Ask Me (Almost) Anything! | January AOAT Livestream

0:00 Good evening, sunshines.

0:01 Thank you so much for joining us after Alexander's bedtime.

0:05 So, we're a little later than normal.

0:07 Also, after my bedtime this evening.

0:09 Uh, huge thank you right off the bat to Emily,

0:12 who's um the wizard in the corner over there that you cannot see.

0:17 Oh, that's still waving.

0:18 Excellent.

0:19 Who's here to moderate comments and to make sure that everything is seen.

0:24 We wanted to do this as a trial run

0:26 of something we want to call office hours with Professor An.

0:29 So, you get to ask all of your problems and I get to solve them.

0:33 And as someone who owns a thousand opinions and literally spends

0:37 my life waiting for someone to ask me for my opinion,

0:41 this is my real dream come true.

0:43 It's going to be great.

0:44 We're I'm so glad everyone's here.

0:45 So, we get comments from Facebook and YouTube commenting at the same time.

0:50 Very exciting.

0:50 Roger Thompson asks, "What is the overall theme of this video channel about?"

0:56 This video channel or this video and this channel?

0:58 I'm not sure

0:59 this video is overall themed is professor Anne answers your questions.

1:04 So the theme is ask your questions and we'll find some answers um

1:09 about whatever we could talk about

1:11 melodians antique lathes uh historical woodworking tools.

1:17 We could talk about gardening which is probably

1:19 why most of us are here together homesteading.

1:21 Animal husbandry parenthood.

1:24 It is an of all trades.

1:26 working with your spouse.

1:28 Actually, I would love to ask the audience present.

1:32 How many of you work with your spouses?

1:34 And what's your best piece of advice?

1:37 That's okay.

1:39 That's what I'm going to pose to the to the group this time.

1:41 I would love to hear as much of that as possible.

1:43 So, the overall theme of this video slash channel is

1:47 yes, this is a homesteading guard

1:49 slashguarding slash animal husbandry slash channel.

1:56 am building a woodworking school and I

1:57 used to run an woodworking school in Washington

2:00 and it's a funny thing to try to fit all that in in life and in content.

2:07 Yes.

2:06 So, we're doing our best.

2:07 We figured a a good ask me anything would be appropriate.

2:11 We haven't done one of those in a long time.

2:12 So, so let's hear some questions.

2:14 All right.

2:15 Um, what should I do to amend my hard clay soil?

2:21 That's a great question.

2:22 And we have a couple fulllength 30 plus minute videos about this topic.

2:29 But the answer to what is like what is

2:32 wrong with pretty much every soil actually sandy soil,

2:35 clay soil, all of the above.

2:37 Uh is adding organic matter.

2:39 And I don't mean organic soil from a bag from the home center.

2:44 I mean things that were once alive that are now dead that we

2:49 then put on our soil and let age in place and do its thing.

2:54 And uh that's the more organic matter you can put on your soil, the better.

2:59 In the form of leaves, wood chips,

3:02 call your local arborist, call your power company,

3:04 offer to be a free dump site if um they're trimming trees in your area.

3:09 That's a great way to get a ton of free organic

3:12 matter that you can put on your garden free of charge.

3:15 Also, call your local horse um facilities like um what are those things?

3:21 What is a horse?

3:23 A horse stable.

3:24 Yes.

3:24 Stable.

3:24 Thank you.

3:26 Mom brain is real, my friends.

3:28 Uh a horse stable.

3:32 Yes.

3:31 Uh and get as much free manure as you can shovel.

3:35 That's a like a treasure trove of feces.

3:41 Um, how are your dad's dalas?

3:44 Uh, not as good as mine.

3:46 Thank you for asking.

3:47 I really appreciate it.

3:49 That's like a inside joke on one of the videos, right?

3:51 Oh, every video we talk about the fact

3:53 that my dad and I have been competing with our Dalia.

3:56 Um, my dad is a flower gardener who uh

4:00 ruined most of my childhood being obsessed with flowers.

4:04 And I'm That's a joke.

4:07 We're Oh, we should also mention that unedited.

4:11 I am very dry, very sarcastic.

4:14 It's hard.

4:15 Adam sometimes needs to let the world know that I'm joking.

4:19 My dad is awesome.

4:20 I love my parents a lot.

4:21 Um, hope they're watching.

4:23 They probably are.

4:25 Yes.

4:25 Uh, my lettuce is bitter.

4:28 Is it the soil?

4:29 If your lettuce is bitter,

4:30 it's actually most likely that it's either you're waiting too long to p pick it.

4:35 So, like you're it's getting too mature,

4:38 or that um the it's too hot and so like I mean,

4:44 if your lettuce is bitter right now, are you in Australia or is it summer?

4:50 I'm going to need more information.

4:51 But the real the real thing is it's if your lettuce is bigger bitter,

4:55 it's usually because you're waiting too long to pick it.

4:59 This one also just another fun tip when you're picking your lettuce.

5:04 If you look at the bottom and it's it has white um

5:07 white coming out of the bottom like where you just picked it,

5:10 that's a very good sign that it's going to be really really bitter.

5:13 Similarly with cucumbers.

5:15 If you cut a cucumber um and your cucumbers are bitter,

5:18 really great way to make your cucumbers taste better

5:21 is to take the end that you just cut off

5:23 your cucumber and rub it around in a circle

5:25 and it actually draws all the bitterness out of the cucumber.

5:28 So

5:29 awesome.

5:30 Uh this next one just says baby update.

5:32 This is a Marsha Bass.

5:34 Baby update is that Alexander is in the 99th percentile.

5:38 He is larger than his one plusyear-old cousin.

5:43 No.

5:44 Yes, he is.

5:47 No, in our family photos that we just took, Bowen, he's bigger than Bowen.

5:49 Oh, yeah.

5:50 Yeah.

5:50 Okay.

5:50 Okay.

5:50 I thought you were talking about the Oh, Cedar.

5:52 No, no, no, no.

5:53 He's bigger than Bowen.

5:54 Cedar is also in the 99th percentile.

5:57 His other cousin.

5:58 Um, yes.

5:59 Alexander is doing great.

6:01 He is.

6:01 Sorry, I'm here to like fact check you in a loving way.

6:05 Is it loving and is it necessary?

6:07 Unclear.

6:08 Uh, no.

6:10 It's Alexander's upstairs um in his very own bedroom in the hoft

6:16 of the we in case this is your first time here.

6:19 We are in my animal barn right now.

6:21 Um piece by piece over the last six years that we've lived here.

6:25 I have turned this beautiful um side shoot of my animal barn into a office

6:33 because our life happens down here and our house

6:36 is quite far away from the barn.

6:38 And so this is this.

6:40 But anyway, my most recent long-term project has been turning the upstairs

6:45 behind that very tiny secret door uh into a uh baby room.

6:53 What's that called?

6:54 nursery.

6:55 There it is.

6:55 There we go.

6:56 And so, speaking of which, another one.

6:58 How do you integrate parenting in your baby's

7:00 needs with all the demands of your farm,

7:01 plants, and animals?

7:03 This is B218911T.

7:06 Thank goodness Adam is here because Miss Dyslexia

7:08 would not have been able to get that one.

7:10 Uh, integrating parenthood is into real life.

7:15 So, the first thing I should say is

7:17 that we don't have family that lives like immediately here.

7:22 So, like there's not built-in child care.

7:25 And also, um, we work together.

7:28 And so, when I'm not working, Adam doesn't really have a ton to do.

7:31 And so, with all that said,

7:34 parenting and integrating all of that into our life has been more challenging,

7:43 significantly more challenging than I thought it was going to be.

7:46 I was sure I was going to be a bit of a exception to that rule.

7:50 Um but uh my expectations have have been continually

8:00 they've humbled you.

8:02 This has humbled you.

8:03 Yes, it's humbled me.

8:04 Yeah.

8:04 But I mean it's great.

8:05 It's just um it's difficult and we are figuring it out bit by bit.

8:12 I have some funny tips um that I'll I I'm working on some like a video

8:19 about like tips that I figured out of like to help other parents who are trying

8:24 to raise a kid and also work full-time and be self-employed and also have farms

8:29 and gardens and things and like I mean

8:32 I'll just share what the tips are really quick.

8:33 One of them is right behind Adam right there.

8:36 Oops.

8:36 I am so dyslexic.

8:37 I don't know.

8:38 Move your arms so that they can see.

8:39 This is a little um pool.

8:42 This is my most brilliant idea I've had.

8:44 It's the best $13 I've ever spent at Walmart.

8:47 Don't judge me.

8:48 Um but when Alexander started sitting up and like tipping over all the time,

8:53 I I got a pool so that he wouldn't

8:55 hit his head on anything and it's been glorious.

8:57 So, he'll sit in there and play with his toys for about

9:00 a half an hour at a time right here while we're working.

9:04 And that's really great.

9:05 Another great tip is uh the I I have like this wagon

9:10 that I put a blanket in and some of his favorite

9:13 toys and we I just pull the wagon around to wherever

9:16 I am and then he hangs out in the wagon.

9:19 The other other tip is have an awesome dad who loves to

9:25 That's nice.

9:26 uh play guitar and sing and everything else.

9:31 Someone asked for a baby update and my favorite baby thing that's going on right

9:34 now is that Alexander just learned how to dance and so we'll sing as a family.

9:39 Um, little known fact, Adam and I actually met playing in a Beatles cover band.

9:43 We're both musicians.

9:45 Um, Alexander is going to grow up with a lot of music around him.

9:48 He already has, but he is at six months old dancing in time,

9:56 like bobbing his head and moving his body in time to music.

10:00 It's pretty big.

10:01 Pretty big deal.

10:02 He also got a metronome for Christmas.

10:04 So,

10:04 we we were talking earlier,

10:06 you said that hopefully he inherits his dad's rhythm and his mom's inonation.

10:11 Yes.

10:12 I hope he h he gets my perfect pitch and his dad's rhythm

10:15 because if it he gets his dad's singing and my lack of rhythm, he's in trouble.

10:22 He could be in trouble.

10:26 Um, oh, question for me.

10:29 Thank goodness.

10:30 So, Rue 2911 asked, "Adam, do you miss your old job?" you know, so for context,

10:37 I used to work in a corporate job at Amazon um for almost 10 years.

10:43 Um I really liked it.

10:44 It was great.

10:45 Had a lot of fun.

10:46 But um about three years ago,

10:49 decided to join Annie and um do this this whole world together.

10:56 And I I I love it.

10:58 Um, I think be I'll be honest like there's I'd be lying if

11:02 there wasn't certain parts that I miss just because like it's just different.

11:07 I'd say probably you know there is an aspect of being a part of a team and going

11:14 into to a physical location and being part of a team

11:16 that is um very is fulfilling in its own way.

11:23 Um, but I do think that like the opportunity

11:26 to work from home and especially with Alexander, uh,

11:30 to be able to work from home and like to be

11:33 close to him and spend all the time with him every

11:35 day and then have the flexibility to travel with him and just

11:39 kind of do what we want in our own time um, is outweighs I think a lot of that.

11:44 Um, I'm I will say I'm as busy as I was at Amazon,

11:48 which I didn't think was could be possible because I was very busy at Amazon.

11:54 Um, but uh yeah, no, I there's parts of it I miss,

11:58 but yeah, I I don't regret it.

