• Do I start seeds or buy them from a store or a greenhouse?
• Should I till up your yard and plant in native soil or build raised beds?
• Should I use Square Foot Gardens, Rain Gutter Grow Systems, Wicking Beds or Root Pouches?
• How should I orient my beds (north-south vs. east-west)?
• Can I put a garden in a shaded spot?
• What soil mix should I use for my raised beds?
• Am I going to have an organic garden by using compost or use fertilizers or both?
• How far do I space my garden beds from each other?
• How close should I put the plants in my garden beds?
• What are these pests (bugs, birds or four-legged animals) and how do I stop them eating my plants?
• How can I reduce weeding and the work involved in gardening?
• Why bother? I never remember to water my plants and kill everything I touch!

If you feel this way, this new How to Start Gardening Series is for you. I am designing this series for people starting from scratch and with a clean canvas. My goal is to reduce the confusion and help you successfully grow plants and vegetables.

Hannah and her husband AJ are fellow travelers in the Homesteading space. Like us, Hannah and AJ are living close to their parents in an urban area. In an effort to live healthier lives and break patterns of the American consumption lifestyle, they started gardening, growing fruit trees and making things from scratch. They have branched off to document their story on The Wisconsin Homestead Podcast and Instagram.

Of course, this has lead to some interesting adventures and entanglements along the way. For example, you might not be a true urban homesteader until the police come to your house to investigate your yard…..

For all of us that long to have a little more land and a lot more freedom, this podcast episode should bring a smile to your face and inspire you to try. It is not too late to start breaking free, and you will hear how tomatoes are indeed the gateway to gardening and freedom!

If you want to start developing your vision for your future, take a listen to our podcast episode titled “How to Dream Big, Set Goals and Take Steps to Achieve Them” on Small Scale Life.com https://www.smallscalelife.com/how-to-dream-big-set-goals/

As always, show notes and links are found at smallscalelife.com

I talk about the following topics in this podcast including:

• Why I started blogging, podcasting and vlogging in the first place
• Our elders and their knowledge and experience
• Important Questions:
  • Why start this podcast?
  • Why split it out from Small Scale Life?
  • What do you hope to accomplish?
  • Check yourself before you wreck yourself....
• Goals and objectives
• The future: interviews and garden tours; livestreaming on YouTube
• Call to Action

This podcast will be hosted on Small Scale Life, and I will also provide links on Small Scale Gardening. Let's learn, do, and grow together!

Special thanks to Hyde Free Instrumentals for the Acoustic Folk Instrumental. For more information, please see the following:

Acoustic/Folk Instrumental by Hyde - Free Instrumentals https://soundcloud.com/davidhydemusic
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/acoustic-folk-instrume...
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/YKdXVnaHfo8

We have talked about Karen on previous Small Scale Life Podcasts, so in this podcast, we decided to interview her. We talked about the Health and Fitness Renew You Kickstart, what she learned, what she is doing and give us some feedback about the Health and Fitness Renew You Kickstart.

For more on this topic, go to the article titled "Health and Fitness Renew You with Karen Mangieri" at smallscalelife.com!

To join the Small Scale Life Health and Fitness Renew You in 2019 Kickstart, head over to the dedicated page and sign up today! The Kickstart is free!

I have to confess, I have blown up my "dieting" efforts time and time again due to self-sabotage. After all, I have started and failed with 14 different diet programs. You could say I am an expert with self-sabotage because I have done it so much!

I had to do some digging on the interwebs to gather some information. I also talked with my son, Danny Domres, about this subject. Danny is a marathoner, ultra-marathoner and is going to school to become a Drug and Alcohol Counselor. He has done a lot of studying about addictions and self-sabotage, especially to overcome that inner voice that wants him to stop training or running.

For more information, including 7 tips for overcoming self-sabotage and food addiction, head over to Small Scale Life for the show notes and more information!

To help discuss this topic, I brought in my friend Michael Bell to discuss Basic Movement. Michael is a husband, dad, urban farmer, PE teacher, competitive bodybuilder and a fitness coach. Michael has coached more than 300 people over 20 years, and he spent some time with us to discuss starting a fitness and exercise journey.

For more information on Basic Fitness, please see the post at Small Scale Life titled Day 2: Basic Movement with Michael Bell. There is more information on smallscalelife.com

In addition, if you would like to participate in the Renew You Kickstart, please click on this link!

Topics Discussed

Julie and I discussed the following topics during this podcast:

• Holiday Update
• Rebranding and the Website Upgrade
• Renew You Kickstart

More Information

To get more in-depth information, please see the post titled "Welcome to 2019: Time to Renew You" on Small Scale Life.

Also, sign up for the Renew You in 2019 Kickstart on Small Scale Life.

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.

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
 

I know some of you are new to our podcast, blog and social media platforms.  In case you are new, Small Scale Life is all about living simply by focusing on:

• Growing,
• Exploring and
• Living healthy.

That is pretty general, and we typically focus on:

• Gardening,
• Healthy living, and
• Having adventures along the way

We are thrilled you are here and listening to our show or reading our blog.  That means a lot to us, and frankly we wouldn’t do this if you weren’t part of our Small Scale Life. Thank you!

Learning, Doing and Growing in 2017

I really didn’t know what to expect when blog in November 2015 and I started this podcast in January 2016, and I am truly grateful and blessed that you are spending your time with my guests and me on the podcast, on the blog, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Gab and YouTube.

This has been a learning process.  We are, in fact, learning, doing and growing in real time, before your eyes.  What do I mean by that? Well, let’s look at the numbers from Wordpress for Small Scale Life and compare 2016 to 2017:

2016

6,590 views
3,389 visitors
75 published posts
30 podcasts
5,000 downloads

2017

10,922 views
6,862 visitors
53 published posts
35 podcasts
15,000 downloads

By listening and engaging with us each week, you are pushing me to improve my processes and the quality of the blog, podcast and social media platforms.  This is not an easy job, so I am calling in some support to help in this effort.  I will provide more detail about that in the next post!

