BARN HOUSE LIFE

I'm— Laurel's medicine in peanut butter. She's recovering from her complications from her spade surgery. Our little chicks keep getting out. We figured out— sure, when they were young they would jump up to right there and jump down, but we figured out they're actually getting underneath it in places there's gaps. They're squatting down and getting through it because the bottom layer doesn't shock. So we're gonna try to get some tent stakes in town like this. Plastic so we don't ground out the fence. We're going to try to get some of those this afternoon and see if that doesn't help us keep everybody in better. Of course, they're in right now, but the garden's just too close to be letting them out, and if they get out, we can't protect them. All right, let's go put the food scrap bucket back in, Lily, and it's time to milk. Looks like Haroon's garden needs a little of attention. Hopefully tonight Those little guys, they've been staying in no problem. Have they been getting out lately? Yeah, they have.

No, they have not been.

Oh, okay, I didn't think so. All these volunteer tomatoes. I think Rebecca put a cage there to just keep them out of the sidewalk. It's actually nice to have a little bit of mud under my feet. It's been raining nice lately. They've been holding up good. I see you guys need to be moved like tomorrow or the next day. Oh look, the cows know the drill. Here they come, here they come, the two moms. They know their udder's getting full. We do this the same time every day. This could be bad. Phyllis got ahead of Flossie. If Phyllis goes in the stanchion, Flossy tries to get in the stanchion. Oh boy, hopefully Phyllis will go into the—

yeah, hopefully Phyllis will go into the stall.

Cutting Flossy off. Oh good, she went in the stall. All right, Flossy, come on. Thank you. We'll get you some in the stanchion. Come on, we'll get you some of that. Give her one scoop, keep her occupied for a little bit, and then give her other scoops a little bit later. You know what I think might need more work than Arun's garden? As close as this is, it still gets kind of forgotten. The kids' garden. It's jammin', but it could use some weeding, planting some cover crop. We need to mow around it. It's getting crazy.

Here, right here. Actually, make that a little wider.

What are y'all doing?

We're making a path.

Okay, but cover it back up when you're done, okay? We need to stay mulched out here.

Next cow up.

I told the kids Are you gonna clean this up?

Yeah!

Yeah!

They're so excited in the moment. Where are they? Lily, get in! Our cultured cream been fermenting. We, we take the cream. This was our cream from yesterday. Looks like what? Uh, almost half a gallon. And we put it in the dehydrator there at 100 degrees for 24 hours and then put it in the fridge. And that's cultured cream that we apply basically at almost every meal. It's good with eggs, uh, good with meats. It's amazing in and of itself. But then you take that and you can make butter out of it. You got cultured butter. Put the butter in patties like that and freeze it. Do y'all know you can freeze butter? You can freeze butter. Look how yellow that is. It's delicious. Oh, and look at the chicken score, guys. I like to see a freezer full of our homegrown chicken. Are y'all playing nice?

Yeah.

Okay. Rebecca's not been feeling well lately. We got this cold, we all get this cold. She hasn't been able to quite shake it. She's starting to get out of it. We're going to— we were supposed to go, like, leave tomorrow on our trip for permaculture pigs. We were going to go to Maine. We've had to axe that part of it. Fortunately, we're gonna be able to get some footage from that still. I won't shoot it, but we'll be able to edit it. We do plan on still going to Joel Salatin. We got to get Rebecca well. It's gonna be amazing. We got a lot to do. She's in there taking a nap, which is rare. So that's a very good thing. She never takes a nap. So hopefully that helps. Done editing. Rebecca's gonna check it. Rebecca, how do you feel? After your nap, after your monster nap. She says she wasn't asleep very long, and maybe she wasn't, maybe 30 minutes. It's time to check up on Phyllis and Nellie. We do have them in the stall. I think today is going to be the last day. We're going to try to put Nellie out. She's been up because she's young, she's in heat, she's only 8 months old, and Stud Muffin is all about it. But you do not want to breed They never picked this up. You don't want to breed them, um, this young. It'll stunt them. He would probably crush you. You are out of water, and I'll get you some more hay. When we have to keep cows up, or we're coming down to milk them or anything, it's nice that our barn is downstairs. That's where I was filling up water. There's the cows. Yeah, there's our house. Fresh water, y'all. I don't think Phyllis minds this a bit, but we'll put her back out. Keep the calves up a little early, earlier than usual today, 4 o'clock, just to get her out on grass. Grandma took you guys to town and this is where you go, huh?

Yeah.

Tell me about what you got.

Uh, we got big— we got some big worms. Jonah, look, this is the type of hook to get. Jonah, you picked the right hook. Oh, I know, a saw.

Cool. So this is your tackle box.

Yeah.

You got all this stuff.

It came with some stuff in it.

Okay.

150 things in it.

Are we gonna go fishing or what? We better before it gets— it's raining.

Yeah, and look, I got a new reel. So we put the old reel, so the old reel on this one so it will work.

Okay.

Now 3 people can fish.

Are you guys taking a boat?

Yeah, we'll go.

1, 2, 3.

Come on.

Wait, are you going too, Jonah?

Yeah.

Okay, are y'all going fishing?

Yeah, we're just gonna go to the end of the lake and fish.

Okay. What's the matter?

I got this tangled.

