Food waste is a major issue in many households and just because you live on a homestead does not mean you magically end up in a place where food waste is no longer a problem. So today in my second in the series of handling waste on the homestead, we will discuss food waste strategies.
#HollerHatWednesday: Where is she and who is she with?
No podcast Monday due to the processing workshop.
Stump the Sauce
What’s Up in the Garden
Episode 347 - Handling Food Waste on the Homestead
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.
Advisory Board
Resources
A few people have reached out to ask for help on crowdfunding projects and so I thought today would be a great time to talk about why Kickstart Holler Roast has not so well, so quickly. Some of the things that came into place for this project look intention and were not and I think we can all learn from this about not only crowdfunding things, but marketing ourselves and our businesses.
Reach out if you want one of the 2 open chicken seats.
Green Chili Weekend Registration
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
Featured Forage: Rosemary - https://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/r/rosema17.html
Herbal Uses:
Tonic, astringent, diaphoretic, stimulant. Oil of Rosemary has the carminative properties of other volatile oils and is an excellent stomachic and nervine, curing many cases of headache.
Historical uses
It is antibacterial
Culinary: Tastes good in almost anything, really. Rosemary cheesecake? Yes please. Rosemary, garlic and lamb? Yum, Mixed with sage in a chestnut dressing, absolutely. Its strong flavor will replace the more subtle ones so if you have rosemary, lemon cod, you are tasting more the spices than the fish.
Rosemary ice cream is very tasty. Garlic rosemary bread.
Growing it: recommended to grow it along a wall in a sheltered spot -- and I have killed about 1900 of these plants since living in TN
Operation Independence
Main topic of the Show: Episode 346 - Why My Crowdfunding Project Is Working
Some folks have reached out not only to congratulate me on the successful crowdfunding campaign, but to ask which plugin we used, and how they could set a foundation for similar success.
Lessons Learned
In the end, if you have a great idea and the right message and a solid offering for a crowdfunding project, you have a good foundation. But as with all our small business efforts, if you have not developed your strategy for marketing and communicating about the project, it is a much tougher, uphill row to hoe.
So I guess it boil down to network, communication, and value in the end.
Make it a great week!
Song: Burned by Sauce
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Community
Advisory Board
Resources
It was supposed to be a thought of the walk episode, but I am too stunned to thing straight. So today, we talk through why!
KickstartHollerRoast.com is now live if you are interested in supporting the crowdfunding campaign.
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!
Advisory Board
Resources
Today, begins a series of talks about how to handle waste on the homestead, starting with the easiest waste to work with: Livestock waste.
#HollerHatWednesday: Where is she and who is she with?
Holler Neighbor Livestream, 7pm Tomorrow: https://youtu.be/KYbcFJ_ypsw
Unloose the Goose: 7:30pm today: https://unloosethegoose.com/livestream
Stump the Sauce
Tales from the Booze Whisperette
What’s Up in the Garden
Handling Waste on the Homestead
Homesteading gives you the opportunity to greatly reduce the waste impact off your property for a number of reason:
Concept 1: Animal Waste
Waste is a part of living and something that becomes politically charged when it need not be. Most sane people would prefer to live in a word that functions with natural cycles and how we handle our waste is part of that. Packaging can easily be used in a way that reduces environmental impact, so we need not go on a big packaging crusade, but rather can look around at what we and our families do for waste and be our best stewards. That is how you get lasting change. Person by person and voluntarily.
As I think through this series, I get excited. There are so many examples of people turning what was once garbage into both a new resource AND a wealthy lifestyle. I look forward to sharing these with you.
Make it a great week!
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Advisory Board
Resources
Today we have an interview show with a very sassy homesteader who also knows a thing or two about homesteading with both her boys taking college courses this year. None other than Amy Dingmann. We will talk about homeschool from a getting started perspective today.
Show Resources
Main content of the show
Who is Amy Dingmann?
You might know Amy Dingmann from her Farmish Kind of Life podcast (and website of the same name) but she’s also a mom of two sons that she homeschooled until college. She runs the website The Hmmmschooling Mom, and has recently started a homeschool life coaching business where she helps potential, new, and experienced homeschool parents through the ups and downs of the homeschooling journey.
Make it a great week
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Advisory Board
Resources
Today is usually a how-to day, but I got up to lots of reactions to censorship this morning and wanted to have a fireside chat with yall about censorship. Personality after personality is being deplatformed and we need to talk about that.
#HollerHatWednesday: Where is she and what is she getting ready for??
Stump the Sauce
What’s Up in the Garden
Censorship - it is enough to get your eyre up when someone censors you isn’t it? We have been debating for years if it is OK for the behemoth social platforms like Facebook and Youtube have the right to set standard of what is and is not ok to talk about. And we’ve seen some people deplatformed - usually someone with an extreme position. And we have mostly looked the other way, because it did not impact us.
