Tag Archives: livestock

Episode-832- Darby Simpson on Full Time “Beyound Organic” Farming

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Modern Survival| 35 Comments
Episode-832- Darby Simpson on Full Time "Beyound Organic" Farming [ 1:25:20 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
A Pigs Life is a Good One at Simpson Family Farm

A Pigs Life is a Good One at Simpson Family Farm

Darby Simpson is the owner of Simpson Family Farm, a 7th generation family farm (1828-present) and a lifelong Indiana resident Darby grew up not realy learning anything about farming, became a mechanical engineer.

He worked in the engineering field from 1994-2010.  Began small scale pastured based meat farming (Joel Salatin style) in 2007.  Grew the business while continuing to work off farm full time. In 2010 like many Americans he lost his job due to the recession and took the farm full time.  The farm now provides his family with a full time income.

Darby’s family began homeschooling in 2011, and his family is now together everyday.   In his words.

“We have a blessed life.  I feel like Neo in the Matrix: I’ve unplugged from what society told me my life was supposed to look like – public school, college, cubical, fast food lifestyle.”

Today he joins us to discuss small scale, beyond organic production of pastured based meats & eggs (beef, pork, chicken, turkey, eggs) for the homesteader or for someone looking to begin their own business (full or part time).

 

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Episode-773- Paleoculture the Orginal Permaculture

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Modern Survival| 46 Comments
Episode-773- Paleoculture the Orginal Permaculture [ 1:07:57 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
The American Bison was the Deffinition of "Sustainable Protien"

The American Bison was the Definition of "Sustainable Protein"

So this week I have been thinking about the paleo lifestyle and how it would fit into a permaculture based system.  Turn out I am not the first person to ask the question and the fit is quite natural.   The last time I spoke on paleo living I brought a lot of the “homesteading components” into it, today I will try to do a bit more.

Permaculture isn’t about growing plants and trees, that is one element to it, it is really a methodology for “whole system design”, encompassing all things for human existence.  Some of these include as energy, housing, economy and capital, community and yes food.  In fact this is why as a survivalist I am so attracted to permaculture, the word means “permanent culture”, in essence it is survivalism.

When you talk about eating a mostly meat based diet (caloric intake) the first thing people often say is “well meat isn’t sustainable”.  As our bodies are made of meat my response to such people would be simply, “if meat isn’t sustainable, humans aren’t sustainable”.  The reality is in my view hunter-gathers were the first permaculturists.

Join me today as I discuss…

  • Some clarification on my last paleo shows, I have not become a food Nazi
  • How humans originally “found food” and figured out it was food
  • From 50 million bison to barbed wire
  • Evaluation of how much land we need for paleo vs carb based living
    • How many people do we have to feed
    • What sources of income can we create
    • Who can we trade with locally
    • What climate type do we have
    • What are our food preferences
    • Can game play a role in the equation
    • What is our topography like
    • What water resources do we have/not have
  • Using annual and perennial crops to support humans directly
  • Using annual and perennial crops to support livestock and/or game
  • Utilizing paddock shifts
  • The best protein sources for small landscapes
    • Chickens
    • Ducks
    • Geese
    • Turkeys
    • Small Hog Breeds
    • Fish
    • Goats and Sheep
  • Sustainability isn’t an individual project but a community based lifestyle

Additional Resources for Today’s Show

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air

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Episode-765- Useful Small Animals for the Homestead

Posted on October 18, 2011 by Modern Survival| 42 Comments
Episode-765- Useful Small Animals for the Homestead [ 1:14:29 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Okay there is a lot of gloom and doom out there and to be honest some of the crap is really hitting the fan right now.  It will be necessary for me to delve into that world more and more in the coming months/years but I still want to keep some positive and fun stuff coming as well.

Hence today we are going to focus on homesteading and animals that can feed us, protect our property or provide us with other benefits.  The list we will cover today includes some “traditional small livestock”, some wild game and some other stuff people don’t usually think of.

So what happened to chickens?  They get a token mention but as everyone thinks of chickens first we are focusing elsewhere today.