12:00 I don't regret uh leaving that job.

12:03 I'll tell you what I miss.

12:06 Adam is uh although he's actually just made a big change recently in this regard

12:13 and I think it's maybe because I said something one too many times but Adam um

12:18 when he went to work every day was like very into fashion and style and he was

12:23 so he looked so handsome every day going

12:26 to work and not saying that he doesn't now.

12:29 It's just that the first like two and a half

12:32 years of home employment like resulted in a lot of sweatpants.

12:37 Oh no, I'm getting called out.

12:39 And I really like a good pair of hard pants and a nice sweater.

12:45 I'm just going to say, "Okay, that's fair." Um,

12:50 also I will say to you a funny side note of all

12:53 of this that like you know people that you know don't spend a ton

12:57 of time with us don't know is like Adam is actually the extrovert

13:00 of the family like he really loves going to work and spending time with people.

13:04 I am the introvert though like I've learned how

13:07 to be public publicly extroverted I guess um in life.

13:11 My parents are missionaries.

13:12 I spent a lot of my childhood having to like perform um publicly and things

13:16 and all that to say uh he really misses daily going out and being

13:23 part of something and doing something and I myself would be 100% fine

13:27 to literally never leave ever again and be here by myself 100% of the time.

13:34 So that is one funny thing of us working together is that Adam has

13:37 to invent excuses to leave the house way more frequently than I myself would

13:44 okay choose to.

13:45 We don't have to be the same.

13:46 No, we don't.

13:47 That's variety is the spice of life.

13:49 I agree.

13:50 Uh most underrated Beatles song.

13:52 Um for no one off of Revolver, Norwegian Wood.

14:00 That's not underrated.

14:02 It's not underrated.

14:03 No.

14:03 Oh, no.

14:03 That's like on some of their greatest hits.

14:05 Um.

14:06 Oh, well, I think it

14:08 You think that's underrated?

14:09 I think it could use a lot.

14:10 I think you can go to any bar in America and they'll probably play it.

14:12 No reason would.

14:14 What?

14:14 I mean, I guess I don't go to enough bars.

14:18 Um, but it is a good song.

14:20 Good great song.

14:22 Also, Paul McCartney Ram is possibly one of the greatest albums of all time.

14:27 Wow.

14:31 Um, how do you decide?

14:32 We're just going to keep going on the this theme.

14:35 How do you decide who's going to do what job at the house farm slparent?

14:44 Um we like to try as much as possible to lean into our strengths.

14:50 Each of us has some individual strengths.

14:54 Uh and we try to lean into those things as much as possible.

15:00 um in that Adam is seriously like the greatest dad.

15:06 A

15:06 and um also he doesn't own a pair of breasts which is unfortunate.

15:11 I mean it's fortunate for me because let's be honest this would be weird.

15:14 Um but but also um sorry Emily is packing up a lug in the corner over there.

15:25 Um, yeah.

15:28 Uh, like the farm is my thing.

15:30 It always has been my thing, but Adam has, to his credit,

15:34 like picked up a lot of the slack that I've unintentionally left recently.

15:39 But that said, um, you know,

15:41 there's a lot of stuff that like he is not ever going to want to or do

15:48 or like will never even see because it's like

15:51 not on his radar and those kinds of things.

15:53 So like on the farm it's basically like if it's a daily thing that needs to be

15:57 done or if it's something that I can like explain to him how to do he'll do it.

16:03 Otherwise it either doesn't get done until I can do it

16:06 or you know yeah that's kind of it as far as work goes.

16:12 Like if it's a computer thing,

16:13 and this is actually I will say the absolute best thing about

16:17 Adam leaving his job is that I am not into technology at all.

16:22 Like I learn how to do whatever it is that I have to do to make things work.

16:28 So I built my own website.

16:29 I learned how to edit videos.

16:31 I learned how to edit photos and those things,

16:33 but I do not like um being on the computer or even on on my phone.

16:38 Um, and so when Adam left his job,

16:40 that meant that I was suddenly released to do

16:44 so much more stuff not in front of a screen.

16:48 And that is I mean my mental health, my like effectiveness,

16:53 my ability to problem solve, my just general happiness and satisfaction,

17:00 and my ability to really focus and like

17:02 lean hard into more like things like the like

17:06 really getting into soil health and soil sciences

17:10 and garden science and all that stuff has been

17:12 because he is now part of the business and is doing the things that used to take

17:18 me so long and take so much mental

17:20 energy to do because it's just not my strength.

17:23 Yeah, I think that's it's good.

17:26 What do you think of raising angora sheep for profit, Annie?

17:30 Um, I'm going to be real honest because this is an easy answer for me.

17:36 First of all, I hate sheep.

17:38 I do understand that some people like

17:40 this is from like this is like a personal bias.

17:42 It is a personal bias due to my own experiences which I've had cheap

17:47 seven times and I don't I have not liked it any of the times.

17:51 That said, the reason that I you know I just think that I think that sheep

17:58 and also and actually I'm lumping even angora goats into this.

18:02 I'm not even sure what an angora sheep is to be totally honest.

18:05 I'm wondering if that's maybe a confusion point.

18:07 Might be a confusion point on my part.

18:09 Uh, but I would say angora goats, absolutely not.

18:12 Absolutely not.

18:13 They carry lice and you're they will possibly infest your whole goat herd.

18:19 Um, I typed angora sheep into Google and it brought up Angor goat.

18:24 So, pretty.

18:25 Yeah.

18:25 So, I I'm like I actually Yeah,

18:27 I'm pretty positive we're talking about goats and in that hair sheep.

18:31 Hair sheep are katadens.

18:32 Those are like like meat sheep.

18:34 Those shed naturally.

18:36 Then there's fiber sheep and there's lots of different kinds of those.

18:40 Those are slightly better than hair sheep.

18:42 First of all, I just don't like sheep

18:44 mostly because I raised katadens thinking that like

18:48 sheep meat was efficient and like they were a great way to help our pasture.

18:52 Anyway, I don't like lamb it turns out or sheep or like I don't like the meat.

18:57 So then I was like, okay, well maybe I would like to do a wool sheep.

19:01 also didn't like because um it turns out alpaca is better,

19:07 wool is itchy, it's really hard to do all the things.

19:12 Yeah, I personally would say it's probably very likely not at all

19:17 profitable to do a business with angora or hair or fiber,

19:23 anything in this day and age,

19:25 especially considering that like in the UK right now,

19:29 most sheep farmers are literally composting all their wool

19:34 because they can't even sell it right now.

19:36 So, it's unfortunately not probably the best way to go.

19:43 Uh, thank you David Rodriguez for the super chat.

19:47 That's very generous of you.

19:48 Love your farm life.

19:49 My family is thinking about doing it.

19:51 10 out of 10 would recommend.

19:53 But as you do, I will say start small and think about what your family

19:58 actually wants and wants to get out of it and only do those things.

20:03 You don't have to do everything because everyone else is.

20:06 And that is probably the biggest trap of homesteading and farming is

20:11 just doing things because you think it's the logical next step or gardening.

20:16 Growing things just because it's in a package.

20:20 Just because shard exists doesn't mean we have to plant it.

20:25 That's a call back to a real you made about how much you hate shard.

20:29 That's true.

20:30 Correct.

20:30 That's also one of my jobs I feel obligated

20:33 to do is to provide context to the audience.

20:37 I have we have an ongoing joke on the channel

20:39 about how much I hate shard and zucchini.

20:41 And the funny thing is it's act I

20:43 actually don't even hate either one of those things.

20:45 But the funny thing about I mean rage bait

20:49 is definitely a thing on the internet these days.

20:51 And if you say something like even remotely inflammatory,

20:56 you're going to get a whole lot

20:58 of unsolicited advice about how to make it better.

21:01 And I I I genuinely like if someone in the audience right now,

21:06 if someone wants to help me make this cookbook and actually make it happen,

21:09 I legitimately want to make a shard cookbook based

21:14 on the comment section of this post because I I probably have

21:17 over a thousand shard recipes that have been given to me

21:20 by people trying to convince me that shard is delicious.

21:22 And they all have bacon in them.

21:24 A lot of them have bacon.

21:26 A lot like almost all of the shard recipes are like if

21:29 you cook it with like garlic and butter or bacon or whatever else.

21:32 It's like well obviously but you know what happens if you cook like things

21:36 that already taste good with bacon and garlic like then they taste even better.

21:41 Like just making something that tastes

21:42 like actual dirt like slightly more palatable

21:47 by putting good things with it does

21:48 not actually mean that that thing tastes good.

21:50 Just I don't Yeah, I don't think it's very

21:51 hard to make something with bacon taste good.

21:54 I mean

21:55 I mean putting shard with it is a great made way way to make bacon taste worse.

22:03 Yeah.

22:03 Uh do you disbud your goat kids on your own?

22:07 Is if so is it scary to mess up?

22:09 Says Morgan L.

22:12 Sure do.

22:13 Um uh disbudding or like taking the horns off of both

22:17 goats and cows is a very hot topic for debate.

22:21 Um, especially with like animal cruelty enthusiasts.

22:26 Um, well, whatever.

22:27 People who are worried about not being cruel to animals.

22:30 I will say that having had to untangle multiple animals,

22:35 both alive and dead, from fences after they got their heads caught in them,

22:39 also having to deal with stab wounds on animals

22:42 that had been gored by animals that had horns.

22:46 not worth it to have horns if it's if you're able

22:49 to remove them when they're young enough that they don't really remember it.

22:53 So, is it scary?

22:55 Yes.

22:55 I will say it's one of my most procrastinated things that I do on the farm.

23:01 It's like it's really sad and awful and and yucky for for a few minutes,

23:06 but then it's over and everyone is happier and healthier as a result.

23:10 So, uh it was not it's not very hard to learn.

23:14 I actually learned from a YouTube channel.

23:16 Um, I have never messed it up.

23:18 Uh, I actually started doing it myself because my vet messed

23:23 it up three times in a row and I was like, I'm never letting that happen again.

23:28 Surely I could do better than they were doing.

23:33 Yeah.

23:33 Um, Facebook question.

23:35 Roger Thompson, where do you live in Washington?

23:37 Where did you live in Washington?

23:39 We live in Belfare.

23:40 Belfare.

23:41 your neighbors with uh where my sister used to live.

23:44 We lived in um Seattle in a suburb called Woodenville for most of that time.

23:54 Yeah.

23:53 Um Fred McIntyre, what what's Fred got?

23:58 Let's see.

24:01 As Alexander grows and becomes more durable,

24:04 do you foresee a miniature donkey carriage in his future?

24:08 Well, for those of you who don't know

24:11 that we struggled with infertility and loss for 13

24:14 years prior to successfully bringing Sweet Alexander into the world

24:19 at great surprise and joy to everyone involved.

24:23 Um, basically everything I've learned how to do and have

24:28 done over the last 13 years was both a distraction

24:33 from the pain and struggle of all that and also

24:38 like in hopes that someday I would have the chance.

24:41 And all of that to say that I trained my donkeys to pull

24:45 a carriage starting nine years ago and they are very good at it now.

24:53 They're a little out of practice, but

24:54 they are a little out of practice,

24:56 but also that's mostly because of the last

24:59 two years of um ineptitude that I've just discussed.

