Today I'm coming to you live from the Midwest Preparedness Project Fall Festival with a few of the people who make events like this worth showing up for. We talk about building a life on your own terms, knowing when to reset, raising capable kids, testing your gear before you need it, and why the conversations around the campfire may matter more than anything happening on stage.

Midwest Preparedness Project Fall Festival

• Midwest Preparedness Project
• Red Flyer Media

• Dawn Gorham of The Gorham Homestead
  • Going from working in the court system to running her own dairy
  • How Self-Reliance Festival and community helped her make the leap
  • Why sometimes the first thing you try is the wrong thing — and that is still progress
  • Goats, milk cows, and learning what livestock can teach you the hard way
  • Building confidence by doing the thing
  • Realizing the skills from your old life may transfer directly into the new one
  • Knowing when you have reached maximum capacity
  • Creating margin instead of trying to keep every plate spinning
  • Getting back to your purpose when it is time for a reset
  • Building stronger local food networks

The Gorum Homestead: https://thegorhamhomestead.com

• Britt Baker of Mission Brit
  • Growing up homeschooled and around preparedness before calling it preparedness
  • Mission work, including time in Africa, and how that changed her perspective
  • Why your mission may be much closer to home than you think
  • Helping people identify what is holding them back from their mission or purpose
  • What makes preparedness events different
  • Why the people around you are often the most valuable part of an event
  • Getting out of your comfort zone and actually talking to people
  • Testing your gear before you need it
  • Camping as a practical way to build confidence
  • Finding out the hard way that preparedness gear does eventually wear out
• Sydney and Craig
  • How having kids changed the way they looked at the world
  • Parenting as an investment of time and attention
  • Moving away from the expectations they grew up with
  • Raising kids with fewer screens
  • Why removing something from your family culture means replacing it with something better
  • Being present instead of simply adding more activities
  • Helping kids develop creativity and independence in a rapidly changing technological world
  • Consumption versus creation
  • Why preparedness festivals create opportunities to participate instead of simply consume
  • Prioritizing what you actually plan to implement instead of trying to do everything
  • The friendships that happen when you talk to the person sitting next to you
  • Creating enough margin for deeper conversations
  • Their vision for Homeschool on Homestead, a small homeschool-style learning environment for families who cannot homeschool themselves

• Talk to people. You have no idea who is sitting next to you.
• Don't dismiss somebody's crazy idea before asking a few questions.
• Sometimes the thing that fails is what gets you to the thing that works.
• Learn how your livestock can hurt you before they demonstrate it.
• When everything feels like too much, go back to your purpose.
• Your local community matters.
• Use your preparedness gear now, not for the first time during an emergency.
• Kids need space to create, think, participate, and learn.
• When you remove something from your life, replace it with something that moves you toward what you actually want.
• Don't go too hard too fast. Prioritize.
• Some of the best things that happen at events like this are nowhere on the schedule.

Get your coffee at Holler Roast Coffee: https://hollerroast.com

Make it a Great Week!

Today we have our First Tuesday Coffee with John Willis of Special Operations Equipment, Jack Spirko of The Survival Podcast, and Nicole Sauce of Living Free in Tennessee. As usual, we wander through business, preparedness, current events, building your life, and whatever else comes up over coffee.

Soil & Microscopy Intensive – October 2 & 3 Alan Booker, Chase Jones and Nicole Sauce at Holler Homestead https://livingfreeintennessee.com/event/soil-and-microscopy-intensive/

SOE Party – October 10 Free to attend and free to vend. RSVP so John knows how much food and how many porta potties to get. https://SOETacticalGear.com

The Survival Podcast Fall Workshop – November Registration opens September 19 at 9 AM Central and usually sells out FAST. https://TheSurvivalPodcast.com

• Remembering Dolly Parton and the difference between genuine people and fake media

• Tight budgets, layoffs and making yourself useful

• Stop underpricing your work

• Entrepreneurship, employment and preparing for a changing job market

• Housing costs, building codes and why modern houses suck

• Mold, drywall and healthier building

• Beef imports, wild horses and doing the math on internet conspiracies

• Government overreach, census takers, game wardens and learning to say no

• Build something instead of letting doom invade your life

• Family, kids and personal responsibility

• Generators, fuel, critical-load solar and actually testing your preps

• Harbor Freight, battery adapters and inexpensive tools that work

• Shipping, Amazon, Walmart and what your time is actually worth

• Upsells, customer value and lessons from companies that are really good at getting your money

