They’re Growing Up

Boy's missing his Keens, his Crocs, and his boots. And he says his banana's got a hole in it.

Lines.

Oh, lines. Okay. All right, lineless banana. Here we go. We got one. Maybe we can cover that up. There you go, a lineless banana. Okay, let me open it for you. No, okay, you open it.

Don't open this way, this way.

You like it open from this side? That's the way monkeys do it. Monkey nibble crap. Come on, Mr. Brown, get those turkeys a bigger tray. Hey, happy day and welcome to another day in the life of The Rooted Life, growing what we eat and eating what we grow. Hey, what are we gonna grow today?

The turkeys.

Yep, let's get those turkeys are growing. They need bigger feed pans. We can't keep up with this laundry, especially towels. Anyway, I'm very encouraged by you guys. Special thanks to you all. Yes. Oh, nothing in that one. Because we did that bike ride last week and it was close to my heart. I made a movie about it, but I figured it might tank because it wasn't about homesteading. But you know what? It didn't. It actually did the same, if not better. So thank you, thank you, thank you. That means a lot to me because it means you're following us as a family and not necessarily the homestead stuff. I'm gonna keep working on that, keep on getting you guys family my content, which is sometimes laundry. What happened?

Stop being a slob.

You want another one? You got a little banana crazy. There's some on your face. All right, what happened?

It was a bee.

There was a bee?

Yeah.

Did it sting you?

Yeah.

I don't think so. I think you'd be screaming. We do have stuff to do though. We're not family without purpose. We've got to get a number of things done before our staycation tomorrow. We're going on vacation to the greatest place on earth, Asheville. And you get to hold this bag up. Okay, I brought this just in case. This is salmon bites. Here's your snacks. Okay, let's go. This is interesting and sort of how the Where Are Your Shoes, Mr. Brown children's book I wrote went. We ended up just giving up on finding their shoes and just carried them. Okay, they don't need more grain, they're good for a bit. They do need bigger feeders. Hear them talking? I think it's because they're hungry. I need the side-by-side. Did you do your chores? Yeah, thank you very much. Ready for the horse ride this afternoon? A little later this morning?

Yeah, what time, 10?

I'm shooting for 10. The neighbor has allowed us on their vast pasture, which means you're gonna gallop. Yeah, wide open pasture gallop. Okay, so we're, we're pressed for time and we got a few things to do. Let's go. Am I ever not pressed for time? I don't know. I think that's the key of success, giving yourself goals. So our goal is fix the water, Fix this sheet pan. And what else? Oh, we gotta get these bands for the turkeys. Everything I think we need for our project. Bonus project. What do you got? Oh, give him the cow because he's getting bored. Keeps saying he wants to go home. Let's pull up this morning glory. Oh, it's climbing the persimmon tree, which didn't fruit for some reason this year. They got beat up in the frost last year, fruiting early, and I guess they got timid. There's Crocs! There's Crocs. You want them on? We got some corn we never needed.

Oh, the goose is eating it.

Oh, the goose will love it. Nothing goes to waste on the permaculture homestead. A little work, doesn't it?

Can we go in the house? White House?

Sure. I was kind of feeling that too this morning. Let's just look at our house. Painting this week. One day for the floor guy. Final CO Final electric, we're in. Trying not to get our hopes up, but 2 weeks? Look, Randolph put the secret panels for the fridge. You wouldn't even know, would you, to get in? No. This is new. This has got to be done for CO. This is gonna be a ladder. It's gonna go up to my office. The painters are painting it. Another hidden gym. Dishwasher. Hard to believe this is real and we're gonna be in here in a matter of weeks. A different vibe over here, isn't it?

What's this for?

I don't know, I never could figure out what those are for in dishwashers.

Wine cups.

