Getting our Farm Ready for Joel Salatin (pinch me)

I just love that you're hanging out, getting up early in the morning. We're actually on our chores a little early. That's cool. Why? Why, you say? Joel Salatin's coming this weekend for a small intimate outdoor workshop for our Do It Yourself Abundance members. Is it? We gotta hustle. In case you were wondering what was in this box, I just opened it. Cheesemaking books. Beautiful one must be up to something. Uh-oh, why are people out? None of the nasty ones. Oh, okay. Yes, I said that may be kind of casual, but no, Joel Salatin. This has been a work in the making. Joel Salatin is coming here. If you don't know who Joel Salatin is, he's a market farmer, author. Like 10+ books. He's been doing this regenerative agriculture style stuff for decades. He's a market farmer. I, I've modeled our own homestead after what he does, so I've taken what he does and scaled it down to a smaller level. So we'll be capturing a lot of content for our Do-It-Yourself Abundance member area. By the way, fall registration for that will be open probably towards the end of this month, early September. If you guys are wanting to get some training from Joel and myself, I'll be teaching how to design your best homestead ever. We'll be giving an ultimate tour of this place. Joel will be teaching— he'll have a lecture on You Can Farm. He'll do a consult of this homestead, how we might improve. Um, that will all go into the member area. Good morning, my man. Boy, it's a beautiful morning. Hey, can you grab me the hose up here? Thank you, my man. But if you guys aren't members, I'm actually gonna do one public video on, on YouTube. It's gonna be called— this is the plan anyway. I mean, plans change, plans get disrupted, but this is the plan: Milking Time with Joel Salatin. Yes, he's gonna, he's gonna milk. I'm gonna interview him while we milk together. What's the wrong? He says he can't. Okay, let's move this real quick. Spread the love, spread the manure love. I can't do this with one hand. I can't hold you guys and do this at the same time. I'm thinking I'm really gonna dig in with Joel in that interview and talk about the, you know, the heroics of it all, because I'm starting to think that We food growers are heroes. Mega big time. And he's one of our leaders. So I'm gonna see if I can't draw that out. I think that will be really good and is especially needed nowadays. I think we need to feel empowered. There's a lot that seems out of our control, and I think, uh, that Joel can help us with that in the upcoming days because he's made tens of thousands It's made tens of thousands of people feel empowered and really able to make positive change in their world, but then ultimately in the world around them. I think that's going to be the whole theme of the member launch this fall, is Homestead Heroes. Papa? Yes? I can't hold the hose up here. Why not? Connected to another spigot. Okay, I'll come help you. Really? On the gate. Many of you guys have, you know, said to us, hey, we've inspired you so much in some way, you know, maybe to be more involved with your family, maybe to grow more food. Some have even said we're their hero. That is like the ultimate compliment. But I'm here to say you guys are the hero as well, and and we're in this together. And that's going to be a very powerful message. All right, can we get down? I thought maybe he would be getting down while I talked there, but all right, here you go, buddy. Here you go. Oh, there you go. It works. It still works with you on it. Look who it is. Hey, hey, morning, Ben. All right, Ben is here. He's for— he's here, here learning about homesteading, here learning about My Business. He wants to do something similar. You're also here to see Joel Salatin. Yes, you're very excited about that. Have you ever hung out with him with just like a few people? Only on YouTube. Okay, have you ever had meals with him? No. Okay, that's what we're gonna do. He's like a dream come true. That's like meeting your favorite, or you're like your hero. Yeah, so I'm excited. I couldn't have staged that. I couldn't have stayed— I was just talking about heroes. Really? Yeah. What? Yeah, homestead heroes, food growing heroes, and he's definitely on top of the list for inspiring people. You're another, another hero of mine. Oh, thank you. Oh, here's your money, here's your pay. Hey, you're here of mine. Whoa, man, just coming here, balling it. How old are you, 24 years old? 25. He and the kids just getting the work done, level head on his shoulder. You know, thinking far ahead and putting in the work now while he's young. Yeah. And he's got a lot of time, energy, and he's putting in the education. I mean, visiting people and learning what they do. I mean, this is— you know you want to do something similar to me, at-home business, be at home with your family, do something positive for the world around food growing. So that's what you're doing. You're just, you're just looking to other people who are doing that and you're going and learning from