25:03 I don't really foresee Adam being out

25:06 there driving the donkey cart in my absence.

25:09 Um but the donkeys are great at pulling a cart.

25:13 We have actually not one but two carts for young Alexander to pick from.

25:18 And um also precious development is that the donkeys

25:23 are beyond obsessed with Alexander to the point

25:27 that now they will stand like at like from Alexander

25:33 and I come down here at 9:00 every morning and we're down here most of the day

25:37 because again he takes his naps upstairs and all

25:39 that but the donkeys when Alexander is here are

25:42 standing at the door which is right behind the camera.

25:45 That's why I'm looking right there.

25:47 Um, I actually have been worried they're gonna break the glass

25:50 in the door recently because they are so intent on like just trying to open.

25:58 Very rough with that door.

25:59 Yeah, they're very rough on the door.

26:00 Constantly trying to figure out what's Alexander doing and where is he at?

26:04 And then um when he's in his little wagon

26:06 that I was talking about earlier um playing with his toys,

26:09 they will stand over him and literally just like

26:12 hang out with him for hours at a time.

26:14 and Alexander will reach over and pet them and it's his f it's so cute.

26:17 It's like unbearably cute.

26:20 Anyway, it's the best.

26:21 And and this is where like the life that uh was very difficult for a very long

26:29 time pays us back in spades because we get

26:32 to see finally the kid and hopefully more someday.

26:37 Uh that that we longed to see in this environment that we built just for them.

26:44 All right.

26:45 This is a this is very much like a ask me anything question.

26:48 Do you two ever have opposing views on how things should operate on the farm?

26:52 And if so, how do you come to a compromise?

26:56 That's a great question, Adam.

26:57 Why don't you answer?

26:59 You want me to answer this?

27:00 Oh, please.

27:03 Um, well, we we're definitely different people.

27:09 Um, but I think I think it we we when we're operating well together,

27:15 we strike a nice balance in the sense that I think Annie

27:18 and I knew this when we got married is is definitely the dreamer and

27:22 and Adam is the dream crusher and I am I don't I'm trying to think

27:27 of a positive way to spin but what my role is.

27:32 No, you

27:33 with not Dream Crusher though.

27:34 You don't Well, it is Dream Crusher, but let's be honest.

27:38 interview.

27:39 No, it's fine.

27:40 The thing is Adam's um if I were left unchecked, which when Adam met me,

27:48 I was left unchecked because um I myself was a bit of a miracle child and um my

27:57 realist.

27:57 Thank you, Kitty Griggs.

27:59 Yes, Adam is a realist.

28:00 I myself had been uh led to to I had been given a lot of rope in my young life.

28:08 um a lot of positive encouragement because again I

28:12 was myself a miracle and you know very beloved

28:16 by many uh and in that Adam is the checks

28:20 and balances that I deeply need because when left

28:24 to my own devices I think this is like also

28:27 like you know we've known each other since I was

28:29 15 years old so we've known each other longer

28:32 at this point than we haven't known each other in life.

28:35 Yeah.

28:35 And I will say that Adam has been the the balance that I desperately needed.

28:41 And though it was painful early in our relationship, it's less painful now.

28:46 We definitely have like had conflict over this.

28:49 Like in case that wasn't clear by the way we've been dancing around

28:52 and we occasionally still do have conflict over this.

28:54 Like I'd be totally lying if we didn't.

28:56 But I'd say this is an area where we we

29:00 understand each other's where they're coming from a lot more.

29:03 And like generally those conversations are not like as like

29:10 they're not as like confusing for either of us like

29:13 they used to be because I think we kind of generally

29:15 know how to navigate that pretty well at this point.

29:18 It used to be really hard.

29:19 It used to be really really hard.

29:21 There's like a lot of things where Adam was

29:24 genuinely in the kindness of his own heart trying

29:26 to protect me from myself like would crush me

29:31 and it would be so sad and hard and everything else.

29:34 But also the thing is that I also know Adam not like well enough

29:39 to know that he like I genuinely do know that when even when he says no,

29:44 he has my absolute best in like everything in his in his heart.

29:49 He wants me to be happy and so he's often like

29:53 no because the reality is in 25 minutes you're not actually still

29:57 going to want that and so I'm going to save you

30:01 from 25 minute from now and and just say no from the get-go.

30:05 Yeah.

30:05 Well, and also like Yes.

30:08 And also I think one of the things I think

30:09 we've you've realized and I' I've kind of conveyed I'll

30:14 think in those moments a lot is that like you

30:16 know if you do this new thing that that's fine a yes to something

30:21 but very likely is a no to something else.

30:23 You're going to be crowding something else out

30:25 that that either you already have or that you

30:29 could potentially do and you're not going to have

30:30 any capacity to like add to your plate.

30:33 Totally.

30:34 And also, I mean, um,

30:37 I will also say that Adam also knows that his life

30:41 would like he wouldn't ever take risks if it wasn't for me.

30:45 And so, I make his life interesting and he wants that.

30:48 Otherwise, we wouldn't be together.

30:51 That's true.

30:51 How long have we been married?

30:52 We've been married 14 years.

30:55 14 years.

30:56 There we go.

30:58 Um, we don't own livestock.

31:02 Would donkeys be a be a great animal on the farm by themselves?

31:05 We have a whole video about that actually.

31:08 The video is called Please Don't Get a Donkey to be clear.

31:11 However, um if you've watched any of our Please Don't Get Us series,

31:16 which we have one on goats, um we have a why I regret regret getting alpacas.

31:20 But actually, right now we are filming a please don't get an alpaca video.

31:24 Um, the redeeming quality of all of our videos

31:28 in that series are like if you're going to get animals, just do it responsibly.

31:34 Like understand what you're getting into.

31:36 Be prepared to like give them the care and and have

31:40 the infrastructure that they need so that you both can be successful

31:43 and not and that the animal is not like having the animal

31:46 or getting the animal isn't going to make your life miserable.

31:48 I like love donkeys.

31:50 I would say that in my hierarchy of animal loves

31:54 like cows and donkeys are right there like with each other.

31:59 I cannot and would not and also will not imagine my life without donkeys.

32:04 A because um donkeys live for 40 years.

32:07 We knew when we got Howdy and Bella our donkeys

32:10 that we were going to have donkeys until I was 70.

32:14 So um that's a crazy thought.

32:16 Yeah.

32:16 Um they're um 10 years old now.

32:20 11 years old and we they're the best

32:24 and hardest things like I mean they're I mean

32:27 in different seasons of life they they have been

32:30 great and also difficult and I love donkeys a lot.

32:35 Um if you're only going to have donkeys I mean

32:39 a you always have like they're her animals get two.

32:42 You can't have one donkey.

32:44 I did actually try getting one donkey by itself.

32:47 And that's actually why we now have two because he was so deeply bonded to me

32:52 that it became like genuinely problematic from a behavior

32:56 and also just like a life standpoint.

32:58 So I got a second donkey.

33:01 She got a second donkey.

33:02 Um so Tiona, sorry if I pronounced anybody's name wrong.

33:08 Uh thank you for the super chat.

33:09 Um very generous.

33:11 Is there one animal that taught you the most, Annie?

33:14 Did it go to plan?

33:15 Is there an animal?

33:17 Is there an animal each that's a hard no?

33:20 Uh, ironically, I feel like you're actually

33:23 asking both of us.

33:24 Yes.

33:26 Yeah.

33:25 Oh, great.

33:26 Uh, well, we're making this video right now called uh,

33:29 please don't get an alpaca.

33:31 And that's again the third in a series.

33:34 Um, there's also please don't get a cow coming up.

33:36 And the answer to all of those things is like, yeah,

33:40 like if you're going to get something, get it and be responsible about it.

33:43 Ironically, of all the animals that we have and will make those videos,

33:47 we're also going to make a please don't get a pig video at some point.

33:50 Please don't get chickens.

33:51 Don't put Yeah.

33:52 Um Oh, yeah.

33:54 Yeah.

33:54 But the alpaca video is the only video where the lesson is is

34:00 actually probably like especially if you have similar goals or whatever to us,

34:06 don't get an alpaca because there's few enough redeeming qualities in them.

34:12 Uh, and actually going back to the question about the angora, the angora goat,

34:17 angora sheep, whatever question, uh, alpacas on a far,

34:23 like a working farm don't make sense.

34:27 And so I've learned the most from alpacas because they

34:31 are the most highmaintenance animal that like I wanted the most

34:36 from that was like I wanted something from them

34:41 that they themselves are not naturally inclined to want to give.

34:46 I wanted a cuddly like fiber animal that would be cute and funny

34:53 and unique and all these other things and like just by their nature,

34:57 alpacas are not any of those things.

35:00 And so because alpaca like especially now that we live in the south,

35:04 alpacas are not made for this climate.

35:06 This is like um this is the wrong place to have alpacas across the board.

35:11 parasites, all these things.

35:13 I've learned uh so much about training, about medical stuff,

35:18 about all those things, like all that from alpacas.

35:21 Everyone can see you telling me to wrap that up right now, Adam.

35:24 It's sorry, but the Yeah, the answer is it did not go to plan with the alpacas.

35:31 And um we're probably going to be rehoming them very quickly

35:39 after 10 years of trying to prove myself wrong in that prove Adam wrong.

35:44 Let's be honest.

35:47 But yeah.

35:48 Um yeah, I would agree.

35:50 Alpacas, but I'll say something maybe different just because I think

35:54 it was a funny story is the guinea heats were quite annoying.

35:59 Guinea fell.

35:59 Yeah, the guinea pal to the point where I kind

36:02 of strongly requested that we get rid of them.

36:06 To be clear, I actually only got the guineies to begin with to piss at them off.

36:11 So, it was ill-fated to begin with,

36:13 but jokes on me, our we just found out

36:15 our neighbors got them and they're like right there and they're so loud

36:20 and and so it's like we went through this whole thing where

36:23 we had them and then we were like like we're so fed up

36:26 when we got rid of them and then now we come to find

36:30 out our neighbors have them and they're like it's just as loud.

36:34 Yeah.

36:34 We live on like it's hilarious because we live

36:37 in an area where like there's basically only farms around us,

36:39 but there's like one house that's just a house right next door to us

36:43 and it had been uh rented for a really long time and the renters,

36:48 you know, like weren't farmers or anything.

36:50 Anyway, the new owners just moved in and they they have

36:54 like like I don't know from my count from what I'm

36:57 hearing like 10 guineies that are literally right next to where

37:00 we try to make videos and everything and like they are so

37:02 loud it's like comical and in our previous situation where I

37:08 had like had the guineies to just to make Adam angry

37:12 um there was always a way to like make them not

37:14 be in our way or like be somewhere else on our property.

37:18 Um, but no longer because there's literally nothing we can do about the fact

37:23 that these things are screaming 24/7 right by where we're going to make videos.

37:29 So, you might hear a whole lot of guinea fell noises in our future videos.

37:32 And that, my friends, is karma.

37:35 Uh, Biscuit Tree Woodworks.

37:37 Do you know that person?

37:41 No.

37:41 Um, maybe from your woodworking days.

37:43 Maybe not.

37:43 Um, I mean, these are still my woodworking days.

37:46 Let's be honest.

37:47 That's true.

37:47 Favorite time of the year on the farm?

