This is a Just Tom Show while I am on the road from Duluth, MN, to Minneapolis, MN. As I worked on the shores of the great Lake Giche Gume (Lake Superior for everyone not in Minnesota), I had time to reflect on July. We had a great time with family at our house and on the road in Stevens Point, Kimball and northern Wisconsin. It helped that we have a lot of July birthdays; that translates into family celebrations! Family can be hard to love at times, but as my dad said, "Blood is thicker than water." We have been working hard to build up those family relationships.

At the same time, July has been a month of friendship. We are thankful to spend time with our good friends and make some new friends along the way! Friends have invited us over, and we have opened our house to them as well. A great example is this weekend: we are heading north (after I just got home) to our friends' cabin near Hayward, WI. It is going to be a weekend of fun and shenanigans, but that is what it is all about, right? We have to open ourselves up and take the time to connect with others, even those folks in our neighborhood.

For more on this podcast (and the show notes), head over to this article on Small Scale Life!

Check out the blog at smallscalelife.com for the following recipes:

• A super quick/super good cheesy au gratin potatoes recipe,
• How to cook a turkey and
• How to cook a ham

Thanksgiving should be a lot of fun and bring people together, so we are helping you get ready and get the dinner on the table. It doesn't have to be overwhelming; we are here to help!

As you finish up your prep and cooking, I also give a little advice on how to facilitate your family, friends and other guests who arrive at your house. It's life lessons we have learned from experience. I have been there, done that and gotten the t-shirt with some of this!

For more tips and photos, check out the post titled "Happy Thanksgiving from Small Scale Life" using the link!

Happy Thanksgiving, all! Bon appetit!

For show notes, pictures and more information, head on over to the article titled Minnesota Traditions - Labor Day 2018 on Small Scale Life!

Special Note:
I have to apologize to all the listeners out there: I did not intend to publish this podcast and post without any content! Yikes! As an aside, it is interesting that some folks shared this without any content….hmmm….Anyway, thank you for your patience!

My questions to you are:

• Do you have some friends that have your back?
• Have you spent some time building community around you?

Unfortunately in modern Western Civilization, the answer is probably no.  I have to admit: I need to work on this as well.  We are going to make some changes to Small Scale Life to help you build community around you, where ever you are. 

For more on that, please head over to Small Scale Life to read the post that has more thoughts, information and links.

Please go to Small Scale Life for links, more information and the text of the podcast,

I am doing this episode by request from Daniel from Ohio.  He is a Marine with time in Afghanistan under his belt. Thank you for your service, Daniel.  He asked me to read this story for Midweek Motivation, and after reading the article, I wanted to move forward with it.  In this day and age, we see a lot of people who are elevated to “hero status” for strange reasons and to fulfill agendas and narratives.  What does real sacrifice look like?  Two Marines who gave all in defense of their Band of Brothers in Iraq in 2008 show us what real sacrifice is, even in this modern era.  While you might not make the ultimate sacrifice for others, what can you do to help your family, neighbors and community around you?

Story Time

Daniel sent me a link to a story written by Geoffrey Ingersoll from the Business Insider in 2013.  The title for this piece is “Everybody should read General John Kelly’s Speech about Two Marines in the Path of a Truck Bomb.”

As a dad to a combat veteran, this story hits home.  My son could have been one of these young men when he was deployed to Afghanistan.  I am going to read selected portions of this story for you, and I will provide a link to the original story in the show notes.  The link to the original story is here:

http://www.businessinsider.com/john-kellys-speech-about-marines-in-ramadi-2013-6

Midweek Motivation Lesson: Sacrifice for Others

Many of us will never find ourselves in a similar situation as Corporal Jonathon Yale and Lance Corporal Jordan Haerter.  These men gave the ultimate sacrifice for men they knew, and some they did not know.

How can you apply this story to your own life?

We live in a fast-paced and isolated world.  We are connected by apps and screens, but we really don’t know each other.