them. That's the way to do it. I think some advice my dad gave me was, you know what, just, just try to, try to bless people that you want to, you want to learn from. Try to go and serve them, do all you can. I know some things about gardening, but I can, I can weed like a, like a madman, you know. Yeah, you can. I did landscaping for 2 years, so yeah, just come here and try to help you guys. Yeah, and it's kind of cool because it's like you're helping me, I'm helping you, and that's how it goes. Yeah, it's been working out. Good deal. Today the mission is— well, we got to do our chores, but we're also going to pick up, tidy up last minute. Like, Joel Salatin's coming to this farm. This is looking real good. Most of it's looking real good. You guys have actually been doing a really good job mowing, string trimming. We appreciate you so much for that. Uh, we just got a few more odds and ends to get done, man. All right, let's do it. Let's see why this side couldn't get the water going. It's right there. Okay, where is that? Okay, so Ben has been— I've challenged him, you know, he's, he's wanting to model my business. Well, my business is content creation. Uh, how do you want to create? I like videos. Okay, make a YouTube video every day. Okay, we're plugged in here and we're on. Okay, let's make sure this hydrant's working. Yeah, it's working. And I said to Ben, why don't you get 1% better every day? That's the goal. Well, first video was just point and shoot with his camera, one shot. Second video, he filmed with his— I said camera, I meant iPhone. Second video, he filmed with his iPhone, then edited in like a free Mac editor, iMovie. Third video, filmed with a camera, edited. I said, that's not— yes, can you bring me up my hose? I'm working on that, actually, right now. I'm trying to trace this thing down but can't find it. Okay, so this is the source, this is the water source coming in here. Okay, now— oh, are we not hooked up? Jonah, where's our hose to go up there? It's the loop-de-loop one. This is— no, wait, is this it? Because what's this go to? It goes to the thing. Where's the hose that goes to Mom's garden? Yeah, that's connecting to the water source. Yeah, but how do you use that? But now where's our hose to get up to the, to the greenhouse, to the chickens? No, no, no, no. Here's our, um, let's get this hose, Jonah, and use it. Do you think it's long enough? It's 100 feet. I mean, I know that was to the cow water, but we're not going to do that anymore. We're going to put troughs in, uh, in the paddocks now that we have the lane water up. Okay, well, we'll wait for you to crank up. Hopefully the electrician's coming today on this Cummins generator, but for now It will serve as a nice setting for my tripod. So Ben didn't just 1%, like, he 100% every day. Those are some big changes, and I'm proud of him for that. It's good content. And I said, well, look, if you like that, if you like the process, because not everybody likes it after they try it, and you want me to, I'll share you with my audience if you do that. So let me see if he wants to Stick with it. And there he is. I couldn't script this, man. I couldn't script this, man. He's got the vlogger out, he's at it again. Are you at it? Okay, so I was wondering, Benjamin, I was telling them that I would challenge you to make some videos. Yeah. Do you like it so far? Oh my goodness, it's so fun. Do you think it's something you're gonna stick with? I do. Okay. I love telling stories, so— okay, boom. Well, Tell them the name of your channel then. Garden Guy. Couldn't be any easier than that. We'll link it down in the description. Good job, buddy. Hey, thank you. Oh man, in the vlog. Oh, which one are we gonna do? Are we cool? Oh, we're cool, we're cool. We'll do that. Yeah, if we're kind of old school, we'll do high five. Boom. I kind of like high fives. I like them too. Okay, am I in the vlog? You are again, man. Okay, you're in my vlog. You're famous now. It worked. We got that hose over here, we got it hooked up. I'm gonna water Mom— Mama first. I'm gonna water her plant and then we'll go, uh, water those chickens. We got it, we got the water filling up. And another thing I just thought of, I'll probably do something Homestead Hero-ish Summit free in the fall. I'll put another video there, probably Jill Salatin's You can farm lecture. We always have room for one more. Well, we're gonna make this work. Who's coming with? You coming with now? Okay, pasa. No baby? You dripping milk? That means that baby's coming any day now. She's due. She's due. She's due now-ish. She gabbards. She gabs. New paddock. We got mucus. Another sign. Yeah. All right, boys, I got you the nets over here. Here, let's drop the nets off. And, uh, I, I just realized I never did Mineral Monday. It's Thursday. We gotta do some minerals. Yeah, Teddy, you stay. We don't need you to be getting a mess. I'm gonna go around taking a picture of the minerals and the ones that we need. Hey, where you going? All right, well, go back to the house because then that's where