Home to Homestead: Why Am I Unsettled?

I've been feeling unsettled lately, and it has led to some pretty big changes here at the Holler. What started with an unexpected move to Basecamp Lodge has turned into a much bigger conversation about the house, the homestead, the stuff we hang on to, and what we really want our lives to look like. Today, Tactical joins me to talk about what we're changing, what we might do next, and why sometimes you need to let go of the old before you can figure out what's coming.

Featured Event

• Homesteader Meetup at Basecamp Lodge — Sunday, October 18, 3–6 PM

• Potluck — bring something to share if you can

• Brad Bleasdale from Orchard House Creamery shares how he turned his homestead from losing money into a profitable operation

• Details at LivingFreeinTennessee.com

Sponsors

• Agorist Tax Advice — Matthew Sercely

• Strong Roots Resources — Kerry Brown

Home to Homestead: Why Am I Unsettled?

• The dream that prompted my unexpected move to Basecamp Lodge

• Discovering that water intrusion and mold were still problems in my house

• Changes in my energy and singing voice since moving

• Dealing with the emotional side of losing possessions

• Why we're considering remediating and selling the house

• Loving the land but never really loving the house

• Nineteen years of living in a house that doesn't quite fit

• The importance of Zone Zero and what happens when you put it off

• Purging possessions and figuring out what we actually need

• Minimalism versus preparedness — where do you draw the line?

• Keeping useful backups without keeping everything

• Starting over with the basics instead of moving everything

• Why the Home to Homestead project might become something bigger

• Looking for property that better supports our homesteading and community goals

• Letting go of sentimental possessions without pretending it doesn't hurt

• Making room for the things that matter now

Homestead Updates and Winter Preparations

• Getting the last of the locally grown broccoli into the freezer — with a timely reminder from Tactical

• Preparing for the first frost of the season

• Harvesting peppers, basil, oregano, sage and mint

• Saving green bean seeds for next year

• Protecting outdoor faucets, the kitchen sink and shower from freezing

• Winter livestock watering systems

• Twelve sheep on sixteen acres and why we bought 100 bales of hay

• Dry fall weather and the lack of stored forage in the pastures

• Using leftover hay to help rehabilitate overgrazed areas

• Getting the Hearthstone wood stove installed and preparing firewood

• Moving the piano from the old house to Basecamp Lodge

• Why we rented a piano dolly and loading ramp instead of hiring professional movers

• Moving a piano with community help for a fraction of the quoted price

• Getting back to singing, playing piano and writing music

• Why getting everything harvested and preserved perfectly isn't the goal

Classes and Community

• Considering a six-week Home to Homestead course

• Starting with a property audit and building a plan around your goals

• Private homesteading classes are coming

• Soil & Microscopy Intensive — four seats left

• $200 deposit to reserve your spot, with dates selected once ten people sign up

• LivingFreeinTennessee.com

Holler Roast Coffee

HollerRoast.com

Make it a Great Weekend!

We're a week late for First Tuesday Coffee, but Jack Spirko from The Survival Podcast, John Willis from Special Operations Equipment, and I are back for another round of conversation. This month we dig into what small business owners can do when sales slow down, why learning new things matters at every age, and how experience turns knowledge into wisdom. We also get into Starlink, government surveillance, raising capable kids, and a few rabbit trails along the way.

Featured Event: Soil Microscopy Intensive with Alan Booker: https://livingfreeintennessee.com/product/soil/ 

Learn to use a microscope to understand what's living in your soil and how to improve it. The class is $465, with a $200 deposit to reserve your spot. We will choose the date together once ten people have signed up.

LivingFreeinTennessee.com

Today's Topics

The mysterious morning rocket launch that had people wondering about aliens

What to do when your business is down and the economy looks ugly

John's approach to identifying and serving his best customers

Using sales data, customer feedback, and social media to guide product development

Why you should focus on what already works before chasing new ideas

Finding opportunities in a changing economy instead of waiting for better times

Testing new products before investing heavily in production

Pricing your products to account for labor, materials, equipment, and overhead

Amanda's soap business, subscription sales, and building a premium product

Using your existing relationships and distribution channels to grow a business

Business lessons from Henry Ford's My Life and Work

John's fig trees and regenerative orchards

The skills younger generations aren't learning and what we can do about it

Learning new technology through experimentation, including AI and NotebookLM

Why challenging yourself and surrounding yourself with capable people matters

Knowledge versus wisdom: Why experience and failure are necessary

Open-ended toys, outdoor play, and teaching kids to solve problems

Learning to say no

Starlink internet, mobile connectivity, and the coming changes to cell service

Interest rates, savings, Bitcoin, and the difference between price and market value

