In this vlog, Victor Justin Rhodes (Speaker A) walks viewers through a day of addressing chronic front‑yard flooding on his family farm. He outlines the problem – water pooling like a spring – and proposes a multi‑step mitigation plan that includes digging a ditch, installing a culvert, and replacing a French drain, while also considering a turnaround area for trucks, a future shed pad, and using wood chips from land clearing for firewood. The crew arrives with an excavator, quickly installs the culvert and begins work on the French drain. During excavation they accidentally strike a water and electric line, causing a temporary loss of water and power; the team locates and repairs the broken lines, replaces PVC, and restores service. Interspersed throughout are routine farm chores: herding escaped chickens back into the coop, milking early, moving firewood, and later moving a flock of sheep to a new pasture. The video ends with the crew finishing the gravel pad for the future shed, the utilities back online, and the family reflecting on the progress with a light‑hearted, optimistic tone.
Chapters
Our front yard is prone to flooding and big rain events. Look what I've uncovered. It's like a spring. Water's just flowing out of there. How about— well, we did a little ditch here, but how about a little bit of a bigger runoff to keep water out of there? Just across the street, we have a potential turnaround for big trucks. We get feed orders. He's backing down. I don't know, every month-ish or so on big trucks, and they have nowhere to turn around. What if they help us remove this stump and we put road bond down and we have a tractor-trailer turnaround right here? And just up the way from the stump, wonderful resources of wood chips from our land clearing project. This is going to be firewood. How about a landing pad here for a farm-built handmade shelf— shelf? Shed from wood from the land, kind of in the spirit of Grandpa's old barn. Something that we're enjoying almost 100 years later. And right behind the house, it's fine now. We haven't had rain in several days. But over the winter, this is a mess. The ground here next to our house is lower than the ground out there. So how about a gradual grade to slope the land away from our house and not to it? You ready for this today? Who's coming? Um, can you say the excavators are coming?
I found two.
All right, you two, let's go do the chores. Oh, you want to say it now?
Yeah.
What do I say again? Say the excavators are coming.
The excavators are coming.
Well, that'll do it. Our fat hens all got out yesterday. I suspect that's where, especially since this is all scratched up. There's two hens I guess never went up way out there. Let's go get them. The problem is they get all the way to our house and start scraping up the mulch around the elderberry bushes and the blueberry and raspberry bushes, and they can end up in Mom's garden. Bug out of it.
They're getting the bugs.
Yeah, that's true. This might be wishful thinking to herd two chickens way out there in this— why? Oh, this way. Get in. We're herding them that way, so get behind them. Well, if we can catch it, chase them that way, we're good. Oh, here you go, that way.
Oh yeah, I got it.
I was lucky. We fixed our fence, we got the chickens back in there.
Let's let them out.
Well, good morning guys! You come to see the action? Good morning, how's everybody? We're here milking a little bit early. The trucks— it's 8:20, they're supposed to be here at about 8:30. If we milk early, we can spend more time with them. Let's do this, Lily. Holy smokes, Lily, they're here! I think they're here. It's a truck with one of the culverts. Yeah, boy, they make quick work already.
First up, they're cleaning out this overflow for the pond and they're installing a culvert.
Holy smokes, 20 minutes— just like 20 minutes later. It's amazing what you can do with a big machine like that. A culvert, but it's still burned. To try to run runoff water from the mountain back down to our creek before it gets to our parking area. He's digging around it, getting it up by its roots.
Is it tough?
Yeah, it's got lots of roots. Look, it's extending all the way out here.
It's a big job.
Just like that, that tree's gone. Smoothing it up. What do you think? You into this too?
What?
You into this too? Kind of. This is exciting. You like this? Maybe you get to ride later. Next, we're looking for the— yep, the French drain here. We're gonna replace that French drain, Fred. Yeah, that wasn't too deep, was it?
No.
There's your water. That wasn't deep, was it? Shoot. Well, all was going good until we hit the water line, which includes the pump electric line. So we're out of water. I left them down there. They were looking for the— they found one end of the electrical line, they're looking for the other, and I'm pretty sure they found both ends of the water line. Hopefully they'll have it figured out by the time I get back down there. You know, I feel terrible about this. I was like, Rebecca, I feel sick. We didn't think to— we didn't think about that. She said, don't worry, your dad did too. And I remember that he did this too. for that French drain. And yeah, we were out with water probably for days, but thankfully I think we're gonna get this nipped in the bud today.
