I’ve been trying to contact you via Zello, but havn’t managed yet, also requested via skype.

Written word’s can often be misunderstood or the emphasis can be put in the wrong place, which you’ve done with my use of the ‘YOU’ word. You’ve, and this time I really mean YOU, have taken it too personally in connection with your role as a father and my comments about the effect that sosicty can have in negative ways and the differcult you (me/you/everyone) might struggle with controlling and being in charge of. I listened to the rest of your podcast after you mentioned this and listened for how you used the word YOU but didn’t take anything personally as if you were talking and critizing/comenting on me directly, unless of course I thought that it might apply to me. Thats the reason I wanted to speak voice to voice to avoid confusion etc. I take seriously your offer of recording my views/opinions etc but again think its better to have an old fasion conversation to avoid wasted time and mis-understandings, but I do understand the technology/time limitations. Off course even assuming that I have anything interesting or usefull to add

I tend/try to speak directly… English is actually my first langauge, I studied it for over 30 years with other English people when I lived in England, but I udnerstand why you might think I write in a funny way and am not offended at all, these things are pretty clear if you’d had a better look at our website, you’d also understand we don’t actually make the scythes and accessories we sell (mostly to czech republic and ocassionally to EU, I think once to the USA, so I’m not mentioning these things to try and increase sales at all). But we do make sure they are actually compatable and of high quality so mowing with a scythe and making hay the old fasion way is actually a joy (after a bit of practice), something the whole family can do together and reduce upfront costs and investment in machines which some people don’t want to become too dependant on, or can’t afford. I know personally its realistic for 1 man (me) to make hay for 2 cows + two horses with a scythe, and you don’t have to start with so many animals.

Anyway… it would be easier, possible more interesting, for me to speak directly…

Kind regards

I understand, these are things I kind of understood and assumed, when I heard you mentioning the milk etc We had goats about 5 years ago, at one point 12 of them, we wanted to make butter, bought a milk seperator, but at the same time were buying Jersey cow milk from a neighbour, which was just so much taskier and the cream easily seperated, but it took us a while to let the goats go and embrace a cow, and now I’d never go back. 1 small cow for us is more effective and easier to keep and more productive than 6 goats whch is about the equivant land/space requiremnt.

I’d be interested to hear anything you can share about making butter from goats milk, I think though you have better milk breeds then we ever had, although I’m assuming you need to feed grains additionally ?

When we had goats, we could easily drink the milk as we wanted to, perhaps fight a little the different taste, but after now having full fat/yellow grass fed cows milk I don’t think I’d personally choose goats over cows milk. I don’t think our kids either would be so keen on the goats milk.

I just from an early age, tell our kids about the food etc, but again our eldest is only 7 so its different than a teenager, but I think this whole teenager stage is actually misunderstood and not neccessary to experience.

So you try and cheat your kids ? mixing the milk so they can’t tell, or do they know you do this ? I trick my kids by telling them deliberatly not to do the things I really actually want them to do, making a game of it.

It is possible to keep a cow in a small space, not ideal, but there was even some people who kept a family cow in a garage (of course not ideal) but still better than store bought milk. But I understand you know what you want/can do better than anyone else. Its just I once thought goats were the best, but tried a cow eventually, and will never go back, although I should perhaps say never say never.

I heard you had a horse or two, a standard size Jersey I think is more practical for many reasons, and natural for birthing etc than any kind of mini.

PPRN, yes I understand. Its differcult to keep fast forwarding things while I’m listening. Its good at least that you have your own feed so theres the option for me/others to get a none cluttered feed. I have a feeling there are too many book review/interview type shows wilth little real contact but rather plugging guests activities, but thats just my feeling.

We had a podcast, tried it for about 3 episods, but as you know, homesteading, work, family all take time and the editing etc was too much work. Additionally, although I spend a lot of time talkign with my wife she’s not really the best person to share a podcast with, as I wanted to have something more conversational and it would be easier to do this with someone you actually don’t talk with all the time, other wise I loose tract of whats been said or hasn’t so it makes sense to anyone actually listening. I do have a new idea I’ve been fermenting for ages now. I’ve been helping out with a podcast at distrowatch.com but will like to start something perhaps called “So you want to be Root” or something… root as in super user. Kind of combing techlogogy old and new computer and homesteading and trying to understand the effects of each and picking what ones really serve us.