Join me today as we discuss…

  • What makes an animal useful for our homestead
    • Produces food
    • Produces functional by products
    • Produces useful waste
    • Performs a useful function
    • Provides entertainment
    • Supports other systems
  • Some useful and easy to care for livestock
    • Dogs
    • Rabbits
    • Small Swine
    • Squirrels, Raccoons and other small wildlife
    • Bees (mason and conventional)
    • Ducks
    • Fish – tilapia, catfish, trout, crayfish, frogs, etc.
    • Worms and insects
    • Goats and sheep
    • Pigeons and Quail

Additional Resources for Today’s Show

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Episode-763- The Paleo Prepper Mindset

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Modern Survival| 107 Comments
Episode-763- The Paleo Prepper Mindset [ 1:03:13 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Yesterday I did a post about my 18 month experience of eating mostly paleo and my final 90 days of doing it almost totally hard core.  The responses are mixed, mostly anyone that has tried it is very much in agreement with me, those opposed are mostly rehashing dogma.

So today we are going to discuss this subject, I will clarify myself on a few things (such as exercise) and explain some of the science.  Mostly though I want to share my experience, my results and how as a prepper you address food storage when focusing on a “paleo” lifestyle.

Join me today as I discuss…

  • It isn’t a “diet” in our modern vocabulary
  • It isn’t just meat and fat (my partial list of foods I eat)
  • My epiphany on how to choose what I eat
  • My results
  • Beer and alcohol
  • How I actually “exercise”
  • How our ancestors exercised
  • The many problems with modern exercise
  • The reality that some must exercise in a more conventional way
  • The problem with modern medical “wisdom”
  • Why what you “believe” is irrelevant
  • Why some people are “healthy” on food I consider unhealthy
  • Why I believe fermented foods are ancient
  • Why I believe anthropology over ideology
  • My thoughts on the “Paleo Homestead”
  • Why “low carb recipes” mostly bore me
  • 30 Days and judge it for yourself

Additional Resources for Today’s Show

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air

 

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Episode-647- 12 Methods of Individual Food Production

Posted on April 20, 2011 by Modern Survival| 23 Comments
Episode-647- 12 Methods of Individual Food Production [ 59:29 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today I think we need to really begin to think about individual food production.  I 100% meant what I said yesterday about fearing future food shortages and as a result skyrocketing food prices.  America was once a “nation of farmers”, yet I think that statement gets misunderstood.

In our nation of farmer, yes, there were many true farmers in the way we generally think of the word.  Families who farmed more than 100 acres and literally earned their living from their land.  Yet at the same time countless men were tradesman and professionals as a primary source of income but still maintained a “farm” from a few to a few dozen acres.

These farms fed their families and raised additional income by selling surplus.  They also preserved much of the harvest to deal with winter shortages and other hard times.  Somewhere along the way the time clock and next promotion began to bury the small farms in the new reality of suburbia.  Yet even in the initial stages of suburbia the spirit lived on for a while.   Today we must continue to rekindle our roots as producers of food.

Join me today as we discuss…

  • What became of our “nation of farmers”
  • Methods of individual food production
    1. Conventional gardening
    2. Guerrilla gardening
    3. Foraging
    4. Hunting
    5. Fishing
    6. Trapping
    7. Plant and forget
    8. Small Livestock
    9. Permaculture
    10. Aquaponics
    11. Container Gardening
    12. Food preservation

Additional Resources for Today’s Show

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Episode-598- Paul Wheaton from Permies.com on Permaculture, Hugelkultur, Survival Housing and More

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Modern Survival| 53 Comments
Episode-598- Paul Wheaton from Permies.com on Permaculture, Hugelkultur, Survival Housing [ 1:42:30 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Paul Wheaton of RichSoil.com

Strap yourself in today folks for the longest episode of TSP ever recorded, this honestly could have been two episodes because Paul Wheaton is such an awesome source of knowledge on so many great topics.

Make sure to check out Paul’s two awesome websites Permies.com and Richsoil.com.  You can also connect with Paul on Facebook.

Note near the end in a conversation about CFL lights Paul does drop the F-Bomb one time, I decided to let it ride even though I generally don’t use that word on the air.  Anyone objecting to this should see section three of my content disclaimer.

