Turning 47: Not a Young Man Anymore

Happy birthday to me! I cannot believe it. We've gone so long without this happening. It's hard for y'all to believe because we don't necessarily show it when it doesn't happen. We've been checking the fence every night, or the kids say they've been checking the fence every night.

I don't think they've gotten into the grain.

Okay, the good news is the calves are not on them. Okay, that would ruin my day. Okay, if he checked the fence and it's on Okay, I think the sheep are still in there. That's okay, stuff's gonna happen. The ground's soft, the fence might fall over. It's been super wet lately. I'm saying this, aren't I, because the calves didn't get to them. So I'm in a fairly good mood about it. It's Friday, it's my birthday. We've been going hard all week butchering the lambs. My ideal birthday, just calm ketchup. Officially off my refeed. Rebecca has Reuben's plant. I need to get this meat in, probably. I fantasized about this brisket basically my entire fast. We are living on the edge this morning. Just used our last eggs, and on the birthday day, we're probably gonna need some eggs somewhere. We're out. We're counting on those chickens to lay today for any we might need today and tomorrow. You rinsing the brine off of it? Yeah. What do you do with the leftover, Brian? Down the drain, I guess. Well, the cows started heading up that way. Haven't eaten breakfast, but if the cows go up that way and the fence is compromised, the calves are going to get through and we're going to be out of milk. And the boys were just saying yesterday we could milk later, and I'm thinking, yeah, that'd be nice, it's winter, it'd be a little warmer. I said okay. And then this— no, this is a reminder. Until you can get it to where these cows don't ever break out. You check the fences properly. We have to milk at daybreak. There's no way they have all this stuff. Did you see that white thing by the road? Winnie keeps bringing the sheepskins back in. Forgot the leash. Honey don't need a leash. Vanilla needs a leash. And Harriet's gonna certainly need one. I think Harriet's pushing the fence. She better not be doing what He-Man was doing. They said that she's still crazy about alfalfa. Well, you gotta keep the fence hitting harder than 1.5 or whatever it was. Something was wrong. Hey, go herd Harriet up here, please. So full. All right, let's tie her up. Here, here. Came back to the house, new card for the camera. Carabiners though, he's— Gideon says he gave them to Josiah. Why didn't Josiah put them on the chain? I just want to eat breakfast. I get ill these days if I have to miss breakfast. You'll be my tripod? Okay. Well, we were gonna hook her up, but now the goal today is get the leash on her again. Now wait, how come this keeps happening? And maybe we should have made it even tighter. Look how it's bent. I don't think it fits properly. Yep, that's not happening today. Okay, and we'll hole punch this tighter anyway. Got that little swath right there, maybe 600 square feet today. We've got all that this, that. Okay, it can be very intimidating. You don't say, can I hand scythe this tenth of an acre of brush? You say, can I do 10 minutes a day? And the answer to that is yes. And actually, that improved my mood a little bit. I'm kind of in some mood this morning, and that helped it a little bit. Just clean out the nest boxes because they're gonna be laying eggs all day and we don't want them with poopy eggs. I'm always going to do my chicken chores for me, and then I can eat breakfast. Thank you. I forgot he's gonna need help. Well, he can feed them. You can feed them, and I'll, uh, I'll pick up what the cows spilled of all my mixed grains. And then when you come in, we'll show you. I'll show you how to soak it. Oh, they knocked over the yeast. Look at this. Maybe they needed that. Never seen a cow be so violent. Knocked over the, uh, the kelp. You take this busted bag, you either pour it in there or put that whole bag in there. I'm identifying some of my stress is I have a change of plans, you know. I have a plan in my head, and then when that gets disrupted, it sets me off for some reason. I don't know if it's middle age or fall, all the deaths surrounding this time. I don't know. It's working. I'm gonna put this on my nightly rounds before bedtime. Lock the doors. Turn off the Wi-Fi. Make sure the gate's shut. Basement light off. I'll add the gate to that list. Evenly pour those in and add water where you need to, okay? Little knee-jerk reaction to missed breakfast. I'm gonna make a killer one, and then I'm basically gonna turn around and make lunch. I do get out of making supper though today because it's my birthday. So hopefully I'll get some office hours in. Pizza all-in-one breakfast. Just put everything in the soup. Yeah, I've got butter, I've got avocado, I've got poultry fat, I've got sour cream, I've got sauerkraut, I've got beef bits. There's a little bit— I've got a lot of lamb bits. There's probably still a little bit of chicken bits in here. Fries?

Yeah.

Did Mom show you how thick she wanted them? Yep. Okay, good deal. Sweet potato fries coming right up. Adam is here. We've gotten some hay. Might be a much cheaper source of hay. And we bought some beef from him, a local farmer who farms like we do. So that's a solution when you don't have quite enough land for the amount of animals— partner with a farmer that grows it like you do. Hey, how's it going?