I might take you up on the mp3 suggestion, perhaps about why choose cows instead of goats or something… anyway thanks for the considerate reply. But need to find a quite spot to record something.

Neil

I couldn’t agree with you more.

Jules Derveas put it pretty well when he said:

“I would say, growing food is one of the most dangerous occupations on the face of this earth. Because, when you grow your own food, you are in danger of becoming free.”

Thanks for listening and stay dangerous!

I just listened to the latest podcast and am really enjoying the content. I have several comments regarding the topics that were covered in this episode.

First with the goats milk, I have sympathy for you not being able to get the kids to drink it. We’ve been producing our own dairy for years and while our kids have no problem with it, the neighbor kids won’t touch the stuff even though it’s a superior product to what you can buy in the store.

There’s a lot of education that needs to take place in removing the social stigmas that surround not only goats milk, but raw milk in general. I remember back when I started harvesting my own milk I was a bit apprehensive about raw milk. Now days you’d be hard pressed to get me to consume milk that comes from the store.

With that said I have to thank you for the content that you provide in your podcast. We need more people like you promoting the consumption of real foods.

The industrial food system is built on miss information especially when it comes to food safety. It’s in their best interest to keep people in fear of producing food for themselves. Why? Because they make money off people being afraid, and over time they gain a society of consumers who only have the ability to consume. When you produce your own food you find that (like a homegrown tomato) it’s better and more nutritious. It also puts the responsibility of producing the food in your hands. If it sucks or is drowning in herbicides, it’s your fault. They focus on making their investors more money which is probably the last thing you have on your mind when you eat something. Pouring unlimited amounts of herbicide on food may make sense if you’re only concerned with making money. But we have eat that food!

We need to take a stand and stop it. We have become dependent on corporations and the government to provide the basic necessities for our lives. We’ve been stripped of the knowledge that it takes to produce for ourselves, and look to blame everyone for problems of the system except for ourselves. It’s time that we change that.

Regarding the seed bank topic in this episode, it’s a classic example of a company trying to sell you a sense of security. “Buy the seeds and you’re safe” What a crock. Anyone who thinks they’re going to plant a garden that can feed themselves in an emergency is a fool. Plants take a time to grow and if you’re out of food now planting a seed isn’t going to help you, even if you are a good gardner.

If you’re interested in survival during an emergency learn to garden, forage, hunt, dress animals, and put food by. Find out where you can get water if the taps are dry, learn how to make that water potable, and how to transport that water. Learn how to build shelters and stay warm in the winter or cool off in the summer. Do all of that and more. Live it! Because if you don’t, you’re not going to all of a sudden know it when the sh*t hits the fan.

Thanks, It’s good to hear from you again. I welcome all feedback – good and bad and I appreciate you listening and taking the time to offer your thoughts.

We use our goats milk for making butter, cheese, etc – and both my wife and I drink it pretty much exclusively. My kids on the other hand just flat refuse to touch the stuff – so we do the best we can with it – which sometimes means getting milk at the store. With teenagers I have found that making ultimatums seldom works very well. If anything, they get defensive and shut down to what you’re trying to get them to do. I do mix in the goats milk with the cows milk to the degree that they can’t really taste it – and they drink it whether they know it or not. Where possible we cook with our milk. My hope is that by exposing them to this lifestyle and consuming our own yields as part of the every day, that we are bringing them up with an understanding of where their food comes from and as they become adults – they will be in a better position to make an informed decision on what to put into their bodies. Am i the perfect parent? Hardly, but I do try.

We don’t have the means to get a cow right now – nor do we have the pasture to support one – so that’s out of the question for the time being. I’ve looked into getting some of the smaller dairy breeds – like the mini jerseys and such, but they are way out of my price range.

