We are rats in a cage...if we allow it.

Today's episode is about learning to recognize and step back from narratives that pit us against an "other". I will go over how to identify them, what the real purpose of such a narrative is (HINT - it ain't in your best interest!), and, most importantly, how to take right action amidst the engineered conflict that would have you spend your life energy on things that don't better your life.

We're going to start by talking about "shock-induced aggression" in rats - and some of the very important findings that shed some light on what we've been living though in recent times, especially in the last three years during the manufactured CoVID scare. We'll cover what Mass Formation is and the conditions required for it to emerge at scale in a population; 1) isolation and poor social bonds, 2) reason and sense-making in short supply, 3) free-floating anxiety (a "fear" climate), and 4) rage (anger directed at an "other").

Then we'll talk about what we should be doing instead of squaring off against the "other", and that is focusing our energy on things we can control and influence (i.e. things that are much closer to home than anything the TV says you should be outraged about) that are generative - meaning they compound in their ability to help us live a high quality of life.

Show Resources

• Rats In A Cage - Peak Prosperity
• Rat Study 1971
• Rat Study 1964
• Rat Study Diagram
• Influence of Supine Posture on Rat Aggression
• Influence of Isolation on Rat Aggression
• Mattias Desmet interview w/ Chris Martenson

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WHAT I DO:

Design:

On-Site Consultation

Online Site/Project Consultation

Holistic Ecosystem Design

Implementation:

Water Harvesting Earthworks

High-function, Low-Maintenance Access

Living Systems

Spring Development

Courses:

Minimum Holistic Goal

Media:

The Sovereign Homestead Podcast

YouTube

Instagram

Music by Alex Grohl

In this week's episode I walk through the process we've used to guide our family conversations about finding that "family land" for the long haul. Finding land with family can be a dicey endeavor - it requires honesty, real listening and everyone coming with the goal of understanding one another. If you come to a family land search with the idea of convincing everyone to see things your way, it's going to cause lots of drama and potentially damage some of the most valuable relationships in your life.

I'll take you through the three main parts of our family's process:

1. Developing individual Quality of Life Statements - a clear one paragraph description of how each individual wants their life to be based on what they value most. This is step 2 from the Minimum Holistic Goal Creation Course.
2. Setting individual Boundary Conditions for beginning your geographic search - start with the two essential lists of boundary criteria; Must Haves and Deal Breakers. Get clear on what you must have and what you will not accept and, most importantly, WHY. Criteria Categories include Natural Resources, Climate, Legal, Taxes, Community/Cultural Amenities, Sound...and whatever else you need to speak!
3. Share it with your people - THis is where the rubber meets the road - actually communicating your desired Quality of Life and Boundary Conditions. We developed a protocol we call "Stick Conversations" to make sure everyone got to say their piece in a way that helped everyone else understand, while minimizing opportunities for hurt feelings, project, judgement etc.

I hope this episode will help you have similar conversations with your family, or any group of people near and dear to you, so that all are better off for having had them. Done right, even when points of conflict are unearthed, sharing this introspective work with your inner circle can bring everyone closer together.

____________________________________________________________________________

WHAT I DO:

Design:

On-Site Consultation

Online Site/Project Consultation

Holistic Ecosystem Design

Implementation:

Water Harvesting Earthworks

High-function, Low-Maintenance Access

Living Systems

Spring Development

Courses:

Minimum Holistic Goal

Media:

The Sovereign Homestead Podcast

YouTube

Instagram

Music by Alex Grohl

Join me today for a critical-thinking dive into swales - we cover what they are, the functions they perform and how they perform them, and then go into all of the context-specific factors that inform the decision of "To Swale Or Not To Swale".

More than being a referendum on swales, today's show is meant to serve as an example for how to think through selecting, designing and installing elements within your landscape so that they actually perform their intended design function (i.e. rehydrate your landscape so you can grow more food, more animals, more beauty - whatever!).

Swales are awesome rehydration elements and can be a boon to a healthy and productive landscape - provided they are a good fit for your context!

Do your due diligence when considering swales within your landscapes - they are not a one size fits all solution and should NOT be applied in many cases and contexts.

Show Resources

• Curated YouTube Playlist: Swales
• Greg Judy talking about his $10K swale mistake
• Darren Doherty discussing cost per volume of water stored with swales vs. keyline subsoiling.

