Today we will talk about the witchiness of homesteading and why what seems so strange to some is simply living.
Meat canning webinar
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
Operation Independence
Main topic of the Show: Which Witch is Which
Imagine hundreds of years ago if one of your family members was truly ill and some lady who kept to herself mostly gave you some tea for the sick person -- and they got better. Or if you sprained your ankle and the swelling went down quickly.
Add to that layers of superstition like which phase of the moon is best for planting, ceremonies involving burnt hair that reveal your true love’s face, and that sort of thing.
The final twist could be that the lone lady with that tea lives to be quite old and there we have it. A witch.
Yesterday, a friend stopped by who I had not seen in a long time and he joked on the way in the door that I reminded him of country women he remembers as a kid growing up who seemed kind of like witches. He did not mean it in a bad way -- he was just pointing out that I live an alternative lifestyle to the norm.
And it is true: If there is a natural or herbal remedy to something, I will try it first. If I have a bad headache, I go to bed.
I have some odd world views:
Some of these views make me witchy I suppose. In college, I used to make this brew of ginger root, bitter root, peppermint and hot peppers and honey every time I got a cold. Why? Because it helped. The bitter root soothed my throat, the ginger opened the capillaries in my sinuses, capsasis is an immune system boost, and the peppermint and honey make it drinkable -- not taste good -- drinkable. When I did this I just knew it helped, not the why. But over the years I have learned more about the why, down to peppermint helping with breathing and honey being an antibacterial agent.
And even back then, people thought me crazy. They wondered why I did not simply pop a decongestant and go on with life?
Moving to the homestead has brought my witchiness to a whole new level. I mean, here I am, living in what looks like isolation, growing a ton of herbs, wildcrafting other herbs, with a good collection of sharp knives around, hair down to my rear end, talking to animals and trees, and not a worry about current events.
Well maybe that is not entirely true - I sometimes worry about current events. But life on the homestead is not exactly the picture they paint when they talk about the American Dream is it?
It may be my American Dream, but it is a bit of a witchy one.
After my friend pointed this out, I realized that he was right. I live a rather witchy life. If you look around right now, as in this week, at my homestead, here are some of the witchy things that happened:
Yep, as I think about it, look at the browns of jars of dried herbs here for healing, get ready to age our first cheddar of this season, and watch people come through here with shared values, learning to take control of their personal outcomes no matter what happens --- I can see that homesteading looks pretty witchy to the outside world.
But to me, it is something different. This lifestyle is not something to be feared or looked askance at - but rather an acknowledgement that nature is at the core of us all. And when we work with nature, we get better outcomes.
Now sure, you may not be a person willing to get dirty and buggy on a homestead to tap into natural cycles. You may prefer your city condo - perhaps with a few pots of herbs. And that is fine. You do you as they like to say.
And I don’t even mind when people look down their noses at my witchy life here.
But there is a history of the state forcing people who live like I do into “modern” life in order to protect them. I mean, I do live near a giant Army Corpse project that flushed country folks from their family farms under the guise of progress that may or may not have actually helped (I am looking at you Nashville flood on 2010).
And that progress merely served to lock people in poverty and increase external controls on their lives.
So I was thinking this: Let’s embrace our witchiness and scare the pants off them -- maybe then they will leave us to work with nature as God intended.
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Today is a thought of the walk episode - a collection of short thoughts shared on a variety of topics. These thoughts are shared on Odysee every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, then produced as an audio podcast every other Friday.
Today’s Thoughts Include:
To view the videos for Thought of the Walk Episode, go here: Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@livingfree:b
They are also produced on Youtube as a playlist.
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Looking to buy land and move to your dream homestead? Hold your horses! Land is a long-term purchase and it is a good idea to think before you leap. Today we will talk about the most important things to consider before you spring for that plot of dirt.
Holler Neighbor Livestream Thursday: 6:15/6:30 ish
Stump the Sauce
What’s Up In the Garden
Main topic of the Show: #My3Things Before You Buy Land
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Today we talk about what it is like to live the homestead life in a year filled with personal challenges and problems. This is a follow up on “what homesteading is really like.”
