You're Not Dreaming Big Enough | 3 Ways to Know

Is your homestead dream big enough? Now, I don't mean like 400 acres big enough. I mean, you might have a yard that's 1,300 square foot, and this might be your dream right here behind me. Is your homestead dream big enough? First sign of knowing this answer is, are you intimidated? I have 3 points I'm gonna make. The first 2 are very uncomfortable because I want you to embrace And know that discomfort is okay and most likely a good sign that you're doing something right. There should be a level of intimidation. When we came home from the Great American Farm Tour in 2017, actually towards the end of 2017, we decided— we had to decide, guys, are we going to buy this farm from my father and then from the estate Okay, it wasn't cheap. The value of real estate now— I'm glad that happened then. Uh, it was half a million, okay? And that was very intimidating for us at that time. We were going to do owner financing with my dad and are in that currently. That was a commitment. That was an uncomfortable 30-year commitment of a monthly payment that we weren't sure we had at the time. In fact, we have— you get— some of you have always wondered what these houses are about. There are houses on the property, okay? There's that cabin up there. We use it as a guest cabin now. And then let me just pan you real quick over there. That's the OG farmhouse right there. That's what was here when Grandpa bought the land, and that's where Arun, our farmhand, lives. But that wasn't always the case. We were intimidated and didn't know necessarily— we weren't bringing in enough income at the time with the business to just pay for that. When we were renting this from my dad, long before we even dreamed we could buy this place, and we couldn't afford it, and we were jumping in dumpsters and food stamps and, and, and growing food to get by, we rented out our guest room on Airbnb to pay the $300 cash for the rent. Now, that's cheap rent, but I also mowed the lawns for the other tenants. I also hauled the trash, and so I work traded for that rent. That was just another creative way. What I'm saying is, when we set out to buy this place, we set out in discomfort and intimidation, and we made it happen because we wanted it. We gotta want it, and it's okay to be intimidated. If your dream is big enough, you are intimidated. We are still intimidated by our dream. Our— what, what's our big dream? Well, uh, I think 10 acres of pasture is not enough for grandchildren to live here on the farm with us and, and be in the business with us. There's 100 acres that way on a neighbor. It's not for sale. There's, uh, 350 acres that way. It's not really for sale. That's the dream. That's the dream. Keep hustling, keep going at it, and when and if those do come for sale, uh, to jump on it. Beauty told me not to feel bad I slept in. Just sleep is healing, sleep is smart. I keep telling myself that, but it— but I always feel bad, always feel bad. Like now the sun's up and I can't finish my bit right here. I'm just gonna finish this bit in the next rant, I'm going to talk about overwhelm. You actually should be at least a little bit overwhelmed. Now, you can get overwhelmed and burn out. Good morning, Randolph. You're here to finish this, this cage, this, this rat-proof, monkey-proof, Sasquatch-proof chicken brooder. Ta-da! I believe the inspector come last night. Oh, did they? He tried. Oh, oh, look! Certified rodent-proof inspection passed. Who put that there? Who put that there? Did you put that there, Arun? Well, that's funny. The inspector comes down, right? Yeah. Wow. That doesn't look like Grandma's writing. That's funny. Do you think Jonah? I don't think so. I don't think it's Jonah's writing either. What do you call this here in English? I think that's like crabgrass, isn't it? Yeah, this is the rabbit's favorite grass. Really? Yeah, we have it in India. We used to feed them. This is like the best one for them. Are you gonna take it to them now? You want to give them some? Yeah, let's give it to them. One of you was like, how are the rabbits doing? I'm like, I don't know, that's Lily's deal and I haven't been over there. Haroon's leaving me. Slow down, don't feed them without me. You've had piglets yet? American rabbits are just like Indian rabbits, they like crabgrass. We rotationally graze, and my friend Jess had a wonderful point about this from Roots and Refuge when they came. And I don't really think about it because I've been doing it for so long. But there's the point. That's a, that's a holy cow spot right there. And look at that beautiful pasture, and it's more beautiful because we moved them off of it and it got rest and it came back to maturity. Everything, the good stuff. Otherwise they just eat the good stuff and eventually kill it, and the bad stuff thrives. So this will get rest after the sheep come through. But back to the poop. I wasn't even going to talk about this but I'm gonna talk more about my friend Jess later in this video because she's an inspirational for dreaming a bigger dream, big time, and we can learn a lot from her. One thing she pointed out was, yeah, sure, we move the animals, and people might say, well, that's work, but I never manage manure. Manure drops where we want it. I never have to pick it up, ever. I don't manage manure. So really Pick, pick your battle. Manage manure or move animals. Intensive management, you know, moving animals, it's pleasant, it smells nice, we're out here on a different place on our property. Or intensive healthcare, you'll get some health issues of them lingering in manure, or you're gonna have to haul it, which I guess that's a pet peeve of mine. Handling manure. Just don't like that. There's, there's shade structure, they poop around it, but this is getting moved. It's getting moved today. Next up on the Dreaming Too Small checklist: overwhelm. I think a little bit of overwhelm, if not a lot, is at times is okay. I'm here giving you permission to be uncomfortable. If you're dreaming big, you're going to be uncomfortable, and that's okay. Now, overwhelm and burnout are very similar. Actually, I guess overwhelm can lead to burnout. It's kind of like clogged up can lead to mastitis, and they're very similar. When we had Joel Salatin out and we did community Q&A, one person in there asked this wonderful question: How do you prevent burnout? And to be honest, I figured Joel Salatin would say something like I said. You know, make