Small Scale Life Podcast

Welcome to the Small Scale Life Podcast! I like to call it the “Half Hour Happy Hour,” and today is no different! I am usually selling Good Vibes to the audience, and I hope this episode inspires you to make a difference in your neighborhood and community. After all, our time on this earth is limited. It’s your life; do something positive with it! I am going to talk about some people doing positive things in their community, and I am going to talk about a new project and direction for the Small Scale Gardening project. Topics in this podcast episode include the following: Introduction Thank you, Lifers, and Member of the Month It’s Your Life: Do Something Positive Examples of People Doing Good Things Small Scale Gardening: Growing Skills, Growing People Next Steps Your Turn: Challenge Yourself For more information and links, check the show notes in the article titled: smallscalelife.com/do-something-positive.

As promised earlier this week, I am following up on my last podcast episode covering How to Extend My Garden Season. If you can tell from the title of this episode, I had some big failures and learned some valuable gardening lessons last Friday night and Saturday morning. In this episode, I am going to talk about the 6 Lessons Learned from the End of My 2019 Garden Season, and hopefully you will pick up a thing or two that you can use in your own garden! You can find out more at smallscalelife.com including show notes, pictures, infographics and my previous post titled "Frost is Coming: How to Extend My Garden Season" that is effectively Part 1 of this episode!

Well, my gardening friends, they say "all good things must come to an end." My question is: do they have to come to an end this early? Frost is coming this weekend, and I don’t want the party to end. I am wondering how to extend my garden season? Should I try to push the limits and test my luck a bit longer? I know what you hardened and veteran gardeners are saying: “Don’t stop now; keep growing!” I know exactly how you feel! I am feeling that way too! The problem comes into how I set up the garden this year with vine crops on trellis systems. Is the juice worth the squeeze for keeping these plants going? Frost is coming, folks! You can’t stop it; you can just prepare. I know others are wondering how to extend my garden season, so let’s dig into how we can do just that. For about methods to extend your gardening season, check out the post on smallscalelife.com!

Successful events and failed events do not just happen. The success or complete failure is set in motion long before the actual event. This past weekend, my family, Julie and I experienced both. I am going to tell a tale of those two events and give you 10 Tips to Successfully Plan and Host an Event. By following these tips, I think you will be well equipped to successfully plan and host your own event! For show notes, links and the 10 Tips for How to Successfully Plan and Host an Event InfoGraphic, please go to the Small Scale Life article titled "10 Tips to Successfully Plan and Host an Event."

In this episode, I discuss a great Fall Equinox weekend including: Danny and David's Toughest Mudder Race in Dallas, TX; Exploring River Falls, WI; Canning and preserving the harvest from my garden; A very special and powerful lantern lighting ceremony at Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis, MN; Celebrating the Fall Equinox with a "Domres Special" Dinner; Happy Half Hour - Being Positive and Inspiring you to Learn, Do, Grow and Be a Little Better Everyday; Canning and Preservation Links on Small Scale Life; What's coming next on Small Scale Life! For all the links and show notes for this podcast, please go to Small Scale Life and see the article posted Happy Fall Equinox 2019 posted there.

How does a company grow 1 million meals in a place with incredibly high temperatures in the summer and cold temperatures in the winter? On top of that, this company has no tillable soil, no heavy farm equipment (i.e., traditional tractors or combines) and only asphalt and concrete to grow food. In addition, this company needs to move garden beds for new attractions and exhibits, so these raised beds need to be mobile. Impossible, you say? It is not only possible, it is happening right now in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. In fact, it is happening at the State Fair of Texas while the fair is happening! In this episode, I sit down with Drew Demler from Big Tex Urban Farms and discuss various aquaponic systems and mobile garden beds used to grow 1 million meals for the Dallas-Fort Worth area. We cover a lot of topics including who Drew Demler is, what kind of aquaponic systems are used, pests, fertilizers, wicking beds and small aquaponic systems you can set up at your own home. Big Tex Urban Farms has a focused mission: to "connect like-minded agriculture entities and provides fresh produce to organizations focused on hunger and healthy lifestyle programs." With people like Drew Demler leading the way, there is no doubt in my mind that Big Tex Urban Farms will continue to push the envelope and provide nutritous meals to those in need for a long time to come. For more information, links and show notes, please head to the article titled "SSG: How to Grow 1 Million Meals with Drew Demler " on https://smallscalegardening.com!

