A Farmish Kind of Life

Thoughts on the importance of finding the line between being comfortable and being stuck.

Deep thoughts on a certain something we hear from our parents that we don't understand until we have kids of our own.

Thoughts on "the way things were" and how we tend to live in every moment except for the one we're in. What you're doing right now? You will look back on this, too.

I've been watching my dogs, and I've figured out five things we can learn from a dog's approach to life.

Deep thoughts on food, health, and why you should control what you do with your body so no one *else* can control *you*.

My thoughts on why it's important to be teachable (especially as an adult) and how that can benefit your life and the lives of those around you.

Sometimes it’s not just about learning something new. Sometimes in order to actually learn the new thing, we have to unlearn the old stuff.

After a four week long experiment with my YouTube, Odysee, and Tiktok accounts, here are my stats... and my thoughts.

It’s important to know what your goal is so you know if the things you’re doing are actually helping you reach that goal. There is a point where you’re doing more work than you need to for the payoff you’re getting. Have you set the right goals? And are you working towards the goals you actually set?

Be aware of these pros, cons, and realities about alternative social media networks so you can help them thrive.

Do you want to get started raising turkeys? Here are answers to some common questions you might have.

We tend to think of other people in terms of ourselves, and assumptions made about others through that filter can get us in to trouble.

Whether you've just entered the world of adulting or have spent many years in it, this is a great reminder about normal life in the real world.

In the nature vs. nurture debate, what matters more, and how does it affect us as adults? Here are my thoughts.

I've learned over the years that the secret to personal growth is being willing to do one very important thing...

You're a hard worker. How do you know if your hard work is worth it, and (big question) should you turn the thing you love into a job?

I am not an expert at gardening, nor do I know everything about how to start seeds. But I will share with you 11 things I have learned about starting seeds while we've been here at the homestead. Hopefully some of these tips will be helpful to you. 1. It takes time to figure out how to start seeds It may take you a couple years to figure out what works for you—which may not be what works for your friends who are also starting seeds. I have a friend who grows amazing starts in plastic covered food trays or ice cream cake containers from DQ. I also have friends with a super simple greenhouse set up in front of their south facing window (no grow lights at all!) and they do AMAZING things with those seedlings. Unfortunately, neither of those sets ups have worked for us. You need to go through the things that don't work (and the mistakes you make along the way) to figure out what actually works. Ahem, not putting the grow light down close enough to the seeds, Amy? Yeah. Did that one year. Deciding that hardening off was a skippable step? Yeah, Amy, big mistake. You need those fails to figure out what not to do. Just keep trying! 2. Start more seeds than you think you need Obviously this depends on your set up and how much room you have, but if you want to grow five tomato plants, you need to start more than five seeds. Sometimes some seeds don't germinate. Sometimes you want to grow a few seedlings for a friend. Always plant more than you think you're going to realistically need. Having said that... 3. Seedlings grow and take up a lot of room Seed starting trays are small. But keep in mind that those seeds grow into seedlings that take up WAY more room. Starting 80 tomato seeds seems like it makes sense when you're just putting those seeds into the little starter pods and everything fits so nicely on the seed starting shelf. And then they start growing. And your husband says, "80 tomato plants, Amy? Where are you going to put those?" 80 tomato seeds is totally different than 80 tomato plants. Just keep this in mind. 4. Your grow light needs to be closer than you think Your seedlings will stretch to the light, but if they are stretching too much too fast you’re going to have spindly little leggy things that are weak. Your light needs to be adjustable so you can raise or lower the light as needed. I use Barrina grow lights; (affiliate link) and they give a lovely purple pink cast to my office when they are on. We’ve had great luck with them—they were suggested to me by my friend Chris at Rockin’ 8 Farm. 5. Don't use a grow light 24 hours a day Your seedlings need time to rest, so don’t put the grow light on them 24 hours a day. I leave the light on all night and turn off during the day. This was suggested to me and it works really well, although many people do the opposite (light on during the day, off at night). Research the differences between light on at night or light on during the day to determine which is best for your seed starting set up. 6. Don't overwater your seedlings Seedlings should be moist, but not wet. I tend to underwater, if anything. Some folks say you should be watering your seedlings once a day, but that would be too much for mine. Mine generally get watered every other day or every third day. I think this mostly has to do with the environment you're growing them in, etc. Pay attention to your plants, press your finger into their soil. Is it moist? Good job. A bit dry? Add more water. Really wet? Stop drowning your plant babies. 7. Don't be afraid to pot up your seedlings Potting up means to put your seedlings in a bigger pot before you're to the point of actually transplanting them into the ground. I usually pot up twice before my seedlings end up in the garden. I go from seed starting pods to 7 oz. dixie cups (with holes punched in the bottom) to red solo cups (again, holes punched in the bottom).

This isn't a "hey, homeschooled kids are so smart!" article. This asks a question about the pedestal we've stuck college up on, which became more obvious to my kids when they got to college.

Is that person really there to support you and have a genuine relationship with you... or are they just collecting more hands and feet for their cause?

"They're all gonna laugh at you." "You don't know what you're doing." "You're just a hack." I used to be afraid of people saying this when I first started out. And believe me, I definitely hear these things. But when I hear them now, it bothers me for a totally different reason.

There is nothing wrong with having a tool to help keep you informed, but what happens when that tool is often wrong, or is used to get you all worked up?

The next time someone asks you a question about homesteading (or any other way you're living), stop and consider: do you teach from the ego, or the heart?

The belief that you don't have enough time will make you less productive with the time you have. Here are two tips that have helped me when I fall into time scarcity mindset.

Here are two things that make you nervous to create the life you want to live, and a "kid learning to walk" analogy to help you get past it.

Lately I've noticed that many of the issues we have as a people attempting to have a conversation (or relationship) with each other stems from two different categories: all or nothing thinking, and how we speak and listen.

Today I'm tackling topics like the gift of life, responsibility and choice, consequences, and how this all relates to the future. Let's talk about getting involved in your own life... and dive into some most likely politically incorrect conversations.