you can't get muddy. How's the cow minerals? Let's go check the sheep. Shaw, Where you guys going? I'm not gonna hurt you. I can't see under there, it's too dark in these woods. Well, hey there, how are you? Thank you for coming and seeing me. Let me get you some fresh minerals. All right, I see the one got wet. I got wet, so I'll change it out. You think they're excited? I haven't gotten the minerals here, but they're anticipating and they're getting quite low on several of them. Hey, you want to go? I'm checking minerals. Well, that was nice while it lasted. Other duties. Yes, Jonah's got to get on his online, uh, reading tour— tour— tutor. And Mom's got to set them up. So I'll get the minerals, I'll get the mineral count, I'll get it loaded, it'll be milking time, and then maybe Mom can take somebody and go service this. Oh man, I've still not got this fixed. How was— I don't know, 4 or 5 days. They're gonna need both those. I need to build a frame around that thing. Not gonna have this time this morning. Maybe, maybe this afternoon if editing and everything goes well. We're out, we're out of some of these, but Rebecca did order some. They're upstairs. Um. It's a good thing when you have so much abundance it gets in the way. I think we can spare one sunflower. Had a big rain last night, bringing some of these down. Hey, there you are! I'm so glad you're out. I was afraid you ran off. You playing in the barn? Look at the little tadpoles. Look, there's a big one. All right, come on, Miss Thing. Come on, she got her. Come on, time to milk. It's amazing how she remembers, but she remembers. It's been a month, but she remembers exactly where to go. I'm quite relieved to be getting off the mountain with them. Tomorrow the cows will be in one of our most lush and easiest pastures, and that will be good for Aunt Phyllis, who's due any day. It's always hard when the calf is way up on the mountain to check on it and stuff. Are you getting my milk supplies, my man? Yeah, good job. Hey, Mr. Brown, I like your shoe choice. Is that what we're down to? Is that all you can find? Okay, it works. Yeah, I will. Have you lost all your shoes? Yeah, I think they're in the garage. Oh, check the garage. That beats all right there, buddy. He'll get whatever he can get. Gideon, where'd you find the shoes? In the house. One, one down in the basement, one in the house. Really? Good job, buddy. Trying to find some shoes for yourself. We've got done milking. I think we're gonna do a hodgepodge leftover non-traditional breakfast. Yeah, definitely non-traditional. We have some leftover Indian, we have some leftover Mexican, we have some leftover pizza. Let's just hodgepodge it up. All right, brunch is served. Leftover Indian, we got some— I decided to take the Mexican. For my carnivore self. And you all have Riotitude, by the way. And so I decided a little bit of bacon, some leftover Mexican. I am doing spices now. I mean, I could do this a long time. Some spices on the meat. Hey, did I get any bacon? Um, I can make some up real quick. We have some fresh— I made a fresh egg to go on top of it. It's always nice when you have leftovers to cook a little something fresh. Oh, Let's do some cheddar cheese on this. Boom! Somebody left this peanut butter out. That's my greatest temptation. Nobody leave the peanut butter. It wasn't me. Jonah! I don't eat it. I don't eat peanut butter. I haven't ate peanut butter yet. Okay, I put it back. That's my temptation. It's not— just doesn't do what it does for you. Me not eating peanut butter is like you not eating tomatoes. So cut tomatoes out. In case you missed it, I've been doing like carnivore diet since July for 40 days, and I like— I was only going to do it 30 days. I liked it so much, I think it's helping me. I'm making a video about that soon, but this is, this is my savior, I think. Now that I've— after the 30 days, I introduced spices and sauces. It's making a difference. See how they hot sauce. What do you think, Benjamin? Leftovers all right with you? I love it. I mean, they get better the older they get. Yeah, the older they get. All right, well, Ben, here's some real old stuff for you there, buddy. It's only true to a certain point. Hey, Ben, here you go. If I was really hungry, I would— here's your banana. I mean, everybody does, right? Calling him on that. Okay, that rule only works for like a day or two. We've eaten supper. Mom's going on errands. What are you gonna do, Teddy? What are you gonna do for a couple hours without Mama? Oh no. Now we're gonna sit down and talk business. Help you out with your business. So I'm gonna make, at the end of this, we're gonna have a white paper with homework and outline of how you're gonna launch. And so one thing you're gonna wanna remember, this is gonna be rule number one. And I'll print this out for you, but if it helps you to make notes, is you are a servant to the audience. You have to always keep that in mind. Really, business is just good business, good right livelihood. Business is just adding value to the world and