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Episode 542: 5 Addiction Lessons


The last two years, I have seen friends take on smoking and drinking addictions and whip them into submission. As part of the journey, I realized a few things about addictions in my own life. Today, I share them with you.

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Webinar for April: Getting Started with Freeze Drying: April 10 at 4pm CT

Livestreams this week:

  • Tuesday Live: Billy Bond (12:30 CT): SOE and LFTN Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-PX-bHfC3AEOUPWgJ5d40g
  • New Concept with Amy Dingmann: Afternoon Tea with the Spicy Sisters: LFTN YT and Flote:
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-PX-bHfC3AEOUPWgJ5d40g

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • The failed jar of tomato sauce (Video out tomorrow)
  • Freezer Audit/preparation for pig day is complete
  • Prioritizing eating up of the older items: 2021 beef, pecans from Kurt, other items
  • Freeze dried smoked chilies anyone?
  • Precooking chilies and stews for LFTN 22

Forage this week

  • SNOW

Operation Independence

  • Side Hustlin to earn some extra cash
  • Exit and Build Land Summit it May

Main topic of the Show: 5 Addiction Lessons

Mental vs Physical Addiction

  • Physical finite, mental takes time
  • Every day a choice
  • Not just chemicals you consume (Meth, sugar, social media endorphins, helping, etc) When does it become addiction? When it runs you instead of you running it.
  • Addressing root problems 

If It Was Easy You Would Not Be Addicted

  • Every day choice = a grind
  • Using food for emotional things 
  • Sugar/chocolate
  • Moderation vs not at all

The Change Must Come From Within—And Help Can Come From Without

  • Court orders
  • Doing it for your spouse, child, etc
  • Hitting Rock Bottom is different for everyone
  • Speakers
  • AA and other methods
  • Support and boundaries

Forgiveness

  • The only forgiveness that matters is your own
  • Focusing on faster resets
  • Every day is a choice

Happiness and Enjoyment

  • Establishing new rewards systems
  • Having fun in different ways (Bar story)
  • Some stuff just wasn’t fun and you never realized it
  • Rebuilding health (Mental and physical)

Membership Plug

MeWe reminder

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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Episode 541: Homestead Happenings for March 11, 2022


Today we talk about the past week on the homestead. Projects, livestock, stories and more in order to serve as an inside look at what homesteading is really like.

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Webinar reminder: Assessing your property for microclimates

Forage

  • Friday Foraging Frenzy: dead nettle, watercress, dandelion greens
  • Spreading seed foraged from last year

Food Storage/Pantry

  • Milk Story
  • Freeze Dryer cycle reboot

Livestock

  • Decided Sheep
  • Winter bedding problem

Grow

  • Garden meeting
  • Finished pollarding
  • Eggs are increasing with the light

Infrastructure

  • Pond fencing progress
  • Weed control set up for living fence
  • AP Plan for hillside garden
  • Weedcloth

Better Living

  • Post construction cleanup
  • Dog training.Cycy update

Finances

  • More is going out than coming in (feed/grain, infrastructure, and bedding)

Membership Plug

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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Episode 540: Fireside Chat with Charles the Humble Mechanic and John Willis


Today I am joined by Charles the Humble Mechanic and John Willis of Special Operations Equipment to discuss getting your business house in order no matter what the current environment.

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Reminder:

  • Member Webinar this coming Sunday: Assessing Your Property for Microclimates with Kerry Brown, Sign Up

The show is growing as a resource for improving your life, homesteading, and self reliance.

Language happens

New Wednesday format

Extra Show this week

Stump the Sauce

This isn’t really a stump the Sauce question but can you talk more about vacuum bagging your dressed chickens? Pros, cons, and maybe what to look for like the size for whole birds, and what else you’ve found it useful for.

I know these machines are expensive and you are the only person I have ever heard even mention them on any show I listen to.