In last week's News from Around the Bend on smallscalelife.com, I opened the article by talking about kids going back to school. In some cases, our friends are taking their young adults to college for the first time. Julie and I have been there and done that. After all, both of our boys left our house and went to the US Army (Danny) or college (Ryan). We just took Ryan back to Winona, Minnesota, for the next phase of his college career. Whether you are taking your young adult to college for the first time, to kindergarten for the first time or sending your child to school for another round, we all have feelings of excitement, nervousness and doubt. Why do we feel this way and what can you do about it? In this podcast, I am mainly going to focus on young adults going back to school or heading off to college for the first time. A friend is feeling that sense of loss and depression after sending his son to college several states away. He was feeling pretty bad, and I wanted to respond to some of his questions in this podcast. The bottom line is that you have to let these young adults launch and start to explore their world. We are going to have to give up some control; these young adults are out of sight and out of "reach" (so to speak). You don't have control, and you need to let them learn. On the other hand, there are some things we can do to prepare for this phase of life. We need to have a plan in case things go awry. Life happens, and it can catch you by surprise if you don't have a plan. At the same time, there are some things we need to do to think about the next phase of OUR LIVES. Yes, the kids are going to leave the nest, so what comes next? Remember: failing to plan is planning to fail. We want you to be the best you, so start to put that thinking cap on, make some plans and execute! For more information and links in the show notes, check out the article titled "Preparing for the Next Phase of Life" on smallscalelife.com!

In this episode, I am trying something new! This is the pilot episode of the new Small Scale Gardening Podcast. In this podcast, I am focusing on gardening and food preservation, which are my passions. As I learned from my good friend Greg Burns, I need to "Start with the Why" as I begin this effort. 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

July was a great month full of time spent with family and friends. We need to be part of our community and strengthening existing relationships while making new ones. It isn't always about the money; it's about building social capital! This is a Just Tom Show while I am on the road from Duluth, MN, to Minneapolis, MN. As I worked on the shores of the great Lake Giche Gume (Lake Superior for everyone not in Minnesota), I had time to reflect on July. We had a great time with family at our house and on the road in Stevens Point, Kimball and northern Wisconsin. It helped that we have a lot of July birthdays; that translates into family celebrations! Family can be hard to love at times, but as my dad said, "Blood is thicker than water." We have been working hard to build up those family relationships. At the same time, July has been a month of friendship. We are thankful to spend time with our good friends and make some new friends along the way! Friends have invited us over, and we have opened our house to them as well. A great example is this weekend: we are heading north (after I just got home) to our friends' cabin near Hayward, WI. It is going to be a weekend of fun and shenanigans, but that is what it is all about, right? We have to open ourselves up and take the time to connect with others, even those folks in our neighborhood. For more on this podcast (and the show notes), head over to this article on Small Scale Life!

In this podcast, Julie and I talk about How to Budget Your Way to Financial Freedom. We unpack the 9 Steps to Creating Your First Budget (with an additional bonus step at the end). This is the podcast you have been waiting for! After recording this podcast, Julie and I realized that there was a lot to this topic. Budgeting so important to your future success, but creating your first budget can be overwhelming and stressful. Julie and I have done a lot of thinking about how to present this material and share our process with you. To help you with successfully creating your first budget, Julie and I decided to create and release a Quickie Monthly Budget rather than a complicated spreadsheet. We want you to try this method of budgeting in a simple and easy to follow format. As part of Creating Your First Budget Week, Julie and I will be releasing a Quickie Monthly Budget with instructions on Wednesday this week at smallscalelife.com. We will have a special page dedicated to this Quickie Monthly Budget, and we will include a link in the show notes once the budget has been posted. In the meantime, head over to smallscalelife.com to find more information and get the show notes on this podcast!