It is time to stop connecting on screens and start connecting in real life.  Reach out, meet face-to-face and develop those relationships.  Help your friends and neighbors with a project, or invite them over to your house for dinner.  Lend them some support and give them encouragement.  Sometimes some folks just need a smile and some time to talk.

While you might not make the ultimate sacrifice to stop a truck bomb for your family, neighbors and friends, you might be able to help them when times are tough, or even when they aren’t (to quote Jack Spirko).

Special Thanks from Tommy Cakes

I would like to thank Greg Burns from Natures Image Farm and Doneil Freeman from Freeman Family Farms for the INSPIRATION to do this Midweek Motivation Podcast.  You two ARE the wind beneath my wings!

Also I would like to thank Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) for the "Kool Kats" theme music. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.

Badda boom, badda bing!  Dat's how we do it!

Who is Tommy Cakes?

Live on the Small Scale Life Podcast, it is Midweek Motivation featuring Tommy Cakes.

Hey, how are you?  I am Tommy Cakes.  Who am I?  I'm a guy from someplace, friends with some people and doing some things.  Don't worry about it!

What I can tell you is that I am in the import and export business.

• I import knowledge
• I export that information at premium prices!

I will give you a little coastal cosmopolitan insight and motivation weekly on Small Scale Life

Introduction – The Greatest Showman

In case you haven’t noticed, Midweek Motivation is a little different than your typical Small Scale Life post.  We get into some social and cultural commentary while I try to motivate you with some of that knowledge.

In this show, we are going to focus on a movie that everyone is talking about.  The movie is good entertainment with some life lessons buried inside it.

As you know, movies have depicted some interesting and uplifting characters that have done some truly remarkable things beyond wearing fancy clothes and impressive hats!

Story Time

The hero of this story started from humble beginnings as the son of a son of innkeeper, tailor and store-keeper.  Our hero was excellent at math but didn’t like physical work!

From his first job as a shopkeeper, he moved up and eventually purchased a museum.  He added new attractions and transformed it to include:

• A lighthouse lamp that shown light down Broadway
• A strolling garden on the roof with a view of the city
• Giant animal paintings from the windows and
• Hot-air balloon rides that launched from the showplace daily.

Over time and by adding exotic acts to his show, our hero met with the Queen of England, Czar of Russia and royalty across Europe. In just a few years, he owned several museums and had a draw of 400,000 people a year!

Our hero lost his wealth in some bad business and real estate deals, and he spent four long years in litigation and public humiliation. His friends stood by his side and supported him, and eventually he gained momentum and created the US’ first aquarium and met with the President of the United States.

Even after his museums burned down, our hero once again connected with friends and started a circus in Delevan, Wisconsin.  He had the first circus to move from town to town and across the country by train (and the first circus to own a train).  It was billed as the Greatest Show on Earth!

After leaving the circus, our hero wrote books and became a politician, serving as a State Representative for four terms and later served the mayor of his town.

Midweek Motivation Lesson: Friends, Creativity and Drive

So what is the point of all this?

Life is hard, and it knocks you down.  Things happen that don’t seem fair, and the odds can be stacked against you. We can learn from Phineas Taylor Barnum, the hero of our story and a distant relative of Julie Taylor Domres.

When times were tough, PT Barnum's friends supported and helped him.  Even when the chips were down, PT Barnum used his creativity and relentless drive to push himself to new limits and new successes.

What’s holding you back? 

Get started making good friends and using your creativity and drive today.  We are waiting to help you, friend.  Reach out and take my hand.

That’s all I got this week.  This is Tommy Cakes, and I’ll see you next week!  Bada boom, bada bing!

"The Greatest Showman"

Recently Hollywood released a movie about PT Barnum called “The Greatest Showman.”  While there are a lot of things that are Hollywood fiction and narratives, it is an uplifting movie.  Tommy Cakes gives it two thumbs up, so go see it. After all, it takes an Upcoming Showman to know the Greatest Showman!

For a taste of the energy of this movie, watch this pre-production video from "The Greatest Showman."  Throughout the movie and this clip, I kept waiting for Hugh Jackman's Wolverine moment, but we got something completely different and inspiring!