But with the advent of covid, and the rioting and a scary political agenda rising up behind those crisis, censorship has moved past the so-called crazies and into a propaganda moving machine. Anyone who challenges the expected narrative is shut down and shut down fast. Ok. Not anyone, but a surprising number of people.
Dare to suggest that we go to a free speech platform and people get mad about it.
Dare to question the settled science of covid (how can it even be settled when the disease has only been known for maybe a year), and you get the squeltch. Tha dfamous facebook warning that your statement that vitamin d is a supplement you should add to improve your chances of fighting off covid gets marked as fake news.
Yes. this happened to me.
Then 2 months later a new research paper came out confirming that d deficiencies may be a big factor in how sever you get covid.
MAY BE
You see it is science and there has not been enough time to confirm the hypothesis, but people are working on it.That post did not get shut down btw.
But back to censorship.
Why do we continue to give our dollars to the corporations that want to silence all but a very narrow narrative?
And if you think I mean a left one you are wrong. Sure, more righties are being banned right not, but that will change and blowback on moderate left opinions as soon as they know they can get away with it.
Sound paranoid?
Maybe I am a little - maybe that is my confirmation bias.
But when JB Spears does a spoof comedy video on covid and gets a video booted from youtube for making a covid joke, then when he works with his rep to address it is told that it is what it is, and the next one may see his entire channel pulled down, you know that all common sense has left the building on this issue.
And we are talking about private companies.
Some really misguided people are calling for government intervention on this matter.
Why? How will that improve the situation?
These large corporations are entrenched in the government - there is not much of a separation between them. They are both furthering agendas. This is how government works -- it is subject to special interest pressure. We sometimes fool ourselves into thinking that a grassroots uprising on an issue will force the government to change things - but until it is linked with lobbying, it is really hard to get any change at all.
And this is the crux of calling on the very machine that is part of the problem to fix the problem. Why would they bother?
I am sorry that I am going to hark back to Nazi Germany for my next thought. We are not currently exterminating people in concentration camps and that is not my point with this. But much of my understanding of how controlling a population through propaganda works is from looking to that time, so bear with me here. Not calling the Zuck Hitler here...He is an engineer and this is probably at the core of the problem in his choice to push censorship.
Back to nazi Germany. The price you would pay for providing a counter narrative during this time was much higher than the price we are paying now. You could be imprisoned, or executed.
But that was not the nest way for them to further the narrative they wanted was it? No. Using propaganda to show most of the population the story they wanted them to see was how they controlled the population. Establishing a foundation of tattling and enforcement and bullying was how they controlled the population. And these methods of control were much less expensive to implement that cracking down violently on the the people. Not that violence did not happen. It did. And it happened in some cases neighbor to neighbor ir child to parent. Think about that.
When people online virtually pile on someone for having a dissenting opinion, when they publish their home address, pictures of their kids, when they call their boss and demand they be fired, is this any different than a child reporting her parents for speaking against the Nazi regime and opening them up to consequesces? Yes, They had a different opinion of what is right, but should your opinion be the foundation for imprisonment?
Our founders did not seem to think so and neither I even if your opinion is that I am a poopy headed jerk, even if your opinion is that race does equal the merit of a person, even if your opinion is that communism is a viable economic system, even if your opinion is that hydrochloroquin paired with zink does work to reduce the severity of covid.
You should be able to talk about your perspective without being bullied, imprisoned, beaten up or deplatformed. Bit these companies do own their platform and can do what they want right?
Sure they can.
So why not put your effort, your advertising dollars, and your time into something better? Something that values free speech and open discussion, something that may jjust help us get to the core of what is really going on here?
Because continuing to let the propaganda narrative move forward as is, and to react to it is merely making you a pawn in the game rather than the creator of a better one.
Just a thought.
Make it a great week!
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Advisory Board
Resources
This weekend, I had some pretty cool bartering opportunities and with everything changing so quickly, it occurred to me that we have not talked much about barter around here and how you can build it into your lifestyle, as well as why you should consider doing so…
LFTN Highlights this week
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
Featured Forrage: Wild Sumac
The waving red berry tops reminded me of this wonderful wild forage - wild sumac. This is definitely a plant you want to cultivate in your food forest.
Edible uses:
Nutritional
Medicinals
>>A word on poison sumac<<
Operation Independence
Main topic of the Show: Barter Builds Community
How can we set ourselves up for stability no matter what the powers that be decide? How can we be ready for the coming economic downturn or depression that is certainly coming our way? How can we help those in our community make it through tough times?
These questions have been rattling around in my head as well as my email inbox from all of you for weeks.
Right now you cannot buy ball jar lids anywhere for a reasonable price. But last spring, we did an LFTN bulk buy and some of us have lids, so we have been offering a few dozen to people who need them at a reasonable price or for trade.
There have been som significant crop failures this year and with the oligarchy shutting down trade to a trickle in some parts of our trade system, this will mean price increases in the future -- unless you do not need to buy those crops, or unless you find another way to weather the spare time.