Putting It All Together

Thank you again for your time and your attention in previous years. I am looking forward to 2018!  We are going to focus on developing our urban homesteads and farms, small businesses, tribes, and healthy lifestyles.  At the same time, we will continue to seek and find adventures, where ever they take us.  We should have a lot of fun together and hopefully bring some great content to you.

My call to action for this post and podcast is to connect with us.  Become part of the Small Scale Life story.  Engage with us and share you comments with us.  Ask questions and let us know you are out there.  If you are inspired to try gardening, urban farming, getting healthy or taking the road less traveled, let us know!

I am but a humble pirate. The wind is blowing at our backs, and the tide is rising.  There are empires to plunder and rum to drink.  Hoist the sails; man the mizzen mast!

Bring me that horizon, yo ho!

Please note: I originally posted a much longer post about where this platform is going in 2018, but I am re-writing this post to thank you all for all the well-wishes I received yesterday. The longer article will be published in a separate post.

Just in case you are new to Small Scale Life, we are living simply by growing, exploring and living healthy. To put it simply, we are focused on:

• Gardening,
• Healthy living, and
• Having adventures along the way

Happy Birthday

On my and Small Scale Life’s birthday, I wanted to thank everyone for being a part of our story and being a part of our Small Scale Life. I had so many good conversations and well wishes on my birthday! It was a little overwhelming, and I really am thankful for your comments. I am totally serious: if I could throw a big party and invite you all, I would! Maybe I'll have to think about organizing something like that....

All in all, I had a very busy year at Small Scale Life and in my personal life, but through it all, I think I have gotten a little wiser and a little better at this blogging and podcasting stuff this year. I know there is a lot to learn and I am constantly improving, and I appreciate new friends who have helped me over the past year.

I really want to thank all the people who were guests on the Small Scale Life Podcast this year including Greg Burns, Jay Dolan, Travis Swanson, Todd Ehrhardt, Micheal Jordan, Michael Bell, and Doneil Freeman. What a great group of people! I really do appreciate the support and your time. If you haven't listened to those shows, you are missing out. Go to the Podcast tab and start listening today (or just click the text)!

Just Getting Started

We will use the lessons learned this year to improve Small Scale Life, the podcast, our urban homestead and ourselves this year. We have some ambitious goals in 2018. I am working hard to put a team into place that will allow us to grow and improve this platform. We will have regular guests and a more regular schedule for posts and content. More on all that in upcoming posts and podcasts, and the proof will be the quality of our work. The bottom line is that I think we are going to have a great year!
Thank you for everything in the past two years. Thank you for the engagement and taking your time to follow us. We would not be doing this if it wasn't for you. We are just getting started. 2018 is going to take your breath away, and I can't wait!

Stay tuned and continue to live simply, grow, explore and be healthy with us in 2018!

This is the second part of my interview with Doneil.  If you want to catch the first, listen to Episode 30 of the Small Scale Life Podcast.  In this episode, we discuss Doneil’s wicking beds and the Regenerative Dad’s podcast.  I am pretty excited about this podcast because it is launching a new series at Small Scale Life about wicking beds and how awesome they are! 

Topics - Wicking Beds and Regenerative Dads

Doneil and I discussed the following topics in Part 2 of our two part interview:

• Wicking Beds in Arid Environments
• - list text hereSecond-hand watering troughs
• - list text hereLiners - Pond liner and 6mm liner
• - list text hereCompost
• - Mulch
• - list text hereCharging the system
• Regenerative Dads Podcast
• - What is the subject?
• - Why is this important?
• - Where is it going?
• Putting It All Together 
• - Wicking Bed Nation
• - Upcoming shows
• - Thank you!

In case you are new to Small Scale Life, we are living simply by growing, exploring and living healthy. To put it simply, we are focused on:

• list text hereGardening,
• list text hereHealthy living, and
• list text hereHaving adventures along the way.

Before we begin, let’s hear from some friends of Small Scale Life.

For this episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I wanted to give a big shout out to my friend Drew Sample at TheSampleHour.com. He recently released Episode 171, which is all about Hogtoberfest 2017. I listened to this podcast, and this podcast put me there in the middle of it all. The stories and experiences told around the microphone reminded me of the stories and experiences shared around the barrel stove this past weekend in Central Wisconsin at Domres Deer Camp 2017. This is how community is built, traditions established and bonds between people developed. If you are missing that in your life, listen to this podcast. You will hear something special. I have to give Greg and Susan Burns and the Burns family a huge thank you for the invitation this year. Also, I would like to thank Drew Sample for recording this, and the Bee Whisperer Michael Jordan, Doneil Freeman and others for participating. It was special, and I will be attending next year.

While we are on the subject of Greg Burns, I would like to remind you that Nature’s Image Farms does have comfrey left, and it is available for you at naturesimagefarms.com. As always, use discount code “SSL” for 10% off and FREE Shipping! So, if you would like to have your own Bocking 4 of Boking 14 Comfrey cuttings, reach out to Greg Burns at Natures Image Farms today!

Finally, I would like to remind you that our friends at Aussie Flame Weeders are still selling flame weeder kits to gardeners, market farmers and urban gardeners. These are stainless steel, five burner manifolds designed for a standard 30-inch garden bed. The kits also include 16-inch tires and the ability to carry propane tanks (so you don’t have to. Check them out at https://www.aussieflameweeders.com/

Welcome back to the show. As I mentioned in Episode 29 of the Small Scale Life Podcast, Julie, the boys and I went to Julie’s cousin’s house in Becker, Minnesota, for the day. We got to enjoy the day with family, and they handled all of the elements of the meal. It was a lot of fun to talk and hang out, and the food was fantastic! Unlike last year, there was no snow on the ground, and I got some good pictures of the sunset.

