What are you doing to increase your self reliance and self sufficiency?

Jack Spirko's definitions:

• Self Sufficiency – The percentage of your needs met by your own systems
• Self Reliance – The duration in time you can live well without systems of support (or to live well with YOUR systems of support)

Let's face it - the 2024 election is not going to go well. The side that loses is not going to accept the results. There will be civil unrest. Plus WW3 conditions are looming.

Change is coming. People can feel it.

What would you do in another 2020-type situation? What lessons learned can you apply from the last time?

What could you do to be able

Long term/short term -

• Plant trees
• Cultivate gardens
• Tend livestock

More short term:

• Look at your gaps in energy, food, water. What can you improve so that you can live well with your systems of support?
• Fight the mind virus and the fear
• Prepare mentally and spiritually
• Build community
• Learn skills through self study and networking
• Expand your other forms of income

I share what I am doing to become more self reliant and self sufficient.

Episode website: Ep. 142 - How Are You becoming More Self Reliant?

Sponsors:

Grow Nut Trees - Chestnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, elderberry - all adapted to the Midwest. Now taking orders for shipping in Sept/Oct.

Thriving Food Forest Design

Permies digital marketplace is YOUR source for all things permaculture for your homestead, side hustle, and designing your intentional life: from video courses, to blueprints, to books.

Lindsay Brandon, CEO and Permaculture Consultant at Permaculture Canada joins me to share about Armagarden, her new project to integrate community design into the permaculture design.

We discuss Armagarden and how it contrasts with the usual permaculture design.

From the website:

What is Armagarden?

Armagarden was born from the desire to get back to the land and live a lifestyle that is connected to family, place and community. Through strategic design methods considerations are made through the design process towards food/water security, community resource management, and holistic design from a community perspective. With the recent increase in people desiring a homesteading lifestyle many realise that self-reliance is best when combined with the skills of their community. That we are stronger, more resilient, and can accomplish much more when we pool our resources, talents and skills together.

The community resilience is created with elements including food production, on-site (off-grid) energy production, infrastructure for community events, educational courses and sustainable construction and energy efficiency practices for all buildings.

Episode website: Ep. 141 - Armagarden - Regenerative Community Design, with Lindsay Brandon

Sponsors:

Grow Nut Trees - Chestnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, elderberry - all adapted to the Midwest. Now taking orders for shipping in Sept/Oct.

Permies digital marketplace is YOUR source for all things permaculture for your homestead, side hustle, and designing your intentional life: from video courses, to blueprints, to books.

With tough times, more people are looking for homestead property, or to add gardens, fruit and nut trees, and chickens to their existing suburban property to be more self sufficient.

Kerry Brown of Strong Roots Resources joins me to share tips to find your homestead property:

• Look for off-market properties.
• Properties are selling before they show up in Zillow or MLS.
• Contact your network of folks, like realtors to give you a heads up when something is coming available.
• If you are in the Tennessee area, Kerry recommends Marcie and Jeff Yadon. On FB as on fb as Marcie n Jeff Yadon or email: Marcieaeasttnhomes@gmail.com
• Intentional Communities
• Some have a membership model or you can live there seasonally.
• FB Group - Homestead Roommates
• TSP Land Group on Telegram
• Permies SKIP program on Permies.com

What to consider when looking at a property:

• Water source
• Access
• Solar aspect
• Foraging and trees - what is on there now?
• Suburban tips:
• Look at space and think of "what else could that be used for?" (stack functions)
• Avoid HOAs
• Don't discount garage space (like for aquaculture).

Episode website: Ep. 140 - Tips to Find Your Homestead Property - with Kerry Brown

Sponsors:

Permies digital marketplace is YOUR source for all things permaculture for your homestead, side hustle, and designing your intentional life: from video courses, to blueprints, to books.

Grow Nut Trees - Chestnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, elderberry - all adapted to the Midwest. Now taking orders for shipping in Sept/Oct.

Last time, in Ep. 138, Jason Thomas shared stories and we discussed how to design your intentional life.

We talked about the main categories - wealth, health, relationships, and spirituality.

I was contemplating my journey to design my intentional life and I had more to add.

Having an Intentional Life means:

• Aligning your life and actions with your values, as much as possible.
• Being deliberate in your actions and forming good habits.
• Taking positive steps rather than being driven by your circumstances and surroundings.
• Preparing for adversity - both physically and mentally.
• Being more at peace and having a positive view of your future.
• Focusing on your physical and spiritual health.

Write down your values.

Evaluate things to Change:

Make a plan. Start simple.

There are no solutions, only tradeoffs. You won't get to 100% (unless you are very lucky, or you have the right situations). There will be some tradeoffs.

It's not All or Nothing.

Get out of the "I am going to replace my job!" mindset.

Redesign your life by changing your lifestyle and expectations:

Paul Wheaton's (in)famous "Story of Ferd and Gert"

Get out of the "progressive mindset"

Grow your own food.

Find your tribe - Grow community.

Episode website: Ep. 139 - More Tips to Design Your Intentional Life

Sponsors:

Permies digital marketplace is YOUR source for all things permaculture for your homestead, side hustle, and designing your intentional life: from video courses, to blueprints, to books.

Grow Nut Trees - Chestnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, elderberry - all adapted to the Midwest. Now taking orders for shipping in Sept/Oct.

What does your perfect day look like? Does today look like that perfect day?

In this episode, Jason Thomas of Regeneration Nation Costa Rica shares foundational steps to design your intentional life.

Needs most people have:

• Wealth
• Health
• Relationships
• Spirituality

What does your perfect day look like?

We also discuss how to apply permaculture principles to your business or side hustle.

