In this Day‑26 vlog of the "100‑Day Homestead Challenge," Victor (Speaker A) walks viewers through a jam‑packed day of farm maintenance, problem‑solving, and family decision‑making. The episode opens with a broken GoPro and a makeshift repair using black electrical tape, setting a tone of improvisation. The family checks the pond for leaks, confirms the water flow, and discusses the need for a larger pipe joint. Milking duties are completed before a brief weaning of a calf, followed by a discussion of herd expansion and the prospect of adding a third cow for increased beef production. The conversation shifts to the children’s desire for a horse, the logistical and financial hurdles of acquiring and maintaining one, and the educational angle of teaching the kids responsibility and English. Victor and the kids then plan a woods‑clearing task using a chainsaw, noting time constraints and equipment wear. The vlog also covers business planning: researching licensing for a small grading company, budgeting for a truck and trailer, and estimating insurance costs. Later, they evaluate three potential house sites, weighing proximity to neighbors, tree removal, and remodeling versus new construction, with a contractor visit scheduled for the next day. Throughout, family members contribute ideas, voice concerns about weather, and share light‑hearted moments, illustrating the blend of hands‑on homesteading, entrepreneurship, and family learning that defines the series.
Chapters
Showing off my broken GoPro LCD. That was the GoPro. Now look at this. It's rough. Homestead vlogging is rough, but it still works, and so does the GoPro. Plus, this little chest mount for the GoPro has cracked, and I need to fix that somehow. Looks like the kids found my hidden tools. There's no black electrical tape. That's my best idea. I don't know if I even had black electrical tape. Grandma to the rescue.
It's above 50% chance of rain at 2. Oh, it'll for sure rain by 8 AM.
PM.
Oh. Well, we might be able to do some clearing this morning. Yeah, to race against—
tomorrow is when I think it's gonna rain all day.
Today's tricky. Race against time and weather. Time because Jacob's 10 today, not 11, because it's Lily's horse lesson day. I think it's already misting. I don't think so. It is misting. I forgot what day we're on. Day 26. We're on day 26. Welcome and thank you for coming along with us. Where every day you're immersed in a homesteading building experience. So you'll know what it's like, you'll learn as we go. It's called immersion learning, so you're learning something whether you know it or not. Hopefully you're being entertained. Gideon says the pond's filling. We'll go see. Last time I checked, there was a leak in the pipe. Yeah, nope, it hadn't moved. It's going right out the joint right there at the bend. I'm gonna double-check that. Make sure the pond just isn't leaking. The way we do that is come look and see if water's coming out the pipe. Nope, it's not leaking. We got water coming out. That's good. That's big time good. If the pond wasn't holding water, we'd have to totally rebuild it, put in clay. It's a smaller pipe going into a bigger pipe. Internet, how do I fix that? Probably a joint for the bigger pipe. But I don't know. Got 1 hour to get milking done. I think we can do it, and then that gives us 1 hour to chainsaw, which is just about wrapped. Hopefully this weather holds off. We are still sprinkling, but I think that's doable. We weaned Apple's calf yesterday. There's 24 hours of milk. Not that much more, which doesn't make that much sense. I guess the calf wasn't drinking much at all. We probably got 1 3/4, 2 gallons. There's weather, which we haven't been stopped from weather yet, but we're doing this in the winter. It could get cold and rainy and snowy and nasty. And what about illness and injury? I'm a little jacked up after last night's french fries and Cheesecake. Do you think it was worth it though? Look at this. Glossy, I think, has saved herself. Thinking we were gonna cull her, but then she's giving them just as much milk as Honey with just 3 teats, and her condition is amazing. You're a little ornery though. You're a little ornery. We got a heifer coming, a bred heifer to be a replacement or a third cow if we successfully complete these 2 acres in this 100-day challenge. We're gonna have us a third cow, and that would give us 3 beefs a year and a horse. Oh boy. Okay, so let's talk horse. You're only 12. Oh, you're only 11. So, um, Grandma got a horse when she was 11. I think not this year, but next, when I turn 12. Can I get— so next winter we'll clear another 2 acres and then we'll talk horse.
So long.
