Info

Living Free in Tennessee - Nicole Sauce

Homesteading, food, freedom and fun!
RSS Feed
Living Free in Tennessee - Nicole Sauce
2024
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2023
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2022
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2021
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2020
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2019
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2018
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2017
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2016
December
November
October
July
June
May
April


Categories

All Episodes
Archives
Categories
Now displaying: July, 2021
Jul 30, 2021

Today is a thought of the walk episode - a collection of short thoughts shared on a variety of topics. These thoughts are shared on Odysee every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, then produced as an audio podcast every other Friday.

Today’s Thoughts Include:

  • Self Determination
  • When Should You Give Yourself a Pass
  • That Did Not Go As Planned
  • Selfish Sunday on a Homestead

To view the videos for Thought of the Walk Episode, go here: Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@livingfree:b

They are also produced on Youtube as a playlist.

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

Jul 28, 2021

Today is a thought experiment on the Holler Neighbor Food Cooperative idea. Problem we solve: How everyone who is working in our community to gain value from the land can benefit from their efforts while also balancing between those who have more capitol inputs and those who have more labor inputs

July 31 GSD Weekend at the Darkhorse Lodge - last change to go hang out with awesome people.

Stump the Sauce

  • From Jason: coffee shortage
    • Crop Damage timeline
    • Current panic “Shortage” defined

Main topic of the Show:  Holler Neighbors Food Cooperative

Holler Neighbor Livestream/Strategic Plan Background
SWOT - Food Production For Ourselves and Others
Attempt 1: Crockpot meals
Attempt 2: Neighbor Pantry vs Individual Pantries

Latest Concept - Holler Dollar Tracking System

Goal - better manage who gets what share of what things we produce.

  • Capitol Investment vs Labor Investment
  • Ways to earn outside money
  • Initial Set up, $2,000 and incorporation (not sure we need to corporation  but will incorporate under under legal advice if needed)
    • $$  used for USD expenditures, feed, infrastructure, veterinarian bills, utilities, etc
    • $$ reinvested either from partners or sales revenue
    • Sales revenue is OBV taxable
  • Holler Neighbors can Buy A Neighbor Membership for $50/year (revenue to the corporation). This earns the right to access membership benefits like food education, they get an annual amount of Holler Dollar Vouchers and may use vouchers to obtain the food we grow together. 
  • Holler Dollars: Neighbors can Buy or Earn Holler Dollars and pay for pantry items with Holler Dollars. Earned through food production or preservation labor.
    • Neighbor members can give other neighbor members Holler Dollars in gratitude for random work performed (lawn mowing, etc). 
  • Non Neighbor Membership is available for, say $500 dollars and gets a person access to educational days, a certain number of holler dollars, but they cannot “earn” holler dollars by working on food projects.

What do you think of this concept?

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. 

Community

Advisory Board

Resources

 

 

Jul 26, 2021

That Belt I love: https://www.originalsoegear.com/collections/1-5-edc-belts-low-profile-plastic-and-no-buckle

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • 1 bushel this week: 14 Jars canned green beans , 4 jars worth snapped fresh for eating
  • A word on how to manage pickles
  • Midsummer foraging and drying time
  • Extracting Honey This Week, could use an assist on seeing what is still in the hives

Operation Independence

  • The Ditch Project
  • Meat Canning Webinar Went Great: “Just wanted to say thanks for all you do. I was on the meat canning webinar and it was great. While I have canned, it's not as consistent as I want. I've been listening to you for years & joined your membership fairly recently. We're honestly not as prepared as we should be but, we've done little things here and there. I'm not very social online at all but, I hope to put myself out there more and meet like minded people. 

