Living The Simple Good Life

In this episode we make a Special Announcement and notice to all our subscribers and listeners. We want to express our special gratitude to our dear friend Cliff Ravenscraft at GSPN.TV, the Podcast Answer Man, for Cliff's gracious assistance to help us bring this Special Announcement to our listeners. Effective with this episode the Living the Simple Good Life and the Hydroponics Farmer podcasts are suspended indefinitely. Thank you for listening to Living the Simple Good Life and the Hydroponics Farmer and for your interest in these podcasts. For our friends, subscribers and loyal listeners, Barry and I will continue podcasting combined with our new life's work and mission to defeat pancreatic cancer in Barry and others. You can listen in to our new podcasting program at GODisBiggerthanCancer.com, also available in iTunes. Cliff Ravenscraft, GSPN.TV, Podcast Answer Man episode 239 Steve Howard, Born To Farm Simple Good Life Network Contact Information: Email: ShowTalk@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com Listener Voicemail Feedback Line: 727-238-7276

Homesteading, in particular, doesn’t work very well as a solitary sport. We need people. We weren’t meant to do it alone. So writes Victoria Gazeley, experienced rural homesteader and blogger for Grit Magazine and Mother Earth News online editions. Posting on her own blog in an article titled: Living Your Dream: Three Strategies for Embracing Fear and Resistance, at modernhomesteading.ca, Victoria writes: Sharing with others, leaning on others and recognizing that you can’t live without others (not very well, anyway) is critical to living a joyful, fulfilled life – especially in a rural area. Our subscribers and regular online community listeners know, that Lynne and I couldn’t agree more, with what Victoria is saying about the importance and the value of community for rural homesteading or small farming self-sufficient, sustainable living. Rural homesteading blossoms in the fertile soil of local community and grows exponentially worldwide through online communities. In this episode we share that in addition to the blessings of our local community, we are also being blessed to be part of a growing online community. Our online community is abundant with many people who aren’t afraid to dream or think too big, and who have the “right stuff”, matched with the wise know-how to turn their dreams into reality. In this episode we share a call-in to our Listener Feedback Line from Emily Josephine, a wife, mother, blogger and podcaster. Emily, her husband Jerry and their small son are not afraid to dream big. Emily and Jerry are great examples of good folks in our listening community, who have the “right stuff”, and who are taking measurable steps of action in faith, to make their dreams of becoming rural mountain homesteaders a reality for them. Listen in to enjoy Emily’s comments and learn more about their dreams and journey back to their rural roots. We are always so pleased to learn of others who have what I like to sometimes refer to as the Field of Dreams…Dream. But more than just learning about other folks having similar back to the land and homesteading or small farming dreams, as pleased as we are to learn about you folks, we really get excited about learning about folks who are taking action to make their dreams a reality like Lynne and I did, and like Tim and Liz Young from Natures Harmony Farm.com did before us. In our episode #25, Lynne and I have had the great pleasure, fun and learning experience to have Tim and Liz Young on as our guests on the Living the Simple Good Life show. During this interview Tim and Liz shared from their inspiring and informative eye opening book The Accidental Farmers: An urban couple, a rural calling and a dream of farming in harmony with nature. I mention Tim Young of Nature’s Harmony Farm because when Tim was on our show in episode 25, Tim talked very passionately about this subject of dreams and Tim addresses the subject of farm and country dreams with a lot of wisdom in his book. Excerpts from the Accidental Farmers from Chapter 10 titled: Downshifting Tim writes: From the endless questions and comments we receive on our farm tours I know that our life farming in the country is a dream that is shared by many. For most it's just a fantasy that they can indulge in by visiting farms like ours or following us online. Then there are others who truly endeavor to pry themselves from their urban cubicles as we did so that they can live off the land and perhaps produce enough food for others to pay the bills. They dream of living in the country but just aren't sure how to get there. For a dream to become reality rather than remaining a wish the dream must morph into a personal vision. Whereas a dream can creep into my self-consciousness on its own, I on the other hand become the architect of a vision. At this point it's really no longer an abstract dream, semantics aside, but a vision that I see for myself. My vision.