With the boys home for the long weekend, we decided to cook a turkey on Sunday. I wanted to try Jack Spirko’s cooking advice, so I started to thaw the bird for Sunday. Unfortunately, I did not get it thawed out in time to quarter and brine the bird for 24-hours, but I did try quartering the bird!

Learning to Quarter a Turkey

In Jack Spirko’s The Survival Podcast Episode 2116 (http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/thanksgiving-2017-jack), he made a case for quartering a turkey before cooking it. Jack resorted to this when he had to cook a 38-pound turkey. No conventional smoker, roaster or oven can handle a 38-pound turkey. His solution was to quarter the turkey, which means you:

1. list text hereRemove the wings
2. list text hereRemove the thighs and legs
3. list text hereRemove the breast cutlets from the skeleton

Cook these pieces of meat together, but you can remove the various pieces as they hit the right temperature. That means you can remove the wings (which usually cook first), then the breast meat, and finally the legs and thighs as they hit 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Using this method, you won’t have shriveled wings and Sahara-like breast meat!

I have to admit, I was a little intimated by quartering a turkey. I had never done it before, even when I cooked the whole bird in a roaster. When I carved a turkey, I usually sliced a bunch of breast meat off, and then I would remove the legs and slice some thigh meat (dark meat). It was not intentional or planned; I just did it.

At Julie’s cousin’s house, I watched as Julie’s uncle carved the turkey. He essentially quartered the bird after it came out of their roaster. It did not look too complicated, but I still was unsure. I even asked her uncle if he ever quartered a turkey before cooking it, and he had never done that method before.

Still a little unsure, I went to everyone’s favorite go-to for do it yourself-type videos: YouTube. I watched two very good videos on quartering and deboning a turkey:

The first is from Jack Burton from stellaculinary.com (http://StellaCulinary.com/CKS44)
https://youtu.be/Z-sMdmCDXJ4

The second is from Matt Proft, who was a turkey farmer for several years (according to his channel).
https://youtu.be/fV-m5o6fhDQ

Both gentlemen made great videos, so check them out before trying this.

Quartering a Turkey

Since this was my first time quartering a turkey, I decided to not make a video. I figured that I was stumbling along on this one, so it would probably not make for good video. Sharp knives, slippery turkey meat and cameras seemed like a dangerous combination.

Grabbing the cutting board, knife and turkey package, I got to work. I removed the neck and the package of giblets. If you listened to Episode 29, you know where those giblets went (garbage can). The neck went into a stainless steel stock pot.

I quartered the bird with the following steps:

• list text hereFirst, I removed the wings and put them in a cake pan
• list text hereThen, I cut the top of the turkey (breasts) from the bottom of the turkey (legs and thighs). Removing the wings makes this easy.
• list text hereNext, I removed the legs and thighs from the bottom of the bird. The bottom of the bird went into the stock pot for soup later.
• list text hereWhile I could have removed the breast cutlets, I decided to move ahead and get the turkey into the roaster. I did not go that extra step this time.

With the bird quartered, I lined the roaster with tinfoil and dropped the meat into it. I brushed on olive oil and honey, and then I sprinkled on sage, rosemary, garlic powder, seasoning salt and pepper. I cooked the turkey at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until the meat was 165 degrees Fahrenheit. When I took the meat out of the roaster, it literally fell apart, and that was without brining the turkey before cooking it. For more on brining the turkey, head over to Episode 29 of the Small Scale Life Podcast.

Turkey Noodle Soup

After the quartering process, I had a stockpot with some meat and water in it. After the turkey dinner was over, I divided the turkey: some was for sandwiches and some was for the turkey soup. I added the turkey to the stockpot, and I turned on the heat. We let the turkey stock simmer for two or three hours, and once it was completed, we removed the bones from the stock. We also removed the meat from the stock and set it off to the side. We’ll add it back in before the soup is complete.

At this point, you have a choice. Because we used dark meat and the carcass to make the stock, it does have some fat in it. If you want to remove some of that fat, you can let the stock cool and remove it from the top of the stock (fat will congeal on the surface of the stock). Otherwise, you can proceed as normal. The choice is yours.

Once you are ready, you can begin to add to your stock to make soup. We added onions, carrots, celery, salt and pepper to taste. You can also add thyme and parsely to the soup. Then we added the egg noodles to the soup. Cook the soup and noodles until the noodles are soft, and you are ready to roll!
It is a pretty tried and true method to make turkey noodle soup. We have also done this with a chicken carcass as well (from rotisserie chickens). While this has been general instructions, I’ll have a written recipe for you as well (because I know some of you prefer that).

Putting It Together

The next time you make a turkey, give these ideas a try. It isn’t as hard as you think, and I certainly learned a lot about the anatomy of a turkey using this method. The turkey noodle recipe is easy cheesy, and it is a great way to save some money by getting several meals out of one bird. Spread your wings and give it a try!

While you are probably already hustling preparing for your Thanksgiving feast and have a plan in motion, this post might spur a few ideas for future meals and give you a few chuckles about some of our past failures.  After all, people will sleep off their turkey coma at some point, football is only so interesting, and those dishes aren’t going to do themselves!

I wanted to start this podcast by wishing you all a great Thanksgiving and safe travels in your way.  AAA is reporting that over 51 million Americans will be traveling over 50 miles for this holiday, and that is a 3.3 percent increase over last year.  That translates to more than 1.6 million more people traveling this year than last year, so be careful out there on the roads, at the airports, at the bus stations and at train stations!

