Our 10-Acre Survival Homestead (2020 PROOF)

2020 began with rumors of a virus in china china has identified the cause of the mysterious pneumonia outbreak in city china has more than 200 confirmed cases of it's called which produces pneumonia-like symptoms china was shutting down quarantines and then other countries began to do that so eventually was like oh is this coming to america i can remember a sinking and uncertain maybe a dark feeling like what's going to happen if america has to shut down a washington state resident fell ill after returning from wuhan china where the outbreak state of emergency shelter in place one thing i began to think about was you know what i've been doing for over a decade now to provide my own family's food through homesteading just might be about to go through the test you see i didn't have time to prep this was going to count on the work i've already done and i'm about to show you guys condensed 2020 what we did into hopefully less than two hour documentary here i'm going to show you that in the beginning the first quarter all the work we did but if you guys are serious and want to go beyond inspiration and you want to better your homestead or start your own homestead i've got a free resource for you down in the description it's a homesteading crash course which you whether you want to learn pigs chickens cows permaculture design it's all going to be there everything you need to really get started gardening it's there check that out look at the work let this next bit in this movie reflect kind of it will be the first quarter of 2020 but let it reflect our mantra for 10 years before that basically one percent change every day getting the chores done improving that one percent every day and just getting stuff done being consistent this was the basis of what we were going into an epidemic with we do want to bring the chickens in here right yeah i want to bring them in here just for a little bit so then we can retarp it oh and we could put mulch on it too yeah we can put the leaf mulch on it and then um so we'll just use this tarp that means emptying all these sandbags dragging it up over there we put down material arun's garden chicken spread it out we made rows there it is the roon's garden way up there we had to use this silage tarp but this is where the chickens are gonna go we need to rebuild these beds see how they flattened out being under the silage tarp two were exposed longer see how they're still there we're gonna get the chickens in here to help us fertilize spread until all we lack is putting up the net and putting the chickens out let's do it [Music] [Music] case in point see that holy chicken squat huge huge that was not there before no now it's there there's another one these guys are already working their magic oh my gosh what were you guys holding back is this the morning poo i'll take it i'll take whatever you got look more i strategically placed the coop over two rows because half their manure load comes out at night and uh we'll move that forward each morning all right how about it guys first thing we gotta do is move these guys out those guys are our spring gardening plan that and arun's garden where they going well we're gonna try a little experiment we're gonna put them on this gigantic compost pile trying this converting this pig port into a chicken port to see the chickens help us do this compost nobody hurrying to get on the compost pile they will i've just spooked them i was hoping it would heat up some 30 degrees out here we watered it down put in some manure and it's going up to it's going to be up to 60. come on you guys are going to help us come on now let's tidy up this fence put corners up put some supports in [Music] well it didn't take them long to find it oh yeah look they're already pecking in the compost this is fun so this is where the pigs were and look how there's some divots here we're going to straighten it out look look see they dug up i kept them in here too long it's going to then look like i finished this see how nice and smooth and ready for seed that is let's do it [Music] all right i got half of it done let's count my work yesterday we got a little bit more this has been a little bit more compact maybe we should pretty pumped on it to get to that but i can do it [Music] we're halfway done with this garden and then we have the garden and a half up there [Music] 2 400 square feet of pasture right there we still like this i don't think that'll be as hard i don't think there's any divots at the edge we'll just go over the rake real quick how's that look guys smashing okay you wait until i get some seeds down before you throw hay okay [Music] we've got two big projects turn that compost pile out of the breakfast posse and go into the woods and do some clearing for our silvo pasture wow it's clear a bull you know being winter and being accessible here's where the pigs were this is brambles that just needs to be cut and piled up i'm kind of wondering if i can get the mower just drive downhill and clear a lot of that here though there's no going in so that's where they can get [Music] [Music] we got enough to get our pigs in there we're gonna uh just try to get some big satisfaction out of today and mow and cut in there it's not nearly as thick and i think we'll walk away feeling a lot better feeling real good about it somewhere up the line i forgot what i was working for [Music] wow i'm extremely happy about that art came out and helped thank you art and look at that perimeter fence was right here now it's way over there you can't see it we're gonna gain probably two acres easy today we gained what would you say half maybe half if you count this yeah nice isn't this nice we're gonna cut it down to about 30 of this in trees and they'll have shade like we'll keep these walnuts holy smokes there's three walnuts right there there's a two right there so walnut grove that's good because that's our favorite nut right on the pile the water will go in the pile and the crumbs will go there and they'll man they've already like this is like i don't know you guys so much free the birds i want you to look at this guys we just mounted this yesterday this was a pyramid they've totally taken out a whole chunk all right let's check minerals oh we're out of mucho some of them are kind of wet so we're probably going to do flaps in here too somehow or the other so what about this side this side too pretty much depleted those two have gotten wet we're going to figure out a way to do flaps in here too i'm going to go check our cows minerals pretty interesting how they've eaten k they've never eaten k but what it's saying is there ain't no k in the ground you sure that's all of them there you go yeah cal and luchadors you might want to bring some uh cloths too [Music] i'll stack two hay bales on top of each other because you're gonna need a lot of room for minerals all these buckets yeah okay i think we can put another row of buckets right here we might be able to put some on top of each other look who's with we decided to jump in we're going to see the cows anyway all right we're gonna grab that mineral shawl and bring it over here to be serviced [Music] get more than that oh it goes in this one right here did you say sorry he said okay this one right here [Music] you got it yeah all right let you do it good job [Music] so we'll just open it in this stencil guide thumbnail rachel you can walk on one side of the this line lane so they don't air as tempted to go through the lane okay so you'll just walk along this lane as the sheep go outside and that'll be less tempting for them to jump through the lane with you there you got it off yeah i'm walking on this side of the lane rachel's on that side of the lane don't don't run just walk there we go now they start running run they're doing good so far oh they're getting ahead of you mom i know what do you want me to do nothing i guess just hope hope we set this up good enough hopefully they don't go straight at this lane then they go in with the cast good sheep good guys good gals this worked our cowlane worked two strands are good enough to move