TheSurvivalPodcast.com SOETacticalGear.com LivingFreeinTennessee.com

Mewe Group: https://mewe.com/join/lftn Telegram Group: https://t.me/LFTNGroup Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@livingfree:b

Make it a Great Week

Homestead happenings

Today I am joined by the Tactical Redneck to discuss the latest from the Holler Homestead: It''s HEEERE, Sheep Hammock, Preparing for SRF, more.

Featured Event: Self Reliance Festival. Get Tickets Here https://selfreliancefestival.com/

Sponsor 1: The Wealthsteading Podcast: https://wealthsteading.com/

Sponsor 2: DiscountMylarBags.com: Https://DiscountMylarBags.com

Topics:

• Canned Food Book Shelf
• Mini Skid Is Here!
• Fair is wrapped up
• Mint taking over swim spa area
• Home to Homestead Audit Beginning
• Wood Stove Matters
• Good News About Duplex Foundation - I side will be for rent Starting Sept 1
• Farm To Table Small Group

Make it a great week!

Today we're talking about what it really looks like to go from a home to a homestead, and I get to answer a question I've been asked for years in real time: If I had it all to do over again, what would I do differently?

LFTN Stocking Exchange

• Reminder that the LFTN Stocking Exchange is coming up. Get it on your radar!

Featured Event: Soil Microscopy Class

• Soil and Microscopy Intensive
• Learn to look at what is actually happening in your soil and better understand the biology that makes healthy soil work.
• LivingFreeInTennessee.com

Sponsors

Above Phone

• AbovePhone.com

Strong Roots Resources

• StrongRootsResources.com

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

• Building new shelves
• Consolidating freezer fat
• Meatloaf is the big project of the week
• Processed all peppers for salsa futures

Frugality Tip: 100% Cotton Throws

• Buy a cotton blanket at Aldi for $15
• Sew it in half and you get two throws for the price of one
• No unnatural plastic yuck in your throws

Operation Independence

• SRF sponsorship has really come through!
• Holler Roast is up 20% since the weeks of the fair
• Thanks, y'all!

Main Topic: From Home To Homestead

One of the questions I get when on panels and suck is "If you had it to do all over again, how would you build your homestead?" Or "What are the 2 or 3 biggest mistakes you made early on in building your homestead?"

As homestead advising types we tend to tell people to build things one at a time and go slowly so that you can get your systems working. Or we say get a permaculture plan in place first. Or we have more practical advice like infrastructure before livestock, get your zone 0 in place before you do anything else, etc

All these things are true and not true at the same time

• What is homesteading? The eternal question, more controversial than what is off grid? (Reminds me of the how libertarian are you arguments)
• Homestead Where You Are
• Is land required?
• Mindset change
• Ongoing learning

Then came the question: If you had it all to fro over again

• Holler Hub being developed for a year with Basecamp Lodge as the event center
• Fighting a type one error at the Holler Homestead where I live
• Acceleration of the challenges this year, remediation, health impacts, processing past grief and letting things go that hold you back (Resentment episode)

So if I had it to do all over again, how would I build my homestead differently? That is a question you can't really answer unless you are doing it

• The opportunity
• The reality: move, brought almost nothing with me, sourcing all new personal items as well as transforming basecamp into a homestead that can accommodate events AND serve as a live learning model for others who want an immersive experience in growing food and health living
• Pros: I own the property and home
• Its got good bones
• I have the experience and connections to do this right
• We are already set up with a basement classroom and open concept kitchen that works great for teaching
• I have income streams developed
• I am really good at "If I cannot do x then what CAN I do?
• Cons: this is a normal house not a home set up to accommodate pantry, power outages, processing animals and food, gardening, etc. (Now fuel efficient)
• I come to this without the funds to do it in my personal checking account
• I am still encumbered by past messes (although fewer) that I have made for. Myself
• This will be very much like when I was younger on the homestead and was just starting out, only I am not, in fact younger :D
• Plastics

So how will we start? The assessment is this week. What have we got? What do we need? How will we navigate what to do first?

