture Technology Jambouree starts next week and you can still BOGO! https://wheaton-labs.com/permaculture-tech/?f=495

(Spokane Meetup July 6)

Sponsor 1: The Wealthsteading Podcast: https://bit.ly/3oPLTmr

Sponsor 2: EMPShield.com: https://bit.ly/3MBBELx

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Chickens in the freezer in parts this year (why we did this)
  • Dehydrated Oregano in volume
  • Preparing to be gone for 5 days – Meatloaf, crockpot meal, reheatable meals
  • Time to resupply paper goods
  • Been buying keto road snacks: pork rinds, meat sticks, egg wraps
  • Fried fish with pork rinds
  • Working on amounts for the salisbury steak recipe from the spring workshop

Weekly Shopping Report from Joe

We made our usual three stops this Saturday, however I have added some more useful information I hope to continue.

Dollar Tree was first. They are well-stocked, although the coolers are filled with mostly name-brand drinks, not the ones I prefer. Oh well. I think they may have hired another person, as the lone woman at the registers was able to call for assistance when her line got long.

Home Depot was next. A 2x4x8 remains at $3.35. It’s rather a shame we didn’t need any lumber, as the cull cart had a lot of good long pieces on it. The battery carrels up front remain mostly full, although there’s very little lithium AA or AAA; I think just some 2-packs.

Aldi was last. Here, I’ve added some staple prices, and will try to update them:

Milk: $3.06

Eggs: $1.23 (up a little)

Heavy cream (32 oz): $4.69

All-purpose flour: $2.19

Sugar (4 lbs): $2.68

Butter (1 lb): $3.18

We found everything we wanted except pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds, which I’ve been having as a snack at work). I did find out that the one muzzled clerk is not waiting for bite training, but is the primary caregiver for her Mom, a cancer survivor; she would therefor likely be muzzled anyway.

A gallon of untainted regular gasoline remains at $3.899.

Frugality Tip

  • None this week

Operation Independence

  • Replaced the pressure tank for our water system – they go bad about every 5 years – ($350 in labor last time I did this)
  • Started feeding the chickens household scraps

Main topic of the Show: Decide

I’ve got a newsflash for you: Not deciding is deciding. Usually this doest get you where you want to be.

  • Indecision is a luxury that comes from gentle consequences
  • It is kinder to rip off the bandaid than to remove it gently – same goes for saying no
  • Being overwhelmed gets worse when you do not decide and makes a terrible excuse

What does it mean to decide

  • Prioritizing communication
  • Clarity of priority – (Story of today’s to do list)
  • Accepting responsibility for outcomes (consequences)
  • Knowing what you can’t or won’t do

Shiny object syndrome and deciding

You stand at a crossroad each day where your first decision is this: Do you want to be better, or do you want to keep your unhealthy identity? (the Alcoholic example) Will you put on your oxygen mask first then help others, or will you bury yourself in indecision to mute the pain of knowing you did not decide, and therefore things were decided for you.

  • Emotional attachment to bad identities

Living the life that others chose for you – vs living your life starts each morning (Job story) – boils down to one thing: Decide. Decide to do something. Decide you will never do something. Decide to let go of the crap. Decide you want to be crap. Decide to grow. Decide no. J

Just go out and decide – because when you decide, you change the metric by which your minutes, hours and days are measured. You bring it back to the things you can control. And you stop stagnating in apathy.

Decide

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 talk about the busy season of the homestead, poison hemlock,  garden abundance, weeds, chicken graduation weekend and more.

Featured event: October Chicken Processing with Joel Salatin, Oct 16

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

Sponsor 2: Freesteading.com: https://bit.ly/3o2BcMR

Forage

  • Elderflower
  • Mullein flower soon to be hee
  • Wild Raspberry
  • Gooseberry
  • Stinging nettle
  • Might have found butternut
  • Sassafrass leaves
  • Willow and comfrey cuttings 

Livestock

  • Chicken graduation weekend
  • Rabbit graduation weekend
  • New baby rabbits on the way
  • Bresse chickens have figured out how to go in an out of Holler Roost
  • Ducklings are also starting to learn the Holler Roost ramp (took 5 days)
  • Setting up compost area in the chicken yard
  • Weird sheep behavior
  • Low eggs from old duck flock – usual for July

Grow

  • Harvest fodder trees
  • Broccoli 2.0 harvest
  • First cabbages for the year and ever
  • Tomato wall update
  • Peas ending
  • Greenbeans will be ready this week
  • Planting more cucumbers
  • Pulling pepper flowers to let the plants grow
  • Lettuce is finished
  • Reconfiguring the rockwall gardens
  • Betts looking a bit sad this year – may try a special bed next week

Holler Neighbors/Community

  • Processing the communal birds: Set up tonight
  • Thank you to the community for all your support these past weeks

Infrastructure

  • Working on final fencing for the Holler Roost
  • Updating the rock wall behind my house
  • Replacing spring pump

Finances

  • THE FEED: meat birds, goats, bresse chickens are getting feed – compost will reduce this
  • Sheep do not require much and free range ducks do not require much

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

 

When you are making lots of policies, you need to fire someone, and other words of wisdom.

Featured event: The Homestead Starter Pack, a 7-week course: https://www.livingfreeintennessee.com/event/homesteading-starter-pack-a-seven-week-course/

Sponsor 1: TheHomesteadConsultant.com: https://bit.ly/43aLbid

Sponsor 2: EMPShield.com: https://bit.ly/3MBBELx

Livestream Schedule

  • No Tuesday Live
  • Thursday 7pm SRF Live
  • Friday at 10:30am CT – Homestead Happenings

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Chicken Workshop Prep
  • Chili and Smoked pork enchiladas
  • Redoing the shelving in the prepper pantry
  • Intervention

Operation Independence

  • Thank you to the community

Main topic of the Show: You Need To Fire Someone

When you are making lots of policies, you need to fire someone.

Call people back. (on their terms)

If you are having trouble focusing go work out.

Anyone can die at any time: Embrace that.

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

 

Consistency wins over skill in the long run.

Invest time in what matters, not in endless distractions.

Not my monkeys, not my circus – and none of my business.

Pushing through no matter what, matters. So does prioritizing yourself.