Thriving The Future Podcast Thriving The Future

Part of Thriving is embracing both the wins, as well as the losses.
Homestead Update:
My Spring garden has failed, for the most part.
I usually sow plants and then spread lettuce and kale seed around to act as a cover crop - hey, lettuce is a companion plant of everything.
This year hardly anything came up. The starter plants that I planted also did not thrive.
Why? Lots of rain.
In Kansas we do not get "April showers bring May flowers."
We get May and June thunderstorms. Almost all of our annual rain comes in May and June.
This year it rained almost every other day in May. We even had a mini-tornado pass just south of us and we got 8-10 inches of rain that week. Should have been a Spring bonanza of crops.
I added a couple of truckloads of compost from the nursery. The compost is worse-than-usual municipal compost.
The perennials saved the day - plantain, walking onion, bloody dock sorrel. They all did wonderfully.
Some trees thrived. Some did not.
My apple grafts are all thriving. Nearly 80% success so far, which is rare.
But the chestnut seedlings from last year didn't come out of dormancy. The 5 year chestnut trees are looking sickly, with half the branches with no leaves. I need to heavily fertilize and see if they recover.
Side Hustle Update on GrowNutTrees.
I sold hundreds of $ of elderberry on FB marketplace.I am adding black lace elderberry for next Fall and in 2025.Episode website: Ep. 132 - Never Give Up, Never Surrender
If you like this content and the podcast, here is how you can support the podcast and my Thriving empire of side hustles:
Shoot me a tip on Venmo or CashApp @ThrivingtheFuture.​Go to the Stuff page on Thriving the Future site and buy something.OR - click on one of the Amazon links on the Stuff page and then buy your other stuff that you want. Anything you buy on Amazon for 24 hours will give Thriving the Future a credit.Sponsors:
Check out the Solar Food Dehydrator. Watch the movie, get the plans, all for a reasonable cost.Grow Nut Trees: Buy Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings - all adapted to the Midwest. Seeds and trees have “memory”. They thrived and reproduced in a certain climate.Often when you buy chestnut trees, seeds, or plants online, you have to buy from nurseries in the Northeast or Southeast US, or the Pacific Northwest.
Take it from us, trees and plants grown in those climates do not do well in Kansas.
So buy Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings - all adapted to the Midwest. At GrowNutTrees.com.

Enough talk. Get Stuff Done. It's Proof of Work.
Grant Payne and Matt Derosier share what Stuff they are Getting Done this Spring, as well as Side Hustle and Tree Nursery tips.
Hear why "The IBC King is Back":
Grant's weddingGrant added MANY chickens and ducksTurkey production - if you start now will they be ready to sell for Thanksgiving?Tree nursery tipsHedge production by coppicing.Grant Payne - PayneHomestead on Twitter
Matt at FarmHopLife
Episode website: Ep. 131 - Get Stuff Done - with Grant and Matt
If you like this content, shoot us a tip on Venmo or Cashapp @ThrivingtheFuture
Sponsors:
Check out the Solar Food Dehydrator. Watch the movie, get the plans, all for a reasonable cost.Grow Nut Trees: Buy Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings - all adapted to the Midwest. Seeds and trees have “memory”. They thrived and reproduced in a certain climate.Often when you buy chestnut trees, seeds, or plants online, you have to buy from nurseries in the Northeast or Southeast US, or the Pacific Northwest.Take it from us, trees and plants grown in those climates do not do well in Kansas. So buy Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings - all adapted to the Midwest. At GrowNutTrees.com.

Real world examples to start and then grow your side hustle.
I am taking a Permaculture Business Design Course through Regeneration Nation CR. The exercises and worksheets are fantastic and have helped me to focus more on the customer.
What is the problem you are trying to solve? What does your customer actually want? Are you trying to solve what you think the problem is?Example: If you are evaluating someone's land and doing a permaculture design, have you asked: "what do you like to eat?"
So many people plant things that they actually don't eat, or will not likely eat.
Define who your customer really is and let your customer define themselves by what they really want.
Niche down and then niche down some more so you are known as an expert in that space.Quickly go to market with a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to test the response and whether it is worth throwing money (and more importantly TIME) at.Charge less for it in a beta test. Get real world feedback.Let your customer ultimately decide if they are your customer. Don’t chase after someone who doesn’t want to be your customer.Learn skills while doing. Charge less while learning those skills, build clientele and experience, then raise your price.Become a producer and not just a consumer.Like the permaculture principle – Use your yield. It can be used to give, trade, or sell to grow your forms of capital.Don’t grift for the sake of the grift or people will easily see through you.Use research tools like Google Trends and Answer the Public.
I do a deep dive on How to use Answer the Public in the latest Thriving News article on How to Overcome Writer's Block.
Episode website: Ep. 130 - Tips on How to Grow Your Side Hustle
If you like this content, shoot us a tip on Venmo or Cashapp @ThrivingtheFuture.
Sponsors:
Check out the Solar Food Dehydrator. Watch the movie, get the plans, all for reasonable cost.Grow Nut Trees: Buy Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings - all adapted to the Midwest. Seeds and trees have “memory”. They thrived and reproduced in a certain climate.Often when you buy chestnut trees, seeds, or plants online, you have to buy from nurseries in the Northeast or Southeast US, or the Pacific Northwest.Take it from us, trees and plants grown in those climates do not do well in Kansas. So buy Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings - all adapted to the Midwest. At GrowNutTrees.com.

