Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

You can literally start over (maybe with some pain and consequences, but it is still true).

This mindset is real Freedom.

Show notes for this episode

It’s a New Year and statistics, and personal experience, show that most of you will give up on your resolutions by Jan-20. That’s because you are approaching it as a task and not adopting it as a mindset and core identity.

Change Your Identity

Resolutions fail because they try to change outcomes without changing identity. The fundamental problem isn’t willpower or technique—it’s that people say “I’m going to lose 20 pounds” instead of “I am no longer someone who eats this way.”

A resolution is “something I’m going to do.” An intention is “what I am doing.”

It is who I am.

The research on smoking cessation proves this: people who say “I quit” restart more often than those who say “I am not a smoker.” One is a temporary action; the other is an identity shift.

I was on the Paleo diet for 2 years. Then I started bargaining and failed.

A new diet is a new identity –

When you start a diet, you say, for example, “I am on the Paleo diet”. This implies that you can get off the Paleo diet or you can have a cheat day. You start compartmentalizing and bargaining.

Instead of saying “I am on the Paleo diet”, adopt it as your identity. “I am Paleo”. Those who succeed at this see it trickle down to their friends, who know that they will have to have or make alternatives for this person at their dinner, party, or get-together.

Stop making resolutions. Start making identity statements.

Not “I’m going to garden this year.”

“I am a gardener.”

Not “I’m going to start a side hustle.”

“I am building my business.”

Then ask yourself what that person does every single day—and do one small piece of it right now.

It even comes down to your friends

“I am the sum total of the people I spend my most time around.” - Perpend

If your friends aren’t doers, their inaction will pull you back. This doesn’t mean abandoning relationships, but honestly assessing: are the people I spend the most time with aligned with who I’m becoming?

Plan your life with intention so you are moving toward that goal.:

Involving kids in your intentional life

As I shared in You Need to be Bloomscrolling, Not Doomscrolling, no one wanted to clear the weeds from the overgrown raised beds at my daughter’s house. I got my grandchildren excited about gardening by giving them a homeschooling assignment to look at the seed catalog and choose some seeds based on the color and whether they think they would be tasty. Then they pushed those seeds into the ground and weeded and watered them. They grew moonflower, a purple cabbage, stocky carrots, and a watermelon that they thought would be “juicy and tasty”.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

If you found this episode insanely helpful, you can show some love by making a one time (no subscription!) donation below.

If you like this hard hitting content with real tips you can use, then Subscribe to the Thriving the Future Substack!

Scott runs Grow Nut Trees (Midwest Memory chestnut and hazelnut trees and perennials like elderberry cuttings) and is a Chestnut Orchard Architect, designing orchards and food forests for Midwest homesteaders. Currently booking consults for Spring. Sign up for your Free Discovery call where I help you with your Big Picture.

Andy Hickman (shagbark_hick on X/Twitter) has gone viral in recent months as he has tried to form community in Northern New York.

He shares about the tension between loving a place yet watching it die. Do you stay? Is there anything left to hold onto?

“People talk about community. There’s already community. There’s already a structure that makes sense. It’s the small town, the city block, the village, the neighborhood. We’ve done this for thousands of years.”

Despite having a difficult year, he is still one of the most positive people I know.

* His plans for the New Year - to travel South. He may even purchase a car (!).

* Some of the places in the Southwest that he loves and wants to visit, to share with his wife Keturah, who has not seen that part of the country.

* His new writing projects, including a potential book deal.

* Andy’s favorite Christmas memory: Being the Yule King and riding the Yule log through the city square.

Hickman’s Hinterlands on Substack

shagbark_hick on X/Twitter

Andy’s love of the Southwest:

"It doesn't even feel like America because it's so American, if that makes sense. It's this weird horseshoe zone where you feel like you're in a foreign country, but you're actually in the heart of your own country."

Actionable steps

Actionable Steps

Stop reinventing community structures. Before trying to form an intentional community with elaborate rules and shared land, consider whether you could just move near like-minded people and be neighbors. Let natural community form through proximity and shared values rather than formal agreements.

Audit why you live where you live.

What’s the one thing that anchors you to your place? If that thing disappeared tomorrow, would you still have reason to stay?

Look for communities with their “mojo” intact. Vitality isn’t about economics or amenities. It’s about whether people gather, whether families are growing, whether there’s optimism. Some declining places still have thriving pockets. Some prosperous places are spiritually dead. Notice the difference.

Reclaim Sunday. Turn stuff off. Sit around and talk. Gather with family. This isn’t about productivity hacks or “intentional rest”—it’s about Thriving.

Thriving the Future Substack is positive solutions (and even bittersweet conversations). Subscribe and get more - over 170 podcast episodes, and many articles on how to Thrive in a challenging and changing culture.

Wyldewood elderberries make some of the best elderberry wine. Plus I make elderberry syrup and cough medicine for when I have a cold.

It’s mid-Winter but it is the perfect time to get some elderberry cuttings. Just poke the stick in the ground and the elderberry will take off right there.

Get your elderberry cuttings to grow your own elderberry for wine at Grow Nut Trees.

Travis from Backyard Berry on Substack shares about his series "Building a Sustainable Nursery".

His favorite trees: Pawpaws, Persimmons, and Pin Cherries (for the birds).

What is it like to be so near the central area where Pawpaws are grown, attending the festival. He is even drinking pawpaw ginger ale!

We also talk about his series on "Homegrown National Park". Everyone was talking about national parks being affected by Federal land sales a few weeks ago. Travis posted that "What if the largest national park in America wasn’t a remote wilderness, but your own backyard?"

The idea: "transforming America’s private land into vibrant habitat corridors that restore biodiversity and ecological health."

Travis also shares about what it is like to work on an organic vegetable farm.

Times are tough. You want to be more self sufficient and grow more food, with enough to share with family and friends or even sell some of that surplus.

You’ve heard of this “food forest” thing, but it’s so overwhelming to get started. I can help.

My Thriving Food Forest Design can help you realize your dreams of an edible foodscape or perennial paradise that will come back every year so you can grow more food and be more self sufficient. Schedule your FREE Discovery call with me at:

Buy my chestnuts, hazelnuts, elderberry, and comfrey that are adapted to the Midwest.

GrowNutTrees.com

Raised beds that I am building to test Perennial Kitchen Garden layouts:

Vego Garden Modular Metal Raised Bed (which I will make 5' x 3.5', 17" tall).

I use this for a perennial kitchen garden - growing herbs to use daily in the kitchen. Just come along and pick what you need for tonight's dinner.

Foraging and Perennial Gardening on your Homestead.

This week I visit with Roxanne Ahern (Happyholistichs on Twitter) about her book:

Holistic Homesteading - A guide to a Sustainable and Regenerative Lifestyle (physical book), and Kindle.

We talk extensively about foraging and perennial gardening on your homestead.

I like this book because it has a nice balance of permaculture, gardening, foraging, wildcrafting, and cooking. The pictures are fantastic and pop off the page.

It's the "weeks of want", the end of February and early March. Before supermarkets, this time would have seen a gap between the end of the stored food and the new greens or crops of Spring.

We share our favorite perennials to forage:

• Henbit/dead nettle

• Chicory

• Purslane

• Plantain

• Dandelions

• Nettles

We also share what we are planting in the gardening in the coming year:

• Asparagus

• Jerusalem artichokes

• Squash

• Mortgage lifter tomatoes

Check out the show notes. Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/holistic-homesteading

Sponsor:

Elderberry cuttings and comfrey crowns and root cuttings are now available at Grow Nut Trees - https://grownuttrees.com

Is homesteading (and localism) a form of retreat from society?

