In this November 23rd homestead vlog, Victor Justin Rhodes and his family tackle the challenge of planting a massive garlic row late in the season. The video opens with a sunny, upbeat mood as the family discusses whether November is too late to plant garlic, ultimately deciding to proceed. They break apart two garlic varieties—Norquay (purple) and Silver White—explaining each type’s storage qualities. The family prepares the garden beds using a grid system, removes tarps, stakes, and mulches to protect the soil, while simultaneously dealing with chickens that keep escaping and threatening the newly planted garlic. They set an ambitious goal of extending their usual 50‑foot garlic row to 100 feet, aiming for a record while remaining flexible about other crops. Throughout the work, they weave in personal anecdotes about the GAPS diet, increased garlic consumption, and the importance of soups in their meals. The vlog also includes a cooking segment where they demonstrate a garlic‑infused cauliflower rice and stuffed pepper soup, sharing tips for shelling garlic and flavoring dishes. Underlying the practical tasks are recurring homesteading mottos—"just plant" and "keep working"—and a focus on family collaboration, with kids helping with chores, a time‑lapse camera setup, and playful banter. The video balances instructional gardening advice, animal management, dietary insights, and family dynamics, offering a comprehensive look at late‑season garlic planting on a homestead.
Chapters
Happy unbelievable sunny day. Don't let it be misleading, it is November 23rd. We love garlic and there's nothing better than homegrown nutrient-dense garlic. Show them what we got. But we have got to plant this, and what a break in the weather we have. It was just 9 degrees just the other week. We have got to get this in the ground and growing. I hope it's not too late. It is, it's too late. But I hope it's not too late. Definitely trying something different this morning. We've been doing a lot of dividing and conquering lately, but this morning I thought I don't want him to have to do his chores alone. Jonah's not here. I'll help him with his chores and then he can help me pick up the house and we all can go and do the gardening together. I brought a little surprise for Josiah. Just trying to make things a little more pleasant working together. And now I got a little something something, a little something for you. I enjoy working with you. Thanks. Here we come, garlic. Only one thing standing in our way— a messy kitchen. Zone zero first. Zone 0 first, the house, y'all.
Am I nice?
You're looking nice.
I think it's in the silver.
Yeah, buddy. You want to see what's in this? You want to open things? What is it? Keep going, keep digging. Oh, onions, garlic. So we got silver, white, Okay, and this has got a— what's the name of this? Norquay. The Norquay is large, easy to peel cloves, make it easy to cook with. Silver White, in storage they can handle more humidity than other softnecks, making them some of the longest storing garlic of all. Better get clearance from the beautiful one. Do you want me to plant them separate so we know which one's which?
Very similar.
Uh, the Norquay's purple. That's a purple. We can tell them apart.
If you can tell them apart, it don't—
that doesn't matter. Hour and 20 minutes till lunch. You think that would be a good goal, guys? You want to make it some impossible goal? Plant the garlic, find where the chickens are getting out so they don't destroy said garlic, and cover our garden beds before they get destroyed. The tarp's getting blown up. Okay, impossible goals, let's go! If we don't get it done, we'll be working this afternoon, cutting into free time.
We don't have to eat at 12 o'clock.
That's true, that's true. Hey, are you gonna help us? We planted 50 feet of garlic from our own garlic supply, but then we started to run out of seeds, saying, hey, if we— because you actually plant garlic garlic— we're not going to have garlic enough to eat. So we ordered some more And we're gonna plant 50 more feet. It will be a record for us, 100 feet of garlic.
Eat this much?
Yes, I am eating more and more garlic than ever because we're eating soups almost every day since my fast. And since going on GAPS diet, I've come to appreciate soups as a really farm-rich, nutrient-rich, easy-ish meal. If you want garlic in June, you have to plant it in October. In this case, hopefully it's okay to plant it in November. First thing we do is break it up and get it into its— into its cloves. You doing it too, buddy? Thank you. Step 2, prepare the bed. Lily, you gotta pull up the, uh, Pull the tarp off the bed. Didn't get a shot of her peeling up the tarp. You ready, Grid? Yep. Shoot. Uh, mimic it again. Show how it would work. Yeah, maybe, because I don't think it got a— well, there's one. Set it right where it would go. Maybe you could do it again because it would make sure— yeah, Make sure it hits right there. Yeah, show them how it works. Step 3, grid. This is, this is the Never Sink gridded. This marks where we can plant. We have on the closest setting, I think it's 6 or 9 inches. You can see the grid there. That way we know where to plant. Can we get this hay moved over from— look at that, look at those chickens. If something does come up, I'm afraid they're gonna get it. Okay, that means we need to do a stakeout get in. And if we don't cover our garden beds, the wind keeps blowing the tarp up. Well, our soil is going to be exposed. Our chickens will, if they get out, will level our beds. They've already done some leveling right here. I can't even tell. You can't— they flattened it out. You two come plant. Okay, a big kid can poke the hole. Put the pointy side up. Okay, good. You planted one here yet?
Yeah, I did.
Oh, you did? Okay, there you go. There's your other one. There's 4. What step are we on? 4. We're poking a hole in the ground at the grid and show them here. We'll show them step 5. Plop the— that's a big one. That's huge. It's an exceptionally large garlic clove. Okay, are we gonna have enough? We're about halfway done with this. This is taking a bit longer than expected. I don't think we're gonna make it to the end, but maybe we'll get 75 feet of garlic. Still a record for us. A couple of keys to success. One, You gotta stay flexible. So I want to eat garlic now. We want to eat garlic. We're eating more garlic now. So instead of 50 feet, our normal, we're planting more than that. There will be other crops we won't plant as much of. I'm kind of sus of nightshades for me, tomatoes. So perhaps we won't have as many tomatoes. Maybe the beautiful one won't see this. We'll do whatever she wants. But maybe that's a hope of mine. The second thing would be one of our original mottos. Two words: just plant. Austin, you got, you gotta do a little throwback to that OG video. What are you doing with the time-lapse camera? All right, you want— hey, shall we get one of the sun, the sun going up? Let's go get the hay bale. Don't touch the time-lapse. Kenny, you want to herd the chickens in and camp out and see where they're getting out?
