Episodes
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Lindsay Brandon, CEO and Permaculture Consultant at Permaculture Canada joins me to share about Armagarden, her new project to integrate community design into the permaculture design.
We discuss Armagarden and how it contrasts with the usual permaculture design.
From the website:
What is Armagarden?
Armagarden was born from the desire to get back to the land and live a lifestyle that is connected to family, place and community. Through strategic design methods considerations are made through the design process towards food/water security, community resource management, and holistic design from a community perspective. With the recent increase in people desiring a homesteading lifestyle many realise that self-reliance is best when combined with the skills of their community. That we are stronger, more resilient, and can accomplish much more when we pool our resources, talents and skills together.
The community resilience is created with elements including food production, on-site (off-grid) energy production, infrastructure for community events, educational courses and sustainable construction and energy efficiency practices for all buildings.
Episode website: Ep. 141 - Armagarden - Regenerative Community Design, with Lindsay Brandon
Sponsors:
Grow Nut Trees - Chestnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, elderberry - all adapted to the Midwest. Now taking orders for shipping in Sept/Oct.
Permies digital marketplace is YOUR source for all things permaculture for your homestead, side hustle, and designing your intentional life: from video courses, to blueprints, to books.
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With tough times, more people are looking for homestead property, or to add gardens, fruit and nut trees, and chickens to their existing suburban property to be more self sufficient.
Kerry Brown of Strong Roots Resources joins me to share tips to find your homestead property:
Look for off-market properties. Properties are selling before they show up in Zillow or MLS. Contact your network of folks, like realtors to give you a heads up when something is coming available. If you are in the Tennessee area, Kerry recommends Marcie and Jeff Yadon. On FB as on fb as Marcie n Jeff Yadon or email: [email protected] CommunitiesSome have a membership model or you can live there seasonally.FB Group - Homestead RoommatesTSP Land Group on TelegramPermies SKIP program on Permies.comWhat to consider when looking at a property:
Water sourceAccessSolar aspectForaging and trees - what is on there now?Suburban tips:Look at space and think of "what else could that be used for?" (stack functions)Avoid HOAsDon't discount garage space (like for aquaculture).Episode website: Ep. 140 - Tips to Find Your Homestead Property - with Kerry Brown
Sponsors:
Permies digital marketplace is YOUR source for all things permaculture for your homestead, side hustle, and designing your intentional life: from video courses, to blueprints, to books.
Grow Nut Trees - Chestnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, elderberry - all adapted to the Midwest. Now taking orders for shipping in Sept/Oct.
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Missing episodes?
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Last time, in Ep. 138, Jason Thomas shared stories and we discussed how to design your intentional life.
We talked about the main categories - wealth, health, relationships, and spirituality.
I was contemplating my journey to design my intentional life and I had more to add.
Having an Intentional Life means:
Aligning your life and actions with your values, as much as possible.Being deliberate in your actions and forming good habits.Taking positive steps rather than being driven by your circumstances and surroundings.Preparing for adversity - both physically and mentally.Being more at peace and having a positive view of your future.Focusing on your physical and spiritual health.Write down your values.
Evaluate things to Change:
Make a plan. Start simple.
There are no solutions, only tradeoffs. You won't get to 100% (unless you are very lucky, or you have the right situations). There will be some tradeoffs.
It's not All or Nothing.
Get out of the "I am going to replace my job!" mindset.
Redesign your life by changing your lifestyle and expectations:
Paul Wheaton's (in)famous "Story of Ferd and Gert"
Get out of the "progressive mindset"
Grow your own food.
Find your tribe - Grow community.
Episode website: Ep. 139 - More Tips to Design Your Intentional Life
Sponsors:
Permies digital marketplace is YOUR source for all things permaculture for your homestead, side hustle, and designing your intentional life: from video courses, to blueprints, to books.
Grow Nut Trees - Chestnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, elderberry - all adapted to the Midwest. Now taking orders for shipping in Sept/Oct.
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What does your perfect day look like? Does today look like that perfect day?
In this episode, Jason Thomas of Regeneration Nation Costa Rica shares foundational steps to design your intentional life.
Needs most people have:
WealthHealthRelationshipsSpiritualityWhat does your perfect day look like?
We also discuss how to apply permaculture principles to your business or side hustle.