I have to give my wife Julie credit, it was a good movie and had great energy (even though it did not match historical accounts).  By the way, my wife Julie IS a distant relative of PT Barnum (that is true), so you can see why she puts up with an amateur showman like yours truly.

Special Thanks from Tommy Cakes

I would like to thank Greg Burns from Natures Image Farm and Doneil Freeman from Freeman Family Farms for the INSPIRATION to do this Midweek Motivation Podcast.  You two ARE the wind beneath my wings!

Also I would like to thank Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) for the "Kool Kats" theme music. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.

Badda boom, badda bing!  Dat's how we do it!

As a programming note, this is the first episode of the BellCast: a monthly podcast on Small Scale Life focused on the ups and downs of urban farming on Michael’s Half Acre Farm.  Michael has been farming at this location since purchasing the land in 2016, and he sells produce locally to friends, colleagues and others.

Topics

In this podcast, Michael Bell and I discussed the following:

Minneapolis Miracle and Football Games

New Orleans Saints vs. Minnesota Vikings
Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
Patriots Super Bowl and Dynasties

Introductions

Who is Michael Bell?
Half Acre Farm - Humble Beginnings
2000 square feet to 15,000 square
30 inch wide garden beds that are 25 feet long

Urban Farming 

Winter Conditions: Wind Storm and Cold Weather this Year
Crops:  Damage and Destruction
Low Tunnels: Success or Failure?
Long Term Weather Outlook in Texas
Bouncing Back: Planting New Crops
Salinova
Zucchini
5 Tomato Varieties
50 Large Cherry
25 Super Sweet 100's
10 Glacier (will blossom in 38 degree F temps)
Marigolds
25 Black Cherry Tomatoes - they get big!
Aggressive pruning and blight control - how to control blight
Selecting crops based on vegetable and profit potential
Customer Service and Sales
Breaking Bad News
Getting New Customers - Developing the "Waiting List"
Grocery Store Clients
Instagram connecting People and Customers
Eating Real Food - Michael's Salad Mix creates a Unique Taste which Sells Itself

Regenerative Agriculture

Rebuilding Soil using Regenerative Agriculture Techniques - Gabe Brown
Rancher and Soil Expert from North Dakota
Regenerated Soil in 3 or 4 Years on His Ranch
Five Laws to Regenerate Soil
Urban Farm
Backyard Gardens
Micheal's West Texas Project
Tom's Central Wisconsin Project

Philosophy and Continuous Learning

Time waits for no one
Getting things figured out; having a successful life
Why Michael and I REALLY do chores

Farm Expansion and Logistics

Greenhouse Purchased!  How to transport?
Future Greenhouses of Half Acre Farm
Keeping the Greenhouses Warm
Putting It All Together

Key topics discussed and next steps
 

One cool thing that happened during this interview was that Scott announced starting a weekly Vlog on his YouTube Channel. 

Scott Hebert and I discussed the following topics in this interview:

• Who is Scott Hebert?
• - Flavourful Farms and Farming
• - Starting the Farm
• - Mindset
• - Cost of Entry for Farming
• - Case for Being Debt Free
• - Pricing and Customers
• - Plan for 2018
• - Physical Requirements for Farming
• - Bees and Chickens
• - What would Scott do differently?
• Stoic Mettle, Stoicism and Tribalism
• - Why stoicism?  How does this relate to farming?
• - Starting and revising the Stoic Mettle Podcast
• - Stoicism, Tribe, and Friend Gap
• - Future of Stoic Mettle
• Growing and Maintaining a Beard
• Key Take-Aways from the Interview

Reading this poem brought so many memories back from when I was young. This time of year was always a lot of fun for us: we would go sledding, make snow forts, have snowball fights, cross country ski and spend all day out in the snow. We would come home wet and cold, and warm up in the living room near the wood burning stove while drinking hot chocolate. Our wet boots, hats, gloves, and snow suits hanging in the basement laundry room (or wadded up in a ball near the laundry room - our boys come by it naturally).