37:51 Um, every time of year has its merits.

37:55 Um, I will say that I really have historically loved wintertime because,

38:01 uh, then I get to focus on woodworking again.

38:05 Um, and I also love fires.

38:08 I love being warm.

38:10 I'd say in the south spring and fall is like

38:14 is fairly commonly accepted as the best time of year.

38:18 Yeah.

38:18 And I don't disagree because like spring is

38:20 exciting because you're you're you're gearing back up.

38:23 There's lots of babies being born.

38:24 Like you get to plant the garden.

38:26 All the like the the world is waking up.

38:29 And then fall is great because like everything's

38:32 coming like coming ripe and is ready to pick.

38:35 And it's also really pretty.

38:37 like we get our leaf peeping season in like more moderate weather.

38:41 It's nice.

38:42 Oh yeah, moderate weather.

38:43 But again, this is funny that you're the one who

38:45 says this since you spend 90% of your time inside.

38:47 But yes, burned.

38:49 That's not a burn.

38:50 It's reality.

38:50 You burn if you go outside during the summer.

38:53 That's why you like spring and fall.

38:56 Um, let's see.

38:58 How's your rabbit?

38:59 I I I assume they're talking about Eugene.

39:02 Eugene.

39:02 Of course, they're speaking of Eugene.

39:04 Her preciousness.

39:06 Um, sorry that Eugene is not on our lives.

39:08 She has been ab like noticeably absent

39:11 from our live streams the last little bit.

39:13 And that's

39:14 she got downgraded.

39:15 She did not get downgraded.

39:16 Alexander is in love with her.

39:18 No, no, no, no.

39:19 Al, no.

39:20 Eugene, our house rabbit, is living her dream life.

39:23 She just hasn't been as prevalent on our lives because

39:26 um she usually like she lived down here and was

39:30 always running around during our lives and we'd play

39:32 a little like fun game seeing who could spot her.

39:35 When I was in the later stages of my pregnancy,

39:38 we moved her up to the house because I was not able to like run around the farm

39:44 like normal and I needed something farm related to like

39:48 keep me from going insane while I was bedridden.

39:52 And so Eugene moved up to the house and she's been up there,

39:55 but she just um got a new little mansion.

39:59 And so we're trying to decide if she should move back down to the office

40:03 or if she should stay up at the house because I will be honest,

40:06 having a house bunny is a real treat.

40:09 There we go.

40:11 Super sticker, super chat.

40:13 Thank you, PC Benton.

40:14 Very generous.

40:16 Thank you.

40:18 Um let's see.

40:20 What have you where have you where have you learned the most about permaculture?

40:26 Most valuable places to learn?

40:29 Well, um my first gardening mentor and kind of the person who taught

40:34 me like the basis for where I've taken everything from there is Paul Gouch.

40:40 Um he was in Washington.

40:42 Yep.

40:43 Back in Washington in Squim, Washington.

40:45 And he is the godfather of what's called Back to Eden Gardening.

40:50 Um, we've somewhat rebranded that and called it lazy gardening,

40:53 although there are some like diversions that I've taken with that.

40:58 But Paul is kind of where where it all began.

41:03 And I am so thankful for his mentorship,

41:06 for like the like the work that he's done in the gardening community.

41:12 Paul is incredible.

41:14 Yeah.

41:15 And so, uh, great places to learn permaculture stuff.

41:19 Um, there is uh a book that I was looking

41:26 for on my bookshelf right now and I don't see it right now.

41:28 So, I uh Richard Perkins is is kind of where I'd start with permaculture stuff.

41:35 Um, he has a book and I forgot what it's called,

41:37 but it's it's here and it's wonderful.

41:41 Um, yeah.

41:42 Um, I can tell that this hoodie brand is Annie's favorite.

41:46 Uh, I love it too, but forgot the brand.

41:49 Had it years ago.

41:50 Love the fit, the warmth, the fabric.

41:52 What's the hoodie brand, please?

41:54 So, uh, I got all of these.

41:59 Like, something you should know about me is I am, um, extremely thrifty.

42:04 To put it politely, I inherited this from my father,

42:07 who is the cheapest man alive.

42:09 And, um, I She says that lovingly.

42:13 That's me adding context.

42:14 Yes, of course.

42:16 Okay.

42:16 Uh, I got all of my sweatshirts when the company was

42:21 going out of business and all the sweatshirts were massively discounted.

42:25 So, the the company is called Nakatano.

42:28 They then later rebranded as Wanakcom, but I will tell you right now,

42:32 Wanukcom is not nearly as good as Nakatano.

42:36 I wish that they were better,

42:41 but due to the fact that I got so many $12 clearance hoodies,

42:46 um, and the fact that I'm again very thrifty, I've been, um,

42:50 I have a section of my closet that's dedicated

42:52 to the ones that are like ready to be worn now

42:55 and then I will wear them until they literally disintegrate

42:58 and then I will open a new one, per se.

43:01 Um, so nine years later,

43:02 we've still got some hoodies left in the closet and I'm still wearing them.

43:09 There we go.

43:12 Oh my god.

43:13 Sorry.

43:13 Is this your husband?

43:14 Hello.

43:15 I guess you are the camera person.

43:17 Great job.

43:18 This is Adam.

43:20 That's me.

43:22 Of no trades.

43:23 He chose that name himself.

43:25 Um, he recently became Adam of Mob Mustaches and we really appreciate that.

43:30 Uh after our infertility struggle,

43:32 the deal was when we finally got pregnant and it stuck was

43:35 that he grew a data mustache and the mustache stuck because the baby didn't.

43:40 And so here we are.

43:41 I just want to point out this person's um profile picture says,

43:45 "I am not a dog owner.

43:46 I am a dog mother." All right, cool.

43:56 Yeah.

43:57 Uh, how do I care for my fruit trees in the winter?

44:00 Says Joanne.

44:01 The best news is that you have to do nothing during the winter.

44:04 That's the greatest thing.

44:06 Um, the best thing you can do for your trees is, uh,

44:10 prune them come early spring, right before the buds start to pop.

44:16 That's when you want to prune because it's

44:18 before the tree puts energy into creating foliage.

44:22 um so it doesn't waste it on leaves that it

44:25 won't actually make or that it won't actually use.

44:28 Um and then yeah, go ahead and prune that.

44:31 We have a video called You're Probably Killing Your Fruit

44:33 Trees that shows you how to prune fruit trees

44:36 um for both the longevity of the tree

44:39 and for the like balance of tree longevity and fruit care.

44:45 But the best thing you can do during winter to for your fruit trees is um

44:50 make sure that a you don't have a mulch

44:53 volcano around them because that'll kill your tree.

44:56 Make sure that you've got the um little label that came with the tree is not

45:00 girdling or strangling the rootstock of the tree

45:03 that you've relocated that up to a smaller branch.

45:06 And that also you do a soil test um to make sure

45:09 that your soil that you've got your tree planted in is is good.

45:14 And if it's not good, you amend it accordingly.

45:16 And that's actually a great sequer to talk

45:19 about the sponsor of our um live streams.

45:23 Every one of these live streams is sponsored

45:25 by our good friends and also favorite company all around Redmond.

45:32 I feel like that's going to be very loud for our listeners.

45:35 Uh, Redmond Real Salt makes soil tests,

45:40 agriculture products, human products, hydration products.

45:45 Our favorite toothpaste that we mentioned,

45:47 excuse me, really quick, that was the chair.

45:50 uh our favorite toothpaste and the number of like chemically ridden products

46:00 that we have replaced simply by switching to Redmond is probably shocking.

46:07 So, like if like I don't know, as as a new parent especially,

46:10 I feel like I've been thinking about, hey,

46:12 how can I be more careful about what detergent I'm using,

46:16 what toothpaste we're using, what soaps,

46:18 what lotions, like what everything that we're using.

46:22 And the answer to so many of those problems has been Redmond.

46:27 Like, we use their Redmond clay, which is um, you know,

46:31 can be for facials, for like fixing bee stings, for like whatever else.

46:35 We use it as diaper rush um powder in Alexander's diapers.

46:40 We use it I I use it to get rid of acne which

46:44 was a real problem during pregnancy and mercifully has kind of gone away.

46:47 I use it as my dry shampoo because let's be

46:49 honest I haven't showered for like two weeks at this point.

46:52 Um they just came out and actually this is I should have said this was

46:57 my exciting thing because I've been asking them to do this for so long.

47:01 They just came out with a flake salt.

47:04 So, um, if you're new here, I'm obsessed with pizza.

47:07 I have multiple pizza ovens.

47:09 I am very, very into pizza.

47:11 We've been doing a farm-totable pizza thing.

47:14 Um, we've had Sunday Family Pizza Night for as long as like 10 years now.

47:20 Anyway, a finishing salt, like a sprinkling salt, um, to replace Malden,

47:25 which is not as good and is not from the right place.

47:29 Here it is, my friends.

47:30 The real red and real salt.

47:32 Um there is if you buy anything from Redmond both their agricultural

47:37 site or from their human site where we can get electrolytes,

47:42 chocolate for your coffee.

47:44 I mean good stuff.

47:46 Great stuff.

47:47 Uh if you shop on Redmond, you can use the code annal trades at tech

47:51 checkout and you will get free shipping and a discount.

47:54 Um fairly significant discount too.

47:56 So definitely check out Redmond.

47:59 They're the ones who make our toothpaste.

48:01 Um, someone asked earlier if we if

48:04 our toothpaste is a fluoride or a no fluoride.

48:07 Fluoride.

48:08 Absolutely no on the fluoride.

48:10 In fact, um, before Redmond made toothpaste, I was brushing with, um,

48:17 baking soda and salt because like toothpaste

48:21 in its modern form is basically made to rot

48:24 your teeth and make sure that you have to spend a lot of money on dental care.

48:28 I will say that um 37 years of going to the dentist

48:35 now and my dentist always says that I have the best teeth.

48:38 In fact, not that I'm competitive, but my teeth are so much better competitive

48:44 than Adam's.

48:45 Um and he's had to have a lot of cavities filled.

48:49 Like I mean he does have really nice, beautiful looking.

48:53 Set the record straight.

48:56 just saying.

49:01 Anyway, uh check out Redmond.

49:03 We love them so much.

49:04 Um it's Yeah, if you've hung around here for a while,

49:07 you know that we are not um flipping about the companies that we work with.

49:10 I would rather literally make videos for free, which I did for a very long time,

49:17 than work with any companies that I can't fully and totally stand behind.

49:21 So, we love Redmond.

49:22 Um, they keep our cows healthy, they keep our humans healthy.

49:27 Right now, as I'm breastfeeding, um,

49:30 staying hydrated is extremely important because if I don't,

49:34 then I can't make enough milk to feed our enormous 99th percentile sun.

49:40 Uh, and in that, I drink over a gallon a day

49:45 thanks to the fact that my water tastes like a great popsicle.

49:49 Yeah.

49:49 Because don't you say that like plain water is gross?

49:52 Yes.

49:52 I Well, it turns out I found out as an adult that I had been

49:56 like dangerously dehydrated my entire life because

49:58 I I I didn't grow up drinking water.

50:01 I didn't know that that was a thing.

50:03 Water's disgusting.

50:05 Sorry to say.

50:07 All right.

50:07 Um it gets better if you add electrolytes.

