Living Free in Tennessee - Nicole Sauce

SO many lamb recipes. A friend asked me, while looking at a carcass to cut up on his butchering table, how I would butcher a lamb if I had one here for Mark and me. So today, we will talk about how to process your spring lamb - or goat - for two.

Today, we are going to talk about some fun projects we did over the last week here at the Holler Homestead. There were some changes that needed to be done because of the pig, some fun wild plants popping up, goat hijinks and more. And yes, as usual, nothing went as planned but a bunch of stuff got done. This really makes me think the most important skill you can develop if you plan to integrate homesteading practices into your life is troubleshooting and keeping things flexible.

How are you doing moving toward your goals? These past few weeks have had me thinking pretty hard about how simple it is to set a set of priorities in your life and family, then use them as a filter through which to make choices. It is so simple, in fact, that it is hard. Then I got to reading a book I was helping someone right and one of their chapter titles was “Organized people who are wrong beat disorganized people who are right every time.”

We are going to talk about life and more importantly life today, not yesterday, and not tomorrow. You hear people say all the time to live in the now but that seems kind of weird, right? I mean, if I just do what I want every day to be in the now, then when tomorrow comes, I will have used up all my cash and will end up out on the street. Well, maybe living in the now but being aware of the future is important. We will cover more of that in the main topic of the show.

Today  we have a great interview with Chef Brett Corrieri, the instructor from Cider Hollow Farm's pork processing class. Brett walks us through the process to dry cure a ham, and describes why you would want to eat it a little too well. Also today, we have a roundup of sweet potato recipes from you, the listener.

Today, we’ve got a good one with an exploration of how well goats work for weed control, as well as some tactics we have learned about over the past “almost year” of having these playful little devils -- and they are devils -- on our land.

Today, we are going to talk about something that several of you have brought up recently: How to navigate a big move. I have moved across the country several times, as well as overseas for a year and learned a thing or two along the way. Some of you see your path toward standing on your own in another place from where you are. Places with lower property taxes, or no income tax, or less zoning restriction. Places where you are more free to just get a business started without filling out a million forms.

Today, I am going to talk with you about opportunity and simplification. Simplification is the top of people's minds for so many right now as they declutter their closets, re-examine their priorities and see opportunities come to fruition.

Today, I am going to talk with you about how to cure ham. This topic is robust enough that we could do several shows on it in fact. I even reached out to my buddy, Chef Brett, to get his take on the dry curing method alongside my brining approach to this conundrum. He and I will have a curing interview later this week.

Today, I’ve got a whole bunch of stull lined up for you, some of which I meant to tell you last week, but ran out of time. We are going to go through some lessons learned on budgeting for the homestead - Ive collected them from various sources, most of whom are not natural budgeters and we will talk about something I learned this week: How to square a pole barn with a measuring tape, stakes and string. SPRING WORKSHOP INFO: http://livingfreeintennessee.com/2018-spring-workshop/

Today I am joined by Brian Norton of Food Forest Farms as he talks about his trials and tribulations along the road toward starting a micro roasting business, breaking out of corporate America, and more!

Today, we talk about what we did to deal with the unusually  long cold spell in Tennessee this year. This includes strategies for dealing with cold when your housing isn't built for it. We also announce the Spring workshop registration process and go over the membership portal.

It is amazing to me how adding music to a great poem can bring more life to it. This is the final in a series of four versions of the Night Before Christmas with a special song, performed live on Dec 3, 2017 in Cookeville, TN, by the Cookeville Mastersingers and the music wsa arranged by Simone. Merry Christmas all!

Today may be the night before the night before Christmas for us here in the US, but our friends in Australia are already there. For them, it IS the night before Christmas. A friend from down under recorded this version of the poem for us with a few adjustments made for her local environment. Thank you AussieRo.

Join us for the second in a series for 2017 of poems read from throughout the world. This version of The Night Before Christmas comes from me, recording from Tennessee. It is followed by a performance of Jingle Bells, recorded live on December 3, 2017 in the Wanntenbarger Auditorium by the Cookeville Mastersingers and arranged by Don Large.