Nothing says the holidays more than some of the classic songs from bygone eras. I have added three of my favorite songs to the end of the podcast. These songs are "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Frank Sinatra and "The Christmas Song" by Nat King Cole. In this age of techno-modified singers, it is excellent to listen to these songs from the Golden Age of our country: when times and living were a little more simple.

In this day and age when we are so caught up with shopping, presents, dinners, parties and technology like our phones and social media, it is important to take a little time to stop and enjoy the people around us and the moments we share with them. That is my hope for you this season.

Show Topics

During this episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I discuss the following topics and play the following songs:

• list text hereIntroduction
• list text hereHistory
• list text hereTwas the Night before Christmas Poem
• list text hereA Visit from St. Nicholas Wikipedia
• list text hereTwas the Night before Christmas – UK Carols Blog
• list text hereReading the Poem
• list text hereClosing Remarks
• list text hereTraditional Holiday Songs:
• list text here"White Christmas" by Bing Crosby
• list text here"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Frank Sinatra
• list text here"The Christmas Song" by Nat King Cole
• list text hereClosing Song

Putting It All Together

From my family to you, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Always continue to strive to live simply: grow, explore and be healthy! May your 2018 surpass your expectations!

Just to be completely honest with you, I am late with this post. I originally wanted to post it earlier this week. Given the mix of emotions this year, I found that this was a particularly difficult post for me to write. I struggled with how to frame and write it as I have been working on it all week. I want to thank my sister-in-law Kelly Domres for helping me "get over the hump" on this post. As she said eloquently, "Do not dwell on the negative; you have a lot to be thankful for this year." She is absolutely correct. This post is dedicated to my sister-in-law, Kelly.

1. Decorating the Christmas Tree

We moved from our house in St. Louis Park in July, and most of our stuff is still in a storage locker. This is by design because we moved into a furnished house, and we were planning to move our gear when we finally purchased our house. The drawback to this strategy, however, is that all of our holiday decorations (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter) is buried deep in the storage locker somewhere.

Fortunately for us, Julie's parents had an artificial tree, lights and ornaments stored in the basement of this house. Christmas was Julie's mom Barb's favorite holiday, and she always tried to make it special for the family. Using her tree, lights and decorations is comforting and special for all of us. Julie and I set up the tree and the lights, and then we all took turns adding ornaments to the tree. There are some special ornaments from the past, some that are funny and some from relatives long since passed. Inspired, I even decorated the outside of the house with lights and ornaments.

Barb might not be with us in body this year, but her spirit and her memory lives on for all of us. Her decorations, lights and trees remind us of what a great and generous woman she was.

2. Favorite Christmas and Holiday Movies

https://youtu.be/4fyS5CLBgyM

I have really made a conscious effort to NOT watch much television and movies in 2017. Sure, I watched Taboo (and even did some podcasts about the show Taboo earlier this year), Game of Thrones and The Punisher, but overall, I have done a pretty good job limiting my time in front of a television or movie screen.

This time of year, however, I make an exception. With Ryan home from college, we gathered together as a family to watch some classic Christmas and Holiday movies. There have been some great ones over the years, and the following movies are our family favorites:

• Planes, Trains and Automobiles (I seriously know almost every line of this movie)
• Christmas Vacation
• Elf
• A Christmas Story

We have watched two of the four movies so far this season, and we will have to find the time to watch the last two. It is easy to forget how funny these movies actually are, so if you need a break and want a good belly laugh this time of year, check out these classics. You won't even shoot your eye out, kid!
https://youtu.be/9jyCfRHumHU

3. Wooddale Church Christmas Program

For the past few years, we have gone to Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. This year, Julie, Danny, Ryan, David and Jenny (brother and sister-in-law) went to Wooddale's Christmas Program. The church is massive, and they had a full orchestra, choir, organ and even interpretive dancers. The program consisted of the following songs:

• Overture "Canticle of Glorias"
• Gloria in Excelsis Deo
• O Come, All Ye Faithful
• White Christmas
• How Great Our Joy
• Pat a Pan
• Noe! Noe!
• Fum, Fum, Fum
• The First Noel
• Angels We Have Heard on High
• The Christmas Story
• Ecolgue for Piano and Strings Opus 10
• No Eye Had Seen/All is Well
• Amazing Grace

It was very profession and extremely inspirational. Some of the songs had a Celtic feel to them, and the grand finale included a Scottish man playing bagpipes in traditional dress. It was amazing to hear, especially since it was my dad's and Barb's favorite hymn.