Nowadays, it’s all on the table. And it’s almost as if your choices and your opinions are now an aggressive assertion of who you are as an individual.

I've raised one kid to adulthood, and the other isn't far behind. Here's the one big secret I've learned about parenting.

There is power in deciding not to participate. There is power in stepping away and saying, "I’m not going to be a part of this."

Here's something I've seen most of us do while encouraging or uplifting others. It's really weird when you think about it.

Short (but deep) thoughts on where you fit -- and if it matters.

When spring finally rolls around, it's time to do some deep cleaning of the house and the barn. But what I've recently considered is that spring is also a time to do some deep cleaning of your life and your self. Read on for more of my thoughts, or check out the podcast episode for a more in depth discussion. You can also watch the 3 minute video at the bottom of the post for the highlights! Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar. You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players. Spring cleaning your self: The point of a good ol' traditional spring cleaning is to get rid of all the junk. We deep clean. We dig into the corners and cabinets and behind the furniture that we don’t normally get to when we’re doing that quick everyday cleaning. We take time to organize and declutter. And when it’s all done you think yes, that feels good. And you feel like you're heading into a new season, starting fresh and clean. Well, we can do that with ourselves too. And honestly, I’ve needed to do some serious spring cleaning of myself—physically and mentally. Now, this isn’t just some woo-woo, feel-good, mystical self-help stuff. I want you consider that spring cleaning your self is a way to get your self ready for the future, so you can be your best for whatever comes next. Spring cleaning your self is part of preparing. Any prepper worth their weight knows that physical health and mental clarity is just as important as how much food, fuel, or ammo you have stored. Note: You can’t just attack this all at once. Just like this spring cleaning a house, you have to do it in pieces. Room by room. Closet by closet. This isn't a wipe a rag across the surface, this is a deep dig in and clean things up. Things to get rid of When tackling the spring cleaning of your life and your self, here are some things to consider cleaning out: The "stuff " of winter: brain fogtirednessthe sluggish blah feelinglack of motivation/momentumeating too much crap Stuff that’s bringing you down: guiltself-hatenegativity"I can't"incorrect focus What’s weighing on you: First, check to make sure that the thing that’s weighing on you isn’t just something that’s bringing you down. But something weighing on you is sometimes a sign to pay attention (something isn't right, something seems amiss) or finally take a breath and do that thing you need to do. Dig into those things and solve them. Are you in the wrong job?Do you need to ask for a raise?Does your brother not understand boundaries?Do you have a medical issue that needs to be checked out by a professional?Do you need to change your approach in marketing your side hustle? Things you don’t understand: Sometimes we are stuck in our lives simply because we don’t know something. Invest in some time in education. Maybe you want to learn about tarot cards or bitcoin or how to start a podcast. Find people who can teach you. That’s why community is important. Things that aren’t moving you forward: Now, this doesn’t mean you shouldn't have things that are just for you. A lazy day spent on the couch reading a smutty novel. A fancy coffee. Putting purple streaks in your hair. Sitting on the porch drinking a beer. Time spent in the garage putzing on a project just because you want to tinker with something. I believe self-care looks different for everyone, and you need self-care to make you okay. If you’ re not okay, you can’t move forward. What I'm talking about here is be aware of where you're spending your time and energy, and consider whether it's moving you further in your life. And yes, complaining and venting, to a certain point, can move you forward. But what doesn’t necessarily move you forward is listening to a podcaster/YouTuber/news anchor/e...

Today I answer your questions about: being self-reliant enough, hard times in homeschooling, favorite non-fiction homesteading books, frozen eggs in the winter, and self-publishing.

Random thoughts about love: big gestures, little things, and "knowing each other".

Everyone is struggling even if it looks different. And you're not wrong if you don't know how to deal with "all this" right now.

Today I answer your questions about who should cook dinner, a teen worried about the future, death on the homestead, competition in frugal living, and buying baby chicks.

As the world collectively holds its breath right now, let's talk about 3 things: deciphering truth from fiction, operating underground, and resiliency. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar. You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players. 1 . The ability to decipher truth from fiction: Back in October 2020, my messenger suddenly blew up one day with people asking if we were going to sell our Harley because they saw some picture posted on social media that showed Harley-Davidson was endorsing Biden/Harris for presidency. Okay. You guys. First off, people had no idea who I was voting for, or if I even planned to vote at all. Secondly, the image was photoshopped. I wrote more about this in But First, Read This. But I get it. Sort of. It’s hard to decipher truth from fiction. The internet and more news channels and forums and chats were supposed to make us more informed. What it’s really done is, is made it harder to find actual information. In the past couple weeks, especially, people have emailed me with "facts" and "evidence" and "information" about their version what’s happening in the world. I’ve started saving all these, screen-shotting lists, taking notes on articles so in four months I can look back and see what things people were spreading around before the inauguration—on all sides. I won’t even say “both sides” anymore because there are plenty of things coming from outliers who don’t agree with the two party system. We see something online that fits with our agenda so we share it out of the need to "educate people with the truth". We see something online totally against our agenda and we share it out of frustration. Most of us don’t even click on the link to read the article. We share headlines—and it just so happens there are articles attached to them. We didn’t read them and the people we’re sharing it with aren’t going to read them. It's. not. helping. We see something the other side has shared and we think “how in the world can they believe something like that, it’s totally not true” when in all reality, you’re probably doing the same thing. The crazy thing is that we think the other side does it and we don’t. And we've all done it. I like sharing this meme on social media when things get a little dicey out there, and people start dividing based on assumptions or "fact": (Please contact me if you know who originally posted this and I will credit them.) Assess all information. Consider all options. But take the time to consider that marketing is everywhere and it’s possible to spin any story to fit the purposes you want it to fit. And the bigger the topic is, the more people will do it—without even realizing it. Evil is a loaded word. What you think is right and just and the way things work is oftentimes what someone else would describe as wrong and immoral and unjust. Having pointed out that caveat, I’m not saying permit evil. I’m not saying ignore evil. I’m just saying make sure you know what you’re looking at and where it came from. 2. Operate underground Here’s what I mean by that: I’m visual and it’s easy to look outside at the world and see a giant mushroom cloud. Ooo! Shock! Awe! Big explosion! And that giant mushroom cloud is clouding the view of everything else. It’s destroying our ability to see anything else. And a mushroom cloud probably isn't the best example to use, because if we’re talking a mushroom cloud from a big ol bomb, there probably ISN’T anything else going on because it HAS decimated everything else. But work with me here. What I’d like you to consider is there are a lot of regular ol' people going about their lives outside of that giant mushroom cloud doing really great, productive, wonderfully kind things.

