Jessa Greenfield's Morning Routine, Unschooling, Podcasting, Tongue Tacos & More: A Family Dinner Conversation With The Greenfields.

My name is Ben Greenfield, and on this episode of the Ben Greenfield Life.

Podcast, to me, that just sets my whole tone for my entire day. If I don't care for my soul, I can't really care for anybody else's.

Certain traditions and comings and goings and rituals and routines. And I think that's very important, not only for providing children with a sense of predictability.

Feels nice to help you since you did do a bunch of stuff for us. Yeah, I think it's just like doing everything just because we're, we're family. So we just do it all for each other.

Faith, family, fitness, health, performance, nutrition, longevity, ancestral living, biohacking, and a whole lot more. Welcome to the show. Hey, the podcast episode you're about to.

Hear is kind of interesting.

You can access the show notes@bengreenfieldfitness.com freerangeinterview bengreenfieldfitness.com Freerangeinterview but me and my family were interviewed for this summit and they had dinner with me and my family and came over via Zoom. And it was a pretty interesting chat with me and my wife and my sons. And I thought it was so cool and might be really interesting for you families out there who just want to know how we live and where, what we do and get a few quick tips from us and hear me talking with food in my mouth.

You enjoy this show.

Welcome, guys.

Thank you so much. And I want to start by asking river and Taryn, are you guys. Well, tell us what you're having for dinner.

Tongue tacos.

It's tongue taco night.

Yeah, cow tongue tacos on a Thursday.

Awesome. So do you guys all cook together? Do you guys like to take turns? How does it work?

Oh, we hate cooking together. We drive each other nuts.

Yeah, me and river usually make each other like breakfast or lunch most of the time. Mom makes breakfast a lot of times too.

We actually probably cook together like almost every night as a family. Somebody kicks in something, somebody makes a salad. You know, I like to do meat, but I'm biased. And you know, river and Taren, they bake. They do all sorts of crazy stuff. Sometimes we make a dessert, like dinner time at our house. It's like around 7pm it's pretty fun because everything just kind of like starts in the into like a pre dinner song. And sometimes we read a chapter from a book and sometimes we talk a little bit about our day as we're tooling around in the kitchen and we put on some music and then we all eat together and usually we play card games or a board game or something like that. But tonight we're talking to you. So I don't have a chance to beat anybody at a game tonight.

That sounds good.

Although we crushed gravel last night. You did.

You smoked us, I guess.

I'm curious, what's the food like that you guys eat? I mean, everyone's a little different.

It's tasty.

A lot of people I think consider sometimes it's adventurous. Like tonight we're having tongue tacos. Not a common staple.

It's the best meat, though, for tacos, I'll tell you that. We don't eat any specific diet. We just eat, like real food as close to nature as possible. You know, widely varied. Typically we try to go local as much as we can. Usually some kind of good organic grass fed grass, finished meat or some wild caught fish or working organ meats. A little bit like we are tonight. Last week, river and Taryn made us liver and bacon, which is really good. And then typically, like some kind of healthy starch, you know, like a sweet potato. Or tonight we're doing these little. What are they? Coconut flour tortillas from Siete. You know, Jess and I usually have a glass organic wine. Sometimes we have some bone broth, but yeah, we mix it up and yeah, usually it's some kind of vegetable, some kind of starch and some kind of really good meat. And. Yeah. And then typically, like, we'll do everything from, like goat milk ice cream to, you know, dark chocolate if these guys have baked something. Jessa made lemon bars the other night. We like a little bit of something sweet after dinner, too.

That's awesome. And your book, your cookbook, how recently did that come out then? Boundless Cookbook. Because I'm sure you share a lot of your family recipes in there.

Yeah, you know, I don't know when that came out. It was last year at some point. But, you know, we just, you know, I've always got this list of crazy recipes and cocktails and smoothies that I try, and they're mostly kind of weird around the edges. But then I combined all my crazy recipes with some of these guys. Slightly more normal, insane recipes, and we put it all together in a cookbook.

We don't usually try his smoothies.

It's called Boundless cooking. The only thing they raise an eyebrow at usually is my smoothies because I'll put stuff like raw liver and crazy things in there, but they still taste pretty good, in my opinion. It's like having ice cream for breakfast.

Yeah, kind of.

I'M glad to hear that. I sneak desiccated liver caps into my kids smoothies sometimes, so you gotta do it.

I'll swallow it in a capsule.

