The Problem With Living Above PIGS

Rebecca and I sleep right there, right above the pigs. You might be a homesteader if you sleep above the pigs. How are you guys so loud? You need bedding? It's wet. Let's get that before we do the feed. Bring that in and get it out of the rain. Don't let it fall on him though. Good. That's his dog crate. Are you game for it? Are you Are you giving me a kiss? Are you giving me a kiss?

Huh?

What does that mean? Sign language? What is that supposed to mean?

Snack.

I want a snack. Oh, a snack.

Okay.

You gonna get your shoes on? I got us another goose egg. Here's your shoes, Mr. Brown. Lily! Lily! Lily! That's weird. You got your lesson.

I'm gonna go in the cabin.

Gideon, come on, I'm going. I gotta go down there before they get there. He goes— I think that's eating. It's very good. What's this sign language bit he's doing? I doubt that's the official sign for eating, but I figured it out. Well, let's move him around. Yeah, make him—

he's not got it yet.

Bring down another one. He keeps going back to that one.

Nope, come on, you beast. Good boy, he knows what to do.

Look, yeah, he backs right up.

Good job.

Give him a little treat of alfalfa. All right, Brianna's got that. Gonna milk him after Moose and get it all. Jonah has built a welcome home gift to Amy and Arun. You guys might remember her— them, they've been gone 6 months to India. And Nepal. And this is a welcome gift.

Look what I did to make this curve.

Oh, this is nice. Okay. Is that beveled? Wow, that looks really nice. You did that yourself?

It's put in.

This is about what, 18 inches?

Uh, this—

Okay. Where are you gonna get the soil?

The bank.

When? Today. Okay, because they're like coming today, I think.

Yeah, I'll probably get a Henry load.

That's Henry right there. You might need to get a few Henry loads.

I'm going to put wood in the bottom of it. It's still there. Just maybe like a few sticks.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Good job, Jonah.

Really good.

Pull it out from underneath the towels. There you go. There, that's nice of you. You know, some folks are wondering why this kind of dog. Why— well, that's a mini Goldendoodle, by the way. And why didn't we go to the pound and get a rescue dog? Well, I feel like all dogs are a risk. They're individuals, they're beings. Everybody's different, even in the breeds. So we're wanting to kind of down Uh, we're wanting to mitigate our risk. We're wanting to increase— so we're wanting to increase our chances to success. And even to do that with this guy, we've already talked to a trainer. We've already hired a trainer, gonna come and help us with him. It doesn't seem like he needs much help though, right? I'm just blown away how quiet, how seemingly potty trained he is. Like, he's had one accident How playful he is, yet he doesn't beg while we're eating. It's just like crazy.

We took a long hike and we did not have to carry him once.

Yeah.

Well, I did have to carry him down Legends. Mm-hmm. But they're only like that big.

Yeah. So we wanted an indoor dog this time. We've never been indoor animal people. I guess we are now. Really for the fun and for the kids, for us, but also for the health benefits of being able to hold and interact with an animal. Uh, so, but you know, sometimes you might not know it from the clutter. There's some clutter. We're kind of clean freaks, admittedly. We don't want a shedding dog, and these guys, they're small, it's the Mini Goldendoodle, and they don't shed. And buying from a breeder means I guess a little bit more predictability. At least that's what we thought. At least that's where we're coming from. Thank you guys who have followed this journey, our dog journey, and have cheered with us and hung with us through thick and thin, good times and bad. And thank you, all you guys, for cheering us on with these guys and enjoying him with us, because basically that's what this is. This is just a big joy. He does think he's like not gonna directly help us on the homestead Indirectly, yes. We— homesteading serves us. We don't serve homesteading. So we are people and loving beings first, and he's gonna help us live happier, healthier lives. And that's our ultimate goal. Just like homesteaders— homesteading helps us live happier, healthy lives, so will little Teddy.

He's just whacking down.

He like likes— that's another thing too, you know, when he came, I dropped him down and I thought he's gonna run off. Nobody knows where he's gonna go, but he hasn't left somebody's side since we got him. You're very dependent, like us. We like to be together, and you like to be with us, don't you? You like to be with us? Yes? Is that a yes? Is that a yes?

Hey, Teddy! Hey, cutie!

See, he goes from one person to the next.

You are so good.

He's so quiet.

Yes, you are so sweet.

Let's see, should we— oh my, Mr. Brown, huge mess over by the internet too, my man. Come on, I'll help you real fast. Come on. All of a sudden we'll have an internet outage. I wonder where that's from. The kids playing back here. How's your video? You got it ready for upload today?

Yes, guys, I got some more vitamins for us to take.

