Featured posts
Join me for a group discussion with John Willis of Special Operations Equipment and Alyssa from the Lampost Collective. Alyssa left the Self Reliance Festival a year ago with new connections and a desire to build something new. She filled a niche in her town for small remodel projects. She has done so well that she and her husband will move to a new state, new projects and a new life.
Connect with us:
OriginalSOEGear.com
NicoleSauce.com
@lamppostcollective on Instagram
Featured Event:
FREE WEBINAR! March 17-21 selfreliancefestival.com/webinar
Don’t miss the Hand Hewn Farm Processing Workshop, April 4-5
Sponsors:
- The Self Reliance Festival: SelfRelianceFestival.com
- Homestead Apprentice: HomesteadApprentice.com
Show Resources
Main content of the sho
Make it a great week!
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Community
- FreeSteading Group: https://freesteading.com/groups/living-free-in-tennessee/
- Mewe Group: https://mewe.com/join/lftn
- Telegram Group: https://t.me/LFTNGroup
- Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@livingfree:b
- Twitter: @nicolesauce
- IG: @nicolesauce
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LivingFreeInTN
Resources
Today we talk about lessons learned from the free five day webinar series that was put together by the SRF team and me. We will also go over our usual Monday segments: Tales from the prepper pantry, the weekly shopping report, frugality tip, operation independence
Featured Event: Kentucky Sustainable Living Expo, THIS WEEKEND!
Sponsor 1: Holler Roast Coffee
Sponsor 2: The Wealthsteading Podcast
Livestream Schedule
LFTN YT: https://www.youtube.com/@lftn/streams
🎙️ Monday, 2pm, Lessons Learned from the Webinar Series
🎙️ Tuesday, 12:30pm, Tuesday Live with Alyssa, and John Willis, Special Operations Equipment
🎙️ Wednesday, 2:00pm, Interview with Matt Williams, Knightsbridge
🎙️ Thursday, 7:00pm, SRF Live
🎙️ Friday, 9:30am CT: Homestead Happenings with the Tactical Redneck
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
- Man when life gets busy, it is hard to love to cook, but we made it
- Curing Pork Bellies this week
- Found a solution for organizing jars of herbal teas that we grow – the cube
- Time to grab vinegar – I can’t put it off any more. I am going to have to go to the store
- Made “Not Quite Cottage Cheese”
Weekly Shopping Report, March 11
Saturday’s first trip was just by me, primarily to get an oil change for the Santa Fe, but I then went to Hobby Lobby and found a few items I knew Sonia wanted; Saturday was our 17-year Anniversary.
Dollar Tree. Most of the drink coolers are full again, and all of them are now $2.25. I still just grab a drink off a shelf.
Aldi: more crowded than usual. Stock levels were good, and as usual we found everything we wanted. Staple prices were: eggs: $2.64 (-); whole milk: $2.86; heavy cream: $5.19; OJ: $3.29; butter: $3.69; bacon: $4.25; potatoes: $3.99; sugar: $3.09; flour: $2.29; and 80% lean ground beef: $3.99 (-).
Home Depot. A 2x4x8 was $3.38, which I don’t think is a change (I only put the staples in my notes).
A gallon of untainted regular gasoline remains at $3.599.
Frugality Tip from Margo
When pricing out new appliances, look at the delivery and set up fees. Those hidden little fees can be another couple of hundred dollars. In the last year we have had to replace a spare refrigerator and a stacked washer/dryer.(Side note don’t ever buy a scratch and dent washer, ask me how I know). We ended up using one store (Best Buy), because delivery and setup were included in the price of the washer/dryer and if you are nice to people they will put your fridge in too 😉. A family member just got a new dishwasher, but didn’t look at the add on fees. What looked like a savings over other stores prices ,ended up being $180 more than the other store with the extra fees. So even if you are handy and are planning on putting your own appliances in, look at that free delivery and setup and let someone else do the work without paying any more money.
Happy saving y’all.
Operation Independence
Missing Chicken
Main topic of the Show: Lessons From The Webinar Series
Why we are doing it.
