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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: 2022
Apr 11, 2022

Today is a complement to last Monday’s episode on developing a deep pantry. We will discuss lessons learned from two folks who navigated the inflationary period of the 70s, when jobs became scarce, people saw the value of their retirements cut in half, and a savings account was the worst way to preserve wealth.

Announcements:

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Madly preparing workshop food
  • Freeze Drying Left Overs for travel food
  • Time to assess vinegar stores for the year
  • Using up old seeds

Frugality Tip

  • Reusing ziploc
  • Reusable ziplock tip from a listener! https://www.amazon.com/Reusable-Storage-Ziplock-Sandwich-Freezer/dp/B091CRGNMX/ref=sr_1_7?crid=TNH3SHOUUNGC&keywords=reusable+ziplock&qid=1649690426&sprefix=reusable+ziplock%2Caps%2C114&sr=8-7

Operation Independence

  • All focus is on the Spring Workshop

Main topic of the Show: Navigating Inflationary Periods

Why we are talking about this

How I gleaned this information. 

A tale of two families: Just Starting Out vs Time to Retire

Set the context: in 1969, gas was 19 cents a gallon … and rose to 29 cents (50% increase), then kept rising. Policy steps taken - price fixing and rationing.

Dad focused on big picture, Mom on the details

  • Preserving wealth (Food and agriculture, government job | HAD to have a side hustle to get ahead. 2 jobs)
    • Interest rates were much higher (Like 11% on a mortgage was a good rate)
    • Unemployment high
    • Realestate investment/rentals
    • Buying low, selling high (trellising wire example, barrels 15-100 (Dowie joke)
    • Kept household expenses down, squeezed pennies from stones (Buying $69/yard fabric for clothing, not $99/yard fabric. Multiple stores to get the cheapest thing because gas was cheaper than food.
    • Always were “fully mortgaged” – robbing peter to pay paul some months on the bills

       

  • Value From Home
    • Garden
    • Canned foods
    • Buying wholesale eggs
    • Learning to do things from scratch to save 
      • “Milk” shake
      • “Cool” whip
      • Spicing up the same old ingredients to add variety
      • Home sewed clothes (we looked funny)
      • Canned beans vs dried beans
      • Dad DIYd everything so we lived better than many

         

  • Family/Relationships giving a leg up
    • Initial downpayment (Dad’s regret)
    • Cobought a cat with his brother then resold
    • Sunday Dinner with the Middlesworths
    • Family would help on large projects

       

  • Hellmans Mayo - $.43 cents a quart - not is $5 and lost 2 ounces

     

  • Retired perspective
    • Grandparents sold the farm and had money in the bank - lost 50% of their retirement value because it was in cash
    • Lived quite frugally - RV, from scratch cooking, growing and preserving
    • Did odd jobs (picking fruit, roofing, etc)
    • Bought and sold real estate in Arizona to make up some of the difference
    • Short term bond at 20% story

       

  • Sum it up - your saving dont mean crap - biggest worry right now is the dollar no longer is the world basis currency:
    • Produce food
    • Trade and barter/DIY when it makes sense
    • Material things hold value better than savings (as long as they are useful) gold vs building materials example
    • Look at different investment vehicles (Check out the wealth steading podcast)
    • Mindset (Buying used vs new)
    • Assets that are not assets - 1 job loss from losing a home example

Membership Plug

MeWe reminder

Make it a great week!

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

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Apr 10, 2022

Join Janet Szabo and me as we talk about her journey from pursuing a career in science to becoming a homesteader, knitting guru and more.

The week ahead:

  • Last Unloose the Goose Episode Wed at 4pm CT
  • Tuesday Live with John Willis
  • 4 Shows a week for April

Show Resources

Janet’s Blog: https://buttercupmade.com/blog

Main content of the show

My husband and I have lived in Montana for 28 years and for a large part of that time, we "prepped," or "homesteaded," or whatever you want to call it. We have about 30 hens and one very spoiled rooster, raise pigs, and have a large garden and orchard. I can and preserve as much as I am able. We're both in our mid-50s now and starting to realize that we have to do things differently than we did in our 20s and 30s. I thought our experiences might be useful to others.