Why don't you put him to his food while we eat?

Look, he already ate first. But if he wants to have his dog cake, I don't think he might.

You guys are getting ready to leave?

Yeah.

All right, they're going to get Teddy some supplies, some— a collar. And you're gonna get some supplies for the farm, like some shavings?

I know I'm gonna get off. I'm already hanging. I'll get what you need. Ow!

From me. Is this your incognito plan to go into Whole Foods?

Yes. Yeah.

Yeah, I dare anybody to kick him out. You got him in our sturdy Brother tote. Looking good. Stylish.

In his house. I don't think anyone's gonna kick Teddy Teddy out. I don't think anyone's gonna kick you out. You're just so cute.

Mwah.

He's probably over there. You just can't resist kissing him.

Alright, so every day after the morning chores and stuff, I sit right here and I struggle with how to share this part of our life with you in this daily vlog. Although it's a huge part. So I think I got a clue this morning. So basically I prioritize. What do I need to be doing? Because I only have a very little amount of time. I've got to get the vlog done. I think the most important thing is to check member texts. Premium member texts. And I think there's an interesting one this morning that you guys will appreciate. One of the members, Ryan, wanted me to check out his YouTube channel. Just started a YouTube channel, just moved to his ranch. Let's check it out. Hey Nicole.

Hey.

Where are we going?

To buy a house.

Hey Google. Alrighty, this is good. It's a fun, excited couple. They already, right off the bat, let us know what they want. What this movie's about. A good story, you know what the character wants. Get directions home. Mrs. Honey.

The best way to get home by car is via I-10 East and I-20 East and will take about 21 hours and 37 minutes in light traffic.

So, that's good. Part 2 to the good storytelling. These guys are natural. Let me turn it down. Nice music. They're traveling. That's good. The character wants to go home to their new home. They have a struggle. In this case, 21 hours. And they show some of that, but not too much of that. I've already peeked at this. Can you guys tell? Okay, so then we're fast forwarding a little bit. Look, they're home.

Fun.

Doesn't that look like a fun couple? Doesn't that look like somebody that's fun to be around? I know this, they were doing different poses for the thumbnail. The image for their video, but they kept it in. So that's raw, that's raw, that's fun. We enjoyed that. Here they are. I think they're gonna give us a tour. Ready? So yeah, they're gonna give us a tour of the house.

There we go.

I'm fast-forwarding because I've already watched it. So they've arrived, they're showing the house, they're gonna talk about how it makes them feel. So this is the third part, like the, the third part to the story. The character either gets what they want or don't. And now they got there, they're there, they're showing us They're summing it up, how they feel, and they're actually showing their arrival. So it's very nice. Good job, Ryan. So you guys are probably gonna want to know the name of that YouTube channel. It's called Ryan Murphy. Yeah, so members don't just ask me questions about farming. They ask me about YouTubing, life, parenting, business. I help them out as best I can because I'm like that uncle they never had. Uncle Justin. Uncle Justin gonna help them out just as if I was their uncle. Cheers, Ryan, and best of luck with the YouTube channel. Thank you so much for being a member. And let me know what happens if you type in Ryan Murphy on YouTube. Nope, there's many famous Ryan Murphys, and this guy's not one of them. So I'll leave the link to Ryan's channel in the description. Okay, now how do I make— uh, I've answered member texts, I've gotten the member Facebook group. I've emailed with my assistant Heather. Oh, should I show you one more thing? Remember yesterday I talked about a waiting list for the member area? I had Heather create one. There we are, we got a waiting list. There's Joel and I. You know, the watch, that's, that's maybe a little fancy for homesteading, but we're just gonna go— we're just putting it in publish, guys. Uh, you can get in, you can get first dibs. And I decided to go with a 10-part bonus. Like, you can get it now, you get on the waiting list You get my top 10 resources for Joel Salatin like right now. You hit this green button. You put in your email. That's it. Justin. Join the waiting list. And there it is. There it is. The top 10 resources from Joel Salatin. There ended up being more than 10 links, but there you go. Everything from the Corona Joel's Take. Hey, Randolph.

Hi.

What's going on?

I don't know it.

Okay, you done?

I got you fixed up for now.

Okay. So that was Randolph. The extension's done. Good job, Randolph. Hey Joyful. Hi. Are you looking for Lily?

Yeah.

She had to go with her mom. She'll be back this afternoon. That's waiting list. You'll get that bonus right away, but you'll also get 24-hour notice before we launch into the member area, which is important because spots are limited and the registration is only open so long. All right, we just wrapped up the edit. We're doing really good on time. It's like 3 o'clock. Uh, we don't have to move the animals today. I'm gonna try to do the impossible. I'm gonna try to get these pigs out. I'm gonna explain why. Yeah. Oh, I meant to take— I meant to pull the Mr. Rogers, take off my indoor sweater, put on my outdoor sweater, but I cannot find my outdoor sweater. Do you know where it is?

