July 4, 2024 • 39 mins
Ever wondered how to juggle homestead life and vacation plans without a hitch? We've got you covered! This episode of Keeping it Real at the Gorham Homestead is packed with our personal stories and practical tips on managing a busy homestead while gearing up for an exciting family trip to Colorado. Get an insider's update on the raw milk industry, learn about the minimal risk of bird flu from local dairy farms, and join us in the anticipation of attending our niece Charlotte's wedding in beautiful Steamboat Springs. Tee also shares his recent fishing adventure, and we discuss the installation of our brand-new sprinkler system and the ongoing progress of our pond project.
In a community effort that exemplifies self-reliance, we teamed up with friends from the Self Reliance Festival to relocate our smaller chicken coop and a heavy dog kennel, making our homestead more efficient than ever. Hear about the strategic moves we made, from using a tractor to optimizing livestock and compost management. We also delve into the wonders of automation with our new Wi-Fi-enabled sprinkler system and our amusing wish for an automated weed eater. As we embrace technology to ease our workload, we share our thoughts on balancing upfront costs with long-term benefits.
Efficiency and organization are the names of the game as we recount our adventures with a new battery-operated weed eater, including some unexpected mishaps. Learn how we've optimized our property layout, from moving chickens closer to water spigots to organizing feed supplies and setting up new coops for our turkeys. Beyond the homestead, we touch on the joys of canning workshops and the importance of medical training, sharing personal anecdotes and upcoming family celebrations. Don't miss out on our heartfelt reflections and invaluable advice—this episode is a blend of laughter, learning, and life on the homestead. Happy Fourth of July, and keep it real, y'all!
Today's Sponsors:
Rogina, LLC in Lakeland, FL - RoginaConsulting.com
Hermitage Embroidery Works - HermitageEmbroidery.com
Hamilton, Gorham & Duncan, PLLC HGDLegal.com
Here's the link to the new wifi enabled garden timer: (it's not an affiliate link as of right now)
https://a.co/d/0ihKzlmc
TheGorhamHomestead.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Hey y'all, welcome to Keeping it Real, the Gorham
Homestead podcast, where we talkabout real food, real natural
living, the real art of naturalhealing and real life out here
in our Tennessee homestead.
I'm your host, Dawn Gorham, andtoday is Thursday, july the 4th
, 2024.
You're listening to episodenumber 15.
Today's topic is going out oftown, like what we're doing in
(00:37):
preparation for getting the heckout of Dodge.
First off, I want to say thankyou to our awesome sponsors.
Our first sponsor of the day isRegina LLC out of Florida, and
they are your mold specialist.
If you suspect that you mighthave mold in your home, in your
basement, in your office,anything like that, they are the
people who you want to call andthey will come in and test and
(01:00):
tell you exactly what you aredealing with and can recommend
what you need to do from there.
Our other sponsor is HermitageEmbroidery.
They are located in Hermitage,tennessee, and they are our
go-to for all of ourembroidering needs, all of our
merchandising things of thatnature.
They are veteran owned andoperated.
They are a wonderful familybusiness, they are friends of
(01:22):
the podcast, they are friends ofour family and they are just
good, freedom-oriented peopleand that's who we like to have
as sponsors for our podcast.
So that is our sponsors of theday.
You missed one I missed one.
Hamilton, gorham and Duncan,your full-service law firm
(01:45):
located in Bellevue, tennessee,out in Nashville.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Hamilton, gorham and Duncan has never said that they
would sponsor me.
Just for you listeners, I'vebeen sponsoring her for 20 years
.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
We're a sponsor.
You've been sponsoring me for20 years huh, probably 22.
Oh shoot.
So we have T on the show today.
It's been quite some time sinceT has been able to join us.
He has been busy making themoney so I can spend it, and
he's been busy sponsoring whatwe got going on.
(02:14):
So just first off, just a quicklittle update on what's going
on in the raw milk world.
I was fortunate enough to beable to sit in on a nationwide
it was a Zoom meeting talkingabout what things are coming
down the pike with raw milk, andit was several different people
from different locations in thecountry, all being raw milk
(02:37):
producers, and there was a lotof good information that came
out of that meeting.
And I just want I don't want togo too far into the weeds with
that, but I just want to remindyou the bird flu.
While it, you know it could bea scary thing.
Who knows?
Who knows if it's somethingthat's been engineered somewhere
(02:58):
and it's worse than any birdflu that we know of.
I don't know, but what I doknow is that the likelihood of
you getting sick with the birdflu from drinking your raw milk
from your farmer is really low.
So don't freak out about thatsort of thing, just continue
doing what you're doing, andagain, because you can get sick
from stuff that you get from thegrocery store and don't let the
(03:20):
fear mongering, you know, driveyou away from helping out and
sponsoring and giving your moneyto your local people, your
farmers, whoever that mighthappen to be.
So no, no, no, it has not been.
To my knowledge, there has notbeen any instances of bird flu
and dairy cattle in tennessee sofar at all.
(03:40):
So there's that.
So we're getting ready to go outof town.
We are going to be um, going toColorado for 10 days, picking
our son up from wrestling campand driving on from Missouri to
steamboat Springs, colorado,staying there for a week just
kind of checking the place out.
(04:01):
There's a wedding on SaturdayOur niece um.
We love Charlotte.
We're excited that Charlotte'sgetting married.
We're excited to be part ofthat.
I think it's cool that it's inSteamboat Springs.
I've never been there, and sowhat we decided was to make it
our family vacation and justkind of check out the area and
then end it with the wedding,come back on or start leaving on
(04:22):
Sunday, heading back toTennessee.
It's probably going to take ustwo days to drive back.
So there is a lot that has tobe done here to get ready.
I mean, t's got to get thingsready at his office to go out of
town.
I've got to get things readyhere on the homestead.
I've got to get things readyfor my customers and my business
and the podcast, and beyondthat we have things that we have
(04:44):
to keep alive.
So what are we doing today?
Speaker 1 (04:49):
What are we doing today?
I went fishing.
I caught a bunch of smallmouthbass.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
You want to talk about your fishing.
I know that you're just dyingto work that in there, aren't
you?
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I just caught a lot of bass this morning, and that
makes it a great day.
Happy birthday, america.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Happy birthday, america.
Stay defiant y'all.
I don't know, but it was builton defiance.
It was the original people whosaid, no, we will not comply.
And all of those people hadguns and we won.
That's the end of that story248 years old.
Very good.
Yes, 248 years old, so we areinstalling a sprinkler system
(05:27):
today.
Yeah, um, up until this point,um, of course, I'll give you a
pond update.
I hate to back up and I'm allkind of all over the place today
, but pond update is that we hadum several people come.
Oops.
Rules in the studio are do nothave your phone turned on.
I silenced mine.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
You think you have to turn it off in court all the
time?
I wouldn't know that.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Right.
So anyway, so we're trying toget ready to have our pond dug,
and that consisted of having tomove a lot of stuff and we
didn't realize, like I had saidin a previous podcast, like how
much stuff was down there untilwe embarked on this big old
project and so, but we,yesterday we were able to move
(06:13):
the rest of the poultry nettingand get that put around the
garden and so hopefully thatwill keep the chickens out,
because we had previously movedthe chickens and it took them
all of about 30 seconds, afterthey were moved and saw the
garden, to figure out how to getinto the garden and how to eat
all the green beans, all of thesquash, all of the watermelons
and all of the pumpkins GoneDown to a nub.
(06:36):
So we've hopefully got thatlittle problem fixed for now,
fixed for now.
And this week T and some of ourfriends from Self Reliance
Festival or Self Reliance Group,our homesteaders group, were
able to finish moving thechicken coop, the smaller
chicken coop that we call thejunior high and the dog kennel,
(06:59):
and that was a process, wasn'tit?
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Thank goodness we had that Is that all you got.
Well, I will say this thankgoodness we had that, all you
got well, I will say this thankgoodness we had a tractor too,
to kind of pull that coop.
But yeah, I thought the dog pitkennel which is very heavy, was
going to be a major problem,and I mean eight of us picked it
up and just walked it all theway across that was like the
(07:22):
coolest thing to see.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
It was almost reminiscent of an Amish barn
moving.
Like you know, they say manyhands make light work.
We had a bunch of well-abled,well-bodied men able-bodied men,
you know, in some of these Imean, some of y'all are older
but you're still in pretty darngood shape for your age.
And so those guys out there 40and up were moving stuff and
(07:49):
they got the chicken coop up onthe tractor and it had wheels on
the back so they didn't have tolift it a whole, whole lot,
they just kind of had to guideit.