  • How did we end up in Montana?
  • Did we know we wanted to do this when we came here?
  • How did our homestead evolve?
  • What changes have we had to make because of age?
  • What would we do differently looking back?
  • What opportunities do we see going forward?

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. 

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Apr 8, 2022

Today is a homestead update that covers germination challenges, losing heartbeats on the farm, early spring salad mix, and more.

Freeze Drying Webinar is Sunday!

Forage

  • Wild mustard flower (and how I came to permaculture)
  • Hairy vetch
  • Dead nettle and watercress
  • Green onions, brassica greens
  • Red veined sorrel - The tale of the 4 year chard plant RIP

Livestock

  • Lost 2 heartbeats this week
  • Goats need more rotation
  • 2 year land agreement for the sheep
  • Fencing for sheep
  • Pig decisions are hard (Lady got out!)

Grow

  • Slow to wake - trees are flowering just in time for the last freeze
  • Seedling update: Lettuce/peppers not yet germinated
  • Last round of seeds are here: Tarragon
  • Potatoes are in, seeds planted last week still have not germinated - the waiting is the hardest part
  • Swimming in duck eggs

Holler Neighbors/Community

  • Resumed holler dinners this week - holler family meeting
  • Had the property blessed this week
  • All the car trades
  • Milk
  • A word on homesteading solo

Infrastructure

  • Outdoor shower is coming along
  • Need to for real plant the living fence seeds

Finances

  • Only purchasing bratwurst and cold cuts for the spring workshop this year - the rest was grown here
  • Thanks to Ryan and Myles

Membership Plug

Make it a great week!

GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce. It makes a great Christmas Gift!

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Apr 6, 2022

 

Today we talk about food shortages, inflation, aquaponics and aquaculture, panic prepping, and more with Jack Spirko and John Willis.

 

Show Resources

Special Operations Equipment

Living Free in Tennessee

The Survival Podcast

 

Main content of the show

Replay of the Tuesday Live on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXi3b79U5eo



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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Apr 4, 2022
Today we address an issue: How to quickly develop a deep pantry vs panic prepping. Day after day as the rumors of food shortages abound, I see lists distributed by people who do not appear to have prepped a day in their lives. Usually wheat, beans and rice are heavily featured. Instead of panic buying these items, consider taking an afternoon to develop your deep pantry plan. You will be much happier with the end results if you do. Announcements: Tales from the Prepper Pantry
  • Addition of an electric smoker
  • Precooking workshop things: Chili, Sweet potato chili, bacon, meatloaf, sauerkraut, feta cheese
  • The 25 lb bag of carrots for $20
  • Fresh yard greens (Plantain is up!)
  • Pre-canning assessment season

Frugality tip 

  • Rags vs paper towels

Operation Independence

  • Ordered the last of our 2022 garden seeds (Only needed green beans, turmeric, tarragon. Could use radish, beet and a few other things for the fall garden. Thank you to the seed fairy of 2020)

Main topic of the Show: Developing a Stable Pantry vs Panic Prepping

Resources

SHORTAGES ARE COMING TIME TO PANIC!

  • Inflation
  • Supply chain disruptions
  • Crop failure
  • THINK - what season is it in the US and why does this matter (Corporatized Food System)

What happens when you wake up to the instability of our system?

Panic prepping advice

  • Mre’s 
  • 20 year storage
  • Wheat, beans, rice
  • Conspiracies

I Have guns, I’ll just hunt, shoot people for food, etc

  • US Civil War

What really works: Developing a stable pantry

Story: I live waaaaay out away from everything

Story: homesteading the west

Short term rectock - do it now

  • Investigate
  • Allocate
  • Prioritize
  • Purchase
  • Store properly
  • Rotate

What about rice and beans?

