This podcast will be connected to a much more in-depth guide on Small Scale Life titled "How to Cook a Turkey for Thanksgiving." In that guide, I walk you through thawing a frozen turkey to brining the turkey (with three different brine recipes), spatchcocking the turkey, quartering the turkey, and cooking the turkey.

Check out the article on Small SCale Life, and let me know what you think at realsmallscalelife@gmail.com. If you have any tips or recipes, let me know!

Special Guest: Adam Rick.

This is Part 2 of an earlier conversation about the Modern Day Back to the Land Movement that has been happening in the United States as society seems to be unwinding due to the global pandemic, increasing crime in urban area and unwraveling social structures in the United States. These issues coupled with shortages (fuel, food and other goods and services) and incredible inflation are pushing people Back to the Land and to start developing skills like growing food, preserving the harvest and having animals and livestock.

For Part 1 of this conversation, you have to go back to Small Scale Life Podcast Episode 204 titled "Modern Day Back to the Land Movement" which you can listen to by clicking this link.

Join the Back to the Land Movement in the country, the suburbs or the urban space. How you start this journey is up to you, and you can start right where you are. How can you do this?

• Grow some vegetables in your space
• Preserve foraged, grown or purchased vegetables or fruits
• Build community of like-minded souls

As Jay and I discuss, you don't need 3, 5, 10 or 100 acres. You can start right where you are!

1. Removing Fence from the Blue and White Pens
2. Cutting Box Elder Trees
3. Building Wicking Beds out of 55 Gallon Food Grade Barrels
4. Working on Operation WW
5. Prepping to Plant Potatoes

My Farm Journal posts, videos and podcast episodes document our progress and our observations of life at our little Driftless Oaks Farm.

For more links and show notes, please head over to smallscalelife.com!

Amy Dingmann is from A Farmish Kind of Life where she talks about her life on a little 5-acre farm in Central Minnesota. Amy is a writer, podcaster, blogger, YouTuber, and also has a snail mail paper newsletter (called The Farmish Papers).

During this episode, we discuss what is happening on our farms, all things chicken the chicken chat), gardening and her platform and plans at A Farmish Kind of Life. You can find more links and information at smallscalelife.com.

Chicken stock photo by freeimages.com/cholin. Free Image used according to use agrement.

April has come and gone, and we had a lot going on gearing up for constructing our Eagles Ridge Barndominium. The machine is MOSTLY in place, and the weather had cooperated; however, we hit a delay. We are in a holding pattering until some things get sorted out, and that gives us time to do other things.

One of those other things was the stairs from the middle of Eagles Ridge to the Apple River. The Ridge is about 60 feet above the river, and we have been working on a stair project from about half way up the ridge to the river. Things were going well last Fall, but we ran into some serious issues in the past two weeks.

We decided to make some drastic changes with the stairs, and I walk you through the project and the 5 Lessons Learned from Our Stair Project. For photos, links, videos and other information, check out the article titled "In a Hole? Stop Digging! 5 Lesson Learned from Our Stair Project" on smallscalelife.com!

In case you don’t know who Drew Demler and Michael Bell are, here is a quick introduction:

• Drew Demler is the Director of Horticulture at Big Tex Urban Farms at the State Fair of Texas. While Big Tex is a big hydroponic operation, Drew also grows vegetables at his house along his driveway.
• Michael Bell is the owner and operator of Dallas Half Acre Farms. When not planting thousands of salad greens plugs at 5:00 in the morning, he enjoys scooping rabbit poop in his backyard.

Both gentlemen give some great Gardening Tips and Advice that we can all use to improve our gardens and quality of our plants.

To find out more, check out the post titled "Gardening Tips and Advice with Demler and Bell" on Small Scale Life by clicking on this text for a direct link.

The last time we had Michael on the show, I talked with Michael about the Soup Gardening Concept that I used to plan my garden in 2019. My goal, at the time, was to grow vegetables and herbs needed that would make a hearty vegetable soup. Michael Bell and I came up with the concept, and it was a lot of fun growing those vegetables!

My how times changed since the Spring of 2019!

