In this candid homestead video, Victor Justin Rhodes leads his family and helpers through a day of routine chores—stacking firewood, feeding chickens, caring for cows, and maintaining water sources—while simultaneously honoring the recent loss of the family patriarch. The group reads a heartfelt sympathy note from the Homesteaders of America, discusses dressing for the funeral, and plans a memorial sunset maple tree planting. They coordinate planting logistics, including shovels, mulch, compost, and a protective cattle panel, aiming to integrate the tree into their pasture rotation and future orchard. Throughout, the dialogue reflects intergenerational collaboration, practical problem‑solving, and a blend of grief, hope, and commitment to sustainable land stewardship.
Chapters
Wow, the boys did a really nice job stacking the wood. Look how they did that, uh, corner so that it actually supports the wood. Good morning. What you got there?
Grain for my chickens.
Okay, how long will that last them?
Uh, a whole day.
That's like 7 pounds of feed. It only lasts a day for 3, 4, 5, 6, 7— 6 chickens, a penguin, and a goose. Look at these boys, brought in the cows. Good job on the cows. Hey, proud of you boys. Good job stacking the wood. Who, who thought of the idea to stack the wood? You know, crisscross at the end.
You learned that from me a long ago when you were making your own wood.
Okay, they're paying attention. Josiah, can you get her alfalfa pellets please?
Sure.
How's the tea going, guys? Good.
Okay. Did you burn your tent, Josiah? Because I burned mine.
What are y'all doing in the creek? These guys drink so little water, it's crazy. I think it would take a week for them to drink a bucket of water, but we clean it out. We clean it out pretty regularly anyway. All right, so here we go. Just, uh, let's, uh, take them some hay. Come here, guys.
Come here.
You got a special afternoon project?
Oh yeah.
Rebecca, I think I'll get everything ready and then come get you.
Okay.
Is that okay?
It's fine. Bless your heart. Dress clothes return for all the ones that didn't fit for the funeral.
Yeah, that was Trying to dress 6 people who don't really have dress clothes.
Bunch of hillbillies.
Bunch of hillbillies. But we all have one nice set of really nice clothes.
That's right.
Okay.
And we're gonna dress up.
Looky here, looky here. Off-gassing a stand-up desk for my editing. I'm getting back into the living area soon. Tree, check. A nice note. Check. A nice plaque. Can y'all see that? No, you can't see that. It's terribly bicklit. How's that? A nice note from my friend Mike. Thank you so much, Mike. This is very kind. This is cool. You got a tunnel going under there.
Now Papa likes this. Ouch! There's a beam there.
Oh my gosh, that's crazy. Good job. Okay, well, there's one shovel for you guys. Okay, I'm gonna get some stuff ready to plant a tree. Do you guys want to go with, or you just want to wait?
I'm gonna help him do it.
When you're done with the shovel, put it in the tractor bucket. It's only fitting that we would use Papaw's tractor. We have mulch right here. If I were mulch paper, I would be in the garden stall. Why didn't I put it in the garden stall? It's clear my second choice, if I were mulch paper, would be the tack room. Yep, there it is.
Shovels.
Shoot, there's 3 shovels there. It's a great compost source right here. Compost. I think I can pull right through here. Let's load up the tractor with our weed barrier, our shovels, our mulch, and our compost. And then we'll gather everybody together. You know what, instead of just carrying this big bag around, I'm just gonna cut my piece.
Ready, Papa?
You are? You're gonna go with? Good. You got your shovel?
Yep, right there.
All right, I thought about using Sally's side-by-side, but come on, doing it for Boots. Gonna use the tractor. That's if it starts. I have it charging, so hopefully, hopefully it will. Put in a word into the mechanic to find this short. So I was thinking we had originally thought maybe the other side by the garden. Yes, I think it will be seen more if it's over here. Yeah, and I think since we're foresting our pastures and pasturing our forests This is a paddock that the cows come in and we give them a day and then 2 days and 3 days and they backtrack to here. So what if we put a tree in each of these big farm paddocks? Okay, you see what I'm saying, Mom? If you want to read this nice note from the Homesteaders of America team.