It’s another random audience questions podcast episode (and blog post) where I pull five questions from my giant mason jar of topics you’ve sent in. Today I answer your questions about: a significant other struggling with country living, suggestions for getting things done when working full time away from the homestead, issues with too many roosters, clarification on meat bird terminology, and finally, “Amy, I cut out a bunch of things and my life is still nuts, please help.” As always is the case with these random audience questions episodes, the podcast episode is more in depth than the blog post. If you’d like to add a question to my jar for a future episode please email it to [email protected]. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar. You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players. 1 — Significant other struggling with country living So, my wife (a city girl) is really struggling with country living. Complaining that our kids have no one to play with. Can't ride bikes down the sidewalk, can't run over to the neighbors house and play, can't run to the grocery store, etc... - Chris (first part of email) It's always hard to move from one life to another. I'm positive that your wife's concerns come from a place of love and wanting the best for your kiddos, and we tend to latch on to what's familiar to us and how we were raised. If she grew up in the city, it makes sense that she's thinking, "who will the kids play with? How will they ride their bikes down the sidewalk? Why are we so far from the store?" That's the normal she grew up with. Much like I would wonder how kids in urban families survive without spending all day playing in the woods (like I did!) There are people who like the city and people who don't, and that's okay! Sit down and have a conversation about her pros and cons, your pros and cons, and don't be afraid to include the kids in the conversation. After talking you will have a better idea about where everyone stands and how to look for compromises to bring about a happy country home. (Note: Much longer answer to this in the podcast version.) 2 — Getting things done on the homestead when working full time away from home? ... It's just a struggle. Both of us work an hour away from home and by the time we get out of work, get the girls from daycare, get home, cook dinner, (there's) not much time for anything. Any suggestions would be helpful. - Chris (second part of email) I generally tell people to do a time audit. First, how much time do you actually have at home? Take a good hard look at that number. Then, think of how much time your homesteading ventures actually require. I mean, REALLY think of a number. Is it 30 minutes every morning and night? Is it three hours each day? Is it an entire weekend? Be aware that sometimes homesteading is so exciting to us that it can take up a way bigger piece of our brain than it takes in our actual schedule. For instance, chickens seem like a big deal. They are the gateway animal, after all. But how long do chicken chores take everyday? Ten minutes? Next make sure to include all the other things that have nothing to do with homesteading in your time audit. We all do more than work, sleep, eat, and feed the chickens. There are only 24 hours in a day, and you've got to be realistic about what you can fit into those hours. You either have to find time where it might be hiding in your schedule, manage the time you have in a different way, or admit that you've got plenty your plate for the place you're at currently in life. 3 — Is this what roosters do? We butchered our own chickens for the first time this summer and we ended up butchering sooner than planned due to the boys starting to fight. Have you had issues with this?

After the buzz and energy of the winter holidays are over, people can sometimes fall into a slump and get stuck in the darkness of the season. Here are 25+ tips from myself as well as readers/listeners of A Farmish Kind of Life to hopefully help you get through winter and make it through to spring with a smile on your face. You can also check out my winter post from last year: Winter is Hard: Mental Health for Homesteaders as well as Winter Projects: What to do While You're Waiting for Spring. NOTE: This podcast/blog post is not intended to take the place of professional medical advice regarding depression. I'm not a medical professional. I'm just an adorkable farmgirl with a microphone. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar. You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players. My plan to get through the winter: Be honest about what affects me negatively and positively, and then give the appropriate attention to those things: Sometimes it makes me feel powerful to listen to podcasts, people, etc. who are all about fighting the man, changing the world, taking action, etc. Other times, it all just feels like angry noise. And I know it’s not just me because I have heard from followers and listeners and readers who have said, “I just can’t listen to it all right now, does that make me a bad irresponsible person?” Whatever that thing is that you're supposed to be fixated on right now...will you remember it a month after it passes? What was the last thing you were supposed to be worried or fixated on? Is anyone talking about it now? Save your worry and concern for what deserves it. (Hint: things you can actually affect or do something about.) Eat good food: But also not beat myself up when I decide to bake a pie or have an old fashioned or two while I snuggle with my husband. Your body requires good fuel to do the work it needs to do, but there's nothing wrong with treats—if you understand the meaning of the word treat—so stop with the dang guilt. Learn something/have a project: I feel like part of what’s at the heart of the difficulty of winter, especially for homesteaders, is that you might feel as though you’re not accomplishing as much. We are so busy spring summer and fall that when we’re not meeting ourselves coming and going from the barn to the garden to the kitchen in the winter, we can almost feel like there is something wrong. And then we do this weird "guilt" thing and this weird "questioning my worth" thing. To counteract that, I'm making a list of the projects that need to be done in the house and the skills I need to brush up on. And I will devote this winter downtime to those things with the mindset that I'm preparing for spring's arrival (instead of waiting for winter to end). Figure out what I want: Yesterday I was flitting about doing all the things and I had a really productive day. However there was this feeling nagging at me that I didn't get done what I wanted to do. Like there was still something else I was supposed to be doing. I've realized that it's very important for you to know what you want, what your goal is, what you're heading for, what the to-do list entails. If you don't know what you want, you won't know when you accomplish it. Reader/Listener Suggestions for How to Get Through the Winter: "I'm trying to find time each day to read, even if it's just 5 minutes. Starting some seeds; who doesn't love to see green growth starting when you're surrounded by snow?! Avoiding the news, other than the weather at 6:17pm, has been so good for my mental health. Getting back on the letter writing bandwagon for my pen pal in California." — Lettie "Spending more time outside. Staying Facebook-free (it's been 6 weeks already). Starting seeds. Maybe, just maybe,

