Kerry Brown
StrongRootsResources

www.strongrootsresources.com

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Last Notes

2023-07-20 18:20:58

I've grown so very tired of this ongoing culture war. At this point I don't even really care what "side" folks feel they're on. If someone is putting off an angry, fearful or self righteous energy, I have to steer clear for my own mental well being. I realize the manipulation is running in overdrive and a lot of folks just aren't awake to that yet. #growyourself #grownostr

2023-07-18 19:26:21

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Right here with you. Fortunately a lot of older texts are available on internet archive- even a quick search on etheric technologies is mind blowing. Our world is so much more interesting than we've been led to believe.

2023-07-18 19:19:50

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Zap sent because that got a rare chuckle out of me

2023-07-18 19:14:20

I have this instinct lately to remove "I should..." from my mental processes. I know for a fact that when I operate instinctually with only light planning and a lot of trust that the most amazing and welcome changes occur in my life. Also, because I'm certain that my base setting is one of providing value and service, going with these instincts keeps me on a good path. Too much "I should" actually steers me too close to useless frustration.

2023-07-17 21:40:37

I turned 40 yesterday. I don't get overly attached to numbers and what some people feel they represent. I remain focused on growing myself, improving my circumstances and pursuing my goals. That said, I continue to balance enjoyment and not being so damn serious. #40 #growyourself #grownostr

2023-07-11 18:08:42

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That looks like a business opportunity for a entrepreneurial permaculture enthusiast in that region. Hmm...I have a zoo 12 miles from my homestead...

2023-07-11 17:43:05

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Correction: sMiles

2023-07-11 17:42:34

Heard on The Survival Podcast that the sMile app is a pedometers that rewards your physical activity with Sats. Considering I walk 5 to 10 miles a day, I've put it on my phone. #smileapp #grownostr #growyourself

2023-07-09 17:58:08

Y'all haven't been entertained until you've watched turkeys chase June bugs through the yard.

2023-07-07 18:33:17

Jackson and I are moving 3.5 tons of river rock today to create a clean, no maintenance edge for some folks near downtown. Sweat = $$$ = freedom. #grownostr #growyourself

2023-07-04 02:15:22

Just saw an East Tennessee tradition: fella driving the Craftsman mower out of the liquor store parking lot.

2023-07-01 20:31:54

My idea of a good Saturday: sitting in my little stock tank pool watching the turkeys chase June bugs. #grownostr #growyourself

2023-06-29 17:22:52

Man, this haze can fuck right off.
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2023-06-26 03:44:01

The shutdowns/gov't response to covid in 2020 was a launching point for my business and continued personal growth. My previous friend group mostly (with a few notable, imporant exceptions) disappeared or became disconnected and the relationships I've built since then have all been based on value exchange, actual community and common goals and interests. I've noticed that certain people who tried to hang on to "how things were" seem to be experiencing deep discontent. We all got dragged through this and it's a matter of finding some footing in an era where jerking out the rug is the goal of the big machine. Unhappy people spend money on distractions. Watch where your energy is going.

2023-06-21 17:42:41

It's a bit overcast and drizzly but still perfect for a bit of GSD and property maintenance. The rain for the last few days has rehydrated the soil. Looking around the place, it's easy to see where even microswales are beneficial. Slow it, sink it and spread it around, y'all. #water #grownostr

2023-06-09 22:53:53

Be a shame if someone tripped over those safety cones. (I fixed them after I got the photo)
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2023-06-09 16:23:11

Good morning Nostriches. I'm installing rain barrels today. Y'all keep it between the lines and never set your tools on the bumper. #grownostr #growyourself

2023-06-08 16:37:41

I intend to use Nostr as both a format for my business as well as a place to share personal stories and experiences that I feel will be useful to others. These days those two aspects are tightly entwined. I've throttled my own opinion quite frequently on other media because I'm wary of how my information is used by those entities. It's not exactly about privacy (screenshots are forever) but it's about not being punished for operating outside the approved range of viewpoints. #grownostr #growyourself

