In this informal vlog, two hosts travel from a desert campground near Joshua Tree to a suburban micro‑farm in Arizona called Weed ’Em & Reap (run by Danelle). The video blends a road‑trip intro, a tour of the property, and a conversation with the farm owners about how they manage a small‑scale, diversified farm in a residential neighborhood. The hosts marvel at the presence of goats, sheep, a livestock‑guardian dog, and raised garden beds tucked among houses, and they discuss the practicalities of keeping livestock under an HOA. They outline the day’s planned chores—milking goats, involving the kids in farm‑sitting, and planting an heirloom wheat variety—while highlighting the learning curve and occasional failures of suburban farming. The vlog also touches on how the hosts discovered the farm through online blogs, their sense of community with other small‑scale growers, and their broader travel itinerary across the Southwest. The tone is conversational, enthusiastic, and slightly humorous, with repeated banter and spontaneous remarks.
Chapters
Wow, this has to be record-breaking campground. Beautiful campground beauty. We found this thing called— I don't know what it's called— some app you can get on the phone and you can learn where you can camp out for free. And this is public land near the Joshua Tree National Park. Absolutely beautiful. Look, we didn't even have to unhook the car. Those stars last night though made it all worth it. Hope you saw yesterday's video. Hope you hung on till the end and saw the time-lapse of the stars. We figured out how to Shoot a time-lapse at night. Just letting the car do its cycle. Um, I don't know. Well, I hope, I hope you could gather this from the vlog. It was late when we started editing. It was like 11:30. We made it. We made it safe. The brakes did great. Loosening them up a little bit helped tremendously. Blue screen is back. Troubleshooting with the RV guy though. We're gonna figure that out. All right, let's do this.
We have arrived.
Weedemunrape, Arizona. Y'all know this, but we are in a suburban neighborhood. We are surrounded by houses. When we came in this neighborhood, I said, I cannot believe she has goats here. Of course she has chickens, but goats? It looks like a goat shed made out of a pallet. I'd like to know more about that. I've seen this before too on the tour. I really like this. Gar— tree guards made out of pallets. It looks like she might have stain-treated these or something, made them look really good. Tetherball. I wonder if it's for the goats or for the kids. Chiddlers, not the little goats. Well, maybe it's for the little goats, the kids, or for the chiddlers. Is that a chiddler attraction or a goat attraction? We're gonna have to find out. Wait a minute, we don't just have goats, we have sheep. What are you guys doing here? Don't you know this is, uh, suburbia? Nobody told them this is suburbia. I don't know what that is. We're gonna have to find that out too. It's something foodie. And a very cool raised garden bed area. Done now. Weed 'em and Reap representing with the American t-shirt. I like that. Okay, so tell us who you are and what you're about.
Well, we grow our food on an acre of land here in Arizona, and we definitely are not perfect. We have a lot of fails, but we are here for the journey of it.
Okay, let me see this. Let me see your tattoo here.
Oh my gosh, what's your tattoo mean? Well, it means that the earth— no, I don't know.
It's fake. You're just playing around. Is this fake too?
No, wait, that's our livestock guardian dog. She's a trained beast. She's so cute.
They go after her first, don't they?
She's the killer.
She can outrun the predator, can't she?
Yes, exactly.
You're the decoy.
Yes.
Okay, you distract and run.
We might have to get—
don't get too attached.
No.
What are you doing? She's saying no, don't. Okay, so your baby's safe.
Maybe we're gonna have to get another little doggie like this for Mommy.
Really? This road trip's getting to her. Doesn't it shed?
I don't know, we have to get a non-shedding one. Yeah, I don't know if I could do a dog in the house, but yeah, she's like, yeah, maybe you just need another kid. No, no, no, we've already talked about that. No, I don't, no, I don't. But this dog is so cute. So I was in there talking and we were doing— and Minnie's out here going, let me— I want to see And she comes out and she like walked with me over there and then came back. She loves me. She's so cute. She's so cute. You want to hold her like a baby? Hold the doggie. Hold her like a baby. That's your little baby. Hey, Minnie.
Two little babies together.
Well, see, and you can get away with it.
You like that dog?
You can get away with it. Yeah, she's a wild dog, run for the hills. You can get away with it out here, but like at home, we couldn't keep her outside all day. Yeah, oh yeah, that's true. I mean, well, there is the extreme heat, but other than that, like So Darnell, you're in a neighborhood.
