This year has been the best of times and the worst of times. Okay, maybe not the worst. (after all, I am still employed). But this is the dichotomy (or is it a contradiction?): It is performance review time at work. I just copied last year's review and changed the project names. But my Goals and accomplishments in real life were off the charts! Thi…

How Do You Use AI? Most people use it as a search engine. Some people use it write blog posts or customer emails. Some for analysis. But some assign it a role to do the analysis, like "evaluate this as an executive of XYZ company" or a hiring manager. My son-in-law, Eric Niday, uses AI for all of the above. Talking with him about his experiences wi…

Jason Snyder of Doomer Optimism shares stories of how his family in NC weathered Hurricane Helene and what he is doing to regeneratively recover from the aftermath. Resiliency through community and culture. "Biblical flood? Plant trees, cultivate gardens, raise livestock." Episode website: https://ThrivingtheFuture.com/hurricane Sponsors: Thriving …

Next week is the election. Once again it is being billed as the "most important election in our lifetime!". And four years from now they will tell us the same thing. If every election is the same way, then maybe they are not as consequential as they say that they are. In Oct-27's homily/sermon, my pastor, Father Nikolai Meyers talked about the elec…

It's been almost a year since Grant and I shared about How to Propagate your own Trees, Plants, and Flowers for Free, and Sell the Extras as a Side Hustle (recently as a Flashback episode on Oct-11. What has changed with our nursery businesses in the last year? I started my food forest design business and have my first paid design client. We share …

What are you doing to put your garden to bed for the winter time? Maybe you are luck and your growing season is still in swing. We are nearing the first frost date. It has been too hot and dry for my Fall greens to germinate so I will need to start them in the greenhouse, where they can grow until Jan or Feb. How do you clean up your garden beds? F…

This flashback episode with Grant Payne has tips that you can also use on your homestead to save and propagate trees and plants, with enough abundance to sell the extras. Create your own nursery side hustle, Propagation - from cuttings - elderberry, mulberry, figs, berries, and discarded trims from nursery plants. Flowers, mums, and bulbs Obtaining…

What are you doing to increase your self reliance and self sufficiency? Jack Spirko's definitions: Self Sufficiency – The percentage of your needs met by your own systems Self Reliance – The duration in time you can live well without systems of support (or to live well with YOUR systems of support) Let's face it - the 2024 election is not going to …

Lindsay Brandon, CEO and Permaculture Consultant at Permaculture Canada joins me to share about Armagarden, her new project to integrate community design into the permaculture design. We discuss Armagarden and how it contrasts with the usual permaculture design. From the website: What is Armagarden? Armagarden was born from the desire to get back t…

With tough times, more people are looking for homestead property, or to add gardens, fruit and nut trees, and chickens to their existing suburban property to be more self sufficient. Kerry Brown of Strong Roots Resources joins me to share tips to find your homestead property: Look for off-market properties. Properties are selling before they show u…

Last time, in Ep. 138, Jason Thomas shared stories and we discussed how to design your intentional life. We talked about the main categories - wealth, health, relationships, and spirituality. I was contemplating my journey to design my intentional life and I had more to add. Having an Intentional Life means: Aligning your life and actions with your…

What does your perfect day look like? Does today look like that perfect day? In this episode, Jason Thomas of Regeneration Nation Costa Rica shares foundational steps to design your intentional life. Needs most people have: Wealth Health Relationships Spirituality What does your perfect day look like? We also discuss how to apply permaculture princ…

It's been a crazy week. The assassination attempt on Trump. Now a Global cyberattack (“no, it was just a bad patch!”) What will you do with this moment? Focus on your local Circle of Influence and Circle of Concern Plant trees Cultivate gardens Raise livestock Prepare mentally and spiritually Grow your local community Because Gov’t will not save yo…

My friend Kevin Brubaker from Dallas Media Productions, an independent film producer in Dallas, joins me to talk about LLC Tips (and lots of film stuff). What does a film producer have to do with my usual content of homesteading? It fits into creating side hustles and businesses to Design Your Intentional Life. We were having a conversation about L…

Jeremy is better known as DeweyLikeDonuts on Instagram and TikTok. We start his story in 2008 and how a SHTF can be your own personal apocalypse. He turned to "raising chickens, growing his own food, and striving for a more sustainable life" (his tagline). Prepping to Thrive rather than survive. Not living in fear. He shares about is recent adventu…

Part of Thriving is embracing both the wins, as well as the losses. Homestead Update: My Spring garden has failed, for the most part. I usually sow plants and then spread lettuce and kale seed around to act as a cover crop - hey, lettuce is a companion plant of everything. This year hardly anything came up. The starter plants that I planted also di…

Enough talk. Get Stuff Done. It's Proof of Work. Grant Payne and Matt Derosier share what Stuff they are Getting Done this Spring, as well as Side Hustle and Tree Nursery tips. Hear why "The IBC King is Back": Grant's wedding Grant added MANY chickens and ducks Turkey production - if you start now will they be ready to sell for Thanksgiving? Tree n…

