Old Fashioned On Purpose

No matter if you're a new gardener or a seasoned veteran, I can guarantee you've struggled with figuring out how much to actually plant. How do I know? I struggled with this problem for years. No matter how much I searched online, I could never find an actual solution. Even worse, I continued making the same mistakes year-after-year without realizing what was happening. Well, fear not my...

I must admit, while I fancy myself as being quite knowledgable as a homesteader, there is one area in particular I didn't have the slightest clue how to tackle. Although I had a good grasp on heating and cooking without electric, I had no idea what to do when it came to getting water. Thankfully, my good friend Amber Bradshaw has returned to help us all tackle our water systems. If you missed...

What do you do when the power goes out?  For most of us, this is something we never think about and generally take for granted.  However, the recent events in Texas and in some other areas of the country have re-enforced my interest in becoming self-sufficient when it comes to electricity.  Today I'm thrilled to be joined by Amber Bradshaw.  Amber is an author and her family's journey to...

Eggs and dairy are certainly no stranger to this podcast. However, even with all my experience, I've never been able to figure out how to keep things going year-after-year without heading back to the store. In order to help solve this very problem, in today's episode I'm bringing in my good friend Kate Schat. Kate runs her blog, Venison for Dinner, and has dedicated her life to home...

What if you could never buy meat at the grocery store again?  When I ask that question, I don't mean that the grocery store stopped selling meat.  I mean, what if you could create your own self-sustaining source of meat that continued to produce year-after-year?  In today's episode, I take a deep dive on everything needed to get a better handle on your meat production and storage needs. ...

Whether it's toilet paper flying off the shelves or a historic winter storm in Texas, the past year has taught me that the systems society has created for us don't always work as designed in times of need. While us homesteaders already act outside the system by being homesteaders in the first place, I'm dedicating this season to building systems that can contribute to ourselves and...

While we're getting ready to hit spring time and there's all sorts of exciting things happening on the homestead, I thought now was a great time to hit on something I always receive a ton of questions about.  When you look at what Christian and I have built for ourselves, it's easy to assume that we always had money and things have been smooth sailing ever since we started this home...

No matter how long you've been gardening, it's almost guaranteed that you've faced some type of epic failure with your garden.  While it's easy to get down on yourself when you have a bad gardening season, I'm here to give you some encouragement to continue pushing forward.  In today's episode, I'm joined by my right-hand woman Cris Daining.  Cris and I have been...

Winter gardening.  No, I haven't bumped my head, and Christian and I didn't decide to pick up and move south.  As crazy as it might sound, your garden is still a valuable tool no matter how cold it gets in the winter.  While you might not be able to grow crops, today I'm going to explain how you can utilize your garden as additional storage to help your harvest last.  I also cover o...

Summertime is a garden season, right?  I don't know about you, but that's how I operated for the longest time.  To be honest, I couldn't even conceive of being able to do anything in the garden after the August harvest.  While you might not be able to plant a full garden in the fall, there are some amazing benefits to growing vegetables from September on into the early winter months...

Whether you're ready or not, there's nothing you can do to stop the coming harvest.  Now that we know you can't stop mother nature, what can be done to prepare?  I'm glad you asked my friend.  In today's episode, I explain some of my favorite methods of preservation, how I let my harvest influence my meal plans, and how to deal with the current lid shortage crises. Discove...

Have you ever had visions of a lush, bountiful garden complete with chickens pecking around perfectly ripe tomatoes?  I know I certainly did, but I quickly learned that while chickens can be great for a garden, there are some things you must understand before you introduce them.  Thankfully, today we're joined by a true expert in the field, my friend and esteemed author Lisa Steele.  Listen a...

You've done all the hard work planning your garden and you finally planted the seeds.  Now what?  While we're waiting for our crops to grow, we can use this downtime to keep the garden clean and take care of some preventative maintenance.  In today's episode, I cover watering, mulching, pest control, and so much more.  If you want to make sure you continue to stay ahead of the game...

Today is the day my friends!  All of the planning and preparation is done, and the time has finally arrived to plant our seeds in the ground.  However, before you toss everything aside and sprint out to your garden, there are a couple of things you'll want to consider.  In today's episode, I detail why frost dates and garden zones are important and how to find them.  I discuss several di...

When it comes to planting a garden, your soil is similar to a house's foundation.  You can buy the most expensive seeds you like, but if the soil you plant them in isn't right the whole thing is bound to fall apart.   Listen today to discover the most common types of soil, how to get your soil tested, how your PH levels affect your crops, and some simple steps on how to amend your soil. ...

With the events of the past year, there have been certain items that have become even more essential for everyday life.  While things like toilet paper and hand sanitizer flew off the shelves, one unforeseen item sold out quicker than expected. Due to both higher demand and restrictions on production, seeds have been selling out way ahead of schedule.  In today's episode, we dig into the proc...

The foundation of any great garden depends on three things: Location, Location, Location. So how do we determine the proper location for a garden? I'm glad you asked! In today's episode, I'm digging deep into the best strategies and techniques for finding the ideal sunny spot, determining the proper size garden for your family, and deciding the correct planting method based on your...

Welcome back, my friends!  I can't begin to express how excited I am for what we're tackling in season three of the Old Fashioned on Purpose podcast. This past year was wild, to say the least.   I don't know about you, but I certainly never could've imagined that food shortage could be a topic of conversation in 2020.   Because of this, I'm dedicating this season to someth...

It's hard to believe it, but we've already reached the end of the "first" season.  As we bring this season to a close, it's time to turn an eye to the future.  In today's episode, I go over some of the plans (both big and small) that Christian and I have been discussing for quite some time.  I'm really thrilled to share some of this with you as we're develop...

Clarity is everything. In any area of life, gaining clarity on your goals and your vision is critical for success. This fact became even more apparent in my own life when it came time to write my cookbook. The entire process of writing my cookbook forced me to question everything about what I was currently doing in my life and where I wanted to go in the future. In the end, I came out with a book...

While I'm a major advocate for setting goals and making plans to achieve them, sometimes there comes a time when you just have to jump. The truth is, if you're waiting for the perfect time to do something it's never going to come. As you've learned in my own story up to this point, I don't know if I've ever been "ready" to do much of anything in my life. Mos...

For as long as I can remember, network marketing was almost an evil phrase in my vocabulary. I held these limiting beliefs about network marketing that no one actually succeeded with it and they mainly just tread water. Thankfully, the reality was far different than my misguided expectations. In today's episode, I dig into why network marketing not only gave me freedom and transformed my care...

Beginnings are always fun. For most of us, the start of a story is always the most relatable. It defines the "humble beginnings" that most successful people have to overcome. The end is always great because finally, you've realized the merits of your hard work. It's the middle that no one really talks about. I'm talking about the grey area that occurs between the start and...

Creation can come in all forms.  For us, it seems they all happened at the same time.  With animals giving birth on the homestead, me getting pregnant with our first daughter, and a new blog on the horizon, my attention was pulled in several different directions.  Looking back now, while it was a hectic time it was one of the greatest periods of growth in my life.  After all, the extra time I spen...

My friends, we have arrived at my favorite portion of the entire story.  Many people told Christian and I that our dreams were crazy.  Looking back on it now, I can understand why some would have felt that way at the time.  However, when we first bought our homestead there was no doubt in our minds that it was the right thing to do.  We knew from the beginning that it was the vision we had for our...