Is there any heart left in the heartland of America? Rural homesteading, self-sufficient sustainable living, is for Lynne and me a community experience. Is rural self-sufficient sustainable living and the need for community an oxymoron? What do you do when the rope on your chicken tractor trips you up and you are about to fall face down into a big fresh pile of chicken litter? What friends can you meet and what can you learn from visiting and making friends at your local rural hardware and farm co-op supply? Has our exodus and journey, and deliverance from the metro Tampa Bay area of Florida to the rural NW Georgia mountains been all that we hoped it would be? What cats did we let out of the bag early before we planned to share them on upcoming podcasts? Want to stretch your simple living dollars and get needed items for your homestead or farmstead, and meet some special folks in your community too? Visit and spend some fun and rewarding time at your local rural flea market. What are the scientists learning, world-wide, that us rural and country living folks have known for generations? Listen in, get the answer to these questions and more as Lynne and I, in faith, stubbornly pursue our dreams and journey to live the rural simple good life. Thank you for listening and until next time remember…Join our community of friends and start living the simple good life today! The Hayloft Gang: National Barn Dance A Rural Life Is Better: Daily Mail UK, Mail Online edition Simple Good Life Network Contact Information: Email: ShowTalk@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com Listener Voicemail Feedback Line: 727-238-7276 Prayer Request: SimpleFaith@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com

Did Casey and Bandit, the “Dixie Dachshund Boys” really eat our well prepared Show Outline, for our previous episode, causing us to “adlib and wing-it” for the entire show? Or, was that just another rural tale (or tails), from the heartland of America. Listen in and get the true Scoop (no doggie scooper pun intended). The Oh! What A Relief It Is!...rabbit trail discovery of Alka-Seltzer’s sponsorship of the National Barn Dance, that I took Lynne and our listeners on during our last episode just keeps filling our pot with something just as tasty as rabbit stew. Oh! What A Surprise It Was! One week later from publishing that episode, by accident (or was it?), Lynne flipped on the TV…and right before our surprised eyes and dropped jaws was a special one-hour PBS documentary. And, can you believe this? The title of the PBS documentary is: The Hayloft Gang: the Story of the National Barn Dance. Listen in to this episode as we share our excitement of finding, viewing and DVR recording of this great documentary of some of America’s rural and country history, culture and entertainment. Below we’ve included links to the PBS documentary and the National Barn Dance website. Big Brown (UPS) and Jake, our rural friendly UPS driver, are always welcome guests on our rural NW Georgia mountains homestead. And, the visit we talk about in this episode was no exception. However, it was what was in the package from Amazon.com that Jake delivered, two days earlier than we expected, that really got us rocking on our front porch Cracker Barrel oak rockers!!! Join us as we share with our listening community the contents of that little box from Amazon.com. We consider what was delivered to us in that little box to be one of the biggest, and one of the most valuable resources we’ve purchased so far, for successfully living our rural agrarian homesteading lifestyles. For our podcast subscribers and regular listeners, if we mention the names George Nash and his wife Jane Waterman, and Gopher Broke Farm…and, if we remind you of episode #22 of Living the Simple Good Life podcast, we’ll bet ya’ll guess the contents of that box as quick as a chicken jumping on a June bug! Yep! We received our eagerly anticipated copies of George’s and Jane’s recently released new book titled: Homesteading in the 21st Century—How One Family Created a More Sustainable, Self-Sufficient, and Satisfying Life, by Tauton Press Read for yourself the following gem taken from the back cover of Homesteading in the 21st Century, and see why we are predicting that this wonderful work and contribution will become a “Classic” on homesteading and self-sufficient sustainable living. “The goal of homesteading is to live a more satisfying life, cultivating not only a garden but the ability to enjoy the small stuff and take pleasure in honest work. Ultimately, our intent is to show you how to appreciate and celebrate the important things in your life—food, shelter, livelihood, family, and community —how to reclaim and reconnect with the natural world and to live a life more in harmony with the cycle of the season.” —George Nash and Jane Waterman We know many of you will want to get your own copies of this super book as quickly as possible. We thank you in advance for ordering your copy or copies through our Amazon.com affiliate link below. PS If you know someone who has a homesteading, small farming or country living dream, this is the book that Lynne and I would highly recommend as a valuable gift. Thank you for listening and until next time remember…Join our community of friends and start living the simple good life today! PBS National Barn Dance Documentary The Hayloft Gang: National Barn Dance Simple Good Life Network Contact Information: Email: ShowTalk@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com Listener Voicemail Feedback Line: 727-238-7276 Prayer Request: SimpleFaith@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com

