Lily's 11th Birthday: Horse Crazy

Just tape it right there.

Gideon, I'll do a couple more with you and then we gotta go milk. We're dealing with the calf breaking in.

We haven't milked because we've been camping and we need the milk. How's that? Good. It's Lily's birthday.

Gideon wants to surprise her with the decorations. How's that?

Yeah, that's good.

I'll go milk and you keep on doing the surprise.

Here's the tape.

Okay, what's your role on the birthday?

Well, I made the cake, part of the cake yesterday. I'm making the ice cream cake and dinner, and then also I ordered all the gifts.

We sort of didn't order the gifts on time though. We're gonna have to do the old print it out thing. We're letting Lily sleep in. The boys did her chores this morning as a birthday present. Gideon's sneaking and decorating. How's it feel to be a mother of a, uh, She's gonna be 11.

She's 11 today. It's weird. She was— I was, I was about to give birth at this moment.

You had labored all night long.

No, it was like 1:45.

She was the easiest one.

She was.

It's 7:37. Good morning, Winnie. Are you supposed to be on the picnic table? Does that give you a better view of everything? What you got here? Wait, did you milk people? Oh my heck yeah! The fence wasn't on.

I didn't know that.

And then they busted in. We caught him at 7 PM, thankfully, and you got it on. What was it hitting at?

3.4, and that was enough.

Fix a bunch of the things that I think we're doing.

Oh, my man, good job! We're gonna separate Honey's calf tonight— not tonight, because tomorrow we got a turkey butchering. We have to set them up tomorrow. What do you want me to do here?

Oh, you could set the next net up.

All right, do we— have we mowed and string trimmed? Doesn't look like that bank's string trimmed. Is it mowed all the way down?

No, I just didn't do that part. It didn't seem to bother it over here.

Oh no, we're gonna do it. No, we're gonna do it. We gotta get that fence hot, my man. So we have to pull that all up where it didn't get mowed. How'd the sheep do while we were gone? Looks good. And how'd the cows do while we were gone? Looks good. Uh-oh, there's no quick connect on that. Oh look, I put Pulled the bucket out and look who came running. Oh, I hope that's not for the water. Pretty sure it's for this bucket. I'll be back, I'll get you some alfalfa. I don't think he gave you any alfalfa. And if, if you don't do a quick connect in there and you screw into that water valve every time, you'll, you'll wear it out. That's a good amount for only have taken the calf away at 7. Oh, Gideon, you recruited the birthday girl. Hey, birthday girl! What'd you think of Gideon's decoration job?

It was pretty good.

Pretty good? You improving on it here?

Papa, do you see what I'm showing him how to make? Paper chains.

Oh, I like it. Papa, look. Oh, look, I like how your ribbon turned out. I love that you just homemade something because we didn't have any. Papa, we got milk back.

Awesome.

Hey, you were born now, it's like 8:35. Yeah, you're 11 and 30 minutes old. How's it feel?

Good.

What's your goal for 11? Here, I'll take one. I don't know, we gotta have a vision.

Well, I want to canter on a horse.

Ah, you haven't cantered yet?

No, just trot.

What is canter? Is that faster than trot?

Yeah.

Oh cool.

And then there's gallop.

Ooh.

It's our sprint.

So canter is right before gallop?

Yeah, canter is our run. And trot is our jog. And then gallop is our, I forgot what it's called, the fastest thing. Sprint.

Sprint, yeah.

Did you already switch out the ice pack?

Cool.

Look what he got. Yeah, he ended up following me for 3 days and got his dinosaur kit. Is it everything you thought it would be? Yeah, he's unburying ancient dinosaur fossils and these clay eggs. How you gonna feed Honey and not everybody else bother her?

Just protect her from all the others.

Get her in a corner. Okay. Hey, look, she came up. This is our opportunity. Nobody else came up. We were fixing our water. Okay, good. 3 or 4 good scoops. I'll keep Flossie off. Do you enjoy that? We had to get her alfalfa. Keeps it— helps, helps keep them in milk. Mucho leche. Now that's better. I moved that because you want the float valve downhill. The water fills up the tank and turns that Oh, right there.

That is going to have kids.

Is she really? Who got to her?

Nacho.

Remember that in the beginning of summer?

Ah, how can you tell she's gonna have babies? Looks like Belle might be in heat. Nacho's on her. That's good. I hope they're not all pregnant. I mean, it doesn't really matter that much. Oh my, well, we got a little surprise. Anybody else? Well, good for you, Ryder. I'd rather have that problem, them sneaking and getting bred, than not being able to be bred. Only one of them is pregnant so far. That's better than last year where they all got pregnant by their sons and nephews. That little accident last year actually proved to be a blessing. We had babies in January instead of April. But that then gives us, what, 3 more months to grow sheep out to the harvest? It worked out. Although we don't want babies in January, we do— we have some hope we could use them earlier. Let's do February. So it worked out. We put Nacho in there September 1st, pregnant for 5 weeks. That's starting to get our babies February 1st. Gives us a— we like to take kind of a Easy month, January. That one's blind in one eye.