Real world examples to start and then grow your side hustle. I am taking a Permaculture Business Design Course through Regeneration Nation CR. The exercises and worksheets are fantastic and have helped me to focus more on the customer. What is the problem you are trying to solve? What does your customer actually want? Are you trying to solve what y…

Times are tough. I talked with a recruiter friend the other day and there are >40 people in my field in our local job market that he knows that are looking for work. And those are just the ones that he knows. Build something for yourself. It’s basic prepping. Build your side hustle. Multiple streams of income. In this episode I will share tips on h…

Andy Hickman (shagbark_hick on Twitter) shares his new adventures. Andy was on on Ep. 83 - You're Gonna Make it. His video "You're Gonna Make it" is still the most encouraging video I have ever seen, and still puts a smile on my face. Andy has a big Summer planned: He is getting married to Keturah in June, with a wedding in the woods of upstate NY,…

New health challenges require Homestead Padre to rethink and redesign his garden to adapt to those changes. After some health issues, Homestead Padre and his wife are adopting the Mediterranean Diet. Padre shares about IBS and Crohn's Disease. Unlike American Italian Food, the Mediterranean Diet is heavy emphasis on vegetables, seafood, lean meats,…

Try to go without your phone for a few hours, or even the whole day. Like most people, I reach for my phone when there is any break in the conversation, when a commercial comes on TV, or when I am even slightly bored. This episode will empower you with some tips to reduce your screen use - and reclaim your life. Phone Settings to Fight Screen Addic…

Scott the Little Pine Farmer on Twitter is back with me and we are talking about his bakery and how he favors "Why don't you come down to this market or deliver to the boutique in the city? We want to feed our neighborhood first." Scott the Little Pine Farmer It's all about the goal: "The overarching goal is to stay home, produce value, and have pe…

Grow Food, Not Lawns How to Create a new garden bed with Milpa How you create a new garden bed depends on what time of the year it is. Most people sheet mulch by covering an area with cardboard, then layers of compost and woodchips. This works well, but only if you do it in the Fall AND you get lots of rain in the Winter to break down the cardboard…

You don't hear this permaculture message very often: Start Simple. Usually people are watching videos of Geoff Lawton and planning swales and dams and grafting, and... Cormac Harkin of Vine Permaculture starts his consults with basic questions: What do you like to eat? What kind of time do you have during the week to devote to a garden. (if you spe…

Joseph Lofthouse is the author of Landrace Gardening: Food Security through Biodiversity and Promiscuous Pollination. Landrace gardening is adapting crops to your land and climate, and then saving seeds, while also selecting for the best flavor, color, and pest and disease resistance. Joseph lives in the high mountains of Utah - a mountain valley w…

A lot of people are talking about Civil War lately. There is even a big budget movie coming out in April 2024 that depicts CW2. In the movie trailer a guy in camo points a rifle at the main characters, journalists, and says, "What kind of American are you?" That clip from the movie trailer has become a meme online, especially on Twitter. "What kind…

Positive Solutions in a Tough Labor Market You are in a social gathering, like church or some other social function, and the question comes up: "What do you do?" (for a living). How do you respond? Most people answer: "I am (this role) at XYZ company". But what is that really saying? You have boxed yourself into a role. And you (perhaps inadvertent…

In this episode, John McCoy and I discuss creating content and building your own brand. John McCoy is a freelance blogger and owner of JustEnoughSEO.com. John was on Ep. 75 - How to Reinvent Yourself as Freelancer. "Time is the most precious asset that I have. And I decided that my time needed to go into building my own brand, not their brand. Nume…

You're looking for a side hustle. What if you could buy a mini business that already has a website created for you? Flippa is an auction site to buy websites. It is similar to eBay - everything is an auction. There are two types of sites on Flippa: Startup site: This site does not have any traffic, or very little. It does not have any significant i…

Tips on Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) Diet and other ways to deal with Hashimoto's - from our own personal experiences. Ryan Mitchel Brown joins me to talk about Hashimotos Autoimmune Disease, AIP Diet. I have Hashimoto's Autoimmune Disease - where the body attacks the thyroid. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is an autoimmune thyroid disease leading to progres…

How to develop skills while doing your side hustle. Toolman Tim and I talk about how to develop skills while doing your side hustle. Lots of side hustle tips in this episode! It was -46 in Canada in mid-January. What it is like living in a mobile home in -46. Note that Celsius and Fahrenheit merge at -40. Skills Over Stuff Practice with your equipm…

Tips on How to Handle Imposter Syndrome...and January. It's the doldrums of January. Christmas has passed. Deer season is over and I didn't get a deer Although I love the snow. I can't do anything when it's zero degrees outside and 25 mph wind like it is today. After shoveling 2 foot snow drifts on 60 feet of driveway, it has now drifted over again…

With Brendan from Posterity Ciderworks Brendan from Posterity Ciderworks tells stories of how he finds neglected heirloom apple trees on long forgotten homesteads in California and uses them in his cider. His adventures are like watching an apple treasure hunt reality show. Quince - the Homesteaders Secret - Did you know that heritage homesteads ha…