Canning Meat, July 24: https://www.livingfreeintennessee.com/2021/06/28/meat-canning-webinar-july-24-at-2pm
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
Operation Independence
Main topic of the Show: Homesteading in a Hard Year
We had an open house and it was an eye-opening experience. My homestead once provided about 80% of my vegetable needs and 100% of my egg and chicken needs. I ate things in season as they became ripe. I preserved, dried and canned. My garden succession planting program was on point.
Then troubles crept in. Ones of the financial type, the relationship type, and the health vibrancy type.
Reality on a homestead is a far cry from the ambitious plans we have each spring when planting time comes. Even in the best of years, things will fail and the best approach seems to be fanatical variety.
You always ask me what living on a homestead is like and I have to admit - it has been pretty rough these past few years at the Holler Homestead. The saving grace has been my wall of tomatoes and aquaponics system.
For background: Transition has been in process here for several years. Transition from two people to one, transition from mostly off-site consulting work to building a coffee business, transition into the Holler Neighbor community. And there have been some family and personal health reminders. All these things take time and a homestead is a full time job. Many people manage the homestead demand with one person working and one person doing the homestead chores until enough business is generated from the land to enable the working partner to quit. Sometimes that never happens.
The benefit of having a consulting lifestyle with the homestead was that I would be gone for a whole week working my butt off, then home for 2 to 3 weeks with a light enough schedule that I could catch up on things.
But transitions are part of life, are they not?
Here are a few looks at the real homestead:
But it is not all bad:
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What happens when Joel Salatin hops on the podcast? We discuss entrepreneurship, scaling of regenerative practices, going rogue, failing commercial food, standing up to bullies, and so much more!
RogueFoodConference.com
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Main content of the show
From Joel’s Website:
“Joel Salatin, 62, calls himself a Christian libertarian environmentalist capitalist lunatic farmer.
Others who like him call him the most famous farmer in the world, the high priest of the pasture, and the most eclectic thinker from Virginia since Thomas Jefferson. Those who don’t like him call him a bio-terrorist, Typhoid Mary, charlatan, and starvation advocate.”
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It’s beet season! Today I will run you through how to process beets pickled, sauce and pressure canned
July Webinar: Canning Meat - July 24 at 2pm.
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Hey, I heard one of your latest podcast about the price of eggs at the store vs. the local farm and had a brain wave...
If it's true that farm eggs are more nutritious then wouldn't it be good idea to market your eggs not in "$&¢", but in terms of "nutritional value" similar to purchasing regular gas and premium gas. The premium gas might "appear" more expensive (I.e. farm eggs) however...you get more mileage (nutrition) out your dollars spent.
I think if the customer saw two boxes of eggs side-by-side but priced in $/nutrition ratio then they might be more likely to pick the farm raised variety?
What’s Up in the Garden
Main topic of the Show: Canning Beets
Pickling
Nicole Sauce’s Sugarless Sour Beets
Brine:
1/2 cup pickling or kosher salt
5.5 cups 5% vinegar
6 cups water
Per quart jar spice mix (add to jar)
2 heads dill weed
2-4 cloves garlic
1-2 hot peppers (cayenne or jalapeno)
6 peppercorns
20/25 mins
Aunt Helen’s Beets
Brine (make enough batched to cover beets)
1 qt vinegar (5% acidity)
6 c sugar
2 TBSP salt (plain, kosher, or pickling: may not be iodized)
2 tsp pickling spice
Sauce
Beet Ketchup
Pressure canning
https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_04/beets.html
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Over the weekend, we had all sorts of community happenings at the holler homestead and it got me to thinking about meeting in person and how important that it. I will share some of these thoughts as well as stories of our first ever open house on today’s podcast.
Feedback
I want to thank you for your openness about your debt and perseverance regarding paying things off.
In December/January you said something in a podcast that made me think how foolish I’d been the past five years with credit cards, car and motorcycle loans.
After buckling done the past six months and accelerating pay downs, I’m paying off CC monthly now, paid off my car, and today made my last motorcycle payment.