Main topic of the Show: Success and Failure of the Great (personal) Reset

Lessons learned

  • Go all in - I did not (The drive to deliver coffee is strong and I flubbed the preparation week)
  • Take responsibility for focus 
  • Choose an organizing principle for the time, not 50
    • I’ll just finish this one small thing story - I need to go get  a pen
  • You might need to leave
  • Even if you flub the ball, it is the right thing to do
    • Made important business decisions
    • Got much of the tile done (Universe conspiracy)
    • Rested Up
    • Roasted a TON
    • Caught up with friends
    • Quiet time with Sage and research on how to feed her
    • The Ditch/Willis Event, etc…

Taking a Great Reset the perfect way may mean leave your home, it may mean take better responsibility than I did a week ago, or it may mean something completely different. And taking  Great Reset imperfectly still will bring you benefits when you do it -- so do it.

Membership Plug

MeWe reminder

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

Jul 23, 2021

Today is a Friday so we have an interview show and Ken Eash is back to talk with us about tapping into limitless opportunities in the service industry. Sometimes it is better to learn a trade than to become a philosopher.

Show Resources

kennetheash.com
teencatalyst.com
mewe.com/i/keneash

Podcast series on finding purpose in life:
https://player.captivate.fm/collection/3d77210b-38ad-469d-be09-85fb5cd319b8

Podcast episode on entrepreneurship in services:
https://player.captivate.fm/episode/e1467eed-2b30-42e9-8160-b5e463fde134

Main content of the show

Ken does not like to talk about himself so he gave me bullets. :-)

  • 35 years on earth
  • 30 years construction experience
  • 13 years with a wonderful wife
  • 12 years experience as business owner
  • 4 years attempting homesteading
  • 2 years becoming a life and career coach for teens

Interview

  1. Why would a socially awkward person like you want to be on a podcast with thousands of listeners?
  2. With 30 years in construction, would you say building things is your purpose in life? 
  3. All this talk of purpose, but how does that tie into what you say are "limitless opportunities in the service industry"?
  4. What does a person have to do to get started?
  5. How does this talk of the opportunities in services play into your purpose?
  6. What would you say to someone who's still on the fence about jumping into the services field?

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

Community

Advisory Board

Resources

Jul 23, 2021

It’s TIME! I took your questions over on our Mewe group all about what you want to know about starting a home or craft roasting business. Today will be the first in a series of home roasting podcasts and we will talk about learning to roast.

GSD Weekend at the Darkhorse Lodge: Information in a post on mewe in this group: https://mewe.com/join/tngsd

Canning Meat Webinar, This Saturday at 2pm central

Stump the Sauce

  • Low saliva update from Mark

Episode 453 - Learning to Roast, Home Coffee Business Part 1

The more I learn about it, the less I know about coffee.

<apprentice at roasterty>

  • Coffee cherries, processing beans, getting green beans
  • What happens when you roast
  • Can you reroast?
  • Light, medium, dark, etc roasts
  • Mallaird reaction, sugars, flavors, slow vs fast roast
  • Chaff
  • First crack, second crack, FIRE!
  • Cooling
  • “The trace” and software in coffee
  • The role of beans in roasting
  • Drum vs air roasting 
  • Ways to roast without specialized equipment
  • Home roasters: Behmore, Gene Cafe, Nesco, Hottop
  • Home roasters, small roasters, commercial roasters
  • Volume matters
  • Low acid/stomach issues

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. 

Community

Advisory Board

Resources

Jul 19, 2021

Today, some stuff went down in the Holler that made it so the usual time was no longer there that I use to produce this show. So today, I share with you my thoughts on planning, schedules and what to do when it doesn’t go right.

I also talk about prioritizing relationships and yourself and living up to your promises.

This is a freestyle episode that I hope you will enjoy.

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

Community

Advisory Board

Resources

Jul 16, 2021

Today is a thought of the walk episode - a collection of short thoughts shared on a variety of topics. These thoughts are shared on Odysee every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, then produced as an audio podcast every other Friday.

