Cultivate Simple Podcast

Today on Cultivate Simple we're talking about fall/winter gardening. Now is the time to plant cold weather crops. It is worth a try. Brian's Geeky Corner f.lux makes the color of your computer's display adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day. Johnny's Seed Fall/Winter Planting Calculator Territorial Fall/Winter Planting Chart Books of the Week What's your favorite cold weather vegetable?

First of all we want to apologize for the audio quality. We recorded this while traveling back from Ohio to Maine. A couple weeks ago we discussed tips for starting a small business. On this week's episode we discuss micro businesses in depth. What micro business would you like to start?

Today on Cultivate Simple we’re talking about all things cast iron. Brands to Buy: Staub enameled cast iron, I especially like Staub Round Cast Iron Cocotte Lodge Cast Iron What I use to clean my cast iron: Stainless Steel Scouring Pad Castile Soap Mt Rose Herbs I use Coconut Oil from Tropical Traditions, see my post about it. Books of the Week: MOFGA newspaper

On this week's episode we discuss some tips for starting a small business. While these things may not work for everyone, they have continually worked for us. Elderflower Fritters from Nigel Slater Duck Breast Prosciutto how-to from Salted & Styled Snug Harbor Farm in Kennebunk, here's Pickle's Pick of the Week Be Unique. You have to have a unique product or service or provide the product or service in a unique way. Figure out how to creatively market your product, don’t be satisfied with the status quo, get a website and facebook page. Make wise decisions and consider alternatives. Think things through to their logical conclusion. Be frugal. Try not to buy stuff you don’t need, for the business and personally. Be willing to invest lots of time and effort for a while without much return. Books of the Week

An honest and unrehearsed discussion about trying to live a more simple life. This is episode 33 and today we are talking about everything that's going on Around the Run. The main garden when we put the pigs in and the main garden yesterday after moving the pigs and putting in a few days of work ourselves. The first two were taken on April 27th when we put the pigs in that area. The other two were taken last night. And this is with moving the pigs off of this area for a week or ten days. What's mistakes have you learned from recently?

Small changes you can make to live a healthier life: First off, don’t get too crazy! Don’t believe everything you read, adopting the latest and greatest "health" craze isn't your best option. Incorporate herbs and spices into your diet whenever you can - SPICE IT UP! Add more whole vegetables into your diet, particularly for breakfast. Add fermented and or cultured food to every meal. Add gelatin to your diet as often as possible. Swap out tea and herbal tea for water when you can. Links South River Miso for unpasteurized naturally fermented miso & tamari Mt Rose Herbs for organic spices and teas. I love their vitablend & seasons of discontent tea. Coconut Oil from Tropical Traditions The Berkey Guy. Berkey water filters are awesome! Big Berkey Water Filter Brian's Geeky Corner Library Book App Recommended Books Any healthy living tips you'd like to share?

Today we discuss the 5 things that would we like to learn next. We are always learning about new skills or topics that interest us. Our attitude is, "If they can do it, so can we!" Brian's Five Things Welding Small Engine Repair Cider/Beer Brewing Horse Back Riding Sailing Susy's Five Things Making Silage Traditional European Butchery Keeping a Dairy Cow Mushroom Foraging Laying Hedgerows Brian's Geeky Corner Use Skitch to capture and annotate screen shots. These can be automatically uploaded to Evernote. This is handy when you want to save a receipt or a snippet of a website, like a recipe. Google Sketchup of Chicken Nesting Boxes Books of the Week Brain Pickings Blog, one of my favorites. What are your Five Things?

An honest and unrehearsed discussion about trying to live a more simple life. This is episode 30 and today we are talking about finding your limits. What's for Breakfast HVNC pancake fundraiser at The Alna Store A big thanks to a few of our supporters Erin Staub, an illustrator we met at a local wassailing party. Check out her Etsy store. Maggie from Porcupine Hollow Farm sent me a lovely hydrangea for my garden. Can't wait for it to bloom in a few years. Review of Moxie Brian's Geeky Corner When searching with Google, narrow your search by using 'site:' to find results in a specific website. Books of the Week

An honest and unrehearsed discussion about trying to live a more simple life. This is episode 29 and today we are talking about everything. American Livestock Breeds Conservancy What's For Dinner? Spinach and Artichoke Stuffed Mushrooms Books of the Week

Today on Cultivate Simple we're talking about what's going on around the run. It's been busy, busy, busy around here. Since our last couple podcasts have been about other topics, we decided it was time for an update about what we've been doing around the farm. We're talking about everything from timberframing to chicks. Google SketchUp Timber Frame Raised Bed

Today on Cultivate Simple we're talking about ponds. We went to the local library a few weeks ago for a workshop on pond building and maintenance. We'd love to put in a small pond here at Chiot's Run for increased diversity and provide a place for planting water loving plants.  We had a small pond back in our garden in Ohio and really enjoyed what it brought to our garden.  Of course we have 40 acres of wetlands in the back, but we really want something that we can see from the house. Books of the Week PDF Of USDA book on Ponds: Planning, Design, and Construction.

