SRF, April ’24

We were “camping” over the weekend at the SOE compound during the Self Reliance Festival. I say “camping” because we brought everything to have a heated bedroom full of cushy bedding, a bathroom with a shower and a flush toilet, and a kitchen with a stove, a griddle, and… Wait for it… Even the kitchen sink!

Boy, was that a lot of stuff to haul around. Anyway, it kept things pretty comfortable for my very pregnant wife. The two year old enjoyed setting up the tent at least as much as having marshmallows for the first time ever.
(Relax, they were homemade!)

I thought I would share what I learned so that it can benefit others as well. I will break it down based on who I learned it from.


Evan Dixon – Radio Made Easy
Evan has a new stubby antenna of his own design. It is a tiny little thing that must have some very tightly coiled wire. He says it works great around town with lots of trees and buildings all around. ( https://radiomadeeasy.com/product/bnc-stubby-miracle-baby-antenna/ )

He also has what he calls the foul whether whip antenna. It would be a much more practical option for those of us in rural environments doing things that tend to eventually break rubber ducky antennas. It would not be really fun for the radio you keep on your belt though. ( https://radiomadeeasy.com/product/foul-weather-whip-antenna/ )


Chuck Peoples – Homestead Medical
I stopped by their booth while Chuck Sr. was actually there. That never happened at other events for whatever reason. I asked him what was new, and he showed me an extremely compact tourniquet. It looks a bit weird, and it even has a tiny chemlight. It’s odd, but he says it has held up in testing so far and that it is deployed in about the same amount of time as the CAT-7 and SOF-T. I was most concerned about the time it would take to put on. I still think the CAT-7 would be better for self application on an arm, and the SOF-T would be better for an impinged or mangled leg. ( https://www.appalachianmedicalsolutions.com/products/everyday-carry-tourniquet-wide )


Nick Ferguson – homegrownliberty.com
I bombarded Nick with a bunch of questions knowing full well that the answer is “it depends”. (Sorry Nick!)
As expected, he still shared some great information anyway.

First off, he did confirm that I am on the right path in my efforts to feed pigs here on the property. He did tell me that one of the best ways to reliably and exponentially propagate my mulberry trees is going to be setting up an intermittent mist system. When I asked what other plants I need to consider (besides the ones I listed off to him – that’s for another day.) , he smiled and said “perennial sorghum”. I was surprised and asked where that could be found. “I have some”, he said with an bigger grin. He does not have any available to sell yet, but maybe I can get some within a few years.

Then I asked about goats. He told me about sericea lespedeza (lespedeza cuneata). It’s high tannin content is good for keeping parasites in check. The barber pole worm is certainly something to be wary of, and this plant can help.

Nick also confirmed that the fungal rich compost from a Johnson-Su bioreactor will do great for inoculating the roots of the trees we will be propagating here on the farm. I suspected it would work well, and indeed it’s something that he already does.

The last crucial thing is something he said in his presentation. Maple not only should not be fed to animals wilted, but should also be stored dry for at least a few months. I suppose it would be best to make tree hay out of it for the winter.


Grumpy Acres Farm
Myrrh and frankincense can be used as a spice in food. Apparently Myrrh can be ground up and put into meatloaf to give it a very unique and pleasant taste.

One other thing I learned from Yoda is to make absolutely sure people who have been drinking alcohol know the price of a thing before you let them commit to it. They don’t tend catch on to these things as fast. Who knew?


Andrew Smrecek – Combat Art Training
I stopped by tactical response’s booth to ask Heather a question. Andrew Smrecek was over there talking. I was thrilled to learn that he is going to be teaching some classes at tactical response. I love it when people collaborate!
I understand that there is some competition in a sense, but to disown everyone doing something similar to you is immature and stems from a scarcity mindset. There is enough to go around. We are better when we challenge each other and grow together.

He also informed me about something that I thought was pretty cool. Umarex now makes officially licensed airguns that have the look and feel of a Glock. Even if you are not a Glock guy, you should get one of these. Glocks are so common these days that you could very well find yourself in a situation where you have secured one from a perp or found one in a hot scene. These are also a great way to safely train children or just have something more fun and realistic than dryfire training.


Fortress K9
(Dude, I’m sorry. I can’t recall your name at the time of writing. I will update this if I remember or someone reminds me.)
Joel and crew designed some really cool doghouses. They are like little tree houses perched up on short posts. The tethers have a big loop that just goes around the post. This eliminates the need for any kind of swivel arm like people with sled dogs often use. It also gives the dogs a nice shady spot to lay underneath the doghouses. There is a bit of a porch that gives the dogs a place to jump up on. I don’t know if I am going to use this design or not. I am seriously considering though. I might modify it a bit to make it to be sort of a watch tower for my livestock guardians.


Jacob Peterson – exodusknifeandtool.com
I stopped to talk with Jacob and it dawned on me that I recognized his voice. I had stumbled across his youtube video about JoeX and listened to a couple of others after that. I had no clue about his company! Very cool!

I am really excited to see what he does with the two projects he is working on. One is a knife heavily based on a knife made from remanufactured bayonets and issued to the French Foreign Legion. The other is a ginunting. Both sound absolutely awesome!


Sean Patrick Tario
Sean has some very cool doodads to help take back some of your privacy secretly stollen from people through technology. I was impressed that he actually does testing on things to ensure that they work. He even encourages people to test his products. This is something I have been trying to figure out how to do.

I left with a miclock. I don’t yet know how to ensure that it blocks the microphone from spying on people, or how to ensure there is no spyware in the miclock itself. Either way, it can’t hurt any more than what google and apple are doing through people’s mobile devices. I was very glade to learn about these. At least I now have a potential solution for people who have to use spy phones for work and such.
Sean put lots of information here. https://truthinlove.substack.com/p/bigtech-alternatives-and-resources


Mike Shelby – Forward Observer
I missed mikes presentation, but I recognized his voice when he was buying some things from Grumpy Acres. He told me I could sign up at the booth to receive the presentation via email. What I soon learned is that I could buy a box with his book, access to his online course, and a bunch of materials to help me go through the course and collect information that is pertinent to me and my area. I was sold when he told me that access to the online course information does not expire after a given amount of time had past. I jumped at the opportunity and look forward to beginning the course.


Am I missing anything?
I’m sure I am. I am so sorry if I have left someone out. It was a good weekend. I met some great people, some who I had spoken with online for some time. We also had a pretty good turnout for Sunday morning worship. It was totally worth the trip.

A big thanks to Nicole, John, Amanda, Dawn, the Jennifers, et al. for putting on a great event yet again.