Our money is limping along, trying not to inflate too rapidly or deflate suddenly through lots of strings being pulled by those in power. And it looks more and more like they really do want to crash our economy.
Scary isn’t it.
Yet here we are, with a powerful community of doers, all communicating, getting things done despite what is happening, doing our best to build the life we want to live on our terms.
So back to the question - how can we increase stability in our network. Well, why not barter more. The monetary system can go screw if you don't need money to get what you need or want.
Buying $5 in squash gives me about 5 squash. Buying $5 chicken eggs gives me about a dozen eggs. Trading 5 squash for 12 eggs, then is a wash, no matter what inflation or deflation does to their value. If a year from now the $5 amount becomes $20,000, a direct barter is still a squash for eggs trade, no matter what we decide to call the value.
But barter is much more than a more stable way to exchange value for value, it is also a great tool for building community.
So many times people ask me how to build community. They see what we do here and want to have that in their life. A strong community takes effort, trust and strong relationships. When I can really trust you, it is easier for me to want to invest my most valuable resource, my time, into interacting and transacting with you.
If you think about it, the same goes for bartering. If I do not trust you, how do I know you will live up to your end of a barter agreement? Especially if we are trading non-tangible things like video production for web development work.
Now sure, the crypto world has some create tools to address the trust problem. But here we are at LFTN. A solid community that over the years has developed strong relationships. A strong community where one or another member has stepped up to posit new ideas then run with it.
Just last week over on the mewe group, I say Amy and Ken get all organized about creating a listing of all the LFTN businesses so that we can do business with one another. I mean, if you are going to buy spices, why not get them from Melissa, right? So now there is a growing spreadsheet with folks listing their businesses and side hustles.
So why not add to that momentum through barter? Why not add a columns that says “takes barter?” in the spreadsheet so that folks know if that is a conversation they can have with that person?
How Barter Furthers Independence
How Barter Furthers Community
Why this matters to you:
We have a good thing going here with our community and we can see what is happening in the world around us. And Barter is a tool we really have not much explored to help all of us stay stable through life’s ups and downs.
I mean sure, if what you are bartering is electrical work and you need to use money to buy parts, perhaps your agreement is that the person buys the parts and barters the time. But that is the glory of barter: You can do with it what you want. You can set it up how you want. And as you do this, you are building trust with another person. A person who may become part of your inter circle network. A person who just may drive out to your homestead to make sure you are ok when that tornado hits and you lose all comms in the region.
And it also lets you take full advantage of your creativity and labor. Because no one is there to take a piece from you in most cases. It is aaaaaal yours. And this make barter even more beautiful.
Think about it next time you decide to do something - ask yourself - is this the time I want to barter. And if it is, see if the other person is interested.
Make it a great week!
Song: Every Way by Sauce
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Community
Advisory Board
Resources
Today, I am joined by a visitor to the Holler Homestead to do a thought of the walk on the concept of filling your cup. You can't pour from an empty cup, so the saying goes and lately I have been burning the candle at both ends - to use way too many cliche sayings in one sentence. So as I navigate a busy fall, I wanted to talk about ways to fill the cup and find balance.
Fair warning: If you visit the Holler on podcast day, sometimes you end up on the podcast, right Ken Eash?
Direct Download
Chicken Processing Workshop is Sold Out
Main topic of the Show: TOTW on Filling Your Cup with Ken Eash
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!
Advisory Board
Resources
Pressure canning really freaks some people out. We have all heard stories of the famous exploding pressure canner. But to safely process green beans, aside from making dilly beans, you need to use a pressure canner or freeze them. Today, I will walk you through the pressure canning process, using green beans as the example.
#HollerHatWednesday: What is she up to now?
Unloose the Goose tonight at 7:30pm
Stump the Sauce
Tales from Another Booze Whisperer
What’s Up in the Garden
Episode 339: Canning Green Beans
When to pressure can
Equipment needed
Annual Safety Check
Gage vs weighted canners
Canning Resources: National Center for Home Food Preservation
The Process
Make it a great week!
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Advisory Board
Resources
Today is a variety show where I take questions and share thoughts about: Podcasting, wholesale pricing in your business, the coin shortage, what is up with our food supply outages, strawberries and getting ready for what may happen.
Holler Neighbor Livestream: https://youtu.be/69ISRhuVluw
Poultry Processing Workshop: https://www.livingfreeintennessee.com/2020/08/17/chicken-processing-workshop-september-21-2020/
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
Featured Forrage: Paw Paw
Operation Independence
Main topic of the Show: A Variety Show
Podcasting questions
Wholesale pricing in your business
The coin shortage
Debi on shortages
The chicken story
FROM MARK:
We are trying to get 2 strawberry wicking beds constructed per month. At the moment we have 3 different varieties of plants to spread out the harvest window.
Does it make sense for each bed to be dedicated to a single type of berry or should we plant 2-3 varieties in each bed?
Getting ready for what may happen: Talk with my sister
Make it a great week!
