it's lonely

So, you know, one thing I like to talk about is things that people don't normally talk about. And let's talk about loneliness. Lily, what happened to the eggs?

Well, I had to come up and come up here. You never came back with us.

Okay, we just picked up manure off the concrete. We just picked up manure in the deep bedding. We've been scraping, sweeping, hosing off the concrete. Just sit down from there and then you can like— yeah, I told him we got to be careful here. Not to have any splash up and getting our water. We might even move the water up or something. Yeah, because this is where we need to drain all this, this water. It's work. It's a lot of work to keep up with it every day, but I like to tell people we like intensive management as opposed to intensive healthcare. You treat the animals like this, give them fresh bedding every day, or move them every day then you don't have to worry about as many health issues, and I'd much rather have that any day. How you feeling, Beck?

I'm okay.

No snowball?

No.

More contractions? Are you having a contraction right now?

Yeah, I am actually. I— it's like if I time them or if I pay attention to them, they go away.

I know. Now we're gonna be scared to call help too.

So now I'm like, well, I'm having an appointment today, so I figured, yep, I'm not going. I'm just gonna wait till she comes and we're gonna decide if we want to like try to do something to like make it go in.

Yeah.

Try to simulate it or if we're just gonna, or it might, I mean, I've had a lot of like signs that things are happening.

A lot happening today, but when is there not a lot happening today? Building the butchering shed. Mucho supplies. Massive auger. Custom metal frame. Custom metal trusses. Becky, you had the meeting with the midwife. Tell us the— tell us the news. Tell us what we don't know. You're gonna have a baby.

We're gonna have a baby sometime in the next weeks.

I know, too bad. Exactly when and we could plan our life around it.

Yeah, we have no idea again. And I'm just staying hydrated and—

Yeah. Yeah, so I got nothing on the schedule starting next week, so if you want to wait to the end of—

Starting next week.

If you want to wait to the end of Rooted—

There might be, there might be ice tomorrow night, so I'm thinking that's probably when the baby will come.

Oh.

Hey, what are you doing, Trigger? Shh, he's triggered by so many things. We should have called him Trigger. We should have.

Come here, Trigger.

Come here, this is a good boy.

Incidentally, this is very thoughtful. Somebody sent me this. ACOS. Thank you, ACOS. The Complete Book of Composting. Really, this is such a nice gift. I asked Joel Salatin on a webinar if he could have one book. This is it. And this book is expensive. This is like hundreds of dollars, the ones I found. This is an old book. They don't even print this one anymore. The Complete Book of Composting, Rodale. This is the original Rodale composting book. Look, old school. It's got old book smell. Super classy. Love this, love this. So thank you, thank you for sending me this. I'm gonna check this out, especially we're doing the deep bedding compost out there. This is gonna be cool. Oh, look. They've got a third of the roof up. All right, Jonah, let's put the calves up. A little bit of real talk with you guys as we do this. So, you know, one thing I like to talk about is things that people don't normally talk about, and let's talk about loneliness. Let's get these two gals in there. Okay, I won't. They're good. Okay, I see that everybody needs hay. Well, the sheep are good, but the cows are not. This is something people don't tell you about when they're signing you up for homesteading. It can be lonely. Hang on a second, I'm gonna make my deposit. So I mean, the very nature of homesteading— home means, I guess, you want to be successful, you want to stay home. I mean, when we first started getting into it and we started to say when we're at an event, hey, we got to go home, we got to put our chickens up, and then not long after that it was like, oh wait, we got to go home, it's like 3 o'clock in the afternoon. We got to go put our calves up. Wasn't long before our social circle just diminished, so there was a period of time there that we were just terribly lonely. I mean terrible, like almost depressed lonely. Jonah, is there water over there in the sheep? I don't think there's water in it. Is the hose on, do you think? Yeah, let's go check. This is terrible lighting here in the afternoon, forgive me. It just turns out that a lot of other people are struggling with loneliness, and they'll often ask me, how do you deal with it? How do you find community? Does that need, uh, water? I feel like that could use some water. So first thing I tell them is something that I don't think was really available to us when we started so long ago. I say seek out community online. You guys are doing it here on YouTube. Why are the network TV— why is network— you got it. Oh, okay. Why is network TV dying? What does that have to do with this? Well, network TV is dying because there's alternatives to education and entertainment that include community. So folks are going to places like YouTube, Facebook, other social media platforms, and having conversation as well as being educated and informed and entertained. Nice. While we wait for that to fill up, shameless little plug, by the way, like our Abundant Permaculture member area has got all that inspiration, community aspects, and education all in one, plus discounts and plans for things like this. Just shameless, just shameless plug for our New Year's launch. Members down till the 21st, free bonus, Old Fashioned On Purpose Planner. 10% off right now. New Year's registration link down in the description. How are we doing? Still got a ways. That's a paid online community. There are many other places like YouTube and free Facebook groups and meetup.com and those kinds of places that are totally free, and I encourage, encourage anything that it takes to find yourself some community.