Today’s Thoughts Include:

  • Growing Food
  • The Circle of Life
  • Eating Seasonally

To view the videos for Thought of the Walk Episode, go here: Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@livingfree:b

They are also produced on Youtube as a playlist.

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

 

Jul 14, 2021

The addition of the Harvest Right Freeze Dryer has been a fun adventure here at the Holler Homestead so when John Davis reached out to do a show based on his experience with one, I thought it would be a great fit.

Show Resources

www.pauldavisautomation.com

What’s Up in the Garden

  • Tromboncino 
  • Eggplant
  • Resetting Sunshine Plot
  • Herbs
  • Tomatoes
  • Peppers
  • Fall garden seedlings need to get started this week!

Main Show Content: Freeze Drying for Fun and Maybe...Profit?

John Davis is a jack of all trades master of none that lives in rural Ohio along with his awesome wife and kids. He owns a manufacturer's representative business that sells industrial automation solutions throughout a five state region, and over the 14 years he has been in this business, he has built a solid foundation through his lifestyle business on which he can pursue his real passion, skill acquisition. Becoming a better husband and father, farming, flying airplanes, software engineering, electronic hardware design, hunting, being a "contingency enthusiast" (prepper), and furniture making are just a few things that keep him busy. He enjoys mentoring others in similar pursuits.

  1. What is freeze drying and what is a freeze dryer?
  2. How does the process work and why is it superior to other forms of food preservation?
  3. How is it not superior to other forms of food preservation? Can you freeze dry without buying an expensive machine?
  4. How has it changed our approach to pantry management?
  5. How do we use our freeze dried food?
  6. After two years of ownership, what is your "real world" experience with the machine? Tips and tricks?
  7. Is it possible to make money with the machine as a side hustle?
  8. Tips on buying a freezer drier for listeners

Membership and Coffee Pitch

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

 

Jul 12, 2021

Today we will talk about the witchiness of homesteading and why what seems so strange to some is simply living.

Meat canning webinar

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Freeze dried beets
  • Freeze dried feta
  • Canning beans is the next round of food preservation
  • Chickens for sale

Operation Independence

  • Going dark

Main topic of the Show: Which Witch is Which

Imagine hundreds of years ago if one of your family members was truly ill and some lady who kept to herself mostly gave you some tea for the sick person -- and they got better. Or if you sprained your ankle and the swelling went down quickly.

Add to that layers of superstition like which phase of the moon is best for planting, ceremonies involving burnt hair that reveal your true love’s face, and that sort of thing.

The final twist could be that the lone lady with that tea lives to be quite old and there we have it. A witch.

Yesterday, a friend stopped by who I had not seen in a long time and he joked on the way in the door that I reminded him of country women he remembers as a kid growing up who seemed kind of like witches. He did not mean it in a bad way -- he was just pointing out that I live an alternative lifestyle to the norm.

And it is true: If there is a natural or herbal remedy to something, I will try it first. If I have  a bad headache, I go to bed. 

I have some odd world views:

  • Natural cycles of the earth and solar system impact climate, weather and, ultimately growing cycles
  • We evolved here, therefore remedies to our ills evolved with us
  • Just because it cannot be proven scientifically does not prove it false
  • Humans are energy and as such, ignoring energy as part of whole health is a mistake

Some of these views make me witchy I suppose. In college, I used to make this brew of ginger root, bitter root, peppermint and hot peppers and honey every time I got a cold. Why? Because it helped. The bitter root soothed my throat, the ginger opened the capillaries in my sinuses, capsasis is an immune system boost, and the peppermint and honey make it drinkable -- not taste good -- drinkable. When I did this I just knew it helped, not the why. But over the years I have learned more about the why, down to peppermint helping with breathing and honey being an antibacterial agent.

And even back then, people thought me crazy. They wondered why I did not simply pop a decongestant and go on with life?

Moving to the homestead has brought my witchiness to a whole new level. I mean, here I am, living in what looks like isolation, growing a ton of herbs, wildcrafting other herbs, with a good collection of sharp knives around, hair down to my rear end, talking to animals and trees, and not a worry about current events.