I'll have the chickens, but I won't see how they're getting out.
Let's get that bell over there. I don't want to use fluffy stuff. You've got to use flaky stuff. Fluffy stuff will be too thin, would degrade too soon, and I think it'll also stir up the seeds that may be in it. And then we are seriously done. Until June. I mean, maybe there might be some hand picking of weeds once or twice, but if we mulch it good— broccoli is one of the easiest things to plant. Somebody's got to get rocks and sandbags. Somebody's got to get her— yeah, look, our soil is exposed. It's kind of one of those things where we can't really all work on sandbags and can't really all chase, stake out chickens. That would— I'd say would be the first priority because we can't cover the garlic The chickens must stay in.
If the chickens get out, they will quickly come into the hay and go like this.
Yeah, and kill our garlic and lose our mulch. We won't have garlic, or— and if we do have what garlic we do have, we'll have a bunch of weeds around it. All right, let's chase. Get in and turn on your GoPro and let's chase these chickens in. There's at least 2 chickens out. Let's get them back in and then have a stakeout to figure out where they're getting out.
Smokey Bear chickens coming in!
We got that corner post tightened, which means it's a little tighter here. That's probably still a little up. Can we go get some garden stakes?
Look, people leave it like that. I literally put it correctly.
Yeah, well, let's put it back correct for right now and let's see if anybody gets out. Hopefully wetting it down around the edge will help drown those chickens. Out for the shop. Now to eat some of garlic from last year. That's another secret of homesteading, is— did I say what the second secret of homesteading was, or did I get interrupted? Yes, I did. Just plant. The third is just continually be working, making gifts for your future selves. Let's cook. Here's a little trick for shelling garlic. Garlic makes everything better. Well, at least every meat and every soup. Had this leftover meat and veggie soup. It was kind of light on the meat. Not good enough. So this carnivore is gonna put some leftover stew. That's not rice, is it? I ain't eating no rice. Cauliflower rice. As if the chuck roast wasn't enough, let's put this fried beef in there too. Think this could be meatier, huh?
No, it looks fine to me.
What are you doing back in here? You're supposed to be stalking the chickens.
Yes, I need a camera.
It'll be so much easier and they have not even touched the things. Pressure it, nothing.
Did anybody get shocked?
One of them did.
Well, if we use the camera, we have to go back and look at footage.
Yeah, tonight when I get the eggs, or this afternoon when I get that.
Yeah, when somebody gets out. We can't continually film though, it takes a lot of film. So the other option is to not know how they get out and go out there, and when people are out Uh, fortify the fence more. Soup turned out fantastic, although it could have used more meat yet.
Well, you just like meat.
Yeah, well, if you like it more soupy, put soup on it. Kids made some rice to go with it. You guys like planting garlic?
Nope.
But what about delicious soups with garlic in it? You like eating that? I don't like soup. I was saying something because he doesn't like soup. Poor kid. You like it?
I want it to go down.
You guys want me to tell you the secret to really liking it? Don't eat for 30 days. You could probably just skip one meal and you would really like this. The secret to overcoming kickiness: get hungry. You doing math while you—
No, I was just trying to figure out—
They're on a math kick. On their own accord, by the way. I got him doing math the other night in his free time. We don't make them do it. Why were you doing math in your free time the other day? I was bored. You must have been really bored. That's good for you. It's good for you to have basic math. We got your broccoli planted— or garlic. We got your garlic planted.
I was so confused.
Uh, we made it 75 feet. We could make another 25 feet with our own garlic, I think. If you want to.
Really? We only got 75?
Yeah, there's only 25 feet worth.
I mean, we've done 100 feet in the past.
Oh, we have? I thought we ever only did 50.
No, we always did 2, 2 50-foot rows.
Oh, well then we better go.
Am I crazy? I'm pretty sure—
No, you're not crazy. I'm the crazy one. Okay, how do you like this soup?
This soup is amazing. Now this is called stuffed pepper soup.
Oh, that's good.
And we had it this week, this week with the ladies. And so what it is, it's just like stuffed peppers, but it's all in just a soup, which is like so amazing. And this is cauliflower rice, and the person who made it said that normally she doesn't like cauliflower rice, but in this it really does well, and it's perfect.
I hate cauliflower rice.
I know, no, when I bought cauliflower flour rice at the store, Lily goes— I said, look, we're trusting that everyone has a good recipe, and it was.
Well, I added a little bit of fried onions, garlic, and ground beef. So tell me how it tastes now.
Okay, well, I liked it before, so I'm sure it's just gonna be—
well, hopefully I don't ruin it.
That's the question.
Did I ruin it? Don't take this wrong, you eat very frequently, so you are— I won't say picky Juicy?
Oh, because I'm not particular. Well, I'm not in a— I am not.
I'm in a no fasting. You have a standard.
It's so hot, you're boiling it.
12 seconds later. Well, it must not have been too worse than it was.
No, it was delicious. It didn't taste bad.
All right, good deal.
I just wish it had more peppers in it. Yeah, we ate too many peppers.
Garlic in our soup almost every day. That's the word. All right, happy day.
