Visitors

Happy Sunday, C-Day! Today Josiah is off doing driver's ed this morning. Jonah took him, so we're without our main crew members.

Hey!

Is it just us?

Happy day! It may be just you two. So what are y'all's names?

I'm Kelly.

Okay.

I'm Chris.

All right, you guys ready to solve some problems today? Of course. Is there anything in particular you want to see today?

I think the only thing I kind of want to see is like how, like, you're set up for pigs. That might be the next thing that we do.

Okay, we'll do it. We'll pause at the pigs. All right, pigs for everyone. First thing we got to do is see if we can't get this water coming off the mountain. Cows don't have water today. We've already moved them, but we need to set up their water, and this is going to be the nearest water source. Hopefully it's had time to build up on the mountain. And, uh, with all this rain, we shouldn't have a problem. Kelly, if you'll hold this for a second, or Chris, let's see if we've got water coming off the mountain. Okay, we got water coming off the mountain.

We're gonna let it run a minute and get some of the— some of the sediment builds up the bottom. We'll also let it run a minute and make sure we actually do have water. It's not just—

see?

Okay, that barely coming out there tells me the reservoir is not filled up. That's going to be a big issue. That's going to involve hiking the mountain. I don't think Chris and Kelly are—

you went on a hike yesterday.

You're probably done. Maybe we'll have to. We'll see if we have a plan B over here. The cows were here this morning. We moved them here. They're gonna need water. We have well water right there, so maybe if we put our water trough right here, it'll still pump it all the way up the hill. If you get too far away from it, that the little well, it's too much for the little well. Somebody can grab the hose and somebody can grab the trough. These Alabama folk, I can tell they want to get at it. They're hard working. This was the water for the cows yesterday, and generally that a full tank like that is enough for these guys today, so we don't have to— we can steal that hose. All right, let's take it up the hill. Let's hope that hose reaches. These two were just hiking yesterday. They're probably up for it. If we can get our chores done, get in and show them the pigs, our project can get— be getting water coming off this mountain again because we're gonna need it after today for that paddock over there. All we got to do is make it right here.

Oh, we made it! How many more feet? We're right here.

Hey, looks like it's our lucky day. It's gonna work now. Priority number 2, this fence is off and that steer, it don't take him very long to figure it out. Look, yeah, he's already getting real close, so let's get that hot.

We gotta get it hot.

Yeah, so the electricity is down there. To get it here, we gotta go get us a reel. So everybody in the Rhodes Farm Safari, Mr. Brown joining us. Did you do turkeys yet? We'll show them how to do turkeys later.

We do have a couple of places that are flat ground that my granddad always had gardens growing up. My parents, um, gardened a little bit there but not much, so a lot of grass has grown up in that area. So we do run our chickens on that flat area, so the grass is wonderful. But there's a section— so I want to ask you, how do I go about getting something started? Do I just put plastic down to kill all that grass?

Oh, for a garden?

Yeah. The ground is good.

Is wondering how she establishes a garden for the first time. She has salt. Let's say we wanted to start a garden right here. I would string trim this all the way down. DeWitt non-toxic weed paper. 4x8 is a pretty good size for a garden bed. All you do is put down 4-5 inches of compost. Okay, so if you're only doing this size of a bed, that's only a couple of bags of compost. Buy the compost. Don't try to make it. It won't have any weed seeds in it. It'll be pure. It's a craft to make compost right, so just buy a couple of bags. And then mow the grass or grab some leaves and do about that much— 4, 5, 6 inches of grass clippings. Actually, no, I made a mistake. Put your compost over the mown grass, put this down, and then your leaves on top, then the mulch on top. And then, and then you're ready to plant. Poke right through. You poke right through and plant into the compost. Folks watching, Dewitt, D-E-W-I-T-T. We got our reel. Let's hope that steer hasn't figured this out yet. The steer got out. It's your fault, you gotta chase it. We gotta get from right here all the way up to their new fence. We're gonna do that with this reel, but this net is in the way. What in all do y'all have at home right now?

We just have laying hens. We, uh, processed our meat birds.

Okay, and how many meat birds do you do in a session?

We did 32.

Nice.

They all lived this time.

Oh wow.

So we've been—

that's a festival miracle. Oh really?

Yeah. So we did the red, uh, broilers this time.

Okay.

And they all did great.

All right, well, good for you guys. We've got our fence connected. Look, and that Caspi, he's being so naughty.

All right, let's go turn it on.

I've taught Chris and Kelly How to pick up a net. The secret to putting out nets painlessly is picking them up properly.

I have to get this a little further in.

It's been too much pressure on these fences. Where do you think your next paddock should be? It's a very long paddock. As I'm eyeing it Don't mind it. You move them every day, you make a mistake, you just make up for it the next day. About right here. You tired?

He just wants to go do his turkeys.

Go do the turkeys by myself.

