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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: Category: Homesteading
Oct 17, 2022

Today we have an interview with Steven File all about strategic home defense.

Show Resources

Strategic Home Defense: https://www.strategichomedefense.com/

Instagram: @strategichomedefense

Main content of the show

Steven File is originally from Harrisburg, PA and relocated to Texas last year during the spring. Steven has been in the Army National Guard for over 11 years as an Infantryman and has worked in law enforcement for 7 years. He has worked operationally on a SWAT team and worked as a criminal intelligence detective. After seeing the aftermath of violence and traumatized victims Steven and his wife Kelsey devoted their lives to preventing victimhood and empowering people to secure their own future.

Interview

Membership and Coffee Pitch

Make it a great week

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

Community

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Oct 15, 2022

Every Friday, we record our Homestead Happenings update, followed by a questions and answers session. Today’s podcast is the questions and answers session from yesterday’s podcast. We cover: sheep, dealing with depression, finding land, and more.

Main content of the show

Replay of the Tuesday Live on Youtube.

https://youtu.be/x6iW8JXI65A

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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Oct 14, 2022

Today, we discuss sheep finances, livestock in the fall, growing food, a new segment and more.

Sponsor of the day: FreeSteading.com

Forage

  • All going underground
  • Nuts
  • Harvest comfrey and other frost sensitive plants that are still with us

Livestock

  • 5 Sheep to the processor and how loading went
  • Going to retrain Max to like the Eversoles
  • One look close to giving birth - it is our first time so she may just be fat
  • Time to breed the rabbits
  • Ducks are still in jail - 1 egg 2 days ago (RATS)
  • Pigs for sale - IPP and a duroc/IPP mix
  • Lamb for sale

Grow

  • Putting all the beds to sleep
  • Lettuce and brassicas in the AP
  • Have not gotten the indoor grow operation together (And will not til after Jack’s)
  • May adjust this section for winter - thoughts

Holler Neighbors/Community

  • Meat slicers, dinners, drone shots and emergency sheep assistance
  • New business launches post SRF
  • New feed source in the upper cumberland

Infrastructure

  • Geothermal lines are where they need to be. Some residual things to connect gravity water the house. ($2,000)
  • Getting the list of things for water redo project

Finances

  • Sheep Finance Review:
    • Sheep: $3,000
    • Trailer: $3,000
    • Feed/hay/seed: $900
    • Vet: $80
    • Dogfood: $200
    • Processing: $550-$600
    • Gas: $200
    • Fencing: $2,000
    • Per animal cost (depreciating the fencing and trailer): $539
    • Per animal charge: $450-$550

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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Oct 12, 2022

How does crowd funding work? What does Paul Wheaton, the DUKE of permaculture have in the pipeline as far as his next project? We cover this on today’s livestream.

Paul’s Kickstarter: Link to Paul's Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulwheaton/garden-master?ref=6cxu6f

Show Resources

Special Operations Equipment

Living Free in Tennessee

Permies.com

Wheaton-Labs.com

 

Main content of the show

Replay of the Tuesday Live on Youtube.

https://youtu.be/yOICNA_CBhw

 

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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Oct 10, 2022

After a week to assess SRF, today is the Great Debrief of the event. The good, the bad, the ugly, the money.

Live streams this week

  • Tuesday Interview Show (Audio podcast on Sunday)
  • Wednesday Live with Paul Wheaton
  • Friday Homestead Happenings and Q & A

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Transition from storing to using has happened
  • First frost of 2022
  • Freeze dryer is back in action
  • Preparing October Food Forest meals: Pulled pork, smoking home cured bacon, breakfast sausage, ground turkey for tacos, butternut squash soup, venison (More to come, as much from the Holler Homestead as possible)
  • Bumper crop of chestnuts this year (How we store them)

Weekly Shopping Report for Powell, TN 10/03/2022

We made two trips this weekend. The first, on Saturday, was to three usual places, Dollar Tree, Home Depot, and Aldi.

Dollar Tree looked about the same, except less frozen and refrigerated foods. The Health aisle has not been restocked. There are still a lot of cotton pads (good to soak in wax for firestarters), bandaids, and some OTC meds, but the selection is dwindling. One section of food coolers remains Out of Order, but the other sections are now almost empty as well. The drink coolers still have a lot of product, and canned goods are still pretty full, even though it's mostly tier-2 brands.

At Home Depot, a 2x4x8 remains at $3.98. For the first time, we both noticed less selection on the tool wall, although we did find another pair of pliers. A lot of the tools are made in China, so I'd expect stock to continue dwindling as central warehouses are drawn down.

I don't remember any remarkable changes at Aldi, and we found what we wanted, escaping at just under $100 for the two of us plus the kitties.

I don't recall seeing any face-diapers on Saturday.

Today, we also made three stops. The first was Dollar General Market. Sonia did not find a large one-piece spoon she wanted (the prior one had just broken at the welds), but she found a small cast-iron piece for the toaster oven, and we added some apples and a small bag of potatoes. Stock looked okay, although they've got Christmas stuff out already, which is indecent. In line we were behind a couple of muzzled sheeple, but I don't remember seeing more.

