Small Scale Life

As a content creator, there are times when we are on a crazy race to put up the next piece of content for our friend, followers and fans. We are in a mad dash to keep the dopamine hits coming and the fans liking our photos, blog posts, podcasts, videos, tweets and pins. At times, we are doing things to just DO things, and we are completely missing out on what is happening around us. Terrance Layhew from the Intellectual Agrarian Blog and Podcast and I had a chance to sit down and talk about this very subject. Terrance called it "living in the analog," and this whole discussion left me with a lot to think about. In fact, based on this conversation, I re-evaluated some of the things I was posting on Instgram and actually scaled back on some of the content there. I discontinued the Black-and-White Photo Challenge as I thought long and hard about the purpose of this effort and once again thinking about the WHY behind it. As you will hear in the podcast, Terrance is a fellow people collector, and he has used his networking, communicating and writing skills to become an organic inspector, podcaster, writer and intellectual agrarian. Terrance and I have a great discussion about his journey from inquisitive teenager to organic inspector, living in the analog, some trends happening in the organic farming world and his Intellectual Agrarian Podcast. Feel free to grab your favorite mug filled with coffee or tea and tune in to Living in the Analog with my friend Terrance Leyhew. As always, for links to the Intellectual Agrarian, head to smallscalelife.com and find all the links and notes for this podcast.

Welcome to Spring, friends! Hallelujah and pass the Dombucha Kombucha; the snow is melting! We have a great podcast lined up for you today, and we are kicking off Spring right by talking urban farming and gardening. I had a chance to talk with my good friend Michael Bell from Dallas Half Acre Farms about what is happening on the farm. While he has been very busy selling and buying a house, moving, teaching and of course being a dad and husband, things are really busy on the farm as well. Michael has made several improvements to the farm including installing new tunnels, increasing the number of seedlings he needs, improving his seedling growing processes and growing easy with Oyas! You might be asking: what is an Oya? Oyas are a method for watering your gardens using a clay pot that looks like a gourd. The water seeps into your soil and the plants get what they need. It is another method to water your garden without timers, hoses, drip tape or other methods. Michael is lining a tunnel with Oyas and experimenting with tomatoes this season, and it is another self-watering system that could be used on any size garden! To find out more about Oyas, check out the links at smallscalelife.com! When you buy some, tell them Michael Bell from Dallas sent you! For more information, check out the article titled "Growing Easy with Oya at Dallas Half Acre Farms" at smallscalelife.com

For this 133rd Small Scale Life podcast, Julie and I talked about the Health and Fitness Renew You Kickstart with Karen Mangieri. Karen is Julie's sister living in Georgia. For those of you not in the Small Scale Life Facebook Group, Karen was our most active member during the Health and Fitness Renew You Kickstart. In fact, Karen had the title of "Uncrustable Queen" prior to the kickstart, and she has made considerable progress on planning her meals, prepping food and staying consistent using the 24 Hour Plans! We have talked about Karen on previous Small Scale Life Podcasts, so in this podcast, we decided to interview her. We talked about the Health and Fitness Renew You Kickstart, what she learned, what she is doing and give us some feedback about the Health and Fitness Renew You Kickstart. For more on this topic, go to the article titled "Health and Fitness Renew You with Karen Mangieri" at smallscalelife.com! To join the Small Scale Life Health and Fitness Renew You in 2019 Kickstart, head over to the dedicated page and sign up today! The Kickstart is free!

This week, Small Scale Life is featuring a guest article about Edible Landscaping written by Willow, who is an avid organic gardener and writer at LawnLifestyles.com. While we don't usually feature guest articles, this topic caught my eye. It supplements an earlier post titled "Fitting Flower Gardens into Landscapes" on Small Scale Life https://www.smallscalelife.com/flower-gardens-landscapes/, and given some of the projects that Julie and I are planning for our garden space, this topic is very timely. I can see adding edible landscaping to a couple flower beds on the property and make the flower beds easier to maintain and more functional for this new urban homestead. For more information and pictures of each kind of plant, check out the article titled "Edible Landscaping: More Than Meets the Eye" at Small Scale Life!

