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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. 

Featured Event: The Self Reliance Festival, SelfRelianceFestival.com

Sponsors:

Show Resources

Perma Pastures Farm

Special Operations Equipment

Living Free in Tennesseee

NicoleSauce.com

HollerRoast.com 

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

 

Direct Download

Today we talk about trees coming down on fences and power lines, funky sheep ears, type 1.5 errors in design and more.

Featured Event: Haven Earth Trade School Homestead Bootcamp This Week

Sponsor 1: Kangen Water Collective

Sponsor 2: Self Reliance Festival

Forage

  • Berries
  • Elderflower
  • Day Lillies

Livestock

  • Lambs Ear
  • Escaping Dog
  • Dog Shed Issue
  • Rabbit Tractor No kill list
  • Broody Ducks
  • Baby Duck Fail
  • Goats Getting Out

Grow

  • Tomato Wall Update
  • Lower ap is back up and running
  • Garden is growing slow but steady
  • Garlic is near harvest time
  • Garlic scape issue

Holler Neighbors/Community

  • Chicken Class Update
  • Eversoles Found Land!
  • Homesteaders Alliance

Infrastructure

  • Trees
  • Type 1.5 error

Finances

  • Paying a tree guy

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

 

 

Direct Download

Today I am joined by Aron Wagner of American Cloud to chat about digital matters.

Sponsor 1: The Wealthsteading Podcast

Sponsor 2: EMP Shield, Coupon Code LFTN

Show Resources

American Cloud

Aron Wagner is CEO of American Cloud, a data hosting solution that cares about freedom of speech.

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

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. 

Featured Event: The Self Reliance Festival, SelfRelianceFestival.com

Sponsors:

Show Resources

Special Operations Equipment

Living Free in Tennesseee

Bear Independent

NicoleSauce.com

HollerRoast.com 

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

Direct Download

Join me today for a look at different ways to preserve food at home and ideas on how to make it work in your busy schedule.

Featured Event: Homestead Bootcamp at Haven earth Trade School: https://www.havenearthtradeschool.net/homestead-bootcamp-haven-village

Sponsor 1: DiscountMylarBags.com

Sponsor 2: Holler Roast Coffee

Livestream Schedule

  • Tuesday, 12:30PM Live with John Willis and Bear Independent
  • Wednesday, 2:00PM Digital Sovereignty with Aron Wagner from American Cloud
  • Friday, 9:30AM Homestead Happenings with the Tactical Redneck

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Working through the rest of the pork, three meals a week
  • Smoked Pork Rib Roast
  • Bone Broth Overload as it gets hot
  • Drying herbal teas for winter
  • (Must harvest the mints)

Weekly Shopping Report from Joe

Our first stop was Hobby Lobby for some Velcro. Their sewing notions area looked well-stocked.

Next was Home Depot. The store was reasonably busy for a non-weekend day. There is still no price tag on the 2x4x8 studs, but online they have dropped to $3.48. Seems to me I’ve seen some stuff online suggesting the lumber market is “collapsing.” We’ll see…

Last was Aldi. We found everything we wanted. The 70% cacao chocolate was back in stock. It seemed there was more bread than there has been in recent weeks; more pork had returned to the meat coolers, and the cantaloupes were again decent. Staple prices were: bread (20 oz. white): 1.29; eggs: $1.54(-); whole milk: $2.83; heavy cream: $5.29; OJ: $3.29; butter: $3.59; bacon: $3.99; potatoes: $4.49; sugar: $2.99; flour: $2.35; and 80% lean ground beef: $4.09.

A gallon of untainted regular gasoline remains at $3.599.

Frugality Tip NOT from Margo

Quality cabinets are hard to find (ask me how I know). If you have a ReStore nearby, you can find some amazing buys. We were able to get a 14 piece set of wood build cabinets. It included 2 tall units and another one with glass doors. Total cost $1800 before taxes.

Have a great day.

Operation Independence

LFTN Community Independence: Chicken Processing

Main topic of the Show: Home Food Preservation For Everyone

As we get into food abundance season, I thought today would be a good time to talk about various home food preservation methods, and how to fit them into your life. Anyone can preserve food and you dont have to invest in tons of infrastructure to do it if you are not yet ready to fully commit.

Growing food and foraging is like printing money when you do it right. Likewise, food preservation is your savings account for winter.