Thanksgiving 2017

Like last year, we will be on the road and will be traveling more than 50 miles from our home.  We will be heading to Julie’s cousin’s house in Becker, Minnesota, for the day.  We will watch some football, socialize, play some games and enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving feast.  We had a great time last year, and I wrote an article about it called Thanksgiving Reflections. Of course, the bulk of that article was talking about the blog and podcast, particularly after a busy harvest season in 2016.  My have times changed!  I’ll have more on comparing 2016 to 2017 in a future podcast.

Turkey and Trimmings

Because I am not cooking a turkey and all the side dishes this year, I did not post an articles, podcasts and videos about how we make our Thanksgiving feast.  HOWEVER, if you are like us and will be guests at someone else’s house for Thanksgiving, you should still cash in on great prices for turkeys!  This is a fantastic time to buy a couple of birds at a low price and save them in the freezer for the future.  Save some money; buy them on sale now!

I am really excited that Julie bought one last night, and with the two Domres’ boys here this weekend, I will be making a turkey!  I am in charge of the bird, and I typically make them in a roaster.  I bought a 22-quart Hamilton Beach roaster from Walmart several years ago, and it works like a champ!  I have cooked many birds and other meals in this roaster, and it is really good to have during the holidays or for parties. One of the real advantages of the roaster is that the oven is free for other dishes and tasks (i.e., cooking other dishes and keeping other dishes warm while the bird finishes).

You can usually find one for under $50 at Walmart or other stores, and they will last a long time.  Of course, I am kicking myself that I don’t have an Amazon affiliate right now!

How I Cook the Turkey

Following my normal steps, the turkey is prepped and in the roaster!
As I mentioned, I have cooked several birds in the roaster over the years.  I have used a pretty straightforward method for cooking my birds:

Defrost the turkey (usually overnight process, so you might be in trouble if this isn’t done yet).
Remove the package of organs and neck (throw them away – like those worthless tomato cages)
Line the roaster with tinfoil (it makes for easier clean-up)
Put the turkey into the tinfoil-lined roaster
Brush the turkey with olive oil
Brush the turkey with honey
Sprinkle on garlic powder, rosemary, thyme, pepper and seasoning salt
Cook the turkey at 325 degrees F until the meat thermometer reads 165 degrees F
Remove the turkey, carve it and serve it to the family and guests
Note: I do not put stuffing in the bird. That is reserved for the oven to be cooked separately
Save the leftovers for sandwiches and other meals (if there is anything left)
This system has worked well for me for a number of years, and I usually have a moist turkey at the end of this process.

Funny Food Failures

Fortunately, we have not had too many failures (that I can’t remember or easily correct). Don’t let me fool you though: we aren’t culinary geniuses over here.  I shouldn’t toot our horn too loudly; we have had a few funny food failures over the years:

Paste Mashed Potatoes – We made mashed potatoes that had the consistency of paste. This was the result of overcooking the potatoes.  Try not to do that because the glue mashed potatoes are just not good!
Mushy Stuffing – When we were first married, I used to make stuffing from scratch from breadcrumbs, celery, broth and other odds and ends. Unfortunately, Julie informed me that the stuffing was “mushy and slimy” and that she preferred Stove Top Stuffing. Since then, we have been making and eating Stove Top Stuffing.  I might have to make a homemade batch to see how much better of a cook I have become (or not).

Special Package – When Julie’s mom made her first Thanksgiving turkey, she didn’t realize that there is a package of organs inside the turkey. She cooked the turkey, and they “discovered” the package when they served the bird.  That is pretty funny and easily done, especially if you have never cooked a turkey before.  Make sure you remove the package of organs before cooking the bird.  Some people use the organs in stuffing, but I do not.  That would make the Mushy Stuffing even more difficult to eat!
Wild Turkey – I am a turkey hunter, and I have prepared a few wild turkeys that I have killed over the years. Wild turkeys are not Butterballs; they are very lean birds. When you prepare a wild turkey, you need to use chicken broth to marinate the bird while it is cooking, and you should put plenty of bacon over the breast. This will give the wild turkey some much-needed moisture (otherwise it WILL be too dry).  Besides, everything goes better with bacon!

Other Cooking Ideas: Turkey, Stuffing and Appetizers

I am not perfect, and I am always looking for ways to improve on my skills. Fortunately, there are some really talented people that I follow.  As I was finishing up my work in Western Wisconsin yesterday, I clicked on Jack Spirko’s The Survival Podcast Episode 2116 - Cooking this Thanksgiving and Just Killing It.   In this episode, Jack covers a lot of topics including:

Handling those uncomfortable discussions about politics
Getting chronically late people to be on time
Meaning of criticisms from older generations
Making appetizers
Sweet Potato Rounds with Cranberry and Walnut Lebneh
Apple and Chestnut Stuffed Mushrooms with Bacon (or anything small)
Twice Fried Finger Potatoes with Blue Cheese and Garlic
Warm Cranberry Sauce
Quartering and brining a turkey
Smoking or roasting a turkey
Making a cornmeal stuffing
Making gravy
Creating some great mashed potatoes (his aren’t Paste Potatoes)
Mixing after-dinner cocktails
Making dessert
If you have listened to Jack, you know that he is very passionate about cooking.  He loves to cook!  I am always interested in what he is cooking and how he does it.

While I could go on and on about all the different tips, advice and dishes he discussed on the podcast, I did want to focus on quartering and brining the turkey prior to cooking the turkey.

Quartering a Turkey

One of Jack’s “a-ha” moments was when he raised and slaughtered his own turkeys three years ago.  His Thanksgiving turkey was 38 pounds, and that creates a unique problem for most mortals like me, you and Jack: how do you cook a 38-pound bird in conventional ovens and roasters?

Jack’s solution was to quarter the turkey prior to brining and cooking it.  By removing the meat from the skeleton, he could brine the various parts and fit them into the oven or roaster.  He found an additional benefit from doing this:

Different parts of the turkey finish cooking at different times.