How in the world do you get away with goats, sheep, buffalo, and little dogs all in your backyard? How are you getting away with this?
Uh, you know, we're kind of lucky that we're in an area that we can have stuff like this. I just call our farm— we have a farm on a very small scale, so it's like a mini farm. Um, we have everything that you could have on a large farm. We just do it in a more tiny, compact way.
There's no HOA shaking their finger at you?
There is an HOA, but no, we're allowed to have animals here. So yeah, there you go.
What do we got going tomorrow for morning chores?
Okay, so we're gonna do some milking. We're gonna see if you guys even know how to milk a goat. You probably don't. We're gonna probably have to teach you guys. And then we're gonna do some planting in the garden. We're gonna plant— I'm afraid you guys are gluten-free. We're gonna plant wheat. No, but we're gonna plant an heirloom variety of wheat. That we don't have experience with.
Yeah, we are We are goat sitters.
Stephanie, the milkers.
We can milk goats. We farm sit for newcomers.
We'll see if you guys can handle it. I'm not good. Justin did it actually. So the person who went with us to go get our cows, she— Justin had to watch her farm so she could go with me because she had a truck and a trailer. Oh, that's funny. So he had to.
So I'm milking a goat and watching the kids.
Yep. Wow, well, I was off. Okay, we'll see.
I got you. Go.
Okay, with some cows.
We found out about Danelle a long time ago with a blog. I believe it was you who found her. Yes, you've been following her for a long time.
I have been.
So she writes a blog, Weed 'Em and Read. How'd you find her? Do you remember?
I think I just found her from cross-promotion from other people, is what I'm getting.
Okay, and here we are. So is that surreal to be— it's a little American Farm Theory. You're visiting people that you looked up to.
It's a little strange.
We've just been internet friends till now.
I know, I know. And now we're like, I'm like at her house hanging out on her couch talking. It's kind of cool. Hey!
What you doing, buddy?
This is our boat. Yeah? No, she cannot get so close.
Okay. What's your name, buddy? I'm Ethan. Ethan. You like playing with little guys? We're used to it. You're doing a good job. Oh, you got younger cousins? No, I don't. You're doing great, buddy. They love playing with you. What game are y'all playing? I can't remember what it's called, but it's like a Viking chess kind of game. Are you playing by the rules? No. Well, then it's called the crazy game. Yeah, pretty much. What's she playing, Josiah?
I don't know.
Can you say the crazy game?
The crazy game.
Can you say the crazy game?
The crazy game.
Can you say the crazy game?
The crazy game.
What's your name?
I'm Lydia.
Okay, Lydia, thanks for playing with them.
Yeah, the kids do all the milking actually. I mean, I can milk obviously, but yeah, they head up all the chores.
Cool.
What's the benefit of having that age?
Yeah, they're earning their keep, huh? As much as they eat.
Yeah.
Hey, drink all the milk you want, buddy. Drink all the milk you want. Yes.
Whose turn is it? It's my turn. Is it yours?
After— do you, do you dread doing the, the milking, or do you love it? Tell me the truth.
Milking better because Watering takes a long time.
So do you have to water in the night too, or just milk?
We don't water at night, we only water at morning.
So do you love or hate milking? Tell the truth, we know when you're lying.
Uh, so-so.
Okay, I mean, it gives me milk, and still it's every night and it's annoying. So, and it's annoying? It's annoying. Okay, but you love the milk, you love the end product. Yeah. Okay. Good. I believe you told the truth. Um, while they finish cooking dinner, we gotta keep— we gotta quit putting this off. We gotta put our Hawaii sticker on. Arizona! Put it on there, babe. That was crazy. That was insane. Can you still believe we did Hawaii?
No, I can't.
I cannot believe it. It's such a little sticker for such a cool place. I know, such a big journey. And I think the hard— I think the, the beef of the journey is behind us. What do you think, Beck?
Yeah, I know, it's gonna be— this is gonna be on today, and then that, and well, then I think 7 more, and then Texas. Maybe it may Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama.
It's colder. It's been really cold, but that's gone now.
Okay, do you want this? Do you guys want snow? Who wants potato salad? No, they don't get snow, right? Or no, you do. If you drive 2 hours up north, you can see it. Which is like more of a high desert-ish. So you're in the desert. Whoa, wait a minute, Justin.
What?
Where'd you get that from? Is he eating mine? You're eating mine!