Love the show and your coffee made great Christmas gifts. Keep up the good work. (Eric)

Main topic of the Show:  Fireside Chat with Charles the Humble Mechanic and John Willis

Resources: 

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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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Episode 539: Do Your Homework


Today, we discuss getting ahead of the urgent by doing your homework, as well as communicating when schedules slip.

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Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Road food fail
  • STILL SEEKING to reorganize the freezers
  • Reconfiguring the above chest freezer storage this coming weekend
  • Lots of green beans to eat – not sad about this
  • Scored a beautiful Bok Choy from the Stoltzfuss farm at Rogue – so nice to have something fresh to cook

Forage this Week – not much has changed

  • Watercress (but flooding)
  • Dead nettle
  • Chickweed
  • Dandelion greens

Operation Independence

  • Post Rogue Assessment – lost money – next steps (Profit was -$455)

Main topic of the Show: Do your Homework

We haven’t had a hard conversation in a long time. You know the one I mean – the one I mean. The one where we are honest with ourselves.

Just got back from Rogue – got me to thinking about doing my homework (explain the coffee situation there and what we did)

Then starting thinking about SRF 1 and 2 and ways we could have better equipped sponsors, vendors and attendees with information in advance of the festival and realized we had more homework to do as well as a 9 hour drive.

I am very good at handling changing demands of an event with grace, but if I do my homework, there are fewer of these issues.

What do I mean by doing your homework?

  • Post meeting follow ups the same day
  • Preparing a thank you note in advance of an event where one will be needed gets that small but important task done
  • Thinking through big projects and identifying production needs, then doing them BEFORE deadline
  • Looking into the background of people and things that you must know about to be successful (SRF Speakers)
  • Establishing project goals and planning how to achieve them
  • Setting up systems so that post event items get cleaned and stowed efficiently

The list is endless. And therein lies the rub. The key to finding success and easing your life by doing your homework is knowing which homework you truly must do.

If you don;t change your hvac filters, you end up with a huge mess.

Likewise, if you do not thank your sponsors or other supporters, you damage the relationship.  And usually these kinds of problems stem from not doing your homework in advance.

Usually these things keep us from doing our homework:

  • Fear of failure
  • Overcommittment or overwhelmedness
  • Disorganization
  • Distraction
  • Depression

All are excuses when you embrace who is in control of your life and schedule.

So how then, do we hold ourselves accountable while maintaining that all important health-relationship-work-fun balance?

  • Separate the important form the busywork (Example – coaching call transcript vs coaching call summary. Speaker confirmation and communication vs internet sleuthing for more on the speaker)
  • Establish your baseline: what must always be done (Example – coaching call must always have a post call write up the same day)
  • Set up the system that empowers the homework: (Example – schedule coaching calls with an additional hour or two for the post call write up)
  • Make the promise to yourself (I WILL do or die this thing)
  • The hard step: follow through. 
  • Communicate better – underpromise and overdeliver rather than over promise and underdeliver. Eg – someone wants something now

From planning events, to executing things well on your homestead, to interacting with people better – homework is something that is easy to put off. Part of this is because we are expected to do things that are busy work – like filing our tax reports. And because things like taxes come with a heavy consequence if you do not do the busywork, we have become trained to not separate the true homework that is important from the busywork that it is easy to assign ourselves because we feel good when we do it. You know – that endorphin rush you get when you click things off your list? 

But imagine what it is like when you DO set yourself up for doing your homework? Think of how SRF check in will be when we have everyone with parking passes in advance. When vendor spaces are on a map and assigned?

Or think of how easy it is to add people to your table when you have a plan for dinner and a deep pantry?

Or how about when you have a template email ready to go to confirm things?

All of these sorts of structures happen when you do your homework.

But you have to do it or it will never get done.

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MeWe reminder

Make it a great week!

Song:

GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce. 

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Webinar: Assessing Your Property for Microclimates – March 13

Join Kerry Brown from Strong Roots Resources as he walks us through how to assess our properties for microclimates. Some places on our lands stay warmer than others and knowing how to find these spots is invaluable in choosing where to place different plants for long-term health and growth.

