Finally, we Fixed the Pond

What?

I need to go grab something to put on top so she doesn't get out.

This happens sometimes when you move them. Get me a board or something to go over her nest box. Got a variety of eggs. Settle back down. We'll come back and turn her around so she can get out if she needs to get water and food. This should be confined to this chicken tractor.

After chores, I'll come in back.

Good idea, good idea. Perfect little spot to be broody. Come out, get a little feed, a little grass. Perfect little spot to raise chicks. Trouble in paradise. We removed the rock, probably that big. That big. That's the rock. Gideon, go stand on that. Show them how tall, big that rock is. That big. The rock was right where we needed our fourth post. This feels loose. This got pushed in. This got lifted up, see, and they got on here and— oh no, it's my dad's favorite apple tree, Arkansas Black. It lost over half its leaf. I don't know, I don't know if it'll make it, but it's worth trying to save it. There we go. Posts and woven wire.

I got the hole for that tree.

Nice. That tree will be extra special when you go to eat it, huh? You want to go with us to turn around the hen or do your bath? Watch tractors. Hold on, get in. Works better with the camera. How's she doing?

Where do I get water?

She settled?

Yeah, she said, where do I get water?

Well, there's a gallon water right over there. I see. Baby, quiet. I'm gonna take this trap off. Hopefully she's settled. Let's turn her around. There we go. She can get out now if she wants. All right, let's put the lid down, Henry. Now you come check in a little bit to make sure she hadn't got off. Hands down the most versatile coop What have you guys seen us use it for? We put adult hens in it and worked the raised beds. We put it out here and moved around, uh, transition chicks from brooder to the field. You need a bottom for it. Let's go over to the brooder. Henry, you're not supposed to be walking around without a Band-Aid. Now it's serving as a brooder. You could put adult chickens in it, up to 12, and let that be their nighttime coop and let them out during the day.

To give them the winter.

Yeah, how'd it work?

Yeah, I had 3 chicks, more than last time.

Yeah, you like raising chicks, don't you? It's hard to lose with that chicken tractor. And I've got plans for you guys. I've got plans. You can get them at homesteadbuilds.com. The chicken tractor plans are going to be available the first week of July. The chick shelf plans soon to follow. You're a good chicken tender. He didn't get the dad joke. You're a good chicken tender. You get it? Do you know what a chicken tender is? You want to go see that mama hen? Tube man still going strong. All right, I'll put the water in, you hold up the lid, okay? And you don't have to move this much. She won't tear up much at all. She'll only get up every few days to get some water and feed. Get your little bath. All right, come on. All right, soak that foot, my man. Start feeling better with that Epsom salt. Up close and personal with the sailboat.

It's not a real sailboat, we're just kind of building something. We call it sailboat.

I like it. You even got a— what's that called? Rudder? No metal, huh? You haven't had to weld?

No.

What's this for?

Uh, that's to stable it.

Does it work?

We haven't tested it yet.

What's the coolest feature on this thing?

It's the mast spinning and going up and down.

Or is it this duck?

That's cool too.

Anyway, we have this pond. A little janky right now. but could be absolutely incredible. Burn the brush, make a beach, smooth out the side, fix the drain pipe, have an overflow, clean up where the silt went, plant some raspberries, build a dock, install gravity-fed drinking water from our spring higher up above.

Get a water slide.

Get a water slide. We got a vision. We're going to turn this janky pond into a farmer's paradise. First, drainage pipe. Unfortunately, that pipe busted. It's draining through the crack at the bottom, and I'm not sure we can fix that. I think we have to just get a whole new single wall and dig our whole area. You want to move the sea monsters? Time to move the net for the first time for these guys. I think we pick up the net and then we quickly move all their stuff and, and they follow-ish. String it down here so you can get this open and then you move them. Looks like we have a natural death right there. As far as I could tell, we haven't lost any to predators thanks to Two Man. This next award goes to somebody who really lights up the office. I can't believe I'm trusting Mr. Brown right now. How's your chick this morning? Chicken?

Uh, good. Um, there's an eggshell and I don't know where it is.

Okay, well, shoot.

There might be one half.

You might have— okay, you don't have to leave that on her. She can get off her nest but not stay off, you know what I mean? Yeah, turn it around. There you go.

Now she can get out.