50:10 And it's really important that if you're going to eat as much salt

50:12 as I've incorporated into my daily life that you use the right salt.

50:16 And Redmond's where it's at.

50:18 Chris Conversina.

50:19 Hey Chris.

50:21 Oh, we

50:22 thanks for the super, man.

50:23 Great to see you.

50:24 Hi, friends.

50:24 My garden was overrun by thistle this summer.

50:27 What can I do now to prevent them in the spring?

50:30 Thistle is usually a sign that you are lacking calcium, um, possibly phosphorus,

50:37 but also that you have really compacted soil or that your soil

50:43 has been disruptive disrupted and it's lacking a lot of fertility.

50:48 Um, the thing you can do that will

50:50 help you with the thistle the most this coming

50:53 season is to uh I would really strongly

50:57 recommend a soil test if you can afford it.

50:59 And if you can't, then just like think about the fact like

51:02 think about what what a thistle will tell you your soil is lacking.

51:06 So, um that it's either too compact or it's been like too disrupted.

51:13 Add some organic matter.

51:14 give some fertility in whatever means you can.

51:18 Um, and but yeah, definitely the soil test,

51:22 Redmond soil test is worth every penny and then some because

51:26 basically by spending that$ 35 to $40 on your soil test.

51:30 um you can avoid spending way more than that on having

51:34 to buy a whole bunch of stuff that you

51:37 try to fix problems later with when when they

51:40 will literally give you a uh clear-cut thing of like,

51:45 hey, do A, B, C, and D to fix that problem.

51:49 Like what kind of things do they say in the tutorial test?

51:52 I mean to do.

51:53 Okay.

51:53 Well, say that you're like say that you are like, you know, missing something.

51:58 They'll say, "Hey, um, buy a bag of kelp mill." They don't sell kelp mill.

52:03 So, they're not trying to like they're not trying to like uh,

52:07 you know, sell you anything like fertilizer or anything like that.

52:10 They'll say, "Hey, if you put some kelp meal on, that will help with your iron.

52:14 That'll help with um, you know,

52:16 like in waking up the soil biology." They'll say,

52:19 um, maybe add some calcium, add some like bone meal.

52:25 Um, yeah.

52:25 What's happening?

52:26 This is very distracting.

52:28 Uh anyway, yeah.

52:30 Uh um yeah, the Redmond soil test will tell you what you need

52:36 without telling you that you need to go buy a whole bunch of stuff.

52:38 Um, at the very least,

52:41 one of the other things that you can add that will fix a lot

52:45 of the problems when it comes to waking up this like the life in your soil,

52:49 which will help you with pests, disease, and water retention, um,

52:53 weeds suppression and all those things, is um, adding some bentonite clay.

52:59 And yes, Redmond does make a product that has bent clay in it.

53:03 They also have one that has nitrogen in it um as a result of turkey poop,

53:10 not false synthetic um chemicals or anything.

53:13 But yeah, they're not they're not trying to sell you

53:15 anything by telling you what's going on in your soil.

53:19 Sweet.

53:19 Um the code is an of all trades.

53:23 Dropped it in the chat.

53:24 Um, that's Ann with an E, like Ann of Green Gables,

53:29 which ironically when I first started my YouTube channel,

53:32 I was going to call it Ann of Green

53:33 Tables because at that time I was only doing woodworking,

53:36 but then I was like, you know what?

53:37 I might branch out.

53:38 That's a woodworking joke.

53:39 We would have probably had to change the channel name.

53:43 You just talked over my hilarious woodworking joke.

53:46 And sorry, I said I wanted to branch out.

53:51 Oh,

53:51 so I called it Ann of All Trades instead.

53:53 I'll I'll leave time for the joke to land and echo through.

53:58 And uh also I will say that Redmond's is Re D M O N D.

54:04 Um I get a lot of Redman and Redmond.

54:08 It's R E D M O N D.

54:12 Um ironically

54:13 I grew up in a Redmond.

54:15 He grew up in a town called Redmond.

54:16 Ironically, if we weren't already like working so closely with Redmond,

54:20 we were actually considering naming our son Redmond.

54:22 And then we decided we decided it was probably not going to be

54:26 a good idea because like either then we would like force

54:29 them to work with us for perpetuity or people would

54:32 think that we did that to like try to finagle something,

54:35 but like no, we love Redmond so much and it's a great

54:39 company and I'm couldn't be more proud to work with them.

54:42 Um, how does the pond look?

54:43 This is a hard pivot.

54:45 This is a great question.

54:46 Um, ironically, it looks it looks like a disaster.

54:51 Um, for those of you who are just tuning

54:53 in, I have been working on a fishing pond

54:55 for our future son that was still in progress

54:58 for six years prior to when I started working on it.

55:02 Um, and I will say that I did have it fully fixed,

55:07 I thought, and it worked for like six months.

55:11 um until it stopped working and I called the pond guys and they were like,

55:18 "Wait, what did you do?" And I told them and they were like,

55:22 "Hold on, how much clay did you put in your pond?" And I

55:26 I then realized that I had made a very very egregious math mistake.

55:32 Um and instead of 20,000 lbs of clay, I put 2,000 pounds of clay.

55:37 And so, ironically, not surprisingly,

55:41 it didn't work nearly as much as I had hoped that it would work.

55:44 So, the answer to your question about the pond is that it is

55:48 hollow and it's waiting for its 20,000 lb application of uh bentonite clay,

55:56 ironically, from Redmond.

55:59 Um, which will be happening hopefully this spring.

56:02 But we might I mean we're taking everything that we're doing with a lot

56:08 of grains of salt right now because again

56:12 it's a really big adjustment to parenting full-time,

56:15 working full-time, not having fulltime child care,

56:19 and um trying to keep the farm working in in in addition to all that.

56:24 So, in a dream world, we have the pond going.

56:28 But the thing is, I also realized that Alexander is not

56:31 going to be able to fish for at least like two years.

56:33 So, like we have some time, but in a dream world,

56:37 we we get it done sooner than later.

56:40 But yeah, 20,000 lbs is a little different than 2,000.

56:44 This is an interesting one.

56:45 Nate sides asks, "I don't think I've seen

56:48 a greenhouse in any in any of your videos.

56:50 Have you had green houses in the past or is

56:53 that something you don't really see a need for?

56:55 I'm thinking of digging a wall walapini.

57:01 Walapini.

57:00 Uh we had a greenhouse when we were in Washington that I made um

57:04 using cattle panels and greenhouse fabric and it

57:08 was a great weekend build that helped

57:10 me to grow okra and sweet potatoes and other things that were really and hot

57:14 peppers and things that were really hard for us to grow there in that climate.

57:18 But we haven't had a greenhouse here partially because um I have

57:25 a uh dairy a raw dairy business with my friend Tyler who lives

57:29 right down the street and her husband has a vegetable CSA and so

57:33 we can get um space in their greenhouse whenever we want it.

57:38 We can also get all of the bulk vegetables that we want the way that we

57:42 would grow them ourselves in exchange for milk

57:45 and cow stuff that I'm already doing.

57:47 And so this is one of those things where it's like

57:50 necessity has not forced us to do anything like that here.

57:55 However, if you live in an area where you can dig down, walapinis are awesome.

58:00 They're basically green houses that are half sunken so that you're using

58:04 the ambient temperature of the earth

58:07 to keep your greenhouse from freezing year round.

58:09 Um, and that is a brilliant way to go.

58:13 A lot of places that won't work because like for here for example,

58:16 if we were to dig down more than 8 inches, you're hitting the water table.

58:19 So, you're going to be under you're going to be underwater if you you dig down.

58:23 Um but would be awesome if we could

58:26 and I would definitely be interested in that.

58:28 Our neighbor actually down the way uses um uh good night in heaven.

58:36 There went the vocabulary,

58:37 but he has a uh heat pump that brings the temperature of a pole that's deep

58:44 down in the ground up into his greenhouse and he uses it to naturally heat it.

58:49 I have a video about this on my channel, but uh I don't know.

58:53 Anyway, he uses passive passive uh heat

58:57 to heat his greenhouse and it's really cool.

58:59 Uh it's really awesome when you can do that.

59:02 Yeah, we would like to have a greenhouse.

59:03 We actually have a greenhouse kit that we

59:05 had been we've been meaning to put together, but

59:07 but your you glazed over really quickly,

59:09 but your greenhouse in Washington was built with cattle panel fencing and just

59:15 greenhouse fabric.

59:15 Greenhouse fabric.

59:16 And fun fact, still there.

59:18 Yeah.

59:19 Oh, yeah.

59:19 That's so funny.

59:21 And it's in the video that we made last year,

59:25 but um yeah, it's still like in really good shape.

59:27 And that was like built like eight years ago.

59:31 Nine.

59:31 Yeah.

59:31 So, we Yeah, that's actually a really good point.

59:34 I like that you brought that up.

59:35 We just went back to Washington in March of last year

59:39 um to visit our old farm um right before Alexander was born.

59:42 And when we went there, that greenhouse that I built for less than $100,

59:47 it looks like new.

59:49 Yeah, it literally is still in almost perfect condition.

59:52 So, if you're looking for a an inexpensive way to do a greenhouse,

59:56 um go back and look at my old

59:58 gardening videos from back when we were in Washington.

1:00:00 Um because you can see it both in action

1:00:03 and you can see the build from forever ago.

1:00:07 Also a fun video we made last year where you went back to Seattle.

1:00:10 Yeah.

1:00:11 No.

1:00:11 Yeah.

1:00:11 Yeah.

1:00:12 And you you toured like the abandoned garden.

1:00:14 What was that video called?

1:00:16 I think it's called something else now.

1:00:17 It's called like my return to Seattle or something.

1:00:21 An emotional return.

1:00:22 I'm crying in the thumbnail.

1:00:23 I mean, like I genuinely did cry when I went there because there was lots

1:00:26 of um un un very surprising emotional moments when we were back at the old

1:00:30 farm because I when we left I was so ready to be done with where

1:00:34 we had been living and I was so excited to be here where we are now.

1:00:39 You were like seven months pregnant too in that video.

1:00:42 Probably good to mention because I was very emotional that whole time.

1:00:46 But um yeah, it was like a nostalgia tour.

1:00:48 Like we knew it was going to be emotional anyways.

1:00:51 Well, I the only thing that I miss about Washington are the people.

1:00:56 So, and yeah.

1:00:58 So, like I mean when we left I wasn't that sad.

1:01:00 I was really excited about this and so it was

1:01:02 surprising to me that it was that emotional going back.

1:01:06 Well, yeah.

1:01:06 Yeah, totally.

1:01:08 But also, I was seven months pregnant and um now when I go back and watch any

1:01:12 of the videos we made while I was heavily pregnant, I did cry a lot more.

1:01:17 The place is making you cry.

1:01:19 It's that the absence of the people that you

1:01:21 love not being there anymore makes you cry.

1:01:25 That's what's going on.

1:01:26 That's true.

1:01:27 And also just like Yeah.

1:01:29 Yeah.

1:01:29 Also like this is the scene of a place of a time that I loved.

1:01:35 It's gone.

1:01:36 Those people have moved on.

1:01:38 Well, also just like like there's a lot going on.

1:01:40 It's not just like, oh, this is sad because I used to live here.

1:01:43 No, no, no.

