This One Was EXTRA

A surprise calf, dealing with a sudden abundance of strawberries, 10 gallons, and ribbons at a horse show. This spring day turned out extra special. Happy day! Let's do this. It's horse show day for Lily. Boys, we slept in. 7:15. The pigs are gonna be happy. Lots of strawberry tops in there. Gonna be more after today because we have a ton of strawberries. We already ate a whole basket last night, just raw. And there's more strawberries. We got them locally from a local strawberry farm, organic, only $15 a basket. That's a good deal. Kind of makes me think We should not grow our own strawberries because it takes up so much land. We should just support the local organic strawberry farmer. Take this with you. And don't you need some hay?

Uh, I don't think so.

Trade with you.

There, that's—

I'm going to hurry and get the chores done this morning. I have a little less than an hour before I have to leave Saturday, Shabbat Shalom everybody, uh, is normally our rest day, but with getting those strawberries in and Lily wanting a horse show, it's not exactly going to be our idea of a rest day, which we like to do nothing. Really, I like to have a zero day on Saturday besides the chores. But anyway, I really like my Bulletproof Coffee once a week. On Saturday. I'd really like to get that before we left. We've been canning beans and I guess a batch went bad. Boy, I don't want to be here in about an hour.

Pig farts.

Austin, can you mimic a pig fart there? Beans, beans, the more you eat, the more you toot. Build you an excavator and a skid steer? I don't know how to build that. I thought you wanted to go with me. I thought that's why I was coming in. Are you pointing to the— are you pointing to the excavator? Yeah. And you want me to build you one? I'm glad you have so much faith in me. Do you want a toy one, maybe this big? No. Uh-oh, I can't build a real one.

I can't.

I don't know how.

I want it like this.

Oh, that big? Let's also talk to Jonah because I gotta go to the horse show today. All right, come on.

That's right, that's right.

That's okay. I have to drop Lily off and then we gotta go back for the show. Could you build him some sort of mini X? An excavator just out of wood blocks, right? Can we build that out of wood? Okay, she says you can build it out of wood. Hey, be sure to put the snake catcher back when we're done, okay? We'll want to know exactly where that is when we need it. What's wrong? Honey had her calf. Nothing's wrong. I think you just told Gideon to stay here.

I don't see a baby cow.

All right, let's go see it. Coming.

Yeah.

What does this mean to us? You—

what does it mean to me?

Yeah, what does it mean to have this calf? More milk.

Yeah, hopefully some cheese.

Yeah, I'm especially excited this time because we had that scare that they weren't getting pregnant, or they didn't get pregnant at first from He-Man.

Yeah, I know.

I'm excited somebody was infertile at first. Probably just because He-Man couldn't— he wasn't mature enough.

That's what we think.

Honey, you work! This means she's productive, which means she's healthy, and means we're gonna be getting some milk. Am I wrong? Well, we'll see right here. She wants a girl for milk possibilities. I want a boy. Beast possibilities. Oh, it's a boy! It's a boy! He's fine. He's— they've been up and at him.

Oh yeah, he's dry.

He's eating. We let her have— we let him have the milk today, right? And we don't milk till tomorrow to prevent milk fever. If it's a boy, you milk halfway out.

No, if it's a boy, you can milk all the way out. If it's a girl, you milk halfway.

Okay, it's not crazy at first because it's colostrum.

Right, she's got a lot of swelling.

Yeah, it's not, it's not like she has gallons in there.

Look how shrunken she looks.

She's sassy. Yeah, I know. She was— I thought she was gonna have twins. Look at him eating that Japanese knotweed.

Oh, that's what that is.

We'll take invasives and feed it to our sheep, and we'll, we'll take them up to Flora Rose. I was on track for coffee, and then we had a cowbird that we just had to see. Hey, that is my favorite kind. The kind where we come out and the calf is already dry. Jonah's starting on strawberries. What's the plan for the strawberries? What do we have to do?

Um, okay, so we have to cut them, like the tops off, just to get the green off, and freeze them. And then we're also going to freeze dry some to have for yogurt.