the sheep yes it's gonna be a game changer come spring and we're moving them big every day they're fast [Music] all right mom's picking up that one down there i'm gonna help her pick up the rest of this this is picking up the old fence now we got our sheep nets let's check on the kids who were to put the energizer down in the water all right you got the water in jonah yep after those first few months of 2020 turns out our homesteading was gonna be put to the test because america like all the other all the rest of the world did go into coral quarantine did go into restrictions and for the very first time in my 42 year old life food shortages became a phrase that was spoken to reflect reality more than 18 million american adults said they sometimes or often didn't have enough to eat in the past week a survey in august found up to 14 percent of adults with kids said their children were in that same boat food banks are stretched to the brink there were reports of chicken and other various meats herbs all different kinds of stuff other kinds of veggies food shortages entered our hearts for the first time as a possibility anyone who's gone grocery shopping in the u.s in recent days has likely encountered long lines and empty shelves thankfully though our homesteading was passing the test and because of the work we had put in we had meat and vegetables and eggs and it was a very secure feeling oh my word mega mega impressed we just planted this is the instant chicken garden miracle right here guys we're gonna need food scraps we're gonna need rakes uh-oh you hold my hand a broad board right where it's supposed to be we'll see if our lime's where it's supposed to be i haven't used it in a while by the way if you didn't have chickens and you were doing this you would have put down some blood meal because you wouldn't have no heavy manure so we got plenty of lime do we have any gypsum i don't think we have gypsum can we carry this too mr brown let's see what you guys have done well let's move you out and see what you've done first step move the chickens out scoot it as far as we can good hey look we got it off there look at the job deck down guys it's crazy do you guys want to rake it while i adjust this there there's a rake right where is it there it is we're raking it to spread the manure out see how there's a lot of manure right there spread that out evenly okay and maybe flatten this up a bit here look they're on fresh grass and loving it but we need to line it up properly [Music] no we actually planted two weeks ago remember lily we have some stuff going in the greenhouse so you want to rake that nice look at the fresh green grass already starting the teal job this is after this is before so before after and that's just two weeks time three chickens let me just stir it up a little bit we're just spreading the love spreading a lot there's a hump here and there's some lower spots on there get off the hump and get soil down in the lower spots it's easier to chop this up after the chickens have been here look at that i could i could totally till that really what a hard rake okay we've even that out broad fork who wants to help broad fork everybody gets a turn get in i'll do half and then lily will do half okay go first all right let's start at the end okay here you gonna go that way okay you jump on i'll jump on the side jump on the middle maybe it's all we need with your weight we just wiggle it back and forth metal creatures broad fork look that's gone all the way in okay now you ready for the heavy workout get in one two three whoa whoa whoa see how this is lifting that up that's aerating it'll aerate that soil and hydrate the soil let's go back about what half a foot six inches okay jump on are you ready for the ride keep going we broad forked it we could uh here since we have an acidic soil we can just put a little bit of a lunch a little bit of lime not much probably not even a handful as a handful if we have gypsum we could uh put it down because we have clays or scraps why are we putting down food scraps just food for the worms encourage your worm activity look at the chickens going nuts yeah they wish they were getting those something now we've actually harvested compost out of our compost corner up there in our yard chicken's on on deep bedding on on wood chips eventually turn it into compost look at that is that not beautiful really nice [Music] [Applause] [Music] there it is that took no time four inches beauty's gone to get the measuring tape just to make sure we get this right good can you hold that this is to prevent weeds from going up [Music] we'll see right now we're just going to build the garden and we'll plant it in two weeks you know what we're gonna put on top we could totally put wood chips on top of this now you need four inches of mulch but lily most people can't get wood chips but what can they get they have a mower oh oh no what is it grass clippings actually our next step would be to wet this down start the breaking down process here do like yeah hold your thumb on it now wet down the paper that will weigh it down one until we can get grass clippings on it and two it'll start the breaking down process and it'll keep the comp you know what we should wet down the compost there you go they're covering up our raspberries we weeded those what yesterday yeah and here they are [Music] let's see how much we're gonna need are you gonna put so much you need about four inches oh maybe a third [Music] some of this is soaked up hey i don't know if you can do too much you could do a foot because i think it's going to shrink down meg well i know it's going to shrink down oh my word had chickens here moved them out built the garden transplanted we're going to be harvesting this today and look how much is ready we're going to be weeding a little bit today but look at all the spinach that's breakfast guys there's a little bit of lunch with this lettuce there's a little bit of supper with the kale oh my word all right let's get the spinach my man first here are the snippers get them get get the outer leaves okay because more will come in the middle all right like this one yep all right there's breakfast get in and then let's get us some container for the lettuce and the beautiful thing about greens like this is sure they're small right now but you harvest from the outside more will come you can harvest for even a month or two from some of this stuff [Music] that's a bowl of goodness right there hey you're back just in time let's get the kale together you want to how'd the washing go good okay good let's do the cow oh my word guys take my word for it this is so supple and tender and perfect like you can't even find that at the grocery store this is gonna be absolutely delicious [Applause] okay uh jonah can you help him with either one of i those all right we got we got our chicks let's put them in the bag oops i forgot to empty out our apple cider vinegar put it there buddy good job let's get home and get them in the brooder well that was a chirpy ride home are you guys ready one in each hand came very carefully okay guys bring them on jonas warmed up the breeders for us that's what they're looking for first jonah put the water in there you put the brooder in there probably gonna need to raise that brooder up the hover brooders from premiere one they're nice they're warmed up it's like a mama hen it's no light it's no danger of fire um they can get under there and get all cozy and it's warm all right guys bring it in y'all go ahead and lift it up they're so excited hopefully excited about the let's see we're getting two batches of sea monsters also known as cornish cross that's what these guys are and so we'll get two runs of those 200 in total and then we're going to get turkeys ducks and and geese so are you going to still be this excited yeah at the end of the season okay we're dipping their beak in this magic water it's a health boost they're stressed out from the trip oh they're nice and warm in there [Music] get out of the water not unless they're getting their drinks themselves that's good on you okay guys you want to keep doing this