As far as PPRN goes, I have no control over what they do in terms of ads and such. They download my episodes from the feed and put them on – that’s the extent of my involvement with their syndication process. The only real terms they operate under is that they have agreed not to alter the content. They may be ad heavy, but they’re not charging me – and it has opened new folks up to the show – which I am thankful for. But yeah personally I agree – the preamble of ads can be a little much. I listen to some of the shows on there and I usually just FF through it myself.

Didn’t you have a podcast at one time – or am I mistaken?

I don’t have time to mess with skype, but I would be more than happy to put any feedback / pushback on the show that you might want to pass along – just record it (keep it reasonably clean) and post it somewhere as an mp3. Heck if it’s long enough, I may even give you the whole slot. My listeners, for better or worse, have put their trust in me. So if they can benefit from a different perspective on what I have to say, then they deserve no less.

Thanks again,
-Brian

I’ve listened on and off, interesting sometimes, appricate that your still going. BUT now I’m thinking your an IDIOT but hey arn’t we all sometimes ?

I’m biased, but can you really afford not to give your children the best quality milk, how much more a week would it really cost if you dumped that store bought crap and got them the real thing ? What are the actual long term implications ?

I did comment once before, but thought you were a bit of an idiot, how you either interpret of share comments and feel you’ve done the same when other people have also taken the time/effort to give you feedback, whch IMHO is why you don’t get as much feed-back/comments as you could. We’ve got 2 cows ourselfs, and couldn’t imadgin being without the milk/butter/cheese etc etc and I feel sorry for anyone who buys the excuse for milk in the shops, and hastn’t discovered the difference yet. We had goats, about 10, before we quit, and kept only the cows, because of the high quality milk and they are much much easier to keep. But hey perhaps your kids might not drink your own cows milk, I know the effect sosicty, school/friends can have on ones own kids if you let it.

I’m not sure I really want you to read this comment out on your show, as you often seem to interpret in a bad way peoples comments.

Additionally I had to stop listening to the preppers network, as there oh so long Ads and what seems like unsubtle pimping of stuff does a real disservice and is basicly differcult to ignore other then just stiching it off, which is why so many people are switching of their TV’s/Radios it seems to me.

I’d be happy to chat on skype, if you have the time/interest it seems to me sometimes that you need someone to push back against you on your podcast and give a little more balance and interest. I’ve recently been studying penetration testing and security which is interesting and I think something that if general people knew what is possible would get real anoyed with the computers they are having to pay for.

I have a question about going to the Farmer’s Market: How important is it – in your opinion – to know the variety of vegetable you’re selling and being able to give your customer a little bit of the history of it (just the little bit from the seed packet at least)?
This past season a seller at our market had apples and when I asked what kind she just shrugged her shoulders and said ‘June apples’ – it kindof annoyed me.
We’re hoping to sell at the market this year (provided I don’t kill the seedlings again) and I was thinking of making little cards to set in front of the produce with some info.

Just wondering what you thought.
Keep up the great work (love the song at the end too – although I miss ‘Moving to the country.

Did you buy or build the chicken plucker?
Saw one on Dirty Jobs that rotated horizontally and you held onto the feet and fed the bird in while the machine plucked it. On and off was a foot pedal.

Thanks for showing the whole picture on food production.

Thank you for the complements. I’m not building worm bins any longer because I couldn’t sell them for enough to make it worth the time and materials. My design was based on the OSCR worm bin using two 10 gallon roughneck totes. I’ve also made tabletop versions with the 3 gallon totes. Just google ‘OSCR worm bin’ and you’ll have more plans than you know what to do with. Best of luck & and send pics!!

-Brian

I’ve already bookmarked it so I can come back to it!

Good luck, and I enjoy reading about your bee adventures!

– Steven

-Brian

I really appreciated your talk about farmer’s markets and would like to know more about your value added products. Also you seem to have a handle on marketing (your name is known from Alaska to the Czech republic to China), do you have any tips for people who will be starting out?

