In this 2017 vlog, Victor Justin Rhodes leads a family‑friendly nature hike around ABC Acres farm, introducing viewers to the farm’s wildlife and the design principles that support it. Accompanied by farm manager Matt Sargent, the Rhodes children, and friends, Victor challenges the group to spot a variety of organisms—tadpoles, minnows, goldfish, dragonflies, birds, bees, deer, frogs, and a garter snake. The walk showcases the farm’s "crater garden" and a purpose‑built wildlife den, where Victor recounts a past design failure caused by missing drainage that flooded the den and killed rabbits. He explains how he retro‑fitted the den with pallets and a dual‑entry drainage system, drawing an analogy to having two driveways for fire safety. The vlog highlights the ecological benefits of diverse wildlife, linking it to farm health, zone‑based design (zones 4‑5), and even future aquaculture possibilities such as raising trout for occasional harvest. Throughout, Victor uses the children’s curiosity to teach about cold‑blooded animal behavior, safety around snakes, and the broader value of biodiversity on a working farm.
Chapters
Upside down like that. I'm gonna put it in there. Now you just clasp. There you go, you got it! There we go. Boom! Montana is on the map. For today's vlog, we're gonna go on a nature hike at ABC Acres and hopefully show some of the importance of wildlife on the farm. Let's go! We're going south. You're going swimming in the, in the Crater Garden, or you're going swimming in the river, or both? Okay, you're crazy. Maybe you can catch goldfish for us.
Okay.
Who are all these people, Tim? Well, we have Matt Sargent here, farm manager ABC Acres. We've got Gianna and her younger sister Gabby, because she loves her tights, she's wearing them. Uh, friends of the family. We've got Pocahontas— I mean, oh no, Lily. I see that feather there. And then we've got Gideon, and we've got Jonah, right? Okay, we're missing Josiah, right? Josiah's bringing up the rear. And there are the Rhodes children, they're troublemakers. And then we've got Caspian, my youngest. How you doing, bud? Good. And then Miss Rebecca, of course. And then the best and brightest behind the camera himself, that's Bodie. Here we go, we're gonna take an hour trip around the farm. You guys need to put your observation eyeballs in, okay? This is our crater garden, and originally we moved here, it was just pasture. There was no life other than the cricket that came through during the season. You guys, I'm challenging you. We need to find tadpoles, frogs, minnows, goldfish, dragonflies, birds, bees. I want to see if you can use your observation eyes, point out things you're finding that are unique. Okay, go! Raise your hand when you've got something. Dragonflies on the reed there. Yeah, yep, this is hairy vetch, beyond the hairy vetch, and it's right there. Yeah, a little tiny one.
Tadpoles.
Where?
Where do you see tadpoles? Oh, there's a big one.
You see that?
Minnow!
I saw a few swim under here.
Yeah, I see them. Little tiny minnow swimming in front of you. Boys, girls, let's go investigate the wildlife den that we installed. Let's see if there's a skunk or a badger in there that are of interest. Butterfly. You touching the bottom out there, Atticus?
Nope. Wait, right here. I can't touch the bottom here.
So inside this lower terrace, we've built a wildlife den, a place where a skunk, a squirrel, a rabbit, a fox can live. Do you think you can try to find it, Gabby?
If there's a skunk in there, do you want to find it?
Sure.
All right, go take a look underneath that log. Do you see any tunnels, any openings? Maybe you see anything that might resemble an entrance? Do you see it? What do you see, Cass? Can you put your hand in there?
Yeah, it's wet.
Who wants to look in here? Uh-oh. Do you hear that? Do you hear that?
Hey, what's in there, Gabby?