i don't think there's any more room for me oh you want to go do it okay josiah's gonna take my spot i'm gonna go start milking the cows [Music] hey you did a good job did we not have one dead no nine days did you count them hey guys i can't get i can't get a word in guys will you uh raise that brooder box a little bit see they can't get under it but that one's perfect look they're getting under it they don't seem to care but they can't pull one from here what are you doing here we're making it at your house oh okay i like it are you gonna put the roof back on yeah okay i like it it could be a duplex you could put a door on this side it could be a duplex okay [Applause] are they going in your house yeah oh look he's got one in there can't wait to see this when you're done yeah okay let's see what you got there is okay oh there's a bunch of them in there i like it this is the top story okay just let me know guys when it's done okay i'm gonna milk how's it going in here okay you got two houses they seem to [Laughter] basically these are the cornish cross these are the sea monsters of turkeys fast growing they're going to be done in 14 weeks 12 12. we're going to butcher them with our second round of sea monsters so we all got all the butchering stuff set up say thank you can i hold that one all right we got some uh turkey starter feed you got to feed them different than chicks they need more protein oh look we have to dip their beef in the water yes you do oh yeah you guys you're dipping your beak in the magic water right yeah and then putting them under the heat oh they're skinnier than chips they're langlier and they wear a little bit more than chips oh they're kind of far over how many are there did you count them they look happy they're they're much they're they're they're more lethargic than chicks they like to lay down a lot are they signing the food no they're fighting this they're looking aren't they they're pecking somebody want to get them some greens look that one's eaten i thought stick it's heading and get some yay they're doing good so how many turkeys do we end up getting lily 15. okay we want 12 guys we can't lose too many gotta do good by em we've got a margin of error of three we want one turkey a month we want our thanksgiving turkey and then we want one turkey a month for a year how you guys doing they've spent the night in there twice we're gonna try this with the door open bench and then we're gonna remove this chicken tractor and they're just gonna have that the chick turkey shop you coming out a little shy they're definitely not chickens they're a little they're a little calmer it's kind of peaceful to have turkeys look look come on you can do it come on come on look fresh grass mucho come on now come on out you curious one look they're going after that clover making this land a richer place look at this look this one trying to get back in look they're out and about really enjoying themselves running about the idea is to get the goose i don't know if she'll stay in that small fence we have some factors yeah we might have to replace that fence with a poultry net the turkeys might get out of it yeah we'll see i think it's worth a try though because it's so much easier to move yeah we don't have a name for this goose yet though but let's catch it that's waddle but who's the one up who's the one up with the fat hands then [Laughter] look how pale her beak is i know i think we'll orange it up with some greens yeah look at the turkeys coming over to see the goose look they're staying in so far let's see if she's nice to him you'll be much happier here honey look she's missing it she's kissing it teddy that's good yeah look she's being nice you're gonna love it fresh greens all day you think she has children lily hey that's a good idea put them on their perch they're so timid why i watch jonah catch one show them how easy oh never mind there you go put it on the left just put it on the perch train it a little bit nice she probably didn't try to fly that's neat it's where we want you to go at night all right there you go we got our two pigs loaded bacon and sausage going to the processor this morning how are the turkeys jenna goose is out the goose is out isn't she that's gonna be no good all right will you go catch her please we might have to okay well yeah we could maybe clip her wings she's trying to get in with these guys might have to get a uh poultry net all right so maybe she's wanting to get back in with the turkey that might be the first let's put her back in see if she'll get the hint where we want her and if not maybe we'll clip wings and if that doesn't work we'll put up the higher fence this was jonah's idea we got our chickens up here don't look too stressed no cages arthur's having a kick and a giggle because it's kind of funny that these chickens are not will not jump out of this trailer they tried to did they try yeah but they couldn't do it huh okay all right is that the first one okay good deal next up i'll probably try again scalding yes [Music] why won't it stay [Music] you look at it if you go too long it'll start tearing off the legs wow and the heads okay you just got to get most of the feathers off and you're done all right over here to the literation there we go is this your station arthur for now i'm preferred i'm happy to go anywhere but i'd like to get faster you're switching with this kid what'd you say i said he's switching with his kid this is your usual spot isn't it it was jonah's idea to have a race we're all done this is the last five chickens uh and but not just speed but quality rebecca you have to be the judge of that all right you all ready is everyone ready everybody's ready you done yet there a little bit okay done [Music] do we even have to do the bags over them right now because there's snow flies well it's just nice okay so this is lettuce this is justin's just he kind of was just showing about how you can grow in a container garden that's our first jalapeno we've ever grown yeah it's not exciting i think it's ready i don't know i don't want to pick it too early um so we'll start the first raised bed these are muncher um cucumbers i believe they're called munchers i don't know they're like a smooth skin so we'll be eating those fresh we won't be pickling those then we've got a good variety of lettuce down here um jericho butter crunch and something else i can't remember cinnamon cinnamon red or something like that um that's great and the idea is that the cucumbers are gonna climb this trellis and shade the lettuce coming out here and picking off the bugs and um the cucumbers are starting to go up now which is nice just wanting to fall down keep having to put them back up we've got more zinnias growing in here i love to grow vegetables and flowers together so this is cilantro which is going to seed i need to get starting cilantro in my greenhouse maybe today then i have [Music] peas growing on this trellis with some cucumbers i have my marigolds i have a cucumber planted in here this is the homemade variety of cucumbers not homemade is it homemade i think it is homemade um the homemade i think that's what it's called and they are um i preferred them the best for pickling so that's why i only grew the only group cucumbers that i grew this year are the homemade besides these for eating but as a food growing advocate and champion and someone who really wants to try and help others because i've found so much joy in this i just want to share it with others i noticed our message began to change not change i guess it got an additional point you know our message was you know food growing is healthy it's something you can do as your with your family get connected to your food but for the first time it then became security i want to grow food because i want to make sure something is there for me and my family and as a result many of those in my audience and in general uh became much much more serious and this went more away from oh this is just a cute hobby and just kind of a back up to no this is it this is our primary plan to ensure something good and you know another thing that happened is