Building a Homestead in 100 Days - Day 16

Day 16 of 100 Days Building a Homestead, and it's 9:34. I'm still in the house, yet I got up at 5 o'clock. Here's the story. It's rainy. It's also my birthday.

Happy birthday!

I had to ask Rebecca how old I am. I'm 44. I was afraid I was 45. 44. I woke up at 5, a little earlier than usual. I usually be getting up about 5:30 these days. What was not usual is that I went to bed the night before at 11:30. Of course, that's not enough sleep. I was burning the midnight oil. I was getting the thumbnails for these YouTube videos to our designer. I was editing Monday's show. I was getting what I shot Sunday to Dan because he's back and he's editing again. And I was piecing together this fall registration launch. Abundance Plus.

The university is there.

Now being 44 and Lyme disease, it's a bit harder these days to burn that oil. I woke up super stiff in my back, like crazy stiff, like concerning stiff. And, you know, I had to go on and I sat here and, you know, I tried sitting straight because I sat crooked yesterday. I haven't edited in so long, and now I'm sitting at a computer. It's probably not good for my back. I edited for about 30 minutes. That's not enough to finish. And these kids came out. Who woke up first? Your alarm went off and you woke up at what, 5:30?

My alarm was for 6.

Yeah, so Josiah got up first. I said, what are you doing? What were you doing? And the agreement was they were gonna do the chores and then we were gonna go together and do the, uh, Milking. And after milking, we were gonna go clear land, weren't we, for my birthday? That's what I want to do on my birthday. Well, I noticed it was raining, and then you guys said, uh, do you want us to do the chores? And I started to feel really tired. I actually came over, and I know my answer, but I came over here on the couch and laid down. I figured we wouldn't be chainsawing in the rain. Rebecca came out I started to get up to get going, and she says, why don't you go back in the bed? And the kids were back with the small electronics by that time, and they said, we're milking. I didn't have the strength to argue, went back to bed and woke up beside this. Yeah. Now thankfully, I sat right up, looked down, and was aware enough to know that wasn't real. But it was fun. It was fun. I have the best wife and the best kids in the world. That and what they gave to me this morning, just showing that they cared, just stepping up, just giving me that bonus that wasn't even expected, is incredible. And I'm very, very thankful. There are cows down here across the street. Are those our cows? I'm pretty sure they're our cows. Come on, Flossie, let's go! Got the ethanol cowboy right there sending Josiah to open the fence. Boy, you look good. That's the side you look at. She's just in phenomenal shape, nursing two cows too, and giving us milk. Kids did do chores in the dark this morning, so who knows. Could use your horse right about now, couldn't you, Lily? Yeah, go on in there. It's good in there. Good job, Gideon. Guys, since we're right here, pigs are over there. Should we go check them out? I realize I haven't been over there with you guys in a while, honestly, because there's no drama. Big man Jonah— Josiah has been doing a great job keeping them up, although we do need to move them like tomorrow. The cows have a big move tomorrow, bigger move the next day. It's gonna be tricky to get them then up the hill. It's a big paddock because it's a new paddock. It's coming from forest, so it's not as— there's not as much food in there for them. Supposed to be a big paddock. You coming? Walking and thinking here. I'm thinking may not be the greatest idea to saw because we're gonna be sawing wet wood. It's gonna be slippery surface. But we could use today to move the pigs, move the sheep, get caught up on some of the existing homestead stuff. Well, there— these pigs are going to be next with that fence down. How the piglets doing? They staying in? Yeah, it's Beefcake keeping his water upright. Josiah, you since gave Mama and the cousins and the piglets the 85-gallon water. How's it working out? You gave Beefcake the blue waterer. How's that working out? Oh, that was a smart move. Look at this beautiful little paddock with all these boulders. Look at the piglets, it's so filthy but grown up. We're gonna see if it won't dry up a bit bit. And yeah, that's now our project— move those pigs this afternoon. When we start talking about moving a new paddock, we'll have you set up a net at your leisure, and when that's set up, then we strategically run them out of food. Does that sound like a plan?

Yeah.

So how much will get them a day? Bucket or two? Okay, good man. See, you know the pigs, man. I'm proud of you. Look who's back! They got you down to one crutch. What? Mom, you seeing this? Dang, how much weight are you putting on that?

Much as I can bear.

Oh, that's what he said?

For the— with the crutch.