"Your goal is your destination; your budget is your roadmap." - Julie Domres Do you have dreams and goals? Are you making progress towards achieving those goals? For some people, it is difficult to dream. Others have big plans and goals, but they do not execute and take steps towards making those dreams a future reality. In this podcast, Julie and I discuss How to Dream Big, Set Goals and Take Steps to Achieve Them. Dreaming big and setting those goals are the "Secret Sauce" behind budgeting. You are developing powerful "whys" for those times when you are tempted to engage in retail therapy, splurge on meals or rack up massive credit card debt to impress people you don't particularly like! As we discuss in this podcast, you need to start with your powerful why. Before you begin budgeting, you need to do some deep thinking and dreaming about what you want your life to look like in 10 years, 3 years and 1 year. Once you have this vision set, you can focus on developing your budget that will set you up to achieve your dreams! We'll share with you how to dream big, set goals and take the steps to achieve them in this podcast. How do we know they work? Because we are using this to achieve our goals too! For more information on this post including getting the show notes, head to the article titled "How to Dream Big, Set Goals and Take Steps to Achieve Them" on Small Scale Life

Have you ever thought you were climbing a mountain? Huge obstacles in life take on different forms and shapes. They can be finances, health issues, clutter, relationships, work or just life in general! Those obstacles have a tendency to start as molehills and become mountains. Many times, we do not put those mountains in our lives on purpose; they just seem to happen. What happens when we do put those mountains in front of us on purpose? Last weekend, Julie, Savannah, the Old Trapper and I got to witness what happens when 110 souls put running up and then down a mountain that they put in their life on purpose. We witnessed these 110 runners competing in the Last Runner Standing Ultramarathon where these athletes truly began climbing mountains with mindset, heart and dedication! In this post and podcast, I will discuss the following topics: What is an Ultramarathon? What is the Last Runner Standing Ultramarathon? The Ultramarathon Community Winners Running the Last Runner Standing Ultramarathon – In their Own Words [For more information, please head over to the article titled "Last Runner Standing Ultramarathon" on smallscalelife.com!](https://www.smallscalelife.com/last-runner-standing-ultramarathon/)

Last week, the gardening world and I got some sad news that made me think about leaving a legacy. Larry Hall passed away. For those of you who do not know who Larry Hall is, he is the creator of the Rain Gutter Grow System that I have experimented with in the past (and will be experimenting with this year). Larry was from Brainerd, Minnesota, and he created a low-cost way for people to successfully grow food no matter where they lived. We are all going to die someday. It might be today, tomorrow or years in the future. We don’t know when, where or how. We can’t stop it, and it is part of the life cycle. Knowing this, the question is: how are you leaving a legacy for those who come behind you (future generations of your children and grandchildren)? For the transcript of the article and lots of links, see the show notes in the article titled "Leaving a Legacy - A Tribute to Larry Hall" on smallscalelife.com.

In this episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, Julie and I discuss taking the first steps towards Financial Freedom. To do this, you need to start by Taking Inventory and Tracking Expenses. In previous episodes of the Small Scale Life Podcast, Julie and I have told our story about making mistakes and doing stupid with zeros on it. In order to break out of the box and go from Survive to Thrive, we needed to change our habits and our mindset. To start down this path, you need to get a clear picture of what your net worth looks like. Are you in the red or in the black? Do you know? Julie and I have prepared an inventory worksheet for you, and it is available on the Small Scale Life Resources Page. Once you complete this exercise, you can begin tracking ALL of your expenses. You can do this by writing it down in a notebook or using apps like mint.com. For show notes and more information, head on over to the article titled Financial Freedom: Start by Taking Inventory and Tracking Expenses at Small Scale Life.

In this episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I discuss a great Mother's Day Weekend with a full house. There was a lot of family and community building last week, and there is a big garden update as well. It's another action-packed episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast! I discuss the following topics in this episode: Happy Mother's Day 2019! Great Mother's Day Meal About Last Week....Community Building Social Events Garden Update....World War III Lesson of the Week For more information, check out the post titled "Happy Mother's Day 2019" at https://smallscalelife.com!

When a day starts out wrong and poorly, you might need to call in the experts to help out! In this Bonus Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I talk about how my Friday started off wrong and went sideways in a hurry. When your YouTube University experience turns out to be a Pinterest Fail, you need to call in the experts to put it all back together again. It almost set the tone for the whole weekend, but I was able to recover while completing one of my favorite inspection tours on a gorgeous day! It's Western Wisconsin; it's sunny; it was awesome! At the same time, it was a great week at Small Scale Life. We got a great podcast posted, a newsletter (two actually) sent out and News from Around the Bend posted. What more could you want? Actually, it was even better than that....Julie and I are up to something good, and you will have to listen to find out what is happening! For more Small Scale Life, head over to the website for the following articles and links: **Sign up for the Small Scale Life Newsletter Our Journey Rowards Finacial Freedom - Small Scale Life Podcast News from Around the Bend - Earth Day Edition**

Julie and I are on vacation and podcasting on location! In this episode, Julie and I discuss our journey towards financial freedom. We talk about the good, the bad and the ugly, and we hope to inspire you as you begin or continue on your own journey! For show notes and more resources, check out the article titled Our Journey towards Financial Freedom on Small Scale Life!

