The Bull’s Escaping, Perfecting the PigPort & Getting the BCS going

What you got cooking? Some waffles. I wanted something good to eat, so I had to make it myself. You think that cast iron works? Yeah, seems like Mama had some trouble with it. I've never taught them how to make waffles. You don't have to teach kids, they teach themselves. If they desire something and you give them the space, they'll go for it. Everybody, let's go! We got, we got a bulldozer. We got a chainsaw. Let's get some work done. Josiah, you gonna watch him? Yeah. Okay, you want to try to get chores done before your breakfast? Okay. Bucket of chicken feed, bucket of swine feed, probably enough for Beefcake. Load that into the hurricane cart. Happy day. Well, thank you for joining us for another day in our Rooted life. We gotta treat you, honey. You got a bogus some, some questionable teeth. And then I believe we're gonna dry her off because she's hopefully great with child. Uh-oh, dag on it. Shoot, they are out of water and we are using our hoses. One there to feed the youth group and then one to go way out to the pig port. That means we have no hoses stalled out. You can see the sun, it's about to warm up. 50 degrees, so this will thaw out quickly, but they need some water right now. Yesterday we set up some wood chips for our pigs, but we've got to keep them dry, so we've got to cover them. That's the main project today. We also borrowed a tiller yesterday to get the extension of our garden— well, that's a bed shaper— a rotary plow. Got one week Do we have to return that thing? Mark's hopefully coming to help us fix it. It needs an oil change. It's got a little cable broken. We could prop— I feel like I could fix it, but I feel like there's so many other things I need to do. I'm gonna enlist some help. Joel Salatin taught me never carry one bucket. It's almost easier to carry two because it balances you out. You're getting there. You're making it happen. You're making the impossible possible. We were able to treat her in the stanchion so easily. The boys have already milked Vanilla. I'm thinking we'll be able to get Honey out and just milk her in the open right here. Get in! Do not go in there, I need your assistance. I gotta watch him. I forgot to tighten up our fence from yesterday. We shortened it, it wasn't holding He-Man back. Now I need to adjust it. Let's, let's, let's go to this cow though. She's ready to get milked. I almost think it's worse after the treatment. It might be a good thing. It might be a shedding going on. I want to talk to you, but the sheep are bleating like crazy. What was this? That was two of these in HT. Thymus vulgaris essential oil, Angelica, Dory, K, Cynesis root, Aureolinanus root, Cinnamomum bark, Gathuria procubens leaf, vitamin A, D, and E in a base of Alli europaea. Okay, she's standing still out in the open. We're gonna dry her off, she's gonna heal, she's gonna have her baby, and she's gonna be all cleared up. I'm tempted to keep her out. Fix this fence, put her back in, let He-Man out, and see if he'll try this fence and not go through it like he was yesterday. We'll see if this fixed the problem. Got our fence hooked up. I haven't connected to the other fence, so it'll be even more powerful just for this training session. Let's confirm that it's working. Oh my gosh, it's hitting so hard! It's hitting at 12. I don't know if I've ever seen a net hit that hard. If that doesn't train him, we are screwed because that means he's going to be busting through fences out in the field and we're, we're gonna have to call him. Got him! We got him! See if he'll try it again. Not as dramatic as pigs. That's fixed it and tempted to just really seal the deal. That's the importance of keeping those fences hot. They learn to get through it, then they sometimes get to where they'll push through the little bit of pain at the electric shock to get through it. But it seems like maybe he's not going to be one of those. Where you been? I did the chickens and the pigs. You did? Yeah. You even fed Beefcake? Yeah. Does he just take the scraps? Yeah, he only— the scraps. He— there was so many scraps, he'll be fine. How'd breakfast turn out? It was good. All right, we should get them back into the deep bedding. You guys gotta see this. There's a lamb in a pan, bacon, eggs. How'd the waffles turn out? Oh, they found the— they found the real one. What's the matter? It's just loose. Fixable? Yeah. This was such a big mess. Bigger, bigger than we imagined. It's been one of the bigger messes for us since Hurricane Helene. All the trees that were down here, all the rocks that accumulated down here. In the end, we've actually gained more pasture than we had. Helene basically pastured our forest here. Because that was forest from the side-by-side over, and now we can get all the way to that bank in a silvopasture type of thing. The Rhodes Bros, Dustin and Dirty Rhodes. That was going to be my name for them when I was on the path of professional mountain boardism. Dusty Rhodes, Dirty Rhodes, get it? Full names, legal names, Dustin and Durton. I'm glad that didn't Really for no reason. Slept a lot last night. It's nice and cool this morning. Energetic. The sun is shining. Hey, what you doing? Okay, that's actually paper towels and stuff. I don't want you getting in it. Paper towels. Okay, let's just slide them in and be done. Why don't you come with me and help me build this lean-to? What I need is a goal. You see, I've got to get this shed built today because hopefully this walking tractor is going to get fixed today, and then that means we're on garden duty the rest of the week so we can get this thing returned in time. We're borrowing it. We must. Mark's coming after lunch, so before Before lunch, we must get a shed over the wood chips, if not a second shed for the pig feed. I don't know if it's so important to cover the pig feed out there because we have to haul food out there anyway with food scraps. Might