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Living Free in Tennessee - Nicole Sauce

Homesteading, food, freedom and fun!
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Living Free in Tennessee - Nicole Sauce
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Now displaying: 2021
Sep 1, 2021

Today is the third in the series on how to start a small coffee roasting enterprise - either home scale or micro roasting business. We will discuss how to find the people to buy your coffee, as well as how to persuade them to do so.

Episode 500 Celebration - send me an email to read or email me your audio clip! 

Tomorrow is Mozarella Day!

Green Chilies shipped yesterday for Green Chili Day!

Stump the Sauce

  • Hey Nicole,  My wife and I are nearing retirement age, and are in the process of planning for it.  I was wondering  what your retirement plan is to run your homestead when you are older? - and maybe not so physically able to keep up with all the daily chores that you accomplish now?
  • P.S. love to listen to you talk about stuff… Thanks!

Episode 471: Finding People to Buy Your Coffee, Home Roasting Business Part 3

Your coffee business will never make it off the ground if you do not have this one piece in place: People who want to buy your coffee.

Establishing Customer Base - Most important use of your time.

  • Brand Promise 
  • Brand Story (Frame in terms of why the people who buy your coffee want it -- not why you think they should buy it) Example: Tastes Great vs how the beans are lovingly roasted by your 6 year old daughter, Farm stories of your source beans vs what green coffee beans are or “fair trade” etc certifications
  • Local versus beyond local sales
    • Local: farmers markets, outreach to businesses, local radio shows, column in the local newspaper, cafe or food cart, presence in craft fairs, stores, coffee for events, schools, etc.
    • Beyond local (First few fit for local too): Social media development, network care and feeding, demonstrations and value add for other people, podcasts and radio/tv with expanded reach, the website question, personality marketing, audience will be in a niche that is not bound by geography.

Food Law Choice (cottage vs renting production space vs just do it) 

Marketing budget, putting things on sale, tracking results

Customer referrals

The most important piece of the puzzle: Customer service, ongoing care of relationships, constant attention to expand if that is your goal, new ways to fill the funnel.

What questions do you have?

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

 

Aug 30, 2021

Today we will talk about focusing on doing what you can as the world falls apart around you and why that is more important now, in times of duress, than it ever was before. We will also talk about what the CAC team is up to this week with Hurricane Ida’s arrival in Louisiana, and we will talk a little about why real community happens.

Announcements:

CAC Activation - https://www.cacteam.com/

  • Volunteers get pre-approved or update your information
  • Seeking donations

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Beets and Tomatoes
  • Green Chilies Incoming
  • Venison Stew
  • Freeze Dryer is back in business with the cooling weather: Eggs, milk, watermelon
  • New Recipe: Cube steak. S & P, 3 mins per side, Worcestershire sauce. Reduce the resulting sauce as gravy

Operation Independence

  • Selling everything we can to offset the replacement car (Xtera straight piped, tractor, electric range, collectible ww2 air tanks, and various small stuff) -- added benefit is simplicity. (Sometimes independence means making choices)
  • Putting finishing touches on an event at SOE in mid October and a workshop with Niti the first Saturday of October -- more on this soon
  • GSD Update

Main topic of the Show: Building While The World Falls Apart

In the last 2 weeks, no fewer than 20 people have reached out to me with questions about relocating to Tennessee. Many of them are facing job loss due to vaccination requirements, financial problems from draconian shut downs, and the emotional wounds from having marriages, friendships and family relationships torn apart in light of what some like to just refer to as “All this bullshit.”

They are scared to stay where they are. They are scared to move somewhere new. It is hard to feel secure with capital gains tax laws being retroactively changed under the guise of taxing the rich -- you know who I mean -- the rich people who will never pay more tax, and landing on the shoulders of small business owners and grandma’s retirement rental.

Every time a new story comes out about the virus you fall over from being dizzy from the spin put out by “both” sides of the discussion. Ivermectin is cow medicine and has no valid human use (except it does). Unvaccinated are spreading the virus (except vaccinated are too and they are less likely to know they are infected). Meat is killing you and low fat is the only way to go, except the part where sugar is definitely linked to diabetes, which is also killing us.