How are you? Do you remember me at all?

No. Where else could he be from?

When we was at Hunter's.

Okay.

But I mean, Lord, you know. Y'all, he doesn't, he doesn't, because he was like this tall.

He probably met 10,000 people since then. Oh, I'm sure. I thought you were bringing little bells.

Well, and if you don't want that, you just tell me because I will, I will keep it on my end.

Okay.

He had some of his crabgrass left over.

Yeah.

And it's more tonnage of hay for the same amount of cost. So that's the reason why. Now, if you don't want it, I'll keep it myself.

Yeah.

And I'll bring you back square bales.

Yeah, how many bales is it?

It's 3.

3. I mean, I know that, but that's not what I meant. Well, how much does it cost? Um, all told, for what I got right there, for this, how much is it per bale?

It's roughly $65 a piece.

Oh, okay.

So if you don't want it, you tell me and then I'll, I'll take it back.

No, I'll take it. That'd be like— what are they equivalent to, 10 bales, square bales?

Well, in a square bale, you typically are going to get 55 pounds if you're unfortunate if they're packed really tight. Yeah, um, these, these weigh like 900 pounds.

Do they? So that's a good deal. Beef liver, that's how you know you've gotten, uh, two signs you've gotten from a good place. There's hay on it and it says not for sale. Since they're frozen, that's good. We can put them in this same freezer we put all the sheep in. Page out of Shaelee's cookbook today, or life. Why grow all this amazing food and not take the time to enjoy it? I actually seared these into meatballs. I meant to do kefir with Adam. He doesn't like kefir. I don't know if I like kefir. You want to try kefir with me? Sure. We're gonna try it today. How does a blueberry cinnamon kefir smoothie sound? Ooh, egg yolks. My mom has come. My mom has come for my birthday. All the way from Paris. How was the trip from Paris?

I brought a little Paris with you—

with me. Oh, you want me to open it?

Sure.

It's just a bag. All right, let's see. Oh look, All of Ours is February. You must have gotten with her.

She did.

Thank you.

It was actually Jonah that got it.

I'm so glad this came before I started reading the one from the library because now I can, I can write in this one. Yeah, don't like library books because they can't write in them. Good, thank you. You like kefir? What? You like kefir? What? Kefir? What? How would you describe kefir? What is the difference between kefir and yogurt?

Well, so kefir uses the grains. Those are like the little things, they look like grains, and they are the— like, they're like the bacteria. And then yogurt uses the bacteria, I guess, that's in it.

Anyway, it's a very GAPS-friendly thing. Has anybody read it? Is it good? Have you read it?

Are you live?

I'm live. I'm recording.

These And there's a little bit of Paris.

Yay!

A big Paris and a little Paris. You know, when you were born, it was Halloween, of course. In the hospital, they came in with Groucho Marx noses bringing you to me. In those days, the baby stayed in the nursery, but every time they brought him to me, there was someone in a different costume, usually scary. And so I thought, oh no, he's gonna be jinxed for life. But one thing about Justin is this saying that the— when the going gets tough, the tough get going. And that's my son. And one other thing, um, he lost his mentor recently. And you know, there's— I bet you, oh, a ton of young men, young homesteaders out there that consider you their mentor, and they are blessed beyond belief. Love you, honey.

Thank you. Good word. Good word. This is where I get my showbiz from. I said that's where I get my show business from. Oh, no, she's just— where? The showmanship. You're where I get my showmanship from. You're where I get my showmanship from.

Oh, okay.

You hear it that time? Okay. I don't think she heard me. Y'all heard me. Okay, we already need an egg. The question is if we can get this not so sour. I'm gonna get somebody else to like this with me. That's the goal. 2 cups of kefir, 2 raw egg yolks. Here we go. Come on, come on, I want to like this. Oh my gosh, come here. Tell me that wouldn't be awesome. Okay, Mom, watch this. I'm gonna make you guys try it too. Really? My tastes have changed.

No, that's good.

People could add more sugar. I don't think it's that bad. It doesn't taste bad. I mean, it's not like—

it's a little chalky on the back end.

I like how you're treating it like wine.

Oh, it's got legs!

It does have legs. What's this?

I don't know what that is.

Oops, I just rinsed this. Mom didn't even know what kefir was till today. Oh nope, she doesn't like it. A little sour.

You could probably put a little bit more maple syrup in it and you would You probably like it.

That's what I'm tasting. I think it's the maple syrup.

I think you would like honey.

It's good.