Check out Jason's FREE e-book: 77 Ways to Practice Permaculture Professionally. (some may surprise you)
Episode website: Ep. 138 - Jason Thomas on How to Design Your Intentional Life
Sponsors:
Permaculture Business Design Course from Regeneration Nation Costa Rica - This course will guide you step-by-step toward designing a profession that cultivates your permaculture education into a regenerative livelihood.
Permies digital marketplace is YOUR source for all things permaculture for your homestead, side hustle, and designing your intentional life: from video courses, to blueprints, to books.
Grow Nut Trees - Chestnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, elderberry - all adapted to the Midwest. Now taking orders for shipping in Sept/Oct.
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It's been a crazy week. The assassination attempt on Trump.
Now a Global cyberattack (“no, it was just a bad patch!”)
What will you do with this moment?
Focus on your local Circle of Influence and Circle of ConcernPlant treesCultivate gardensRaise livestockPrepare mentally and spirituallyGrow your local communityBecause Gov’t will not save you.
Episode website: Ep. 137 - What Will You Make of This Moment?
Sponsors:
Permies Permaculture Design Course - 70 hours of videos for $50. Watch what topic that you want to learn for your homestead (water, swales, ponds, earthworks) - without taking a week off of work or getting a certificate.
Grow Nut Trees - Chestnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, elderberry - all adapted to the Midwest. Now taking orders for shipping in Sept/Oct.
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My friend Kevin Brubaker from Dallas Media Productions, an independent film producer in Dallas, joins me to talk about LLC Tips (and lots of film stuff).
What does a film producer have to do with my usual content of homesteading? It fits into creating side hustles and businesses to Design Your Intentional Life.
We were having a conversation about LLCs and we decided to record it. We also talk a lot about film. How can you make money on film production in the streaming era?
We dove into these topics:
Should you have an LLC for each project or side hustle?Should you wait to become profitable before forming an LLC?Do you have to be profitable after 3 years to be considered legit (or bear the wrath of the IRS)?Should I spin Grow Nut Trees into its own LLC?To answer these questions, you have to ask yourself - why have an LLC?
Although you want to use an LLC to offset your expenses, an LLC is mainly to protect you in a hyper-suing culture that we are currently in. If I was sued (for some reason) on trees, I would lose all my businesses, including the podcast.
Tips:
It is recommended that you have an LLC for each project or side hustle.You do not have to be profitable after 3 years if you are showing growth and an "intent to make a profit".Make sure that you create an LLC in a state where the application and charge is one-time only. (some states require yearly renewal). I have mine in KS (cost me $166). Kevin has his in TX and cost about $150. You can create the LLC and get an EIN on the state website - you don't need a lawyer or Legal Zoom.Find a mentor.Disclaimer: This is not tax or financials advice. Discuss with your tax or financial planner for your situation.
Episode website: Ep. 134 - Surprising Small Business LLC Tips
Join the mailing list and our Telegram group and you can keep up to date with all of Grant Payne, Homestead Padre, and my homesteading projects. Signup at https://Signup.ThrivingtheFuture.com
If you like this content and the podcast, here is how you can support the podcast and my Thriving empire of side hustles:
Shoot me a tip on Venmo or CashApp @ThrivingtheFuture.Go to the Stuff page on Thriving the Future site and buy something.OR - click on one of the Amazon links on the Stuff page and then buy your other stuff that you want. Anything you buy on Amazon for 24 hours will give Thriving the Future a credit.Sponsors:
Grow Nut Trees: Buy Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings - all adapted to the Midwest. Seeds and trees have “memory”. They thrived and reproduced in a certain climate.Often when you buy chestnut trees, seeds, or plants online, you have to buy from nurseries in the Northeast or Southeast US, or the Pacific Northwest.
Take it from us, trees and plants grown in those climates do not do well in Kansas.
So buy Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings - all adapted to the Midwest. At GrowNutTrees.com.
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Jeremy is better known as DeweyLikeDonuts on Instagram and TikTok.
