Full Transcript for Our Basic Homestead Philosophy

meat, buying practically everything they ate. 36 00:03:05.789 --> 00:03:08.129 The only way they had of paying their store bills 37 00:03:08.689 --> 00:03:11.379 was by selling their corn and wheat, which they did 38 00:03:11.419 --> 00:03:15.490 for a considerable loss. Only a few of the farmers 39 00:03:16.030 --> 00:03:20.090 knew how to put up sugar-cured ham or bacon. Gardening 40 00:03:20.150 --> 00:03:25.270 seemed to be a lost art. We intended to change that. 41 00:03:27.849 --> 00:03:30.229 No matter how much of our land it would take, 42 00:03:30.810 --> 00:03:33.740 we meant to make the farm furnish our table directly 43 00:03:34.259 --> 00:03:39.740 with milk, cream, butter, the best of meat, poultry, eggs, fruits, 44 00:03:40.060 --> 00:03:43.560 and garden stuff. Our land must do that for us 45 00:03:43.620 --> 00:03:46.139 in the end, so we argued why not let it 46 00:03:46.180 --> 00:03:50.000 be done directly. In quality and cost, we could do 47 00:03:50.060 --> 00:03:53.430 better for ourselves in that way than if we got 48 00:03:53.509 --> 00:03:57.789 our food second-handed. The largest item in the cost of 49 00:03:57.830 --> 00:04:00.669 living must be taken care of first, and in a 50 00:04:00.710 --> 00:04:09.759 way that ensured the greatest possible economy. So in a way, 51 00:04:09.819 --> 00:04:13.060 what we're trying to do is harken back to, in 52 00:04:13.080 --> 00:04:17.259 the best way that you can in 2026, back to 53 00:04:17.300 --> 00:04:26.129 the independent yeoman farmer, who truly was independent because he 54 00:04:26.189 --> 00:04:33.410 produced all of the basic necessities of life firsthand. And 55 00:04:36.370 --> 00:04:41.629 to do that today, there obviously are different different challenges 56 00:04:41.689 --> 00:04:45.529 and things that they obviously didn't have, our ancestors didn't 57 00:04:45.569 --> 00:04:51.750 have in the 16 and 1700s, but the general philosophy 58 00:04:51.790 --> 00:04:56.810 that if you want to live that kind of life, 59 00:04:57.209 --> 00:05:03.800 to produce all of these things firsthand, to actually experience 60 00:05:03.899 --> 00:05:10.879 what it feels like to be a human, because if 61 00:05:10.889 --> 00:05:13.300 you think about it, you know, this is a rare 62 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:16.879 time right now where so many people don't even know 63 00:05:16.939 --> 00:05:21.420 the basic things that were required to be a living 64 00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:27.420 human on this planet. Producing your own food, butchering your 65 00:05:27.500 --> 00:05:32.139 own meat, all of those things are just foreign to 66 00:05:32.180 --> 00:05:39.810 like 95% of the population today. But anyway, we, to 67 00:05:39.819 --> 00:05:43.720 tie that tie this into our place here and some 68 00:05:43.740 --> 00:05:48.500 of the stuff that we're doing and not doing. When 69 00:05:48.519 --> 00:05:53.839 this farm came up for sale and we realized the 70 00:05:53.879 --> 00:05:57.220 potential of it, one of the reasons it had potential 71 00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:03.959 was because it had a built-in money crop already there. So... 72 00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:12.769 In 2026... it is important that there's some some type 73 00:06:12.850 --> 00:06:21.629 of income producing mechanism on a homestead because there are 74 00:06:21.949 --> 00:06:28.579 property taxes there are school taxes there are insurance payments 75 00:06:29.939 --> 00:06:36.550 and there's a mortgage payment so This place was unique 76 00:06:36.790 --> 00:06:39.490 in that all the infrastructure was set up with all 77 00:06:39.529 --> 00:06:45.230 these greenhouses and stuff that we could move right into production, 78 00:06:45.709 --> 00:06:52.029 and it actually pays for itself. So that takes the 79 00:06:52.089 --> 00:06:56.170 stress away in that regard. It pays the taxes. It 80 00:06:56.209 --> 00:07:04.449 pays the mortgage payment. And so that's taken care of. 81 