getting something in return, getting revenue in return. So Zig Ziglar used to say, if you help enough people get what they want you'll get what you want. So you add, you add value. So that's just rule number one. You're gonna— you're, you're creating content, so you're gonna create pieces that are educational, entertaining. Um, what, what are some other business practices? Products, services, something like that. So just always keeping in mind that, um, make sure their life easier. Yep, you want to make their life easier. It's about them. How to process your own birds. How to cook your own birds. How to breed your own. 100% sustainable. Alright, I'm showing you that just to watch my countenance. That was my first video performance. That won. Permaculture Chickens won. Because I was serving people. Yeah, you were telling their needs and their desires. My! That's right. And that's why it won. But my personal performance there was not that great. Yeah. And if you go look at the vlogs now, you know, we're fluctuating voice. Grandma come in and chime in and gave, gave some of that as the input. Yeah, like the voice fluctuates, you know, making faces and stuff like that. Yeah. And, um, but that comes, that comes with practice, that comes with trying to improve 1% every day. So I guess rule number 2 would be improve 1% every day. Yeah, and that's the key. And that's, that's rule number 3, is show up every day consistent. And every day could mean consistent, doesn't necessarily have to be every day. There are some really good content creators that really jam it out doing once a week, but it's really high quality. But they're working on it every day, I guarantee you. Yeah, but I'm saying in the beginning it's probably worth it to hit publish every day somewhere. Gotcha. I'm gonna copy this and— all right. Yes, we came up with a white page plan for you. You got it? You got it. Look, man, you know I'm a very busy man, especially this week, but I'm gonna take time. I'm gonna take time to help Benjamin because he's doing a wonderful thing and the world needs more Homestead Heroes, like now more than ever. You're putting out wonderful stuff. You're going to come out with wonderful products and services. You're coming up with a fall gardening. Oh, gardening course. Yeah, so it's not too late. It's never too late. No, just plant. That's my motto, right? Just plant. And so I think, I think that's gonna be good. So I'm happy to support that. He's writing all this down. This is fun. Good. You think it's fun? Like, yeah, not everybody thinks this is fun, so I'm happy to invest in you in that way. And launch you out there as best I can. I'm excited. Good. Okay, so now you're gonna go to work. Yeah, making this plan happen. Yep, making more content. Uh, good stuff coming on his channel. He's gonna put one of his videos— we've decided this— he's gonna put one of his, uh, he's making a 4-part course on fall gardening, and he's gonna put one of those parts totally free online on his website, get everybody started this weekend-ish. Yeah. Okay, yeah, all right. Okay, we got something to look forward to. He's gonna be there, I'm gonna be here, uh, mom and the kids are gone, so it's quiet, man. We're gonna get stuff done. It's super quiet, it's almost too quiet. Yeah, and then maybe if I can get done before supper, we— I can go finish the minerals. It's the afternoon, I'm done with the edit, it's time to keep working on these minerals. Completely out of copper. Another bag of copper. Copper is out in all animals right now. They need copper. It's cool when you give so many minerals, like so many minerals. They know, the animals know what they need. And when the minerals aren't all in one package, in one like block, they don't overdose on a mineral trying to get one that they need. This is neat because they get to figure out what they want, they know it, they get it. What mineral did I not get? A handful. What did we do without Sally? All right, I am back in from the chores. We're setting out mucho comida, a lot of food for this weekend. Ham, chickens— is that enough chickens? I don't know. Did you take the pork hamburger out? Uh, I need to take hamburger out. Well, I took Okay, I got more to take out. All right, supper. It's leftover chili, some rice, nothing too spectacular. How is it, guys? Good. Kind of nice to use leftovers. Yeah, yeah, kind of feels like we're making use of everything, not wasting anything. You like it? Chili? Yeah, good. Oh yeah, so one last thing. Are you really? He just stepped out and in and Teddy started barking. No, we were doing an experiment. Let's see if it works. He was totally fine with Bench. Yeah, he's been in here all afternoon. He went outside, he literally just went outside, knocked on the door, came in, and he's triggered. Hey, hey, should we have called you Trigger Ferocious because you get triggered? All right, anyway, one last reminder. Ben's channel, if you're into learning some about fall garden, getting going, seeing a different perspective on this homestead thing, come on over.