Then there are the calls for mandates, the framing of people who are conservative as less than human. The violence increasing all over the country but in particular in the cities. There is the economic damage of the last few years, made worse by decades of shitty public policy, made worse by the political power mongers using this current state of discomfort to take more control, dictate how poor people will live from now on under the guise of saving the planet from climate change.

What I see among those who have awoken to the current evil that has been building for a long time is that they discuss it unendingly. Pundits have this topic covered.

We need to be better than that. We need to give our energy to creating, not tearing down. To forward momentum not backward thinking policies in fancy new marketing packaging. That is why we talk about building here rather than obsess on the shit going on.

It doesn’t mean we ignore the shit though. I mean if a wrecking ball is coming your way, you definitely want to see it and to move.

I moved from public policy to podcasting and building our LFTN community because I realized that trying to change the system that is failing everyone from inside the system is a fool’s errand. I mean, God bless those who are willing to stay and try. But the system itself has core design flaws. It is designed into the system to create dependence. We don’t need dependence. WE NEED INDEPENDENCE in order to create and thrive.

Is this time different for you or the same. Are you looking at those gas cans you have that are empty, or are they full? Did you start a pantry rotation, or are you thinking about what you ought to stock up on now that prices are climbing? Is your side hustle generating some income, or are you stuck deciding between your long term health and keeping a job that is requiring you to do things you disagree with?

So you can either be part of the problem by playing the game, or you can be part of the solution by building now, when the time is ripe to build but the will to build it weak.

Make it a great week!

Song: Burned, performed by Sauce

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

Community

Advisory Board

Resources

Aug 27, 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:

  • Hidden Treasure
  • Taking Risks
  • Inside Plumbing of the Solar Water Heater
  • I CAN'T SLEEP! Thought of the Walk
  • News Propoganda

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

 

Aug 25, 2021

Today, I have a great interview with Mike the Polymath, a guy who is really good at lots of things. A guy who started a neat concept for providing a service lots of people would want. A guy who cares about freedom, food freedom and empowering the individual.

Waverly Flood Assistance

Anyone wanting to volunteer to help with cleanup and recovery can call 931-888-8011 or 931-888-8012.  You can report after 8am to the volunteer staging area in the Dollar Tree Parking Lot at 515 West Main St.  Our volunteers at those numbers will match your skills with those who have needs.  Thank you for your help!

Cheese Webinar Delayed One Week!

Show Resources

easypeasygardens.com

instagram.com/easypeasygardens

https://www.easypeasygardens.com/the-easypeasy-podcast

Main content of the show

Michael is the founder of EasyPeasy Garden Solutions LLC, in Indianapolis, Indiana. His business is geared towards designing, building and maintaining backyard vegetable gardens on a subscription basis.

Michael studied Outdoor Recreation, Parks and Human Ecology and has a professional background in environmental education, tourism, organic farming and the nursery trade.

After an eccentric series of jobs and internships, Michael integrated various different knowledge bases and skill sets to start EasyPeasy Garden Solutions in 2018.

  1. How did you find your way to gardening/sustainability?
  2. What is EasyPeasy Garden Solutions?
  3.  How did the idea for EasyPeasy occur to you? What is the mission?
  4. How, specifically does a person start their own personal gardening business? Does it require any certain education, personality-type, background, or skill-set? What kind of investment is required?
  5. What are the pros/cons of being a "one-man business"
  6. What would you say to someone who has an entrepreneurial dream they have not yet attempted?
  7. What are some other ways we could "uber-ize" the food system
  8. What is in the future for you and for EasyPeasy?

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

 

Aug 23, 2021

Today we talk more about Holler Dollars, the Flood,  and where to move in Tennessee if you are immigrating from another state. These are all questions and comments from listeners.