ANY THING CAN HAPPEN when we put aside our Show Outline and go chasing down a rabbit trail! What does Alka-Seltzer® have to do with rural and country living? Join us in this episode as we are thrilled to be back in the studio behind our podcasting mics and as we get a little frisky with Fall 2011 only a few days away. Oh, What A Relief It Is!!! Oh, what a relief it is…from the long, sweltering heat and dry summer as we enjoy an early refreshing cool feel of Fall in the NW Georgia mountains air. Rural living and farming are only a generation or two separated from the hectic, metro lifestyles so many Americans now experience. Listen in and join in the fun, as we chase down a rabbit trail and find at the end of the trail some lighthearted trivia and early 20th century American cultural and entertainment history. Our biggest surprise discovery as we proceeded on our “On-Air” Alka-Seltzer trivia rabbit trail (while we asked our friends and listening community to please stand by as we played some music on-hold, a Show first for the Living the Simple Good Life podcast), was our delightful discovery of the WLS Radio National Barn Dance. One of the most popular and longest running programs on radio was WLS Radio's National Barn Dance. The show blended music, comedy and down-home theatrical skits that lasted well over five decades. The Barn Dance's influence on country and western music was second only to the Grand Ole Opry. The one hour show was broadcast coast to coast, originating over WLS Chicago and sponsored by Alka-Seltzer. Happy Faces…Yours…and Ours…at the WLS National Barn Dance The National Barn Dance was more than a highly successful national radio program, sold out theatrical shows, Big Screen Movie and top rated weekly TV program, the hundreds of performers and their national and international audiences were a community of friends, almost eighty years before social media would become a global internet and social phenomenon. We thank you for listening and we hope you enjoyed this fun episode as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. Until Next time remember…Join our community of friends and start living the simple good life today! Alka-Seltzer Wikipedia Old Time Radio Catalog WLS History Simple Good Life Network Contact Information: Email: ShowTalk@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com Listener Voicemail Feedback Line: 727-238-7276 Prayer Request: SimpleFaith@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com

HEADLINES: Most of Central and South U.S. covered by a triple digit heat dome. Don't Sweat It! You are a very wise person to come in out of this sweltering heat to cool down and listen to our podcast, the kind of folks we love having in our listening community! Welcome. Being rural agrarian homesteaders for only nine months doesn't make us any kind of experts, but we sure have learned some lessons (some the hard way), from the homestead about our self-sufficient sustainable living lifestyles that we are willing to share. One key lesson we share in this episode is: If the "Why" is strong enough...the "what", "how" and "when" will come. Thanks for listening. Article: It's Ok to Ask God Why by Bob Sorge, Charisma Magazine Simple Good Life Network Contact Information: Email: ShowTalk@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com Listener Voicemail Feedback Line: 727-238-7276 Prayer Request: SimpleFaith@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com

It's INCREDIBLE!!! A visit to a Cracker Barrel Old Country Store just might rock your world. Join us in this episode as we tell how our world is being rocked after spending the last six weeks actually living the simple good life, one day at a time. It's Incredible!!! Summer Edition of the New Pioneer Magazine, The Complete Guide To Self-Reliant Living from Stanley R. Harris publishers NY, NY. If you can’t locate the New Pioneer magazine retail in your area here is the link to order direct from the publisher. Simple Good Life Network Contact Information: Email: ShowTalk@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com Listener Voicemail Feedback Line: 727-238-7276 Prayer Request: SimpleFaith@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com