2023-06-06 19:48:24

Today's job, before and after. Pretty sure I saw a copperhead at one point and I'm not one of those people who thinks every snake is a venomous one.
A lot of these neighborhoods around here terminate into huge retention basins that can only be managed with a heavy duty trimmer.
For the right price, I'll take it on, considering the snakes, wisteria, poison ivy, unsteady footing and getting pelted with debris.
If it was my land, I'd allow it to transition to a managed forest.
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2023-06-05 20:09:46

Kind of a frustrating day. Got up to find that a raccoon had killed all five of my young chickens. Got past the electric netting and into the reinforced mobile pen. The adult birds in an adjacent pen are fine. I can't find the weak point on the affected pen, so it's out of service. I'm assessing what to do next.

2023-06-04 17:23:20

Looking forward to hosting a great group of folks today for our quarterly swap meet and social. If you're in the Knoxville area and want to meet other homesteaders and preparedness minded folks, shoot me an email at [email protected].
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2023-06-04 02:37:41

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Best dog ever

2023-06-03 21:57:05

To their credit, the employer helped everyone get their unemployment benefits, which of I recall correctly, was about $250 weekly and then soon the federal package was adding $500 weekl. I was now receiving about 2x as much money as I was normally earning through my regular wages.

2023-06-03 21:52:58

So by March of 2020, I'd be hearing some info about this especially contagious virus in China. I was initially concerned - I'd done my share of continuing education and training related to pandemics and contagious agents. The bakery - my employer - decided to close for an indefinite amount of time. We had tried to go the curbside/delivery route but just weren't set up for it. #grownostr #growyourself

2023-06-03 16:28:52

Last minute prep work underway for our gathering tomorrow. If you're in the Knoxville, TN area and want to meet up with fellow homesteaders and freedom lovers, email me for details: [email protected]

2023-06-01 20:16:06

Wrapped up my work week early so we could get ready for our Sunday swap meet and social gathering. Looking like it'll be our best attended so far - 30 people who want to learn more about how to network with others, develope lifestyle design, learn homesteading skills and how to build businesses. #growyourself #grownostr #homesteading

2023-05-31 21:59:11

Harbor Freight understands their clientele
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2023-05-31 17:47:59

Mindset check: there's a lady (customer) who I see almost weekly. She doesn't come across as a negative person initially but I noticed that when I make a positive comment (your elderberry is looking awesome!) she follows up with some kind of downer comment. Just remarking on this because when I notice this sort of thing, it's because I do it as well. Shadow projection. A reminder to keep that in check. #grownostr @growyourself

2023-05-31 14:57:44

Good morning folks. Morning lifting is complete, gearing up for my day of property maintenance. #grownostr #growyourself

2023-05-30 16:03:13

Solid day ahead. Resumed morning weight training. Chiropractor visit this morning then planting trees for a customer in the afternoon. #grownostr #growyourself

2023-05-29 22:49:16

I really love this tree
https://nostr.build/i/4df99abcb04ad4dfadcb95d0ce43e3c6f503a10b9451a19e7751e0f5d089655a.jpg #centerpiece #sycamore #grownostr

2023-05-29 17:08:06

Perilla is out
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2023-05-29 00:13:25

This morning I went out to see a fellow permaculturist's property along with two of my consulting clients. They're interested in running sheep on their property and I knew my friend could demonstrate the rotational methods and answer all their questions. As a consultant and designer, I'm okay with not knowing everything. This is why I cultivate relationships with folks who can help fill my knowledge gaps. And now I'm working out how to add sheep to our place. #grownostr #growyourself