____________________________________________________________________________

WHAT I DO:

Design:

On-Site Consultation

Online Site/Project Consultation

Holistic Ecosystem Design

Implementation:

Water Harvesting Earthworks

High-function, Low-Maintenance Access

Living Systems

Spring Development

Courses:

Minimum Holistic Goal

Media:

The Sovereign Homestead Podcast

YouTube

Instagram

Music by Alex Grohl

Today's episode is all about cycling nutrients on your homestead to build rich, healthy, fertile soils that can't help but be productive. Soil fertility IS the number one asset a sovereign homestead can have. Indeed it's just about impossible to sovereign without it! Join me today for a high level overview of the different methods of cycling nutrients and generating your own fertility inputs to boost the productivity of your landscape and keep money in your pocket! We'll also look at how these different systems can play well together to capture and cycle nearly ALL of the "waste"streams generated by a typical American household into valuable amendments that can help you increase your independence from the grocery store. This episode is all about the permaculture principle of WASTE = FOOD! We will cover:

• Vermicomposting - Perhaps the easiest and highest value nutrient cycling system with tremendous benefits in nearly all contexts.
• Thermophilic composting - good 'ol fashioned turn 'n burn compost piles for processing large amounts of bulk materials into quality soil amendment.
• Johnson-Su Bioreactor composting system - produce incredibly high fungal-content compost that is great for perennial cropping systems.
• Compost tea brewing - brewing aerobic teas to get the most bang for your buck from your beneficial biological inocolums. This is a HUGE leverage point!
• Bokashi - a type of anaerobic "pickling" of food wastes - awesome because this can handle everything that worms don't like!
• Livestock - Chickens, pigs and black soldier fly larvae - all great way to get more value out of "waste" and turn it into food for you or something that grows food for you.
• Charcoal & Biochar - make a soil amendment that will literally last for thousands of years - the ultimate legacy investment to pass on to your kin.
• Korean Natural Farming Indigenous Effective Micro-organisms - a simple, effective and damn near free way to make a site-specific biological inoculum for your growing systems that literally comes from where you live! And the best part is - you only have to do it once!
• Greywater - sink water, laundry water, bathing water - all nutrient rich water that should go into your landscape to grow something!
• Blackwater  - yes, I'm talking about toilet water here. Conventional septic systems inject this pathogen-laden water into the ground (often times into the same water supply that wells for potable water are tapping) when it could be utilized by biological systems at the surface to grow tons of food - with no stink of course!
• Compost Toilets  - dry composting toilets are an excellent way to capture and utilize solid human wastes and turn them into a valuable soil amendment - for free!
• Biodegradable packaging (cardboard)- don't just recycle it, or throw it out - CYCLE IT and use it to enrich your homestead soil!

Show Resources

• Vermicomposting
  • 7th Generation Design - Nutrient Cycling For Homesteads: Part 1 - Vermicomposting
  • 7th Gen Curated YouTube Playlist - Vermiculture
• Thermophilic Composting
  • 7th Generation Design - Nutrient Cycling For Homesteads: Part 4 - Thermophilic Composting
• Johnson-Su BioReactor Composting System
  • 7th Gen Curated YouTube Playlist - Johnson Su BioReactors
  • DIY Build Your Own Johnson Su BioReactor
• Compost Tea Brewing
  • 7th Generation Design - Nutrient Cycling For Homesteads: Part 3 - Compost Tea
  • 7th Gen Curated YouTube Playlist - Compost Tea
• Bokashi Composting
  • 7th Generation Design - Nutrient Cycling For Homesteads: Part 2 - Bokashi Compost Systems
  • 7th Gen Curated YouTube Playlist - Bokashi
• Livestock
  • Geoff Lawton's Chicken Composting System
  • Black Soldier Fly Larvae YouTube Playlist
• Charcoal & Biochar
  • 7th Generation Design - Nutrient Cycling For Homesteads: Part 6 - Charcoal and Biochar
  • 7th Gen Curated YouTube Playlist - Biochar
• Korean Natural Farming
  • KNF Hawaii site
  • Fermented Farm - clear breakdown of the IMO creation process
• Greywater
  • 7th Gen Curated YouTube Playlist - Greywater Systems
• Water Treatment Systems
  • 7th Gen Curated Youtube Playlist - Wastewater Treatment Systems

____________________________________________________________________________

WHAT I DO:

Design:

On-Site Consultation

Online Site/Project Consultation

Holistic Ecosystem Design

Implementation:

Water Harvesting Earthworks

High-function, Low-Maintenance Access

Living Systems

Spring Development

Courses:

Minimum Holistic Goal

Media:

The Sovereign Homestead Podcast

YouTube

Instagram

Music by Alex Grohl

In today's show we discuss the 4 R's of Regenerative Hydrology - Receive, Retain, Recharge, and Release - a simple mental framework for evaluating how your landscape is functioning with regards to the water element, AND how you can make changes in your management and design to optimize it for the benefit of your land, family, business and quality of life.