This is why your wings get fried, you breast meat is dry and your dark meat is almost done.  If you quarter the turkey prior to cooking it, you can monitor each type of meat and take it out when it is done.  Jack’e experience is that wings will come out first, breast meat will come out next and then the dark meat will come out last.

Jack discusses how he quarters the bird in the podcast, but essentially he removes the breasts first, then takes the leg quarters (think about how you see chicken leg quarters in the store) and finally the wings.  Jack uses the carcass, organs and other odds and ends for making turkey stock for soups later.

This makes a lot of sense to me, and it is something that I want to try.  There is an additional advantage to cooking a turkey like this: you are that much closer to serving your guests since you have removed the carcass from the equation.  It is easier to carve the turkey parts rather than mess with the entire carcass and all the juices! This makes a lot of sense to me!

Brining a Turkey

One of the common problems people when cooking a turkey is getting a dry bird at the end of this process.  Remember the turkey in Christmas Vacation?  Dry meat is just not good.

One way to help with the “dry white meat” problem is to brine the turkey for 24 hours prior to cooking.  As Jack says, “You notice that the deli turkey isn’t dry; why is that?”  Brining the turkey will add a juice to your bird,a nd it will add some flavor to the meat as well.  By brining the turkey overnight, you are soaking the turkey in a mixture of the following items:

Jack Spirko’s Turkey Brine

Per Gallon of Brine

1 Cup Salt
1 Cup Brown Sugar
Handful of Black Peppercorns (whole)
Small Handful of Whole Mustard Seed
4-6 Bay Leaves
8 Sage Leaves (1tbs dry)
Optional Items

2-4 Star Anise
Small Handful of Whole Coriander
Brine turkey parts for 24 hours prior to cooking the bird.

This brine will soak into the meat of the turkey, giving it some great flavor.  Additionally, your brined turkey will have more juices for the cooking process rather than just relying on the nature juices of the bird and/or your basting sauce. I have not done this in the past, but I will with my next bird.

Putting It All Together

Cheers - Thanksgiving 2017
There are a lot of ways people celebrate this great American holiday.  Enjoying a great Thanksgiving meal is a great way to bring family and friends together and enjoy each other’s company.  Pulling it off just requires a little planning and some good advice; it is not as hard as you think!

Julie, Danny, Ryan and I wish you the best Thanksgiving.  May your travels be stress-free and safe.  May you enjoy the moment and the people you are spending your time with this holiday.  Thank you for being with us on this journey to developing a Small Scale Life.  I am thankful for the opportunity to share this journey with you and for your time, patience, feedback and thoughts.

Please be kind to each other this holiday and think of someone less fortunate than you.  There are people in our communities that are hurting and need help.  Give a little time, money and/or encouragement to others. Sometimes just a little help, encouragement and kindness goes a long, long way.

Thank you again for tuning in.  Remember to grow, explore and be healthy!  This is Tom from the Small Scale Life.  Happy Thanksgiving!

In case you are new to Small Scale Life, we are living simply by growing, exploring and living healthy.  To put it simply, we are focused on:

• list text hereGardening,
• list text hereHealthy living, and
• list text hereHaving adventures along the way.

Before we begin, let’s hear from some friends of Small Scale Life.

Friends of Small Scale Life

Lumbersquatches Greg Burns and Drew Sample - Good Men and Good Friends!
For this episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I wanted to give a big shout out to my friend Drew Sample at The Sample Hour.  He just released Episode 171, which is all about Hogtoberfest 2017.  In case you missed it, Drew Sample and I talked about Hogtoberfest 2016 last year.  I have not had a chance to listen to this podcast yet, but given the people and personalities that attended this year, I am positive that this podcast will be simply awesome.  Special shouts out to all the attendees for showing us how small communities of like minded people can come together to do some really cool stuff.  Thanks for recording and posting this Drew!

I would also like to remind you that the Hogtoberfest host Greg Burns from Nature’s Image Farms does have comfrey left, and it is available for you at Nature's Image Farm.  As always, use discount code “SSL” for 10% off and FREE Shipping!  So, if you would like to have your own Bocking 4 of Boking 14 Comfrey cuttings, reach out to Greg Burns at Natures Image Farms today!

Healthy Lifestyle Update: Good, Bad and Ugly

So. Many. Patterns. Icing my knee this afternoon. Starting PT tomorrow. Thanks @mbell971 and @jdoms91 for keeping my spirits up. Sucks to hobble around. You don’t realize how much you rely on your knees until they don’t work right (pain free).
A post shared by Small Scale Life (@smallscalelife) on Nov 7, 2017 at 3:42pm PST
Today on Small Scale Life, I am going to discuss some of the good, the bad and the ugly related to jump-starting this journey. As you start to move, you might find out that some things need some attention and some work.  You might even find out that you are not a 2 on the healthy lifestyle scale from 1 to 10 (with 10 being the fittest person in your dreams), you might be a 1.  Right now, I am a 1.  What will it take to get to a 2?

The last time I talked about this topic was back at the end of September.  I have had a whole month, so what progress did I make?  In a way, it is like showing your homework, a project or a speech in front of the class.  Some of it might be good.  Some of it might be bad, and in some cases, just plain ugly.

The good news is that I am still here, still working on it and still moving forward.  I am working through the pain, and it has given me a serious appreciation for people like Todd Ehrhardt that are living and making progress on their dreams in spite of their physical pain.

We’ll start from the worst case and work backwards, so we end on a positive note. What can I say?  I am a positive guy and want to end on a positive note and looking forward.

The Ugly

Let’s start with the ugly.  If you follow Small Scale Life on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, you have seen a lot of pictures and posts of my knee under various ice packs.  I have been nursing a bad knee since the end of August when I worked at the Minnesota State Fair.  So, what is going on?  To answer that question, we have to go back in a time machine.