Second was the recycle center; nothing special noted. Traffic seemed light.

The final stop was a different Dollar General, where Sonia found the spoon, and also a muffin pan for the toaster oven. The latter turned out to be slightly too big, so we used our tools and turned it into a 4- and a 2-muffin set. Looking through the food aisles, there were lots of holes, but we found a couple of boxes of angel hair pasta for $1 each; hopefully it is edible.

Untainted regular gasoline remains at $4.199, although I've seen the corrupted stuff as low as $2.999 now.

Frugality Tip

Eggdrop Soup for breakfast

Operation Independence

  • SRF Made a profit for the first time!
  • A word on the food forest budget
  • Penny wise and pound fooling on water lines

Show Sponsor: Paul Wheaton - Launching a kickstarter tomorrow! Stay tuned.

Main topic of the Show: The Debrief

SRF is behind us and now it is time for the great event debrief.

Why SRF Exists

  • Bridge the gap between prepper and homesteader so that we are all stronger together
  • Master new skills
  • Remove barriers and roadblocks that attendees have to choosing success
  • Become a functioning and expanding counter economy to increase personal resilience

My personal involvement

  • I get to invest my time in something that helps people 
  • Replaces website development BU

The good

  • 440 people
  • 30 speakers
  • 28 vendors
  • Easy access to good food
  • Showers, hand washing stations and the like (Better infrastructure)
  • Raised $1700 for Darkhorse Lodge Veterans Retreat
  • Music and fun
  • Connections were made
  • Better flow
  • It made a profit

The bad

  • Pre event communications needed to me steadier and faster
  • Ticket sales was hard this round
  • Event coordination team understaffed (Trade offs in my personal business)
  • Speaker churn
  • Content challenges (We missed the mark on what some attendees were there for: practical vs lifestyle)
  • More vendors
  • Better marketing needed

The Ugly

  • Some internal tensions emerged
  • We got so big I am no longer aware of exactly who I should be thanking and I want to fix that

The money

  • I got to pay some people!
  • There is profit, but this does not account for the last 3 events’ losses or John’s or my team’s time (about 4 months of man hours per event)

A year ago, this was a small event with a handful of people and we are 4X the size and achieving great things: new businesses, relationships, virtual attendance, creative participation, and moving people off the fear!

Thankful for all the help, the sponsors, the participants and the progress. 

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

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Oct 9, 2022

Today is a Friday so we have an interview show with Nicholas Ferguson of Homegrown Liberty. We talk about when to have an orchard versus a food forest and take some live questions from the audience.

Sign up for the Oct 28 & 29 Food Forest Class.

Show Resources

Homegrown Liberty: http://www.homegrownliberty.com/

Main content of the show

Nicholas Ferguson is a permaculturist and founder of both HomeGrownLiberty.com and RarePlantStore.com. He regularly speaks at large events such as the Self Reliance Festival and is much sought after for his permaculture advising programs.

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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Oct 9, 2022

Every Friday, we record our Homestead Happenings update, followed by a questions and answers session. Today’s podcast is the questions and answers session from yesterday’s podcast. We cover: Geothermal cooling, sheep and dogfood, kratky hydroponics, growing sweet potatoes in the Aquaponics system, repairing a foundation, and more.\

Main content of the show

Replay of the Tuesday Live on Youtube.

https://youtu.be/4OFWDJ19Gro

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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Oct 7, 2022

Today’s homestead update covers two weeks since we were at the Self Reliance Festival last weekend and not around to livestream on Friday. Fall is really taking hold here, we have stayed unusually dry so do not have much grass, will be processing sheep next week, and more.

Forage

  • 80 + chestnuts from one tree
  • Watercress looks sad
  • Last round today for any sensitive herbs like mint 
  • New mullein plants are popping up
  • Timothy is starting to finally grow
  • Too dry for oysters, alas!

Livestock

  • No baby sheep yet
  • Need a livestock trailer to move 5 sheep to slaughter on Oct 11-12 (Barn splitting project)
  • Ducks are laying in the yard and going back in jail
  • Muscovies and Khakis have intermingled
  • 8 sheep, 16 acres, 3 months – and not enough rain to regrow enough to go back over it
  • Pigs will be leaving - hard decision because we got SO MUCH meat - at about $2.35 direct cost (Not including labor)
  • LGD update - Max doesn't respect the fence - but now he does again
  • Feeding dogs dogfood without feeding sheep dogfood (Thanks Steve)

Grow

  • Tromboncino as long as T’s leg (and how we grew it)
  • Harvesting timothy seed heads to save on seed money
  • Have not set up indoor lettuce yet
  • Ripping out the whole garden
  • Cauliflower update

Holler Neighbors/Community

  • We left and no one died - thanks to the network housesitter, Steve and Tracy, KH, and the other Tracy who kennels dogs for us
  • Had a delightful dinner at the Eversoles - will start one here next week (This week got nuked by surgery)
  • SRF was a screaming success thanks to many hands pitching in

Infrastructure

  • Decommissioning the solar water heater and cleaning chimneys
  • AP heat
  • Burying the water line for the gravity fed water project at the coming Food Forest Workshop
  • Need to move the bees

Finances

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

Oct 4, 2022

Today we talk about the Self Reliance Festival, poverty mindset, creating success, Ukraine, natural disasters 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.

