Starting A Farmers Market Out Of Spite

You can hear the moment a messy project turns into a mission. We talk candidly about why Surviving Changes is shifting gears, why some recent segments sound more “read” than loose, and why that change is not a loss of authenticity but a decision to get serious. After years of dodging reviews because bad-faith people used them to smear anything we built, we finally look, answer the real concerns, and name the bigger truth: the purpose is clearer than it has ever been, and we are done wasting it. 

From there, we move into a vivid surviving change story from Perth, Australia, where everyday life came with rules that felt totally foreign. I wanted to sell simple homemade dog treats called Spencer Snacks at a community market, only to be told I could not because someone already sold dog treats and they were Australian. That single “no” opened a door into Australian business licensing, anti-competition policy, and what entrepreneurship looks like when the system is designed to protect existing vendors. 

So I did what any stubborn person might do: I tried to start my own farmers market. We walk through the real obstacles, shire meetings, reports, leasing a building before approval, collecting written permission from neighbors, and even being forced to defend my character when someone reported I was a thief. Then the story takes a darker turn into self-defense laws, a place where weapons are tightly controlled, police culture is different, and you may not be able to protect yourself the way an American expects. It ends with me facing problem vendors and making improvised pepper spray from brutally hot peppers, because adapting to change sometimes means finding the only option you are allowed to use. 

If this hit a nerve, subscribe, share the episode with a friend who is rebuilding their life, and leave a review that tells us: what change are you surviving right now?

Transcript

Why The Podcast Is Changing

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Well hello there. This is Heidi and this is the Surviving Changes podcast. So it hit me that early on when we started this kind of TikTok thing. So as you know, the podcast first started as a dead man switch and then we all met and then I just kind of told you the story to make sure the dead man switch stuck. And then we've just kind of floundered, right? We've talked about some important things, and sometimes it's just uh me saying fuck you to the people that I know are listening that really deserve that. Um but now that these books have made it in the news and uh probably be selling them to like schools, colleges, and stuff, it's very cool. There's some really cool stuff happening. Um, but since that's been going on, I need to stop screwing around as much as I am, or have been, and actually make it a legitimate podcast. So that's what I was doing. Well, that's what I was trying to do, and so with that came scripts and all of that, right? And um, I finally saw some reviews. I've in five years I've never looked because those scumbags used to put like just say really fucked up shit on anything that I would build, they would write reviews that were lies, and now I can tie them all. It's funny because now those reviews a lot of them are leaving, because that's a direct um connection to that group, right? So some of those people have wised up and those reviews aren't there anymore. But I never checked the reviews, and what some of those reviews have said, hey, look, you used to talk, and now you read. What's going on? Is it still you? Are you okay? And um, yes, I'm okay. There was that was because there was supposed to be a purpose, and now there is a purpose. Um, I do know what I'm gonna be when I grow up. I, for the first time in my 56 years, I know I am supposed to do what God told me I was supposed to do in 1984. I don't know why I argue with him so much um to get here. But it's writing's fun, I enjoy it. Um, I have a lot of good lessons. My brain should be utilized by a lot of people and my experiences. So that's what I'm doing. But what I haven't done for you is specifically tell you stories of instances, things that happened to me in my travels, or even you know, during the law office or whatever, that were examples of surviving change. And some of them are fun, some of them are not fun. But I think for the next few days, we'll go scriptless and I'm gonna tell you one surviving change story of something that happened along the lines each day, it'll be kind of fun, and then we'll get back to talking about the shit going on in the world, all right. So, um, when I got to Australia, you guys know about Perth, right? And all of the crap I went through. So once Lisa, the one I was staying with, who was part of that group, it's very clear now, but once um there was criminal charges against her,