Song: Feed My Hunger by Sauce
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Community
Advisory Board
Resources
Today is a Thought of the Walk (TOTW) episode. Every so often, I go on a walk. Sometimes I have a thought to share. Opportunity is the Friday thought - and how to make room for it in your life -- or how to choose which one is best when all of them come at once.
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!
Advisory Board
Resources
Today, as promised, I have a very special interview with none other than Gregg Yows about his creative side hustle, prepping, transition and with a special launch of something new.
Chicken Processing Workshop: https://www.livingfreeintennessee.com/2020/08/17/chicken-processing-workshop-september-21-2020/
Show Resources
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gyows
https://www.facebook.com/yowsmusic/
Main content of the show
Gregg Yows is a creative guy who ties flies, loves the outdoors and has a mysterious hobby that is slowly growing into a business. Hear all about it on today's show. Ok fine. He's a AWESOME musician. He just released a song today that I think y'all will like.
Download Five Gallon Bucket
Make it a great week
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Advisory Board
Resources
Today is a Friday so we have an interview show today. And today I talk with Ken Eash about building to your life’s purpose and more.
Show Resources
Connect With Ken Eash
https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengegrowthmastery
https://www.facebook.com/empoweringforwardmomentum
https://www.facebook.com/constructionandhandymanservices/
Topic
Do work that inspires you.
Kenneth and Carmel Eash packed up and moved from south Georgia to rural Kentucky in 2016 to live a homesteading lifestyle, chasing the time and freedom for the things in life that truly matter. Kenneth currently runs a small construction/handyman business as well as part time teen life/career coaching. Carmel spends her time gardening, taking care of animals, and managing her house cleaning biz.
Together their mission in life is to inspire others to live healthier, happier, and do everything possible to escape the rat-race.
Interview
Make it a great week
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Advisory Board
Resources
Today, we will talk through the basics of starting a podcast because so many of you have asked of late. Since this is live on Youtube, I will take live q & A from there if any shows up.
#HollerHatWednesday: Where is she and who is she with?
Unloose the Goose tonight at 7:30pm: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChLkn_5InomdoHWmgMiECfQ
Holler Neighbor Livestream - shared pantry discussion: https://youtu.be/qST--X-xCiI
Stump the Sauce
From Chris: Recently a friend gave me a large bucket of fresh figs. I made some jam but still have a lot left. Do you have some ideas for fig recipes? Thank you Nicole.
What’s Up in the Garden
Main topic of the Show: How to Start a Podcast
Episode 20: https://www.livingfreeintennessee.com/2017/01/23/episode-20-8-lessons-learned-from-starting-a-podcast/
Make it a great week!
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Advisory Board
Resources
Today, I was going to talk with you about how to start a podcast because multiple people have asked me this question. But then a homestead day happened. Got up, had quiet coffee, started roasting, missed a call. We are doing a round of meat chickens. I plan to also do a processing class. They are going to arrive Thursday this week.
And in true homesteading colors, the things that happen on the days they are supposed to happen don’t. So I picked up chicks this morning a day early -- and this is a good thing, but my benchmark for coffee volume is now going to be a push. A push that will happen no matter what because it has to.
As I showed Tactical how to get the chicks going, I realized that lots of folks are starting birds for the first time, so today I will share how I raise baby chickens.
Stump the Sauce
From Dori: Freezer questions
What’s Up in the Garden
Main topic of the Show: Getting and Raising Baby Chicks. For meat.
Make it a great week!
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Advisory Board
Resources
Today, we hear from listeners about jumping in - getting going and addressing the thing that holds you back.
No Show Friday or Monday
Unloose the Goose is a hit! (Hosting update)
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
Operation Independence
Main topic of the Show: jump
Synchronicity - you know how it seems like when you think about something and then start talking about it that you find other people are also thinking about it? Last week I got pretty sick. It started the Friday before last, ebbed a bit over the weekend, then hit like a ton of bricks on Monday morning.
It completely derailed the day - I had been all excited to go into the week kicking ass and taking names. Instead I spent much of the day in bed. SO I thought I would see what would happen if I asked the community to do their own podcast segments on the topic of Jump. I am not sure how many “comment” submissions I got, -- too hard to keep track from bed -- but we got two audio clips that I thought I would play to kick us off.
So Jump. The topic from last week that is not this week. All year, I have shared with you ways to increase independence, shared my struggles and successes with my word of the year, grow.
And things have been really weird this year with coronavirus, rioting and an increasingly divided atmosphere.
Sometimes it really feels daunting to be out on my own in an an environment where the following is not only possible, but looking more and more likely:
Humans are still animals under our sophistication and sometimes animals lash out. But there is a bigger issue in society and that is the oligarchy that uses the ruse of division, the ruse of peaceful freedom, the ruse of progress and diversity to push an agenda that is the opposite. As we see more people willing to open fire on someone who is or is not wearing a mask, or to throw a child in juvie for not doing homework, we start to see the true colors of those in control.