We start his story in 2008 and how a SHTF can be your own personal apocalypse. He turned to "raising chickens, growing his own food, and striving for a more sustainable life" (his tagline).Prepping to Thrive rather than survive. Not living in fear.He shares about is recent adventures with a bee swarm.How he grew his Instagram account with a chicken video that went viral.And what is the "Internet in a Box"?Episode website: Ep. 133 - Striving for a More Sustainable Life - with DeweyLikeDonuts
Join the mailing list and our Telegram group and you can keep up to date with all of Grant Payne, Homestead Padre, and my homesteading projects. Signup at https://Signup.ThrivingtheFuture.com
If you like this content and the podcast, here is how you can support the podcast and my Thriving empire of side hustles:
Shoot me a tip on Venmo or CashApp @ThrivingtheFuture.Go to the Stuff page on Thriving the Future site and buy something.OR - click on one of the Amazon links on the Stuff page and then buy your other stuff that you want. Anything you buy on Amazon for 24 hours will give Thriving the Future a credit.Sponsors:
Check out the Solar Food Dehydrator. Watch the movie, get the plans, all for a reasonable cost.Grow Nut Trees: Buy Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings - all adapted to the Midwest. Seeds and trees have “memory”. They thrived and reproduced in a certain climate.Often when you buy chestnut trees, seeds, or plants online, you have to buy from nurseries in the Northeast or Southeast US, or the Pacific Northwest.
Take it from us, trees and plants grown in those climates do not do well in Kansas.
So buy Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings - all adapted to the Midwest. At GrowNutTrees.com.
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Part of Thriving is embracing both the wins, as well as the losses.
Homestead Update:
My Spring garden has failed, for the most part.
I usually sow plants and then spread lettuce and kale seed around to act as a cover crop - hey, lettuce is a companion plant of everything.
This year hardly anything came up. The starter plants that I planted also did not thrive.
Why? Lots of rain.
In Kansas we do not get "April showers bring May flowers."
We get May and June thunderstorms. Almost all of our annual rain comes in May and June.
This year it rained almost every other day in May. We even had a mini-tornado pass just south of us and we got 8-10 inches of rain that week. Should have been a Spring bonanza of crops.
I added a couple of truckloads of compost from the nursery. The compost is worse-than-usual municipal compost.
The perennials saved the day - plantain, walking onion, bloody dock sorrel. They all did wonderfully.
Some trees thrived. Some did not.
My apple grafts are all thriving. Nearly 80% success so far, which is rare.
But the chestnut seedlings from last year didn't come out of dormancy. The 5 year chestnut trees are looking sickly, with half the branches with no leaves. I need to heavily fertilize and see if they recover.
Side Hustle Update on GrowNutTrees.
I sold hundreds of $ of elderberry on FB marketplace.I am adding black lace elderberry for next Fall and in 2025.Episode website: Ep. 132 - Never Give Up, Never Surrender
If you like this content and the podcast, here is how you can support the podcast and my Thriving empire of side hustles:
Shoot me a tip on Venmo or CashApp @ThrivingtheFuture.Go to the Stuff page on Thriving the Future site and buy something.OR - click on one of the Amazon links on the Stuff page and then buy your other stuff that you want. Anything you buy on Amazon for 24 hours will give Thriving the Future a credit.Sponsors:
Check out the Solar Food Dehydrator. Watch the movie, get the plans, all for a reasonable cost.Grow Nut Trees: Buy Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings - all adapted to the Midwest. Seeds and trees have “memory”. They thrived and reproduced in a certain climate.Often when you buy chestnut trees, seeds, or plants online, you have to buy from nurseries in the Northeast or Southeast US, or the Pacific Northwest.
Take it from us, trees and plants grown in those climates do not do well in Kansas.
So buy Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings - all adapted to the Midwest. At GrowNutTrees.com.
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Enough talk. Get Stuff Done. It's Proof of Work.
Grant Payne and Matt Derosier share what Stuff they are Getting Done this Spring, as well as Side Hustle and Tree Nursery tips.