you know people watching news and you're watching a lot of it you can become depressed and feel powerless but i think it's lucas nelson who said and champion turn off the news and build a garden so it a homesteading became a sense of security but it also became a sense of something you can do with your hands these these seem like big problems completely out of control but growing our own food became something we could do you know one thing i thought about rebecca they kind of closed down north carolina to essentials and really nothing's changed for us i know so i'm thinking these p everybody if this is different for you maybe it's the time to just get a taste of what it feels like to be on twitter right because we really only go out for essentials we're only going to like the hardware store we order any clothes we get online yeah stay home all the time that's one of the secrets to success on the homestead or farm just be home just be home remember what i said yesterday how i think i'm making a prediction that food growing interest is gonna be of more interest than this like possible food shortages and stuff it just makes sense i'm here checking my member area in the facebook group and guess what they asked is anyone upping their food production as a as a result of the current craziness in the world yes these people get it and actually there are many people there are many people saying yes to that look at that it's a hot topic guys it's a hot topic inside uh our facebook group there proud of you guys proud of you guys it just makes sense i mean it can be it can be less expensive it's healthier it's more convenient like there's that's that's my grocery store so it's more convenient but also it's becoming you know more of a sure thing like our our seeds our cows our chickens they don't really care what's going on in the larger world they still need to be milk they're still putting off that milk they're still giving eggs they're just doing their thing largely unafflicted uh no unaffected not even largely unaffected unaffected our grocery store keeps on going this is it plus my six plus four gallons four gallons rebecca thirty two pounds of food yesterday it was awesome thirty two pounds are you kidding me [Music] see that i don't know two days of eggs need to be washed oh i see a mucho garden in my future [Music] crazy garden later that's right what are you planting all the things okay this is summer crop you're going on now our spring we've done the spring it's not too late for people to grow spring by the way you got you got lots of time so no rush certainly not too late for summer crops like like peppers and tomatoes and squashes and pumpkins and yup all those goodies i am going to start a ton of seeds today i want to get my stuff going get my seedlings going i'm going to start tomatoes and peppers like all my summer stuff i'm probably a little bit behind but that's okay better late than never i've done several of these um so basically what i'm doing is i am taking a coffee filter and wetting it then laying it out putting my seeds on it and then labeling it and putting it in here jonah and i think that there's probably like 500 plants in here so that's pretty awesome i have a bunch of things that like don't matter like flowers like they're nice they're beautiful but like in the grand scheme of things we would really want food so i'm going to do a little bit of flowers i have a bunch of herbs to do i got some seeds from sew the land from their christmas gift [Applause] rebecca has calmed me down you got all the plants back in yes they had their sun bath for the day so i'm wondering if oh maybe yeah i'm wondering now will it sit i think it would sit okay [Music] lily and i have been working hard she did about half of these and then i started doing soul blocks just because i want to get a good test of the difference and if i like them right now i think i'm leaning more towards soil box which is kind of crazy [Music] the beautiful one just planted these seeds for me what two three days ago spinach swiss chard kale lettuce and a lot of it is already germinated do you see that got some germination right there little tiny one coming in this just started a few days ago this was a few weeks ago lettuce kale where's the swiss chard spinach where's the swiss chard more lettuce up swiss chard why was that looking for swiss chard oh yeah we did have plant some we did plant some swiss chard you know i don't know if it'll be ready in 60 days but certainly spinach certainly lettuce and certainly like baby kale so this stuff was planted a few weeks ago we're at the end of march we cheated we got to plant it a little earlier because we have a greenhouse we have a cover we're transplanting this today i'm getting excited because it's been a while since we had homegrown greens we have gone off the winter going into the spring this is exciting the chickens have been in here we moved them out we covered it up with a tarp this is what i like to do on a bigger scale as opposed to mulch we use the big tart oh yeah that's nice so i was just looking in there i think it's ready so i think we just get our plants i think we should just do one row at a time okay keep it covered as long as we can so let's just get this one row uncovered i'm done okay we got some uh sandbags we need to put away real quick first on the list kale swiss chard collards we got sally loaded a lot of food right there i'll go ahead and set up the line okay tie that to that middle post and i'm gonna go put the other post in we're gonna do a line from one post to the next and then plant along that line [Music] i don't know if that's good or bad okay and then put it in there think that'll work rebecca we plant one at 5 15 and 25. is that right okay five inches in on our 30 inches row so 5 inches that'll be one 15 inches and [Music] then what next say collards 13 feet of collar 13 feet of kale we don't have as much this chard no this one was done to our favorite breakfast vegetable [Music] we're done planting the swiss chard collards and kale this is one of the best ways to describe the mood across the globe right now uncertain we're uncertain of how our lives might continually be affected by all that's going on that uncertainty no doubt comes from us just not knowing that's what uncertainty is not knowing exactly how things are going to play out much of what's happening right now is just out of our control and since we feel out of control and we all like to be in control where's the scoop that makes us nervous so that makes us nervous take some steps to stay healthy and maybe occupy our time with something positive we're just paying defense hey little guys come here they've eaten all their grass all their grain this is what stephen covey would call our circle of concern everything that we might be concerned about whether we have control of it or not just checking on the the three chickens you guys are doing a great job all right jose you guys do you have the cows in sweet okay let's grab our milk and stuff unfortunately our circle of concern can be really large especially these days with so much knowledge at our fingertips what can we do if anything to go on the offense instead of just the defense [Music] this is what stephen covey would call your realm of influence things that are within your control [Music] it's good to connect with her a little bit they're you now i must say gardening homesteading it's not 100 guarantee actually the only thing i can guarantee with it is that you're gonna fail at least some i after 15 years of growing our own food make mistakes and there's failures that happen whether by me or by natural circumstances it happens every day but what we can be in 100 control of is our response to things that happen to us in our lives we can control that we can control that effort you go get us some pitchforks manure forks and some shovels please here here's that's a little hoe for you yeah oh shoot somebody took i hung the hoe right here so that nobody would find it get it did you find that hoe again okay so we can slip off our shoes roll up our sleeves get our hands dirty and if we're