Small Scale Life Podcast

In this episode, I am on the road and talking about building community.  Humans are social creatures.  We are not meant to live in this world alone.  Sometimes we do need to “have a little help from our friends.”

My questions to you are:

Unfortunately in modern Western Civilization, the answer is probably no.  I have to admit: I need to work on this as well.  We are going to make some changes to Small Scale Life to help you build community around you, where ever you are. 

For more on that, please head over to Small Scale Life to read the post that has more thoughts, information and links.

Canning is a method of saving that nutritious food for later seasons. You fill your own jars and know what exactly you are eating. That is so critical these days where we seem to have a food advisory, recall notice or flat out parasite infestation (hello McDonald's, Trader Joe’s, Krogers and Walgreens) almost daily.

By growing and preserving your own food, you will have the satisfaction of knowing just what hands have handled your food and what is in your jars.

To learn more about canning, go to [Small Scale Life](www.smallscalelife.com) for more.

Today’s podcast, post and YouTube videos are particularly timely.  In the Small Scale Life Facebook Group, our friend and new gardener Alex has a great question:

“My tomatoes are so out of control and are completely shading my peppers. I have at least 10 peppers that have stopped growing and those are my favorite.  Can I cut back the tomatoes? Can I attempt transplanting the peppers? At this rate the peppers are not going to grow so these are my only two options besides just pulling them.” – Alex from Illinois.

There is no need to pull the peppers!  I think we can figure out a way to aggressively prune tomatoes and get more sunlight to those peppers.

Be advised: by aggressively pruning, you will get more tomatoes from your plants!  I think you can handle it though.

For more information about How to Prune Tomatoes, head over to Small Scale Life ([smallscalelife.com](www.smallscalelife.com)) for the post, videos, pictures and more!

It has been a while since I have been on the Small Scale Life Podcast. I have been a busy boy doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that, traveling around the country taking care of business. I look forward to staying home and getting some of my own projects done. I want to have a level of success getting those projects done too!

How do you get through that shut down mindset, get things done and achieve some level of success?

To read more, please go to the article on [Small Scale Life](www.smallscalelife.com) titled Midweek Motivation Lesson – 3P’s of Success

We have hit Mid-July, and we are well beyond that old farm saying “knee high by the 4th of July” for corn.  We are on the back half of Stage 2 of the 2018 Garden Season, and it is time for another Garden Update.  There is a lot happening in the garden, and I can really see a difference in my plants due to soil treatments and plants I grew in 2017.  There is a lot to see in this Mid-July Garden Update including a discussion about the main garden, new fence, vertical garden, the patio herb garden, and perennial plants.  Keep in mind that August is just around the corner, and it is going to get very busy as we start preserving our harvest!

For more on this podcast and lots of pictures and videos of the garden, head over the [Small Scale Life](www.smallscalelife.com) and see more!

I find myself traveling more and more these days for work and for life.  As I travel, I see things that capture my eye and interest as I roll over the back roads and explore towns of all shapes and sizes.  In an effort to capture some of my thoughts, observations and adventures on the road, I am going to start recording and posting "On the Road" podcasts.  This podcast is focused on my observations and thoughts as I explored in the areas around Tomah, Wisconsin.

Recently, I went to Tomah, Wisconsin, and spent a few days in the area.  I had the opportunity to explore a number of towns in Monroe County.  I had such a great trip to that part of Wisconsin that just recharged my batteries and took me back to my roots.  Driving home, I had time to reflect about the trip, our house in Minneapolis and the future.

For pictures and thougths about my trip to Tomah, please go to the article at Small Scale Life!

Last week during the garden update, I discussed my new vertical garden planters made from two vinyl gutters.  After I posted the article and podcast, I realized that it had been a while since I discussed this topic, and I have never discussed how to build vertical gardens on fences before. In this post and episode, I will discuss the following topics:

Vertical gardens are growing techniques that take advantage of unused vertical space to grow vegetables, herbs or flowers. There are several types of vertical gardening techniques that can be used effectively in any garden:

I have used both techniques effectively over the years. I am a huge fan of trellis gardening, and I use trellises exclusively for a number of plants in my garden. I will have another article that discusses my trellis and technique.

Vertical Garden 101: Introduction to Vertical Gardening

There has been a lot of change since those articles and podcasts! The Plant Charmer has expanded his farming operation using vertical gardening techniques exclusively, and I have relocated from St. Louis Park to the current homestead in Minneapolis.

For more about How to Build Vertical Garden Planters on Fences including a step-by-step guide and material list for building a vertical garden, check out Small Scale Life!

We are rapidly rolling through June, and by now your plants should be really starting to grow.  In this episode, it is time for another Garden Update, and while our gardens might be growing, our plants are under siege from common garden pests of all shapes and sizes.  I am dealing with some common garden pests here in my small raised beds, and I wanted to give you a head’s up about some common, and one unusual, pest before too many of you lose productive plants.

In addition, I expanded my garden space by adding two vinyl gutters two weeks ago!  I have discussed these kind of gardens before in the Vertical Garden 101: Introduction to Vertical Gardening and Vertical Garden 102: How to Build a Vertical Garden posts.  I provide some thoughts about these type of gardens in this podcast in this environment.

How are your plants doing so far this season?  We are  moving into a point of no return for the 2018 season.  What do I mean?  With us getting into late June, there is a point where plants like tomatoes, peppers, squash or zucchini cannot be replaced and still generate a decent harvest this season.  The bottom line is that if you lose a plant any later in the season, it will be difficult to replace it.

This is why pests are so difficult when they show up in the garden.  I am sure pests have their place in the world; however, they do not have a place in my gardens where I have been working hard to create healthy and happy plants and produce to feed my family.

Without much ado, I am going to discuss how the garden is doing and some of the common garden pests I am dealing with this season.  Some of these pests have been more destructive than others, but regardless, you have to check your garden daily and make sure that you address and dispatch each pest quickly.

For more information, please see the article on Small Scale Life.

Midweek Motivation is a weekly episode featuring the wisdom and stories of host Tommy Cakes. This week, Tommy is on the road in Central Wisconsin and up to his neck in cranberry bogs. In this episode, Tommy discusses his busy life on the road and how he is trying to adjust to it.

For more information about this episode, please read more on [Small Scale Life](www.smallscalelife.com).

June is moving right along, and I hope you are doing well! A while back, I had a great conversation about Homesteading in Ohio with Daniel Bokros. Daniel is one of the Ohio Get Stuff Done Crew, and he has his own homestead called the Red Dog Ranch. In this podcast, we discuss his journey from the Marine Corps to the homestead in the Ohio countryside including real community, land, Joel Salatin, building soil, bees, pressure canning, chicken pigs and cows. That is a lot to pack into an hour!

Check out more and get more detail on [Small Scale Life](www.smallscalelife.com)e!