With all that’s going on, I’m now free to focus on mortgage pay down, crypto, and savings.
I’m still enjoying your coffee and will look on your site about becoming a member to show my appreciation.
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
Operation Independence
Main topic of the Show: Why Meet In Person?
This past 18 months, meetings have increasingly been over computers and phones as folks have sought to avoid air travel and reduce exposure to the virus. As a result, kids know how to virtually attend school, adults who never could get their computers’ webcams to work suddenly know zoom and toms meetings are held virtually. It has become a matter of preference in many cases to just avoid getting together in person and handle meetings over web conferencing systems.
But is this the best way?
How many of you have been to that awkward ZOOM birthday party or wedding?
And how many have noticed an uptick in “weird” happenings where people kindo of lose their minds and hurt other people out and about in society?
Continued isolation is making us crazy and it is no surprise. We are herd animals. We crave finding people we can relate to, we can be comfortable with. This is why those “loner libertarians” get so excited when they can throw a liberty fest -- like Porcfest in New hampshire each June.
It is that feeling of well-being when you bother to get together in person.
That is why when people want to come visit the Holler Homestead, I try very hard to make it work. And this year, those requests were up tenfold, so we decided to do a little test this weekend: What if we have an open house day here and just tell folks, here are the hours, stop by. No big agenda. No big personality speakers. Just come hang out and we will likely be doing homesteady stuff.
Little did I know that there would be 68 chickens to process that day, derailing other demo concepts we had in mind.
And yet people came -- about 20 of you in fact. Including a surprise visit from John and Amanda Willis who can now confirm that my little country road is very very rural. That’s ok - it looked like their car could handle it.
Things we learned and enjoyed...
But the biggest thing was thing: Y’all talked and talked and talked to each other. And then you talked some more. Even most of the introverts were just happy to be in person and talk about shared interests.
But why is meeting in person so important?
(Willis story)
(Barb Story)
(Rabbit Processing Workshop)
So if you know people who have self isolated for the past 18 months who are a little edgy when you talk to them -- remember this: They have not had one of the things that everyone needs - interaction. They have only had 45% communication with their peers when they do interact. And that means that the missing 55% takes you off balance. You start trying to build that into your narrative. You make up stuff in your head.
So as you look at your summer and fall plans and start feeling that tiny bit of anxiety that can come when you try to decide -- Do I take a weekend and go to Rogue Food Conference at Polyface in August, or Green Chili Day in September, or to my high school reunion, think of it not in terms of what you wont get done that weekend, or how tired people make you sometimes.
Think about how far trust can get you? When you meet a few people with whom you can relate, with shared interests. How great it can be to think- I remember meeting that one lawyer guy at that conference and now, dadgummit I need a lawyer -- (Pete).
Things like that a great for the Pete’s of the world and the person seeking a Pete. At it all happens when you stand up, get out, and see people. Real people. In person.
It is impossible to measure how much progress people make after our gatherings here just because they met the right person -- but I can tell you there are 1 or 2 people who start or grow something as a result.
And if you ever get the opportunity to show your product or service in person to someone who reaches out -- go. Even if it is a slight pain in the ass.
Because they will remember that you found their request important enough to give it your real attention and time. You set the first step of building rapport. And you are more likely to beat out the person who just “handled things” from afar.
Why meet in person? Why wouldn’t you?
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Today is a thought of the walk episode - a collection of short thoughts shared on a variety of topics. These thoughts are shared on Odysee every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, then produced as an audio podcast every other Friday.
Today’s Thoughts Include:
To view the videos for Thought of the Walk Episode, go here: Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@livingfree:b
They are also produced on Youtube as a playlist.
Make it a great week!
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Do you have your pressure canner sitting all shiny in your kitchen and are you afraid to use it? I will talk through how to pressure can corn on today’s show and hopefully demystify some of the things that are making you wait.
Stump the Sauce
Main topic of the Show: Pressure Canning Corn
Pressure Canning Safety
The Process of Corn
The Oh Shit List
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Today, I want to share with you my biggest lesson of the Pandemic and its aftermath as viewed through the perspective of a special friend.