Thanks keep up the good work!

http://mowingwithease.com/blog
http://mowingwithease.com/

look forward to your next updates.

Take care
Neil

Wanted to say hello, compliment you on the podcast and website, and the info
you’ve shared which I’ve found very interesting and encouraging.

I’d been interested in podcasts the last few months, searching and searching
as you for a good podcast on homesteads etc… was often thinking to make it
myself, but finally got the encouragement after seeing how you’ve made yours.

So our site is http://www.mowingwithease.com where we sell Austrian scyths,
courses etc.

Sorry I keep mispronouncing your website name… looking forward to hearing
more and following you and your family.

All the best to you and your family

Neil

I really enjoy your show.

Can you do two things for me?
1. Publish the plans for a few different chicken tractors you recommend?
2. Publish the names of the musical artists for your opening and closing songs?

Thanks!
tim

Josh

I was deeply saddened by the news of the death of your horse Manna. Please know my thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family during this difficult time.

Please pass my deepest sympathies along to Laura and your the kids.

Josh

It looks like you said it very well, thank you! Indeed, this is simply the
way the cart functions on our new site and we were not able to create a work
around by the time we’d “let ‘er loose” so to speak. While it was going on,
we were happy to let folks place orders over the phone without card info if
they had a concern.

We certainly hope things are smoother in the future!

Jennifer Bauman
Marketing Director
ARBICO-Organics
http://www.arbico-organics.com
520/825-9785 (ph)
520/825-2038 (fax)

Great show. Laura did a fantastic job and was very informative. You two make a good team.

Regarding the food and farming thing, I know I come sometimes come off sounding like a militant, it’s just that I’m very passionate about that kind of stuff.

I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but I was wondering if you’ve watched the documentary Food Inc. It’s about where our food comes from. A friend of a friend of mine was the guy who made it. It’s a good watch so if you haven’t seen it it’s worth renting.

By the way I’ve been listening to the Geek.Farm.Life podcast lately per your recommendation. It’s awesome. Thanks!

Thanks for posting my video about the stanchion, I’m currently working on another video on how to make a drum composter out of a 55 gallon barrel and some wood. I’ll send it your way when it’s done.

Thanks again.
Josh

I was kind of board this weekend plus we needed a stanchion so I built one and made a how to video of it.

Here’s the link if you’d like to check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8fBjzv5HwA

Josh

I just listened to your latest show. Good stuff.

I’m the Josh that asked about the previous episode availability. I’m also the one that posted the rant about corporations and the government taking over our food supply. Which is kind of a funny story. What happened was that I’ve been pounding through your previous episodes like they’re going out of style. As I mentioned I listened to 18-27 then wasn’t able to access the previous ones. That’s when I sent out the first feedback. The next day I assumed that you had fixed the feed because the previous episodes became available, so I started another marathon of shows starting at episode 1.

I have to hand it to you, I love your content.

So, I was blasting through the shows one after the other non stop. Then I hit episode 11. It was the episode where you explained how you tried to obtain a egg candler permit and talked about HR 875. I listened to half of the show then got really worked up and stopped to send the government/corporation rant feedback.

In this latest episode you make some great points about how the shear numbers of people that have to be fed by the system. You also touch on how the farmers are just scrapping by. Those are both good points and ones I’d like to lend some feedback to if you don’t mind.

There are more people in the system today than ever before. The amount of demand that is put on the farming industry is intense, but it doesn’t mean we have to throw out our values regarding animal treatment, the best food comes form happy animals. Think about Kobe beef? Those cows live a better life then I do. We also have no idea what the adverse long term effects to consuming modified foods are. That kind of scares me.

In my opinion it’s big business that has transformed the farms and farmer into what they are today. Corporations are about efficiency, productivity, and delivering profits to their board. “Do more for less” is a common strategy.”

In the case of farms it unfortunately means to produce more livestock, fruit, or vegetable crops in less room with lower quality feed and poisonous additives.