And when you first see it, you just want to tear it down. But using their system to change their system is like heading to the casino and expecting to win against the house. You may have times where you get ahead for a bit, but house rules = house wins. The only way to get ahead for the long term is not to play the house.
You’ve heard me say freedom aint hard, but it takes work. That is because freedom is very very simple. It means that you have no business in other people’s business and they have no business in yours, so long as no one is getting hurt. And this thing is very very hard to do consistently in part because we have to let assholes be assholes so long as they are not causing harm.
But enough about that - as we navigate this coming instability in the economy and in society, how do we best set ourselves apart from the harm? Because as you dig deep into your fear of all that is going on, while there may be a fear of getting sick and dying under it all, the bigger fear is all these coming crashes that may happen might also cause you to struggle or fail.
Listen to that one again.
There is no certainty in anything in that sentence is there? Lots of maybes and mights. As we become more aware of patterns and impacts of the decisions that the oligarchy is forcing on the people, we can see where things will likely go and it is scary.
And this fear is holding you back. This fear is how you are controlled from the outside. This fear keeps you in your bad relationship, your go nowhere job, your habit of debt slavery.
And while the fear may be justified, fear is an emotion. One that should stop you from putting your head in a lions mouth, but not one that should stop you from handling that mud wasp nest on the wall outside your laundry room. (BTW I have a mud wasp nest to deal with outside my laundry door).
There is a difference between acting rashly consequences be damned and conquering your fear to take action on your own behalf.
So when I started thinking about this year, about my own choices, about the fear of failure, about the fear of a societal meltdown -- all I can see is a bunch of stuff out of my control. And the choice is clear: spend hours online fretting over what might happen, what probably will happen actually, -- or spend hours growing food, building Holler Roast Coffee.
But it is hard to jump. This jump is not a baby step toward more financial independence. What we are looking at now is a big ol’ jump into the great unknown. Is it good to jump or bad?
Alas, the answer is “It depends”. It is a gift to see the potential direction that all the societal division in the world is leading us to. Why a gift? Because that same skill that we have all been developing gives us the same sight into what is likely to happen when we take a jump.
So while you may be trying to decide if you should launch your new business,
While you are trying to make these decisions, I think you will find you already have. You have the ability to make things work. You have the ability to push through adversity. You have the ability to analyze what is likely to happen, to find someone who is more versed in a topic than you are and get their perspective, to weigh it then make your own decision.
So today, as you are looking at that next jump. Look hard - if the jump ahead of you is not right, then shift focus and take a different jump.
But dont dont dont let the current environment of division keep you from jumping. Don’t let them steal another moment of your time focusing on their theatrics. Don’t waste precious time on those who wish to enslave you, instead spend that time improving something, jumping toward something that makes your life better, more stable, closer to the life you want to live. Only you can build the things you want into your life and wasting time asking permission to do this is part of the problem.
As we look to the fast approaching end of the year, take a moment, look ahead and take that jump. Because you are the only person who can.
Thank you
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
It has been a pretty long time since Dori Mulder was on the show. And today, we are fixing this! Dori has had a ton of things change in her life over the past year or so and today she joining us to talk about those changes and what that has meant for her homesteading adventures.
Main content of the show
Dori Mulder first came on the LFTN scene in 2017 when she was purchasing a piece a unique property with a large cave and multiple cabins. She has been on the show 4 times (I think). She lives in Jefferson City MO, works part time for the Army National Guard, and works full time as a Loan Officer for Veterans United Home Loans. She is an hobby homesteader who loves gardening, making kombucha, fermenting sauerkraut, making herbal salves, and learning how to forage from the weeds in the area. She learned all this homesteady stuff from Nicole who has been her catalyst for inspired inquiry into self sufficiency.
Make it a great week
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Advisory Board
Resources
Today we talk about website questions you have in a semi-live, semi-social media Q & A Session.
#HollerHatWednesday: Where is she and who is she with? See in Instagram @nicolesauce
Holler Neighbor Special Edition - New Neighbors: https://youtu.be/ZNV--iWgg74
Unloose the Goose, episode 3 : https://www.unloosethegoose.com/2020/07/29/the-futility-of-politics-the-utility-of-community/
Stump the Sauce
What’s Up in the Garden
Main topic of the Show: Website Q & A
Make it a great week!
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Advisory Board
Resources
Today I want to share some thoughts on Community quality and why I think some really large communities are no goes for so many people.
Next Wednesday will be a website Q&A show and will record live on Youtube at 12pm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl3OvqIp4J8
Then Thursday is a special Edition of the Holler Neighbor LIvestream at 7pm Central. We will be welcoming a new neighbor - any idea who it might be?
TOTW on Community Quality
Have you ever thought you found a great group of people that you could interact, a community say surrounding a hobby like kayaking or building birdhouses, only to discover that they SEEMED great from the outside but once you got to the inside, most folks just talked about doing these things rather than doing them.