As we spend time finalizing gifts for the holidays, I got to thinking about seven gifts we should imagine are wrapped up under the tree. Gifts we probably already have, but sometimes forget about in the hustle and bustle of a hectic holiday. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar. You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players. 1 . The Year that Was If you’re listening to this, you lived through 2020. And I don’t think there is anyone’s life that wasn’t touched with some kind of change or difficulty, whether that was direct or indirect. But I think the best way to look at the year that was, is to consider the lessons that came out of it. We all learned a lot. What we could handle. When we needed a break. What things needed to change in our life. Some of us were pushed to make those changes and we wouldn’t have made them without the struggles we encountered in 2020. Some of us felt validation for choices we had already made. Some of us got perspective. Some of us learned how much we take for granted. Homework: What is one thing that 2020 taught you? 2 . Opportunity I know there is a whole mainstream world out there that's screaming that life is hard and life is tough and nothing turns out and everything is horrible. But I kid you not if your great-great-great grandparents were here, they'd laugh at us for complaining about some of the things we complain about, for focusing on some of the things we focus on, and for our inability to see the opportunities we have that we absolutely take for granted. The ease in which we can do things that were an absolute impossibility for them. A lot of people were frustrated that they had to work from home, but had that opportunity not been available during the various lockdown periods instituted this year, it meant a lot of people simply wouldn't have had work. Something to point out here is there are many opportunities available, but it doesn't mean they will just drop in your lap and it doesn't mean they aren't work. Oftentimes when I bring up there are many opportunities available, someone will say "oh really, what about..." Opportunity means having eyes to see what's out there. To dig through the cant's and won'ts and shouldn'ts and it's hards to see what could be possible. Starting a business is hard, but there are tools today we didn't have 50 years ago. Starting a homestead is definitely work, but there are ways to make it happen that don't require 250 acres of land. Going back to school is a commitment, but you can do it from the comfort of your home now. That wasn't available when I was in college. Connecting with like-minded people who happen to live faraway from you takes time, but it doesn't necessarily require getting on a plane anymore. You just turn on your computer. Spending the day reading doesn't even require leaving your house anymore to find a bookstore or a library. You can just one-click a button and send a book to your Kindle. Have you ever thought about how insane that is? Homework: Are there opportunities in front of you that you need to look in to? What are they? 3. Peace That cup of coffee in the quiet morning. Maybe for you it’s something else. But those few moments. Maybe it's knowing you're working towards removing yourself from the noise of the world. Maybe it's understanding how to have peace within the noise of the world. Maybe it's knowing that the life you've built isn't centered in chaos. Homework: How do you find peace? 4. Gratitude Living with a spirit of gratitude makes you see the world differently. And I don't think that living with a spirit of gratitude means ignoring the reality of things that are happening around you, and the unfortunate thing is that's often how "gratitude",

There is a balance to be struck between striving to do all the things, and realizing when you’re at a stage in your life that you’re already busy doing other things. While it's important to dream, make goals, and draw up plans, today I want to talk about honoring the reality of where you are in life. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar. You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players. It's important to make plans. I'm all about dreaming and setting goals. But today I'm backing up a bit and getting honest about life, because for some of you, hearing just do some dreaming and make some plans! is the exact opposite of what you need to hear. I was 24 when I had my first kid, and 25 when I had my second. And I remember shortly after the second was born, I sat on the deck, exhausted and sobbing. My husband asked me what was wrong. "I'm afraid I'll never write again. I will never have time. I can't do all of this." And I pulled out a book by some author who by my estimation had "a bazillion books out". I shoved it at my husband's face and said, "Look at her. She is doing all the things." And my sweet husband looked at me, his wife with an almost 13 month old and a brand new baby, and said, "You and her are in different places. How old is that author?" When I told him she was 42, he told me to stop comparing myself to her and live my life. "If I know you," he said, "when you're 42 you'll be back to writing all the books just like that author." "What if I'm not?" "Then you're not. But it's not like you're going to forget how to write. It's part of who you are." I don't know if my husband remembers that conversation, but it was huge for me and I totally stuck it in my back pocket. Fast forward to last week when I was making a huge business plan for the novels I plan to release under my two names in 2021. And it occurred to me while I worked on it: guess how old I turn in 2021? 42 years old. I recently shared this story with another writer, who said he really appreciated the honesty. As a new dad, he was scraping by on writing 10 minutes a day and wondering, “is this is all there is?” I remember those days. I remember the days of trying to get an article done in 20 minutes because that’s how long I had before the kid woke up again. While that writer and I are close to the same age, he and his partner just had a baby. So even though he and I graduated almost the same year, he's currently getting up with a baby every few hours and I’ve got a kid who turns 18 in a few months. Two totally different places in life. Which makes all the difference. My reality now? My husband works weird hours. My kids are almost adults. Our house is wildly independent. We’re all on different schedules. I often say that there isn’t a moment in a 24 hour period where there isn’t someone awake in our house doing something. So when people ask how do you have all the time to do what you do, I want you to understand at this point in my life, I spend a lot of time alone—meaning, not being needed by anyone else—either because they aren’t home, they’re sleeping, they’re at work, or they’re doing their own thing like recording music or doing their college classes. So I am currently free to do the crazy things I’ve got up in my head—and that I’ve had up in my head!—because there are so many other things I don't need to take care of anymore. The truth is, the place you are in life will determine a lot of what you can do. Let's break down some steps to getting comfortable with this realization. Step One: Dreams. Goals, Plans. We all have something we want to do. You might want to build a homestead, learn a new skill, switch careers, or put out a crapton of books next year.

