Surprises x3

Happy day! A tricky cow move. They busted the fence. Then Jonah and I are gonna attempt a trail we've never seen before. 2,300 square feet elevation gain, 14-mile bike ride, mountain bike ride. And finally, we're feeding Austin. He's right there. It's his birthday. It's gonna be a birthday party. Zach's Beast Copycat organic gluten-free fried chicken and salad. You ready, milk Jonah? No. Okay, I didn't move. I didn't miss it. First things first, moving the non-milkers over. It's a big move. We got to go behind the house to another net. It's going to be tricky. Yeah, that's where we want you to go. Has anything really changed from last season as far as chores go? No. Austin's on chores this morning, training. He gives us a break once a week and then they get all the farm product. You've run out of milk a bit ago, huh? You haven't been able to do it the last 2 weeks. Yeah, we've been starved of milk for the past couple weeks, so that's not fun. Going right into the net's not fun. This is fun seeing you guys chase us. We're gonna go right past the opening. Look at that grass. Well, they're feeling good. Okay, come on, you know. You know what we want, Harriet. Harriet, up and coming milk cow. There you go. Austin, your birthday's coming up. Yeah, yeah, congratulations. Another year getting one year wiser. We're gonna have you for a birthday— we're gonna have you for a birthday party tonight. Zaxby's. Zaxby's? What? Poor guy's been drooling in the edits. Yeah, seriously. And ice and, and strawberry ice cream. That's right, homemade. All right, that'll help you get up to 2,300-foot climb today. Okay, we're basically climbing half of Mount Mitchell. I think Austin and I are going to throw you off. I don't know. The problem is Honey has a new calf and she just has to be right with her, but the calf is getting more and more mobile, so the calf's running all over the place. She ain't gonna just stay stand there. Not a first anyway. And now she's stressed out. She's stressed out because she can't see her herd mate. Don't be cool, you just got to do it. You got to catch the calf so you can get her to go in one area. There you go. Good, good job, guys. I understand your heart is beating. Austin, are you feeling good today? Uh, yeah. We got another Black Mountain style climb on my morning routine. Video recently. He starts around 3, 4 o'clock with a pee. Somebody complained in the comments saying this isn't farming, stick to the farming. By the way, we do have a complaint department. A little roll of paper in there, you can write down all your complaints all you want. There's a little deposit hole for it. Newsflash: We are more than homesteaders, and if you're honest, and hopefully you are more than a homesteader too, I'm a— I'm myself first of all, and we are on a health journey. So that's actually why we're growing food and why you see this content, because of this health journey. So it's the health journey and the health person and the health roads is that come first. The homestead is simply a symptom of that. And the minute that the homestead gets in the way of our health and longevity, it's gone. But it's not going to. It's going to be more like a method we have to tweak or whatever. I mean, growing your own nutrient-dense food, things you cannot buy in the store, is critical. Morning light in our eyes, fresh air, exercise, sun exposure, cold exposure. It's a little cold right now. Just getting my cold exposure. I love those boys. That brings me to this Friday, one of my favorite days. I'm not even really on the farm. We're off the farm. I'm doing the thing that's not my thing, and that is mountain biking. We're having to set up a big trough. He-Man's got in the bad habit of stepping in the little trough. The reason we want the little trough to work is because, well, we have little calves, and we went this to be the sheep's water when the sheep come in here, and then we're only dealing with one water for two different operations. Jonah has an idea on the smaller waters. We have the water half the size, and I don't like to fill this up every day. That's 100 gallons of water. He has an idea to put a wooden lid on this, or some kind of lid. I don't even know if it has to be wooden, and just leave an opening here. I don't think he'll step in. I think that's a brilliant idea. Leave it to Jonah for that. I speak this not to justify myself to a complaining person, somebody who's getting free content, somebody who can click or click away, somebody who's gonna take a time— it's beyond me, y'all, negative comments like that, because I have plenty of hobbies. I have plenty of work to do and hobbies, and the last of my hobbies would be to complain on other people's YouTube channels. I do speak this to you guys, uh, most of you. That's just the very minor majority. Most of you are hard-working people, cannot imagine this. You're positive, you're uplifting, you're encouraging us, and I thank you for that. You appreciate the free content. You know not everything is going to be your kick and giggle, and you are patient with us on that. And you don't agree with everything I say, but you still are here, and you're still here with an open mind, and you are growing as a person. I appreciate that. Maybe you'll gather something from these rides. You know, I get in the woods, spend time with my boys. It was boys. Josiah's not into it so much, so he's opting out, and that's okay. I would love for him to come, but I'm not gonna make him come. Oh my. Those barn swallows. Okay, yep, I guess it didn't take a minute. Any signs, I'm afraid, are in vain. Friday and Saturday are kind of our weekend. I don't feel bad for missing office hours, you know. I don't always shoot a vlog. Look, they're moving the cows. Let's go get this before I get this. Who was that? That shouldn't happen. Hey, what's happening? Somebody got out. We'll get them out here in a second. Oh, it's a time to think for me, you know. You're getting that monotonous rhythm of climbing up a hill and your brain gets going. That's where some of my best ideas come from. In a way, even though it's not directly productive, it is very productive. That's what I want. They help me. I don't know if they help the children. See, there they come. Boy, we can't leave that open for a second or these barn swallows are gonna take up nest in here. By the way, let's just get all the housekeeping out of the way. By the way, we tried one storyline vlogs shorter. The vlog was exactly what it says it was about for about a month. You guys didn't like it. I don't know if it was the shortness or if it was about weed fabric. You might not have interest in that, and that was only all that it was about. So how do I know that? Well, views went down quite a bit, and views, views speak to your enjoyment. Okay, both Minty and the steer got out. I also learned that most of you— I just checked my analytics, I probably should do that more often— most of you are watching on TV in your living room. It's so fun. I'm actually so very excited about that. I mean, it does come with some problems for me as a businessman, or the way we've been doing things, like link in the description. That doesn't mean so much anymore because there's no link. Okay, I like this gag for his horse burning. You guys have spoken with your eyeballs. And you're watching on TV, which is exciting because you're just probably watching as a family. You're watching longer form. There's so many YouTube videos now in the 20 to 30 minute range. I can do that. Why? What? Oh boy, they busted the fence. I'm coming! Don't get on the post. Don't get on the tarp. No, don't get on the tarp! Busted the fence. Oh my gosh, they're just tearing it up. Let them go. Let them go. I don't want them on the tarp. I don't care if they rip the, uh, you know, they want to be with their bovine. I understand. Hold on, wait, I'll open it right there. We gotta understand why they're doing this. They just saw— they just lost sight of all their posse, their cow buddies. Try number 2 with these cows. But anyway, you know what? You're watching on TV. How long is a TV show? How long was a TV show? 22 minutes. I'll shoot for 22 minutes. It won't always be 22 minutes. I have no idea when I'm shooting. And if it goes over 22 minutes, I'm going to put the extended version in Abundance Plus. It's funny, I'm going to tell Austin a video note right here, but he's standing right there. But he won't see this for a few days, so I'm going to go ahead and do that as opposed to telling him. But Austin, While we're herding these cows, put up the QR code somewhere in here. Let me give you a wide angle so you can fit it in and they can still see the action. That's because most of you are watching on TV. That will lead you to Abundance Plus, which you can also watch on TV. It's on Roku, it's on, uh, Apple TV. And then so many more are watching on their phones, uh, which we also— the Abundance Plus App is of course also on the phones, and only 15% of you are watching on the computer. It was opposite of that when we first started. It was probably 90% or more on computer when we first started 9 and a half years ago. Come on. Nope, they said nope. I'm gonna test this fence even though Josiah will be here here. It just doesn't feel right for me to leave and not make sure this is going to work. Oh yeah, it's going. All right, not bad, babe. Not bad, babe. More strawberries for you.

