In this informal farm‑vlog, the narrator (Speaker A) walks through a hectic day that begins with the recent daylight‑saving time shift, giving the family an extra hour of sleep. The main focus is the preparation, transport, and sale of two‑month‑old piglets (“soul pigs”), which involves coordinating a Home Depot rental truck, setting up panels and nets, and guiding the kids through the capture process. Alongside the piglet sale, the narrator juggles numerous farm chores: moving a chicken tractor, repairing fences, training a cow named Harriet, and checking equipment. The family’s schedule is interwoven with personal commitments—horse shows, a shoulder surgery appointment, acupuncture, and a “garden Sabbath” for rest. Children are assigned age‑appropriate responsibilities, from handling eggs to helping with the piglet roundup, illustrating a teaching‑by‑doing approach. The narrative also touches on future farm projects such as building a high tunnel, harvesting tomatoes, and managing pasture damage caused by the pigs. Throughout, the tone remains conversational and pragmatic, with moments of fatigue, humor, and a hopeful outlook toward smoother days ahead.
Chapters
Happy day. Time change. I was hoping we would ignore it and still get up and go with the sun. We did not. We took advantage. We went by the clocks and we got an hour extra sleep, so that's good.
Does it look like it's sunny in there?
Yeah, it does look like it's sunny in there, but it's actually light. Big day. Piglets are going away today. Soul pigs. Uh, they're 2 months old. Come on. Yeah, turn it off. Good boy. See, we don't need it. We don't need it. Let's have the natural light. Rebecca's making her Aunt Flossie's cornbread. Or is it her mom's? And turkey divine, all while running this farm and adjusting to this new time change. Okay, we're just gonna keep it on this time. It's spinning. You're gonna drink that kefir smoothie? Okay, I'm gonna put it back up here. Oh, you did? You about put it in the pig bucket? No. What? Okay, it feels like something's wrong. Let it, let it go.
Very— no, my, my ducks. Yeah, I see this almost full. So now what do I help with?
You throw those eggs in, buddy. What do you have there?
It's totally in the dish.
All right, let's put in my favorite part. You ready for my favorite part? Tablespoons of peanut butter. Okay.
Don't get any on my whole top do I, Bill?
Gaps pancakes. Don't get a lot until you know you're sure you like them. Hot apples, eggs. That means you fit in this now. This used to be Mr. Brown's. I think we've got 45 minutes till the pig people come. On top of the piglet wood chips, can you also move the chick shot please?
Yeah.
We have been going balls to the wall without a Sabbath the last 2 weeks. It's starting to wear. It doesn't wear on anybody more than it wears on Rebecca. She's gonna need to honor her body, rest. What?
I'll meet you down there.
Okay, I'll go get my shoes and meet you down there. I'm gonna try to do the minimum. I'm thinking we're gonna start garden Sabbath a little better. You can't help a funeral. We can help a horse show. What? Oh wow, who cleaned up in here? Holy smokes. We can help Lily's horse shows. They're on Saturday. This actually might work out because Lily wants to get into jumpers. Those events happen on Sunday. Only problem is her trainer doesn't do— yeah.
Um, oh, and I'm also gonna move the, um, saw where the weird lady, old lady, into because that's been in my yard.
You're gonna move the chicken tractor back to the bash shed? Yeah. All right, I like it. Taking— hey, he's picking out his own level 3 responsibilities, deciding his own chores this morning. Oh my gosh, what happened to the four-wheeler? Somebody had some fun. All right, let's go have some fun. Train Harriet while she's still go hungry. I think it's gonna work out in the long run milking later, not at first light, because it's gonna be cold. Winter is coming on. We were gonna get this collar on her. You spot Harriet, okay? Don't let her over. I forgot to hole punch this the other day. That's the goal today. Hopefully she's hungry. The goal today is also check the fence after chores. And tonight, because Harriet's having a habit of knocking over the fences, it's one thing to kill and eat a bull. It's a disaster to have to kill and eat a heifer, a pregnant one too. Unlike He-Man, who figured out how to put his horns in it and not get shocked even if it was on, and stepping in the water and flipping the water. Is it? I'm sorry. Let's cut a couple more holes in it, what do you say?
Yeah.
And look who walked out. I told Josiah to spot us. I don't know how to get it into their heads. Okay, she just walked right through because the fence is off. I hope you're still hungry. Tighten up the net. It's on, it's hitting. We test this thing twice a day. We got to be diligent. Basically, until they go back to the pole barn, a few weeks to train her. Oh, that's for the piglets. I think he's rented a Home Depot truck. That'll do it. That's a determined person. They didn't say I don't have a truck. They rented one from Home Depot. Henry, get in here just in time.