Yeah, you can just get straight up liver and soak it for like a day in kefir or buttermilk or something. That draws out some of the gamey flavor and tenderizes it. And then you literally pureed in a blender, pour it into molds and you can have like these pureed fresh livers. You can put it in your smoothie. It's like lifeblood. It's so good. It's like nature's multivitamin.

Oh, that's awesome. Such a good tip. I'm going to jump into the parenting topic now in terms of your book and I really want to ask Ben specifically, when does the book come out? What's it called? If you can share that and what's the message? What are the messages from the book? And Jessa too. I'm sure you guys both had your hands in this project.

Well, it's a book on parenting. I have a lot of people ask me to write a book about parenting. I don't know why, but, you know, like river and Taryn are 13, so who's to say they're not going to wind up in prison when they're 20? So I didn't really feel that qualified to be a parenting expert or anything like that. But I thought, you know, there's books out there like Tim Ferriss Tribe of Mentors or Tools of Titans where you like interview a whole bunch of other amazing people topic. And then that's what I'm doing for parenting. So I found like all these amazing parents, people I look up to, people who have great kids. People have proven that their kids don't wind up as like truants. And I created a list of a whole bunch of questions that each of these parents get about everything from discipline to rituals to habits to routines to education. And I'm interviewing all of them, collecting all the replies, which is super fun. Get inside the mind of a lot of these amazing parents and see the common threads that that are woven in each of their responses. And then we're packaging it all together. And basically when somebody reads it, there's going to get a glimpse inside the minds and the tactics and the strategies and the philosophies and the habits of all these parents. And it's going to fingers crossed. Because when you're doing book publishing, this is always dangerous to say this when the book's not done yet, but we're looking at September of 2022 and it's called Boundless Parenting. Boundless Parenting. There'll be some kind of sexy subtitle too, like tips, tactics and Strategies from the World's Top Parents. Something like that Anyways though. So yeah, it's a super fun project to work on, honestly, because I'm just getting to learn so much from all these amazing parents. I can't wait for people to read it. And Jess is in it too. She's being interviewed. I probably.

That's my.

I'd be in the dog if I put a parenting book and left half the team out.

Yeah.

That'S awesome. That is such a great concept for the book. I can't wait to read it too. So have river and Taryn. Have you read the book yet?

No, it's not even done yet. I'm still writing it. Yeah.

Do you think you're.

That's how I spend my morning. I'm down there like 6am in the morning in my office banging away at it. But not the same.

We're doing devotion.

5Am, 5am so that kind of brings me to another question I wanted to ask you guys. What is your morning routine like? Because I know Ben from your Instagram it seems like you're an early riser of course, and you're doing workouts or working early in the morning. What's the rest of the family doing? And how do you guys all fit in your self care?

I get up typically sometime between 4:30 and 5:30 and I spend like the first, oh, 15 to 20 minutes of my day. I do a lot of like ayurvedic stuff like oil pulling and tongue scraping and washing my face with warm water and oil and just do all my kind of self care stuff in the bathroom for a few minutes and then I go downstairs and I prepare like coffee or tea or whatever, maybe drink it for the day. But I don't drink it, I just kind of prepare it and have it ready and you know, take my, my you know, morning supplements. I have a huge glass of water with some, some minerals added to it and then I'll. I'll spend about 15 minutes kind of like waking my body up for the day, like stretching, jumping up and down on a trampoline. I've taken river and taren through these before. I'll do things like the five Tibetan longevity exercises or some yoga moves or some foam rolling, but I always have 15 minutes I carve out for just me time to wake up my body and then after that I start my morning devotions where I'm reading a devotional, I'm reading scripture, I'm praying, I'm going to God and taking care of my spirit first thing in the morning. And lately, because they're getting older now and I really want them to, you know, there's like this as a parent, you know, you have to strike a balance between letting your children sleep when they need, when they're sleeping and growing, but also making sure that they wake up in the morning and you start to teach them some of these valuable morning routines. So river and Taran started to do that morning devotions and prayer with me, which is typically about 6am and then once we finish that, I typically will go into my office and I start to eat the frog, so to speak. Meaning I tackle the hardest thing for the day. Usually it is an article or a book chapter, something that I know if I get nothing else done the rest of the day, I have at least done this. And so I will usually spend 45 minutes to an hour, like, working on the most important thing for the day. And then once I've finished that, I pop upstairs and I gather the whole family and we meditate for about 10 minutes. We do gratitude, breath work, we do some tapping. We do an act of service, meaning we write down a person we're going to pray for or help or serve that day. And then we do the Lord's Prayer. So we all pray together. And then we finish with a giant family hug and kind of like a team huddle. Like, so I'll get on the same page about what's going on that day. Like, you know, what are we making for dinner and where are we, you know, driving and who's got the cars? And, you know, what time is this? What time's that? And then we just kind of scatter at that point and begin to go about our day. And you are right. I typically squeeze in some kind of workout. Usually I'll do like, I like to do a sauna session in the morning at some point after that, meditation. And then these guys go back to bed.