Back in my youth, I played football in high school and in college.  As a defensive lineman and linebacker, I had my share of sprained ankles and fingers.  I also had two knee injuries.  As a Senior in high school, I strained my Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) on my left knee against Robbinsdale Armstrong High School (my son Ryan’s nemesis from high school basketball).  That healed fairly quickly.

The bigger, more serious injury occurred in college.  I was chasing down a running back on a broken play in a game against Hamline College, and a guy who was subbing in for our injured safety dove right into my left leg, bending it backward.  I partially tore my Posterior Collateral Ligament (PCL) and once again strained my MCL.  I also taught the Hamline sideline a new vocabulary and language that would make Salty Seaman proud.  I was out for the year, and I decided to end my football career.

Flash forward 26 years from 1991 to 2017.  I went from endless hours behind desks and in meetings to working on my feet a lot.  In my current role, I am inspecting railroad crossings, working at events like the State Fair or presenting to people.  That means I am standing, sometimes for hours on end.

In addition, I am just a little heavier now in my 40’s than when I was 18 years old.  Just a bit!  Those old injuries coupled with extra body weight and being on my feet a lot created a perfect storm for arthritis in my knee.  Welcome to getting old and years of neglect, my friends!

*The Bad
*

Since the end of August, I have been hobbling around the house or at work and icing my knee at night.  It affected me during the 14-Day Rebooted Body Walk Challenge, and I had to sign up for the 1 mile per day challenge because I was really worried that I couldn’t go farther on a given day.

I have gone to the doctor a couple times: once at the end of September and then again recently.  I saw a general practitioner in September, and while the direction I got from them was okay, it was based on old information, x-rays and data from 2012.  I knew I had to go to a specialist.

In late October, I was able to get to see an ortho.  They took new x-rays of my knee and confirmed that I had arthritis and poor cartilage in both knees, particularly my left knee.  Apparently the x-rays revealed that my lower legs are slightly misaligned from my knee, and this alignment forces the bulk of the weight and force to my inner knee and inner foot.

Based on discussions with the ortho, we decided to move ahead with Physical Therapy, holding off on cortisone shots or surgical options.  One of the options was removing a wedge from both of my lower legs, forcing realignment of my legs.  This would force my weight to be more evenly distributed through my legs to my feet.  While the ortho shrugged it off and said it was like taking a chunk out of a tree (with a reciprocating saw), the thought of that did not appeal to me at all! Who wants someone sawing off part of their leg?

The bottom line is that my why’s for getting healthier are becoming even more urgent.  Life will get a lot less painful if I do the work to rehab myself and can shed some weight.

Truth be told, it has been a miserable few days since the weekend.  My knee was really sore after swimming a mile on Sunday, and I was really hobbling around the house and work.  It was pretty painful, and I could feel my other muscles tightening up and tiring out while they compensated for my knee.

The Good

Got a walk with @jdoms91 tonight in the neighborhood. When we got close to shingle Creek, we hear two Great Horn Owls in the stand of cottonwoods and other trees along the creek. Owls are awesome, and I have learned to mimic their calls. Needless to say, we stopped and I called. Two owls got excited (they are territorial) and flew into trees right over our heads. They eventually decided to move on, and they took flight. The geese and ducks called out warning calls as the two owls flew over the water. It was a fantastic to see them fly. What a night! It is amazing what you see on a walk in the urban area sometimes.

A post shared by Small Scale Life (@smallscalelife) on Oct 5, 2017 at 9:17pm PDT
There is hope, however.  Yesterday I went to the Physical Therapist.  We discussed the situation and she put me through some evaluations to see how bad it was.  Probably the most difficult part of this was squatting down.  That was pretty brutal.  She also twisted my knee around trying to check if the meniscus was bad.  That was a little painful.

She was able to see a lot of issues I have with my legs and muscles.  The fact is that my calves are too tight, as are my hamstrings.  My glutes, core and my quads need to be stronger, and my hips need some work as well.  All of these things impact my knees and my lower back, which have both been pretty sore over the past several months.

I walked away with a laundry list of stretches and exercises to start rehabbing those muscles.  I am working on that list of stretches and exercises at least two times a day, and I will be going to have therapy for the next six weeks.  I have to do the work to make this better; no one can do it for me.

It certainly has been a wild year for me.  I don’t usually go to the doctor or physical therapy.  I haven’t in years.  That all changed this year as I have truly tried to rehab my body.

• list text hereThrough Kevin Michael Geary’s Rebooted Body, I took care of some sleeping issues and got my lower back checked out.

• list text hereI can also attribute my recent trips to the doctor, ortho and therapist to the Rebooted Body Walk Challenge as well.

Maybe I should send Kevin my bills?

So, you might be asking, what is good about any of this?

The good part of this journey is that I am trying to get myself in a better place physically.  Stretching and working out again is going to help me.  I have been getting back in the pool more consistently, and last night I even tried the stationary bike.  I can tell you that the pool has felt better for my knee that the bike!  It was rather painful to spin those pedals, and my resistance level was set at 3.  Sad because I used to start at 8 or 10.

Anyway, this journey is not an overnight sprint.  It is a long, slow walk.  My progress will be measured by inches at first, and then feet.  It is going to take time and effort, but it is not too late to fix myself.

I have to do the work.  I have to commit to it.  This is important, and it is becoming more and more important as I get older.  When you are young, you can do things that and ignore warning signs.  I do not have that luxury.  As I told the physical therapist, my 68 year old father-in-law walks better than I can right now.  That needs to change.

My journey is just starting.  Stay tuned to these Healthy Lifestyle Updates; it is going to be an interesting, and sometimes frustrating, walk.

