The Sovereign Homestead Podcast Casey Pfeifer

Floating wetlands are a "new" old technology that is well worth looking into if you are doing aquaculture at just about any scale - from small backyard tanks a few hundred gallons in size, on up to multi-acre ponds and lakes.
Floating wetlands take the essential functions provided by wetlands and concentrated them into a smaller and more mobile footprint. Wetlands are the kidneys of the landscape, and floating wetlands amplify many of those beneficial functions, such as:
Integrated wetland (edge) functionality into an open water body = excess nutrient removal and water clarification Increased biomass production = more habitat and more food for livestock, wildlife and humans More "optimized edge" without reducing storage volumes in ponds Shade - decreases water temps, reduces algal growth potential by reducing light in the water column Shelter - fish shelter underneath and amongst the hanging roots some systems even have protected fish spawning beds hung underneath the island Shoreline protection / floating breakwaters - if wave erosion is a thing in your pond, consider a chain of floating islands to reduce wave action and protect vulnerable edges while also creating a highly-valuable living filter element Habitat Creation - floating islands contain so much edge in such a small space, they inevitably create habitat for many forms of life - from the micro (biofilms) to the macro (water fowl and fish) and everything in between. Waste water treatment - floating rafts with nutrient-accumulating vegetation are utilized to clarify and treat sewage effluent Floating gardens are great for the homesteader as well. They are self-watering (obvious, but worth mentioning), benefit from increased sunlight availability to crops (light reflected off the water's surface to crop plants on the island), pest protection (no burrowing or terrestrial garden pests are going to make it to your floating garden - unless you've got Navy SEAL gophers!). They make excellent floating hutches for water fowl. Some folks have experimented with adding solar lights, fans and wheedwhackers to create nocturnal fish feeders by attracting insects and knocking them into the water for the fish to eat.
There are many ways to make floating islands - from DIY to pre-made - this would make an amazing summer time home-school project - construction, design, aquatic ecology, observation, nature time...talk about stacking functions!
Show Resources
YouTube Playlist: Living Systems - Food Production - Floating Gardens Pre-made / Custom BioHaven Floating Islands Floating Islands International Floating Islands West Midwest Floating Islands Epi-59: Sovereign Food Systems - Pantry Ponds Epi-61: Up-Leveling Calorie Production Per Square Foot With Azolla Epi-64: Using Duckweed To Grow More Calories Per Square Foot Epi-62: 5 Tenets Of Carnivore Homesteading  
 
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WHAT I DO: Resilient Human Habitats Where People And Ecology Thrive Together
Design:
On-Site Consultation
Online Site/Project Consultation
Holistic Ecosystem Design
 
Implementation:
Water Harvesting Earthworks
High-function, Low-Maintenance Access
Living Systems
Spring Development
 
Courses:
Minimum Holistic Goal
Building Your Sovereign Homestead
 
Media:
The Sovereign Homestead Podcast
YouTube
Instagram
 
 
 

What do we mean when we say we want to "opt out" of the system?
Firstly, it's the system(s) - the means of production, transport, communication, value transmission etc that we have to interface with to acquire the things we need to live in the modern world. In general, the further the distance a product or service must travel and the more technology involved means you will have less control over how to source it, how much you pay for it, when (and if) it is available etc. If it is produced or provided closer to home you have more agency in how you obtain that product or service and it is more resilient to "disruptions"
Why are so many of us drawn to opting out?
We have no agency over the direction of the system(s) - they are by and large completely hijacked by parasites - the political technocratic oligo-corporate controlling class. If we want to have more agency, and thus freedom to live life on our own terms - in alignment with our innate intelligence - the solutions are found in living in closer connection with Nature and other decentralized/distributed systems based on Nature.

Fundamentally, this is about designing your life to create freedom from the system(s) via interdependence with Nature. We all have an ecological umbilical cord - we are completely and utterly dependent upon functioning ecosystems to provide us with ALL of the things we need and want to live well. The sooner we acknowledge this the sooner we can be FREE from pretending we don’t have an ecological umbilical and all resulting pathology that follows.
What We Can Do To Opt Out By Opting In To Nature Connection
Create freedom from the system(s) by leveraging your interdependence with Nature - choose to ally your life with Nature - Nature is what "they" fear and cannot ever control. Harvest and use Nature’s gifts - everywhere nature gives us gifts for free Become ecosystem literate where you live - every place has something that wants to grow there - use analogs to find productive species to meet your needs Embrace Cyclical vs. Linear Cyclical = biology-based - slower, but infinitely more resilient and powerful - where how you grow & harvest can enrich the whole ecosystem. Trust in Distributed wisdom vs. Centralized “intelligence” centralization of decision-making authority and technical know-how is a hallmark of the technocratic system being pushed upon us the opposite of this is Nature - wisdom in every cell YOU ARE ONE OF THOSE CELLS - composed of trillions of other cells - each with it’s own innate wisdom Find your place and commit to it and it’s people - so much of the control system is commodification of the things that used to be provided via reciprocity by close human relationships. Show Resources
The Regenerative Agora - Counter-Economics For Stewards Of The Future Epi-73 - Debt, Wealth and Counter-Economics As A means to create a world worth inheriting Epi-009 - Green Is The New Gray For Thriving In The Dim Age Epi - 005 - Light, Water, Soil and Life - The 4 Pillars Of A Productive And Profitable Homestead Ecosystem DIY Soil Fertility series - ways to start engaging with more natural cycles that reduce your need to buy  
____________________________________________________________________________
WHAT I DO:
Design:
On-Site Consultation
Online Site/Project Consultation
Holistic Ecosystem Design
 