Landing In Perth After Chaos

SPEAKER_00 3:33

she stopped doing, she stopped participating with that group as much. At least I kind of had her in a position, right? So at that point in time, I was able to like sleep on the couch and not be fucked with. Um I was allowed basic human rights because I was the I was the main witness in that case, and so she certainly wasn't kissing my ass, but she was not feeding me dog pills anymore either, right? And so during that time, I'm like, alright, well, what do I want to do during this off time to establish myself if I'm gonna stay in Australia? What do I want to do? Now I ended up leaving, and we'll talk about that story later as to why, because I don't think I really told you um was the point of it. It was after this damn, it was after this damn market, as a matter of fact. So um, the community market. As I'm kind of floundering, what do I want to do? I decided I had a dog, Spencer, at the time, um, who stayed with her, and she she did love Spencer. I don't know if Spencer's still around, that was a long time ago. Um, and someone said he died, so I don't know. But Spencer was my my little guy for a long time when I was in Australia. He was a scruffy, uh short nose scruffy, and so he wouldn't have made the flight. I literally I couldn't stay, I couldn't legally stay in Australia anymore because my visa was coming up in 10 days. Um, and so I I decided not to pay the $5,000 to stay in Australia and instead go to Puerto Rico and use that $5,000 there. Um, because Australia was not gonna be a good long-term situation. This is if Lisa was gonna be doing this, um, it just was not a good long-term situation the way I went in. And Puerto Rico was a territory, US territory. I I might not have been a lawyer anymore, but I still know this legal system. A lot harder to fuck with me here. So, um, Puerto Rico is where I came. But before that, during this time, I'm like, alright, what uh what am I gonna do with my life? And all I wanted to do was make these little Spencer snacks. We had a little uh dog recipe that I had gotten through the vet stuff, um, but it was a good recipe,

Spencer Snacks And Market Rejection

SPEAKER_00 5:59

it was good for like all kinds of things, dogs with dietary issues, dog like I actually guess I had a couple recipes, but so I wanted to start a little stand at the local farmer's market called Spencer Snacks, and I even got the logo, I got me I got set up, right? And then I went to the local, the Calamunda Market, the one in the area, and I said, Okay, I want to get a booth, and they're like, We're sorry, you can't have a booth. There's already a person selling dog treats here, and they're Australian, and so you cannot have a booth. So in Australia, um, they're not capitalists, you can't get a business license, and I found this out with the market. So at the time I'm like, I'm pissed. I'm like, what do you mean I can't fucking have a booth at your market? So, you know me, like fuck you start my own market then, and I'll sell my treats at my market. Fuck you. So, what I learned after that, um, through this process, because I did start my own market, but Australia, they're not capitalists, and so they will not give you a business license if your business is gonna take away from another business. So, what those people did to me was actually legit under the way Australia does it. Like you can't hire someone if there's an Australian, any Australian that wants to do the work. So I also found that a big problem. Just even getting a job at Subway, sandwiches to make sandwiches. If there was an Australian of any type, any IQ, any anything, that wanted that job, they legally had to get it first. And so that puts you way, way behind. And so I thought, well, this market, I'll just start my own market, and then I'm the boss. No problem. Um, but there was already a market down the road, and so the first thing I had to do was prove that my market wasn't going to take away from their market, that there was essentially enough need in the area for two markets, and luckily the area that I was in in Perth called High Wickham was a pretty low-income area, and so I was able to show after doing a bunch of their um reports and council meetings, shire meetings, and crap like that, um, I was able to show that there was a need for it, uh, not just a need for the um the actual produce and the products that came from the market, but a need for people like me to have another place to sell. It wasn't just a need for people to be able to get things, but if it really was that way and that dog treat person had been there forever, that meant that there was no dog treat person that could ever in that area ever, ever, ever have a dog treat stand. And that seems a bit ridiculous, right? And so I went through and done all that. Just on a side note, it was so tough for me. So in Perth, be under that same logic, when I would got to Perth, and remember I had a lot of money and I traveled the US. I was used to like flying to New York on a whim, doing whatever I was I was a spoiled, probably just a dick is just the best way to put it. Um, and I was used to everything, and now I'm in Perth, and everything closes at 6 o'clock. Everything. Every single night except Thursday, which is late night shopping, where things stayed open till nine. It was crazy to me. There was like Walmarts there, but not Walmarts like our Walmarts. Because of this whole thing, you can't compete with other things. If there was a local mom and pop shop that sold soaps, that meant Walmart couldn't sell soaps. The mom and pop shop could. And that meant you could not buy things other than like gas after six. It was crazy to me. It's fucking crazy. But so um now I was entangled in the actual physics, the legal, the you know, that part of it, and so I went through, I did all the reports, um, did all that. Then you had to go, I had to go get permission. I had to find a building that would work, um, get that lease done, um, sign that lease, even though I didn't even have permission yet for the market. Um, and once that was done, I had to go back to the Shire. And um their