Why Preserve food (Healthier, Saves Time, Savings Account, Skills and resilience)

What are the methods of food preservation

  • Dehydrating
  • Fermenting
  • Curing
  • Removing Exposure to Air (oils, etc)
  • Canning
  • Keeping Cold
  • On the Hoof

TIME SLIDE

What Works Best Where?

How do I create my preservation plan? (The time money grid)

Preserving on a budget/supplies

Example Plan – store what you eat and eat what you store

Fitting it Into Your Busy Life

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

 

 

Direct Download

Today we talk about observing your flock, transporting workshop chickens, freezer alarms and sensors, a not so great garden update and more.

Featured Event: Haven Earth Trade School Homestead Bootcamp Next Week

Sponsor 1: EMP Shield, Coupon Code LFTN

Sponsor 2: Holler Roast Coffee

Email feedback to nicole@livingfreeintennessee.com

Forage

  • Elderberry are flowering
  • Black Raspberry
  • Mint Harvest 1.0
  • Dandelion Flower
  • Red Clover
  • Jewel Weed
  • Yarrow
  • Queene Anne’s Lace
  • Lambs Quarter

Livestock

  • Observing your flock and the floppy ear
  • Hoof Trimming Challenge
  • Rabbit Update
  • Duck Drake Culling Season
  • Chicken Day
  • Broody Birds

Grow

  • Garden Slug Update
  • Runner Beans and the food forest
  • Fodder Tree Trimming
  • Weedmageddon
  • Volunteer Marigolds
  • Green Bean Challenge – not giving up yet
  • Duck Coop Compost

 

Holler Neighbors/Community

  • Holler Neighbor Chicken Class Help
  • The livestock trailer
  • Basecamp will be available some time in the next 6 months

 

Infrastructure

  • Camper Roof Update
  • Slab Estimates
  • Freezer and a yolink fail
  • Chicken Gut Compost

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!

 

Community

Advisory Board

Resources

 

Direct Download

Today I am joined by Dalia Monterrosa of Welcome to Chickenlandia about chickens, finding your purpose and more/

Featured Event: June 8 Chicken Class at the Holler Homestead

Sponsor 1: DiscountMylarBags.com

Sponsor 2: AgoristTaxAdvice.com/webinar

Show Resources

Chickenlandia Website: https://welcometochickenlandia.com/

Instagram: @welcometochickenlandia

Dalia Monterroso is a chicken keeper and a popular teacher on the basics of backyard chicken keeping. She speaks and teaches classes on the joys of chicken keeping and is passionate about broadening the community of chicken keepers to be more diverse and inclusive. She is the creator of the website and YouTube channel “Welcome to Chickenlandia”, podcast “Bawk Tawk”, and an online course called “Chickenlandia’s Backyard Chickens 101”. She also hosted a TEDx talk titled “I Dream of Chickens”.

She is also the author of the book, “Let’s All Keep Chickens! The Down-to-Earth Guide to Natural Practices for Healthier Birds and a Happier World”, a comprehensive guide for both beginners and experienced chicken keepers. The book has also gained popularity among homeschooling families, who appreciate its educational value as part of their learning curriculum. Dalia lives in Bellingham, Washington, with her family, continuing her mission to share the joy and simplicity of chicken keeping to the world.

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

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. 

Featured Event: The Self Reliance Festival, SelfRelianceFestival.com

Sponsors:

Show Resources

Special Operations Equipment

Living Free in Tennessee

TheSurvivalPodcast.com

NicoleSauce.com

HollerRoast.com 

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

Direct Download

Join me today as I share some ways that we thrive through power outages learned by spending days without power over the years. Some of these tips are things no one thinks to tell you.

Featured Event: SelfRelianceFestival.com

Sponsor 1: HollerRoast.com

Sponsor 2: The Wealthsteading Podcast

Livestream Schedule

Tuesday: 9:30am Live with Jack Spirko and John Willis

Wednesday: 2pm all about Chickens with Dalia Monterosso of Chickenlandia

Friday: 9:30a, Homestead Happenings with the Tactical Redneck

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Green beans are GONE!
  • Bone broth every day. Cant wait to get my jars back
  • Freeze drying eggs and other abundance
  • Air drying wild herbal teas
  • Might actually pick and freeze some wild raspberries this week. Might
  • Looking back at pulling the roof from the prepper pantry and redoing it so things are moisture tight in the next few months

Weekly Shopping Report

Our first stop on this Friday’s shopping trip was Home Depot, primarily for bird seed. There is still no tag on the 2x4x8 studs, but the online price is still $3.73.

