Tater Biggums Is HERE
The Sovereign Homestead
If you're seeing this in your podcast feed it means our first child has either arrived or is very nearly earthside! Sammy and I greatly appreciate your thoughts, prayers, and good vibes in this time. The podcast will be on an indefinite (though hopefully relatively short) break, while we welcome our first child into the world and find our feet as new parents. Thank you all for listening and keep shining your light. -Casey & Sammy (and Tater) ____________________________________________________________________________ WHAT I DO: Create Resilient Habitats Where People And Ecology Thrive...
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Floating Wetland Gardens In Pantry Ponds For Resilience, Function and Yield Stacking ~Epi-079
The Sovereign Homestead
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...
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Opt In To Nature To Opt Out Of The System(s) ~Epi-078
The Sovereign Homestead
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...
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Designing For LIGHT At Every Level - Patterns For Incorporating Natural Light Into The Built Environment ~Epi-077
The Sovereign Homestead
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...
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Zone 0 Pattern Language Fundamentals - Designing Your Permaculture Kitchen ~Epi-076
The Sovereign Homestead
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...
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Building Freedom And Community In The REAL Private Sector - Real World Applications For Private Membership Associations with Joshua Longbrook ~Epi-075
The Sovereign Homestead
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...
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Sovereign Water - Spring Development Basics ~Epi-074
The Sovereign Homestead
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 YouTube - 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...
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Debt, Wealth & Counter-Economics As A Means To Create A World Worth Inheriting ~Epi-073
The Sovereign Homestead
How do we create a regenerative economy and all that entails when that work is arbitrarily outlawed, suppressed or actively disincentivized by the value systems that dominate our current culture? HINT: We have to step outside of the current imposed power structure - no permission required. My presupposition for this episode is this: Mainstream, state sponsored and enforced economic theory and practice has herded humanity as a whole onto a degenerative trajectory with respect to environmental integrity, social cohesion and individual well-being. We are living in a debt-driven world - stealing...
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Grow Food, Fodder, Fences And Forts For Cheap With Livestaking ~Epi-072
The Sovereign Homestead
Today's episode is a short primer on live staking - what it is, how it works, what its good for, what types of species you can use to do it, and how to harvest, prepare and plant your live stakes. If you have perennially moist soils in need of stabilization, or are able to irrigate certain areas to ensure adequate soil moisture for establishment, you can plant hundreds of trees for pennies per stem and create living structures that provide many layers of function while getting stronger over time! Livestaking is a great way to establish living fences, plant and grow living structures, stabilize...
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As Within So Without ~Epi-071
The Sovereign Homestead
As within so without. If we want to see changes in our external world (i.e. regenerating landscapes and ecosystems), we have to first address our internal state. The older I get and the more I learn, the less I can say I know for sure. This, though, is one of those things that I've arrived at as being one of those "indivisible kernels of truth" - something solid and constant upon which I can build a foundation for regeneration. The external state of our landscapes is a direct reflection of our own internal states. This has always been true in every consultancy I have ever done. This is...
info_outlineIn today's show I detail my journey into what will be a multi-year endeavor - completely de-Googling my life. For us to live as sovereign human beings this day in age, we have to consciously design our digital lives to maintain appropriate levels of privacy and security amidst the ever-rising tide of surveillance and tracking. De-Googling my phone was one process I began a year ago in order to start to take back some control over my data and my reliance upon centralized tech cloud services.
Despite the many pitfalls we face daily with smartphones in our lives, they are also tremendously powerful tools, and can be one of the most powerful tools you have when operating your homestead and homestead enterprises as a well-integrated whole. We need to be conscious of how we integrate tech into our lives, and understand that anything they say is "free" means that you are the product.
Join me today as I share my experience in de-Googline my phone and give you the concrete steps to follow to do the same and claw back from digital privacy from the technocrats.
Show Resources (aka your guide to de-Googling a Google Pixel phone)
- Operating Systems
- CalyxOS - this is what I ended up going with - maintains the Android privacy standards, very user friendly, faster than Graphene, looks great, excellent functionality and plenty of options to customize everything - oh and privacy is the default setting, but you have plenty of options to make yourself less private if you so desire.
- Watch TechLore's review of CalyxOS: The Private & Secure Android ROM For Everyone!
- GrapheneOS - more secure and private than Calyx, but requires more technical knowledge to operate, is slower and has a less seamless user experience - for more advanced folks IMO.
- LineageOS - steered clear of this due to reported lack of verified boot mode - backdoors perhaps?
- CalyxOS - this is what I ended up going with - maintains the Android privacy standards, very user friendly, faster than Graphene, looks great, excellent functionality and plenty of options to customize everything - oh and privacy is the default setting, but you have plenty of options to make yourself less private if you so desire.
- Installing & Setting Up CalyxOS
- Calyx OS Installation Guides
- Set Up Guides
- TechLore's Complete Android Privacy & Security Guide
- Android Privacy Lab's CalyxOS - Full Post-Install Set Up Guide - Maximize Privacy On Your Android Phone
- Rob Braxman's deep dive into MicroG - what it is, what it does, how it impacts your privacy - excellent resource!
- very helpful Reddit thread - How I Made CalyxOS The Perfect Balance Of Private & Awesome - A Guide
- App Stores
- Sandbox
- Shelter App - a MUST have! Basically allows you to have two phones in one - one for work, one for personal, and limit any unruly behaviors from work-necessary apps to a small sandbox so they don’t have access to all the info on your phone. You can also "freeze" apps that have spyware or trackers so they can't constantly report back to the mothership.
- Read this article from MakeUseOf on how Shelter works.
- Browsers
- Fennec (Firefox)
- Tor
- Video Calls - Jitsi - has desktop and mobile apps for open source video conferencing
- Simple Mobile Tools - found in Fdroid, all the basic data management tools we've come to expect on a phone - only simpler.
- Gallery Pro - all photos and videos, multiple formats
- Contacts
- Notes
- Calendar - use EteSync service to create shared calendars, sync across devices - very affordable and works great
- File Manager
- Camera
- Documents / Office Suite
- NextCloud - Calyx has great integration here - can also be self-hosted on Embassy and auto-sync with your phone!
- NextCloud Hub
- NextCloud Files - file sharing
- NextCloud Talk - calls, chat, video conferencing
- NextCloud Groupware - calendar, contacts, email
- NextCloud Office - real time document collaboration - integrates with LibreOffice on Desktop
- NextCloud Hub
- NextCloud - Calyx has great integration here - can also be self-hosted on Embassy and auto-sync with your phone!
- File Sharing
- Navigation
- Magic Earth - download map files ahead of time - will work even if you have no service or connectivity - this is Great for off-grid stuff! Has voice directions
- Organic Maps - based on OpenSTreetMaps - no spoken directions
- Password Manager
- BitWarden - I self host my own instance on my Embassy personal server, but you can create an account with BitWarden or download and run your own instance if you have the technical chops.
- Messaging
- Telegram
- Signal
- Briar - haven't used this myself, but I've read good things.
- Simple Messenger (native to CalyxOS - slim on features, but can do group texts etc)
- Phone - integrated w/ contacts, call history, simple dial pad etc.
- Drawbacks - no Missed Call alert flags, have to dial in to listen to voicemail, can’t merge calls (at least I haven't successfully done so yet).
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WHAT I DO:
Design:
Online Site/Project Consultation
Implementation:
High-function, Low-Maintenance Access
Courses:
Media:
The Sovereign Homestead Podcast
Music by Alex Grohl