Homestead Padre and Grant Payne join me and we share our Christmas memories and traditions. Our memories are at times bittersweet. Christmas is a wonderful time of the year. For Homestead Padre and his family, their holiday season starts when eggnog becomes available in the store. They put their tree up in October. They also celebrate Hannukah. In …

Why would a tattooed atheist Texas firefighter become an Orthodox Christian? Buck Johnson from the Counter Flow Podcast joins me as we share our stories. Why are so many of the people that we know becoming Orthodox? Is there some connection between libertarianism and Orthodox Christianity? Some (jokingly?) call it the "libertarian to Orthodox pipel…

"My father in law has a saying: 'you can do anything you want, but you can't do everything you want. There's always an opportunity cost and tradeoff for the things that you do or don't do.'" John Sutton from Sutton Homestead joins me and shares about their homesteading on 7 acres in Eastern idaho. "Homesteading is a lifestyle we love to live, food …

Sometimes it takes a Holler Neighborhood. Nicole Sauce from Living Free In Tennessee and NicoleSauce.com shares that people that knew Nicole from workshops, her podcast, and online community moved into the holler neighborhood. They established a neighborhood culture where they share a common vision and goals and do projects together and watch out a…

Matt from FarmHopLife Podcast (FarmHopLife.com) joins me as we talk about developing patience. Figuring out the pace of others. It requires putting in the reps. Be patient so you don't have to do it twice. Become financially patient. Being patient is being risk adverse. Do you do a lot of little things all at once? Learn when to go 100% on one thin…

How would you Thrive in WW2-style rationing of food and fuel? Christopher de Vidal from SecureCoop.com joins me to discuss. First, we discuss his homesteading in Florida. Check out the website for pics of Christopher's homestead. Then at 17:00 we dive into the topic: We are inarguably in wars that could become a world war. And our leaders regularly…

This is Part 2 of the conversation with Grant on How to Build a Nursery Side Hustle. This episode has tips that you can also use on your homestead to save and propagate trees and plants, with enough abundance to sell the extras. Propagation - from cuttings - elderberry, mulberry, figs, berries, and discarded trims from nursery plants. Did you know …

How to propagate your own trees, plants, and flowers for free, and sell the extras as a side hustle. Learn skills while using your abundance. This is a Master Class on how to build a Nursery Side Hustle, with trees, plants, and flowers. It has tips that you can also use on your homestead to save and propagate trees and plants. Propagation - from se…

Kerry Brown from StrongRootsResources.com joins me to talk about his move from urban homesteading to his family's land and how he setup a permaculture consulting business. Moving from a mindset where your land and home is a source of production instead of just consumption. "Building resilience from the ground up." He has done everything from swales…

Crisis is a Decision Point. Did you Just Fail the Test? On Oct-4-2023, there was a national test of the Emergency Broadcast System, on phones and on TV. Shouldn't be a big deal. But on Twitter and even on some homesteading groups that I follow, they were abuzz with fears that "this is going to activate something" through 5G. Even the people who are…

My friend Eric walks through his thought process as he re-evaluates his side hustle at the 1 year mark. After 1 year, if the side hustle is not generating revenue, all those entry level fees (hosting, etc.) go up. So that is a decision point whether you are going to exit or change things up. Eric was last on Ep. 55 - How to Recession proof Your Job…

Stay Positive by Designing an Intentional LifeShudra, Homestead Padre, and Grant Payne join me on the Thriving Community Call this month to talk about their tips for staying positive in a negative world: Shudra: "Just get goats. You'll never be unhappy again. You'll be angry, you'll be frustrated, you'll be vengeful, but you'll never be unhappy aga…

Tips on Crafting Apple Cider, Apple Propagation, and Apple Grafting. More detail than most books! How did the Sept. Regional Catholic Land Movement Conference go? We deep dive on Mike's apple cider steps: He ferments English bittersweet apples in oak barrels with natural yeast. Barrel prep with a cold water rinse and cold water swell. Fill the barr…

Shudra is back and we discuss the solution to the recent "emergencies":New virus? Plant trees Cultivate gardens Tend livestock Bank limiting your cash withdrawals? Plant trees Cultivate gardens Tend livestock Aliens in the news? Plant trees Cultivate gardens Tend livestock We also discuss aquaponics and his recent article on Thriver.News: Homestead…

Do You Feel Like Quitting? It's Sept. It's still hot. My Fall garden lettuce and greens will not germinate in this heat. I may run out of growing time before the first frost. For my wife, Feb and March are the worst times. The horses are covered in mud and it seems like it will never end. Tips for when you feel like quitting - how to come back? Fai…

After two years and almost 100 episodes, we discuss how our views of community have changed. In Ep. 1 of the podcast Perpend and I discussed what is necessary for successful community: Worldview Skin in the game/Proof of Work Proximity Common purpose Common culture Are you doing community or just networking? Networking can be transactional and extr…