Since that episode, Michael Bell changed jobs, sold his old house, moved to a new house, sold his old half acre farm and found new farming properties. These new farming properties have provided new challenges and opportunities, and there are some clear take-aways from this conversation if you are starting your own garden or urban farm.

Remember: it always comes back to the three basic elements to grow plants: light, nutrients and water. If you have the right balance of these three elements, you can grow plants anywhere! If you are out of balance, then you have to adapt, adjust and overcome to get back into balance.

Get ready! It’s time for another exciting gardening podcast from Small Scale Life!

*[For the show notes and links to articles and podcast episode, see the article titled "Starting an Urban Farm with Michael Bell" on smallscalelife.com. Click this text for a direct link to that article.
*](https://www.smallscalelife.com/building-an-urban-farm-from-scratch-with-michael-bell)

History of Victory Gardens

Looking at history, one thing is clear: when times get tough, people get gardening! During World War I and World War II, people in America and around the world started victory gardens in their yards and in their communities to provide food for their families, neighbors and armed forces.

A new foe is here, and people are once again faced with rationing and shortages “on the home front.” What is the response from Americans and people around the world?

Return to the Land! Return to the Garden!

Many of you are starting your garden for the first time. There are a lot of things to think about before you start growing plants. While it does not have to be complicated, there are proven methods and techniques we can use to successfully grow food. This is particularly true if you are trying to grow food in small spaces: on your balconies, on your patio, or even on your driveway in your apartment, condominium, townhome, rental home or own property.

You CAN grow food; we are here to help you start!

Show Notes and Links

For more information, show notes and links, please go to the article titled "Modern Victory Gardens for 2020" on smallscalelife.com!

While you are there, make sure to subscribe to the Small Scale Life Newsletter Email and received your FREE Seed Starting Guide. I walk you through my tried-and-true process for growing plants (vegetables and herbs) from seed. This Seed Starting Guide also gives you "must have" and "nice to have" shopping lists of materials needed to grow plants from seed. As a bonus, you also get the Ideas and Inspiration Guide that shows you examples of seed starting set-ups from members of the Small Scale Life Facebook Group. Click on this link and get your FREE Seed Starting Guide today!

As we watch the country’s systems (financial systems, banking, supply chains, health care system, education and entire industries) grind to a halt with this global pandemic, it begs the question: how fragile is our system?

The answer seems to be: very!

Although I don’t act like it at times, I am an engineer. I look at problems and issues and look for solutions. Our country’s systems are impossibly complicated. It is almost too big for one person or a small group of people to impact one way or another.

While we cannot take on and change these massive systems, we can take on and change how we live our lives.

For those of you who have been following Small Scale Life for a few years have seen this platform change and shift. We have gone down some rabbit holes, and at times it might have seemed that we were flailing and blowing in the wind. I have to admit, I have felt the same way!

Two recent events have changed the way I look at Small Scale Life:

1. A visit by my friend Greg Burns and Contrary Farmstead Podcast about this platform and our story
2. The global pandemic and complete train wreck of our systems
   

I have been doing a lot of thinking and brainstorming. The result is this podcast episode. I was driving home and recorded this as I was driving in St. Croix County, Wisconsin. It was raining, and you will come along with me on this platform-defining journey where I answer the question:

What is Resilience?

Even though the homestead appears to have a lot of space, the property is on the side of a mountain and slopes away from the house. Mr. Tactical is looking at different approaches to growing food on his 2 acre homestead. Some of these method include growing mushrooms, microgreens and a ton of food in his 3 wicking beds.

It's all about wellness and sustainability, and Mr. Tactical Jay is looking to improve his skills while using everything his property has to offer: from berries to gardens to mushrooms. My hope is to inspire you to look at your location to find ways to use your resources effectively and grow food.

This was part of a 2 hour interview, and I am breaking it down into bite-sized chunks. We discuss a lot of different topics, books and blogs, so check out the show notes for this podcast on the article titled "Growing Mushrooms and Gardening in Virginia" on smallscalegardening.com!

Who is with me?