Holler Homestead Open House and Canning Demo
Last Week’s Webinar Video is up on the Member Portal
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
Operation Independence
Main topic of the Show: Best Lesson From The 2020 Pandemic
This show was supposed to be on Friday last week. But my health got in the way. And yet this may be the most important show topic of 2021.
This show is in part about the biggest lesson to be learned from the 2020 pandemic, how officials and our societies reacted to it, and maybe even a little about why what some of us THINK is the biggest lesson learned should be reexamined if it is not this lesson.
But more important about today is what got me to thinking of this lesson. It was a friend, fellow farmer/homesteader. A guy by the name of Steve who works really really hard to live life on his terms. Steve is not a young man, and he has even had an organ transplant. His ticker ain’t what it used to be either.
Steve is the kind of guy who meets lots of people and he somehow manages to bring out the best, to encourage them to just get started on doing what they say they want to do.
The longer you talk to Steve, the more you realize how incredible his life has been and the sheer number of things this man has done - and he has done them well.
And the best part? He is not a loudmouth like me -- he observes and is sort of quiet. But when he talks, people listen. And when he hears I cant from someone, he asks why.
You may wonder what in the world Steve has to do with my pandemic lesson? Well that is the thing.
If I ask most people around me what their biggest lesson learned I will get one of the following lessons:
And while all those things may be lessons you can take from the pandemic, which one is the biggest?
I must admit, I have spun like a pinball from idea to idea dn lesson to lesson over the past year and a half -- and YES -- we have been doing this for a freaking year and a half now my friends. A year and a half you will never get back.
And last week, I started thinking about what you and I and others are never getting back (depending on how far we took things):
A year and a half of:
People have lost so much:
All for what? An illness with between a 99%-and 99.5% survival rate according to the sources that so many have come to distrust. I pulled that from the CDC in case you are wondering.
Compare it to the flu: 99.5% survival rate.
Now we all know that older people have increased risk and I am not discounting that. But look at what we have given up? The hugs, seeing grandma and grandpa, crying over zoom.
Guys, we are herd animals. We need each other to be whole. Without community - even if we like being solitary -- without community we suffer. When we suffer, our health goes down hill.
There were times in the last 18 months when people were drawing their last breath all alone in a room in a hospital, not allowed to have their children with them, holding their hands. For fear of spreading the disease, even if they were not dying from covid.
Which begs the question did that even make sense?
Enter Steve. Steve is the kind of guy in an age bracket of the highest risk, with a compromised immune system. Know what Steve gave up for the pandemic?
Nothing. Not a damn thing.
Steve was in the hospital with surgery complications last fall for about two months. A week or two after he got out, he was at an event in Texas hugging his friends sharing his knowledge, selling his rabbit cages (and the man makes AMAZING rabbit cages), and having a grand time. There was not a mask to be seen at this event.
Know what Steve said about that? He said, I’d rather live the days I have left than hide from the virus. Steve knew his risks. And he knew the consequences of getting ill with Covid. And he knew the bigger risk was not living for 18 months of the time he had left. So Steve lived life and mentored the people he came across.
And therein is the lesson: The biggest lesson from the Pandemic is we only have NOW. Not the past -- that already happened. Not the future: that has not yet happened. We have what is now.
Right in front of us today. We have no idea hope long we will be here. We know that one day we will not be here.
So for me, the biggest lesson from the Pandemic is to stop procrastinating the someday, to prioritize those things that are most important, and to do them. Now -- or as best as they can be done in the now. To live life and not put it on hold.
I’ve learned to make time for that friend to visit. To accept that sometimes things are not all put together because dammit I need to go swimming with my dogs. To travel to that workshop and be in person even though I might get sick from it. To weigh the long term and short term risks of things like a vaccination and make the best decision for NOW. Not last week and not next year.
And yes, part of living life is an element of selfishness. You have limited time here with yourself, your friends, and your family. What is most important to you? Is it them, then spend time with them. Is it learning something new -- then spend time on that. Is it expanding your community, go to that event.
