Putting an End to Chronic Illness

I have good days and bad days with this reactive arthritis. I got an encouraging and challenging email all in one yesterday. You know, we've sent out Wilder Still over the weekend, uh, Jess and Jeremiah Roots and Refuge's new show on Abundance Plus. We had this premiere, and so we get all these replies from, from these emails we send out. We got a couple others just before it right? Uh, you know, we've attracted a different audience from Jess. You know, our audience, um, this audience has traditionally been 60% men in like, uh, that 30 to 40-year range. You know, kind of makes sense. I'm 42, I started in my 30s, kind of, you know, we've got a young family. Have you had your babies yet? Close. Everybody say, ooh. Jess, on the other hand, audience is mostly women, and a lot of them more mature, older, further along in life.

Papa, can I stay with Mama?

Oh, I thought she was coming out.

Oh, she changed her mind.

Good morning, Jonah. You're gonna put feed in this? Water looks good, looks good. Um, hey, we got a rogue one. Let's see if we can't catch her and clip her wings. Only the fattest, most lethargic hens we can keep, because we need chickens that will stay in a sheep net. If you get out of a shocker knot, you're probably going to get out of a sheep net.

Oh, there you go.

See, Mike, I got these two emails, maybe back to back. That kind of went along the lines of, hey, you know, I enjoy watching y'all's show, you and Jessica, um, but I'm 80, so I've put homesteading behind me. No judgment, no shame there. This just— yeah, made sense. That email made sense. But then, I'm not kidding you, I got another email from Gigi, I believe. I screenshotted it. I asked if I could use this. Was that good? You know what she said? This is for dirty cow cloths. Can you help shake these off? Shake those off. I'll shake these off. Put them in here. Okay, put them in there. You know what Gigi said? She said, you know, y'all have encouraged me. I maybe can't do as much as you can. Big, big Gigantic Homestead. She said, I'm putting an end to 68. Time out! I've got to interrupt this program. It's actually later in the day, but I gotta insert this here because I've been going back and forth with Gigi, and she actually sent me a picture. And Gigi's not 68, she's putting an end to 78. Oh my word. And doesn't that— she's in like a nice subdivision, probably an HOA. It's probably technically against the rules. I won't tell anybody, Gigi. Good for you. But this is so beautiful, nobody's gonna tell. Half of it's in flowers. Good job, Gigi, putting it into 78. Oh wow, Becky wants to see it.

She's got her green stock, right?

Oh, that's not the kind of place you can have a garden, but Gigi don't care.

She's gonna have her—

Gigi has her garden. She don't care if she's 78. She don't care. She's not telling Gigi what to do. There's no, uh, gardens are against the rules. She don't care. She puts a garden on her concrete pad. Ain't nobody gonna tell Gigi she can't. Henry, blow Gigi a kiss. He's flexing it again. You're strong. You're strong. There it is. She's putting an end to '68. I'm gonna put it into reactive arthritis. No excuses.

Last but not least, the scoop.

I'm gonna go get Gideon. Now, that doesn't mean— okay, today's Sunday seed day. In the past, we work all day. That doesn't mean I'm gonna work all day. That would be of no benefit. I'm not going to be in denial. I'm just going to do what I can. Hey, you coming? Oh good. Okay, we got Josiah. Jonah's turn to help with the baby and Mama.

Okay, I'll get some snacks.

You just had snacks. Let's, let's go milk.

Yeah, that was about an hour ago.

That was about 10 minutes ago. Look at her. She's already ready. She just has it in her head. Hey guys, it's been 20 minutes, it's my turn. That's something, these creatures of habit. All right, just as she's jonesing to get in here, maybe we gotta let her out. And this is her last day. Tomorrow we don't milk her, or the next. We're drying her off. 2 days no milking her, 1 more milking day, and then that's it. Yeah, and she's gonna have a baby in a couple months. Josiah is gonna herd her over. I'm gonna mosey on over as best I can, you know. Just because I'm slower doesn't mean I've quit. Just because I slow down doesn't mean it's over. Make sure just how you get the tip of her teeth. You could come over here in a little bit. It's time to fix little Joey, but we've decided it's fly season. We're not going to cut, we're going to go ahead and band, and we need to get the banding supplies. But pretty soon, my buddy, You're one bad day on this farm. All right, go herd the calf up. I'll spot you here, buddy. Make sure only little Joey comes through. Little Joey doesn't see the opening. I'll back down. There we go, there we go, boy. That's a boy. Cheep cheep cheep! This is my go-to book in difficult times. Victor Frankl, a victim of the concentration camp. This isn't anywhere near that difficulties, let's just be straight with that, but The principles can apply in any difficult situation. It is peculiarity of a man that he can only look by looking to the future. It is— that is peculiar, isn't it? That's what sets us apart from other animals. We can only live by looking to the future. And this is his salvation in the most difficult moments of his existence, although he sometimes has to force his mind to the task. Hope. Hope. As, as John Maxwell would say, when there's hope in the future, there's power in the present. We're gonna have to force our mind to the task, which means, uh, you— well, no wonder when our doctor said 3 to 5 months, it made us feel better, because this level of pain, the rate of healing, it seemed like there was going to be no end. But when you said 3 to 5 months, it's like, okay, we're probably on pace for that, and that makes us feel better. And maybe finding it outside of health, outside of, well, what if I don't get better? So outside of that, I'm gonna show you probably one of my greatest hopes that has helped me probably the most through this. Hey, he's moving. He just moved. You have the camera on him. He's moving. Are you waking up? You're my hope in the future. You're my hope in the future. You're feeling good. That makes me happy. His diaper weaned. You're feeling good. We need to get him a new diaper. You just smile and have a good time. Feeling good. This is hope right here.