2023-05-29 00:08:57

So I have a Jeep. It's a 97 Cherokee that dad sold me for $1,500. I am not a Jeep guy nor do I follow or understand Jeep culture. I don't get the duck thing. I just needed wheels that would let me get work done. I think there's a few other guys in my area with the same outlook - I see them both in their (faded) black and red Jeeps. Usually with a trailer too. We always exchange a wave, as if we know we're not members of the Jeep elite but we recognize each another as guys getting shit done with a vehicle that's utilitarian. #grownostr #notjeepelite

2023-05-25 02:56:45

After spending all day working in the sun it can be hard to motivate myself to go to my jiu-jitsu training. On the rare occasion that I don't go, I always regret it. But not once have I regretted pushing through when I just wanted to throw on the brakes. #growyourself #grownostr

2023-05-22 16:11:45

Doing a little native/ pollinator friendly planting today. Will do my very best to remember to get pictures upon completion.

2023-05-22 02:50:31

I had gotten my kratky system dialed in enough that I mentioned to the bakery owner that if they were interested, I could create a planting schedule that would keep the store supplied for fresh herbs that were used in a lot of the savory style goods, like foccacia and other seasonal offerings. They gave me the green light to create a proposal. Seemed very excited as they're big into buying local, selling at farmers markets and such. I did the market research, figured out my time and expenses and emailed a proposal back to them. I heard nothing for weeks then finally off hand, the bakery owner told me not to bother. They had a guy who gave them free basil at the market because they bought his tomatoes. This was an early lesson in entrepreneurship.

2023-05-22 02:23:55

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2023-05-22 02:22:31

2019 winter was also when I was getting big into kratky hydroponics. I had multiple shelves set up in our spare room and had put together a decent system for starting various garden plants as well as successively sowing basil, dill and other annual culinary herbs and several leaf lettuces. #grownostr #growyourself

2023-05-22 00:37:02

So winter of 2019 was unremarkable to the best of my memory. I was focused on earning and I'd begun to put together the bones of the business that I named Strong Roots Resources. The name came to me while I was working - I wanted something versatile while robust. I wasn't sure if it would be product or service based, so I gave myself room to maneuver.

2023-05-19 20:49:11

Radish is one of the easiest and earliest vegetables you sow in East Tennessee. I seeded these mid March. I always seed more than I really need for root harvest. I like how it loosens the soil for the next round of planting. But even if you miss peak time to harvest radish root, you can still enjoy the flowers and tender seed pods. It's like a flavor like mild radish crossed with broccoli.

2023-05-19 02:51:58

There's nothing quite like the endorphins after a solid Jiu-jitsu class. #grownostr #growyourself

2023-05-18 22:41:38

Best dog ever.
#dogster
#grownostr
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2023-05-18 22:39:47

Wrapped up a fairly sizable job today- 1,400 square feet of sod. Laying it was easy. Digging out the massive concrete footers and all of the soil prep was a bear. But I had priced it appropriately and still came in under estimate. Happy customer, happy Kerry. Had creek turtles for company.
#grownostr
#growyourself
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2023-05-18 12:56:32

Sod job today. It's not permie related, but it feeds me a lot of meals while I add more permie type work into the schedule. #grownostr #growyourself

2023-05-17 18:50:44

A friend who works at a high end local plant nursery sold a bunch of perennials to an elderly man whose property was once featured in Birds and Blooms. He asked her if he knew anyone who could do the planting for him as it's hard for him to get up and down off the ground now. She gave him my number. I'm heading over there soon - an opportunity for a little earning and education.

2023-05-17 03:14:02

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I use my discounts several times a year. Even if I didn't, the value I get from TSP is multiplied many times over the yearly subscription payment.