You only have the NOW and you can’t control when you will go.
And that brings me back to Steve. Last week, Steve taught me this lesson in a shocking way. He got very ill and ended up in the ICU. And my first thought was this: He has no regrets right now. His wife told me the day before he landed at the hospital he had bought a brand new zero turn mower. She joked that she was going to go whisper in his ear that he’d better recover quickly or she was going to drive it. I told her to do it! Why? Because even if he did not recover, whatever part of him could hear her through the coma would find humor in it.
At that is Steve.
Guys, Steve did not recover. He passed yesterday having lived a very long, ful life learning new things, helping so many people, and going out during this pandemic even though he knew the risks he would face if he contracted covid.
I will miss Steve so much when he is not at the events we frequent, when I realize I need rabbit cages and had not gotten around to putting in an order, when I see someone in the corner that could use pulling out and he is not there to do it, when the big end of event bear hug is missing.
But I am also glad for Steve that we was running around buying a cool new mower the day before he had a stroke that ultimately killed him. That’s right - he lived his life through the pandemic, knowing the risks. And the virus did not get him -- it was simply his time.
But he had one last lesson for me too - and I hope you can take it on. That you hear this and think, what am I not building that I want to be? Who have I not visited out of fear? What can I do to live NOW?
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Today is for new and aspiring homesteaders. There are five things I wish I had known before I jumped and we discuss them today.
Tomorrow: Canning Webinar, Relocation Roundtable, and Holler Homestead Open House
Stump the Sauce
Main topic of the Show: 5 Pieces of Advice for New Homesteaders
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Today is a thought of the walk episode - a collection of short thoughts shared on a variety of topics. These thoughts are shared on Odysee every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, then produced as an audio podcast every other Friday.
Today’s Thoughts Include:
To view the videos for Thought of the Walk Episode, go here: Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@livingfree:b
They are also produced on Youtube as a playlist.
Make it a great week!
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce. It makes a great Christmas Gift!
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I was going to talk through some things I love about the Harvest Right Freeze Dryer but then I got to talking about food with Tactical this morning. Specifically foods that are very good for you that we sometimes forget to eat. Today, I will share five that come to mind.
But first
What’s Up in the Garden
Main content of the show: 5 Nutritious Things We Forget About
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Today we will discuss what really matters in the new world order, the great reset, and many other “conspiracies” that are turning out to be based in truth.
Email feedback to nicole@livingfreeintennessee.com
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
Operation Independence
Main topic of the Show: What Really Matters?
What really matters to people? What do we truly care about. If you take this question from a survival standpoint: we need water, oxygen and food to survive. The next layer is shelter and health, family and relationships. Then community, comfort, mental challenges, spiritual pursuits. Creative endeavors.
As we are able to cover our basic survival needs, we gain something very important: time. And time is the thing that we can use to become stronger and better. To keep our world beautiful. To create widespread security for ourselves and those around us.
Why then are our most basic needs -- those things that we require to survive -- why are they outsourced to a faceless bureaucracy?
Have you ever taken a deep look into situations where genocide is inflicted on a people? Where one set of humans decide that it is ok to torture, murder and cause widespread suffering to another set of humans?
Have you ever seen what happens right before the boiling point is reached?
Usually you will find that the basic survival needs are controlled by a select, powerful few. You will find that there is widespread shortages and that suffering has occurred. That parents cannot feed their children or themselves.
And how do we get to this point?
We live on a prosperous plant full of oxygen, with lots of water, and able to produce food in the most harsh of environments. As humans have developed, we have figured out how to cover our basic survival needs and we have created time. Time for spiritual pursuits.
As humans have developed, we have put our minds to tough problems like how to get more food from less and less land to keep more and more of us alive.
And some have developed systems. Systems that provide “food security”’ and other such promises for all who participate. And from this, they have realized that people who are unable to provide for their own basic needs, who have forgotten how nature works, who are set up with unrealistic expectations for what they “need” to survive. These people will do almost anything to keep getting what they need. They will work endlessly. They will murder their peers. They will look the other way as the earth is harmed. They will give up their freedom of motion, of thought. They will beat the other humans into compliance. As dependency increases, so does control.
