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Living Free in Tennessee - Nicole Sauce

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Living Free in Tennessee - Nicole Sauce
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Now displaying: 2021
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

Jun 30, 2021

It’s beet season! Today I will run you through how to process beets pickled, sauce and pressure canned

July Webinar: Canning Meat - July 24 at 2pm.

Stump the Sauce

Hey, I heard one of your latest podcast about the price of eggs at the store vs. the local farm and had a brain wave...

If it's true that farm eggs are more nutritious then wouldn't it be good idea to market your eggs not in "$&¢", but in terms of "nutritional value" similar to purchasing regular gas and premium gas. The premium gas might "appear" more expensive (I.e. farm eggs) however...you get more mileage (nutrition) out your dollars spent.

I think if the customer saw two boxes of eggs side-by-side but priced in $/nutrition ratio then they might be more likely to pick the farm raised variety?

What’s Up in the Garden

  • Harvest time has arrived: squash, eggplant
  • Inattention killed my green beans (And there is still time)
  • Tomatoes are looking great
  • Time to prep the fall garden - I am not kidding

Main topic of the Show:  Canning Beets

  • Choosing produce
  • The boil peel versus manually peeling

Pickling

Nicole Sauce’s Sugarless Sour Beets

Brine:

1/2 cup pickling or kosher salt

5.5 cups 5% vinegar

6 cups water

Per quart jar spice mix (add to jar)

2 heads dill weed

2-4 cloves garlic

1-2 hot peppers (cayenne or jalapeno)

6 peppercorns

20/25 mins

Aunt Helen’s Beets

Brine (make enough batched to cover beets)

1 qt vinegar (5% acidity)

6 c sugar

2 TBSP salt (plain, kosher, or pickling: may not be iodized)

2 tsp pickling spice

Sauce

Beet Ketchup

  • See Janet on Mewe for the recipe!

Pressure canning

https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_04/beets.html

  • Hot pack
  • 30/35
  • Uses: Borscht, stews, side dish bake with carrots, garlic and chevre

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

 

Jun 28, 2021

Over the weekend, we had all sorts of community happenings at the holler homestead and it got me to thinking about meeting in person and how important that it. I will share some of these thoughts as well as stories of our first ever open house on today’s podcast.

Feedback 

I want to thank you for your openness about your debt and perseverance regarding paying things off. 

In December/January you said something in a podcast that made me think how foolish I’d been the past five years with credit cards, car and motorcycle loans. 

After buckling done the past six months and accelerating pay downs, I’m paying off CC monthly now, paid off my car, and today made my last motorcycle payment. 

With all that’s going on, I’m now free to focus on mortgage pay down, crypto, and savings. 

I’m still enjoying your coffee and will look on your site about becoming a member to show my appreciation. 

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Beets and pickles are done for 2021
  • Getting low on jars of all things (explain why)
  • Weekly garden meal prep for easier living
  • Freeze Dryer Access Project -- thoughts from listeners?

Operation Independence

  • Membership Portal Upgrades Slowly Rolling Out

Main topic of the Show: Why Meet In Person?

This past 18 months, meetings have increasingly been over computers and phones as folks have sought to avoid air travel and reduce exposure to the virus. As a result, kids know how to virtually attend school, adults who never could get their computers’ webcams to work suddenly know zoom and toms meetings are held virtually. It has become a matter of preference in many cases to just avoid getting together in person and handle meetings over web conferencing systems.

But is this the best way?

How many of you have been to that awkward ZOOM birthday party or wedding?

And how many have noticed an uptick in “weird” happenings where people kindo of lose their minds and hurt other people out and about in society?

Continued isolation is making us crazy and it is no surprise. We are herd animals. We crave finding people we can relate to, we can be comfortable with. This is why those “loner libertarians” get so excited when they can throw a liberty fest -- like Porcfest in New hampshire each June.

It is that feeling of well-being when you bother to get together in person.

That is why when people want to come visit the Holler Homestead, I try very hard to make it work. And this year, those requests were up tenfold, so we decided to do a little test this weekend: What if we have an open house day here and just tell folks, here are the hours, stop by. No big agenda. No big personality speakers. Just come hang out and we will likely be doing homesteady stuff.

Little did I know that there would be 68 chickens to process that day, derailing other demo concepts we had in mind.

And yet people came -- about 20 of you in fact. Including a surprise visit from John and Amanda Willis who can now confirm that my little country road is very very rural. That’s ok - it looked like their car could handle it.

Things we learned and enjoyed...

  • Someone will always show up an hour early - that’s why we started at 10am
  • Many hands make light work of chickens
  • Next time, I will hire someone to do the food and beverage so that Jenni and I are not pulled away from guests
  • There are fun people who bring fun things: Seeds to trade, John’s Iced Tea, Angel and Kerry’s finger foods
  • A more set Demo Schedule will happen next time so people can time their visit -- it gets hot here in the summer and not everyone wants to bake in the sun for 5 hours

But the biggest thing was thing: Y’all talked and talked and talked to each other. And then you talked some more. Even most of the introverts were just happy to be in person and talk about shared interests.

But why is meeting in person so important?