First Tuesday Coffee Chat with Nicole, John & Jack

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

 

Sep 30, 2022

Today we have an interview show with Robert Ralston - a man who has approached prepping with a family member with special needs. It changes the equation.

Show Resources

https://www.prepper-presentations.com/


Main content of the show

My Wife and I are in our mid 50's and have been prepping for about six years. We have a 20 year old non verbal autistic child.  I work for the family plumbing business in the warehouse where I build prepper items to sell and inspire others in the wood shop.

 

  • Are you worried about people coming to your house after a long term disruption of the power grid or the internet banking grid?
  • Do good and bad people have the resources to come to your house ?
  • What are the five stages of prepper denial ?
  • What positive outcome can prepping bring about?
  • What should parents of special needs children be doing to prepare for local and global events?
  • Should these parents get into gardening?
  • What is at risk to work on your possible immaturity when it comes to your mind, body, spirit and bank account?
  • How can unemotional critical thinking in preparing improve your mind, body, spirit and bank account?

 

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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Sep 26, 2022

Today we take a bit of a dive into finding like-minded people should mean, if it is a good idea, and how to make community work.

Livestream Schedule:

  • Joel Ryals Live Tuesday at 2pm on my YT
  • No Wednesday Live this week
  • SRF Final Q & A Session Thursday at 7pm. SRF YT

Hogget

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • FD Food is great for travel
  • Tomato wall is disconnected and we are letting tomatoes ripen on the vines
  • Auditing Pantry for On Site Food for SRF Staff

Weekly Shopping Report from Joe

We made this week's trip on Sunday, with three stops. Traffic seemed a little heavy, but it must have been church traffic, because the store parking lots seemed relatively empty.

The first stop was Dollar Tree. Ginny on Homestead Corner said her Dollar Tree (somewhere in Maine) was running out of things, and holes were being masked by plastic items spread out on shelves, but I did not see that in ours. The Health aisle has still not been restocked, but everything else looks pretty full.

Next was Home Depot. A 2x4x8 remains at $3.98. The battery carrels at checkout are only 1/3 full, but I noticed some additional islands with batteries. They may be switching things around, as the carrels are mostly Duracell and Ray-o-Vac, but the islands are Ever-ready (Energizer). The store is otherwise well-stocked. While getting some 3-in-1 oil, I found a 26" RainX wiper blade there for only $11, so snatched that up. If you need wiper blades, they don't have a lot of them, but if your Home Depot has your size, that's an excellent price.

Aldi was last. I don't recall any notable price changes, but there seemed a lot less variety in the chips and snacks area. Produce looked good, the meat area had decent stock, and we found a couple of frozen turkey breasts which we had not seen there for a while. At $11 each, I'm glad we'll get at least a few meals from each one.

At my last fill, untainted regular was still $4.199/gallon. 

Frugality Tip

The new freezer probes for $70

https://shop.yosmart.com/products/speakerhub-two-temperature-humidity-sensors

Operation Independence

SRF Might make a profit this time! 125% focused on the event. (Also tickets go up Wed after 12pm)

Today’s Sponsor: Paul Wheaton of Wheaton Labs and Permies.com

Paul Wheaton wants to show you how to build a shed quickly, out of materials right off your own land. The coolest part? Nobody will even know it's there... Check out The Berm Shed Movie at https://permies.com/w/berm-shed?f=495

Main topic of the Show:  On Like-Mindedness

Back to the Land and Like-Minded People

What do we mean when we say like minded?

What should we mean when we say like minded?

Thoughts about critical thinking skills

Trust the Science and asking questions

Creating communities of like-minded people

Don’t sweat the small stuff

Assessing if something is a CRITICAL difference or a small difference

None of my business

Landing: Like mindedness is very important if we break things down to core values, but our human tendency is to equate strong opinions on a variety of things with core values. However, when we reach further, we often find that the BIG differences of opinion that we have are other people’s talking points, or things grounded in the HOW not the WHY or the WHAT. 

We can do better and focus on real goals that make a real difference when we learn to look beyond the spin and work together on core outcomes.

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

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Sep 25, 2022

Today is a Sunday so we have an interview show and today’s guest is someone I have wanted to chat with for a long time: Survival Punk! His is a story of setting personal priorities early on in life and sticking to them - something I did NOT do! 

 

Show Resources

www.survivalpunk.com

YouTube/survivalpunk

 

Main content of the show

James takes a rational, creative approach to self-reliance, applying a punk DIY ethic to survivalism without any of the fear mongering or “tinfoil hattery” found in some other areas of the survivalist movement.