It can lead down a lonely path if you do not also develop community.

Jason Snyder (@cognazor on Twitter) of Doomer Optimism Podcast joins me to talk about his recent tweet:

"I don't like the narrative of modern day homesteading (and localism more generally) being a form of retreat or disengagement from larger societal concerns. I see it more as a prefiguration of a healthier society that can emerge from its broad-scale and networked diffusion."

We discuss positive steps to move forward, not "retreat":

• Get back in touch with your where you food comes from - grow your own food. You can be a localist, even in the city.

• Plant as many fruit and nut trees as possible. Make passive food sources a common part of your city and homestead landscape. Jason knows a guy who grows out lots of nut trees in pots and gives them away.

• Build community. Learn new skills. Share your skills, even if you are not an expert. We have a motto: "not an expert, but we're still going to get stuff done."

• Help each other - (work days and workshops). Jason relates how he is building community, forming a 'barn raising' group and helping each other on various homestead/farm projects. They recently had a workday/workshop helping a friend tear down a trailer.

• We share our plans for 2023.

Let Jason's pinned tweet be your goal for 2023:

• New virus coming? Plant trees, cultivate garden, tend livestock.

• Supply chain shocks and inflation? Plant trees, cultivate garden, tend livestock.

• Climate change? Plant trees, cultivate garden, tend livestock.

• New war coming? Plant trees, cultivate garden, tend livestock.

Check out the show notes on the episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/localism

Sponsor:

Elderberry cuttings and comfrey crowns and root cuttings are now available at Grow Nut Trees - https://grownuttrees.com

We are having a contest drawing in Feb for a copy of Roxanne Ahern's book "Holistic Homesteading". For details, and to sign up for the drawing, go to https://thrivingthefuture.com/contest.

This back-to-basics episode is a backyard starter kit for raising chickens.

The Spring Tradition of Chick Day is Almost Here!

It's Chick Day. This is the time-honored Spring tradition every year where the tractor supply and the other farm stores have chicks for sale. But with the egg shortage and the demand for chickens, there's likely to be shortages of chicks at the farm stores for Chick Day this year.

Many people have asked me, “Can you hatch some chicks for me?”

Let's dive a little deeper. What do they really want?

“I want eggs.”

Okay, so do you have any limitations?

“I live in town and I cannot have any roosters.”

• Options for Buying Chicks - Sex Link or Straight Run

• Breeds

• Cornish Cross are Meat Birds

• Sources for Chicks

• Buying Pullets Rather than Chicks

• Pain Points for First Time Chicken Owners

• Take it easy the first year

Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/backyard-chicken-basics

Sponsor:

Elderberry cuttings and comfrey crowns and root cuttings are now available at Grow Nut Trees - https://grownuttrees.com

Hurry - get them before they come out of dormancy!

Use coupon code "Thriver" at checkout for a 10% discount for Thriving the Future Podcast listeners!

We are having a contest drawing in Feb for a copy of Roxanne Ahern's book "Holistic Homesteading". For details, and to sign up for the drawing, go to https://thrivingthefuture.com/contest.

If Life is a Simulation - How that Worldview Affects your Mindset.

You've seen the Elon Musk tweet: "If you don't think there's at least a tiny chance that you are an NPC...you are an NPC."

Everyone is talking about NPCs. Some people consider themselves as the hero in a video game or Simulation and everyone else is an NPC.

Perpend is back and we talk about Simulation theory - that life is a simulation or we are in someone's else's simulation. And how that worldview and NPC thinking affect your mindset.

We talk about NPC thinking and its root in Transhumanism and Gnosticism.

Perpend: "I read somewhere that maybe the NPCs are really something to be admired because they are being very efficient with their life because they're not expending any energy, time, or dialogue on anything that doesn't matter to them.

Even the NPC in the game is doing that. The NPC in the game is here to give you the key if you say the right password or you do the right thing. So it will not do anything outside that. So it's actually being the most efficient and therefore it is just preserving energy and being a good citizen."

Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/npc

Sponsor:

Elderberry cuttings and comfrey crowns and root cuttings are now available at Grow Nut Trees - https://grownuttrees.com

We are having a contest drawing in Feb for a copy of Roxanne Ahern's book "Holistic Homesteading". For details, and to sign up for the drawing, go to https://thrivingthefuture.com/contest.

Making Solar Work for You - Considerations You May Not Have Thought Of.

This is Part 2 in a series on Solar energy. Steve of RegenerativeHomeSolutions.com gives an overview of solar energy, what questions you should be asking yourself, and considerations and pitfalls as you plan for your solar energy needs.

"I want to add solar to my home." - Considerations:

• On grid, off grid, hybrid, retrofit system options.

• Does your house face the south enough to get sun exposure? For example, the outbuilding that Steve has his solar installed on faces the SE, so he doesn't get a full day of sun exposure.

• Install on the roof or on the ground?

• We discuss that perhaps it is better to install a free standing solar panel system on the ground, in a pasture.

• If you install in the pasture, consider installing it higher so that you could mow under it or livestock would graze under/around it.

• Installing solar on your roof:

• How old is your roof? You may need to replace the roof first.

• Installing solar may void the warranty on your roof.

• Check with your insurance company. Installing solar may affect your insurance coverage. The insurance company will be very interested in the process - who installs your system and how it is installed.

• Will you need to remove trees?

• How to navigate the bureaucracy.

• Do they offer any grants, rebates?

• Selling energy back to the grid - net metering vs. flat.

• Sell/Buy ratio: In KS they sell energy to you at about 12 cents per kW. They buy at 4 cents per kW. But they are planning to lower the sell/buy ratio.

• in CA, the sell/buy ratio is they sell energy to you at 30 cents per kW but they only buy it at 3 cents per kW.

• "How big of a system will I need?" See the episode website link to download a Free energy audit checklist PDF.

This was an audio review of a Solar #GSD Workshop that we put on as part of our local community group.

For more information on Steve's setup, see his website Regenerative Home Solutions.com - Cultivating a Sustainable Lifestyle.

The energy audit worksheet and the solar workshop PDF are available as downloads on the episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/solar1

Join the Thriving The Future Community - Telegram Group or mailing list: https://signup.thrivingthefuture.com

Sponsors:

Grow Nut Trees - Elderberry cuttings and comfrey (crowns and root cuttings) now available! - https://grownuttrees.com/

Can you use AI and still Live Not By Lies?

Everyone is talking about AI since ChatGPT came out. You can use it to write content for your business, blog posts, full fiction and stories, and even higher education dissertations.

So how far will you go? Is it moral to use AI for school or work?

I follow a lot of side hustle groups and they are already touting AI where you can "write endless content and not work so hard!"

Perpend and I discuss - Can you use AI and still Live Not by Lies?

"Simple men create simple times, and overcomplicated times call for men to simply live" - Perpend

The week of Christmas, the Boston Federal Reserve, in typical government style of releasing controversial press releases late in the day on Friday, announced that it had completed its Project Hamilton project, a collaboration between the Fed and MIT developers, who are also on the Bitcoin project (!).

The Fed released a white paper last year. It sounded like they were just starting a "Pilot" project. As seen in the video below, they were much farther along (years) than implied.

Biden has directed Federal agencies to put forward plans to roll out and operationalize CBDC in their agencies.

How close are they to rolling it out? What will you do?

How far can you go? It depends on the ultimate question - what are you willing to die for?

Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/ai

Join the Thriving The Future Community - Telegram Group or mailing list: https://signup.thrivingthefuture.com

Sponsors:

Grow Nut Trees - Elderberry cuttings and comfrey (crowns and root cuttings) now available! - https://grownuttrees.com/

Making Solar Work for You

This is the first episode in a series on Solar. Steve of RegenerativeHomeSolutions.com gives an overview of solar energy, what questions you should be asking yourself, and drives into an energy audit as the first steps for sizing your solar needs.

This was an audio review of a Solar #GSD Workshop that we put on as part of our local community group.

The energy audit worksheet and the solar workshop PDF are available as downloads on the episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/solar1

For more information on Steve's setup, see his website Regenerative Home Solutions.com - Cultivating a Sustainable Lifestyle.

Join the Thriving The Future Community - Telegram Group or mailing list: https://signup.thrivingthefuture.com

Sponsors:

Grow Nut Trees - Elderberry cuttings and comfrey (crowns and root cuttings) now available! - https://grownuttrees.com/

Perpend joins to discuss our 7 Tips for Thriving in the New Year:

• Develop side hustles with multiple streams of income. This allows you to be more resilient if you are downsized or lose your job.

• Learn new skills. Always be learning and continuing your education.

• Community - join an already solid community rather than building from scratch.

• Community - while the group is important, only a small part of the group will be there for you and have your back in tough times. Build those individual relationships.

• Start limiting your options and focusing on more what is important. Limit your time. Limit your intention.

• Start discipline in your tech life.

• Perpend turns his phone screen in black and white or grayscale mode to minimize the dopamine influence and to help him minimize screen time and get more done in real life.

• Seek out Truth.

We also discuss Steven Edholm at Skillcult.com method for breeding apples without grafting or growing from seed. He is on a quest to have a good tasting red fleshed apple. He hand pollinates the apple blossoms from two trees, puts a mesh around the blossoms so they can't be pollinated by pollinators or be affected by bugs. Then he tastes the apples and if they pass then he will grow out into seeds. This eliminates the trial and error and 5 year turnaround time from growing from seed.

https://skillcult.com/blog/2022/12/11/i-did-it-i-bred-the-red-fleshed-apple-i-want-to-eat

Coming Jan-12: Join the Thriving the Future ASk Me Anything call with Scott, Perpend, and Grant Payne of HomesteadofPayne on Instagram. Go to thrivingthefuture.com/events for more information and to sign up for this call.

Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/7-tips

Sponsor:

GrowNutTrees.com elderberry cuttings and comfrey crowns and root cuttings are now available. https://grownuttrees.com/

You Ain't Mr. Watkins.

This is a previously unpublished episode from May.

For our May workshop we toured Watkins Mill in Bethany, MO.

Watkins Mill is a 1880's textile mill and farm. Mr. Watkins employed 50 people at the mill and about 50 on the farm during planting and harvest.

In this episode Perpend and Scott discuss the lessons learned from the mill tour, and how those lessons can be applied to homesteading, prepping, and community. Some of Perpend's conclusions are hard hitting.

In the lessons learned we share that "everyone wants to be Mr. Watkins, the Lord of the manor. No one wants to be Bessie Mae, doing the Kiss of Death on the third floor of the mill."

"What we really want is friends, family, material needs met, productive fulfilling work, and risk without guaranteed reward. That is what will them a life well lived, a life fulfilled, an engagement in appreciation, and seeing abundance instead of scarcity."

Check out our pictures from the Watkins Mill Tour in our show notes at: https://thrivingthefuture.com/watkins

Join the Thriving The Future Community - Telegram Group or mailing list: https://signup.thrivingthefuture.com

Sponsors:

https://GrowNutTrees.com - Chestnut seeds for planting, chestnut seedlings, elderberry cuttings, comfrey crowns and root cuttings. Adapted to the Midwest.

- The Homestead Journal - Find us at www.thehomesteadjournal.net and follow us @thjdotnet on Twitter.

How to recession proof your life with side hustles and building skills.

More tips from the conversation with Kurt (@LibertyFarmersGuild on Instagram) on how to recession-proof your life:

• Develop multiple income streams.

• There is already some competition in your market? Make a market for yourself by finding your niche.

• Build skills while building your business.

• As you define success, keep In mind profiting from other forms of capital (besides money) as well.

• If you have a system that is failing you need to detect it as fast as possible and make it as self healing as possible.

• Everyone should have a side hustle that they like that could be monetized if necessary. A side hustle that is good in the good times and important for building culture.

• Use your property as an ag business incubator to help other people get their business off the ground. Co-ops and networking.

"People need to focus on building things that mean something to other people."

(there is some wind noise in this episode)

Episode webpage: https://thrivingthefuture.com/more-recession-proof

Join the Thriving The Future Community - Telegram Group and mailing list: https://signup.thrivingthefuture.com

Sponsors: https://GrowNutTrees.com - Chestnut seeds for planting, chestnut seedlings, elderberry cuttings, comfrey crowns and root cuttings. Adapted to the Midwest. Elderberry cuttings and comfrey (crowns and root cuttings) now available!

What can you grow in July?

The seed displays are gone from the store. You can outdo the normies by planting a great Fall garden - even in the heat of July.

I'm back! Where have I been all this time? I've planted a lot of things this Spring and for a while there I was watering day and night and working in the garden and turning over soil and one of the things that really was a problem was my garden got out of hand. It got really weedy because I don't go back there all that much. It's in Zone 2, borderline zone 3. My garden in Zone 2 is being taken over by bindweed, a really big hassle that is going to require some significant work during the down season

I started building garden beds and raised beds closer to the house. That way I have more eyeballs on them and I can intervene without it being taken over by weeds.

In addition to that, I've been spending a lot of time on having local conversations or just personal off-the-record conversations. There's no need to turn on the microphone and record everything all the time! Live in the moment!

I've had great conversations with friends, folks that have been on the podcast before, and I have also been developing local community.

Everything needs to go hyper-local and I'll talk more about that on a future episode.

It's July in Kansas, and next week we are going to break 100 for the first time this Summer. We have had a lot of rain.

None of the stores have any plants left. Around here, all the seed displays disappear around 4th of July and everything goes on clearance. This year I got a ton of stuff. I followed Grant Payne’s model and I went around and just cleaned out the clearance items. I got fig trees at Lowe’s, blackberries from Ace Hardware, and lots and lots of echinacea. I've got all kinds of different colors of echinacea that I planted pretty much everywhere.

The normies aren't growing anything in July. Every time I have tried to grow or start something in July from seed, it usually fails just because of the heat. But as I'm looking at Clyde's Garden Planner, I put it at my last frost date, which is October 20th, and I've got a lot of options for things that can still be planted and can still be harvested by the time the frost comes, which is almost three months away. I can plant cabbage. Of course, cabbage can go past the first frost. I can plant cucumbers, okra. Pumpkins (if they're not 120-day pumpkins). You can plant winter squash, carrots, of course, and a lot of greens. Now the carrots and the greens will not germinate because of the sun and the heat and the soil temperature, but I have a couple of garden beds that are in the partial shade and I've been able to plant Black Seeded Simpson lettuce, which is my favorite kind of lettuce. It is the cut-and-come-again lettuce. I've been able to plant it in the raised beds and get it to germinate.

You could use shade cloth to shelter it enough to maybe get it to germinate in the full garden.