Mozzarella Webinar THIS THURSDAY

Oct 15-17 - Back to the Land Festival: https://www.backtothelandfestival.com/

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Tomato Sauce
  • Round of animal feed
  • Venison Shoulder Roast to soup
  • Working on ordering in Green Chilies for Green Chili Day (There will be Green Chili Ice cream!) (Sign up link)

Operation Independence

  • Hip Camp
  • Car Fund

Main topic of the Show: Listener Feedback Show

Holler Dollars

From Sue:

I had two questions from an academic point of view. 1) in your example about Jenni and the garlic. That is technical not a barter situation. What you described is essentially creating another currency based in garlic. Because you've set a value for garlic that you'll honor no mater what, even if you have elastic demand for garlic. For instance, say she plants an entire lawn of garlic and brings it to the pantry for 10,000 credits. Under the system you described, her garlic is as good as currency even if you can't use her garlic.

My second question is more of a philosophical one. If the framework of the holler is not paying the labor the equivalent of at least minimum wage in the Tennessee economy, then is it really independence? Why do you need to come up with a food value for the labor that is nor based on the real market value of the labor absent the neighbors? I guess what I am asking is, how much would it cost to run the holler if your neighbors did not exist. Isn't that the value exactly? My worry is that there are legal cases where work contracts made in sub economies where labor is valued at less than minimum wage can be considered servitude under the law and litigious.

I'm not saying either of the above will happen of course. Just playing out your scenarios from a purely argumentative point of view absent the fact that these are your friends and neighbors

Leos: Incorporated Approach

Where to Move in Tennessee?

I found you via Jack Spirko. My family and I are soon to be refugees from California. We are in pursuit of a new location to settle and build community. Tennessee is on our list to explore suitability for us. Can you recommend any areas in Tennessee worth looking into? Thanks so much,

Dan

What Coffee Maker Should I Buy?

From Gary Hey, Nicole! I hear you on multiple shows: Unloose, LFTN, TSP. I can't recall which show it was on (probably not Unloose), but you offered advice on coffee makers I'm having trouble finding that episode, and I'm in hopes you can point me in the right direction (or just send me the makes and models :-).

Love listening to you in all those places. Keep up the great work!

Link to TSP Episode on coffee makers

Make it a great week!

Song: The Flood by Sauce

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

Community

Advisory Board

Resources

 

Aug 20, 2021

Today, we go waaaay back to August 2019 and revisit the basics: How to take control of your overwhelming world by using the #my3Things. If you have ever wandererd how I get so much done - this is how.

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

Aug 18, 2021

Today, we talk about what to do with your pantry at the end of August, whether you are on a homestead or living in the city.

Webinar on Making Mozarella

Green Chili Day Registration is Live

Stump the Sauce

You seem like a really cool lady with a good heart and I like your goals for independance and living free and wish you well on your quest. I do have a question regarding trading and bartering within a small neighborhood of "like-minded people". My father was born in 1937 and pines away at how everyone worked together for a common goal, say threshing wheat/oats and how people used to work together. I ask what happened? Because my point of view is I don't even know these people he would talk about so fondly from childhood memory. He retorts "We all became independent and stopped having to get along, so we don't". So, it seems these barter systems are transient and dependent on most within the group being of either similar socioeconomic status or as the time ethnic decent, and Dad always seems to talk about the riff that severed relationship X or Y . Just thoughts. Love your show.

Main topic of the Show:  End of Summer Pantry Management

This morning, the weather had turned “morning cool” once again and you know what that means, right? Winter is coming and along with it the need to be fully stocked up, have firewood, and have the animals taken care of.

One of the reasons that store shortages are not very concerning to us here in the Holler is that we have been maintaining a good pantry for many years. But that doesnt mean we will not have to go without if things do not come back in stock. 

This week, we have had a cool reprieve amid the hottest days of the year. We have stowed and stashed jars of winter storage. We have “used up” commercial products as part of a busy week of travel. 

This month, we have dug a giant ditch behind the house, completely taken out everything in the prepper pantry to rerun gas, electrical, and water. Things are a bit stirred up and it is time to do the late summer pantry project.

If you are new to pantry management, or an old hand at it, this time of year tends to lead to the same place: it is time to audit, reorganize, and plan the next steps in advance of winter. If you are lucky enough to have AC, this is also an excuse to stay cool during the hottest part of the day while making forward progress.