Our community quality metrics are skewed. Facebook launched way back when and it quickly became a competition about how many friends you had. And this is similar to how we measure the success of community. When successful groups and communities are talked about, they are measured by how many people are in them. What matters is size.
But what if this measure is wrong?
The best communities are not successful because they are large, it is because they are effective. And to be effective, a community needs high quality members. Therefore, community success is more dependent on the quality of the community members rather than how many will join.
This can be a hard concept for people to embrace because we have been taught that more is better. Sometimes more is not better. More of what is the best question to ask. More members who take instead of do? More members who focus on discouraging action rather than encouraging action? More members who unload piles of problems on everyone around them?
Or more members who also enjoy making birdhouses and share places to get free materials that can be repurposed?
Yep, communities should be measured by the quality of their participants, not the quantity. But it goes a little further than that. The flip side is that the overall quality of your community will tend to be measured by your weakest member.
You heard me.
The weakest one.
You can have an all-star, super awesome lineup with groups of great participants, but if you also have a trainwreck or two and allow them to stay in the community, you will soon see things reduced to the lowest denominator.
And this is why is can be so hard to keep a community strong. Because we want to be nice. Because we want to lift people up. And these desires are not a bad thing.
But as you navigate finding a community to join, or starting one yourself, remember what quality means. And when you find yourself in the position of leader, remember what that means - it means that it becomes up to you and other leaders in the group to maintain a quality membership. THe less fun part of that is ejecting the trouble makers.
But when a group comes together, unified by common values and interests, you will find that cutting the drama and drag is not very hard. Often the community will handle it quietly.
Over the years at LFTn we have had a few energy vampires show up and move on. And we have seen community members face hard times and become a temporary drain. And over the years, the community has gotten stronger and stronger in part because every one is a doer and supports doers. They help each other get past the hard times. And the best thing? They do stuff so the vampires get fed up and leave. It is a self-regulating culture rather than a dictatorship.
So as we think about the communities we want to help, to join, to invest in -- remember the big picture. Quality, not quality, is how you and your community win the game.
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!
Advisory Board
Resources
Today, we will discuss what you need to know if you want to build your business website -- or outsource it to someone else. It does not have to be a bear.
#HollerHatWednesday: Where is she and why is she not home?
Holler Neighbor Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s24fyyTuVxU
Email feedback to nicole@livingfreeintennessee.com
What’s Up in the Garden
Featured Forage: The Tulip Poplar, Liriodedron tulipifera, http://www.eattheweeds.com/tulip-tree/
Main topic of the show: Your Business Website
Live Q&A next week
Make it a great week!
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Advisory Board
Resources
Today, I talk about the tenacity of an earlier generation and what we can glean from them to navigate this shifting economy.
Holler Neighbors Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s24fyyTuVxU
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
Preservation Process
Operation Independence
Main topic of the Show: Income in a Shifting Economy
Last week, I joined a gaggle of other podcasters in the creation of a new show, called Unloose the Goose. We are focusing on solutions for big problems, talking about freedom and liberty, and other random things. But the intention is to help people who want it to navigate this changing world.
One fellow, Vin Armani, brought up that he thinks we are at the end of an age and we discussed the transition a bit.
Yes. You got it. Change. We talked about change.
As the weeks have passed and Portland Oregon - my home town - has erupted into a hotbed of people taking sides, people acting out, people being violent, and people refusing to talk outside of an us vs them world, there is more indications of a change in our culture incoming. And if we as a society allow it to be a violent revolution, we all know what follows right?
What follows is the opposite of freedom.
So how then, can we navigate the coming weeks, months and years? How can we stop this madness? How can we get back to a peaceful, relatively prosperous life?
Many people hear me ask this and they don’t think they have had a prosperous life.
But think about it. Most of us have rarely felt real hunger - if we have at all. Few of us have been homeless.
16 years ago, I was dating a man who asked me “Do you think we are living in a golden age?” and I thought and thought and reflected and came to the conclusion that yes. We are living in a golden age. And it is shifting. And where we end up, no one knows.
I read a quote today that stuck with me in USA Today. It was about a second stimulus check:
"I have terrible anxiety because of the unknown"...this is the crux of the national panic right now, isn’t it?
People didn’t realize that life has been as unpredictable our whole lives as it is this very moment. We just thought we were going a certain way, often did, and now this has shown us that the world can and will change on a dime. And we need to change with it or we get left behind.
So while we may be transitioning into a different kind of society, a different kind of economy, and a different kind of culture, we may even be heading into another dark age -- there is no way to really know. But we do know ONE THING. Change is constant. Each day has an unknown set of opportunities and challenges. So what do we do to navigate this changing thing?
Well, back in April, when we let the economy screech to a halt, people started getting scared. They had no income from their jobs. The unemployment offices were backed up and they could not get unemployment checks. The stores were bare of supplies and they could not buy what they needed.
Listen to this again
When you hear all this, what do you perceive?