And who is in control?
To which I ask - why do you care about that?
Have you ever stopped to think about how fragile our centralized food system in this country is? We have systems set up to provide more and more food from fewer and fewer sources. The policies here are developed to protect those few sourced from competition from many distributed ones.
Have you ever stopped worrying about the med in “big food” sitting in back rooms selling off our health to save a few pennies on production and looked beyond the who and why to focus on what it means?
Our centralized food systems create two things: 1) Immense amounts of food for everyone to eat. 2) One of the most obvious targets to control our population.
Take down the few places and ways that food is produced and distributed and guess what? Grocery stores are empty in about 48 hours.
And most of the population has no idea how to get food without going into a store, taking things off the shelf, and bringing them home.
I don’t know about you, but I find that alarming. Do you?
Do you know how to get food if it isn’t on the shelves in the store?
You see, all the time and power that we waste on figuring out how to take Monsanto down, or tear apart Walmart---to hold those men in the back rooms of food factories accountable for making us sick. All the time we spend reading up on the dawn of big ag and pharmaceuticals. That is time you will never get back. It is really only useful as a tool to assess the world you live in.
And the time you spend in outrage about it is wasted.
Or in the words of my frond Jack Spirko -- it doesn’t matter why, it matters that.
Now, if one of your creative pursuits is digging into history and research on such things -- by all means - enjoy!
But if you want to live in a world where your most basic need is covered -- the need to find nourishment for yourself, your family and your community. Stop focusing on the assholes who got us here and start participating on developing a stable alternative to centralized food.
Being part of a solution to corporate food does not need to look like you building your own regenerative farm -- it needs to look like local participation. It needs to look like a journey. And every journey starts with one person: You.
If you look at how Agenda 2020, now renamed Agenda 2030, Now renamed The Great Reset. If you look at the core of all of them, these are movements grounded in controlling people’s access to basic survival needs To food. To water. To shelter. To healthcare.
They seek to centrally organize it all.
If centally controlled food yields a target, well they how would centrally controlling just about everything not result in the biggest target this world has ever seen? How can it possibly result in prosperity for most rather than widespread suffering?
It cant.
And realizing that is what matters. Because when you are able to see that, you are able to shift your frame to what really matters. You are able to shift your frame from control to empowerment. From brainwashing to community.
And in that shift, you are able to see a pathway where you and your friends, you and your family, you and your community can create more secure, distributed means of covering people’s basic survival needs.
Think about this: If you have 2 cups of milk left for the next 7 days, and a faceless person across the world needs one of those cups of milk, are you likely to give it freely? Unlikely. You will need to be forced with threat of death because giving up that cup of milk could lead to your own starvation. But if your child needs one, what then? You will give your child both.
As we focus on finding local sources of food, of supporting them, of becoming them -- we increase the ability of those around us to flourish.
And this is what really matters. This is what is truly important. Finding ways to survive and thrive that do not become ginormous systems with an obvious achilles heel.
Last year when the weakness of the commercial food systems became obvious, people began looking to local farms for nourishment. It lasted as long as the shortages did. Once the convenience of grocery store options returned, people turned their backs on the very farms that were busting hump to cover local needs.
I have so many farmer friends who spent time and money ramping up their egg production only to discover that when Aldi’s $.49/dozen eggs returned, their $5/dozen eggs were no longer wanted. No matter that they had been there when Aldi was not to feed families.
I hear this story again and again.
Centralized food has hidden its real cost and quite frankly has made most of us cheap. We don;t care about quality we focus on price. But at what cost?
We are one cyber attack, one gas shortage, one well-placed bombing away from empty shelves.
It doesn’t have to be that way for you -- it is an easy problem to solve. Just look at what you need and decide how to either obtain it locally or produce it. Simple. A decentralized system needs producers. It needs eaters. It need distributors. It needs marketers and storytellers. But most of all, it needs a community that sees beyond the crisis, beyond the conspiracy. A community willing to participate in a decentralized food world. To put their money where their mouth is. Literally.