lucky get some calluses lily are you barefoot yeah you're barefoot uh-oh mom you want to join the club so we're just gonna weed around the plants because we can only put the weed paper so close and so there'll be some gaps okay you don't have to worry about weeding here in the aisle because that'll be completely covered okay be real careful of the asparagus and the strawberry [Music] whether we succeed here is kind of beyond the point it's more the journey to the destination that's counting that is in our control now let's put down our weed barrier [Music] this is to stop the weeds from coming up through mother of the weeds non-toxic just to even be able to do this one strip we need to set one up here and one here we bit off more than we can chew tonight okay we're getting outside we're breathing fresh air listen here how beautiful we're working together as family we're getting more in touch with nature at the very least we're clearing our minds getting our minds off some things for a little bit and doing something positive that's amazing [Music] [Music] and the good news is that you don't have to do this alone are you with me do you guys want to build a garden you want to build a garden with me new spot for pigs old spot for pigs look how they've already cleared this up oh my i don't already see grass over here i do grass has already sprouted look at this so that's where they just were here's where they were just one week before there was no grass here guys look at that oh my gosh you pigs i would kiss you if you just weren't so disgusting why does that excite me so much well i only have so many acreage a lot of it is in forest i don't have enough money for grass year round for my cows but this is helping more and more i'm opening up we're gonna clear this out turn it into wood chips let's grow pasture here the kids love milk yeah let's see you get your milk mustache on yeah i like that milk mustache oh i like it where's your milk mustache mr teddy here we go here we go get your milk mustache mr brown where's your milk mustache that's a good one homegrown butter yogurt buy the jar half gallon jar cultured cream delicious as a sort of a dip jimmy why do you like cultured cream what do you use it for you can just use it for so many things tacos applesauce making um you can make ice cream with it you can use it substitute it as cream for most anything you could turn it into better you can make better it's cultured better to grow these things you've got to have pasture gesture like this beautiful lush quality pasture good morning you guys ready to move but we don't have enough pasture to feed our kid cows all year round and so we have to supplement with hay in the winter early spring but we do have a lot of forest and today we're going to move the cows into one of these new forests that we cleared this is where we're taking them above the cows the access road is up there that's gonna be future forest for like maybe one day a bigger pig operation you're going on new ground there hasn't been cows in here since my dad was a little boy probably your age jonah and they used to have this as a pastor actually they planted corn in here one year because i know he tells me a story when he's about 11. so you're 12 jonah so he was a year younger than you plowing with mules barefoot and he can remember flipping the team and being able to problem solve at 11 years old he hit one of these rocks back in there and he problem solved and was able to up turn them i mean i hope i'm making them like they used to you think you could do that be out here barefoot plow mules i know you're good i'm proud of you the legend continues jonah one more thing to do let's put lion on this and we're opening it up to the cows you won't believe it i was literally 10 feet away from the perimeter ran out of line i don't think they'll get that far that fast though let's let these gals in come on shook ass i should say ladies and gentlemen look at her eating right there this is exciting hey this is new this is pasture we weren't utilizing before look she's eating it come on everybody party time chicago i brought hay because i want to spread it over some of the bare spots and because this is new grass i don't know how quality is you milkers need really quality grass instead you're eating grass you're eating weeds look at this how cool dark and early we're done butchering today my very first time so i'm very excited i'm also very anxious [Laughter] they're doing it we just had to get some in and they're doing it what are they eating well at least you're not stressed out i think what i'm most nervous about is if you there's a window apparently to harvest ducks before they get their pen feathers and then during the pen feather growth and then after all that so that's why we're butchering at seven weeks instead of eight weeks just to make sure we get before those pin feathers come in because we definitely didn't want to grow them to like i think it's like 16 weeks yeah you showed us how to do it let's three at a time in here [Music] i hope ben here is helping dispel the myth that ducks are hard to pluck because this is easy i mean a chicken would have this much left over on it [Music] hey what's your impression master of this raider big right here's the thing he's been asking me are the ducks i said darren you like duck no why not it's tough not this duck not this stuck i just i can't wait to cook in this stuff i don't know i hope i like duck because you're the one who had it i'm going to cook you all real nice duck not tonight but tomorrow you want to try skin with me no i don't i can't i'm sorry i'm pushing it i'm lucky she didn't make me cook an alternative meat for tonight because she doesn't like duck well no you're lucky that i let you cook this inside get me outside in the hot yeah and then on the camp stove uh-huh here we go nice i won't say that tastes much different than chicken skin i don't think anybody would know the difference i think we're gonna start telling the difference is when we start eating the meat and the meat is fattier no fool and grandma always had a christmas duck my grandmother was from belgium so she would she knew right away all right we're trying it all right with skin taste a little bit like roast beef that's so good it tastes like ducks is it something you could eat good that's so good that's interesting right there there's no white meat on that um that's the duck's white meat so it is white meat yeah because look at that is that it's just brown down there oh my gosh down there look at the thing look how dark the darkness and then yeah it's light brown i wonder who figured out ducks would be delicious it's definitely not tough like a real thing stuck this arun unfortunately is not here so we're not going to be able to get that next time because that's definitely gonna blow around [Music] we've got a little over an hour harvest to harvest pop sweet potatoes my dad was 86 years old medical conditions piling up and then he broke his back let's see we've got one two three four five rows of sweet potatoes i think if all goes well we might be able to actually do this where where does it go into the ground that's where we want to dig this is going to be tricky help me figure this out guys there we go here we go got it that way so we either do them by hand or doing by pitchfork i was sitting with him one day soon after that and he just out of nowhere he said i don't know where he said if i get through this i'm gonna plant some sweet potatoes that's a good callaroon we're gonna transport guys let's get our onion curing rack and put it in here a greenhouse is a good place to cure sweet potatoes look at these sweet potatoes already roon so big actually yeah look look how big this is when it's enough for our family yeah i know right look at this one look at that fat boy unbelievable [Music] okay they're protruding out of the ground that's good look there you go lily bill you want to be able to dig that out or should i grab the pitfall look at that score right here all right so josiah you and lily kind of be in charge of the loading the trailer okay how you guys doing