When Lynne Takes Over The Control Chair Anything Can Happen!!! After almost 44 years of marriage Lynne and I purposely look for fresh ways to keep our romance flaming and keep our marriage new, filled with fun and excitement. Rigid predictability can become a stale staple retarding the growth of happy, healthy relationships. In our marriage and at our new homestead, the only thing that is predictable is that, on purpose, there is very little that is too commonly predictable. This 27th episode of Living the Simple Good Life podcast is a clear case in point. Case in point: what happens when my reserved by nature homesteading bride takes over the “‘Control” chair in our podcasting studio?!! Listen in as Lynne unpredictably, seizes the power and the creative freedom of the “Control” chair spot, and she pulls the plug on me, so to speak, with some unexpected surprises and fun. Also in this episode we are so pleased and thankful to announce that we had the special honor to be invited as guests on the highly popular, Podcast Answer Man podcast on the GSPN.TV podcasting network and community. Cliff Ravenscraft, the Podcast Answer Man got Lynne and me started in podcasting and continues on as our podcasting consultant and coach. Most importantly Cliff, and his lovely bride, Stephanie, have become very special friends and great professional podcasting examples for us. Here is the direct link to listen to our interview on episode #208 of the Podcast Answer Man. In this episode we are pleased to announce the Hydroponics Farmer, the soon to be launched second podcasting show that Lynne and I are producing and hosting on the Simple Good Life Network. Hydroponics and Aquaponics are tomorrow’s farming systems that are already growing healthy, local food today. Within a couple of weeks you can listen in to these educational farming podcasts through iTunes or by going to www.Hydroponicsfarmer.com. We will also provide a link on the Simple Good Life Network website to the Hydroponics Farmer. Next, after some studio clowning around, my unpredictable co-host, acting like a “Big Shot” in the Studio “Control” chair, plays the “drum roll” for our announcement of the hot off the newsstand, much anticipated Summer Edition of the New Pioneer Magazine, The Complete Guide To Self-Reliant Living from Stanley R. Harris publishers NY, NY. If you can’t locate the New Pioneer magazine retail in your area here is the link to order direct from the publisher. In the closing segment of this 27th episode be prepared to be touched and moved as we share with all of you in our listening community two very special Listener Feedback emails. As the title to this 27th episode says, “Listener Feedback Feeds Community Growth,” and we can assure you that you won’t go away hungry as a community member after hearing the hearts, desires and dreams of these two special couples who share their desires in their pursuits to live God-honoring more self-reliant sustainable lifestyles. Lynne and I invite and warmly welcome your participation to join us in responding to these emails from Steve Krieg and Ruth Ferrari. We would really appreciate your participation and we know that Steve and Ruth would be encouraged and blessed also by hearing responses from others in our listening community. These links contain Steve emails and Ruth emails, in pdf format, that we were honored to share in this episode. As we also mentioned in this episode, there are two ways you can participate in joining in as a community to help us respond to Steve and Ruth. One, you can email your response to ShowTalk@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com. In the Subject line please indicate Steve Response or Ruth Response. Or, we would love to hear your verbal responses by calling the Listener Feedback line at 727-238-7276. And, if you are so led, please join in prayer with us on behalf of the prayer requests Ruth and Steve requested in their emails.

WE LISTEN TOO! We thank our listeners for listening to our podcasts and we always love hearing from our listening community. Well, we've heard from many of you that you want an update on what's happening in our new homesteading adventures. And we listen to you our listeners too, so in this episode we bring you more in our personal new pioneers homesteading saga. Thank you all for the support and encouragement you folks give Lynne and me and for your interest in our podcasting shows. Simple Good Life Network Contact Information: Email: ShowTalk@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com Listener Voicemail Feedback Line: 727-238-7276 Prayer Request: SimpleFaith@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com

CELEBRATING OUR 25TH PODCAST EPISODE Celebrate with Lynne and me and enjoy our very special guests extreme natural farmers Tim and Liz Young from Nature's Harmony Farm, Elberton, Georgia. Joining us direct from the 14th Annual Georgia Organics Conference in Savannah, Tim and Liz discuss excerpts from their new book, The Accidental Farmers, and share with us their values that are the foundation of why and how they farm. Listen in as we talk with these cosmopolitan urban dwellers turned rural natural farmers and pleasantly discover for yourself why all their farm tours and farm workshops are sell outs! Nature's Harmony Farm The Accidental Farmers Simple Good Life Network Contact Information: Email: ShowTalk@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com Listener Voicemail Feedback Line: 727-238-7276 Prayer Request: SimpleFaith@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com

A much welcomed break in the frigid, record breaking North Georgia winter finds Lynne and me with a bad case of early spring gardening fever. Since moving to our NW Georgia mountains homestead on November 1, 2010, we have yet to really get outside and connect with our land and begin our agrarian homesteading lifestyle. We have big dreams and plans for converting our mountain home and property into a viable self-sufficient and sustainable agrarian homestead as our first stage in becoming small farmers. We were going to use this episode to share some of those plans with our listening community. But, after meeting Renea Winchester, author of the fun and inspiring book: In the Garden with Billy, Lessons About Life, Love and Tomatoes, we just had to shelve for another episode more in the saga of our journey, and bring you this gifted author and her amazing story. We are so pleased to have Renea Winchester as our guest on the Living the Simple Good Life podcast and we know you will be too. Thank you all for listening. Renea Winchester, Author In the Garden with Billy, Facebook Simple Good Life Network Contact Information: Email: ShowTalk@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com Listener Voicemail Feedback Line: 727-238-7276 Prayer Request: SimpleFaith@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com