Stable Pantry System

  • Store what you use on a rotation
  • Measured in months of stability
  • Replenishment strategy
    • Play the what if game? (herbal remedies, grow food, local sourcing, do i really care if it is gone?, substitutions)
  • The Perpetual motion Game
    • Garlic example
    • Chicken Tractor on steroids
    • The local apple orchard
  • Storage SYSTEM as in things are MOVING
    • Long Term storage, short term storage, creative storage, Inventory systems

What about inflation (coming soon)

And what about 20 year storage? (A word on freeze dryers)

Membership Plug

MeWe reminder

Make it a great week!

Song:

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

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Apr 1, 2022

Today is an update on the Holler Homestead for the week including plumbing, Cycy’s healing, in-ground gardens, the GSD weekend and more. 

Forage

  • Mushrooms
  • Could have radishes but we do not
  • Dead nettle, stinging nettle, chick weed
  • Wild lettuce, lettuce, sage
  • Red sorrel
  • Dandelion flower

Food Storage/Pantry

  • Removing this unless there is something of note that does not fit on Monday’s show

Livestock

  • Pigs?
  • Cycy
  • 8 eggs a day from Ducks
  • Rats in the coop
  • Goat hijinks
  • Baby chicks ordered

What we did instead of grow/homestead

  • Hot water heater turned blow out
  • Pump House repair
  • Fix kitchen sink leak
  • (Plumbing all the time) - seedling starts suffered

Grow

  • Garden beds are in
  • Post pig grasses
  • Beets, radish and carrots seeded
  • Brassicas in the AP
  • Seeding throughout the weekend

Holler Neighbors/Community

  • GSD

Infrastructure

  • Outdoor shower framed

Finances

  • Pork sales

Membership Plug

Make it a great week!

GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce. It makes a great Christmas Gift!

Community

Advisory Board

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Mar 30, 2022

Today we welcome Joel Ryals of Fortressk9.com to the show to discuss protection animals. This is the audio from a Tuesday Live with John Willis.

 

LAST DAY FOR EARLY BIRD PRICING of $35: SelfRelianceFestival.com

Hog Processing Workshop

 

Show Resources

 

Special Operations Equipment

FortressK9

 

Discussion:

What is a protection dog?

How do you train a protection dog?

Will they get along with other animals I have?

Can I trust a protection dog not to bite my family and friends?

How much is a protection dog?

How do you deploy a protection dog?

Why would I want a protection dog?

Isn’t the dog just going to get killed if I use it?

Can I feed my dog raw food?

….and about a million other topics.

 

Make it a great week!

 

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

 

Community

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Mar 25, 2022

Intro: Physical injuries and soreness vs emotions, the passing of a soul mate, theories on soulmates. A hard week on the homestead with schedule, emotional things, and spring coming

Forage

  • Wild mustard flower
  • Watercress
  • Dandelion flowers
  • Green onions
  • Red veined sorrel
  • Searching for morels

Food Storage/Pantry

  • 700 LBS Pork
  • First milk freeze dried
  • Making bacon, sausage
  • Cheese for LFTN 22
  • Reorganizing this weekend with assistance

Livestock

  • 4 pigs, one weekend
  • Sheep Visit from Dawn
  • Rabbits due next week
  • Goat hijinks
  • Duck Eggs

Grow

  • Garden beds forked
  • Early Spring Weeding
  • Hard reset on worm bins
  • Visit from Kerry on Friday

Holler Neighbor/Community

  • GSD Weekend

Infrastructure

  • Fence in the pond for the sheep
  • Assessing neighboring property for fencing
  • Electrical fencing and closing in for protection
  • Front of house hydro plan in place

Finances

  • Pork for sale

Membership Plug

Make it a great week!

GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce. It makes a great Christmas Gift!

Community

Advisory Board

Resources

Mar 24, 2022

Today I have a bonus episode with an interview with Chef Keith Snow about storing and using food - particularly when you are a low carb/keto eater. This episode includes a coupon code for membership at his site so pay close attention!

Announcements

Show Resources

Main content of the show

Most recently, Chef Snow served as Director of Food & Beverage at Sundance Mountain Resort in Provo Utah where he oversaw a diverse array of restaurants, banquets, coffee shops, a deli, The legendary Owl Bar, The Foundry Grill, and the venerable Tree Room which holds the Forbes 4-Star designation.