What?

I'm joking.

He doesn't know.

Why don't you tell them about your morning routine?

So I normally wake up anywhere between five and seven. And I generally will sleep until my body tells me to wake up, basically. And I will generally take. I'll do all my morning routines. Brush my teeth, wash my face, put in my contacts, you know, wake up and always make the bed. That's a habit that I've learned since I was a kid. And one of the reasons is because that's where. That's the space where I do my prayer and my meditation and my Bible reading and all that stuff. And I don't like cluttered spaces. So it has to feel and look a certain way for me to thrive. And I just know that about myself.

She's got good feng shui.

Yeah.

I like to look a certain way and feel a certain way. And then I'll go down and I Spanish. I'll go down, I'll do my copy, I'll get that going, and then I'll go upstairs and I will spend about an hour in prayer and in Bible reading. To me, that just sets my whole tone for my entire day is if I don't care for my. My soul, I can't really care for anybody else's, especially prayer. It sets my mindset in a place of care and concern for other people other than myself. So. And I think that's super, super important just going into the day, because as believers, we're called to serve others, love God and serve others. And so. And that's a huge priority for me personally. And then if I'm really on top of it and I get up early, I'll come down, I'll start a fire, I'll burn some incense.

She makes a pretty good fire.

I'll put on some nice soft music. Because I like my family, especially my kids, to wake up to a peaceful home that is, like, easy to enter into the day. So that's my morning routine.

If she was really on top of it, she'd get up at 4am so I could wake up to a peaceful home.

But no.

Yeah, she's kind of lazy.

Next, my morning routine, or I guess our morning routine. Ish. We wake up at six. We've been doing devotions with dad lately, but other times we just do it by ourselves.

How about the alarm clock?

Oh, it's just like a little sunrise alarm clock. So it goes from like, dim light to brighter light. So it wakes you up slowly.

Yeah. It makes, like, the sun instead and like birds singing and music. And it's a pretty cool alarm clock.

It's a little less abrasive than a normal alarm clock.

A light switch going on.

And then after we've done our early morning devotions, we usually make the bed, wash our face, do all that stuff with the dogs, read look what we have for school today. And then we go down here and do our gratitude devotions, like dad was saying. Yep. And then we usually, yeah, make breakfast and go take care of all of our chickens and goats that we have.

We do that as a team.

Yeah, dad doesn't.

He's. Dad's not really part of that.

Come rain or snow or shine, they go take care of the animals while I'm taking care of them, of the business.

We have a goat that we milk.

They milk the goats, they get chicken eggs. They just basically take care of the little baby. It's not a farm, but take care.

Of the animals, which is, I think, been really rewarding personally. Yeah.

And.

Yeah. Then we start school and the day begins.

Thank you. That was awesome. That's so, like, it's so specific and it just shows, like, the intention and the strategy there. You guys obviously live really, really intentionally. And then with your success and your whole family being a part of this brand and this movement you've started, I think that this just shows how important it is to start your day off right. If you guys want to be able to make that kind of change that you guys are making in the world.

There'S no way that you can equip yourself to be impactful to help other people if you don't put on your own oxygen max first. It really is important to have some kind of a morning routine that enables you to, before you go into reactive mode, to take care of yourself and to set boundaries. Right. I tell my team, don't schedule me on any phone calls until at least 9:30am because I need that time for my family, for my spirit, for my soul, for my body. And if I don't have that time, I really feel like the whole day I'm just flopping around like a Muppet because I haven't actually warmed up the engine, so to speak.

Okay, so this is maybe a question more specific to Ben and Jessup, but if you can just kind of go back to infant toddler years and tell me a little bit about how did that, if at all, how did that disrupt, you know, maybe your business probably.