Implementation:
Water Harvesting Earthworks
High-function, Low-Maintenance Access
Living Systems
Spring Development
 
Courses:
Minimum Holistic Goal
Building Your Sovereign Homestead
 
Media:
The Sovereign Homestead Podcast
YouTube
Instagram
 
 
 

Light is an essential human nutrient.
So much of our modern built environment is built without regard to orienting and integrating natural light, and our health - physical, mental, spiritual, emotional and communal - suffers for it.
The good news is that you can design your structures (or retrofit them) to bring natural light back into them and create buildings and places within them that support human thriving because they are well integrated with natural light.
Join me for a dive into the patterns of human habitation design that enhance our relationship with light from Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language:
105 - South Facing Outdoors 107 - Wings of Light 112 - Entrance Transition 128 - Indoor Sunlight 135 - Tapestry of Light and Dark 159 - Light On Two Sides Of Every Room 161 - Sunny Place 162 - North Face 163 - Outdoor Room 180 - Window Place 181 - The Fire (there is NO substitute for fire!) 182 - Eating Atmosphere 199 - Sunny Counter 223 - Deep Reveals 238 - Filtered Light 252 - Pools of Light Resources
A Pattern Language [WHOLE TEXT PDF DOWNLOAD]: PatternLanguage.com – website for the book and Alexander’s works Zone 0 Pattern Language Fundamentals - Designing Your Permaculture Kitchen ~Epi-076 Light, Water, Soil and Life - The Four Pillars Of A Productive And Profitable Homestead - Epi-005  
 
____________________________________________________________________________
WHAT I DO:
Design:
On-Site Consultation
Online Site/Project Consultation
Holistic Ecosystem Design
 
Implementation:
Water Harvesting Earthworks
High-function, Low-Maintenance Access
Living Systems
Spring Development
 
Courses:
Minimum Holistic Goal
Building Your Sovereign Homestead
 
Media:
The Sovereign Homestead Podcast
YouTube
Instagram
 
 
 

Join me today as we discuss designing functional kitchen spaces that people want to be in.
Lots of people are inheriting kitchens designed more for magazine covers than for function - and where there is a lack of function there is a concommitant increase in friction, which means more stress and less joy.
Kitchens are the Zone 1 of Zone 0 - Zone 0 referring to the space inside the home. Kitchens are the heart of human life - communion over shared food, shared work, a space for being together, conversing, and generally connecting over the daily activities that make up life. Poorly designed kitchens discourage healthy human interaction and bonding, and thus are a huge lost opportunity for not only creating a thriving, functional homestead, but can actively undermine human thriving.
In today's show we discuss some of the fundamental emergent patterns detailed by Christoper Alexander and company  A Pattern Language - a seminal work on the patterns of human habitation that support and promote human well being. This book belongs on your shelf if you're serious about creating healthy human habitats. It is guaranteed to spark fresh ideas and perspectives for examining your space, even if you've been there for decades, and give you actual tangible design guidelines if you're starting from scratch or remodeling to build functional, beautiful places for life to happen.
In this episode we will discuss the following patterns as they pertain to permaculture kitchens specifically and Zone 0 home design generally:
127 - Intimacy Gradients 129 - Common Areas At The Heart 159 - Light On Two Sides 139 - Farmhouse Kitchen 184 - Cooking Layout 182 - Eating Atmosphere Show Resources
A Pattern Language [WHOLE TEXT PDF DOWNLOAD]: PatternLanguage.com - website for the book and Alexander's works  
____________________________________________________________________________
WHAT I DO:
Design:
On-Site Consultation
Online Site/Project Consultation
Holistic Ecosystem Design
 
Implementation:
Water Harvesting Earthworks
High-function, Low-Maintenance Access
Living Systems
Spring Development
 