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:09.180 So we had to spend a lot of time in 82 00:07:09.220 --> 00:07:15.079 the beginning working on that aspect of it. Whereas if 83 00:07:15.100 --> 00:07:18.199 you read that excerpt there and think about it, you'd 84 00:07:18.220 --> 00:07:20.360 be like, well, I do all the other stuff first 85 00:07:20.439 --> 00:07:24.449 and then worry about it. And if you got a 86 00:07:24.470 --> 00:07:30.029 lot of outside income, that possibly might be a better 87 00:07:30.069 --> 00:07:33.790 way to go. But the circumstances here was like, well, 88 00:07:35.009 --> 00:07:36.550 we got to be able to pay for it, make 89 00:07:36.589 --> 00:07:40.560 it work. Let's get the business end of it straightened out. 90 00:07:40.600 --> 00:07:43.620 And it took a while. That's why I've had kind 91 00:07:43.660 --> 00:07:47.100 of a little five-year break from doing podcasts and all 92 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:49.579 the other stuff that I used to do. Because we 93 00:07:49.620 --> 00:07:52.009 had to learn an entire new science and learn an 94 00:07:52.069 --> 00:07:58.930 entire new type of husbandry. Not that we didn't know 95 00:07:58.990 --> 00:08:01.670 anything about plants or horticulture, but we certainly didn't know 96 00:08:01.709 --> 00:08:10.660 anything about commercial scale horticulture at all and so we've 97 00:08:10.699 --> 00:08:12.720 been we had to learn a lot and learn a 98 00:08:12.740 --> 00:08:16.459 lot in a hurry and we're finally at the point 99 00:08:16.519 --> 00:08:21.129 where that end of it's running pretty smoothly and we 100 00:08:22.170 --> 00:08:30.389 consider ourselves to be horticulturists so implementing and developing the 101 00:08:30.430 --> 00:08:33.250 homestead side of things we had to start that actually 102 00:08:33.379 --> 00:08:36.100 slower than usual even though we've done it our whole 103 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:44.120 lives but So we started with I think the first 104 00:08:44.159 --> 00:08:49.669 year we started with the maple sugar

operation. Got that 105 00:08:49.730 --> 00:08:52.490 working so we could make all of our own maple sugar. 106 00:08:53.350 --> 00:08:58.649 We moved the laying hens in shortly after that. No, 107 00:08:58.710 --> 00:09:03.649 first it was hogs. Started raising hogs in the woods 108 00:09:03.740 --> 00:09:08.019 for meat. Then we added the laying hens. Then we've 109 00:09:08.909 --> 00:09:16.870 added dairy animals now, the dairy goats, and we're still 110 00:09:16.970 --> 00:09:19.559 not to the point where we're happy as far as 111 00:09:19.679 --> 00:09:30.179 being self-sufficient in meat. So we're looking at the operation 112 00:09:30.279 --> 00:09:33.620 and thinking, all right, well, what if we go back 113 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:37.610 to this original vision for how we want things to go, 114 00:09:37.649 --> 00:09:41.440 what And one of the things is that we realized, 115 00:09:41.480 --> 00:09:44.039 and we realized this a couple years back, was we 116 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:46.659 got all this land, and a whole bunch of it 117 00:09:46.740 --> 00:09:52.570 is tied up in the nursery tree production. And we've 118 00:09:52.690 --> 00:09:58.929 slowly began to change the way that that operates. So... 119 00:09:58.820 --> 00:10:07.570 the guy that had it before us, kind of, it 120 00:10:07.590 --> 00:10:10.250 was nursery trees to dig and burlap, but it was 121 00:10:10.330 --> 00:10:13.809 also come and cut your own Christmas tree, wander around 122 00:10:13.870 --> 00:10:17.639 through the woods and pick your tree out and So 123 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:20.360 it was kind of haphazard where everything was planted and 124 00:10:20.379 --> 00:10:23.320 harvested and everything else. I might have mentioned on an 125 00:10:23.399 --> 00:10:26.120 earlier episode, I don't know if I did or not, 126 00:10:26.179 --> 00:10:33.720 but we've changed how that works. And we're growing nursery 127 00:10:33.779 --> 00:10:36.399 stuff that we plan to dig and