Your Challenge

Thank you for tuning into this episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast.  Share this post and podcast; maybe that person you share it with will get inspired to go to the doctor and get help for their pain.  Maybe you will be inspired to get moving and start your own journey.  I am starting small, and you all can probably walk circles around me.  Are you willing to get off the couch and start?  Join me and give it a try!

Share and Interact

Please help the podcast and blog grow.  How do you do that?  Subscribe on iTunes, leave a rating and share this podcast with others.  For those of you who have left reviews and ratings, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I do appreciate it.  We have great followers and friends of the Small Scale Life Podcast, and I appreciate you all.

If you have any comments on the show, feel free to leave them on the contact us page or as a comment under this blog post.  Reach out.  Engage.  You are not alone in this world.  You have friends here.  Connect with us on the blog or in the Small Scale Life Facebook Group.

Thank you again for tuning in.  Remember to grow, explore and be healthy!  This is Tom from the Small Scale Life Podcast, and we’ll see you really soon!

Fall in Minnesota

We have been having a gorgeous fall here in Minnesota.  The temperatures have been perfect, and the leaves on the trees have been fantastic.  One comment on the leaves before we jump into the main topic: the progression of fall colors seems to have been sporadic this year.  If there was a stand of trees, we would get one tree changing, and then another.  It wasn’t like other years where they all changed at once.  I would say that the peak colors in the Twin Cities happened around October 15th, and I took a lot of pictures of trees this fall.  Julie and I will be traveling down the Mississippi River this weekend, so hopefully we will find some good views and fall color downstream!

First Snow in Minnesota

We are getting our first snow in Minnesota - 10/27/17
As I mentioned at the start of the podcast, the local news media has been sounding the alarms all week that we would be getting our first snowfall today (Friday).  While the local weather forecasters are usually wrong about the size of these events, they were right: it started snowing last night and it is snowing as I speak.  The 2017 garden season is over.  It is time to get ready for the inevitable: winter is here!

This podcast and corresponding post are essential a To Do Checklist for me (and perhaps for you as well) before we get an accumulation of white stuff and the ground freezes.  Once the ground freezes, it is all over here in Minnesota.  It really does turn into permafrost, and if you have any dead plants in the ground, they will be stuck there until the spring thaw.  Trust me: it has happened to me before with my wicking beds.

As I look at the current state of my garden and garden area, I realize I have a lot to do before that happens!  As of today, I have not pulled any of my plants.  I had tomatoes and peppers on the plants last night. In fact, the basil is still sprouting new leaves and there are buds on the tomatoes and peppers, even though we got our first frost on October 10, which was exactly on the National Weather Service’s average frost date for this area.

So, let’s get down to what needs to be done, shall we?

7 Steps to Winterize Your Garden

1. Harvest remaining vegetables and herbs

You worked hard to grow those plants, so you should reap the rewards! Don’t let frost, snow and the deep freeze take that from you!
I was looking at the forecast yesterday as the front moved in, and I saw that temperatures were going to plummet. Last night I got home and started harvesting tomatoes and peppers by flashlight.  Yeah, that isn’t too sexy, especially when I dumped the container and had tomatoes all over the ground, but it worked.  I am glad I harvested those last night!  Now, what to do with a pile of green tomatoes?

1. Remove Plants from the Garden

If any plants have signs of blight, remove plants and dispose of them. Do not throw them into your compost pile!  If you throw infected plants into your compost pile, you could be infecting your compost with blight spores.  Get rid of the plants with blight!
If there are no signs of blight, throw the plants into your compost pile.

1. Remove Trellis String and Tomato Cages

Unwrap and untie trellis string from the around the plants and conduit.
If any of the trellis string wrapped around plants with signs of blight, dispose of the string. You don’t want to infect next year’s plants with blight.
Otherwise, coil up the strings and use twisty ties to keep them organized. That way you won’t have a Christmas Vacation-like snarl of strings in the spring.  Organization goes a long way, and it does help.
Remove any tomato cages and throw them away. I am serious.  I am still not a fan of tomato cages.

1. Prepare your Beds for the Spring

If it was earlier in the fall, I would recommend planting an over-winter crop such as garlic, onions or carrots. These plants can get a start growing in the warm soil and fading fall sun and will start growing during the spring thaw.  As a gardener, there is something magical about seeing a green onion shoot or garlic shoot popping up in April after a long, hard winter.  I am not planting any over-winter crops this year due to changes I am going to make next spring.
If it was earlier in the season, planting a cover crop is a great way to add nutrients to your soil. I purposely planted sugar snap peas and bush beans because we eat both vegetables and they add nitrogen to the soil.  That is why farmers have a planting cycle between corn (which takes a ton of nutrients to grow) and beans.  The beans naturally replace nutrients to the soil!   For other ideas about cover crops, check out Old World Garden Farms articles on the subject here:
https://oldworldgardenfarms.com/2017/09/28/no-till-garden-cover-crops/
https://oldworldgardenfarms.com/2016/09/09/fall-cover-crop/
Mulch your beds. As seen in the pictures and accompanying video, we have an abundance of leaves here in Minneapolis. I use the push mower to shred the leaves, and I add a thick layer of shredded leaves and grass to the beds.  The snow and ice compress the leaf layer, and in the spring, I work the wet leaves into the soil.  The leaves break down fairly quickly, adding to the richness of the soil.  You will notice the earthworms and night crawlers love it too!