This may become the constant topic of the podcast or a segment - I don't really know, But it is the BUILDING of the Holler Hub in real time and I am excited to finally answer the question for real - what would you do if you had it all to do over again? I guess we will find out.

But one thing is true - the one most important part of homesteading that you can never let languish - BE FEARLESS.

Homestead happenings

Today I am joined by the Tactical Redneck to discuss the latest from the Holler Homestead: Finances, big moves, broken 4 wheelers and more.

Featured Event: September 19 Farm to Table Dinner - Email me for sponsorship. Get Tickets Here https://livingfreeintennessee.com/event/farm-to-table/

Spponsor 1: https://abovephone.com/?above=104

AbovePhone.com Code: LiveFreeTN

Sponsor 2: AgoristTaxAdvice.com/LFTN

Topics:

Mini Skin Steer Is Not Here

4 Wheeler Situation

Some weeks it is hard to get lots done on the homestead: State Fair update, Duplex update

BIG MOVES- Basecamp

Financial Tracking Upgrade

Today, I will cover our usual segments as well as Last week, a listener asked a question that led us on an adventure about how to let go of the clutter in your life that are things you may not be things you LOVE but you love the person or memory that they trigger discuss what to do when all your green beans get ripe at the same time. Spoiler: You handle too many green beans much differently than too many tomatoes.

Featured Event:Farm to Table Experience on September 19th at 1pm at the Holler Homestead in Lancaster, TN. $115 https://livingfreeintennessee.com/event/farm-to-table/

Sponsor 1: The Wealthsteading Podcast https://wealthsteading.com/

Sponsor 2: Strong Roots Resources: https://strongrootsresources.com/

Tales From The Prepper Pantry

• Green bean update 53
• Smoked butts
• Schnitzel Saves the Day
• Shelving Idea for Basecamp Classroom

Frugality Tip

Most of us have tile somewhere in our house, and I have tried all kinds of things to get the grout lines clean. I personally have spent lots of money on a variety of cleaners. Well here you go: grab some peroxide and a toothbrush and prepare to be as amazed as I was. The grout looks brand new. So stop trying all of these weird chemicals that don't actually clean anything and go back to the basics.

Operation Independence

• Duplex Update

Summer Time brings me memories of lazy days at the family pool, mom in the kitchen processing food or in the garden tending things. Picking strawberries at 4 in the morning, then getting home by 3 or 4 to shower and do it all over again.

It was lazy but not lazy.

There was always a sense of go with the flow in the summer where I grew up. And back then, a kid could still earn pocket money in the fields.

Sometimes I miss that life, but it was also work. And perhaps that is why I find it fun to do the garden work or the canning work.

Once again, I got the call every homesteader wants to get: Hey do you want all the green beans in one of my rows? I have too many.

And it was hot, I had just spent 2 days painting and only had a single day to prepare for a Saturday event here. So I said.

YES PLEASE!

Last week we talked about how to process an abundance of tomatoes by basically NOT processing them. This week it is beans. Ways to preserve green beans

• Pickled
• Blanched and frozen
• Blanched and freeze dried
• Blanched and dehydrated
• Canned

Timeline

• Canning and pickling
• Blanching and Freezing or drying
• Compost

Pre-freezing green beans for canning still means you need to blanch them so - why bother?

My Secret to processing so many beans in just 24 hours - it was either a bushel and a half or 2 bushels.

• Presto electric canner
• Tapping into the in-between times
• One Last Batch at night
• How the supplies are organized
• Cleanup in between batches so I could also cook meals

In sum: Hard work but not really that hard

Recipes with green beans

• Steamed or boiled, drained, butter and spiced
• Pan seared
• Roasted
• Green Bean Salads
• Green bean eggy saute

Make it a great week.

Today I am joined by the Tactical redneck to discuss updates from the Holler Homestead. Nuking the house, gardening for future you, sometimes you just get peed on, Mini Skid Incoming and Tactical CANT WAIT.

Featured Event: Self Reliance Festival MWPP Takeover on September 10.