And we got that over there andgot that in place.
And then they came back andthey got the dog kennel and they
just picked the darn thing upand just carried it from the
lower barnyard all the way tothe front of the house, got the
dog set up.
And the goal behind that wasthat we want our farm sitter and
(08:12):
us because we're trying to setthings up for ease of use to be
able to do everything in oneplace.
So the cows are all behind thethe um and the pasture and we
milk on the porch and everythingto do with cows is right here.
Everything to do with chickens,poultry, all of that sort of
stuff is in the front, and nowour compost pile will go there,
(08:34):
the chickens will, we'll be ableto turn it for us and then we
will be able to open all that upto the garden.
Once the garden is done, we'llbe able to, the compost will be
right there, we'll be able toput it in the garden, and the
goal is just to kind of keepeverything a lot more compact,
streamlined Streamlined, that'sthe word I was looking for.
Yeah, so what we're doing todayin preparation for leaving is we
(08:57):
are installing a sprinklersystem, and I know you're not
supposed to water tomatoes fromthe top, but at this point I am
desperate and I do not care.
We're watering tomatoes.
However, we can water tomatoesRight, yeah, god does it too.
So and plus, we have hard, wehave garden cloth down, so it
doesn't get quite as much splashlike from dirt like it would if
(09:19):
it was just in dirt.
Um, so we're doing that and wehave this really cool automatic
timer that is hooked to theWi-Fi and I will be able to just
tell A-L-E-X-A to water thegarden, and I can set a timer
and it has four different zonesIf I want to water one part of
(09:41):
the garden for 20 minutes andanother part of the garden for
another 20 minutes if I want todo it at three in the morning,
if I want to do it, however, Iwant to do it, I can do that.
I can set those schedules on myphone and I can automate that.
And while I love to know how todo things by hand and manually
and the old fashioned way andblah, blah, blah blah, I've done
(10:06):
that.
And as we get older, t and Iwant to keep doing what we're
doing, but as much as we cantake off our plate by automation
, we're definitely going to dothat.
Even if the upfront cost is alittle bit higher to me, it's
worth our time, don't you agree?
Speaker 1 (10:19):
we need an automated weed eater oh, the weed eater
man.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Oh, the weed eater man.
So I tried weed eating with mynew handy, dandy, battery
operated weed eater that islightweight for women, and it
came with a saw blade, which Ithought was so flippin' cool.
So I got out and I was throughthe little trees and through the
little shrubs and through thelittle bushes.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
The back story is my weed eater quit running.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
But I wanted to help.
That's why I wanted a weedeater.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
It wasn't because yours was broke, but we went a
couple weeks without weed eatingbefore I finally just bought a
new one.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Now we both have weed eaters.
Now I've got three weed eaters,right, but I'm not allowed to
use mine anymore.
I have been exiled from theweed eating process unless it is
an open field of nothing that Ican damage.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
She weed eats like she backs up a vehicle.
It's dangerous.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah, I'm just sort of willy-nilly and so I was weed
eating and I thought I wasdoing really good and I wanted
to help and had the saw blade onand turned around with the weed
eater in my hand.
The saw blade I'd let off of it, but the saw blade was still
spinning and happened to catchthe tire on the Polaris.
And let me just say a saw bladeon a weed eater will slice
(11:41):
right through a tire of aPolaris, yes, it will.
So now we're going to have toorder new tires.
We needed new tires anyway.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Yeah, that's a way to find a way to drive.
Exactly, it needed new tires.
We needed new tires anyway.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Yeah, that's a way to find a way to jump.
Exactly, it needed new tires.
I was having to put air in oneof the other tires every single
day.
They'd lost so much tread thatit would spin out in the grass.
So now we're getting new tiresthe hard way.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
That's right.
Based on the negligentoperation.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, and I also sliced through a really
perfectly good.
Um, yeah, and it was one ofthose industrial water hoses,
not one of the cheapos fromwalmart.
It was like 50 feet long andthe super made out of like good
year tires or something.
It was a really good, good oneand I and I didn't even know it,
like I was in the littleholding pen just trying to take
(12:33):
down some stuff in there andnever even noticed it, didn't
even realize it until I turnedon the water the next day and it
looked like Old Faithful wasgoing off in that little holding
pen.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Public service announcement.
Those industrial hoses do not,they lose to a skill saw.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
So that's kind of how that played out.
So some of the things thatwe've done we loaded up all the
feed, went and got tons of feedthis week and we will stage
everything so that Honeybeardoes not have to, hopefully, go
get any bags of feed and loadany bags of feed.
Everything should be staged atits location.
(13:14):
We have moved the chickens overto where an actual water spigot
is.
That's big, that's huge.
Yes, I mean we had to run like300 feet of water hose at least
to be able to water them downwhere they were, and that's the
area that's about to become apond.
(13:34):
So now that they are in front ofthe house, the one of the
previous owners of the like 30of them that there were, um, had
the chickens in front of thehouse and had the water spigot,
and so it just kind of madesense to move everything over
there.
Um, the water spigot's rightthere and the garden is right
there.
Whoops, I keep hitting mymicrophone.
I'm so there.
The water spigot's right thereand the garden is right there.
Whoops, I keep hitting mymicrophone.
(13:55):
I'm so sorry.
The garden is right there andso we can water everything like
in one fell swoop, and it hassaved me 30 minutes.
I would say in the morningsyeah, I mean you had to turn on
the spigot up at the barn walk ahalf a mile.
Right To the lower barnyard.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Lower barnyard.
Well, you'd have to do anotherconnection and you know, then
you'd have to fill it up andthen you'd have to walk all the
way back.
I mean, it's not a pain in thewinter, but it sure is in the
summer.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Right, absolutely, and I think that will help when
it comes to winter, because Ialso have my son-in-law is
coming in the next couple ofweeks to give us an estimate on
running us some power down tothe lower.
We have no outlets anywhere onthe outside of our house, so in
the process of getting someoutlets, he is also going to run
(14:45):
us a little power outlet likeyou would have at a campground,
just on a stub down to the lowerbarnyard, so that if we need to
, um, and the chicken coop isactually wired for electricity,
it already has all the wiringand stuff in it with.
Yeah, which is possible.
We may need to get that checked, but so anyway, hopefully we
can get some power down there,and when winter hits, if we need
(15:09):
to use heated you know, watertubs, the stock tank heaters,
all of that kind of stuff, it'llbe much easier and more
manageable, and so I'm reallyexcited about that.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Me too.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Anything else.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
No, I just think again.
The key word is streamline.
That's going to save a lot oftime and energy with everything
we do, and if we can get theelectricity down there, that
makes winter easier as welldefinitely the?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
um.
Other thing we've done is we'vebought a couple of cheap coops
off of amazon.
They're like metal runs andthey have this really cheap, um,
chicken wire kind of thing.
It's even thinner than chickenwire, excuse me, but it's
serving its purpose and the dogsare in there and we have.
(15:57):
I got one that was even longer,that's 20 feet long, for the
turkeys, so that they have theirown kind of place to go and be,
because they need to be fedseparately from guineas and
ducks and chickens and all thatkind of stuff, just because
they're on a grower.
So hopefully, one of the otherthings that we hope to get done,
um, before we go out of town,is to get that coop put together
(16:21):
, because we have one that's isit 10 feet long?
Maybe the smaller one we puttogether 12 feet, one's 12 feet
and one's 20?
Um, so it'll be, it'll bebetter and and all of that is
looking much better.
So I don't know, I don't knowif we'll get that done or not.
That's not a do or die to beout of town, but it would make
(16:43):
honey bear's life much easier tohave separate spaces.
So and I will put in my shownotes the link to those, just in
case you ever want them.
We are going to go back andfortify those with hardware,
cloth, cloth just along thebottom, because if a raccoon I
mean, it'll keep out aerialpredators like hawks and owls, I
guess, and things of thatnature.
(17:03):
But if a raccoon or a weasel ora fox or any of that stuff
wants in there, they're going in, they'll just slice it and go
right in.
So we've got to fortify that.
But I do still think, for whatit cost, that it was worth the
money.
I mean, even if it's justtemporary, even if it just gets
(17:25):
us through for a year or twobefore we can build something
more permanent.
And again, I'm leery now ofputting up permanent things.
Just because I was 100% surethat that lower barnyard was
where I wanted everything, I wasready to put up that permanent
fence and then we were actuallyin the thought process.
(17:46):
Yeah, I actually had stepped itoff with John Witherspoon.