Yes. Dearest Rhodes family, we are so sorry to hear about the passing of your father. I'm not gonna be able to do this. Dearest Rose family, we are sorry to hear about the passing of your father, grandfather, and friend.
Sometimes we'd get a treat with a watermelon. We'd put that right in the spring, let it get good and cool.
The grief of losing the patriarch in a family is one of the hardest losses to walk through. The Bible tells us to mourn with those who to mourn and to rejoice with those who rejoice. So today we mourn with you, we grieve with you, and then we'll rejoice with you in knowing that he is safe and happy and in the most beautiful place we could ever imagine.
My goodness, what fine boy! And this one with no shoes— oh goodness, what you eating?
No, he wanted to give that to you.
Oh, thank you. They smell so good.
He's been collecting.
And where's your shoes? You don't need shoes this wintertime.
We pray that you find strength and comfort in the memories that are irreplaceable.
Can't talk, 'cause even now I'm so late. I overheard him tell somebody one time that if he kept me in Burroughs Hall till I was 16, that I'd never leave.
I tried. You tried to leave.
And that's why I'm so proud of what you're doing there?
Because at least Beryl and I are still going. Yeah. Excuse me.
We pray that in the midst of grief you can still rejoice in knowing that it is not a forever goodbye, but simply, I'll see you in a while. I'll see you when you get here.
Hey Justin, how you been? Well. I've been terrible, but I guess when you consider you're pushing 87 years—
Yeah.
That, uh, you can expect some setbacks along the way.
Yeah.
And while you're waiting, we hope that this sunset maple tree will shine brightly for you with each season's passing. While maple trees are often not seen in the South, they most certainly do thrive here. We hope that once planted, you'll watch it grow firmly into the ground, stretching out its branches far and wide, and that each autumn when its sunset red leaves turn, you'll be able to once again rejoice in the memory of your father while witnessing a tree that is so rarely seen in the South. Please know that we are thinking of you, praying for you, mourning with you, and rejoicing with you, for every single life on this earth deserves to be celebrated and remembered. We— and we know you will honor your father in every way with joy and gladness. With our sincerest love— with our sincerest love, sympathy, the Homesteaders of America team.
You don't want to go lower. Okay, so put a little more loose dirt in there. Dug too much. That's good. We want it to be right there. A couple more inches. I think then we want to score this so it can be free. We're putting them to work, Pop. Hey, you got to keep— Mom, maybe you keep charge of keeping the base of the tree exposed.
Pretty shovel full somewhere. Well, I wonder if we should put a cattle panel.
I'll just take one just like this. You guys want to put this plaque down? Yeah, let's read it to them. Wherever a beautiful soul has been, there's a trail of beautiful memories.
Where did I put it?
I would maybe put it over on that side since we would be more walking from where we're going to be walking.
Put it Is that good? Yeah, that's fine.
There you go. Now we're gonna go get a cattle panel to protect this guy. Look at that. Well, I think Beauty figured out a way to protect our trees, even up on the orchard. What do you think, Rebecca?
I love it.
This is going to be key for foresting our pastures, and we'll see if it's strong enough, even if Stud Muffin comes and rubs up on it.
And because this is so close to the lane, even when they have access to other pastures they'll have shade in the lane at least, because there's the south and this one day will cover this, this lane.
This is amazing. So it's near the lane, so it's also— when they're in this paddock, Rebecca, one day, two days, three days, they can backtrack to this tree, rub up on it. We won't have to keep this cage on it forever.
No, just till it gets established enough that they can rub on it. Like, they rub on that tree out there, don't they?
Yeah, in that pasture.
Yeah.
And so this— if this works, Rebecca, we could do this in our orchard and not have all those crazy wires.