amazing we got a pile there we've almost loaded henry once and that's only one reason is this fun for you guys you guys like digging pretty much okay do you guys remember why we did this for boots for papa joe and i were pushing towards a year since your papa died what is there anything that you remember that's special about him well i don't we didn't really go to his house a lot and i only just asked him questions you missed going to his house yeah are you sad yeah jenna what do you remember about paw paw well that's nice whenever he came to this place he would always have me and your staff work and that's a good thing i mean sort of just says we used to hide though yeah you weren't always excited no to see peppa coming huh no because what would he do he would uh have us do stuff what would he tell you to do like move that firewood away over here we went got him some flowers once you've dug in compost before yes and then we uh put brush out of this truck and into the brush pile yeah he was known for that putting people to work yeah now most people that's one of their most fondest memories yeah those of us who aren't afraid of a little hard work [Music] it looks like we've done one row we are we done with one row i'd say that's pretty good for one row look at that sweet potato unbelievable we could have entered these in the fight my dad's sitting there with a broken back aspirations to be better within months to be able to plant sweet potatoes in the spring well guess what he died a month later and looking back on that now i think it captures my dad's spirit and a big takeaway from me and for you guys is that the man never gave up [Music] randolph finished our mobile milking station yesterday you guys want to give it a try today today is today i think we um try it out today what do you think rain or shine we're going to be milking rain or shine anyway this will be her first time so she's going to be trained to this so we're gonna have to set up some temporary lines to funnel her into there we've got it set up this is definitely more work now but when she gets trained to this they're gonna go right in and have some ideas to use the nets out in the field but right now we've got a little bit of funnel she's never been in this before for a milking she's gonna come down through this funnel lily's gonna lure you're gonna lure her with the alfalfa there wait i maybe need you with the calf and then you and i and arun and josiah we'll go up and get the calf we're gonna get the calf on a halter and get the calf at her head too give her another incentive this could go really rough this might could go really smooth come on mama get mama out okay so far so good here here i'll let the cap out right here there's a gate right here mama just hang tight okay come on calf come on paulie oh my it's going super smooth keep her to the left to sally come on come on come on come on there we go there we go there we go good girl okay i think she'll get funneled right in sure the alfalfa lily okay here we go okay first funnel all right she smears you just yeah all right there we go there we go look at that oh oh oh good to go oh we did it first step that's a big moment okay ty uh her up at her head there's no board on either side so hopefully she's going to sit still for us i think i got to get one of those b i'm like it's called a beast beef stool where you tie it to your body and it only has one leg it'd be good for uneven surfaces being able to walk around moving with her we're gonna perfect this this works okay go for it honey look at this hey we didn't have to walk all the way over there he's got the calfire head how is it lily hey now our milking together scene changes will change every day wow we got to get some of those cool stools [Music] look at that two and a half gallon reservoir there this is what i want to be doing uh we started taking off the bottom we're gonna replace this board uh working on making this chick chick saws upside down right now making it better we want to put more birds in our chick shawl and be able to move it across our entire property even the really steep stuff hey you found your strawberry nice was it sour yeah for this chick shaw build and modification it's got to be light enough still and you got to have the ability to still move it by hand for the easy moves it's got to be built out of material that other people could easily get because i'll eventually share this design if it works the the third rule is that it should be able to be able to pull it behind sally or something with a ball some sort of machine in the event of a big steep move and ideally we'd be able to move this either way by sally or side by side or by hand without having to hold an extra contraption and sally you just come out and hook up this is the aerial view to the end of our handle there well they had a good point you're going to jackknife pretty quick if you don't do a v so i think we're gonna make our handle as short as we possibly can and still be able to walk in there and extend out a amount for it and then that way we can have a better see that and then you have more room to swing uh we're gonna take this bolt out we're gonna take this off we're gonna take this this brace off right here it's a big work we're gonna replace this one while we're at it since that got all busted you're right at it i like it other way well i had it [Music] all right what 30 40 minutes there that was quite the job to get this thing off of there the u-nails coming into this the screws into it but we got it i mean this was built for a hurricane yeah man hurricane five big daddy would be proud we got the wheels on back hold these things up nice oh yeah nice nice oh wow that's totally gonna work i think if we we cut it off right there what do you think all right i don't know what do you want to do i'm just nervous i'm nervous okay you don't want to cut it well this is why i'm nervous huh i'm nervous because [Applause] that was a lot of work to get bored on now i don't want to have to do that again okay well you can't test it too much with turning because it i know like our problem was origin with one of my original ideas is that we were going to jackknife too soon okay well let's get to cotton you could cut it right here i guess all right all right give it a try we're going to try it she's so afraid she's got these legs these arms i have two i don't i don't know what we wouldn't be thinking of but it seems like we're thinking of everything keep going you're not going to hurt it going straight [Music] all right see if it makes this turn turn into there all right here we go okay slow down becky becky it's gonna hit uh you got about yeah go straight there yeah see that's we're gonna have to of course we're gonna have to cut it but i think that's plenty that's a good length chickens are coming in here big day for the chickens this is the goal today to get them in it may be impossible but we don't know until we try we do have polyface designs joel's newest book where's the plans for this thing we're building we're building this today today in one day i got friends coming we got a roon that's our playbook guys i'm counting on it i put the chickens right here off the pasture to come into their winter housing they're gonna be making to be on mulch we won't get the mulch in today because there's so much lamb's quarter and all other kinds of greens for them let them eat that down a little bit then we're going to put down a layer of mulch these chickens will be here all winter on wood chips breaking it down making compost we move them out in the spring and plant heat loving crops like tomatoes and cucumbers we've got our lumber that's for our door and that's for our retaining wall for the mulch this was impossible but we did it we still got that hanging down over there we haven't pinned that up but we're enough to get the chickens in here the chickens will be pretty getting they're tired wanting to get in i don't think they'll jump up on our sweet potatoes tonight we'll get them in the morning here we're going to put them up in their cube tonight shoot jason we pinned that door we still got to