burlap and sell 128 00:10:37.139 --> 00:10:44.289 in rows in places where they're easier to manage, they're 129 00:10:44.309 --> 00:10:47.720 taking up less space. And we're really cutting back on 130 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:51.179 the number of that stuff that we do on a 131 00:10:51.259 --> 00:10:54.200 per acre basis of what you get out of it. 132 00:10:55.179 --> 00:11:01.049 If you tie up all of your potential pasture land 133 00:11:01.750 --> 00:11:05.149 to grow slow-growing trees to dig and sell and then 134 00:11:05.190 --> 00:11:07.970 take the money from that and have to buy the 135 00:11:08.049 --> 00:11:12.370 extra meat that you can't produce because you're growing trees 136 00:11:12.470 --> 00:11:16.149 to sell... That didn't really make a lot of sense 137 00:11:16.250 --> 00:11:20.269 to us when that land could just as easily produce 138 00:11:20.350 --> 00:11:23.500 it and produce it right here at a better, higher quality. 139 00:11:24.279 --> 00:11:27.860 And that was our goal in the

beginning. So a 140 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:31.360 couple of years ago, we started phasing out the big 141 00:11:31.419 --> 00:11:33.379 piece of land on the other side of the road. 142 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:38.460 We quit planting in there and we doubled up on 143 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:43.679 the harvesting in there. So. We've been taking more and 144 00:11:43.700 --> 00:11:49.389 more trees out, taking more and more digging orders, and 145 00:11:49.470 --> 00:11:54.169 then we're to the point now where we're like, yeah, 146 00:11:54.190 --> 00:11:56.870 we're going to lose a little bit of some of 147 00:11:56.909 --> 00:11:59.490 the smaller trees that are in there. We'll probably go 148 00:11:59.549 --> 00:12:03.740 through one more time in the spring and dig some 149 00:12:03.779 --> 00:12:06.639 nicer looking stuff that I think has potential and move 150 00:12:06.659 --> 00:12:08.460 it to the other side of the road, or just 151 00:12:08.840 --> 00:12:12.679 burlap it and stick it out for sale. But Next 152 00:12:12.730 --> 00:12:15.350 year we've made the decision that by spring we're going 153 00:12:15.389 --> 00:12:20.289 to be pasturing the big piece across the road. And 154 00:12:20.990 --> 00:12:23.169 so that's been kind of fun now that we finally 155 00:12:23.210 --> 00:12:27.279 got to the point where we can do it. Going 156 00:12:27.340 --> 00:12:31.919 out and planning this out because we're going to... We 157 00:12:31.960 --> 00:12:35.220 kind of got a blank slate, not really, because of 158 00:12:35.399 --> 00:12:39.990 all the way the trees are growing in there. But we're... 159 00:12:41.740 --> 00:12:47.460 going to be developing a silvopasture system for multi-species over 160 00:12:47.500 --> 00:12:52.350 there so that the laying hens in the summer are 161 00:12:52.389 --> 00:12:57.610 going to be over there in a mobile coop and 162 00:12:58.210 --> 00:13:00.529 they'll just have their winter housing on this side of 163 00:13:00.570 --> 00:13:06.129 the road. And then the other thing is the primary 164 00:13:06.230 --> 00:13:08.440 ruminants that are going to be over there in the 165 00:13:08.500 --> 00:13:13.269 beginning are sheep, We're going to start the first year 166 00:13:13.370 --> 00:13:19.100 with buying feeder lambs and finishing them out there on 167 00:13:19.120 --> 00:13:27.259 the pasture. And then there's potential to make more land 168 00:13:27.580 --> 00:13:32.039 that's kind of, woods doesn't have a lot of high 169 00:13:32.100 --> 00:13:36.340 quality trees in it anyway. And so I'm going to 170 00:13:36.360 --> 00:13:39.129 be doing some more clearing work. So we're going to 171 00:13:39.149 --> 00:13:41.809 be using the hogs, which we've been using hogs in 172 00:13:41.830 --> 00:13:46.539 the woods for clearing purposes already. But we're going to 173 00:13:46.559 --> 00:13:53.220 be using hogs, laying hens, and lambs over there. And 174 00:13:53.240 --> 00:13:58.990 then probably next year we're going

