One Answer to Food Shortages Is In the Backyard

You ready to go? Okay, see that? I don't know, 2 days of eggs need to be washed. Hey, you guys, don't forget to take the eggshells to people. Important to us to keep those eggs flowing, uh, which includes keeping chickens in. Do you think your boots dried out by now? Because it's gonna be a wet day. They're not dried yet. Get in. You gotta promise me not to go in the water with your boots, honey. This is taking days because we haven't had the sunshine. You are gonna have to wear those play shoes. Good morning, Ryle.

I came out right when we went outside. I can't move.

So these are eggshells for calcium for these guys. They get chick starter feed, but doesn't have any calcium in it like layer feed would. So we have to give them eggshells. Are you gonna help Lily?

No.

That's nice of you. What's that for? What, tent stakes? Oh, okay. Yeah, they're, they're in there on the— on the— it should be in there on the shelf. You want to turn on the light in here?

There is no light.

What happened to it? Okay, are you getting the batteries?

Yeah, let me test them.

There's 3 chickens that are getting out. Some people might think it's normal that chickens get out. No, it's common, not normal. It doesn't have to be this way. The problem with chickens getting out is they're not laying eggs where they're supposed to be. They're eating our grass seed. Look. A lot of our pasture seed did come up, but you know, if they didn't eat the seed, they get in here and scratch, and they're gonna eventually eat mom's gardens. This is a real problem. We gotta keep the chickens in. All right, let's test this, guys. See, that's blinking green, green. Okay, so we clipped these guys' wings. This is a high fence. We tightened these fences up yesterday, even switched the birds to different flocks. They still got out. Well, that's our problem right there. Hey, hang on.

I could touch that and I wouldn't be freaking out.

Grandma saw one of them yesterday. Okay, okay, you messed it up. Okay, so now we're going to test this Energizer to see if it's the Energizer. It's only hitting at 6.0, so that's not a real strong Energizer. I wonder— let's test these batteries. Why don't you guys, while I'm doing this, walk around and tighten this fence up. See where it's hitting and it's— it's a wet day and the fence is sagging. It's full battery. Why is it not? All right, so that doesn't like— do we have a new claw? See, this is probably not right. We're having to hook it up with a little metal strand. It's hoping just to be able to switch some batteries and be done, but we need to get new clamps. Josiah, straighten it up good, Jonah. Make it look like the Premier One catalog. Those fences look good in that catalog. How much time do we have till milking time? We probably burned up our extra time. We got 10 minutes, guys.

Hey Jonah, look what I found. Is that a claw?

Yeah. So you're going around and staking it down where it's sticking up at the bottom. Yeah man, this is looking good. 3.4, 3.9, 3.8, almost 4. That should do it, Jonah. That should call for more respect. Because of the lay of the land, we have a sag net sitting on the ground grounding this out. Got a red blinking light. Oh shoot, it's one of those— I'm sorry, we just need another battery. It's one of those that need two. Fingering half red, that's an indication that you got half your battery load. Sure enough, half full. Why is that not pulled tight right there? First of all, let's put this— these in diagonal. Let's follow suit with this one, even more diagonal. All righty, much better. Still not Premier One catalog, so let's do this. Closer, closer. If they just got out and putzed around in the pasture, great. But they putzed around at the house. Did you bring water too? They need water. This is what I expected. I expected to come out here, replace some batteries, straighten up some fence. And be done. We have a green light.

Green light.

Oh, and I'm beeping again. Almost 12. Let's put it on the fence and then test that. 6.2. Woo! Good morning. Hey, I think some of the culprits are in here. Some of the escape artists, they're gobbling that up. You guys needed that. We have extra batteries so that we can, uh, get these charging. And operation keeping chicken in continues with phase— was this 2 or 3? Uh, with getting the fences hot. See if that does it. Really, I don't know if there's another option after this besides besides culling them. So let's pull for those hens. Guess what? I'm glad I caught you. Don't bring Moose in. Oh, did you already let them out?

Look, I let them out. The mamas went ahead, so I let them out, and it's working beautifully. They're coming now.