Oh, wine. And rail back there, Henry. Need that for CO2. We lost one. I've tripled their feed tray. We had one of those, I got two more. I kind of wish I would have had just one bigger one. You got to go in and out of the coop three times to move it. Sure enough, they were basically out of food. They just left the powder. All right, they're buttoned up. Got lots of feed. Hey, how's the push mower working on that? Okay, it's— is it easier than the string trimmer? I don't know. Where'd you get it? Grandpa let me use it. Oh, okay. I did between the raised beds too. That really was easier. That was? Yeah. And now you follow up with the string trimmer? Might be easier if you let the grass dry. I did in the afternoon. Yeah. Here's your breakfast. Proud of you. You ready for our 2 more things? Next up in priorities, we're gonna get the, uh, luchador ring moving again. I'd kind of rather have rubber, but we'll see how they go. Let me show you the problem here. Well, one— oh, there it is right there. Gotta keep Harriet away from the bulls so she doesn't get bred. This wheel has come off I'd be curious to see if I couldn't just knock that back on there though. See this? I guess this feels plasticky. It's doing okay. Well, that makes it harder to push and pull. And if we're gonna go away— it's a staycation. We're vacationing in our own hometown, our own awesome hometown. I can't wait for you guys to see some of the things that are available here. Anyway, we— let's push them before we fix it, even though it'll be hard. The other thing is fixing this cable so this can be pulled. Pulling's easier, especially with a machine. We need to make it smooth for our farm sitter. Come on, Gideon! I'm getting a little sentimental lately. Jonah's 7, almost— he's gonna be 17 in December. He's got his driver's license. Josiah's got his driver's license now. Really feeling this sense of like Jonah's, you know, he's growing up. It's like— I dare not say it— like his departure is, you know, kind of parting with, you know, I don't know if I'll be able to do that with at least without a rubber mallet. It feels intimate. Intimate? What intimate? What word am I looking for there? Where it's just like upon us, at least less and less time. With Jonah. Well, this is, this is broken. That's why I got a new wheel. Okay, come on, get in. I think of the times, you know, Jonah used to come putz around with me when he was about that age. They of course were not in charge of the chores. I was in charge of all of them, and it was a sweet time. It— I, I remember it as him like wanting to come in the afternoon or volunteering, and like, these are afternoon chores. We've always had everybody do morning chores. He remembers this amazing, but he did, he did say he had a good time. These, these wheels are so— I mean, they're affordable enough to just not repair them and just to replace them. There you are. Thank you. Thank you for coming.

So flat about these tires.

There's nothing flat about it. It just came off the rim. You know, Jonah growing up before my eyes is helping me appreciate the little one.

I mean, just put it back on.

Go ahead, try. If you do, I'll give you $10. I don't know what to do about these emotions and stuff. You know, it just makes me feel really sad. Maybe it's sadness, and maybe it'll bring awareness and just help me just enjoy the moments I do have. I'm not sending them away, you know. I'm not, I'm not saying that. We aren't adopting that into our family culture. Our children don't have to leave. It's not automatic in our family culture. I should say good luck to you putting that wheel on. I got these rope clamps, way too big, but I don't know, maybe that'll be beneficial. You know, even now, I mean, Jonah and Josiah are here with us, but they go and milk the cows, I go and do projects. This is critical, crucial. You'll use this on the farm. This is gonna wrap around this. We're gonna have these— we'll put a couple of clamps on there. Should have brought a wire cutter to clean that up. I don't know what to do about this. So you know what, we have some friends of ours who are in a later stage. Their kids have just left the nest, really. So I'm gonna ask them how they handled this. How's it look? Got two rope clamps on there. Much easier. Gideon! Oh, he's in the floor. Salma thought he left me. One more thing, you and I. This is not as prioritized but this blew off. We won't be here until next go around the farm, but it's one of those things, if we don't fix it now, we'll forget about it and we'll wonder what's wrong with our water line. We're just going to put this back on better with a better hose clamp. We have that off. We should be able to turn this off and nothing come through and that not burst off. Okay, that new clamp, which is a screw-on one versus a clamp-on one Yeah, we're slowly having to replace everything with the screw-on ones. You ready for this, Birdo? Yeah, galloping on the pastures, trail riding for her channel. Okay, you boys ready? We'll lead the way in the machine. We're gonna have to hoof it with her on those trails. We'll have to follow her in the drone. Look at this, wide open. How was that, Lily? Oh, so fun. You're going so fast. How do you know he enjoyed it?

If he kept doing— he wanted to do to do it. Hey guys, ignore his eye problem.

What's wrong with his eye?

Yeah, his old skin is dying and stuff and he's trying to wear it off and he had like a little cut there. Yeah, but he's fine. I'm gonna put some medicine on that when I'm done.

All right, let's cool him off in the trail, huh? We running too? We're gonna run like Lily. Wee! Galloping in the field. Woo! Just galloped. She's so beautiful on that horse. Now we're going to film her walk trail riding in the woods. A little more difficult for the filmer who has to walk and has a 25-pound rucksack. At least there's a talk show radio on it. You struggling getting him ready for a mountain bike ride one day?

Why don't we just take a mountain bike?

You think? It's easy, but it's not. Sometimes it's easier just to walk uphill than ride up. Hey, you want to ride with Lily? You want to ride the horse?

You could put the Ergo on me and he could ride an Ergo, or he could sit in front of me.

Does Blaze like trail riding?

Oh yeah, he loves it. He's so relaxed. He's never this relaxed in the rain. He is— oh, bad spot.

Henry wants to ride with you. Is that okay?

Yes.

Wow, you get to ride the horse. Okay, no running with him though. Henry's gonna catch a ride. Gideon just asked if it could be his turn. So turn away. He said turn to go in the Ergo. They don't want to grow up either. Why do you want to ride in the Ergo?