  1. You build rapport and trust

(Willis story)

  1. You can end up out of your space an on neutral ground

(Barb Story)

  1. Words alone do not communications make. 55% nonverbal, 38% vocal, and 7% words only

(Rabbit Processing Workshop)

So if you know people who have self isolated for the past 18 months who are a little edgy when you talk to them -- remember this: They have not had one of the things that everyone needs - interaction. They have only had 45% communication with their peers when they do interact. And that means that the missing 55% takes you off balance. You start trying to build that into your narrative. You make up stuff in your head.

So as you look at your summer and fall plans and start feeling that tiny bit of anxiety that can come when you try to decide -- Do I take a weekend and go to Rogue Food Conference at Polyface in August, or Green Chili Day in September, or to my high school reunion, think of it not in terms of what you wont get done that weekend, or how tired people make you sometimes. 

Think about how far trust can get you? When you meet a few people with whom you can relate, with shared interests. How great it can be to think- I remember meeting that one lawyer guy at that conference and now, dadgummit I need a lawyer -- (Pete).

Things like that a great for the Pete’s of the world and the person seeking a Pete. At it all happens when you stand up, get out, and see people. Real people. In person.

It is impossible to measure how much progress people make after our gatherings here just because they met the right person -- but I can tell you there are 1 or 2 people who start or grow something as a result.

And if you ever get the opportunity to show your product or service in person to someone who reaches out -- go. Even if it is a slight pain in the ass. 

Because they will remember that you found their request important enough to give it your real attention and time. You set the first step of building rapport. And you are more likely to beat out the person who just “handled things” from afar.

Why meet in person? Why wouldn’t you?

Membership Plug

MeWe reminder

Make it a great week!

Song: Tripped Out by Sauce

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

Community

Advisory Board

Resources

Jun 25, 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:

  • !@#$%!! Gas Cans and Government
  • Should There Be an I In Team?
  • Three Newby Tips on the Harvest Right Freeze Dryer
  • Homesteading as the New Normal
  • Poverty Mindset and Fat Mindset

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

 

Jun 23, 2021

Do you have your pressure canner sitting all shiny in your kitchen and are you afraid to use it? I will talk through how to pressure can corn on today’s show and hopefully demystify some of the things that are making you wait.

  • Holler Livestream Thursday -- we reached 1,000!
  • Holler Homestead Open House is this Saturday
  • A word on Interview show scheduling
  • Update on health
  • A word on social networks

Stump the Sauce

  • What to do about weeds

New Member Videos!

  • Pantry Management with Nicole Sauce
  • Introduction to Canning
  • Cybersecurity with Andy Higginbotham
  • Pressure Canning Green Beans
  • Four Methods to Start Your Spring Garden in 2020

Main topic of the Show:  Pressure Canning Corn

Pressure Canning Safety

  • Food before
  • Botulism
  • Blowing Up The Canner
  • Glass Topped Stoves
  • Hot Water

The Process of Corn

  • Packing
  • Headspace
  • Lids and Rings (Cleaning)
  • How most stovetop canners work
  • The vinegar hack
  • Hot pack vs raw pack
  • Processing time 55/85, 1 inch… (Find your altitude)
  • Cooling and storage

The Oh Shit List

  • Pressure is getting too high
  • Pressure fell below where I need it to be
  • A jar broke
  • One of my lids did not seal

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

 

Jun 21, 2021

Today, I want to share with you my biggest lesson of the Pandemic and its aftermath as viewed through the perspective of a special friend.

Holler Homestead Open House and Canning Demo

Last Week’s Webinar Video is up on the Member Portal 

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Failing on meal planning and staying on whole foods: Hard boiled eggs, cheese, celery sticks, bacon and eggs, Mahi, green beans and summer squash, roasted new potatoes, red veined sorrel, pesto on something with green garlic and fresh basil. Cold cuts and cured meats for road food.
  • Freeze Drying Cheesecake (#allthethings)
  • Sun Tea
  • Cucumbers and beets are coming on and it is time to put up quick pickles

Operation Independence

  • Focus on health

Main topic of the Show: Best Lesson From The 2020 Pandemic

This show was supposed to be on Friday last week. But my health got in the way. And yet this may be the most important show topic of 2021. 

This show is in part about the biggest lesson to be learned from the 2020 pandemic, how officials and our societies reacted to it, and maybe even a little about why what some of us THINK is the biggest lesson learned should be reexamined if it is not this lesson.

But more important about today is what got me to thinking of this lesson. It was a friend, fellow farmer/homesteader. A guy by the name of Steve who works really really hard to live life on his terms. Steve is not a young man, and he has even had an organ transplant. His ticker ain’t what it used to be either.

Steve is the kind of guy who meets lots of people and he somehow manages to bring out the best, to encourage them to just get started on doing what they say they want to do.

The longer you talk to Steve, the more you realize how incredible his life has been and the sheer number of things this man has done - and he has done them well.

And the best part? He is not a loudmouth like me -- he observes and is sort of quiet. But when he talks, people listen. And when he hears I cant from someone, he asks why.

You may wonder what in the world Steve has to do with my pandemic lesson? Well that is the thing. 

If I ask most people around me what their biggest lesson learned I will get one of the following lessons:

  1. Supply Chains Are Unstable (centralization vs decentralization)
  2. The Media Controls the Narrative More Than We Thought
  3. People Are Anti Science
  4. People Do Not Understand How Science Works
  5. People Are Selfish And We Must Control Those Jerks
  6. Big Tech, Big, Ag, Big Government, New World Order, Growth in Freedom Networks

And while all those things may be lessons you can take from the pandemic, which one is the biggest?