1:01:44 It was sad because I built that like everything that I

1:01:48 did there was for kids that never came while we were there.

1:01:52 And so like that was like probably the most

1:01:54 poignant thing is cuz like I had built

1:01:57 truly like the coolest place you could possibly imagine

1:02:01 to grow up and no one got to grow up there.

1:02:09 Yeah.

1:02:09 Anyway, um now that we're crying Yeah.

1:02:13 So, this is a Facebook um comment.

1:02:18 This is actually from almost an hour ago, but

1:02:21 sorry about hopefully you're still watching, Neil.

1:02:24 Um, we get to see a lot about who you both are now as adults,

1:02:27 but I'm interested to know what you were both like as kids and teenagers.

1:02:32 What were your interests and hobbies during those years?

1:02:35 And how much of what you're doing

1:02:37 now stems from your childhood and youth interest?

1:02:40 Let's Yeah,

1:02:43 100%.

1:02:45 Um, you 100%.

1:02:46 Yeah, I believe that.

1:02:48 Yeah, I like I

1:02:50 Your grandpa imparted a lot on you though.

1:02:53 Yeah, I wanted to from when I was 5 years old,

1:02:56 I wanted to live on a farm and I

1:02:58 wanted to someday have a workshop like my grandpa's.

1:03:00 And that's we're in the workshop like my grandpa's and we have a farm and I

1:03:07 mean both of us spent our entire

1:03:09 childhoods playing music and we were both hyper.

1:03:14 We were both very hyper very hyper very hyper.

1:03:20 Uh, very difficult to deal with.

1:03:23 Wonderful, beloved.

1:03:28 Yeah.

1:03:27 I mean, how much of what I'm doing now comes from childhood?

1:03:32 Um, I mean, you still play Beatles music every single day?

1:03:38 Yeah.

1:03:38 I mean, when I was like a teenager, I just play guitar all day.

1:03:41 Like, they say that every boy either gets into magic or learns to play guitar.

1:03:47 And I play I learn to play the guitar.

1:03:49 gets into magic is that like no this is like

1:03:52 two kinds of one kind of boy like there's boys

1:03:55 that get into other stuff I feel like maybe two

1:03:58 kinds of boy like one kind of boy will get into

1:04:00 in the 90s that was like the choices you know

1:04:02 yeah what about sports and other things or sports yeah it's true

1:04:06 other things kid would not turn out to be a wizard or

1:04:13 no uh I did a lot of juggling as a child this probably

1:04:15 is not surprising to anyone as an adult also I had no friends.

1:04:20 Actually, both of us really had very few friends when we were younger,

1:04:23 and that led us to have a lot of spare time to learn all the things that now

1:04:28 fill our lives.

1:04:28 I I grew up in Redmond, Washington,

1:04:30 which is like it's the headquarters of Microsoft in like Nintendo,

1:04:35 and it's like tech suburbia.

1:04:38 So, I did not grow up on a farm.

1:04:41 This is like I didn't grow up on a farm either.

1:04:45 Yeah.

1:04:45 I just wanted to.

1:04:46 You just wanted to.

1:04:47 I said that if I ever lived in America, I'm going to I'm going to have a farm.

1:04:50 I don't I didn't think I was going to grow up to be on a farm.

1:04:54 Also, Adam resisted being on a farm even as an adult for most of his adulthood.

1:04:59 I wouldn't say resisted.

1:05:00 I was just cautious.

1:05:06 There you have it.

1:05:07 There you go.

1:05:08 Also, Adam did uh work at Nintendo for a while, like four months.

1:05:13 Yeah.

1:05:13 I was I was I did this was like between jobs and I did customer

1:05:17 service where I would answer the phones

1:05:18 and help people um repair their their Nintendo Wii.

1:05:23 People like me who would call in saying that my Dance

1:05:26 Dance Revolution was broken from playing it 19 hours a day.

1:05:32 Yeah, it it was it was an interesting job.

1:05:36 Like I would get I I I get I I was on the 6 am shift and so I

1:05:42 would get all the like East Coast people calling

1:05:44 in upset that their their kids Wii broke and like

1:05:47 or their kid like went online and um they

1:05:52 bought a bunch of stuff off the Wii shop um

1:05:55 and then they were trying to get refunds or um

1:05:59 and then just like a lot of angry parents.

1:06:02 Oh go sneak around and do it.

1:06:05 Do it.

1:06:05 Do it.

1:06:05 Do it.

1:06:07 So, yeah, it was interesting.

1:06:11 Yeah.

1:06:11 Um, but um I like this question next.

1:06:15 Which one?

1:06:16 I mean, are we done with that?

1:06:17 I feel like we can move on that falls, which I find very

1:06:21 Oh my gosh, we're going to have to revisit that in just a moment.

1:06:24 All right.

1:06:24 Where do we see ourselves in five years?

1:06:26 What's the big biggest project you want to have done long term?

1:06:31 Adam, where do you see yourself in five years?

1:06:34 Uh, well, right now I'm mostly just focused on Alexander.

1:06:38 So, I'm thinking we'll have a five slash6y old.

1:06:43 That's gonna be so fun.

1:06:44 That will be really fun.

1:06:46 Um, I outside of that, I'm not really I don't know.

1:06:52 I don't I don't I haven't really thought much about it recently.

1:06:56 In five years, if we don't have the school done, I'm gonna be upset.

1:06:59 That's true.

1:07:00 Yeah.

1:07:00 I think we need to wrap that one up.

1:07:03 Um, for those of you who are just tuning in to our anything about our lives,

1:07:07 we've been working on building a um,

1:07:09 school where we will teach disappearing life skills for the last 5 years.

1:07:13 And our completion date originally estimated was um, March of 2020.

1:07:20 And so those who remember what was going

1:07:23 on in March of 2020 can laugh with us uh,

1:07:27 about the unintentional optimism of that goal.

1:07:32 and also just laugh or cry with us about what's gone on since then.

1:07:39 So, um, we have the beautiful shell

1:07:42 of a school and it's making incremental progress forward,

1:07:45 especially now that I'm able to be working on stuff again,

1:07:49 getting stuff back on track.

1:07:51 Um, it's been a real journey, but yeah,

1:07:56 we will absolutely have everyone say hi to Emily.

1:07:58 She walks past.

1:07:59 Thank you Emily for we love you so much.

1:08:05 Uh yeah in five years if in five more years if the school isn't done we

1:08:11 will have had to have a lot of explaining to do for a lot of reasons.

1:08:17 So but also I mean let's just say

1:08:22 that Alexander was a miracle in and of himself.

1:08:25 I also would love for him to have some siblings.

1:08:29 Yeah, that was kind of what I was thinking in my answer, but I, you know,

1:08:33 but like also I also, you know, I I would I'll take it as it comes.

1:08:40 Yeah.

1:08:40 Yeah.

1:08:40 I mean, yeah, which we don't really have a choice.

1:08:44 Yeah.

1:08:45 Um, well, thank you to the super chat.

1:08:49 Fuzzy balls.

1:08:50 Fuzzy balls.

1:08:51 Let's just talk about that for one second.

1:08:53 Um, also great profile pick.

1:08:57 There's like a dog with some fuzzy balls.

1:09:01 That's great.

1:09:01 Um, I feel like this is a chance for Adam to not

1:09:04 catch me in something that I'm about to tell the world,

1:09:07 but I am absolutely obsessed with alpaca testicles.

1:09:16 The reason that we have alpacas to this day,

1:09:19 we're going to get like demonetized.

1:09:22 Why?

1:09:26 Go ahead.

1:09:28 They're cute.

1:09:31 Anyway, I love your profile name and the answer to your question.

1:09:35 Do we like Pearl Jam?

1:09:36 I used to live in Seattle and I think they're awesome, Adam.

1:09:41 Yeah.

1:09:41 I mean, um, yeah, big.

1:09:45 I grew up Help us recover.

1:09:47 I grew up in Grunge.

1:09:48 Um, we also like Nirvana.

1:09:51 I grew up in Seattle in the 90s.

1:09:53 I love grunge music.

1:09:55 I was a wee little babe and so I and also

1:09:59 I was not allowed to listen anything except classical music.

1:10:01 Probably due to the fact that I was bouncing off the walls from age zero.

1:10:06 Um, anyway, so I didn't actually have any exposure to pop

1:10:11 culture until I was an adult when we became friends.

1:10:15 Well, 15 and Adam started showing me all that stuff and so

1:10:19 I couldn't name a Pearl Jam song if I wanted to probably.

1:10:27 Yeah.

1:10:26 Um, let's see.

1:10:32 Do you want to answer that one?

1:10:33 Yes, I do.

1:10:34 That one.

1:10:34 In fact, I'm really I can't believe you allowed me to.

1:10:39 Okay, so this is an ask me almost anything.

1:10:41 So, this is the ask me almost anything.

1:10:43 Apparently, there isn't very much that you can't

1:10:46 ask and also nothing that I won't volunteer.

1:10:49 Yeah.

1:10:49 I mean, I don't know how much Emily is filtering out like crazy questions, but

1:10:53 not many.

1:10:54 Not many.

1:10:54 So, here's the thing.

1:10:56 Not too many.

1:10:57 Obviously, uh, as I said at the beginning,

1:11:00 I wanted this to be Professor An's, uh, office hours,

1:11:04 but like also everything that I say is probably

1:11:09 a tad sarcastic and also definitely not medical advice.

1:11:13 But I will say that after struggling with infertility

1:11:19 loss and all those things for so long,

1:11:21 like the thing that really really made the difference,

1:11:25 at least as far as we can tell,

1:11:27 is like I had been studying my animals very closely and like

1:11:34 dealing with all kinds of things like fertility issues with them and like

1:11:38 you know uh uh like birth defects and other things like

1:11:42 that and And as I was like kind of honing in on, hey,

1:11:47 what is it that causes less than ideal results in all these things,

1:11:53 it all came down to nutrition and like mineral balance.

1:11:58 And so when I had like as far as I can tell,

1:12:03 like we had a string of of infertility issues and birth

1:12:07 defects and other things with like a lot of our animals.

1:12:11 And I pinpointed that it was like a pretty severe selenium deficiency

1:12:16 and then like some other stuff related to iron uptake and things like that.

1:12:20 And when I had like honed in on that being the real issue for the animals,

1:12:25 I was like, I bet it's the same for humans.

1:12:28 So, I did a deep dive.

1:12:30 I did a whole lot of blood tests for myself

1:12:32 and realized that like I was deficient in some of these things.

1:12:35 And then I legitimately, and this is where,

1:12:38 feel free to click the unfollow if you want,

1:12:40 but like I did the same thing for myself as I did for my cows.

1:12:44 I brought one of my selenium cow licks inside

1:12:47 and I started licking it a thousand times a day.

1:12:50 I started uh like like because I know that like

1:12:54 toxicity and stuff can be an issue with my animals.

1:12:57 I was like what could I do to bind those toxins?

1:12:59 I started taking um uh like a teaspoon of uh Redmond clay along with uh

1:13:07 Redmond salt every day in hot water right when I first woke woke up.

1:13:12 And 3 months later, we were pregnant.

1:13:15 And I mean, a year and 6 months later, we had our first baby.

1:13:24 So, like, it's worked for my animals.