Why?
Thank you. Well, we kind of have to sort them. Now the question of catching them. I like your determination. You don't have a truck, you get one from Home Depot. We've got two trucks and both of them are down. Oh, so we had to like literally last minute went and picked that up yesterday. I like it even more. I have an idea. Big panel over that gate, put that gate in the corner by the door. I don't know why we don't remember— stop— how we did this before. All right, we got our plan. It's working so far.
Let's go!
The kids caught them while I was asking all your questions. I think y'all are in Abundance Plus too, so yeah, all I just dropped to you is in there. We have a big course. Nice. In there, but we refreshed you. There you go. They're really quite easy. Okay guys, this is going to be really loud. You just grabbed him and went. That's good. Oh yeah, we got to do— we got to do— you got with it. We got some practice with Just don't panic if the pig gets out, especially if just one, because the other one will want to come back. They're both out, then panic a little. Pigs for everybody. And leave it to the kids to find it the easy way. I was about to take down this gate, I was about to zip tie it, I was about to put it over there. The kids just grabbed the cattle panel. Get the pigs in the corner. I let Jonah and Josiah go in there and rest. So everybody's like, we're gonna take it easy today, right? I'm thinking y'all had a Sabbath. I don't think Josiah did anything. Didn't go to the horse show. Jonah went and rode bikes. Uh-oh, there's a bunch out up there too. There's two scoops. Go get it. And I don't like how they're tearing up this pasture. Should we put— let's put on the list Let's get them in the high tunnel this week. We'll get everybody here. It'll be easier for our farm sitter. I'm taking on the boys on our individual mighty man camp. Come on, come on. Hey, definitely molting. Come on, come on, come on. You can't herd chickens. Come on, I got you food. See, I hate that they're tearing up our pasture. This has got to end. We've got to get them in the high tunnel, but to get them in the high tunnel, we need to harvest our tomatoes. We need to be ready to do something with the tomatoes. We're just exhausted. We got our individual Mighty Man Camp this week. We've got appointment for my shoulder. We got one more acupuncture for my shoulder. I got the appointment— they got me an appointment with the surgeon. That doctor was not hopeful I was gonna heel. But we're just going to show the surgeon what's up, right? We're going to just show the surgeon what's up. Look at this. I got you, I got you, surgeon. Good job getting in, Henry. Good job, Henry. Get him, get him in there, Henry. Maybe his craziness is what we need. There you go, it worked. Wow, okay. I need to call you next time. I'm a little concerned our other pig people are not here. They're not confused with time change, or they would be in here an hour early, right? It's 10:00. Good job, Gideon. Don't go too hard on your second rest day. Don't help me. All right, the pig people arrived. Okay, where are y'all coming from? Pickens, South Carolina. Okay. Yep. And what are you gonna do with these pigs? Turn them into food.
6 months later, we're gonna be eating these guys. That's what we're doing it for.
You got a pen at home, or you got them in a net?
What do you mean? And we have a net too, so we can— they're trained to the hot—
are they trained to see a net in there? But they've been hitting it.
Oh, we got the hot net too for premier.
Now they know where it is. Okay, good. Hey, this is almost a minivan, right? But if you ever put the pig in the back of your car, you might be a crazy pig person. When we got—
we're a little crazy, but we may not be that crazy.
We got cattle panels and I had them on the top of the car, so 16-footers. Yeah, yeah, I just put a red towel on the back. Do it. All right, thank you. Pig's gone. 4 pigs down, saving one for food and one to replace Beefcake. He's getting older, it's time to cull him. Lily's got him a, uh, chicken soup going. Foul lady hens, it looks like, frozen. The boys Josiah and Gideon are playing soccer. I think I'll join them. Mom and I just— I forgot you guys. I'm sorry, I forgot you. You guys have to believe me. We fed Mama Peg and, and we checked on Harriet, and that fence is hitting at 6.5. If she breaks out, we've got big problems.
Play?
Yeah, what do you want me to play? Me and you versus Josiah? Half court? Papa. All right, they got the best of the old man. I did get a few points this evening. A little secret to a smoother day tomorrow: go ahead and do some breakfast prep. Go ahead and do some breakfast prep now. Let's see how it goes tomorrow. Happy day.
