Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS

We have another episode of the Homegrown Liberty Podcast. This is episode 28! I’m glad you’re here reading this, because I have a totally different show for you guys today and if you want the whole thing, you have to tune in to the podcast because I can’t do a whole transcript of the show, sorry. I will however include a transcript of some of the beginning and end of the show with my thoughts. 

I have a friend I met a few years ago who is joining us today. We met at one of Jack Spirko’s workshops, hit it off, and started talking about once a week about everything homesteading and gardening you can think of. I’ve become his consultant so to speak and I’ve helped him figure out a lot of the plan for his property. So the thing is, we were talking a few months ago, and we kept saying, “man, this would be so helpful if people could just kind of sit in on our conversations and just be a fly on the wall”. And it occurred to me, that you guys might like to hear some of the consulting I do, because a lot of the same issues will translate to your own properties and, the same problems that you guys are likely to face.

Before we get into it though, I thought I’d tell you just a little bit about Ken and who he is before he tells you in his own words. They moved 3 years ago from the city to the country after buying 16 acres in the sticks. Ken runs a technology company in Alabama, and they aren’t full time on their homestead. He works about 50-60 hours a week on his regular job, and does all the rest of the homestead work in the evenings, and weekends along with his wife and two kiddos. They have a 10 year old girl and a 7 year old boy, and it just so happens that our first call in guest was his daughter! So I say all that to say, if Ken can make it happen with his crazy work schedule, so can you!

But anyways, this is the first part of our conversation where I introduce Ken and he covers their experiences starting seeds with the issues and problems they faced. We talk about solutions and the comparisons between doing something, and doing it smart. Irrigation needs and solutions. And lessons in starting out learning how to garden. We compare what’s ideal, and the end goal vs. how you should start and advantage yourself to learn while you’re starting your learning curve. And you hear my thoughts on how any garden is better than the perfect imaginary garden.

[INTERVIEW WITH NICK & KEN]

We really enjoyed doing this episode for you guys, we hope you liked it, we’ll pick it up again next week with part two, but before we sign off, I’d like to give you some of my thoughts and observations.

Ken talked about getting his seeds started with a couple less than ideal methods, and despite my efforts to educate people on how seedlings grow and their light needs, I run into people insisting on buying shop lights to grow their seedlings. Well it’s fine for starting seeds that need light to germinate, but absolutely not good enough for growing plants under. You need real sunlight, or a real good higher powered grow light. It’s amazing the difference, yes they’re more expensive, but so is buying plants every year. I’d rather grow my own and grow tons of them than spend hundreds of dollars on plants every spring when I can make the investment once and be done with it. So you might want to check out some of my early podcast episodes for my thoughts on starting seedling plants for more info on that.

I love how when we started the conversation one of the considerations and pressures if you will, was the fact that he realized that his children were so disconnected from nature, they they didn’t know how to even walk through a natural setting. That’s to me one of the very important products from growing up running through the forests and fields. You learn to exist within a natural setting, to be a part of the world around you. It’s not like life is meant to be isolated and segmented, pushed back and kept safe. I want my kids to experience a bit of danger, because it teaches respect and caution. If you grow up never experiencing adversity or natural resistance, you end up with this false sense of security and entitlement. Children need to be able to be aware, adapt, and overcome obstacles and setbacks. I won’t get into this whole existential musing, but I just wanted to bring that up for just a second, and share that it’s one of the driving forces behind the choices my wife and I make for our family. To raise strong, mentally resilient, and confident young adults, they must be a part of the real world, not living in videogames and hollywood productions. To run through the forest barefoot, build a treefort, climb a tree, fall out of a tree, carve a stick, get cut because you were being careless, take care of yourself, see an animal being born, take care of a baby animal. That was my childhood, it made me a strong enough person to deal with more adversity than you can imagine!

Well, I know we covered quite a few topics and discussed a lot, so if you liked that episode, you’ll really like the next episode where we get deeper into some more revelations from the past year and talk about a lot more. Now, I have one favor to ask you, if you want to be included in the insider track to get the first shot at being a part of the new developments coming soon, you need to go to the website, and at the bottom of the page is a place where you can enter your email address to subscribe to our updates email. I rarely send out an email so you don’t have to worry about getting flooded with promo stuff. I strictly use it for important inside track information like plant sales, upcoming events, meetups, and occasionally when I come across a great deal it’s only those people on the list who hear about it. So if you haven’t done so already, you might have missed out!

Ok, well I’ve got a lot of work to catch up on, I hope you join me again next week for the next segment in our conversation where we talk about vine borers, pumpkin mania, row covers, shade structures, gardening vs. farming, squash bugs, and a crazy solution to vegetables that don’t produce. You will think it’s insane but it really works!

To submit a question for the show or to contact me, just send an email to nick@homegrownliberty.com
Until next week

I hope you have a wonderful day, God Bless. And as always “Go Do Good Things”