In this vlog entry, Victor Justin Rhodes (Speaker A) documents day 61 of his 100‑day homestead build challenge. The family discusses the sudden drop in temperature (down to 3 °F) and how the cold will affect their planned projects, especially the need to protect livestock and infrastructure. They feed raw lung and heart to their dog Winnie, noting her enthusiasm for the organ diet. The conversation moves to winter livestock management: keeping two cows in a heated pole barn, positioning the barn to block prevailing winds, and planning milking under a stanchion. They discuss feeding requirements for a sow (13 lb of feed) and the need to locate feeding pans. The group prepares to castrate newborn piglets, describing the process and the urgency before the piglets grow. They also tackle hide processing—salting and drying hides in a damp climate, using a warm indoor space and a cage to aid airflow. Water system maintenance is highlighted, with a reminder to empty the upper‑mountain tank before it freezes. Throughout, the vlog captures family collaboration, task delegation, and improvisation with limited tools (chainsaw, makeshift cages), all while noting the challenges of winter weather on their homestead build timeline.
Chapters
Winnie, got you the good stuff. Lung and heart raw. You're not Winnie. Winnie, late night working. We had a butchering a few days ago. Guts and everything are all about— she hasn't been eating her normal food. She's been excited about all that raw gutty stuff. So let's spoil her a bit with some of the raw good stuff. Perhaps it'll be gone by the time we get back done from chores. It's gonna be like 3 degrees low on Christmas, 9 degrees high. And just so you guys know, we're not in Minnesota. That is not normal. I don't think it's ever been that cold of a morning since I I've been vlogging. Been having a mild winter so far, only like a week of cold, if you call it that. It was probably maybe 20. Certainly if you're from Florida, that's cold. I bring up the upcoming cold because we're not working on, on the 100-day challenge during those— if it's going to be 3 degrees, at least not inside. Is there anything inside we can do on that project? Really? You barricaded the door? Gideon, you're to stay out of there, okay? Look at this concreted stall, and the kids have decorated. You decorated nicely.
And it's heated.
Yeah, it is heated too, isn't it? Christmas decoration, American flag, the old, uh, tree frame that was in Maple, our bus. For the farm tour. Your Legos, your Nerf collections. Do you have any bullets for those? Beef sticks. And is this the tree that was with us on May— in Maple?
Yep.
Oh, how they doing, babe? You training them? You got two of the showmies to come over there. Pole barn is great for training the animals. I don't think training's the word I'm looking for there. I meant to say taming.
Anything I could, um, mow but not with a mower or a string trimmer?
No, it's winter. I don't think we have any string trim. Well, you could string trim along the creek. He's looking for extra paid jobs so you can buy what?
This construction site.
Construction site?
Yeah.
I brought that up because the cold and the projects— I was afraid of this during the 100 days, or I knew this, that one of our obstacles to getting our challenge done of 2 acres, water established, and access road put in— we're gonna have some cold weather. If the cows are in the pole barn, thank God they will be at that time. Maybe we keep the 2 cows, the 2 mama cows, in here. Jonah's saying that, and then we can milk under the stanchion. That's south-facing, that's the north, so most of our winds are going to come from there. So we're blocked, we've blocked out the wind. Although then he has to haul water, haul hay. I don't know if that's any easier. Gotta give a mama pig at least 13 pounds of food.
Whoops.
I don't think it'll take another half a bucket of feed. Let's use 2 pans. We're gonna have to find our pan. There was a lot of pans up at the forest. Did you guys get those? Yeah. Okay, I'll double check that. We were gonna go milk, but we're gonna go look for pans. Well, there's one right there. I'm saying that about the cold because we need to get— we need to get some clearing done because we're going to be out of commission for a few days, it looks like, coming up. Make a note, we need to empty out the tank up the top of this side of the mountain before it freezes. There's water all up in that line. You You guys looking? Yeah, I think they're down at the bottom. Oh, I don't see any. I give up. Don't know what happened to our pants. They're not here. You're a frisky one, huh? So frisky. Gideon, I need you to train Vanilla, okay? Formerly known as Guacamole. Naming her Vanilla for all the vanilla ice cream she will bring. The next one could be chocolate, strawberry, mint chocolate chip, rocky road. We got a lot of choices. Hey, she's licking the thing. I don't know what her deal is with you guys. Stand over it. You should feel Saucy touch her. Stand a little closer. Stand right upon it. There you go.
Mm. Well.
She hadn't eaten it yet. I haven't seen her. I think that's a first. She hadn't come said hello in the morning. Hopefully I hadn't been too long on those hides. I've been trying to dry them out. Kind of hard to do when it's always misting, drizzling, sprinkling, raining. No ball of fire in the sky. They did waterproof our root cellar. Here, grab some of these persimmons for the pigs while we're at it. Might as well not just waste them, huh?
Can I see one?
I'm gonna go get the other seat. Let me see.
Okay, give it to the mom.
A pig out! Pigs are out! Baby pigs are out!
That's okay, we have to figure it out how to keep them in. You don't have to check, guys. They'll go, they'll go back in.
It's so adorable.
Oh, we need to castrate them. Let's catch them right now and castrate them. Might as well right now. We were gonna, uh, do this hide, but Let's castrate this pig before he gets too big. Can you not let him go though? He will go God knows where. Goodness, you've had a rough night, huh? Go get your heart, lung. It's okay. I'm not weird with the squealing pig. Oh, poor guy. I know, it's gonna be— it's gonna be your one of two bad days.
Right here, buddy. Jonathan, do this. There we go.
Look at that. You want to queue up the chainsaw? Yeah, you want me to saw or you gotta saw? I'll saw. We're supposed to salt a hide for like 2 weeks, and I don't know if that's like a 2-week if it's nice and warm, but we're gonna get it out of the weather at least. In here, but we got to clean this up.
How's it look?
Much better. Can you grab two?
Maybe.
I like that attitude.
I think I might just be able to carry one.
Shawna, go get a block, please. Uh-oh, he's found a practice ground. I said it like this: one here, one here, there, there. But where you estimate this cage to be? So maybe right here.
Wait, why are we putting it in the middle?
You want to put it more towards the— that's not a bad idea.
Let's put it in there.
No, we'll do like you said. I don't think it'll fit in there. Will it? It will. Yeah, I don't think she'll be able to get in here. Another strike against soaking. Actually warm in here because the furnace— this is not a bad idea. Does somebody want to get the lamb and I'll get the beef? Hopefully it's not stiff. Okay, we're good. Kind of dry. I guess I'll just gird up my loins. Well, we did it. We had 3/4 of a bucket. And that worked for it. I have it on this cage because the fur isn't completely dry because it's winter. It's hard to dry it. And hopefully being in this warm room, because it's on the cage, air will still get to it and it will dry. Now to hang the other two. Lily, any ideas for hanging the other two lambs? This is Buddy. This is gonna be a beautiful hat. For who? Look at that. Well, this one's Lily's, this one's somebody's, and then there's two more down there. So each of you guys get a shit hide.
That's still a real one.
Get that thing out of the way. Talk to me, Lily. That's how you send it sky high. Where are the other two hides? Ready, push!
That's it, they're in there. They're done, they're ready to go. Good. This is perfect for getting done in time for training, not so much getting done in time for clearing. My turn to take Lily to horse riding lessons. 11 o'clock, she's still out and eating it. What, baby? Why? You need more food?