Well maybe that is not entirely true - I sometimes worry about current events. But life on the homestead is not exactly the picture they paint when they talk about the American Dream is it?

It may be my American Dream, but it is a bit of a witchy one.

After my friend pointed this out, I realized that he was right. I live a rather witchy life. If you look around right now, as in this week, at my homestead, here are some of the witchy things that happened:

  • Drying herbs (Garlic, bundles of sage, etc)
  • Varied nutritional regimes for the neighbors (Bone broth and ferments to cultivate gut health, fruit to reset the metabolism, goats milk to ease my dogs health issues)
  • Mortar and pestle sitting out with a strange concoction (for bee stings as a matter of fact)
  • Wild plants as tall as I growing near the house: goldenrod, echinacea, garlic, plantain, comfrey, bee balm, lemon balm, day lilies, roses, mint, parsley, and unfortunately perilla and burdock
  • Everything is from scratch: We grind wheat when we need it, make stocks and broth by hand, age cheese, can pickled and other pickled treats, make mayonnaise, gravy by hand, cure bacon and other meats, hang biltong and get our winter veggies from jars (resulting in commercial food tasting bad)
  • Mindset=build your own reality
  • Smell of roses and the scent of things in general
  • Smudging does happen when energy is off, as does meditation, seeking to tap into the spirit of the land around us, and connecting with the earth to heal.

Yep, as I think about it, look at the browns of jars of dried herbs here for healing, get ready to age our first cheddar of this season, and watch people come through here with shared values, learning to take control of their personal outcomes no matter what happens --- I can see that homesteading looks pretty witchy to the outside world.

But to me, it is something different. This lifestyle is not something to be feared or looked askance at - but rather an acknowledgement that nature is at the core of us all. And when we work with nature, we get better outcomes.

Now sure, you may not be a person willing to get dirty and buggy on a homestead to tap into natural cycles. You may prefer your city condo - perhaps with a few pots of herbs. And that is fine. You do you as they like to say.

And I don’t even mind when people look down their noses at my witchy life here.

But there is a history of the state forcing people who live like I do into “modern” life in order to protect them. I mean, I do live near a giant Army Corpse project that flushed country folks from their family farms under the guise of progress that may or may not have actually helped (I am looking at you Nashville flood on 2010).

And that progress merely served to lock people in poverty and increase external controls on their lives.

So I was thinking this: Let’s embrace our witchiness and scare the pants off them -- maybe then they will leave us to work with nature as God intended.

Membership Plug

MeWe reminder

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

Advisory Board

Resources

Jul 9, 2021

Today is a thought of the walk episode - a collection of short thoughts shared on a variety of topics. These thoughts are shared on Odysee every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, then produced as an audio podcast every other Friday.

Today’s Thoughts Include:

  • One Step at a Time - Thought of the Walk
  • Game Changing Dish Water Tip
  • Of Toxic People and Sewing Scissors
  • Assess for Success
  • Ground Yourself


To view the videos for Thought of the Walk Episode, go here: Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@livingfree:b

They are also produced on Youtube as a playlist.

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

 

Jul 7, 2021

Looking to buy land and move to your dream homestead? Hold your horses! Land is a long-term purchase and it is a good idea to think before you leap. Today we will talk about the most important things to consider before you spring for that plot of dirt.