to revamp up the 175 00:13:59.090 --> 00:14:04.049 meat bird production. Which we've been on and off the 176 00:14:04.090 --> 00:14:08.700 last seven years or so. doing them every other year 177 00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:11.559 or so. And then we got here and I can't 178 00:14:11.580 --> 00:14:14.080 remember if we've done a batch since we've moved here 179 00:14:14.100 --> 00:14:16.440 or not, but that's definitely going to be part of 180 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:20.299 the program too. And I mean, we're starting with some 181 00:14:21.850 --> 00:14:24.330 soil that needs a lot of work. Um, it's going 182 00:14:24.350 --> 00:14:26.370 to be, it's going to be fun to go in 183 00:14:26.409 --> 00:14:29.330 there and use all these different species of animals and 184 00:14:29.370 --> 00:14:35.090 start bringing this pasture back to life, changing things. Um, 185 00:14:36.129 --> 00:14:40.110 super excited about being able to go in there with 186 00:14:40.149 --> 00:14:49.139 different livestock food producing trees and get those incorporated into 187 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:57.000 that and since we have a greenhouse and nursery business 188 00:14:57.200 --> 00:15:00.200 that makes it even even a lot easier than it 189 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:04.519 would have ever been before because I can propagate and 190 00:15:04.590 --> 00:15:08.110 start all kinds of stuff here for a fraction of 191 00:15:08.129 --> 00:15:10.789 the prices it would cost most people to buy it all, 192 00:15:11.570 --> 00:15:16.230 to buy it all in and do it. So, yeah, 193 00:15:16.289 --> 00:15:20.730 there's tons of options and opportunities, and I've always wanted to, 194 00:15:21.970 --> 00:15:28.419 I've always wanted to have Siberian pea shrubs and let 195 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:35.080 chickens harvest the 36% protein pods on those things. And 196 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:40.100 years ago, I tried starting some from seed, and it 197 00:15:40.120 --> 00:15:43.399 didn't work out, but now that I'm five years into 198 00:15:43.419 --> 00:15:48.580 being a commercial horticulturist, I'm pretty sure I'm not going 199 00:15:48.600 --> 00:15:51.419 to have that problem anymore, so that's on my list 200 00:15:51.559 --> 00:15:54.279 of things that'll be going on this spring while I'm 201 00:15:54.809 --> 00:15:57.070 growing all the plants for the neighborhood. We're going to 202 00:15:57.110 --> 00:16:03.409 be cold stratifying some pea shrub seed, and doing that, 203 00:16:03.870 --> 00:16:07.600 and But it all comes back to you got to 204 00:16:07.639 --> 00:16:13.870 keep going back to your core values and your core 205 00:16:13.950 --> 00:16:18.029 plan for your homestead. And we just were like, you know, 206 00:16:18.070 --> 00:16:21.549 we're not super passionate about, like we're going to phase 207 00:16:21.629 --> 00:16:25.200 out the cut your own Christmas tree thing. Will that 208 00:16:25.269 --> 00:16:31.100 cost us some income? It'll cost us some cash flow. 209 00:16:31.139 --> 00:16:33.740 I don't know how much income it's going to affect us. 210 00:16:35.460 --> 00:16:40.730 Because I still have a hard time believing that waiting 211 00:16:41.090 --> 00:16:45.529 eight years to cut a $ 36 to $ 40 tree... I 212 00:16:46.870 --> 00:16:51.049 just think I can produce a lot more really good 213 00:16:51.110 --> 00:16:53.289 food for our family that we don't have to buy. 214 00:16:54.679 --> 00:16:57.879 By converting that land and doing it that way rather 215 00:16:57.940 --> 00:17:03.970 than selling a tree. Taking the Federal Reserve notes... everybody's getting, 216 00:17:04.150 --> 00:17:06.990 paying sales tax on that, and then you're paying income 217 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:09.240 tax on the income, and then you take what's left 218 00:17:09.380 --> 00:17:12.460 over and go buy the food from somebody else, it does, 219 00:17:12.819 --> 00:17:16.500 just doesn't make, make a lot of sense, so, you know, 220 00:17:16.519 --> 00:17:20.220 