He was going to come bring hisauger.
We were going to start on thefencing and then I realized that
that's, it didn't make sense,that it was the perfect place
for a pond, so all of a suddenthat became pond.
So that's what we're going todo with that.
I don't know.
(18:15):
I think the pond update peoplecoming to help move the coop.
We did have our.
We had our um homesteadersAlliance group meeting this past
Sunday.
Our comms conversation wasabout food freedom and the laws
that are coming down the pike.
There was a lot of great, greatconversation and we did have
some interesting people that hadnever been here before, um show
up from the Libertarian Party.
One of them is going to berunning for a really big office
(18:39):
in two years and we wish herwell.
But their interest in beingpart of the conversation really
made me happy, like it made mehappy that they care.
And I don't know you know it'sgoing to take all of us coming
together to ever to make theselaws more farm friendly, to make
these law more more foodfreedom friendly.
(19:00):
But just having more awarenessI think is huge and the more
people that talk about it.
The more people who push it,the better chance that we have
of being more like Maine, andthat is our goal is to be
completely open.
Food freedom like Maine, tryingto think, I guess that's it.
(19:22):
Oh, and my workshop we had ourcanning workshop on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Yeah, that was a good class.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
It was a really great class and I think every time we
do one it gets better, don't?
You think I do too.
It gets easier, it's morerefined, faster.
Yeah, we got through it reallyfast on Saturday and there was
some great questions and themain thing I guess about canning
is just to start and to followan approved recipe, whether it's
(19:50):
in the ball canning book or, um.
You know one of those.
The national centers for homefood preservation is a really
great resource to go to.
It's a great place if you havea question.
You can put corn in the searchand it'll tell you, um, how many
pounds of pressure for how longand all that kind of stuff.
So that's a great place to goif you don't have the book and
(20:10):
you're just wanting to cansomething.
We did green beans on Saturdayand it was just so awesome to
look around the building and ineverywhere you look there are
people talking and they'rebreaking beans over a bowl and
they're just they'refellowshipping and, like I have
(20:31):
said before, there's just anenergy that happens.
They're making a connectionwith each other, exactly.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Some of these people exchange numbers.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Right, did you feel that?
Though?
I felt it.
You felt it.
Yeah, it was like if you everget a chance to go to a workshop
, I don't care if it's mine oranybody else go to Nicole's, go
to Self Reliance, festivalworkshops.
Anytime you're learningsomething with other people,
there's a bond that gets created.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Remember when we were training, when we got our
license 10 years ago or whatever?
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Oh, yeah, we're still friends with those people.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
You know shooting with people and learning
everything that you had to learnback then, when you had to have
a carry license.
I think that's a great way tothat's the best way to learn
when you learn with others whohave kind of the same goal in
mind and it's sort of the same.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
You're like-minded people.
I mean, if you're in a canningclass, you're probably a food
freedom type person, I wouldthink you better be Right, right
.
Just always follow proper, safecanning methods.
That's my.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
I need that on a t-shirt or stamped across my
forehead or something I thinkthe big thing you tell them and
we've seen people do it in thepast is go home and do this yes,
put it in your back pocket,wait for a year, then you don't
remember anything right a lot ofpeople call.
I remember a big mama calledyou know.
Hey, I did my first pickles oh,I know I loved that.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
She sent me pictures too.
Her and her little girlfriendwere were making pickles in
their kitchen and you know theseare some highfalutin ladies.
Now she's, she's, uh, tammy's aa good, um, kind of bougie girl
, but she was so proud ofherself and she, as far as I
know, they've continued to maketheir.
They don't do a whole lot ofother stuff, but they like
(22:19):
making their pickles, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
And I mean you know she's, they're well off.
I mean her husband owns thescoreboard and a ton of other
bars.
He called me.
Well, he's in the hooliganswith is with me.
But he didn't call me at one ofour meetings.
He was bragging about how muchhis wife learned and how excited
he was.
Yeah, she was making picklesthe way he wants them?
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Yeah, home food preservation is my jam.
See what I did there?
Oh yeah, you didn't catch it,did you?
Oh yeah, so anyway, that'spretty much all we got going on.
I doubt very seriously that wewill have a podcast next
thursday, because we will be inthe great state of colorado.
We'll probably be stonedbecause I can't do that, but I
(23:01):
might find something I can eatsome ground, some brownies, some
brownies or something I don'tknow, just to.
I don't know.
I have a fear of how that wouldmake me I've seen, seen too
many.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
You know people eat a whole cookie and then they're
like they can't move.
Yeah, they're like Jabba theHutt it ain't like the stuff we
had in high school yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
So I feel like I would be like Jabba the Hutt
Just a blob, have a panic attack.
Yeah, that would be me.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
I will say I am looking forward.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Sunday we go pick.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
On our way to Colorado.
We go to Moscow Mills, missouri, and pick up our 17-year-old
from a four-week wrestling camp.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
They've heard about this camp.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Well, I'm just I'm excited about picking him up.
I just I never thought I'd misshim as much as I do.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Oh God, I know.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Plus, I need him to cut the grass.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Did you see that video that they put out?
I saw one where they were goingthrough the.
No, there was a video and allthe kids are lightened up in a
row and all you see is the boysand all of them at the same time
say that grass better be cut.
When I get home You've had fourweeks.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
I can assure you it'll be neat to be cut.
Oh yeah, it's dry right now.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Ten days.
Yeah, I don't know if I toldy'all or not, but my bees have
absconded so we are down to onehive of bees.
That's another kind of updatethat we have going on Commercial
bees.
The commercial bees that we gotfrom the commercial beekeeper
and I didn't realize until afterI got them home that commercial
(24:38):
means that they're trucked allover the country and rented out.
I thought it meant you justproduced a lot of honey and
that's not what that turned outto be.
So my bee mentor told me thatprobably what happened is that
they were just going to leave.
Period Wouldn't anything Icould have done about it,
because I had plenty of room forthem.
(24:59):
I was feeding them, I was doingall of the things and they just
left.
But now my ones that I got froma bee's closet they are rocking
and they're very, very docile.
Like I can be out there feedingthem in shorts and flip flops
and a bathing suit top.
They don't bother me, theydon't get upset.
Um, I talk to them while I'mout there and let them know what
(25:22):
I'm doing and I think thathelps.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
but commercial bees are just a whole lot of pissed
off.
They just are mad they were mad.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
They were mad, mad bees.
That's what, and I'm kind of.
I know you are glad they'regone.
Got stung 12 times in a periodof about two weeks, yeah, but we
may as well have taken $300 andset it on fire Because they
didn't stay three weeks after wegot them here.
About a hundred bucks a week,yeah, that's what it cost me.
So anyway, but that's okay.
So anyway, but that's okay.
I know it's a lesson learnedand unfortunately that's how I
(25:54):
learned.
My lessons is the hard way.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Failure as a professor.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yes, and God knows I've had plenty of professors.
Yes, I have Suffer LightsFestival.
We are still in planning andtickets are available on the
website.
They are $50 during early birdpricing and the family price is
$150, I believe it's either $125or $150.
(26:20):
That's new for this year.
So no matter how many littlekids you have in tow, you can
get in for $150.
And I think that's been ahang-up for some people in the
past, so hopefully we will havea great turnout.
If you want to be a vendor atSelf Reliance Festival, it's a
great place to come and sellyour products, sell your service
(26:40):
, whatever it is that you haveyou network.
It's just a great, greatcommunity to become a part of.
So if you want to be a vendor,you can also fill out that form
on the website and that will putyou in touch with me, the
vendor manager.
Now I am also the volunteercoordinator, so if you'd like to
volunteer at Self RelianceFestival for a free ticket and a
(27:02):
t-shirt, reach out to me andlet me know that I can get you
hooked up with that and if youvolunteer, I mean you're not
going balls to the wall, workingall the time you get a lot of
time to, and it's four hours.
It's eight hours total for theweekend, four hours per day, and
so I can put you at the parking.
I can put you at and you'rejust directing people where to
(27:24):
park.
We can put you in registration,we can put you in, you know
help and set up for the vipdinner.
There's tons of fun things thatyou can do, so just you know,
let me know if that's somethingthat you think you might be
interested in.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Yeah, I mean a couple years ago.
I was voluntold.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
You're always voluntold, but now I mean, I
feel like I like it more everytime I go.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
I look forward to it more every year, every twice a
year.
I think this one's going to begreat.
The ticket prices what are theyafter the early bird?
75?
.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
I believe.