It's been like that a while.

Brutal. We're down to 9. We had 10. One got got while the farm sitter was here, but it was the first day he showed up and he said the fence wasn't on. Lesson learned, we've got to keep our fences on. Here it's snapping now. It's sure on now. We got to get them enough food for the rest of the day, then we don't feed them tonight. It's their last day tomorrow. I'm okay, I'm okay with 9, but let's keep it at 9. I'm done with turkeys just eating that. They're, they're so lean. I don't know, I'm kind of over the taste, just to be honest with you. So we might have overdid it once a month. I think we need a Thanksgiving bird and maybe 2 or 3, and then we can give the rest away. You keep them safe, Winnie. One more night. I admit this to you guys about turkeys because I see a lot of people, they set out to grow something and they like it, and that's good. You want to grow what's close to your heart, but give yourself a break. Your heart changes sometimes and you don't always like it, and that's okay. Even if you've built infrastructure or this and that, that's called a sunk cost. You got to move on with your life and do what's best no matter what you've invested. Maybe we just raised a couple of turkeys in the chicken run in the yard. Really, we just need to raise 4 turkeys. Probably need to raise 8, give some away if they make it. And I don't know if this whole system is worth it for 8. Be cool if we could piggyback on something else.

What if I just raised a bunch of turkeys and sold some and gave you guys Now that's a good idea.

I mean, if you're gonna have to set up a system like this for 4 or 8, you might as well run 24 turkeys. Hey, look, here comes Mom. And where there's Mom, there's Teddy. This is how we know she's coming before we even see her. Who's got you? Rebecca, is she pregnant? I feel like I see your udders more. It's not called an udder. Oh, underline. Yeah, compared to the other one, she's got a swollen underline. Is this the one that didn't get pregnant at first? Because if she doesn't get pregnant, that means she's open, and that, that's, that's one of the big O's you call for.

Wow!

Open, ornery, and old. Be honest with yourself and call it at the point. Certainly if they have two strikes. It's that one. Yes, she's— her underline's swollen, babe. Yeah, compared to this one. Yeah, it's, it's— well, unless that's the one that already gave us a baby. Look at this pig, man. Oh, pigs have no sense of delayed gratification and they knock the food right out of your pan and right onto the floor. You would have just waited, you had it in a nice pan. Upon a closer inspection, this pig looks pregnant. Her underline is swelling, her vulva is swelling. This pig does not look pregnant. Her underline is not swollen, her vulva is not swollen. So we got to find out who this is. If this is who has already given birth and given us piglets, she's a keeper. And if she's not, she's a keeper. Get pregnant, you're a keeper. But if this is who gave us birth already And this one still hasn't got pregnant.

Then that's done.

It's certainly— she's, she's in the freezer. We got to go home and look at pictures and then we'll know. Did you check the little piglets? Yeah. How much feed do they have left?

Um, I think next day they'll last.

Okay, we want to move. You can see these guys need to be moved. We're going to move them when the piglets' feeder is low enough to move. How are you guys doing? Oh wow, they got quite a bit of feed. We might have to move them before they're— before this is light. We have to figure out a way.

One who had the babies in April, yeah, it has a dot on the middle of her right flank.

Look at that, that's her right flank. There's a dot in the middle. This is the one that's not pregnant, so that means they both can get pregnant. We have two working sows. Okay, now you get pregnant again. She probably is, she's just not showing yet. Good job, way to live up to your name, Beefcake. Beefcake's a stud. Airing out our compost toilet from the weekend. Jonah's been setting up our turkeys. Shall we do the checklist? We're gonna need the trailer to get the turkeys over here and the two cages to get them so the turkeys don't jump out. So I basically go through the process to figure out what I'm missing. So that we pull them out of the trailer, we put them in the killing— uh, we need the big killing cone. Oh, there it is. Gigantic cone. Putting our hose back, runs it up and out of the way. We would have put on aprons. Now we need knives. We've cut their throats. Did you get the knives over here?

Not yet.

