Happy Spring, everyone! In this 222nd Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I am going to discuss attending my first Beekeeper Conference called Beek Meet 2024 and 5 Lessons Learned from Beekeepers last weekend. While I am not a beekeeper, I found the conference incredibly interesting, educational and entertaining. I also met some really great f…

Happy Spring, everyone! In this 222nd Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I am going to discuss attending my first Beekeeper Conference called Beek Meet 2024 and 5 Lessons Learned from Beekeepers at the conference. While I am not a beekeeper, I found the conference incredibly interesting, educational and entertaining. I also met some really gr…

In this 221st Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I am going to look back at our experiences with the Whole30 Challenge in 2019, 2020 and 2024. I will discuss some of the lessons learned and “non-scale wins,” and I will finish by talking about Next Steps including a new Whole30 Challenge on April 1, 2024! Our First Whole30 Challenge Where did …

In this 221st Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I am going to look back at our experiences with the Whole30 Challenge in 2019, 2020 and 2024. I will discuss some of the lessons learned and “non-scale wins,” and I will finish by talking about Next Steps including a new Whole30 Challenge on April 1, 2024! For show notes and links, head over to…

For the past two weeks, Julie and I have been doing the Whole30 Challenge. For those of you who might not know what the Whole30 is, this article and Small Scale Life Podcast episode is for you. In this article and episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I am going to introduce the Whole30 Challenge and the basic rules of the Whole30 Challenge. Wha…

It's a Leap Year Episode Small Scale Life Podcast! Episode 220 was recorded at 2:22 PM on 2/29/2024 (look at all those 2's), so you know this was a special, foundational show. In this episode, your Host Tom introduces the Whole30 Challenge and summarizes the basic rules of this elimination diet. There are plenty of do's and don'ts, but do not let t…

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Welcome to 2024; a new cycle has begins again! Even though you might not know me or heard from me for a while, we have gone another time around the sun together, and holidays have come and gone once again. I hope you had a great time with your community, family and friends (hopefully they are all one in the same …

Happy New Year, friends! Welcome to 2024! The Small Scale Life Podcast has been silent since April 26, 2023. At that point, we had just announced that we were selling Driftless Oaks Farm, which was our little 10-acre hobby farm in Western Wisconsin. We had a lot of discussions, a lot of soul searching and a lot of work leading up to that point, and…

Are we really selling Driftless Oaks Farm? Julie and I just bought and moved to the farm almost two years ago and got everything we ever wanted…or did we? Tune in to Episode 218 of the Small Scale Life Podcast to find out who, what, when, where and why! Watch the podcast episode here on the Small Scale Life YouTube Channel. Listen to this Episode! …

Are we really selling Driftless Oaks Farm? Julie and I just bought and moved to the farm almost two years ago and got everything we ever wanted...or did we? Tune in to Episode 218 of the Small Scale Life Podcast to find out who, what, when, where and why!על ידי Tom

In this 218th Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I talk about Tipping Points and Getting Back to Basics. Welcome to March. In case you have been hiding under a rock: banks are crashing. War is brewing across the globe. Businesses are laying people off. We are talking about invading Mexico to eliminate cartels. Have we been transported to 2008…

In this 217th Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I talk about Tipping Points and Getting Back to Basics. We have seen bank collapses before, and it didn't go well for us in 2008. It is a reminder to get back to Small Scale Living and growing/canning our own food. I have to tell you: the bank closures and bank runs remind me so much of the Leh…

In this 216th Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I continue the conversation with my friend Adam Rapier from Colorado. We are going to discuss Starting a Beekeeping Business. Now, I know many of you are not beekeepers and will never be beekeepers, but I hope you hold on and stay tuned to this episode. Like walking through a garden, each small…

In this 216th Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I continue the conversation with my friend Adam Rapier from Colorado. We are going to discuss Starting a Beekeeping Business including different small business niches in the Beekeeping world. Now, I know many of you are not beekeepers and will never be beekeepers, but I hope you hold on and sta…

In this 215th Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I continue the conversation with my friend Adam Rapier from Colorado. We are going to dive into gardening and beekeeping in this episode. We discuss some fantastic garden beds they built at Adam’s parent’s house, and we discuss the start of their beekeeping journey. Who is Adam Rapier? Adam and…

In this 215th Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I continue the conversation with my friend Adam Rapier from Colorado. We are going to dive into gardening and beekeeping in this episode. We discuss some fantastic garden beds they built at Adam's parent's house, and we discuss the start of their beekeeping journey. If you want to find The Rapi…

In Small Scale Life Podcast Episode 214, I talk with my friend Adam about his family’s journey to starting High Desert Hives and Homestead in Colorado. How does a successful guy decide to walk away from the hustle and bustle of city life and a fast paced corporate job and move to the country to start a garden, grow a thriving beekeeping business an…