It's about as full as I can. All right, I only have an inch.

All right, let's call it. Let's, let's kink it, kink it, kink it. No need to get this wet if we don't have to. And then hook it back up.

Okay.

Are you gonna drain it in case it freezes tonight? It's not gonna freeze tonight. Are you sure? Well, things change. I'll give you guys a little update on the, uh, our perimeter fences while we finish this conversation.

I want to see if I can mow it over without hitting wire. We've got all the wires.

So backing up, the first thing I tell people is it's okay to lose your current community. Like, this is a Lifestyle change, and it may mean you have to change some friendships, and that, that's gonna have to be okay. Uh, number 2, online community. Let's talk about number 3. Number 3 is probably the one you're not going to want to hear, but it's probably one of the most effective. But deep down, I think you are going to want to hear this because deep down, I think this will make you a happier person. What do we got? There's nowhere You think we can mow all the way up to the edge? Oh yeah. We had a fence here, woven wire fence, totally completely entangled. Aruna's helped us for— help remove this. This is gone.

Papa, you think we could get some trees planted along the edge of the creek, uh, to make like a shade for the cows?

Oh, I think periodically trees, like there, that old cherry tree. Uh, good. Maybe, maybe, maybe, uh, we could plant some. We definitely need more sun. We need more scattered throughout here to create a silvopasture. We're foresting our pastures and pasturing our forests. So more trees are good in the pasture for the very reason you said. You know what, I'll let you guys see the beauty of this as I finish talking. We'll walk, we'll walk and talk here. The third one, I say create community. Now hang on, it doesn't have to be as hard as you may think. All I want you to do is do what your heart deeply desires. And if you find something good, we as humans naturally want to share it. That's what you call complete our joy. That completes our joy, doesn't it? You see something funny, you want to share it. You get inspired, you want to share it. You learn something, you want to teach it. So why not, with today's tools that are generally free, generally available to you on your phone that you're already paying for, why not share what you're learning? What, what's discouraging you? What's encouraging you? Uh, the list goes on. Now that's going to be a stubborn post. My Polar Plunge spot, it's looking nice and fresh right now. After that rain.

Can I make a zip line from our treehouse to this post?

Sure, sure, if that's what you want to do. I don't know if it'll work, but that, that's great. Try it, go for it. I'll be, I'll be cheering for you. So now we have this where we can mow all the way up, we get rid of all this bramble, and we can graze our cows and sheep right up to this with our nets. Guys, we use nets now, so we don't need any of these perimeter fences. Look much better, easier to maintain. Now we started this YouTube content creation thing as a business. It was part of our business to continue to nurture the folks we had and to provide value to them and to build our audience and find ways to serve them. So to serve you guys. It doesn't have to be that way. It could just be sharing more on your favorite social media platform. Starting your own blog, starting a podcast. It doesn't have to turn into a business, although it could, and it could be a wonderful blessing. We were totally blessed when we started our YouTube business. We never saw this coming, but people, once we started putting content up, people started relating to it. And so they started reaching out, first in comments, then emails, and And then it's like, hey, can I come visit? And before we knew it, we— our cup ran over with friends and social life. One of our friends even calls us the most socialized homebodies she knows.

Let's go see the barn.

All right, let's go see it. So what else is there to add to that? Oh, okay, I do have a clip. Guys, this is fun. I have a clip talking with Jessica Sowards from Roots and Refuge when she was here. We met from YouTube. Like, how does YouTubers meet? Well, here's one story. Enjoy the story while we walk up to the pole barn. Jessica, let's talk about how we met you and what went down there. So, um, we were actually having problems with our tomatoes. Something was eating them, something strange. We actually posted in our member area, we didn't know what's going on, and, uh, I think that's how we found out it was a hornworm.

Yes.

And somebody said, oh, well, you should go watch this video.

Hornworms are so hard to spot in the day because they're green, but they can annihilate a tomato plant like in a day.

Yeah, yeah. And we went over there and it was somebody that looked very familiar.

I had already followed you on Instagram.

Yeah, we had talked to someone.

Yeah, and I was already following you. Oh, that's true.

For you. So when you saw the video though, then you recognized—

I was like, oh, I know this person. I didn't know they did YouTube.

And so we trusted you and we went and got this light, black light flashlight. Yeah, we still have it, and that's for going out there at night. I bet we have it somewhere if my children haven't.

Yeah, I sometimes have to get new ones.

Well, we, we, we start, you know, you can search for those things at night, and we were just so happy with, with the results and finding this hornworm and getting this light, and we wanted to help our audience, so we shared it. And then you saw it.

Yeah.

How did you see it?

Well, as soon as it happened, I mean, my channel is still pretty small.

Yeah. How small was it?

I mean, less than 10,000. I mean, it was, it was just a couple thousand subscribers. I think it was still on the smaller side.