I must admit, I have spun like a pinball from idea to idea dn lesson to lesson over the past year and a half -- and YES -- we have been doing this for a freaking year and a half now my friends. A year and a half you will never get back. 

And last week, I started thinking about what you and I and others are never getting back (depending on how far we took things):

A year and a half of:

  • Seeing faces
  • Hugs
  • Being together in groups
  • Flying
  • Going to work
  • Income
  • Birthday parties
  • Hand shakes
  • Building rapport
  • Trust
  • New relationships
  • Stability and community

 

People have lost so much:

  • Homes
  • Loved ones
  • Businesses
  • Jobs
  • Confidence
  • Joy

All for what? An illness with between a 99%-and 99.5% survival rate according to the sources that so many have come to distrust. I pulled that from the CDC in case you are wondering.

Compare it to the flu: 99.5% survival rate.

Now we all know that older people have increased risk and I am not discounting that. But look at what we have given up? The hugs, seeing grandma and grandpa, crying over zoom.

Guys, we are herd animals. We need each other to be whole. Without community - even if we like being solitary -- without community we suffer. When we suffer, our health goes down hill. 

There were times in the last 18 months when people were drawing their last breath all alone in a room in a hospital, not allowed to have their children with them, holding their hands. For fear of spreading the disease, even if they were not dying from covid.

Which begs the question did that even make sense? 

Enter Steve. Steve is the kind of guy in an age bracket of the highest risk, with a compromised immune system. Know what Steve gave up for the pandemic?

Nothing. Not a damn thing.

Steve was in the hospital with surgery complications last fall for about two months. A week or two after he got out, he was at an event in Texas hugging his friends sharing his knowledge, selling his rabbit cages (and the man makes AMAZING rabbit cages), and having a grand time. There was not a mask to be seen at this event.

Know what Steve said about that? He said, I’d rather live the days I have left than hide from the virus. Steve knew his risks. And he knew the consequences of getting ill with Covid. And he knew the bigger risk was not living for 18 months of the time he had left. So Steve lived life and mentored the people he came across.

And therein is the lesson: The biggest lesson from the Pandemic is we only have NOW. Not the past -- that already happened. Not the future: that has not yet happened. We have what is now.

Right in front of us today. We have no idea hope long we will be here. We know that one day we will not be here. 

So for me, the biggest lesson from the Pandemic is to stop procrastinating the someday, to prioritize those things that are most important, and to do them. Now -- or as best as they can be done in the now. To live life and not put it on hold.

I’ve learned to make time for that friend to visit. To accept that sometimes things are not all put together because dammit I need to go swimming with my dogs. To travel to that workshop and be in person even though I might get sick from it. To weigh the long term and short term risks of things like a vaccination and make the best decision for NOW. Not last week and not next year.

And yes, part of living life is an element of selfishness. You have limited time here with yourself, your friends, and your family. What is most important to you? Is it them, then spend time with them. Is it learning something new -- then spend time on that. Is it expanding your community, go to that event.

You only have the NOW and you can’t control when you will go.

And that brings me back to Steve. Last week, Steve taught me this lesson in a shocking way. He got very ill and ended up in the ICU. And my first thought was this: He has no regrets right now. His wife told me the day before he landed at the hospital he had bought a brand new zero turn mower. She joked that she was going to go whisper in his ear that he’d better recover quickly or she was going to drive it. I told her to do it! Why? Because even if he did not recover, whatever part of him could hear her through the coma would find humor in it.

At that is Steve.

Guys, Steve did not recover. He passed yesterday having lived a very long, ful life learning new things, helping so many people, and going out during this pandemic even though he knew the risks he would face if he contracted covid. 

I will miss Steve so much when he is not at the events we frequent, when I realize I need rabbit cages and had not gotten around to putting in an order, when I see someone in the corner that could use pulling out and he is not there to do it, when the big end of event bear hug is missing.

But I am also glad for Steve that we was running around buying a cool new mower the day before he had a stroke that ultimately killed him. That’s right - he lived his life through the pandemic, knowing the risks. And the virus did not get him -- it was simply his time.

But he had one last lesson for me too - and I hope you can take it on. That you hear this and think, what am I not building that I want to be? Who have I not visited out of fear? What can I do to live NOW?

Membership Plug

MeWe reminder

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

Jun 16, 2021

Today is for new and aspiring homesteaders. There are five things I wish I had known before I jumped and we discuss them today.

Tomorrow: Canning Webinar, Relocation Roundtable,  and Holler Homestead Open House

Stump the Sauce

  • Too Many Tomatoes

Main topic of the Show:  5 Pieces of Advice for New Homesteaders

  1. It will cost more than you think
  2. Income Generation and Replacement
  3. Paperwork
  4. Right vs Legal
  5. Messes

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

Jun 11, 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:

  • Eating to Thrive or to Survive?
  • Better Reward Systems
  • Eat That Frog!

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

Jun 9, 2021

I was going to talk through some things I love about the Harvest Right Freeze Dryer but then I got to talking about food with Tactical this morning. Specifically foods that are very good for you that we sometimes forget to eat. Today, I will share five that come to mind.

But first

  1. Schedule next week
  2. Relocation Roundtable and Water Bath Canning Webinars
  3. 2 Seats left for the Chicken Workshop!