In 2018 the Snow created Food Storage Feast, a website designed to help others learn what foods to store and most importantly, how to cook with otherwise bland foods in an emergency or food shortage situation.

Chef Keith Snow is the author of The Harvest Eating Cookbook-Running Press 2009, and host of Harvest Eating Radio, which has surpassed 442 episodes and continues to grow a substantial audience of devoted listeners, true friends, and fans.

Chef Snow has been featured in many national magazines such as Prevention, Women’s Health, and Western NC Magazine. Chef Snow has been featured in some of the biggest online destinations such as Fox News, Parade Magazine, and Slashfood. In addition, Chef Snow was one of 12 US-based chefs invited to participate in the 4/14 Festival In Dijon France.

Keith has served on the Expert Council for The Survival Podcast since 2011 and fields listener questions for the TSP podcast.

Chef Snow has appeared in hundreds of original culinary videos that are showcased on Youtube and many other video-sharing websites. The videos have been viewed millions of times since 2005.

The Harvest Eating TV Show on RFD TV was available to 55 million homes in the US. Chef Snow and his production team created 20 episodes of Harvest Eating that broadcast starting in May of 2012 each Tuesday at 4pm central.

The Harvest Eating Youtube Channel focuses on teaching people how to make local and seasonal cooking a way of life.

In 2008 Chef Snow was awarded The National Restaurant Association’s Youtube Hot Chef. An all-expense trip to Chicago and a chance to give a live demonstration at the largest restaurant trade show in the US.

Also in 2008 Chef Snow delivered the keynote speech at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte NC. Chef Snow has worked alongside the culinary media’s most well-known and respected talent at events like The Edible Garden and NY Botanical Garden and also as a featured lecturer at Disney’s Epcot International Food and Wine Festival in 2009 and 2010.

In May 2011 Chef Snow was the featured celebrity chef aboard The Holland America Line’s MS Rotterdam cruise ship which sailed from Seattle to Alaska and back.

Chef Snow has a long history of working within the farm-to-table community. In 2007 he was a founding board member of the Slow Food chapter in Greenville SC. In fact, the chef has lived on farms since 2003 and has become an avid horseman, gardener, and survival homesteader….it’s a work in progress.

In the early 2000’s Chef Snow was the Executive Chef at one of Colorado’s premier ski resort destinations where he managed a staff of over 300 strong with 13 outlets and restaurants and 9 million in food and beverage sales. That was before the chef founded Harvest Eating and started in culinary media. He now likes his new boss much better!

Interview

Make it a great week

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

Community

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Mar 23, 2022

What would happen if John Willis, Amy Dingmann and Nicole Sauce all hopped on a Tuesday live together to discuss the world? Magic. Magic would happen. Join us for a replay of the Tuesday live discussion about trolls, minding your own business, growing food, building a better life and so much more!

Show Resources

A Farmish Kind of Lilfe

Special Operations Equipment

Living Free in Tennessee

Hog Processing Workshop

Self Reliance festival

Main content of the show

Amy Dingmann is an author, podcaster, vlogger and manages a homestead in Minnesota. She sits on the Expert Council for The Survival Podcast and knows a thing or two about homeschooling, people, having fun, and building your life on your terms.

Tuesday Live Audio

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

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Mar 22, 2022

The audio on yesterday's episode was jacked up for some listeners and not others, so I decided to re-release this episode. 

Enjoy!

Nicole Sauce

Mar 21, 2022

This weekend, we processed four pigs. We ended up with 700 pounds of meat, maybe more. The cap to the weekend was a late night live with Toolman Tim who will be speaking at my coming spring workshop! 

The usual Monday episode will air tomorrow as I am taking a light day after all that work.

Tuesday Live is with Amy Dingmann and John willis

I hope you enjoy this livestream - there are f bombs

Make it a great week!

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

Community

Advisory Board

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Mar 20, 2022

Today I run the audio from a live video shot with Amy Dingmann of a Farmish Kind of Life. We will do these discussions monthly and you get it as a bonus podcast.

This episode has explicit language.