Today's podcast episode is a mash up of two previous itty bitty thoughts, as well as a continuation of them. I hope you find today's thoughts inspiring and motivational as we maneuver our way through 2020 and beyond. There's also some homework, if you'd like to get involved! Also, if you listen to today's episode, you will know what #cheetodust means, and why we should start using it. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar. You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players. Worry First, check out my previous Itty Bitty Thought: What I Worry About Here are further thoughts—and some homework—after you visit the above link: Back in episode 77, I did an episode called Because Winter is Hard: Mental Health for Homesteaders. I’m going to ask you to do something to help me build a future episode. This idea actually didn’t come from me, it was actually suggested by a listener who goes by “Kelley from the Northeast”. She suggested: I think it would be a great idea to have an episode where you have other people write in on how they get through the winter and maybe you'll get some novel ideas. What a great idea! I've got an inkling that Winter of 2020 is going to be hard for a lot of folks. Maybe that's you, maybe it's not. If you'd like to help build an episode and blog post to motivate and encourage others through the winter, comment below or drop me an email about how you plan to get through winter 2020. You can email me at [email protected] Forget First, read through my Itty Bitty thought called The Thing We Keep Forgetting. Then, continue here: What I want to point out is that we need that time to be angry and frustrated—that's part of the process, so don't squash it down. But the next step is to remember you still have a pulse and as long as you’re alive here there is something you’re supposed to be doing. I don’t know what that something is for you. You might not know what that something is for you. But I encourage you to spend some time thinking about it. Do not get stuck in the idea that you will get started when this blows over or that it’s pointless to do anything because you don’t know what’s coming. Make a plan and go for it. If things change (and they will because this is life) then you adjust. But you can’t adjust anything if you’ve spent this whole sitting on the couch licking Cheeto dust off your fingers. My plans and thoughts: dream big I've had time to think and time to plan. To be completely honest, when I think about A Farmish Kind of Life, I get confused about where it’s going. I started this website years ago and I've talked about the homesteading journey as I understand it and as I've lived it. But now we've found our groove, we know what works and doesn't work for us, and I've wrote and spoke about the majority of those things. Eventually, one gets to a point where they think okay, now what do I talk about? If you’ve been here at the podcast/website for awhile you have seen how this has gone from all about homesteading to all about a lot of different stuff. I had a listener email me the other day giving me some very kind words about the itty bitty thoughts I had recorded back in episode 109 and she said “it’s almost like you’ve moved from homestead podcaster to motivational podcaster.” And maybe that's what I am now. I’ve also had a couple of you ask if I’m going to put my itty bitty thoughts into a book. Maybe I'll do that. The point is, the benefit in being “farmish” is that I can morph into different things. And I think it’s important to realize that at this point in life and technology and connection, we can do that. So while I don’t think this site or my podcast is going anywhere anytime soon,

As a homesteader, a lot of my audience is conservative. As a fiction author in an artist community, most of the people surrounding me are liberal. I have friends and family all over the political spectrum so from both a professional and a personal perspective, it's been interesting to maneuver life the past week listening to the comments, arguments, and opinions from both sides. My answer to all of this, as if little ol' me has the answer, is a piece I wrote called And I Hope. I hope it applies to you whether you live in America or not. I hope it applies to you no matter who you voted for, if anyone at all. I hope it is something you can listen to or read as a pause or a breath or an opportunity to reflect on your focus—and fine tune things if necessary. You can read it below as an itty bitty thought or you can press play above to listen to it as a podcast. The main topic starts at minute marker 5:24. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar. You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players. Here are the things I hope for you today and tomorrow and all of your days. I hope if someone wants to listen to Christmas music really early because it makes them smile that you let them. I hope that you have a friend who can eat all the black jelly beans that you don’t like. I hope you have enough yarn to finish your hat I hope you have enough hot water for a really long shower I hope you can remember all the items you needed at the store even if you forgot your list and I hope that when you smile at the cashier, they look up and smile back. I hope all those things, and other things too like I hope that right now you can act like an adult because kids are watching I hope that you don’t let two people who don’t even know your name come between you and the people who do. I hope you don’t completely surround yourself with people who think exactly like you. I hope you know the issue isn’t social media. I hope you’re always thinking about and searching for a better way to do things. I hope you understand that how you acted before the election and how you acted after say more about you than how you voted, if you voted at all. I hope you know that people don’t need to know where you stand on an issue, they need to know how you stand as a person. I hope you realize the loudest person in a group doesn’t usually speak for the majority of the group, the loudest person is just really loud. I hope you’re not living for conflict. I hope you’re not driving the conflict. And if you are, I hope you get tired of it I hope you fail to find a payoff for it And I hope you stop. I hope you realize that in a nation so divided, no one wins. I hope you understand there is a difference between unity and conformity. I hope you know this is not an apocalyptic novel and I hope you know this is not a fairy tale. I hope you understand this is actual real life and I hope you realize that nothing that little ol you or me does or doesn’t do today will even be seen by the mainstream media or the individuals who ran for office. But it will be seen by the people who live with you, By the people who do life with you. By the people who will be affected by what you do or don’t do. So I hope you have a friend over for a fried chicken dinner. I hope you take two hours to talk on the phone when someone calls and just can’t handle it anymore. I hope you realize there are bellies to tickle and leaves to rake up and cookies to bake. I hope you know there are mugs of coffee to be poured and quilts to snuggle under and love to be made.

