In this final January farm vlog, the host announces a short sabbatical for a Florida trip and outlines upcoming video plans. The main on‑farm activity is a rushed installation of a French drain and gravel berm to redirect runoff from a greenhouse that has been flooding a pig pen and bean rows. The host, aided by friends Beck, Paige, Derek, Ben, Jason, and others, unrolls PVC pipe, connects joints, lays gravel, and uses a Kubota tractor to move soil, all while juggling a chili cook‑off and checking on milking. After the ditch work, the group watches the premiere of their new show “Divergence,” sharing immediate reactions and discussing the show’s themes. The conversation shifts to deeper reflections: the necessity of suffering, the choice to leave conventional careers (e.g., military) for full‑time farming, and the ongoing journey of the show into its third year. The vlog blends practical how‑to farm infrastructure, community collaboration, media production, and philosophical commentary, ending with plans for future content and a Florida permaculture feature.
Chapters
This is the last farm vlog for January. Taking a bit of a sabbatical. Nothing's wrong, we're just about to go on vacation to Florida. Woohoo! We're also gonna document some folks while in Florida. My buddy Pete Kanaris will put a show up on that. Hopefully he's got some nice permaculture farm type of things we can feature down in Florida as well. We'll also have Homesteaders of America. And we'll be putting videos up of that and of our vacation and of Pete and his buddies down there in Florida. There won't be any farm vlogs. No, we're gonna take a break, but there will be, uh, videos, learning videos, entertaining videos, all kinds of things. I'm still planning on getting you guys 5 videos a week, so enjoy those. This is the solution. Hopefully we're gonna get to that today. Got some friends coming over, lots of friends coming over for our premiere of our new show we're producing called Divergence. This greenhouse, water comes gushing off the greenhouse, water comes down the— you know, it's a bit of a slope here. So then that has been historically flooding our pig in the winter and our Rebecca's green beans in the summer. So I have some guys coming early before the party to help me do this. We're gonna put in the line, put in gravel over it, and put in a French drain, and then put that over it. Now traditionally you put sod or dirt over that, but I don't think so. I think water is going to come off this in a torrent. That means we're going to have to haul off this dirt. I don't think we'll get to that today. Maybe we will, but at least for the farm sitter, we'll have this water situation under control before people get here. We're gonna get this sloped and hopefully get this line in We got 1 hour. Boy, that's, that's so cool. We want it a little taller down there than here so we for sure have a drain. I got it higher up there, lower down here. Almost no rocks here, here. I'm gonna lay this pipe on top of it. I'm also counting on— I believe there is a little bit of a natural slope coming this way. It's hard to tell because it's gradual. It's certainly that way over there, so I'm gonna hope that's the case anyway. Water wants the path of least resistance. We're gonna make this really easy. I'd really like to get this water line in before my friends get here, otherwise there's gonna be a bunch of people standing around. But if I have this water line in and we have 3, 4 more people here plus me, that's 5 shovels putting the gravel over it. That's not going to take any time at all. Let's unroll this thing. We got it in. We gotta straighten it out in places. Yeah, this out of the way for the gravel. It's ready for gravel, that part. I still want to get this line connected. I need my knife. For some reason I don't have my knife on me. Hey, have you seen my knife? Oh my, what you got cooking?
I am making chili.
Chili's your go-to with a big crowd, isn't it? It is, it is.
It's, it's easy, and then people can just bring sides and stuff. Let me find your net.