It no longer is a decision that farmers make. Corporations have the farmer under their hand thanks to regulatory stipulations that have been lobbied under the false pretense of making our food safer. Not to mention companies like Monsanto that reap the benefit of patenting living organisms. What’s next? Worker drone humans that are owned by Microsoft?

In order to fix the problem people are going to have to change their habits dramatically. Maybe get their asses off the sofa and do something productive for a change.

I keep 7 chickens and 2 goats on my 1/3 acre lot in suburban UT.

I unfortunately I have my doubts about people changing their habits. I personally know several people who think eggs from backyard chickens is disgusting. Which completely baffles me. Where do they think eggs come from???

Anyway, I get kind of fired up about stuff like this because I think that too many people have given up on what seems to be a regular way to obtain food.

Great show!

Keep them coming.

Josh

It’s wrong to genetically engineer corn and soybean seeds to be resistant to poisonous chemicals like “RoundUp®”

It’s wrong to make cattle stand in their own facies then pour ammonia on the processed beef to sanitize it of bacteria.

It’s wrong to make chickens live their lives in less than 1 sq/ft. of space and bioengineer them to grow so fast that they can’t even walk.

Theses are all things that are common practice in the food production industry. The government accepts these atrocities and continually ignores what’s best for us and the plants and animals that feed us.

My point… When it comes to food the government is on the side of the corporations.

It’s about who has the “power”. We need to take back control of what we’re eating!

I know you published podcast 10 in July but my wife and I only recently listened to it. I’m also interested in rainwater catchments and the like. I live in middle TN and this area is hilly. I had a bit of a drainage problem on one corner of my house. Rainwater would run down the hill and saturate the ground under the foundation on that corner resulting in high humidity and moisture in that room. I ended up putting a “curtain drain” in and also routing the gutter drain 50′ away from the house. The curtain drain (TN term, I grew up in FL) is akin to a “french” drain …. plastic on the downhill side and bottom of the trench with gravel and perf drain in the bottom with some type of fabric over the pipe/gravel. What surprised me though was how much water traveled under the surface of the ground …. much more than came off the roof and gutter. Only 10′ of curtain drain provides significantly more water than the gutter there. There is a rock base about 3′ below that surface that allows for the below-the-ground water flow I guess. Interesting and definitely new for this FL boy. I’m going to put in a catchment system but work to capture both above and below ground water. Your info and links are really helpful, thanks.

Charlie

Thanks for listening and thanks for putting up with the audio on the mobile podcasts. The next one will be from the house so hopefully I won’t sound so distracted. You picked a great fruit for your area since blueberries grow native in North Carolina. I’ll definitely spend some time talking about them on the next show. They are easy to grow and low maintenance provided that you accommodate a few conditions.

-Brian

Anyway I heard you mention you have some blueberries. I want to try blueberries next spring, I am looking at one of the highbush varieties. I will probably start with 3 or 4 bushes. Can you lend any insight on transforming former lawn into a good blueberry bed?

Oh yeah, I am in Central North Carolina.

Thanks – keep up the nice podcast

Greg

Also… Thanks for your honesty in your latest podcast! If more people dealing with mental illnesses would speak up it would help educate people!
Thanks again!

Thanks for what you do mate.

Thanks for the explanation. I think it’s important to hear these things in context from time to time.

*My name is Nethy (Nee-Tay). Net is shorthand.
**Chook is Australian for chicken (roast chook, Chook house, etc.). I suggest you try it for a couple of weeks. You’ll never say chicken again.
***Dianna is right. It is a lot of fun being talked to by name in a podcast.

Assuming you get honey, how much & what do you do with it all?

Darren Orr

I was actually planning to talk about the chickens on the next one. I’m trying not to focus too much on the bees, but that’s what my time is being spent on these days, so it’s exceedingly convenient.

Thank you again!

My friends in OK raise chickens so if you are so inclined to talk about them one day, maybe I can learn enough to know what they are talking about.

Perhaps some vested interests threatened by this trend is proposing this and other legislations to make that move impossible and destroy the samll family farms.

That way a homeless person can live only on the streets of Manhattan or jump into the Atlantic ocean perhaps.