Sponsor 1: TheWealthsteadingpodcast.com

Sponsor 2: AbovePhone.com

Topics:

Mini Skid Steer

What its like without T - and how we have set it up for success

Planning for SRF, being gone

Nuking my house

Getting Peed On

Gardening for future you (compost)

Presto Electric Canner and real life

Ducks to bed working better

State Fair Meal Planning

Fencing Class Update, and webinar ,October 12

Today we talk about purging the sentimental stuff, from ball gowns and family heirlooms to someday projects that never seem to get done. How do you decide what stays, what goes, and how do you let go of things that carry memories without feeling guilty about it?

Featured Event

Homemade Condiments: The Secret Is in the Sauce Holler Homestead • $75

Learn how to make mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup and homemade salad dressing from scratch, including what I've learned from failing mayonnaise, mushroom ketchup, and how to build your own salad dressing flavor profiles.

LivingFreeInTennessee.com/event/condiments

Sponsors

Strong Roots Resources StrongRootsResources.com

Agorist Tax Advice AgoristTaxAdvice.com/LFTN

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

• 49 jars of green beans put up, with four more jars worth coming out of the garden

• Using the Presto electric pressure canner alongside the regular pressure canner to get more done

• Purging old food from the pantry that we simply don't eat anymore

• Cooking with what we grow: squash, pork, homemade tomato sauce, herbs, garlic and onions

• What regenerative soil does for the flavor and nutrition of the food we grow

• Getting a "second flush" of cream by letting the raw milk sit longer before skimming

Frugality Tip

• It's clearance season for gardening and summer supplies

• Look for deals on hoses, sprinklers, connectors, grills, pools and plants

• Back-to-school season also means deals on office supplies

• Stocking up on good journals while prices are low

Operation Independence

• Picking a huge batch of green beans from Trippy Acres

Main Topic: Purging the Sentimental

• How sentimental stuff quietly turns your home into storage for decisions you don't want to make

• Why grief can turn us into repositories for family heirlooms nobody else wants to deal with

• Stuff begets more stuff: once you're the person who says yes, everyone knows where to send the family heirlooms

• The ball gowns I loved, wore, no longer fit into and finally decided to let go

• Giving the original giver the right of refusal when something may still matter to them

• Being grateful for a gift does not mean you have to store it forever

• Letting go of useful things that are no longer the right things

• Why keeping the old thing until you replace it can leave you surrounded by worn-out shoes, furniture and other junk

• Getting rid of something can force you to finally find the solution you actually want

• Looking at what you want to do in a space before deciding what deserves to stay there

• Why boxes of old technology, cables and unused cameras are keeping me from having my sewing table

• If something can easily be replaced for $20–$50 and you haven't used it, consider letting it go

• Trusting that you can get what you need when you actually need it

• Keeping things because Grandpa or Grandma made them, even when you don't particularly like them

• Taking a picture when you want to preserve the memory without preserving the object

• Choosing the sentimental things you genuinely love instead of keeping every sentimental thing

• Keeping Grandpa's ironwood roadrunner instead of every object he made

• Vintage clothing, family glassware, quilts and other inherited things that carry emotional weight

• If another relative will be upset when you get rid of something, give them the opportunity to take it

• Don't transfer your guilt by forcing sentimental things onto someone else

• How physical clutter, financial clutter, paper clutter and mental clutter feed one another

• Clearing things out has created more than physical space—it has created space in my brain and in my day

• Making room for the things I actually want to do: swimming, singing, playing piano and writing songs

• Getting rid of the someday projects

• The broken chair you're someday going to repair

• The supplies you bought for a project six months ago and still haven't used

• Buying supplies for the project you're actually going to do now instead of the one you might someday do

• The emotionally difficult someday projects, including an embroidered pillow cover my grandmother intended for a baby I never had

• Either do the thing or make a decision about the thing—don't let it live forever in a someday pile

• Why centering your identity in old memorabilia can keep you looking backward instead of building your future

• You can appreciate the memories without allowing the objects attached to them to control your space

• It's okay to be ruthless

• Keep the things that genuinely matter. Preserve a picture when that's enough. Give things to people who actually want them. Then move forward.

Reference Links

Living Free in Tennessee LivingFreeInTennessee.com

Holler Roast Coffee

HollerRoast.com

Make It A Great Week!

