In this family‑farm vlog, the narrator (Speaker A) and Lily discover that their cow Phyllis is about to give birth after noticing fluid and a hoof. The calf, a healthy bull, is quickly welcomed, and the family discusses naming it Joe or Joey. The birth is contrasted with a previous stillbirth (Flossie) that left the family nervous about placental issues. Meanwhile, Justin is dealing with severe foot pain that kept him bedridden; he took ibuprofen, which helped, and the family expresses concern and support for his recovery. The vlog also shows routine farm chores: Benj helps with garden mulching and weed control, the family harvests tomatillos for salsa, and they collect colostrum from Flossie for the newborn calf. Throughout, the narrator thanks viewers for well‑wishes, shares gratitude for community help, and highlights the emotional highs of the calf’s birth alongside the challenges of Justin’s injury.
Chapters
We're literally going to bed and it's 8:02. We're all, we're all in the bed. Justin's about to get in bed. He was just getting out of the bath and Jonah comes running in and says Phyllis just had her calf. She hasn't? Oh, she's about to give birth. We thought she had given birth. Okay, so we gotta hurry up. So exciting. Poor Justin can't make it out here. So it's me and Lily, and the boys are already out here. A bunch of fluid just came out, so it may not happen right now. She's eating something, but there's no calf. Oh boy, I hope it's not another placenta previous situation. She just ate it. So there she is right there. Apparently she had something come out. She just had some fluid come out. She had some fluid come out when I was here. Is it off? Yep, thanks. Yeah, I mean, she's definitely gonna give birth. She's, I think, maybe confused, and I really hope that the baby's okay. So Flossie last November gave birth to a stillborn. She had— she birthed her placenta first, so I'm kind of nervous about Phyllis. Just, I mean, these things happen. Like, there's nothing we can do to change it. Okay, Jonah doesn't think it was the placenta because he was obviously there for Flossie's birth and saw what that looks like, but she ate it right up, so we will never know what that was that came out. And we're gonna go. She's acting, you know, like a mama in labor. I'm getting out of here. I can see a hoof. It disappeared.
See the hoof? It's breathing, Mama. I think I think it's— it's sitting up. It's a beautiful looking calf. It's a boy.
It's a boy. Oh, it's a strong calf. It's doing so good. Look at it. I know.
He's watching.
You like—
look, look, he's getting so excited.
Okay, yesterday was such a good day for Justin, and then last night he just had a really, really, really hard time. It was just super painful. He took some pain meds and that helped him tremendously, so we'll see where that takes us this morning. He's already been up It's 7 o'clock. Me and the kids are awake. He's back in bed. I basically like banned him from going outside to do the chores. So I'm gonna go out and kind of check on things. I've never in my life ever seen Justin in this much pain. Like I know it has to be excruciatingly painful because he never ever ever has been like this ever. Justin is awake now, and actually when he woke up he felt— well, you tell him how you felt.
Would you tell him how I felt last night? Like it was over, like we were canceling it. Yeah, well, I haven't cried in pain since I was 12 years old, but made up for that gap last night, that's for sure.
Yeah, so he—
this morning, it's crazy.
In the middle of the night he was like, we're gonna have to cancel this week, like, you know, the whole thing. And I was like, let's make a decision in the daylight because, you know, at night it's It's always worse.
And I thought to myself, what's gonna happen in the 5, 6 hours? Because morning is the worst. But it was so much better.
It was the best morning you've had.
What the heck? I did take a— did bite the bullet and took ibuprofen.
Yes, you did.
I feel like it relaxed me and made me sleep good.
Yeah, it was your taking. Yeah. Amy is here. So graciously watching Henry for me, and I'm gonna take you guys out and on the farm. All right, and actually Jonah and Benj are already on— Garden Guy, AKA Garden Guy— are already at it. Benj has come and kind of helped clean this up some, or maybe he hasn't. I don't know. I don't know what's going on. I should go find them. And see what they're doing. But exciting development in the garden, we got tomatillos yesterday. Gonna make some salsa verde for our meals this week. Oh, I see, I see Benj. We'll go say hello. We actually do have some grass growing, which is nice. We have a ton of weeds as well, which is to be expected. And here's Benj, I found him! Oh my goodness, in the bear cemetery. Oh man, you're clearing it out. Thank you so much.
Gonna be adding and some good old-fashioned wood chips.
Awesome.
I think that's maybe one of the reasons that the weeds are coming up. It just hadn't been mulched in a little bit.
Yeah, it hasn't been. But yep, last year was the last time I mulched it.
Nice.
So yeah, but thank you so much for coming.
I'm happy to be here, happy to help. I know that it's a crazy time, and I was— whenever I heard that you guys might need some help, I'm like, Plus my personality is just, I want to help.
Yeah, you do. And you are a big help.
I'm here to—
thank you so much.
Jonah is my, uh, your boss man. He's basically my boss right now.
I will say thank you guys for all your well wishes. We really, really, really appreciate it. It's definitely been a hard time. You know, whenever your spouse is ill is super stressful. So I appreciate all the people who are messaging me and checking in on me and asking how I'm doing. I appreciate that. And then also for all the well wishes for Justin too. We really do appreciate you guys. All right, let's go see Phyllis, and I think we're gonna name the calf Joe or Joey. We'll see. The lambs were in this paddock here. The And now they're in here with Polly and Maple. And then cows, so Phyllis, Studmuffin, Flossie, and all the mama ewes are here. How are you doing? And there's the bull calf. Hey, buddy! He's nursing. He's doing so good. He's running around. He's walking all over the pastures. He's doing good. Jonah ran out first thing this morning at about 6 AM to check on him, and he's doing really good. They milked Flossy. They milked all they could get out of her. We got about a quart of colostrum. So— oh, look, Polly! Polly's coming over to say hey. Who is this? How fun! Look who's up. We did the castor oil pack. Now we're gonna go outside, get in some sun, walk around a little bit. He is like— what?
Look, it could go to my left foot and I think I'd be all right because my right foot isn't well enough now. Yeah, I guess that's my biggest fear is that it'd be in both feet at the same time. Yeah, and Jason would have to carry me with one arm, Ben would have to carry me the other arm to the set.
Look at you walking!
Yellow.
Look, almost normal. I think the pain in his left foot is just from overcompensating for his right. Oh, look, look at the calf. He's way down here, he's grazing down there. And there's the—
he's trying to find a hiding spot.
In the past, when our mama cows have had calves and the mama cows were in wire the calves would go way out and we would have to search for them, and it was very stressful. This is the farthest Justin has walked in a very long time, 3 weeks, and he's doing it. We've got the dirt salad. There's some holes up here that Mom wants us to fill in.
Here's to hoping filming starts tomorrow. We haven't canceled yet. We can't cancel, Becky. They're gonna have to carry me to cubby if they have to.
You'll be able to do it. I, I don't know. After seeing you today, I feel like—
I know you turned a corner. I did, but that last night was so terrible, so strange.