What’s Up in the Garden

  • Uncle
  • Seed saving: Broccoli, cilantro, peas, lettuce
  • Tomatoes look GREAT
  • Putting out peppers and sweet potatoes now

Main content of the show: 5 Nutritious Things We Forget About

  1. Fruits in season
  2. Bone Broth
  3. Hard Boiled Eggs
  4. Water
  5. Ferments

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

 

Jun 7, 2021

Today we will discuss what really matters in the new world order, the great reset, and many other “conspiracies” that are turning out to be based in truth.

  • Canning Demo June 17  at 12pm Central: Waterbath Canning
  • Relocation Roundtable: June 17 at 7pm Central

Email feedback to nicole@livingfreeintennessee.com

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

Operation Independence

  • Rogue Food Summary

Main topic of the Show: What Really Matters?

What really matters to people? What do we truly care about. If you take this question from a survival standpoint: we need water, oxygen and food to survive. The next layer is shelter and health, family and relationships. Then community, comfort, mental challenges, spiritual pursuits. Creative endeavors.

As we are able to cover our basic survival needs, we gain something very important: time. And time is the thing that we can use to become stronger and better. To keep our world beautiful. To create widespread security for ourselves and those around us.

Why then are our most basic needs -- those things that we require to survive -- why are they outsourced to a faceless bureaucracy? 

Have you ever taken a deep look into situations where genocide is inflicted on a people? Where one set of humans decide that it is ok to torture, murder and cause widespread suffering to another set of humans?

Have you ever seen what happens right before the boiling point is reached?

Usually you will find that the basic survival needs are controlled by a select, powerful few. You will find that there is widespread shortages and that suffering has occurred. That parents cannot feed their children or themselves.

And how do we get to this point?

We live on a prosperous plant full of oxygen, with lots of water, and able to produce food in the most harsh of environments. As humans have developed, we have figured out how to cover our basic survival needs and we have created time. Time for spiritual pursuits.

As humans have developed, we have put our minds to tough problems like how to get more food from less and less land to keep more and more of us alive.

And some have developed systems. Systems that provide “food security”’ and other such promises for all who participate. And from this, they have realized that people who are unable to provide for their own basic needs, who have forgotten how nature works, who are set up with unrealistic expectations for what they “need” to survive. These people will do almost anything to keep getting what they need. They will work endlessly. They will murder their peers. They will look the other way as the earth is harmed. They will give up their freedom of motion, of thought. They will beat the other humans into compliance. As dependency increases, so does control.

And who is in control? 

To which I ask - why do you care about that?

Have you ever stopped to think about how fragile our centralized food system in this country is? We have systems set up to provide more and more food from fewer and fewer sources. The policies here are developed to protect those few sourced from competition from many distributed ones. 

Have you ever stopped worrying about the med in “big food” sitting in back rooms selling off our health to save a few pennies on production and looked beyond the who and why to focus on what it means?

Our centralized food systems create two things: 1) Immense amounts of food for everyone to eat. 2) One of the most obvious targets to control our population.

Take down the few places and ways that food is produced and distributed and guess what? Grocery stores are empty in about 48 hours.

And most of the population has no idea how to get food without going into a store, taking things off the shelf, and bringing them home.

I don’t know about you, but I find that alarming. Do you?

Do you know how to get food if it isn’t on the shelves in the store?

You see, all the time and power that we waste on figuring out how to take Monsanto down, or tear apart Walmart---to hold those men in the back rooms of food factories accountable for making us sick. All the time we spend reading up on the dawn of big ag and pharmaceuticals. That is time you will never get back. It is really only useful as a tool to assess the world you live in.

And the time you spend in outrage about it is wasted.

Or in the words of my frond Jack Spirko -- it doesn’t matter why, it matters that.

Now, if one of your creative pursuits is digging into history and research on such things -- by all means - enjoy!

But if you want to live in a world where your most basic need is covered -- the need to find nourishment for yourself, your family and your community. Stop focusing on the assholes who got us here and start participating on developing a stable alternative to centralized food.

Being part of a solution to corporate food does not need to look like you building your own regenerative farm -- it needs to look like local participation. It needs to look like a journey. And every journey starts with one person: You.

If you look at how Agenda 2020, now renamed Agenda 2030, Now renamed The Great Reset. If you look at the core of all of them, these are movements grounded in controlling people’s access to basic survival needs To food. To water. To shelter. To healthcare.

They seek to centrally organize it all.

If centally controlled food yields a target, well they how would centrally controlling just about everything not result in the biggest target this world has ever seen? How can it possibly result in prosperity for most rather than widespread suffering?

It cant.

And realizing that is what matters. Because when you are able to see that, you are able to shift your frame to what really matters. You are able to shift your frame from control to empowerment. From brainwashing to community.

And in that shift, you are able to see a pathway where you and your friends, you and your family, you and your community can create more secure, distributed means of covering people’s basic survival needs.

Think about this: If you have 2 cups of milk left for the next 7 days, and a faceless person across the world needs one of those cups of milk, are you likely to give it freely? Unlikely. You will need to be forced with threat of death because giving up that cup of milk could lead to your own starvation. But if your child needs one, what then? You will give your child both.

As we focus on finding local sources of food, of supporting them, of becoming them -- we increase the ability of those around us to flourish. 

And this is what really matters. This is what is truly important. Finding ways to survive and thrive that do not become ginormous systems with an obvious achilles heel.