This long slog from January to April in the northland really gives a gardener cabin-fever, but it is these quiet, cold nights where we come up with new ideas and our garden plans for the new season. It is also almost time to start growing those seedlings!

If you are new to gardening, you might feel overwhelmed. Maybe you want to grow everything in that shiny seed catalog! Maybe you just don’t know where to start.

For veteran gardeners, you are probably so used to growing the same stuff that you don’t think about it too much. You might be curious how other gardeners “DO IT,” and by that I mean creating a 2020 Garden Plan. You can get your mind out of the rain gutter now!

In this podcast episode and post, and I am going to talk about the following:

• Looking Back at 2019
• My 2020 Garden Plan Step 1: My Ultimate Garden List
• Step 2: Reality Check: Reducing the List
• What is Whole30?
• Step 3: Finalizing My 2020 Garden Plan (List of Vegetables and Herbs)
• Next Steps

For show notes, pictures and links, head over to Small Scale Gardening site for more information!

Why is Small Scale Gardening important?

You might be new to gardening, a grizzled veteran of many summers or new to this Small Scale Gardening platform, and you might be asking that very question. After all, what can you really do with a small garden? Can you grow anything in a small garden? What is the point? After all, bigger is ALWAYS better!

Au contraire, my friends!

In this post and episode, I am defining Small Scale Gardening, and I discuss why it could be a game-changer for new gardeners; veteran gardeners; older or physically challenged gardeners; and renters. This post and podcast episode will serve as a framework for future gardening projects, articles, podcast episodes and videos.

Let’s begin!

For more on this topic and to see the show notes, please go to the corresponding article on Small Scale Life titled "Why Small Scale Gardening?"

I have to say: what a year it was!

In this post and podcast, I am going to talk about three major topics of Small Scale Life in 2019: Health and Fitness Renew You, Financial Freedom and Gardening. I will also share 2019 Year in Review: Top 10 Podcast Episodes and Top 10 Blog Posts of 2019. I will finish this post by talking about what is on tap for 2020.

For more links to the podcast episodes and articles on Small Scale Life, check out the show notes on Small Scale Life by clicking this text!

You can find out more at smallscalelife.com including show notes, pictures, infographics and my previous post titled "Frost is Coming: How to Extend My Garden Season" that is effectively Part 1 of this episode!

I know what you hardened and veteran gardeners are saying: “Don’t stop now; keep growing!”

I know exactly how you feel!  I am feeling that way too!

The problem comes into how I set up the garden this year with vine crops on trellis systems.  Is the juice worth the squeeze for keeping these plants going?

Frost is coming, folks! You can’t stop it; you can just prepare.  I know others are wondering how to extend my garden season, so let’s dig into how we can do just that.

For about methods to extend your gardening season, check out the post on smallscalelife.com!

This week I have been fielding some questions in various Facebook Groups about Starting Seeds Indoors, and some folks are having some trouble with leggy seedlings and wondering how to fix the problem. In this post, video and podcast, I will discuss how I set up grow lights for indoor plants and starting seeds indoors. The stand that supports my grow lights is simple, very stable and costs under $15.
What are Leggy Seedlings?

The picture above was from a failed experiment that I conducted in 2016. I germinated this group of tomato seedlings by putting a black tray on top of the tray with the soil, and after four days added light. While I had good initial germination, you can see how "leggy" these seedlings were on Day 4.
Is is a problem because long, spindly ("leggy") seedlings are more fragile than their stocky counterparts. The do not hold up in windy conditions, and if you let them grow too tall, they will flop over under the weight of their own leaves.

Leggy seedlings are created by a lack of light. The plants accelerate growth in order to reach the light, any light, in their growing area. This can occur when a gardener plants seedlings and sets the container near a window or if the container is too crowded, and the seedlings are competing for light.
This is a common problem for gardeners who are trying to start seeds indoors. You can correct this problem by adding an oscillating fan (tricking the plant by simulating wind) or adding grow lights for indoors plants.

Grow Lights for Indoor Plants

I recommend gardeners use grow lights for indoor plants unless you have a greenhouse that gets fantastic sun for 14-16 hours a day (which is one of my goals)!