2023-05-17 03:12:05

The 2019 thread is not dead... we're fixing to get to the good stuff... after I recover from a physical ass kicker of a day. In other news, always assume a concrete footer you're digging up is actually 3x the size you *think* it might be.
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2023-05-16 23:26:20

It's that time of year where the afternoon storms come in and force a stop to the job at hand.
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2023-05-16 23:23:34

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Mullein. Respiratory support. Very useful, I research my plants via pfaf.org

2023-05-15 16:37:13

Broadfork is the way to go for plucking out monkeygrass. Still tedious but the coverage can't be beat.
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2023-05-14 22:53:03

Just had a much needed rainstorm - one, because I had thirsty plants, two, I needed to park myself at the desk to get caught up on design work and correspondence.

2023-05-14 15:58:53

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They're definitely finicky to start but once they're in the ground you'll be good to go. Escaped chickens dug mine up several times but they still established well after a year.

2023-05-14 02:04:52

Feeling "supported" vs feeling "understood" vs feeling "valued " - I'm still working this over in my mind but this is loosely how my interactions with people have evolved over the years. I had friends who "supported" my identity at the time and while I felt "understood" that actually didn't do much to help achieve my goals. Once I began to build relationships that were based largely on exchange of value and the discussions of ideas/approaches - then growth began to happen. #grownostr #growyourself

2023-05-14 00:48:27

This is now around September 2019. By October I decide to turn in my notice of resignation to the EMS company. I just wanted to bring that era to a finalization. Only my former full time partner and the union president knew it was my last shift. I'll tell some stories from those 15 years but right now it's not relevant. I picked up nearly full time hours for the bakery and promised them I'd remain for a minimum of one year.

2023-05-13 23:46:07

I had the vague notion that I should do something with the skill set I'd cultivated over the years but wasn't sure how to go about it. At that moment, I just wanted to earn some money to keep our mission moving forward. I had a few mowing customers - small yards I did with an electric Ryobi mower. I was starting to get the inkling of that side hustle / entrepreneur mindset. But I wasn't ready to walk away from the perceived security of regular wages. I also really needed to get my stress levels down. I called up a friend who's family ran a small bakery. I'd worked there part-time a few years back but left when the wages just couldn't cover what we needed to earn. I knew they needed a maintenance/dishwasher/handyman type and I secured the position.

2023-05-13 23:12:15

So for several years at this point I had been doing the urban homesteading thing on our 1/5 acre city lot. I had a food forest, multiple raised beds, chickens, quail, various types of composting systems, hydroponics, two ponds. I was becoming familiar with urban foraging, plant ID and otherwise reading the land around me. While this offset a bit of our grocery bills, it was mainly my way of maintaining a sense of groundedness when other aspects of my life felt adrift. #grownostr #growyourself

2023-05-13 23:08:20

Another aside: I just told Angel that I felt like my brain was an internet browser with about 500 tabs open. Maybe that's why my CPU seems a bit slow at times. #grownostr

2023-05-13 22:48:37

I should also mention that we'd gotten ahead enough that my wife was able to leave her job in corporate healthcare not too long before. It was a huge goal of mine that she would not need to work. I was not willing to reverse that decision.

2023-05-13 22:38:28

Sometime during the summer of 2019 I went parttime on the ambulance. That meant I could schedule shifts as I liked and figure out what else I wanted to do. I don't recall how I came to the decision but I had the idea to join the local Carpenter's union. I saw the trades as useful for a number of avenues. After OSHA cert and a scaffolding class I started with a job doing steel stud framing. It took me about a week to realize that place was just as corrupt, negative and useless as what place I left. Worse, I was at the bottom of the totem pole where before I'd had enjoyed a decent amount of senority. #grownostr #growyourself

2023-05-13 22:25:18

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Strong work!

2023-05-13 19:36:59

I was coming up on 14 years in EMS. I had burned out several times over, nearly at 5 year intervals. The last couple of years I'd been on a 24 hour unit in order to earn enough overtime to help build our emergency fund and get our debt down to the house mortgage only. I had a great partner, which helped reduce the stressful side of the job. Still, each shift meant 16 calls on average. No station and any rest came in occasional 15 minute intervals. I felt like I was aging at twice a normal rate.

