In this vlog, the narrator walks viewers through a rainy‑day work session on their homestead. The primary focus is an experimental land‑restoration technique: moving the free‑range chickens behind the pigs so their manure and foraging can help break down hay “bombs” and add nutrients to a low‑topsoil bottom‑land pasture. The narrator explains the setup, shows the netting and paddock construction, and observes how the chickens interact with the pig‑created “goalie” and the soil. Throughout the day, they also manage other livestock—ewe‑lamb separation, calf care, and pig feeding—while monitoring animal stress and adjusting feeding frequency. The rain is leveraged to process the last batch of strawberries and to perform tasks that benefit from wet conditions. The vlog then shifts to a cabin renovation for Jonah, discussing soffit construction, insulation preparation, tool handling, and a quick trip to Lowe’s for lumber. Family moments surface as they share meals (brussels sprouts, potatoes, beef, tomato burgers) and mention progress on a “Chicken Tender” book chapter. The tone remains conversational, practical, and optimistic, emphasizing recovery, multitasking, and the importance of keeping the farm moving regardless of weather.
Chapters
It's a rainy day, but the farm must go on. I'm daring to move the chickens behind the pigs in land restoration. We'll see how that goes. And taking advantage of the rainy day, we'll grab some supplies for Jonah's cabin build. Let's find out if our latest solution for keeping little ewes away from their moms so they can dry off worked. Prepare to get wet. Yes. All right, we're gonna go move these chickens in the wet. Let me be free. Farm must go on, rain or shine. Do a little divide and conquer this morning. The boys on the cows. I've got to let the birds out before there's a cage fight. Had to put them up last night in order to move them. Our word for the year is rest, recover. So in making decisions of where animals go We think about recover. One of our top priorities is recover this bottom land, which is easy. Could be fruitful pasture. It's easy to access pasture. We could use as much manuring as we can on that land. Okay, let's do it. First thing we got to do is pick up the net and move it over. Beautiful eggs. Get Henry. Oh yes. Oh. But they need hay, they need to be cleaned out. They are dirty, aren't they? I was going to say I'm going to miss our clean eggs from these guys being on pasture. Do we have another broody hen, Henry? Yeah, yeah. This feeder is nice because it's auto feeder and it's got this cap, so look how dry everything stayed. Second thing I want to do now is put up the net in the hurricane area. This— the pigs were here before, and so we're going to see how the chickens can maybe help us level it out after the pigs goalie it up. Let me show you what the pigs do to it. We've been going behind the pigs and taking a bow rake and leveling things, but I'm kind of wondering if we could use the chickens to help us. Look, see how they created a goalie? So I think the chickens might help us level that. But if not, we'll just level after the chickens and do what they don't do. But it's worth a shot. And we get the chickens' manure on this, we get the chickens helping us break down this hay from the hay bombs. We did it a little too thick. Some grass is growing up through though. They see us here, they're thinking breakfast. We feed them a lot once a day, so they OMAD, one meal a day. They're hungry. Pig, pig, pig, pig, pig, pig, pig, pig, pig. Back to the chickens we need to put up their paddock. Surprised I'm able to put these posts in. Could be all this hay. He's going behind me now and rubber malleting them in. Most of them went in pretty good considering. I always wondered why the topsoil was so shallow in this bottom. Now I know, thousand-year floods. It's been 300 years since we had rain like this, but still. Shoot, there's 3 chickens out. Huh, it wouldn't be spring herd separation without somebody getting out, right? We dialed in the lambs, the little baby lambs. We'll go see them in a second, move them. We've got the The calf figured out. Now to figure out the heifers. The boys are trying one single strand of electric up there. They may— it just may not be enough. I'm putting the second net in. You come behind me hammering the post in. Finally getting to the chickens. Have you guys not killed each other? All right, let's put these chickens to work on Hurricane Moon. Free the birds! Get in. Please put them some hay in their nest box before it gets too wet. Grab the rubber mallet. I'm gonna move the sheep and we'll meet under the shed. It's starting to rain. Yeah, before it was misting. Let's see how the sheep are doing and move them. Hey! Oh yeah, you are eating better. Y'all ate that all up last night. He's sticking his head out. Is he getting out? I don't think so. Okay, they were definitely out of food. We may have to move to 3 times a day, or it might have been just right. Yeah, look at this. Okay, so this is the paddock they were just in, and this is one before. So it's showing their stress levels. They're eating more now. They're getting less and less stressed being away from Mom. I think we only have to do that for about a week down here, and then we can run them behind their moms back in the field. And I think we're done. Let's get out of here before we get too wet. Been processing strawberries lately, and I guess because it's the end of the strawberry season, they're not quite as good— come here— or long lasting as long. We did get them all processed. I don't know if