So yeah, they go up to 75.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
And what were they last spring?
Speaker 2 (28:01):
95.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Yeah, so it's cheaper .
I think John Willis thinks it'sgoing to be the best one ever.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
I hope so.
I hope so.
I think it's shaping up.
To be for sure, we got somegreat speakers.
Jack Spierko from the SurvivalPodcast is going to be back, of
course.
Nicole and John BearIndependent will be there.
Just a lot of greatself-reliance type people,
(28:29):
freedom-oriented people, whojust have a lot of good
information to share.
So if you've ever wanted tomeet those folks or ever wanted
to hear them in person, just tosee if they are what they say
they are, which I promise youthey are.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
That's a great way to do that.
Yeah, we learned atHomesteaders of America that
some people aren't really whatthey say they are.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
I will say I hate to say that because I was so
excited about going toHomesteaders of America, but
there were a couple that I wasreally excited to meet that
really let me down like in whothey are in person.
Of course, there's a lot ofpeople there.
Homesteaders of America haswhat was it?
10,000 people.
When we were there, I think 10was the max, I think they had 10
.
And so I understand there's alot of people there, but you can
(29:20):
still don't have to be a jerkand you still I mean Joel
Salatin's, the godfather, andhe's not a jerk.
No, god, no, he's amazing.
Yeah, I mean yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
But there were some that you realize they're
Hollywood.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Yeah, it's all fluff, it's all.
They're not really.
Some of them are living thelife and some of them started
out living the life, but nowthey have people doing the work
for them and they're videoingand that's pretty much all it
boils down to.
Like today, like here, it'sjust us, it's me and T.
We're doing it.
I mean Monday through Friday,from 7 am to 8 am, whatever time
(29:55):
I get down here to the time Tgets home.
It's just me.
Like it's me by myself, and soyou can do this.
You don't have to have an armyof people employees, which would
be nice, wouldn't that be nice?
We need a rip.
Yeah, I thought you were my rip.
Yeah, poor man's rip.
(30:16):
Mm-hmm, that's what I.
You wouldn't take anybody tothe train station for me.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
No, sir, I'll take them to the Turkey.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Creek.
So anyway, yeah, so that's whatwe're doing and when we get
back we have let's see.
When we get back, we have a cprclass scheduled here on july
the 20th.
That class is 35 and it'staught by one of our local
firemen, richard honeycutt.
(30:42):
It's part of what we're postingon dixon county homesteaders
alliance group.
And on july 27th we have ournext upcoming canning class.
It's also a beginner's canningclass and then on August the
10th we have Chuck Peebles fromHomestead Medical coming.
I am so excited I have wantedto do this training with Chuck.
(31:05):
He always comes to SelfReliance Festival and people
always do the training with himand his class is full and it's
wonderful and I can never do itbecause I'm always working Right
and we have all his meds, Imean we.
We have all the gear.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
I want a medical bag, and then last year we bought
the $300 deal.
That was just that box.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yeah, it was.
It's a box of goodies.
We got the.
We got the box of goodies.
We don't know what the heck todo with them.
Some of them I know how to do.
I know how to put the band-aidon.
But when Chuck comes in Augusthe said he's doing something
with our class that he has neverdone before.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
I don't know exactly what that is.
My understanding is a lot ofhis classes are what you do when
help is coming, Like when youknow an ambulance is on the way
tourniquets.
This one is what you're doingwhen help isn't coming.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Right, that's the theme for this one, for sure.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
You're not preserving , you're saving a life trying to
keep someone alive.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Right, it'll be interesting.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
I hope we never use any of it.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
I hope we don't either.
But you know, you just neverknow, like, especially if you're
out on a farm or a homestead,things can happen, like with
tractor implements, or you knowyou're trying to shoot a rooster
in the lower barnyard and youaccidentally shoot your wife or
your foot or your dog orwhatever kind of need to know
how to handle a gunshot wound ora you know a big laceration or
(32:26):
open wound or a sucking chestwound.
I mean there's lots of thingsthat could happen.
And when you're far out, likewe are, I mean we have an
emergency room that's fairlyclose, but some people don't.
And if the world were tocollapse and God forbid, please
don't let that happen but if itwere and you don't have any form
(32:46):
of medical training and badthings happen, you don't know
what to do.
And this also continues on afterjust stabilizing the patient.
It's also how to care for themafterwards, like if you're
setting up a sick facility oryou're setting up an infirmary,
basically, and your compound oryour farm or your homestead or
(33:07):
whatever.
But beyond that, though, hesaid there's something new,
cause he he typically does teachthem what to do if help is not
coming, but he's teachingsomething new with us that he's
never he's.
He's incorporating some newmaterial, so I'm excited about
that.
I don't know.
And we have to be able to puton a tourniquet blindfolded,
(33:28):
which, yeah, I can't.
I have no sense of direction.
If I close my eyes, I run offthe road.
So I can't imagine if I'm goingto be able to put on a
tourniquet blindfolded.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Most people run off the road when you close your
eyes.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Well, I'm just, I'm like serious, but if I look to
my left my body goes to the.
You know, it's just anyway.
I'm just saying it'll be fun.
I'm really excited about it.
So if you are interested insigning up for Homestead Medical
and want to come to the class,we still have two spots, I think
, available.
We pretty much booked up fast,but I think we still have one or
(34:06):
two spots that we could slidesomebody into if they really
really wanted to come.
So that's what we got going onthere.
And then in September we willhave my home apothecary class.
I'm not sure of the date rightoff the top of my head, but we
(34:28):
will have that in September, andthen that will be the end of
our season.
We have a wedding.
Our son Blake and Erica aregetting married.
That's September the 14th.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
And we're having a shower here on the 3rd.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Yeah, feel free, they want money.
Yeah, so they did not registeranywhere.
They just want cash.
So I've never heard of thatbefore.
But yeah, honesty is the bestpolicy is the way I look at it.
I mean, they're, they want ahouse, that is all they.
They have stuff.
They've both been throughcollege, they've both lived on
their own for quite some time,so they don't need dishes, they
(35:06):
don't need cookware, they justneed money for a house.
So that's what, what that's.
We're going to get together andput money in a bowl.
I don't think we're going toget a down payment, but you know
, every little bit helps, allright.
Well, with that, I have goneover Self Reliance Festival.
I think I've pretty much hit onall of our topics.
(35:28):
Is there any other topics thatyou that are on your mind?
Anything going on in the world?
That's making you crazy.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Well, I mean the political.
Oh, there's nothing we can doabout that.
I don't want to talk about that.
That's in the political show.
I'd like to tell you all aboutthe first bass.
I caught About three pounds.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
I'm going to give him his minute, y'all.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
First cast.
It was five pounds when Icaught it, but I'm going to be
honest now.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
It was about two and a half to three.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
But just a great way to start the birthday of America
.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Murph, come back to us.
I'm listening.
Sorry, go ahead.
That's all I got.
Oh, sorry, I was looking at thecalendar.
It's all about the bass.
I thought somebody broke inhere and put their wedding date
on our calendar Because I sawKayla wedding and I was like
who's Kayla?
I know I forgot I should.
I know, I know, I don't knowwhat I was thinking.
Oh, congratulations to UncleTommy Ducklow.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Oh yeah, uncle Tommy retired after he Retired after
he's an optometrist, but he hada big retirement party.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Yeah, that was so much fun I did not get to attend
, but Dawn did.
Yeah, that's all right, Irepresented.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
I was in an 11 and a half hour mediation.
So when I got out at 830, Icalled Dawn and she was like
I've already left, yeah, and itended at nine.
It was from five to nine, butcongratulations, uncle Tommy.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Yep, at any rate, happy, happy retirement.
Uncle Tommy Ducklow, we loveyou and you have been a fabulous
eye doctor and thank you forkeeping me where I can see for
the last 22 years.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Well, I'm shocked he's retiring because Kayla's
their only daughter and they are.
I'm assuming this will be athrow down blow out.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
It's a big Jewish wedding man.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
I know I think we're putting them up in the chair and
busting the glass.
It's going to be fun.
I'm excited.
It's going to be a lot of fun.
I'll be wearing a.
Yamaha, a Yamaha.
Well, when in Rome you do whatthe Romans do and we, you know
(37:37):
it's their thing, so we're gonnado what, what they want us to
do, all right.
Well, with that we're gonnaclose this out and we will be
back with you in two weeks.
And I do have miss joyhennercoff scheduled for our um
essential oils on the homesteadtalk here in a couple of weeks.