Another benefit is if you plant squash this late, then you can sometimes avoid the squash bugs because the squash bug wave has passed by the time the squash is getting ready to bear. That's happened to me a couple of times. I have been able to get Winter Squash. It gets kind of squirrely because it gets a bit close to that first Frost date. But last year we had this kind of weather pattern where we had rain into July. And then it turned hot and dry with drought, and it stayed hot all the way through the Fall. We didn't have a normal Fall at all, and the first major frost was not until Thanksgiving (instead of October 20th). It made for some miserable deer hunting. It made it difficult to dig up some trees and replant them somewhere else, because they weren't fully dormant yet. But one of the side benefits was that if I planted trees in September that gave me a little bit more time for root growth. I planted 2 apple trees in September and they had great root growth, and came back super strong this Spring.

I also have sweet potatoes that are growing really well. In previous years I have had sweet potatoes that were as big as footballs.

So give it a try. Don't give up on your garden and you'll have a great harvest this Fall.

Times are tough. You want to be more self sufficient and grow more food, with enough to share with family and friends or even sell some of that surplus.

You’ve heard of this “food forest” thing, but it’s so overwhelming to get started. I can help.

My Thriving Food Forest Design can help you realize your dreams of an edible foodscape or perennial paradise that will come back every year so you can grow more food and be more self sufficient. Schedule your FREE Discovery call with me at:

Buy my chestnuts, hazelnuts, elderberry, and comfrey that are adapted to the Midwest.

GrowNutTrees.com

Raised beds that I am building to test Perennial Kitchen Garden layouts:

Vego Garden Modular Metal Raised Bed (which I will make 5' x 3.5', 17" tall).

I use this for a perennial kitchen garden - growing herbs to use daily in the kitchen. Just come along and pick what you need for tonight's dinner.

Creating Cultural Capital through Storytelling and Traditions.

Our guests share their favorite personal Christmas holiday stories:

• Grant Payne of HomesteadofPayne on Instagram from Episode 58.

• Matt from FarmHopLife.

• Melody and Eric from the Homebirth on the Homestead episodes 38 and 43 tell about how they create memories by playing (usually argumentative) games on Christmas. (Maybe that's a little Festivus thrown in?)

• Scott tells stories of growing up in Iowa during the "Global Cooling" scare. There was snow on the ground from November until March. The lakes and rivers froze, and there were snowmobile tracks along all of the roadways.

Storytelling is important.

You build Cultural Capital through Stories, Songs, Rituals, and Traditions.

Let’s face it – our kids are chronically challenged with their sense of identity, where they fit in the world, and their sense of place.

• Ask yourself – what does Christmas look like to me? (in my memories)

• This Christmas/Holiday season, share the things that are important to you.

• Get your kids out of the bubble. Show them where you grew up. Share what Christmas means to you. Ask them questions about what it means to them.

• Give experiences rather than things. Very few people remember what they got for Christmas last year, let alone five years ago. But they remember the experience, the time, the place.

“You are building Cultural Capital whether you know it or not.” - Perpend

Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/holiday-stories

Join the Thriving The Future Community - Telegram Group or mailing list: https://signup.thrivingthefuture.com

Sponsors:

The Homestead Journal: https://thehomesteadjournal.net/

Grow Nut Trees - Elderberry cuttings and comfrey (crowns and root cuttings) now available! - https://grownuttrees.com/

It is winter. It is the time to rest, to dream, and to plan. But this episode will get you fired up and give you tips as you plan for the growing season.

Grant Payne of HomesteadOfPayne on Instagram joins me this week. He is Getting Stuff Done - #GSD at a level off the charts.

He created 70 raised beds out of IBC totes by cutting them in half. He is planning a nursery, and gets some nursery stock by going into TSC or Lowes and buying all the trees on clearance, haggling the manager down to the point where he is paying $1 or $3 each for 50 trees and plants.

This episode should get you fired up for planning the 2023 season.

Check the show notes for awesome pictures from Grant's homestead.

Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/grant-payne

Join the Thriving The Future Community - Telegram Group or mailing list: https://signup.thrivingthefuture.com

Sponsors:

The Homestead Journal: https://thehomesteadjournal.net/

Grow Nut Trees - Elderberry cuttings and comfrey (crowns and root cuttings) now available! - https://grownuttrees.com/

Adversity - Dark Clouds with Silver Linings.

Continuing our series on handling adversity, Matt from FarmHopLife and I discuss how to handle changes and turmoil at your job and in life. And how he is dealing with making the tough decisions about job, health.

• Changes in the job.

• Will he be able to continue his 20x23 project?? His original plan was to travel around to farms and homesteads to lend a hand with whatever the owners need from us in order to finish a project, plant hundreds of trees, harvest plants, process livestock.

• We talk about side hustles - Hard times create opportunities, both in the job market and even more so with side hustles.

• How to handle changes and turmoil at your job.

• Plus some job hunting and interview tips.

Tough times, and layoffs are coming.

Reality check: At your work, right now, at the end of the year they do the budgets for the next year. There is a pause there as they re-evaluate what they are going to do. Now is a good time for YOU to also take the winter pause over the holidays, to re-evaluate where you are at, where you are going. Reminder that your job is a means to an end, but what are you doing to design your intentional life?

"There are no solutions, only tradeoffs." - Thomas Sowell.

Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/tough-decisions

We also reference the Survival Podcast episode 3077 - Now is the Time to Build Independent Income. This is a Marketing and side hustle Masterclass.

Join the Thriving The Future Community - Telegram Group or mailing list: https://signup.thrivingthefuture.com

"The big success is not done from the homestead. It's done by selling the idea. It's done by selling the dream. It's done by selling the experience."

In this episode Perpend and I talk with Homestead Padre from Twitter about Adversity, his homestead in Mississippi, and adventures in selling at the farmer's market - How to Make Money at the Farmer's Market in a Recession.

• Mindset of the farmer's market customers in tough times/recession: They are looking for an experience rather than (just) food. Food trucks, the lady selling tamales, and the kettle corn guy draw more crowds.

• Homestead Padre made more money on his baked goods when he bought a chef's jacket and started wearing that at the market.

We also talk about adversity.

• On the homestead there is never a problem. There are 3 problems at one time.

• Not making enough money on the homestead and having to go find a job.

• And Homestead Padre's challenges when he was doxxed.

You can contact and interact with Homestead Padre:

Smith-homestead.com for handmade soap and candles, handcrafted items (Perpend and I like the alpaca wool caps – hand knitted by Homestead Padre himself. (Use the code Thriving at checkout for 10% off - affiliate).

Homestead Padre from Twitter

Homestead Padre on Substack

Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/homesteadpadre

Join the Thriving The Future Community - Telegram Group or mailing list: https://signup.thrivingthefuture.com

We have been covering a series about how to Recession-Proof your life.

In this episode I talk with my friend Eric about how to recession-proof your job

• How do you introduce yourself? "I am a..."

• Do you tie your identity to your job?

• How to #Thrive at your job:

• Make yourself valuable.

• Develop relationships.

• Be Genuine.

• Go to work every day as if it was your first day.

Side hustles and cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset.

"You talk about the recession. The people that are using our services, they are not worried about the recession. The recession is not going to impact them." - Eric

Eric created a high end lawn care business, TurfBrothas757.com (website coming soon).

They make lawns look like 1/4" golf course grass.

What drives an entrepreneurial mindset?

• Having a need and thinking "I wonder if I could do that."

• Utilizing your surplus and trading/selling your surplus.

Note that the audio is a little distorted in this episode. One of the challenges of including new voices with people who are not professional podcast guests, is that you make due with the tech that you have over Zoom (the folk's don't always have pro mics). The EQ is kind of "wonky". I cleaned it up as best as I could. It was still great info to go ahead and publish rather than doing it all over again.

Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/recession-proof-mindset

Join the Thriving The Future Community - Telegram Group or mailing list: https://signup.thrivingthefuture.com

Sponsors:

GrowNutTrees dot com: https://grownuttrees.com/

Smith-Homestead: https://www.smith-homestead.com/

(use code THRIVING at checkout for 10% off).

Kurt is back and he gives an update on his homestead as well as tips from how he is building local community. And we talk about how to recession-proof your job with an entrepreneurial mindset.

• Community building tips:

  • Volunteer to help people setup their garden in the Spring or clean it up in the Fall.

  • Doing this, Kurt got free raspberry plants.

  • Hold events and workshops

• Learn new skills - as you learn skills, work up a portfolio of skills as an investment. It is a money sink, but necessary.

• He is coordinating with local restaurants to get food scraps for compost.

• NRCS application and using Fed programs for your benefit.

• Parallel Economy and how to recession proof your job.

Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/value-parallel-economy

Join the Thriving The Future Community - Telegram Group or mailing list: https://signup.thrivingthefuture.com

(This was recorded sitting on the porch and there is some wind noise in this episode)

Check out our affiliate: The Smith-Homestead. They have handmade soap and candles, handcrafted items (Perpend and I like the alpaca wool caps - hand knitted by Homestead Padre himself, and lots more. If you use THRIVING as a coupon code at checkout you get 10% off.

Tips and Tricks to Help You Be More Secure Online

Mike from Paratus Radio is back and we deep dive on Information Security Tips.

Did you know that identity theft is now targeting kids? A friend’s daughter reached 18 and she went to get a car loan, but her identity has already been stolen and debt incurred against her. And Mike is getting insurance and credit ads in the mail for his 11 yo son.

A credit freeze can help this. Just one of the tips you will learn in this episode.

(Visit https://thrivingthefuture.com/info-security for more extensive show notes and a download of a PDF with detailed Info Security Tips).

Information Security Tip highlights in this episode:

• Use a Password Manager

• Implement Two-factor Authentication (2FA) on All Accounts

• Implement a Credit Freeze for every member of your household (yes, even for your kids)

• Do a digital account review, cleanup, and then migrate to encrypted platforms

• Protect your phone number

• Protect your email address

• Protect your Credit and Debit Cards

• Secure your data in motion (VPN)

• Use privacy-oriented software

Listen to the episode for more tips.

Not an Expert But We're Still Going to Get Stuff Done

This week I was a guest on FarmHopLife Podcast. We talked about homesteading, our local "Not an Expert But We're Still Going to Get Stuff Done" workshops, and what motivates me to grow my own food.

This podcast episode is an excerpt of the interview. You can watch the entire interview on Youtube at:

https://youtu.be/3X6w4Brdz0Q

We cover:

• "Not an Expert But We're Still Going to Get Stuff Done" workshops - building community while we share new skills.

• How I got started homesteading.

  • What motivates me to grow my own food?

  • Nothing beats the freshness.

  • My favorite is Black Seeded Simpson lettuce

• What methods or techniques I am using:

  • Swales - see my example of how I extended my orchard using hand-dug swales and mounds.

  • Lasagna gardening

• What I have tried that worked well:

  • Growing chestnuts from seed.

  • Making my own vinegar.

  • I also share my scrub and switchel vinegar drink ideas

  • The Not an Expert But We're Still Going to Get Stuff Done workshops.

• What didn't work so well:

  • Using STUN method on grafted apple trees.

  • Growing tomatoes from saved seed this year.

  • Planting landrace garden seeds from somewhere else (what works in Utah doesn't work in KS).

• Biggest challenge:

  • To adapt to the mindset where Failure is an Option and this year is not like last year.

• What are my best things about homesteading:

  • Growing my own food.

  • Trying new techniques.

  • Walking out my door and watering the garden at lunchtime.

  • The KS sunsets.

Matt from FarmHopLife was on Episode 50 of Thriving The Future Podcast. Listen to that episode as he shared about his 20×23 project next year – traveling around to farms and homesteads to lend a hand with whatever the owner needs to finish a project, plant hundreds of trees, harvest plants, process livestock. Wait - he will come to your homestead and provide free labor? What's the catch? Listen to episode 50 to find out more.

#It'sAllAboutTheMindset

Perpend is back in town so we catch up on his quest for intentional community.

Worldview and Mindset -

Worldview:

• The overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world.

• A collection of beliefs about life and the world held by an individual or a group.

• Perpend's definition - Telos: the end term of a goal-directed process.

Mindset:

• A fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person's responses and interpretations of situations.

• A way of thinking, an attitude, especially a habitual one.

• Our definition - a frame of mind/a toolset that keeps my Telos in view.

Community and Worldview -

• What is your Worldview? Should you surround yourself with people with the same Worldview?

• Can you end up with the same goal with people with a different Worldview?

• How serious should you be in your worldview with the members of your community, to ensure the same vision and direction?

• The different circles of community as you get to an increasingly Inner Circle.

• Circle of Influence and Circle of Control and influence on community.

• It is OK for a community to change, to ebb and flow.

Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/worldview-vs-mindset

It's the story of every homesteader's life - there are never enough hours in the day. There are never enough hands to help on the big projects.

What projects would you do if you could get a helping hand for a week on your homestead?

Matt from FarmHopLife Podcast and I talk about his 20x23 project next year - traveling around to farms and homesteads to lend a hand with whatever the owner needs to finish a project, plant hundreds of trees, harvest plants, process livestock.

Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/farmhoplife

We are facing a crisis. One right after another.

This is an episode from April 2023 with Cyprian (formerly Vin Armani). It includes the never-before-published bonus content where Cyprian talks about Bitcoin maximism, and the Cargo Cult.

Cyprian tweeted in 2023: “‘Crisis’ means ‘decision’. Just knowing that fact changes your understanding of reality forever.”

Crisis is a decision point. And “never let a good crisis go to waste.” – Rahm Emmanuel.

* Are you prepared – mentally and spiritually – for what is coming?

* As Cyprian said in March 2020, “the world as you know it has ended. You need to get to acceptance.”

* The larger game at play – It’s all spiritual warfare. Ephesians 6:12.

* #BuildTheArk – what does that mean?

* Orthodoxy

Spiritual Warfare – Ephesians 6:12

With all this happening you need to get more self sufficient. Grow you own food. WE can help.

Grow Nut Trees is now taking chestnuts, hazelnuts, elderberry, and comfrey orders for Fall. The trees are adapted to the Midwest. Check it out at:

GrowNutTrees.com

Thriving Food Forest Design: If you like this, let us create an edible foodscape, perennial paradise for you so you can grow more food and be more self sufficient. Schedule a free consult session with me at:

Foraging + 2022 Growing Season in Review

"The days grow shorter and the nights are getting long. Seems like we're running out of time." - Triumph.

In tough times and supply chain breakdowns, these foraging ideas can make the difference to augment your diet, generate some side hustle income, or help grow your homestead.

Foraging stories:

• Chestnuts: The local rural elementary school has two chestnut trees. In 2021, I foraged 3/4 of a 5 gallon bucket from those trees and had enough to put up several buckets of chestnuts in sand to sprout out for Spring, plus enough to share with several friends.

• Shagbark hickory

• Pears from a scraggly set of trees in a county park.

• Pawpaws - grow along many creeks in woody parts of Eastern and NE Kansas. They may not be as good as the Eastern US cultivars, but they still taste like a cross between vanilla and banana pudding.