So Brian's a fan. Show him. He just drinks it straight up. I just gave him some straight up. He likes tart things. It's a fermented drink, dude. Now I'm to the point where I've grown— we've grown grains, and it's Brian's lucky day. So put that in a quart jar.

I'm gonna put a little bit of milk in it.

Like this, and then fill it up with milk, put on your counter. I'd say up to 3 days if you want it more sour.

What I drank here was just overnight.

No, actually—

well, yeah, that one.

You might—

this one is almost a week. Then, Brian, I just poured milk in it, just set on the counter. I have to be dark or anything, room temp. I ate so much breakfast, I just ate the kefir. I don't know if I want to eat this. I want to be hungry for my birthday tonight. I'm gonna kill that. I'm gonna kill that. She's made me a chocolate pie. I'm gonna murder it. Okay, how is it? Did you get a meatball at least? Actually good. Yeah, she ate it.

Did you get one of them?

It's good? Are you gonna get more? Is that lamb meatball good?

I'm not definitely that wild.

I'm gonna get some office work. 2 hours. Call the Inquirer. I think that's the most I've gotten this week. I'm gonna sit down, write out my documentary for the fasting. We still gonna play soccer at 3:30, Giosa? Don't know? Okay, it's been a good day. Sweet tea. A birthday special. Half the amount of honey for me, and I think this is doable. Here's my shorter makeup. You baking these first?

I am.

You're putting love into this meal. I'm trying. We're just having Reubens and sweet potato fries, correct? Mm-hmm. And chocolate pie. Just finished going over the second version of this 40-hour fast documentary. It was 3 hours long. We're cutting that down. Needs to be 2 hours for sure, or less. It's It's something else though. I'm reliving the pain of that. That was so hard. That was so hard. I had some determination. I can't imagine doing that right now. I'm feeling what people say to me when I told them I did that. They said, well, I can't go 3 hours. I know, that's, that's me. I kind of skipped lunch and I feel like I'm dying. It's 3:30. I feel like I'm about to get irritable.

That's hilarious.

But no, you got to get to day 6 is what I learned. Well, you got to get super determined. You got to fall off the precipice. Precipice. You're going to see all kinds of never-before-seen footage. You're going to see all kinds of attitudes you've never seen. All kinds of attitudes you've never seen, or I've seen in myself. From me, especially those last few days. Yeah, we put a few Uh, blanks in there just to keep it child-friendly. Let's just say it was really real. My seventh child here. Come on, I hear you. No, and see, she's whining. He's whining. There's food. What are you whining about? There's food. That's about all I can take, about 2 hours office hours. About to drive me crazy. I want to do it all day, and then I'm there and I can do about 2 hours. Anyway, I'm hoping this fasting Documentary would be a real banger. We haven't had a good viral video probably since the hurricane, and nobody wants to repeat that. Don't make me repeat the fast. So let's send it to the moon when it comes out. All my boys are out here. College dropouts coming. Austin. Cool thing about big family, we almost have enough to have a pretty decent soccer team if everybody shows up. Look at these guys, they're They've gotten so good. I can't whip them anymore, I don't think. Can I whip y'all now still? I used to murder them. That was relentless. No mercy for me. Look at all the wood chips. They just keep dropping it. They just keep dropping it, and we keep letting them.

I would have played soccer with you.

47 years old today. It's hard to believe. You know what's tripping me out? Rebecca's parents were about this age when I started dating her, and we just thought they were so old.

You are not old.

We thought they were— I know, I don't feel— I don't feel as old as I thought they were. And it's not because they acted old, don't get me wrong. They normal activities just like this, but it was my perspective as a teen. Do you look at me and think I'm just so old? Not really. Takes me a little longer to warm up at this age. Waylon, you gonna help us on the soccer team? Okay, Lily, you ready? Everybody against Jonah and Josiah. Oh boy, oh boy, we might be outmatched. They scored a point within 20 seconds. Hey, we would do better if we had a goalie. There you go, Lily, get out of the house. All right, 2 to 1, they're getting us. This is good, good. I think this is a good even team. Oh, Austin! Yeah! Help us! Again, hey, you guys have gotten so good. They got a 6 to 4 and they thought they were on an unfair advantage. Did that get up your appetite for the tofu tempeh? Tofu tempeh.

I need to check the meat and see where we're at with that. We were still at like 175.

Oh, it feels soft.

Yeah, it feels soft.

You know, it doesn't have to be 190.

Well, they said that connective tissue breaks down.

You don't want it to be too soft.

Correct. That's why I'm trying to get to 190. If I can get to 190—

You'll get there. I didn't have to do a thing on this supper. Thank you, Lily, the head chef. I said what I want for my birthday is to not have to do anything on supper. Look at this! How'd this turn out, babe? I dreamed about this bit. Mmm, we got fat on that. Oh my gosh, you killed it! That was everything I'm thinking would be. We got ours heating up with the cheese on top. Look, you missed— these are the best parts.