 

  • Why live in a tiny house
  • Who should live in one
  • How can you be a survivalist in one?
  • How can you live in a tiny house with a family
  • How can you afford one?
  • Problems with tiny houses

 

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

Sep 24, 2022

Every Friday, we record our Homestead Happenings update, followed by a questions and answers session. Today’s podcast is the questions and answers session from yesterday’s podcast. We cover: disappearing sheep, the light at the end of the fencing tunnel, why you will lose livestock if you do not check in every day, and the transition to fall.

Main content of the show

Replay of Friday’s Homestead Happenings from YT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO6dKzDqT_o

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

Sep 23, 2022

Today we talk about disappearing sheep, the light at the end of the fencing tunnel, why you will lose livestock if you do not check in every day, and the transition to fall.

Forage

  • Jerusalem artichoke
  • Persimmons
  • Watercress
  • Mint

Livestock

  • Duck Story
  • Sheep Story
  • Shoring up rodent proofness of the coop
  • Rabbit is due if she is pregnant
  • Final “clearing evolution” with Sheep

Grow

  • Winding garden down and not doing a fall garden
  • Ramping up indoor lettuce right after SRF
  • Green beans are poppin with watering and late season peppers
  • Pulling out the tomato wall after srf

Holler Neighbors/Community

  • Showing Eversoles how to do animals
  • Proposing a weekly Holler Neighbor Dinner after SRF
  • SRF!

Infrastructure

  • Can finally see how to set up sheep fencing better
  • Winter shelter strategies initiated

Finances

  • Let’s just say, we don’t buy meat: Chicken Tacos from the pterodactyl

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

Sep 21, 2022

Join us as we talk to a revolving set of folks who will be coming to Self Reliance Festival in a week and a half! Ask us anything. Billy Bond, Ken Eash, Stephen Boone, Brian Norton.

Show Resources

Special Operations Equipment

Living Free in Tennessee

Perma Pastures Farm

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. 

Community

Advisory Board

Resources

Sep 19, 2022

Today, we talk about working against nature and ask an important question: why?

Today’s Sponsor: Paul Wheaton of Wheaton Labs and Permies.com

Paul Wheaton over at Wheaton Labs just released 16 hours of footage from his Rocket Mass Heater Jamboree innovators event. Using very little fuel, and producing next to no smoke, the folks down at the lab created a rocket sauna, cooktop, dehydrator, kiln, and a bunch of heater options for smaller spaces, and full-size homes. 

Check it out here:

https://permies.com/wiki/188928f495/Earth-Friendly-Heat-Full-Event

This Week’s Livestream Schedule

Headed to Back to the Land Festival this weekend: Backtothelandfestival.com

Tales From The Prepper Pantry

  • Precooking for SRF & the Food Forest Event - Lots of MEAT
  • Transitioning out of the canning kitchen and back to winter drying and freeze drying
  • Assessing if there is enough tomato crop to do one more round of salsa

Frugality Tip From Margo

First tip when traveling, is bring your snacks and road food, sandwiches or whatever you eat.  This will save a lot of money on the road. I use re-usable ziploc bags to pack food up and I bring a half of a sponge and a small bottle of dish soap on the road to make sure I will be able to wash them no matter where we stay.

We keep a cooler in the car, I pre-freeze filtered water in 1 liter club soda bottles and use them in the cooler.  All of the places we stayed have a refrigerator with freezer and the water bottles get re-frozen to use in the cooler, and we had filtered water as a back up if we needed to drink it.

For two nights I had rented an air bnb way outside of any town (even further out than the holler) lol.  Once we got there the first night, we were not driving back 30 min to a store and then trying to find this place in the dark.  I had packed some shelf stable foods that I did not need any tools to open, just in case.  And I was able to make us dinner, saving time and money that night. 

Shopping Report for 9/18/2022

We made five stops on our typical Saturday shopping trip. Traffic was light, and I only saw a few face-diapers.

First stop was Dollar Tree. The store has a lot of inventory, but is beginning to look a little unkempt. The food aisles have a lot of viable stuff, but the health aisle has a lot of unusual things in place of some more typical items, that have not been restocked in some time. The drink coolers seem to have a better selection.

Next was a Mexican store for a few specialty items like a vanilla flavoring and a few plantains. I've never seen their shelves not full. I've not done any real price comparison, but they have quite the variety. I've also never seen any kind of unpleasantness in there like arguing or rudeness.

Hobby Lobby was next. Stock levels seemed good, with a lot of Fall junk in there now, but I did see a couple of empty islands; probably just re-organizing.

Home Depot was #4. The price of a 2x4x8 has dropped again, to $3.98. We grabbed some Miracle Gro for next year; they had plenty of it. They also had a lot more sunflower seeds for birds than the last time we were there. They're more expensive, but there were at least three sizes, in big boxes. The quantities of common battery sizes like AA and AAA continue to drop. I'm glad I've switched to mostly rechargeable, but I'm going to order a few more. They have a LOT of solar lights in stock, much nicer than the cheap dollar store versions that are dim and barely make it through a season. They might be $6.xx, and I'm pretty sure they were at least twice if not three times that price earlier in the year. These make good guide lights; leave them outside during the day to charge, and bring them in at night.