Today I am joined by Tori the Mom to talk about the wildfires that came within a mile of her home in Spokane, what it was like to watch evacuation zones move toward her neighborhood, and what she learned when preparedness suddenly became real. We talk about evacuation plans, knowing more than one way out, preparing kids and animals, cash, gas, communications, technology that helped her stay ahead of the fire, and the things she plans to do differently next time.

Featured Event

The Art of Containment: How to Contain Small Ruminants with Fencing

Saturday at 10 AM

We will cover how electric fencing works, running stranded wire for small ruminants, rechargeable systems when you don't have power nearby, and our "graveyard of shame" of fencing ideas that didn't work.

LivingFreeInTennessee.com

Sponsors

The Wealthsteading Podcast with John Pugliano InvestableWealth.com

Strong Roots Resources StrongRootsResources.com

Topics Covered

• Meet Tori the Mom and how she became part of the LFTN community
• Tori and her sister's 20 acres of raw land near Loon Lake, Washington
• Her plans to build a retreat for wives and ex-wives of alcoholics
• Why making the big, hard-to-reverse decisions on raw land is different from cutting trails and experimenting
• Watching the Spokane wildfires go from "that's way over there" to evacuation zones within about a mile of Tori's house
• How high winds, dry conditions and flying embers allowed the fire to jump the river and move rapidly toward town
• What happened when Watch Duty and county emergency alerts suddenly started going off
• Knowing when it is time to stop watching and start packing
• Why camping is excellent practice for evacuation
• Teaching kids what to pack and identifying the few irreplaceable things you actually want to grab
• Keeping identification, important documents, cash and small irreplaceable items ready to go
• Why knowing multiple ways out of your neighborhood matters
• Practicing driving without GPS and learning how to navigate when familiar landmarks or street signs are gone
• How Tori's habit of taking different routes around Spokane gave her more options when evacuation traffic became a problem
• Planning meetup locations in multiple directions when family members may be separated
• Why your relatives living nearby doesn't necessarily give you somewhere to evacuate
• Gas, cash and snacks: three simple preps Tori realized she needed to have ready before an emergency
• Starting with some emergency cash instead of getting stuck because you can't immediately set aside the "perfect" amount
• Why Tori needs to practice actually loading her dogs and cats into the cars
• Having enough animal carriers and figuring out what will actually fit in your vehicle before you need it
• Desensitizing yourself to stressed, noisy animals so their reaction doesn't derail you during an emergency
• How Tori turned emergency practice into the "zombies" game when her kids were young—and why they still remembered it when the wildfire came
• Debriefing with kids after an emergency and giving teenagers responsibility for part of the family's preparedness
• Why practicing your plans matters more than simply thinking through them
• How community helped Tori stay calmer, troubleshoot problems and know that people were watching out for her
• The value of having community outside your immediate geographic area when everyone near you may be dealing with the same emergency
• Watch Duty, regional emergency alerts, weather forecasts, FlightRadar, Facebook groups and a police scanner as sources Tori used to follow the fire
• Using wind direction and future wind predictions to decide whether it was safe to sleep or whether conditions might change overnight
• Watching firefighting aircraft and listening to scanner traffic to understand what was actually happening
• Ember guards for attic vents as something to investigate for homes in wildfire country
• Knowing the specific risks where you live and building your preparedness around them
• Why Tori's biggest takeaway is simple: practice packing, practice loading the car and know what absolutely has to go with you

Reference Links

The Wealthsteading Podcast InvestableWealth.com

Strong Roots Resources StrongRootsResources.com

Living Free in Tennessee LivingFreeInTennessee.com

Watch Duty

FlightRadar

HipCamp

Tori's Property

Shielstra Braehaven on HipCamp 20 acres of raw, forested land near Loon Lake, Washington

Holler Roast Coffee

HollerRoast.com

Make It A Great Week!

Today I am joined by the Tactical Redneck for our weekly update from Holler Homestead. We catch up on what's been happening around the farm, share an upcoming class at Basecamp Lodge, answer listener questions, and spend most of the episode talking about fencing. We cover the pressure-tested fencing supplies we've come to trust, the lessons we've learned after building miles of fence in rocky Tennessee soil, and the skills that actually make someone an asset when it's time to build infrastructure on the homestead.