Our only other stop was Aldi. They have run out of 70% cacao chocolate again. I saw more trays of salmon than usual, in lesser amounts per tray; it’s priced per pound, so that’s not “shrinkflation,” apparently just a packing choice. Other meat choices looked a little sparse, with no pork butts and not a lot of ribs; fewer trays of ground beef as well. Lunch meat remains in good supply. Over in Produce, there was a big box of cantaloupe, but they all looked sorry, so we passed on those. The bananas (and other fruits and Bidens) looked good. Staple prices were: bread (20 oz. white): 1.29; eggs: $1.79; whole milk: $2.83; heavy cream: $5.29; OJ: $3.29; butter: $3.59 (-); bacon: $3.99; potatoes: $4.49; sugar: $2.99; flour: $2.35; and 80% lean ground beef: $4.09.

A gallon of untainted regular gasoline remains at $3.599.

Operation Independence

Chicken Processing and the PURGE

Main topic of the Show: 

Seventeen years ago, when I came to the Holler Homestead, some of the first things we did to the place was get set up to thrive through power outages. Back then they were rare and often repaired within an hour or two but growing up in a place where ice storms blew through every few years and no one was really set up for them – well that had set a foundation for things I wanted to make certain were handled no matter where I chose to live.

So much has changed from the early days, including how much time it takes to get things up and running when the power goes out, frequency of power outages, and how gracefully we weather these times.

Yesterday, I sold off two inverters that I had. They were intended to turn my car into a generator in the event of a power outage so that I could cool things down in my fridges and freezers and not have to panic pressure can all the meats here. As I watched them find a new home, I realized that we have not done a show with tips on how to thrive (not just survive) through power outages. Especially the kind that last a long time.

This show is for folks who are on grid but who want to do better when the grid goes down.

  1. Embrace the suck (Which is that you will be putting more effort into comfort during a power outage)
  2. Emotional boosts: rechargeable light bulbs, lanterns, hot coco and a way to make it, story time or other entertainment, having a known plan
  3. Have a plan – make sure everyone knows the plan and their roles, be cross trained, bonus points if it is documented (Mine isn’t)
  4. Tips
    1. Reduce what you cool or heat (Why I have a wood stove)
    2. Use what you have: camping supplies, the propane grill outside, your tent for sleeping in the summer at night, etc.
    3. Inverter/generator is a game changer BUT
      1. While they are in use take everything from the fridge that you plan to use for the day and keep it in a small cooler
      2. Countertop ice maker is a game changer
      3. Consolidate fridges and freezers so they are full
      4. Use paper plates and dish bins bins and wash 1-2 times a day WHILE IT IS STILL LIGHT OUT
    4. Top off battery operated devices while driving if you will be driving (Cigarette chargers with multiple USB Ports). Bonus points if you have power bricks
    5. Fast to cook meals, or low and slow in an insulated bin (or rock pot)
    6. What can you function stack? Woodstove is a crockpot and water heater
  5. Some things to consider for long term resilience
    1. What do you have that ONLY works with electricity and which of these things need to be handled to keep everyone thriving? (HVAC, Cooking, Drying, Lighting, Internet Equipment, Entertainment, Medical Equipment, Animal Habitat like aquariums or ponds)
    2. Can you shift to an alternative? (Gas, Wood, Camping Gear, Regenerative technology, Hard copies, do without)
    3. Can you use a battery supply for the things that you NEED? (Built in battery (A rechargeable device), Power bricks, battery bank, solar device)
    4. Can you find a way to regenerate the things that take power? (Hydro, wind, solar, gases, wood, gravity, hooking up a bike, composting. Etc.

A word on communications.

Mostly make it fun.

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

 

Direct Download

Join us for a spontaneous Homestead Happenings today. We talk about the glamper, gardens, food forest, duck cave and more.

Featured event: June 9 Poultry Processing Class

Sponsor 1: TheWealthSteadingPodcast.com

Sponsor 2: HollerRoast.com

 

Forage

 

Livestock

 

Grow

 

Holler Neighbors/Community

 

Infrastructure

 

Finances

 

Membership Plug

 

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