If you are someone dealing with big emotions (anger, fear, frustration) regarding what's happening out there in the big wide world or what might be coming around the bend, today's writing is for you. You can read it below as an itty bitty thought or you can press play above to listen to it as a podcast. The main topic starts at minute marker 5:58. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar. You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players. Heading into this week is weird. I know as a writer I should have bigger, better words to describe what I'm feeling, but weird is all I can come up with. Friends across the pond tell me they're going into another lockdown. Many of the schools local to me are going to total distance learning again. But the main event whether you're participating in it or not, is tomorrow's presidential election. I've been talking to friends on both sides of the aisle and what I hear is fear tension anger panic anxiety did I mention anger? Because there is anger. I wasn't sure what I wanted to say today as an itty bitty thought or a podcast I don't know how to approach all of this and that and everything. So I will go with what I like to focus on in times of chaos and unknown. because maybe it will help you, too. Here’s what I want you to focus on. No matter who you think should win. No matter who ends up winning. No matter what comes because of the person who wins. When you wake up the day after election day or the day after or the week after or whenever after there is one thing you need to remember: the chickens still need to be fed. And it’s such a simple statement and for me it makes sense because I have chickens. If you don’t have chickens I hope you realize what I’m getting at. Your kids still need to be fed. Your significant other still needs to be held. The wood stove still needs stocking. The tomatoes still have to be canned. The bread still needs to get in the oven. There are things that still need to be done regardless of what is happening in the outside world out there, beyond your doors. I want you to see these things as a comfort. These things that become our normal and that we pass by to get to other things. These things we fly through in order to find out what's going on in the world or what's happening next. I find these things particularly comforting in times of chaos or when I don't know what's coming next. I don't know who is going to win the election. And I don't know what will happen after it's done. But I will put one foot in front of the other in a house with my husband and kids with our tiny little life and we will continue on. Because that's what people do. It's what people have always done. In times of chaos, in times where you feel like things don't make sense and are out of control and you don't know what is going to happen next remember, you do know what's going to happen next: the chickens still need to be fed. -- Amy Dingmann, 11-2-20 Remember to bookmark ITTY BITTY THOUGHTS and come check out my daily posts here at A Farmish Kind of Life RESOURCES: Episode 33: Supplemental Light for Chickens? Be Honest About This... Daily posts here at the website: https://afarmishkindoflife.com/category/itty-bitty-thoughts Signup for my email newsletter: http://www.subscribepage.com/q6n3t5 Farmish Kind of Life MeWe group: https://mewe.com/join/afarmishkindoflifehomesteaders Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farmishkindoflife/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/farmishkindoflife

It’s another random audience questions podcast episode (and blog post) where I pull five questions from my giant mason jar of topics you’ve sent in. Today I answer your questions about feeder pigs vs raising piglets, ghost stories, people’s opinions about kids and farm work, teaching other homesteaders how to butcher, and my thoughts on being away from Facebook. If you’d like to add a question to my jar for a future episode please email it to [email protected]. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar. You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players. 1 — Feeder pigs vs. raising piglets We are considering getting into pigs and are curious what went into your decision to buy feeders every year vs doing your own piglets. The husband and I are at odds about this and we’re hoping you could give some insight into why you don’t do your own piglets. - Ellen Farm babies are adorable, but in our couple years of doing piglets and goat kids, I learned that farm babies just aren't my thing. Keeping a mama pig means overwintering a pig. It means breeding that pig—which means keeping a boar, borrowing a boar, or doing artificial insemination. Having babies means dealing with all the extra worry that comes with having babies (and all the extra steps to dealing with those babies). And then you have to find new farms for those babies—which means dealing with people who think they want those piglets. There is nothing wrong with trying the whole piglet thing out, it's the only way you will know what works for you and your farm. We tried it here, and our experience taught me that I'm totally okay with paying someone else to deal with moms and dads and piglets. 2 — Ghost stories You’ve mentioned in a few episodes that you believe in ghosts and that your kids don’t. Tell us a ghost story that you’ve experienced. - Nita To be clear, I'm not a “hey, I saw a ghost floating in the cemetery” kind of person. It’s more of a “there’s something else here” kind of thing. I will tell you two stories; a spooky one about a house we looked at to buy where my dad and I had the same experience in similar rooms in the second story, and sorta charming story about a kid who used to leave green crayon marks all over our house...before we had kids. (Listen to those stories on the podcast by pressing the black player button at the top of the post and finding minute marker 8:27 -- they're too long to write out here!) 3 — People's opinions about kids and farm work I’m wondering how you figure out what jobs your kids should have around the farm? I seem to be caught in the middle of half my family saying that I make my kids do too much and some of the rest of the family says that kids can do more than we think they can. I know you moved to the homestead when your kids were younger, how did you decide what they would help with? And did you ever internally struggle with they’re doing too much/not enough. And what did you say to people who said they were doing too much or not enough? - What To Do? This is an issue whether you live on a farm or not. This is just a thing that boils down to people always feel the need to comment on how other people's kids are raised. How do you figure out what your kids should help with? You know your kids. You know what they can handle. You know what you need them to handle. Parenting is finding that balance between what's too much and what's simply a challenge they need to surmount. That's everything from can they collect eggs without dropping them to can they carry a knife around the farm to are they big enough to do this particular job on butcher day. Helping on the farm is about helping them grow as people, not about what your mom sister brother fellow homesteader thinks is enough or too ...