• So much neglected fruit of the forest = so much opportunity for a forager, homesteader, or even a side hustle.

• Extend your homestead with cuttings from elderberry and mulberry.

• Plant apples from seed. You may like the new variety.

In this episode I also review the 2022 growing season. What worked and what didn't.

Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/foraging

Deer Hunting Stories and Tips

It's Deer Season!

My friend Dave and I tell hunting stories and share our tips:

• Our first deer

• What gear we use

• Tips and tricks

• Scent control

• Hunting with a crossbow

• Processing yourself vs. taking to the butcher

• We tell stories of our hunts, including some funny stories - like when I got stuck up in a tree.

Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/deer-season

Choosing the type of Communications based on your Community

Mike from Paratus Radio joins TTF Podcast to discuss emergency communications.

We look at communications based on several community scenarios (size, location, and needs):

• Cul de sac - FRS (walkie talkies)

• Group of farms (1-2 miles) - GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service)

• Group of intentional communities (5-10 miles apart) - GRMS with repeater.

• Group of farms or communities (farther than 10 miles) - GRMS with repeater or HAM with repeater, if necessary.

• CB Radio

Why can't we just use our phones?

If power goes out, the cell towers only have 1-2 days of backup power. If the outage extends past this then the cell tower will not function and it won't come back on its own. This may seem unlikely, but it was seen in the ice storm power outages in Feb 2021, and in the power outages due to Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

You can also use these radios to hear National Weather Service and Emergency stations. So these emergency comms should be part of your emergency planning.

Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/community-comms

Homesteading, aquaponics, building soil, and Heath the Kangaroo

In this episode I talk with Shudra as he is #Thriving in Australia. Shudra is one of the contributors at The Homestead Journal. Shudra is also a prolific Twitter poster, and you can follow him @TheShudraWay on Twitter.

Shudra shares about aquaponics, building soil when your land is mostly gravel, and the unexpected arrival of Heath the Kangaroo.

Shudra's advice:

1. Plant trees

2. Reduce your debt

3. Grow your own food

Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/shudra

Sponsors:

- The Homestead Journal - Find us at www.thehomesteadjournal.net and follow us @thjdotnet on Twitter.

Free Your Mindset

What if you could work less than 40 hours a week?

What if you could charge double what everyone else is charging, working less, and still #Thrive?

Jules Smith, editor of The Homestead Journal, joins TTF Podcast to talk about his "multi-side hustle, intermittent, high value dollar per hour system".

Tips:

• Get out of the 40 hour per week mindset.

• Fill your life with multiple income streams.

• Want more tips ? Visit the episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/make-money

Can you actually charge double the amount everyone else is and not lose business? Sure, you may lose business, but you may have more valuable, more consistent and rewarding business.

Sponsors:

- The Homestead Journal - Find us at www.thehomesteadjournal.net and follow us @thjdotnet on Twitter.

Homestead thumbnail Image taken by Hannah Byrd at MyHBCreations: https://www.instagram.com/myhbcreations/

Also follow Hannah - @MyHBCreations on Twitter.

Gift Economy vs Barter - Has Barter really been used anywhere at any scale?

Scott and Perpend have a lively debate on whether barter has been used as the main economy in any culture.

The gift economy applies to the Tribal model, family, or clan.<p>

We also discuss intentional community.

Are we a community? As he states in this episode, Perpend is seeking an intentional community that is willing to sell everything and move closer together.

Perpend also shares his spiritual journey.

Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/barter

Sponsors:

- The Homestead Journal - Find us at www.thehomesteadjournal.net and follow us @thjdotnet on Twitter.

Ken and Sally are #Homesteading in the City. You would be surprised how much they do in their normal backyard - chickens, gardens, tree starts, composting bins, and an elaborate worm bin.

We also discuss how they #Thrive & prepare for retirement.

This is a part of our #Thrivers series.

Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/homesteading-city

Sponsors:

- The Homestead Journal - Find us at www.thehomesteadjournal.net and follow us @thjdotnet on Twitter.

- https://FreedomFarmer.net - Where I focus on #SkillsOverStuff and designing your intentional life

Using the best homeschooling method for the season in a child's life.

Join the conversation with Winter, a mom who is from a homeschooled family and has homeschooled her kids.

Skip the usual homeschool topics - no complaining about public school, no politics here. We want to focus on creating lifelong learners.

- Adapting to your child' s learning style.

- Homeschooling with an ADHD child and a Gifted child at the same time.

- Unschooling

- Science - Instilling a sense of "wonder" in your child.

This is part of our ongoing #Thriver's series.

Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/homeschooling

Sponsors:

- The Homestead Journal - Find us at www.thehomesteadjournal.net and follow us @thjdotnet on Twitter.

- https://FreedomFarmer.net - Where I focus on #SkillsOverStuff and designing your intentional life

Dodging the Regulations and Restrictions Land Mines

Continuing our #Thrivers series, join the conversation with Kurt. He is living on 27 acres in NW MO.

We discuss how he found his land in this tough market, strategies for determining regulations and restrictions. We deep dive into some of what he has accomplished so far with his land and livestock, as well as his plans to thrive in the next year.

Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/finding-land

Sponsors:

- The Homestead Journal - Find us at www.thehomesteadjournal.net and follow us @thjdotnet on Twitter.

- https://FreedomFarmer.net - Where I focus on #SkillsOverStuff and designing your intentional life

Come on into the library, sit down and have a chat.

Join our conversation with Yardbird on culture, the podcast, and Radical Authenticity.

Radical Authenticity: Facing reality. Being authentic. learning to identify problems, and being willing to accept those.

We also discuss:

- The history and next steps for the podcast. <

- Yardbird's Philosophy Garden. He has generously provided an essay on the Philosophy garden that you can read on the thrivingthefuture.com website.

- Wendell Berry's "The Unsettling of America". We are in a competition with nature when it should be a conversation."

- What are YOU reading?

Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/radical-authenticity

Jamon Mysliwiec (@theindependentamericangardener) joins me to share about TIAG - The Independent American Gardener, an online to in-real-life community, teaching permaculture and self-sufficiency through regenerative community.

The goal is to move to a closed-loop economy, with communities producing surplus, leveraging home based small businesses, and creating a barter and trade network for the surplus.

Jamon started Lulu's Garden, the first Demonstration Hub in Trenton, MO, and has bought a commercial property which will have a rooftop garden, greenhouse, a food forest, and to trade surplus through a farmers market type model.

He also shares about his new off grid property and soon-to-be-Demonstration Hub in SW Missouri.

Thriving Food Forest Design: Let us create an edible foodscape, perennial paradise for you so you can grow more food and be more self sufficient. Schedule a free consult session with me at:

Buy my chestnuts, hazelnuts, elderberry, and comfrey that are adapted to the Midwest.

GrowNutTrees.com

Raised beds that I am building to test Perennial Kitchen Garden layouts:

Vego Garden Modular Metal Raised Bed (which I will make 5' x 3.5', 17" tall).

I use this for a perennial kitchen garden - growing herbs to use daily in the kitchen. Just come along and pick what you need for tonight's dinner.

Meadow Creature Broadfork is my favorite tool for starting new garden beds. I turn over the sod, add a layer of compost, then Milpa, and cover with woodchips.