You're fast. Yeah. Josiah, how was it? Good. You get them feed? Yeah. Yeah, nice. All right, you got a funny look on your face. Does that mean you set up the nets? Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay, you stink. I'm proud of you, buddy. You've been stepping it up, my man. I told Gideon that's why you have a motorcycle and he doesn't.

Okay.

You have more responsibility. Jacob, I'm 44 today. Happy birthday. You were saying I should do everything with the 44-pound bell? Yeah, but you're too strong. That's our only chance. You're too strong though, so you can't do that. I'll make you do 44 burpees at the end.

No, I'm not.

All right, we're gonna take advantage of this mucky day and get caught up on some things on our farm. I'm saying we need to clean up this garage. It's getting ahead of us. I'm not gonna let it do that, guys. Kaden, you start cleaning up while Josiah gets the feed, and I'll start cleaning up. Josiah, my man! I kind of feel like I have a farm caddy. Josiah set up the waters, you set up the fence. All I gotta do is show up and move the animals over. You're the man! Pig, pig, pig, pig, pig, pig, pig, pig! Come on, lady! She's getting big and pregnant. We want to keep them moving to get out of their poop and parasites, but also so that they— the land can recover. Pig, pig, pig, pig, pig, pig, pig! Look at that, nice! That was easy. Now what we can do, Josiah, since we don't have a clean opening there, is get a net from the Beefcake's old paddock. We're gonna pick up this old net and use it as a guide to move the piglets over because we don't have a clean gate opening for them. There is an opening down there to get us over here, but where can this one open at? You want me to pull this one off and I'll put this net up temporarily, just a short span? So we're gonna have to open this net right here to where we can open it so it will be open down there. But it's where Beefcake is, so he'd be able to get over. So we're going to put up this temporary net just right along here. Now I'm down in the piglets' paddock and we have a joint here. I can pick this up, then we still have to open up that one. No, there's still a chance they could get out right here. Should you maybe swing that open and maybe see if you can't get those to connect? You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, that's close. Somebody could probably stand there. We might have to leave them though, so we do need to make that connect somehow. Here's the thing, you can't just herd piglets over. I don't think they're coming for to feed yet, so we just got to let mom come over for her feed. And they eventually follow her, but takes a while. Look at this, we're getting it open! Josiah, can you start dragging our feeder over? Feeder's wedged in here and he's not gonna like this pine tree. Is it empty? Oh crap, maybe a bucket, but shoot, it's heavy. I think I got it. Whoops, don't want that to spill here. What is there, poop corner? It's like this thing's not made for being moved. Whoa, I thought— okay, stand downhill, stand downhill, because that's the only way it's gonna go. This looks like a good flattish area. All right, and look who followed us— 4 piglets and a cousin. They'll come, they'll come, Lily. We got everybody moved. We're gonna keep the net open just so I keep mama— some, some of the piglets and mama are still over there. Some cover them over the leaves. You come back tonight Or after we move— after we move sheep. Okay, since we didn't get to work on the 10-acre homestead per se, let me show you the power of pigs and how we may use them to help clear the land. I mean, this is how we're using them to clear land over here on the current homestead. They have disturbed the ground. We keep them in here just a short amount of time so it's not too much and it's not too little. Oh, he just knocked his water over.

I just got the ratchet strap for him to do that.

How do you do it with the ratchet strap on there?

No, we need two. That's why I went— I, I got one.

We need the, uh, the Doherty's nipple water. Sean and Beth Doherty, we got to implement their nipple water for him. That ornery little booger, he knows nothing about delayed gratification. He just wants to gulp it in and not drink it through the nipple piece. I think we need to incorporate that nipple water on that hose after seeing the Dohertys do that at their place. Here's what I was saying. So they underbrush, they eat all this stuff, they disturb it a bit, they help clear. So you could actually— if we were clearing over here, which we will one day— we could actually get in here, guys. This was a jungle earlier this year, and now they've disturbed the soil a bit. We could plant wanted seeds. Sure, the seed bank is there, and it will come up great stuff, but we can speed up the process by helping nature and adding some seeds as well, especially the kind that are desirable for lactating cows in the Southeast. For those of you that are new here, let me show you what this could be. Did you see that bright green on the horizon? Just the fall boom is incredible after pig work. Oh look, it's happening on its own. Grass where we had no grass. That was from them clearing. Sun can get in here now, and they disturbed up these seeds. They got air, and now they're growing. This ice cream grass is what this will be. Power of the animals. Time, animals, nature. And by the time you're running the farm on this place This is just incredible pasture. Insane. And you'll have livestock that thrives on this particular pasture. Speaking of the Dohertys, Sean and Beth Doherty, their book The Independent Farmstead, it's got the pig nipple water in there, but it's got many other ideas. It's a book I read several years ago and I have many underlyings. What's wrong? You missed your nap today? You want to keep moving? Okay, let's keep moving. I'm actually giving away that book right now to anybody who joins Abundance Plus until November 7th. So now's the time. That's like a $40 value, guys. Throw it in there for free, plus you get Abundance Plus. Hey, they got 2 straps on there. Beat that, beefcake.