In today's podcast, I talk about a number of subjects including the following: Wishing listeners and the Lifer community a Happy Easter! Weekend 3 Things on the Small Scale Life Facebook Group Working through our busy week Gardening and Demo Day of the old raised beds Starting to build community online and in person! Remember: Start small where you are and start with a couple people. Over time, develop 5 close friends that have your back, and you have theirs. Develop and Abundance Mindset. For more information, check out the article titled "Starting to Build Community" at smallscalelife.com.

Even with the snow falling and wind howling today, it is Gardening Season! What did the story at the start of the podcast have to do with today's topic? Well, in today's podcast, I am circling back around to a discussion I had with Michael Bell about a new garden planting concept that some of us are experimenting with this year. We call Soup Gardening! What is Soup Gardening? That is the topic of today's show, so stay tuned! For a lot more information on this podcast, check out the article titled "Soup Gardening with Michael Bell" on Small Scale Life!

In this 136th voyage of the Small Scale Life Podcast, Julie and I hit the road and record a podcast. We are kicking off the Quarter 2 Renew You: Introction to Financial Freedom! Money is a tool, and having enough money can help you develop that life you love. Not having that enough money tends to lead to poor decisions, stress and relationship problems with your significant other. Americans have had a love affair with debt: we take loans for our houses, our cars, our cell phones, and buy lots of stuff using credit cards. We live in a country that borrows from future generations to build and repair roads, pay for benefits, conquer nations and protect the world. It is amazing that our money says "In God We Trust," yet we put all of our trust in banks and credit card companies. Getting a hold of our finances and debt is a critical first step in taking control of our lives and starting to develop a life we love. This is a huge realization we had this year, especially with a record-setting Government Shutdown. As Seth Godin says, “Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don’t need to escape from.” ― Dave Ramsey, EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches. We completely agree and Julie says this exact words in the podcast (which leads us off the Introduction to Financial Freedom Podcast). F*or more information on this podcast, check out the article titled "Renew You: Introduction to Financial Freedom."* Also, sign up for the Small Scale Life Newsletter on the Resources page!

As a content creator, there are times when we are on a crazy race to put up the next piece of content for our friend, followers and fans. We are in a mad dash to keep the dopamine hits coming and the fans liking our photos, blog posts, podcasts, videos, tweets and pins. At times, we are doing things to just DO things, and we are completely missing out on what is happening around us. Terrance Layhew from the Intellectual Agrarian Blog and Podcast and I had a chance to sit down and talk about this very subject. Terrance called it "living in the analog," and this whole discussion left me with a lot to think about. In fact, based on this conversation, I re-evaluated some of the things I was posting on Instgram and actually scaled back on some of the content there. I discontinued the Black-and-White Photo Challenge as I thought long and hard about the purpose of this effort and once again thinking about the WHY behind it. As you will hear in the podcast, Terrance is a fellow people collector, and he has used his networking, communicating and writing skills to become an organic inspector, podcaster, writer and intellectual agrarian. Terrance and I have a great discussion about his journey from inquisitive teenager to organic inspector, living in the analog, some trends happening in the organic farming world and his Intellectual Agrarian Podcast. Feel free to grab your favorite mug filled with coffee or tea and tune in to Living in the Analog with my friend Terrance Leyhew. As always, for links to the Intellectual Agrarian, head to smallscalelife.com and find all the links and notes for this podcast.

Welcome to Spring, friends! Hallelujah and pass the Dombucha Kombucha; the snow is melting! We have a great podcast lined up for you today, and we are kicking off Spring right by talking urban farming and gardening. I had a chance to talk with my good friend Michael Bell from Dallas Half Acre Farms about what is happening on the farm. While he has been very busy selling and buying a house, moving, teaching and of course being a dad and husband, things are really busy on the farm as well. Michael has made several improvements to the farm including installing new tunnels, increasing the number of seedlings he needs, improving his seedling growing processes and growing easy with GrowOyas! You might be asking: what is an GrowOya? GrowOyas are a method for watering your gardens using a clay pot that looks like a gourd. The water seeps into your soil and the plants get what they need. It is another method to water your garden without timers, hoses, drip tape or other methods. Michael is lining a tunnel with GrowOyas and experimenting with tomatoes this season, and it is another self-watering system that could be used on any size garden! To find out more about GrowOyas, check out the links at smallscalelife.com! When you buy some, tell them Michael Bell from Dallas sent you! For more information, check out the article titled "Growing Easy with GrowOya at Dallas Half Acre Farms" at smallscalelife.com