A skunk. Okay, we used to have rabbits in here, didn't we? And Daddy had a bad design and it led to the rabbits dying. Didn't convey that to anybody earlier, but I built this wildlife den without a drainage point. And so one day in early spring, we got a 13-inch snow, and in 24 hours it all melted. And when it melted, it went to the space with the least resistance, which was the den. And my wildlife camera showed every 15 minutes the rabbits bouncing at 6 PM, 8 PM, 10 PM, 11 PM, 11:15, the coyotes. The next morning, gray patch, white patch. And so what do you mean they were coming out? They couldn't get in. The water had melted in, filled up the den, and the water was like out to here. They had no place to go. So that week I came out, dug it back up, I put in 3 or 4 pallets on top of each other, then the base of the den. So now there's a drainage system, it won't happen again. Literally underneath this area right here. And so we put in 2— a way in and a way out. That way if there's predators coming in to get them, they can go out. In any situation, even with a house you build, you want to have 2 driveways, one in, one out, in case you're in a fire situation, right? We learned that in Montana. What are we looking for, Matt?
We're looking for goldfish that escaped. Have you seen any? Yeah, there's a few right there, but the ospreys like to hunt here and the goldfish are an easy target. So the ones that are big have learned not to come out in the open.
There's hundreds here.
That's right. And another thing that I think is unique to this that we didn't talk about already, but through this design, if we get trout in this water feature, we could start to feed the trout here. And if they get trained to come in, if we wanted to have a fish dinner, we could feed the trout, drop the net behind them when they come in, and we can harvest fish. So we are looking at this as a livestock component to harvest fish dinners from now, now and again.
Where's the goldfish?
Yeah, it's pretty neat how he's brought a lot of wildlife in and changed the landscape to attract— Matt was telling me they have a moose that comes around, and there's a bunch of elk and deer, white-tailed deer.
Why do you think it's important to have wildlife on the farm?
Well, I don't know. Why? Tell me why. It just brings diversity. You want diversity on your, on your farm. You don't want it just to be, you know, one thing. I'm sure all those species bring something to the table.
Oh my gosh, it's a big buck! Look at that underneath the tree! Quick, Justin, look at that one! It's resting in the shade. Good. Oh, there she goes! There he goes! Wow. Hey, all right! See what happens when we walk the farm? I'm surprised. It's awesome. Observation, observation. Why is it important to have wildlife on the farm? Well, for me, it's all about diversity. We have healthy systems in place if we're seeing the local wildlife being present. And this is why we talked about dedicating certain ag design projects on the exterior, Zone 4-5, right? And so we invite them in to be a part of this. But they're not stressing us by coming in. And so to me, that just speaks to the health of the overall— come in at the end of the day and I'll tell the kids, hey, I saw this today, I saw that today. And I think they're like, yeah, whatever, you're making it up. So it's nice to come on these hikes and get them to connect a little bit more with the farm and the, and the land that it encompasses. I can't believe you guys caught a deer! Wow, this is awesome! What kind of deer? You're petting a deer?
White-tailed.
mouth is simply too small to bite. It's really— it's not a dangerous one. Mr. Brown, you want to hold this snake? Mr. Brown, you want to hold that?
It will bite me.
No.
Oh my gosh, we got a frog! Show us! Okay, so we're gonna let the snake go.
All right, does he go into the water?
Yeah. Snake probably doesn't like the cold water. Why?
'Cause he's cold-blooded.
He's cold-blooded, right? And so if he's warm, he's gonna be more active and get away from prey. But if he's in the cold water, he's more susceptible to trout or strange people like me. And we'll put him down there. And he can get back to the comfort of the warm rocks and the shelter. Holy cow, look at that one! That's a bigger one!
Wait, can I touch it? I just wanna touch it.
Oh, that's a good-sized garter snake! Now just to let you know, there are rattlesnakes here in Montana, but they are up on the east side, up in the Sapphire. You're not gonna have to work. Atticus, what do you put this frog to sleep? What is that? Can you show Justin that?
I want to hold it.
He's just in some sort of tantrum. You've done, uh, but he's done playing. He's playing dead. Yeah, that's right. I've never seen that. It's probably the innocence of children. He's happy just to relax. Okay, good, it's not dead. Is that the same one?
It's the same one.
Okay, he's all right, he's all right. Let's let that one be. We're gonna get our pictures and head back to the farm.
