In this vlog, Justin and his family coordinate a large‑scale pasture‑clearing operation on their homestead. They hire professional graders—massive 39,000‑lb machines—at a day rate of about $2,600 to clear 1–2 acres of trees and brush in a single day, dramatically accelerating work that would otherwise take weeks. The video captures on‑site logistics, equipment choices (track loader, bucket, grader), and the collaborative dynamic among family members (Beck, Ashley, Henry, Josiah, Andrew, Stan) and a cousin who runs the grading business. While the graders work outside, Beck discusses interior remodel plans, including a new 48‑inch gas range with dual ovens and a minimalist helper arriving soon. The crew reflects on the long‑term vision: expanding pasture for additional cattle, increasing milk production, and creating a lasting legacy for future generations. The narrative blends practical cost‑benefit analysis, hands‑on problem solving, and personal motivation, illustrating how strategic outsourcing and family teamwork can make ambitious homestead projects affordable and achievable.
Chapters
The big machines are here. We're going to see how much of our 2-acre pasture clearing we can do on $2,600 a day. Today we're getting large-scale professional graders to help us clear some of these bigger trees inside of our recent 2-acre clearing project. I'm getting help because one, these are such big trees, and although we have equipment, we're not proficient with them by any means, and we want to stay safe. Nobody getting hurt. The second reason would be these guys are so proficient. They're pros. They have bigger machines and can clear, I'm told, 1 to 2 acres in a day. The day rate's like $2,600, so that's a really affordable way to acquire some acres. Just make the stuff you've got work better. The other day I was having a pickup customer come, I don't know, 4:30. 4:30 came and here comes this truck. I go out to them to greet them. I tell them to park. They get up closer and they look at me like I'm kind of crazy. And I'm saying, oh wait, are you not here for the pigs? No, he wasn't here for the pigs, but they watched the show. They wanted to come check it out. They knew where I live because this is a distant cousin. We had his dad a long time ago put in septic tanks for this house. They're graders. They're pro graders. He's still doing that. And I'm like, you get it, you get it. Let's do this. You're my cousin. You're professional. Let's get them in a pinch when what would take us 30, 60 days, they're going to do in just a couple of days. And we're keeping it in the family. We're working. It's working. It's filling up.
We're good.
Breakfast break. Beauty's on the move. Thanks for breakfast.
You're welcome.
I would hug you, but I might be messy. What's your plan for today?
I have to go get something notarized, and then I've been researching stove ranges, like ranges.
Where's the stove going in this ultimate homestead remodel?
It'll be behind this wall. It's gonna be about right here.
Yeah. All right.
Ish.
What do you think of them clearing 2 acres with a 39,000-pound machine?
That machine is huge.
That's a monster.
And Henry is in love with it.
He's in love. He's out there staring at it right now. I guess I'm coordinating the outside and you're coordinating the inside on this remodel. Yeah.
All I know is I want a 48-inch gas range with 2 ovens in it. Which brand I'm getting remains to be seen.
All right. Hey bud, you're gonna get wood with this?
Yeah, it's the bucket, um, digs.
Okay, are you ready to hook it up?
Yeah.
Beck, you want to go see what they're up to?
Yes, I do, but I have some exciting news.
What is it?
Darcy is coming on Sunday.
Oh, Darcy Isabella the minimalist! That means we're getting some help in the house.
That's right, Sunday to Thursday she's gonna be coming.
Yes!
So I'm excited.
Okay, we've been putting off the decluttering process.
She's gonna help me get some stuff together to become more minimalist.
You helping her split?
Yep, Ashley, cameraman's wife, gonna be splitting some wood today. What do you think? This took us 100 days to chip at it, and they're coming in here now cleaning it up.
I mean, that hill.
Let's go look at it.
This is so much pasture.
I mean, how many more weeks How many weeks is this? You know, like when we add—
How many gallons of milk is this? How many pounds of beef is this? 6 weeks extension for another cow. Now here is a nice aftershot. Can you see it now?
So when we put our cows in the pull bar, this is all going to be grass.
Yeah, we're going to sow this into grass.
Many years ago, I was researching pasture management, how to create pasture, how to manage it, all these things. I came across this website that talked about using big machinery. I'm not dumb, I know very cost money. So I was just like, how could we ever afford this? It didn't happen that— you know, this was a long time ago, 10+ years ago. And it's like, here we are now, you know, at a point that we can afford it. It's kind of like same with the remodel. We had talked about building another house on the property, and here we are not building a house but remodeling our current home, which also was a thought that maybe we would do that instead. Research and dream, and you just never know what's gonna happen if you just keep working working at that dream. Aim for the impossible and extraordinary things happen.
Hey, Mr. Henry! Oh my word, look at that burn pile! Hey, Josiah, can you Get our logs out of there with the track loader, haul them down. Uh, if not, get the track loader with the bucket, come to there and load them by hand. I think the bucket would be better. He's got a different idea.
Why can't you just back the trailer up in here?
Well, I thought this would be easier, but maybe it's not. Andrew thought if you got the bucket on this, it'd be easiest. You could scoot right up to it and then load them by hand if you can't get it in the bucket. These don't look right. They're making a funny noise. Okay, we need to ask Andrew about this. Park it.
Yeah, luckily it's just popped off that back one. It popped off the top one anyway.
Okay.
It went on.
Hey, it went back on.
It was all crooked and then it popped back on.
Where are you going? What's better to haul wood stumps with, this or the bucket?
This, you kind of save one person. You kind of grab them. Buckets, you're gonna have to get somebody to put them in the bucket.
But you can get more, I think. Hey, up there! You want to jump to me? Well, come down to here and then lower. Is that for his birthday, Beck?
No, he's asleep.
Okay.
Thank you, darling. That was good. Thanks, Beck. We're gonna go saw down some trees now. So am I gonna be sawing and you're gonna be pushing with this? An hour and a half left. It's phenomenal how this is coming into reality. We put our 100 days in, we get the machines here. It's quite the investment. Look, isn't that beautiful? It's going to be growing our dinner. My kids' milk before we know it. Oh my gosh, the kids were playing on this earlier. It just made me think their kids will play on this rock feature and their kids, and this will be a neat feature on this farm long after I'm gone. This is a legacy. I come to get Mom to check out the site. 30 minutes away from being done today. What do you think, Beck? We have a burn pile or what?
It's a burn pile, that's for sure. It's a big old log.
What do you think looking up there, babe?
Is that a rock right there?
Stan did that. Legacy rock up there. He's calling it for the day. I'd say in one day we got a little over half. This side of the creek is more than that side of the creek, and they're pretty much done with this side of the creek. Are we gonna have us a little secret pasture back here? Because there's all our other pastures and our house. You can't— you won't be able to see it back here in the summer.
I know.
Or do we want to clear for a view?
I don't know, we'll see. Do we have to make the decision right now?
No. In fact, you want to be slow taking trees because you can't put them back.
Yeah, and it takes a long time for them to get this big.
It's funny, we did all this today, I'm already looking at what next. Smell the roses, Justin. So are we gonna use this tomorrow? No, no, it's gonna need to dry out a little bit. We're all just kind of taking a moment, watching him work, watching Justin.
Not really work.
The greatest joy people have is watching somebody else work. Yeah, he's having fun. We're all having fun.
Tomorrow we'll hit it up over there. Definitely knocked out an acre today, if not more. Just one day for $2,600, that's cheap acreage around here.