Failure to take this time now leads to that one can of sauerkraut that stays in the back corner of your pantry, getting moved each time you do, until it is so old that you don’t even want to feed it to your pigs. 

How do I know? I moved that can of sauerkraut 8 times before I realized I was never going to eat it. That can of sauerkraut was the first step toward proper pantry management - as in store what you actually eat -- and it started me on a very different path in food management long before I discovered my love of preserving and storing food in abundance.

So what does the Summer Project Look like?

  1. Review long term and short term storage
  2. Make 2 piles for each place: Use up, store it
  3. Put everything away with the use up items in front on shelves and the store it items harder to get to (pull things from long term storage that really need to be worked into your meal plans)
  4. Freezers if you have them
  5. Make a list of what is missing for the winter: flour, sugar, hot coco, paper towels, fire starters, first aid and toiletries, meats, veggies, etc
  6. Set a schedule to restock - there is still farm abundance to preserve and things often have early fall sales. Advanced: buying for next summer at the end of this one!
  7. Do this same process for livestock and pets

The first time I did this: 2 weeks - now it is a 1 day thing. (explain why)

Next 2 weeks meal plan

Landing: High times and spare - you will be as supply secure as you can be without wasting time and money on things you will never use.

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

 

Aug 16, 2021

Today, I will run you through a typical Saturday on a homestead in the heat of summer as everything needs life support to survive and is getting ripe and ready to eat and process.

Reminder: Mozzarella Making Webinar

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • 34 quarts of green beans
  • 60 lbs of tomatoes
  • Golden rod, mullein, mint

Operation Independence

  • Building the podcast and HRC at Rogue Food Conference in Virginia

Main topic of the Show: A Homestead In Summer

The why

The backdrop (Leaving a homestead, summer abundance season, dog days)

Preparing for the knows, animals, coffee customers, winter is coming

Homestead grown vs locally sources food approach - beans, tomatoes

Friday: 60 lbs tomatoes, 2 bushels stringless beans

My hopes: Salsa, dilly beans, canned beans

Getting real: dilly beans are nice to have not need to have

The agenda for Saturday: (Friday night background)

  • Skipped market (picked up produce from the farmers on Friday afternoon)
  • 6am: up, coffee, walk dogs (short walk), assemble laundry
  • 6:30: Start water for green beans to boiling, start laundry, second cup coffee, begin processing tomatoes
  • 6:45: 1st batch beans in the canner
  • 7am: Tomatoes in the freezer, pigs fed scraps
  • 7:15: begin snapping beans, change laundry
  • 7:45: 1st batch beans done
  • Pattern until 1pm: Snap beans, prepare jars for canner, process beans, rotate laundry, check water for plants, make/eat breakfast
  • Meanwhile: T is on animal care and fencing
  • 1-1:30 lunch break
  • 1:30-3pm: “The bean cycle”
  • 3pm: start the cheese, snap beans on “breaks” - come to the realization that I am not going to actually pack anything tonight
  • 5pm: bean only cycle (I am snapping as fast as I can put them in jars)
  • 7pm: T arrives, there is no plan for dinner, animals and plants are cared for, still snapping and canning beans. Initiate the frozen cauliflower pizza crust with fresh made tomato sauce, sausage and cheese
  • 8pm: dinner, tv show, still snapping beans and canning them
  • 9pm: the last of the beans are snapped, too tired to go on, house looks like a bean food fight has happened, (Beanmageddon), jars are cooling on every surface I can find,  there are 4 jars left to do.

 

Sunday am

6am: up and start water for the last bean jars, short dog walk, beans in the canner

Prepare/eat breakfast, shower, feed dogs, head out the door by 7 with beans finishing up in the canner.

Landing: Even when there is an impossible schedule, you will be successful if you stick to the top priority.

Make it a great week!

