In this 30‑minute YouTube vlog, Victor Justin Rhodes takes his family on a road‑trip to Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farm to compare his own small‑scale regenerative practices with those of his mentor. The video opens with a light‑hearted family scene— his sons Josiah and Gideon debating whether to join the trip— and quickly shifts to Rhodes recounting his early entrepreneurial ventures (selling Saint Bernard puppies) and his evolution into a home‑based farmer. He explains his farm’s deep‑bedding system using wood chips harvested from a recent hurricane, describing how the chips capture manure and urine, creating a sanitary composting environment for cows, pigs, and chickens. Upon arrival at Polyface, Rhodes tours the massive chicken‑in‑a‑greenhouse operation, the wood‑chip‑bedded cow pens, the pig “Pigport” system, and the on‑farm sawmill and water infrastructure. He contrasts the scale and specific design choices (e.g., mobile feeders, Everflow waterers, guard geese, rabbit‑chicken stacked racks) with his own micro‑Polyface setup, noting both similarities and differences. Throughout, he intersperses commentary on his mentor’s libertarian‑Christian‑environmentalist identity, recent political visibility, and the broader resurgence of regenerative agriculture. The vlog also serves as a behind‑the‑scenes look at Rhodes’s content‑creation workflow for his YouTube channel and the Abundance Plus community, including discussions with his driver‑assistant Austin about video ideas, equipment glitches, and plans for future monetization. The episode concludes with a light‑hearted “Super Bowl” dinner scene, emphasizing the blend of family life, entrepreneurship, and farming philosophy that defines Rhodes’s brand.
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Aw, I invited Josiah to go on this trip with me because it's actually his turn. We do a rotation. But then when it came down to it, he didn't really want to go. Gideon, on the other hand, was begging to go. Don't you love that stage when the family is the kid's entire life? Yeah, we're still in that beginning. Josiah was for it at first, and then we realized— then he realized what day we were going, and he's like, oh, that's, uh, soccer with my friends, that's a Super Bowl party with my friends. And then it's like, have fun, Dad. Happy day! Welcome to another life of a home-based entrepreneur. But you haven't heard me say that one yet, have you? If you come to think about it, I was an entrepreneur long before homesteading, even way back when I was 14 years old selling Saint Bernard dogs just to fuel my habit of interest in Saint Bernard dogs. I sold puppies. Yeah, it actually— I did that for a while and it actually got me through college debt-free. My roundup before I go: cows on deep bedding. It's getting a little sloppy in there, like the boys need to bring in some wood chips. I've seen sloppier my mentor Joel Salatin at Polyface Farm. That's where we're going today. Hopefully we'll be able to go to find his cows. Hopefully they're still on deep bedding. We can compare. I learned this system from him. Let's get a shot of it in case we can go see, in case we can find his cows today. Wood chips, that's the base. This year we were able to get them off our own farm from all the trees falling down from Hurricane Helene. He too gets them from his own farm. They manure on this. A cow will manure 50 pounds a day. Not only does wood chip capture that manure and absorb it, urine too, making it sanitary. Eventually that mix— compost or wood chips, which is a carbon, and nitrogen, which is— or manure, which is a nitrogen mix— and you have compost. Good top of the morning to you, bud. Top of the morning. You know, I have my water right here. Heenan steps in it. Let's go see how Joel does his water on deep bedding. I know about the deep bedding concept, but then it's these little things that I didn't quite— I didn't quite glean from them yet. Let's do that today. Sheep all right? They don't get in it as bad as the cows dirty it up. I'm excited. I'm going to the best farm in America today, Polyface Farm. Joel Salatin, my mentor, my original mentor. In farming, read all the books, and now today a continual mentor. I'd like to say, at least with my animals, we're a micro polyface on a small scale, homestead scale. I also learned this system from Joel, the concept of just keeping your chickens in a greenhouse in the winter. They fertilize, create soil during the winter. They're happier, they're dry. And then in the spring, move them out and plant your heat-loving crops. Total sense. More better use of some space. I learned a guard goose from Joel. If you have any questions about this, I think I have this dialed in. I'm happy with the water, 15-gallon waterer, heat in it, keep it from freezing. I'm happy with the ChickShaws moving around, but we'll get a comparison. He does it on a grander scale. He's doing a lot more chickens in a little bit of a