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_outlineHomestead Super Plant Showcase - All About Amazing Vetiver Grass
If you haven't heard of vetiver grass and are homesteading in USDA zone 7b or higher, this is a must listen!
Vetiver Grass - Chrysopogon zizanioides - is a perennail, tufted, clump-forming grass that grows up to 9' tall in the tropics, and typically 6' tall in Mediterranean and humid temperate climates. It is known worldwide for its incredibly dense and fibrous root system that grows 15'+ deep, and is utilized around the world for erosion repair and prevention, slope stabilization, water clarification, sewage effluent treatment, biomass, livestock fodder, hay, and essential oil. Vetiver grass is also incredibly well-behaved - it does not produce viable seed and does not have running rhizomatous roots or stolons - meaning it will stay where you put it. To make more you can very easily divide a mature vetiver clumpe to produce upwards of 30 viable vetiver tillers (young vetiver plants budding off the mature clump).
Vetiver grass can survive winter temperatures as low as 0-5 degrees Fahrenheit, and highs up to 130 degrees Fahrenheit. It can handle snow and frost as long as the ground doesn't freeze - which generally means it will grow and survive well in USDA Zones 7b and higher. Vetiver grass is incredibly drought hardy once established due to its incredibly deep root system and its C4 physiology. Vetiver grass culms are very stiff and upright, and when planted in contour strips, the grass will grow into a dense living wall that prevents sheetflow erosion and enhances infiltration. It can be buried in sediment and will root into accumulated sediments. It can be burned to the ground and will regrow from subterranean buds. It can be grazed heavily and is an excellent forage or cut fodder for horses, cows, sheep, goats, pigs, rabbits - even certain types of herbivorous fish! It can be cut multiple times a year and it literally a "carbon pump". It is used throughout the world to treat sewage effluent and to clarify manure lagoons, while producing mineral rich hay as a by-product. If you have a greywater reed bed or blackwater treatment system vetiver grass is amazing and reducing total dissolved solids (TDS) and E. coli counts.
Join me in this show as we dive deep into all of the amazing characteristics and many functions that vetiver grass can perform for your homestead. This plant is incredible and is a true ally for any regenerative landscape. It is a total honey badger - incredibly tenacious once established and well-behaved in any landscape - this one can do so much for your homestead, especially if you have erosion issues or are looking to produce feed for your livestock at low to no cost!
Show Resources
- Vetiver.org - international consortium of vetiver systems practitioners - this website has an immense library of scientific literature detailing the many applications of vetiver grass for a wide range of environmental restoration purposes. All freely available.
- Vetiver grass suppliers - look up a place near you to get some vetiver slips.
- Honey Badger Nursery will be carrying vetiver grass in the near future in southeast Tennessee.
- All Things Vetiver Grass - curated YouTube playlist - lots of great videos in here demonstrating vetiver grass in a wide variety of applications - from stabilizing beaches to treating sewage effluent to holding fragile hillslopes to feeding animals.
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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