Aldi was last. I don't recall any notable changes from last week, in fact if anything, they were a little better stocked than they have been (this Aldi has never been bad). I even saw some frozen turkey breast, which has long been absent. They had plenty of flour, sugar, TP, and other staple items.

At my last fill on Friday, untainted regular gasoline was still $4.199/gallon.

Operation Independence

  • Business Trips

Main topic of today’s show: Why Fight Nature?

This morning while driving at 3:30am, I got to thinking about circadian rhythms. You see, with a very early flight ahead of me, I had to get up at 3 to be to the airport in time to depart. It is always an interesting thing to rise much earlier than usual - not the end of the world, but for me it leads to several days of recovery.

Naturally, the next thought was Daylight Savings time as we are about to go back to normal time in a little while. Did you know that during the transition into and out of DST, there is a measurable increase in heart attacks and car crashes? This is because we are ripping our bodies out of their established circadian rhythm - going against nature if you will. 

<thoughts on this>

As I Look around, we are not very successful when we go against nature. 

7 layers of a forest in Permaculture

Training dogs

Raising children

Why then, do we think it is a good idea to :darken” the earth to fight climate change? How does trying to force the atmosphere into submission have a hope of being successful? Have we learned nothing?

This fight against nature is something that technology-minded leaders come back to over and over. When we do it on a large scale, there are very real, negative impacts.

Mao and the sparrows 

So WHY go against nature in the environment, or in interactions with people around you. Would it not be better to seek to understand the realities of nature and go with those to impact better outcomes?

Which brings me to politics: A big problem in how governments and policy works is that it often goes against human nature.

>Humans rebel against being told what to do

>Humans will act selfishly (and that is not a bad thing)

>Humans are herd animals and flourish in communities (Like real ones)

>And, yes, humans are violent - we are - our nature is not al poetry and roses

How then would it look if we worked with nature in governing ourselves?

>Rather than issue black and white edicts for great area “problems”, we would find ways to incentivize positive outcomes (Tapping into selfish, tapping into the herd mentality) 

>>Point out that herd instincts make many of us get a selfish rush from helping our communities.

>Set up our culture and educational effort to empower people to find their purpose so that there are more people pouring energy into that and fewer people focused on being dicks

>Accept that there are a percentage of humans who are psychopaths and create system where they are disincentivized  to harm. 

Accept that there is no perfect.

With this mindset, working with nature, what else can we solve?

What about environmental concerns?

>Leaving the forest alone vs stewarding the forest (We are part of nature, therefore we are part of forests. We evolved together)

>Discovering parts of nature that can help us: Ivermectin as an anti parasitic. 

Some kid turned algae into some sort of plastic…?

Which makes me want to start asking more what if questions.

Let’s talk about Chlorophyl. And batteries. What if we figured out how to tap into the energy created in turning the sun into green stuff? What is all the plant around us ARE batteries? I mean in some ways, burning firewood for heat is in fact tapping into an energy store in plants. But what if there is a low-impact, chemical way to harness the forest around us? What would that do to our dependence on fossil fuels? And how would the world change with such a discovery? 

Think about it: our dollar is based on petroleum. In some ways, tapping into that energy store is tapping into nature - but is there a better way?

Guys, I know this idea sounds crazy and sci fi. But if you think about it - there must be many discoveries of this scale to be made. But we miss them if we focus on how to control nature rather than to work with it.

Which brings us full circle: working with nature is the whole foundation of permaculture as a design science. So much effort is put into mono cropping in the form of heavy equipment, and fighting pest pressure, and fungi, and so much more. The earth is poisoned in the interest of fighting the natural way things grow — in plant communities - almost as if diversity is part of nature’s plans. And we accept the notion that we can only feed the world if we abuse the soil and interfere with nature.

Yet is that really true? How come no one is challenging that notion? What would happen if we worked with nature to steward diversity of plants and animals, based on what is suited to different regions. And how should we measure success on such an undertaking? By pure number of calories produced, or by the quality of food outputs paired with building healthier soil?

We have been programmed to see things that are grey in black and white terms. While this simplification of the world can make it easier to get things organized and rally people around projects and causes, it comes at a cost. And a very damaging one at that: We have developed some pretty big blinders.

Why not find a way to see beyond them? Why not work with nature in our homestead designs, business set up, political efforts, environmental projects, cutting edge research, and, yes, in commercial food production?

Why fight nature?

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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Sep 17, 2022

Every Friday, we record our Homestead Happenings update, followed by a questions and answers session. Today’s podcast is the questions and answers session from yesterday’s podcast. We cover: rat poison, sheep, Self Reliance Festival, the new Holler Neighbors, and more.



Main content of the show

Replay of the Tuesday Live on Youtube.