- Learning vs selling vs community
- Spirit of the world right now
- Why I do SRF and LFTN to begin with – lots of why
Assess Your Assets – just like in homestead design
Tap into your community – Cohosts, content creators, and Rebecca
Lessons Learned
- People love a freebie – abuse this to your peril (2 schools of thought)
- Upfront about upsells – it is in the marketing
- The technical and production part always takes more than you thought it would. Always. (Backups on your backups)
- The registration form and where did you hear about this question
- The landing page and conversion rate – 45% (Why I think this is)
- Short term vs long term benefit
All in all Know Your Why, Know Your Brand, And Be Willing To Take A Chance.
SelfRelianceFestival.com/Webinar
Make it a great week!
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Community
- Follow me on Nostr: npub1u2vu695j5wfnxsxpwpth2jnzwxx5fat7vc63eth07dez9arnrezsdeafsv
- Mewe Group: https://mewe.com/join/lftn
- Telegram Group: https://t.me/LFTNGroup
- Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@livingfree:b
Resources
Broccoli Spoon Bread is definitely a comfort food – hot, starchy, and cheesy – from plain ingredients. It’s also health food, containing protein; calcium; Vitamins A, B6, C, and K; […]
Today we talk about things catching on fire that should not be on fire, a surprise home invasion, a rabbit update, and more!
Featured Event: Seed Exchange and Potluck, Tomorrow 1-3pm
Sponsor 1: Senior Chief Electric: https://bit.ly/3MKKbuu
Sponsor 2: SRF Webinar: https://selfreliancefestival.com/webinar/
Listener Feedback
Just listened to your podcast talking about your troubles with the dishwasher and oven. Don’t have any words of wisdom for the dishwasher, but the oven, if the igniter is glowing and the gas is not coming on, the issue still could be with the igniter. If it’s glowing more of a red orange then a white orange, it might be cracked or just not getting hot enough for the controller to bring on the gas. I don’t know if there’s a way to diagnose it other than just by the color or replacing it, but had that issue a number of years ago on my parents oven and replacing the igniter fixed it.
Hope that can be of help,
Andy
From D
I am listening to a rather new episode.
So this is my pantry porn, it is sooooo bad. You know those Crates for traveling with cats on a plane? Well, when you unscrew them each half takes about 12 mason jars. And they fit under the couch. Lovely. I use screw top bottles – I am not in the States to use the lovely Ball jars, but am able to safely and efficiently pressure can with a canner I had to order in!
These jars are a pint or a pint and a bit (720gr-ish).
The other photo is about managing stock. It is not 100% effective but does work.
I got a template from somewhere and adapted it for us. The table has lines for the items, like tomato or cucumber or meat or whatever, and little empty jars.
When I canned something it gets one line through. When it has been used, a cross.
So this is my inventory (spelling?!) for what my husband and I use in a year (I started it in July last year, so I recorded what I still had. This year will be my second season using a pressure canner, so the volumes I can do at a time is already much higher than a silly 4 jars at a time in my small stock pot… Whoo hoo.
Hope this may be useful. The pictures are horrible, like good pantry porn should be.
Forage
- Wild Mustard Flowers are here!
- Watercress is still beat back from the flooding
- Same early spring greens as last week
Livestock
- Rabbit ear mite update
- 3 am home invasion
- Moving sheep
- Still on lamb watch
- Eggapalooza is on
- Something’s on fire
Grow
- Seeds germinated!
- Still need to plant potatoes
- Swiss chard and parsley
- Murdering fire ants
Holler Neighbors/Community
- Big boost from the Eversoles
- Reupping the monthly homesteader meetups
Infrastructure
- Fencing
Finances
- No update
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!
Community
- Mewe Group: https://mewe.com/join/lftn
- Telegram Group: https://t.me/LFTNGroup
- Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@livingfree:b
Advisory Board
- The Booze Whisperer
- The Tactical Redneck
- Chef Brett
- Samantha the Savings Ninja
Resources
Join me at 2pm CT for a live interview with the Canny Couple. We will talk about their move into building a life they want to live on their terms, freedom, homesteading and more!y to it all.