Uh, we were gonna wean Moose, so it's gonna be impossible to herd them back in the sheep. So I guess we won't wean him today. Tomorrow, don't put him up, okay? Or don't let him out. He'll be with the sheep for what, 2 to 4 months? Why are you getting on there? You lucky dog, you got one more day. You got one more day to milk. Look how loose this collar is. That's not— I don't know if that's that bad. It could be tightened up. But hey, bring our hole punch there Mom got us. I think this is the right hole punch. Hmm, I don't know, I was expecting it to come out. What am I doing wrong? Maybe I twist it? Huh? Hmm, gotta go on both sides. Dude, where's my Leatherman? It's not on me. Do you have my Leatherman? Why does it go in there crooked? Yeah, I remember when my dad used to do this. I guess that leather eyelet just would pop out. Squeezing hard, moving it around. Mob out. Why? There it is. All right, little man, let's see if we got enough for you. You're so calm. You got stud muffins, uh, calm nature. I like it. Oh yeah, look, I did it. Okay, happy to say I'm getting on cows at 8:30 instead of 8:45. She's trying to get caught up. We shoot for 8. Oh boy, scoop.

All right, what did Papaw do all summer?

Um, they probably tended to the farm. This summer was probably more like your all-time Posse, I just want to say a special thank you. You know what? Hey, oh, do be careful. Do be careful. Oh, do be careful. Oh, oh no, don't do that. Don't do that. Not with the milk right there. There you go. Thank you. Extra thank you. Strong 2 gallons. That's a lot of food right there. Thank you. And she just gives it all. I don't have to put the calf on to trick her to get it more out. She just Oh, Flossie, you're the best! You're the best! You're the best!

That means your offspring will be the best.

That's right, her offspring will be the best. Hey, how's it going?

Good. Oh, he's tired. His tail is waggling.

We put in ice packs yesterday. Oh yeah, look, they haven't melted a bit. There's not as much pressure on them. I just finished milking, put up Phyllis's Uh, also a good almost 2 gallons. We— I just noticed something though. There's no chickens. It's working, it's working! Watch me say that and I'm gonna come down and see chickens. There's no chickens about. Chickens? Oh, it's working! Let's clean up our bonuses here. Manure's Look what's involved in this pig operation. Food scraps, an old squash, and milk, and water. I guess I don't need water. They're gonna have some. Come on, ladies.

Whoa!

Scare us all. Why do you do that? Well, we know it's working. It didn't knock it down. Something didn't knock it down. Let's try the squash diversion. I just did that so it won't roll. They can break in it themselves, but it rolls. Look, they're into that, man. They liked that. Put it right there where it's flat. But this is better. And they go— look, they go right for that chicken. There's chicken in there for them. Good. When we need to move them out there, we're getting to about the perfect disturbance. Right here is perfect disturbance. Too much and you get weeds, too little and you get brambles. I think it's just right, right here. We got a little bit of work to do there, but I think we're certainly on track to move them out. Thursday. Trying to look at all this for our silvopasture. The pigs have made it easier to get in here now, cleared some of this underbrush. I don't think we're saving any of these particular trees. They'll all turn into wood chips. They have no idea that I got one more treat for them. This is icing on the cake. Go still. Go quiet still. Well, quiet's a strong word, but still. So you remember what I said yesterday? It's so interesting. Remember what I said yesterday, how I think I'm making a prediction that food growing interest is going to be of more interest in this, like possible food shortages and stuff? It just makes sense. I'm here checking my member area in the Facebook group, and guess what they asked? Is anyone upping their food production as a result of the current craziness in the world? Yes, these people get it. And actually, there are many people— there are many people saying yes to that. Look at that, it's a hot topic, guys. It's a hot topic inside, uh, our Facebook group there. Proud of you guys, proud of you guys. It just makes sense. I mean, it can be, it can be less expensive, it's healthier, it's more convenient. Like, there's— that's, that's my grocery store. So it's more convenient, but also it's becoming, you know, more of a sure thing. Like, our, our seeds, our cows, our chickens, they don't really care what's going on in the larger world. They still need to be milked, they're still putting out that milk, they're They're still giving eggs. They're just doing their thing, largely unaffected. No, unaffected, not even largely unaffected, unaffected. Our grocery store keeps on going. So yes, I'm proud of you guys, all you guys, for stepping it up, maybe taking this extra time you have to maybe focus on food growing and getting outside and getting those hands dirty and taking more control of your life. All right, beautiful day. The sun is actually out. We like to keep that milk coming. We like to keep those sheep growing. Well, we need to work on the, uh, smoothifying our fences to make that a little easier, more productive for us. After 10-15 minutes, I've decided it will be best to keep, keep this in grass, keep a narrow lane, keep it— actually, what? Oh my gosh, are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? And I noticed more were out up there. Okay. Hey, I would love for you to go with me. Do you want Papa to take you? Maybe Papa put you in the Ergo.

Can he? Can you, Papa?