This is not something that has to happen all at once unless there is a rapid implosion. This is something you do step by step. Homesteaders need to evaluate their animal feed sources and practices. Eaters need a list of what they consume and where they get it -- then you can go through item by item and find an alternatives.
In the past year, The Holler Homestead has reduced our commercial needs to things like cleaning supplies, dog and catfood, and a handful of “treats”. Meat is raised here or obtained locally. Livestock feed is grown in Tennessee. We have added fodder plants to the homestead. We process vegetables grown here and close by. Almost all milk comes from a local dairy. This did not all happen at once.
Anyone who has listened to the podcast knows it has been a journey.
But I can tell you that once I solved the dairy problem (as in I do not want to be one, I want to support one), things just kept getting increasingly local and increasingly secure. Once I did that and no longer “needed” the $14/gallon milk. When it was time to sign up for another year, you can bet I did. We may not have a milk shortage this month, but if we do next month, I don’t care. When the meat processing network -- one of ONLY THREE in our country shut down due to a ransomware attack -- I don't care.
None of it matters anymore. The solution has been all around us the whole time.
It is right there next to you and around the corner. It is in your local area.
And if you live somewhere where it is not, time to start building it or move.
Because what really matters is addressing the achilles heels in your life and building up from there. Not the Rothschilds or the Pelosis. Not communism vs Fascicm. What matters is prosperity for you, for your family and for your community.
Keep your eye on the ball and take the next step.
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Today is a thought of the walk episode - a collection of short thoughts shared on a variety of topics. These thoughts are shared on Odysee every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, then produced as an audio podcast every other Friday.
Today’s Thoughts Include:
To view the videos for Thought of the Walk Episode, go here: Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@livingfree:b
They are also produced on Youtube as a playlist.
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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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Today, I share with you five things about raising meat rabbits that I have learned after having them for only two weeks.
What’s up in garden
Main Topic: 5 things about raising rabbits
Wish list: Tractoring system, watering system, cooling/shade set up, rabbit fodder seed blend.
Membership and Coffee Pitch
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The last two weeks have brought big, sad, life-changing things to many in our network. Today, I will talk through some things you can do for your friends and family when there really is nothing you can do to help.
Schedule this week (Rogue Food)
Chicken Processing Workshop June 14
Holler Homestead Open House June 26, 10am-3pm
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
Featured Forage: Hemlock
Operation Independence:
Main topic of the Show: What to Do When There Is Nothing You Can Do
#reach out (trite/stilted...dont read into a non response. Send a card or little gift)
#avoid discounting the pain or being that person who says turn that frown upside down. It is ok to be sad
#avoid sharing your similar sad story or anyone elses (two things, two friends...same day)
#Use your unique superpower to make their life a bit easier: (meal prep, childcare, offers of driving places, network, whatever it is)
#check in a few days later... ask do you want, not do you need.
#check in week/weeks/months later. They may not reach out to you.
Life brings hard situations and we can help our friends and family by listening. Asking questions, sharing photos and good stories...and using our superpowers. What we cant do is wave a magic wand, bring someone back to life, or fix a relationship.
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Song: Grandpa’s Song by Sauce
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
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Today is a thought of the walk episode - a collection of short thoughts shared on a variety of topics. These thoughts are shared on Odysee every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, then produced as an audio podcast every other Friday.
Today’s Thoughts Include:
To view the videos for Thought of the Walk Episode, go here: Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@livingfree:b
They are also produced on Youtube as a playlist.
Make it a great week!
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce. It makes a great Christmas Gift!
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I have had a bunch of emails come in in the last 2 weeks and rather than answer them in writing, I thought it would be fun to answer them in a listener variety show. Here is what we will cover today:
What’s Up in the Garden
Main topic of the Show: Listener Variety Show
Suggestion from Christopher that I do a podcast on how to start a home roasting business
Website and other recommendations requested from Melissa
Do you do tours of your homestead from Betsy
Getting started on a homestead when you know little about permaculture from Jim
How to get started with wild edible plants from Billy
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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Patrick Roehrman of MTKnives joins me today to talk about creating your best life. We recorded this right after the LFTN Spring Workshop.