No.

So I'm gonna wear my coat. Probably don't even need it, although it looks windy.

Guys have to go up in the stall.

All right, you put the lane across the road. I'll get it ready down here. Let's do the, uh, Luchis first, so then we'll shut the gate on our way out. So it's gonna basically be a Festivus miracle if I get this done. We have to bring the cows down and put the calves up because They are not— the sheep are not right next to them. You know, this is an impossible task, but what do I say? Why do I say it's in aiming for the impossible that extraordinary things happen? You can go start getting them. I'll be ready. Really? Oh, we got us a gate! Randolph is finished. This looks really good. Good job, Joe, so far. Jonah, I'll get Phyllis. I'll get Swassie. I'll keep her moving. You keep them moving. Let's get you on up out of the way, girl. You're nice and full. I'll hold you back. You don't have to get in this tension. Hey, come on, we just want the calves. If you can get to just them, we're golden. All right, you can get her out easy enough, right? Yeah, good, perfect. You guys making us look good today. Come on, that's not— you don't even have to get in. Come on. All right, come on. Here she comes, Jonah. Oh, it's easier to get under that stanchion too, to get out of the way with this higher. I like it.

I'll start Sally, you get the head.

Okay, well, I'm gonna put this together to get it out of our way. We had a battery die on this sheep energizer, so charged it. It's ready to go. I hooked it up. Let's see if it's working. Looks like it's working there. We gotta test now with the Energizer tester. Will you go get me— it's on the column— and I'll load the hay in this. Okay, so all was going splendid until I looked at our grounding line, and that's how you guys have it rigged. What happened to the claw? Do you know?

I accidentally pulled it off the clamp.

All right, uh, test it, Jonah. We got it fixed. Should hit at 13. Okay, it's hitting at 660. It's grounding out here somewhere. See if you can see where that's— it's probably the cord. Hold on, see, it's— this is not— this cord is not— oh, look, I see it. Keep turning on. Look, see it hitting right there? You can see it sparking. So that's gotten damaged being pulled in and out of there. All right, turn it off. Yeah, I actually put the— they have like a rubber I don't know, rubber— what would you call that? Rubber brace for these to run through so it doesn't rub on that metal.

Oh, it's in it. Oh boy, I'm not turning that off. Snapping, and it's not even doing anything.

The cords are probably rubbing on each other. So yeah, to turn it off, it'll shock you because if it's hitting this metal, so do like that. All right, so I tied those two lines together.

I can see a hole, but it's not there.

They're probably both got holes in in the same area and they're hitting— positive's hitting the negative. That's my guess.

What do you think? Yeah, because it didn't hit anything.

Okay, I've rewired each individual strand. Let's try it now.

We can test it. Whoa, you're funny!

You're gonna bench it to me? You're funny. All right, test it, funny guy.

All right, ready, set. I got you.

Oh, I don't hear it.

Oh!

13.0.

Be careful, guys.

Perfect. Just in case there's still a breach. Okay, we got to do something about these chickens. I did find a cap. Uh-oh, look, this isn't even being used.

Jonah!

All right, we got the fence better. Look at that, much better there. Put that cap on that one, looks much better there. We got them all in. Now we'll see if they stay in. Is that Mom? Okay, we had a 30-minute delay there, guys. Okay, it was impossible with the time I had. Now it's like light speed impossible. We should see if they need help unloading anything. Hi there. Hey, let me see his collar. Looks good.

I guess we're not gonna have to get to get doing anything with the pigs.

Uh, we'll try it. Everything has a place, everything in its place. What's for supper, darling?

Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, which is not made, so I have to make those.

Okay. All right, Jonah, we have 30 minutes left. Can we even do the normal chores in that amount of time? We do have to secure the pigs at least. They be waking me up last night.

I woke up and I was like, why am I waking up? And I didn't know.

It's the pigs. Do we have a latch? Oh, Donna, we still gotta unload the Suburban.

Oh my gosh, what were you doing in there?

Well, I was putting stuff away. Uh, my assistant called me. What else? I don't know, I was busy. Y'all know to look for cows, right?

You're gonna drive with your camera there?

Just a little bit.

Come on.

All right, we got that down. Jonah, it's gonna be— it's gonna be doing the impossible to get these shores done in 25 minutes. All right, move the truck.

Okay, just kidding, just kidding.

I'm just kidding.

No.