Oh my gosh, she volunteered at me. You lit up though, didn't ya? He did. One last time in the Ergo? Did you light up when she offered that?

I know, I totally just like being like, you want to do that?

Like old times? I know, thanks. How much do you weigh now? Guess Papa will lose some weight.

I think, I think you are.

No, I don't think he's 40 pounds, is he?

No, he's not. Papa, are rooster boys?

Yes, roosters are boys.

And Papa, guess what? The roosters are the dad.

Would you like to stay on the Ergo or would you like to who's riding the wagon?

Ah, sound like a girl.

Okay, all right, you're growing up. I definitely won't be able to hold you at 26, so I'll enjoy this.

Definitely won't get to hold me when I'm Jonah's age.

That's right. Yeah, it's gonna end.

Remember Jonah ride the ogre?

The ogre? Yeah, yeah, put him on. I tried, didn't I? Yeah, it wouldn't last long.

Could you even do it?

No. That was kind of fun while it lasted. You never know, I mean, that could have been the last time I ever read one of my children in the Ergo. Just never know. And usually with parenting, you don't know when the last time is gonna be. The last time you're gonna have to wipe them. The last time they're not going to sleep through the night, the last time they're going to pee the bed, the last time they're going to need help eating. The— you just don't know when that last moment is. You're just wrapped up in it, and then all of a sudden you're like, oh wait, the kid's sleeping through the night, let's have another baby. All right, what was I doing? Oh, we're loading nothing. Oh, I know, we need to get a straight line. Oh, I know what it's gonna do, it's gonna dump this off. Okay, I think I better be smart with this. Jonah, Josiah, Arun, who's working tomorrow— I just found that out. Could easily pound these in but could not mark them. Maybe it would be more efficient if I went and marked this lane and those guys pounded them in. You know how yesterday I was saying I want to help out during this time as much as I can? Well, one thing I can do is give you guys more content. More content on on YouTube. So I'm gonna do my best to every weekend— how about that? You know, normally we vlog Monday through Friday. How about some bonus videos on the weekend? Probably spending more time at home, need some more, uh, inspiration, motivation, how-to on getting— growing your own food. So how about this weekend? Well, when we went to Texas, we shot a video with with Beau and Kelly Brotherton. I haven't put that up yet. Let's get that up this weekend. You don't know what that's about, guys. They converted one of those sheds into a home. One of those nicer sheds into a home. It was amazing. We got the ultimate tour. Let's give you guys that. That's certainly an affordable way. I think they're debt-free on that, guys. That's an affordable way to build a house on a homestead property. All right, it's 4 o'clock. Let's get this corner post in, then we'll draw our string and we'll just keep stringing it, putting posts down, putting the flags down. You guys plan on growing more food? Plan on planting more? Getting more chickens? Getting serious about the, uh The dairy animal. So guys, put it in the comments. Are you planning on growing more? How much? What, what's that look like? Maybe I can get the one side of the lane marked before supper. Talking a little close to you there, wasn't I? Sometimes I do that, I get a little close. You're in, you're in my bubble. I'm in your bubble. I'm right here just in time to help Jonah get the calves in. Now, now, the sheep is not over there getting hay and it's thinking it's time to move. It's not about time. I know you'd probably rather move than have hay, huh? Well, you look like you've had plenty to eat. You always want for a new opportunity. Yeah. Okay, there are like 12 chickens out. Do you know what's happening?

The rooster's too good. That's a good thing.

Okay, we have a problem. This problem isn't getting better, it's getting worse. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. And this is more than just the, the rowdy ones. What in the world? Oh, here it is. I bet this has got to be it. Jonah, look! I think they're getting underneath this right here. They're probably getting in under here, Jonah. If you're gonna herd them, let me lift this up. Here, don't look at them, Gideon. Look away. Lily's herding them in. See how they're trying to go through? I don't think I turned this fence fence off and I'm just grabbing it. Oh, here, you got a bearded lady. Okay, here, here, get her in there. Good. So I think to fix that, I'm gonna have to— well, you could fill that in, I guess, but I could also move the net over. I got it fixed. That's definitely— look, definitely look at them pacing back and forth. Ah, they fed them later. Right after we fixed it, they fed them and didn't turn them back on. So a little setback. We got 30 minutes. Let's see what we can do. We got all the way to the sheep. We need to move the sheep out to be able to continue working on that, but I got enough for maybe Jonah and Arun to start pounding posts. Y'all been out all day, haven't you? Hmm? You're the OGs. They're the troublemakers. Tacos from the land. Chicken tacos. I'm excited about that.