For this 133rd Small Scale Life podcast, Julie and I talked about the Health and Fitness Renew You Kickstart with Karen Mangieri. Karen is Julie's sister living in Georgia. For those of you not in the Small Scale Life Facebook Group, Karen was our most active member during the Health and Fitness Renew You Kickstart. In fact, Karen had the title of "Uncrustable Queen" prior to the kickstart, and she has made considerable progress on planning her meals, prepping food and staying consistent using the 24 Hour Plans! 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!

In this episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, we are talking about Tipping Points with Nicole Sauce. I had an opportunity to catch up with Nicole and talk about her journey from leaving the city in the Pacific Northwest to rural living. At the same time, we talk about breaking free of the corporate cube world to starting small businesses and becoming self-sufficient. What were the tipping points that triggered those journeys and what lessons were learned along the way? For more information, check out the article titled "Tipping Points with Nicole Sauce" on Small Scale Life.

Are you keeping your New Year's Resolutions? Remember those? How are you doing on them? If you are like many Americans that make New Year's Resolutions, the answer is probably a resounding "no." Statistically speaking, research has shown the following: By the end of January, approximately 64 percent of us have dropped our New Years Resolutions. By March 1st, more than 80 percent of us have dropped those New Year’s Resolutions and goals. Anecdotally, you know it's true because you can see this at the gyms: the crowds that created standing room only and long wait times for equipment have eased up or evaporated completely. The pool is empty, and there is room (once again) for you to roll out your yoga mat (don't worry, grunty-farty guy is still there with you). So, I'll ask you again: Are you keeping your New Year's Resolutions? Are you still following the steps outlined in our Health and Fitness Renew You Kickstart? For more information, please go to the article titled "Four Tips for Keeping New Year's Resolutions" at Small Scale Life. Sign up for the 2019 Health and Fitness Renew You at Small Scale Life as well!

Old Man Winter has struck back at us meddling kids in the north country with a vengeance. All across the Upper Midwest of the United States, temperatures have dropped below zero, and the wind chills are approaching -50 degrees Fahrenheit. The extreme cold is life threatening, especially to those caught outside unprepared. In this article, I will discuss How to Prepare for the Polar Vortex. While it isn't necessarily part of our Health and Fitness Renew You Kickstart, how to prepare for the polar vortex is first and foremost on everyone's mind in the Upper Midwest. After all, being prepared might just save your life in these conditions! For more information on this podcast, please see the following posts: How to Prepare for the Polar Vortex Winter Driving and Survival Tips – S1E21 * Winter Tips

Today's topic is one near and dear to my heart because I have struggled with it over and over and over again. One of our Health and Fitness Renew You Kickstart participants asked the Small Scale Life Facebook Community how to overcome self-sabotage. 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!

What a week it's been! Julie and I have been so excited to bring you the Renew You Kickstart, and now that we are rolling down the tracks with the basics, it is time to talk about Leveling Up and Next Steps on this journey. Julie & I discuss tips and ways to continue to improve as you get stronger physically & mentally. For more information on this topic, please go to the article titled Leveling Up and Next Steps at Small Scale Life. You can also join the free 7 day Health and Fitness Renew You Kickstart at Small Scale Life.

Hey, Lifers! Do you want to know a little secret Tom and I have figured out that is absolutely KEY to setting us up for success to meet our health and fitness goals??? Actually, beyond the 24 Hour Plan and sticking to the basics of drinking enough water, getting enough sleep and doing some kind of daily intentional movement, this is THE most important thing you can do. Yup, you guessed it (really smart of you, based on the title of the post!)....It's Meal Planning and Food Prepping! To get useful tips and information for your Health and Fitness Journey, check out the following articles on Small Scale Life: Day 6: Meal Planning for Success Day 6: Food Prepping for Success Feel free to join the Health and Fitness Renew You Campaign on Small Scale Life by clicking the link! Go get em, Lifers!