If you care about the health ramifications of the food you eat, don't miss this informative podcast and important message about food safety. The recent USDA announcement that it was close to making a decision about allowing genetically engineered (GE) alfalfa to be planted in the United States has organic farmers, food safety groups and consumers mobilizing at the grassroots (no pun intended) level to be sure that our policy makers and our food suppliers are hearing the message when we say No To GMO Foods! Join us for a big first on the Simple Good Life Network as we introduce our listeners to Joe Lamp'l and his highly popular Growing a Greener World podcast episode #035 titled: GMO's; What You Need to Know, with Jeffrey M. Smith, the leading consumer advocate promoting non-GMO food choices. Growing A Greener World Institute for Responsible Technology, Jeffrey M. Smith Non-GMO Shopping Guide Simple Good Life Network Contact Information: Email: ShowTalk@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com Listener Voicemail Feedback Line: 727-238-7276 Prayer Request: SimpleFaith@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com

Homesteading has never been easy, but in the 21st Century homesteading can be fun, satisfying, sustainable and rewarding…thanks to these experienced back-to-the-land, new pioneer homesteaders, artisan small farmers and gifted authors. Join us in this episode for a fun, inspiring and know-how rich time with George Nash and his wife Jane Waterman, co-authors of their soon to be released, “Homesteading in the 21st Century”, How One Family Created a More Sustainable, Self-Sufficient, and Satisfying Life. Scheduled for release at Amazon.com on May 3, 2011. Click on the link below to pre-order your copy today! Thank You. Simple Good Life Network Contact Information: Email: ShowTalk@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com Listener Voicemail Feedback Line: 727-238-7276 Prayer Request: SimpleFaith@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com

Part 2. A Farmhouse Chat that could Change the Way You Eat Forever! Come with us to a northern Vermont homestead and working small farm, Gopher Broke Farm, for a warm visit on a cold and snowy day. Listen in and learn with us as early back-to-the landers, new pioneer homesteaders and artisan small farmers, George Nash and his wife Jane Waterman, share their fascinating journey and hard learned experiences. If you care about what you eat, or if you have a homesteading or small farm dream, this is more than a friendly farmhouse chat, this two part series, Merchants of Joy: George Nash & Jane Waterman, is a practical, learn from the masters workshop. Join us for this “school was never this much fun” inspiring and richly informative farmhouse chat with these gifted and experienced authors who literally wrote the book on Homesteading in the 21st Century by Taunton Press. Gopher Broke Farm George Nash's Books Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes Do-It-Yourself Housebuilding: The Complete Handbook Wooden Fences To order your very own copy of the 2010 Premier Issue of the New Pioneer (better order more than one if you want to keep a copy for yourself), click on this link Simple Good Life Network Contact Information: Email: ShowTalk@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com Listener Voicemail Feedback Line: 727-238-7276 Prayer Request: SimpleFaith@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com

If you want to know what it really means to live a more sustainable, self–sufficient and satisfying life as a homesteader and small farmer, listen in and learn from experienced folks who have literally written the book on it. In our last episode we introduced our listeners to the 2010 Premier Issue of the New Pioneer magazine published by Stanley R. Harris, New York, NY. In this episode we open the Premier Issue wider and introduce our listeners to George Nash, gifted author and contributor to the New Pioneer. In this episode we are pleased to take you right into a northern Vermont farm house, for a warm and rich, down on the farm, in between chores chat with a very special, gifted and highly experienced homesteading and small farm couple, George Nash and his wife Jane Waterman. George and Jane say that around their table there is always room for more, so pull up a chair, and join us for Part 1 of this fun and informative introductory farmhouse chat. To order your very own copy of the 2010 Premier Issue of the New Pioneer (better order more than one if you want to keep a copy for yourself), click on this link Simple Good Life Network Contact Information: Email: ShowTalk@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com Listener Voicemail Feedback Line: 727-238-7276 Prayer Request: SimpleFaith@SimpleGoodLifeNetwork.com