Episode 620 - Homestead Happenings for Sept 16, 2022

 

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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Sep 16, 2022

Fall is taking hold in the Holler. We still could use more rain, but it is much cooler. The second wave of plants is upon us and we are preparing for winter.

Forage

  • Someone else got persimmons
  • Mullein seeds we scattered are taking hold

Livestock

  • I hit a duck
  • Sick sheep (Bloat or obstructions)
  • 9 days ahead on paddock shifting
  • Still no babies
  • Goats are trained to electric and rotating
  • Need to move the bees

Grow

  • Steady flow of green beans
  • Tomatoes coming on the regular but close to done
  • Peppers coming on
  • Lots of basil and herbs to process
  • Preparing for the Food Forest Class in October

Holler Neighbors/Community

  • Eversoles moved egg layers into basecamp
  • Trained housesitters for SRF - STILL need someone for the Friday before

Infrastructure

  • Rebuilding the 4 wheelers
  • Upgraded goat pasture to be the hub for the whole property

Finances

  • Nothing to report

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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Sep 15, 2022

Today we talk about building market share and defense dogs with Joel Ryals and John Willis.

Show Resources

Special Operations Equipment

Living Free in Tennessee

FortressK9.com

Main content of the show

Replay of the Tuesday Live on Youtube.

https://youtu.be/iZu5x12LAW0

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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Sep 13, 2022

Today, we will talk about learning new things as you dive into homesteading or anything else. I realized over the weekend that we have many new listeners interested in growing food, cooking, prepping, starting a new business. Let’s talk about analysis paralysis and getting going!

Livestream Schedule This Week

  • Wednesday Live at 12:30pm with Joel Ryals of FortressK9 and John Willis
  • Friday at 9:30 Central - Homestead Happenings (assuming my internet works!)

Self Reliance Festival

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Prepping food for the Food Forest Workshop, Oct 28 & 29
  • Green Beans are all canned
  • Less Salsa this year due to dearth of peppers
  • The Tomato Rat is gone

Frugality Tip

  • Get yours in!

Shopping Report: 09/10/2022

The entire weekend is likely to be dreary and rainy, so we went during light sprinkles, thinking it may be worse later. Traffic was moderate. We made three stops.

The first stop was Dollar [twenty-five] Tree. The Health aisle still looked rather picked, but other shelves, particular in foods, were stuffed.

Home Depot was next. A 2x4x8 remains at $4.48. The store was normal-busy, and I didn't notice any holes. They have a good number of chest freezers now taking up space in at least a couple of aisles. I think $179 was the price for a 5 cu.ft. model. If we had the space...

The battery carrels were mixed. The coin-cells were fully stocked, but the more typical sizes (AAA up to D) had massive holes, such as only the center one of three columns being stocked on one side. If you need batteries, you'll still find them, but levels are definitely declining. Many are made in China, so with very few cargo ships coming from there now, I expect them to run out. I saw a couple of end-of-season deals on a couple of the Ryobi One+ outdoor tools, and hope that is just starting and will spread.

Aldi was last. Canned cat food has jumped a whopping 14c/can, to 54c. Bacon has dropped to $3.99 (from $4.3?). They had plenty of TP. The meat selection was a little better; we added more pork, some of which will find its way into the slow-cooker by the end of the weekend. They had decent amounts of the canned tea I like, and the instant coffee that Sonia has been drinking. Produce was very well stocked and looked good.

I saw only a few face-diapers on this trip. At my last fill, untainted regular gasoline was $4.399. I'm seeing much lower prices on the corrupted stuff; I want to say as low as $3.199, which is a huge difference.

Operation Independence

Today’s Sponsor: Paul Wheaton of Wheaton Labs & Permies.com

<DO NOT PUT THIS TEXT ONLINE>

Paul Wheaton at permies.com and Wheaton Labs has something to help you with your food preservation efforts this harvest season: He wants to help you build a solar food dehydrator!

For only $5 bucks, you can check out the full movie that details the development of two different models of solar dehydrators at Wheaton Labs, and all the successes and challenges with each.

If you like what you see, you can also grab the plans for a solar dehydrator from permies.com as well, so check out the movie at the link in the show description.

</END>

Ready to preserve your harvest for the months to come? Build a solar dehydrator! Check out this movie detailing the development of 2 models of solar dehydrator at Wheaton Labs:

https://permies.com/wiki/91978f495/Design-Build-Giant-Solar-Food

Main topic of the Show: Learning New Things

Sometimes we forget how hard the things we do on an everyday basis were way back when we started doing them. As y’all know, LFTN hit a tipping point this year. We are growing faster than ever. In fact, if you want to help us grow - please share the episodes you find most helpful. The more people we bring into the LFTN community, the more of us there are who are building food savings account, becoming more financially stable, and learning new skills.