Proving The Market Should Exist

SPEAKER_00 10:53

next task for me was to go and every single house um within, I don't remember how long it was, but within a certain distance from that building, I had to get written permission that they didn't mind. So I literally was at the whim of every single person in that area. Now most of them were happy because they wanted to be able to just walk across, you know, the park and be able to go get fresh fruit and stuff like that. But there were some people that were mad, they're like, no, I don't want parking in my spots, I don't want all of those people, and so for them I would have to like go block off their areas, do whatever. Each one of them I did an individual agreement with. Um, but so then after that was done, um then my I'm sure it was my brother, the um, it was Galen, Tony, the bar. So here we've got everything good. I'm getting ready to do it. And the Shire calls me back in for another meeting because in Australia, for them to give it to you, they don't just approve the um plans, they approve the person. And so the plans were okay, but now somebody called and told them I was a thief, and I hadn't paid my taxes, the tax money that these guys stole from me that started this thing originally. Yeah. And so I had to go through a whole other meeting about my ethics and all that. And so there was people on the Shire, thank God, that had worked with me. They're like, no, I know Heidi, and that's some bullshit. Anyone that knows Heidi knows that's some bullshit, and so it was fine. But so we went through all of that. Um, and that actually isn't the surviving now that it hits me. That's that's a survival story in and of itself, probably. But that wasn't the one I was actually wanting to tell you. Um, it was about some stall holders that I had to kick out. So, another thing that you need to understand about Australia for me to finish this up, and we're already getting longer than normal. That's why I stopped telling these stories myself. Um, with no script too. We could get lost. So, Australia, when I lived there in Perth, there was only one police unit that even carried guns. The cops didn't have guns when I was there. There were no guns, there was special units because they didn't need guns, the people didn't have guns, so they didn't need guns

Australia Without Guns Or Self-Defense

SPEAKER_00 13:25

to like counter the people with guns. There were no fucking guns. Cops would roll up without a gun on their side. To me, it was absolutely crazy um how that worked. Now, by the time I left, more of them were carrying guns, so things shifted pretty quickly. Um, Obama changed the world, man. He didn't just change the US, he changed the world. Things changed quickly all around the world because of that piece of shit. Um, but so weapons, there you're not allowed to defend yourself in Australia, and you're certainly not allowed to defend yourself with weapons. There was a guy that um meth heads broke into his house. He had two kids there and his wife. Uh, meth head broke into his house. Uh he subdued the meth head, got him in a uh, you know, an elbow lock, a headlock, kept him there until the cops came, and the guy ended up hurting himself while he was in the headlock trying to escape, and they charged the guy who had him in the headlock with the crime for for defending his family. So you really the cops couldn't defend you and you couldn't defend yourself. For me, that was kind of a spooky spooky thing, especially I'm American, right? I believe in things like the Second Amendment. Um, so that was uh a tough one for me. But I lived with I'm I adapted change, so I lived within those um perimeters the best that I could, but that meant there was no weapons for me. So fast forward, we're um I've got the market going, it's going every Sunday, it's great for the community. Um, but there's some meth head vendors in this one spot that have been causing problems for weeks, and I'm finally getting ready to kick them out. And I know it's gonna be a problem.

Improvised Pepper Spray For Trouble

SPEAKER_00 15:24

I I know this is gonna be a big problem, and I'm probably gonna need a weapon that I can't have legally. And so I got some one of the vendors there had these peppers that were so fucking hot, painfully hot, that I essentially made my own um pepper spray, uh, capsicum um spray out of it. So I took some of those home the week before, got them all set into essentially a spray that I could defend myself on. Um hold on.