It's because it's tiring to walk.

All right, let's see if you can still fit in the Ergo. All right, so far so good. Here we go. How old are you? 9, I guess. 9, you could still go on the Ergo. Might be our last ride, Gideon.

Probably enjoy it, but it might Not because we did that last ride on my birthday.

Yeah, yeah, that's almost a year ago. Meanwhile, you've been baking bread. I have been for staycation. Looks good to me. The kids can have picnic sandwiches. Tonight's dinner, I tried a buttermilk brine. This time we're gonna try roasting the chicken. We've been frying it, it's been delicious, but let's see how juicy it can stay with a buttermilk brine and roasting it. Rinse the chicken, dabbed it dry, salt, pepper, and thyme. Bake 420. Let's go, 20 to 40 minutes. How's the buttermilk chicken? Good. Is it juicy or what?

It's juicy.

I want to know, is it juicy? Yeah. Ken, is it juicy? It is juicy. It's juicy. Look, it came out crispy.

I know, I'm excited. I think this is a hack.

Is that?

The buttermilk brine.

Buttermilk brine.

And we found a use for the buttermilk. Kids are going on a shopping adventure. Go get a bathing suit for Henry for staycation.

Can I get a bathing suit for me too?

We're gonna send Lily so it can maybe happen.

Can I get a bathing suit too?

Sure, if you don't— you don't have one?

I need some shorts.

Josiah, you going too? Yeah. You guys are grown up. Put your cell phone reception on, Josiah.

So I'm allowed to have—

Or is that my phone? It's my phone. No, you're sure. I don't want to get in trouble.

I'm allowed to get a pair of swim shorts.

What?

I'm allowed to get a pair of swim shorts.

Sure. Hugs. Just want everybody to be safe. They're growing up and they're going away. Yeah, they're just going to get some swimming trunks and they're coming back, but they're going away. It's the start of it. You know, we fixed this house and one of them lives here and one of them's in the cabin. One of them builds something somewhere. Daniel Salatin lives on farm with Joel Salatin, but he's not up in his house. And not that I want that, it's just It's bittersweet. Bittersweet. So ironic. One's driving away and the other one I'm having to help find his Keen. Hey, help him. You need some karma. Help him find that Keen, please. I've spent weeks of my life finding your shoes. Yay, thank you! There it is. Woo! After dinner walk. Speaking of Jonah driving, I gotta ask you guys something for the vlog because your youngest is how old?

24.

Any words of wisdom for those parents for the parents in this stage whose children going away is imminent. So what was it like when you were seeing that your kids are starting to go away?

Well, your first specifically, you got to let them grow up.

Unfortunately, as much as we want to, as much as we want to hold on to them and keep them where they're at and protect, they have to grow up. Yeah, they have to learn to do those kind of things on their own, and they have to fail.

Yeah. Oh, and good one.

Yeah, and there'll be times where—

I know, that's, that's hard too.

That's a hard one.

And what do you mean by fail? You mean fail as an adult? You got to let them fail.

You got to give them the ability to try, even though we might see it as a mistake.

I see.

You've got to let them try.

Yeah, okay. And that's good.

And then when they make— then they learn from that mistake.

Yeah, it's all—

they'll learn their own lesson.

It's It's part of a learning process.

I see.

Yeah, well, because I see it as like, I'm like, I have, I have all this knowledge now that I've, that I've learned, and I'm like, don't make that choice. But how did we learn it? I know.

That's their ex— your experiences can't be their experience.

Exactly.

They have to have their own experience and learn it for themselves, whether it's the easy way or the hard way. They have to learn it for themselves.

Justin's like, I'm sad. It's like, I'm so sad. Also, he still spends a lot of time with us. Oh right, yeah, you were 16, we were not spending near the time with our parents, right, that, that our children are spending with us.

So I'm like, okay, it is gradual. I'm just, just being aware, I reckon, that's all. Well, awareness.

Justin about had a fit. I think Jonah was like 3, and I had this little baby backpack, you know, there it was. It's a toddler backpack, it's like this big, you know.

Yeah.

And he was like, she was sitting in the school and Jonah was like, take that off of him. He's like, I can't imagine, it's too, it's too early.

I thought you were gonna ship him off to school.

No, I mean, he was just like putting it on to like take a snack outside, and Justin's like, no.

Kids are back. I want to see this bathing suit. You didn't like it? Oh, I don't know, that's the style then. I don't know if this is short shorts. It is the wrong time of the year to be buying swimsuits. He's just gonna wear a diaper in it.

You had dinosaurs that are like for 6 to 12 months. They're a little—

well, the kids are the heroes. Happy day.