that's one of the, one of the changes we're making, 221 00:17:20.279 --> 00:17:23.519 it's been slow over the last couple years, phasing it out, 222 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:28.680 making decisions along the way to make this easier and 223 00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:32.940 make it become reality, and now, now we're ready to 224 00:17:34.069 --> 00:17:39.549 ready to do that next year. And so we're building 225 00:17:40.829 --> 00:17:45.690 more infrastructure over here as well. Last night, well, we 226 00:17:45.730 --> 00:17:52.069 started yesterday building a new goat barn. And that's been 227 00:17:52.109 --> 00:17:57.039 a lot of fun because we just decided on a 228 00:17:57.119 --> 00:18:01.859 whim we're gonna, well, we had to build, we had 229 00:18:01.900 --> 00:18:05.480 to build an addition It was going to have a 230 00:18:06.380 --> 00:18:10.589 milking stand and be a milking area for this winter. 231 00:18:12.569 --> 00:18:16.670 And then when we got started on the plan, we 232 00:18:16.690 --> 00:18:19.210 were like, well, why don't we just build a bigger, 233 00:18:19.309 --> 00:18:22.140 nicer goat barn and then turn the old goat barn 234 00:18:22.180 --> 00:18:26.940 into the milking room? Because it really wasn't big enough, 235 00:18:27.099 --> 00:18:30.970 and we're going to build, why don't we build that instead, 236 00:18:31.009 --> 00:18:33.470 and then retrofit that for the milking room, and there'll 237 00:18:33.490 --> 00:18:37.529 be room in there for feed storage and other stuff. So, 238 00:18:38.250 --> 00:18:41.509 we just said, okay. Ran down to the lumber yard. 239 00:18:42.430 --> 00:18:44.809 They brought home a whole load of lumber yesterday, the 240 00:18:44.849 --> 00:18:47.690 kids did, and they just went at it. Next thing 241 00:18:47.799 --> 00:18:54.180 I know, there's a floor, the framing for the walls 242 00:18:54.259 --> 00:18:59.420 is up, it's coming along good. There'll be a couple... 243 00:18:59.960 --> 00:19:02.799 couple days and I think

it'll be it'll be finished 244 00:19:02.839 --> 00:19:09.740 and we'll have have goats running in there but but 245 00:19:09.769 --> 00:19:17.089 getting back to this general homestead philosophy thing I I 246 00:19:17.130 --> 00:19:20.769 think that there is such a tension between the business 247 00:19:20.849 --> 00:19:24.279 end of it and the homesteading end of it and 248 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:27.779 I think you need to draw I find I do 249 00:19:27.859 --> 00:19:34.119 anyway but After doing this kind of stuff for half 250 00:19:34.140 --> 00:19:39.380 a century, I have learned a few things, although I'm 251 00:19:39.400 --> 00:19:46.450 a slow learner. Keeping those things separate, there's always the... 252 00:19:49.170 --> 00:19:51.009 First of all, there's a reason. need for a money 253 00:19:51.049 --> 00:19:54.150 crop you can go into the other ditch too there's 254 00:19:54.190 --> 00:19:56.220 a real need for the money crop and the business 255 00:19:56.339 --> 00:20:00.259 aspect of it is super important but not everything has 256 00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:05.799 to be a business so selling plants here makes us 257 00:20:05.859 --> 00:20:10.250 pretty good money it keeps us afloat financially That's great. 258 00:20:11.150 --> 00:20:13.849 So you go and you start, okay, well, we're going 259 00:20:13.869 --> 00:20:16.589 to have chickens. Well, why don't we sell eggs? Why 260 00:20:16.630 --> 00:20:20.150 don't we sell? Once you start turning it into a business, 261 00:20:21.450 --> 00:20:26.670 a lot of things change. So kind of my philosophy 262 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:32.480 is diversify, but not in a business sense. You don't 263 00:20:32.539 --> 00:20:36.500 have to sell everything that you produce. We've got honeybees. 