Sunday at 9pm EASTERN - I will be live here with Toolman Tim! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azaD5Z3VVY4

Shit that really happens on the homestead

  • Cost of feed
  • OMG EVERYTHING BROKE

Entitlement Mentality from Listeners

  •  "Amy, you need to talk about current events more because you have a platform you should be using for 'good'."
  • Nicole “Don’t say fuck on your own show because I don’t like it
  • Flouncing
  • “Remove me from your group because I don't like what you said” (Can you be a bigger victim than this?)

Get off your ass

  • Telling me you don't have time to do something you "really want to do/start/change", but spending HOURS online chatting/posting. DUDE. I see your constant posting in the chats all day long when I scroll back through. STAHHHHHP.

Media Sucks

  • Unprecedented
  • Ukraine is not panicking people enough so we have a new, more transmissible combo variant!

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

Community

Advisory Board

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Mar 18, 2022

Today Today we talk about the past week on the homestead. Projects, livestock, stories and more in order to serve as an inside look at what homesteading is really like.

Forage & Gardens

  • Watercress
  • Green Onions
  • Kale
  • Stinging Nettle
  • Morel season arrives

Food Storage/Pantry

  • Freeze drying milk once again
  • Making ready to eat meals
  • Seasonal shift from root cellar to house due to temperature

Livestock

  • Put my processing pants on
  • BIG decision you all saw coming
  • Poultry classes/Turkey Day/ Sustainable meat chickens
  • Rabbits due in 2 weeks
  • POOP!

Grow

  • AP planted
  • IBCs incoming despite everything breaks week
  • Upper garden update/rain
  • Seeds starting and cuttings

Infrastructure

  • Living Fence Update
  • Fencing the pond
  • Sheep plans

Holler Neighbors/Community

  • Processing weekend and collaboration on food
  • The story of moving feed
  • Gas prices and the weekly milk

Finances

  • Feed prices are up
  • Chicks are more than double from last year
  • More went out than came in this week, BUT the cow finances are looking GREAT

Membership Plug

Make it a great week!

GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce. It makes a great Christmas Gift!

Community

Advisory Board

Resources

Mar 17, 2022

Billy Bond and John Willis join me today for a replay of yesterday’s livestream. We talk about growing food, mindset and navigating inflation on this episode.

New monthly livestream with Amy Dingmann: Afternoon Tea with the Spicy Sisters.

  • YT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6l_E-iyl1c
  • Odysee: https://odysee.com/afternooontea:b4fb3f0b9d796603b1c18e87e0b1c2255502727c
  • Flote: https://flote.app/user/Nicolesauce/live

Email feedback to nicole@livingfreeintennessee.com

Stump the Sauce

  • From Corey about finding wholesalers

Main Topic: Tuesday Live with Billy Bond and John Willis

What is up with these livestreams?

Resources:

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

Mar 14, 2022

The last two years, I have seen friends take on smoking and drinking addictions and whip them into submission. As part of the journey, I realized a few things about addictions in my own life. Today, I share them with you.

Webinar for April: Getting Started with Freeze Drying: April 10 at 4pm CT

Livestreams this week:

  • Tuesday Live: Billy Bond (12:30 CT): SOE and LFTN Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-PX-bHfC3AEOUPWgJ5d40g
  • New Concept with Amy Dingmann: Afternoon Tea with the Spicy Sisters: LFTN YT and Flote:
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-PX-bHfC3AEOUPWgJ5d40g

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • The failed jar of tomato sauce (Video out tomorrow)
  • Freezer Audit/preparation for pig day is complete
  • Prioritizing eating up of the older items: 2021 beef, pecans from Kurt, other items
  • Freeze dried smoked chilies anyone?
  • Precooking chilies and stews for LFTN 22

Forage this week

  • SNOW

Operation Independence

  • Side Hustlin to earn some extra cash
  • Exit and Build Land Summit it May

Main topic of the Show: 5 Addiction Lessons

Mental vs Physical Addiction

  • Physical finite, mental takes time
  • Every day a choice
  • Not just chemicals you consume (Meth, sugar, social media endorphins, helping, etc) When does it become addiction? When it runs you instead of you running it.
  • Addressing root problems