And we scald— I'm not sure why the skull is over here. We've got our gigantuan turkey cone. We've got a metal wire to— definitely have to tie the turkey legs down. Gut buckets, blood buckets. Rebecca, you wash and hose things down and fill them up. Let's test this scalder so we're not out here tomorrow and it not work. That's good, it's working. Water's working, spinner's working. Yep, it's a bad day if either the scolder or the plucker doesn't work. After plucking, we eviscerate. That means we have knives. Do we have shears? Yes, we have our stainless steel shears. Eviscerating, washing sink, we have Soap and towel. That's very important to me after not washing my hands properly, handling raw chicken, and then getting Campylobacter, which led to reactive arthritis. Yeah, we're careful. We got a stainless steel table. We've got a hose. That's for other people, the Holt family. I don't know if you guys know that. What's the name of their channel? Growing Up Holt. Goring up Holt is coming. We're excited about getting to know them a little bit better and butchering with them. They come and help, they go away with a turkey. Next up, the cooling off. You think we got enough in there, babe?

We'll have to put a lot of ice in it because it's cooled off— the water's warmed up to room temperature. Yeah, so it's just like with the ice bath.

I need this propane tank that goes to our bagging after the soak. We've got our drying rack. They'll dry here. We got this filled up, babe. She filled that up. There we go. All right, well, we're good. We're working. Then we bag, we zip tie the bags, we run them through the bagger. We need a wheelbarrow to haul them over. Can you run and get our wheelbarrow? Our clean one? Now that's a butchering shed. We are ready to go, and bring on the rain. We got a shed. Okay, look at this. So, okay. I've called Mark. He's gonna have to replace our tire. He says he can do it in the morning before 9. We got bedding in here. Well, hopefully it doesn't rain and get it soaked. Can you get me— get me those cages that go over it? Well, there's two of them. There's two of them in the garden. No, there's two more. These cages are awesome for all kinds of purposes. Well, to keep chickens out of the the garden and to cover the turkeys in the trailer so they don't fly out. Why are you doing that? Because getting muddy.

I can wash off.

And that's how you go in the house. You better wash off. One more chore before we go inside. We gotta check upon those sheep on the hill. Look at this! I'm so excited about this. It's just, what, 2, 3 days? They have shredded this bank. Whatever this is, they don't really like. Did they expose the bees? See one bee going around. Okay, it must be in the ground. It's not be a nest. I wonder if they got stung. Yeah, there they go. They're going right in at the base of that plant. Doesn't look like they've gone much past that, so they must be aware of the bees. You guys, you're crushing it! Thank you! Thank you. It's basically straight down and they still got on there and ate it. I love it, love it. Hey, could we use those pig panels if we can't find the cages? Keep the turkeys in. Two of those will work. Did you get the other gate? Good, my man. Where is it? Where are they? Okay, let's get them up. Okay, let's get them up so everything's ready tomorrow. That is the secret to a good butchering day— prep the day before. Birthday girl, what'd you choose for your special meal tonight?

Uh, grilled cheese and tomato soup.

He's grinning from ear to ear about that. Gideon set up the birthday chair. Another happy birthday, more ribbons. So Mark here to fix the tire. I think we might actually have a spare. Hey Mark, how you doing? I might actually have spare. The kids are saying I had it. You had one? Okay. 14 is getting harder and harder to find. Hot dog, I do have a spare. Let's see if you can do us a spare mount on there. The shed ain't working. This wood is soaked. It's soaked here at the end. I— okay, see it dripping? Ah, the rim's still good. Rim's okay.

Good.

What do you think causes such a blowout?

Old?

Yeah, old or running low.

Low on air will cause them to heat up and sometimes cause them to blow up.

Yeah, there it is.

Just ain't long enough.

Looks like we're missing a lug there and this was too long or too short. He's gonna pick up a longer one and come back and weld it. So show me what you're What have you learned so far?

Um, I learned—

This is for your horse riding.

I learned how to stop it. I learned how to make it go. I learned how to switch over my crop. I learned how to— I'm learning how to do my posting, and I'm learning how to do my, um, two-point.

What you making?

I'm now making chocolate ice cream to go on the chocolate cake. It's gonna be chocolate cake, hot fudge, chocolate ice cream, and then some whipped cream.

Oh my word. These are days I doubt my decision.

I know.

I don't think this is good. Do a carnivore run. She reminds me, if I were to take this, I would hurt for 5, 6 days. Ice cream. And what is this?

It's a bracelet set that I made.

It's a necklace, a bracelet, and is those earrings?

Mm-hmm.

What are those for?

For selling to homesteaders.

Nice, I like it. Grilled cheese coming up. I'm gonna be breaking out the griddle at home. You guys are gonna see a lot more of that here on the Burn It Up Cooking Show. Just call me the griddle guy. Just call me the griddle guy because I can cook all these at once plus my 8 burgers.

The burning up griddle guy.

