This show is dedicated to Mark and Nancy Alexander of School Bell Farms. Long time supporters of the show and our LFTN Community. After a long battle with cancer, Mark passed away last Tuesday at home. We will miss his sarcastic wit, new business ideas, and passion for life and he will love in our memories and every time someone pulls a good practical joke at events.
Today, I will share thoughts on victimhood and ways to opt out of the mindset so that you can make the best of what is happening around you. We also celebrate the life of long-time show supporter and friend Mark Alexander of School Bell Farms.
Event Highlights
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
Operation Independence
Main topic of the Show: Episode 507: Opt Out of Victimhood
Thoughts on Victimhood and how our personal reaction to problems furthers the cycle.
Signs that you are in a victim mindset
Just because you change your mindset, does not mean that bad things will not happen, but you can draw more bad things to yourself based on reactions to current trauma - often through self-sabotage, pushing good people away through blame, etc.
What you can do:
<Story of friend a>
Talk about Mark Alexander and why this topic today:
Make it a great week!
Song: Wolf by Sauce
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Community
Advisory Board
Resources
Today we have an interview with long-time listener Molley Wedding. She shares with us her journey from rural normie to homesteader, her motivations, and how she is preparing for a big move.
Thanksgiving Week Schedule
Show Resources
Follow Molley on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theblessedmess20_/
Main content of the show
I’m Molley Wedding I’m 30 years old, I’m a mother to 4 young children I started Homesteading out of necessity to take care of my young children during my time as a single mother on a very limited income, I recently asked you the question on a live show about tips for moving a homestead. I believe a show about shopping for “homestead worthy” property and how I am taking a working homestead & re establishing it in another location would make an interesting show
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.
Community
Advisory Board
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Today, I share four recipe ideas for Thanksgiving in keeping with our annual LFTN tradition. One is a recipe I have shared before. The rest are this year’s ideas.
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
Operation Independence
Main topic of the Show: Four Thanksgiving Recipe Ideas
Intro and a word on keto and holidays
Staying Keto - the reality
Recipe ideas
Links to past episodes with ideas:
2020: https://www.livingfreeintennessee.com/2020/11/25/thanksgiving-in-the-holler/
2019: https://www.livingfreeintennessee.com/2019/11/20/unusual-thanksgiving-recipes/
2017: https://www.livingfreeintennessee.com/2017/11/21/episode-57-a-resilient-thanksgiving/
2016: https://www.livingfreeintennessee.com/2016/11/22/episode-12-a-homesteaders-thanksgiving/
What are your ideas?
Membership Plug
Make it a great week!
Song: Grandpa’s Song by Sauce
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Community
Advisory Board
Resources
Today, I share a recording of my underground networking presentation done last week at The Survival Podcast’s Fall workshop. Original video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zfMjCHxg5A&t=102s
Want to build your Underground Network? Join is on February 21, 2022 at Special Operations Equipment for a Self-Reliance Festival. Earlybird Pricing Ends Dec 31.
Enjoy this transcript of Underground Networking. We will dive deeper into this topic over the next 12-18 months.
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
Welcome to Living Free in Tennessee.
In LFTN Tradition, I bring you the annual Handmade Christmas Gift Idea Episode for 2021!
Christmas Reception is December 18 and registration is here.
Turkey day is sold out but i still have a few turkeys if you want one for Thanksgiving. Order Form.
Stump the Sauce
Main topic: 4 Homemade Christmas Gift Ideas
Mugshot Book (Use the concept for next year!)
Molded Candy (Melting chocolate)
Ornament Ideas
Spice Mix
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
A year and a half ago, I recorded this episode after a VERY HARD first half of 2020. The moment it was released, my whole life changed for the better. We are replaying this episode today as a reminder. A reminder to be the change you need to be for yourself, your family and your community.
OLD SHOW NOTES:
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
Featured Forrage: Wild Raspberry
For berry advice
https://nicolesauce.com/2015/06/14/wild-raspberry-summer/
Herbal uses
https://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/r/raspbe05.html
Operation Independence
Main topic of the Show: Change
It is always there under the surface. Ready to push you just a bit further. Ready to get in your way when you are in your stride. Ready to show you opportunities when you are least ready for them. Always there no matter how much you wish to cling to today and yesterday. Change happens.
Many people fear it, hate it, resist it. But change is part of life and if you are living, change is simply something that you must learn to integrate into everything. Because it will happen whether you want it or not.
And yet we can guide change, we can shape it and shift it in ways that suit us. Yep. Change is hard but change is also good.