If It Was Easy You Would Not Be Addicted

  • Every day choice = a grind
  • Using food for emotional things 
  • Sugar/chocolate
  • Moderation vs not at all

The Change Must Come From Within—And Help Can Come From Without

  • Court orders
  • Doing it for your spouse, child, etc
  • Hitting Rock Bottom is different for everyone
  • Speakers
  • AA and other methods
  • Support and boundaries

Forgiveness

  • The only forgiveness that matters is your own
  • Focusing on faster resets
  • Every day is a choice

Happiness and Enjoyment

  • Establishing new rewards systems
  • Having fun in different ways (Bar story)
  • Some stuff just wasn’t fun and you never realized it
  • Rebuilding health (Mental and physical)

Membership Plug

MeWe reminder

Make it a great week!

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

Community

Advisory Board

Resources

Mar 11, 2022

Today we talk about the past week on the homestead. Projects, livestock, stories and more in order to serve as an inside look at what homesteading is really like.

 

Webinar reminder: Assessing your property for microclimates

 

Email homesteading questions to nicole@livingfreeintennessee.com

 

Forage

  • Friday Foraging Frenzy: dead nettle, watercress, dandelion greens
  • Spreading seed foraged from last year

 

Food Storage/Pantry

  • Milk Story
  • Freeze Dryer cycle reboot

 

Livestock

  • Decided Sheep
  • Winter bedding problem

 

Grow

  • Garden meeting
  • Finished pollarding
  • Eggs are increasing with the light

 

Infrastructure

  • Pond fencing progress
  • Weed control set up for living fence
  • AP Plan for hillside garden
  • Weedcloth

 

Better Living

  • Post construction cleanup
  • Dog training.Cycy update

 

Finances

  • More is going out than coming in (feed/grain, infrastructure, and bedding)

 

Membership Plug

 

Make it a great week!

 

GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce. It makes a great Christmas Gift!

 

Community

Advisory Board

Resources

Mar 9, 2022

Today I am joined by Charles the Humble Mechanic and John Willis of Special Operations Equipment to discuss getting your business house in order no matter what the current environment.

Reminder:

  • Member Webinar this coming Sunday: Assessing Your Property for Microclimates with Kerry Brown, Sign Up

The show is growing as a resource for improving your life, homesteading, and self reliance.

Language happens

New Wednesday format

Extra Show this week

Stump the Sauce

This isn't really a stump the Sauce question but can you talk more about vacuum bagging your dressed chickens? Pros, cons, and maybe what to look for like the size for whole birds, and what else you've found it useful for.

I know these machines are expensive and you are the only person I have ever heard even mention them on any show I listen to.

Love the show and your coffee made great Christmas gifts. Keep up the good work. (Eric)

Main topic of the Show:  Fireside Chat with Charles the Humble Mechanic and John Willis

Resources: 

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

Mar 7, 2022
Today, we discuss getting ahead of the urgent by doing your homework, as well as communicating when schedules slip.

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Road food fail
  • STILL SEEKING to reorganize the freezers
  • Reconfiguring the above chest freezer storage this coming weekend
  • Lots of green beans to eat - not sad about this
  • Scored a beautiful Bok Choy from the Stoltzfuss farm at Rogue - so nice to have something fresh to cook

Forage this Week - not much has changed

  • Watercress (but flooding)
  • Dead nettle
  • Chickweed
  • Dandelion greens

Operation Independence

  • Post Rogue Assessment - lost money - next steps (Profit was -$455)

Main topic of the Show: Do your Homework

We haven’t had a hard conversation in a long time. You know the one I mean - the one I mean. The one where we are honest with ourselves.

Just got back from Rogue - got me to thinking about doing my homework (explain the coffee situation there and what we did)

Then starting thinking about SRF 1 and 2 and ways we could have better equipped sponsors, vendors and attendees with information in advance of the festival and realized we had more homework to do as well as a 9 hour drive.

I am very good at handling changing demands of an event with grace, but if I do my homework, there are fewer of these issues.