Well a bunch of us feel like that lady in USA today who used her stimulus check to cover basic bills. Scared because of the unknown. Depressed because things have gotten hard. Tired of putting in work every day just to find basic supplies.
Navigating a world where things are not instantly available at all times, while new to some of us, is old news when you look at human history. It is actually kind of cool that we have been able to go so long without having to plan for this -- but if you want a model of how to navigate the coming change, you can look at what your grandparents or great grandparents did: take personal responsibility for your well being, tap into the changing opportunities that you find, don’t be afraid of hard work, never underestimate the power of relationships.
Take personal responsibility for your well being - and that of your family
Tap into the changing opportunities that you find
Never underestimate the power of relationships
Don’t be afraid of hard work
Income in a shifting economy is no different than income in a stable economy - it is there, it is up to you and me to find it. Even in Russia with the tightest of controls on housing, supplies and income, people managed to barter, to trade, to build, to do what they could in the reality in which they found themselves. You may need to make some changes inside you, in how you live, maybe even in where you live -- but change is part of life. And while sometimes change feels scary and it even can look bad. Usually, change leaves windows that you can pass through to find something better - even though it is different.
I know that many of you are looking at this world and worrying. You feel anxious. You feel tired. You feel scared. And your feelings are valid. Give yourself a moment. Embrace your feeling then do me a favor? Find one thing. One good thing. One positive step. One thing you can make happen. Do that thing. It can be really big. It can be one small step. Like going for a walk to start taking control of your health. Or signing up to deliver groceries through Shipt. Or building and selling a birdhouse. Or reaching out to the people in your community who want to band together and coming up with a gsd plan. Or writing that first blog post. Or learning how to string a weed whacker. Or changing your own oil. Doing your taxes. Learning to cook lasagna. Taking that cheesemaking webinar.
Do one thing.
Then shoot me an email and tell me what it is.
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
Last week, I posted in our online communities a question - who has canning questions. So today, I will cover the first set of a TON of questions that arrived. This really makes me wonder when we can schedule that canning webinar this month?
#HollerHatWednesday: What is she up to today?
Canning webinar tomorrow - sign up here: https://calendly.com/sparkcomm/canning1?month=2020-07
New Podcast! Unloose the Goose: Unloosethegoose.com
What’s Up in the Garden
Featured Forage: Jewel Weed, Impatiens aurea (MUHL.), Impatiens biflora (WALT.)
https://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/j/jewelw08.html
Main topic of the Show: Canning Q & A, Part 1
Buddy
What about stuff like pumpkin or sweet potatoes?
Jessica
Which vegetables are better to can, and which are better frozen, if “prepping” is not the priority?
Just curious. Prepping is always the priority. 😬
Victoria
DeEllen
For experienced canners, what are some different things that we may not have thought to can? (butternut squash, soups and stews, tunafish, broth, lard, pie fillings, IDK it is hard to know what you can now)
Dawn
How to can salsa if you don’t want to “cook” it.
Krystal
Stock/bone broth...
Christie
Ok, here is another. I’m not new to canning by any stretch of the meaning, but when I make broth, I usually don’t have enough for a full canner. Can I freeze and thaw when I have enough for a full canner of quarts?
Jenni
Any info on canning meat. It's the one thing I have anxiety about canning.
Lisa
Lisa Davis Jenni Hill This winter I canned meat for the first time, too! Startled with ham and bean soup (3 hams on sale, lol). It got to the point I just canned the rest of the ham!! I’ve only used the Carey Canner for meat—not my All American. I didn’t have enough to justify. Plus I got to stay in the upstairs kitchen (glasstop stove upstairs, electric burners on downstairs stove).
Samantha
Samantha Comfort Tattlers? What your take?
Andy
Andy Eddings More of a jarring question instead of canning, what is the proper pH of lacto fermented hot sauce? I have the kombucha test strips.
Chris
We can our old laying hens bone in and raw. We think it creates a better tastier product. Is there any evidence this is true?
Karla
Is it better to can separate ingredients? For example, should I can plain puréed tomatoes vs. tomato sauce (with seasonings) vs. spaghetti sauce with or without meat. Thanks!
Bravo Uniform
The best way to store lactoferminted foods. I have a cellar but what I'm reading says 32 - 50 degrees and the cellar is warmer than that until about October. Right now I'm vacuum sealing Mason jars because the heat of water bath / pressure canning kills the probiotics.
R.
Canning jelly/jam.
Safe recipes.
Make it a great week!
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Advisory Board
Resources
Today we will walk through a day in a country kitchen that is filled with preserving, cooking, harvesting and other “from scratch” undertakings. Summer time is the high point for so many projects that it can get a little overwhelming -- and sometimes just knowing that everyone else who lives this way faces the same problems can go a long way in how your approach summer inn a farm, homestead or urbanstead kitchen.