The burning up griddle guy. I like it. I found my cooking stick. Griddle. Everything must be griddled. Whipped cream. The griddle guy is gonna crank it up. All right, looks like the first thing you store it proper so it doesn't get this rust. Next, I should probably get a griddle guy mat, some pine— I shouldn't use cardboard— and something to catch the grease. Where's that gonna fall? Wow, that's gonna fall right on the leg. Okay, our bacon grease to lube it up a little bit. My dinner first.

Wow, look at that, look at that, just evenness. That's the griddle for you, man.

See, my grease is catching, but it's kind of running down this ledge.

That's kind of a weird design.

Couldn't film the rest of that. It got, it got pretty crazy. This oil is dripping. It hits this leg. Some went into the pan, but then it just started splattering. Had to hold the bowl right here. I know this is not working out so far. Maybe I won't be the griddle guy.

I can make you something if the oil goes like—

what is up with that? See, it has to have a catchment pan.

Yep, there's a little spot that looks like a catch.

Is there a hook for something?

Could build a hooked up. What?

No, that's hot.

I could build a thing that goes to it.

Maybe that's a hook. Not my best work, but I didn't destroy them.

They're perfect.

Look at that, you got a birthday kombucha. How is it?

Good.

Everything you dreamed it would be?

Yay!

I know, I see what you're reaching for. You're not reaching for that, you're reaching for this. Pickles. Sauerkraut. Burger. You ready for your birthday present, Birdo?

It has to stay upside down because the wheels will fall off. Oh, I know. It's a horse trailer. It's a truck and horse trailer. Wait, watch how the wheels want to fall off.

Wait, she can't.

No, when the wheels are glued on, they're better.

You can flip it around and paint it.

Nice wrap job. Is this from Josiah?

Ooh, look, it's a bracelet stand.

Oh, that's smart because you're making all those bracelets. That's very thoughtful, Josiah. I'm gonna take you horseback riding. Yep.

What is it?

It's a shirt. Oh yeah, it's a big shirt.

Oh, it has horses. Oh.

Is it a bracelet? Grandma, it's a shirt.

This is a cowgirl shirt.

And another one, long sleeve.

Yep, you're gonna be needing that coming up.

Yeah.

Oh, whoa!

Good job! What a masterpiece of a cake. Let's see the layers of that cake. Look at that. Okay, cake, fudge, and ice cream icing. Geez, wow, look at that whipped cream. That was your invention.

Is it good?

Oh yeah, I bet. Time for birthday blessings. Gideon, you're up first.

She's a good sister, she likes the She likes to swim with me. She plays with me.

She's a good sister. She's fun to be around. She's a good little sister.

She likes it. She's hanging on every word.

Lily's a good little sister. She likes to help me in a lot of things. And one morning Lily got up and came in with her iPod light and was telling us to get up because she wanted to do the chores for you. And I remember not wanting to get up at all.

What time was it?

5:30.

Wow.

She would jump on us.

I was like, wake up!

I remember when I found out that I was pregnant with a girl, and that was very exciting. And you have always been a very good sleeper. Even when you were a baby, you slept really good, and we were very happy about that, weren't we? We used to call you our little vacationer because you slept the best and would sleep in.

I slept until 8:00 this morning.

That's right, you still are a good sleeper, and, um, you've been milking the cows since you were 7 or 8. That's very impressive. And now you're very horse crazy, and I look forward to our adventure with horses in the future. Oh yeah, with you.

I look forward to our date riding the horses towards the end of the month. Speaking of vacationer, we called you the vacationer because you sleep in so good. That's good to have on vacation. There was another thing that your mom and I noticed this weekend when we would— we were camping. Like, when we woke up, where's everybody? You know, everybody's walking, look at sitting around the fire. Not Lily. Lily is tidying up the tent. When we're making dinner, Lily's picking up different things, stacking the firewood. Making sure there's stuff there. You were just busy making sure everything was going smooth and tidy and everything was in place. That is very handy now and useful for the family and will be very useful for you in the future. I mean, that will make you very fun and useful to be around.

You're 11. I was 11 when I got my first course. You're a hard worker and you help everybody. I'm thankful. Happy birthday.

You are a hard worker and you're very industrious and you can make things. Yeah, you help Mom cook and nothing's too high up there, you can reach it.

Well, sort of. I have to climb the shelf.

Sometimes I think you need a stool, maybe a ladder. It would help and be more safe. You like to cook and you like to make, uh, cakes.

I like to cook, but I'm not made to cook, right? I like to cook on my own free will.

Yeah.

Happy 11th birthday.

All right, I hope everybody enjoyed this birthday vlog as much as we did. Be sure to join us tomorrow— turkey butchering. With the hulks. That should be a lot of fun. You excited about that? Yeah. Last bird butchering tomorrow.

Yep. All right, see you next spring.

That's right.