In this episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, we are talking about Tipping Points with Nicole Sauce. I had an opportunity to catch up with Nicole and talk about her journey from leaving the city in the Pacific Northwest to rural living. At the same time, we talk about breaking free of the corporate cube world to starting small businesses and becoming self-sufficient. What were the tipping points that triggered those journeys and what lessons were learned along the way? For more information, check out the article titled "Tipping Points with Nicole Sauce" on Small Scale Life.

Are you keeping your New Year's Resolutions? Remember those? How are you doing on them? If you are like many Americans that make New Year's Resolutions, the answer is probably a resounding "no." Statistically speaking, research has shown the following: By the end of January, approximately 64 percent of us have dropped our New Years Resolutions. By March 1st, more than 80 percent of us have dropped those New Year’s Resolutions and goals. Anecdotally, you know it's true because you can see this at the gyms: the crowds that created standing room only and long wait times for equipment have eased up or evaporated completely. The pool is empty, and there is room (once again) for you to roll out your yoga mat (don't worry, grunty-farty guy is still there with you). So, I'll ask you again: Are you keeping your New Year's Resolutions? Are you still following the steps outlined in our Health and Fitness Renew You Kickstart? For more information, please go to the article titled "Four Tips for Keeping New Year's Resolutions" at Small Scale Life. Sign up for the 2019 Health and Fitness Renew You at Small Scale Life as well!

Old Man Winter has struck back at us meddling kids in the north country with a vengeance. All across the Upper Midwest of the United States, temperatures have dropped below zero, and the wind chills are approaching -50 degrees Fahrenheit. The extreme cold is life threatening, especially to those caught outside unprepared. In this article, I will discuss How to Prepare for the Polar Vortex. While it isn't necessarily part of our Health and Fitness Renew You Kickstart, how to prepare for the polar vortex is first and foremost on everyone's mind in the Upper Midwest. After all, being prepared might just save your life in these conditions! For more information on this podcast, please see the following posts: How to Prepare for the Polar Vortex Winter Driving and Survival Tips – S1E21 * Winter Tips

Today's topic is one near and dear to my heart because I have struggled with it over and over and over again. One of our Health and Fitness Renew You Kickstart participants asked the Small Scale Life Facebook Community how to overcome self-sabotage. I have to confess, I have blown up my "dieting" efforts time and time again due to self-sabotage. After all, I have started and failed with 14 different diet programs. You could say I am an expert with self-sabotage because I have done it so much! I had to do some digging on the interwebs to gather some information. I also talked with my son, Danny Domres, about this subject. Danny is a marathoner, ultra-marathoner and is going to school to become a Drug and Alcohol Counselor. He has done a lot of studying about addictions and self-sabotage, especially to overcome that inner voice that wants him to stop training or running. For more information, including 7 tips for overcoming self-sabotage and food addiction, head over to Small Scale Life for the show notes and more information!

What a week it's been! Julie and I have been so excited to bring you the Renew You Kickstart, and now that we are rolling down the tracks with the basics, it is time to talk about Leveling Up and Next Steps on this journey. Julie & I discuss tips and ways to continue to improve as you get stronger physically & mentally. For more information on this topic, please go to the article titled Leveling Up and Next Steps at Small Scale Life. You can also join the free 7 day Health and Fitness Renew You Kickstart at Small Scale Life.

Hey, Lifers! Do you want to know a little secret Tom and I have figured out that is absolutely KEY to setting us up for success to meet our health and fitness goals??? Actually, beyond the 24 Hour Plan and sticking to the basics of drinking enough water, getting enough sleep and doing some kind of daily intentional movement, this is THE most important thing you can do. Yup, you guessed it (really smart of you, based on the title of the post!)....It's Meal Planning and Food Prepping! To get useful tips and information for your Health and Fitness Journey, check out the following articles on Small Scale Life: Day 6: Meal Planning for Success Day 6: Food Prepping for Success Feel free to join the Health and Fitness Renew You Campaign on Small Scale Life by clicking the link! Go get em, Lifers!