Why your website needs to work for mobile customers

Flock cameras, surveillance, and tracking publicly funded vehicles

Safety regulations, personal responsibility, and unintended consequences

Gen X childhood, bicycle ramps, trampolines, and learning from mistakes

Resources

The Survival Podcast — Jack Spirko

Jack Spirko's Laws of Life, Books 1 and 2

My Life and Work — Henry Ford

Special Operations Equipment — John Willis

Living Free in Tennessee — Soil Microscopy Intensive with Alan Booker

Holler Roast Coffee — Start your day with a great cup of coffee

Make it a Great Week!

Sometimes the homestead decides what the priority is for you. This week, Tactical is down hard, which means we are getting a crash course in cross-training, delegation and figuring out how to keep the important things moving when one of your key people simply cannot do what they usually do. We'll also talk about managing the brutal heat, the latest Home to Homestead projects, homemade laundry detergent, giant squash and an egg that literally cooked itself.

Featured Event

Strong Roots Resources Wild Edible Walk
September 13
$30
Email StrongRootsResources@gmail.com to sign up.

Sponsors

Agorist Tax Advice: AgoristTaxAdvice.com/LFTN

The Wealthsteading Podcast: Wealthsteading.com

Homestead Happenings

• Forced delegation days at the Holler
• Tactical is down and the rest of us are learning his systems
• Cross-training BEFORE you need it
• Moving sheep and learning to set up fencing in concrete-hard ground
• Calling in the Holler neighbors when the work still has to happen
• Getting water to livestock when your usual system depends on somebody who suddenly cannot carry it
• Working early and late to get through 100+ degree days
• How the gardens and animals are handling the heat
• The egg that cooked itself
• A broody duck and the possibility of baby Muscovies
• Egg production and molting season
• The gigantic Cushaw squash destined for the Farm-to-Table Dinner
• Turning Basecamp Lodge from a home into a homestead
• Why I want a real wood stove instead of a fireplace insert
• Figuring out the chimney liner, chimney cap and masonry repairs
• The Hearthstone Manchester versus a used Hearthstone Heritage
• Prioritizing infrastructure without putting it on a credit card
• Facebook Marketplace strikes again: a $1,200+ precision oven for $150
• Why the crappy electric stove just moved farther down the priority list
• Experimenting with a new chore rotation between the two houses
• Building flexibility into the chore schedule when somebody ends up at urgent care
• My new morning routine for getting garden and homestead work done
• Revisiting homemade laundry detergent after the old recipe clogged the pipes
• Washing soda + laundry bar without the borax
• Getting better results with hard water
• Moving toward locally made laundry soap
• Getting the trucks and gear ready for Self Reliance Festival in Kansas

Holler Roast Coffee: HollerRoast.com

Make it a Great Week!

Today, we will discuss the Home to Homestead project I have started at the Basecamp Lodge and how a single email from a friend has changed everything. We will also cover our usual segments Tales From The Prepper Pantry, Operation Independence and More.

Sign Up for the Soil Microscopy Intensive Here: LivingFreeinTennessee.com

Sponsor 1: AgoristTaxAdvice.com/LFTN

Sponsor 2: StrongRootsResources.com

Tales From The Prepper Pantry

• Canned goods bookshelf update
• Relocation impact on the pantry
• Thoughts on food shortages and creating your food and supplies "bank account

Jerusalem Artichokes - what to do with them at this time of year

Operation Independence

Holler Roast Update

From Mickey

As to installing your chimney liner, sometimes there will be mortar clumps hanging inside that it can get caught on. The best method I've used for this is to duct tape a clothesline to end of liner with about 6" of rope sticking up, then loop that back down and put on another layer of duct tape to help keep rope from pulling off. On other end of rope drill a hole through a tennis ball and insert rope through it then tie knot on other end. This gives the rope enough weight to go down chimney while the ball is soft enough to not damage chimney crock. Then one person on roof guiding liner down, while another person inside guides liner with the rope to keep it from hanging up. Often a mirror from underneath helps in guiding liner down so you don't have to try to get your head in chimney.