I haven’t done our usual lftn spring workshop debrief episode this year. You know the one I speak of? Where I run through it session by session and talk about all the things we did and learned and how powerful the community is when we get together? A community of doers…
I haven’t done this thing because this year was different. Now don’t get me wrong, the workshop was fantastic, fun, hard, good, educational, and the community is why this is.
But unlike former years where the best outcomes of the workshop were on the surface, this year was different. It was more subtle. The group was both quiet and social and sometimes raucous. The sessions were usually focused and thought provoking. The group had a comfortable companionship about it and conversations tended toward long and deep over surface and short.
The whole time the event was happening I was worried that we would not meet the benchmark. You may wonder what the benchmark is. The benchmark for every lftn spring workshop is that at least 1 or 2 people figure things out. They find that it they have been missing. The thing that shows them a way forward toward building the kind of life they want. Usually, this happens quickly and obviously. But not this year.
The day after the workshop, Jenni stopped by. You know who I mean. Jenny of Word of the Year Jenni - to get her stuff and she said - I think we turned a corner at the workshop.
And she is right. There wasn’t one or two “aha” experiences, but rather a more subtle shift for most of us there.
Setting the stage for the workshop, we have seen the following in six short months:
As a group, we had people facing sudden loss of jobs, income, business revenue - paired with people who are still doing basically ok, and even some who have seen growth as a result of the turmoil of the first half of this year.
Perhaps you can tell by how I have framed this what I was feeling at the outset of our event: scared, a little sad, and scared some more. I got to pair all the big picture angst we all share with other, more personal stuff and that all ramped up the week before the workshop. And there I was, supposed to be the positive influence, the coach to help others find their purpose and go there. The find your opportunity lady doing an event that is supposed to spark the kind of change that brings people up. Let’s just say the weekend before the workshop I had a pretty intense meeting with myself about my attitude and the need to focus on the most important and let go of the crap.
Because when you think about opportunities and prosperity that we make for ourselves, much of it is SEEING that there is something there, but there is also the impact that a group of great minds can bring by deciding to make the change that will come into a positive change. And what better place to do it than here, in the Holler, where people come to rejuvenate?
As we navigated topics like how to work through grief, how to make sauerkraut, how to easily make a hoop house, phases of building a business, and talked about the ideas that some folks have for starting new things -- my internal angst got lighter and lighter. As people played cornhole together, sang karaoke, shared food and fun -- things got lighter still. And sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning, as Jenni said, we turned a corner.
We stopped talking so much about the covid stuff, we stopped worrying about burning cities, the Trump and Biden jokes faded away, and we got real. Some people started taking stock. I know I did.
Because I was wrong all along. Change is not coming. Change is here. It has been here the whole time, inviting me to take that next big step. And like the bad habit tempter that it is, the wealth of opportunities presented to me include some that will keep me stuck in the wrong place while I miss the boat to the better one.
But you can’t grab that boat if you can’t see it is there. And to see the boat, you have to open your eyes.
I am not really sure what everyone got out of the workshop this year. So many have reached out to me to say. Some who have been struggling to get their dreams going are starting.
But I know what I got out of it this year. I got sight.
All my life I have been preparing to soar. And I have soared here and there, and sunk other times. And all my life, I have been ready to weather something like the first six months of 2020. But these last 6 months are not my destination - they are a lesson about what has always been there. Change. Unpredictability. A subset of people who wish to be in control. These things simply are.
And now I can see beyond them - I have often railed against that last category and will continue to do so. But think about what is on the other side of those people: the masses that ultimately cannot be controlled.
Through all of this, the real opportunities are within you, within me, and within everyone else who is willing to first see, then act. It is that simple. We already have what we need to prosper, built in and we just need to turn the corner. To change. To make the choice to jump on that boat.
And the best part is that this looks different for every single one of us. And what that means is that any solution that looks the same for everyone is the wrong solution. This small measure makes choices much easier to make.
I was doing just fine before we all got together a week ago. There was no big risk of losing it all for me because I have been moving toward better stability for some years now.
But the change that was there the whole time was largely energetic and perspective.
Think about that - all in the mind and heart. An acceptance that now more than ever, it is the best time to change they way we want to. To make a move. To grab another bit of independence -- and to help others do the same.
I apologized at the workshop for choosing the word grow for this year. Because in order to grow, something has to happen to motivate you and usually that thing is pain. And pain is something we have all felt this year as things have unfolded. But I am not sorry - sorrynotsorry.
Because of covid, I know how insatiable my biggest source of income was -- and now it is gone so I get to focus on building something better. I can either grow the things I love, or try to get back what I once had. I choose grow.