get the coupe in i guess we can get it in down there we'll just lift it up over those are those are ready to go right yeah they can be open okay we're gonna funnel them into there fellas best we can don't pressure them too hard yes if you go in ahead of us and call chick chick beat the grain yeah we don't want to start doing that that's not going to work right here too much pressure right there on this fence they can get in and out of it too easy [Music] if we can actually hurt them along the the house that'd be great come on jonah come on we guess one one one person to go in there we're good there we go there we go hey birds on new ground three more got those guys in unmask oh oh are you serious oh a room got it chicken ninja master now we did it guys we did it it's just 20 after five [Laughter] is this how you how you envisioned how this is going to turn out is this what you wanted yes i thought we'd get done by about 3 30. have to send you home early no i think all of us helped yeah oh gosh we couldn't i want to do it if if arun didn't help this morning if nate didn't come yeah we'd be saying okay you got to come tomorrow yeah yeah this is amazing and we finished just really suburb is staying warm it's ready but it's not going to get cold joe keeps them without a coop in here but let's get our deep bedding in here and then think about that before right now they're used to it let's just let them get in here we could also use it to move our our nightly nutrient drops we could move that every day and get manure on a different spot every day so i think they will it's going to be brighter in here yeah as much as was going on in the world and as much as we could control we could have of and and positivity even in growing our own food we also managed to get pregnant with child number five okay so it might take a few minutes so just warning you there it is [Music] 2020 ended up being a really successful year for us with the with the farm animals and the plants and um but as much as it was successful we had plenty of failures to overcome along the way but we also had i i guess the most biggest most memorable was our cow giving birth to a stillborn calf a dead calf does she have a baby i think there's something wrong she's really trying [Music] maybe it's the placenta it's here looking it's like she's looking she's looking for a baby or something attractions are getting closer together there we go girl she's wanting to stand up it wasn't easy that's definitely a hook [Music] becky she keeps on getting up and down [Music] and we see some some of it contraction still is two-ish minutes apart she's laying down but seems like she wants to get up to push looks like she's having another contraction here [Music] [Music] oh i'm trying to see if you want the two hoofs together coming first and then the head i can't quite i can't quite tell it's coming out i wish i could tell what that is amy's up there she's getting text reception communicating with rebecca rebecca's kind of looking into it at home look you can see i got close that's a tongue that's the calf's tongue there that long four inch thing that's its head the first thing coming out is a is one hoof i'd really like to see two hoofs that'd be it for a smooth exit and then those livery looking things i don't know what it is placenta probably so you can see that hoof sticking way out see it see the bottom of the hoof it's white and then just above the hoof is the head but i don't see the other half oh maybe that's a is that the hoof behind that now i think that's its little maybe that's a hoof right underneath the head okay you're back and you got a book yes without the books presentation it's as if the head and one hoof is out yeah and you have to push it all back in and get i think that's what's happening that's only one hoof no i saw another one oh you saw it deeper in yeah it was behind okay it would be a problem if it was like yeah okay good if it was going if it was doing this there we go guys she didn't lose any progress there i still see the second hoof i wish we had a midwife you're gonna have to become the cow midwife i need a cow midwife i can see your eye his eye [Music] [Music] [Music] oh i can't [Music] you can see the whole head the ear the arms up there beside it yeah she's almost past the little elbow point on this leg [Music] she's gonna get up here we go come on honey you can do it you can do it [Music] wow oh wow here comes here it comes [Music] here it comes and she's and the cow's got liquid coming out of her mouth i hope she's alive hey rebecca [Music] i'm not sure this cat's alive oh she's fine [Music] i think she's fine what's this wait hold on hold on give her a moment she just had birth mom will liquor she'll eat the placenta [Music] i did i did i made sure so when the calf came out it did have a lot of liquid come out of its mouth oh back off that's okay it's okay mom just be aware of the horn she's not aggressive or anything just she might lift up [Music] let's give her a little bit uh you've got to go to town um give her a moment let her eat all that she needs to eat off of that picking up a live calf there's no lock her in you got her wow good job look it was a boy he was a boy that would have been our beef supply 2022. let's see that's our beef supply starting in 2021 that would have been 22-23 gosh we could do paulie this is bad this is bad i got heard back from josh and sending that picture that you have you had the placenta coming out and he's like yep that's what did it so that was the person and i said to him is that is that just bad luck or is that something we should call for or is that genetic he said totally bad luck can happen to any any cat yeah he said she could have died yeah she could die well that's why so if she would have gone more than two hours we were gonna call the bat but even in the midst of a struggle as large as losing a cap there there there are solutions what about josh josh is the guy who he runs a dairy who's who we got these cows from maybe he would have some i mean i don't think we thought of josh because well one he's four hours away he really had that but like yeah okay let's just just let's just text him and see well oh my gosh call the inquirer he has two little casts to choose from that have been nursing mama their a282 genetics was what we're looking for they're not expensive we do have to drive and get there okay this guy has bailed me out a number of times biotech's thank you for that josh no problem one of my coaches also a great farm here and this is the calf this is it huh how do you want to do this well i'll get in there and wrangle her opening here we got straw we got plastic and cardboard she'll probably have to lay down though she might be able to stand she should be all right okay okay she'll kind of she'll kind of calm down after a while all right [Music] nice perfect hey how'd it go putting flossie in easy she come with a bucket oh yeah nice good job buddy proud of you hey miss thing he's got this crazy hey miss thank you we have something for you i think she's very annoying baby's crazy but you're gonna have a you're having a friend look at her it's gonna be tricky because she's really raring to maybe get out all right thank you so much josiah big big reveal let's see oh oh she's precious cute right so cute oh my gosh let's carry her in the crate papa not a terrible idea jonah had a good idea we're gonna haul the calf in this over there and that way we have a less chance of like her getting loose and running away somewhere she laid down the entire time she's praying jonah and josiah can you guys get that said she is very cute tell me if you guys got it okay lily you get in and get the bucket okay oh nice and open then she looked like a little deer she died so i'll open this door and there'll be no gap okay that'll be our best chance ready all right oh boy guys kids back up gets back up it's okay [Music] wait back back up just in case hey hey hey hey all right i'm gonna get her back here okay okay that didn't work [Music] the good news is the calf is trying philosophy's not letting her this is out of our territory i think