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A Tennessee homestead can feel like Little House on the Prairie one minute and a high-tech control room the next, and today I’m giving you the honest, boots-on-the-ground update from the middle of it all. It’s Mother’s Day, I’m planting the garden and packaging chickens, and I’m trying to keep my head on straight while contractors come and go and the farm keeps moving.

I walk through the new idea I’m launching in June: a Sunset Farmers Market on our farm. Think string lights, food trucks, and live music, built for one reason, community. I’m not charging vendors and I’m not trying to make a profit. I want a welcoming place for neighbors to gather, support local makers, and slow down in real life, especially when so many people feel disconnected.

Then we get practical with homesteading systems: tomatoes and peppers going in, weed barrier and hilled rows, and an eight-foot deer fence to protect the garden. I share what’s working with chickens, including processing updates and why I had to fence in free-ranging birds to keep the milking area clean. We also talk rotational grazing basics, resting pasture, building soil fertility with chicken tractors, and the long-game mindset it takes to improve land.

On the preparedness side, I break down the Flojak hand-crank well pump install, plus a solar generator setup that can keep my milk chill tank cold during outages. I also address the pushback I got for using AI to make a flyer, why I’m taking a ChatGPT class for streamlining my small farm business, and a quick personal health update as I ease into menopause.

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