When: Sunday, March 13 at 3pm Central time

FREE for members, $25 for non-members

Register Here

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Episode 538 – Fireside Chat with Jack Spirko and John Willis


Today we have something new: a monthly chat with Jack Spirko and John Willis. These First Tuesday talks are at 12:30 CT and we stream them live on various video channels. Be prepared for the f bomb in these episodes.

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Headed to rogue Food Conference this weekend.

Get your tickets for the June 11-12 Self-Reliance Festival

Stump the Sauce

Feedback from Jon in West Virginia on Siloing.

Main topic of the Show:  Fireside Chat with Jack Spirko and John Willis

Connect with us!

Why we are doing this new show series and what do you think?

Covered on this episode:

  • Proper prepping
  • Unkraine
  • Coffee
  • Building a Business
  • Finding Employees

Membership Plug

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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Ep 537: Permaculture Visit Debrief


We have had two permaculturists out to help review what we are installing at the Holler Homestead. Kerry Brown and Nick ferguson. Today, I run through the list of things that we have to do and will describe how we move on when the list is bigger than the pocketbook.
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Show Resources:

Kerry Brown: Strong Roots Resources

Nick Ferguson: Homegrown Liberty

Weekend things in March:

  1. Planting Ausage for the living fence this coming Sat, 1pm
  2. Processing Pigs (no class) March 19 – come and help if you want
  3. GSD Weekend: March 25 – Sat and Sunday (Bonfire, operation eyesore, outdoor shower, installing power, hanging lights.

RSVP to nicole@livingfreeintennessee.com

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

  • Chicken tastes good again
  • Illness in the Holler
  • Roemertopf Beef Roast Recipe of the week
  • Freeze Dryer Update (busy times)
  • Re-upping milk subscription
  • Missing fresh veggies from the garden and need to start seeds now

Spring Forage

  • Chick weed
  • Dead nettle
  • Watercress
  • Dandelion greens

Operation Independence

  • Taxes

Main topic of the Show: Permaculture Debrief

Process: Goals discussion, walk about, the rain event

  • Hillside Garden/Aquaponics/Water Feature
  • French Drain Outlet Erosion Issue
  • Fodder Trees – Camping Area
  • Fodder Trees Elsewhere
  • Food Forrest 
  • Pond Area and Sheep/Goats
  • Fig Hedge

Membership Plug

MeWe reminder

Make it a great week!

Song:

GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce. 

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Episode 536 – Living with War

Russia invaded the Ukraine – that is what the headlines say. For days, I have watched people hyper focus on this international event. Then the joke memes started. Then the prepper facebook group got amped up about getting prepared via purchasing all the things. Then more humorous memes happened.

Then it was Friday – and I had extra time to spend on something. And I had a decision to make. 

Today, I will share with you how I am moving beyond the crisis reporting drama of this world event to do my best to focus on the things that will move my life forward despite the fight with Russia, or the Ukraine, depending on which side is the side du jour.

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EPISODE 535 – How to Do Great Events


Join Mama Sauce, Tactical Redneck and me as we talk through how we decide to do events, how we get ready for events, and what happens from there.

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MeWe reminder

Make it a great week!

Song:

GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.

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Episode 534 – What’s in your medical kit? with Jenni Hill


Today, we welcome Jenni Hill back on the show to talk about how she designs her medical kit and some steps you may want to take to tailor yours to the needs of your household.

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Announcements:

Show Resources

Jenni on Facebook

Main content of the show

Jenni is a massage therapist with a strong background in the healthcare field. While navigating auto-immune disorders in her own household, she put a big focus on health, healing and preventative care.

  1. How do you know where to get started?
  2. Okay, so tell us what’s in your stores.
  3. How do you know when to use what?

4.How do you rotate and resupply?

  1. When deciding a course of treatment, what factors do you look at?
  2. Let’s talk about preventative care and how your preps help
  3. How about some of those natural alternatives

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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