Times are tough. I talked with a recruiter friend the other day and there are >40 people in my field in our local job market that he knows that are looking for work. And those are just the ones that he knows.
Build something for yourself. It’s basic prepping. Build your side hustle. Multiple streams of income.
In this episode I will share tips on how to discover and develop your side hustle niche.
How to find your side hustle niche
Let's talk about YOUR side hustle.
Are you having difficulty finding your side hustle niche?
What are you good at?You know stuff. You may not think it is much, but there is someone out there who will pay (or pay attention) for that knowledge.Remember - Guys on YouTube are getting hundreds of views from sharpening knives or using a scythe. This week I saw a post on permies where a guy took a scythe blade that was mangled by a lawn mower and he fixed it. All are skills that can be taught or sold as a side hustle, or as sales of knives and scythes.
Grant Payne takes pruned and trimmed pieces of plants and rejects from the big box store and grows them out into full plants and sells them.
Anything like that can drive into a side hustle.
Even better - you can tell someone how to do a skill step by step and they will often PAY YOU to do it for them.
Try it. Talk about your skill in your community. Offer to show someone how you do it. Make a proof of concept web page, YouTube page, or use FB Marketplace. Sell your service or your product/what you make. Or sell your knowledge and skill.
Use Flippa as a Side Hustle Idea Generator
Get on Flippa. Check out the current listings. But, even more importantly, check out the listings that have recently sold.
The prepper site BunkerBasics.com sold not long ago for $1,100.
You could buy a website like this, build one similar, or use it as an idea for a niche.
This is my usual process and checklist for evaluating a website:
Is the site within my niche or in an adjacent niche?Is the site in my price range? Most that I have bought are starter sites that are $100-200.They must be created in Wordpress.Do I have a vision for them:Do I buy the site, build the audience, and then generate affiliate income?Will I resell the site?Do I think that I can make the site better?I usually brainstorm 10-15 article topics that I would write for each site as a proof of concept to support my decision.
Check out the show notes on the Episode website: https://ThrivingtheFuture.com/side-hustle-niche
Guitar Pedal Mania
Sponsors:
Duplicator Pro - when you buy a website off of Flippa, Transfer the website over easily with Duplicator Pro plugin. It creates the database and sets up all plugins and content. Check out Duplicator Pro plugin.Check out the Solar Food Dehydrator. Watch the movie, get the plans, all for reasonable cost.Grow Nut Trees: Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings. At GrowNutTrees.com.

Andy Hickman (shagbark_hick on Twitter) shares his new adventures. Andy was on on Ep. 83 - You're Gonna Make it.
His video "You're Gonna Make it" is still the most encouraging video I have ever seen, and still puts a smile on my face.
Andy has a big Summer planned:
He is getting married to Keturah in June, with a wedding in the woods of upstate NY, with bring-your-own-picnic lunch, and campout. (Saving money and gaining family).
Before that, he is travelling the month of May coast-to-coast on Amtrak to visit new friends from Twitter in NE and TX, stealth camping, and in Oregon to greet the father he has never met.
He shares tips for traveling on Amtrak.
Plans to travel to Europe on QE2.
Making a living writing on Substack. Subscribe and support him (I do). It is a must-read!
We also talk about Thriving by being Time Rich.
Check out the show notes on the Episode website: https://ThrivingtheFuture.com/shagbark_hick
Sponsors:
Check out the Solar Food Dehydrator. Watch the movie, get the plans, all for reasonable cost.Grow Nut Trees: Elderberry, pecan, hazelnut seedlings, and red mulberry seedlings. At GrowNutTrees.com.Do you forage nettles? A guy I know forages and freezes nettles and they are his main green veg for the entire year! Check out the How to Forage and Prepare Nettles on AllGardenAdvice.com

New health challenges require Homestead Padre to rethink and redesign his garden to adapt to those changes.
After some health issues, Homestead Padre and his wife are adopting the Mediterranean Diet.
Padre shares about IBS and Crohn's Disease.
Unlike American Italian Food, the Mediterranean Diet is heavy emphasis on vegetables, seafood, lean meats, fat from olive oil, and whole wheat pasta (if they have pasta).
Padre is realigning his garden around those foods. Changing what he will grow in his garden - based on new dietary needs. Come and listen to how he plans out his journey.
The usual disclaimer: This is a personal story and is not medical advice.
Padre also shares about his updates and challenges with the farmer's market this year as they take on leadership of the market.
Check out the step by step instructions on the show notes on the Episode website: https://ThrivingtheFuture.com/garden-health
Sponsors:
Check out the Solar Food Dehydrator. Watch the movie, get the plans, all for reasonable cost.Grow Nut Trees: Elderberry cuttings are still available. Now have hazelnut seedlings and red mulberry seedlings. At GrowNutTrees.com.Check out the Companion Planting Guide on AllGardenAdvice.com