Today we discuss a huge variety of topics that range from raising chickens, to the complete elimination of the need for irrigation, to the ultimate eco building and even the use of rocket mass heaters.

Join Us Today As We Discuss…

  • What we can learn from the work of Sepp Holzer
  • Why it might even make sense to plant poisonous plants were livestock feed
  • How and why permaculture should be profitable
  • What is hugelkultur and how can it eliminate the need for irrigation
  • Why you may want to practice paddock rotation with livestock like chickens
  • What is a wofati building
  • How you can build a home with no need of air conditioning or heat at 1/5 the conventional cost of construction
  • Building and using rocket mass heaters
  • More!

Resources for Today’s Show

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Episode-322- The True Wealth of Land Ownership

Posted on November 20, 2009 by Modern Survival| 3 Comments
Episode-322- The True Wealth of Land Ownership [ 45:47 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today we discuss another tenet of modern survival philosophy, that of “owning land it true wealth”.  My view is that many simply do not truly understand what that means and how special it is that the U.S. still has and was built on the right to own private property, for all, not just “nobles”.

Tune in today as we discuss…

  • How private property in America was seen vs. the feudal system that was in place in much of the world all the way up to and in some cases past 1900
  • It was land that brought early settlers to America
  • Why land is the real “store of value” for all time far more so then gold, etc.
  • The attack on land ownership and why governments love cities and suburbs
  • The Ag Zoning trap and how it kills small farms and creates mega commerical farming that destroys land
  • Why you should own land out of the city limits and own more then one piece
  • The value of livestock even just a few smaller animals
  • What owning your lands production means
  • How to use land to build a local barter economy
  • Bartering production for skills and learning skills so we don’t loose them to the ravages of time
  • Learning to do more with smaller tracts of land to truly beat the system
  • How to make it happen and become a land owner

Resources for today’s show…

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show.  Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Episode-313- Audience Questions for 11-09-09

Posted on November 9, 2009 by Modern Survival| 4 Comments
Episode-313- Audience Questions for 11-09-09 [ 50:40 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It is Monday and we are back with another round of listener questions.   Some great ones today on topics like dealing with livestock during a SHTF, a complex real estate problem, basements in Texas, building home grown generators, operational security and spreading prepping and self sufficiency to your friends, family and acquaintances.

Tune in today to hear answers to the following questions…

  • What do you do with live stock if you have to bug out and how do you prep to care for them if you bug in?
  • Where and how do you store extra propane tanks?
  • What is a spot price, how high above spot is reasonable to pay for silver coins?
  • What about platinum and palladium as alternatives to gold for investing?
  • How to handle a complex real estate situation where the owner wants to sell the land but continue to live in the house?
  • Whats up with the new iPod nano, is it worth the upgrade?
  • Are plans on how to build a generator from old parts a good investment/idea?
  • Why are there no basements in the Texas Hill Country, if you want one what are some alternatives when building a new home?
  • Why am I personally so loose on OPSEC, what advice do I have for others as to OPSEC (operational security)
  • How can you open minds about prepping in 60 seconds?

Resources for today’s show…

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show

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Episode-217- Alternative Investments for the Survivalist

Posted on June 10, 2009 by Modern Survival| 10 Comments
Episode-217- Alternative Investments for the Survivalist [ 47:10 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today we take a look at “alternative investing” from a survivalist view point.  Nope not gold and silver (well ok a bit of gold and silver) and not the stuff most people consider part of an investment portfolio.

Tune in today to learn,

  • The four goals of conventional investing
  • Why do we invest in the first place in some ways is this a trap
  • How do typical investments fulfill those goals
  • What are the “common alternatives”
  • What needs are we looking to fill with work and investing
  • Why my approach only works with debt elimination
  • The value of low taxed land
  • The investment with the biggest dividend, food production
  • Alternative energy not just about carbon footprints
  • Self Defense (security)
  • Investing in chickens and goats?
  • Aquaculture a long term income generation tool
  • Invest in water, without the plastic bottles
  • The last step reduce conventional income

Resources for Today’s Show

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show.

You also now can call in questions or comments for the host at 866-65-THINK, (866-658-4465) please read the suggestions for calling in before you do for the best chance of getting your comments on the air.

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