She and I just had somescheduling trouble trying to get
that handled, so she will be myfirst official interview.
So thank you so much for tuningin.
(37:57):
I hope that you have enjoyedtoday's podcast and it would be
really great if you wouldsubscribe and leave me a review,
because it helps other peopleto find my podcast and it helps
me to grow.
And so you can find us at theGorm Homestead dot com and on
all the socials at just the GormHomestead.
Whatever you're doing today,y'all, just remember to keep it
real.
Happy 4th, happy 4th, see y'all.
My daddy was a guitar pickerplaying all the local clubs and
(38:38):
my mama was a waitress wherethey parked M18 wheeler trucks.
We didn't have much money.
Times were kind of hard, livingin a trailer on the edge of
grandpa's farm.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Yeah, I may not come from much, but I've got just
enough.
As long as my baby's in my armsand the good Lord knows what's
in my heart, I refuse to beashamed.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
It's just a southern thing.
Hey y'all, welcome to Keeping it Real, the Gorham
Homestead podcast, where we talkabout real food, real natural
living, the real art of naturalhealing and real life out here
in our Tennessee homestead.
I'm your host, Dawn Gorham, andtoday is Thursday, july the 4th
, 2024.
You're listening to episodenumber 15.
Today's topic is going out oftown, like what we're doing in
(00:37):
preparation for getting the heckout of Dodge.
First off, I want to say thankyou to our awesome sponsors.
Our first sponsor of the day isRegina LLC out of Florida, and
they are your mold specialist.
If you suspect that you mighthave mold in your home, in your
basement, in your office,anything like that, they are the
people who you want to call andthey will come in and test and
(01:00):
tell you exactly what you aredealing with and can recommend
what you need to do from there.
Our other sponsor is HermitageEmbroidery.
They are located in Hermitage,tennessee, and they are our
go-to for all of ourembroidering needs, all of our
merchandising things of thatnature.
They are veteran owned andoperated.
They are a wonderful familybusiness, they are friends of
(01:22):
the podcast, they are friends ofour family and they are just
good, freedom-oriented peopleand that's who we like to have
as sponsors for our podcast.
So that is our sponsors of theday.
You missed one I missed one.
Hamilton, gorham and Duncan,your full-service law firm
(01:45):
located in Bellevue, tennessee,out in Nashville.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Hamilton, gorham and Duncan has never said that they
would sponsor me.
Just for you listeners, I'vebeen sponsoring her for 20 years
.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
We're a sponsor.
You've been sponsoring me for20 years huh, probably 22.
Oh shoot.
So we have T on the show today.
It's been quite some time sinceT has been able to join us.
He has been busy making themoney so I can spend it, and
he's been busy sponsoring whatwe got going on.
(02:14):
So just first off, just a quicklittle update on what's going
on in the raw milk world.
I was fortunate enough to beable to sit in on a nationwide
it was a Zoom meeting talkingabout what things are coming
down the pike with raw milk, andit was several different people
from different locations in thecountry, all being raw milk
(02:37):
producers, and there was a lotof good information that came
out of that meeting.
And I just want I don't want togo too far into the weeds with
that, but I just want to remindyou the bird flu.
While it, you know it could bea scary thing.
Who knows?
Who knows if it's somethingthat's been engineered somewhere
(02:58):
and it's worse than any birdflu that we know of.
I don't know, but what I doknow is that the likelihood of
you getting sick with the birdflu from drinking your raw milk
from your farmer is really low.
So don't freak out about thatsort of thing, just continue
doing what you're doing, andagain, because you can get sick
from stuff that you get from thegrocery store and don't let the
(03:20):
fear mongering, you know, driveyou away from helping out and
sponsoring and giving your moneyto your local people, your
farmers, whoever that mighthappen to be.
So no, no, no, it has not been.
To my knowledge, there has notbeen any instances of bird flu
and dairy cattle in tennessee sofar at all.
(03:40):
So there's that.
So we're getting ready to go outof town.
We are going to be um, going toColorado for 10 days, picking
our son up from wrestling campand driving on from Missouri to
steamboat Springs, colorado,staying there for a week just
kind of checking the place out.
(04:01):
There's a wedding on SaturdayOur niece um.
We love Charlotte.
We're excited that Charlotte'sgetting married.
We're excited to be part ofthat.
I think it's cool that it's inSteamboat Springs.
I've never been there, and sowhat we decided was to make it
our family vacation and justkind of check out the area and
then end it with the wedding,come back on or start leaving on
(04:22):
Sunday, heading back toTennessee.
It's probably going to take ustwo days to drive back.
So there is a lot that has tobe done here to get ready.
I mean, t's got to get thingsready at his office to go out of
town.
I've got to get things readyhere on the homestead.
I've got to get things readyfor my customers and my business
and the podcast, and beyondthat we have things that we have
(04:44):
to keep alive.
So what are we doing today?
Speaker 1 (04:49):
What are we doing today?
I went fishing.
I caught a bunch of smallmouthbass.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
You want to talk about your fishing.
I know that you're just dyingto work that in there, aren't
you?
Speaker 1 (04:58):
I just caught a lot of bass this morning, and that
makes it a great day.
Happy birthday, america.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Happy birthday, america.
Stay defiant y'all.
I don't know, but it was builton defiance.
It was the original people whosaid, no, we will not comply.
And all of those people hadguns and we won.
That's the end of that story248 years old.
Very good.
Yes, 248 years old, so we areinstalling a sprinkler system
(05:27):
today.
Yeah, um, up until this point,um, of course, I'll give you a
pond update.
I hate to back up and I'm allkind of all over the place today
, but pond update is that we hadum several people come.
Oops.
Rules in the studio are do nothave your phone turned on.
I silenced mine.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
You think you have to turn it off in court all the
time?
I wouldn't know that.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Right.
So anyway, so we're trying toget ready to have our pond dug,
and that consisted of having tomove a lot of stuff and we
didn't realize, like I had saidin a previous podcast, like how
much stuff was down there untilwe embarked on this big old
project and so, but we,yesterday we were able to move
(06:13):
the rest of the poultry nettingand get that put around the
garden and so hopefully thatwill keep the chickens out,
because we had previously movedthe chickens and it took them
all of about 30 seconds, afterthey were moved and saw the
garden, to figure out how to getinto the garden and how to eat
all the green beans, all of thesquash, all of the watermelons
and all of the pumpkins GoneDown to a nub.
(06:36):
So we've hopefully got thatlittle problem fixed for now,
fixed for now.
And this week T and some of ourfriends from Self Reliance
Festival or Self Reliance Group,our homesteaders group, were
able to finish moving thechicken coop, the smaller
chicken coop that we call thejunior high and the dog kennel,
(06:59):
and that was a process, wasn'tit?
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Thank goodness we had that Is that all you got.
Well, I will say this thankgoodness we had that, all you
got well, I will say this thankgoodness we had a tractor too,
to kind of pull that coop.
But yeah, I thought the dog pitkennel which is very heavy, was
going to be a major problem,and I mean eight of us picked it
up and just walked it all theway across that was like the
(07:22):
coolest thing to see.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
It was almost reminiscent of an Amish barn
moving.
Like you know, they say manyhands make light work.
We had a bunch of well-abled,well-bodied men able-bodied men,
you know, in some of these Imean, some of y'all are older
but you're still in pretty darngood shape for your age.
And so those guys out there 40and up were moving stuff and
(07:49):
they got the chicken coop up onthe tractor and it had wheels on
the back so they didn't have tolift it a whole, whole lot,
they just kind of had to guideit.
And we got that over there andgot that in place.
And then they came back andthey got the dog kennel and they
just picked the darn thing upand just carried it from the
lower barnyard all the way tothe front of the house, got the
dog set up.
And the goal behind that wasthat we want our farm sitter and
(08:12):
us because we're trying to setthings up for ease of use to be
able to do everything in oneplace.
So the cows are all behind thethe um and the pasture and we
milk on the porch and everythingto do with cows is right here.
Everything to do with chickens,poultry, all of that sort of
stuff is in the front, and nowour compost pile will go there,
(08:34):
the chickens will, we'll be ableto turn it for us and then we
will be able to open all that upto the garden.
Once the garden is done, we'llbe able to, the compost will be
right there, we'll be able toput it in the garden, and the
goal is just to kind of keepeverything a lot more compact,
streamlined Streamlined, that'sthe word I was looking for.
Yeah, so what we're doing todayin preparation for leaving is we
(08:57):
are installing a sprinklersystem, and I know you're not
supposed to water tomatoes fromthe top, but at this point I am
desperate and I do not care.
