Building a Homestead in 100 Days - Day 2

Day 2 of 100 days building a legacy homestead. Putting the sheep to work underbrushing so that we can actually get in there and trim and get these trees out. That's where they're going. This is where they are. Look at what they've done. So easy to get in there now and do the work, the clearing. Again, go get your pants on.

Okay. I've been healing 44 days.

Nice. How you feeling?

Good.

You ready to get this thing off?

Yeah.

How many days?

10.

Those chickens' day is coming. They're getting out from the compost corner up there. The kitchen garden, we got to make that fence taller because the mulch builds up and the chickens can jump over it, clipped wings or no. Let's hope and pray Nobody else is dead. These people are eating tomato leaves and dying. We're screwed. Well, we're good. No more casualties. Disgusting. Why are they doing that to us? This is disgusting. Yuck. The kids thought maybe Gideon, when he gets the afternoon eggs, can put that bar up. Then they can't jump up there and land on that and then get in. So I think that'll work. Very impressed how the— how our winter cover crop is doing these raised beds. Cattle panels are doing good to keep you out too. We're trying to hustle on our morning chores. I'm so excited to get day 2, day 2 of 100 days building a homestead. After talking with Dan, my editor, between he and I, he going into the winter being a hair less busy can edit 6 vlogs a week. I can edit 1. Does that mean we're going to 7 days a week? That means we're going to 7 days a week when the creek don't rise. That means you can set your everyday to us. Many of you, oh, I enjoy the show while I'm drinking coffee. Oh, we watch it every day. Well, what do you do on the weekend when there's no show? Did you hear me? Hey, hey, I'm vlogging here. I'm vlogging here. Yeah, what do you do on the weekend when there's no show? We've been Monday through Friday for the longest time. Well, hopefully you live it, but now you can live it with a little bit more motivation. The Daily Show is back, at least during the 100 days. We just got to get, get Gideon to put this landing bar up, and then there's nothing to jump them up to. That have to be too straight. I don't think they can just jump up on this, then get into there. They need this landing bar down. We need to get that out. This is for food curing, and they're going to figure it out sooner or later. They can perch on this and poop on it. Problem is we got to open that big door. People are going to want to get out. The kids are up eating breakfast. The goal of the 100 days is to absolutely find water, gain access, and clear all the possible pasture land on an untouched parcel across the creek. That means every day, that's the project— something getting done, moving in that direction on the new homestead. Rebecca, my fact checker, you know, the truth ruins a good story, isn't here. She would want me to say, you know, we've had this— it's actually not new to us. We've had this land for, I don't know, I bought it from my dad, what, over 10 years ago. It was part of this burl hauler. You actually have to go through our main property to get to it, and he was thinking about selling them. I was like, don't sell it, at least strangers driving right through our property. I found a way to buy it. Basically got it from him and rented it out to pay the mortgage. Why am I putting this back in here? I'm crazy, not paying attention. Okay, I just pulled this back in here. Rebecca would want me to know that technically we're, we're just expanding. We cultivated this side It's time to expand. We want to move off the street, but I want to help you guys as much as possible. The teacher in me is saying, you know what, this is what a lot of people are going through. They're getting 18 acres, they want to make 8 of it, 10 of it work for them. There's nothing on it, they have to find water, access, clear pasture. Yeah, and so And technically we're moving over there, so it is a new homestead in that sense. Now we're not getting rid of this one, we're not moving off of this— I mean, we're not abandoning this one. Perhaps that's where we are different, is that, you know, we're not leaving the city or leaving what we have to go to this. So whether you're on a homestead and want to expand or make your homestead more efficient, or You're starting over. I think there's something for everybody in this 100 days. Hey, where are you going? Oh good, they need it. Your days are numbered, chick. We're gonna end this free range nonsense once and for all. Sally's packed. Let's get the kids. It's almost 8. If we got that much chores in an hour, look at that. 2 hours to dedicate to this.

Is it not cold?