Now you can put that over her if you want to give her a little more darkness. Should we count the eggs to see if maybe she just laid an egg? I didn't think broody hens laid eggs, but you never know. Can I set you down? How am I going to check this chicken? You want to sit right here? Just sit right here. She is really pecking me. I just want to know if she's got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. That was one of her eggs. She tried to move it or something. Let's leave her alone. But she ate it. Well, yeah, she's a savage beast. She's nervous and she tried to move them, it broke, and then she ate it. You can't replace it because she's— there's other ones have already started. How's your little toe? Ow!

Ow! Come on, boy.

Look at this.

CR Jones Road.

Look at this. This rolling hills everywhere.

In a quarter mile, turn left onto Caldwell Road.

She needs to move because the sea monster's got to come through here tomorrow. Go, Brody! Get all the feet out.

I had a dream they, um, the chicks hatched and one was orange.

Nice. And our daily keeping this jungle garden under control. Did I say keeping under control? I should say getting under control. He's got to go do the dishes first. He's got to do dishes before he does that. That's Jonah's two jobs, dishes and the excavator. Come on, we got to stop Jonah. He's gonna be very mad at us. I don't know. Yeah, anybody hates domestics more more than Jonah. Come on, we gotta catch him.

We gotta get dishes first.

Did you forget about the dishes? There's a big old sink of dishes. You got those going? You got that dishwasher emptied? Oh wow, all right. We got a guest coming today, Dr. Kamal. We gotta look pretty. Okay, wow. Yeah, the little kids want an apple. I saw this apple in my search. This apple is deflated, it's so rotten. We did have one good one. Put it in my pocket. Let's exasperate him a little bit. I got your apple.

I won't eat that.

Come on, here's your apple.

No, no, I'm kidding.

Maybe you want an apple?

Yeah.

All right, you got me, but we did only have one apple left, so you're gonna have to split it. Are you being mindful of the property line? You're not, but you're— you are on the line. You're on us. See the ribbon right there?

There.

You got to find the next ribbon to see the line. There's the next ribbon. You see it? That means you can get all this.

I think I'm up here alone, and then all a sudden there's you.

I know, you got to always be mindful. This might be why this garden has gotten neglected. Lily has come and gotten me. She says the cows are out, so there's so much going on on Where's the other hoe? This what you want? A little grain in each hand here. Good boy. That's the only thing keeps me motivated on those weeds. Well, two things: the Garden of Peace. Rebecca loves the garden. What?

What?

Okay, he's got to sit on my lap. He's got to sit on my lap. And two, I get to throw those weeds for the chickens and turn into eggs and chicken meat. Big ol mess. Oh, look there. Hey, did. Did this just happen? No.

I came up here.

Okay, so chocolate's probably drank all the milk, huh? Oh, goodness. You dragging a fence around stud in this? She's getting all up in the net. Okay.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

Why? Why? There's more grass in that one. Hey, hey, why? Gideon, can you come stop them from coming over? Disconnect here and we're good. We also ran out of water. That could be it. You get disgruntled cows and they're gonna have a protest. First priority is to get everybody under control.

Did the calf get over again?

Yeah. How many days in a row is that? Just two.

I made sure to turn the fence on yesterday and today.

Well, it was on. I got shocked. Vanilla is in heat, so he's been chasing her. That's over. Hopefully he bred her. They get crazy sometimes. That could have been it. Come on, stud. Hey, watch out! Let's go. Uh-oh, no, he can't go through that net. He cannot. Lily, watch out, watch out, watch out, watch out!

He can't go through this net.

He will catch it. Okay, he's got some curly toenails that will catch that net. Hey, wait, wait, wait! I know what they're— okay, it can also be their water. With everybody secure, priority number 2: finding this water leak. My guess is the water line is broke somewhere. There it is! Found the break. Cutting this lower down because I had to kind of shrivel up the edge to get that clip off. I don't think I've been putting these on right, and that's part why it's not holding on. There's nothing coming out. Somebody's caught a hold of this water, this hose. Note to self: you can't run the hose through the paddock. They tripped on the hose, killed their water source. Oh, and this wasn't even on. Okay, we're gonna have water if we hit this up. Okay, good. Oh, and they're flocking to it, man. They're thirsty. Are you having that baby yet? Pretty soon. Come on, come on, old mama. Instead, as soon as you lay down and I can sit on you, I'm gonna clip that nail. Did you get bread, Vanilla? It's a good thing you're coming back in heat. That means you're working. Honey's feeling good. You want to go see Mom?

Yeah, give her a kiss.

Hi, baby. Give Mom a kiss. Can I have a kiss? Oh, that's the least she gets for being up with you. Yeah, so many times in the night. He didn't sleep good.