Which brings me to today’s topic: Learning New Things

  • Why LFTN is focused on what we are focused on
  • The basics: Sometimes we gloss over things that were hard years ago
  • Stepping back and re-explaining some things - so many ideas: 
    • Cook With What You Have series that starts with “How to use a knife” (Because if you grow the food, you must also prepare it)
    • Pantry Basics
    • Preserving Food: drying, freezing, canning, root cellar (And how this is done in NOT homestead environments)
    • Planning your day for success: Ideas for scheduling busy and not so busy days (Crockpot example)
    • Vampire audit
  • What learning new things feels like
    • Anxiety
    • Confusion (all the new terms)
    • Learning Iteration 1 - baseline concepts
    • Actually try the thing
    • Learning Iteration 2 - NOW some things make sense
    • Actually try the thing again - analyze it
    • Learning Iteration 3 - Deal with identified roadblocks/mental blocks (sometimes we call a friend at this point)
    • Actually try the thing again - analyze it
    • Learning Iteration 4 - I finally know WHERE to start learning the thing! When I talk about it, I lose people at learning iteration 1
      • Visual words vs conceptual words
      • Analogies
  • Call to action: 
    • LFTN Social networks (Mentors and newbys - it is all good)
    • No question that is based in learning something new is a stupid question (Ways to respond to questions) (PANTRY STORY)
    • Addressing the overwhelm: One thing at a time - sort of

What do you want to hear about that you are trying to learn?

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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Sep 9, 2022

WE GOT RAIN! Join me today at 9:30 Central for a Homestead Happenings session: Jerusalem Artichokes, incoming visitors Imanee and River from Haven Earth on Youtube.

  • Don’t forget: Fermentation Workshop is Saturday at 12pm in partnership with LiveFree.Academy
  • Check out the video we did with Billy Bond on Youtube last Sunday

Forage

  • Jerusalem artichokes are blooming
  • Watercress
  • Mullien is popping up
  • Should be getting mushrooms but not hiking enough - this will hurt for winter stews

Livestock

  • Finding Duck egg clutches - ducks need to go to jail for a week
  • Pigs: no babies yet - looks imminent
  • Girl Sheep: rotating fast - no signs they are close to having babies
  • Boy sheep: testing the fence a ton - have adjusted to not going to the barn at night (They do look at it l bunch)
  • Goats getting trained to three strand electric
  • Bees - still no one to help rob honey and it is too late now
  • Cycy found bees

Grow

  • Cleaning out squash beds and resetting
  • Peppers are coming on
  • Second bean planting is producing
  • Rat in the tomatoes!
  • Need to harvest and dry basil

Holler Neighbors/Community

  • Kerry came for a day to work on the hillside space and it looks a ton better - need more 
  • KH went to SOE to install a shower and in the future we will not do GSD weekends there because too many people pulled out last minute so it was a slog

Infrastructure

  • New sheep fencing strategy
  • Hillside AP is back in process - was on hold while we figured out sheep

Finances

  • Spent another grand on fencing supplies to be able to make more paddocks in advance
  • !inflation!
  • Adding spreadsheet time on personal expenses to assess some choices

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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Sep 7, 2022

Today we talk about Zero down loans, networks of regenerative farms, Fnords and more with Jack Spirko and John Willis.

Today’s Sponsor: Paul Wheaton of Wheaton Labs and Permies.com

Paul Wheaton's rocket ovens movie shows all the nitty-gritty details of how you can build an oven to bake pizzas, pies, cakes, turkeys, and more, while only using a few sticks for fuel! It heats up in just 15 minutes, and can be built for dirt cheap. Check it out here:  https://permies.com/wiki/rocket-ovens?f=495

You can also get your hands on some FREE rocket mass heater plans so you can heat your whole home on just a few sticks, so grab those here: https://permies.com/goodies/7/lftn

Saturday Fermentation Webinar

Show Resources

Special Operations Equipment

Living Free in Tennessee

The Survival Podcast

Main content of the show

Youtube Live Video:

First Tuesday Fireside Chat with Nicole Sauce, Jack Spirko and John Willis

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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Sep 2, 2022

Today we talk about integrating the LGDs with the sheep, late summer gardening, simplifying, infrastructure plans and more.

Homesteading on a budget: https://livefree.academy/sp/exit-and-build-homesteading-on-a-budget-workshop/?ref=52

Forage

  • Paw Paw
  • Watercress
  • Goldenrod
  • Mullein seeds

Livestock

  • Bred the rabbits
  • Ducks are in an egg pause which means wing clipping
  • LGD Integration Story: access to yard during day with separation – this week we integrated fully with access to their “home”
  • Birthing Update
  • Pigs for sale
  • Girl Sheep rotating fast because it isn't raining

Grow

  • Resetting two beds for garlic
  • Final squash harvest
  • New beans just now producing
  • Tomatoes lasted one month longer than in past years

Holler Neighbors/Community

  • New Holler Neighbors moving in
  • SOE Shower Build this weekend

Infrastructure

  • Fencing Plan for the Sheep 
  • Reels
  • Hillside garden

Finances

  • Nothing to report

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

Sep 1, 2022

Today we talk about the SHTF, relocation, Self Reliance Festival, The Midwest Regional Meetup, Being 60 and Homesteading, preparedness and more with Bear Independent and John Willis.