Holler Neighbor Livestream Thursday: 6:15/6:30 ish

Stump the Sauce

  • From Mark: Ideas for meals with meat that are easy to chew.
  1. Sandwich salad
  2. Sloppy joes on zoodles
  3. Stroganoff
  4. Sauerkraut n minced pork
  5. Shepherds pie
  6. Thick, creamy italian style soup
  7. Bisque with meat
  8. Curry

What’s Up In the Garden

  • Tomato blight in system 1 but not in system 2
  • Tromboncino Squash is going nuts
  • Egg plant looks stressed - might be that the pots are black so we are wrapping them in burlap
  • The Great Reset in Sunshine Plot (Post Garlic Harvest)
  • Garlic Harvest 

Main topic of the Show:  #My3Things Before You Buy Land

  1. What is the homestead lifestyle you want to have? (Characteristics not the what) -- decision out of fear of agenda 30)
  2. Local zoning, codes, taxes, etc
  3. Sun, Water, Rainfall, Soil, Slope, Proximity to Services

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. 

Community

Advisory Board

Resources

 

Jul 5, 2021

Today we talk about what it is like to live the homestead life in a year filled with personal challenges and problems. This is a follow up on “what homesteading is really like.”

Canning Meat, July 24: https://www.livingfreeintennessee.com/2021/06/28/meat-canning-webinar-july-24-at-2pm

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Freeze drying beets for future salads
  • Spiralized zucchini
  • Odds and ends month for the freezer
  • Grocery Store Free Month

Operation Independence

  • Sad to report no Independence Day Pigs but she is very very close
  • HR Affiliate Program

Main topic of the Show: Homesteading in a Hard Year 

We had an open house and it was an eye-opening experience. My homestead once provided about 80% of my vegetable needs and 100% of my egg and chicken needs. I ate things in season as they became ripe. I preserved, dried and canned. My garden succession planting program was on point.

Then troubles crept in. Ones of the financial type, the relationship type, and the health vibrancy type.

Reality on a homestead is a far cry from the ambitious plans we have each spring when planting time comes. Even in the best of years, things will fail and the best approach seems to be fanatical variety.

You always ask me what living on a homestead is like and I have to admit - it has been pretty rough these past few years at the Holler Homestead. The saving grace has been my wall of tomatoes and aquaponics system.

For background: Transition has been in process here for several years. Transition from two people to one, transition from mostly off-site consulting work to building a coffee business, transition into the Holler Neighbor community. And there have been some family and personal health reminders. All these things take time and a homestead is a full time job. Many people manage the homestead demand with one person working and one person doing the homestead chores until enough business is generated from the land to enable the working partner to quit. Sometimes that never happens.

The benefit of having a consulting lifestyle with the homestead was that I would be gone for a whole week working my butt off, then home for 2 to 3 weeks with a light enough schedule that I could catch up on things.

But transitions are part of life, are they not?

Here are a few looks at the real homestead:

  • Dirt, mud, dust and hair (Shoes off story)
  • Growing food in the ground takes time. Lots of time.
  • Preserving food takes time, lots of time.
  • Raising animals for meat takes less time.
  • The pretty homestead with well-maintained, white fences.
  • Old country houses

But it is not all bad:

  • So much quiet and peace
  • Relationships with animals
  • Stability
  • Community of doers

Membership Plug

MeWe reminder

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

Advisory Board

Resources

Jul 2, 2021

What happens when Joel Salatin hops on the podcast? We discuss entrepreneurship, scaling of regenerative practices, going rogue, failing commercial food, standing up to bullies, and so much more!

RogueFoodConference.com

Show Resources

The Lunatic Farmer Website

Polyface Farms

Joel’s Books & DVDs

Main content of the show

From Joel’s Website: 

“Joel Salatin, 62, calls himself a Christian libertarian environmentalist capitalist lunatic farmer.

Others who like him call him the most famous farmer in the world, the high priest of the pasture, and the most eclectic thinker from Virginia since Thomas Jefferson.  Those who don’t like him call him a bio-terrorist, Typhoid Mary, charlatan, and starvation advocate.” 

Read More.

Interview

Membership and Coffee Pitch

Make it a great week

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

Coming Soon to LFTN Members! 

  • Don’t Be a Chicken: A Guide to Processing Poultry
  • Colors of Coffee: A Tasting Guide

Community

Advisory Board

Resources

1