In Day 89 of the 100‑day homestead build, Victor Justin Rhodes and his crew juggle multiple on‑site tasks while contending with unpredictable weather. The video opens with a plan to process the only pork skins from two pigs, grinding 22 lb of pork fat to render lard and make pork rinds. The team then moves to clearing roughly two acres of pasture, debating whether to tackle a rugged mountain‑laurel thicket and discussing the upcoming arrival of large graders for big‑tree removal. Equipment challenges surface: a broken grinder frame, a blown wheel, and a Suburban window that needs glass repair. The crew coordinates roles among family members—Rebecca’s interior‑design appointments, Lily’s assistance with washing animals, and Gideon’s help with blades—while constantly checking rain forecasts that swing between 100 % and 70 % chance, influencing whether work stays outdoors or moves indoors. They also outline stretch goals such as constructing an access road on an old logging trail, dismantling old sheds, and creating a stump graveyard. Throughout, the tone remains conversational and upbeat, with a mix of optimism about progress and mild frustration over equipment hiccups and weather uncertainty.
Chapters
Change Henry and bring that board outside.
Ah, rain 100%.
Today. I think I'm going to process the pork fat and skins. Unfortunately, this is the only skins I got off of 2 pigs. That right there, 1 bag each. Round up to 9 pounds. That's a carnivore treat right there, pork rinds. We're gonna break out the grinder, grind up this pork fat. Look how much pork fat, boy, we're not short on fat. This is 22 pounds and there's more. You want to go outside? Yeah, brother will take you outside. After our remodel, I'll be able to come straight up through the house. That's why we hope to get done with this 100-day challenge in time. We're clearing 2 acres. We're coming in on the end. The big-time graders for the big trees, not this week. Early next week. They wouldn't want to come in the rain anyway. Are we really gonna have rain today? Hey, Gideon, stay with me. We're going up this way. The goal for you getting the rollerblades is that you would come and I don't even have to call you. I'm going to be sorely disappointed if this does not rain. Heads up. This jacket is way dramatic. Is it gonna rain in Fletcher, North Carolina, or what? It'll probably rain on and off today. It was supposed to be 100%. I'm done planning my day on rain. Says it's 70%. It's kind of a busy day inside anyway. Rebecca's got 2 appointments about our remodel with interior designers. Then we have the guy coming to repair our broken Suburban glass. Grass grazed from Divergence 4 and Abundance Plus. They said that if you grind pork fat as opposed to cut it up, you're going to be able to get more lard out of it more easily. There's our grinder. We haven't used it in years. Won't do it, huh? Well, that's why it's so hard. You're pinned. The whole frame came off, guys. Can you guys reweld that?
Yes, we have to wait to get closer to the house.
This wheel's blown. Poppy, how you doing? You still limping? Still limping? Barely. Let's go, come on. Come on, everybody out. You too, Flossie. We'll bring you back in a second. Good morning. Come on, everybody out. And they're waiting. Oh, Stud's waiting too, I guess. Supposed to start washing her right away. Lily Gideon, can you come wash Flossie? We got our blades off. Let's go sharpen them. Yes, come on. It's very warm for December. Tomorrow though is supposed to be 25 degrees. I don't know how much we're going to trust the weather. Maybe today is the day we clear And tomorrow's the day we hide inside and grind that for that. I forgot to film in there. Had breakfast. We're going for it. Got our shacks shelled yesterday. Big old pile of wood. Put a dump trailer on the lift of things we have to buy. Lily's working.
This is my tree. I'm keeping it.
Okay. All right, you're gonna put in some water?
I'll keep it in my room.
Okay. Wow, it's hard to believe this is it. Just this patch here, it's more than a day's work. I mean, it's more than an hour. I'm pretty sure— you think we could do it today?
Yeah.
You want to go at that mountain laurel thicket, or do you want to kind of go at this area? They're telling me they have a trick to pull them down without a saw. Hey, I don't even know if we need to clear this part, do we? It's so rugged. There's not going to be any grazing in here. Oh my gosh, are you okay? Are you all right?
Yes.
The only reason we'd want to clear this, because look how rough this is. It's like a 3-foot gully. I don't know if y'all can see that on the camera. It helped let sun into our pasture. Maybe we won't clear it. We'll work with nature. That doesn't want to be cleared. That wants to stay wild. Come work it up.
Aha!
I know what that craziness is right there. It's a road. I can see the old logging road up there. Sometimes these crazy loggers would go straight up the mountain. It's the only explanation for these— this craziness, these mounds. There's a logging road right here. Oh wow, look at that view! Now we're gonna be looking at stretch goals. Yeah, that's the old logging trail. That may be a stretch goal because I know that comes out just below our spring, although I don't want to use this steepness to get there. Well, it could be a hiking trail.
Got 3 left right Right there.
Uh-oh, did you run out of fuel? That's unfortunate.
No, we brought it.
Sally's way down there. We got those 3 trees, 1 there, and 3 there. We can count how many trees we have left. 7 or 8?
That's not in our line.
Fuel up, man. Let's do it. Should the stretch goal be taking apart those sheds and that old African hut?
Let them take it apart.
They just tear it off. No, because we need to stack it nice and get as many screws out of it as we can. We stack it nice into a dump trailer.
Yeah, how are you gonna get the dump trailer back here?
The tractor, that needs to be part of the, the goal, not even a stretch goal, is to get access up into this pasture. I think this is an old logging trail too. We went straight up the mountain. Last tree of the 2 acres, which is probably 3 or 4 acres. Back up. Right on the money. 1 minute to quitting time. I wonder if one of our stretch goals ought to be getting up some of these stumps with the machines we already have. Stump graveyard out here. What do y'all want for stretch goals? Pulling up stumps, thinning the steep parts. Jonah just said sit, have a tea. This old logging road right here, we could do that access road up there. We have to get one to where we can come up in here. The graders will help us with that. That Hopefully they don't push us back till after the 100 days. Graders are coming and help us with these big trees.
We need to come and mark all the ones with caution tape that we don't want them to cut down.
Yeah, good idea. We can walk around the perimeter where the surveyor has taped it and notch notch in the trees and spray paint it because the tape will wear out after a year. Hey, looky there! New glass on the Suburban. The boys had shot the window out with a BB gun. How you like that? Good. It's better?
Yeah.
Look at that 100% chance rain.
I think you should have made triple bags.
I want you guys to see my temptation today. Look how these turned out. Crusty.
They're not cooked is the problem.
Oh, they're not cooked all the way through?
Yeah, so I'm gonna re-cook them.
Still no rain. I did get set up the meat grinder. We're gonna grind the fat and render it down. That's tomorrow.