We're watering tomatoes.
However, we can water tomatoesRight, yeah, god does it too.
So and plus, we have hard, wehave garden cloth down, so it
doesn't get quite as much splashlike from dirt like it would if
(09:19):
it was just in dirt.
Um, so we're doing that and wehave this really cool automatic
timer that is hooked to theWi-Fi and I will be able to just
tell A-L-E-X-A to water thegarden, and I can set a timer
and it has four different zonesIf I want to water one part of
(09:41):
the garden for 20 minutes andanother part of the garden for
another 20 minutes if I want todo it at three in the morning,
if I want to do it, however, Iwant to do it, I can do that.
I can set those schedules on myphone and I can automate that.
And while I love to know how todo things by hand and manually
and the old fashioned way andblah, blah, blah blah, I've done
(10:06):
that.
And as we get older, t and Iwant to keep doing what we're
doing, but as much as we cantake off our plate by automation
, we're definitely going to dothat.
Even if the upfront cost is alittle bit higher to me, it's
worth our time, don't you agree?
Speaker 1 (10:19):
we need an automated weed eater oh, the weed eater
man.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Oh, the weed eater man.
So I tried weed eating with mynew handy, dandy, battery
operated weed eater that islightweight for women, and it
came with a saw blade, which Ithought was so flippin' cool.
So I got out and I was throughthe little trees and through the
little shrubs and through thelittle bushes.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
The back story is my weed eater quit running.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
But I wanted to help.
That's why I wanted a weedeater.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
It wasn't because yours was broke, but we went a
couple weeks without weed eatingbefore I finally just bought a
new one.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Now we both have weed eaters.
Now I've got three weed eaters,right, but I'm not allowed to
use mine anymore.
I have been exiled from theweed eating process unless it is
an open field of nothing that Ican damage.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
She weed eats like she backs up a vehicle.
It's dangerous.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Yeah, I'm just sort of willy-nilly and so I was weed
eating and I thought I wasdoing really good and I wanted
to help and had the saw blade onand turned around with the weed
eater in my hand.
The saw blade I'd let off of it, but the saw blade was still
spinning and happened to catchthe tire on the Polaris.
And let me just say a saw bladeon a weed eater will slice
(11:41):
right through a tire of aPolaris, yes, it will.
So now we're going to have toorder new tires.
We needed new tires anyway.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Yeah, that's a way to find a way to drive.
Exactly, it needed new tires.
We needed new tires anyway.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Yeah, that's a way to find a way to jump.
Exactly, it needed new tires.
I was having to put air in oneof the other tires every single
day.
They'd lost so much tread thatit would spin out in the grass.
So now we're getting new tiresthe hard way.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
That's right.
Based on the negligentoperation.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, and I also sliced through a really
perfectly good.
Um, yeah, and it was one ofthose industrial water hoses,
not one of the cheapos fromwalmart.
It was like 50 feet long andthe super made out of like good
year tires or something.
It was a really good, good oneand I and I didn't even know it,
like I was in the littleholding pen just trying to take
(12:33):
down some stuff in there andnever even noticed it, didn't
even realize it until I turnedon the water the next day and it
looked like Old Faithful wasgoing off in that little holding
pen.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Public service announcement.
Those industrial hoses do not,they lose to a skill saw.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
So that's kind of how that played out.
So some of the things thatwe've done we loaded up all the
feed, went and got tons of feedthis week and we will stage
everything so that Honeybeardoes not have to, hopefully, go
get any bags of feed and loadany bags of feed.
Everything should be staged atits location.
(13:14):
We have moved the chickens overto where an actual water spigot
is.
That's big, that's huge.
Yes, I mean we had to run like300 feet of water hose at least
to be able to water them downwhere they were, and that's the
area that's about to become apond.
(13:34):
So now that they are in front ofthe house, the one of the
previous owners of the like 30of them that there were, um, had
the chickens in front of thehouse and had the water spigot,
and so it just kind of madesense to move everything over
there.
Um, the water spigot's rightthere and the garden is right
there.
Whoops, I keep hitting mymicrophone.
I'm so there.
The water spigot's right thereand the garden is right there.
Whoops, I keep hitting mymicrophone.
(13:55):
I'm so sorry.
The garden is right there andso we can water everything like
in one fell swoop, and it hassaved me 30 minutes.
I would say in the morningsyeah, I mean you had to turn on
the spigot up at the barn walk ahalf a mile.
Right To the lower barnyard.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
Lower barnyard.
Well, you'd have to do anotherconnection and you know, then
you'd have to fill it up andthen you'd have to walk all the
way back.
I mean, it's not a pain in thewinter, but it sure is in the
summer.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Right, absolutely, and I think that will help when
it comes to winter, because Ialso have my son-in-law is
coming in the next couple ofweeks to give us an estimate on
running us some power down tothe lower.
We have no outlets anywhere onthe outside of our house, so in
the process of getting someoutlets, he is also going to run
(14:45):
us a little power outlet likeyou would have at a campground,
just on a stub down to the lowerbarnyard, so that if we need to
, um, and the chicken coop isactually wired for electricity,
it already has all the wiringand stuff in it with.
Yeah, which is possible.
We may need to get that checked, but so anyway, hopefully we
can get some power down there,and when winter hits, if we need
(15:09):
to use heated you know, watertubs, the stock tank heaters,
all of that kind of stuff, it'llbe much easier and more
manageable, and so I'm reallyexcited about that.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Me too.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Anything else.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
No, I just think again.
The key word is streamline.
That's going to save a lot oftime and energy with everything
we do, and if we can get theelectricity down there, that
makes winter easier as welldefinitely the?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
um.
Other thing we've done is we'vebought a couple of cheap coops
off of amazon.
They're like metal runs andthey have this really cheap, um,
chicken wire kind of thing.
It's even thinner than chickenwire, excuse me, but it's
serving its purpose and the dogsare in there and we have.
(15:57):
I got one that was even longer,that's 20 feet long, for the
turkeys, so that they have theirown kind of place to go and be,
because they need to be fedseparately from guineas and
ducks and chickens and all thatkind of stuff, just because
they're on a grower.
So hopefully, one of the otherthings that we hope to get done,
um, before we go out of town,is to get that coop put together
(16:21):
, because we have one that's isit 10 feet long?
Maybe the smaller one we puttogether 12 feet, one's 12 feet
and one's 20?
Um, so it'll be, it'll bebetter and and all of that is
looking much better.
So I don't know, I don't knowif we'll get that done or not.
That's not a do or die to beout of town, but it would make
(16:43):
honey bear's life much easier tohave separate spaces.
So and I will put in my shownotes the link to those, just in
case you ever want them.
We are going to go back andfortify those with hardware,
cloth, cloth just along thebottom, because if a raccoon I
mean, it'll keep out aerialpredators like hawks and owls, I
guess, and things of thatnature.
(17:03):
But if a raccoon or a weasel ora fox or any of that stuff
wants in there, they're going in, they'll just slice it and go
right in.
So we've got to fortify that.
But I do still think, for whatit cost, that it was worth the
money.
I mean, even if it's justtemporary, even if it just gets
(17:25):
us through for a year or twobefore we can build something
more permanent.
And again, I'm leery now ofputting up permanent things.
Just because I was 100% surethat that lower barnyard was
where I wanted everything, I wasready to put up that permanent
fence and then we were actuallyin the thought process.
(17:46):
Yeah, I actually had stepped itoff with John Witherspoon.
He was going to come bring hisauger.
We were going to start on thefencing and then I realized that
that's, it didn't make sense,that it was the perfect place
for a pond, so all of a suddenthat became pond.
So that's what we're going todo with that.
I don't know.
(18:15):
I think the pond update peoplecoming to help move the coop.
We did have our.
We had our um homesteadersAlliance group meeting this past
Sunday.
Our comms conversation wasabout food freedom and the laws
that are coming down the pike.
There was a lot of great, greatconversation and we did have
some interesting people that hadnever been here before, um show
up from the Libertarian Party.
One of them is going to berunning for a really big office
(18:39):
in two years and we wish herwell.
But their interest in beingpart of the conversation really
made me happy, like it made mehappy that they care.
And I don't know you know it'sgoing to take all of us coming
together to ever to make theselaws more farm friendly, to make
these law more more foodfreedom friendly.
(19:00):
But just having more awarenessI think is huge and the more
people that talk about it.
The more people who push it,the better chance that we have
of being more like Maine, andthat is our goal is to be
completely open.