It's Day 3 of the Renew You Kickstart, and today's topic is Basic Nutrition. Michael Bell returns to walk us through this topic, and he gives some great advice for folks starting on their journey with the Renew You Kickstart. As Julie and I have been saying over and over in previous podcasts and articles: this is about starting where you are. Some of us have been medicating ourselves with cheeseburgers, fries and beer (or Diet Coke) for many, many years. As we start to pay closer attention to what we are eating, we will find that there are some benefits to eating "what God made," or in other words: "real food." This food is delicious, especially when it is not buried under three gallons of dressing and cheese! For more information, please see the show notes from the article titled "Basic Nutrition with Michael Bell" on Small Scale Life. For the more on the Renew You Kickstart, please see the page on Small Scale Life for this campaign.

It's Day 2 of the Renew You Kickstart, and today's topic is Basic Movement. As Julie and I have been saying over and over: this is about starting where you are. Some of us live in cube farms and are keyboard warriors; we are not ready for triathalons marathons or lifting heavy weights. 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!

In this episode, Julie and Tom are here to provide you with realistic and doable steps to kickstart your year and set you up to finally achieve your health and fitness goals this year. And it all starts with the 24 Hour Plan. The plan is a one-page document that allows you to plan out: What you are going to eat How you will exercise 3 mediation/prayers 3 things you are grateful for 3 things you want to get done during that day. We complete a sheet before the day begins (night before or morning of), and we will be intentional about all of these items. On the bottom of the plan, there is a section where you can review your day and write what worked, what didn't and what you can improve on tomorrow. Remember: don't beat yourself up! Learn from deviations from the plan and recognize patterns and trends. You will be surprised what you will find out the longer you plan and document deviations. To get the 24 Hour Plan, go to Small Scale Life and download it before listening to this podcast. You can also follow along with the post titled "Day 1: The 24 Hour Plan - Part 1" on Small Scale Life.

Welcome to 2019! It's time to Renew You! In this 122nd Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, Julie and I discuss the holidays (including my birthday), the rebranding of Small Scale Life, rebuilding the website and the Renew You Kickstart. 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.

In this 121st episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, Julie and I are announcing the Renew You in 2019 Kickstart! This is a FREE 7-day event that will provide tools, tips and a community that will help get us improving our mindset, nutrition and movement in 2019. Julie and I want want you, the Small Scale Life Community and others, to join us in starting 2019 off on the right foot. With this Kickstart, we are developing a foundation for success to be the best you (and the best us) in 2019. We are really focusing being intentional for three key aspects of our lives: Mindset Movement Nutrition Julie and I will be rolling out a way to join and get access to these tools and tips in the near future. We will have more information soon! Stay tuned to smallscalelife.com for more information!!!

In this 120th Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I am had a great conversation with my friend Michael Bell about changes at Dallas Half Acre Farms. Michael has been very busy since our last interview, and we will discuss how he is changing his business from a CSA model (weekly box of a variety of products) to growing salanova salad empires in Dallas, Texas. As we discussed recently with Drew Sample, new opportunities and reality can force change, and you have to be ready to adjust accordingly! Are your ready to change? For TONS of more information and links, check out the show notes for this episode at Small Scale Life. Click the link for the post titled "Bellcast: Growing Salanova Salad Empire in Dallas, Texas."

This is the 119th Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, and in this podcast, we are going to talk with Drew Sample about how he is pivoting business strategies at his urban farm Capital City Greens, the Sample Hour Podcast and his other interests/opportunities. Whether it’s your dreams, your business, your football team or your Army, you need to be ready to change and adapt as the “battlefield” changes in front of you. Some opportunities present themselves, others fade. Are you ready to take advantage of those opportunities? This is critical for our businesses. We have to start pivoting business strategies to make sure we take advantage of those opportunities. For more information, please see the post and podcast titled "Pivoting Business Strategies in 614" on Small Scale Life.

Happy Thanksgiving, Lifers! I hope you have a great Thanksgiving planned. If you have been to Small Scale Life this week, you know Julie and I have been busy trying to get recipes posted up on the website to help you with your Thanksgiving preparations. Check out the blog at smallscalelife.com for the following recipes: A super quick/super good cheesy au gratin potatoes recipe, How to cook a turkey and How to cook a ham Thanksgiving should be a lot of fun and bring people together, so we are helping you get ready and get the dinner on the table. It doesn't have to be overwhelming; we are here to help! As you finish up your prep and cooking, I also give a little advice on how to facilitate your family, friends and other guests who arrive at your house. It's life lessons we have learned from experience. I have been there, done that and gotten the t-shirt with some of this! For more tips and photos, check out the post titled "Happy Thanksgiving from Small Scale Life" using the link! Happy Thanksgiving, all! Bon appetit!