The 4 R's have parallels in managing a bank account.

• Receive is equivalent to Income - how much water does your landscape receive annually in precipitation? There isn't a lot we can do to change this number, but there are a few. It's important to know what you're working with from the outset.
• Recharge is equivalent to Deposit - how much of that annual paycheck is your landscape able to deposit into its interest-bearing savings account (i.e. your soil).
• Retain is equivalent to the interest-bearing savings account. How long is that water that you've managed to deposit into your soils or is being stored in some form or fashion remaining available to the web of life on your landscape? You can only put it to productive use if you retain it!
• Release is equivalent to Expenditure - we want to make sure that when we "spend" water we do so in a way that further increases our ability to receive, recharge an retain more water in the future! This means having systems of production and managing them so as to create a functional hydrology throughout your landscape!

____________________________________________________________________________

WHAT I DO:

Design:

On-Site Consultation

Online Site/Project Consultation

Holistic Ecosystem Design

Implementation:

Water Harvesting Earthworks

High-function, Low-Maintenance Access

Living Systems

Spring Development

Courses:

Minimum Holistic Goal

Media:

The Sovereign Homestead Podcast

YouTube

Instagram

Music by Alex Grohl

Today we are discussing lessons learned from living in a canvas wall tent for 3 years on a permaculture farm. I am joined by my partner in love and life, Samantha Davis, for a trip down memory lane as we share the pros, cons and lessons learned from three years of tent-life and living pretty close to the elements. Today's episode is for anyone considering moving into a tent or yurt as a way to get on land quickly and cheaply - lots of things to consider to make sure it works for you and your partner!

Show Resources

• Colorado Yurt Company

____________________________________________________________________________

WHAT I DO:

Design:

On-Site Consultation

Online Site/Project Consultation

Holistic Ecosystem Design

Implementation:

Water Harvesting Earthworks

High-function, Low-Maintenance Access

Living Systems

Spring Development

Courses:

Minimum Holistic Goal

Media:

The Sovereign Homestead Podcast

YouTube

Instagram

Music by Alex Grohl

In today's episode I share with you all my emerging framework for creating a regenerative (i.e. resilient, sovereign, anti-fragile) livelihood.

Show Resources

• ARTICLE: Creating A Regenerative Livelihood - An Emerging Framework - blog post with all of the guiding questions and linked resources in it.
• ARTICLE: Creating Resilient Wealth - The 8 Forms Of Capital
• VIDEO: Greg Judy - Generating Cash Flow On Your Farm
• VIDEO: Sepp Holzer's Krameterhof Farm - a beautiful example of context-specific design and regenerative enterprise

____________________________________________________________________________

WHAT I DO:

Design:

On-Site Consultation

Online Site/Project Consultation

Holistic Ecosystem Design

Implementation:

Water Harvesting Earthworks

High-function, Low-Maintenance Access

Living Systems

Spring Development

Courses:

Minimum Holistic Goal

Media:

The Sovereign Homestead Podcast

YouTube

Instagram

Music by Alex Grohl

Today's show is a great primer for those of you new to the concept and practice of making charcoal and biochar. We will cover:

• What is charcoal vs. what is biochar?
• The MANY things you can do to increase your homestead productivity with charcoal AND biochar
• HOW to make your own charcoal - we’ll cover the theory, and then a bunch of practical methods and the characteristics, pros and cons of each.
• 4 Ways to make biochar from charcoal - there are more, but these are a great way to start

If you are a grower or a producer, charcoal and biochar deserve a place on your roster of regenerative techniques that take what is typically a waste or nuisance (brush, slash, excess carbonaceous material) and turn it into a multi-generational asset in your soils and throughout your landscape and home.  Plus, making char is fun!

Show Resources

• Jon Jadai of Pun Pun Organic Farm in Thailand talks through his low-tech method of making charcoal with a 55 gallon drum TLUD.
• DIY Instructional Video from Aqueous Solutions on making your own 55 gallon TLUD.
• Charcoal Trench method
• Our curated YouTube playlist of a bunch of different charcoal making methods.
• Biochar
  • ARTICLE: Uses in poultry farming
  • ARTICLE: Biochar in cattle farming
  • PDF Instructional for conducting clean, safe, effective top-lit burn piles in the forest to make char.
  • ARTICLE: 55 Uses For Biochar

____________________________________________________________________________

WHAT I DO:

Design:

On-Site Consultation

Online Site/Project Consultation

Holistic Ecosystem Design

Implementation:

Water Harvesting Earthworks

High-function, Low-Maintenance Access

Living Systems

Spring Development

Courses:

Minimum Holistic Goal

Media:

The Sovereign Homestead Podcast

YouTube

Instagram

Music by Alex Grohl

Today's show covers 9 different characteristics of a sovereign homestead.