Because of the racial strife, I understand how much further we can go to build a society that decides based on merit, not heritage. I can either refuse to look at what is happening, or I can grow my understanding. I choose grow.
Because we have landed in a recession, it is harder to leverage what I have to expand the rental properties, to close new deals, and to find things that used to be easy to get. I can either use recession as an excuse, or I can grow by business. I choose grow.
Because many people in our world are easy to control, to leverage, to pit against one another, the oligarchy that has controlled us for basically every is gaining ground. I can either poke that oligarchy in the eye and moan about it, or I can help as many people around me grow beyond the chains. I choose grow.
Yep, the change that happened at the workshop was not loud, it wasn’t a fireworks moment, it wasnt an in your face thing. It was just a little shift. A small move from one not so bad track to a much better one. On little jump really.
And now I can’t wait to see what the next six months of 2020 brings! What about you?
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
Today, Ryan Mitchel of TheTinyLife.com joins me to share his story of simplifying, prioritizing and building a better life
Show Resources
TheTinyLife.com
https://thetinylife.com/build-a-better-life/
Main content of the show
Living in only 150 square feet for years, Ryan Mitchell has learned a thing or two about living simply. From downsizing to life simplification, and designing a life that’s right for you, Ryan brings a lot of experience and practical knowledge to the table. He built his own tiny house in 2012 learning as he went along which inspired him to help others in their journey to live small. Today he still lives in his tiny house full time and off grid with solar, teaching others how to live simply. As a best selling author, he’s been featured in the New York Times, BBC, Associated Press, Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Mother Earth News, Treehugger, and NPR.
Make it a Great Week!
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Community
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It was May 20, 2016. That day that I got a wild hair. I had created a world for myself that was pure misery. I had founded a nonprofit around my passion, but put myself in a role of administrator, not the person delivering the very services I loved providing. There was absolutely no creative outlet. Worse, I was supposed to be a catalyst for change toward the better and was watching the country backslide away from increased freedom to an alarmingly fascist government.
I thought, why not? Why not start a podcast and talk about increasing your ability to live a life you love, to have more stability, to tap into opportunities that others may not see? So I did and I got EIGHTY downloads.
The next day I got 14 and one of them was my mother.
Who knew that five years later, after lots of joy, hardships, slaps in the face, heartbreak, new friendships, and help from all of you -- we would reach episode 500.
Today, we celebrate this milestone with content from y’all.
Thank you for making our community so strong, for lifting each other up, and for sticking with me through thick and thin.
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
Well, a year ago or so, we talked about choosing your year of the word with Jenni Hill and how it can change your life, one phase at a time. Many of us have been choosing words for years now and this year, mine was balance. Today, I will update you on how that is progressing.
Turkey Day Reminder
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
*Road Food - a 10 day trip
*All salsa and tomatoes are canned
*Freeze drying candies for the holiday sales project
*FD the basil and smoked chilies next
*1st Deer!
Operation Independence
*Exit and Build (Should have sold my books there)
Main Topic: Balance, a Word of the Year Update
What the word of the year is
Why we do it
How grow worked out
This year’s word: Balance and why I chose it
The dark side of the word balance
Lessons Learned
*Boundaries
*Taking back my mornings
*One thing at a time and focus
*Email management
*No
*Commitments and progress (Membership, etc)
*Yes and managing busy times
*Self care
*4 hour work week
*The Indian Assistant
*Working ahead
*Asking for help
Overall update and thoughts on the work balance as well as choosing a word in 2022.
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
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:
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
A little over a week ago, I experimented with freeze drying candy as a test for a possible new side hustle. Today, I will share with you the lessons learned from this little adventure.
LFTN Presale sold out in 28 minutes! (Mid January the workshop tix go on sale)
Schedule over the next 10 days
Stump the Sauce
Main topic of the Show: Lessons Learned from Freeze Drying Candy
Why I did this project
What I wanted to learn
What I learned:
Landing
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
Today, I will talk about how #My3Things can help you navigate the busiest of times while keeping your life on its best forward pathway.
Workshop Presale Launches TODAY! 7pm - here.
Turkey Day 2021 (Or buy your turkey)
Email feedback to nicole@livingfreeintennessee.com
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
Operation Independence
Main topic of the Show: Managing Busy Times
Why this topic? (Christmas is coming, Winter is coming, Fall homestead reality)
Preparing for 10 days on the road while still delivering coffee and podcasts, 2 presentations
Addressing conflicting priorities (Self and health, customer deliverables, Preparing to be gone, Homestead things)
Grain of Salt/Taking yourself too seriously
No excuses
Landing
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