Last year when the weakness of the commercial food systems became obvious, people began looking to local farms for nourishment. It lasted as long as the shortages did. Once the convenience of grocery store options returned, people turned their backs on the very farms that were busting hump to cover local needs.

I have so many farmer friends who spent time and money ramping up their egg production only to discover that when Aldi’s $.49/dozen eggs returned, their $5/dozen eggs were no longer wanted. No matter that they had been there when Aldi was not to feed families. 

I hear this story again and again. 

Centralized food has hidden its real cost and quite frankly has made most of us cheap. We don;t care about quality we focus on price. But at what cost?

We are one cyber attack, one gas shortage, one well-placed bombing away from empty shelves.

It doesn’t have to be that way for you -- it is an easy problem to solve. Just look at what you need and decide how to either obtain it locally or produce it. Simple. A decentralized system needs producers. It needs eaters. It need distributors. It needs marketers and storytellers. But most of all, it needs a community that sees beyond the crisis, beyond the conspiracy. A community willing to participate in a decentralized food world. To put their money where their mouth is. Literally.

This is not something that has to happen all at once unless there is a rapid implosion. This is something you do step by step. Homesteaders need to evaluate their animal feed sources and practices. Eaters need a list of what they consume and where they get it -- then you can go through item by item and find an alternatives.

In the past year, The Holler Homestead has reduced our commercial needs to things like cleaning supplies, dog and catfood, and a handful of “treats”. Meat is raised here or obtained locally. Livestock feed is grown in Tennessee. We have added fodder plants to the homestead. We process vegetables grown here and close by. Almost all milk comes from a local dairy. This did not all happen at once.

Anyone who has listened to the podcast knows it has been a journey.

But I can tell you that once I solved the dairy problem (as in I do not want to be one, I want to support one), things just kept getting increasingly local and increasingly secure.  Once I did that and no longer “needed” the $14/gallon milk. When it was time to sign up for another year, you can bet I did. We may not have a milk shortage this month, but if we do next month, I don’t care. When the meat processing network -- one of ONLY THREE in our country shut down due to a ransomware attack -- I don't care. 

None of it matters anymore. The solution has been all around us the whole time. 

It is right there next to you and around the corner. It is in your local area.

And if you live somewhere where it is not, time to start building it or move. 

Because what really matters is addressing the achilles heels in your life and building up from there. Not the Rothschilds or the Pelosis. Not communism vs Fascicm. What matters is prosperity for you, for your family and for your community.

Keep your eye on the ball and take the next step.

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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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Jun 4, 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:

  • What Successful People Do
  • Is the Harvest Right Freeze Dryer Worth It?
  • The Kids Are Not OK

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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Jun 3, 2021

Today, I share with you five things about raising meat rabbits that I have learned after having them for only two weeks.

What’s up in garden

Main Topic: 5 things about raising rabbits

  1. Turns grass and vegetation into meat with very little additional time or effort
  2. Mineral lick hack
  3. Tractor versus cage
  4. Gender challenge
  5. Handling and cute factor

Wish list: Tractoring system, watering system, cooling/shade set up, rabbit fodder seed blend.

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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May 31, 2021

The last two weeks have brought big, sad, life-changing things to many in our network. Today, I will talk through some things you can do for your friends and family when there really is nothing you can do to help. 

Schedule this week (Rogue Food)
Chicken Processing Workshop June 14
Holler Homestead Open House June 26, 10am-3pm

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • First Freeze Dryer Lessons: Location, Hot Pump!, Rehydrating, Oil Filtration, Is It Worth the Money?
  • Lettuce has been hanging on
  • Found a last round of things to restock for the rest of the year (old habits die hard)
  • Canning kitchen is almost all set up

Featured Forage: Hemlock

Operation Independence:

  • $5/bag hiking strawberries
  • Solar Water Heater Update

Main topic of the Show: What to Do When There Is Nothing You Can Do

#reach out (trite/stilted...dont read into a non response. Send a card or little gift)

#avoid discounting the pain or being that person who says turn that frown upside down. It is ok to be sad

#avoid sharing your similar sad story or anyone elses (two things, two friends...same day)

#Use your unique superpower to make their life a bit easier: (meal prep, childcare, offers of driving places, network,  whatever it is)

#check in a few days later... ask do you want, not do you need.

#check in week/weeks/months later. They may not reach out to you.

Life brings hard situations and we can help our friends and family by listening. Asking questions, sharing photos and good stories...and using our superpowers. What we cant do is wave a magic wand, bring someone back to life, or fix a relationship.

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Song: Grandpa’s Song by Sauce

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

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May 28, 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:

  • Resetting
  • Airborne Viruses
  • Hoarding
  • Perception
  • Look a Gift Horse in The Mouth

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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May 26, 2021

I have had a bunch of emails come in in the last 2 weeks and rather than answer them in writing, I thought it would be fun to answer them in a listener variety show. Here is what we will cover today:

  • Suggestion from Christopher that I do a podcast on how to start a home roasting business
  • Website and other recommendations requested from Melissa
  • Do you do tours of your homestead from Betsy
  • Getting started on a homestead when you know little about permaculture from Jim
  • How to get started with wild edible plants from Billy

What’s Up in the Garden

  • Wall of Tomatoes
  • Dill Germinated
  • Beans are up
  • Strawberries ripening each day -- anti chicken defense system
  • Need to replace lettuce with basil
  • Wishing for automated watering

Main topic of the Show: Listener Variety Show

Suggestion from Christopher that I do a podcast on how to start a home roasting business

  • Add your thoughts on the mewe post about this topic

Website and other recommendations requested from Melissa

  • Buddy Press
  • Untimate Membership Pro
  • Coinpayments

Do you do tours of your homestead from Betsy

  • June Open House To Be Announced Next Week

Getting started on a homestead when you know little about permaculture from Jim

How to get started with wild edible plants from Billy

Make it a great week!