This week’s webinar: https://calendly.com/sparkcomm/canning1?month=2020-07
Introduction to canning - Thursday, July 16, 12pm Central
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
Feature Forage - (defer)
Operation Independence
Main topic of the Show: Kitchen Logistics for Summer Processing
What motivated this show
From Christie and Victoria: How can a person make the process simpler instead of having a bunch of things going on all over the kitchen. How can it be made more like a factory assembly line?
Here is my issue. My usual canning day Wake up early to beat the heat picking the garden. Wash up whatever I picked - say green beans but it could be anything cucumbers, whatever. Snap a 5 gallon bucket. Get out all the canning stuff. Can the green beans. Let’s say 2 canners full. Now it’s 5:00 or later and this old lady is exhausted! Hard, hard work, but! Well worth it in January. Any tips or tricks are welcome.
My weekend: tomatoes, pig kidney, beans, eggs, beets, chard, cucumbers, pecans, dill, coriander - actual food for the humans. Planting the fall garden.
Tip 1: Choose your timing carefully
Tip 2: Plan your meals carefully
Tip 3: The canning/processing pantry or kitchen
Tip 4: Ask for help
Tip 5: Finish
What really happened
Day 1
Day 2
The result - nothing was really an assembly line - if you want to do this, you end up putting other stuff on hold for the day which I do when I have a big amount of salsa to make, or a bushel of beans. Therefore, I try to only do 1 day of assembly line stuff.
Kitchen was basically clean for the first time Sunday night -- it was never dirty - dirty but there was a constant flow of dirty and cleaned and drying dishes and lots of rotating vegetables on the bar and counters so it looked a sight!
I guess what I am trying to say is this: Martha Stewart has a staff, Julia Childs had a staff. Most of your big personalities with “perfect” kitchens have a staff. They were/are also very good organizers and teachers and there is nothing wrong with that. But the real deal on a homestead is that, during processing season, you end up either blocking time to do things in between cooking meals, you pre cook, you get friends together to knock a bunch of stuff out, or you end up with multiple preservation projects rolling one to the next. And sometimes this equals an untidy looking kitchen. If it is morphing into a place where things are left long enough to rot and smell, best to admit that you have taken on too much. But if you are simply rolling from dried herbs, to canning, to meal preparation, to freezing and packing -- find a way to accept some of the chaos -- and to ensure that you are able to really clean your kitchen all the way at least daily or every other day.
If you have a better approach than I do on your homestead or urbanstead, drop me a line...
Make it a great week!
Song: Calling my name - by Sauce
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Community
Advisory Board
Resources
Yesterday I posted in our online communities a question - who has canning questions. So today, I will cover the first set of a TON of questions that arrived.
#HollerHatWednesday: What in tarnation is that?
What’s Up in the Garden
Main topic of the Show: Canning Q & A, Part 1
Christina
For the person who has never canned before.
Lettie
What's the best thing for a first time cancer to can?
Kira
What kind of pressure canner do you recommend? Easiest first time pressure canning recipes?
Brett
What is better water bath versus pressure canned? Rather, why not pressure can everything?
Lisa
Differences in canners and using the right tool for the job. I’ve got a water bath canner for jams and such. My All American 930 is the bomb for large batches (and no gasket), but have discovered the Carey Smart Canner for small batches of soups, broths, leftover chili, etc. It’s great to have more than one option.
Crystal
If you don’t have enough for another quart of say green beans, can you put a pint with the quarts and pressure can for time required for the quarts? Or would you recommend to just cook them for a meal?
Cindy
If you only have 5 quarts to can and your canner when full fits 7 quarts is it necessary to add sealed quarts if water to fill the space or is it ok to just can 5 quarts? The water can be used as an emergency water source later on.
Stephanie
Why do you have to use a “replacement” jar or jar filled with water if you don’t have a full pressure canner load?
I usually have a full canner when I run it but I just found out you’re supposed to do this. i never have....😳😬🤭
Make it a great week!
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Advisory Board
Resources
Today, we go back to that discussion I started just before the workshop in episode 313. It breaks my heart to see the destruction and violence that has erupted this year. To watch people who managed not to lose everything during the covid shut downs, lose it to vandals as things start to open up breaks my heart. To see people claim there is no racism in the us when there so clearly is, breaks my heart. To see an ever mounting list of demands that do nothing to address the core issue but cause lots of news buzz breaks my heart - and all of this heartbreak is done from the quiet solitude of my home. Where I am also doing nothing.
So I thought to myself, what if I start talking about it on the podcast. And that was episode 313 was all about. The beginning of a discussion. An invitation to interact on this topic in a meaningful and open way. And several of you had something to say.
In the first of this series, we talked about, well, talking. How silencing discussions on the topic of racism is counterproductive. How bullying people for saying things that may not be quite right when on this topic leads to the kind of silence where people do not evolve their hearts and minds. And a bit about how government has amplified racism in recent years through its policies -- though if you look at the entire history of our country, racism was there at the beginning.
SO to have a reasonable talk about this, I asked the following:
So today, I want to read you some of the feedback we got. This is a series of things from multiple people in our network.
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