as well carry two buckets, not just one, right? Gotta put this trailer back anyway, so might as well use it to haul the Is that it? Just to go through the field? Probably not better go through the trail. Okay, I'm good. Let's go. I would have went this way. I could use these scrap boards I found yesterday. Probably definitely not tall enough to get wood chips under. We have a lean-to already built, but I noticed we've got some disconnect. Let's just tighten things up. It's the first thing we gotta do. Wrong size, wrong size for the existing. I have some with a smaller head. Shall I do that? I should probably not entertain applying that because then that's going to be really frustrating when you go to tighten this or loosen this. And once— and there's two different size hex heads. I could jump up to this one, but then we have the whole— we're using two different size hex heads. I don't think I have another hex head. I was going to be diligent. I think it's on there good enough. I was just gonna be extra secure. Oh, Big Daddy, let's get it done before the end of this vlog. And the end of this morning we're gonna have a lean-to over these wood chips, which is critical for deep bedding because if those get soaked, well then they aren't going to absorb the excrement from the animals. Let's get the ladder up this side. Brackets at 91.5, and these will hold our— the end of our lean-to. It's not permanent, it's just so you can actually do it. I've designed this pig fort so you could do a lean-to on this side or that side or this side. I mean, technically We could have something covering our wood chips. We could have a lean-to over our piglet run, and we could put a lean-to over here at Beefcake and store feed. So can we get up there without the ladder? We might even be able to stand on this mulch. Can you get on that ladder and hold that right in the middle? Now, how are our measuring skills? We're going to lift this lean-to up, see if we got it right before we go making it too secure. That didn't secure it all too much because I'm almost off our entire length. The plan, if this fits, there's a couple of 2x4s in the boat— the trailer will get really quick and just prop it up. That's pretty good. One of us has got to prop it up. I'll do that because that'll be harder. The other one's got to grab these boards behind you, just come prop it temporarily. Is that enough to get your machine under there, Josiah? That's about right. That's a good length, 8 foot. Problem is, yeah, we've got half an inch in drop right here. Securing it to the base. Hey, we have a little extra there, but next time maybe it'll be flatter. Next time we do a lean-to. That's real nice. Big Court just got that much better. Pigs are laying in the sun. Change their diaper real quick. That feels really good. This system is just really neat. There's just something so good about it. 180 square feet right here, plus another 64 over there. So 200 and— is that 40-something? Under 250 square feet. Look what you got. You got a backyard pig farm. And you guys, there's something else. Whose idea was this? Josiah's? Revamping the front yard, huh? What you doing? Just fixing this area where there was a big puddle always. All right, clear the, uh, clear the way to the drain wherever it is. You've laid down some compost on the grass. Yeah, we'll get some, I guess, for right here. Okay, nice. All I've done here is say, hey, morning, we do projects, do something, you get some autonomy, and they just run with it. This, this is their deal. Good job. Look at this job they did. Complete. Here you go. Wow, that looks so good. I love that the boys are taking responsibility for this farm on their own accord. And I swear the only thing I've done is say we're doing farm projects at this and this time. Basically, what do you want to do? Isn't this something? It's where I've been this afternoon. Welcome to my office. iPad. Bluetooth keyboard, my iPhone. What can you not accomplish? And a piece of paper and a clipboard. Chicken tending game plan. It's crazy how you have an idea, it goes to paper, chicken scratch, and eventually you have a book. Wait, Mark just left. Josiah! Jonah, what happened? He just came and got cable specs. Coming back with the right cable. We will catch him then. Mark's back. You have any trouble finding that? I had a cable at the house there and I was able to use the same housing. Yeah. And then run the new cable through it. And what about the end? Is that same size? Yeah, I had to shave it down just a little bit, but I've got to— there, that is— yeah, you got it in there. So is it supposed to move while it's— while this is turning? It's fine. See, that's it. That's it. Heck yeah. I think we're ready just in time for tomorrow. I'm gonna stop what I'm doing when Mark comes. I look at that as my continued education, and it's the price of my— of the education, paying him to have to have it fixed. I'm just getting more and more knowledge each time. And boom! Yet another meal off the land. Sweet potato roast and stuffed peppers, broth turned egg drop soup. We got a good menu planned this week. We got a good menu coming up. Lots of carbs, right? Nope, Mom and I are low carb. Lily, Dad have mercy on you though when they don't have their— oh my God, I gotta have the carbs! Oh my God, we got you some white rice. Rice there tempts you, babe. Is this chuck roast? No, this is shoulder roast. Shoulder roast. It came together nicely though, didn't it? Shredded nicely. Do you struggle when there's rice about? Not terribly tempting. Rebecca's learned if there's a lot, if there's two sides, she's good. So she's got sweet potatoes and peppers. You meet your quota? I'm trying, guys. We got the wood chip covered, the walking tractor going. What else? What else am I missing? Those are two big wins. You guys ready to shake beds tomorrow? Yeah, he'd like it back in a week or two, he said. Let's get back to him. Let's get this done tomorrow. Happy day.