our pigs should eat only strawberries in a day, so add a little bit of grain. All right, it's pouring rain now. but they want to go for it, so we're going for it. We've been having droughts lately in the springs, so this is great. Because really, we don't have enough pasture for how many animals we have. So this takes a lot of pressure off. Big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big, big. Let's go. Let's get dry. We still got a lot to do. We just got inside. I got Henry off. I feel so much lighter. You know, that is a thing. Rucksacking, like, good for your bones, uh, builds muscle, extra cardio to carry weights on your back. Now I have it with my boy. Plus I have a talk show right there going in my ear, and I bond with him, he bonds with me. We're still getting work done. You don't always have to do a cute little game or reading to bond. You can do that while working. Inevitably, someone always says when I'm carrying one of these kids— I carried Gideon until he was 4, I guess, 5, 6— they say, "He's old enough to walk. Why are you carrying him?" Because I like it and he likes it, and that's all we needed to That's all we need to know. We're gonna go see if we need to go to Lowe's. Okay, because you want to get a toy there. Yeah, to what we're deeming the most important thing we can do, and this is something we can do in the rain. We're remodeling the cabin for Jonah one day. I know very little about home construction. That's a soffit, right? I believe we're covering that. I believe that has to be covered. Also, we got to get this very clean, and our job is to not hold up any of the trades. Look at this dust. Okay, but we should probably get the shop vac on that. I'm gonna go send these pic— I took some pictures of the lumber to Big Daddy. Okay, you guys stay here. Don't get in Randolph's tool— don't— not getting Randolph's tools. I'm gonna go get the shop vac. And a trash bag. I got the shop vac here. We have got to get this done to keep this project moving. Oh boy, now we're going to get stuff done. Beautiful ones here.
Tape it a little better. Wait, well, I don't think— I don't— there'll be stuff up here. It might go— I don't know, you just don't want it in here.
You think that's enough lumber for a soffit project?
Get started with it. We can't make this a flat soffit.
No, it has to be the way it is.
Yeah, it can be flat out here. Okay, this one, this one can be flat.
He said what we were gonna do is put a soffit on it And then wrap it with metal.
Yeah, but like my soffit is flat.
Yeah, I know.
I got an hour and a half. Should I go to Lowe's and get some long 2x4s?
Well, we're not—
we're not ready for it here. Okay, we're only gonna do with what we have.
We're only gonna need up and down.
All this work needs to take place outside because—
yeah, the sawing and stuff, because it has to be clean for the insulation, right?
Yeah. And ta-da! We are ready for the insulators. We get it cleaned up for you good, man. You're looking good. We ready for insulation? I reckon they're coming today. This week, they said. This week. Rainy days are writing days. Oh no, and it's supposed to rain like tomorrow and the next day, so sorry if the vlogs aren't as long. We're just not getting the farm content. But I did finish— nearly finish the coops chapter for the Chicken Tender book. What you got, Kristen?
Brussels sprouts. I did the Brussels sprouts. Lily did the potatoes and the—
and the— yeah, beef.
I'm tired.
And tomato burger. And we got asparagus from 10 Acre Farm. A few moments later. Evening walk goes on, rain or shine, even if we have terrible umbrellas. Missing a—
mine has holes in it.
Yeah, you gotta get the cheap umbrellas though because the kids tear them up and lose them anyway. I'm coming for you, I'm gonna get you on my way back. And we're back. You guys hungry? I'm glad we're moving downhill. I can move this 16 by 16 cage. Shall we do a couple more chores this evening? Check on our egg-laying chicks, restoring the land. Ah, we're flooded here. Matter and wet hens. I think the pigs, they're in their covered shelter, but I think it's flooded. That's no good. Let's get over there and move their shelter for them. We've all got a little PTSD. This is our first significant rain event Okay, in a minute we'll go check on the bridge, see how the boys' bridge is holding up. This is our significant rain event after Hurricane Helene. Y'all are just sitting in the puddle. Sitting in a puddle under the shelter so they don't get wet. Okay, got them moved. They're out of a puddle. Now don't dig or it's gonna puddle up. The bridge is holding up fantastic. We are seeing some of our water vulnerabilities though. That's what a good storm will do. Is my gutter overflowing? What's the problem? Whoa, it's filled up! Oh, there's a bottle or something. Yeah, that'll do it. Several water bottles. There we go. Whoa, we blew out the— too much water all at once. Yes! Where did water bottles come from? We don't drink water bottles. Winnie! Winnie! Oh, okay. Hey, 100 Cornish Cross, 20 turkeys, I don't know, 30 layers, all from McMurray Hatchery. We're giving— they're giving away $300 gift certificate. We've got a huge giveaway going on this week. Gotta get in by May 23rd, so highlighted a Premier One net yesterday. Today, $300 gift certificate to chicks— well, I guess you could get turkeys, whatever you want from McMurray Hatchery. And this is one of those games where everybody wins. Everybody who enters by May 23rd is going to get my Design Your Best Homestead Ever booklet. I am soaked. Let's hope it dries up tomorrow. See you then. Happy day.