For the hard water, it's already filled with minerals and therefore raises specific gravity. Since water does have a saturation point relative to its specific gravity you can dissolve your soap in a jar of warm water. Shake well or stir. Allow it to settle for about 10 minutes then pour through a sieve, or gently pour out without spilling settled solids. Once you discover the actual amount of soap your water will completely dissolve you'll then know how much to safely add to a load, based on how much dissolves in a known quantity and multiply it out to how much water your machine adds per load. That's the hard part, is figuring out how much water is in a load for your machine.

This got me to thinking about our community and the vast amount of knowledge we have housed among us on the Facebook group and Telegram group. Sometimes I feel like I might be boring you all with some of the things we do here because we live fairly differently than most modern world things.

So let's talk crowdsourcing homestead systems...

I started out wanting to build a repository of homesteading skills. What I ended up building was a community of people who know how to do things. And that's far more useful.

So let's end with this recipe thought: The best pork chops

>Coffee, cumin, smoked paprika, garlic, salt and pepper

Sous vide at 155

But cook with what you have yo.

And really the bigger conversation to have here is this - what are YOU really good at? Have you shared it with the community?

Make It A Great Week!

Today I'm coming to you live from the Midwest Preparedness Project Fall Festival with a few of the people who make events like this worth showing up for. We talk about building a life on your own terms, knowing when to reset, raising capable kids, testing your gear before you need it, and why the conversations around the campfire may matter more than anything happening on stage.

Featured Event

Midwest Preparedness Project Fall Festival

Sponsors

• Midwest Preparedness Project
• Red Flyer Media

Today's Guests & Topics

• Dawn Gorham of The Gorham Homestead
  • Going from working in the court system to running her own dairy
  • How Self-Reliance Festival and community helped her make the leap
  • Why sometimes the first thing you try is the wrong thing — and that is still progress
  • Goats, milk cows, and learning what livestock can teach you the hard way
  • Building confidence by doing the thing
  • Realizing the skills from your old life may transfer directly into the new one
  • Knowing when you have reached maximum capacity
  • Creating margin instead of trying to keep every plate spinning
  • Getting back to your purpose when it is time for a reset
  • Building stronger local food networks

The Gorum Homestead: https://thegorhamhomestead.com

• Britt Baker of Mission Brit
  • Growing up homeschooled and around preparedness before calling it preparedness
  • Mission work, including time in Africa, and how that changed her perspective
  • Why your mission may be much closer to home than you think
  • Helping people identify what is holding them back from their mission or purpose
  • What makes preparedness events different
  • Why the people around you are often the most valuable part of an event
  • Getting out of your comfort zone and actually talking to people
  • Testing your gear before you need it
  • Camping as a practical way to build confidence
  • Finding out the hard way that preparedness gear does eventually wear out
• Sydney and Craig
  • How having kids changed the way they looked at the world
  • Parenting as an investment of time and attention
  • Moving away from the expectations they grew up with
  • Raising kids with fewer screens
  • Why removing something from your family culture means replacing it with something better
  • Being present instead of simply adding more activities
  • Helping kids develop creativity and independence in a rapidly changing technological world
  • Consumption versus creation
  • Why preparedness festivals create opportunities to participate instead of simply consume
  • Prioritizing what you actually plan to implement instead of trying to do everything
  • The friendships that happen when you talk to the person sitting next to you
  • Creating enough margin for deeper conversations
  • Their vision for Homeschool on Homestead, a small homeschool-style learning environment for families who cannot homeschool themselves

Some Takeaways

• Talk to people. You have no idea who is sitting next to you.
• Don't dismiss somebody's crazy idea before asking a few questions.
• Sometimes the thing that fails is what gets you to the thing that works.
• Learn how your livestock can hurt you before they demonstrate it.
• When everything feels like too much, go back to your purpose.
• Your local community matters.
• Use your preparedness gear now, not for the first time during an emergency.
• Kids need space to create, think, participate, and learn.
• When you remove something from your life, replace it with something that moves you toward what you actually want.
• Don't go too hard too fast. Prioritize.
• Some of the best things that happen at events like this are nowhere on the schedule.

Get your coffee at Holler Roast Coffee: https://hollerroast.com

Make it a Great Week!

Today we have our First Tuesday Coffee with John Willis of Special Operations Equipment, Jack Spirko of The Survival Podcast, and Nicole Sauce of Living Free in Tennessee. As usual, we wander through business, preparedness, current events, building your life, and whatever else comes up over coffee.

