- Joshua Hale: The Holistic Tech Wizard
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- From the Homestead: The Reality of Food Freedom
From the Homestead: The Reality of Food Freedom
First Chicken Harvest + Mutual Aid in Action + AI Music Revolution
Joshua Hale
November 06, 2025
6min Read | Watch | Listen
Hey there Visionaries!
You wake up with blood on your hands.
Not metaphorically. Literally.
Because you just finished your first chicken harvest with your mutual aid crew—and there’s something nobody warns you about in the YouTube tutorials or homesteading blogs:
What it feels like to take a life.
Even when it's for food. Even when it's done humanely. Even when it deeply matters.
Holding that knife, making that choice—it lands totally different when you're the one doing it so your family can eat. It’s not theory. It’s you, right there, in the moment.
But here’s what else you’ll feel.
After six hours of feather-covered, bone-tired labor, side by side with your people, processing 19 birds—you’ll get it.
This is food freedom.
Not the curated version. The real thing.
You’ll face what’s hard. You’ll do what’s needed. And you’ll build something meaningful—with people who don’t flake.
That experience? It grounded everything else I did this week—from tech to town halls to DJ sets. Let’s get into it.
Why You Should Give All the Cares:
Real Food Freedom: Knowing where your food comes from isn't optional anymore
Community Power: Mutual aid groups make impossible projects doable
Cultural Revolution: AI music is changing live events right now, not five years from now
The Chicken Harvest: What They Don't Tell You
We got the equipment from Whatcom Conservation District: Plucker. Scalder. Kill cones. Holding crates. All set up and ready to go by 6am. Then boom—first problem. The scalder's pilot light decided to be a pain in the ass. We wasted an hour trying to fix it before saying screw it and rigging up a turkey pot on a burner. Problem solved. Me and another dad handled dispatch duty. That means catching the birds, bringing them to the cones, making the cut, letting them bleed out peacefully. They go to sleep—no suffering. Simple in theory. Heavy in practice. Here’s the part YouTube skips: the weight of responsibility. Standing there as the person responsible for ending a life so your kids can eat—that hits harder than you’d think. We honored every bird. Thanked them. Made it as gentle as possible. |
 |
 Kids hung out for about 20 mins lol | The kids watched everything. No Disney version. No lies about where meat comes from. They saw the full process, start to finish. Six, seven hours later—19 birds processed and ready for the freezer. Oh, and three chickens outsmarted us. Ninja chickens. Disappeared. They earned their freedom. Good for them. |
Why This Matters
Clean food. Zero chemicals. Zero mystery additives. Zero industrial processing garbage.
These chickens ate organic feed, lived decent lives, and now they feed our families.
Way cheaper than store-bought, too.
But here’s the real win: We did it as a mutual aid group.
We split everything. The work. The cost. The knowledge. The responsibility.
Nobody did it solo. That’s what makes it work.
Twice a year from now on. Done deal.
Taking Mutual Aid to Soap Lake
Right now I’m headed to Soap Lake.
The Chamber of Commerce there heard about what we’re building in Whatcom County and invited me to present.
Aiming to Record it
Today’s talk: what mutual aid groups are, how they work, and why they’re nothing like top-down charity.
Everything’s voluntary. Everyone shows up. Everyone wins.
Small-town government is where real change happens—where people matter more than red tape.
This is a test run. If it works, we help other communities start their own groups.
Let’s scale this thing.
AI Music on the Dance Floor
From heavy hands to dancing feet—here’s the other half of the week.
Halloween weekend, I dropped AI cover tracks at a live event.
People lost it. Dancing. Vibing. Heads bobbing everywhere.
A lady dressed as the Wicked Witch came up after and said she loved every single track.
Been testing these with friends too. Some people hate it before they even press play. Others hear it and start moving because the nostalgia-plus-fresh combo just hits different.
Played it for the Fire and Smoke men’s circle (our weekly embodiment and resilience group). Whole circle was cracking up. Everyone loved it.
This isn’t "coming soon." It’s now.
As a DJ, I’m diving in headfirst.
Tonight I’m playing for Cloud View Cafe in Soap Lake. Cafe. Saturday, I’ve got an adult prom—dropping nothing but 80s, 90s, and 2000s AI covers and remixes.
Sat, Nov 08 | Rising Moon Meadows
If you’re anywhere near Whatcom County, Get to Rising Moon Meadows Sat night.
Get tickets, get a sitter, get dressed, get moving.
THE UNSHACKLED MIND
Complete Mental Freedom System
New Course: Five days. Critical thinking intensive. For truth seekers tired of drowning in their feed meanwhile stuck second-guessing yourself.
You’ll learn to trust your own brain. Cut through the noise. Spot the lies. Apply real thinking to the news.
If you're tired of feeling stuck, this is how you break free
Goal? Intellectual freedom.
How You'll Regain Control:
Spot manipulation as soon as it appears
Catch logical fallacies before they mislead you
Judge sources by merit, not credentials
Make grounded decisions based on reality, not reactions
Hit the button.
Tech Corner: Robots Walking Into Your Kitchen
Humanoid robots. There here.
Not concept art. Not fantasy.
Real robots. Walking around houses. Doing chores.
Two years, max—you’ll see one at someone’s place.
Also, Google just dropped an AI slideshow maker. Tell it what you need, it builds the deck. Fully customizable.
That’s hours saved every week.
AI doing what it should: making life easier.
Today’s Takeaways:
Food Freedom Isn't Free: Real self-sufficiency means doing hard things and facing uncomfortable truths about where your meals come from
Community Beats Solo Every Time: Mutual aid groups turn overwhelming projects into something you can actually pull off through shared work
AI Is Already Here: From music to work tools, the future everyone talks about is already in your hands right now
Your Voice Matters:
Which part hit you hardest?
The reality of harvesting your own food?
The mutual aid presentation?
AI music actually working on a dance floor?
Hit reply.
Tell me.
Gotta hit the road for this 24-hour trip so I can get back and spin Saturday night.
Stay grounded and free,
Joshua | The Holistic Tech Wizard
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