Do you feel stressed out? Does it seem that there is too much noise and information out there? How do you sort through what is important and what is not? In today’s fast paced world, there are incredible demands on our most precious resources: our time, our energy and our money. How do you prioritize your time commitments and focus on what is real and what is important? In this episode, Julie and I discuss how to minimize time commitments while maximizing life. We talk about the following topics: Move-Ember Upcoming Small Scale Life Health Challenge Reviewing the 5 Steps to Building a Simple and Intentional Life Time Committments - Introduction Dealing with Family Obligations 4 Steps to Minimizing Time Committments and Maximizing Life Slow down and enjoy the eagles; have your eagle moment The photo that is the cover for this episode was taken on County Highway A in Burnett County, Wisconsin. We rounded the curve and there they were: a dozen eagles taking flight right in front of us. If we had not taken the time and been in a hurry, we would have never appreciated the eagles and the moment. For more information and pictures associated with this podcast, go over to the the article titled "Minimizing Time Commitments while Maximizing Life" at Small Scale Life.

Do you feel stressed out? Does it seem that there is too much noise and information out there? How do you sort through what is important and what is not? In today’s fast paced world, there are incredible demands on our most precious resources: our time, our energy and our money. As we go through life, we seem to collect more and more stuff. We have closets, basements, garages and storage lockers full of stuff! Do we need it all? How can you decide what to keep and what to give away? In this episode of Small Scale Life, Julie and I work through a number of Decluttering Questions and Answers from our own experience in the trenches of our garage, basement, kitchens and utility drawers. Got junk? Well, its time to embrace that chaos and make some decisions! This podcast will help you on your own path to living a simple and intentional life. For more information and tips on HOW to declutter, please see the corresponding article on Small Scale Life titled "Minimalism: Decluttering Questions and Answers."

Happy Halloween 2018! There is nothing like Halloween: the cool weather, the decorations, the pumpkins, the costumes and all the fun associated with this holiday. We have had a lot of fun on Halloween over the years, especially when the boys were younger and when we participated in some haunted houses in Illinois. For the 115th episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I am going to talk about some favorite memories from years gone by and give some tips to creating a cool Halloween scene or haunted house. For more on this episode and some pictures from this year's pumpkin carving and some pictures of us in haunted house costumes, check out the post titled "Happy Halloween 2018: Memories and Stories" on Small Scale Life!

Welcome to Fall 2018 where the snow flies and water freezes before the leaves drop! Such is life here in the north country this year. Last week was a tough week: I was physically and mentally exhausted. Adding to the exhaustion was disappointment after my plans to head to Hogtoberfest 2018 fell apart on Tuesday. I needed a change or pace and a change of environment. In this podcast, I talk about my October doldrums, how I spent the week recuperating and retooling on a number of fronts and overcoming October blues. For more on this story and to see pictures from this podcast, check out the article titles Overcoming October Blues on Small Scale Life!

Fall is here! October is here! Where did the time go? While I love this time of year, it is time to say goodbye to my plants and old, tired garden beds. Like summer hitting early before Memorial Day this year, winter seems to be bearing down on Minnesota and Wisconsin (some areas of Minnesota got a snow already)! In this podcast, I am going to talk about how the First Frost was the End of My 2018 Garden Season. For more about the first frost, pictures and a video, check out the blog post on Small Scale Life titled "First Frost: End of My 2018 Garden Season."

Have you ever had a Hell Week where everything just was a disaster? You are under pressure with deadlines looming and little time to regroup and attack the next project or issue. How did you handle it? Last week was my own version of Hell Week. I can summarize last week with one simple word: Exhausting Last week, a lot happened at work and in the basement that took me away from Small Scale Life. I simply did not have the time or energy to post podcasts, videos or blog posts. Now that I have put some distance between today and Hell Week, I can develop some thoughts about how I will deal with future projects, obligations and events. In retrospect, it was a good reminder that I need to continue to focus on develop methods and systems to help me live a simple life. For more on my Hell Week and some suggestions to deal with deadlines and obligations, check out the article posted on Small Scale Life!