<p>You may think that gardening season is late, and you are just harvesting the tomatoes and the root crops and squash. If you live in the midsection of the country or the South, you can get two seasons in. Start succession planting now. Plant that Victory Garden!</p>

<p>Go to the episode website to see a helpful guide to succession planting:

https://thrivingthefuture.com/fall-garden</p>

<p>Sponsors:</p>

<p> - The Homestead Journal - Find us at www.thehomesteadjournal.net and follow us @thjdotnet on Twitter.</p>

<p> - https://FreedomFarmer.net - Where I focus on #SkillsOverStuff and designing your intentional life</p>

<p>Do you Get Stuff Done, or do you change course and start yet another project after seeing a new YT video, saying "I'm gonna try that!"</p>

<p>The result = A bunch of projects that never get done.</p>

<p>But I want to Get Stuff Done instead. Real stuff. Projects that I finish.</p>

<p>I want Proof of Work. I want to actually finish my projects.</p>

<p>It is also #SkillsOverStuff. Building skills, refining skills.</p>

<p>What skills are you building?</p>

<p>Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/get-stuff-done</p>

<p>Sponsors:</p>

<p> - The Homestead Journal - Find us at www.thehomesteadjournal.net and follow us @thjdotnet on Twitter.</p>

<p> - https://FreedomFarmer.net - Where I focus on #SkillsOverStuff and designing your intentional life</p>

<p>Building Cultural Capital</p>

<p>You build Cultural capital through stories, songs, and rituals.</p>

<p>You are building Culture whether you know it or not.</p>

<p>What kind of culture are you building?</p>

<p>Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/cultural-capital</p>

<p>Sponsors:</p>

<p> - The Homestead Journal - Find us at www.thehomesteadjournal.net and follow us @thjdotnet on Twitter.</p>

<p> - https://FreedomFarmer.net - Where I focus on #SkillsOverStuff and designing your intentional life</p>

<p>The Unwritten Rules of Social Capital and Your Social Capital Debt.</p>

<p> - If I do something for you, you generally "owe" me a favor.</p>

<p> - Social capital can be traded for other capital. If you do something for me, I can recompense you in some other way.</p>

<p>(Notice how uncomfortable this quickly becomes. Everybody knows these things, but if you verbalize them then you are seen as cold, calculated, and that you are using people.)</p>

<p>Social Capital Debt</p>

<p>"Everyone subconsciously keeps a tally book (of their social capital debt)"</p>

<p> - We are starved for social capital. We have let our social capital debt build up.</p>

<p> - If you have that debt, your sphere of influence shrinks.</p>

<p>Do you have social capital debt?</p>

<p>How are you building social capital?</p>

<p>Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/social-capital-debt</p>

<p>Sponsors:</p>

<p> - The Homestead Journal - Find us at www.thehomesteadjournal.net and follow us @thjdotnet on Twitter.</p>

<p> - https://FreedomFarmer.net - Where I focus on #SkillsOverStuff and designing your intentional life</p>

How to Use Social Media Without Social Media Using You.

Attention is Worship. All social media is about Attention.

Social Media steals your attention. Is social media stealing your intention and keeping you from designing and living your intentional life?

"If you want to live an intentional life, then start controlling your attention." - Perpend

<p>What we are planting this year - including some surprises.</p>

<p>Why Do We Garden?</p>

<p> - Why do we plant this year?</p>

<p> - Grow our own healthy food!</p>

<p> - Gardening provides a therapeutic and prayerful respite and reset in our day.</p>

What new things we are planting this year:</p>

<p> - Milpa - Mix of multiple seeds (corn, squash, beans, greens, okra, etc.) that provide ground cover and multiple crops to harvest over the summer months, plus good mulch over the winter.</p>

<p> - Indian Ricegrass - a perennial grass with a gluten free source for edible seeds of <p> - porridge, etc.</p>

<p> - New Jersey Tea - a herb that can be used as a stand-in for tea.</p>

<p> - Landrace squash - including Nanticoke squash, Jemi-Nanticoke squash mix, Desert Spirit Landrace Squash</p>

<p> - Landrace beans</p>

<p> - Grandpa McKay's Cream Pea Cowpea</p>

<p> - Perennial Pollinators - a mix of perennial flowers that can be used to sow bands of pollinators in your garden and improve crop pollination. Also brings in some other pollinators, such as wasps, that prey on typical garden pests.</p>

<p> - Sugar beets</p>

<p> - Spring Lentils</p>

<p>(links to the above seeds on our website)</p>

<p>Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/why-garden</p>

<p>Sponsors:</p>

<p> - The Homestead Journal - Find us at www.thehomesteadjournal.net and follow us @thjdotnet on Twitter.</p>

<p> - https://FreedomFarmer.net - Where I focus on #SkillsOverStuff and designing your intentional life</p>

<p>Continuing our site survey of a friend's land - an off-grid property. We focus on what we would plant on this property to stabilize soil, improve "curb appeal" on the SE facing slope, and provide perennial vegetables and medicinals for animal and humans. We want things that look good at different times a year.</p>

<p>Perennial vegetables</p>

<p>Perennial vegetables definition:</p>

<p> - Living three or more years</p>

<p> - Used as a vegetable, not a novelty crop</p>

<p> - Use the leaves, stalks, shoots, flower buds, tubers, corms, rhizomes, roots, beans, or other above or below ground parts that are eaten raw, or cooked as a meal, or as a side dish.</p>

<p> - Not destroyed by harvesting - harvest some, replant some (like sunchokes)</p>

<p>List from A Global Inventory of Perennial Vegetables:</p>

<p>http://www.perennialsolutions.org/a-global-inventory-of-perennial-vegetables</p>

<p>Perennials that we cover:</p>

<p> - Asparagus</p>

<p> - Jerusalem Artichokes (sunchokes)</p>

<p> - Cattail</p>

<p> - Sunflower</p>

<p> - Showy and Common Milkweed</p>

<p> - Ostrich fern</p>

<p> - Perennial Leek</p>

<p> - Wild Onions and garlic</p>

<p> - Walking onions</p>

<p> - Solomon Seal</p>

<p> - Ramps - add to the oak tree area</p>

<p> - Sea beet</p>

<p> - Turkish Rocket</p>

<p> - Sea Kale - perennial kale</p>

<p> - Wild arugula</p>

<p> - New Zealand Spinach</p>

<p> - Maximillian Sunflower</p>

<p> - Goji Berry</p>

<p> - Marshmallow</p>

<p> - Mulberry</p>

<p> - Elderberry</p>

<p>Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/choosing-plants</p>

<p>Sponsors:</p>

<p> - The Homestead Journal - Find us at www.thehomesteadjournal.net and follow us @thjdotnet on Twitter.</p>

<p> - https://FreedomFarmer.net - Where I focus on #SkillsOverStuff and designing an intentional life</p>

<p>Detailed site survey for an off grid property.</p>

<p>For our April workshop we did a property walk and site survey on a friend's land. His goal is to turn this into an off grid property. We include clips of some of the on-site brainstorming conversations.</p>

<p> - 3 Acre lot in NE KS. Currently pasture with trees (hedge, oak, hackberry, cedar) along the S side, which borders a creek/ravine.</p>

<p> - Land slopes down to the SE. Most of the land is south facing slope (good for solar and gardens).</p>

<p> - USDA Zone 6A</p>

Goals are important.</p>

Goal: Turnaround property in 5-6 years and retire.</p>

<p> - Do a proof of concept for off grid:</p>

<p> - 2 shipping containers, on trench footings, with a roof in between, enclosed space, and slab floor.</p>