My hat too. Found my hat. Feel naked without this thing. That's better. Oh, hey, you want it? Here's an extra one in the junk drawer. We'll find it, I'm sure. For now, I got the extra one. I just took the PVC to that joint, but there's going to be a lip in there and the water might go not into the PVC but leak out under it. The alternative is this. Smoother. We'll cut a little piece of pipe running out of that, connect it to this, then connect it to the PVC. Go ahead and get one end on this. Boom! I don't know if this helped us, but this is a little more proper anyway. This is made to go into this. And then this is going to go into this. Woo! Hot dog! Now that we got that part done, that's the tricky part. It's going to be easy to connect this PVC down to the creek. Boom! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7— 70 feet. It's in there. Our physical trainer is here. So we got to go, and then all the guys should be here. 1 hour later, we're done with our training. We got a couple of eager guys over there. They even came a little early. Hey, did I pass the inspection? Yep. Okay, the inspectors are here. Jason, Sow the Land, and Ben. What's your channel, Ben? Growing Up Colt. Grown-up Holt. Okay, what compels you guys to come 2 hours early to a party to dig a ditch? I don't know, why not? I like digging. It's the last day of the year. Yeah, like, might as well keep on going. All right, let's do it. If you guys just throw that gravel on top of this, I'm gonna go— I gotta go check the cow. Did we get any milk? Yes, that's pretty good for resting for What, 3 hours? That's definitely what we got to do. Look at this. My status is make sure they got milked all the way out. All right, good, good deal. You guys done? Okay, let's get us another load. Look at this. Ben from California, Jason from California, Ben Holler from California. We won't tell anybody I was also born in California. We won't hold it against them because they are out here New Year's Eve. What compels you to come out here early to a party, Ben? New Year's Eve, throw rocks in a hole. It was pretty simple. You were like, hey, do you want to come help dig holes? Sure, that sounds like fun. All right, we'll take it. I got cool friends if they think digging a ditch on the off day is fun. All right, we got a burrito. We got a berm to keep it from going into the side there. I think water is pretty much going to be trapped right there. The easiest way is going to be out. We're going to put a few down at the joints just to hold it in place so the tractor doesn't move it. Looky here, we got this smoothed over. An hour yet to go. This is a little clunky. This is smooth. What do you think, guys? That was quick. Yeah, easy. It's gonna work. Yep. So we got all this excess dirt now, and it didn't seem like they needed bribing. These are cool guys. We're gonna load this up and give them each a turn on the Kubota. All right, Ben first. Now you've driven Lucky, so this is going to be super easy. So Ben, how was that tractor experience? It's pretty smooth. Jason's up next. Here he comes back. Must have figured it out all right. All right, Holt, here we go. Here we go. That's a pretty sight. That's what I'm talking about. We got the burrito on, we've got the tarp down, we got the dirt out of here, and we got the tarp down. I'm feeling good. Now this is coolest people here. Passenger van! Who is it? I don't know, that's a good question. Yep, Sartain Bree! All right, yeehaw! Episode 1, Divergence. What'd you think? Arthur? It was beautiful. It was a beautiful episode. Nice, thanks. Ben, episode 1, Divergence. It was really good. Really well made. It makes me want to see what's gonna come next. Nice. Yeah. Meg, what'd you think of Divergence?
It was so good.
What do you go away with? Uh, that I want to go home and watch it again. Oh, I like it. What do you think, Brianna?
It was beautiful. It was very beautiful.
Beck, how was it the second time?
It was good.
It was good.
I liked it. I mean, I felt like I've seen it, so like, some of the things that they did say though imprinted more on me.
Yeah.
The second time around.
I definitely think this is one you have to watch more than once.
Oh yeah.
Because they're—
it's a quotable movie.
They're very, they're very deep. So you have to like— you have to think about what they're saying. You have to like soak it in and like let it simmer and then like, then possibly take it to heart, if that's what you need to take to heart.
Paige from Paige and Derek from Grass Grazed. Yeah, how y'all doing?
We're doing great.
Thanks for coming to the farm today.
Thanks for having us out.
How was Divergence?
It was awesome.
What's the big takeaway for those who haven't seen it yet?
Is good— wait, don't take them back. Suffering is necessary. It's hard, but it is good.
Yes. Yes, depends on where you're at in that stage of suffering, right? That's what we end up concluding.
I definitely think it's easier to say that when you're out of the suffering. Oh man, and looking back on it, you could totally say that, but you got to be in it.
Yeah. And out.
Yeah, because when you're in it, you don't want to hear that.
So you're going to be in a future episode of Divergent somewhere. You've opted out of the norm and you took the lesser worn path. Where do you think that is? Um, I mean, we're gonna explore it, but off the top of your head, oh, if you were to guess.
I don't want that.
Um, I think that we are still in the beginning. Yeah, I mean, we're still in the beginning because yes, we have taken the path. Oh yeah, but it is, it's still new. We're going into year 3.
Yeah, so, so for those that don't know you, I had never— Derek was in the military. Yes, opted out. That's we'll call it a normal career. It's not necessarily a normal career, but a career. So you opted out of a career and now y'all are professional farmers. Oh wow, that's a pretty big diversion.
That's a big diversion.
I don't know if we're professional farmers.
I mean, you're getting paid, right?
We're getting paid.
It's a job.
We are farming full-time, so it is our job. That's how we pay our bills.
Okay, let's say full-time farmers. Military to full-time farmers. That's a good story.