Sure. Sun's coming up, gonna get hot.

Chris, bless your heart, you gonna get one untangled for us?

Well, I've got— all right, let's untangle.

What?

Let's send it down there.

But that is Yep, run it down the road when you got one crazy tangled.

That's like literally—

I could—

I was finding the next pole's the tough part.

Here's your pigs. You want to tell them the names? Beefcake and Poundcake.

That's Poundcake and that's Beefcake.

And Beefcake. He's wondering how we managed them. Okay, get in. Show them how. Do it to the mama so I can get in there and get the pans.

Oh yeah.

Chris is already jumping on it.

We don't want to have—

I see the size of that pig, it might take Kelly out.

Look at them hanging around the water cooler, they're loving it. What are we doing in here, babe?

I'm just pulling weeds. But look, I pulled weeds here.

Yeah, are those snow cakes? I'm like afraid.

Maybe. Internet, are they?

No, I think they might be mushrooms.

What's to go in here?

Just to get it.

We've kept up with this. I'm proud of ourselves in here.

We have. We've worked very hard.

Normally by the, the last two seasons, by this time this has been a jungle. Nothing like setting impossible goals like quitting the grocery store to really make— we're gonna have extraordinary things happen.

Canned a lot this week. Okay, I feel like a lot is coming in right now. I feel like, I feel like maybe daily we're gonna have to can.

Let's do it. Our goal's 100. Let's talk about this. But ever since we started this, we haven't even been using any.

I've used it, the tomato sauce.

Yeah, how many a week? Because 100 is 2 a week.

I used 2 this last week. Oh, and then before that I used 1 or 2.

All right, well, maybe we're right, we need 100.

Yeah, I would like to have more though, because, you know, I want to make— I want to make tomato.

And how many are we at? 33, 34?

I think we were that many. And then I just bought some more quart jars when I was out.

So these up here amount to anything?

They might.

These taller fruits, why not? They're gonna stay weeding and I'm gonna see if I can't give this garden a little bit of a haircut. I wanted to go fix that water, but the beautiful one— we think it was a gluten exposure. She accidentally ate some gluten and some food she didn't realize it was in there. She's had this crazy headache for the last 2 days. Doing good now, obviously, but yesterday was rough. I'm gonna stay close by. We have to fix it tomorrow or the cows aren't gonna have water. And besides, we need to keep her fresh. We're having some family friends over for lunch and this afternoon, and we want to be able to entertain well. I saw you when I was doing chores, coming home at like 8:15. Lessons weren't even supposed to be over at 9.

Yeah.

Did you miss your— no, you missed the spot. No, I got done early. And Mom says the guy told you that we were just wasting our time. He said you got this. Yeah.

All right, all right.

Well, you're gonna get your permit soon. Just had lunch with our friends touring the house. Have you guys seen it in a while? You want some clips? This is just old news for you guys, huh? Yeah, you're not into the tour. Rebecca's going up. Rebecca, have you been up there?

Yeah, I've been up there.

We are so close to getting in here. Finish paint supposed to happen this week and next. Finish floor, and that's it. Electrician's finished on Monday. We can get there certification pass, inspection, and then we can do CO, certificate of occupancy. Swimming at the lake, neighbor's lake. The hottest hot day, probably one of the last ones. Hot days are numbered this time of year. They're swimming across the lake the long way.

Are you having a good rest here at the lake?

How's your headache?

It's actually a lot better. I just had a little moment of headache right there, but that could have been a big drawn-out thing. I know, I just have a little bit of headache.

You think it was from the weed exposure?

I don't know.

I saw online that you can get a headache from weed exposure, so maybe that. Or I was sneezing a whole lot, so maybe I have a cold.

I don't know.

You're gonna be ready to do 2 rounds of tomatoes tomorrow?

I have to look at my calendar and see what else I have on my calendar.

Yeah.

Your social tank full now, Beck? Oh yeah, 2 visitors today.

Very social day.

She's the extroverted one, I'm the introverted one, believe it or not. It's opposite when the camera's out.

Are you doing okay? Yeah, yeah, it was good.

Took a nap between, that strengthened me.

I'm not saying you hate it, it's just—

oh, it's like, it's like going on a 100-mile bike ride in the woods. I love it. This is tiring.

Let's go, Gideon! He had texted me when he was in the woods because he was texting me when he had signal. And he was telling me how hard it was, and I said, are you having fun? Because it did not sound fun at all. And he said, I'm having a blast.

Okay, because like, big time off from work to get— just go beat myself up.

I know, like, you should see his legs.

That's my kind of vacation in that video. But did you make it across the lake earlier?

Yeah.

All right, what was your favorite thing from today? It was a big day.

I like swimming. That was fun.

What about graduating driver's ed?

It's fun.

Get the keys. Oh, you already got them in. All right, and with that, happy day, y'all.