264 00:20:37.259 --> 00:20:41.690 I have no intention of selling honey. We just want 265 00:20:41.710 --> 00:20:47.490 to raise it for ourselves. Maple sugar. I always swore 266 00:20:47.539 --> 00:20:50.019 we'd never sell any. We do sell some now, but 267 00:20:50.059 --> 00:20:52.779 it's only because there's such a bounty here and we're 268 00:20:52.799 --> 00:20:57.799 going to do it anyway. I still don't treat... It's 269 00:20:57.839 --> 00:21:00.539 such a minuscule amount of money that it produces, but 270 00:21:00.759 --> 00:21:05.559 the extra sits there by the cash register, and if 271 00:21:05.619 --> 00:21:07.400 people want to buy it, that's great, and that just 272 00:21:07.420 --> 00:21:11.329 helps offset the cost of producing it for ourselves. But 273 00:21:12.049 --> 00:21:15.349 I don't want to be a commercial maple syrup person. 274 00:21:16.109 --> 00:21:19.170 As far as selling meat, at some point, might we 275 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:23.140 sell a few extra hogs or something? It's quite possible 276 00:21:23.220 --> 00:21:28.170 that that'll happen someday. But that's not why I'm doing it. 277 00:21:29.559 --> 00:21:34.180 If we keep the plant and the nursery thing its 278 00:21:34.259 --> 00:21:38.000 own thing, and then food production is so that we 279 00:21:38.019 --> 00:21:41.240 don't have to buy food, and that we can actually... 280 00:21:42.769 --> 00:21:47.619 live a life close to creation, close to nature, where 281 00:21:47.650 --> 00:21:50.500 we can hunt and trap and raise our own meat 282 00:21:50.619 --> 00:21:53.220 and butcher our own meat and grind our own meat 283 00:21:53.700 --> 00:21:56.680 and grow our own vegetables and can our own vegetables 284 00:21:56.819 --> 00:22:02.640 and dry our own vegetables and all of that stuff 285 00:22:02.680 --> 00:22:04.339 that that's what we want to do. We want to 286 00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:07.160 live that lifestyle. So I don't want to turn every 287 00:22:07.220 --> 00:22:14.819 little thing into a business because that's... counterproductive it always 288 00:22:14.900 --> 00:22:18.980 ends up ruining things so you can do a lot 289 00:22:19.019 --> 00:22:21.940 of really cool stuff on the homestead scale that makes 290 00:22:22.029 --> 00:22:25.490 economic sense that once you try to scale it up 291 00:22:26.529 --> 00:22:31.430 doesn't make economic sense anymore and you know in here 292 00:22:31.470 --> 00:22:35.130 you see people that were selling corn and wheat in 293 00:22:35.170 --> 00:22:40.890 that little quote from that happy hollow farm book and 294 00:22:40.910 --> 00:22:45.549 then having to turn around and buy all their food. Well, 295 00:22:46.329 --> 00:22:49.410 some other ways that you can look at that too 296 00:22:51.089 --> 00:22:57.720 is I've known people that started out homesteading, raising like 297 00:22:57.779 --> 00:23:01.119 meat chickens, for example, and then decided they're going to 298 00:23:01.160 --> 00:23:05.420 start selling them. And then you talk to them a 299 00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:08.990 couple years in and they're like, yeah, we can't afford 300 00:23:09.009 --> 00:23:12.190 to eat our own birds because we have to sell them. So, 301 00:23:12.599 --> 00:23:16.339 Here they're producing this great product and not even eating 302 00:23:16.400 --> 00:23:19.000 it because it's worth more to them to sell it. 303 00:23:19.859 --> 00:23:24.109 Then you've kind of lost the original reason that you 304 00:23:24.119 --> 00:23:27.349 started raising the meat chickens to begin with. And if 305 00:23:27.369 --> 00:23:31.630 you do the math on selling meat chickens, unless you're 306 00:23:31.650 --> 00:23:35.640 going to be selling 10,000 of them, I have a 307 00:23:35.670 --> 00:23:38.220 hard time believing that it's ever going to affect your... 308 00:23:41.170 --> 00:23:49.099 annual income that much, um, yeah, just, just thoughts, I'm 309 00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:50.960 just kind of flying by the seat of my pants 310 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:56.390 in this episode, I saw this quote, and, uh, I remembered, 311 00:23:58.769 --> 00:24:01.869 brought back a lot of memories, brought back reasons why 312 00:24:01.930 --> 00:24:07.619 we're doing