Disrupted her life more than mine because she had two human beings inside of her. But I think probably for me, basically, I quit my job because I didn't have a job that I thought would allow me to be around as a husband and a father in the capacity that I desired to be. I was working as a personal trainer with super weird hours all over the map. And I'd sometimes come home at like 8pm and be working on clients programs to, like, midnight and just all over the map. Not a very stable routine for raising a family. And so I just Basically reinvented my whole career. During the time Jessa was pregnant and became a podcaster and started to write books and started to create content, which I kind of wanted to do anyways. It's like this was just like the time to start doing it. So by the time river and Taryn were born, I was mostly working from home. I was still traveling a lot. But I, you know, that that was the big thing for me was I thought, well, gosh, if I want to be a family man, I can't keep working the job I'm working right now because I was. I was super successful as a personal trainer, but it wasn't like a really family friendly job. So I think that was probably early on the biggest thing for me.

For myself, I would say it was probably the biggest life crisis I've ever had. And that's not like to say it in a bad way, but I was a graphic designer before having our children, having our boys. And, you know, you get a paycheck and you have health insurance and you have all these things that kind of measure your value and what you're contributing. And suddenly I was a stay at home mom, and I didn't have, like, a paycheck or, you know, I had health insurance, obviously, through other things, but you just didn't have that measuring stick that. That told you your value all day every month, you know, and so that was really challenging at first, and especially because a lot of times your little babies don't even acknowledge you for, like, the first three months of their lives. So it's kind of like you feel very used in not a bad way, but just like, you're. You're giving, you're giving, you're giving, you're giving, and there's nothing that's measuring back to you. So that was really, really difficult for me.

Y. Selfish little buttholes. They used her.

No, but, yeah, I mean, I mean, in all seriousness, I was like, it was. And I think a lot of women who do go through that really do know what I'm talking about. And so I don't think it's abnormal. And I don't think it's something to be ashamed of or like, to, like, say that didn't happen to you.

It's.

It's a real emotion. And it was hard. It was really difficult, but was also really growing and really valuable in a lot of ways. Like, I really learned how to put somebody before myself, like, the care of my children and learn how to be. I think motherhood is a really, sometimes very selfless thing. And that is really beautiful in a lot of ways. It is a very sacrificial, beautiful thing. So it was super growing, and the growing didn't always go super easy, but I think God got a hold of me eventually and. Yeah, so it was disruptive, but in a really beautiful, wonderful way. And I knew it would be. You just don't know when you don't have a baby.

Yeah. I have two toddlers right now, two years old and four years old, so I definitely understand. Yeah, it's kind of a. It's a life crisis of a different kind where you're really just. You're becoming, you know, something new.

A lot of learning that happens in a very short period of time.

Yeah. Well, I think, like, what is so beautiful? And I can see some of this coming through, like when, Ben, you do your blog post and your Instagram, when you incorporate kind of some stories from your family and, like, for example, you guys made the family crest and you shared a little bit about how. Yeah, I mean, that's so cool. Can you talk maybe just for a second, and all of you guys can share, like, the family crest and all the things that you do together as a family and referring to yourselves as a team. How do you really feel like that? Has that always been that way? Have you just started incorporating more things? How has that changed things for you guys?