I think he might be teething. Can you open? Open your mouth.

Oh, what you got cooking, darling?

We're doing our chicken with vegetables, but these are not our carrots.

It's the Rhodes signature dish.

We like it.

Fried root vegetables, then baked. Sautéed chicken, then baked. Salt and thyme, that's it.

I should have gotten some salt.

You can do lard. Oh no, you can't. Oh, no pork for our guests. Is this lard right here? Well, then I'll go get you some tallow.

No, go feed the schmaltz.

Oh, fine. You want to get Mom some schmaltz? No, you'd rather go down the slide? All right, let him go down. Get in.

Go!

Oh, if I were schmaltz, where would I be? Maybe right here. One left. One schmaltz coming right up. That's all we got though. Looks good so far. Beets, onions, carrots, now potatoes.

Well, I'm gonna get that baking and then I'll do the chicken. I'll, uh, crisp up the outside.

Sauté it.

It's not really sautéing because you kind of like sear it. It's kind of like— but I don't think you sear chicken. I don't know. You, you like—

you can do two pans so you know too. Yes, you put the big one on that one. Otherwise it takes forever. Come on.

See how I roasted that piece of meat?

Go work on the pond. You're gonna have to dig back like 6 feet, but hold on, let me, let me cut that off first and drain it some more. Yeah, and water's coming through it. Yeah, let's just drain it real good and see where we've drained. Drained down like a foot already. I'm thinking if we cut this, we can, we can free up the Mini X, and he can start digging. Got to let it drain a little bit or going to be too wet for the saw. There we go. Get the stick out. That's good. You'll get the Tractor toy when you dump it out, I guess. No, don't dam that up yet. Not yet, not yet, not yet. Keep letting it drain. I feel like we need to get the area to where we can get in there and cut it and put our joint on. Yeah, just dig out enough. Dig all the way to the edge. Dig from here all the way up to the edge. So that we can replace the pipe, and then we'll have a dam. We're damming it up right there. Okay, all ready for this? We're gonna have to move fast. We're gonna have to dam it up, cut the pipe. Yes, I have zip ties for it. Once we dam it up, we have only so much time to cut it and replace it. We got our pipe over here. I think we're successful. At first I thought I was gonna have to replace that whole line, which would have cost about $2,000. So we just saved ourselves mucho dinero. It's gonna cost $2,000. Wow. A new line. And that's not even counting digging up the trench right here. There's clay right here. Do that clay on it first on the joint. The baby driving?

He does.

How'd it turn out? Special guest, Dr. Kamal. How is it? Chicken from the land? Out of 10, I'll give it a 10. Good and juicy? Oh yeah, it's delicious. Did you like it? Did he drink his tea?

He did. He drank one whole cup.

I had to give him a whole nother one. Kamal's gonna try the milk because he's normally— are you lactose intolerant? That's what I've been told. But you can do— but you can do A2-A2 milk, like goat's milk. A2A2. So I've had goats and that's been fine, but this is my first goat. This goat is A2A2, and so, so is this. How long will it be until you have an infection? Tomorrow. Okay, well you have to text me and let me know. Just the rope just side?

I can pass the rope if you want it.

Or go out to the end of that pipe and tie it on. Oh, Becky, he doesn't have his Band-Aid on.

I know.

That's probably good. Tie it to the end and then we'll lift that pipe up. Oh, there you're getting it. You know how to swim?

I do.

It's just a little water going through that, Jonah.

Sorry.

That's good.

No, no.

Have you guys tested it to see if it's at the end?

I don't believe water's going through that. I have no idea. Don't ask me.

I'd say that's good. That'll get it spread, guys. Let's do it. Every kid likes this job. We're about to seed this pasture. It's good, it's rained a little bit. The seeds will take. Here we ended up leaning this against the bank. It's just what it wanted to do. I don't think it'll hurt. Maybe the water starts draining there, it might start tearing away at the bank, but we'll see. I hesitate to cut it because if you cut it too much, there's no adding. Problem is we have 1-inch leftover pipe. I guess it just got buried in the silt. How are we going to get it out? Straps were not staying on. I got these I don't know, tool hangers. See if we can't screw in there and have something to grip to. I need a drill for pilot holes, guys. Pretty jerry, but it works. Hopefully it's all one piece.

Looks like it is.

You can get out if she needs to get water in the food. How about some flake salt for a crunch? Gotta do it while it's wet. Maybe I missed my opportunity. I think it's all falling off. People are slamming it. You guys like it?

Is it a treat?

Papa? Baby?