In Small Scale Life Podcast Episode 214, I talk with my friend Adam about his family's journey to starting High Desert Hives and Homestead in Colorado. How does a successful guy decide to walk away from the hustle and bustle of city life and a fast paced corporate job and move to the country to start a garden, grow a thriving beekeeping business an…

In this 213th Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I am talking with my friend Maria the Intuitive Energy Healer about How to Set Your 2023 Guiding Words and Mantras. This is building on last week’s Small Scale Life Podcast where I discussed 10 Goal Setting and Self Inventory Questions to Start 2023, so if you haven’t listened to that one, you …

In this 213th Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I am talking with my friend Maria the Intuitive Energy Healer about How to Set Your 2023 Guiding Words and Mantras. This is building on last week's Small Scale Life Podcast where I discussed 10 Goal Setting and Self Inventory Questions to Start 2023, so if you haven't listened to that one, you …

In this 212th Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast (and first episode of 2023), I am talking about 10 Goal Setting and Self Inventory Questions to Start 2023. From my own work while on vacation and after my birthday, I am starting the 2023 Project Me Initiative. As part of the New Year self inventory and goal setting exercise, I have 10 question…

The last Small Scale Life Podcast Episode was posted on September 9, 2022. This was two days before Danny passed away, and after a long road, we are back to say Merry Christmas and begin to shine our light once again. In this episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, your host Tom talks about the past three months including losing Danny and the long…

Host Tommy Cakes provides a garden and homestead update here at Driftless Oaks Farm in this 210th Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast. During the show, Tommy talks about the following topics: Change is in the Air - Fall and Winter are Coming! The Orchard - Criss Cross Apple Sauce The Land Provides - Sweet Corn and Wild Grapes Canning * Four Tip…

In this 209th Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, your Wandering Gardener Host Tom talks with his friend Mr. Tactical Jay about the modern back to the land movement, setting big goals and creating a Jay's massive garden on the side of a mountain. This is Part 2 of an earlier conversation about the Modern Day Back to the Land Movement that has …

על ידי Tom

In this 207th episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I introduce the Drifting to Driftless Series by focusing on my recent Adventure in Cedar Rapids, Mount Vernon and Decorah, IA. The Drifting to Driftless Series is where I share my adventures and wandering. It will be a regular feature on Small Scale Life. For pictures, videos and links from thi…

In this 206th Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I am introducing two new efforts here at our Driftless Oaks Farm and on the Small Scale Life Podcast: My Farm Journal Operation WW My Farm Journal posts, videos and podcast episodes will document our progress and our observations of life at our little Driftless Oaks Farm. Operation WW is focuse…

In this 205th Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I have my good friend Mr. Tactical Jay back on the show to talk about the Modern Day Back to the Land Movement including gardening, homesteading and being more self-reliant. I have known Jay for over 10 years, and he and his wonderful wife are experiencing their own Back to the Land Movement as…

After a long hiatus this Spring, Host Tom resturns to Restart Our Small Scale Life. This is a 10 minute episode that covers the following topics: Host Tom introduces himself to the audience Where the Small Scale Life Podcast has been over the past 6 years and where it is going in the future Driftless Oaks Farm's projects and opportunities For links…

In this 203rd Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I have a Chicken Chat with my good friend Amy Dingmann. Julie and I are chicken newbs, so we wanted to learn from someone who has done all things chicken! Amy Dingmann is from A Farmish Kind of Life where she talks about her life on a little 5-acre farm in Central Minnesota. Amy is a writer, po…

On this 202nd Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, Julie and Maria the Intuitive Energy Healer are back on the Small Scale Life Podcast to talk about How to Start a Small Business. Both Maria and Julie have owned their own businesses: Maria owns and operates a dog grooming business and her intuitive energy healing business in Lake City, Minneso…

In this episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, Julie and I talk with Maria the Intuitive Energy Healer about the Full Moon Energies, the importance of community, and our 2022 Guiding Words. Who is Maria the Intuitive Energy Healer? Maria the Intuitive Energy Healer has been practicing over 6 years and helps people heal naturally and coaches peopl…

For our 200th Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, Julie and I talk about the Top 10 Surprises Moving to the Country from the City/Suburbs. For links to the recent appearances and to learn more about Driftless Oaks Farm, head over to smallscalelife.com . As a reminder, you can now buy high quality grass fed meat (raised using Regenerative Agric…

In this 199th Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, Adam Rick and I are talking about Creating Heritage Meals and Deep Roots in Central Wisconsin. I like to call this episode “All Roads Lead to Oxford, Wisconsin.” For links and show notes, head on over to smallscalelife.com As I mentioned in this Small Scale Life Podcast, you can now buy quality…