Midweek Motivation is a weekly episode featuring the wisdom and stories of host Tommy Cakes. In this episode, Tommy discusses Going Full Throttle on life, projects and major efforts. It is up to you: if you want to have success, you have to go full throttle! 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. Catching Up and Being Social with Tommy Cakes My sincere apologies that I have been noticeably absent from the series of Small Scale Life Podcasts of late. Believe it or not, it has been since July 26th since my last Midweek Motivation Podcast, and that is a long time. I have been a busy boy doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that, traveling around the country taking care of business. In my own life, I have been roaring and going at full throttle, and I need to budget more time for these kind of podcast, because I do like being social with you. Speaking of social, it’s time for a little drinky drink! It is time for a social. Are you ready for our first sip? Count it down with me and raise a glass….3….2….1…Social! Delicious! That is really good! For show notes, pictures and more information, head on over to the article titled Midweek Motivation: Go Full Throttle on Small Scale Life!

As I have stated on several occasions on the Small Scale Life Podcast, there are a whole universe of other platforms, media and social media out there for us. Occasionally when you speak to the vast universe, it speaks back to you! In this case, that part of the universe was Terrance Layhew from The Intellectual Agrarian. In January, Terrance interviewed Scott Hebert, and somehow he found me. He reached out to me, and after working out our schedules in a busy July, we found a way to connect and complete the interview. In our interview, Terrance and I discussed what lead me to start my small scale life journey, gardening tips and ideas, how and why communities are important and so much more. For show notes, pictures and more information, head on over to the article titled Starting Small Scale Life - The Intellectual Agrarian Podcast on Small Scale Life!

This is a [late] podcast and post about Minnesota Traditions on Labor Day 2018. These traditions include the Exodus to Lake County and the Minnesota State Fair. I had the opportunity to spend four days at the State Fair in a booth, so I had a different experience than many who went as spectators. I will also talk about my Weekend 3 Things and give you an update on Operation Outreach as well. Stay tuned, there is a lot to talk about as I head south in the Mobil Small Scale Life Podcast Studio! 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!

As we roll into September, I have to ask: how is your garden doing? It has been a while since our last tour of the Small Scale Life Garden, so I figured it was time to post a Late August Garden Update and discuss my Fall Planting strategy. With cooler temperatures this week, it is a constant reminder that winter is coming, and I need to get my rear end moving to take advantage of the remaining garden season. For more information, pictures, links and a whole lot more on the Weekend Three Things, Garden Update, and Fall Planting Strategy, please see the article at Small Scale Life!

This week, Greg Burns, my friend Jay and I finish Homesteading for Beginners by discussing the Definition of Homesteading. This is the last part of a 2-1/2 hour conversation that focused on the start of our own individual homesteading journeys. This is a philosophical discussion about the definition of homesteading, how to build experiences and how to cultivate people while building community. If you are new to Small Scale Life or missed Part 1 of the Homesteading for Beginners podcast, I recommend that you take a listen. In that podcast, Captain Lumbersquatch Greg Burns, my friend Jay and I discuss starting our own Homesteading journeys by asking why. For more links, photos and extensive show notes, please go to Small Scale Life to get more information!

This truly is a verbal potpourri episode, so grab a cocktail or your coffee, settle in and enjoy the ride. This is a comfy little podcast full of stories and tales. The point of this podcast is to stay grounded using the Weekend Three Things threads, have some adventures on the weekend and of course learn, do and grow! In this episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I am discussing the new weekly post in the Small Scale Life Facebook Group called my "weekend three things." I also include a summary of the Zac Brown Band Concert in Minneapolis, Julie's first triathlon and much, much more! For more information, pictures and the awesome show notes, head over to Small Scale Life for more on this podcast!

As I drove through southern Minnesota this week, I saw a lot of great farms and homesteads on my journey. Some of these folks lived on Century Farms (100-year old family farms) while others were just starting to homestead. My friend Jay and I can relate to those new homesteaders: we both purchased properties in 2018. We want to create new homesteads on our respective properties, and we figured it would be great to talk with someone who actually had a homestead and was further down the rabbit hole on this journey. Fortunately, I know a few people who do some great things due to this little podcast and blog! I called on my friend Captain Lumbersquatch Greg Burns, and he agreed to bring his contrarian perspective (and jar full of fermented goodness) to the discussion. For more information, show notes and links to other podcasts and information, check out the post on Small Scale Life!