Hear why "The IBC King is Back":
Grant's weddingGrant added MANY chickens and ducksTurkey production - if you start now will they be ready to sell for Thanksgiving?Tree nursery tipsHedge production by coppicing.Grant Payne - PayneHomestead on Twitter
Matt at FarmHopLife
Episode website: Ep. 131 - Get Stuff Done - with Grant and Matt
If you like this content, shoot us a tip on Venmo or Cashapp @ThrivingtheFuture
Sponsors:
Check out the Solar Food Dehydrator. Watch the movie, get the plans, all for a reasonable cost.Grow Nut Trees: Buy Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings - all adapted to the Midwest. Seeds and trees have “memory”. They thrived and reproduced in a certain climate.Often when you buy chestnut trees, seeds, or plants online, you have to buy from nurseries in the Northeast or Southeast US, or the Pacific Northwest.Take it from us, trees and plants grown in those climates do not do well in Kansas. So buy Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings - all adapted to the Midwest. At GrowNutTrees.com. -
Real world examples to start and then grow your side hustle.
I am taking a Permaculture Business Design Course through Regeneration Nation CR. The exercises and worksheets are fantastic and have helped me to focus more on the customer.
What is the problem you are trying to solve? What does your customer actually want? Are you trying to solve what you think the problem is?Example: If you are evaluating someone's land and doing a permaculture design, have you asked: "what do you like to eat?"
So many people plant things that they actually don't eat, or will not likely eat.
Define who your customer really is and let your customer define themselves by what they really want.
Niche down and then niche down some more so you are known as an expert in that space.Quickly go to market with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to test the response and whether it is worth throwing money (and more importantly TIME) at.Charge less for it in a beta test. Get real world feedback.Let your customer ultimately decide if they are your customer. Don’t chase after someone who doesn’t want to be your customer.Learn skills while doing. Charge less while learning those skills, build clientele and experience, then raise your price.Become a producer and not just a consumer.Like the permaculture principle – Use your yield. It can be used to give, trade, or sell to grow your forms of capital.Don’t grift for the sake of the grift or people will easily see through you.Use research tools like Google Trends and Answer the Public.
I do a deep dive on How to use Answer the Public in the latest Thriving News article on How to Overcome Writer's Block.
Episode website: Ep. 130 - Tips on How to Grow Your Side Hustle
If you like this content, shoot us a tip on Venmo or Cashapp @ThrivingtheFuture.
Sponsors:
Check out the Solar Food Dehydrator. Watch the movie, get the plans, all for reasonable cost.Grow Nut Trees: Buy Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings - all adapted to the Midwest. Seeds and trees have “memory”. They thrived and reproduced in a certain climate.Often when you buy chestnut trees, seeds, or plants online, you have to buy from nurseries in the Northeast or Southeast US, or the Pacific Northwest.Take it from us, trees and plants grown in those climates do not do well in Kansas. So buy Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings - all adapted to the Midwest. At GrowNutTrees.com. -
Times are tough. I talked with a recruiter friend the other day and there are >40 people in my field in our local job market that he knows that are looking for work. And those are just the ones that he knows.
Build something for yourself. It’s basic prepping. Build your side hustle. Multiple streams of income.
In this episode I will share tips on how to discover and develop your side hustle niche.
How to find your side hustle niche
Let's talk about YOUR side hustle.
Are you having difficulty finding your side hustle niche?
What are you good at?You know stuff. You may not think it is much, but there is someone out there who will pay (or pay attention) for that knowledge.Remember - Guys on YouTube are getting hundreds of views from sharpening knives or using a scythe. This week I saw a post on permies where a guy took a scythe blade that was mangled by a lawn mower and he fixed it. All are skills that can be taught or sold as a side hustle, or as sales of knives and scythes.
Grant Payne takes pruned and trimmed pieces of plants and rejects from the big box store and grows them out into full plants and sells them.
Anything like that can drive into a side hustle.
Even better - you can tell someone how to do a skill step by step and they will often PAY YOU to do it for them.
Try it. Talk about your skill in your community. Offer to show someone how you do it. Make a proof of concept web page, YouTube page, or use FB Marketplace. Sell your service or your product/what you make. Or sell your knowledge and skill.
Use Flippa as a Side Hustle Idea Generator
Get on Flippa. Check out the current listings. But, even more importantly, check out the listings that have recently sold.
The prepper site BunkerBasics.com sold not long ago for $1,100.
You could buy a website like this, build one similar, or use it as an idea for a niche.
This is my usual process and checklist for evaluating a website:
Is the site within my niche or in an adjacent niche?Is the site in my price range? Most that I have bought are starter sites that are $100-200.They must be created in Wordpress.Do I have a vision for them:Do I buy the site, build the audience, and then generate affiliate income?Will I resell the site?Do I think that I can make the site better?I usually brainstorm 10-15 article topics that I would write for each site as a proof of concept to support my decision.