Upcoming Events

Soil & Microscopy Intensive – October 2 & 3
Alan Booker, Chase Jones and Nicole Sauce at Holler Homestead
https://livingfreeintennessee.com/event/soil-and-microscopy-intensive/

SOE Party – October 10
Free to attend and free to vend. RSVP so John knows how much food and how many porta potties to get.
https://SOETacticalGear.com

The Survival Podcast Fall Workshop – November
Registration opens September 19 at 9 AM Central and usually sells out FAST.
https://TheSurvivalPodcast.com

Topics Covered

• Remembering Dolly Parton and the difference between genuine people and fake media

• Tight budgets, layoffs and making yourself useful

• Stop underpricing your work

• Entrepreneurship, employment and preparing for a changing job market

• Housing costs, building codes and why modern houses suck

• Mold, drywall and healthier building

• Beef imports, wild horses and doing the math on internet conspiracies

• Government overreach, census takers, game wardens and learning to say no

• Build something instead of letting doom invade your life

• Family, kids and personal responsibility

• Generators, fuel, critical-load solar and actually testing your preps

• Harbor Freight, battery adapters and inexpensive tools that work

• Shipping, Amazon, Walmart and what your time is actually worth

• Upsells, customer value and lessons from companies that are really good at getting your money

Connect With Today's Hosts

TheSurvivalPodcast.com
SOETacticalGear.com
LivingFreeinTennessee.com

Community

Mewe Group: https://mewe.com/join/lftn
Telegram Group: https://t.me/LFTNGroup
Odysee: https://odysee.com/$/invite/@livingfree:b

Make it a Great Week

Homestead happenings

Today I am joined by the Tactical Redneck to discuss the latest from the Holler Homestead: It''s HEEERE, Sheep Hammock, Preparing for SRF, more.

Featured Event: Self Reliance Festival.  Get Tickets Here https://selfreliancefestival.com/

Sponsor 1: The Wealthsteading Podcast: https://wealthsteading.com/ 

Sponsor 2:  DiscountMylarBags.com: Https://DiscountMylarBags.com 

Topics:

• Canned Food Book Shelf
• Mini Skid Is Here!
• Fair is wrapped up
• Mint taking over swim spa area
• Home to Homestead Audit Beginning
• Wood Stove Matters
• Good News About Duplex Foundation - I side will be for rent Starting Sept 1
• Farm To Table Small Group

Make it a great week!

Today we're talking about what it really looks like to go from a home to a homestead, and I get to answer a question I've been asked for years in real time: If I had it all to do over again, what would I do differently?

LFTN Stocking Exchange

• Reminder that the LFTN Stocking Exchange is coming up. Get it on your radar!

Featured Event: Soil Microscopy Class

• Soil and Microscopy Intensive
• Learn to look at what is actually happening in your soil and better understand the biology that makes healthy soil work.
• LivingFreeInTennessee.com

Sponsors

Above Phone

• AbovePhone.com

Strong Roots Resources

• StrongRootsResources.com

Tales from the Prepper Pantry

• Building new shelves
• Consolidating freezer fat
• Meatloaf is the big project of the week
• Processed all peppers for salsa futures

Frugality Tip: 100% Cotton Throws

• Buy a cotton blanket at Aldi for $15
• Sew it in half and you get two throws for the price of one
• No unnatural plastic yuck in your throws

Operation Independence

• SRF sponsorship has really come through!
• Holler Roast is up 20% since the weeks of the fair
• Thanks, y'all!

Main Topic: From Home To Homestead

One of the questions I get when on panels and suck is "If you had it to do all over again, how would you build your homestead?" Or "What are the 2 or 3 biggest mistakes you made early on in building your homestead?"

As homestead advising types we tend to tell people to build things one at a time and go slowly so that you can get your systems working. Or we say get a permaculture plan in place first. Or we have more practical advice like infrastructure before livestock, get your zone 0 in place before you do anything else, etc

All these things are true and not true at the same time

• What is homesteading? The eternal question, more controversial than what is off grid? (Reminds me of the how libertarian are you arguments)
• Homestead Where You Are
• Is land required?
• Mindset change
• Ongoing learning

Then came the question: If you had it all to fro over again

• Holler Hub being developed for a year with Basecamp Lodge as the event center
• Fighting a type one error at the Holler Homestead where I live
• Acceleration of the challenges this year, remediation, health impacts, processing past grief and letting things go that hold you back (Resentment episode)

So if I had it to do all over again, how would I build my homestead differently? That is a question you can't really answer unless you are doing it