I think most of you know that I’m a writer. Like, not just a gal who writes blog posts, but a real live fiction author (under a pen name) as well. So, today we're talking about NaNoWrimo (Nano...what?), why writer-type-folk should consider taking part in it this November, and—for you non-writers—lessons I've learned from my participation in NaNoWriMo that absolutely and totally apply to other areas of life. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar. You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players. What is NaNoWriMo? NaNoWriMo started in 1999, and stands for National Novel Writing Month. It's basically a ginormous annual challenge to write 50,000 words of a novel during the month of November. Fifty thousand words, you guys. Thirty days, you guys. Who takes part in stuff like this? Crazy people, obviously. Crazy people like me. I take part in it. I even get excited for it, like Christmas y'all. NaNoWriMo has grown into a year round website that helps you track your words, provides pep talks from well known authors, and gives you a place to talk to other people who are taking the same crazy challenge as you. (Like 455,080 authors that participated in 2019. Wut??) NaNoWriMo is now a non-profit, and their programs support writing fluency and education. Their programs now include National Novel Writing Month in November, Camp NaNoWriMo in April and July, the Young Writers Program, Come Write In, and the “Now What?” Months in January and February. And it's not just a crazy challenge or a cutesy project. Some big names and big books started as NaNoWriMo projects. Books like Water for Elephants, The Night Circus, Wool, Fangirl, The Darwin Elevator, and Cinder. How much is 50,000 words? So, 50k words in a month. Wut? Those of you who aren’t writers probably can't wrap your head around word counts because you're used to counting pages. Traditionally (you know, back when I was in college and books were printed on paper) we were told to figure 250ish words to a page. With that line of thinking, a 50k manuscript will net you a 200 word novel. **But with new formatting and ebooks and all those things, the concept of “pages” has kind of changed. But why? Why would you even try write 50,000 words in a month? To see if you can. Back in 2013, I heard about this super cool thing—NaNoWri...something. I had yet another story idea in me and was looking for a kick in the pants. I thought 50k words? whatever. No way. But I have this story idea in me, so why not? And I did it. I looked down towards the end of the month and saw I had passed 50k words and I cried. I had actually done it. This will be my 4th year doing Nano. Early in my fiction writing career (pre-2013) I wrote romantic comedies. But then I got comfortable enough to write the kind of stuff I really wanted to write—psychological thriller, mystery, dark fiction type stuff. So that's what I write now. My first NaNoWriMo project, The Me You See, was published in 2014. My second, The Visit, I didn’t finish, but it's on the list to go back to. My third, Opposite of Gray, is currently being edited. My 4th (2020!) will be a novel called Snap about current events and human nature as told through the eyes of four people in a small town. Things I’ve Learned From NaNoWriMo Pre-NanoWriMo, I had it in my head that the first draft of a book took at least a year to write. We needed time to think and consider and mull over and wait for the muse to show up. Nano was absolutely THE thing that taught me I can write 50k words in a month. Nano taught me that I can complete that goal by averaging 1667 words a day. Some days I wrote less, some days I wrote way more. I learned that if I apply the seat of my pants to the seat of my ...

Earlier this week I went down a rabbit hole that we will call Something Doesn't Quite Line Up Here which lead me to a bunch of question-asking and research. And because that rabbit hole was so deep, Cinderella didn't get her work done to make that today's podcast episode topic. So today's episode is instead a recap of all the other stuff I wrote about during the week: those itty bitty daily thoughts that have been milling around in my brain and that I write about daily here on A Farmish Kind of Life. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar. You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at all popular podcast players. Today's episode includes itty bitty thoughts about: Decorate for You Here’s the thing I’ve learned: your life doesn’t have to sparkle for anyone else, it just has to sparkle for you. Just Do the Next Thing Maybe life is less about knowing what "needs" to get done and more about tackling the things that "come up"—and considering that maybe things don’t actually "come up." Beautiful Boring Someone recently told me she liked to talk to me because I had a boring life. Here's why I'm totally okay with that. The Way Things Were Deep thoughts about life back in the day and why it's okay to let go of things. In Tiny Houses on Little Farms I got to thinking about my great uncle, who lived through the Great Depression, and what'd he'd have to say about us getting all caught up in what's happening out there in the big wide world. A Lesson Learned from Two Tall Guys That thing where you feel like your kids become the parent and you're the kid because you know the advice they're giving you is on point. Bookmark ITTY BITTY THOUGHTS and come back to check out what I post tomorrow! I’d love your thoughts on today’s post in a comment below or via email at [email protected]. RESOURCES: Daily posts here at the website: https://afarmishkindoflife.com/category/itty-bitty-thoughts Signup for my email newsletter: http://www.subscribepage.com/q6n3t5 Farmish Kind of Life MeWe group: https://mewe.com/join/afarmishkindoflifehomesteaders Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farmishkindoflife/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/farmishkindoflife Email me: [email protected]

It’s another random audience questions podcast episode (and blog post) where I pull five questions from my giant mason jar of topics you’ve sent in. Today I answer your questions about homesteading skills, family issues, snow removal, leaving Facebook, and crocheting. If you’d like to add a question to my jar for a future episode please email it to [email protected]. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar. You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, and other popular podcast players. 1 — Homesteading Skills I have a random question. Like you, I’m increasingly concerned about what the next 3, 6 and 12 months are going to look like in our country. I’ve been a suburban/ urban “homesteader” for about 10 years with the goal of getting land and making a home for myself and my sons that is more sustainable, safer, and from where I can earn an income that’s not dependent on an office in a big city. I don’t need to earn my whole income from a farm. I can do consulting from anywhere I have an internet connection. My question to you is what skills would you focus on getting prior to moving to a homestead? Gun use and safety of course. Butchering? Animal husbandry? Carpentry? I should add I’m a 51 year old single mom of 2 boys in their early to mid teens and they are fully supportive of this move. - Wendy It’s awesome that you have the freedom of consulting on the internet! I would just caution you—and this is obvious, but I’m still gonna throw it out there—when you’re looking for property make sure there is decent internet. There are pockets all over that still don’t have reliable internet, so if your work is internet related, that needs to be number one in your property search. As far as the skills to work on, there are so many that you could start researching and working on, but it really has to do with what you plan to do on your homestead. “Homesteading” is a pretty huge word and means a lot of things. The skills I use the most often here would be butchering, carpentry/fix-it stuff, and gardening/preserving the harvest—and trying to use the equipment (skidloader, tractor, chainsaw, power tools)! I would say the first thing is to dig into “what” you want to do as a homesteader. You’re already a suburban/urban homesteader. What are the things you really absolutely want to have and do on your land? Do some dreaming and then concentrate on those skills. The great thing is that we live in a time where information is so easy to get, which makes learning what you want to learn much easier than it was for our ancestors. Other links to check out: The Most Important Homesteading Skill Smart Homesteaders Keep Learning 2 — Family Issues Hey Amy! I wanted to submit a question for your mason jar. A little background first. My family was once considered to be close knit but, unfortunately, fell apart roughly 20 years ago due to disagreements I'd rather keep anonymous. Some members still speak but we haven't all been in the same room for a very long time even for holidays. Without pointing fingers at just one person, we all could make a better effort in spending time together in my opinion, but there seems to be a problem of "I only want you in my life when it's convenient for me, what you do for me, and as long as you live your life the way I do I accept you". My question is: Is it ever ok to cut family members out of your life, do I allow them to walk away, or is there any other way to handle this I haven't learned yet? That being asked, anytime I try to set boundaries I won't hear from them until they need something or I "apologize" for not jumping at their beckon call. I put the word apologize in quotations because I feel obligated to and feel like I'm just trying to keep...