Oh, I was going to get working on the dinner tonight cuz I need to make bread.

Do it.

I need to make the salad, the salad dressing, the garlic butter that we're gonna put on the bread.

What else? You should have seen Austin's face when I told him we're gonna feed it.

Oh, we gotta make ice cream and the waffle cups and the strawberry glaze that's going on it.

We're gonna eat good. I know.

What happened to us not really cheating? It's my birthday.

Our cheat meal's on Friday.

I know, but my birthday's on I guess it turned into a birthday party. Yeah, we just have so many birthdays.

We're gonna have your birthday and then Mother's Day. Bye-bye. Oh, oh, oh, bye-bye. Come here, Gideon. You're in good hands with Josiah, boys. Josiah, their babysitter today. You seem happy. I'm not sure why I think that's fun, but it is. I guess it's the challenge. Y'all feeling good this morning? We got to the main trailhead and it started to rain. I don't think we're gonna go for a 14-15 mile trail ride. 2,300 square foot gain— square foot? 2,300 foot climb. So we're gonna go for a 10-mile trail we've been on before. I don't think it's gonna be without its problems. I don't have like a water case for my phone. Which is our GPS. We're gonna start heading home and hit a trail a little off the way home, see if it doesn't slow down the rain anymore. Oh my word, 2 and a half hours later wandering around Pisco. I think our plan worked. We drove 30 minutes south and right now it's not raining. But maybe it's coming this way because I called Rebecca and it hasn't rained there yet. The reason we can endure this rain here is it's a familiar trail and it's not as long, and I think it's only a thousand-ish climb. But still, that could be difficult if it rains. Okay, let's see if we can go on a ride and not get caught in the rain and get back in plenty of time to get home and crush some Zaxby's copycat and strawberry ice cream. Oh, and it just started raining. These young guys are beating me today. I'm kind of gonna take my time, enjoy myself. Hey youngins, you are kicking butt. Flipping Austin's ahead of me now. Call it MMA. MMA, doing good. Running, strength training. Can't let the young beat me this way if it kills me. What happened?

