In this vlog, Victor Justin Rhodes and his family document a day of intensive homestead work. The primary focus is the installation of a second layer of insulation in a walk‑in cooler, detailing the use of glue, plywood, studs, and the challenges of drying time. The video then shifts to kitchen renovation updates, including the installation of a vent hood, stove, countertops, and plans for an oven and tile work. Interspersed throughout are typical homestead chores: calf separation, feeding, garden harvests (zucchini, cabbage, squash, turnips), soil‑block seedling preparation, fence repairs, and discussions about rotational grazing. The host celebrates reaching 500,000 YouTube subscribers, announces the upcoming launch of a "Do It Yourself Abundance" member area with expert contributions, and teases a future 24‑hour chicken‑living challenge. The tone is conversational, instructional, and celebratory, with moments of humor and family banter.
Chapters
Checking on Jason, cutting down on the insulation pile. Morning. Oh, good morning. Hey, how did— how did it glue? Did it stay glued? Did you test it?
Yeah, I think it could be a little bit tighter.
Oh yeah, it's holding.
Uh, this side seems to be fine. It said 24 hours. It hasn't been exactly 24 hours. Okay, I left this for a little bit. I think it seems to me now that the glue part is what's gonna like slow us down a little bit. Yeah, you know, just kind of waiting everything to dry because I still need to do another half-inch—
oh, that's true—
layer on this side. And then you got to basically do the same thing where you just got to hold it in place until it dries and then do the same thing all, you know, on the walls. Um, but if we're going to be using plywood, it's not so much of holding it in place, it's Well, it's holding it in place. That's, that's basically it. That's why you're gluing it. Yeah, because then when you drill into plywood, that's holding everything up.
What's the plywood going to drill into?
The studs. Oh, okay, the wood studs in here.
All right, so how you gonna find those wood studs? Um, I guess you can measure from here.
Hoping I could just, you know, I could look in here You can see it.
Oh, okay. So what's the plan today?
Um, hopefully I could at least put the other layer on here, um, and then wait for that to dry. Maybe start cutting out the insulation for the walls, at least dry fitting it.
Okay. You back for another day, Randolph?
I'm back.
We're gonna get the vent hood in, the counter's over there. Did you go shopping this morning?
Yeah, I went and figured out a few more things.
Okay.
So, uh, counter's in and maybe get the stove on today.
Yay!
So we'll get to cook back in the kitchen.
All right, we'll all be happy about that. Give her 3 more big scoops, Gideon. Big as you can. Good. This is a drooling mess right now. You see, a lot of people say, well, when I get motivated, I'll do it. Hey, you got to do it when you feel like doing it. Randolph just installed the hood vent. Let's go, let's, let's go see if it works. The light works. I hear the vent working.
That's quiet.
It is quiet. Good morning, Aunt Nellie and Bessie. You know, we got so much cream from Aunt Phyllis when we calf separated. We're gonna calf separate. We're gonna calf separate Bessie. She's 6 months. She's had mother milk for 6 months. That's really good. It's time. So we're just gonna leave you out here with Nellie, okay? Breaks my heart a little bit. This is normally where you get your daughter, but we're gonna go on up, okay? Come on, let's go, let's go. Good girl, so cooperative. Oh, you're coming up to see her. Nellie, I didn't come up. She's, she's getting used to it. Just in time, the rain started up again. Time to come in for breakfast. Wow, that looks like gravy.
It's fresh.
What do we have? What do we make grits out of without corn?
Almond flour.
Yay! And that's our eggs and bacon and broth and collards. And collards.
Looks delicious, Anna.
You might— you don't want to go swimming, you might get wet. It's raining. Dad joke. Nobody's laughing but the dad. Have you guys tasted the grits?
Yeah. Yes, they're pretty good.
Delmon grits.
They're not—
that's pretty neat. You like them?
Eggs taste better than grits.
It's a vent light, Beck.
That vent hood. Oh, it's nice.
I have not had—
like, look at all this room. Yeah, it's crazy.
That's the brightest light in the whole room too.
It is.
Well, you can see how low the microwave was.
Yeah.
Oh yeah, stove.
I could just barely fit my 5-gallon pot up there, and you know, I kind of even have to move it up forward to stir it and put it back.
Mama, that's where the oven's gonna go.
Yeah, that's where the oven's gonna go. Isn't that nice? And then we have this fan.
He's putting in the oven today.
Yeah, it's quiet.
Is there a hood for that, Mama?
It is pouring rain now. They say up to half an inch an hour. When's this gonna stop?
This afternoon, and then it's gonna be over and we won't have rain for several days.