No. Okay, it'll be fine just like that. I'm in a short sleeve. There's a pig bucket though. It's a gigantic milk bucket, stainless steel, heavy duty though. We are going to be using this when you're adults. Your kids are going to be feeding the pigs from it. That's the kind of tool and supplies I like. Legacy tools. Look who's coming. You're gonna have that milking again? No, I'll try milking. Yeah, we're moving them today. Hopefully it's not too wet. That's you, honey. That's you. You want to get milk, don't you? You want alfalfa, don't you? Come on. Oh, oh, oh, we're going there. Remember the routine. Come on, stud. Come on. If I leave, she'll go right through. I guess I'll just herd her back. What she wants is to get over here into new grass. Looks like there's a lot of grass here, but don't be fooled, it's mostly fescue and they'd rather not. They'd certainly rather just eat the tops. We got a bunch of spoiled cows. That's a good thing, I reckon. Look at this. Yes, I know she's got poop. That's nasty. Good job, everybody. The problem with free-range chickens, it's fine at first, but then they end up on your dock in just a matter of time. Hour and 45 minutes, let's go see what we can do with these sheep. It's a family affair clearing this land. You can give your kids something, or you can work with them to build something, which is a better legacy. That's what I'm learning. It would be better if we built something together. This house is amazing, but I didn't build it. We built a homestead around it, and that's special. It's gonna be very special to our children. Now we're starting from scratch, building a homestead and a house. That's gonna be extra special. We're using sheep to underbrush it. So that then we can get in there. A lot of that can just be mowed, but stuff like that we're gonna have to get in and work up. That's very workable. That's because the sheep have been in their underbrushing. We're gonna do something about this washout too. But see, this just right next door is not very workable. You could get in there to come saw this stuff out. You're gonna have to contend with all this annoying underbrush. Or we can give the sheep something to eat, and then it looks like that. It's a lot easier to get at. We're going to move them from here. Rebecca, they can take a very big paddock on over. The temptation is to put it down the road and to come back in, but I want to get way back in. Well, see, maybe I'll do that because this is— I don't need them in here. I can clear this. And I don't think there's much for them to eat, so we need to put them to work where we need them. What do you say we can capture this and then all this past that big brush pile? Give them a huge paddock. I already have an idea for this, Rebecca. This washout where they graded, we're gonna get a big old hay bale, put it up here, and put it like foot and a half thick mulch. Okay, save this erosion, build soil here. So soon, maybe today, we start coming in after the sheep have cleared and start working stuff up. You want to go through with loppers and just go down through and get anything big until you get to that road. Boy, that's a— that's gonna be a mess. We got some work to do to get a fence through these briars. I decided just to encompass this area, not do the bigger area. We want to move them every week, and I don't know, there might be more than a week of food there, maybe not. I do want them to concentrate on this area that we can clean and demo.

This is going to be cool when I can start working on it.

All right, you excited? Yep. All that, that big stump that's regrowing, if you can get that down to the bottom, that's great. They're starting to put down up the nets. They will probably only be in this a day or two. Look at this, it's gonna be perfect. A little bit of overhang, just two nets. It's great. Okay, good teamwork, y'all. You can get them over and working right away. Sheep, sheep, sheep, sheep, sheep. Go on. The name of the game is harvest the small stuff first, small to large.

The reason I go against that is because you'll just say, I'll get to it, I'll get to it, and then 100 days has come and it's not done.

This is, this is true.

So I think we should do it every time a sheep moves. We take the— clear the whole thing.

Yeah, like, or try to. We move the sheep out, Rebecca, that could just be our first paddock to do, which is great, but we need to get the little stuff first, which means the mower and then the loppers and then the chainsaw. Now we have loppers. Somebody else could be running the loppers. I could be running the chainsaw. Do you want to go get it?

I'll go get it on Sally.

Okay. Thank you, Rebecca, very helpful. They're going at it. Oak leaves, popular leaves. It's making it workable just like this. The question is, once we move the sheep out of the paddock, how long would it take us? Could we keep up with the sheep? We've probably only got a day in there. Can we clear this in a day? Wow though, just to mow! Yeah. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. Are you excited? We're doing this! Yeah, day 2, we're doing this. Now you, when you get done with nets— we have to get nets up— you could start lopping and I could start chainsawing. Good job! I'm excited. You excited?

Yeah.

Want me to be doing— I don't even know. Lopping everything you can. Josiah, you can come in and pile this brush she's getting. 30 minutes. You want to see what we can get with the chainsaw? How about this strip right here? What do you think?

Yeah.

Here's before, and then I'll do an after in a minute. Well, I got 10 till. Not enough time to put the chain back on and start again. I wonder if that's supposed to be on— that's upside down. Does that matter? This root is super tricky because it expands out like this. It's not straight up and down. It's hard to cut in there. That's going to be a tricky one. Other than that, it went pretty smooth. We were able to get down real low on these. They will sprout back, but the sheep will keep eating them and we'll keep mowing. And as long as we can get the mower in here— see, this will sprout back, sheep will eat it. And we can get— I cut this down low enough to where the mower could get through, and eventually it will die and rot in its place. These bigger ones I cut down up top I fell them, and then there's not nearly as much weight and pressure on this as I then work up the stump. Yes, I cut it twice, but it's a lot easier. These I could just cut through once. But that was fun, that was fun. We probably could have got those two more plus that if our chain didn't come off, but that's part of it. All right, Dan, roll the before. Here's before, and this is after. Hey, it's something. We only had 30 minutes, we got cut short, did 20 minutes. We did something. It's better than nothing. What you making?

Mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Henry, you're gonna have to get out of the way, bud. Go train. Goodbye, Beth. I love you. Enjoy the chiropractor. Henry's gonna get adjusted. Homeboy's gonna get adjusted. You need it especially, don't you? Limping around.

They get my back and my arms and stuff.

Enjoy yourself. See? Chicken free-ranging are a lot of fun until they find your deck. Somebody left the car window down last night and it rained. All right, good luck. I've ordered some tools to help us clear. Is this it? Nope. Oh, Mom got a book though. Oh, we both might like that one. She's got some books for herself. Oh, more books. That one will be good. It's calling me. I would love to be sawing wood. We got things to do on the farm first, like finish getting the gardens covered for fall. But you guys wouldn't have videos if there wasn't editing, and today I've got to edit Monday's show. I edit, Dad's doing the rest during this 100 days. Good news is I've been editing Saturday night, a little bit of Sunday, and today I don't have that much to do, so let's get it over with. Done editing. Now this is— that's a bit of a time suck, isn't it? Uh, exporting it, uploading, writing the description. While it exports, let's get some gardening done. What'd we end up sawing this morning? Like, what'd we do, cut down 5 trees maybe? Uh, that's not gonna do it. Let's put my shoe on the wrong foot. Yeah, we can't be cutting 5 trees a day. We'll never get done in these, these 100 days. My thought is we'll get into a better groove. There'll be less and less going on the farm as the winter approaches. Like, for example, we have an hour now extra after doing business work. We could go clear more. Josiah wants to go clear more. Look at Lily reading under the tree. I don't need to bother that. Hey, when you're done, honey, come garden with us if it's not busyness. You know, we're going into the winter, so we're gonna have other problems. Tomorrow it's gonna be 25 degrees in the morning. Today I'd like to continue working on putting this fall garden to rest, and then we can at least get the gardening behind us. Whoa, wait a minute, you can't come in here like that. I know, look how filthy he's been in here. You gotta go wash up for dinner.

Today is my last double digits for, uh, oh my goodness, to getting healed. I was dying day and night.

Did you get the garden beds finished? Oh my goodness, let's go look. Does it pass the distance? Look! Oh, you guys got them wheelbarrowed. You didn't bow rake them though. Yeah, we did. Oh, you did?

Yeah, it's just the, uh, shadow.

Well, all we lack is covering it. Good job. Burger Monday, how you guys like it? Love it. How you guys feel after day 2, 100 days? A little more of the same thing tomorrow. It does feel slow. We've got to do more than 3 to 5 trees in a day or we're gonna have 300 trees. We We probably have 3,000 trees to cut. So we gotta up our ante tomorrow. We'll see if we can move the sheep a little bit faster and go at it some more. Looky here, just when you thought the vlog was over, we got a shipment. We got a tool. We're gonna be trying all kinds of tools during this 100 days. Oh boy. Yep, that's all Jonah. I'm gonna have to have Jonah put that together. Good job for him while he's down. Anyway, there's a picture. I think you hook it up to it and you can leverage it up and pull the small saplings out by the roots. Johnny, you think you can put this together for us? I think so. Here he comes. He's gonna do it. He's gonna do it, folks. Don't miss it tomorrow, the next video. We're going— we're gonna try this tree grubber. This is interesting looking. All right, Jonah finished putting it together. Thank you so much, Jonah. Okay, there we go. So the mower would get this, yes, but this would get it by the roots.

That's some root.

Okay, so it'll get little trees. No sponsors so that we can give it a bad review if we need to. Yeah, this is— I mean, what are we doing? Like, you could have just pulled that out. There you go. I mean, yeah, see, it's just stripping that. Nope, I'm calling it. Nope, nope, it slips. It wouldn't pull the bigger stuff. It's slipping on the little stuff. It seems like you have to get it just right, and it's not really that fun to operate. So they do make another kind that you hook to a tractor that has good reviews. This one kind of had mixed reviews on Amazon, so— All right, this time we're really ending it. Let's keep trying tools. We win some, we lose some. Some are rained out. Happy day.