• The opportunity
• The reality: move, brought almost nothing with me, sourcing all new personal items as well as transforming basecamp into a homestead that can accommodate events AND serve as a live learning model for others who want an immersive experience in growing food and health living
• Pros: I own the property and home
• Its got good bones
• I have the experience and connections to do this right
• We are already set up with a basement classroom and open concept kitchen that works great for teaching
• I have income streams developed
• I am really good at "If I cannot do x then what CAN I do?
• Cons: this is a normal house not a home set up to accommodate pantry, power outages, processing animals and food, gardening, etc. (Now fuel efficient)
• I come to this without the funds to do it in my personal checking account
• I am still encumbered by past messes (although fewer) that I have made for. Myself
• This will be very much like when I was younger on the homestead and was just starting out, only I am not, in fact younger :D
• Plastics

So how will we start? The assessment is this week. What have we got? What do we need? How will we navigate what to do first?

This may become the constant topic of the podcast or a segment - I don't really know, But it is the BUILDING of the Holler Hub in real time and I am excited to finally answer the question for real - what would you do if you had it all to do over again? I guess we will find out.

But one thing is true - the one most important part of homesteading that you can never let languish - BE FEARLESS.

Homestead happenings

Today I am joined by the Tactical Redneck to discuss the latest from the Holler Homestead: Finances, big moves, broken 4 wheelers and more.

Featured Event: September 19 Farm to Table Dinner - Email me for sponsorship.  Get Tickets Here https://livingfreeintennessee.com/event/farm-to-table/

Spponsor 1: https://abovephone.com/?above=104

AbovePhone.com Code: LiveFreeTN

Sponsor 2:  AgoristTaxAdvice.com/LFTN

Topics:

Mini Skin Steer Is Not Here

4 Wheeler Situation

Some weeks it is hard to get lots done on the homestead: State Fair update, Duplex update

BIG MOVES- Basecamp

Financial Tracking Upgrade

Today, I will cover our usual segments as well as Last week, a listener asked a question that led us on an adventure about how to let go of the clutter in your life that are things you may not be things you LOVE but you love the person or memory that they trigger discuss what to do when all your green beans get ripe at the same time. Spoiler: You handle too many green beans much differently than too many tomatoes.

Featured Event:Farm to Table Experience on September 19th at 1pm at the Holler Homestead in Lancaster, TN. $115 https://livingfreeintennessee.com/event/farm-to-table/

Sponsor 1: The Wealthsteading Podcast https://wealthsteading.com/

Sponsor 2: Strong Roots Resources: https://strongrootsresources.com/

Tales From The Prepper Pantry

• Green bean update 53
• Smoked butts
• Schnitzel Saves the Day
• Shelving Idea for Basecamp Classroom

Frugality Tip

Most of us have tile somewhere in our house, and I have tried all kinds of things to get the grout lines clean. I personally have spent lots of money on a variety of cleaners. Well here you go: grab some peroxide and a toothbrush and prepare to be as amazed as I was. The grout looks brand new. So stop trying all of these weird chemicals that don't actually clean anything and go back to the basics. 

Operation Independence

• Duplex Update

Summer Time brings me memories of lazy days at the family pool, mom in the kitchen processing food or in the garden tending things. Picking strawberries at 4 in the morning, then getting home by 3 or 4 to shower and do it all over again.

It was lazy but not lazy.

There was always a sense of go with the flow in the summer where I grew up. And back then, a kid could still earn pocket money in the fields.

Sometimes I miss that life, but it was also work. And perhaps that is why I find it fun to do the garden work or the canning work.

Once again, I got the call every homesteader wants to get: Hey do you want all the green beans in one of my rows? I have too many.

And it was hot, I had just spent 2 days painting and only had a single day to prepare for a Saturday event here. So I said.

YES PLEASE!

Last week we talked about how to process an abundance of tomatoes by basically NOT processing them. This week it is beans.

Ways to preserve green beans

• Pickled
• Blanched and frozen
• Blanched and freeze dried
• Blanched and dehydrated
• Canned

Timeline

• Canning and pickling
• Blanching and Freezing or drying
• Compost

Pre-freezing green beans for canning still means you need to blanch them so - why bother?

My Secret to processing so many beans in just 24 hours - it was either a bushel and a half or 2 bushels.

• Presto electric canner
• Tapping into the in-between times
• One Last Batch at night
• How the supplies are organized
• Cleanup in between batches so I could also cook meals

In sum: Hard work but not really that hard

Recipes with green beans

• Steamed or boiled, drained, butter and spiced
• Pan seared
• Roasted
• Green Bean Salads
• Green bean eggy saute

Make it a great week.