Thought of the Walk Series
Email feedback to nicole@livingfreeintennessee.com
Resources
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
Featured Forrage: Potentialla Recta (Eurasian but growing here)
Operation Independence
Main topic of the Show: Your Best Life with Patrick Roehrman
Bio: Patrick Roehrman is a knife maker and bladesmith from Missouri whose handmade knives include highly collectible neck knives, custom hunting knives, custom survival knives, bushcraft knives and other hand-forged knives.
Why Patrick is cool
Interview
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It has been a long time since we did an episode on the Holler Homestead and what we are all doing here -- and yet this is one of the reason’s y’all tune in. Today is an update. An update on the Holler Homestead, and update on the Holler Neighbors, and an update on the progress toward living our lives on our terms and balance.
If you have been wondering what country life is all about, today is your day.
Webinar with Sue Zoldak Saturday at 4pm Central
Pirate Memes: https://piratememes.com/
Stump the Sauce
What’s Up in the Garden
Main topic of the Show: What’s Up in the Holler
New series - Thought of the Walk on Odysee: https://odysee.com/@livingfree:b45f9a0d7db001fed32d9547b04c8b0b7f1fa617
(No playlists there yet but will get that handled when there are)
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GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
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The invasion of BroodX is coming. No! It is here. Will your trees die? Will you get hurt? Do you need to protect your animals and children? We will talk about Cicadas and what to expect from the hatch.
Saturday Webinar with Sue Zoldak: Personal and Business Branding -- login to your membership area to register, or buy the webinar at LivingFreeinTennessee.com if you are not a member.
Chicken Processing Workshop - 5 seats left!
Email feedback to nicole@livingfreeintennessee.com
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
Featured Forage
Operation Independence
Main topic of the Show: Cicada Invasion
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Song: The Flood by Sauce
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
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John Pugliano of Investable Wealth and the Wealthsteading Podcast joins me to discuss how to get recognized and build personal success - weather you run your own business or work in a career.
Chicken Processing Workshop June 14
May 22 at 4pm Central: Sue Zoldak on Personal and Business Branding
Show Resources
Main content of the show
John Pugliano is a late blooming entrepreneur and the founder of Investable Wealth, LLC an independent fee only investment advisory firm. John served in the military for 7 years before starting a 20 year corporate career in sales and marketing of industrial products.
More importantly he followed his passion and honed his skills as an individual investor for over 25 years before becoming an investment adviser. Understanding the plight of the retail investor, he advises clients using the experience he gained while managing his own portfolio. John his the host of the Wealthsteading Podcast.
Interview
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GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
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Today we talk about finding your reset in times of high productivity, overwhelming task lists and ever-changing requirements that come from living the life you want to live.
Announcements:
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
Operation Independence
Main topic of the Show: Find your reset
25 mile hike that turned into 23 miles because we found a shortcut.
Why backpacking:
What you should do: what works for you? Clubbing, a trip to the spa? International travel? Volunteering at a food bank? Church? Kayaking? Hunting?
Finding your reset is different for everyone.
List what characteristics must be there:
Set the stage for a true reset (handling of urgencies while you are resetting, addressing I cant leave, money matters, duration) --- choir story
Pregame your thinking - decide why you are going - or decide that you are resetting to find the why of it all. Think about this in advance so your mind is set to noodle while you go.
Use a reset to celebrate your successes -- the hike was set for after the LFTN workshop on purpose.
Track your lessons learned:
Finding your reset amid times of high stress opens your mind to simple solutions, helps protect your health, and brings perspective.
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Song: Wolf by Sauce
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
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Today we talk with John Moody, author of Winning the War on Weeds, family and farm guy, facilitator of Abby’s Elderberry, permaculturist extraordinaire and founder of The Rogue Food Conference. We talk about food freedom, why go rogue and much more.
Chicken Processing Workshop June 14
What’s Up in the Garden
Main topic of the show: Become a Food Ninja at Rogue Food
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GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
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