Last week I was gone for a magical week, deep in the woods of extreme northern Minnesota, a stone's throw from the Canadian border. A week spent deep in the woods gives a person a lot of time to think and you generally come back to your normal everyday life with some thoughts. Today, I'm sharing those deep thoughts from the woods here with you. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar. You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, and other popular podcast players. The problem is, when you spend a lot of time away and have some moments of clarity, you come back to a jumbled up world and it can be really hard to reacclimate yourself to what's going on here in real life. It's been a bumpy ride to say the least. But I offer up my three thoughts to you in the hopes that maybe one of them will help untangle something in your head, too. Deep thought #1: Prepare for then, but live in the now Somewhere while packing the last items into the truck for our annual cabin trip, it occurred to me, this could be our last real family vacation. By next September, our oldest will be graduated from high school, possibly college, and will be a full fledged adult. Our youngest is only a year behind. And that thought sat in the back of my head as we drove up and unpacked our gear. But somewhere along the first trip out on the 4 wheelers it hit me. I can focus on the fact it might be his last trip to the cabin as a kid and be sad, or I can pour myself into the moments of this vacation and actually experience them. And then, I realized something else. We’re all doing the same thing as it relates to what’s coming next for our economy, for our society. We are so caught up in what might be coming around the bend that we’re missing what’s happening right now. Now, I do think it's important to prepare. I myself am someone who likes to try and think two steps ahead. I think that's a responsible thing to do. But not to the detriment of the life you're living and breathing in right now, at this moment. It's okay to peek at what's coming around the corner, but make sure you've got your feet on the ground where you're standing. Deep thought #2: The trees have answers Because the air is more clear and the woods chill me out, I generally go to the cabin looking for brilliant answers— for the way around everything, or for a solution to whatever is the current issue in my life. This time though, the answers just weren't coming and I was getting frustrated. The second to the last morning that we were at the cabin, I started the coffee pot, sat at the table in a sort of silence that is almost suffocating, and I penned the following free verse poem. A Tree in the Woods In this place where I can see my breath at the kitchen table, Where making a pot of coffee is not as easy as Running the faucet Clicking the power switch Waiting a few minutes to pour your cup, Where stepping off the deck means Greeting a bear, Where the changing leaves are your television. In this place where we haven’t seen another Human being for five days Not on the trails. Not on the roads. Not in the woods. Where the world could have stopped Blown up Ended And we wouldn’t even know Unless we turned on the radio. In this place where I come for clarity Answers Perspective Where I usually come out on the other side with A deep refreshing Cleansing sigh And a big idea A solution A plan But this time is different There is no cleansing sigh I’m here and I feel like I’m Holding My Breath. And Like an impatient two year old I want the answers Demand the answers The sky and woods laugh at me and say Sit back Watch Breathe. And I look and all I see are trees. Trees being trees.

Today we are tackling the topic of freedom of speech—it's a huge topic that's been on my mind lately because of things happening out in the world. Not just because I see certain things being censored online, it's also how I'm seeing people react to that. So today we're digging into this topic and giving you some ways to look at freedom of speech as we move forward. Listen to the podcast episode by pressing the play button on the black bar above. All episodes are linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar. You can also listen and subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, and other popular podcast players. Let's start with a metaphor. Let’s pretend that I invite all of you to a campfire at my farm, and I say it’s a happy wonderful place where anyone is welcome for conversation and friendship. And everyone starts having conversations. And then I happen hear you talking about church, or being a vegan, or cops, or your brother and his boyfriend getting married, or being pro-life or pro-choice, and every time you open your mouth, I talk over you. Or I move you away from the campfire where no one can hear you. Friends, this is no longer a campfire where anyone is welcome for conversation and friendship. And this, my friends, is what social media is turning into. Now, if I don’t want certain things talked about at my campfire, that’s my right because it’s my farm. But I can’t go around telling people that my campfire is a happy wonderful place where anyone is welcome for conversation and friendship if I'm also going to tell people what they can and can't talk about. Free speech: what does it actually mean? The crazy thing is that we've got a lot of people saying they believe in free speech. We've got people super angry that some of these campfires (or social media) are censoring people, mostly themselves. But at the same time, they get angry when someone at a campfire starts blasting off an opinion they don't like. They usually end up asking the person who has the campfire to tell that person to leave because, “you can’t say that here!” Free speech means it’s okay to have an opinion and it’s okay to voice that opinion -- even if someone doesn’t agree with you. It would be super cool if this actually meant voicing that opinion in a respectful manner, but let’s be real. This is America and we are humans and most people start frothing at the mouth about the rightness of what they believe. The thing about free speech Here's a really cool thing about free speech. If you’re sitting at the campfire with someone who is spouting off opinions that you don’t agree with, and you think they have crossed the line into jerk territory—you can pick up your chair. You can move your seat at the campfire. I don’t think that free speech was ever supposed to mean threatening to bash peoples' skulls in. I think it was more supposed to have to do with when we don’t like something the government is doing, we can go ahead and express that. In any event, go ahead and say the super tough and super cool things you want to say—because then I get to decide how I interact with you after that. It's really a win-win for both of us. Freedom of speech is hard. People are figuring out that freedom of speech is actually difficult to sit nicely with. Because if it’s okay that I say what I want, it’s okay that you say what you want. And that’s really easy if we agree with each other. And it’s even pretty ok if we agree to disagree with other. But when we flat out disagree on something that we believe so hard core in the pit of our very stomachs, for most people, it’s really hard to contemplate freedom of speech in all of that. In real life, most people have a really hard time if someone strongly believes a certain thing that totally goes against what you believe in. But if you actually believe in freedom of speech,...