I know, I knew you would like it, but I'm not making my children eat it.

I'm not saying that. Don't give it to them. Cheese is melted. Mom made her own— what, what, what kind of dressing is this?

Thousand Island and sour cream.

Why do you want me to sit by you? Because I'm birthday boy. Have you ever tasted such a good cut of meat? This is the best cut of meat of all, of all meats. I remember once I made this for you. I asked your mom for to the recipe and snuck and made it for you. Somebody's here! Trick-or-treaters! Wait, we gotta get a treat. Uh, do we have some chocolate chips we can put in the bag? Yeah, tell them to give them back. Some kid, some trick-or-treat. Okay, everybody ready? Yeah, come let's see. Hey, what do you say, banana?

Nice sticker too.

That is That is awesome. Isn't that good?

He's organic.

He's organic. Are you an organic banana? I like it, I like it. Hey, you got to bring the jar back. We're not prepared trick-or-treaters.

I'm like, what are we gonna give them?

And I like it. Austin's looking good as a cowboy. Yeah, look at these boots too.

Will you come visit me if I make your mommy a coffee? Oh, he's— then he quickly went to like—

good job, Waylon!

Go, Melton!

You'll rack up tonight, buddy. Y'all got me presents, huh?

Okay, ladies first.

She got me some girls, uh, girls' sneakers. Best dad. Oh, it's a keychain.

It's a bookmark.

Ooh, I like it. Bookmark. Happy birthday, Papa, I love you. I hope you like these presents I made you. Thank you. Thank you. Oh my gosh. Oh good, 'cause I was 14th on the list at the library. That's good. Austin gave me Hatchet.

Oh, that's such a good one.

It's a classic. Boy in an airplane survives Just attach it. One free day of filming. Thank you, Austin. Look at this.

That's for your date.

Who's this from?

That's for you and Mom to go on a date.

Where'd you get all this? That's so much money.

Wow.

It's $200. $200 bucks? Yeah, to go on a date. Where'd you get all this money?

It's from Jonah and Josiah.

Wow, thank you. Best dad, free babysitting for 5 months.

What?

What?

Yes.

Who said that?

I thought you said how long did it take? 5 hours. If somebody could find my Leatherman, that would be a good birthday present.

That's a new truck.

What do you need?

Oh, your phone.

Were we missing a truck?

No, he was saying that he bought you a new truck.

Bought me a new truck. Tesla. Look at this. Chocolate torte. We'll see if I crash tomorrow. If I do, I'll just fast. How did your mom do on that tour? Go to bed.

Good. What do you have to say about Papa? He sat next to you. Do you just talk about his books? What does Papa do for you at night? He read books to you? Does he help you do things?

Do you help Papa?

Does he make you yogurt?

What do you like to do with me? Play.

Help you.

You like to help me.

Play and help.

You are a good helper.

Papa's a good dad and he likes to do chickens and he likes to help me when I have to move the chickens. Papa, you're a good dad because you help me with my horses. And help me take care of them, and you help me cook dinner, and you're a good dad.

Papa's nice, fun to be around. He helps me when there's problems, and he's a good dad. Papa is a good father. He's always helping us with problems that we have, making sure the cows stay in, and likes to, um, help us with anything we need.

Justin, I'm so proud of you this year. You went 31 days without food, which is a huge accomplishment. Like, you were very determined, you were very disciplined, and I'm very proud of you for doing that. And in turn, you have made yourself feel really good.

Yeah.

And so I'm very, very proud of you for doing that. You not only did that and like healed your problems of your health issues, right? But that you in turn took responsibility for your health and you like owned it. And so it's very good. Like, I'm very proud that you did that. I'm very grateful for you and all that you do. I see your love every day. You give a lot of love out and you try very hard to serve our whole family. I'm very grateful for you for, for caring and for doing that and for being an example for not only our boys but people who watch our YouTube channel. Thank you. Thank you.

Happy birthday.

All right, Justin, I'm glad that the, um, fast is over and that you're doing okay, far as we know.

Oh, he's doing okay.

And I hope everything was healed that you wanted to. You have a lot of discipline to stay the course. And I know it's been a tough time because you have two choices there. You can bend or you can say, I'm staying standing no matter what. I'm gonna stay the course because it's tough. And I'm proud of what you did. And to go through it. And, uh, is this your 47th birthday? Happy birthday.

I'm getting pretty close to how old you were when I met her. The truth was I thought you were so old. You thought I was old, huh?

Yeah.