space. It's commercial. Egg farmer. Do chickens like moldy cheese? Share that with TikTok. They like that cheese. Now, I didn't learn pig gardening from Joe. I don't think he does that because I think he just buys feeder pigs in the spring, and then he has the harvest in the fall. He might do it all year round, but in winter he's got them on deep bedding like the cows. He actually has them on deep bedding after the cows to better stir it in. He buries corn in there, uh, under the wood chips at each interval of adding wood chips, and then the pigs just go crazy stirring it, therefore stirring his compost pile. But I did learn this, and the Pigport is a mini version of what Joel does with pigs. We keep up to 2 pigs in there, maybe 3 or 4 feeders. This would normally be closed like that side, and we would just add wood chips every day. Right now they're on a guard till job. Pretty soon though, we're putting them back in here. They've tilled in here. They're pretty much done. They're done about what they're gonna do. They're just gonna start compacting after this, and we got to get this ground covered. Nature's modest and wants to be covered. So that's a project when we get back. You're out and about. Look who else likes Cheese. No gusta? He's looking for anything. What'd you get? What is it? I couldn't see what that was. We're not due to O'Polly Face till tomorrow, but it is a 6-hour drive. We'll film Joel in the morning. I figured let's get some content today. Let's get there early enough that we can go around and get some B-roll for Austin, get some footage for the vlog. Let's compare what we've seen this morning to what Joel has. Remember my introduction this morning as an entrepreneur? Yeah, we're on an entrepreneur venture here, grabbing some content with Joel for the YouTubes, but also a show for Abundance Plus. Let's fill these up then. In the morning, Joel identifies himself as the Christian libertarian environmentalist capitalist lunatic farmer. Yeah, so 6 things. We're gonna go through all 6 of those things and talk about what's on his heart related to those, and I bet the Libertarian section. We're going to talk a little— we're going to talk a lot about his— he's been asked to be an advisor for Thomas Massie, I think. So Joel Salatin, I think for the first time, is getting an official voice in the government. That's a good thing. He went to the Maha dinner and everything, so he He's been to the Maha dinner. I've seen him interviewed by John F. Kennedy Jr. Joel's one of those original Mahas. He's been working on making America healthy again probably for 50 years. Just so happened that now it's become cool. Making America healthy again has become cool. Organics, regenerative farming, and the OGs are like, well, here we are. Where you been? Welcome everybody to the party. Nice boots, bud. They're my boots. Hey, why don't you want to go with me? Why don't you want to go with your old man? I don't want to drive, what, 12 hours? 12 hours and 2 days, man. A few words, but it gets straight to the point. Any other reasons? And I also want to watch the Super Bowl. I also want to go to soccer. Who you pulling for? I don't know. Who's in it? Eagles. Oh, you don't know who's in it? We're not big football fans, but it's fun to watch the Super Bowl. All right, bye-bye. Bye, you little squirt. Hi, you little squirt. What'd you say? Did you say I love you? Yeah, I love you. There's 3 dots. Bye, Lily. Boy, it looks like y'all are in good hands. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Got Polyface in there. Got it in there. How you doing, chauffeur? You looking alive? Looking alive. You didn't stay up till 2 AM watching the fight, did you? No, I decided not to. Okay, good. You're adulted. Yeah. And we're gonna miss the Super Bowl today. I know, all kinds of adulting today. What kind of Americans are we? We're Americans getting it done. About a third way there. I got my gas pumper. Diesel, you pumping it? Hey bud, how you liking the trip so far? Good. You got a little snack on you, huh? You got a little snack. You getting Papa time, huh? Hmm? Or you just watching the boob tube? Hmm? That's okay, I'm working. We got our pro driver, Austin. The little thing's not working, so he's having to hold it. And then you can go pee, okay? Yeah. Hey, what an appropriate shirt. I know. I just noticed that. Yep. Okay, we're gonna go hang out with the Lilliput Tick Farmer. Yeah, excited for it. Himself. What you drinking? Coffee and milk. Is it keeping you alive? Awake? Yeah, alive and awake. Alive and awake. Yeah, it is, isn't it? Been getting a ton of work done. Thank you, Austin. Abundance Plus member text, Abundance Plus community area questions answered, social media uploads, and now a chicken book. iPad with a keyboard. We're gonna see if we can get it working. He's got his own theater in there. Couldn't get the keyboard working with the iPad, so we're on the old writing a book with an iPhone. Somehow I just got it working. The