Food freedom like Maine, tryingto think, I guess that's it.
(19:22):
Oh, and my workshop we had ourcanning workshop on Saturday.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Yeah, that was a good class.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
It was a really great class and I think every time we
do one it gets better, don't?
You think I do too.
It gets easier, it's morerefined, faster.
Yeah, we got through it reallyfast on Saturday and there was
some great questions and themain thing I guess about canning
is just to start and to followan approved recipe, whether it's
(19:50):
in the ball canning book or, um.
You know one of those.
The national centers for homefood preservation is a really
great resource to go to.
It's a great place if you havea question.
You can put corn in the searchand it'll tell you, um, how many
pounds of pressure for how longand all that kind of stuff.
So that's a great place to goif you don't have the book and
(20:10):
you're just wanting to cansomething.
We did green beans on Saturdayand it was just so awesome to
look around the building and ineverywhere you look there are
people talking and they'rebreaking beans over a bowl and
they're just they'refellowshipping and, like I have
(20:31):
said before, there's just anenergy that happens.
They're making a connectionwith each other, exactly.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Some of these people exchange numbers.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Right, did you feel that?
Though?
I felt it.
You felt it.
Yeah, it was like if you everget a chance to go to a workshop
, I don't care if it's mine oranybody else go to Nicole's, go
to Self Reliance, festivalworkshops.
Anytime you're learningsomething with other people,
there's a bond that gets created.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Remember when we were training, when we got our
license 10 years ago or whatever?
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Oh, yeah, we're still friends with those people.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
You know shooting with people and learning
everything that you had to learnback then, when you had to have
a carry license.
I think that's a great way tothat's the best way to learn
when you learn with others whohave kind of the same goal in
mind and it's sort of the same.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
You're like-minded people.
I mean, if you're in a canningclass, you're probably a food
freedom type person, I wouldthink you better be Right, right
.
Just always follow proper, safecanning methods.
That's my.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
I need that on a t-shirt or stamped across my
forehead or something I thinkthe big thing you tell them and
we've seen people do it in thepast is go home and do this yes,
put it in your back pocket,wait for a year, then you don't
remember anything right a lot ofpeople call.
I remember a big mama calledyou know.
Hey, I did my first pickles oh,I know I loved that.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
She sent me pictures too.
Her and her little girlfriendwere were making pickles in
their kitchen and you know theseare some highfalutin ladies.
Now she's, she's, uh, tammy's aa good, um, kind of bougie girl
, but she was so proud ofherself and she, as far as I
know, they've continued to maketheir.
They don't do a whole lot ofother stuff, but they like
(22:19):
making their pickles, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
And I mean you know she's, they're well off.
I mean her husband owns thescoreboard and a ton of other
bars.
He called me.
Well, he's in the hooliganswith is with me.
But he didn't call me at one ofour meetings.
He was bragging about how muchhis wife learned and how excited
he was.
Yeah, she was making picklesthe way he wants them?
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Yeah, home food preservation is my jam.
See what I did there?
Oh yeah, you didn't catch it,did you?
Oh yeah, so anyway, that'spretty much all we got going on.
I doubt very seriously that wewill have a podcast next
thursday, because we will be inthe great state of colorado.
We'll probably be stonedbecause I can't do that, but I
(23:01):
might find something I can eatsome ground, some brownies, some
brownies or something I don'tknow, just to.
I don't know.
I have a fear of how that wouldmake me I've seen, seen too
many.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
You know people eat a whole cookie and then they're
like they can't move.
Yeah, they're like Jabba theHutt it ain't like the stuff we
had in high school yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
So I feel like I would be like Jabba the Hutt
Just a blob, have a panic attack.
Yeah, that would be me.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
I will say I am looking forward.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Sunday we go pick.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
On our way to Colorado.
We go to Moscow Mills, missouri, and pick up our 17-year-old
from a four-week wrestling camp.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
They've heard about this camp.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
Well, I'm just I'm excited about picking him up.
I just I never thought I'd misshim as much as I do.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Oh God, I know.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Plus, I need him to cut the grass.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
Did you see that video that they put out?
I saw one where they were goingthrough the.
No, there was a video and allthe kids are lightened up in a
row and all you see is the boysand all of them at the same time
say that grass better be cut.
When I get home You've had fourweeks.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
I can assure you it'll be neat to be cut.
Oh yeah, it's dry right now.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Ten days.
Yeah, I don't know if I toldy'all or not, but my bees have
absconded so we are down to onehive of bees.
That's another kind of updatethat we have going on Commercial
bees.
The commercial bees that we gotfrom the commercial beekeeper
and I didn't realize until afterI got them home that commercial
(24:38):
means that they're trucked allover the country and rented out.
I thought it meant you justproduced a lot of honey and
that's not what that turned outto be.
So my bee mentor told me thatprobably what happened is that
they were just going to leave.
Period Wouldn't anything Icould have done about it,
because I had plenty of room forthem.
(24:59):
I was feeding them, I was doingall of the things and they just
left.
But now my ones that I got froma bee's closet they are rocking
and they're very, very docile.
Like I can be out there feedingthem in shorts and flip flops
and a bathing suit top.
They don't bother me, theydon't get upset.
Um, I talk to them while I'mout there and let them know what
(25:22):
I'm doing and I think thathelps.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
but commercial bees are just a whole lot of pissed
off.
They just are mad they were mad.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
They were mad, mad bees.
That's what, and I'm kind of.
I know you are glad they'regone.
Got stung 12 times in a periodof about two weeks, yeah, but we
may as well have taken $300 andset it on fire Because they
didn't stay three weeks after wegot them here.
About a hundred bucks a week,yeah, that's what it cost me.
So anyway, but that's okay.
So anyway, but that's okay.
I know it's a lesson learnedand unfortunately that's how I
(25:54):
learned.
My lessons is the hard way.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Failure as a professor.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yes, and God knows I've had plenty of professors.
Yes, I have Suffer LightsFestival.
We are still in planning andtickets are available on the
website.
They are $50 during early birdpricing and the family price is
$150, I believe it's either $125or $150.
(26:20):
That's new for this year.
So no matter how many littlekids you have in tow, you can
get in for $150.
And I think that's been ahang-up for some people in the
past, so hopefully we will havea great turnout.
If you want to be a vendor atSelf Reliance Festival, it's a
great place to come and sellyour products, sell your service
(26:40):
, whatever it is that you haveyou network.
It's just a great, greatcommunity to become a part of.
So if you want to be a vendor,you can also fill out that form
on the website and that will putyou in touch with me, the
vendor manager.
Now I am also the volunteercoordinator, so if you'd like to
volunteer at Self RelianceFestival for a free ticket and a
(27:02):
t-shirt, reach out to me andlet me know that I can get you
hooked up with that and if youvolunteer, I mean you're not
going balls to the wall, workingall the time you get a lot of
time to, and it's four hours.
It's eight hours total for theweekend, four hours per day, and
so I can put you at the parking.
I can put you at and you'rejust directing people where to
(27:24):
park.
We can put you in registration,we can put you in, you know
help and set up for the vipdinner.
There's tons of fun things thatyou can do, so just you know,
let me know if that's somethingthat you think you might be
interested in.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
Yeah, I mean a couple years ago.
I was voluntold.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
You're always voluntold, but now I mean, I
feel like I like it more everytime I go.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
I look forward to it more every year, every twice a
year.
I think this one's going to begreat.
The ticket prices what are theyafter the early bird?
75?
.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
I believe.
So yeah, they go up to 75.
Speaker 1 (27:59):
And what were they last spring?
Speaker 2 (28:01):
95.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Yeah, so it's cheaper .
I think John Willis thinks it'sgoing to be the best one ever.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
I hope so.
I hope so.
I think it's shaping up.
To be for sure, we got somegreat speakers.
Jack Spierko from the SurvivalPodcast is going to be back, of
course.
Nicole and John BearIndependent will be there.
Just a lot of greatself-reliance type people,
(28:29):
freedom-oriented people, whojust have a lot of good
information to share.
So if you've ever wanted tomeet those folks or ever wanted
to hear them in person, just tosee if they are what they say
they are, which I promise youthey are.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
That's a great way to do that.
Yeah, we learned atHomesteaders of America that
some people aren't really whatthey say they are.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
I will say I hate to say that because I was so
excited about going toHomesteaders of America, but
there were a couple that I wasreally excited to meet that
really let me down like in whothey are in person.
Of course, there's a lot ofpeople there.
Homesteaders of America haswhat was it?
10,000 people.