Check out the show notes on the Episode website: https://ThrivingtheFuture.com/side-hustle-niche
Guitar Pedal Mania
Sponsors:
Duplicator Pro - when you buy a website off of Flippa, Transfer the website over easily with Duplicator Pro plugin. It creates the database and sets up all plugins and content. Check out Duplicator Pro plugin.Check out the Solar Food Dehydrator. Watch the movie, get the plans, all for reasonable cost.Grow Nut Trees: Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings. At GrowNutTrees.com. -
Andy Hickman (shagbark_hick on Twitter) shares his new adventures. Andy was on on Ep. 83 - You're Gonna Make it.
His video "You're Gonna Make it" is still the most encouraging video I have ever seen, and still puts a smile on my face.
Andy has a big Summer planned:
He is getting married to Keturah in June, with a wedding in the woods of upstate NY, with bring-your-own-picnic lunch, and campout. (Saving money and gaining family).
Before that, he is travelling the month of May coast-to-coast on Amtrak to visit new friends from Twitter in NE and TX, stealth camping, and in Oregon to greet the father he has never met.
He shares tips for traveling on Amtrak.
Plans to travel to Europe on QE2.
Making a living writing on Substack. Subscribe and support him (I do). It is a must-read!
We also talk about Thriving by being Time Rich.
Check out the show notes on the Episode website: https://ThrivingtheFuture.com/shagbark_hick
Sponsors:
Check out the Solar Food Dehydrator. Watch the movie, get the plans, all for reasonable cost.Grow Nut Trees: Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings. At GrowNutTrees.com.Do you forage nettles? A guy I know forages and freezes nettles and they are his main green veg for the entire year! Check out the How to Forage and Prepare Nettles on AllGardenAdvice.com -
New health challenges require Homestead Padre to rethink and redesign his garden to adapt to those changes.
After some health issues, Homestead Padre and his wife are adopting the Mediterranean Diet.
Padre shares about IBS and Crohn's Disease.
Unlike American Italian Food, the Mediterranean Diet is heavy emphasis on vegetables, seafood, lean meats, fat from olive oil, and whole wheat pasta (if they have pasta).
Padre is realigning his garden around those foods. Changing what he will grow in his garden - based on new dietary needs. Come and listen to how he plans out his journey.
The usual disclaimer: This is a personal story and is not medical advice.
Padre also shares about his updates and challenges with the farmer's market this year as they take on leadership of the market.
Check out the step by step instructions on the show notes on the Episode website: https://ThrivingtheFuture.com/garden-health
Sponsors:
Check out the Solar Food Dehydrator. Watch the movie, get the plans, all for reasonable cost.Grow Nut Trees: Elderberry cuttings are still available. Now have hazelnut seedlings and red mulberry seedlings. At GrowNutTrees.com.Check out the Companion Planting Guide on AllGardenAdvice.com -
Try to go without your phone for a few hours, or even the whole day.
Like most people, I reach for my phone when there is any break in the conversation, when a commercial comes on TV, or when I am even slightly bored.
This episode will empower you with some tips to reduce your screen use - and reclaim your life.
Phone Settings to Fight Screen Addiction:
Night ShiftFocus settingLevel Up on Fighting Screen Addiction with the Grayscale Setting:
This is a tip that Father Turbo gave to Perpend: You set your phone to Grayscale. Nothing changes, but everything is in shades of gray.
It is designed to lessen the draw to the phone, as well as decrease the dopamine hit that you get when on social media. Things just don't look as appealing in grayscale and they don't trigger the same things in the brain.
Watch Your Scrolling Habits
Focus on your Circle of Influence and Circle of Concern:
Let’s get real. That thing that is happening in Texas that is the Outrage-of-the-day on social media. Does it really impact me?
If I don’t live in Texas, chances are it doesn’t impact me at all.
Does it even concern me?
Probably not.
Wear Blue Blocking Glasses at night
This helps me to manage my circadian rhythm and helps me to sleep.
Be Time Rich:
Put things in perspective. Spend time on things that matter. Especially your family. Your kids will grow up before you know it.