Featured Event: March 17-21, 2024, Self Reliance Voices: Lessons from Legends
https://selfreliancefestival.com/webinar/?aff=nicolesauce
Sponsor 1: DiscountMylarBags.com
Sponsor 2: HollerRoast.com
Show Resources
About Aaron and Julia
We are a small homestead family that has been slowly building our homestead for many years, merging homesteading and frugality. We work everyday on being more self-reliant on a budget. We have officially became 100% debt free, which has lead to some amazing changes for our homestead.
Linktree – https://linktr.ee/thecannycouple
Youtube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRspWFevoyYcUuEsr9Mjgvg?sub_confirmation=1
TikTok – http://tiktok.com/@thecannycouple?lang=en
Podcast – https://fountain.fm/show/aW3kvtrG84EW2iluwcmQ
Make it a great week
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Community
Mewe Group: https://mewe.com/join/lftn
Telegram Group: https://t.me/LFTNGroup
Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@livingfree:b
Join me for a group discussion with John Willis of Special Operations Equipment and members of our community and beyond about building the life you choose, current events, building a durable life, community development, business, getting started, health and more.
Each Tuesday, we welcome a different guest to tell their story, as well as take your questions live.
et’s talk about building freedom through following your butchering passion with the guys from Hand Hewn Farm. Both Doug and Andy will join us to talk shop and take your questions live!
Want to grab one of the 8 remaining spots in their class April 4 & 5 in Camden, tn? Here is the link: https://selfreliancefestival.com/product/pig-processing/
Connect with us:
OriginalSOEGear.com
NicoleSauce.com
HandHewnFarm.com
Featured Event:
FREE WEBINAR! March 17-21 selfreliancefestival.com/webinar
Don’t miss the Hand Hewn Farm Processing Workshop, April 4-5
Sponsors:
- The Self Reliance Festival: SelfRelianceFestival.com
- Homestead Apprentice: HomesteadApprentice.com
Show Resources
Main content of the sho
Make it a great week!
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Community
- FreeSteading Group: https://freesteading.com/groups/living-free-in-tennessee/
- Mewe Group: https://mewe.com/join/lftn
- Telegram Group: https://t.me/LFTNGroup
- Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@livingfree:b
- Twitter: @nicolesauce
- IG: @nicolesauce
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LivingFreeInTN
Resources
Join me as I share with you three things about being on solar that I did not realize I would experience as well as our usual Monday segments.
Featured Event: Self Reliance Voices: Lessons from Legends
Sponsor 1: InvestableWealth.com
Sponsor 2: EMPSHIELD.COM, coupon code LFTN
Livestream Schedule
- Tuesday Live with Hand Hewn Farms, 12:30PM CT
- Wednesday Interview with The Canny Couple, 2pm CT
- Thursday SRF Live: 7pm CT
- Friday Homestead Happenings, 9:30AM CT
Tales from the Prepper Pantry
- We’ve been eating lots of green beans because I lack motivation to make more effort
- Makin Bacon
- Still in a use it up phase and I canned so much more bone broth than w e need
Weekly Shopping Report from Joe
Dollar Tree
- Drink coolers are partially empty i
- Red Bull products for $2.50.
- Plenty of drinks on the shelves.
- The food coolers are mostly full too.
Aldi was rather crowded. Stock levels looked good, and we found everything we wanted. Staple prices were:
- eggs: $2.78;
- whole milk: $2.86 (-);
- heavy cream: $5.19;
- OJ: $3.29;
- butter: $3.69;
- bacon: $4.25;
- potatoes: $3.99;
- sugar: $3.09;
- flour: $2.29;
- 80% lean ground beef: $4.59 (+).
Home Depot has a lot of bulbs, vines, and onion starts in a row of islands in the front. The tool islands have lots of empty compartments. There are still specials going for Milwaukee 12V “Red Lithium” tools and batteries, with just a few of the Ryobi USB-charged tools left, and some 18V One+ items. Fire extinguishers area was full, including various smoke and CO alarms.
A 2x4x8 remains at $3.38.
Untainted regular has dropped a dime to $3.599/gallon.
Frugality Tip from Margo without a t
Ever tried a new recipe and it ended up not what you thought it was going to be? Don’t throw it out, do something else with it. I recently tried a new humus recipe and it turned out like a soup.