Well, over the years, we've certainly developed an appreciation for habits and rituals and routines and traditions and a deeper sense of legacy building. Like, this idea that we're not just raising, like, river and Taren, we're raising river and Taran's kids and their kids kids in terms of, like, our family values and our beliefs and what we stand for and more recently, even things that one might consider a business would do from a business branding standpoint, but more from a family branding standpoint. Meaning, what are our family colors? What's our family logo? What's our family mission statement? You know, you refer to a crest. You know, we have a beautiful crest hanging over a fireplace over there. And I'd show it to you, but I'd probably unplug you from the Internet if I did. And, you know, what are our family comings and goings? What do we do at certain ages? Like, at what age does it. Does a Greenfield boy go through a rite of passage into adolescence? At what age does a Greenfield young man go from a rite of passage into adulthood? At what ages do we do? We go on some kind of, like, a gap year between high school and higher education? If that's something that a child decides to go on and do. And so we've certainly just built over the years certain traditions and comings and goings and rituals and routines. And I think that's very important not only for providing children with a sense of some semblance of predictability and safety and control, like knowing when you wake up in the morning, like, what an average day in the house is going to be like, or what do we do when Christmas rolls around or Thanksgiving rolls around or New Year's or whatever. And so we've almost got, like, this playbook for the Greenfield family that spells out a lot of this stuff that, you know, that river and Taryn can use for their own family and that we use for our family. And I just think it's really important to think, well, how we live our days is how we live our lives. Right. I would like to take credit for coming up with that saying. I don't know who did, but it's a great saying because basically, if we're just kind of like, waking up each day and being whatever, there's no meditation or journaling and no devotions, and there's no family dinner and family story time, and the entire day is just loosey goosey. Your entire life is going to be loosey goosey. And things that you would like to see as a part of your legacy never get cemented in place. And frankly, that's why a lot of families go from regs to riches to regs, meaning, like, you know, somebody's born into, let's say, like a poor family or a family that maybe doesn't have a sense of legacy. They go into entrepreneurial mode. They build this amazing business and this amazing family, but they don't pass any of these values or beliefs or work ethics or anything onto their children. Their kids are just like, oh, we get money from dad and mom, and life is good. And then eventually those kids grow up as spoiled brats, ruin all the family wealth, raise horrible kids, and then you've got that scenario where everything that you stood for and believed in and had a chance to pass on to future generations and grow exponentially is just like, off to the wind. And so I think it really is important to go about your day as a parent thinking, gosh, I'm actually. I'm raising generations to come. And it's a pretty significant responsibility. And when you're thinking in that manner, you begin to take the idea of family, really, as heartless as it might sound, a little bit more like the same way you'd build a massive, successful business. Right. You have systems to a certain point. You have your rituals and routines and habits and traditions and. And defining values and everything that goes into maintaining some semblance of togetherness and legacy. So that's something that we really focus on.

I've always considered us to be a team. Like, I want. And I think it's a really. Team or tribe is the best way I can describe our family, because I want every person in our family to be needed, genuinely needed. Like, I need my kids. I needed them to go milk the goat outside, you know, I mean, I, like, there's. I have needs and they. And this household has needs and everybody plays into that. It's not just mom and dad fulfilling every single need. I need river and Taryn just as much as they need me or their dad, and vice versa. And I think that. I think that really creates. Yeah, a tribe or a feeling of a team because everybody contributes. And so. And we can't function without the other person. Or if we. I mean, we can, but it would be hard. And so that feels. That feels that, I think a need in children of being needed. Because a lot of times it's like, oh, I'll just do it because you can't do it. And that's not true. They can't. Or totally capable. Yeah. I just. It makes them feel needed and like, they have a place in the home and a purpose. Like they're purposeful people. Like, they're supposed to be here.

And I think, like, part of that too. It seems like a subtle nuance, but, like, I know some parents who like anything a kid does has an allowance tied to it.

Right.

Like any chore you do, from emptying the dishwasher to cleaning the dishes, to feeding the goats and chickens or whatever, like, here's your allowance for doing that. You get paid if you do it. And we don't really do allowances that much in our house. It's just like, this is just like what you do as a contributing member of the team. It's not like your special thing that you do to earn money. And granted, there are some things that we do have allowances for. Like, if I've read a fantastic book that I know that river and Taran are going to love that I don't want them to have to read, but I definitely want them to, if they decide to do so, be handsomely rewarded for doing so. You know, I'll. I'll pay him some money to write a book report on that book. Right? Is, like, extra. But as far as, like, just basic household needs and basic household chores, we're all a team. Nobody expects to, like, you know, get paid to do what they're doing or for it to be special, to go and pitch in. It's just like, this is just what we do well.

And I think there's some things that are just. They are life skills. Like, that was like our boys. They have a cooking podcast. And it really started out as. I truly believe that, like, being able to cook and feed yourself is just a life skill, and every person should know that. And that food doesn't just come out of a window or out of a microwave. So it started out with simple things like peel the labels off of the vegetables and wash them, you know, and it graduated to something bigger and bigger. But it was also teaching them a lifelong skull that they can carry with them through their entire lives. So. And the dog is being very silly over here.

There's a dog underneath the table right now.

But those things are. They're wonderful for contributing to our home, but they are also going to be things that they can carry into their life beyond our house. Because I want to equip them with the ability to care for themselves in the way that they're supposed to be. To care for themselves, because that's just. That's just being a human, in my opinion.

Yeah. She used to make them change their own diapers when they were babies. You should have seen it.

That didn't happen.

But you guys did your laundry at, like, 4.

You did do your own laundry. You didn't have to change your own diapers.