Check out the step by step instructions on the show notes on the Episode website: https://ThrivingtheFuture.com/screen-addiction
Sponsors:
Check out the Solar Food Dehydrator. Watch the movie, get the plans, all for reasonable cost.Grow Nut Trees: Elderberry cuttings are still available but Hurry before they come out of dormancy. Now have pecan seedlings and red mulberry seedlings. At GrowNutTrees.com.Check out the Companion Planting Guide on AllGardenAdvice.com -
Scott the Little Pine Farmer on Twitter is back with me and we are talking about his bakery and how he favors
"Why don't you come down to this market or deliver to the boutique in the city? We want to feed our neighborhood first."
Scott the Little Pine Farmer
It's all about the goal:
"The overarching goal is to stay home, produce value, and have people bring us money."
Reaching that goal through:
Bakery, focusing on sourdough.Making relationships with the animal shelter. Selling bread in the animal shelter parking lot, which is a schools bus drop off.Community compost program.Dog sitting service.Community pasture grazing - like Rent-a-Goat but in the neighborhood.Be the Gray Man and Build Alternative Systems:
Choose the path of focusing on building new alternatives rather than fighting the behemoth. If you get to the point where you are driving tractors down to the state capitol - it is too late.
"I am of much more benefit to my community working here on the farm than sitting in a holding cell in the big city."
Spend your time building alternatives and be the Gray Man. Did you learn nothing from Covid? If you ignore them, fade into the background, and do your thing - it's most likely that they will not be paying attention to you.
Find the Remnant:
Go to dinner or drinks with people.
Build Local Community, Grow Local Food. be the Gray Man. Build alternative systems. Much more effective than protesting.
Episode website: https://ThrivingtheFuture.com/local-community-local-food
Sponsors:
Grow Nut Trees: Elderberry cuttings are still available but Hurry before they come out of dormancy. Now have pecan seedlings and red mulberry seedlings. At GrowNutTrees.com.Check out the Companion Planting Guide on AllGardenAdvice.com -
Grow Food, Not Lawns
How to Create a new garden bed with Milpa
How you create a new garden bed depends on what time of the year it is. Most people sheet mulch by covering an area with cardboard, then layers of compost and woodchips. This works well, but only if you do it in the Fall AND you get lots of rain in the Winter to break down the cardboard. This year we had lots of snow in January and the bed that I created last Fall broke down pretty well, although while digging a hole in the new bed to plant a hazelnut bush, I dug up a piece of cardboard that wasn't completely broken down.
To Use Cardboard or Not Use Cardboard?
Permaculture leaders, like Ben Falk and Paul Wheaton, are increasingly warning against using cardboard as the base when creating new garden beds over lawn grass. And scientists warn against using cardboard as well.
Cardboard reportedly has dioxin and PFAs and "forever chemicals". The article also says that cardboard inhibits soil life. Only plastic sheet mulching is worse (supposedly).
I use Milpa to create new garden beds
In the Spring, I don't have time to wait for the cardboard to break down. I would lose the entire planting season.
My soil is compacted heavy clay, with little worm activity in places, so I would have to add a large amount of woodchips and compost to get something to plant in. And the grass always manages to poke through and take over anyway.
So I take my trusty Meadow Creature Broadfork and turn over the sod. Then I add a layer of compost. I sow with a Milpa seed mix, and then cover with a light layer of woodchips.
Milpa Seed – Buy or Mix Your Own Seed
What is Milpa? It is a mix of seeds, usually with the Three Sisters - corn, squash, and beans - as the core plants. Beans to add nitrogen, corn to provide structure, and squash to grow up the corn or out. Milpa also has other seeds, with a focus to grow as much food as possible on a small garden plot. It sometimes can have buckwheat, okra, cucumbers, greens, radishes, or anything that you want.
The idea is to spread out the harvest through the seasons as well.
I mix my own mix of Milpa seeds:
Grazing corn or Strawberry corn - something that is shorter. Mix it lightly.Red ripper cowpeas, which work well in heavy clay soil.BuckwheatCucumbersSquash that I have leftover or I get from a Spring seed swap.Pollinators.You will get a dominant crop based on when you plant. If you plant early in the Spring, the buckwheat and beans will be dominant and the squash will be shaded out. If later in the season (late May, early June) then the squash will become dominant.