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

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May 24, 2021

Patrick Roehrman of MTKnives joins me today to talk about creating your best life. We recorded this right after the LFTN Spring Workshop.

Thought of the Walk Series

Email feedback to nicole@livingfreeintennessee.com

Resources

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Went Full Tazmanian Devil on the Prepper Pantry
  • Quarterly Freezer defrost had to be done monthly
  • Holler Neighbor Project - Meals in bags (livestream this week)
  • Transition from using to filling - canning supply migration 

Featured Forrage: Potentialla Recta (Eurasian but growing here)

Operation Independence

  • Our HipCamp is Open! All $$ goes to my last little amount of debt

Main topic of the Show: Your Best Life with Patrick Roehrman

Bio: Patrick Roehrman is a knife maker and bladesmith from Missouri whose handmade knives include highly collectible  neck knives, custom hunting knives, custom survival knives, bushcraft knives and other hand-forged knives.

Why Patrick is cool

Interview

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May 19, 2021

It has been a long time since we did an episode on the Holler Homestead and what we are all doing here -- and yet this is one of the reason’s y’all tune in. Today is an update. An update on the Holler Homestead, and update on the Holler Neighbors, and an update on the progress toward living our lives on our terms and balance.

If you have been wondering what country life is all about, today is your day.

Webinar with Sue Zoldak Saturday at 4pm Central
Pirate Memes: https://piratememes.com/

Stump the Sauce

  • Send stump the sauces to nicole@livingfreeintennessee.com

What’s Up in the Garden

  • Scapes are starting -- garlic scape pesto coming soon
  • Lemon balm and bee balm are ready for harvest and drying
  • Tromboncino squash is being planted
  • The Year of Broccoli and Peas (A cool spring in Tennessee)
  • Strawberries and how we got them to do well
  • Behind on planting and not worrying about it

Main topic of the Show: What’s Up in the Holler

  1. How the Holler Came to Be a Thing
  2. Food Production Update
  3. Open House in the Holler
  4. Hipcamp is open
  5. Holler Neighbors Meals Project
  6. The Animals

New series - Thought of the Walk on Odysee: https://odysee.com/@livingfree:b45f9a0d7db001fed32d9547b04c8b0b7f1fa617

(No playlists there yet but will get that handled when there are)

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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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May 17, 2021

The invasion of BroodX is coming. No! It is here. Will your trees die? Will you get hurt? Do you need to protect your animals and children? We will talk about Cicadas and what to expect from the hatch.

Saturday Webinar with Sue Zoldak: Personal and Business Branding -- login to your membership area to register, or buy the webinar at LivingFreeinTennessee.com if you are not a member.

Chicken Processing Workshop - 5 seats left!

Email feedback to nicole@livingfreeintennessee.com

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Finalizing the rest of 2021 ordering and organizing (Will see how I did by the end of the year)
  • Holler Neighbor Project
  • Mama Sauce did the spring Canned Goods Organizing -- almost time to start canning again
  • Incoming Freeze Dryer

Featured Forage

  • What to harvest: Wild Rose petals, red clover

Operation Independence

  • What this is
  • Simplification

Main topic of the Show: Cicada Invasion

  • The hysterical headlines in the news
  • Cicadas -- their lifecycle - egg, nymph, metamorphosis, adult
  • 17 year brood - what to expect: music, lots of bugs
  • Why the swarm? (Thought to be protection)
  • Will they kill my trees?
  • Are they harmful to my children/self/animals?
  • Cool things that happen in a cicada swarm year
    • There is a tangible homeschooling science project that can expand beyond the bug to learning tons about insects
    • The deafening sound is quite beautiful
    • Your chickens/poultry will get fat
    • Fishing Lures timed with the die off

 

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Song: The Flood by Sauce

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

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May 12, 2021

John Pugliano of Investable Wealth and the Wealthsteading Podcast joins me to discuss how to get recognized and build personal success - weather you run your own business or work in a career.

Chicken Processing Workshop June 14
May 22 at 4pm Central: Sue Zoldak on Personal and Business Branding

Show Resources

Main content of the show

John Pugliano is a late blooming entrepreneur and the founder of Investable Wealth, LLC an independent fee only investment advisory firm. John served in the military for 7 years before starting a 20 year corporate career in sales and marketing of industrial products.

More importantly he followed his passion and honed his skills as an individual investor for over 25 years before becoming an investment adviser. Understanding the plight of the retail investor, he advises clients using the experience he gained while managing his own portfolio. John his the host of the Wealthsteading Podcast.

Interview

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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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May 10, 2021

Today we talk about finding your reset in times of high productivity, overwhelming task lists and ever-changing requirements that come from living the life you want to live.

Announcements:

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Reordering for the pantry for the rest of 2021 (The process and reasoning)
  • Thankful for Mama Sauce and broth making adventure
  • Reorganizing canning items in advance of canning season - will do a water bath canning webinar in June
  • Almost time for honey

Operation Independence

  • She might be pregnant! 