So I made some pasta, poured this roasted red pepper chickpea sauce on it, added some roasted tomatoes and a little homemade Italian salad dressing and boom, it is now a pretty darn good pasta salad. Maybe add some roasted chicken to it. The possibilities are endless… And now after writing this, I could have made a soup too.
It can be frustrating to make something that doesn’t turn out like you want, but to me it’s more frustrating to throw good food away. Get creative, who knows you might accidentally make something you will make again one day.
Operation Independence
- Avoiding the need to buy a new appliance through appliance repair
- Mechanical appliances and helpful video – NEED LINK FROM T – Sorry guys i will update it here when he sends it!!
Main topic of the Show: 3 Lessons Learned after 1 Month of Solar
Reference: HackMyHomestead.com
Background on the solar system and how we sized it.
How long it took for it to work right and barriers to functioning that we ran into.
The lessons:
- Know Your Why, Don’t Be Rosy Eyed About The Savings, Choose Wisely
- Sized based on budget for resilience
- Developed to be scalable as in we can add batteries and panels if we like
- Reputable companies for equipment means we got a free upgrade when a new model came out
- Installing solar into an existing home will teach you things about the wiring that you had no idea about.
- Found Bad Wiring
- Found Bad Grounding
- Needed to get some other things up to code for safety not just because of codes
- Access to the real time data helps you make wiser decisions
- Time of day to use water and why I have changed
- The clogged spin down filters
- Cloudy days make me even less happy than they used to
- Trimming Trees and the Big Picture
- Frosty mornings
- Snow and dust and panel cleaning
Bonus observation: Knowing the why and how it fits into my long term energy resilience plan has really helped me embrace the system, learn more about solar, and not have dispatched expectations. Also, batteries are WAAAAAAAY more important than panels. You do get a tax credit FWIW.
Make it a great week!
Song:
GUYS! Don’t forget about the cookbook, Cook With What You Have by Nicole Sauce and Mama Sauce.
Community
- Follow me on Nostr: npub1u2vu695j5wfnxsxpwpth2jnzwxx5fat7vc63eth07dez9arnrezsdeafsv
- Mewe Group: https://mewe.com/join/lftn
- Telegram Group: https://t.me/LFTNGroup
- Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@livingfree:b
Resources
4 TBS balsamic vinegar- 4 TBS shagbark hickory syrup
- 3 TBSP sour cream
- 1 TSP salt
- 3 TBSP olive oil
Place ingredients in a pint-sized mason jar and securely tighten the lid. Shake well to mix the ingredients. Store in the fridge when not in use.
Today we talk about fencing decisions, the training center, a seed exchange next week and more with the Tactical Redneck.
Featured Event: March 16 seed exchange and potluck: https://www.livingfreeintennessee.com/event/seed-exchange-and-potluck/
Sponsor 1: https://bit.ly/3MBBELx, Coupon Code LFTN
Sponsor 2: Harvest Right Freeze Dryers: https://affiliates.harvestright.com/1095.html
Forage
- Lots of chickweed and deadnettle
- Watercress has been wiped out by flooding (But it will be back)
- Dandelion flower and greens (Bitterness)
- Plantain is up
- Violet greens (A word on stems)
Livestock
- Rabbit ear mites and ivermectin
- Baby lambs are due so we keep expecting to see some
- Duck coop daily hoe
- 1 dozen chicken eggs for sale – just one
- Eggs are back at enough volume for T’s second dinner
- Sheep look skinnier than we would like – increased their pellet
- Goats looking for a new home
Grow
- Seedlings are in
- 15 minute homestead: Microswale 1 is fully prepped for mulch application and half way mulched
- Round 2 of seedlings will happen this weekend/early next week
- Longevity Spinach is putting off shoots for planting
Holler Neighbors/Community
- Steve helping with the ac foundation
- Shooting day and holler neighbor dinner
Infrastructure
- Pond fencing
- AC Foundation
- Rabbit coop
Finances
- We finally have eggs for sale which means I need to make a sign
- Time to launch to processing class
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!
Community
- Mewe Group: https://mewe.com/join/lftn
- Telegram Group: https://t.me/LFTNGroup
- Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@livingfree:b
Advisory Board
- The Booze Whisperer
- The Tactical Redneck
- Chef Brett
- Samantha the Savings Ninja
Resources