Show Resources

Special Operations Equipment

Living Free in Tennessee

Bear Independent

Grindstone Ministeries

Refuge Medical

SelfRelianceFestival.com

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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Aug 29, 2022

It is a tradition in August to talk about what we are doing to get ready for winter here at the Holler Homestead. Why? Because waiting until that first frost to have things set is a terrible idea and leads to several days of no sleep and lots of activity. Today, I will share how we plan activities for a busy fall, in advance of winter, to be better prepared for the harsh realities of below freezing temperatures in a state ill prepared for its weather patterns.

Up this week:

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Broth using strategies in August
  • Hitting the bean patch this week under the hopes we get another round for canning
  • Initiating the prepper pantry redo - using basecamp as a root cellar 
  • Testing new freezer sensors

Free Rocket Mass Heater Plans from Paul Wheaton

Show Sponsor: Paul Wheaton of Wheaton Labs and Permies.com

Looking to learn about permaculture, grow your skills, and accelerate your path towards self-sufficiency? Check out Paul Wheaton's permaculture bootcamp at Wheaton Labs! Learn permaculture earthworks, gardening, rocket heating technology and more, all under the guidance of the Duke of Permaculture himself!

https://wheaton-labs.com/bootcamp/?f=495

If you're interested in Rocket Mass Heaters, which can heat a home with as little as 10% of the wood consumed by conventional woodstoves, Paul Wheaton is offering FREE rocket mass heater plans to the LFTN community when you sign up for the permies newsletter. Snatch those up here: https://permies.com/goodies/7/lftn

Frugality tip: Add on from Christian

After hearing the tip from Anna about the watered down dish soap I had to reply to expand on it, this might not warrant sharing on the show.

I have been using watered down dawn for a few years and it never even occurred to me that it might be saving me money. I mix it even thinner than Anna, more like 1/4 or 1/5, and I put it in used foaming hand soap bottles from bath and body works. It dispenses from them no problem once watered down. I use this almost exclusively when hand washing dishes as I use them, and I use it to wash my hands a lot too. Since it's good on food grease it works well on oil and grime from mechanical work, so I use it regularly to wash my hands while working in the garage and I set myself up another bottle at work. It's way more gentle and I personally find it just as effective, if not better, than the gritty mechanic's soaps (like gojo orange, if you're familiar). Come to think of it, this has probably saved me a bit of money there since I don't buy that stuff at all anymore, probably more than I might save on dishes.

Weekly Shopping Report from Joe for 8/28/2022

We made four stops on our weekly shopping run. The first stop was Community Chest to donate a box of books, an exercise chair we have not been using, and some miscellaneous other things. Second was Dollar Tree, where I grabbed a drink and we picked up a few other items. I wanted some ointment from the Health aisle, but there was none left. I saw a lot of empty hooks in that section, which is a big change from a month or two ago, when they were very well stocked.

Stop #3 was Home Depot. A 2x4x8 is $4.75. I know not long ago it was $4.98, but I don't remember if that was last week or a little longer. They have plenty of stock of lumber, tools, batteries, and LED bulbs.

Aldi was last. The store was very crowded, but I think just because it was late Saturday morning; I didn't see people panic-buying. Inventory looked good, except for limited quantities of meats. For example there was pork loin, but no tenderloin. Beef looked pretty sparse too, but there were enough different cuts of various meats to at least cover all the shelves.

I don't recall seeing any face diapers. I think the Kung Flu narrative is finally collapsing. At my last fill during the week, I paid $4.399/gallon for untainted regular gasoline.

I understand the sixth largest refinery in the country has been shut down due to an electrical fire. They're in Indiana, and they and a few surrounding states (Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin come to mind) have declared states of emergency, and the parasites at DOT have waived hour restrictions on truckers so they can bring in fuel.

Operation Independence

Main topic of the Show: Winter Is Coming

Why now?

Steps: Brainstorm, categorize: No Kill, Comfort, SHTF

Livestock

  • Rabbits: Water, food, heating lamps
  • Sheep: Water, hay, shelter with sides, minerals
  • Pigs: Water, feed, shelter, bedding
  • Goats: Water, feed, bedding
  • Ducks: Water, feed, bedding

Humans

  • Water
  • Shelter
  • Firewood
  • Food

Pets: backup plans

Gardens

  • Spring bed preparation
  • Mulching figs and bananas
  • Cover crop

Water Gardens

  • Tear down
  • Stock tank heater in ap system

Fuel and Backups

No kill list:

  • Water
  • Firewood
  • shelter
  • Food

Comfort list

  • Winter clothing upgrades
  • Automated antifreeze systems
  • Backup heating (Kerosene, etc.)
  • Automotive supplies turn over
  • Solar Water Heater and outdoor shower/kitchen cleanout

SHTF Plans

  • Generator/fuel storage
  • Extra food
  • Tarps, etc

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

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