Oh, fun. You're going to start that today?

I'm gonna— we're gonna cut them and at least get them freezing. Yeah, I'm gonna go get the freeze dryer trays because I have the trays with the, um, with lids so we can at least lay them, and then I'll pre-freeze them before I put them in the freeze dryer.

We got the strawberries yesterday through our friends Ben and Meg Holler. Strawberries wait for nobody to get soft and bad, and it's fresh, real strawberries. They go bad quick, so we have to deal with it today. How many did we get?

So we got 10 gallons.

So one of those baskets is a gallon?

Yes. I'm very excited about it.

I think we should just buy from those people every year and not— I agree, because that would take— that would take a 20— that would take a 2,100 square feet of our garden.

Okay, well, or would it?

I don't—

I mean, I think that I Small patches produce quite a bit, but also I just don't feel like we've had— we had great success. So like, leave it to the professional. Yeah, there's also another one that I know of that I want to go to as well. There's another shop.

Oh yeah, I know what you're talking about. You're not gonna drop the name, are you? You can keep it secret, you surfer. You keeping the big surf to yourself, honey?

No, no, I, I think it's called the Tenacious Garden.

Oh, that's not even who I thought of.

Who?

We're giving away all the spots. Okay, we love you. Flying Cloud Farm.

Flying— well, they don't always do strawberries. They don't.

Okay. All right.

And then also Casey Ostovich in Honey Tree Farm in Hickory has strawberries as well.

There's an abundance. We believe in abundance.

We do believe in abundance.

And I believe that we'll give away all our spots.

Justin, we have 10 gallons of strawberries that we did not have last year.

Yeah.

And I'm really excited. And then that 10 Acre Garden also does blackberries. Yeah, they'll do that too when they come in.

This is a sign that you got real strawberries. They're weird. I like it. Okay, is that 2 or 1? Yeah. Or is that me or you, Rebecca? We're 1. We're 2, but we're 1.

That's me and you.

Yeah.

All right, I got my coffee stuff out. I'm gonna try to do this. I have 2 minutes. Uh-oh, she's gonna be mad at me. All right, get me a jar, Lily. Scoop of gelatin. Yep, a spoonful of chocolate. Scoop of creatine. Egg yolk. 3 tablespoons homegrown butter. Coconut water.

Everybody understands. You guys understand, like, how excited I am to have this because, like, then I don't have to buy strawberries Vanilla.

I got my coffee. You guys got the strawberries?

We got them, babe.

Lily, you ready? Gonna kill me. We'll be okay. You have until noon to watch this horse. Oh, I get a hug and a kiss. Thank you. Bye-bye. Josiah, will you watch him? You mad at me? Oh, I'm I'm 13 minutes late. I really wanted my Bulletproof Coffee.

It's just a baby cat.

Boys, says a lady growing up on a farm her whole life, for sure. Look, we're only 7 minutes late.

Exactly.

Happy prepping. Yeah, we'll see you at the show. On our way home. Isn't that ironic? Fire truck burnt down. So did the fire station. That's a tray of strawberries. You guys done?

Um, yes. I'm gonna make— I have 2 gallons that I'm gonna make strawberry jam with. No, do I have 2 gallons? Yeah, I have 2 gallons. Okay, maybe I can then.

Oh, yeah, I don't need 2 gallons.

You gotta freeze them individually before you put them in a bag or they stick to each other.

Be for smoothies.

That's what I'm excited about.

I know, I'm excited about this too because, um, then we can put this in our yogurt.

These can be stored shelf stable. Yeah, don't even have to take up our freezer. I like that. Off-grid.

I'm just gonna go put these in the freezer downstairs.