What do I mean by doing your homework?

  • Post meeting follow ups the same day
  • Preparing a thank you note in advance of an event where one will be needed gets that small but important task done
  • Thinking through big projects and identifying production needs, then doing them BEFORE deadline
  • Looking into the background of people and things that you must know about to be successful (SRF Speakers)
  • Establishing project goals and planning how to achieve them
  • Setting up systems so that post event items get cleaned and stowed efficiently

The list is endless. And therein lies the rub. The key to finding success and easing your life by doing your homework is knowing which homework you truly must do.

If you don;t change your hvac filters, you end up with a huge mess.

Likewise, if you do not thank your sponsors or other supporters, you damage the relationship.  And usually these kinds of problems stem from not doing your homework in advance.

Usually these things keep us from doing our homework:

  • Fear of failure
  • Overcommittment or overwhelmedness
  • Disorganization
  • Distraction
  • Depression

All are excuses when you embrace who is in control of your life and schedule.

So how then, do we hold ourselves accountable while maintaining that all important health-relationship-work-fun balance?

  • Separate the important form the busywork (Example - coaching call transcript vs coaching call summary. Speaker confirmation and communication vs internet sleuthing for more on the speaker)
  • Establish your baseline: what must always be done (Example - coaching call must always have a post call write up the same day)
  • Set up the system that empowers the homework: (Example - schedule coaching calls with an additional hour or two for the post call write up)
  • Make the promise to yourself (I WILL do or die this thing)
  • The hard step: follow through. 
  • Communicate better - underpromise and overdeliver rather than over promise and underdeliver. Eg - someone wants something now

From planning events, to executing things well on your homestead, to interacting with people better - homework is something that is easy to put off. Part of this is because we are expected to do things that are busy work - like filing our tax reports. And because things like taxes come with a heavy consequence if you do not do the busywork, we have become trained to not separate the true homework that is important from the busywork that it is easy to assign ourselves because we feel good when we do it. You know - that endorphin rush you get when you click things off your list? 

But imagine what it is like when you DO set yourself up for doing your homework? Think of how SRF check in will be when we have everyone with parking passes in advance. When vendor spaces are on a map and assigned?

Or think of how easy it is to add people to your table when you have a plan for dinner and a deep pantry?

Or how about when you have a template email ready to go to confirm things?

All of these sorts of structures happen when you do your homework.

But you have to do it or it will never get done.

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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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Mar 2, 2022

Today we have something new: a monthly chat with Jack Spirko and John Willis. These First Tuesday talks are at 12:30 CT and we stream them live on various video channels. Be prepared for the f bomb in these episodes.

Headed to rogue Food Conference this weekend.

Get your tickets for the June 11-12 Self-Reliance Festival

Stump the Sauce

Feedback from Jon in West Virginia on Siloing.

Main topic of the Show:  Fireside Chat with Jack Spirko and John Willis

Connect with us!

Why we are doing this new show series and what do you think?

Covered on this episode:

  • Proper prepping
  • Unkraine
  • Coffee
  • Building a Business
  • Finding Employees

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. 

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Feb 28, 2022

We have had two permaculturists out to help review what we are installing at the Holler Homestead. Kerry Brown and Nick ferguson. Today, I run through the list of things that we have to do and will describe how we move on when the list is bigger than the pocketbook.

Show Resources:

Kerry Brown: Strong Roots Resources

Nick Ferguson: Homegrown Liberty

Weekend things in March:

  1. Planting Ausage for the living fence this coming Sat, 1pm
  2. Processing Pigs (no class) March 19 - come and help if you want
  3. GSD Weekend: March 25 - Sat and Sunday (Bonfire, operation eyesore, outdoor shower, installing power, hanging lights.

