This Grocery Store Hack Changed Everything Today

Today, a grocery store hack that I'm gonna dare say was one of those— epiphany moments. Hopefully it will be for you. That's coming in today's vlog. Got some crazy cold weather coming. It's dropping throughout the day instead of rising throughout the day. That's crazy. Before this epiphany and a couple of hacks I'm going to show you at the grocery store, we got to get ready for this extreme cold. Hard to believe because it's kind of warm out there. Feels like a typical winter morning here in the mountains of North Carolina, but it's not. Potty training Henry. He just went. He just went on the potty yesterday. Pizza bites. Why are you using your hands on that? I didn't get a spoon. You got caught. And why are you eating Parmesan cheese straight up? Because it's good. The HVAC guys are here. Let's make sure they have everything they need before we go. Good morning. Do you need anything from me this morning? Uh, don't think so. Name of the game is always lining up the next person and the next person after that. Big problem right here. We need this block built up so the framing can continue, so the electrician can finish, so the insulation can come. Randolph gets the reward. Ever faithful and will do whatever. He's installing panoramic doors. You ever installed a panoramic door?

No.

Add it to your resume, my friend. Randolph, what I'm one of them good old boys that likes to work. Tricky to put in, but they're gonna be nice.

Oh, Becky, it's getting cold.

It's getting colder. Try this again. Of course, the remodel, zone zero, our house is the number one priority right now. And we're here, our weekly mini day, supplementing our food. Oh, already it's getting colder. Uh, got a couple of hacks for those of you wanting to grow some of your own food that aren't quite there yet or want to grow more Notice what she's getting. We didn't get peppers, although we love them. Ditto on zucchini. And cucumbers, probably what we miss the most. I'm noticing the co-op is good about having seasonal veggies. We're not getting tomatoes. We're getting things we could have grown. We're getting seasonal items like cabbages, collards, carrots, broccoli, and sweet potatoes and bananas. It's going to be 10 degrees tomorrow. We're not growing bananas in Western North Carolina. One thing we don't need a lot of— meat. Uh, about the bananas, those are a cheat. It's hard to beat a banana for a great snack for kids. Clean, easy, delicious, and actually it is in season all year round. The point is, uh, you're gonna grow food, you're gonna be— you're gonna need to cook said food and use it. So you don't have to be homesteading to start homesteading. Homesteading. Starts now. Again, the point is to start buying stuff that is in season that you could have grown. My second hack for you is to look at what you're buying. That's what's close to your heart. That's what you should grow. You're trying to figure out what you should grow. That's what you should grow. And if you're already growing, that's what then you should prioritize. Let's take a look. Uh, chips are gonna be hard to grow. That's just gonna have to remain a cheat.

We could grow corn and grind it and then make it into chips. Or you have some Hot Pockets.

You know, maybe you shouldn't be eating that stuff.

Or just have it as a cheat. Yeah, occasionally. Not eat it once a week.

Or yeah, it's a small percentage of this cart. I for one am not giving up chocolate for a while. I don't even think I'm gonna give that up during the 100-day challenge or something.

Yeah, I think we're gonna have something.

I think we're gonna allow ourselves some cheats. Calling the house. You still think it's okay if we go to lunch? Yeah, it's fine if you guys want to go to lunch. Okay, thank you. Who's watching Henry right now? I am getting cheese. Look at all this cheese. You know what that's telling me? That's telling me we might need to put that third cow hire on our priority list. Call the cow guy and see if— Yeah. All right. I hope they itemize this receipt so we can easily figure out how much we're spending on dairy. If they don't, I'll add it up. Okay, that temperature is dropping fast. Becca's got an 11 o'clock phone call. I broke it into 3 categories: dairy, Cheats and fruits and veggies. I'm, I'm shocked. This is definitely a reality check even for me. It's cold out here, but I'm gonna try to explain this to you. Dairy is 40% of this bill. Almost 40%. We're already growing our own. We didn't have to buy any milk. We didn't have to buy any yogurt. We only had to supplement a little with cream. We had to buy all our cheese. Cheats was 21%. Maybe this is the most shocking, is fruits and veggies was only 19%. What percentage do you think we just spent on dairy? I'll give you a hint, this is very telling to me.

I'm gonna say this is—

this is changing the directory of our homestead. 40%. 40%, that's exactly right. 40%, Becky. How much do you think we spent on cheats?

$30.

21%.

21%.

What do you think we spent on fruit and veggies?

Oh, that was 60% then.

19.

19%.

Most of that dairy mozzarella. We could have grown— is cheddar hard to make? Mozzarella is easy enough. Ricotta is easy enough.