Main topic of the Show: Find your reset

25 mile hike that turned into 23 miles because we found a shortcut.

Why backpacking:

  • Increase confidence
  • Tire out the body to clear the mind
  • Preparing for a longer stroll 
  • Great way to spend time with Mom

What you should do: what works for you? Clubbing, a trip to the spa? International travel? Volunteering at a food bank? Church? Kayaking? Hunting?

Finding your reset is different for everyone.

List what characteristics must be there:

  • Lack of interruption
  • Physical activity
  • Few people vs many people
  • Times of “no inputs”
  • A goal

Set the stage for a true reset (handling of urgencies while you are resetting, addressing I cant leave, money matters, duration) --- choir story

Pregame your thinking - decide why you are going - or decide that you are resetting to find the why of it all. Think about this in advance so your mind is set to noodle while you go.

Use a reset to celebrate your successes -- the hike was set for after the LFTN workshop on purpose.

Track your lessons learned:

  • One step in front of the other
  • BALANCE requires delegation
  • When you are in the backcountry - you figure things out (men skip ahead here)
  • We do not need what we think we need
  • I must drop one business unit this year if I want to grow revenue
  • There are many hours of monkey work ahead and once they are done, the clerical road ahead will get easier

Finding your reset amid times of high stress opens your mind to simple solutions, helps protect your health, and brings perspective. 

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Song: Wolf by Sauce

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

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May 5, 2021

Today we talk with John Moody, author of Winning the War on Weeds, family and farm guy, facilitator of Abby’s Elderberry, permaculturist extraordinaire and founder of The Rogue Food Conference. We talk about food freedom, why go rogue and much more.

Chicken Processing Workshop June 14

Rogue Food Conference

What’s Up in the Garden

  • Tomatoes are in the tomato system and doing well
  • Harvesting chard, kale, lettuces and spring herbs
  • Groundnuts are up
  • Green beans going in this week
  • Garlic scape season is nigh
  • Squash getting direct sowed
  • OMG weeds already

Main topic of the show: Become a Food Ninja at Rogue Food

  1. All about John
  2. Food Freedom
  3. Why go Rogue?
  4. Nutrition from the land
  5. Ideas for getting real food into the hands of people who want it but don’t want to farm 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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May 3, 2021

Today I am excited to talk food, nutrition and freedom with Niti Bali, author of Farm to Fork Meat Riot and outspoken supporter of empowering people to take control of their health via taking control of what they put in their bodies. 

Chicken Processing Workshop, June 14 starting at 9am here in Lancaster, TN.

Show Resources

Niti The Farmacist

Main content of the show

Niti Bali is the Founder and CEO of Farm to Fork Meat Riot, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization serving as a catalyst for reestablishing the regenerative small family farm food system. Her strategically designed CSA program educates eaters to harness the power of life giving force through regenerative foods. Niti’s Farm to Fork Meat Riot CSA simultaneously supports regenerative livestock production based on consumption that results in a zero-waste system. This balanced program allows farmers, ranchers and artisans to operate with less risk and earn fair wages while growing their operations organically to fit the natural demand for this higher quality food.

Niti’s passion for sharing regenerative food began after her 2-year-old daughter was diagnosed with Esthesioneuroblastoma in 2007. Meenakshi underwent 5 rounds of toxic chemotherapy that did not stop the cancer. As a mother fighting for her child’s life, Niti embarked on a holistic mission to source the cleanest, most regenerative foods from local farms. Although Niti cured Meenakshi’s cancer with real nutrient dense food, the damage to her vital structures from the chemo was too great and Meenakshi died September 13, 2009.

Since then, Niti has made it her mission to protect her family and others from the corporate food system. Niti is developing regenerative farmers and regenerative consumers while producing educational media in the way of her podcast and interview show. She lives in Raleigh, NC with her husband and 2 surviving children and continues to challenge us one bite at a time.

Interview

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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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Apr 28, 2021

It’s that time again - time to debrief the LFTN 2021 Workshop. Each year, we have a different experience. Each year, a different set of people. And each year, an unexpected lesson emerges when folks get together to share best practices, fun, and deep conversations.

Unlike other years, we did not have the workshop centered around a build. No rocket mass heater was installed. No solar water heater. No aquaponics system. Instead, we narrowed down on an important theme: Thrive. And to thrive, we must invest. Invest our intelligence, invest our time, invest our focus, invest in our relationships, invest in our land.

There was a mix between practical homesteading skills like making cheese, processing a pig, sharpening knives and developing important skills like structuring your business, integrating better finance tracking to optimize tax deductions, and learning about crypto currency.

Taking responsibility for your health, whether it be learning the when and how of using a tourniquet, exploring herbal remedies, or getting your diet in line were all things that came up.

Why is this related to thrive? Because so many of us want something different. We want to stand on our own two feet. To live as we want not as we are told. And many who embark on that journey to get more from their home or homestead end up with an expensive hobby that costs more than it brings in. So why not learn to have the best of both worlds? Why not analyze your expensive hobby and make it pay you, rather than cost you.

Why not learn to see things as an investment, whether that be time, money or health that you are using and growing.

Because at the end of the day, you have one life to live, so why not live it the way you want?