He's so strong and he has that nose.

How strong do you think he is?

Oh, I think he could— I don't know, I think he could—

how many horsepower?

Yeah, at least like 2.

Yeah, 1 or 2.

They're built stronger.

They're like little bulldozers.

Look at that nose. He gets it under it and then that's how he flips it.

Yeah. You know how you have to beat the pig out? Your brain. Yeah, that's how we beat the pig out. You got a Thumbs too. That's how you outdo him. You can put the ratchet strap on there. I feel like we all know the power of a book. Absolutely worth their weight in gold. I feel like you guys even know the power of Abundance Plus— the inspiration, the community, the know-how. My job with you all is to inspire, educate, discover problems, and come up with solutions. So I knew about books, and I've got you inspirational content and educational material. But how Abundance Plus is different— well, we've got the community area. It's absolutely thriving. Have you ever read a book, particularly educational book, and it not quite answer all your questions? You end up having this specific problem that maybe the book doesn't address. I've had that problem myself in in my life, and I've been able to build up a network to combat that problem. So if I'm reading Beth or Sean Doherty's book and I have a question, specific question that I want the answer to, well, I have a relationship with them and now and can reach out to them personally. Where are all the rest of the nets?

Up there. We haven't picked up.

Okay. Do you guys ever have like specific question for me, like, wait, how did you do that in between cuts to the camera or something? Or how do I do that myself? Well, that's why I always wanted, uh, an uncle, a food-growing uncle that I wished I could contact. And since I never had that and became experienced in all this, I thought, well, I'll be the solution to the problem, and I became y'all's uncle. I know many of you are older than me, but that's okay. Uh, I can still help you, right? You can still help me, right? We can help each other. If you become a premium member, which premium membership is only open until the 7th, you can text me and I answer within 24 hours. Like, you're texting me, it's me replying. And when it's not me, it's Rebecca and she signs her name. I like to say that Abundance Plus has made know-how come alive and give you access. I mean, we do webinars twice a month for premium members, uh, text access to me. And how about this? I've got you email access unlimited for premium members from the 7th to the 14th to Beth and Sean. In my professional mountain biker days, I used to ride pretty much 6 days a week, and I can remember Halloween, my birthday today, was pretty much the last day I could ride the dirt and it'd be decent. It was, uh, misty today and the soil is wet, and I'm thinking, you know, that's going to be a challenge. And it could be cold today. That's gonna be a challenge for our 100-day build. And now the ground, from what I remember from the mountain boarding days, which it was very important to me to have it dry, isn't gonna dry up till like April. It's gonna be wet-ish. We pretty much had to get a net just for one length. That was crazy. That was crazy unlucky. Let's cut the corner. That's what I would do with a gap that small. Let's just— we don't need them to mow in there. Let's just cut, cut across. I'm also realizing I got busy with all this and I don't know if I concluded my little talk about aunts and uncles. Well, we've added Sean and Beth Doherty. They're available to you guys for a couple of weeks. We're gonna do a webinar with them on the 8th. Plus we added other aunts and uncles, goat and sheep specialist, a pig man, a market farmer, and Mike Dixon, all things ducks or anything you want to ask Mike Dixon, the farmer. Is he gonna make it? I hope so. That's how Abundance Plus goes beyond any traditional book or course. You actually can interact and have community with others and the instructors. So do take advantage of it. You've got until the 7th for a lot of this, uh, premium direct contact kind of stuff. Nice. This couldn't be a better birthday present than just going outside, working with you guys. Nice weather. You guys let me sleep in this morning. I feel loved.

First of all, pigs love to roll in the mud. The dog's the only thing that has no hesitation. Thank you.

I'm dying and going to heaven.

I was thinking that a carnivore guy would have a lot of meat at his—

yeah. Look who's standing there, no crutch in sight. He's stirring the creamy dreamy grits. Mom's making really thick breakfast sauce. Sausage. Having a southern sweet tea, sweetened with honey.

I'm telling you, it's so funny. I was like, what do you think your father wants to have for his— and I thought we'd have kombucha.