As I mentioned in other articles, I use inexpensive grow lights from Menards. In Menards-speak, they call these T12's "aquarium lights," but technically they are Sylvania 40-watt T12 Gro-Lux Fluorescent Light Bulbs, and you can find them in the Electrical Department.

The lights cost around $10 per bulb, and I put them in inexpensive shop lights (the lowest cost ones I can find). All in all, two bulbs and one shop light will cost you around $30, and that will be more than enough for two plug trays (or 188 plants if you use the plug trays I am using this year).

Grow Light Stand

In the past I used the brackets of the shelving units to hang the grow lights for indoor plants. Moving to the wider workbench eliminated that possibility. While I have used PVC pipes and fittings to build grow light stands in the past, I found that unless you cemented them together, they fell apart. It is not ideal when your grow lights crash down on your tender seedlings!

I decided to use lessons learned from gardening in St. Louis Park when I hung the grow lights from the shelves. I fabricated brackets that plugged into the pre-drilled holes in the shelving units, and then used PVC pipes with eye hooks to hang the lights over the seedlings with chains. That simple system allowed me to adjust the height of the lights as the plants grew taller.

I knew I had some wood in the garage, so I went foraging. I found the 1" PVC pipes with the eye hook holes from St. Louis Park (yay for not throwing these away)! That was a win. I also found a 4' long 2x4 and a 2' long 1x3. I decided to make the base out of these boards.

Using these pieces of wood, I made the following parts using a skill saw and my trusty drill:

• 2 - 12" base boards made out of 1x3's
• 2 - 18" vertical boards made out of 2x4's
• 2 - 14" horizontal boards made out of 2x4's

Using screws I had on had, I put the two "sideways goalposts" together. I added a "L" bracket to the 12" base to give the stand more stability. As you can see in the video, the grow light stand is very stable.
I added the two PVC pipes to the stand by using metal strapping typically used in plumbing projects. I cut 4 6" pieces and screwed them to the top of the stand. Sliding the PVC pipes in, the whole stand got that much more stable.

The beauty of this system is that it is easy to construct, is inexpensive and can easily be moved if we have a project that requires using the workbench.

Putting It All Together - Grow Lights for Indoor Plants

The final stand - March 2018Gardeners get excited to start planting seeds in the Spring, especially after a long winter. Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves and plant the seeds before we are ready. This can result in seeds popping through the soil and growing before we have adequate light for them. The result are leggy seedlings that could collapse under their own weight!

To avoid leggy seedlings, you must do the following:

1. Add an oscillating fan to simulate wind and trigger the plants to thinken their stems
2. Add grow lights for indoor plants to provide direct, long and low light to your tender seedlings.

I have successfully used inexpensive Sylvania 40-watt T12 Gro-Lux Fluorescent Light Bulbs from Menards and have had excellent results. I will have to try LED Grow Lights some day when I have some extra dollars in the budget, but this is working for me now.

To support the grow lights and shop light housing I constructed a simple stand consisting of PVC pipes, scrap wood, straps, some screws, eye hooks and two L brackets. The grow light stand is stable, inexpensive and mobile.

If you are looking for a solution for your leggy seedlings, forage in your garage and head on over to a nearby big box store.

You can get very creative and provide ample light for indoors plants! If you want to see a video of this stand and the seedlings, go to the smallscalelife.com for pictures or see the video at the Small Scale Life YouTube Channel for more information.

Let me know what you design and build. I am really curious what designs you develop for your plants!

Thank You
That’s about all for this post and podcast. I hope you found that reviewing top seed sources was useful and helpful. If you have comments or questions, please leave them as a comment to this post on Small Scale Life, use the Contact Us page, or send me an e-mail at realsmallscalelife at gmail dot com.
Thank you again for listening to the Small Scale Life Podcast and visiting smallscalelife.com. We appreciate you and your time. Our wish for you is that you remove some of that stress in your life and live simply this week. This is Tom from Small Scale Life, and we’ll see you next time! Take care, everyone!

Have you planted seeds yet?  I did on St. Patrick’s Day, and I have some great news to share with you about that!