I felt like maybe you were getting 1,000 views a video?

Yeah, it wasn't a ton. And at that point, that video was starting to pick up, the tomato videos and different stuff like that. And then all my viewers are just like all in my comments, hey, you're just on this channel! And I was like, are you serious? My kids were so thrilled. It was really exciting.

So then you went and watched it?

Yeah, I did.

Had you already watched our show?

We did, yeah.

So how was that to be on our show after watching?

It was really cool. It was kind of like, oh wow, this is It was the— it was a feeling of being like, wow, I'm kind of part of this thing. I'm in here, I'm in this community.

Uh, you know, it took— it took some time to go from a few comments back and forth on Instagram to then making a video about something you've done to help us with, and then hearty handshakes and hugs. Yeah, here we are. Do you feel like you're the ultimate authority on tomato hornworms? When you posted that, you're like Boom! Yeah, I'm it. I know everything there is to know about tomatoes and their predators. No, you didn't know that, did you?

I just said, hey, I learned this, it works, and I want to share it. And look what it brought.

Did you see this community aspect coming?

Not at all. Not a little bit. Like, I had no idea the richness of friendships that would be on the other side.

Yeah.

I just thought, hey, we're gonna do this thing, we'll help some people, it'll be really good. Like, but I just did not anticipate what a rich community.

Yeah. And I dare to say that, that maybe some of the more public friendships like Art and Bree and So the Land and the Holler Homestead and all that, but also, dare I say, community with people that we don't even know about, like that don't have this big audience. That you— because you've been sharing, you've also developed friendships with non-influential people.

Oh, I've got a, I've got a family— a girlfriend of mine that's coming, and her family is going to do a road trip over the summer and come visit us. And she has a— she has now started a YouTube channel, but she didn't have one when we met. But she watched ours and came and met us, and we ended up just clicking and talking and all of that stuff. And I just always tell people, you should you should just get it out there, get connected, because it's so valuable. It's like we have a world full of neighbors now, you know, because of social media and because of this community and these friendships and relationships. And people understand when you go through the hard stuff.

I hear you. Yeah, that's what I was saying. Like, you don't feel like you're the ultimate expert on tomatoes, and you're not below texting a friend. Yeah. And when you get cows and you have a little problem You can text me and get a quick answer that, yeah, maybe it's hard to decipher out on Mr. Google Pants, right? It could be confusing sometimes.

Yeah. I think something that we get to do in creating content is like right now we get to pull other people into this conversation, and they might not have the ability to leave their living room, and they might not have the ability to leave their farm, they might not have the ability to create content.

Yeah.

But when we share and open this up and we create the community, there's place through technology for them to take a seat at that table and learn all these things still and have access to them and be a part of it. And I value that.

That's a good point. It's like they're standing right here.

Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's crazy. Yeah, it is. It's amazing.

All right, what do you, what do you think so far? They've got like one more panel after the clear ones. The long-term vision for us, they're putting sides boards up because, guys, you've probably been wondering what all this lumber is doing out here. We're turning— we're getting boards from our own land. We're gonna get a sawmill here, a mobile sawmill here, and create our own lumber. This is in the spirit of Grandpa's barn. I talk about me being Big Papa and giving gifts to my grandchildren I don't even know. Well, Grandpa Henry didn't even know me. I don't even think he had it planned this way, but this whole barn was a wonderful gift to me. We're parking our tractor in here. We're gonna have— speaking of community, perhaps more workshops, community events in here. And well, we'll move the tractor over there, we'll move the cattle trailer over there, and we open this up. This is old wood from the farm. They hired a sawmill. That's the old corn crib. Grandpa built this almost 100 years ago. Can you believe that? And here we are enjoying it. Well, he bought the farm in 1932, so I'm I would assume he built this in the '30s. It's the '20s, so we're 90— we're only 10 years away from this being 100 years. He built it with tin. That is not the original tin, it has had to be replaced. Uh, but this— he had a vision for an office upstairs, which Jonah turned into a playhouse, which is cool. I bet Grandpa Henry would like that. Old locust posts from the land. We hope we hang our pigs right here when we're eviscerating them. Sheep too. But that over there is mainly going to be our butchering shed, and we can permanently set up our chicken butchering supplies. We can have our stuff for, for pigs. It can be easily washed out with concrete, so I'm excited about that. This is an old corn crib. They used to store corn in here to dry out, and they would feed the animals from it all year round. Your kids, I hope they get to meet me, but if they don't, tell them that one's for them in the spirit of Grandpa. Yeah, and the pole bar. I'm really racking it up to them. I hope I make it to see their face when they're old enough to enjoy it. The sun is about to set. We're about to eat supper. I can't think of a better happy ending then to park the tractor in the shed. There's no electricity over there. Ah, we're gonna have to eventually get electricity over there just for handiness, but also we have to keep this thing plugged in. It wasn't plugged in, was it?