It is very long for an 11-year-old. The reality is we don't have enough pasture. That's one reality. And two, horses are a lot. You're still like, they're, they're, they're expensive to buy, but then there's— that's the main time I try to tell the kids, you know how you need to pitch me a horse or pitch me anything? Good sales is you've got to communicate the benefit to the buyer, so to speak. So I need to hear somehow it could be beneficial to the farm, see, or to me. Well, when the cows get out, I can help with them.
Oh, there, that's, that's a better line of reasoning because I don't have any more little—
that would be fun to see her cowgirl up and herd cows on a horse. So that leads, that leads me to our other obstacle for you and the horse. Is learning. So sure, it's one thing to buy it and maintain it monetarily, but— and you can find benefits for it, which I'll challenge her to do. But Lily, you got to, uh, learn. You're learning English right now once a week. That's an appointment today.
I can write English, I can write Western.
Yeah, so you're gonna have to learn Western. You have to learn her horse maintenance, getting it ready. Getting it tore down, whatever you call that. Honestly, I think the responsibility bit, which would have been a third bit, you've got down. The food has to come first, and so we need 2 more acres to have 1 more cow so we can have all our beef needs. And then we're going to need another 2 acres to have to have your horse.
Yeah, but when we get our machines, we can clear 2 acres, right?
Yes, that's the case for the machines.
I could start a YouTube channel and teach people how to do horses.
I like that. Now you're pitching me. Now you're thinking about how to make an income with the horse. Well, you could put up other videos just to show that you could do it. Doesn't even have to be about horses. Everybody, you gotta do it now. You think you're gonna homestead if you have an acre?
No, you're not.
You're not. If you're not homesteading your balcony in container gardens. You're not gonna homestead the acre. Rebecca's been hard at work in our loft. We've got some shelves to get organized. Still looks like an explosion in here, but trust me, it's coming along. Ooh, are these no-flats? Oh, we got some no-flat wheels in here. Who knew? All right, we're gonna go clear some woods. Just you and I, Lily.
You know, what? That pigs are like the smartest animals because they poop in one corner like people.
Oh yeah?
They poop in the— people poop in the toilet and pigs poop in the corner.
Yeah, this is the silent killer, the silent obstacle. And that is transition.
What did you do yesterday in the woods?
We got a bit of clearing done.
Really do eat this stuff, Papa, even when it's brown, because they eat hay, right?
Yeah. Have they been eating it? Yeah. So thick in there. You know, I think I'm to the point where my chainsaw needs sharpened, but we're so short on time and I think I'm jacking it up when I sharpen by hand. Maybe the electrical bench grinder chainsaw sharpener thingy will arrive today. We have 30 minutes. No margin for Jacob. We'll just be a little late. We'll get this patch right here. I'm gonna have to hit Mach 10 speed. 10 minutes. All these tricky parts. To be all this bramble in the way. I've got them cut down. Now to work them up and pile them up. It's 10 o'clock and my 10 o'clock is here, but we're getting pretty good at estimating what we can do in time frame. Good job cutting down that big tree, Josiah. Is that your first? Yeah, you're quite the lumberjack. Lily was so kind to say I can go and they're going to clean up the brush. Good job, guys. Have I underestimated this project big time? That's starting to look huge. I mean, that's a good thing, I guess, because there's more land there than it looked like. It's a huge paddock. That's, uh, 2 days right now. That's, uh, 4, 5 in a season times 2, that's 10. We just extended our grazing by 2, almost 2 weeks. Y'all ready? You can assess me, but my knee's still pretty jacked. Okay, cool. And my ankles are feeling weird. Why are your ankles weird? Cheesecake, french fries, maybe. Back sore.
Oh, really?
I mean, I can tell by just how you're walking around. Oh, really? Can you already tell? Yeah. But it's just data, and the data builds as we go. All right. You know what I mean? So like, you walking in the room is one thing. Oh, really? You picking a bell up is two. And then, yeah, it's like, uh, so by the time we're ready to start our session, I kind of have a feel for how it's gonna go. Jacob's easing up on me today. Took too long to warm up, didn't it?
Papa, you need to look at me.
What excites you so much about these machines?
I don't know.