1:13:28 I haven't had a single birth defect or lost pregnancy in my animals.

1:13:32 I mean, my cow just had twins.

1:13:34 That's like a once in a-lifetime experience for a farmer of our size.

1:13:38 Um, we haven't had a single birth defect.

1:13:40 We haven't had anything else.

1:13:41 And it's come down to just like realizing what

1:13:45 was going on, what was missing in their diets

1:13:47 and figuring out how to fix it and doing the same thing for us as humans.

1:13:55 Um, let's I'm shocked you like Adam is so shy about stuff like that.

1:14:01 I am shocked that you let me answer that question.

1:14:04 I'm sorry to stop you.

1:14:06 Well, I mean, you put it up here.

1:14:08 Yeah.

1:14:08 But yeah, I will say that like people who know me were like

1:14:11 legitimately like my I was so obsessed with like licking that selenium cow lick.

1:14:16 Like my like lips were like like cracked and bleeding because of all

1:14:20 the salt that I was licking because I was like, you know what?

1:14:23 If this is going to work for them, like it's going to work for me.

1:14:25 No, I think it's great.

1:14:26 I think it's awesome.

1:14:28 I mean, Alexander is also pretty great.

1:14:32 Yeah.

1:14:32 Um, let's see.

1:14:38 Grapes.

1:14:38 Do you want to talk about grapes?

1:14:39 I would love to.

1:14:41 Good news of grape joy.

1:14:44 All right.

1:14:44 Uh, I have a question.

1:14:46 I'm new to gardening.

1:14:48 Um, so I have many questions, but I'd love to hear it from you.

1:14:51 Which way of growing grapes is more lazy but better way?

1:14:55 Either fence or arc?

1:14:58 Arch.

1:14:58 Okay.

1:14:59 So, um, you'll see in my videos, uh,

1:15:01 I have like a bunch of arches that I grow grapes on.

1:15:04 But this year, just for kicks and giggles,

1:15:08 I tried pruning some of my grapes like an like like a winery does.

1:15:12 And so, I went down to a winery and I like looked

1:15:14 at all their grape vines over the winter and I was like,

1:15:17 I'm just going to try pruning some of my grapes this way.

1:15:20 Um the grapes on the arbors or on the arches like they produce fine.

1:15:27 But like the thing that was the biggest issue for us especially

1:15:33 this year because like you know no one was really tending to things.

1:15:37 No one was like pruning after the fact or anything.

1:15:39 Here we have really we have a lot of um rain in the early

1:15:44 spring and then we also have like really high humidity a lot

1:15:46 of the early spring and then it gets super super dry later

1:15:49 in the season and then it basically

1:15:50 stops raining and nothing happens after that.

1:15:52 So what happened with my grapes on my arbors

1:15:55 this year with zero love and attention is that they all got a fungal infection

1:16:01 that like basically caused all the foliage to drop.

1:16:05 And um I imagine that some of the grapes got ripe

1:16:09 while I was in the hospital slashreovering from Alexander being born,

1:16:13 but like I wasn't here, so I don't know.

1:16:15 Um but my grapes that I had trained this way and done like the the vineyard dent

1:16:23 like produced literally more grapes than we could

1:16:27 or anyone of our friends could have possibly eaten.

1:16:30 like we had so many grapes just from a couple vines on that arbor.

1:16:35 So, I mean on that um trellis.

1:16:37 So, like I would say that the vineyards probably have figured out

1:16:44 a thing or two about like making your grapes work the best way.

1:16:49 And if you are in an area that's like high humidity,

1:16:52 um, lots of rainfall in the spring, a way lazier way to do it is to prune them

1:16:58 down to that like kind of two two stem system so

1:17:03 that there's less foliage to get in and to breed infection

1:17:09 if there I mean if it exists and then um yeah,

1:17:12 it'll probably produce more fruit.

1:17:15 You talk about that in the m mistakes I won't repeat in 2026 video.

1:17:20 Yeah.

1:17:20 So like two videos prior to just now that we released.

1:17:24 Um it's I think it has a picture of a tomato with some blossom and rot on it.

1:17:29 That's check out that video and I explain that in more detail.

1:17:32 But like yeah, um I am actually before before uh before it starts warming up,

1:17:40 I'm actually going to move a bunch of my grape

1:17:42 vines um with my tractor because of how successful that was

1:17:46 because it's just like not worth it to me

1:17:48 to lose the productivity of of pruning them the other way.

1:17:55 But it does look really cool to have them on the arbors

1:17:59 as long as they don't die off halfway through the season.

1:18:07 Um, oh, this is good.

1:18:08 There you go, Annie.

1:18:09 Um, Ralph Creations asks, "What are the best plants for my 11-year-old son,

1:18:15 Samuel, to plant in the full sun 10x10 plot I've given him?" So,

1:18:21 I would do a straight mix of things that he likes to eat and things that grow

1:18:27 successfully because if he's like me and he

1:18:31 likes things that are a little bit more temperamental,

1:18:33 then you know, you want to make sure

1:18:35 that he actually has some like good results.

1:18:38 But the real thing is like you also want

1:18:40 to have some results that he's absolutely going to eat.

1:18:42 So like do something that's like you know a mix of things

1:18:47 that are fun for him to grow and also will grow well.

1:18:51 Um and in that help him out a little bit by providing some good soil.

1:18:56 A soil test will help you out a lot with that.

1:18:58 Um also if you want to toss some compost on there right now so that it

1:19:04 can kind of hang out and and mellow out in the soil before planting time comes.

1:19:10 That would be a good good way to give him a head start.

1:19:13 But yeah, maybe some fun things like some popcorns or things like that.

1:19:17 But like to be totally honest, I would Yeah,

1:19:19 I would just say like do stuff he wants and then

1:19:23 like find a happy medium with stuff that'll grow well.

1:19:26 That's right.

1:19:27 Um for me that would be 100% okra, watermelon, sweet potatoes.

1:19:36 There you go.

1:19:38 Um, Matt Bop bot 11, what is something we as viewers fans can do to support

1:19:50 you and make sure the school gets done sooner than later?

1:19:54 I like we keep wanting to do some like group

1:19:58 work days because when I first envisioned building the school,

1:20:01 the whole idea was that it would we would do

1:20:04 like a series of barn raising parties cuz like I

1:20:07 grew up in a community setting where like if something

1:20:10 needed to be done just a whole bunch of people

1:20:12 would show up and we'd do it and I genuinely

1:20:14 thought that was going to be possible for the school

1:20:16 and then the pandemic happened and then like a lot

1:20:19 of other things happened that got in the way.

1:20:21 And so in a dream world,

1:20:24 we are going to be able to get like just like coordinated enough to be able

1:20:30 to do some work parties that we can all

1:20:32 get together and like kind of swing hammers together.

1:20:35 I realize it's not super feasible

1:20:37 for everyone to just travel across the country.

1:20:39 And I'm also fully aware that like even though we've intended to do

1:20:43 that a bunch of times even on the farm in the last year,

1:20:46 like life tends to get in the way.

1:20:49 So the real answer is you can keep watching

1:20:51 our videos if if there's something valuable or good in them.

1:20:55 Share them with your friends, your family.

1:20:58 Like a personal recommendation for for the stuff that we do is

1:21:02 means so much more than like you know just someone randomly encountering it.

1:21:07 if there's something that's like like actually uh you

1:21:13 know impacted you positively like send us a message

1:21:16 and let us know like hey this actually meant

1:21:18 something to me because I will be honest like

1:21:20 one of the hardest things about making stuff

1:21:23 on the internet and only talking to people you know

1:21:28 like a few times a year when when I'm

1:21:29 out doing speaking events and stuff is that like

1:21:33 to me it often can feel like we're just creating something in the void.

1:21:38 And I like, you know, it means a lot to know that we're making

1:21:45 a positive impact if we are making a positive impact.

1:21:47 I'm not trying to like stoke anyone's ego,

1:21:49 but like that's like probably the the best thing

1:21:51 you can do is is encourage us because there's

1:21:54 been a lot of things that have happened along

1:21:55 the way like you know getting screwed over by contractors,

1:21:59 having people just like steal money like all kinds of stuff that's just like

1:22:03 been really yucky that like a little

1:22:06 bit of encouragement really goes a long way.

1:22:08 The other thing Oh, did you want to say something?

1:22:10 No, go ahead.

1:22:10 Finish.

1:22:11 Oh, I was going to say the other thing that you

1:22:12 can absolutely do is like support companies that that support us.

1:22:15 I mean, Redmond, Real Salt, uh,

1:22:19 like this is they they are a huge part of making our life work

1:22:26 the way that we need it to work

1:22:27 about like supporting our ability to create content.

1:22:31 Um, we spend like 80 hours at least at least on every video that we release.

1:22:36 And so, um, you know, they make that possible.

1:22:41 We've been working with BetterHelp,

1:22:42 which um is a company that like has genuinely saved my life.

1:22:46 Like talking about mental health is really important to me because

1:22:50 um I've I've been in some pretty dark places in life.

1:22:54 Um and I've had friends who didn't make it out.

1:22:58 And so yeah, um the best thing you can do, send us messages,

1:23:03 tell your friends, support the companies that support

1:23:07 us and uh keep your questions coming.

1:23:11 Like send me like if you if you're stuck, send me a message on social media.

1:23:15 I we don't I'm not able to reply to literally everything,

1:23:19 but almost always if someone has a question, for 13 years,

1:23:23 I've I've done my absolute best to to in one way or another

1:23:27 find a way to answer answer your questions if you have one.

1:23:30 Um kind of along those lines,

1:23:32 do you what uh do what events are you going to tentatively go to this year?

1:23:39 Oh, yeah.

1:23:39 I think you talked about you talked about like not connecting

1:23:42 with people in the real world as much as like virtually.

1:23:45 That's a great question.

1:23:46 We're going to be um at the Homestead Festival in Waco, Texas um in April.

1:23:54 April, I think.

1:23:54 I um if I remember correctly, it's like April uh uh 25th and 26th.

1:24:00 I might be quite slightly wrong there, but like you look it up.

1:24:05 The Homestead Festival in Waco, Texas will be there.

1:24:07 Um, we would love to see you.

1:24:09 Uh, we will also be speaking at the Homestead Festival in um,

1:24:13 Columbia, Tennessee.

1:24:15 My friend Rory and Rebecca host that every year and we'll we go every year.

1:24:19 We even went this year trying to get trying to kick me into labor.

1:24:24 Um, though I wasn't able to speak though that would have been wild.

1:24:28 We visited like five days before you gave birth.

1:24:32 Yeah, it was like really it was a wild thing.

1:24:34 Um, we will be we're talking about hope like I

1:24:40 mean I've been trying to go to the Lost Trades Fair

1:24:42 in um Australia for the last couple years but it

1:24:46 just hasn't worked out because of pregnancy reasons and injury reasons.

1:24:51 North of Adelaide.

1:24:51 Is that right?

1:24:52 Yeah.

1:24:52 In um it's like March 20 um 29th and 30th.

1:24:57 And that like if we can make it there that would be amazing.

1:25:00 Also, if you're if you're in Australia near Adelaide and want to get together,

1:25:05 we'll send us a message.

1:25:06 If we do do it, we will we'll make a big announcement.

1:25:11 Um, it may be a stretch, but we're going to try to go.