Oh yeah, heck yeah. So are we having sweet tea now? Yeah, I guess I'm not having kombucha. I'm gonna have all I can drink sweet tea. I've hit an interesting spot in my diet. I'm carnivore because it makes me feel the best, but I'll be honest with you, I kind of go back and forth on it. Especially lately. But lately I think I've done that enough to realize, yeah, may not feel 100% better, but my joints start hurting, I start limping if I stay off the wagon. And now I'm looking at certain foods and being like, eh, but definitely gonna cheat on occasion, like birthdays. But in the past, I probably would have gone hog wild all day long. And I have it. Like, I look at a peach and say, but I feel the pain. It's weird to finally come to that spot, but I'm there.

I'm happy for you.

Yeah, hopefully it'll last. And this is a lifestyle for a while anyway. What's the secret to good gravy?

I don't know.

She makes such good gravy. You grew up in Florida. Did you actually have biscuits and gravy in Florida? And we had it like twice a week at least. You got your guapa honey?

I already honeyed it.

Gluten-free biscuits. I think we could even fool gluten people with those biscuits.

Yeah, they're actually really flaky today.

The trick for me is eat this meal, enjoy myself guilt-free, and then be done with it. But I think what's happened is I've stayed off the wagon too long. And the pains come.

Yeah, yeah, but I think that— I think it'll be interesting if you try it.

And fried chicken. Look at this. This is a Boots kind of meal, isn't it, Bruce? Yeah, it would take this meal down. He would have said, let me have it. Fried chicken biscuits and gravy, creamy dreamy grits, sweet tea. Oh my gosh, is It's been years, huh? It's been years.

It has, man.

I died and gone to heaven. Boo, you want to die and go to heaven? That's special. That's a southern drink. Look at this insanity. Now you're making whipped cream? Yeah. I get one candle for each decade.

Happy birthday to you.

Wish for a track loader. Oh, Grandma had an idea. How about I wish for a million subscribers? 'Cause I'm almost there. I might even be there by the time this comes out. So thanks to everyone who's subscribed over this last 6 and a half years. We love and appreciate you. That's serious. That is a chocolate and peanut butter lover's Paradise. He likes it. Wash it down with some milk. Everything it's cracked up to be and more.

All right, good father. Father, he likes to do chores with me.

I do, I like it. You're in my right— you're my right-hand man out there.

He's a good dad and he, um, keeps the house clean, and he's a very hard worker.

Is that true?

Thank you. Oh yeah.

He's a good dad. He, uh, he helps me move pigs, and he, uh, and whenever I think anything goes wrong with my chores, he helps me with that, and He's fun to be around.

Does he sing to you in the morning? Yes!

Super annoying!

Annoying?

Yeah! He's a good papa. He likes to help us with chores, and he buys us motorbikes, and he's just very fun to be around.

We started dating when you were 17, so that was how many years ago? We're not supposed to do math in public.

27 years ago.

Is that 27 years?

Y'all have been together more of your lives than you have me.

I didn't think it was that many years. Time flies when you're having fun. I know, time does fly when you're having fun. But I have to say, you know, we started dating at 17 in high school, so you kind of don't know what you're gonna get. But I have to say, I hit the lottery. The jackpot because you are a good dad, a good papa. You provide well for us. You put— you work, you work hard all the time even when you're tired, and you are very loving and caring. So thank you for being you and for being born today, for making our lives better. Good Papa to all the children.

Justin, you're like the energy bunny.

Never—

you never get tired. You seem to keep on going, and you're doing so many things. It's amazing that you are able to get them all done. We're very proud of you all all the things that you've done and all your accomplishments. And we, uh, pray that this is a good birthday, good blessing for you and the family.

Here it is, The Independent Farmstead, an excellent read. Let's see what I've underlined. Let's find our first underlining. Oh, oh, oh, past a bunch of stuff. All right, here we go. Our experiences teaches us that in tight rotation, small paddocks moved every 12 to 24 hours, cattle will graze many of these plants while they are young and tender. She's probably talking about less desirable plants. I don't know how that— what that is in context. Guys, a wealth of information. I'm giving it away to you for free, plus I'm making this come alive. You can actually get a hold of Shawn and Beth Doherty and ask them specific questions. I totally forgot too, we have a book club in Abundance Plus. I think our next meeting is November 8th, and then there's one early December. So I encourage you guys to get in, make this book come alive, and many other books. AbundancePlus.com. Hope to see you there, guys.