In previous years, we have done a play by play, but this year is different. This year, many in our network stepped out of their comfort zone, first having the bravery to come to a strange homestead in Tennessee where they would find no one they have ever met, standing in front of the group and speaking, when they are shy about speaking, and even trying camping for the first time in order to be here. No worries - we never force anyone into any of these things, but it can be very hard for some to just show up at a big event with lots of people they never met.

And to celebrate those who decided to make a change, to take control of their lives, and do something different, we will have an interview today from one of the participants who sent me a guest form right after she got home. 

Many of you have heard from Krystal Moralee on our Mewe group and she is not the sort of person who loves speaking in front of people. Yet she was so inspired after the LFTN event, that she agreed to hop on the podcast and give you the perspective of a first time attendee.

I bring you Krystal - welcome to the show!

Guest Bio

Krystal Moralee is a writer in the small Michigan town where she grew up. She is passionate about the written word and enjoys adventuring in wild places with her two boys, photography, growing flowers, raising chickens and putting holes in things at the gun range.

  • How did you first find this podcast?
  • What made you finally decide to take the leap and attend an LFTN workshop?
  • What were your expectations heading into the workshop once you committed to attend?
  • Were your expectations met?
  • Was there anything unexpected?
  • Which parts of the workshop did you get the most value from?
  • What would you recommend if someone has been thinking about attending a workshop but is hesitant to take the leap?

LFTN 21 Highlights

  • Hoof to fork from leos
  • The new event space
  • Fred, David and the Coffee Roaster
  • Glenn and Bryan’s Rum
  • Dawn’s Kareoke Whispering
  • Dori and Nick’s spontaneous firepit
  • Patrick’s Knife Throwing
  • Proper Human Sessions from Dr Berry, Shawn, Kurt, Pugliano, OFL, Matthew, Kerry, Dori, Chris and so many more in the breakouts
  • Andy’s Sipping Broth and Cheese
  • $725 raised for the Darkhorse Lodge
  • Awesome food from local sources like Schoolbell farm, the Here

Landing: The thing about green people

Membership and Coffee Pitch

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Apr 26, 2021

Today is the day you have been waiting for – the day that we do the LFTN workshop rundown. But unlike other years, instead of a blow-by-blow I thought I would center this on the community that we have at LFTN. So today’s run through will be of the superb people who attended the event and what they brought to the community. I think you are going to like this approach.

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Pantry restocking is back to normal 
  • Get ready for a turbulent fall by stocking up
  • Canning beets, pickles
  • Butchering half a pig this week from our friend over at schoolbell farm – he may still have some pork available so reach out if you want some

Operation Independence

  • Added $340 to the independence fund in honey – not sure what the dr bill will be though
  • Basecamp is so.very.close.

Main topic of the Show: Sowing Seeds with Superb People

Grow 2020 – when I came up with that topic for the workshop, I had no idea what the first 6 or even three months of 2020 would bring. Many of us are walking around wondering which shoe will drop next, uncertain of what our future earning potential is, pissed off that the political factions are willing to tear everything down in order to win — it makes a person uneasy, doesn’t it.

This year’s LFTN workshop was likely the one that has made the biggest impact on me personally and I think on most of the attendees as well. Perhaps it was because we came together as this time, a group of doers and helpers, all in one place. 

It can be very difficult to convey the power of getting a group together like this once a year on an audio podcast and I took a few weeks to think about the best way to highlight the event, then I realized it was simple really. You see while we had great food, fun and content for the workshop — that is not what made it so powerful. 

It was you, the attendee, that did that. Every single person at the event had something to offer. Every single person did something that I am thankful for.

Sunday, after the great bee sting of 2020, I was talking with Jenni and she dropped a gem in my lap. She said something like “You know how you said that there was no huge “a-ha” moment at the workshop but that a major corner was turned. I think it was the theme – grow – that did that. We were all in the grow mindset. And if you think about how you grow things, you start with the soil and a seed and do a bunch of work. And nothing happens, until one day, there is a little teeny plant. And you nurture that until it is a big plant and pretty soon you have something that is a great big plant providing you with shade and food. That is kind of how the workshop was.

And she was right – this is the perfect way to describe it. We started with the hard stuff on Thursday, including a session about working through grief and taking care of your PTSD – which was somber indeed – and we did the hard work together, with and for each other, so that by the end most of us were ready to go back out, encouraged, and ready to grow what we want to grow no matter what the world brings.

And that, my friends, is the power of getting together once a year. A group of doers not takers. People who like to help and allow themselves to be helped. Who take responsibility for their current mistakes and next chapter. Yes, we demoed knife sharpening, knife throwing, how to make a hoop row cover for a raised bed, fermentation basics, a solar hot water heater, tasted homemade salad dressings and pimento cheese, and bourbons, and feta cheese, and salsa, and fresh salad, and smoked meatloaf and brats, and a pretty tasty venison ham. We played yard games and sang karaoke. We helped people accelerate their new and existing business ideas.

But the people. This year was all about the people. So I wanted today to give a rundown of who was there and why I am thankful for their contributions:

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. 

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Apr 23, 2021

Today, we review the good, the bad, the ugly from the Living Free in Tennessee Spring Workshop with The Tactical Redneck, one of our participants. All in all, things went well, folks got to learn from each other about homesteading things, a surprise session on how to capture bee swarms happened, and we even got to be intimately involved with a real aquaponics installation. It was a good time, and we hope that the relationships forged at this event will serve all those who were here well for years to come.

Make it a great week!

Song; Cilly Song, by Sauce

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