Okay, okay, you gotta wait on it. Everything's on there, just gotta get untangled. All right, let me make sure it's working.

I know, but it's just not happening.

Yeah, it's working.

I know how to reel it in, but—

Grab it with your right hand.

You hold your thumb on this, okay?

And then when you—

I'm gonna just— we're not gonna do it yet, okay? And when you get right there, you get to the end, you let go. Okay, ready? Let go. Good. And you just let it sit there. Well, you might ask—

what?

Yep, you might ask the Bassmasters what to do. They seem to have it down. You'll know when something got that when that bobber goes down. We're gonna walk and see what the boys are doing. They pretty much like to boat to a destination and then get out and fish. Look, we came just in time, Mom!

Oh no, did you lose it?

No, is it a bass?

Here, I'll hold it.

What? You guys are incredible.

You guys are the bass masters.

You're incredible fishermen.

This— you're giving it to Grandma? Yeah, she wants one.

It's been caught before.

I know, that's better.

See the nose? It's been caught before.

Grandma wants one.

Yeah, no, she likes it. She likes bass. So I'm just gonna give her one for taking us to get all that stuff.

Oh, that was nice.

Rebecca, do you know how to cast?

This would not be easier.

I can do it.

Okay, let's see.

Wow, I've fished before.

I mean, I may not be at it. I might not be the bass master these boys are.

You want me holding you in case you Catch a big bass.

Yeah, you hold me. And that is why we stay far away from each other.

And that's why you're scared to death somebody's gonna get hooked in the head.

Why? Because things happen. Okay, you reel it in slow.

No, the other way.

Here, use this hand. You hold this hand here and hold that hand on this, or one of those, one of those.

I think I saw a bass swim right by it, guys. I see one right there.

Whoops! Wait, I'll get it.

Have you caught anything with that big worm yet?

Nope.

What's your strategy?

Uh, finding the fish.

You heard it, folks. You just find the fish. What do you mean? You actually get— you, you see them in the water?

Yeah.

And then you cast that before them? It's starting to rain, Mother.

Okay, we should go.

Oh dear, heard some thunder too. So we're gonna have the boys bring the kayak up, not, not boat it back, and we'll drive down there and get it. It's still dry under this canopy, Rebecca, but we only have We only have a certain amount of time.

So much canopy.

Okay, we're back to the car. There was no canopy for a while there. It's still just a drizzle, but this is like the perfect kind of rain.

I know, I hope it stays.

It's non-damaging, it's just light. We are back home. I got soaked getting the boat on, but now it's not like pouring rain, but I'm gonna go ahead and do the chores the afternoon chores while I'm wet. He's trying to just get the calves, but Stud Muffin's coming. That's okay, bring Stud Muffin. We'll separate the calf out once you get in here.

Come on, Papa, go! Shut belly, stop!

All right, I'll get Flossie to stop. Johnny, you get— you get Bessie. Here we go. Boom! Here, here we go, Bessie. Come on. Get in there, Bessie. All right, go in there and herd Phyllis out. Now you can't let Nally out. Open the door all the way. There you go. Oh, we'll take it. I'm keeping Stud Muffin at bay. Here she comes. Little rain detour then. Actually, this is probably a good ration. I gotta let them actually run out. So they don't overeat.

Could you give this to the calves?

Sure. For this afternoon, we don't have enough food scraps for a day's rationing. We do have some curds. And Josiah, let's get them some Swiss chard real quick. We can get them some, uh, spinach and Swiss chard. Starting to rain again. We got them greens, animal protein, part of your balanced diet. Pigs are staying nice and dry. That one's passed out. Good day for a nap, right? Here you go. It's just gushing. I don't think the plan said anything about having to caulk it, but that looks like what we're gonna do. Lucky for me, lucky for me, there's not a lot of leakage in here and this is staying dry. It's bad, pouring down crazy. I'm soaked. You're soaked. Well, we got our chores done and nature is saying rest tonight. Don't weed the garden. Rest. And I'm gonna say okay. Now that we're not going to Maine, and it's probably a good thing because it's gonna be rainy and you'll be crazy scared on the airplane, wouldn't you?

Yeah.

But speaking of rain, Rebecca got me this for Father's Day.

Me and the kids.

This is like the DJI equivalent of a GoPro, and this is a waterproof camera.

Yeah, so you've wanted it for a long time, and so I talked to the kids and I said, hey, I think we should get this for Papa.

That's a very thoughtful gift, cuz this is like— I don't— I, I wouldn't— I want this, but I wouldn't— it's hard for me to buy this for myself.

Yeah, so we bought it at a store locally, and then I had it in a bag and I was going to give it— we were going to give it to Papa, you know, tomorrow probably, because we wanted to give it to him early. And Gideon just walked up and said, here you go, Papa, Happy Father's Day.

He did that today.

Luckily all the kids were sitting around us, so they got this, so they all got to be a part of it. But yeah, he totally just Ah, that's really cool. Just handed it to you.

It's raining right now. Let's, let's try it. Let's go get some shots. Let's go film in the rain a little bit. Super smooth and it's raining and it doesn't matter.

A little soccer.

The chickens are up. Let's go. So we move the ICs at night just to give us a little less to do in the morning.

That's good, Daisy. I'm trying to do a little bit more filming.