All right, that's good.
Got the water in there. Let's see if they've had any progress finding this line. We found it.
We think it's broke back that way.
Oh really?
Because we found the end of it where it broke in this right there.
Okay, we're thinking it's— oh snap, it pulled it out. They found the power line, but this is 5 feet further than the break, so it must have pulled and broke down there too. So they're having to unbury the supply line to see where else it broke. Yep, look, that's where my dad would have broke it. Gotten it patched. You already found it?
Look!
Oh, the water's coming out.
Yeah, it's all over. We're gonna have to dig it all up.
Oh, did you see the line or did you just see water coming out?
Water.
There's the brake. It's at a joint. You found your pipe. They found the hole anyway. Think that's the end of the brakes?
Yeah, I think so.
Do y'all have the PVC?
We'll have to go get a piece of pipe. We've got everything but the pipe.
All right, they're running to the store to get some PVC repair. Uh, they found it. That's good. It's Good news, electrician can come. It's all good. You're gonna move— they gotta move all, all our firewood logs, all our wood chips, because that's gonna be a— they gotta flatten it out for a pad for a shed. He's almost done. Probably 45 minutes.
He's so fast.
Now a pad for our shed, and the electrical and plumbing is back, or it's here. Yep, new line right in there. What do we say, Fred? Got it under control?
I hope so. We're trying anyway.
I think that's the culverts. Well, look at that, you got the line fixed. Yep, got the electrical fixed. They're gonna take a little lunch break. I'm gonna bring Fred some raw milk. It's been decades since he's had that. What do you think, Mark?
That's great, it's really good.
Good.
I don't drink a lot of milk anyway.
It's good. Did you used to have this when you were a kid?
Yeah, yeah, I ain't drunk none probably 45, 50 years. Wow, tastes like cow. That's good, good and cold.
Yeah, lunch is over. They're thinking the plumber's glue has cured. Time to turn it up. All right, I turned it on. They said I don't got anything yet. I mean, maybe it takes a minute. There's water here, but is that just water in the line? I know it goes a little harder than that, so that might be water in the line. Okay, it tripped it. I turned off the wrong thing. I think I turned on the wrong thing. I think I turned on— I think I turned off the barn instead of turning on the pump. So there we go. Try right here. I don't know, maybe a little more. Anything yet? Okay, good. What have you gotten into? What have you gotten into? He told me to turn on the water just to get any dirt and plumbing gook out, so we're gonna just let that run for a while. Now that's a king of the hill pow!
Play with us, please.
Hey, I'll do one. We've left some for the electrician to patch both areas. They broke in both areas. We've got it turned on, it's working. They've smoothed this out. Somewhat. And then they have a pad here leaning that way to let water drain off. Future shed right here. I guess we're serious about it now. He started the graveling process. This is looking good. It's quitting time for them. We gotta leave this exposed for the electrician this evening, finishing this tomorrow with the gravel. I think this will be real nice. The boys are setting up for the sheep, which we'll do once the heavy equipment gets out of here. I don't want to scare them too bad. So once they get out, we can— because we're going to bring the sheep way out from that field, way out there across this road and up there behind the old farmhouse. That's one way to move a trailer. This afternoon we've set up for the sheep move. The boys got the fence up behind the old house. Rebecca's already gone out there to lure them. This is one of the bigger moves, but they've been doing really good so far. Uh-oh, they've gotten out into the path, the wrong pasture. Come on, we're going back, we're going back. There we go, we're going back, we're going back, we're going back. Come on, here they come back. All right, good.
Now maybe they'll follow you.
Hey, hey, I wish they'd go. There we go, there we go. These two are gonna try to go, but you gotta go around. There you go, there you go.
Good.
All right, good. Okay, that's not gonna work. Just, uh, Okay, she had to drop the pail. He's picking on her.
Come on, let's go.
Funny, he's not giving me any problems. Bless her heart, she's so kind. Come on, come on, let's go, let's catch up. The sheep are still on the line. They're about to get out of the pasture. We'll see how it goes. Okay, they backtracked. Thankfully they didn't jump out of the net or the lane. Keep calling them, keep calling them, call them. Moose is blocking the way. Okay, there they go, right behind her. Let's keep them on track. They're eating our grapevines. Time out at the grapes. Think you got it, huh?