there's a lot of excitement i think flossie's trying to make sure this cap knows who's boss there's a pecking order yes that's true and i think that that cap is gonna submit it has to yeah it's here this will be day four trying to get aunt flossy to adopt this calf my hope is that calf won't be hungry and flossy will be empty meaning they would have nursed without me i don't hear any bellowing bossy's up the calf's up it's hard to tell till we get out there what do you say flossie have you let her [Music] nurse looks like she's hungry because she's coming for you it looks like you haven't let her have anything nope that's discouraging as this is day four my craft is very hungry that's not what i wanted to see hungry calf uncompliant mother we'll try again to give when we get alfalfa in there today and see if she does any better than yesterday go ahead go ahead baby cat go ahead there we go maybe maybe she's maybe she's cooperating a little better than yesterday come on keep trying why isn't she nursing she's just haven't figured it out yet come on kath come on try it my mom's mom's uh alfalfa and she's not gonna do it okay well we're digressing from yesterday come on honey come on oh come on persevere persevere come on [Music] dude it's all yours [Music] i feel like we had might have been worse than yesterday with with flossie not coming into the stanchion and i don't feel like she nursed as good in the paddock but yeah i don't know if it's the sunshine but i'm feeling hopeful today yesterday not so much this whole thing's got me wondering was it worth it i feel hopeful today i feel like you know maybe we had some prog i want progress every day i feel like maybe we had some there it looked like flossie really kind of submitted there uh for a moment unlike she has before so i want to stay we're still making progress the great thing about our new calf and how we turned that pro the problem of losing one into a solution was one well that calf was a2a2 which and it was a female so being that it's a female we have a lot more choices being that it's a2a2 means it's easier to digest i mean the the cat that was born wasn't bulls so it's not like we've been drinking their milk anyway but the the other thing is it would be un it's unrelated to our bulls so theoretically we could keep her and breed her and there would be some good benefit in that flossie is it gonna be day five trying to get her to adopt this calf yesterday we saw flossie lick the calf yesterday afternoon that's progress we haven't seen that yet call the inquirer that guy's nursing we gotta get closer i think the calf is nursing and flossie's just standing there holy smokes i think it's happening don't want to mess it up by coming on but please tell if it's true please tell me the head she's nursing she is nursing guys day five day five day five and that calf is nursing mom's being peaceful look fussy's licking her i think cass milked it for all it's worth you guys pushed through you did it i don't think that cast's hungry anymore [Music] day five they said it would happen in three i guess flossie's got a little crazier eyes than everybody else but yesterday i was less defeated than day three i think day three i have these expectations because that's what most people were saying it would take three days and i think i was expecting i think i realized this yesterday i was expecting them to bond i was thinking that was a three-day period for a bonding to take place i don't think that was what's happening i mean maybe it's some but what i realized yesterday is no i wasn't trying to create a bond i was trying to train just like if i were to train her to go into a shoot i'm training flossie to accept this calf to allow this calf to nurse and that changed everything and then that changed the perspective and i think that's why i wasn't as defeated yesterday as it was yeah yeah you know what she's nursing hot diggity man and and flossie's looking back not to butter but goes um makes that little noise almost like she's saying go on go on hey you two have you given in that flossy i'd love to capture this on camera you gonna see it here i don't think she's hungry i think she's oh there you go there we go there we go again look at that there it is look [Music] oh my gosh flossy thank you thank you you gave in you finally gave it i'm gonna get you some alfalfa here honey you deserve this every bit of it every bit of it oh good problem to have this morning we ain't gonna get any milk did you guys hear that that that's something she's only done oh here's that she is not this is she hasn't been doing this the last four days that's something she only does when she's got a cat see see that a lot of people are given 20 20 and a a hard time and i and i and i see where folks are coming from and it it changed so much much in our life and we're and we're ready to move on but there has been some good come out of 2020 and i know there's been a lot of bad but if you look one great thing that's come out of it is just how many people it has made serious about growing their own food and that's a wonderful thing people were just flocking to this movement homesteading was proven as a good times bad times activity a lifestyle i should say our views you guys increased 60 percent so we have new people coming in we have people who have been around more interested and getting more serious guys uh the mi gardener my friend he he sells seeds and they were selling out and back ordered for months mcmurray hatchery the folks who partnered with us on on getting us chicks again maximizing their facility to meet the need premier one out of stock out of stock out of stock working as hard as they can to get the uh manufacturing caught up and catching up to the demand i'd say chances are if you've watched this far and you're still here you're serious sure a lot of people are gonna get into this movement you know things get a little more secure and then they kind of maybe wane but you're here you're serious that's what my gut is telling me that it's telling me that you aren't playing this ain't no hobby to you sure you can have fun and have a few beds but for the most part you want this to work you need this to work for the peace of mind for the joy for the lifestyle change you want this to work i can help you i can help you and i can help you for free i've put together a homestead crash course where i've collected my mucho content over the years and i put it in various members areas or courses and i'm just going to piece it all together and i'm going to give you things on a lot of you want to raise chickens after all you know me as they wearing permaculture chicken ninja mustard i'ma give you chickens pigs cows permaculture which is designed design your best homestead ever 2021 2022 whenever you're seeing this design your best homestead ever uh we'll get you some plans i'll get you that and oftentimes that oh some gardening resources chances are that's all you're really going to need to get a start and that's what matters because once you get a start or an improvement i know many of you are already doing this get in there get those resources and just level up your game because it can all it can always seem overwhelming getting into something new or improving upon something especially something as big as homesteading but like i say to myself if i just make one percent change every day but i do that every day well it compounds pretty quickly like you've doubled in 72 days your one percent change could be saying today i'm just going to sign up for justin's crash course tomorrow i might watch half a video one video the next day i'll actually implement something from one of those videos so guys happy 2021 here's to a wonderful lifestyle and homesteading i hope you enjoyed this hope you were inspired by it please check it out down in the description you'll really enjoy you'll really make big change in your life

Channel: Justin Rhodes

Views: 2,034,225

Rating: 4.8620234 out of 5

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Id: yTYRjftr3Zg

Length: 103min 53sec (6233 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 06 2021