Cheddar—

oh, we had to supplement with some cream on there. So hopefully we don't have to get 4 cows. No, we only have so much land. We don't have room for 3. We're gonna have to supplement with hay, but our goal is to quit the grocery store. We'll just buy some hay. I really think this is one of those pivotal moments, aha moments, where we decide to buy another cow. Yes, I'm gonna text him right now. Are you all right? I'm ready. We've got the milk down, we've got the yogurt down, we've got some of the— we got some of the cream down, some of the butter down, but we need all the rest of the butter and the cream and the cheese. Unless you want to quit cheese. Her silence is her agreeing.

I don't like my cheese.

You do not take her cheese away. I know, we've already taken— that's right, we've taken her gluten. We better not take her cheese. Recipe exercises. Actually, you know what Jesus said? He said where your treasure is, there your heart is. So imagine your heart has a little string attached to it, and it's attached to your money. Wherever your money is going, that's where your heart is. So look at your grocery receipt, X out Oreos, and, you know, just put cheats in a category. Have some cheats, but then look at the stuff you're buying. All right, that's where your heart is. What you think you want— look at the evidence and have a serious talk. You know, we might have been real excited about going all in the garden, but we need to prioritize the dairy. We are back. It's getting colder. I've got to go winterize some things. Hey y'all, thanks for the day. Did you like those 2 hacks? Buy what you could have grown, look at your receipt, and let that direct you. Those are just 2 of so many hacks I'm giving away in a free Design Your Homestead workshop February 5th. It's free. Link in the description. You want to get registered now. What would you guys think about getting a third milk cow? We don't have enough grass for Julie. That's great, but now we have a hay field clearing, so— and we have to keep clearing. Y'all are game for that? I think I'm fine with it. Come in, you're back milking because they've been milking. 40% of our grocery bill today was dairy. You want to? You want to get it? Yeah, because you and Gideon need to start. You can start milking. Josiah's not so sure about another milk cow. Why not? Because I'm tired of milking. Are you tired of eating cheese? You want to quit eating cheese? Maybe. Well, the problem is I already have to take care of you. All right, you quit eating cheese and you won't have to milk. That means yogurt.

He loves yogurt.

That means milk. You quit eating dairy and you don't have to milk those cows anymore. They're leaving Bean behind. They like that autonomy. Yesterday we learned we don't have enough circuits at the Holler House. We don't have enough to run these tank heaters to keep our water unfrozen for our animals. We kept blowing the fuses. And then we remembered, I believe the RV hookup is still running. Well, this adapter, dude, let's try it. Look at that bread, it's freezing as it comes out of my mouth. Here, an adapter to an adapter. Hey, is it working? Yep, lights onto that thing. Yep. Hot dog! Our water line though, it's already frozen. Do we have an empty hose somewhere? And the sheep and the cows— or the sheep and the— yeah, cows need water. The pig water line was not frozen yet, so let's take advantage. And it reaches the cow. This cannot be on without water immersed in water. Uh-oh, it's still going. Not immersed in water. That's working. All right, you guys are gonna have water. This is a big deal, and I'm very excited because our primary animals, we learned today, definitely the milk cow is going to always be in water. Sheep are always going to be in water, and that means we're not going to have the pain-in-the-butt chore of having to break this ice. Now let's get the water out of this hose so that we can use it again. Running it slightly downhill. Let's get off this hump. I'm leaving it on because the water's on and running. As soon as I turn this off and take this off should suck all that water out. Let's walk it out. The other alternative would have been to store this inside. I guess I could have done that. New towers downstairs. Every day we're one step closer to moving back in. Heat lamp on our house water system— if that freezes, we're all out of water because it's all connected. This is another circuit. I'm going to try plugging in the pig to that light Well, I could do that right now. Maybe I can't. Hear that? Okay, that's Randolph running the heater on this. It's a different circuit, so I think we can get away with this. We're like 10 feet. It's 210 feet. Before I unplug the fuel tank, let's check the generator level. Oh, okay, we're good on fuel there. This is going to be really weird typing. My hands are not working that great, but it's not going to stop me from continuing work on the Designing Your Bless— Best Homestead Ever 2024 Edition booklet coming out in February with our Intro to Permaculture workshop. Link in description. The workshop's free. And at the workshop, you can get the book. We had a good day. It was a pivotal moment, and we caught it on tape. 3 cows. There's where our heart is. Oh, you want to go see the door? You get a bonus. I was gonna say happy day, but— oh, panoramic doors installed!

And then it'll lock into place. And then this one will do this and lock into place, and then we'll have it so they don't swing out.

They kind of fold up to the middle. And here comes the round pen. We got the delivery. Now on a walk. This is the coldest it's ever been.

Yes, it feels— well, when I checked the weather before we came out, said it feels like 4 degrees.

Okay, hope the power stays on tonight. Hope everybody's staying warm. Happy day.