glitches just disappeared. Time flies when you're working. What'd you think about that whole time, Austin? Uh, just video ideas. You didn't even listen to music. No. What's your best video idea you came up with during that? Well, I'm thinking on that whole, uh, you know, what I'm gonna do with my first $100 from YouTube. It's gonna be good to see. He made his first $100. What's he gonna do with it? We have arrived, and good news: chickens, pigs, and cows. I've seen them. I can see pigs and chickens from here. The cows are on the way in, so we're gonna get to be able to see see all the animal operations in the winter. So many chickens! I bet this is a 100-foot coop greenhouse, and the chickens go back. There's hundreds of chickens in here, probably at least 300, one per, uh, 3 square feet. Very deep wood chips, probably a foot. They have both sides open. Nest boxes throughout. They don't have any perches. Mobile feeders. What do you think, Gideon? About what? She's here every day. She's here every day. Isn't much different than home, huh? You having a good time? How many eggs you got? Uh, this is probably about maybe 18 dozen. Okay. What's that? That's their wood boiler. It's just old school. Their own sawmill for creating all their own lumber on farm. You reckon they're curing it right there? What do you think they're doing? Getting ready to haul it somewhere. On their hay wagon. Another chicken. Actually, there's 1, 2, 3. This one, they have the rabbit classic rack and house. The rabbit's above, the chicken's below. The rabbit's manure down, the chicken spread it into the wood chips. I gotta film this. Even at Polyface Even at Pally Face, a chicken gets out. On location, right next to the— we need to start doing that, right? Oh, ducks on deep bedding. Also this fancy lid, just a tin on a wooden frame. Yeah, come and bring the, bring the feed and drop it. It's so smart. Instead of hauling the feed every day, just having a feed storage out by the animals. The most dramatic of all livestock animals. Okay, pigs on found deep bedding in the greenhouse too. Happiest can be. Hey, are these mountains, Austin? Are these mountains? I'd consider it a mountain. Yeah, you come from the Piedmont, North Carolina, right? These are mountains. These are hills. Finally. But first, Huh, even a pig gets out of polyface. What I really want to see is how they're watering their cows in the winter. You want to film? Yeah, I've already been filming something. Gary's got a, uh, I thought about doing this too. He's got mobile hay feeders in, and that's going to help spread the manure around. Say if they were only feeding in one spot It concentrates the manure there. And there's a cow. Okay, so happens to the best of us. Reassurance to all of us, we're doing okay. It looks like their water is the original Everflow waterer, the creek. It's on the other bottom. Little sacrifice area here outside so you guys can get sun, I imagine. And we have some finished bedding. Right there. And right behind me, with the wood chip lot, just a shed full of wood chips. More pigs, same kind of setup, must be different ages, and they look a little smaller. Imagine with me, you're a homesteader, you want to scale up into market farming. We're talking about a 10-foot by maybe 20-foot, maybe 30-foot. And how many pigs you got in there? 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, probably 15 or 20 pigs. An auto feeder in the middle, auto waterer on the side, the wood chips undercover right next to it. You just come in and throw it. It's not that much harder to raise 20 pigs than 2. Smells fresh. They seem to have plenty of room. They bunt— they bunch up anyway. You guys can see this. It's homesteaders. You can see this, just the shed made from Wood from the land. No, no, no hangers for the gates here, just tie it with these wires. It's like one of their favorite tools around here. We're at the little, uh, cottage that Polly Face Farm rents out. Real near, real close. There's not anything too terribly close, so it's really good that they've started this. They have a tiny house and then a cottage. Tiny house wasn't available. Oh, that's cool. Rebecca would like this. You can shut off the internet right here. Look at this, old school. Hey, they may not have streaming, but they might actually have TV. Yeah, remember TV? We might get to watch the Super Bowl after all, huh? Got a satellite out there. Okay, let's do it. It works. Austin, you be in charge of pulling up Fox. I'll be in charge of making dinner. How about that? Welcome to the Burn It Up Cooking Show, travel style. We got homegrown burgers from home. That's all we're gonna eat. We're carnivores tonight. We're making it easy. We got the fan on, it's sucking up the smoke. It's working. Cast iron from home, stainless steel spatula from home, homegrown butter, real travel Redmond salt, and it's handy traveling with a tech guy. He sucked his laptop up. We're gonna get this Super Bowl. Be free.