I don't think we folded. Did we fold?

I taught you how to fold, but you.

Well, I know, but it took a.

While, but yeah, I just think those are just really good life skills to snow and have.

And you know what I found so surprising? And I mean, in a really great way? My daughter, she's 4, and my son, who's only 2, they want to. They already want to start doing those things. They're begging me, and they actually get frustrated if I tell them no, it's okay.

That's them wanting to be able to contribute. It's a gift. It's their way of giving. I really believe that it's contribution, and they want to be part of the household.

Yeah.

I think that's a good way to look at it. I mean, some people would say that it's because a kid wants their own sense of control and independence, and there's probably a little bit of that at play, too. But I think in the right household, it's like the kid just wants to be a part of the team.

It's not as much contributing as just helping.

Yeah.

Yeah. I feel like it's kind of just like. It feels nice to help you since you did do a bunch of stuff for us. Yeah, I think it's just being like doing everything just because we're. We're family. So we just do it all for each other.

Yeah. You guys get to change dad's diaper when I'm 80.

That's really what you're. What you're creating, though, is a family that is going to be there for each other and supporting each other. Because you have. You've just done that from the very beginning. You know, it's just going to be second nature. Can I ask river and Taryn a question?

Absolutely.

No. Okay.

I just have. I have two more questions and then. And then I'll let you guys go get. Do your board game family evening if you have time still. But I want to ask river and Taryn, how do you guys. How can you tell us about what you're doing during the day? Your school lifestyle? Like, are you going to school? Are you doing unschooling? Are you doing homeschooling? What are your projects? What are you interested in?

We're unschooled school, so it's kind of what you choose to do. And then also Washington state has some requirements, so also doing those, but making them fun and stuff. So we're really into art and language arts, like writing and stuff. I like music, art and writing. Those are my favorite. And then cooking is. But that's kind of an art and. Yeah, so it's like, I guess, what are some projects that we're doing? Yeah, we're doing finance at our walls. We're doing a finance project in math. I'm writing a story. We're reading a bunch of old books like Great Expectations and like how to Kill a Mothman Bird.

Great Gatsby.

Great Gatsby.

Tell me about your wall.

Yeah, we painted murals on our walls.

They do a lot of art, a lot of painting. River's turning one of his into like an NFT collection right now. Online is digital art. But basically, like, they have certain things they're interested in that they do during the day. And then we try to package things into blocks. Like right now they're in kind of like a finance block. And so they're doing a lot of stuff regarding finances and investing in the mathematics of finance and even A little bit of crypto, et cetera. And sprinkled in between that, they're also just doing a lot of their passion projects like art or writing or their cooking podcast or jiu jitsu or tennis or whatever. There's like the things that happen every week and then there's like special things that we really focus on that they're in a block of learning based around. And so it's kind of this mashup of experiential learning and life experiences with some amount of formalized curriculum, like meeting with the math teacher or going through a certain book. And it's also very, very book heavy too. Like, we just read, like, we just read a lot of books period at our house. And so they're constantly kind of like reading great book or a biography or a how to guide. And so, yeah, it's basically, to answer your question, it's more or less unschooling, meaning we don't have a set formal curriculum. We just kind of, you know, make sure the boys have time to do what it is they're interested in and then give them a few extras that'll help prepare them to be ready for whatever life might throw at them later on.

Why don't you tell about Kumana and stuff like that?

Oh, yeah, we do. We do outside nature stuff too. Like we journal about like animals and. What else do you do?

We.

Yeah, sit spot awareness, like nature awareness and like, just like watching nature and stuff.

Yeah, it's a nature immersion program. And they, they, they have this school called Twin Eagles Wilderness School in Sandpoint, Idaho. So they'll go off and do camps during the summer, but then they do some stuff at home too, like, you know, sit spots and studying up on things like animal tracking and plant foraging and nature awareness. And so there's a pretty strong nature component woven in as well.

And then you guys obviously are teaching them a lot about like, you know, the, you have the animals there, the chickens and goats and kind of homesteading or.

Yeah, there's also cultivation. Like we. Last year you guys started marigolds from seed. And we have a big garden. And so we get a lot of our food in the summer, even in stuff in the winter. We can't. We do can a lot.

We just made a greenhouse too, so we just start doing it.

Yeah, we did help with the building of a greenhouse. And we get weird. We have the ghosts. The goats were kind of our.