It's Day 3 of the Renew You Kickstart, and today's topic is Basic Nutrition. Michael Bell returns to walk us through this topic, and he gives some great advice for folks starting on their journey with the Renew You Kickstart. As Julie and I have been saying over and over in previous podcasts and articles: this is about starting where you are. Some of us have been medicating ourselves with cheeseburgers, fries and beer (or Diet Coke) for many, many years. As we start to pay closer attention to what we are eating, we will find that there are some benefits to eating "what God made," or in other words: "real food." This food is delicious, especially when it is not buried under three gallons of dressing and cheese! For more information, please see the show notes from the article titled "Basic Nutrition with Michael Bell" on Small Scale Life. For the more on the Renew You Kickstart, please see the page on Small Scale Life for this campaign.

It's Day 2 of the Renew You Kickstart, and today's topic is Basic Movement. As Julie and I have been saying over and over: this is about starting where you are. Some of us live in cube farms and are keyboard warriors; we are not ready for triathalons marathons or lifting heavy weights. To help discuss this topic, I brought in my friend Michael Bell to discuss Basic Movement. Michael is a husband, dad, urban farmer, PE teacher, competitive bodybuilder and a fitness coach. Michael has coached more than 300 people over 20 years, and he spent some time with us to discuss starting a fitness and exercise journey. For more information on Basic Fitness, please see the post at Small Scale Life titled Day 2: Basic Movement with Michael Bell. There is more information on smallscalelife.com In addition, if you would like to participate in the Renew You Kickstart, please click on this link!

In this episode, Julie and Tom are here to provide you with realistic and doable steps to kickstart your year and set you up to finally achieve your health and fitness goals this year. And it all starts with the 24 Hour Plan. The plan is a one-page document that allows you to plan out: What you are going to eat How you will exercise 3 mediation/prayers 3 things you are grateful for 3 things you want to get done during that day. We complete a sheet before the day begins (night before or morning of), and we will be intentional about all of these items. On the bottom of the plan, there is a section where you can review your day and write what worked, what didn't and what you can improve on tomorrow. Remember: don't beat yourself up! Learn from deviations from the plan and recognize patterns and trends. You will be surprised what you will find out the longer you plan and document deviations. To get the 24 Hour Plan, go to Small Scale Life and download it before listening to this podcast. You can also follow along with the post titled "Day 1: The 24 Hour Plan - Part 1" on Small Scale Life.

Welcome to 2019! It's time to Renew You! In this 122nd Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, Julie and I discuss the holidays (including my birthday), the rebranding of Small Scale Life, rebuilding the website and the Renew You Kickstart. Topics Discussed Julie and I discussed the following topics during this podcast: Holiday Update Rebranding and the Website Upgrade Renew You Kickstart More Information To get more in-depth information, please see the post titled "Welcome to 2019: Time to Renew You" on Small Scale Life. Also, sign up for the Renew You in 2019 Kickstart on Small Scale Life.

In this 121st episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, Julie and I are announcing the Renew You in 2019 Kickstart! This is a FREE 7-day event that will provide tools, tips and a community that will help get us improving our mindset, nutrition and movement in 2019. Julie and I want want you, the Small Scale Life Community and others, to join us in starting 2019 off on the right foot. With this Kickstart, we are developing a foundation for success to be the best you (and the best us) in 2019. We are really focusing being intentional for three key aspects of our lives: Mindset Movement Nutrition Julie and I will be rolling out a way to join and get access to these tools and tips in the near future. We will have more information soon! Stay tuned to smallscalelife.com for more information!!!