If you have a chance to go to a church program, you should. It is a chance to decompress, tune out the commercialism of the season, sing carols and hymns, and share in the Christmas message with family and friends.
https://youtu.be/euWfTiYwRB0

4. Decorating Christmas Cookies

When Julie and I were in high school, we would decorate sugar cookies with Julie's family, her cousin, her aunt and her uncle every year. It was a lot of fun (and it tasted good too)!

This year, we gathered once again to decorate Christmas cookies. It was a team effort: we made dinner, Julie's dad and fiance Sue made the sugar cookies, and Julie made the frosting. We had a great dinner, and then we got down to business decorating the cookies. It was a lot of fun, and we had a bunch of laughs as some of our "artists" got creative with gingerbread men and Santa cookies. In fact, you can see one of those cookies in the picture above (just don't point it out to your kids).

I am sure eating tons of cookies covered in the world's best frosting didn't help my healthy lifestyle goals, but it was worth it! We'll have to do it again next year!

5. Christmas Eve Meal

My ancestors on my mother;s side came from Poland and Czechoslovakia. This year, I did a little research about Polish Christmas traditions. In Polish households, Christmas Eve is an extremely important day. The Polish people celebrate Christmas by preparing a big meal called "Wigilia." This traditional meal is a big deal. According to the Polish Women's Alliance of America, the wigilia consists "of twelve meatless dishes, and includes many kinds of fish, beet or mushroom soup, various dishes made from cabbage, mushrooms, or potatoes, pierogi, followed by dried fruit compote and pastries for dessert." The meal does not start until the first star is seen in the sky.

Like Polish homes, we traditionally have a big meal on Christmas Eve. Unlike the Polish dinner, we eat meat (and lots of it). We have adopted something my side of the family started doing years ago: fondue. We will cook shrimp, beef, and vegetables in boiling oil or broth (we have tried both). We will make a cheese fondue and dip bread into it (big hit around Green Bay Packer fans), and we will have a dessert fondue with chocolate, marsh mellows, strawberries and pound cake.

The beauty of the Christmas Eve fondue is the social aspect of the meal. It takes time to cook the food, and it is a lot of fun to talk with everyone, joke around a bit, and yes, steal someone else's meat or shrimp (accidentally, of course)! It takes some time to prep: cutting the meat, breads, pound cake and vegetables; preparing the various fondue pots; and gathering the various dipping sauces for the cooked food.

A few words of caution before you do fondue:

1. list text hereThe oil, cheese and chocolate are VERY hot. Be careful around the fondue pots!
2. list text hereThings splatter and spill, so use a disposable table cloth.
3. list text hereBe careful using the fondue forks. Someone usually ends up spearing their finger by accident.
4. list text hereThere usually is a lot of clean-up after the meal, so be prepared for that!

This year, we are planning on a smaller meal on Christmas Eve, but we will eat very well. We will celebrate Christmas Eve dinner with Julie, Danny, Ryan and me, and we are eating steak, shrimp, twice baked potatoes and salad. It will be a great dinner!

How about you?

What are your Christmas Traditions? What do you do with your friends and family? I would love to know, and maybe we will incorporate some of your traditions into our Christmas and Holiday Celebrations. Feel free to share your Christmas Traditions as a comment on this blog post.
This is a busy time of year. Before we let the moment get away from us, I would like to thank you for following Small Scale Life. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you and your support. Please be safe this holiday season. Enjoy each moment, and be kind to someone.
In case we haven't said it yet, Julie, Danny, Ryan and I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!