<p> - Solar for power</p>

<p> - Rain catchment for water</p>

<p> - Compost toilet</p>

<p>Important considerations for a small acreage property:</p>

<p> - How much easement will you need? (building from the road or fence).</p>

<p> - How much space will be taken up by septic system and laterals? If putting in septic, this would limit your growing area. (Because of this, he will not initially put in a septic system).</p>

<p>Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/choosing-land</p>

<p>Sponsors:</p>

<p> - The Homestead Journal - Find us at www.thehomesteadjournal.net and follow us @thjdotnet on Twitter.</p>

<p> - https://FreedomFarmer.net - Where I focus on #SkillsOverStuff and designing an intentional life</p>

<p>We plan out a Permaculture Site Survey</p>

<p>"No one is an expert , but we are still going to Get Stuff Done" #GSD</p>

<p>For our April community workshop, we plan out a site survey to evaluate and give some feedback on a friend's land.</p>

<p> - 3 acres in NE KS</p>

<p> - Approach it from "would we buy this land?"</p>

<p> - How would we use this land?</p>

<p> - What are their goals?</p>

<p>We are prepping you to think through a site survey yourself.</p>

<p>Considerations:</p>

<p> - Access</p>

<p> - Water - creeks, ponds</p>

<p> - Climate - wind, rainfall, USDA Zone, Sun exposure</p>

<p> - Take a shovel and a bucket. Dig a hole to evaluate how quickly water is absorbed in the soil.</p>

<p> - Are utilities available? What is the cost to add a meter, for example (it is a lot more than you may think).</p>

<p> - Off grid?</p>

<p> - Water catchment</p>

<p> - We also cover things that you may not have thought about - is there a quarry nearby? (is there a lot of dump truck traffic?).</p>

<p> - What are the neighbors like? If you don't like ATVs and guns you may want to know that the neighbor rides ATVs and shoots guns at daybreak on the weekends (a common occurrence in rural KS, especially near hunting season) before you move in there. Visit at different times of the days and week, especially on the weekend.</p>

<p>This is how easy it is to plan a workshop, whether you do a site survey, or any other kind of topic. Anybody can do this. Just set it up and do it.</p>

<p>Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/planning-workshop</p>

<p>Continuing the discussion on the "How" to start and maintain a community</p>

<p> - What do you do when it all goes wrong with your community?</p>

<p> - How to surround yourself with people who benefit others as well as benefit themselves (Win/Win) rather than Hapless people.</p>

<p> - Note that you do NOT want to only surround yourself with people just like you (like-minded people). You need to have a variety of people with different skills.</p>

<p>We also talk about our workshops and how that builds and strengthens community.</p>

<p>We discuss the 5 Laws of Stupidity:</p>

<p>https://youtu.be/3O9FFrLpinQ</p>

<p>https://thrivingthefuture.com/2-dollar-eggs

</p>

As I get older, perennials have become more important in my garden.

It is the first week of May, and this Spring I have not planted any new annuals, besides potatoes. But that doesn't mean that I do not have anything to eat. A couple of years ago I focused more and more corners of my garden and raised beds on perennials. I have bloody dock and other sorrel to add to salads. Bloody dock has a lemony taste, and it's blood red veins add an intriguing conversation piece when added to a guest's salad.

The Milpa bed has 2nd year cabbage, arugula, and mustard greens that can be foraged and added to salads and smoothies. The arugula and mustard greens need to gathered early before they go to seed.

Narrow leaf plantain is also added to smoothies.

I have oregano in a raised bed kitchen garden that is far better than any store bought oregano (and I will never go back!).

I have walking onions that are so numerous that I have many to thin and add to other beds and into the food forest. As well as gift to friends, for I have more onions than I can eat.

Jerusalem artichoke (sunchoke) tubers are mostly sprouting new plants, but some can still be harvested. I planted a variety a few years ago that is white, more circular and less lobulated than most sunchokes.

I have added raised bed kitchen gardens in Zone 1 near the house, using two Vego Garden Modular Metal Raised Beds, and I want to increase my perennial options.

Skirret

This year I will add Skirret, which is a perennial that looks like a carrot and is described as "the sweetest carrot you've ever eaten." Skirret is a European perennial, popular in medieval times. Instead of one tap root, the skirret has multiple tubers off of a plant. I got the seed from Perma Gardens at plantonce.com

Yacon

Yacon is a plant that has a deep tubers that look like a small sweet potato, and smaller tubers near the surface that look like sunchokes. Above ground it will look like a sunflower. It reportedly has a juicy fruity flavor like celery or fruit. I bought my Yacon at Raintree Nursery, and they also have a purple variety.

Mashua

Mashua is a plant in the Nasturtium family. It is a vining and flowering plant, but also forms tubers. The leaves and flower are edible. And it repels some insects and nematodes, so you can plant it between other plants. The tubers can also come in different colors. I bought my Mashua at Raintree Nursery.

Sea Beet

Sea beet is an ancestor of our beets and chard. It will have large edible leaves. It seeds in Year 2 and then, in midsection of country it would likely go perennial in Year 3.

It is not a red beet, and I expect it to be more like a chard taste or closer to a sugar beet. I bought mine at Experimental Farm Network, which has unique things you may not find in your regular store or the usual online seed places.

Perennial Kale

I frequently can get kale to come back in the next year, especially if it is a thicker leafed kale like Scotch Kale. You can also get some ornamental kale that comes back every year. Those may not be great in salad, but you could eat the tender new "baby kale" or blend it into smoothies. Experimental Farm Network has been experimenting with choosing kale varieties that would be more likely to go perennial. They call it the 'Homesteader's Kaleidoscopic Perennial' Kale Grex. "Grex" is a horticulture term meaning a hybrid. I have tried this (and will continue to try it) to discover the elusive perennial kale.

Chicory

And I go back to my tried and true chicory, which also comes back. I plant this along borders in the garden and in ground beds. I also have it growing wild up and down the driveway. You can roast chicory root as a coffee substitute (although I don't care for it). My chickens love the greens and I add it to smoothies.

Try some of these plants, especially the tubers, and increase your self sufficiency by experimenting to see if you can get some of them to turn perennial.

Buy my chestnuts, hazelnuts, elderberry, and comfrey that are adapted to the Midwest.

Use “thriving” at checkout for 10% (through May-10).

GrowNutTrees.com

<p>How crypto can help you to #Thrive in the tough times ahead.</p>

<p>“HODLing is for chumps!” - Perpend.</p>

<p>Why Crypto?</p>

<p> We talk about the Why - the base concepts of Money, Value, and determining what is Fair Value.</p>

<p> The basics of cryptocurrency, what it is really for (it's purpose was not for HODLing).</p>

<p> How crypto can help you to #Thrive in the tough times ahead.</p>

<p> Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and what is coming.</p>

<p>A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution. - Bitcoin White Paper: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf</p>

<p>Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/why-crypto</p>

"You are not defined by what you do, but who you are, and what community you belong to."

We start with a mindset that allows you to transition from your job to your intentional life, or ways to do both longer in ways that fulfill your intentions in your life. Hint: It's deeper than the side hustle.

<p>Thriving The Future Podcast Ep.19 - Who Can You Trust?</p>

<p>What does it mean 'To be a man of your word?'</p>

<p>We talk about Faith vs. Trust. Duty. Responsibility.</p>

<p>In the past, you didn't have to ask what it meant to be a man of your word, because they knew. And they knew because they had shared values. You ask that now and no one knows because they don't have shared values. What was agreed was valuable was fulfilling your duty and your responsibility. Now what is valuable is not having any responsibility.</p>

<p>Episode website: https://thrivingthefuture.com/who-can-you-trust </p>