1:25:13 I'm going to be doing the keynote speech at um in Ontario

1:25:17 at a Homestead Festival there on my birthday on September 19th.

1:25:22 Uh, I'll be at the um uh the the one Oh my gosh.

1:25:31 Good night in heaven.

1:25:33 It's like the homestead festival,

1:25:34 the modern homesteading conference in uh Cordelane, Idaho.

1:25:40 Yeah.

1:25:39 Um it's usually the weekend before Fourth of July.

1:25:42 Uh I'll be speaking there.

1:25:44 Um I'll be doing some chainsaw demonstrations

1:25:47 and talking about growing your own mush mushrooms.

1:25:49 I'm really excited about that.

1:25:51 Um, and I think that's it that I can think of off the top of my head.

1:25:58 Which what by the way, the fact that I was even able to rattle Yeah.

1:26:03 even the right months off there kind

1:26:05 of a big deal in this current stage of life.

1:26:10 Um, thank you for the super chat, Linda.

1:26:12 Um, very generous.

1:26:14 Uh, I love all your videos and I'm with you on getting through

1:26:17 the heavy times and grateful for your smiles and pre presence every video.

1:26:21 Thank you so much.

1:26:22 It's very nice of you to say.

1:26:24 I also will say that since we're talking about events,

1:26:26 I just like thought about this.

1:26:27 We also, if you're local to Nashville, um,

1:26:30 we also uh do square dances uh, every month all summer long.

1:26:36 So, if you're if you're local to Nashville and you want

1:26:38 to come to one of those square dances, let me know.

1:26:42 That was just a who are they going to reach out to you or Yeah.

1:26:45 an addendum ah to find out what what it is.

1:26:49 Yeah.

1:26:49 Yeah.

1:26:50 Okay.

1:26:50 Gotcha.

1:26:51 Um cool.

1:26:54 I think we're we've been going quite a ways.

1:26:56 Oh my gosh.

1:26:57 Yeah.

1:26:57 We're getting Let me Let's maybe answer one more question.

1:27:03 Let's and let's end on this one.

1:27:10 What's the biggest advice you would give

1:27:11 to someone who is starting their home studying journey?

1:27:15 That is a great question and the answer is something

1:27:19 that if you stick around our channel for very long,

1:27:21 you'll hear me say this over and over and over.

1:27:23 It's something my grandpa used to say to me and he he always said,

1:27:26 "Start where you are with what you've got in any way that's going to get you

1:27:32 closer to where you want to go." And to say that in a more uh verbose way,

1:27:40 like start where you're at with what you've got means

1:27:43 like start small right now where you are right now.

1:27:46 Like if you're living in an apartment,

1:27:48 um don't wait until you have five acres to start learning any

1:27:53 of the skills that are going to serve you when you have five acres.

1:27:57 That's like probably the biggest mistake most people have is they're they live

1:28:01 their whole lives waiting until X to start any of the pieces of XYZ.

1:28:11 And in that like you're delaying something that it's like first of all

1:28:15 when you start walking in any direction like it's it's a conscious

1:28:20 decision and and you're already making choices that are supporting that being

1:28:25 something that you want to prioritize and want want to make happen.

1:28:29 And so like if you're in an apartment right

1:28:31 now like start growing some herbs or some vegetables.

1:28:37 If you like shard, shoot,

1:28:39 put some seeds into a little solo cup and just see what happens.

1:28:43 Start learning how to bake bread from scratch.

1:28:46 Learn how to can.

1:28:48 You can make a lot of different kinds of cheeses and stuff

1:28:51 from um milk that you can get at the grocery store.

1:28:54 There are so many skills that you can learn right now right where you're at.

1:28:58 Like if you don't have a window sill,

1:29:01 you can like there are community garden projects

1:29:05 in most cities that you can get involved in.

1:29:07 If you have no money, like great, welcome to the club.

1:29:11 When we started all of this, like I planted our first garden because

1:29:15 most of our food at that time was coming from the food bank,

1:29:18 not because we were just so flushed with cash and money

1:29:20 that we just like could start pouring it into our ille

1:29:24 illegal chickens and other things that we ended up doing

1:29:26 in our neighborhood that like didn't allow that kind of stuff.

1:29:29 I literally was like, "All right, uh, our neighbors had built a fence.

1:29:34 I found some fence boards.

1:29:36 I went to our local uh horse barn.

1:29:39 I shoveled a bunch of manure into plastic garbage

1:29:43 bags and used Adam's car to bring them home.

1:29:46 Uh, and I dumped the manure in the garden

1:29:48 beds that I built with the leftover fencing supplies.

1:29:51 And um, I found out that first year that manure is

1:29:55 really good at growing lettuce and things that grow above the soil,

1:29:59 but it really sucks at growing things that grow beneath the soil, like carrots.

1:30:03 Um, things that need roots need more than just the nitrogen that's in poop.

1:30:08 And so like would I have known that had I not done that?

1:30:13 I mean YouTube exists now so like things are a little different.

1:30:17 Yeah.

1:30:17 Like they maybe could learn that but like lessons are best

1:30:20 learned the hard way not by you know just watching videos endlessly.

1:30:25 And so do the things that you can do right now.

1:30:27 I mean I was super interested in having a farm.

1:30:31 Like I've said multiple times in this live stream.

1:30:34 Like I always said, if I lived in the US,

1:30:35 because I grew up not um not having access to farm stuff or or workshop

1:30:42 or anything else because I spent most of my young life living abroad.

1:30:44 I I lived in Taiwan um for much of my young life and mainland China.

1:30:49 And when I was there, I watched my neighbors growing herbs

1:30:54 in little like containers on their balconies

1:30:57 and like they had chickens on the rooftops of their highrises.

1:31:02 like where there is a will, there is a way.

1:31:04 Um, and I think the young kids these days

1:31:07 are saying if you wanted to, you would.

1:31:12 And it's true.

1:31:13 If you want to, you will.

1:31:15 Um, I was saying earlier about like not having money.

1:31:18 If you don't have money to buy seeds, almost every library has a seed bank.

1:31:23 You can get free seeds.

1:31:25 Plant some, see what happens.

1:31:31 Yeah.

1:31:32 Yeah.

1:31:34 Amazing.

1:31:33 Well, I think this was really fun.

1:31:35 This is the first time we've done Facebook and YouTube simultaneous stream.

1:31:40 I thought that was really fun.

1:31:42 I really Facebook on there.

1:31:47 Yeah.

1:31:46 Um, okay.

1:31:47 So, I also just like like we're Do you want to answer any more?

1:31:51 I mean, I'm seeing a couple things like this one says, "Please help.

1:31:54 I have a goat that had two kids two days ago.

1:31:56 She's bleeding today and looks like she

1:31:58 could possibly have one more moving in there.

1:32:00 What could I do to find out to help her?

1:32:02 Um, I would strongly recommend uh printing out

1:32:07 a goat kidding positions um uh print out and also just like if you want to pop

1:32:16 on our YouTube channel and find our goats playlist,

1:32:18 I have a bunch of stuff on birth stuff.

1:32:20 But what I would do is I would uh put some

1:32:23 lube on your hand and go in and give a little scoop.

1:32:28 Um, I don't think there's probably one still moving in there.

1:32:32 If it's been two days,

1:32:33 it's like and she still has something in there, it's probably passed.

1:32:36 But the thing is, if she has the two kids

1:32:38 and she's like alert and acting normal and feeding the kids

1:32:42 and there isn't anything like very clearly seriously wrong with her, I

1:32:48 would just assume that she's probably still bleeding because I mean,

1:32:52 just like humans, as I recently experienced,

1:32:56 that stuff kind of just takes a while to heal up.

1:32:59 Um, and so if if you are genuinely worried because she's like acting off, um,

1:33:05 like one great way to check is to like pull her eyelids back

1:33:08 like this and see is it red like this or is it like white?

1:33:11 If so, um, that would be cause for greater concern.

1:33:15 And if you need more help, um, yeah, send me a message.

1:33:18 I'll I'll see what I can do to help you out.

1:33:20 But like, you know, when you first have babies with animals,

1:33:24 it's always really scary because like you never know what to expect.

1:33:28 But unless she's bleeding a lot or acting off, I wouldn't be super concerned.

1:33:35 Another person asked if I like Chinese tea.

1:33:37 And the answer is yes.

1:33:41 I love Chinese tea.

1:33:42 I also love lots of things.

1:33:46 Dumplings.

1:33:47 Love it.

1:33:48 I speak fluent Chinese in case we're wanting to talk about that later.

1:33:52 Yes.

1:33:52 You were an exchange student uh in Beijing.

1:33:56 I was, but then I also went to grad school speaks fluent Mandarin in Taiwan.

1:34:04 Yes.

1:34:04 Um I also really love someone said I have ADHD.

1:34:06 I can't believe I'm still listening.

1:34:07 I can't believe I'm still here.

1:34:10 Yeah, I saw that.

1:34:11 Here we go.

1:34:12 Thank you, Marca.

1:34:13 I mean, you're listening to two people with ADHD, so it's

1:34:18 it manifests very differently in the two of us.

1:34:23 So that's maybe Yeah.

1:34:28 Uh yeah, I'm just like going through the comments.

1:34:30 A lot of nice comments.

1:34:32 Thank you so much for being here, everyone.

1:34:33 I mean, like, yeah.

1:34:34 Uh not to make this emotional as we always do at the end here,

1:34:39 but uh it means everything.

1:34:41 Time is our only non-renewable resource.

1:34:43 the fact that anyone would take their time and invite us into their homes.

1:34:49 It's something it's a privilege that we do not

1:34:51 take lightly and we love and appreciate you for it.

1:34:55 And um you know our goal is to be helpful.

1:35:00 I'm like if the greatest thing that's that's been

1:35:05 a big change in my mental health over the last,

1:35:07 you know, many years is I it helps me to know that my life isn't wasted.

1:35:16 That that things that I've struggled with, the things

1:35:19 that I've had to learn the hard way that I like if I could help someone else

1:35:24 have a slightly less painful experience in this world.

1:35:28 That's the dream.

1:35:29 That's the goal.

1:35:31 And if you want either one of us to keep going,

1:35:34 like everyone needs a mission and a purpose.

1:35:36 It feels really good to know that people are watching and

1:35:44 that we're having a positive impact.

1:35:45 That's the dream.

1:35:46 And also, Adam's a real fan of the word wholesome.

1:35:49 He always he in fact I think that's

1:35:52 the biggest um thing that he was like turning red

1:35:56 when I was talking about my love for fuzzy

1:35:59 balls earlier because it might be it might be questionable.

1:36:04 You were that close to ending on a nice note.

1:36:08 You were that close.

1:36:10 I did my best.

1:36:12 But now we're ending on that.

1:36:14 So, okay.

1:36:17 Should I talk about my collection or should

1:36:19 we just end it here while we're ahead?

1:36:20 Okay.

1:36:21 All right.

1:36:21 Love you so much.

1:36:22 Uh we'll see you all in the next video.

1:36:27 Yeah.

1:36:27 Have the best night of your lives.

1:36:28 Make tomorrow a good day.

1:36:30 Do your best and be kind to one another

1:36:32 because we never know what anyone else is facing.

1:36:34 There you go.

1:36:35 Thanks everyone.

1:36:36 chairs.