Aww.

Good to hang out with you later today. Maybe we'll sunbathe together. Yes. Is that something to be hopeful in and look forward to? Those may seem trivial meaningless things, but I'm particularly grumpy in the morning. Any of y'all grumpy in the morning? Come on, let's admit it. And some of the things that get me through that is I'll think, well, what do I have to look forward to today? And it can be small things like we're gonna have lamb meal tonight and it's gonna be absolutely delicious. I am gonna take some time and sunbathe outside, get some vitamin D. It's a beautiful one. The Olympics are on. We could— could we watch that together and you know, get some rest, put my feet up, and, uh, that would be fun, right? It doesn't have to be this big crazy thing. It doesn't. Um, there's things to look forward to even, even when you don't feel good that aren't homesteading, that aren't food growing related, that are outside of that. That's okay.

We've had lunch. Now I'm going to get all the supplies for Papa to build up the meat shaw tomorrow. So first up, I'm gonna get the tools he'll need. I need one of these and an extra battery. Now I'm gonna get some 2x4s. Done.

Thank you, Jonah. Jonah's back. He's been working out there. In the meantime, I've been coming up with the list. So this is my, uh, putting an end to reactive arthritis. This right here. So we have duck, ducklings— is that what you call it? Duckies? Ducklings? Oh, here, duck babies. Duck babies coming next week. Uh, do not call them duck babies. That's what I call them. All right, duck babies. Uh, we have a meat shaw. Joel Salatin said let's raise that lid up that these, these, these birds are living in so it will be— I'm gonna spin you around, just get to get a little more better lighting. Look how dark that is. Okay, let's go back to the window. Yeah, here we go. It's much better, right? Um, we've got this. It doesn't— it's so close to the birds. Joel was saying, uh, it doesn't ventilate as well. It's going to be warmer or so hotter for them. So raise it up is his suggestion. So that's our before, our meat shaw, and then this is going to be our after. We're going to raise it up and then we have an axle going across the wheels. So normally I could knock out a project like this today. That would be our Sunday seed day project. But instead of just giving up, I'm gonna be like Gigi. I'm gonna put it into reactive arthritis and I'm just gonna do something. And that means even if I just come up with this list, I have this list. Lumber, do you have 4 2x4s? That's exactly what I got. At least— did you? That's good.

Okay, give me— Henry thinks we can do it.

You think we can do it, Henry? So you've already got the 2x4s, so should I mark— did you put them up there by the meat saw?

All right, and Sally, I need you to drive Sally up to it.

All right, all right. Uh, skill saw.

Yep.

Well, let's not mark lumber off yet then. You put the skill saw up there? What about replacement batteries? Yep. You did replacement batteries? And a charger?

Um, no, nothing.

Let's do a charger. Well, Jonah got about 3 of a dozen things. Oh, what you got? You got the pencil?

Yeah.

Okay, he's got the carpenter pencil. You're gonna go get the measuring tape?

Yep.

All right. I hid a toolbox in my closet. So that I— yes, I have to go get my tools out of my closet.

What do you mean, Lily?

You're just photobombing. Okay, I put the tools in my closet. Yeah, it's a pain to go and get them and then go and put them back, but then I always know where they are. Good deal. Where'd you get these boards?

Over in our wood pile across the creek.

Okay. Uh, they look a little dirty. Were they sitting on the ground?

They were covered in ants, which— the wood is still okay.

Were they covered?

They were never— yes, but they were never dried out. I have 5 batteries all there and a charger.

Beauty, you coming? Yeah. Okay, me and Henry, let's do it. We're gonna take it over there. Uh, let's just set those over to the— on the concrete on the side. This thing has seen a few seasons. Mom said it'd be a good idea to get a pressure washer on this thing. You think you're gonna head that up?

Yeah.

I said not today. So Rebecca, so we're at 16 inches, say, right there. Yeah. And we're going to bring it up to here. Okay. Uh, well, my idea was to kind of like we did the sheep shaw, right, where we had angles and we had an axle going across. While we're at it, we're going to get rid of our storage bin because we just don't use it, and it'll make, uh, the axle easier go. It'll just make it more simple. All right guys, let's go have a look at the sheep shaw. I kind of forget a few things on how I put together that axle system. This won't mean much to you guys, but to me, I put the frame in for the wheel support, the diagonal pieces on the inside frame. Oh, that's because the wheel was high. It's lower on the meat shot, it's going to be level. So I'm going to have to do, do it a little different. I was going for minimalism, easy, easy build. You know, just put it right where the axle is for the wheels, and turns out the animals would be a little more comfortable if I put a little more effort into it and raised it up. So that's what we're gonna do. That was me putting an end to reactive arthritis. Now it's time to rest. Tomorrow we'll continue on that project one bit at a time. We just cooked esqueleto hamburgers. I must say, that's the best lamb burger I've ever had. It's just really rich but not too lamby, but tastier than beef burger for sure.