RSVP to nicole@livingfreeintennessee.com

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Chicken tastes good again
  • Illness in the Holler
  • Roemertopf Beef Roast Recipe of the week
  • Freeze Dryer Update (busy times)
  • Re-upping milk subscription
  • Missing fresh veggies from the garden and need to start seeds now

Spring Forage

  • Chick weed
  • Dead nettle
  • Watercress
  • Dandelion greens

Operation Independence

  • Taxes

Main topic of the Show: Permaculture Debrief

Process: Goals discussion, walk about, the rain event

  • Hillside Garden/Aquaponics/Water Feature
  • French Drain Outlet Erosion Issue
  • Fodder Trees - Camping Area
  • Fodder Trees Elsewhere
  • Food Forrest 
  • Pond Area and Sheep/Goats
  • Fig Hedge

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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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Feb 25, 2022

Russia invaded the Ukraine - that is what the headlines say. For days, I have watched people hyper focus on this international event. Then the joke memes started. Then the prepper facebook group got amped up about getting prepared via purchasing all the things. Then more humorous memes happened.

Then it was Friday - and I had extra time to spend on something. And I had a decision to make. 

Today, I will share with you how I am moving beyond the crisis reporting drama of this world event to do my best to focus on the things that will move my life forward despite the fight with Russia, or the Ukraine, depending on which side is the side du jour.

Connect on Social:

Resources: 

Main Topic: Living with War

War sucks - and what happens next from our country’s leaders to this altercation could have a pretty dramatic impact on our lives. Or very little. And the hell of the matter is that it is entirely out of our control.

So, then, how do we live with war?

  • Situational awareness vs obsession (Time is investment)
  • What does war mean if it happens?
    • Profit opportunities (John’s email)
    • Terrible loss of life - military activation
    • We are not as tough as we once were and this is a problem
    • If it goes on: supply chain issues for things that are not easily available/made here
    • Violence against us citizens abroad and possibly on us soil 
  • What if it doesn’t happen?
    • We know something will happen - just not how far the US admin will go
    • If you go all in on “we are going to war” and it does not happen - you lose
    • If you make decisions motivated by fear, they are usually the wrong ones
  • So what do you do?
    • What can you do? Time is an investment. Investing time in learning resilience is something that pays off forever, no matter what happens. Learning new skills will help you if we seriously go to a wwIII scale war. Investing is personal and community stability is worthwhile. Invest in relationships
    • Keep moving your life and your community forward 
  • Situational Awareness is key - obsessing on wargames will only undermine your success (Jack Spirko’s video)

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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Feb 23, 2022

Join Mama Sauce, Tactical Redneck and me as we talk through how we decide to do events, how we get ready for events, and what happens from there.

 

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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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Feb 16, 2022

Today, we welcome Jenni Hill back on the show to talk about how she designs her medical kit and some steps you may want to take to tailor yours to the needs of your household.

Announcements:

Show Resources

Jenni on Facebook

 

Main content of the show

Jenni is a massage therapist with a strong background in the healthcare field. While navigating auto-immune disorders in her own household, she put a big focus on health, healing and preventative care.

 

  1. How do you know where to get started?
  2. Okay, so tell us what's in your stores.
  3. How do you know when to use what?

4.How do you rotate and resupply?

  1. When deciding a course of treatment, what factors do you look at?
  2. Let's talk about preventative care and how your preps help
  3. How about some of those natural alternatives



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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Feb 14, 2022

Today we will talk through several things that you need to learn not to be squamish about on the homestead.

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Urgently need to do the freezer audit and inventory
  • Reorganizing wire shelving with dollar tree bins to keep stuff from tipping
  • Restocking 1X per month for the next 6 months in light of shortages
  • Planning garden based on canned good usage (How this works) (2 bushels beans, 200lbs tomatoes, 150 beets, etc
  • Book to read soon: Winning the War on Weeds by John Moody

Weekly Forage

  • Dead Nettle 
  • Watercress

Operation Independence

Main topic of the Show: Squeamishness and Homesteading

Why this topic and the reality of homesteading

Assumptions: livestock, very rural

Squamishnesses

  • Blood and guts/ injuries/ first aid
  • Blood and guts processing
  • Insects and rodents
  • Poop/manur
  • Sitting in the dirt
  • Cold food that should be hot

In the end, you do what you have to do.

Membership Plug

MeWe reminder

Make it a great week!

Song:

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

Community

Advisory Board

Resources

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