Featured Event

Homemade Condiments Class Friday, August 22 • Holler Homestead

Learn to make your own mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, salad dressings, and more. You'll taste a variety of recipes and head home with a homemade dressing you make in class.

$75 https://livingfreeintennessee.com/event/condiments/

Sponsors

Strong Roots Resources https://StrongRootsResources.com

The Wealthsteading Podcast https://InvestableWealth.com

Topics Covered

• Updates from Holler Homestead

• Nashville duplex project and staging it for sale

• Announcing the Homemade Condiments Class at Basecamp Lodge: https://livingfreeintennessee.com/event/condiments/

• Combining FAMACHA scoring with routine flock maintenance

• Why rotational grazing becomes more challenging with four flocks

• A deep dive into electric fencing on rocky and hilly Tennessee ground

• Lessons learned from building and rebuilding fence

• The pressure-tested fencing products and brands we've come to trust

• Where it's worth spending money on fencing supplies

• The tools that make fencing faster and more reliable

• The skills that make someone genuinely valuable on a fencing crew

• Why careful planning saves far more time than hard work alone

• Building better homestead systems instead of repeating the same mistakes

Reference Links

Strong Roots Resources https://StrongRootsResources.com

The Wealthsteading Podcast https://InvestableWealth.com

Holler Roast Coffee https://HollerRoast.com THE FENCING SUPPLIES LIST FROM TACTICAL

Recommend Companies

American Grazing Lands

https://www.americangrazinglands.com

Farm Fence Solutions

https://www.shopfarmfencesolutions.com

Power Flex Fence

https://powerflexfence.com

Premier 1

https://www.premier1supplies.com

Geared Reels

O'Briens

https://powerflexfence.com/collections/reels/products/ogr-obrien-gear-reel

Speedrite

https://www.premier1supplies.com/p/speedrite-geared-reel?cat_id=49

Strainrite

https://www.shopfarmfencesolutions.com/31-geared-wheel-27897645.html

Taragate

https://www.americangrazinglands.com/collections/portable-fencing-supplies/products/taragate-geared-reel

Gallagher

https://powerflexfence.com/collections/reels/products/gallagher-reel-standard-1320

Wire and Jumper Wire

Poly Wire

Powerflex Fence - 1/2 Mile - 2640ft Super 9 PolyBraid

https://www.americangrazinglands.com/collections/portable-fencing-supplies/products/polybraid-mixed-metals-6-stainless-3-tin-copper-strands-2640

Jumper Wire

https://www.americangrazinglands.com/collections/portable-fencing-supplies/products/jumper-lead

Step In Post

Strainrite - Multi Wire Tread In Post

https://www.shopfarmfencesolutions.com/multi-wire-tread-in-post-pk-10.html

Steel Post, Multiwire Tread In

https://www.shopfarmfencesolutions.com/steel-post-multiwire-tread-in-pk-10.html

O'Brien Tredaline Post - White

https://powerflexfence.com/collections/fence-posts/products/obtp-white-obrien-tredaline-post-white

FenceGard Tread -In Post, White

https://powerflexfence.com/collections/fence-posts/products/powertredin-post-white-box-50

Fence Charger

110 - Cyclops Super, 12 Joule, 110V AC Powered Energizer

https://cyclopsfence.com/collections/ac-mains-powered-energizers/products/cyclops-super-12-joule-110v-ac-powered-energizer

12V - Cyclops Super, 12 Joule, DC Battery Powered Energizer

https://cyclopsfence.com/collections/battery-powered-energizers/products/cyclops-super-12-joule-200-acre-12v-dc-battery-powered-energizer

Fence Tester

Speedrite Digital Fault Finder ST100

https://cyclopsfence.com/collections/fence-testers/products/speedrite-digital-fault-finder-st100-free-usa-shipping

Insolaters

2" Offset Screw-In Ring Insulator (Pack of 25)

https://www.americangrazinglands.com/collections/insulators/products/2-offset-screw-in-ring-insulator

6" Offset Screw-In Ring Insulator

https://www.americangrazinglands.com/collections/insulators/products/6-offset-screw-in-ring-insulator

XL Ring Offset Insulator 6"

https://www.premier1supplies.com/p/xl-ring-offset-insulator?cat_id=46

Make It A Great Week!