1. Winterize and Store Hoses and Rain Barrels

You will want to empty your rain barrel! Water expands by about 9% when it freezes, and that is why containers that have a lid and water in them break when frozen.  At the same time, water weighs about 8.3 pounds per gallon, so our full 40 gallon water barrel will weight over 330 pounds!  Yeah, you want to empty that rain barrel out before moving it.
I will also need to change the downspout. I replaced the standard downspout with a short one so that rain water would be directed into the rain barrel.  Once I remove the rain barrel, I want that water to be directed away from the foundation of the house.  We don’t want a wet and moldy basement!  It is a quick and easy project: I just have to change a couple screws.
Like the rain barrel, it is time to empty your hoses and drain the outside hose connection. Remember, water expands by about 9% when it freezes, so if you have water freezing in your hoses and your outside hose connection, you can run the risk of broken pipes in the middle of winter.  That could create a REAL disaster inside your house!  Take the time and disconnect your hoses and drain everything.  Spending a few minutes now can save thousands of dollars later!

1. Clean and Sterilize Tools and Containers

With blight infected some of my tomato plants, I want to clean and sterilize my tools and containers. I don’t want next year’s plants to come in contact with any blight!  I will use Lysol or a solution of 90% water to 10% bleach. It is important to dry metal tools after cleaning, so they do not corrode.

1. Organize and Store Containers, Soil and Materials

I will be organizing and storing the various bins, containers, soil, buckets and other odds and ends I have acquired as part of my gardening efforts. After the move, I stored them along the house near the garden bench, but I have to admit that the stack of materials does not look great. I also will be shoveling the walkway, and those materials are going to be in my way.  I need to move those materials into the garage and store them there.  Of course, that will kick off a garage organization and storage project as well!

1. BONUS: Cover Chairs and Tables

We will be covering our wood patio furniture (swing and Adirondack chairs with tarps). Weather (sun, rain, snow and ice) are hard on wood furniture, and we have found this helps preserve these wood pieces. Julie has talked about spray painting the chairs before the snow hits; we’ll see if that happens.

1. BONUS: Drain and Store Lawn Equipment

We will be draining all lawn equipment in the near future. It isn’t good for the lawn mower, blower or weed whip to leave old gas in them. I usually run the equipment until they run out of gas.  Using old gas and an old spark plug are typically the reasons why your lawn equipment won’t start in the spring.
Can you tell we are going to be over the next few days?

These are pretty quick projects, and you can get them done in a day or so. Take the time; it is worth getting organized and ready for winter.  You will find that being organized and having clean tools and containers will lead to a strong start this winter when you start seedlings and gear up for the new year!  After all, we will be starting tomato and pepper plants in February, which is right around the corner.  Do the work now, and set yourself up for success.

Next Steps and Your Turn

The final harvest of 2017!
Thank you for tuning into this episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast.  Please help the podcast and blog grow.  How do you do that?  Subscribe on iTunes, leave a rating and share this podcast with others.  Share this post and podcast; maybe they will get moving before those first snowflakes hit the ground.  You probably know someone who might need a little help getting organized and ready for the winter season.  Help them out!  The snow is starting to fly….winter is coming!

If you have any comments on the show, feel free to leave them on the contact us page or as a comment under this blog post.  Reach out.  Engage.  Become part of the community in the Small Scale Life Facebook Group.

Thank you again for tuning in and reading this article on Small Scale Life.  Remember to grow, explore and be healthy!  This is Tom from the Small Scale Life Podcast, and we’ll see you really soon!

Is the world on fire right now?  It seems like everything is coming apart at the seams.  After a busy couple weeks, I was feeling pretty down this morning.  As I opened my computer, I saw something that REALLY brightened my day, and I have to share some great news with you.  This is Season 2, Episode 14, and in this episode we are celebrating 10000 downloads of the Small Scale Life Podcast!  It is a great way to kick off the weekend, and it is a great accomplishment.

Special Thanks

I have to thank so many great guests I have had over the past year and a half including Greg Burns, Drew Sample, Kevin Michael Geary, Scott Herbert, Todd Ehrhardt, Charles Hugh Smith, Khaled Majouji (The Plant Charmer), Travis Swanson, Bren Haas and of course my good friend Jay Dolan.  I would also like to thank Austin Quinn at Vlog Vibes for creating some great tunes for the podcast.  These folks are all part of this story and the development and growth of the podcast.

Most of all, I have to thank all of you for listening and encouraging me to keep going.  There are times when you are recording these episodes where you wonder if anyone is listening, if this is making any sense or if any of it matters.  Looking at the analytics, answering questions and interacting with you, I know it is making a difference.  As long as we are making a difference in someone’s life, we will keep going.

The Next 10000 Downloads

As I told someone once, I will change the world one garden and one person at a time!  We might not be able to change things in City Hall, State Capitol, DC or some far off land, but we can start right in our backyards.  Start small, keep going and keep pushing.  Reaching 10000 downloads is a great achievement for me, and I can hardly wait to get to the next 10000 downloads.  Let’s do this and continue to learn, do and grow together!

Podcast Topics

In this podcast, I discuss the following:

1. On the Road Again
   1. Forestville-Mystery Cave State Park
   2. Kansas City



2. Move Update


3. 10000 Downloads – Past, Present and Future


4. Special Update on a Great Future Guest

Friends of Small Scale Life

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Small Scale Life Facebook Group  – This group will get you a backstage pass and access to other members of the Small Scale Life Community.  We will discuss gardening, healthy lifestyle, frugal living and having adventures along the way! This is also your chance to see what is coming up on Small Scale Life, see some content not shared on the blog, and ask questions of future guests

If you like to garden, join the Small Scale Gardening Group!

Small Scale Gardening Facebook Group – Share your gardening stories, questions and ideas with over 200 fellow gardeners!  Join today!

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If you provide a review for the podcast, consider giving a few stars (not going to lie: I want five stars) for the Podcast.  I really appreciate you as a listener and your feedback.

To leave a review, simply follow these simple steps:

1. Click on this link or the image above.
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You can also write a longer review, though it’s not necessary.  Again, thank you for listening and your review!

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The post The Land of 10000 Downloads – S2E14 appeared first on Small Scale Life.