A note from Mr. Chiots - We had some problems with our podcast host wcich resulted in changing hosts and all should be good from now on. We had to re-publish this episode to get it to show up in iTunes. Today on Cultivate Simple we're talking with Hank Will, farmer and editor of Grit Magazine. We discuss his new book that he wrote with his wife Karen titled Plowing with Pigs, and Other Creative, Low-Budget Homesteading Solutions. We are giving away an autographed copy of the book. To find out how to win... you will have to listen to the podcast. You can also purchase a copy of the book directly from the Grit website. Hank's Books of the Week Any books by: Shannon Hayes Gene Logsdon Joel Salatin

This past Tuesday we packed up our microphones and headed in to the library to record a talk given by Deb Soule titled: Planting for Pollinators. Deb is the founder of Avena Botanicals in Rockport, ME. This summer we'll be heading down there to see the gardens and take some photos. You'll definitely be hearing all about it when we do. From their website: Avena Botanicals Herbal Apothecary offers a variety of hand-crafted herbal remedies for supporting the health and well being of our customers. Most of our products are made with herbs grown and hand-harvested from our own biodynamic garden situated on a 32-acre farm in Rockport, Maine. Avena was founded in 1985 by herbalist and gardener Deb Soule. In 1995, Avena moved to its current location where Deb was able to design and plant a large organic and biodynamic herb garden. This beautiful three-acre garden provides an abundance of certified biodynamic herbs for the apothecary, a classroom for students, nectar-producing flowers for pollinators and a peaceful place for visitors to renew their spirit and find healing in nature. List of Plants Deb Mentions in her talk: Solomon’s seal - (polyganatum spp.) - root is beneficial for: tendonitis, carpal tunnel Native pink beebalm (monarda) Lemon Bergamot (monarda citriodora) - annual beebalm, Evening Primrose - (Oenthera biennis) Grecian Foxglove (digitalis lanata) Clary Sage (salvia scarea) - reseeds Honeysuckle (red - Lonerica) Hummingbird Sage (Salvia coccinea) (greenhouse early April) Mexican Sunflower (tithonia rotundifolia) plant out early June Lungwort (pulmonaria officinalis) flowering mid-May - shade loving, spreading Larkspur Marshmallow (Althea Officinalis) Nicotiana, Jasmine Scented (nicotiana alata) Sunflowers, great pollen producing plants, make sure you get a variety that produces pollen Black Cohosh (cimicifuga racemosa) - part shade, woodland Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) Swamp Milkweed (asclepias incarnata) Common Milkweed (asclepias syrica) Borage (borago officinalis) Sacred Basil (ocimum sanctum) - fedco Echinacea spp. - 9 species that are native, to US. (tenusienses is on the endangered plant list) Blue Vervain (verbena hastata) - native, purple to blue, bloom through August, grow 3’-4’ tall Linden (tilia spp) - tree Hawthorne (crataegus spp) - cardiovascular tonic herb, dry berries for tea, Hyssop (hyssop officinalis) - coughs, astringent Lavender (lavendula spp) Lemon Balm (melissa officianlis) - antiviral, good for relieving flu, etc. Nasturium (tropaeolum) jewel mix, alaska mix Poppy (Papaver Somnifera) St Johnswort (hypericum frondosum) Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) flower in first photo above Greek Mullien (verbascum olympicus) Rosa Rugosa (rugosa rose) Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) Books about Herbs

This week on Cultivate Simple we talk about random topics and get a little political, sharing our frustrations about living in a society where not many people act on their convictions. Don't you love our potting bench/studio? The Survival Podcast - Defining the Machine Podcast about how government is bought and paid for. Reader Questions Daina from FrontYardFoodie: I know you like to buy local and use farmers but where do you get things like dish soap and baking soda, etc? Soap and other bulk items are often purchased from Mountain Rose Herbs. Their castile soap is particularly good, here's a post I wrote about it. The automatic dishwashing detergent from Tropical Traditions is the best you'll ever find (even over non-green options). Brian's Geeky Corner Angie asked about keeping data on an external hard drive. Brian recommends these hard drives: G-Technology Hard Drives Sign up for BackBlaze and start backing up today! Book of the Week Check out Heidi Egerman Designs- Thanks for the support Heidi!

Bill & Lauren Errickson from Singing Nettle Farm & Conscious Elements Permaculture talk about permaculture, beyond the basics from the The Permaculture Process Podcast. Like them on facebook if you'd like to keep up with what they're doing. From Mr. Chiots - Some of the things that Bill & Lauren mentioned reminded me of an episode of The Permaculture Podcast: An Introduction to Nutrient Dense Farming with Mary Johnson If you want to hear more, check it out. Books of the Week