Song: Anonymous by Sauce

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

Community

Advisory Board

Resources

Aug 13, 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:

  • Lessons from the Garden
  • Something Has Changed
  • What I Learned After Walking Each Morning for One Month
  • Five Ways to Prepare Green Beans
  • Decide and be Honest with 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

 

Aug 10, 2021

Today, I share thoughts about getting your mindset right after a day of training at Tactical Response (tacticalresponse.com)

Main topic of the Show: Mindset

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

  • Mewe Group: https://mewe.com/join/lftn
  • Telegram Group: https://t.me/LFTNGroup
  • Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@livingfree:b

Advisory Board

Resources

Aug 6, 2021

Today, I talk with Matthew Sercely to discuss using the tax code to your advantage and his new company, Agorist Tax Advice.

Show Resources
https://www.agoristtaxadvice.com/

Main Content of the Show:

Matthew Sercely has been an attorney for over 11 years in the Dallas, Texas area. Last year he decided to go out on his own and help libertarians, anarchists, and agorists to deal with taxes.

Interview

  • Why are you the “agorist tax advisor?”
  • What is a “Tax Advisor”? How is it different than a tax attorney or an accountant?
  • Are there any advantages to having a tax advisor who is an attorney instead of an accountant? Any advantages to having an accountant instead?
  • What are the different types of Taxation for companies? What is the best one for a business?
  • What sorts of mistakes to you see people making on their taxes?
  • You’ve done multiple seminars in the past year, including the Survivial Podcast and Living Free in Tennesse. Why do you like doing seminars so much?

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

Community

Advisory Board

Resources

Aug 4, 2021

Today is the second in a  series about how to build and launch your home or craft coffee roasting business. We will cover branding and packaging

Sign up for the Mozzarella making webinar, August 26
Next Week’s Schedule
Episode 500 Reminder

Listener Feedback

  • Nick

Main topic of the Show:  Branding and Packaging Your Coffee, Home Roasting Business Part 2

What to know about Branding

  • Member Webinar in the Portal, Personal and Business Branding with Sue Zoldak, May 2021
  • Know your target
  • Visual and “personality” representation of the core essence of your business. Must be: Emotional (Buyer), Differentiated (Competition), Credible (You and the Buyer)
  • Packaged for: Web, print, social. Black and white and color. Visible from afar and look good up close.
  • Industry colors: browns, green, blues (Think about what that means for you and your brand)

Developing your brand story

  • Coffee is about people from farm to cup
  • Why it matters to the buyer
  • What made YOU love coffee (that matters to the buyer)? How did you get to where you are today?
  • Sketch it out and practice with friends, have them tell your story back. Learn from that

Packaging

  • Label must haves
  • Plastic vs paper
  • Co2 filter
  • Packaging sizes (12 oz vs 16, shape, etc)
  • Label design vs printed bags
  • Color choices
  • Where are you selling your coffee?
  • Does your packaging sell your coffee (farmer’s market story)

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

Aug 2, 2021

Today, I will talk through how to save seeds from XX kinds of summer plants and why you should do it.

Was interviewed on Deborah Gets Red Pilled: https://youtu.be/fGb4nUCtqyY
Mozzarella Making Webinar, Thursday August 26, 2021 at 6pm Central - sign up here.

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Took the weekend off from canning but it is tomato and green bean canning season
  • Redoing shelves and freezers in the Prepper Pantry
  • Cost comparing homemade dog food vs commercial
  • Groceries are sales tax free so I have some soul searching to do since I have enough for the year, minus cheese.

Operation Independence

  • Meat Canning Webinar will be on the Portal Tuesday for those who missed it

Main topic of the Show: Episode 459: Saving Seeds in Summer

Why save seeds

Some seed saving tips: fermenting, stratification, storage, hybrids

Methods

  • The plastic bag method (Lettuces, broccoli, beets)
  • The let it reseed itself method (Cilantro, parsley, lettuce, radishes, etc)
  • The fermentation method (tomatoes)
  • The just save them method (Peppers)
  • The Lazy Man Method (Squash example)

Membership Plug

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 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.

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

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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. 

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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

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

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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. 

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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!

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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

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

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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.

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Song:

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

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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!

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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

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

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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

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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. 

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