I think it would be fun to drive them. I just got off the phone with the local printer. We're getting huge GIS maps of the property and we're getting them laminated so I can begin showing you guys aerially what we're doing. Next up, a little bit of research online. Do we need a license to start a small grading company? We're asking the question, how do we earn with, with this equipment? How do we make it pay for itself? Sell because honestly I'm fretting affording this stuff. If we can offset it, why not? Yeah, and you're going to be 16 soon. You want a side hustle, won't you? According to this, a license is required for projects that are $30,000 or more. I don't plan on doing any of those size projects, and I just called the county and they did away with business license requirements. Like 2 years ago.
Easiest business you ever started.
We've got an operator, we've got insurance. We do need to line up this machine, secure them. What else?
A truck and trailer.
Truck, yeah, that would be all the equipment. We need to run some numbers to make sure, like, how much work would we have to obtain to help pay for this stuff? And what have you found out? She would be on the mission to knock out 2 birds with 1 stone. A truck.
I think that we can get—
for the grading business.
We can get a little bit of an older truck.
Yeah. For a decent deal. And it would also serve as a truck for—
the boys.
Them. 'Cause he's gonna be 16 soon. Doesn't he need to be getting his permit or something?
We're working on it.
Okay, we're on it. I had the thought, oh my goodness, are trucks backed up? No. Like, they're available.
Well, we can get a used one.
You can get a used one? Slightly used?
Yes.
Not mega used. Right.
Okay, like $25,000.
You found it? We could pick it up today.
We could drive there and get it right now if we want.
Is it at a dealership or is it private?
Oh, dealership.
Okay, cool.
So yeah, it's just like with our Suburban, because our Suburban was like 2 years old. I think that's a good—
how much is the truck?
Um, well, it's between— I saw one for $57,000 and then up to $90,000.
This is why this is gonna have to be a business.
We are not buying the very expensive one. I'm sorry.
Just like that, and trailers too.
We're gonna buy—
did Jeremiah say what kind of trailer we needed?
He said non-dually would be fine, like his.
Jeremiah Sowers said we need a dually if it's dedicated for just pulling the trailer. Yeah, technically we don't need a trailer if we never— if the machines never leave, but if we want the machines to earn, they gotta leave. Yes, and that would service the community surely. Josiah's about to turn 13, and it's our family tradition to get them a Leatherman. Grandma brought me, brought me some electrical tape. And interesting enough, a third LCD screen destroyed for the drone, but that one isn't working, so we're sending it in for repair. I wasn't crazy. The rain did come, and it's supposed to be a deluge tomorrow. Um, hey kids, I just got off the phone with the insurance. That's the last piece of the puzzle, and I got some numbers. So it's like 6, 7, a little over $7,000 a year.
That's with workers' comp.
Yeah, yeah. So that's a little over $500 a month. Tomorrow we're exploring a very interesting option for this homestead expansion. We looked at various house sites. We liked house site 2, but then it's like further examinations, real close to a neighbor. Yeah, we're like—
and then the other one is too close.
Yeah, we would need to acquire the neighbor to have this.
And then site 3, I don't have the trees out of the way.
I don't really like site 3. So what if we just remodel?
Yeah, we're so exploring tomorrow.
Contractor's coming tomorrow and we're gonna go over it, Lord willing, and the creek don't rise. Literally, it's supposed to deluge tomorrow.
I'm really nervous about this because, I mean, it's not gonna be any more expensive than building a house. In fact, it's gonna be—
it should be a lot, which is one of the appeals.
A lot cheaper.
A lot cheaper. Yeah, and you can get an equity line on the house a lot easier than—
yeah.
Like a construction loan. Yeah, yeah.
So we'll see what happens.
All right, that's tomorrow. That should be exciting because this lady has big dreams.
I have a lot of crazy ideas.
Big vision.
Crazy ideas.
Gideon got a tent for his birthday October 1st. Yes, a long time ago. And hey, why are we just now getting around to putting this up?
Uh, because we have not been around to do it.
Oh yeah, yep, you need those.
You have to have these.
You don't need the tent stakes.
Look, this will fit safe in here.
Don't break it. Serious as a heart attack. There it is.