things, and I just thought that I would 313 00:24:09.720 --> 00:24:14.680 just kind of discuss it a little bit, because maybe 314 00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:19.740 somebody is struggling in this area and needs to just 315 00:24:19.779 --> 00:24:24.259 stop and think about it a little bit. But this 316 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:28.059 is such a great way of life, and we really 317 00:24:28.119 --> 00:24:33.960 have to never take it for granted, be thankful that 318 00:24:33.980 --> 00:24:36.119 we're blessed that we can do this kind of work 319 00:24:36.180 --> 00:24:40.859 and live this way, and we Gotta always guard against 320 00:24:40.940 --> 00:24:44.390 losing sight of what our goals and values are and 321 00:24:44.430 --> 00:24:49.710 why we ended up starting the whole homesteading journey to 322 00:24:49.750 --> 00:24:53.930 begin with. Right? Don't want to lose sight of that. 323 00:24:55.529 --> 00:24:58.789 Because it's just... I don't know, we were talking the 324 00:24:58.849 --> 00:25:03.690 other day while we were grinding venison and kids are 325 00:25:03.750 --> 00:25:05.930 all working away at it and I'm like, you know, 326 00:25:06.890 --> 00:25:12.170 I don't think you realize... What a great thing this is. 327 00:25:13.589 --> 00:25:18.549 The connection that you have with your food, from it 328 00:25:18.609 --> 00:25:22.450 living out in the forest there, shooting it, bringing it 329 00:25:22.539 --> 00:25:27.460 off of our own land, processing it, cutting it up. 330 00:25:28.740 --> 00:25:36.920 You know, the average modern person They look at food 331 00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:40.019 completely differently because they haven't had to do all of 332 00:25:40.079 --> 00:25:42.359 the work. They look at a piece of ground meat 333 00:25:42.500 --> 00:25:48.500 and it's made out of 15 different animals. It's nothing 334 00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:50.539 to them except something to eat. Take it out of 335 00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:54.700 the refrigerator and fry it up and have a hamburger. 336 00:25:56.670 --> 00:25:59.250 We look at a piece of ground, you know, we 337 00:25:59.269 --> 00:26:03.440 look at a plop of ground meat We look at 338 00:26:03.480 --> 00:26:05.400 that and we see all the time it took to 339 00:26:05.440 --> 00:26:12.309 raise an animal. Or all of the work that went 340 00:26:12.369 --> 00:26:15.009 into butchering it. And all the work of cutting up 341 00:26:15.109 --> 00:26:17.589 all those pieces and getting the right blends of fat 342 00:26:17.690 --> 00:26:20.210 in there. And all of that work, when you sit 343 00:26:20.250 --> 00:26:22.849 there and eat that piece of meat, it's a whole 344 00:26:22.970 --> 00:26:32.319 different experience. And again, just the connection to reality that 345 00:26:33.359 --> 00:26:39.079 Modern people don't have the... Fact that when you eat 346 00:26:39.099 --> 00:26:44.089 a piece of meat... You participated in everything... From nurturing it... 347 00:26:44.609 --> 00:26:48.250 When

it was a baby... Raising it... And then taking 348 00:26:48.309 --> 00:26:58.279 its life. And... Modern people don't... Have any understanding of 349 00:26:58.319 --> 00:27:07.069 what it's like to take something's life... And the responsibility... Yeah, 350 00:27:07.430 --> 00:27:10.170 I don't know. I guess I'm just kind of babbling 351 00:27:10.349 --> 00:27:14.150 on about stuff in general now. But I don't want 352 00:27:14.230 --> 00:27:17.430 anybody to ever lose sight of why we started it. 353 00:27:18.529 --> 00:27:24.109 It's a great life. And always stop and take a 354 00:27:24.150 --> 00:27:26.589 minute every so often and look and say, are we 355 00:27:26.609 --> 00:27:29.569 headed in the right direction or are we going to 356 00:27:30.529 --> 00:27:33.369 end up ruining it all? Because we have to make 357 00:27:34.440 --> 00:27:39.119 conscious decisions to protect the lifestyle that we want to live. 358 00:27:40.380 --> 00:27:45.450 Because it's so easy to start down a wrong