When we were there, I think 10was the max, I think they had 10
.
And so I understand there's alot of people there, but you can
(29:20):
still don't have to be a jerkand you still I mean Joel
Salatin's, the godfather, andhe's not a jerk.
No, god, no, he's amazing.
Yeah, I mean yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
But there were some that you realize they're
Hollywood.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Yeah, it's all fluff, it's all.
They're not really.
Some of them are living thelife and some of them started
out living the life, but nowthey have people doing the work
for them and they're videoingand that's pretty much all it
boils down to.
Like today, like here, it'sjust us, it's me and T.
We're doing it.
I mean Monday through Friday,from 7 am to 8 am, whatever time
(29:55):
I get down here to the time Tgets home.
It's just me.
Like it's me by myself, and soyou can do this.
You don't have to have an armyof people employees, which would
be nice, wouldn't that be nice?
We need a rip.
Yeah, I thought you were my rip.
Yeah, poor man's rip.
(30:16):
Mm-hmm, that's what I.
You wouldn't take anybody tothe train station for me.
Speaker 1 (30:20):
No, sir, I'll take them to the Turkey.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Creek.
So anyway, yeah, so that's whatwe're doing and when we get
back we have let's see.
When we get back, we have a cprclass scheduled here on july
the 20th.
That class is 35 and it'staught by one of our local
firemen, richard honeycutt.
(30:42):
It's part of what we're postingon dixon county homesteaders
alliance group.
And on july 27th we have ournext upcoming canning class.
It's also a beginner's canningclass and then on August the
10th we have Chuck Peebles fromHomestead Medical coming.
I am so excited I have wantedto do this training with Chuck.
(31:05):
He always comes to SelfReliance Festival and people
always do the training with himand his class is full and it's
wonderful and I can never do itbecause I'm always working Right
and we have all his meds, Imean we.
We have all the gear.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
I want a medical bag, and then last year we bought
the $300 deal.
That was just that box.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Yeah, it was.
It's a box of goodies.
We got the.
We got the box of goodies.
We don't know what the heck todo with them.
Some of them I know how to do.
I know how to put the band-aidon.
But when Chuck comes in Augusthe said he's doing something
with our class that he has neverdone before.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
I don't know exactly what that is.
My understanding is a lot ofhis classes are what you do when
help is coming, Like when youknow an ambulance is on the way
tourniquets.
This one is what you're doingwhen help isn't coming.
Speaker 2 (31:54):
Right, that's the theme for this one, for sure.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
You're not preserving , you're saving a life trying to
keep someone alive.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Right, it'll be interesting.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
I hope we never use any of it.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
I hope we don't either.
But you know, you just neverknow, like, especially if you're
out on a farm or a homestead,things can happen, like with
tractor implements, or you knowyou're trying to shoot a rooster
in the lower barnyard and youaccidentally shoot your wife or
your foot or your dog orwhatever kind of need to know
how to handle a gunshot wound ora you know a big laceration or
(32:26):
open wound or a sucking chestwound.
I mean there's lots of thingsthat could happen.
And when you're far out, likewe are, I mean we have an
emergency room that's fairlyclose, but some people don't.
And if the world were tocollapse and God forbid, please
don't let that happen but if itwere and you don't have any form
(32:46):
of medical training and badthings happen, you don't know
what to do.
And this also continues on afterjust stabilizing the patient.
It's also how to care for themafterwards, like if you're
setting up a sick facility oryou're setting up an infirmary,
basically, and your compound oryour farm or your homestead or
(33:07):
whatever.
But beyond that, though, hesaid there's something new,
cause he he typically does teachthem what to do if help is not
coming, but he's teachingsomething new with us that he's
never he's.
He's incorporating some newmaterial, so I'm excited about
that.
I don't know.
And we have to be able to puton a tourniquet blindfolded,
(33:28):
which, yeah, I can't.
I have no sense of direction.
If I close my eyes, I run offthe road.
So I can't imagine if I'm goingto be able to put on a
tourniquet blindfolded.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Most people run off the road when you close your
eyes.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
Well, I'm just, I'm like serious, but if I look to
my left my body goes to the.
You know, it's just anyway.
I'm just saying it'll be fun.
I'm really excited about it.
So if you are interested insigning up for Homestead Medical
and want to come to the class,we still have two spots, I think
, available.
We pretty much booked up fast,but I think we still have one or
(34:06):
two spots that we could slidesomebody into if they really
really wanted to come.
So that's what we got going onthere.
And then in September we willhave my home apothecary class.
I'm not sure of the date rightoff the top of my head, but we
(34:28):
will have that in September, andthen that will be the end of
our season.
We have a wedding.
Our son Blake and Erica aregetting married.
That's September the 14th.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
And we're having a shower here on the 3rd.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
Yeah, feel free, they want money.
Yeah, so they did not registeranywhere.
They just want cash.
So I've never heard of thatbefore.
But yeah, honesty is the bestpolicy is the way I look at it.
I mean, they're, they want ahouse, that is all they.
They have stuff.
They've both been throughcollege, they've both lived on
their own for quite some time,so they don't need dishes, they
(35:06):
don't need cookware, they justneed money for a house.
So that's what, what that's.
We're going to get together andput money in a bowl.
I don't think we're going toget a down payment, but you know
, every little bit helps, allright.
Well, with that, I have goneover Self Reliance Festival.
I think I've pretty much hit onall of our topics.
(35:28):
Is there any other topics thatyou that are on your mind?
Anything going on in the world?
That's making you crazy.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Well, I mean the political.
Oh, there's nothing we can doabout that.
I don't want to talk about that.
That's in the political show.
I'd like to tell you all aboutthe first bass.
I caught About three pounds.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
I'm going to give him his minute, y'all.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
First cast.
It was five pounds when Icaught it, but I'm going to be
honest now.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
It was about two and a half to three.
Speaker 1 (35:59):
But just a great way to start the birthday of America
.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Murph, come back to us.
I'm listening.
Sorry, go ahead.
That's all I got.
Oh, sorry, I was looking at thecalendar.
It's all about the bass.
I thought somebody broke inhere and put their wedding date
on our calendar Because I sawKayla wedding and I was like
who's Kayla?
I know I forgot I should.
I know, I know, I don't knowwhat I was thinking.
Oh, congratulations to UncleTommy Ducklow.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Oh yeah, uncle Tommy retired after he Retired after
he's an optometrist, but he hada big retirement party.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Yeah, that was so much fun I did not get to attend
, but Dawn did.
Yeah, that's all right, Irepresented.
Speaker 1 (36:38):
I was in an 11 and a half hour mediation.
So when I got out at 830, Icalled Dawn and she was like
I've already left, yeah, and itended at nine.
It was from five to nine, butcongratulations, uncle Tommy.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Yep, at any rate, happy, happy retirement.
Uncle Tommy Ducklow, we loveyou and you have been a fabulous
eye doctor and thank you forkeeping me where I can see for
the last 22 years.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
Well, I'm shocked he's retiring because Kayla's
their only daughter and they are.
I'm assuming this will be athrow down blow out.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
It's a big Jewish wedding man.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
I know I think we're putting them up in the chair and
busting the glass.
It's going to be fun.
I'm excited.
It's going to be a lot of fun.
I'll be wearing a.
Yamaha, a Yamaha.
Well, when in Rome you do whatthe Romans do and we, you know
(37:37):
it's their thing, so we're gonnado what, what they want us to
do, all right.
Well, with that we're gonnaclose this out and we will be
back with you in two weeks.
And I do have miss joyhennercoff scheduled for our um
essential oils on the homesteadtalk here in a couple of weeks.
She and I just had somescheduling trouble trying to get
that handled, so she will be myfirst official interview.
So thank you so much for tuningin.
(37:57):
I hope that you have enjoyedtoday's podcast and it would be
really great if you wouldsubscribe and leave me a review,
because it helps other peopleto find my podcast and it helps
me to grow.
And so you can find us at theGorm Homestead dot com and on
all the socials at just the GormHomestead.
Whatever you're doing today,y'all, just remember to keep it
real.
Happy 4th, happy 4th, see y'all.
My daddy was a guitar pickerplaying all the local clubs and
(38:38):
my mama was a waitress wherethey parked M18 wheeler trucks.
We didn't have much money.
Times were kind of hard, livingin a trailer on the edge of
grandpa's farm.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Yeah, I may not come from much, but I've got just
enough.
As long as my baby's in my armsand the good Lord knows what's
in my heart, I refuse to beashamed.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
It's just a southern thing.
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