By using this technique you can create a new garden bed with minimal effort, avoid using cardboard, and get an abundant crop in the first year (even with poor clay soil). At the end of the season chop and drop the chaff from the buckwheat and beans to mulch for the Winter.
Episode website: https://ThrivingtheFuture.com/milpa-garden-bed.
Sponsors:
Grow Nut Trees: Elderberry cuttings are still available but Hurry before they come out of dormancy. Now have pecan seedlings and red mulberry seedlings. At GrowNutTrees.com.Check out the Companion Planting Guide on AllGardenAdvice.com -
You don't hear this permaculture message very often: Start Simple.
Usually people are watching videos of Geoff Lawton and planning swales and dams and grafting, and...
Cormac Harkin of Vine Permaculture starts his consults with basic questions:
What do you like to eat?What kind of time do you have during the week to devote to a garden. (if you spend 8 hours a week on a garden, where does that time come from?)When you walk out to your garden, what does it look like?He starts people out simply, with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), and then add on from there.
A salad garden by the back door with cut and come again lettuce. A kitchen garden. A layout that makes sense: You walk out to the chicken coop to get eggs - what gardens or beds can you harvest from on the way?Cormac does a Free Food Forest Abundance planning session as well.
Contact him at [email protected].
Subscribe to the Vine Permaculture Newsletter.
Check out the Vine Permaculture Podcast at https://vinepermaculture.com/podcast/
Episode website: https://ThrivingtheFuture.com/start-simple.
Sponsors:
Grow Nut Trees: Elderberry cuttings are still available but Hurry before they come out of dormancy. Now have pecan seedlings and red mulberry seedlings. At GrowNutTrees.com.Times are tough. How many feet of potatoes and how many potato plants would you need to live off your garden? Thriving Garden Planner spreadsheet can help you. It also has a tab to track how much money you saved by growing your own food. Last year I grew 14 pounds of tomatoes, which would have cost me $50 in the store. It's on sale for $10 at ThrivingGardenPlanner.com. -
Joseph Lofthouse is the author of Landrace Gardening: Food Security through Biodiversity and Promiscuous Pollination.
Landrace gardening is adapting crops to your land and climate, and then saving seeds, while also selecting for the best flavor, color, and pest and disease resistance.
Joseph lives in the high mountains of Utah - a mountain valley with cold air coming down out of the mountains, yet sun almost every day in the Summer, and low humidity. He grows for the farmers market and for himself and friends, and with a shorter season and these conditions he had difficulty growing warm weather crops.
Seeds have a memory and they "remember" where the plants grew and the seed was saved.
Heirloom crops did not grow for Joseph because the seed was from far away and not grown in his climate. Hybrids had low germination rates and did not thrive because they did not like the conditions and the plants that they were saved from were used to lots of inputs.
He saw 80% of the crops that he planted die. He saved the seeds from the ones that survived and planted the next generation. And it only takes about three generations for the crops to get really happy about growing at his place.
He next selected for flavor and color, and even selected plants that were raccoon resistant (!).
Episode website: https://ThrivingtheFuture.com/landrace-gardening
Get Joseph's Landrace Gardening book here
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Grow Nut Trees - Chestnuts, elderberry, elderberry cuttings, comfrey crowns, adapted to the Midwest. https://GrowNutTrees.com.Gear that I use and recommend: Meadow Creature Broadfork 14 - I have used this to turn over sod for new Milpa garden beds, and even hand dug swales with it. Bulletproof. https://amzn.to/4c7Dhve
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A lot of people are talking about Civil War lately. There is even a big budget movie coming out in April 2024 that depicts CW2. In the movie trailer a guy in camo points a rifle at the main characters, journalists, and says, "What kind of American are you?"
That clip from the movie trailer has become a meme online, especially on Twitter.
"What kind of American are you?" seems to be the theme of 2024.
Cyprian (aka Vin Armani) and I talk about the ramifications of this and talk about it from an Orthodox Christian perspective.
The Invisible Enemy
For totalitarianism to come into power you must have an Invisible Enemy.
In 2020, Trump called Covid the "Invisible Enemy".
Who is the Invisible Enemy today?
For the Left, it is White Supremacy. It's the white guy with a rifle asking, "What kind of American are you?"
For the Right, it's Trans people or "illegals".