No, watch out. No, is that everything? Energizer, water. Do we need the, uh, a mineral?

No, I don't think so. Okay, I don't think we need a mineral. Papa, your pan is bleeding to death.

I know, right? It's annoying. Why are you putting your hands on your head? Oh really? Polisher?

Don't put it on the speedo.

Hey, where is this, uh, tool for getting the bucket lid off?

Up on the access road.

Okay, we got 20 minutes left. Detour. We got to get our tool for getting this bucket lid off. They've left it on the access road. Okay, when you set out to do the impossible, you got to be flexible. You got to be flexible. Too blessed to stress, right? You got to be okay if you do fail.

You're good.

I forgot our fence is temporary over this, uh, access right here. He's got to run and get it. It's not too far. Let's give our sheep a flake of hay. Sheep, sheep, sheep, sheep, sheep, sheep! Have you had plenty to eat in there? That's good.

If I'm not a farmer, I'll be a professional runner.

Yeah, that's good. Or a weightlifter. Rawr!

That's a good picture. You got it on? Yeah, pose.

Classic YouTube thumbnail. That's the fence, bro. Make sure you get it on a hot wire.

Oh, that's not gonna help. It's not getting a 4.7 even with the grounding rod off. There you go.

Try it now.

Holy mackerel!

What?

10! 10 isn't very—

we're hitting it. Whoa, I felt like I felt something go through me. That can't be right. But yeah, it's hitting at 10. That's hot, right? Is that your hot Energizer dance? All right, here, put this— hey, put this up. Thanks. We gotta turn it off to get this water in. Hey, did you already prop this open? Got this handy dandy— stay with me, guys, we're in a hurry. We got like 13 minutes. I still have to feed the cows and the pigs, and this makes it easy, man.

Wow, I've never seen it that easy.

Oh, it's jacked. I forgot about that. We gotta repair it. All right, boy, it's one problem or the next, isn't it? We're trying to put this where we haven't put hay before, build up the ground, add in organic matter. We got hay unloaded, two different spots. What do we got, 7 minutes, Jonah, to get home and feed the pigs? I think we can do it. It's gonna be a little tricky. Stall doors need to stay shut when you live upstairs on a windy night. Pour my skim into old feed buckets because it's usually got some grain in it. He's calling me. What'd you say?

We're gonna do the impossible!

We're gonna do the impossible, he said. 1 minute. We literally have 1 minute. You know, I bet supper won't even be ready. I think Rebecca's out. Rebecca's out, but that's the key. That's a key for goal-making. Have a goal that is very specific. What you want to do by what amount of time. Even if it's a hair artificial. I can be a little late. We'll be some forgiveness there. Maybe a more reasonable goal. Get those guys out by Thursday. All right. Oh, you got it?

Yep.

Okay, thank you. Start putting that on.

What are you gonna do?

What am I gonna do?

Come with me.

No, I will. I gotta get some shavings. I'll be right there. Mama just got us some shavings. I've been using the fine ones, which are going to be much better in the brooder. They absorb—

I don't—

they're not as absorbent maybe as the bigger ones. We're gonna try the bigger pine shavings. Wait, let's wait, let's wait, and we'll get it taunt. Okay, we're gonna have to clear it out with the, uh, with the fork.

Okay, because—

oh, you may need to put this down before we go in there. Okay, let's, let's do this. He's nubbing on that. Look, I don't know.

Do not want that.

You do not want wet bedding. Anytime you get wet, Benny, you got to add more carbon. You want to hand me the milk, Jonah, before they take a bite out of my calf? Whoa! Oh, you don't want to fall on that. Oh, see? All right, you got the milk?

You're going to have to grab it. Crazy.

You'd be crazy. That was too much of a tease. I guess I should have fed them in a corner or something. And then put the shavings down. I didn't want to feed them and then put the shavings down because then they get shavings in there. All right, we gotta get a pitch. Where's our fork? I guess that'll work in a pinch.

That'll work.

Yeah, we gotta do it tight though. I think that's what they're banging on. They might be moving that block around, but the water is not hitting the wall. Well, at least it's tight. I'm glad we aimed for the impossible because otherwise we wouldn't have got nothing done.

Papa, guess what? We watched it at Grandma's. We watched like Sea Rescue in San Diego.

It's over on the concrete.

And one our— took 15, 10 years to film and do rescuing a turtle.

10 years!

That's Josiah's life!

That's dedication. Hey, you waiting on me?

No, it's still—

well, I'm making the mashed potatoes and I'm trying to finish putting the box. No, no, no, no, no, no.

Come here. But he did eat some earlier.

He likes that food with his raw egg.

Kind of.