Introduction – How to Start Seeds Indoors for Spring Gardens

If you have been following along over the past few weeks, we have been going through the general process for preparing for the 2018 Gardening Season.  We have done the following steps so far:

• Developed a garden plan – Developed a list of plants we want to grow)
• Ordered your seeds – Selected a reputable seed vendor and purchased seeds for our garden.

While there are many seed vendors out there, I focused on four big vendors that members of the Small Scale Life Facebook Group and MN-WI Regenerative Agriculture Group use most often.
Finally!  It is the moment of truth!  It is time to stop thinking and start doing!  I grabbed my seeds and some soil and got ready to get down to business….

Not so fast!

Before I could start planting seeds, I had to some additional planning and prep work.

Setting up the Indoor Growing Area

Part of my planning and preparation work was to select an area in the house to grow seedlings.  In our previous house in St. Louis Park, I grew seedlings on two shelves in a cold and dark basement.  I discussed how I started seeds and some lessons learned after have some failures over the past few years in the following articles (on smallscalelife.com):

• How to Garden Indoores
• 8 Steps to Starting Plants Indoors
• Lessons Learned from Growing Indoors
• Four Lessons Learned from Starting Seeds

For the 2018 Gardening Season, I had to find a new space to plant seeds and grow seedlings.  While I knew I would be regulated to the basement, it was a much different situation in this house in Minneapolis.  The basement is not as warm as the upper level, but it isn’t as brutally cold and dark as the St. Louis Park house.  I attribute that to the fact that half of the basement is insulated and finished, and that does help retain the heat!  Having more heat retained in the basement should help with germination, and I am hoping that having a warmer basement reduces the potential for damping off disease!

I had to select my indoor growing area, and it really came down to three choices: the built-in near the television, the bar area or the workbench near the furnace.  I would not be able to use a shelf in this house simply because we have gear and things on all of our shelves.  We just do not have the extra shelf space!

The biggest concern I had as I was evaluating each location was the availability of power (for grow lights, heating pads and a timer) and the impact on other basement users (like my son and wife Julie).  Each spot had power, so really it came down to finding a spot that would be out of the way and not bother anyone.

The best spot was the workbench near the furnace.  While losing the workbench for potential projects is not ideal, it is important to remember that I would only need part of the workbench until mid-May.  What could possibly go wrong?  Besides, if we needed to use the workbench, everything can be moved quickly. Of course, that might mean that the trays go on top of the freezer, but I would only use it temporarily (I promise, Jules).

The workbench is 27 inches wide, and that easily beats the narrow 18-1/2 inches on the St. Louis Park shelves.  In case you are wondering: yes, in this case, size does matter!  The extra width easily accommodates both seed trays in a side-by-side configuration on the workbench. On the shelves, I had to use scrap pieces of plywood to get over the lip of the shelf to get the trays to sit side-by-side.  This is much, much better!

Equipment Needed

Part of getting your equipment might include buying soil and seeds - March 2018
With seeds in my hand and a growing area selected, it was time to get my “equipment” out of storage in order to start seeds indoors.  My equipment consistec of the following:

• Seed trays
• 9x9 plug flats (or cells, as I like to call them)
• 5 gallon bucket or kitty litter bin (to hold the soil)
• Pro-Mix soil
• Heating pads
• Grow lights
• Timer
• Surge Protector
• Jumbo popsicle sticks or other labels for your seeds

Most of these materials had been in storage for the winter.  I had to rummage around the garage to find what I needed, and then I realized that I had thrown away my 9x9 plug flats last season!  I had used these plug flats for a three seasons, and they were showing some age, wear and literal tears.  I wanted to get new plug flats, so I got rid of them.

I went to the big box store and found that they did not have the 9x9 plug flats anymore.  I decided to pick up two McKenzie Pro-Hex Plug Flats instead.  They were relatively inexpensive: $5 per kit included a plug flat (72 plugs, tray and acrylic dome).  I would later throw away both of the domes (I feel they encourage damping off disease).