You up there?

Momentum. You gave him a break. You can't let the old man have a break. Hey, we made a good decision. Hold the ride off another— probably end up being, what, another hour and a half before— yeah, that would have been bad. We would have been an hour and a half wet. They've got these Trail's cleaned up a lot, but still no more trail. Wha— hopefully this doesn't slide off while I'm crossing it. There was a fork back there. You can go either way, but I bet the boys went the other way. Okay, how do I cross this without getting wet? Very nice. Waterfall. I don't know how that didn't blow out in the hurricane. Okay, we're back at the truck. I have to scold these boys for leaving me at the fork. Oh, they ain't even here. They probably went back looking for me. This is why you don't leave each other at forks. It's a short trail even though both parties know the way home. What if something were to happen to me on the way? What if something were to happen to them? And now that's probably, you know, not as likely. That's kind of worst case scenario. But now they've probably got here and we're waiting. You know, I was setting up cameras, I was filming, I was having a good time, I was taking my time. Um, they probably went back to find me, or something happened to them and they're not here. We don't know. Is that Dan? It's been a good 30 minutes. Shoot, that's not Dan. Dang. I'm gonna take a nap. I don't know what else to do. Where you been? What the heck is wrong with you? Me? You left me at the fork. What fork? There was a fork. Yeah, you go across the creek. I didn't go across the creek. I know. You gotta wait up for— you guys go all the way back to that? Well, Austin, we went all the way to the gravel. Don't leave me at forks. Oh my gosh, we thought you went that way. You had to go all the way back to the gravel. We hiked all the way back up to the gravel where we started. Yeah, you can't leave me at forks. Y'all done left me. How far did you go? We stopped right before you realized. We stopped right at that. Oh, did y'all not even make it back to the car? No, we were at the, uh, We were waiting on you for like, uh, yeah, I didn't know to turn around. I went, I went that way and went to the reservoir across the creek. Yep, Austin went across the creek, so I didn't know I had to stop for him. Yeah, you gotta wait on each other. When you lose somebody, you stay put. Well, I guess you went, you went to find me. Hey, come here. You didn't see that fork? No, you guys really did not see that? Yes. Okay, okay, put your seat up. I said, I said, I wonder which way they went. I guess it doesn't matter because both lead back to the car. Quick stop on the way home. We're gonna be sneaky because it's both Rebecca's birthday and Mother's Day. Let's say they have non-plastic planters, wouldn't you? Don't go cheap on her now. She's your mother. $47. Would she want that? Lily's told me to get her a pot. She's got— Lily noticed she had flowers not in pots. You're getting her that? Okay, there it is. 12 bucks. Not that I want to be cheap, but we just don't want plastic. She also wants me to get a couple of flowers for her. I wish Lily were here. This is hard. Which one should we like? A pink one? A white one? They're expensive. Very expensive. One of each? All right. What about those? More for your money. You think? We're home. We're gonna have Austin and Ashley babysit the plants until Sunday. Oh, look at this! Gluten-free waffle bowls.

I know, they're not— I don't have quite the right bowl for the shape that I'm looking for.

Okay.

So, but it's working enough.

Okay, look at that.

Strawberry in the bottom to keep the ice cream from going through.

Yeah, you're gonna have to fill it at the bottom. How fun.

But that is how you guys are gonna make the paisel, the cannolis for Mother's Day.

Okay, we're gonna make you steak and potatoes and cannolis. Cannolis. What are you gonna add to this to make ranch dressing? Um, I'm gonna add spices.

I'm gonna make mayo, so I'm making mayo. And then I'll mix buttermilk with the mayo.

Okay.

And those spices.

Okay. Do I believe this? Look at this pile of chicken wing— chicken nuggets. Austin, you get 2 of those for leaving me. Uh-huh. For leaving me at the fork. Oh, well then you get 0 of them. Depending on how you look at it. They were mad at me and I was mad at them. You were mad at them? Yeah. They went away to the fort. They came to the fort and then went away. How do I know which way they went? But we didn't see the fort. We passed the fort. So we thought he left us. But you saw me up there, didn't you? So then what? Yeah, I saw you up there. So then I went to the truck and took a nap. No way. It was panic. Looking for us. Aren't you glad you were born? Uh-huh. They snake the birthday boy. Hey Austin, what's your birthday wish? Birthday wish? Yeah. A fun and growing year of 28. Yeah! How is it, Mom? Is it worth standing up in the afternoon all day? It's so good. Austin, was it worth losing me and going back to find me? Yes. Waylon, you got here Papa was born? This is his first chicken nugget. You got the— are you a ham? Are you a ham biscuit? You're a ham. We just killed some faux Zachskis. This is a gluten-free cone. Oh my gosh, it's like the ice cream cone. That's right. Have you ever had an ice cream cone? No. Strawberry sauce, homemade vanilla from the cow. Our cows are back in the milk. La la la la la, let me be free.