Check out Jason's FREE e-book: 77 Ways to Practice Permaculture Professionally. (some may surprise you)

Episode website: Ep. 138 - Jason Thomas on How to Design Your Intentional Life

Sponsors:

Permaculture Business Design Course from Regeneration Nation Costa Rica - This course will guide you step-by-step toward designing a profession that cultivates your permaculture education into a regenerative livelihood.

Permies digital marketplace is YOUR source for all things permaculture for your homestead, side hustle, and designing your intentional life: from video courses, to blueprints, to books.

Grow Nut Trees - Chestnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, elderberry - all adapted to the Midwest. Now taking orders for shipping in Sept/Oct.

It's been a crazy week. The assassination attempt on Trump.

Now a Global cyberattack (“no, it was just a bad patch!”)

What will you do with this moment?

• Focus on your local Circle of Influence and Circle of Concern
• Plant trees
• Cultivate gardens
• Raise livestock
• Prepare mentally and spiritually
• Grow your local community

Because Gov’t will not save you.

Episode website: Ep. 137 - What Will You Make of This Moment?

Sponsors:

Permies Permaculture Design Course - 70 hours of videos for $50. Watch what topic that you want to learn for your homestead (water, swales, ponds, earthworks) - without taking a week off of work or getting a certificate.

Grow Nut Trees - Chestnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, elderberry - all adapted to the Midwest. Now taking orders for shipping in Sept/Oct.

My friend Kevin Brubaker from Dallas Media Productions, an independent film producer in Dallas, joins me to talk about LLC Tips (and lots of film stuff).

What does a film producer have to do with my usual content of homesteading? It fits into creating side hustles and businesses to Design Your Intentional Life.

We were having a conversation about LLCs and we decided to record it. We also talk a lot about film. How can you make money on film production in the streaming era?

We dove into these topics:

• Should you have an LLC for each project or side hustle?
• Should you wait to become profitable before forming an LLC?
• Do you have to be profitable after 3 years to be considered legit (or bear the wrath of the IRS)?
• Should I spin Grow Nut Trees into its own LLC?

To answer these questions, you have to ask yourself - why have an LLC?

Although you want to use an LLC to offset your expenses, an LLC is mainly to protect you in a hyper-suing culture that we are currently in. If I was sued (for some reason) on trees, I would lose all my businesses, including the podcast.

Tips:

• It is recommended that you have an LLC for each project or side hustle.
• You do not have to be profitable after 3 years if you are showing growth and an "intent to make a profit".
• Make sure that you create an LLC in a state where the application and charge is one-time only. (some states require yearly renewal). I have mine in KS (cost me $166). Kevin has his in TX and cost about $150. You can create the LLC and get an EIN on the state website - you don't need a lawyer or Legal Zoom.
• Find a mentor.

Disclaimer: This is not tax or financials advice. Discuss with your tax or financial planner for your situation.

Episode website: Ep. 134 - Surprising Small Business LLC Tips

Join the mailing list and our Telegram group and you can keep up to date with all of Grant Payne, Homestead Padre, and my homesteading projects. Signup at https://Signup.ThrivingtheFuture.com

If you like this content and the podcast, here is how you can support the podcast and my Thriving empire of side hustles:

• Shoot me a tip on Venmo or CashApp @ThrivingtheFuture.
• ​Go to the Stuff page on Thriving the Future site and buy something.
• OR - click on one of the Amazon links on the Stuff page and then buy your other stuff that you want. Anything you buy on Amazon for 24 hours will give Thriving the Future a credit.

Sponsors:

• Grow Nut Trees: Buy Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings - all adapted to the Midwest. Seeds and trees have “memory”. They thrived and reproduced in a certain climate.

Often when you buy chestnut trees, seeds, or plants online, you have to buy from nurseries in the Northeast or Southeast US, or the Pacific Northwest.

Take it from us, trees and plants grown in those climates do not do well in Kansas.

So buy Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings - all adapted to the Midwest. At GrowNutTrees.com.

Jeremy is better known as DeweyLikeDonuts on Instagram and TikTok.

• We start his story in 2008 and how a SHTF can be your own personal apocalypse. He turned to "raising chickens, growing his own food, and striving for a more sustainable life" (his tagline).
• Prepping to Thrive rather than survive. Not living in fear.
• He shares about is recent adventures with a bee swarm.
• How he grew his Instagram account with a chicken video that went viral.
• And what is the "Internet in a Box"?

Episode website: Ep. 133 - Striving for a More Sustainable Life - with DeweyLikeDonuts

Join the mailing list and our Telegram group and you can keep up to date with all of Grant Payne, Homestead Padre, and my homesteading projects. Signup at https://Signup.ThrivingtheFuture.com

If you like this content and the podcast, here is how you can support the podcast and my Thriving empire of side hustles:

• Shoot me a tip on Venmo or CashApp @ThrivingtheFuture.
• ​Go to the Stuff page on Thriving the Future site and buy something.
• OR - click on one of the Amazon links on the Stuff page and then buy your other stuff that you want. Anything you buy on Amazon for 24 hours will give Thriving the Future a credit.

Sponsors:

• Check out the Solar Food Dehydrator. Watch the movie, get the plans, all for a reasonable cost.
• Grow Nut Trees: Buy Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings - all adapted to the Midwest. Seeds and trees have “memory”. They thrived and reproduced in a certain climate.

Often when you buy chestnut trees, seeds, or plants online, you have to buy from nurseries in the Northeast or Southeast US, or the Pacific Northwest.

Take it from us, trees and plants grown in those climates do not do well in Kansas.

So buy Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings - all adapted to the Midwest. At GrowNutTrees.com.