What are the things that make a homestead more sovereign?

It all comes down to choice. A sovereign homestead is one that gives you more choice about how you live your life. The more sovereign your homestead is the more free you are from external control. These are helpful qualities to keep in mind, no matter if you're just starting out or if you're making changes to an already existing homestead and landscape.

1. A Sovereign Homestead Produces Something
2. A Sovereign Homestead Is Self-Reliant
3. A Sovereign Homestead is Self-Sufficient
4. A Sovereign Homestead Is Redundant
5. A Sovereign Homestead Is Regenerative
6. A Sovereign Homestead Leverages It's Unique/Unfair Advantage
7. A Sovereign Homestead Is 'Built To Fit'
8. A Sovereign Homestead Is A Networked Node - NOT An Island
9. A Homestead Is Only As Sovereign As The Mind And Heart Of Its People

Show Resources

• Episode 2 - The Prime Directive, 3 Ethics And 12 Principles Of Permaculture As Tools For Sovereign Homestead Design
• VIDEO: Karl Hammer - Raising Chickens Without Grain
• Episode 5 - Light, Water, Soil & Life - Universal Leverage Points For Maximizing Production On Your Homestead.
• VIDEO: Greg Judy Demonstrates His Shiitake Logs Grown On Cull Logs From His Silvopasture Grazing

____________________________________________________________________________

WHAT I DO:

Design:

On-Site Consultation

Online Site/Project Consultation

Holistic Ecosystem Design

Implementation:

Water Harvesting Earthworks

High-function, Low-Maintenance Access

Living Systems

Spring Development

Courses:

Minimum Holistic Goal

Media:

The Sovereign Homestead Podcast

YouTube

Instagram

Music by Alex Grohl

This week we take a look at the actual process of designing your homestead. The framework we use to guide our design process is called SADIMEA, and it consists of the following 7 phases:

• Survey - This phase is all about gathering data - developing intimate knowledge of the environment and context within which your life is lived.
• Analysis - Sifting, sorting, list making, relationship mapping and number crunching to organize & MAKE MEANING from the data. 
• Design - Many pieces begin to knit together into a cohesive, functional and beautiful whole - where you design a system of systems that is redundantly abundant.
• Implementation - Planning the work yields to working the plan - shovels in the dirt.
• Maintenance / Monitoring / Management / Measurement - Attentive and intensive management of newly established systems, and planned maintenance of well-established or mature systems. Collectively, the M-phase of SADIMEA is all about about making sure your system has everything it needs to perform its design function, and learning where it needs improvement and gathering enough feedback that you can make a viable plan for making that improvement.
• Evaluation - During the Evaluation phase we integrate feedback from the monitoring of systems (new, establishing and climax) and we hold them up against our stated goals & vision & dQoL and ask “How am I doing?” “Is this working?” etc.
• Adjustment - Iteration of your designed systems, conducting safe-to-fail experiments, and improving by doing.

SADIMEA is simple, straightforward, and flexible enough to be applicable in pretty much any design scenario that is dealing with complex systems (such as a homestead).

Show Resources

• Download Google Earth Pro - easy mapping for your homestead
• Download QGIS - free, open-source GIS mapping application if you need/want more mapping horsepower.
• Detailed SADIMEA blog post with all the nitty gritty details and lots of links.
• NRCS Web Soil Survey portal - easy, fast way to high-level information about your soils and their strengths, weaknesses and capabilities.
• VIDEO: Visual Soil Survey - get out and dig a hole!
• BOOK: When Weeds Talk - by Jay L. McCaman - excellent resource for inferring what is going on in your soils based on the weeds you observe growing there.
• SADIMEA Illustrated Poster [PDF]

____________________________________________________________________________

WHAT I DO:

Design:

On-Site Consultation

Online Site/Project Consultation

Holistic Ecosystem Design

Implementation:

Water Harvesting Earthworks

High-function, Low-Maintenance Access

Living Systems

Spring Development

Courses:

Minimum Holistic Goal

Media:

The Sovereign Homestead Podcast

YouTube

Instagram

Music by Alex Grohl