Yeah, our carrots give us five dollar bills.

Yeah, they're weird. But we did the goat husband dream. We Went and got the goat. We took her to a breeding farm. She got pregnant. They had the kids. She bird them great. And the boys helped me train the goat on the milk stand. And you have to be faithful about doing those sorts of things. So you do have to really develop some discipline and habit, even going out and milking in. We lost a goat, which was really hard and really sad, and we had to go walk through that whole process. So we've seen every little aspect of.

That, and it's, for the most part.

Been a really, really fun, like, bonding experience, I think, with our animals and with each other.

And we've had, like, seven generations of chickens.

We've got a lot of chickens. They're not really as close to us as the goats are, but, yeah, it's been. I mean, that's. I think it's a really fun way to, I don't know, just have some response, really, like, some real responsibility, like there are things you can't neglect, like, you have to take care of that stuff.

Yeah. That's basically the whole takeaway message of this whole podcast is eat tongue and buy a goat.

So I have one last question. I didn't put it in my email to you, but I want to ask you guys. You know, everyone is dealing with, you know, living through this really challenging period of time where this Covid conundrum is happening, and everyone's experiencing it a little differently. Can I ask you guys, what has been a blessing from all of this for your family? What are. What's the silver lining for you guys that Covid has brought?

Dad gets to stay home more.

We've actually had a lot of blessings, I think.

Yeah. I mean, like, we were able to make stronger ties with the local community, throw more dinner parties, have more people over. I've been home more and traveling less, so just more time together as a.

Family.

A chance to make lots of new friends, try out more, you know, local restaurants. Just basically, I think a lot. A lot more focus on community for me. Community and just being home. It's been really nice.

Those are the big ones. Yeah.

It hasn't changed that much for me.

Yeah, no, I mean, we were already homeschooling, so that didn't change anything for us.

Yeah, river got Covid and. And. And lost his leg, unfortunately. That was probably the biggest. Sorry, he didn't lose his leg.

No, no. But I think you have. Having been home, work and not because, I mean.

Yeah, I used to be on airplanes lots, and I'm not very much anymore, which is really nice.

Yeah, I mean, I think it seems something that people are missing a lot of, but I actually don't miss traveling at all. Yeah, well, yeah, I really don't.

We still kind of travel like the same as that.

Yeah. It's nice not having put my pants on until about noon.

Yeah.

What, does that happen every day?

Well, yeah, I think that those sentiments are, you know, pretty widely shared and it's just really great to see. I think the, the way that the focus has shifted to community and family more and people are really working things out and changing things and making them work better for themselves and their families and. Do you guys have anything else you want to say or add or share about parenting or family life?

I think probably we should close the loop on the whole tongue thing. And A, it's an amazing taco meat. Probably one of the best taco meats ever. B, if it's good, you got to slow cook it in like a crock pot. That's, that's, that's the game with tongue. And yeah, if anybody watching hasn't tried tongue taco night with their family before, that's the last tip I'll leave people. Get a big old beef tongue and throw it in a crock pot. It's so easy.

It is easy.

It's good with pickled radishes.

Good with pickled radishes, too. That's gonna change a lot of life.

You may have convinced me to try it. You may have.

You should do it. It's really good.

Yeah, do it. Yeah. Doctrine of signatures, too. That is. Probably helps you talk. So it was probably good meat for us to have when we were doing an interview.

Yeah. Well, I hope the recipe is somewhere in your book or your blog or maybe I'll be able to find it.

The recipe. Like if you go to BenGreekFulfitness.com and search for tongue, you'd find out that recipe or some crazy article about all the diseases that you have if you stick out your tongue and you see a weird color. So you got a 50, 50 chance.

Yeah. All right, well, I'll search and see what I find. I really appreciate your all's time. Thank you guys so much. And river and Taryn, thank you for sharing about your day and what you guys are working on these days. It's really nice to hear all the wonderful things you guys are doing.

Thanks for hosting us. And guys, now that the interview is over, we can go get our McDonald's, which we really were going to eat tonight.

More than ever these days, people like you and me need a fresh, entertaining, well informed, and often outside the box approach to discovering the health and happiness and hope that we all crave. So I hope I've been able to do that for you on this episode today. And if you liked it, or if you love what I'm up to, then please leave me a review on your preferred podcast listening channel, wherever that might be, and just find the Ben Greenfield Life episode. Say something nice. Thanks so much. Means a lot.

Sa.