path 359 00:27:45.509 --> 00:27:53.710 and then next thing you know it's all gone. And 360 00:27:54.109 --> 00:28:00.720 it's just such a great way to raise children. I 361 00:28:00.759 --> 00:28:05.430 think that that is also one of the most important 362 00:28:05.980 --> 00:28:09.519 things about living this lifestyle is just so we can 363 00:28:10.519 --> 00:28:15.460 raise our children in it and see the satisfaction that 364 00:28:15.500 --> 00:28:20.240 they have in accomplishing things and being part of the 365 00:28:20.319 --> 00:28:29.799 family economy and being valuable, useful parts of this family economy. Um, 366 00:28:30.359 --> 00:28:32.799 I was just talking about that goat barn they're building. 367 00:28:33.759 --> 00:28:37.259 You know, I just was standing there thinking to myself, 368 00:28:37.279 --> 00:28:38.960 I don't know, maybe I'm just getting really old and 369 00:28:39.019 --> 00:28:43.789 sentimental now. But watching, watching them do that, and I thought, 370 00:28:43.829 --> 00:28:47.269 you know, most people, if they wanted a building, the 371 00:28:47.289 --> 00:28:49.410 first thing they'd do is go to the Yellow Pages 372 00:28:49.549 --> 00:28:53.009 and look up a contractor and get a quote and 373 00:28:53.049 --> 00:28:56.750 pay somebody to come out and build a building for them. 374 00:29:00.029 --> 00:29:03.390 What did these kids do? They needed a barn. They 375 00:29:03.410 --> 00:29:06.109 spent a little bit of time thinking. They've got all 376 00:29:06.130 --> 00:29:10.549 the tools at their disposal. They've learned how to solve problems. 377 00:29:10.589 --> 00:29:14.039 They've learned how to come up with plans and ideas 378 00:29:14.099 --> 00:29:18.400 and just execute on them. I mean, I walked out there. 379 00:29:18.460 --> 00:29:22.279 There was nothing there in the morning. I was working 380 00:29:22.380 --> 00:29:24.400 on some other stuff. I go back out there a 381 00:29:24.440 --> 00:29:29.039 little while later, and there's a skeleton of a barn 382 00:29:29.099 --> 00:29:32.720 up there. I mean, it's, and they're going to, the 383 00:29:32.789 --> 00:29:36.869 satisfaction that they'll have every time they use that building 384 00:29:36.990 --> 00:29:44.259 for the rest of their lives here, is, well, I 385 00:29:44.319 --> 00:29:48.359 remember making that. And all the little side stories that 386 00:29:48.380 --> 00:29:52.440 were funny, little pop-up about so-and-so whacking his thumb or 387 00:29:52.759 --> 00:29:59.279 doing all the conversation and laughter that went. on with 388 00:29:59.319 --> 00:30:02.700 the project. It'll all be there in those boards and 389 00:30:02.759 --> 00:30:10.420 in that. Yeah. It'll be memories that nobody can ever 390 00:30:10.460 --> 00:30:13.140 take away from them and they'll be able to sit 391 00:30:13.180 --> 00:30:19.250 there and look at that building going forward and have 392 00:30:19.289 --> 00:30:22.390 all those memories and a sense of satisfaction that they 393 00:30:22.430 --> 00:30:30.809 built it themselves. And that's worth that's worth more than 394 00:30:31.170 --> 00:30:33.039 any amount of money that you could come up with. 395 00:30:35.220 --> 00:30:37.140 All right. So I got to actually get out of 396 00:30:37.200 --> 00:30:41.400 here and go start doing some homesteading myself. So we will, uh, 397 00:30:41.640 --> 00:30:46.839 catch you guys next week. Remember the website is ourlifeuphere.com. 398 00:30:47.420 --> 00:30:50.140 We've got a email list there that you can sign 399 00:30:50.200 --> 00:30:53.940 up for, uh, show notes for all the episodes are there. And, uh, 400 00:30:55.200 --> 00:30:58.309 Eventually I'm hoping to do more written articles and product 401 00:30:58.349 --> 00:31:01.309 reviews and stuff on that website too. But it's kind 402 00:31:01.349 --> 00:31:05.789 of a work in progress. Just got it up and running. Yep, 403 00:31:05.890 --> 00:31:09.190 and you can find our stuff on YouTube and Facebook. 404 00:31:09.269 --> 00:31:12.849 It's all found by looking for Our Life Up Here. 405 00:31:13.779 --> 00:31:15.599 And yeah, we'll catch you next week.