What about the homeless and the poor - are they the Invisible Enemy?
Fear of the Invisible Enemy
The fear of the Invisible Enemy is fueled by social media, especially Twitter. You get more Likes and Views when you scare people with it.
This pattern of declaring someone (or specific people or groups) as an Invisible Enemy and then declaring (social or real) war against it usually happens right before a big upheaval, and usually leads to some form of totalitarianism. Examples in the 20th Century are many: Germany, Russia, China.
The Real Civil War is Within You. What are YOU going to do?
Positive solutions to face your own personal Civil War:
Pray. Pray for humility and discernment. Avoid the mind virus trap of thinking of groups of people as the Invisible Enemy. It never ends well.Give.We discuss: do you give to the homeless person if he will likely spend it on drugs?
If you have an issue with this:
How about asking his name? Greeting him with his name would be acknowledging him as human being.
How about having a meaningful conversation?
"The rich exist for the sake of the poor. The poor exist for the salvation of the rich.” - St. John Chrysostom.
Read the daily Lives of the Saints. Their strength in trials and persecution will be a guide and model for you as you face the same. Because it is coming. (Didn't you learn anything from Covid?!)You may think you are winning. You don't think it will happen to you, but someone will be asking you, "What kind of American are you?" and you likely won't fit their definition.
Episode website and show notes: https://thrivingthefuture.com/civil-war
If you like this unique topic, shoot us a tip on Venmo @ThrivingtheFuture or CashApp $ThrivingtheFuture. Or join the Thriving Patreon at Patreon.com/ThrivingtheFuture.
Sponsors:
Grow Nut Trees - Chestnuts, elderberry, elderberry cuttings, comfrey crowns, adapted to the Midwest. https://GrowNutTrees.com.Gear that I use and recommend: Meadow Creature 14 - I have used this to turn over sod for new Milpa garden beds, and even hand dug swales with it. Bulletproof. https://amzn.to/3V988kO
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Positive Solutions in a Tough Labor Market
You are in a social gathering, like church or some other social function, and the question comes up: "What do you do?" (for a living). How do you respond?
Most people answer: "I am (this role) at XYZ company". But what is that really saying?
You have boxed yourself into a role. And you (perhaps inadvertently) declared your allegiance to your current company. It is better to say: "I am a (role), currently working at XYZ company." This is subtle, but it leaves the door open. I have seen a person react with, "oh we have an opening at my company", or "my relative has been looking for that role at his company". That works for project managers and it also works for all jobs in a tight labor market.
This is also why the recommended career advice is to change your LinkedIn profile title from your role at XYZ company (which is the default) to your role built into a one-line hook (like a one-line elevator speech).
Not only the "what I do", but also the "where"
“Where you are is more important than who you are.” - Wendell Berry
You are greater than the sum of your parts.
Write down all of the ways you would describe yourself to a new person that you have met - if you were initiating the conversation. Most likely, you would not start with your job title.
Positive Solutions in a Tough Job Market
Own your own career.Get training and stay at a job that is providing opportunities. Change jobs for better opportunitiesKeep the mindset that this may be temporary. Be prepared for adversity, but don't be ruled by the fear of it. Prepping is necessary to offset downturns and adversity.Your mindset is everything.You know stuff. You might not think it is all that much. You could even lay out the steps to do it. But someone will pay you to do those steps instead of doing it themselves.
Establish your authority by doing.
It has never been easier to outperform someone by doing. It's Proof of Work.
Go beyond the hobby. Run it like a business.
This is my side hustle formula:
Dream, Plan, BuildBuild in Public, releasing often.Measure the outcome. Pivot if necessary.Tweak. Repeat.Episode website and show notes: https://thrivingthefuture.com/you-are-not-defined-by-your-job-title
If you like this unique topic, shoot us a tip on Venmo @ThrivingtheFuture or CashApp $ThrivingtheFuture. Or join the Thriving Patreon at Patreon.com/ThrivingtheFuture.
Sponsors:
Grow Nut Trees - Chestnuts, elderberry, elderberry cuttings, comfrey crowns, adapted to the Midwest. https://GrowNutTrees.com.Check out How to Pick Your Homestead Property series on Thriving News - Thriving Community News, without the Noise at ThrivingNews.com - Show more