Courses:
Minimum Holistic Goal
Building Your Sovereign Homestead
 
Media:
The Sovereign Homestead Podcast
YouTube
Instagram
 
 
 

Today I interview Joshua Longbrook on real world applications of Private Membership Associations for creating systems of support - i.e. the parallel society - outside the jurisdiction of the public (State dominated) sphere.
We'll cover what PMAs are, what protections they do and do not offer, how they are best utilized as extensions of a larger unincorporated Church, and the types of voluntary interactions they enable within and between local communities.
We'll also get into Josh's personal experience with running the Agora Food Club and how the structure has enabled many home-scale producers to supply their wares or seasonal abundance to their fellow food club members in exchange for credits they can apply towards their own grocery bill. I think this is one of the "killer apps" the PMA structure can provide a network of homestead-minded people. Let's face it - even if you're just gardening for yourself, or have a small orchard with even a handful of fruit trees, it's very easy to be overwhelmed with the seasonal abundance from these systems. The PMA creates a way for these small scale producers to exchange their goods that doesn't require all of the licensing and legal hopscotch that becoming an official business does. The PMA literally enables the creation of circular, local economies without the energetic drain of taxes, licensing and all the things the State requires to be deemed "legal".
As Josh shares in the interview, a PMA enables the same dynamics that take place when you invite friends over for dinner - you cook food for them in your home (no food service business license, no health inspections etc), you might offer them a drink of wine (no liquor license required), and you might even offer them a bottle to take home for a few bucks. All of this is OK within the confines of your private home, but for some reason when this activity takes place in a business, and selling is happening, then it needs to be regulated (and taxed). The PMA is basically just a bigger dinner party with more friends all happening within the private sphere.
Resources
The Agora Hub - the Church that Joshua and company run, of which the Agora Food Club is an auxiliary The Agora Food Club The Agora Ministries - Christian ministry based in Hixson, TN. [VIDEO] Joel Salatin - Food Freedom In The Private Domain (PMAs) Rogue Food Conference David Edwards PMA Service Freedom Works - Mission Society-based Private Membership Association Josh's podcast - Our Foundations Josh's email if you'd like to contact him directly with questions: ourfoundations@protonmail.com  
 
____________________________________________________________________________
WHAT I DO:
Design:
On-Site Consultation
Online Site/Project Consultation
Holistic Ecosystem Design
 
Implementation:
Water Harvesting Earthworks
High-function, Low-Maintenance Access
Living Systems
Spring Development
 
Courses:
Minimum Holistic Goal
Building Your Sovereign Homestead
 
Media:
The Sovereign Homestead Podcast
YouTube
Instagram
 
 
 
What Plants Crave T-shirts And Stickers!
Another fun way you can support the show AND start some fun and interesting conversations along the way. For those of you that have seen Idiocracy, you know what this is all about. For those of you that haven't...watch this.
   
 
 

Today's show is for those of you lucky enough to have a spring on your property. We will cover the basics of spring morphology and function - including the way I really think they work vs. what the textbooks say - and then we'll go over basic spring assessment criteria, and the main components of spring water collection and distribution systems.
 
Show Resources
Past Spring Projects Rivera Family Ranch Spring Forestville Spring Retrofit Wilson Family Ranch Spring Retrofit Big Sur Spring Black Mountain, NC Spring YouTube - Spring Development Playlist Technical Manuals Springs - Their Origin, Development And Protection, Taylor, G.H., U.S. Dept. Of Interior Geological Survey. [PDF]: Basic Ground Water Hydrology - Water Supply Paper 220, Heath, Ralph C., U.S. Dept. of Interior [PDF]: https://pubs.usgs.gov/wsp/2220/report.pdf NRCS National Engineering Handbook - Part 650 - Chapter 12 - Springs And Wells [PDF]: https://directives.sc.egov.usda.gov/OpenNonWebContent.aspx?content=46258.wba SKAT - Spring Catchment Vol. 4, Meuli, Christian & Wehrle, Karl, 2001. [PDF}: https://skat.ch/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Handbook_Volume4.pdf  
 
____________________________________________________________________________
WHAT I DO:
Design:
On-Site Consultation
Online Site/Project Consultation
Holistic Ecosystem Design
 
Implementation:
Water Harvesting Earthworks
High-function, Low-Maintenance Access
Living Systems
Spring Development
 
Courses:
Minimum Holistic Goal
Building Your Sovereign Homestead
 
Media:
The Sovereign Homestead Podcast
YouTube
Instagram
 
 
What Plants Crave T-shirts And Stickers!
Another fun way you can support the show AND start some fun and interesting conversations along the way. For those of you that have seen Idiocracy, you know what this is all about. For those of you that haven't...watch this.