sure you're eating well. Make sure you're getting enough sleep. Cut back if you need to. These kinds of hands-on, really practical things. But he thought, like Joel, I mean, count on Joel for this, to think outside the box and really big picture. His answer was lack of vision. You could say lack of dream. It's funny how a big vision and dream can lead to some overwhelm. And unchecked, it can lead to burnout. But it's that very dream and vision that can prevent that burnout. Some level of overwhelm is okay and good. We're— I'm overwhelmed. I'm overwhelmed right now. Uh, we're doing good on the cows, our sheep are doing good, but we're gonna have piglets any day. We're getting ducklings next week. This is kind of— this is a discomfort getting ready for them, making sure we line up Randall, all this stuff. We need 50 more chickens. I don't really want to grow 50 more Cornish Cross. We're going to be pushing the season. We're going to be growing them and they're going to still be on grass past the, uh, the first possible frost date. But I feel like we have a big dream here and we have a big vision, and that's going to lead to some overwhelm. I heard this once. Someone said in response to fear and awkwardness, which could be related to this, you know, we have to do things that are fearful and awkward sometimes. Well, sometimes there's no way around it. That light's okay. I mean, it's a little dark. Sorry, I get a little distracted sometimes, but you guys are hearing it. Uh, sometimes with fear and awkwardness, just like in overwhelm, you just have to embrace it. There's not always an answer, and you just have to embrace it and know that some overwhelm is okay. That means you're dreaming big, and that means you're going for it. Now, you do want to keep it checked, and, uh, so that you don't burn out. But to prevent burnout, you've got to have that big dream. Those were the two points you don't want to hear, right? The discomforting ones. The, hey, you're going to have a dream homestead, you're going to be overwhelmed, and you're good. And what was the first one? I forgot. And you're going to be intimidated for sure. We'll do the third one, but I want to see if I can't— my left hand is stronger every day with the seractive reactive arthritis. Let's see if I can't squeeze one of these things, and then I'm gonna get to a positive one. Positive point that you know the dream is not— yeah, okay, look, I think I could milk her in a pinch, like if she was kicking and I'd be the only one comfortable enough to milk her, or if Arun wasn't here. No kids were here today. I have milked 2 cows for 6 weeks with one hand, so I've put in my time. I've had broken or cut hands, and it being my left hand too, so I feel like I put in my time. And I'm getting close. That was encouraging. Maybe I should get down a little lower and then you can see the cow and Willie. I don't want to go too far, I'll be in the sun. That's probably good, right? And I'll stand over here. Oh yeah, I like that. Okay, the last one, and definitely the most exciting, is there should be an element of thrill. It should be thrilling no matter if you're just starting out. You have these ideas and it should be exciting to you. It doesn't always have to be exciting. Milking every day is not exciting, but there's an element of thrill because We are kind— we're all— we're always trying to do something new. We're always trying to do something a little bit better, uh, either add a new animal, add a new element, add a new style, a new way of doing things, putting in a water line or, or, or building a pond up on the mountain. These are some future goals, and that is an element of thrill. The best example of excitement and thrill is just yesterday when we went to the Hollers and I asked them if they were still excited about being in North Carolina after 2 and a half years setting up a homestead, and they were like young people who had just fallen in love. They, they were giddy. That is the thrill, and that is how you know that your dream is big enough. The Hollers are a great example. You saw their, uh, jamming acreage there. Ben's wanting to turn it into a jungle garden, absolutely pushing it. They're They're like any successful homesteader— feels overwhelmed. It can be overwhelming, uh, it can be intimidating, but then there's that thrill, and that's what you're looking for. I got a special treat for you guys along these lines. If anybody knows how to dream big, it's Jessica and Jeremiah Sowards. Abundance Plus is creating a whole new docuseries We're launching season 1 with episode 1. Episode 1 is already made. We already hired the film crew. We got this made. We're going to show it to you. And in this video, you are going to be encouraged to embrace the discomfort and dream a bigger dream and go for it. There's just something so nice and exciting about watching somebody else, and there's something so encouraging about watching somebody else that it rubs off and encourages us in a special way. I'm giving it to you guys for free this weekend from Friday at 8 PM. This is probably coming out on Saturday, so it's up. Link in the description. Watch Wilder Still. Wilder Still is the name of the series. You get episode 1 at watchwilderstill.com or link in the description. Watch it through Sunday at midnight. And if you're seeing this video after the fact, we'll do a tease for it and then we'll give you the opportunity. So you'll get maybe the the first part of it for free, and then if you like it, you could sign up for Abundance Plus and get on. We'll leave all that stuff down in the description. So here's the trailer. Like, what— here's the minute-long trailer. If you think you'll like it, watch it for free this weekend. Gather everybody together and enjoy. All right, enjoy the trailer.

This farm enabled me to dream greatly. I just assumed we would always be here. We just had this discussion of like, let's see where we could take it beyond this. I do have this looming fear. Are you making a mistake? We wanted to grow our own food and we wanted to raise our children in a simpler life. Then YouTube really started to take off. We're moving from Arkansas to South Carolina. The most beautiful 27 acres. What could that look like? There's no backing out. Everything that I'm hoping for is possible because this little season on this little piece of ground. Let's see where we could take it. We could actually really make a difference, and that's what I want to do.