Okay, good. You know, I'm sitting down to edit, but I also, I also do other stuff here. I mean, a lot of adding value to my Do It Yourself Abundance member area, launching that soon. Jason from Sow the Land has submitted. Guys, I'm adding experts this year, other, you know, my homesteading friends, some of them. Uh, Jason has added his veggie washing station plans and a video that goes over it. These plans are absolutely amazing. Cut list, parts list for the, for the plumbing, and this is looking good. And there's an accompanying video on how he put it together, so I'm gonna get that on there. We're gonna launch this soon, like, uh, August-ish, early August-ish. So stay tuned for that. Let's do a midday— let's do a midday checkup with Randolph. He's got counters on, he's fast, he's got the stove in. You got it all up there, I can smell it.
There's 2 layers, I still need to put a half-inch layer.
Um, that's gonna be 4.5 inches of insulation.
Yes, plus plus 3/4-inch plywood on top of that.
So what are you doing, just shortening these pegs as you put it up, or just leaning them further?
Um, kind of wedging them in there to kind of hold it in place while the glue dries.
Yeah.
But then, uh, I got these longer screws. Oh, hopefully that could aid in that, um, to make it go quicker because that glue takes forever to dry.
That was smart.
And so if I use these, maybe that'll kind of hold it in place while I Have you tried one yet? Yeah, I ended up putting that plastic on it so it kind of hugged it or kind of sandwiched it.
It's working. Yeah. Yay, good thinking. I see you got your trusty companion here with you. That thing's always working for you, isn't it? This is my boss. Your time-lapse camera. Good for you. You in the bubble?
I'm in the bubble.
Looking good, Randolph.
He says we're gonna be, uh, are you gonna do tile right now?
I'm gonna get it all ready to do it.
I'll start it in the morning. It's 2:30. He's gonna prep it so we can still be out of sync tonight, huh? Because you need to keep your— you need to keep this down.
Yeah.
Working on the thumbnail image for yesterday's video, the new Countertops and sink. Jason needs a handle. This do it? Yep, that'll work.
Okay, insulation on the ceiling's done.
Yay!
Uh, so next after that is plywood, uh, but first I want to paint the floor.
Yes, that makes sense. Yeah. Oh, that's got to be our zucchini.
It is our zucchini.
Zucchini, that's gotta be our beef. Yeah. That's not our almonds. For the almond flour bread. So look at this stuff. Look at this zucchini—
Noodles.
Spaghetti. Zucchini noodles. Look how long! As long as that snake's been hanging around.
That snake.
Hey, what is going on? Cabbage! Where'd you get it?
Down at the garden where we were, and that, we don't know what that is. 3 cabbages!
Yay! Is that from down there at the frosty garden?
Yes.
Josiah, did you do the— did you mow the rows? Okay, good. Did you throw all the stuff to the pigs? Okay, this evening we're wanting to get our evening— they're wanting to get our evening chores done and have me take them on a walk, but I said We gotta get it done. Beauty's supposed to be down here painting. I wonder if she finally got done. Bless her heart, she's been painting every day for a week and a half. Did y'all finish your soil blocks? Okay, 15 soil block trays. It's about 2 weeks too late, but better late than never. I shouldn't say it's too late. 2 weeks later than we wanted. Hey, do you know where our shade cloth is, Josiah? It's gonna get too hot in here. Nope. This needs to be open all the way. Before we go swimming, we have to tidy up this area. We have somebody coming to look at Nellie tomorrow. Everybody tidy it up right here. I'm gonna go look at the cowpens. Also, we hit 500,000 subscribers. 500,000 of you guys. Thank you, thank you, thank you, guys. Whoa, how amazing to have you guys along on this journey with us. So encouraging when things go down, so encouraging when things are up. Thank you, guys. I love this community that this has become. So thank you guys for that. What did I say I would do when I hit 500,000 subscribers? I don't know where he zoomed in right there. You can't really see him. I'm gonna live with the chickens for 24 hours. Yep, I'm gonna live with the chickens for 24 hours. Uh, it's gonna have to wait till after the kitchen reno is done, but we'll do that very soon, maybe next week. That'll be a hoot. Basically, if we have the calves in here, they don't just need to be roaming, they need to be on their own rotational system. Otherwise they're— otherwise they're going to overgraze it like they have currently been. So we got to mend some of these fences to keep them in their areas. All right guys, we got you in there. I think tighten up the fence a bit. Let's try it, see if this fence is hitting. 2.5, not real great. It might work. We are out of time. We need to take some time. Can't work all the time. Let's go on a walk. This weather though. Can everybody say, I love calling North Carolina home? It's like, what, 65, 70? It's gonna be 55 degrees tonight. July, it's rained a few inches and now we're gonna have a few days of sunshine. Yeah, let's go enjoy the beauty. Whoa, nice! Everybody's excited. This— the weather's making everybody feel good. Oh, pumpkin! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Whoa, that's a huge squash! The North Carolina Candy Roaster! Yay!
All thanks to the ICYs and Mama, right?
This is due to the ICYs. They were in here all winter and this is what happens. That's the Animal Garden miracle, y'all. What are we gonna do with that candy roaster, Mom? Do you eat it? Cool. Wow.
So what we'll do is we'll just cook it and then freeze it. Okay.