I talk with Adam Rick about his Grass Fed Farm Business in Wisconsin. Adam is a partner in and salesman for an Amish co-op. This co-op is beyond a grass fed farm: they are focusing on using principles and protocols of Regenerative Agriculture to raise chickens, pork and cows. Adam and his Amish partners are building soil on tired, played out farm f…

My guest on the Small Scale Life Podcast this week is Brian Aleksivich from the LOTS Project and our Fireside Freedom Podcast! We are talking about monetizing your homestead (making some money because….hey, we like money)! Brian started a lot of different business ventures since starting his Happy Hills Homestead 7 years ago, and I wanted to find o…

In our first Small Scale Life Podcast of 2022, Julie and I discuss our journey to Driftless Oaks Farm. We discuss Eagles Ridge, why we started looking for property again and finding Driftless Oaks Farm. Of course, it is also a special birthday episode for the Small Scale Life Podcast (7 years) and your humble host Tom! For more information and link…

Last week on the Small Scale Life Podcast, I discussed my Daily Gratitude Practice and gave four tips to establishing your own daily gratitude practice. As a recap, the four tips were the following: Take some time and think about what you are truly grateful about. Make a list of people and things and challenges you are grateful for. Keep those list…

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Tis the season for having a Daily Gratitude Practice and giving thanks. After all, how many of us had this conversation during Thanksgiving dinner last week: What are you thankful for? “What are you thankful for” is the usual question that people have and expect a response after grace. How often were we caught of-guard…

In this episode, I break my silence and restart the Small Scale Life Podcast! I talk about our new farm in Western Wisconsin and starting to live at our farm. I talk about the following topics: Gratitude Practice - Shout Outs and Thank Yous Driftless Oaks Farma. Outbuildingsb. Fruit Trees, Berries, Grapes and Perenialsc. Pens/Paddocksd. The Blue Ba…

In this episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, Tom talks about "going with the flow" and how he is developing a 10 step plan to navigate the rapids, waterfalls and log jams in life. We can spend a lifetime chasing dollars and cents, yet we don’t have the sense to take care of the Small Scale Life Basic 10 Core Principles. We have become addicted …

In this Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I provide an Eagles Ridge Update: Community, House Project and Stair Project Failure. I talk about 5 Lessons Learned from Our Stair Project that can be applied to our lives: relationships, jobs, money, tasks, DIY projects and even social media. April has come and gone, and we had a lot going on geari…

On this 189th Episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast, I am talking homestead hunting, Roberts Rules, grounding and gardening with Letti Loo from the Liberty All Day Blog, Podcast and Vlog. Letti is a busy person! She is married and has a busy little boy, and along with her own platform, she is a co-host on the 80’s Mom Podcast and has her own virt…

Have you ever felt overwhelmed as you think about how to start gardening or kicking off a new garden season? There are so many questions, options and methods; it can feel like you are lost in a lush jungle of options and questions: • Do I start seeds or buy them from a store or a greenhouse? • Should I till up your yard and plant in native soil or …

In the Frozen Tundra of America's northland, we seem to have turned a corner on the weather last week. Something is in the air. The birds are showing us that something is up: from the pairs of eagles flying over Eagles Ridge and near the Third Floor Castle in the Sky to the cardinals popping up everywhere. We are entering a Season of Change! On thi…

This episode of the Small Scale Life Podcast is all about How to Raise You Vibes with Maria the Energy Healer. As with many interviews, we had a plan and scripted questions for Maria, but we swerved into some really important topics that will serve as way stones for what Small Scale Life is becoming. For all of our knowledge and understanding, ther…

Happy Valentine’s Day, Lifers. I hope you have a good holiday with your significant other. How is it going? How are you feeling? Are you making it through these tough times and cold weather? It can be hard this time of year. It feels like Spring is never going to get here, and we have a long stretch of sea before us before we get to a warmer seas a…

Julie and I had a great conversation about wellness, homesteading and grounding with Hannah from The Wisconsin Homestead Podcast. Topics include clean eating (Keto and Whole30), grounding, spirituality (energy and the Drum Wash) and of course The Wisconsin Homestead Podcast. What is Grounding? For those who may not know what “grounding” is, groundi…

Pressing forward into 2021, we are starting the New Year off right! In this 183rd Podcast Episode, we are talking about gardening, urban homesteading and future homesteading plans with Hannah from The Wisconsin Homestead Podcast. Hannah and her husband AJ are fellow travelers in the Homesteading space. Like us, Hannah and AJ are living close to the…

As we say goodbye and good riddance to 2020 and usher in the New Year, I am excited to kick off 2021 and set the tone. Relax and Meditate to Water Sounds from Quarderer Creek in Barron, Wisconsin. This is a Small Scale Life Podcast and YouTube video. Quaderer Creek is a stream that flows from just north of a small town named Hillsdale towards Barro…