On the same trip, I also picked up the Pro-Mix soil.  While I did pick up a package of Coir for the 2018 Soil Challenge, I wanted to have a more controlled experiment using smaller plug flats.  I also wanted the 2018 Soil Challenge to focus on the best soil for growing greens.  More on my thoughts and how I am going to conduct the 2018 Soil Challenge in a separate post!

Armed with all of this gear and the seeds, NOW it was time to plant!

Start Seeds Indoors: Time to Plant!

Plug trays are loaded! St. Patrick's Day 2018
As I discussed in my Garden Plan, I want to plant at four distinct times this year.  I called these times “Stages.”  The first stage is early spring, right when the soil is starting to warm up.  There are plants that do well in those conditions, and I want to have a crop ready to put in the beds to take advantage of the season.  Plants that do well in the Early Spring Stage (when there are some cold nights) are: lettuce, spinach, Swiss Chard and green onions.  I added one more to my Early Season Stage: broccoli.  Most of these plants are quick-growing, and I decided to hold off from planting them on St. Patrick’s Day because I wanted to get the Late Spring Stage plants started.

The Late Spring Stage plants are the vegetables and herbs that will be in the ground in mid-May and grow until late August.  These are the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, green beans, zucchini, squash and herbs that are listed on my plan.  Because some of these plants take 80 days or more to for fruit to be ready, I wanted to get them started as soon as possible.  For other plants such as zucchini, squash, potatoes, green beans and cucumbers on the list, I will sow them directly into the beds or planters in May.  The real critical ones are the tomatoes, peppers and herbs, so that is where I wanted to begin.

On a beautiful St. Patrick’s Day, I poured a drink, put on some music and started planting seeds in my new plug flats.  I had so much fun getting my hands in the dirt and planting over 144 vegetables and herbs on my potting table outside!  It was fantastic!  All in all, I planted the following:

• Cherry Tomatoes (2 rows) – planted with seed I saved
• San Marzano Tomatoes (3 rows)
• Opalka Roma Tomatoes (2 rows)
• Jalapenos (2 rows) – planted with seed I saved
• Red Bell Pepper (2 rows) – planted with seed I saved
• Pepperoncini (1 row)
• Banana Peppers (2 rows)
• Sweet Bell Peppers (1 row)
• Yellow Bell Peppers (2 rows) – planted with seed I saved
• Orange Bell Peppers (2 rows) – planted with seed I saved
• Dill (1 row) – seed I saved
• Basil (1 row)
• Oregano (1 row)
• Rosemary (1 row)
• Broccoli (1 row)

I made sure to label the rows with jumbo popsicle sticks.  With three different varieties of tomatoes and seven different varieties of peppers planted, I did not want to make a mistake this year!

Finally, I brought the trays inside, put them on the heating pads and added water to the trays.  I figured I had 7 days before I had to hook up the grow lights, so I started working on a system to support the lights when needed. Again, it does not need to be expensive, sophisticated or fancy; it just needs to work! I have something almost ready for prime time, but I figured I wouldn’t need the lights for a few more days, right?

Putting It All Together

It is time to get planting those seeds for your 2018 garden!  You don’t have to have the most sophisticated equipment or a greenhouse start seeds indoors.  If you are overwhelmed with this whole process, you can buy plants from the big box store, from a greenhouse, or from a friend, but it isn’t that hard if you break it down into the following steps:

1. Developed a garden plan
2. Purchase Seeds from a Reputable Vendor
3. Purchase Some Equipment (i.e., soil, grow lights, timer, heating pads and trays)
4. Put the soil in the tray and put the seeds in the soil
5. Label everything
6. Add water to the tray
7. Put the trays under the grow lights and on the heating pads
8. Wait!

Now, you see Number 8 above?  Tom Petty was correct when he sang, “The waiting is the hardest part.”  However, if you do all of these steps right, you DO NOT have to wait long….

I went downstairs after dinner and looked at the seedlings. I was shocked:

After 4 days, I have seedlings! 

Tomatoes, basil and broccoli have punched through the soil. I guess there is something to this starting seeds indoor thing!

This is great!  Of course, I need to finish the light system as soon as possible (which is now complete and operational), but I am very excited for this season.  It should be a great year!