I'm gonna pre-freeze them so that the freeze dryer doesn't have to We are gonna let those freeze all day and freeze dry them tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it. Beautiful one and I have been doing cabbage, fried cabbage, as opposed to rice. See, it's not quite the same. I'll stick it with the rice. Trick is to not think of it as a substitute. It's not a substitute, it's an alternative. Gets us through without having rice. Low carb, you know, we're in our 40s now. We're gonna have to, you know, watch the inflammation, watch the weight, watch the carbs. Grounded spiced lamb dish from the lamb. It's kind of weird to just eat scrambled ground meat. I'm gonna try it in a lettuce wrap. I'm not a big fan of greens, but if it makes eating this meat more exciting, fulfilling— exciting is the right word because it's great— then it's worth it. Just thought of something. I never checked the chicks or the pulps. I better do that while I'm thinking about it. Oh good, turkeys are jamming and the chicks are jamming. Lettuce wrap versus Cabbage and lamb. Cabbage and lamb.

Oh, I gotta go.

Surprise, surprise, I believe I like the lettuce wrap better. Love holding that little hand. And you never know when the last time is gonna be. I don't hold Jonah's hand anymore, but I don't know when that stops. This her first show?

This is, yeah, this is her first really outing.

How do you think she's gonna do?

I mean, so far it's presenting pretty well. She's extremely calm and relaxed, so.

She's gonna have a podium sweep?

A podium sweep?

Yeah. Get on the podium in every event?

Why not? I like it.

First 3? You know if there's, uh, With less than 3 people in the event, it's very easy to get to podium.

I hear, I hear. Your chances of top 3 are pretty good.

How nervous are you?

Not that nervous.

I was nervous this morning.

Scale of 1 to 10, 10 being freaking out, panic attack.

Probably like—

1 being asleep.

3.

I'm a bit nervous. I've done a lot of shows.

Oh, you're a seasoned pro. She's got a 30-minute break until Lily starts, so we're gonna check out a plant sale that just happens to be in the same area. Watch out! This is heaven for these crazy plant ladies.

So, Mateo, uh-huh, uh, is important too. It makes a difference. This tomatillo is the most delicious tomatillo I have ever tasted, and it was so prolific.

Okay.

That'd be better than having to buy fish— fish liquid fertilizer. I know.

And look, it's 4 times as rich as cow manure and twice as rich as chicken. Wow.

Are you interested in this?

Yes, I am.

No, get the, uh, I think I'm gonna get this one. Okay, we mix it with water and then do you mix it?

A half a cup, a whole gallon of water. Oh wow.

Wow.

Yes, yes, I would like that.

How do you make that?

You put that in a, um, you take rabbit manure, soluble kelp, and we put it in a big bin to make it.

A big bin of water.

Uh-huh.

And it bubbles it?

Does it bubble it? It doesn't bubble, but we usually use an aerator.

Beauty gets excited about plants, I get excited about manure.

Gideon, bring me my tool.

Back at the horse arena. You might be a crazy plant lady.

Gideon!

If you bring your plants inside so they don't get hot in the car. Gideon, bring the manure. How nervous are you now, 1 to 10?

5, 4.

I don't think this horse likes me. She's like—

This is Lily's next event. This is her competition. Competition. Imagine the stress of like if you win the Olympics.

I'm like nervous about this little, very small show.

First place, guest number 231, Lily from Yeah, and I also have a second place.

Two first place, girl.

Yeah, and a second place.

So how nervous are you now?

I'm so nervous.

Why?

I still have two flat passes.

Okay, this is Lily's next event. She's with three other people this time. That horse is very anxious right now. What? Ellie's very nervous. Not bad out of 4. Next event. CP4 people win! Hey, champ! This is his first show.

Oh, first.

First. How does it feel to be a champion? Good.

Well, we don't— I don't have a champion ribbon yet.

We are back. We've been relaxing for a while. Lily ended up overall champion with like 2 firsts, 2 seconds, and something else. Anyway, she got invited to stay even.

The big cops and robbers.

Who is?

The boys are there.

Boys, you're supposed to play cops and robbers with him. Okay, all right, go play ball with them. She even got invited to the 4-H state event, and this was a horse that has never been in a show. We're really proud of her. That's extra special. The calf, the strawberries. Tomorrow, let's milk Honey and that calf for the first time. Let's get some of that colostrum. It's a superfood. Let's do it. See you then. Happy day.