2023-05-13 19:33:03

Right around this same time (2018) I had a profound (for me) realization. I was in charge of my own life. Up to that point, my greatest fear was being stuck or being unable to make changes in my life. I realized that was false. Seeing improvements as I trained translated over to the realization I could change whatever I wanted. #grownostr #growyourself

2023-05-13 18:40:10

An aside: I've made personal decisions about my body and appearance over the last 13 years or so that one side of the political/social aisle would celebrate while the other one would abhor. Now, I don't need folks to agree with me on this sort of thing but it is interesting that the folks I want to associate with /trade time and value with are the ones that either apply no labels to their lives or fall into the realm of anarchists/libertarian. It's a weird space to occupy sometimes but I think part of my life path involves operating in all sorts of environments to observe the human experience.

2023-05-13 18:29:30

Once I had a clear and sober mind I was able to start addressing various shortcomings that I'd locked away most of my life. High up on that list was a fear of change, fear of self improvement and the need to take on full acceptance of personal responsibility. I'd spent many years in a mindset centered around identity politics and emotion based decision making.

2023-05-13 18:23:48

I quickly found out that frequent alcohol use and training were a bad mix. In August 2018, my wife and I decided to remove it from our lifestyle. It turns out that it also removed quite a few people from our friend group as well. Most socializing (especially for me) was centered around the local craft brew scene. Without that in common, many associations fell away. #grownostr #growyourself

2023-05-13 16:35:47

I knew I would need some kind of programming to follow in order to stay on track. I joined an old school style weight training gym in our neighborhood, a five minute bike ride away. The membership included 4 weeks of personal training with a guy who turned out to be fairly useless except as an example of how not to teach and consult with people. Once I was through with him, I began the Starting Strength method.

2023-05-13 16:27:53

I found the weight training teachings of both Paul Waggener and Mark Rippetoe at about the same time. Similar but different enough to appeal to the practical and inner mindset sides of my personality.

2023-05-13 16:25:41

In 2018, I turned 35. Something about that number felt pivotal to me. I took a look at myself and realized I wasn't happy with how I looked or how I felt. I was 5'6" and close to 175 lbs. That wasn't a good look on my kind of frame. I drank everyday that I wasn't on duty. Changes needed to happen and I realized I was the only one who could address it. This 45lb plate was part of that new beginning.
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2023-05-13 00:10:10

This is why I don't worry about starting my tomatoes anymore. I know robust volunteers are going to come up when the time is right.
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2023-05-12 18:52:52

Observations from suburbia: retired gentleman meandering through his postage stamp manicured, all ornamental planted yard. Sprays a little Round Up. Meanders more. Runs the mower a bit. Stops. Stares. He seems lost. Like he's trying to take pride in his little spot in the world but can't quite get it to click. I feel for him. I see this so often. #grownostr

2023-05-10 16:07:02

I've got a day of property maintenance jobs ahead of me, scaled back significantly from a coupme of years ago. I decided to move all earnings from maintenance to the wintertime (slow season) fund as I continue to build up the education/ consulting side of Strong Roots Resources. #grownostr #smallbusiness #sidehustle
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2023-05-10 02:57:28

Here's the thing about training. Once I've made it to class I've never regretted it. On the rare occasion I've skipped class, I've internally berated myself the rest of the evening. Always put in the time. Show up.

2023-05-10 00:48:01

Been rather fatigued the last couple of days. Digging in now to knock out 2 hours of jiu-jitsu. Let's see how I feel afterwards.

2023-05-09 19:06:09

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2023-05-09 19:04:54

All the cool kids told me to get my ass over here. Who am I? East Tennessean doing the off grid homesteading thing at the edges of suburbia. SRR designs edible landscapes, and teaches others how to understand the land. Been side hustling all of my income since 2020. I love freedom, personal responsibility and don't give the first fart about whatever silliness is going on in mass media or politics.